hurricane fortification
- Determine sources of information about storm, if any exist
- Replenish stock of non-perishable chocolate
- Replenish stock of non-perishable vodka
- Ensure flashlight works so chocolate (more…)
Archive for October, 2012
hurricane checklist
Posted: October 29, 2012 in Humorous BitsTags: checklist, chocolate, humor, humour, hurricane, hurricane Sandy, Jim Cantore, life, list, not so funny, preparations, storm, vodka, weather
late october
Posted: October 27, 2012 in New Jersey, PhotographyTags: autumn, Hopewell, life, New Jersey, NJ, October, photo, Photography
Hopewell, New Jersey
They grow ’em big here.
Hopewell, New Jersey
speech: Lou Gehrig, “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day” (early draft – June 1939)
Posted: October 22, 2012 in UncategorizedTags: baseball, humor, humour, in the attic, Lou Gehrig, luckiest man on the face of the earth, old, speech, Yankees
Ed. Note: Perhaps the most famous speech given in American sports history was delivered on July 4, 1939 at Yankee Stadium by baseball player Lou Gehrig. For 17 years Gehrig was a star for the New York Yankees. His skills fell into sharp decline in 1938 and by May 1939 he was no longer able to play due to extreme physical weakness. On June 19, 1939 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and given less than three years to live. (The disease is now often referred to as “Lou Gehrig Disease.”) The news of his condition spread quickly and on June 21 (more…)
simply put, don’t complicate
Posted: October 15, 2012 in Observations and CommentaryTags: complex, complication, ego, life, people, progress, random thoughts, regress, simple, simplicity, Wonder Woman
Complicating things is easy. Anyone can do it. It takes no special skills, no formal training. Hell, children master it and they are still in the early stages of development. However, simplifying things…now that is hard work. Boiling situations, problems, tasks, and processes down to their essence and then working to resolve them in a way which is both satisfactory and reasonable is a skill which (more…)
after hours
Posted: October 13, 2012 in PhotographyTags: after hours, art, artless, disgustingly cheap post, night, photo, Photography
common threads #10: economic inequalities
Posted: October 9, 2012 in Observations and CommentaryTags: Common Threads, economic inequality, humor, humour, life, money, not so funny, wealth
Yeah, it sucks having less money than other people, particularly when it is blindingly clear some of those wealth-basking folks are absolute Class A numskulls. It can be baffling tracing the egregious steps which resulted in you being more of a “have-not” than a “have”, especially when you bear witness to the goofy behavior of these well-to-do nincompoops. Understandably, context is a difficult construct when you are putt-putt-putting along in your cranky 14 year old two-tone Plymouth Neon, attuned to every creak, cling and clang emitting from (more…)
life in the big city: musical interludes
Posted: October 8, 2012 in Life in the Big City, PhotographyTags: art, cellist, Central Park, life, Life in the Big City, Manhattan, music, musician, New York, Photography, urban
cellist in the park
take it back
Posted: October 7, 2012 in Observations and CommentaryTags: America, commentary, common good, common ground, culture, differences, division, life, society, USA, we the people
We are constantly bombarded by people screaming we must “take back” the country, particularly during an election year. As if it has been stolen by rebel forces whose primary mission is to destroy it. Alternately we are told we must take back the country from the President, radical right-wingers, bleeding heart liberals, big government and corporations. We must fight and take it back from the Muslims, Jews, Catholics, gun nuts, constitution eroders, freedom inhibitors, women haters, and lobbyists. We must wretch these precious United States from the destructive grips of (more…)
Trask Avenue 
common threads #11: language employed to manipulate others
Posted: October 31, 2012 in Observations and CommentaryTags: Common Threads, humor, humour, language, life, manipulation, words
These guys are not trying to manipulate you in any way.
The timing of this topic is simply too sweet to be coincidental. Too. Sweet. Citing examples of language employed to manipulate others, what with it being the sprint to the election finish line and all, is like setting Susie Sweettooth loose in a chocolate factory with a bib and a dream. Just open the door and all hell breaks loose. A quick review of what the candidates have said and continue to say as they grapple for their political lives can be accomplished in minutes, seconds really. Far, far too easy. Surely an ugly underbelly, an insidious subtext, must exist which will blow this whole “lucky” timing thing to smithereens and turn the tables of buffoonery on those who gleefully point out the creative use of “candidate speak.” Perhaps it lies in a rarely enforced covenant of the Patriot Act which allows federal agents to (more…)