Len's Recipe of the Month - October 2025

 

Ah, meat loaf.   The ultimate cool weather comfort food.

Truth be told, this dish has not been one of my successes.   Usually mine come out too dry.  Or fall apart completely as soon as you touch it.

Well, finally, I did it right.   And that is thanks to a recipe from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa.   Flavorful and moist.   Plus it stayed pretty much intact.   I think the trick she uses is what ensures cohesiveness.   

Let's get started.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a skillet, add a tablespoon of olive oil.   Saute about 3 cups of chopped yellow onions.   Mix in some chopped thyme, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper.  Let this go for a few minutes and let the onions get translucent.  

Remove the onions from the heat and add the following:

3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.

1/3 cup of chicken stock or broth.

1 tablespoon of tomato paste.  (Those paste tubes are perfect when you need small amounts of tomato paste).   

Mix it all together and let it cool.

In a big bowl, place 2 1/2 pounds of ground chuck.   20 percent fat content is perfect.   To this, add a 1/2 cup of dry bread crumbs plus two beaten eggs.  Add the onion mixture.

Now the best way to mix this up is using a spoon or a fork.   You don't want to make the mixture so tight that it can't breathe.   

On a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, shape the loaf.   Take some ketchup and spread it all over the top.

Place in the oven.   Now here's the big trick.   On the rack below, place a pan filled with hot water.   This will give you the moistest meat loaf ever.  Let this go for one hour and 15 minutes or until the internal temperate is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mine didn't fall apart.  I hope yours doesn't either.

Dinner last night:   Sandwich.

Hollywood Then and Now - October 2025

 A classic comparison because, despite over a century, this is still operating as a studio.  It's just the content that has changed.

Back in 1918, this complex on La Brea Avenue in Hollywood was the film studio home of Charlie Chaplin.

It actually looked a bit like a Swiss chalet.   Pay close attention to the square tower on the far left.

In 2000, this was bought out by Jim Henson's Muppet company.

More classic comedy except from a different type of comedian.

And you see that square tower here in its unchanged prominence.

This is history like this all over town.

Dinner last night:   Japanese hot dog at the World Series Game 5.

This Date in History - October 29

 

Yeah, this happened on this date.   So did a bunch of other stuff.  Hold onto your hats...and your heads.

539 BC:  CYRUS THE GREAT ENTERED THE CAPITAL OF BABYLON AND ALLOWED THE JEWS TO RETURN TO THEIR LAND.

They let them into Babylon, but what about Islip and Lake Ronkonkoma?

312:  CONSTANTINE THE GREAT ENTERS ROME AND IS MET WITH POPULAR JUBILATION, WHILE MAXENTIUS' BODY IS FISHED OUT OF THE RIVER AND BEHEADED.

I have no clue who Maxentius is, but it sure does suck to be him.

969:  BYZANTINE TROOPS OCCUPY SYRIA.

Looks like it could be a headline for 2014.

1390:  THE FIRST TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT IN PARIS LEADS TO THE DEATH OF THREE PEOPLE.

But not beheaded.

1422:  CHARLES VII OF FRANCE BECOMES KING ALTHOUGH HE WON'T BE CROWNED FOR ANOTHER SEVEN YEARS.

Sounds like his paperwork got stuck in Human Resources.

1618:  ADVERTURER WALTER RALEIGH IS BEHEADED FOR CONSPIRING AGAINST THE KING OF ENGLAND.

A lot of good those cigarette redemption coupons are worth.

1658:  NAVAL FORCES OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC DEFEAT THE SWEDES IN THE BATTLE OF THE SOUND.

Two countries you would not expect to be feuding.

1787:  MOZART'S OPERA "DON GIOVANNI" IS PERFORMED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN PRAGUE.

How do you say "yawn" in Czech?

1863:  EIGHTEEN COUNTRIES MEET IN GENEVA TO FORM THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS.

Coffee and donuts were served.

1886:  THE FIRST TICKER TAPE PARADE TAKES PLACE IN NEW YORK CITY WHEN OFFICE WORKERS SPONTANEOUSLY THROW TICKER TAPE OUT ONTO THE STREETS WHEN THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IS DEDICATED.

Before everything was saved on the Cloud.

1891:  COMIC ACTOR FANNY BRICE IS BORN.

And, in a way, so is Barbra Streisand.

1901:  IN AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS, NURSE JANE TOPPAN IS ARRESTED FOR INJECTING THE DAVIS FAMILY WITH AN OVERDOSE OF MORPHINE.

Well, let's not be hasty.  Let's see how many people actually liked the Davis family as neighbors.

1901:  LEON CZOLGOSZ, THE ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT MCKINLEY, IS EXECUTED BY ELECTROCUTION.

Because the local beheader was on vacation.

1911:  PUBLISHER JOSEPH PULITZER DIES.

According to his wife, he was no prize.

1921:  SECOND TRIAL OF SACCO AND VANZETTI.

Were either of them beheaded?

1922:  KING VICTOR EMMANUEL III OF ITALY APPOINTS BENITO MUSSOLINI AS PRIME MINISTER.

For that, Victor should have been beheaded.

1929:  THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE CRASHES IN WHAT WILL BE CALLED "BLACK TUESDAY."

Nowadays, the windows down there don't open.

1942:  IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, CLERGY AND POLITICAL FIGURES HOLD A PUBLIC MEETING TO REGISTER OUTRAGE OVER NAZI GERMANY'S PERSECUTION OF JEWS.

Meanwhile, America still hadn't caught on.

1947:  ACTOR RICHARD DREYFUSS IS BORN.

Nice fund.

1948:  ACTRESS KATE JACKSON IS BORN.

Nice everything.

1957:  ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER DAVID BEN-GURION AND FIVE OF HIS MINISTERS ARE INJURED WHEN A HAND GRENADE IS TOSSED INTO THE KNESSET.

Nothing has changed years later.

1957:  PRODUCER LOUIS B. MAYER DIES.

And people all over Hollywood say "good."

1960:  IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, CASSIUS CLAY WINS HIS FIRST PROFESSIONAL FIGHT.

Personally I never ever called him Muhammad Ali.  He's as much of a religious icon as I am.

1960:  AN AIRPLANE CARRYING THE CAL POLY FOOTBALL TEAM CRASHES ON TAKEOFF IN TOLEDO, OHIO.

So, game called?

1961:  SYRIA EXITS FROM THE UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC.

The Middle East has been, is now, and will always be a mess.

1963:  ACTOR ADOLPHE MENJOU DIES.

For some reason, my grandmother liked his acting.

1967:  MONTREAL'S WORLD FAIR, EXPO 67, CLOSES.

But, in two years, the Montreal Expos will open.

1971:  IN MACON, GEORGIA, GUITARIST DUANE ALLMAN IS KILLED IN A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT.

No longer a ramblin' man.

1994:  FRANCISCO MARTIN DURAN FIRES OVER TWO DOZEN SHOTS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

You missed.

1998:  SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY BLASTS OFF WITH 77-YEAR-OLD JOHN GLENN ON BOARD, MAKING THE OLDEST PERSON TO GO INTO SPACE.

Until, of course, Betty White decides to go.

2004:  ACTOR VAUGHN MEADER DIES.

Forty one years after his career did.

2008:  DELTA AIR LINES MERGES WITH NORTHWEST AIRLINES, CREATING THE WORLD'S LARGEST AIRLINE.

Food still for purchase.

2012:  HURRICANE SANDY HITS THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES, CAUSING GREAT DEVASTATION.

No joke included.

2024:  ACTRESS TERI GARR DIES.

A close encounter of the Nth degree.

Dinner last night:  Leftover SPO.

Paging Jessica Fletcher

 

Or Columbo.  Or McMillan and Wife.   What about Sherlock Holmes?   

The game is afoot.

Yes, this was an out-and-out murder and the Montreal Expos baseball franchise was the unworthy victim.   I remember when they played their last game in Canada before moving to Washington DC.  At the time, I figured that they were moving because they had no fans in Canada.   Well, that was a little bit of it.  But as this terrific Netflix documentary displays, there were a lot of culprits with blood on their hands.

The first owners.   The owners who took over.  MLB.  There is plenty of blame around and this is the true mark of a good documentary as I was learning something new in every frame.  And you don't have to be a baseball fan to appreciate all the skullduggery behind the scenes.

If there is one quibble I can make about this film, it's this.   The production crew is virtually all French-Canadian.  There are various talking heads that require English subtitles.   Now I have no issue with that.   But, at the same time, they're all flashing the name of who's speaking at the time.   Suddenly, you're multi-tasking in the reading department.   There might have been a better way to organize this.

But, still, the one is worth your time.   

LEN'S RATING:  Three-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Japanese hot dog at Game 3 of the WS.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - October 27, 2025

 We conclude Johnny Carson October with that famous visitor from the East.

Dinner last night:  Leftover Korean chicken.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Still The Greatest Game I Ever Attended

 

Okay, Game 1 from the 2024 World Series with Freddie Freeman's grand slam comes close.   Maybe that's the greatest Dodger game I ever attended.   But I do have a previous baseball life.  

And I still cherish Game 6.

For Mets fans, there were really two Game 6s during the 1986 baseball post season.  There was the extra innings affair that propelled them to the World Series for the first time since 1973.  But, as invested as we all were in the outcome of that game, it happened miles away.  In an Astro-turfed mausoleum otherwise known as the Houston Astrodome.

But, it was Game 6 of the 1986 World Series that still resounds to this very day.  As long as I live and breathe and continue to be a baseball fan, there will never ever be another game that will be as important or exciting as that Saturday contest of Saturday, October 25 at Shea Stadium.  Indeed, since it didn't really end until after midnight, both October 25 and October 26 are two dates I will always remember for the rest of my life.

Fittingly, I was in Boston a bunch of years ago on the 25th anniversary of this hallmark moment in my life.  Looking around the streets of Beantown, I could only imagine the scene two and a half decades previously.  Boston Red Sox fans walking around like zombies.  A lifelong memory for them snatched away in a Brinks-like heist that will stay with them for complete different reasons.  Even after their subsequent World Series victories in 2004 and 2007, those buffoons of Fenway will likely never recover from being one strike away from a World Championship.  Not once, not twice, but multiple times.

In the winning wind tunnel to the south on Flushing Bay, it was all cherries on top 0f 56,000 hot fudge sundaes.

For me, it was a night like no others.

The images and details are etched forever.  Almost certain elimination.  A premature message on Diamondvision that saluted the Boston Red Sox as the 1986 World Champions.  Two quick mortifying outs in the bottom of the tenth inning.  A hit by Gary Carter.  A hit by Kevin Mitchell.  A hit by Ray Knight.  A wild pitch.  And then Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner interlocking together for eternity.  The Mets rising from the dead.  Suddenly, to some of us, the story of Jesus and Lazarus was a little less impressive.

I am proud to say I was there.  I can still feel the concrete floor of the loge level of Shea Stadium move.  We were all lifted up and down perhaps a half inch.  The arena was clearly in play.  The construction folks who built the place in the early 60s had done their work admirably.  While Shea held together that night, I doubt the building crew had counted on the old lady having to endure October 25/26.

For Met fans, this was our V-E day.

That Saturday morning had opened to dreary skies.  It befit the mood of this Met fan.  After a glorious year of one victory after another, the Amazins were one loss away from losing the World Series.  I went about my weekend errands, although my stomach was in knots.

There was even more drama to deal with...

My mother's television set had gone on the fritz.

Mystically, my mom had become a huge Met fan.  I don't know how or why she started to watch the team's games on Channel 9, but she got sucked in primarily because she loved then-Met announcer Tim McCarver.  Within weeks, she had drank the Kool-Aid.  And now, with the most pivotal game of the season at hand, her television had blown a gasket.

So, my pre-game Saturday afternoon was devoted to taking her to one of those Rent-A-Centers so she could lease a TV for the week.

Back then, as had been the case for years that passed and even more years to come, I had been a Saturday ticket plan holder with the New York Metropolitans.  That, however, didn't secure entrance to every post season baseball game.  And, if it did, I certainly didn't get my usual Loge seats in Section 7, Row E.  Nope, you would be sent to the heavens, a Delta jet flight path, or, most likely, the upper deck of Shea Stadium.

Game 6 of the World Series was not one of the games I was provided with that year.  As a matter of fact, during a pre-game walk around the level, I saw that my regular Saturday seats were occupied by none other than NBC's 1986 World Series pre-game host Bob Costas.  What a come-down for my Saturday seat.  There was a different ass in it.  Literally and figuratively.

But, at least, I was in the park myself.  Luckily, I had the good sense to be best friends with my college roommate, who had the even better sense to become a sportswriter with the New York Times.  He had already scored me ducats for Game 3 which happened to be my one and only visit to the overrated dump that is Fenway Park.  But, my good fortune had continued at home as he also got me a Loge seat down the left field line for Game 6.

The only problem was that I didn't really know well the other folks I was sitting with.  Sure, my college roommate's wife was along, but who were those other two people?  One was a kid and this evening appeared to be not more than a time filler for him.  His ride was even coming to pick him up after the seventh inning.  I was an emotional mess and I was essentially alone.

Over the years, I had many good friends who were Met fans and would have been ideal companions for such a monumental game.  My best friend from high school?  At least, he was in the park but sitting with his cousin and her neighbors on the other end of the Loge.  But, where were my other Met cohorts?

Sadly, elsewhere.

Not that these folks weren't congenial.  It's just that they weren't Danny or the Bibster or Glenn or Bob or even my dad.  They would be in other locations, but ultimately sharing in the same memory.  For instance, here's what college buddy Bob writes:

We were living 15 minutes away from Shea in Astoria, watching Game 6 with my friends in their house. When Gary Carter was down 2 strikes with 2 out, my friend Dan grabbed a clothesline, tied it around his neck, stood on a chair, holding the rope above his head. He pronounced: "When Carter makes out kick out the chair from under me." Of course Carter then singles and the Mets rally and the rest is history.

My friend Dan never moved the rest of that inning, right through Buckner's error, holding the rope tied around his neck, standing on the chair, saying nothing while watching the Mets pull it out. We were convinced that it was Dan's actions that changed the Red Sox mojo and saved the Mets. Absolutely true story.My memories are not nearly as interesting, as no one near me made such a threat as Bob's friend did.

My other college pal Glenn?  He remembers and writes...

Ah yes...I remember it like it was last night!

I was watching it from my co-op apartment on Garth Road in Scarsdale, a place not conducive to wild celebrations, or celebratory comments of any kind, lest you were reported for speaking above a whisper. My wife was fast asleep, and had complained of a headache intermittently from inning one through eight...a headache that has persisted, by the way, for the ensuing 25 years.

I remember being particularly annoyed the Mets didn't get more out a no-out, bases loaded situation in the eighth inning. The screaming Gary Carter liner sacrifice fly, I thought, should have, with any luck, been a bases clearing double. As the bottom of the 10th inning began, I was resigned to loss, but since the Islanders had recently won four consecutive Cups, I was not nearly as unnerved by that as I became in later years, not having rooted for a winning team since, well, the '86 Mets. After the game was tied, I yanked my sleeping three-year old son out of bed because I thought history might be made. He doesn't remember. I do. Unfortunately, so does my wife.

Despite the way it sounds, Glenn is still married to this day.

And what about those in the press box?  My college roommate and the source for my Game 6 tickets writes...

My most vivid memory is the complaining of Darryl Strawberry for being taken out in a late double switch. People in that clubhouse were giggling and hugging all around as if the governor had just called with a reprieve, and Darryl was complaining.

I defer to my friend Kenny Hand, who was covering the Series as a columnist for the Houston Post. He remembered the night as one of the worst of his career. Not because the Mets won, but because the chaos at such a late hour had turned his column into a mess.

Much later, he was standing outside the old Press Gate between Gates B and C, waiting for a shuttle bus that may or may not come to take him to the media hotel in Manhattan. Two guys were standing nearby. Kenny referred to them as Lenny and Squiggy.

Lenny saw a bumper sticker on Kenny's computer that said "Houston Post."

"Houston?" Lenny said. "We moidered those guys."

That's when Kenny snapped. He pointed out that he didn't root for the Astros, and frankly, there were some guys on that team that he did not like very much. But if Bob Knepper had taken care of business in the ninth inning of Game 6, Kenny said, Mike Scott would have finished the job the next day. Kenny described this in a way that he could not have printed in his newspaper. Think of a blunt object being placed in a small, dark place.

"And then, we're not standing here," Kenny told them.

"You know, " Squiggy said to Lenny, "I think he's right."

My good friend, the Bibster, was at home for Game 6 with his wife, Mrs. Bibster.  He also was a partial plan holder with the Mets, but he didn't have the inside ticket connections that I did.  Instead, he was sharing in the agony via the television.

It’s not very interesting, but as far as I can recall I was watching the game with Ellen in our living room (and by “With Ellen” I mean she was reading a magazine or two and getting up and down and doing things in the other room).

I remember a feeling of dread as the game went on.  The Red Sox jumped out to an early lead and the Mets tied it, also fairly early. Even the way they tied it, an unearned run scoring on a double play, made me nervous. The Red Sox took the led in the seventh and, if I remember correctly, Jim Rice was thrown out at home to end the inning, or it could have been 4-2 Red Sox.

I was very nervous again. Then the Mets were down to their last five outs and they tied it in the eighth. I was STILL nervous…the Mets had the bases loaded with one out in the 8th and Carter and Strawberry coming up, and they only scored the one run. It seemed that all season long they had been busting out in that situation, scoring at least a couple. And then when the Mets had runners at first and second with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth and didn’t score, I was sure they had wasted too many late inning opportunities in the game.

In the tenth, Henderson’s homer sent a complete feeling of numbness over me, so much so that I had to look up the game to remember how the Red Sox got their fifth run. I wouldn’t have remembered if my life depended on it. (For the record, after Henderson’s homer, Aguilera struck out Owen and Schiraldi, but then gave up a double to Boggs, a single to Barrett, and hit Buckner with a pitch before Rice flied out. I swear to you I don’t remember ANY of that.)

In the bottom of the tenth, I had regained a slight bit of confidence, having lived through many innings that year where the Backman/Hernandez/Carter trio leading off an inning had led to boatloads of runs. But Backman couldn’t get around on Schiraldi, and Keith hit the ball about as hard as he could, but it died in the outfield. At this point I was resigned to the loss and felt like the season was a waste (You know, kind of like Yankee fans feel every time they don’t win the World Series). My next thought was “too bad Carter is going to make the last out.”

We all know how the rest of the game went….and all I can say is that Ellen will tell you that I let out a blood-curdling scream when the ball went through Buckner’s legs. I don’t remember it at all because I think all the blood had drained from my head by then, but I assume it was a noise similar to the last sound Muammar Qaddafi made. Anyway, the next thing I knew I was running through the house at full speed, jumping up and down, you know the drill.

It was definitely the lowest low I’ve ever felt in sports followed just minutes later by the highest high. It was also amazing how my mood changed because in game seven even when the Mets were down 3-0 in the sixth inning I knew they would win.

As the Bibster writes, the entire season was like this and the post season games had given us more than a couple of reasons to celebrate wildly.  Indeed, for the Bibster and Ellen, their son was born exactly nine months after the Mets' 1986 October.  We've always wondered just which Met win that month had precipitated their own "personal" celebration.

But, I digress....

Meanwhile, in the bottom of the tenth in my Loge section, I had the same thought as the Bibster.  And uttered it over and over and over.  I didn't care if I sounded like a babbling fool.  After all, it wasn't like I had a lot of close friends around me.

"Please don't let Gary Carter make the last out."

That worked somehow.

I carried it over, although I didn't have the same affinity for Kevin Mitchell as I did for Carter.

"Please don't let Kevin Mitchell make the last out."

And that worked, too.  I didn't mess with a good thing.

"Please don't let Ray Knight make the last out.  Please don't let Ray Knight make the last out.  PLEASE DON'T LET RAY KNIGHT MAKE THE LAST OUT."

I sounded like one of those lunatics in Bellevue.  Slumped over in a fetal position and reciting over and over the lyrics to "A Spoonful of Sugar."

Knight also did not make the last out.

Okay, now I was on a mission.  Despite the fact there were 56,000 people (and countless others at home) around me with the same goal, I became convinced that I was single handedly spearheading this miraculous comeback.  I couldn't go off the standard operating procedure now.  Plus I was worried about my high school best friend Danny who was over in the Loge around third base.  What must he be thinking?  His very favorite New York Met was at the plate to hit next.

"PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT.  PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT.  PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT. PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT.  PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT. PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT. PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT. PLEASE DON'T LET MOOKIE WILSON MAKE THE LAST OUT."

To this very day, nobody really made the last out that night.

I was numb for the first few moments after the game.  The human body is not equipped to handle two wildly diverse emotions in the same ten minute period.  When my mind finally "woke up,"  I immediately had to share this emotion with a good friend...and a Met fan.  I didn't realize that my buddy Danny on the other end of the loge had the same sensation.  From the right field corner, I scampered down to the loge corridor and started running toward his end.  He did the same.  We converged around Section 1 behind home plate. 

And two grown men hugged for about five minutes.

I look back on that evening and postseason and I remember now what the Mets did for me in October 0f 1986.  The month before, I had broken off a relationship.  Well, I broke it off.  She essentially dumped me.  Not that this was the great love of my life.  But, still, the residual aches of a guy with inner turmoil and self-doubt had lingered.

The pain all dulled and virtually erased by the New York Mets.  Yes, it all evaporated in almost a blink of the eye.

"Behind the bag, it gets through Buckner..."

Dinner last night:  Korean chicken from Chin Chin.

Classic Movie Trailer of the Month - October 2025

 An interesting approach to this movie trailer from...whoa...seventy years ago.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

What's Playing...

 

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

A Life Well Lived

 

These days, the only movies that really intrigue me are biographical documentaries, particularly show biz folks.   You hope to learn a bit about their lives and maybe there's some gossipy tidbits you never knew.   A little salaciousness goes a long way.

But this new documentary has not of that.   It's all about John Candy, an actor and a human being taken away at the age of 43.   This film by Tom Hanks' son Colin has nothing sleazy about it.  From all accounts, Candy was a great guy.   A wonderful performer.  A husband.  A father.  A friend.  And, with all the talking heads from family to SCTV to Steve Martin and Martin Short, that's all you get.

Odd how a normal life can be so compelling to watch and learn about.   Indeed, his only issues in his short life was that he smoked and had a weight problem.  Other than that, this was a guy you would have been proud to know.  

I know it sounds boring.   But this Amazon documentary is really a fascinating look at a very nice guy.

We still miss you, John.

LEN'S RATING:  Three-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Italian deli sandwich.

This Date in History - October 22

 

Happy birthday to Curly Howard.   I mean, today is still his birthday...even if he has been dead for over 70 years.

362:  THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT DAPHNE IS DESTROYED IN A MYSTERIOUS FIRE.

Daphne was originally supposed to be named Geraldine.  Don't get that joke?   Watch "Some Like It Hot."

794:  EMPEROR KANMU RELOCATES THE JAPANESE CAPITAL TO WHAT IS NOW KYOTO.

Moving it around like it's an Asian food truck.

1383:  IN PORTUGAL, KING FERNANDO DIES WITHOUT A MALE HEIR TO THE THRONE, SPARKING A PERIOD OF CIVIL WAR AND DISORDER.

He should have joined RoyalMatch.com.

1707:  FOUR BRITISH ROYAL NAVY SHIPS RUN AGROUND NEAR THE ISLES OF SCILLY BECAUSE OF FAULTY NAVIGATION.

Bad driving?   That's just scilly.

1734:  FRONTIERMAN DANIEL BOONE IS BORN.

Years before he was cancelled by NBC.

1746:  THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, LATER RENAMED PRINCETON, RECEIVES ITS CHARTER.

Good ole CNJ.

1777:  DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, AMERICAN DEFENDERS ON THE DELAWARE RIVER REPULSE HESSIAN ATTACKS IN THE BATTLE OF RED BANK.

How were they repulsed?  By picking their noses in the heat of battle?

1784:  RUSSIA FOUNDS A COLONY ON KODIAK ISLAND, ALASKA.

Which Sarah Palin could see as well.

1797:  ANDRE-JACQUES GARNERIN MAKES THE FIRST RECORDED PARACHUTE JUMP ABOVE PARIS.

Watch out for that tower....WATCH OUT FOR THAT TOWER!   Ouch.

1836:  SAM HOUSTON IS INAUGURATED AS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF TEXAS.

And they still think they're in a different country.

1859:  SPAIN DECLARES WAR ON MOROCCO. 

They're going to attack any country that featured a Bing Crosby-Bob Hope Road picture.

1875:  THE FIRST TELEGRAPHIC CONNECTION IN ARGENTINA.

Stop....don't cry for me...stop.

1879:  THOMAS EDISON TESTS THE FIRST PRACTICAL ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB.  IT LASTED 13 1/2 HOURS.

You can be sure it's Edison.

1883:  THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE IN NEW YORK CITY OPENS WITH A PERFORMANCE OF GOUNDOD'S FAUST.

Who's what?

1903:  STOOGE CURLY HOWARD IS BORN. 

Died by the time he was 48.  But metal pipes to the head will do that.

1910:  DR. CRIPPEN IS CONVICTED AT THE OLD BAILEY OF POISONING HIS WIFE AND IS SUBSEQUENTLY HANGED IN LONDON.

Before we rush to judgment, did anybody get to meet the wife?

1924:  TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL IS FOUNDED.

Because Georgie Jessel needed to belong to something.

1926:  J. GORDON WHITEHEAD SUCKER PUNCHES MAGICIAN HARRY HOUDINI IN THE STOMACH IN MONTREAL, PROMPTING HIS LATER DEATH.

Okay, get out of this.

1934:  IN OHIO, FBI AGENTS SHOOT AND KILL BANK ROBBER PRETTY BOY FLOYD.

Not in the face, please, not in the face.

1942:  ACTRESS ANNETTE FUNICELLO IS BORN.

Second birthday in Heaven.

1957:  THE FIRST UNITED STATES CASUALTIES IN VIETNAM.

As the slide used to say on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show..."More to Come."

1962:  THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS - PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ANNOUNCES THAT US PLANES HAVE DISCOVERED SOVIET NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN CUBA AND THAT HE HAS ORDERED A NAVAL QUARANTINE OF THE COMMUNIST NATION.

Back then, we didn't take this kind of shit from our enemies.

1964:  JEAN-PAUL SARTRE IS AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE, BUT TURNS DOWN THE HONOR.

After all, what's the point of it all?

1966:  THE SUPREMES BECOME THE FIRST ALL-FEMALE MUSIC GROUP TO ATTAIN A NO. 1 SELLING ALBUM.

Hey, what were the Andrews Sisters?  Chopped liver?

1972:  IN SAIGON, HENRY KISSINGER AND SOUTH VIETNAMESE PRESIDENT NGUYEN VAN THIEU MEET TO DISCUSS A PROPOSED CEASE-FIRE IN THE VIET NAM WAR.

You'd need subtitles to understand that conversation.

1976:  RED DYE NO. 4 IS BANNED BY THE US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION AFTER IT DISCOVERED THAT IT CAUSES TUMORS IN THE BLADDERS OF DOGS.

Are there a lot of dogs who were eating Maraschino cherries?

1978:  THE PAPAL INAUGURATION OF POPE JOHN II.

After John Paul I lasted about as long as a bad sitcom.

1981:  THE US FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY VOTES TO DECERTIFY THE PROFESSIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ORGANIZATION FOR ITS PREVIOUS STRIKE.

Watch out for that tower....WATCH OUT FOR THAT TOWER....Ouch.

1992:  SPORTSCASTER RED BARBER DIES.

Oh, Doctor....never mind.

2009:  TV COMIC SOUPY SALES DIES.

The ultimate pie in the face.

2021:  ACTOR PETER SCOLARI DIES.

Way too young.  Brilliant on "Newhart."

2024:  BASEBALL PITCHER FERNANDO VALENZUELA DIES.

Seems like just last year.  Wait, it was!

Dinner last night:  Salad.

One For The Ages

 

There are moments that are never surpassed and stand the test of time.

That was last Friday at Dodger Stadium.   Oddly enough, I wasn't there.  I had sold off my seats to a longstanding ticket partner.   But I felt the magnitude in my living room.

Three monstrous home runs.

Six shutout innings.

Ten strikeouts.

I had been on Shohei Ohtani's case earlier in the playoffs for too many swings at bad pitches.   But, then, suddenly, it was all forgotten.

Folks, indeed, we are watching who will be known as the greatest baseball player who ever played the sport.

Relish the moment even if the Dodgers are not your team.   If baseball is your sport, appreciate every time you get to watch this guy take the field.

They call him "the unicorn."   But even that rare animal would be in awe.

Keep on playing, Shohei.

Dinner last night:  Leftover chicken parm.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - October 20, 2025

 Johnny Carson October continues with Don Rickles in the geisha house.

Dinner last night:  London broil and sauteed mushrooms.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - The Impatience of Grandma.

 

My grandparents.  Here they are again starring in yet another Sunday Memory Drawer.  Last week, she would have celebrated her 135th birthday.   Despite that, I'm surprised she's still not around.

We all get our personal traits from the very early adult influences in our lives.  I can tell you that I can be overly stoic and that came from my father.  I can be a bit impulsive and that was handed down from my mother.  If you think about those two particular attributes, you probably can deduce that they don't co-habit in my body very easily.  A mental tug-of-war.   I'm still living both ends of my parents' divorce.

Living with my grandparents, I got to experience even more influential behavior that wound up embedded in me.  Dad and Grandpa were alike so it was a double espresso dose of stoicism. 

From Grandma?  I got my tendency to be incredibly impatient.  If patience is a virtue, impatience is a sin.  And I am a sinner.

Not impatient with people.  That's not the issue here.  No, like my grandmother, I can get very obstinate about having something done when I want it done.  If there's a broken handle on a cabinet, I want it fixed immediately.  If there is a warning light on my car dashboard, I can barely wait until the next morning to get it serviced by the dealer.  Over and over and over.  When I get a bee in my bonnet, I don't let it buzz around long.

Just like Grandma.

This, of course, makes me recall many skirmishes in my house.  Because when my grandmother wanted something done, Grandpa was usually the one who had to do it. 

"Rake the leaves in the yard, Pop."

If it wasn't done within a day, guess who started the job herself.

"I want to go down to the Bronx to pick up some cold cuts."

If they weren't in the car within a day, guess who wasn't talking to Grandpa until they went.

This was the pattern I saw for years. 

Later on, Grandma decided to have aluminum siding put onto the house.  This would be a summer-long project with scaffolding and workmen all over the place.  When you enter into such an undertaking, most folks will take a number of bids from contractors, deliberate on the colors, etc..  Not Grandma.  The first bid was accepted.  And there was absolutely no discussion on the colors.  Green and white.  I guess she made the right choice.  The same panels exist on the house to this day.

Grandma's impatient streak did upend her once.  Actually, she wound up in a whole puddle of trouble. 

Grandpa was gone from our world.  Mom and Dad were both working nights.  The bulk of my day, once I would come home from school, would be spent with Grandma.  Eating dinner, doing my homework while she watched Walter Cronkite, and then enjoying our favorite TV shows together.

Except there was one day when I arrived home to find something amiss.  Major league.  I walked into the house to find Grandma in her living room.  With gauze all over her legs which were bleeding.

She shooed me and my questions away for a few minutes, but I persisted on getting answers.  Was I going to have call my mother to come home?

"NO."

Okay, got it.  Then please tell me what happened.

As I finally got the story out of her, I was mystified, aghast, and impressed all at the same time.

While taking out the garbage, the back door had slammed shut.  And locked.   Okay, I said, there's that hidden extra key that we all knew about and had access to.  On a hook underneath the curtain rod in the vestibule.

Grandma looked at me.  Surprised and ashamed.  She had forgotten all about the key.  Instead, she had resorted to more drastic measures.

She had taken a rock and busted one of the cellar windows.  Somehow, this almost eighty-year-old woman had crawled through the opening and had essentially broken into her own house like a cat burglar.  When I went outside to look at where she had wiggled herself back in, I couldn't believe how she had done this.  Houdini would have been proud.  Of course, the oozing of blood showed me that she had not come through the magic trick unscathed.

I asked Grandma when this had all transpired.  My parents usually left around 1PM.  It was now 4PM.  Had she been outside all this time?

Nope.  She got locked out at 3PM.

I was confused.  She couldn't have waited a single hour for me to come home from school.  After all, I had my own key.  I remembered where the hidden key was.  And, at the very least, I could have gotten through the cellar window a lot easier.  Why, Grandma, didn't you wait?

"My stories were coming on."

She was much less impatient after that.

Dinner last night:  Chicken parmesan.

Classic TV Theme Song of the Month - October 2025

 This premiered 60 years ago this month.  And we just lost star Patricia Crowley.

Dinner last night:  Grilled Taylor ham.

Why I Hate Halloween - Chapter 1

 

 Passing that had to hurt.

 Now that's a real monster.

 Shoulders and heads above the crowd.

 Um, rethink.

 And this little piggy...

 But what if these aren't costumes...

And what if that's not a mask...

 Halloween at the shul.

 They better hope one of those dogs doesn't go into heat.

 No words.

Here's Johnny...

Grandma and Grandpa.

Dinner last night:  BLT and Cafe 50s.

You Can Bank On It

 

It's a big, ugly technological world.   And finally the axis spun over to yours truly.

I'm a Chase bank customer who literally checks the ebb and flow of my bank accounts on a daily basis.  Criminals won't have time to hack my account.  I am that diligent.

Now I recently went to Seattle for a long weekend and my debit card was in use constantly paying for Lyft rides.  But, even in the hotel, I was checking to see that everything was on the up and up, bank-wise.  Yes, I was being that diligent.

I noticed a fifteen dollar charge for something called Super+.   I assumed it was the hotel shop downstairs where we bought some sodas.

But when I got home, there was another 15 buck charge for the same thing.  Now, Chase has a pretty intense security system.   They flagged both charges.

I went to a local branch to confirm.  I did some Googling on-line and found a Reddit dialogue from many other folks with the same issue.   All of them tied to a hotel and this site was charging you 15 dollars for membership.   How they got my debit card number is a mystery but Reddit responders also had directions on how to cancel so-called memberships, which I immediately did.  And, at this junction, I didn't ask for a new debit card.

Duh.

A day later, I'm at Dodger Stadium trying to buy one of those delicious Japanese hot dogs.  And my card doesn't tap.   Once, twice, five times.   I paid with a credit card and just assumed the debit card was being finicky.

Two days later, I'm at the super market and...ta da...my card is dead.  Now I tried to call Chase customer survey and all their calls are outsourced to a third world nation and the voice on the other end sounds like one of those people who may have pilfered your credit card.  It turns out that Chase saw all the attempts to buy the hot dog and, coupled with the previous fraud attack, assumed my card was stolen.   They had killed it...and for a few days...me as well.   In fact, they had already ordered a new debit card for me.

My first use with the new card?   Probably to pay for Lifelock.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

This Date in History - October 15

 

Yeah, 74 years ago tonight, we met these four for the first time.   And the world is better because we did.

1066:  EDGAR THE AETHELING PROCLAIMED KING OF ENGLAND, BUT NEVER CROWNED.  HE REIGNS UNTIL DECEMBER 10, 1066.

Well, that wasn't even worth the moving expenses.

1529:  THE SIEGE OF VIENNA ENDS AS THE AUSTRIANS ROUT THE INVADING TURKS, TURNING THE TIDE AGAINST A CENTURY OF CONQUEST BY THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

Just the word "Ottoman" puts me to sleep like I was in 10th grade World History.

1582:  POPE GREGORY XIII IMPLEMENTS THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR.  IN ITALY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, AND SPAIN, OCTOBER 4 IS FOLLOWED DIRECTED BY OCTOBER 15.

And that totally fucks up Hallmark.

1783:  THE MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS' HOT AIR BALLOON MARKS THE FIRST HUMAN ASCENT.

It's all descent after that.

1793:  QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE OF FRANCE IS TRIED AND CONVICTED.  SHE IS CONDEMNED TO BE EXECUTED THE NEXT DAY.

Thinking a-head.

1815:  NAPOLEON OF FRANCE BEGINS HIS EXILE ON SAINT HELENA.

A bad date to be a leader of France.

1863:  THE H.L. HUNLEY, THE FIRST SUBMARINE TO SINK A SHIP, SINKS ITSELF.

Or also a bad date to be a submarine.

1878:  THE EDISON ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY BEGINS.

Let there be light...and monthly usage charges.

1888:  THE "FROM HELL" LETTER SENT BY JACK THE RIPPER IS RECEIVED.

Postage due.

1890:   MY GRANDMOTHER IS BORN.

Happy birthday, Grandma.

1894:  ALFRED DREYFUS IS ARRESTED FOR SPYING.

Love his Fund.

1909:  JOURNALIST ROBERT TROUT IS BORN.

My grandmother trusted him.

1910:  AIRSHIP AMERICA LAUNCHED FROM NEW JERSEY IS THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC IN A POWERED AIRCRAFT.

I see the word "attempt."

1917:  DURING WORLD WAR I, DANCER MATA HARI IS EXECUTED FOR SPYING BY THE GERMAN EMPIRE.

So we miss out on our chance to see a movie starring Fred and Mata.

1917:  ACTRESS JAN MINER IS BORN.

Madge the Manicurist.  You're soaking in it.

1920:  AUTHOR MARIO PUZO IS BORN.

He's a genius based on Page 27 of "The Godfather" alone.

1924:  BUSINESSMAN LEE IACOCCA IS BORN.

Baby, you can drive my car.

1928:  THE AIRSHIP, GRAF ZEPPELIN, COMPLETES ITS FIRST TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT LANDING AT LAKEHURST, NEW JERSEY.

Enjoy the next ten or so years.  This won't last.

1937:  ACTRESS LINDA LAVIN IS BORN.

Kiss her grits.

1939:  THE NEW YORK MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, LATER RENAMED LAGUARDIA, IS DEDICATED.

Dedicated to what?  Delays?

1945:  THE FORMER PREMIER OF VICHY FRANCE PIERRE LAVAL IS SHOT BY A FIRING SQUAD FOR TREASON.

This French leader, however, gets to keep his head in death.

1951:  "I LOVE LUCY" PREMIERES ON CBS TELEVISION.

This should be a national holiday.

1956:  FORTRAN, THE FIRST MODERN COMPUTER LANGUAGE, IS SHARED FOR THE FIRST TIME.

No habla Fortran.

1964:  SONGWRITER COLE PORTER DIES.

"You're the top."  Not any more.

1966:  THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY IS CREATED BY HUEY NEWTON AND BOBBY SEALE.

Not Dewey and Louie.

1969:  THE MORATORIUM TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM IS HELD IN WASHINGTON DC AND ACROSS THE US.

On the same day that the Mets were winning Game 4 of the 1969 World Series.

1976:  MOB BOSS CARLO GAMBINO DIES.

On Mario Puzo's birthday....fitting.

1989:  WAYNE GRETZKY BECOMES THE ALL-TIME LEADING POINTS SCORE IN THE NHL.

Flash in the pan.

1990:  SOVIET LEADER MIKHAIL GORBACHEV IS AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR HIS EFFORTS TO LESSEN COLD WAR TENSIONS.

Later sold for many rubles on Russian e-Bay.

2003:  THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY RUNS INTO A PIER, KILLING 11 PEOPLE AND INJURING 43.

Making dozens later for dinner or work.

2008:  THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE HAS ITS SECOND WORST DAY IN HISTORY.

So it went down?

2008:  ACTRESS EDIE ADAMS DIES.

Saw her once in a super market buying a cart full of Lean Cuisines.

2008:  TV HOST JACK NARZ DIES.

The brother of TV host Tom Kennedy.

2010:  ACTOR JOHNNY SHEFFIELD DIES.

Me, Tarzan.  Him, Boy.

Dinner last night: Leftover SPO.