Can We Talk About Me?

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“
.
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

Read Full Post »

Talking Knuth

“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).
.
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

Read Full Post »

Happy 33rd Anniversary, Hil!!

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]
.
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

Read Full Post »

Old Style Ear Candy

Running On Empty
.
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…

Read Full Post »

Too Good To Be True

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) ]
.
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

Read Full Post »

Conservatives Are Not The Enemy

[For the full text of this speech, click here:  “The New Normal” on my Poems page.   —    KMAB]
.
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?

Read Full Post »

What Do I Know…

.
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

Read Full Post »

A True American Hero

[For the full text of the speech, click here.  —  KMAB]
.
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 !!

Read Full Post »

Gold In The Morning Sun

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.
.
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?)

Read Full Post »

Happy 4th of July 2017!!

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
.
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

Read Full Post »

Happy Meeting Day 33 (And Counting)

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
.
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

Read Full Post »

Conscientious Courage

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!
.
On This Day In:
2015	The Beautiful Snow
2014	Nurtured By The Voices
2013	Précis
2012	Fear And Understanding
2011	Just Being Human

Read Full Post »

A Suggestion…

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…
.
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

Read Full Post »

Ain’t It Funny

State Of Mind
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
.
On This Day In:
2015	At Both Ends
2014	Whiner(s)
2013	Just Passing Through
2012	Dog-gone Heaven
2011	Occasional, Sad Results

Read Full Post »

Picture Perfect

Thirty-two years ago I found my pearl of great price…
Oh, what is the color of love? What do you see? Is it warm is it tender when you think of me? I see the color of love when I’m thinking of you As a picture perfect painting of love forever true
I love you Hil.  You are my “picture perfect painting of love forever true“…  —  KMAB
.
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

Read Full Post »