Dragon

I feel old, I know who Dick Smothers is (go Mr. Yo!) but don't have a clue who Connie Talbot is. hmmm, must go Google.

Dragon

Ok, thanks to Wikipedia I am now in the know about Connie Talbot. I especially liked the phrase "While pursuing her musical career, Talbot attends primary school." That seems a little surreal but so very in tune with this day and age.

Dragon

Dragon is currently waiting for a batch of Braised Beef in Beer to finish cooking. I really must thank Baldur for posting this recipe ages ago as it has become a favorite in our house and we even made it for our friends in Saskatchewan when they were nice enough to put us up for a week. It went over extremely well an we were thrilled to be able to use fresh carrots and potatoes from their garden to make it. If only I were more of a gardener I would have fresh garden veggies of my own now that we actually have a yard. Though I'm not sure how much we'd get anyway, our backyard is really tiny and doesn't get barely any direct sunlight at any point of the day. I can't imagine putting a vegetable garden in the front yard and I just know I am not diligent enough to be out there tending it. I am, however, looking forward to planting some perenials out there and I am looking up some plants that are shade loving and do well in our climate to put in the back.

Dragon

+d = and

Baldur

Here is a brief musical moment in honor of Miss Connie Talbot.
She must be twice as old by now, but this video is from when she first burst upon the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWNoiVrJDsE

Baldur

Dragon, when you are preparing the ground to put in perrenials just leave a little space in the back of them for a few tomatoes. Remember how tall they grow and place them accordingly.
The lush (hopefully) green leaves make a great backdrop for flowers.
Baldur also plants okra in the flowerbeds for it's amazing flowers, they should be sold as an annual bedding plant since most people seem to hate it as a vegetable.
Baldur's love of okra puts him in the minority.

Baldur

Judas Maccabaeus restores the Temple (164 BC)
Goldie Hawn is born (1945)
The Piltdown Man is debunked (1953)
Jerry Colonna dies (1886)

Dragon

Tomatoes were actually one of the few vegetable plants I was thinking of growing regardless. I was actually considering buying some plants that already had a good start at the farmers market and putting them on the step out front but planting them properly sounds like a nice idea. I have one experience with growing them from seeds and it didn't go well. I started them early inside the house because it was too cold outside for them and I wanted them the get a good beginning. Just as the seeds had become lovely little shoots that were just starting to look like tomato plants my cat decided that the pot was just too much fun not to play with. So much for that plant, so I started another and a little tin foil wall up around the edge of the pot to keep him out but it was already too late in the season for them to produce very much. I ended up putting them outside on the patio and then sort of neglected them for the rest of the summer. Right when it was starting to get cold outside it produced 2 tiny little tomatoes, barely big enough to be classed with cherry tomatoes. Unfortunatly the only two fruit were on the stem that also had a giant spiderweb all wrapped around it. I didn't see a spider so I thought, I'll just bring it in and nurse these tomatoes to get a little bigger. The next morning I came out and looked at my tomato plant (now back in the kitchen) only to find about 6 million baby spiders crawling all over the web. I had to spray the whole thing down with Raid, then I didn't really want to eat the tomatoes.

Baldur

Blackbeard is killed (1718)
Maurice Ravel's 'Bolero' debuts (1928)
Hoagy Carmichael is born (1899)
Shemp Howard dies (1955)
Mae West dies (1980)
A Max Heardoom impostor pirates two Chicago television stations (1987)

Baldur

While Baldur is rather fond of clasical music he just cannot handle 'Bolero'.
He has been know to get up and turn off the radio when he hears the opening notes. He was also horrified upon learning that it was included in his 7 cd set of selections played by Django Reinhardt, hence one of those discs rarely gets played.
How sad.

Normal

Know what you mean about "Bolero," but you could hit the pause/skip buttons and enjoy the rest of your CD! You probably also hate "Little Drummer Boy," which I greatly enjoy done in the bolero rhythm! But I like most music that is dance-based, though I guess I'm past the stage of spinning about the living room. (Reason I never had coffee tables.)

Baldur

'Little Drummer Boy' is in 'Baldur's Top 10 Worst Christmas Songs Ever Recorded'
I really should put them in order and publish the list some day.

Now really, you just got out of labour and have a baby trying to sleep in an unsanitary barn. You and your husband just crossed the dessert with you 9 months pregnant on the back of a mule
It's cold. People keep dropping in.
This little kid shows up with a drum and wants to bang it for the baby.
Do you say yes or no?

Baldur

Elton John's 'Step Into Christmas' and
Paul McCartney's '(Simply Having) A Wonderful Christmastime' are both surely on that list.
Also add that horrible thing sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Actually in honor of that try this version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3M7IR6jkpc

Baldur

But let Baldur be serious, albeit briefly.
Here is a new Christmas song which is a new favourite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H10f2w7T5CU&feature=pyv

Dragon

I just read this article and I thought others might enjoy it. I had no idea there was such a thing as Witness supporting therapy dogs (what a wonderful idea) though I did know there was such a thing as heartless lawyers (who didn't know that). Anyway, here's the article. Hope Baldur doesn't mind me posting it entirely, I wasn't sure a link would work.

How cute is that dog in the witness stand?
By William Thomas, Humour

No animal known to man gets itself into more embarrassing predicaments than the dog. And it’s never the dog’s fault, of course. The dog is always innocent, except maybe in a court of law.
At this moment, Rosie, a gorgeous, smiling golden retriever is clogging up the justice system of the United States. Rosie is a therapy dog who specializes in comforting witnesses who experience great stress when they are required to testify in court.
After appearing as a witness supporter in several cases, both prosecutors and defense lawyers agree that Rosie is adorable, although she does slobber a lot.
At a recent trial in Poughkeepsie, New York, Rosie sat at the feet of a 15-year-old girl who was testifying against her father in a sexual assault case. At particularly horrible moments of testimony, the dog leaned into the girl and nuzzled her for comfort. Once when the traumatized teenager could not speak, Rosie rose up and pushed the girl gently with her nose.
Oh yeah, they know when you’re hurting. The night I grieved for the death of my cat Wedgie I had two sympathetic border collies turn me into a consolation sandwich.
The New York State trial ended with the father’s conviction and all agreed that the young girl probably could not have delivered her testimony without Rosie’s unconditional support.
However, in a surprise turn of events which offers up yet another reason why the world hates lawyers, the father’s defense team has filed an appeal placing Rosie at the centre of the controversy.
The defense lawyers contend that Rosie is ‘too cute’ for a court of law. No, not kidding. The defense lawyers maintain that Rosie may have unfairly swayed the jurors’ judgment with her cuteness and natural empathy. Only a lawyer could try to make a case that a dog is too cute to look at.
Clearly, it never occurred to Rosie to scowl or frown in order to show a balanced approach to her in-court therapy. She just sat there smiling, slobbering and nuzzling the 15-year-old witness when she needed it most.
If the appeal is successful, Rosie and many other therapy dogs that help calm emotional witnesses in at least six other American states may be banned from court. For eight years therapy dogs have been allowed to comfort anxious witnesses in U.S. courts and many prosecutors believe that without them, many guilty offenders would go free.
This of course brings up the legal issue of ‘how cute is that dog on the witness stand?’ Cute? Too cute? Problematically cute? Prosecutorial cute? Defense resting cute? Slobbering adorable? Or “Ah, Judge? I’d like to move for a 15-minute recess cause I gotta go poop in the park.”
Maybe the New York defense lawyers who claimed “prosecutorial misconduct” against the district attorney who brought Rosie into court have a point. Maybe Rosie is just too impossibly cute for their client to get a fair trial.
Perhaps less attractive dogs, like pugs and bulldogs, should be allowed to help witnesses testify in court. Maybe less intelligent dogs like Afghans should be used as support witnesses so jurors would not be swayed by clever courtroom theatrics. And of course all support dogs, whether they’re cute as a Jack Russell or as brooding as a bloodhound should be fitted with muzzles in the courtroom. That way they cannot be accused of leading the witness.
And definitely no hats on dogs in court. Like, if you’re on trial for arson and your support dog shows up in the witness box wearing a fireman’s helmet, that would be just wrong. Or if you’re up on an assault charge and your support dog happens to be a boxer wearing ten-ounce gloves and a silky cape then yes, I can see where that might wrongly influence a jury.
And certainly a vicious dog that might bite the defense lawyer in the bum giving us all something to cheer about– they should be definitely banned from courtrooms.
I suggest courts use only beagles in courts of law because they could also help verify the evidence. A little crotch sniffing, some gun powder smelling and pretty soon you have a therapy dog that can also demonstrate DNA testing to the jury. That’s a “two-fur” dog– part comfort, part CSI.
And if you allow seeing-eye dogs to come to court but ban therapy dogs– isn’t that canine discrimination of the worst kind?
The outcome of the appeal against Rosie’s court behavior could have vast implications on U.S. jurisprudence, not to mention the peeling paint on the fire hydrant at the front of the courthouse.
The defense team is all too willing to take this to the Supreme Court of the United States. Said the lead attorney: “There was no way for me to cross-examine the dog.”
There was also no reason for you to cross-examine the dog, sir. With all due respect, dogs do not lie. If you owned one you would know that.
In life, a dog exemplifies man’s best friend. In court a dog represents a lawyer’s worst enemy– truth.

Dragon

I must agree that "The Little Drummer Boy" is one of the worst songs in christmas history. It may only be topped in my books by a song that used to play constantly on the speakers at Eaton's at christmas time when I used to work there (you know, back when it still exsisted). I never knew the name of the song but near the end the singer invited a bunch of kids to sing the corus several times. I don't mind kid choirs singing when they are practiced and in tune but in this song it seemed like they just grabbed a bunch of tone deaf kids off the street and told to belt it out as loud as they could. Awful.

marius

Fun catching up here today. Heck, it is fun being alive after five days of the worst stomach flu ever. That ailment is apparently sharing its joys with many in our neck of the woods. It almost sent me to the hospital so wash your hands everyone. This is not something anyone should experience, not ever! : )


Speaking of joys, the spider and tomato plant story made me smile, the comforting court-room dog, too. And for heaven's sake - I was alive when national TV cut off the end of a football game in favor of other programming? Wish I would have seen that. I would have cheered. (Sorry sports fans.) Did cheer for little Connie. Talented little gal.

Interesting that Little Drummer Boy bothers people. Wondering why? Baldur mentioned the drums but I've never noticed them being that loud. Probably my least favorite holiday tune is "Oh Holy Night." Don't care for the melody.


Since we're sharing music, here's a non-holiday song. It's a Lakota lullaby. Translation is "Good-hearted boy, go back to sleep. The night is good."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwvyM-uRvqc&feature=related

indigo

Thanks for the Lakota lullaby Marius. The music is beautiful and the PICTURES are OUT OF THIS WORLD!! I wonder if I could find that in a book. I'm also going to look for the music, to add to my collection. I'm glad you are feeling better and you're right about the hand washing. I was very sick once like that and wouldn't have wished it on my worse enemy. My favorite Christmas song is
Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives.

Dragon

That was lovely marius. Glad to hear you're on the mend.

As for the little drummer boy, I think for me it was always the Pa rum pa pum pum's that made me dislike it.
My personal favorite Christmas song is "Please come home for Christmas" though I quite like "Baby it's cold outside" too.

Dragon

Have to share this link about a blind kitten born without eyes. This is so heartwarming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNpeTCEPrRk