James Randi, One of My Heroes...Take a Few Minutes to Get Acquainted With Him........

Take a few minutes and read an August 30, 2014 article in the Miami

Herald. Randi has been traveling the world for years, offering, what is now, a million dollar prize for anyone who can prove any type of paranormal, psychic ability, astrology, energy healing, and so on.

Thankfully, I live in a country (USA) where I can say just about anything I want. I can believe what I want. I can think what I want. And, no one, not the government, or citizens can take that away from me.

Yes, we are allowed to be duped and taken advantage of by charlatans and quacks of all stripes. We can go to faith healers who can’t heal, chiropractors who adjust vertebral subluxations that don’t exist, take homeopathic remedies that are inert with no active ingredients, and on and on.

Randi has devoted his life to exposing these people. But, often times that does no good. Peter Popoff is a good example. Years ago Randi exposed him for what he is. Popoff wanders through the audience at his so-called faith healings and seems to know so much information about those who come for healings. Randi recorded the conversations between Popoff and his wife who was transmitting information to him that had been gathered from the prayer cards filled out by those seeking healings. Yes, he subsequently went bankrupt but is back at it again. Here's his new place. In the upper right hand corner, click on the to get the miracle water. You'll be entertained. I did that many years ago. As I best remember, I asked him to pray for my

cancer (which of course I didn't have) and some of the letters he sent mentioned my cancer. I would also get some pretty creepy messages from him. If nothing more you'll cost him a few bucks.

I could go on and on but am going to stop for now. If you are one of those seeking treatments from Reiki Masters, using Bach Flowers, seeing your chiropractor a couple of times a month, well…..I doubt that anything that I can say in a few words is going to change your mind.

Remember, the reason it’s called complementary and alternative medicine is because it doesn't work. Period. When treatments work, it's called medicine. This is poorly written but frankly, I don’t want to spend any more time on this at the moment.

And for those of you who say, What’s the harm? Well, take a look here..

Edit: Yes, just posted this. And, it is poorly written and for that I apologize. The answers are not with your astrologer, numerologist, psychic, or a so-called god up in the sky. Folks, try a little reality. The world is a great place as it is. And, when you are having medical problems seek treatment from real doctors. Oh, well.... Remember, Mr. Randi has a million bucks waiting for your Reiki Master, astrologer, psychic, and the rest of them. The next time your Reiki Master is shooting all that energy to you, why not ask them why they haven't gotten Mr. Randi's million bucks?

Yes, you may have noticed, I have a Ph.D. in  beating dead horses.

EDIT-November 22, 2014:  Read this November 7, 2014, New York Times article written by Adam Higginbotham.

MTV Awards. It Reminded Me of a Dog Show....Sort of.

This photo is along the right side of the blog. Yes, these
pups are all gussied-up.

You guys know about MTV Video Music Awards? Well, it was mentioned in our local online newspaper and by following a few links, I ended-up here.

Back to the dogs.... The pups in the photo are relatives of a great pup, Scout, who was with me many years ago. What a great dog she was.

I knew that I would have to train her. Well, she was going to end-up being too big to not have her minding. 

There was a local obedience club with a bunch of nice folks. And, it cost almost nothing as all the instructors were volunteers. Anyway, it was kind of cool and the pup seemed to like it OK....well, as best I could tell. And, it was amazing how she did. I couldn't let it go at that. I think I went to two of the classes and then Scout and I started going to obedience trials.

The obedience trials test the dog's ability to follow commands; stay, down, heal, and so on. She actually won a third-place ribbon (long story for maybe another time) scoring 170 points out of 200.

Anyway, back to what I wanted to say.

There are many types of dog shows or trials. The casual viewer is mostly familiar with confirmation shows such as Westminster. This is for all practical purposes a beauty contest; yes, the pups must meet the breed standard. But, it comes down to the dogs prancing around in a ring.

If you go to the link it seems that all of these ladies...... are in a bullpen kind of place where the watchers or fans or whatever you want to call them, are looking down into the pen while they prance around and get photographed. Yep, just like the dogs...well, there is one difference, the dogs have no choice. The folks prancing around in the bullpen do.

My mom always told me to never make fun of how someone looks. And, my mom was right. That said, wow, what a bunch.....yes, there were exceptions but most there were tacky, tawdry, cheap looking, hard looking, sleazy, or a combination. And unappealing, if you will, at least to this old guy of seventy-five years. Actually, I rather watch actual dogs.

Tony Stewart Ran Into and Killed Kevin Ward, Jr.

I was somewhat amazed that all of the news channels reported on this.

CNN, ABC, CBS, and others are reporting. And, there are several op-eds kind of essays about whether Stewart should be charged because of this tragic event.

Some are saying Stewart is a hot head and ask, did he try to buzz (for lack of a better word) Ward and accidentally kill him? None of us know this. Would any of us believe that Tony actually wanted to hurt this kid? I hope not.

This death is different than most racing deaths. Most deaths happen because of accidents while the race is in progress. Yes, these are tragic also; however, they are different than what happened to the young fellow who Tony hit. He was not in his car, he was on the track.

Today was the Michigan race. And, yes, Tony Stewart had Jeff Burton fill in for him. This is the second race Tony has missed. What the future holds for Stewart none of us know. And, I surely wouldn't want to be him at this time.

I had a limited and not-noteworthy racing career. Raced with the SCCA (cars), the AAMRR (motorcycle road racing), and lots of short-track motorcycle racing. And, held a novice license with the American Motorcycle Association (AMA)...no, not the American Medical Association.

Yes, a Norton motorcycle. Sorry, yes, I grabbed this from the Internet.

I think for anyone who has raced, there are races or events, or particular instances that we will always remember.

Speaking of buzzing....now, my definition of buzzing is when a competitor passes you really close. Yes, closer than needed or necessary. Now, I'm not saying this is inherently bad...but, they sure have come close when there was plenty of track-room available.

The one that I best remember, the buzz, was at a AAMRR race at Virginia International Raceway. Yes, folks, this was in the sixties. I was riding a stock Yamaha 350 (yes, two-cycle) and was on the main straight, maybe going max of 115 when a fellow on a Norton, came by me. And, yes, he definitely buzzed me. He was going at least 20/25 mph faster, and yes, missed my handlebar by mere fractions of an inch.

And, so it goes. I hope Tony Stewart can come to grips with this tragedy.

EDIT: August 19, 2014
From our local paper, an AP article by Jenna Fryer about Tony Stewart.

EDIT:  September 26, 2014
An amazing article about Stewart, a usually private person, talking about how he's been since the "accident."