Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men. – Jane Addams, 1860-1935
This was the day before, in 1959, Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens died in a plane crash. I have put a podcast on my site which has the newsflash that would be broadcast the next day. Meanwhile, on the Costa Blanca we have another really fine day. Details will follow.
Here´s an article written by the rebel doctor. If you think it´s just about America then think again. This will apply to the UK and Spain…………
Surrounded by secret chemicals
They’re not just in the water…chemicals are everywhere, indoors and out.
Some of you sharper minds might think you have an idea of how dangerous these toxins are. Buddy, you don’t know the half of it. Not even most of the so-called experts have a clue. None of us do…because many of these chemicals are trade secrets!
A recent report in the Washington Post shows how laws designed to help the chemical industry remain competitive have actually helped them remain highly secretive…and once again, the rest of us get the short end of this poison wand.
The newspaper told of one nurse who fell ill after treating a worker injured in a chemical spill. When her doctors called the company to find out what she had been exposed her, they wouldn’t say.
Because they didn’t have to.
Nice guys, right?
Chemical manufacturers get to hide behind the misleadingly named Toxic Substances Control Act. Rather than help control toxic substances, the 1976 law actually helps companies keep their chemicals secret.
What’d you expect from our Corporate Congress, where lobbyists get the write the laws?
This particular law requires that companies disclose the ingredients in all their chemicals to the government. But it also protects any chemical that the company thinks is important to its bottom line.
Lately, that’s all of them — in recent years, 95 percent of all notices for new chemicals — some 700 of these are filed each year — have contained secrecy requests, according to the Post.
How can you avoid this garbage? You can’t. It’s in everything, even your clothing and furniture if they’ve been treated to be flame-retardant.
But you can wake up and realize that your government isn’t working for you — it’s working for America’s biggest companies. The solution can be found at the ballot box — if you can find a clean politician.
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Here´s our Spanish word for today—–
firmar feer-mar’ (transitive verb)
to sign; to subscribe
EXAMPLES
Acabo de firmar un contrato con otra compañía. – I just signed a contract with another company.
Puedes firmar una carta informal “con cariño.” – You can sign an informal letter “with care.”
For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for firmar.
Alan Gee spotted the following………………………..
SIGN IN A STORE WINDOW
‘WE WOULD RATHER DO BUSINESS WITH 1000 AL QAEDA TERRORISTS THAN WITH ONE SINGLE BRITISH SOLDIER!’
This sign was prominently displayed in the window of a business in
Glamorgan, South Wales .
You are probably outraged at the thought of such an inflammatory statement.
However, we are a society which holds Freedom of Speech as perhaps our greatest liberty.
After all, it is ONLY A SIGN, you may say.
‘What kind of business would dare to post such a sign?’
Answer:
A FUNERAL PARLOUR.
WHO SAID UNDERTAKERS HAD NO SENSE OF HUMOUR?
YOU GOTTA LOVE IT!!!
God Bless The Welsh
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Here´s a joke from Jackie C…….I´ve cleaned it up a bit!
Every Little Helps
One day, in line at the works cafeteria, Jack says to Mike behind him, ‘My elbow hurts like hell. I suppose I’d better see a doctor!’
‘Listen mate; don’t waste your time down at the surgery’, Mike replies. ‘There’s a diagnostic computer at Tesco. Just give it a urine sample and the computer will tell you what’s wrong, and what to do about it. It takes ten seconds and only costs five quid …. a lot quicker and better than a doctor and you get Clubcard points’.
So Jack collects a urine sample in a small jar and takes it to Tesco. He deposits five pounds and the computer lights up and asks for the urine sample. He pours the sample into the slot and waits. Ten seconds later, the computer ejects a printout: ‘You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water and avoid heavy activity. It will improve in two weeks’.
That evening while thinking how amazing this new technology was, Jack began wondering if the computer could be fooled. He mixed some tap water, a stool sample from his dog and added urine samples from his wife and daughter.
Jack hurried back to Tesco, eager to check what would happen. He deposits five pounds, pours in his concoction, and awaits the results with a grin.
The computer prints the following:
1) Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener.
2) Your dog has ringworm. Bathe him with anti-fungal shampoo.
3) Your daughter has a cocaine habit. Get her into rehab.
4) Your wife is pregnant. Twins. ………………………………………….They aren’t yours…………………… Get a lawyer.
Thank you for shopping at Tesco.
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* Lance Armstrong Combines Charity Work, Cycling at Tour Down Under *
Lance Armstrong broke ground on a new cancer research centre while capping his preparation for the Tour Down Under, combining the charitable works and cycling ambitions that lured from retirement 12 months ago.
The seven-time Tour de France champion used last year’s Australian race, the first event of the ProTour season, to launch his comeback from a 3 1/2-year retirement. He emphasized at the time that his charitable and competitive objectives shared equal priority.Go here for complete news story.
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Hello again,
Attached is our latest and a new event! If you want to attend please book early because there is limited seating.
We would like to thank everyone who rallied round to our Blanket and Towel appeal. We had a fantastic response and our dogs are now cosy and warm for the time being. We are okay for now as we do not have a lot of storage room but for sure we will need them again in a couple of months time.
Another thankyou to all who signed our petition and attended the Valencia Demonstration against the Act of Parliament to stop councils supporting animal charities. It was their intention to send animals to private companies who would have put them down. Thankfully because of all the support against this bill it was not passed. Well done!
QUIZ at Bar Mediterraneo Friday 12th March. Usual format, teams of 6 or less, prizes for winner and runner up. 3 course dinner with wine €15. Reservations essential
Maggie 96 5744449 or Mandy 639603880 (if possible please give your team name as well when booking, preferably something of a doggie theme)
Thank you for your support
Maggie Fundraiser
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Musical Bits and Pieces for 2nd February
1959, Buddy Holly, Richard Valens and The Big Bopper all appeared at the Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa. This was all three acts last ever gig before being killed in a plane crash the following day.
1962, The Beatles played their first professionally organised gig outside of Liverpool at The Oasis Club, Manchester.
1963, Cliff Richard and The Shadows started a 14-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Summer Holiday’.
1969, Yoko Ono divorced her husband Tony Cox, Yoko was granted custody of their daughter Kyoko. John Lennon and married Yoko the following month on 30th March.
1972, during a UK tour Stevie Wonder appeared at the Manchester Odeon, England.
1973, Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer injured his hands when his piano rigged to explode as a stunt, detonated prematurely during a concert in San Francisco.
1974, The Carpenters started a four week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Singles 1969-73′, featuring 12 hits and the US No.1 ‘Top Of The World’ it went back to the top of the charts on three other occasions.
1979, Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York City.
1980, The Specials were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Special A.K.A. Live E.P’. The lead track ‘Too Much Too Young’ was the shortest song to reach No.1 on the UK singles chart in the 1980s
1985, Foreigner started a two-week run at No.1 on the US singles charts with ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’, also a UK No.1. London-born Mick Jones wrote the song and sang lead vocals with the British-American rock band.
1989, George Michael received undisclosed damages in excess of £100,000 from The Sun newspaper over articles printed that stated Michael had gatecrashed a party given by Andrew Lloyd Weber and was drunk and abusive.
1991, Sting scored his second UK No.1 album with ‘The Soul Cages’.
2001, Bad Manners singer Buster Bloodvessel was told he was ‘too fat’ to survive an urgently needed operation. Buster collapsed on stage during a show in Italy but Doctors felt that his huge 30 stone frame might not make it through surgery.
2002, The P.P.L. (Phonographic Performance Ltd), launched performersmoney.com for artists to check if they were owed any of the £10 million in unclaimed money. It showed that Michael Jackson was owed over £100,000 for ‘Say, Say, Say’, Stevie Wonder had money owing for ‘Ebony And Ivory’ and Ray Davies of The Kinks was owed a six-figure fee for ‘You Really Got Me’. Director Dominic McGonigal said “If anyone has seen Rick Astley please let him know, he is still earning money for his hits.”
2003, Russian girl duo Tatu started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘All The Things She Said’. The song had been a hit on the Russian charts three years earlier. Tatu were the first 2004, TV network CBS apologised for its broadcast of the American Super Bowl after Janet Jackson was left exposed when Justin Timberlake ripped her top.
2007, Billy Henderson, one of the founders of US soul group The Spinners, died aged 67 after complications from diabetes.
2007, US keyboardist Joe Hunter, a veteran session musician as one of the Funk Brothers who helped craft the distinctive Motown sound, died in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 79.
2008, The Spice Girls cut short their reunion world tour, blaming “family and personal commitments”. The band said they would end their tour in Toronto on 26 February, with planned shows in Beijing, Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires being axed.
February 2nd: Born on this day
1934, Skip Battin, The Byrds,
1940, Alan Caddy, guitarist with The Tornadoes, 1962 UK & US No.1 single ‘Telstar’. This was the first major hit from a UK act on the American chart.
1942, Graham Nash, guitar, vocals, with The Hollies who he left in 1968.
1943, Peter Macbeth, The Foundations 1967 UK No.1 ‘Baby Now That I’ve Found You’
1946, Howard Bellamy, Bellamy Brothers 1979 UK No.3 ‘If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me’
1963, Eva Cassidy, US singer. She is the only artist to score three posthumous UK No.1 albums. Eva died of skin cancer on November 1st 1996, aged 33.
1977, Shakira, (Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll)- Highest selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold over forty million albums.
Lovely to have your feedback. Many thanks and have a great day. Vince