Songs About Schenectady

The weirdest things make me laugh.

Which is why I lost it on the way back home from Rutland, Vermont last night when on the radio came amazing old song from 1953 called "I Can't Spell Schenectady"

(Is Schenectady spelled correctly in this post? I'm not sure)

Weirdly, this is the second time this week Schenectady, a relatively charmless city near Albany, New York, has come up in conversation with my husband Jeff.

For some reason, I remarked to him, when Schenectady was mentioned on the news last week, that it's a wicked fun word to say over and over. At least for me. Do it. Say if fast, repeatedly. It's pronounced ske-NECK-ta-dee

Ske-NECK-ta-dee, Ske-NECK-ta-dee, Ske-NECK-ta-dee, Ske-NECK-ta-dee!!!

Ahem.

Anyway, in the Jeep last evening, we were listening to a radio show on Vermont Public Radio called "My Place." It's hosted by a revered Vermont radio DJ named Joel Najman, who's been in the business since the mid 1960s.

"My Place" features lots of golden oldies tunes,  many of which you haven't heard in a long time, or often have never heard. Najman always has an very interesting story behind each song he plays.  So listen to "My Place" when you get a chance. It's fun.

Last night's "My Place" featured songs with place names in their title Among them were "Abilene," "Sioux City Sue" and something truly bizarre called "The Cincinnati Dancing Pig."

But the highlight of "My Place"  last night was "I Can't Spell Schenectady."   I've had the tune in my head all day. Is that a bad thing?

So, just for weirdness, here's the admittably scratchy bizarre song on YouTube for "I Can't Spell Schenectady"


 :

A Man Living In Ohio To Remain Dead, Says Judge

Donald Miller Jr., 61, is dead.

He was sitting alive and well in an Ohio courtroom the other day, but he was dead then, too. He's been dead since 1994, even though he's been alive all that time.

Confused? I think he is, too.

Here's what happened: Miller disappeared in the early 1990s, abandoning his kids, his whole life, everything.  Since nobody could find a trace of him for years, his ex-wife had him declared dead by a court in 1994 so she could collect Social Security benefits for their children.

Lo and behold, Miller recently turned up, and he asked a court to reinstate his Social Security number and maybe his driver's license so he could go on with his life, such as it is.

According to the Courier of Findlay, Ohio, the judge told Miller, basically, sorry, nope, you're still dead.

The judge said yes, he knew that Miller is alive in reality, but in the eyes of the law, he's dead, because you can't legally reverse a death declaration after three years.  The judge accurately noted this is a strange case.

Indeed.

Miller's ex, by the way, does not want Miller to come back alive, at least in the eyes of the law. She said he is declared alive, then she'd have to pay back the Social Security benefits given to her children, and she doesn't have the money.

So don't disappear and pretend you died mysteriously. Because if you ever want to come back to life, you might not be allowed to.

Barenaked Ladies Video Turns The Guys Into Cheerful News Anchors

The Bareaked Ladies are back with new music, and the video attached to their latest single "Odds Are" puts them in the newsroom.

The Barenaked Ladies deliver some good news.  

They get the mannerisims of typical news anchors just right, so they could have a separate career if the music doesn't work out. But it seems the music is working, so that's good

Nice to seem them stay cool, too. Plus, this to me is their catchiest song in ages.

So enjoy the video and remember, odds are everything is probably going to be all right no matter how weird things gets.




 

Woman On Flight To Tampa Just Makes Things Worse For Everybody

Feeling overwhelmed?

Then maybe skip this post for awhile. It shows a woman have the Worst Ever Meltdown on a flight, this one bound for Tampa.

Turn down the volume some before watching. She keeps yelling "God is my savior!" as loud and fast as possible. Not the kind of thing to add to a relaxing flight.

Obviously it was a mental healh problem, which is said. But how is it when someone yells uncontrollably, "God is my savior!" on a plane, nobody does much of anything, but when they yell "Allah Akbar!" which is the same thing, all hell breaks loose and people are arrested.

Yes, you want to be careful and prevent a terrorist plot or disaster when somebody is yelling "Allah Akbar," but this gal needed to be restrained too. If only to protect the woman having a meltdown

In any event, no arrests were made, and we can hope the woman is better now.

What do you think, after watching the following video?

  

Betty White Makes Your Flight Both Safer And More Enjoyable

Be honest. How many of you snooze through that safety briefing flight attendents always give before the plane takes off?

Betty White wants you to have
a safe flight  

That's what I figured. All of you.

As always, though, it's Betty White to the rescue. Air New Zealand got the wonderful idea of getting the legendary, awesome White to help with the safety briefing.

Bonus: Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing on the Love Boat) makes a guest appearance, too. There's also a cast of
excellent other older people to help out with this video.

The video is hilarious. And now, for the first time, I know all the safety rules on a passenger jet.

For once, I paid attention, thanks to Betty White. Here's the superb video:

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani Teen And Education Advocate, A Thrilling Antidote To Most Recent News

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage girl who was shot by the Taliban for advocating for girls' education, was on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show the other night.

The inspiring Malala Yousafzai. Too bad
people running things in Washington
can't be half this smart

Yousafzai, 16, and largely recovered from the gunshot, wrote an inspiring book and is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. We'll find out first thing Friday morning if she won.

I have to say the interview was thrilling. It was made that way because of the complete contrast between the incredibly smart, poised, generous, humble and gentle Yousafzai, and the willfully ignorant, bombastic, egotistical, destructive clowns in Congress.

Too bad we can't clone Yousafzai and make all those clones be the U.S. House of Representatives.

The best moment in the clip might be when Stewart asked her what she'd say to the Taliban guy who tried to kill her. Here's her response:

"If you hit a Talib, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib.... You must not treat others with cruelty... You must fight others through peace and through dialogue and through education.  I would tell him how important education is and that I would even want education for your children as well. That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want."

You can see in the clip, below that Stewart was awestruck. So was the audience. So was I when I watched the video, below. This is just an excerpt, longer versions of the interview are on YouTube.

But I want to give you a taste of intelligence, in case you were feeling dumbed down by the news from Washington:

Drunk Driver MUST Finish His Big Mac

We all have priorities

Is this Big Mac worth a police chase and
criminal charges? One guy, at least, says yes.  

According to The Smoking Gun, Randall Miller led police on the chase because he wanted to finish his  Big Mac before he was arrested

Police in Ohiol said they saw Miller, 3, driving erratically so decided to stop him on suspicion of drunken driving.

Their suspicions were apparently well founded, because it was later determined he be about three times over the legal limit.

He was finally stopped after he presumably finished his Big Mac and was no longer hungry. But still drunk.

Here's a quote direct from the police report: "Miller stated he was sorry, he was too drunk and he just wanted to finish is Big Mac before he was stopped."

I'm sure the chase was completely safe. That Miller was drunk and eating a huge messy hamburger I'm sure had no effect on his driving skills.

Just for the record: You don't have to be drunk to eat a Big Mac. Probably tastes better when you're drunk than when you're sober, though.