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An Historical Note

I can’t remember if I began writing and posting these diary entries on Facebook each day, or if I wrote it here on WordPress and just forgot about it. Regardless, I know I wrote these short updates of my bout with COVID-19 beginning at the very tail end of 2020. Actually, the results came in on my brother’s birthday. I was more than halfway through my 74th year on this planet and I was somewhat…

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#bedridden #COVID-19 #fever #History #hospitalization #Illness #medicine #my history #sickness #testing #tiredness #vaccines

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Fitting

Did you know Donald John Trump is an impressionist? Here he is, captured by a courtroom artist, doing his impression of Sleepy Joe.

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#Cuttin&039; Zs #DJT #MAGA #Sleepy Don #Snoozing #TFG #The Messiah #Trump

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Deming and Rocketdyne

Sometime in late January of 1987, almost one year to the day after the Space Shuttle Orbiter Challenger was destroyed as it ascended to orbit, I was assigned by the temp agency I was using at the time to begin work on the Space Shuttle Main Engine team at Rockwell International’s Rocketdyne Division in Woodland Hills, CA. Prior to that fateful date I had, with one exception, never worked at a…

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#14-points #Challenger #Control #Deming #management #Philosophy #Rocketdyne #Rockwell International #Space Shuttle #SSME #Total Quality Management #TQM

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How About It, Men?

Every man who denigrates the Barbie movie should be required to watch this powerful soliloquy as many times as necessary to get it through their thick, manscaped heads that we (men, that is) need to be supportive of women’s equality (and, I might add, bodily autonomy). Women DO hold up (more than) half the sky. Why TF wouldn’t we want them by our side, not behind us? With us, as equals. Let’s…

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#America Ferrara #Barbie #Barbie & Ken #equality #feminism #Ken #matriarchy #misogyny #patriarchy #sexism

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On Comrade Tuckums

I encountered this photo on Twitter today. Call me crazy, but I think Tucker Carlson is the most powerful proof available that, when it comes to issues of meritocracy and fairness in employment, it only matters to a lot of white people when people of color are hired or appointed to positions of respect and value. Look at how the entire leadership of the Republican Party—at least in the Senate…

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#bigotry #Comrade #Faux Snooze #fox news #Galighting #Ketanji Brown Jackson #projection #racism #Republicans #russia #SCOTUS #Tucker Carlson #Tuckums #White Supremacy

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How About It, Men?

Every man who denigrates the Barbie movie should be required to watch this powerful soliloquy as many times as necessary to get it through their thick, manscaped heads that we (men, that is) need to be supportive of women’s equality (and, I might add, bodily autonomy). Women DO hold up (more than) half the sky. Why TF wouldn’t we want them by our side, not behind us? With us, as equals. Let’s…

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#America Ferrara #Barbie #Barbie & Ken #equality #feminism #Ken #matriarchy #misogyny #patriarchy #sexism

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Half The Sky!

Every man who denigrates the movie should be required to watch this as many times as necessary to get it through their thick, manscaped heads that we (men, that is) need to be supportive of women’s equality (and, I might add, bodily autonomy). Women DO hold up (more than) half the sky. Why TF wouldn’t we want them by our side, not behind us? With us, as equals. Let’s try matriarchy for a couple…

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#America Ferrera #Barbie #Bodily Autonomy #equality #Half the Sky #matriarchy #patriarchy #Speech #Women&039;s Equality #Women&039;s Liberation

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A Chatbot Experiment

I thought I would give Google’ Bard AI assistant an authoring test drive. I’ve used it to do things like help me come up with tags and I just had it prepare me a packing list for a Hawaiian vacation, which we’re leaving on this coming Thursday. What follows is Bard’s response verbatim to my request for a 500 word blog post, which read: “Write a 500 word blog post on the following topic: Is…

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#Capitalism #Class Struggle #Dialectical Materialism #Exploitation #Future of Work #gloabalization #inequality #justice #Marxism #social change #Technology #Worker Organizing

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A Health Update

Last year, around about this time, I began having difficulty with my stamina. After numerous tests, it became obvious I was struggling with Bradycardia (slow heart rhythm). I wore a Holter monitor for a week and on one night my heart rate dropped to 26 bpm. I could barely walk from the bedroom to the kitchen without getting winded, tired, and feeling a strong urge to just sit or lay down. After…

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#Bradycardia #gym #Health #Heart Health #heart rate #Holter monitor #joint pain #joint stiffness #Pacemaker #Surgery #weight lifting #workout

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Hardly Frightening!

Bruce McCandless – Feb. 7, 1984 This photo is often shared and referred to as a “frightening picture”. From the first time I saw this (which happened 40 years ago this Feb. 7) I found it both thrilling and a testament to what human ingenuity can accomplish. To me it also represents how, despite his apparent loneliness in the vastness of space, it took his crew, the NASA team below, and thousands…

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#astronaut #Challenger #ingenuity #Manned Maneuvering Unit #McCandless #MMU #space #Space Shuttle #Spacewalk #Stewart #STS-41B #Untethered

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More Than 2 Dozen Jobs!

In my 76 years on this planet, I’ve worked no less than 2 doz jobs, ranging from short order cook, busboy, waiter, restaurant manager, truck driver, forklift driver, butcher, jewelry bench worker, and wiener clerk, to legal secretary, project manager, knowledge manager, and business manager. I retired from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, where I worked on the Space Shuttle Main Engine program for…

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#dignity #Happiness #labor #liquor store #Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne #Rocketdyne #Space Shuttle Main Engine #SSME #supplemental income #Work

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Use Every Tool Available!

I am 75 years old. I have been voting since June 4, 1968, my 21st birthday and the day of the California Democratic primary. My introduction to voting was to have the person I voted for assassinated the night I voted for him. I have never missed voting in an election, including any special elections. I have been a socialist since my first vote so, in reality, I’ve never been able to…

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#Capitalism #choice #Constitution #elections #Franchise #Freedom #General Election #primary #protest #public offices #Public Service #Socialism #vote #voting

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Rudy Colludy Gets What He Deserves

Rudy Giuliani is getting everything he’s deserved for freaking ever. In the nation’s knee-jerk, jingoistic response to 9-11 he undeservedly was referred to as “America’s Mayor”. Phuque that! He was never such a thing. He was barely New York’s Mayor, representing the oligarchy over all else. I wish I believe in Hell, because he would surely burn there in eternity.

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#America&039;s Mayor #bankruptcy #jingoism #justice #Knee-Jerk #New York #Oligarchy #Rudy Giuliani

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Way To Go, Colorady

Colorado Supreme Court makes the right decision, IMLTHO.

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#14th Amendment #5 November 2024 #CO Supreme Court #Colorado #elections #SCOTUS #The Constitution #Trump

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Shopping During the Apocalypse

While looking for something else, I stumbled upon this piece I wrote going on four years ago. It holds together, so I thought I would share it even though its current relevance is questionable. It was written in April of 2020. Consider it an historical document. :0) I admit it. I’ve gone shopping during our state’s (California) lockdown. For groceries; only groceries. It’s difficult to lay in a…

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#Costco #COVID-19 #Food #Groceries #Lockdown #Pandemic #shopping #Smart & Final #Stater Bros. #Trader Joe&039;s #virus #Vons

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SCOTUS would be crazy not to rule in favor of Smith.

I see the speed with which the Supreme Court has accepted Jack Smith’s request for a hearing on the issue of Presidential Immunity in this January 6 prosecution of Trump as a golden opportunity to cement their “supremacy”, and create a modicum of good will at the same time. It’s kind of a Marbury v. Madison moment for not only the court, but for the entire judicial system. Maybe they’ll cave,…

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#Clarence Thomas #Jack Smith #judicial review #Marbury v Madison #Presidential Immunity #RWNJ #SCOTUS #Supremacy #Supreme Court #Trump #US Constitution #US v Trump

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A Memory Of The Takeis

Some memories of meeting George and Brad Takei, as well as the internment of my in-laws during WWII.

Five years ago many of the women on my wife Linda’s side (they’re a large majority) gathered at the studio of famous photographer Toyo Miyatake, now run by his grandson, for some group photos. While wandering around playing the role of 8th wheel while her immediate family posed for pics, I came across a photo montage Mr. Miyatake had taken at George Takei’s wedding to Brad Altman. I took a photo…

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#Amache #Brad Altman #George Takei #Hikaru Sulu #Japanese Internment #Khan #Khan Noonien Singh #Montalban Theater #Ricardo Montalban #Star Trek #Sulu #They Called Us Enemy #Toyo Miyatake