THE P WORD

 Continuing our theme of music . . . (sorta) . . .

OSCAR SEASON

It's time for another of my musical interludes.

(Once a disc jockey, always a disc jockey.)

Tonight, and it's always night for this guy's playing, I'm featuring a Canadian jazz pianist who I, many decades ago after listening to a performance of his on a record, said this guy has the fastest hands in the world.

He's doing a pretty much solo job here though he is backed by the great guitarist Barney Kessel and the bassist Niels Pedersen.

It was recorded in 1974 and it's about 8 minutes long so sit back, get comfortable and watch and listen to a master at the keyboard.

For the record, Peterson died in 2007 at the age of 82.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 It's a very grey, overcast day in the Central Highlands of Arizona this morning.

I guess the Weather Gods want me to shine a little light onto the landscape.

So here goes.

So that's it, friends and neighbors; that's my contribution to the betterment of humankind for this week.

Now the rest is up to you.

Stop that insane laughing for a minute and listen up.

I want you all to have an absolutely splendiferous weekend, full of feasting and drinking and dancing and . . .

Oh, never mind, just try and make it to Monday.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(YIKES!)

STALKER

 I took a photo through my window of the back yard yesterday.

Something attracted my attention.

Do you see it?

Here, I'll crop the photo down and run it through my editing software.

Now you can see him, if you didn't before.

This Siamese visits from time to time, though he's too nervous to be approached.

On this visit he was definitely in stalking mode.

We speculated whether he was after a bird or a grasshopper or a snake.

I tapped on the window and asked him but he wasn't telling.

Eventually he crept all the way across the yard, up onto our patio and underneath a chair.

But finally, seeing nothing in his path and growing tired of the game, I slid the door open.

He darted back across the yard, up on the wall and away.

Only then did his prey appear.

It was just Matty, teasing the invader as he stopped in for his morning snack and nap.

A TEST

 How well do you remember Sir Connery's accent?

That's key.

CHEESE BREAD

 Back, back, back we go into the depths of the Taylor Family Bakery and here is the result.

Parmesan baked on the top and bottom, cubes of melting cheddar inside, alongside a dab of sour cream and a dash of cayenne.

I can't wait to try it but here's the hard part: the recipe (from America's Test Kitchen) says to cool completely before cutting into it.

THREE HOURS!

I may have to fight SWMBO as she is not wont to wait but I cannot bring myself to argue with the master bakers from America's Test Kitchen.

So for the next couple of hours in purgatory, all I can do is glance longingly at it as I walk (frequently) through the kitchen.

MONDAY MUSINGS

 In 2004 I was working for a peanut-whistle small radio station as a news director, a title that didn't really mean anything because I didn't really have any change in my duties nor did I get a raise in pay from when I was *just* a reporter.

It was a long way from my *glory days* but I just needed a modest paycheck for a couple of years to get me to good old Social Security.

And after many decades out of "the business" and seven years of scraping by in a barely surviving bookstore with my wife, I was enjoying myself.

But I had no dreams about the future.

Meanwhile, far across the country at Harvard University, a young lad had started a silly little website called Facemash the year before but it was shut down only a few days later by the school administrators who charged the student with breaking security and violating copyrights and the privacy of his fellow students.

They threatened to kick him out of the hallowed halls but in the end they dropped all the charges and let him stay.

Then in 2004, while I was still muddling my way toward retirement, that student, Mark Zuckerberg, created a variant website which he called "TheFacebook".

Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it.

Zuckerberg's creation, which a year later dropped "The" from it's name, nearly instantly created controversy with several other students claiming he had stolen their ideas and sueing him.

(They finally won their suit in 2008, gaining about 300 million smackeroos in then Facebook stock.)

Over the years, a number of shall we say unsavory characters have aligned with the Facebook empire and later gone their own ways but it hasn't seemed to have hurt Zuckerberg.

As of last year his site claims to have nearly three billion users around the world, he makes between 6 and 12 million dollars every DAY and he's worth around 123 billion bucks.

Well, until today.

With Facebook's problems today the stock took a header and Mark Z. lost nearly six billion dollars.

Probably that young giddy Harvard student isn't quite as cheerful tonight as he and his minions try to figure out what happened.

Me?

I'm a few light years away from his even-reduced net worth but I'll bet I sleep better tonight.