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- November 3, 2018
- National Cliche Day 2018
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In writing one of those things you are supposed to steer clear of are cliches — those trite overused phrases which allegedly illustrate a fundamental lack of original thinking ...
Today is National Cliche Day; that day set aside for these tidbits lacking originality. One thing you can say for me is I don't fear their use and actually enjoy the pun and other manifestations of cliche in writing; but I am definitely one of those eccentric originals who would never be mistaken as "being cliche" as I am far enough "outside the box" to be in orbit to paraphrase my friend Corey.cli·ché
/klēˈSHā/
a phrase or opinion considered to be overused or betraying some lack of original thinking
old saying, trite phrase, banality, platitude, hackneyed phrase, stock phrase, maxim, truism
However, this being said I sometimes go for days without uttering a single cliche and this may well happen today.
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- November 2, 2018
- International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists 2018
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That worthlessness called the United Nations is observing The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
This happens each November second, the day supposedly directs the world's attention on the plight of the journalist ... whose murder may go totally unchallenged and without adequate investigation or prosecution.
As ususal, the UN is impotent to do anything about these matters because they don't involve Agenda 21 or their other underhanded directives toward a global one rule government with the leadership in Belgium and THEM as the enforcers (of course).
If they can't trod on the freedom of the world and dismantle national governments they simply can't be bothered. They think we're just going to walk into the night like the victims did for the earlier Nazi's of the third reich.
Consistent corruption, illegal activities, and bad judgement calls internationally are the hallmark of this failure in world domination. The New World Order they propose is simply that culmination of elitist mind farts such as those of the Bushs, Clintons, and Obamas of the world.
A lot of good the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists did for Jamal Khashoggi the journalist who met a henious death which included drugging and dismemberment while still alive in the consulate of a sovereign nation.
For sure, the Saudi government is unlikely to fall victim to Agenda 21 and the rest of the nonsense propagated by the United Nations lest they all wind up similarly.
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- November 1, 2018
- World Vegan Day 2018
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Today is World Vegan Day and celebrates 'vegans' that subset of vegarians who omit all animal products from their diet with some going further as to refraining from using any animal products whatsoever even clothing items made of leather or wool.
Okay. I'm all for the vegan lifestyle.
I am convinced that it is healthy second to none because it eliminates most of the useless fat and other food residues which are part and parcel to consuming that lovely cut of meat of which I am so fond.
The day was founded in 1994 by adherent one Louise Wallis who was then chair of a thing known as "The Vegan Society" and the entire observance is a series of presentations and of course potlucks and feasting ... vegan of course.
As for me, I remain a carnivore and while I do not thrust this on anyone for any reason I will likely continue my penchant for all types of meat products until my arteries finally clog over and I kick the bucket from all those lifestyle diseases I will acquire as the result of this practice.
Happy World Vegan Day to you. I envy you vegans for your ability to enjoy vegetables to the extent that you can.
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- October 31, 2018
- Halloween 2018
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- October 30, 2018
- I watched Bicentennial Man again
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Since the death of Robin Williams I have been having difficulty watching his work on the television. Just yesterday I viewed my bluray of Bicentennial Man after a long while of avoiding it intentionally.
Somehow, the melancholy of his passing infuses me with a sadness still after all this time.
Robin Williams was an American actor and comedian. Born in Chicago. An improvisational virtuoso, he first caught my eye listening to Throbbing Python of Love ... a stand up comedy recording available at the local Tower Records in El Toro, California where I resided.
Robin Williams
July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014
He had a long career on television and film. He was accessible to his fans who typically got a great shot of him smiling in their selfie and what not ...
He died at has own hand after cancellation of his television series and a recent diagnosis of Lewy body dementia.
Oh the humanity ... and now all we have are those parts he portrayed and the clips from appearances and such.
August 11, 2014 was the date of a personal tragedy for me when he decided he could not go on.
Those thoughts of who he was and all he did pass through my mind from time to time.
Sometimes it's difficult to fathom that nobody could make a difference for him and therein lay what hurts for me.
If I could have intervened I would have but alas, I was not even in his sphere of existence other than through the media he frequented during his lifetime.
The "what if's" and "if onlys" plague me to this day.
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- October 29, 2018
- International Internet Day 2018
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Each 29th of October we celebrate International Internet Day in commemoration of the first electronic communication between two computers in 1969.
The user was a student programmer named Charley Kline.
The supervisor was Professor Leonard Kleinrock.
The point of origin was a SDS Sigma 7 machine located at UCLA.
The destination was a SDS 940 at the Stanford Research Institute.
From those humble DARPAnet beginnings the internet has evolved into the fairly high tech smattering of computers across the planet.
I have three fully connected servers on the 5 node 300 megabit per second network at my place and work with a bunch more servers and workstations I use as a function of my day job.
Ah, my life would have turned out much differently were it not for this plan B and the ability to do something I never intended to pursue as a career. Not to mention my late step dads recognition of "the right stuff" for a cushy coding gig when he saw it while everyone else was saying "nay" !
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- October 28, 2018
- International Animation Day 2018
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Throughout my extended childhood I have loved animated features on television and film.
Some of my favorite characters are animated and this stems from my early encounters with Astroboy and other heros of my childhood.
Yes, I always envisioned myself an artist of sorts and would even deface various books making "flipbook" style creations ...
Like on my green bound Webster's New World Dictionary purchased for me by my parents when I entered elementary school in Virginia.
Today is International Animation Day which has been held since 2002 under the auspices of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) to celebrate animation as an art form. It is said that the observance is held in 50 countries with in excess of 1000 events on every continent.
I keep wondering what the event at Antarctica entails.
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- October 27, 2018
- Navy Day in the United States 2018
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This holiday celebrates the US Navy.
The first was held under the auspices of the Navy League in 1922.
The date finally chosen for the observance is October 27 and corresponds to the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, who was a great proponent of the navy, sea power, and naval affairs in general.
The purchase of a number of merchant ships were reported favorably upon by a committee of the Continental Congress on October 27, 1775.
So the date is signficant to naval operations on multiple fronts of both governmental and citizen organizations.
There was a celebration of Navy Day in 1945 which is remembered for the celebratory aspect to this day.
Another date corresponding to the formation of the Continental Navy was proposed early on but the day has been generally celebrated on October 27 to this day.
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- October 26, 2018
- National Pumpkin Day 2018
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Today is National Pumpkin Day ... they're one of those autumn gourds which mark the harvest.
These melons are a rich source of vitamins and fiber and make excellent pies, cakes, and puddings.
Pumpkins are grown everywhere in the United States, including Alaska.
The seeds are rich in an essential oil which has copious amounts of essential fatty acids and fat soluble vitamins such as vitamins E and K as well as more esoteric nutrients such as phytosterols and sterine.
I have been known to purchase a pumpkin every few years because I encounter one that I simply cannot resist for it's size and form ...
the artistry of nature grips me in the autumn, my favorite time of the year.
Happy National Pumpkin Day to you.
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- October 25, 2018
- Some of us don't want to look at video all over the place
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There is a propensity for web sites to presume that their public wishes to view video presentations exclusively during the perusing of their content. This content was formerly the flash format with a smattering of HTML5 interspersed but now it's the other way around ... and I have installed appropriate blocking software for both occasions.
That reason for my wish to be left without a lot of video has much to do with the consternation that video adverts present and I've reached that point well beyond rebellion to downright warfare on the front of video ads, video snips, video announcements, and having it all shoved down my throat as though it's some site's right to do so.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy video and under different circumstances I wouldn't have ever gone on the warpath against flash player and it's HTML5 ilk. It's simply that inclination for video sites to intersperse a video ad before each and every blessed clip they wish to present -- and WORSE, sites which populate the bulk of their pages with flash or other video adverts in the presence of purely marginal content otherwise -- which raised my hackles sufficiently to effectively thwart those attempts prior to my ever hitting their URL.
Me, I'm one of those determined to have my internet experience on my own terms. No nasty video is going to force itself upon me. No HTML5 or flash permutation. Not even a big bad animated GIF should push come to shove ... and to think that all of this 'tude happens in light of my 300 megabyte download capacity as well.
I have adobe to blame primarily ... and their nasty unintelligble regiments of persons from india claiming to be John, and Ralph, and Tina ... as they thank me for the information and tell me that they have to 'tink' about it. I've been repelled by their minions and now have disdain for their entire product line ... particularly flash video and the never ending components, nag screens, and advertisements using it. All because of the annoying animated ads which prevail despite the announced demise of flash itself in the near future.
I rue the day adobe purchased macromedia and turned flash (and coldfusion) into those messy monstrosities they presently are. I'd much rather read more text and see more sets of still images; but that's just me. You view all the bloody videos you like whenever you're so inclined. We can't all like the same things and it often seems that I'm the only one who likes what I seek in that internet experience anyway and that's ... okay.
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- October 24, 2018
- No Go on the Lottery Win Again
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So Megamillions had a 1.6 Billion dollar jackpot won by some lucky devil in Simpsonville.
No I'm not jealous and I am happy for the winner.
I'll just have to try again tonight for the (much lesser) Powerball jackpot instead.
They say if you keep playing you will ultimately win.
I keep hoping ...
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- October 23, 2018
- October is Global Diversity Awareness Month
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Recently I saw a youtube video where a fat redhead woman with a poor vocabulary, and even poorer grasp of reality was knocking white men as something less than everyone else on the planet.
This, coupled with the fact that she was a stupid white girl cracker of the basest most ignorant cant pronounce her own terms sort simply added to my disdain for her and her ilk ... and I ended up doing a very unflattering mouseover of her morfing into the sow that she is in reality and all her stupidity.
Growing up in a Navy family I often heard my Dad use some of that jargon from his career in his explanations of various things to me over the years. Things like:
"The right way, the wrong way, and the Navy way"
"swab the deck", and
"the Navy is colorblind"
I didn't always know what these things meant in my childhood; but I have always been in schools with people from other cultures and as such I have been fairly tolerant of those different than me. It's all I ever knew.
I have never been one to apply labels to people. I view it as counterproductive. I can recognize that you're different than me and appreciate your distinctiveness without pasting some identifier to your forehead toward that end. This brings me to one of those relatively newer buzzwords that people tend to toss around until you grow weary from their overuse ... diversity.
It is an appositive for the existence of differences in various experiential inventories as they pertain to gender, gender identity, religion, sociololgy, economics, sexual preferences, racial or ethnic classifications, age, intelligence, mental or physical health status, genetics, behavior, place of origin, cultural values, political ideology, and the list has the potential to be virtually endless. Diversity can actually encompass any other identifying features within a group as well.
Diversity is important in the fact that different cultures may aid communication between people of different backgrounds and lifestyles. This communication can promote greater knowledge, understanding, and peaceful coexistence.
The inverse of diversity then becomes assimilation, whereby "the many become one" and those of different backgrounds assume the same identity to achieve the recognition, communication, knowledge, and peaceful coexistence which is the aim of diversity.
"Respect for Diversity" is one of the six principles of the Global Greens Charter, a public declaration of intent subscribed to by Green parties from all over the world. I used to recognize and support diversity. I feel that if we were all the same the world would be a boring place.
However, I grow weary of the overuse of terms such as diversity because they become trite and diminish the significance of that which they attempt to promote. The recognition of the differences we all have is important and we should all get along regardless of who we are, from where we originate, or if or where we worship.
Then there is this prevailing leftist notion that diversity is simply another term for "not white" and that discrimination against people such as myself is the true crux of my problem with the entire notion.
Then there is "global" and all the New World Order traitor Bush connotations that brings up. The traitor Bushes and the brigand Obamas can both go straight to hell along with the crook ass Clintons.
I don't necessarily view diversity as some idol to be placed on the alter of tradition. In a word, celebrate your life as you see fit. Try not to make the fact that you're different appear to be the only thing you value. There is a political correctness which envelops diversity that makes me want to squash it like a bug.
Be different. Don't knock me because I'm different from you.
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- October 22, 2018
- Annette Funicello
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Annette Joanne Funicello the American actress, singer, and Mouseketeer was born this day in 1942.
She was the only one of the Disney child star troupe to be hand picked by him -- and was about the earliest crush of my childhood.
She was born in Utica, New york to Joseph and Virginia Funicello.
They provided her with dancing and music lessons in an effort to assist her with childhood shyness. They moved to Southern California when she was four years old.
I think my enamor began about the first time I heard her sing "How Will I Know My Love" -- which was released on single ... but I only heard it on television.
She had a lot of Disney serials and beach film/musicals in her repertoire and did commercials as well but I always remembered her with those mouse ears, the name on her blouse, and that smile.
She announced that she suffers from multiple sclerosis in 1992 after attempts to keep her condition secret became misconstrued as the effects of alcoholism.
In 1993 she was inducted as a 'Disney Legend'.
On April 8, 2013, she died at age 70, from the sequela of the MS from which she suffered greatly with which she contended with dignity and determination.
I have loved her all these years from my early childhood until now.
Happy Birthday in heaven Annette Funicello !
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- October 21, 2018
- Final Day of the State Fair
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Today is the last day of the SC State Fair.
Didn't make it either -- as I predicted prior to it's opening. I think a few of my immediate family and some of my friends went from what I have gleaned in conversations. Mom and I opted for the prime rib at Zorba's instead.
Something about the allure has been failing as attraction for me personally.
I think it all started when they stopped selling beer -- yes I suppose I am that shallow; but the entertainment aspects are not so much 'adult' as child and senility oriented unless you're a crafts / flowers / baking contest freak or simply predisposed to boredom or the carney scene.
My last excursion there was in 1997. I went with my late friend Dewitt.
This year I simply preferred to stay at home and write code ... again. Talk about drab !
As for me, I await that time when the urge returns if ever; for though I missed yet another I don't really see it in my future again ...
I kept thinking I was going to ask the little blonde girl from work but that never materialized. It's a "too little too late" thing in the effort department that ultimately did me in.
Hope you went if you wanted and that you had a good time as well if you did attend. ta ta !
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