Chris

New Jersey passed it smoke-ban… so its looking like Philadelphia will try again at passing the law.

The new proposed bill is cast as a means of protecting employees from smoke. So it a health issue? Sure we can say that (it worked for other state laws)… but this law will would allow smoking in tobacco and cigar shops (logically), allow smoking in casinos…er I mean “gaming establishments” and would allow for hotels to have up to 25% of their rooms set aside as smoking rooms. So in reality it has nothing to do with worker health. I am pretty much for the ban (as a social smoker)… why can’t we just be honest about it. Most people find cigarette smoking a dirty disgusting habit and dont want to be subject to second hand smoke.

So the smoking ban looks progressive and the city desperatly wants to follow the trend. Fine, just do it already. Just tear it off like a band-aid.

“If I’m in a restaurant and I’m eating and someone says, ‘Hey, mind if I smoke?’ I always say, ‘No. Mind if I fart?…It’s one of my habits. They have a special section on airplanes for me now. I quit once for a year, you know… but I gained a lot of weight. It’s hard to quit. After sex I really have the urge to light one up.”” – Steve Martin

More news from the world of competitive eating…

Sonya Thomas, “The Black Widow”, continues her reign as Iron Gut (27 current world) titles by eating 26 Grilled Cheese Sandwichs.

For a middle eastern spice I’m linking to Al Jazeera, and who said they’re biased against the West!

Woodchuck should be handled in accordance with the general rules for game in the field. The blood should be drained, and the entrails removed and the body cavity wiped clean. When hung for 48 hours, they are ready to the skinned and cooked.

Woodchuck meat is dark, but mild flavored and tender. It does not require soaking; however, many people like to soak it overnight in salt water. If the woodchuck is caught just before he begins his winter sleep, there is an insulating fat layer under the skin. Remove excess fat. remove 7 to 9 “kernels” (scent glands) in the samll of the back and under the forearms. Parboil the meat of older animals; cook by recipes calling for chicken or rabbit.

WOODCHUCK (GROUNDHOG) PIE

1 woodchuck, skinned and cleaned
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup green pepper
1/2 tbsp minced parsley
1 tbsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 1/2 tbsp. flour
3 cups broth

Biscuits:
1 cup flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. fat
1/4 cup milk

Cut woodchuck into 2 or 3 pieces. Parboil for 1 hour. Remove meat from bones in large pieces. Add onion, green pepper, parsley, salt, pepper, and flour to the broth and srit until it thickens. If the broth does not measure 3 cups, add water. Add the meat to the broth mixture and stir thoroughly. Pour into baking dish.

For biscuits: sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in the fat and add the liquid. Stir until the dry ingredients are moist. Roll only enough to make it fit the dish. Place dough on top of meat, put in a hot oven (400 degrees F.) and bake 30 to 40 minutes or until dough is browned. Serves 6-8.

I know your teeth have gnashed through death
Still you come to me
So gently
Find a soft place on your body
And rub me with it
Oh, this I won’t soon forget
You’re the one that will remain
You’re the one that will remain

Bust a lock with a rock
Don’t need a key to have me
This was your cold discovery

We needed a fever, we needed a cure
The bait no longer lured
Say goodbye, quick if you can
The car waits for me
Just across the border
Wish me luck, no good luck
No bad luck, just wish me luck
With my cold discovery

You are gone
My cold discovery
You’re the one that will remain

Well, I can hold a woman down on a hardwood floor
Well, I can hold a woman down on a hardwood floor
And your teeth can gnash right through me
Looking for a soft place
And of this you won’t soon forget
I had no soft place for you to rest
And this was your, your cold discovery
Your cold discovery

Well, I can hold a woman down on a hardwood floor
Well, I can hold a woman down on a hardwood floor
This was my, my cold discovery
My cold discovery

If you saw it for what it really was
My cold discovery
My cold discovery
My cold discovery
-smog-

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird – by Wallace Stevens

I

Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the black bird.

II

I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV

A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.

V

I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

VI

Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.

VII

O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

VIII

I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.

IX

When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

X

At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.

XI

He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.

XII

The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.

terry schiavo is dead and buried, but its still a good time to let people know about you comatic wishes.

I request that in the event my heart and breathing should stop, no person shall attempt to resuscitate me.
This order is effective until it is revoked by me.
Being of sound mind, I voluntarily execute this order, and I understand its full import.

Christopher C. Flannery
January 25, 2006.

anderson cooper just told me that the ship i took from portland, maine to yarmouth, nova scotia is now being used for temporary housing in new orleans.
couldn’t imagine living on that boat for more than 12 hours. I wonder if they’re allowed to use the slot machines.

N. 15th Street in East Orange, NJ
ca. early 1950’s

My Grandparents are on the right (Mary and Curt Flannery). Note the flat birthday cake, something my Grandmother made for everyone’s birthday.

On January 16, 2006, Greenville County, South Carolina, will be the last county in the U.S. to officially adopt Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday.

Lee-Jackson-King Day was a holiday celebrated in the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1984 to 2000.

Robert E. Lee’s birthday (January 19, 1807) has been celebrated as a Virginia holiday since 1889. In 1904, the legislature added the birthday of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson (January 21, 1824) to the holiday, and Lee-Jackson Day was born.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan approved an Act of Congress declaring January 19 to be a national holiday in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Since 1978, Virginia had celebrated King’s birthday in conjunction with New Year’s Day. To comply with the federal decree, the Virginia legislature simply combined King’s celebration with the existing Lee-Jackson holiday.

The incongruous nature of the holiday, which simultaneously celebrated the lives of Confederate generals and a civil rights icon, did not escape the notice of Virginia lawmakers. In 2000, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore proposed splitting Lee-Jackson-King Day into two separate holidays, with Lee-Jackson day being celebrated the Friday before what would become Martin Luther King Day. The measure was approved and the two holidays are now celebrated separately.

I didnt know Scranton had such talent!
https://www.chrisflannery.com/music/scranton anthem.mp3

Robert Duvall, Shelly Long, and Bette Midler as… The Ringmaster
Coming soon from Paramount Pictures

migrating pictures

from
http://coppermine.chrisflannery.com
to
https://www.chrisflannery.com/coppermine

this is wikipedia’s pic of the day

i saw a few once in nova scotia. they (cormorants in general) like to dive-bomb to get fish, unfortunately may of the fledglings die because they don’t know how do it properly. if they dont land perfectly straight they will break their wings on impact with the water. when i saw them they sat on a pole for 40 minutes without doing anything.