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- May 24, 2020
- Remembering Heavy D
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Heavy D
Dwight Arrington Myers
May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011I had several encounters with Heavy D, all of which were impromptu chance events in my personal life.
It had been my habit to watch the Arsenio Hall show before retiring during that spate of hell teaching in the local state technical college system.
One night he came on and did a song and dance number that was really striking with his characteristic vocalizations and dancing all over the stage.
Mr Hall came out afterward and marveled at his rhythm and those highly dynamic dance aspects saying how he thought these were manufactured by cinematic professionals when he saw them earlier and how he didn't realize the man could both sing and dance implying the prowess and agility of a much younger man.
Never having been a hip hop fan nor one of that fusion which was his trademark, it was indeed impressive even in my eyes.
Dwight Arrington Myers aka Heavy D, was a Jamaican-born American rapper, singer, actor, and record producer.
He was the leader of Heavy D & the Boyz, a quasi hip hop fusion group which included dancers/background vocalists.
They maintained a significant share of the hip hop audience in the United States through the better part of the 1990s.
Heavy D & the Boyz released five albums and did many live and television appearances during that time.
Heavy D's final live performance was on October 11, 2011. He passed the following November 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 44 after collapsing outside his home in Beverly Hills, California.
After transport to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center his death was initially thought to be connected to pneumonia with autopsy confirming the cause of death to be pulmonary embolism likely caused by a recent long airplane trip. - Comments (0)
- May 23, 2020
- World Turtle Day 2020
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I have always been a proponent of turles and tortises. Indeed, from early childhood I was intrigued by these reptiles sporting shells of various characters and made it a point to keep one around when I could ... and did frequently.
To this day, I practice a 'catch and release' program whereby those turtles I catch emperiled on public streets and roads are placed gently into the back of my pickup truck and let loose at the back of my acre lot — often with a head of lettuce and a squirt of the hose — to resume life on their own.
I've never encountered a previously released animal in my yard but I figure they MUST fair far better than being left on a busy road in heavy traffic.
How often I've seen a turtle ... or two or three smashed to smithereens where SC 3 meets US 321 on the bridge over Bull Swamp Creek by the rumbling tires of a passing 18 wheeler. This is why I try to make that preemtive strike for their survival.
I view reptiles and amphibians as part of those sentinel species which detect risks to humans as the result of unforseen and unnoticed environmental hazards.
However, their right to live eclipses that aspect of their existence without question.
Today is World Turtle Day. It is held under the auspices of American Tortoise Rescue on each May 23 since the year 2000.
It is by and large a vehicle event for bringing attention to, and increasing respect and knowledge for turtles and tortoises. It also brings to the fore a need to encourage human action in aiding their survival and thriving.
I have noticed some individuals celebrating or just marking the occasion by wearing turtle costumes or shades of green. I'll stick to my ongoing rescue program inasmuch as green chiffon never did much for me on the fashion front.
Happy World Turtle Day.
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- May 22, 2020
- World Goth Day 2020
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My cultural orientation has pretty much remained mainstream throughout my lifetime. I have never had a compulsion to follow any of that trendy froth others find meaningful in their existence.
My favorite goth and his dad
It seems that our fellows have a variety of cultural orientations that they prefer over the standard 9 to 5 workaday world thingie I pursue ... and as such I simply say more power to them.
One of those preferred subcultures is known as 'Goth'.
The Goth subculture is notably of British origin and arose from a derivative of punk music styled after the various apocolypse themes involved in their sphere of interest. The subculture is simply an offshoot of the music but it grew into much more for adherents.
Darkness is the primary pursuit, be it figurative, actual, cosmetic, or wardrobe elements and it is not a commentary on mores so much as personal preferences of projected image.
Today is World Goth Day
Each twenty-second of May goths get to celebrate their being and cultivate their presence among the rest of us.
Originating in the British roots of goth subculture, the day has spread internationally and indeed, there are goth subcultures all over the place anymore.
A celebration of goth subculture in general, World Goth Day is a multifaceted tour de force of fashion, music, makeup, performance art, and those individuals who populate the goth ranks and both enjoy and flaunt their membership as goth individuals.
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- May 21, 2020
- Big Brother Marches On
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So in this day of Chinese Wuhan COVID-19 Coronavirus now we have phones with contact tracing modules.
I wonder if those seeking to utilze this mess are aware of the fact that I am one who will intentionally disable GPS on cell phones. Cut the antenna. Cut an etch on a board. Clip a wire. Any way you want it.
I like Faraday Cage bags to contain my cellphone when not in use preventing all access and providing nothing but battery drain to the devices contained therein ...
A clean empty ash can makes an excellent Faraday Cage for all of those odd sized transmitting and receiving items laying around.
Not to mention frequent burners for private communications and vpn routing as required.
My issues surrounding that perception that I require tracking is a figment of the establishment's imagination.
I am a private citizen. My personal life and personal business are strictly that: personal.
Don't tread on me.
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- May 20, 2020
- Bee Day 2020
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- May 19, 2020
- Malcolm X Day 2020
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The civil rights advocate Malcolm X aka El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz born Malcolm Little is honored this day thus far in Berkeley California as an early martyr in the civil rights movement.
There are varying degrees of celebration but like his cohort protomartyr Medgar Evers, that honor for being struck down while working for the good of all people, particularly the down trodden of their times is not universally accepted in the US.
The controversial black racial advocacy imposed early on in the black muslim movement 'by any means necessary' echos hollow without meaning in our 21st schizoid world.
The failures of identity politics drown memories of those who worked hard and long for civil rights to keep that recognition and esteem they once held with the masses they served.
I for one have never been a civil rights activist.
I do, however believe that we are all created equal.
I also believe that Malcolm X was murdered by those congregants of the Nation of Islam as a mechanism of some aspect of revenge.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Romans 12:19 Holy Bible, King James Authorized Version - Comments (0)
- May 18, 2020
- Ken Osmond Passes
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Well, one of those fixtures in my childhood was the Leave it to Beaver television show.
Kenneth Charles Osmond
June 7, 1943 – May 18, 2020
As your typical white anglo saxon protestant brat running around with others of my species I naturally gravitated to all things familiar and I think that June, Ward, Wally, and the Beaver were right up my alley with a lifestyle I thought to be similar to my own however disparate and I claimed them as such.
Of course, the antics of the child Theodore were a comparison in cultures and there were the required foils, namely Lumpy Rutherford and Eddie Haskell ... and I took them all in stride during the endless hours I spent before the tube suspending reality in half hour increments.
Lumpy passed a while back after a post television career as a stock broker. It was said that his advice regarding fiscal instruments were golden by several of his surviving cast mates.
Today we learn that Eddie has passed.
Ken Osmond was the actor who portrayed Eddie on the sitcom and he was the perfect snide smart aleck who alas became typecast by the role and found obtaining acting work afterwards difficult.
I encountered him one day in the mall at Huntington Beach, California right past the Orange Julius and he looked like an adult version of Eddie.
We spoke briefly and had a laugh about the old days and what it was like then compared to "now".
He always triggers pleasant memories due to that brief interaction at the mall that day and I am sorry to hear of his passing.
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- May 18, 2020
- International Museum Day 2020
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I remember as a child relocating to Charleston, SC as a function of my father's naval career.
Upon house hunting one of the places we visited was a fine old antebellum white wooden house with huge rooms having twelve foot ceilings, fireplaces, mantles, and the look of something right out of the pages of Gone with the Wind.
The place was called Boone Hall Plantation and it was the makings of the pre American Civil War museum it now is.
Well, we didn't get to end up living at Boone Hall Plantation but it was an interesting interlude in possibilities. Sometimes I believe I was shown such places as residential possibilities in an effort to tantalize me. Whatever the case, it worked.
Today is International Museum Day
International Museum Day, an international observance held under the auspices of the International Council of Museums annually around May 18.
The event is a thematic day which changes annually to reflect international museum community interests.
While I was a museum head long ago I fear those days have become supplanted by the internet and my ability to research such resources due to varous collections available on web sites.
However, this is an increasingly rare happening in my life.
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- May 17, 2020
- Life at the Hermitage
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A companion is a partner, friend, one who accompanies, another's mate — or someone hired to help another.
I have been criticized at times for my solitary life; being called antisocial, hermit, recluse, even "troglodyte" ... though that person lived to regret the label.
My early life was much more communal. However, over time I have come to value the quiet and what I've learned of people and their motivations and behaviors has lead me to believe that my early choices in friends were misguided to say the least.
I could say a lot and indeed who needs someone who feigns friendship and tears you down at every opportunity.
So yes, though not totally alone I do habitate in my place with no significant other by choice.
Those I entertained as potential companions turned out to be either intellectually problematic or social embarrassments, and indeed it IS far better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
My social life consists of a few close friends and various family members. I try to make it by my niece's houses to see their children that "Uncle Dave" might not be someone they've never heard of.
Though I'm open to the possibilities I simply don't see my status changing for the rest of this earthly existence. I suppose it's the way it was meant to be.
So I occupy myself with those things that bring me comfort like coding and graphics then I engage socializing on an intermittent basis.
I've found that I don't want to get too "chummy" lest my house become a hangout. Then other times I wish it were.
All-in-all I see it as an opportunity waiting to happen, but my thoughts on hooking up aren't really a serious consideration anymore.
I have sufficient outlets (and inlets) otherwise.
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- May 16, 2020
- Maskless with a high degree of safety in COVID-19
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I traverse my day without a surgical mask in this pandemic.
This is in protest of the tyrant public officials who would impose their will upon me.
The questions posed of me regarding this passive resistance involve things like hypthetical situations and "what if" scenarios most of which are irrelevant to my existence.
Like if a mask was "required" at some venue for which I sought attendence and one was offered to me I would most certainly comply with the requirement.
Unfortunately I don't see a lot in events I simply cannot go on without and surely those petty social gatherings would do well without me present poking fun at them while they wrap their mugs up in a variety of coverings. I particularly like the black masks that make everyone look like Bane. I can be quite contrary in the presence of what I see as irrelevant or unnecessary. The masks are required by an orthodox medical establishment used to issuing orders.
Well ... Dr Fauci and others in the government's roll of consultants first stated masks were unnecessary and said not to use them. Turns out they were lying to save masks for medical professionals. Indeed they knew masks would help all the time.
Anyway if I am dealing with the unscruplulous and immoral democratic party types as these and subsequent democrat tyrant governors such as that in California, New York, Minnesota, and mayors such as those imbeciles who cast decrees like they hold the divine right of kings to the citizens of Chicago and New York ... I'm pretty much good with making my own decisions regarding health maintenance and have thusly enacted a highly proactive approach to limiting my own personal viral load.
I don't force my views upon others but by the same token I decline to be imposed upon by a bunch of puffed up full of themselves morons without those formidable technical skills I hold.
Be all of this as it may I hope that you stupid voters who placed these skeezy tyrants in office are satisfied with their incompetence in the face of adversity. Some of us know what to do. It's obviously not them.
I'm in most of the high risk groups and I'm NOT going to get the virus.
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- May 15, 2020
- Email Server Antics
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After my recent successful disaster recovery of the web server I thought I'd make a preemptive strike on the email server and synchronize the hardware configurations with larger magnetic disk drives and the whole shebang.
So I went down to the local business supply and got another disk drive and set it on the table in my bedroom. Before too long I was champing at the bit to go ahead and place it in the box and get it all installed and up and running.
The nature of the beast is fairly straightforward from a standpoint of installing software then overwriting control files with the ones in use previously and that's pretty much what I did.
Following a brief foray into installing incorrect secure socket and transport layer security stacks I got with the program and was up in two shakes.
After the successful install, copy, and various tweaking which went down there is nothing more gratifying than watching a new install take charge and get rolling.
So here I sit with two boxes having fresh identical OS and app configurations installed on new disk drives that don't have that inherent write limit of an ssd.
Solid state disk drives are fine and dandy for sure. I also understand their speed increases HOWEVER there comes a time when ongoing maintenance becomes more important.
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- May 14, 2020
- Honor walks can make me Cry
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An honor walk is a sort of ceremonial escort of a patient who has been declared brain dead to surgery to effect organ donation in accordance with their wishes.
I've been watching a few of these as a function of being more in touch with my fellow people and I must say that the experience has been touching to the point of provoking emotional response from me.
Hospital staff and friends and family of the patient are seen lining the halls of the path from intensive care to surgery.
Some of the processions are more difficult to observe than others.
The stories are typically tragic and the only bright spot are the lives saved by organs procured at the end of the honor walk. Some of the terminal patients help many others with no where else to turn.
Honor Walk for somebodys Mom
The event is held in appreciation and respect for the patient's decision to donate their organs. Honor walks involving military and police members often include honor guards.
Talk about a profound lesson in humility.
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- May 13, 2020
- The Tragic Margot Kidder
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When I watched the Christopher Reeve Superman franchise I enjoyed those performances of Margot Kidder as Lois Lane.
She was a fetching, comely young woman who portrayed the character with an inherent humor and impeccable theatric timing that took me by surprise.
Margaret Ruth Kidder, aka Margot Kidder was a character actress who portrayed various roles and her career was successful up to the time she fell victim to the bizarre episodes resulting from bipolar disorder.
I always had a soft spot in my heart for her since her portrayal of Lois Lane having been extensively read in the superman saga as the result of the entertainment reading I engaged during childhood.
I recall her appearance on a television entertainment news show after she gained a part following quite a lengthy hiatus ...
She was decked out in a period sun bonnet and long frilly dress but that difference between her at that time and the actor I remembered were striking and somewhat shocking.
She was said to fall victim to a drug and alcohol overdose with her passing at her home in Livingston, Montana on May 13, 2018. It was later said to be a suicide.
It's easy to get carried away.
Whatever the cause, she was a talented actor and the world is less for losing her to such tragedy.
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- May 12, 2020
- International Nurses Day 2020
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I've had a rather tumultuous relationship with nursing and nurses in general.
Having pursued a medical career for the first fifteen or so years of my working life I encountered them daily and as you might guess ...
Sometimes those encounters were reasonable while others were not.
Be all of this as it may I never wanted to be a nurse.
I felt it to be a feminine designation and I could picture all the male nurses engaged in some bizarre breast feeding ritual or popping a few midol after shooting a tampoon up their butts among other things female and therefore I had little regard for the male nurse period.
My contempt for male nurses remains to this day.
So today is International Nurses Day.
It is an annual event observed by all the afficinados of nursing conducted each May 12th — corresponding to Florence Nightingale's birthdate.
I do feel that nurses contribute to society.
I just think male nurses should have been prohibited but to each pansy candy ass his own.
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