Whatever Happened To…

people, places and things

You’re Never Too Old

June26

You’re never too old to commit fraud it seems. A couple of years ago, two elderly sisters, Golay (75) and Olga (73) were indicted on life insurance fraud. It seems that they would “help” homeless men get back on their feet, take out life insurance policies and then have them killed. The insurance policies were worth $2.3 million.

These women were no strangers to the court system. They had also filed over 40 civil lawsuits in the past 20 years.

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Vintage Swimwear Hot Again

June24

Just when you thought that you would never see those styles again, there back! Vintage swimwear is making a big splash again. Not only the styles, but the colors and patterns as well.

You can purchase a Marilyn Monroe type suit:

Or, a polka-dot vintage 60s style suit:

All images from Pin Up Girl Clothing.

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Cat6

June24

When the internet was first developed, wiring had to be made that would attach computers and networks to each other. The first category of cable was called Cat2 cabling which only worked with token ring networks. Next came Cat3 which could carry 10Mbit/s on ethernet networks.

Soon Cat3 wasn’t good enough and Cat5 was introduced. Cat5 could work at 100Mbit/s but could not handle gigabit networks and has been discontinued. The new version, Cat5e can handle gigabit as well and had performance up to 100MHz

The next generation is CAT6 which provides performance of up to 250 MHz, more than double category 5 and 5e. Soon you will see Cat6a which will handle 500MHz!

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Weird Baby Names

June24

I don’t know why celebrities think they need to name their kids weird names, but they do. Here are a few of my favorites:

Audio Science (son of Shannyn Sossaman)
Apple (daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow)
Tu Simone Ayer Morrow (daughter of Rob Morrow) – Tu Morrow???
Hud and Spec Wildhorse (sons of John Mellencamp)
Ever Gabo (daughter of Milla Jovovich)
Moxie CrimeFighter (daughter of Penn Jillette)
Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily (daughter of Michael Hutchence)

If you want to see all the weird names, check it out here!

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George Carlin

June24

You may not have liked his kind of humor, but he was a very popular comedian! George Carlin passed away Sunday, June 22, 2008 in Los Angeles due to a heart attack. He was 71 years old.

Carlin was born May 12, 1937 in New York City. He attended high school in New York City and then joined the Air Force, training as a radar technician. He also began working as a disc jockey in Louisiana. Carlin was discharged from the Air Force in 1957. In 1959, he teamed up with Jack Burns to do a comedy routine in Texas.

In the 60s Carlin set out on his own and began appearing on TV variety shows. He was a frequent performer on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. His style in the 60s was short cut hair and suits. However, as the 70s dawned, Carlin changed his appearance. He started wearing faded jeans, grew his hair longer, sported a beard and an earring. This eventually lost him some television bookings but eventually gained him some fans.

During the 70s, Carlin came up with his most famous comedy piece – “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” After performing in Milwaukee performing this routine, he was arrested under obscenity laws. The case was later dismissed.

Carlin was the first host of Saturday Night Live when the show premiered on October 11, 1975. In 1976, Carlin stopped performing regularly and it was during this five year period that Carlin suffered the first of three heart attacks.

Carlin was back in full force in the 80s and 90s performing at various locations and HBO specials. In 2001, Carlin was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Annual American Comedy Awards. In 2004, Carlin was performing in Las Vegas and used some very dark material which did not go over well with the audience. After telling an audience member to “blow me” he was fired from the stint. He entered drug and alcohol rehab shortly thereafter. However, Carlin would go back to Las Vegas and perform there often.

In 2006, he told one audience that he had been recently in the hospital for heart failure. Four days before his death, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC announced that Carlin would be the 2008 honoree of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to be awarded in November.

Carlin was married to Brenda Hosbrook in 1961. They had one daughter, Kelly, in 1963. Brenda died of liver cancer in 1997. He later married Sally Wade in 1998.

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Word Origins: Drink The Kool-Aid

June19

No doubt you have heard the term “drink the Kool-Aid” which refers to cult like devotion to a cause. I dug deep down into my flash memory to remember this incident. The term originated after Jim Jones, the leader of a religious cult named the People’s Temple ordered his follower’s to commit suicide. In 1978, they had recently moved the Guyana. Jones made a grape drink laced with cyanide and sedatives and commanded his people to drink it. Those who did not drink were shot. A total of 914 people died including 276 children.

Although it was probably not Kool-Aid that Jones concocted, the phrase originated from this incident and Kool-Aid is the most probably brand of easy to mix drink.

Celebrity Spottings

June19

I have only spotted a celebrity a few times in my life. Once was at the John Wayne Airport in California. Bob Hope was in a limo and had his window rolled down for a few minutes. I also saw Muhammad Ali at the airport in Denver, Colorado. I stood next to Robert Redford in the ski line at Sundance in Utah. He was a lot shorter than I had imagined.

I did live in Colorado for a while, but never made it to Vail where you can do some serious celebrity spottings. Most of the time I was parked out in some Winter Park real estate which is not nearly as pricey as Vail.

I have even been to New York a number of times, but have never run into any celebrities. I don’t frequent the pricier side of town, however, so I guess my chances are very slim!

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Kate Capshaw

June13

Kate Capshaw is best known for two things – her role as Willie in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and her marriage to Steven Spielberg.

Capshaw was born as Kathleen Sue Nail on November 3, 1953 in Fort Worth Texas. Her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri when she was five. She graduated from Hazelwood Senior High and went on to get a degree in education at the University of Missouri. She taught special education for a few years before trying her hand at acting.

Kate took the name Capshaw upon her marriage to Robert Capshaw in 1976. They had one child, Jessica, but later divorced in 1980.

Kate was chosen from 120 auditions for the role of Willie in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. She has appeared in a few films and television specials since, but has not really made a name for herself in Hollywood. In 1999, she appeared in The Love Letter based one of the books written Cathleen Schine. She married Steven Spielberg in 1991 (she converted to Judaism) and together they have seven children (one from her previous marriage, one from Steven’s previous marriage, one adopted by Kate before her marriage to Steven, one adopted by both and three together.)

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Viewing Movies

June11

Is there one room in your house where you watch all your movies? We watch most of ours in the front room, but I have noticed that even at night, the light coming through the window distracts from the movie. We only have sheer curtains on those windows. Someone suggested that wood blinds might be a better option for this kind of room. Blinds can make the room a bit darker without having the room too dark!

Bull Moose Party

June11

The Bull Moose Political Party was also known as the Progressive Party. It was created in 1912 due to a split about the Republican nominee for President. The Party was founded by Theodore Roosevelt when he lost the nomination to Howard Taft. Roosevelt pulled all his delegates and formed the new party. Roosevelt stated:

“To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.”

Most Republican governors, congressmen and local leaders refused to join the new party. There were some prominent Republicans and Democrats that did join.

The Party platform called for the right for women to vote, easier way to amend the Constitution, health care for women and children, worker’s compensation, new inheritance and income taxes, recall of judicial decisions and limitations of naval armaments. Roosevelt believed that government should regulate industry to protect the public.

Because of this Republican split, Taft and Roosevelt both lost to Woodrow Wilson in 1912. In 1914, the Progressive Party again did poorly in the elections and faded away. Most Progressives rejoined the Republican Party, but the Party, controlled by Taft supporters, refused to nominate any prior Progressive member.

The Party might have been successful except that the Democratic Party was very united at the time. The Progressives had hoped to pull Democrats to their side, but this was not the case. Roosevelt did win 4.1 million votes for President (27%) compared to only 23% for Taft. But this was not enough to overtake Wilson’s 6.3 million votes (42%). Seventeen Progressives were elected to Congress and about 250 local leaders.

In 1916, Roosevelt was again nominated for President from the Progressive Party, but he refused. The party simply fell apart.

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