HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2014

     Everybody already knows that this week, 2013 is ending and 2014 is beginning. Since there's nothing newsworthy there, let's just think about it a bit.

On the international level this year, there was the continuing wars, pestilence, starvation, and misery in all nations, 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd, world. 

     Even here in the USA, there's unspeakable misery in so many areas, it's no longer news. In the US, our supposed leaders nearly brought us to our knees for the umpteenth time in a very short while. It didn't seem that they were even slightly looking out for us, the people who pay them to be sure all is well in our government and nation.

      As every year, people were cruel and inhuman to one another, and cruel and inhumane to their animals. I don't see a lessening of those behaviors, and definitely no end in sight.

      The preachers preach, the politicians expound, and nothing really changes in the way too damn many humans respect nothing outside of themselves. They don't even respect themselves.

      It's time for a change. It's been that time for years. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”, said Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. It's up to each of us to take the first step toward changing the world. To affect that change, we must start here and now.

      How does an individual make any difference? An easy question with what must be a complex answer.

Not so complex, maybe. I'm not going to tell you it's an easy thing to do. It may mean stepping outside of your own comfort zone, and changing some of your own ways. It may even mean nudging people you know, and perhaps some strangers, to do the right thing.

      Sure, I or anyone else can suggest this to you. It doesn't matter an iota, what we say. It must, and can, only come from within. Even if you don't normally make a New Years resolution, each of us has to resolve to be kinder to everyone we encounter. We have to be determined to help our 'brothers and sisters' whomever they are, if they need a hand. We must immediately learn tolerance of differences and traits we've previously been unable to condone. We must not attempt to force our ideals and morals on others. Mostly, we have to learn to, and strive to, live our lives according to the one simple rule we all learned as children: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

      Wouldn't it be a so much better world if we all did that?

      Please join me in reinstating that ancient adage, and let's try our best to live it on a daily basis.

If you see me straying from that philosophy, feel free to remind me.

      Now, as the calendar changes years, I'd like you to join me in wishing everyone in your life, as far as you can reach, a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Truth About Rudolph

By:  Don "da Pyrate" Winfield

My wife says I'm crazy. She should probably know. She spent her whole career in the mental health field. This time though, I'm pretty sure she's wrong. I guess she had to think something was wrong with me, however. She couldn't figure out why I spent so much time researching the origin of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

Sure, I may be crazy, but I have uncovered the true story. With time, stories usually become different from the original, and often meander away from the truth. Lines spoken and not recorded can change completely in context and meaning from what was actually said. Such is the true story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

The century was one in the higher end of the single digits, so it was a very long time ago. Before it was called St Petersburg, Novgorad was a thriving city in a vast cold land we now know as Russia. Winters there are always harsh but the winter that year was especially cold and brutal. In fact, it looked as though there would be no Christmas in Novgorad that year because of the extreme frigid weather. Everyone knew it was just too cold for Santa and his reindeer to fly.

All the children of Novgorad were very sad, but because it was so cold, they couldn't cry. If they cried, their tears would freeze on their faces. The icy tears would build up in layers, until the children became encased in giant ice cubes. That was unacceptable, because then they could no longer go to school, or do their household chores. It was truly a hard winter in Novgorad, with the cold temperatures causing the prospect of there being no visit from Father Christmas. Of course in Russia he was known as Ded Moroz. Pronounced properly, it isn't as bad as it seems. It means the same thing as Santa Claus, and he has the same red suit and long white beard.

Since it was so cold and with a strong likelihood that they would receive no Christmas presents that year, the dry eyed children of Novgorad just shivered in their cold little houses, looking sad and pathetic. That's how it was all over town including the home of Rudolph and Natasha Ivanov and their five children. Natasha was brewing up hot drinks and baking delicious wood fire cookies, trying to cheer up the Ivanov brood. Rudolph sadly shook his head. It wasn't working.

Rudy knew you couldn't cure the heartbreak of no Ded Moroz with tepid gruel and tasteless flat bread.

The science of meteorology was in it's infancy in the ninth century. Alright, you got me. In the 800s, nobody had a clue about scientific weather prognostication. It was a little before there were Meteorologists. Most everybody just looked outside and said, “yep, it's snowing.” Or maybe it wouldn't be snowing, so they'd say, “nope, it's not snowing,” However, young Novgoradian Rudolph Ivanov, took a more critical look at the situation.

Rudy (his buds down at the local pub called him Rudy) would look outside and see what the weather was like, then write it down in his journal. After 9 years of note taking, Rudy thought he could see a pattern. He eventually realized that if it was winter in Russia, it was probably going to be cold, and it was also likely that it would snow. He also noted that in Winter if it wasn't all that cold, it might rain instead of snow. He could even predict that if it was getting warmer in the evening, it might rain overnight. He also noted that rainy days in Winter were usually foggy, but that doesn't matter in this story. This led the quick minded Rudy to think he could extrapolate the data from previous Winters' notes, to predict what the weather would be tomorrow, by what it was like today. Yep. Sort of like an early Farmers Almanac.

It was the day before Christmas, 849 AD. We'll call it December 24th, but nobody seems sure when they actually celebrated Christmas way back then. Anyway, Rudy went outside early that evening. He looked skyward and predicted that Ded Moroz would be making his run as scheduled. Strangely, he was the only person in Novgorad who thought Ded Moroz as going to make it. Soon, the word was all over Novgorad that Rudy the weatherman had finally gone totally off his nut.

“He's coming, Natasha,” Rudy said. “It'll be warm enough for Ded Moroz's sleigh to fly.”

“No way!” said Natasha.

“Way,” said Rudy.

“No way,” said his good neighbor Boris.

“Way,” said Rudolph. “You'll see. It's going to be warmer. In fact, it's going to rain. He'll be wearing a slicker, but Ded Moroz will come tonight.”

Boris just rubbed his neck, shook his head, and walked back to the pub. “That Rudy's is crazier than a no legged cat trying to kick a flea,” he mumbled.

Christmas morning, when the good people of Novgorad looked out their windows, they were amazed to see rain dripping from their eves. There were familiar hoof and sleigh tracks in their slush covered yards.

The children cried tears of joy. Really. They didn't freeze on their faces! In the living room of every little house there stood a fresh, gaily decorated tree. Every tree was surrounded by piles of presents. Against every prediction, all the children of Novgorad had a very “Happy Christmas”.

Overjoyed, Natasha ran to Rudy, threw her arms around him and kissed him in delight. “Rudy, how did you do it? How could you ever have kept up such optimism? It's been below zero for the last eight weeks. What made you think you could predict warmer weather for Christmas Eve?”

“Well,” Rudy grinned and uttered the words that have been misinterpreted for all these centuries. “Natasha, you of all people should certainly know. Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear.”

Over the years, that famous line became misconstrued to refer to the antlered animals who pull Ded Moroz's sleigh. Eleven hundred years later, a singing American cowboy would sing a song about it, making the fictitious red nosed reindeer, a Christmas hero.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

DNA - How Much Do We Really Want to Know?

     The morning news was a cut above it's general predictability this morning, by the appearance of Anne Wojcicki.  She is the CEO of "23 & Me", a genetic testing company who'll do your DNA profile for $99.00. 
     It's name comes from the fact that there are 23 chromosomes which make up the human DNA system.  Inside of these markers, and within their arrangement, combinations, and presence, lie the story of our lives.  They are unique because these story tellers can apparently foretell the future.  
     While our DNA determines our eye color, height, and many other common life directions, it also maps our propensity for obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer, and literally hundreds of other life guiding/altering conditions.  Scientists claim that your entire life, and even your ultimate cause of death, can be predicted by having a clear knowledge of your DNA.
     Would you kike to know what future diseases you can look forward to having throughout your life, and even what may bring your life to an end? 
     The test is only $99.00, which is not a huge amount in today's economy. Almost anyone with a job could realistically afford to have the road map of their life delivered in their mailbox.  
     My questions are:  1.) For this, or any price, would you want to know what the future brings, health-wise   2.)  If the news were bad, ie: if cancer, Alzheimer's,  diabetes, or some other potentially life ending malady were in your future, what would you do?
     Realistically, there are likely millions of people who may wish to know these things.  But how many are unable to handle the worst case scenarios. Would knowing where your health is heading, be something that you possibly couldn't handle?  What if thousands of perfectly healthy people get their DNA results, and become depressed about their predicted future? Could this information cause them to end their productive lives prematurely?  If you got bad news, would you take it as indisputable fact? What would you do?

     I'm very interested in what you think.  Please respond to this posting with your opinions, and answers to the questions I've thrown at you.  I will not publish the names of any respondents.

     
      

"Oh Sweet Lorraine"

     Nearly 4 million people have watched this video on YouTube.   96 year Fred Stoubaugh wrote a song for his recently deceased wife of 75 years.  Fred doesn't write music or sing, but he sent the lyrics to a recording studio's song contest, anyway.  Green Shoe Studio, & Jacob Colgan put music to the lyrics and recorded it.  
     It's a beautiful song, you'll enjoy.  Purchasing a copy of it from iTunes for $.99 will support Fred Stoubaugh.


View the video: 
http://youtu.be/KDi4hBWsvkY

iTunes link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/oh-sweet-lorraine-feat.-jacob/id676472051

American Pride & Prejudice

September 11, 2013

     I'm up on my soapbox today.  What's eating me?  Glad you asked.  I made the mistake of reading my facebook news feed on a national day of controversy.  It's no surprise that the anniversary of 9/11/01 would bring out a lot of comments and opinions from every side of the issue.  A series of horrible things took place that morning, while we all witnessed it via live television.  I remember exactly what I was doing all day, as my wife and I stayed glued to the tube, wherever we went.

     Today I'm ranting about the posting and cutting/pasting of a piece about the Two Million Bikers proposed siege of Washington, DC.  It's well publicized that a large group of people riding motorcycles plan to break the law by swarming DC in protest of the legal American Muslim's Against Fear demonstration and speech-fest.  The story going around the Internet via facebook and other sites gripes me because it is so flawed.  It is biased and decidedly anti-American because it negatively singles out a particular group of people.

     Yep.  The AMAF received a permit to gather: = legal.  Nope.  The TMB didn't get a permit: = illegal.

  

Let's examine that:  

     The Muslim group applied, in plenty of time, for a permit to gather peacefully, in protest of the strongly negative feelings some Americans harbor against them, as a religious group.  Those feelings mainly stem from the actions of a hand full of foreign based terrorists, who attacked the US in 2001.

     The Bikers were denied a permit to travel in huge numbers, non-stop through DC, for a few hours, mid-week.  The number of police and the logistics of a mid-week parade by protesters, was deemed too costly in both monetary consideration, and disruption of the daily lives of DC citizens and employees.

     You say, "but Don, there's millions of Muslims, so why can't two million bikers be accommodated, too?"  There's the another problem with the accuracy of the circulating articles.  There is actually only a few hundred Muslims expected to show up, and at most about three thousand bikers.  Bikers are expected to way surpass the number of people they are protesting.

Here is my response to the anti Muslim article being passed around the Web:

 

     "This is United States of America, isn't it? Doesn't America stand for freedom? Should we suppress any form of religious freedom? What if masses of joggers turned out in protest of a collection of Christian extremists, on Easter? Let's think about this a bit differently. Probably well over 90% of the Muslims involved are Americans. It wasn't "Muslims", or a religion who did so much damage on 9/11. It was Muslim terrorists. Look what Christian terrorists did in Oklahoma City years ago. The leader of that pack of idiots was even a military veteran.  We all revere Vets, don't we?  Hey, I'm one of those!

     There's a big disconnect, here.  Most Americans trust many Muslims every day, and treat them equally. (Look at your doctor, or the family who owns the corner convenience store or motel in your neighborhood.) Why are otherwise good people against them peacefully speaking their minds?

     Bottom line: This is an American display of ideology, by Muslim Americans. It is a peaceful gathering to support America, and show that Muslims are regular American people like Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Buddhists, Jews, or any other religious leaning. Like the rest of America, they are black, white, Asian, and other racial origins. The "Bikers" also have a right to state their case. Only, let's not let that be based on the religion or cultural origin of the Muslims who are making their statement. 

     There won't be any more than a couple thousand (three thousand, tops) riders there, anyway, so why not let 'em roll through DC?  

     Two more thoughts: 1.) I ride a motorcycle, but my creed is,"live and let live". (Today's "bikers" don't want to be considered bad people, or "Hell's Angels" types, just because they ride, do they?) 2.) No Muslim ever woke me up 2 or 3 times nightly, accelerating his muffler-less Hog past my house between the hours of 1 & 6 AM. Unless, of course, he was a rare "Muslim Biker"! I dout the "late night noise terrorists" are even real bikers. If they were, they'd respect the sleeping public and spring for mufflers."

"The Button" (previously Bob The Elf)

This is the proposed cover of my upcoming Christmas book.  It's a story about a Christmas that almost wasn't.  You'll be caught up in an adventure of young Elf love, the foibles of faulty equipment, and a South Florida crow who just may have the key to turn it all around.

Coming (hopefully) before Christmas '13.

'Follow' my blog, and let me know what you think.

Thank you for your participation!

Don

Retirement Life As I Know It

I will admit to not being too attentive to what's going on around me.  It could stem from many things.  Possibly it comes from my living hypersensitive to my surroundings,for the decade I worked with criminals.  Always looking behind, and sideways.  Walking in the center of hallways while passing through intersects, was a good idea.

Maybe that's not it, at all.  Maybe, I've finally reached an age where I really don't give a healthy crap what's going on around me, unless it directly effects me.  I've had a couple of marriages, raised a few kids, and held responsible positions while employed for a few decades.

Maybe why I don't pay much attention to what's going on around me, is that it's finally time for me.  

I'm not well off, or even all that comfortable by some standards.  All I really have in my retirement is time.  

I now have time to play at being a radio guy on Internet radio.  Time to learn to muddle away at the guitar and make what halfway sounds like music.  Time to write all the stories at which I've made so many false starts, and time to go out with friends to enjoy a margarita or a Dos Equis, without guilt.

Guilt?  You ask why I'd feel guilty over doing such mundane, normal things like having a drink with friends?  If you'd been inside my head and body for the 25 years leading up to my retirement, you'd know what I mean by guilt.  

I couldn't sit still.  I couldn't enjoy normal relaxation outlets such as golf, jogging, tennis, sitting around the deck and chewing the rag with friends.  

Why?  Because those things nagged at my sub-conscious as being a waste of time.  None of those things, or the thousands of ways other people relax, felt productive.  Chatting wasn't getting the roof on the shed patched, or the trim on the house painted.  Golf stole hours away from my life I could never recover.  I could have spent that afternoon or morning, mowing the lawn, 'eating' weeds, or trimming the trivet hedge.  

Writing while sitting at the computer (or in previous decades, the typewriter, then the word processor) would have eaten up more precious hours.  Why, I could be re-finishing an antique bed-side stand, or servicing one of my motorcycles.

Motorcycle?  People wonder why I have three bikes.  I own a 1973 Yamaha RD-350, a 1979 Honda CX 500, and my new bike, a 1985 Honda V-65 Sabre.  It's easy to tell folks why I own the bikes.  It's true, each is unique, and has an historic place in motorcycling, or my life.  But, that's not the real answer.  The truth is, none of them have very many miles on their odometers.  Upgrading to a newer machine would be a total waste. 

I own them.  I love them.  Except for the RD-350.  I love the RD most.  That's why it's a garage queen.  It's covered and protected from age and elements.  I maintain and ride them.  Not much, though.  Do you realize that while I'm out pleasuring myself riding around enjoying the scenery on my bike, there's work I could be getting done?  As a result, even the intention of taking a nice long ride was nearly always squelched by my guilt.  A short ride?  Perhaps.  That is if I could get it over with really quick, and get back to whatever task my askew sub-conscious had designated as the days priority.

Enough of that!  That's all behind me now.  I'm retired.

Now, I can ride one of my bikes longer.  Now, I can sit here and write this blog.  Now I can devote two days a week to producing a one hour Trop Rock show for Internet radio.

Now, I can go to 'house concerts' in Philadelphia, or a John Prine concert in Williamsport, and actually stay overnight.  Until retirement, I would not have considered going to Philly to see a musician in someones home.  I may have gone to see Prine in Williamsport, but I'd have driven home right after the show. I'd need to wake up in my own bed and get right to the tasks of the day.  Three hours sooner than if I'd stayed overnight.

I still can't see wasting my time on golf.

But I can see doing things I consider to be fun.  Right below this blog entry, is an example of something I place in that category.  It only took a couple of hours to do it.  I didn't have to waste time travelling far.  That two hours of pleasure are digitally immortalized, bearing witness that I do know how to have fun.  

Now, I can thumb my nose at the world as I laugh and say, "see?  Don does know how to relax and have a good time."

Screw The "News Media" - Misinformation Is Screwing You!

The Zimmerman trial has been over for a week.  It's five days since the NOT GUILTY verdict was handed down, and yet it's still all over the television news.  The big questions are, "will there be riots?  Will the Feds try him for Civil Rights violations?  Will the Martin family ever heal?  Will someone hunt George down and do him in?"  All valid concerns, but the big concern that can be put to rest once and for all, is the question of his guilt.  Sure, NOT GUILTY doesn't mean he didn't kill the man.  George freely admits he used his small automatic pistol and killed his attacker.

We have no reason to doubt his word on the occurrences of that night, leading to, and culminating in, the death of Mr. Martin. Why?  Because Zimmerman's story is consistent.  Liars' stories change as they're told, in many substantial ways.  His story made enough sense to the police and County Prosecutor, that he was not originally charged. At trial, the jury found the same thing.

At this point, George is as much a victim as is the dead man. What?  How can you say that, Don?  It's true he made flawed and fatal decisions that night.  So did Travon Martin.  Neither man took the safe and sensible path, right from the start of the incident. As a result it ended up in the worst possible scenario. The death of one man, and a lifetime of shame and blame for the other.

"How is the news media at fault, for even more wrong being done?" Good question.  

Simply by not letting it go away.  It was newsworthy, but it came to a conclusion.  Lives are lost and forever damaged, but it's time to heal, and get on with life the best way everyone involved can. The television networks, cable and broadcast, are still stirring the racial pot.  The tension will die a lot slower, if it's shoved in everyone's face whenever they try to watch a newscast.  

I have a question of my own:  "What happened to Walter Cronkite type of news reporting?"  You know, tell the story.  What, when, where, how, and why, if it's known. The why is usually not available to news media, lawyers, courts, or the public.  We never really know the "why".  That's what news reporting should still be. Here's something to hang your hat on.  That "talking head" on the screen?  Their opinion and view is no more valid than yours.  You only need him/her to tell you what has happened.  You can form your own opinions.  Novel idea, eh?

If America wants this Martin  and Zimmerman thing to settle down peacefully, it's time for it to stop being the lead story on every news outlet.  Remove the publicity seekers platforms.  Once that's done, everyone, including the rabble-rousers, pot-stirrers, and disinterested, un-involved, protesters, will shut up and go the hell home.

More news media?  Here's another thing I recall from recent newscasts.  In March of this year, in Brunswick, GA, a white mother was pushing her white 13 month old baby boy in his stroller.  Only a few yards from their home, in a 73% black neighborhood, she was accosted by two black teens.  They demanded her money.  She told them she had none, because it was true.  They told her they'd shoot her baby is she didn't give them money.  She couldn't give up what she didn't have. So they proceeded to shoot the infant in the face, killing him on the spot. 

The mother suffered two gunshot wounds trying to protect her child.  National news agencies reported it in passing, as a "robbery attempt".  Two black teens, ages 13 and 15 have been arrested and charged with murder.  No media has mentioned the words "hate crime", or "civil rights violation".   No famous religious leaders or protest organizers have swooped down on Brunswick to publicize the wrong doing of the black teens.

While I'm addressing media issues, I also want to mention the Boston Marathon terrorist bomber.  His photo showed up on the cover of Rolling Stone, this week.  There's an outcry all across the nation, and maybe around the world, protesting the publication of his likeness on the magazine's cover. Many large chain retailers are refusing to sell the issue in their stores. 

Why?  Charles Manson was on RS's cover.  So was Patty Hearst after gaining fame as a terrorist. What outcry came from those covers?  The answer is, "not much!"  

Truthfully, Rolling Stone Magazine has a feature article detailing the life of the 'seemingly normal young man' who became notorious for blowing up the finish line at this year's Boston Marathon.  People were killed, and dozens injured.  That's news! Why shouldn't he be on the cover?  RS isn't saying he's a good guy. They're featuring him in their issue, to tell the wondering world more about this pariah.

I don't recall an outpouring of venom when his picture graced the cover of nearly every newspaper and scandal sheet in America, and several other countries, for a month after the bombing.  It's still a news story, just as it was then. If people don't want to read it, or wish to lodge a protest against Rolling Stone, they can keep their money in their pocket.  Leave this issue on the newsstand. That will cast their negative votes a hell of a lot more efficiently than a lot of huffing and puffing, and pulling the issue off the stands. 

I'm tired of the special interest groups, splinter factions, and self appointed 'political correctness police', making a lot of noise about nothing.  They seem inclined toward sitting back and shutting up about real, genuinely problematic, issues. I've given one example above, so don't hold your breath for more on that subject.

Notice how I didn't push my personal concern for starvation and poverty right here in the good old United States?

News happens, folks.  Get on with your lives.  More news and controversy will be right along.

Father's Day On the Road

     I just realized that I haven't blogged in a couple of months.  No need to go into the details of why, but it's a busy schedule, and I've always more to do than there is time.  For example, I haven't had time to search for someone to publish my children's Christmas book, going on 2 years.  Possibly it's self doubt or laziness that contributes     to that, but I'm almost sure it's because I'm so damn busy.         Whatever it is, something keeps me from hitting this space more often.  I'll definitely try to rectify that.
     It's Father's Day, 2013.  I celebrated yesterday, with my wife, Meg,  and my 2 lovely daughters.  Today Meg and I are embarking on a short-ish journey to Lansdale, PA.  About 150 miles from Binghamton, it's a suburb of Philly, and a truly beautiful place on Earth.  Major Trop Rock aficionado 'Conchy Joe' resides there, and today, he's hosting a House Concert to be performed by John Reno and Eric Ellis.  Their current tour is a "Jim Croce music" tour.  Many may not recall Croce, but he was a purveyor of Americana/story-telling/folk music, back in the 1960's and 70's.  His career was cut short by a single engine plane crash in Louisiana, in 1973.  He was just 30, and his career had only recently hit 'head-liner' status.  His songs "Operator", and "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" are possibly his most memorable contributions, but as a prolific singer/songwriter, he had a vast catalog of music.  An interesting side note:  Croce was born in Philadelphia, PA.  It's exciting to me, that this show is so close to his birthplace.
     The show is scheduled to start at 3:00 PM, and I'm about 2.5 hours away.  I suppose that means I better throw my cooler full of booze and snacks into the 'grocery getter', and prepare to hit the road.
    John Reno is one of my favorite Trop Rockers.   I confess I don't know much about guitarist Eric Ellis, but I'm looking forward to meeting them both and enjoying their show.  I can't wait to see how they interpret Jim Croce's music.  This is bound to be a Father's Day I won't soon forget.  It's a nice road trip with Meg, good music, and the company of the best people on earth...Trop Rock fans. 
     I'll write a short blog-note later, to tell you how it went.

               HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, EVERYONE!

Stupid Kills

Spring is approaching.  The real Spring...warm weather, sunny days, and the sound of motorcycles accelerating from the curve near my home.  Here's an opinion piece, reprinted from this blog.  It was originally published in 2010.

I estimate that 95% of the untimely deaths on this planet are from stupidity. Yep. If you don't die of one of the terminal illnesses that will eventually kill every species that has a pulse, as a human you're most likely to die of an act of stupidity.  It may be yours, but it could be someone else who's the cause. Old age gets credit for nearly all of the natural (non-stupid) deaths, even though the autopsy usually names a more specific cause. Face it. We get old, all our parts get old at the same time.  Sooner or later either enough of of those parts, or one of them that's really essential, Throws in the towel. But, 'natural causes' is not what this rant is about.  Unless, of course, stupidity has achieved 'natural cause' status.

 

Today, I went to the scene of an incredibly tragic act of stupidity. Wednesday, a relative of a man who belongs to an actual social organization that I am a member of, became a victim of blatant stupidity. A few minutes after noon, while most people and maybe even the victim, were either thinking of lunch or sitting down to eat, his life came to sudden violent end. 

 

This was a case of another person's stupid act tragically terminating this man's hopes and dreams. Stupidity altered the lives of his family, friends, and everyone who depended upon or loved him.

 

On an acceleration ramp of a major highway, some damned fool pulled the stupid stunt of stopping in the driving lane. The key to successfully negotiating an acceleration lane is to accelerate! Stopping is not an offered option. There's no stop sign there. I looked.

Except for the obvious, no one will ever truly know the final thoughts and actions of the victim.  But, it's likely safe to say he was following a vehicle up the high speed acceleration lane. He was presumably accelerating to blend into the 65 mph plus Summer traffic heading north on Interstate 81. I would be looking in my mirrors, glancing over my shoulder to the left, and gauging the speed of approaching traffic. That's what you'd be doing, too. That's what you are supposed to be doing. It's the safe thing to do.

In the split second it takes to check traffic behind you, either in your mirror or with a sideways glance, a lot can go wrong. What went wrong this time was that the idiot right ahead of my friend's brother-in-law, stopped. He fucking stopped!

 

I didn't mention it, but the victim's mode of transportation was one that's invisible to too many motorists. He was riding his beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. When you stop dead in front of a motorcycle being driven by someone who assumes you're going to do the right thing on an on ramp, that's what your doing. You're stopping him dead. The motorcycle rider braked hard. The skid marks are still painting the highway at the accident scene. It looks like that's all he had time to do.

From my own experience, having ridden a motorcycle for several decades, many automobile drivers operate under a shroud of misinformation. Generally, they feel that motorcycles are dangerous, foolish contraptions, and only ridden by mouth breathers who's knuckles drag on the ground. That is, of course, if they think of them at all. Too large a percentage of the automobile driving public ignores motorcycles.  They offer them no common courtesy, and operate under the false impression that bikes can stop on a dime. That entire train of thought is flawed, and kills hundreds of motorcyclists every year.  

A motorcycle can't stop as quickly as a car.  The unforgiving laws of physics prohibit it. That said, they can sometimes swerve as nimbly around an obstacle as a car is able to. Don't count on that.

When you are in your car, be aware 360 degrees around you.  Just like the Driver's Ed instructor taught you. When you're out on your motorcycle, scooter, or even your old blue bicycle, be many times more careful and alert than you are in the relatively safe steel cocoon of your car. It's your life on the line.  Remember..Stupid kills. Don't be stupid.

Opinions stated here are mine alone:  Don Winfield

Americans' Rights and Perceptions

Americans Have No Idea How Few Gay People There Are

by Garance Franke-Ruta May 31 2012, 2:17 PM ET 

From The Atlantic Magazine's online edition:

 

“Surveys show a shockingly high fraction think a quarter of the country is gay or lesbian, when the reality is that it's probably less than 2 percent.”

Here's an excerpt from that article. We'll discuss below:

One in ten. It's the name of the group that puts on the Reel Affirmations gay and lesbian film festival in Washington, D.C., each year. It's the percent popularized by the Kinsey Report as the size of the gay male population. And it's among the most common figures pointed to in popular culture as an estimate of how many people are gay or lesbian.
But what percentage of the population is actually gay or lesbian? With the debate over same-sex marriage again an emerging fault line in American political life, the answer comes as a surprise: A lower number than you might think -- and a much, much, much lower one than most Americans believe.
In surveys conducted in 2002 and 2011, pollsters at Gallup found that members of the American public massively overestimated how many people are gay or lesbian. In 2002, a quarter of those surveyed guessed upwards of a quarter of Americans were gay or lesbian (or "homosexual," the third option given). By 2011, that misperception had only grown, with more than a third of those surveyed now guessing that more than 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian. Women and young adults were most likely to provide high estimates, approximating that 30 percent of the population is gay. Overall, "U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian," Gallup found. Only 4 percent of all those surveyed in 2011 and about 8 percent of those surveyed in 2002 correctly guessed that fewer than 5 percent of Americans identify as gay or lesbian.

Don's Comments: It's long been obvious to me, that the perceptions of many Americans are askew when the subject of gays, lesbians, gay marriage, gay adoption, etc., arises. I know hundreds of people. I know a select couple of dozen, intimately. It's true that some of these people may not share my heterosexual orientation. I don't know if any of those in my closest circles of friends, are gay, lesbian, or have those aspirations. There's no reason to know.

It's not that it's taboo or unspeakable in my circles. Quite the contrary, most of those closest to me are similar to me in candor, outspokenness, and willingness to share thoughts and ideology. The truth is, that everyone's individual sexual orientation is personal, and not generally hauled out for casual discussion. Nor does it need to be. It's simply a non-issue.

Considering that premise may make the wildly out of sync perceptions Americans seem to share, about the percentage of gay's in America, more understandable. Recent years have shown a reverse trend in the popularity and exposure of the presence of gay and lesbians in the media. What prime time sit-com would be complete without at least one gay individual in the storyline. Most have a gay couple, or the gay character's gay friend or friends, making appearances on a regular basis. While we're here, we might not overlook the other trends which seem popular on television shows at the current time. You must have an affable black male or outrageous black female character. A Hispanic or Asian character may be substituted, but always central to the storyline. An alien dropping from his spaceship, in 2013, having only prime time series as their grounds for deciding on how America works socially, would have a very skewed perception. In reality, many of us living in rural or suburban America, cannot relate to any of those situations, except to laugh at them on the TV screen.

It's not our reality. I recently left a club that has existed for eight years having had only one ethnic members, in that time. Jimmy Buffett fan clubs are not known for their large percentage of ethnic participants, much like a Jimmy Buffett concert. White middle and upper middle class faces as far ass the eye can see. That leads us further into our glimpse at skewed numbers.

We are all subject to the perceptions we arrive at from the clubs we belong to, the neighborhoods we live in, and the social sets we enjoy. The problem with that is, that it makes it hard to think outside of that restrictive box. We may not know any, or maybe only one or two, gay people. But, we see that all the television shows, the ads for gay rights, the marches we see on the 6:00 PM news from large cities, prove to us that there are gays literally everywhere. It's easy to understand that given the out of sync with reality exposure Middle America gets via the media, that so many people would think there are far more gay people in America, and the World, than there actually are. Interesting that most people surveyed on the street, believe that there are twice as many foreign born people and illegal aliens living in the U.S. than the true numbers prove. Again, these beliefs are based on media insights, not clear headed thought and a little research.

My bottom line is that there is no reason for Middle America to be concerned about the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry, adopt, or inherit one an-others estates. With the percentage of gays in this country being under 5%, and most likely closer to 2%, does it really make any difference to the average citizen? The answer is no. The truth is, whatever your preference in cars, housing, occupation, or even your sexuality, has no bearing whatever on how good a person, neighbor, or citizen you are.

So, why rail against something that doesn't harm you in any way? Why take issue with another American citizen's right to pursue life in his or her, own way? Instead of wasting your thoughts and energy on these trivial matters, why not use your time to help the poor, needy, handicapped, or mentally challenged citizens, who actually may live in your neighborhood. Or, maybe you should be watchful when in your social group, to pick out the abused wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend. It's likelier there is someone in that category in your group, than there is a gay person. Offer them understanding and any help you can provide, which may only be directing them to where help exists.

Instead of focusing on our differences, perceived or actual, lets focus on our sameness. We can all use a little compassion and latitude in the way we live our lives. Let's focus on that.

Don Winfield

Cinco de Mayo Party @ McGirk's

             

       Battle of Puebla, May 5, 1862


Cinco de Mayo
Important to Americans, but not what you may think.

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "Fifth of May") is a celebration held interestingly enough, on May 5th. It is celebrated in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (English: The Day of the Battle of Puebla). The date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride, and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War. In the state of Puebla, the date is observed to commemorate the Mexican Army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin.  General Zaragosa, the leader at La Batalla de Puebla, was born in Texas while it was still part of México.  For this reason, he is considered by many to be the first Chicano hero.  Some scholars, including José Antonio Burciaga, believe that had the French defeated México at Puebla, France would have aided the South in the American Civil War in order to free Southern ports of the Union Blockade.  During this time, Confederate General Robert E. Lee was enjoying success, and French intervention could have had an impact on the Civil War.  It seems that even people not of Mexican descent may also have an indirect reason to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  Whatever the case may be, people should realize that this holiday does have some historical and cultural significance to millions of people.  Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day—the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico—which is celebrated on September 16.

Binghamton's 2013 Cinco de Mayo celebration starts at 2:00 PM, May 5^th, at McGirk's Irish Pub, 1 Kattelville Road (Chenango Bridge), Binghamton, NY.
Admission is free, and everyone is invited.  Bring the family, or your favorite senor or senorita, and enjoy the first big party of Spring 2013. 

Please bring a donation of non-perishable food or cash, for the Broome County Catholic Charities Food Pantry.
 
NOTE: This article is mostly stolen from Wikipedia and other sources.

 

Finding Nemo

     Finding Nemo?  More correctly, Nemo is finding us.  We in the Northeast are more or less, what you'd call 'battening down the hatches'.  Actually, there are no hatches to batten, but it's a good line.  We're loading up on ice melter, finding our snow shovels, and checking the batteries in our flashlights.
     The powers at the Weather Channel, have decided they need to name every storm, these days.  Therefore, it's Nemo that's coming to wreak havoc on the poor folks in the East, this time. 
     An incredible number of people are still either homeless, or nearly so from Super Storm Sandy, that hit the East Coast in October.  Jobs that evaporated, are still non-existent.  Homes where lives were lived, children were raised, and people grew old, are still vacant lots and piles of debris.  Now, those poor souls are once again challenged by the elements.
     We're only supposed to get a few inches of snow, and the blizzard wind is only supposed to 'gust' to 40 mph or so, here in central Upstate NY.  On the coast, in lower NY, and in New England, they're expecting feet of snow, and winds of 60 mph, plus.
     It's a helpless feeling, watching any storm coming at you.  Whether it's a hurricane, tsunami, blizzard, or one of those slow moving rain storms that deposit feet of water as they move overhead, it's grim.  There's nothing anyone can do.  The weather always wins.
     It may seem there is nothing to do now, but sit it out.  However, we can do something useful as we wait for it to pass.  No, I'm not advocating prayer as a solution.  I've never seen it turn away a storm, or rebuild a crushed roof.  People make the difference.  The people who weren't affected directly by the disaster, are the ones I'm talking about.
     Right now, it's time to be thinking about where you'll best be able to direct your resources.  Consider where your efforts, donation, or kindness will be put to the best use.  I'm not suggesting anything, or recommending any charitable organization, or community leader, you should seek out.  I know that they are out there.  I know that I'll be on my computer looking for the best place, for me, to do whatever I can.  It pays to be prepared, even if the storm passes less than dramatically.   Hopefully it won't be half the disaster the National Weather Service says it's going to be.  Maybe if we're all prepared, it won't be so bad after all.
     Let's be careful, and hope for the best.

Bareing Arms - A Right & A Privilege

I've been hearing a lot of chit chat, whining, blustering, and filibustering lately about guns and bearing arms.  Here's an interesting point I picked up from Reuters news agency: 
"U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.  About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said."

That was in 2007.

310 million = Total number of non military firearms in the United States as of 2009.  Project those numbers, and that means that there are now over 350 million firearms in American citizens' hands, right now, in January 2013.

In 2011 34% of adults in the United States personally owned a gun; 46% of adult men, and 23% of adult women. In 2011 47% of the adult U.S. population lived in households with guns.

Imagine those numbers, if you will. 

I don't have a gun in my house.  I've owned guns, including a handgun which I used for target shooting, only.  When it became a liability by virtue of it's presence in my home, I sold it to a collector and made money on it.  Hooray for me, eh?

I was in the US Army, during the Vietnam conflict.  Hell yes, I had a rifle.  The Army said "weapons are for shootin' and guns are for fun".  Well, having the right tool for each job, is important.  I was expected, like my son who followed me in the military, to kill or be killed.  Probably both, eventually.  Folks, that's war.  That's where firearms are really a necessity.

Nowadays, I don't hunt.  I'm not looking to kill anyone, or be killed by anyone.  I don't have a firearm, for those reasons.  I simply don't need it.

I'm in favor of hunters, sportsmen, and hobbyists, target shooters, etc., having the right tools to ply their trade.  Our Constitution guarantees us, as American citizens, to have this right.  It should not be taken away, but not for the reasons that the NRA would have you to believe.

We don't have to have them in the house to protect ourselves from anyone.  First of all, the chance of anyone reading this article has of being assaulted, his house burgled while he's home, or attacked by a rabid murdering bastard, are nil.  It's not going to happen.  There were 114,825,428 households in the US as of the 2010 Census. There were 2,159,878 burglaries  Only 75 % of those were residential. = (approx) 1.5 million homes were burgled.  Realistically, your home has about 1:100 chance of getting broken into. 

Let's just say your house does get broken into at some point.  Most likely, you are not at home.  90% of burglaries happen when nobody is home.  Can you defend that with your gun, from work or vacation?

Another scenario:  It's the middle of the night.  The druggie down the block knows you have prescription drugs in your home.  Like every criminal does, he considers them his.  He walks in at 2:45 AM, catching you in deep REM sleep.  You are quickly taken out by a baseball bat to the noggin, and he removes your stash.  You get home from the hospital, and check your gun safe.  Yep, ole' "Bessie" is still in there, all safe and sound.  What did you expect?  You sleep upstairs, and the gun safe is in the basement, where the floor is strong enough to carry it's weight.

Here's some scenarios I love.  I know where I'd be with a gun under my pillow, protecting my middle-class abode and empty nest, from intruders.  Which one would fit you best?
 
Some 26 year old in need of cash to buy his next fix, breaks silently into my home in the middle of the night.  My faithful Labrador retriever wanders downstairs and scares the bejesus out of him with a wet lick to a dangling hand, as he traverses the dining room.  I realize the dog has left the room, because he left the door open on his way out, and go see what's up.  I hear the invader whisper "sit", to my faithful companion, and go back to my pillow for my trusty 357 Magnum, long barreled handgun.  It's six round cylinder is filled with heavy load, armor piercing bullets.  I creep down the stairs, but they creak.  Scenario 1, (A):  The burglar hears me coming, and heads for the door to make good his escape.  He gets away, and I round up the Lab who has followed him to his bicycle parked at the curb. Scenario 1, (B):  The burglar hears me coming.  As I hit the light switch, he greets me with a punch in the nose.  I fall, down and out for the count.  He spots my prize revolver, and takes it with him to sell for his next supply of drugs.  Another gun in the hands of criminals.  Scenario 2, (A):  The burglar hears me creaking down the stairs.  He is straight enough to remain calm and wait around the corner for me to appear.  As I enter the dining room, he grabs for the gun, illuminated by the flashlight in his left hand.  Decades younger and 30 pounds heavier, he takes the gun, pushes me down, and runs away.  I'm out a perfectly good weapon, and some crook has a reliable firearm all his own.  Scenario 2, (B):  He hears me coming.  He waits for me to hit the dining room, where he grabs me and we tussle.  I'm getting the upper hand, and suddenly he gets the gun pointed at my chest.  He squeezes the trigger, and 'game over' for Mr. Model Citizen.   Scenario 3:  this is the one you all dream about.  I come down the stairs undetected by the intruder.  I suddenly hit the light switch, catching him red handed, with my lap top in hand.  I tell him to drop it.  He throws it in my face, instead.  Now, I make one of two stupid life choices.  I shoot him, and call the cops  They praise my bravery and quick witted ability to take charge of my domicile and protect it to the limit.  The media makes me out to be a hero, and I'm on the CBS Morning News, chatting with Charlie and Nora.  Or:  Same scenario except I wing the bad guy.  He wheels and heads outside.  In the heat of the moment, adrenaline pumping, scared as I've ever been, I squeeze off another round as he runs down my steps.  He falls to the ground, dead, with a giant hole in his chest where the powerful projectile exited from the back shot.  The cops come.  I'm arrested for criminally negligent homicide, found guilty, and spend the rest of my life in a crowbar hotel.

You have a right to bear arms.  Are you really the best person to be bearing it?  Is it really necessary?  Not only is it unlikely that you'd ever have to, you can't defend your home with a gun.  Could you pull the trigger?  It's harder and a whole lot messier than you think, citizen.  Then, you have to live with it forever.  You don't want to go there.  Believe me.

We'll never see a time in the USA, where citizens are forbidden to bear arms.  It's simply responsible, to see that only those who are appropriate to have them, have them.  Gun control doesn't mean swooping down and taking honest, upright citizens' guns away.  That will never happen.  (For one reason, more citizens have more guns than the authorities will ever have, and you outnumber the authorities, by many thousands to one.)  But, if we can keep a small percentage of firearm mayhem from happening, "gun control" is worth it.

Trust the military and cops to protect you.  That's what your tax dollar is buying in the security department.  That's a "dead bang fact."

Happy New Year!

     As I write this, it's the first week of a shining new year.  There are 51 weeks of 2013 left.  It's a blank page!  We stand at the brink.  No matter who we are, or where we're coming from, we have a chance to write our own story.  We have the golden opportunity of making the best of the coming year that we are able to, within our individual limitations.

      I want to urge one and all, to join me in putting 100% of 2012, behind.  Whatever your successes or failures last year, it doesn't matter.  Don't gloat or dwell.  This is a chance to start fresh.  If  your past year was filled with triumph and successes, congratulations.  Think of the even bigger possibilities that are now available.  Success and achievement has given you the confidence and experience to really get out there and kick some ass!  Do it!

     If your life really sucked in 2012, take heart.  You're facing the same blank page as those who had a great year.  You too, have been given the opportunity to learn from your experiences.  Even if you consider them to have been failures.  Think about that a minute.  Do you really want to make those same old mistakes all over again?  Remember, one of the looser definitions of insanity is 'repeating an action over and over, and expecting a different outcome'.  So, I'll ask you:  Are you friggin' crazy?  Get it together.  Suck it up, and make use of this fresh start.  It's the same one everyone gets, and there's no charge!

     To all my friends, fellow bloggers, Trop Rockers, "The Shore" listeners, and even those who wish I'd just crawl off and croak.....  HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL!  HERE'S TO EVERY SUCCESS YOU HAVE THE WILES TO BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL!  

     One final thought.  Stolen successes are the sweetest!