Tall Tales

Posted on 22/01/2023 by Grumpa Joe

This morning I got up at 6:30 a.m. to an early start. Since it is Sunday, I went to 7:30 mass at Saint Anthony’s Church in Frankfort. After mass I usually hang around to talk to my old time buddies. This morning was no different. One of my friends Gene, asked me “what exciting thing have you done today?”

“I woke up,” was my response, but Gene really wanted to talk about the weather. We woke up to a snow this morning. It was what we call a “dusting.” That is snow that is so fine that it looks like dust on the planet. It is now noon and the snow is still falling but the flakes have grown to the size of quarters. The air is so still the flakes fall vertically to the ground. Since the ground temperature is above freezing the flakes melt immediately. Gene commented on how mild our winter has been. I reminded him of January’s past when in 1967 we had a very mild month, and then the snow hit the fan at the very end. It didn’t stop until Chicagoland was stopped, dead still. When twenty-seven inches of heavy snow land on you it brings everything to a stand still. That is all it took. A group of us began telling stories about how we were affected. Gene’s family ran a grocery store and he told about a butcher who carried a quarter of a cow for half a mile from his truck to the store. That is one big hunk of meat. That story began a new line from Al. His story was a “remember when” they used to deliver ice to houses, and the ice man would use an ice pick to chop a huge block of ice from the really big block of ice on the back his horse drawn carriage, and hoist it up to his shoulder to carry it into the house. Back then not many people owned refrigerators, so we all had ice boxes. Not to be outdone, I told about the guy who drove through the neighborhood, street by street hawking fruits and vegetables. My mom would streak out to buy beans, onions, fruits, etc. for cooking, and the table. Wally chimed in with the guy who cruised through the alley’s behind the houses in his horse drawn wagon calling out “rags and iron.” He was the original Green movement recycler, and made a living off of it.

Anyway, I guess I could answer that the most exciting thing that happened to me today since I woke up was to participate in a fifteen minute “can you top this” discussion about the good old days.

On my drive home I wondered if bringing those services back to the front door would be a viable business today? It didn’t take me long to determine that it wouldn’t because no one is home during the daytime anymore. The modern lady of the house now works, and is not always at home to take advantage of such a service. A little more thought and it occurred to me that the modern family would substitute the internet for the horse drawn wagon and the man. On-line grocery shopping with home delivery has become a real thing since COVID hit our towns. In fact the on-line grocery store carries a lot more than fruits and vegetables. Another difference between then and now is that families don’t cook things from scratch as when we were growing up. There are far too many convenience foods offered in frozen packages that merely require defrosting and heating.

Filed under: Biography, Characters I knew, family, Food | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

PSA-230119-Try To Smile

Posted on 19/01/2023 by Grumpa Joe

Filed under: Cartoons, Humor | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

Lighter than Air

Posted on 19/01/2023 by Grumpa Joe

Every year I set a goal to read one book a week. I missed the goal in 2022 by one book. Convinced that this year will be different I am reading voraciously. The latest novel is by author Ariel Lawhon and titled “Flight of Dreams.” Although it is fiction it has a historical theme. The fiction aspect contains two separate love stories, a mystery, and much social dialog. The history part comes from the fact that the entire story takes place aboard the last flight of the Hindenburg. Only a few references are made about these huge, lighter than air, ships being used in World War 1, in moving mail, and passengers.

The early part of the story reminded me of a cross country train trip I took on a train. Descriptions of the life in a restricted environment, and the ensuing boredom mixing with the excitement of a adventurous journey stirred my recollections. The author used a tactic that made the reading easier for me. She broke the story up by writing from the point of view of the characters. She begins new segments about a character with the title of the character, such as Cabin Boy, Navigator, Stewardess, Chef, Journalist, American, etc. Since I have trouble remembering characters in any story I read, this tactic helped me establish a connection sooner, and it was more burned into my brain.

The flight from Germany to New Jersey lasted three days and eight hours. This gave the author lots of time to tell the story of over ninety passengers and crew. Of course, she concentrated the narrative on only a select few passengers in order to get the reader into the story. Throughout the tale we know all along how this story ends, the Hindenburg blows up as it is landing. The author periodically gives us a check-point by reminding us how many hours and minutes remain until the “explosion.” What this did for me was to establish a giant curiosity about how the story ends. Would my favorite character be one of those who perish? Would the love interests perish together? Would the American accomplish his goal to revenge his brother’s death in WW I?

I felt that Ariel Lawhon did an amazing job of story telling by turning her story from a slow beginning into a frantically paced thriller in the final pages. Her story left me sad, and happy as I learned which characters survived, and which perished. I learned just enough history in this read to make me want to know more about this form of airship travel.

Filed under: Book Review, Education, Fiction | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Cajones the Size of Basketballs

Posted on 18/01/2023 by Grumpa Joe

Normally, I don’t like to post articles that other people have written, but when I get lazy and a great piece of writing comes across my desk I get lazy. Here is a list of questions that every American should be asking for answers to. When did we the people lose control of our government? When did we get so complacent as to allow the crazies among us to take over? I give Victor Davis Hanson credit for flexing his cojones, and his right to free speech to remind us of all the stupid, lawless things that are going on in the country today. What ever happened to the “Rule of Law?”

########################################

The Coup We Never Knew

Did someone or something seize 

control of the United States?

By: Victor Davis Hanson

January 5, 2023

What happened to the U.S. border? Where did it go? Who erased it? Why and how did 5 million people enter our country illegally? Did Congress secretly repeal our immigration laws? Did Joe Biden issue an executive order allowing foreign nationals to walk across the border and reside in the United States as they pleased?

Since when did money not have to be paid back? Who insisted that the more dollars the federal government printed, the more prosperity would follow? When did America embrace zero interest? Why do we believe $30 trillion in debt is no big deal?

When did clean-burning, cheap, and abundant natural gas become the equivalent of dirty coal? How did prized natural gas that had granted America’s wishes of energy self-sufficiency, reduced pollution, and inexpensive electricity become almost overnight a pariah fuel whose extraction was a war against nature? Which lawmakers, which laws, which votes of the people declared natural gas development and pipelines near criminal?

Was it not against federal law to swarm the homes of Supreme Court justices, to picket and to intimidate their households in efforts to affect their rulings? How then with impunity did bullies surround the homes of Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, John Roberts, and Clarence Thomas—furious over a court decision on abortion? How could these mobs so easily throng our justices’ homes, with placards declaring “Off with their d—s”?

Since when did Americans create a government Ministry of Truth? And on whose orders did the FBI contract private news organizations to censor stories it did not like and writers whom it feared?

How did we wake up one morning to new customs of impeaching a president over a phone call? Of the speaker of the House tearing up the State of the Union address on national television? Of barring congressional members from serving on their assigned congressional committees?

When did we assume the FBI had the right to subvert the campaign of a candidate it disliked? Was it legal suddenly for one presidential candidate to hire a foreign ex-spy to subvert the campaign of her rival?

Was some state or federal law passed that allowed biological males to compete in female sports? Did Congress enact such a law? Did the Supreme Court guarantee that biological male students could shower in gym locker rooms with biological women? Were women ever asked to redefine the very sports they had championed?

When did the government pass a law depriving Americans of their freedom during a pandemic? In America can health officials simply cancel rental contracts or declare loan payments in suspension? How could it become illegal for mom-and-pop stores to sell flowers or shoes during a quarantine but not so for Walmart or Target?

Since when did the people decide that 70 percent of voters would not cast their ballots on Election Day? Was this revolutionary change the subject of a national debate, a heated congressional session, or the votes of dozens of state legislatures?

What happened to Election Night returns? Did the fact that Americans created more electronic ballots and computerized tallies make it take so much longer to tabulate the votes?

When did the nation abruptly decide that theft is not a crime, assault not a felony? How can thieves walk out with bags of stolen goods, without the wrath of angry shoppers, much less fear of the law?

Was there ever a national debate about the terrified flight from Afghanistan?  Who planned it and why?

What happened to the once-trusted FBI? Why almost overnight did its directors decide to mislead Congress, to deceive judges with concocted tales from fake dossiers and with doctored writs? Did Congress pass a law that our federal leaders in the FBI or CIA could lie under oath with impunity?

Who redefined our military and with whose consent? Who proclaimed that our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could call his Chinese Communist counterpart to warn him that America’s president was supposedly unstable? Was it always true that retired generals routinely libeled their commander-in-chief as a near Nazi, a Mussolini, an adherent of the tools of Auschwitz?

Were Americans ever asked whether their universities could discriminate against their sons and daughters based on their race? How did it become physically dangerous to speak the truth on a campus? Whose idea was it to reboot racial segregation and bias as “theme houses,” “safe spaces,” and“diversity”? How did that happen in America?

How did a virus cancel the Constitution? Did the lockdowns rob us of our sanity? Or was it the woke hysteria that ignited our collective madness?

We are beginning to wake up from a nightmare of a country we no longer recognize, and from a coup we never knew.

Filed under: Government, Satire | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Coincidence???

Posted on 12/01/2023 by Grumpa Joe

This week I finished reading a book titled “Ransomeware Hunting Team.” As I read I began to realize why passwords are so important, and necessary. Each time I write about passwords it is negative. I hate passwords with a passion. My favorite saying is that the only one that a password protects me from is me. Fortunately, I have only encountered a ransomeware attack once in my lifetime, and I was smart enough to ignore it, and also wise enough to restart my computer in Safe mode, I got lucky. The thought of my computer being invaded by a complete stranger who then sends a nasty-gram asking for money to get rid of him makes the hair on my arms stand at attention. The only thing scarier is encountering that same man on the street who sticks a gun in your face and demands your wallet.

In the book “Ransomeware Hunting Team” the authors tell a story of the heroic effort expended by a few people in the world who take the opposite stance as the thieves. The main characters are hackers who specialize in, and get delight from being able to unlock the thief’s key, and to save the victim from paying the ransom. At first, these brave hackers were the only ones fighting the hundreds (or maybe thousands) of evil-hackers who everyday hold unsuspecting victims hostage. It took decades of cooperation between the good-hackers and the FBI to finally develop enough clout to fight back effectively. In the mean time, evil-hackers had bilked billions of dollars from individuals and corporations.

I still believe that better computer designs, and more secure software can be developed to squash the ransomeware developers. But will anyone be able to force computer and software companies to do that?This is such a big problem that it will take a concerted effort by our government to enact regulations and controls that will make it impossible for evil-hackers to function.

To my surprise, yesterday I read headlines that airlines had been shut down nationally due to an unknown computer outage. My mind immediately jumped to suspect ransomeware, and Russian hackers looking to get rich by imposing such a grand scheme as shutting down the major transportation system in the country. It is a documented fact that the USA has imposed sanctions on Russia, and the sanctions are working. It is also known that the USA is assisting Ukraine in the war with Russia. This is not just a coincidence. The shutdown of the USA air transport system is most likely Vladimir Putin getting revenge on the United States for waging war against Russia by using Ukraine as a proxy.

Of course the airlines have denied that the problem is not due to ransomeware. It would be too embarrassing for them to admit such a thing, and it would be even more embarrassing to admit that the FAA has sent Russia tons of money to get the system back up and running. It would be even more damaging to learn that the FAA system was so out of date that it was susceptible to crash just like Southwest Airlines. We spend trillions of dollars every year to run our country, but I’d be willing to bet that there isn’t one nickel in the budget for upgrading crucial computer systems.

My prediction is the Department of Transportation, run by a weakling rookie, will spend more money trying to find the root cause than they would spend on a system upgrade.

Filed under: Book Review, Government, Revenge | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »