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Topics - mshray

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1
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_29667603/andy-grove-former-intel-ceo-dies

The day in 1968 when Grove, Gordon Moore (Moore's Law), and Robert Noyce (inventor of the integrated circuit) started Intel is marked by many as the birth of Silicon Valley.

2
In Memoriam, Happy Birthday / RIP Peter Mondavi, 101
« on: February 22, 2016, 10:09:53 PM »
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/peter-mondavi-of-winemaking-family-is-dead-at-101/2016/02/22/ff3c90a8-d983-11e5-891a-4ed04f4213e8_story.html

The Mondavi family bought the Charles Krug winery (the oldest in Napa) in 1943, and Peter ran it until he retired *last year* at the age of 100. This was my parents' favorite winery when I was born here 20 years later.  Robert Mondavi was the older brother who split off to start his own winery a couple years after that.

3
January 28, 1986

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster

The full list of casualties were:

Francis R. Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist
Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist & a school teacher from Concord, NH

4
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/13721488/yogi-berra-new-york-yankees-legend-hall-famer-dies-age-90

You gotta check this clip out.

My favorite Yogi-ism:  "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

Little known fact*:  Yogi grew up across the street from Joe Garagiola on Elizabeth Avenue in a neighborhood called 'The Hill', St. Louis' version of Little Italy.   That block, also home to Jack Buck early in his Cardinals broadcasting career, was later renamed "Hall of Fame Place".  Garagiola once said, "Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn't even the best catcher on my street!"

*beyond St. Louis, that is.

5
If you want to know how fucked up Republican politics are in Missouri (and elsewhere in the Bible Belt), just read this and the related articles.

http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article11939504.html

Tom was 2 yrs ahead of me at Clayton High School, went to Yale & then Harvard Law.  He had been the state auditor for two terms and was deemed a rising star, and after announcing his intention to run for governor, he had a big early lead in the polls. But last Thursday, 7 minutes after placing calls requesting interviews with reporters from the AP & The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he killed himself.  Anti-Semitism seems to have been the main factor, even though Tom was only 1/4 Jewish, and a practicing Episcopalian.

I can think of no higher compliment to him than to say that my parents told me that he would have been the first Republican candidate for any office that they ever would have voted for in their lives.  I talked yesterday with my remaining best friend from HS, also a lawyer, and like Tom, still a resident of our home town.  He was devastated & perplexed, as is everyone who knew him.

One of my lasting memories of HS generally, much less of Tom in particular, is riding on the school bus from a cross country meet more than 45 minutes away on the day Lynyrd Skynryd's plane crashed.  I was 14 & he was 16 1/2, and we sat together talking about it.  We had each already bought "Street Survivors", which came out 3 days before the crash, and had a lengthy talk about mortality & having one's life cut short before your full potential.

The funeral was this morning at Tom's church which was walking distance from my old house in Clayton.  Long time MO senator John Danforth, also a former UN Ambassador, gave the eulogy, which is well worth reading.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/danforth-s-eulogy-for-tom-schweich-words-do-hurt-words/article_cf861616-67b6-5fa6-ae29-97ca3a243ec9.html

Just so sad.


6
In Memoriam, Happy Birthday / RIP Jerome Kersey
« on: February 19, 2015, 12:14:45 AM »
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12345969/jerome-kersey-long-portland-trail-blazers-forward-dies

Cause of death not yet disclosed.

In 1988 I was a limo driver in San Diego, and there was an off-season all-star charity game/event benefitting the March of Dimes & others.  I wound up running point for my company (I think we had at least 5 cars in action that day) on getting all the players from the downtown Marriott to the Arena & back again.  Jerome Kersey was almost left behind at the Arena doing an interview, and my boss paged me to go back & get him after I thought the gig was over.  So we had some quality time in the car & then he insisted that I get invited to the very exclusive after party.  I had earlier met two total babes (one black, one blonde) who were at the game and introduced them to Jerome.  The blonde hit it off with him, and on their way up to his room Jerome gave me $40 to stick around to give her a ride home...which didn't happen until 4am!  I actually had to call his room to see if she was done yet!

I also met Magic & Jordan that night, and the game itself is one I'll never forget.  The guys were VERY competitive & there were several sequences of plays that were out of this world.  With about 2 minutes left Magic went over & grabbed the announcer's mike & asked "if it would be okay with the crowd" if they wrapped up the game and finished with a slam dunk contest instead.  I'm sure he did that all on his own, but of course no one objected.  And it didn't end until a 19 year old rookie from the Sonics by the name of Shawn Kemp completely stole the show.   He asked two of the cheerleaders to come to the free throw line and get down on their hands & knees, and then he took off, jumped over them from about the top of the circle & did a reverse two-handed jam.  Everyone - including Jordan - literally fell flat down on the court when they saw Kemp do that.  I later got to talk to him and he showed me the scars on both knees from when he tried & failed to pull that off on the playground, except instead of two cheerleaders there was a car on the free throw line(!).

One of the best days of my life in terms of being a great story to retell over the years.

7
Thoughts...

a) My wife told me that public schools in SF didn't get Monday off for Presidents Day, but will get tomorrow & Friday off instead.  Can anyone confirm?

b) I recall we once put together an awesome theoretical set for the Year of the Monkey, but I gave up pretty quickly on trying to find 10 decent Ram/Sheep songs

c) that said, maybe at least tomorrow could be 1977 (last heard in early Jan, iirc) with Ram Jam's "Black Betty" as the TotHK?

d) it's also my dad's 77th birthday tomorrow, but I can't imagine convincing anyone that a set from 1937 would be a good idea!  ;-)

8
In Memoriam, Happy Birthday / Unhappy 100th B-day Ronald Wilson Reagan
« on: February 07, 2011, 03:03:35 PM »
woulda been yesterday (Feb 6, same b-day as my mother-in-law).

here's something form Mother Jones: http://motherjones.com/slideshows/2011/02/1984-reagan-illustrations

9
KFOG's 10@10 / 26 March 2010: will Urth be right? yep, it's 1996
« on: March 26, 2010, 09:25:10 AM »

Just noticed that in the last two weeks, the "newest" year-based set AL has done is 1980--with several great theme sets, and a couple of 60s sets for good measure. Nicely played, AL--although I'll bet that run ends tomorrow.

I've been thinking the same thing.   Have to wait & see.

If it's a less interesting latter day set, maybe y'all can take one last crack at my scavenger hunt.

10
KFOG's 10@10 / 11 Jan 2010: 1982
« on: January 11, 2010, 10:01:56 AM »
BOS INXS!  "Don't Change" is a Db bustout, one I've been asking for for years.

11
KFOG's 10@10 / 8 Jan 2010: 1977
« on: January 08, 2010, 10:02:19 AM »
And Elvis leads off, but not that Elvis.

12
In Memoriam, Happy Birthday / Welcome back from the dead Pee-Wee!
« on: December 12, 2009, 05:55:13 PM »
...and Miss Yvonne and Mailman Mike and Jambi the Genie.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091211/ap_en_ce/us_celeb_herman

13
KFOG's 10@10 / 2 December 2009: mystery year (1985)
« on: December 02, 2009, 10:04:28 AM »
"How Soon Is Now?" is kinda obvious though.

14
KFOG's 10@10 / 24 Nov 2009: 1982
« on: November 24, 2009, 10:04:14 AM »
Yeah! We Got It!

15
In Memoriam, Happy Birthday / Happy 40th Sesame Street
« on: November 05, 2009, 10:23:08 AM »
check out the Google home page

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