Happy New Year!

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Something I post at the top of every new year, and I appreciate the words more with every additional trip around the sun.

Love is
is not rude,
it is not self seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices in truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.

-1 Corinthians 13:5&6

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I don’t know why I like this little transformer guy so much. I think it’s because he wears birkenstocks.

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Note to Dan – Thank you for the info on the Yucatan meteor and the term paleoclimatology.

1845-8 – Irish Potato Famine / 1902 – Tunguska event.

It is unlikely that the meteor blew a hole in space-time to make crops fail fifty years prior to it striking the earth… Krakatoa’s 1883 eruption did drop the planet’s temp by about 7 degrees, and killed 36,000 people, though.

1918 – Influenza kills 20 million people. About a quarter of the US population catches it and 2 to 3% die from it.

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Tony Danza has a talk show. The man is a phoenix, rising from the ashes. Taxi, Who’s the Boss… the funny thing is that I see the friendly palooka sort of charisma there. I have no idea what he’s like off-camera, but he seems pretty cool on-screen. I’m glad he’s been cut a break.

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I think it’s interesting that Sri Lanka declined Israeli medical aid because it would have been furnished by a military team.

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Your Element Is Earth

You excel at planning and strategizing. You could be a champ at chess or Survivor. Well grounded, you are able to be realistic and rationalize. On the inside, you have a hard core. It’s tough to phase you. You are super productive, and you are able to think anything through. Focused and super charged, your instincts are a good guide for your next step.

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1985 by Bowling for Soup

“Where’s the mini-skirt made of snakeskin? And who’s the other guy that’s singing in Van Halen? When did reality become T.V.? What ever happened to sitcoms, game shows?” You took the bitter with the sweet in 2004 – and kept laughing.

Thanks for the Mp3, Whims! 😀

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More random people linking to the monkey entry.

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Least Popular Baby Names for 2004 Revealed

Random Scotto factoid – When I was a younger Scotto, I had a hamster named Xerxes, a dog named Lilah, and Hermit crabs named I & O… Newton-cat had best count his lucky stars.

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Random sites linking to my assorted output -Some blogs were Hot linking directly to my hosted mp3, rather than sharing the link back entry…resulting in about 600 downloads over the Christmas weekend. I may be passwording the links from now on, like some other clever bloggers out there now, just to keep bandwidth throttled a bit lower… I don’t mind sharing the wealth, but would like to see where it’s coming form more in-depth.

Interesting bits.. referred via blogsnow (which I always read as blogsnow not blogsnow)

I’m a little tired of the word “blog”… I think I’ll go back to calling them all diaries.

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The Scotty’s home improvement/hardware chain is soon to be history.

Scotty’s Asks for Final Liquidation

LAKELAND — Scotty’s Inc. has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to allow it to liquidate all its merchandise and go out of business.

The Winter Haven-based chain of hardware and home improvement centers filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Sept. 10, but it was unable to find financing that would allow it to stay in business, according to court documents.

A hearing on the company’s request was still going on late Wednesday afternoon at the Delaware court. No information on the judge’s decision was available.

Telephone calls Wednesday to Scotty’s Winter Haven headquarters were unanswered.

If the judge agrees to a liquidation, the going-outof-business sale could begin as early as today at Scotty’s 40 remaining stores and outlet malls, the court papers said. The sale would run through March 31.

The stores employ approximately 470 people.

“Although the debtors (Scotty’s) evaluated the possibility of continuing their business operations, the debtors ultimately determined, based upon the debtors’ projected losses, a severe liquidity crunch and the anticipated difficulty in raising capital, continuing operations is not feasible,” according to court documents filed Dec. 17 by the company’s lawyers.

“Instead, the debtors have determined that the most value for the estates’ creditors could be achieved through the immediate liquidation of the debtors’ inventory,” it said.

Scotty’s creditors and its “senior secure lender” agreed with the decision to liquidate, the document said.

According to Scotty’s September filing, it had $45.7 million in assets and the same amount in liabilities, including $12.3 million in long-term debt. It had more than 200 creditors.

Since that filing, Scotty’s could not get regular shipments of merchandise to maintain normal store inventories, the document said.

The document stated the sale needs to happen immediately.

“The debtors have determined that a prompt sale of substantially all their assets at the stores via going-out-of-business sales is essential to maximize the value of these assets for the benefit of their creditors,” it said. “If the going-out-of-business sales are not commenced expeditiously to take full advantage of the peak winter selling season, the value of the debtors’ assets at the stores will be irreparably harmed.”

The sale will include store fixtures — such as cash registers, shelving and lighting — as well as merchandise. Scotty’s is negotiating with retail liquidation consultants to manage the going-out-of-business sale.

If the judge approves the liquidation, it would come 80 years after Evanda Hugh Sweet, then a farmer, founded the company in 1924 in Winter Haven.

Sweet expanded to a hardware and building supply chain in Florida that eventually became a public company. A Belgian company, GIB Group, purchased Scotty’s in 1988, when it had 164 stores in Florida and neighboring states and an estimated 6,000 employees.

Ten years later, a senior management team headed by current President Tom Morris purchased the company from GIB for about $100 million. By 2002, the chain had shrunk to 69 stores with about 1,100 workers.

In 2003 Scotty’s sold its 52-acre headquarters and warehouse in Winter Haven to W.B.S. Properties of Boca Raton, which turned it into a business park. The sale price was not disclosed, but Scotty’s had sought $9.25 million for the property.

In the past few years, Scotty’s tried to survive by transforming from large (more than 20,000 square feet) stores selling home improvement supplies to small hardware stores of 10,000 square feet or less. It also converted some large stores to outlet malls or flea markets and sold or leased other properties.

Scotty’s has only one remaining local store in Haines City.

Scotty’s was understandably well-placed in my personal Florida history… same-name issues aside, it was a fun little joint to hang out at in Boynton Beach. I haven’t been in one for years… Home Depot completely demolished them in my particular habitat.

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What the heck is this?

B-to-the-E (B^E), Budweiser’s newest entry in a long line of innovative beers by Anheuser-Busch, is a distinctive new product for contemporary adults who are looking for the latest beverage to keep up with their highly social and fast-paced lifestyles.

As the industry leader, Anheuser-Busch is the first major brewer to infuse beer with caffeine, guarana and ginseng. Well balanced with select hops and aromas of blackberry, raspberry and cherry, B^E will offer a lightly sweet and tart taste – a great mixture of beer and new flavors for adults to enjoy when out with friends at a club or at a bar after work with colleagues.

“Our new B-to-the-E provides caffeine, guarana, and ginseng in a great tasting beer. It will contain 6.6 percent alcohol by volume”

When I first saw it, I thought it was some sort of joke… but they’re not kidding. I thought Drew Carey was kidding when he referred to “Buzz Beer”. Try and sleep off this bender!

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1 year ago – Ninja Turtles, FFXI, free movies, Newt age progression, missing kid

2 years ago – ageless project, lj averages (still the same people, it seems the 16 yr old has aged to 18), edbook‘s llamas, Florida ice age, Danny thoughts, world domination game, click!,

3 years ago – TZ marathon, people requesting money for reading their journal, country specific euros, 2nd instance of 1 and Happy Newt Year!

4 years ago – Resolutions, some dead news links, good links to marbles, bejeweled, alchemy, etc, 1st instance of 1 Corinthians 13:5&6, reflections on old games, Norman bates, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and a new writing style.