Hardly Small Change

The Royal Canadian Mint created a gold coin - twenty-one inches in diameter and one inch thick.
It weighs 221 pounds or 100 kilos - hardly suitable for a parking meter or laundry coin machine. A copy was on loan to a museum in Berlin, Germany until thieves broke in under cover of darkness and dragged this prize up one flight and out a rear window. The head of Queen Elizabeth II on one side suffered bruises and the Maple Leaf on the reverse wilted. Hardly a way to treat a TransAtlantic Ally. As Jimmy Durante used to say "What a revoltin' development!"
tjs
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/world/europe/gold-coin-berlin-stolen.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fcanada

The Mating Season

I am indebted to a fellow blogger for the following which will be particularly of interest to horse players and improvers of the breed. The late Dick Schaap was a prominent sports writer who covered racing among other sports. In 1973 the famous thorobred Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 22 lengths for the Meadow Stable. His stablemate was Riva Ridge another winner. Dick Schaap was alleged to have remarked that the combination of Secretariat and Riva Ridge comprised the most famous stablemates since Mary and Joseph. This comparison raised a few eyebrows but not on those rushing to the mutuel window to collect their winnings.
tjs

March Madness

There seems to be a trend in college athletics today that every team has a "life coach" or motivational person to crawl into their heads. All the teams in the current tournament seem to be on board. In a juxtaposition, the University of South Carolina has a funeral director as the team's unofficial life coach. Go figure!
tjs
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/sports/for-the-court-a-head-coach-and-for-the-head-a-life-coach.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fncaabasketball&action=click&contentCollection=ncaabasketball&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

Half Moon

China's capital is undergoing a wave of toilet paper theft. To thwart these tissue bandits, a Beijing public park now requires visitors to its restrooms to stare into a computer on the wall for three seconds before a machine dispenses toilet paper, precisely two feet in length. High tech in action! But there may be times when three seconds is a long time to wait. Visitors be aware!
tjs

A Hero among us.

While watching the House Intel hearings Monday I was impressed with Rep. Jackie Spier (D) of San Mateo, Ca.  I was reminded that in 1978 as a Congressional staffer she accompanied her rep on a fact finding mission to Guyana. This was the scene of the infamous Jonestown cult colony that had lured many youths under Jim Jones' spell. As tension built up with some young people wanting to leave, gunfire erupted killing the congressman and Jackie Spier suffered five gunshot wounds and survived waiting twenty-two hours to be rescued. Today she holds that Congressional seat of her deceased mentor. I hope she goes far in government. Her injuries were overlooked as the headlines covered the mass suicides who took the poisoned Kool Aid.
tjs

Walled In

When we carried Military cargoes in the long ago, every six months we would receive an RFP (request for proposal) setting rates and conditions of performance. Now I see the term in the news again - an RFP to build "the wall" - the height must be thirty feet but could be eighteen feet in some areas. I guess this has to do with the height of the ladders available. But the eyebrow raiser is the wall must be six feet deep to deter tunnelers. It could take three years to build costing $20 billion and by that time the foot traffic will be down to a trickle and we will be stuck with this eyesore. In the movie Field of Dreams it was said "If you build it, he/they will come." I'm not so sure.
tjs

Seeing Red

This just in - A man was seen driving a golf cart
erratically in Key West while chasing a red rooster down the street.  Being slightly tipsy the cart "tipped" over. He should have been in search of birdies instead - and bought an alarm clock. When last seen he was sleeping it off in the slammer - this not to be confused with Slamming Sammy Snead. (Or you might say the "driver" was in the bag.) Fore!
tjs

Piling On

More quotes of the week:

"Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated." - Donald J. Trump 2/27/17

"I wouldn't believe Donald Trump if his tongue were notarized!" - Alair Townsend former deputy mayor of NYC under Ed Koch.

"Outrage is easy - strategy is hard." - Tony Blair
 tjs

The Twelve Days

I was reminded of the lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" when I read of the Saudi Royal Family's current tour of Asia. It goes like this:
- One Lockheed C 130
- Two Mercedes Benz limos
- Three electric elevators/escalators
- Six Boeing jets
- Ten Ministers
- Twenty-five Princes
- One hundred security personnel
- Five hundred tons of cargo
- Five hundred & seventy two luggage handlers
- Six hundred & twenty in the entourage.
(Did not detect any leaping lords)
They are now heading for Bali to slake their thirst in the"alcohol drenched nightlife". Austerity does take its toll.
tjs
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/world/middleeast/saudi-king-indonesia-wealth.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmiddleeast&_r=0

Trump's Team

The Trump cabinet had the following action this week:
- Dr. Ben Carson, a prominent neuro-surgeon, was confirmed as Sec. of Housing & Urban Development - his scrub gown is on display at the African American Museum.
- Gov. Rick Perry was confirmed as Sec. of Energy, the Dept. he wanted to do away with. The Ooops gent will have control of our nuclear stockpile.
- The new E.P.A. director has a record of suing the dept. he is now running.
Over at State, Rex is rivaling Silent Cal Coolidge. He seems to be lost in Foggy Bottom.
-The billionaire Commerce Sec. has ties to a Cyprus bank shared by a Russian oligarch.
-The new Interior Sec. from Montana rode to his new job on horseback wearing a ten gallon hat.
I won't mention the Attorney General - he has his own problems. You can't make this up. Hang in there!
tjs

Mooning

Cole Porter wrote "a trip to the moon on gossamer wings" and now the rocket company Space X wants to send two tourists around the moon and back by 2018. I hope that pair are compatible. Maybe then we will find out if it is all cheese. It is reassuring that they are offering a round trip ticket.
Applicants please form an orderly line.
tjs
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/science/spacex-moon-tourists.html?_r=0