Look at it this way MC & Yogi, you're cursed with good looks and brains, who need money??? (keep telling yourselves that.)





TIS

Look at it this way MC & Yogi, you're cursed with good looks and brains, who need money??? (keep telling yourselves that.)





TIS

Those darn Republicans:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/201...ters/?hpt=hp_t1

LONDON — One by one, the pubs are disappearing in Hampstead, a jewel-box village of cobbled lanes and Georgian homes that has become one of this city’s most fashionable neighborhoods. The Nags Head has become a realty office. The King of Bohemia is now a clothing shop. The Hare & Hounds has been replaced with an apartment building.

Changing economics and shifting tastes have claimed roughly one out of every five pubs during the last two decades in Britain, and things are growing worse. Since the 2008 financial crisis, 7,000 have shut, leaving some small communities confronting unthinkable: life without a “local,” as pubs are known.

And that has spurred the government into action. New legislation is letting people petition to have a pub designated an “asset of community value,” a status that provides a degree of protection from demolition and helps community groups buy pubs themselves, rather than seeing them get snatched up by real estate developers eager to convert them for other uses or tear them down. Since the Ivy House, a beloved local in south London, became the first to receive the designation last year, roughly 300 others have followed suit.

“The pub, we like to think, is relatively internationally unique, it’s a very traditional thing,” said Brandon Lewis, the Conservative member of Parliament who is the Community Pubs Minister, an office that underscores the special place pubs occupy in British life. “In many communities they are really important, not just because it’s where people come together, but it will be the focal point for fund-raising for the community, for the local football club, for the dance class, for the moms’ coffee morning.”

British Pub: Endangered Species?

The Powerball winner was in California. I'll bet it was TIS.

Don't bug me right now Oli, I'm opening my Swiss bank account before I buy myself a luxury yacht so I can go a on a world cruise. That is after I buy my mansion in Beverly Hills, and my Penthouse in NYC, my new Rolls Royce, and refurbish my wardrobe. I can't do all that with these old rags.



Hey, I can dream!!!!

TIS

This reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from "Vacation"

Cousin Eddie: "Well I didn't want to ask you, Clark, you know, but could you maybe spare a little extra cash?"

Clark: (starts to take out his wallet) "Sure, Eddie, how much do you need?"

Cousin Eddie: "About $52,000."

Clark quickly puts the bills back in his wallet and Eddie's wife rolls her eyes.

It's probably a good thing it did not end in fisticuffs because he was a tough looking old bird, he would have probably knocked me on my arse

I went to England on business way back Nov, 2000. Stayed in a hotel in Gatwick, near the airport, but in a residential area. I took a walk around the neighborhood and noticed a pub in the middle of the neighborhood with no other commercial sites around. I asked one of the Brits if pubs in the middle of the neighborhood were common. He explained the same as the article reported, but one thing interesting he told me. If I went in to get a pint, I would likely not be served; I would be ignored until I left. Outsiders were not usually welcome on their own.

Inequality of income and wealth has risen in America since the 1970s, yet a large-scale research study recently found that social mobility hadn’t changed much during that time. How can that be?

The study, by researchers at Harvard and Berkeley, tells only part of the story. It may be true that mobility hasn’t slowed — but, more to the point, mobility has always been slow.

When you look across centuries, and at social status broadly measured — not just income and wealth, but also occupation, education and longevity — social mobility is much slower than many of us believe, or want to believe. This is true in Sweden, a social welfare state; England, where industrial capitalism was born; the United States, one of the most heterogeneous societies in history; and India, a fairly new democracy hobbled by the legacy of caste. Capitalism has not led to pervasive, rapid mobility. Nor have democratization, mass public education, the decline of nepotism, redistributive taxation, the emancipation of women, or even, as in China, socialist revolution..

LOL!! Would you have wound up on daily mail site with headline of "Dog walker gets sorted out by old codger!" with pic of you coming out the hospital?

A big Happy 93rd Birthday to Abe Vigoda aka Sal Tessio.

Yes...he's still alive!

Hard to believe for a pleasant easy going fellow like me but I had a bit of a bust up with an old chap yesterday. Now before you think I am a horrible so and so for picking on fragile old geezers let me explain. I walk the dog on a field near me which is bordered by some old folks bungalows. I go there regularly and often take young Matty with his ball. There are no signs to say no ball games or the like so imaging my surprise when this old geezer appeared out of nowhere and started in on me big style. No football, no kids, was I daft?, he was going to call the police, blah blah blah!!!

I have always been taught to respect my elders and I do but this old chap was quite the ticket. I tried to talk to him but he would not have it, he was up in my face spitting all over me and swearing. All my points that there were no signs and it was just me and a 7 years old boy kicking a ball around fell on deaf ears. In the end (after swallowing vast amounts of anger) I decided to retreat and told Matty to come on, to which the irascible codger grinned and said "Glad we got this sorted out son" to which my temper finally snapped and I responded "I'm not your f*****g son, if you were 30 years younger you would be on your arse, now f**k off". Not proud of that outburst at all but i was provoked and eventually snapped.

When telling the family of this, after they all finished laughing, both of my other boys informed me that he is the scourge of that field, where obviously lots of kids gather.

It's probably a good thing it did not end in fisticuffs because he was a tough looking old bird, he would have probably knocked me on my arse

93? Wow!!! God bless him. Happy Birthday!!

TIS