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"Let's all be careful out there!"
This past week my oncologist told me that 50% of the people who have cancer that's spread through out their body only survive 19 months from diagnosis. On October 6th I will reach 31 months since it was discovered in me. I am getting up into the single digit survival zone.
Am I winning?...Nope.
The end result is still terminal but I've always been a fighter.
Doc says I should see Xmas this year, but no time projections beyond that.
I am in constant pain but limit myself to medication when it gets really, really bad.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I am still here and still "kickin'."
What do I do to pass the time? For the past year I've been studying quantum physics, black holes, "branes" and the 11th dimension (no joke, it really does exist). Just light thinking to keep the brain from going stale.
BTW - Did you know that gravity doesn't pull but it pushes. It is actually the fabric of space/time pushing us towards a mass.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Jeff Masters, a meteorologist at the Weather Underground website, said the New Jersey shore could be especially hard hit. Waves as high as 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 meters) could batter the Jersey coast, causing serious damage in a region that's not used to hurricanes.
"They just don't get these kinds of events there," Masters said. "I anticipate a lot of damage along the New Jersey coastline."God, I hope Irene signals an end to that inane TV show - "Jersey Shores".
That would be a constructive result of this minor (Category-1) hurricane.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Yesterday's (2011-08-23) 5.8 mag quake in Virginia produced this interesting video that actually shows the seismic wave moving across North America. (for more info click HERE)
Just to keep things in perspective, the 9.0 quake that hit Japan on March 11th was over 1,000,000,000 (one billion) times stronger at the epicenter. Every whole number increase in magnitude is 1,000 times stronger than the lower whole number.
I've read that there is an identified fault that crosses the mid-line of Manhattan Island with the potential of generating a 6.5 quake. I don't know when (or if) NYC has upgraded their building codes to account for this hazard but it is easily conceivable that if/when it does occur the structural loss within the city could easily be in the 78%-90% range. The regional effect would be devastating, with major damage extending over a far greater range than we typically have in California.
Oh, yeah. In California a 5.8 is what considered "coffee stirring strength." Nothing to get excited about. Feces occurs.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Richard "Dick" D. Winters, Major, U.S. Army (ret.), Company E (Easy), 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
Winters, 2004 I just found out that Dick died earlier this year (January 21, 1918 – January 2, 2011). He was just 19 days shy of his 93rd birthday. He was the last survivor of "Easy" Company, the "Band of Brothers".
Winters, Somewhere in Europe, WWII
Please take a moment to honor his memory.
"I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said 'No… but I served in a company of heroes.'" Richard Winters
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Or, at least, I am.
Now on to December 22, 2012. The day after the world is supposed to end according tosome moron'ssomeone's translation of the Mayan calender.
Anyone remember the early '70's when people were moving to Idaho because California was definitely going to fall into the Pacific? I had areally stupidreality challenged cousin-in-law who moved his family to southeastern Idaho. You know, right in the heart of the Yellowstone super-volcano caldera. A place where the Earth pukes it's guts out about every 600,000 years. It's last bender was around 600,000 years ago, so its probably getting itself all gussied up for another period of "painting the town 'red'" (or actually gray).
So, as May 22nd approaches, may I wish each of you a very happy first day of the rest of your life. For what its worth.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Well, according to some obscure American religious cult, the World ends at 6pm today.
But 6pm where?
Well, they're a bit vague on that trivial fact.
Its already past 6pm in the Land of Oz and they're still here. Same goes for Japan, Korea and China.
Maybe it's supposed to be 6 pm in Jerusalem.
Or Rome.How can a guy make plans about when to pop the top on his final can of beer or stoke the fire on his favorite bong?
Or Salt Lake City.
Maybe today would be better handled if everybody just stays wasted until May 21st finally dissipates at the IDL (International Date Line).
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Bars are now serving a new drink called the "bin Laden"
Two shots and a splash of water.
Thanks to Princess Leah for this one. 8-)
"Let's all be careful out there!"
If you have the Google Earth app on your web box (and who doesn't?) just enter these coordinates:
34º 10' 09.18" N 73º 14' 33.45"Efor a "spy in the sky" view of where bin Laden bought the farm.
I doubt the rumors are true that he was thrown overboard off the coast of the Fukushima Nuclear power plant in Japan. I mean, lets face it, do we really want a giant mutated radioactive creature smashing the buildings in Tokyo?
"Let's all be careful out there!"
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| In his "work clothes" |
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| Alan B. Shepard (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) |
It was a mild spring day in coastal New Hampshire. I only had about 5 weeks left before summer vacation started. My first summer as a teenager! It was my Dad's 35th birthday. He was away, as usual, flying somewhere for the USAF. The first thing I noticed when I arrived at school was that one of our 4 junior high classrooms (the school was K-8) had a TV set in it. Now that was odd. My heart fluttered slightly. I knew that Astronaut Shepard was scheduled to launch into space that morning on a short (15 minute) sub-orbital flight. I was really bummed because I had wanted to stay home and watch it all on TV. I knew that this was history being made. Now, for the first time ever, there were multiple TV sets scattered around the school. Mrs. Kyle's beautiful baby boy may have been a stubborn cuss but not a stupid one.
WE WERE GOING TO WATCH THE LAUNCH!Somewhere around T-minus 30 minutes the two 7th grade and two 8th grade classes congregated in the Science (appropriately) Room. Now you must remember that this was before we had any form of satellite tele-communications. All TV signals were transmitted nationally by terrestrial microwave towers and the three (and only, this was pre-cable) TV Networks (ABC/CBS/NBC) had to pool and coordinate their use of the one microwave link out of Cape Canaveral, which did cause some comical miscues. All the programming was in black & white (color TV didn't become prominent until around 1966)
The designated time arrived, finally, and America watched Freedom 7 climb into the heavens on a brillant pillar of flame from its Redstone rocket. 15 minutes later it was over. Of course we didn't see the splashdown or any of the other post landing stuff because, as I noted earlier, there were no satellites to send a signal to. Yes, the Soviet Union had beaten us into space when Yuri Gagarin made a single orbit of the Earth 23 days earlier but we (America) didn't care. We had a GEN-U-INE Hero.
Later that summer he returned to his hometown of Derry, New Hampshire for his true hero's parade. I was there and got to shake his hand.
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| Mission Patch |
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| Launch |
One of his faux pas was that he liked speed (astronaut/test pilot, duh) and it was not uncommon for him to be stopped for speeding (usually 120+ mph) as he made his regular trips between New Hampshire and Cape Canaveral. I don't think he was ever issued a ticket after his epic journey. After the mission he was once asked what he was thinking about just prior to the launch and he replied "That we're doing this on 'low-bid'."
His wife Louise died 5 weeks after he did. Their bodies were cremated and the ashes scattered together in the ocean near Cape Canaveral.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Did you know that if you post images on the web from either a camera or camera-phone that is GPS enabled, that the exact location of where the image was captured is embedded in the photo data and is easily (like just 'right-click') obtained?
Keep that in mind when sharing images of your home, kids or anything else that might be placed in jeopardy.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Forget about all those Hollywood movies and F/X that depict a tsunami as a big sea wave, crashing on shore. A tsunami is a rapid rise in water level that just seems to never stop. Overwhelming and unrelenting.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
This morning I awoke to my alarm clock, powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined the weather was going to be, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). I watched this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food, and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of the quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and wave to the the kids being taken to the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to a house which is not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal’s inspections, and which not has been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local Police Department. Finally, I can log onto the internet, which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration, and post on FoxNews.com forums about how socialism in medicine is bad because the government can't do anything right.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
We had "long-haulers" on Maui too. If you complained to the owner (not Art, but the ass-wipe that bought Royal from him) about other drivers doing this, you were on his shit list.
Companies that "split the meter" with the driver would tend to shut their eyes to these violations because it is extra money in the company's coffers. Companies that just charge a flat lease fee for X number of hours of cab usage don't have a financial interest in promoting this form of illegal activity.
"Let's all be careful out there!"
Those who fail to learn history correctly--
Why they are simply doomed.
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