News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Aspirin is capitalized in Mexico, Canada, Germany and a lot of other places because it is a protected trademark of Bayer AG. Aspirin is lower case in the USA because it is sold generically here as the German pharmaceutical giant lost its trademark here in 1921.
No Anthony, the greatest POW escape was not The Great Escape orchestrated by the Brits at Stalag Luft III in Germany during World War II which was made into a wildly inaccurate yet entertaining movie. Only 76 were involved in that breakout. The greatest POW escape was the Cowra Breakout on Aug. 5, 1944 by Japanese prisoners being held in the remote Australian town of Cowra. That involved 1,104 POWs. All were recaptured except for the 231 killed.
Princess Leia Twitter Ban — Powerful Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY10) has been making divisive comments whose dishonesty we feel literally — yeah, Rachel Maddow we know what the word means — crosses the line to sedition.
Saying you can’t trust an election on false claims that the President is a traitor can’t be anything but a call to resist lawful authority.
Anyway, it was being discussed on Twitter as to what should happen to Congressman Nadler and we innocently suggest he “should be strangled to death by Princess Leia.”
Quick Quiz for Ms. Maddow: Should a comment about being strangled to death by Princess Leia be taken “literally”.
But dang if that didn’t get us suspended. We haven’t fixed that account yet. Don’t know if we will.
Airliner lightning strikes are not shocking news. The average airliner get hits by a bolt about once a year.
Hat tip Air & Space magazine.
OK, all you residents of Chadds Ford, Pa., how do you say “burnt wine” in Dutch? Give up? It’s “brandewijn”. You spell it differently.
Dutch traders visited the Cognac region of France back in the 1500s to buy wine among other things. The wine was hard to preserve for the trip back so they distilled it. They then distilled it again. Burning it in other words. The name for the product was eventually shortened to just “brandy”.
Cognac is just brandy made in Cognac.
Hat tip Robert L.
Yes Anthony, Omaha was bombed during World War II. The Japanese did it on April 18, 1945. They used a hot air balloon. Nobody was hurt and no damage was done. It’s noteworthy, though, as that the Nebraska city is almost smack dab in the middle of the country about 1,300 miles from the Pacific and 1,100 miles from the Atlantic.
You want a white Christmas? Move to Syracuse, N.Y. It’s the snowiest city in the nation with an average fall of 123.8 inches.
Maybe you’d guess that but we betcha you would guess that Flagstaff, Az. is in second place with an average fall of 101.7 inches.
Snowiest city William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 12-25-19
Philly Burbs Dems Show They Represent The Rich — President Trump taxed the rich big time with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that became law Dec. 22, 2017.
It limits federal deductions of state and local taxes at $10,000. This includes property taxes. Most of us think that is peachy as we don’t pay that much more, if that much, in these taxes.
The rich, though, with their wasteful mansions with big carbon footprints in exclusive communities, are feeling a lot of pain.
Especially, if they live in a high-tax state like New Jersey or California.
So the pseudo-socialist, crony capitalists who fill the Democratic Party are trying to help them. They want to return the state and local tax deduction. They neato beltway acronym they use to refer to this deduction is SALT.
On Dec. 19, the House passed H.R. 5377 which would have raised the deduction to $20,000.
The called it the Restoring Tax Fairness for States and Localities Act (LOL). OK, the LOL is what we added.
Anyway, the vote was 218 to 206.
Sixteen Democrats voted against the measure but they did not include any from the Philadelphia region. Yes, Brendan Boyle (Pa2), Dwight Evans (Pa3), Madeleine Dean (Pa4), Mary Gay Scanlon (Pa5) and Chrissy Houlahan (Pa6) voted to help the very rich.
Five Republicans voted for the measure. Yes, they included Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa1).
Brian, what good are you anyway?
A bill ending these deductions made it to the floor of the Senate, Oct. 23. It was sponsored by big-time lib Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). It failed 52-43. Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only R vote in favor — gotta love the libertarians — and Sen Michael Bennet of Colorado was the only D vote against.
Five senators did not vote including Democrats Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont who in a strange coincidence had announced presidential campaigns.
Call it official. The GOP is the party of the little guy and the Ds are the bald hypocrites who represent the country clubs.
Henry Cole William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 12-24-19
Henry Cole, a popular London museum director in the mid-19th century used to send short notes to his friends every Christmas. In 1843, he became extremely busy, so he asked John C. Horsely, an artist friend, to design a card saying “A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to You.” And so, Cole invented the Christmas Card.
Beyond The Pale? A palus was what the Romans called a sharpened piece of wood. They’d stick them around their camps to form a barrier against the bad guys.
Palus evolved to things like pole and pale. English troops called their protective barriers in unfriendly lands like Ireland and France and such pales.
When one went beyond the pale one went to places where order was not maintained and the unexpected was expected.
And now you know from whence comes the phrase.