Welcome
- July 25, 2021
- Culinarians Day 2021
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I have long been a consumate eater of foodstuffs. My enjoyment of food has resulted in both corpulence and the cultivation of taste and tolerance.
There was a time when I would not even think of eating at a close in gathering of strangers because I simply did not care for the proximity. However, the sushi bar has desensitized me to awkward sociality in the name of interaction.
The sushi bar is about community.
July 25 brings us Culinarians Day, a time to celebrate chefs and cooks.
At this time it is appropriate to mention my friend Ryo Watanabe who I have known for a very long time and serves me sushi at his restaurant in St Andrews off Jamil Road ... Inakaya Watanabe.
Sushi is a rice preparation with vinegar and various raw or cooked seafood or vegetables.
I have so many favorites it would be impossible to list them all.
I eat two different foods at the sushi bar.
Nigiri sushi which is formed from a small ball of rice garnished with various seafood or vegetables.
Sashimi which consists of slices of raw fish consumed in a similar manner to sushi.
When I arrive at the bar I order my meal then await the feast.
I am pretty much a sushi eating machine and consume larger orders than a mere mortal customer.
I enjoy my forays into the raw and cooked delacacies Mr Ryo will place before me and I admit to not getting out there to eat as much as I might like.
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- July 24, 2021
- Hulda Hoehn Crooks scaled Mount Fuji in 1987
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When I was discharged from the Navy I engaged a running program which was vastly successful. My athletic days ended when I returned from Southern California in the early 1980s. There I ate chicken breast with pineapple and ran every day. Here I resumed smoking cigarettes and eating fried chicken and laying around. The stressors associated with early career and ambitions simply outdid me.
Athleticism not withstanding, I was able to eek out a career after a lot of false startups and misdirected efforts. Others on the planet have been much more athletically successful than I ever was ... though I did envision myself as this 'jock' at different times in my life. My sports career just never materialized in that reality into which I found myself immersed.
On this day in 1987, Hulda Crooks climbed Mount Fujiyama in Japan. She was 91 years old and became the oldest person to climb the highest peak in Japan.
Hulda Hoehn was born in Saskatchewan, Canada to a farming couple who had 18 children on May 19, 1896. She passed away on November 23, 1997. She was an American mountaineer and came to be known as "Grandma Whitney" among her climbing cohorts.
She climed the 14,505-foot Mount Whitney some 23 times between the ages of 65 and 91. During this period she had climed 97 other peaks.
She enrolled at Pacific Union College north of San Francisco at age 18 and later at Loma Linda University where she met and married Dr Samuel Crooks. She did not begin climbing til 1950, after the death of her husband. He had encouraged her to start after she suffered a bout of pneumonia.
On July 24, 1987, at the age of 91, she became the oldest woman to climb Mount Fujiyama in Japan.
She hiked the entire 212 mile John Muir Trail incrementally over a five year span.
Hulda Crooks was a long-time resident of Loma Linda, California. She often spent time with children in the community, encouraging them to appreciate nature and stay active. In 1990 the peak Day Needle in the Mount Whitney range was renamed Crooks Peak in her honor. In 1991 Hulda Crooks Park below the south hills at Loma Linda was dedicated.
She died in 1997, aged 101.
Old, but not obsolete.
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- July 23, 2021
- First Social Security
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I received my first social security check today. Actually, it was a direct deposit because I could not opt for an actual paper check, though I did try.
Anyway, it arrived on the day they said I would get it and is for the amount they said it would be.
It is appropriate to mention the fact that for all the bellyaching I do regarding teaching at the local technical college they are indeed responsible for this substantial addition to my lifestyle.
Giving me the ability to make bank via all the extra work they gave me for some 20 odd years — with those returns on that monthly FICA percentage deduction has made all the difference in my present day income.
America the Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
···
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates
Melody by Samuel Ward
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- July 22, 2021
- The ghost in me
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I caught a blast from the past the other day in a random sampling of mpeg music on my NAS server. It was The Ghost in You by The Psychedelic Furs — one of those groups I listened to regularly while employed on the West coast in the very early 1980s.
It took me back to a place and time I didn't really enjoy, but it made me from a "stand on your own skills" perspective. There I learned to take mincomputers apart and put them back together ... and they still operated well.
I became skilled with single and multiuser operating systems, migrated to microcomputers and CP/M — and wouldn't see MS-DOS for several more years.
The Psychedelic Furs are a post punk group from Great Britain who were founded in 1977 London. I was still in the Navy at that time and actually, in Portsmouth and taking trips to London concurrently with their startup.
We didn't encounter each other in person. I have been a fan of their recordings, however. They have offerings which span the gamut of art rock though new wave and even hard rock.
I first heard them being played in Tower Records on Rockfield BL in what was then El Toro ... but is now called Lake Forest, California. It was also my first encounter with mens haircuts featuring blonde pates and black sidewalls trimmed with safety pins and razor blades shudders.
My street address there was on Lake Forest Drive. The road remains but now Lake Forest is also the whole bloody town.
After a goodly hiatus, The Psychedelic Furs released a studio album titled Made of Rain which was their first such release in 30 some odd years.
It's amazing how resilient some of us are, eh sweet Elizabeth from the green grocer ?
The Ghost In You
A man in my shoes runs a light
And all the papers lied tonight
But falling over you
Is the news of the day
Angels fall like rain
And love, love, love
Is all of heaven away (Love, love, love, love, love)
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
A race is on, I'm on your side
And here in you, my engines die
I'm in a mood for you
Or running away
Stars come down in you
And love, love, love
You can't give it away (Love, love, love, love, love)
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
Don't you go, it makes no sense
When all your talk and supermen
Just take away the time
And get in the way
Ain't it just like rain?
And love, love, love
Is only heaven away (Love, love, love, love, love)
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves and she don't fade
The ghost in you, she don't fade
Inside you the time moves
Lyrics by Richard Butler and Timothy George Butler
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- July 21, 2021
- Toad in the Rain
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I encountered a toad in the lightly falling rain this evening while replenishing the hummingbird feeders.
These encounters are far and few between so I am careful not to mess with them in any way. I just said hello and continued on my way as he was looking me over trying to decide if I were a predator or not ...
There was a time when I thought the innumerable toads in my deep south yard were cannon fodder and pretty much spent way too much of my youth persecuting them in the name of cruel immature entertainment.
So I remember all of this now and I give them and all other animals by and large the right of way as long as they do not damage my house.
My ultimate hope is to cultivate such an amphibian friendly a yard that they grow to like to come here to reproduce and raise offspring.
I may even begin importing various amphibians and such from the local scientific supply ... I don't know.
All I can say is that I repent for my past abuses of those various animals I formerly took for granted and I wish no harm to any animal anymore.
There are others who say toads are environmental hazards. While I am unqualified to speak to this — all I can say is the few I have encountered over the years continue to have the right of way in my yard until such time as I am convinced they are hazardous.
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- July 20, 2021
- Missing the housekeeper some more
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I used to have a housekeeper. I would come in and the place would be immaculate and the clothes would be washed without my lifing a finger.
It was a series of serene happy interludes years ago during that hell which was teaching for an ungrateful overbearing wretch and her two assistant wretches in the state technical college system.
Then my financial consultant at the time became dissatisfied with her husband's handling of business between us to the point that I was taking no end of grief for 'being his bitch' as it were.
So I had to let her go because she was his spouse. Apparently just stopping business with him was inadequate.
As time has gone on I find myself more skilled in those domestic tasks I shunned totally so long ago.
I just miss the great job she did and my lack of intervention to achieve those ends. In the immortal words of Charles Shultz ...
Sigh.
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- July 19, 2021
- eCommerce is Tedious
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I have a couple of nieces who are Amazon nuts. They buy bunches of stuff there and I simply don't get the allure. My main girl on the planet is pretty much of the same persuasion and I'm afraid I don't have what it takes to steal her away from this amazon thing.
My primary issue with ecommerce in general revolves around this 'membership' thing where they want to not only be a vendor but also a social media outlet where people register commentary regarding the various wares available and how the service was, etc.
I used to have a friend who thought this was the 'best part' of it all and I decided he could go get stuffed and we no longer interact for this attitude and other intrinsic reasons.
Personally, I'd rather starve to death naked than participate in this dismal millenial busy body lifestyle and the thought of all the email order business I do anyway makes me feel repulsive to myself.
Amazon actually had the outrageous gall to think that they could chastise me over my participatory habits as though it would matter to me.
Finally I think they got the message that I wasn't impressed and they must have wanted the money more than they wanted to give me crap for not oogling and gushing over their vendors and services because they changed their tack with me — though I remain totally unrepentant and in avoidance.
They really have gone without quite a few thousand dollars by this point in time as well because there was a time we too did copious business regularly.
You need to watch how you allow your employees to treat your customers. Some of us never get past rude game playing air head foreigners representing some domestic retail concern online. Even when the offense is via somebody's poorly designed and executed insultware scripting.
I'm sure they can make it up with that plethora of idiots who are captivated with their business model like too many in my existential sphere ... although I'm afraid that will never be me.
Suffice it to say that there are too many other vendors and outlets for me to be falling into line like some regimented imbecile with money to blow.
Got better things to do than comment on some product or service. I'd just as soon do without ... or head to a brick and mortar establishment and whip out the plastic. They don't seek membership and commentary.
Mostly, I'm not happy with ecommerce because what you buy isn't always what you get. Quality control remains both controversial and fraught with failure. My last several purchases have been quite a bit less than promised. This coupled with those expensive horrors of freight on top of everything else really repels me.
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- July 18, 2021
- Caviar Day 2021
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Back in the day I was quite the caviar connoisseur.
I would have it weekly with small expensive crackers, wedges of lemon, and perhaps a few capers on iced platters in large clear glass bowls.
I would usually accompany it all by drinking a nice cold seltzer with a twist.
My caviar of choice was a variety known as River Beluga Malossol Caviar which is a reference to the fish from which the roe is obtained and the painstaking salting method used to both preserve and enhance the product.
Oh how those afternoons of conversation and discussions of various technical topics flowed.
Those days are long gone and I cannot even remember the last time I partook of the expensive little salty fish eggs.
Today is Caviar Day, a day to celebrate the consuming of the roe of various fish but usually the beluga sturgeon typically obtained from the Caspian and Black Sea.
So if you're up to a taste treat or simply wish to engage a few uppity friends as I did on occasion, this day is for you.
I seriously doubt that I will get back into the habit of indulging myself with this as my college teaching days are well over and the preparations and utensils are all quite high maintenance and expensive.
However, whatever your personal choice Happy Caviar Day.
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- July 17, 2021
- World Day for International Justice 2021
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Justice is lacking in the United States of America. The democratic party of the United States continuously attempts to run ripshod over the Constitution of the country and customize the law to suit their own evil ends at control. They want to curtail reasonable voting identification requirements so that no one can vote them out of office and they may retain control of power forever.
So this is the World Day for International Justice aka Day of International Criminal Justice aka International Justice Day. It is supposedly a world wide celebration of the so-called system of international criminal justice.
The only problem with this scenario is the membership of the International Criminal Court includes the same ilk of corrupt leftist libtard cretins as those which gravitate to the democratic party of the United States seeking monitization of office and political power ad infinitum.
Then President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on several individuals associated with the International Criminal Court for criminal activities of its membership.
Naturally, the leftist elements are up in arms with his decision and level unsubstantiated suppositions regarding the motivations of this action.
The bottom line here is we don't need the world policing us or handling any element of our juris prudence.
Stupid NWO globalists preach this tired stupid George HW Bush traitor mantra of the one world system that the Bible foretold centuries ago.
Hear that United Nations ? Go to Hell along with that criminal element masquerading as an International Criminal Court.
July 17 is a day which will live in infamy when the real world comes calling. As the democrats will fall so will the World Day for International Justice and it's criminal international court constituency.
We cannot depend on the democrat party of the United States nor their leftist libtard allies to support justice nor even do the right thing. All they want is votes to keep them in power and they will bankrupt the nation and hold the entirety of us hostage to attain their evil ends.
How much longer can this farce which is the democrat party of the United States continue their evil attempts at domination and control.
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- July 16, 2021
- Ginger Rogers dance on air
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Well before my time there was a beautiful recipient of fame and fortune named Ginger Rogers.
She was an actress, dancer, and singer in what was considered the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, you know, before Hollywood and the rest of California became largely a bunch of rude stupid libtard slugs.
Born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911 she was raised in Kansas City and relocated to Texas with her family.
She embarked on a successful vaudeville career after winning a 1925 Charleston dance contest.
She went on to a stage debut which led to a contract with Paramount where she did five films.
Her career traversed the gamut from stage, radio, television, and film.
She is best remembered for the musicals she did with Fred Astaire during the 1930s.
Ginger Rogers passed away April 25, 1995 in Rancho Mirage, California of natural causes at age 83 after a career of 73 films and five husbands.
She was interred at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.
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- July 15, 2021
- General Tom Thumb died 138 years ago today
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Charles Sherwood Stratton was an American dwarf, who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum. His stage name was"General Tom Thumb".
He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut January 4, 1838. He was a fairly large baby at 9 pounds 8 ounces who abruptly stopped growing at about 6 months of age. Though very small his body was proportionate and fully functional. His siblings were of average size.
Phineas T. Barnum heard about him and contacted his parents then assumed tutelage of him. Barnum taught him how to sing, dance, mime, and impersonate famous people in the process of cultivating an act.
Charles Stratton made his first tour of America at the age of five. He incorporated routines that included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte. He performed song and dance numbers and even stand up comedy a straight man who was another member of the Barnum troupe.
As a marketing gimmick, Barnum gave Stratton the name General Tom Thumb and his tour was a huge success.
He was the toast of Europe and became an international celebrity. His fame and popularity made him the stuff of legend in his own lifetime.
He changed the perception of society from the standpoint of presentation of human oddities as entertainment. Before his performances the perception of so-called freak shows was unfavorable and he turned them into a favored form of theatrical entertainment in the United States.
His marriage to Lavinia Warren who was also a little person in 1863 became front-page news. There were 10,000 guests at the reception. The best man was George Washington Morrison aka Commodore Nutt who was another dwarf employee of Barnum. The maid of honor was Minnie Warren who was Lavinia's sister. After the wedding, the couple was received by President Lincoln at the White House.
Charles Stratton died unexpectedly of a stroke on July 15, 1883 at the age of 45 years. While alive he was quite over the top in polite society. His decedent affairs were equally spectacular. Over 20,000 people attended his funeral. His funerary monument features a lifesize statue of him atop a great marble headstone procured by PT Barnum in tribute to this most famous circus performer and showman.
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- July 14, 2021
- In a Perfect World ...
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In a perfect world people would come to your web site, look things over, peruse the assets then leave. Pause to look, listen, experience and go about their merry way. Uh huh.
However, this is NOT a perfect world.
Little unskilled assholes on the DIGITALOCEAN network think they need to attempt exploits at each and every opportunity with their libraries of exploit toolkit elements written by others.
Then all too many CHINESE exploiter wannabes want to hack your email server as well. One failure to negotiate TLS simply isn't enough. They need numerous reinforcements of the fact that there is security in place ...
And fixing to be even more so for them. They may wish to exploit; but I just escalate technical preventives on my end as consequences for their trouble.
So you break out that firewall you were trying so hard to stop using in the name of open netizenhood and general access to the world.
Back in the late 1970s I too used hacker toolkits because I mistakenly thought they imparted the appearance of technical prowess.
So instead of singing 'what a wonderful world' or something equally droll I have to sit and firewall DIGITALOCEAN and CHINANET assholes with wild abandon. I would much more prefer just letting people come on in but you take your world into your own hands on the internet. Guard your stuff or get robbed — or worse.
Drop that exploit bitches.
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- July 13, 2021
- Julius Caesar's Birthday 2021
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Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. He was born on July 12 in 100 BC in Rome, Italy.
As a member of the First Triumvirate he led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars prior defeating Pompey in a civil war then governing the Roman Republic as a dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC.
He was also an accomplished author and historian. Much of his life is known from his own accounts of various military campaigns he led.
The letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust and biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch also record the events of his life for posterity.
Caesar is considered by many historians to be among the greatest military leaders ever.
On the Ides of March (March 15th) of 44 BC, he was assassinated.
It is said that 60 or so men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times.
Caesar's corpse lay where it fell on the Senate floor for nearly three hours before it was removed by other officials.
His final disposition was cremation. The Temple of Caesar was erected a few years later on the site of his cremation. Only the altar remains.
Following the death of Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavian aka Augustus Caesar, and others fought a series of five civil wars culminating in the formation of the Roman Empire.
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- July 12, 2021
- Paper Bag Day 2021
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The first job I had was sacking groceries at CE Tyler's Red and White in Wagener, SC while I was still in high school.
I worked there up until I thought I wanted to drive a school bus then kicked myself for leaving there to transport busloads of rowdy school children as it was a much less lucrative position by far.
Today is Paper Bag Day.
It is a day to mark the biodegradeable paper products which are very much superior to the plastic ones which are likely to remain in the biosphere as plastic pollution for extended periods of time.
Each July 12th that threat posed by plastic pollution and those thousands of years required for plastic waste to decompose comes to the fore.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in the ocean, seas, and other large bodies of water.
A large portion of this debris is comprised of various plastic things discarded by people.
Paper bags do not contribute to the accumulation of plastic pollution and are of renewable origins, may be recycled, and most important paper bags are biodegradable.
They reduce the need for plastic deposition in the landfills and that pollution such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
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