The very first bomb dropped on Berlin in WWII killed the only elephant in the Berlin zoo.

My personalized plates came today! So Gerta is filled with 2.5 quarts of oil, has a fresh lube job and braggin' out back.
We had these plates in CA, too, and that dates back to the mid-70's. I kept the plate when we moved to MI (where it was already taken) and hung it in my workshop. I hung it out in the garage when we moved into this house. AZ doesn't require a front plate but you get two when you order personalized plates so you can put one on the front if you want. Gerta doesn't have a place for a front plate so the second one hangs below the CA original.
Today is Pam's birthday so we took Gerta out for dinner to Bravi, one of our favorite places. Tuscan food. It was Pam's first ride in Gerta and she'd forgotten just how snug a Beetle is. Driving to dinner we recalled that 37+ years ago we rode from our wedding to the reception in the back seat of her folks Beetle! Her parents lived in Las Vegas at the time and it was an August wedding, which made for a 107 degree day. Best man drove, maid of honor next to him, and the two of us in the back. Wouldn't do that now.
Couldn't do that now.

I've sent Pres. Obama a letter offering my services as Sect. of Commerce. I go shopping once in awhile and I've got decent legs.

Sunday in Foundations we'll finish up our look at "Which Bible?" This morning I put together a sheet with three passages in three different versions that we'll use for comparison, but only after we've worked through the criteria for what makes a good version. Should be interesting.

Put 3.6 million people in an area of 9,000 square miles and you'll get plenty of interesting news stories. One recent example has to do with the prostitution ring the local authorities busted last summer, an outfit known as Desert Divas. This was a pretty big operation with links to similar enterprises in three other states, and brought in an average of $250,000 a month for its principles, including a local radiologist. That quarter million dollars is net, and employees didn't work cheap.
The local ABC affiliate filed a Freedom of Information request and as a result got the 600-page client list the authorities found when they raided Desert Divas. Then, for reasons that undoubtedly have more to do with profits than public service the station decided to publish the list on their website.

It does make for interesting reading. Not much of a plot line, but fascinating details. It records the client's name, the date, the Desert Diva employee and the fee paid. The client's address and phone number have been blocked out but in some cases it identifies the location of "service."
I'm assuming that at least some of the clients used fake names, unless there really is a guy out there named "Bad Dog." But others, never imagining their names would be published like this on the internet, seem to have used their real names.
These are not guys unwilling to spend money. The average fee seems to have been $350 and many spent much more. A surprising number of the trysts took place at the Arizona Biltmore, one of the oldest (1930) and classiest resorts in town. The cheap rooms start at $400 a night and go up, way up from there. Hollywood celebs and athletes like to stay there..have for decades. It's a very refined place. And they can't be thrilled to see their name in print, at least in this context.

Like many news sites this one allows people to post comments. Last I looked all the comments for this story had the same take on it: prostitution is an business transaction between two consenting adults and shouldn't be illegal. Putting these poor guys' names on the internet will do nothing but ruin their lives for something that is nobody's business but their own. And law enforcement has better things to do than harass these men.
The problems associated with prostitution are well established. Even the United Nations, not known for conservative positions, has condemned prostitution.
But what struck me as particularly odd about the posted comments is that they all took aim at the at the authorities for harassing these guys. Wait a minute. The cops have had this information for months and just sat on it. They were in front of the microphones today saying that if there is any pursuit of the men who used Desert Divas it's months away and probably not worth the effort given that all they have is names - names that are probably false and in any case match men all over the country.
If it weren't for KNXV-TV none of us would have known anything about the list or the names on it. The TV station filed a freedom of inforation request to get the list and then made the decision to publish it.
We need a free press. But here is an example of the press run amok. A station manager, an editor, somebody should have been thinking beyond the bottom line to responsible journalism.
Yes, prostitution is illegal and the men who used Desert Divas broke the law (it's a misdemeanor here). But a glance at the names on that list shows some that are so common as to fit several men in the Phoenix metro area. That's one of the reasons the cops aren't in a hurry to put limited man hours into pursuing them. (I checked. There aren't any Craig MacDonalds on the list.) If the station manager's name was on that list...?
The press doesn't enjoy a great reputation in American thinking. Questions of objectivity are particularly common following the election. But this seems to be a case of greed - profit motive over basic sound judgment.
And the fact that none of the posters in the comment section caught on to that can only encourage KNXV to take the same low road the next time money is to be made.