The Widdershins

Red curry squash & lentil soup

Good Saturday morning Widdershins.  It is Saturday morning as I write this, albeit a bit early.  The thunderstorms which were supposed to die off with the setting sun are being especially persistent this morning.  That being the case, lets take a look at some of the odd, funny or different things in the news that caught my eye.

It’s not American Idol or The Voice but I don’t care

It seems like the airlines are again in the news with a captain again making an unscheduled stop, this time in Kansas City.  It wasn’t movie issues this time but rather a woman who thought she might be the next Whitney or Dolly Parton.

he American Airlines flight made an emergency stop at Kansas City International Airport due to an unruly passenger, authorities said.

The woman disrupted the flight in part by belting out Whitney Houston songs. And based on the video posted by a passenger on the flight, the woman won’t be getting a golden ticket onto the American Idol competition anytime soon.

The American Airlines flight departed Los Angeles International Airport at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. It was headed to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

[snip]

“The woman was being disruptive and was removed from the plane for interfering with the flight crew,” airport spokesman Joe McBride said Friday. “There was a federal air marshal on the aircraft, who subdued the woman and put her in cuffs and removed her from the plane.”

As she was leaving the plane, she crooned, “I will always love you,” which was written by Dolly Parton. Both Parton and Houston performed the song.

The plane took off from KCI at 7:11 p.m.

I’ll let you sample her vocal stylings below.

I especially like the voice of the flight attendant shouting “no photos taken on the airplane!”.   Uh-huh, that’s why there are all of those youtube videos of people taking pictures of the outside of the airplane.  Is it perhaps a super-secret stealth airliner?

But it’s’ green energy!

Seriously, I am not knocking wind energy.  I’m really not, but perhaps we could, say, put giant screen coverings over the blades so eagles and falcons don’t fly into them?  Now I do come from an oil and gas producing state but that doesn’t meant I don’t see the benefits of wind power, so when I quote from a WaPo article below I’m not taking sides.

CONVERSE COUNTY, Wyo. — Wind farms in this corner of Wyoming have killed more than four dozen golden eagles since 2009, one of the deadliest places in the country of its kind.

But so far, the companies operating industrial-sized turbines here and elsewhere that are killing eagles and other protected birds have yet to be fined or prosecuted – even though every death is a criminal violation.

The Obama administration has charged oil companies for drowning birds in their waste pits, and power companies for electrocuting birds on power lines.

But the administration has never fined or prosecuted a wind-energy company, even those that flout the law repeatedly.

[snip]

The large death toll at wind farms shows how the renewable energy rush comes with its own environmental consequences, trade-offs the Obama administration is willing to make in the name of cleaner energy.

The article is a 5 page piece and I urge you take a look at it.  I think it shows that despite the best of our intentions, we sometimes run into unintended consequences.

You see what happens when you mess around with Social Security?
or “what am I going to tell your grandchildren?”

Truth to tell, I dearly would have loved it if this had happened with Paul Ryan’s granddaddy but of course it won’t.

A 75-year-old resident of a New Jersey senior citizen housing complex is suspected of running a prostitution ring that employed some elderly residents as sex workers, NBC 4 New York has learned.

The suspect, James Parham, 75, was also accused, along with Cheryl Chaney, 66, of allowing residents and visitors to use crack in their apartments, police said.

Both are charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a nuisance, and Chaney is also charged with possession of crack cocaine.

In Parham’s case, the nuisance charge relates to allowing prostitution in his apartment and in Chaney’s case, it relates to allowing drug use in hers.

Englewood Police Chief Arthur O’Keefe told NBC 4 New York on Tuesday that Parham ran the prostitution ring through his apartments, and employed a mix of young women and older residents.

Now this next part left me just shaking my head.

Kevin Thomas, who has loved ones living in the complex, said he couldn’t understand why older people were turning to crime.

“Why they wait so late in life to start doing stuff they should have did years ago, or shouldn’t have touched period, why do you wait this late?” he said.

Well Kevin, you try living on what granny and grandpa are trying to get by on and see how it goes.

Finally, I put up the picture of the soup for our good and dear friend Beata.  Beata, if you want the recipe, you can find it here.

I’m setting this to post a little bit later since it’s a Saturday and we all love to sleep in.

Okay Widdershins, what’s going on in your world today?   Let me know in the comments below.

This is an open thread.