Some you know, some I betcha don't

John F.  Kennedy, the 35^th President of the United States, would have been 95 years old on May 29^th.

1. A wreath was laid on his grave at the Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, VA on his birthday earlier this week. (See the Arlington Cemetery’s album of the ceremony on Facebook, here, and a video of the ceremony on MSNBC, here.)

2. Ted Sorenson, Kennedy’s good friend and speech writer, is considered one of the best Presidential speech writers ever.
When asked whether he or Kennedy was responsible for the phrase most identified with President Kennedy — from his inaugural speech in 1961:
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,”
Sorenson invariably replied “ask not.”
(See Ted Sorenson’s obituary in the Boston Globe, here.)

3. JFK and the 16^th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, have more than a few things in common:

•  they entered office exactly 100 years apart (in 1960 and 1860, respectively);
• they were each elected to Congress exactly 100 years apart (1946 and 1846, respectively);
• President Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy and President Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln — Lincoln’s secretary is said to have warned him not to go to the theater and Kennedy’s secretary supposedly cautioned him against going to Dallas;
• both were succeeded by presidents named Johnson (Lyndon B. Johnson and Andrew Johnson);
• both were assassinated on a Friday by a shot to the head
• both perpetrators (Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth) were assassinated before reaching trial

For more coincidences, see the list on Snopes, here.

4. Classic photo of John F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr. at the White House (for more JFK images, visit Celebrating JFK’s birthday with some rare photos of the man (30 photos) on The Chive.

5. Would the Crimson admit JFK today? JFK’s application to Harvard University was recently released; he wrote a one paragraph essay in response to the question “Why do you wish to come to Harvard?”

"The reasons that I have for wanting to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university. I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then to, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a ‘Harvard man’ is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain."

See the full article on Good.com, here.

6. He once said, “Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.”  The quote comes from the Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address he gave in May, 1963.

7. “A Thousand Days” is a 20 minute archival documentary of JFK’s time in office, produced by the U.S. Information Agency. You can find it here, and select clips on The Atlantic, here.

8. During World War II while serving in the United States Navy, Kennedy’s boat, the PT-109, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer and cut in half. Kennedy, who had once been on Harvard’s swim team, towed one crew member too badly injured to swim three and half miles to the nearest land mass. Eventually, Kennedy scratched a message on a coconut shell and persuaded some natives to take it with them in their canoe to the nearest base. They were rescued soon after. Read about the entire adventure at Smithsonian Magazine, here.

The coconut shell, which Kennedy had made into a paperweight, reads 
“Nauru Isl commander / native knows posit / he can pilot / 11 alive need small boat / Kennedy.”

9. The most famous association made with Kennedy’s birthday is of course Marilyn Monroe’s performance of “Happy Birthday” in 1962, which you can see on Youtube, here.

Res ipsa loquitur

"Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing. For instance, the previous sentence was written at one o’clock this afternoon. It is now a quarter to four. I have spent the past two hours and forty-five minutes sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word “paisly” in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name on The New York Times Atlas of the World map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems to be so difficult on my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, cutting that and other interesting articles out of the newspaper, sorting—by width—all the interesting articles I’ve cut out of newspapers recently, fastening them neatly together with paper clips and making a very attractive paper clip necklace and bracelet set, which I will present to my girlfriend as soon as she comes home from the three-hour low-impact aerobic workout that I made her go to so I could have some time alone to write.”

— P. J. O’Rourke

Seven hours flies by when...

...you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Well that, or your own and your friend's life and romantic travails to solve.

In that case, seven hours seems like barely enough. We were still fighting for air time when we pulled into the driveway. It was a good drive.

There's nothing like spending hours upon hours driving through nothing to bring out the inner philosopher, sage, counselor and magi in all of us.

Here's to auto-therapy—Henry Ford style.

“One’s destination is never a place,
but a new way of seeing things.”

- Henry Miller

Sometimes life just gets you

"The blues are because you're getting fat or it's been raining too long. You're just sad, that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid, and you don't know what you're afraid of."

The thing about the mean reds—you can't talk them away. You can't even cry them away. You just have to wait them out.

Sometimes you think they're going to beat you, but they never do. You'll always win. You just have to wait long enough.

Quote of the day

“George H. W. Bush was born on third and thought he hit a triple. George W. Bush was born on third and then stole second …”

--- Ohio Governor, Ted Strickland, at the 2008 Democratic Convention

(thanks, Dad!)

Don't hold back...

What other problems do you have besides being unemployed, a moron and a dork?
---John McEnroe (to a spectator in the stands)

My favorite Oscar speech EVER

1998.
Life Achievement.
Stanley Donen.


Who also had this to say about being a director that night: "You find yourself a great script and great actors. Then you show up -- and stay the hell out of the way. But you gotta show up or else you can't take the credit and win one of these guys."
'Nuff said.

We are the music makers

I was visiting one of my best friends over the weekend, and while we were sitting in the dining room sipping coffee (that she roasted herself!) and catching up, a little glimmer caught my eye. I looked up to see one of my favorite quotes "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams" (courtesy the fabulous Willy Wonka) floating perfectly above the bay window in mellow silver.

Fantastic! I said. Easy! she said. Go to WonderfulGraffiti.com - any quote, any size, pick your color, pick your font and poof! Easy to put up - easy to remove. Seriously, you can just peel it off when making music and dreaming dreams is no longer your thing (or when your lease is up and you need to leave those bare white walls as white and as bare as when you moved in).

If coming up with your own words seems a bit daunting, the site offers quite the collection of cool quotations, designs and more to put on your walls, your refrigerator, even chalkboards. This is a great thing.

It seems only fitting then that one of my favorite quotes (I've even printed it on my business cards) is "Invention is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple." (Also courtesy the inimitable Mr. Wonka.) Check out this wall graffiti and put a little butterscotch ripple in your home.

Quotes

07-Jun-2012
I ran into Isosceles. He had a great idea for a new triangle! ~ Woody Allen

05-Jun-2012
I am not young enough to know everything. ~ Oscar Wilde

17-Sep-2011
When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. ~ Mark Twain

15-Sep-2011
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
~ William Butler Yeats ("The Second Coming")

26-Aug-2011
Real diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold! ~ Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) in Some Like It Hot

29-Jul-2011
No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business. ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov

13-Jul-2011
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~ Antoine de Saint Exupéry

3-Apr-2011
Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him? ~ Obi-Wan (Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope)

23-Mar-2011If someone's dumb enough to offer me a million dollars to make a picture, I'm certainly not dumb enough to turn it down. ~ Elizabeth Taylor

21-Mar-2011
Sometimes people are layered like that. There's something totally different underneath than what's on the surface. And sometimes, there's a third, even deeper level, and that one is the same as the top surface one. Like with pie. ~ Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Joss Whedon, et al)

20-Mar-2011
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. ~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

18-Mar-2011
You fear the powerful eye of genius, that is why you encourage ignorance. 'Tis opium you feed your people... ~ Marquis de Sade

17-Mar-2011
I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago. ~ Sir George Porter

15-Dec-2010
He who binds to himself a joy, does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies, lives in eternity's sun rise. ~ William Blake

6-July-2010
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. ~ Ayn Rand

3-July-2010
I don't know who invented the high heel, but all men owe him a lot. ~ Marilyn Monroe

30-June-2010
No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business. ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov

1-June-2010
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. ~
Ralph Waldo Emerson

23-May-2010
Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you. ~ Satchel Paige

16-May-2010
I make so many mistakes. But then just think of all the mistakes I don't make, although I might. ~ Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)

10-May-2010
In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield. ~ Warren Buffett

1-Apr-2010The serving size is two cookies. Who the hell eats two cookies? I eat fig newtons by the sleeve. Two sleeves is a serving size. ~ Brian Regan

11-Mar-2010If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. ~ Earl Wilson

20-Feb-2010All you really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. ~ Lucy van Pelt (Charles Schulz)

30-Nov-2009I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

24-Oct-2009Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Albert Einstein

27-Sep-2009There was once a boy named Pierre
Who only would say, I don't care!
Read his story, my friend, for you'll find
At the end that a suitable
Moral lies there ~ Maurice Sendak

24-Sep-2009While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. ~ Stephen Covey

16-Sep-2009Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal. ~ Voltaire

19-Aug-2009If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. ~ Mario Andretti

17-Aug-2009It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend, one's present or future thirst, the excellence of the wine, or any other reason. ~ Latin proverb

15-Aug-2009
Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole! ~ Oscar Wilde

11-Aug-2009
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~ Herman Melville

8-Aug-2009
Define irony. Bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash. ~ Garland Greene (Stephen Buscemi) in Con Air

8-Jun-2009
The first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to forget the first rule. ~ Warren Buffett

4-Jun-2009
Consider that two wrongs don't make a right. But that three lefts do. ~ National Lampoon "Deteriorata"

30-May-2009Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak. ~ Jay Leno

28-May-2009Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment. ~ Robert Benchley

22-May-2009
So never say fuck you to me! Because you haven't earned the right yet! ~ Otto Plettschner, Repo Man

25-Apr-2009
I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries. ~ Frank Capra

8-Apr-2009
The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it. ~ Franklin P. Jones

23-Mar-2009
The only "ism" Hollywood believes in is plagiarism. ~ Dorothy Parker

21-Mar-2009
Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. ~ Godlfinger (Ian Fleming)

20-Mar-2009
It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry. ~ Albert Einstein

19-Mar-2009
Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. ~ Gore Vidal

18-Mar-2009
Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

6-Mar-2009Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will.~ Kate Zabriskie
4-Mar-2009My purpose is to entertain myself first and other people secondly. ~ John D. MacDonald
3-Mar-2009How many of you have ever started dating because you were too lazy to commit suicide? ~ Judy Tenuta
2-Mar-2009I believe in opening mail once a month, whether it needs it or not. ~ Bob Considine
26-Feb-2009I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else. ~ Lily Tomlin
11-February-2009An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight. . . The truly wise person is colorblind. ~ Albert Schweitzer
25-January-2009
Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find. ~ Peter Ustinov
24-January-2009Whiskey is a slap on the back, and champagne's heavy mist before my eyes. ~ Jimmy Stewart as Macaulay Connor in Philadelphia Story

14-January-2009Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done. ~ Unknown

8-January-2009When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking. ~ Elayne Boosler
7-January-2009
You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I'll come running to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you got to do is call
And I'll be there
Yes I will
You've got a friend ~ Carole King

16-December-2008
We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate. ~ Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard

14-December-2008
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues. ~Abraham Lincoln

11-December-2008Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. ~ Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh

23-November-2008
I used to wake up at 4 A.M. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours. I tried to find out what sort of allergy I had but finally came to the conclusion that it must be an allergy to consciousness. ~ James Thurber

19-November-2008
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love chocolate, and communists. ~ Leslie Moak Murray

17-November-2008
I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. ~ Mark Twain

12-November-2008
Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. ~ H.L. Mencken

3-November-2008I shall stay the way I am because I do not give a damn. ~ Dorothy Parker

27-October-2008
I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice - in giving a failure another chance. ~ James Cash Penney

22-October-2008
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. ~ Jean Kerr

20-October-2008
If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else. ~ Yogi Berra

18-October-2008
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. ~ Paul Boese

9-October-2008
The cruelest lies are often told in silence. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

8-October-2008
In Texas, we do not hold high expectations for the [governor's] office; it's mostly been occupied by crooks, dorks and the comatose. ~ Molly Ivins

2-October-2008
If you're playing a poker game and you look around the table and and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you. ~ Paul Newman

20-September-2008
The wise man does at once what the fool does finally. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

12-August-2008
I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position. ~ Mark Twain

11-August-2008
In Seattle you haven't had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it's running. ~ Jeff Bezos

8-August-2008
The problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished. ~ George Bernard Shaw

7-August-2008
The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea. ~ Isak Dinesen

6-August-2008
What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others. ~ Diogenes

5-August-2008
It's a sin to kill a mockingbird. Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy. ~ Atticus Finch ("To Kill a Mockingbird")

24-July-2008
You're the top!
You're Mahatma Gandhi.
You're the top!
You're Napoleon Brandy.
You're the purple light
Of a summer night in Spain,
You're the National Gallery
You're Garbo's salary,
You're cellophane.
You're sublime,
You're turkey dinner,
You're the time, the time of a Derby winner
~ Cole Porter

9-July-2008I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas? ~ Jean Kerr

7-July-2008If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to go to the forest to gather wood, saw it, and nail the planks together. Instead, teach them the desire for the sea. - Antoine de Saint Exupéry

3-July-2008When one door closes, another opens - but it's hell in the hallway. - Deidre Dale

30-Jun-2008
People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. ~ Unknown

25-Jun-2008You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six. ~ Yogi Berra

21-Jun-2008Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity. ~ Unknown

17-Jun-2008The essence of pleasure is spontaneity. ~ Germaine Greer

16-Jun-2008Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. ~ Vince Lombardi

11-Jun-2008He was my cream, and I was his coffee... And when you poured us together, it was something. ~ Josephine Baker

10-Jun-2008
You know I'd die for you, only sometimes it's so hard living with you. ~ Margaret Turner, The Bachelor & The Bobby Soxer

9-Jun-2008
You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes, you will
That you're beautiful as you feel. ~ Carole King

5-Jun-2008Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous - not just to some people in some circumstances - but to everyone all the time. ~Thomas J. Watson

4-Jun-2008
Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical. ~ Yogi Berra

3-Jun-2008
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

2-Jun-2008My favorite animal is steak. ~ Fran Lebowitz

30-May-2008Genius is the recovery of childhood at will. ~ Arthur Rimbaud

28-May-2008Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth? ~ Joe Turner (Three Days of The Condor)

19-May-2008The secret of love is in opening up your heart...It's okay to feel afraid... But don't let that stand in your way. ~ James Taylor

16-May-2008Some things have to be believed to be seen. ~ Ralph Hodgson

15-May-2008Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. ~ Malcolm Forbes

12-May-2008
It's always nice to be nice. ~ Toni Shore

10-May-2008The embarrassing thing is that the salad dressing is outgrossing my films. ~ Paul Newman

8-May-2008
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. ~ Philip K. Dick

7-May-2008
Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for. ~ Clarence Darrow

6-May-2008But the silver-tongued devil's got nothing to lose. And I'll only live til I die. We take our own chances and pay our own dues. The silver-tongued devil and I. ~ Kris Kristofferson

5-May-2008We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. ~ Will Rogers

4-May-2008
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

30-Apr-2008Never judge a book by its movie. ~ J. W. Eagan

24-Apr-2008Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others. ~ Jonathan Winters

23-Apr-2008I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours. ~ Bob Dylan

22-Apr-2008What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left. ~ Oscar Levant

21-Apr-2008An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh. ~ Will Rogers

20-Apr-2008
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. ~ Henry Ford

19-Apr-2008
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go. ~ Oscar Wilde

16-Apr-2008
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. ~ Dorothy Parker

15-Apr-2008
Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

14-Apr-2008
Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little on office supplies. ~ Woody Allen

13-Apr-2008
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.~ Douglas Adams