good talk

I took the bus to Belfast to take the train to Dublin.  I went into the Hotel Europa which has the distinction of being the most bombed hotel in Europe, 28 times.  I asked if the hotel had been bombed since I was last there in 2001 and the Concierge laughingly said that things had been uneventful.  In a previous trip I took the very good Black Taxi Tour which takes you to all these places in Belfast concerning the violence during The Troubles.  The Troubles began in the late 1960's and generally ended with the Belfast Good Friday Agreement in 1998.  The Catholics wanted Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland while the Protestants (Orangemen, Ulstermen), mostly a breeding of Irish and Scots, wanted N. Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.  The Battle of the Boyne in 1690 won by William of Orange putting Ireland firmly under English Control was to many, Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Ulstermen, as though it had been fought 2 weeks before.  During The Troubles about 3500 were killed with many grisly killings by both sides.  Previously I had also been to Londonderry (called Derry by the Catholics) where there's a Monument dedicated to the memory of those killed on "Bloody Sunday," January 30, 1972.  British Paratroopers for no reason fired on a peaceful Catholic demonstration killing 14 and wounding 12.  Significant is that this was the Regular British Army and not Paramilitaries who had done this in full sight of the Public and the Press. I sent a postcard to my older brother, Bob, on whose right forearm there's a tattoo of an eagle suspended from a parachute above the lettering "Paratrooper" (he pointed out that this was done freehand noting this to be true artistry, I'd have to agree as it looks quite good and there was no margin for error), I said maybe you shouldn't visit here. 

good talk

Some of my Yoga Poses are so deficient that it's good I learned this so I can practice on my own.  North Carolina's nickname, the Tarheels, was acquired in a less than complimentary way.  During the lst Battle of Bull Run North Carolinians were driven back leading Mississippians to advise....Y'All should tar your heels.....Mississippians are brave, everybody knows that.  I was watching PBS and they were telling of the bodies buried 2 to 4 thou years ago in the Bogs in Ireland.  There's a consensus that they were local Kings whose Kingship was deemed a failure (say, bad Harvests) and that they were ritually killed and their bodies left in the Bogs to propitiate the Gods.  Had they asked me to be King....I'm a humble man unworthy of such Honor....The first time I was in Hong Kong I bought a couple of knock-offs on the street for a dollar U.S. apiece.  One had a Lacoste Crocodile on the front and the 2nd time I washed it the Crocodile fell off, both were good shirts I wore for years.  If you think that you can't live without a man you had better let him know this if you wish to be successful, dear.   

good talk

Cities love their Heavyweight Champions, when James J. Corbett defeated John L. Sullivan on Sept. 7, 1892 to become the 2nd Heavyweight Champion and first "Linear" Heavyweight Champion, that is the Man who beat the Man, he became very popular in his native San Francisco and the long, hilly, road that he so often ran on in training is Corbett Ave.  Known to be a very fine fellow he was lauded as "Gentleman Jim."  Ezzard Charles, the "Cincinnati Cobra" is also a Linear Champion (the only man to last 15 rounds with Rocky Marciano) and well known for his high character, there's an Ezzard Charles Dr. in that City.  Michael Dokes (see my Blog of Oct.10, 2012) became WBA Heavyweight Champion in 1982 when he knocked Mike Weaver out in the 1st Round, more than this Michael Dokes was the Linear Heavyweight Champion, the Man who beat the Man.  Born and raised in Akron like LeBron and myself nobody expects Akron to name a street after their Tragic Son who passed away in Akron in August, 2012 at "54," it'd be nice if they did but we understand why they might not.  Boxing is Melodrama. 

good talk

Back in Ohio I seldom watched Big Time Wrestling on TV but one afternoon I was watching and they had on The Masked Marvel who had said that he wouldn't take off his mask until he lost, and this time he did lose.  As he was getting ready to take off his mask the announcers were wondering who it could be....Is it Fritz Von Erich?.....Is it Johnny Powers?....He took off his mask and they had never seen him before.  

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I hope you people think that my life has made the World a better place.  All this pre-elementary schooling is stupid, my older brother, Bob, never went to any school until he was 6 and a half and with little effort got as good of grades as anybody in the hardest subject, me, oh no, were it were.  And I went to kindergarten.  Just let the kids romp and play.  I was really suprised that the U.S. had an Embassy in Libya, they had murdered Gaddafi a year before.  HBO made out like they were doing us a big favor by showing Pascal-Bute, a 2nd tier fight.  Bute lost the first 11 rounds but in the 12th and final Emptied his Guns and almost had him.  In Yoga, a big class, she said whoever wants to can remain in downward-facing-dog (just me and some girl) while the rest go into child's pose.  And she had us in this for a long time like she wanted to see if one would weaken, I could have done that all my life it was gonna hafta be her (mano o mano Yoga).  Jose Sulaiman, President of the WBC, died recently at "82," the creator of the phrase....The people who become Boxers are different than the people who become Archbishops.... The huge, escalating increase in the number of Casinos in this Country where gambling (people losing their money) is seen as panacea for economic woes is demented, it's a Sick Society I'm forced to live in, poor me. Our Western Culture has nothing in common nor will it ever with the Moslem World which is full of fruitcakes who have nothing better to do than blow themselves up.   Shelley Fabares turned "70" recently, a successful TV and movie actress her "Johnny Angel" hit #l on the Pop Charts in 1963.  I've always been very good to McKayla, I'll stand on my Human Rights Record regarding this girl.  

good talk

From Holyhead across the Irish Sea to Dublin.  My 3rd time in Ireland, I've enjoyed it immensely always.  Both North and South the Irish are often quite friendly and nice, I'm not Irish and nobody would think I was and this is how they treat me, of all the 115 countries I've been in they're my favorite.  And yes, I've kissed the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle outside of Cork, in the South.  One story concerning its ability to give one the gift of gab is that the first Queen Elizabeth (who could have been called the Great due to her success at War and her promotion of literature and drama) called for the Lord of Blarney to present himself at Court and he kept on giving excuses not to show up...Blarney, all I'm hearing is Blarney!...  Before you buy the farm you should stay at a Bed and Breakfast, nothing is so delicious as an Irish Breakfast.  Once I was at a B and B in Dublin and the lady had all these Irish songs playing, during Danny Boy (a father singing to his son who is going off to fight in the Revolution and he thinks he'll never see him again....Oh Danny boy, I love you so....).  I said I'm so sad I can hardly continue eating this breakfast.  This time I took a bus to Belfast and then another to Bushmills which is right at the top and smack dab in the middle, a few miles outside of town is the Giant's Causeway by myth caused by Giants fighting.  It's 40 thou interlocking columns of volcanic basalt, kinda like a bunch of rectangular rocks put together and you can climb all over them, to be there was very exciting.

good talk

I donated blood this week, the 35th time that I've given blood in Las Vegas alone.  They consider me to have Rare Blood, they cut my pint 6 ways and give it to Preemies.  The Preemies have never done anything for me and they're not going to, if you can do something for somebody you should just pitch in and do it.  You might not know what I'm talking about. 

good talk

The way I'm treated reminds me of a painting by Caravaggio in which Ignorant Men deride a Jesus crowned with Thorns.  They recently had the CES, I can put my thoughts into the minds of people in movies that are 60 and 70 years old, people who are long-dead, let me know when they come up with a machine that can do this.  This Country is like a beautiful-seeming apple and when you take a bite it's rotten.  A guy I know with his mother own a 4-bedroom house and the cat has his own room (make yourself known before you enter a room, meow).  

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I do my Blog at the Clark County Library on Flamingo, some of the Security Guards and Librarians speak loudly and use bad language, you get more than you wanted.  Now that Caroline Kennedy has arrived in Japan as the U.S. Ambassador the question still hangs, had she ever been interested enough in this important country that she wanted to be Ambassador to have ever visited it previously in her 56 years?  I always try to watch reruns of The Lawrence Welk Show, those musicians are really good, Norma Zimmer and that other lady playing the tin-backed piano (so made that it would survive the trip out West), as a child I took piano lessons for 5 years.  Some said that Lawrence's accent was phoney to make him sound Continental, I met some guy who said that he was from the next town in North Dakota and had dated Lawrence's niece and that's how he talked.  Wunnerful, Wunnerful.  The Olympics should be above politics, in Ancient Greece they stopped Wars in order to compete, Russia's laws have nothing to do with the Sochi Olympics and that includes any prohibitions on Gays.  Jimmy Carter didn't like Russia invading Afghanistan and ordered the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team to abstain from the Moscow Olympics, the Russians retaliated by not going to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, so Mr. Peanut (I've been to Plains, saw the Peanut Warehouse, was in Billy's Gas Station, when Jimmy heard that his brother Billy had registered as a Lobbyist for Libya that was the only time that anyone heard Jimmy take the Lord's Name in Vain, I thought I saw Jimmy driving down from his house towards the road) ruined 2 successive Olympics (inflation hit 13 %).  Why would the American President be allowed solely on his volition to boycott an Olympics?  This shows the tyranny that the Office has allowed since 1900.  And the increasingly weak-minded American People have permitted this.  No wonder Buchanan has a book out pondering if the United States will still be around in 2025.  

good talk

Once I finish this Trip I'm discontinuing my Blog.  I've told the TV Media repeatedly not to read my Blog and they persist in disobeying me.  The TV Media are Leeches, they are the Dregs of Society.  It's been over 4 months and nothing has happened between McKayla and myself so that's the end of it.  McKayla is a beautiful and talented young woman who a whole lotta guys her age would love to have, it's just not in our future.  

good talk

Lloyd Mark "Pete" Bucher (1927 to 2004) was raised in a series of Catholic orphanages in IdahoH.  He saw the big movie with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney about Boys Town and he wrote Father Flanagan asking if he could live there and the good Father sent Pete the train fare.  Arriving in 1941 Pete excelled in academics and sports dropping out before his Senior Year to join the Navy and be in WW 11, he always considered Boys Town to be his home (Little Friends, please excuse the unstable library internet current).  After the War Pete went to the U. of Nebraska on the GI Bill graduating and receiving a Naval Commission through ROTCo.  Pete was sent to Submarine School at New London and for the next 10 years rose through the ranks as a Submariner.  He gained his first command as Commander, with the rank of Commander, of the USS Pueblo whose duties were Intelligence Collection (a spy ship).  Monitoring North Korea on Jan. 28, 1968 the Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans who claimed it was inside the 3 mile Limit but no doubt it was actually within International Waters.  During the Capture 1 Sailor was killed with 82 crewmen taken prisoner.  This was a huge International Incident.  The first 11 months went well for the crew with good food and treatment, only after the N. Koreans realized that the Americans were giving them a Phallic Symbol during staged Propaganda Photos did the Worst happen for the Captives with harsh treatment and beatings.  The N. Koreans threatened Commander Bucher with having to watch his 81 Men being executed one by one and only then did Pete agree to sign a Confession.  As dumb as the N. Koreans were and still are they didn't catch the Derogatory Pun....We Paean the North Korean State....We Paean their Great Leader Kim Il Sung....Satisfied, the N. Koreans repatriated the surviving 82 American Crewmen on Dec. 23, 1968.  The N. Koreans still have the USS Pueblo and it's still a Commissioned U.S. Navy Vessel.  The Navy, as slimey as they sometimes are, at first told Pete Bucher that they were going to Court Martial him, but later he was commended for doing the best he could for his men under very difficult circumstances and he retired from the Navy.  In the opinion of Mous, and I'm always right, Commander Bucher's Actions were Praiseworthy and a Noble Reflection on an American Naval Officer.  Father Flanagan might not have been successful with Charley during his brief stay at Boys Town (this guy said of the jury that convicted him of Murder...Why, I'm far better than they are...) but in Pete Bucher he produced a boy in keeping with the worthy standards of Boys Town.          

good talk

I didn't know the schedule I just knew there were constant ferries from Calais to Dover (white chalk cliffs), there's a bus stop at the train station and you can get to the port.  Straightaway I was in England and took the train to London, 8 mil, and Victoria Station.  I've been to London a lot of times and I think each time I got my hotel room from the inside of Vic.  The most expensive city in the world I got a hotel room for 3 nights in a good hotel in S. Kensington at a reasonable price.  I've done Buckingham Palace and the Tower (saw something signed by Walter Raleigh, Knight) and Westminster Abbey and all that.  Underground to the British Museum (all the London museums are free) and the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles that the good Lord Elgin wisely saved from the Parthenon and much more, the British is one of the 5 best in the World.  To the National Gallery, Western European 13th to the 19th Centuries, and the next door National Portrait Gallery.  My 3rd day I sort of just walked around, the "London Eye" is certainly junky-looking, a big ferris wheel near the Parliament, Westminster, it's unnecessary.  I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, I walked around in Hyde Park, there's no longer Speakers at the Speakers Corner as I understand it even on Sundays.  Early June and suprisingly beautiful weather, it was real enjoyable.  That evening I took the bus to Holyhead and then the Ferry to Dublin. 

good talk

I gave $500 to the ASPCA as I do every year and I expect this of each of you, I've never really had a pet but like animals the same as most people, the animals can't stick up for themselves so it's up to us people to do it, meow, chirp, hiss.  On PBS they said that the Germans only had 3 and a half hours of ammo to try to repel the Allies during the Normandy Invasion, no wonder their effort petered out.  The Clark County Library Employees, that is for Las Vegas, are taking more holidays all the time, this past year they took not only Christmas but the day before.  They recently signed a long-term contract with guaranteed raises (do you get this).  They're also often rude as though they know that they'll be there for a long time no matter what.  The Las Vegas Public Library Employees Union?  The Teamsters, if it moves unionize it.  Every time I turn on the TV I'm forced to look at the TV Media, there's a place in Hell for them, eventually everybody gets what they deserve. 

good talk

While I was at Ohio State a guy who I had gone to high school with at Akron Firestone came down to visit a friend of his.  While there, I was told that he had an epileptic seizure outside of Mershon Auditorium, a big building, and that people thought he had fallen from the top.