FIRST ATTEMPT AT Author-Writer BLOGGING (or) How in the world (or Alternate World) does one start doing this, anyway ???

Welcome to the Adventure— and author-writer James Hood’s website. This e-creation residing in-on the Infinite Multiverses-Cosminet, has been a long time in the dreamed-of, considered and “wanting.”

SCROLL DOWN FOR RECENT ENTRIES!

This website’s reality was an unexpected, delightful birthday gift from daughter Victoria and son-in-law Michael, what a unique, special, great gift!

Where to start? How about here?

Waning years of the 20^th and first decades of the 21st century are in this opinion, the best and worst times to be a writer. Best, because the incredible proliferation of personal computers with sophisticated word-processing software makes “writing” so easy and editing, nothing like the chore it was during all of history. Worst, because the amount of “competition for attention” is beyond measurable by any metric.

But what the heck, the James Hood author website (actually, “TheJamesHood”), because a former drummer from the band, The Pretenders, already owned the website name desired. Anyway, the site is real and live and here, so let’s go.

Hello, come on in, make yourself comfortable, maybe fetch a beverage and / or snack. Some suggestions there for? Other viewers have enjoyed beer and Fudgesicles, lemon-infused tap water, Peanut M&Ms, Ding Dongs, popcorn, cream sherry, pepperoni, maybe a couple fingers of Scotch. Or Triscuits and sliced Muenster cheese. Or pretzel nuggets dipped in hummus with fresh broccoli and mini carrots on the side.

What brings you here? Just e-bouncing around in the e-neighbourhood, or was this site recommended by someone?

Whichever. You are reading the first entry in the blog of James Hood, creator and author of the Adventure— stories. (More available, so scroll on down.)

James Hood was a mere youth when Star Trek (now known as TOS, “the Original Series”) debuted on USA prime-time TV (actually, the metaphor “exploded” is more appropriate) unforgettably across the airwaves in 1966. Who would ever have thought a TV series would sire several-plus derivative series and gobs of feature films over the following 50+ year period?

This writer is one of those many folks caught up those eons ago not only in Star Trek, but also C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series of books (also an inspiration for ST’ creator Gene Roddenberry).

For those of you not familiar with the immortal British author; Cecil Scott Forester wrote 13 books about a British sailor during the Napoleonic times, about 1793 to 1825. Great reads. Look him up.

Fast forward 7 years (from Star Trek, “The Original Series”’ debut) to February 1973. Young James tentatively took pen to paper (literally) and started a couple alternate-history World War II novellas. As it was, the plot premises did not work out. Subject too big; would-be author, not mature enough. However, the desire to write, to tell stories, persisted. Thinking continued. Some ideas were awful. Others…had no room for “big” development.

A winter morning, home alone, the idea dropped into this mind, all but fully formed. What might a Star Trek-ish-oid concept; action-adventure-exploration-fixed cast of strong characters, be like if it did not take place either in the future or in the vastness of outer space…

…but rather, here and now?

Years before, television’s The Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond and The Outer Limits scared this watcher witless and thoroughly creeped James and millions of other viewers out. A goodly number of those sci-fi-adventure-horror stories took place in a one-step-aside or parallel reality, in the present time frame.

Alternate dimensions of reality were already a sci-fi and fantasy staple, but no known ones called out to become anything resembling a desirable setting-basis for the story concept formulating in this wannabe writer’s head.

With an odd rapidity, as if this writer’s mind was being “fed” thoughts, ideas steadily “arrived” and were organized, shuffled, changed, accepted, discarded. A mental jigsaw puzzle solving itself, assisted by a willing writer’s mind. Certainly not a new concept, but for sure, a new setting.

Mental and creative seeds germinated. Decades later, those first sprouts had matured into a metaphorical forest.  Two Adventure— novels published and…”more than several” …are in the works.

Stay tuned and please come back often.

Oh, and ‘hope you enjoy (but more importantly) and/or are stimulated to ponder, even briefly, on (at least some of) the thoughts below.

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2024 April 10 Wednesday

When gaining awareness during that sleep-to-awake state in the morning. sometimes, a piece of music is “playing” inside this head, labeled for lack of something more creative, the “Morning Song.”

Today, for whatever reason the Infinite Multiverses have yet to explain, the “Morning Song” was Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon.”

Was that a reminder to remember yesterday’s eclipse, or to check and see if it’s time to go out and buy beer?

2024 April 09 Tuesday

(Late in the day) Here’s hoping all who watched today’s Total Eclipse of the Sun did so safely and thoroughly enjoyed the infrequent, amazing, celestial phenomena. Personally did most of it using the cosmicnet and enjoyed podcasts and news from Newport, Arkansas; Dallas, Texas; Niagara Falls, New York.

Any of you ever pondered how “coincidental” it is, the Sun and Moon appearing to be exactly the same size, when viewed from Earth?

2024 April 5 Friday

Still scratching head at a bit of info received, this afternoon, ostensibly by an M.D., posting online, somewhere. Something like…

“…A craving for chocolate late in the day is an indication that one had insufficient Protein intake in the course of their eating, during the day.”

Since it was, “on the cosmicnet, it must be true,” Hmm?

2024 April 1 Monday

(End of day) Whew (and sigh of relief). No April Fool’s Day pranks were perpetrated on or by our family, today. Does that have a deeper meaning, considering the world situation is “enough”?

2024 April 08 Monday

Only one more week for you USA readers to file your 2023 Income Taxes….

2024 March 24 Monday

Full Moon tonight. The Lenten Moon, Worm Moon, Crow Moon or Wind Moon, depending on your name preference for today’s March Astronomical happening.

Do you have your Wolfsbane ready? If not, your local florist may have some. Probably too late for even a rush order on the cosmicnet.

Or are you starting to feel kind of hairy?

Owwww woooo!

2024 March 22 Saturday

It’s been 60 years since James Rado and Jerome Ragni (Galt Mac Dermot wrote the music) came up with the idea for (in 1964) what became the “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, “Hair,” and nearing 57 since its debut performances.

“Hair” was not only one of the most successful pieces of theatre, ever, and is undergoing a revival…but that’s not the subject of this entry.

“Hair”‘s most famous (Rado-Ragni-MacDermot) song, “The Age of Aquarius,” lyrically declared;

“When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars…

“This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius….”

In March of 2024, looking back to 1964, how many bewildered, sad, aging hippies are asking…

…“But like hey, man, like wait. It’s been a really violent 60 years on this planet since 1964 and that hopeful lyric about the planets being guided by peace and the stars steered by love. Where’s all that peace and love of the new astrological age? And when’s it gonna get here…?

Whatever happened to “The Age of Aquarius”?

2024 March 11 Monday

Further to the 26 February entry, ‘was looking at the 16-inch globe on the table, and after a rather bewildering perusal, ‘decided to look at a World Atlas with some numbers to verify a visual suspicion.

Yes. All the land masses on Earth would fit in the Pacific Ocean. It has that many square miles. Or square kilometers, if you wish.

The Pacific Ocean is BIG.

2024 February 29 Thursday

An extended-family member who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and in college, celebrated his 5th birthday, today.

Born on a Calendar Leap Year.

2024 February 26 Monday

Quite a while ago, when this writer celebrated his 8th birthday, he received one of the most memorable gifts possible; a 12-inch Replogle (brand) globe of the world. That educational tool / brain-toy was the object of many, many hours of study, over the decades.

Two years ago, at one of those “clearance” stores, a “slightly-outdated” 16-inch Replogle globe was purchased (love at first sighting), for about $85.00 USD, a fantastic bargain. No box, no guidebook, but that was okay.

No surprise; the “new” globe remains as fascinating as the old one from childhood.

After acquiring the 16-incher, over time, a number of extended family, friends, acquaintances were casually queried, “Do you have a world globe in your home?“

Sadly, only about 8 of 100-ish, replied in the affirmative.

But they ALL have cell phones with e-social media….

By the way; the island of New Guinea is about 3 times the area of the British Isles. Israel is about the size of the US state of Delaware.

Gaza, much in the news of late, is about the same number of square miles as the city of Las Vegas in the USA.

2024 February 20 Tuesday

Spouse e-visits gobs of cosmicnet sites daily. One especially tragic-pathetic occasional one has an age 30-ish reporter walking up to teens and young adults on urban sidewalks and querying of them, single-question-esoterica such as;

“What continent are we on?” Silence, then…”Uuh, North Africa?” How many states are in the US?” silence, then…”Uuh, 40?” “What is the capital of the United States?” Silence, then…”Uhh, America?” “If you have a quarter and two dimes, how many cents do you have?” Silence, then…”Uuh, 54?” “How many moons does Earth have?” Silence, then…”Uuh, ten?” “How many stars are on the American flag?” Silence, then…”Uuh, a hundred?”

If the wretched cluelessness of these American teens and 20s-somethings was not so exponentially tragic, it might be interpreted as amusing. In this writer’s mind, “tragic” wins by a parsec and a half, at least. “Amusing” is not even close. Oh, by the way, veritably all are clad and coiffed “2020s fashionably.”

Please feel free to look up, “parsec.” Hint, it’s a really long distance. About 19.2 trillion miles.

2024 February 10 Saturday

For those Adventure– (Volumes 1 and 2) readers who have asked, of recent; how Novel 3 is going (toward being finished), and something about it (???), here’s a bit for you:

The working title is, “Adventure, Volume 3, _____ __________ In the Neverland.“

As is so annoyingly-frustrating to probably the majority of novelists; in this writer’s case, the first-person-narrating characters (in this instance, Adventure– 3‘s) persist in their intrusive-bothersome habit of wanting to steer the story where they want it to go, rather than allowing the author tell the story according to the outline.

And yes, there is so much available material for “3,” Adventure– Volume 4 is in sketchy outline-draught. either that, or make “3,” seven or eight hundred pages long….

2024 February 2 Friday

The local Groundhog did not see his or her shadow, as overcast near the closest Great North American Freshwater Inland Sea, was “sincere.”

‘Personally celebrated this grande’ global holiday by going to a bud’s abode and watching the movie, “Greyhound” and first two episodes of the new, “Masters of the Air.”

Three-word summary will suffice: “Grim and Grimmer.”

Yes, cinematic, but based broadly upon actual events. Those poor people who suffered so horribly, in WW II, fighting, dying and being maimed (physically and mentally) for “the greater cause.” Please honour and thank them in whatever way you choose….

2024 January 25 Thursday

Here it is, the dead of winter (a month and 2 days in), and “Sway,” (original title Quein Sera”), marimba song written by Luis Demitrio and Pablo Ruiz, from the 1950s (Dean Martin singing) is playing in this head, diverting attention from writing on Adventure 3–.

Is this a subliminal hope of cold weather ending or soul’s suggestion to go on vacation to somewhere warm? Likely, no one ever danced a marimba in a parka, fur hat, heated gloves, with boots with spikes — to keep from falling on ice.

By the way, Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble interpretations of “Sway,” are available for listening on the cosmicnet and worth a listen.

2024 January 22 Monday

At the south end of Lake Michigan (one of the world’s Great North American Freshwater Inland Seas), in the USA, the winter temperature is going to reach 30 F as the daytime high, today; a cause for much local-regional rejoicing. For those many of you in other parts of this beautiful blue planet, 30 F, or -1 C, may be horrifically cold.

However, with this region subjected to wind chills as low as -40 F, last week; the perceptible +70 F (+39 C) temperature rise to +30 F, is an applause-worthy relief. Thought came to mind; many places on Earth do not experience a 70 F / 39 C degree temperature variation in the course of a year, much less in the course of several days. Who is “missing out” on a climatic variation experience…? Or benefitting from absence thereof?

2024 January 10 Wednesday

Our grandfather clock just chimed the hour, stimulating a thought, as often, related to history. Just a simple quote from Wikipedia, today, thereon, which will hopefully “wow” you, as much as it did, this writer…

“…The invention of the verge and foliot escapement in c.1275 was one of the most important inventions in both the history of the clock and the  history of technology. It was the first type of  regulator in horology.” THE CLOCK!

Wow.

2024 January 5 Friday

On this day, 91 years ago, in 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, USA. ‘Remember crossing it a while ago and thinking…wow!

2024 January 2 Tuesday

Feeling kinda blah during Covid-19 recovery, the absent thought came to mind…

…do people in countries other than the USA make New Year’s Resolutions? and if they do, are they any more successful in keeping them?

2024 January 1 Monday

Happy New Year, blog-readers. May your 2024 be filled with great health, much happiness and prosperity.

No long entry today, as this writer is recovering from Covid-19. Big kudos and thanks to modern medicine and Pfizer’s magnificent antiviral drug!

2023 December 12 Tuesday

Sometimes when songs get stuck in our heads and mentally “play,” it’s merely annoying. Other times it’s “useful,” and even educational. Case-in-recent point, “A Taste of Honey.” Wikipedia defines the song as, “…a pop standard written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow. It was originally an instrumental track (or recurring theme) written for the 1960 Broadway version of the 1958 British play A Taste of Honey (which was also made into the film of the same name in 1961). “

In this writer’s instance, the Beatles’ version was heard on radio in a local store and resulted in not only in-head replay, but “looking for the song,” the following night, on a guitar’s strings and fretboard. That was last week. Since, “A Taste of Honey” has been “found” and picked several dozen times. However, a particularly interesting side note; the song was covered and re-recorded by such a number of disparate musical artists (These are only some…).

• Herb Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass
• Barbra Streisand
• Martin Denny
• Julie London
• Tony Bennett
• Acker Bilk
• The Four Tops
• The Supremes
• The Beatles
• The Ventures
• Sarah Vaughn

Moral of the story; You can’t keep a good song down.

2023 December 10 Sunday

Can you believe it? In a week, on December 17, it’ll be 115 years since Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted the first powered, controlled flights with their homebuilt wood, fabric and primitive locally made engine, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. ‘Flew about 120 feet.

Think of that monumental event and the bicycle-maker Wright boys, the next time a, “…big old jet airliner…” (thanks for the song, Steve Miller) roars over you with 200 people on board. Bound for Paris.

2023 December 9 Saturday

The 2023 year-end Holidays are coming and a couple hundred sorts of tasty, gooey-sweet, savoy seasonal comestible goodies are making brief appearances at grocery stores, local markets and being featured at various gatherings.

Time to stock up again on fruitcake! YUM!

2023 December 4 Monday

Arguably the greatest American novelist of the 20th Century, Ernest Hemingway, declared, “Writers do not write because they have something to say. They write because they must.”

One of the legendary American comedians of the 20th century, James Francis “Jimmy,” “The Schnozz,” Durante declared, “…Ain’t it the truth, ain’t it the truth?”

Both esteemed gentlemen were correct.

2023 November 30 Thursday

As a writer who was literally “penning” things long before word processors and personal computers, a fountain pen was oft a personal “tool of choice.” Several are still owned and at least one has a full reservoir of ink. There is something joyous, beyond “retro,” special, about a using a high-quality writing implement which is admittedly a bit fussy. Particularly true, in “these days,” when even picking up a pencil or ballpoint is becoming less and less done.

Am willing to guess most readers of this blog have never owned a fountain pen…and many have never written with one. You are missing out on one of life’s simple pleasures.

“Texting,” vs. writing a letter or even a note is ever more lost in today’s frantic, hectic, too-often-fearful, world. You may now choose to either think about the above and shrug…or maybe stop at an art store and buy a fountain pen, ink and blank book or pad of decent quality stationery.

Art fountain pens exist, which provide a whole new, delightful dimension to doodling and sketching. Even “serious” drawing. Really, there are even on “Drawing with pen and ink.”

Would it not be pleasant to write (and receive) a handwritten letter from a relative or friend? ‘Breaks the monotony of one’s only receiving bills and advertisements in the mail.

How about giving this a go? Purchase a fountain pen and appealing colored ink and hand-write messages on each holiday card you send.

2023 November 1o Friday

A hundred years ago, with World War I over and the Great Depression still a half decade in the unknown future, the way to cross substantial distances of water, was by modern steamship. The great industrialized countries were building magnificent vessels which could carry from a thousand, to several thousand people, across the Atlantic in just under a week. Steamships made travel to all the continents, safe and common.

Fast forward to 2023. all the great passenger liners are gone. Mauritania, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, America, France, United States, Britannic, Oriana, Canberra, more than a hundred more…

…all replaced by those marvels of transcontinental travel, jet airliners. From New York to London is now only 6 hours…

…’used to take a sailing ship 6 to 12 weeks to make that journey.

2023 October 9 Monday

Further to the 31 August entry, further reading on the (obsessive to this writer) subject of the mid 20th century, particularly the WW II years, one more interesting but odd factoid was found. (As are several hundred per year by writer)

During the 1940s, US Navy cruiser (a large warship smaller than a battleship and larger than a destroyer, look it up) captains tended to be about 10 years older than those commanding similar ships in the British Royal Navy at the same years. In their late 40s or early 50s, vs. 10 years younger, on average.

2023 September 4 Monday

A hundred years ago, a number of people in varied places, for varied reasons, were separately, trying ways to amplify (make louder), guitars. They used varied carbon button and telephone microphones, as well as phonograph needles stuck into the wood tops, and ran the signal into primitive amplifiers. The first commercial electric guitars were marketed in the early 1930s.

Fast-forward 90-plus years. Arguably, the electric guitar was the most innovative and influential instrument of the 20th century, making its way into virtually every form of music, across the world. The electric guitar (and bass and steel guitar) was the most influential new musical instrument since the modern piano was developed from the 1790s to about 1860. Can you even imagine modern music without electric guitars and basses?

2023 August 31 Thursday

This time of year, always gets this history-obsessed mind, thinking about and re-reading about the first Allied offensive in the Pacific, in WW II, to reclaim the first bit of what the Japanese late 1941-mid 1942 onslaught conquered. The Guadalcanal Campaign lasted from August 7, 1942, until February 8 of 1943. Six months and a day. The US Marines, Navy, Army and Royal Australian Navy endured the worst which the Japanese could throw at them. Plus, shortages of food, ammunition, fuel…while suffering from malaria and living outside, in seemingly constant rain and mud. For six continuous months.

Please take a bit of time to honor those Allied soldiers, nearly all of whom are now gone…81 years later.

2023 June 13 Tuesday

Idly re-re-rereading Ernest Hemingway’s memoirs of living in Paris as a young expatriate writer, in the aftermath of World War I (the book is A Movable Feast, highly recommended) , one short chapter described his sitting in a sidewalk cafe with Ford Madox Ford, a Brit who came off as rather an offensive character and annoyed young Ernest. During the first several readings of this bit, over the years, FMF was taken for granted as “just” another lost-ish soul of the “Lost Generation.”

However, during this reading, curiosity itched a bit, so “Ford Madox Ford” was looked up in Wikipedia. Turns out FMD was quite an accomplished, traveled, complex fellow…British Army officer, writer, editor, poet, womanizer…though one can see how Ernest found him annoying.

2023 June 6 Tuesday

Taking one’s mind off the downright nasty air quality in much of the USA, caused by 400-plus wildfires in Canada, this mind drifted back again in history. Seventy-nine years ago, across the Atlantic Ocean. To June 6, 1944.

Back to the previous entry, remembering another movie about another time and place, the 1962 epic movie, The Longest Day, has plenty (that’s a serious understatement) of action and drama. however, different than so many of today’s CGI-anime-fantasy “stuff,” this one features real people in actual historical settings, reenacting cataclysmic and small events which only happened 18 years before the movie was filmed in 1962 Yes, filmed.

On June 6, 1944, Allied air, sea and land forces crossed the English Channel in history’s largest military operation, to liberate Nazi-controlled France, Netherlands, Belgium. Some (paper) calendars and daily planners, still honour the date with very small text-notes, saying…

…”D-Day”

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia piece on the film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longest_Day_(film)

2023 June 4 Sunday

Eighty-one years is a long time for anyone, especially nowadays, when so many folks’ “need” is URGENT, to answer texts, post pictures of one’s breakfast or their cat harfing up an especially viscous hairball) on social media within seconds of the “event.” SO whelmingly important to so many people (billions?) …

…that actual events in history which changed the world, then and affected the course of future decades, are veritably unknown to the vast majority of people.

Eighty-one years ago, were some of the darkest days of history; World War Two was raging, The stakes were high; the enslavement or freedom of much of humanity, at stake.

About a thousand miles east of Hawaii, a small number of ships and few hundred aircraft, changed the course of the war in the Pacific. Look up The Battle of Midway. Maybe ever see the excellent 2019 movie, for a 2-hour trip back, to another time, another place, a completely different set of values.

2023 May 31 Wednesday

‘Hoping you remembered, on Memorial Day, to honour America’s war dead, maimed, wounded, scarred, physically, mentally and spiritually.

If not, it’s not too late. Thank them, think about them. Take some time to read about them. Willingly, reluctantly or resignedly, they made those sacrifices so we would remain free.

2023 May 24 Wednesday

Bye, Tina Turner. Bon voyage for your adventures in the Next Realm. Thank you for the music.

2023 April 5, Wednesday

Wow. ‘Time to dust off the bicycle and fill the tires. Wipe off the helmet, wash the gloves. Decide whether new exercise shoes are a “must.” Last summer, the 35-year-old Schwinn Sierra got a new rear wheel, gearset, chain and gobs of cleaning, adjusting and oiling. “Used to build them good in Chicago. It’s Spring! Let’s roll.

2023 March 28 Tuesday

Spring has sprung, and with it the season’s spectacular annual debut, truly awesome (note: descriptor properly applied), innumerable actual miracles surround us.

Germination, growth, photosynthesis, egg-laying, gestation, birth, reverse-migration, flowering, pollination….

Wow. Awesome.

By the way, that IS the proper use of the word.

Look “awesome” up in the dictionary. it isn’t intended to describe new sneakers or colour of lipstick.

2023 March 27 Monday

In the story setting of Adventure — Into the Neverland, fifty-one years ago, Captain Christopher Archer had just purchased a ship for the First Expedition and was beginning recruitment of crew…

…all without personal computers, cellphones,the internet, smart watches, calculators and all-pervasive-intrusive-addictive “screens“…

…because those electronic marvels / curses were still three-plus decades in the future.

And now that you younger readers have gasped in abject horror at the terrifying nature of a pre-pervasive / intrusive /addictive-electronics world; be assured; people, societies, businesses, militaries, governments…

…functioned quite well, and in many ways, substantially more efficiently than now…

…and, what is SO ignored, today…

…gainfully employed a LOT more people.

2023 March 26

What is The Mind?

The Mind is not an organ.

Science cannot weigh or measure or quantify The Mind, let alone take a picture or image of one, much less put a Mind in a jar for viewing.

Psychology attempts to describe The Mind’s functionings (and malfunctionings), but cannot say precisely what it IS.

Though, a lot of people have tried….

According to Caroline Leaf, PhD, BSc, “The mind is energy, and it creates energy.”

Awesome! (Note: descriptor IS properly used.)

2023 March 5

‘Happened to meet a local, while walking our canine in the park (not great weather, only a few people out). “James, I read both your books while we were in Florida. Really enjoyed them. You really merged the essence of, ‘Dieselpunk meets Atompunk’ Well done.”

Thanks, man. That was the writer’s unconscious intent, though neither Dieselpunk nor Atompunk terms were coined, back when the Adventure– concept was conceived. Desire was to (1) Write a story the writer wanted to read (and) (2) Write a story in the vein and spirit of what Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island, From Earth To the Moon...) might write, had he been writing about a setting in the 1970s, rather than 1870s.”

2023 February 28

In the park on a cold winter afternoon, walking our canine; an unusual-for-this-area sound (unmistakable drone of a big aircraft radial engine) caused this writer to look up and to his right. Cruising serenely, probably at about a thousand feet AGL (Above Ground Level), was a 1940s-built, North American T-6 Texan airplane, painted in glossy “trainer yellow orange.”

The author smiled. Several of those airplanes are featured in Adventure — I and II.

2023 February 26

Hmm. Captain Christopher Archer is 84, today. He turned 33 in Adventure–Into the Neverland. How gracefully do fictional characters age, anyway? Or not?

2023 February 15

‘Wonder how many “books” have been written using word processing software became available, not even fifty years ago?

2023 February 7

Eighty-one years ago, today…

…the Japanese finished evacuating what was left of their malnourished, emaciated, disease-ravaged army from Guadalcanal Island. Seven months of vicious fighting in the South Pacific, August 1942 to the end of January…

…ended with the Japanese admitting the campaign and island (almost the size of Delaware) was lost, at great cost to both sides. Wikipedia (and your library and bookstores have real books) has a number of pieces on the Guadalcanal Campaign and list of recommended readings. Take a look, at what Americans were enduring and sacrificing to fight for freedom during those desperate days, eight tenths of a century ago.

2023 January 25

Does anyone else think it’s cosmic-strange, in 1800 AD, things were pretty much the same as they were, 2000 years (and some centuries before) ago, with varied minor improvements…

…and a mere 169 years later, the astronauts from Apollo 11 LANDED ON THE MOON(!)?

2023 January 19

Fade back to the October 22, 2022, entry, where a scale model plastic model kit of an Adventure– subject was purchased because its real-life prototype was featured in Adventure–Into the Neverland?

Well, the author just saw an advertisement for another kit subject which he never expected to see made into a model. So, one was ordered. Actually, two.

Readers can expect to see a LARC-V vehicle featured somewhere in Adventure-- III. What’s a LARC-V? Look it up. Very cool machine. A five-ton-capacity truck that swims like a boat. Wow. Several hundred of them are still in active use, after more than 50 years.

You can call it a “lark-vee” or “lark-five” (for 5-ton capacity); the latter is more correct, but the former name more common.

2023 January 11

It should be “easier” for writers to write during the wretched weather when we are inside. Easier for artists to draw, paint, sculpt. For musicians to play and sing and create. Easier for crafters to craft. Easier for varied creators to create.

But are we instead, at least some of us, sometimes…

…more prone to “human hibernation” and not doing much at all, during the “dead of winter”?

2023 January 1

Hmm. ‘Wonder if the Expedition people in Adventure — III will take time to celebrate any holidays? They certainly were too busy in Adventure — I and II...and given the multinational crews; which holidays will they celebrate?

2022 December 19

This quote by writer E.B. White seems quite appropriate to the thoughts of Lady Anne or Professor Munro, observing Captain Christopher Archer, in Adventure– I and II…

…”If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.”

2022 December 17

Can you believe it was “only” 120 years ago, today, two bicycle makers with a passion to prove manned, controlled flight was possible…did so? On a cold, windy day, on the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright Flyer FLEW. About 120 feet on the first flight, but that frail wood and linen machine with a primitive, handmade gasoline motor…

…ushered in the Air Age…

…and fifty years later, in the 1950s, came the first bits of the Space Age.

Amazing, considering, in 1903, Henry Ford had not yet set up the first automobile assembly line. Lieutenant Commander Spock of the Federation Starship Enterprise might have labeled the above entry, “Fascinating.”

One more thing — Adventure— books make great gifts for readers on your holidays shopping lists.

2022 December 7

Eighty-one years ago, 0800 Hawaii Time, it went out over the radio from near Honolulu, words which changed the world forever, “AIR RAID PEARL HARBOR THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

Without warning or declaration of war, three hundred and sixty Nakajima B5N Carrier Attack Planes, Aichi D3A1 Dive Bombers and Mitsubishi A6M2 Type O (“Zero”) fighters from the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku attacked US Navy, Army and Marine Corps ships, aircraft and facilities, causing enormous casualties and damage, and in the words of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, “…woke a sleeping giant and filled him with terrible resolve.”

2022 November 14

1969, this date; Apollo 12 landed on the moon, less than 5 months after Apollo 11′s First Lunar Landing.

‘Wonder how many even-then-jaded people just yawned and said, “Yeah, they flew to the Moon and landed again. Whatever.”

‘Wonder how much viewership had fallen off by the last Lunar landing, Apollo 17, on December 11, 1972?

The TRULY miraculous feat had become a yawner to many.

???????

2022 November 12

A most unusual gift was received from a fellow history-obsessed scale modeler, recently returned from Greece.

Dirt.

Coarse. red-brown dirt with a number of 1-3mm pebbles. In a sandwich-sized Ziploc-type plastic bag. Written on which in permanent marker was one word.

“Thermopylae.” Site of the immortal last stand of King Leonidas of Sparta against the Persians, in July, August or September, 480 BC. Historians differ on the battle’s month, but agree on the year, 2,502 years ago.

Nothing could be said except a quiet, reverent, “Thank you.” He answered with an equally reverent, “You’re welcome.”

That dirt from a distant land, representing another era, an event in world history, resides in a small clear glass jar on this writing desk.

2022 October 31

Fifty-one years ago, Story time, in Adventure–Into the Neverland, remnants of the First Expedition returned home. Not in triumph, not many of those who went out, but some returned.

Happy All Hallows Eve.

2022 October 21

‘Had to buy it. Just had to. No way out. ‘Been scale modeling since age 6 and still am quite happy thereat.

Vendors were still setting up at the Military Miniature Society of Illinois‘ (47th) annual “Chicago Show,” and a substantial (plastic scale model kit) box with dramatic colour artwork was being placed in a rack atop a banquet table. That box called, beckoned.

Loud. No attempt at bargaining, ‘just asked how much and handed the guy a wad of cash. Just-released kit of a 1/16 scale M4A3E8 Sherman tank, just like Sgt. Dave Gordon’s Brain Damage III in Adventure — Into the Neverland (and the tank in the movie Fury).

Then ‘took the substantial box and walked away, clutching it tightly. “…my precious, my precious….” even Tolkien’s Gollum would have approved.

Here is the link to the Military Miniature Society of Illinois. Give it a look-see.

http://www.military-miniature-society-of-illinois.com

2022 August 9 Tuesday

Eighty years ago, today…

…yes, history is real, as real as this moment, if one takes the time to imagine, to connect with days gone by…

…eighty years ago, today, was the most tragic defeat suffered by the US Navy. Incomprehensible suffering, sadness, anger, pain, anguish, shame, regret.

After (see the August 7 -8th entries) the successful American Marine-Navy landings on Guadalcanal (largely unopposed) and Tulagi (bitterly resisted) Islands (intended to stop Japanese expansion toward Australia), the Allied 75-ship armada frantically unloaded thousands of troops and tons of supplies on Guadalcanal and guarded those unloading.

Intent was urgent; make the airstrip operable by Allied warplanes as soon as humanly possible. Secure the island. Stop Japanese military expansion toward Australia.

Unintentionally, the Japanese Navy’s Korean laborers had almost completed the runway on Guadalcanal Island (nearly the size of Delaware) and built minimal supporting structures, “JUST” in time for the US Marines and Navy to capture it, THE day the runway was to be finished.

Two-dozen-plus Allied naval vessels stood fully alert, knowing Japanese naval and air forces would soon challenge the ships and landings, intending to destroy anything and everything and everyone, American and Australian.

US Navy heavy cruisers USS Quincy, USS Vincennes, USS Astoria and Royal Australian Navy cruiser HMAS Canberra patrolled the waters off small Savo Island, at action stations as darkness descended, swiftly as it does in the tropics. Four other Allied cruisers and 15 destroyers watched other areas, knowing the Japanese were coming.

Japanese naval and air forces trained for more than a decade for what they saw as a coming conflict with the West which would challenge their empire’s expansion. Their ships were modern, weapons superb, crews trained to razor-edge sharpness. Imperial Japanese Naval forces trained extensively in night fighting and long-range torpedo attacks against ships. Japanese long-range scouting aircraft told Admiral Gunichi Mikawa where the Allies were. He formulated an aggressive plan and steamed toward destroying Allied naval vessels and recapturing Guadalcanal.

Mikawa’s fast, deadly five heavy and two light cruisers approached from the north, under cover of darkness. (Japanese heavy cruisers were 20% larger than Allied, because the Japanese did not honor the tonnage -size restrictions of the treaty they signed.)

At this time, radar was primitive and unreliable; few ships had it. Human eyes and high-power binoculars were both sides’ first line of defense.

Mikawa had surprise on his side. Not long after midnight, the order went out to the Japanese cruisers, “All ships attack.”

You can read in hundreds of books and sites describing what happened next.

When dawn came to that stretch of ocean now called Ironbottom Sound, for the large number of Allied and Japanese ships which lay on the bottom…

…heavy cruisers USS Quincy, USS Vincennes, USS Astoria and HMAS Canberra were sunk or sinking. Heavy cruiser USS Chicago and destroyer USS Patterson suffered severe damage. 1,077 US and Australian sailors were dead, blown apart by explosions, scalded by steam from ruptured boilers, drowned. Hundreds more suffered agonizing, hideous wounds.

After their vicious attack, still under cover of darkness Mikawa’s ships turned north at full speed. Three of his cruisers suffered damage and 58 of his men were dead. The Imperial Japanese Navy drew first blood in the first sea battle around Guadalcanal.

=====================================================

At this point, your writer will cease this entry and allow you, the reader, to transport yourself eighty years back in time, to do a bit of research. Actively seek the Zeitgeist of August 9, 1942, in the South Pacific.

Focus for a while, not on today; learn what a 1942-era heavy cruiser was, what they were their essences? More than a city block-long steel structure with a thousand men aboard, weighing 13,000 tons, able to move at 35 miles per hour. Imagine being one of a thousand-man crew of a fighting machine which could travel eight thousand miles and fire twenty, 260-pound shells per minute, ten miles, at enemies. Especially, on August 9, 1942.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of images of WW II cruisers out there on the cosmicnet. Look at a few. Or more.

2022 August 8 Monday

Eighty years ago, yesterday…

…in the South Pacific, twice the distance from Washington to San Francisco (from the US west coast, 8 months after Pearl Harbor was attacked…

…to their great surprise, when the US Marines (and some US Navy personnel) landed on 2,060 square mile Guadalcanal Island (about 90 miles long and 25 wide), the landing was largely unopposed.

As an “average” Pacific Island, Guadalcanal was quite huge, a little smaller than the state of Delaware. Only about 10 percent of the (mostly jungle-covered) island was “important,” and scene of the historic events.

THE prize, THE reason for the Allied landing, the to-be-completed-on August 7th, Japanese airfield at Guadalcanal Island’s Lunga point was captured by the Marines, the day after their landing. The 2000+ Korean laborers who built the primitive airstrip, ran into the jungle and the relatively few Japanese troops who oversaw them were vastly outnumbered by the US Marine 1st Division troops.

The simultaneous landing on nearby .80 square mile Tulagi Island (only 8/10 of a square mile) however, was fiercely contested by the Japanese. The Imperial Japanese Navy seaplane base there was defended by over 2,000 men. All but a few died in the next several days’ vicious fighting.

The Japanese were taken completely by surprise by the US-Australian landings and furious at the airfield’s being captured,

Eighty years ago, today, in the South Pacific, an event which world direct the course of history began. Unlike the Battle of Midway discussed in the June 4, 2022 entry and lasted about 12 hours, the Guadalcanal Campaign, as it became known…took a lot longer.

And was incomprehensively more vicious.

2022 August 7 Sunday

Eighty years ago, today…

…WAS A REALLY IMPORTANT DAY IN HISTORY! (Re-studied almost annually by this history-obsessed writer; new things are always learned there about.)

The world was vastly different. Too different for many 21st century minds to comprehend, without some serious imagination and mental workout. But let us give it a go.

Oh, and tossing away, even for a short time, the self-absorption so tragically prevalent in so many million modern minds. Become a citizen of all the world, past and present.

This is presented because the writer believes to the marrow of his soul; understanding and studying history IS important. Doing so allows us moderns to learn where we fit into it all. Please trust and read on.

Let your mind drift back eighty years, to that simple, more easily understood time. Especially and perhaps harder for many to believe, BEFORE (portable, handheld electronic) DEVICES.

BEFORE cell phones, “screens,” the internet, computers, electronic games, music players, earbuds…before ALL OF THAT.

Because life went on for folks who lived then, in what was (at the time) considered an ever-more-modern, complex world.

The global conflict called World War Two in historical writing (which now tragically seems so long ago and in so many 21st century minds, “no longer important”), was referred to as, “The Second World War” in 1942, however mostly in what was considered, “The West.”

After Imperial Japanese forces unleashed their long-planned military onslaught in the Pacific Ocean part of the world, beginning on December 7th or 8th, 1941 (depending on which side of the International Date Line one was when the horror began), [Western] reference was to “World War Two in the Pacific.”

Japan however, internally referred to what was to become almost four years of unending beyond mega-horror as, the “Greater East Asia War.”

However, back to this writer’s specific reminisces and ponderings on the period.

Eighty years ago, today was 1942, August 7…EXACTLY six months after Imperial Japanese air, land and naval forces attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii…and the Philippines, Singapore, Southeast Asia and the vast array of islands now known as The Philippines and Indonesia.

During those following six months, almost without exception, the Imperial Japanese had it all their own way, attacking and relentlessly destroying American, British, Dutch and Australian forces, conquering countless islands and bringing millions of square miles of Pacific Oceana under their control…establishing domination over tens of millions of indigenous and expatriate peoples.

Eighty years ago, today, things changed in the Pacific. US Navy and Marine forces, in a rapidly planned, daring move, landed on two islands in the distant Solomons Chain, 5,960 miles southwest of San Francisco. Think about that distance for a moment. From California to New York…and back.

A long, long way from home. But the location for the Allied landing was chosen with perfection, all but undisputed, even with benefit of 80 years’ hindsight.

it was a feat of military daring and logistics organization unparalleled in previous history.

(In the previous several months to August 7, 1942) Seventy-five US and Australian warships and transports secretly assembled, equipped, manned, loaded and steamed…with intent to challenge mighty Japan, on two distant, remote tropical islands, named Guadalcanal and Tulagi.

At 9 AM, 1942, August 8, Allied warships conducted brief bombardments and began landing troops on the Japanese-occupied islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomons chain.

Enough for today, Take some time to think on the vastness of the time and event, until tomorrow.

And stay safe. This Covid-19 pandemic isn’t at all over, yet.

2022 August 6 Saturday

Eighty years ago today, a vast armada of 75 US Navy war and cargo ships and several Australian ones, steamed toward two (during 1942) Japanese-invaded and-occupied islands in the South Pacific, not too far northeast of Australia.

Why? What was going on?

Come back tomorrow.

2022 August 5 Friday

Eighty years ago today, August 5, 1942, two events were happening which changed the course of part of our world’s history.

Eighty (80) years ago veritably none of us currently inhabiting this beautiful blue planet were inhabiting it as sentient beings. so, a quick catch-up:

Eighty years ago, in August 1942, the world…much of it, at any rate, was at war, the largest, most expansive in human history.

Eighty years ago AND six months to this day, the States of America was not part of the massive conflict raging in China (since 1931), Europe, North Africa and the vast Atlantic Ocean (since September 1, 1939).

On December 7, 1941, Sunday morning just before 8 AM, the Japanese made a massive unannounced, surprise aerial and submarine attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (then a US Territory), changed all that. Thousands of Americans died. Ships and aircraft were sunk and damaged. The United Sates was at war with Japan.

Inexplicably, Nazi Germany declared war on the USA, while ships still burned in Hawaii.

But what does this have to do with today’s date?

Check in tomorrow for more.

2022 August 4 Thursday

Apologies for not having made entries regularly to this for the past…too long.

In keeping with current practice almost everywhere, this writer’s lack of blog updates is being primarily, personally blamed on:

• the still ongoing, terrible, seems to be resurging, Covid-19 world pandemic
• Urban crime
• Economic Inflation; the last 18 months of higher prices on veritably everything
• Climate Change
• Russia’s (February 2022) invasion of Ukraine
• and probably a dozen other (some admittedly whiny) excuses, all of which may combine and suffice to veil the true reasons for not writing in this blog…
• …ennui, indolence, depression-lite about events beyond this writer’s…beyond most all of our control. It’s colloquially known around here as, “Covid fatigue.”
• and now, the latest health-panic, Monkey Pox

2022 July 16

Fifty-three years ago today, in 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon. Being also the apex of the “hippie” era…

…’wonder how many of them watched that world history-changing event on flickering black-and-white TVs and reacted with bits like, “Whoa, man, far out, groovy, like cosmic, man, blows my mind…let’s get some tacos, man, I got the munchies.”

????????

2022 July 4

Happy 247th Birthday, United States of America!

“And many more!” (As Grandma used to say)

2022 June 4 Saturday

Eighty years ago, today and a German word.

Being obsessed with history since age 5, varied significant dates, often long ago, stimulate in this soul, the feeling of Zeitgeist, a German word loosely translated as, “The spirit, the essence, of a particular time and place.”

Here’s an internet definition:

zeit·geist

[ˈtsītˌɡīst, ˈzītˌɡīst]

NOUN

1. the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time:“the story captured the zeitgeist of the late 1960s”

June 4 is one of “those days” to this writer, because…

…eighty years ago, today, June 4, 1942, about a thousand miles west of the Hawaiian Islands, a World War Two battle was fought which stopped the Japanese Pacific rampage which began on December 7, 1941, with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and further east, simultaneous ones on British, Australian and Dutch territories.

The Battle of Midway, began before dawn of June 4, 1942, and was largely over not long after 5 PM that same day, caused changes in world history which reverberate to this day.

Almost every year about this time, a number of books on the battle are read and reread, usually in part.

Every year, transporting this soul into the Zeitgeist of that time and place brings intense soul-experiences. And often, a quiet, deeply sincere pity for people who do not “belong to the cosmic club of humankind,” who do not regularly, voluntarily…

…embrace the magnificent history, since its “recorded beginning,” about 13.7 billion years ago…

…with The Big Bang.

Go ahead, open up a few sites or books, and see if the grande’ story of all which has ever been, draws you in.

By the way, “Zeitgeist” is capitalized in this post because nouns in the German language are always capitalized. Experiencing Zeitgeist NEVER gets old, dull or ho-hum, in this soul. Each experience is “opening a cosmic present.” Some Zeitgeist experiences are exciting. Others are…tragic.

2022 June 1 Wednesday

Recommended reading, a trade paperback purchased used at a local bookstore…

Why Does the World Exist?

Author, Jim Holt, published 2012, Liveright Publishing, New York

Just in case you’ve personally ever idly wondered upon that super-ultra-deep question most concisely asked by German polymath (look it up), Gottfried Wilhem Leibnitz, back about 1715…

…“Why is there something rather than nothing?“…

…author Jim Holt interviews a number of cosmologists, physicists and philosophers, and gets a dozen takes on “the biggest question of them all.”

Admit it; most of us have pondered upon that mega-query, at least once in our lives.

No spoiler alert applicable, investigate the question on your own.

By the way, this book was a New York Times Bestseller…pretty unusual stuff for a cosmology-physics-philosophy tome.

PS The physics part is not to be feared; it’s pretty basic and well-delivered. Good stuff.

2022 May 17

Today, a number so horrific as to defy description has come out of numerous news organizations.

“The deaths of 1,000,000 [one MILLION!] Americans have been attributed to the COVID-19 coronavirus.” (as of this date, May 17, 2022)

That’s nearing 1 in every 300 people in this country.

2022 March 11 Friday

Recommended reading (book loaned by a fellow canine-walker)

By Force of Arms, James L. Nelson, published 1996.

Historical fiction at its most meticulously researched best.

‘Ever wondered what common people living in 1775 in the pre-Revolutionary, colonial era pre-USA thought, felt, endured? How complicated things were?

Veteran author James L. Nelson not only studies, researches and writes about American Colonial-era sailors and lands-people…but himself sailed on wooden ships propelled by sails.

By Force of Arms and the (anticipated, ‘going to read all 4 sequels) takes you to another time, another place, a whole different world and life-outlook. Highly recommended reading while under covid-quarantine.

2021 November 2

A year and three quarters into this hell-plague of covid-19.

Wow. Amazingly, anti-covid 19 vaccines have already been developed and the logistics network formed to distribute, and resources mustered to refine vaccines against new strains. Enormous thanks and applause to all those involved in fighting and curing the evil killer of millions across the globe.

2020 June 18

Really? Really?

A Burberry Plaid anti-covid mask, seen at the local supermarket.

Haute couture meets pandemic. At least it stops water droplets from the wearer’s breath.

2020 May 11 Monday

C-Day +61, World War C

In these days of incredibly depressing, omnipresent-from-every-source, coronavirus news, a daily form of solace is taking the canine for a walk in the 90-acre park. Cellphone off and in pocket; never, ever, headphones or ear buds.

Free from those auditory and “screen” assaults, one may alternately revel in strolling on perfect days, shivering in cold and cringing (as yesterday afternoon) in pelting hail and driving sleet-rain.

Free to drift, ponder, speculate, reminisce, observe, wander (and occasionally stoop to pick up and bag a just-excreted canine turd), without being barraged by Covid-19 worldwide pandemic news.

Until one encounters a fellow walker and the dreary subject all-too-often, arises….

2020 May 09 Saturday

C-Day +59, World War C

77,489 American deaths attributed to the Covid-19 Coronavirus, far more than the Korean or Vietnam Wars. America and many other countries have suffered enormous human and economic disaster. Response by federal, state and local governments has been huge and swift, veritably all in urgent, well-intended earnest.

Potential vaccines and disease-management techniques, huge production of PPE, support supplies, tens of millions of people worldwide, stepping up to help in thousands of ways. Much is working, to great benefit.

The metaphorical elephant is indeed being taught to dance.

So why so much criticism…especially by so many who have never managed a project involving large numbers of people and resources, themselves?

(Let alone millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions…)

Especially since so many of those, are doing naught but criticizing, pointing fingers, whining, accusing…

…an old sage comes to mind.

“Lead, follow, or GET OUT OF THE WAY!” =========================================================

2020 April 20 Wednesday

C-Day +49, World War C

Pouring rain, tens of thousands of species of local chlorophyll-producing vegetation drink in life-giving water, producing myriad hues of vivid green, beneath a dreary blanket of clouds.

In Oxford, England, UK, a group of virologists believe they may have a vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus.

May their discovery and work be as bright and abundant, as the spring colours!

==========================================================

2020 April 28 Tuesday

C-Day +48, World War C

Birds are singing, the honeysuckles’ and azaleas’ buds are becoming leaves. Squirrels and rabbits chase one another, flowers are beginning to bloom, dandelions dot lawns with bright yellow.

A group of billionaires and scientist are forming a “Manhattan Project” alliance with the vision and goals of controlling imminently…and soonest feasible…defeating the Covid-19 coronavirus enemy.

For the rest of us, we must do our parts; the safe, right, honest things. Do them where we are with what we have and maintain faith and hope. Oh, look; the old sages, Faith, Hope and Charity…applicable again.

2020’s history will show, the urgent measures taken in March and April to contain the spread of the pandemic were done in frantic earnest with noblest of intents. Sandbagging a breached levee, all day and night, during several months of continuous storm, might be a fair analogy.

Critics thereof and metaphorical Monday morning quarterbacks will point out the many “errors” made by those who fought the desperate fight, in the pandemic’s raging early “flood stage and rising!” days.

Metaphorical, “…waaah, waaah, they used too many sandbags, they didn’t fill them all full, they didn’t stack them neatly, they put workers at risk from lightning, the dumptrucks ran over small animals’ nests….”

How many statues and monuments are out there in the world, to critics, self-absorbed, victim-mentality whiners and crybabies?

Versus how many, to achievers?

==========================================================

2020 April 27 Monday

C-Day +47, World War C

The War’s opening campaigns against the Covid-19 coronavirus…the enemy of all humankind…are being fought simultaneously in more than 180 countries.

Casualties are far over two hundred thousand dead and millions infected.

Everywhere on Earth, people have risen; courageous fighters are doing whatever they can and feel they must, to contain and ultimately defeat this invisible horror, forever.

During early World War Two, 1940, when Great Britain was faced with a potential Nazi German invasion, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said…

“We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender….”

In 2020, World War C, millions of people in veritably every nation on Earth are fighting to win this war.

They are fighting for ultimate, certain victory…in the laboratories, hospitals, delivery trucks, churches, temples, packaging plants and banks. They are fighting in the warehouses, supermarkets, ambulances, police cars, janitorial staffs, morgues, cemeteries and offices of government. They are fighting in the testing facilities, factories, ships, train yards and cargo airplanes.

They will never surrender.

Be grateful for them. Do what you can to help and support them. And if all you are “meant” to do, stay home.

Because during World War Two, there was another slogan which applies, now.

“They also serve, who sit and wait.” ==========================================================

2020 April 25 Saturday

C-Day +45

“World War C.”

Watching, reading, hearing the continuing story of the continuing worldwide Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and news of medical, political, military, civilian…people…across the globe, fighting the horror, coping with the costs and losses…gritting their teeth and “keeping on keeping on.”

More than 180 countries, infected. More than 200,000 killed by the coronavirus. Two hundred thousand people dead….

All the world’s peoples are, for the first time in history, united against one monstrous, microscopic, merciless, common enemy.

We, the people of Earth, are fighting, each in our own ways…

…fighting…

…“World War C.”

=========================================================

2020 April 24 Friday

C-Day +44

Walking the canine in a local park with a neighbour and her larger puppy, she being a psychologist, was asked about something which has been more and more common during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic…

…”gallows,” or “dark” humour, on the subject.

Possibly seven or eight years ago, Psychology Today magazine featured an article on several (controversial) subjects which were declared not signs of mental illness. Among them was “gallows / dark humour.” The magazine said this is not considered a mental disorder (and if memory serves), but oft, a coping mechanism for dealing with especially tough times.

No hesitation by the educated / trained lady with the large, hairy puppy; she wholeheartedly agreed with the magazine and we came to a perhaps wry conclusion.

Making dark jokes and reading others’ quite-prevalent, Coronavirus dark humour, while not indicative of mental illness…

…certainly can be accused of being in bad taste.

While e-penning this, one of the oldest examples of gallows humour came to mind. Thermopylae, Greece, 480 BC.

A massive Persian army invaded Greece. King Leonidas I of Sparta and the advance guard of the defending Greek Army faced a force ten (sources vary, up to 50 or more) times their size. When the Persian commander allegedly declared, his force’s arrows, when launched, would blot out the sun.

Leonidas is recorded as saying, “Then we can fight in the shade.”

Dark humour? For sure.

King Leonidas and his companions all perished…but the “300 Spartans” live on in eternal legend.

Oh, and to complete the story; the Greek Army did ultimately defeat the invading Persians at the Battle of Marathon. The fastest Greek runner was sent to deliver the news to the populace, that Greece was saved.

He ran 26.2 miles, gasped out the news of the Greek army’s victory, and dropped dead of exhaustion.

The “Marathon” foot race is named in honour of that event in 480 BC.

26.2 miles.

=================================================

2020 April 22 Wednesday

C-Day +42

‘Could not bear to look at the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic news this morning…and since that horror dominates veritably all news, no news was turned on.

Continuing awe of their courage and and thanks for their service to the doctors, nurses, medical techs, hospitals staff, researchers, laboratory techs, testers…

…police, fire, first-responder people, active military, National Guard, ambulance…

…truck drivers, food store workers, clergy, janitors, delivery people, shelves-stockers, postal staff, warehouse workers, automotive, aviation, ship and all other service technicians, bank tellers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, HVAC people, trash / recycling pickup folks, government and municipal workers…and so many others sill at work amidst the “Shelter in place” orders.

‘Been almost a month since addressing THE REAL HEROES.

Thank you, again and still. You are in many millions’ prayers and feelings of gratitude. You are the ones who make the world continue to operate during this “quiet horror.”

To the children of America, of the world…these are the people you want to admire, emulate, someday, BE. Honour and admire the people who really matter. Become them. =========================================================

2020 April 21 Tuesday

C-Day +41

41 days ago, the World Health Organization announced the Coronavirus Covid-19 Pandemic. At least 175,621 people are dead, worldwide as of today, with likely thousands more not yet in the count. There are some signs of the spread slowing and many people either recovering or not showing symptoms.

There is a certain irony in that tomorrow, 22 April, is the 50th Anniversary of the first Earth Day, which was intended to inform and rally people everywhere in the world, to, “Save the Planet!”

=========================================================

2020 April 19 Sunday

C-Day +39

Many Americans have been “sheltering in place” for five weeks, about 40 days.

Anne Frank, the young girl who kept the diary (The Diary of a Young Girl) which ranks among the most important of World War Two literature, sheltered in an attic with her family for about 760 days, before a betrayer turned them over to the Nazis. Of the eight, only Anne’s father survived the hell-on-earth, concentration-execution camps.

Sheltering in place isn’t so bad.

“Just keeping it real,” as goes a hip-modern qualifier of some statements.

Please be safe and do what you can to help folks get through this pandemic and keep others safe. Donate as you are able, whether that be money, goods, food, time, blood…and prayers. =========================================================

2020 April 17 Friday

“C-Day +37”

The Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic has taken 60% as many American lives in two months…

…as the horrific Vietnam War took…

…in more than ten years.

On January 14, 2020, the World Health Organization said…

...“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” the organization had said.

Please be safe.

========================================================

2020 April 16 Thursday

“C-day +36”

Walking our canine in the local park, yesterday afternoon, in three inches of fresh, wet snow, we happened upon one of his furry pals and that critter’s person. Maintaining 10+ feet social distance in the cold west wind, she said something which was (perhaps sadly) the high point of this writer’s day.

“I was at the supermarket this morning about 9 and they had some toilet paper, facial tissue and disinfectant wipes. Not a lot and only one package of each per customer, but they had those products. Isn’t that great?”

First time in more than a month. A tiny bit of good news, a first indication, things may slowly be returning to…

…certainly not the “normal” we were used to, only five weeks ago…

…but hopefully the beginning of things improving. The United States of America’s President, Donald Trump, announced the three-phase return-to-normal parameters plan and handed it to the fifty states’ governors to implement as best benefits their state.

A long ago, Civics class lesson which never seemed relevant, until now….

=========================================================

2020 April 15 Wednesday

“C-day +35”

The COVID-19 coronavirus changed the world forever and led to one particular ultra-strange situation for most Americans. Today is April 15, the deadline day for filing 2019 Income Tax. However, this year, for the first time, that date has been moved to July 15.

2020 will be remembered in the future as the strangest in their lives, by many Americans. For many, many thousands, it will be remembered as tragic, the year they lost a loved one to the pandemic. ==========================================================

2020 April 13 Monday

“C-day +33”

Since March 11, when the World Heath Organization announced the COVID-19 Pandemic and March 12, when President Trump announced a State of Emergency, things have changed forever, not only in the USA, but in the world.

Since March 11…

Two of the most real but perhaps unforeseen realities of this changed USA…

….Who would have ever thought there would be a black market in toilet paper…

…and keeping liquor stores open is deemed essential to the national health? ========================================================

2020 March 31 Tuesday

C+20

“Sheltering in place,” it’s the new normal for non-work hours.

Almost all retail including restaurants, bars, department stores…are closed under the National Emergency Act. Terrifying; people all around the world are dying daily from this evil, merciless virus.

========================================================

2020 March 24 Tuesday

C-Day +13

Lockdown in the United Kingdom. The “herd immunity” experiment has been unsuccessful, no, it has been tragic.

For the USA, it’s “Shelter in place,” for all non-essential people other than “essential workers,” to slow the spread of human-human transmission of the horrific Covid-19 coronavirus.

Who are the “essential” workers?

In addition to medical, police, fire, first responders, active military, pharmacists, ambulance, medical research personnel?

The people who do the real work, the important stuff to keep the country moving until some return towards normal.

ESSENTIAL !!!! Truck drivers, grocery store workers, food service people, janitors, delivery people, warehouse workers, plumbers, heating/cooling techs, electricians, carpenters, automotive techs, postal workers, aviation personnel transporting the really important cargo, factory workers and those others, producing, packaging, distributing, administering protective and testing materials, trash and recycling pickup folks.

These are THE real heroes. =======================================================

2020 March 12 Thursday

C-Day +1

United States of America’s President Donald J. Trump declared a Federal State of Emergency in the United States of America because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Life for many of us living aboard this beautiful blue planet flying through space, may never be the same, again. =======================================================

2020 March 11 Wednesday

“C-day”

Today, an unprecedented act in history; the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 coronavirus, a world-wide pandemic.

Modern communication will insure an enormous flow of information. Modern transportation has and can transport human carriers of the virus to many, if not most, parts of the globe.

Modern medicine will strive to find ways to treat and seek cures and vaccines to prevent the virus which has already killed thousands.

What does this have to do with actors, entertainers, professional athletes, artists, composers and writers working on stories?

Hopefully, allow them to see the new reality, the real priorities. That they are, for the predictable future…

…irrelevant. ===========================================================

2020 January 16

What does this Lexus ad excerpt have to say about the current incongruent value systems of some politicians and celebrities?

Seen as a sidebar in a Lexus advertisement on the net, back in April 2019: Face of an attractive woman wearing glasses, holding a magnifying glass.

“Nothing is hotter than cold rationale.”

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2020 January 14

Did Seth McFarlane read Adventure — Into the Neverland before coming up with his own Star Trek spinoff, The Orville?

As not much of a TV (or screens for recreation) person, when Seth McFarlane’s excellent 2017 sci-fi Star Trek “inspired spinoff” comedy-drama, The Orville, aired and was first viewed by James Hood in mid- 2019, well into the series’ Season 2, a thought hit immediately.

The Orville uses as “home,” a starship described as a “mid-level exploration vessel.” This ship is crewed by (The Orville’s interesting, entertaining cast) people more laid back and “less stuffy” than Star Trek’s rigidly Starfleet Academy “naval type” military roster. This Orville crew “culture” struck author James Hood as inherently right, as might be normal / acceptable aboard a not-dedicated (star-)warship. 

Since Adventure — Into the Neverland was published in 2002 and featured characters “more human” / less military – staid than Star Trek‘s oft-“stuffy” Federation Starfleet officers, it is arguably possible, The Orville’s creator may also be an Adventure— reader….

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