Monday, March 4, 2013

Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama traveled around the country celebrating the third anniversary of her signature initiative Let’s Move!, her goal being to ensure that all our children grow up healthy and reach their full potential.
Today the celebration continues! Join the First Lady for her first ever Let’s Move Fireside Hangout. You can tune in and join by going to LetsMove.gov., the Let’s Move! YouTube Channel and the White House Google+ Page at 11:10 a.m. ET  this afternoon.
Mrs. Obama will participate in a completely virtual conversation from the Blue Room of the White House, speaking with families from around the country. The hangout will be moderated by Kelly Ripa, co-host of LIVE with Kelly and Michael. My office and I intend to tune in at work! ♦

Chris Rock is too funny. And now he’s taken two comedians, Deshawn Raw and W. Kamu Bell under his mentorship after catching their acts on YouTube. America  has watched the 47 y.o. Rock, born Christopher Julius “Chris” Rock III , grow from a scrawny kid doing stand-up comedy in New York City’s Catch a Rising Star to executive producer for Raw’s comedy series, D-Raw for Comedy Central and Totally Biased, Bells’s late night talk show picked up by FX. I love this dude for reaching back and pulling others up. Rock explains the reason for  doing so, this way,

“Mentors are just a radar to let you know what’s coming up, and I’ve had a lot of good ones.”

It does help that Bell and Raw are Hella-funny! Here’s a promo clip from Bell’s show.

Laughing is food for what ails you. Thanks for the prescriptions Rock! ♦

Have you heard the one about the  rich old coot who hid a chest filled with gold coins, diamonds and emeralds, who’s challenging people across America to go on a wild goose chase in search of the buried treasure?  Its true!  Hoping to encourage people to go out and explore trails and scenery live rather than from in front of on their TV screens, 82-year-old multimillionaire Forrest Fenn buried the chest with its treasure three years ago and is back in the limelight again stirring up interest in the chase. Never really offering any proof that the treasure  actually exists, it’s a bit condescending for a multi-millionaire to insinuate that the only way to motivate us couch potatoes is to tempt us with riches. I mean he’s right, but it’s still  condescending .  Last Wednesday Fenn appeared on TODAY reporting that he’s received over 7,500 emails — some thanking him for encouraging people to get outdoors and others asking for guidance in finding the treasure.

In his self-published memoir The Thrill Of The Chase, Fenn says that there is a poem with nine clues he says will lead to a 40-pound chest containing the haul. Check it out. And BTW, anyone who figures out the clues and finds the treasure, there’s a 20% finder’s fee if you viewed this Ezkool blog site. I’m serious!

As I have gone alone in there

And with my treasures bold,

I can keep my secret where,

And hint of riches new and old.

Begin it where warm waters halt

And take it in the canyon down,

Not far, but too far to walk.

Put in below the home of Brown.

From there it’s no place for the meek,

The end is drawing ever nigh;

There’ll be no paddle up your creek,

Just heavy loads and water high.

If you’ve been wise and found the blaze,

Look quickly down, your quest to cease

But tarry scant with marvel gaze,

Just take the chest and go in peace.

So why is it that I must go

And leave my trove for all to seek?

The answers I already know

I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak

So hear me all and listen good,

Your effort will be worth the cold.

If you are brave and in the wood

I give you title to the gold. ♦

Robert Bea is a University of California-Berkeley engineering professor who appeared as the first trial witness to testifies at last Tuesday’s BP trial case involving the pollution of the Gulf coastline from the colossal oil spill 3 years ago. Bea testified as an expert witness on behalf of the people and businesses suing BP, who he said had failed to implement their own new safety plan on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, even though the company realized a blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was highly probable. Bea stated that it was “tragic” and “egregious” that BP , who leased the Deepwater rig from a company called Transocean, didn’t apply its own safety program to the rig that exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and spawning the most massive oil spill in the history of oil spills in the nation. And what  did BP lawyers have to say about it?
BP lawyer Mike Brock counter argued that the company expected Transocean to make certain the rigs it leased-out were safe to operate–standard industry procedure. Is that it!!?  For the last 2 years  now, BP has been throwing up commercials with local Gulf business owners carrying on as if its business as usual there. And although its understood the areas is trying desperately to save itself, there’s no denying the dangerous amount of oil and its carcinogens that still floats in the Gulf’s waters, the irreparable damage to the ecosystem and the arrogance of BP in court trying to pass the blame to someone else while still raking in billions of dollar in profits 3 years after the disaster. It won’t be business as usual for quite some time. What do I think should happen? My dream scenario would be for BP to be drained of all its resources, applying it all towards the revitalization of the Gulf, and that the company, once stripped and bankrupt, is dismantled and destroyed, forever and ever. And that would still be the nicest thing that could happen. ♦

 

Later pilgrims…