Nostalgic Tech School Happenings

     

Tucson Weather Today

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177 pounds

I graduated from Valparaiso Technical Institute in May  of 1982 with a degree in Engineering Electronics. Good ol' Valpo Tech closed down a few years ago, but the Alumni Association now hosts a Facebook page accessible to all graduates, and they sponsor an annual reunion held in Valparaiso, Indiana.

This Year's VTI Reunion

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days.

Of course I was not young while at Valpo Tech; I was 42 years old when I graduated. And I will not be attending this reunion, but I do enjoy hearing about the gradual renovation of the old school, and about the doings and the rascally goings-on of all the members. It surprised me to learn that a great percentage of the graduates are licensed Amateur Radio operators. As am I, although I am not active at this time.

My Ham Radio call sign is KA9CWJ.

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Did You Know . . .?

Rather than wasting water doing laundry, astronauts on the International Space Station eject their dirty worn-out clothes into space to burn in the Earth's atmosphere.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1873 congress enacted the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" book through the mails. Also unlawful under the law was sending anything "designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion." The law was named after Anthony Comstock, the one-man moral majority of his time. Comstock, a salesman from Connecticut.. He devoted his entire life to fighting what he perceived as vice, particularly obscenity and gambling

Many of today's armchair moralists who have attacked Hollywood for an alleged role in the 1999 Littleton, Colorado killings would have appreciated Comstock's views. He described children as a glass of pure and clean water that is easily tainted with a drop of ink. Mixing metaphors, he then said that "vile books and papers are branding-irons heated in the fires of hell."

The Comstock Law prompted many states to add laws of their own. James Joyce's Ulysses was even barred from the United States until court challenges finally determined that it was not obscene. The current Supreme Court standard exempts from obscenity prosecution any material that has literary value.

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WORD FOR TODAY

defenestration
noun
The act of throwing someone or something out of a window.

While the act of defenestration connotes the forcible or peremptory removal of an adversary, and the term is sometimes used in just that sense, it also suggests breaking the windows in the process. Although defenestrations can be fatal due to the height of the window through which a person is thrown or throws oneself or due to lacerations from broken glass, the act of defenestration need not carry the intent or result of death.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

James Montgomery Doohan

(March 3, 1920 - July 20, 2005)

James Doohan was a Canadian character and voice actor best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series Star Trek. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise was one of the most recognizable elements in the Star Trek franchise, for which he also made several contributions behind the scenes. Many of the characterizations, mannerisms, and expressions that he established for Scotty and other Star Trek characters have become entrenched in popular culture.

Jessica Biel

(born March 3, 1982)

Jessica Biel is an American actress, model, and singer. Biel began her in 7th Heaven, The series is the longest-running series that has ever aired on The WB channel and is the longest-running family drama in television history. In 1997, she won the Young Artist Award for her role in Ulee's Gold. Biel has since starred in many films, including The Rules of Attraction (2002), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), Stealth (2005), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), The A-Team (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and Total Recall (2012). She appeared in the thriller indie film Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes in 2013.

Nathalie Kelley

(born 3 October 1985)

Nathalie Kelley is a Peruvian-born Australian actress. She is best known for her roles in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Body of Proof.

Alison King

(born 3 March 1973)

Alison King is an English actress. She has had major television roles as Lynda Block in the Sky One television series Dream Team, and since 2006 as Carla Connor in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
--Nelson Mandela

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

Verboten!

     

Tucson Weather Today


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That  annoying long BLEEEEP! covering up supposed blasphemous or overly crude words that the FCC deems unfit for me (not being a cable TV subscriber) to hear absolutely enrages me. Why must I pay money to a Cable or Satellite Company to secure that right?

Oh well . . .

 I had planned to write a diatribe of sorts on the subject of Freedom of Speech and how FCC censorship ignores that basic constitutional right because the religious folks in the audience are afraid their children might hear words that these very kids use (constantly) themselves when gathered together among their peers.

 But then I discovered that I do not have sufficient knowledge nor sufficient passion left in me to do so.

So I didn't do it.

Yet . . .

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HISTORICAL CLIP

On March 3, 1873 Congress enacted the so-called Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" book through the mails. Also unlawful under the law is sending anything "designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion."

The law was named after its chief proponent, the anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock. The enforcement of the Act was, in its early days, often conducted by Comstock himself as postal inspector or through the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice which he led.

The Comstock Law prompted many states to add laws of their own, and heavy-handed restrictions on sexually oriented material continued for many years. James Joyce's Ulysses was even barred from the United States until court challenges finally determined that it was not obscene. The current Supreme Court standard exempts from obscenity prosecution any material that has literary value.

The Comstock Act targeted pornography as well as contraceptive equipment and many educational materials such as descriptions of contraceptive methods and other reproductive health-related materials.

Comstock's ideas of what might be "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" were quite broad. During his time of greatest power, even some anatomy textbooks were prohibited from being sent to medical students by the United States Postal Service.

The ban on contraceptives was declared unconstitutional by the courts in 1936, though the remaining portions of the law continue to be enforced today. However, definitions of obscenity have changed over the years, and it was determined that obscenity was material whose "dominant theme taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest" to the "average person, applying contemporary community standards," and was, "utterly without redeeming social importance.

See Comstock Laws . . .

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WORD FOR TODAY

prurient
adjective
Having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters.
Synonyms
lascivious - salacious - lustful - lewd - lecherous

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


James Doohan

 Born March 3, 1920
Died   July 20, 2005

James Montgomery Doohan was a Canadian character and voice actor best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series Star Trek. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise was one of the most recognizable elements in the Star Trek franchise, for which he also made several contributions behind the scenes. Many of the characterizations, mannerisms, and expressions that he established for Scotty and other Star Trek characters have become entrenched in popular culture.

Jessica Biel

 Born Mar. 3, 1982
Age:  30 years old

Jessica Claire Biel is an American actress, model and singer. She is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven. She has since starred in many films including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), The A-Team (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and Total Recall (2012). She will appear in the thriller indie film Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes in 2013.

David Faustino

 Born Mar. 3, 1974
Age:  38 years old

David Anthony Faustino (born March 3, 1974) is an American actor and rap artist primarily known for his role as Bud Bundy on the sitcom Married... with Children and voicing Mako in The Legend of Korra.

Jean Harlow

 Born Mar. 3, 1911
Died June 7, 1937

Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter) was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" (owing to her platinum blonde hair), Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute. Harlow starred in several films, mainly designed to showcase her magnetic sex appeal and strong screen presence, before making the transition to more developed roles and achieving massive fame under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Harlow's enormous popularity and "laughing vamp" image were in distinct contrast to her personal life, which was marred by disappointment, tragedy, and ultimately her sudden death at the age of 26.

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Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.
--Bertrand Russell