Saturday, November 26, 2016

Despre Toamna, partea a patra (About Autumn, part four)

The Autumn melancholy is not present, or at least not as bad so far this year.

I wrote that a couple weeks ago, and never finished it. For the most part, it has remained true this year. There have been moments, but nothing enduring, this season.

Until today...and still, it is mild comparatively. It came on in full force this morning for some reason....maybe because it was overcast and cold.  I went out and ran a couple errands and then stopped over at the local Coffee Bean, as I used to do, and bought a Peppermint Mocha latte but all I could think of was how much rather I would be sitting and drinking it in Centrul Vechi Bucuresti, Old Town Bucharest. I'm sure that anyone reading this knows about that adventure, but if by chance you don't, it's here

It's raining, hard, now....and I'm feeling a little better which strikes me as odd. 

If you haven't followed this blog and have no idea what I am referring to as the Autumn melancholy, the previous posts are here.

Buna seara, prieteni.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

I split lanes.

Originally posted on Facebook April 1, 2016:

"Where many drivers get it wrong is that they see lane splitting as "queue jumping" that will cause each car to go one further spot back in the queue. In truth, a filtering bike disappears from the queue altogether, the only time a motorcycle holds a car up is when it sits in traffic and acts like another car.
Filtering bikes work their way to the front of stopped traffic at red lights, and accelerate away much quicker than the cars around them. When they reach the next stoppage, they disappear again between the lanes and no car is held up."
Hi, I'm Steve, and I'm a lane-splitter. It's legal here in California, and this article explains it as well, if not better, than any other I've seen. I follow the "rules"... I only do it when traffic is stopped, or moving at a snail's pace...I only go 5-10 mph faster than the traffic I am "splitting"... I give a courteous wave to anyone that intentionally moves over to give me room.
Why? Not to get in front of you. There are a few reasons: ....read more...

Friday, May 27, 2016

A piece of my mind

Today my Facebook timeline has been inundated with posts regarding President Obama's speech at Hiroshima. I've seen it called "repulsive" and "absolutely vile". I've seen "click bait" websites with headlines that say that POTUS said that America is "Evil" and that he apologized to the Japanese people. I've read the entire transcript of the speech, four times, trying to find these things...and I can't. The word "evil" appears exactly once...in this line:
"We may not be able to eliminate man’s capacity to do evil, so nations and the alliances that we form must possess the means to defend ourselves."
I can't find anything that, to me, is an apology unless you want to extrapolate lines such as:
"Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in a not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held prisoner.
Their souls speak to us. They ask us to look inward, to take stock of who we are and what we might become."
...as an apology. I can't make that leap. Even if I could find an apology in the text, my response would be "So what?"

I've seen comments the likes of (this is not an exact quote, it is an amalgamation of comments I've read. I use quotes for style here only) "dropping the bomb wasn't evil, it ended the war", "it had to be done", etc, etc.

So, even if POTUS did apologize, so what? Even if I give up the point that bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary, what what would be wrong with an apology 71 years later for the act? Have you never done something that you felt was necessary, and even though it accomplished the desired effect, you had some tinge of regret after the fact? Over 100,000 humans died. What the hell would be wrong with "Sorry"? Sorry we had to commit an act such as this to achieve the desired effect? But again, I didn't see an apology in there anywhere. Please feel free to quote the portion of the text that you feel is an apology.

No, I've never served in the military, but I lost two uncles in that war. My brother served in Vietnam and although he returned, he never really did. Over 35 years ago, I took an oath to defend the constitution, and I have renewed that oath twice since then, and I believe that, to the best of my ability, I have done so. I'm as much a patriot as the next guy. Some folks love to sling the term "liberal" at me like it it's the scarlet letter. If liberal means that I care about other human beings no matter where they are or come from, I'll wear it.

If I was in a life or death struggle, and had to kill someone to end it, I hope that I would feel some small tinge of regret after the fact for the act.

I'm not a fan, supporter, or apologist for President Obama. What I am is a person who looks at the facts and draws my own conclusion rather than let the tide carry me to a different viewpoint. I certainly don't agree with everything POTUS has done or said, but I can find nothing in his speech that I think is vaguely "vile" or "repulsive".

I've seen "evil", "vile" and "repulsive" comments though, and I've also noticed an alarming trend among those comments and the people that voice them. Alarming to me, at least. But not surprising. I'll leave the revelation of that trend to your own interpretation.
"We’re not bound by genetic code to repeat the mistakes of the past. We can learn. We can choose. We can tell our children a different story, one that describes a common humanity, one that makes war less likely and cruelty less easily accepted."
That's the world I'm looking for.

Here's a link to the full text of the speech:  Text of President Obama’s Speech in Hiroshima, Japan




Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Quote of the day - Wisdom from Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!

"When great love is rejected, Rosalee, something inside a man dies. So all he can do is run away, where he can meet the girl he'll love second most."

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Add this to the Bucket List


Passo San Boldo - San Boldo Pass, Veneto Italy

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Quote of the day

Someone can be madly in love with you and still not be ready. They can love you in a way you have never been loved and still not join you on the bridge. And whatever their reasons you must leave. Because you never ever have to inspire anyone to meet you on the bridge. You never ever have to convince someone to do the work to be ready. There is more extraordinary love, more love that you have never seen, out here in this wide and wild universe. And there is the love that will be ready. 
— Nayyirah Waheed