Alleged hit-man murder caught on camera, shown on TV; Martian Invasion causes panic! October 30, 2009

A MARTIAN INVASION!!!!

In the United States lately, there has been a discussion regarding the amount of violence being shown on TV.  Some groups allege that, in particular, images of violence against women have increased on prime-time tv shows.  The fear is that it may create a more violent society or cause kids to become more violent.  It’s an old argument.  30 years ago when I was in Journalism school at the University of Texas, that was one of the topics covered.  I recall a “true false” question asking if a child was exposed to violence on TV was he more likley to become a violent person.  I never studied for that class.  I don’t think I even came to class except for the tests.  Well, they’ve taken things a bit farther.  The murder of an alleged gangster in Italy, shot dead at point blank range, was captured on video cameras and the footage was shown on TV.  Wonder how that would suit anti-violence groups in the states?  The cops in Italy say they released the video in hopes of catching the shooter.  Imagine what a field day the cable networks would have with that in the US?  Would it create pandemonium on the streets?

Orson Welles did On This Date In History:

A Vicious Invader?

The Martians Invaded on this date in 1938…at least that’s what millions of Americans thought. A young 23 year old radio man named Orson Welles presented a show on CBS radio. He began by saying it was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. It began at 8 pm. But a whole bunch of people were listening to Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy on NBC. Bergen’s routine ended at 8:12 and many switched to CBS. By then the radio-play was already going so they missed the opening disclaimer. Welles’ production had some sort of regular sounding broadcast with a weather report followed by some cheesy music that went on for some time before a reporter broke in with a report (I don’t think they called it “breaking news” then) and he said there were explosions on Mars. Then more music followed by another break in with a hysterical “reporter” describing ugly Martians getting into large machines that rose out of the ground with long tentacles. It reported that the machines fired heat rays and destroyed a national guard unit, dropped deadly gas bombs and they were destroying everything.

People thought it was real. Some went bananas and jammed the highways looking to get out of

Orson So Good He Caused Mayhem

town. CBS had Welles break in and remind everyone it was fiction, but no one listened. The panic was on. Reports of suicides came in but there was no confirmation. Congress naturally had to investigate and found nothing was wrong. Welles thought his career was over. Instead, he got a cinematic contract which led to his production of Citizen Kane which has regularly topped the list as the best movie ever made.

Like Welles, sometimes we create the worst in our mind when, in fact, the best is just around the corner. If you are discouraged or feeling that you’ve made a terrible mistake, keep your head up. You don’t know what the future holds and today’s set back may just be the foundation for tomorrow’s success.

HPC calls for about 1.37" of rain

Weather Bottom Line:  I will dispense with the details.  Rain holds off until tonight. The amount is whatever its gonna be. I’m thinking about an inch, give or take a quarter inch. The HPC says about 1 and a third inches of rain.  We have windy and warm conditions prior to the slow-poke front’s arrival.  As I had explained previously, the main conversion zone is well to our south in the lower Mississippi Valley where they’ve had heavy rain and a few tornadoes.  With the abundant moisture, it seems likely that we will get a fair amount of rain Friday night through probably at least late morning on Saturday. This system is so slow as the parent low to the north winds down, that I might suggest that rain may still be in the area toward midday.  But, it should be dry and cooler for the afternoon and the UL game. Maybe a bit breezy as well.  The kids on Halloween should be dry but with temps in the lower 50’s, it will probably be a bit chilly for the ghosts and goblins…so give them another sheet.

Bryan The Webhog Comes Through! March 19, 2007

Bryan the Webhog claims he has set this up and as the benevolent dictator, I am accepting his word and I thank him for his efforts as well as those of Sally Albers. I appreciate the positive responses we’ve had but now we can dispense with the suggestions on how to make these here pages more “user friendly.”

I’m trying to get my taxes into my accountant, but we have some pretty good showers moving in and some thunder rumblers embedded. Nothing that appears too menacing but we never leave the weather center unstaffed when there is any remote possibility of something being up to no good. In this case, I seriously doubt it.

I don’t know how many of you have office basketball brakets but one thing I ‘ve noticed over the years is that the “experts” never win. Its usually a quiet person that no one even knew worked for the firm or someone’s 7 year-old child. Remember this, sports fans, the Aggies lost not once, but twice to Texas Tech. Bob Knight did not have that strong of a team so that means the Aggies have some holes. I bet Calipari finds them. If not, the Buckeyes will stop this nonsense from going too far.

This Date in History Here are three items that show how goofy this time of year can be.

In 1924, 11 inches of snow fell in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In 1948, an F4 tornado swept through Fosterburg, Bunker Hill, and Gillespie, Illinois, killing 33 people and injuring 449.
In 1984, 10 to 20 inches of snow fell across parts of Kansas andNebraska.

So we have nearly a foot of snow in the southern plains, pushing toward 2 feet of snow in the central plains and in between, a big tornado in Illinois. All on March 19. March seems to be so extreme.

The press is all over this being the 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Lots of American sorties were flown that day. But no one seems to be interested that on this same date in 1916, the very first sorties were flown by American aircraft. No, it wasn’t in WWI in Europe. The US was still officially neutral at that time. Curtiss “Jenny” aircraft flew into Mexico! That’s right, General John J. Pershing sent combat aircraft into Mexico to scout for the whereabouts of Pancho Villa. They never found him and after 11 months, the Americans gave up because they had bigger fish to fry as in the Axis powers in Europe. The flying missions of the Army Air Corps over Mexico proved to be valuable air time for those who would serve in Europe.

Oh, one other thing….ever wonder why in The Godfather you never hear the term “mafia” or “cosa nostra?” Its because on this date in 1971, the Italian American Civil Rights League convince the producers not to use the term as they thought it increased the perception that all Italian Americans were gangsters. Guess they were impressed with the power of words. They weren’t concerned with the action portrayed on the screen…just don’t call them that name!