Between The Lines

Steve Sbraccia — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:53:47 +0000

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Funny Fur Sure….

Steve Sbraccia — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:04:14 +0000

There’s a lot of depressing and upsetting news out there what with the economy, gas shortages and whatnot…

So, because we’re having a “ruff” time—I thought we’d give folks a little something to ‘howl’ with laughter about…

What’s so dog-gone funny?

Well—take a look at some of this stuff and see…

HE’S PRETTY CAGEY…

Here’s a clip of a pup is in his crate—along with two others… But he’s done more than just take his puppy chow…

He’s been watching HOW that crate was opened and closed….

Check out how he not only escapes—but frees the other inmates…

And keep a sharp eye on the bones in the other cages… He takes ‘em after freeing his puppy comrades…I’m thinking that’s HIS REAL motivation for freeing the other dogs!

GUARD DOG…

This fellow bought a German Sheppard as a guard dog—and —the dog was great at guarding the house..

There was just one, teeny, tiny problem with the dog’s work..

As this security cam video shows—the dog didn’t understand that he was supposed to keep people from coming IN the house– not keep ‘em from going OUT of the house…

A PAIN IN THE GLASS…

Here’s another dog with door problems…

Only this canine won’t go out the door—even when there’s NO door there to impede his exit !

THAT’S WHY THEY CALL ‘EM FAITHFUL ….

Ever wonder WHAT your dog does when you’re NOT at home?

Well, filmmaker John Noble wondered the same thing.

He placed a bunch of cameras around his home to record the activities of Jesse the Labrador Retriever from sunup to sundown.

Here’s Jesse’s day compressed down into 2 minutes.

No wonder they call it a dog’s life!

—Steve

Link to the video and to the story Steve covered today on NBC-17

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Remembering A Class Act….

Steve Sbraccia — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:45:12 +0000

With the passing of Paul Newman, Hollywood and the the world lost a class act.

During his illness— Newman never played the sympathy card—and kept his pain private.

He was well known for his charitable works funded in large part by his company Newman’s Own foods.

But long before he established that charity—-I was witness to an act of kindness by Paul Newman that took place nearly two decades ago.

Here’s the account of that incident which was first posted on this blog almost exactly a year before he died.

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ORIGINALLY POSTED SEPTEMBER 29, 2007

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Seems a day doesn’t go by when there’s not a news story about the mis-deeds, bad actions, or just plain horrendous attitude of some Hollywood star.

You’d think they all were a degenerate bunch of self-serving pleasure seekers.

But, back in 1982, an incident occurred that put Paul Newman on the top of my permanent list of all-time class acts, while he was in Boston shooting a movie titled, The Verdict.

They were shooting on “G” street in South Boston—an area of tightly packed, turn of the century homes much like this…

Because of the way the houses are constructed—when they catch fire, it’s hard to stop the blaze before it destroys the whole building.

As it turned out—just such a fire broke out in “Southie” several doors down from where Newman and his crew were shooting interior scenes in a home on “G” street.

Upon arriving at the scene—I soon found a woman who lived in the burning home. She’d lost everything—managing to escape with the clothes she was wearing and her beloved dog—nothing more.

As I stood there interviewing her in the drizzle—the trauma of her heart-wrenching ordeal was obvious to all.

The noise and commotion caused by the fire stopped the filming near-by. Among those who came out to see what was going on was Paul Newman.

Word of what happened to the woman reached him.

He COULD have ignored what was occurring.

He COULD have called for his limo, and left.

He COULD have done a lot of things.

But, minutes after I interviewed the woman who was wandering aimlessly in distress—Newman quietly made his way over to her, and began to comfort her. A few minutes later, as a crowd began to gather around them—he sent her his trailer—and told the crew to take care of her there.

I recall reporting on his actions in one of my subsequent radio reports from the scene.

The name of the woman, and what happened to her in the months that followed are impossible to recall. All I have for reference these days are my hand scrawled notes on the back of the fading photograph taken by a local newspaper photographer.

But, although the photograph is fading—the memory of a legend’s kindness to someone he’d never see again

remains as bright as his star in Hollywood’s history.

—Steve

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It Comes Down To Number Two…

Steve Sbraccia — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:22:55 +0000

With the economic crisis getting saturation coverage this past week—a lot of the more interesting political stories have managed to be downplayed…

But when you’re cooking political stew—there’s always time to left it bubble long enough for some of the other ingredients to make their way to the top…

WITCH ONE IS SHE?

One of the more fascinating stories to emerge this week was one where Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin got blessed to protect her from WITCHCRAFT !

Back in 2005—she was videotaped in the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as Kenyan Bishop Thomas Muthee asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft”.

The clip below shows the actual “blessing” part of the ceremony. If you want to see the entire session–there are much longer clips floating around on the net—but this will give you the gist of what took place….

Remember how Rev. Wright’s videotaped sermons came back to haunt Barack Obama?

We’ll have to see if the same ghosts go after Palin in the coming days—especially if the economic story begins to fade.

THAT HIS-STORY AND HE’S STICKING TO IT….

And when it came time to talk of the economy, Joe Biden wanted to explain how good leaders take the bull by the tail and face the situation..

In an interview with Katie Couric he proudly spoke of the great words of FDR who went on TV to quell the nation’s fears after the stock market crash in 1929..

Trouble was Herbert Hoover was the president then—and TV hadn’t been invented…

I wonder what he would have said if Katie asked him to spell Potato ?

LOOKS LIKE BILL IS CRACKERING UP….

It was a classic two-fer for Bill Clinton the other night on Larry King Live.

Not only did he confuse the master of the obvious question—but he also managed to insult scores of southerners–without Larry King asking a follow-up or calling him out on it.

Clinton said he’d suspend campaigning for Obama during the upcoming Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur..

The CNN transcript says King asked, “Are you kind of feeling Jewish that you’re waiting until after the Jewish holidays?”

Clinton replied, “No. But…if we’re trying to win in Florida, it may be that,”

He then explained the Obama people want to send him to Florida because “they may want me to go to sort of hustle up what Lawton Chiles used to call the ‘cracker vote’ there.”

Larry King— and the rest of the media— gave Clinton a pass on that one.

Wadda think the reaction would have been if Obama uttered those words?

—Steve

Link to the video and the story Steve covered today on NBC-17

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They Can’t Feel Our Pain…

Steve Sbraccia — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:21:56 +0000

As the financial markets continue to flail in a sea of red ink and proposed bailouts—our elected representatives are looking at tossing billions at the problem….

But—do they really understand how it affects us?

Based on a recent survey by the capitol hill newspaper Roll Call it would appear many of the most influential members of Congress have no REAL IDEA what the average American is now facing..

As you can read here, the paper’s 2008 survey of the 50 richest members of Congress shows a cross section of Democrats and Republicans who are so financially well-to-do that they are out of touch with the problems you and I deal with every day.

At the top of the list is Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts with $230.98 million to his name.

At the bottom is Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois with a reported $5.02 million in assets.

From number 1 to number 50—and everywhere in-between are representatives who:

· Have no clue what a budget breaker it is to pay $4.00 a gallon for gas…

· Don’t know what it’s like to have to put groceries back once they’re in the check out line because they find they don’t have enough money to afford all the items they need..

· Don’t know what it’s like to have to decide which creditors get paid this month—and which don’t as people struggle with escalating expenses ..

· Have no understanding of the fear that permeates those close to retirement age—who look at their 401-K’s and realize they’ve lost two thirds of their value..

These members of Congress not only DON’T feel our pain— but CAN’T feel our pain because their wealth insulates them from the daily financial crises that afflict more and more Americans.

Plus….

They don’t worry about health care—they get it free for life.

They don’t worry about retirement because get a great government pension.

And now— after returning to work just two weeks ago following their summer recess— Congress gets ready to do what its members do best—go on vacation again…

They need the rest—because everyone knows how hard they’ve worked to address things like the energy situation, which began to cripple our economy during the summer.

Yep—our out-of-touch lawmakers have plenty of personal financial security to do what they want—anytime they want.

But, when WE turn to our representatives for relief— they respond by picking our pockets and handing over more billions to those who’ve created this financial mess.

On second thought—I think Congress out to go on recess..

And this time—they ought NOT to come back—ever.

—Steve

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Type Oh’s…..

Steve Sbraccia — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:33:13 +0000

Those of us who use computers are fortunate—in that we have a spell checker to make sure everything comes out right…

One push of a button—and misspellings are a gone as quickly as the money you had in the stock market last week…

And if you want to make yourself a fortune—perhaps you could do it by coming up with a spellchecking device that could be used in the real world…

Such as in these examples:

THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW…

I’m thinking someone needs to spend time in the department of corrections—

—spelling corrections that is…

THAT’S MY KIND OF ORGINEZASHUN….

IT’S “I” BEFORE “E”, AND “H” BEFORE “C”…

Two different signs—same wrong spelling….

Shouldn’t there be a “K” in Skool ?…

WHAT’S YOUR BEEF WITH THIS….

Fast food chains seem to have a real problem with THIS word that’s supposed to refer to a breed of hornless cattle that originally came from Scotland…….

…You don’t think it could have ANYTHING to do with the quality of people they get when they pay sub-minimum wage, do you?

—Steve

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In The Heat Of The Global Warming Battle…

Steve Sbraccia — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:33:20 +0000

The whole thrust of the man-made global warming argument is that the the stuff we are doing to the atmosphere is raising the temperature of the earth…

But what if some of the data we’re using to chart the earth’s temperature is inaccurate?

That kinda wrecks the theory doesn’t it?

Well— a former TV meteorologist has spent the last few years looking at the devices that measure the temperatures around the country—and what he’s finding is enough to send a chill up your spine—if not your temperature chart.

Anthony Watts operates an all volunteer organization called surfacestations.org.

Over the last few years, they’ve been photographing and documenting the 1,221 automated temperature reporting stations in the United States.

Believe it or not—no one has ever created a visual record of ANY of these sites up till now—so no one could check whether they were situated properly to record the weather!

It’s data from these stations which goes into the global warming computer models.

What he and his volunteers have found regarding these units is profoundly disturbing.

Many the temperature monitoring stations they’ve located are are set up in places that can adversely affect the readings the devices give.

Here’s just a FEW more blatant problems the volunteers have found that Watts has listed on the website:

Jet blast on a sensing device…

Sensors near exhaust from air conditioning units….

That seems to be a common problem…

Here’s a temperature monitor within ten feet of a building and A/C exhaust in Forest Grove, Oregon.

The Surfacestations website is crammed full of examples like these—along with lots of solid charts, data and scientific information for those of you with a bent for meteorological interpretation…

There’s an old acronym in the world of computer programming. GIGO. That means garbage in—garbage out.

And If the data from even half these sites is garbage— what does that say about the man-made global warming theory?

The geological record indicates there have been at least 4 major ice ages and warming periods on earth in the 4.5 Billion years this planet’s been around.

Unless the dinosaurs were running a bunch of factories and driving SUV’s back then—we’d better look somewhere else other than mankind to explain the cyclical warming and cooling of the Earth.

—Steve

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Cakes For Your Support…

Steve Sbraccia — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:10:56 +0000

This month marks the first anniversary of this little blog—

—which started off as an attempt to put a few thoughts on line for a few folks…

In the year that we’ve been posting—

we’ve watched with humble amazement as our little rants, raves and attempts at humor attracted thousands of readers far beyond our expectations—and our home base here in the Triangle region of North Carolina.

Over 40,000 of you have read this blog— with a little less than half that number returning as regular readers.

Of the 7-Million or so blogs that Technorati rates, you’ve helped give us a ranking that hovers around 487,000 or so— a phenomenal accomplishment for such a young blog.

None of this would ever have ever happened without YOU, our readers.

You have supported this blog—and helped mold it to what is is today.

Our mission remains the same as the first day:

We are sometimes serious, sometimes silly—but we try NEVER to be boring.

Because I can’t give each of you a slice of cake— I ask that you grab a treat for yourself where ever you are— and eat it as you read the VERY FIRST post we did for this blog.

Thanks for stopping by—and let us know how we can improve.

My Cell Phone’s Better Than Your Cell Phone…

*** ORIGINALLY POSTED September 7th, 2007 ***

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Today’s controversy about the IPHONE price cut got me to thinking about when cell phones first made their appearance back in the mid 80’s.

I was working in radio then, and back in the day, if you were out in the field, you had one of two options if you wanted to go live. You could use a 2-way radio, or a telephone; the old land line. That meant either a pay phone or a hard-wired phone in some location.

Both had their drawbacks. Walkie-talkies had signal and range limitations– and it was hard to find a pay phone out in the middle of a rural area when some major event was happening.

Then came the cell phone…….

….It was a beast in a briefcase.

The insides of the case were filled with a metal shell that contained all of its electronics. It weighed 17 pounds!

But it was portable.

My beast proved its worth about a week after it was issued to me when a youngster was lost in the woods overnight. The next morning, I was with one of the search crews when they happened upon the boy huddled under a tree. We were miles from nowhere. Out of radio range.

But, the beast in the briefcase came through.

I was on live, with-in seconds, with a report about the kid being found safe and sound. As we trudged through the woods heading back to civilization, we had a live interview with the exhausted but otherwise safe lad. His parents later told me they heard him live on the radio back at the command post nearly a half hour before we made it back to base camp.

They were thrilled to hear him. I was thrilled too– because we’d beaten the daylights out of the competition with the combination of a little luck and some new technology.

With-in a year, the beast in a briefcase was an antique.

Technology had reduced the cell phone to the size of a brick.

Yes, it was still big, and awkward. And you could stab yourself in the eye with the giant, hard plastic antenna. But, it had an optional carry strap so you could sling it over your shoulder.

WOW! Lightweight Portability!

About a year later, the brick became a doorstop.

Now, we were all carrying the flip phone.

A revolutionary concept.

No, it wasn’t like the nice, sleek little phones we carry today— but it could fit in your pants pocket.

It came in one color. Grey. And all it did was make calls. But, now you could charge it via the cigarette lighter in your automobile. With the brick—you had to plug the charger into a wall outlet.

Today, our cell phones can do everything but make us dinner.

Well… maybe that’ll change. I hear Apple is working on one that will not only make dinner– but goes to the store and buys the groceries for it as well…

—Steve

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What Were They Thinking…..

Steve Sbraccia — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:31:37 +0000

Is there something in the brain that switches off when people do things that are absolutely contrary to common sense?

It would seem so in seem so in the case of the stories below—where we have to ask the question: WHAT were they thinking?

IT’S NOT LIKE IT SNUCK UP ON ‘EM…

If you’re living on the Gulf coast—and there’s a monster hurricane bearing down on you—why do you choose to stay in your home despite news reports?

Despite the warning from the National Hurricane Center that says you will face certain death if you don’t evacuate?

Despite knowing what happened when a similar sized storm named Katrina all but destroyed New Orleans?

Now— you’re in a position where authorities have to waste money and resources—and put others at risk as they try and rescue you.

This ain’t the Three Little Pigs fairytale…

When IKE huffs and puffs at your house, he’s gonna blow it down!

What were they thinking?

R U red-e 2 give up the fone?

It’s looking more and more like that horrible train crash in California was the result of distracted driving by the engineer—an engineer who they believe was text messaging just before the fatal collision.

As you can read here—two teen-aged train enthusiasts say they were texting with MetroLink engineer Robert Sanchez before the accident happened.

And In fact, there is a report that just one minute before the crash occurred—an email purporting to be from “Rob Sanchez Metro” was sent to a cellphone with a message attached.

You’ve gotta figure most folks are not going to text a message while driving down a freeway at 70 miles an hour because you’d have to take your eyes off the road for way too long.

So why would the driver of a huge behemoth like a passenger train spend his time texting when he should be watching the right of way ahead?

WHAT was he thinking?

A DELEGATE SITUATION….

Conventioneers and ladies of questionable repute have been intertwined since conventions first began taking place.

So it’s probably no surprise that a delegate to the Republican National convention in Denver got involved with a lady who got him into trouble.

What may be surprising is that he ended up losing $50,000 dollars worth of valuables in the process and exposed himself in more ways than one to public ridicule…..

Local attorney Gabriel Nathan Schwartz says he invited a lady up to his room the night Sarah Palin made her speech.

He tells police the last thing he remembers the woman making him a drink — and telling him to get undressed.

When he awoke— the woman was gone along with:

* a $30,000 watch

* a $20,000 ring

* a $5,000 necklace

* a pair of $4,000 earrings

* a $1500 cell phone

* a $1000 Prada belt

Also lost on him apparently was the family values message Palin delivered hours before along with any self respect he had when a bizarre interview he gave to LINK TV prior to the robbery surfaced.

You can read more here about his big adventure..

In his case, I can guess WHAT he was thinking—and probably—so can you.

—Steve

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An Inconvenient Chill…

Steve Sbraccia — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:11:19 +0000

Perhaps it’s time to put aside all the worry about man made global warming and look at a growing body of evidence that we are about to enter a “little ice age.”

If it’s true, it could have a dire impact for civilization and our abilities to grow our own food.

Let’s start with the fact that the World Meteorological Association reports 2008 has been up to this point—the coolest year we’ve had in half a decade.

The organization believes the cold will continue for the rest of the year.

And geologist Don J. Easterbrook, a well published professor emeritus at Western Washington University predicts the cooling will last right through the year 2100.

As you can read here, he and others believe this trend is part of a cyclical pattern.

HERE COMES THE SUN….

More and more evidence points to the fact that the sun’s activity plays a huge roll in Earth’s climate—and last August a frightening solar milestone occurred.

The sun went 30 days without ANY sunspots—the first time that’s happened in a century…

Sunspots indicate magnetic activity in the sun—and when that activity wanes—climatologists have found it affects the Earth’s climate..

In the past 1000 years, three previous solar minimums as they are called — the Dalton, Maunder, and Spörer minimums— have all led to rapid cooling.

You can read here in detail how the lack of sunspots decreases the warmth reaching the earth—thus allowing the cooler weather…

And because plants are more susceptible to cooling than to heat—it affects the very crops we grow.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING…

And how long do we have before this mini ice age sets in?

Some scientists say the decrease in solar activity can affect us rapidly.

A Mexican researcher is one of them. He believes it’ll happen with-in a decade— and that the “mini ice age” will last between 60 and 80 years.

Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera of the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Mexico says it’ll happen with-in a decade…

As part of his evidence he cites the growth of glaciers in Canada, South America and New Zealand, as you can read here.

T’AINT THE WAY THEY SEE IT…

And if you don’t want to believe a bunch of scientists—perhaps you’ll believe a group of folks that’s been predicting long range weather pretty accurately for more hundreds of years: The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The folks there are not only predicting a colder than normal winter—but they’re going out on a limb by saying we’re going to have a global cooling.

Using their secret formula—-they folks at the almanac say that cooling ought to last about a half century, and as you can read here—believe it will over-ride any warming trend.

So, you can listen to Al Gore who suggests you go out and buy another fan for the coming decade—or you can listen to the folks who think you ought to stock up on long underwear.

The choice is yours.

Choose wisely.

—Steve

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