Christopher Walken Dancing

Just because Christopher Walken is cool.

Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

I stumbled upon the 1964 movie "Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" with George C. Scott. This is satirical comedy based on the Cold War scare that was happening post World War II. This was a dark time in Americas history when people were afraid that a nuclear holocaust was going to happen at anytime. When people were accusing their neighbors of being communists and the witch hunt McCarthy trials were still fresh in the minds of Americans.

To fully appreciate this movie it helps to know a little bit about that era and how communist hysteria gripped the nation. I was surprised at George C. Scott's great comedic performance in this movie because I am use to watching him as Scrooge. I am sure this was a greatly needed tension release for those who watched it in 1964. Check this movie out you will enjoy it.

Mumford & Sons

I was sitting in the car the other day and heard the song "Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons. I was intrigued by this raw folk harmony. So much so that I went and bought the album the next day off iTunes. I waited until that evening to listen to the rest of the album. As I got into my car to go to work it started to rain and I pressed play. The rain and darkness set a sublime stage for what came next.

The band members from Mumford & Sons come from London but the music reverberates as if it is coming from an old pub in the countryside of Ireland. As I listened to the songs on my forty five minute drive, I imagined that I was sitting in the back of an antiquated Irish brick pub surrounded by three generation of family members listening with expressionless faces to their kin play the story of their family's history.

The music is classified as Alternative but it is defiantly more of a modern Irish type folk. There is even a banjo in the band that is barley noticeable in the music. Themes of love and divine grace are spread throughout the songs in the album. There is even a song about a family losing their land to the rich, which ties up my Irish vision nicely. The band's most popular song "Little Lion Man" does have the "F" word pretty pronounced in the chorus of the song which I did not notice until I bought the album so there must be a clean version.

The music is slow in some spots and then rages into thunder in other areas. This is not a main stream type album that is filled with two pop hits and the rest is just filler. I think this album is a story meant to be consumed in its entirety like a novel one page at a time.

It is time!

It is time. Oh yes, it is time. Spring is almost upon us, trying to break through the cold winter snow. A long dark winter melts away behind us as we look forward, towards the east, gazing at the horizon, waiting for the dim auburn rays of the sun to break through the darkness. And then gentle beams of light reach out across the sky inviting the earth to awake and become alive once again. The human race waits with anticipation for a new beginning, a new start, a new dawning.……a new season of Baseball.

Baseball, oh how sweet the word. I have always thought it was appropriate for the baseball season to begin in unison with spring. It’s as if the grass turns from a dead brown to an alive green and then calls out, inviting baseball fans to come home and sit and enjoy. Leaves emerge from the branches of trees to provide shade for eager fans. Temperatures rise to warm baseball stadiums, and the entire animal kingdom comes alive just to watch the game. I dare say that it is nothing short of divine intervention that welcomes another season of baseball.

For the next six, and hopefully seven months, baseball fans will be watching their favorite teams hit, bunt, slide, and strike out in the warm summer night air. Fathers will share their baseball wisdom with their sons as vendors yell and kissing cams search. Fans will grit their teeth and pray that this year will be the year. Baseball gloves will be unboxed with the hope that the long awaited fly ball will finally come. Baseball hats still stained with last year’s sweat will be proudly worn. Fans will gather to their sanctuary from the outside world. For about three hours a night, two to three nights a week, baseball will make everything in the world right. The cares and worries of the world will fade away with the singing of the national anthem and the sudden cry of “play ball”. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughter, grandparents, siblings, friends, co-workers, rivals, rich and poor will all come together to bask in the glory and tradition of the game that is baseball.

Baseball is the great equalizer of America. For as little as five dollars, a person can buy three hours of Americana and witness some of the most talented athletes in the world. Baseball is a place where a person looks forward to sitting in a small plastic seat for three hours and after the game is over they can’t wait to do it again. Baseball is a place where a person can sit shoulder to shoulder with a stranger from any walk of life and together they can feel genuine joy in a victory or overwhelming sorrow after a defeat. Baseball brings Americans together while at the same time they battle against each other for world dominance.

Each new baseball season is the embodiment of hope. No matter how poorly a person’s team did the previous season each fan solidly believes that each new season provides a new start, a clean slate, another chance for greatness. And if that greatness is just a small glimmer in the far distant horizon, true fans echo the famous words of all great optimists “so you’re telling me there’s a chance”. Nothing on earth that is so heart rending can be so lovely or so exquisite. So roll out the chalk lines, dust off the bases, because it’s time once again for baseball.

Here is one for baseball fans

Parallel Universes?

Here is an interesting article about the possibility of parallel universes.  As I read this article I was reminded how atheists are consistently backing up their claims that there is no Supreme Creator with scientific theory.  What scientific theory's 100 or even 50 years ago did scientists claim were fact but were latter disproved with yet another theory?  As I read articles like this I am amazed at how little man actually knows and what man has yet to discover. 

A Physicist Explains Why Parallel Universes May Exist

Make Your Home a Hard Target

We had a male visitor last night come to our home and introduced himself as a salesman for an alarm company.  My wife was the one who answered the door and I stayed in the kitchen and began to clean up after our evening dinner.  The Salesman told my wife that he wanted to “pay” us to put a small sign in our yard that would advertise his company.  My wife was intrigued at the prospect of making a few extra dollars just for putting an alarm company’s sign in our yard.  Who wouldn’t be right? 

Then the salesman began to ask questions.  He asked how many children we had, if we knew our neighbors, and then he asked if he could come into our home to talk more about what he was offering.  The salesman walked right into the kitchen where I was.  Now, being the “alpha male” I automatically wondered what this guy was doing in my house, but I smiled and listened to what he had to say.  The visitor was smooth.  He asked me where I worked and if I knew certain people that lived in the neighborhood.  He talked quick, smiled a lot, and talked about how we were going to get paid to put his sign in our yard. 

But, as with many “deals” there is a gimmick.  I realized the way we were going to get “paid” was by getting a “free” install of his security system in our home.  Then came the gimmick.  There was going to be a monthly fee to use the system.  The salesman then asked me something that startled me.  He asked where the most vulnerable part of the house was, the place where someone could easily break-in. 

Now, I know a little about security, and I thought to myself, is this guy who I don’t even know asking me where the easiest place to break in my house is?  I nicely told the salesman that I didn’t know him and I was not going to tell a stranger that information.  What was funny is he thought it was weird that I would not tell him how to break into my house.  I politely told the salesman that we were not interested in an alarm system.  He rebuttaled, I told him again no, and he quickly left.    As the salesman left I noticed that he drove a new BMW.  An alarm salesman that drives a new BMW?

I know that I am a little bit hard nosed when it comes to things like this, but I got to thinking, would someone really tell this guy where it is easiest to break into their home?  They must or he would not ask.

When I was in Law Enforcement I often saw crimes committed simply because they were crimes of opportunity.  These are crimes that were committed only because the opportunity presented itself to the criminal.  Often if the victim had taken an extra second to lock a car door, close a window, or take valuable items out of view, the crime never would have happened.  Most crimes can be prevented by doing what may seem like small and insignificant things at the time, but will save a lot a heart ache. 

I once took an educational course titled Protection by Environmental Design.  This class talked about simple things that can be done to make a home more secure and a less desirable target for thieves to break into.  Here are a couple of the suggestions that were given: 

Light up the outside of your home as much as you can.  I know this costs more money and has a negative impact on the environment but good lighting is the best way to deter thieves from breaking into your home.  Thieves love the dark.  They don’t want to take the chance of being seen.  If your home has lights on in the front and the back, then thieves will go to the dark house down the street.  Motion lights are a great option also if you want to spend a little extra.

Do not block the street view of the front entrance to your home.  People often put bushes or trees right next to the front door to their home because they think it gives them privacy.  What this is really doing is giving the thieves the privacy that they need to break into your home.  I studied a case where an apartment had bushes that surrounded the front door.  The apartment was broken into three times.  Finally, a security specialist suggested to the apartment manager that the bushes be removed.  The apartment was never broken into again. 

Put an alarm company’s sign in the front window of your home and don’t pay for the service.  Here is a trade secret in the security world. Many of the signs and video camera that you see in stores are not real.  They don’t work.  These fake signs and cameras create an allusion that a store is more secure than it really is, and it’s cheaper!  If you put a sign in the window of your home, thieves don’t know that it’s not real and they will not want to take the chance to find out. 

Avoid having windows in or around doors.  To a thieve a window near a door looks like an easy opportunity to gain entrance to a home by breaking the glass then sticking an arm through the window to open the door.  If you have a window in your door install a simple lock on the top of the door that is out of arms reach.  This also helps keep small children from opening doors for strangers or just leaving the home without you knowing. 

Loose lips sink ships.  Don’t tell people how or when to break into your home!  Some may think that this is just paranoia but the reality is that there are a lot of thieves out there and they are very good at what they do.  Avoid telling random people your daily schedule or when you will be going on vacation.  Most homes are broken into during the day.  Thieves do not want to see you any more than you want to see them.  Look for unusual vehicles parked on the street.  It’s a common tactic for thieves to watch a home to see when the home owner leaves during the day and when they come home.  Then the thief will break into the home after they learn when you will be gone for a long period of time.  Don’t hesitate to call the police to check the vehicle out.  The police would rather check out a suspicious vehicle than investigate a burglary.  It’s less paper work. 

These are just a few inexpensive ways to make your home a hard target.  People often focus on what to do after a thief breaks in, but the best thing to do is to keep the thief from breaking in, in the first place.  The best offense is a good defense right? 

The next salesman that comes to your home may be just a talented salesman but you never know and you should not be willing to take the chance.