A Mouseketeer Has Gone.

 

A member of the original Micky Mouse Club "Mouseketeers" - and the subject of many a young teenage boy's day-dreams - Annette Funicello passed away on the 8th. of April 2013, succumbing at age 70 to complications brought on by her long battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Apart from being a Mouseketeer, Annette will also be forever associated with Frankie Avalon (pictured together above) and her appearance and singing in "Beach Party" movies.
(At today's date Frankie Avalon is 72 and living in the USA).

Annette had several Top Twenty hits in the 1960s, including "Tall Paul", "O Dio Mio" and "Pineapple Princess".

A lovely girl who, as she grew up and went from childhood to young-adulthood to senior-citizen, never lost her charms.

One of my teenage crushes has slipped away.

Baroness Thatcher

I remember well her determination to restore the Union Jack to the Falklands and I sat riveted to the screen each night when the news came on, eager to see the latest update, yet fearing the worst for the British forces.
Her "Rejoice"! is now an historical quote, and rightly so, as the outcome did a huge amount to restore self-confidence and pride in the majority of British people.

Not for her the namby-pamby approach.
"Maggie" was as subtle as a bull in a china shop, but everyone knew where they stood.
She was Churchillian.

R.I.P Baroness Thatcher.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Why has the Canberra Times (masthead shown above) dropped the use of the words "yesterday", "today" and "tomorrow" when reporting on matters and events?

I've noticed that this practice has been in operation for some time. I find it annoying and, in some cases, confusing.

For example - I will buy a newspaper this morning (Wednesday 3rd. April 2013) and when reading through it I will notice the following peculiarities:-

• Reports relating to something which occurred yesterday will say "Tuesday" instead of "yesterday".
• Items concerning something which will be happening tomorrow will say "Thursday" in lieu of "tomorrow".
• Most annoying of all, however, is that the newspaper does not refer to "today" when informing us of a matter relating to this very day of issue but they will say "Wednesday"!

This third practice caused confusion yesterday - yes, Canberra Times, YESTERDAY, not "Tuesday" - to whit:-

The paper had an item regarding the closing of the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery.

The report stated that it was closing on "Tuesday" yet the paper in which the article was printed was Tuesday's (2nd. April) edition.

So which "Tuesday" was one to conclude that the exhibition was closing?

Next Tuesday (9th. April) would have been the natural assumption. After all, if it was closing on Tuesday 2nd. then surely the term "today" would have been used, would it not?

But no - we now have a newspaper which has removed the three basic words relating to the passage of time and which have been in use for centuries.

Why?