I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience. | |
— Henry David Thoreau | |
From his book: “Walden“ | |
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On This Day In: | |
2017 | About Change |
Gordian | |
2016 | Are Your Prayers Functioning? |
2015 | Expressing Love |
2014 | Cyclical Attitudes |
2013 | Footprints |
2012 | Broken Resolutions |
Bin It | |
Posts Tagged ‘YouTube.com’
Can We Talk About Me?
Posted in Humor, Included Video, Quotes, Videos, tagged Henry David Thoreau, Humor, I Wanna Talk About Me, Included Video, Quotes, Toby Keith, Walden, YouTube.com on January 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Talking Knuth
Posted in 2017 Book Review, Book Review, Reviews, Science and Learning, tagged 2017 Book Review, ALGOL, Computer Science, Conversations, Donald E. Knuth, Edgar G. Daylight, Kurt De Grave, Moderate to Strong book Recommendation, The Essential Knuth, The Essential Knuth -- Book Review, YouTube.com on December 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »
“The Essential Knuth” (2013©) — book review | |
This book is an interview of Professor Donald E. Knuth by Edgar G. Daylight (and edited by Kurt De Grave). The book is part of the “Conversations” series and covers topics like Knuth’s childhood / family, college life, and then more typical topics – ALGOL, structured programming, other software pioneers and finally the history of computer science history. Basically, it’s a chance to record the thoughts of a pioneer in his field (computer science) about his life and views about his accomplishments and opinions of other greats in this field. | |
Is it earth-shattering? No. Is it interesting? Yes. Knuth appears to be a man who rather humbly acknowledges his own “greatness” in his field, but puts it down to both ability and the good fortune of being born at a time when his field of interest was new. If you are interested in the thoughts of a giant in his field (and I am in this field), you should like this. | |
The book is very short: less than 90 pages and has practically no technical information. It is, therefore, entirely accessible to the general public. If reading isn’t your “thing”, I have subsequently found most of the book is also available on YouTube in short interviews. Final recommendation: moderate to strong. The book is so short and contains so little technical info, you will lose almost nothing for investing the couple of hours it will take to read this book. And, it is interesting (even if in only a limited way). | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Hoping For The Best Come January |
2015 | Adaptive Security |
2014 | Wants |
2013 | Side Effects |
2012 | Just Trying To Earn A Living |
2011 | Productive Worry |
Happy 33rd Anniversary, Hil!!
Posted in Faith Family and Friends, Family and Friends, Included Video, Quotes, Videos, tagged Dan Stevens, Evermore, Family and Friends, Franz Schubert, Happy 33rd Anniversary, Included Video, Music Videos, Quotes, Vivo, Wedding Anniversary, YouTube.com on December 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife. | |
— Franz Schubert | |
[Happy 33rd Anniversary, Hil | |
You are my true friend for life… | |
Love Always, | |
Your Kev | |
XXX | |
00 | |
X | |
— KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Happy 32nd Anniversary, Hil!! |
2015 | Happy Anniversary Hil!! |
2014 | 30th Wedding Anniversary |
2013 | Number 29 (And Counting) |
2012 | Hammer ‘N Roses |
Happy Anniversary | |
2011 | I Can Hear It Now |
Old Style Ear Candy
Posted in Included Video, Music and Concerts, Videos, tagged Included Video, Jackson Browne, Running On Empty -- music video, YouTube.com on November 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Running On Empty | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Next Tuesday |
2015 | Wanna Trade? |
2014 | Brothers And Friends |
2013 | So Suddenly |
2012 | At The Center |
2011 | Live Long And Thinner |
Got Health? | |
2010 | SF Giants – 2010 World Series Champions!!! |
52 – 54 – 56 – 58 | |
2009 | Diet Update |
Pictures from Chicago Trip… | |
Too Good To Be True
Posted in Faith Family and Friends, Family and Friends, Included Video, Music and Concerts, Videos, tagged Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You - music video, Family and Friends, Frankie Valli, Happy Birthday Hil, Music Videos, Vevo, YouTube.com on October 29, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You |
|
[Happy Birthday, Hil !! Here’s lookin’ at you, kid… | |
All my love, | |
— ALWAYS — | |
Your Kev | |
(XXX – OOO – XXX) ] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | She Is Still Singing |
2015 | Don’t Complain |
2014 | Nothing Is The Same |
Orange October (XII) – Giants Win Game 7 (3 To 2) And World Series (4 To 3) | |
2013 | Hours, Days, And Years |
2012 | In Kev Are In Hil |
2011 | No Game, Didn’t Really Happen |
A Good Post | |
Conservatives Are Not The Enemy
Posted in Included Video, Leadership, Politics, Videos, tagged "The New Normal" Speech, #ImpeachTrump, Included Video, PBS Video, Politicial Leadership, Politics, Senator Jeff Flake, YouTube.com on October 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »
[For the full text of this speech, click here: “The New Normal” on my Poems page. — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Two Weeks To Go… |
2015 | Remembering |
2014 | The Creeping Death Of Civilization |
Orange October (X) – A Blue Morning Turns Into An Orange Evening | |
2013 | License Problem |
2012 | Giants Win Game 2 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!! |
Adage, n. | |
Questions Women Should Ask Before Voting… | |
2011 | What Are You Looking At? |
What Do I Know…
Posted in Included Video, Music and Concerts, Videos, tagged Ed Sheeran, Included Video, Music Video, What Do I Know - video, YouTube.com on October 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Rare Competition |
2015 | Now Where Did I Put That Thing? |
2014 | Reckoning |
Orange October (VIII) – Giants Win Game 1 Of 2014 World Series!! | |
2013 | Trying To Capture Serenity |
2012 | Above The Vaulted Sky |
2011 | Active Learning |
A True American Hero
Posted in Leadership, Philosophy, Politics, Videos, tagged 2017 Liberty Medal Ceremony, American Conservative, American Hero, CNN, Included Video, Political Leadership, Profiles In Courage, Republican Philosophy, Senator John McCain, YouTube.com on October 17, 2017| 6 Comments »
[For the full text of the speech, click here. — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | What #AmnestyDon Is Really Afraid Of |
2015 | What Are You Doing? |
2014 | The Ideal Man |
2013 | Daring Ripples |
2012 | Evermore |
2011 | Unpredictable Opportunity |
2010 | Giants Fall In Game 2 (1 to 6) – Leave PA With 1-1 Split !! |
Gold In The Morning Sun
Posted in Included Video, Videos, tagged Country Music, Don Williams, Donald Ray Williams, Gentle Giant of Country Music, I'm Just A Country Boy, Included Video, Music Video, RIP, Video, YouTube.com on September 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017), better known as Don Williams, passed away yesterday. For a few years between the mid-to-late 70’s to the early 1980’s, Don was one of the biggest names in country music. His music and fame were not contained to just the U.S., as he was extremely popular in Europe and Down Under (Australia and New Zealand). | |
“I’m Just A Country Boy” is not generally considered among his top hits, but it has always been my favorite of his songs. Mostly, because I too, have always found “Silver in the stars, and Gold in the morning sun.” | |
Rest in peace “Gentle Giant of Country Music“. You are missed, but not forgotten. | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Power Inside |
2015 | Sometimes I Feel Small |
2014 | It Slipped Away |
2013 | Corollary |
2012 | Working Retired |
2011 | The Web Is Not Authoritative! (Really?) |
Happy 4th of July 2017!!
Posted in Lyrics, Videos, tagged America the Beautiful, Happy 4th Of July 2017, Included Video, Song Lyrics, YouTube.com on July 4, 2017| 3 Comments »
America The Beautiful |
|
O beautiful for spacious skies, | |
For amber waves of grain, | |
For purple mountain majesties | |
Above the fruited plain! | |
America! America! God shed His grace on thee, | |
And crown thy good with brotherhood | |
From sea to shining sea! | |
O beautiful for pilgrim feet, | |
Whose stern impassion’d stress | |
A thoroughfare for freedom beat | |
Across the wilderness! | |
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw, | |
Confirm thy soul in self-control, | |
Thy liberty in law! | |
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, | |
Who more than self their country loved, | |
And mercy more than life! | |
America! America! May God thy gold refine | |
Till all success be nobleness, | |
And ev’ry gain divine! | |
O Beautiful for patriot dream | |
That sees beyond the years | |
Thine alabaster cities gleam, | |
Undimmed by human tears! | |
America! America! God shed His grace on thee, | |
And crown thy good with brotherhood | |
From sea to shining sea! | |
Written by: Katharine Lee Bates | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Red, White And Blue BBQ |
Happy 4th of July 2016 | |
IMF’d (Marathon / Binge) | |
2015 | Happy 4th of July 2015!! |
2014 | Happy 4th of July 2014!! |
2013 | Patriot Act, Anyone? |
2012 | Five Lost Wars |
2011 | Worth Fighting For |
2010 | Still Learnin’ Hard… |
4th of July 2010 | |
Happy Meeting Day 33 (And Counting)
Posted in Family and Friends, Videos, tagged Day I Met Hil, Family and Friends, Music Videos, Videos, YouTube.com on May 19, 2017| 1 Comment »
Thirty-three years ago I met my future (and current) wife … | |
I love you Hil. I cherish our every day together… I’m glad God took the extra time. — KMAB | |
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On This Day In: | |
2016 | Picture Perfect |
2015 | Life Showed Compassion |
2014 | And Then I Met Her |
2013 | Defining Maleness |
The Run Continues | |
2012 | All Set |
2011 | Not Always |
Conscientious Courage
Posted in Included Video, Movie Review, tagged Congressional Medal of Honor, Hacksaw Ridge - movie preview, Highly Recommended Movie, Okinawa, Private First Class Desmond Thomas Doss, Shuri, The Conscientious Objector - movie review, YouTube.com on August 12, 2016| 5 Comments »
This is a first! This whole blogging thing is (for me) an evolving experience. I am, by nature, an introvert. In another time and place I might have been labeled a “geek” or a “nerd”. I’m okay with that because I’ve learned to accept who I am is just that – who I am. Still, it’s interesting to find out (repeatedly) that I’m really not all that unusual. It just kinda felt that way for a long time when I was growing up. (More on this later…) | |
“The Conscientious Objector” (2004) — movie review | |
This documentary is a biography of Private First Class Desmond Doss. Doss was a Congressional Medal of Honor winner for actions occurring during World War II while serving as a medic with the Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division in Okinawa. | |
Doss’ CMoH Citation reads: | |
G.O. No.: 97, November 1, 1945. | |
He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying all 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On May 2, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within eight yards of enemy forces in a cave’s mouth, where he dressed his comrades’ wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On May 5, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On May 21, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers’ return, he was again struck, by a sniper bullet while being carried off the field by a comrade, this time suffering a compound fracture of one arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty. | |
I would like to note Doss’ fellow soldiers put the estimate of men retrieved at over one hundred (100). Doss’ testimony was that it was about fifty (50). The officers investigating for the CMoH split the difference and reported seventy-five (75). Pfc. Doss was the first “Conscientious Objector” to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. Doss did not refuse to serve. Doss refused to carry a weapon of any kind into combat due to religious grounds. | |
This is a powerful documentary! There are very few people who truly act their faith in their life every day of their life. Doss was one of these rare individuals. He simply would not kill. Not to defend himself. Not to defend others. BUT – he would risk his life repeatedly to save others, even when they were on the brink of death. Really, words fail me… Very highly recommended! | |
Here is the link to the documentary on YouTube: | |
[NOTE: The above video is NOT the documentary which originally appeared in this post. That video is no longer available on YouTube. I have replaced it with the one above. The original documentary is available on desmond-doss.com as a DVD, but you will have to pay for it. — KMAB (5 Aug 2020)] | |
So, why is this posting “a first“? After all, I’ve done close to a hundred movie reviews (albeit most very brief). It’s a first because I’m also including a link to a preview of a movie (“Hacksaw Ridge“) which is not out until November. This movie is the Hollywood version of Doss’ life. | |
Why am I doing this? Because I believe in serendipity. I was looking at YouTube going over some of the current releases and I saw the preview. | |
I watched the preview and then rushed to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Doss) to find out who this guy “Doss” was. | |
This led to jumping back to YouTube, where I noticed the documentary was the next link. So, I watched the documentary…. | |
I was so moved, I went back to watch the preview again. I then noticed there was a whole string of “preview reviews” on the side. Never having seen one of these before (yes, I freely admit to being a dinosaur), I was intrigued and decided to check one out. That led to another and another and another… | |
I gather these “preview reviews” are a “thing” now. Which is actually pretty cool – to me – in a nerdy kind of way… | |
Which in turn loops me back to the start of this post where I remarked how interesting it is to find out (repeatedly) that I’m really not all that unusual… | |
Now, I am looking forward to extra previews and the actual movie release in November! | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | The Beautiful Snow |
2014 | Nurtured By The Voices |
2013 | Précis |
2012 | Fear And Understanding |
2011 | Just Being Human |
A Suggestion…
Posted in Faith, Philosophy, Videos, tagged All We Need Is Love - video, Baton Rouge, Brian & Tony Gold, Dallas, Faith And Prayer, For Peace, Included Video, Louisiana, Minnesota, Music Videos, Nice (France), On Violence, Philosophy, St. Paul, Texas, YouTube.com on July 16, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Baton Rouge, St. Paul, Dallas, Nice (France)… | |
Sometimes, life (and violence) seems so cruel and indifferent. All I want to do is rage against the world. After Louisiana and Minnesota, I wanted a few days before I expressed my sadness in a blog. After Texas, I was waiting to give myself a moment to absorb the hunting of police officers. Now, France and peaceful crowds gathered to celebrate liberty… | |
I don’t have any answers… I only offer this suggestion: | |
(If you are curious about the lyrics, I’ve added them to my “Poems” page.) | |
For now, I pray for those lost, for their families and for Peace… | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Looking For The Needles In The Haystacks |
2014 | The Definition Of A Gentleman |
2013 | Thar She Blows (Not)! |
2012 | Naturally |
2011 | Been Here, Done That |
Remember | |
2010 | Timeless Classics |
Ain’t It Funny
Posted in Lyrics, Videos, tagged Clink Patrick Black, Country Songs, Music Videos, State Of Mind - song lyrics, YouTube.com on June 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »
State Of Mind |
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Got a big leather suitcase, | |
all I own’s inside | |
Seems I’ve been walkin’ for days, | |
can’t even bum a ride | |
Try steppin’ to a tune, | |
with the rhythm of a walkin’ man | |
Mind drifts like a big balloon | |
out of my situation at hand | |
Ain’t it funny how a melody | |
can bring back a memory | |
Take you to another place in time | |
Completely change your state of mind | |
Walkin’ down a lonely highway | |
not feelin’ alone | |
Thinkin’ back when things went my way | |
and not the road I’m on | |
Well, I’ve been down a time or two, | |
but it never lasts long | |
I can always make it through | |
on a wing and a prayer and a song | |
Ain’t it funny how a melody | |
can bring back a memory | |
Take you to another place in time | |
Completely change your state of mind | |
It can make a right from a wrong, | |
it can make you fall in love | |
It can get you singin’ along | |
Chase the clouds away | |
and make the sun shine above | |
A melody can bring back a memory | |
Take you to another place in time | |
Completely change your state of mind | |
A melody can bring back a memory | |
Take you to another place in time | |
Completely change your state of mind | |
Writer and Performed by: Clint Patrick Black | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | At Both Ends |
2014 | Whiner(s) |
2013 | Just Passing Through |
2012 | Dog-gone Heaven |
2011 | Occasional, Sad Results |
Picture Perfect
Posted in Faith Family and Friends, Quotes, Videos, tagged Billy Ocean, Day I Met Hil, Family and Friends, Music Videos, Videos, YouTube.com on May 19, 2016| 2 Comments »
Thirty-two years ago I found my pearl of great price… | |
Oh, what is the color of love? What do you see? |
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I love you Hil. You are my “picture perfect painting of love forever true“… — KMAB | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Life Showed Compassion |
2014 | And Then I Met Her |
2013 | Defining Maleness |
The Run Continues | |
2012 | All Set |
2011 | Not Always |