I know, there are probably several of you out there who might not agree that the photo below is beautiful. But, for a guy who made plastic models like this one in his youth, seeing the real thing in my old age is beautiful indeed. So, for this artsy Saturday, I give you the American Hotrod. Continue reading The Orange Beast
I have to give Mark Twain credit for the quote in the title above. Something happened recently to make this quote “How did I get inside this old body” jump in front of me. In my youth, when I visited my grandmother the thing I noticed first was the line of pill bottles that were on her dresser. She seemed to always be taking her medicine. Fast forward to today, and given the fact that one of the most lucrative businesses to be in is pharmaceuticals, it is no surprise that many people over 60 have medicine cabinets that dwarf my … Continue reading How did I get inside this old body
For this artsy Saturday, I want to give you a simplistic display of textures and colors. They were found in Madison Indiana a few years ago. Continue reading Feast of Textures & Colors
I think just about all of us can pretty quickly recall some of our worst times in our lives. For me, one of those times was the damage done to my wife when the small Evangelical congregation we belonged revoked my membership due to my failure to align with the belief that, among other things, the earth is only 6,000 year old and any seeming proof otherwise is just God trying to trick us. My wife, who was recuperating from cancer surgery, was devastated by the rejection but even more so by the sudden loss of so-called friends there. It … Continue reading The Best Thing About The Worst Time…
I seem to often get Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day mixed up. Aren’t they both primarily to recognize our American soldiers? I think maybe it is time to broaden the concept of one of those days. We need to recognize others outside our military who provide us with valuable services. That is what this post is all about. Just what is the definition of “memorial”? Isn’t it as shown here to recognize meritorious service to our community. Surely no one can argue that meritorious service is provided only by our soldiers. Shouldn’t we be also recognizing others on this day? When … Continue reading Thank You For Your Service…
I know this is Sunday and that is usually where I do my weekly Squawk, but for this week I will squawk tomorrow, Memorial Day, on a topic that needs extended words. All the blog pundits say to always include enticing pictures with each of my posts. But is that really necessary? I see the opposite in some blogs I follow. One in particular always has a half dozen or so stock images strewn throughout the text. In my opinion, this blogger is a very talented writer and the images do nothing but distract from the story she is telling. I … Continue reading Without Pictures
For this artsy Saturday, I thought I would give you a long-armed selfie from 30+ years ago. It’s kind of out of focus but it is one of my favorite early pictures of my hubby and me. I really don’t remember where or exactly when it was taken but that doesn’t matter. I know that you primarily know me by my avatar on my comments and blog posts. I wanted to show you that have not always been bald or had a white goatee. :) Continue reading Long-armed Selfie?
“It doesn’t matter how sleazy they are if they are part of your tribe you support them.” Has our politics degraded to this? Some of the pundits say it has but I think it might not be so I was in college in the 1960’s and I can remember that the nightly news was all about campus protests and sit-ins. If you believed the reports back then every kid who was in college was a pot-smoking hippie. The reality of it, for at least Purdue University, was that the vast majority of us were just going to classes and doing … Continue reading Part Of The Tribe…
I know the title of this post is a worn out cliche but it does kinda make sense for this post about WalMart taking on Amazon in the online market. Another worn out cliche that fits this scenario is “Better late than never”. It is still kind of hard to think of Walmart as “old-school”. I can remember when there were none of them around. I think of McDonald’s in the same vein. Both are trying to hold on to the dominance they once had in their markets while others are quickly eating their dinner so to speak. McDonald’s, at … Continue reading Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks
This post is in honor of the new Will Roger’s quote in the header above. For those folks who might be viewing the post from the archive in the future, I will put the words here too. There are some folks in the country that seem to believe that our best days are behind us and if we could just bring them back we would be in great shape. As Will tells us, the trouble with that is that they want to find that point in time and then just sit there forever. That simply won’t work as time has the … Continue reading Just Sitting There…
In my recent theme for artsy Saturday of simplicity, I want to give a salute to the American tractor. Two hundred years ago almost 90% of us were farmers who grew our own food. Even a hundred years ago about 40% of us were in that same state. It took industrialization to drastically change those numbers. Today, less than 2% of us are needed in that category. So, this picture is to celebrate the American farm and the Ford tractor. Continue reading The American Tractor
I truly believe that we are coming to a point in our country’s history where some very basic changes are about to happen. One of those changes is the realignment of our political parties. Another is that we will finally reject the idea that our best days are behind us. Today, after the financial crisis, the shrinking of the middle class, the partisan warfare, a scarcity mind-set is dominant: Resources are limited. The world is dangerous. Group conflict is inevitable. It’s us versus them. If they win, we’re ruined, therefore, let’s stick with our tribe. The ends justify the means… … Continue reading Scarcity Mentality…
I know the quote above from Will and the title of the post seem kinda disjointed but hear me out before you pass judgment. :) I have always been a dreamer in life. One of my favorite things in my youth was to lay back on the lawn on a clear night and gaze unendingly at the stars and dream of what my future life would be about. I had high expectations in those years. I was abruptly introduced to the idea that your dreams and expectations are never as good as you hope or as bad at you dread. Marriage … Continue reading Coping With Dissappointments
Are you a worrier? Do you worry about what other people think about you? If so, it just might be preventing you from being who you were meant to be. According to many studies, people driven by worry are some of the least happy people in the world. About the only thing that does more damage to your personal life than worry is an irrational fear. Worrying about what others think of you will prevent you from being real. It will prevent you from taking risks that will make you a better person. It will prevent you from being what others … Continue reading What Other People Think About You…
“Spin” is very dominant in the world today. Marketers and con-artist, not that they are one always in the same, both have those who make “spin” their occupation’s purpose. Spinsters take a topic and try to weave a narrow vision scenario. Spin becomes a “filtered version of the truth”. Thanks to a commentor on a recent post, I have the perfect example to use on this Squawk post. Yes, it definitely depends on where you grew up. If you know history, you know that unions were one of the primary reasons we have a middle-class today. In the midst of the Industrial … Continue reading (WS) A Filtered Version Of The Truth…
RJ's Corner - Having My Say 