Quote of the day re Trump/Putin meeting "As the saying goes, those who aren't at the table are on the menu". - per Nicholas Kristof NYT

Quote of the day

 July 17 from tjs

"Fear is the tool of the tyrant" - Maureen Comey after being fired by Donald J. Trump.Of course, he wasn't too kind to her father, either.

The Eagle Blue Chronicles: May 26 from tjsI once witnessed the launching of ...

The Eagle Blue Chronicles:  May 26 from tjsI once witnessed the launching of ...:  May 26 from tjs I once witnessed the launching of a USLines Containership at SunShipyard  sponsor was Austronaut Jim Lovell. After the Cham...

Hurricane Season

 As we approach the hurricane season, I recall an incident in the long ago. With a storm alert, our Port Manager in Port Everglades thought it prudent to fill a 5000gallon 20 ft stainless steel tank with potable water for his employee needs. He then received a call from FEMA who proceeded to appropriate this unit for the emergency. When things settled down we went looking for our unit and finally located it empty at the local zoo. Go figure.

One potato two potato

 July 10 from tjs

In breakbulk days USL put a C2 vessel into Searsport, Maine to load a cargo of bagged potatoes for Europe - it was a post war era. The longshoremen there rigged up a chute to slide the bags down into the hold. During a break the workers, to amuse themselves, began sliding down the chute and the clicker counter counted each as a bag. Upon outturn, the receiving country advised there was a shortage of twenty bags and no one knew why, And that's the way it was!

The Poet's Corner

NYT obit on Dave Parker slugging outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Perhaps echoing Muhammad Ali he was once quoted "When the leaves turned brown, I'd be wearing the batting crown." R.I.P.

 May 26 from tjs

I once witnessed the launching of a USLines Containership at SunShipyard  sponsor was Austronaut Jim Lovell. After the Champagne bottle was swung the vessel glided stern first down the ways to the Delaware River. Later our company built and launched a later edition of container ship at a South Korean yard and all went smooth. But recently North Korea built a new Naval destroyer and the "Baptism"didn't go well. They were launching it sideways and the stern went first into the water leaving the bow on the platform. Pres. Kim wasn't pleased so he arrested the shipyard execs - and that's the way it was! 5-26-25

The Eagle Blue Chronicles: O Dem Golden Slippers

The Eagle Blue Chronicles: O Dem Golden Slippers: O to be in Philadelphia on New Year's Day to watch the Mummers parade up Broad Street as they have done for over a century. First come t...

Rivalry

 

With November winding down, this is the time for college football rivalries - in days gone by there was Penn vs Cornell followed by Army/Navy weekend. One of the oldest was Boston College vs Holy Cross - both Jesuit institutions in Mass. Eighty years ago, Nov. 28, 1942 they had suited up with BC heavily favored with  their All-American halfback, Mike Holovak.

BC fans were so certain of the outcome that they planned a victory party at the Coconut Grove Supper Club after the game. But Holy Cross upset the favorites causing them to cancel the celebration. 

That was the night of the famous "night club" fire that killed nearly 500 occupants. WWII was underway and Mike Holovak and many of his team mates went off to war. tjs

Keep it simple

 As Big Blue - Michigan continues on their winning ways it brings to mind the predicament of Joe the Plumber from Grand Rapids, Mich. who was approaching a complicated operation and needed to know the effect of sulfuric acid on lead. He decided to write the U.S. Labor Dept. in D.C. - they would know!

Their reply came in five days "Thank you for your inquiry - please know that sulfuric acid is contra-indicated for the use you intend." Joe thanked them and said "I have ordered a carboy of acid - it is due any day."

The agitated response from Washington read "Sulfuric acid is deleterious (?) to lead". Joe replied that the acid was due in two days.

Next came a Western Union telegram reading "DON'T USE THE ACID - IT EATS THE HELL OUT OF LEAD."

 

A.C./D.C.

 If you are planning the purchase of an electric vehicle, consider the experience of this Ohio family. The wife was in love with her Volkswagen ID4 and planned a trip from Columbus to  Toledo to ferry her daughter back to college.

She had planned where she would need recharging during the four hour trip but by overloading with school equipment and a tall husband in tow, the battery drained faster and they had to stop at a small Ohio town that had only four chargers which will describe below:  

- #1 was behind a locked gate. #2 was with a Toyota dealership who refused to charge a VW. #3 would only charge Teslas and #4 had just been installed and not yet working.

So the family spent the night in a hotel and proceeded with a rental car. tjs

                                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   

The New York Subway

 

Nov. 6, 2022

Some people bad-mouth the New York City subway as being unsafe, yet my two grandsons - 5 and 2 - love the "A" train made famous by Duke Ellington. In the late 1970s (pre Bernie Goetz) I rode the Lexington Ave. train daily between the Battery and Grand Central Station. The only nuisance was a few harmless panhandlers and a few happy drunks. One evening on the northbound train a tipsy fellow got on and called out a riddle to all assembled - "What has four legs and chases cats?" He happily repeated the question and as he alighted at the next station, called out "Mrs. Katz and her lawyer!"  I can still hear him laughing as he walked down the platform.

Personal Profiles

 Cletus K. was a colleague of mine back in Philly. When he was a senior at Georgetown his father asked him what he wanted to do with his life. Cletus said he would like to join the "firm" - the firm was counsel to United States Lines. Dad said " I have an immpecable reputation in the industry, I suggest you try another endeavor." So Cletus bounced around eventually joining the U.S. Air Force where he piloted  multie engine aircraft ferrying notables around the globe - including Sec. of State Jimmie Byrnes. On one flight Byrnes rushed to the cockpit complaining of the "odor". Cletus said we are flying over Calcutta - it will dissipate soon. By and by Cletus became USLines rep in Pittsburgh - a corporate town with not much freight. At the same time our Phila. guy was being kicked upstairs to New York and it was decided to give him a farewell dinner and we invited sixty heavyweights of the Port of Phila. to assemble in the upper room of Old Original Bookbinders a waterfront landmark and as Cletus was replacing the departing guest, he was thrown in to this strange crowd. I was on the mic and had no bio for Cletus and as I introduced him his opening line was "I have heard a lot about Old Bookbinders - I understand that in the bar their martinis are so dry that in the mens room instead of urinals they have dustpans." The room erupted and Cletus had made his bones in Phila.

Profiles in Sports

 Lee Trevino was a Tex/Mex golfer who played with the best.  He lived in Texas and one day in the noon day heat he was mowing his lawn and sweating profusely thru his tee shirt when a limousine pulled up to the curb and a woman beckoned him over. She asked him what he charged for landscaping. He said "Well, it's like this - I have an arrangement with the lady of the house - I mow the lawn and she let's me sleep with her." The window went up and the limo pulled away. Fore!

Weekly Wrapup

 

Try to catch Mark Shields' obit in Sunday's NYT. He gave up drinking at age 37. He said it took him that long to find out that God made whiskey so the Irish and the Indians wouldn't run the world. (Apologies to the Indians)

There is a photo of a Bitcoin ATM at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.  Not sure what it dispenses.  But the ferry ride is free!

There is an army of contestants running for Congress in New York. Former mayor DeBlasio is in the hunt as is Elizabeth Holtzman -age 80 - but wait - she was in Congress during Watergate - such ambition !

tjs

Strange News Day

 

-You've heard of Brandon in the news - he has been replaced by Bernie and has been trolling around.

-Mercedes Benz, that premium German car maker, is recalling a million autos.

- Wells Fargo is accused of faking hiring interviews.

-Mets star pitcher bitten in the hand by his dog. Sort of biting the hand that feeds you.

-And Ozzie Myers, that star of the Abscam Scandal of forty years ago, is back in the limelight accused of messing with election votes in South Philly. And he comes from a lovely family.

All this bumps Elon Musk to the back pages. And it's only Tuesday.

tjs

The Eagle Blue Chronicles: Summertime

The Eagle Blue Chronicles: Summertime: It feels like summer is arriving early in Northeast Florida and we are still three weeks away from the Summer solstice. The current heat wav...

Woof - woof!

 Today's NYT Real Estate section discusses issue of barking dogs in apartment buildings. Our own building accepts pets and we have also experienced the nuisance. Which reminds me of a story: Tenant A worked days and worried about the lack of exercise for his dog.  But he noticed that when his phone (land line) rang it motivated his pet to run thru the apartment. So every day at noon he phoned his apartment - let it ring a dozen times - knowing that Fido would be exercising. But tenant B next door worked nights and slept days and this routine disturbed his rest. So one day shortly before noon, with the Super on break, he stole into his neighbor's quarters and on cue the phone rang. After about ten rings he picked up the receiver and breathed heavily into it before returning receiver to its cradle. I don't have a sequel to this story but perhaps next Sunday's NYT can give us the answer.

tjs 2/27/22

Football Trivia

 Latin scholars remind us that in a few weeks they will be playing Super Bowl LVI - but thankfully in Southern California and not in Green Bay for who wants to be in Northern Wisconsin in Mid-February.                                   The Packers were ambushed on their own frozen turf this past weekend and were eliminated from further consideration, which will give their QB time to get VAXXED.      As further insult we have one of Donald Trump's henchmen describing their coup attempts as including the "Green Bay Sweep" while oldtimers will recall the real "SWEEP" was Jim Taylor leading Paul Hornung on an end run but certainly not political.

In Kiss Me Kate, Cole Porter admonished us to "Brush up your Shakespeare" - which I did and found a Bill Shakespeare played football for Notre Dame mid-1930s. While he did place kicking, he was not a punter, which we know has a taint of gambling in the United Kingdom. tjs

 

                                                                                  

Roman Holiday

 

Joe Biden visited with the Pope this week which prompts me to repeat the following post: A fellow was in the barber chair and told the barber he was planning a trip to Rome. there then ensued the following exchange:

B - Where do you plan to stay?

C - We are booked into the Excelsior Hotel.

B - It's overpriced and over rated - you won't like it. what else are you doing?

C - We plan to have dinner at Alfredo's famous restaurant.  B - That place is a tourist trap - you won't enjoy it.               C - And we have arranged to have an audience with the Pope.                                                                                   

B - You will be behind the ropes, you won't get near him.

Fast forward one month and C is back in the chair.

B - How was your trip?

C - Great - the Excelsior had flowers in our room and the concierge couldn't have been nicer. Alfredo himself greeted us and we had a private audience with the Pope.

B - I'm very impressed. What did the Holy Father say to you?

C - He asked me where did I get the lousy haircut. tjs