Welcome to ToTG!



July 28, 2012

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

Remembering Richard Wright, born this day in 1943 and died Sept. 15, 2008.




There were other versions I could have embedded, but I chose this one because it had the lyrics.

July 27, 2012

Bear Cam



Just Don't Slam It



Your Door Says You Are Universally Alluring






You are intriguing and charming.

People are naturally drawn to you, even if they don't know you.

You are calm and wise. You are a true leader.

You never feel isolated in a group. Somehow, you always belong.



I was going to post the CCR tune "Lookin' Out My Back Door" along with this quiz, but I already did a couple of years ago.

To be honest, I was undecided between choosing blue or white, but it would depend upon the color of the rest of the house.  If it had green trim, I don't think I'd choose a purple door, y'know?

July 26, 2012

Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones

Happy Birthday, Mick!

The Rolling Stones performing "Sympathy For The Devil", live at Zilker Park, Austin, Texas, 22nd October 2006.

July 23, 2012

The Pause That Refreshes

At StartSampling, one of my favorite websites, they have weekly trivia contests and one of this week's is Know the SampleSlogan?

Try your luck at this contest. We've provided a slogan below. Can you guess the product?


Slogan -"The Pause that Refreshes"

I knew it without having to do a search. From the Wiki entry Coca-Cola slogans, "the pause that refreshes" was first used in 1929.  It's interesting how these slogans enter the zeitgeist and stick around long after they've quit being used for adverts. I still hear "Where's the beef?", the ubiquitous Wendy's commercial from 1984 being used as a punchline for jokes and replies to people griping about something inconsequential.



I remember other Coca-Cola slogans from my youth: "It's the real thing." (1969) and "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", the basis for the song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". (1971)



Another classic slogan for Coke was "Things go better with Coke". (1963)  I remember that one being used in TV ad campaigns and also because there was a joke that went through the rounds during that time when I was in grade school:

"What did dinosaurs used to eat?"

"I dunno, leaves and plants, I guess."

"Nope. Things. Know what dinosaurs used to drink?"

"What?"

"Coke. Know why?"

"Why?"

" 'Cause things go better with Coke."

A few years before they passed away, I went along with my folks on a trip to Lubbock, taking my mom to her eye doctor. We had stopped and had breakfast and I had consumed several cups of coffee along with the meal. About halfway to Lubbock, my back teeth were floating, if you catch my drift.

I suffered in silence for quite a few miles, knowing my dad didn't like to stop for anything during road trips, but I eventually had to speak up because it was starting to be very uncomfortable. We spied a truck stop and almost before Dad stopped, I was out of the car. I ran into the building and quickly found a bathroom.

Dad came into while I was standing at the urinal and went to a stall. (I must have inherited my "potty blush" from him ) From the sound of it, he needed to go nearly as badly as I did. I was washing my hands when Dad came out of the stall and started washing his own hands. We didn't speak, but suddenly Pop said:  "Y'know, Coca-Cola had it all wrong."

"How's that, Dad?" I asked.

"THIS is the pause that refreshes." he said with a grin on his face.

July 22, 2012

In Spite of All The Danger - The Quarrymen

The first recording by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison made on 14th July, 1958 at Percy Phillips' Studio, in Liverpool, along with the version of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day". "In Spite Of All The Danger" was The Quarrymen's only original song at the time co-written by Paul McCartney and George Harrison with John Lennon singing lead, John "Duff" Lowe at the piano and Colin Hanton on the drums.

Stupidest List Of All Time

I subscribe to the Ranker page on Facebook.  Ranker also has a website and the premise of the site is to list a group of things or people and let the readers rank them in order.  They've recently had lists of The Best Web Series, The Best Sports Franchises Of All Time, The Worst U.S. Presidents and TV Shows Canceled Before Their Time. What's really cool is that the reader doesn't have to join the site in order to rank the list.

Sometimes the subject interests me, sometimes not, but when I saw the most recent list The Lamest Authors of All Time, I had to go see what others thought were "lame" authors. Immediately, I thought of several and it was satisfying to see them on the list, but there were others I felt didn't belong, such as John Grisham and Tom Clancy....then I got to #23 (at the current time) and was flabbergasted to see Robert Heinlein listed. He's only been ranked by four people so far, two with thumbs up and two with thumbs down, but seriously?  The dean of science fiction writers on a list of bad authors?

Now, I've always said our differences are what makes the world go 'round and that it's always bewildered me to see people get so upset if someone else doesn't like something they love, such as a musician or movie.  The first personal attack I ever received on the 'net was when I simply stated I didn't like pineapple. (I'm slightly allergic to some tropical fruits, such as it and kiwi)

Dan Brown, the author of The DaVinci Code was listed.  I didn't care for either of the two books of his I read, but I wouldn't categorize him as "lame".  He's had far too much success to be put into that category.  L Ron Hubbard is presently at the top of the list, and I wouldn't disagree there, even though I enjoyed Battlefield Earth.  I would put him on the list because of the inane Dianetics series and the faux religion he spawned.  Even though I consider myself a "small L" libertarian, I could understand Ayn Rand being on the list.  Her classic tome Atlas Shrugged has some great points but I can't agree completely with Objectivism. It's also been a while since I read it and I've been meaning to read it again, but I had a hard time keeping my interest in it the first time.

I could think of other authors I would have included, such as J. D. Salinger; Catcher in the Rye has to be one of the worst books I've ever suffered through.  I know it's considered a classic, but instead of being about "adolescent alienation" as others have described, it seems to me to be more about self-indulgence and selfishness. Some people have compared Catcher to Huckleberry Finn.  Good grief.

My purpose here wasn't to go over each author in turn, though, but to show my shock that such a great writer as Heinlein would be included in a list of this type.  You might not like sci fi, you might not like RAH because of his political views, you might not like him because of what some perceive to be his male chauvinism but I simply can't understand why he would on a list of worst authors. His books written for juveniles started me on my life-long love of reading and I still enjoy them.  I gave the Heinlein books I owned to my nephews and they credit them for starting their own love of reading.  (then I went out and bought new copies to replace the ones I had given away)

Sure, he wrote some books I didn't care for but that would also hold true for other favorite authors of mine, such as the aforementioned Clancy and Grisham.

Oh well, like I said, our differences are what make us unique.  The difference here is that I'm right and that list is wrong, wrong, wrong for including Heinlein.