A woman and her step-daughter were arrested at the airport in Liverpool when it was discovered that the infirm husband of the older woman was actually dead.
The man was strapped into a wheelchair, wearing sunglasses. Airline staff became suspicious when they observed that the man was not moving at all.
The women insist that he was alive when they arrived at the airport. They were returning to Germany to grant the man's wish that he would die in his homeland.
I was introduced to the music of Om Kalsoum in the mid-1970s, shortly after her death. Like so many before me, I was mesmerized by her voice and singing style. I understood nothing of the lyrics, sung in Arabic, but I was (and still am) able to listen to her sing for hours.
Born in Cairo, Egypt, sometime around 1900, she rose to become the greatest Egyptian singer of all time.
Her concerts could last from 20 minutes to an hour and a half, and were often the presentation of a single new song that she would improvise for the entire show.
On the day of her funeral, Egypt declared a national day of mourning and the entire nation shut-down in her honor.
The Beatles may have been bigger than Jesus in the Western world; but Om Kalsoun was bigger than The Beatles in the Arabic world (the Orient).
How do teabaggers think we created jobs after the Civil War, the Depression, WWII, and Vietnam?
Government investment, that's how.
Industry did not (and has never) created jobs. The rich have always demanded that the government create the jobs.
Working people who now support the GOP and demand a smaller government need to think about how the United States has always been successful, and it has never been because of the generosity or hard-work of industry, or the down-sizing of government!
You want to know a nation with small government? Somalia. Nigeria. Congo. Liberia. Are these the nations teabaggers aspire to be like?
Almost every generation has inherited the debt of earlier generations, going all the way back to 1780. Yes, since the beginning. Our Founding Fathers did their founding on debt. HUGE debt. Money borrowed from people who didn't like us very much.
This is part of the American Way. We call it an investment in the future.
And where were the teabaggers when the previous President destroyed the economy, national pride, and our future with two wars he was incapable of leading?
If teabaggers are just afraid homosexuals, brown people, intellectuals, and reproductive rights, just say so. Then we'd know why you support the GOP.
Stop pretending that our government used to be something it wasn't, or should become something it never was, is not now, or ever should be.
The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics included an article about the Altair 8800 computer. It was the first personal computer. Ed Roberts, founder of MITS (Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems), designed it, but there was no market for the computer and no demand.
Roberts figured he might sell a few hundred a year. Imagine his surprise when 800 were ordered the first month!
Paul Allen showed-up with a computer language called BASIC and was hired on-the-spot. Allen's friend, Harvard student Bill Gates joined the company shortly thereafter.
The rest is sort of history, I guess!
Eventually, Roberts sold his company and found himself out of the technology industry while a non-compete agreement was in effect. He moved to rural Georgia, near his mother's family. Instead of resting on his laurels and spending his money, Roberts became a medical doctor and started a practice.
Born in Miami, FL, in 1941, he attended Oklahoma State University and started his carrer in the miliatry. He was a geek who was interested in computers, calculaters, infrared technology, and other things that were not yet part of mainstream life.
He married in 1962 and had six children. Two other marriages followed.
Dr. Roberts died of pneumonia yesterday, April 1, 2010, at age 68.
After The Turtles broke-up in 1970, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan became members of the Mothers of Invention. Working with Frank Zappa gave them an arena to continue their wonderfully off-kilter creations. In particular, their performance with The Mothers during the last show at The Fillmore East, which has been recorded for posterity on The Mothers album of the same name, was phenomenal.
After they left The Mothers in 1972, they became Flo & Eddie. On one of their LPs, they released the song "Keep It Warm," which is one of my fave songs of the seventies.
Here are two videos:
This is a montage video over the actual LP recording:
This is a live performance from 2008:
"Keep It Warm" appeared on the 'Moving Targets' album. Like all Flo & Eddie records, they are almost impossible to find on CD. 'Moving Targets' is available only as a limited edition, signed copy direct from The Turtles Merchandise Page at their website.
by Dick Mac
