history and a horse

recently, i've been thinking about obscure history.

i don't mean history that's been obscured because it was hidden and or suppressed, like the soviet union did when it was in existence. i mean history that's been abandoned or discarded: more or less in the back of the public's collective mind like a box that's been put into storage and then forgotten.

one example of this is the horse seabiscuit. in 1938, according to the book about him by laura hillenbrand, he was the number one newsmaker in the united states: not clark gable, lou gehrig, adolf hitler, howard hughes, benito mussolini, pope pius xi or franklin roosevelt. he went above and beyond sports, much like michael jordan did when he was playing basketball.

as the years passed, few people thought about him. i remember his name was often used in jest about horses and their lack of speed on the race track.

but in 2001, hillenbrand wrote her book. that put seabiscuit's name back before the public. i bought a copy of it and admit i only read half of it before i put it down and forgot about it -- ironically, much like the public did about him.

sometimes i wonder what famous or infamous subject of these days will be forgotten, then, because of fate or chance, is remembered in the future.

addenum, aug. 30: i had some time during the last two weeks, so i read seabiscuit. i enjoyed it very much. i haven't seen the movie, and don't know if i will. i'll see what happens.

the bozone layer

the ozone layer surrounds the earth and keeps bad light rays from getting to the earth's surface.

the bozone layer surrounds dumbasses and keeps intelligence from getting into their minds.

while some say the ozone layer might be disappearing, no such thing seems to be happening with the bozone layer.

the weather now ... and then

as i write this, the skies are cloudy and the wind blows fiercely. the temperature is in the high 20s with a high forecast to be in the middle 30s.

more of the same will happen on sunday and monday before the temperatures rise.

compare that to the weather 17 years ago. the following entries came from a journal i kept that year and recently reviewed:

2-23-92
Saturday was glorious. The high was about 65 or 66. I opened the windows of the apartyment from 1-7 p.m. to let the air in.

3-3-92
Snow fell last night. Again.

3-4-92
I've left the windows opened and turned off the heat. Tho temps were in lower 40s supposedly last nite, it doesn't fell chilly. it's 330am as I write this.

3-10-92
snow forecast for today. I closed my windows and turned the heat back on. Low forecast for 16 tonite. Cazart! But that's spring weather for ya.

3-11-92
Freezing rain and rain fell yesterday. Snow fell last nite.

outstanding!

today i'm starting a new classification in my blog.

i call it jokes from the public domain. it will consist of some jokes which i found while i was going through some old notes.

here's the first in the series. it's dated but still funny to me.
*
president bush returns to the white house after a trip overseas. as he gets off the helicopter, he is carrying a pig under each arm.

a marine on duty salutes him and says, "OUTSTANDING pigs, sir!"

bush says, "thank you. i got one for vice president cheney, and the other for secretary of defense rumsfeld."

the marine says, "OUTSTANDING trade, sir!"
*
i saw one version that said bush got the pigs for his daughters, jenna and barbara. but instead of dumping on two poor little rich girls, i decided to dump on two war criminals.

four examples of english misuse and abuse

recently, i saw some examples of the misuse and abuse of english. here they are.

one
i saw 1th for 1st, or firth for first.

whoever typed this must've gotten it mixed up with 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on.

two
a sentence started with the words "this being ... "

i do NOT like this because it is awkward.

three
the word conversate. it must be a back formation from converse and conversation.

goddamm it -- that's WRONG! and there's a better, simpler word to use -- talk.

four
a story in usa today noted that people are buying fewer name-brand items at the grocery store and buying more private-stock items.

please -- private stock is a pretentious way of saying store brand. i buy many store-brand items such as bread, coffee, and orange juice. those items are just as good as the name-brand items,

i also save money, and i've done that long before the recession started last fall.