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James King Aurness

From CNN: Former “Gunsmoke” actor James Arness, who played Marshal Matt Dillon in the western TV series for 20 years, died Friday from natural causes, according to his website. He was 88.

Over the two decades of “Gunsmoke” episodes from 1955 to 1975, Arness worked with hundreds of actors, some of them just up-and-comers such as Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds and Charles Bronson. He also worked with Bette Davis.

Arness left behind a letter to his fans, which was posted on his website after his death:
“I had a wonderful life and was blessed with some many loving people and great friends. The best part of my life was my family, especially my wife, Janet. Many of you met her at Dodge City so you understand what a special person she is,” Arness wrote.

“I wanted to take this time to thank all of you for the many years of being a fan of ‘Gunsmoke,’ ‘The Thing,’ ‘How the West Was Won’ and all the other fun projects I was lucky enough to have been allowed to be a part of. I had the privilege of working with so many great actors over the years.

“I was honored to have served in the army for my country. I was at Anzio during WWII and it makes you realize how very precious life is,” Arness wrote.

“Thank you again for all the many letters, cards, emails and gifts we received from you over the years. You are and always have been truly appreciated,” he concluded.

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Global embarrassment

German newscaster Mick Locher of channel N24 explains the meaning of the US Navy Seal Six Team emblem during a segment about the raid on Bin Laden’s compound.

“And they also have the ‘Team Six’ that carried out the mission. They don’t have the skull in their emblem for nothing,” Locher said.

The only problem is the emblem he’s describing is not that of the US Navy Seal Six Team. It’s a fan-made emblem for the fictitious “Maquis” rebel group from Star Trek and nobody knew any different at the news station. The skull to which he’s referring is that of a “klingon” and those are “bat’leths” (klingon weapons) surrounding it.

This is a perfect example of why I don’t trust broadcast news.

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Morons

I rarely eat “fast” food and try to make it policy to not eat “food” that comes in a paper bag. Today was an exception.

The past several weeks have been very busy with work (I save the world, one computer at a time) and today was no different. Having not eaten in almost 8 hours and only enough time to scarf something down within minutes, I stopped at the nearest choke-n-puke in site; the Golden Arches Cafe.

My order was simple: coke, fries, and a burger. I paid the latino at the first window and proceeded to the second.

Let’s recap: coke, fries, and a burger.

The latino at the second window handed over the goods and I was off.

After gnawing down the fries, I started to work on the burger. It wasn’t until I was half through with it that I realized it was a chicken sandwich instead of a burger. Oh well, not a big deal. I ate the thing anyway.

I then saw something that made my day.

The receipt listed a coke, fries, and a burger. The bag contained a coke, fries, and a chicken sandwich.

The receipt was attached to the bag with a sticker that read “double-checked for accuracy”.