Funny Stuff – Page 4 – GEORGE ROTHERT

Politics: Grass-Roots Miscellany

But first, one bit of detritus from the national scene ~

The Trump administration wants to delay a Democratic effort that would require the Secret Service to disclose its spending on the protection of the current occupant of the White House and his family during their travels.

The Government Accountability Office estimated that travel by the former reality-TV performer cost taxpayers $13.6 million in one month of 2017. At that rate, travel costs in eight months would exceed the total — $96 million — for Barack Obama’s eight years. That projects to $1.3 billion for eight years of golfing.

Route 66 Midden

Middens provide endless fascination for archaeologists. Middens yield information about human diet and behavior, social ranking and wealth, environment, and climate change.

Oh, “midden” is the name scientists use for old trash. It comes from the Danish word “køkkenmødding,” literally translated as kitchen mound. Middens are places where garbage was dumped, usually out of the way from normal traffic, out of sight and away from smell.

Or in plain sight and ten feet from traffic.

The Ironic “Louie Louie”

The version of “Louie Louie” recorded by Portland band the Kingsmen reached number 2 on the pop music charts in 1963. Parents were outraged by the song’s supposedly obscene lyrics. Teenagers reveled in what they thought was a dirty song being played on the radio. The Federal Bureau of Investigation even delved into it, analyzing whether “Louie Louie” was smutty. The band was close-lipped but enjoyed the controversy that drove record sales higher.

The Kingsmen had paid $50 to rent the studio. They recorded the song in one take, gathered around a single microphone. The singer Jack Ely stood on his toes shouting at the boom mic, place too high.

A Conflict of No Importance

The craft-beer business may have peaked. After a few decades of seemingly unending growth, a shake out has begun. The 101 North Brewing Company, after seven years, is the latest to cease operations. The brewery, located in Petaluma California a short drive up the road from Lagunitas (now 100% owned by Heineken) was too big to survive on its taproom alone and too small to leverage itself into the major beer distributors or taverns already crowded with craft-beer taps. Other brewers are scaling back and closing their brewpubs. Even Widmer Brothers, with the financial backing of Anheuser-Busch/InBev, has shuttered their restaurant. Those that have not already sold out to the giant beer manufacturers are in for a struggle.
Meanwhile, multi-national companies have lawyered up, fighting over accusations of false advertising and corporate espionage, stealing the secret recipes of the other’s beer-like products. (Anheuser-Busch once sold something they called “Bud Dry,” promoting its appeal as having no aftertaste!)

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Aliens Killing Our Cattle?

Ranchers in eastern Oregon have been unsettled by what they lately have been discovering on remote areas of their land. Over the summer five carcasses of young purebred bulls have been found north of the town of Burns. The bulls were bloodless, their tongues and genitals surgically removed. There was no sign of coyotes or buzzards or any other scavengers. The ground around the desiccated bodies was undisturbed, no boot prints, no paw or hoof prints, no vehicle tracks..

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The Other Green Monster

No, not the Green Monster at Fenway Park. (If you’re a baseball fan, you know what the Green Monster is; if you’re not a baseball fan, you don’t care.)