Category Archives: Uncategorized

I am finally clearing out my old FB group “BallDiamondBall”.  It’s a pity, as there was a lot of good content a long time ago, but I started it as a private group, and the participation is so low now that I can;t eve contact a quorum of old members to see what they want to do about privacy.  So I’m doing the responsible thing; deleting all users, nuking the content, and THEN changing the privacy settings.  At that point, I will tie the group to this blog.

I have a script running which is either deleting everything, or individually failing to delete each article, but either way, I am watching a bunch of great content slide up the screen.  A pity.  But I don’t want to suddenly … Continue reading →

It’s that time of the week again, when we connect for another townhall meeting in the Village of the Darned.

If the software tells you that you’re the only caller, don’t you believe it!  Press on with the access code and you’ll probably find us in there.

US: 515-604-9908

Access Code: [see chat in “BDB Chat” tab above]

International Local Dial-in Numbers

Albania +355 4 454 1702
Argentina +54 351 569-7183
Australia +61 2 8077 0505
Austria +43 1 2650524
Belgium +32 3 294 11 50
Brazil +55 11 3042-5274
Bulgaria +359 2 495 1701
Cambodia +855 96 696 7824
Chile +56 2 3210 9930
Colombia +57 6 7334210
Costa Rica +506 4090 1321
Croatia +385 1 8000 … Continue reading →

From the blog Samisdata,

The post-terror cultivation of passivity speaks to a profound crisis of – and fear of – the active citizen. It diminishes us as citizens to reduce us to hashtaggers and candle-holders in the wake of serious, disorientating acts of violence against our society. It decommissions the hard thinking and deep feeling citizens ought to pursue after terror attacks. Indeed, in some ways this official post-terror narrative is the unwitting cousin of the terror attack itself. Where terrorism pursues a war of attrition against our social fabric, seeking to rip away bit by bit our confidence and openness and sense of ourselves as free citizens, officialdom and the media diminish our individuality and our social role, through instructing us on what we may feel … Continue reading →

To all the vets here, of all the services, thank you for your service, for your commitment to the nation.

To all those who fell in service, may the Lord hold you near and dear.

This is a reprint of a review I wrote published over a decade ago in the Daily News of Galveston County.

Illustrated diary shows humanity of Civil War

By Mark Lardas
The Daily News

Published September 17, 2006

“The Southern Journey of a Civil War Marine: The Illustrated Note-Book of Henry O. Gusley,” edited and annotated by Edwad T. Cotham, University of Texas Press, $24.95. 213 pages.

In September 1863, a Galveston newspaper — not this one, a then-competitor: the Galveston Tri-Weekly News — began publishing a diary captured at the Battle of Sabine Pass earlier that month.

The diary proved enormously popular. It was kept by a U.S. Marine from Pennsylvania serving on the Clifton, one of two gunboats captured at Sabine Pass.

Although its author … Continue reading →

I have a new phone.

In olden days of yesteryear, such an announcement would have been greeted with a big “So what?”. A phone back then was a simple device , used for the simple task of speaking directly to people anywhere in the civilized world. Such a feat amazed my mother, and my grandfather, who grew up in even simpler times, but for us denizens of the late 20th century, a phone was no big deal.

Today, they are our alter egos, our valets, our staff of loyal servants. They have become, for many, a critical part of daily living.  When they stop working or are lost, you can see the twitching, the muscle memory in play , the person reaching for the device that is no … Continue reading →

Melania has disclosed that she is a practicing Catholic.

She prayed in the chapel at Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital during their visit to Rome, after visiting with the children there. She and the President of course also met with the Pope, who blessed a rosary for her.

I am very, very happy that our First Lady is a woman of faith. I think religious liberty will be protected under this administration, and I think the Little Sisters are probably singing prayers of joyful thanks today.

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Talking to a co-worker, and we got on the subject of cars. She asked what I drove and I told her a Z06. She then said she wouldn’t want one because it didn’t come as a stick shift. I had to tell her it did, but the auto was faster. Her rebuttal was, “It’s not about the speed – it’s about the “experieence”. You aren’t driving a sports car if it’s auto.”

I don’t understand this. It IS about the speed. ?Why else would you have a sports car. ALL modern race cars have auto transmissions. If you didn’t want to go fast, you could always drive a minivan.

The world seems full of these silly myths.

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