Blergh

It definitely says something re Miss Reynolds character that the younger Miss Fisher termed her'Mama' when she was NOT her mother but her own father's first wife and mother of her two eldest half-sibs. Poor Todd Fisher and Billie Lourd losing these two shining lights in their immediate family barely a day apart! Now they may need plan a double-service to salute both Old Hollywood AND Star Wars . I can't help but think that mother-and-daughter may actually have been amused at the thought of that kind of double-funeral. In any case, I'm glad that mother-and daughter WERE able to become genuine friends and like each other for whom each of them were rather than keep holding onto ancient grudges and misunderstandings. RIP, Unsinkable Mollie Brown.

Doll Eyes, Sorry for not replying earlier (and this will be my last one on this particular subject on this thread) but I guess I was too stunned by Miss Fisher's passing (and I had to go to work). Respectfully, you make a good point about evil triumphing re good people doing nothing. HOWEVER; when one refuses to believe that there COULD be good in people (or even not entirely evil people) among the voters of someone one despises, one DOES help evil by shutting out the possibility of building a bridge with potential allies. One could certainly agree that Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been abused and persecuted by evil folks yet they didn't say 'ALL English people and their supporters/ ALL white people and their supporters are totally evil without any possibility of any person among their group being an ally' . Instead they appealed to the humanity and tried to see the good within even when badly abused, taunted and tormented and they DID find allies among those whom one might not initially been willing to consider. They saw that one could NOT protest bigotry and injustice with any credence if they themselves were willing to be bigoted to those who were different from them. Even Anne Frank said in one of her last journal entries that she still believed people were ' good at heart' in a time and place when she knew that she could DIE in the next five minutes merely for being different from others yet while she certainly and justly denounced NAZIs and their credo she didn't denounce the possibility of humanity of other people. As I said, this will be my last post on this subject within this thread, but I've studied history all my life and I don't see how it is of any benefit to anyone to act like Madame Defarge by being eager to persecute those one wants to believe has guilt by mere association even when they themselves have done nothing to hurt others via words or deeds and may want to reach out to help others and be an ally to those who otherwise would have no voice.

I literally gasped at that news! I was hoping she'd survive to write about somehow finding humor in having a heart attack on a plane. Her poor family- especially her mother and daughter! No parent should have to bury a child!That's just too sad.

Maharincess, Please change as many numbers, physical addresses and social media contacts as you can as soon as possible and make it a point to send her one registered letter spelling out that she is not to attempt to contact you in any form ever again if she doesn't want legal consequences meted upon herself (and KEEP any future attempts in a safe place even if you don't feel like prosecuted her at this time so you have ammo in case the harassment becomes completely intolerable). No point in having your own corner of the world overwhelmed by someone like this when you already have plenty on your plate as it is!

Yes, I agree that Miss Henderson and Senator Glenn were the biggest guts for me this year. However; they still don't compare to how devastated I was in '89 when Lucy died. That's the biggest non-family gut of ALL time for me!

Witnesses and even videos have proven faulty through no fault of their own re identifying actual perpetrators on occasion. Hence, I think suspect is perfectly correct until there's been an actual conviction.

I'm sorry about that, JTMac. Well, what we each need to keep in mind is that regardless of how gloomy things may seem, there is ALWAYS the possibility of a future being brighter than one may think at the time. MUCH easier said than done but not impossible to do.

What's especially ironic is that in the Star Trek movies set in the distant future, there was no internet. Yes, they had very complex computers, data banks and even holograph simulation rooms but no chat rooms, Kindle or YouTube (or the equivalents) for characters to waste time entertain and communicate with each other.

Mr. Michael hadn't always had a smooth road so I hope he was able to find his peace at the end.

Grateful for a nice, quiet Christmas with my mother with just a few presents under a prelit fake tree with NOTHING to cook or clean up- then us adjourning for a GIGANTIC meal at a local fave restaurant we knew would be open today. Nice to have that.

Today my mother remarked how it used to be there were five of us for Christmas but now there's just two of us celebrating. As sad as I was for my 80-something mother to have to ponder that, I didn't have the heart to bring up that it will be even sadder when I have only myself to celebrate the day. I just want HER to have as happy celebrations as she can for as long as she can.

Somewhat along those lines, if one actually looks forward to NOT seeing a onetime friend and dreads seeing them, the friendship's definitely run its course!

As long as we're doing malapropisms: Undoubtedly this has been a horrible tragedy for all family and friends of those lost to a still-uncertain fate re Malaysian Airlines 370 and I pray that they soon find out what actually happened. However; one of my colleagues did unintentionally bring a little levity re not understanding a key news point some weeks after the disappearance. This colleague kept hearing about the radio pings being searched and somehow became convinced that they were talking about penguins and concluded that somehow these amphibious birds living thousands of miles away were responsible for the plane's disappearance.

I can't even begin to count the number of comedies and dramas up to the last 20 years which had plots that entirely hinged upon mistaken identities. Now a simple search engine on the 'Net not only would spell out who's who but also spell out marital and employment status- to say nothing of fave socks! LOL

I like the Angry Orchard Hard Cider one with the (almost) constantly scowling orchard attendant. I guess because I have a coworker who looks almost exactly like that and who often surprises everyone by smiling when least it's least expected.

I agree! They're like ice sculptures- VERY fun to look at and something I'm grateful OTHERS actually want to take the time and trouble to do while all the oohs and ahs in the world couldn't get me to risk it all on ladders or hammer nails in bricks in precarious spots.

Ocean Chick, As I said in BOTH my previous posts, I was NOT excusing or giving free passes to those who HAVE said and done heinous actions and deeds but all I was saying that ALL sides need to be FAIR to others . I'd like to remind everyone that I wasn't singling out ANY one side here re supporters of candidates but trying to appeal to fairness for and by supporters of candidates . How is refusing to consider that there could be ANY supporters of other candidates one dislikes even remotely worthy being helpful ? Again, why act unfairly to those whom one would hope treat you fairly?

Amen! We can use ALL the civilty we can get in this world!

DollEyes, Note please that my post was directed to supporters of ALL candidates who refused to consider that supporters of other candidates could be worthy of being considered human- not the candidates themselves nor those supporters who HAD proven by words and deeds that they were heinous people. I don't disagree what you said re Mr. Trump nor the worst actions of the worst of his supporters (and I DO agree that ANY bad deeds by ANY side deserve to be dissed -even those who may otherwise support those whom one likes). However; ALL I was saying that one shouldn't blanketly lump ALL supporters of ANY candidate (Mr. Trump, Senator Clinton, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Stein, etc.) with the deeds and actions of the worst of them instead of considering giving EACH human being a chance to prove themselves worthy or not. Yes, I admit it may be easier to lump everyone who supports someone one dislikes in simple, dehumanized categories (and its an impulse one must resist) but one winds up cutting one's own nose to spite the others' faces and becoming as closed-minded as one claims others are. Why act unfairly to those whom one would hope would treat you fairly?

OK, perhaps I'm shouting down an empty well but I have to vent somewhere: We ALL have our own POVs re what we each think of each candidate and I'm adding nothing at this re what I think of any particular candidate. However; I think we all need to step back and stop demonizing every other person to the point of completely dehumanizing for either supporting one's opposing candidate or not emphatically support one's own. Bigotry is like hatred in that it corrodes the vessel it stores far more than the object it's intended to be poured upon. That's NOT to say that there aren't individual supporters (or detractors) who deserve to be called out for their words and actions but to vilify any large segment of the populace and tarring them with broad brushes winds up not only needlessly infuriating those who do NOT deserve to be called out but also cheats oneself from getting to know others' complexities and considering the possibility of mutually beneficial friendships. Citing the excuse that 'the others' are bigots and/or have persecuted one's side is NOT a valid justification to do the same as virtually every bigot believes that they've been persecuted and that they're doing so for 'the right reasons' to others. None of us are perfect but why can't we at least consider what each person individually has to offer before condemning them. Isn't being human enough of a reason to treat others as humans and consider in this increasingly troubled world that we could use all positive imput possible from all sides to help each other out?

Amen to that! It's hard to imagine a more wretched existence than that (and I also read she had a feeding tube)! Let's not forget that he attempted to claim paternity of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter after Miss Smith's death but DNA proved otherwise. Can anyone imagine Miss Gabor in her heyday not divorcing him in a Budapest minute for that? And what's REALLY scary here is that when one considers how many elderly celebrities have wound up allegedly having suffered elder abuse even with family members knowing about it and trying to put stop to it(e.g. Mickey Rooney, Brooke Astor, Casey Kasem) , how much worse is it for ordinary elderly folks? Would it be too much hope that somehow this help spur mandating actual legal protections with teeth for our elders?

Ah, but she was Paris Hilton's half-great-aunt Francesca's mother so there's a connection. Sadly, though Miss Gabor outlived ALL other original members of her family including said daughter and was in terrible health for a good many years. Ironically, she herself had kept quiet the news re the death of her baby sister Eva from their ancient mother Jolie the last two years of the older woman's life but it's unknown whether her last husband Frederick who had long feuded with Francesca actually kept the news of her only child's death from her.

While I'm not going to give out any part of my name, I WILL say that I've learned to like having a unique name that's hard for most folks to spell much less pronounce. For one thing, when telemarketers stumble over it and ask if that's right, I waste no time in telling them 'I'm sorry but you have the WRONG NUMBER!' and hang up! LOL

Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if the performer called Mr. Williams would have been more eager to brag up being related to Dr. Heimlich than vice versa. Regardless, the world owes him a great debt and that includes my family since my mother's life was saved by said maneuver. RIP and thank you, Dr. Heimlich!

Weather pet peeve: Can all those folks in my community who openly say 'I wish it would SNOW' at least stop for a minute to consider that we live in a city where it's guaranteed bumper-to-bumper gridlocks if a single flake falls (and my job doesn't stop just because of bad weather) . Go buy a postcard and stick your hand in a freezer if you want that feeling! GRR! Main pet peeve for this time: Why is that for the last decade, despite the galloping increased incidents and scales of mass hacking, there's been nothing but stronger pushes for EVERYONE to have every single imaginable aspect of our lives online yet,AFAIK, nothing has been done to prevent said hacking aside from clucking about it after the fact? How about urging the populace to use the 'Net as little as possible UNTIL we can minimize the probability of hacking great and small? It's like urging kids to play with matches in an oil field when the fire department's in the next county with nothing but hand-cranked hoses to combat any blazes.