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The First Missed Birthday – Disaffected Musings
Incomprehensibly, Larry Lucchino died about five months ago. (Seems like five weeks.) Today would have been his 79th birthday. As I wrote in the linked post, he was a very important person in my life for more than a decade. He was the most significant person in terms of making it possible for me to…
Too Much Free Time And Not Enough – Disaffected Musings
To begin...it appears as though the surge in blog readership has ended. The last day of August had less than half the average number of views/visitors on a day with a post compared to the rest of the month. Since then, neither metric has rebounded. It was fun while it lasted? Obviously, I can't ask…
September 3, 2024 – Disaffected Musings
Hope you had a good Labor Day; that wish will seem quite ironic soon. On this day in 1783 the Treaty Of Paris was signed, formally ending the American Revolutionary War. Here are the key terms as outlined in this article on History.com: - Great Britain finally gave formal recognition to its former…
August, A Celebration – Disaffected Musings
While, of course, I am not celebrating another missed birthday for Frank Robinson, in terms of my blog August was a very good month. The surge in readership that began the last week in July continued through August, which had the highest numbers of views and visitors for any month since January, 2023. Whether the…
Happy Birthday, Number 20 – Disaffected Musings
No, I don't think Frank Robinson (who wore number 20) is aware of any birthday wishes as he died 5 1/2 years ago. However, I must admit that I still have not completely wrapped my head around the fact that the person who was my favorite player on my hometown baseball team when I was…
Driving A F.A.R.T. – Disaffected Musings
From the invaluable book shown below comes the entry pictured below that. Other than the entry in the Beaulieu Encyclopedia I have not been able to find any other information about the F.A.R.T. car except this passing reference (see what I did there) on Motor Max. Part of me wonders if the entry…
Routine Or Rut? – Disaffected Musings
Today's post is partly inspired by a Season 3 episode of The Bear, "Napkins." It is a flashback episode where we learn how Tina ends up working at The Beef, a Chicago "joynt" that specializes--not surprisingly--in Italian Beef sandwiches. At the end of Season 1, new and classically trained head chef Carmy, who has returned…
A Year And A Half… – Disaffected Musings
...At The Goose Bumps House. It genuinely feels as though it's been one or two months, and not six, since I noted the one-year anniversary of my wonderful wife and I moving into this house. Once more, the time compression that occurs as we age is simply frightening. In ten months, which will probably be…
Time Flies… – Disaffected Musings
...Whether you're having fun or not. Yes, that's a play on the well-known axiom, "Time flies when you're having fun." Meteorological summer ends on Saturday and my self-defined 100 day summer ends in 12 days. For the first time in many years, I did not take a Solstice Drive in 2024. Again, that is an…
400 Miles/50,000 Calories – Disaffected Musings
Yes, another post partly about exercise. Sorry/not sorry... Yesterday's workout brought me to 400 miles for the year as well as 50,000+ calories (50,400, to be exact). As I have discussed before, some exercise fascists believe at exercise a person burns 100 calories a mile, regardless if they are walking, running, weigh 120 pounds or…
Poo Poo On FSU – Disaffected Musings
The 2024 college football season began for real yesterday with a few games in what is designated as "Week 0." The most significant of these games was #10-ranked Florida State University (FSU) playing un-ranked conference foe Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. Last year, FSU was involved in a controversy regarding the College Football Playoff (CFP),…
Eight Two Four Two Four – Disaffected Musings
Of course, today's post title refers to how today's date looks, numerically, if one leaves out the "20" in the year. Also, two times four equals eight. Many thanks to all of you who read the blog yesterday, which had the third-highest number of views in this month of renewed interest in Disaffected Musings.…
Streaks End… – Disaffected Musings
...at the moment of recognition. That's not exactly what I wrote yesterday, but close enough. The streak of consecutive days with a post that reached "golden age" levels of views and visitors did end yesterday. Another late surge in readership was too little and too late to save the streak. One of the difficult things…
The Streak Continues – Disaffected Musings
Yes, this is the ninth consecutive day with a post, but that is not the streak to which I am referring in today's post title. For many consecutive posting days, the numbers of views and visitors have been reminiscent of the "golden age" of this blog from October, 2020 through January, 2022. Yesterday, however, I…
Snow In September – Disaffected Musings
No, it's not September. No, it doesn't snow in this part of Arizona in September. I don't recall ever receiving snow in Baltimore in September. Nevertheless, I had a dream that I had predicted snow here before the end of September and on September 27--yes, that date was a clear part of the dream--it was…
Another Day In Bloodymore, Murderland – Disaffected Musings
This recent event, where one person was killed and seven others were injured in a shooting, is all too common in the place in which I was born and raised: Baltimore, Maryland. Today's post title contains a common derivative of the names of the city and state. (My (i)ncomparable niece calls it BawManure.) I could…
No, I Will Not Be Watching – Disaffected Musings
The Democratic Convention starts today and, as indicated in the post title, I will not be watching. I have not watched ANY party nominating convention since the 1980s. From The Free Press: "Kamala Harris secured her place atop the Democratic ticket on August 6, when she was certified by 4,567 delegates out of 4,695…
100 Hours – Disaffected Musings
I will explain the post title, of course, but first this... For the second consecutive "night" (the word night is in quotes because I took this picture at 5:20 AM) we received rain that had not been forecast. As I write this, it's still raining. When I woke up at 2:30 AM to…
A Change In The Rules – Disaffected Musings
No, even though the college football starts in earnest (where's Earnest?) in less than two weeks, today's post is not about rules changes in that sport, such as adopting a two-minute warning before the end of the first and second halves like the NFL. Today's post title has nothing to do with the nom de…
The Death Of “Kings” – Disaffected Musings
On this day in 1948 baseball legend Babe Ruth, among his nicknames was The Sultan Of Swat, died at the age of 53. On this day in 1977 Elvis Presley, the so-called King of Rock and Roll, died at the age of 42. Ruth died from throat cancer. Presley, of course, died--in large part--from the…
Jonestown Could Happen Again – Disaffected Musings
Last night my wonderful wife and I watched most of a three-part documentary about Jonestown on the National Geographic Channel. By the way, as was clearly stated during the telecast, it was a mass murder, not a mass suicide. Many people were found with syringes stuck into their necks. In any event, the level of…
Happy Anniversary? – Disaffected Musings
Incredibly, today marks one year that I completed the acquisition of my Jaguar F-Type convertible and drove it home. While I am very happy to have the car, of course, I do not need another stark reminder of the time compression that occurs with aging. (By the way, I have driven the F-Type 4,500 miles…
A Flash Of Light – Disaffected Musings
"There were people running, a flash of light, then everything changed. Nothing really matters in the end you know, all the worries sever. Don't be afraid for me my friend, one day we all fall down forever." - Patty Griffin, Not Alone We all have had the experience of accidentally looking at a bright…
Remembering Robin Williams – Disaffected Musings
Sadly, incomprehensibly, it was ten years ago today that Robin Williams committed suicide. His autopsy revealed he was suffering from diffuse Lewy body disease, which led to severe depression, anxiety and paranoia. I will always remember where I was and what I was doing when I learned that Williams had committed suicide. I was in…
The Test Drive That Wasn’t – Disaffected Musings
"Maybe I should call the dealership to make sure the car is there." That's what I thought yesterday when I got in the F-Type to make the roughly 20-mile drive to the nearest Infiniti dealer. The Autotrader entry indicated that the 2022 Q60 Red Sport was "newly listed" so I thought there was no way…
Aftermath, The Bear – Disaffected Musings
Thanks again to all of you who read yesterday's post, The Bear, and the blog in general. Something that was a surprise, although I wouldn't characterize it as a disappointment, is that no one commented on the TV show. I can't imagine that no one reading watches or has ever watched The Bear. Filling in…
The Bear – Disaffected Musings
I must admit that I was reluctant to write about a TV show and to potentially spoil the two-week stretch of blog views and visitors that has been similar to the blog "golden age" from October, 2020 to January, 2022. Oh, speaking of spoiling, salt in the milk remains undefeated at our house. That stretch…
Wednesday Leftovers – Disaffected Musings
I almost called today's post Wednesday Wendover. Huh? Yesterday marked the 79th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The 509th Composite Group, a unit of the United States Army Air Forces (the Air Force was not a separate military branch until 1947), dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. Before deploying to…
Hiroshima Encore – Disaffected Musings
Today is the 79th anniversary of the US military deploying the world's first atomic bomb used on a target. Of course, that target was Hiroshima, Japan. I am going to re-publish part of the post I wrote on this day last year. “The Supreme War Council was making every possible preparation to meet an…
Sunday Minefield – Disaffected Musings
To start...many thanks to all of you who read the blog yesterday, which had the most views and visitors for any day with a single post in 2024. Who knew the Olympics would generate such interest? No, I am not being facetious. Today is Roger Clemens' 62nd birthday. I believe he belongs in…
Another Reason Not To Watch The Olympics – Disaffected Musings
After the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich games in 1972 I have not watched the Olympics. Another reason I have not considered watching since then is that, while I acknowledge that participants like gymnasts and figure skaters are athletes, the events in which they compete are not sports. The outcome…
Fritos Friday – Disaffected Musings
Other than the alliteration, I don't really know why I called this post "Fritos Friday," but once I did I had to show a picture. Of course, I couldn't tell you the first time I ate Fritos, but I am reasonably sure my age was still in single digits. At some point years…
Hello, August? – Disaffected Musings
Hall-of-Fame sports announcer Chuck Thompson (a very kind person, by the way) had an idiosyncratic way of shortening players' first names. The funniest one to me was when he would refer to Eddie Murray, long-time Orioles' first baseman and Hall-of-Famer himself, as Ed Murray. I don't think anyone else called him "Ed." Maybe we should…
Dynamic Dozen – Disaffected Musings
Let's start with a little blog accounting (yes, I hear the groans)...this is the 27th (and last) post for July. That is the highest number of blog posts in a month for 2024. For the first four years of Disaffected Musings (2018-2021, inclusive) I AVERAGED 27 posts a month. 2022 and 2023 saw a slight…
Maserati Monday – Disaffected Musings
Today's post title is ironic. Among the items in this Mac's Motor City Garage post is this, "Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says the automaker is prepared to kill off its brands that struggle to turn a profit, which observers believe would have to include Maserati." I am painfully aware that the only constant in the…
Hallelujah, Toyota! – Disaffected Musings
NO ONE'S view of the world is all-encompassing... "Trust those who seek the truth, be wary of those who say they have found it." - André Gide Yesterday I pulled the trigger and subscribed to Forbes online. (Bet some of you thought I had bought a car after reading the first five words.) After…
Corvette Curveball – Disaffected Musings
To begin...thanks to all of you who have read the blog on the last three days with a post. The number of views and visitors harkened back to the "golden days" from October, 2020 to January, 2022. Shortly after the C8 Corvette debuted "leaked" information seemed to outline the progression of the model, from…
Remember The Message, Forget The Messenger – Disaffected Musings
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a very polarizing figure. (So much so, in fact, that I suspect a lot of potential readers have already decided not to read this post.) He is not popular in his own country. Those to the left of him politically want him to have only one goal: to get…
An Intolerable Disparity – Disaffected Musings
"An intolerable disparity between the hugeness of their desire and the smallness of reality" I have written this line, supposedly uttered by Ignatius Loyola--founder of the Jesuits, on more than one occasion. (In fact, I am surprised this is the first post with this title.) Although our net worth ranks in a percentile beginning with…
A Change At The Top Of The Post Pantheon – Disaffected Musings
Someone clicked on Cadillac vs Packard yesterday. That click makes that post the second most read in the history of Disaffected Musings behind only Where Is Cristy Lee? and not counting the home page, the About page or the now discontinued Contact page. Cadillac vs Packard was published on February 6, 2021. Even though this…