Toyota key won't turn

I've been having this problem for a number of months. The key won't turn in the ignition. I found that I had to jiggle the key back and forth and kind of shove it in. And if that didn't work, turn the key upside down. Eventually it worked. But now a new problem. The key wouldn't insert all the way in. Had to try pushing it in and out a number of times and eventually it worked. I went home and sprayed it with some silicon spray. And now the key goes in easier. But when I tried the old (less used key) it wouldn't turn. And only the more worn out key works putting it in one way. Though even that doesn't work sometimes on the first crack. Google. Sounds like it's the lock cylinder. I think I'll take it to B&A and see what they say.

[8/20/12] Took it to B&A and they said there's nothing they could do, but that the keys looked worn out.

So I went to City Mill and made a duplicate of the key that was in mom's closet.  That seems to work better.  But now that the lubricant has settled in, I can put the old key in and turn it after jiggling a couple times.  The other old key still doesn't work though.  I'm keeping the new duplicate key on my keychain but trying not to use it so I don't wear it out.  I'm also keeping the other old key on my keychain too.  I can still use it to unlock the door.

Charmed

After finally having bought all the Charmed DVD sets for Christie (not that I know that she knows where all of them are), I see some Charmed episodes have been uploaded on youtube.

1.0 - Unaired Pilot (just uploaded today, an older upload)
1.1 - Something Wicca This Way Comes
etc.

Amazon sales tax

The free ride is ending..

Attention Amazon shoppers: Be prepared to pay more when you purchase goods, depending on where you live.
 
The online retail giant will start charging sales tax in eight additional states in coming years, starting with California and Pennsylvania in September, as it puts down physical roots in more places. Amazon already collects sales tax in six states.

Tyler and JLo leaving American Idol

LOS ANGELES >> Jennifer Lopez is the second judge in two days to say she's leaving "American Idol."

Her representative, Mark Young, said today that Lopez is ending her time on television's most popular show after two years. Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler said the same thing on Thursday.

Lopez broke the news to "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest on his radio show.

"I really was dreading this phone call with you," she told him. "I honestly feel like the time has come that I have to get back to doing the other things that I do that I've put kind of on hold because I love 'Idol' so much."

That means the show's judging panel is down to one, Randy Jackson, and there are reports that he may take a different role on the program moving forward.

[9/1/12] The dawg days are over at "American Idol" ... TMZ has learned Randy Jackson is officially LEAVING the judge's table ... but will still remain a part of the show as a "mentor."

Sources connected to "Idol" tell us ... there's some concern among the brass that Jackson is not well-suited for the mentor role ... but they feel they need him because he's the glue that helps keep the show together.

As for his replacement ... sources tell us Nicki Minaj's deal is 99% done ... but still not a sure thing just yet.

American Idol may be ready for a major makeover. Last year's season finale, with Jessica Sanchez vs. Phil Phillips, had the smallest audience of any American Idol finale; even smaller than the first American Idol finale which aired in the slower summer months. Season 11's finale got just 21.5 million viewers. The biggest viewership for an American Idol finale was 38.1 million in 2003.

American Idol remains a cash cow for Fox. It pulls in about $500,000 for a 30-second commercial, and it remains one of the biggest draws on TV, despite a decline in audience in recent years. But few blame the cast of judges as responsible for the decline. Most observers say the ebb is a result of a combination of audience atigue and the rise of copy cat competition, especially, the arrival of Simon Cowell's "X-Factor" and NBC's "The Voice."

[9/16/12] The "American Idol" judges' panel is now complete with the naming of singer-rapper Nicki Minaj and country crooner Keith Urban.

The Fox network officially tapped the pair with an announcement today, confirming rumors surrounding them both just hours before the first round of auditions for next season was due to begin in New York.

The announcement also settled the status of Randy Jackson. He will stay put as the sole remaining original "Idol" judge, scotching rumors he might assume a different role on the popular talent competition.

This trio will join pop star Mariah Carey at a judges' panel now expanded to four members from its previous three.

KITV blacked out

Wow, this gotta be front page news in Hawaii.

KITV, the local ABC affiliate is no longer being carried by Oceanic (the Time Warner cable channel which is probably used by 90% of Hawaii's TV audience).

And not only in Hawaii, but cities like Boston, Kansas City, Lincoln NE, Louisville (CBS), Cincinnati, Pittsburgh.

Score one for Direct TV.

Amazingly, I see nothing of this in the Star Advertiser.  Well, wait for Hawaii to wake up to that message!

We'll see how many days this lasts.

***

OK, here's the Star-Advertiser story.

*** [7/20/12]

KITV is back on Oceanic!

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine, the beefy screen star known for blustery, often villainous roles, but who won the best-actor Oscar for playing against type as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95.

His longtime spokesman, Harry Flynn, told The Associated Press that Borgnine died of renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his wife and children at his side.

Borgnine, who endeared himself to a generation of Baby Boomers with the 1960s TV comedy "McHale's Navy," first attracted notice in the early 1950s in villain roles, notably as the vicious Fatso Judson, who beat Frank Sinatra to death in "From Here to Eternity."

Then came "Marty," a low-budget film based on a Paddy Chayefsky television play that starred Rod Steiger. Borgnine played a 34-year-old who fears he is so unattractive he will never find romance. Then, at a dance, he meets a girl with the same fear.

"Sooner or later, there comes a point in a man's life when he's gotta face some facts," Marty movingly tells his mother at one point in the film. "And one fact I gotta face is that, whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it. I chased after enough girls in my life. I-I went to enough dances. I got hurt enough. I don't wanna get hurt no more."

The realism of Chayefsky's prose and Delbert Mann's sensitive direction astonished audiences accustomed to happy Hollywood formulas. Borgnine won the Oscar and awards from the Cannes Film Festival, New York Critics and National Board of Review.

"The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful," Borgnine told an interviewer in 1966. "But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life."

Those messes included four failed marriages, including one in 1964 to singer Ethel Merman that lasted less than six weeks.

But Borgnine's fifth marriage, in 1973 to Norwegian-born Tova Traesnaes, endured and brought with it an interesting business partnership. She manufactured and sold her own beauty products under the name of Tova and used her husband's rejuvenated face in her ads.

During a 2007 interview with The Associated Press, Borgnine expressed delight that their union had reached 34 years. "That's longer than the total of my four other marriages," he commented, laughing heartily.

Although still not a marquee star until after "Marty," the roles of heavies started coming regularly after "From Here to Eternity." Among the films: "Bad Day at Black Rock," ''Johnny Guitar," ''Demetrius and the Gladiators," ''Vera Cruz."

Then he successfully made the transition to TV comedy.

From 1962 to 1966, Borgnine a Navy vet himself starred in "McHale's Navy" as the commander of a World War II PT boat with a crew of misfits and malcontents. Obviously patterned after Phil Silvers' popular Sgt. Bilko, McHale was a con artist forever tricking his superior, Capt. Binghamton, played by the late Joe Flynn.

The cast took the show to the big screen in 1964 with a "McHale's Navy" movie.

Borgnine's later films included "Ice Station Zebra," ''The Adventurers," ''Willard," ''The Poseidon Adventure," ''The Greatest" (as Muhammad Ali's manager), "Convoy," ''Ravagers," ''Escape from New York," ''Moving Target" and "Mistress."

More recently, Borgnine had a recurring role as the apartment house doorman-cum-chef in the NBC sitcom "The Single Guy." He had a small role in the unsuccessful 1997 movie version of "McHale's Navy." And he was the voice of Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants" and Carface on "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2."

On Jan. 24, 2007, Borgnine celebrated his 90th birthday with a party for friends and family at a West Hollywood bistro. He seemed little changed from his years as a lusty villain or sympathetic hero on the screen. His only concession to age had come at 88 when he gave up driving the bus he would take around the country, stopping to talk with local folks along the way.

During an interview at the time, Borgnine complained that he wanted to continue acting but most studio executives kept asking, "Is he still alive?"

"I just want to do more work," he said. "Every time I step in front of a camera I feel young again. I really do. It keeps your mind active and it keeps you going."

Andy Griffith

(CBS News) Actor Andy Griffith, whose portrayal of a rural sheriff in a popular 1960s TV show earned him the title of "America's Favorite Sheriff," died Tuesday morning. He was 86.

Pictures: Andy Griffith, 1926-2012

Read more: Celebrities remember Andy Griffith

His death was confirmed in a statement from the Dare County, N.C., sheriff's office. Griffith died at his home on Roanoke Island, Dare County, N.C., at approximately 7 a.m.

"Andy Griffith passed away, after an illness ... Mr. Griffith has been laid to rest on his beloved Roanoke Island," explained a statement from Griffith's family.

"Andy was a person of incredibly strong Christian faith and was prepared for the day he would be called Home to his Lord," the actor's wife, Cindi Griffith, said in a statement.

CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports that while Griffith's long career stretched from nightclubs to radio to movies to music, it was a role as a small-town sheriff that made him beloved to millions of Americans.

Viewers tuned in to "The Andy Griffith Show" not to watch Sheriff Andy Taylor solve big crimes, but to watch him solve the little problems of life in the fictional Mayberry, N.C. Don Knotts played Deputy Barney Fife, and Jim Nabors portrayed Gomer Pyle, the gas pumper. Most critics consider the show, which ran from 1960 to 1968, one of the top four or five sitcoms ever shown on television.

my movies on youtube (and other places)

I keep seeing more and more full-length movies on youtube.  Not sure how they upload full length movies.  And since they're probably violating copyright, the videos are likely to be taken off in a few weeks or months.  But anyway, here's some that I have found.

(Many of which I already have on DVD, so I have little to gain by watching them on youtube.  The other disadvantage?  No subtitles.)

Let's start with some Bruckheimer
Deja Vu (uploaded 3/25/12)
Gone in 60 Seconds (uploaded 6/25/12)
Enemy of the State (1998) (uploaded 2/18/12)
Armageddon (in 14 parts, uploaded 7/25/08)
The Rock (1996) (uploaded 2/20/12)
Con Air (8 parts, uploaded 6/7/12)
Crimson Tide (1996) (uploaded 2/22/12)

So you see, 5 of the 6 were uploaded this year (thus unlikely to last the year).
[7/13/12 - All except Deja Vu and Armageddon are gone]

Here's a few more that caught my eye
Independence Day (uploaded 11/1/11)
Push (uploaded 6/26/12)

X-Men (uploaded 6/25/12)
Hulk vs. Thor (uploaded 4/8/12)
Ultimate Avengers (uploaded 4/15/12)

[9/23/12] Green Lantern on vimeo (after I rented it from RedBox last night)

[2/9/13] checking the above links.  all the movies are gone except for Armageddon (which I have Criterion Collection DVD anyway).

shopping on Amazon

Went looking for Lysol disinfectant spray today (or equivalent) today. Checked Safeway and Longs. The best deal I found was $6 for a 12.5 oz can at Safeway.

Now I'm checking Amazon. They have a 3 pack for only $9.86. And these are 19 oz cans! Next time.

Also looked for bathmats. This is sort of hard to find. Didn't see any at Costco. They had a $6 one at Longs and also a $13 one. Wound up buying the $6 one. Amazon? The cheapest one I see is this $6 deal. I guess this real deal would be this Rubbermaid mat for $9.

How about coffee stirrers? Couldn't find any at Safeway or Longs. The best deal is this Genuine Joe 1000 pack for $5.95. Well I guess this one is even cheaper per stirrer. But I don't think I need 5000.

One thing that caught my eye was the Angry Bird hooded blankie (or whatever). I think this is the one. It was cheaper at Costco Also the Angry Bird pillow which was out of stock at Costco. This might be it. It was also cheaper at Costco (if they had them). How about the Angry Bird plush toy which they're selling at roku.com. Amazon has one with sound for $8.55. The one at roku is for $6.99 but I don't know if it has sound.

I wonder if they sell cranberry juice? Actually they do. But you have to buy in quantity, like this 8-pack.

Hmm. I can see you can almost buy everything by mail order. How about bread? The one I buy from Costco is Oroweat Oatnut. Nope. Though they do have Arnold oatnut whole grains bread who's packaging looks very similar. Apparently they're the same company. But it's much cheaper at Costco.

So I'll keep Amazon in mind for future purchases, but Costco does give free samples..

Little Princes

SEEING, THEY SAY, is believing. Little Princes, by Conor Grennan, is eye-opening. It describes the stark reality faced by thousands of children in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal. Gren nan writes, often surprisingly humorously, about his experience working as a volunteer at Little Princes — an orphanage in the region—and  how it transformed him from an “average, ordinary American guy” to a man who has risked life and limb to help stranded Nepalese children reconnect with their families.

-- Costco Connection, February 2011

toto toilet

We got a toto toilet some years ago.  It was good at first.  But then the flapper broke and now the handle broke.

It seemed our old toilet lasted much longer.  Though I remember we had to change the flappers too.  So maybe not.

Anyway, it looks like the part is available on Amazon for $20.77.  The part number is THU68-CP and the toilet model is the St743S. Looking on the inside of the handle I see the numbers 9592.

I remember the last time, Home Depot directed me to The Bathroom Store.  But maybe the part might be available at City Mill too.

***

Nope, not at City Mill.  Not at Lowes either.  And I figured not at Home Depot.  $34+ at The Bathroom Store.  So it cost me $13 (plus gas).

Wee-N-See

Potty training your little one is an important milestone for the whole family. Yet sometimes it’s easier said than done. Fortunately, Tammi Umeno has developed a product that can make potty training as easy as 1, 2, 3. Enter the Wee-N-See, a fun and easy way to toilet train your child.

The Wee-N-See works in three easy steps: First, place the Wee-N-See in the water of the toilet when your child is ready to “go.” Then, when urine makes contact with the WeeN-See, it will chemically activate the aid, and a picture design will be revealed. Finally, flush when done. There are 10 fun designs to choose from, including a dinosaur, ladybug, sun, train, bee, whale, dragonfly and more.

slideshow

how to raise a good man

The instant you looked into your newborn son’s eyes you knew that every hope you had for his future rested on what you did from that moment on. Would you be able to help him grow into a caring, confident, responsible man? Every mother questions how she’s doing when it comes to raising her boy. But if you follow the advice below, chances are, your son will turn into the kind of man you want him to be.

Read more: How To Raise Boys - Tips for Raising Sons - Woman's Day

-- Woman's Day, June 2011

Richard Dawson

Richard Dawson brought a saucy, unabashedly touchy-feely style to television game shows as host of "Family Feud."

The British-born entertainer, who died Saturday at age 79 from complications related to esophageal cancer, earlier had made his mark in the unlikely 1960s sitcom hit "Hogan's Heroes," which mined laughs from a Nazi POW camp whose prisoners hoodwink their captors and run the place themselves.

But it is as the kissing, wisecracking quizmaster of "Feud" that he will be remembered.

Enlarge Image

Associated Press

Richard Dawson, host of 'Family Feud,' in June 1978.

The show, which initially ran from 1976 to 1985, pitted a pair of families against each other as they tried to guess the most popular answers to poll questions such as "What do people give up when they go on a diet?"

Mr. Dawson made his hearty, soaring pronouncement of the phrase "Survey says..." a national catchphrase among the show's fans.

coconut oil and alzheimers / dementia

First the video that has been going around via email.

http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/mp4/LJO190v1_WS

Then a followup from Snopes

Then some people reportedly getting results.

I wonder if haupia ice cream and coconut pie can be beneficial?  [Coconut bao too!]  Even if it doesn't, at least we'll enjoy the food. 

[6/15/12] After looking on ebay for coconut oil, I see that it's also available at amazon.  Surprisingly there are only 34 reviews of Mary Newport's book, but 29 are five star and 3 are four star.

[8/7/12] Yep, it sure sounds like, from the way she's been acting, that mom has dementia.  Whether she has Alzheimer's or not, is another story.

Dementia is the gradual deterioration of mental functioning, such as thinking, concentration, memory, and judgment, which affects a person’s ability to perform normal daily activities.

Dementia occurs primarily in people who are over the age of 65, or in those with an injury or disease that affects brain function. While dementia is most commonly seen in the elderly, it is not a normal consequence of the aging process.

Dementia is caused by the death of brain cells. Brain cells can be destroyed by brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, or strokes (called vascular or multi-infarct dementia), which decrease blood flow to the brain.

In most cases, the symptoms of dementia occur gradually, over a period of years. Symptoms of dementia caused by injury or stroke occur more abruptly.

Difficulties often begin with memory, progressing from simple forgetfulness to the inability to remember directions, recent events, and familiar faces and names.

[8/7/12] Here's a couple of threads from Dementia Weekly:

What's Bad About Using Coconut Oil for Dementia?

Testimonials for Coconut Oil as a Dimentia Therapy

[8/19/12] Finally bought some coconut oil, found it at GNC.  Nutiva brand.  Put it on oatmeal but it didn't have much taste. So the next day I added honey too.  Not bad.

I remember Dr. Oz mentioning coconut oil on his show.  As far as I know, he didn't mention the affect on dementia, but it has some other benefits.  Here's some links:

Coconut Oil Super Powers, Part 2

What is coconut oil?

The Benefits of Coconut Oil (by Charles Mattocks)

Dr. Oz and Dr. Mercola

Joe Mercola, quack doctor

Dr. Oz changed his mind

one more for Jackie Chan

Cannes, France >> Jackie Chan is landing his last punch as an action star, but says he is stepping into retirement having made one of the most important films of his career.

The Hong Kong actor told the AP on Friday that his latest film "Chinese Zodiac" will be his last action movie.

Chan, launching the movie at the Cannes Film Festival with co-stars Kwone Sang Woo, Yao Xingtong and Liao Fan, said that people don't believe him when he says he is going to retire.

"They say 'no, you're still young, you can still do it,' but I have to stop one day."

The 58-year-old says he is bowing out with "Chinese Zodiac" — in which he plays a fortune hunter, travelling the world trying to track down missing astrological antiques — because it is one of the "most important" films in his career.

Chan says he spent seven years working on the movie — writing, producing, directing and coordinating fight scenes.

"For the last ten years I've been choosing the director to direct me. This one I direct myself." he said. "I hope this movie, 20 years later, people still remember it. For me, for the audience, for my future, for my history — it's very important."

Chan says "Chinese Zodiac," and the many films before it, have taken their toll on his body.

using your dishwasher

A Word About Prerinsing
Don’t do it. Yes, you read that correctly—prerinsing is wrong. “Dishes should be scraped to remove large chunks,” says Dries. “But if you’re rinsing, you’re really just wasting water and electricity.”

So why is everyone in the habit of prerinsing? Because older dishwashers removed food soil by diluting the food in water, and then hoping it went down the drain. Which it often didn’t.

The vast majority of today’s models have filtration systems designed to catch food and pump it down the drain so that very little dirty water carries over to the next cycle. Higher-end models not only have self-cleaning filters, but hard food disposers as well, which grind food and send it down the drain.

In addition, modern detergents are designed to attack food, which can actually cause problems if there isn’t any food on the dishware. “The detergent in the unit aggressively goes after something, and if you don’t have food soil in the unit, it attacks the glasses, which will get cloudy,” says Mike Edwards, a dishwasher designer and senior engineer for Bosch. So ignore your friends when they tell you that you have to prerinse.

How to Load the Right Way
Mike Edwards knows a thing or two about how to load a dishwasher—he’s been designing them for 22 years. His suggestion: “Read the manual. We put a lot of effort into it!” Each tub is a little different, but even so, there are two golden rules: Like items shall be loaded with like. (More items fit that way.) And all items should face the middle of the unit—that’s where the jet spray comes from.

• Avoid nesting Water, water vapor and heat need to touch every surface of the items being washed, so leave space between dishes and don’t overfill.

• Place Items facing Down Placing bowls, pans and cups upright means they’ll fill with dirty water and won’t be able to drain.

• The Lower Rack Put bigger dishes here, close to the jet spray. Plates, pots, pans, mixing bowls all go here; platters go against an outside edge so they don’t block other items. Durable mugs and thick glasses can also go on this rack.

• Silverware Load the silverware basket in the sink—knives handle-up, and forks and spoons handle-down—making sure not to overfill. Many baskets are designed to sit in a variety of bottom rack locations; after you load other items, place the basket where your remaining empty space is.

• The Top Rack Place glasses and cups along the edges, next to the tines (not on them; if you put them on the tines, the tines can break and you’ll fit fewer items). Load smaller plates and saucers in neat rows facing the middle. Long spatulas, cooking spoons and knives lie flat, in the long basket for this purpose, if your unit has one.

Read more: How to Use a Dishwasher - Use Your Dishwasher Efficiently at WomansDay.com - Woman's Day

***

[6/27/12] To rinse or not to rinse?

***

[2/13/13] using Quick Wash

Goober

NASHVILLE, Tenn. >> George Lindsey, who spent nearly 30 years as the grinning Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Hee Haw," has died. He was 83.

A press release from Marshall-Donnelly-Combs Funeral Home in Nashville said Lindsay died early Sunday morning after a brief illness. Funeral arrangements were still being made.

Lindsey was the beanie-wearing Goober on "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1964 to 1968 and its successor, "Mayberry RFD," from 1968 to 1971. He played the same jovial character — a service station attendant — on "Hee Haw" from 1971 until it went out of production in 1993.

"America has grown up with me," Lindsey said in an Associated Press interview in 1985. "Goober is every man; everyone finds something to like about ol' Goober."

He joined "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1964 when Jim Nabors, portraying Gomer Pyle, left the program. Goober Pyle, who had been mentioned on the show as Gomer's cousin, thus replaced him.

Dick Clark

Broadcast icon Dick Clark, the longtime host of the influential "American Bandstand," has died, publicist Paul Shefrin said. He was 82.

Clark suffered a heart attack while at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica for an outpatient procedure, his publicist said Wednesday. "Attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful."

The family has not yet decided whether there will be a public memorial service for the multifaceted Clark, although Shefrin said, "There will be no funeral."

Clark suffered what was then described as "a mild stroke" in December 2004, just months after announcing he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

That stroke forced Clark to cut back on his on-camera work, including giving up the hosting duties for the "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" specials. He returned as a co-host with Ryan Seacrest on December 31, 2005.

Clark's "American Bandstand" work, which he began when it was a local TV show in Philadelphia in 1956, earned him the nickname "America's oldest living teenager." The dance show was picked up by ABC and broadcast nationally a year later.

"If you didn't go on 'American Bandstand,' you hadn't made it yet," singer Aretha Franklin told "AC360."

The savvy entrepreneur was a pioneer in introducing African-American and other performers to millions of young TV viewers. His audiences were integrated, among the first on television.

"Only God is responsible for making more stars than Dick Clark," said singer Tony Orlando, who was 16 when he first appeared on Clark's show in 1961.

the Dalai Lama in Hawaii

Bearing gifts of wisdom and good humor, the Dalai Lama arrived Friday in Honolulu and wasted no time charming the Kamehameha Schools students and administrators on hand to welcome him.

The Tibetan spiritual leader is in Hawaii for this weekend's "Pillars of Peace Hawaii: Building Peace on a Foundation of Aloha," a community peace-building event sponsored by the Hawaii Community Foundation with funding from the Omidyar Ohana Fund.

In addition to private meetings with Native Hawaiian community leaders and others, the Dalai Lama will appear at today's "Educating the Heart," an event for students only, and Sunday's "Advancing Peace Through the Power of Aloha," which is open to the general public.

Born Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped Tibet in 1959 following the Chinese suppression of an uprising in Lhasa. He has spent the last 53 years in exile in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. In that time, he has come to be regarded as a international symbol of peace and compassion as well as a gently outspoken champion of human rights and cultural preservation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his ongoing, nonviolent struggle to liberate Tibet.

The students, chastened by the heavy security presence outside and cautioned by school officials to be on their best behavior, said they found it difficult at first to reconcile the exalted reputation of the Dalai Lama with his disarmingly unaffected manner.

"I was intimidated at first because I didn't know what to expect," said Jacob Hookano. "But when he came through the door and was making jokes and everything, I relaxed. He was like a normal person, very friendly."

[8/24/12] What did the Dalai Lama visit Kailua High School?

Four Days With The Dalai Lama (by Don Chapman, MidWeek)

Clearing out the Lama Notebook

7 Steps to Happiness

Think less, feel more

Frown less, smile more

Talk less, listen more

Judge less, accept more

Watch less, do more

Complain less, appreciate more

Fear less, love more

-- from Roy

The Three Stooges movie

Weep not, for they live again.

Like ghosts from Saturday-morning TV marathons past, three familiar figures jump out from a row of bushes and materialize poolside in the steamy mid-July heat. One sports a distinctive bowl cut, another wears a corona of wild frizz, and the chubby fellow is as bald as a bikini-waxed peach.

Near a building that bears the sign Sisters of Mercy Orphanage & Spa, a ballistic ballet of comic bedlam unfolds: a face is slapped, a cranium is conked, clumps of hair are yanked by the fistful and the epithet "You idiot!" resounds throughout the movie set in suburban Atlanta.

Yes, Moe, Larry and Curly have returned to "woo, woo, woo" and "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk" another day in The Three Stooges: The Movie, opening Friday.

***

Maybe it was just a matter of time before Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the brothers who wrote and directed the comedy "Dumb & Dumber," made a movie about their original dimwitted inspiration, The Three Stooges. (Reuters)

The sound of “nyuk, nyuk, nyuk” will be heard across the land when The Three Stooges — the Farrelly brothers’ long-awaited tribute to the slapstick comedy legends — opens Friday, introducing the trio to a new generation of knuckleheads. (Newsday)

Mike Wallace

NEW YORK >> Within five months of each other, two of the men who helped make “60 Minutes” the most distinctive news show on television have died.

First it was Andy Rooney, the cantankerous commentator who died last November, a month after delivering the last of his show-closing essays. Late Saturday night, it was Mike Wallace, the hard-charging interviewer who frequently led “60 Minutes” and gave it journalistic heft with a showman’s flair.

Rooney made it to age 92. Wallace beat him by a year, although he spent the latter stage of his life in the New Canaan, Conn., care facility where he died.

“More than anyone else he was responsible for the continuing success of ‘60 Minutes,’ “veteran correspondent Morley Safer, a longtime colleague and frequent competitor of Wallace’s in chasing after big stories, said on Sunday’s show. “We are all in his debt.”

60 Minutes” plans an extended tribute to Wallace next Sunday.

Telebrands Bottle Top (a review)

Finally had the opportunity to try out the Telebrands Bottle Top that I got as a grab bag (actually it was somebody else's grab bag but they didn't want it).

The problem is that it didn't fit the can (a can of Sprite). It was too small and didn't snap on easily (or at all).

Comparing to this video, it looks like my bottle top is smaller than the one in the video and doesn't fit around the can.

Apparently they make em in different sizes (probably in China somewhere).

My experience was like this review. I put the can on the floor. Pushed down hard. Then the can collapsed, spilling soda on the kitchen rug :(

Thumbs down. Not worth the price I paid (which was free).

It might be an halfway-OK product if you get one that works. But evidently their quality control is really poor and none of my tops fit. At least I couldn't make it fit.

Leadership Lessons From Steve Jobs

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) may have plenty of lessons for companies to learn, but Steve Jobs has even more for other leaders to take note of.

After all, we're talking about a guy who resurrected a company that was literally a fiscal quarter away from bankruptcy and proceeded to grow it into the largest company in the world by market cap. In the most recent issue of Harvard Business Review, his official biographer, Walter Isaacson, has detailed 14 ways that other leaders can learn from Jobs.

movie and tv databases

As an alternative to imdb are themoviedb.org and thetvdb.com.

These are sort of like wikipedia in which anybody can add/edit information. (Supposedly. I never tried it.) But they both look pretty good.

There's also some front end software for both which downloads the info from these website. They are Free MovieDB and Free TvDB both from myportablesoftware.com.

5 simple rules for happiness

1) Free your heart from hatred.
2) Free your mind from worries
3) Live simply.
4) Give more.
5) Expect less.

-- via roy

the world is getting better

“The world has never been a better place to live in,” says science writer Matt Ridley, “and it will keep on getting better.” Today, in a world gripped by global economic crisis and afflicted with poverty, disease, and war, them’s fightin’ words in some quarters. Ridley’s critics have called him a “denialist” and “shameful” and have accused him of “playing fast and loose with the truth” for his views on climate change and the free market.

Yet Ridley, 54, author most recently of The Rational Optimist, sticks to his guns. “It is not insane to believe in a happy future for people and the planet,” he says. Ridley, who’s been a foreign correspondent, a zoologist, an economist, and a financier, brings a broad perspective to his sunny outlook. “People say I’m bonkers to claim the world will go on getting better, yet I can’t stop myself,” he says.

[Here's some of his 17 reasons..]

Compared with 50 years ago, when I was just four years old, the average human now earns nearly three times as much money (corrected for inflation), eats one third more calories, buries two thirds fewer children, and can expect to live one third longer. In fact, it’s hard to find any region of the world that’s worse off now than it was then, even though the global population has more than doubled over that period.

The rich get richer, but the poor do even better. Between 1980 and 2000, the poor doubled their consumption. The Chinese are ten times richer and live about 25 years longer than they did 50 years ago. Nigerians are twice as rich and live nine more years. The percentage of the world’s people living in absolute poverty has dropped by over half. The United Nations estimates that poverty was reduced more in the past 50 years than in the previous 500.

One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived, and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs—food, clothing, fuel, and shelter—have grown markedly cheaper. Take one example: In 1800, a candle providing one hour’s light cost six hours’ work. In the 1880s, the same light from a kerosene lamp took 15 minutes’ work to pay for. In 1950, it was eight seconds. Today, it’s half a second. In these terms, we are 43,200 times better off than in 1800.

Some people argue that in the past there was a simplicity, tranquillity, sociability, and spirituality that’s now been lost. This rose-tinted nostalgia is generally confined to the wealthy. It’s easier to wax elegiac for the life of a pioneer when you don’t have to use an outhouse. The biggest-ever experiment in back-to-the-land hippie lifestyle is now known as the Dark Ages.

Although the world population is growing, the rate of increase has been falling for 50 years. Across the globe, national birth rates are lower now than in 1960, and in the less developed world, the birth rate has approximately halved. This is happening despite people living longer and infant-mortality rates dropping. According to an estimate from the United Nations, population will start falling once it peaks at 9.2 billion in 2075—so there is every prospect of feeding the world forever. After all, there are already seven billion people on earth, and they are eating better and better every decade.

If you say the world will go on getting better, you are considered mad. If you say catastrophe is imminent, you may expect the Nobel Peace Prize. Bookshops groan with pessimism; airwaves are crammed with doom. I cannot recall a time when I was not being told by somebody that the world could survive only if it abandoned economic growth. But the world will not continue as it is. The human race has become a problem-solving machine: It solves those problems by changing its ways. The real danger comes from slowing change.

For 200 years, pessimists have had all the headlines—even though optimists have far more often been right. There is immense vested interest in pessimism. No charity ever raised money by saying things are getting better. No journalist ever got the front page writing a story about how disaster was now less likely. Pressure groups and their customers in the media search even the most cheerful statistics for glimmers of doom. Don’t be browbeaten—dare to be an optimist!

For more on Ridley, visit rationaloptimist.com.

[via libertarians_2000, see also 20 positive trends]

Bob Campbell

who was my science education teacher at U.H. is featured in Currents #34 2012.

It's not yet available at the website though.

[5/10/12 - OK here it is.  Page 32.]

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

In the book What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack tells about a study of Harvard MBA graduates. After tracking the graduates for 10 years, the survey found that 3 percent of the graduates earned more than the 97 percent combined! Was it a particular skill, trait or industry that differentiated the two groups?

Surprisingly, it was much simpler than that. Researchers found that the 3 percent had clear, written goals for their future, while the other 97 percent did not. Simple goal-setting set the two groups apart. Studies show that goal setting is one of the most important keys to success in our personal and business lives. Setting proper goals provides focus, prioritizes your resources and helps you make the most of your life.

The best goals are S.M.A.R.T. goals, a handy acronym for five important components for welldesigned goals. S.M.A.R.T. goals help you get where you want to go in the context of your vision and purpose for your life.

S: Specific (Create goals that are clear and well-defined)

M: Measureable (Create concrete criteria to measure progress and know when it has been achieved)

A: Achievable (Create goals that are realistic, not too difficult, or too easy)

R: Relevant (Create goals that matter and will move you forward)

T: Time Based (Create goals with a time-frame and target date)

Goals with the S.M.A.R.T. components have a much better chance of success than vague and unrealistic goals. As the Harvard MBA graduates proved, proper goal-setting is a potent tool that can turn dreams into reality, boost your self-confidence and channel your energy so you feel a sense of achievement.

Davy Jones

Davy Jones, an actor-turned-singer who helped propel the made-for-TV band The Monkees to the top of the ratings and the pop charts and into rock ‘n’ roll history, died Wednesday in Florida.

Jones, lead singer of the 1960s group that was assembled as an American version of The Beatles, died of a massive heart attack in Indiantown, where he lived, his publicist Helen Kensick said.

Jones was a former jockey and child actor in his native England. He rose to fame in 1965 when he was picked for the rock band The Monkees, which was formed by Hollywood producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider to star in a comedy TV show called “The Monkees” about a band called, naturally, The Monkees. The show would include the band performing a song.

The Monkees quickly stormed radio and TV airwaves with a string of chart-topping songs that went on to sell an estimated 65 million copies worldwide.

how to know if you're incompetent

answer: you can't!

A growing body of psychology research shows that incompetence deprives people of the ability to recognize their own incompetence. To put it bluntly, dumb people are too dumb to know it. Similarly, unfunny people don't have a good enough sense of humor to tell.

This disconnect may be responsible for many of society's problems.

[via pbo]

$3.5 million worth of comic books

DALLAS >> Billy Wright plunked down dime after dime for comic books while growing up in the late 1930s and early 1940s, caring for the collection he started around the age of 9 until his death more than half a century later. On Wednesday, most of that collection sold for a whopping $3.5 million.

Wright's 345 comics, nearly all of which were published from 1936 through 1941, included many of the most prized issues ever, including Detective Comics No. 27, which features the debut of Batman, and Action Comics No. 1, in which Superman's first appears.

Whitney Houston

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Legendary pop singer Whitney Houston was found dead Saturday at a Beverly Hills, California, hotel, officials said. She was 48.

The entertainer, whose incredible talent was discovered at an early age, was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. (6:55 p.m. ET) at the Beverly Hilton hotel despite resuscitation efforts, a police spokesman said.

Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent" and that the cause of her death is being investigated.

Houston's bodyguard found her body, said Courtney Barnes, publicist for hip-hop artist Ray J, who was dating the pop diva.

According to her official website, Houston sold more than 170 million albums, singles and videos. But she also struggled with addiction problems over the years.

Houston, whose hits included "The Greatest Love of All," died on the eve of the 54th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. She had performed as late as Thursday night at a pre-Grammy event in the area. A pre-Grammy party was scheduled Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton.

celebrity appearances on Sesame Street

The documentary "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey" opens this week, about every toddler's favorite red monster and the man who brings him to life, Kevin Clash.

One of the joys of watching Clash in action -- besides marveling at how effortless he makes it all look -- is seeing how seamlessly he relates to both children and adults. And the segments he does with celebrities, as Elmo learns a lesson or explains a new word, are among his best. So here's a look at five of the greatest celebrity appearances over the four-plus decades "Sesame Street" has been on air.

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Paul Simon - Me & Julio

world more peaceful?

It seems as if violence is everywhere, but it's really on the run.

Yes, thousands of people have died in bloody unrest from Africa to Pakistan, while terrorists plot bombings and kidnappings. Wars remain in Iraq and Afghanistan. In peaceful Norway, a man massacred 69 youths in July. In Mexico, headless bodies are found, victims of drug cartels. This month, eight people died in a shooting in a Southern California hair salon.

Yet, historically, we've never had it this peaceful.

That's the thesis of three new books, including one by prominent Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. Statistics reveal dramatic reductions in war deaths, family violence, racism, rape, murder and all sorts of mayhem.

In his book, Pinker writes: "The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species."

It runs counter to what the mass media is reporting and essentially what we feel in our guts.

Pinker and other experts say the reality is not painted in bloody anecdotes, but demonstrated in the black and white of spreadsheets and historical documents. They tell a story of a world moving away from violence.

In his new book, "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined," Pinker makes the case that a smarter, more educated world is becoming more peaceful in several statistically significant ways. His findings are based on peer-reviewed studies published by other academics using examinations of graveyards, surveys and historical records:

-- The number of people killed in battle - calculated per 100,000 population - has dropped by 1,000-fold over the centuries as civilizations evolved.

-- The rate of genocide deaths per world population was 1,400 times higher in 1942 than in 2008.

-- There were fewer than 20 democracies in 1946. Now there are close to 100. Meanwhile, the number of authoritarian countries has dropped from a high of almost 90 in 1976 to about 25 now.

Pinker says one of the main reasons for the drop in violence is that we are smarter. IQ tests show that the average teenager is smarter with each generation. The tests are constantly adjusted to keep average at 100, and a teenager who now would score a 100 would have scored a 118 in 1950 and a 130 in 1910. So this year's average kid would have been a near-genius a century ago. And that increase in intelligence translates into a kinder, gentler world, Pinker says.

-- staradvertiser, 10/23/11, A21

George Yuzawa

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- George Yuzawa's social activism was rooted in a shameful chapter in U.S. history.

Months after Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Mr. Yuzawa and his wife, Kimiko -- both Nisei, or American-born offspring of Japanese immigrants -- were sent to a Colorado internment camp along with their families. They were among the 120,000 West Coast residents of Japanese descent, the majority born in the United States, incarcerated in World War II by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Yuzawas lost their Los Angeles home and the flower business that George, who was named after George Washington, ran with his father.

"I was born in this country, an American citizen, educated here with a thriving business," the longtime Dumont resident told The Record in 1981.

"I never thought about being evacuated ... never. Then, suddenly, we were prisoners.

"We were put in these wooden structures with tar paper on the roof. My wife and I had a space maybe 8 feet wide and 20 feet long, which we curtained off with blankets. ... And the latrines would run over and flood the camp all the time. The stench and the sickness. ..."

Mr. Yuzawa's ticket out of the Amache Japanese Internment Camp came in September 1943 with the promise of a job at a New York flower shop. Once settled, he arranged for his wife and their families to join him. At 29, he volunteered to join the Army -- an act showing he was a "true American," his daughter, Pat Yuzawa-Rubin said. He was with a military intelligence unit stationed in Tokyo.

After his discharge in 1946, Mr. Yuzawa rebuilt his life. He operated an import and export business before resuming his former livelihood as proprietor of a shop his father had started, Park Central Florist on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The Yuzawas started a family and, in the late '50s, settled in suburban Dumont, N.J.

Mr. Yuzawa became involved in causes combating racial discrimination against Asians. He helped lead the successful 1971-72 backlash against Kenzo, a Japanese-born designer of French fashions, who printed the derogatory word "JAP" on clothing labels. Soon after, he targeted the International Ladies Garment Workers Union over a "Buy American" campaign that included subway posters asking, "Has your job been exported to Japan yet?"

Those efforts prompted Mr. Yuzawa and other Nisei to organize Asian Americans for Fair Media, which monitored print and broadcast media for racial slurs and negative Asian stereotypes.

Revisiting the difficult time his family spent in Amache, Mr. Yuzawa helped organize federal hearings that paved the way for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted $20,000 to every living Japanese-American interned during the war. Mr. Yuzawa received his reparations check with a letter of apology signed by President Bill Clinton.

Gary Moriwaki, president of the Japanese American Association of New York, a community service group in which Mr. Yuzawa was long active, said Mr. Yuzawa was a "walking history book."

"His generation went through amazing ups and downs, but George persevered, and I never saw him bitter," Moriwaki said.

"My father was a man of peace," Yuzawa-Rubin said. "You could imagine how angry he could have been, but he wasn't. That wasn't his thing, and that's why people loved him."

Mr. Yuzawa spent a good part of his retirement helping elderly Japanese in New York.

"Here he was, 90 years old, delivering food to the elderly," Moriwaki said. "I'd say, 'George, what are you doing?' And he'd say, 'I'm helping old people!' He inspired others to be like him."

For years, Mr. Yuzawa enjoyed downhill skiing, and he swore by what he called the "three G's" _ gingko, garlic and ginseng supplements. Those habits and his serene nature saw him into his 97th year.

George Yuzawa died Oct. 8.

17 spiritual lessons

while searching for dog whisperer on ebay, I came across somebody selling this for 99 cents. Googling, I see that it is available for free.

17 Spiritual Lessons from The Dog Whisperer and The Tao Te Ching.

Haven't read it yet, but here's the first paragraph.

"A few days ago one of my students from Florida told me about this unusual TV program they are showing on the Discovery Channel called The Dog Whisperer! Do you know what it’s about? If not I’ll tell you about it in just a short while but before that I want to tell you something on a little different tangent."

Well, for one thing, it's not on the Discovery Channel, it's on National Geographic Channel (and now National Geographic Wild)... So it's off to a bad start. But take it for what it's worth..

So the first lesson might be, you get what you pay for.

Then again, the best things in life are free...

Nicolas Cage, vampire

Could Nicolas Cage be a vampire? A Civil War era photo that bears an eerie resemblance to Cage has sparked rumors that the actor is a real-life vampire.

***

Not to be confused with John Travolta, the time traveler.

Peace on Earth?

“Peace on Earth.” It is each year’s Christmas wish and indeed the great wish of the world’s religions across history.

Of course, any realist or cynic can tell you that this wish is an empty hope that will never come true. And oddly, the idealists who march in the streets for peace seem to agree — the world is awash in war, from atrocities in remote provinces of the Congo to drone attacks in Yemen to suicide bombings in Afghanistan. Whether you blame the military-industrial complex, the clash of civilizations, competition for natural resources, or human nature itself, peace on earth seems further away than ever.

Except, actually, it isn’t. While TV images will always show us the most horrible parts of the human experience, the big picture has changed dramatically in our lifetimes. Peace on earth as a complete cessation of violence may never arrive, but the distance between the dream and the reality has been shrinking for decades. Worldwide, wars today are fewer, smaller and more localized than at any time in living memory.

Fox News accuses the Muppets of class warfare

On Fox Business Channel anchor Eric Bolling showed a clip of the new Disney movie and suggested -- well, no, he said outright -- that the story was aimed at planting the seeds of class warfare among our precious children.

That’s because the Muppet–villain is an oil baron called Tex Richman.

“What’s actually going on there? Is liberal Hollywood using class warfare to brainwash our kids?” he asked, quite reasonably.

Well, of course it is.

“They’ve been doing it for decades,” rejoined Fox guest, Dan Gainor. “Hollywood -- they hate the oil industry, they hate corporate America.”

Action Comics $2.16 million

A rare and pristine copy of the first issue of Action Comics, famed for the first appearance of Superman, has set a record Wednesday for the most money paid for a single comic book: $2.16 million.

Maybe I should buy some comic book bags. I think I have to get silver-sized, though I have a lot from the bronze age too. Mylar is the preferred material.

Spotify

Spotify is a polished program similar to iTunes that offers you access to more than 15 million songs with excellent sound quality. With one click, you share your playlists with friends on Twitter or Facebook, or see what they listen to most. The best thing of all, it’s free!

For the first time in Internet history, you can listen to any track, any album, legally, at no charge, with a few restrictions. Once you launch the Spotify software, it automatically recognizes and displays your music collection stored in iTunes library or Windows Media Player. There you can manage your songs and incorporate them into playlists, including songs offered by Spotify.

In Europe, approximately 84 percent of Spotify’s 10 million listeners choose to stick with the free plan, which is what I use. You’ll hear occasional ads and see banner ads in the Spotify software, but it’s bearable. Keep in mind if you stay with the free version, you’ll be limited to 10 hours of free music per month.

Hungry Ear

Music is a universal language, and Hungry Ear Records in Kailua has been a staple for music lovers since its inception in 1980, boasting the largest selection of new vinyl on the island. This week, the beloved music store, owned and operated by Kailua natives Dennie Chong and Ward Yamashita, is taking the opportunity to thank its loyal customers and celebrate 31 years in the business.

“When people come to Hungry Ear they can expect personal, knowledgeable customer service and items that are hard to find anywhere else on the island,” says Yamashita. “You’ll find a large selection of compact discs, vinyl records and vinyl accessories at our store. There are plenty of bargains here on a daily basis, including $1.99 bargain CDs, and most used CDs are around $5 to $8 each,” he adds.

Hungry Ear Records specializes in Hawaiian and local music, reggae and classic rock on compact disc and vinyl, and also buys records and CDs that you may want to get rid of.

Chong and Yamashita are grateful for their many years in business, but admit that Hungry Ear is part of a dying breed of independent record stores that thrive on the rabid music fan rather than the casual mall customer.

Fortunately for independent record stores like Hungry Ear Records, Yamashita says the music industry is seeing a resurgence in vinyl record sales.

“There’s a wide range of customers buying albums now, from high school kids just discovering the beauty of the format to the older crowd who bought records in their youth and are still drawn to the sound, graphics and even smells that only come from a vinyl record album.

“Hungry Ear is probably the only place on the island or in the state where you can still buy needles and cartridges for your turntable,” he adds.

Hungry Ear Records is located at 418 Kuulei Road. Call 262-2175 or visit hungryear.com.

Lex Brodie

One of the original Waikiki Beach Boys, the Kauai-born Brodie opened a Kaneohe service station in 1958 and three years later began selling tires out of a one-bay shop next to Whitney’s in Kaneohe.

“It was a Chevron station and they wanted him to sell their brand of tires,” says Brodie’s son Sandy. “The tires weren’t particularly good and the margins were lousy. He made better money on the retreads than he did on the new tires. He wanted to sell other tires, but Chevron said no because it violated the franchise agreement. So he opened his own store.”

Brodie realized the action was in Honolulu and opened the Queen Street location. It would become headquarters of the company that now has five locations on Oahu with licensees on the Big Island.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Lex became a celebrity and his business a landmark. Jack Lord was a good friend and customer, and the current edition of Hawaii Five-O has found interest in the famous caveman sign and has featured the Queen Street store on the program.

Sandy Brodie says by 1991 his father had gotten tired of the business and was in need of a new challenge. He found it after taking a tour of Farrington High School upon the invitation of Sandy’s wife Lynn, who was a teacher at the school. What he found angered the feisty former salesman.

“He was just appalled at the conditions, and decided he would do something,” says Sandy. “He started by talking to some of the legislators about creating a bill for school safety because they were lacking on their inspections. They found some fire exits that were chained shut to keep kids from skipping class.”

The bill passed, and based on his success he decided to run for the Board of Education in typical Lex Brodie style: simple and direct.

“He called me up one day and said, ‘I just spent $25 registering for the Board of Education election,’” says Sandy. “He said, ‘I’m not going to spend any more money. I’m just going to wave a sign on Punchbowl.’ And that’s what he did.”

Brodie won in a landslide and for eight years toured

schools, fought with board members and pushed for changes in Hawaii’s public schools. It was with this example in mind the company created the Lex Brodie Foundation to celebrate Lex’s 90th birthday and began handing out its “Thank You ... Very Much Award.”

Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney, the "60 Minutes" commentator known to generations for his wry, humorous and contentious television essays - a unique genre he is credited with inventing - died Friday night in a hospital in New York City of complications following minor surgery. He was 92, and had homes in New York City, Rensselaerville, N.Y. and Rowayton, Conn.

"It's a sad day at '60 Minutes' and for everybody here at CBS News," said Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and the executive producer of "60 Minutes." "It's hard to imagine not having Andy around. He loved his life and he lived it on his own terms. We will miss him very much."

Rooney had announced on Oct. 2, 2011 in his 1,097th essay for "60 Minutes" that he would no longer appear regularly.

Rooney wrote for television since its birth, spending more than 60 years at CBS, 30 of them behind the camera as a writer and producer, first for entertainment and then news programming, before becoming a television personality - a role he said he was never comfortable in. He preferred to be known as a writer and was the author of best-selling books and a national newspaper column, in addition to his "60 Minutes" essays.

But it is his television role as the inquisitive and cranky commentator on "60 Minutes" that made him a cultural icon. For over 30 years, Rooney had the last word on the most watched television program in history. Ratings for the broadcast rose steadily over its time period, peaking at a few minutes before the end of the hour, precisely when he delivered his essays - which could generate thousands of response letters.

"60 Minutes Overtime": Remembering Andy Rooney
There is no better way to celebrate Andy Rooney's work than to let Andy do the talking.

Each Sunday, Rooney delivered one of his "60 Minutes" essays from behind a desk that he, an expert woodworker, hewed himself. The topics ranged from the contents of that desk's drawer to whether God existed. He often weighed in on major news topics. In an early "60 Minutes" essay that won him the third of his four Emmy Awards, his compromise to the grain embargo against the Soviet Union was to sell them cereal. "Are they going to take us seriously as an enemy if they think we eat Cap'n Crunch for breakfast?" deadpanned Rooney.

Mainly, his essays struck a chord in viewers by pointing out life's unspoken truths or more often complaining about its subtle lies, earning him the "curmudgeon" status he wore like a uniform. "I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought," Rooney told the Associated Press in 1998. In typical themes, Rooney questioned labels on packages, products that didn't seem to work and why people didn't talk in elevators.

Rooney asked thousands of questions in his essays over the years, none, however, began with "Did you ever...?" a phrase often associated with him. Comedian Joe Piscopo used it in a 1981 impersonation of him on "Saturday Night Live" and, from then on, it was erroneously linked to Rooney.

so random

I saw Janelle use this on her facebook page.

What does it mean?

For one thing, it's the name of a TV Show on the Disney Channel.

But apparently the common usage of this phrase means "A phrase that is said when someone says something completely stupid and/or random."

Tai Chi for Seniors

Holding the ball, parting wild horse’s mane, single whip, waving hands like clouds, repulse monkey, brush knee, fair lady works at shuttles and grasp the peacock’s tail.

These are the names of eight movements based on the yang style of Tai Chi which can help to improve your balance, explains Jerry Punzal, a certified instructor who will teach these exercises to seniors at the 18th annual National Senior Health & Fitness Day May 25 from 8 to 11 a.m. at YMCA Central Branch (401 Atkinson Drive).

According to Punzal, Tai Chi-Moving for Better Balance is endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control as an intervention for fall prevention and fear of falling.

He says the program he teaches has been implemented in community centers in Oregon with collected data showing a decrease in falls of up to 55 percent with its participants.

“(In Tai Chi) you utilize the basic principles of (this exercise) which would be to relax and let go,” explains Punzal. “You also strive for proper postural alignment, and in doing so the back stays straight throughout movement. Therefore we’re using the joints in the most efficient manner and we’re also striving to utilize abdominal breathing.

“It’s a method of moving in a relaxed, non-stressed manner, and for this specific program we’re looking to have the person feel a centerness, to have an awareness of their center of gravity, so when they move in any direction they are very aware of how to move in a way that keeps them grounded.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among those age 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of injury death. They are also the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma. The CDC also reports that in 2007, more than 18,000 older adults died from unintentional fall injuries.

Adjusting Your Age

Here are a few tips to make your Real Age younger.

1. Walk 30 minutes a day. Walking makes your heart and immune system healthier. Bonus: Buy a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps a day.

2. Floss and brush the teeth you wish to keep. Do it also for the heart you wish to nurture, the wrinkles you wish to prevent and the sexual satisfaction you wish to enjoy. And see a dental professional every six months.

3. Take omega-3 DHA pills (900 mg total) or have non-fried salmon or trout three times a week. Salmon and trout have DHA, the active omega-3 for eyes and brain (it converts to the good heart stuff, too).

4. Meditate for at least five minutes each day. Your brain (and soul) needs moments of silence to recharge, refocus and rejuvenate.

5. Drink three or more cups of coffee a day (if it agrees with you — caffeinated tea works as well) and eat curry dishes or foods with mustard to decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

6. Plan to sleep seven to eight hours. Before you head to bed:

1. Finish any must-do tasks.
   
2. Take care of your nighttime hygiene.
   
3. Perform deep breathing and/or meditation.
   
4. Avoid anything too stimulating, such as watching TV or working
   out. Sex, though stimulatory (we hope), is OK. In fact, it’s
   recommended.

7. Vitamin D3 helps prevent cancer, incorporate calcium into the bones and slow the aging of arteries. Get 1,000 IU a day if you’re younger than 60 or 1,200 IU a day if you’re 60 or older.

8. If you’re over the age of 40 (women) or 35 (men), take two baby aspirin (162 mg total) at breakfast; just make sure to get your doctor’s approval first. It decreases your risk of heart attack, stroke, impotence, wrinkles and some cancers.

9. Know your numbers: blood pressure, low-density and high-density lipoprotein (LDL and HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides (TGs) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Do whatever you can to get them to 115/75, less than 100, more than 50, less than 100 and less than 1, respectively.

10. Always get second opinions on any medication that you will take for three days or more.

-- Costco Connection, September 2011

Don't Give Up

Often Life doesn't go in the direction we want it to. Does that mean our lives are doomed and we can't achieve the success we dream of? Let's be realistic: Everybody fails. Consider the following.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." Disney went bankrupt
several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim, California, on the grounds that it would only attract "riffraff."

Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "nonproductive." As an inventor, Edison made more than 1,000 unsuccessful attempts to invent the light bulb. When a reporter asked him how it felt to fail 1,000 times, Edison said that he didn't fail all those times, but that the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4 years old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "subnormal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school.

Every cartoon that Charles Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts, submitted to the yearbook staff at his high school was rejected.

After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.

Decca Records turned down a recording contract with The Beatles with this fascinating evaluation: "We don't like their sound. Guitar groups are on their way out."

A friend of mine in the music industry personally auditioned a singer by the name of Reg Dwight in the 1960s. He unceremoniously shoved the singer out of his office for wasting his time. That singer is now better known as Elton John.

Imagine if these individuals had given up, believing they were doomed to failure and would never achieve success. Do you think they ever felt down and depressed? Sure. But they didn't allow a gloomy state to overtake them, to overpower their desire to succeed. In every case they did succeed-in a huge way, far greater than their wildest dreams.

Bad experiences can be viewed as positive in hindsight. They can be stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. It's your choice. But be determined to never give up.

-- Andrew Lock, Costco Connection, September 2011

laughter hurts so good

Laughter is regularly promoted as a source of health and well being, but it has been hard to pin down exactly why laughing until it hurts feels so good.

The answer, reports Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, is not the intellectual pleasure of cerebral humor, but the physical act of laughing. The simple muscular exertions involved in producing the familiar ha, ha, ha, he said, trigger an increase in endorphins, the brain chemicals known for their feel-good effect.

new approach for treating leukemia

NEW YORK -- Scientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia – turning the patients' own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells.

They've only done it in three patients so far, but the results were striking: Two appear cancer-free up to a year after treatment, and the third patient is improved but still has some cancer. Scientists are already preparing to try the same gene therapy technique for other kinds of cancer.

"It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did," said Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania. "We're just a year out now. We need to find out how long these remissions last."

He led the study, published Wednesday by two journals, New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine.

It involved three men with very advanced cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL. The only hope for a cure now is bone marrow or stem cell transplants, which don't always work and carry a high risk of death.

Scientists have been working for years to find ways to boost the immune system's ability to fight cancer. Earlier attempts at genetically modifying bloodstream soldiers called T-cells have had limited success; the modified cells didn't reproduce well and quickly disappeared.

June and his colleagues made changes to the technique, using a novel carrier to deliver the new genes into the T-cells and a signaling mechanism telling the cells to kill and multiply.

That resulted in armies of "serial killer" cells that targeted cancer cells, destroyed them, and went on to kill new cancer as it emerged. It was known that T-cells attack viruses that way, but this is the first time it's been done against cancer, June said.

-- Star-Advertiser, 8/11/11

How to prevent falls

Q: Will you write a column on fall prevention tips for elderly seniors? My 81-year-old father, who lives alone, has fallen several times in the past year.

A: Falls are a big concern for millions of elderly Americans and their families. In the United States, roughly one-third of the 65-and-older population will suffer a fall this year, often with dire with consequences. But many falls can be prevented. Here are some steps you can take to help keep your dad on his feet.

• Check his meds: Does your dad take any medicine or combination of medicines that make him dizzy, sleepy or lightheaded? If so, gather up all the drugs he takes — prescriptions and over-the-counter — and take them to his doctor or pharmacist for a drug review.

• Schedule an eye exam: Poor vision can be another contributor to falls. If your dad wears glasses, check to see if he's wearing the correct prescription, and beware of bifocals. Multifocal glasses can impair vision needed for detecting obstacles and judging depth.

• Check his balance: Balance disorders — which can be brought on by a variety of conditions such as inner ear problems, allergies, a head injury or problems with blood circulation — are also a common cause of falls. If you dad is having balance issues, make an appointment with his doctor to get it checked and treated.

• Start exercising: Improving balance through exercise is one of the best ways to prevent falls. Strength training, stretching, yoga and tai chi are great for building better balance. Some simple exercises that he can do anytime are walking heel-to-toe across the room, standing on one foot for 30 seconds or longer, or getting up from a chair and sitting back down 10 to 20 times. For more balance exercise tips, call the National Institute on Aging at (800) 222-2225 and order the free exercise DVD and free exercise book, or you can see it at www.go4life.niapublications.org.

• Modify his home: Simple modifications can go a long way in making your dad's living area safer. Start by picking up items on the floor that could cause him to trip, such as newspapers, books, shoes, cloths, electrical or phone cords. Remove throw rugs or use double-sided tape to secure them. In the bathroom, put a nonslip rubber mat or self-stick strips on the floor of the tub or shower, and have a carpenter install grab bars inside the tub and next to the toilet. Also, make sure the lighting throughout the house is good, purchase some inexpensive plug-in nightlights for the bathrooms and hallways, and, if he has stairs, consider putting rails on both sides. In the kitchen, organize his cabinets so the things he uses most often are within easy reach. For more tips, call the Eldercare Locater at (800) 677-1116 and order a free copy of the "Preventing Falls at Home" brochure.

• Other pitfalls: Believe it or not, the improper use of canes and walkers sends about 47,000 seniors to the emergency room each year. If your dad uses a cane or walker, be sure it's adjusted to his height and that he's using it properly. A physical therapist can help with this, or see the Mayo Clinic slide show on how to choose and use a cane (www.mayoclinic.com/health/canes/HA00064) and a walker (www.mayoclinic.com/health/walker/HA00060).

Another possible hazard is pets. If your dad has a dog or cat, he needs to be aware that — because they can get under foot — pets cause a lot of falls.

Shoes are another issue to be aware of. Rubber-soled, low-heeled shoes are the best slip/trip proof shoes for seniors.

• Savvy tip: Consider getting your dad a home monitoring system, which is a small pendant-style "SOS button" that would allow him to call for help if he fell. Available through companies such as www.lifelinesys.com and www.lifealert.com, these systems cost about $1 a day.