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Echoes of My Cerebral Vortex
Just trying to make folks do some deep thinking |
The Love of My Life!
| Implications of an IRR Recall |
| 06.30.04 (2:18 pm) [edit] |
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Today the Pentagon announced that it is going to call up retirees and inactive ready reservist from selected military occupational specialties in the Army. The word out is that those recalled can expect to be in Iraq and Afghanistan by December. This is a clear signal that the current military of the USA is woefully under strength to adequately serve the nation’s strategic needs. Military strength was greatly reduced in the early to mid 1990’s to bare bone levels. The rationalization for this was that the military was too expensive, the USSR had fallen - there are no real threats left, and the world is more at peace now than it has been in a century. In terms of military expense I defer to the Constitution of the USA; Atricle I, Section 8 (this is where the powers and responsibility of congress’ is defined) - It has eighteen articles of which six directly relate to issues of maintaining an appropriate military response and one additional article defines congresses responsibility concerning the rules of war. Why would over one third of these sections in the Constitution be directly related to military operations if it wasn’t a primary federal concern? I submit that military need is a foremost priority of the federal government and that it comes before other niceties this nation spends money on, but which have no reference as a constitutional requirement, such as free drugs, free lunches, social security and all the rest. Yes the USSR has fallen, but its remnants are still formidable and then there is China, North Korea and a plethora of other nations that have formidable military weaponry and less than cordial intentions. In terms of peace around the world, the fall of the Soviet Union was but an illusion; an evil empire or not, USSR influence stabilized a lot of general hostility - last time I checked there are roughly 138 wars and insurrections now taking place across the globe. The US is involved in a lot of NATO and UN peace keeping missions; perhaps we are just dumb enough to provide the core strength in these operations or smart enough not to trivialize the potential volatility of these situations and allow them to spread. A lot of the USA’s own citizenry seems to regard their country as war monger and bully because of its extensive involvement in so many fronts - in this regard I ask you to ponder this thought, perhaps many of the so called peaceful nations maintain a limited military and invest extensively in social expenditure programs because repeatedly throughout history the USA has demonstrated its goal is the assurance of world freedom and not imperialism; they know we will ensure the job is done. Perhaps it is better to be a premier military superpower fully capable of defending the collective peaceful needs of the world than it is to be a supper power (or less) among a world of nations which collectively or individually have the capacity to destroy the relatively peaceful existence North America has enjoyed for so many years. I’m not too bothered by the recall in itself, especially now that military service is voluntary and not compulsory; each person involved should have understood their commitment when they enlisted. However, I am bothered with the intent to put these folks on the frontline by December. This simply is not the way things are supposed to work in accordance with military doctrine; these folks should be replacing garrison troops who at the point of a recall of the inactive ready reserves should be National Guard members. The problem here is that there are no fresh combatant troops left. The active core of combatant and public affairs troops is so small that many of them are already starting their third combat tour since 9-11. Many of them left a combat zone only to be redeployed in such lovely settings as Bosnia, South Korea and other hostile places that have fallen out of the media’s limelight and hence they have become largely forgotten by the public. However, these deployments do require a large portion of US forces, almost equivalent to the total number of troops committed in Iraq alone. These troops are overused, under rested, and under trained because of repeat deployments and a lack of fresh replacements. So many times I have heard Donald Rumsfeld state that the nation is prepared to make as big of a commitment to Iraq as is needed, but the commanders tell him things are just about right. This is a political euphemism that equates to “There are no more troops left to augment with.” Because of inadequate numbers of servicemen, there is a distinct likelihood that the core of our current military will simply leave the service when the opportunity comes. No matter what these troops belief, passion or motivation was when they initially joined the military to serve their nations’ need, there does exist a limit of endurance in human spirit. Will the returned ones perhaps embraced the cause, but feel defeated all the same by the lack of their resourcing (timely replacements)? Will the un-anointed youth still join in sufficient numbers to fulfill the nation’s commitment when they sense the frustration of their returning older relatives and friends? It really is too late in this situation too fix it; be prepared for the draft to return next. The only real hope here is to get the troops collectively replaced in a relatively short period of time where our peace keeping efforts take place; I do not see this happening, because primarily Russia and China are the nations having the force necessary to accomplish this task; even if this was within their desires, this reality might be like having the fox guarding the henhouse. I would explain the problems of a rapidly expanding military force here as well; this task was a two hour block of instruction when I was a Noncommissioned Officers Course instructor - already there are some suggestions that my BLOG posts are too lengthy and verbose; just trust me when I say that rapid buildup of military force is not without consequence to its effectiveness. This effort needs to be accomplished at a relatively modest pace. I will just conclude my rhetoric by declaring that it is time to refocus on the constitutional priorities of our military, to resource the military realistically in accordance with the nation’s demands, and to insist that the media responsibly report tings in a balance fashion. I submit that there is less violence and death in Iraq now than there was before the coalition’s involvement, that before it was just Iraqi’s killing Iraqi’s so the world really didn’t give a damn as long as it wasn’t their people and the oil revenues kept coming in; but for some reason this wasn’t news. I submit to you a failure to stop Islamic radicalism will result in carnage in North America, Europe and many other places (take the Sudan as a prime example of my case here) to a degree incomprehensible to the average person. I for one will not be forced to face the east and pray five times a day. |
| Observations on Constitutional Corruption |
| 06.29.04 (7:40 pm) [edit] |
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I'm still involved in my constitutional review and boring as this is to most people it will continue to be the topic of today's post. Exciting or boring as the Constitution may or may not be, it is supposed to be the foremost law of the land; responsible citizenry and leadership should understand it to the best of their ability and should uphold it, or press to have it changed to reflect current needs of the nation. Also, law should be in compliance with this document (that is to say not go counter to it) and all legitimate federal initiative should derive its purpose in direct support of the constitution. It is a very big stretch to justify many of the things the USA does today based on constitutional legitimacy; that is not to says that some of the things being done are not worth doing, but if they are truly merited it is worth taking the effort to legitimize them. The beauty of a limited federal government, one that favors a strong state's rights and responsibility, is that it enables the nation's citizenry to vote with there feet. If you don't like the way something is done in one state, one can always settle in another one. If the federal government becomes too big, if becomes too invasive in state's issue and usurps a state's authority, then conditions become ripe for the existence of a government that is capable of regulating the daily life activity of each citizen to the point that they have no place to go in order to exercise a freedom of choice. I submit that the government of the USA is dangerously close to being at this point already. Excessive federal interventions that are not grounded in constitutional legitimacy are incrementally subduing the citizenry of the USA. My ugly view of this issue is that people are being subdued by the same means as used by a drug dealer. Massive social entitlement programs become a personal dependency. Such entitlements cross the spectrum from social security to farm subsidies. Illegitimate wealth redistribution programs result in a dependency of the nation's citizenry to the powers of the government. Most taxes are so well hidden that few people have a true concept as to the magnitude of this wealth redistribution, its hidden costs and their resulting dependency. The current federal bureaucracy is so big and so convoluted, it is virtually impossible to know what really happens to the tax money, but estimates by accredited authorities indicate that for each federal dollar collected one dime makes to the original cause; the rest of the money is siphoned off in administrative cost, misappropriations, etcetera. It is like cutting drugs, each time the dollar gets moved; it gets stepped on and becomes diluted in its potency. Let me use schools as an example of illustration here, because this is one of my favorite pet peeves. No where in the constitution is there a legitimate reason for the federal government to be involved in the business of schooling with the exception of the establishment of military academies. The Ohio Act seems to be the first bit of federal legislation that mentions schools; this legislation doesn't dictate how schools are to be run, it just assures an initial means of funding them as the territories and subsequent states develop; thus this legislation is still in compliance with the constitution. A federal court ruling requiring bussing was the crack in the damn for federal intervention into schools. While I've got no beef with the principle of this ruling the method and outcome do greatly bother me. When busing was mandated the effected counties and states claimed that they were not prepared to immediately sustain the financial burden to implement this ruling; then in jumps the federal government to provide a grant as a solution, but of course the grants are conditional; do it my way or no money. Texas is an example of a state strong-armed by the federal government that I'm very familiar with. Texas in the 60's was booming and it ran so far into the black that its legislation had to go into overtime sessions each year to dispose of excess revenues, as require by the state's constitution. When it came to busing the state chose its own path to comply with the equal access ruling and refused federal money; this went on for years, but to the consternation of many political forces that promote federalization. The chink in the state's amour eventually turned out to be federal interstate money; this was the exception where the state did use federal subsistence; the federal ploy amounted to do it all our way or get nothing in return and pay up what we have invested. This was a burden the state was not ready to absorb on the spur of the moment. This ploy forced Texas to play the school busing game exactly to the dictates of the federal government. Eventually all of the other items followed... free lunch, frees breakfast and other so called freedoms that come at a price of a state's right in do things in their own way. The real point in all this is not to condemn or condone any of the school initiatives, but they are state and not federal issues. The federal role is to point out where a state's practices violate the constitution and it then should become the state's responsibility to resolve the issue. It is one thing for the federal government to advise a solution, but it is another thing to say there are no other options. Cut out the federal government, leave tax collections and redistribution to local or state governments, because the same objective can be accomplished but at a lower cost. There is a hand in hand outcome that is possible when the federal bureaucracy is eliminated; there is a lower overhead cost, which leaves more money to do the job from the same amount of money the federal government would have collected in the first place and there is the possibility of fulfilling the requirement of a task at a savings. This concept applies to almost any subsidy or redistribution program. I've got several friends and relatives who are farmers. It is interesting to hear their perspectives shift on subsidies. In one conversation it is, I can not afford to take that field out of the land bank, it pays so well doing noting and it is a sure thing." Then the same people will say in another conversation, "farmers couldn't make a living if we were not for subsidizes;" maybe this is true, but I doubt it. People will always be consuming food; it is just a case of what it costs, where it will be grown, by whom it will be grown and how many people will be growing the product. Long term a subsidy kills initiative, creates a dependency and seldom is it grounded in constitutional legitimacy when done by the federal government. Subsidies ultimately are a means to buy votes. What subsidies do accomplish is to develop a dependency that feeds the power base of career politicians; this enhances their ability to further their own position by increasing public dependency while eliminating free will and open options to the citizenry. Originally my intent for today's post was to point out more specific state reactions to constitutional amendments as I did yesterday; however, that task will be held off for another post, perhaps tomorrow. To conclude this constitutional discussion let me leave you with two last things. I have repeatedly heard Al Gore say that the U.S. Constitution is but a guideline and not the law of the land; this notion sends chills down my spine when I hear it from any person, especially a politician of his stature. I'm also drawn to a statement Tom Ridge made when he was first appointed by President Bush to head the homeland security effort. Mister Ridge clearly stated in his acceptance speech that people derive their legitimacy and rights from the government; this too sends chills down my spine. The USA and its constitution were formed on the notion that this is "... a government of the people, for the people and by the people;" Mister Ridge seems to think otherwise. Give this a thought, this concept is part of the Declaration of Independence and not the constitution; therefore it is not law. Now you have two examples where a prominent member from each of the two leading political parties is willing to promote or operate on a false notion. One repudiates the core source of our law and the other is willing to promote a notion that the law no longer serves the premise upon which it is founded. Their notions will take effect too, unless the citizenry take up the time to personally understand the history and concept of the constitution's formation and insist that its authority be exercised legitimately and in accordance to its structure. |
| Constitutional Ammendment Observations |
| 06.28.04 (2:34 pm) [edit] |
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It is my practice from time to time to read the Constitution of the United States and its subsequent Amendments. For the past few weeks I’ve been in one of those constitutional review moods; this activity is relevant to a short story I’m writing, but this is a reoccurring event for me at the rate of about three times a year anyway. It is too bad our legislators do not make the process of change more easily understood. Certain articles and sections of the original Constitution have been amended numerous times, which of course means the amendments themselves have been amended. It all gets a bit confusing in my way of thinking, but then it seems this is the intentional process lawyers do things! Perhaps this is their way of ensuring their own job security by sustaining their ability to baffle the average citizen with BS. A nice way to make the changes would employ a system such as is used within the intelligence community; in their system the old stuff is never taken out, it is simply struck through and the appropriate changes are inserted into the appropriate area to reflect the current paradigm. This method sure clears up a lot of confusion, because its leaves a historical record of change on a specific concepts. To me an interesting aspect of my constitutional review is to observe how some of the states react(ed) to the proposals. Perhaps you will find some of my examples ironic or interesting in your own right. Article XIII This article repeals slavery. It was proposed in January of 1865 and ratified by December of that same year. Two states rejected this amendment only to ratify it a few years latter, notably New Jersey and Delaware. Now Florida liked this article so much it ratified it twice (Ok, the real reason is the state rewrote its own constitution so Florida felt the new government should ratify the amendment). There were some late comers to accept this amendment after they had already rejected this amendment though, Delaware held out until 1901 and Kentucky didn’t ratify it until 1976. The winner here is Mississippi that rejected this amendment in 1865 and still has not ratified it to this day. Article XV This article fixed some apparent oversights in Article XIII. It seems abolishing slavery was one thing, but being allowed representation was another thing in the view of many states, so Article XV sets things right by assuring that people of all race, color or previous status as a slave or indentured servitude have the right to vote and thus be represented. This article was first proposed February 1869 and it became law in March of 1870. There is a bit of conflict in this date though, because New York subsequently changed their mind and withdrew their ratification consent in January of 1870, only to change their position again in 1970. New York’s first change of position in this article didn’t change anything because by 1870 several other states came online to make this the law of the land and by the time the courts were ready to tackle this issue the whole majority thing was a moot point. There were also some late comers to ratify this article as well; Oregon was 1959, California 1962 and Kentucky 1976. The notable standout here is Tennessee which as never ratified this article. Enough civics for one day, perhaps there will be more to follow tomorrow. |
| The Most Functional English Word |
| 06.27.04 (10:32 pm) [edit] |
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Well, it's shit...that's right, shit! Shit may just be the most functional word in the English language. Consider: You can get shit-faced, Be shit out of luck, or have shit for brains. With a little effort, you can get your shit together, Find a place for your shit, Or be asked to shit or get off the pot. You can smoke shit, buy shit, sell shit, lose shit, find shit, forget shit, and tell others to eat shit. Some people know their shit, while others can't tell the difference between Shit and Shineola. There are lucky shits, dumb shits, crazy shits, There is bull shit, horse shit and chicken shit. You can throw shit, sling shit, catch shit, shoot the shit, or duck when the shit hits the fan. You can give a shit or serve shit on a shingle. You can find yourself in deep shit or be happier than a pig in shit. Some days are colder than shit, some days are hotter than shit, and some days are just plain shitty. Some music sounds like shit, things can look like shit, and there are times when you feel like shit. You can have too much shit, not enough shit, the right shit, the wrong shit or a lot of weird shit. You can carry shit, have a mountain of shit, or find yourself up shits creek without a paddle. Sometimes everything you touch turns to shit and other times you fall in a bucket of shit and come out smelling like a rose. When you stop to consider all the facts, it's the basic building block of the English language. And remember, once you know your shit, you don't need to know anything else! You could pass this along, if you give a shit. Or not do so, If you don't give a shit! Well Shit, it's time for me to go. Just wanted you to know that I do Give A Shit and hope you had a nice day, without a bunch of shit. But if you happened to catch a load of shit from some shit head........Well, shit happens! |
| Logistic Setback |
| 06.27.04 (9:42 pm) [edit] |
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By about 07:30 today I was up and at'em in the backyard laying out the truss pattern for the mini-barn's roof. Of course it was already 83 degrees F by then so I knew it would be another rough workday. After the pattern was worked out it was off to Lowes to buy another $475 worth of building materials. Out side of shingles and a couple of latches there is nothing more to buy though except for the four boards I cut wrong. So much for calling me Mister perfect! Now Lowes is a fifteen-mile drive from here in city traffic and there were two flat bed carts full of lumber , so that trip in itself killed four hours of the day. There were some steaks that had to be grilled today and by noon it was already 93, so it seemed wise to grill before starting any working. Magoo did the onions and mushrooms while I grilled. After that it was time to unload the truck and this too burnt up a fair of time; then it started to rained a bit as soon as the truck was unloaded. I'm not afraid of rain of course, but the thunder in the distance kept old sparky inside in order to prevent myself from becoming a human lightning rod for a third time. Besides, if I died before this project is finished Margo would once again be giving me hell for yet another unfinished project and this time it would be for eternity. Fortunately this location was on the very tail end of an extremely nasty thunderstorm so the rain didn't last long and it was back to work. While I did manage to get the trusses cut out and partially assembled, my motivation just died in the heat when it came time to lay out a gusset template. However, once I get thirty of those buggers cut out, the trusses will be fully assembled and things should go together fairly quickly. It is too bad my motivation died at 06:30 PM because it was just starting to get cool enough to work without drinking a half-liter water every fifteen-minutes. At least I will be getting off by 03:30 PM each night this week, so by next weekend things should be looking like a barn. By 07:00 PM the tools were all put up and the evening was spent watching TV and eating a few chips and dip. Sorry there is no deep meaning or moral to this, but at least my perfect attendance is still in store. P.S. Saint must have some big MOJO, because as I congratulated him for making it to #9 on Hot Blogs I also cried on his shoulder about being MIA from Hot Blogs myself for the past week. Yea that is a real lame thing to do I know!) He and I were flip-flopping positions almost daily for a week and then poof I was gone! The very next day after I wrote the Saint my BLOG was back on the List and still at #21, which isn't bad for not being listed a t all for a full week. For even being that high I must thank all of you loyal readers who have me linked to your own BLOG site. My advice is go to our local Saint if you have any problems, because Saint Marine can kick @ in solving problems as far as I'm concerned. Next time I might complain about not having a million dollars. |
| The Virtues of Hard Work |
| 06.26.04 (9:21 pm) [edit] |
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Today was one of hard work for me. I've got a bit of a headache from the extreme heat and humidity, but I'm real pleased with my accomplishments and a bit of a headache is a fair price to pay. The truth is, if I dropped about forty pounds efforts like today's would more than likely be a bit easier on me. My job is a very sedentary one, so labor such as today is very therapeutic for me. What I've been doing today is building a mini-barn to use as storage space for many of the things that are piled up all over the garage and in a $90/month storage unit. Magoo and I have been paying on this unit now for two years. In that time we have spent enough money to build at least four barns like this one, so this project is long overdue. Margo and I have been flirting with the idea of buying a pre-built shed for a couple years now. In truth building this one will not be any cheaper than having one built for us, but in this case money isn't the issue; I just love working with wood. There is something to be said for taking raw materials and making something useful with them (hopefully aesthetic as well). From a realistic standpoint this barn will be better too. Full 2X4 and 6X6 lumber in this baby, none of that lightweight, just enough to get by material, is being used here. I've been looking a shed plans for a long time not finding one that is exactly what I want, so this barn is totally designed by me and that also has been a rewarding part of this experience. Today I achieved my goal of framing all the walls and building the deck. Once the deck was done things went by relatively fast and with ease. The first two hours of this project were shovel work; this was a necessary evil to get a level foundation to build the barn on. It is not carpentry work, but it still does the body good. Things would have gone a lot easier if this structure was not being built as a portable building, but there is something about getting a building permit that gals me and this way I do not need one. From a practical standpoint this building may have a new life elsewhere someday anyway, so portable is good. Tomorrow is truss building day and then all the framing members can be tied together and the sheathing can go on. Once the felt paper is in place on the roof it will already be a functional structure. But there will be some artistic things done to the barns' roofline and trim, so that may take a few extra hours after work for a few weeknights. My daughter-in-laws love to paint so I should let them do that, that way I can get some time in with the grandkids. When things are done I will post a picture or two of this project. I'm looking forward to making this come to a close, because then I will be able to get to my Shopsmith Mark V and then the real woodworking can begin. |
| Jury Duty Issues |
| 06.25.04 (7:55 pm) [edit] |
 Much of my adult life has been spent in the military and roughly half of my twenty-year adventure with the U.S. Army was spent overseas. Even when I was stationed stateside only half of that time was spent serving in a state for which I had a legal residence. While still serving in the military, the only time I can even recall receiving a summons for jury duty, my employer promptly took maters into their own hands. They contacted the court system assuring them that my job was considered vital to national security interest and that I was already serving in a higher civic cause.Since my retirement from the Army arrived, the call for jury duty started to become as regular as clockwork and the timing of the summons seemed to almost always come at the worst possible of times. My first four years after retirement were spent going back to collage and of course a student never wants to miss a class (yea right!), but especially an exam. Fortunately the local court system is rather sympathetic to collage students and it is a simple mater to just list the school of attendance and all is forgotten. (With all the 18-23 year olds around here that still trying to gel out of high school I'm wondering if this works for them too?) Upon graduation from collage it was time to do my civic duty and like clockwork the summons for jury pool selection came. Now I'm no expert on jury selection systems, but in my first call to the court all the potential jurist were seated alphabetically. Having a last name starting with an R placed me fairly far back in the seating. Albeit a lot of the potentials were rejected, the selection process was done well before the shysters got up to me. Upon leaving this selection a few things crossed my mind 1) Seating potential jurist alphabetically is about as dumb a concept as one could come up with and it bothered me considerably that the same people doing this were the ones ensuring that justice was properly and impartially being served. 2) There were a lot of drug possession cases being tried here and only one case among six was larceny, the rest were all dug position cases. For the record, I do not condone drugs. To me recreational drug use is a fool's errand and a sign of weakness. Self-control is too important an issue for me and I'm not willing to give it up for other than for a practical and legitimate reason. I can honestly say I've never used drugs for recreational escape, albeit I've become truly wasted on alcohol four or five times in my life, but not in one damned instance did I find the outcome enjoyable or funny. The only distinction I can make here with alcohol is that what I drink is consumed for the enjoyment of its flavor as a beverage; I do not drink to get a buzz. The problem with my friends, Jack, Johnny, Austin and Jose is that they can over power you in relatively small doses; it is not all that difficult to let them get control unless a good amount of self-will is exercised in the first place. My theory is, if you don't have self-will you shouldn't play with them. I'm fairly strict on a rule of not drinking more than one drink per hour or more than three drinks a day. Trying to ethicize drug use is not what I'm all about here thought. However, there are some aspects of current drug laws and their enforcement in the USA that I find very problematic and they go against my grain. As for laws focused on personal use and possession, I'm just simply not in favor of them. To me drug use is a medical issue and not a criminal issue. Now if I'm presented with a law that has exceptional penalties for breaking the law while under the influence then I've got no problem with that. DUI is an easy example of this, but committing a violent act under the influence of a drug also warrants an extra special severity in my book! Drugs are not an excuse for stupidity, but their abuse should be criminal if you let them become your excuse for doing something stupid or illegal. Our courts and jails are filled with personal possession cases and it is one hell of a waste of taxpayer's resources. I truly feel cheep legal sources of drugs would clean up a lot of the heinous crime that is associated with what is currently illegal drug use and that would be a positive benefit of drug legalization. It would be smarter in this case to focus on the illegal pedaling and holders, because the legitimate ones could be registered and monitored. Another problem with current drug laws is the inclusion of all hemp in this country as being tied marijuana. All marijuana is hemp, but not all hemp is marijuana and hemp could be and should be a valuable resource to this nation. It grows readily throughout the country and it is so versatile in its potential use. Its fibers can be used for making rope, cloth, and fine paper or plywood type products. Its potential as a fuel source could well surpass that of corn based fuels. Hemp has become a victim of a misguided conservative political cause and even its marijuana subset has some very persuasively useful medical applications as long as you're not a politician. Even then it is Ok just as long as you don't inhale. Paradoxically I will also state that in many jobs it is justified for an employer to demand screening and dismissal of any of its employees found to have drugs in their bodies. It all comes down to a case of rights but not necessarily rights without consequences. Dropping out of high school or getting married is not an exception to my concept here; they too are choices made with possible consequences but we see people do these things each day and it isn't a problem and often the outcome is not bad. After flirting with the Libertarian party for almost a decade a time came five years back where I dropped my affiliation with the old party in favor of the Libertarian one. Like all political parties it isn't perfect to my desires, but an honest and critical assessment of its ideology seems to conform more to who I am than any other party. The Libertarian approach to drug legalization is attuned much to my way of thinking, albeit admittedly this is not factor that drew me over to them. The party has a core platform of reducing the federal government back to constitutional legitimacy and letting the states have the majority of exercise in our government rule and I think this is wise. Now the last time I was called to jury duty it became obvious that I was going to be stuck with another personal possession case and it was painfully obvious that seating now favored me to get selected this time around. When the lawyers asked the prospective jurors if there was anything in their background that would possibly bias their decision to rule in favor of the law I raised my hand. Several others stated their case before with the typical response being, 'I've been busted for drugs; my family member is in jail over drugs, etceteras.' When it came to me I raised my registration card and said, "For the record. I think drug use is stupid and I have no doubt of my ability to rule in accordance with the law; however, I am a registered libertarian and not in agreement with many of those laws. Still, I am more than willing to serve on any other type of case but I would prefer not to serve on this one." At this point the judge started to scribble down some notes and asked for my name. I have never been called back to jury duty since that time. This in itself of course is a miscarriage of justice, because there was a wrongful damage case following this one. However, if your one of those people looking to duck out of jury duty... just try registering as Libertarian and then use my line of logic; it seems chances are good you will be black listed and never get called back to serve in a jury pool again. |
| Five Minutes of Missed Fame. |
| 06.24.04 (6:14 pm) [edit] |
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My assignment in Berlin was just in its infancy when a fellow soldier asked me if I would be interested in working as an extra in the movie Wild Geese II. There were some openings for bad guy mercenary soldiers and Stan seemed to think that was a role well suited to me. It is not all that uncommon for a military person to get a shot as an extra, especially if they are playing the part of a soldier, because it is not that simple for a civilian to realistically imitate the real thing. In fact, for those of you who watched the movie Mogadishu a couple years back, it was so convincing because over 60% of the cast were real Special Operations soldiers. Many of that cast were in the real incident; the ones still on active duty took leave and the others that were discharged came back on their own to go back into their military character, just to document and relive that experience in their lives. That is the stuff soldiers are made of. Stan had previously worked as an extra with this studio and he had made a good impression with them. Unfortunately the name of that movie does not stick to my mind. A further confession must be made in this regard; I’ve never watched this movie myself, but through Stan’s animated tales I’ve seen his scene acted out numerous times. He played the role of a Nazi soldier; being a good German linguist he should be convincing in that role. In fact it was Stan’s motivation in his part that got him on the favored list as an extra. It seems that when an action scene was taking place a number of the extras could not properly get motivated and their efforts were less than convincing. It must also be added for technical accuracy that the extras having the motivational issue were German civilians playing the part of soldiers and not the actual military extras. After several retakes of the scene Stan took maters into his own hands. Speaking in German Stan grabbed up one of the extras by the collar and said, “They want it more like this!” and Stan pushed the unsuspecting example into the wall as he proceeded to slap the shit out of him. The extras became motivated and for Stan’s contribution he was actually give and very small speaking part. For the record this is Stan Ridgeway if you ever happen to see his name in the credits. Trying to obtain my five-minutes of fame seemed like a fun idea and it didn’t hurt that for my time the pay was 120 Deutschmarks a night, which at the time was equivalent to about $86 a night. The set was in an old abandoned factory up in the in the Spandau district in the British sector. This is a new experience to me, so there is a lot to take in. After signing the releases and contract it is off to the wardrobe matron. Studios obviously do not want ones shirt to become un-tucked on set. I’ve got a long body with only thirty inches of inseam making up my seventy-two inch stature, but this shirt was so long it goes to my knees. No danger of this shirt becoming un-tucked for sure! I am in for a bit of a shock when first setting my eyes on two of my counter parts, they are shooting a scene at the entry gate. These Teutonic monsters are fully six inches taller than I and Stan has to be at least four inches smaller than me. If we get together on a set things will look like a Mutt and Jeff show. My instincts immediately tell me this is not a good sign. Movies scenes are shot logistically and not in sequence, so it is rather hard to predict when Stan and I will get our five minutes of fame. Daylight fades and then comes the best part of the day on the movie set, the director calls for a meal break. I had heard that food on movie sets was first class and my experience confirms at its worst it is very good. No need to go hungry, there is plenty of variety and the quality of the food is much better than average. Conspicuously absent are the big stars; they seem to confine themselves to their individual trailers. In fact, no one seems to be overly friendly with a couple of low life extras, but it is still amusing to watch the various members of the production schmooze with each other, because it quickly becomes obvious what a kiss ass business the movie industry is. To me ass kissing is an amusing event as long as I’m not on the stage doing it. The director leaves and his exodus is an apparent unspoken signal that it is time to get back to work. Stan and I wander around and watch what is going on while waiting for our call. Stan is one of those people, who can sleep anyplace, but I’m not made that way; all there is for me to do is watch and wait. By three in the morning the day’s production is called to a close. The wardrobe is turned in and the two of us are told to come back tomorrow. This setting repeats itself pretty much for two more nights. Given that Stan and I still have to be at work by 07:00 hours each day, my non-sleeping habits are catching up to me badly. So far the only interesting event has been a fairly lengthy talk with the technical advisor for the production. This man is the editor of Soldier of Fortune magazine so his war stories are fairly engaging. Finally the forth night of the shoot comes and one way or another is it; the production is scheduled to move to New York the following day. Outside of one outdoor retake, every thing this night is shot inside and it is the most action packed shoot so far. Also, by now a few of the stuntmen and special effects folk are starting to accept Stan and I or simply take pity on us because they are actually engaging us in decent conversation. The other added treat is when Scott Glenn comes up and talks to us. Frankly, up to this moment he was the last of the staring cast I would have suspected to come up and talk to us. He asks if we are military, what service where are, we are from and all that sort of thing. Then he volunteers that he grew up in North Carolina, stating that almost all of the kids there went into the Air force upon graduation from high school. What you see is what you get with this man; he doesn’t really act, he just follows the script and fulfils his natural character. He has a dry sense of humor and adds, “I made it into the Marines a year ahead of the rest of them.” He must have chit chatted with us a full ten to fifteen minutes before he was called onto the set. About the same time someone asks Stan and I to go to go on a wild goose chase; when we get back there are our two Teutonic counterparts on set with Scott Glenn, Laurence Oliver, Robert Webber and Edward Fox and Robert Frietag in the middle of a shot. At least someone was discreet about cutting us out of the scene and spared us the embarrassment of having the director say “Not you two!” My five minutes of fame never came but that is a good thing. Had my moment come naturally I would have made it into the big time and chances are good my lovely wife Margo and I would never have come to meet. As it was I got enough money out of four nights of sleep depravation to buy a decent leather jacket. I’ve long since outgrown that jacket but it fit my Canadian son Sean nicely. At times he is a rather spiffy dresser so he seemed to be the heir apparent of my five minutes of missed fame. |
| War Crime Immunity Issues |
| 06.23.04 (9:13 pm) [edit] |
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The United States has withdrawn a proposed United Nations resolution that would have extended immunity for its soldiers from war crimes prosecutions until June 2005. Deputy Ambassador James Cunningham said Wednesday that the United States was dropping this resolution to "avoid a prolonged and divisive debate." Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed the decision by the United States not to pursue a resolution. He said it "will help maintain the unity of the Security Council at a time when it faces difficult challenges." The previous resolution haw unanimously approved two years ago after the Bush administration threatened to cut off funding for peacekeeping operations. Last year, the exemption was continued for another 12-month period, with three countries - France, Germany and Syria - abstaining Of course the Abu Ghraib incident is the key factor making it rather difficult for the USA to further request this exemption. Is it not amazing how the misdeeds of a hand full of soldiers can so severely damage the interests of the USA in today's world of mass communication? The soldier's actions certainly deserve punishment, but there is a significant danger in allowing the UN to get their hands into this matter. First off, there is a constitutional conflict of interest in allowing this to happen. Like it or not, until that document is legally changed and not just ignored there is no higher authority in this world than the sovereignty of its government. Of course that is not to say that other nations governments have any less authority than ours. However let us step back to the case of WW II and the Nuremberg trials. Was it the same? In a word, no! So what is the difference? In this case a sovereign government (the 3rd Reich) was defeated by a coalition of another group of sovereign nations. That government was essentially dismantled and rebuilt. It was the leadership of the 3rd Reich that was tried and tried specifically regarding crimes of humanity, which roughly translates to systematically killing a few million people and enslaving them. What we do not have here is a defeated USA, at least not yet anyway, and it is a stretch to accuse this hand full of soldiers for being any part of a governmental leadership. It is clear these soldiers must be tried and accordingly punished, but not in the hands of the UN, which is an organization having no constitutional authority over a coalition soldier. If for political considerations the USA and its leadership is willing to give up a hand full of its soldiers to an organization that doesn't even support the Iraq conflict to which this nation and its coalition allies are engaged in, then what is to be expected next? I can only state that as a career soldier this notion shakes my confidence in my nation's leadership. For the record I'm not limiting this assertion to just the Commander and Chief, it is on the heads of the whole system. If this notion settles well with the average citizenry of the USA, then obviously I committed twenty years of my life to a lost cause. Citizenry of the USA - prove me wrong! Write your congressman and president.- make it clear that not even one of the defenders of the Constitution should be given up to the UN. This organization clearly does not have the best interest of this nation in its plans and we do not need to be subservient to it. |
| Not in a PC Mood! |
| 06.22.04 (9:02 pm) [edit] |
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I'm just not in a politically correct mode tonight. Some of you might enjoy this anyway. You don't have to admit it, just put the blame on me! ;-}) |
| The Fire has Gone Out |
| 06.22.04 (5:45 pm) [edit] |
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Recently it seems I’ve hit a case of writers block or perhaps their just isn’t too much more for me to say. Traffic to the Vortex seems to be slowing down and perhaps this is a sign that my efforts have been doing the same. Of course it doesn’t help that my Hot BLOGs listing vanished over night. Even there things were becoming gloomy; in just a day the listed ranking went from 16 to 20. Frankly ranking isn’t all that important in a personal sense; however there is a truth that society likes a winner and having a decent rating draws in readership. Negative or positive feed back is what drives the effort – it is the interaction of thought that matters. The notion hit me to jump into the Featured BLOGs run again; winning or loosing isn’t really the issue, but my one and only run in it sure did bring in the visitors! The problem with this notion is it would seem to be a good idea in this situation to know in advance as to what one was to write about to some degree and unless this self made pressure creates a bit of inspiration, the end results could become embarrassing. Maybe the problem is this cerebral thing in the first place; maybe short light hearted volume would be better. At least volume would help sustain some variety, which in turn would provide a broader spectrum of interest to a readership. This damned weather isn’t helping either. It is now what is known as The Dog Days of Summer here. The water on the Gulf of Mexico is now up to 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 C). At these temperatures copious amounts of water vapor are produced. The water vapor only needs rise to a height of about 300 yards/meters before the cooler air condenses it out. I’ve witnessed thunder clouds develop right before my eyes in just a few minutes. A torus (donut) of circulation forms with the hot air going up the center and the cool air falling down the outside of the cloud. This action can rapidly create a tall column of vapor which of course is an anvil thunder head cloud. Eventually of course it rains which just feeds more humidity into the air as the raindrops hits the hot ground. Now a perpetual rain making machine is in motion that brings in the monsoon like weather. As awe inspiring as these storms are to watch, the pounding drum of rain, the sometimes deafening cracks of thunder and the gloom of darkness do not do too much to inspire me, except perhaps to write a mini science lesson. For the most part I’ve avoided political discussion, not because I’m a nonpolitical person, in fact that is far from the case; however, I’m just reasonably certain my political observations may insult such a wide spectrum of readership that there would be a valid reason for me not to be on the Hot BLOGs listing – no on would want to read my posts anymore. The short version of my view is that the USA is a great country, but at a federal level it needs to be trimmed to its roots in both parties; the country is in dire need of being run constitutionally and not by what ever means one calls the corrupt buy-my-votes system that is being employed now. The USA is not a democracy and such political rhetoric should be put to rest. The USA is on the verge of a political revolution right now and this revolutions timing endangers the better interest of the people because right now there is a very real and serious threat bearing down on all freedom loving nations and this problem must be dealt with or the way of life as I have known it will perish. Now you see why I’m not doing much political stuff. Maybe it is time for a tBLOG sabbatical; there is after all a bit of conflict in this effort and my attempts to write a short story. I’ve always regarded inspiration as 10% notion, 50% faith in one’s self and 40% bull shit anyway. Right now it all just isn’t coming together. If there is something I’ve done in the past that tweaks your readership interest let me know. For right now my fire is almost out and things are not looking too bright. |
| Some Observations on Wisdom |
| 06.21.04 (9:53 pm) [edit] |
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. [i]Bertrand Russ[/i]ell The wisest mind has something yet to learn. [i]George Santayana[/i] Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. [i]Immanuel Kant[/i] Wisdom without observation and experience are but an illusion of ignorance. [i]Greybeard[/i] Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience. [i]James Boswell[/i] We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take us or spare us. [i]Marcel Proust[/i] To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. [i]Marilyn vos Savant[/i] Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish. [i]Quintilian[/i] It is not wise to get sexual advice from a priest or a nun because it should be self-evident that they have already missed the point! [i]Greybeard[/i] |
| A Request |
| 06.21.04 (9:22 pm) [edit] |
| If you would please, consider a vote for BLOU of BLOU's Craft Shack on Featured BLOG's. She is one of the few people besides her sister that can keep me on my guard; therefor she has all my respect. She also lives half way to the North Pole s and as such she has good connections with Santa Clause. His summer home is just a few clicks down the street from her homestead. Back when she was a little elf and much more innocent she worked for the jolly old fellow, so if you don't want a bad word put in to him take my advice and voting for BLOU. Be sure to dropping in on her BLOG page to give her a good word. Tell her I sent you, because I need all the brownie points I can get with that woman! |
| One Mother of a Fathers Day |
| 06.20.04 (9:44 pm) [edit] |
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Just adding a short note of today's events to keep up the old attendance record here at tBLOG. The day started of hot and muggy, as they always seem to do here this time of year. Margo wanted to go to a flea market that is about twenty-eight miles from here, so we did. A lot of the vendors were not open today and since last time we went there several of the familiar vendors seem to have left. Still, one can not go that far and not spend some money, so I bought each of the kids living here in town a eucalyptus tree, myself a coffee tree and a black elephant ear plant. Margo wandered far enough away from me at an opportune moment that her birthday present is also taken care of. Now all that remains is for me to do when August gets here is remember that it was purchased and where it is stored. There was also a nice router bit set so that to was snagged too with building some shelves in mind. Margo does need some more space to put more of her elephant collection out. From the flea market we ventured over to our favorite Chinese restaurant and from there went over to Jenna's house to help do a few things for here and see the grandbaby. For those of you who might have been wondering why Jenna has been absent from the BLOG scene of late, her computer broke down once again. This time it is a hard drive that died. She bought a new 80G replacement but when I went to install it the discovery was made that the serial plug and power plug are not like the ones she currently has, so another trip must be made to the computer store to buy some adapters. With mission impossible facing the computer it was off to the back yard and do some mowing of their acre of yard. Thank goodness they have a nice John Deer and not a push mower! My timing for that job was perfect, as soon as the last bit of grass was cut the rain came. Dianne was also there to deliver me a Fathers Day gift of a cooking apron. She has been passing a kidney stone again so it was nice to see her get out to see us. After leaving Jenna's place in a booming thunderstorm we arrived back out here at Perdido Key just in time to see it rain here. It was a good one with some nasty lightning. One bolt that manage not to hit too far from here managed to burn out part of the grid that is underground. Had truck roving around here and testing for hours. It is a good thing for gas grills as it was the means of cooking tonight's steak and mushroom dinner. This also gave me an opportunity to use the new apron. It was also mighty nice of Mother Nature on letting up for thirty minutes with the rain so that the cooking job could get done. After close to four hours of no electricity the power came back on just before dark. When the power truck drove by several of the folks here in the neighborhood waved and cheered as they passed by as if they were conquering heroes, which I guess they were in truth. It would have been a nasty night with all this heat and humidity if the boys from Gulf Power had not prevailed. One last note, the family curse is still here, now I'm missing from the Hot BLOGs list. Yes I've fallen from 16th to 20th this week, but not so fast as to go from 20 to no place in one day. I'm just rather sick of it all frankly and think that it just isn't worth bothering Rocky about. The main advantage to being up in the top 100 anyway is it gets one a bit more traffic and hence finds more folks to share ideas with. |
| A Day for Labor |
| 06.19.04 (9:17 pm) [edit] |
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Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another. Anatole France Today was a workday around here with not much of it left to do any BLOG post except this poor excuse for keeping up my perfect attendance record. Purchased 3400 lbs. of sand to dress the front yard out today. For the past two years I've maintained one of the nicest yards in the development, however something this winter caused things to go bad. Best as I can tell there is a fungus problem that has killed patches covering about 20% of the lawn. The pattern indicates a problem related to water runoff, this works well with the fungus theory anyway. Last month I burnt off all the thatched up areas and today's effort dressed those areas in. The low last nigh was about 78 F so when the sun came up it soon shot well into the 90's. Keeping water going into me faster than it could come out of me was a lost cause; by noon I had a raging headache. Centipede grass likes well draining soil and this dressing sand is sterile, so weed growth should not exceed the grasses' spread. To help things along I'm also going to contract the True Green folks to spray every few weeks. There is just too much going on with house renovation projects for me to mess with the yard all that much. But the yard is the first impression someone gets of this household so naturally we want it to look good. We just wont let anyone come into the house and go into shock once they see the kitchen! Getting a lawn service for cutting would be wise too, but I'm not aware of one around here that bags the clippings and that is a must with a centipede grass lawn. The exercise will do me good anyway. Had to stock up on some grub today as well. Could not find an even number of rib eye steaks in a package and two packages ran more than we were willing to spend on food today. So tomorrow's grill session will be sirloin, which is good but its not as good as, rib eye in the taste buds of this man. I will cook up some mushrooms and onions to go with the steak and other than a bit of Caesar salad that is al that is needed except a Corona with a slice of lime in it for desert. Who knows tomorrow being Father's Day and all, I might just make and exception to my perfect attendance record and blow this BLOG thing off all together for a change. I'm reasonably sure it would not make much of a bit of difference in anyone's life if things work out that way. |
| Old Friends |
| 06.18.04 (8:20 pm) [edit] |
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I've been neglecting a few of my old friends a lot this year. While I like their company it was discovered a long time ago that they can get you in trouble if you share too much time with them. Back when I was eighteen New Years Eve was spent in the companyof my friend Stan and Johnny Walker; that Johnny fellow got me so dunk that night I forgot to unzip my pants while going to the bathroom. If that wasn't bad enough, he later made me crawl to the bathroom; my dad hearing the commotion flipped on the light which caused me pee on the floor right where I had left a sock on the way to bed. My poor father envisioned me as a 200-pound dog for the rest of his days. Johnny thought it was funny but not my dad. Then there was that time with Jose' back in Massachusetts. He hooked me up with the ugliest woman on the post one weekend. It is a good thing I was so drunk that I couldn't even open the combination lock on my door. If there had been an accident I'm sure she wouldn't have gotten any better looking with time. Now there is good old Captain Morgan too! Once I went sailing with him in Honduras; his ship rolled so badly that I fell on the deck and in the process badly broke two fingers and suffered a few deep abrasions. The Captain didn't even help me up, but he did try and take away the pain. I don't visit those boys much anymore, but tonight seems a good time to make an exception. In fact Johnny is here with me now, but I will just share one drink or two with him and that is it. He is not welcome to spend the night here anymore. |
| The Virtues of Yard Work |
| 06.18.04 (2:12 pm) [edit] |
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This is one of those instances in story telling that requires the writer to preface the story line with a bit of a plea for understanding, because this story is about two events between a son and his mother. That mother is mine and she is very much alive and does at least from time to time reads my posts. Given the nature of this story it could be reasoned as being judgmental by some. I’m here to declared that there is no malice in my heart and I am here too fully acknowledge that on more than a few occasions the generosity of my mother has greatly eased a burden in my life. In my mind this is simply a story to relate how an event or two can form a philosophy that sticks for life, even when that was not likely the intent of the parent in the first place. When I was very young most people received their pay on Friday and there was no exception to this practice in my family. It was a time before credit cards and even personal checks were suspicious; it was primarily a cash and carry society. Someplace along the line it became a ritual on Friday nights where my father would come home greeting me with the presentation of a large silver coin. The coin would be one full ounce or a half ounce of coin silver; that is the stuff 50¢ pieces and silver dollars consisted of in those days. In the eyes of a preschooler those coins were huge! Their value had no real meaning to me except that they came from a loving father’s hand and that made them priceless in my mind. Now I do recall in those times overhearing a conversation between my mother and father in regard to this ritual. It was a conversation not intended for my ear but both parents under estimated my capacity to sit in another room and tune into their conversation while still remaining engaging in another activity. It was clear mother felt the sum of money involved was too much and that the family had greater needs. In truth she may have been right; in that time such a coin truly was a respectable sum of money. All I know is that my mother has always been a very penny-wise woman where as my father had a tendency to present himself as being a bit more affluent than the family really was. For what ever reason that Friday night ritual eventually did come to an end and the first of two mother son events took place. One day my mother makes her raid on my stash of silver coins; there is nothing clandestine about this act, it is done right in my full presences. Next we go to the corner bus stop, when it arrives she drops the dime in the buses’ coin well and we take our seat for the trip downtown. My mind’s eye tells me we went into numerous places that day, but the only one that sticks out in my memory is the 5¢ &10¢ Store. Now that store has great meaning to me because it was the frequent source of many of my childhood treasures. I’m sure at this point my mind’s gears were turning out a formula (Mom has all my coins + this is the treasure store = I’m going to have stuff beyond my wildest imagination) but this formula does not turn out not to be the case. Most of my “I want” items are being ignored and mother is loading up with practical needs that have little value in my preschooler mind. The full gravity of this situation sets in when we get to the cash register and all my silver coins go into the till. My reaction is a natural one for a preschooler, “Mommy that’s belongs to me!” What follows this reaction is one of those explanations that boils down to - ‘you have wants, the family has needs, you have this, you are a member of the family, it is time not to be selfish.’ Now this event was soon stored away into a deep recess of my cerebral cortex but obviously not forgotten. Jump ahead to a time now in the mid 1960’s, I’m in the sixth grade. By today’s standard most things are still absurdly inexpensive but then again wages are correspondingly smaller. A new car can be had for around $2000, so a dollar still has significant value and the coin version is still made of silver. The world is a bit more sophisticated now then in my preschool days; tubes are being replaced by transistors, televisions sets are now in most houses and there is a good chance that now its image can be seen in color – and then there is the credit card. The credit card was starting to come into its own; it was plastic and had numbers but the resemblance ended there. Using a credit card in those days generally required the clerk to make a phone call, verify the credit balance and perhaps to ask you a question such as your mother’s maiden name or your place of birth. It was less than a user friendly system but people still seemed to like it. Some things in my life have also become more sophisticated by this time. My ability to systematically explore things has improved and the value of a dollar is beginning to have real meaning. Thus it is a stoke of luck when I spot an old two stroke lawn mower a few blocks from the house, it is sitting at the curbs edge in a pile of trash, it is irresistible and somehow it follows me home. First it gets a bit of gas and an oil check; several fatiguing tugs confirm it is broken. Next it is disassembled and studied; there are no obvious broken parts so the machine is assembled back together. By now I’ve learned a bit about electricity and understand a spark is needed to ignite the gas. Bravely I gently pull the cord while holding the sparkplug wire. There is no shock! While I don’t exactly understand the intricacies of how this spark is formed, it is obvious that there are only two easily replaceable parts involved are the condenser and spark plug. I decide this is worth exploring so I scrape up a bit of money and explore the hardware store. Much to my delight I find a sparkplug and a condenser are within my means so I take the risk and buy them. With the new condenser and plug in place along with the addition of a bit of fuel the mower gets a pull and there is music to my ears, it works. There is a kindly elderly widow across the street so I offer to mow her yard. She accepts but no price is asked. In truth I would gladly mow her yard as a fair exchange for the kindness she has already bestowed on me, but already I know something about kindly old widows and in the back of my mind it is anticipated that she will offer to pay me once the job is done. She offers me $2 when the job is finished explaining to me that she would have to pay this amount anyway, while adding that she was lucky not to have a corner lot, they were bigger and it cost at least $2.50 to get them cut. Unexpectedly job offers started to come from all around the neighborhood. It was common to have two yards to cut after school and on a weekend I might knock down six more. My real luck comes when the house next door goes up for sale, its yard is badly neglected and the shrubs have been ignored for a long time. The new owner asks me if I am up to the job. There is hesitation on my part, not only have I cut this yard before while ducking unseen objects the kids left in the deep grass, I have never pruned a shrub before. Perhaps the man senses my hesitation and offers me $50 for the job. My hesitation is instantly gone and in excited haste I buy some pruning sheers and grass clippers. As Yogi Berra once said, “It is De’Ja’ Vu all over again;” only now one new job sometimes pays me as much as twenty lawn mowing jobs. My new found enterprise kept me flush in cash and once again there was a stash of it in my bedroom. Circumstance repeats itself, only this time my mother enters into my bedroom at night, but I’m not asleep and I ask out in the dark, “what are you doing with my money?” Her reply is, “The money is needed to pay some bills.” Preschool memories come flooding back so there really is no need to go through this situation with her all over again, for the moment anyway. But in my mind the absence of that money is more important than any thoughts of what I might want to do with it, so terms for repayment are soon negotiated. The deal is I’ve now got credit with her; if I need something it is just a case of asking and she will pay for it. Being a book keeper she was good to her word on paying me back to the penny, but free will in the purchases came to an end. Often when I wanted to buy something I would hear the words like ‘that is such a waste’ or ‘you don’t really need that;’ when it came to buying a record she would proclaim “Buying that in stereo is such a waste of money, we will get a mono version instead.” Of course I knew in my heart this was not a standard she applied to her music purchases making the outcome of my situation all the pore perturbing. Also she was using that damned credit card of hers’ so it was impossible to get my hands on the cash first and then buy what I wanted. In the end a lot of my purchases were practical things like clothing. Evening up that debt became more important than the significance of the item being bought and it became a case of buying just to by, to hell with being frugal or saving; if it wasn’t in my control it didn’t seem tangible anyway. Saving didn’t seem to be of importance anymore and perhaps my desire to earn money on my own diminished as well. Maybe I even learned to use credit on buying something today that you really don’t want to pay for until tomorrow. Life just seems to repeat itself, only today it is the government that takes away 44% of my hard earned cash and it is they who do things with it I really don’t want done. I would be much better off if they let just let me have put all the social security deductions in an investment package of my control and choosing. The same can also be said about MEDICARE and MEDICADE. As for the taxes, I know my constitution and most of that money is spent in ways I can no find mention of in its text. I know the family is getting bigger all the time, but why in the hell can’t 65% of it find their own yard jobs so mom can take away the money from them? Maybe I’m just being a fool for cutting my own damned grass in the first place. Now today that silver would be almost $6 an ounce and those LP’s, - well that may turn out to be a case where fortune is on my side. It seems few people could see the sense in buying mono Beatle albums in their day; now I’m told that the mono ones have more value than their stereo counter parts. I still might get my lost money back out of them and with interest. I’m not sure if mommas always know best, but in some instance they seem to get lucky. |
| Old Photographs |
| 06.17.04 (7:35 pm) [edit] |
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I am too mentally drained today to make any serious attempt at writing something. Most of my thoughts for a BLOG have been something of a political nature and too much of that will likely run off much of my. I've been working on a short story a good bit for the past two weeks and that too has taken up a fair amount of my time and effort. I'm not sure what will be done whit the story upon its completion; it clearly is too big for a BLOG post. I'm actually thinking of trying to get this one published. It is very unclear to me who would read a story by me even if this venture comes to pass, but as long as it cost me nothing more than time there is not much loss in that. Trying to keep up my good attendance score here in the tBLOG community I've decided to continue on with yesterdays effort and post a few of my old photos. What you will see her hare photos that seem to range from about 1900 to 1904. Hopefully the exhibit will not scare off readership as if it were the slide show dropped on unexacting guest in the days of my childhood. That was almost a guaranteed way to run off unwelcome company at an early hour in the day of my youth. I am aware that a few of my visitors are photographers and artist and for you perhaps there will be some enjoyment; photos like this just are not made anymore or the people in them. It is too bad the detail of the mountings do not show well here, Most of the photos are mounted on heavy imbosed card stock and often with gold leaf photographer's This one is C.I. Rathbun my Great-great Grandfather. His web page is in my Favorite Links to the left if you care to have a look. The next person is known to be a relative but his name and exact relationship is lost to the family. He sure was a distinguished looking fellow though. This is another unknown to me, but the young lady in this photos always draws me in when I see her. Stafford in scripted in next to her photo. Another unknow but isn't she a grand Victorian lady! Last one, it is also an unknow. |
| The Meaning of History |
| 06.16.04 (6:53 pm) [edit] |
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I have something of a disorder when it comes to old things; I've got a lot of them, however I'm not really a collector of antiques. Almost all the old things in my house are items that belonged to some member of my family. Many of these are people which I never really knew personally, their time was one long before mine. But none the less, these items are valuable to me in that through them I feel this strong connection to each of those people who proceeded me. Each artifact of the family has driven me over the years to learn as much as I could about the person that owned the article and to make some attempt in figuring out why a particular item survived to fall into my hands where others did not. No one else in the family seems to be struck with this obsession, or at least they have the sense to recognize one can not hold onto every thing and that there is a time to take a profit from the unneeded. But I can not do that, when I see and touch these articles they really do almost take me back in my imagination to the time and place where they were once useful. To me these items are a bit of my own legacy, which is a history I do not want to shun, to do so would be to trivialize the aim and efforts of their life. A prime example of a relatively useless item is a jewelers/watchmakers bench and its stool. My great-great-grandfather C.I. Rathbun originally owned this. The C. stands for Charles but for what ever reason C.I. is what he called himself so that is good enough for me. Frankly it is ugly, but it is still functional. As best as I can determine C.I. purchased this bench sometime around 1873 shortly after he was burnt out of the town of Elkton, KY. I know this date to be a reasonable one because it is well documented that he and his wife Ida fled from there in that year with nothing more than their infant son Clark, the clothing on their backs and a sewing machine. Ironically the sewing machine is still a family possession and one that could have been mine. It was tempting because it is as beautiful now as the day it was made, and it is special because in it is a handwritten note in Ida's hand that explains the story. She was a seamstress so it represented the family's future security. As much as I wanted this machine, I already have too much and surely someone else in the family could treasure it as I would. Alas I digress, back to the ugly bench and stool. The bench at some point was handed down to my great-grandfather Clark who also became a watchmaker and jeweler. From him it came to be the property of my grandfather Romaine who also was a watchmaker, but only for a short time of his life. At a young age he became afflicted with a disorder known as syringomyellia; this fiberous tumor of the sheath surrounding his spinal cord caused him to progressively loose feeling and motor coordination. However in the year we moved in with them, a time when my father became very ill, he took my father into the room where the bench sat and taught my father how to repair watches. Grandpa told him that someday it might be important to him. My father learned to repair watches with the greatest of skill that year. In fact he was one of the few watchmakers who knew how to repair and make cylinder watch parts in that region. As a result more watch business came to him than he could possibly keep up with, but he reasoned the work was too tedious and that electronic watches were on the horizon making it a fools errand to become a watchmaker. Upon my grandfathers passing the bench was shoved into an oversize closet under the stairs of my grandparents' house and forgotten for a long time. Twenty years latter during a visit with my grandmother, she was asked if there was anything that I could do for her before I left. She told me she very much wanted me to take the jewelry bench and equipment with me if there was room in my pickup truck. She wanted the space and of all her boys my father was the only one who could ever get any use out of it. I knew dad wouldn't be happy about this, but she was right and my father had been doing a lot of jewelry work as hobby for the past many years and most of what was here would be of use to him anyway. Fate is a funny thing. As much as he didn't want to be a watchmaker he still repaired many of the ones I had brought to him. After that father donated most of the old watch parts to a nearby watchmaker's school, however he did keep the bench and all the tools. It wasn't very many years after this he rather unexpectedly lost his job as an engineer at a company he has worked with for over nineteen years. As fate would have it, like it or not, that bench became the place he would make his living as a jeweler for the remainder of his life. Because so much Rathbun ass has sat on the stool over the years it has been recovered twice and it is in dire need of a third recovering. Its legs have moved back and forth across the floor so many time in its 125 years of service that it is worn down to the middle of the lower rungs. The bench is a heavy bulky black lacquer item that has been scared, burnt and drilled into a hundred times, but here it still sits. To get rid of it is like throwing away four generations of labor. I still have pictures of all of them working in their stores. Oh the pictures! I've got a file cabinet drawer full of them. How many of you have photos of your great-great-great-great grandparent? I do and each time I look at them I wonder what it was they did in their life that made all the difference to me now in mine. The dogs sleep on green velvet Victorian love seat with feather stuffed cushions. That item came from my great grandparents' house dating back to 1903 when they were first married. Thirty years old might be a bit old for most men to marry, but when Clark carried Flo over the threshold of that house it and everything in it was already paid for; it was his wedding present to her. So you see to me that isn't just a 100-year-old bit of furniture, one that doesn’t really fit into the decor of this house at all, it is a reminder of an ethic of self sufficiency and hard work. It is my heritage. There is a story in each article, but it seems my work here is done. |
| Presidential Terms |
| 06.15.04 (11:38 am) [edit] |
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I must confess that Calvin Coolidge is my idea of a good president. He slept late, took long naps and said as little as possible. There is little that happened during his administration of political note because he felt his role was limited to serving a need and that his role was not to be a mover and shaker on the political front. In my view Coolidge was right; it is a federal politicians place to fix issues between the states only as required and to over see international issues in accordance to security needs of this nation. Calvin Coolidge was well known for his dry sense of humor. One story of note took place at a state dinner where his silence challenged a woman to proclaim, “I will bet I can get the President to say more than three words; his reply to her was, “You loose.” One of his dry wits has even coined a phrase known to the study of human behavior as the [i]Coolidge Syndrome[/i]. The origin of this term is rooted in a tour that the President and First Lady took at a model agricultural farm in Virginia. It was customary in the day that the President and First Lady received equal but separate tours and such was the case for the tour of the model farm. When the First Lady arrived at a poultry exhibit a civil servant attending her proclaimed that the rooster she was looking at was the prize roster of the farm. The First Lady enquired as to what it meant to be a prize rooster. The attendant replies, “Why this rooster consummates 1,100 times a year!” The First Lady upon her hearing this information then replies, “Be sure to let the President know this before he leaves.” Dutifully the attendant informs the president of the First Lady’s request. The President considers this information in silence for a moment and inquires, “With the same hen each time?” The attendant responds, “No sir, it is a different hen each time.” The President nods a bit and says to the attendant, “Make sure the First Lady knows this information before she leaves.” Thus was coined the term "[b]Coolidge Syndrome"[/b] - the inability to become fully sexually aroused with anyone but a new partner that the subject has never had sex with before. So if you make a request for a Lewinsky only to get turned down, just take the upper hand in the situation and proclaim the Coolidge Syndrome plea; this is one of the few instances in political jargon where you’re not going to get screwed anyway. |
| ADA and Colorblindness |
| 06.14.04 (9:36 am) [edit] |
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I’m thinking it is time for me to stand up for myself and my kind so that another 6.5% of the US population can be added to the welfare and benefits load already in the US system. I am talking about the American Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. I’m in a position to hand out some benefits/privileges/entit lements to people that feel they qualify for this bit of legislation and I’m sure a good thing is being missed out by me. Frankly I’m already as impaired or more so than a lot of the folk that take advantage of this aspect of our benevolent society. I’ve had two cervical fusions and it is only a mater of time before the third one comes. My left arm suffered some substantial damage while I was in the military so the VA already gave me a 20% disability rating on that one. Don’t worry folks, the $200 dollars a month they give me for that one just comes out of my retirement check and its is then reissued back by another check; the only advantage here is a bit of a tax exemption. As it is, Magoo and I paid in $18K in taxes last year; that too could be a complaint here, but I do realize it is a privilege to be among the 35% of the US population that actually does pay income tax. To be protected by the ADA, one must have a disability or have a relationship or association with an individual with a disability. An individual with a disability is defined by the ADA as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such impairment. The ADA does not specifically name all of the impairments that are covered. The ADA broadly defines the term “impairment” as any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the body’s multiple systems, including the special sense organs, neurological, musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genito-urinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin and endocrine systems. The ADA further defines “impairment” as any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities. Neither the statute nor regulations interpreting and implementing the ADA attempt to list all covered disorders or conditions. A comprehensive listing would be almost impossible given the number and variety of possible impairments. The definition of impairment does not include physical characteristics (e.g., left-handedness or normal height or weight deviations), common personality traits (e.g., a quick temper), pregnancy, and cultural or economic disadvantages. There are also certain statutory exclusions from the definition of disability, including individuals engaged in the current use of illegal drugs when the employer acts on the basis of such use. What is a Major Life Activity? The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has stated in its ADA regulations and other guidance documents that major life activities include, but are not limited to: caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, sitting, standing, lifting, reaching, sleeping and mental/emotional processes such as thinking, concentrating and interacting with others. In litigation, the EEOC has also argued that eating and elimination are major life activities. So here is my case - put aside all those other physical issues I mentioned earlier; I am color blind and for me anyway it is a major physical disability that limits major life activities and I’m thinking it has some significant psychological impact as well. Now while some would argue this, I’m a reasonably intelligent person capable of perusing almost any vocation I desire except for the limitations of my color blindness. At one time I was interested going into the ever so lucrative medical field. Then it was pointed out to me that not being able to see a red throat, etcetera just might posses some serious setback for the perspective patient. This was an undeniable truth so my thoughts drifted to radiologist, after all X-Rays are black and white. Even back in the early 70’s PET-scans, thermographs, and gamma-scans were a reality and when it was pointed out that also was the domain of a radiologist and that such tests heavily relied on color contrast it became obvious that a medical career was not to be. Now it is time to consider alternative careers, a painter (I don’t think so), a fifth generation jeweler perhaps (what color does this amethyst look like to you?) this too seems improbable. Maybe law enforcement (excuse me, what color did that car look like to you?) So why do I have 33 credit hours in criminal justice? Even after deciding to take a university hiatus to join the Army and sort my life out it came as a bit of a surprise to discover that of the over 370 jobs the Army offered in 1972 I was only qualified for 16 of them, all due to my color limitations. Oddly enough, the very job I settled for, one which turned into a twenty-year university hiatus is a field I would not have qualified for only a few years latter. I took tests for everything in the Army. After taking the flight aptitude test and qualifying for flight jobs on paper, I then went through the physical and received a thumb up all the way, that is until the last station which was the color blind test. Of course I failed it with flying colors! When the Flight Doctor informed me I was color blind and received my response, “I know.” He then said, “Well why the hell did you go through this in the first place then?” My response seemed to immediately alter the dour disposition he had demonstrated with me only seconds before, my reply was, “I just wanted to know if I was good enough otherwise.” He passed on his regrets, wished me luck and that was the end of it all. I’ve hit a lot of dead ends in my search for a lucrative and enjoyable carrier, one that would not be just a job, but an enjoyable passion to pursue; sadly I’ve not found such a thing where my colorblindness doesn’t seem to come into play. So far the only two potentially lucrative carriers that have come to my mind, ones where colorblindness seemingly is not a limitation, is being a lawyer or politician; hey, even I have my standards and sense of dignity! So you see the limitations of colorblindness makes it very difficult for such a person to fully achieve a major life activity which most people referring to it as a meaningful job. This in turn causes the victim to also have a sense of social inadequacy thereby leading to deep psychological depression. I’m asking that the 35% of you taxpayers to understandingly support the 6.5% of the colorblind population via social security and allow us all the full entitlement of the ADA. Those of you that don’t pay taxes, but enthusiastically promote special social causes, please help promote this cause, I would do it myself, but I can not figure out which color makers to use in making my poster. |
| BBQ Time |
| 06.13.04 (8:23 am) [edit] |
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Today's post is more of an effort to keep up a perfect attendance score over getting a good grade in cerebral thought. The girls and grand children are coming over today to bless me with their company and charm; such events such as this don't happen as often as I would like. They live 15 and 20 miles from here respectively and that is just enough distance to ensure a parental figure will not be involved with each moment of their daily life. Sadly the hubbies are still out on a boat so the plate isn't as full as I would like it, but one greatfully takes what comes their way and optimistically looks forward to a more perfect next time. This is my first go a round with the new smoker so it is hard to say how things will work out. My hope is that things are not over cooked. Started on the meat last night around 09:OO p.m. Good BBQ takes a lot of time so a couple trips throughout the night had to take place; ensuring the fire was properly stoked and that a bit of extra glaze was added at the proper moment. It has been a long time since I've done ribs and seldom do I do spare ribs, favoring the heavy beef ribs found near the backbone. At three times the price per unit weight, finical modesty keeps today's meal limited to spare ribs. Funny name that, I'm not sure the pig would agree with the term [u]spare[/u]. [b]Today menu includes[/b]: Spare ribs cooked in my #1 homemade sauce. Baked potatoes cooked in the smoker. Cabbage salad made by Magoo. Ambrosia salad also made by Magoo. Corn on the cob, which will be boiled. Also a caramel apple spice bunt cake, provided I get off this BLOG and into the kitchen PDQ. Life sure can be good here'n The Deep South. Now if the rain will just hold off untill this evening. |
| A Perspective on Greatness |
| 06.12.04 (9:57 pm) [edit] |
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It is my feeling that in time Ronald Reagan is going to be seen as one of the greatest presidents in this nation's history, at least the 20th century. There will always be those who argue that FDR deserve that role, but I disagree. It is true FDR was in power for two significant events, The Great Depression and WWII. In the eyes of many FDR was a savior because he provided many government jobs and lead a nation in dangerous times. While this is all true and perhaps his actions were genuine, he also started a welfare state that is becoming the downfall of this nation. He took the concept of a [b]representative republic [/b]and replaced that notion by repeatedly referring to it as a [b]democracy, which it isn't[/b]. It is true he was a man tested by hard times and it would be incorrect to call him a failure, but in his end game I'm skeptical. In his defense I can say he was a man of his times with most great nations following a paradigm of some form of socialism and at least his was benevolent. Ronald Reagen on the other hand was a man of great character and integrity at all times. He took over in disturbing times, but with mild problems in comparison to the issues facing FDR. Yet, in the end game he saw a way to bring a fifty-year cold war (WW III in my mind) to and end and collapsed the empire that supported it. In doing this he set millions of people free to exercise their own free will and destiny for the first time in 65 years. This is a remarkable accomplishment for a man who was not forced to make that choice. The same can not be said for FDR. In the views of most it all comes down to the issue - do you want to be free and unhampered to achieve your own destiny, or do you want to be catered to and dependant upon a government of wealth distribution. The steps taken by FDR took to achieve his accomplishments are not grounded in the Constitution. Since the time of FDR, this seems to be a nation too readily accepting in the notion that is perfectly acceptable to ignore that document when it is convenient, rather than taking the legal steps to modify the Constitution when the moment is appropriate. Reagan openly stated that government had become excessive and he succeeded greatly in bringing in its reins, even though he was heavily outnumbered in the congress. FDR promoted big government and never faced the opposition that Reagan had work through by force of his character and power of persuasion. Being a man who does not want to be hampered by a government that theoretically is "[i]of the people, for the people and by the people[/i]" - being a man who believes in the cause in which many of his ancestors' died for in its achievement and preservation. - I have got to stand up for the man who represents my values, and Ronald Reagan surely was such a man. |
| BLOGer's MIA! |
| 06.12.04 (5:26 pm) [edit] |
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I'm becoming suspicious that my woe of twos is spreading. Yesterday during my cruise through the Hot BLOG list my Magoo was something like 42 and my sister-in-law BLOU was in the 70's. Looking today both of their rankings both of them are not even on the list! Now how could this be? Over night two people I love very much just vanished from tBLOG's Hot BLOG list. If that isn't bad enough this is the second time this has happened to the wife. I'm thinking my joining up with the BLOG community has plagued my family members whom were doing this long before me. Something is amiss and I know it isn't the amount of traffic to their site. For those of you that visit Magoo Ville, recall a few days ago that she linked this awesome Shock Wave video of the Beatles. She originally found it on Leo Laporte's BLOG. If you watch the Tech TV channel no doubt you already know who he is, even if you don't, he has becoming a regular on Regis and one of the early morning shows on a broadcast network channel. His likeness is imbedded here if that helps ring a bell for any of you. The other day Magoo dropped him a line and told Leo how much she enjoyed his TV appearances, valued his technical acumen and his BLOG at Leoville. He must have like hers as well, because he linked her BLOG to his BLOG. Now in my way of thinking to get a link to the page of someone of his notoriety that is a great honor for any BLOGer in our community. I'm tickled for Margo but disappointed that once again she is MIA from the Hot BLOG list. She has made a decision not to address this problem to Rocky again. But I ask you don't forget Magoo Ville or BLOU's Craft Shack. They work hard at placing light hearted and fun links and they deserve to be where they belong. If you are a first time visitor to my site, please check them out too. P.S. Rocky if you read this, my calendar's May database has been wiped out as well, nothing in it can be seen except via Comment Central. Hope all of your are having a better day. P.S. Does anyone know what happend to Anonymousx? Her post have be on the dark gothic side but still enjoyable. Noticed a few weeks back her page was slicked out and there have been no post since. I'm in hopes that all is well with her. Left the campus computer for the summer perhaps? I'm in hopes it is something that simple anyway. |
| My Assessment of a Man |
| 06.11.04 (12:17 pm) [edit] |
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We are not born equal - life is a genetic crap shoot with some getting a potential advantage in intelligence, physical strength, looks and disposition while others are distinctly disadvantaged in these regards. All are rewarded or handicapped at birth by the environment they are born into. Wealth, nurturing, status, cultural and family values are just a few of many factors that catalyze, filter and moderate personal development and the likelihood of achieving any given destiny. This reality is a certainty; it is engrained in the reality of science and mathematics. With this in mind, it seems more appropriate to asses the accomplishment of a person by considering what it took for them to get to where they are; with consideration as to what they did with the advantages or handicaps they started with in the first place; with consideration to their expression of character. In these terms Ronald Reagan is my hero and he will greatly be missed. Hopefully the mold was not broken when they made that man, for I’m in search of someone to lead me, a man that has the character, insight and conviction such as his. Ronald Reagan seemed to understand: There is more dignity in a hand up than there is in a hand out. An empty stomach has a narrow view of moral value. Open honesty provides more to consider than secretive un-trust. “Trust is good, verification is better” [i]Michael Gorbachav[/i] Humble work is important, but so is the moment of innocent enjoyment. People are to be taken seriously, but not necessarily by their self. There is something greater than our own existence. No event is meaningless or without cause. You are gone Ronald Reagan, but in my heart and millions of others, you will never be forgotten. Your legacy lives on, your efforts have changed the world and for the betterment to most. |
| A Ronald Reagen Paradox |
| 06.10.04 (9:37 pm) [edit] |
| I recall reading an article several years ago in one of my favorite reads, Scientific American. It was an article on two drug addicts that took a designer drug which artificially induced symptoms essentially identical to advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease. In a bold attempt, a team of doctors injected fetal cell tissue into the brains of those two men. At the conclusion of the study the men had recovered and estimated 76% of their former brain functions. This is a remarkable result for a first human trial. Ironically Ronald Reagan successfully pushed for a bill outlawing medical treatments and experimentation involving fetal cell tissue. The very bill he so adamantly pushed for was the one that prevented him from potentially never having had to suffer the ravages of Alzheimer's. |
| Too Much About Me! |
| 06.10.04 (9:19 pm) [edit] |
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Today my BLOG has been updated a bit with some test results that make an attempt to explain how my brain does or doesn't work. A lot of you have been doing some of these tests as of late but the linked sources are kind of cool in that they generate code so it can be posted as an HTML source. Several of my test are in the bottom left margin. The [i]Engram[/i] test is a bit different than the [i]Myers-Briggs[/i] test. It defines nine personality types rather than 16 as with the MB. It is as interesting to see the histogram as the final results. In my case the test classifies me as a Type 5 but you can see by looking at the histogram Type 1 and Type 9 are not far behind. To me this is interesting because having put a few of my co-workers through this test they were very dominate in one area and not equalized in others as in my case. Anyway this is the scoop on a Type 5: [b]The Investigator[/b] The perceptive, cerebral type. Fives are alert, insightful, and curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative, and inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung and intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity, nihilism, and isolation. At their Best: visionary pioneers, often ahead of their time, and able to see the world in an entirely new way. When it came to the Myers-Brigs test my brain wasn't fully engaged and I forgot to save the histogram. However, the long and the short of it is my [b]E[/b]xtrovert-[b]I[/b] ntrovert scores are nearly identical. I've taken this test numerous times and the results in this regard flip all the time. As to the others, they are a bit more slanted except for the [b]J[/b]udgmental-[b]F[/b ]eeling score. Let us just say I am definitely not prone to being a touchy feely person. With that said, I do try real hard to make up for it by analyzing the hell out of a situation while thinking, "Now if I were them what would I want me to be doing?" I guess that is the fake it till you make it syndrome. Also, only 2% of the people in this world have a personality type like me. Then there is the Left-brain Right-brain test. Here too I seem to be an odd ball and essentially have no dominant process going. As odd as that is though, my Little Magoo has the same trait so I'm not all that alone. It is funny in a way; I'm essentially ambidextrous and will take a pool shot, or shoot a weapon left or right handed with essentially the same results. My handwriting with the left hand is recognizable, however after I read an article on Leonardo da Vinci and discovered he would write backwards with his left hand to encode notes; well, I tried it and it is an exact mirror of my right-handed script. As a teacher I would sometimes write on the board with both hands at once. Did that ever confuse the little buggers! Then I've take a few test on what was[b] e-mode [/b]and is now [b]tickle[/b]. No doubt you have seen Albert on one of those annoying popup ads a dozen times a day; yes it is those guys. Still, their pro-test are good and here is the result from their personality test. Frankly it does sound like me to most folks who know me. [b]Socialite![/b] Your personality is actually determined by two personality sub-types - your primary, or dominant sub-type, and your secondary sub-type. You are a Socialite which means you are a Golden / Thinker Your primary sub-type is defined by "Golden" characteristics and your secondary sub-type is defined by "Thinker" characteristics. That means you're confident, dependable, and goal-oriented — and when you make a plan you stick with it. Your natural friendliness and charm mean you're great at meeting people. And chances are you handle this popularity with grace since you take your personal life very seriously. How do we know all this? How do we know that you're generous with your belongings? Or that you see work as an extension of your social life? How could we have divined that sometimes you can be self-critical and worry too much? Because while you were taking the test, you answered four different types of questions — questions that measured confidence, apprehension, willingness to take risks, and your focus on experience versus appearance — the primary traits that determine your personality. Based on your responses, we determined your personality type, Socialite. And that's just scratching the surface. I've also taken their two IQ test and they are very consistent with others I've taken. I'm color-blind and so many of the questions on spatial and pattern recognition use color. It is an established fact that in those two areas I consistently score in the upper 99 percentile of the norm, but not with colors in the test. So my score will drop according to the amount of color used in a test. There is one other thing I can say from experience about a high IQ; a IQ and two bits will buy coffee at the seniors' rate down at WalMart. To me it means I'm good at taking test. My abilities are so eclectic that nothing much meaningful comes from them. It seems like the great ones have extraordinary ability in limited region and there simply isn't anything extraordinary about me. I'm prone to gaining a certain depth of understanding and then dropping of the pursuit. In short, all these test indicate I'm something of a strange duck, one that doesn't necessarily find it hard to relate to other people, but one that other people often find hard to relate too. "It is useless to remember information you can look up" [i]Albert Einstein [/i] |
| The Calling that Never Came |
| 06.09.04 (11:52 am) [edit] |
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As I read the posting Monday from ScarlettGKPi’s war journal many thoughts passed through my head, one of which is how lucky I am to never have received the calling, especially after spending twenty years in the Army. Fate chose me to be a lover and not a fighter. Once my brief case made it to war, but circumstance made it where I never did. Three times the call to war came within a step of me though. The first time was Grenada; I was a relatively new Sergeant First Class back then, a military intelligence spook at the panicle of his technical career. At the moment I was standing in line with several other E-7s for the purposes of signing into a sixteen week long advanced technical managers course. Just as I signed my signature to the roster an officer came up and said, “Sorry, everyone behind this man now has orders to Guantanimo Bay for deployment, they left I stayed. The second missed calling was Panama. As to there being an impending war in Panama, there was no doubt it was just a matter of timing. In fact, just moments before I landed in Panama, on my way to an assignment in Honduras, one of Noriega’s soldiers shot one of our lieutenants, blood was already in the street; I had just walked into a lock down situation. Now Honduras, that was a relatively hostile environment to be sure, but it wasn’t a war zone. My unit was one with a multi-fold mission; it provided electronic aerial surveillance to two war fronts, one in Nicaragua and one in El Salvador, Besides the aircraft we had a couple of boats that accomplished the same mission with an additional tasking of drug interdiction. Our troops flew over those spots but we didn’t set foot there. Not being in Panama and not knowing the time table for the war, life was lived in Honduras just as it came. I had scheduled myself to take Christmas leave on the last flight out that season. The problem was, a USO tour came in around that time and the Base Commander decided none of his troops would fly out with Charley Pride’s group - that dictated I would not make it home. An unscheduled C-130 came in one day from Savannah; its mission was to pick up some equipment left behind and then immediately turn around. If I could catch that aircraft, I would make it home! In great haste I rushed around seeing if it were possible to make that aircraft. It was a go, as long as I could be ready in the short moments left to me. Before this event, I was scheduled to go to Panama for a staff briefing the next day; a co-worker took my place and I handed my brief case into the hands of my Company Commander who was also going to the briefing. When I landed in Savannah an old comrade spotted me at the terminal and gave me a lift to the bus station, from there I went to my father’s home in South Carolina. I tried to sleep that night but my mind was racing. After just a few hours sleep I flipped on the television and there was a special new report covering Operation Just Cause in Panama. It was about four-o-clock as I recall; I considered what should be done, while there were numerous options open to me, my mind was made up, my father and I would drive to Copperas Cove, TX that day as planed so I could see my family. Once there I wou |
