Good enough is not good enough!

——————————————————————————–

We enjoyed a nice evening in Calpe last night at El Faro. It was quite cool in the garden terrace and there was a lovely crowd enjoying the music. Let’s see what the forecast holds for the Alicante province…….

Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
30° C | 18° C	30° C | 18° C	31° C | 22° C	31° C | 23° C	31° C | 23° C
Chance of Rain 20% chance of precipitation	Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear

The weird weather in the world continues in particular in Pakistan and China with really bad floods. Whether or not this has always been bad and we now report bad weather more quickly I doubt whether we’ll truly know. Closer to home we have had heat alerts in many parts of Spain. Fortunately, this did not include our area………….

Researchers have discovered that vitamin D plays a crucial role in activating the immune system’s ability to recognize and fight pathogens.

While scientists have long known that vitamin D plays a critical role in bone health, recent research has begun to suggest that it also serves to regulate the immune system, helping prevent infection, cancer and autoimmune disorders. Until now, the mechanism by which the vitamin acts on the immune system has been unknown.

In a study published in the journal Nature Immunology, researchers from the University of Copenhagen found that when a variety of white blood cells known as a T-cell comes across a pathogen in the bloodstream, it extends a receptor in search of vitamin D. If it encounters the vitamin, the T cell becomes “activated.” If there is not enough vitamin D in the blood, the cell remains passive and no immune response occurs.  Story

——————————————————————————
Spain woke up with alerts yesterday that temperatures would be over 40 Celsius degree in 12 of the country´s provinces.

In addition, forecasters said, high temperatures are going to be increasingly common in the future.

The Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) predicted in a report that maximum temperatures over the period 2071-2100 will rise between 3 and 6 degrees compared with those between 1961-1991.

The findings also show that minimum temperatures will increase by between 2 and 5 degrees.

Spain can also expect a decrease in rainfall. The first half of this century will not see any significant changes, but there will be less rain in Spain between 2050 and 2100, with a decrease of between 15 to 30 percent in the last decade of the century.

The tendency for temperatures to rise in Spain began in the 1980s. Story
——————————————————-

Word of the Day

la preocupación preh-oh-koo-pah-syon’  (noun)

worry, concern

EXAMPLES

Mis niños me causan muchas preocupaciones. – My children cause me a lot of worry.

Tiene la preocupación de que su marido le es infiel. – She is worried that her husband is unfaithful to her.

————————————————————————————————-

Music Stuff July 30th

1960, The Elvis Presley album ‘Elvis is Back’ was at No.1 on the UK chart.
1966, The Troggs started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Wild Thing’.
1968, The Beatles closed their Apple Boutique in London after seven months of business, giving away all the stock to passers by and Apple staff.
1969, The Beatles continued working on their forthcoming album Abbey Road, recording overdubs on ‘Come Together’, ‘Polythene Pam/She Came In Through the Bathroom Window’, ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ and ‘Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight’.
1973, Gary Glitter was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I’m The leader Of The Gang (I Am)
1978, Fleetwood Mac and Steve Miller Band appeared at the JFK Stadium, Philadelphia.
1986, Boy George was fined £250 by a London court for possession of heroin.
1986, Variety magazine reported that RCA had dropped John Denver from its roster after the release of his single, ‘What Are We Making Weapons For’. Variety said the song upset the record company’s new owner, General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors in the US.
1987, David Bowie kicked of the North American leg of The Glass Spider Tour at the Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1988, Gary Glitter appeared in a full-page ad in the NME pictured holding a very large tub of skin rejuvenating cream. The heading being ‘The things people do to keep hold of their young persons Railcard’.
1988, Steve Winwood No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Roll With It’, UK No.53
1998, Jamiroquai UK No.1 – ‘Deeper Underground’, the first single from the album Synkronized.
2003, Sam Phillips the founder of Sun Records and studio died of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a DJ for Muscle Shoals, Alabama radio station WLAY. Phillips recorded what some consider to be the first rock and roll record, ‘Rocket 88’ by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats in 1951. He discovered Elvis Presley, worked with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Ike Turner, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.
2005, a new book published to mark the 35th anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix claimed the guitarist pretended to be gay so he would be discharged from the army. “Room Full of Mirrors” by
2006, Shakira feat Wyclef Jean started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hips Don’t Lie.’ A remake of Wyclef Jean’s 2004 song ‘Dance Like This’, the song went on to top the charts in over 50 countries. The song is the biggest selling single of the 21st century by a female artist worldwide.
2007, a man admitted bootlegging charges after hearing evidence from Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Robert Langley, 57, from Buckingham, originally denied three trademark and two copyright infringements after being caught at a record fair in Glasgow.
2009, Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher won his long battle to be recognised as co-writer of the band’s hit ‘Whiter Shade of Pale.’ Law Lords ruled that Fisher, who claimed he wrote the song’s organ melody, was entitled to a share of future royalties. In 2006, the High Court ruled he was entitled to 40% of the copyright, but the Court Of Appeal overturned the ruling in 2008 saying he waited too long, 38 years, to bring the case to court.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 30th
1941, Paul Anka, singer, who wrote many classic songs including: ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’, ‘Puppy Love’ and the lyrics to ‘My Way.’
1945, David Sanborne, saxophone, US session player
1946, Jeffrey Hammond Hammond, bass, Jethro Tull
1949, Andy Scott, guitar, Sweet
1949, Hugh Nicholson, Marmalade
1956, Phil Phearon, vocals, Galaxy
1958, Kate Bush, UK singer, songwriter

Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

—————————————————————————————————————————-
“A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.”
“Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance”. ~Rabindranath Tagore~

————————————————————————————

Metro is launching in London today. It claims to be a new-style bank with Duffy the dog as its mascot.This really does take the biscuit. I think they’re barking up the wrong tree. I know we are only watching the launch but it would appear as if the dog is in charge. We have long suspected that banking has gone to the dogs. This is probably the ultimate in proof. Bankers have been trying to get their paws on our money in more subtle ways. Their claim to be mending their ways is a fine tail. We’ve had a really ruff time with them. Let’s hope they don’t end up in another fine mess. Their first branch might be in Kennilworth……

I was watching a programme of TV bloopers when all and sundry seem to have lost control of their powers of speech. It really is strange the way ordinary  people seem to lose their faculties when a camera or microphone is placed in front of them. Even at home when the video cameras first became available family members turned away in fright once the camera was produced ready to record for posterity. Certain members of my own family seemed to have a phobia when cameras were about whereas others seemed to revel in the idea of their face going on television. Our Andrew was positively schizophrenic in front of the camera when he was around the age of three. Actually, I don’t think he’s ever grown out of it……………..

We had another fine day yesterday. Here’s the forecast for Alicante…

Jueves	Viernes	Sábado	Domingo	Lunes
31° C | 18° C	29° C | 22° C	30° C | 21° C	30° C | 22° C	31° C | 23° C
Parcialmente Nublado	Nubes Dispersas	Nubes Dispersas	Despejado	Despejado

An increase in blood levels of vitamin D can significantly reduce a person’s risk of heart disease, according to a study conducted by researchers from Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City and presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta.

Researchers reviewed the health records of more than 9,000 people who had been diagnosed with vitamin D insufficiency and who had also undergone vitamin D testing at a later date. They found that approximately 50 percent of all patients had achieved healthy vitamin D levels of at least 30 nanograms per milliliter by the second test. Rates of heart disease were significantly lower in this group than among patients who were still deficient in the vitamin. Story
———————————————————————————————————————————-
If you or someone you know ever receives a cancer diagnosis, especially one that is labeled “incurable” or fatal, take heart in the fact spontaneous regression (remission) has been reported in the medical literature numerous times for virtually all cancers. Spontaneous regression has been documented most often in neuroblastoma, renal cell carcinoma, lymphoma and malignant melanoma. And, as NaturalNews has previous reported, scientists have also discovered recently that some invasive breast cancers appear to simply go away on their own (http://www.naturalnews.com/024901.html). Now comes research from Ohio State University that could help explain what triggers spontaneous remissions. Story
————————————————

Word of the Day

el semáforo seh-mah’-foh-roh  (noun)

traffic signal, stop light, traffic light, red light; semaphore

EXAMPLES

Se pasó un semáforo en rojo. – He ran a red light.

Estuve esperando y parecía que el semáforo nunca iba a cambiar a verde. – I was waiting and it seemed like the light was never going to change to green.

For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for el semáforo.

——————————————————————————————————

Music Stuff July 29th
1963, Elvis Presley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘(You’re The) Devil In Disguise’.
1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker made their live debut as Cream at The Twisted Wheel, Manchester,
1966, Bob Dylan suffered a broken neck vertebra when he crashed his Triumph 55 motorbike near his home in Woodstock, New York.
1966, Datebook published Maureen Cleave’s interview with John Lennon in which he said ‘We’re bigger than Jesus now.” American Christian’s reacted with outrage, organising ‘Beatle bonfires’ burning the group’s records.
1967, The Doors started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Light My Fire’. The group’s first US No.1, it only reached No.49 on the UK chart.
1968, the first recording session of The Beatles seven-minute epic ‘Hey Jude’ took place at Abbey Road studios London. The Paul McCartney song was written about John Lennon’s son Julian.
1974, Mamas And The Papas singer Cass Elliot died in her sleep from a heart attack after playing a sold out show in London, England.
1978, The film soundtrack to Grease featuring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John No.1 on the US album chart.
1986, English songwriter, producer and manager Gordon Mills died of stomach cancer. Worked with Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones and Gilbert O’Sullivan. Wrote the 1963 No.4 UK hit ‘I’ll Never Get Over You’, for Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and ‘I’m The Lonely One’ a hit for Cliff Richard.
1988, American record producer and pedal steel guitar player Pete Drake died of lung disease. Worked with Elvis Presley, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Played on such hits as Lynn Anderson’s ‘Rose Garden’, Charlie Rich’s ‘Behind Closed Doors’, Bob Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’ and Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand by Your Man’.
1990, Elton John checked into a Chicago clinic to cure bulimia and an addiction problem, taking over a year off from touring and recording.
2001, Atomic Kitten No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the 1989 Bangles hit ‘Eternal Flame.’
2003, the chairman of the Professional Association of Teachers Jim O’Neill warned that children were being put under pressure to grow up too soon by pop stars who use a sexy image. “Kylie Minogue might be a great singer but in many of these things you can see more of her bottom than you hear of her voice,” said Mr O’Neill.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 29th
1946, Neal Doughty, keyboards, REO Speedwagon
1959, John Sykes, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake,
1966, Born on this day, Miles Hunt, vocals, The Wonder Stuff, TV presenter

Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

————————————————————————————————-

We had a tour of the outside of the house yesterday and decided to make a start on all the little annoying jobs that have been put off. One job we had intended to have completed by now involved getting a quote and we decided to ask a Spanish gent. The gentleman arrived and we had a jolly good chat for at least 30 minutes before he left promising an estimate. Four weeks later we still hadn’t received the estimate so we made the call only to be told that he was now too busy to do the work for us. Would he ever have bothered to ring us? I doubt it. Despite this experience and for the entente cordial we contacted a second Spanish company………………what will happen?

We had a lovely day yesterday with sun and lttle cloud but it was also a manageable 29 degrees. Let’s look at the week ahead……

Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
30° C | 22° C	31° C | 23° C	30° C | 23° C	30° C | 22° C	30° C | 23° C
Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Clear	Clear	Scattered Clouds

Is the Western world losing it?

Johnny Concepcion is 42 years old. After divorcing his wife, she was found stabbed to death in their home, suffering at least 15 stab wounds. Concepcion reportedly confessed to his friends that he killed his wife, and he soon found himself the subject of a city-wide manhunt in New York City. On the run from authorities, Concepcion decided to kill himself by drinking a container of rat poison.

But that’s not where this story gets weird. The weird part is that after the rat poison destroyed his liver, Concepcion found himself at the top of a liver transplant list at a hospital in New York City. With over 16,000 other people waiting for a liver — many of whom undoubtedly are not murderers — somehow Concepcion was chosen to receive the next available liver from an organ donor. Full Story

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Push to medicate infants

We pass laws to keep child molesters away from schools and playgrounds… maybe soon we’ll have to do the same to keep the psychiatrists at bay.

These kooks are now out to diagnose newborn babies with schizophrenia based on some obtuse brain measurement — but let’s call this what it really is: A sad and desperate attempt to create more patients and sell more meds.

Researchers took MRI and ultrasound measurements of the brains of 26 newborn babies born to schizophrenic mothers, and found that boys had larger brains and larger lateral ventricles (those are the brain’s fluid-filled spaces).

Impressed? Me neither. Never mind the little fact that no brain measurement or test has ever been able to diagnose schizophrenia — these researchers are so excited their prescription pads are quivering.

“It allows us to start thinking about how we can identify kids at risk for schizophrenia very early and whether there are things that we can do very early on to lessen the risk,” lead study author John H. Gilmore, director of the UNC Schizophrenia Research Center, wrote in a press release.

Give you one guess what those “things” are. Hint: It rhymes with bugs. And it bugs the hell out of me, especially when you consider how badly flawed this study is.

First, there’s the little matter of the little girls. Their brains had no differences at all, according to the study in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The researchers tried to write that off by saying women have less severe and fewer cases of schizophrenia, but that’s a convenient copout. At the end of the day, just as many women ultimately come down with schizophrenia as men.

Then, there’s the ridiculous notion that a baby born to a schizophrenic is doomed to the disease. Simple math — too hard for a shrink, apparently — shows that 90 percent of children born to schizophrenics don’t come down with the condition.

That means big brains or not, nearly all of the kids in this study will never suffer from schizophrenia.

Finally, there’s the simple fact that ZERO kids in this study actually developed schizophrenia, because they’re all still babies.

Talk about jumping to conclusions!

But the researchers are threatening to correct that last oversight — they ominously wrote that “this is just the very beginning… we’re following these children through childhood.”

Poor kids. Better pass those laws soon!

W. C Douglas

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Music Stuff July 28th
1956, Gene Vincent made his first appearance on national TV in the US on The Perry Como Show. Vincent had released ‘Woman Love’ the previous month, but it was the B-side, ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula,’ that eventually made the top 10. The song had been purchased from a fellow hospital patient when Vincent was recovering from leg injuries.
1960, Cliff Richard and the Shadows were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Please Don’t Tease’
1966, James Brown appeared at The Apollo Theatre in New York City.
1966, Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards song ‘Out Of Time’.
1969, police in Moscow reported that thousands of public phone booths had been vandalised after thieves were stealing parts of the phones to convert their acoustic guitars to electric. A feature in a Russian youth magazine had shown details on how to do this.
1979, ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ gave The Boomtown Rats their second UK No.1 single. Bob Geldof wrote the song after reading a report on the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who fired at children playing in a school playground across the street from her home in San Diego, California. She killed two adults and injured eight children and one police officer. Spencer showed no remorse for her crime, and her full explanation for her actions was “I don’t like Mondays, this livens up the day.”
1990, Elton John started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Sleeping With The Past’, his fifth No.1 album.
1990, Partners In Kryme started a four-week run at No.1 with ‘Turtle Power’ the first rap chart topper in the UK. The one hit wonders track was featured in the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
1996, Marge Ganser from The Shangri-Las died of breast cancer. The group scored over ten hits during the 60′s including the 1964 US No.1 ‘Leader Of The Pack.’
2000, Five and Queen were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘We Will Rock You’, the classic Queen song was only a B-side in 1977 and this new version featured boy band Five and Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
2003, the wine Sir Cliff Richard made from his Algarve estate started a UK supermarket battle. Fans were asking all the stores when the wine would go on sale with the Tesco chain saying they would be the first, but the Waitrose shops had been selling the £8.49 a bottle red for the last week.
2004, American soul singer George Williams from The Tymes died of cancer. Had the 1975 UK No.1 single ‘Ms Grace’.
2008, Amy Winehouse was rushed to hospital after she started to have fits at her home in Camden North London. A spokesman said it appeared the singer had suffered a reaction to medication she was taking to help her off hard drugs.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 28th
1935, Simon Dee (Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd), British TV and radio presenter, hosted a twice-weekly chat show ‘Dee Time’ during the 1960’s, with musical guests including Jimi Hendrix and Lulu.
1938, George Cummings, steel guitar, Dr Hook
1945, Rick Wright, keyboards, vocals, Pink Floyd
1949, Peter Doyle, singer, The New Seekers
1949, Simon Kirke, drums, Free,
1949, Steve Took, percussion, T Rex
1962, Rachel Sweet, singer, (1978 UK No.35 single ‘B-A-B-Y’).
1965, Nick Banks, drums, Pulp,
Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

Blogs Directory

“A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.”

When you feel small, collapsed, weak, judged, alone, scared, or when you feel like you need a grown up to step in and save you, you’re under the influence of “The Voice” – the part of you that wants to be safe by maintaining the status quo…..

——————————————————————————————————————————

The weather is changing again. We had a rather unusual day yesterday with rain in the mountains and clouds in evidence around the costas. However, the heat is on the way back we need to see whether or not it will settle……….

Martes	Miércoles	Jueves	Viernes	Sábado
29° C | 22° C	30° C | 24° C	31° C | 24° C	29° C | 24° C	29° C | 23° C

The Olympic stadium in London was on the BBC news this morning and it is looking very impressive. Boris Johnson has looked increasingly less like the buffoon that first appeared as the candidate to usurp Ken Livingstone and he was waxing lyrical over the plans for its legacy. This is good to hear as the stadium should help regenerate the east end of London.

Yet another bizarre and grotesque series of murders has occurred in Britain and the daily toll of murders and outrages mounts. In Liverpool last night there was another targeted shooting on a group of teenagers. When I was involved in full-time teaching I always likened discipline to training an animal. I hasten to add the originator of all discipline must be in the family and home. We all know that this is already a very difficult area to define before we then move to the schools. We are the highest order animal and the comparison is justified. If you let a growing animal bite you without being appropriately punished then it will bite you again. The difference is that it will be growing stronger every day. I believe Britain is now seeing behaviour that reflects the non punishment of bad behaviour in the early stages of life. I also accept this is a very simplistic observation of a very large and difficult problem.

Summertime heat is an annoyance to some people, but according to Xu Qian, director of the infectious diseases department at the China-Japan Frienship Hospital in Beijing, sweating from the hot, summer heat is a natural part of keeping your body healthy, and avoiding this heat can actually cause health problems.

People typically run their air conditioners throughout the summertime in order to beat the heat, but doing so can Full actually compromise the immune system.

“People should go with the rules of nature. Summer is the time to sweat. It’s a natural process for the body to respond to the outside environment, and adjust itself through the constricting of blood vessels and nerves. In this sense, air conditioning is a reactive restrain of the body against nature,” Qian explained in a China Daily article. Full Story

—————————————————————————————————–

Word of the Day

la cancha kahn’-chah (noun)

sports field, pitch, course, court, slope (ski); runway; confidence

EXAMPLES

Nosotros siempre pasamos los sabados en la cancha de futbol. – We always spend our Saturdays on the soccer field.

-

IDIOMS

En la cancha se ven los pingos – Deeds speak louder than words

For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for la cancha.

—————————————————————————————————

Gotta love older people !

A man was sunbathing naked at the beach.

For the sake of civility, and to keep it from getting

sunburned, he had a hat over his privates.

A woman walks past and says, snickering,

“If you were a gentleman you’d lift your hat.”

He raised an eyebrow and replied,

“If you weren’t so ugly it would lift itself.”

————————————————————————————

Getting A Hairdryer Through Customs ....

A distinguished young woman on a flight from Ireland asked the Priest beside her, ‘Father, may I ask a favour?’

‘Of course. What may I do for you?’

‘Well, I bought an expensive woman’s electronic hair dryer for my mother’s birthday. It’s unopened and well over the Customs limits, and I’m afraid they’ll confiscate it. Is there any way you could carry it through Customs for me? Under your robes perhaps?’

‘I would love to help you, dear, but I must warn you: I will not lie.’

‘With your honest face, Father, no one will question you.’

When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her.

The official asked, ‘Father, do you have anything to declare?”

‘From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing to declare.’

The official thought this answer strange, so asked, ‘And what do you have to declare from your waist to the floor?’

‘I have a marvelous instrument designed to be used on a woman, but which is, to date, unused.’

Roaring with laughter, the official said, ‘Go ahead, Father. Next!’

——————————————————————————————

Bits and Pieces

1940 Bugs Bunny made his debut in the cartoon A Wild Hare.

1940 Billboard magazine published its first singles record chart (for the week of July 20).

1953 An armistice was signed ending the Korean War.

1974 The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Richard Nixon for obstructing justice in the Watergate case.

1996 A pipe bomb exploded in an Atlanta park during the Olympic Games.

2003 Comedian Bob Hope died in his home, at the age of 100.

2003 Lance Armstrong won his fifth straight Tour de France, tying Miguel Indurain’s record.

Music Stuff July 27th

1958, fans of rock & roll music were warned that tuning into music on the car radio could cost you more money. Researchers from the Esso gas company said the rhythm of rock & roll could cause the driver to be foot heavy on the pedal, making them waste fuel.

1966, The Who appeared at the Flamingo Ballroom, Redruth, England.

1968, Bee Gee Robin Gibb collapsed, as the group were about to set out on their first US tour. The singer was suffering from nervous exhaustion.

1968, Cass Elliot released her first solo single following the break up of The Mamas and Papas. ’Dream a Little Dream of Me’ had been around since 1931 and had been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine and many others.

1974, John Denver No 1 US single ‘Annie’s Song’, the singers second US No.1.

1974 Wings UK No.1 album – ‘Band On The Run’, featuring the title-track, ‘Jet’

1976, John Lennon was awarded his Green card, allowing him permanent residence in the US.

1976, Tina Turner filed for divorce from her husband Ike

1985, The Eurythmics were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)’, the duo’s only UK No.1 single. The song featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder.

1986, Queen became the first western act since Louis Armstrong in 1964 to perform in Eastern Europe when they played at Budapest’s Nepstadion, Hungary

1991, Bryan Adams No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘(Everything I Do), I Do It For You’.

1992, Michael Jackson sued the British paper The Daily Mirror over photos and an article that said he was left a “scar face” from numerous plastic surgeries.

1996, The Spice Girls scored their first No.1 UK single with ‘Wannabe’. Seven weeks at No.1 the song won Best British-Written Single at the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards and Best Single at the 1997 Brit Awards.

2001, Leon Wilkeson bass player with Lynyrd Skynyrd was found dead in a hotel room in Florida aged 49. Skynyrd scored the 1974 US No. 8 single, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and the 1982 UK No.21 single ‘Freebird’.

2002, Mariah Carey checked herself into an undisclosed hospital suffering from “extreme exhaustion.” The singer cancelled all public appearances, including her headlining appearance at MTV’s 20th birthday party. Her record company denied tabloid reports that Carey tried to commit suicide

2003, Daniel Bedingfield scored his third UK No.1 single with ‘Never Gonna Leave Your Side.’

2006, Sharman Networks, a company that produced software called Kazaa, which made it easy for an estimated 400 million computer users to download music over the Internet, agreed to pay more than $115 million to music companies to settle global piracy lawsuits.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 27

1933, Nick Reynolds, The Kingston Trio.

1944, Bobbie Gentry, US singer, songwriter

1949, Maureen McGovern, singer,

1949, Rory MacDonald, bass, vocals, Runrig,

Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

——————————————————————————————–
Lead, follow or get left behind because you are doing nothing.

———————————————————————————————-

Spain is winning everything at the moment with the Tour de France, the Moto GP and the Formula 1 to add to the list of credits this year. Meanwhile, the king was in the cathedral at Compostello praying for the state of the nation to improve and emerge the other side of recession. All in all this was a great week for Spain. Incidentally, it would seem there’s a vote in the Catalan parliament on Wednesday to ban bullfighting. The country is definitely vibrant with fitness on the beaches in Finestrat and films on the beaches at night………let’s get the weather for the Alicante province…………….

23 °C Actual: Nublado Humedad: 69% lun 29 °C | 22 °C mar 27 °C | 22 °C mié 29 °C | 23 °C jue 29 °C | 24 °C

Word of the Day
nadar nah-dar’ (intransitive verb)

to swim; to float; to have in abundance
EXAMPLES

El agua estaba tan fría que no pudimos nadar en ella. – The water was so cold that we couldn’t swim in it.

Después de ganar la lotería, nadaban en dinero. – After winning the lottery, they were rolling in money.

IDIOMS

Nadar entre dos aguas – To be on the fence

Nadar en la abundancia – To be living in the lap of luxury

For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for nadar.
———————————————————————————–
Feds cut salt levels… again

The war on salt is getting out of hand.

The nanny-state feds are slashing the recommended allowance of this essential mineral yet again, this time by a third to 1,500 mg per day. Eventually, they’ll ban it outright so you’ll have to buy your seasonings on the black market.

If you think we’re unhealthy now, wait until you see what happens then — because you need your salt, no matter what they say.

And here’s what they’re saying now: Americans need to cut back on sodium because 70 percent of us have heart disease, diabetes, obesity or some other risk factor such as high blood pressure.

But what they won’t tell you is that cutting back on sodium won’t make a single person thinner, less diabetic or less prone to heart disease. And no matter what you’ve heard or read, sodium is rarely responsible for anyone’s blood pressure problems, either.

Nod if this is familiar: You walk into your doctor’s office and he tells you to cut back on salt to lower your blood pressure. So you spend a month or two eating bland, tasteless foods and live in fear of even the lightest sprinkle of the white stuff.

Then, when you return to the doctor’s office, your blood pressure is higher than ever.

You can stop nodding now.

Believe me, you’re not alone — because for most people, salt will help regulate your blood pressure, not raise it.

The only time you’ll run into problems with salt is when you start getting the great big piles of it that come in prepackaged foods. But if you stop eating all that junk, you won’t have to waste a moment worrying about how much sodium is in your diet.

I’ve got the full scoop on salt — including the one and only kind you should be using on your foods — in the July issue of the Douglass Report.

Subscribe now, and you’ll never be afraid of your saltshaker again.

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

————————————————————————————-

Second Grade Math

I was the substitute teacher for a second-grade math class
that was learning about groups. In one exercise, pupils were
asked to label a group of items according to their common
characteristics. Pictured were onion rings, doughnuts, a
bundt cake, and ring cookies. The correct answer would have
been that all the items have holes in the center.

But one health-conscious boy’s response was, “All of those
things contain too much cholesterol.”

Received from Thomas Ellsworth.
——————————————————————-
Bits and Pieces

1586 Sir Walter Raleigh brought the first tobacco to England from Virginia.
1694 The Bank of England was founded.
1900 The H.J.Heinz Company, maker of ketchup with 57 varieties of tomatoes, was incorporated.
1962 Martin Luther King was arrested in Albany, Alabama, for holding a prayer meeting on the steps of the city hall .
1976 Silent movie star Gloria Swanson appeared at a court hearing as a character witness for John Lennon who was fighting UD deportation.
1977 A Led Zeppelin’s US tour had to be cancelled when Robert Plant’s young son died and he rushed home.
1967 Britain’s pirate radio stations were declared illegal, and BBC Radio One was launched.
1993 The St Thomas Wildlife Park in Somerset announced that a pink pigeon which was one of only 200 in the world and related to the extinct dodo had been hatched.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Music Stuff July 26th
1962, Frank Ifield was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Remember You’. The singers first of four UK No.1′s.
1962, The Beatles appeared at Cambridge Hall, Southport, Lancashire supporting of Joe Brown & the Bruvvers.
1964, The Who appeared at the White Hart Hotel, Acton, London, England.
1968, The Jackson Five signed a one-year contract with Motown Records.
1970, Jimi Hendrix played in his home town of Seattle for the last time when he appeared at Sicks Stadium.
1974, graffiti artists were hired to spray paint sites in London to promote the UK release of The Rolling Stones new single ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll’.
1975, Van McCoy and the Soul City went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Hustle’- it made No.3 in the UK. McCoy died on 6th July 1979.
1977, Elvis Costello was arrested as he performed outside a CBS Records sales conference at The London Hilton Hotel and was fined £5.
1977, Led Zeppelin cut short their 11th North American tour after Robert Plant’s five-year-old-son Karac died unexpectedly of a virus at their home in England, UK.
1980, US disco group Odyssey were at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Use It Up And Wear It Out’, their only UK No.1.
1980, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Saxon, April Wine and Riot all appeared at the Monsters Of Rock festival, Donington Park, England, tickets £7.50.
1986, Peter Gabriel No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sledgehammer’, a No.4 hit in the UK.
1992, American singer and Motown artist, Mary Wells, referred to as The First Lady of Motown and who had a 1964 US No. 1 and UK No. 5 single ‘My Guy’, dies aged 49 of laryngeal cancer. Forced to give up her career and with no health insurance, forced to sell her home, Wells’ old Motown friends including Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, The Temptations and Martha Reeves, along with Dionne Warwick, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt, personally pledged donations in support.
1997, it was reported that eight people who had attended this years Glastonbury Festival had been admitted to hospital after contracting the E-Coll bug which had claimed the lives of 22 people in Scotland earlier in the year.
2000, Oasis were booed of stage during a show at the Paleo Festival in Switzerland after singer Liam Gallagher had insulted the 35,000 strong audience.
2001, Sir Paul McCartney announced his engagement to Heather Mills, the anti-landmine campaigner and former model. The couple split-up in 2006.
2001, Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews was admitted to a rehabiliation centre, after collapsing with exhaustion.
2006, the guitar on which Sir Paul McCartney learned his first chords sold for £330,000 at an auction at London’s Abbey Road Studios.
2006, the final edition of Top of the Pops was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Just under 200 members of the public were in the audience for the show which was co-hosted by veteran disc jockey Sir Jimmy Savile, its very first presenter. Classic performances from the Spice Girls, Wham, Madonna, Beyonce Knowles and Robbie Williams will feature in the show alongside the Rolling Stones – who were the very first band to appear on Top of the Pops on New Year’s Day in 1964.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 26th
1941, Bobby Hebb, US singer,
1941, Neil Landon, The Flowerpot Men, (1967 UK No.4 single ‘Let’s Go To San Francisco’), The Ivy League, (1965 UK No.3 single ‘Tossing and Turning’).
1941, Darlene Love, The Crystals, (1962 US No.1 single ‘He’s A Rebel’, 1963 UK No.2 single ‘Then He Kissed Me’).
1942, Dobie Gray, US singer, (1965 US No.13 and UK No.25 single ‘The In Crowd’, 1973 US No.5 single ‘Drift Away’).
1943, Mick Jagger, vocals, The Rolling Stones
1949, Roger Taylor, drums, vocals, Queen,
1961, Andy Connell, Swing Out Sister, (1986 UK No.4 single ‘Breakout’).
1962, Miranda Joyce, vocals, The Belle Stars, (1983 UK No.3 single ‘Sign Of The Times’).

Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

Visit the website www.vincetracy.com

——————————————————————————————–

“El poder no corrompe. El miedo corrompe … quizás el miedo de una pérdida de poder.”

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”

the harder you work, the luckier you get!
Donald Trump

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive -
to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

———————————————————————————————————

All broadcasters need to reflect on our privilege  every now and again. To think people let us enter their homes and their lives at the flick of a switch is mind-blowing and I am always aware of this privilege. I still remember my first broadcast at Clatterbridge Hospital radio, Wirral, Merseyside. A patient had left his earphones on and woke up to the sounds of McGuiness Flint and “When I’m dead and gone!”  I also remember a young broadcaster, not me, who was passed a very badly written note. He announced to the world that Fred Smith was 111 and waxed lyrical about this elderly gentleman. Someone shouted a message in his ear, ” The man is 1ll not 111!”

We’ve had a few occasions since I’ve been here in Spain when we’ve had to make very sensitive announcements. I remember when the trains were blown up in Madrid and I was in the middle of my programme having to find the balance between being serious and informative and being sensitive to what was going on. Even requests can be tricky especially when someone is asking for a request for an anniversary of their loved one. The fact that they had a very special song doesn’t always make it easy to fir in the programming. Very often that special song is a ballad or very slow number and the object of the exercise in programmi9ng terms is to try and offer a pacey show with uplifting music.

We’ve had a bit of rain and grey skies for the past few hours. After days on end of heat and cloudless skies it has been refreshing to get the rain. Let’s get the overall picture.

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
29° C | 23° C	30° C | 23° C	29° C | 22° C	27° C | 22° C	29° C | 22° C

New study claims you can be obese and healthy

I’ve heard of “fat and happy,” but never “fat and healthy.” But now Dutch researchers are claiming it doesn’t matter what the scale says — just your “metabolic profile.”

Sounds to me like someone’s been spending way too much time lighting up in Amsterdam — and I’m not talking about tobacco!

Researchers looked at data on 1,325 obese people who took part in a Dutch study, and found that a handful of them didn’t have heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure and had no history of stroke. In addition, they all had normal cholesterol levels without meds.

Over seven years of follow-up, only one of these “metabolically healthy” giants developed cardiovascular disease.

The rest get to keep eating at the Dutch equivalent of the Cheesecake Factory
– because apparently, if you can survive for seven years with a great big gut and a healthy metabolic profile, you’re in the clear.

Give me a break. This study, presented at a recent Endocrine Society meeting, is the worst sort of misdirection — because there are a couple of catches here, and they’re bigger than a sumo wrestler’s waistline.

First of all, “healthy” fat people are few and far between, and this study proves it. Just 90 of the 1,325 subjects — less than 7 percent — were “metabolically healthy.”

Secondly, these people aren’t healthy by any stretch of even the most twisted imagination — because seven years is nothing. Some obese people can bounce along for decades before the problems hit.

Then, one day, their luck runs out.

If you’re big and fat, don’t waste precious time trying to convince yourself that you’re healthy — you’re not. If you don’t make some changes now, believe me — one day, your luck WILL run out.
———————————————————————————————-
Word of the Day
confiable kohn-fya’-bleh (adjective)

trustworthy, reliable, trusty, dependable
EXAMPLES

Necesitan cinco fuentes confiables para los ensayos. – You need five reliable sources for your essays.

¿Es una persona confiable, honesta y responsable? – Is he a trustworthy, honest, and responsible person?

For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for confiable.
——————————————————————————————-

Iris`s Challenge

(1) He was born on15 April 1944, in Cardiff and is a singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s.

(2) In 1970 he formed a band called Love Sculpture  who scored a quasi-novelty Top 5 hit by reworking Khachaturian’s classical piece “Sabre Dance” as a speed-crazed rock number which became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British DJ John Peel

(3) After Love Sculpture split, he had a UK Christmas Number 1 single in 1970 with “I Hear You Knocking”. This single also reached #4 in the U.S. , making it his biggest hit by far on either side of the Pond. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

(4) His only acting role followed, as a band member in the David Essex movie, Stardust After learning the trade of producer, culminating in a couple of  singles “Baby I Love You” and “Born to Be with You”, he became linked with the pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, and also The Flamin’ Groovies.

(5) He had more UK hits during this time, including Elvis Costello’s “Girls Talk”, Nick Lowe’s “I Knew the Bride”, Hank DeVito’s “Queen of Hearts. He collaborated on two songs with Jeff Lynne, the leader of Electric Light Orchestra. One of these songs, “Slipping Away”, became his only other U.S. Top 40 hit, albeit just barely, spending a single week at #39

(6) He recorded less frequently after the mid 1980s, living in Wales in semi-retirement, but occasionally touring. He joined up with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for tours in 1992 and 2000. However in 2007 he appeared alongside Joe Brown, on a lengthy tour around the UK . He also made an appearance on stage alongside Stray Cats, at the Brixton Academy in London , playing “The Race Is On” and “Tear It Up” with the band.

Exercise. Boost your endorphins, feel good about yourself, and
you’ll feel healthier!
——————————————————–

Word of the Day

la tirolesa tee-roh-leh’sah  (noun)

tyrolean crossing, zip-line, zip wire

EXAMPLES

Mis padres le encantaban las tirolesas por las selvas en Costa Rica. – My parents loved the zip-lines through the jungle in Costa Rica.

¿Hay una tirolesa en este circuito alto de cuerdas? – Is there a zip-line on this high ropes course?

For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for la tirolesa.

—————————————————————————————————————-

Bits and Pieces
1971 100′s of topless women on the French Riviera were orderd by riot police to put their bikini tops back on .
1989 The final episode of popular US cop drama ‘Miami Vice’ was shown on US TV.
1995 Bob Monkhouse was offering areward of £10,000 for the return of 2 joke books stolen from the BBC television centre. The books contained gags and scripts jotted down over 25 years.
1984 Green top milk was blamed for an outbreak of illness that killed 5 people in West Yorkshire. Calderdale coroner James Turnbull warned that elerly people and babies were most at risk from drinking the raw unpasteurised milk.
1989 Two of the Great Train Robbers, James Hussey and Thomas Wisbey, admitted at Snaresbrook Crown Court that they were a part of a £500,000 cocaine trafficking ring.
1994 Archaeologists unearthed more than 200 Anglo-Saxon graves on building site in Dover. The graves were thought to contain the bodies of warriors and farmers from between 500 and 700 AD.

July 25th: On this day
1960, Roy Orbison US No.2 with ‘Only the Lonely,’ his first hit. The song was turned down by The Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley, so Orbison decided to record the song himself.
1962, The Beatles played at the Cavern Club in Liverpool at lunchtime; at night they performed again at the Cavern Club, and then they appeared at the Cabaret Club, Liverpool. The Cabaret Club booking is Brian Epstein’s attempt to get The Beatles into the cabaret circuit, but it is a miserable failure with no response from the audience.
1963, Cilla Black made a recording test for EMI Records after George Martin had spotted her while at a Gerry And The Pacemakers gig in Liverpool.
1964, The Beatles third album ‘A Hard Days Night’ started a twenty-one week run at the top of the UK charts.
1969, Neil Young appeared with Crosby, Stills and Nash for the first time when played at The Fillmore East in New York.
1970, The Carpenters No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘(They Long To Be) Close To You’. The first of three US No.1′s and 17 other Top 40 hits. The song was written in 1963 by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and was first offered to Herb Alpert, who said he didn’t feel comfortable singing the line ‘so they sprinkled moon dust in your hair’.
1971, T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Get It On’, the group’s second UK No.1 which spent four weeks at the top of the charts. In the US it was retitled Bang A Gong, (Get It On).
1984, Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton died at the age of 58 died in Los Angeles of heart and liver complications. She had a No.1 R&B hit in 1953 with ‘Hound Dog’ (later covered by Elvis Presley).
1987, Madonna had her fifth UK No.1 single with the title track from her 1987 film ‘Who’s That Girl’.
1992, Neil Diamond No.1 on the UK album chart with his ‘Greatest Hits 1966-1992.’
1995, Grammy Award winning country singer, songwriter Charlie Rich died in his sleep aged 62 years old.
1998, Jane McDonald went to No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut album. The singer had been featured in a BBC documentary ‘Cruise’, and became the first singer to debut at No.1 without having a hit single.
1999, This years Woodstock Festival ended with riots resulting in 120 people being arrested.
2004, The Streets, (Mike Skinner), scored their first UK No.1 single with ‘Dry Your Eyes’, taken from his No.1 album ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’.
2006, George Michael phoned the UK daytime TV Richard and Judy show to talk about the recent story when he was caught ‘cruising’ for sex and was photographed kissing and groping with a stranger.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 25th
1925, Bennie Benjamin session drummer, one of ‘The Funk Brothers’ played on many Tamla Motown hits including, The Four Tops, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Stevie Wonder. Film ‘Standing In The Shadows Of Motown’ released in 2003. Died 20th April 1969.
1942, Bruce Woodley, vocals, The Seekers, (1965 UK No.1 & US No.5 single ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’).
1943, Jim McCarty, drums, The Yardbirds, (1965 UK No.3 & US No.6 single ‘For Your Love’).
—————————————————————————————————————–

Iris`s Challenge

Dave Edmunds

Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

Visit the website www.vincetracy.com

always grateful and never satisfied

Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone.

—————————————————————————–
I think the following is rather surreal. In this day and age of terrorists blowing up those they wish to eliminate surely the Burka is an easy disguise for such a person’? I feel it is the liberty of the general public that is being usurped and we are being let down by politicians and I cannot understand what they fear. If you think I’m wrong then please let me know as most, if not all, who discuss this matter seem to be of the same opinion as myself. Here’s the newsflash….

Spain’s Congress rejects the prohibition of the ´burqa´ in Spain.

The plenary session of Congress, on Tuesday, rejected with 183 votes against and 169 in favour, the motion, sponsored by the Popular Party, which was intended to urge the Government to adopt the necessary measures to prevent nationwide integral veiling in public spaces or public events.

During his speech before the House, the People´s spokesperson Soraya Saenz de Santamaria has criticized the PSOE on this issue and asserted that “it is high time to agree.” It is very difficult to understand that his party is free to advocate that those who renounce their freedom and identity and I find it very difficult to understand that while our troops fight for freedom in Afghanistan, while the Government lacks the courage to defend them here in Spain”.

Specifically, the proposal of the ´popular party´ would urge the Government to “ban” in public spaces and events something that “that hides the face and hinders the identification of the person and their visual communication, because it is a discrimination that is not covered by freedom of religion to be contrary to the dignity of persons”.

————————————————————————————————–

Here’s our weather and , yes, we do have aq bit of rain.

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
29° C | 23° C	30° C | 23° C	29° C | 22° C	27° C | 22° C	29° C | 22° C
Chance of Rain 20% chance of precipitation	Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear

“Do you know why running water gives one an urge to urinate?”

A member asked that question in “Skull & Bones,” and I had to admit, I didn’t know. I chalked it up to just one of those simple mysteries, like why a yawn prompts another person to yawn.

Then I asked you if anyone else had a theory. And the theories came pouring in…

Bog: “Just guessing here but…. warm water = mothers womb? We had permission to pee there.”

Clyde: “I’m from an old German family. My mother told me they poured water over the privates at bed time to make us urinate so we would not wet the bed. The sound of running water is still effective at age 77.”

Jean: “The sound of water can signal the human body to urinate. That is how diaperless babies in India and Africa (and all babies if given a chance) respond by urinating on cue, to the mother making sshhing sound in the baby’s ear.”

Anita: “I’ve attributed the need to ‘head to the bathroom’ every time I hear running water to the fact that my mother was a nurse who prided herself on the fact that I was toilet-trained by the time I was 9 months old! She told me she took me to the bathroom every two hours, sat me on the potty, and ran the water in the sink until I ‘went’! I still can’t start the dishes without having to ‘go’ beforehand.”

Probably the closest to a real theory comes from JKS: “The yawning response is caused by our mirror neurons in the brain that cause us also to smile when we see someone smile, even babies do this. Could the urge to urinate also be caused by some very primitive ‘preset’ neurons that when we see or hear water we have the urge to ‘mimic’ the sound? That is my theory. See if others agree with more expertise in the area of brain function.”

The “mirror neuron” theory–I like it! Although it does seem outnumbered by the “mother wanting me to go when she said” theories.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
——————————————————————-

Iris’s Challenge

(1)Were a British Invasion-era performing duo who met at Westminster School in London . They got a regular booking at The Pickwick Club in London which garnered the attention of A&R man Norman Newell and in short order the two were signed to EMI.
(2)When the time came for their first recording session they remembered a song their friend Paul McCartney had played for them. They asked Paul to write a bridge to complete it which he did. The song became their debut single, “World without Love,” and it went to number one on both sides of the Atlantic
(3)The duo went on to score hits with the Lennon and McCartney songs “Nobody I Know” and later “Woman” written by McCartney under the pseudonym of “Bernard Webb” to see if he could have a hit song  without his famous name attached to it. The song reached number 14 in the US and number 28 on the British charts.
(4) Suddenly, they were among the most recognizable faces and voices of the British Invasion. They also recorded the John Lennon penned song, “If I Fell.”.They turned out to be astute song finders outside the Lennon-McCartney sphere. Del Shannon’s “I Go to Pieces” was acquired while doing a tour in Australia with Del. The two also had success with Buddy Holly’s “ True Love Ways ,” and Phil Spector’s “To Know You Is to Love You,” all of which made the U.S. Top 40.
(5)They also had hit records in 1966 and ’67 with music-hall novelties such as “Lady Godiva”, “Knight in Rusty Armour”and “Sunday for Tea.” Following a four-year, ten-song hit spree and many successful television appearances and concert tours they amicably went their separate ways in 1968.
(6)One went on to a successful and continuing career in the music business, becoming head of A&R for Apple , he spent ten years as Vice President of Sony Music, today he is a partner at Strategic Artist Management in L.A.The other enjoyed success in areas as diverse as musical theatre, song writing and movie scoring. His “Pharaoh” in the musical Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was a smashing success and he received accolades for his soundtrack to the James Dean biopic “Race with Destiny”. Unfortunately he died on 17 July 2009 at the age of 64.

Word of the Day

la ducha doo’-cha  (noun)

shower

EXAMPLES

Siempre me da una ducha en cuanto llego a casa. – I always take a shower as soon as I get home.

Si tienes fiebre, toma una ducha tibia para bajar la temperatura. – If you have a fever, take a lukewarm shower to lower your temperature.

For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for la ducha.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Bits and Pieces

1936 The Speaking Clock was introduced by the GPO.

1969 Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

1994 Violent clashes broke out in London between demonstrators and police during a march against the Criminal Justice Bill. Mounted police charged 3 times to prevent the Downing Street gates being breached.

1995 Under new government proposals, criminals could have their property confiscated to help compensate their victims.

1997 Myra Hindley’s hopes of an early release were boosted after a House of Lords decision that Home Secretary Michael Howard had exceeded his powers when he increased the minimum period that a double murderer must spend in prison from 15 to 20 years.

1988 Spaniard Pedro Delgado won the Tour de France despite a positive drugs test. The international jury for the tour had decided to take no action as the offending drug had not been banned by the International Cycling Union.

1995 A streaker who ran across the 18th green at the end of the Open Golf championship at St. Andrew’s was fined £250 by Cupar Sheriff Court.

2005 Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France.
———————————————————————————–
Music Stuff July 24th
1964, A riot brook out during a Rolling Stones gig at The Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, Lancashire, after Keith Richards aims a kick at a yob who was spitting at the group. Two policemen and 30 fans were injured and the damage is estimated at over £4,000.
1965, The Byrds were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Bob Dylan song ‘Mr Tambourine Man’.

1967, The Beatles meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose lecture on Transcendental Meditation (TM) they had gone to hear at the Hilton Hotel in London.
1969, Paul McCartney recorded a demo of his new song ‘Come and Get It’ at Abbey Road studios in London. McCartney gave the song to The Iveys, (soon to become known as Badfinger).
1972, Bobby Ramirez drummer with Edger Winters White Trash was killed after becoming involved in a brawl in a Chicago bar.
1974, George McCrae UK No.1 with ‘Rock Your Baby’. Written and produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band. Regarded by some as the first Disco No.1.
1976, Status Quo, The Strawbs, Hawkwind, Curved Air and Budgie all appeared at Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales.
1976, The Beach Boys ’20 Golden Greats’ album started a ten-week run at No.1 on the UK chart.
1976, The Manhattans started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Kiss And Say Goodbye’, – No.4 in the UK.
1976, Elton John scored his first UK number 1 single with ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ a duet with Kiki Dee. It was written by Elton John without Bernie Taupin under the pseudonym “Ann Orson” and “Carte Blanche” and was Elton’s first UK No.1 after 16 Top 40 hits. John had met Dee when she was working as a backing singer.
1977, Donna Summer -No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Giorgio Moroder produced ‘I Feel Love’.
1980, Peter Sellers, actor, singer, died of a heart attack. (1956 UK No.9 single ‘Ying Tong Song’ with The Goons, 1960 UK No.4 single ‘Goodness Gracious Me’, with Sophia Loren, 1965 UK No.14 single ‘A Hard Day’s Night’).
1982, Survivor started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, taken from the film ‘Rocky III’. Also No.1 in the UK.
1992, during his current world tour, Prince appeared at Earl’s Court, London, England
1993, UB40 started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love. ‘.
1997, Police gave Oasis singer Liam Gallagher a formal caution after he admitted criminal damage following an incident with a cyclist in Camden, north London.
1999, Phil Collins married for the third time. The 48-year-old drummer wed marketing consultant Orianne Cevey in Lausanne, Switzerland. Guests at the wedding included Elton John, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler.
2000, Ronan Keating was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Life Is A Rollercoaster’
2002, a garden centre was sued over claims it killed a collection of the late singer Freddie Mercury’s prized koi fish. Mercury’s former partner, Mary Austin who inherited the Japanese koi collection claimed 84 fish died when the electricity powering a temporary pond was accidentally turned off by a worker from Clifton Nurseries, of Maida Vale, West London. At the time of Mercury’s death he had amassed one of the best collections of the fish in the UK. One koi can be worth £250,000.
2007, Beyonce tripped down twelve stairs while performing “Ring the Alarm” on tour in Orlando, Florida. Video from the night of the concert captured her stepping on her trench coat and then tumbling head-first down twelve steps at the Amway Arena appeared within hours on YouTube.

2008, Pete Doherty pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage after smashing a photographer’s camera.
Birthday Boys and Girls July 24th

1942, Heinz Burt, bass, The Tornadoes,
1944, Jim Armstrong, Them,
1947, Alan Whitehead, drummer, Marmalade,

Iris’s Challenge

Peter and Gordon

Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

We almost had a bit of rain yesterday and the clouds are still about. Let’s look at the immediate forecast for the Alicante Province….

Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
29° C | 25° C	29° C | 22° C	29° C | 22° C	29° C | 22° C	27° C | 21° C

We did have storms in several areas of Spain yesterday and there was heavy rain in Valencia.

———————————————————————————————————————

There are some opportunities that are simply unmissable, especially if we’re talking about summer, Benidorm and the most surprising music festival around. It’s called the Low Cost Festival, taking place on 23rd and 24th July in Benidorm’s L’Aigüera Park, bringing together the crème de la crème from the national and international indie scene.

Following a brilliant first edition held in Alicante, the Low Cost Festival 2010 is moving to Benidorm to offer audiences on the Costa Blanca a first-class line-up. The British groups Editors and Placebo, undoubtedly two of the biggest exponents of alternative rock around today, are just two of the acts lined up to play at the festival, which will also feature performances by other high voltage international bands such as These New Puritans, The Raveonettes, Adam Green, Tokyo Sex Destruction and Vive La Fête.

The line-up of national groups performing at the Low Cost Festival 2010 is also unbeatable. Love of Lesbian, Los Planetas, Lori Meyers and Arizona Baby have seduced a whole army of follows with their lyrics and chords, both in Spain and abroad. Together with them, Benidorm and its beaches will offer audiences an idyllic setting, which is why it is already considered the ultimate music event of this summer.

The green areas and central boulevards make L’Aigüera Park the city’s green lung and a wonderful setting to enjoy concerts. The Low Cost Festival enclosure is divided into three stages: there are two tiered open-air spaces, the Oscar Esplá amphitheatre and the Julio Iglesias auditorium, and the bullring.

As well as music, the festival presents an attractive programme of leisure and entertainment and Benidorm’s tourist offer and nightlife. For starters, festival-goers will get special prices at shops, restaurants and bars around the city. And, throughout the entire week from 19th to 25th July, there will be free concerts at midday, low cost gastronomic routes, the record and alternative fashion fair, and even a documentary film festival, along with many other surprises.

via Official Tourism Site of the Region of Valencia.

————————————————————————

Antioxidants are substances that protect cells against the effects of free radicals — molecules produced when the body breaks down food or is exposed to environmental toxins and radiation. Free radicals are believed to play a role in heart disease, cancer and other disorders. So it makes sense that antioxidants could help protect or even treat many health problems.

However, some poorly designed studies have given antioxidants mixed results (http://www.naturalnews.com/023357_p…) and resulted in the mainstream media reporting that antioxidants are virtually worthless. But new research provides hard evidence that taking antioxidant supplements long-term produces dramatic benefits in people with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. Full Story

————————————————————-
Bits and Pieces July 23rd

———————————-

1983 Half a dozen Welsh students shouted ‘Go Home’ at the Prince of Wales as he arrived for a meeting at the University of Wales, in protest against ‘English imperialism’.
1997 The Princess of Wales attended the funeral of murdered Italian fashion designer and former friend Gianni Versace in Milan. She flew from Cannes on the private jet made available by singer and friend Elton John and wore a striking black Versace dress to the service in which Elton and Sting sang a duet of ‘The Lord Is My Shepherd’.

1992 America moved closer to launching a military strike against Iraq when warships in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic were put on alert following Saddam Hussein’s refusal to allow United Nations arms inspectors to check the Agriculture Ministry for nuclear missile documents.
1994 Police sealed off the M5 in Gloucestershire after a member of the public spotted an arsenal of guns in a van. But armed police found they had ambushed a travelling theatre company and seized their armoury of props, including swords, replica machine-guns and a bazooka.
1994 The Home Secretary announced that the young killers of James Bulger were to be kept in custody for at least 15 years- much longer than recommended by the trial judge.

————————————————————————————————-

Music Stuff July 23rd
1955, Slim Whitman was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Rose Marie.’

1960 Cliff Richard notched up his third chart-topper with Bruce Welch’s composition ‘Please Don’t Tease’. 1964, The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘A Hard Days Night’
1966, Frank Sinatra went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Strangers In The Night’.
1969, The Rolling Stones were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Honky Tonk Women,’
1977 In the middle of his act, Tony Orlando announced, much to the surprise of the rest of Dawn, that this is to be his ‘last day as a performer’. 1977, Who drummer Keith Moon joined Led Zeppelin on stage during a gig at The Forum, Inglewood, Los Angles playing a duet with Zeppelin drummer John Bonham
1980, Cliff Richard received his OBE from the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
1983, Paul Young had his first UK No.1 single with his version of the Marvin Gaye song ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat, (That’s My Home.)’
1983, The Police went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Synchronicity’.
1989, Ringo Starr kicked off his first tour since the break-up of the Beatles with a show in Dallas. His backup band included guitarist Joe Walsh, organist Billy Preston and Bruce Springsteen’s sax man Clarence Clemons.
1995, Two R.E.M. fans died at Dublin’s Slane Castle gig, one drowned in the River Boyne and the other was allegedly pushed from a bridge.
2000, The Corrs started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘In Blue’.
2003, James Brown announced his separation from his fourth wife using an advertisement featuring the Disney character Goofy.
2005, Queen’s 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best rock concert ever by over 7,000 UK Sony Ericsson music fans.
2006, McFly scored their 5th UK No.1 single with ‘Please Please’.
2008, a waxwork model of Amy Winehouse was unveiled at Madame Tussauds. The singer’s parents, Mitch and Janis, revealed the model, ‘complete with trademark beehive and sailor tattoos’, at the London attraction.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 23rd

1942, Madeline Bell, UK singer, Blue Mink
1945, Danelli, drums, The Young Rascals
1946, Andy Mackay, sax, woodwind, Roxy Music,
1947, David Essex, UK singer, actor
1947,Tony Joe White, US singer, songwriter.
1950, Blair Thorton, guitar, Bachman Turner Overdrive
1952, Janis Siegel, singer, Manhattan Transfer
1961,Martin Gore, keyboards, Depeche Mode,
1964, Tim Kellett, keyboards & trumpet, Simply Red
1965, Slash, (Saul Hudson), guitar, Guns N’ Roses

Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

” What would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail”

“Adversity builds character” – Jack Kennedy

——————————————————————————————–
The weather is beautiful but it does get a little too hot between now and the end of August.Let’s look at the forecast…

Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday
31° C | 23° C	29° C | 23° C	29° C | 22° C	29° C | 23° C	29° C | 23° C

There is a chance of rain for Friday and Saturday and we have had bad storms in the north of Spain. The mountains near France are always one area of concern and we have another problem on the coastline which manifests itself near the end of September. The heat builds over the summer weeks and when cold air comes down from the north east we have a gota fria. This literally means a cold drop and the rain is reminiscent of what happened in Cornwall a year or two ago. It is absolute mayhem when it falls and the problem is we never know exactly where the gota fria will fall. There have always been heavy falls of rain in the Valencian Community and this could explain why we have rice growing areas and Paella as the national dish. However, we can enjoy glorious sunshine for many days between now and the Autumn.

A study that recently appeared in the journal Ophthalmology has found that people who eat fatty fish at least once a week are less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye disease that gradually causes vision impairment and blindness in senior adults. The study findings add to the growing list of health benefits gained by eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

More than 2,500 senior adults took eye exams and completed questionnaires as part of the study, and researchers evaluated the relationship between fish consumption and eye health. Fifteen percent of the participants already had early-to-intermediate stage AMD, and under three percent already had advanced AMD. However, participants who indicated they ate one or more servings of healthy fish a week were determined to be 60 percent less likely to develop advanced AMD than those who ate less than this amount.  Story

—————————————————————————————————————-

The other “low-carb” lifestyle

Forget taste and health — now, the greenies want you to choose your meals based on carbon emissions.

But this scheme stinks of another kind of emission — the kind you don’t want anywhere near your food.

I got a real kick out of a recent Newsweek article on a new vegan fast food chain called Otarian, which has a space on the menu for the carbon “footprint” of each awful dish.

It’s right next to the bigger footprint that represents the price.

But while diners chow on bland, prepackaged vegan meals warmed up in a microwave, the owners of this restaurant are laughing all the way to Australia, where they’re building the nation’s most expensive home.

Called “Taj-on-Swan,” their $70 million palace will have parking for 17 cars. The property will also have a gym building, a separate temple and an observatory with a revolving roof, according to reports. When all is said and done, it will likely be the largest home in the country.

That’s right — these greenies, like so many others, aren’t about Earth first. They’re about “me, first!”

And they’re not alone.

Al Gore lives in an energy-sucking mansion and jets about the world in private planes, leaving a trail of fumes behind him. The Kennedys railed against an earth-friendly offshore windmill farm that threatened to spoil the view from the family compound with a few little dots on the horizon.

And let’s not forget the movement’s mass opposition to the cleanest, greenest power on the planet: Arab-free nuclear energy.

Look, I’ve got no problem with eating locally, especially if there’s a free-range cattle ranch in your neighborhood. But don’t fall for the me-first hypocrites who want to guilt you into an ugly lifestyle while they live high on the soy hog.

And by the way, if you have a few moments, you should check out some of the reviews of this Otarian place. They’re priceless.

“All the eco-friendliness in the world will not make up for overpriced airplane food,” wrote one diner on the Yelp restaurant review Website. “They basically serve very small microwave meals with a very huge price tag,” said another.

Yum, yum — ready to save the Earth?

With no stomach for hypocrites,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

—————————————————————-

The wife was disappointed because instead of ‘beautiful,’ it was now ‘cute.’

She asked, ‘What happened to beautiful?’

The man replied, ‘The drugs are wearing off.’
—————————————————

An American tourist asks an Irishman:
“Why do Scuba divers always fall
Backwards off their boats?”
To which the Irishman replies:
“If they fell forwards, they’d still be in the boat!
————————————————————————————————–

WHO SAID FOOTBALLERS AREN’T INTELLIGENT?

My parents have always been there for me, ever since I was about 7. ”
David Beckham

“I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the
league.”
Mark Viduka

“Alex Ferguson is the best manager I’ve ever had at this level. Well,
he’s the only manager I’ve actually had at this level. But he’s the best
manager I’ve ever had.”
David Beckham – (Wish Becks could fire up this current England team!!).

“If you don’t believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of
bed at the end of the day.”
Neville Southall

“I’ve had 14 bookings this season – 8 of which were my fault, but 7 of
which were disputable.”
Paul Gascoigne

“I’ve never wanted to leave. I’m here for the rest of my life, and
hopefully after that as well.”
Alan Shearer

“I’d like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona ”
Mark Draper

“You’ve got to believe that you’re going to win, and I believe we’ll win
the World Cup until the final whistle blows and we’re knocked out.”
Peter Shilton

“I faxed a transfer request to the club at the beginning of the week,
but let me state that I don’t want to leave Leicester ”
Stan Collymore

“I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on
the screen that George (Ndah) had scored in the first minute at
Birmingham . My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he
was out there playing.”
Ade Akinbiyi

“Without being too harsh on David Beckham, he cost us the match.”
Ian Wright

“I’m as happy as I can be – but I have been happier.”
Ugo Ehiogu

” Leeds is a great club and it’s been my home for years, even though I
live in Middlesborough.”
Jonathan Woodgate

“I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel.”
Stuart Pearce – (Bless Him ! One of the few players who always gave 200% in an England shirt, & still does, as the Under 21′s Coach)

“I took a whack on my left ankle, but something told me it was my
right.”
Lee Hendrie

“I couldn’t settle in Italy – it was like living in a foreign country.”
Ian Rush

” Germany are a very difficult team to play…they had 11 internationals
out there today.”
Steve Lomas

“I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my
right sock.”
Barry Venison

“I definitely want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don’t know into what
religion yet.”
David Beckham

“The Brazilians were South American, and the Ukrainians will be more
European.”
Phil Neville

“All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed.”
Mitchell Thomas

“One accusation you can’t throw at me is that I’ve always done my best.”
Alan Shearer

“I’d rather play in front of a full house than an empty crowd.”
Johnny Giles

“Sometimes in football you have to score goals.”
Thierry Henry

—————————————————————————————–

Bits ´n´pieces

1972 Bloody Friday bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army around Belfast, Northern Ireland – 22 bomb explosions, 9 people killed and 130 people seriously injured.

1976 Christopher Ewart-Biggs British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.

1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, saying the immortal words: ‘That’s one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind’.

1994 Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way for him to become Prime Minister in 1997.

1995 Russia ordered a Virgin Atlantic flight to Hong Kong to land at Moscow airport, for allegedy violating its military airspace, with 250 passengers being forced to remain for 8 hours on board.

Word of the Day

el horno or’-noh  (noun)

oven, kiln; furnace

EXAMPLES

Puse el pavo en el horno hace 3 horas. – I put the turkey in the oven three hours ago.

Nuestra casa es un horno en en verano. – Our house is like an oven in the summer.

IDIOMS

No estar el horno para bollos – Not to be the right moment

Al horno – Oven-baked, roasted

gloaming

(GLO-ming)

noun: Twilight; dusk.

From Middle English gloming, from Old English glomung, from glom (dusk). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, glimpse, glass, arsenic, melancholy, and cholera.

————————————————————–
Music Stuff July 22nd
1963, The Beatles kicked of a UK tour with Gerry and the Pacemakers and Tommy Quickly, at the Odeon Cinema, Weston-Super-Mare.
1967, This week’s UK Top 5 singles: No.5, ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’, Procol Harum, No.4, ‘She’d Rather Be With Me’, The Turtles, No.3, ‘It Must Be Him’, Vikki Car’, No.2, ‘Alternate Title’, The Monkees and No.1, ‘All You Need Is Love’, The Beatles.
[1971, John and Yoko spent the second day filming the ‘Imagine’ promotional film at their home in Tittenhurst Park Ascot, England. Today’s footage included the morning walk on the grounds though the mist and John Lennon singing ‘Imagine’ in the white room on his white piano.
1973, Van Morrison appeared at Birmingham Town Hall, playing his first UK show for over 2 years. Tickets, £1.10-£2.
1979, Little Richard, now known as the Reverend Richard Pennman told his congregation about the evils of rock & roll music, declaring ‘If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody.’
1989, Former actress Martika – No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Toy Soldiers’, No.5 UK.
1989, Sonia was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You’. Her only UK chart topper.
1999, Simple Minds closed their official fan club due to dwindling membership.
2000, Oasis appeared at London’s Wembley Stadium, the gig was broadcast live around the world on TV.
2004, French singer and guitarist Sacha Distel died after a long battle with deteriorating health. He scored the 1970 UK No.10 single ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.’ As a professional jazz guitarist he worked alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Tony Bennett.
2005, Founder member and singer with The Chi-lites, Eugene Record died of cancer. Had the 1972 US No.1 single ‘Oh Girl’ and 1972 UK No.3 single ‘Have You Seen Her.’ He also released three solo albums.
2006, Johnny Cash was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘American V: A Hundred Highways.’ Released posthumously on July 4
2007, Welsh singer Paul Potts started a three week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘One Chance.’ Potts became the winner of the first series of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent show.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 22nd
1941, George Clinton Parliament, Funkadelic
1943, Bobby Sherman, US singer, (1969 US No.3 single ‘Little Woman’ and six other US Top 30 hits).
1944, Estelle Bennett, The Ronettes,
1944, Ric Davis, vocalist and keyboardist with Supertramp
1947, Born on this day, Don Henley, The Eagles, drums, vocals,

Visit the website www.vincetracy.com

——————————————————————————————–

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death. - James F. Byrnes, 1879-1972

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”

————————————-

We have a lovely day in prospect…let’s check the weather….

Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
31° C | 23° C	31° C | 24° C	30° C | 24° C	27° C | 22° C

Do Apostrophes matter?

I was down in Albir and the bar I visited was really nice and clean. Outside the boards were written neatly but there were apostrophes everywhere. There were egg’s…beefburger’s….bean’s…..I asked the two very nice young owners whether they knew they weren’t needed and I was told it wasn’t important. Maybe it doesn’t matter any more. Maybe we can all invent our own words and ways of writing and possibly we´ll end up not being able to understand our own words. Maybe it was all a waste of time when we went to school…..apparently Shakespeare spelt his name in many ways…………….

A new study published in the journal Pediatrics has found that children with high cholesterol may not need drug treatments to bring them back to normal, healthy levels. Children who tested with high cholesterol levels initially in the study eventually had their levels taper off, indicating that the process may occur naturally over time, without the need for drugs.

Researchers explained that cholesterol levels can vary from day to day anyway, and that testing is most accurate when done numerous times. There are “bad” cholesterol days and “good” cholesterol days, and researchers believe that tests showing extremely high levels may be indicative of a bad cholesterol day, and not necessarily high cholesterol levels in general. Story
——————————————————

Word of the Day

el letrero leh-treh’-roh  (noun)

sign, notice

EXAMPLES

El letrero dice: no pisen el césped. – The sign says: don’t step on the grass.

Si hubieras leído el letrero habrías sabido las reglas. – If you had read the sign, you would have known the rules.

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Yorkshire Jokes   ….from Ian K

Yorkshire man takes his cat to the vet.

Yorkshireman: “Ayup, lad, I need to talk to thee about me cat.”

Vet: “Is it a tom ?”Yorkshireman: “Nay, I’ve browt it wi’   us.”

——————————————————————————————–

A Yorkshireman’s dog dies and as it was a favourite pet he decides to have a gold statue made by a jeweller to remember the dog by.
Yorkshireman: “Can tha mek us a gold statue of yon dog?”
Jeweller: “Do you want it 18 carat?”

Yorkshireman: “No I want it chewin’ a bone, yer daft begger!”

—————————————–

A Yorkshireman’s wife dies and the widower decides that her headstone should have the words “She were Thine” engraved on it.
He calls the stone mason, who assures him that the headstone will be ready a few days after the funeral. True to his word the stone mason calls the widower to say that the headstone is ready and would he like to come and have a look.
When the widower gets there he takes one look at the stone to see that it’s been engraved “She were Thin”. He explodes – good grief, man, you’ve left the flamin’ “e” out!
The stone mason apologises and assures the poor widower that it will be rectified the following morning.

Next day comes and the widower returns to the stone mason – “There you go sir, I’ve put the “e” on the stone for you”..
The widower looks at the stone and then reads out aloud – “E, She were Thin”.
———————————————————————————————————–

My friend Jackie C always sends me sensitive stuff….

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN GUILTY OF LOOKING AT OTHERS YOUR OWN AGE AND THINKING, SURELY I CAN’T LOOK THAT OLD?

MY NAME IS ALICE , AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST.   I NOTICED HIS DDS DIPLOMA ON THE WALL, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME. SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK-HAIRED BOY WITH THE SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS SOME 30-ODD YEARS AGO.
COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN?

UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER, I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT.  THIS BALDING, GRAY-HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS WAY TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE.
AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED MORGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL .

‘YES. YES, I DID. I’M A MUSTANG,’ HE GLEAMED WITH PRIDE.
WHEN DID YOU GRADUATE?’ I ASKED.
HE ANSWERED, ‘IN 1975. WHY DO YOU ASK?’
YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!’, I EXCLAIMED.
HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY.

THEN, THAT UGLY,  OLD,  BALD,  WRINKLED FACED,   FAT-BOTTOMED,  GREY-HAIRED,  DECREPIT,  SON-OF-A-BITCH  ASKED,

‘WHAT DID YOU TEACH???
————————————————————————-
So Sad.

Tim was at school today and the teacher asked all the kids what their dads did for a job.

Kids yelled Fireman, chippy, plumber etc…. but Tim kept his mouth shut – so the teacher asked him ‘Tim what does your father do for a job’

“My dad dances in a gay club and takes of his clothes for the men. If they pay enough, he will go out with a man, rent a hotel room and sleep with them.”

The teacher sent the other kids out to lunch and took Tim aside to ask if that was true.

‘No’ said Tim “He plays football for England, but I was too embarrassed to say.

————————————————————————————————————-

Music Stuff July 21st

1961, The Everly Brothers UK No.1 with ‘Temptation.’

1966, Georgie Fame UK No.1 with ‘Get Away’. The song started life as a TV jingle for a petrol advert.
1969, The Beatles started work on the John Lennon song ‘Come Together’ at Abbey Road studios in London.
1973, Jim Croce No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’. Croce was killed in a plane crash three months later.1973, Canned Heat, Chuck Berry, Nazareth, Edgar Broughton Band, Groundhogs, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Medicine Head, Brewers Droop, Roy Wood and Wizzard all appeared at this years Buxton Festival in Derbyshire, England.
1977, The Sex Pistols made their debut on UK music TV show Top Of The Pops.
1990, Roger Waters ‘The Wall’ took place at the Berlin Wall in Potzdamer Platz, Berlin. Over 200.000 people attended and the event was broadcast live throughout the world, Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell, The Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper, Sinead O’Connor and others took part.
1995, A judge in Los Angeles threw out a lawsuit against Michael Jackson by five of his former security guards. The guards had claimed they were fired for knowing too much about night-time visits by young boys to Jackson’s estate. The singer denied any improprieties.

2002, Producer Gus Dudgeon, who worked with artists including Elton John, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Kiki Dee, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Strawbs, XTC, and Joan Armatrading, was killed aged 59 in a car accident near Reading, together with his wife Sheila. They had been driving along the M4 motorway on their way home from a party when Gus fell asleep at the wheel of the Jaguar XK8 convertible, crashing down an embankment at speed and ending up in a ditch.2004, Composer Jerry Goldsmith died after a long battle with cancer aged 75. Created the music for scores of classic movies and television shows ‘Star Trek’, ‘Planet of the Apes’, ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ and ‘Dr. Kildare.’

2005, UK singer Long John Baldry died of a chest infection. He was one of the founding fathers of British Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1960s performing with Blues Incorporated and Cyril Davies’ R and B All Stars. He later fronted the Hoochie Coochie Men, with Rod Stewart and then Steam Packet with Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll. Also a member of Bluesology with Elton John. He also narrated on Winnie The Pooh recordings for Disney and was the voice for Robotnik on the Sonic The Hedgehog computer game.

2007, Sharon Osbourne’s father Don Arden died in a Los Angeles nursing home at the age of 81. Dubbed the Al Capone of Pop he steered The Small Faces, Black Sabbath and ELO to stardom.

2008, Amy Winehouse’s husband was jailed for 27 months for attacking a pub landlord and perverting the course of justice. Blake Fielder-Civil, 26, of Camden, north London, admitted assaulting James King, 36, at the Macbeths pub in Hoxton, east London, in June 2006. He also admitted at Snaresbrook Crown Court trying to make Mr King withdraw his complaint using a £200,000 bribe.

2008, The Police played the first of two nights at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado during the final leg of their 152-date world Reunion tour.

Birthday Boys and Girls July 21st

1945,  Mike Wilson, The Four Pennies,

1946, Barry  Whitwam, drums, Herman's Hermits,

1947, Cat Stevens, singer, songwriter

1955, Howie Epstein, bass, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

• Music Source 1 music source 2 music source 3 music source 4

Visit the website www.vincetracy.com