The Least Dangerous Man In The World

Charles Schulz, The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived.


Has anyone ever given consideration to the possibility that Charles Schulz was not just the least dangerous man in the world for fifty full years, but that he may well be responsible for putting smiles on the faces of more people, worldwide, than anyone else who has ever lived?


Think about it: From October of 1950, until his retirement brought on by failing health in December of 1999, he produced a daily cartoon strip, Peanuts, that was published in newspapers throughout the world. At it's peak, Peanuts was popular in over 70 countries, in more than 2,600 newspapers.


What that means is that, every morning (or evening, as the case may be), people would open up their papers to the comics section, read three or four panels (more, of course, on Sundays), and much, much, more often than not, smile, if not laugh.


His characters, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Linus & Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, etc., appeared in over 17,000 individual strips. 


That's seventeen thousand smiles and laughs multiplied by what? Billions? As in, billions of smiling, laughing, happy people.


Phenomenal! And all he had was his pencil, some paper...and a wonderful imagination.

Can't Stop The Hocum

Once there was a way to make a point without getting too preachy. It was a long, long time ago, when I was a wee lad, and all I had to do was exclaim "So there!" and that was that, the point was made.

Nowadays though, I have to go into these convoluted explanations that require back stories and cited proofs, as if anyone's actually going to check the veracity of my word.

Though it could happen, I suppose.

For now, for today, I'm not going to make a point on any subject that requires more than my pathetic little ol' opinion.

My point for the day is this: I was wrong about Aerosmith when I was in the 7th grade. They do indeed rock.

An Accounting Of Space And Time

Spent a couple weeks in New York - the city, the country, upstate, central, even paid a visit to Niagra Falls.


Niagara Falls, btw, is cool. Sure, the surrounding area is all schmaltzy Honeymoon hotels and casinos, but the falls themself, they are cool. Truly a wonder.


I drove along back roads, checking out small towns like Phoenix and Liverpool, and some of the bigger towns like Rochester and Syracuse.


It was fun. The price of gas was consistently $2.86 a gallon, and food at modest little restaurants came in at $12.00 or so for lunch and about $20.00 for dinner.


The variety of Victorian homes, in Rochester in particular, was wonderful. I love me some Victorian homes. Great wrap-around porches, turrets, gables, gingerbread.

Secret Rhymes

Triskaidekaphobia

A pocket full of arugula

Galoshes, galoshes

Left behind in the lost & found

Brown fried rice, brown fried rice

Good with some rum, good with some rum

The world is full of love & strife

More than enough for this man's life

But Andy Taylor and Barney Fife

Love that brown fried rice

Full of it this afternoon.