Saturday, July 6, 2013

As It Stands blog:A dark day for LA, Dwight Howard thumbs his nose at the Lakers!


Good Day World!
What a sight! Mitch Kupchak met with Dwight Howard two hours before he decided to go to the Houston Rockets, and groveled for him to stay with the Lakers!
Coach DiAntonio, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Jim Buss, and Tim Harris, also pleaded with Howard to stay in LA and win a championship. Howard however, already had plans to leave LA one way or another. It was a bidding war between The Golden State Warriors and The Houston Rockets,and the later prevailed.
Still no word, as of this posting, on what the Lakers got in return for the leagues best center.To say the Laker’s future looks murky is an understatement.Who knows if Kobe can come back from tearing his Achilles heel? No one else has successful done it yet. That leaves an aging Nash with back, knee, and ankle problems, who’ll be lucky to play one-quarter of the season!
I can’t see Staples Center selling out NBA season tickets for the failing purple-and-gold dynasty this year.For a 50-year fan like me…this is agony!
Time for me to walk on down the road…

Friday, July 5, 2013

As It Stands blog: It feels like Friday…looks like Friday…TGIF!

        Good Day World!

Whatever you have to be thankful for don’t forget to ring the bell at happy hour wherever you imbibe your favorite spirits these evening. Speaking of spirits:

The biggest Vodka heist I ever heard of took place in Florida yesterday. Thieves with a very expensive taste in liquor were caught on camera lifting $1.1 million worth of Spirits of the Tsars Golden Vodka!

Friday night trivia: A recent poll revealed which women’s shoes men hate the most: wedges! I would have guessed high heels.The damn pointy things hurt when you get stepped on by one!Especially if she’s drunk and big!

Real romance? Smitten spies? Snowden got two proposal tweets from Russian agent. Seems like the sneaky types stick together like birds of a feather. Getting together is another matter, but stay tuned…you never know these days with online dating!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Thursday, July 4, 2013

As It Stands blog: When we getting that sinking feeling…

Good Day World! Got that sinking feeling like things aren’t right?

As you can see below, someone’s day was ruined. Sinkholes happen more often than you may think. In Winter Park, Florida their facing sinkholes as you read this.

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Swallowed by a sinkhole…what a way to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a giant sinkhole in Oklahoma, as if they haven’t had enough trouble with weather-related events.

In Chicago they had a monster sinkhole gobble up three cars!

In New Jersey they have a new view at a street intersection…straight down!

Houses are disappearing down sinkholes in Russia!

Sinkholes in China gobble up whole skyscrapers!

I could go on and on, but I think you have a good idea of how common those sudden openings in the earth are. Worse yet, there’s seldom a warning. One guy disappeared down a sinkhole while sleeping in his bedroom last month in Florida!

I hope you’re on solid ground as you got about your day. As for me,

It’s time to walk on down the road…

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

As It Stands blog: It’s a Red - White- & Blue hump day today

Statue of Liberty

  Good Day World!

It’s a red-white-and-blue hump day today as we prepare for the 4th of July holiday tomorrow. The big event will be the re-opening of the Statue of Liberty for tours.

Months after Superstorm Sandy swamped her little island, the Statue of Liberty will finally welcome visitors again on Independence Day.

Sandy made landfall one day after the statue's 126th birthday, flooding most of the 12 acres that she stands upon with water that surged as high as 8 feet. Lady Liberty herself was spared, but the surrounding grounds on Liberty Island took a beating.

Folks across the country will be celebrating our independence with ceremonies and fireworks. I have to admit the fireworks part drives me crazy! And animals! Perhaps because I was a demolition expert in the Army. Loud sounds tend to make me uneasy.

Anyway, it’s nice to be back from my blog break.

Time for me to walk on down the road..

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

As It Stands blog: thoughts on a current topic & a blog break

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The Supreme Court rejects part of 1965 law in a 5-4 decision.

Good Day World!

The Supreme Court reached a new low yesterday when they struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Civil rights activists called the decision “devastating,” and a “demolition of the law.”

Once again this current Supreme Court has proven to be craven cowards with agendas that run different than most Americans. They forget too soon that the new South wants to be the old South and that doesn’t bode well for racial equality!

The Voting Rights Act requires nine states with a history of discrimination at the polls, mostly in the South, to get approval from the Justice Department or a special panel of judges before they change their voting laws. The rule also applies to 12 cities and 57 counties elsewhere. The last time it was renewed was 2006.

Moving on…as in I’m going to be walking down the road and leaving blogging behind until July 3rd, but will be back for the 4th of July.

I need to spend some time reflecting on life and death. Putting my beloved pug down rocked me to the core. I’m going to spend a few days with my father (it’s his 85th birthday June 28th). He’s a crusty old marine living alone since my mother died last year. I miss him.

I always say “live each day like it’s your last.” Each time a loved one dies we grieve because we can’t be with them anymore. You cannot measure love and say, “I just love humans,” because the animals in our world are worthy of love too.

I’m not going to smell the roses (they often have thorns you know). Instead, I’ll be drinking some fine single malt scotch with my dad and listening to stories about when he was young.

Time for me to walk on down the road now….

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

As It Stands blog: Requiem for a Beloved Pug

2012-04-09 16.02.06    Good Day World!

I’m going to talk about a dear and loyal companion who I had to put down yesterday. Millie(Left)Medford LovePug, who was nine years-old and her body was giving out on her.

Her quality of life had passed and she was living in pain. I couldn’t stand it any longer. My wife and I took her into the same vet she’s always seen. She was given a tranquilizer prior to the final shot – and we cuddled with her…tears running down our face has she got woozy and her pink tongue slowly licked out. She licked both of our faces as if to say “Don’t worry everything will be all right.” Then she closed her trusting eyes for the last time.

She was soundly sleeping for the first time in a long time when they lethal injection was given. I held her lifeless body, limp for the first time ever. We had her cremated.

I can’t help thinking about Millie and I’s long walks through the neighborhood for years. How I miss them now. We were regulars and waved at all the neighbors. Everyone who knew Millie loved her sweet personality. I woke up this morning with fresh tears staining my pillow case. Millie wouldn’t be cuddling with my wife and I while we drank our coffee this morning.

There was a light rain outside, as if the heavens were weeping for our precious pug! Yes, I know I’m being dramatic, but the loss is so severe…so hard. I lost a family member. A pack member. She can never be replaced.

I think about her running in the grass chasing a ball or stick, free from pain now. Playing with other dogs of all breeds, because she always got along with any dog. Rest in Peace Millie, daddy loves you!

Time for me to slowly walk on down the road…

Monday, June 24, 2013

As It Stands blog: Daredevil Nik Wallenda walks into history

Wallenda     Good Day World!

  What a rush!

  Did you see Nik Wallenda walk across the Grand Canyon on a wire yesterday during the Discovery Channel’s “Skywire Live” special?

For 22 minutes and 54 seconds I walked with him the full 1,400-feet, putting myself in his special walking shoes!

Lots of great aerial views and the camera panned slowly in one direction causing the illusion of him almost running across the wire. Nik wore an earpiece and a microphone so you could hear him talking. He prayed a lot.

But Nik Wallenda was born to do this. He’s a seventh-generation member of the famous “Flying Wallendas” family (photo right). He first stepped onto a wire when he was 2 years old, and has since set seven Guinness World Records.

For 32 of his 34 years, he has trained on walking a wire for three to four hours per day, five days a week. Wallenda’s personal hero is his great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, who fell to his death in 1978 while performing a high wire act in Puerto Rico at 73 years old. I can remember seeing the tragic fall on the news and thinking what processes people to put their lives on the line like that?

I didn’t understand then, and I still don’t to be frank. Nik is a religious guy and prayed all the way. But, I can’t help wondering what God thought about him risking his life for…what? Money? Fame? This daredevil feat was not something Jesus would have recommended his disciples do to get to heaven.

Then again, he might have. The Wallenda family makes their living at Heaven’s Gate. There’s no lack of fans to watch when a Wallenda does something crazy. It’s kind of a family tradition. For them, and for us!

Do you want more? Here’s a slideshow of Death defiers that will leave you gasping with suspense! 

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Sunday, June 23, 2013

As It Stands: New study says drivers using hands-free devices are road hazards

       
By Dave Stancliff/For The Times Standard
 Vindicated at least! I’d be doing cartwheels if I could right now. After years of warning people that using hands-free devices to talk, text and email is dangerous while driving, a comprehensive study has come out supporting my concerns.
The University of Utah released its findings on the use of hands-free devices while driving to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety on June 12th.The report says hands-free devices are not risk-free, and can impair the driver’s ability to react swiftly and safely.
The study shared by the non-profit  organization bluntly states that people who use hands-free devices are a hazard on the road. Anyone who drives knows that, but so far nothing has been done about it (except for ridiculously low fines). What was meant to be a safe technology has turned into a potential traffic hazard.

 Speech-based technology is a wonderful thing, but the dangers of distracted driving are real. This is the most comprehensive study yet on the subject. It clearly sends out warning signals to the general public.
In 2006, I wrote a column for the Eureka Reporter about hands-free phones in vehicles being dangerous, citing the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s findings at the time. Unfortunately, the message didn’t connect with enough people. Many who heard or read about that study simply ignored it.
I’ve had countless conversations with people who use hands-free devices. Nearly every person I’ve talked with believes they’re safe while using them.
Here comes the really bad news; the AAA predicts a five-fold increase in infotainment systems in new cars by 2018.

 There is a looming public safety crisis ahead with the future proliferation of these in-vehicle technologies,” said AAA President and CEO Robert L. Darbelnet, in the report’s summary.
The researchers warned that the increase of cognitive distractions leads to funnel-vision, or inattention blindness where motorists can’t see potential hazards right in front of them. 
The thing that concerns me most is the technology is so popular. People will ignore these new warnings just like they did in 2006, and distracted-driver accidents will increase. In 2011 3,331 people were killed in crashes involving distracted-drivers, according to the U.S .Government Website for Distracted Driving.
The report also states that 387,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted-driver in 2011. Get the facts and visit this website, or the go to the Center for Disease Control’s website to see their statistics.
  Everything points to distracted-driving becoming a major problem in the years ahead. These drivers think they’re exceptional and nothing distracts them, but they’re fooling themselves. Multi-tasking in the car is quite different from sitting in an office.

 I’m not sure what can stop this dangerous trend. Perhaps limiting the device’s functions while the vehicle is in operation. Hopefully, someone smarter than me will discover a way to address this problem before it ranks alongside drunk driving.
  Maybe we need Mothers Against Drunk-Driving (MADD) to start another chapter, “Mother’s Against Distracted-Driving.” That would put some pressure on the makers of these devices. They’d have to come up with safety compromises if they didn’t want them outright banned.
It still amazes me when people I know use these devices despite incidents that should have been wake-up calls. They’re defying the odds. It’s not like we don’t have enough challenges these days, driving on packed freeways and poorly repaired inner city streets.My feeling of vindication only lasted long enough for me to write this column. It was a small dance of frustration because no one was listening.

This should be a conversation about using common sense, not a challenge to new technologies. Used in the right time and place, all these brilliant devices offer us conveniences we never thought were possible.

 Instead,the deaths and injuries attributed to distracted-driving will increase unless people get serious about putting safety before convenience. Meanwhile, please don’t be one of those statistics!
As It Stands, if you choose to continue using hands-free technology while driving, just remember someone may pay with their life because of your stubbornness!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

As It Stands blog: Let’s Celebrate Lunar Largness tonight!

    Good Day World!

The biggest, brightest full moon of the year shines in the sky tonight and Sunday night (at it’s closest), which makes this the perfect time to take in the wonders of the night sky — whether or not you're swept up in the "supermoon" hype.Some say the supermoon ranks as "one of the biggest celestial events of the year."

The moon itself is the same size it's been for ages, but the key is how close it'll be when it's full.June's full moon starting tonight,is the headliner because it's this year's best example of the "perigee full moon."

Tides will be stronger than usual, but that's nothing to get alarmed about.The fact that this full moon takes place so soon after Friday's summer solstice adds an extra twist…this will be the lowest-down full moon of 2013.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Friday, June 21, 2013

As It Stands blog: Get your lurch on! It’s Zombie Friday at the movies

     Good Day World!

Once upon a time vampires were all the rage.

Vampire books written by such wordsmiths as Anne Rice (Interview with a Vampire) were hot and made into movies.Vamps were sexy.They were big time too. Brad Pitt was sexy as he sucked blood from his willing victims in Interview With The Vampire in 1994.

Vampires are still sexy I suppose, but they’ve had to step aside and let Zombies lurch past them in popularity ratings lately!

When Brad Pitt goes after Zombies…you know they’ve arrived! I have a review of his latest movie “World War Z” to share with you.

I also have links to a List of Zombie Movies worth watching right here. Right now, let’s take a look at what one movie critic has to say about Pitt’s performance and the movie itself: IMAGE: World War Z

Zombies generally don't work together, but in "World War Z," they use each other's undead bodies to form a ladder to get over a wall to eat humans.

Movie zombies have staggered from slow to fast -- is smart next?

“In Brad Pitt's new movie, "World War Z," a soldier gives Pitt's character the lowdown on their undead opponent: Bullets to the body only slow them down, though head shots kill them. They sometimes ooze a kind of black tarry substance, and they love biting humans "like fat kids love Twix." And as filmgoers watch, they discover that these zombies c

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an hear a Pepsi can drop a mile away, tackle like a Dallas Cowboy in the Super Bowl, are willing to fling themselves off skyscrapers and over giant walls, and are smart enough to use the bodies of their fellow undead as a ladder to clamber toward their human targets.

These are not your grandfather's zombies.

Moviegoers have seen the undead evolve in a thousand gruesome rotting ways since the creatures of 1932's "White Zombie" were docile enough to work in a sugar plantation. George A. Romero took the creature -- which he called a "ghoul," not a "zombie" -- to a whole new level in 1968's classic "Night of the Living Dead," making them totter out of graves to munch on the living. And from then on, Hollywood was off, shambling down a rotting cinematic pathway littered with discarded body parts and ever-evolving zombie lore.

Zombies stayed about as fast as your walker-using Aunt Fannie until the 2002 release of "28 Days Later." Purists will tell you that the infected in that film weren't dead, so are not technically zombies. But no matter, they still introduced the public to the idea of fast movie zombies who no longer staggered after you like a drunk uncle, but match Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward (who played a zombie on AMC's "Walking Dead") for speediness.

"I do think that if you had to be bitten by slow movers to turn, you could avoid them and eventually defeat them," said Cal Miller, author of numerous zombie books and zombie comic strip TedDead. " It would be like fighting an army of senior citizens. The fast ones are just horrifying to me. They’ll run you down." (FULL STORY HERE)

Time for me to stagger on down the road…

Thursday, June 20, 2013

As It Stands blog: Rocking & rolling on Thursday: Rock Legends & Popular Bands of the 21st century

kkk-flag-ku-klux-klan-flag-26cf

  Good Day World!

Can you hear the beat?

What’s it sound like to you? Do you hear Led Zeppelin’s haunting strains of Stairway To Heaven?

Or, are your ears more attuned to the catchy pop beat of Fallout Boy?  Rockers in the 21st Century haven’t had enough time to create legends yet, but we can sure take a look back at 10 of the wildest rock legends of all time that people believe in:

10 Wild Rock ‘n’ Roll Urban Legends People Believe

“It seems like rock ‘n’ roll fans have always wanted to believe the unbelievable, since rock’s lifestyle appears to be wild, cool and out of control, or even out of this world in many cases.

This is perhaps the main reason why rock ‘n’ roll has always been a minefield of myths and urban legends. In this list we will discover the real stories behind some of rock’s craziest rumors, how they became cult and why many of them have persisted to this day.” GO HERE

Most Popular Rock Bands of The 21st Century. . . So Far

There are many rock bands out there that have evolved over the past eight years, but only a few of them have really made a difference in the music world today. Of course, everyone has different tastes when it comes to rock music, but when researching to see which bands really made an impact on the 21st Century, these five bands seemed to appear wherever I looked. GO HERE

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...