All about the raspberry

I have decided to dedicate myself to the cause of the raspberry.

Being that today is (Tuesday, Mangal-waar, Seshanbeh, yawm-ath-thalatha, Fidal, dydd Mawrth, Pungenday), it's got to be better than yesterday. So far it's definitely more bizarre. That being said, apparently Tiger Woods is back playing golf. I was hoping he'd retire. While listening to NPR this morning they were talking about the cost of gas limiting people's ability to vacation properly. I was going to comment on the cost of gas and how simply ridiculous it is that the oil companies are literally feeding off the misery of the world right now. Then I started thinking about how little time off Americans actually have to use for vacation and that we, as a culture, don't know how to vacation properly anyway. So what difference does it make? I am getting excited about taking one GD day off. That's stupid. The French work 35-hour work weeks and take an entire month off each year. Yeah, they pay $8/gallon for gas and they don't bathe properly and they're French, but JC I'd love to have a month off.

In 1462 Vlad III the Imapler, aka, Dracula, attempted to assassinate the Turk ruler Mehmed II. Despite the fact that Vlad was a nasty dude and impaled up to 30,000 people at a time, he was a member of the Order of the Dragon which was responsible for protecting E. Europe from Muslim expansion and should be viewed as a hero. In 1579 Sir Francis Drake claimed Novis Albion (Californina) for England. In 1876 the Indians beat the US Cavalry in a battle near Rosebud Creek, MT. In 1885 the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor, a gift from the French. In 1933 4 FBI agents and fugitive Frank Nash were gunned down at Union Station in Kansas City by a bunch of gangsters. That's pretty cool. In 1939 the last public guillotining in France took place. In 1948 a United Airlines plane crashed in PA and killed 43. In 1963 the US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against allowing the recitation of Bible verses and the Lord's prayer in public schools. Thank, god. And in 1994 OJ was arrested and charged with double homicide. We know how that turned out.

Today is Iceland's National Day. Iceland has about 316,000 residents all of whom are related. The people of Iceland are very strange and if you don't believe me I give you Bjork. 82% of them are Lutherans. The capital is Reykjavik. Icelanders eat things like singed sheep heads and Hakarl which is rotten shark meat. FTS. That's disgusting. Jimminy Cricket, would someone please tell me why you would eat rotten shark meat?

It's also St. Albert Chmielowski Day which rhymes with the Big Lebowski but is not related in any way. Albert was a Polish guy who was very charitable and founded the Gray Brothers, not to be confused with the Gay Brothers. Although, you know what happens in the monasteries....

Happy Birthday: King Edward I of England; King Charles XII of Sweden; Igor Stravinsky; MC Escher, who's way better than MC Hammer; Newt Gingrich; Barry Manilow; George Clinton, funky dude; Joe Piscopo; Jello Biafra; Greg Kinnear; Chloe Jones, who died of liver failure due to an addiciton to Vicodin and Wild Turkey; and Venus Williams (no relation).

Have a good one....and it is all about the dragons...