Steve's Little Space

I recently came across a cassette recording of a telephone conversation that my dad and his brother, Eldon Cornelius, had in 1975. Uncle Eldon had farmed in the Madrid area for many, many years. One day in September 1975, he came across a dead cow in his pasture that had been thoroughly mutilated. He told my dad the story and my dad wanted to record the conversation. They agreed upon a date and time to talk.

The conversation took place on October 28, 1975 and lasted for about 65 minutes.

My recollection was that Dad made several copies of the conversation and arranged to give a copy to Dr. Allen Hynek of Northwestern University. Dr. Hynek was one of the best-known UFO researchers at the time and had studied other incidents of cattle mutilation. As far as I know, there was no follow-up with Dr. Hynek and the tape was never returned. He died in 1986.

Anyway, I found the cassette tape in a box and figured out how to hook up my old tape recorder to my PC. The transfer went fine and I burned a few CDs, including one for Eldon who is now retired and living in North Platte, Nebraska.

We had a couple of warm days recently so I brought the deck furniture out. Also gave me an opportunity to use the new laptop and the wireless network today. It was fun to be mobile! Just wish that it stayed warm. It’s now in the fifties with rain forecast for tomorrow.

Maybe this weekend…………

This old story has floated around cyberspace for years:

Two old men had been best friends for years and they both live to their early nineties. When one of them suddenly falls deathly ill, his friend comes to visit him on his deathbed and they reminisce about their long friendship. When the dying man's friend asks, "Listen, when you die, do me a favor. I want to know if there's baseball in heaven."

The dying man said, "We've been friends for years. This I'll do for you."

Shortly afterwards he dies.

A couple days later, his surviving friend is sleeping when he hears his friend's voice. The voice says, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there's baseball in heaven."

"What's the bad news?"

"You're pitching on Wednesday."

If anyone would like to follow me on Twitter, I’m at http://twitter.com/sscornelius.

I subscribe to Cigar Aficionado magazine and received the February issue today. Along with the magazine, they sent along a wall calendar which contains some interesting cigar-related quotes (my personal favorite is the George Burns quote):

• “If there are no cigars in heaven, I shall not go.” – Mark Twain
• “A good cigar is as great a comfort to a man as a good cry is to a woman.” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton
• “Burn them … one by one… slowly.” – Ambassador John Humes (ordering his deputy chief to destroy Havana cigars received as a gift).
• “The cigar habit. It’s one of the major happinesses. And so much more lasting than love, so much less costly in emotional wear and tear.” – Aldous Huxley
• “My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars.” – Winston Churchill
• “By the cigars they smoke, and the composers they love, ye shall know the texture of men’s souls.” – John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga
• “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman, it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
• “Tell him I’m out. And to convince him, smoke one of my cigars when you open the door.” – Winston Churchill (telling his valet how to get rid of a visitor).
• “A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.” – Rudyard Kipling

No, it’s not that kind of a wedding video!

I’m not sure if this is a joke, prank or an accident. Watch as the best man attempts to present the wedding ring!

One of the funniest sitcom episodes ever. This is the classic WKRP In Cincinnati episode from October 30, 1978. Station manager Arthur Carlson dreams up a “brilliant'” Thanksgiving promotion for his station. The promotion involves flying a helicopter over the Pinedale Shopping Mall -- and then releasing twenty live turkeys into the air.

Only one problem…turkeys can’t fly!

My favorite TV show is 24. Because of last season’s television writers strike, it’s been nearly two years since it last aired. The drought ends this Sunday with a 2-hour movie called: 24:Redemption.

Instead of the usual show being presented in real time, the movie will be a “normal” show with time compression. Rick Moran has a write-up on his blog.

I can hardly wait!

Update: I watched the show Sunday night. I saw some scenes from the 24 trailer and thought they were going to take place in the movie. Instead, they were scenes from Season 7 which begins in January. There was no time compression and the 2-hour movie took place in…two hours. My bad!