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- April 15, 2020
- da Vinci's Birthday 2020
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Few have come close to the productivity in life as Renaissance man Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.
Leonardo da Vinci
Born 568 years ago in Anchiano, Italy he was a polymath of Italian extraction remembered primarily for his painting but posessing a wide area of interests which included but are not limited to:
• invention
• drawing
• painting
• sculpture
• architechture
• science
• mathematics
• engineering
• literature
• anatomy
• geology
• astronomy
• botany
• palenontology
• cartography
Those accolades have followed him closely and he who had no formal academic training is considered one of those few true multiple discipline "universal" geniuses of the world.
So here we have an uneducated individual eclipsing the intellect of the day being remembered throughout history as a man who could and did do about anything.
Today is his birthday. He would have been 568 years old today.
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- April 14, 2020
- Happy Birthday to Me 2020
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- April 13, 2020
- Masters History
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In my area the Masters Tournament has always been a big deal.
In fact some of the local school districts go so far as to schedule their spring break based on information from the current year Masters Tournament details.
On this day in 1997 Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods became the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
While all too many are just the basest no character groupies of this designation I have never been one to be impressed by any aspect of golf ...
Particularly those claiming to be "professionals" who've never won anything playing.
Aw, be all of this as it may my humble opnion remains that "The Masters" sucks, golf sucks, golfers in general suck — and the jury remains out on Tiger Woods himself.
I don't like to dog anyone suffering the busy body public eye such as he has.
The tournament this year is postponed due to the COVID-19 Wuhan Chinese Coronavirus so maybe you golfers can put them up high on your hate list ...
Somewhere around me on the list, eh dimpled ball swatting stickboys ?
If you like it all, good for you. My underlying attitudes remain "to each their own".
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- April 12, 2020
- He is Risen 2020
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27:64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. 28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 28:7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
Book of Matthew, Holy Bible King James Version
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- April 12, 2020
- Yard Stuff
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Well, I have put some badly needed cleanup on the yard ... beginning early yesterday morning on the roof blowing off the pollen tassels and few remaining leaves.
I have been watching the falling leaves fairly closely and they just melded into the oak pollen somewhat on queue — so I just waited until things seem to have stopped then got busy.
It all looks like neglecting to do yard work ... and perhaps it is. I just was actually involved in the timing of it all. I got hot the very first suitable day.
I must say that the dust and such was a little stifling and my half hour in the shower did a fair but incomplete number on all that.
To my chagrin, once again my crappy stump grinding job for which I paid $600 got in the way.
I need to have the tractor serviced and I need to go get some mucinex to bring up these exotic plant powders and dusts I've inhaled during the exhausting yesterday.
I'm amazed how even when you cut weeds to the same height it all has the appearance of grass and the mulched leaves spread evenly compared to the various billowing raggedy piles they replaced.
Anyway, I look forward to a nice rain to bring down the dust levels and it's calling for rain.
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- April 11, 2020
- Charlie Murphy In Memorium 2020
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In memory of Charles Quinton Murphy
July 12, 1959 – April 12, 2017
American actor, comedian, writer
Chappelle's Show, Black Jesus, Sibling of Eddie Murphy
Gone these long years. Rest in peace. - Comments (0)
- April 11, 2020
- The Iceman Cameth and Wenteth
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I watched a documentary or two on Richard Kuklinski. The second by HBO one was the most impactful. Here was a guy who sat there calmly describing all manner of acts of murder. He was a hitman called 'The Iceman' and he took out quite a few marks all the while being a loving church going father across two marriages.
Richard Leonard Kuklinski was a murderer, hitman, and exquisitely prolific serial killer from New Jersey. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of killing two members of his burglary gang and two other associates in 1988.
2003 found him sentenced to an additional 30-year sentence after confessing to the murder of a mob-connected police officer. He acquired the nickname The Iceman by authorities after they discovered that he had frozen the body of one of his victims in an attempt to disguise the time of death.
He was known to his associates as a "one-man army" and even "the Devil himself".
He has numerous claims of high crimes in the form of the murder of various others and these were described in detail over the course of three HBO documentaries where he described his exploits and methods in great detail.
His claims of being a mafioso hitman were documented to the nth degree and his imprisonment capped what was a sad state of humanity ... being the product of a violent alcoholic and physically abusive father he in turn was a violent wife abuser in his own right.
Those highlights of his career feature a multitude of criminal activities for the better part of his adult life. He dealt in stolen goods, operated a burglary and car theft ring, and dabbled in narcotics, pornography, the arms trade, and money laundering.
His family stated that they were unaware of his crimes.
After multiple murder convictions Kuklinski gave interviews to writers, prosecutors, criminologists and psychiatrists.
His body count ranged from 100 to 250 men and those details stated were typically gruesome and largely uncorroborated. He has become immortalized in a feature film and miles of interview footage.
He died at age 70 as the result of a 'do not resusciate' order left by his second wife with the medical staff of St Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey where he had specifically requested CPR given his diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. His wife was given the declined opportunity to rescind that dnr a week before he died.
Goes to show you that violent wife beating simply isn't a good idea.
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- April 10, 2020
- Memories of Sam Kinison
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One of my favorite comedians was the late Sam Kinison. His was a schtick borne of several unhappy marriages teched with penticostal holiness preacher and a certain street smart people savvy orientation to life and love.
Samuel Burl Kinison
December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992
Some of those bits associated with him could send a person into convulsions from not being able to breathe in while laughing so hard.
Sam Kinison was an American stand-up comedian and actor. His history as a former Pentecostal preacher lent an intense style to his stand-up routines imparted with that holy man charisma which he hilariously punctuated with his distinct scream.
He did appearances, cameos, videos and such and his career was on a distinct uptick when the end came.
Sam Kinison was driving his white 1989 Pontiac 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am to Laughlin, Nevada, to perform at a sold-out show. He was struck head-on on US Route 9 near Needles, California by a 17 year old drunk driver in a pickup truck who had crossed into his lane.
He passed from massive trauma after a brief conversation with a spiritual being who was not seen by those witnesses present.
The penalty of the drunk driver was trivial compared to the consequences suffered by Kinison and those of us who remain behind.
Rest in peace.
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- April 9, 2020
- National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day 2020
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When war is declared the rules change between the combatants. Belligerent sides may capture those from the other side and detain them for a variety of reasons. Toward this end there were a number of conventions formulated for the treatment of prisoners of war. Many of these are ignored by one or both of the combatant nations in actual practice.
I recall my less than illustrious military career. Though I could never envision myself betraying my country in any way I'm glad I was not tested in war. Isolation, mistreatment, malnourishment and terror are typical complaints of those liberated from an imprisoned status during war time.
Then some nations go far beyond the horrors which may be associated with being a prisoner of war.
April 9 is our National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. This corresponds to the liberation of Andersonville in Georgia; one of the most unscrupulous and immoral detainment facilities in the Civil War. I was ashamed of the South after reading several accounts of prisoner treatment there and am left aghast by the cruelty and depravity on the part of the staff toward those held prisoner there.
We who are unaffected by the hardships of war owe a great debt to those who went and fought our battles for us. Even our career military who stood ready to serve deserve our thanks. As for the actual prisoners of war ... words are inadequate to express that debt of gratitude owed them. The notion that some prisoners of war remain missing in action is a difficult matter to reconcile in the minds of a civilian public who did not face such adversity.
Let us hope that all POW/MIA service people and civilians are ultimately accounted for. They and their families deserve it.
God Bless America
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- April 8, 2020
- Arthur Robert Ashe Jr
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I've never been a tennis fan. I dare say I despise the game as both a spectator and competition sport. Something about it screams pretentious wussie to me and I have been known to go to great lengths to toy with tennis players from a standpoint of poking fun and practical joking.
However, over the years a few tennis players have caught my attention. Like the lesbian Billie Jean King who simply had to get out there and whup a man's ass back around the time I finished high school.
Then of course there is John McEnroe and his never ending stream of antics and temper tantrums which brought me no end of amusement.
Finally, there was Arthur Ashe who announced that he had contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion a scant year before he passed ... which I thought to be the epitome of guts and poise and that announcement gave me great pause and a time to reflect and resulted in the cultivation of that respect I feel he deserved.
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr
July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993
Yes, I joked about AIDS profusely during the 1980s and early 1990s but this had become tempered over time with that reality which was the horrible death which awaited a typical sufferer and slowly my thoughts turned to those stricken individuals and I stopped viewing it all as some remote joke that didn't intersect with my own life.
Far later, I learned that my childhood best friend, Christopher E Gagnon had contracted the disease and passed when we both were just turning 40 and alas, there went my plans to reconnect which had remained on the back burner for so long.
On this day in 1992 Arthur Ashe announced that he had full blown AIDS which was contracted as the result of blood transfusions during his heart surgeries. He was characterized as a 'tennis great' and I cannot speak to this never having seriously watched any competition nor engaged the rules of the sport at any level ...
But here was a man who came forward during a time when sufferers of the disease were ostracized and criticized and ridiculed and he spoke of his affliction knowing full well the portends were grave.
All I can say is I wish my own humanity were so devoid of selfishness.
This was a man of character, composure, and empathy for his fellows at the end of a life that was done all too soon.
Rest in peace.
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- April 7, 2020
- National Beer Day 2020
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Ah, the old days when I would sit down and actually enjoy a beer — or two.
Likely won't see any more of those days — call it age, call it preoccupation, call it that end to bar hopping when I attained the ripe old age of 30.
Yes, some of us decline to stock the fridge with various brewed refreshments anymore ...
But back in the day.
Today we observe yet another National Beer Day because it's April 7 once again. Ah, how the memories flood in sometimes.
The date marks the the Cullen–Harrison Act allowing the manufacturing and sale of low-alcohol beer and wines, ostensibly for taxation revenues which ultimately resulted in the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ...
Repealing the 18th ammendment and the Vostead Act and therefore prohibition upon ratification the following December.
April 6, the day prior to National Beer Day, is known as New Beer's Eve.
Sometimes people can be their own worst enemies.
Take feminists, social justice warriors, and other perversions of the human condition.
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- April 6, 2020
- Tartan Day 2020
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I have a strong Scottish heritage on my mother's side of the family. This is because I have been closer to my maternal relatives than my paternal relatives due to various events and actualities during my lifetime.
Tartan Day is a North American celebration of Scottish heritage on April 6.
This corresponds to that date upon which the Declaration of Arbroath, the declaration of Scottish independence written in Latin submitted to Pope John XXII confirming Scotland's status as an independent, sovereign state and defending Scotland's right to use military action when unjustly attacked was signed in 1320.
Tartan Day originated in Canada in the mid-1980s. It has spread to other communities of Scottish immigration in the 1990s.
Australia has a similar International Tartan Day which is held on July 1.
This date corresponds to the anniversary of the repeal of the 1747 Act of Proscription that banned the wearing of tartan.
Tartan Days typically have parades of pipe bands, games of strength and skill, as well as Highland dancing and other Scottish-themed events.
We have a local celebration called Tartan Day South held in Cayce, South Carolina and at other nearby venues.
It is held in the finest tradition of the original Highland Games and Celtic Festivals.
Tartan Day South is cancelled for the year of 2020 due to concerns about COVID-19.
It is planned to resume in 2021.
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- April 5, 2020
- Things I won't Eat
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With the origins of the COVID-19 virus outbreak being said to have began with the consumption of bats from China's wet markets, it is important for me to clarify specific animals that I decline to consider food animals.
These include (but are not limited to):
Amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders) Canines (dogs) Chiroptera (bats) Felines (cats) Marine mammals (any) Marsupials (opossums, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Tasmainian devils) Monotremes (duckbilled platypusses) Procyons (raccoons) Pholidota (pangolins) Reptiles (lizards, snakes, crocodiles, aligators, turtles, humanoids) Rodents (rats, squirrels, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, gophers, guinea pigs) 
I am what I consider to be an 'adventurous' eater. I eat many things that others in my family and among my acquaintances cannot tolerate ... say sushi, sashimi, various tartar dishes and so forth.
However, these are prepared by individuals I know, trust, and consider to be domain experts in the field of food preparation and as such I feel safe eating these things even if they are outside the mainstream tastes for your typical insipid inbred southerner.
Even yankees shun much of these delacacies as well.
So before you offer me a nice plate of frog legs with lemon and drawn butter consider those things others may not consume with the relish upon which you may enjoy them.
No ... I'm not a 'food prude' and no I am not one to shun things over some exotic bouquet nor flavor pallet they might employ.
I simply don't eat them because I choose not to do so. My reasons primarily surround health aspects but I also recognize that the animal itself may be something for which I could never cook and eat.
Say a doggie or a kitty.
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- April 4, 2020
- Isaac K Funk
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Back in my childhood I was given many sets of encyclopedia in an effort to augment my public schooling.
Isaac Kaufmann Funk
September 10, 1839 – April 4, 1912
My mom would pass on sets from my uncle and various other sources and even made a weekly trip to the local piggly wiggly to buy a Funk and Wagnalls volume until we had amassed not only a complete set, but several yearbooks as well.
Then there were the Golden Book Encylopedia and Grollier's sets and I made it a point to devour each and every tome as if they weren't going to make anymore.
The sum result in this has been an enhancement of the body of knowledge I acquired during the course of my childhood and youth which was unsurpassed in that dull and commonplace environment such as the South Carolina and Florida public schools.
Isaac Kaufmann Funk was a Lutheran minister,lexicographer, editor, publisher, and spelling reformer from the USA.
He cofounded the Funk & Wagnalls Company. He was the father of author and publisher Wilfred J. Funk who contributed the "Word Power" feature in Reader's Digest from 1945 to 1962. He was the grandfather of author Peter Funk, who continued "Word Power" until 2003.
Funk & Wagnalls Company was the publisher of The Literary Digest, The Standard Dictionary of the English Language, and Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia ... of which I was the proud owner of a complete set for many years.
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