12-21-2008

My kids and I had all watched the same show ... Lester Holt and his camera crew, searching for a lost crystal skull ... Lester Holt And The 'Mystery of the Crystal Skulls' ... It all sounded quite "Indiana Jones" ... but part of the show was a discussion of the Mayan Calendar that claims 12-21-2008 will be the end of life as we know it.

Say what?

I found this site where an man calling himself simply, "John", has done an incredible amount of work!

Warning:  If this exploration causes you anxiety, please stop reading.  I, personally, do not believe that we have anything to fear.  My attitude is, "What an exciting time to be alive!" but not everyone will feel that way.  For that reason, I have included the Bible verses in red.  It is a common context for most of us and can be a source of great comfort when we are facing uncertain times.  Thanks.

I have included all the links so you can explore them further on your own if you wish to.  In some cases, I copied and pasted portions that were of additional interest to me, but there simply was too much information for me to include it all here. 

December 21 2012 "101"

This is a note from the man who created this site:

When I first started developing my website December212012.com it quickly became very obvious to me that I was on to something big. Like most people I had a passing knowledge and basic understanding of the Mayan aspect of the December 21 2012 end date and their remarkable ability to monitor time and space. What I quickly learned was that there is much more to the 2012 equation. It seemed that the more I learned, the more fascinated I became with the realities and predictions surrounding this moment in time.

As I continued to research and learn as much as I possibly could about the 2012 end date, and just as importantly, the events leading up to this date, a lot of things started making sense to me, especially as they relate to current day world events. As a Christian, I have a deep-rooted need to believe in the word of the Bible. My simple faith in a higher power has seen me through a lot of life’s obstacles, and my ability to at least consider the possibilities of that which I do not completely understand have made me a more open-minded person.

If as Christians we can give credence to such seemingly ridiculous Bible stories as Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark and the fact that Jesus lived, dies and will someday return, then why is it so hard for these same Christians to completely ignore the signs set forth in the Book of Revelation? How is it possible to have faith in “what was”, and totally discard “what will be”?

It’s not my intention to completely represent the December 21 2012 end date and the events leading up to this day solely from a Christian or Biblical standpoint; it’s so much more than that. Sure, to some extent it’s a religious thing, but more than that it’s a sociological thing, it’s an environmental thing, it’s a universal thing, it’s a political thing and it’s a scientific thing. Let’s face it, our world, our mere existence is in complete and total turmoil. We live in a time of acceptable disregard for human life and simpledignity. Our society accepts the fact that we live in a world of very well defined classes and the gap between the haves and have-nots is getting wider and wider every day. We are politically, morally and socially corrupt. We completely ignore the signs that earth is a fragile ecosystem that needs protecting, and we continue to use and abuse our planet for our own selfish reasons.

I'm sure that by now many of you are saying to yourselves, here’s another bleeding heart, tree hugging liberal with yet another end-time prediction like so many others that have came and gone before. Well, you could not be further from the truth. In fact, I am very happy with my life, and like many of you, I simply do not question what I can not change, so I justify my existence with my own passive attitudes and tolerance. I can clearly see the signs before me, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, so I simply hope and pray that I am leading my life to the best of my abilities.

What we have to understand is that we are now where we once were. We have reached a point in our existence that our survival depends on our ability to understand where we have been and what lies ahead. Perhaps we are dealing with a higher power of some sort, or perhaps our planet and universe are entering into an evolutionary cycle that is once again coming around full circle. Whatever the reasons are, we are definitely in for some major changes in the near future. No one knows for sure what exactly is going to happen on December 21 2012, or in the days leading up to that day. What we do know for sure is that things are changing, and not necessarily for the good of mankind.

I will attempt to explain in plain English what the Mayan’s and their long count calendar have revealed. What other ancient cultures such as the Hopi Indians, Egyptians and Chinese believed. I will explain the astrological events expected to take place on December 21 2012 at exactly 11:11 universal time, and why Albert Einstein among others believe that a poll shift will accrue leading to massive earthquakes and tsunamis.

It should be noted at this point that December 21 2012 is not just another end-time prediction. This date marks a moment in time that has been foreseen and foretold by a variety of ancient cultures throughout the world, each without knowledge of the other. In addition and at the very same time, we will be witnesses to not one, but two astronomical events that have not taken place for 26,000 years. Many believe that absolutely nothing will happen on this date. Other see this as the coming of the end of the world, and still other believe that we are in for some sort of physiological change. Never the less, there is absolutely no doubt that something is on our horizon, and it is up to each and every person to decide for themselves what they believe.

December 21 2012 "101" 




General Information

Will The Earth Burn Up In 2012?
There has been much talk of late about the supposed doomsday prediction of December 21, 2012 as reflected in the Mayan long calendar ...

Once before because of its sin the earth was destroyed by water in the Great Flood of Noah's day but the Bible says that the world will be destroyed again, this time by fire.

"The present heavens and earth, by His word, are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and the destruction of ungodly men" (2Peter 3:7).

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up" (2Peter 3:10).

"The sun scorched men with fire" (Revelation 16:8).

"A third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. A great mountain (asteroid?) burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and a third of the ships were destroyed. And a great star (comet?) fell from heaven burning like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water (Revelation 8:7-11).

"The inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left" (Isaiah 24:6).

"The hills melt and the earth is burned up" (Nahum 1:5).

Once again, many have associated December 21, 2012 with a shift in the poles as well as signs in the sky. What does the Bible tell us about these events?

"The stars will fall from the sky" (Matthew 24:29).

If the earth shifts on its axis and we are thrown around, the stars will appear to fall but it will actually be us that are moving.

"The earth is broken asunder. The earth is split through. The earth is shaken violently. Thee earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack "(Isaiah 24:19-20).

Once again a shift in the polar axis might tear the earth apart.

"There will be great earthquakes. The sun became black like sackcloth; the moon became like blood.The stars of the sky fell to the earth... The sky split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.every mountain and island moved out of their place' (Revelation 6:12-14).

More shaking of the earth.

"There will be great earthquakes and in various places plagues and famines and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. There will be signs in the sun and the moon and stars and upon the earth great dismay among nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves. Men fainting from fear as the powers of heaven will be shaken" (Luke 21:9, 25-26).

Here we see the Bible tell us about signs in the heavens spoken of in relation to December 21, 2012. But what do we do when we see these things happening?

"When you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you that this generation will not pass away until all things take place.But when these things begin to take place straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:31,32, 28).

God assures us that:

"Heaven and earth will pass away but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

Some people ask why God takes so long to punish the ungodly:

"The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2Peter 3:9).

Remember this as the end fast approaches.

2012 : What's All The Fuss About??
Everyone hears about the different prophecies on how humanity will end. From the Bible predictions of the rapture and the Antichrist, to Nostradamus's prediction of the Planet Comet, people hear theories and see evidence of our civilization coming to an end.

Margaret Emenegger on Indigo Children and other new world issues
“According to prophecy the fifth sun of the fifth world of the Mayan calendar moves into ascension on December 21, 2012. This date represents a gateway of planetary development that will open humanity to new ways of living and a new world of opportunity ...

Atwater stated that in her research she discovered these kids “suddenly know things unknown to them previously even complex scientific and mathematical epistemologies.”

For example, they are able to solve engineering problems without knowing how they did it …and then are accused of cheating. They fail in mathematics, physics and engineering classes because they can't delineate how they arrived at their answers, Atwater says.

Get a copy of “Dumbing Down America” and “Why Johnny Can’t Read.” Then read Eugene Schwatz’s “Millennial Child, Transforming Education in the Twenty First Century.” Waldorf is the ideal school model. It’s Waldorf updated. Schwartz is available to educate and advise those who crave change. Sounds like a good idea.

The Shift in Human Consciousness
Are you aware that a Shift in human consciousness is occurring even as you read these words that employs celestial triggers such as supernovas and Earth's alignment with Galactic Center in the years leading up to 2012 to trigger the evolution of our species?

The Meaning of the December 21, End Date
The ongoing debate over the true Mayan calendar “endtime” date, be it December 21, 2012 or otherwise, is irrelevant to the actual “endtime” implications.

December 21, 2012: Judgment Day
Science can neither confirm nor discredit the validity of many religiously or prophetically deemed judgment days of the future, the soonest of which will be arriving December 21, 2012, the final day of the Mayan Calendar ... 

In light of so many unrelated sources pinpointing the same relatively small span of time for a cataclysmic event to occur, many scientists are carefully tracking the numbers and severities of today's natural disasters and comparing them closely to the past. In Revelations, as the world as we know it nears its final days, natural disasters are on the increase. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a government funded organization, in the 1900's there were 110 earthquakes large enough to cause 1000 or more deaths throughout the world. Breaking the century down to first half and second half, there were exactly fifty-five earthquakes of this magnitude during the first fifty years. There were also exactly fifty-five earthquakes during the second fifty years of the 1900's. So they have not increased in numbers. However, using the number of deaths as a determining factor in history is irrelevant because of the growth and greater densities of the population as time progresses. The great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, for example, caused 3,000 deaths. With today's population, that same earthquake could easily be responsible for 30,000 deaths.

Hurricanes and tropical storms are also being closely tracked. According to the National Hurricane Center, the United States had more hurricanes in the first half of the 1900's than the second half by twenty-three, but the percentage of those hurricanes that were ranked in the most severe categories rose from 32% to 39% in the latter half.

On the most recent years, CNN News reports that a record number of storms hit the U.S. in 2005. The seasonal average for named storms is ten. Six of those are hurricanes and two of those are major. In 2005 alone, there were a record twenty-seven named storms, thirteen of which were hurricanes, and seven of which were major. That puts over 50% of the hurricanes into the higher categories, a dramatic increase from the last century.

Another natural phenomenon going on right now that scientist and governments alike are very concerned about that could potentially cause the realization of the Mayan prediction regarding the fate of the earth, is global warming, or more specifically, the melting of the earth's ice caps. CBS NEWS reported on February 19, 2006, that the ice caps have been frozen for more than 100,000 years but will have melted by the end of this century. "Temps in the arctic are rising twice as fast as they are in the rest of the world" (Bill Owens).

The increased severities of these storms and earthquakes, as well as the predicted melting of the ice caps, are all natural phenomenon that may be taking place as part of the natural cycle of the solar system. Just as every summer melts away the winter snow and ice, the rising temperatures here on earth could be a part of a change of seasons in the solar system. Since the end of this cycle occurs December 21, 2012, it stands to reason that a new cycle will begin on December 22, 2012. We know that the solar system, as well as the planet we live on, has been through this cycle countless times in its billions of years of existence. We also know that the earth has been through many of these cycles without falling off its axis. Since the ice caps are not predicted to melt completely for another century or so, and the new solar season begins in less than six years, it is quite possible that the new season could begin to correct these natural phenomena before they contribute to the destruction of life on this planet as we know it. It is virtually impossible to know what daily or even yearly changes in the earth's climate may have taken place in the last decade or two before the end of the last solar cycle 5,119 years ago.

Something cosmic may indeed happen on December 21, 2012, but all we need to do is look back a few years to 1999 when the world held its breath as the calendar shifted to a new century. People were stocking up on supplies and preparing for a world-wide economic collapse just before the turn of the century based purely on the suspicions of a few paranoid folks in power. By 2010, the paranoia that the Maya's might be correct will undoubtedly reach discussion levels to equal the intensity of Y2K, if not surpass it. But without concrete scientific evidence that the structure of time is going to change as in the Mayan prediction, or that the earth is going to change its rotation or orbit around the sun in less than six years, in my opinion, we will more than likely see another prophesied judgment day come and go once again. Then after a collective, global, sigh of relief, we will undoubtedly shift our attention to the next potential judgment day in 2040 when all nine planets of our solar system line up in a straight line for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years.



(to be continued)

Tags: 12-21-2008, Mayan Prophesy, End Times

What An Interesting Memorial Day We Had

 

What an interesting weekend we had!

 

 

SATURDAY

 

Joey and I went to the mountains on Saturday.  We stopped at one of our favorite bar-b-q spots.  It was raining a bit so we lingered for a while, watching people and talking about current events.

 

What a little paragraph to describe a third of my life!

 

Joey is all the things a husband should be but he is also my friend.  We talk about the most interesting things.  In the beginning, Joey was old south conservative and I was midwest liberal.  He preferred sounding sensible and I loved to make his eyes bug out by saying something completely off the wall ... but little by little, he was less shocked and more amused, even siding with me on some issues ... and little by little, I started to listen to his explanations and adopted some of his ideas as my own.

 

Today, there isn't any mind I'd rather pick than his.  Today, it's my feelings that matter most to him.  If a stranger were to listen to us talk when it was just the two of us, they would hear the kind of speech that only happens between two people who have been speaking for a very long time.  We have words that hold meaning that only the two of us know.  We dance and swirl around each other's thoughts, adjusting our pace and movement when the music changes, but here we are, dancing still.

We almost lost each other.  We gave up on each other for a while.  Sometimes, love renewed has a magic all it's own.  There's the comfort of knowing one another but the knowledge that if we aren't careful, everything could disappear like a puff of smoke ... It makes NOW too precious to waste.

We stopped at a few mountain stores and found a treasure or two or three.

I had iced coffee and Joey had sweet tea.  We laughed and held hands and talked about growing tomatoes and benches and window boxes and exchanged memories on a little town's street.

Life is good.


SUNDAY

 

Joey got up early and made us breakfast.  The smell of coffee woke me up.

We ate breakfast on the back porch with the birds and the sound of the creek.  When the leaves are thick, our little woods turns into an exotic rain forest with those caw-caw-caw and eee-eee-eee sounds of birds.  We talked about our day.

 

Joey wanted to mow the front lower yard, the front upper yard and the back meadow too.

I had to clean the back room and get some things ready for the kids to pick up.

I had a little excitement.  I was cleaning and rearranging bird feeders and wind chimes, tightening screws and adjusting chain when I slipped and pulled the tip of the needle nose pliers across my forehead at an angle.  I dug the most amazing gouge!  It bled gloriously.  After I put peroxide and neosporin on it, I looked like I had been in one heck of a good prize fight!  I'm glad I have bangs!

It gave me such a headache.

Joey and I cooked together in prep for the kids coming the next day.  I made potato salad and Joey made some of his famous chili for the burgers.

I had a cup of tea and we went to bed early.


MONDAY 

 

Joey and I got up early and began to make preparations for company.  Have you ever noticed that chores are easier on a holiday?

Everyone got here around noon.  We had grilled burgers/cheeseburgers with potato salad, chips and drinks ... nothing fancy.  We got the kids fed and then we all sat at the table in the dining room.  We talked through lunch and sat at the table for another hour or two, with the conversation floating from one subject to another.  It was a LOT of fun.

 

One of the most interesting conversations was about a show they had seen on the DISCOVERY CHANNEL.  I didn't see the show, but I found a web-site that seemed to say a lot of what they explained to me.  Here it is:





5 Natural Disasters Headed for the United States
                              By Jim Gorman
                                     Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com

Earth is one rough place. Even the most devastating storms of recent years pale in sheer destructive power against outsize natural disasters of the past, such as continent-smothering ice sheets, ocean-raising floods, super volcanoes and the occasional asteroid. Because cataclysms will always be a regular feature of life on Earth, PM consulted with leading scientists to detail five more disasters that may be in store. Some will be beyond human control; others could be disasters of our own making. Either way, prepare for a real doozy.

40-Mile-Long Mudslide, Washington State
Movin' Mountain

On an overcast afternoon high on Mount Rainier, a rocky slope slumps and then cuts loose from the mountain. Small rock slides are common on the volcano's steep flanks, but this one is different. Most of Mount Rainier's west face is in motion. Into the tumbling maelstrom go millions of tons of ice from the Puyallup and Tahoma glaciers. House-size rocks disintegrate in the downward crush. “With Rainier's active hydrothermal system saturating the rock, the landslide would reach the base of the slope as a flowing mass of watery, muddy debris,” says Kevin Scott, scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascade Volcano Observatory (CVO).

So a lahar is born--a volcanic mudflow--and a nightmare realized for the approximately 150,000 Washington residents who live and work on the solidified debris of past flows. The mass of roiling mud, rock and trees, traveling at 60 mph, would quickly funnel into the canyons of the Puyallup and Carbon rivers, where it would rise 180 ft. high before spreading into the lowlands as a 15-ft. wave. The 5000 residents of Orting, at the rivers' confluence, would have less than 45 minutes to evacuate. People downstream, in towns such as Puyallup and Sumner, might have twice that long.

Despite its iconic standing, 14,410-ft. Mount Rainier is pocked with corroded, unstable rock capped by a cubic mile of ice and snow. The mountain--weakened from the inside out by acids resulting from upwelling magma--has partially collapsed many times in the last 5600 years, unleashing mudflows that have inundated five of six major drainages. Six of those lahars surged at least 45 miles to reach Puget Sound.

The USGS gives a 1-in-7 chance of a similar event occurring in anyone's lifetime. And, says Dan Dzurisin, a CVO geologist: “There's no guarantee there would be any advance warning.”

80-Ft.-High Tsunami, Atlantic Coast
Coast Buster

A massive collapse of Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands would cause a tsunami to radiate all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to the East Coast. PHOTOGRAPH BY J. SCHWAKE/ALAMY

Cumbre Vieja, the most active volcano in the Canary Islands, lurches as a violent earthquake wracks its upper slopes. A third of the mountain breaks away and plunges into the Atlantic Ocean, pushing up a dome of water nearly 3000 ft. high. They don't yet know it, but tens of millions of Americans from Key West, Fla., to South Lubec, Maine, have just 9 hours to escape with their lives.

The collapse of Cumbre Vieja unleashes a train of enormous waves traveling at jetliner speed. The first slam into nearby islands, then the African mainland. By the time they reach the East Coast of North America, the waves are up to 80 ft. high, and in low-lying areas, sweep several miles inland.

When tsunamis strike the United States, it is usually Hawaii or Alaska that take the hit. But topography and population density put the East Coast in a special risk category. “More Easterners are exposed to potential tsunamis--from the Canary Islands or the Cape Verde Islands--than the people on the West Coast, which has a steep coastline and few lowlands,” says Steven Ward, a geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A Cumbre Vieja eruption in 1949 opened a mile-long, 20-ft.-deep fissure near the crest, forcing the volcano's western face to slump several feet. A 1971 eruption didn't budge it.

Marine geologists at Southampton Oceanography Center in Great Britain have a different take. They conclude the volcano would collapse in stages-- at worst threatening nearby islands. Ward calculates only a 5 percent chance Cumbre Vieja will trigger a tsunami in a given century, but that when it does a chunk of earth 15 miles long, 9 miles wide and nearly 1 mile thick will plunge into the sea--a landslide 250 times larger than the collapse of Mount St. Helens.

The tsunami's probable trajectory within 5 hours of the collapse of Cumbre Vieja.

The tsunami's potential range of destruction 9 hours after the collapse of Cumbre Vieja

Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake, Mississippi River Valley
Stress Test

The New Madrid Seismic Zone, which extends into five states, is part of a rift that formed more than 500 million years ago when tectonic forces began pulling the continent apart.

Ten miles beneath Caruthersville, Mo., stress along an ancient rift zone releases in a violent spasm. Shock waves from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake roll 160 miles up the Mississippi River Valley to St. Louis, and 75 miles downriver to Memphis, Tenn. The soils under Memphis ripple like a shook rug. Century-old brick buildings heave, then crumble. Sewer and water lines rupture. Gaslines snap. Downtown, the 14-story federal building, a decade overdue for quakeproofing, rains 3-ton panels.

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While all eyes are fixed on California as the site of the next “Big One,” damage from a quake along the New Madrid Fault--which runs for 150 miles between Marked Tree, Ark., and Cairo, Ill.--may be greater. The hot, shattered crust beneath California absorbs seismic energy quickly and focuses it at an epicenter, says Gary Patterson, a geologist at the University of Memphis. But, he says, “the relatively hard, cold slab of rock beneath the central U.S. allows that energy to travel great distances.” A quake's impact zone is at least 10 times larger on the New Madrid Fault than on the San Andreas, and its shock waves reverberate longer.

The New Madrid Fault has produced the strongest earthquakes in the contiguous states: three tremors near magnitude 8.0 that struck from December 1811 to February 1812. Odds of a quake of that scale are small: 7 to 10 percent in the next 50 years. But factor in unprepared citizens and infrastructure and even a 6.0 earthquake, which has a 25 to 40 percent chance of occurring, would be a disaster.

“There's a lot about the New Madrid we don't know,” Patterson says. “But what we do know is very concerning.”

195-MPH Hurricane, Florida
Tropical Terror

Packing maximum sustained winds of 195 mph, Hurricane Lyle slams into Coral Gables just south of Miami. The breadth and intensity of the storm dazzles meteorologists, who rank it the strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S. mainland.

On the north side of the storm's eye, Miami Beach, which has the second highest housing density in the country, is in shambles. Many residents don't evacuate, believing they are safe in concrete high-rises. They are wrong. Then it is too late, as the causeways connecting them to the mainland wash out. Waves riding a 15-ft. storm surge gut oceanfront condos up to the third story; windows blow out, allowing wind and rain to ravage upper floors. The storm surge sweeps over the island, carrying wreckage into downtown Miami, where the 70-story Four Seasons Hotel and Tower is reduced to a sodden shell.

Low-lying coastal areas would be hit twice by a supercharged storm—as waves rushed in and then back out. PHOTORAPH BY WARREN FAIDLEY/CORBIS

Block after block of homes in Coral Gables, West Miami and Sweetwater--many not yet retrofitted to the tough codes imposed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992--are blasted down to roofless frames. Waist-deep floodwater inundates areas as far north as Fort Lauderdale. Insured losses exceed $100 billion--nearly twice the amount caused by Katrina--making Lyle the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

Katrina should have been a wakeup call, but coastal development has continued unabated, exposing the 4 million people in Florida's Miami-Dade and Broward counties to deadly monster storms. Warm water is rocket fuel for hurricanes, and global warming is predicted to heat tropical oceans by 4 F in the next century. Sea surface temperatures in the tropics have already risen by about 1 F since 1970.

Researchers at Georgia Tech and at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., have measured a near doubling in the annual number of Category 4 and 5 storms during the past 35 years. And Kerry Emanuel, professor of meteorology at MIT, has found that Atlantic storms today wield twice the destructive force as those in 1970.

Wind speeds increase with altitude, and so a Category 4 storm at ground level can be a full category higher at the top of a building. While the storm surge scours the first two stories, overpressure blows out windows in the highest floors, exposing the interiors to wind and rain.

Some scientists dispute the global warming-hurricane connection. They attribute the intensity of recent hurricanes to natural cycles, or they contest the accuracy of early data and the objectivity of techniques used to analyze it.

Supercharged or not, hurricanes promise to wreak unprecedented damage in the decades ahead for one simple reason: More people have put themselves in harm's way. Coastal zones from Texas to North Carolina have gained 24 million residents since 1950.

Climate-Changing Ocean Disruption, North Atlantic
Sea Change

Winters in the Northeast begin to bite with a ferocity last seen during the deep freezes of 1936 and 1978, when icebreakers plied the Mississippi and Hudson rivers. Winter temperatures in Washington, D.C., begin to approximate those of Boston. Extreme drought grips the Midwest, sending grain commodity prices soaring; crops fail and farmers spin into bankruptcy. Climate patterns go haywire. London, Paris and the Scandinavian capitals shiver through their coldest winters since 1850. Summer monsoons in India and China weaken, affecting harvests that feed hundreds of millions of people. Fisheries decline when plankton populations collapse. Drought and flood push worldwide agricultural losses to $250 billion.

The cause of the big chill is an unlikely culprit: global warming. The northeastern States, eastern Canada and, primarily, Europe enjoy warmer climates than they otherwise would because of an ocean-based system of heat delivery called thermohaline circulation. This vast ocean conveyor sweeps warm, salty water from tropical latitudes north along the surface. After shedding heat to the atmosphere, the chilled brine becomes denser and sinks. Thousands of feet beneath the surface it flows back toward the equator, completing the loop.

Freshwater melt from the Greenland ice sheet contributes to a layer of buoyant water that is beginning to cap the North Atlantic Ocean. PHOTOGRAPH BY BLICKWINKEL/ALAMY

But as the climate warms disproportionately at the poles, the gears of the system begin to wobble. Freshwater runoff from Greenland's ice cap and from melting glaciers across the Arctic, combined with increased precipitation, could form a thick, buoyant cap over the North Atlantic. Already, the great gyre may be sputtering. The surface of the North Atlantic is becoming noticeably less salty, and thus less driven to sink.

Thermohaline circulation shut down as recently as 8200 years ago, and some scientists contend that the Little Ice Age of 1300 to 1850 was due to a hiccup in the system. The chance of another collapse is hotly debated. Terrence Joyce, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, calls it “unlikely” if Greenland's ice cap continues to melt at the current pace. However, “Greenland is a wild card,” he says--its melt rate remains unpredictable. Michael Schlesinger, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, calculates a 45 percent chance of the system shutting down in the next century if nothing is done to slow global warming.

Cold, dense water typically sinks near the Arctic and flows in deep currents to the equator. When this cycle is disrupted, warm water is not pushed as far north along the surface.

Ice core samples indicate the switch from temperate to bitter could be measured in mere years--and last for centuries. The timing of such an event will determine the severity of its consequences. “If the shutdown happens 100 years from now, it will bring us back to where we are now, canceling 4 to 6 F of atmospheric warming [predicted] in the Northeast,” Joyce says. “If it happened tomorrow, that would be something more significant.”



I am curious to hear your take on it.  What do you think? 

While searching for this to show you, I researched something else we talked about yesterday.  I'll continue my part of this conversation tomorrow ...

Our World Is Turning Very GREEN

This is the time of year
when everything turns very, very, very green.



Even in the rain,
the shades of green increase in mist-ery.



As soon as the rain clears,
the sun comes out to play in the wet leaves.



The leaves fill in all the spaces
and flutter like big green curtains in the breeze.



This morning, I drank my coffee on the back porch
and listened to the birds.
I closed my eyes and let myself snuggle in to the sounds and smells
of the woods around my home.
The woods had that earthy, fresh smell leftover from last night's rain.

 

I thought about what a beautiful moment NOW is.

So Glad We Had This Time Together

 

Whether Carol Burnette was "bumping up the lights"; acting out a sketch with Harvey Korman, Tim Conway or Vickie Lawrence; or belting out a Tarzan yell; you just knew that you knew that you knew you were going to laugh hard for the next hour!

Carol Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1933 to alcoholic parents.  She and her younger sister, Chrissy, moved to a Hollywood boarding house with their grandmother to escape a volatile home life.

Blessed with a talent for the imaginary, Burnett graduated from Hollywood High School and then attended UCLA, working her way through bit parts on television.  Her aspirations to act were discouraged by her mother, who thought she could write.  Carol’s mother died before seeing her debut.

In the 1950s, Burnett was noticed for a comic novelty song and appeared on the Paul Winchell Show in 1955.  She also appeared in a short-lived sitcom with Buddy Hackett and as a regular on the game show, Pantomime Quiz.  Burnett married Don Saroyan in 1955, but the marriage only lasted seven years and produced no children.

Carol’s first success came in 1959 when she appeared on Broadway in the musical “Once Upon a Mattress.”  She also became a regular on The Garry Moore Show that same year and continued until 1962.  She won an Emmy in 1962 for her performance on the show for portraying a number of characters, including the cleaning woman that would become her alter-ego.  This led to her performing as a headliner with Julie Andrews at Carnegie Hall.

In 1963, Carol wed Joe Hamilton, a TV producer and divorced father of eight.  Carol and Joe had three daughters together before divorcing in 1984.

Comedienne Lucille Ball took an interest in Burnett and had her as a guest on The Lucy show several times before offering her a sitcom produced by Desilu.  Burnett declined, deciding on a variety show instead.  So, in 1967 the Carol Burnett Show debuted and was a huge success.

The Carol Burnett Show included cast members Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner and Vicki Lawrence.  It ran for 11 years, garnered 22 Emmy Awards and numerous additional Emmy nominations every year of its run.  The sketches were comical and memorable, including spoofs of Went with the Wind and As the Stomach Turns.  One, Mama’s Family, was eventually spun off as a series for Lawrence.

The variety show kicked off many Carol Burnett trademarks, including her famous Tarzan yell, performed during many shows, and the closing of the show with an ear tug – a message to her grandmother that she was doing fine.  Her grandmother died during the show’s run.

Carol starred in other works while doing the variety show, including Pete ‘n’ Tillie in 1972.  She also appeared in Friendly Fire, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice, The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off.

Burnett also kept her contact with theatre appearing in I Do, I Do! with Rock Hudson and in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies.  She also continued her television work, by guest starring in Mama’s Family and Mad About You.  She has most recently appeared in Desperate Housewives.

In 2001, Burnett married Brian Miller, a drummer in the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra who is twenty-five years her junior.  In 2002, she lost her daughter Carrie to lung and brain cancer at the age of 38.  Burnett and Carrie had collaborated on the playHollywood Arms, based on Burnett’s memoir, One More Time.  Mother and Daughter also played mother and daughter in an episode of Touched By An Angel.

In 1998, Burnett served as Grand Marshall of the Rose Parade; was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors; received the Medal of Freedom from President Bush in 2005 and was the subject of an American Masters profile in 2007.
                                                                                                                      ~  Carol Burnetts

Carol Burnette Quotes

This has been one of the best times of my life,
to meet you and spend time
in the town my grandmother told me so much about.

People invite me to dinner not because I cook,
but because I like to clean up.
I get immediate gratification from Windex. Yes, I do windows.

It will be fun. I just think it's so campy.

But I didn't ask to have somebody nose around in my private life.
I didn't even ask to be famous.
All I asked was to be able to earn a living making people laugh.

Comedy is tragedy plus time.

When someone who is known for being comedic does something straight,
it's always "a big breakthrough" or a "radical departure."
Why is it no one ever says that if a straight actor does comedy?
Are they presuming comedy is easier?

Celebrity was a long time in coming; it will go away.
Everything goes away.

I wish my mother had left me something about how she felt growing up.
I wish my grandmother had done the same.
I wanted my girls to know me.

Giving birth is like taking your lower lip
and forcing it over your head.

It's also selfish because it makes you feel good
when you help others.
I've been helped by acts of kindness from strangers.
That's why we're here, after all, to help others.

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me

My grandmother and I saw an average of eight movies a week,
double features, second run.

Well, I don't know how astute I am,
but I did want to be a journalist when I was growing up.

We don't stop going to school when we graduate.

Adolescence is just one big walking pimple.

When you have a dream,
you've got to grab it and never let go.

Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own.

Because nobody goes through life without a scar.

You have to go through the falling down in order to learn to walk.
It helps to know that you can survive it.
That's an education in itself

I have always grown from my problems and challenges,
from the things that don't work out,
that's when I've really learned.

I think we're here for each other.

I don't have false teeth. Do you think I'd buy teeth like these?





The funniest scene in comedy - Carol playing Scarlett O'Hara
in a DRAPED dress designed by Bob Mackie



We used to hoot out loud
when Carol would play the silent movie star
with her eyes WIDE open



There was a little bit of all of us in the washer woman
who would dream ...

Tim Conway Quotes

As a kid I was short and only weighed 95 pounds.
And though I was active in a lot of Sports
and got along with most of the guys,
I think I used comedy as a defense mechanism.
You know making someone laugh is a much better way
to solve a problem than by using your fists.

Carol [Burnett] is a wonderful, giving person;
she had a personal interest in everyone around the show,
including the stagehands and the ushers.
And then we didn't do a lot of rehearsal,
so the material stayed fresh.
It was really a lot like doing a live show. 

Both Harvey [Korman] and I like to keep in touch
with Carol [Burnett].
We try to see her at least once a month,
because she's got a drive-Up ATM window at her house.
And we like to go and pick up some cash.

Don Knotts was a really big influence,
especially on the Steve Allen Show.
I mean, look at the guy, his entire life is in his face.

I don't watch a lot of TV anymore.
A lot of it isn't the kind of thing you can feel comfortable
with watching with your kids.
And I still feel that way even though,
now, my kids are in their 30s.

I like to work a lot with wood. I make furniture that falls apart.
I also sew.
I love doing my own material.

I've never really taken anything very seriously.
I enjoy life because I enjoy making other people enjoy it.



Harvey Korman Quotes

Funny is when you're serious.

I got canceled in the middle of making the pilot.

 

You have to have a certain persona to be a star,
you know,
and I don't have that.
I'm a banana.

So I've got a reputation for being the straight man,
and I've worked with the best.

Although in Abbott and Costello, and straight man was first.
That's a very interesting concept.

 

And I'll tell you somebody else who was a straight man
and considers himself a straight man and
describes himself as one, Cary Grant.

Don't - those writers used to love us.
They would write these little plays,
and we would take care of the comedy.
It really seldom was joke jokes.

FROM THE CAROL BURNETTE SHOW ...

Carol Burnett can do it all. She sings and dances, she does comedy and drama. She endures.

The long running Carol Burnett show had some standard bits. Carol and the guest star would come out first and answer audience questions.

Then there would be the marvelous sketches. Who can forget Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman sitting on the porch in their rocking chairs wondering what went wrong in life. Or Carol and Harvey bickering with and about their daughter played by Carol Lawrence.

They made fun of TV and movies. My favorite sketch was the "Gone With the Wind" spoof where Carol comes downstairs with a drapery rod across her shoulders and drapes hanging from them. Another popular one was "As the Stomach Turns," a parody of a soap opera.

Carol Burnett is perhaps best remembered however, ending the show by tugging on her ear.

Carol Bradford:
When we were first married you wanted my meatloaf five nights a week.
Roger Bradford:
When we were first married there were a lot of things I wanted five nights a week.


as Thelma "Mama" Harper: [Vicki improvises a line that was not scripted]
You ain't right in the head, Eunice. I think somebody blew your pilot light out!
as Eunice Harper: [Carol is caught off guard and quickly turns away trying to compose herself and not fall out of character]
That's a *new* one, Mama!
as Thelma "Mama" Harper: [without missing a beat]
Well, you just wait, there's more!
as Eunice Harper: [clasping her hands over her face to hide her laughter]
Oh, no!
as Thelma "Mama" Harper:
You've got splinters in the windmills of your mind!


Ed: [playing the game sorry and Eunice is losing]
Slliiiiiide!
Eunice: Oh, will you shut up!


Housekeeper: [After the Cunningham's have entered a scary castle]
Go away. For three hundred years, no strange person has been inside this castle.
Mrs. Cunningham: You wanna bet?


Hallaba: You're going to be bitten by a verevolf.
Mrs. Cunningham: A verevolf?
[Screams]
Hallaba: Yes. Bevare the volfman will bite you tonight. Oy, are you gonna get it.
Mrs. Cunningham: Oh, no! Is a verevolf bite painful?
Hallaba: It's about the same as the bite from a wampire.


Reginald: [To Gwendolyn]
Now listen to me, you little fool. As far as everyone is concerned, father's death was purely...
Ms. Marble: [Ms. Marble in the background] Murder!
Reginald: [Nervous] Murder? Murder, you say?
Ms. Marble: [Comes into the living room]
Murder, murder, murder. Bloody, bloody murder.
Gwendolyn: You mean to say our father was murdered?
Ms. Marble: No, I mean to say my girdle is killing me.
Reginald: Ms. Marble, I really must insist you stop snooping around. I simply will not tolerate a busybody.
Ms. Marble: Busybody? Busybody, you say? My body hasn't been busy in over 40 years.


Audience Member: How old are you now?
Vicki Lawrence: I dunno!
Harvey Korman: I’m 77, and I can still go to the bathroom by myself!
Tim Conway: The amazing thing is, he’s doing it right now!

Mama's Family was a spin off starring Carol Burnett as Eunice and Vickie Lawrence as Mama 


Naomi: And just what is wrong with the way I dress?
Mama: Well, good Lord! If that blouse was any lower, it would be a skirt!

Mama: I'd be uncomfortable, too, if I were dressed in that get-up.
Naomi: Just what is wrong with my attire? I've always found this outfit very suitable for religious occasions.
Mama: That's 'cause you got to pray to God it stays up!

Naomi: Wait a minute now, I've told you repeatedly that this check stand is ten items or less.
Mama: Well, I know that, but look--I got bread, milk, fruit, meat and vegetables. That's five items.
Naomi: I know, but you got six kinds of vegetables here, and each one counts as an item.
Mama: Well I've also got a loaf of bread--you gonna count every slice?
Naomi: The point is, this is the express lane.
Mama: Well quit expressing yourself and start checking!



I really tried very hard to find scripts or snips of some of those wonderful skits ... I wish I could have found one of Mrs. Hwiggens ... or just one of Tim Conway cracking Harvey Korman up ... or the other way around.

Update:  I did find two YouTube Videos ... They are in the comment section.  I especially like the one with Tim Conway as the dentist.  I'm still looking for Mrs. Hwiggins!

If you ever have a chance to watch an old video or catch a late night rerun or even a commemorative, stop what you're doing and take the time.  You'll be so glad you had the time together ...

Tags: Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman

King of the Cowboys and Queen of the West

 

It was the time for cowboys and every kid dreamed of "the old west".  Every little girl hoped she marry a man just like Hoppy, Roy, and Gene (Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry) someday and every little boy wished he was one of those cowboys. 

I didn't know a kid who didn't ask for a palomino like Trigger (Roy Roger's horse) every Christmas, even though most of us knew we wouldn't get one ... it never hurt to ask.

My Dad was an auctioneer so he wore cowboy hats and boots.  We knew our dad was a good guy so one of us kids asked him one day, "Dad, were you a sheriff in the old West?"  The memory of it still makes me smile today.

COWBOY QUOTES

Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear,
or a fool from any direction.

Don't squat with your spurs on.

Don't judge people by their relatives.

When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

Talk slowly, think quickly.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honorable life.
Then when you get older and think back,
you'll enjoy it a second time.

Don't interfere with something that ain't botherin' you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

It's better to be a has-been that a never-was.

The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm.

The colder it gets, the harder it is to swaller.

If you find yourself in a hole,
the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

If it don't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably ain't.

It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.

Sometimes you get and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with
watches you shave his face in the mirror every morning.

Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence,
try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

Don't worry about bitin' off more'n you can chew;
your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger'n you think.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Generally, you ain't learnin' nothing when your mouth's a-jawin'.

Tellin' a man to git lost and makin' him do it
are two entirely different propositions.

If you're ridin' ahead of the herd,
take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there with ya.

Good judgment comes from experience,
and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

When you give a personal lesson in meanness to a critter or to a person,
don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.

When you're throwin' your weight around,
be ready to have it thrown around by somebody else.

Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back.

Always take a good look at what you're about to eat.

It's not so important to know what it is,
but it's sure crucial to know what it was.

The quickest way to double your money is to
fold it over and put it back into your pocket.

Never miss a good chance to shut up.

  


ROY ROGERS - "King of the Cowboys"

• Born: 5 November 1911
• Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
• Died: 6 July 1998 (heart failure)
• Best Known As: Star of TV's Roy Rogers Show

Name at birth: Leonard Slye

Roy Rogers was called the "King of the Cowboys" during his long career as a folksy singing hero of movies and TV. He was an original member of the cowboy singing group The Sons of the Pioneers, and in 1937 he signed on with Republic Pictures, replacing their departing star Gene Autry. He starred in more than 80 westerns with titles like The Arizona Kid (1939) and In Old Cheyenne (1941). He often co-starred with cowgirl Dale Evans, whom he married in 1947. Rogers's famous horse was Trigger, a Palomino stallion with flowing white mane who became a favorite with Rogers's fans. In the 1950s Rogers moved into TV with the The Roy Rogers Show. His theme song with Dale Evans was the gentle and cheery "Happy Trails to You."

Rogers was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame twice, as an individual in 1988 and with the Sons of the Pioneers in 1980... His is no relation to the blues guitarist Roy Rogers... It's true: after Trigger's death, the horse was mounted and put on display at the Roy Rogers Museum in Victorville, California. The museum (and Trigger) moved to Branson, Missouri in 2003... Rogers lent his name to the Marriott Corporation for the successful Roy Rogers chain of fast food restaurants; the first outlet opened in 1968.

QUOTES:

We were so far back in the woods, they almost had to pipe in sunlight.

You couldn't beg, borrow, or steal a job in 1931, 1932, ...
It was really tough.

I did pretty good for a guy who never finished high school
and used to yodel at square dances.

People are always asking me why they don't make Westerns like they used to.

The world changed. Hollywood changed.
I think we've lost something, and we don't know how to get it back. 

Today they're making pictures that I wouldn't want Trigger to see.

Give a lazy man a job, and he'll find a lazy way to do it. 

We'd put some zip to it, add some character, some identity.

"They'll have to shoot me first to take my gun."

 Cowboys weren't allowed to kiss girls in pictures,
so one time I gave Dale a little peck on the forehead
and we got a ton of letters to leave that mushy stuff out ...
So I had to kiss Trigger instead.

We make up most of our history around here, ... Codger.

When my time comes, just skin me and put me up there on Trigger,
just as though nothing had ever changed.

If I could teach the kids to identify and appreciate their natural environment,
then they will have a sense of place and care about Weston.


RIDER'S RULES by Roy Rogers

1. Be neat and clean.
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect the weak and help them.
5. Be brave but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all you can.
7. Be kind to animals and take care of them.
8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and our country.


Until we meet again, may the good Lord take a liking to you.


The epitaph on his gravestone:
The Cowboy's Prayer
Oh Lord, I reckon I'm not much just by myself.
I fail to do a lot of things I ought to do.
But Lord, when trails are steep and passes high,
Help me to ride it straight the whole way through.
And when in the falling dusk I get the final call,
I do not care how many flowers they send--
Above all else the happiest trail would be
For You to say to me, "Let's ride, My friend."
Amen
Roy Rogers
(Sunset Hills Memorial Park, Apple Valley, California)

DALE EVANS - "Queen of the West"

• Born: 31 October 1912
• Birthplace: Uvalde, Texas
• Died: 7 February 2001 (heart failure)
• Best Known As: Partner of singing cowboy Roy Rogers

Name at birth: Frances Octavia Smith

Dale Evans was a movie actress who starred with wholesome singing cowboy Roy Rogers in a series of 1940s westerns. The two were married in 1947 and from then on appeared as a popular pair in movies and on TV. Evans wrote the song that became their very popular theme: "Happy Trails to You." Evans's movie horse was Buttermilk, the counterpart to Rogers's horse Trigger.

Buttermilk, like Trigger, was mounted after death and put on display in the Roy Rogers - Dale Evans Museum. The museum was originally located in Victorville, California, but was moved to Branson, Missouri in 2003.

QUOTES:

Christmas, my child, is love in action.
Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.

Every day we live is a priceless gift of God,
loaded with possibilities to learn something new,
to gain fresh insights into His great truths.

Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

I lay in the bed at the hospital and said, 'let's see what I have left.'
And I could see, I could speak, I could think, I could read.
I simply tabulated my blessings, and that gave me a start.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.






For More:  
Happy Trails Forever™ - Honoring the *King of the Cowboys* & *Queen of the West*, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans - Home
Welcome to The Official Roy Rogers - Dale Evans Website

Tags: Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Cowboys

May God Bless Red Skelton

"If by chance some day you're not feeling well
and you should remember some silly thing I've said or done
and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart,
then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled."

~ Red Skelton,   1913 - 1997

Born in Vincennes, Indiana, Skelton was the son of a Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus clown named Joe who died in 1913 shortly before the birth of his son. Skelton himself got one of his earliest tastes of show business with the same circus as a teenager. Before that, however, he had been given the show business bug at age ten by entertainer Ed Wynn, who spotted him selling newspapers in front of the Pantheon Theatre, in Vincennes, Indiana, trying to help his family. After buying every newspaper in Skelton's stock, Wynn took the boy backstage and introduced him to every member of the show with which he was traveling. By age 15, Skelton had hit the road full-time as an entertainer, working everywhere from medicine shows and vaudeville to burlesque, showboats, minstrel shows and circuses.

While performing in Kansas City in 1930, Skelton met and married his first wife, Edna Stillwell. The couple divorced 13 years later, but they remained cordial enough that Stillwell remained one of his chief writers.

Skelton caught his big break in two media at once: radio and film. In 1938 he made his film debut for RKO Radio Pictures, in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time.

Skelton was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to lend comic relief to its Dr. Kildare medical dramas, but soon he was starring in comedy features (as inept radio detective "The Fox") and in Technicolor musicals. When Skelton signed his long-term contract with MGM in 1940, he insisted on a clause that permitted him to star in not only radio (which he had already done) but on television, which was still in its early years; studio chief Louis Mayer agreed to the terms, only to regret it years later when television became a serious threat to the motion picture industry.

Skelton was drafted in March 1944, and the popular series was discontinued June 06, 1944. Shipped overseas to serve with an Army entertainment unit as a private, Skelton led an exceptionally hectic military life: in addition to his own duties and responsibilities, he was always being summoned to entertain officers late at night. The perpetual motion and lack of rest resulted in a nervous breakdown in Italy. He spent three months in a hospital and was discharged in September 1945. He once joked about his military career, "I was the only celebrity who went in and came out a private."

In 1945, he married Georgia Davis; the couple had two children, Richard and Valentina. Georgia continued in her role as Red's manager until the 1960s. In 1951, NBC beckoned Skelton to bring his radio show to television. His characters worked even better on screen than on radio; television also provoked him to create his second best-remembered character, Freddie the Freeloader, a traditional tramp whose appearance suggested the elder brother of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus clown Emmett Kelly.

Many of Skelton's television shows have survived due to kinescopes, films, and videotapes and have been featured in recent years on PBS television stations. In addition, a number of excerpts from Skelton's television shows have been released on home video in both VHS and DVD formats.

Besides Freddie the Freeloader, Skelton's other television characters included Cauliflower McPugg, Clem Kaddiddlehopper, the Mean Widdle Boy, Sheriff Deadye, and San Fernando Red. Sometimes, during the sketches, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh, not only on the live telecasts but the taped programs as well.

Skelton's weekly signoff -- "Good night and may God bless" -- became as familiar to television viewers as Edward R. Murrow's "Good night and good luck" or Walter Cronkite's "And that's the way it is".

Quite literally at the height of Skelton's popularity, his son was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1957 this was a virtual death sentence for any child. The illness and subsequent death of Richard Skelton at age 13 left Skelton unable to perform for much of the 1957-1958 television season. The show continued with guest hosts that included a very young Johnny Carson. CBS management was exceptionally understanding of Red's situation and no talk of cancellation was ever entertained by CBS president Paley. Skelton would seemingly turn on CBS and Paley after his show was cancelled by the network in 1970.

Red and Georgia divorced in 1971, and he remarried. In 1976, Georgia committed suicide by gunshot. Deeply affected by the loss of his ex-wife, Red would abstain from performing for the next decade and a half, finding solace only in painting clowns.

Skelton was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989, but as Kadiddlehopper showed, he was more than an interpretive clown. One of his best-known routines was "The Pledge of Allegiance," in which he explained the pledge word by word. Another Skelton staple, a pantomime of the crowd at a small town parade as the American flag passes by, reflected Skelton's essentially conservative, rural, Americana tastes.

Skelton frequently used the art of pantomime for his characters, using few props. He had a hat that he would use for his various bits, a floppy fedora that he would quickly mold into whatever shape was needed for the moment.

Skelton returned to live performance after his television days ended, in nightclubs and casinos and resorts, as well as performing such venues as Carnegie Hall. Many of those shows yielded segments that were edited into part of the Funny Faces video series on HBO's Standing Room Only. He also spent more time on his lifetime love of painting, usually of clown images, and his works began to attract prices over $80,000.

Red married for a third and last time in 1983 to the much younger Lothian Toland. She continues to maintain a website and business selling Skelton memorabilia and art prints.

Near the end of his life, Skelton said his daily routine included writing a short story a day. He collected the best stories in self-published chapbooks. He also composed music which he sold to background music services such as Muzak. Among his more notable compositions was his patriotic "Red's White and Blue March."

When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, he received a standing ovation. "I want to thank you for sitting down," Skelton said when the ovation subsided. "I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me."

Red Skelton died in a hospital in Palm Springs, California of pneumonia on September 17, 1997. At the time of his death, he lived in Anza, California. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

In 2002 during the controversy over the phrase "under God," which had been added to U.S. Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, a recording of a monologue Skelton performed on his 1969 television show resurfaced. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the Pledge. At the end, he added: "Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools too?" Given that Constitution advocates were arguing that the inclusion of "under God" in a pledge recited daily in U.S. public schools violated the First Amendment separation of church and state, Skelton suddenly regained popularity among religious conservatives who wanted the phrase to remain.

The Red Skelton Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near his hometown of Vincennes, Indiana. The Red Skelton Performing Arts Center on the Vincennes University campus was constructed in 2006. A non-profit group in Skelton's hometown of Vincennes, began renovations in 2006 of the historic Vincennes Pantheon Theater, and the stage will be named in his honor.     (from Wikipedia)

I live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter had always brought me out of unhappy situations. Even in your darkest moment, you usually can find something to laugh about if you try hard enough.

 

God’s children and their happiness are my reasons for being.

 

There are three stages of life; youth, middle age and "Gee, you look good!"
 

 

I don’t want to be called ‘the greatest’ or ‘one of the greatest’; let other guys claim to be the best. I just want to be known as a clown because to me that’s the height of my profession. It means you can do everything-sing, dance, and above all, make people laugh.

Today’s comics use four-letter words as a shortcut to thinking. They’re shooting for that big laugh and it becomes a panic thing, using four-letter words to shock people.

Mom used to say I didn't run away from home my destiny just caught up with me at an early age.

REFLECTING ON HIS LIFE ...
 
I'd have avoided some of the pain if I could. Anyone would. But I wouldn't have missed knowing any of the people—even the ones whose leaving hurt most. In fact, the only thing I'm sorry about is that I didn't meet one particular guy, a clown named Joe Skelton. You know, he sure picked the right profession. I mean, a clown’s got it all. He never has to hold back: He can do as he pleases. The mouth and the eyes are painted on. So if you wanta cry, you can go right ahead. The make up won't smear. You'll still be smiling. . . ."
"All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner."

                    (from "1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said," )

 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE by Red Skelton

Red Skelton’s presentation of the Pledge of Allegiance recently on “The Red Skelton Hour” on the CBS Television Network produced thousands of letters and phone calls during the week following its broadcast. The public’s reaction was unanimous in congratulating the comedian for one of the season’s most memorable moments.  A transcript of Skelton’s recital follows:

 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Getting back to schools, I remember a teacher I had. I only went through the 7th grade in school. I left home at ten years old because I was hungry. I'd work in the summer and go to school in the winter. I remember this one teacher. To me, he was the greatest teacher, a real sage of my time. He had such wisdom. We were all reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and he walked over. Mr. Lasswell was his name…Mr. Lasswell. He said: (Red Becomes the Old Man) “I've been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester and it seems as though it is becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word:

 

I – me, an individual, a committee of one.
PLEDGE – dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity.
ALLEGIANCE – my love and my devotion.
TO THE FLAG – our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom.
Wherever she waves, there is respect because your loyalty has
given her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody’s job.
OF THE UNITED – that means that we have all come together.
STATES OF AMERICA – individual communities that have united into 48 great states, 48 individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose, all divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common purpose, and that’s love for country.
AND TO THE REPUBLIC – Republic…a state in which sovereign power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people and it’s from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.
FOR WHICH IT STANDS. ONE NATION – the nation…
UNDER GOD – meaning, so blessed by God.
INDIVISIBLE – incapable of being divided.
WITH LIBERTY – which is freedom and the right of power to live one’s own life without threats, or fear or some sort of retaliation.
AND JUSTICE – the principle or quality of dealing fairly with others.
FOR ALL. – which means, boys and girls, it’s as much your country as it is mine.

 

And now, boys and girls, let me hear you recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance – “under God.”

Wouldn't it be a pity if some one said, “That’s a prayer” and that would be eliminated from schools, too?

 

ABOUT FREDDY THE FREELOADER:

I get asked all the time; Where did you get the idea for Freddie the Freeloader, and who is Freddie really?

Well, I guess you might say that Freddie the Freeloader is a little bit of you, and a little bit of me, a little bit of all of us, you know.
He’s found out what love means. He knows the value of time. He knows that time is a glutton. We say we don't have time to do this or do that. There’s plenty of time. The trick is to apply it. The greatest disease in the world today is procrastination.

And Freddie knows about all these things. And so do you.
He doesn't ask anybody to provide for him, because it would be taken away from you. He doesn't ask for equal rights if it’s going to give up some of yours.
And he knows one thing ... that patriotism is more powerful than guns.

He’s nice to everybody because he was taught that man is made in God’s image. He’s never met God in person and the next fella just might be him.

I would say that Freddie is a little bit of all of us."

(from Red Skelton’s Funny Faces video)

 

 

I only come to life when there are people watching.


I'm nuts and I know it. But so long as I make ‘em laugh, they ain’t going to lock me up.


Our principles are the springs of our actions. Our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles.
 

His death was the first time that Ed Wynn ever made anyone sad.
 

No matter what your heartache may be, laughing helps you forget it for a few seconds.
 

I personally believe that each of us was put here for a purpose - to build not to destroy. If I can make people smile, then I have served my purpose for God.

"Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness
instead of sadness.
Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations."



The time has come to say good night,
My how time does fly.
We've had a laugh, perhaps a tear,
and now we hear good-bye.

I really hate to say good night,
for times like these are few.
I wish you love and happiness,
In everything you do.

The time has come to say good night,
I hope I've made a friend.
And so we'll say “May God bless you,"
Until we meet again

 

 

Tags: Comedy, May God Bless, Red Skelton, Clown, Freddy the Freeloader, Clem Kadiddlehopper