And this weeks question of dubious educational value for beer drinkers is…..WHAT IS GROANIN’ MALT?

Remember, NO

GOOGLE!

I don’t know how often you fly, but it seems that the flying experience is getting worse. In particular I recently flew on Continental Airlines from BHM to OKC. My itinerary put me through Houston.

The story begins in the morning. My flight was scheduled to leave at 11 AM and of course, I got to the airport about 1 1/2 hours early. The man at the ticket counter told me that he didn’t think I would make the connecting flight at Houston. He said he was going to go ahead and book me on the 3:10 flight, just in case. This was the first sign of trouble. I guess the man knew something, since that flight took off an hour late. I wasn’t too worried.

When we arrived in Houston, it was 15 minutes after my scheduled flight took off and the attendant waiting at the gate told me where to go for the 3:10 flight. I called my sister in Oklahoma City and told her that I would be coming in at a later time (the first of many of such calls that night). When I got to the gate at that flight, I thought I better check in to get my seat assignment changed. The lady at the gate said I didn’t have a reservation, but I was third on the stand-by list. Now I have never flown stand-by and didn’t know too much about it. After they boarded everyone, they started calling the stand-by people. They only took two people, and of course, that didn’t include me. I didn’t know what to do. I just sat down and cried.

Finally I rallied and went up to the counter at that gate and asked. She said there was a flight at 5:25 PM that I might can get on. Then they sent me to the information counter down at gate 82, a long way aways! When I got there, they said I was on the stand-by list for the 5:25 PM flight, but there were about six in front of me. Everyone kept telling me it was Spring Break. (It was Wednesday by the way. Who flies on Wednesday for Spring Break?) I asked what if I can’t get on the 5:25 flight. They said there was another flight at 7:30 PM and also at 9 PM. I told them to put me on the stand-by list for all three of those flights, so at least I will up at the front of the list. She said they couldn’t do that, you can only be on one list at a time. I went down to the gate for the 5:25 flight and waited. I did not get on that flight. I went to the 7:30 flight gate and waited. Of course, I didn’t get on that one either. Again, I am in tears. The lady at the gate at the 7:30 PM was extremely nice and assured me I would get on the 9 PM flight. I didn’t have much choice but to go down to that gate and wait. I kept thinking, “what do I do if I don’t get on that flight? Spend the night at the airport there in Houston?” They told me they didn’t have an open seat to go to Oklahoma City until 9 PM the next night (Thursday). Forunately I did get on that last flight at 9 PM. None of this was my fault. I was not late checking in or at the gate. At the end of the day, I did arrive in OKC at 10:30 PM.

I thought all of this was behind me and at least I made it to Oklahoma City, six and a half hours late–with worries that I might not make it at all. So the flight back couldn’t possibly be bad right? Wrong! My flight back to BHM was on Tuesday, April 4th, and my sister took me to the airport on her way to work, which put me there around 8:30 AM. My flight was scheduled to take off at 11 AM. When I checked in, it said there was a problem and to check with the counter person. I did and the lady there said I didn’t have a reservation. I assured her I did and showed her my e-ticket and confirmation number. She got on the telephone and called someone. Then she told me that everything was taken care of. I asked her what the problem was and she said that when you don’t make one of your scheduled flights, the remaining flights are cancelled. I couldn’t believe that. But since she said it was all taken care of, I thought at least I can get home. Just glad I got there really early.

I went straight down to my gate. My flight was scheduled to leave at 11 AM. I sat at the gate until they started calling the rows on the plane. When they called my row, I started to go. The ticket guy told me I wasn’t on that flight, that my boarding pass was for the next flight out at 12:15 PM. I said, no way. He told me to take a seat. By this time, I was really mad and again about in tears. I asked to see the manager. Finally he came and we sat down and he talked with me. He told me that he understood me being upset, but that is the way all airlines do when the scheduled flights are not completed. That’s pretty bad. He was very nice and really let me ‘vent’ on him and guaranteed me that I would make my connecting flight in Houston for Birmingham. And I did. I had about 35 minutes to get from one gate to the other, but thankfully, the gates were close.

I sent an e-mail to Continental Airlines when I returned home. For almost two weeks, I didn’t get a reply. I wrote again and the next day I got an e-mail from them stating:

Thank you for including Continental in your recent travel plans. We appreciate the time you took to let us know about your experience. Although our response is brief, please know that in addition to completing your file your feedback was communicated internally to the appropriate senior management. Given the opportunity to welcome you aboard once again, I am confident you will experience the outstanding service and operational reliability we traditionally provide.

My goal is to retain you as a loyal and satisfied Continental customer. I would like to extend to you as a goodwill gesture an Electronic Travel Certificate (ETC) in the amount of $50 for you to use on a future trip with Continental. The ETC will arrive via a separate email along with the terms and conditions. I’m certain you will find it easy and convenient to use. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to address your concerns and I hope Continental Airlines can serve you in the future for your travel needs.

I guess this is all there is to it. I just have never had such an experience like this before. One person here that I talked with said I should file a small claim suit. When I was waiting at the Houston airport, they came on the loud speaker and said they have overbooked and were offering $200 and to get on the next flight, to someone to give up their seat. And here they are offering me $50 off my next ticket????? Just like to know what someone out there thinks.

It’s agreed, no Google, no time.

Here’s a quickie. All you people in OK,

don’t rush to answer until I say go. “WHAT IS GUN COTTON”?

Go!

With all the Beatle talk of late, I looked around for something Beatle-y and wacky and found this fun post: Sgt. Pepper Across The 8th Dimension.  The author compiled an interesting cover-version of Sgt. Peppers. The most surprises are toward the end:

• John Denver’s version of “When I’m Sixty-Four” is quite good.
• The Big Daddy song is from their own entire cover album which has each Peppers song in a 50’s style–total hoot.
• I really like the jammed out end of “Good Morning, Good Morning”.
• And finally, Jeff Beck‘s instrumental version of “A Day in the Life” rocks.

Do you have any favorite Beatles covers?  I can immediately think of one MR likes, but will let him tell you.  As for me, all I can think of right now is a horrible cover of “Norwegian Wood” that mixed it with the “Mission Impossible” theme–I kid you not!

Hypothetically speaking, what would you all do to a person who appreciates the contributions of The Beatles to the musical canon but *just*doesn’t*like*them*?

Hypothetically speaking, of course. George is my favorite.

All I can say is “Money Can’t Buy You Love”. However, I have stayed at a Holiday Inn.

THE Beatles may have wanted to hold your hand, but now you can hold one of the Beatles’ hands.

As part of Bek Devlin’s World’s Greatest Shave, she is auctioning off a signed George Harrison framed hand cast.

The cast, which comes with a certificate of authenticity (complete with pic of George doing the imprint), was taken in the Williams pits during the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1995.

The piece is number 8 of 500 and is a rare commemoration of the guitarist, who died in 2001.

The cast will be sold on eBay, with the auction concluding at 16:48:55 AEST April 1 (to be precise).

Bek’s locks will come off during a glam ASMF cocktail party at The Advertiser’s new home, Keith Murdoch House, on April 7. There are still tickets available for the event – have a look at the story on E-Type Jazz for booking details.

Interested in the cast? Head to www.ebay.com.au and search for George Harrison.

Wonder if Lennon himself would endorse this or be rolling over in his grave?

John Lennon seance live on pay-per-view

LOS ANGELES, March 13 /PRNewswire/ — On April 24, 2006, an historic event will unfold on iN DEMAND Pay-Per-View television as famed psychics around the world conduct a seance to contact John Lennon.

John Lennon was one of the most important musical talents of our time, but he was tragically taken from us much too soon. Now, an event will take place that will perhaps allow the world to once again be touched by his genius.

Renowned psychics will travel to various sites significant to the former Beatle. Outside the Dakota building in New York, in the shadow of the Capitol Records Building in Los Angeles, and in the town in India where Lennon pursued his spiritual retreat, psychics will use their exceptional talents to contact him for the first time.

In India, a spirit reader at an ashram believes he will be able to contact John Lennon to receive musical notes and lyrics from the other side. If successful, these notations will be flown to Los Angeles, where a composer will arrange the notes, add vocals and backgrounds to produce a new song. Could the results be a last musical legacy from beyond?

In New York, a psychic will not only visit the Dakota, but will also spend time at the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, where he believes he will make contact with the spirit of John Lennon.

The special will culminate as psychics, colleagues and confidantes sit at a seance table for what promises to be the most incredible 30 minutes of psychic contact ever recorded. State of the art infra-red cameras will be in place for the entire seance, providing the ability to capture any presence or spirit that enters the room.

During the special, music professionals and individuals who worked with John Lennon will be used to verify whether they believe contact was made.

“The Spirit of John Lennon” promises to be one of the most riveting and controversial specials of the year.

Paul Sharatt is executive producer for Starcast Productions. Associated Television International is the distributor.

Debuting on iN DEMAND Pay-Per-View April 24th at 9:00 p.m. EDT. For more information and to view a trailer of the seance, log on to www.spiritoflennon.com.

The Spirit of John Lennon is being done without the knowledge or consent of John Lennon’s Estat

I turned this question around to make it

harder….should keep you busy for awhile.

“What was the name given to the smugglers of Wiltshire and extra points for ‘why’.”

Who was the “mutton-eating

king”? ( OK jj, here ya go)

Remember Shel Silverstein? He was the guy that wrote some of the lyrics for Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Anyways, if you’re a fan, here’s a cool link that animates some of his writings. www.shelsilverstein.com Then pick high or low bandwidth and then pick “Shel’s Books” and be prepared to be amused…..

Luckily, I mix my alcoholic beverages with either water or 7-Up. jek, let us know if this another urban legend that I fell for.

This is really an eye opener. We all know that water is important but I’ve never seen it written down quite like this before.

WATER

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

4. One glass of water will shut down mid night hunger pains for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

And now for the properties of COKE

1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the “real thing” sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous China.

4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for sumptuous brown gravy.

8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean! road haze from your windshield.

For Your Info .

1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.

2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly corrosive materials.

3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!

Now the question is, would you like a glass of water or coke?

With the imminent release of the first HD-DVD players this month, Agent86 is ready to put a stake in the ground concerning the upcoming format wars between the two competing high-definition video disc standards: HD-DVD and Blu-ray. While both of these players can play audio discs and standard DVD discs, they cannot play teach other’s high-definition video disc formats. Yes indeed folks, it’s BetaMax vs. VHS all over again. But fear not. I’m ready to make my prediction on the eventual victor.

First of all, there are many other sites that discuss the technical differences between these two formats, so I won’t belabor them here. In fact, while an interesting discussion point, I don’t see the technical differences between the two formats having much of an effect on the eventual winner. After all, BetaMax was a better technology for video tape, but it wasn’t enough to save it.

Enough with the preliminaries: HD-DVD will be victorious! Hogwash you say? Want to know my reasoning? Read on…

Technical Merit

Many sites argue the technical merits of these two formats. Bottom line: Blu-ray has higher capacity, which is the basis for the other technical advantages it has over HD-DVD. The additional capacity allows it to store slightly higher quality motion pictures (or longer movies on a single disc).

I’m willing to concede that Blu-ray is technically superior, but I’m betting most people won’t care. Why? Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray look WAY better than standard DVD. Any slight advantage between the two will be lost on most buyers. In addition, most recent HD screens don’t have the capability to accurately display the video from HD-DVD sources, not alone Blu-ray. The output of these video players is superior to most new HD sets. As for movie playing time, it’s rare to find a title that won’t fit entirely on a single HD-DVD disc, so unless the studios make three hour movies the norm, it isn’t much of an issue.

Player Availability

HD-DVD players will be available first. Most likely, Blu-ray players will show up 5 – 6 months later. This is obviously an advantage for HD-DVD. It is a chicken-and-the-egg scenario. People need players before movie titles will be bought. Movie titles won’t be produced until people will buy them, and they won’t buy something they can’t watch.

Movie Title Availability

In the beginning, it was thought that title availability would be the pivotable issue in this war. After all, if the movies I want to watch are being released on Blu-ray, I’d better not buy an HD-DVD player. Turns out that this issue won’t be much of a factor in the format war. Yes, it will be an aggravation, but right now, it looks like the movie studios are roughly split between the two formats. It’s likely some of the movies you want to watch will only be available in the “other” format, no matter which player you choose. Slowly, some of the studios are making promises to eventually release in both formats.

Cost

HD-DVD players are estimated to cost anywhere from 30% to 50% lower, per device, than Blu-ray players at their initial release. This is due to the relative complexity of the machines. Both players will be pricey at first, but are expected to drop in price over the next year or two in a fashion typical of consumer electronics. Having a lower price is always an advantage, and remember that a 30% to 50% price difference will be magnified in terms of absolute dollars in the first months after their availability and before both their price tags start to drop. Unfortunately for Blu-ray, those first few months are the most important time in an acceptance war .

The Early Adopter

Many people will wait to buy either HD-DVD or Blu-ray, until it becomes clear which format will eventually prevail. These people are non-combatants in this war. They’ll have no effect on the result. The war will be over before they buy. It’s the early adopters who will decide the outcome. That’s why I discuss them here. My predictions aside, early adopters will be buying one of these players long before it is certain which format will prevail. Some of these buyers will be videophiles, and will choose Blu-ray, regardless of price, for the promise of the best technically possible picture. However, many other early adopters will not be video purists, but simply video enthusiasts who maintain a video library of their favorite films. They’d rather not buy more regular DVD’s (a soon to be defunct format) for the next additions to their home library. I think their thought process will be as follows:

“I want to get a new player to take advantage of my new HD screen, and I’d rather buy any new movies for my library in one of the high-definition formats, rather than continuing to invest in standard DVD formats which will soon be going the way of the dinosaurs. Which format player should I choose? Both are expensive right now, but HD-DVD is cheaper. Both players will be cheaper in a year. If I buy an HD-DVD player now, and it wins the war, I’m good. If it looses the war, I’ll have to buy a Blu-ray player down the road, but by then, it’ll have dropped in price substantially. It may even drop low enough to be had for the difference I’d have to pay today to start with Blu-ray. The best case is that I guess the correct format now, but if I happen to guess wrong, it’s better to have bought the cheaper player now. If I guess wrong, I’ll eventually come close to paying the same amount as I’d spend today on Blu-ray, but I’ll have both player types. I’ll buy an HD-DVD player today.”

This sort of behavior will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If early adopters hedge their bets by buying HD-DVD, HD-DVD will win.

Language and Culture. Here’s a practical one we can all use: “LOOBY” A simpleton.

(Welsh, llob, a dolt.) I plan to use it a lot on the freeway. Also found on Google.

We’ve just reached 2 milestones at MRambler Central….. This is Post #201 putting us over 200 Posts and we’re also setting on 1,001 Comments…… That’s a lot of Jaw-Jacking…… Keep it up and Thank You……