Bosco-d-gama

Freedom to choose is America’s mantra. Too often citizens choose the easy road. They opt for the easy decisions or the simple work or lifestyle. They do not apply themselves in school nor excel at their work. They are happy to settle for a mediocre existence...... or even less. On the other hand citizens often choose to excel. Whether they excel professionally or in business they achieve significant lifestyles. They work hard or they think hard. They earn the rewards due to their efforts. Choices. Foreigners want to come to America because they realize their own industry will gain them much more than their own country. So - why should any government take funds from the working group and hand the most expensive benefits to those who opted to work lessor in life? I have 2 adopted sons. They were both raised in the same home with the same advantages/disadvantages. One is a ‘dolt’, the other isn’t. One worked insanely hard to get a good career, the other is a street urchin. One gets free healthcare and the other one pays through nose for nominal healthcare. Freedom to choose is America’s mantra. IMHO if you choose lazy then that is what you deserve.

I just recently learned that Charles Lindbergh (the guy who 1st flew across the Atlantic) did participate in ww2. Lindbergh was a very outspoken isolationist/pacifist prior to America entering the war and because of his notoriety was widely known for his opinions. After Pearl Harbor he changed his mind but it was too late as he’d already p.o.’d the powers in gov’t. Lindbergh was a flight officer in the reserves but had resigned his commission to protest America’s war footing and Roosevelt refused to reinstate his commission once he’d changed his mind. Lindberg somehow how ended up in the pacific war theater as a civilian flight consultant and started flying combat missions testing out various aircraft. He did drop bombs and he straffed Japanese ships and he shot down one Japanese plane in a p38 lightening. He flew about 44 combat missions. Lindbergh made a single huge contribution....... he learned how to get the most mileage from these fuel guzzling warplanes. His cross Atlantic flight training taught him how to conserve fuel and he taught those tricks to our pilots. In the broad pacific arena getting the longest flight time was very critical in supporting naval fleets and ground combat actions. With this knowledge the army and navy greatly expanded the operational distances for certain aircraft which vastly improved our execution of the island hopping campaign. Who knows how many American lives he saved. However Lindbergh’s activity was not sanctioned by the gov’t. He was allowed to fly as a civilian pilot only because local commanders saw his potential. Once upper level officers got wind of him flying he was removed and sent home.

The holocaust is not medieval history. Enough documentation exists to verify that it actually happened. The teacher should have his credentials revoked.

For all the ‘bads’ done by our country there are as many - or more ‘goods’. America is often the 1st responder offering the most whenever disaster strikes. Regardless our uniformed service people go and serve when and where directed........ and they sacrifice, too often the maximum sacrifice. Like it or ‘no’ there is much to celebrate about this country. This is why America is the destination for the worlds oppressed peoples. Show some respect.

Guessing some families started much earlier than others. I knew several of my great grandparents. My parents were early birds. Mom was 15 whence mine elder brother was hatched. I am 2 years his junior. I broke that trend. Waited til my late 30’s for the family deal.

Of all of my relatives this particular one faired the worse when it came to health and longevity. However, methinx he died prematurely because he allowed his heart conditions to become advanced and then he started having clot related strokes. Everybody else lived long and reasonably healthy. My own parents are both still living (so to speak). Dad turns 90 this October and mom is hot on his heels. No one ever surpassed 100......

Yeah........ well with the ‘good’ hair comes gramps awful hearing and his difficult cardiac status. I always assumed gramps was hard of hearing due to his career in carpentry...... but that does not seem to be the case. Anyway - I got the heart fixed up for now.

Wondering if others are experiencing what I am noticing. With age I am starting to look A-LOT like my maternal grandfather. The upside to that is hair. I have the guys hair right down to particular wave patterns. Honestly I find it creepy as I did not really like the man much. He was quite stern and if you crossed him he could be pretty violent. He called it a ‘thrashing’ - a pretty apt description. I never got thrashed because I saw my brother and cousin get thrashed. So I walked on eggs around gramps.......... and now I look more like him every day. It is like he’s haunting me. Ewwww🥴

I do not believe that any taxing entity is EVER determined to contain/control/end/reverse any type of tax. They always find something to spend it on and then require additional revenues in due time. As for California it is more out of spending control than most states...... I moved away decades ago to the Pacific Northwest. I recall the 1st time I went to register my car in my new state. I was all prepared to hemorrhage up big $$ a-la California style and was stunned at how little I paid. Heck I even have personalized plates now. Regardless, taxes never go down - ever.

Glad to hear your situation isn’t too awful. I guess it may have reminded me of a time whence mine own situation kept me from sitting easy. We agree that keeping active 🤸🏼‍♂️is the best medicine.

Sounds like your back keeps you very limited. Guessing that ‘eventually’ some medical intervention will be unavoidable. Unless something ‘new’ is invented the old approaches will be your only options. In my experience the longer you postpone a correction the more difficult the ultimate care can become and that you will gain less from having it done. By waiting you can be aggravating issues and (sadly) as humans age they tend to heal more slowly from any surgical procedure. You know your situation best and my thoughts are just generalized. Gosh getting elderly sucks. Was wondering also if physical therapy/strength training is part of your current program?

I too use and appreciate Amazon........and have placed several orders since this episode went sour. But - when a box is marked ‘fragile, handle with care and do not drop’ and is dispatched with obvious damage there’s a problem. As for my reviews a few of mine have been declined and ‘no’, they were not acerbic. They were accurate. I received a sail shade that was torn and holed. The packaging was fine and my review simply stated ‘sail shade came with a hole in it’, with a photo of the hole. Amazon declined that review. Anyway..... the Amazon business model allows customers to return items and no doubt TONS of things get returned. How they get managed once returned should matter to every Amazon customer. When I buy items from a brick and mortar store I will dig for product whose packages appear pristine, or I will inspect the product. Can’t do that with online stores. At Amazon they offer customer reviews to bolster consumer confidence. If that information is biased then it becomes blatant misrepresentation. I was especially dissatisfied with this situation because it seemed quite certain that this product was likely damaged from the start. I shared the event here. Benefit from my experience, or not. It is your choice.

To complete this story Amazon refused to post my review on this item. So it will remain a highly rated product with just a handful of admiring comments. Wonder how many other ‘critical’ comments Amazon declined?

I do not typically buy large or complex items from Amazon for this reason. I prefer to buy local where I can return items if needed. Appreciate the feedback. I’ll feel better about Amazon if they post my product evaluation, pictures included. Amazon does make buying things simple - but somebody in their system needs to be more diligent about these return issues. I figured this was a ‘return’ for some reason but the flaw was fatal and this unit needed to be removed from salable stock or sold to a ding and dent retailer. I also wished that Amazon would divulge country of manufacture in their listings. You can easily guess some and you can assume most are not made in America. Personally I have experienced really poor satisfaction with Chinese products of all sorts.

We have reworked our rear yard and had purchased a new chaise lounge from Amazon. So it arrived yesterday. The boxed was clearly repackaged and heavily scuffed. It was not dented or torn but it was absolutely not in new or even near new condition. Opened it up and things appeared proper. Removed the product and found that the cast aluminum frame was fractured. A single chunk had broken free in what looked like a metallurgy failure..... the metal was brittle. Yeah it is going back. It is a real pain and quite disappointing. Amazon was real nice and the episode will not cost me anything accept frustration. So what does Amazon do with broken returns? I am beginning to think that they have a warehouse of clearly broken products that are passed on to new purchasers in hopes that they will acceptable. Amazon offered me a discount if I kept this busted up product. Further - if Amazon does harbor ‘marginal’ or ‘failed’ products do they send them to regions they presume are less critical? I am rural, in a small state. Would this ‘beater’ chair have been sent to New York or California? Any similar experiences out there? Thoughts?

...........When you get so deaf you can’t hear your own tinnitus anymore.

I hit a mule deer in a Mazda jelly bean van doing around 60 mph. Mine had antlers. The van did not survive the event. Neither did the deer. Caught a ride home and returned to the scene of the accident in under 2 hours. Broken van still there. Deer carcass was gone.

Doohan served in the Canadian military and his gunshot wounds around d-day were deemed inflicted from ‘friendly’ fire....... not that it matters much.

I know Lee Marvin was in ww2, was combat wounded and became an actor - but he was in the pacific theater. I went to high school with his son..... a bit of an *** he was.

I own 2 Marantz avr’s, an older unit and a newer unit. The older unit was pre-hdmi. I have had no problems with either device..... and.......yes......there are a number of ways to connect various signals to each device. Each will accept rca and optical signals. HDMI connections are convenient but not exclusive on my units.

Hmmmm......... I suppose with enough vigor one may be able to take flight.

CD’s met the need for a highly durable audio medium while offering pretty good musical quality. Users got a nearly indestructible recording that rarely failed. As to the comparison to analog music I would aver that high end equipment will evidence the finest and the worst of any source feeding the system. As for myself I am now limited by my own elderly hearing. Getting old truly sucks 🥺.

Bummer that. In the 80’s I dealt with a bout of irritable bowel syndrome and lost 25 pounds in short order. It makes little difference how well the clothes fit if you don’t feel well. Glad to hear that you’re under control. I think I read where fecal transplants can help with Crohns. Is that true?

Generally speaking the population clearly (from what I observe) needs to be more cognizant of weight/health issues. Since all that most of us have to monitor weight is a ‘scale’ the data represented here is understandable but far too limited to be of much value. I learned that any graphic data representation should be able to stand alone. That means with the graph and it’s title the purpose and information therein should be understandable. Other than the intrigue this info isn’t very useful. Personal, yes........ because you know the back story that rendered these results. Was it simply dietary intake? Was it pathological? Was the weight fluctuation related to multiple variables? Have you gotten the best lifestyle figured out now? Anyway, thanks for posting the thread. Everyone should be as concerned with their health.

I owned the 1st Iron Butterfly album a-way long time ago. At the time, for some reason, I equated the group with Canned Heat. Since then I learned that Canned Heat was the better band in many ways.