Think

Getting older is tough. Lots more to think about. 

Like the TV infomercials, but wait there's more. 

Apathy, seems to me to be a good thing on most issues. The key to happiness is low expectations. 

I know how Mr. Potatohead feels during cold weather. 

Something to consider. 

It is their intended purpose. Get over your issue. There is nothing sexual about the picture below. 

Is it that tough to do? 

George gets the final word.

Draw Your Own Conclusions

I have howled at the moon about gun control. 

Here I go again.

Congress seems to do plenty of nothing. 

I expect when Congress returns from another one of their "breaks" they will return to doing nothing. Maybe that isn't the worst thing they could do. They seem awfully concerned with where we pee and what women are allowed to do with their bodies (unless that is making the same pay as a man) so maybe doing nothing is not so bad. It does seem to me that if large numbers of minorities and Muslims decided to buy guns, take concealed carry classes and open carried like some of these dumbass white guns, all of a sudden the NRA would want some more regulations and background checks. 

Photography

I went to North Beach on Tybee Island on Sunday to photograph the full moon rising over the Atlantic Ocean. If I learned anything it was that I need to spend more time with the camera not set on automatic. The wonderful thing about digital photography is you can take literally hundreds of pictures and throw away 90% of them and not feel bad. When you had 90% bad pictures with film and de eloping costs it hurt. As a point of reference I have done nothing to these other than download them. No photoshop work on any of them. 

I like the next one best. What did I do differently? Damned if I know. 

I always enjoy the lighthouse and think this is one of the better pictures I have taken of it. 

The picture below illustrates what happens when someone runs into your slow shutter speed shot. 

I was attempting with the picture above and several to follow to capture the moonlight reflecting on the water. The results are questionable. 

It might be time to invest in a tripod. 

More Knoxville

We spent some time seeing the sights in downtown Knoxville and grab a late lunch.

Johnnie posed with the Market House Bell. The bell sits in Market Square and originally resided in the Market House that stood in the center of the square. Local farmers would bring their produce to the Market House to sell. Next to the bell is a statue celebrating Tennessee's part in the struggle for women's suffrage. 

The day we were there a film crew was on the square setting up to film a scene with Burt Reynolds and Chevy Chase. I don't go looking for famous people but if I see one I try to get a picture. As luck would have it after we left Market Square Chevy Chase was standing near outside having a smoke. 

We did not see Burt Reynolds. 

Sunsphere

We spent most of last week in Knoxville, Tennessee at the national tumbling competition. We went to watch our granddaughters Audrey and Johnnie compete. It always amazes me when we travel the unique things each place has to offer. We start our visit to Knoxville with the Sunsphere. 

The Sunshere stands 266 feet high. It was built as the centerpiece of the 1982 Worlds Fair held in Knoxville. The glass panels are layered glass cut in seven different shapes and coated in 24 karat gold. During the Worlds Fair it cost $2.00 to ride the elevator to the fourth level observation deck. After the fair, as with so many other special events, the city of Knoxville struggled with what to do with the Sunsphere. It has been underutilized and the ride to the observation deck is now free. There is one exception. If you choose to jump up and down in the elevator you are warned it may become inoperative. The wait to have the elevator repaired may be lengthy and when you are finally at your destination you will be fined and charged for the repairs. 

This is the view from the observation deck. 

Carol and Audrey are both adverse to heights and looking down. They are a couple of the tiny figures at the bottom.

If you look closely at the picture above you will notice what I did. Those windows are in serious need of a good cleaning. It seems unlikely that will happen anytime soon since the Sunsphere doesn't generate any income. The view from it is great. 

Finally there are informational panels around the inside of the Sunsphere. 

I'm Not Done

- Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female
- Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male
- Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female.
- Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female
- Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female
- Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06, male
- Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female
- Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06, female
- Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06, female
- Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male
- Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06, male
- James Mattioli , 3/22/06, male
- Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05, female
- Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female
- Emilie Parker, 5/12/06, female
- Jack Pinto, 5/06/06, male
- Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male
- Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06, female
- Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06, female
- Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female
- Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982, female (full date of birth not specified)
- Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56, female
- Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female
- Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male
- Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06, female

You may be wondering who those people are. They are the victims from the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.  They continue to cry out to us from beyond the grave. Do something so no more families have to suffer like ours have and continue to suffer every time there is another mass killing. Please stop reading my blog and read this. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nelba-marquezgreene/orlando-i-am-sorry-our-tragedy-wasnt-enough-to-save-your-loved-ones_b_10442908.html

This is Orlando. 

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old

Cory James Connell, 21 years old

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old

Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old

Frank Hernandez, 27 years old

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old

Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old

Kimberly Morris, 37 years old

Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old

Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old

Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old

Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old

Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old

Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old

It must STOP. 

NO MORE! Never again! 

Again

We have had another mass shooting. This one alleged to be the worst in United States history. Once again there are calls for gun control especially assault weapons like the one used by the shooter. The arguments from those who think there should be no limits on gun possession are frighteningly familiar.

It's too soon to talk about it out of respect for the victims.

A good guy with a gun would have prevented the shooting. More people there should have been carrying guns.

If guns are outlawed only outlaws would have guns.

Background checks would not have had any effect. 

So what will happen? We will be sad for a time. We will wring our hands and talk about praying for the victims and their families. Our lawmakers will introduce legislation that will go nowhere. We will wait for it to happen again. It's like the language on the shampoo bottle. Lather, rinse, repeat. Shoot, cry, repeat. 

In closing for those Christians who feel this was somehow justified by Jesus because the targeted group was homosexual. Well you have no idea when you wear that wrist band with WWJD ON IT. If there is a heaven and that attitude and behavior gets you in I will gladly, willingly, happily take the express elevator to the depths of hell to be away from you. 

Transcendence

Muhammad Ali met a foe he could not defeat. A foe who stalks all of us. A foe who will defeat all of us. As I look back at his life I am in awe of the life he lived. Olympic gold medalist, professional boxing champion, Medal of Freedom recipient, humanitarian, Muslim and conscientious objector. 

His stand against the war in Vietnam did cost him millions of dollars and the best years of his boxing career. He was willing to do the right thing even when the personal cost was huge. We should all be so strong in our convictions and willing to pay the price to hold them. 

The quote below is from Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He is the all time leading scorer in the history of the National Basketball Association and has been voted the greatest center to ever play the game. He is a giant among men. 

To the Muslim community, he was a pious pioneer testing America’s purported religious tolerance. To the African-American community, he was a black man who faced overwhelming bigotry the way he faced every opponent in the ring: fearlessly. At a time when blacks who spoke up about injustice were labeled uppity and often arrested under one pretext or another, Muhammad willingly sacrificed the best years of his career to stand tall and fight for what he believed was right. In doing so, he made all Americans, black and white, stand taller. I may be 7’2” but I never felt taller than when standing in his shadow.

This quote is from Muhammad Ali. 

Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.

He showed us in how he lived his life. How he practiced his faith. How he treated his fellow man. He saw a possibility we did not. He lived a life we thought was not possible. Parkinson's disease ravaged his body but he showed us it could not defeat his spirit. He transcended what we thought was possible. 

Read It

If you haven't read the victim statement of the young woman who was sexually assaulted by Brock Allen Turner the Stanford University swimmer please take some time and read it. Read it all. Take your time. It is painful to read. We have to change the way we treat the victims of sexual assault. We cannot continue to blame the victim. We cannot allow the offenders an out because they are rich, or athletes, or white. The letter is on buzzfeed.com. 

Pop Up Squirter

Back to the Beach Bum parade and the girl in the trash container. 

If you look at the picture above you can see the container on the left tilted back. 

The guy in the blue shirt is reloading his squirt gun. 

They are loading the pop up squirter into her container. 

She gets settled into position. 

Open fire. 

Preparing to reload. 

Firing again. 

More shooting. 

Friends reloading makes for an interesting position for her. 

Not sure I would be comfortable with this. 

The parade is always well attended and downtown "ammo" is at a premium since parking is restricted. Some of the businesses put out trash containers full of water hoping to draw in some customers afterward in exchange.