Dog-Eat-Dog Enterprises

This is not a drill!

The 2024 Elections Are Coming: don't miss out. Vote on November 5th as if your future depended on it.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

My youthful attempt to recreate one of my favorite Frazetta line drawings of Tarzan (from an Ace paperback). Using a ballpoint pen!

I'm Back!

Now that's what I call a hiatus; since my last entry (about two years ago), a cancer diagnosis arrived and upended my plans for updating the web site. I have been fortunate to receive excellent medical treatment (with a big supporting hand from the Veterans Administration that acknowledged the role that Agent Orange played in my health issues). I hope that I can spend more time on the site now that I have settled into a routine for managing my health issues.

This is me repurposing my beloved books [just a picture I found somewhere but it gives you an idea of what I am doing with my library].

Whoosh! Another Month Gone!

Captain Jack - Fifty years is the Charm

Summer is done, but it was good to enjoy the last of it. Celebrated the 50th anniversary of a friendship by sailing with Captain Jack, some very friendly Israeli tourists and an old friend. It is impossible to overestimate the value of that friendship.

But wait, that's not all: Rooster Brothers helped us replace our teflon pans with stainless steel ones; Dr. Manter got rid of that pesky cracked tooth; more life altering advice about my diet from Persis [and trying to take the advice has kept my plate full ever since]; and finally, we enjoyed the Hurricane Fiona weekend in Lubec, Eastport, Jonesport, Beals Island and Schoodic Point [safely].

"Into each life some rain must fall." Apart from howling winds and white caps, we came through it unscathed, unlike our neighbors to the north in Canada. I will spare you the snapshots from our visit (including the giant blueberry shot), but I think it is worth mentioning that we really enjoyed Bad Little Falls in Machias (in addition to graham cracker pie at Helen's).

Continuing to Experience Real Life

Blueberry Feta Cheese Salad - thanks, Emanuel and Lea!

Just a quick note to thank some friends for the gift of blueberries recently. Also, I added a prototype page for health and nutrition with some placeholders [lots of work for me later]; just so I could provide details about my Prostate Health supplement (circumventing the limitations of the medical industry's "portals" (which are sometimes more like obstacles).

We Had a Whale of a Time!

Image by Ernest Swanson, Haida: "Whale" [from a Native elements postcard]

We had a visitor from Seattle this past week [returning to Maine for the first time in 7 years]. The landscape and climate of Maine is considerably different than Seattle, of course. He seemed to enjoy seeing Maine again (particularly places he remembers fondly and the big changes that have happened right here in Waterville), but he seems quite content to be on the 'left' coast. He flew back to some unusually hot weather this weekend.

Hot Hot Hot: Over For Now in Maine

In spite of what were a few very uncomfortable days recently, we are lucky to live in this corner of the world, avoiding the truly horrendous weather that is causing the western U.S., UK and Europe to swelter in record-breaking temperatures. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for the people in the Middle East and Asia to cope with these blistering days.

Meanwhile, in addition to following all the doom and gloom news coverage, I have found it helpful to listen to some music, which it is my pleasure to share with you now.

• 
  Pomplamoose sings a Very Fast French Song by Jacques Brel
  Vesoul. C'est très vite. This is where you get to see just how 🔥 these musicians are. Get "Impossible à prononcer" on vinyl! http://pomplamoose.com.
  Become a patron of our music (to vote on the songs we cover and get merch and stuff like that): http://www.patreon.com/pomplamoose
• 
  Les chants d'oiseaux du CATALOGUE D'OISEAUX d'Olivier Messiaen
  Delightful juxtaposition of music and the sound of birds singing. Messaien had a serious interest in bird calls and songs [in French, of course]!
• 
  Scarlatti Sonatas
  Thanks to artificial intelligence, I was lucky to stumble onto this collection of Scarlatti Sonatas played by Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy.
  "This new recording presents some famous and lesser-known sonatas by Scarlatti, a careful selection presenting the many faces of his genius: from careless gaiety and stormy energy to intense lyricism and wistful melancholy." - Brilliant Classics [07/12/2022 - 1:17:37]
• 
  Lazy Afternoon Vintage Music Playlist
  This is a great way to just relax with the oldies when it's too hot to do much else. Ten songs from the Forties with interesting graphics. [Jake Westbrook - 07/05/2021 - 48:34]

New Beginnings

With all the vicissitudes of life raging all around us (and within us), it is good to know that there are wonderful people out there. It has been my good fortune to interact with some of them lately [they know who they are]. I just wanted to publicly announce how much I appreciated their support (without publicly embarrassing them by naming them).

Important Announcement

I found this great sunset image that captured my feelings perfectly as I announce my retirement from the Mid-Maine Progressive Forum (the checkerboard pattern where the sky should be is so appropriate). I have been involved with the MMPF from the beginning (as have many of you). Recently a series of events and circumstances have convinced me that it is time to move on [no pun intended]. A life-long packrat, my piles are now so deep that I could no longer find important paperwork I needed to file my taxes this year. I decided to take that as a wake-up call.

I had contemplated and even announced this decision many times over the past six years, but this time I am going to actually follow through. I have enjoyed our time together, but even though I increased the amount of time I put into chess and programming in the past year or two, it just wasn't enough. At the beginning of 2022 I took a hard look at how I spend my time and decided that something would have to go to make room for the packrat cleansing effort and to focus on my chess engine project. As I get older it isn't clear whether I will be able to age in place (buried in piles of newspaper, magazines, books, old programming notes, VHS tapes, DVDs, computer manuals, chess notes and political materials) or whether I will have to move into a smaller abode some day. That means I am going to make cleaning up my new priority [after 50 years of accumulating stuff]. My wife is thrilled.

I was able to hand off the reins of the MMPF to a worthy successor, Claude Francke. He has the ability to manage Zoom meetings and send important emails around in addition to his already full plate as a City Councilor in Waterville. I hope you will join me in wishing him well as he keeps the flame of progressivism alive here in the greater Waterville area.

A Face to Remember

Falla, Lord of all he surveys. Gone, but not forgotten.

Groucho Marx Knew How to Shake a Leg!

Sometimes it helps to watch an inspirational video to help us get through the day. I really enjoyed seeing "Old Movie Starts Dance to Uptown Funk". Maybe you will, too.

Bernie is Still My Hero

When Bernie decided to suspend his campaign, my hopes and dreams for a progressive President were dashed. I know Bernie will continue to fight on for the values, policies and programs that I support. He was right when he said it wasn't about him. It was and is and always will be about the struggle between those who have more than they need and those who need more than they have. Deciding where to draw that line has always been tricky. And it still is. Perhaps more now than ever. Between the coronavirus pandemic and climate change, it seems there is little bandwidth to consider issues of justice and fairness these days. But these issues will never go away. We just have to keep working on them. Every day. Bernie is right to inspire the young people of this country to try to realize these hopes and dreams. Soon it will be their turn in power. And I suspect they will do a better job than we did.