King James Preserves Court Etiquette ..... So Now You Know!

    

 The religious tension between egalitarian-minded Quakers and the Stuart monarchy which had driven William Penn from England during the reign of Charles II was evident in an encounter Penn had with Charles's brother, James II. Penn had always been on good terms with James, and visited him soon after the King's coronation. Upon entering the monarch's presence, Penn failed to remove his hat. James immediately removed his.
    "Friend James, " inquired Penn, "why dost thee uncover thy head?"
     "Because," replied the new king, "it is the fashion here for only one man to wear his hat."

So now you know.....

The Fourth Commandment in Colonial Connecticut ....... So Now You Know!

In Colonial Connecticut there were stiff legal penalties against disobedient children. Examples:

• "If any Childe or Children above fifteen years old, and of sufficient understanding, shall curse or smite their natural Father or Mother, he or they shall be put to death, unless it can be sufficiently testified, that the Parents have been unchristianly negligent in the education of such Children."

• "If any man have a stubborn, or rebellious Son, of sufficient understanding and years, viz. fifteen years of age, which will not obey the voice of his Father, or the voice of his Mother, and that when they have chastened him, he will not hearken unto them; then may his Father or Mother, being his natural Parents, lay hold on him , and bring him to the Magistrates assembled in Court, and testifie unto them, that their Son is Stubborn and Rebellious, and will not obey their voice and chastisment, but lives in sundry notorious Crimes, such a Son shall be put to Death!"

So now you know!

Marriages In The Nude ..... So Now You Know!

     In Colonial New England there were many instances of women getting married in the nude or in their underwear. Why? According to an old English tradition, if a woman married "in the shift on the king's highway," her husband would not be responsible for her prenuptial debts. To preserve decency, these marriages were often performed at night - but not always. There were some couples who found they could comply with tradition and still be discreet during the daylight. In one case a couple got married while the woman stood naked in a closet, with only her hand showing. It is not known whether or not creditors generally accepted the tradition.

So Now You Know.....!

Colonial Regard For The Legal Profession ..... So Now You Know!

     

     Hostility to lawyers is not a recent phenomenon. It goes back at least to the Middle Ages and was widespread in the seventeenth-century America. In 1641, Massachusetts Bay actually adopted a law making it illegal to earn money by representing a person in court; the law stayed on the books for seven years. In Virginia legislators went even further. In 1658 they passed a law expelling all attorneys from the colony. Not until 1680 was the law repealed and the lawyers allowed to return.

So Now You Know..........!

The Puritans Who Stole Christmas .....So Now You Know!

     The Puritans have been blamed for nearly everything that is wrong with America, but they cannot be blamed for the commercialization of Christmas. In colonial Massachusetts it was illegal to observe Christmas. By a law passed in 1659, anybody "found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way, any such days as Christmas day" was fined five shillings for each offense. The law was repealed in 1681, but only because the Puritans were sure no one would celebrate the holiday. In 1685, Judge Samuel Sewall noted in his famous diary that on Christmas Everyone went to work as usual. Not until the middle of the nineteenth century did Christmas become a major holiday.

So Now You Know .....!

Puritans Prohibit Church Weddings ..... So Now You Know!

    

 In 1647 the New England Puritans did something which might seem odd in the view of their professed and very real piety: they outlawed the preaching of wedding sermons. Even before that year they had mandated that all marriage ceremonies be conducted by a civil magistrate.
     Why? The Puritans believed that marriage was a fundamentally secular institution, of no direct concern to the church. It was, as Martin Luther wrote, not a sacrament, but "a secular and outward thing, having to do with wife and children, house and home, and with other matters that belong to the realm of government, all of which have been completely subjected to reason." By the end of the century the Puritans relaxed their restrictions on church involvement in wedding and allowed marriages ceremonies to be performed by ministers as well as by justices of the peace.

So Now You Know ..... !

Boy Executed for Buggery ..... So Now You Know!

    

 Strange as it may sound, in 1642 the Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, Was struck by a crime wave. William Bradford, governor of the colony, described in his history of Plymouth one of the worst crimes:
     "Ther was a youth whose named was Thoma Granger; he was servant to an honest man of Duxbery, being aboute 16. of 17. years of age. He was this year detected of buggery (and indicted for the same) with a mare, a cowe, tow goats, five sheep 2. calves and a turkey, Horrible it is to mention but the truth of the historie requires it. He was first discovered by one that accidentally saw his lewd practise towards the mare. (I forbear perticulers.) Being upon it examined and committed, in the end he not only confest the fact with the beast at that time, but sundrie times before, and at severall times with all the rest of the forenamed in his indictmente..... And accordingly he was cast by a jury, and condemned, and after executed the 8. of September, 1642. A very sade spectakle it ws; for first the mare, and then the cowe and the rest of the lesser catle, were kild before his face, according to the law, Levit:20:15, and then he him selfe was executed"

So Now You Know..........!

Reds In Plymouth ..... So Now You Know!

     When the Pilgrims arrived in America in 1620, they immediately committed an UN-American act - at least, one that would be so viewed later on. Desiring to create a just and equal society, they established a communist economy. The early colonists remained committed to communism for several years, until they finally decided that it was inefficient. Their switch to capitalism was a defeat of sorts, since it implied the inability of men to work hard for the common good without individual incentive,

So Now You Know .....!

The Pilgrims Didn't Land On The Rock ..... So Now You Know!

The belief that the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock rest solely on the recollection of a ninety five year old man 120 years after the event. In 1741, Elder Thomas Faunce told a crowd that his father, who arrived in America three years after the Mayflower, had once pointed out to him the rock as the place the Pilgrims landed. There is no other evidence for the tradition. Besides, the Harvard historian Edward Channing proved that the ship never could have landed at the rock given the direction of the current.

So Now You Know.......

Naming in the New World .....So Now You Know!

Plymouth, Massachusetts, was named by the Pilgrims in 1620 because the Mayflower had sailed from Plymouth, England. It sounds logical and is believed by most people, but it isn't true. In 1614, Captain John Smith sailed from Jamestown, Virginia, on his first exploring mission to the northeast. He returned with a map cluttered with "barbarous" names representing Indian villiages. Smith showed the map to Prince Charles and asked His Royal Highness to provide good English names in place of the Indian ones. Prince Charles obliged, and changed the Indian name of Accomack to Plymouth, years before any white man ever settled there.

So Now You Know..........

Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary - Tom = TARDIS

 Tom Baker = The TARDIS

On the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who fans got a treat – a short but meaningful appearance by the all-time favorite Tom Baker. I tend to believe there’s no “right” answer to who or what the Curator was but my personal theory is he was the Moment, or should I say, the TARDIS. Let me explain…
The Moment guided the Doctor from the very beginning of their encounter. It showed him his own future, tried to cheer him up, broke the Time Lock on Gallifrey, appeared as the companion who always made him better and cleverly made sure the current companion, the one who knows the Doctor best and was born to save him, is around to help him make the right choice and save him one more time.

 

The Moment also gave him hope. Rose/the Moment was glad to see he finally understood her intentions and found a way to save Gallifrey. And after completing her quest to save Gallifrey and the Doctor she returned

once more time as the Curator to tell him he succeeded.The Moment didn’t need to appear as Rose anymore because at this point the Doctor was already better, already a proper good man. She mixed up past and future again as she did by showing Hurt’s Doctor the companion he didn’t met yet, this time showing the Doctor himself, but the wrong incarnation in the wrong time line. She showed him his dream can come true: retire, be a curator or anything else he’d like, now he doesn’t have the responsibility he took as the last Time Lord in existence. Settling down, be the old man that he is, telling him one day he’ll stop running and find a home, just what he dreams about.
Again, the Moment had the handy Clara around to assist him, this time telling her he’s looking for the Doctor, making sure it had a moment alone (see what I did there?) with him.
But what was the Moment?

 

Didn’t Rose remind you of a certain someone, say, Idris? The TARDIS consciousness trapped inside a human body (Series 6, “The Doctor’s Wife”). Only this time she wasn’t trapped, she was a projection, maybe using the Moment’s ancient powers to do it.
Sure, maybe all Time Lord artificial consciousness are as sassy, take forms of a certain Time Lord’s companions and are DESPERATE to save him. Or maybe it’s just the same one.
Was it simply the interface of an ancient weapon knowing the Doctor so well with the help of ancient Time Lord technology, or could it be the TARDIS, being the one who really knows him, all his lives, the one who is really inside his head? This wouldn’t be the first time she saved him pretending to be one of his closest companions. She did it at Let’s Kill Hitler. Could it be possible that this was, again, the work of the TARDIS saving her Doctor from his darkest hour?

Tobacco: Sixteenth-Century Panacea .......So Now You Know!

A relationship between smoking and health was recognized soon after the introduction of tobacco to Europeans. In 1588, Thomas Hariot published A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, in which he described the new product to the Old World. "It openeth all the pores and passages of the body," he wrote. Users "are notably (preserved) in health, and know not many greevous diseases wherewithall wee in England are oftentimes afflicted."

For those of you who don't know what Panacea is ....LOOK IT UP!

So Now You Know..........................

Columbus's Secret Log

On September 9, 1492, as the last land dropped below the horizon, Christopher Columbus began keeping two logs. One log, which he kept secret, was a true reckining of his course and distance. The other was a falsified account of the ship's location written so the crew would not be frightened at sailing so far from land. Yet as fate would have it, Columbus overestimated his distance by 9 percent in his private log, placing his discovery much farther west then it actually was. The false log, however, contained no such "error". Columbus had given his sailors a record that was, for all practical purposes, virtually correct.

So now you know......................

Another fine example of whats wrong with Welfare .........

I came across this article and just had to laugh. Not only do able body people take advantage "the system", but when they get the chance they tale as much as they can get.

Walmart to Get Stuck With Most of Food Stamp Shopping Spree

Oct. 14, 2013

By SUSANNA KIM

A couple of Louisiana Walmart stores will be stuck with most of the bill after food stamp recipients went on a colossal shopping spree when a power outage temporarily lifted their spending limits, state officials said today.

Police were called to Walmart locations in Mansfield, La., and Springhill, La., on Saturday as shoppers cleaned out store shelves.

Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd said some customers were pushing more food than any household could store in a refrigerator and freezer.

"I saw people drag out eight to ten grocery carts," Lynd said. One person hauled away more than $700 worth of groceries, the chief said.

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services' spokesman Trey Williams said the retailers who chose not to use the emergency procedures that limit sales up to $50 per cardholder during an emergency would be responsible for any additional amount spent over eligible benefit balances.

Shelves in the Walmart store in Springhill, La., were cleared Saturday, when the store allowed purchases on EBT cards that didn't show limits.

Following the policy clarification by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, Walmart told ABCNews.com the incident was "isolated" and the company doesn't believe it had any material impact to its U.S. business.

The shopping frenzy was triggered when the Electronic Benefits Transfer system went down because a back-up generator failed at 11 a.m. EST Saturday during a regularly-scheduled test, according to Xerox, a vendor for the EBT system and based in Norwalk, Conn.

The bill could be a sizeable one for Walmart.

Lynd said customers were "not unruly." There were no fights or arrests made, but the scene was still chaotic, he said.

"It was definitely worse than Black Friday. It was worse than anything we had ever seen in this town," Lynd said of Springhill, which is near the border with Arkansas. "There was no food left on any of the shelves, and no meat left. The grocery part of Walmart was totally decimated."

Lynd said that around 9 p.m. CT on Saturday, a Walmart employee made an announcement on the intercom saying that the computer system had been restored and card limits had returned. At that time, customers left shopping carts full of food in store aisles, he said.

"At that point in time, they knew the jig was up and they couldn't purchase what they wanted to," Lynd said.

In the Walmart store in Mansfield, about 80 miles south of Springhill, staff temporarily closed the store to new customers to prevent a fire hazard with the existing number of shoppers.

Mansfield's Chief of Police Gary Hobbs said no arrests were made and there were no incidents besides customers "pushing and shoving." Hobbs said there were reports that customers were checking out with six to eight shopping carts, then returning later in the day to purchase more.

Unlike Walmart, other grocery stores in town told customers they would not accept EBT cards until the card limits were evident again, Hobbs said.

The EBT system was affected in 17 states, where individuals and households access programs like Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and other programs.

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Can you believe it? People checking out with 6-8 shopping carts and then returning later for more? Most will say that Walmart is responsible. But I don't agree, those people who abused their EBT cards should be held accountable. Why not cut off their benefits until they have paid for what they have taken. Make them survive on the food that they got. But that won't happen, the liberals would say that is cruel and unusual punishment but it's ok for them to loot the system. No wonder our beloved United States is in the trouble that we are in. We have turned into a Welfare State, and it disgusts me. In the 60's it was called "Relief", you got that till you got a job, Next they called it "Welfare"because they wanted people to be taken care of and now it is called "Entitlements". 

I see people all around me, doing nothing and living better than I do. Section 8 housing, free medical benefits, $3.00 prescriptions, EBT cards and finally cash. All given to them because, they were/are addicted to drugs, they are alcoholics, they can't find a job..... Well, i know that there are plenty of jobs out there but they don't want to work at McDonalds, they don't want to clean houses, they don't want to stock shelves. Because it is below them. Isn't being on Welfare pretty low? Do something to earn your keep, crossing guard, help the elderly, dig ditches, there are ways to be a productive member of our society. But that would require work.

I could qualify for disability because of my arthritis and degenerative bone disease in my back but my Father instilled a good work ethic in me. I get up everyday and go to work, work 10 hours and go home and take care of my parents. Maybe that's why I can't comprehend the Welfare system...

Mermaids are REAL!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reportedly confirmed that mermaids exist and that they are growing in numbers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reportedly published a post on their “Ocean Facts” news-feed titled “Conclusive Evidence of  the Existence of Aquatic Humanoids.”

The agency went on to say that “magic females”, who first appeared in cave paintings in the late Paleolithic (Stone Age) period some 30,000 years ago, when modern humans began to sail the seas, do exist and are living in all the oceans of the world.

Animal Planet television recently aired a special called “Mermaids: The Body Found,” that also proved the existence of mermaids.

National Ocean Service spokeswoman Sandy Nixon told WWN that “at least 65 mermaid researchers and experts gathered on the island of Tahiti to examine all the known evidence and have concluded, emphatically, that  half human half-fish hybrids are living peacefully among us.

Mermaid experts say that the majority of mermaids are in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, but that many have been spotted in the Pacific Ocean and Southern Atlantic.  ”There is a large school of mermaids, swimming just outside Ocean City Maryland,” said mermaidologist, Marcus Plumkin, of the University of Florida.

WWN has also learned that recently the U.S. government has captured 7 mermaids and that they are being kept at an undisclosed aquarium, where they are being studied.  President Obama has personally met the mermaids and was quite impressed – according to reports.

So, if you’re at the beach… keep a lookout for mermaids.  They are out there!

Another reason for me to hang out at the BEACH!

Pepsi-Flavored Cheetos Exist, Prepare For The Apocalypse

According to contemporary consumer taste buds, a simple glazed donut or cheeseburger is no longer enough. No, we demand innovation and by "innovation" we meet bacon-infused-ice-cream-stuffed-into-a-deep-fried-meat-patty. By innovation, we mean the cronut, waffle chicken tenders and ramen burgers.

Our appetites seem determined to never eat another boring tuna sandwich again... unless it's slathered in Sriracha and Nutella. So, why stop at mashing together some of the snack world's most classic offerings? Yes, Pepsi-flavored Cheetos now exist.

"These Pepsi-flavored Cheetos are the latest food hybrid to spit in the eye of Mother Nature. They are from Japan," Steve from The Impulsive Buy writes. According to Steve, the Frito Lay Cheetos x Pepsi Shuwa Shuwa Cola Corn Snack bears a noticeable "flat cola" aroma mixed with the familiar smell of cinnamon donuts. The Cheetos are coated with a cola powder with an strong citrus taste that unfortunately overpowers the sweet cola flavor.

However, the Cheetos x Pepsi mash-up does have one redeeming trait: The snacks carry a distinct fizz with "definite popping and crackling." 

While this particular bag was hunted down on eBay for $3.99, you can swoop one up if you just so happen to be in Japan.

Welp, here's to the end of mankind as we know it. Cheers, folks! I am ready now for the end!

Why Boston is Better than NYC!

To honor City Rivalry Week -- that very special one week out of the year when we get to celebrate why our particular city is so much better than any other one -- we've decided to turn our attention to our neighbors to the Southwest, NYC, so we can better inform and educate them on just a few of the myriad reasons why we're so damn superior. To wit:

 History
During the Revolutionary War, your city housed 30,000 British sailors and soldiers -- all anchored around, ew, Staten Island -- and you nearly got George Washington captured. Meanwhile, in case you didn't know, WE CREATED THIS WHOLE AMERICAN REVOLUTION THING.

Accents
You know what a New York accent is? It's like a Boston accent, if you took out your vocal chords, rolled them around in sharp glass and gravel, and then sent them to live platonically with 1993 Marisa Tomei.

 Clam Chowder
Our clam chowder is delicious, world-famous, and has been around since the 1700s. Manhattan-style clam chowder was invented in the 1930s while people were in a Great Depression, and is essentially tomato soup with clams in it. Even Rhode Island clam chowder kicks your chowder's ass, and it's coming from Rhode Island.

Summer Hangs
NY has the Jersey Shore, and the Hamptons, where rich cheesy people literally build giant mansions and nightclubs out by the ocean just to replicate their city experience. We've got Cape Cod, which is shaped like a salty, storm-weathered strongman flexing his nautically tattooed bicep, as well as the rich man's Cape Cod (Nantucket) and some other small island where the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES VACATIONS.

Politicians
Yours take down high-priced hookers, call themselves weird nicknames, and sext people online, even after saying that they're sorry that they sexted people online. Ours just mumble adorably unintelligible things and use sweet, food-related sports metaphors, such as: “Much like a cookie, I predict the Yankee dynasty will crumble, and the results will be delicious for Red Sox fans.

 Sports
Okay, fine. NY has won 47 major professional sports championships. BUT, that makes sense. You're the biggest city in the US, you've got nearly double the amount of teams playing for your city (seven: Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Nets, Jets, Giants, and Rangers) to our four (Sox, Pats, Celtics, Bruins), and, meanwhile, we've won the second most (34), and we're the 21st biggest city in the US. We're still dominating, and we're even smaller than the narco-trafficking paradise of El Paso! And, while we're piling on a bit, neither of your football teams play their home games in your state, and you've never even known what it's like to drink from the cup of glory that is winning a Major League Lacrosse championship.

Nicknames
The Big Apple, huh? Apparently because of your "prominence in horse racing" in the 1920s. So, you're basically like a giant thing that a horse wants to eat. Or, if that isn't sexy enough, maybe you'd prefer the City That Never Sleeps, a nickname that essentially serves as an advertisement for symptoms of anti-anxiety drug withdrawal. Meanwhile, we'll take The Hub (of the universe), The Cradle of Liberty, or The Athens of America. Though, we're willing to hear offers for "The Walking City".

Sister Cities
Ours, Cambridge, is an international hub of technological innovation, houses two of the best colleges in the country, has six sweet squares (well, five, plus Lechmere) and at least one Cosi. Yours, Brooklyn, has a bunch of Skidmore and Vassar grads in ironic dad jeans and trilby hats hand-pickling Swiss chard and starting alt-third wave ska bands with electroclash sensibilities. And: NO F-ING COSI'S!

Matt mother%^&$ing Damon.

Bars
Yes, we know your bars close at 4a, whereas ours shut down around 1:45a. Well, here's a little known fact: nothing good has EVER happened between the hours of 2-4a in a bar. I think, when the Puritans created those blue laws, they were actually just trying to save us from getting in bar fights and sexing extremely mediocre-looking people.

Marathons
Because some things don't require any explanation

Boston Bomber a Rock Star? I don't think so!

     Boston is up in arms and I don't blame my city. The Rolling Stone Magazine has chosen to grant Dzhokar Tsarnaev Rock Star status. My god, what were they thinking. The City of Boston is still grieving the loss of a young 8 year old boy who Tsarnaev chose to put a bomb behind. The following photo is The Rolling Stone Cover:

     I, being a mobile Disc Jockey will never purchase this magazine ever again. I ask all Bostonians to join my in this resolve. I know that I will probably get a bunch of crap from individuals saying "freedom of the press..." My answer is "Martin Richards" An eight year old who will not see his ninth birthday because of this monster. SHAME on you Rolling Stone! You want to put a picture of this terrorist on the cover...... Here's your photo!

     Thanks to the police officer who released these photos. You, sir, are keeping it real!

Getting something off my Chest!

     Why does the work place have to be so difficult to be in? I find it so interesting that people can not just get along. Prejudice is still living in the workplace, I see it every day. Sometimes directed at me, sometimes directed at others. There is someone I am acquainted with named, let’s call him Dan. Now Dan has never liked me, first because I worked at the counter and second because I’m fat. Don’t get you knickers in a bunch. I know I’m fat, have been all my life. Except for those few years that I nearly died because of weight reduction surgery back in the olden days. But all in all I embrace my large size, it is who I am.

      My question is how does this affect Dan? It’s not like at lunch time I walk up to his plate and steal his food. I do nothing to him but he has become a thorn in my side. And just like anything that bothers you eventually you have to do something about it. I sit in my home away from home (my cubicle) each day and overhear these constant comments such as “Dumb ass” “Douche”. But it’s not only myself that I hear comments being made about. Whenever a person of Asian descent comes in to the inside sales area the usual  comments are heard, “Ching Chow” ,  “ So Lon Fuk”…… I find these disgusting.

    Even today I get called an “asshole” because he has to pick up the phone. It is just so very frustrating. I have never met anybody as miserable as him. I now get up in the morning dreading coming to work. On the days that he is off or “sick” are the best days of the week. You can actually feel the difference in the office. I was once asked by another guy in the office, “Did you ass fuck his daughter or something?” my answer was “Not that I know of…..maybe,…..NAH!”

     Every time dan calls in sick or is on vacation you can just see the whole office brighten up. There is a happier atmosphere hanging over the office. Today is one of those days! It is freakin’ AWESOME!