Running The Gamut...

Today's post will certainly follow along those lines as we check out all the things that have happened in the last 24 hours.
The weather today is perhaps not AS nice as the past few days, with clouds and a good chance of scattered showers...but NO deluge. The weatherman promised. Temps will peak around the mid-70s with slightly higher humidity, thanks to the moisture hanging over us in those clouds.
Still, a good day to get outside and do something constructive, so have at it.
Meanwhile, back in the garden...
*** It's time for the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

And although it would seem like something an astrophysicist would say jokingly, the person who said this is NOT in any field related to the sciences.
The person quoted is Bill Watterson, best known for his comic strip CALVIN AND HOBBES.
And here is his WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson
I think this is the FIRST person quoted who is YOUNGER than I am...LOL.
Watterson also was responsible for painting Michelangelo's The Creation on the ceiling of his dorm room in his last year of college (talk about leaving a legacy). Watterson confessed in a speech at Kenyon College in 1990, that it took him months to do. (I can imagine)

When deciding to get into cartoons, his influences were Charles Schulz (Peanuts), Walt Kelly (Pogo), and George Herman (Krazy Kat).
Watterson fought against pressure from merchandisers to market his work, but unlicensed items showed up anyway, such as the familiar Calvin urinating (on some logo).

He won the Reuben Award for humor back in 1988, becoming the youngest person to win that award. He was nominated again in 1992.
Calvin and Hobbes began in 1985, and was ended in 1995 - a very short run for a cartoon strip with the following he had.
The last cartoon as published on 31 December, 1995.
Since then, Watterson has been working with Parkinson's Disease fundraising, and painting.
His legacy was to change the confining format of cartoon strips, and in that, did very well.
Moving on...
*** The update to the latest homicide (Number 22 if you're still keeping track in your dead pools at home or work).

Here's the rap sheet of the victim, one Derrick D. Carlisle, 45, from Allen County court records:
===================
02D04-8803-IF-006578 Carlisle, Derrick D 03/31/1988
Allen Superior Court 6 IF - Infraction
Decided IMPROPER HEADLIGHT
02D04-8805-IF-009964 Carlisle, Derrick D 05/12/1988
Allen Superior Court 5 IF - Infraction
Decided IMPROPER HEADLIGHT
02D04-9001-IF-001838 Carlisle, Derrick D 01/19/1990
Allen Superior Court 5 IF - Infraction
Decided EXCEED MAX LAWFUL SPEEDS
02D04-9008-CM-022896 Carlisle, Derrick D 08/16/1990
Allen Superior Court 6 CM - Criminal Misdemeanor
Decided POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA
02D04-9009-MC-026108 Carlisle, Derrick D 09/13/1990
Allen Superior Court 5 MC - Miscellaneous Criminal
Decided P.C. POSSESSION OF COCAINE
P.C. DEALING IN COCAINE/METH
VISIT A COMMON NUISANCE
02C01-9009-CF-000323 Carlisle, Derrick D 09/17/1990
Allen Circuit Court CF - Criminal Felony
Decided DEALING IN COCAINE
POSSESSION OF COCAINE
02D04-9109-IF-026915 Carlisle, Derrick D 09/06/1991
Allen Superior Court 6 IF - Infraction
Decided EXCEED MAX LAWFUL SPEEDS
FAILURE WEAR SAFETY BELT
02D04-9611-IF-019742 Carlisle, Derrick D 11/18/1996
Allen Superior Court 6 IF - Infraction
Decided OPERATE WHILE SUSP (INFR)
EXCEED POSTED SPEED LIMIT
02D04-9702-IF-002545 Carlisle, Derrick D 02/27/1997
Allen Superior Court 4 IF - Infraction
Decided EXCEED MAXIMUM SPEED LMT
02D04-9809-OV-002284 Carlisle, Derrick D 09/03/1998
Allen Superior Court 4 OV - Local Ordinance Violation
Decided VIOL NOISE ORDINANCE (FW)
02D04-9810-IF-019626 Carlisle, Derrick D 10/21/1998
Allen Superior Court 5 IF - Infraction
Decided PARKING IN AREA WH PROHIB
02D04-9810-IF-020036 Carlisle, Derrick D 10/27/1998
Allen Superior Court 6 IF - Infraction
Decided EXCEED POSTED SPEED LIMIT
02D04-9903-IF-004891 Carlisle, Derrick D 03/30/1999
Allen Superior Court 6 IF - Infraction
Decided EXCEED POSTED SPEED LIMIT
02D04-0208-OV-003027 Carlisle, Derrick D 08/27/2002
Allen Superior Court 6 OV - Local Ordinance Violation
Decided VIOL NOISE ORDINANCE (FW)
02D04-0509-IF-013409 Carlisle, Derrick D 09/21/2005
Allen Superior Court 4 IF - Infraction
Decided FALSE & FICTITIOUS REG'N
02D04-0509-OV-002995 Carlisle, Derrick B 09/30/2005
Allen Superior Court 6 OV - Local Ordinance Violation
Decided VIOL FT WAYNE SPEED ORD
02D04-0709-OE-000682 Carlisle, Derrick D 09/19/2007
Allen Superior Court 5 OE - Exempted Ordinance Violation
Decided PUBLIC NUISANCE-ANIMAL
02D04-0807-IF-013819 Carlisle, Derrick D 07/09/2008
Allen Superior Court 4 IF - Infraction
Decided NO OPR'S LIC. WHEN REQ'D
EXCEED MAX LAWFUL SPEEDS
02D04-0807-IF-014411 Carlisle, Derrick 07/16/2008
Allen Superior Court 5 IF - Infraction
Decided NO OP. LICENSE IN POSS'N
02D04-1003-IF-001733 555610
555610 Carlisle, Derrick 03/11/2010
Allen Superior Court 5 IF - Infraction
Decided WRONG WAY ON ONE-WAY ST
FAIL TO REGISTER VEHICLE
02D04-1204-IF-004225 671036
====ADDRESSES====
2721 PRISCILLA LN
Fort Wayne, IN 46806
4730 Lillie St
Fort Wayne, IN 46806
===================
And now you know the complete story...
*** More proof that Social Darwinism exists.
Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130606/BLOGS01/130609651
A 15-month old girl was struck in a driveway yesterday, and eventually died at hospital.

This happened in the 4100 block of S. Monroe (a few blocks north of our Fortress) near Baxter St. around 1933 hrs.
A black Ford SUV was backing out of a driveway, and didn't know they had struck the child. After leaving, the family members of the child contacted the driver and the SUV immediately returned to the scene.
When the victim was taken to FWFD station 11 on Rudisill Ave, firefighters and EMTs began immediate treatment.
The child was transported to hospital in critical condition, where she later died.
At this time, no criminal charges have been filed.
-- Now...my take on this...

We have another problem down here in the ghettohood (among all the others), and that is the parents/guardians/ whatever the hell you want to call them being totally IRRESPONSIBLE when it comes to their children...or those of others at whatever crib they're visiting.

I've seen SO many instances of very young toddlers wandering in the streets, following adults out into the streets, using cars for a playground, and the like. Hell, I even saw one government-sponsored "parent" (baby-mama) placing HANDCUFFS on a toddler...I guess she was preparing him for his future?
Sometimes, these "women" (and I use the word loosely) get into some scuffle with one another, or some male, paying NO attention to where the toddlers might be wandering off to. Sometimes, they get SO damn busy on their Obama-Phone, they forget the child was playing in the yard. You hear about very young kids wandering off on the police radio almost every week.

It's all about being "entertained" to these parents, and watching a child THEY had months before is kinda boring for them these days.
Lord knows what happens when the boyfriend-of-the-month watches them...the kids get BATTERED or otherwise abused. That's another problem down here.
It's like I say...SOME people just don't DESERVE to HAVE children (that taxpayers have to pay for).
*** Another sad note...

We have had a robin's nest in the tall shrub alongside the garage door, and Momma Robin has been taking good care of that nest (and the eggs that must have been there). She let you know if you got too close, too.
Well, this morning, I saw the shrub moving in the breeze...only there WAS no breeze, just a rustling sound.
Poking around, I found not one, but TWO small raccoons that looked kinda like these guys, only not as "cute" in the shrub up by that nest.

I had to chase them out with a squirt bottle of water, and they took the hell off after falling out of those shrubs, but I fear the eggs might have fallen victim to "nature's little muggers".
Yeah, I know, survival of the fittest, circle of life, pecking order, food chain...whatever.
It still bothers me, because I'm one of those that prefers to root for the "underdog", no matter which species it might be.

And if I can protect one creature from a predator...I will.
I just missed the train when it left the station on this one.
That's not to say I can't admire a hawk or eagle or owl, and I know full well what THEIR diet consists of, but in the confines of OUR "Fortress", I'd like to believe that every creature has a chance to live...even if it's to succumb to another creature at a LATER date.
I see predators of the human kind every single day, and I detest every one of them...not very Biblical, I know, but when people just take and take and take, and NEVER give anything back but attitude, lip, and refuse, it's really HARD to "like" them.
Perhaps Momma Robin will return and give it another go...
I certainly hope so.
*** Lastly today, today is the 69th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and it was on those beaches that thousands of soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Life began for some young men on those shores, and sadly ended for many others.

What we often forget is the price we (and others) have to pay in life.
We ALL have to pay something...some more than others.
Life is many things, and those things can be good or bad, depending on both the circumstances and your perspective.
One thing that life should never be, and that is...CHEAP.
Over the decades, we (as a society) have allowed the wholesale abortion of over 55 MILLION souls...one of which COULD have been the person who develops a cure for a disease like cancer, or perhaps become the next Martin Luther King, or Gandh.
We will never know.
On the flip side of that coin, we allow the continuance of life for mass murderers through life sentences, instead of enforcing the death penalty.
We've allowed certain duplicities to reign free, when such things should be a matter of black and white...right or wrong...good or bad.
We've gotten away from the value system we USED to have as a country...as a people.

We are not the nation we were when we fought for freedom on a foreign shore those 69 years ago...and we SHOULD be...STILL.
We seem to have misplaced the principles that allow us to live with one another in a much more peaceful manner, and with a more altruistic demeanor.
Nowadays, such things have become a "curiosity"...not for the masses, and that REALLY needs to change.
Life is complex, but it's not impossible to figure out...that's part of the challenge...and part of the journey.

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