The Past, Present and Future

 

I’ve got a new computer, and this weekend my grandson Charlie had his first birthday.  Of course those of you who know me and check the other blogs I have here already know that my Grandmother passed away in April at the age of 103.

 

I’m 55 this year and Jullee and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary in August.

 

So much for title origins…

Arthur C. Clarke R.I.P.

Arthur C. Clarke, visionary, hero, author and legend has passed away today. He was 90.
He is best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was originally a short story called 'The Sentinel', but it was Childhood's End which was my favorite. I also remember being totally captivated by the short story 'A Meeting with Medusa', which speculated on the possiblility of life in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

Thank you Mr. Clarke, and farewell.

A New Pet Peeve

First, obviously I'm not dead, though the fact I haven't posted here since August might have suggested otherwise.

What I am is busy, writing mostly, that takes care of the urge to post. Also, I'm officially diagnosed as a type II diabetic, and because of this, have significantly altered my lifestyle, with a lot more physical activity and a radically altered diet. So far, the results are encouraging - I've lost almost thirty pounds and my blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels have all had the doctor, nutritionist and diabetes councilor sounding very encouraging.

On to the pet peeve!

As someone who can only be considered a part-time blogger these days, perhaps its not my place to say, but...

I HATE websites, and especially blogs, where you can't see anything but the logo or banner with a series of google ads beneath it. If I have to scroll down past the ads to get to the content, I just move on to the next website. I DO NOT BOTHER WITH BLOGGERS WHO SEE THEIR GOOGLE ADS AS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THEIR CONTENT!!!!

So, to those of you reading this for whom that might be true, just remember. That decision cost you at least one reader - ME.

Slightly less peevish, but even more sickening in some ways are the seemingly endless supply of blogs these days devoted to SEO - an acronym that I had to search to discover stood for Search Engine Optimization, as well as blogs devoted to making money with your blog. In my mind, starting a blog to make money is the same sort of failure as deciding the stock market is a place to make money rather than a place to invest in companies whose worth you value. The key word here is failure.

We now return you to the background static you normally experience here on this blog, thanks for your attention.

Living in an Age of Decline

There is nothing to recommend about living in times like these. I remember the promise my parents told me that life offered, and the promise that being an American offered. I remember Independence Day in Sitka the year that Alaska became a state. (barely, but I remember it, okay. There was red white and blue bunting, and watermelon and a lot of people were very excited.)

Promise, and hope, and that dream. you know the one? The American one that politicians have been talking about since before television let them say it to more people and with less consequences than previous generations?

I was on the edge of that. I swear I could taste it, feel it brushing itself against me like the touch of cherry blossoms on the wind. And then it seemed to slip away.

Not the American dream about prosperity and success, or the one about being President. I mean the American dream about equality, and freedom and justice for all. In the mid seventies, and into the eighties, I thought it was coming. I was sure of it.

I'd seen America's young influence a war and a generation look beyond politics and status. I saw women gaining rights they should have had all along. I saw Martin Luther King Jr, and he spoke of that dream and it seemed a nation listened.

I saw marvels and miracles that had to mean great things were coming. Men walked on the Moon. The Berlin wall came down. Gilligan made it home.

Today, you have to protest our president from 'free speech zones'. Today we have massive debt and overfull prisons and rotting FEMA trailers. Today we have executive privilege and some abomination called 'the unitary executive'.

There was a dream once, I saw it bloom, and had hoped to see it flower fully before I moved on. Today I feel it slipping past, and soon it will be gone.

Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins dies - Politics - MSNBC.com

There are few people I've found on the national scene who have been identifiably in my corner. Recently a lot of people in the liberal online community have been in her corner rooting, but today Molly Ivins died, and America lost a voice of reason and a champion for the average joe.



Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins dies - Politics - MSNBC.com

Year's End

Christmas approaches, as does 2007. Congress has gone democratic, the war in Iraq is more insane every day and The Weasel still occupies the White House.

I am not dead, in prison, captured by aliens or any of the other rumored situations. Well, except for the one about the .. oh, never mind.

Still off somewhere writing.

P.S. I have completely turned off comment posting except for Blog Members. I was beginning to get too much blog spam.

Happy Holidays.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I'm sure folks who wander by my blog semi-regularly have been wondering about the lack of activity here over the last few months.

I confess to having been busy exorcizing my creative demons someplace else on the intertubes.

I also confess to suffering from Political Feeding Frenzy burnout.

On a good note, while I've been otherwise occupied, Darth Murkowski was denied by his own party from serving another term as emperor governor.