Big Blue Huddle

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity for me. On Monday, I took my last bike ride before putting the bike away for the winter. I met up with my son and we took a ride around Skaneateles Lake (one of the Finger Lakes) and it was a gorgeous day. My son snapped a photo of our bikes and you can sorta see the lake in the background


Mine is the red fat boy in front

Tuesday I went to the hospital to have a CAT scan to check my lungs as I'm a smoker and my doctor has me get one every year. Got my results back and my lungs are completely normal...YAY

Then I got a lot of yard work and winter preparation out of the way before our first snowfall 

Friday night I went to SUNY Cortland's football stadium to watch my granddaughter play for the Section 3 Championship. Under the lights, huge crowd, kids are wildly enthusiastic. Her team won 3-2 and took home the trophy. Now they'll play for the state title which would be her school's first if they do. My granddaughter is only in 8th grade, but plays on the varsity team. Not surprising because she has been playing on the Syracuse team (a development league) for 6 years and has played all over the northeast and came in 2nd in the country in Denver last year after winning the Northeast division. Anyway, it was a fun night


She is no.16



Couldn't be more proud of her

Then last night I spent a few hours in Binghamton with some friends and watched a lot of folks dressed up for Halloween. Some people are really creative and a lot of normally quiet girls wear risque outfits

I guess "naughty schoolgirl" never goes out of style for many Halloweeners 
Sorry no pics 

Things that irk me

- Drivers who don't use their turn signals...I guess because it is so much work to lift the pinky finger. I understand drivers who don't use turn signals when there are no cars in sight, but it happens all the time when there are cars everywhere. Peeve no. 2, drivers who don't turn off their turn signals long after an intersection

- Drivers in little cars who move to the center of the road in order to make a right-hand turn as though they are driving a tandem tractor trailer

- Slow cars in the fast lane who refuse to move over to the right lane. Dittos with people on elevators or people movers who don't let others pass

- Amazon packaging that is absurd. I got a package this morning in a large box (big enough to ship an espresso maker) and it was super light. Inside was bunched up paper and a 2" long tube of 1/2 oz medicine. Two weeks ago I got a package and thought I must have ordered a new pair of skis, but no...it was a new keyboard for my computer

- Beautiful young women who call me "sir"

- People who are too lazy to return shopping carts or at least take them to a cart rack in the parking lot

- Cell phone overuse in public, especially when it's on speakerphone as though we all want to hear what you're saying

- Adhesive engineers who know nothing of the composition of glue; hence, a sticker that will never come off or an expensive item where the sticker comes off, but has left a residue on the item that will forever be part of the cosmetics of the item

- The new way to seal breakfast cereal by heat sealing the top of the bag together so you have to be a he-man to open it and when you do, it gives way and rips all over the place

- When someone replies with a complete medical report when you ask the rhetorical question, "how's it going?" or "how are you today?" Sorry you have all those pains and potential diseases...Don't Care!

- When someone has read a good book and want to tell you about it, except that it takes 10 minutes to share far more details than I ever wanted to hear about. If it's a good book, tell me it's a "good book" and what genre it is, and that's all that ever needs to be said about it. Dittos with movies

- "Name droppers" trying to impress

- Conversation monopolizers and rude interruptions while I'm talking because someone thinks what they have to say is so important that they cut right in the middle of a sentence while I'm talking

- People in front of you waiting to order and they haven't even thought about perusing the menu until they are finally at the counter

- A group of 3 or 4 people walking in a horizontal line on the sidewalk, hallway, or an aisle, completely oblivious to those walking towards them. One time at Binghamton University four people came at me like that. I got as close to the wall as I could and realized they weren't going to let me through so I stiffened my shoulder and gave the guy who refused to move a pretty hard shot. He was surprised and said, "WTF man"...oh well, move over ding bat!

Oh well - got that off my chest. Been wanting to bitch about drivers since my trip to Florida and back a couple weeks ago and then when I got a package from Amazon this morning, decided to go on a rant

 

 

Heading out to Florida early in the morning, so I will lose my Wordle streak as I won't have access to a computer until I get back. I'll probably do tomorrow's Wordle before I go, but I won't be around to partake in all the friendly banter

Here's my current graph that will again go down to zero on my streak. When I got a new computer a couple of months ago, it took me a couple of days to set up and to re-access my important numbers list so I could sign on. Unfortunately, it broke my streak when I didn't play for a day 

Anyhoo

       



Naples is already breaking hundred-year-old records with water height. And Naples wasn't even taking a direct hit. Fort Meyers seems to be the target landfall. Water expected 15 - 20 feet above normal and if you've ever lived or been to Florida, there is no such thing as "high ground"

I was supposed to be in St. Petersburg area last week but keep putting it off and was set to leave Sunday a few days ago, but this hurricane has reset my calendar. My granddaughter has a girlfriend who goes to Sanibel Island every Christmas for her family to spend time with her grandparents. They have a cottage nearby themselves. Looking at the stuff on Weather Channel, there's going to be very little left of the island. The bridge to the island is already completely underwater (and it's low tied)

Can't take my eyes of the Weather Channel on TV - just wow!

Had an interesting night last night. I went to a small gathering deep in the woods where a friend has cleared hundreds of trees to create a 4 acre lot to build a home. The pile of trees in the middle was about 30 feet wide and 15 feet tall so it called for a bonfire

Just as it was getting dark, something was slowly moving across the sky that none of us could identify. It was bright and had a huge tail 



 

We watched it for several minutes before it went out of sight behind the mountains but really struggled trying to figure out what it was. It looked like a comet, but there would have been news that a comet was passing. It was too slow crossing the horizon to be a meteor. Too bright and having that long tail made it impossible to be a plane. We just had no idea. One guy said it looked like a rocket, but we are in Upstate New York deep in the woods - not on the beaches of Florida. The women folk got out their cell phones and snapped pictures because no one would believe what we were witnessing

Anyway, had to check the morning news because it was a phenomenon that had to have gotten the attention of far more people than our small party. Sure enough, this morning's news identified it as Elon Musk's SpaceX launch of 53 Starling satellites last evening. Shocking to me that I can watch a rocket fly across the sky in New York. Fascinating

There are a few comics that like to read (Pearls Before Swine is my favorite, Dilbert is second on that list since Far Side has gone...I also like Hagar and Shoe but not like Pearls and Dilbert). Anyway...Dilbert is being cancelled by 77 newspapers today. When reading the reason why, it is because people who do not work in an office do not find it funny 

Personally, I spent decades working in an office environment dealing with daily issues of incompetent management, go-getters, slackers, etc., so I can relate to mosts of the jokes in Dilbert. Apparently, a lot do not find it funny at all

what say you?









[url=https://postimages.org/]

wow - one of the most gorgeous houses in Florida...all of 11 years old...is being leveled. Tom Brady rented it for awhile and Jeter and family are living in an upscale apartment in Miami



It seems unfathomable to me, but people with unlimited money always seem to still surprise me

https://nypost.com/2022/09/19/derek-jeters-florida-mansion-to-be-demolished/

As an alumni of Binghamton University, I am glad to see it becoming a major education center for new green enviro-technologies to go along with their already established leading micro-electronics technology center

A couple of days ago, BU won a 63 million dollar grant from the Build Back Better bill, a windfall passed through Congress and President Biden and the largest amount awarded in the U.S. to any single project. New York State also threw in 50 Million to jump start the development of making Binghamton the leading hub of lithium technology

One of BU's professors (Dr Stanley Whittingham, who won the 2019 Nobel prize winner in chemistry for his role in developing the lithium-ion battery) spear headed the program vying for monies to make Binghamton the lithium center for the U.S. As of now, the only lithium battery manufacturing in the country is in Binghamton at a company called iM3NY Corporation that was started with the encouragement of Whittingham who has developed courses at BU to educate students in the technology. He wants Binghamton to become the Lithium Hub of education, technology, and manufacturing in the Western Hemisphere so as not to be completely dependent on China

The original IBM manufacturing plant that was the birthplace and headquarters of IBM for more than half a century is basically a ghost town of a plaza of empty buildings that used to employ over 20,000 workers. The goal is to make it the premier lithium manufacturing facility in the world. Hopefully, the end result of this project lives up to the hype. Great news for the community as well as another feather in the cap of Binghamton University that has the goal of being one of the top universities in the country in green technologies as well as micro-electronics

I spent a few hours at the New York State Fair in Syracuse yesterday. I go every year and each year think it's probably my last, but never is. Beautiful sunny day, but what a mad house. Trying to get into the main parking lot, cars are backed up for a quarter mile in every direction. A half hour of stop and crawl and I finally got to park. Maybe 10 thousand cars in the Orange lot across the road from the fair and next to the St. Joseph's Health Amphitheater - an outdoor concert venue on the shores of Onondaga Lake for major concerts (thanks New York taxpayers and Gov. Cuomo for that). Next, wait at one of three bus stops for the caravan of buses shuttling people like ranchers herd cattle to get to the grounds. Free to go in for me because I'm over 65...although I appreciated the woman making me prove it with my license because that means she thought I was younger 



I hit the ground with a few goals in mind: find the Bold Coast Lobster truck and get a lobster roll, check out a lot of skin (yeah, I'm a pig), and check out of few new projects. As I get into the gate, a crowd is waiting for the first concert of the day at Chevy Court which is an open stage with about a thousand seats and a bunch of picnic tables spread out over a huge lawn graced with shade trees. There is also Chevy Park - a much larger concert venue that can accommodate more people at the back of the fair grounds and typically get over 30,000 people. Nelly got 43,000 a couple of days ago. Chevy Court - although it only has seating for a few hundred can also gather big crowds like Bruno Mars getting 35,000 a few years ago and some band called "A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie" got over 40,000 at the court. Anyway, music all day depending on where you are on the fair grounds. No sooner did I start my day at the fair and some guy named Tai Verdes stepped out on the stage and started singing. The music can be heard across most of the fairgrounds so you can figure how loud it is...LOUD

The fair is so large that in order to get where you want to go, it's best to look at one of the maps on various kiosks. The fairgrounds are 375 acres with 110 different buildings that includes, a new 50 million dollar Expo Center for sports, but has been used almost exclusively the past couple of years as central New York's Covid vaccination center operating 24/7 and has vaccinated the second most amount of people in the country - which includes me, the Center of Progress Building, house of science wonders, art wonders, native American wonders, latest police non-auto vehicles, food source buildings, cows, sheep, horses, goats, pigs, chickens, you name it, etc., as well as a full blown set of carnival rides, games, and of course many, many food trucks. If you've never been to it, it's big, but not so big that you could get lost. Although if you had small children and they got separated from you, it'd be a nightmare.

Anyway, found the food truck I was looking for.

 



It was worth the trip

Claims to be 100% and ready to go https://nypost.com/2022/09/01/kadarius-toney-gives-giants-update-they-desperately-needed/

Let us hope he is healthy and will stay healthy all season 

And you thought you were significant 

"The world's population – 7.8 billion people – might seem like a huge number, but humans represent just 0.01% of all living things on Earth. Plants, primarily trees, dominate life on Earth, representing 82% of all living matter. Surprisingly, in second place is the life we cannot see: microscopic bacteria account for 13% of all living matter. All other creatures, from insects to fungi to fish and animals, make up just 5% of the world's biomass. It is estimated that the total mass of even arthropods is equivalent to 17 times the mass of human beings"

I'm ecstatic that we are FINALLY going back to the moon. The first Artemis mission is scheduled to take off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center next Monday morning. I will be following these missions closely. A link to a nice article at the end of this post





https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/world/how-to-watch-artemis-1-launch-timeline-scn/index.html

The Athletic is a pretty good source of sports information. Since I have an account with them, they have sent me five free 30-day passes to share. If interested, PM me

I have a few actors/musicians that I don't care for and typically won't watch a movie if they are in them. There are musicians who grate on my nerves so much that I change the station the second I hear them come on the radio. Anyway

My list:

John Belushi - never saw him as funny and never understood how some people thought he was hilarious and one of the greatest comedians ever. I find his brother Jim quite funny, but not John

Woody Allen - when I was younger, I got a few chuckles out of his movies. But at some point, I found his personality far more irritating than funny

Will Farrell - too over the top for my taste. His overacting turns me off. I must admit I liked him at some points in the movie "Old School"

Dana Carvey - he just irritates me. I don't find him funny

Kevin Spacey - used to like him until all the garbage about his life came out

Tina Fey - really cocky attitude like she is the second coming of Meryl Streep. Always comes across as smug. She should have stuck to writing comedy and staying out of the limelight IMO

David Caruso - I liked him as the "kid cop" in Rambo - First Blood, but couldn't stand him after he became the face of CSI Miami. He was okay as Andy Sipowicz's (Dennis Franz) sidekick in NYPD Blue, but when he decided he should get big time money like Franz because he felt he was just as big a character as "Sipowicz", it turned me off.

Sean Penn - just don't like the way he comes off in movies

Musicians

Bruce Springsteen - never liked his music or the sound of his voice. Once he became political, it was even a bigger turnoff. A close friend of mine drove several hours to catch a concert of his at the Giants' stadium a few years ago. He and his wife were super excited. He said that they had to get up and leave half way through the show because the music wasn't all that great and he spent almost as much time talking politics as he did singing

Rod Stewart - Okay, I'll give him Maggie May (even that song sucked after hearing it for the hundredth time), but I never understood the way girls (that I know) swooned over him like he was a little bit of Brad Pitt combined with the voice of Sinatra 

Freddy Fender - Wow, I spent a day in Scranton with an old car with an AM radio that got only one station and it happened to be "Freddy Fender Day". Turned a simple day into a week. Never understood how he made it in the music world 

Chris Stapleton - this will probably put a frown on people's faces that love country music. I don't even know what it is, but I just can't stand his music. I have no idea how he has won so many awards. He's not exactly George Strait or Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks

Never heard of the plane manufacturer in Texas called Boom Technology, but they have designed, built, and tested a new type of SST that runs on SAF (sustainable aviation fuel). SAF is a biofuel used to power aircraft that has similar properties to conventional jet fuel but with a smaller carbon footprint and is derived from plants. They have also solved the perplexing "sonic boom" problem so that it won't ruffle the feathers of a jittery public



American Airlines put down a deposit for 20 planes with an option for 40 more and United Airlines already has as many as 50 ordered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoSNLQ5NGoc

https://nypost.com/2022/08/16/american-airlines-to-buy-supersonic-boom-jets/

Should note also that Aerion Supersonic (out of Fort Dallas) and Spike Aerospace (out of Boston) are testing similar models. Aerion is specializing in 10 passenger business jets. Spike's model will have no windows, but dozens of micro cameras that show a video of the outside so that it looks like you're looking out a windew. Regardless, I thought supersonic transport was dead, but it's not only alive, they are being built and the major airlines are buying them up.

Here's a picture of Spike's supersonic plane

I use a variety of internet games to try and keep my brain somewhat sharp so thought I'd share if anyone else does the same

I play the daily Sudoku challenge. You can play "Easy", "Medium", or "Hard". Once a day, there is a "Daily Challenge" which is "Easy", but you are playing against the clock and thousands of others for a best time. My best time is 1:42 and I came in 21st. My goal is to be in the top hundred and I usually complete it in under 3:00

The website I use is: www.247sudoku.com/

Mine today:


I also get two games a day that alerts me through my email: Daily Trivia and Brain Candy

The Daily Trivia is actually twice a day, once in the morning and a second one later in the day. If you sign up, you do get occasional emails for games that actually suck so you have to delete them. I try to keep my score up past 65%, which sometimes is easy and sometimes it's not. You learn things you probably wouldn't normally know by playing. I never Google a question in order to get it right because I'd rather get 0% right than cheat myself. Anyway, the website I use is: https://triviatoday.com/






And it has some interesting tidbits (fun facts) at the bottom like:



Lastly, I play "Brain Candy" which is a collection of about 10 questions with multiple choice answers. Some days it's very interesting, other times it's about old TV shows or pop musicians that don't interest me, but it makes the blood circulate in my cranium. The site I use is: https://trivia.braincandy.net/

Today's was interesting (to me anyway)

Netflix is on the ropes as millions of viewers are cancelling their subscriptions. According to the news this morning it's because Netflix focuses on "quantity over quality", which I get. Lotta stuff on Netflix, but not much worthy of watching. Anyway, I read about this a long time ago and have never tried it, but apparently there are thousands of movies on Netflix that you can't find on the main navigation platform. You have to use a code to find the available movies (supposedly there's a porn code as well, but don't know it and wouldn't share it anyway...LOL...I'm sure someone could find it using Google if they so wanted). I've never tried using a code and was wondering if anyone else has and if so, how do you do it and is it worth it?

One of the codes is for "Classic Movies" and judging by many posts on The Front Porch, we have more than a few people into the old classics so maybe there's a gem or two in there they haven't seen or have been unable to find

Anyway, here's a list of codes from: https://www.netflix-codes.com/

Action & adventure 1365

    43040 Action comedies
    1568 Action sf & fantasy
    43048 Action thrillers
    7442 Adventures
    77232 Asian action movies
    46576 Classic Action & Adventure
    10118 Comic book and superhero movies
    9584 Crime action & adventure
    11828 Foreign action & adventure
    20541 Hijacking movies
    8985 Martial arts movies
    2125 Military action & adventure
    10702 Spy action & adventure
    7700 Westerns

Anime 7424

    11881 Adult animation
    5507 Animal tales
    2729 Anime Sci-Fi
    2653 Anime action
    9302 Anime comedies
    452 Anime dramas
    11146 Anime fantasy
    3063 Anime features
    10695 Anime horror
    6721 Anime series

Children & family movies 783

    5507 Animal tales
    67673 Disney
    10659 Education for kids
    51056 Family features
    52843 Kids Music
    27346 Kids' TV
    10056 Movies based on children's books
    6796 Movies for ages 0 to 2
    6962 Movies for ages 11 to 12
    6218 Movies for ages 2 to 4
    5455 Movies for ages 5 to 7
    561 Movies for ages 8 to 10
    11177 TV cartoons

Christmas 🎄

    1527064 British christmas children & family films
    1721544 Canadian christmas children & family films
    1474017 Christmas children & family films
    1477206 Christmas children & family films for ages 11 to 12
    1477201 Christmas children & family films for ages 5 to 7
    1477204 Christmas children & family films for ages 8 to 10
    147602 Christmas children & family films from the 1990s
    1476024 Christmas children & family films from the 1990s
    1527063 European christmas children & family films
    1394522 Family-friendly christmas films
    1475066 Feel-good christmas children & family films
    1475071 Goofy christmas children & family films
    1394527 Romantic christmas films

Classic Movies 31574

    47147 Classic SF & fantasy
    46553 Classic TV shows
    46576 Classic action & adventure
    31694 Classic comedies
    29809 Classic dramas
    32392 Classic musical comedy
    31273 Classic romantic movies
    46588 Classic thrillers
    48744 Classic war movies
    47465 Classic westerns
    52858 Epics
    7687 Film Noir
    53310 Silent Movies

Comedies 6548

    9302 Animes comedies
    869 Dark comedies
    4426 Foreign Comedies
    89585 Horror comedies
    1402 Late Night Comedies
    26 Mockumentaries
    13335 Musicals comedies
    2700 Political comedies
    5475 Romantic Comedies
    4922 Satires
    9702 Screwball Comedies
    10256 Slapstick comedies
    5286 Sports comedies
    11559 Stand-up Comedy
    3519 Teen Comedies

Documentaries 6839

    3652 Biographical documentaries
    9875 Crime documentaries
    5161 Foreign documentaries
    5349 Historical documentaries
    4006 Military documentaries
    90361 Music & concert documentaries
    7018 Political documentaries
    10005 Religious documentaries
    2595 Science & navature documentaries
    3675 Social & cultural documentaries
    2760 Spirituality documentaries
    180 Sports documentaries
    1159 Travel & adventure documentaries

Dramas 5763

    11 Army dramas
    3179 Biographical dramas
    6889 Crime dramas
    4961 Dramas based on books
    3653 Dramas based on real life
    500 LGBT Dramas
    6616 Political Dramas
    1255 Romantical dramas
    5012 Showbiz dramas
    3947 Social issues dramas
    7243 Sports dramas

Foreign movies 78367

    3761 African Movies
    77232 Asian action movies
    5230 Australian movies
    262 Belgian movies
    10757 British movies
    3960 Chinese movies
    32473 Classic Foreign Movies
    10606 Dutch movies
    5254 Eastern European movies
    6485 Foreign Sci-Fi & fantasy
    11828 Foreign action & adventure
    4426 Foreign comedies
    5161 Foreign documentaries
    2150 Foreign dramas
    8243 Foreign gay & lesbian movies
    8654 Foreign horror movies
    10306 Foreign thrillers
    58807 French movies
    58886 German movies
    61115 Greek movies
    10463 Indian movies
    58750 Irish movies
    8221 Italian Movies
    10398 Japanese movies
    5685 Korean movies
    1613 Latin american movies
    5875 Middle Eastern movies
    63782 New Zealand movies
    7153 Romantic foreign movies
    11567 Russian movies
    9292 Scandinavian movies
    9196 Southeast Asian Movies
    58741 Spanish movies
    434295 Taiwanese movies
    1133133 Turkish movies

Horror movies 8711

    10944 Cult horror movies
    45028 Deep sea horror movies
    8654 Foreign horror movies
    89585 Horror comedy
    947 Monster movies
    6998 Satanic stories
    8646 Slasher and serial killer movies
    42023 Supernatural horror movies
    52147 Teen screams
    75804 Vampire horror movies
    75930 Werewolf horror movies
    75405 Zombie horror movies

Independent movies 7077

    11079 Experimental movies
    11804 Independent action & adventure
    4195 Independent comedies
    384 Independent dramas
    3269 Independent thrillers
    9916 Romantic independent movies

LGBTQ 5977

    7120 Gay & Lesbian Comedies
    4720 Gay & Lesbian Documentaries
    500 Gay & Lesbian Dramas
    65263 Gay & Lesbian TV Shows
    3329 Romantic Gay & Lesbian Movies

Music 1701

    32392 Classic musicals
    1105 Country & western/folk
    59433 Disney musicals
    10271 Jazz & easy listening
    52843 Kids music
    10741 Latin music
    13335 Musicals
    3278 Rock & pop concerts
    13573 Showbiz musicals
    55774 Stage musicals
    9472 Urban & dance concerts
    2856 World music concerts

Others

    34399 All movies
    29764 Art House Movies
    52858 Epics
    11079 Experimental movies
    52804 Faith & spirituality movies
    9744 Fantasy movies
    7687 Film noir
    31851 Gangster movies
    839338 Only on Netflix
    6998 Satanic stories
    4922 Satires
    11559 Stand-up comedies

Romantic movies 8883

    31273 Classic romantic movies
    36103 Quirky romance
    5475 Romantic Comedies
    1255 Romantic dramas
    502675 Romantic favorites
    7153 Romantic foreign movies
    9916 Romantic independent movies
    35800 Steamy romantic movies

Sci - Fi & Fantasy 1492

    1568 Action Sci - Fi & fantasy
    3327 Alien Sci - Fi
    47147 Classic Sci - Fi & fantasy
    4734 Cult Sci - Fi & fantasy
    9744 Fantasy movies
    6485 Foreign Sci - Fi & fantasy
    6926 Sci - Fi adventure
    3916 Sci - Fi dramas
    1694 Sci - Fi horror movies
    11014 Sci - Fi thrillers

Sports movies 4370

    12339 Baseball movies
    12762 Basketball movies
    12443 Boxing movies
    12803 Football movies
    8985 Martial arts movies
    6695 Martial arts, boxing & wrestling
    12549 Soccer movies
    9327 Sports & Fitness
    5286 Sports comedies
    180 Sports documentaries
    7243 Sports dramas

TV Show 83

    52117 British TV Shows
    46553 Classic TV shows
    26146 Crime TV shows
    74652 Cult TV shows
    72436 Food & travel
    27346 Kids' TV
    67879 Korean TV shows
    25804 Military TV shows
    4814 Miniseries
    9833 Reality TV
    52780 Science & nature
    1372 TV Sci-Fi & fantasy
    10673 TV action & adventure
    10375 TV comedies
    10105 TV documentaries
    11714 TV dramas
    83059 TV horror
    4366 TV mysteries

Teen TV shows 60951

    3519 Teen comedies
    9299 Teen dramas
    52147 Teen screams

Thrillers 8933

    43048 Action thrillers
    46588 Classic thrillers
    10499 Crime thrillers
    10306 Foreign thrillers
    31851 Gangster movies
    3269 Independent thrillers
    9994 Mysteries
    10504 Political thrillers
    5505 Psychological thrillers
    11014 Sci-Fi thrillers
    9147 Spy thrillers
    972 Steamy thrillers
    11140 Supernatural thrillers

I was reading the lyrics of a song that I don't particularly care for called "Year of the Cat". Heard it a million times in my life, but caught some of the lyrics on the radio the other day and maybe the first time I ever actually listened to the words. Anyway, it sounded to me like it was written with old movies in mind. So I thought I'd post for you old movie lovers. And who the hell is Peter Lorre???
Anyway, here's the lyrics

"Year of the Cat"
Song by Al Stewart

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat

While she looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat

Well morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away your choice you've lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the newborn day
You know sometime you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
In the year of the cat

Year of the cat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Etdpt5L-fg

I think it has. I remember many years ago when they developed chickens with no feathers in order to make it faster and cheaper to produce chickens for consumption. And probably most people are unaware that the domestic turkey has been selectively bred for decades to come up with turkeys whose breasts are so enormous that they can no longer fly and can no longer breed. In today's world, there is DNA modification to go along with selective breeding which can bring radical changes in a living thing

I am no PETA guy and I like my meat. However, I am also an animal lover as in cats, dogs, and horses. I am not an animal lover of bovine, although I do admire African Cape Buffaloes (from afar and I've never seen one in real life) and there is probably a very good reason they aren't found in zoos. I also admire American Bison...which I have seen and not just in zoos. I grew up on a farm and I feel cows are basically pretty stupid animals that don't care about affection or having the ability to know nothing more than when to eat, drink, copulate and are only smart enough to know which stall is theirs when they come into the barn (yeah, I know...dairy farms no longer use stalls and are in free roaming monster barns and are bar-coded, processed (milked) in assembly lines 3 times a day, with milk data going to a main frame computer, etc). In my opinion, the desire to grow an animal whose soul purpose is to eat should be done so with a little bit of heart so that the animals do not suffer. I'm glad they outlawed the featherless chicken even though chickens are just plain stupid.

In our current world, I am impressed while also being somewhat disgusted by the Belgian Blue beef cattle. They have been developed for maximizing meat on hooves. There is more meat on these cattle than any other breed and because of it makes it difficult for them to run or have much flexibility to maneuver or to breed normally. Also, their calves tend to be massive so giving birth sometimes causes the death of the mother and now, most of the time calves are born caesarean section to make sure the cow lives. And I don't think this is the end of their evolution as they are still being selectively bred to get an even more massive cow

Regardless...I'm still trying to wrap my head around this and for whatever reason, I find this a bit cruel. What say you?

The Belgian Blue:

Did you know that the New York Giants (baseball team, not the football team; hence, the word "football" added to the name to accommodate the city's football team) were the New York Gothams. Keep in mind, baseball was King of the World in American sports long before football came along. Anyhoo...the NY Gothams had a power hitter named Roger Connor who held the all time home run record for decades before Babe Ruth beat it out. Conner was 6′3″ and weighed 220 pounds and in the 1880's that was huge. Because of it, the Gothams changed their name to the Giants. An alternative theory as to where the name derived (albeit suspect as the tallest building in NYC was 11 stories at the time) comes from teamnameorigin.com, "Tim Mara, the original owner of the New York Giants in 1925, named his team after the National League MLB Giants who were very popular at the time. This was an era when baseball was by far the most popular sport in the United States, and Mara wanted to capitalize on the name equity that the local MLB franchise had entrenched in the locals. So how did the New York baseball Giants get their name? They were named after all of the giant buildings (don't think so    ) sprouting up in New York City"



Did you know that the Syracuse Orange (Orangemen was dropped in 2004 to show respect to women's sports) original colors were Pink and Pea Soup Green. Hence, looking for more manly colors, they chose Bold Orange and Navy. The moniker of "Orange" had nothing to do with oranges (the fruit) regardless of the fact their mascot "Otto the Orange" is a walking orange fruit

Did you know that the original name of the Dodgers was the Brooklyn Atlantics, the Brooklyn Superbas, Ward's Wonders, and the Robins before they became the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers. The name stuck because in order to go to the baseball stadium to see a game, the fans had to dodge trolleys to get there



After the NYC baseball teams', the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, left NYC for California, it left city fans both sad and frothing at the mouth angry  . Some older fans of those teams (much older than me) are still angry about it. Regardless, to soothe the pain of those fans, MLB expanded to give the NYC fans a new team called the "NY Mets" and their uniforms are Dodger Blue and Giants Orange

There you have some useless information to chew on 

I don't really have a bucket list per se, but there's a few things I'd like to do while I am still healthy...like get a pilot's license and fly...fly fish for Tarpon...golf on a couple of world famous courses (Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Pacific Dunes, Spyglass Hill, etc.) - not Augusta of course because you have to be a member and either a billionaire or a VIP in politics or Hollywood

Anyway, I've exhausted my love for travel after spending eight years living on the road, in planes, and in hotels. First year was a ball, second year not so much, and down hill from there. I've been all over the U.S. (surprisingly I never got to Hawaii or Alaska), Europe, Japan (the Ginza Strip, rode their hi-speed trains, etc), virtually everywhere in Israel including walking up to the Dome of the Rock against multiple warnings from soldiers), etc., sometimes for fun, but mostly for business. I would be happy to never fly in a seat on a passenger plane the rest of my life

However, if I had the gumption to travel, here's the three places I'd like to see in my lifetime:

1) Madagascar...such a strange part of the world with Boabab trees and exotic animals found nowhere else in the world



2) Amazon River...as much of it as possible on a comfortable boat



3) A combo trip to Australia and New Zealand





What three places you'd like to see while still breathing and walking?

I've read bits and pieces of this wonderful document throughout my life, but I can't remember (much of anything these days, but I digress) reading the declaration in its full context. Read it the other day and was surprised by a few things, but not too much. If you haven't read it in full, here's the chance.


In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Not a Charles Atlas thread, but real guns

We've had a thread going about the 16" caliber cannons aboard our Iowa class battleships. The Japanese battleship Yamato had 46 cm (18.1") cannons in the same layout as our battle ships...i.e., three cannons each on three turrets

However, they were not the biggest guns (cannons) ever used in war. The largest cannon ever built during WW II was the German Schwerer Gustav mounted on a bed that was moved along rail lines. It only had one cannon, but it shot 31.5" caliber shells that weighed over 2 tons (roughly 15,000 lbs) and accuracy over 30 miles



The Russians built their own cannons called Maxim Gorky I and Maxim Gorky I and were similar to battleships on turrets with three cannons that shot 12" shells. They were called "fortresses" and were built deep into the ground for a crew of about 80 soldiers delivering ammo to the guys in the turrets. The fortress had concrete barriers lined with iron

On June 17th, 1942 the Schwerer Gustav obliterated Maxim Gorky 1 and knocked Maxim Gorky II out of commission with only 5 shots fired

Here's a cutaway view of Maxim Gorky I and II



The result

As a kid, I watched Warner Bros. cartoons - mainly Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Tweetie, etc. I occasionally watched Hanna-Barbera productions like Dudley Do-Right, Huckleberry Hound, etc. As a kid, I loved them.

How things have changed in the animation world and can still entertain adults as well as children - some (like "Archer") are NOT for children of course and there's quite a few others that are pretty much adult only...BTW, I love watching Archer, absolutely hilarious!

Regardless, besides the quality of animation, they have come a long way into having an actual plot and story. Take "Shrek" for example (still one of my favorite movies), which is quite something considering I'm an old man now. But there are a lot of them like the "Minion" movies, "The Incredibles", "Lego Batman Movie" (which gets a lot of laughs out of me for their depiction of Batman with an oversized ego who is overly petty). BTW, my girlfriend has small children so when they are here, those shows are on and I see bits and pieces of them.

I am astounded at the quality and story telling of cartoons in the 21st Century compared to the cartoons I watched as a kid. Of course there was "Bambi", but not great graphics...but better than "Tom Terrific" or "Gumby" (which were a joke in themselves...LOL)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eisKxhjBnZ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4noiCRJRoE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGQUKzSDhrg

A little background: When the DeLorean car company went belly up, one of the mechanics who worked for DeLorean got the legal rights to produce spare parts and hence, had part ownership of a defunct company specializing in OEM parts. He then started reproducing parts in a new design and built a functional car that is fully electric. His thought, if Tesla can do it, so can he...at least he has a recognizable name. Even so, I wouldn't invest my nest egg in it's future, but is an interesting story and it is a beautiful vehicle. I don't know if its body parts are stainless steel like the original or if it's not 










https://delorean.com/

One of the most irritating grammar blunders to me is "ambiguous reference", which I see a lot in everyday writing, even from professionals.

Here's an example I just read on Fandom, "...the starting point guard will come down to Torrence and Mintz, who was tremendous during his senior season for the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va"

Who was tremendous at Oak Hill???? Torrence or Mintz? I suppose the author meant Torrence, but we'll never know 

A more humorous example I recently heard is from a joke (might have been here...can't remember), but the response took advantage of the original statement:

Police: "we have been informed that your dogs are chasing kids on bikes"
Guy: "that's impossible officer, my dogs don't know how to ride bikes"

Another thing I hear often (especially in music where I guess "literary license" holds true) when the singer or writer uses "don't" instead of "doesn't". One country song I can't listen to because it is so grammatically wrong goes, "She don't love me no more"...WTF. If the song writer had a high school education, it'd be "She doesn't love me any more". There are a lot of examples in song that bastardize the English language and it's just my pet peeve

Regardless, I find it often and I find it irritating    And I'm not one to play grammar police and I just let it all fly without comment, but just had to get this off my chest after reading that article

Okay, I get to NYC about once every 2 or 3 years, but it's always by plane or bus so I don't have to worry about parking a car. Anyway, my grandson has to go to Harlem tomorrow to drop something off and wants me to ride along. I've promised him for years that I'd get him a NYC hot pastrami on rye the way the sandwich is supposed to be made. So here's my problem. We would have a vehicle 

My goal - should I go with him - is to take him to Ben's Deli in Manhattan on 209 W. 38th Street. How can I go there and park my grandson's pickup truck somewhere??

Throughout most of June, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will stretch across the sky like a string of pearls appearing in the dawn hours before sunrise.

Sky & Telescope Magazine is calling it a

1. During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit at least one strip club.
2. All telephone numbers in America begin with the digits 555.
3. If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick's Day parade - at any time of the year.
4. All beds have special odd-shaped sheets which reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying beside her.
5. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French Bread.
6. It's easy for anyone to land a plane providing there is someone in the control tower to talk you through it.
7.The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.
8. You rarely need to reload your gun, and if you do, there will always be more ammunition on you - even if you haven't been carrying any before now.
9. You're very likely to survive any dire situation unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your wife or child back home.
10. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
11. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince and squirm when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
12. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.
13. When paying for a taxi, don't look at your wallet or the cash in your pocket as you take out a bill at random and hand it to the driver. It will always be the exact fare.
14. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.
15. When being chased always climb to the top of the highest building from whence there is no escape.
16. Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon, and waffles for their family every morning even though their husbands and children never have time to eat it.
17. Cars that crash will most likely blow up and burst into flames.
18. The Chief of Police will always suspend his star detective.
19. It is always possible to shoot door locks or padlocks off without the ricochet killing you or your companion
20. Any person waking from a nightmare will bolt upright in a sitting position and pant.
21. It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations.
22. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
23. It is always possible to park directly outside any building you are visiting.
24. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
25. A black guy will usually be the first to die.
26. Girlfriends tend to be 9

From https://triviatoday.com/blog/featured.asp?a=430DE2

5 Shocking Facts You Didn't Know About D-Day ...title should probably say, "shocking facts to many as the old timers know a lot of this"

"On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed at Normandy in northern France, in a massive assault that became known as D-Day. Here are 5 shocking facts you didn