Sunday, May 22, 2011

No Triple Crown Winner this year.

May 22, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
May 22 is … Buy-A-Musical-Instrument Day

I think I’ll buy a horn and toot it for my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Patty.

My horse finished fifth in the Preakness. Shackelford won meaning no Triple Crown Winner again this year; it has been 33 years since a horse won the Triple Crown, clearly making it one of the hardest things to do in professional sports unless you are the Chicago Cubs. A hprse ran in the Preakness Saturday that was blind in its right eye. This happens now and again but these horses cannot run in Australia or Ireland and a few other places that run the races clockwise. A horse blind in its right eye can see the rail running counter-clockwise, like we run in America but it could not see the rail running clockwise. This also prevents the horse from seeing the crowd in the seats and the railbirds thus not spooking it.

Birthdays - May 22
1813 - Wilhelm Richard Wagner (composer: Tristan, Isolde, Lohengrin; died Feb 13, 1883)
1844 - Mary Cassatt (artist: The Bath; died June 14, 1926)
1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (physician; writer: Sherlock Holmes: 56 short stories, 3 novels: The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear; died July 7, 1930)
1907 - Sir Laurence (Kerr) Olivier (Academy Award-winning actor: Hamlet [1948]; War Requiem, The Boys from Brazil, Brideshead Revisited, Carrie, The Jazz Singer, Peter the Great, Richard III, Spartacus, The Merchant of Venice, Marathon Man, Khartoum; Emmy Award-winning actor: The Moon and Sixpence [1960], A Long Day’s Journey into Night [1973], Love Among the Ruins [1975], Brideshead Revisited, King Lear [1984]; died July 11, 1989)
1914 - Vance Packard (writer: The Hidden Persuaders; died Dec 12, 1996)
1914 - Sun Ra (Herman Blount) (jazz musician: piano, organ, synthesizer; died May 30, 1993)
1922 - Judith Crist (Klein) (TV critic: TV Guide, Saturday Review, Today Show)
1924 - Charles Aznavour (Shahnour Varenagh Aznavurjian) (actor: Edith & Marcel, The Tin Drum, Twist, Ten Little Indians, Candy, Shoot the Piano Player; singer, songwriter)
1926 - Elaine Leighton (drummer: played w/Billie Holiday)
1927 - Michael Constantine (Constantine Joanides) (Emmy Award-winning actor: Room 222 [1969-70]; Sirota’s Court, Hey Landlord, The Hustler)
1928 - Jackie (Jacqueline) Cain (singer: duo: Jackie & Roy [Kral]: Flamingo, Over the Rainbow, Euphoria, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles)
1931 - Kenny Ball (musician: trumpet: bandleader: Midnight in Moscow)
1934 - Al Brown (entertainer: group: Al Brown & The Tunetoppers: LP: The Madison Dance Party)
1934 - Peter Nero (Nierow) (pianist: Theme from the Summer of ’42)
1938 - Richard Benjamin (actor: Goodbye Columbus, Diary of a Mad Housewife, He and She, Portnoy’s Complaint, Love at First Bite, The Sunshine Boys, Westworld; director: The Money Pit, Little Nikita, Made in America, Milk Money)
1938 - Frank Converse (actor: Brother Future, Tales of the Unexpected, Home at Last, Cruise into Terror, N.Y.P.D., Movin’ On, The Family Tree, Coronet Blue, Dolphin Cove)
1938 - Susan Strasberg (actress: The Marriage, Toma, Picnic, Rollercoaster, Delta Force; died Jan 21, 1999)
1939 - Larry Siegfried (basketball: Boston Celtics)
1939 - Paul Winfield (actor: Tyson, Breathing Lessons, Carbon Copy, Cliffhanger, Dennis the Menace, Presumed Innocent, Sounder, The Terminator, Star Trek 2; died Mar 7, 2004)
1940 - Michael Sarrazin (actor: Lena’s Holiday, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The Flim Flam Man, For Pete’s Sake, Mascara, The Seduction)
1940 - Mick Tingelhoff (football: Minnesota Vikings center: All-Pro team [1964, 65, 66, 67, 68, 68])
1942 - Barbara Parkins (actress: Peyton Place, Captains and the Kings, Valley of the Dolls, Calendar Girl Murders, The Deadly Trap)
1943 - Tommy (Thomas Edward) John (baseball: pitcher: Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox [all-star: 1968], LA Dodgers [World Series: 1977, 1978/all-star: 1978], NY Yankees [all-star: 1979, 1980/World Series: 1981], California Angels, Oakland Athletics)
1950 - Bernie Taupin (lyricist: Your Song, Friends, Rocket Man, Honkey Cat, Crocodile Rock, Daniel, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; Elton John’s lyricist)
1951 - Patricia Brennan born in Streator, IL
1955 - Iva Davies (musician: guitar, singer: group: Icehouse)
1959 - Morrissey (Stephen Morrissey) (singer: group: The Smiths: Hand in Glove, This Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, William It Was Really Nothing, Reel Around the Fountain, Suffer Little Children, Bigmouth Strikes Again, That Joke isn’t Funny Anymore, Shakespeare’s Sister, Boy with the Thorn in His Side, The Queen is Dead, Frankly Mr. Shankly, Cemetry Gates)
1970 - Naomi Campbell (model; writer: Swan; actress: Miami Rhapsody)

Other important events on this date throughout history:

1906 Wright Brothers patent an aero plane
1909 1st San Francisco fireboat, David Scannell, launched
1911 Braves pitcher, Cliff Curtis, loses his 23rd game in a row
1915 Local train collides with troop train killing 226 (Gretna Scotland)
1916 French troops occupy parts of Fort Douaumont Verdun
1923 Stanley Baldwin succeeds Andrew Bonar Law as British premier
1924 In Chicago, Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb kidnap Robert Franks
1926 "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" by Gene Austin hits #1
1926 Chiang Kai-shek replaces communists in Guomindang China
1927 8.3 earthquake strikes Nan-Shan China, 200,000 killed
1927 Dodgers beat Phillies, 20-4
1928 US Congress accept Jones-White Merchant Naval Act
1930 Ruth hits 3 consecutive homeruns (8th-10th of 60 in 1930)
1930 Yankee "Bronx Bombers" hit 14 homeruns in a game
1931 Canned rattlesnake meat 1st goes on sale in Florida
1933 Loch Ness Monster is 1st reportedly sighted by John Mackay
1933 World Trade Day/National Maritime Day 1st celebrated
1938 Dodgers announce contracts to install lights at Ebbets Field
1939 Hitler & Mussolini sign "Pact of Steel"
1940 Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with Nazis
1940 Prime Minister Winston Churchill flies to Paris
1941 British troops attack Baghdad
1942 México declares war on Nazi-Germany & Japan
1943 1st jet fighter is tested
1943 RAF scatters 1st copies of "The Flying Hollander"
1943 Stalin disbands Komintern
1945 6th Marine division reaches suburbs of Naha Okinawa
1945 NSB-Führer Rost van Tonningen attempts & fails at suicide
1946 Yankees turn triple-play & defeat Tigers' 5-3
1947 "Truman Doctrine" goes into effect, aiding Turkey & Greece
1947 1st US ballistic missile fired
1950 Celal Bayar elected president of Turkey
1950 Dutch poet Gerrit Achterberg wins PC Hooft prize
1950 Richard Strauss' "4 Last Songs" (4 letzte Lieder) in London
1951 Patricia Lynn Brennan born in Streator, Illinois
1953 President Eisenhower signs Offshore Oil Bill
1953 Yankee Irv Noren hits into a triple-play, Yankees beat Washington 12-4
1954 80th Preakness: Johnny Adams aboard Hasty Road wins in 1:57.4
1954 KREX TV channel 5 in Grand Junction CO (CBS) begins broadcasting
1954 Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan is Bar Mitzvahed
1955 Oldest man to drive in the Grand Prix (aged 55) finishes 6th
1956 "Bob Hope Show" last airs on NBC-TV
1956 KRIS TV channel 6 in Corpus Christi TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1957 KBTX TV channel 3 in Bryan TX (CBS) begins broadcasting
1957 Red Sox set American League record by smashing 4 homeruns in 6th inning in 11-0 win
1957 South Africa Government approves race separation in universities
1959 Benjamin O Davis Jr becomes 1st black general-major in USAF
1960 Virtually all coastal towns between 37th & 44th parallels severely damaged by tsunami that strikes Hilo HI at 01:04 AM
1961 "Mother-In-Law" by Ernie K-Doe hits #1
1961 "Touchables In Brooklyn" by Dickie Goodman hits #42
1961 1st revolving restaurant (Top Of The Space Needle in Seattle), opens
1962 14th Emmy Awards: Bob Newhart Show, E G Marshall & Shirley Booth
1962 Netherlands telephone net becomes completely automated
1962 Robert A Rushworth, USAF major, takes X-15 to 30,600 meters
1962 Roger Maris walks 5 times (record 4 intentionally) in a 9 inning game
1963 Mickey Mantle hits a ball off Yankee Stadium's facade
1964 LBJ presents "Great Society"
1965 "Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious" hits #66
1965 Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" single goes #1
1966 18th Emmy Awards: Fugitive, Dick Van Dyke & Mary Tyler Moore
1967 "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" debuts on NET (now PBS)
1967 Egyptian president Nasser closes Straits of Tiran to Israel
1967 Fire at L'Innovation department store kills 322 (Brussels, Belgium)
1968 Pittsburgh Pirate Willie Stargell hits 3 homeruns, a double & a single
1969 Stafford & Cernan pilot Apollo 10 LEM 9.4 miles (15km) above lunar surface
1970 Arab terrorists kill 9 children & 3 adults on a school bus
1970 Mel Stottlemyre sets record by walking 11, but wins 2-0
1972 US President Nixon begins visit Moscow
1973 Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1973 President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up
1974 Ruffian begins her racing career as a filly & dies 14 months later
1974 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1975 8th ABA Championship: Kentucky Colonels beat Indiana Pacers, 4 games to 1
1976 NASA launches space vehicle S-179
1976 St Louis Cardinal Reggie Smith hits 3 homeruns
1977 Final European scheduled run of the Orient Express (94 years)
1977 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Coca-Cola Golf Classic
1977 Red Sox (6) & Brewers (5) tie single game homerun record of 11
1979 Canadians elect conservatives, Joseph Clark replaces Pierre Trudeau
1980 Marlo Thomas & Phil Donahue marry
1981 Soyuz 40 returns to Earth
1983 Toronto Blue Jay Cliff Johnson hits record 18th pinch hit homerun
1985 Pete Rose 2,108th run passes Hank Aaron as National League run scoring leader
1985 US sailor Michael L Walker arrested for spying for USSR
1987 30 killed in a Texas tornado
1990 Andre Dawson sets record being intentionally walked 5 times
1990 Dow Jones average hits a record 2,852.23
1990 Microsoft releases Windows 3.0
1991 NFL Owners agree to add 2 teams in 1994
1992 California Angels are involved in a bus crash in New Jersey
1992 Johnny Carson's final appearance as host of the Tonight Show
1993 Riddick Bowe TKOs Jesse Ferguson in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
1994 Toronto NBA franchise unveils name "Raptors" & logo
1995 Laverne & Shirley 20th anniversary reunion special, televised
1996 Emmy 23rd Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 16th time

Just a couple of thoughts I had.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

www.ebookmall.com (Do search by my name or book Title)
www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product." - Eleanor Roosevelt



Saturday, May 21, 2011

Don't forget to read the memo.

May 21, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
May 21 is … National Memo Day and National Waitresses/Waiters Day and National Ross Graduates From Law School Day

My Black Eyed Susan pick finished third.

If you are reading this, the world did not end today as predicted. We dodged another zealot moron and his followers. I have read the Bible and it does not mention a date for the end of the world and the Bible is not a puzzle book.

I am wondering, if the world ends will it do so by time zones like New Year’s Eve. Will we be able to watch Sydney, Australia end, then Europe and then New York?  That could be fun to watch as a big glitter ball descends to Armageddon.

HAPPY GRADUATION FROM LAW SCHOOL DAY TO MY SON ROSS. WAY TO GO BUDDY. YOUR MOTHER AND I ALONG WITH YOUR BROTHER AND SISTER ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU.

Remember the story about the waiter stealing $91,000.00. Why we giving them a day? Of course there is also the story about the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys allegedly stealing from the waiters and waitresses.

Other historical events on May 21 throughout history include;

1804 Lewis & Clark Expedition begins
1856 Lawrence KS captured, sacked by pro-slavery forces
1861 North Carolina is 10th state to secede from Union
1861 Richmond VA is designated Confederate Capital
1863 Siege on Port Hudson, Louisiana begins
1864 GEN David Hunter takes command of Department of West Virginia
1881 American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton
1924 Leopold and Loeb kidnap Bobby Franks for fun
1925 Canadians allow to beer sales
1927 Lindbergh lands in Paris France, after 1st solo air crossing of Atlantic
1929 Automatic electric stock quotation board installed, NYC
1930 Max Bishop draws 8 walks in a doubleheader
1930 New York Yankee Babe Ruth hits 3 consecutive homers
1943 Fastest 9 inning American League baseball game (89 minutes), White Sox beat Senators
1945 German war criminal Heinrich Himmler captured
1945 Lauren Bacall & Humphrey Bogart wed
1948 New York Yankee Joe Dimaggio hits for the cycle (single, double, triple, homerun)
1950 Vietnamese troops of Ho Chi-Minh attack Cambodia
1952 Brooklyn Dodgers score 15 runs in 1st inning & beat Cincinnati Reds, 19-1
1969 After 9,015 at bats Hank Aaron is lifted for a pinch hitter, Mike Lum, who doubled in a 15-3 victory over the New York Mets
1969 Robert Kennedy's murderer Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death
1994 Reds bat out of order against Dodgers in 2nd inning
1996 Blackout in many areas of Queens NY
1996 Ken Griffey Jr, 26, is 8th youngest to hits 200 homeruns
1996 Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens beats Yankees for his 200th win
1997 Emmy 24th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 17th time
2011 Ross Brennan graduates from Valparaiso School of Law

Just a couple of thoughts I had.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

www.ebookmall.com (Do search by my name or book Title)
www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts." - Albert Einstein

Friday, May 20, 2011

Good bye Newt.

May 20, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
May 20 is … Eliza Doolittle Day
By God, I think you’ve got it!

My pick for the Preakness is Dance City. The Preakness currently has a full field of 14 horses entered. If no horses are scratched before post time Saturday afternoon it will be the first full field since 2005.

The Preakness is run on a dirt track at a distance of 1 3/16 miles. It is the shortest of the Triple Crown Races. It is one furlong shorter than The Kentucky Derby and three furlongs shorter than The Belmont.

If you are unfamiliar with how distance is measured in thoroughbred racing, in modern terms, a furlong is the equivalent of an eighth of a mile. In the United States, thoroughbred horse races less than one mile are calculated in furlongs while races of more than a mile use the United States customary units of a mile, mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. However, you won't see the length of a race described as a mile and two furlongs, it would be a mile and a quarter.

Newt Gingrich was on Meet the Press last Sunday after he called President Obama “the first black President” and “a food stamp President” earlier in the week. The host of the program, David Gregory, a well known anti-Republican news reporter, hen alleged the statements were racist and questioned Gingrich as to why he was using race in his campaign. Gregory was dead wrong in this ambush. Gingrich handled it well and pointed out, “Forty-seven million Americans are on food stamps. One out of every six Americans is on food stamps. And to hide behind the charge of racism? I have -- I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist.”

I do not have much faith or use for Newt Gingrich but he deserves more respect from a guy who only has his job because Tim Russert died. Gregory also ambushed President Bush when he worked the White House beat for NBC. He was removed from that job when he became an embarrassment to NBC.

Although Newt was ambushed by Gregory on the racist angle, his own buffoonery caused him more problems all week long. Newt Gingrich's catastrophic first week as an official Republican primary candidate may knock him out of the race before it even gets started. And if he stays in, fundraising will now be much more difficult, and that could hasten his exit, Republican sources said.

The former House Speaker from Georgia's once biggest advantage over other long shot candidates, an established fundraising network, is withering before his eyes. "The last 48 hours have called into question if Newt can even make it to July 4, because his fundraising is going to dry up," said one veteran Republican strategist. "No serious finance bundler is now going to step forward in such an organized campaign and take a leadership role."

Another Republican operative said he had spoken with an old friend of Gingrich's in the South who had been planning a fundraiser for the campaign. There were 18 co-chairs for the event until Gingrich's appearance on "Meet the Press" Sunday, where he labeled Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc) proposed budget plan "radical" and "right-wing social engineering."

"He said like 13 of them dropped off within 24 hours of 'Meet the Press,'" the GOP source told The Huffington Post.

The full impact on Gingrich’s fundraising will not be clear until mid-July, when second-quarter reports are due to be filed with the Federal Election Commission. A disappointing haul could be a knockout blow. He could always sell his expensive jewelry to raise cash.

Gingrich aides declined to comment on their candidate’s ability to raise money going forward, and Gingrich’s finance chairwoman Gay Gaines did not respond to a request for comment. Gingrich’s advisers have said in the past that they hope to pull in $30 million for the primaries. Just last year, Gingrich’s 527 group, American Solutions, raised $28 million. But that was before Gingrich’s week from hell. "Clearly if somebody was on the fence about whether they wanted to donate $100 or $50, the last four days they would have said, 'Maybe I’ll just hold on to it,'" Rich Galen, a former Gingrich adviser, told The Huffington Post.

It began with Gingrich’s charged comments about the Ryan plan, which have prompted an outpouring of criticism from conservative leaders as varied as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Gingrich apologized to Ryan and went on Fox News to say, "I made a mistake."

But Gingrich’s troubles compounded when Politico reported Tuesday that he had owed Tiffany’s between $250,000 and $500,000 for jewelry. The same day, a gay rights activist added insult to injury by dumping glitter on Gingrich at a Minnesota book signing to protest the former Speaker's views on gay marriage.

Without using the ties he developed while in Congress, where would Newt Gingrich get the financial wherewithal to secure credit at Tiffany’s for half a million dollars?

Video footage also surfaced of a conservative Republican in Iowa, Russell Fuhrman, confronting Gingrich in a hotel lobby on Monday.
"What you just did to Paul Ryan is unforgivable," Fuhrman said. When Gingrich protested -- "I didn't do anything" -- Fuhrman savaged Gingrich while continuing to shake his hand. "You're an embarrassment to our party. Why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself?" Furhman said as Gingrich slinked away.

Wednesday brought more ridicule. Gingrich's spokesman’s bizarre comment to HuffPost, blaming media "literati" and the "political elite" of trying to sideline Gingrich, went viral and became instant political comedy fodder. The Wall Street Journal speculated that the lengthy and overly dramatic statement from Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler might have been written by the candidate himself, but Tyler claimed the words as his own.

The calls for Gingrich to step aside grew louder Wednesday. "It’s time for Newt to disappear into the background. His moment has passed, and this tailspin has been decades in the making," wrote conservative blogger Tabitha Hale on the popular blog RedState.com. Longtime Republican ad-maker and political consultant Alex Castellanos also called on the GOP to discard Gingrich in order to "release the past and inherit the future," in an ed-op published by The Daily Caller, a conservative news site.

"The opponent Obama needs to run against, the only one he can beat, is the old, uncaring Republican," Castellanos wrote. "It is not a caricature he needs to create. It lives, it walks, it breathes. It’s the Gingrich."


Just a couple of thoughts I had.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

www.ebookmall.com (Do search by my name or book Title)
www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." - William Faulkner