Another wine war.

Wine experts in Israel are working on a project using DNA testing to identify and perhaps recreate ancient wines drunk by the likes of King David and Jesus Christ. So far they have traced grapes back to A.D. 220. The issue is not free of political friction as new labeling guidelines require mention that such wines are made in the Israeli settlements and the Palestinians have their own ownership claims on these grapes. And so it goes, but Christ didn't need grapes when he performed the miracle at Cana. (See more in NYT 11/30/15)
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/world/middleeast/with-indigenous-grapes-israel-breaks-new-ground-in-wine-industry.html?_r=0

A is for Achronym

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I was among young people some of whom "speak a language that the stranger does not know." I had earlier related about the waitress with the YOLO tatoo who told me "You only live once". But now I have a new acronym to add to my lexicon - FOMO = "fear of missing out". It applies to a young millenial at a party who thinks there may be a better party cross town where his/her friends may be. That anxious individual should heed the waitress' advice and enjoy the moment.
tjs

A Marriage of Convenience

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has plans to merge with the Irish firm Allergan in an effort to save billions in taxes. This will be a marriage of Viagra and Botox so there is something for everyone and I will leave you, the reader, to create your own caption.
tjs

Something in the Air.

Despite a professed aura of austerity in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister will be granted his wish for a private airplane to reflect the prestige of his office. His predecessor, Tony Blair, was denied this perk which they were nicknaming "Blairforce One". The RAF is refitting one of their aircraft which supposedly will save the taxpayers a few quid. We can't let Donald Trump own the air lanes.
tjs

The Big Apple

It was a busy Friday afternoon at the Apple store on Fifth Avenue teeming with patrons one of whom began to brandish a Samurai sword shouting "I want an Iphone!" The crowd backed away and the folks at the genius bar were "dumbfounded". The blade wielding warrior exited the store and was subdued by security personnel and hauled off to Bellevue for his safety. It seemed that rather than taking a bite of the apple he wanted to slice it. Just an average day in the Big Apple.
tjs

Potpourri 2015 XII

The Pew Research Center reports that more immigrants from Mexico are leaving the U.S. than coming into the country. Our 2008 recession disillusioned them. Somebody should tell Donald Trump to cancel his plans for the wall.

At an NFL football game in early November a macho linebacker confronted a police dog just before the start of the game. It was reported that the player lifted his shirt, beat his chest and barked at the bomb-sniffing dog. The dog had to be taken out of service after the incident and presumably placed on injured reserve list.
Taunting on the field results in a penalty but taunting a police dog is a third degree felony in Penna. The things we didn't know!
tjs

Rent-a-Pet

I just read of a new app called Bark'N'Borrow a Uber type matchmaking service to rent a pet overnight or for a weekend. The company takes great pains to screen and verify users including a face to jowl meeting. I recalled my friend Mike's experience proudly parading his newly acquired Champion Scottish Terrier newly arrived from Glasgow with all his pedigreed papers. One day he received a phone call from a woman who owned a female of the same breed who was interested in mating her "bitch" to his male. She began aggressively interrogating him on his dog's sexual experience, his stud fee, etc. Mike  - this man of the world - began
to squirm. He said he felt like he was being interviewed for a possible "assignation" and he felt uncomfortable! Anyway, we never did find out what the stud fee was.
tjs
(Excerpted from Eagle Blue No. 4 Feb. 7, 2006)

Christmas Music

With Thanksgiving a week away can Christmas be far behind? As such I am dusting off my Christmas CDs but far be it that I would foist my taste on the reader. In a soft guitar genre I do recommend "The Charlie Byrd Christmas Album" recorded by the master in 1982. Some years ago a friend and I were in Dewey Beach, Delaware and sought directions from a bearded chap who was porch sitting at a beach cottage strumming a guitar. Some minutes later I was introduced to "the" Charlie Byrd and he gave me the softest handshake this side of a plastic surgeon. (Presume those hands were insured.) Charlie Byrd was a fixture at the Maryland Inn in Annapolis, Md. and other venues in the D.C. area.
tjs

Night Life

John Pizzarelli, the guitarist, and his wife are appearing at the Cafe Carlyle thru late November. It's a very intimate supper club where my wife and I once visited to hear Bobby Short. Pizzarelli is the son of Bucky Pizzarelli who was playing at Windows on the World circa 1978 when I entered escorting four attractive ladies. A fellow patron inquired whether we were an airline crew. The view was spectacular and their restrooms resembled Roman baths. But this was long ago before the bad guys knocked the building down.
tjs

On the Midway

Over the years U.S. Lines carried a lot of live animals with the more exotic ones in the Australian trade. But my experience was confined to the stuffed variety. One day I received a phone call from the owners of a Ma & Pa carnival group wanting to send a trailer load of stuffed teddy bears to Hawaii for the State Fair. We negotiated a price of $3000. PREPAID. and they delivered their trailer to our pier on the appointed day which was a Friday. The Ma half of the partnership entered the Chief Clerk's office with a large carpet bag filled with 3000 crumpled dollar bills which she proceeded to dump on his desk.
The waterfront workers in the room were "bugeyed" - the banks closed at 3PM and the petty cash drawer could not accommodate this windfall so the freight cashier had to babysit it at home over the weekend. Talk about money laundering! But there is nothing like "cash on the barrel" or on the Chief Clerk's desk.
tjs
(Excerpted from Eagle Blue No. 12 - March 2, 2006)

Both Sides Now

An interesting sculpture was recently erected beneath the Brooklyn Bridge which reminded me of Judy Collins' song "Both Sides Now". If you look at it from Manhattan it reads YO but from the Brooklyn side it says OY! Both from the New York vernacular. Incidentally, during a speech in South Carolina Donald Trump uttered the words "Oy, oy" but those folks didn't know what he was talking about. As they say "Ya gotta know the territory".
tjs

The Power of Congress

There are 435 members in the House and they come from all walks of life. But a certain amount of power comes with the title. A friend once told me the story of when he was a Light Colonel at the Brooklyn Army Base processing G.I.s on their way to Europe. One such soldier arrived over a weekend with his dog which he placed in a kennel while he frequented every bar in Brooklyn after which arriving at embarkation in a stupor just making it up the gangway. When he arrived in Germany he wrote to his congressman asking help in finding his dog. My friend said a manila envelope arrived on his desk bearing a large stamp M.C. (Member of Congress) reply in 48 hours. He knew you ignored such at your peril so picture three military officers going thru the Brooklyn Yellow Pages and calling every kennel to locate this guy's dog.
tjs
(Reprinted from Eagle Blue Vol. 3 No. 8 February 21, 2007)

Did you Know?

How Samuel Clemens adopted the pen name Mark Twain.... He was a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River and the seamen would hang a weighted line over the side to measure the depth of water. He would call out "mark twain" meaning depth of two fathoms or twelve feet. One of his several homes included what is now the Tappan Hill restaurant in Tarrytown, N.Y. with a breathtaking view of the Hudson River. Try to visit in the winter when there is dancing in the rotunda next to a blazing fireplace.
tjs

Milestones

In Rome they might say MC - no, I am not Emceeing the next debate. It translates to 1100 which is the number of posts to date as reminded by the Googler. As I said before, printing that many would collapse your coffee table. This milestone seems to coincide with LXXXVI which translates to my age - eighty-six today. It seems like only yesterday that I sharpened my pencil - and sometimes my wit - when my son introduced me to blogging in October 2010. Thanks for hanging around and trying to outlast me.
tjs

Potpourri 2015 XI

If you are out hunting for truffles this season, don't use a pig - use a dog as the pigs eat everything.

Quote of the week: "You're not going to sell a Whopper at a McDonald's!" - by the Panthers quarterback when finding a Packers banner hanging in his home field stadium.

There was a bit of excitement in New York this week when a fisherman caught a three eyed catfish in the polluted Gowanus Canal. He says he plans to eat it. Had not heard of this before but I am familiar with one eyed Jacks and I once knew a girl with six toes.
tjs

One Size Fits All

The Tories in the U.K. have their noses out of joint - or as they might say "their knickers twisted" - since the Victoria & Albert museum declined to accept Margaret Thatcher's wardrobe for display. Her supporters have denounced the snub stating that "her dresses embodied her." Christie's quickly jumped in announcing an auction for Dec. 15 in London. Suggest wait for the catalog to learn the discreet sizes. If you intend to bid know that it takes $1.50 to the British pound sterling. Also London can be raw in December. Ta Ta for now!
tjs

That's a Gas!

Huffington Post reported on a Singapore Airlines flight from Adelaide, Australia to Kuala Lumpur carrying 2186 sheep that made an emergency landing at Bali due to exhaust gasses and manure causing the smoke detector to go off. Now that's a lot of creatures - cheek by jowl - on one aircraft. And to think I used to complain about the lack of knee room in coach. A pundit was heard to remark that it was a "very BAAAAD flight." Or perhaps HuffPo was just pulling the wool over our eyes.
tjs

A Bridge Too Far

On an October morning in 1957, Albert Anastasia, a notorious Mafia mobster, left his 25 room estate in Fort Lee, N.J. and headed to Manhattan for his usual shave. He never left the barber's chair. Over the years the estate passed thru several owners including the comedian Buddy Hackett. One of the rooms was completely tiled with a drain. Hackett told his young son it was a room where they slaughtered deer. If you believe that then I have a bridge near Fort Lee that I will sell you if it isn't blocked by Christie's orange cones.
tjs

Cleaning "House".

The new Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, is holding his nose as he takes over John Boehner's smoke infested office that smells like a hotel room that  has been smoked in. The more so as Ryan often sleeps in his office. He expects to use an ozone machine to detoxify the environment. When Nancy Pelosi became Speaker in 2006 during an office renovation she declared that a urinal in the Speaker's bathroom would no longer be necessary. As info there are still two
spittoons on the Senate floor. Rank has its privileges - but this is pretty rank!
tjs

Halloweens Past

In the early 1940s we children had no fear
running the streets in the dark, bags in hand with an occasional stop to bob for apples but the highlight of the evening was always a stop at the Spreckley household at the end of the block. Consumer items such as cigarettes, Kodak film and chewing gum were in short supply as they were headed for the troops. But Bill Spreckley was sales manager for Wrigley's Chewing Gum and a targeted visit. Except you didn't pull that "trick or treat" on him - he and wife turned the tables and we had to perform, sing or recite to receive the swag. I recall saying my prayers in Gaelic as taught by grandma
Some of the things we did for a stick of chewing gum.
tjs