Feb 4th 2013 08:11 am Weight Watchers

Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
Wow! That’s what I call interesting! Scientists and historians have positively identified the body of Richard III, a well-remembered if not well-loved king of England from the 15th century. The body was exhumed a few months ago from beneath a modern-day parking lot—excuse me, “car park”—in Leicester, England. DNA samples have connected the remains with two living relatives of King Richard. I have never been one to keep up with the tabloid comings and goings of the modern royal family. The only possible interest I’d have in their scandals, genuine or invented, would be prurient, and I choose not to be pandered to in that manner. This King Richard business is different, however. It isn’t every day you find a significant character from history buried under a parking lot! I’ll leave it to you to Google the details of Richard’s infamous reign if you wish, but I’d remind you that Richard III was the inspiration for Shakespeare’s play of the same name, to whom was given the immortal line, “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” Also, Shakespeare’s Richard III was a lamentable role landed by the character Elliot Garfield, an aspiring actor played by Richard Dreyfuss in Neil Simon’s 1977 movie “The Goodbye Girl.”

Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

53 Responses to “Weight Watchers”

  1. Bob in Central FL on 04 Feb 2013 at 8:46 am #

    And some people are already up in arms about where he will be re-buried. I think he should go on tour. Or put parts of him on ebay.

    And who does he belong to?

  2. emeritus Minnesota biologist on 04 Feb 2013 at 8:54 am #

    [Sun. evening] Charlotte: “I do realize that I’m not using the scientific method.” Why do you say that? You’re not doing a formal scientific study, but you are reporting observations and long term experiences objectively, and not attributing any of what you see to occult forces or such. You are doing fine. But you may have a more benign notion of chipmunks than is warranted. They actually can be quite nasty to each other, and also regularly prey on nestling birds and such. I saw one in Michigan being chased by a pair of cardinals, after it had already nailed one nestling. Chipmunks climb readily and are quite omnivorous. Many ground and tree squirrels are, marmots and prairie dogs being exceptions.

    Ruth Anne: “Cornell’s college of ornithology.” That’s the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, which was founded shortly after I graduated in ’51. There was already a dept. of ornithology, and some bird-watchers were unhappy with the direction it was taking after Arthur A. Allen retired, and founded the Lab with independent funds. The difficulties, I understand, have been patched up. Ornithology is one subject area in the N.Y. State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Cornell is unusual, not unique, in being made of both endowed colleges and state colleges (four): ALS, Human Ecology [formerly Home Economics], Industrial and Labor Relations, and Veterinary Medicine [a grad school]. When Cornell was founded, in the 1860s, it was unique in not being associated with a denomination. Some considered this scandalous; I thought it was great, as did Ezra Cornell and the university’s first president, Andrew Dickson White. Good school, even better now than it was at mid-20th century.

  3. Dan on 04 Feb 2013 at 9:11 am #

    Reminds me of the story a couple of decades ago (can it be that long?) when author Clive Cussler found the Texas Navy Warship Zavala under a parking lot in the Galveston area.

  4. sandcastler on 04 Feb 2013 at 9:21 am #

    ^°^°^°^ wonders what parking lot they will find Jimmy Hoffa under.

  5. Dan on 04 Feb 2013 at 10:03 am #

    J Hoffa is wearing concrete galoshes.

    By the way JJ, who won the bet on last nights game?

  6. JDS on 04 Feb 2013 at 10:34 am #

    hmmm . . . Arlo doesn’t seem to be interested in the picture that Janis posted of herself . . . . evidently we can assume that it wasn’t taken at the beach.

    My daughter Leslie is in England right now . . . she’ll probably try to bring home a piece of the asphalt as a souvenir.

  7. John in Richmond Texas on 04 Feb 2013 at 10:47 am #

    Richard III, … now where does Blackadder fit in ?

  8. nickchick on 04 Feb 2013 at 11:21 am #

    Does anybody know where I can adopt a Clydesdale foal? I won’t sell it to Budweiser, I promise! I’ll keep it forever and ever.

  9. Jean in Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:01 pm #

    For those of you who want a closer look at King Richard, I offer this, from the BBC:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21282241

    Several interesting pictures plus a short interview by Dr. Jo Appleby, the osteo-archaeologist involved with studying and identifying the bones.

  10. Nell on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:06 pm #

    You might enjoy this “Horrible Histories” take on Richard III:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxTim7fJLis

  11. Denise in Michigan on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:17 pm #

    I bet it was “Time Team” who found him!

  12. Boise Ed on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:32 pm #

    Just so you know, Richard III was long believed to be buried in a certain church which has since been demolished and turned into a car park.

    Jean and Nell, thanks for the links.

  13. Country Boy on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:32 pm #

    I just seen a picture of the Prez shootin’ some of them there skeet. Way to go, Mr. Prez. I’s glad to see y’all knows how to hunt, too. Now I might even vote fer y’all next time. And I heared from my buddy them skeet is mighty good eats when they is fixed right.

  14. Blinky the Wonder Wombat on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:39 pm #

    “A badger, a badger! My kingdom for a badger!”

    I’ll be giggling the rest of the day. Thanks Nell!

  15. Dave in MA on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:42 pm #

    Country Boy, ole’ Skeeter’s been photoshopped into that pic, or else he’s aiming wrong. Skeet shooting requires one to aim UP, not straight ahead….. but then, being such a BIG fan of guns, I’m sure ole’ Skeeter knew that when he “posed” for that photo……..

  16. Jerry in Fl on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:43 pm #

    Country Boy-I’d like to help you out. It’s the same door that you came in.

  17. Jerry in Fl on 04 Feb 2013 at 12:45 pm #

    Did someone leave the top off of the trashcan?

  18. Denise in Michigan on 04 Feb 2013 at 1:04 pm #

    The links are appreciated! Nope, it wasn’t Britain’s “Time Team” who made the discovery. :(

  19. sandcastler on 04 Feb 2013 at 1:05 pm #

    It sure is hard to bring a new act to The Village.

  20. Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 04 Feb 2013 at 1:19 pm #

    eMb – Sorry for getting the name wrong. I had a feeling that wasn’t right and didn’t feel like taking the time to check, so I didn’t capitalize it. The bird count is a great excuse to get outside (or, depending on the local weather, just look out the window) on a long weekend.

  21. Ginger on 04 Feb 2013 at 2:27 pm #

    The Prez was shooting sitting skeet. Totally unsportsmanlike. I would love to see him handle that ole skeet gun in real life. Still photos just don’t convey control or lack thereof.

    sandcastler, Mindy is trying to bring a new act to the Village as well. She wants to introduce her special troupe of dancing Llamas. Is there more than one Tony?

  22. Blinky the Wonder Wombat on 04 Feb 2013 at 2:55 pm #

    When will politicians learn that attempts to do “regular people” activities almost always turn out to be PR disasters?

  23. Blinky the Wonder Wombat on 04 Feb 2013 at 2:57 pm #

    Mindy-

    Cuidado! Llamas!!

  24. Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 04 Feb 2013 at 3:06 pm #

    I knew a football coach who went by the name of Skeets. Never did learn how he got that nickname, but assume that somebody must have shot him as he is no longer with us.

  25. Jerry in Fl on 04 Feb 2013 at 3:19 pm #

    Maybe he was shooting his lawyer. It worked for Undisclosed Locaton Cheny.

  26. Jerry in Fl on 04 Feb 2013 at 3:26 pm #

    As I recall there was smoke coming out of the shotgun. You think maybe someone else fired the gun and then handed it to him. You may want to shop for your next Japanese car in California. They’ll have some great deals on imports soon.

  27. Robin in FL on 04 Feb 2013 at 3:46 pm #

    Denise

    Time team! Auggh. used to watch them in England just to see what stupid thing they would do next. I think people let them dig in their yards because they wanted to get a start on a garden.

  28. Country Boy on 04 Feb 2013 at 4:13 pm #

    What disturbs me as much as anything is that POTUS obviously has no one on his White House staff with enough familiarity with firearms to be able to pose him firing a shotgun without making it appear to be the first time he’d ever held one. And yet these are the people who presume to decide that an isolated Arizona rancher can’t have one of those rifles “no one needs” to protect his family and his property.

    Yes, I’d already noticed the skeet being shot at must have been on a fence. But that’s what seems to happen these days when someone decides you haven’t come down on what they consider the correct side of the political fence. Even here in the Village.

  29. Mary in Ohio on 04 Feb 2013 at 4:20 pm #

    Back when the History Channel showed actual History programs, research indicated that the remains of Hitler and Eva Braun were below a parking lot in Berlin.

    And there is plenty to indicate that Richard III wasn’t the demon he has been portrayed as. If you want a wonderful historical mystery, find Josephine Tey’s “The Daughter of Time.”

    Of course in Romania,Vlad Dracul is regarded as a patriot. (And nobody in NE Ohio regards Bill Belichek as a genius. Just sayin’.)

  30. Mark in TTown on 04 Feb 2013 at 4:43 pm #

    Thanks for the update, Jimmy. I had wondered when they would release the information. Thank you for the BBC links, Trapper Jean. Great photos on that site.
    Country Boy, it was just another political stunt of the type used by all politicians. Not worth further comment from me.

  31. Charlotte in NH on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:12 pm #

    Ruth Anne — thank you for the info. on the Bird Count. I read all about it from the Web site, but don’t plan to go for it as I have an awful lot of “stuff” to do here. Posting the observations on the Web site looks rather daunting. But I’m sure it will be fun for those who can tackle it.

    eMb, Interesting comments on the Chipmunks. I am a realist and know that Nature is “red in tooth and claw” but on the other hand, as a human, I do find them cute and appealing. A good long-time friend, who doesn’t let facts interfere with her opinions sometimes, complained about Chipmunks bitterly. She HATES them with a passion. They got into her house and did some damage and she is CONVINCED that they EAT the pink Fiberglas insulation. I remonstrated feebly but no, she believes it so I quit trying to make her see reason.

    I like your stories about Cornell. I have visted Ithaca several times and enjoyed the gorges, and especially the Cornell Plantations. Wish I could have spent lots more days or weeks at the arboretum and the greenhouses.

    One of our daughters studied for two years at a Boston area college, then decided to transfer to Cornell because her boyfriend was going there to pursue a Masters degree. After they got their degrees, they were so fond of the Finger Lakes region that they never left. They are married now and have two boys; the older is 20. So we visited every year or two or three.

  32. Jerry in Fl on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:21 pm #

    They finally decided to end the situation in Midland, Al and the shooter is dead. Probably from lack of sleep. Poor joke,they shot him. Technology has advanced greatly since the fiasco in Waco and they could have gotten him out immediately, but the effects on a grown man and a small child could be very different. The child has aspergers and the effects have already been very bad I’m sure.

  33. Jerry in Fl on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:27 pm #

    Re chipmonks and squirrels, I have seen our southern greyish brown, one totally albino, one completely white in front and brown in back, white in the Rockies and one completely black in the Thousand Islands.

  34. Mary in Ohio on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:29 pm #

    Jerry – one of the kid’s neighbors was interviewed saying – very gently – that if this went on much longer, the boy might manifest issues as he had previously when he became upset or frustrated. I was hoping for a “Ransom of Red Chief” ending, where the kidnaper paid the kid’s parents to take him back. The real tragedy is the bus driver, who went above and beynd to try to protects the kid (and were there others on the bus too?)

  35. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:31 pm #

    As a life-long Anglophile and Bardolator, I welcomed today’s news of Richard III with hungry ears.

  36. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:33 pm #

    By the way, I forgot to mention that there is actually a village in North Yorkshire that has my surname. I come by my love of all things English honestly, I guess.

  37. emeritus Minnesota biologist on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:37 pm #

    That white Rocky Mt. chipmunk was a different species than the Eastern Chipmunk which most bloggers hear know. I can’t tell you which sp.; there are scads out West.

    About the VW commercial. The first live Jamaican accent I heard was in the cab at 2 a.m 9 Sept. ’58 as I headed from the airport to Mom’s apt. in Manhattan. She’d left a phone msg. during the 8 Sept. faculty mtg., on the first or one of the first days of work at my new job at the college. Dad had died, somewhat earlier than expected, and I’d gotten the last plane out to go to the funeral, the first I was closely involved in. The driver was a talkative Jamaican man, and it was lovely. The best known Jamaican accent in America is probably Harry Belafonte.

    The guy in the Volkswagon Jamacian Super Bowl commercial is a pretty poor substitute, but the ad isn’t racist to me. It highlights the stereotypical positive outlook of Jamaicans, which we could perhaps use more of. I should take offense every time I see a fake scientist in a lab coat?

  38. emeritus Minnesota biologist on 04 Feb 2013 at 5:48 pm #

    Dumb: “here”, not “hear”. Charlotte: When you were at Cornell, did you pick up a tee or sweat shirt that said “Ithaca is Gorges”? I’ve seen them advertised.

  39. Ghost Rider 6 on 04 Feb 2013 at 6:13 pm #

    Travel day today. Did you miss me?

    Yes, nickchick, the Budweiser/Clydesdale foal ad was touching. I liked it very much, too. Of course, I also liked the “sweating on the inside” one with the tag line “I’d fold your panties for you any day.” :)

    Yes, Jerry, it had to be very, very bad for that child, all of it. And yes, Mary, the bus driver is a true hero.

  40. Mark in Boston on 04 Feb 2013 at 6:21 pm #

    If every child on the bus had had a gun, this tragedy would never have happened.

  41. Mark in TTown on 04 Feb 2013 at 6:53 pm #

    And if this gentleman with mental issues had been under supervised care instead of on his own, things would have been very different too. Which is the more realistic possibility? You can engage in irony but I would prefer real solutions. If you have not read about his background, please do so.

  42. Lost in A**2 on 04 Feb 2013 at 8:36 pm #

    I guess I mis-heard this morning’s news report: I thought they said Mr. Obama had *skipped* shooting at Camp David.

    I’ve about decided it time to repeal the second amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

  43. Charlotte in NH on 04 Feb 2013 at 9:38 pm #

    eMb, That pun made me smile. Yes, I have seen and heard of these Tee-shirts, but haven’t bought one. Our children have kept us so well supplied with tee shirts for lo these many years, there are an awful lot of them here. “What can we give Mom, or Dad, for Christmas or birthday? There’s nothing they need or want. Oh wait, there’s a clever tee shirt; perfect.”

    Birds, flowers for me; for him, SuperBowl XX and XXI, etc. Red Sox, Patriots. Colleges, numerous.

  44. Charlotte in NH on 04 Feb 2013 at 9:43 pm #

    Oh, lost track of what I was going to say … I have a really nice sweatshirt from Cornell, large picture of tree with leafless branches, to show the structure, really … a Maple, or Beech, and a tiny figure of a person under the tree, to show the scale. Then it says “Cornell Plantations”. A gift from the Ithaca dwellers.

  45. JDS on 04 Feb 2013 at 10:04 pm #

    Stumbled upon this on the internet today, pretty interesting if you’re into English royalty:

    “Investigating Richard III, Tony Robinson was shown evidence to suggest that the royal line was tainted by the illegitimacy of Edward IV. So who should be sitting on the throne today? Tony tries to find out in a detective story that takes him from the Tower of London via Debrett’s Peerage to ruined castles and family tombs in Scotland and Ashby de la Zouch”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DCasz6oeL4

  46. Meryl A on 05 Feb 2013 at 1:07 am #

    Country boy -

    When one is shooting skeet, doesn’t one aim upwards, not level? Husband did when he shot skeet.

  47. Meryl A on 05 Feb 2013 at 1:17 am #

    Mary in Ohio -

    It has been pointed out that the descendants of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) who defeated Richard III are who were on the throne when the history of the period were written (such as Henry’s granddaughter Elizabeth I). Would you say anything nice about the other side of the war of the roses? The Henrys (Lancasters) are glorious, the Edwards and Richard III (the Yorks) horrible.

    JDS –

    The line has another problem with the “Glorious Revolution” and the seating of King William III and Mary II. There are multitudes of descendants of James II who have a better claim to the throne than Elizabeth II.

    There is also a question of the legitimacy of Edward III.

    England has had 2 major problems in history – too many sons and not enough. The change to allow daughters to be monarch over a younger brother should fix the latter, but add to the former.

    Meryl A

  48. Debbe54 on 05 Feb 2013 at 3:05 am #

    I saw an ad in Rolling Stone Mag years ago that said Queen Mary smoked marijuana for menstrual cramps…just thought I’d throw that in there for today ;) They had a portrait of her…rather portly I remember…..

  49. Debbe59 on 05 Feb 2013 at 3:07 am #

    Oops…fat fingers this morning…Debbe59 wishing all a good morning :)

    Yes GR…missed ya…….liked Jerry’s door joke too…

  50. Ghost Rider 6 on 05 Feb 2013 at 6:18 am #

    Thanks for that medical update, Debbe, even though it borders on TMI. :)

    I’m guessing that in those states and locales where cannabis is legal as a treatment for recognized medical conditions, there are probably people on the street who will sell you glaucoma or menstrual cramps.

  51. Dave in MA on 05 Feb 2013 at 1:36 pm #

    Maybe that’s why POTUS was shooting skeet straight ahead. He was on marijuana for his MENStrual cramps.

  52. Meryl A on 12 Feb 2013 at 12:59 am #

    Which Queen Mary? I or II or the current Queen Elizabeth’s grandmother?

  53. Lost in A**2 on 12 Feb 2013 at 2:04 am #

    So I’ve learned three things since reading Meryl’s response: that cannabis is not native to the New World, that hashish is derived from cannabis, and that England has had lots of Marys.