Song of the Week

"Post To Be" - Omarion featuring Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko
This song has two strikes against it 1) it features woman-batterer Chris Brown and 2) it changes "supposed to be" into "post to be", but it also has a lot going for it 1) Omarion of B2K fame and 2) a sample of reggae classic "Murder She Wrote."

Near-Death Experience

There's an old joke about the baseball player who said he missed a home run by an inch. The listener asks "oh it hit the top of the fence" and the ballplayer replies "no, it missed my bat by an inch."
Similarly, I missed death or serious injury by an inch or two on the way to work a couple weeks ago.
The road wasn't particularly damp and I don't think it was raining or snowing at the time, but I came upon some sudden traffic, and the car in front of me braked suddenly, and I did the same, not jamming my brakes, and not getting anywhere near the car in front of me, when I hear a horrible screeching sound behind me. I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a van skidding towards me (on a 3-lane road I was in the left, he was skidding between left and center, and the center laners were moving to the right lane to avoid him.)
I watched and listened and braced for impact, but he finally came to a stop, at a 20 degree angle, in both lanes, inches from my rear bumper.
Strange feeling sitting there watching a potentially serious accident come skidding towards you with nothing to do but wait and hope.
Thankfully it worked out fine, but my heart was beating pretty fast for the next few minutes.

World's Oldest Person Curse

This is Misao Okawa. She is about to fall victim to a curse worse than the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.

At 117 she is now the world's oldest person. That's because the previous world's oldest person died. Same thing happened to the one before that, and the one before that and you get the picture. Being named the world's oldest person is a curse. They're dropping like flies, usually within a short period after getting the title, they pass it on the next poor schlub who should being writing a will.

Here are some facts about her:
She was born in 1898
She has 3 kids, 4 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren
Her son is in his 90s
She has been a widow for nearly 84 years