Posts filed under ‘OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS’
OUR DEMOCRACY IS DYING
The direction in which this country is moving is both strange and disturbing. Since Trump became president the principles associated with our Constitution have been diminishing. And the separation of the three branches of government has become blurred.
The primaries have become a killing field for Republicans running for office who have defied Trump in some way. Who went against decisions Trump has made which were less than beneficial for the country. To run against these errant Republicans Trump has chosen to supply competition of his own choice with the population being represented having no say in the matter. Their only qualification to run for office is the willingness to accept any decision that Trump makes.
I wonder of the qualifications the candidates Trump chooses keeping in mind the qualifications of those he has selected to serve in his cabinet.
The job of Congress is to serve the people they represent. This has been replaced by fear of losing their job if they defy Trump. Our democracy has been diminished by a president who values himself more than the country he was elected to serve.
Fear has replaced duty in the Republications in Congress. The values associated with our country are disappearing and the direction our country is taking is beyond our control.
May 23, 2026 at 11:09 am
SCRAPPING HISTORY
Located on the eastern boarder of Newark is Newark Bay, a body of water leading out to the Atlantic Ocean. I have always loved the smell of the ocean, the proximity of primal life. However, by the time the ocean’s water mixed with the additions contributed by the factories, all that was left was a hint of what was once the ocean’s promise.
Located at the water’s edge is Port Newark, an area that we had always referred to as “The Dumps”. The area surrounding the dock was the home of tank farms, sewage treatment plants, junkyards and a few factories. It did not take a great stretch of the imagination to determine how “The Dumps” got its name. On hot summer nights, the family would pile into the old Chevy and take a ride “down the dumps”. It was a chance to escape the heat, get a change of scenery for what it was worth and hour or two away from the house.
We would park along one of the perimeter roads and look at the freighters and container ships, some from countries we could only dream of visiting – distant lands holding even more distant dreams. On one of the roads where we usually parked, if you turned 180 degrees you could see the runways of Newark Airport. This was before the age of jet airliners – props and turboprops ruled the skies. If you watched enough airplane fly overhead, I always looked up at the sound of their engines, you would sometimes see a four-engine plane flying with one propeller lazily turning, a sure sign of engine trouble. Sometimes, when we were being extravagant, we would stop for a pizza before taking our ride.
There was this elderly Italian man – he must have been at least fifty – who decided to open a pizzeria. So, what did he do? He rented a garage, bought a pizza oven, a couple of small tables, and he was in business. The garage was a freestanding cinderblock structure containing three one-car garages. He rented one of the end garages, cut a door through the garage door and this served as the entrance. Located on a narrow street, not more than an alley, it was a far cry from today’s chain-store pizza establishments. Each pizza had a bubbly hard crust and stood as an individual creation – nothing massed-produced here.
Later, when the quality of his product became known, he rented the adjoining garage, knocked down part of the common wall and expanded. Could this happen today, with all the zoning laws and chain-store competition, I don’t think so. But back in the fifties he thrived and produced great pizzas.
So, on hot summer nights, perhaps armed with a pizza, we would go ‘Down the Dumps’, to see the ships and watch the airplanes land. We could escape our tiny house and dream of a world that we might never see as we gazed at the ships and planes coming from and bound for far-off lands and distant cities.
On weekdays after supper was done, and on weekends, the roads of the port were mostly deserted. With its many roads and parking lots, this area was an ideal place to learn to drive. It was along one of these deserted roads that I almost put my father through the windshield. While driving one of these roads he instructed me to stop, not yet acquainted with the feel of the brakes, I performed this maneuver rather aggressively. My early driving lessons occurred long before seatbelts were standard equipment, hence my aggressiveness resulted in my father flying unrestricted around the car. I finally learned to drive some years later on the back roads of Alabama, after I had already learned to fly an airplane, but that’s another story.
At the northern end of Newark Bay there were a series of bridges leading to Jersey City and on to New York. It was from the first of these bridges that you could look down on a complex devoted to scrapping ships for their iron and other metals of value. It was during the 70’s that I remember this area looking like a floating World War II naval museum. There would be row upon a row of Liberty Ships awaiting the scrappers’ torch. There would be a destroyer and the occasional heavy cruiser. Ships bathed in history waiting for oblivion. I know they could not all be saved, but it saddened me to see history reduced to a dollar value. It had been some thirty years since the war had ended; time enough for the whole-scale destruction of military equipment that routinely occurs after the conclusion of a war. Yet there before my eyes floated a living history soon to be no more, it would be gone forever.
I witnessed the destruction of one ship, which touched me deeply. This ship was perhaps the most famous American ship of World War II and for years the Japanese sought its destruction. If ever a ship was worth preserving, to serve as a floating monument to the struggles of the United States Navy during World War II, this was the ship.
During my youth, I devoured books about airplanes; I read everything I could about aviation during World War I and World War II. I rarely read books about ships, but my love for aviation led me to read one book that I have longed to read again. To this day, when I get circulars in the mail advertising military books I always look for that title that impressed me in my youth. The title of the book was THE BIG E, the story of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and that was the ship I saw doomed to the scrappers torch.
Having known its history, I could not believe that I was witnessing its destruction. I would think back to the drama, the life and death struggles that occurred on that ship, but soon it would be no more. More than once the Enterprise was reported sunk by the Japanese navy, but having been severely damaged in battle this great ship lived on to fight another day. I know there were many ships during World War II, whose stories echoed with bravery and glory, but I knew the story of the Enterprise and this to me gave it a closeness I could not feel for the other ships torn apart. There were many ships scrapped at this yard, but the only one I saw mentioned by name in the newspaper was the Enterprise. I was sorry to witness the loss to history of this great ship, but I was glad I had the opportunity to see such an important piece of our naval and aviation heritage.
May 20, 2026 at 10:39 am
WHERE’S THE INORGANIC?
The next time you’re at the grocery store and you see a clerk near a product advertised as ‘organic’ ask where you can find the inorganic version of that product.
Say an apple. To answer your question, he would have to take you to a display of plastic apples. You see, all food is organic. Now if they said the product was grown under organic principles, that would be a valid designation and give it
I feel a great deal of food labeled as ‘organic’ is a scam just to make you think that the product is a healthier choice than other like products. When in effect, there is no difference.
I know something about how difficult it is to grow food in a truly organic manner.
I have a daughter who is a farmer. She once worked for Rodale, a well-known publisher of literature concerned with organic methods of growing produce. The nine-acre farm she managed was owned by St. Luck’s hospital systema and her job was to provide fresh produce for six hospitals.
The aim was to have the property designated as growing organically produced food. After three years, I don’t think it made the grade. For I discovered, from her, how difficult it is to gain that designation.
The most difficult challenge is to try to get an organic designation using land which was once used as a farm using standard growing methods. That is fertilizers, pesticides and other products which are inorganic- chemicals. I’m not sure what is involved in getting such property the designation as a farm producing organically grown produce.
Another problem is neighboring property. If the farm next door is using inorganic methods the property for an organic farm must fallow land next to that farm. If the farm you want to get an organic designation is next to an orchard you must leave an ever-greater amount of land barren dure to the arial spraying of the trees.
I’m sure some produce labeled organic is grown using organic methods. But I think that is what should be stated. Just to say something is organic is meaningless.
May 12, 2026 at 7:58 pm
AI AND YOUR WRITING
At a recent meeting of a writer’s group I belonged to we had an interesting discussion on the use of AI in one’s writing. One of the authors present was having a problem in determining if the question of using AI should be considered should come into play when considering a publisher. The problem considered what percentage of the manuscript was AI assisted.
I use Duotrope, a website I have highly recommended in the past, to locate publishers. Many of the publishers I have referenced make it clear that they will not accept any work generated by AI. The question raised in the above-mentioned meeting was what percentage of the work involving the use of AI was used.
Here is my approach in the use of AI in my work. I use a version Word in the writing of manuscripts. Quite often the program suggests a word to use in place of the one I did use or suggests punctuation to use. With word selection I consider the use of the word in the sentence under construction. When it comes to punctuation I’m fairly sure that AI knows more about punctuation than I do. The only exception is in the use of commas. However, I never let AI change an entire sentence, or for that matter, a thought going into my wort. I fear if you start letting AI interfere with entire sentences or the meaning you want your work to possess my style, for what it’s worth, is in jeopardy of being changed from what I have demonstrated in the past or the meaning I intend to get across.
So here is, I think, the problem in considering what you need to indicate in your use of AI. If you let AI determine the use of an occasional word or punctuation, does that qualify when a publisher asks you whether AI was used in writing your work. What percentage does the use of AI qualify in your admitting the use of AI? AI has infiltrated our society, and for better or worse, if you use a program to generate your work, has the use of words or punctuation require to say that AI was used to represent an admission to publishers.?
What do you think?AI AND YOUR WRITING
April 27, 2026 at 8:40 pm
Thoughts on current affairs.
4/12/2026
AMERICA RETURNS TO SPACE
The entire country is in awe of our return to the moon and that now our curiosity about space has returned and I hope it is maintained.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you a story I wrote sone time ago about a society which thought space exploration was a waste of time and money. My story, Second Chance, is that story
Second Chance describes a distant planet where a society exists which can see no reason to explore space while there are so many problems its occupants face on a daily basis. Immediate problems take precedence over space exploration.
I’m sure we have all encountered individuals who are of the opinion that money is better spent on Earth rather than wasting it on space exploration. That opinion spells doom for the society in my story and leads eventually to conditions which cannot be reversed.
How do you think our planet will look in a few thousand years from now with space exploration, or without it?
4/9/2026
IS AMERICA APPROACHING IRAN?
A blurb appearing in the April 6, 2026, issue of Time Magazine concerning Iran:
The regime’s murderous preoccupation preventing organized opposition.
The above blurb got me thinking of the conditions in Iran which developed over the last 47 years. Living, it seems to me, under the rule of a religious dictator has resulted in a tyrannical lifestyle for the citizens of Iran. A suppressive government where the most recent wave of protests was met with the murder of thousands. Where not in the too distant past a woman was executed for not wearing the correct type of clothing. Where communication with the outside world is virtually nonexistent. Where citizens have no say in the government which rules them. The facts concerning the harsh life suffered by the Iranian people go on and on. Now there is the war.
For a moment, let’s look at what is happening in our country and the direction in which we are being led.
Our government was meant to consist of three independent units: executive, legislative and judicial. Now, in effect, the executive branch is controlled by the threats of the president to retaliate against members who disagree with him by going against them with recommendations of opposing candidates in upcoming elections. Apparently keeping their jobs is more important than representing their constituents. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, is a prime example of how Trump can remove a politician’s spine. The Supreme Court is strongly influenced through Trump’s appointments.
As far as the people having a say in the government Trump is actively seeking control of elections. He continues to claim, along with his minions, that he won the 2020 election although there is no proof to that fact after countless investigations into the results.
The free press is under attack. Whenever there is news which Trump does not agree with he deems it ‘fake news’ even though he constantly lies trying to conceal the truth where it might hurt him. Access by reporters who might ask embarrassing questions is limited. The FCC threatens TV stations, think of the attack on Jimmy Kimmel, with cancelling their license if, on their station if Trump is maligned.
Then there is ICE, an organization meant to overlook immigration which now has become Trump’s storm troopers hiding their identities behind masks and harassing and murdering innocent citizens which is, in turn, intimidating portions of our citizens and forcing them to live in constant fear.
Now our country has gone to war with no apparent reason or outcome. A war declared without Congress’s approval.
All this has reduced a once well-respected country into the laughingstock of the world. With all the present state of conditions mentioned above how do I anticipate our future- BLE
4/6/2026
PROFITING FROM TRUMP’S DECISIONS
It has come to light recently that some are making huge amounts of money, millions, by betting, anonymously, on foreign exchanges on Trump’s decisions before they are revealed to the public with an unbelievable percentage of success.
Due to the fact that these bets are being made outside the country and anonymously the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators has yet to be determined but investigations are now underway.
Are these bets being made and won through insider information? It is going to be interesting with an investigation that is now underway that the occurrence of these bets suddenly ceases. I think that if they do cease that would indicate criminal activity, because if there was no crime being committed, why cease making a ton of money?
Depending on the results of these investigations we may not see the answers to these questions any time soon. Remember that video we were promised showing the second attack on that suspected drug-carrying boat killing two men, promised by Pete Hegseth. Catch my drift?
3/31/2026
OUR FUTURE WITH AI
Not long ago only a select few had AI constantly on their minds. Now, most of us give some thought to the subject daily and the frequency of those thoughts is surely going to increase in the future.
What is the future of AI and what is one of the factors which will come into play in determining that future?
I recently heard a discussion concerning the possible future of AI and our society. A future with either a positive or negative possibility.
Our positive existence with AI, in the future, is possible if there is no greed associated with its development. If greed is present the outlook is not great.
With the present state of our nation which future do you think is the one we are most likely to see?
April 24, 2026 at 5:46 pm
ANDY WEIR: PATRON SAINT OF SELF-PUBLISHING
I nominate Andy Weir for patron saint of self-publishing. I sincerely think he has earned that title.
Weir’s work first caught attention when he published some work online. Next came his novel, The Martian, which he self-published. That novel made The New York Times bestseller list and was eventually made into what became a popular movie.
The reason I am writing this piece is because the novel was self-published.
The road from self-published to fame is less than certain, and that’s putting it mildly. First requirement for writing success no matter how much you desire publication is that you must be a competent writer, actually more than just competent. I once was a member of a writer’s group meeting at Barnes & Noble, and the moderator of the group was employed by the bookstore. She stated that the store did not carry self-published books because the quality of many of the books was embarrassing. There is no gatekeeper for self-published books. The only hurdle to getting a book published is money.
Now back to Andy Weir.
I’m sure he worked his ass off, riding around with a trunk full of books and taking every opportunity to make a sale. I’m also quite sure that he had friends who were willing to work their asses off to help with sales. He also must have had a great deal of confidence in his writing ability. I say this because to make an impact with a self-published book must require selling a large quantity of books which requires an author buying a large quantity of books which requires a large quantity of money.
After The Martian Weir came out with a second novel, Artemis. The only review I saw for that novel was not very encouraging.
Next he published Project Hail Mary which made The New York Times bestseller list and went on to become a very successful movie.
I hope this review of Weir’s work provides the reason I am considering Andy Weir the patron saint of self-publishing. Thousands upon thousands of self-published books exist, published by authors with varying purposes in mind. But as in religion where many believers try to model their lives after that of their favorite saint for life in the eternal. If it is possible for you to duplicate some of the elements of Weir’s career, you just might hit the bestseller jackpot.
April 18, 2026 at 11:45 am
AMERICA RETURNS TO SPACE
The entire country is in awe of our return to the moon and that now our curiosity about space has returned and I hope it is maintained.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you a story I wrote sone time ago about a society which thought space exploration was a waste of time and money. My story, Second Chance, is that story
Second Chance describes a distant planet where a society exists which can see no reason to explore space while there are so many problems its occupants face on a daily basis. Immediate problems take precedence over space exploration.
I’m sure we have all encountered individuals who are of the opinion that money is better spent on Earth rather than wasting it on space exploration. That opinion spells doom for the society in my story and leads eventually to conditions which cannot be reversed.
How do you think our planet will look in a few thousand years from now with space exploration, or without it?
April 12, 2026 at 12:56 pm
IS AMERICA APPROACHING IRAN?
A blurb appearing in the April 6, 2026, issue of Time Magazine concerning Iran:
The regime’s murderous preoccupation preventing organized opposition.
The above blurb got me thinking of the conditions in Iran which developed over the last 47 years. Living, it seems to me, under the rule of a religious dictator has resulted in a tyrannical lifestyle for the citizens of Iran. A suppressive government where the most recent wave of protests was met with the murder of thousands. Where not in the too distant past a woman was executed for not wearing the correct type of clothing. Where communication with the outside world is virtually nonexistent. Where citizens have no say in the government which rules them. The facts concerning the harsh life suffered by the Iranian people go on and on. Now there is the war.
For a moment, let’s look at what is happening in our country and the direction in which we are being led.
Our government was meant to consist of three independent units: executive, legislative and judicial. Now, in effect, the executive branch is controlled by the threats of the president to retaliate against members who disagree with him by going against them with recommendations of opposing candidates in upcoming elections. Apparently keeping their jobs is more important than representing their constituents. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, is a prime example of how Trump can remove a politician’s spine. The Supreme Court is strongly influenced through Trump’s appointments.
As far as the people having a say in the government Trump is actively seeking control of elections. He continues to claim, along with his minions, that he won the 2020 election although there is no proof to that fact after countless investigations into the results.
The free press is under attack. Whenever there is news which Trump does not agree with he deems it ‘fake news’ even though he constantly lies trying to conceal the truth where it might hurt him. Access by reporters who might ask embarrassing questions is limited. The FCC threatens TV stations, think of the attack on Jimmy Kimmel, with cancelling their license if, on their station if Trump is maligned.
Then there is ICE, an organization meant to overlook immigration which now has become Trump’s storm troopers hiding their identities behind masks and harassing and murdering innocent citizens which is, in turn, intimidating portions of our citizens and forcing them to live in constant fear.
Now our country has gone to war with no apparent reason or outcome. A war declared without Congress’s approval.
All this has reduced a once well-respected country into the laughingstock of the world. With all the present state of conditions mentioned above how do I anticipate our future- BLEAK.
April 9, 2026 at 2:16 pm
PROFITING FROM TRUMP’S DECISIONS
It has come to light recently that some are making huge amounts of money, millions, by betting, anonymously, on foreign exchanges on Trump’s decisions before they are revealed to the public with an unbelievable percentage of success.
Due to the fact that these bets are being made outside the country and anonymously the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators has yet to be determined but investigations are now underway.
Are these bets being made and won through insider information? It is going to be interesting with an investigation that is now underway that the occurrence of these bets suddenly ceases. I think that if they do cease that would indicate criminal activity, because if there was no crime being committed, why cease making a ton of money?
Depending on the results of these investigations we may not see the answers to these questions any time soon. Remember that video we were promised showing the second attack on that suspected drug-carrying boat killing two men, promised by Pete Hegseth. Catch my drift?
April 6, 2026 at 4:37 pm
THE WRECK OF THE EDMOND FITZGERALD
I have written, on occasion, book reviews in the past. Recently I finished reading the best nonfiction book I have read in quite a while, the title of the book, The Gales of November, by John U. Bacon, which made The New York Times Sunday book section’s bestseller list in the past. The title comes from the popular song by Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald. More about that song later.
The Edmond Fitzgerald was launched on June 7, 1958. The Fitzgerald was built to last 100 years. It sank on November 10, 1975. At the time it was built it was the longest boat (vessels are called boats on the Great Lakes, ships on the oceans) sailing on the Great Lakes. The Fitzgerald sailed primarily on Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The book goes into great detail discussing the crew, their backgrounds and their families.
The Fitzgerald was 729 feet long and 75 feet wide. The construction of the boat is covered and points out a new method used in its construction, welds as opposed to rivets. New was also that it was built in modular sections. The use of welds saved weight but did have its drawbacks. The Fitzgerald’s primary mission was to transport taconite, a form of iron ore.
One fact mentioned in the book which I found amazing was that sailing on the Great Lakes was more dangerous than sailing on the ocean. The reason, salt. The ocean salt results in the formation of waves, due to the weight of the salt, which are different from the waves formed in fresh water. In freshwater, waves come more frequently. This results in the possibility that the long freighters on the lakes being suspended so that the bow is on the peak of one wave while the stern is on the peak of another wave resulting in no support for the middle of the boat. Another reason sailing in freshwater is more dangerous is spray during cold weather. Freshwater spray freezes immediately and can add a great amount of weight to the boat. In the ocean the freezing point of the spray decreases due to the salt making ice less of a problem.
The size of the boats sailing the Great Lakes can also be a problem. The Edmond Fitzgerald sailed in Lake Superior and then on to Lake Huron. Between the two lakes is a river, and to enable these huge boats to sail between the lakes locks were built. The dimensions of the locks determined limits for the size of the boats. The narrow width which the boats needed to use the locks made it possible for the boats to capsize.
Also described were possible reasons the boat sank. It turns out that there wasn’t one reason but multiple problems which accumulated and spelled disaster. Examination of the wreck yielded some of these. The location of the wreck was easily found by knowing the approximate location of the sinking and then finding an area where the magnetic properties changed.
Now for the popular song by Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald. Lightfoot had the melody for the song but not the subject. He was familiar with the Great Lakes, and like anyone who was, was immediately affected by the boat’s sinking. He studied the articles published about the event and found lines in them which seemed appropriate for the song. And he felt strongly about the song which resulted, so even though it was completed, he never performed or recorded it. When he was finally persuaded to record the song, the band was playing it for the first time. They completed more takes and they all agreed after listening to the tries that the first take was the best and that’s the song that we know. Lightfoot also got to know the families of the crew and kept in touch with them.
Bottom line, if you have an interest in the demise of the Edmond Fitzgerald and why it happened along knowledge of the men lost with the boat’s sinking read this well written and thoroughly researched book.
April 3, 2026 at 12:51 pm
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