Saturday, February 8, 2014

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: FEBRUARY 2-8, 2014

SUNDAY MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEATLES' FIRST APPEARANCE ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW (THUS "INVADING" AMERICA)

VALENTINE'S DAY IS THIS COMING FRIDAY!

AMONGST EVENTS THAT HAVE HAPPENED AROUND THE WORLD THIS PAST WEEK...
*The Winter Olympics are underway in Sochi, Russia.
*The Scottish Parliament has voted in favor of legalizing same gender marriages.
*The Mumbai Monorail in India is now officially operational.
*Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an until now unknown step pyramid.
*Scholars in Greece believe they have discovered two poems written by the legendary Sappho.
*A possible new species of giant jellyfish has washed up on an Australian beach.
*Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam now has a McDonalds.
*Civil unrest continues in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

Within the United States of America...
*Congressional Republicans are apparently dragging their feet on Immigration Reform and extending unemployment benefits, but have passed a farm bill that will also cut federal funding to food stamp programs.
*Jay Leno hosted his last Tonight Show February 6.
*The NFC's Seattle Seahawks defeated the AFC's Denver Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl 48.
*Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has passed away, although authorities are still investigating the circumstances.
*Actor Maximilian Schell (The Sound of Music, Judgement at Nuremberg) has taken his final bow.
*Animation producer Arthur Rankin, Junior (Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Thundercats) is no longer with us.

For more news at any time, either scroll down to our IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen or visit any other reputable news source.

THE PUZZLE CORNER: FEBRUARY 8, 2014

Valentine's Day is drawing near, so let's celebrate early!

BE MINE: THE QUIZ
There are plenty of romantic couples that have said "Be Mine".
In this very special quiz, the person listed below has asked that question, and all you have to do is tell who is being asked. As a special twist on the theme, ALL the answers will have the letter B somewhere within the response.
Ready?

01. Mark Harmon
02. Don Quixote de La Mancha
03. Roxanne Kowalski
04. Annie Reed
05. George Takei

THE LETTER SHUFFLE
Considering the holiday, how many words can you spell out of the letters in the word VALENTINE?

We'll reveal all next weekend. But for now, let's peek inside THE ANSWERS BOX and discover the results from the February 1, 2014 Puzzle Corner.

TRIVIA TIME
On what show will you find "Spinterns"? Bones

REBUS
Something familiar is represented in the image below, do you know what it is?

SELDUOD
BLESDOU
DOUBLES
ODBUSEL
SUDBOLE  = Mixed Doubles, a tennis match.

Monday, February 3, 2014

SUNDAY FUNNIES: ADS, SORT OF...

No money to spend on ad goods!
Hello Everybody! Autumn the Puppy here with today's Sunday Funnies. Today is February 2, 2014; and Waxy Dragon has already presented our annual Groundhog's Day Classic; but I'm here to talk about the "Big Game", aka: the Super Bowl.
But more specifically, advertising.

Now advertising is a part of life. Some commercials are better than others, although I will be the first to agree that while they might help foot a network's expenses, everyone would like to see more show and less ads.

But advertising is world wide. Unfortunately, not all the advertising campaigns and gimmicks of one part of the world always work in another.
For example:

China, part of the Global Market
Kentucky Fried Chicken's classic slogan of "Finger Lickin' Good" did not translate well when the company tried to break into the Beijing (China) market. I doubt anyone was willing to go into a restaurant where the slogan translated into "We Eat Your Fingers".

But chicken isn't the only product that needs a better translation. Coca-Cola, depending upon how you say it in Chinese, is either "Bite The Wax Tadpole" or "Female Horse Stuffed With Wax"; neither of which are very yummy for a drink.

Pepsi had it a little easier in China though. Their 1960's slogan "Come Alive! You're In The Pepsi Generation!" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Dead!"; which did put them well ahead of the zombie craze we currently have in today's entertainment industry.

That brings us to the classic General Motors' brag about "Body By Fisher" when describing their cars, which translated into Belgium as "Corpse By Fisher"!

The risk of a bad ad campaign!
The Green Giant Company's mascot is a highly recognized symbol of the vegetable company, but unfortunately his name translates in Arabic as "Intimidating Green Ogre". Then again... giants, ogres. Have you ever seen the two side by side long enough to be able to tell the difference? I haven't, because if I see either one, I'm running away as fast as my four legs can go.

A lot of time and effort does go into advertising campaigns and slogans, so you do have to give the people who work on such things some credit, which is one of the reasons why even non-football fans watch the Super Bowl every year.

But for those of you out there who might not understand the game, we close today with a very special classic. Courtesy of YouTube, Andy Griffith's What It Was, Was Football.




Take care everyone, and please be back here next weekend for more Sunday Funnies!--Autumn the Puppy (the above) and Waxy Dragon (Groundhog's Day post below).

SUNDAY FUNNIES: GROUNDHOG'S DAY 2014

Hello Everybody. Waxy Dragon here winging my way to you with the first of TWO Sunday Funnies today!
Autumn the Puppy will be along soon with something special since February 2, 2014 is also the 48th Super Bowl; but since it's also Groundhog's Day, here is our classic holiday routine.
Enjoy!--wd.

“Is this the law firm of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe?” asked the lady as she walked in my front door.
“Yes it is,” I replied. “I’m Howie Cheatum. And you are--?”
“Susan Woo,” she replied, “but you can call me Sue.”
“Okay Sue. And what can I do for you today?”
“I want to engage your services to represent myself as I initiate a law suit.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place. Who do you want to sue?”
“Punxsutawney Phil.”
The sign says it all
“You want to sue who?” I asked in disbelief.
“Not myself silly. Punxsutawney Phil.”
“The groundhog?” I asked, trying to confirm what I heard the first time.
“Yes, that filthy animal,” replied Sue.
“Why?”
“Because this year he/it claimed we would have six weeks of relatively mild weather and an early spring. None of that came true. I couldn’t break out my spring wardrobe when I wanted to. I hurt my back shoveling the driveway myself because I dismissed the snow plow service early thinking I wouldn’t need them any more this season. Should I go on?”
“No, I get the idea. And on what grounds would you like to initiate this lawsuit?”
“Don’t you think at a courthouse would be best?” she asked.
“What I meant was, for what reasons did you want to sue?”
“I figured breach of promise at the very least, and whatever else is applicable,” she replied. “The late winter has just totally ruined spring, and who knows just how that is going to affect summer. The trees are barely beginning to bud as it is. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if fall arrives on time anyway and cuts whatever is left of spring and summer short this year.”
“I see,” I said, pausing momentarily to wonder why I always got stuck with the live ones. “Let me look up some reference material on the subject,” I said, before turning to use my computer terminal. After a couple of minutes on Wikipedia, I said, “You do realize that this is all just traditional superstition dating back to at least the 1800s in America and at least the fifth century in Europe.”
“So, that means that Punxsutawney Phil should have been a lot more accurate in his prediction than he actually was, right?”
“Well, that’s one way of looking at it,” I agreed while reading the data some more. “While he only has a 39% accuracy rating, it says here that Punxsutawney Phil isn’t the only one who is used to predict the weather.”
“Oh?”
"If I'm so great at predictions,
why do I live in a hole in the ground?"
“There’s Jimmy the Groundhog in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; Holtsville Hall and Dunkirk Dave, wherever they reside, all said that there would be six more weeks of winter. Phil and a bunch of others on this list all predicted an early spring,” I said, showing her what it said on my computer monitor.
“Good. Let’s start a class action suit and go after all of them!”
“It just doesn’t quite work that way. The animals themselves never specifically said what the weather would be. Humans just interpreted the situational conditions as best they could.”
“Well let’s sue them,” said Sue.
“That doesn’t work either. None of them were trained professionals paid to do that job. It would be like me trying to predict the weather just by looking out the window.”
“Then are you suggesting that I should sue the weathermen?”
“Actually, you don’t have a case against anybody involved with Groundhog’s Day predictions. That’s all they were, just predictions. None were legally binding.”
“Then can I sue you?”
“For what?” I asked in disbelief.
“For not taking my case.”
While it would not actually get far in the court system, in this day and age, I’d be surprised if she didn’t find somebody willing to take the case.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 1, 2014


HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
2014 IS THE YEAR OF THE HORSE

FEBRUARY IS ALSO NATIONAL HEART HEALTH CARE MONTH AND BLACK/AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH.

AMONGST EVENTS THAT HAVE HAPPENED AROUND THE WORLD THIS PAST WEEK..
*Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has resigned amidst anti-government riots stemming from Euromaidan.
*Tunisia has a new constitution.
*Scientists believe that the decline in penguin populations may be a consequence of global warming.
*Astronomers confirming the existence of SN2014J in the Messier Galaxy make it now the closest Type IA supernova.
*The selling of live poultry has been banned in China following confirmation of 19 deaths from the H7N9 bird flu.
*Whether or not he wins remains to be seen, but Edward Snowden has been nominated in contention for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
*Civil unrest continues in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Somalia.

WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...
*After presenting the annual State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama has signed into law "The myRA", a new savings program that will be overseen by the Treasury Department directly.
*A former aide is now claiming that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Republican) was aware of the "Bridgegate" affair before it happened.
*Florida House of Representatives member (Republican) Trey Radel has resigned following a conviction for possessing cocaine.
*Georgia's Governor Nathan Deal (Republican) initially blamed a faulty weather report for his state being unprepared for the snow storm that hit it earlier this week. The state of unpreparedness is being investigated further.
*Federal prosecutors are prepared to seek the death penalty against the infamous Boston Bomber from April 2013's tragedy.
*Legendary folk singer and activist Pete Seeger has left the stage, due to natural causes.
*At the 56th annual Grammy Awards, "Royals" by Lorde won Song of the Year, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were named Best New Artist, Daft Punk won Best Record and Best Album of the Year, and Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr got together in a salute to The Beatles.



THE FREE CHOICE E-ZINE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ITS LOYAL READERSHIP FOR CLOSING JANUARY 2014 BY GIVING US OUR SECOND MONTH OF 3000+ PAGE VIEWS EVER!




For more news at any time, either scroll down to our IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen or visit any other reputable news source.

THE PUZZLE CORNER: FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Another weekend is upon us. The weather is improving in some areas, and the puzzles are always fun.

TRIVIA TIME
On what show will you find "Spinterns"?

REBUS
Something familiar is represented in the image below, do you know what it is?

SELDUOD
BLESDOU
DOUBLES
ODBUSEL
SUDBOLE

We'll reveal all next weekend. But for now, let's open up THE ANSWERS BOX and discover the results from the January 25, 2014 Puzzle Corner.

REBUS
Something familiar is represented in the image below.
Do you know what it is?

MIDSTUCKDLE

♪ "Stuck In The Middle With You" ♫ by Stealers' Wheel.

COMMON BONDS
The items within each subset have something in common. Do you know what it is?

01. {Cell phones, personal computers} All were theorized as possible on the original Star Trek (with William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk) series and have since become fact.
02. {Bullet proof vests, windshield wipers, fire escapes, laser printers}
All these items were invented by women!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

2014 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS: A REVIEW

THE FOLLOWING IS AN EDITORIAL.

US President Barack Obama
Addressing a joint session of Congress and the nation Tuesday night, United States President Barack Obama called for America to move forward, while chastising Congress for their inactions of the past year(s).

The President said that, while he welcomes and hopes for Congressional action, he will do what he can independently to promote job and income growth for the average American citizen.
It should be noted that while his office does have some executive privileges, no one side of government structure (Congressional legislative, Courts' judicial, and Presidential executive) can do everything on its own.

But although not as immediately ambitious as the accomplishments he hoped to see completed during his 2013 State of the Union Address, President Obama did focus upon the key points that currently need to be faced, stating that there was a growing inequality between the social classes in this country that needed to be addressed.

*To raise the minimum wage to $10.10, at least for federal contractors upon
new hires and contract renewals; while hoping Congress will increase the overall minimum wage, which currently resides at $7.25 nationally.
*To continue working to improve the American health care system, while pointing out that Congress didn't need to waste time with more appeal attempts against the Affordable Health Care Act, aka "Obama Care".
*Immigration reform
*Better national and international security while hoping to move America off a "permanent war footing"; including a desire to try diplomacy whenever possible before enacting troop movement.
*Improving the education system and getting students to think again, instead of being just good test takers.
*Improving the infrastructure, and helping Americans keep their houses while starting to save for their future.

Meanwhile, the Republican RESPONSES, and yes, you read that right; because there were FOUR of them!
01. Washington State Congressional Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers presented a response that sounded more like a Sunday Sermon, reminding people of the "little things" in life while saying the Republican Party wanted Americans to better themselves through hard work and personal empowerment instead of government "intervention"; even to the point of closing her speech by offering everyone a prayer!
02. Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee gave a response on behalf of the Tea Party, comparing the original American Revolution to the current Tea Party, which allegedly has a lot of reform proposals that will eliminate the Obama Administration's "big government" and grant Americans the change to improve themselves individually, but without most of Rodgers' religious references.
03. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul presented his own via YouTube and Facebook; comparing the current situation to when former President Ronald Reagan first took office and presented his own ideas on how to solve the problems at hand, in light of the fact he might run for the Presidency in 2016.
04. There was also one solely in Spanish given by Florida House of Representative member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

And why did Speaker of the House John Boehner look so overly tanned?

THE ABOVE WAS AN EDITORIAL.