Arkansas constables

“A person can hold the office without being certified, but he has limited authority [without certification],” Blount said. “The majority are not certified.”


Those constables with certification have the authority to make traffic stops, arrest people and keep the peace in their townships.

“In the district, the sheriff and constable have the same authority,” Blount said. “The constable does not have to answer to the sheriff.”

LINK to learn more about Arkansas constables

praying instead of complaining

It occurs to me that if everyone had instead spent in prayer the time they had spent posting complaints on Facebook about Obamacare, we might not have Obamacare.

Flood of 1953

I just heard a request for aid for the Netherlands mentioned on a 1953 broadcast of Dangerous Assignment.

Duration: 31 January - 1 February 1953


Fatalities: 2,551 killed

Damages: 9% of total Dutch farmland flooded, 30,000 animals drowned, 47,300 buildings damaged of which 10,000 destroyed

Areas affected: Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom

More theme music

I have found another example of theme music used on more than one radio show. The Case Book of Inspector Carr used the same music that we already knew from Barry Craig.

Here is another good one

Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

My son-in-law has only daughters. Had he had a son, he wanted to name him Argyll - a good, strong Scottish name.

There is a Duke of Argyll, by the way, so it is an honored name.

Torquhil Ian Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll was born on 29 May 1968. He is the son of Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll and Iona Mary Colquhoun.

The futility of the Republican Party in recent years is illustrated currently. Mr. Obama is in a very vulnerable situation because of a number of factors, but the GOP does not seem to be able to make any substantial headway in public opinion.

The CIA does a good job of keeping up with the whereabouts of the leaders of Al Qaeda. However, one of them has given them the slip, and they have been completely unable to locate him. His name is Hassen Bin Haroun Lahtli.

Uncle Evan's new invention

Uncle Evan is retired, but that does not mean he is not busy. He has been working hard on developing a variety of non-skid peanut butter for people with loose bridgework. (That's a joke, son.)

One thing the government could do to raise revenue that would be a real help to society is to tax - heavily - every transaction on the futures market that is purely speculative.

Oftentimes popular musicians are famous because of hype, not ability. But Tommy Dorsey really did have an amazingly smooth and mellow sound on the trombone.

Heroes are to some extent creatures of circumstance. To have a hero (in the usual sense of usage) you must have a crisis. Many outstanding individuals live quiet lives, thankfully devoid of crises, and so are never regarded as heroes. Throw in a war or a natural disaster and we remember them for generations.

Our old friend Ken Christy (Chief Gates on Gildersleeve) was the police inspector on the Mystery Is My Hobby radio show.

Another great given name for a boy would be Cavendish. You could call him "Cav" for short.

Pay attention to the unspectacular

We humans have a tendency to be hypnotized by the spectacular. For instance, if a man walks into a public place and guns down twenty people, it dominates the news for a week. On that same day, twenty other men have have killed twenty other people, and that rates hardly any mention at all.

Bratwurst. It is a good, solid word. Perfectly respectable. I wonder why no one has named a son Bratwurst?

Doc Gamble on the Archie Andrews radio show

You will hear a familiar voice on Archie Andrews radio show. Mr. Andrews, his father, is Arthur Q. Bryan, Doc Gamble on Fibber and Molly.

Leave room for error

Following one simply rule would drastically cut down on the number of traffic accidents: Do not follow too closely the car ahead of you. Leave room for error - yours or his.

Bela Lugosi makes a joke

According to Vincent Price, when he and Peter Lorre went to view Bela Lugosi's body during Bela's funeral, Lorre, upon seeing Lugosi dressed in his famous Dracula cape, quipped, "Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart just in case?"


Lugosi

I knew that a slattern is a woman who is careless or untidy in her dress. But I did not know that "to slatter" is to be careless in one's dress.

When Pavarotti was still performing, and was matched in the leading role opposite some hefty soprano, I am sure it made a compellingly realistic romantic pair. For example, how did they embrace? Did the opera house provide artificial arm extensions?

I have looked at maps of all parts of this country and I still haven't been able to find a Veronica Lake.

She Walks In Beauty

I am not much on poetry, but this one by Byron is an absolutely brilliant use of the English language:


She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

President Truman's greatest moment

One of the most courageous things any President ever did was Harry Truman's relieving MacArthur of duty during the Korean conflict. This act caused Truman's approval to drop to the lowest ever recorded. However, MacArthur had been insubordinate, and our very freedom depends upon the military being strictly subject to civilian command.

I am enjoying listening to the old Archie Andrews radio show. Pretty good. I knew the comic book, but was not familiar with the show.

Life is an interesting trade-off between the loneliness brought on by the absence of other people and the frustration brought on by their presence.

Raleigh

It is interesting how the British pronounce Raleigh (as in Sir Walter). It sounds like "rally."

Consumer sentiment

If all consumers are like me, then the periodic "consumer sentiment" surveys that are announced are almost entirely tied to gasoline prices these days.