Category Archives: General

Oh my…

Ran across this article by Patrick Redford and presented on Deadspin.com yesterday:

The sports highlight of the day

The header is pure sarcasm, the topic is this video:

After you watch the video, check out the article which offers some pretty funny comments about this wonderful neighbor row. I especially loved this line:

New highlights pop up every time I watch this video: the 11-second gap between the peacemaker trying to break things up and grabbing a plank of her own

Yeah, that was my favorite part as well! 😉

Winter Weather…

Apropos of nothing much at all:

The other day day, there was much ridicule heaped at the folks in/around the area I live in for things like this:

Image result for miami weather warning temperature

This is a Channel 10 weather “alert” that notes we’re about to have a “weekend winter blast” with morning temperatures “Near 50” and afternoon temps in the 60’s.

This provoked much ridicule by the folks from colder climes up north, who scoffed at the idea that you needed a “coat” for such temperatures, that in their neck of the woods, such temperatures didn’t merit a long sleeved shirt, much less a “coat”.

Or, to put it bluntly: Jeeze, you guys are freaking wimps!

Here’s the thing:

When I was very young, I lived in Nova Scotia, Canada. I LOVED the winters there, and recall at least a couple of below zero blizzards that passed through and caused the city I lived in to essentially shut down for everyone’s safety.

Back then, I was easily one of those folks who, upon seeing a graphic like the one above, would have scoffed at the idea that weather “Near 50” would cause anyone any trouble.

Thing is, the human body adjusts to the climate they’re in.

After Canada, I lived a while in Venezuela (pre-current craziness) which had a suffocating (for a winter boy like me) tropical climate. I eventually moved to Florida but, for my first year in college, I chose to attend the University of Ottawa in Canada.

I froze my ass off that year, the first time in nearly a decade I once again encountered a genuine winter.

Luckily for me, I had the option of continuing in Ottawa or transferring to a University in Florida.

I chose Florida.

This one time winter boy had acclimated himself to the warmer climate and switching to such cold proved incredibly difficult.

The point is this: Don’t laugh too hard at us, friends from the north. Your bodies are adjusted to take the colder climate and, trust me, if you spent a year or two in Florida or any other more moderate/warm setting, your winter weather body will also adjust to the warmer climate.

And, yes, when the usual temperatures around 80-90 degrees drop to 50, you too might find it quite uncomfortable once your body adjusts to the warmer weather.

I know… I know…

Doesn’t matter.

We’re wimps. 😉

Breaking (political) News…

POLITICS… BEWARE…!!!

Today’s latest lunacy, from CNN and written by Katelyn Polantz, Sara Murray, and David Shortell:

Mueller indicts Roger Stone

Image result for roger stone
The man himself…

Mr. Stone’s home was raided, he was arrested, and later today he’ll be in court (11 AM, according to the news) for his part in the Trump Presidential Campaign’s dirty tricks… specifically involving Wikileaks, Russia, and the stealing of various Democratic official’s emails and their release.

All designed to bring down/hurt the Hillary Clinton campaign and aid the Trump campaign.

As more and more time passes, I find the whole thing depressing because I’m becoming more and more convinced this was very much an election that was stolen by the use of fake news (which people like Trump are so fond of talking about… projection at its best!), disinformation, and clever use of social media.

It’s taken a while -two years now!- since the election but it seems more and more of the dirty, and illegal, details behind this election are coming to the fore.

The big question is: Now that he’s been arrested and indicted… will Roger Stone flip?

He’s spent many, many months saying he’d never talk, but now that he’s facing jail time, one wonders. It’s easy being brave and talking tough when you’re in your home and environs. It’s quite another thing when you’re facing that cell.

What a cluster… well… you know.

New Horizons and Ultima Thule

Been a little while since we got an update/picture of the Ultima Thule asteroid found in the Kuiper Belt.

That changed yesterday:

This image, from NASA, offers an even clearer view of the mysterious dual asteroid found far beyond Pluto. A fascinating, fascinating look at an incredibly distant object circling just outside our Solar System.

The article I found the photo:

Ultima Thule latest image, John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Fascinating, fascinating stuff!

Hmmm… what took them so long…?

Politics, BEWARE…!

Though it has been looked at before, it appears that in these past few days a greater focus seems to be finally, finally developing with regard to Donald Trump’s very odd fascination with Russia and its ruler.

Considering all the things he’s done so far (from changing the Republican platform to the weird private/secret meeting with Putin to the glowing things he’s said about him while lambasting our allies), it’s about time.

Happy Holidays!!!

Hope everyone out there has a wonderful time and a very, very happy New Years!

Bring on 2019… it has to be better than the craziness of 2018, right?

…right?!

2018 (soon to be) in the rearview mirror…

Over at Salon.com, author Mary Elizabeth Williams notes sanguinely…

2018 Has Been The Longest Year Ever

She lists a bunch of stuff that’s happened… I recall it all… but what’s shocking is that it all happened this year.

Holy Moley!

So much stuff has happened this past year, much of it related to Trump and his highly competent and not at all corrupt (cough) government, that it’s hard to keep track of everything going on.

Ah, for the days when things were calmer and we weren’t lurching from one “big” news event and into another!

John Allen Chau…

Is the name familiar to you?

If you’ve been following the news …well, the news outside of whatever latest lunacy Donald Trump’s been involved in… John Allen Chau is the Christian missionary who earlier this month went to a remote Indian island with the intent of converting an isolated tribe there to Christianity.

He was killed by the remote islanders, who are isolated and have had no outside contact with “civilization” and thus know nothing about Christianity or current events and, no doubt, came to view Mr. Chau as a threat to themselves.

Over on Slate.com I found this fascinating article by Ruth Graham titled…

Martyr of Dickhead?  Why missionary John Allen Chau’s death on a remote Indian is so unsettling to Christians

Christian missionaries entering potential “hostile” territories is nothing new.  Part of their mission (they are “missionaries”!) is to convert people to the Christian cause, and no doubt Mr. Chau viewed his outreach as trying to spread the word of God to those who needed it.

The article is most fascinating in the early paragraphs, where the author offers the following history:

In January 1956, five young American missionaries decided to make contact with a small tribe of natives in eastern Ecuador, with the purpose of converting them to Christianity. Instead, just a few days after their first direct contact with the group, they were speared to death on a secluded beach. News of the missionaries’ deaths spread quickly in the United States. Life magazine devoted a 10-page spread to the story of “five devout men who sought to bring the word of God to a fierce tribe of Stone Age savages.” The reverence for the missionaries went even deeper in Christian circles, where believers saw the men as martyrs killed for their faith.

Back in 1956, the author goes on to note, the killing of these missionaries was viewed as a repugnant act by a “savage” people.

Today, as you can tell by the link/title of the article presented above, society’s views of missionaries has changed.  While Christians no doubt view Mr. Chau’s death with sympathy and outrage, clearly there is a large segment of people out there that view his actions as the height of hubris/arrogance.

In other words, he got what was coming to him.

Now, I view his death as a tragedy.  Then again, I feel anyone with a sliver of a pulse should view the death of any young person by such violence as a tragedy.

But another part of me completely agrees that he was a well-intentioned but supremely arrogant man who walked into a very dangerous situation and -surprise, surprise- met his end because of that arrogance.

I can’t help but think of the longer history, though, well beyond 1956 and the way Christianity in general has spread throughout the world.  The Crusades, for instance.  The initial forays into the “New World” and the way the Native Americans in South and Central America were treated and at times violently forced to convert.  Hell, our own U.S. history and the way we’ve treated Indians.

What fascinates me the most about this article is that it shows a societal/world view certain shift in perspective.  The “civilized world” no longer automatically sides with the zealous missionary and his holy crusade.

We have developed the capacity, maybe several hundred years too late, to realize that our world view shouldn’t be imposed upon others, that a rarity like the remote tribe in that Indian island should be allowed to live their lives in peace, as they have for generations, and we have no right to impose upon them.

A fascinating shift, for sure.

Quick update…

A few days back I stated I might be at the Miami Gamer Comic Expo which starts today and goes on through November 12.

Sadly, things didn’t quite work out so I won’t be there.

Maybe next year!

This ‘n that…

Politics…BEWARE!!!

The elections have come and gone and, truly, it was wonderful to see so many people get out there and vote.

Not everything went the way I was hoping (frankly, the idea of seeing any more of Rick Scott is enough to freeze the blood in my veins), but if one subscribes to the notion of “checks and balances” and further would like the Trump administration held accountable for its actions, then you couldn’t have asked for more.

Even more encouraging is this: Despite all the gerrymandered districts, despite the fact that Democrats had to vote in numbers far, FAR higher than Republicans to even hope to get their representatives in office, the vote count was decidedly lopsided toward Democrats, even if it does appear the Republicans will gain in the Senate.

It has been noted that Republicans have been getting less and less votes but because of issues such as gerrymandering and, in the case of Trump’s election, the electoral college system, they’ve nonetheless won.

It appears people are finally having quite enough of that and more and more people are voting.

Now, let’s see if I can relax for a while -maybe a day or two- before we start the inevitable talk of 2020.

Yikes!

😉