Grin and Bare it.

The city fathers in the French Riviera are up tight about the full body bathing suits worn by Arab women which garments have been called "Burkinis". They are forcing the ladies to strip down to more acceptable garb. Meanwhile, halfway around the world in China many men are beating the heat by raising their shirts to reveal their pot bellies in a navel operation. It is being referred to as the "Beijing Bikini". Even some Chinese tourists in Manhattan have adopted the cooling off practice. Either way you need to have some skin in the game.
tjs

The Hippocratic Oath

Currently there is a hue and cry for all political candidates to release their medical records to assure us they are alive and breathing. Donald Trump had his gastroenterologist dash off four paragraphs attesting to his good health which the good doctor wrote in five minutes with the limo waiting. It has been rumored that the medic has a motto "compassionate colonoscopy" which while alliterative not necessarily copyrighted. The last time I was up on the table I don't recall receiving any compassion just a feeling of emptiness.
tjs

The Blame Game

Donald Trump has a penchant for blaming the press for his travails. It brought to mind an old baseball story about two managers - Birdie Tebbetts and Bobby Bragan. Tebbetts was being fired by the Braves circa 1963 and Bragan was coming in to replace him and asked if he had any advice. Tebbetts said when he arrived he found two envelopes in his desk - No. 1 read "to be opened when the heat is on and the team is losing." Soon this came to pass and on opening the envelope the message inside read "Blame the press." This gave him some peace for a few months but soon it was time to check envelope No. 2 - the terse message inside read "prepare two new envelopes for your successor." Fame is fleeting!
tjs

The spice of life

Colonel Sanders had a secret recipe of herbs and spices for his KFC fried chicken which recipe was housed in a 770 pound safe encased in two feet of concrete and guarded by video cameras. But this list was also found in the back of an old scrapbook and revealed by his nephew to a reporter, so the word is out. It appears there are eleven herbs and spices and the critical one is white pepper. Now a bucket of KFC is one of Donald Trump's favorite fast foods and perhaps it is that white pepper that promotes the sharp burning comments emanating from his mouth.
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/dining/is-this-the-top-secret-kfc-recipe.html?_r=0

The Sporting Life

With the Olympics having ended some of you may be starved for sporting trivia and perhaps this will help fill the void:
- The Chicago White Sox current owners, a mortgage lender, is renaming their ball park "Guaranteed Rate Field" and their logo to appear all over the field is a red arrow pointing downward which is hardly a good omen. Anyway, it looks like the Cubs year.
-The PGA golfers are preparing for a Ryder Cup year. The New York Stock Exchange often invites celebrities to open the market and last Monday a prominent golfer rang the opening bell and accidentally broke the gavel. It appeared that his caddie had over clubbed him. Again, hardly a good omen.!
-Tomorrow, Saturday, they are running the Travers Stakes at Saratoga which celebrates the end of season at that lovely oval. Should be a good contest to crown the three year old champion of 2016. After which the town's prices will return to normal.
tjs

What a Crock!

Dateline - Northern Territory, Australia. On a slow news day the NYTimes reports from the town of Humpty Doo that four shirtless men broke into a school office after having hurled three crocodiles thru the plate glass window to scare off any occupants. A computer was stolen but the invaders escaped, however the crocs were detained as material witnesses. Anyway, have a g'day mate!
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/international-home/australia-humpty-doo-crocodiles.html?src=me&_r=0

Habla English?

New York City announced that no longer would a English test be required for aspiring taxi drivers which would then put them on equal footing with Uber drivers. Since most of the current drivers come from Bangladesh, perhaps we should study their tongue for the ease of communicating. I recall that when with a tour group in Rome staying in a second class hotel I wanted to take a bath and the chambermaid spoke no English and the best I could do was fall back on my altar boy Latin and say "lavabo - lavabo" until she gave me the key to the common room and a large towel. I grew up with Greek families and my playmates taught me their curse words phonetically but such linguistic ability would be no help when hailing a cab in New York. Thank goodness for Google Maps.
tjs