The Adventures of Bloggard

Been Around the Block. Got Some Stories. These are Them.

Lee Marvin, Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers

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On Facebook, circa March 4, 2018 — Cathy Gentry posts: Some people have been a bit offended that the actor, Lee Marvin, is buried in a grave alongside 3 and 4-star generals at Arlington National Cemetery. His marker gives his name, rank (PVT) and service (USMC). Nothing else. Here’s a guy who was only a famous movie star who served his time, why the heck does he rate burial with these guys?

I didn’t know the extent of his Corps experiences. In a time when many Hollywood stars served their country in the armed forces often in rear echelon posts where they were carefully protected, only to be trotted out to perform for the cameras in war bond promotions, Lee Marvin was a genuine hero. He won the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima. There is only one higher Naval award … the Medal Of Honor!

And he credits his sergeant with an even greater show of bravery. [Read more…]

Band of Thieves

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Shady Shores community, near Dallas Texas, 1964: Paul H. was the largest roommate, and visiting his girlfriend in Fort Worth, he drove that highway often. A large and quiet guy, when he returned that day, all excited, we knew something was up.

“What is it?” asked Hardy M., the art student, a rugged fellow of sour demeanor. Paul lowered his voice.

“It’s a boat, with two big Evenrude motors,” he said, “It’s just sitting on a trailor beside the highway!”

My roommates, and myself, instantly became criminals.

The Plan …

“You mean … just sitting there?” asked Pat M. Always affecting calm, always worried.

“Trailer hitch,” Paul said. “I’d have grabbed it but I don’t have a trailor hitch.” On his car, he meant. They all looked at me. My car had a trailor hitch.

“OK,” I said. And so off we drove, to steal a boat.

After the Thieves Left the Hideout …

Along the way, Hardy in the back seat was dozing. Each time he nodded off, Pat jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow. “Stop it!” Hardy said, irritable. Pat told him not to be leaning on him. Hardy said ok, and a short time later, was dozing again.

With the two of them bickering like children, we drove. The day was late, and daylight fading. I’d forgotten a ham in the oven. We found it the next day, much smaller and very salty.

But There Was a Problem …

Watching for the boat as we drove, it seemed like we’d never get there. And finally, Paul said that either we’d missed it, or somebody had picked up the boat. So we turned around.

By now, Hardy was deep asleep in the back seat. He woke occasionally, but Pat told him we weren’t there yet. This continued until we were pulling into Shady Shores, where we lived lakeside in a concrete-block house.

A New Plan Appeared …

About a block from our house was a small copse of wood, and, as it was now full dark, instead of going home, I pulled my car into that tiny wood. And in the darkness, the nearby houses were invisible from within the trees.

Hardy woke as we exited, but we told him we were going to get the boat, and we needed him to stay with the car. Sleepy, he agreed, and promptly fell asleep again. We walked to our house, and stayed up late, talking about our big adventure — failing to steal a boat — and then eventually everybody went to bed.

Hardy, of course, woke up sometime during the evening, but didn’t dare leave the car. He didn’t want to be stranded in an unknown place near Fort Worth.

Next Morning …

In the morning, about coffee-time. Hardy came through the door.

“That’s not funny,” he said.

Are You a Pirate?

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In one of the last scenes in the fun movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” the heroine makes a statement about the leading man. She says, lovingly, “He’s a pirate.”

As you may recall from the movie, that young man started out hating the pirates, and yet, in the course of his adventures, he’s become bolder and he has dared great things, and by golly he has become a pirate. And that’s a good thing.

And so … why is it a good thing to be a pirate?

[Read more…]

On This Day: The Saxophone and Tchaikovsky

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Dinant, Belgium, November 6, 1814: Adolphe Sax is born, and will eventually invent the saxophone. The saxophone never became popular during his lifetime, as it was considered an illegitimate instrument, and not fitten to be played. Then along came that no-account jazz music, and musicians who thought differently. Without Mr. Sax, what would have become of Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, and Jim Grantham?

St. Petersburg, November 6, 1893: Composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky died after drinking unboiled water during a cholera epidemic. His last work was Symphony No. 6, the Pathetique. (For the exclusive benefit of Sir Ola, I’d like to add that Tchikovsky was also famous for the beautiful Le Sacre du Printeps.)

Leap Up, Fall Down – the Daylight Savings Scam

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Medford, Oregon – Daylight Savies Day, 2017 — Before I share my handy tip with you, I gotta say that in my opinion, William Willett has a lot to answer for, because best I can tell he was the scurvy dog — not Benjamin Franklin — who actually “invented” what is now Daylight Savings Time. Or maybe I should say he was the scurvy dog who unleashed the Daylight Savings Scam upon an unsuspecting populace.

‘Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.’ — Indian Saying

Ain’t it just the truth!

And right here, right now I want to put to rest the scurrilous rumors that [Read more…]

“Astro-Turfing” – How Media Manipulates Us with Fake Information

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Medford, Oregon and TED Talk, October 28, 2017 — Surprising information —

  • 90% of news media are controlled by six corporations. As a result,much of what you read and see can be an orchestrated story created by special interest groups
  • “Astro-Turf” means to falsify fake news, fake “information” so it appears to be a grass-roots movement. (IE: “fake grass”)
  • Alas, Wikipedia is often hijacked, because pages can be controlled by anonymous editors on behalf of special interests who reverse edits that go against their hidden agenda

Those of you who know me may remember that I’m not big on conspiracy theories because I think (a) humans do poorly at keeping a secret, and because (b) humans are poor at concerted action. Few events, however dreadful, require explanation of a wide conspiracy, when simple greed will suffice as explanation.

And I think that simple greed may be operating here, because …

Special interests have permeated our government, and with the weakening of newspaper revenues their journalistic integrity has slipped. Yesterday in conversation with a friend who once ran a department at the New York Times I heard confirmation that media’s ability to generate accurate original reporting is far less than what it once was.

An Eye-Opening Article about How We Are Tricked

Here is an eye-opening article which seems sound, spelling out how [Read more…]

Me and Fats Domino and Lee Perez

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MB Corral, Wichita Falls, 1959 — Well, the way it was, was that Fats Domino was real popular when he was still touring around after his big 1956 hit  (“Blueberry Hill”)  which had done so well, and so he was coming to the MB Corral in Wichita Falls on Friday night..

Me and several high-school friends had cars and money enough, so we decided to go hear him. And a fair amount of beer was involved. There was me and Billy Ray Johnson, and some others, and Tony Haberman. The music was good, we were listening to a famous singer, and for some foolish reason they were serving us beer there at the MB Corral.

So naturally I got a teensy bit tipsy, or maybe a tipsy teen topsy, or maybe I was actually just drunk, but I was able to navigate to the men’s room, once it dawned [Read more…]

 
 

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