Welcome
- July 25, 2019
- A bit of Drug Testing at Schools
-
Once upon a time I was staunchly against drug testing anytime anywhere.
Of course, during this period I was quite the head myself and frequented venues where the alcohol, cannabis, and pharmaceuticals flowed unabated.
Then one day it became obvious that drug testing had become a fact of life in employment.
It was that juncture which caused a distinct fork in the road for me personally whereby I stopped all the mess 'cold turkey' and decided that there were too many issues related to employment otherwise to continue what could only be 'deleterious' to my career.
Smartest move I ever made.
One of my good friends had the audacity to say "I'm going to smoke my pot now, and that's just the way it is".
He was fired from the best job which could be had in his home town because he failed a urine test for cannabis.
He lost his 50,000 dollar Ford pickup truck in the deal.
I felt bad for him but now he tends bar at a biker joint and this did not have to be his hard headed outcome.
I was reading about a Texas school district which will begin drug testinng students as young as 12 years of age if they are interested in playing sports or participating in extracurricular activities.
This all goes down at the commencement of classes in a month.
The local jurisdiction says there is no drug problem. They just want to get a 'leg up' on keeping students safe and in a drug free environment.
The policy has been under discussion for about a year and the district wants to be proactive in controlling drug abuse.
Seven substances will be screened that include alcohol, marijuana, heroin and opioids with the fundage already budgeted.
SCOTUS provided for this in 2002 by raising the authority of public schools to test children for illegal drugs in middle and high schools expanding to those included in extracurricular activities in addition to those participating in student athletics, who were already being routinely tested.
As for me, I no longer care about drug testing at any level. Some of those with whom I interact likewise do not fear the drug test.
There comes a time when old habits must be set aside as a predicate for the future.
- Comments (0)
- July 24, 2019
- Rutger Hauer RIP
-
Alas, one of my favorite character actors has passed in the Netherlands at age 75.
Rutger Hauer
January 23, 1944 - July 19, 2019
Rutger Hauer, who thralled me with his portrayals of replicants, heroes, villains, and a variety of well crafted characters will be remembered by me personally for his consistent entertaining career which has punctuated my life with many enjoyable moments.
The threads report his 'circuitous' route to acting. They noted his parents who ran an acting school and intervening military hitches.
All in all I'd say it was worth the wait for a catalog as diverse as the horror and macabre through kind and gentleness as well as the staunch hero types overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Some personal favorites from his work include Blade Runner, The Hitcher, Escape from Sobibor, Nostradamus, Sin City, and Blind Fury.
Rest in peace.
- Comments (0)
- July 22, 2019
- Birthday of the late Chris Gagnon
-
Today is the sixty fourth anniversary of the birth of my late childhood friend, Christopher E Gagnon.
He departed this earthly existence on April 5, 1995 from contracting AIDS in the Pikes Peak area of Colorado.
We were both 40. I was just turned and he was rapidly approaching.
His funeral was held April 11, 1995 at Congregational Community Church of Manitou Springs.
I once tried to ascertain where I was at that time ...
I recall my birthday that year which was held on the following 14th of April replete with the black roses and all the 'over the hill' mess I received during that particular celebration.
This would have placed me teaching in the state college system.
I was oblivious to his passing at that juncture because I had not been able to ascertain his whereabouts to any level of certainty.
I have marked his passing as well as I could given the fact that I lost contact with him only to reconnect via his obit courtesy of my good friend Mark Casey.
It is a rather somber day for me to note because the world lost a very talented person upon his death.
That his parents both passed a scant five years prior to his death is simply further personal tragedy as they were wonderful kind and gentle people as well.
So, happy birthday in Heaven Chris Gagnon.
I hope that all the secrets of the universe are known to you and that I may visit with you again sometime when it becomes appropriate.
I am labeled by some who know me as 'homophobic' and indeed I rather view homosexuality as a sin of the highest order.
However, I have acquired the knowledge over the years that judgement indeed is not mine and we are not the sum total of the worst things we do in life.
Be all of this as it may, 'homophobic' is quite the misnomer with 'phobic' being a reference to 'fear' which simply is not nor has it ever been there.
Despite our differences, Chris Gagnon was great company and it simply is not in me to hold anything against him.
I have missed him over the years.
- Comments (0)
- July 22, 2019
- Prince George of Cambridge is Five Today
-
I used to follow the royals pretty closely.
This ended upon the death of Princess Diana and the manner of her death, the insanity of Prince Charles, and those suspicions I still hold regarding her tragic end with the nasty Dodi Fayed. Distinctly a lack of suitable choices indeed.
So her grandson, Prince George turns five today and in keeping with my attitudes presently in place I'm not really going to do any sigificant marking of the day aside from this short piece of writing.
This is based on some of the interactions of which I have read where he is said to have been quoted as saying "take you hands off me peasant" ... It's simply unseemly and figurehead individuals need to recognize their place as well.
Nobility is acquired not inherited and though you may have subjects to ooh and ah all over you there are those of us who maintain a respectful distance and make every attempt to keep our snide comments to ourselves.
All in all I think he will grow up to be just fine. However, he is no Prince William nor Prince Harry at this juncture.
He is third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his grandfather Prince Charles and his father Prince William.
So anyway, I hope the royal child has a great day and we'll see what we think as he matures as I still decline to be a fan.
- Comments (0)
- July 21, 2019
- Adventures in Lubrication
-
Yesterday I went to Ricky's for lube job on my 2008 Colorado LT crew cab.
As happens occasionally, I was advised regarding the remaining miles for which my existing oil is quite good and in Ricky's defense he was only trying to save me money — as he always does.
So we had the standard "change the oil" conversation replete with the poking of fun and such ... Then I stood around engaging his father — who happens to be from the same 'neck of the woods' that I am in a bit of chit chat.
It seems that the great sentimental value I attribute to this truck overrides the additional 50,000 miles the oil may have in it ... because I promised my dad I'd change the oil every three months and I have kept that promise religiously.
When they were done I was handed a lost key and change purse they found and I might mention that I had been looking for the key for months and the change purse for years.
All in all I remain happy with the excellent service and superior attention to detail I get at Ricky's Tire and Auto on Sunset BL in West Columbia, SC.
- Comments (0)
- July 20, 2019
- Investigating Nebulizers
-
I recently find myself looking at nebulizers so I can get some moisture down into my lungs in conjunction with a nice high dose of Guaifenesin to bring up those remnants of that smoking I ended so long ago ...
The history of this particular adventure is fraught with missteps in the form of entrusting my selection to a buffoon staff at a local pharmacy called 'Hawthorne' and live and learn I will never go there ever again.
Suffice it to say that my initial purchase was totally unsatisfactory and they were neither knowledgeable nor helpful by any stretch of the imagination.
My continuing search has led me to the PARI vios Pro nebulizer of which there are two models:
• Vios Pro LC Sprint
• Vios Pro LC Plus
These concern themselves with how much 'medication' (in my case normal saline) is delivered in a set timeframe in minutes.
My primary attraction revolves around the exceptional properties of the compressor viz a viz a very costly alternative and the fact that I have been talking to others who are both knowledgeable and remotely interested in my business as Hawthorne Pharmacy was not.
Anyway, my final trepidations surround the twenty dollar shipping which I am trying to convice myself is indeed not "profiteering" on the freight as I suspect.
So I'm going to mull it over another few days and order one.
Hopefully the misadventure of entrusting a bunch of disinterested local yokels will not repeat itself.
- Comments (0)
- July 18, 2019
- Snowball's Chance in Hell
-
I recall from childhood Linus sitting in the pumpkin patch. Hoping that the vines and ripe melons would be 'the most sincere' resulting in the Great Pumpkin rising from the patch ... though I never truly understood the reward.
Pretty much, that's how I view the lottery. I buy ticket after ticket hoping that my plays will be judged most sincere by some benevolent entity which will rise from the lottery and bestow upon me those tangibles for which we who play participate.
Could this be the essence of greed ?
Possibly. It's just that we who live our lives in quiet desperation from paycheck to paycheck will often times pursue something for which we may hope.
So it is with Linus who seeks those rewards beyond the earthly sphere and me, as well as I pursue that which is not really mine and attempt not to be covetous concurrently.
It has been my experience that the Almighty does not involve his or her self with such matters as the lottery. So all I can really do is hope the universe will conspire in my favor one sweet day.
- Comments (0)
- July 17, 2019
- Execution of the Romanov family
-
The Russian Imperial family consisting of:
Tsar Nicholas II,
his wife Tsarina Alexandra and
their five children
Olga,
Tatiana,
Maria,
Anastasia,
and Alexei
As well as their loyal subjects who chose to accompany them into imprisonment ... notably:
Eugene Botkin,
Anna Demidova,
Alexei Trupp and
Ivan Kharitonov,
As ascertained by the investigator Sokolov they were shot and bayoneted to death in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 16–17 1918.
According to the official state version in the USSR, former Tsar Nicholas Romanov, along with members of his family and retinue, were executed by firing squad, by order of the Ural Regional Soviet, due to the threat of the city being occupied by the Czechoslovak Legion, aka the "Whites".
According to a number of researchers, they were murdered under plans set into motion by Lenin, Yakov Sverdlov and Felix Dzerzhinsky.
Their bodies were then taken to the Koptyaki forest where they were stripped and mutilated.
In 1919, White Army investigation of Sokolov failed to find the gravesite and concluded that the Romonov's remains had been cremated at the mineshaft called Ganina Yama because there was evidence of fire there.
In 1979 and 2007 those remains were found in two unmarked graves in a field called Porosenkov Log.
Thus is the sad ending of a the Tsar of Russia, his family, and servants at the hands of their captors — the victors, who also wrote the sad gruesome history.
No wonder Lenin was murdered by bludgeoning with a hammer.
That which goes around, comes around.
- Comments (0)
- July 16, 2019
- Linda Maria Ronstadt
-
One of my favorite singers during my youth was Linda Ronstadt.
She has collaborated with numerous other artists on their projects, some of which likewise are included among my personal favorites.
I was most enthralled by her various contemporary pieces but then she went on a vintage/nostalgia kick and I thought they were interesting ... up to a point.
My fondest memories of her surround riding around in my green Vega with my Navy buddy, the late Jerry Landry and listing to various cassette tapes in the mid 1970s.
One of those thrilling live moments happened while Jerry and I were watching a performance when she entered stage left in a Daisy Mae Yokum get up and belted out 'Poor Poor Pitiful Me'.
I almost couldn't contain my enthusiasm.
She is an award winning chanteuse who sold records with wild abandon up to that point she was forced into retirement due to Parkinson's disease — which she has bravely faced while remaining in the public eye.
I recall my dismay when she told of how it had robbed her of the ability to carry a tune at all.
It was a stunning revelation for me personally over which I pondered an extended period of time.
She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014.
- Comments (0)
- July 15, 2019
- Rembrandt
-
Rembrandt was a Dutch artist who worked in many different media and left the legacy of "master" from a standpoint of skills.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
July 15, 1606 - October 4, 1669
He has a broad spectrum of works including portraits to include self-portraits, landscapes, scenes of various genre, as well as symbolic scenes and historical representations, biblical and mythological themes and animal studies and he is remembered as one of the premiere visual artists ever.
I suppose the thing most important to me about Rembrant was that place he held in the heart of my late friend, Dewitt.
He spoke of his skills and art at quite often and at length.
Along with his other key favorite, Michaelangelo, I never tired of those discussions as we would turn the pages of every picture book we encountered.
- Comments (0)
- July 13, 2019
- Frida Kahlo July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954
-
I have mixed feelings when it comes to the artist Frida Kahlo.
When I first investigated her as a matter of personal interest, I was intrigued with her folksy naivete infused style and that vast number of portraits, including self portraiture and that accuracy evident when I compared the painting to the actual subject thereof.
She was born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón and lived from the sixth of July 1907 through the thirteenth of July 1954 so that entirety of her life predated me by slightly less than a year. While I never achieved 'inspiration' from her work per se, I can say that I considered her one of the more interesting characters from history and marvelled at that skill she wielded and that casual manner with which she represented it.
Being a long term fan of surrealism and fantasy from my own personal history her work was something to which I have always been able to relate.
She passed this earthly existence after a period of declining health from what was likely bronchopneumonia shortly after a political event in which she participated with Diego Rivera, her long time love which was a demonstration against the CIA invasion of Guatemala.
- Comments (0)
- July 12, 2019
- The Sixth Stooge
-
My childhood was punctuated with episodes of the three stooges.
Joe "Curly Joe" DeRita
July 12, 1909 – July 3, 1993
Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe at various stages because they were alas, subject to that attrition secondary to mortality.
I really didn't differentiate between the various cast members because in that fog which was the innocence of youth I was neither aware nor interested in any reasons nor did those cast changes affect me in my enjoyment of the various episodes presented.
Born Joseph Wardell, Joe DeRita was an American actor and comedian and his was that ability to be a part of my life in that fantasy which was my childhood. During that time there was sometimes confluence in that which I perceived and that which was reality.
Reality didn't totally set in til somwhere around age 28 for me. That would place the year in the 1983 range.
Joe passed some decade later of pneumonia in Woodland Hills, California.
Rest in peace.
- Comments (0)
- July 11, 2019
- The Joke called Woke
-
There is this political term derived from African American individuals having a perception of issues relating to social justice and racial justice. This activity of 'being woke' is said to be a mantra touting fairness when in actuality it is simply another term for "I can be racist and lie about you but don't you dare be racist or lie towards me."
There is this political term derived from African American individuals having a perception of issues relating to social justice and racial justice. As all things anymore the original flavor and meaning of the term has been corrupted by those individuals invoking it most often — customized to their specific liking. This activity of 'being woke' is said to be a mantra touting fairness when in actuality it is simply another term for "I can be racist all I care to but don't you dare go there." "Stay Woke" is part of the continuing racial discord in the United States.
If you view the entirety of pedantic racism those roots are weaved though those• "black pages" and • "Miss Black America" and other • "black" exclusionary conventions, • events, • institutions,
and practices which are part and parcel of "Do as I say not as I do". You cannot be exclusionary and treat it like a crime when others do it. Everything cannot be attributed to some vague underlying racisim supposedly evident everywhere. That panacea label applied to all things specific to too many for too long.
So to Maxine Waters and others like Spartacus Booker we are left to tolerate their racism while they blindly cast aspersions and accusations of racist whatever over each and everyone else not doing it. It's like the democrats doing all manner of unscrupulous and immoral activities while accusing the Republicans falsely of doing them. So stay as angry as you like. Stay as woke as you like.
This manipulative "call it what it isn't" mechanism which by which individuals are incapable of recognizing nor speaking the truth is that same circular narrative devoid of logic and full of contrived CNN fake news nothingness to which "the woke" subscribe. In the final tally everyone will know who dishes out the sleaze going around ... and too many of them are persons claiming to be "woke" for "being woke" doesn't really mean anything.
It's a code word for false accusation and innuendo by those with nothing to say otherwise.
You can deny it. You can call it what it's not. You can bear all manner of false witness toward those who recognize that connotation which is "woke". It's unseemly and has been outed for quite a while now.
- Comments (0)
- July 10, 2019
- Nikola Tesla Day 2019
-
One of those individuals I didn't know much about til much later in my existence is Nikola Tesla.
He was a polymath engineer with off the chart knowledge and skills beyond those known to mere mortals such as the thief Thomas Edison and much lesser engineer George Westinghouse.
Tesla's birthday is today.
As such it is celebrated as Nikola Tesla Day and it is a moment to take stock of ourselves in the light of true genius.
Perhaps some of our papers will be confiscated upon our deaths as Tesla's were by the Federal Government.
It could be the true mark of a worthwhile existence that has escaped me.
Just think.
He was suppressed at every turn and in the end robbed by his suppressors in the name of an obsolete military industrial complex and fossil fuel profiteering still present today.
- Comments (0)