NOTHING lasts FOREVER.
At seventy-six and a half, I've outlasted a LOT of people; some of whom I've known personally, and many others I've known of, greatly admired, and am saddened at their absence.
Not a bad run at all; could have been worse. :-)
-
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Thursday, November 15, 2018
A Roundel ...
... for folks who just DON'T take themselves all THAT seriously. ;-)
From the Royal Australian Air Force ( https://www.airforce.gov.au/about-us/your-air-force/roundel ) ...
I think it takes SOME VERY COOL GUYS to adopt something like THIS to go on their warbirds; guys who just DON'T take themselves all THAT seriously. ;-)
From the Royal Australian Air Force ( https://www.airforce.gov.au/about-us/your-air-force/roundel ) ...
A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. In order to identify aircraft, the Royal Australian Air Force initially adopted the Royal Air Force's red, white and blue roundel.
During World War II, when an 11 Squadron Catalina was mistaken for a Japanese aircraft by a United States Navy Wildcat, the red inner circle was removed, but re-introduced after the war.
On 2 July 1956, the red kangaroo ‘in motion' was chosen as the most popular centrepiece from a range of other options (including the Southern Cross, a boomerang and a sprig of wattle). It has been displayed with pride, not only on aircraft, but on various promotional material since 1982.
The kangaroo within the Air Force Roundel always faces to the left except when used on aircraft or vehicles, when the kangaroo should always face the front of the aircraft or vehicle.
Copyright
Copyright restrictions apply to the use of any Royal Australian Air Force logo. They are protected nationally and internationally by the Defence Act 1903, Trade Marks Act 1995 and the Chester Herald Act 1939.
-
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
I'm gettin' too OLD for this sh*t!!!
- Yesterday (Tuesday, 06 NOV 2018) I had two appointments at the VA Eye Clinic.
To use Metrolift, one needs to make a reservation at least a day before. When I remembered (Monday) that I had NOT done so, it was already just past 5 PM, and the reservation office was closed.
Taxi fare would have been so expensive that I took a chance and used the regular buses (FREE with the special card I have because of my age and condition), hoping the new walker mentioned in my My NEWEST Toy ... post, would let me handle the bus stops (some of which had broken pavement) without injury.
It DID!!!
On my return trip, I switched to another bus which dropped me off at the polling station so I could vote (Normally, I would wade through all the different races, BUT; because of the recent behavior of a certain unmentionable party, STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN!!!).
I then walked several blocks over to the Kroger near my apartment for some groceries, only AFTERWARDS using a taxi to get home (just TOO MUCH of a load to carry that far).
Yesterday was more walking than I've done in MONTHS, and that walker made it POSSIBLE.
BUT, it DOESN'T prevent FATIGUE. Several times I felt about to COLLAPSE, even in my apartment afterwards. I was so tired when I hit the sack, I really wondered if I WOULD wake up the next morning.
I suppose I'm just gonna have to EASE into it.
This may all be academic; I'm STILL RUNNING OUT OF MONEY and find it NECESSARY to BEG for donations AGAIN. PLEASE!!!
I tell the folks at the VA about this; that the ONLY thing that could SAVE me in the long run is to become EMPLOYABLE. They nod and smile; but I can SEE they do NOT really comprehend.
How COULD they? This is BEYOND any experience THEY'VE ever had. HOW could running out of money KILL anyone in THIS country?
I hope they NEVER find out; I wouldn't wish THAT understanding on ANYONE. :(
-
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
My NEWEST Toy ...
... sometimes, LIFE just SUCKS!!! :(
Today (Wednesday, 31 October 2018) I had a Physical Therapy interview at the VA hospital, and came home with THIS ...
They had noticed my DIFFICULTIES with walking on less than perfect terrain, and were DETERMINED that THAT simple act NOT result in my death.
It really DOES help (a LOT), but for SOME (unfathomable) reason, I feel it kinda APPROPRIATE that I acquired it ON HALLOWEEN. Sigh ... ;-)
-
Today (Wednesday, 31 October 2018) I had a Physical Therapy interview at the VA hospital, and came home with THIS ...
They had noticed my DIFFICULTIES with walking on less than perfect terrain, and were DETERMINED that THAT simple act NOT result in my death.
It really DOES help (a LOT), but for SOME (unfathomable) reason, I feel it kinda APPROPRIATE that I acquired it ON HALLOWEEN. Sigh ... ;-)
-
Monday, October 29, 2018
Revisiting "The HORROR - NO TV - :(" ...
On Wednesday, 17 OCT 2018, I sent THIS email to all my friends ..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The HORROR - NO TV - :(
DIED; and I CAN'T AFFORD to DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
MAY seem TRIVIAL; but when you can BARELY even get about, it DOES kinda SUCK.
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!! :(
Got THIS from a WONDERFUL gal who's donated a LOT to me ...
Hey Paul-what size tv do you have?
I answered ...
A 27" Sony Trinitron WEGA KV-27V42 that I got from Sears in 2001. It's a MONSTER, weighing about a hundred lbs. When I moved into my current apartment in 2007, I managed to lift it onto the heavy duty steel shelving I used for a stand THEN, but I'd probably KILL myself trying to handle it in my condition NOW; so I'll just call the leasing office and let one of their maintenance people take care of it. The FUN part is FINDING something, and THEN going going out to GET it and bring it back when going ANYWHERE is SUCH a HASSLE. ;-)
Her follow up ...
Paul-I would happily buy you a new tv :=). Why don't you pick something out online and I will order it and have it delivered to you? I'm a best buy or sears/Kmart fan (since looks like they are going out of business :-( ) if you could find something there or even macys-lots of coupons :=). Or amazon ... What do you say?
I replied ...
I may take you up on that. I'll see what I can find on Best Buy's site; need to check specifications to be sure it has the right connectors. I'll try to get back to you in a few days. Thanks.
BUT ...
My initial email was slightly exaggerated; instead of "DIED", I should have said "DYING". I REALLY believed that it WAS.
What was happening was more and more frequent LOSS of video for five to ten seconds followed by its return. I felt this was a symptom of impending FAILURE of that 17+ year old picture tube.
It's STOPPED doing that, and if that monster is STABLE, I'm content to simply STAY with it for NOW.
That gal has helped me with donations SO MUCH, I regret that she can't claim me as a dependent on her income taxes. I CAN'T (and WON'T) add THIS to her burdens.
Of course, THIS POSTING could JINX EVERYTHING. We'll see. ;-)
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The HORROR - NO TV - :(
DIED; and I CAN'T AFFORD to DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
MAY seem TRIVIAL; but when you can BARELY even get about, it DOES kinda SUCK.
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!! :(
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.Got THIS from a WONDERFUL gal who's donated a LOT to me ...
Hey Paul-what size tv do you have?
I answered ...
A 27" Sony Trinitron WEGA KV-27V42 that I got from Sears in 2001. It's a MONSTER, weighing about a hundred lbs. When I moved into my current apartment in 2007, I managed to lift it onto the heavy duty steel shelving I used for a stand THEN, but I'd probably KILL myself trying to handle it in my condition NOW; so I'll just call the leasing office and let one of their maintenance people take care of it. The FUN part is FINDING something, and THEN going going out to GET it and bring it back when going ANYWHERE is SUCH a HASSLE. ;-)
Her follow up ...
Paul-I would happily buy you a new tv :=). Why don't you pick something out online and I will order it and have it delivered to you? I'm a best buy or sears/Kmart fan (since looks like they are going out of business :-( ) if you could find something there or even macys-lots of coupons :=). Or amazon ... What do you say?
I replied ...
I may take you up on that. I'll see what I can find on Best Buy's site; need to check specifications to be sure it has the right connectors. I'll try to get back to you in a few days. Thanks.
BUT ...
My initial email was slightly exaggerated; instead of "DIED", I should have said "DYING". I REALLY believed that it WAS.
What was happening was more and more frequent LOSS of video for five to ten seconds followed by its return. I felt this was a symptom of impending FAILURE of that 17+ year old picture tube.
It's STOPPED doing that, and if that monster is STABLE, I'm content to simply STAY with it for NOW.
That gal has helped me with donations SO MUCH, I regret that she can't claim me as a dependent on her income taxes. I CAN'T (and WON'T) add THIS to her burdens.
Of course, THIS POSTING could JINX EVERYTHING. We'll see. ;-)
-
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
The Female of the Species ...
... is more more deadly than the male.
The Female of the Species
Rudyard Kipling - 1911
When the Himalayan peasant
meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster,
who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted
rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
When Nag the basking cobra
hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways
and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion
where she camps beside the trail.
For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
When the early Jesuit fathers
preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered
from the vengeance of the squaws.
Twas the women, not the warriors,
turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
Man's timid heart is bursting
with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him
isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husbands,
each confirms the other's tale—
The female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
Man, a bear in most relations—
worm and savage otherwise,—
Man propounds negotiations,
Man accepts the compromise.
Very rarely will he squarely
push the logic of a fact
To its ultimate conclusion
in unmitigated act.
Fear, or foolishness, impels him,
ere he lay the wicked low,
To concede some form of trial
even to his fiercest foe.
Mirth obscene diverts his anger—
Doubt and Pity oft perplex
Him in dealing with an issue—
to the scandal of The Sex!
But the Woman that God gave him,
every fibre of her frame
Proves her launched for one sole issue,
armed and engined for the same;
And to serve that single issue,
lest the generations fail,
The female of the species
must be deadlier than the male.
She who faces Death by torture
for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity—
must not swerve for fact or jest.
These be purely male diversions—
not in these her honour dwells—
She the Other Law we live by,
is that Law and nothing else.
She can bring no more to living
than the powers that make her great
As the Mother of the Infant
and the Mistress of the Mate.
And when Babe and Man are lacking
and she strides unclaimed to claim
Her right as femme (and baron),
her equipment is the same.
She is wedded to convictions—
in default of grosser ties;
Her contentions are her children,
Heaven help him who denies!—
He will meet no suave discussion,
but the instant, white-hot, wild,
Wakened female of the species
warring as for spouse and child.
Unprovoked and awful charges—
even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—
even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection
of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish—
like the Jesuit with the squaw!
So it comes that Man, the coward,
when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council,
dare not leave a place for her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience,
he uplifts his erring hands
To some God of Abstract Justice—
which no woman understands.
And Man knows it! Knows, moreover,
that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—
shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him,
and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species
is more deadly than the Male.
-
The Female of the Species
Rudyard Kipling - 1911
When the Himalayan peasant
meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster,
who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted
rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
When Nag the basking cobra
hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways
and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion
where she camps beside the trail.
For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
When the early Jesuit fathers
preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered
from the vengeance of the squaws.
Twas the women, not the warriors,
turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
Man's timid heart is bursting
with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him
isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husbands,
each confirms the other's tale—
The female of the species
is more deadly than the male.
Man, a bear in most relations—
worm and savage otherwise,—
Man propounds negotiations,
Man accepts the compromise.
Very rarely will he squarely
push the logic of a fact
To its ultimate conclusion
in unmitigated act.
Fear, or foolishness, impels him,
ere he lay the wicked low,
To concede some form of trial
even to his fiercest foe.
Mirth obscene diverts his anger—
Doubt and Pity oft perplex
Him in dealing with an issue—
to the scandal of The Sex!
But the Woman that God gave him,
every fibre of her frame
Proves her launched for one sole issue,
armed and engined for the same;
And to serve that single issue,
lest the generations fail,
The female of the species
must be deadlier than the male.
She who faces Death by torture
for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity—
must not swerve for fact or jest.
These be purely male diversions—
not in these her honour dwells—
She the Other Law we live by,
is that Law and nothing else.
She can bring no more to living
than the powers that make her great
As the Mother of the Infant
and the Mistress of the Mate.
And when Babe and Man are lacking
and she strides unclaimed to claim
Her right as femme (and baron),
her equipment is the same.
She is wedded to convictions—
in default of grosser ties;
Her contentions are her children,
Heaven help him who denies!—
He will meet no suave discussion,
but the instant, white-hot, wild,
Wakened female of the species
warring as for spouse and child.
Unprovoked and awful charges—
even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—
even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection
of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish—
like the Jesuit with the squaw!
So it comes that Man, the coward,
when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council,
dare not leave a place for her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience,
he uplifts his erring hands
To some God of Abstract Justice—
which no woman understands.
And Man knows it! Knows, moreover,
that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—
shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him,
and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species
is more deadly than the Male.
-
Sunday, April 29, 2018
IFEL - K-4-61 - QUESTIONS
- Trying to sort out memories from 57 years ago.
The K-4-61 part of the title refers to Korean class of April 1961, at Yale University's Institute of Far Eastern Languages, that I attended as an Airman of the United States Air Force Security Service.
When I arrived, the the Company-sized detachment (Detachment 2 ???) was headquartered in THIS building at 109 Grove Street (???)' ...
THAT building was one of FOUR dormitories we had; only ONE other of which I remember (the one I was assigned to) at 1 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT,
Searches for "1 Hillhouse" come up with THIS pic of Warner House ...
... which looks KINDA familiar ...
... plus THESE, which look a LOT more familiar ...
Mistrusting my 57-year old memory, I HOPE some of you will help me get it RIGHT about Hillhouse.
My arrival was TWO YEARS before the release of "The Haunting" (based on Shirley Jackson's novel, "The Haunting of Hill House"; of which I was NOT aware at that time). but that TOP photo of the Warner House would CERTAINLY qualify as "spooky", and the OTHERS can be unsettling on a "dark and stormy night".
I HOPE some of my IFEL buddies can help me on the questions. If ANY of you have photos from that time, I'd LOVE it if some were scanned and emailed to me. I recall Joseph W*** sending a few, some years ago, but they were LOST when my previous computer DIED in 2015.
I HOPE I can UPDATE or REDO this post, FAR MORE ACCURATELY, down the line.
I'm ALSO gonna see if I can find some department at Yale that might help with the the Hillhouse history.
Thanks, in advance, ;-)
The K-4-61 part of the title refers to Korean class of April 1961, at Yale University's Institute of Far Eastern Languages, that I attended as an Airman of the United States Air Force Security Service.
When I arrived, the the Company-sized detachment (Detachment 2 ???) was headquartered in THIS building at 109 Grove Street (???)' ...
THAT building was one of FOUR dormitories we had; only ONE other of which I remember (the one I was assigned to) at 1 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT,
Searches for "1 Hillhouse" come up with THIS pic of Warner House ...
... plus THESE, which look a LOT more familiar ...
Mistrusting my 57-year old memory, I HOPE some of you will help me get it RIGHT about Hillhouse.
My arrival was TWO YEARS before the release of "The Haunting" (based on Shirley Jackson's novel, "The Haunting of Hill House"; of which I was NOT aware at that time). but that TOP photo of the Warner House would CERTAINLY qualify as "spooky", and the OTHERS can be unsettling on a "dark and stormy night".
I HOPE some of my IFEL buddies can help me on the questions. If ANY of you have photos from that time, I'd LOVE it if some were scanned and emailed to me. I recall Joseph W*** sending a few, some years ago, but they were LOST when my previous computer DIED in 2015.
I HOPE I can UPDATE or REDO this post, FAR MORE ACCURATELY, down the line.
I'm ALSO gonna see if I can find some department at Yale that might help with the the Hillhouse history.
Thanks, in advance, ;-)
Tuesday, April 03, 2018
A post I GOTTA do ...
I hope to elaborate on this facebook post.
GOTTA get around to a blog post about this. I experimented with a beard in the 70's. In 2003, Scott Peterson was caught and convicted for the 1st degree murder of his wife, Laci, and 2nd degree murder of unborn son Drew. It SPOOKED me to see this arrest photo; my 70's look would have been a TWIN.
--
GOTTA get around to a blog post about this. I experimented with a beard in the 70's. In 2003, Scott Peterson was caught and convicted for the 1st degree murder of his wife, Laci, and 2nd degree murder of unborn son Drew. It SPOOKED me to see this arrest photo; my 70's look would have been a TWIN.
--
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