Bottom of the News… Friday, May 28, 2010
Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning I want to pay tribute to a great American, Art Linkletter. Known for his Kids Say The Darndest Things TV segments and books – Linkletter passed away this past Wednesday (May 26) at age of 97.
Art Linkletter hosted TV's "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and '60s and delighted viewers with his ability to get kids to share too much information on national television.
Linkletter was born Arthur Gordon Kelly on July 17, 1912, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. His unwed mother put him up for adoption when he was a baby and at the age of 5 his new family moved to San Diego.
He recalled his preacher-father forced him to take odd jobs to help the family. So Linkletter ran away from home and became a hobo, hopping trains across the West, working where he could. He recalled later that he felt the religious faith instilled by his father had been a great gift.
"Because of Art Linkletter, adults found themselves enjoying children," said Bill Cosby, whose style interviewing kids on his own show in the late '90s was often compared to Linkletter's.
"Art Linkletter's House Party," one of television's longest-running variety shows, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS-TV from 1952 to 1969. The best known feature was the daily interviews with schoolchildren.
The down-to-earth charm of Linkletter's broadcast persona seemed to be mirrored by his private life with his wife of more than a half-century, Lois. They had five children, whom he wrote about in his books and called the "Links."
In 1969, his 20-year-old daughter Diane jumped to her death from her sixth-floor Hollywood apartment. He blamed her death on LSD use, but tests found no LSD and yet the tragedy prompted Linkletter to become a staunch crusader against drugs.
Art Linkletter got his first taste of broadcasting with a part-time job while attending San Diego State College in the early 1930s. He graduated in 1934. "I was studying to be an English professor," Linkletter once said. "But as they say, life is what happens to you while you're making other plans."
He held a series of radio and promotion jobs in California and Texas, experimenting with audience participation and remote broadcasts, before forming his own production company in the 1940s and striking it big with "People Are Funny" and "House Party."
After leaving daily broadcasting in 1969, Linkletter continued to write, lecture and appear in television commercials. Among his other books, were "Old Age is Not for Sissies," "How To Be a Supersalesman," "Confessions of a Happy Man," "Hobo on the Way to Heaven" and his autobiography, “I Didn't Do It Alone."
"Life is not fair ... not easy," Linkletter said in 1990. "Outside, peer pressure can wreak havoc with the nicest families. So that's the part that's a gamble. But I'm an optimist. Even though I've had tragedies in my life, and I've seen a lot of difficult things, I still am an optimist,"
Linkletter is survived by his wife, Lois whom he was married to for 74 years; along with two of his children, daughters Dawn Griffin and Sharon Linkletter, as well as seven grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
Linkletter admitted that his grandkids were more impressed by his picture being on the $100,000 bill from the board game, Life, which he endorsed in the ’60s, than with any of his TV shows.
His grandkids also went crazy when Linkletter appeared as a caricature in a Bugs Bunny cartoon that spoofed his old TV show, People Are Funny.
In 2005, when re-issuing his 1957 best-seller, Linkletter said…“Kids between ages four to 10 are still the same. They don’t want to eat their oatmeal and would like to get rid of their sister.”
A close friend said, “What a wonderful man. I used to laugh so hard I would cry listening to him talk to the children and their answers. Art was truly a blessing from God.”
Art Hershey, Linkletter’s son-in-law, said on Wednesday, "He lived a long, full, pure life, and the Lord finally had a need for him."
And there you have it, Art Linkletter, an American icon in an era gone by. And that’s our news for this Friday, May 28, 2010.
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Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Bottom of the News… Friday, May 21, 2010
Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning we have been able to secure an actual job application from a 75 year old senior citizen submitted to a Wal-Mart In California…
NAME: Kenneth Way (grumpy old man)
SEX: Not lately, still looking for the right woman.
DESIRED POSITION: Company president or VP. But seriously, whatever is available. If I was in a position to be picky, I would not be applying here in the first place, right?
DESIRED SALARY: $185,000 a year, plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package. It that’s not possible, make me an offer and we can haggle.
EDUCATION: Yes.
LAST POSTION HELD: Target, in Middle Management Hostility
PREVIOUS SALARY: A lot less than I’m worth!
MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.
REASON FOR LEAVING: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.
HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK: Any.
PREFERRED HOURS: 1:30 to 3:30, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?: I’m sure I do, but it sucks that I can’t remember what they are!
MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?: If I had one, would I be here?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 POUNDS?: Of what?
DO YOU HAVE A CAR?: I think the more appropriate question here would be… “Do you have a car that runs?”
HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?: I may already be a winner of the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes, so they tell me.
DO YOU SMOKE?: On the job – oh no! On my breaks – you bet!
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS? Living in the Bahamas with a fabulouosly wealthy blonde supermodel who thinks I am the greates thing since sliced bread! Actually, I’d like to be doing that now.
NEAREST RELATIVE: 7 miles.
DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE?: Oh yes, absolutely!
And, as it turned out, Wal-mart hired Kenneth to be a greeter because they thought he was funny! And that is our Bottom of News for this Friday, May 21, 2010.
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Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning we have been able to secure an actual job application from a 75 year old senior citizen submitted to a Wal-Mart In California…
NAME: Kenneth Way (grumpy old man)
SEX: Not lately, still looking for the right woman.
DESIRED POSITION: Company president or VP. But seriously, whatever is available. If I was in a position to be picky, I would not be applying here in the first place, right?
DESIRED SALARY: $185,000 a year, plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package. It that’s not possible, make me an offer and we can haggle.
EDUCATION: Yes.
LAST POSTION HELD: Target, in Middle Management Hostility
PREVIOUS SALARY: A lot less than I’m worth!
MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.
REASON FOR LEAVING: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.
HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK: Any.
PREFERRED HOURS: 1:30 to 3:30, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?: I’m sure I do, but it sucks that I can’t remember what they are!
MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?: If I had one, would I be here?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 POUNDS?: Of what?
DO YOU HAVE A CAR?: I think the more appropriate question here would be… “Do you have a car that runs?”
HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?: I may already be a winner of the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes, so they tell me.
DO YOU SMOKE?: On the job – oh no! On my breaks – you bet!
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS? Living in the Bahamas with a fabulouosly wealthy blonde supermodel who thinks I am the greates thing since sliced bread! Actually, I’d like to be doing that now.
NEAREST RELATIVE: 7 miles.
DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE?: Oh yes, absolutely!
And, as it turned out, Wal-mart hired Kenneth to be a greeter because they thought he was funny! And that is our Bottom of News for this Friday, May 21, 2010.
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Bottom of the News… Friday, April 9, 2010
Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning I want to ask you all a question… how many of you that don’t have HR people do the interviewing to hire people for your company? Okay, and I would guess that you most likely have some type of process that includes what questions you can and cannot ask right?
Well, according to our very own HR guru, Wil Meiers, it never hurts to have a few “creative” questions to make your interviews more interesting…
• What was your best MacGyver moment?
• How many tennis balls can you fill this room with?
• If you were a brick in a wall, which brick would you be and why?
• Are your parents disappointed with your career aspirations?
• Tell me how you would determine how many house painters there are in the United States.
• If I put you in a sealed room with a phone that had no dial tone, how would you fix it?
• If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
• How many hair salons are there in Japan?
• How do you measure nine minutes using only a four-minute and one-minute hourglass?
• What is the probability of throwing 11 and over with 2 dice?
• Say you are dead. What do you think your eulogy would say about you?
• How many light bulbs are in this building?
• How would you sell me eggnog in Florida in the summer?
• If you saw someone steal a quarter, would you report it?
• And finally, should you be on the other side of this interview, what might your answers be?
And there you have it, oddball interview questions as the Bottom of the News on this Friday, April 9, 2010. ###
Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning I want to ask you all a question… how many of you that don’t have HR people do the interviewing to hire people for your company? Okay, and I would guess that you most likely have some type of process that includes what questions you can and cannot ask right?
Well, according to our very own HR guru, Wil Meiers, it never hurts to have a few “creative” questions to make your interviews more interesting…
• What was your best MacGyver moment?
• How many tennis balls can you fill this room with?
• If you were a brick in a wall, which brick would you be and why?
• Are your parents disappointed with your career aspirations?
• Tell me how you would determine how many house painters there are in the United States.
• If I put you in a sealed room with a phone that had no dial tone, how would you fix it?
• If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
• How many hair salons are there in Japan?
• How do you measure nine minutes using only a four-minute and one-minute hourglass?
• What is the probability of throwing 11 and over with 2 dice?
• Say you are dead. What do you think your eulogy would say about you?
• How many light bulbs are in this building?
• How would you sell me eggnog in Florida in the summer?
• If you saw someone steal a quarter, would you report it?
• And finally, should you be on the other side of this interview, what might your answers be?
And there you have it, oddball interview questions as the Bottom of the News on this Friday, April 9, 2010. ###
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Bottom of the News… Friday, May 14, 2010
Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning we have three real news stories from around the world…
(San Francisco Chronicle) Several floors of a San Francisco office building were evacuated after a man walked into a law firm's office with a pipe with blinking lights strapped to his chest. He told everyone he had a bomb, and he "threatened to blow the place up," said Assistant District Attorney Andrew Clark. The "bomb" with blinky lights was eventually determined to be fake. Antonio Scardina, 44, told police he “snapped” when his life long dream was not realized earlier that day. Scardina was turned down as a contestant on the game show "The Price is Right."
(Monroe Monitor, WA) After an armored car was robbed in front of a bank in Monroe, Wash., police were reasonably confident they'd find the culprit who was described as wearing a yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and a blue shirt. But when officers arrived on the scenes they found more than a dozen men dressed in exactly the same way. All responding to an ad on Craigslists for road workers, who were told to meet at the bank at that time wearing a "Yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask ... and, if possible, a blue shirt.” The robber has still not been found.
(Nashville Tennessean) A driver of an SUV hit a fox near Dover, TN and decided to retrieve the animal because he wanted the bushy tail. He put the body of the fox in his back seat and continued toward home. Soon he heard noise in his back seat and realized the fox was still alive. The angry fox jumped toward the driver and as he tried to shield himself he lost control and rolled the vehicle. Police reported there were one injury and one fatality… The driver sustained minor injuries and the fox was now really dead. And… driver's name was Tommy Fox.
And there you have it that is our Bottom of News for this Friday, May 14, 2010.
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Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning we have three real news stories from around the world…
(San Francisco Chronicle) Several floors of a San Francisco office building were evacuated after a man walked into a law firm's office with a pipe with blinking lights strapped to his chest. He told everyone he had a bomb, and he "threatened to blow the place up," said Assistant District Attorney Andrew Clark. The "bomb" with blinky lights was eventually determined to be fake. Antonio Scardina, 44, told police he “snapped” when his life long dream was not realized earlier that day. Scardina was turned down as a contestant on the game show "The Price is Right."
(Monroe Monitor, WA) After an armored car was robbed in front of a bank in Monroe, Wash., police were reasonably confident they'd find the culprit who was described as wearing a yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and a blue shirt. But when officers arrived on the scenes they found more than a dozen men dressed in exactly the same way. All responding to an ad on Craigslists for road workers, who were told to meet at the bank at that time wearing a "Yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask ... and, if possible, a blue shirt.” The robber has still not been found.
(Nashville Tennessean) A driver of an SUV hit a fox near Dover, TN and decided to retrieve the animal because he wanted the bushy tail. He put the body of the fox in his back seat and continued toward home. Soon he heard noise in his back seat and realized the fox was still alive. The angry fox jumped toward the driver and as he tried to shield himself he lost control and rolled the vehicle. Police reported there were one injury and one fatality… The driver sustained minor injuries and the fox was now really dead. And… driver's name was Tommy Fox.
And there you have it that is our Bottom of News for this Friday, May 14, 2010.
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