72 is the NEW 30 !!

That is the headline and it brought great joy to old geezers like me everywhere!

Betty White and a group of other 30 year olds

Just imagine, waking up thinking like a 76 year old and by the time I had taken my morning medications and finished my cream of wheat and even before I had decided what time I would begin my afternoon nap I saw the headline and learned that I was really only 34 years old!

Again!

I haven't believed the main stream news media for years, but this time they finally got it right! And don't anyone try to talk me out ofit.

Max Planck Institute

The proof is that the researchers were from an unquestionably reliable source...The Franklin Mint, or some such research institute in Rostock, Germany! 

(-The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, says life expectancy is rising faster than it has for 200 millennia, when our ancestors the Hominids walked the planet.)

1992 Rostock Riot

 And as everyone knows, Rostock is the smartest city in the world. They're best known for their non-discriminatory riot there in 1992. (They rioted against everybody, even themselves.)

The Research Foundation (Max Planck Institute) is famous for it's many ground breaking studies such as “THE IMPORTANCE OF MICRO AND MACRO-LEVEL STUFF: OLDEST-OLD,LOWEST-LOW AND LATEST-LATE,” and their 25 year long study of African Monkeys that proved conclusively that some monkeys broke open nuts with wood and some opened them with stones.

Max Planck

Though previous results clearly show the enormous net energetic gain provided by nut cracking in both species (Gunther a

Monkeys opening nuts

You can't argue with that.

Hunter Gatherer

Further proof of the validity of their findings regarding old people's "true age," is the fact that they extrapolated heretofore unavailable things (technical term) from hunter-gatherers (they're not easy to find these days) chimpanzees, and African dung beetles.

Beetle

Monkey

"Through age 15, hunter-gatherers experience rates of death more than 100 times higher than do today's Japanese. Over the course of the entire lifespan, mortality rates are 10 times higher. And a 15-year-old hunter-gatherer and a 69-year-old Swede face the same chances of dying in the next year.

Mortality patterns of today's hunter-gatherers are more similar to those of chimpanzees than they are to those of people in wealthy, developed nations, the study also found, though the difference matters most at young ages. "
 -The findings from the study are published in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences.

Professor Corey

Critics and deniers and other truly unattractive people have claimed that the study must have been written by Professor Irwin Corey...who, by the way was very underrated.

Besides,what difference does it make now?

You unbelievers can take your facts and.......whatever.

Anyway, as we all know, when you doubters can't win the argument, you resort to name calling.

I can hear it now, "Ed, you are off your rocker!" 

You bet I am, and I'm not getting back in that damm thing until I'm really 76 years old!

In "hunter-gatherer years."

Meanwhile, I think we ought to organize a trip to Myrtle Beach this coming May...and do some hunting and gathering...like we used to.

-Ed

Fletcherism

I've read that one of the most popular diet fads of the 50's was the cabbage soup diet. I don't remember it, but I don't think any of us were worrying about being overweight back then. It was supposed to cause very rapid weight loss and probably did if you carefully followed directions and returned to eating normally after seven days.

 Problem was, people stayed on it longer and began passing out and in a few instances dying. So, that fad was soon replaced with another....and then another and that's the way diet fads have been marching along with our culture for the last hundred years.

The Atkins diet, the low carb diet, the South Beach diet, the Acai Berry Diet...the list goes on and on.

But in my opinion, none can compare with Fletcherism a dietary fad that swept the nation in 1900. The word even became gerericized...a part of the American language.

Horace Fletcher

 According to its founder, Horace Fletcher, “to enjoy perfect health, chew each bite of food 32 times. (Why 32 times? Once for each tooth in your head.) Chewing parties became popular and were called “muncheons.” Each diner would chew with their heads low over the plate to ensure that their tongues were hanging down and often there would be a “conductor” coordinating the event who would count the chews of each mouthful and would ring a bell when it was time to swallow.

The Heyday of Fletcherism was in the early 1900's and was taken seriously by many people, among them several very  distinguished adherents; it lasted until the 1930s. I think people finally began to suspect that Horace Fletcher might be depriving a village somewhere of its idiot, when he began insisting that they also chew the water they drank.

 Eat somewhat less but eat it more
Would you be hearty beyond fourscore.
Eat not at all in worried mood
Or suffer harm from best of food.
Don’t gobble your food but “Fletcherize”
 Each morsel you eat, if you’d be wise.
Don’t cause your blood pressure e’er to rise
By prizing your menu by its size.

 -Popular poem in 1920



First Man..."I hear that your wife is on a diet".
Second Man..."Yep. A banana diet. All she eats is bananas"
First Man...".O really?  Has she lost weight?"
Second Man..".Nope.  But you ought to see her climb a tree!"

-Ed

For the Birds

I always look forward to this time of the year when the birds begin singing a different tune. It normally happens around the second week of February but I didn't notice it this year til just this morning.

 I used to think I was hearing some of the summer birds coming back from their Southern vacation, but the new song we're hearing now is actually being sung by the same birds who've been here all winter. They've just changed their tune, not because it's getting warmer, but because they have noticed the change in the length of the daylight.

 Ain't nature wonderful!

 It's too bad we humans won't leave it the Hell alone.

 Now I'm not talking about you and me......I'm talking about lunatic do gooders like Eugene Schieffelin who in 1871 was chairman of the American Acclimatization Society in New York City. He had this great idea to introduce to New York's Central park...every bird species mentioned by William Shakespeare.

 Great idea, right ?

European Starling

Eugene and the society's wildest success was with the European Starling.

Come on in you ugly, pushy, slimy, disease bearing starlings! Make yourself at home.

But don't expect us to like you!  Our native birds can't stand you either.









Eugene and his "Oh so brilliant" friends  had 40 of them shipped over from England and promptly released in New York's Central Park.



 Now look!

Starlings over Kentucky

Millions of them descended this week on a small Kentucky town fouling the landscape, scaring pets and raising the risk for disease in a real-life version of Alfred Hitchcock's horror film, "The Birds." The European starlings blacken the sky of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, before roosting at dusk, turn the landscape white with bird poop, and the disease they carry can kill a dog and sicken humans.

Starlings over Scotland

Today the starling is ubiquitous, with its purple and green iridescent plumage and its rasping, insistent call. It has distinguished itself as one of the costliest and most noxious birds on our continent. Roosting in hordes of up to a million, starlings can devour vast stores of seed and fruit, offsetting whatever benefit they confer by eating insects. In a single day, a cloud of omnivorous starlings can gobble up 20 tons of potatoes. The south-central Kentucky city of 35,000 people, about an hour north of Nashville, has hired a pest control company to get rid of the interlopers. Henry Jako, general manager of McGee Pest Control, said crews use air cannons and "bird-bangers" - similar to bottle rocket fireworks aimed into the trees where the birds roost. The artillery attacks are disturbing some locals as well as the birds.  -Wikipedia

The Starling appears in Shakespeare's King Henry the Forth when Hotspur plots on using the bird's vocal talents to drive the king insane. Good choice of weapons.

 "The common curse of mankind, - folly and ignorance"   -Shakespeare

-Ed

"Trentons"

I was sitting in my room one night in 1956 aimlessly spinning the radio dial back and forth trying to find some music that I liked.  I kept hearing some guy talking around 700 or so on the dial. I would turn it all the way to the left…then all the way to the right..and still didn’t hear any music that I liked.

 Back then radio offered the listener 3 choices: music, soap operas (yes, some were still on the air) or news. And that was about it. Finally my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to find out what the heck that guy who wouldn't shut up was talking about.

 Someone ‘Just talking” on the radio for 2 or 3 hours was unheard of in 1956.
Talk radio was still 15 or 20 years away yet here was someone doing it before my very ears.

And no one since has every done it any better!

Jean Shepherd

That was my introduction to the legendary Jean Shepherd.

The station was WOR in New York. I still recall many of those early stories (also described as “stream of consciousness”) like the time he and his army buddies put Vodka in their canteens just before going on a long hike during Basic Training. Or, his pipe dream of becoming a business mogul by starting a shoe manufacturing company to compete with Nike. It’s customers would be the people that NIKE was ignoring; the “non athletes.”

The Nerds.

His plant would be located, he said, in Trenton, New Jersey and the shoes would be called, TRENTONS, “the shoe for Nerds.”

Scene from "A Christmas Story"

You are probably familiar with that fabulous movie, A CHRISTMAS STORY, which was based on one of Jean Shepherd’s radio monologues, but you probably never knew about  “I Libertine,” which is considered one of the greatest hoaxes of all time.

A fine jazz musician named Bob Kaye has written the best description of it that I have every read.

Don't miss it.

CLICK HERE

-Ed

Street Theater

Pleasantville, NY

If ever there was a village in America that looked like a Norman Rockwell painting, it was Pleasantville, N.Y. 

The reason that name sounds familiar is that it was the home of READER'S DIGEST  magazine when we were growing up. LIFE was the number ONE magazine in our house READER'S DIGEST was a close second and TRUE DETECTIVE was third, but only my Dad got to read that one.

 In the early 80's the film company I was working for had a contract with Reader's Digest for slide show productions and asked me to make a courtesy call on them at their corporate headquarters.

 That's how I came to find myself one beautiful spring morning driving into the prettiest little village that I ever saw and inhaling the most refreshing and fragrant air that I can remember. (last year Pleasantville was voted the second best smelling town in America by GQ magazine).

 There must have been more to it than just that little village and the spectacular scenery that  made such an impression on me. Likely, it was a combination of things...like the spring weather, perhaps a happy phone call to Linda and the kids earlier that morning, and last, but not least, simply still being healthy and in my 40's!

 Whatever it was, I wish I could have bottled that feeling!

 As I approached the business section I saw a Good Humor Truck parked on the left side of the street and thought to myself at the time "that's all that was needed to complete this Norman Rockwell painting in my mind.  A Good Humor man outside his truck chatting with one of the citizens.

 The spell was broken, though, moments later when the man suddenly rared back and sucker punched the Good Humor Man in the face with his fist...and ran to his car and drove off.

And thus ended my brief visit to the Norman Rockwell world. It was a nice place to visit, but...unfortunately, it doesn't exist on this planet.

-Ed

Bill Carriker Passes

Bill Carriker 

With great sadness we learn of the passing of Bill Carriker (as an adult known as Ray) on February 9, 2013.

 His widow can be reached...

Mrs. Billie Carriker
125 Orchard Ln. Centerville, GA 31028-8521
 Email wrcarriker@windstream.net

-Jerry Gaudet


OBITUARY:
William Carriker, 76, entered into rest on Saturday, February 9, 2013. Mr. Carriker was born on March 14, 1936, in Charlotte, North Carolina. With pride and honor he served his country in the United States Army. A North Carolina State graduate, Ray worked as an electrical engineer on the NASA Apollo Program at Cape Canaveral until he left to finish his career at Robins Air Force Base.

 He retired in 1998 to pursue his passion of golfing where he once scored lower than his age and also made a hole in one at the Houston Lake Country Club. He enjoyed spending time at his lake house with his children and grandchildren and traveling to watch them in their various sports and activities.

He attended Trinity United Methodist Church. His son, Russ Carriker and parents, Henry and Margaret Carriker, preceded him in death. His memory will forever be treasured by his loving wife Billie Ann Carriker; children, Trent Carriker (Patti), Warner Robins; Shandra Gann (Paul), Snellville; Kristie Van Winkle (David), Dunwoody; grandchildren, Kaitlyn Carriker, Dalton Carriker; Carson Carriker; Brandi Gann; Karley Gann; Anna Marie Gann; Victoria Gann; Rachael Van Winkle; Erik Van Winkle; and Jacob Van Winkle; great-grandson Gavyn Miller and sister Peggy Nussman (Bruce), Jacksonville, Florida. 

 In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests memorial donations to Warner Robins American Little League, P.O. Box 6562 Warner Robins, Georgia 31095.
....

 I enjoyed "re-connecting" with Bill a few years ago when his grand child, Dalton Carriker hit the home run "heard (almost) around the world in 2007.
That was one of the best stories we ever had on this website and my guess is it was one the highlights of Bill's life!

I thought this would be a good time to re-print a story from 2007 that shows how proud two of his talented
grandchildren must have made Bill.

 -Ed

(STORY REPRINTED FROM CHS54 WEBSITE 2007)

One of the most exciting stories that we've had here on this website was the electrifying home run hit by Bill Carriker's grandchild, Dalton Carriker that won the Little League World Series in 2007.

Dalton became an instant national celebrity.

Now, you'd think that's enough glory to last any grandaddy a lifetime.

But not for Bill...the glory just keeps on coming!

Take a look at this article from Macon (Georgia) dot com:


WRALL softball headed to World Series in Portland

By Chris Deighan

Once again, fate tapped a Carriker on the shoulder. And, once again, a Carriker delivered.
Seven years after big sister Kaitlyn helped put Warner Robins on the Little League map and two years after big brother Dalton cemented the town's spot in youth sports lore, Carson Carriker delivered a tie-breaking, two-run triple in the fifth inning to lead Georgia past Florida, 9-8, in the championship game of the Little League Southeast Region softball tournament Tuesday at Marshall University's Dot Hicks Field in Huntington, W.Va.
Like the softball team in 2002 and the baseball squad in 2007, Warner Robins American Little League has again earned a World Series berth. This time it's Aug. 13-19 in Portland, Ore.


Bill writes...

"THE GIRLS LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES FOR 11/12 YEAR OLDS WILL BE HELD 13 THRU 19 IN PORTLAND OREGON. CARSON COULD BE ON ESPN IF THE SOUTHEASTERN TEAM FROM WARNER ROBINS ,GA MAKES THE SEMIFINALS.

"WISH THE GIRLS LUCK AND WATCH IF YOU HAVE TIME. WE ARE BUSY MAKING ARRANGEMENTS TO ATTEND. THIS WILL BE OUR THIRD LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES. WE ARE EXCITED...LIFE IS GOOD."

-BILL CARRIKER

Photo of Dalton and his grandaddy Bill (2008)

Landing at Sea at Night is Tough Enough, but...

By R.L. Clark

(This was an event which happened back in the 60s’ during the Cold War which was not always cold but occasionally heated up.)

First, let me lay out a few definitions: 

TACAN—a method of carrier to plane navigation signal which tells the pilot the direction and and distance to the carrier.

                                                     
CHARLIE  TIME     —  The time that a pilot, returning from a mission, is supposed to be landing on the carrier.

 IM-COM—this a condition whereby the carrier is not sending out a TACAN signal unless requested by a pilot.


An unnamed pilot from an unnamed All-Weather squadron was launched from an unnamed Carrier in the Pacific, Far East Pacific at 02:00 in the morning. Weather was overcast up to 18,000 feet. No Moon. He was armed with 2 Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles and 20mm ammo for his 4 guns. After completing his mission, he dropped down to 20,00 feet and flew to where he guessed the carrier was.  He keyed his mic and  whispered TACAN, clicked twice and waited.In response, the carrier would turn on the TACAN for 30sec so he could fly to a point at 20,000 ft. and 20 miles behind the carrier.

Soviet Trawler

 The Soviets had Trawlers out there which dogged the Carrier. These trawlers (technically, a trawler is a fishing boat but these were in fact ships disguised as trawlers) but were loaded with powerful communication equipment  which could disrupt communication between American pilots and carriers which in a number of instances caused fatal crashes. Nighttime was an especially dangerous time.

 The trawler would try to overpower the carrier's TACAN signal possibly causing a pilot to penetrate from above and  come out of the soup finding no carrier. The Navy squadron we replaced had lost a couple of planes which disappeared at night close to their Charlie Time and there were guesses the trawlers were up to No Good.

When this unnamed pilot was ready to penetrate, he whispered TACAN and received his 30 secs of signal. He flew to his suspected perch and whispered TACAN a second time to positively arrive as close to his projected penetration point as possible.  Subsequently he started down through the soup on instruments. He broke out of the clouds at about 1800 ft and looked for the ship.

 Guess What? no carrier,  but there was a Soviet trawler where the carrier should be. Needless to say, the unnamed pilot was really POed. Checking the fuel, he knew he did not have enough to climb back up and try again. He calmly armed his heat-seeker missiles and fired both at the trawler. then he armed his 20mm guns and emptied them at the debris field. Realizing that the trawler may have had a Soviet sub in tandem, he turned 90 degrees and climbed back up to the cloud level and guessed that he would have to eject when fuel was gone. He wanted to get as far away from the area as possible. Miraculously he looked down and saw the wake of a large ship.  (Stirring up the plankton causes the wake to be visible) 

 He made a quick turn and followed the wake and behold, he sees the outline of a carrier. He hoped that it is his ship but with low fuel, any carrier will do. He switched to Guard channel, declared a MAYDAY and requested permission to land with low fuel. He received permission and was fortunate to safely hook a wire.Then he realized he was on his carrier and was taxied to an elevator. 

When the Intelligence Officer and Squadron Commander debriefed him he supposed that he had made a mistake on his penetration and had broken out of the clouds without a ship. (He did not mention the Trawler) He thought he was going to get wet until  he was lucky and saw the wake. They asked about the missiles and ammo. He explained that he dumped his ordinance to lighten his load because of low fuel. This explanation was accepted so he stopped by the Flight Surgeons’ shop for a “medicinal brandy”.  - R.L. Clark

(The US military and intelligence services referred to these trawlers as AGI’s (Auxiliary General Intelligence). The trawlers’ collected intelligence via their various radio receivers, sonar sets, and radar detection equipment. In addition, they reported any visual observations of US naval activity to their HQ. Besides operating near bases and ports, trawlers were tasked with trailing any US Naval Task Forces and Carrier Groups at sea. In the 1950s Soviet trawlers operating near the US coast damaged several undersea cables. Diplomatic protests were filed and were met with denials. Besides gathering intelligence, the Soviet trawlers sometimes engaged in harassment operations.  -Wikipedia)

LDL Reflections

By Jerry Gaudet

CHS'54 Classmates who live too far away for us to participate in "LDL"s still reflect their connections with us...  

On 2/11/2013 9:24 PM, Forehand, Jennie Senator (Laptop) wrote HELLO!!!!! I am sitting in the Senate thinking of all of you! (We are discussing some new health care initiatives…and trying to figure out how to pay for them.) I had several good conversations with Martin Hill before the holidays….will try to contact him again soon. Tell everyone HELLO!!!!! Cheers! Jennie (Margaret) senatorjen@gmail.com

Ed Berryhill and daughter LuAnne

 And... From: EDWIN BERRYHILL Date: February 7, 2013, 5:56:34 PM EST I get all the Let's do lunch stuff and really enjoy the e-mail... and seeing some of my old room mates. My sister, Jeanette (Berryhill) Bryant, has been to one or two.... Ed Berryhill and his daughter LuAnne...

And, for those lucky enough to be at our February LDL...Linsy Farris came down from New York with his new bride Ursula Schell.

Linsy and Ursula

Linsy told us how he and his new bride got together,

" I met Ursula years ago (18-20?) when she came as a science writer for  Ophthalmology Times to write up some of my research.  We would  run into  each other at meetings and she would send me e-mails every now and then when she came across a "Farris" because her sister married a Ferris from Massachusetts.  Later I  found  out  she was  a musician and Vivian and I had her over to Tenafly for lunch once when I played at the library in a Dixieland group.  She is an English major graduating from Vassar, born in NY, high school in Hastings, N.Y and never married."

Howard Smith Class of 53

One other special guest joined in on the festivities, Howard Smith CHS class of '53!  Howard  runs the Studio framing shop in Charlotte. 


We encourage, and look forward to, additional classmates and guests joining us. Come give it a try. "LDL" is always on the second Tuesday of each and every month...the next "LDL" being Tuesday, March 12, 11:30 at JIMMIES.

-JG

Broadcasters

Bob Hice

I was saddened to learn of Bob Hice's death last week.  He was a couple of years ahead of us at Central (class of '52) so I didn't get to know him that well.  However, we did have one of those "What do you want to be when you grow up...." conversations, and of course we bonded on the spot.  Heros of ours like Arthur Godfrey and  Edward R.Murrow were sprinkled throughout the conversation. I think Bob wanted to be the next Godfrey and I wanted to be next Murrow.

Well, neither one of us ever achieved anything like the fame of either, but there's nothing wrong with "shooting for the stars."

Later, I had that same conversation with another fellow that I went to college with and he was more specific about  what he wanted to be;

"Well," he said, " this is probably a pipe dream, but  I want to be a CBS News Correspondant."

A friend of his had mapped out a way to accomplish that goal.

A young Charles Kuralt

"Study history and political science in school (avoid courses on Radio and TV). After you graduate, go to work for a newspaper for a couple of years, to get some real news experience...then come to see me in New York."

That kid was Charles Kuralt and his friend was Edward R. Murrow.  

-Ed

(Kuralt had come to the attention of Murrow when, at age 14, he had won the national "I Speak for Democracy" contest. Murrow was one of the judges that year and had maintained a correspondance with the young Kuralt since then.)

Linsy Farris to Attend Tomorrow's LDL

Linsy Farris

Jerry Gaudet just sent a note around letting us know that Linsy Farris and his recently married wife Ursula Schell will attend tomorrow's "Let's Do Lunch" extravaganza at Jimmies of Mint Hill !  Linsy, one of our most popular classmates and currently Director of Ophthalogy at Harlem Hospital, Columbia University will introduce Ursula to a gathering of his outstanding, sophisticated , refined and oh so upper crust fellow CHS students for the first time.

Typical LDL gathering

Anyway, that's what he told her, so please be on your best behavior.

-Ed

Acorn Journeys

East 7th Street  Charlotte, NC

Does anyone, besides me,  remember those great big acorns that used to cover the ground along East 7th Street along a 2 or 3 block area down from the Haigler and Baker Service station (now a 7-11) across from Stanleys going toward Monroe?

Once you took the cap off, the nut itself was about the size of a "pipe bowl."  As a matter of fact, we boys used to  hollow them out and make pipes out of them. Of course we never smoked anything in them, but it worked great making us think we looked cool and grown up. My Mom used them to occasionally make very creative fall decorations.

I have no idea what kind of oak tree produced those "monsters," and probably will never find out, since there are over 600 different varieties of Oak trees.

Historical Sites

Mount Vernon

People who live in the Washington area rarely visit the great tourist sites up here except when friends from out of town drop in to visit.  Or, in my case, to take my children to see them. One Sunday afternoon Linda and the kids and I were walking around the grounds of the beautiful home of George Washington in Alexandria, VA (Mount Vernon) and on a whim I picked up an acorn lying on the ground.

"Hey guys," I said, "why don't we take this home and plant it in our yard and in a few years you can tell all your friends about our George Washington tree!"

They thought that was a great idea, although later I got to thinking that the US Park Service probably has rules about stuff like that.

Anyway, that was over 30 years ago.

Ed's Squirrel Tree

And today in the very spot where I planted the George Washington tree..........


There's absolutely nothing!

However, a few feet away is a tree from my boyhood home in Charlotte that began life as a pecan buried by a squirrel in a brown pot on my mom's side porch in which she was growing a "cutting" from one of her cape jasmine bushes for Linda to try to grow in our yard.

When we got the cutting up here I noticed a weed next to the cutting which I suspected might be worth putting in the ground.

And, as you can see, the Virginia climate agrees with the weed that years later became the Squirrel Tree.

Now from what I've read,

"Pecan trees may live and bear edible seeds for more than 300 years. They are mostly self-incompatible, because most cultivars, being clones derived from wild trees, show incomplete dichogamy. Generally, two or more trees of different cultivars must be present to pollinate each other."

Pecan Tree at Mount Vernon

To me that is about as clear as the Chinese directions that come with computers. But what I think it says is that the squirrel tree is in danger of remaining a lonely bachelor unless...unless....fate, and the wind, intervene ( who knows what can happen in 300 years) bringing a seductive visitor from the nearest Pecan Tree.

And according to my calculations, it appears that the nearest Pecan trees to my house, with the most shapely cultivars, are... the ones that Thomas Jefferson gave to George Washington who planted them at Mount Vernon! (Feel free to look that up.)

Which means, thanks to that nameless squirrel in Charlotte, someday there may very well be a little George Washington Tree living in my backyard after all.

 -Ed

The Shortest Month

My Mom's mother's birthday was on a February 4th.

My daughter's birthday was on a February 3rd.

One of my grand children was born on February 3rd.

It made me wonder if perhaps February is the "busiest"of all birthday months.

Nope, what I discovered was that February is one of the least popular months for birthdays!  The least common birth date of the year is February 29th.   It's tied for last place with May 22nd.

More people have birthdays in August than any other (almost 10% of the population). The next most popular  birthday months are July and September.

(For those of you who are mathematically inclined, that means November and December are busy months for Mom and Dad.  The busiest day is New Year's Eve....making October 5th the most frequent birthday in the U.S.)

'Happy Birthday Mr. President"

Photo never seen until  recently

Without a doubt, the most spectacular version of "Happy Birthday" was sung by  actress and singer Marilyn Monroe on Saturday, May 19, 1962, for President John F. Kennedy at a celebration for this 45th birthday.

 It was one of her last public performances before she died on August 5, 1962. And according to a number of published reports, Monroe was allegedly having an affair with President Kennedy, which gave  her racy, intimate performance a whole new meaning.

Monroe’s dress is almost as famous as her performance that evening. The dress was so skintight, it was said that  Monroe had to be sewn into it.

 It sold at an auction in 1999 for a cool $1.26 million.

-Ed

Preparations Have Begun

 for this month's LDL (Let's do Lunch)

This month's "LDL" (Let's do lunch) will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 11:30 AM at "Jimmies" in Mint Hill.

Jerry asked me to remind you to spread the word about Tuesdays' event, and predicts that it will be even more spectacular than last month's.

After all this will be our VALENTINE celebration.!

We had a pretty good attendance last month and I've been told that attendees are still talking about the fun they had!

The photos I received still sparkle with the joy and good feeling that permeated our special room at Jimmies of Mint Hill.

CHS crowd arriving at Jimmies

Everyone agrees that the only thing better than friends...is OLD friends, and there are always  plenty of those  at every one of our LDL's!

Enjoying a typical CHS " LDL"

Your help is needed! Spread the word! Invite other classmates to come! Even better, bring someone with you! Be sure YOU, come! For answers to any conceivable lunch questions, please contact Marlene (Ritch) Beaty, beatymarlene@gmail.com

 Plan to join us. You'll be glad you did!  -JG and
    -Ed

Pole Dance your way to Success

Just yesterday on this site, the CHS54 Editorial Bored (correct) and I were worrying about the illiterate statistics in this country and even speculated about how serious it would be to live in a country full of people who couldn't read.

And today, I opened up the computer and (at first) was greatly relieved to read that the Scottish city of Dalkeith, Modlothian, like Dudley DoGood, is already on the case! And as everyone knows, "what begins in Dalkeith, doesn't end until it spreads worldwide."  Actually, no one every said that, but someday they might...if their latest  effort to increase their public's reading skills succeed.

According to the news reports, The Mayfield Library of Dalkeith is offering a free pole-dancing course to get people interested in visiting the library...and maybe even pick up a book or two while they are there.

It's all a part of  Dalkeith's  "Love your library Day."  A Great way to get the populace to read books, right?

If this insanity hasn't already caused your head to spin, there's more.

  The library is also offering a course in "Booky Table Tennis."

A game of table tennis that uses books in place of paddles, so

citizens who check out a couple of books on  "Love Your Library Day" in all likelihood don't have "reading" in mind at all.

Beam me up, Scotty.

-Ed