Rants, musings, and other general purpose blog entries reflecting the thoughts du jour.
It's certainly been a heck of a birthday and even as tempest-tossed as it felt at various points, I'm thoroughly happy to be able to finally relax and let the day end far more peacefully than it had started. Mind you, the first part of the day was truly lovely...it was quite the treat to have all three of the kids stay over last night and be here in the morning to give me the…
Gravity is working...
On 06 Jan 2022, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what memory was going to be at the heart of the birthday message I'd be writing today. Like many things in this world we live in that dredge up memories we'd thought long forgotten, the inspiration for this story comes from something that would lead to an unspeakable tragedy for a friend who has seen and endured so much these past few years…
Today's bit of misfortune isn't quite to the level of Hamster binning a Rimac Concept One off the side of the mountain during a hill climb competition but given where this Ford Explorer ended up, one has to imagine that the wreck was still rather impressive. They appeared to go straight into the crossing light pole from the opposite side of the intersection of New Hope Road and Rogers Lane. My guess was that someone…
I was going to start off today's writing session with the latest Chick Fil-Audit but this story goes straight to the head of the queue. It looks like the hoary old NIH scam is making the rounds again, this time with a twist of COVID-19 and exploiting Facebook's lovely cross-app messaging feature with a fake Instagram profile. Mind you, that profile looked pretty convincing with the image as long as you didn't actually click on…
In this era of horrible inflation (*cough* PRICE GOUGING *cough*) when it comes to petrol prices, I have to say it was kind of neat seeing these classic beauties rolling down the road when prices weren't quite so insane. Mind you, 1973 was no picnic with the OPEC oil embargo and the resulting queues at the petrol stations and rationing of available fuel but those seem idyllic times compared to today's insanity at the pumps!…
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."Nelson Mandela from "Long Walk to Freedom" (1994) During last night's Carolina Hurricanes game, the broadcast lineup had a very noticeable change with Shane Willis…
YouTube recently served up a channel that I'm truly obsessed with when I want something on the TV that is relaxing hearing the air traffic control chatter and occasional sounds of jet engines spooling up whilst I'm surfing or just chilling out in the chair. I've been a plane spotter about as long as I can remember and there's nothing quite like the hint of JET-A in the air but when it's late at night…
It's always a pleasant surprise when you find someone you've not seen in a while on the TV! Today it is my sister's former boss when she was Artistic Director at the Gilbert Theater in Fayetteville and generally all-round awesome human being...Robyne Parrish! :) She's not on screen for long but she was there long enough for me to do a double-take and Zapruder the credits to ensure my eyes weren't deceiving me. You might…
You ever go walkabout and find your mind wandering to far off and imaginary places as you're driving along early in the morning before the sunrise? As I'm driving along the motorway toward Clayton to collect Katie and Alex for school, I noticed that Venus was exceptionally bright as usual but the hellish planet named for the goddess of beauty had a couple of friends nearby. The red colour of her nearest neighbour was unmistakably…
Anyone who has spent any appreciable amount of time on Twitter will know that particular social media outlet is particularly well-named, even if they didn't intend to do so. After all, what would Twitter be without the massive legions of twits? ;) In this particular case, I couldn't help but suggest to one of the bigger twits that he might well have had what passed for a decent idea when he suggested that his father…
Every now and then I stumble across a situation that initially looks like all hell is going to break loose but somehow manages to restore my faith in the ability of our species to find our way to a better future. This time, this rather unexpected revelation came in the meat department at Sam's Club on Capital Blvd. One of the gems of that area of Sam's is the rotisserie chicken ovens and the fantastic…
When Vladimir Putin's illegal and abhorrent invasion of sovereign Ukraine started several days ago, it looked very much like David v Goliath part deux with David not getting a whole lot of love from the bookmakers. After all, the massive imbalance between the number of troops and material was such that anyone laying odds on the conflict lasting a week before Putin could install his puppet government in Kyiv would have to seriously juice the…
Do you… have no idea where and what Ukraine is?wonder why Vladimir Putin ordered the tanks and troops as well as missile strikes into Ukraine?why this invasion seems a suspiciously familiar story that seems to have played out many times before?question why Vladimir Putin seems obsessed with the possibility of NATO expansion into Ukraine?think this conflict won't affect your day-to-day life?have a clue as to what the ultimate end result of this invasion will be?ask…
Translated - "Russian warship, go f*@# yourself!"Pronounced - "Rosiysʹkyy viysʹkovyy korabelʹ, idy na khuy!"Ukrainian Defenders of snake island The fighting spirit of the 101st Airborne Division is alive and well as Ukraine is resisting the Russian invasion of their country! A Russian warship demanded that the thirteen souls defending Snake Island surrender their position and their response has since gone viral and served notice that whilst Putin's Russia may well have overwhelming force on their…
Translated - "It is wise to study the ways of one's adversary, don't you think?" Pronounced - "Mudro izuchat' puti svoyego protivnika, ne tak li?"Jack Ryan, "The Hunt for Red October" The invasion currently underway in Ukraine will come as a surprise only to those who have not been paying attention for these past few years, much less the last couple of weeks when President Biden and other western leaders finally got round to sounding…
I recently came across a posting on Facebook sharing a video that was made by Representative Kat Cammack of Florida decrying the House of Representatives passing HR 5746 which had essentially been gutted by amendment from it's original content as a bill authorising NASA to lease out underutilised property which was replaced by two House voting rights bills: HR 1 - For the People Act of 2021HR 4 - John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement…
It seems like yesterday that I was writing last year's "Urbi et Orbi" post on what was arguably one of the lousiest years I'd ever experienced in my entire life. Granted, that run included two divorces: being at Ground Zero of a rather unpleasant dispute between my parents that ultimately made history in North Carolina divorce law many moons ago as well as my own divorce whilst not the most pleasant or enjoyable experience was…
Another year has gone by and I've made my annual pilgrimage to Bedford Falls and the townsfolk of that wonderful town kept me company as I was taking on a task that I rarely look forward to but 3M Company rather does when their profits shoot through the roof due to my usual cellophane tape usage in wrapping presents. Even in the most wretched times of my life, I have never missed seeing "It's a…
Another year has gone by the wayside but I was absolutely adamant throughout this year that last year's entry in the journey without Dad's comforting presence would be the last one where I'd howl at the moon about his passing at least for a while. For me, it will always be a variation on the "stick your tongue where the tooth you just offered up to the Tooth Fairy used to be" but at least…
How to royally screw up your mind in three easy steps: The COVID Hurricanes called up 27 year-old AHL player Andrew Poturalski to fill one of six holes in the forward corps.Tripp Tracy starts talking about Alexei Ponikarovsky who played for Carolina and Los Angeles, the two teams featured in tonight's tilt at PNC Arena.So thinking that I'd be a bit funny and mess with Nick's mind a little bit, I mentioned that along with…
This afternoon was Val's memorial service and I dare say it was one she really would have liked. OK, truth be told...she'd preferred being in the audience far more than being than the guest of honour! “They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.”Garrison Keillor, "A prairie Home Companion" The music that was playing when…
Is it too late to give December a miss and go straightaway to the New Year? Between Darth RUUD acting weird, the Traverse practically blowing up on the motorway and watching a friend walking through the dark empty places from afar, it really has tried what passes for my patience when it comes to this festive season. Mind you, I've experienced worse almost six years ago but that was not intended to be a challenge…
May God be between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk.Egyptian blessing, 18th dynasty This one has always been a favourite of mine and it is certainly getting some use these last couple of weeks on behalf of friends who are having to walk in very empty places right now. Faith and my heart tells me that they do not endure this journey alone for those of us who have…
We all knew that the end of the Formula 1 World Championship with it all to play for in Abu Dhabi was going to be a right cracker of a race with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen level on points. And with the first ding-dong where Max lunged deep into Turn 5 and Hamilton avoided the collision by going off track and the resulting controversy in the opening lap, we surely weren't disappointed. But nothing…
For the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbour that finally got the United States off the sidelines in WWII, yesterday's remembrance of that day seemed remarkably muted for such a milestone. But for the last 20 years, the 7th of December would also serve as the final warning to a day that was equally momentous in terms of my personal destiny and the harbinger that its trajectory would be forever changed. Mind you,…
