Should All U.S. Citizens Vote?

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Tucson Weather Today


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General Election: November 6, 2012.

Early Voting in Arizona begins October 11, 2012.

Early voting can be both a good thing and and a bad thing. If millions of U.S. citizens vote for a candidate who then (before election day) is found to have previously undisclosed defects, then the early voter has been screwed. Gives weight as to whether or not it is possible, after all, for people to actually "go fornicate themselves."

If, for example, a citizen were to mail in an early ballot even before the debates were presented on television, and then during the debates the candidate for whom the citizen had marked his ballot, well, then there is nothing to be done about it.

Each time I receive my Early Voting ballot I put it aside and later take it down again as reference whenever I get around to looking up the various candidates listed on that ballot.

Information on Arizona Early Voting is HERE


Note: The above destination can also be used to link directly to voting information for all other states.

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New Stuff From My Old Hometown

The Rensselaer Adventures blog this last Saturday had a photo of some Red Ivy growing in the Northwest Indiana area. It's quite interesting if you like to view seasonal or regional wild flowers.

The blog is written by and most of its photos are taken by Robert Schenk, Professor of Economics Emeritus, St. Joseph's College. Rensselaer, Indiana.

Many more photos of Indiana wildflowers can be viewed HERE

The blog is written by and most of its photos are taken by Robert Schenk, Professor of Economics Emeritus, St. Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Indiana.

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WORD FOR TODAY

    
beguile [bih-gahyl]
verb
-  Charm or enchant (someone), sometimes in a deceptive way.
-  Trick (someone) into doing something.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY



Walter Matthau

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Born: Oct. 1, 1920
Died: July 1, 2000

Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie.

Jimmy Carter


Born Oct. 1, 1924
Age: 87 years old

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States (1977–1981) and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. Before he became President, Carter served as a U.S. Naval officer, was a peanut farmer, served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia (1971–1975).

James Whitmore

 Born Oct. 1, 1921
Died: Feb 6, 2009

James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor. Whitmore's first major picture was Battleground, in a role that was turned down by Spencer Tracy, and for which Whitmore was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other major films included Angels in the Outfield (1951 film), The Asphalt Jungle, The Next Voice You Hear, Above and Beyond, Kiss Me, Kate, Them!, Oklahoma!, Black Like Me, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, Planet of the Apes, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and Give 'em Hell, Harry!, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of former U.S. President Harry S Truman. In the film Tora! Tora! Tora! he played the part of Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey.

In the 1960-1961 television season, Whitmore starred in his own crime drama on ABC entitled The Law and Mr. Jones, in the title role

Bonnie Parker
(with Clyde Barrow)

 Born Oct. 1, 1910
Died May 23, 1934

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. The "Barrow Gang" included at times Buck Barrow, Blanche Barrow, Raymond Hamilton, W.D. Jones, Joe Palmer, Ralph Fults, and Henry Methvin. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. Though known today for his dozen-or-so bank robberies, Barrow in fact preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and committed several civilian murders. The couple themselves were eventually ambushed and killed in Louisiana by law officers. Their reputation was cemented in American pop folklore by Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.

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Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.
--Al Capp

Oh! Wait a minute. I almost forgot.

George Carlin is too radical and way too profane for some peoples' tastes. But nobody (well, almost nobody) can watch him perform and listen to his words without laughing... at least once during a ten minute performance.

Don't believe me?

Give it a try . . 

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Unidentified Flying Objects Revisited

Tucson Weather Today

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An ABC News headline reports: A UFO Hovers Over Russians Protesting Vladimir Putin.

Here is the link to the news report with its story, a photo, and a short video.

Such poppycock! But that's our network news for you.

On that same subject, but on a more serious note (I think) I came across a book about UFOs that can be read online. I have only just begun to read it, but I thought I would first reveal its existence for perusal by anyone interested in the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects. You know... in case I find myself growing weary of the subject or become skeptical after further reading in the book. I often do that.

The cover of the book reads:

Report On Unidentified Flying Objects by Edward J. Ruppelt former head of the United States Air Force Project Blue Book Investigating Flying Saucers




Throughout my long lifetime, from 1939 till the present day, I have three times seen a UFO, not necessarily objects of extraterrestrial origin, but certainly in the sense of each being an Unidentified Flying Object.



The first time I saw a UFO was while walking in the late afternoon along the banks of the Iroquois River in Rensselaer, Indiana with my father, my youngest brother, and my cousin Russell. One of those three (don't remember which one) called out, "Hey! Look up there!"

When I did so, I saw a brilliant object that looked about the size of a basketball or big balloon floating East to West along the river. It appeared to be roughly fifty feet in the air, just drifting lazily along with sparks shooting out from it and what seemed to be burning bits of fiery stuff (burning paper?) floating down from it.

Strangely enough, we never thought much of anything special about it. I don't remember ever mentioning it to anyone, nor do I remember any of the others ever speaking about it either.

But it most definitely was an Unidentified Flying Object.

The second time I spotted a UFO was in that same town, where I was employed at the time as an Electric Power Company midnight shift Plant Operator. During those long lonely nights, to get away from the incessant pounding roar of the Diesel Generators and the acrid fuel fumes, I would walk outside for a few moments and breathe in some fresh air in the dark silence of the night. The stars in the sky always drew my gaze upward.

One night while I was out viewing the vast panorama I saw an object that seemed to be about the size of the average star but was a lot brighter and was moving fast from West to East on a trajectory along the inside of the sky's star-filled dome.

I watched it travel along its path all the way across the sky until it reached the far end of its flight and seemed to disappear behind the trees and buildings that hid the far Eastern horizon.

That was in the late 1970s and forever after that I suspected that it had been one of the Earth's communication satellites shooting across the sky in its calculated orbit.

But I'll never know.

My third and last sighting (so far) was, again in Rensselaer, just after a violent thunderstorm. I was walking toward the downtown area when I saw above the flagpole atop the County Courthouse a huge round ball of bright light among the dark clouds. It seemed to be hovering high above the flagpole. Believe it or not, I had my camera with me and snapped a trio of pictures. And all three of them developed nicely.

Well... I took the pictures to the local daily newspaper, the Rensselaer Republican, and told the reporter my story. The next day one of the pictures and my story appeared on the front page. Of course, the caption under the picture was: "UFO sighted above courthouse? No, just a curious weather phenomenon generated by yesterday's storm."

Those are the stories of my three personal encounters with UFOs.

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"Of course it is possible that UFO's really do contain aliens as many people believe, and the Government is hushing it up."
--Professor Stephen Hawking

"We must insist upon full access to disks recovered. For instance, in the LA case the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination."
--J Edgar Hoover

"I don't laugh at people any more when they say they've seen UFOs. I've seen one myself!"
--President Jimmy Carter (1976)

"I looked out the window and saw this white light. It was zigzagging around. I went up to the pilot and said, Have you ever seen anything like that? He was shocked and he said, "Nope." And I said to him: "Let's follow it!" We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light. We followed it to Bakersfield, and all of a sudden to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens. When I got off the plane I told Nancy all about it."
--President Ronald Reagen

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the governments knowledge of extraterrestrial UFOs at this time. I am still personally being briefed on the subject!"
--President Richard M. Nixon

Something Completely Different

Tucson Weather Today

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My Facebook page -- but I don't know if it is accessible or not to non-members.

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Why do I continue to write in this blog? Good question. Its meager content is neither prolific nor profound but is instead no more than quick random rambles of sporadic thoughts that occur to me at the instant of composition. And I know that these inane bits I write have very few readers.

If there is one positive thing I can say about the blog it is that it serves to illustrate what is on my mind at each particular instant as I write, although that's probably not exactly a smart idea.

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English Grammar

Even though I make mistakes in grammar, I am somewhat obsessed with correct usage. For instance:

While watching TV I noticed on a Boeng commercial that an employee stated that the manufacturing of jet aircraft is literally making the world smaller. Literally? Really? Is the planet actually made physically smaller in size because of speed of travel? Of course not. The speaker should have said figuratively making the world smaller.


My new word of the day is bellicose

bellicose
Adjective:
Demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight.
Synonyms:
warlike - combative - militant


Along with the above, I often see the words forcible and forceful used and I found myself wondering what the difference is in the definitions of them. I looked them up and found: These words sometimes overlap, but generally "forceful" means "powerful" ('he imposed his forceful personality on the lions') while "forcible" must be used instead to describe the use of force ('the burglar made a forcible entry into the apartment').

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One of the blogs I view every single day is Rensselaer Adventures, and sometimes it features photos and text regarding areas labeled 'not Rensselaer' -- such as one posting dedicated to the small town of Fowler, Indiana. In case someone might be interested in the town.

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Rensselaer, IN - My Hometown

Tucson Weather Today

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Little Cousin Jasper
By James Whitcomb Riley


Little Cousin Jasper, he
Don't live in this town, like me -
He lives 'way to Rensselaer,
An' ist comes to visit here.

He says 'at our court-house square
Ain't nigh big as theirn is there!-
He says there town's big as four
Er five towns like this, an' more!

He says ef his folks moved here
He'd cry to leave Rensselaer
'Cause they's prairie ther, an' Lakes,
An' wile-ducks an' rattlesnakes!

Yes, 'n' Jasper he says they
Got a brass band there, an' play
On it, an' march up an down
An' all over round the town!

Wisht our town ain't like it is! -
Wisht it's ist as big as his!
Wisht 'at his folks they'd move here,
An we'd move to Rensselaer!
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Back Home Again, In Indiana

Tucson Weather Today

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A Friend back in Indiana sent me a
Hoosier History Lesson

Tomato juice was first served at a French Lick, Indiana hotel in 1925.
The first tomato juice factory was also in French Lick, IN.
World famous basketball star Larry Bird lives in French Lick, IN.
The world's largest orchid species collection is found at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
The first regulated speed limit (20 - 25 mph!) was initiated on Indiana roads in 1921.
The steepest railroad grade in the world is in Madison, Indiana.
An average of 400 funnel clouds are sighted each year in Indiana.
The city of Gary, Indiana, was built on fill brought from the bottom of Lake Michigan through suction pipes.
There are only two Adams fireplaces in the United States. One is in the White House and the other in the Diner Home in Indiana.
The Indianapolis Methodist Hospital is the largest Hospital in the Midwest.
One of the first complete bathrooms in Indianapolis was in the home of Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley.
The career of Dorothy Lamour was launched in Indianapolis .
Aviatrix Amelia Earhart was once a Professor at Purdue University.
Crown Hill Cemetery ( Indianapolis ) is the largest cemetery in the U.S.
The library in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, houses one of the largest genealogy libraries in America.
Wabash, Indiana, was the first electrified city in the U.S.
Pendleton, Indiana, was the site of the first hanging of a white man for killing Indians.
The Courthouse roof in Greensburg, Indiana, has a tree growing from it.
The world's first transistor radio Regency TR 1, price $ 49.95 was made in Indianapolis.
Clark Gable and wife Carole Lombard (born in Fort Wayne, IN ) honeymooned at Lake BarBee near Warsaw, Indiana.
The American Beauty Rose was developed at Richmond, Indiana.
Elkhart, Indiana, is the band instrument capitol of the World.
Frank Sinatra first sang with the Tommy Dorsey band at the Lyric Theater in Indianapolis.
U.S. 231 is the longest highway in Indiana (231miles).
Johnny Appleseed is buried at Fort Wayne, under an apple tree.
The main station of the Underground Railroad was in Fountain County, Indiana.
There are 154 acres of sculpture gardens and trails at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Nancy Hanks Lincoln is buried in Posey County, Indiana.
Pendleton, Indiana was the site of the 'Fall Creek Massacre'. A museum housing 3500 artifacts of pioneer heritage now exists on that site.
A buzz bomb (German - WWII), believed to be the only one on public display in the nation, can be found on the Putnam County Courthouse lawn in Greencastle.
Roberta Turpin Willett was born in Indiana .
James Dean was born and is buried in Fairmount Indiana.
The world's tallest woman lived in Indiana.
Red Skelton was born in Vincennes, Indiana,
Mae West and Claude Akins were from Bedford, Indiana.
The inventor of the television, Philo T. Farnsworth, lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Forrest Tucker was from Plainfield, Indiana.
Bob Greise is from Evansville, Indiana and was quarterback at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN.
Toni Tenille (of The Captain and Tenille) is from Indiana.
Florence Henderson is from Indiana.
The much sought-after Hoosier Cabinets are an Indiana product.
90% of the world's popcorn is grown in Indiana.
The Jackson Five are from Gary, Indiana.
The birthplace of the automobile, the pneumatic rubber tire, the aluminum casting process, stainless steel and the first push-button car radio was in Kokomo, Indiana.
Frank Borman, NASA astronaut, was born in Gary, Indiana
Jerry Ross, NASA astronaut was born in Crown Point, Indiana
Virgil Grissom, NASA astronaut was born in Mitchell, Indiana
and . . .
Charles Gene Chambers was born in Rensselaer, Indiana.

Era Of Coal: Bins, Buckets, And Shovels

The picture below was featured in Rensselaer Adventures Jan. 19, 2010 with its owner writing about how coal is still being used at St. Joseph's College, located on the south side of Rensselaer, Indiana.

According to the author, SJC still uses coal in its power plant, which does not produce any electricity but which does produce the heat and hot water that the campus uses.

I can remember the days when I was a raggedy little urchin living at the intersection of Angelica and Melville in Rensselaer back in the 1940s. We had a "coal-bin" in our basement with big chunks of coal that we used to have to break up with a hammer and then carry the little chips and nuggets over in a "coal-bucket" to feed the small iron stove that heated the water for our bathroom and kitchen.

Our old coal bucket looked like this one.

Pretty heavy load for an eight-year-old.

Sometimes in the winter the ashes would accumulate, block the draft, and the fire would go out. And it was my job to get the ashes scooped out, the stove filled back up, lit, and roaring hot again.

I would have to go down there in the cold basement, break up one of the big chunks of coal, carry it over to the stove, lift the top lid, and fill the stove about half-full of coal and a bunch of dried-up old corncobs from the pile out in the back yard and a few sticks of kindling wood. Then I'd pour a tiny bit of coal-oil on all that and then light a page of news-print with one of the big kitchen matches and get the dang-blasted thing started up to burning again.

I scooped out the ashes with

a shovel like this one:

Scooping out those powdery ashes was the worst part of the chore. They would come spilling out the bottom grate and rise up in a white dusty cloud around my head, getting in my eyes and my nose and my mouth.

No matter how careful I was, the ashes always managed to find their way in my mouth and I'd swallow some, and then I'd cough and choke and spit until I could finally breathe again.

That was more than sixty years ago and when I think about it I can still taste those gosh-darned ashes.

My dad used to tell of the old days just after the end of The Great Depression when he got a job scooping coal into the boilers that provided steam to heat the County Jail, Courthouse, and Hospital. He was paid a dollar for each 12-hour night. And was overjoyed to have the job.

He also spoke of The Great Depression when he was young and his family could not afford to feed him. He would get up in the middle of the night in the Fall to walk several miles to a certain farm, arriving at daybreak. The farm's owner had agreed to furnish Dad's breakfast in return for his harnessing up the teams of horses and mules that the hired-hands would be using for the day's harvesting.

Dad would then walk back to town to search for and gather up of stray chucks of coal along the Monon railroad tracks that had spilled from the coal-carrying cars of passing trains of the good old Monon Railroad Line

That coal and scrounged scraps of wood and corncobs from piles at nearby farms was what they used to heat their rented home. Sometimes he would trade some of the pieces of coal for an apple or a potato.

A while after that was when, he became employed by the county to scoop coal into the boilers that provided steam to heat the Jasper County Jail, Courthouse, and Hospital. He was paid a dollar for each 12-hour night. But I already mentioned that.

Jasper County Hospital (circa 1950)

Jasper County Courthouse

My Dad, Jesse William Chambers

Born in Rensselaer in January of

1906 and died there in May 1975.

Courthouse Custodian 30+ years.

People will not look forward to posterity

who never look backward to their ancestors.

--Edmund Burke