Sunday Stealing – I Say, You Think

Blues Brothers, Beach Boys, and especially Elton John

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week, we’re playing word association as suggested by a blogger named Dawn Camp. She said these words “tickled her fancy,” and let’s see if they inspire you. Feel free to answer with either a single word or a thought/memory. It’s up to you.

I Say, You Think: Word Association. Share what comes to mind when you hear the word …

1. Biscuit:  I think it’s curious that the US definition and the UK definition are so different. The UK definition seems to be some sort of cookie and the US has a soft, savory bread thing. The US biscuit you might have with gravy, but especially, it’s the basis of strawberry shortcake.  I believe I have never made biscuits, except when I’ve used products like Bisquik; it’s not that I couldn’t, but I’m too lazy to try.

MUSIC –Rubber Biscuit by the Blues Brothers, and specifically the phrase “What do you want for nothin’, Rubber biscuit?”

Coloring

2. Crayon: I invariably think of Crayola crayons. I remember when you would get something with more than eight or 16 crayons. A 64 crayon set was wonderful. Some color names seemed to have gone by the wayside. From this history:  “In 1962, partially in response to the U.S. Civil Rights movement, Binney & Smith changed the name of Flesh to Peach.”

3. Warmth: I think of a weird thing I got from the Vlogbrothers for Pizzamas, which is like a robe. It’s very warm, it’s very cuddly.

MUSIC-  The Warmth Of The Sun by the Beach Boys, which is lovely.

4. Flip: I think of the late comedian Flip Wilson. Flipping pancakescan be an art.  The Summer Olympics have a lot of impressive flips, although I’ve seen some pretty impressive flips in these Winter Games.

MUSIC – Chug-A-Lug by Roger Miller, with the lyric, “I done a double back flip.”

5. Slush – I think of the weather on Friday the February 20th. It varied tremendously: a little bit of snow, a bit of sleet. I shoveled the walk in the afternoon, and it was pretty clear, but by the evening, when we had to go out, there was slush all over the sidewalk.

Cooling

I also think of slushies, this ice thing with supposed fruit flavors. The last time I went to the urgent care place, in early December, I had a terrible sore throat. I was tested for Covid and the flu, and both tests came back negative. But I felt so dreadful, I didn’t go to choir rehearsal that week. The Urgent Care place had a slushie machine, which I usually pass on, but that day my throat really wanted one.

6. Wing -Chicken wings I never really liked all that much. They seem like way too much work – too much bone and not enough meat

MUSIC – I think of Wings of A Dove by Ferlin Husky and Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix. Then there’s Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings; here’stheir massive UK hit that was a bust in the US, Mull Of Kintyre.

7. Candle: Ash Wednesday was this past week, and on the table, a slew of lit candles. Most of them were actually votive-looking things, though a few were little electric candles. There’s a guy whose first name is the same as my middle name; he and I were blowing out all the candles after the service.

MUSIC – Candle In The Wind by Elton John; he originally wrote it about Marilyn Monroe. He subsequently rewrote it in honor of Princess Diana in 1997, which became a massively successful record, 14 weeks at #1 in the US.

8. Cinnamon: I think a lot about cinnamon toast. It’s cinnamon mixed with some sugar sprinkled on buttered toast; amazingly good-tasting stuff when I was a kid. I like cinnamon swirl pastries to this day.

MUSIC – Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young from his second solo album. I love the handclapping. throughout one of my favorite Neil Young songs

Feb. rambling: Complicity?

Catherine O’Hara

second-rate democracy

Non-Cooperation: When does cooperation become complicity? And what other choice is there?

Everything Is for Sale: Exploiting the 250th Anniversary of US Independence for Yet Another Grift

The EPA repealed the bedrock scientific finding that says greenhouse gases threaten human life and well-being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.

The White House regularly circulates imagery that has been manipulated by A.I. But the photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong was different.

The Hardest Part of Fighting Fascism Comes After the Fascists Have Fallen

Dying in Broad Daylight. ‘This Is a Wake-Up Call’: Critics Disgusted as Billionaire Bezos Guts Washington Post. “Oligarchs are not the benevolent saviors media have long depicted them to be.”

Was Jeffrey Epstein running a kompromat operation for Russia?

Grid reliability projected to decline as data centers drive demand, watchdog says

A drop in CDC health alerts leaves doctors flying blind.

On Tilt. America’s new gambling epidemic

The World Factbook has sunset. It served the Intelligence Community and the general public as a longstanding, one-stop basic reference about countries and communities around the globe. [As a librarian, I used this source all of the time for info about other countries.]

Wordsmith: read especially the email of the week and limericks

The United States of consumption – Our trash and our lives, here and abroad

U.S. Employee Engagement Declines From 2020 Peak

Once called the “disease of kings,” gout is on the rise

These College Students Ditched Their Phones for a Week. Could You?

My Survivor’s Guilt

These Were the Most Popular Baby Names in 1926

Clowns + Firefighters = Police? and The Video Game System That Ran Up a $500,000 Bill, and Why is Mark Zuckerberg Suing Facebook?and The San Francisco Egg War

O’Hara
Catherine O’Hara, “Home Alone” and “Schitt’s Creek” actress, died at age 71 after a brief illness. . I especially loved her in SCTV and the mockumentaries such as Best In Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003),  and For Your Consideration (2006).  Top 10 Greatest Moments. Monologue: Musical Improvisation – Saturday Night Live.
She had previously revealed a diagnosis of dextrocardia with situs inversus, a rare congenital condition characterized by an abnormal positioning of the heart, which is mostly benign but highly peculiar. Her cause of death was pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer as the underlying cause.
Good news

Complexly, the media company that produces Crash Course, SciShow, Eons, Bizarre Beasts, Study Hall, and more has always been privately owned by Hank and John Green. It is now a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit! “It’s never been easier to find information, but it’s also never been harder to know what to trust”. In addition to accessing more support from foundations and grants, this change means we can accept tax-deductible donations from you! You can donate to support our work at any time at complexly.org.

Doctor Driving Behind Man Saves Him After Heart Attack – Tamron Hall Show

Opportunity of a lifetime’: couple who wed at Bad Bunny Super Bowl half-time show included a registered nurse

The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming

ICE. Cold

ICE Is Watching You. Democracy dies by database.

The day before DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s termination of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, U.S. District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes stopped that termination until a pending court case worked its way through the courts. TPS holders participate in the workforce at an exceptionally high rate of 94.6%.  Haitian TPS holders pay $1.3 billion a year in taxes, and through their work in sectors that are desperate for laborers, they add about $3.4 billion to the U.S. economy annually.

Open Letter to Tech Companies: Protect Your Users From Lawless DHS Subpoenas

 

ICE plans to build mega warehouses for immigration detention spark growing concern

Illness Is Rampant Among Children Trapped in ICE’s Massive Jail in Texas

House speaker says ICE is allowed to break down your door

Bannon Calls for ICE to Engage in Voter Intimidation During the Midterms

ICE Tactics Disgrace Us — And Resemble Abuses Closer To Home Than ‘The Gestapo’

MUSIC

Gershwin First Friday Concert -First Presbyterian Church of Albany,  February 6, 2026 (music starts c 9:30) 

City of Heroes – Billy Bragg

Lyin’ and Spinnin’ (and Cheatin’ and Hidin’) – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Never Enough – Turnstile

Main theme for the movie The Long Goodbye by John Williams

A Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Memo – Joker’s Flight

Young Americans – St. Vincent (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)
Water Concerto by Tan Dun

In The Clear – Billy Strings

Medley of Abba songs – Gavin Creel

Bitin’ List – Tyler Childers

Coverville 1567: The Phil Collins Cover Story III and 1568: The Chuck Negron Tribute and Three Dog Night Cover Story

Name that tune! TV theme songs (CBS Sunday Mornings)

These Musical Theatre Songs Made the Billboard Charts

Genre Delve #11: Hardcore vs. Post-Punk J. Eric Smith

“Weird Al” Yankovic Takes The Colbert Questionert

#1 mainstream rock tracks for 1982

Kookaburra

Here are the #1 mainstream rock tracks from 1982.

Everybody Wants You – Billy Squier, 6 weeks at #1 M, #32 pop

Heat of the Moment – Asia, 6 weeks at #1 M, #4 pop

I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, 5 weeks at #1 M, #1 for seven weeks pop. Not to be confused with I Love Rocky Road by Weird Al Yankovic

Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor, 5 weeks at #1 M. #1 for six weeks pop. From the movie Rocky III. cf. Weird Al’s The Rye or the Kaiser.

Down Under – Men At Work, 5 weeks at #1 M, #1 for four weeks pop.  I have the album. I noted here: “In June 2009, the band was sued for copyright infringement, the allegation being that the flute part was lifted from a 1932 Australian song called ‘Kookaburra,'” a song I learned in grade school. “(This is sad: “Greg Ham took the verdict particularly hard, feeling responsible for having performed the flute riff at the centre of the lawsuit and worried that he would only be remembered for copying someone else’s music, resulting in depression and anxiety. Ham’s body was found in his home on 19 April 2012 after he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 58.”

Centerfold – J Geils Band, 3 weeks at #1 M, #1 for six weeks pop. I have a greatest hits CD

Telephone number

867-5309/Jenny – Tommy Tutone, 3 weeks at #1 M, #4 pop . This song definitely has a story.

Think I’m In Love – Eddie Money, 3 weeks at number one M, #16 pop.

Dirty Laundry – Don Henley, 3 weeks at #1 M, #3 for three weeks pop. I have the album

You Got Lucky – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 3 weeks at #1 M, #20 pop. I have the album.

Oh, Pretty Woman – Van Halen, 2 weeks at #1 M, #12 pop. The Orbison original was #1 pop in 1964; I have that too.

New World Man – Rush, 2 weeks at #1 M, #21 pop

Shock The Monkey– Peter Gabriel, two weeks at #1 M, #29 pop. Not only do I own the LP, but I also own the German CD with Schock Den Affen

All the rest were number one for just one week, Mainstream

Don’t Let Him Know – Prism, #39 pop. Co-written by Bryan Adams

No One Likes You – Scorpions, #65 pop

Stone Cold – Rainbow, #40 pop

Hurts So Good – John Cougar, #2 pop for four weeks. Own it on a greatest-hits CD under the name John Mellencamp.

Caught Up In You -38 Special, #10 pop

January rambling: American Hegemony

Rebecca Jade sings the Beatles

Mark Carney Warns “American Hegemony” Is Destroying World Order in Candid Speech

World to exceed 1.5°C heating threshold by 2030

FBI puts the final nail in the coffin of free speech

Philadelphia is suing the regime over the decision to remove an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park depicting the factual history of slavery in the United States.

FOTUS’s  second term delivers massive gains for billionaires as working Americans face cuts and rising costs

Study Reveals Who Is Paying 96% of Regime Tariffs

New CDC guidance could revive childhood meningococcal disease, a rare but deadly disease

Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2025 Update from the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ)

The RootsTech 2026 schedule is live. The world’s largest family discovery event will be taking place March 5-7. Register to hear inspiring speakers, watch exciting keynotes, and get expert help discovering your family story.

The Dangerous Power of Predictive Markets

Also

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Releases 2026 Child Vax Schedule, No Longer Endorses CDC’s Version

Dealing with a sudden death or loss

Bruce Bilson Obituary: Director on The Patty Duke Show, Get Smart, Hogan’s HeroesPlease Don’t Eat the DaisiesThe Doris Day ShowThe Odd CoupleLove, American StyleB.J. and the BearBarney MillerThe Fall GuyHotelDinosaursThe Sentinel and Viper, among others

Forty years ago, they slipped the surly bond of earth

Baseball HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2026: Center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, and second baseman Jeff Kent.

The Trial of the Century: On the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes.

New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident

Element Ball: Letter Gothic

Now I Know: Why Does Toothpaste Make Orange Juice Taste So Awful? and Why Isn’t This Tennis Ball Bouncing? and The Meal That Makes You See Tiny People? and The Panhandle That Failed and Not The Frisco Kids and The $3 Grocery Bag That Became a Global Status Symbol and Every Rose Has Its … Jalen?

ICE

Video Contradicts DHS Claims About Killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Heather Cox Richardson: “Video from the scene shows Pretti directing traffic on a street out of an area with agents around, then trying to help another person get up after she had been pushed to the ground by the agents. The agents then surround Pretti and shoot pepper spray into his face, then pull him to the ground from behind and hit him as he appears to be trying to keep his head off the ground. An agent appears to take a gun out of Pretti’s waistband during the struggle, then turns and leaves with it. A shot then stops Pretti’s movements, appearing to kill him, before nine more shots ring out, apparently as agents continued to fire into his body.It looked like an execution.” 

As William J. Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove noted: “Alex Pretti was killed by people who celebrated his death. They do not need better training. They demand a moral movement to disarm them and reconstruct democracy.”

Legal scholars and political scientists say the regime’s escalating ICE operation, National Guard brinkmanship, and Insurrection Act threats in Minnesota closely resemble conditions identified in civil war simulations, raising alarms about constitutional collapse and violent state-federal conflict. “We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants.”

A photo taken during a protest in south Minneapolis after federal agents killed Alex Pretti encapsulates a story unfolding on America’s streets.

Nurse Alex Pretti’s Death and the Symbolism of the Human Body

Fact Checks

“…when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” — Audre Lorde

Legal Eagle: Unbelievable ICE Memo Just Leaked

Six steps for researching the corporate enablers of ICE

To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers

Why FOTUS Is Finally Waving A White Flag In Minnesota

Pete Buttigieg believes The Ground Is Shifting

Three songs:

Streets of Minneapolis – Bruce Springsteen

ICE, F**K You – A Protest Song for Minneapolis – Scared Ketchup

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent
— often attributed to Thomas Jefferson

MUSIC

Got To Get You Into My Life and Roll Over Beethoven -Peter Sprague, featuring Rebecca Jade from the All You Need is Love album, which you can buy individual tracks or the album here

For No One – MonaLisa Twins

Coverville 1564: The New Order Cover Story IV and 1565: The Flaming Lips Cover Story and 1566: The Bob Weir Tribute

From the CBS Sunday Morning archives: The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir

K-Chuck Radio: A moment of Midnight Oil memory (Rob Hirst)

J. Eric Smith on Bob Weir and Rob Hirst

She’s Not Blind – Roberta Flack

It Ain’t Necessarily So – Ella Fitzgerald · Louis Armstrong

Piece of Denmark – Marsh Family parody of “Piece of My Heart” by Erma Franklin re Greenland/FOTUS

John Fogerty: Tiny Desk Concert 16 Jan 2026

Poseidon and Amphirite: An Ocean Fantasy by John Knowles Paine

I Zimbra – Talking Heads
Third movement from Bach’s Partita No. 3 for solo violin
More music
These Are The Days – the cast of All In The Family (1975)
Stand By Me – The Buzztones
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover– Postmodern Jukebox

Da Doo Ron Ron – the Crystals

Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel

The Man I’m Supposed To Be – Bill Callahan

Popular – Lemon Squeezy with a song from Wicked

Mercedes Benz – Mari Gazen  (Janis Joplin cover)

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da –  The Police

I Just Might – Bruno Mars

That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne and Friends (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder)

J. Eric Smith’s Genre Delve #9: Hip-Hop/Rap and #10: Reggae

Sunday Stealing says, “C’mon, Get Happy!”

walls of books

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

We found this one at CreativeGene. It’s designed inspire “happy thoughts on a frigid January day.” Obviously, temperatures vary based on locale, but it’s a lovely sentiment, so let’s go.

Before answering this, I should note how much the title “C’mon, Get Happy!” resonates with me. I was in a production of Boys in the Band in 1975 in Binghamton, which I wrote about here. The only music cue I can recall was Judy Garland singing Get Happy, from the 1950 movie Summer Stock.

This should not be confused with the Elvis Costello album. Get Happy!

Here are 10 things that make me happy:

1. Having enough money to pay all of my bills. I’m not one of those people who balances his checkbook. (What’s a checkbook?) I just want the money in (Social Security plus some other sources) to be greater than the money going out. It got out of whack in 2025 because some medical reimbursements were less than what they should have been. (It’s too complicated to describe here.) But it has been resolved as of February 2026.

The usual

2. Listening to the music, which should be no surprise. It’s just TOO HARD to wash the dishes, clean the office, etc., without listening to music. (Currently playingMega Hits Dance Classics, including Let’s Get Serious by Jermaine Jackson, which features Stevie Wonder.)

3. Knowing stuff. I will freely admit that I fare less well watching JEOPARDY these days because I’m less up on current popular culture. (How can I keep track of all the shows on all of the streaming services and the big hits on Spotify?) But I know a lot of other things. I keep up with current events. My wife and I do the New York Times news quiz each week, and generally get 10 out of 11 right. The 11th question is usually in the “who cares” category.

4. My office, specifically the wall of books therein, built-in bookshelves in every direction. Many I’ve read, but more I have not. But there are a couple of rows I refer to often, books on music (of course), movies, and television.

5. Singing in the church choir. It’s an oddly collegial thing, especially after retirement.

6. Living in a place with accessible mass transit. The CDTA buses will get me downtown (to the library and church), to the nearest hospital, and to the Best Buy, which is the only store in Crossgates Mall I actually shop at.

7. Reading scripture in church. I’m told I do it well.

8. Reading the newspaper, the physical manifestation, not online.

9. Writing this blog. It’s my therapy and, increasingly, my memory aid.

10. There is a 10th.

 

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