Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Some Reflections on Collections

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Good Day World!                             
                                       
Collecting things can be a long and winding road that never ends. The list of things deemed collectible is as colorful as a rainbow, and can stretch the limits of our imaginations.

How many stories have you heard about people who used their baseball cards as noise-makers for their bikes while growing up?

You might even have done that. I didn’t, but I cringe when I hear people tell me how they used Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Duke Snider, and Sandy Koufax cards so rudely. Those same people groan with regret when they learn how much those cards are worth these days.

There are always a few, like my high school buddy Larry, who saved everything he ever ran across. He started ridiculously young and actually saved his baseball cards neatly sorted in shoe boxes. He also amassed a collection of baseball hall of fame memorabilia second only to Cooperstown since then!

Visiting with Larry and his beautiful wife Nanci is like entering a baseball shrine. You get the urge to cry out, “Play ball!” He’s a Dodger fan and the majority of his collection reflects that. Someday, someone in the Dodger organization will find out about Larry and induct him into their fans hall of fame. If they don’t already have one, he can be the first entry.

I, and my buddy Tom (now my brother-in-law and still buddy) collected comic books for a brief time in high school. We were fans of Marvel Comics in particular. We read a lot of the D.C. titles like “Superman” and “Batman,” but it was Marvel characters like the “Fantastic Four” and the “Amazing Hulk” that got our greatest admiration.

Our favorite Marvel character was Spider Man. We snapped up each new issue and eagerly read it while relaxing in a park near the liquor store where we purchased our comics. From 1964 to 1966, we saved enough money each month to buy all the Marvel comics available that month (and a few selected DC titles) on the rack.

We’d take our stack of comics, a bottle of Coca Cola , a candy bar or two, and settle on the park benches for an afternoon read-a-thon. Those were heady times. Our conversations revolved around Peter Parker, aka Spider Man, and if he should reveal his identity to Mary Jane or his Aunt May.

World events seemed far away back then, and comic books were our escape from such horrible things as the drudgery of school, not being old enough to get a driver’s license, and having to walk everywhere we went.

You might wonder what happened to that collection of comics from the so-called Silver Age? Did Tom and I save them and divide them up when our paths diverged? The answer, sadly enough, is no. Neither of us has even one issue from those halcyon days.

The boxes containing the comics were stored in my parent’s garage while I was in the Army. When they moved from that house they didn’t have a lot of room in their trailer so they got rid of a lot of stuff. I was stationed at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro, and didn’t have any extra storage room in my barracks.

At the time, I have to admit, I really didn’t care much about them. My friend Tom was also in the Army and stationed in Germany. A school teacher moved into my parent’s house and I gave her the comics.

Which brings us back to collectibles, people who save things, and those who don’t. I recently read that a copy of Spider Man’s first appearance in comics sold for a $1.1 million dollars! Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug 62) was sold in a private sale brokered by ComicConnect.com.

Our comics, if you recall, were from 1964-66. I bought a copy of Comic Buyer’s Guide (to torture myself) and looked up Marvel and DC Comics from that time.

One example: we paid 12 cents for Daredevil #7 (Apr 65) and now it’s selling for $650! After nearly suffering a seizure, I collected myself and realized my memories are worth more than those comics are now.

I started collecting Los Angeles Laker memorabilia as a hobby back in the early 90s, and have put together a nice collection with the help of my friends and family. I’ve been a fan since they moved to LA. No one has to ask what to get me for Christmas, Father’s Day, or my birthday. I hope my grandchildren enjoy it someday when I’m gone and it helps them remember their “Pa Pa.”

The best part of collecting is the memories that come with it.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

About a hater out of control: When hate turns murderous

Good Day World!

Hate is like cancer, it spreads and eventually consumes a person.

That appears to be the case for, Frazier Glenn Cross, the poster boy for hate in America.

He was arrested last Sunday,on the eve of Passover, after murdering a a 14-year-old Eagle Scout and his 69-year-old grandfather at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City campus in Overland Park.

Cross, a Vietnam veteran, has devoted his life to hate. He preaches white supremacy and has organized armed militias, stockpiled military weapons and plotted to kill the founder of the Southern Law Poverty Center, which sued him in 1984 for trying to intimidate blacks in North Carolina.

Cross was involved in extremist politics as a young man, but became active in the KKK after returning home from the Vietnam War, where he served in the Army's Special Forces.

When he lived in North Carolina, he became head of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He turned the chapter into a paramilitary group - with help from soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg -organized against minorities and their advocates.

His life has been devoted to hating non-white people, and he even makes an exception there including white Jews in his deranged attacks. So how does this poor excuse for a human end up? He’s going to be tried for murder.

But you want to know the real kicker? None of the three victims were Jewish!

A perfect example of all-consuming hate out of control. There’s only one thing to do with a crazy bastard like him; lock him up for life in solitary so he has time to think about the path he took.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Monday, April 14, 2014

Women Listen Up! Start Accepting Compliments From Each Other

       Good Day World!

Compliments can trigger an usual response when they come from one woman to another.

Rejection.

That’s a sweeping statement but consider this; women these days  receive mixed messages about which behaviors are desirable or accepted, according to Renee Engeln, a psychology professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

“We’re told love yourself, but not too much. Be confident but practice a style of humility this culture doesn’t require of men. Less than we thought we were going to be. Less than what we could have been. This is a big issue with women,” said Engeln in a recent interview.

Engeln also explained that women are taught to believe in themselves, but not to admit it, lest they make other women who don’t feel good about themselves feel uncomfortable. These observations fit my experience in observing women interact.

In 40 years of research (aka marriage) I’ve watched this behavior first hand. My wife, a very intelligent person, will describe herself as a scatterbrain or some other negative description depending upon the company she’s in.

She lives in fear of offending people. I may sleep out on the front porch for a couple of nights after she reads this column, but I like to share from experience. You know, that little bit of insider knowledge that keeps you from being a clueless clown even though you don’t have a degree in psychology.

I’ve had a lifetime of observing women from my mother and sisters to my girlfriends. My wife has been my master’s degree on women and why they do the things they do. The whole concept has been foreign to me from the start. Experts say men just don’t worry about the same things. I’ll go along with that.

I can’t remember the last time I went to a sporting event with my guy friends and had one of them tell me my outfit looked cute! I don’t recall any men I know ever admiring one another’s t-shirt or slim-cut pants when we got together. Perhaps I’ve lived a sheltered life.

Men just aren’t that nice. Women often worry about hurting each other’s feelings. Men are busy bruising egos and boasting of their exploits to all who’ll listen. I’d wager if you checked out our DNA you’d find that most men are missing some nice traits. Not all, mind you.

I think women are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to showing they feel confident without offending each other. I’ve personally witnessed a woman arrive at a party and get immediately complimented on her dress. She responded by saying she bought it at a Salvation Army Thrift Store! Even though it wasn’t true.

I ran across a viral video created by Amy Schumer of Comedy Central that every woman should watch. It shows a bunch of young women busy deflecting compliments from other young women. If you have a moment check it out at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzlvDV3mpZw
Women are often considered unfeminine if they’re assertive in their careers. Men are thought of as “bold” or some equally positive description when they’re assertive.

That kind of thinking needs to recede into the past where it belongs. I think it’s up to women to break the double-standard. They can start by accepting compliments from one another. It’s okay to be praised for something. No matter what it is. Women don’t have to be complete jerks like men tend to be socially, but they should loosen up and not be afraid to say they’re good at what they do.

We’re not responsible for what other people feel. You can be proud of what you do without being a heel. This change won’t come about overnight, but it’s time for more talk about the topic.

I’ve watched my wife grow emotionally and intellectually for nearly four decades now. She’s still learning how to take a compliment. I’m not sure if this attitude is hardwired in women or a cultural phenomena.

I remember reading “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” by John Gray, a relationship counselor and American author, and thinking …“This guy’s hit it on the head!” If you’ve never read the book give it a shot. It’s a good read.

I have hope for women however. My six year-old granddaughter has no problem accepting compliments from her Nana and me, to complete strangers of either gender! She gives a disarmingly sweet smile (minus one front tooth purchased by the tooth fairy) to anyone who compliments her.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Essay: 20th Century World Leaders: the Good, Bad, and the Ugly

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        Good Day World!

Who will history be kind to or revile as we look back at the 20th century? Before I share my list of candidates, I think it’s important to add a qualifier; these choices ultimately depend on who is in power at the time.

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s take a look at three lists; one with world leaders leaving behind good legacies, another with bad legacies, and the third list of leaders who could be remembered either way.

As you might have guessed, the good list isn’t as long as the other two. Good leaders are heavily outweighed by bad ones historically. I’m not sure why that is. How many great leaders in the 20th Century stand out to you (I’ll list mine below)? My calculations are based upon a simple formula of statistics, facts, and personal opinion.Hitlerart

First, let’s look at some people who I think will not be remembered kindly in history books:

Adolf Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy), Joseph Stalin (Russia), Vladimir Lenin (Russia), Osama bin Laden (al Qaeda), Saddam Hussein

(Iraq), Idi Amin (Uganda), Nicolae Ceausescu (Romania), Kim il Sung (North Korea), Mao Zedong (China), Pol Pot (Cambodia), Augusta Pinochet (Chile), Hideki Tojo (Japan), Slobodan Milosevic (Yugoslavia and Serbia),

Francisco Franco (Spain), Menghistu (Eithopia), Tito (Yugoslavia), Ismail Enver (Turkey), Yakubu Gowon (Biafra), Jean Kambanda (Rwanda), and Yahya Khan (Pakistan).

That was th8FpMqSte short list. There’s not enough space in this column to list all of the bad leaders in the 20th century. Now, let’s look at the candidates for good leaders worldwide:

John F. Kennedy (USA), Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (India), Franklin D. Roosevelt (USA), Winston Churchill, (England), Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Ch’iang Kai Shek (China), Leon Trotsky (Russia), Jimmy Carter (USA), and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Turkey).

Here comes my favorite list, those leaders who could go either way when the historians try to winston_churchill_01-1categorize them. Here’s my real close good/bad list:

From America we have three presidents: Richard M. Nixon (“I‘m not a crook…”), George H.W. Bush (can you say Iran-Contra?), and George Walker Bush (invading Iraq and Afghanistan for no good reason). His brother Jeb, recently said history will be kind to him. I beg to differ.

From Russia (with no love): Nikita Khrushchev (known for temper tantrums), Leonid Brezhnev (he spied on his own countrymen), and Vladimir Putin (who may or may not restore the old Soviet Union).

Gamal AbdRussiael Nasser ( a dictator with mixed accomplishments), Golda Meir (resigned after questions of her handling of the 1973 Yom Kippur War), and Hafez el Assad (current Syrian dictator involved in a civil war).

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From England we have:
Anthony Eden (his Middle East policy in 1956 was a failure), Neville Chamberlain (“Peace in our time…” after visiting Hitler), and Gordon Brown ( his popularity nosedived during the 2008 recession).

From Canada we have:
Kim Campbell ( during her four months as Prime Minister she was unable to bring forth any new legislation), John Turner (he was out of touch with his country), and Joe Clark (who suffered from a poor public image and imagined weakness).

As much fun as this has been, I’m not going to continue this last list. Suffice to say there are a lot of 20th century world leaders whose legacies are in question. Leaders whose accomplishments have been dwarfed by dumb and sometimes deadly decisions.

The 21st century, still in it’s fledgling stage, promises to give us a whole new crop of world leaders to evaluate. As I mentioned earlier in this column, world leaders are ultimately judged by historians with agendas.

Acute readers may have noticed I selected three Americans out of  the nine picks for the good list. I did mention that part of the process is simply my opinion (worth nothing on the open market) and easily contested.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Will Secret U.S. Space Shuttle Lead to Manned-Flight in the Future?

maxresdefault Good Day World!

 The X-37B drone is probably testing technologies that might be used in spy satellites of the future according to experts, but the program could evolve into manned-missions.

Today, I’m going to take your on a tour of the origins, progress, and future of the U.S. Air Force’s Orbital Test Vehicle program.

Here’s how the program got started , and now 1,058 volunteers are waiting for their one-way ticket to Mars!

Learn about the advantages of having a reusable vehicle here.

Very few Americans seem aware of the Orbital Test Vehicle Program, and fewer still know what secrets the X-37B drone conceals as it orbits earth. The X-37B has already broken an endurance record for satellites and keeps on ticking!

Is there a chance that a manned version of the secret Space Shuttle is in the works?

Here’s the big question: Will the Pentagon’s Secret Space Plane Ever return to Earth?

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Friday, April 11, 2014

How ‘Special K’ Can Make Your Day

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 Good Day World!

 A party drug called "Special K" aka Ketamine, has been illegally used for over a decade, but now a new study shows it can help treat severe depression.

Read on and discover the drug's history, side effects, and why it may become legal someday.

In the latest news from NPR:

 Growing Evidence that a Party Drug Can Help Severe Depression

Learn why researchers are attempting to come up with a new class of drugs:

How Does ‘Special K’ Work?

Learn about the Origin of Ketamine, Aka ‘Special K’

Discover the Long Term Effects of Using ‘Special K’

Read about Addiction to ‘Special K’

Here’s some good Parental Advise on Teenagers Using ‘Special K’

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Another Student Goes on School Rampage – Stabs 20 at High School

Family members wait outside Franklin Regional Middle School to take their children home after multiple people were stabbed ..

STORY HERE

Pterosaurs Aren’t Dinosaurs, but They Sure Are Close

Dawndraco kanzai

Good Day World!

Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs” recently opened at the American Museum of Natural History today, putting the spotlight on flying creatures that went extinct 66 million years ago.

You have a while to check it out — it runs until January 2015 — but if you don’t make it, here are some facts to tuck away in case you find yourself at a dinner party with a paleontologist.

Pterosaurs Aren’t Dinosaurs

But they are close relatives. The flying reptiles diversified into more than 150 species over their 150-million-year reign over the skies.

Their Bones Are Extremely Rare

Hollow, light-weight bones might have been great for flight, but they don’t keep well over millions of years.

“I have been excavating fossils in the Gobi Desert for 25 years and I have collected thousands and thousands of dinosaur bones,” Mark A. Norell, chair of the museum’s division of paleontology, told NBC news. “I have only collected one pterosaur bone in that entire time.”

Preondactylus

They Probably Took Flight By Leaping Into the Air

While pterosaur fossils are rare, recently, computer models have helped scientists understand how the animal might have moved.

Before, some people theorized that they climbed up trees and took off from there, or ran to gain some momentum and then lifted their wings.

A computer model by Michael Habib, an assistant professor of biology at Chatham University, however, showed that they probably just had some mad hops.

“Habib’s evidence is pretty, pretty good that they were able to take off with an explosive jump into the air,” Norell said. “Then, they put out their wings and could generate enough lift with one downstroke to take off."

They Probably Weren’t Too Graceful on Land

Previously, some scientists thought they might have walked on two legs, like a pigeon. Turns out they probably walked on all fours, kind of like a bat. (More here and video)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Step in the Right Direction: VA Says Okay to Pot Study

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Good Day World!

Reefer Madness is slipping into the insanity of the past.

Marijuana regulations nationwide are easing up and allowing light (facts) to penetrate the dark veil of ignorance about cannabis.

I see signs everywhere.

National polls show a majority of Americans are for legalization of the controversial herb. Annual national polls on the subject conducted by organizations like Gallup -  show an increasing tolerance for it’s use, both medically and recreationally.

For example, this one from January of this year:

Majority wants marijuana legalized

and last year:

For First Time, Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises, at least to me, is that the Veterans Administration has given the green light to a study using marijuana to treat PTSD. Being a federal agency, that’s a big thing because it’s the feds who are stopping marijuana from becoming legal.

Here’s a story about that VA study:

“The federal government has signed off on a long-delayed study looking at marijuana as a treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, a development that drug researchers are hailing as a major shift in U.S. policy.

The Department of Health and Human Services' decision surprised marijuana advocates who have struggled for decades to secure federal approval for research into the drug's medical uses.

The proposal from the University of Arizona was long ago cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, but researchers had been unable to purchase marijuana from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The agency's Mississippi research farm is the only federally-sanctioned source of the drug.

In a letter last week, HHS cleared the purchase of medical marijuana by the studies' chief financial backer, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which supports medical research and legalization of marijuana and other drugs.” (The rest of the story 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...