Month: July 2013

MONDAY JULY 8 2013

A few days ago this website reported that there were radio bursts detected somewhere really, really deep in space.. We are naturally wondering what in the world, or universe, those radio bursts could be.. Maybe just a fluke? Maybe not.. but it did emit as much energy as the sun does in 300,000 years (in just a millisecond of a burst..
This is a must read from SALON: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control is the title of the article.. in it, Radley Balko details SWAT teams who raid poker games and try to stop underage drinking.. he argues that obvious: Paramlitary force on the rise. Like him, I really don’t think it’s a good thing..

The Google Doodle: Roswell remembered

Anyone waking up and performing their first Google search of the day will be greeted by a new Doodle from the company, something they have made famous over the past few years: Remembered today on the Google Doodle is the 66th anniversary of the Roswell UFO crash.

I myself played with the interactive Google doodle a bit too long, trying to figure out how to help the little E.T. find his spaceship back home..

If you are patient and stay with it long enough, you actually end the little game with a “Google Daily Record” headline saying a flying saucer was spotted over Roswell, indicating that your gaming has been successful and the alien has found his way back to space..

Nightmare on my street

I rarely remember my dreams.. but last night’s was quite visual, and very memorable. The scenery was abundant.. the feelings I had during the dream was palpable. But looking back on it, I don’t quite why the night vision had such a foreboding threat of doom associated with it, but it surely did.
The premise was quite simple, actually.
I was driving –I think with my wife but, as dreams go, I can’t remember for sure–and we were in a mountain setting. It was dry and arid, looking like a drought-plagued dust bowl. The interesting thing, though, is that I recalled being there before. And it was not a good place.. 
As the dream went on, the discussion came up: What would be scarier: 1) If we see a house in the middle of this no-man’s land, or 2) if we saw a single person walking alone in the distance across the barren landscape.. We concluded that either would be alarming and would cause unease within the mind.. 

But why?
I mean, yes dreams sometimes take on a life of their own..

Looking back on it now, neither instance–a house or a lone man–really is scary in itself. But for some reason, that dream I had last night was actually a nightmare.. And I cannot figure out why looking back on it now..

Winter 1994. Summer 2013. A tale of two ages

Allow me to write a rambling stream of consciousness for a bit.. I think I know where I want this to go, but we’ll see where it leads..
It was the best of times.. it was the worst of times.
There was a family party today to celebrate a birthday, a graduation, and a young man becoming a Marine. 
The world is filled with fires, feuds, and retaliation. 
Egypt is in turmoil.

The Middle East always is..

Climate change is occurring..

Weather has always been extreme.

But today was one of those days where the trials and tribulations of reality took a back seat to family and kinship..
An interesting parallel existed in my mind’s eye as I watched my family … we’ve grown and aged. I did, too .. 
I distinctly remember a moment in time, so long ago now last century, when a teenage me was walking my now deceased dog on Christmas Eve night.. a full moon was above, and my little nephew Shawn Jr. was by my side .. he followed me around in those times everywhere I went. He was a cute little skinny runt, probably around age 3 in my memory.. I recall fondly the cold air, the snow on the ground, and the magic of Christmas in our hearts as he chatted up a storm about what Santa Claus was going to bring for him.
This year, this day, my young son, now aged 2 and a half, was running after his family members one by one —chasing them around the house with a Superman watch that plays a few seconds of the theme song. The watch was a gift for his Uncle who celebrated a birthday today. But it didn’t fit Uncle Shawn, so Ayden now is wearing it for ‘special powers’… And I looked at my son, sweating and laughing in the 95 degree heat, and could not think back to that cold and snowy Christmas eve when my nephew was just his size..
My nephew is now a Marine..

My son has a future ahead of him.. As of today, he is Superman and he is knocking ‘bad guys’ down one by one…

A tale of two ages..

A sign of the times. Now the overall ‘world’ times.. but the localized times. You know, the ones that matter.

My sister made a comment today about how reality exists for us.. but everyone else has their own reality, their own story, and their own piece of the pie of existence. We only know what takes place on a daily basis for our own bodies and souls. We cannot understand or fathom what happens in the lives of others.
And with that said.. I can only remember what it was like to be ME at age 3, living in the mine fires of Centralia.. While I can try, I don’t really know what it was like to be my nephew patiently waiting the arrival of Santa somewhere in the mid 1990s.. and I can love and appreciate everything my son Ayden does, but only he will know what it was like to be AYDEN at his age, and any age..
Isn’t that interesting?
We can be connected to family.. but disconnected all the same…? Strange in a way..
And now a memory may exist for my son Ayden.. a memory in time.. Etched forever. When he looked up at saw his cousin come back from the Marine Corps, looking more than a tad bit different. I think Ayden met a new hero today.
But .. .that certainly didn’t stop him from using his special toddler powers and taking him down..

One lucky status update

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg: I switched flight to San Francisco

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said she had planned to take the flight that crashed on landing in San Francisco on Saturday. Sandberg decided to switch to another airline in order to use reward miles, she said in a post on her Facebook page. “Taking a minute to be thankful and explain what happened. My family, colleagues Debbie…

CNN is reporting tonight that there were 307 on board the doomed flight. Nine different hospitals are treating the injured..
There are also some amazing and breathtaking images online. It’s amazing, looking at the scene, that we are not talking about even more grim numbers tonight.. thank God we aren’t.. but that’s no comfort for the 2 already fatally injured and the others who are in serious condition..
The burned-out plane remains on the runway on July 6. Passengers and crew members escaped down the emergency inflatable slides.

Disaster Saturday: A plane crash and a train crash

There are two developing stories of dramatic importance this Saturday afternoon..
First, from the Canadian-U.S. border, a train carrying oil derailed in Lac-Megantic in the morning. NBC news dispatches report one quote saying “everything that was there is gone”.. Another report has that the Quebec town is ablaze in the aftermath due to what the train was carrying..  MORE HERE

The other developing story has just broken this afternoon.. a Boeing 777 operated by Asiana Airlines crashed while landing in San Francisco..YouTube videos being posted already show the plane with smoke rising and it appeared to be upright..

Both are developing stories right now..