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- December 17, 2022
- National Wreaths Across America Day 2022
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Most years the Army lays wreaths on the graves of those interred at Fort Jackson National Cemetery off of Percival Road in Columbia, SC.
This is a part of the holiday season in a militiary oriented town. It is touching to visit the grave of my beloved late stepfather and see his headstone decked out with a large fresh wreath with red ribbon as I have so many times in years gone by.
I know several individuals who live nearby and volunteer to lay those wreaths as well. It is a labor of love and admiration for the fallen heroes of these United States.
National Wreaths Across America Day is a day to
"Remember fallen U.S. veterans; honor those who serve; and teach your children the value of freedom."
This observance happens yearly each third Saturday in December at Arlington National Cemetery.
It is also frequently observed at Fort Jackson National Cemetery.
Wreaths are laid and we as family and friends remember both those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and those who currently serve in the armed forces.
Rest in peace Johnny Pruett. This day is for you.
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- December 16, 2022
- Passing out Christmas Cards 2022
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I went passing out Christmas Cards for the holiday season.
It was a hoot as usual with my majestic Santa Claus hat atop my head.
I went to all my most utilized vendors and gave everybody a card with a little sumpin sumpin inside for a spot of lunch or beverage of their choice.
It's a holiday tradition began many years back which I've attempted to maintain into retirement ...
Seeing how I meet the bills and want to share my blessing during the joyous Christmas season.
I keep Christmas in my heart because my parents instilled that notion within me.
My Mama is a very strong Christian and therefore Christmas season influence and I remember abundant decorations most every year. This is Mama's first Christmas in her new house and I've made efforts to tend to as much festiveness as I can. I must admit that I'm not the decoration genius represented by others in the family ... but I try. We didn't hang lights from the eaves like daddy used to do each year — but we went all out on a high falutin fiber optic Christmas tree. It's very gratifying to see it sparkle in the corner of her living room.
I think I got the bulk of my Christmas spirit from daddy over the years, who kept Christmas in his heart. I think he was inspired by his mother, my dear Grandma Ida who passed on October 20, 1980 after a cruel 11 year bout of Alzheimer's. Now they are together in heaven and I miss them both and hope to see them again one sweet day.
I'm pretty much dipped in Christmas to a fairtheewell as usual this time of year. The excitement builds daily as we begin the final approach.
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- December 15, 2022
- Grab Assing
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One of those activities my late daddy warned me of was grab assing.
Cutting up would sometimes result in a rather stern admonition to stop grab assing.
Actually, I believe the context of his word was horseplay with other men ...
But you know, I had brief episodes of difficulty with the reaching out to grab that femme counterpart suspended in space as though you were reaching for heaven itself ...
Then there are the consequences.
These vary from a sharp look through a pop upside the head — or worse. I remember when my girl told me she was going to knock my teeth down my throat. Somehow, I feel that the sensuous nature of that thought of me biting her became lost in the moment and she became immediately incensed and threatening not to mention hostile as hell.
I told her that I rather liked the rough stuff and that she may wish to reconsider her position on the matter. Thusly we continue to this day even in light of my occassional transgression of decorum. You see grab assing is fine and dandy as long as you're fairly close to your grab — and it's not all you do.
I am a man with a multitude of talents and grab assing is simply a minute one of many.
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- December 14, 2022
- Halcyon Days 2022
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When I was a child Bullfinch's Mythology was one of those biggies I loved to read. I started it in the first grade and continued reading through about the fifth.
I was enamoured with the ancient gods, goddesses, demigods, heroes, and others populating this world and the thoughts of magic and sea travel, and the fantastic creatures simply spurred that interest on.
I think it was part and parcel to that strong fantasy world I engaged during my childhood.
From a standpoint of meterology, Halcyon Days refers to a time of calm during the winter. In this context they go farther and represent peace and calm upon the planet when we as people were mostly content, and men were men and women were women ... not some woke deviant interpretation of how idiots feel.
This period of calm during the winter is a time when storms do not occur. It is also an English language idiom referring to any period of calm, usually in the past and often nostalgic.
So it's not really a holiday season, but Halcyon Days define that nostalgia and warmth of days gone by.
Seasons come and seasons go. Halcyon Days are a segment of December where stormy weather stops and gives us that time to breathe and partake of those memories we may then allow to linger.
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- December 13, 2022
- National Ice Cream Day 2022
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I have eaten ice cream for as long as I can remember.
I recall childhood days on Grandma Ida's back porch where the churn produced several gallons of home made banana, peach, and strawberry ice cream with a packet of junket mixed into the heavy cream and the frozen concoction and oh, the churn dasher...
Oh the glorious memories of dishes of the home made treat being passed around ! Later, I would indulge various flavors over the years by the bowl or by the cone.
I used to frequent Baskin Robbins at Dutch Square Mall until they departed with the rest of the mall for parts unknown. Such is commerce in a society where unqualified parents allow their hoodlum children who exhibit a distinct lack of raising to run wild in the face of law abiding citizens.
So today is National Ice Cream Day. It happens on December 13. Actually there are a number of days celebrating ice cream in the calendar and I typically make note of and indulge them all.
Though my favorite ice cream shop is closed forever I can still run down to the grocery and grab a rapidly diminishing capacity carton as long as I don't get too carried away. I think the marketing where they decrease the volume and maintain the price is going to likely do the industry more harm than good.
It's a perfectly good time to enjoy ice cream regardless of the season.
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- December 12, 2022
- Festival of Unmentionable Thoughts 2022
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Anymore I have a lot of thoughts I simply keep to myself. Whereas once I was the bastion of TMI — I find that aspect of my social interaction has vastly diminished.
I don't really consider anything which transpires between the ears to be too unmentionable or nasty to share with others. I just lack that shock value interest I once vigorously pursued as a matter of humoring myself.
My only saving grace in this context is the fact that I don't typically act on any of those unmentionable thoughts I have yet keep to myself.
I don't actively pursue the harm of others. However, if I had my way some would come to irreparable harm. It's just civil comportment standing in the way.
Somewhere I developed this tendency toward having my opinion and letting it stand at that. Just because I think it I no longer have to say it.
In the past I could allow pugilism and fisticuffs rule the roost. I have had many arguments over the years which inevitably turned hostile. All because I had to tell everything I knew.
That was then. This is now.
As you participate in this Festival of Unmentionable Thoughts (or not) I hope you'll remember the context of your existence and not make things more difficult for yourself as I once was compelled to do.
Perhaps that provocative side of me simply was overcome with other aspects of my personality.
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- December 11, 2022
- International Shareware Day 2022
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My oldie but goodie shareware days were fruitful and many — enjoyable while they lasted ... but are also long gone.
Back in the day software publishers would release "try before you buy" versions of their products in an attempt to sell the customer. You would load a demo copy of a program then optionally decide to pay and "activate" or "register" it after purchase to enable all of the various features it may entail.
I was the proud owner of a humongous collection of shareware games that I would dutifully install on my mother's first computer for all the children in her care. It was a home made 386-40 with 8 megabytes of RAM, CGA graphics and an 80 gb hard drive ...
Which weighed about 80 pounds as well in the tallest Wells American tower case I'd ever seen. Ah, those were the days. Anyway my tastes are certainly not something the shareware market could entertain and I will likely write my own necessities if push comes to shove.
So today is International Shareware Day.
It goes down on the second Saturday of every December. This year that day is December 11. I don't do the shareware thing because I lost my interest in gaming a long time ago and do not find the prospect of debugging someone else's work all that edifying. You see, I debug my own stuff as a rule.
Regardless, when it comes to freeware, shareware or some other public domain offering I don't hold shareware to any standard and if it's your thing I think you should go for it !
Happy International Shareware Day !
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- December 10, 2022
- Festival for the souls of dead whales 2022
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The whale is a majestic giant of the deep. I have seen them in the North Atlantic long ago while I was in the Navy and again migrating South off the West coast as a gringo tourista at large.
I have heard the song of the whale coming through hydrophone though I could not understand what was being said. It was sped up several times before I could even make out the sound itself.
I have wondered just why Japan, Greenland, Norway, and Iceland think all the whales in the ocean belong to them.
I personally find the idea of eating marine mammals repugnant.
They think hanging the word "research" on the side of a ship makes it legal for any level of abuse. For this alone their pirate ships should be sunk on sight.
I think a couple more Hiroshimas and Nagasakis would be a fair lesson to these abusers of those denizens of the oceans.
Today is The Festival for the Souls of the Dead Whales. It happens each December 10.
The day is set aside to memorialize all the souls of the whales who died from whaling operations and other harmful encroachments into their habitats by Japan, Greenland, Norway, and Iceland who should be collectively and severely sanctioned themselves that they might know precisely what it's like.
I feel that whales should be excused from providing economic impact to countries like Japan, Greenland, Norway, and Iceland which should have their fleets sunk with extreme prejudice for their selfish over indulgence in the taking of marine mammals in particular for their own selfish ends.
Boo Japan, Greenland, Norway, and Iceland !
See Also:
Another Earth Day
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- December 9, 2022
- National Tie Month 2022
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I have a stupendous neck tie collection. There are some 60 or so mostly unadventurous examples hanging on a large tiered rack in my wardrobe. They were amassed during years of employment whereby wearing a tie was either required or desirable.
You'd be surprised at the subtle hints people will make when they think you are "underdressed". It's as though they don't fully understand you are both superior to them in every way and have the ability to make them spit teeth.
My tie collection ranges from finest silk through various other "lesser" cloths and exhibit varying degrees of skillful stitching with a variety of threads both matching and contrasting ...
I have a few vintage ties as well — things you seldom see and cannot purchase anymore thrown into the mix. Most of the garments are "thin" ties. I was never a fan of the oldie but goodie fat ties people once wore routinely. I called them 'bibs'.
The patterns range from ultra conservative solids through various patterns through the somewhat whimsical.
The requirement of neckwear was relative to that public eye one occupied ... and the desirability had more to do with impressions and presenting what the cohorts felt was a competent image. All-in-all, for one who resisted dressing for work as adamantly as I the situation kind of fell into alignment of it's own accord. There comes a time when your personal opinion means less to you than that image being attempted collectively.
I think I just grew weary of the constant fashion fray.
December is National Tie Month, devoted to paying homage to the cravat; that band of cloth typically found around the necks of persons considering dress to be a part of their daily lives. Though I can no longer recall the last time I donned a tie — I used to be such a man simply because it was aspects to that image too many others expected of me at work.
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- December 8, 2022
- Happy Birthday Ann Coulter 2022
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Ann Coulter has been someone I have listened to over the years. Likely it is that similarity between our interpretations and opinions that instigated this interest. She was the first person to engage in political commentary which interested me ...
But it's pretty much been a rocket ride since then. She is conservative and has a way with words to be envied.
Ann Hart Coulter was born December 8, 1961. She works as an author, conservative media pundit, syndicated columnist, and attorney.
Her first foray into politics was in the late 90s and involved calling the Clintons out during their administration for various crimes and misdemeanors which stil go on with Hillary.
She has written 13 some odd books and writes a syndicated column which appears in newspapers and the conservative media.
Public perception appears to be she is decidedly antifeminist — a characteristic one might expect from somone who can hold her own in any manner of public eloqution and discourse.
She is single and has no children. Her most notable squeeze was a liberal democrat. It surely must be due to the attraction between opposites!
I would consider her to be a denizen of Palm Beach, Florida because this is where she casts her votes although she owns residences in Manhattan and Los Angeles.
All in all she is one hell of a woman and I will continue to follow her with great interest in the foreseeable future as the tour de force she is.
Some favorite quotes from Ann Coulter
Happy Birthday Ann Coulter !
A word to those of you out there who have yet to be offended by something I have said: Please be patient. I am working as fast as I can.
When your party is controlled by a billionaire rootless international financier who expresses 'no sense of guilt' for collaborating with the Nazis, you might want to ease up on lecturing the rest of us about the evil rich.
There are a lot of bad republicans; there are no good democrats.
The Klan sees the world in terms of race and ethnicity. So do Liberals.
There is no surer proof of Christ's divinity than that he is still so hated some two thousand years after his death.
The fundamental difference is that conservatives think man is created in God's image. Liberals think they [themselves] are gods - they want to create utopia on Earth with wealth redistribution, breaking the bonds of marriage and ties between parents and a child.
In the druidical religion of liberalism, not separating your recyclables is a sin, but abourtion is just a medical procedure.
Liberals want the family destroyed, they want religion destroned, because then you have loyalty directly to the state.
"Diversity" is a difficulty to be overcome, not an advantage to be sought. True, America does a better job than most at accommodating a diverse population. We also do a better job at curing cancer and containing pollution. But no one goes around mindlessly exclaiming: "Cancer is a strength!" "Pollution is our greatest asset!
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- December 7, 2022
- Pearl Harbor Attack 80 Years Ago Today
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The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii just prior to 8 am eliminating neutrality and thrusting the Republic into World War II.
The unprovoked nature of this attack left a profound impact on the collective memory of the nation which has not been forgotten to date.
There are many memorials in remembrance and many more observances and ceremonies marking the day of infamy have been held.
My Daddy was laid to rest on Pearl Harbor Day in 2001 at Clinton United Methodist Church cemetery at Salley, SC his home town.
The date is even more profound and an item of personal saddness in my memory for this reason.
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- December 6, 2022
- Clickbait is a Pervasive Web Technology
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While perusing the web as I typically do for an hour or so most evenings I am dismayed at the prevalence of click bait web sites that spread their miniscule data over many pages in order to fit as many adverts as humanly possible in your face.
The disdain I feel for this rationale has forced me to forego ads on my sites in favor of a content based approach devoid of that bullshit google places above all else.
As a matter of fact, google and the rest of the ad companies masquerading as search engines can go catch the plague as far as I am concerned.
Everyone from the top of the alphabet heirarchy to the lowest whale shit from india under their employ can simply die as far as I am concerned.
My reasons are thus:
There is no "happy medium" in the equation. There is no attempt to balance entertainment with ad content. There is simply ad content and more ad content til all you want to do is strangle the bastards who cause it. It's like marginal content draped in meaningless advertising for products that likely won't be purchased. Then there is a quarter page graf of this marginal at best content surrounded by a wall of ads in an infuriating Hollywood Squares layout ad nauseum.
Poof. The world could be a better place with the scourge removed from the internet. These people could at least provide a little decent content with their primary thrust of advertising.
See Also:
Opinion and Paywalls and Clickbait Oh My !
Clickbait Everywhere
The Monetized Web Presence
The Barrage of Holiday Spam
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- December 5, 2022
- National Blue Jeans Day 2022
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I had a Blue Jeans phase, but it was long ago.
It was a time when I was a computer hardware guy working in support of the medical profession.
I didn't feel it was my duty to get all prepped out to drag around large pieces of hardware, change filters and other consumables and service them otherwise in the grime that went along with them under desks and in ceiling tiles — though my good friend and cohort the late great Mike West — who passed in 2003 — always wore a three piece suit at work though we pretty much did the same things.
Yet another I have missed over the years.
Mine was t-shirt and blue jeans attire. I felt it was appropriate enough but took the heat for it constantly.
As the years evolved my tastes changed and I finally reached the dress shirt and tie phase which carried me through the last third of my career. I don't think the attire helped my job performance but I received considerably less whining from people who felt they owned me.
Today is National Blue Jeans Day. It goes down each December 5 in recognition of that pillar of the western fashionista, denim jeans.
It is said that each American owns about seven pairs of jeans. I'm considerably below the trend line at zero pairs in my wardrobe at this time.
Chalk it all up to how I dress these days. I simply have not been inspired to go out and obtain a pair of denim anything for a long time now.
My favorite aspect of denim clothing is the durability of the cloth. My least favorite aspect of denim clothing is the look, which I find to be somewhat tacky in those circles I tend to frequent anymore.
Retirement is a fickle place, huh.
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- December 4, 2022
- Aline Kominsky-Crumb RIP
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There was a time in my early adult development I call my "head phase". This was a time of various states of altered consciousness brought on by the recreational drug habits of that time. Those days ended some 30 years back ... right about the time employers went drug testing crazy.
I was determined that some stupid habit of mine was NOT going to keep me from earning a living. So I ceased all recreational drugs except alcohol at that moment. Alcohol consumption was stopped a year or so later.
I have always enjoyed detailed and well executed graphics. I once consumed them voraciously as a past time. During this era in my life I became a big fan of Robert Crumb and his wife Aline. They were wed in 1978 while I was still active duty Navy. I termed them as "underground" or "alternative" media artists. That realism they imparted to their pages was astounding.
As you might guess, Robert Crumb is a difficult man to get to know — much less fully understand — but such is the nature of extreme talents. He migrated to France with his family to live in a house in a medevial village after trading a couple of notebooks of his work for the property.
Aline Kominsky Goldsmith Crumb was born in Long Beach, New York on August 1, 1948 and passed this earthly existence last Thursday on November 29, 2022 at her home in Sauve, Gard, France. She was 74 years of age. I always had the impression that she and her husband were soulmates.
I also found Aline Crumb to be more personable and interactive than Robert but both of these people are very special to my existence for those aspects of their work I was privileged to admire — however from afar it all was.
Mrs Crumb leaves her husband and a child named Sophie Crumb who has followed in her parents illustrious footsteps. She and her half brother from a previous relationship of Roberts exhibit prodigious graphic art talent.
Rest in peace.
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