Effectively, Prominently, Red

The Odds Could Be Better...A Helluva Lot Better

The good Reverend Nichols sat and pondered his tea. He also pondered his late lunch of cucumber sandwiches and a couple of biscuits.

He was in a pondering mood, the Reverend was, and had been for most of the day.

He had pondered quite a bit since this mornings festivities. Pondered about the lives of his few regular congregants, pondered about the rose garden near the smaller chapel, pondered about the condition of the flagstone path that wound it's way around the Abbey and out to the small parking lot near the main road. He even pondered about the condition of the small sign board used for church bulletins.

Mostly though, he pondered about his track record regarding marriages.

Reverend Nichols had kept track of every marriage he had officiated over the years, all 1,127 of them. Meticulous track. He knew the names of ever child born to every couple he had joined in matrimony, and even the names of most of the grandchild those children had sired.

He also knew one glaringly ugly, inexplicable fact that was just, well, unfathomable.

Of those 1,127 couples he had joined as one, 970 of them had ended in divorce.

A failure rate touching on 85% was understandably disconcerting to the good Reverend.

So he pondered. Pondered what could possibly be the cause of such a high divorce rate. Was it him? Was he cursing all those unions when he thought he was blessing them? Was it the small chapel? Maybe the small chapel was cursed. It was possible - there was the legend of the highwayman who had been denied sanctuary in the chapel almost two centuries ago - he could have cursed the chapel before he met the hangman.

He also pondered, however briefly, whether or not he should have mentioned those numbers to the young couple he married this morning. 

One Of The Better Light Houses In Nebraska

I'm going to venture a guess that no-one has ever said to you, "Hey, let's check out the famous light house on Lake Minatare in Nebraska."

But that very sentence has been said, or at least a slight variation of it was - it was prefaced by "You know, while we're in Scottsbluff we might as well go to..."

There are four flights of stairs to the top...narrow, claustrophobia-inducing stairs...

Just Another Coal Miner's Grandson

                                   Coal Carts, 2005 Steel Sculpture by Christopher Weed

Had an interesting conversation with a few friends this past week. Actually, since there were several people involved, it was probably more of a round-table discussion.

The topic of the discussion was grandparents, specifically because one of the members of the group was about to become a grandparent (again, like, for the third time).

He got the ball rolling with the statement that he hoped he was as much fun as a grandparent as his grandfather was, which prompted another member of the group to chime in with a remark about how much she learned from her grandmother, and then the other two people present also added similar remarks. 

I remained silent, which resulted in one of the women to ask me if I didn't get to spend a lot of time with any of my grandparents.

To which I answered no, I didn't, as I never met any of my grandparents. 

I elaborated a bit, explaining that both of my mother's parents had passed away before I was born, and that after my father left the family when I was just a toddler, his entire family, including both of my grandparents, pretty much left with him.

There were several comments from the group along the lines of surely you got letters, birthday cards, Christmas presents, graduation gifts, etc. - but no, I didn't.

Nothing.

The discussion continued along the lines of an interrogation about my family history for a few more minutes until I stated that I really didn't know anything about my ancestors, and I therefore certainly didn't want to talk about the subject.

So it was dropped. However, I did keep thinking about it, and have been for the past four days.

It's not the first time I've wondered about my ancestry, of course - I've spent a ton of time wondering what kind of people I'm descended from. The thinking I've been doing lately is a bit different though, for I never gave much thought to whether or not any of my grandparents would have been fun to know, or if any of them could have taught me anything.

All I know for certain of my grandparents is that my maternal grandfather was a coal miner, and my paternal grandfather was a farmer.

That's it. I have no other info. I know diddly about either of my grandmothers that I can verify.

Kinda sad, I suppose, but then again, maybe not. Hard to judge what you don't have an iota of experience with. 

Apparitions Of Unknown Origin

A Slow Ballad Accompanied By Machine Guns

A French mistress licking clean the barrel
Devoted as she was to her favorite dessert
          Sloe gin fizzies with a dash of strychnine
      For incidental color and flavor
                                     Maybe, baby
                                     She'll leave you blue
      Like a three day old medium fist sized bruise
Charming as he is he isn't getting anywhere tonight
With the Brazilian Secret Agent in the bath

Pretty little Furry
Eating frozen mercury
Trapped in a forgotten century
Playing a mangled bansuri

Screw It, I'll Swim

Learn not to attack the person arguing and focus on the argument itself. Yelling, name calling, belittling, none of that will get you anywhere. Make your stand based on sound reasoning, and if possible, empirical evidence. Never resort to the "because I said so" fallacy. It's not just wrong, it's lazy and makes everything you believe questionable. Do not be afraid to try to see things from the other person's perspective, but keep your guard up if the other person resorts to "because I said so". Don't trust anecdotes, opinions, vested interests, etc. Put your faith in proven facts, not folklore. Demand irrefutable proof for fantastic claims. Remember, the weight is not on you to prove someone wrong, it's their responsibility to prove themselves right. Try not to become the sort of person who blindly accepts as truth the words spouted by people you think should be believed simply because they are in a position of authority. Also, try not to become the sort of person who blindly accepts as truth the words spouted by celebrities, academics, or even reporters. History books are full of the lies of idols, icons, and their supporters. Develop the ability to think critically. Check and double check any statistics being used to support an argument - there is a lot of truth to Twain's remark regarding lies, damn lies, and statistics. All that being said, don't be an idiot when it comes to heading warnings; if a sign says Danger, have the common sense to proceed with caution. There are times when it is necessary to recognize that others have gone before us all and learned invaluable truths. Those truths can be your rock and they can be your pillow, but try not to make them your crutch.

Sentimental Edge

The plot centers around a short-tempered, small time hood with an itch to climb the ladder, his girlfriend's younger brother who has just been sent to reform school for the second time, the mistress of a narcissistic politician looking for a way to dump him without repercussions, the wife of said politician looking for a way to have him bumped off that would implicate the mistress, a crooked evangelist, a family of migrant farm workers trying to acquire documents that will grease the skids toward citizenship, a muckraking reporter for a website that will do anything for clicks, a teenage runaway being coerced into prostitution, and a dog.

A very cute, friendly dog. 

It Was The Heat, Apparently

Same As Its Always Been...

The only thing necessary for one demon to win over the devotion and blind obedience of a group of people is to convince those people that, bad as he or she may be, they are the only one that can protect them from a much worse demon that is being worshiped by people that are not like them.

Every Politician knows this.

Every last one of them.

Going To The Lightning Show

 Was able to capture a few good pictures of the lightning storm raging over the Denver metro area tonight - gotta love it!

An All-Inclusive Vacation In NothingsHappeningVille

The past week a number of people have been sharing their ideas of what a perfect vacation would be. What's wild about the ideas being shared is an odd commonality. It seems most of the people I know, and even a number of people I don't know but who have nonetheless freely shared their ideas of what a perfect vacation would be are not so much interested in a place they want to visit as they are interested in getting away from a place they are already at and/or a situation they have to deal with.

The most common perfect vacation cited is one that involves being able to get away from people - not specific types of people, just people in general, and the tediousness of having to interact with them on a daily basis. 

The vast majority of the people who shared that as their ideal vacation added unequivocally it would also have to be one without phones or the internet, which I find interesting. Is there now too much communication going on? Are there too many people out their sharing too much?

I'm not much of a social media guy (this lame excuse for a blog is pretty much it), but I do get a lot of stuff emailed and/or texted to me. I get a lot of stuff sent my way that I'm not at all interested in, but I also get a lot of stuff sent my way that I find interesting and/or informative as well.

I suppose I wouldn't mind taking a vacation from the phone and internet, and maybe from some people too. Not all people though, there are quite a few people I know that I think would be fun to go on a vacation with. 

And not all of the internet, either - sure would hate to be somewhere interesting and not be able to post stories and pics about it.

In An Alternative World Inhabited By Angry Buildings

You Probably Know Most Of The Words, Or Can At Least Hum The Tune

My 10 favorite composers of television theme songs:

10) Dominic Frontiere
9) Mike Post
8) Alf Clausen
7) Richard Markowitz
6) Charles Fox
5) John Williams
4) Neal Hefti
3) Quincy Jones
2) Lalo Schifrin
1) Marius Constant

A Fistful Of Madness

This time it was going to work - this time it would be magic

     There would be picnics in the park and lemonade and                          Fireworks

This was not going to end bittersweet tragic

Like so many, many other times

That was long ago, in a past best left forgotten 

Memories erased to cover up meaningless crimes

Barrels of apples all gone rotten

Sacrifices, suffering, and chances taken

Foolishness known as wishful thinking

Promises made and then forsaken

Dancing on the B deck while the ship was

Sinking

Big Clouds, Big Rain, Big Hail

The rain was falling so hard and so violently that there appeared to be a small hazy fog just inches above the street, an effect created from the splashes of a million raindrops impacting the asphalt with such force that the raindrops virtually exploded on contact, throwing a fine mist back up like a trillion microscopic jets of water.

Then the hail came, and the building became nature's drum.

Dressing Up For The Fourth

The Statue That Couldn't

The three-armed octopus 

                            Was obviously losing the fight

To the crippled centipede 

                        With the vicious double right

When in stepped a cowgirl 

                               Wearing a girdle made of rope

Dragging along an angry goat 

                            Disguised as a purple antelope

"Whoa Nellie," said the Harbor Master 

                        When he saw the tiny boat

"Get that dingy outta my ocean

                                       It has no right being afloat."

"Now wait a durn minute" 

                            Cried Alfonso the nearly deaf

"We've been here nearly an hour

                     The whole time holding our collective breath."

"Yeah," chimed in Earnestine 

                             Trying to rally the lifeless troops

"It's criminal the way you've treated us 

                                 As if we're all clueless dupes."

Jeremy, the Leprechaun

                   He fell asleep on a bed of glass

Tragically he wouldn't be allowed to graduate from his                                                                      Sunday school class