Its just a four day jaunt, and I’ll be returning to the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-Compound late Memorial Day.

Other highlights include visiting with G.B. and the family. And some Uncle Jer quality time!

I know that The Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Neice and the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Nephew are both eager to see their Uncle Jer. Last time was about 4 years ago.

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Those arguments left the left in a state of high anxiety, and The Wall Street Journal notes in an editorial today that Democratic politicians and liberal journalists are “making one last attempt to intimidate the Justices,” especially Chief Justice John Roberts:

Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy recently took the extraordinary step of publicly lobbying the Chief Justice after oral argument but before its ruling. “I trust that he will be a Chief Justice for all of us and that he has a strong institutional sense of the proper role of the judicial branch,” the Democrat declared on the Senate floor. “The conservative activism of recent years has not been good for the Court.”
He added that, “Given the ideological challenge to the Affordable Care Act and the extensive, supportive precedent, it would be extraordinary for the Supreme Court not to defer to Congress in this matter that so clearly affects interstate commerce.”

To summarize Leahy’s message: If you don’t uphold this law, passed on a party-line vote, my party will accuse you of partisanship. The intent is so transparent, and the argument so ridiculous, one is half-tempted to admire its sheer brazenness.

I have a prediction about the SCOTUS decision of ObamaCare and the Individual Mandate. I said it before, and I’ll say it again, even the mighty-mighty Commerce Clause (Art II, Sec 8) of the Constitution does not give Congress, or the Federal Government the authority to force the United States citizen to purchase a product.

I think the High Court will ultimately agree. No matter how “partisan” the decision will be.

But I’ve been wrong before.

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I first put it together last year, but have added to it since then:

1. That Happy Feeling by Burt Kampfert
   Dad told me he would play this song when Mom was not in a good mood, and it would always improve her mood. It always improves my mood when I hear it
2. The Baby Elephant Walk by Henry Mancini
   Knowing what I know about my mother’s romance with Dad, this song is central to that theme.
3. Touch Me by The Doors
   I still giggle at the memory of my mother’s recreation of this song,

   For you and I…

   Do Doo, Do Doo. etc.

4. We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel.
   One of the most thoughtful conversations I’ve had with Mom was the meaning behind this song.
5. Allentown by Billy Joel
   Location Location Location
6. Joy to the World by Three Dog Night
   Dad sang this song to me, and Mom was by his side. Look at the lyrics and you will see why.
7. Make Me Lose Control by Eric Carmen
   Ang reminded me that Mom loved this song
8. The Happy Feeling by Bert Kampfert
   Part II of “That Happy Feeling”
9. Mamma Mia by ABBA
   Mom Loved ABBA, and this song is just fitting
10. Happy Together by the Turtles
    I can’t see me loving nobody but you, Mom
11. Summer in the City by The Loving Spoonful
    I remember working to this song with my mom in the greenhouse.
    And I think of this song in the summers of Tucson Arizona.
12. Does your Mother Know by ABBA
    Again, ABBA, and Mothers
13. Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers
    Though I blame the move Ghost (which I never watched) I think of Mom with this song.
14. You’re the Inspiration by Chicago
    Nothing like vintage Chicago to make me thing of Mom.
15. (You’re My)Soul And Inspiration by The Righteous Brothers
    There is something about TRB that makes me think of Mom.
16. Little Latin Lupe Lu by The Righteous Brothers
    Something a little more upbeat in a rather melancholy playlist.
17. Lido Shuffle by Boz Scaggs
    Another song I remember listening to with Mom and her coworkers in the greenhouse.
18. You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling by The Righteous Brothers
    TRB nuff said
19. On This Side of Goodbye by The Righteous Brothers
    The last of the TRB songs on this playlist, this is fitting.
20. For Crying Out Loud by Meatloaf
    I actually had this song on repeat when my cat died. But there was a funny anecdote about Mom and Meatloaf. WMMR was pushing an advert on local TV, and one of the soundbytes was from “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights”. Granted, I was a huge Meatloaf fan in my early college career, but Mom heard one lyric and loved the song.
    “So Now I’m waiting for the end of time, to hurry up and arrive…” was the only excerpt.
    I later informed my mother what the rest of the song was about and she was aghast! I laughed, and the memory stayed with me.
    However, “Crying Out Loud” is a wonderful ballad of love lost, and that I how I feel about Mom.

    I’m in the middle of nowhere
    Near the end of the line
    But there’s a border to somewhere waiting
    And there’s a tankful of time
    Oh give me just another moment
    To see the light of the day
    And take me to another land where I won’t have to stay
    And I’m gonna need somebody to make me feel like you do
    And I will receive somebody with open arms open eyes
    Open up the sky and let the planet that I love shine through
    For crying out loud you know I love you

    For comin’ to my room when you know I’m alone
    For findin’ me a highway and drivin’ me home
    And you gotta know for that I serve you
    For pullin’ me away when I’m startin’ to fall
    For revvin’ me up when I’m startin’ to stall
    And all in all for that I want you
    For taking and for giving and for playing the game
    For praying for my future in the days that remain
    Oh LORD for that I hold you
    Ah but most of all
    For cryin’ out loud
    For that I love you

    When you’re crying out loud
    You know I love you

21. Paradise by the Faith Christian Church music group
    While I was a member of this group, I did not perform in this song. Phillip Myers, Kim Brown, and former roommate Andrew Winslow performed and recorded this song on the CD we cut, and it is an emotional cry from one of the two thieves who hung with Jesus on the Cross at Calvary. I felt this was a good way to end the playlist, and I’m usually in tears when I hear my dear friend Phil’s cry (along with Andrew’s powerful keyboard accompany), “Today, you will see me in Paradise.”
    I can’t think of a better closure.

    The King came down.

    When you enter your Kingdom Lord, please remember me.

    And He looked at me, with with eyes full of Love, said, my son, today you will see Paradise. And if you believe, put your hope in Me, today you will be with Me in Paradise.

    I have come that you might be free. In Paradise.

I miss you Mom.

posted in Laments Leave A Comment

Six Years.

It still hurts.

Last year, I made a iTunes playlist of some of Mom’s favorite songs (and songs that I relate to Mom) I’m not even halfway through it.

I miss you, Mom.

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I learned this evening that Donald Duck Dunn died last night, while on tour in Tokyo Japan.

When I use other names like:
Sam and Dave
Wilson Picket
Otis Redding
Booker T. and the MGs
or The Blues Brothers, you might be more familiar with them. Dunn played bass, and invented some of the most memorable basslines that we know today. Dunn “carried the bottom” of some of the flagships of rhythm and blues industry.

I first learned of Dunn when I first watched The Blues Brothers. Then I learned why characters like he, and Steve the Colonel Cropper, were such an addition to a side act that came out of a Saturday Night variety show. These two guys were not only the real deal, they were already part of the foundation of blues history. It made the Blues Brothers not a sketch comedy/music act, it made them a bonafide musical talent.

I was lucky enough to see Duck, live, not with The Blues Brothers Tour, but with Booker T and the MGs, which was fantastic!

A piece of music history died last night, and I was glad, and humbled, to have experienced just a sliver of it.

I tried the guitar but it had two strings too many. It was just too complicated, man!

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I saw it twice in the theater. And then twice on Netflix DVD, and then ANYtime it shows on TV. I’m watching it presently, in a TNT double-header, and I cannot ignore it.

I love this movie.

It is no Casablanca (The Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Greatest Movie of All Time), but it is at least in the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Top Ten.

1. Its Clint “Go Ahead Make My Day” Eastwood. Clint FRACKING Eastwood as Director and Lead Actor.
2. It is racism and reconciliation all in one.
3. It was my first experience into Hmong Culture which is a rich and sordid tapestry of culture.
4. It is a fantastic Car, and the motorhead in me loved seeing the Ford Torino
5. Plus, Clint calls his own kid a punk. How cool is that?

I will admit it, in the end, I weep, every time.
That is the magic of Clint Eastwood.

One thing that bothered me. not about the film, but about myself. I found myself doing the guttural throat thing that the “Walt” character does throughout the film.
It was a signal I was/am getting old.

And I can watch any scene with the barber, over-and-over.

Gran Torino. It is a Modern American Classic!

(Don’t mind the excessive language though)

I FRACKIN’ LOVE Gran Torino!

posted in Movies Leave A Comment

This was the eighth manned attempt to the moon, and the sixth to land a man on the moon.

There is some interesting history with the mission.

The astronauts, while you might now know them by name, were heroes in the theater of spaceflight:

• John Young was on his fourth space flight. His first was the launch of the Gemini Mission alongside heralded veteran Gus Grissom. (Gus was the odds on favorite to be the first to walk on the moon, but fate had a differnt story to tell.) But John Young was once at his side.
  John later flew as Commander with Gemini X which peformed some high altitude maneuvers, his specialist on that mission was Apollo XI.
  John then flew as Command Module Pilot for Apollo X which was the “dress rehersal” for Apollo XI and Neil Armstrong’s famous words.
  Now, almost three years later, John Young would finally step foot on the moon. This would have put Young as one of the 24 people who traveled to the moon, but destiny had more for John Young.
  John Young was one of only three astronauts to make the journey to the moon twice, and one of two astronauts to make that journey twice AND step foot on the moon. The others were Gene Cernan, and Jim Lovell; Lovell being the one to never set foot on the Moon.
  But his legacy would not stop there. John would later lead the first of the Space Shuttle flights (STS-1 of the Space Shuttle Columbia and command STS-9 which was the same Columbia vehicle.
• Ken Mattingly was the Command Module Pilot for Apollo XVI, but astute readers might know, Ken was the original CMP for a previous mission, Apollo XIII and was a major reason why that group came home safe, but did not fly on thirteen. This would be Ken’s only mission to the moon. He would later command two Space Shuttles, one orbital test flight and one mission for the Department of Defense.
• Charles Duke was the Lunar Module Pilot, and along with Young walked on the moon, but this would be his only space mission. Duke has the notoriety of having his family photograph preserved on the surface of the moon.
  Duke also was the CAPCOM for Apollo XI, during Neil Armstrong’s touchdown on the moon, and he received the famous message “Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
  His bewildered response: “Roger, Twan– Tranquillity, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.”

Like Apollo XV this was a science/geological mission, with most of the EVA time devoted to collecting various samples. Many of the discoveries found on this mission have helped to condense the theories of the formation of the moon.

Google Maps has a detailed landscape of the Apollo 16.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed the landing site, It isn’t as telling as the previous landing sites.

This mission also set the Lunar landspeed record of 17.1 kilometres per hour (10.6 mph). This would later be unofficially broken by Gene Cernan in Apollo 17′s EVA.

posted in Science Leave A Comment

This year, is a special year, as a hundred years ago, the state graduated from the status of territory.

It has yet to yield a person to hold the office of President of the United States, but it HAS yielded a Supreme Court Justice, and our current Secretary of Homeland Security.

Why not celebrate this special occasion?
I ask, how many times can you celebrate the Centennial of a state?
My Answer, 50, and this is your 48th chance, only two more left.

posted in Local Leave A Comment

Don’t forget, this is a Leap Year. Remember to change your clocks.

Here’s to another trip around the sun!

posted in Mindless Banter Leave A Comment

We will be celebrating the 14th annual kickoff of the Holiday Season later this evening with kith and kin.

We hope this Holiday Season brings you warmth and joy, to you and yours, however way you celebrate it.

Cheers!

posted in Local Leave A Comment

In other news, Gathafi is now in stable condition, after being shot in the head. This is probably the first instance of stability for Gaddafi, who was a dictator with an unstable name.

Now it is impossible for the dictator (who assumed room temperature) to put on a General’s stars. Perhaps posthumously?


Reports are sketchy, but it sounds like there was a joint NATO airstrile, including US unmanned drones, attacked a convoy carrying Qaddafi, forcing him to hide underground from rebel forces.

So the killer drone program of a Nobel Piece Prize winner’s administration, helped lead to the death of the Brotherly Leader and Guide of the First of September Revolution of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

And who says the world is devoid of irony?

But put that all aside. Now is the time to buy the VINTAGE Still a Colonel T-Shirt.

Hurry while supplies last.

posted in IFJ Leave A Comment

The beeline from Tucson to Baghdad is a horizontal line?

Don’t believe me?

posted in Mindless Banter Leave A Comment

Wind Turbines Will Cause ‘Killer’ Starfish

The article linked is a commentary of another article on The Telegraph.

Apparently, Green Jobs cause Africanized Starfish.

By Greg Pollowitz
Telegraph:

Offshore wind turbines will attract killer starfish, warn oyster fishermen

Oyster fishermen supplying top Michelin-starred restaurants have warned that plans to extend a wind farm will attract thousands of starfish – which prey on the expensive shellfish.

The fishermen are furious that plans are being considered to increase the number of turbines from 30 to 47 at the Kentish Flats offshore wind farm, just six miles off the coast of Whitstable, Kent.

They say that starfish flocked to the area in 2005 when workmen laid cables for the 30 existing turbines, and that the construction of a further 17 would see them ‘swamped with starfish’.

Starfish are attracted to areas when there is disturbance on the seabed – meaning there is more food available for them.

And as oysters are a favourite food for starfish, fishermen in Whitstable, Kent – which is the closest coastal town to the turbines – say they are worried their catch will be destroyed.

Oh. “Killer” as in, “will eat oysters.” I thought we were being warned about a new mutant species of semi-sentient, poisonous, man-eating starfish.

In that case, what’s the big deal? If the Euros think global warming is a problem, and they want the lights to go on (when it’s windy), then they can just learn to eat starfish. They’re probably edible with enough soy sauce — maybe a little garlic and ginger, too?

So how did Africanized Starfish migrate to England? I blame George W. Bush. Soon Killer Starfish will be more dangerous than Killer Bees.

I like oysters, does that mean I’m a killer human?

I said it before, I’ll say it again. Green Jobs will be the end of us all.
Okay, maybe I didn’t say that, but isn’t is frustrating that we have to get off fossil fuels, but every time we have an alternative there is a complaint?

posted in BOTW Leave A Comment

Yeah, it took me a little while.

After more than a million downloads of WordPress 3.2, we’re now releasing WordPress 3.2.1 into the wild. This maintenance release fixes a server incompatibility related to JSON that’s unfortunately affected some of you, as well as a few other fixes in the new dashboard design and the Twenty Eleven theme. If you’ve already updated to 3.2, then this update will be even faster than usual, thanks to the new feature in 3.2 that only updates files that have been changed, rather than replacing all the files in your installation.

For a full list of fixes, view the changelog the list of tickets. Our release haiku:

JSON, the admin
A little bit tidier
Edge cases covered

There are the typical UI tweaks that tweak me the wrong way, but it appears cleaner. Of course this means nothing to you, as the reader, because nothing in my stylesheet seems to have changed. I’m still digging around it.

For those of you still reading this drivel, if you notice anything wrong, please let me know in the comments. If you are unable to comment, leave a note at the backup blog.

posted in Administrivia Leave A Comment