Category Archives: Thoughts @ Large

• Today, July 21, 2011, the Atlantis space shuttle landed on Earth, ending its mission and that of the shuttle program.   Probably not coincidentally, July 21, 1969 is when Apollo 11 astronauts walked on the Moon.  Here is what I have to say about this: why do we call it “The Moon” instead of simply “Moon”?

• Steve McQueen, were he still alive, would be 81 today.  Judy Garland, were she still alive, would be 89 today.  Albert Einstein, were he still alive, would be 132 today.  Hammurabi, were he still alive, would be 3,821 today, and many Republicans would vote for him.

• Willie Mays was a better and more exciting ball-player than his godson, Barry Bonds.

• Strange But True, 2025 Edition: Did you know that various story-tellers and humorists created small, rectangular drawings, usually featuring continuing characters and dialogue, and these were printed daily in something called a “newspaper”.  How weird is that!

• One item I never order when dining out is linguine and white clam sauce.   This is because no restaurant has ever outdone my wife’s version of this dish.  I asked my wife to share her secret, and she said, “No, not going to tell you.”  So you will have to visit to enjoy it.

• I wouldn’t want Michelle Bachmann to be president of my homeowner association either.

• Just because one survives them or learns from them, doesn’t mean they aren’t mistakes.

• A weather story in our local paper (emphasis mine):  “There’s a chance of rain Monday, but sunny skies should prevail the rest of the early part of next week.”  And these people get paid to write.

• Republicans might be more willing to fund NPR if they broadcast “NASCAR Radio Hour” on Sunday nights.  (Until then, you can find the show on PRN but not on NPR.)

• The upcoming wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton may cost $48 million.  (The total annual cost to support the British monarchy is estimated to be $300 million.)  Here in the States, LeBron James will score some 2250 points this season for $14.5 million, about $13,000 each time his ball sees the net.  A typical worker in Poland will earn that amount in one year.  An average Nigerian makes $1200 a year and lives 48 years.  If a Nigerian made $1 million every year of his life, he could pay for a royal wedding.

• You are free to take this statement out of context.

• The old playground refrain “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?” implies that fighting it out is a legitimate way to settle affairs with bullies.  We train them young.

• It has been 44 years since The Beatles released Strawberry Fields Forever. 44 years.     One could view it as a privilege, to have been around to enjoy it for that long.

• You know that little project around the house that you never quite get around to doing?  Well, North Carolina never quite got around to removing this from its State Constitution:

The following persons shall be disqualified for office:
First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.

This wording is from 1868.  So, North Carolina, fix it already.  Then take out the trash.

• Sarah Palin loves The Constitution, as it guarantees her freedom of screech.

• I like it that a person can doodle or scribble and no one ever complains about wasting ink.

• On a related note, when is the last time you saw a kid with chalk drawing on a sidewalk?

• As an American in good standing, I drank 23 barrels of crude oil last year.  Mmm, sweet.

• What household item gets used most often for some secondary purpose?  I’d say knife, followed by vinegar and scissors.

• Use of the Oxford comma is a matter of taste; I intend to use it again, again, and again.

• My mess is work-in-progress; your mess is clutter; his mess is a real eyesore.

• The 537 people we elected to office in Washington, D.C. are not exceptional, and we should stop pretending otherwise.  They are just like us and they prove it every day.

• Worst orchestral instrument in the world: wood block.  No one wants to hear wood block.