Tuesday Tidbits...

If you liked the weather here yesterday, then you'll find today right up your alley. Personally, as I "mature", I find the heat and damn near oppressive humidity a bit much for the sinuses to take...like playing an accordion...
I don't mind heat with little humidity...it can get into the 80s before it bothers me, plus, there is always that old adage about when it gets too hot outside, you can only take off SO many clothes before you're illegal for public viewing, right?
With that said, today's Hoosierland weather will find us a bit less hot with a high in the upper 80s, but the humidity will make it seem like the 90s, if not close to 100...so do plan accordingly.
And there is always a chance of rain. Our Midwest skies will be PARTLY cloudy , which is supposed to mean MOSTLY sunny?
Or should we say partly SUNNY, which means MOSTLY cloudy?
I really could use George Carlin to help me figure THAT one the hell out.
Meanwhile, go grab a nice soothing cup of your favorite morning beverage (already got mine) and let's set off and see what's been going on.
*** First up today is our month-long salute to people and events known as "What the hell happened today, Bob?"
AUGUST 26:

1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà.
1748 – The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Perfect replica ship

1768 – Captain James Cook sets sail from England on board HMS Endeavour.

1791 – John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat.
1883 – The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa begins its final, paroxysmal, stage.

1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote.
1978 – Papal conclave: Pope John Paul I is elected to the Papacy.

2011 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA
NOTABLE BIRTHDAYS:
1743 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794) - Father of modern chemistry
1906 – Albert Sabin, Polish-American medical researcher, developed the polio vaccine (d. 1993)

From the series Dallas

1909 – Jim Davis, American actor (d. 1981)
1910 – Mother Teresa, Macedonian-Indian missionary, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1923 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (d. 2013)

1935 – Geraldine Ferraro, American lawyer and politician (d. 2011)
1945 – Tom Ridge, American sergeant and politician, 1st Secretary of Homeland Security

1960 – Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader 
1980 – Chris Pine, American actor
And, it's Women's Equality Day in the U.S. (does that mean the men let THEM pay for meals?)
*** Next out of the clothes hamper today...the funeral for Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri was held yesterday, and about 4500 showed up.

Usually, a funeral THAT large is reserved for someone of REAL importance, like a city state, or federal official...Much can also be said for a firefighter or police officer lost in the line of duty.
Hell, the WH sent THREE (count 'em 3) representatives...and yet, when British PM Margaret Thatcher passed away, NOT ONE official from our WH administration went to the services (delegated to a lower-level glorified clerk-of-sorts).

Another media circus.

I wonder how many reps the WH has sent to fallen LEOs in the past 6 years? I also wonder how many WHITE victims of BLACK violence received such attention at their funerals? I'm just posing questions that I think need to be addressed...questions the "drive-by" media refuses to touch with a ten-foot pole.
When as the last time either Sharpton or Jackson, or the head of the NAACP showed up in CHICAGO to mourn the loss of all THOSE Blacks, who were also victims of BLACK VIOLENCE?

I hear the most recent weekend netted 45 people SHOT with 9 being KILLED...
Where the hell is the (deserved) outrage THERE, hmm?
These so-called black leaders need to stop cherry-picking their venues and begin to address a much larger issue in their OWN communities.
And don't toss this all in the "poverty" bucket, either...place the blame on the wholesale disintegration of the black family, and generational welfare for those women who can't keep their legs shut, and refuse to employ ALL the free contraceptive methods available.
No one forces such people into their situation...they CHOOSE it themselves...and they can damn well find a way out of it THEMSELVES.
It's called self-reliance...and self-determination.
Moving on (before I barf)...
*** Next up, there was a very good show last night on BBC America - CARS OF THE PEOPLE, featuring host James May (from the UK Top Gear show), and the premise of the series is to showcase cars that made significant impacts upopn societies around the world over the decades.

Last night it was "everyman" vehicles, and that meant cars like the Ford Model T for starters, but then the show got into those "totalitarian" cars like the KDF.
What, you nver HEARD of the KDF?

Ah, then maybe you know it by it's OTHER name...the VOLKWAGEN BEETLE.
It was initially created by Ferdinand Porsche, and it was a brilliant method of bamboozling the public into :buying" into this car, using such novelties as a stamp book for payments...but if you missed ONE payment, you had to start over again. Gotta love national socialism.

Suffice it to say, very FEW people got a KDF (Beetle) - they were reserved for the elite in the government and military.
Oh, and ALL the money gleaned from rhe citizens (saving for that car) went into the Nazi war machine...nice, huh?

It wasn't until AFTER the war that the VW "bug" came into it's own...and it became an icon of he California hippie set...which means they had no idea the car was born in the throes of the Nazi movement...it does explain a lot though, about our "counter-culture", does it not?
*** Next up,  it's been a year since we were busy trapping raccoons on our roof..how time flies.
And then we had a new roof put on which took over a week (after we had to ge the yellow jackets out of the roof area as well...and then there was my hospital visit...and so on.
 It was one damn thing after another.
This year, we're trying to recoup from last year...so far, so good.
And the basement is still dry (keeping fingers crossed).
The one new twist in this, is that we now have an elementary school-bus stop right across the street (...joy...) One thing FWCS so LOVES to do is change the damn stops seemingly every year.

That means more traffic at our corner, but it could be worse - it could be a high school bus stop, for we all know how much BETTER behaved those TEENS are these days, right?
*** Last back to the storage shed today...America is facing a set of crises the likes of which we haven't seen in quite a LONG time.

OK, so we're not trying to break away from some "mother country" and-don't have to all become freedom-fighters for liberty, but the problems we face THESE days are numerous and deep rooted. Here's a few...
--We have constant inflation of the prices of EVERYTHING...from houses to cars to groceries and utilities...and everything else in between.
--We have crime issues out the ass, and no REAL solution to a growing problem of violence in our cities.
--We have a growing drug problem, with some states legalizing MJ and seeing the results, while meth is taking hold more and more in smaller towns and rural areas as well as in our cities. (and the emmy awards laud a show about meth labs and dealers...amazing)

--We have societal issues such as a lack of following ANY form of authority, and it's no longer just contained in certain ethnic communities.
--We have teens looking like thugs and harlots, and then wonder why they're not learning in school.
--We have a justice system that is becoming more and more reluctant to punish crimes, rather assigning them lesser status in the system, so as to make everyone "feel good", instead of calling them criminals.
--We have a lawsuit mentality, an entitlement mindset, and a cruise-control outlook to life.

ALL of these things, and much more are causing us to LOSE who we are in this country, and THAT needs to change.
Sadly, it won't start out in D.C. They can't seem to do much these days but cause further division among it's people.
Each of us needs to stand strong, be willing to instruct others when needed, and show everyone through how WE live life (lead by example), that there is much more than what the status quo has to offer, and that all the things and beliefs that made this country great can be achieved once again...if we want it to happen. And all of us SHOULD want that.
Therein lies the lesson for today.

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