This may have been an ancient river—on Mars

And that would have immense ramifications, don’t you think?

The flu is spreading.. Some are filling up on pills or racing for the vaccine. We here in Schuylkill county PA take a different approach. Friends neighbors and coworkers share boilo this time of year. And thanks to wonderful coworkers at my wife’s job, warm apple pie boilo is bringing soothing relief to sore throats in the Coal Speaker abode tonight… Got boilo? We do..

*Ignore the Jack Daniels bottle.. It’s simply a container for the greatest alcohol on earth.

Before you get ‘all thumbs’ paging through the newest edition of ESQUIRE magazine, consider the following information about Megan Fox: She does not want to be Marilyn  Monroe anymore. She is reportedly even getting a tattoo of Monroe removed from her own body.

Also enter into the picture this: She can’t stand pills, doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke. What does she do? Feels safest in God’s hands.

And she also compares Marilyn Monroe’s life to that of Lindsay Lohan. I don’t know which one would be more offended…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-qLUIj_A0?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=http://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

My son absolutely loves this song from the YouTube channel KIDSTV123. It’s a rather depressing ditty about our solar system.. each planet, and the sun, sings about its surface.. set to a sad melody. When Ayden sees it he is just in awe.. I am, somewhat, too.. It sticks in your head, in a strange and somber sort of way… 

And take note: Pluto has not been included.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

THE GUN FIGHT: From muskets to bushmasters... the battle is on.

I want to shield my eyes from television.. I want to clothes my ears. I want to vanish from this fight.. There are no winners in the gun battle, no losers. President Obama has staked his presidency now on fighting violence—violence perpetrated in the violent hearts of men and women in weapons. The gun lobby, and those who fear the 2nd Amendment will be trampled, will not back down either. There is a battle looming..

I don’t want to write about it. Read about it. Know about it.

I want life to go back to how it was before Sandy Hook.. before the rampage that took so many innocent lives. 

After 9/11 everything changed. After Sandy Hook, everything also changed. A new war on… terrorism? hate? mental illness? what will we call this one?

I was told of a conversation that took place amongst people opposed to each other on this issue. On one side, the protagonist said she wants all guns, no matter the gun or purpose of it, banned. On the other side, the antagonist argued that guns were ok but not military assault weapons. With a caveat. If someone came into a  building the antagonist was in, and attempted to open fire, she hoped that someone else in that building would have a gun equal or stronger to blow the shooter away..

I heard the argument that the 2nd amendment never contemplated assault weapons. But did the 1st amendment ever consider the internet? Things change.. evolution happens. What would the founding fathers say, should they come back from the dead? Would they abandon their muskets in favor of bushmasters, or reconsider the 2nd Amendment…?

We are in for a big fight. A year’s worth of negative ads on one side and another.. a political world will come crashing down, arguing late into the night. This will divide states, towns, and families. It will be a civil war, of sorts.. Will the pen be mightier than the sword? Will the ink dry faster than the blood? 

Brace yourself! Get your Facebook dashboards ready! The battle royal begins…

I may resign from this fight and abandon allegiance to either side. Middle ground! Common sense! Nah.. America never backed down from a fight. Especially with each other…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m6lkDmyy9s?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=http://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=374]

A YouTube user Amy Bessler made a pretty cool documentary on Centralia, PA, my hometown and site of the famed mine fire that forced thousands of people out of the area..I know the fine folks who were interviewed in this presentation, and they are good, actually GREAT, people. It’s also a good oratory history of what happened in the town and how the government eventually ended up telling residents they needed to move.

I have written on here before that I recall many memories of my early childhood, sitting on my grandmother’s porch sipping hot chocolate—while homes across the streets were knocked down by heavy machinery. As a child you really don’t comprehend what is occurring right in front of your eyes..

No one was killed by the mine fire, but many died from broken hearts as they watched their once beloved town become an ash heap of rubble..

This documentary is worth the watch, should you have a spare 13 minutes. Worth the time.. 

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Why do you think George Noory dumbs down Coast? Is it the wish of Premier/Clear Channel, or is he really the Mister Rogers of late-night radio?

I think the answer is complicated. In one regard, quite frankly George Noory shows little to no intellectual curiosity and rarely appears as though he truly wants to learn anything new..  If Noory had competition in the night hours, say if Art Bell actually came back again, I predict lots of affiliates with dump Noory in place of Bell. So in that regard Premiere is happy because, without anyone to fight him, Coast is the top show at night. Noory seems to also use those same cue cards all of the time… and deliver very frustrating programs to those with common sense… 

Until some bigger stations dump Coast to Coast or until competition rears its head, Premiere has nothing to lose with allowing Noory to keep being dumb in the middle of the night.

I’m not offended. Are you?

.. We can cry until we try.. Or try until we cry.. It’s Monday tomorrow so you may want to fly.. But in the meantime ..Let’s face the week and dance.

(Image from Harrisburg PA on Friday January 11, 2013)

21 and dumb

Seeing my nephew turn 21 and sip Sam Adams and eat wings today was a wake up call: I’m getting old! Way old.. So much so that I was drinking Sierra Mist so I could avoid the caffeine content and sleep at a reasonable time

I understand times change but by God I’d like to go back to 21 again.. A sick pack of beer and an entire pizza in a night was nothing. Now I’d feel like it was instant heart disease…

Life takes funny turns. Now not funny ha ha.. Funny bla bla…