Thoughts For Thursday...

Here we go again, boys and girls...another fun-filled day, and that fun depends on your outlook, your location, and the number of idiots you may encounter out there.
Doesn't look like much of a sunrise today...got some clouds lingering from last night.
The rest of the Hoosierland weather will have us with temps reaching to around the 80 degree mark (slipping out of MY comfort zone) and the humidity is already at 90%, so that means it will probably feel WARMER than whatever temps we have.
We are supposed to have fair to partly-cloudy skies, but as to WHEN...that's to be determined later on.
While all that transpires, let's get a nice morning cup or glass of our favorite drink close by and take a look at what's been going on elsewhere...
*** First out of the flower bed is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote of the week:

"To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.".
This was spoken by that familair personage of one HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (14 June 1811 - 1 July 1896), and here is her WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Beecher_Stowe
I know that clue was hard to figure out, unless you already knew that Harriet was indeed a member of the Semi-Colon Club.
Stowe was an American abolitionist and author, with her most notable work being UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.
All total, she wrote THIRTY books, including novels, 3 travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters.
She was the 7th of THIRTEEN children (kept the parents busy, no doubt).
She was born into a religious family, with her father later becoming the president of Lane Theological Seminary in Ohio, and three of her brothers becoming ministers; Henry Ward Beecher (preacher and abolitionist), Charles Beecher and Edward Beecher.

In 1851, shortly after she turned 40, she began the first installment of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was published in serial form in the newspaper NATIONAL ERA.
She originally used the subtitle "The Man That Was A Thing", but that was soon changed to "Life Among The Lowly".
In march of 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in book form, with an initial print of 5000 copies (including illustrations and title page by Hammatt Billings), but within a year, the book had sold 300,000 copies.
The purpose of the book was to educate northerners of the realistic horrors of the things that were happening in the south.
Stowe even traveled to D.C. and met with President Lincoln on 25 November, 1862.
In later years, Stowe campaigned for the expansion of the married woman's rights.
In the 1870s, Stowe's brother (Henry Ward) was accused of adultery and she fled to Florida to escape the scandal.
She eventually returned to her home state of Connecticut, where she founded the Hartford Art School, which later became part of the University of Connecticut.

After her husband (Calvin Stowe) passed in 1886, Harriet's health declined rapidly, and the Washington Post reported two years later that as a result of dementia, she began writing Uncle Tom's Cabin all over again.
Mark Twain (a neighbor of hers in Hartford), noted:
"Her mind had decayed, and she was a pathetic figure. She wandered about all the day long in the care of a muscular Irish woman. Among the colonists of our neighborhood the doors always stood open in pleasant weather. Mrs. Stowe entered them at her own free will, and as she was always softly slippered and generally full of animal spirits, she was able to deal in surprises, and she liked to do it. She would slip up behind a person who was deep in dreams and musings and fetch a war whoop that would jump that person out of his clothes. And she had other moods. Sometimes we would hear gentle music in the drawing-room and would find her there at the piano singing ancient and melancholy songs with infinitely touching effect"
Modern researchers now speculate that Harriet suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.
Harriet died at the age of 85 and was buried in the historic cemetery at Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
*** Next, we have our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
June 4 -
---Today is APPLESAUCE CAKE DAY...

Mom used to make a mean one.
---And, it's OLD MAID'S DAY...

Not sure if they mean the PERSON...or the CARD game here.
(your choice, I guess)
---It's NATIONAL CHEESE DAY

(bet Wisconsin is loving this one)
---It's also HUG YOUR CAT DAY...!

"AAwwwwwwww"

(kinda hard if you only have a dog...or goldfish..or a macaw)
And somehow, I think that hugging a LION, TIGER, CHEETAH, BOBCAT, PUMA, or LEOPARD might not be the "smartest" thing to do today.

Well, MAYBE...if you're a "lion-whisperer"

(word to the wise here)
*** Next up, more "WEIRD" happenings in the crime world that is SE Fort Wayne.
Here's the story link with video (updated by Adam Widener)
http://wane.com/2015/06/04/family-held-hostage-forced-to-turn-over-money-and-shoes-from-business/

This started as a violent home invasion and hostage situation of a Korean family in the Pine Valley subdivision north of Dupont Rd, and then added a robbery (of sorts) to the mix.
The family was confronted by more than SIX masked and armed men who took them hostage and demanded money and "SHOES" from the man's business, one A.J.'S LOCKER ROOM, located at 124 E. Pettit in Southgate Plaza (last night). This was around 1930 hrs.

Police were called to the store twice when the alarm was tripped, but initially found nothing.
They later found the owner's wife there with a son, and she was (at first) reluctant to provide information (plus there was a language barrier), and this happened around 2230 hrs.

One source said the woman feared for her husband and daughter, both of whom were inexplicably dropped off at a gas station near Rudisill and Calhoun (I believe that's a Marathon station at that intersection and NOT a great place to be when the sun sets).
Police are checking security cams from other businesses at Southgate, and interviewing neighbors in the housing addition (near the family's house).
---Okay, so any GUESSES as to the ETHNICITY of the perps?
Give 'ya THREE (and as usual the first TWO don't count).

'Dems be ours now"

Now. WHO would want athletic shoes anyway down in the blighted SE side of town?
Male blacks?
Sounds like a winner to me.
All the police have to do is start serious PATROLS to see if anyone is selling these shoes out of the trunks of the vehicles around here...which does occur more frequently than the FWPD realizes.
And if the "sales" go indoors...well, they have to CARRY the stuff INSIDE a house, right? A watchful eye of those on the streets could make the case here.
Also, check the inventory (should be easy enough) and then look for similar shoes on those walking (in the middle of) the streets.
Gonna find a match sooner or later - mostly sooner, as these thugs LOVE to show off their ill-gotten gain)
*** I have to laugh my ass off when I hear people like (mayor) Henry, and (Glynn) Hines say that CRIME doesn't make a difference in business development down here on the SE side.

And THESE are just the DOLLAR stores so far.

IT SURE AS SHIT DOES...
Open your damn eyes, read a paper or watch the news, you morons!
(Cripes, I'm starting to sound like Mark Levin now...LOL)
When people like Don Steininger speak out about the crime, and people like me have said the same things for YEARS, and STILL nothing gets done, because those in POWER don't want to acknowledge it...well, there's where the trouble lies, right?
And I get sick and tired of all this NOTHING being done.

Been standing still down here for 30 years.

I'm sure others down here (however few of us are still left) feel the exact same way.
Since Wifey and I moved here (1997) we've seen literally HUNDREDS of businesses close, and very few moving in to take their place.
We're in a serious (if not fatal)  retail deficit, unless you count all the gas stations/convenience stores that came here. THOSE businesses are ALSO robbed.
It's a sad commentary to "progress" down here, because we have NONE.
*** Last back to the rain barrel...one might say that the decline of the SE began with INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER closing, and to some extent, I agree.

Still looking - haven't found anything.

The city had a chance to recoup that loss, and it did (somewhat) when GM came to town.
Only thing is, ALL those Harvester workers did not get HIRED by that GM plant...most of the workers at GM were relocated TO HERE from other plants, so the actual number of jobs created for workers HERE was minimal.
That started a nice "vacuum" here with manufacturing, and the city swung hard to retail and service working ventures (fast food, etc).
The former Harvester workers left, and the Section 8'ers moved in, bringing their own "unique" sense of community.
Add to that ALL the refugees (about 7000 from Burma alone) that came here, along with scores of undocumented aliens from south of our border (that you're not suppose to know about), and you can see that the federal gravy-train was pulling out of the station fully-loaded.
The city built up the NORTH and WEST sides, because doing anything to keep the SE part of town viable required WORK, and the city didn't want to play that tune.

Skewed priorities with some.

Well, here we are, several decades later, and the city has got ZERO to show for it's involvement down here...except for CRIME.
And that is being handled in a  REACTIVE manner...NOT a PROACTIVE one.
The really bad part to all of this, is that "our" crime is in fact becoming everyone else's crime, as it spreads up the east side, over to the west side and well into the SW part of Fort Wayne.

The SE mooks have this down to a "science".

NOW would be a damn good time to start thinking about the REAL future of this city, and not some gilded, ivory-palaced utopia comprised of a downtown and riverfront...that will hardly pay the bills for the ENTIRE city.
Let's hope they at City Hall start to figure that one out...and soon.

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