I have started and cancelled cable over the number of commercials they show in an hour.

Likewise, I have run through most major streaming companies and cancelled all of them due to similar commercial loads.

My issue ?

I decline to pay some schmoe to watch a bunch of commercials they're airing.

Heck, I won't sit and watch a bunch of commercials on a free stream either.

The bottom line is there needs to be a different mechanism.

Advertisers are going to lose all but those who won't buy their goods anyway due to a lack of disposable income.

We with disposable income to spare resent your commercials.

Can you say massive DVD and Blu Ray collection ?

Get a clue.
 

Louis Thomas Hardin May 26, 1916 - September 8, 1999

When I was in the eighth grade I encountered a brief bio of a fellow called 'Moondog' who was referred to as an eccentric musician and poet from the streets of New York.

This appeared in one of my several literature books of those times and I recall being taken aback by this fellow in Viking garb who appeared highly animated as though engaged in oratory — but likely was reciting some work of poetry he had written.

Later, I learned that he was Louis Thomas Hardin, an American musician, composer, theoretician, poet and inventor musical instruments who was blind from the age of 16.

He resided in New York City from the late 1940s until 1972 and was frequently to be found on 6th Avenue, between 52nd and 55th Streets, wearing a cloak and a horned helmet as he impersonated Odin as part of his public persona and schtick.

He would sometimes be busking with a musical instrument and material of his own creation or hawking his music. Other times he would be standing on the sidewalk quietly.

He was known to locals as "the Viking of 6th Avenue" because they were largely unaware of his musical career and proclivities as an inventor.

I never stood in judgement of him because of his eccentricities ... perhaps in part due to those of my own.
 

So locally we're anticipating some of Hurricaine Dorian today ... not that I "really" think we'll get any significant weather.

It's just that schools will be closing and therefore parents at work will likely need to perform childcare duties.

This leaves me somewhat wondering what the workday will be as I arrive at 6 am and make ready for the day's festivities.

Spoke with Mom and she's cancelling her classes if the weather is too heavy. She will defer this to the last moment.

So regardless I'm hauling my carcass to work because that's where the action is.
 

When I was a kid my mom would make us Welsh Rarebit. It was quite a meal and we ate it with great relish over either bread and sometimes dipped crackers into it.

I couldn't get enough of it there for a while. It was the only redeeming aspect of my life in that misery which was Goose Creek, South Carolina and those mean navy chidren of the denizens of that hell hole.

Today is National Welsh Rarebit Day.

Welsh rarebit is a savory traditional Welsh dish.

It consists of a melted cheese sauce with other ingredients which vary depending on the palate of the preparer.

It is served hot over slices of toasted bread and is frequently served as fondue.

The name of the dish translates to "Welsh rabbit" and it originates in Great Britain from about the 18th century.
 

So here we have National Trail Mix Day once again. The observance is held anually each 31st of August and is something I've partaken of regularly since my trip down the Chatooga River with Terry Elrod, the late Ronald Player, Dr M F McFarland and his friend whose name escapes me after all these years ...

Anyway, at that period of my life being barely out of high school I earned next to nothing and in retrospect had no business embarking on this trip for reasons of financal propriety but being the basically irresponsible clod I was in the early 1970s I went anyway.

I didn't even have money for supper that night.

The following day we embarked very early in the am and right about the first stop we were given a large bag of 'gorp' from which I consumed mass quantities and it satisfied that immense emptiness secondary to my hunger.

Since then, with the steady improvement of my finances I have continued to enjoy various trail mixes with forays into the plain garden variety all the way through those exotic gormet versions which I typically bought in five pound increments and shared with those at work.

So whether you mix your own recipe or indulge some prepackaged brand I hope you too can celebrate that nutrition from nuts and chocolate and oh, the salty raisin and other dried fruit goodness of it all.

Happy National Trail Mix Day to you !
 

Labor Day is our last public holiday of the Summer season.

Typically it constitutes a day off for most of us with schools and many businesses being closed in observance.

This year I have a four day weekend thanks to my job and I plan to spend a portion of that time with my Mom and handle a little yard work which continually escapes me.

The day is not what it once was to me.

The politics of the present with it's diminished patriotism and freaks of nature claiming rights to be those abominations that they are in conjunction with the stupidity of all too many in general has sullied such days for me and I choose not to observe the day with many compared to times long gone. Be all of this as it may I hope your Labor Day is everything for which you could hope and that it progress in a fashion which suits your life and family.