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Monday, July 17, 2017

Video Rental Stores - The Best Way To Temporarily Expand Your Gaming Library

One of the highlights of the weekend as a kid was being able to do practically anything my heart desired.  Well, within reason anyway.  As much as I would have loved to have sprayed graffiti all over the town with a can of purple spray paint, I'm fairly sure the local police would frown upon that.

Of course, I had to make sure that all of my homework was done before I could have the freedom to do what I wanted (though admittedly, I would purposely wait until Sunday night to do some of it because I couldn't be bothered to work on it during the weekend.)

Kids: Don't be like me.  Do your homework as soon as possible.  You'll save yourself the stress of typing out an eight page history essay while pulling an all-nighter the day before the assignment is due - though, I did get a B+ on that paper, so what do I know?

Anyway, my favourite activity when I was a kid was to go down to the little convenience store around the corner from where I used to live as a kid.  I believe it was called Darling's Variety.  Aside from spending part of my allowance on Salt and Vinegar potato chips, I'd use the rest to rent a video game that they had in stock.

And yes, there was a time in which you could rent video games for the low cost of $2.25 per day!



To be fair, they also had movies as well, but I was never really into the box office scene as much as I was the video game scene.  Besides, the little store I went to had a limited selection of both.  Sadly, that store closed up when I was in the sixth grade, and after that I would rent games from some of the local video rental places and from major chains like Blockbuster or Jumbo Video.  I tended to prefer Blockbuster a bit more though, as they let you rent games for a whole week.  Which came in really handy given that you cannot beat "Final Fantasy VI" in one day.  At least, not without eating, sleeping, or peeing anyway.



Of course, nowadays you'd be hard pressed to find a store that still rents videos and video games.  These days, sites like Netflix have cornered the monopoly on movie renting and streaming.  As well, there are literally hundreds of sites that offer free emulators that you can use to download video games - not to mention purchasing games directly from the Internet for the XBOX, PlayStation, and Nintendo.

But back in the days in which I was a kid...the idea of renting video games was just absolutely magical.

For one, my family was not flush with money by any means.  They couldn't afford to buy a new video game every month - and I certainly didn't expect them to either.  I mean, this is coming from someone whose first video game system was ten years older (and you can read about that story by clicking
HERE - one of the first blog entries I wrote, matter of fact!).  I saved up to buy my Nintendo for several months when I was nine, and it was so worth the purchase!



Because once I had the Nintendo in my possession, it opened me up to a world of endless possibilities.  Or, at the very least it allowed me to rent video games.



I still recall the first video games I rented from Darling's after I bought my Nintendo.  As it turned out, I still had enough money to rent three games from there, so I settled on "Bubble Bobble", "Tetris", and "Rampage".  Yeah, quite the triad of games.  One game you shot at everyone with green and blue bubbles, one game you tried to make lines with coloured blocks, and one game you tried to destroy the entire United States one skyscraper at a time.  It was great!

Of course, I had to make sure that all the games were returned by 1:00 the following afternoon, because if I didn't I'd be billed for an extra day, which the nine-year-old me couldn't afford.

Well, at least until Super Mario 3 came out...then I rented it every other day until I received the game as a Christmas gift!


So, what are some of your favourite stories involving video rental stores and video game rental stores?  Feel free to share them here!

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Commonwealth of Memories

As I look at the calendar, we are midway through the month of July.  The season of summer has officially kicked off, and for every student between the ages of 5-18, this means that the summer is theirs to do whatever they want to do.  They can go to summer camp, they can swim in the pool, they can eat so much ice cream they develop permanent brain freeze.

Or you could just waste time reading a book underneath the shade of a gigantic tree.  Or, I suppose nowadays, kids can take out their mobile phones and play "Candy Crush" underneath a tree.  Or, so I've heard, anyway.

Of course, summer vacation only lasts for a few precious weeks before the schools reopen and kids begin another year of reading, writing, and arithmetic.  It was a time of year that I simultaneously loved and hated.  I loved the idea of starting a new school year and buying school supplies...but I hated the idea of summer ending and having to spend the next nine and a half months with classmates I may or may not have liked. 

But what happens when your school decides not to reopen in the new school year?

Well, in the next couple of years, some students will be faced with that prospect...at least in my province anyway.  Several schools will be closing over the next three years because of low enrollment, and many schools will combine their student populations to form one school. 

And one of those schools that is on the chopping block happens to be my old elementary school.



Apparently, it will be closing along with two other elementary schools in the area and all of those students will be going to the remaining schools in the city.  There's talk of demolishing at least one of these school buildings and rebuilding a larger school to accommodate most of the displaced kids. 

Now, I have no idea what will happen to my old elementary school.  I don't know if it will remain open until the new school is supposed to be built, or if it will close at the end of the 2017/18 school year, of if it too will be knocked down.  There's a lot of questions flying around, and I'm not even sure if I have all the facts straight yet.  But I do know that the announcement made me think about my time at Commonwealth Public School, and how many memories I have associated with that place.

I guess I would like to use this piece to talk about my experiences, both good and bad, as a student at Commonwealth P.S.  That way, even if the school does close and ceases to exist, I'll have a digital memory of it here.

I attended Commonwealth as a student between the years 1987 and 1995, and for the most part I do have some good memories of the place.  There were some moments that I really would rather forget about though.  The bullies who picked on me every day.  The first grade teacher who tried to break me as a person.  The fact that I could never get a grade higher than a C minus in phys ed.  The blasted disciplinary chart that made all of us hate the letter "X" for ten years after the fact.  Yeah.  All memories that I want to forget.

But there are a lot of memories that stand out in my memory for all the good reasons.  Consider this a scrapbook of my time at Commonwealth P.S.  A real window into what elementary school in Canada was like in the 1980s and 1990s.

So, what do I remember most?



Well, our school colours for one.  I think we were one of the only schools in the entire province of Ontario whose school colours were royal blue and Orange Crush!  Not exactly the most beautiful of colour combinations, was it?  I suppose the orange made sense as our school mascot was the Commonwealth Cougar...but cougars had black spots...not blue.  At least it's something to remember.



I also remember earning these lovely blue and orange felt patches for my involvement in the school concert band.  The blue ones were for arts and science achievements while the orange ones were for athletics.  I played the baritone from sixth to eighth grades and took part in several school concerts.  I still remember the day when the eighth grade baritone player bailed and I had to play the solo as the only seventh grade baritone player.  I pulled it off brilliantly.



Mrs. Barclay was the school librarian during my entire tenure at the school, and I remember that our library at that time was in the basement.  It's a wonder none of us ended up with asbestos poisoning!  Though the crown jewel of the old school library was the red bathtub that was placed in the center of the reading area, and how all of us kids would fight to see which ones would spend library period in that bathtub.  Of course, the tub wasn't real.  It didn't have water hookups.  It was just a cool way to read books.  Oh, and I earned this nifty certificate for my research skills when I was just seven years old!  Not bad, huh?



I still have quite a few of my awards from when I attended Commonwealth as a student.  In sixth grade, our teacher would hand out Certificates of Achievement each week to those students who were mostly well behaved during that time.  I admit that I didn't get as many certificates as I would have liked, but that was because I was still a little bit rebellious against authority figures - stemming back to my grade one nightmare teacher.  My sixth grade teacher was a sweetheart though, and to this day, Mrs. Woodfine has always been my favourite elementary school teacher.  She helped me get into the idea of writing my feelings down, which helped me a great deal.  So if you want someone to blame for the last six years of this blog, blame her!  (Just kidding.)



Commonwealth P.S. was also one of the places where many of us learned how to use a computer for the first time, and I can recall dozens of instances where I'd play all sorts of games such as "Number Munchers", "Type Away", and my personal favourite, "Pick-A-Dilly Pair".

(Coincidentally, I was the champion of that game in second grade...and I NEVER LOST ONE MATCH.  EVER.)



For some reason, this song was also a key part of my second grade learning experience.  I have no idea why it has stuck in my brain for so long, but kudos to Carole King for making Chicken Soup with Rice so musically appealing.  For some reason, a lot of Commonwealth memories are associated with second grade.  The Mouse and the Motorcycle, McDonald's Day, giving Warm Fuzzies to our classmates...as well as being hospitalized for an asthma attack and missing my class photo that year...and speaking of which..



One part of school that I had a mixed reaction to was class picture day.  Above is the class picture that I took back when I was in grade five.  Let's just say that 1991 wasn't a kind year for me...or anybody else for that matter.



Then again, 1995 wasn't much better.  This was my grade eight graduation photo in which everything went wrong.  My hair was a mess, my face had broken out, and let's just say it's a good thing I was wearing that robe because I had accidentally squirted ketchup all over the white dress shirt I wore.  Why didn't they have our grad pics taken BEFORE lunch?

Of course, the good thing about graduation was getting that diploma which allowed us to pass into the world of high school - which admittedly I despised with the fire of a million suns, but the 14-year-old in me didn't see it as such.  And I had a great time at the grad dance.



Though, I should clarify...he wasn't my date.  This happens to be my best friend from those days, and twenty-two years later we're still very tight.  Probably one of the only people I can truly say that about.

Now there are some memories of Commonwealth P.S. that I have no photos of (or very few), so I can only describe them here using my words.  Any of my classmates that are reading this, I hope this list brings back some fond memories.  Here's a list of 40 that I can think of spur of the moment.



1.  WALKING TO THE CENOTAPH EVERY REMEMBRANCE DAY
2.  BEING THE "B" IN BRAVERY AT THE REMEMBRANCE DAY ASSEMBLY
3.  MY JUMP ROPE FOR HEART POSTER WHICH ENDED UP IN THE SCHOOL ART GALLERY
4.  THE COMMONWEALTH P.S. WINTER OLYMPICS FIELD DAY
5.  THE ANNUAL CRAZY HAT BARBECUE
6.  THE ANNUAL TEACHERS VS. GRADE 8 SOFTBALL GAME
7.  TRAIN SAFETY ASSEMBLIES
8.  USING "EAT OR CHEW" CARDS IN MADAME MORGAN'S FRENCH CLASS
9.  THE DIMOITOU PUPPET IN FRENCH CLASS



10.  THE DIMOITOU PUPPET SUSTAINING HEAD TRAUMA AFTER A CLASSMATE THREW IT AND THE WHOLE ACTIVITY CART DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS
11.  GIVING "WARM FUZZIES" TO MY SECOND GRADE CLASSMATES
12.  SCHOOL FUNDRAISING



13.  SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIRS
14.  PLAYING "SCRABBLE" IN 8TH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS CLASS
15.  LEARNING HOW TO PLAY THE "STOCK MARKET" WITH DR. DIVIDEND
16.  GRADE 8 FIELD TRIP TO TORONTO TO VISIT CANADA'S WONDERLAND AND SEE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
17.  5th GRADE POOL PARTY AT MR. HASKIN'S PLACE
18.  LEARNING HOW TO SLOW DANCE AT MY FIRST SCHOOL DANCE
19.  HAVING MY FINGER BROKEN BY A BOWLING BALL IN 4TH GRADE GYM CLASS
20.  HAVING KIDS ASK ME HOW TO SPELL WORDS...AND REGRETTING NOT CHARGING THEM FIVE CENTS PER LETTER
21.  USING RACCOONS COLOUR CHANGING MARKERS EVERY DAY IN SECOND GRADE
22.  SCRATCH AND SNIFF STICKERS - WE ALL LOVED THESE!
23.  THE BATHROOM KEYS WE USED IN SECOND GRADE
24.  GETTING AN INDOOR SUSPENSION FOR DEFENDING MYSELF - HEY, THEY WEREN'T ALL GOOD MEMORIES!
25.  BUILDING A DIORAMA OF A MOUNTAIN RANGE IN SIXTH GRADE
26.  RUNNING FOR CLASS REP DURING SCHOOL ELECTIONS...AND COMING IN DEAD LAST!
27.  CONTRIBUTING TO THE 5TH GRADE ENVIRONMENT MAGAZINE OUR CLASS MADE - AND REALIZING THAT I LOVED WRITING
28.  GETTING THE HIGHEST MARK ON THE WATERLOO MATH CONTEST IN 7TH GRADE - A FLUKE, SINCE IT'S MY WORST SUBJECT!
29.  THE CURVED YELLOW SLIDE THAT I ONCE FELL OFF OF AND SKINNED MY KNEE ON
30.  READING BUDDIES!



31.  MAKING AN ELF IN FIRST GRADE THIRTY YEARS AGO...AND REALIZING THAT I STILL HAVE A BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY INSIDE SAID ELF THAT HAS REMAINED FOR THIRTY YEARS!



32.  THIRD GRADE BEING THE "WINNIE THE POOH" YEAR - EVERY ACTIVITY WE DID SEEMED TO INVOLVE WINNIE THE POOH!
33.  OUR FIRST GRADE TEACHER GETTING STUCK IN THE STORYTIME CHAIR - THE FIRST TIME I LEARNED THE DEFINITION OF LASER GUIDED KARMA.
34.  SECRET SANTA EXCHANGES - I STILL HAVE EVERY GIFT I EVER RECEIVED!
35.  KIDS WHO TRIED TO TEASE ME BY POPPING BALLOONS IN MY FACE KNOWING THAT IT REALLY BOTHERED ME.  REAL MATURE, GUYS.  FORTUNATELY, I AM IN TOUCH WITH NONE OF THOSE MORONS.
36.  THE SCHOOL JANITOR, MR. MCMILLAN.  HE WAS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE GREATEST LISTENERS/PIANO PLAYERS THE SCHOOL EVER HAD AND HE WAS MY FRIEND.  HE DIED THE YEAR AFTER I GRADUATED.
37.  TRYING TO BURY A KID IN THE KINDERGARTEN SANDBOX.  YEP.  THAT HAPPENED.
38.  DOING A FACEPLANT IN THE ICY PAVEMENT IN GRADE ONE AND NEARLY BREAKING MY NOSE.  I WAS NOT GRACEFUL.  AT ALL.
39.  SEEING MY THIRD GRADE TEACHER, MR. PORTER DRESSED IN A KILT AND PLAYING THE BAGPIPES ON REMEMBRANCE DAY, 1989.

And finally...

40.  TO THE FEW FRIENDSHIPS THAT I HAVE MAINTAINED SINCE THOSE YEARS...AND HOW MANY OF YOU WERE DECENT AND GOOD PEOPLE WHO DESERVE THE BEST.  AND HOW I WOULD RATHER HAVE A REUNION WITH YOU GUYS THAN THE STUCK-UP SNOTS I ATTENDED HIGH SCHOOL WITH!  THANKS FOR MAKING MY TIME AT COMMONWEALTH P.S. SEEM MORE BEARABLE!


Thursday, July 13, 2017

July 13, 1923

It's time for another Throwback Thursday posting, and this one is brought to you by what was initially thirteen letters...but is now nine.  I know...it's a very confusing clue, isn't it?  Don't worry.  We'll sift through the stars to find out the answer in no time. 

Until then, let's have a gander at the other happenings that took place on July 13th.

100 B.C. - Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar (d. 44 B.C.) is born

1249 - Alexander III is crowned King of Scots

1793 - French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is assassinated in his own bathtub by Charlotte Corday

1863 - Opponents of conscription riot in the streets of New York City; the riots last a total of three days

1878 - The Treaty of Berlin is signed

1928 - Actor Bob Crane (d. 1978) is born in Waterbury, Connecticut

1934 - Canadian journalist/writer Peter Gzowski (d. 2002) is born in Toronto, Ontario

1954 - Mexican painter Frida Kahlo dies at the age of 47

1962 - British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses seven members of his own cabinet, marking an end of the National Liberals as a distinctive force within British government

1966 - Singer/actor Gerald Levert (d. 2006) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1973 - Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the "Nixon Tapes" to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break-in

1974 - George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" hits the top of the Billboard Charts

1977 - A blackout causes most of New York City to lose power for over twenty-four hours, sparking riots and looting throughout the area

1985 - The Live-Aid concert is held, being broadcast all over the world

2006 - Actor/comedian Red Buttons dies at the age of 87

2010 - New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner dies at the age of 80

2013 - Actor/singer Cory Monteith is found dead of a drug overdose, aged 31

2016 - British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns, and is succeeded by Theresa May

And for celebrity birthdays today, we will wish the following famous people a happy birthday!  Johnny Gilbert, Aleksei Yeliseyev, Patrick Stewart, Robert Forster, Harrison Ford, Roger McGuinn, Cheech Marin, Didi Conn, Louise Mandrell, Mark Mendoza, Cameron Crowe, Tom Kenny, Rhonda Vincent, Paul Thorn, Ken Jeong, Justin Edwards, and Deborah Cox.

I will also state that had my grandmother lived, she would have been 92 years old today.  Happy birthday, Grandma...wherever you may be.

So, what date will we be going back in time to this week?



I think we'll go back in time 94 years ago today - to July 13, 1923.

Now, remember the clue that I gave you earlier.  About how it was something that initially had thirteen letters, but now currently has nine.  It's in relation to a very famous tourist attraction in the state of California.

A tourist attraction that was initially only meant to be temporary!

This means that right off the bat we can eliminate the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, the Capitol Records building, the Walk of Fame, and Grauman's Chinese Theatre.  Besides, none of those places started off with thirteen letters in its name.

No, today's subject is about a landmark that most people equate with the motion picture industry.  It's a place where aspiring actors and actresses look up to, dreaming that one day they will be discovered.  It's a place that is one of the most photographed landmarks in the United States.  It's a landmark that was initially erected in 1923 to promote a real estate development and was only expected to last a few months!



However, thanks to the rise of the film industry, the donations of several well known celebrities to keep the landmark going, and the general love for the landmark by the public, the famous HOLLYWOOD sign has been a part of Los Angeles ever since.

Of course, back on July 13, 1923, the sign didn't just say "Hollywood".  The sign was designed by real estate developers Woodruff and Shoults, who wanted to advertise a segregated housing development in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.  The sign was originally built out of wood and sheet metal, with each letter measuring thirty feet in width, and fifty feet in height.  Four thousand light bulbs were placed on each of the letters of the sign so that in the night, the sign would glow as bright as a Christmas tree.  Searchlights were also installed below the sign to make it stand out even more.



Interestingly, the original sign contained four extra letters, making it read out "HOLLYWOODLAND".  And believe it or not, the sign was originally only supposed to last until January 1925, and was only ever intended to be temporary.  Of course, 1925 was a year in which the motion picture industry really started to boom and unbeknownst to the people who erected the sign, they had done so during the "Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema", so as a tribute to the film industry, the decision was made to keep the sign up permanently.

At least, the original version was SUPPOSED to be permanent.

Over the years, the wood/sheet metal combo proved to be no match for the conditions of the weather, as well as natural disasters such as minor earthquakes, and slowly the once pristine letters began to decay.  During the early 1940's, the caretaker of the Hollywoodland sign - Albert Kothe - had a little too much to drink while driving on the hills surrounding the sign in his 1928 Ford Model A.  He wasn't watching where he was going and he crashed right into the "H" in the Hollywoodland sign, completely destroying it and his car!

Fortunately, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce signed a contract with the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to rebuild the H in the sign.  But it did come at a cost.  Since the Parks Department declared that illumination of the sign would come at the cost of the Chamber of Commerce, the decision was made to remove all the light bulbs from the sign and just stick with the spotlights.  As well, the last four letters of the Hollywoodland sign were completely removed, leaving the iconic "HOLLYWOOD" on display.  By 1949, the H had been fully restored - but the letters still remained unprotected from the deterioration.

By 1977, the sign looked like this.



Hard to believe, huh?  Half of the first "O" was gone, and the third "O" completely disintegrated.  Not much of a tourist destination, huh?  Looking back on it, it's actually kind of an outrage that it got to that condition in the first place!



Apparently Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner agreed, and launched a public campaign to get the Chamber of Commerce to replace the dilapidated letters of the old Hollywood sign with more permanent structures that could withstand the elements and last longer.  The cost to replace the sign was $250,000, and the new letters were going to be 45 feet high and made completely of steel supported by a concrete foundation.  And each letter was paid for by one of nine donors, who each put up a total of $27,777.77 to restore the sign.

The nine donors were Terrence Donnelly (H), Giovanni Mazza (1st O), Les Kelley (1st L), Gene Autry (2nd L), Hugh Hefner (Y), Andy Williams (W), Warner Bros. Records (2nd O), Alice Cooper - in memory of Groucho Marx (3rd O), and Dennis Lidtke - in memory of Matthew Williams (D).

The new sign was dedicated on November 11, 1978 and was televised live on CBS.  And aside from a touch up of the sign that took place in 2005, the sign has remained in its spot ever since in all of its glory.

By the way, you might be interested to know what happened to the original letters from the 1923 sign.  Initially thought to have been completely destroyed when the sign was replaced in 1978, parts of the sign were discovered to be for sale on eBay by producer Dan Bliss.  The remains of the 1923 sign were bought by artist Bill Mack, who used parts of the sheet metal to create some pieces of art, as well as restoring the letter "H" from the sign - remember, the original H was destroyed in that car accident.  In August 2012, the Los Angeles City Council recognized Mack's efforts and awarded him a certificate of recognition for his efforts to restore a piece of Hollywood history.

A piece of Hollywood history that turns ninety-four years old today.  Just think about this for a second...Betty White is older than the Hollywood sign. 



Or, should I say, HollyWEED?  

Monday, July 10, 2017

Adults Behaving Badly



It was a little over thirty years ago that the late Whitney Houston released a single entitled "The Greatest Love of All".  The single, which topped the Billboard Charts in the spring of 1986 was a song all about finding the best within yourself and how learning to love yourself truly is the greatest love of all.  It was a brilliant song with a lovely message, and one that still holds true in 2017.  Or, at least I would like to think so anyway.



I think right from the very first line of that song, it packs a powerful punch.  The song opens with the line "I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way".  Isn't that quite profound?  And keep in mind that Whitney was only 22 years old when that song was released.  Unfortunately, we all know how her life ended, but back in that time period she was filled with endless optimism and belief that the would can be a great place if we teach future generations well.

Alas, I don't think Ms. Houston was all that prepared for the brouhaha that has made up the year 2017 so far.



Is it just me, or does it seem like more and more adults are behaving badly these days?  It seems as though there are new stories popping up on the Internet and on local news broadcasts about how poorly adults have been acting.  People getting into road rage incidents because someone accidentally cut them off.  People lunging at fast food workers because someone accidentally forgot to put pickles on their Big Macs.  Customers reducing cashiers to tears because they tried to use a coupon that expired three years ago.  What's worse is that many of these people will be in the presence of impressionable young children who will grow up thinking that it is okay to treat people in that manner.

News flash.  It's not.  It never was.  It should never be.

Now, I think back to when I was a kid, and it seemed as though we had more positive role models to look up to.  I basically grew up in the land of the 1980s schmatzy sitcom.  We had idols like Henry Warnimont from "Punky Brewster", and Philip Drummond from "Diff'rent Strokes", and Heathcliff Huxtable from...

...yeah, you know what, scratch that last one off the list for very obvious reasons.

But aside from the fictional representations we had in my childhood years, our real life adults were supposed to be role models, and for the most part I think they succeeded.  (Well, aside from that evil teacher I had, but I've talked about her enough.)  I mean, most of my teachers taught me how to respect other people.  People were respectful to cashiers and service providers and very rarely had a cross word to say about them.  Even our politicians didn't seem to have that many scandals when I was a kid (well, aside from Clinton's dalliance with a White House intern and Dan Quayle not knowing how to spell the word potato). 

How times have changed.  And not in a good way.

I mean, how in the world can we teach our children to be decent people and be positive role models for them when you have a world leader who continues to make offensive tweets to anybody and everybody he chooses.



Yes, I'm talking about Donald Trump.  A man whose promises that he has made to his country seem to be taking a backseat to his sexist, derogatory, and immature tweets.  I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican.  A world leader should NOT be poking the hornet's nest at a time in which his country has never been more divided.  And frankly, Donald Trump is at an age where he really should know better than to act like that in front of the public, and I have absolutely no problem telling him that he has all the emotional intelligence of a two-year-old.  At the rate he is going right now, even if he comes up with some brilliant ideas to fix the American economy, his tirades on Twitter will be all that people will remember him for. 

What I think is even more deplorable is that because Trump gets away with saying some of the most idiotic things on social media, it has allowed similar minded people to do exactly the same thing.  I can't believe the amount of racist comments, sexist comments, slurs against the LGBTQ community, and outright threats to people who identify as Muslim on various pages on social media.  It has gotten so bad that I've had to block all political posts on my Facebook page because I can't stand the nastiness coming out of people's mouths...or, I guess in this case, it would be the words that are typed out from people's fingers.

It also makes me realize that social media is one of those places where people are always showing who they really are.  Even before social media, the Internet itself is a place where even the most careful spy can't be completely anonymous.

Back in the old days of the Internet when many of us used screennames to post on message boards and chat rooms there was a little bit of a mystery as most of us didn't reveal our real names at the time.  But you could get a sense of who a person really was based on how they wrote on these boards.  Usually, people develop "keyboard courage" and write a whole bunch of things that they would NEVER say on the streets or in public, and when they do that, they show people a true sense of what kind of a person they are - whether it is good or bad.

I think of social media to be the same thing, only without the anonymity of a fake name (unless you are running a sockpuppet account).  I know for a fact that some people I've seen on Facebook act one way in reality, and a completely different way on social media.  And in many of those cases, the personality they assume on Facebook is the ugly side of them.  The one that feels justified to slag off of a woman in a bikini because they feel she doesn't have the body to wear one.  The one who purposely makes racist comments about celebrities and former U.S. President Barack Obama simply because they have the right to "free speech".  The one that posts memes that purposely try to humiliate someone else because they feel they have the right to.

People who are adults and who should know better.

What sort of message are we telling the generation after us when adults behave badly?  That it's justified to bully someone?  That it's okay to slag off of someone who isn't "perfect"?  That it's okay to deny rights and services to people based on their skin colour, sexual preference, or religious background?  In no universe should this ever take place.

We are NOT given the right to "free speech" to purposely harm other people.  We are given the right to "free speech" to make the world a better place.  To challenge ideas that are outdated and closed-minded.  To teach our children and grandchildren the difference between right and wrong.  That's what free speech is to me.  And it's amazing how many adults either don't understand what that right is, or abuse it to the point where it should be revoked.

Parents.  Teachers.  Public figures.  Politicians.  We all have a stake in how we want the generations after us to behave.  Don't you think we should do our best to make sure we present ourselves in the best way possible?

After all.  When adults behave badly...it just sets the tone for how the offspring of said adults will turn out.  And frankly we already have enough jerks in this world as it is.

Thursday, July 06, 2017

July 6, 1885

I'm actually flying through this week's Throwback Thursday by the seat of my pants, as I haven't chosen a topic yet and probably won't until I look through the events of July 6.  Apparently July 6 is a day that was filled with a LOT of significant history, and picking one is next to impossible.  Just have a look!

1483 - Richard III is crowned King of England

1777 - The Siege of Fort Ticonderoga takes place during the American Revolutionary War

1779 - The Battle of Grenada takes place

1854 - The first convention of the United States Republican Party is held in Jackson, Michigan

1907 - Artist Frida Kahlo (d. 1954) is born in Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico

1914 - Founder of the WWE Vince McMahon Sr. (d. 1984) is born in Harlem, New York

1919 - British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean via airship

1921 - 42nd First Lady of the United States Nancy Reagan (d. 2016) is born in New York City

1925 - Rock singer Bill Haley (d. 1981) and game show creator Merv Griffin (d. 2007) are both born on this date

1927 - Actress Janet Leigh (d. 2004) is born in Merced, California

1933 - The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Comiskey Park in Chicago

1939 - The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are shut down as a direct result of the Holocaust

1940 - Brisbane, Australia's Story Bridge is opened to the public

1942 - Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse

1944 - Baseball player Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus leading to a court-martial

1957 - Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon Championships - the first black tennis player to do so; on that same day, Paul McCartney and John Lennon meet up for the first time as teenagers

1971 - Singer Louis Armstrong dies at the age of 69

1982 - Actress Misty Upham (d. 2014) is born in Kalispell, Montana

1986 - David Phinney becomes the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France

1989 - An Arab passenger aboard a bus enroute from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem attacks the driver as the bus is traveling along a cliffside; fourteen people are killed in the crash

1998 - Actor/singer Roy Rogers dies at the age of 86

1999 - U.S. Army private Barry Winchell is murdered by Calvin Glover because Winchell was dating a transgender Navy Corpsman

2003 - Actor/singer Buddy Ebsen dies at the age of 95

2013 - A train derails and explodes in the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, destroying part of the town's downtown core and killing 47 people

And celebrating a birthday today are the following people; Della Reese, Ned Beatty, Gene Chandler, Jeannie Seely, George W. Bush, Fred Dryer, Sylvester Stallone, James Kiberd, Geoffrey Rush, Nanci Griffith, Allyce Beasley, Willie Randolph, Jennifer Saunders, Robin Antin, Heather Nova, Inspectah Deck, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Adam Busch, Tia and Tamera Mowry, Kevin Hart, Gregory Smith, Diamond Rings, and Sophie Auster.

So, those are all the subjects that I did not choose for today.  So, what date will I be talking about this week?

I'll admit that when I was looking at subjects to choose from, I was completely at a loss as to pick a topic that seemed interesting.  And then it hit me.  I needed to go back in time.  Way back in time.



Like, say...July 6, 1885.  Yeah, we're going back in time one hundred and thirty-two years. 

And the question related to this week's Throwback Thursday post is this.  How many of you have heard of a disease known as rabies?

I know.  Silly question.  Most of us know what it is.  And let's put it this way.  It's a really BAD disease to get.  Rabies is a viral disease that can cause the swelling of the brain and has a ton of symptoms that are not very nice.  Perhaps the most common of these symptoms is the foaming of the mouth, as the disease causes increased saliva production.  And generally speaking, rabies can be considered an instant death sentence, as a person who starts showing symptoms will likely die from the disease within two to ten days afterwards.  So, needless to say, it's not something that you want to contract. 

The most common way to contract rabies is to come in contact with an animal that has the rabies virus in them.  While dog bites are one way to contract them, it's important to know that dog bites only make up 5% of rabies cases.  You're actually more likely to get rabies from a bat than you are a dog. 

Of course, prior to 1885, anybody who contracted rabies was going to die.  And there was no way to prevent people who had gotten bitten by a rabid animal to contract the disease in the first place.



At least that was the case until Louis Pasteur came along.

Now, if that name sounds familiar, it's because he's also the man who invented the pasteurization process for milk and dairy products.  But did you know that he also patented a vaccine for rabies along with Emile Roux?  It's quite impressive, given that Pasteur wasn't a medical doctor at the time and could have easily been charged with medical malpractice.  To everybody's surprise, the vaccine ended up being quite effective.



The vaccine was harvested from rabid rabbits already infected with the disease, and the virus was purposely weakened within the nerve tissue by letting it dry between a period of five to ten days.  And it was put to the ultimate test on July 6, 1885 when a nine year old boy named Joseph Meister.  Meister was bitten by a rabid dog, and it was feared that the bite would cause him to die.

But with the rabies vaccination that Pasteur developed, it was decided that it would be used on Meister despite the fact that it was never tested on humans and that the results were more or less unpredictable.  But the treatment was very successful and Meister did not develop the rabies virus.  It also served as the prototype for more effective virus treatments, and these days rabies can be successfully treated and eradicated before symptoms begin to show - though anyone who has ever undergone the rabies shot can probably tell you how painful a procedure it can be.  Although given the alternative, it's a far sight better to undergo a series of shots than die.

As for what happened to Joseph Meister?  Well, after surviving the series of rabies shots, he went on to serve as a caretaker for the Pasteur Institute until his death via suicide in 1940.  In a tragic twist of fate, he had decided to take his own life just ten days after Germany invaded Paris, France because he had thought he had sent his family away to death - only for his family to return the same day he died.

However, despite the bittersweet ending, Meister - as well as Louis Pasteur - managed to help save thousands of lives each year.  That's something to celebrate.