--WHEN BLACK FRIDAY COMES, I'M GOING TO DIG MYSELF A HOLE

 

 ...Hey Hi.  I hope your week is going swimmingly.  Here are some things I learned:

…The lawyer for a suburban Albany, NY strip club argue before the state’s Supreme Court that its lap dancers are entitled to the tax exemption that ballet and artistic performances enjoy.

The state wants $300,000 in back taxes from the club called “Night Moves.”

…Things that make us feel guilty:

39% -Wasting food
27% -Leaving lights on when I leave a room
27% -Wasting water
22% -Not unplugging electronics
21% -Not recycling

…Percentage of men who consider themselves “innovators” in the bedroom

…Adele’s album, “21” just passed Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” staying in the top 10 for 79 weeks.

It should pass US sales of 10 million copies by next month, a rare feat any time, but especially in these days when albums rarely sell even a million.
Only 108 albums have ever sold more 10 million copies.

…The cost of a 30 second ad during the Super bowl is $3.8 million, and that's not counting production of the ad.

…Will you be able to retire before age 65?

1997 -50% said Yes
2012 -34% said Yes

…During the 1970s, an average of 290 major work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers occurred annually in the United States. By the 1990s, that had fallen to about 35 per year. And in 2009, there were no more than five.

…Oprah was named the top money entertainment earner last year after raking in $167 million.  Yep, $167 million in a solitary year.

…After suffering its biggest loss ever, Hewlett-Packard announced plans to cut 29,000 jobs in the US.

…The average annual public school teacher salary has risen from $44,655 in 2001 to $56,643 in 2011.

…This summer was the third-hottest on record.  Last summer was the second-hottest.

…In just the last four years, 60,000 people have been killed in Mexico due to drug violence.

…Percentage of adults who smoke:

2008: 20.4%
2011: 18.9%

Percentage of US births to unmarried females:

1990: 28%
2101: 40.8%

…I like these:

"An artist is always alone---if he's an artist. Actually, what an artist needs is loneliness." Henry Miller

"The manner in which it is given is worth more than the gift." Pierre Corneille

"Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy." F. Scott Fitzgerald

"In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you." Tolstoy

"We all die in the middle of something." Roman Payne

"I'm less attracted to the stoic. I'm more attracted to the floridly psychotic." --David Milch

"It seems to me that I will always be happy in the place that I am not." Paul Auster

"Poetry is as exact a science as geometry." Flaubert

"Eventually, we all sustain injuries.  Realizing this, Mike decided it was easier to speak to people who had never existed at all." Nick McDonell, "The Third Brother"