George’s slightly off-center view of the world
Playing devil’s advocate here…
How evil was Richard Nixon? He resigned in disgrace. But he left us with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Oh yeah, he also initiated diplomatic relations with China.
Ripley’s “Believe It or Not!” operates “Odditoriums” and other attractions in eleven states, Canada, Mexico and six other countries. These locations do not include his hometown, Santa Rosa California, where the “Church of One Tree” once housed a museum celebrating Robert Ripley. Continue reading “Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and the Church of One Tree”
Scotty Moore died last week. He was 84 years old. He made history on July 5, 1954. On that date he recorded “That’s All Right” at Sam Phillips’s tiny Sun Studio in Memphis. Moore, accompanied by bass player Bill Black and singer/rhythm guitarist Elvis Presley, laid down the mind-shattering guitar licks on the recording that changed everything.
Keith Richards, who plays guitar in a popular band, once said, “When I heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ I knew what I wanted to do in life. It was as plain as day. All I wanted to do in the world was to be able to play and sound like that. Everyone else wanted to be Elvis, I wanted to be Scotty.”
Rolling Stone magazine’s Scotty Moore tribute.
The Confederated Congress dissolved itself on March 4, 1789 and immediately met as the first session of the United States Congress. Eleven of thirteen states had approved the new Constitution – the other two would the following year – to replace the Articles of Confederation. The new constitution was ratified with ten amendments, largely the work of James Madison. The amendments, the Bill of Rights, were added partly from political expediency and compromise to ensure ratification of the Constitution. Madison wrote, “Bill of Rights—useful—not essential.” A couple of the more famous Founding Fathers are on record about the amendments to the new Constitution.
You can draw your own conclusion about what they would think of “A well regulated Militia” in the twenty-first century.
Sonoma and Napa have an ongoing rivalry. Sonomans like to make fun of Napa: “Sonoma makes wine; Napa makes auto parts.” The affluent sophisticates in Napa County respond… well, they don’t respond. They scarcely acknowledge the existence of the bumpkins in Sonoma County. But that’s not the civil war this is about. Continue reading “When the Civil War Came to Sonoma County”
In May 1895, Oscar Wilde entered Newgate Prison in London to begin two years hard labor for his crime of “gross indecency.” On June 17, 2016, the Tampa Bay Rays drew their largest crowd in a decade. The Rays hosted the San Francisco Giants with 40,135 in attendance on “Pride Night,” dedicated to the victims of the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Average attendance for the Rays is 16,037, second lowest in the major leagues.
