In The Name Of NASA

     

Tucson Weather Today

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176 pounds


In a recent NASA bulletin I read: "Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's (ESA's) XMM-Newton to show a supermassive black hole six billion light years from Earth is spinning extremely rapidly."

That, of course, may not be true as stated. That specific Black Hole was perhaps spinning extremely rapidly, but if so, it occurred approximately six billion years ago. Who knows if it is still spinning extremely rapidly at this exact instant in time? Or if it even still exists this year, when it was first observed?

The bulletin contains a great deal of information, but I can't help wondering how these scientists can be so sure they are correct, and all things are as they seem. They are just so damned positive that their mathematics-based conclusions are facts instead of merely conjecture.

Read more than you probably want to know at the link below.

Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Why should I believe these pronouncements (theories?) any more than I would believe that a Jewish man named Jesus was born from the loins of a virgin named Mary and grew up as a human being living among men and women but was in reality a supposedly incarnate member of a trio of divine beings within a single entity who bears the name of Jehovah? Because the pronouncement was made by scientists in the name of science?

I guess you just gotta have faith.

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Did You Know . . .?

Smoking pot (cannabis) in your teens can lead to a decline in I.Q. not seen in those who start smoking it as adults.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1923 The New Republic published Robert Frost's poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." The poem, beginning with the famous line "Whose woods these are, I think I know. His house is in the village though," has introduced millions of American students to poetry.

Frost tried unsuccessfully to run a New England farm, and the family, which soon included four children, struggled with poverty for two decades. Frost became more and more depressed, perhaps even suicidal, and in 1912 he moved his family to England to make a fresh start. There he concentrated on his poetry.

Although Frost never graduated from a university, he had collected 44 honorary degrees before he died in 1963.

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WORD FOR TODAY

celebrity
noun
1. A famous person.
2. Renown; fame.

Wikipedia says a celebrity is a person, who has a prominent profile in day-to-day media and because of this commands some degree of public fascination and influence. A celebrity is usually expected to be wealthy (commonly denoted as a person with fame and fortune), implied with great popular appeal, prominence in a particular field, and is easily recognized by the general public.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Willard Herman Scott, Jr.

(born March 7, 1934)

Willard Scott is an American actor, author, media personality, clown, and comedian, best known for his TV work on The Today Show and as the creator and original portrayer of Ronald McDonald.

Note: I once saw Willard walking by me. I called out, "Willard Scott!" He smiled, waved, and said, "How ya' doin', Pardner?"

Laura Prepon

(born March 7, 1980)

Laura Prepon is an American actress, known for her role as Donna Pinciotti in all eight seasons of the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. She is also known for the role of Hannah Daniels on the ABC drama October Road. Following That '70s Show, Prepon worked mainly in television, guest-starring in episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Medium, and Castle. In 2011, Prepon was cast in the lead role of Chelsea in the short-lived sitcom drama Are You There, Chelsea?, based on Chelsea Handler's 2008 book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. She portrays Alex Vause in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.

John Heard, Jr.

(born March 7, 1945)

John Heard is an American actor known for his recurring role as Peter McCallister, in the first two installments of the Home Alone movie series. He starred or was featured in films including Cutter's Way, Chilly Scenes of Winter, Cat People, The Milagro Beanfield War, The Pelican Brief, and Big, and the TV-movie Sharknado.

Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer

(born March 7, 1974)

Jenna Fischer is an American actress and director. She is known for her portrayal of Pam Halpert (née Beesly) on the NBC situation comedy The Office. She has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, The Promotion, and Hall Pass.

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I am utterly bored by celebrity interviews. Most celebrities are devoid of interest.
--Roger Ebert

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What Is Truth?

     

Tucson Weather Today

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176 pounds


Over at The Writer's Almanac I read a short piece about novelist Frank Norris and was both surprised and excited by something he said.

He said, "I never truckled; I never took off the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies. By God, I told them the truth. They liked it or they didn't like it. What had that to do with me? I told them the Truth; I knew it for the Truth then, I know it for the Truth now."

There are some things I most desperately want to say (in writing) but for various reasons (surely due to cowardice) I have been unable to do. I tell myself that if I were to write the truth that I know to be true I would bring emotional harm to some of those people who are closest to me. So, I do not write that truth. I am not writing it even to then keep it secreted inside myself, and thereby bringing harm to no one, no one of course except to myself.

One could always expose this truth by way of composing a fictional story,  or even a complete novel or series of stories or novels. But who would be fooled by doing so? The truth is the truth. The story would therefore speak for itself. And again, people would be hurt by it.

According to Frank Norris though, he believed that a novel should serve a moral purpose. "The novel with a purpose," he explained, "brings the tragedies and griefs of others to notice" and "proves that injustice, crime, and inequality do exist."

So true. Or so I believe.

So why do I sit idly by and wasted my time and waste my life writing about piddly things and fictional fancies when there is so much truth to me exposed?

Who knows?

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Did You Know . . .?

We are attracted to the scent of people genetically different from us to avoid incest.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1899, the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin registered Aspirin, the brand name for acetylsalicylic acid, on behalf of the German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer & Co. Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow trees.

Aspirin was made available in tablet form and without a prescription in 1915.

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WORD FOR TODAY

veracity
noun
1. Adherence to the truth; truthfulness.
2. Conformity to fact or truth; accuracy or precision.
3. Something that is true.

Veracity is the correspondence of the outward expression given to thought with the thought itself. It must not be confused with verbal truth (veritas locutionis), which is the correspondence of the outward or verbal expression with the thing that it is intended to express.

Note: The statement given just above is questionable, or at least debatable.
.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Robert Reiner

(born March 6, 1947)

Rob Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Michael Stivic, son-in-law of Archie and Edith Bunker  on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s. As a director, Reiner was recognized by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) with nominations for Stand by Me, When Harry Met Sally..., and A Few Good Men. He also directed Misery, The Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap.

Constance Elaine "Connie" Britton

(born March 6, 1967)

Connie Britton is an American actress. Britton is most well known for her roles as Nikki Faber on the ABC sitcom Spin City (1996–2000); as Tami Taylor on the NBC/DirecTV sports drama Friday Night Lights (2006–2011) and as Vivien Harmon in the FX horror-drama series American Horror Story (2011). Her most notable films are Friday Night Lights and A Nightmare on Elm Street. In 2012, she began playing the leading role of Rayna Jaymes in the ABC musical drama series Nashville.

John F. Stossel

(born March 6, 1947)

John Stossel is an American consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author, and libertarian. In October 2009, Stossel left his long-time home on ABC News to join the Fox Business Channel and Fox News Channel. He hosts a weekly news show on Fox Business, Stossel, which debuted on December 10, 2009. The show airs in prime time every Thursday, repeating on both Saturdays and Sundays. Stossel also regularly provides analysis, appearing on various Fox News shows, including weekly appearances on The O'Reilly Factor, in addition to writing the Fox News Blog, "John Stossel's Take". Since February 2011, Stossel has also become a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist.

Moira Kelly

(born March 6, 1968)

Moira Kelly is an American actress. She played Dorothy Day in Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story, Kate Moseley in the 1992 film The Cutting Edge, as well as single mother Karen Roe on the teen drama One Tree Hill, White House media consultant Mandy Hampton in the first season of The West Wing, and for voicing Nala in The Lion King and its sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

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"The law has nothing to do with justice, and injustice can't be left unchallenged. So I decided to be a writer. Writing can't change the world overnight, but writing may have an enormous effect over time, over the long haul."
--Leslie Marmon Silko

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3-5-14

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

177 pounds

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Did You Know . . .?

Goldfish can see both infrared and ultraviolet light

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On March 5, 1770, a mob of American colonists gathered in Boston and began taunting the British soldiers guarding the building. The protesters, who called themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by British troops, who were sent to Boston to enforce unpopular taxation. British Captain Thomas Preston, the commanding officer ordered his men to fix their bayonets and join the guard outside the building. The colonists responded by throwing snowballs and other objects at the British regulars,

Private Hugh Montgomery was hit, leading him to discharge his rifle at the crowd. The other soldiers began firing and when the smoke cleared, five colonists were dead or dying -- Crispus Attucks, Patrick Carr, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, and James Caldwell -- and three more were injured. The deaths of the five men are regarded by some historians as the first fatalities in the American Revolutionary War.

The British soldiers were put on trial. When the trial ended, two British soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and had their thumbs branded with an "M" for murder as punishment.

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WORD FOR TODAY

feckless  [FEK-luhs]
adjective
1. Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.
2. Careless and irresponsible.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told the annual gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday that Obama has “a feckless foreign policy where nobody believes in America’s strength anymore.

Washington Post

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Penn Fraser Jillette

(born March 5, 1955)

Penn Jillette is an American illusionist, comedian, musician, inventor, actor, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller in the team Penn & Teller. He is also known for his advocacy of atheism, scientific skepticism, libertarianism and free-market capitalism.

Erika "Riki" Lindhome

(born March 5, 1979)

Riki Lindhome is an American actress, comedian and musician. She is best known for television roles in shows including Gilmore Girls, House, The Big Bang Theory and United States of Tara

Dean Stockwell

(born March 5, 1936)

Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played the lead role in Meyer Levin's Compulsion, from a novel based on the true-life story of Leopold and Loeb. More recently he became widely known for television roles, playing Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in the 1989–1993 television series Quantum Leap, and Brother Cavil in the Sci Fi Channel 21st century revival of Battlestar Galactica.

Jolene King Blalock

(born March 5, 1975)

Jolene Blalock is an American film and television actress and model, perhaps best known for playing the Vulcan T'Pol on the UPN science fiction series Star Trek: Enterprise. She is a regular guest star in television films and series and has appeared in a few feature films.

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"It was not that he was feckless, more that he had simply not been around the day they handed out feck."
--Neil Gaiman

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The Drone

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

178 pounds


My good friend Anthony V. Toscano seems to have recovered enough to begin sharing his vision of what it was (and is) like to live an examined life on planet Earth. It's good to have him back.


I am working on another extremely short fiction story, so I must get back to it.

Oh, well... I might as well go ahead and publish it now, here on the blog. It's just a 150 word first rough draft of a piece of micro-fiction.

THE DRONE

The drone flew over unobserved well above the gathered group of terrorists. Their leader on the ground chose four of his freedom fighters and handed each of them one of the newest types of explosive vests, which they donned in silence.

The drone returned.

The four vested men failed to look up as they conversed in lowered tones.

The drone circled momentarily above, then locked itself securely upon its target.

The men bowed their heads in sincere reverence.

The drone soared, dipped, and then initiated a steep dive, making a bee line for its final destination.

The men took no notice whatsoever.

The drone encountered the virgin queen and deftly deposited its load of sperm; then its barbed sex organ, the drone’s most personal apparatus and a significant part of its internal anatomy was torn away, and the hapless creature expired an fell to earth.

The men once again took no notice.


Copyright 2014
Gene Chambers
All Rights Reserved

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Did You Know . . .?

A 75 year old Georgian woman was digging for copper wires to sell. She accidentally sliced into a fiber optic cable with her shovel and left the entire country of Armenia without internet for 12 hours.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1944 Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, the head of Murder, Inc., was executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Lepke was the leader of the country's largest crime syndicate throughout the 1930s and was making nearly $50 million a year from his various enterprises. His downfall came when several members of his notorious killing squad turned into witnesses for the government.

Lepke started Murder, Inc. in 1933. Murder, Inc. was authorized to kill anyone (approved by the syndicate) for a profit. With his hit squad protecting him from rivals and paid-off judges and officers keeping him out of jail, Lepke was America's premier criminal until he was betrayed by his own men. Reportedly, he was able to order final hits on his betrayers from jail before his execution.

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WORD FOR TODAY

pilgrimage
noun
1. A journey to a sacred place or shrine.
2. A long journey or search, especially one of exalted purpose or moral significance.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Patricia Helen Heaton

(born March 4, 1958)

Patricia Heaton is an American actress and producer. She is known for portraying Debra Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996 to 2005, for which she won two Emmy Awards and as Frances "Frankie" Heck on the ABC sitcom The Middle.

Adrian George Zmed

(born March 14, 1954)

Adrian Zmed is an American television personality and film actor noted for the roles of "Johnny Nogerelli" in Grease 2 and "Officer Vince Romano" in the T.J. Hooker television series.

Kay Ann Lenz

(born March 4, 1953)

Kay Lenz, is an American actress. A former child performer, Lenz has worked primarily in television, appearing in such television shows as The Andy Griffith Show, Opie's Group (1967) as well as in stage productions. She made a brief appearance in the film American Graffiti (1973). She achieved recognition for her title-role performance as the free spirit who captivates William Holden in Breezy, directed by Clint Eastwood.

Patricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit

(born 4 March 1968)

Patsy Kensit is an English actress, singer, model and former child star, known for her television and film appearances; her films include Lethal Weapon 2. She has been married to rock stars Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, and fronted the band Eighth Wonder. In May 2004, she returned to television acting, taking the role of Sadie King in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.

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A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
--George Bernard Shaw

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Nostalgic Tech School Happenings

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

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

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Guest Blogger 3-2-14

     

The End Begins

I was wrong.

The kitchen work began over the weekend, with notification on Friday that the construction crew would tear apart the old stuff on Monday, which they did. More than the cupboard is bare; the entire kitchen is gone!

I never realized how much space there really is in the kitchen. Shame we gotta put all that stuff back in.

For the next week and a half, approximately, I'll be living on frozen food and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. Come to think of it, that's not too much different from my normal days.

I keep finding myself going in there for a glass of water or to wash my hands, and it still shocks me to come around that corner to find nothing there. Tomorrow, the walls get patched and I think the floor gets leveled (where the old cabinets and various appliances were is below the level of the linoleum, a fact which drives the Maytag man batty whenever he has to work on the dishwasher). Then the new cabinets go in. After that, the countertops, sink, appliances, etc. need to be put in and the place needs to be painted. It should be an interesting process to watch.

After the kitchen is back to being usable, I'll be planning the first annual Bash.


Copyright 2013 Michelle Hakala
http://www.winebird.com/

   

Flash Fiction

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

177 pounds


I am not particularly satisfied with the quality of my little Flash Fiction story.

But here it is, anyway.

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Road Rage - Present Day

When he was about 15 miles from home after his first vacation in 12 years, Drago Scheidler quickly changed lanes, then braked and settled into the old familiar snail's pace of D.C.'s late afternoon traffic gridlock. It would be good to get back to work tomorrow, back in uniform and back in the patrol car.

A loud bang to his left caused Drago to swing his head to face the car's window. Outside, looking in, a huge gorilla of a man stood brandishing a dull black handgun.

Drago thumbed the window open, and then could hear the intruder who was ranting, "Ass hole! You cut me off."

"Calm down, sir," Drago said. His hand moved stealthily into the unzipped travel bag beside him on the seat, then reemerged holding his service pistol, which he held concealed by his side.

"Calm down, shit!" The man screamed. Who's gonna pay for the damage."

Just then another man appeared and he too was waving a gun in the air, a chrome-plated long-barreled six shooter. "Que pasa cabrones, what's happening?" he called out.

"This asshole cut me off," said the first man. "And he's not going to get away with it."

The second man swung his attention to Drago and said, "Hey! -- You insured, Man? You be paying for the damages to the brutha's ride, Man?"

"What damages?" Drago enquired softly.

The first man said, "Not to my car, Dude, damage to my nerves. And for downright disrespect. White mothuhfucka. Got no business..."

Drago, speaking clearly and slowly in a low register said, "The two of you need to calm down."

Both of the men standing amongst the lanes of stalled city traffic turned toward Drago, their weapons coming up to point directly at his face.

Whereupon Drago lifted his service pistol and squeezed its trigger twice, gently and without jerking, as he had been trained to do.

A small hole appeared between the eyes of the first man, who dropped his gun and sank to the street's surface.

The second man also released his grip on his weapon as he grabbed for his smashed nose through which the bullet had entered his brain. He too fell flat on his face.

"Oh Christ," Drago said. "Wouldn't you know it. Just back home and right away a ton of paperwork."


Copyright 2014
Gene Chambers
All Rights Reserved

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Did You Know . . .?

In Flash Fiction, both the story and the title should have meaning and pack a punch.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On  this day in 1966, Venera 3, a Soviet probe launched from Kazakhstan on November 15, 1965, collided with Venus. Although Venera 3 failed in its mission to measure the Venusian atmosphere, it was the first unmanned spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet. Four years earlier, the U.S. probe Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to pass close enough to Venus to take scientific measurements of the planet, discovering surface temperatures in excess of 800 degrees Fahrenheit on its surface.

In 1967, Venera 4 succeeded where Venera 3 failed, successfully ejecting several scientific instruments, including a thermometer, a barometer, an atmospheric density gauge, and gas analyzers, into Venus' atmosphere. Then, in 1970, Venera 7 became the first spacecraft created by humans to soft-land on Venus, successfully sending back images and data for 23 minutes before succumbing to the extremely high temperature and atmospheric pressure found on the planet's surface.

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WORD FOR TODAY

amenable  [uh-MEEN- uh-buhl or uh-MEHN- uh-buhl]
adjective
1. Responsive to advice, authority, or suggestion; willing.
2. Responsible to higher authority; accountable.
3. Susceptible or open, as to testing or criticism.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Ronald William "Ron" Howard

(born March 1, 1954)

Ron Howard is an American film director, producer and actor. He came to prominence playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years. He appeared in the films The Music Man in 1962, American Graffiti in 1973, and The Shootist in 1976.

Catherine Bach

(born March 1, 1954)

Catherine Bach is an American actress. She is known for playing Daisy Duke in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard and Margo Dutton in African Skies. In 2012, she joined the cast of the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Anita Lawson.

Alan Jeffery Thicke

(born March 1, 1947)

Alan Thicke is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is best known for his role as Jason Seaver, the father on the ABC television series Growing Pains. He is the father of actor Brennan Thicke and singer Robin Thicke.

Lana Wood

(born March 1, 1946)

Lana Wood is an American actress and producer born to Russian parents, Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko. Her sister was the late actress Natalie Wood.

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"Old or new, fiction can be minimalist in any or all of several ways."
--John Barth

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