Dahlink My name is Zsa Zsa

zsa-zsa-gabor-in-1971

The best known of three glamorous sisters from Hungary, actress Zsa Zsa Gabor pioneered a modern version of celebrity — she was famous for being famous. She started as a beauty contest winner in Hungary. Now dead at age 99.

With the advent of television shows, Gabor became a frequent guest as early as the 1950s, charming audiences with her fractured English and slightly risqué jokes.

Her nine marriages and reputation for shaving years off her age made her a pop-culture punch line. When entertainer Bob Hope joked, “You can calculate Zsa Zsa Gabor’s age by the rings on her fingers,” it only added to her fame.

Among her husbands were Conrad Hilton (famous for the hotel chain), and actor George Sanders.  Her ninth husband who she married in 1986 is Prince Fredrick von Anhalt who bought his title.

To Gabor everyone everyone was “dahlink,” an endearment the endeared the vernacular of mid 20th century and is still used by many today.  She was fun!   

A 108 Year Wait Is Over

world-series-game-7-11-2-16

The Chicago Cubs are World Series champions at long last, winning their first Fall Classic in 108 years, defeating the Cleveland Indians in 10 innings 8-7 in Game 7 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

What added to the anticipation was a rain delay before the 10th inning could start.

That last inning was just as dramatic as the rest of the game. The Cubs made two runs thanks to the Indians fatal decision to walk two batters. The top of the inning ended with the bases were loaded. The pitcher collapses allowing one run and two men on base. Another pitcher comes in and the batter hits a grounder to the short stop, and the throw to first base gives the Cubs the last out and a wonderful and well deserved World Series win.

How Rich do you have to be?

Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf retires but won’t receive severance pay. That headline reads nicely but it does not reveal all the facts. He will receive more than $100 Million in vested stock and a 401(k) exceeding $24 Million. Forbes magazine reports that “Even though he left on a low, John Stumpf, former CEO of Wells Fargo, will take about $133.1 million into retirement. ’’

What does a man do with $100 Million? I understand that as CEO of Wells Fargo he headed the second largest banking company in the United States but does that entitle him to earn so much money that his family will live in luxury for generations?

Take a look at the board of Directors of Wells Fargo or any other giant corporation and you will see that those directors are almost always part of a very wealthy economic club that sustains their way of life and works to keep their average employees at the same low pay that is 1/20 to 1/30 of theirs.

Stock holders don’t care as long as their shares continue to appreciate and they receive their dividend checks.

Our free enterprise society was built on the right to earn as much money as you can regardless of who remains in poverty and who does not have the money to provide their children with a good college education.

 Forbes Billionaires: Full List Of The 500 Richest People In The World 2016 tells me that we have a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton will change that reality.

What does love mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds ,  ‘What does love mean?’

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.

See what you think:

‘When my grandmother got arthritis , she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.. So my grandfather does it for her all the time , even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’

Rebecca- age 8

‘When someone loves you , the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’

Billy – age 4

‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.’

Karl – age 5

‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.’

Chrissy – age 6

‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’

Terri – age 4

‘Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him , to make sure the taste is OK.’

 Danny – age 7

‘Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing , you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.’

Emily – age 8

‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.’

Bobby – age 7

‘If you want to learn to love better , you should start with a friend who you hate. ‘

Nikka – age 6

‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.’

Noelle – age 7

‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.’

Tommy – age 6

‘During my piano recital , I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’

Cindy – age 8

‘My mommy loves me more than anybody You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.’

Clare – age 6

‘Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’

Elaine-age 5

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.’

Chris – age 7

‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.’

Mary Ann – age 4

‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.’

Lauren – age 4

‘When you love somebody , your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.’

Karen – age 7

‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.’

Jessica – age 8

And the final one:

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry , the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard , climbed onto his lap , and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor , the little boy said , ‘Nothing , I just helped him cry.’

Some Good News

The news is all about what bad things have happened during the day or all the way to yesterday. It’s time to write about some good things that have happened.

-Surge of new jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 287,000 new jobs were created last month (June). New jobs have been created every month starting March of 2010. The unemployment rate I 4.9%. All those new jobs were not high paying but that is a record worth advertising.

-The S&P 500 has almost reached it record set May 20, 2015 when the index reached 2134.72. Friday it was almost there again closing at 2129.90.

-JCPenney is adding 350 jobs in LA and Orange counties in California. That is a company that many expected to go out of business this year.

-When Sharay Santora and her two children first arrived in downtown Dallas on Thursday to join the Black Lives Matter protest, she said the interaction between marchers and officers was peaceful, loving. Officers lined the streets as a massive crowd marched past.

“They gave us high-fives, hugs, were taking selfies,” Santora, 37, told The Washington Post. “It was such an instance of love and understanding, that ‘I’m here for you.’  You could feel it. There was no animosity in the air. That was the feeling throughout.”

Santora said marchers noted “these people who came out to protect us, we’re going to be out there for them.”

She plans to take her children to memorials for the fallen officers, for the same reason she has taken her children to Black Lives Matter demonstrations: “You’re either part of the solution, or you’re part of the problem. Even if you don’t know what to do, you can do something, even if it’s showing love.”

Maybe, just may be, the tragedy in Dallas can bring all of us to our senses.

The United States is the Greatest Nation in the World Today

Donald Trump, What are you talking about?

The United States is the Greatest Nation in the World Today.

U.S. Flag

The proof is everywhere. People from every country are trying to find a way to migrate to the United States. They know that this is the land of opportunity. Immigrants in the United States and their U.S.-born children now number approximately 81 million people, or 26 percent of the overall U.S. population according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey (ACS).

The United States is the greatest innovator of any nation in history. Bloomberg.com recently examined more than 200 countries and sovereign regions to determine their innovation quotient. The final universe was narrowed down to 96. Innovation was measured by seven factors, including R&D intensity, productivity, high-tech density, researcher concentration, manufacturing capability, education levels and patent activity. The United States is Number 1.

2.South Korea

3.Germany

4.Finland

5.Sweden

6.Japan

10.France

14.Russia

17.Canada

18.United Kingdom

29.China

32.Israel

The names Amazon, General Electric, UPS, Fed Ex, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Walmart and Google stand out as just a few of the American successes. What other country has so many world famous companies?

Students from around the world come to American universities. One of the most common items in the news is criticism that our universities are favoring foreign student admissions over admission of American students.

So I am not buying the “Make America Great Again” theme.

America is great today!

How Do I Move to Canada – Eh?

This move to Canada idea is starting to look like a real possibility with two of the most disliked candidates for president that I can remember.  How did that happen?

Many Americans are threatening to move to Canada after the next election.

An article in the Los Angeles Times titled “Escaping to Canada?” brought to my attention something I have been saying for months to my family. “If Donald Trump is elected president we are moving to Canada. And it might be easy since I was born there.” After all, I have been saying “Eh” all of my life and few people have even noticed.

The Times article certainly did not make the move sound easy. As an expatriate of the United States but keeping your citizenship will require considerable paper work in the form of reports to the IRS. The rest of what was written in the article really isn’t a consequential issue. They have washrooms instead of restrooms. “Aboot” is not something to get excited about.

Just Google the title of this piece “How Do I Move to Canada?” and eleven links will appear. The first is a posting by Air Canada. They really only tell you the air fare and suggest you give it a try by spending a week or two there.

I have not been there in the winter and that is the real test. The temperature reached 10º below zero this past February in Toronto. That was in Fahrenheit.

The warmest part of the country is Vancouver and surrounding towns. The issue there is lots of rainy days.

Then there is the sales tax. A 13% value-added tax charged on most goods and services sold in Ontario province and 12% in British Columbia.

P1000399 edited Vancouver sky line from Stanley Park

Vancouver skyline from Stanley Park. It looks just like another American city.

So how badly do you, will you, hate the next president of the United States?

Some Guns Need to be Banned

When will the Federal government stop massacres? Why should the public be victim to crimes that can be reduced? When only about 15% of the population owns firearms why must the rest of us hope and pray that no one in our family is a victim when they go to a shopping mall or other public location?

We have an amendment to the constitution that provides for everyone to own a gun for their own protection and for use in a militia. That right does not say that crazy, mad, and the mentally imbalanced have a right to fire arms.

Semi-automatic weapons and assault weapons used in war appear to be the guns used to for massacres in most instances. So why aren’t these weapons banned? The AR-15 assault rifle was among the weapons banned by the federal government up until 2004, when the ban expired. It has not been renewed. The gun lobby and the NRA have done an outstanding job of preventing sensible regulations. It is obvious that our congress is subject to the will of those businesses and gun hobbyist groups that want to stop all regulation.

Both automatic and semi-automatic weapons should be banned.

The following list is not a complete listing. The lives lost and the lives permanently maimed should be sufficient motivation for new enforcements.

Place Date Number Killed Number Injured Weapon Used
Orlando Fl., nightclub June 12, 2016 49 17 similar to an AR-15
Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 32 53 22-caliber Walther P22 semi-automatic handgun and a 9 mm semi-automatic Glock 19 handgun.
Newtown, Conn, elementary school Dec. 4, 2012 27 1 AR-15 assault rifle
San Bernardino, Calif., community center Dec 4, 2015 14 21 Smith & Wesson M&P assault rifle
Binghamton, New York, outside the American Civic Association April 3, 2009 13 4 2 hand guns
Washington Navy Yard Sept. 3, 2013 12 3 AR-15 assault rifle
Aurora, Colo. Movie theater July 29, 2012 12 58 AR-15 assault rifle
Charleston S.C. church April 19, 2015 9 1 45-caliber semi-automatic Glock handgun
Stockton, Calif., elementary school playground Jan. 17, 1989 5 30 AK-47 and a semiautomatic handgun
Ft. Hood, Texas April 2, 2014 3 16 5.7-millimeter pistol

What Price Will You Pay to See?

Geordi La Forge, Star Trek Commander

A Science Fiction Idea is Becoming Reality

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge was the blind man character in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The story line was that due to a birth defect, he was born blind. He uses technological devices that enables him to see.

If only such a device could exist in the real world.

Now such progress in the real world has actually happened. Innovator Mark Greget has invented a combination of custom software and smart glasses that is designed to restore sight to people with serious vision loss. A camera on the front of the blacked-out glasses acts as eyes. Captured images are projected on the lenses.

 

NuEyes Glasses

People with significant loss of vision from macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinitis pigmentosa can benefit from the glasses. The product became available this past April at a cost of $6,000. Called NuEyes they have been making patients “very happy.” Veterans Affairs have been placing orders for the device.

NuEyes Glasses #2