“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” ~~ Lao Tzu
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Another Opening Sentence
Another opening sentence for a larger story or possibly a story in itself.
Rising from the bed, stretching, he began wading through the archipelago of scattered, hastily discarded clothing on his way to the bathroom, glancing back towards the bed before he closed the door, a wry smile crossed his face as he remembered the activities of the previous night.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know… from time to time these musings pop into the labyrinth that passes for my mind. I need to do something with them, so here it sets. Don’t worry, I’ve become very adept at dodging rotten tomatoes, thank you very much.
“Blissful smile” was my first choice, but I went with”wry smile” as it puts a completely different spin on the sentence, leaving questions unanswered.
For another article along this same vein: 2 One sentence short stories
And so it goes.
Not a Weak One in the Bunch
One of my family members put together this pictorial essay of the “Carr Sisters” to pass out at the inaugural reunion of sailors who served on the USS Carr, FFG-52. Their first reunion was in the hometown of Paul Henry Carr, Checotah, Oklahoma, and the descendants of my mother’s parents were very involved and part of the reunion also.
The top picture includes Continue reading “Not a Weak One in the Bunch”
Uncle Johnny – POW
I am going to pull this story out separately as the 3.141592 early readers of my posting: YouTube Playlists: USS Carr and Paul Henry Carr probably missed the addendum I made after a comment from my cousin Perry.
As related earlier, I was digitizing VCRs that another cousin had that relate to my uncle Paul Henry Carr and his namesake ship, the missile frigate USS Carr, FFG-52.
One of the videos I had not seen Continue reading “Uncle Johnny – POW”
Why Granddads Take Grandchildren Fishing
I figured out why some grandfathers take their grandchildren fishing.
While I have rods of various types rigged with fishing line of different strengths, I sometimes like to fish with ultralight equipment. This is especially true if I am targeting smaller species like sunfish, bream or crappie. If I happen to entice a larger fish on to my hook, like a bass, this has the added bonus of forcing me to finesse the fish rather than muscle it into the boat.
I was sitting in the middle of a small lake/large pond the other evening in my fishing kayak. I was endeavoring to tie a lure on to six pound test fishing line. My eyes have gotten so bad I was having trouble seeing the thin, light line. I gave up on using anything less than that strength a long time ago. While I do not have arthritis in my hands very bad, it does make my fingers a little stiff from time to time. With the fineness of the six pound test line, with the difficulty in seeing that line, I was struggling engineering the line into a good knot.
They do make fishing glasses with powerful magnification, probably exactly for this reason, or maybe for fly fishing fly makers. I could buy a pair of those glasses, soak my hands in WD40, and then go fishing.
Cynical me is betting, though, generations of grandfathers, under the pretext of teaching junior’s offspring the art of fishing, have manipulated their grandchildren into tying lures onto fishing line… just for the reason detailed above. Not really, but it was a passing random thought as the small diameter line was kicking my butt.
And so it goes.
YouTube Playlists: USS Carr and Paul Henry Carr
My cousin Nancy of WWND fame… WWND being What Would Nancy Do... One of my brothers and I were on a backpacking trip and having a discussion about a hypothetical moral dilemma. We were of differing opinions, but I resolved it to both our satisfactions by asking, “What would Nancy Milam do?”
Anyway, I wander… Nancy had a box of VCRs related to the USS Carr and Paul Henry Carr. Two subjects which the 3.141592 regular readers of my blog will know about. I took her videos and digitized them. After all, VCRs have gone the way of 8-track tape players. “What,” I can hear the younger generations asking, “are 8-track tapes?” Future generations may well find all our digital files are unreadable also. Ultimately, you need the right technology to access them.
Anyway, I wander again… Once I had them digitized I uploaded them to YouTube and placed them in a playlist Continue reading “YouTube Playlists: USS Carr and Paul Henry Carr”
Word of the Day -Puissant
- Adjective: Puissant
- having puissance : powerful
- Synonyms:
- able
- capable
- enduring
- forceful
- hearty
- muscular
- potent
- robust
- rugged
- strapping
- substantial
- tough
- vigorous
- Usage:
- “No, the 2024 Toyota Tacoma will be propelled by either a 2.4-liter turbo four-cylinder base motor or a more puissant, hybridized version of the same engine.”
- Encountered:
- While reading the article: 10 Ways The 2024 Toyota Tacoma Could Outshine The GMC Canyon
Seems like a strange word to throw at readers of automotive articles on pickup trucks…
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Rush Boys 1957 – 1967
I was digging through some of my old VCRs and found one I forgot that I had. It was entitled Rush Boys 1957 – 1967. It will most likely be of interests only to me and my brothers… and possibly their families. But what the heck, I can post it for free on YouTube and link to it from here… so why not.
My father had a home movie camera that I really do not remember him pulling it out all that often. To be honest the quality on this video is very poor and the videography leaves a lot to be desired. The really bad videography is a bit surprising as my father was Continue reading “Rush Boys 1957 – 1967”
Ring Cameras – Redux
About a year ago I posted a blog article: 1984 – Ring Camera
In this article I revisited a novel that has had a reoccurring presence in my life, George Orwell’s 1984. In the novel cameras and microphones are everywhere, neighbors spy on neighbors, family spy on family, spouses spy on spouses. In my post I tied these ubiquitous cameras of 1984 to the explosion of cameras in our society, specific door bell cameras such as Amazon’s Ring camera. My general thesis was that we were bringing 1984 on to ourselves by installing these cameras, ourselves, everywhere.
I recently came across a review of these type of cameras from Wired: Why We Don’t Recommend Ring Cameras.
I will leave it you dear reader to read the article and evaluate their arguments. But their bottom line can be summarized with their closing paragraph:
“If you’re looking for a home security camera, whether it’s a video doorbell or an outdoor camera, we would like to remind you that there are many, many alternatives. Ring cameras are cheap and ubiquitous, but contributing to a just society is also a factor in keeping your family safe.”
Perhaps I should not worry about such things, but recent events make me frequently think we are not far from sliding down the proverbial slippery slope into a totalitarian society. Little things do add up.
And so it should not go.
Bowdler’s Day – July 11
Given that the Puritans and prudes are trying ban any book that has offended at least one person, this Bowdler’s Day is definitely a time to reflect on “what the hell are we doing?” Have we gone mad? It has been a while since I have read Fahrenheit 451, but I am betting there are passages in it that would have the namby pambies burning it today. It was banned in apartheid South Africa and many United States schools back in 1954. Just to name one banned book that is now considered iconic. I wrote about this extensively in Banned Books, Burned Books.
“Bowdler’s Day is celebrated on July 11, the birthday of the physician and philanthropist who published a censored edition of Shakespeare’s works, Thomas Bowdler. Depending on whom you ask, Bowdler is either a prude or a genius. During his career, he heavily edited Shakespeare’s famous works to make them more family-friendly. He regularly censored violence and intimacy from literature, so that they could be read by more people. These versions were also cheaper than the original editions. Bowdler’s Day is celebrated by students, readers, and anti-censorship activists.”
The above is from website National Today. To read more about Bowdler’s Day just click More on Bowdler’s Day
And so it should not go.