Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
Having My Say2 Comments

New Super Battery? — Fast Track It…

RJ Walters

The primary problem with 21st century power possibilities is how to store the energy during off-cycle periods. Batteries have come a long way since the lead-acid one found in most cars but still need a leap forward to fully accomplish renewable energy needs. This just might be that leap. So far the new battery component has made it through three months of continuous charging and discharging without losing its ability to hold a charge, says Mya Le Thai, the doctoral candidate behind the innovation — that’s 200,000 cycles. (By comparison, iPhone batteries fade to about 80 percent of their original … Continue reading New Super Battery? — Fast Track It…

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Privatize It….

RJ Walters

The GOP solution to almost everything that is wrong with America is to privatize it. They simply don’t think that government has much of a place in today’s American society. Democrats on the other hand believe that in many cases government is the most effective solution.  One of those disputed areas is healthcare. Which one is right? Maybe the answer lies in trying both out and see which gives the best results? For more than two years, the Veterans Affairs department has struggled to deal with a long-buried crisis in its service to veterans, a systemic and widespread fraud that … Continue reading Privatize It….

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Oh Texas, There You Go Again…

RJ Walters

After traveling through all fifty States I can’t help it, I have my most favorite States and my least favorite States.  Texas is in the latter category. In my mind Texas, at least the most vocal of Texans, are the epitome of bravado, arrogance,  and most sadly vengeance. A textbook proposed to help teach the cultural history of Mexican-Americans in Texas public schools is under scrutiny by scholars, some of whom decry the effort as racist and not a reflection of serious academic study. The textbook, titled Mexican American Heritage, describes Mexican-Americans as people who “adopted a revolutionary narrative that … Continue reading Oh Texas, There You Go Again…

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Facades

RJ Walters

One of my recently discovered passions is to document the facades of small town America before they crumble into the dust of history.  This one was found on the main street of New Harmony Indiana on a trip there this week.  I have always been fascinated about facades but this discovery will cause me to start collecting them from my archives and adding more on my frequent road trips around the Midwest. Continue reading Facades

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Rust Belt

RJ Walters

Rust Belt is a appropriate term used to describe the once thriving mill towns of the Midwest. As Wikipedia says: The Rust Belt is a term for the region straddling the upper Northeastern United States, the Great Lakes, and the Midwest States, referring to economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once powerful industrial sector… Pittsburgh is perhaps the epitome of that term.  During my youth and beyond they were simply know as the “Steel Town”. They like many others in the area are gradually becoming a more diverse economy but Pittsburgh in particular … Continue reading Rust Belt

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Reflections, Doors, Windows & More

RJ Walters

   I discovered something very basic about me recently. I am obsessed with reflection, doors, windows and other such things.  I now have a photo portfolio that exceeds 18,000 pictures and many of them are of this genre.  As above, I love to take my photo editing tools and create something that wasn’t quite there. The picture above was taken in Ottawa Canada about 5 years ago. Continue reading Reflections, Doors, Windows & More

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4 Easy Ways to Find your passion..

RJ Walters

The Folks over at RoadTrip Nation always get me to thinking. They are primarily focused on helping young people discover their passions in life and then encouraging them to pursue an education to make that passion a paying job. I wished they had been around when I was searching for my passion. It was almost 20 years into my career before I discovered “what I was interested in”.  One of the items on list in the quote below is how I discovered my passion.. The problem is that people tend to think that the answer to, “What are you interested … Continue reading 4 Easy Ways to Find your passion..

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Star Wars…

RJ Walters

I will readily admit that I am a Star Wars addict. I have DVDs of all the movies and have watched them several times. I just got the latest movie “The Force Awakens” a few weeks ago just after returning from my bucket list trip to Disney World. I watched it last week and was not disappointed. It is nice to see that a new generation of actors is now replacing the original crew. I hope the movies continue to come. I just got the picture below from the Discovery Channel wanting me to buy some Star Wars stuff.  I … Continue reading Star Wars…

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My Small Town And Crime…

RJ Walters

I am going into my seventeenth year living in my small town in southwestern Indiana.  It is a town of about 2,000 people and a county of 20,000.  It is in the bottom 20% of the State in that regard. I certainly enjoy small town life.  I have been here long enough that most people at least know that I am the  old”deaf” guy. We aren’t quite “Mayberry” as portrayed to the right but we are probably about as white and as few in number. :) Our small daily newspaper, yeah we still have one, doesn’t have much of a … Continue reading My Small Town And Crime…

Life On The Margins3 Comments

10 Rules for Living a 21st Century Life

RJ Walters

This post has been sitting in my “draft” pile for as long as any there. I don’t pretend to be some guru siting on a mountain with the meaning of life. I’m just a guy who has managed to survive seventy years on this earth and not get into too much trouble. But living those seventy years I have made a lot of mistakes and had a few successes. The last post was about rules and how they can be stifling in life and now here I am giving you my “rules for life”. Kind of ironic isn’t it? I … Continue reading 10 Rules for Living a 21st Century Life