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2016 JUST HAPPENED.

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Pro Trump people are getting nasty..
Anti Trump people are getting nasty.
Effigies of him are now being beaten and beheaded in weird fits of rage.. all the while those opposed to him decry the rage at his rallies.

I want this election to be over as soon as possible. Maybe it’s the most important in history (though we hear that every four years) but it certainly will be the most divisive and potentially unhealthy for the nation.. 

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Today was Sunday squash slicing day..
It turned out well.
A pumpkin to represent each member of the family except the dog. We forgot that one..
But the human are all accounted for in squash form.

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inothernews:

Faces from the GOP Debate audience.

Sleep well.

Everyone has a story.
A soul, though? 

Maybe not.

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It was ten years ago today that Pope John Paul II died .. What started today in 2005 was a strange odyssey of prophecy and paranoia.. Pope John Paul II was made pope during an eclipse.. His funeral took place during an eclipse, as well.. 

But I recall one strange and often neglected bit of history that made news at the time: He became the decomposing Pope. At the time, people who were attending days worth of a viewing for the Pope were horrified at the sight. Some even complained of a smell.. Pope John Paul was only ‘lightly’ embalmed ..As a report from the AP said in 2005:

"For a four-day viewing, injections of formaldehyde and other preserving liquids are necessary," Signoracci told The Associated Press, cautioning that he could not be certain what had been done without examining the body.
The Vatican has said John Paul’s body was not embalmed, only “prepared” for viewing by hundreds of thousands of mourners, refusing to elaborate on the procedure used.
John Paul died Saturday, and his remains were put on public view two days later, through Thursday. His funeral on St. Peter’s Square and burial beneath the basilica took place Friday.
Maria Campos Guereta, a 29-year-old banker from Jerez, Spain, was among the last mourners to file past the body Thursday. “Truth be told, he looked really haggard,” she said.

The entire world was watching, on live TV often, the Pope decomposing as the process of death overtook his body.. It was actually quite a creepy sight to behold, and one that our minds perhaps have tried to purposely forget.. 

For those who don’t remember the events of ten years ago or just weren’t paying attention due to age or place in the world, Pope John Paul’s death was a big deal.. It was earth-moving, and policy shifting. 

But for me, what I will never personally forget, is the harbingers that occurred before his death—the white doves circling his head weeks before he died.. The thousands who gathered outside of the Vatican waiting for his passing… the election of Ratzinger.. The would be assassin calling himself a spiritual brother of John Paul..

And….that horrific sight of the pope decomposing before the eyes of the world’s population.. lightly embalmed and on display, rotting away.

April 2, 2005.. April 2 2015..  
Ten years later, the news of the bizarre and strange continues.. Two more Popes since, and some would say a furtherance of prophecy.. 

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These were TIME covers from the late 90s and early 2000s..

How times changed.

Judging from those news stand editions, you know that the people of the time, those crazy humans, cared about privacy and wanted to protect their information. Fast forward to the modern age.. Privacy is so 2000 and late.

Now people tell researchers that aren’t worried much about government eavesdropping or their digital life being known to the world.. As a matter of fact, the common consensus is, if we’re not doing anything wrong, why worry?  Why so serious..

Here is how the Kansas City STAR reports it and why it is troubling to privacy activists (they still exist?): 

Americans - more than Web users abroad, experts say - have come to accept a semi-public digital life. Private businesses make billions of dollars from sweeping up the crumbs of information digital users leave behind. In exchange for all that secret data, private businesses offer a relatively seamless and low-cost Web experience most consumers prefer.

Privacy software can be expensive and is almost always clumsy. And the government wants in: Citing security concerns, the authorities seek “backdoor” access to email accounts and phone records.

So privacy experts are stepping up efforts to convince consumers of the need for digital privacy. A fundamentally private Web won’t be a reality, they say, until ordinary Americans demand broad protection from government and business intrusion into their phone and computer use.
"If anyone in society is going to have privacy, then everybody has to have privacy," said Alan Fairless, CEO of SpiderOak, a company that offers encrypted data storage for consumers.

Some early-adopting digital-savvy consumers have started to seek out and invent privacy protection tools, he said. That work may eventually trickle down more broadly to less tech-handy cellphone users and Web surfers.

The future is now.
Privacy is dead.

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The final snow day?

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Devil in a blue dress.
Or was the stress white?
Either way a brand new story about an old affair—the man who painted Bill Clinton reveals the secret Monica Lewinsky Easter egg hidden within..

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hidden-image-bill-clintons-official-portrait/

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Art Bell asked a darn interesting question in a post on BELGAB.COM the other day about travel and who people would send back to the time of Jesus to document events.. My answer is below his, I picked Ben Franklin. 

There were lots of other cool answers too, some even suggested Bruce Campbell.

And at this point if you’re an Art Bell excited for his return this coming July and NOT a member of BELLGAB, what are you waiting for?

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I hit the mother load of nostalgia today while cleaning .. So much more I didn’t even take photos of. Just wanted to find the most obscure of my 20th century life collection..

Anyone have a working VHS?

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Tonight’s cook off! Tara’s baked ziti vs my chick pea cakes!

French fries and pizza for Ayden.

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…2005 vs 2014..

All the trouble in the world. And leaders toil time away..

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These are three telling headlines in today’s POTTSVILLE REPUBLICAN AND HERALD.. A factory closing, a school having issues, and yet another store in the Frackville Schuylkill Mall shutting doors.. 

There was an old adage about the coal region of Pennsylvania: There’s a church and bar on every street corner. These days the churches have shuddered and even some bars too—it’s the bars closing that may bring pause…

A major hospital with 100+ years of history in Ashland Pennsylvania is now an empty vessel. The silhouette at night of the empty structure is a frightening sight.. 

Schools have closed and merged, leaving buildings to become dilapidated. This year, an old Catholic School Immaculate Heart in Girardville was taken down after days of heavy machinery chipping away at the heart of the building..

The people of the coal region, though often mocked for poor grammar, are good people. This was a good area.. But it’s fast becoming a land of no return, a place where no industry thrives.. A place where malls teeter on the brink of closure, where schools struggle not with grades but with meth and bath salts.. Where police dismantle their oath to protect and serve and instead sever ties with morality. This is an area where coal mines are abandoned, housing histories of millionaires.. but those millionaires’ homes just waste away into desolation.

There was once a close knit society in the region. When I grew up, things weren’t perfect, but they were fine. There were businesses, factories, churches, restaurants. Now there’s not. There’s little here.. There’s so little.

Are there still good people? Amazingly people.
Does the area still have a chance? That is a tougher question.

I have long believed that every town in the coal region could be the next Jim Thorpe. It could happen.. but it would take a lot. 

And with industry constantly leaving, and more ‘things’ constantly closing, that is becoming a much harder prospect to fathom..

Right now, February 13, 2014, there’s a monster snowstorm hitting the coal region and other states along the East Coast.. The snow is covering the pollution and litter, the pothole filled roads, and the empty buildings. But when it melts, it will all be there again. 

I am beginning to feel, strongly, that the coal region is not the place to raise my three-year-old son. He will not be growing up in the same place I was .. 

That close knit society is losing thread. 
The empty buildings have nothing to offer.
A vacant hospital two miles away can’t help.
And a mall without stores is the loneliest place in the world.

What is best.. trying to create a better place to live, or realizing that things are far beyond repair and going somewhere that is already a decent place to be?

That is the question.. 

And over the next year or two my wife and I will be debating that question..

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breakingnews:

Sinkhole swallows cars at National Corvette Museum

WBKO News: A sinkhole about 25 feet deep damaged several cars at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., early today. Authorities say that no one was in the building when the hole emerged.

Follow updates on this story at BreakingNews.com

Photos via The National Corvette Museum

I first admit this: I did not know there was a Corvette Museum.

Now I do.. I apologize to the car aficionados who will berate me for my lack of in depth knowledge  of the classic midlife crisis car..

The reason is tragic, though, at least if you like cars and the crust of the planet earth. 

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guardian:

Ukraine anti-government protesters try to seize energy ministry in Kiev

Demonstrators deny ministry’s claim they are holding two police captive as clashes continue in capital. Latest developments

Photographs: Sergei Grits/AP

The battles continue..

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It has been quite the night.
I guess you know you are meant to keep a dog when he runs away into dark cold woods and after a dashing rescue returns in one piece..

Around 5 o’clock tonight, Ayden suddenly decided to open the door to allow Mutley to escape.. Maybe it was because he was tired of the dog biting his toys, or maybe he wanted to set the dog free from the rules that confine him..

As soon as this occurred a daring chase scene unfolded! I immediately ran after Mutley the dog, over a highway and into the woods, but I couldn’t even catch a glimpse…

Ayden realized what he had done, but his little legs could not join in the search..

So many horrible things were going through my mind, that the dog would get hit by a car, abducted by aliens, or torn apart by Bigfoot..

I said to the higher power “if we’re meant to have this dog let it come back”
Not specifying the fashion I wanted the dog’s return to be in, the higher power answered in his own way.

My father, who joined in the rescue, was driving his car and saw the dog, the dog saw him and darted directly for the vehicle. This is where things get a bit murky.. My dad said that the car and the dog made contact but he said he was not moving at the time. Instead the dog literally railed head first into the car at about 65 mph running speed.. I can attest to that, I’ve never seen an animal on four legs run as fast as Mutley the dog does..

All is now well, the dog has no broken bones but is acting very ashamed.. My dad, as he is done through most of my life, made things right again. Ayden is building his ninja turtle Legos. Mommy is trying, as usual, to understand my meandering and strange stories. And I am just confused and tired from running 2 miles in one minute.

But we will all sleep tonight as a family..

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A must read:

centerforinvestigativereporting:

Did you know…

• 
  

  40 percent of people with asthma in California are renters, which can limit their ability to rid their homes of dust mites, mold, and secondhand smoke.

  
  


• 
  

  Children from low-income families are more likely to live next to freeways and be exposed to bio allergens from proximity to agricultural and industrial operations.

  
  


• And nowhere in California is this more apparent than in the Central Valley.

Read more from our investigation into the Central Valley’s respiratory nightmare.

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Proving that anyone is funnier with Miley Cyrus’ tongue.. here we have a series of stars proving it, including House Speaker John Boehner, celebrated star Robert Goulet, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, and former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. 

Rounding out the photos.. Miley Cyrus proving anyone is funnier with hog dog eating contest hands in their mouths..

Good evening.

Enjoy SNL.

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cracked:

TUMBLR OF THE SUMMER

Summer is almost over.. can’t believe I just found the are they hot dogs or are they legs website..

So far I think I’ve been able to successfully decipher most franks vs legs.. I think.