Monday, June 30, 2025
BACKSTORIES OF FAMOUS SONGS
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ELTON JOH, Part 1
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Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting
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The song:
"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is a song originally recorded by Elton John, who composed it with his long-time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin (music: Elton John; lyrics: Bernie Taupin). It was released on John's best-selling album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) and as the first single.
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Video:
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Lyrics selection:
It's getting late, have you seen my mates?
Ma, tell me when the boys get here
It's seven o'clock and I wanna rock
Wanna get a belly full of beer
My old man's drunker than a barrel full of monkeys
And my old lady, she don't care
My sister looks cute in her braces and boots
A handful of grease in her hair
Oh, don't give us none of your aggravation
We had it with your discipline
Oh, Saturday night's alright for fighting
Get a little action in
Get about as oiled as a diesel train
Gonna set this dance alight
'Cause Saturday night's the night I like
Saturday night's alright, alright, alright, ooh
Well, they're packed pretty tight in here tonight
I'm looking for a dolly who'll see me right
I may use a little muscle to get what I need
I may sink a little drink and shout out, "She's with me!"
A couple of the sounds that I really like
Are the sounds of a switchblade and a motorbike
I'm a juvenile product of the working class
Whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass
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Back Story:
The lyrics discuss a night out in town in which the narrator plans to "get about as oiled as a diesel train". Taupin has said that the song was meant to be an American rock and roll song set in Britain. It was inspired by his raucous teenage days and in particular, the fistfights in his local pub, the Aston Arms in Market Rasen.
The Aston Arms Pub
As pictured in the 1975 Captain Fantastic album sleeve.
The Aston Arms today
This is where a teenage Bernie Taupin and his friends played snooker and drank ale before they were of legal age. Although Taupin grew up several miles away in the village of Owmby-by-Spital, his secondary school was located here in the larger town of Market Rasen, where the Aston Arms is located.
Taupin's experiences helped inspire the lyrics for the 1973 Elton John song Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting. There was a pub in Normanby right next to Owmby, but Bernie preferred The Aston Arms because there was more action, including the inevitable fistfights on Saturday nights. A framed newspaper article on the wall inside commemorates the pub's role in creating a hit song.
Many of Taupin's songs are written to relate to Elton's life, but not this one - it's unlikely that Elton would be fighting in a club.
In the liner notes to Elton John's boxed set, it explains that he recorded his vocal while leaping around and "going crazy." It was the first time Elton recorded a vocal standing up, and he made the most out of it.
Elton would sometimes let fans come onstage and gather around his piano when he performed the song. That ended on March 1, 2018 when an overanxious fan kept touching him when he played it at a concert in Las Vegas. Elton stormed off the stage, and when he returned, declared, "No more coming on stage on 'Saturday Night.' You fucked it up."
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Rocket Man
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The song:
"Rocket Man" was written by Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin and performed by John. It was originally released on 17 April 1972 in the US, as the lead single to John's album Honky Château.
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Video:
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Lyrics:
She packed my bags last night, pre-flight
Zero hour, 9 a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the Earth so much, I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight
And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no
I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burnin' out his fuse up here alone
And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no
I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burnin' out his fuse up here alone
Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact, it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did
And all the science, I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man
A rocket man
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Back Story:
The song was inspired by Ray Bradbury's short story "The Rocket Man" in The Illustrated Man, about a professional astronaut whose work keeps him away from his anguished family for months at a time.
It echoes the theme of David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity". Taupin has denied that the Bowie song was an inspiration, but has acknowledged borrowing from Pearls Before Swine's 1970 "Rocket Man", written by Tom Rapp, which was also influenced by the Bradbury story. According to an account in Elizabeth Rosenthal's book His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John, the song was inspired by Taupin's sighting of either a shooting star or a distant aeroplane.
Taupin says that the Pearls Before Swine song gave him the idea for his own "Rocket Man" - "It's common knowledge that songwriters are great thieves, and this is a perfect example," he said.
In the Pearls Before Swine song, a child can no longer look at the stars after his astronaut father perishes in space.
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About:
The song describes a Mars-bound astronaut's mixed feelings at leaving Earth to do his job. Rosenthal's account goes on to relate that the notion of astronauts no longer being perceived as heroes, but in fact as an "everyday occupation", led Taupin to the song's opening lines: "She packed my bags last night, pre-flight. Zero hour: 9 a.m. And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then."
Space exploration was big in 1972; the song came out around the time of the Apollo 16 mission, which sent men to the moon for the fifth time.
The opening lyrics came to Bernie Taupin while he was driving near his parents' house in Lincolnshire, England. Taupin has said that he has to write his ideas down as soon as they show up in his head, or they could disappear, so he drove though some back roads as fast as he could to get to the house where he could write down his thought: "She packed my bags last night, pre-flight. Zero hour, 9 a.m., and I'm gonna be high as a kite by then."
From there he came up with the song about a man who is sent to live in space as part of a scientific experiment.
"Rocket Man" became a nickname for Elton John. As song-based nicknames go, it's a good one, and Elton embraced it (Madonna hates the "Material Girl" name). In 2019, a biopic (billed as a "musical fantasy") called Rocketman was released starring Taron Egerton as Elton John.
When Elton played the Soviet Union in 1979, this was listed on the program as "Cosmonaut."
This was Elton's biggest hit to that point, outcharting his first Top 10 entry, "Your Song." It had a huge impact on his psyche, as it gave him the confidence to know that he could sustain his career in music.
Trump is a fan of the song, and often played it at his campaign rallies. However, Bernie Taupin disapproved of the president's usage of the title. "The context bothered me," he told the Wall Street Journal. "The thought that World War III could start over the use of my song title was disturbing. I also was uncomfortable that something of mine that was culturally iconic could be used in such a way.” "But what could I do? Sue him for cultural appropriation?" Taupin continued. "As a songwriter, you're powerless to stop something like that. However, if the use of 'Rocket Man' results in peace, I will be very happy to take full credit for it."
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Song for Guy
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The song:
"Song for Guy" is a mainly instrumental piece of music by English musician Elton John. It is the closing track of his 1978 album, A Single Man.
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Video:
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Lyrics:
Life isn't everything
Isn't everything
Isn't everything
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Back story:
As I was writing this song one Sunday, I imagined myself floating into space and looking down at my own body. I was imagining myself dying. Morbidly obsessed with these thoughts, I wrote this song about death. The next day I was told that Guy [Burchett], our 17-year-old messenger boy, had been tragically killed on his motorcycle the day before. Guy died on the day I wrote this song.
— Elton John, from the sleeve notes of the 7-inch single.
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About:
It stands as one of the few pieces written by Elton John alone and the only instrumental he made and released as a single.
His subsequent instrumentals were released only as B-sides, notably "Choc Ice Goes Mental" (A-sides: "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and "Kiss the Bride") and "The Man Who Never Died" (A-sides: "Nikita" and "The Last Song").
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ON THIS DAY
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June 30, 1934
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934.
Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Röhm and the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis' paramilitary organisation, known colloquially as "Brownshirts". Nazi propaganda presented the murders as a preventive measure against an alleged imminent coup by the SA under Röhm – the so-called Röhm Putsch.
Ernst Rohm
Röhm, standing fifth from left behind Hitler and Himmler, pictured as a member of "the staff of the Führer taken on the day of his appointment as Reich Chancellor" on 30 January 1933
The primary instruments of Hitler's action were the Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary force under Himmler and its Security Service (SD), and Gestapo (secret police) under Reinhard Heydrich, which between them carried out most of the killings. Göring's personal police battalion also took part.
Many of those killed in the purge were leaders of the SA, the best-known being Röhm himself, the SA's chief of staff and one of Hitler's longtime supporters and allies. The murders of SA leaders were also intended to improve the image of the Hitler government with a German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish SA tactics.
Hitler saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. He also wanted to appease leaders of the Reichswehr, the German military, who feared and despised the SA as a potential rival, in particular because of Röhm's ambition to merge the army and the SA under his own leadership. Additionally, Hitler was uncomfortable with Röhm's outspoken support for a "second revolution" to redistribute wealth. In Röhm's view, President Paul von Hindenburg's appointment of Hitler as chancellor on 30 January 1933 had brought the Nazi Party to power, but had left unfulfilled the party's larger goals. Finally, Hitler used the purge to attack or eliminate German critics of his new regime, especially those loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, as well as to settle scores with enemies.
At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds, with high estimates running from 700 to 1,000] More than 1,000 perceived opponents were arrested.
The Night of the Long Knives marked Hitler's absolute consolidation of judicial power and was a turning point in the establishment of Nazi Germany. Hitler would then go on to label himself "the administrator of justice of the German people" in his speech to the Reichstag on July 13, 1934.
BTW
The phrase "Night of the Long Knives" in the German language predates the massacre itself, and it also refers generally to acts of vengeance. Its origin might be the "Night of the Long Knives", a massacre of Vortigern's men by Angle, Jute, and Saxon mercenaries in Arthurian myth.
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Sunday, June 29, 2025
REMEMBERING HEROES
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The stories behind the names on the signs at the rest stops on the Remembrance Driveway, which goes from Sydney to Canberra.
The highway commemorates selected, representative persons awarded the Victoria Cross by naming rest stops after them.
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces
The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War.
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RICHARD KELLIHER VC
Richard Kelliher, VC (1 September 1910 – 28 January 1963) received his VC while serving with the Second Australian Imperial Force in New Guinea during the Second World War.
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Location of rest stop:
Treloar Crescent, ACT
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About:
Kelliher was born in Ballybeggan, Tralee, County Kerry in Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and emigrated to Queensland, Australia in 1929 with his sister Norah. Due to lack of work during the Great Depression his sister moved to Sydney while Kelliher became a swagman, working a variety of jobs.
Enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 21 February 1941, Kelliher sailed for the Middle East and was assigned to the 2nd / 25th Battalion in October. He performed garrison duties in Syria and returned to Australia in March 1942.
He was sent to New Guinea, where it took part in the Battle of Buna–Gona later that year. During this battle Kelliher was arrested after allegedly running from the front. He was later court martialled for cowardice in the face of the enemy where he claimed his platoon commander had sent him back for information. The commander had been killed in the battle and Kelliher had no witnesses to his version. He was convicted, but the charge was soon after quashed and, after rejoining his unit, Kelliher stated he would prove he was no coward.
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Action for which awarded the VC:
In September 1943 he was based at Nadzab, New Guinea, whence the 2nd / 25th advanced towards Lae.
On 13 September 1943, during the Battle of Lae, the platoon to which Private Kelliher was attached came under very heavy fire from a concealed Japanese machine gun, at Heath's Plantation. The machine gun inflicted severe casualties and prevented the platoon's advance. Private Kelliher suddenly, on his own initiative, dashed towards the post and hurled two grenades at it, which killed some of the enemy. He returned to his section, seized a Bren gun, dashed back to the enemy post and silenced it. He then asked permission to go out again to rescue his wounded section leader, which he accomplished successfully under heavy fire from another enemy position.
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Later life:
Kelliher had bad health after suffering from both typhoid and meningitis before the war. In 1944 he was declared medically unfit for active service and discharged.
He later travelled to London to take part in the London Victory Parade of 1946. He married in 1949 and had three children. While working as a cleaner at Brisbane City Hall he applied for, but failed to get, a taxi driver's licence and the family moved to Melbourne where he got a job as a gardener.
By the late 1950s Kelliher was completely disabled due to ill health and on 16 January 1963 had a stroke. He died in Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital on 28 January.
In 1966, Kelliher's battalion association bought his VC for AU$2,000 (equivalent to AU$27,400 in 2021) and donated it to the Australian War Memorial, where it is on display.
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Gallery:
Kelliher (centre) meets George VI at Victory Parade June 1946
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ON THIS DAY
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June 29, 2009
Bernie Madoff sentenced
2009 mugshot
Bernard Madoff (1938 – 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion.Madofff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business.
A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of scheme misleads investors by either falsely suggesting that profits are derived from legitimate business activities (whereas the business activities are non-existent), or by exaggerating the extent and profitability of the legitimate business activities, leveraging new investments to fabricate or supplement these profits. A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as long as investors continue to contribute new funds, and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment.
On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, including securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements, perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan, and making false filings with the SEC. It is speculated he pleaded guilty to all charges without a plea bargain in order to avoid naming any associates and co-conspirators in the scheme.
On June 29, 2009, Madoff was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 150 years in federal prison. His lawyers initially asked the judge to impose a sentence of 7 years, and later requested that the sentence be 12 years, because of Madoff's advanced age of 71 and his limited life expectancy.
Madoff died of hypertension, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease at the age of 82 in a federal prison for inmates with special health needs on April 14, 2021.
In a May 4, 2011, statement, it was calculated that the total amount owed to customers (with some adjustments) was $57 billion.
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Saturday, June 28, 2025
SYDNEY SUBURBS
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DURAL
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Location:
Dural is a semi rural suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills District.
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Name Origin:
There is some dispute over the origin of the name 'Dural'. It has been claimed that Dural is an Aboriginal word used by the Dharug language group meaning 'gully' or 'valley'. Dural was also recorded as meaning 'valley' in surveyor James Meehan's Field Book No 128 in 1817, and the Reverend WB Clarke gives Dural the meaning of 'valley' in his diary entry of November 1840. His informant was Nurragingy, a traditional owner of the land, who was then living at North Rocks.
However, until recently, Dural was also thought to mean 'burning logs', from the Aboriginal words dooral dooral. But the supposition that Dural means 'a hollow tree on fire', 'smoking hollow tree' or 'burning logs' was only introduced into the locality by the Rector of St Jude's Church in the 1940s, and was taken from the Wiradjuri language.
Dural also appears in early records as Douro, Dooral and Dure Hill. A map by surveyor Meehan, dated 1817, shows the location for Dural as 'Doora', and a similar word appears in the Sydney Gazette in 1805. Meehan also marked out a road between Castle Hill and Dural, but it remained a bush track until 1825, when work commenced on the Great North Road.
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History:
Located on the Old Northern Road, a historic road built by convicts between 1825 and 1836 to link early Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, with the fertile Hunter Valley to the north.
BTW:
Built by convicts between 1825 and 1836, it traverses over 260 kilometres (162 mi) of the rugged terrain that hindered early agricultural expansion. The road was an engineering triumph, with some sections constructed to a notably high standard. It was not an unqualified success in practical terms. Apart from the steep grades, there was a lack of water and horse feed along the route. For these reasons it quickly fell into disuse with the development of alternative means of getting to the Hunter Valley, such as steamships and newer roads. Much of the road fell into total disuse while other parts were absorbed into the urban and rural road network.
The road is of such cultural significance it was included on the Australian National Heritage List on 1 August 2007 as a nationally significant example of major public infrastructure developed using convict labour and on the UNESCO World Heritage list as amongst: " .. the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts."
In 1990, the local communities of Bucketty and Wollombi established the 'Convict Trail Project', aiming to restore, maintain and promote the road as a museum of convict engineering. Original sections of the road which are on view have provided valuable insight into early road construction techniques in the colony of New South Wales, and how English road-building technology of the time was imported and adapted. Prisoners from facilities managed by Corrective Services NSW have been involved with maintenance.
Dural was settled from the 1820s by timber-getters, farmers and orchardists.
The early settlers built their homes – slab huts or wattle-and-daub cottages – from the local timber. During the gold rushes, when labour was scarce, prices for sawn timber were high, and settlers in the district harvested the abundant timber and cut it in sawpits on their properties. After the timber was exhausted, grain crops of oats, wheat and barley were planted, but the land was most suited to citrus trees, and by the end of the nineteenth century the area had become an important fruit-growing district. Timber-getting and fruit growing remain the main primary industries of the area.
The first grant in the area was made to George Hall in 1879.
At an earlier stage, a local settler, James Roughley, had donated land to be used for the building of a church. A sandstone chapel was built on Old Northern Road circa 1846, with a vestry, apse and shingle roof, plus a bell turret on the western gable. A porch was added soon after. The chapel—known as St Jude's Church—is now listed on the Register of the National Estate.
St Jude's Anglican Church, Dural, built on land donated by James Roughley in 1846.
It is a rare sandstone church built in the English Norman style as one cell with no aisles and a curved apse.
James Roughley (1829-1908)
St Jude’s Anglican Church today
Dural Post Office opened on 1 August 1864.
In 1907, the New South Wales Department of Agriculture established a 40-acre (16-hectare) Orchard Experimental Farm on Galston Road at Dural. Here, research work and trials with fruit trees were carried out. Twenty-one boys, known as the Dreadnought Boys, were brought out from Great Britain to be trained at the farm with money originally raised to purchase a dreadnought battleship for Great Britain.
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About:
Dural is now a semi-rural area with some farmland and remnant forest. Land blocks average five acres (two hectares) and are popular as hobby farms.
According to the 2021 census, there were 7,900 residents in Dural. 64.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were China 4.1%, England 4.0%, India 3.0%, South Africa 2.0% and Malaysia 1.6%.
There was a high level of home ownership in Dural, with 81.0% of people either owning their house outright or owning with a mortgage.
Between 1985 and 1987, Dural was the site for tapings of the television game show It's a Knockout shown nationally on the Ten Network and hosted by Billy J Smith and Fiona MacDonald. However, due to numerous complaints from local residents the show was cancelled in 1987.
Dural was also the setting for the home of the wealthy Hamilton family, at 631 Old Northern Road, in the soap opera Sons And Daughters during its 1981–1987 run.
A manor house in Dural, Le Chateau, was the primary filming location of reality television show Beauty and the Geek Australia:
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Gallery:
Some of the grand homes in Dural . . .
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ON THIS DAY
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June 28, 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (1863 – 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I.
On 28 June 1914 Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The perpetrator was 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand.
Earlier in the day, the couple had been attacked by a Young Bosnia conspirator, who had thrown a grenade at their car. However, the bomb detonated behind them, injuring the occupants in the following car. On arriving at the Governor's residence, Franz asked "So you welcome your guests with bombs!"
After a short rest at the Governor's residence, the royal couple insisted on seeing all those who had been injured by the bomb at the local hospital. At this time, Princip was sitting at a cafe across the street. He instantly seized his opportunity and walked across the street and shot the royal couple. He first shot Sophie in the abdomen and then shot Franz Ferdinand in the neck. Franz leaned over his crying wife. He was still alive when witnesses arrived to render aid. His dying words to Sophie were, "Don't die darling, live for our children." He died within minutes, Sophie died en route to the hospital.
The assassinations, along with the arms race, nationalism, imperialism, militarism of Imperial Germany and the alliance system all contributed to the origins of World War I, which began a month after Franz Ferdinand's death, with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.
The moment when the Austrian archdukes, following the first attempt against their lives, arrived at the City Council (of Sarajevo), where they were received by the mayor and the municipal corporation.
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Friday, June 27, 2025
FUNNY FRIDAY
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Some various items of humour today, folks, but with an emphasis on the environment.
Enjoy.
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SOME HUMOUR:
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Stop buying plastic skeletons for Halloween. It's bad for the environment.
Locally sourced, all natural skeletons are much more environmentally friendly.
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My parents called a meeting just to tell me I'm really well-suited to my environment.
I don't remember exactly what they said, but it was something like, "son, you're adapted."
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God created the heavens and the earth, then said let there be light!
Then Keith Richard’s yelled turn it off I’m trying to sleep.
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I'm sick and tired of people telling me to turn off lights to save the environment.
I tried it once and I killed a cyclist.
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Trying to do my bit for the environment
..so I asked my work mates if they wanted me to pick them up.
Sure enough, I picked up two of the work mates in my car and off we went one morning to work.
Roadworks caused us to divert our journey. We had to take the highway.
Barry starts sweating..
I ask "What's wrong Barry!?".
He shrugs..
We close in on the highway tunnel and Barry starts bloody screaming blue murder!!
"Nooo!! Noooooo!!! STOP! I CANT GO THROUGH THE TUNNEL!!
Turns out Barry has Carpool Tunnel Syndrome..
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What a country! If they find gold or oil in my backyard, it belongs to the state!
But if they find marijuana, then it's mine??
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I've just done my part to help the environment.
I unplugged 6 electric vehicles that no one was using.
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Country Sheriff comes upon the scene of a gruesome auto accident; no survivors, but no immediate concern to safety, so he begins to fill out his report on the scene:
"Automobile flipped in the ditch; D-I-T-C-H."
"Contents of the automobile as well as two bodies thrown from the car also in the ditch; D-I-T-C-H."
"Severed head on the boulevard; B-O-L-U...B-O-L-O-V......B-U-O-L..."
*kick*
"In the ditch; D-I-T-C-H."
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Environment my arse. . .
A small ATM room having two ACs and 4 tubelights, working 24 hours, is asking me not to print a receipt to save the environment..
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A husband and wife who work for the circus go to an adoption agency looking to adopt a child, but the social workers there raise doubts about their suitability.
So the couple produces photos of their 50-foot motor home, which is clean and well maintained and equipped with a beautiful nursery.
The social workers are satisfied by this but then raise concerns about the kind of education a child would receive while in the couple’s care.
The husband puts their mind at ease, saying, “We’ve arranged for a full-time tutor who will teach the child all the usual subjects along with French, Mandarin, and computer skills.”
Next though, the social workers express concern about a child being raised in a circus environment.
This time the wife explains, “Our nanny is a certified expert in pediatric care, welfare, and diet.”
The social workers are finally satisfied and ask the couple, “What age child are you hoping to adopt?”
The husband says, “It doesn’t really matter, as long as the kid fits in the cannon.”
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After performing a thorough exam of his new young patient, the obstetrician remarked, “Mrs. Parsons, I have some really good news for you, I have confirmed---”
“--Pardon me,” she interrupted, “it’s actually Miss Parsons.”
“Oh, OK,” he stammered, “uh, let’s see, in that case, I have some really bad news for you.”
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Two Jehova’s Witnesses were going door to door, and knocked on the door of a woman who was not happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms that she did not want to hear their offer and slammed the door in their faces.
To her surprise, however, the door did not close and, in fact, bounced back open. She tried again, really put her back into it, and slammed the door again with the same result - the door bounced back open.
Convinced they were sticking their foot in the door, she reared back to give it a slam that would teach them a lesson, when one of the men said: "Ma'am, before you do that again, you need to move your cat."
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LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:
One from the vault:
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GALLERY:
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CORN CORNER:
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Why do anaesthetists make you count down when they administer anesthesia?
To make you number.
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Smoked some cannabis. Made up a little poem.
Called it a high-ku.
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Did you hear about the company making pitas for women?
They don't have pockets.
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Why is it impossible to solve a redneck murder?
DNA is all the same
There are no dental records
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ON THESE DAYS
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26 June, 2015
US Supreme Court upholds same sex marriage
In Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on this date in 2015 that state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional; writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy stated that “no longer may this liberty be denied.”
A landmark decision, the determination the fundamental right to marry as guaranteed to same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as the marriages of opposite-sex couples, with equal rights and responsibilities.
Prior to Obergefell, same-sex marriage had already been established by statute, court ruling, or voter initiative in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam.
In a majority opinion authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Court examined the nature of fundamental rights guaranteed to all by the Constitution, the harm done to individuals by delaying the implementation of such rights while the democratic process plays out, and the evolving understanding of discrimination and inequality that has developed greatly since Baker.
On the morning of June 26, 2015, outside the Supreme Court, the crowd celebrates the Court's decision.
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June 27, 1844
Joseph Smith murdered
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805 – 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement He published the Book of Mormon at the age of 24
By early 1844 a rift developed between Smith and a half dozen of his closest associates. Believing these men were plotting against his life, Smith excommunicated them on April 18, 1844. The rift deepened, ultimately culminating in Smith having to stand rial for inciting a riot. Once Smith and his brother Hyrum were in custody, the charges were increased to treason, preventing them from posting bail.
On June 27, 1844, an armed mob with blackened faces stormed Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum were being detained. Hyrum, who was trying to secure the door, was killed instantly with a shot to the face. Smith fired three shots from a pepper-box pistol that his friend had lent him, wounding three men, before he sprang for the window. Smith and his companions were staying in the jailer's bedroom, which did not have bars on the window.) He was shot multiple times before falling out of the window, crying, "Oh Lord my God!" He died shortly after hitting the ground, but was shot several more times by an improvised firing squad before the mob dispersed.
Following Smith's death, non-Mormon newspapers were nearly unanimous in portraying Smith as a religious fanatic.[166] Conversely, within the Latter Day Saint community, Smith was viewed as a prophet, martyred to seal the testimony of his faith.
Smith was the first U.S. presidential candidate to be assassinated.
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Wednesday, June 25, 2025
POETRY SPOT
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Have You Earned Your Tomorrow?
- Edgar Guest
Is anybody happier because you passed his way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
This day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?
Did you give a cheerful greeting to the friend who came along?
Or a churlish sort of "Howdy" and then vanish in the throng?
Were you selfish pure and simple as you rushed along the way,
Or is someone mighty grateful for a deed you did today?
Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that's slipping fast,
That you helped a single brother of the many that you passed?
Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said;
Does a man whose hopes were fading now with courage look ahead?
Did you waste the day, or lose it, was it well or sorely spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent?
As you close your eyes in slumber do you think that God would say,
You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today?
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Edgar Guest (1881 - 1959) was born in England, but moved with his family to Detroit, Michigan, when he was ten years old. He worked for more than sixty years at the Detroit Free Press, publishing his first poem at the age of seventeen, then going on to become a reporter and columnist whose work was featured in hundreds of newspapers around the country. Edgar is said to have written some 11,000 poems during his lifetime, most of it sentimental, short, upbeat verse. Critics often derided his work, but America adored him. He was known as the "People's Poet," served as Michigan's poet laureate, hosted a long-running radio show and TV show, and published more than twenty books.
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