Congratulations, X.

X, I'm sure that you would have appreciated a call with the good news, but the most important thing is that baby Sophia is healthy. God bless her, and congrats to you! Sophia will be that lucky little girl with the cool uncle!

Congrats, X!!

I guess it's hard to not take it personally a bit, but it is a LITTLE funny how much we use Facebook to announce things to the world, thinking we're "done" One of my best friend's sister had her baby the other day, and no one called me -- I found out on FB as well, and not even a direct msg or wall post, just happened upon a public post from her nephew. A little humorous I think.

Just... WOW...

Police: Mich. man had daughter, 9, drive to store

I guess a 9-year-old girl would make the perfect designated driver if you're drunk at 3am... WTF?!!

I just now saw that on the news. Can you imagine?? That guy is a major a-hole.




TIS

Something similar happened near me, although to a child much older than 9. A mother regularly called her teenage son, who was not yet old enough have a license, to come pick her up at the local bar because she couldn't drive home. Neighbors noticed the boy getting out of the driver's side a few times and called police. How sad that anyone could do this to their own!

I can't imagine anyone posting a newborn niece's name on a public mafia board.
Then again, what do I know. I'm overly paraniod like that. Nothing bad ever happens on the internet.

That appears to be the baby's first and middle names.

35 years ago today, Carlo Gambino, arguably the most powerful mobster of the 20th century, had a funeral mass in Brooklyn. He died of a heart attack in his home in Massapequa (Long Island) and his body was returned to Brooklyn for the mass.

Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church
Brooklyn, NY
October, 18, 1976:

A blast from the past:

While looking for news about Jackie Evancho, low and behold, I came across this name: Ravi Shankar. Ring a bell? The king of Sitar music! He's 90 now and has a white beard and gave a recent cocnert to celebrate his birthday. Far out man! Like, heavy.

His daughter, Norah Jones, is one of my favorite performers now.

I didn't know Norah Jones was his daughter? I can't say I know a lot about her or her music but I do know who she is.



TIS

Yep, she's his kid. Besides being absolutely gorgeous, she's quite a good performer. She does a lot of the old standards and some new stuff, too. I'd highly recommend her if you are looking for something new and different in your music, TIS.

Coincidentally, HBO is airing a movie of hers (didn't know she acted) right now called "My Blueberry Nights." I can't say I'm really watching it, but she is very pretty.


TIS

I'm taking a swimming class this semester to satisfy my PE requirement for graduation and transfer to a university. I figured "I get to chill out in a pool for an hour and a half twice a week, what better way to satisfy my PE requirement? Swimming can't be THAT tough of a class, right?"

This was my workout yesterday: Yesterday's workout in swimming consisted of the following: 600 yd warm-up, consisting of 300 yds free-style, 300 individual medley (free-style, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly stroke), then 300 yds of pulls, and 300 yds of kicks. Then we had to do a practice run of 400 yds non-stop, only to have to re-do the 400 yds for REAL, and the second time it was timed! So our 400 yds turned into 800 yds, and we had to do it in less than 20 minutes!! After my 800 yd marathon (which I finished in 15 minutes), I had to do 300 MORE yards of individual medley, then 300 MORE pulls, and 300 MORE kicks. That's 7800 feet total, in an hour and 20 minutes. That's roughly a mile and a half. I never, EEEEEEEEEVER, wanna see a swimming pool again...

If an olympic lap is 50m, then 7800 yards is about 71 laps. That seems pretty obsessive! lol

Though I do remember earning my "Mile Swim" patch in Boy Scouts -- in a lake -- and it wasn't that bad


Then pfft... not even 24 laps? That's more like it, but still quite a bit!

I never knew that either. Wow, Ravi Shankar, i haven't heard that name in a LONG time. Haven't listened to my Concert for Bangladesh LP in many years. Pretty sure i still have it around here somewhere. I liked the medley of Jumpin Jack Flash and Youngblood that Leon Russell did on it. You had Bob Dylan and the Band on it too. Some real good stuff!

Ravi had to be damn near sixty when Jones was born . His other daughter, Anoushka Shankar, was also nominated for a Grammy a few years back. Musical talent must run in the family because I read that Jones had very little contact with her father while growing up (although the same article stated that they're very close now). She is fantastic. My wife and I saw her at the Blue Note about eight years ago.

She was born and grew up in Brooklyn and evidently still maintains some connection with those roots. She'll be appearing there this weekend. I was dying to go but I had to pass it up.

As I posted above, Ravi Shankar's name coming up is a blast from the past. How I remember dancing to his Sitar music: the Surfer Stomp, Watutsi, Hully Gully, The Philly, Mashed Potatos, The Monkey, the Frug ... the list goes on!

So I got to see a video of a guy blowing his brains out in a police interrogation room in my homicide class today. Fun stuff...apparently this video has been circulating the internet for the past few years. Wish I'd have known about it so I didn't spit my water all over the place when he shot himself.

Im surprised he got a gun into that room. Aren't they supposed to frisk you before they sitdown with you? Interogations can get pretty heated real quick and i know if i was a cop i wouldn't want somebody that is armed sitting across from me while i accuse them of something most likely pretty bad.

This one PA politician Budd Dwyer blew his brains out live on tv at a news conference he called in 1987. I think he was a state senator but i'm not 100% on that. Pretty dramatic stuff.

The arresting officers never frisked him, and the detective who was going to do the interrogation never bothered to frisk him. The lesson my instructor was teaching us was that police officers often become complacent after years on the job, and that things like this end up happening when they don't exercise due diligence. It's a VERY disturbing video. Give it a Google search if you want to see it, but I can't imagine ANYONE wanting to see it. I sure as hell didn't, but I didn't have much of a choice.

I saw it. Pretty nasty. That cop just said" Oh f**k, nobody shook him". If you didn't already know what was going to happen you'd think he was getting ready to shoot the cops, but then he just shot himself.

A US airport security agent who found a vibrator in the baggage of a transatlantic traveler, and then advised her in writing what to do with it, is facing disciplinary action.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said Wednesday that a handwritten note that lawyer and blogger Jill Filipovic found in her checked luggage was "highly inappropriate and unprofessional."

Filipovic tweeted a picture of the note, which read: "Get your freak on girl." Under the image, she added: "Just unpacked my suitcase and found this note from TSA. Guess they discovered a 'personal item' in my bag. Wow."

"TSA quickly launched an investigation and identified the employee responsible," the federal agency said on its blog. "That individual was immediately removed from screening operations and appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated."

http://news.yahoo.com/vibrator-quip-gets-us-airport-security-agent-hot-224823949.html

This little girl came home from school to an empty house. After spending several hours alone, she decided to drive off in the family car to look for her mom. Her mother had been taken to the hospital earlier in the day and left a message for the little girl's father to take care of her, but he said he never got the message.

When the family car ended up on a neighbor's lawn, she figured she should call 911. The call is alternately sad and hilarious. She tells the dispatcher that she's scared and alone and misses her mommy, but then tells her that the police need to come quickly and put the car back because her mom's going to be really pissed at her!

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/5-year-old-takes-car-to-search-for-mom/

updated 10/29/2011 4:17:02 PM ET 2011-10-29T20:17:02

KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into an armored NATO bus Saturday, killing 17 people, including 12 Americans and a Canadian in the deadliest attack on the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul since the war began.

It was a pretty quiet Halloween. We aren't usually overwhelmed with kids trick or treating, but we usually get a few dozen. I don't think we got close to that. We were hit pretty hard in the freak snowstorm on Saturday, and school was closed today because there was no heat/power. I know that lots of homes are still without power (luckily we never lost it), so I'm guessing that had lots to do with it.

I have never watched Jimmy Fallon's show but I saw his impression of Charlie Sheen during the "winning" phase, and he recently did a hilarious "history of RAP" with Justin Timberlake. Now here's his impression of Justin Beiber regarding the claim that Beiber fathered a baby last year.

I may have to watch his show sometime cause I think he's hilarious from what I've seen.

TIS

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2011/11/justin-bieber-performs-its-not-my-baby/

TIS, I don't watch regularly, but Fallon is probably my favorite late-night host -- he's just brilliant. Check him out sometime!