Things That Make You Go "Hmm"...

Welcome to the "almost at the weekend" edition of my humble blog, and out there in the Heartland of America, we've another nice start to the day.
Never fear though, because by day's end, we're slated for some rain and possibly a thunderstorm.
Temps will top out around the EIGHTY degree mark, with increasing clouds.
Yeah, such a nice day...just wait until something comes along to screw it up...Man, I can still hear my father...LOL.
Well, this IS the Midwest, right?
Anyhow, let's see what's been going on elsewhere and beyond...
*** First out of the gate today, the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"The miracle, or the power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit."

This was spoken by our old friend Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as MARK TWAIN.
I thought it curious that a quote pertaining to someone who would seem more like a "captain of industry" would be uttered by America's best-known humorist.
And here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain
He even (still) has his own official site, found HERE:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/twain/

The life story of Clemens is ripe with what makes up the "American Spirit". Having begun an apprenticeship at age ELEVEN, he became self educated at libraries...wonder how many kids have THAT much spunk THESE days to spend hours in a library?

Twain learned to become a printer, a riverboat pilot and delved in psychic research.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Twain signed on to a CONFEDERATE unit (briefly) and basically left for Nevada several weeks later.
Twain was a miner on the Comstock Lode, but failed and instead worked for the Virginia City newspaper.
In 1867, after receiving kudos for his Calaveras County Jumping Frog story, and then traveled to the Sandwich Islands, Europe and the Middle East.

Twain rubbed elbows with such notables of the times like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Nikola Tesla, with whom he developed a lasting friendship and spent much time in Tesla's laboratory.
Twain also patented 3 inventions - a replacement for suspenders, a dry adhesive that only needed to be moistened (for scrapbooks), and a history TRIVIA game (the forerunner to Trivial Pursuit, no doubt).
Money was a problem for Twain throughout his life, in that he spent enormous amounts for typesetting machines just when the Linotype came into being.
He also published the biography of U.S. Grant, but lost money when a biography of Pope Leo XIII only sold fewer than 200 copies.
The WIKI is a fantastic read, and describes a man that managed to cram what we could easily consider several lifetimes into just ONE.
And, he left one helluva legacy for us all in the process.
Moving on...
*** More on that Cleveland abduction and sexual predator.
Seems the "ringleader", Ariel Anthony Castro had a FORT WAYNE connection.
And here is that story:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130507/NEWS/130509710/1012/LOCAL

Yeah, the SAME perp that held three women captive for nearly a DECADE once LIVED right here in the Summit City.

And I'll bet it was on the...(...all together, gang...)...SOUTHEAST SIDE!
Goes to show you might NEVER know who is living on YOUR street...or town.
Sure makes the case to find out as much as possible.
*** What's this I hear about WELFARE being "trimmed back"???
http://www.kfdm.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/kfdm_vid_4841.shtml

Sure the story's BRIEF...because lots of liberals don't want you to know about it.
Imagine a program that spent a mere several million bucks when first conceived, and now has grown into this financial black hole of over $78 BILLION dollars (per year and growing, thanks to president "That Guy").
That's one helluva "safety net", isn't it...not to mention the amount of FRAUD being found in the system.
Maybe we need to go back to handing out flour, powdered milk, cheese and rice from those trailers AGAIN.
No more booze, ciggies, junk food, and fast food for welfare recipients.
And NO casino trips funded by federal "assistance", right?

*** Here's a story that always puts a smile on my face.
It's about our very own 122nd ANG fighter wing, stationed at Bear Field aka FWIA, and how, IF the base remains a FIGHTER wing, it is still in line to receive the JSF also known as the F-35 aircraft.

Here's the link:

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130509/LOCAL12/305099973

The F-35 is slated to eventually replace the aging fleet of A-10 "Warthogs", in service since the early 1970s.

And while the A-10 is (still) a VERY capable aircraft,. it does lack the overall versatility of it's 21st century counterpart.

As to when the JSF will arrive on station here in Ft.Wayne is still "up in the air" (no pun intended), but should occur by 2020.

That means we won't be getting those prop-job intel "puddle-jumper" aircraft, but rather remain a fighter wing...and personally, that's a damn smart move.
*** Lastly today, we are never at a loss for finding something that's going on...and hopefully, it's something GOOD.

In an age of 24/7 news coverage, we can't help but be bombarded with global, national, and local news ALL the damn time, and that can often cause us all to suffer some form of attention-deficit disorder.
Hell, we'd have to be TRIPLETS to be able to fully digest ALL the stuff that's going on, right?
And even then, we'd probably miss something we need to know.
It is becoming more difficult to divorce ourselves FROM all this news and social media, and focus on the "here and now" in our lives, and along with that, the ability to appreciate the little things in life itself.
We have allowed the media to permeate damn near every facet of our lives to the point that we become Pavlovian in nature, salivating for that NEXT sensational story or event.
We need to back away from that and take stock in OURSELVES, and our families.

Life only gives us all ONE go-around, and we can never hit that "reset" button whenever something doesn't pan out as we planned.
The best thing we can do every day is make things better IN our lives, and that means paying more attention to things we overlook in our haste.
Slow and steady wins every race...the tortoise proved that much to us.
(auto, horse, and air races are a different story...LOL)
We don't have to stop what we're doing to find that out, just take things a bit easier, and spend some time looking at things a bit closer to home, and if that entails being a tad introspective...well, HOME is where the HEART is...is it not?

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.