Not bizarre enough? How about this more recent article by Matt Novick and presented in Paleofuture.com which points out something that occurred to me a few days before (had I only been a little quicker on the ol’ fingers)…
Yesterday major media reported on the December 23rd passing of Vesna Vulovic at the age of 66.
While her name isn’t as “big” as many others who made the far-too-long list of 2016 celebrity passings, she was a fascinating woman in her own right and holds a record that I strongly suspect may never be duplicated.
What’s the record?
Back in 1972 and at the age of 22 she was a flight attendant for JAT Yugoslav Airways. Due to a mix up, she was assigned to a flight from Copenhagen to Belgrade. One hour into the flight, the airliner blew up over Czechoslovakia and Ms. Vulovic, pinned in part of the rear of the plane, fell as much as 33,333 feet to the ground…and survived.
No one else in the flight survived the explosion and Ms. Vulovic would awaken in a hospital with no memory of her harrowing experience. According to Wikipedia:
…she suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae (one crushed completely) that left her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, and two broken legs. She was in a coma for 27 days.
The following article by Ruth Graham for Slate magazine offers a window into Ms. Vulovic, who never felt she was “lucky” to survive:
For a year filled with so much to be depressed about, I agree with Ms. Graham’s uplifting take on Ms. Vulovic despite her passing and while reflecting on this terrible year. As Ms. Graham points out, there’s something to be said for someone who faces an event so harrowing and near unimaginable yet offer the following words of wisdom:
“If you can survive what I survived, you can survive anything.”
So as this year ends (one more day), perhaps we should take those words from the ultimate survivor and look forward to -perhaps- better times.
If I recall correctly, I was looking forward to not just one, not just two, but three albums. Considering how little I buy new music, this was truly a wealth of goods.
Two of the albums, Anthrax’s For All Kings and Megadeth’s Dystopia, were thrash metal albums released by my two favorite heavy metal bands. The third album I was looking forward to was the latest and, it would turn out, last David Bowie album, Blackstar.
With the sudden and very shocking announcement of Mr. Bowie’s death a mere couple of days after the release of that album, what was a cause of celebration, hearing another of his works, quickly soured. The album was damn great, mind you, but it was hard to listen to it with the gut punch of it being tied to his death.
As for Anthrax and Megadeth’s albums, I liked them but…I dunno. They were perfectly fine works but didn’t have the same something or another their other, better albums had.
But things weren’t all bad. I knew in 2016 I’d finally release my new novel, Foundry of the Gods. I put in so much work on it in 2015 and by the time 2016 rolled around figured the book could be done by February.
Boy, was I wrong.
The book took far longer to finish up, ultimately taking me through November and its release just as we had what, to my mind, was one of the more depressing bits of news ever: The election of Donald Trump to President of the United States.
Yesterday word came that Carrie Fisher had died after suffering a heart attack on board a plane traveling to L.A. The news wasn’t shocking considering what was described of the heart attack and her apparently being out and unresponsive but of course, it was shocking.
Between Mr. Bowie’s death and Ms. Fisher’s passing we’ve had a year full of deaths, from Muhammad Ali to Gene Wilder to Don Hendley to Abe Vigota to…it seems to go on and on and on and as I write this it is December 28th and there are still 3 more days left to this year and one wonders if we’re in for any more nasty surprises.
(UPDATE: So now comes word Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher’s mother and a remarkable actress in her own right, passed away one freaking day after her daughter. This incredibly cruel year just can’t end soon enough.)
I said above this was about “selfish thoughts” and I’ll get to that now: Going into the year, I was filled with the optimism I noted above. A new book just about ready. Three albums I was looking forward to buying and listening to.
And then things went so very bad.
Despite the added length of time it took to finish up Foundry of the Gods, I (pardon my language) fucking love the damn book and consider it one of the best I’ve written to date.
Yet as much as I love the book and as much as I cherish my own personal accomplishment and the fact that for the first time I’m seeing so many people pick up my latest work as it is released (thank you all very much for that), the novel will be forever linked to what could well be one of the shittier years, at least in terms of downbeat news, I’ve ever witnessed.
2017 is right around the corner and a part of me hopes things will get better yet another part of me recognizes a Trump Presidency -and all the lunacy I fear will come from it- lies just around the corner.
I work on, hoping for better times yet worried 2017 might be just as turbulent and depressing as 2016.
For my very own selfish reasons, if I do manage to finish my new book before the end of 2017, I hope its release doesn’t tie it, at least in my mind, with any more depressing news.
I’ll say upfront: I really like Amazon.com. I think the site offers a great way to buy (and in my case also sell) products.
HOWEVER, as the article notes, there is a big problem here regarding “knock-off” or counterfeit products. We’re talking about things such as clothing, phone cases, and, I’ve heard, even music CDs/DVDs.
When one buys a product, one expects to get what they asked for and not, as it will turn out, a cheap copy. As pointed out in the article, these cheap counterfeits hurt the creators of the original legitimate product in two ways: 1) By being much cheaper in price than the legitimate products, they undercut sales of the real product, sometimes to a very high degree. 2) Because they are cheap knock-offs, they tend to break quicker and this, in turn, angers customers who think they have bought the legitimate product. Bad reviews lead to worse sales and, sometimes, the legit creators are wrongly accused of building bad product.
At the risk of giving the entire article away, it is pointed out that Amazon.com is looking into this matter more now than they did before. Hope so.
I truly don’t want to start looking around to make sure that product X that I’m looking to order is what I think it is.
At the risk of giving everything away from the above article I’m going to…oh hell, give everything away. Here you go:
You still should check out the article to find out where this list comes from and why it was made (As noted in the question, this was intended as an aid to potential businessmen who were interested in setting up a full stock for a store).
As this hellish year marches towards its own end, we have yet another passing, this time of Zsa Zsa Gabor. She was 99 years old and, from what I’ve read, spent the past five years living thanks only to machines.
A horrible way to go, IMHO. Hope she was so far gone during those last years that she didn’t actually feel anything.
Considering some of the very big names/personalities that have passed this year, one would think Zsa Zsa Gabor would be a more minor one. I suppose in some ways she was. She was known most for being a “personality” in the days well before the Kardashians or the Housewives of the various counties/cities. She was at times outrageous and a celebrity because of this. She was also married 8 times, 9 if you count a one day marriage/annulment and was as feisty as she was sexual…
She also provided some delightful quotes and that’s what I found the most amusing and interesting about her.
A couple of days ago I pointed out a CNN segment which featured a bewildered host interviewing what I assume were a group of Trump voters and was shocked when one of them, a woman, noted how she believed “millions” of “illegals” had voted in the election and that President Obama actually encouraged “illegals” to vote. You can see the full CNN report (and clip) here.
In referencing this clearly misinformed (I’m trying to be polite) voter, I noted:
Look, its easy to knock the woman in this group for the absolutely stupid things she claims are true. I suspect the others in that group, though not much footage is offered of their opinions, are also Trump supporters.
The reality is…I feel sorry for her. I truly do.
Well, over the weekend we had another, far more scary reaction to bogus news. This article by Kevin Bohn, Daniel Allman, and Greg Clary also appeared on CNN:
I’ll try to offer a brief encapsulation of the story, though I urge you to read the full article:
When the John Podesta emails were released via Wiki-Leaks, there was mention of Comet Ping, a pizza establishment, that was an apparent spot he and others frequented.
From this the conspiracy theorists (I won’t even begin to guess how their minds worked this particular theory out) weaved a web that stated this establishment was somehow hiding a child sex ring, no doubt supervised by those evil, scum-sucking liberals.
Enter one Edgar Madison Welch, 28. He entered the establishment brandishing a weapon (perhaps an assault rifle) and was eventually arrested. Thankfully, no one was injured during this very scary event.
Why did Mr. Welch show up at Comet Ping with a weapon? From the above article:
“During a post arrest interview this evening, the suspect revealed that he came to the establishment to self-investigate ‘Pizza Gate’ (a fictitious online conspiracy theory),” the police department said in a statement.
I felt sorry for the mis-informed middle aged woman who was so damn certain “millions” of illegals voted.
Based on the above incident, maybe I shouldn’t be so damn nice about the spreading, and believing, of mis-information.
Maybe its time to hold those who spread such idiotic rumors to account. Especially before someone, a very real someone, gets hurt.
I really didn’t want to see the CNN video below but was curious about its headline: “Trump supporter claims stun CNN Anchor.” So I saw it.
Sigh…
Look, its easy to knock the woman in this group for the absolutely stupid things she claims are true. I suspect the others in that group, though not much footage is offered of their opinions, are also Trump supporters.
The reality is…I feel sorry for her. I truly do.
It’s so easy to prey on people’s fears and/or desires and whip up their emotions with bogus stories and alarmist fare. Clearly this woman has lapped it up, believing that a) millions of “illegals” voted for Clinton in California and b) that somehow President Obama encourage these “illegals” to vote.
Her proof? She claims it was on the news and, to be fair, the CNN anchor did find a bogus “news” story that presented the second claim on (where else?) a Fox News report.
Yet I stand by what I say: I feel sorry for this woman. She views the news (apparently any news) as something that is truthful in its presentation when, sadly, this is becoming less and less and progressively even less the case.
I’m not saying all news lies, but one has to judge the news from multiple sources.
The fact of the matter is that if President Obama had actually encouraged “illegals” to vote, don’t you think that would be smeared across all news networks? The fact that it appeared on only one (discredited) news article should make you skeptical of it at best.
Yet for some this will become a truth and when its in your head its difficult to remove it.
The other day there was a “hot” video presented a Trump supporter in Florida (why does my state seem to be the focus of so much weird stuff?!) getting incensed because the barista at a Starbucks wasn’t giving him his coffee quickly enough.
The Trump supporter went off on her and, well, see for yourself…
So your immediate reaction is: This guy is a jerk, right? When the anger died down (somewhat) we have this…
Note a couple of things in the above news video:
First off, the man is a lot more level headed and offers an apology for his behavior, even though he still feels he was discriminated against (hey, that’s his opinion and if indeed he did wait 20 plus minutes for a coffee and it wasn’t delivered, I’d probably get angry too, though I doubt I’d jump to this being caused by discrimination).
Secondly, as the report ends, it is noted the man suffers from some kind of issue (mental? Who knows) and admitted to the reporters he was off his medication at the time of the confrontation.
So I’m inclined to give the guy a pass. I very much think he’s wrong in assuming he was “discriminated” against. I mean, come on, does he have a “I supported Trump” tattoo on his forehead? How the hell did the barista know his political tendencies?
It’s so much easier to chalk his anger being related to just plain old poor service, something everyone can relate to. That being the case, he did apologize for acting on that. But to use a loaded term like being “discriminated” against?! That’s victimization example “a” in your all-too typical right wing hot air handbook.
In a very long, roundabout way what I’m saying is that I can understand people being guided by misleading -or outright lying- in the media or in right wing sources, many of which create a reality about them that doesn’t exist. What scares the crap out of me is when decent people (again, the man above did apologize and it looks like he was genuinely ashamed of his reaction…either that or I’m completely misreading him) fall prey to these emotions and act out on them..
I can’t help but feel these people helped elect a man who will prove himself to be completely unfit for office and, ultimately, a detriment to the very people who voted for him.
Having said that, I’m willing to give him at least a little latitude to prove me wrong.
Which is more than I can say about the latitude many gave President Obama when he was twice elected. And I say this as someone who did not agree with all the things he did/is doing during his term.
Let’s be blunt: 2016 has been a brutal year for deaths.
From big celebrities to small, it seems not a day passes (ouch) without some new name added to this blackest of lists.
Add one more: Jim Delligatti.
Who?
You say you don’t know who Mr. Delligatti is?
Here’s a hint:
And here’s a second hint:
Mr. Delligatti, for those who don’t know the name (like me, until I read the below article) was the creator of what is arguably McDonald’s best known menu item: The Big Mac.
Mr. Delligatti created the famous item back in 1967 and it became a part of all the McDonald menus in 1968. He passed away yesterday at the age of 98 and if you want to read a little more about the man and his creation, here you go:
