Good News and Bad News

Which one do you want first?

Alright.

Good News........Next month I will be closing on a house!!! I will finally be a home owner and I am really excited. So, now I can mark that off my things to do list! I will be moving to Weleetka. Yee Haw! Never heard of it? That's okay. You aren't alone. It's a teeny tiny town. At heart, I am a country girl. I like living in a town that rolls up the street at 8PM. So this will be great for me.

I will be more centrally located for my job and that will be a blessing. This whole house things is a blessing all the way around. I cannot be more thankful! I will post pics when I get some that I like. More than likely I will do the before and after.

I am in the process of picking out paint, hardwood, carpet, tile and it's exciting and fun. So, lots of changes coming real soon.

Bad News..........MRI showed that I have a herniated disc at L4-5 and that I have some degenerative disc disease. I am going to take a very conservative approach and not go the surgery route unless I just have to. In the meantime, I will be careful. Those of you who know me are saying, "Yeah, right." Really, I will be good. Safety first! :)

I have decided to hire a moving company to move me completely. Might cost a mint, but it is worth the peace of mind and saving my back and the time and effort of family and friends.

I have been a little lazy lately with the blogging. Just have been so busy. I will be posting some new things by the weekend. So, check back.

Until then, take care and remember.........safety first! :)

AKM

Odds and Ends

Hello, my friends:

Sitting here in bed, eating popcorn, watching Columbo......is there anything better? I don't think so.

What Columbo episode, you ask? Murder, Smoke and Shadows. It's from the 80's. I prefer the ones from the 70's for a lot of different reasons.....bottom line, the 70's are groovy.

Don't have really anything specific to talk about.....just feeling talkative (I know that comes as quite a shock to some of you).

So, get comfy and enjoy the read.

First of all, popcorn......perfect snack. I love it, although probably not as much as my dad does. He might need to seek help for his popcorn addiction. Seen the latest Orvelle Redenbacher commercial where they have him losing his temper and cursing? Bothers me. He seemed like such a nice, calm man.

- My spy sweeper just notified me that I have 33 spyware things on my computer....that can't be good. -

Back to Orvelle. Why pimp Orvelle's original commercial? It's just wrong. What's next, Mr. Rogers doing a strip tease while exchanging sweaters? Not creative enough to come up with your own stuff? Funny how it bothers me....I know, it's just a commercial.

I cannot breathe and it's driving me nuts....sinuses. Tis the season, I guess.

My mom told me that she heard on the news that Archaeologist found King Herod's tomb. Not much about it on Google, but they are supposed to have a press conference about it tomorrow. How interesting!

I have an exciting day tomorrow....at least the afternoon is exciting. If all goes well, I will get to check one of those Things to do in 2007 items off my list. I'll remain quiet on the subject for now.

In the morning I have an MRI scheduled for my back injury of last month. I hope it goes well. It's at 0700....Yea, that's what I want to do at that hour. Got to do it though...still have a numb right thigh and other problems I just won't mention.

I just realized that this has to be the most boring blog ever. Sorry, just feel like talking.

Better go if I'm going to get up by 0600 to do time in the tube.

Have a good one.

AKM

Debunking Sweet Home Alabama

I'm sure most of you have seen the movie, Sweet Home Alabama. I have and enjoyed it. However, something about that movie is soooo wrong and it bothers me every time I see it.

So, to all the Geologist out there, I've got your back on this one!

Remember the beautiful glass pieces that were pulled out of the sand after lightning struck the sand in a thunderstorm? They were great weren't they? Bet you looked for one on ebay after the movie.

You did, didn't you?

Come on.....you can tell me.

Well, guess what, you can find one on ebay! Only catch is that it's not quite going to look like it did in the movie. (Imagine that)

It's going to look something like these.

Disappointed? Don't be....this is the real deal and there is nothing better than that, right? To think that these are formed by a split second moment in time....it's amazing. They are rare treasures waiting to be found in the sand.

So, what are they? They are called Fulgurites. First, I will tell you what they are like and then I will explain how they are formed.

They are hollow, as you will see in the picture below, they are extremely light weight, they have a rough texture on the outside. Some of them have a smooth, glass like appearance and texture on the inside. When you hit them together, they have a high pitched tone.....they sound like glass clanking together or wind chimes. I think they are great and I like to think of them as lightning fossils.

Here is how they are formed. Fulgurite is the varietal name given to fused Quartz, SiO2, which has been fused by the action of lightning striking the Earth and locally melting the sand. Some of the best Fulgurite specimens are found in Quartz sand, where the Fulgurite takes the form of a tube or tubes. The best known Fulgurite was found in Florida. It consisted of three branches totalling 38 feet! Wouldn't that have been fun to find?! There are Sand Fulgurites and Rock Fulgurites.

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Let me break it down for you!

Sand Fulgurite...as lightning strikes the Earth and courses downward through the sand, the sand is instantly super heated and therefore melts or fuses together. After the sand cools, glass-like hollow tubes can sometimes be found beneath the sand. Sometimes branching as they descend and sometimes extending several feet - usually decreasing in diameter.

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Rock Fulgurite...they are formed when lighting strikes the surface of a rock, melting and fusing the surface, and sometimes the interior of the rock.

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Here is something interesting about the origin of the name Fulgurite....

In Europe, during the Medivial times a ringing church bell was thought to protect the local village from a certain type of weather. Because of this belief, it was common for church bells to be inscribed with the words "Fulgura frango", meaning " I break the lightning". A lovely thought.....church bells protecting a village from lightning, but in one 33 year span, more than 100 bell-ringers lost their lives disproving that theory. Needless to say, the inscriptions disappeared pretty quickly; but, the Latin word for lightning "fulgurate" survived and became the root of the English word fulgarite meaning lightning fused sand.

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So, the next time you are at the beach, start your treasure hunt. You might be able to find a little piece of sand that captured a moment in time. Neat thought.

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I think they are sculptures of nature - God being the artist, of course. That beats Hollywood any day of the week in my book!

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AKM

Kent State and the Ohio National Guard

I received a comment regarding the Kent State Shootings that I would like to draw attention to.

"M" wrote the following:

While it is certainly true and tragic that four students were killed and nine others injured, no one ever seems to consider the impact that this incident had on the lives of the Guardsmen there that day.

Someone very close to me was one of them. Here are a few relevant facts that no one seems to either be aware of or address:

1. These Guardsmen were, for the most part, young. Very young. Most of them the same age as these students.

2. They were not fully trained soldiers. This was time of war when training was for "real soldiers".

3. There was rioting in the streets of Kent happening at the time. From what I have been told by my Mother, who was there, (so was I as a baby) when she and my Grandmother were travelling through town via car, they were in fear for their lives. There was much destruction. The car was almost overturned with all three of us in it.

4. The Guard Unit that my relative was in had spent much of the previous week camped out alongside the highway in an attempt to curb violence resulting from a Teamsters strike. There were death threats that had been made against the non-union drivers. This is why these units were armed as they were.

5. The climate at the University at that time was being, at a minimun affected, if not controlled, by subversive and violent groups who had been on Campus for some time prior to May 4th. Groups that were infamous for their dissention and violence. They had created a firestorm of emotion in an otherwise peaceful community. Deliberately. As these letters so chillingly seem to point out.

6. The Guardsmen were under attack. They weren't monsters who came with the intention to cut down some "hippie protesters". They were in fear for their own lives as well. No one knew if there were firearms in the crowd of students or not. They were told to "expect anything".

In retrospect, I think that it should be considered that there were other factors certainly at play on May 4th. These Guardsmen were not some bloodthirsty killing machine turned loose to murder innocent students.

They were young, ill-equipped to handle such a volatile situation, frightened and completely ignorant of what to expect. Most of them were also natives of this area and had never seen anything like what was happening that week.

If our Government had a hand in this plot (which seems very likely) I am completely convinced that these young men were only pawns.None of them died that day, but they were adversely affected as well.

There was much emotional trauma on their end too. This was just a tragic situation all the way around. Their lives were changed forever as well. I can personally see that whenever this subject comes up in my family. My relative is a good and decent man who would never calculate and deliver violence willingly to another human being and to have been put in a situation where he had to be involved in something so alien to him with the outcome so horrible and far-reaching has impacted him forever.

I am sure that this doesn't compare with the despair of these families at the loss of a loved one. I would never be so callous to even hold the two up side by side. I only hope that someday all of this can come out in the open and that people will see that these young men were not evil. They didn't go there that day with intentions of destruction. They have been painted as something that they were not.

I can't shed any light on the thoughts and intentions of their supervisors, but I can say that these young men were ignorant of any longer-reaching, sinister undercurrent.

Respectfully,

M

M,

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment. You gave me a lot to think about and I would first like to say that I am so sorry for the trauma your relative has gone through.

You know, to be honest, I never thought much about the Guardsmen or what they went through. You helped me do that today and I appreciate it.

I have tried to be careful to give any opinion regarding May 4th because I wasn't there and I wasn't born until 1971; therefore, I certainly don't have an idea what the climate of the times must have been like. I do recognize that May 4th and the events leading up to it must have been shocking, frightening and something that escalated to a point that no one expected or was prepared to deal with.

I don't think the Guardsmen were evil, blood thirsty individuals who were hell bent on killing. You helped me understand that more than likely they were young men who were scared, ill prepared and probably given commands that were not appropriate.

I have no doubt their experience on May 4th is close to the surface and something that doesn't escape their thoughts often. I have compassion for them and hope that they have been able to find personal peace regarding their involvement on that day.

I am surprised at how passionate people still feel about this subject. I never expected to hear from people regarding this. Maybe I have because there is a lack of healing. Maybe everyone was and is too busy blaming and accusing rather than communicating and treating others with compassion and understanding.

Is there any difference between a student standing up for their convictions and a Guardsmen of the same age standing strong in the face of chaos out of a strong sense of conviction and duty?

My best to the families and individuals involved in the tragic events of May 4th. To the Guardsmen who are tortured about what they were asked to do and to the students who felt needlessly attacked. I think the true culprits are the people who weren't seen that day - the ones who gave orders, made decisions based upon politics and escaped consequences for their actions.

Thank you M. I wish you and your family the very best.

AKM

Kent State Shootings and Steven Sharoff

In April, I posted some information regarding the Kent State Shootings. For the privacy of certain individuals, I used only their initials in my postings.

Much to my surprise, I have been able to communicate with one of those individuals. Steven Sharoff. He has read Mr. Knopf's letters regarding himself and has sent me an email response regarding those letters. He has given me permission to post his response and I am quite grateful to him for his time and communication.

I will let you come to your own conclusions, but I believe Mr. Sharoff. He has been quite gracious and I hope you find his response enlightening.

I have read Prof. Knopf's material and am, frankly, astounded. It is filled with suppositions and inaccuracies. I never hid nor disappeared. My movements can be traced very accurately. I left KSU because my thesis topic on the May 4 incident was not approved by a split history department and for no other reason. (My advisor can prove that.) I did indeed finish many courses at KSU and have the transcripts to prove it (and several advanced degrees I might add!).

I never worked for the FBI or any other govt agency, unless you count being a probation officer in my tiny county in NY for a year or so before going back to grad school where I spent the next 3 years.

The truth is so simple that people like Dr. Knof are unable to believe it: I wandered into the middle of a situation and became heavily involved in it. (JG and TB were both great guys and didn't follow me. In fact it was one of their ideas to bury (not burn) the constitution.) You can call it destiny or fate or whatever. None of it was planned. I saw what I considered to be a miscarriage of justice when the U attempted to kick SDS off campus and I became, by accident I can assure you, the leader of CCC. I was never very radical nor, at the same time, was I very pleased with what was going on in Vietnam to put it mildly.

As far as the assistantship is concerned, Dr. Knof was right; it was unusual. That was due to Dr. Lou Harris, the Provost. My relationship with Dr. Harris was very interesting and began with an invitation and visit to his home. Basically he wanted to know how I became involved in all of what I was involved in. I had absolutely nothing to hide and so told him and he believed me. (Dr. Harold Kitner was also at that meeting.) When the next day it was reported by the VP of student affairs that I was seen at a regional SDS meeting the night before, the same night I spent the evening at Dr. Harris, I realized just what kind of people I was dealing with. I have alwasy thought very highly of Dr. Harris and believe to this day that has his council been sought, the incident at KSU may never have happened.

Last, if I was an "agent" do you think that I would have gone before the govt panel on KSU or let myself be interviewed by James Mitchner or appeared in the Time-Life series? I'm surprised that Dr. Knof, as a historian, didn't do better. (I did in fact spend 5 years in Europe working for the U of Maryland who had a contact with the military. So the tidbit about my being on a base in Germany for a brief time is probably true.)

There is lots more and I'd be happy to have a conversation with you and/or the other correspondents.

Sincerely,Steven Sharoff

Thank you and Best Wishes, Mr. Sharoff.

AKM

When you visit, fireworks always go off!

The title of this blog has nothing to do with what I am going to talk about.

It's what a friend said to me last night. I just had to repeat it.....what chick doesn't want to hear that?!

Makes my day.......love it! Thank you, kind sir.

Okay, let's talk Super Suppers AGAIN.

First of all, everything that I have cooked so far has been wonderful. I hurt myself on the Shrimp Scampi.....had to take a walk I was so miserable! (Good miserable)

Today, I made the following things:

Skillet Goulash - TON of food
Bruschetta Chicken Bake (I'm going to love this one)
Shrimp Divan
Pepperoni Braided Bread - had that tonight...I had to share - It could easily feed three people and I have another one in the freezer.

6 total entrees (made 2 of Goulash and Chicken Bake) Remember, there are about 6 servings per entree. That's a lot of grub!

Grand Total? $107.00. NO WAY I could do that at the grocery store. No way I would want to cook all of that. No way I would want to clean up the kitchen after cooking.

I'm in heaven!!!!!!!!!!! I want to have a private party and invite my girlfriends. Girlfriends, if you are reading this.........get ready to PARTAY!!!!!

This idea was brilliance! By the way, it's just fun, fun, fun at Super Suppers. The owner is nice and the workers so helpful. There is no down side, people! Quite frankly, if you don't try it, I'm going to question your level of intelligence!

Did I mention that when I visit, fireworks go off?

AKM