California's a shakin – Is the Big One coming?

Ask the citizens living in LA about the two earthquakes that occurred within weeks of each other and you'll likely get differing responses! Some think they were no big deal, while others worry that these could be 'fore-shocks' that may be in advance of a much larger quake yet to come. (A quake that could destroy much of Los Angeles as has been predicted by some seismologists). Why, because the Puente Hills fault, which scientists believe might be responsible for Friday's 5.1 earthquake in La Habra, is considered very dangerous and could generate a quake in excess of 7.5 on the Richter scale. The Puente Hills thrust fault is considered very dangerous because of its location, running as it does from the suburbs of northern Orange County, through the San Gabriel Valley and under the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles before ending in Hollywood.

The Puente Hills fault could also be considered especially hazardous over an extended area because of its unique shape. Other local faults, like the Newport-Inglewood and Hollywood, are a collection of vertical cracks, with the most intense shaking occurring near where the fault reaches the surface. The Puente Hills, on the other hand, is a horizontal fault with intense shaking likely to be felt over a much larger area; some estimate roughly 25 by 15 miles – And, that could spell disaster on a scale few could imagine!

On a side note. Imagine the effect such a quake would have on the American economy! Thank goodness we have the progressive leadership shown by the Obama Administration ready and willing to tackle whatever may come! Please remember that Obama, Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats are busy busy busy, even as you sleep!

WTF for lunch!

In the old days there was the infamous SOS (or as it was commonly referred to by the dysphemism 'Shit on a Shingle'). A meal that was composed of creamed chipped beef on toast and which was very common for troops to eat in the second World War.

My 21^st Century concoction of chopped wiener with pork and beans on toast is called a WeinerToastaFarter meal or WTF for short, a term which I'm sure doesn't need any additional translation, but which may also have other unintended connotations...

In truth, this is a pretty good mix of foods! Nutritionally, it contains about 124 grams of Van Camp's Pork and Beans along with a 100 gram cut up wiener – the total calories therein were approximately 300! That was my lunch for this day....party on and stay clear of my wake!

Mystery craft spotted flying over Texas!

An article posted by Fox News referenced a sighting of a 'strange' aircraft – actually three aircraft that were not immediately recognized as any that America's military is currently flying. (Read the article and see what you think). 

Here is the silhouette of a B2 bomber (top plane), which is what they thought this plane most closely resembled.

It's pretty obvious that whatever plane was crossing the Texas skies, it was not a conventional B@ bomber! Interesting! So, for now, what we have is a true UFO!

On a more serious note. Americans have recently discovered that the government is lying to us. We've learned that the government is shutting citizens out while they make major decisions that will affect everyone. This mystery plane make me wonder what else they're up to while we're all sleeping...

The Bangles and Eternal Flame!

A great group! The Bangles were one of my all time favs! This song was all about Susan Hoff  - she was and is an awesome singer! Late nights, then, with a pet ferret burrowing into my bed covers... A time long past a time when I did not yet drooling so much...

Random Thoughts for late March 2014!

Six million sign ups for Obama-Care?

Six million!! That's the number released by the Obama Administration today. What's that mean? – absolutely nothing as the government has yet to release any figure as to how many of these people; 1) have actually paid an insurance company and therefore are really covered, 2) how many of these figures are sign ups were for Medicaid and 3) how many were young healthy people – people needed to make the entire Ponzi scheme work!

Russian troops invade Ukraine!

How long before the news media will be able to post the headline, 'Russian troops march into Ukraine!' I'd say not very long and I say this for a rather simple reason. It takes a lot of rubles to support a standing army stationed on another country's border. Russia currently has somewhere between fifty and one hundred thousand troops on the Ukrainian border as I made this post late in March 2014. With not so deep economic pockets, I have to wonder how far into April we'll get before either an invasion takes place or the troops will have to be sent home for lack of resources?

And what of our President during this critical period of time? I can personally guarantee that Obama will do absolutely nothing. He might shake his finger, he might bow some more, but as far as offering any real resistance? You can forget about it. All of Europe is already aware of this fact and is prepared to cower in unison as the next of a series of Russian takeovers kicks into a higher gear.

President Obama may even be calculating that if he can just stall long enough, World War III will be the problem of some other President.... I know that many of us Americans are sick and tired of war. God knows we've been involved in enough conflicts. Live have been lost and trillions spent. But, the willingness to get involved when other people's rights are trampled is exactly what's set our country apart from all the others over so many decades! Now, is not the time to turn our backs on others in need!

Prices rising and no end in sight!

While the economy continues to wallow along like a drunk fighting a hangover, creeping inflation in the form of rising prices for grocery items (a 3.5% increase this summer according to Fox News) and gasoline. Neither of these areas are discretionary, but rather mandatory areas of expense and that is hurting more and more Americans.

What's Obama doing about this state of affairs? His EPA Bureau is moving silently forward to insure that your energy costs for heating and cooling your home will continue to skyrocket.

Second Life's social ladder!

Just as is found in real life, Linden Lab's Second Life has different classes of people, or avatars as were.

In America, the class system is pretty easy to recognize. Broadly speaking, you have three classes of citizens:

The Ruling Class – Corporate heads, politicians, judges, etc.

The Working Class – anyone with a job living paycheck to pay check!

The Lower Class – Anyone not working, retired or who is an papered alien.

Note that this list is by no means complete as there are many striations within a class (the working poor for instance) and even some that are outside of the three named here. (For instance, many people might consider criminals as a class all to their own). Ahem...

Second Life also has a kinda sorta class structure or social ladder, if you will. And, without further ado, here they are:

The Elite – This class comprises the big time SL players who own entire sims and who actually make large sums of money over time. On the good side, they build a lot of fine malls, homes and parks for all to enjoy! You rarely see them in-world...

The Skimmers – These are the small shop owners, bar dancers, instructors and those avatars who actually make stuff that others want to buy. As a class, they generally either break even or come out slightly ahead at the end of the year.

The Average Joe's – These avatars comprise the true meat and potatoes of SL, for it is these guys and gals that are by far the most numerous and upon whom the other classes feed and grow. Their purpose is to wander around in tight little social circles and to buy stuff. Eventually, they may morph into Dick's and or Skimmers.

The Dicks – It's hard to miss this class of miscreants – Its' mostly it's comprised of male avatars running around with penis attachments swinging out of their little fake groins. They're purpose in SL is to screw and get screwed by other avatars, which they do time and again! (This class also gets screwed by other avatars like the Elite on a more or less full time basis).

If these classes were grouped into a pie chart, it might look like the one at right! The trouble with Second Life in 2014 is that the Average Joe's numbers are shrinking dramatically almost every day – pretty soon those account holders will get so low in numbers that even the Skimmers and the Elite will depart as there would be no one left to feed on.

Sadly, that will leave only the Dick's which, now that I think of it......... pretty much describes the United States today!

Is the current Gen X kinda of passed out!

Gen X - Political no-shows'

America's young men and women! The so-called Gen X citizens! - Where are they standing when it comes to the pressing issues of the day? I'd surely like to know!

Issues like Obama-Care, Russian aggression, China's aspirations, Iran' nuke and even our domestic energy policy! Have they tuned in or tuned out? Or rather, have they they merely passed out! Maybe feasting on all the pleasures of a society where informational and sensory overload is the meal of choice!

The American's of olden times were largely a hard working and frugal people who knew what it was to save a penny for a rainy day. After all, starvation for them was often just a week or two away! Work brittle and strong, they carved a hard existence out of a then primitive land where early death was a constant companion and hardship the daily shackle of life.

These men built this country!

Contrast those early people of our country with what is going on today. Almost half the population are no longer employed or are on entitlement programs or living at home. Ten thousand, sixty four or older citizens are retiring daily with many marching right into an overloaded health care system where a few are racking up staggering medical costs that grow larger ever day....

Meanwhile, our youth seem less and less inclined to take up the reigns of leadership....Do I blame them...I'm not sure...one thing that is for sure - American exceptionalism is pretty much dead! Party on dudes (extreme sarcasm)!

Second Life performer Doug Lind aka Marky Helstein! Luka!

My name is Luka, I live on the second floor... no wait! It's the fourth floor now! And OMG, I did indeed run into a door or doors, intellectually at least, many times! Truth be told, we all live on the same Earth. And, some of us have thick walls and live in relative luxury. It's much easier to hear through the thinner walls the rest of us must live with...

Those darn old hot house tomatoes!

There they sit, on lunch plates all across America. Uneaten, unloved and even perhaps unsightly! Know by most people as hot house tomatoes, these ubiquitous slabs of vegetable matter inspire a deep and profound sense of disgust in folks like myself. Comparing a hot house tomato to the real McCoy grown in the summertime in a backyard garden is like comparing a can of Spam to a Porterhouse steak! But, what makes a hot house tomato taste so bad?

To answer that, most commercially grown tomatoes taste as bad as they do because they are picked green and then forced to turn red by the introduction of Etheline gas, produced by ripe apples and other fruits that stimulates the simulation of ripening. It changes the color from yellow or green to red but doesn't really cause true "Ripening". It LOOKS ripe but has the taste and texture of unripe fruit.

So, the bottom line is that while there is really no difference between a hot house tomato and one grown outdoors over the summer, it's really all about the ripening process!

Salad supreme!

A good, healthy and tasty salad can't be beat! This is true especially for anyone who is on or contemplating going on a diet to lose weight. The effort pictured here contains the following:

Romaine lettuce 82 g

Bell pepper 30 g

Onion tops 5 g

Chives 2 g

Turkey 22 g

Celery 20 g

Carrots 15 g

Cherry tomatoes 35 g

Cheese 19 g

This 230 gram meal is well balanced in terms of nutrients while it is also very low in sodium and cholesterol (33 mg).

Solar 'Superstorm' narrowly misses earth!

The heliophysics community is buzzing today in response to an article in Nature Communications, which describes an intense solar storm that narrowly missed Earth almost two years ago. On July 23, 2012, a CME rocketed away from the sun at 2000 km/s, almost four times faster than a typical eruption. The storm tore through Earth orbit, but fortunately Earth wasn't there. Instead it hit the STEREO-A spacecraft, which experienced the most intense solar proton storm since 1976. Researchers have been analyzing the data ever since, and they have concluded that the storm was akin to the Carrington Event of 1859.

"Had it hit Earth, it probably would have been like the big one in 1859," says Janet Luhmann of UC Berkeley, a co-author of the paper. "The effect today [on] our modern technologies would have been tremendous."

The Carrington Event was a series of powerful CMEs (corneal mass ejections) that hit Earth head-on, sparking Northern Lights as far south as Tahiti. Intense geomagnetic storms caused global telegraph lines to spark, setting fire to some telegraph offices and disabling the 'Victorian Internet." A similar storm today would have a catastrophic effect on modern power grids and telecommunication networks. According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, the total economic impact could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina. Multi-ton transformers fried by such a storm could take years to repair. 

The paper in Nature Communications describes what gave the July 2012 storm Carrington-like potency. For one thing, the CME was actually two CMEs separated by only 10 to 15 minutes. Plus the CMEs traveled through a region of space that had been cleared out by another CME four days earlier. As a result, they were not decelerated as much as usual by their transit through the interplanetary medium.

The storm clouds crossed Earth's orbit in a place where Earth itself would be about 1 week later, so it was a relatively narrow escape. The whole episode highlights the perils of space weather. Many observers have noted that the current solar cycle is weak, perhaps the weakest in 100 years. Now we see that even a weak solar cycle can produce a very strong storm. Earth is not safe from these kind of events, so it's time to be prepared.

The above article was posted on http://spaceweather.com on this date....

My Thoughts: While we're all busy, looking for a lost airplane and as we try to come to terms with a sadistic Russian leader, off in the wings may lurk a real game changer! Massive solar flares, known as Class X CME's, can easily plunge our little world instantly into the Dark Ages virtually overnight!

Ich Find Dich Scheisse!

A song about people that suck! Enough said!

Goldfrapp - White Horse!

"Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a White Horse, and He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer." Was this the Antichrist? Is he walking among us even on this day?

Biblical verse:  'Some of you will or can see clearly, but will turn away from the truth when you hear and see it. Others of you will close your eyes to everything around you and yet still proclaim that you can see! Blind skies all! How can ANY of you ever hope to enter into my Father's house?'

Oven baked hot chicken legs!

I decided to bake some chicken legs in the oven on this day rather than to try and cook them out on a grill on what was a very windy day! This little recipe is easy, fun and fast to do. It can also be easily up-scaled to larger numbers of legs for families and such!

I started this hot chicken leg effort by preheating my oven to 350°.

Ready to go into the oven!

While the oven was heating, I washed three chicken legs and dried them thoroughly with paper towels so that the flavorings and the oil would stick better. I then brushed on a bit of olive oil over each leg, added some hot sauce with a little black pepper and cayenne pepper and then placed them into a Tupperware ceramic pot. I baked these, uncovered, for 30 minutes, then turned them over and went for 20 minutes longer. Have patience, we're almost there...

Finally, I increased the oven temperature to 400° - removed the legs from the pot with tongs and placed them on top of a foil covered cookie sheet. I then baked them for about 20 minutes longer, turning them over after 10 minutes, until they were nicely browned on both sides. As a last thought, I drizzled a bit more of the hot sauce over the legs as they cooled down! Serves 1 to 2 adults.

My Thoughts: Overall, not a bad tasting chicken recipe. The chicken was well cooked, but they weren't as hot as I would have preferred, (the fresh sauce did provide a bit of a kick)! I ate these with blue cheese dressing as a side, broccoli and a small salad for a total of about 400 calories! A good combination!

Welcome to ObamaGolf! How can I help you...out?

[This was sent to me on FB by a friend named John - don't know who came up with it, but it sure is accurate!]

(Receptionist) Hello, Welcome to ObamaGolf . My name is Trina. How can I help you?

(Customer) Hello, I received an email from Golfsmith stating that my Pro V1 order has been canceled and I should go to your exchange to reorder it.  I tried your web site, but it seems like it is not working. So I am calling the 800 number.

(Receptionist) Yes, I am sorry about the web site. It should be fixed by the end of 2014. But I can help you.

(Customer) Thanks, I ordered some Pro V1 balls.

(Receptionist) Sir, Pro V1's do not meet our minimum standards, I will be happy to provide you with a choice of Pinnacle, TopFlite , or Callaway Blue.

(Customer) But I have played Pro V1 for years.

(Receptionist) The government has determined that Pro V1s are no longer acceptable, so we have instructed Titleist to stop making them.  TopFlites are better, sir, I am sure you will love them.

(Customer) But I like the Pro V1.  Why are TopFlites better?

(Receptionist) That is all spelled out in the 2700 page "Affordable Golf Ball Act" passed by Congress.

(Customer) Well, how much are these TopFlites ?

(Receptionist) It depends, do you want our Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum package?

(Customer) What's the difference?

(Receptionist) 12, 24, 36 or 48 balls.

(Customer) The Silver package may be okay; how much is it?

(Receptionist) It depends, sir; what is your monthly income?

(Customer) What does that have to do with anything?

(Receptionist) I need that to determine your government Golf Ball subsidy; then I can determine how much your out-of-pocket cost will be.  But if your income is below the poverty level, you might qualify for a subsidy.  In that case, I can refer you to our BallAid department.

(Customer) BallAid ?

(Receptionist) Yes, golf balls are a right, everyone has a right to golf balls.  So, if you can't afford them, then the government will supply them free of charge.

(Customer) Who said they were a right?

(Receptionist) Congress passed it, the President signed it and the Supreme Court found it Constitutional.

(Customer) Whoa.....I don't remember seeing anything in the Constitution regarding golf balls as a right.

(Receptionist) There's no explicit mention of golf balls in the Constitution, but President Obama is a former constitutional scholar and he believes it would have been included if the Constitutional had not been drafted by a bunch of slave-owning white men.  The Democrats in the Congress and the Supreme Court agree with the President that golf balls are now a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

(Customer) I don't believe this...

(Receptionist) It's the law of the land sir. Now, we anticipated most people would go for the Silver Package, so what is you monthly income sir?

(Customer) Forget it, I think I will forgo the balls this year.

(Receptionist) In that case, sir, I will still need your monthly income.

(Customer) Why?

(Receptionist) To determine what your 'non-participation' cost would be.

(Customer) WHAT? You can't charge me for NOT buying golf balls.

(Receptionist) It's the law of the land, sir, approved by the Supreme Court. It's $49.50 or 1% of your monthly income.....

(Customer)(interrupting) This is ridiculous, I'll pay the $49.50.

(Receptionist) Sir, it is the $49.50 or 1% of your monthly income, whichever is greater.

(Customer) ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What a ripoff!!

(Receptionist) Actually sir, it is a good deal. Next year it will be 2%.

(Customer) Look, I'm going to call my Congressman to find out what's going on here. This is ridiculous. I'm not going to pay it.

(Receptionist) Sorry to hear that sir, that's why I had the NSA track this call and obtain the make and model of the cell phone you are using.

(Customer) Why does the NSA need to know what kind of CELL PHONE I AM USING?

(Receptionist) So they can get your GPS coordinates, sir

(Door Bell rings followed immediately by a loud knock on the door)

 (Receptionist) That would be the IRS, sir. Thanks for calling ObamaGolf , have a nice day...and God Bless the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. [muffled laughter]

Kristiina Brask - Nyt Ma Meen!

This Finnish translation (circa 2014) took me a bit of time to work out. It was only with the help of some very nice citizens in Helsinki Finland that it ever happened. Kudos out to Valura and Visa. This effort launched me on a path to try and to learn a most unique and puristic language! Kiitos and thanks to all!

Take a pass on this Sonic offering!

I received a small flyer in the mail advertising a Saint Patrick's Day special on their cheeseburger at HALF PRICE! Wow! I thought, I can't miss out on this deal and headed over to the local Sonic eatery at noontime on Saint Patties Day – I did this deed while bypassing an authentic corned beef and cabbage meal being offered at a local bar!

Truthfully, this was a good deal in terms of cost, as I purchased the cheeseburger and a small order of dries for only $3.03 including taxes! (No drink needed as I always bring one with me). However, I

The Cholesterol and salt were also thru the roof!

was not as happy when I considered that this meal is really lousy from a nutritional standpoint. That's my view. (You be the judge by inspecting the nutritional label at right). And to add insult to injury the hamburger was not as it was pictured in flyer – not even close!

Bottom line, don't waste your time on this loser! Score it a 2 on a scale of 10!

I don't know how to love him - Jesus Christ Superstar!

Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene - is always and forever in my heart. This song from the movie Jesus Christ Superstar, still works for me this day!  The thing is I know in my heart, that Jesus and God are very much with us, even as evil is also very much alive and well on this earth in 2019.

 

Every day is a new day!

Shopping at Walmart elicits this response from me quite often!

We will win ourselves a home - forever and ever and ever!

Jesus Christ Superstar - a movie I would encourage everyone to see! It was a pivotal movie for me, way back in the 70's! I believe that Jesus had a message for the people of his time and that it was good... only today his same message plays to a much stronger chord in the hearts of Christians, Jews,Catholics and peoples of all faiths everywhere! He even loves atheists, one and all!

A final note! Be as sly as a fox with respects to our Federal government. You're being played...

Have faith in God our Father and we, each and everyone of us, will win the entrance to a life beyond our wildest dreams... that's a promise!

Roy Orbison says 'It's Over'!

Roy at his best!

Getting healthy with subs!

Scenario: Your on a diet to lose weight and you like TV personalities like Jarad who eat exclusively at venues like Subway and then shed all them pounds! But, there's one small fly in your eating ointment... you're broke! What to do?

No problemo - you decide to make your own sub - After all! How hard could it be... you reason, perhaps incorrectly..

Making a sandwich that is tasty and yet is low in calories is both a science and an art, but it can be done! The sub pictured here contained the following:

Bread    70 grams
Ham     64 grams
Cheese 19 grams
Mayo   22 grams

(I didn't track the onion or the romaine as they contribute almost zero calories). The total for all the rest was 643 calories and it was delicious! A not too out of line initial effort, and the coleslaw was also very diet friendly! But! What sabotaged the entire operation here was the potato salad - it added an additional 200 calories! Bummer!

So, the moral of the story is to watch out for food players that are lurking in the wings as sides and which might threaten to 'deep six' your ability to lose weight!

Know why you can't find these anymore?

A now extinct sunning chair!

Those old fashioned tubular plastic tanning chairs are gone due to lack of demand and that's a shame! The reason they disappeared is due to all the negative publicity the masses were bombarded with concerning the sun. Every doctor, the AMA and media outlet shouted out the harmful effects of getting too much sun. And they did a great job, because these days almost no one sunbathes or even ventures outdoors without slathering on suntan lotions designed to block the sun's Ultra violet rays! Some of us never expose their skin to the sun much at all – going out only when encased in a vehicle and shunning outdoor activities. And, that's a shame...because they may be killing themselves.

Read this insightful article - 'Does our lack of sun put your health in danger?', for more!

Goldfrapp and Alive!

Feeling alive. A good thing, right?

California Dreamin - Mamas & The Papas

This is one of the most often watched videos on You Tube - the only reason it is here is that I cannot hear in stereo - so, I converted the audio to mono... Long ago and far away...

Far sight: Smells of gas. Urgent feelings. Fear. Body working well. Good times!

Kicked up pasta meat sauce!

Is this recipe a killer? - Only if it gets contaminated!

But, it is pretty good tasting! Note: I won't advertize this recipe, other than by posting it here. It's really here for my benefit and future reference...

Yet another missed opportunity! Da Man Pleaser is sold out!

I just saw this ad on a local web site and wouldn't you know it, but the company was sold out! Bummer!

Pink Floyd Live - Dark Side of the Moon!

Watching this video, I feel like I'm in the cheap seats!

I'm not sure where I obtained this footage other than as some download some years back. The original video I rec'd was sliced and diced and the audio was way off. Fixed both as well as I could - (worth it though as this was one of my favorite groups in the day)! Note: This video is also not on U-Tube, at least with these technical fixes, so don't bother clicking on the tab... (Although, I'm sure better versions are out there somewhere)... I quote, 'who knows which is which and whose is whose'... and OK... I will so not get into the recent events unfolding in the Ukraine and that 'Commander and Chief' we have found ourselves stuck with!

No, I will not got there! Please go to http://oweninc.blogspot.com/ if you desire that form of vitriol..

Critique: Four Cheese Ziti Marinara

This will be the last review of this excellent line of the Healthy Choice Baked entrées. Ziti macaroni and sauce are tube shaped pasta's that are characteristic of Italian-American cuisine. The other meals they offer (I've reviewed three others) are of little interest to me.

Other than the Ziti pasta, this boxed TV entree also contain Marinara sauce which is an Italian tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions. (Usually a very tasty and nutritional sauce to eat)! The four cheeses consist of fine Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and mozzarella. (Not the best things for you to eat). So, what we have here is a ying and yang meal deal that will only kill you slowly... you have been warned!

Now what caught my eye originally while surveying the entire line of these 'Baked' products at the grocery store was the word 'ziti'. At first my mind confused it with the word 'titty' and so aroused my interest. Even after I worked it out mentally, I thought it might be an interesting if not a little bit dangerous meal to try. Why dangerous? Well, contrary to culinary lore, eating cheese which contains saturated (read as harmful) fats does not directly cause coronary heart disease – it just doesn't help all that much. So, eating cheese once in a while is probably OK.

The directions, as they are for most all this line, are simple to execute. Slit the plastic and then nuke for four minutes! I like meals like this!

Even though this is a meatless pasta dish, I still liked eating it! I mean those, oh so bad for you, mix of cheeses were hard to resist! This 260 gram meal has 310 calories, 5 mg of Cholesterol and 560 mg of sodium. Not all that bad! I scored it a 7 on a scale of 10!

I'm enjoying a pork chop meal amid all the cancer controversy!

Each serving was about 2 1/2 ounces!

With all the controversy currently swirling around a new study that was referred to in The Guardian and which was entitled 'Diets high in meat, eggs and dairy could be as harmful to health as smoking', I was not sure what to do about eating meats like pork! Now true, while the study did find that for people up to the age of 64-65, that eating a diet high in meat protein was akin to smoking in terms of the risks! It all mentioned that for those over that age, the risks actually became much lower! Interesting.

Well, the truth be told – I do like eating meat and, as they say, 'that is that'! In my defense, I also have a salad with most of my meals (including breakfast) and maybe that's helped me over the long run. Pork or the 'other white meat' as it is called contains much less fat that does a juicy steak. I think the recommended portion of protein for men is about 54 grams per day or about 2 ounces and the portion pictured here was pretty close to that amount. In addition, rather that consuming a whole Russet potato, I generally eat only half. That helps hold down the carbohydrate load considerably. The organic sauerkraut brings some probiotics to the party and the small romaine salad,  maybe a bit of roughage and fiber! (Special thanks to CherylAnn Corcione who likes to share nutritionally related articles via FB and who also markets the Tower Garden).

So, overall, a fairly well balanced meal deal – for a meat eater that is!

Richard Harris MacArthur Park

A friend asked me to think outside the political box, and so I thought of this song by Richard Harris! Strange how a random thought, by other song writers, begets such a mental path. Please listen to, and enjoy this true classic by Richard Marx. The days that we will face in the coming months and years will likely be difficult. (I think we all know that in our hearts).

This Republic or United States, for most all my life, has been my only reality. Good times, good work and an existence that would be a fantasy for most of the rest of the world. (Something I took for granted, even as close friends I knew, perished in far distant battlefields to sustain it).

Now, that reality is fast fading in my view. But, what troubles me the most, are the children we baby boomers will leave behind. Young eyes that looking innocently up, to old men, like myself.

Questioning and innocent eyes, seeking the assurances, that such incredible wealth as I have enjoyed throughout my long life....Will still be there for them as they also grow older....

I'd Really Love to See you Tonight!

A blast from the past! I'd sure love to see a warm wind right about now!

Moody Blues with Isn't Life Strange!

A long time ago, back in the 80's, I had the opportunity to help this band with a problem involving a McIntosh computer that controlled their light show at an event just outside of Chicago. Yes, I fixed the problem..with a simple fan. Isn't it strange, how life throws people together...even if for but a second? For me, personally, this song was popular at a time when I was a student at SIU in Carbondale IL and remember one wonderful afternoon when I actually viewed heaven on earth in the form of a woman whose name was Susan Zimmer! Nothing came of that...just a turn of the page...

David Bowie - Heroes Live

David Bowie, being David Bowie! Enough said... one of my all time favs! This video is mis-tracked by about 2 one thousands of a second for the audio....too lazy to correct it... The sound is full boat and the message clear! We - America - can be heroes...again!

Pink Floyd: Welcome to the Machine!

A great song that maybe is more for this time in our history than it was back when Pink Floyd first sang it back in 1975! Got headphones? Use them for this number - I've already cranked up the volume! Now, for the meat so sweet. For me, time has passed swiftly. For you, listening now, this song impacts. So, my time back then or yours now.. what was the dif?