Don Grant Newsletter

Welcome to issue #105 of the Donald M. Grant Newsletter
17 December 2019

INVENTED PEOPLE
by award winning artist, Rick Berry
Foreword by Neil Gaiman
Only $24.95!

We're proud to announce our new imprint ! VIENNA BOOKS !
with the publication of this brilliant book of contemporary art.
Filled cover to cover with over 40 genre bending paintings by acclaimed artist, Rick Berry. His commissions include collector edition illustrated novels by Stephen King, Peter Straub, George R.R. Martin, Bram Stoker, and more.

Foreword by master storyteller, Neil Gaiman
(Sandman, Good Omens, American Gods, Coraline, etc.) begins ...

"Rick Berry is, to my mind, the most interesting and versatile artist currently working, conjuring faces and bodies and worlds out of formless chaos..."
Neil Gaiman

Perfect bound, soft cover with french folds, 48 pages
Enjoy a large single image on each 9 x 12" page!

ORDER AT:

https://secure.grantbooks.com/product/invented-people/

Thank you.

Robert K. Wiener,
President
Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.

The Spoon

Last week, we took some friends to a new restaurant, 'Steve's Place,' and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a little strange. When the busboy brought our water and utensils, I observed that he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I inquired, 'Why the spoon?'

'Well,' he explained, 'the restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all of our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. ‘If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.'

As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he replaced it with his spare. 'I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.' I was impressed. I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's fly. Looking around, I saw that all of the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies. So, before he walked off, I asked the waiter, 'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?'

‘Oh, certainly!' Then he lowered his voice. 'Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also learned that we can save time in the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of our you-know-what, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39%.

I asked quietly, 'After you get it out, how do you put it back?'

'Well,' he whispered, 'I don't know about the others, but I use my spoon.'

1940's Slang

Slang:

Gremlins (bugs or fictional creatures that mess up things - like airplanes)
Ticker (heart)
Jitterbug - the Lindy Hop
Cats (jazz fans)
Killer Diller (good stuff)
18 Karat (excellent)
Lay some skin on me Flynn! (greeting from a jazz fan)
Alligator or Gator (swing fan - see ya later.)
Beat me daddy, eight to the bar... (play it hot!)
Ball (good time)
Twern't me McGee! (denial - from Fibber Mcgee and Molly radio show)
Snap your cap (blow your cool, get angry)
The bomb (very good - cool)
Hooch, booze (alcohol)
Licorice stick (clarinet)
Greetings Gates (hello!)
Threads (clothing)
Well, allreet! (Alright!)
Dame (woman)
What do ya know, what do ya say? (Hello, how are you?)

1940's Trivia

Do You Know?

1. What was the average annual income of the American family in 1944? $1,299
2. Who were "Dem Bums"? Brooklyn Dodgers
3. What does, "Going like sixty," mean? 60 miles an hour - pretty fast highway speed until the late 30s!
4. What was the Glenn Miller Orchestra theme song? Moonlight Serenade
5. Who said, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The announcer for the radio show “The Shadow”.
6. How much did a loaf of bread cost in 1941? 8 cents
7. What does SNAFU mean? Situation Normal -- All F_cked Up
8. Who was Kilroy? Character in drawings that showed up everywhere, symbolizing American soldier presence.
9. Who or what was a gob? A Navy man.
10. In 1941, who is president, VP, and the Army Chief of Staff? FDR, Henry Wallace, George C. Marshall
11. Who was in charge of the "College of Musical Knowledge?" Band leader Kay Kyser
12. Who was "Rosie the Riveter?" Symbol of the woman in the wartime work force.
13. Who was Ernie Pyle? Famous journalist that accompanied soldiers at the front who wrote for the GI.
14. What was the value of an "A" gas sticker? 3 gallons
15. Who was the known as the King of Hi De Ho?" Cab Calloway
16. What candy coated chocolates perfect for soldiers in the field who could not afford to let their hands or their weapons to become sticky were invented in 1940 by Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie? M and M's
16. What was the name of the new dance craze in the 1940's? The Lindy Hop
17. What voluptuous star exploded onto the screen in "The Outlaw?" Jane Russell
18. What is the meaning of "Rosebud?" From the Movie Citizen Kane - Kane's sled
19. What selective service code was used to determine that a man was fit for active military duty? A1
20. Who was the lead female singer for the Kay Kyser Orchestra in 1941? Ginny Simms

Letter from Target

A retiree’s wife insisted that he accompany her on her trips to Target. Unfortunately, like most men; he found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Equally unfortunate, his wife like most women loved to browse. After about 5 months of accompanying her his wife received the following letter from the local Target:

Dear Mrs. Murphy:

Over the past few months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to, ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Murphy, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras:

1. June 15: He took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money. We don't have a Code 3.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

6. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.

8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called.

9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while, loudly humming the, 'Mission Impossible' theme.

12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his, 'Madonna Look' using different sizes of funnels.

13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'

14. October 22: When an announcement came over the loudspeaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed; 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'

15. Took a box of condoms to the checkout clerk and asked where is the fitting room? And last, but not least:

16. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile; then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the clerks passed out.

BUBBA

His name was Bubba, he was from Mississippi ...

And he needed a loan,

So... He walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan Officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Paris for an International redneck
festival for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000; and that he was not a depositor of the bank.

The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Redneck handed over the keys to a new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. The Redneck produced the title and everything checked out. The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest. Later, the bank's president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the Redneck from the South
for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank's private underground garage and parked it.

Two weeks later, the Redneck returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07. The loan officer said, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled.

While you were away, we checked you out on Dunn & Bradstreet and found that you are a Distinguished Alumni from Ole Miss University, a highly sophisticated investor and Multi-Millionaire with real estate and financial interests all over the world. Your investments include a large number of wind turbines around Sweetwater, Texas. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?"

The good 'ole boy replied, "Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?"

His name was BUBBA....

Keep an eye on those southern boys!

Lying

10 Indicators It May Be Happening

Let’s face it: Most of us lie every day. A famous study by a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts found that “60% of people lied at least once during a 10-minute conversation and told an average of two to three lies.” Most of us are not very good at spotting a lie. And science so far hasn’t done much better. Polygraph machines (popularly referred to as lie detectors) aren’t reliable enough to be used in most courts. And while brain researchers keep trying
to unravel the mechanism of lying, they have come up with nothing definitive. Even so, knowing a few things about lies and their tellers might someday help you. Here are some of the more popular techniques researchers and others working in law enforcement recommend when trying to spot a lie:

1. Voice changes
Changes in a person’s normal behavior can betray discomfort of some sort, and might be a tip-off to lies. These departures from normal behavior are most useful when you are observing someone you know well and are familiar with their normal patterns, and departures from those patterns. If you don’t know your subject well, spend time paying attention to how she or he normally talks and acts when relaxed. Is her speech normally slow or quick, loud or soft?
What is the quality of his voice usually like? Then, watch for distinct, but not subtle, changes from the normal pattern, retired FBI criminal profiler Gregg McCrary tells Real Simple.

2. Fidgeting
Guilt and the accompanying anxiety are thought to cause some people — although perhaps not accomplished liars — to squirm and fidget. But experts disagree on whether fidgeting really is a telltale sign of lying. Again, it might be more important to know whether fidgeting is typical for a person, or if it is an unusual behavior. Some people do the opposite of fidgeting — they cope with stress by standing still or freezing.

3. Protesting too much
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” says Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, while watching a play in which a character swears she’ll never remarry if her husband dies. The queen is pointing out that liars sometimes give themselves away by making too big a point of proclaiming their innocence. A twist on this is when someone loudly denies guilt or takes offense at the idea they might be thought guilty even though no one has actually accused them of anything. This hostile defensiveness can include finger-pointing.

4. Vowing honesty
Liars often work too hard to demonstrate their honesty, and that can be a dead giveaway. They’ll make too much use of vows and expressions like “to tell the truth,” “to be perfectly honest,” “I swear on a stack of Bibles” and “as God is my witness.”

5. Subtle eye movements
Lying is thought to be stressful for most liars. They have to think about what’s true and concoct a story that departs from the truth, causing a level of strain that, even when it’s subtle, may be observable. This stress can show up in a number of unconscious gestures. Liars are said to look away, or perhaps glance at an exit, betraying a desire to escape, says Psychology Today. Liars sometimes point their feet or even move their bodies in the direction of the exit.

6. Throat clearing
When you are talking with someone who clears his or her throat repeatedly or continues swallowing hard, see if you can figure out the reason for it. The person might just have something stuck in their throat, but be aware that stress can make your mouth dry, forcing a liar to try to relieve the condition.

7. TMI
Liars, at least unskilled ones — and we can all hope that the liars in our lives at least aren’t very good at it — may try to create a distraction by offering much too much information. If you find yourself wondering why you’re getting all this unnecessary detail, sit back, watch and listen. Then, ask yourself what’s going on.

8. Touching the mouth
People who hold their hands around their mouth, covering it or touching it, are unconsciously betraying the fact that they’re lying, behavioral analyst Lillian Glass tells Business Insider: “When adults put their hands over their lips, it means they aren’t revealing everything, and they just don’t want to tell the truth,” she says. “They are literally closing off communication.”

9. Signs of nervousness
Nervousness betrays many liars. Signs of nervousness aren’t hard to spot. For example, someone who is nervous may experience changes in their breathing tempo. Under stress, a person’s shoulders rise and fall, and his or her voice rises.

10. Fixed staring
Blinking, looking away and the inability to look you in the eye are supposed to be signs of evasion with some people. Others, though, may look you right in the eye and lie — but they can give themselves away by staring too intently or failing to blink, Glass says. This brazen behavior might be the sign of a more-accomplished liar. Financial scammer Bernard Madoff, “like most con men, overcompensated and stared at people longer than usual, often without blinking
at regular intervals,” Glass tells Business Insider.

[Source: Money Talks News | https://youtu.be/tglBL_A40Es | October 1, 2019 ++]