Monday, April 27, 2026

For My Grandchildren: Advice Concerning Work

 The only relevant things in the job market are competency, and the ability to get along with co-workers and customers. 

Can you do the job? Perform the task efficiently and competently? Can you overlook your co-worker's obnoxious attitude and carry on with your job? Can you respect the customer's humanity, desire sincerely to help him, and ignore their body odor? Do you refrain from being obnoxious and irritating yourself? Are you kind when people approach you with their concerns? In other words, if you can do the job well, and are not a lizard person, then you'll be successful in the job market, and in the other areas of your life. Why? Because in the job market, competency and tolerance of others are paramount.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

This is Why I Hate You, Leftist Bastards

How exquisitely progressive. A beautiful young Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska—23 years old, fleeing the horrors of war only to have her throat slashed in a savage, unprovoked stabbing on an American train by a repeat offender with a rap sheet stretching back years—now has her memory whitewashed from a public mural memorializing her in Providence, Rhode Island. Not because the artwork was ugly or offensive in any aesthetic sense, but because, according to the city's enlightened mayor and his cohort of virtue-signaling officials, it simply doesn't represent "our values." Whose values? What values? The ones that prioritize feelings over facts? 

Saturday, January 31, 2026

Elementary Music Theory

You experience some sounds as interesting, beautiful, pleasing — or even annoying and disturbing — because music is organized sound (and silence) over time.
"Organized" means there are differences in pitch (how high or low a sound is), and the sounds are arranged with rhythm (when they happen and how long they last).
To review:
  1. Music — organized sound and silence over time.
  2. Rhythm — when and how long sounds (or notes) are played.
  3. Interval — the distance in pitch between two notes.
  4. Melody — a sequence of notes of different pitches (with rhythm) played over time.
  5. Pitch — how high or low a sound is (not how loud — loudness is a separate quality called dynamics or volume).
  6. Note — a single musical sound (with pitch and duration).

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Why Football in America is Great

 The following is a rewrite from the original, in 2010

Football has been more than just a sport to me; it's been a classroom of life where I've learned the essence of teamwork, the resilience needed after defeat, and the discipline required for success. Each game, each season, has been a lesson in leadership, strategic thinking, and maintaining composure under pressure. But perhaps most importantly, football has taught me about community - how a shared passion can unite people, creating bonds that last well beyond the game. Whether it's learning to accept failure or celebrating success, the field has been my teacher, showing me how to navigate life's plays with grace and determination.

Saturday, February 1, 2025

The Mindset of the Democratic Party in America

        When we were all living in the jungle, before we built cities, some people began to notice that there were people amongst them who were doing a lot better than most. They had better food, women, clothes, etc.-and that made them envious and hateful. How could you have a steak to eat, when I have nothing? How could everyone praise you, but ignore me? Such a dark emotion to feel at the sight of someone's achievement! Instead of channeling their ambition into productive or creative endeavors, envious individuals direct their energy towards destructive desires, wishing to diminish others rather than elevate themselves.

Monday, November 18, 2024

On Playing Music

 

"IT'S JUST TWO CHORDS!",  I told the man who complimented me after I played “Ode to Joy”. This  melody was much more complex than just two chords in Beethoven's  9th Symphony, of which “Ode to Joy” is part. Nevertheless, it has become a simple Christian worship song, a song that resembles children’s tunes in chord structure (“Mary Had a Little Lamb”, and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” comes to mind). I briefly discussed this with him, and he confessed to loving such music for it's simplicity, but not really understanding the musical theory behind it. I was absolutely amazed at this man’s kindness, however, because it was obviously sincere. So now, dear reader, let me ask you a question: what do you think is the most real, most sincere way to show your appreciation to a musician you like? Applaud/clap? Tip? Make a shrine to him or her in your closet?

Saturday, November 16, 2024

The Problem with Politics


 POLITICS SUCK MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE INCUDING DISEASE

-John Russell Turner

This is what's happening in the UK right now. Farmers are being pushed off their farms. Why?

Drill Baby Drill