Retirement, trolling and boycots (5/25/2023)

Oh crap, I had 190 views of my blog yesterday! The previous week I had none, zero. What happened? Here I just read a few minutes earlier that Russia put a restriction or boycott on 190+ U.S. citizens, mostly enemies of tRump. Had the Russians been trolling my pages and have they been trolling me and put a boycott on me?

Nah, on further research on the announcement from Russia, I am not on the list (yet?) and I am still free to travel. This despite I have been strongly opposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and been even more critical of tRump in the various blogs I have written. I have had a lot of visits from the Russian Federation, but no, I have not been blackballed, yet.

Honestly, I do not think that black balling would stop me from criticizing either tRump or Russia and Putin. Moreover, I will always continue fighting for the environment and against global climate change. Yes, it is amazing that already from a distance, Putin is trying to influence the 2024 election by putting a boycott om tRump enemies, instead of only boycotting folks who have to do with trying to stop his crimes in Ukraine.

But this still makes me wonder why for a week or maybe a couple of weeks I have a trickle of visits to my blog and then all the sudden I get 190 hits. Crazy, but of the 199 views this past week, 100% were on Chrome, 189 were from Windows machines, nine Linux and one Mac. Most of my visitors were from Russia (190), eight from the U.S. and one from somewhere else. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it! The posts being viewed are all over the place, maybe I need to give better key words to some of my posts so my Russian friends can see where I talk about him or that twice impeached, recently indited and convicted sex offender who claimed to be a president was discussed in my blogs.

No, my blogs are varied but my retirement will be soon, and I can finally be let loose. I can do more for the environment and write more about my more liberal leaning politics. However, as I have been hinting at, during the past 5 or so years, I have been working on what might eventually become a book on stormwater. I am planning to publish some of my writings from the draft of this book idea that I think might be useful to my general readership and the public. Don’t worry, there will be occasional political, social, and environmental commentary peppered into my posts. Stay tuned. I will try to keep writing and continue being opinionated at times.

I took this photograph on the day before the last day of teaching.  I taught a photography class and showed the folks how to use the timer on my cell phone.

Appomattox (4/28/2022)

We visited Appomattox Court House the other day. A quick history lesson, this is the place where the Civil War officially ended, and General Lee signed the treaty that officially ended the war. Now I am no scholar of history and definitely not of the Civil War, but I am just amazed by what learned there about what transpired in the end.

It seems that Lee finally decided that it was over for him, and that any continuation would lead to useless bloodshed; that it was best for both parties to end it. So, the surrender was negotiated, and it was signed it Appomattox. General Robert E. Lee met with General Ulysses S. Grant and from what I learned form my visit, the meeting was cordial between two generals who cared much about their troops. Lee wanted to make sure his troops did not go end up looting the countryside and Grant made sure they were not taken prisoners of war but allowed to go home and their family. This is so different from what we see and hear now on television from what is happening on television about Ukraine and the war crimes committed by Putin and his soldiers.

It seems that when Lee and Grant met, they were exchanging war stories and other tales. They had so much fun and were even joking around, that after an hour or so they had to be reminded that they were there for some serious business and to sign the surrender documents of the South to the North. Two generals who had been fighting tooth and nails were able to put things beside them and had fun during this serious moment when the south gave up its ambition. Later on, Washington Lee University was established, in a way of reminding folks that this was one country (again).

One of the random pictures I took during my visit in Appomattox this past week.  I recommend this to everyone, whether you are interested in the Civil War or not.

Leaving Appomattox, the thought just blew us (my wife and me) away how a New York City con artist has been able to rally folks in the south behind him, to believe that he was the next coming of Christ and therefore to vote for him as president. Since he was omnipotent, he could sleep around, grab them by the pussy, lie, and do whatever he wanted without consequences. Thanks to this con artist people now have less respect for their fellow humans; folks stormed the capital in order to stop the peaceful change of government; lied about the elections; there is less chivalry and comradery in this country then there was during Lee’s time, during the civil war. It makes you wonder doesn’t it; are we even more polarized now then back then, and is it all thanks to this con man? An emphatic YES here!

They say, “if you don’t learn from history, you are bound to repeat it.” I honestly wish we would repeat it and the past president would go away peacefully and behave like a gentleman. I have read commentaries which wonder whether another Civil War is near. Brace yourself folks, if so, I am afraid it is going to be a Putin/Ukraine type war as opposed to a more gentleman type war as was fought in the past Civil War, and as we know that was no boy scout trip.

When the rich wage war it's the poor who die (3/14/2022)

“When the rich wage war it's the poor who die” is a quote by the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. Now we all know that Putin is filthy rich and has secret bank accounts all over the world, but somehow, I don’t think this is why he started the war in Ukraine. Yes, he mentioned some bogus or false excuse for starting it. Moreover, he is able to control the Russian media with his message (this weekend he shut down Instagram to the Russian people). In addition to being a war criminal, he is a gaslighter. I am sure tRump must be jealous!

From my end it looks like Putin started the war from a more ideological origin than a financial one as Sartre concludes. He seems to want to cobble the old Russia back together, while using some strange pretext or outright lie. And who suffers? The soldiers from both sides. Russian soldiers who are dying, deserting, not knowing what or why they are doing what they are doing. Neither do their loved ones at home. Let’s not forget all the Ukrainian people. They suffer even worst. Their homes, hospitals, schools etc. are indiscriminately bombed.

It are the poor, the innocent who die for a cause of a few, maybe one deranged leader and his misguided ideas. He or they are not only rich and therefore hungry for power, this time he is also insane. This has to stop!

Hotels 4 and 5. A view from the road, Fairfax and Staunton (3/11/2022)

My travel and in person teaching has resumed in earnest. Driving to the locations, in motel rooms and even in the classes there is no way of avoiding of being exposed to and talking about the stupid war that Russia is waging in Ukraine. It appears that everyone in my classes is willing to accept the higher gasoline prices and know whom to blame for it: the Russian president (more about this below). But, as I mention in a previous post it is good to be back out. Since the last post on teaching, I have taught live in Richmond (no overnight travel), Fairfax and in Staunton (all of course in Virginia, more about that later in this post, as well).

At the Homewood Suites by Hilton i  West Falls Church in Northern Virginia.  This is a great place, were it not for the view from my room which was of the back of a strip mall and dumpsters.

No this is not me after drinking a beer, but I was demonstrating how the timer on your camera works to my students in a photography class that I taught this week.

In the meantime, it has been difficult to tear myself away from the television these past few weeks to do something productive, like writing a blog post. The war in Ukraine, the atrocities that Putin and his army is inflicting on that country and its people (like bombing a maternity hospital and killing innocent women and children) is keeping me in its grip. What is really upsetting me are the falls pretexted that he is using for the war and from what I am hearing the way he is preventing the people in Russia of finding out that it is all based on a big lie.

There are no Nazis in Ukraine that are killing ethnic Russians. The president of Ukraine is Jewish and calling him a Nazi is an insult to the Jewish people. Soldiers are killing civilians, and they are slowly becoming war criminals by the order of just one deranged crazy person: Putin. On top of all this countries like China, North Korea and Vietnam are telling their folks the same shit. Honestly, the international community should issue an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes and revoke his diplomatic status. When he sets foot in any other country, arrest him and haul him in front of the International Court in The Hague!

Enough ranting. My travel did afford me some distraction, including the ability to try out some different restaurants and different beers and believe it or not, wine. For example in Fairfax, I got to eat Lebanese and Korean, while in Staunton I ate an exotic grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of tomato soup that I washed down with a glass of wine at a wine bar named the Yelping Dog. The second night an old friend and his wife took me to their favorite local pizza shop. In other words, it was a somewhat cheesy week for me but enjoyably so. I even visited a new microbrewery for me: the Seven Arrows Brewery in Augusta County (Waynesboro). They make some darn tasty beer!

The red IPA by Seven Arrow.  A very nice a good tasting one!

The final hotel photo!  This one was taken in Staunton at the Holiday Inn. A nice hotel, I have been coming here many times.  I love the view of the golf course.  All the photographs I take of me in my rooms based on an exhibit we saw a few years ago at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on Edward Hopper the American Painter. 

The one thing that I found to be different now is the room service. I always stay two nights in a room. Pre-COVID folks would come in your room to clean it, give you clean towel and make your bed. Now, probably to save money, this does not happen. I have to go downstairs to ask for more coffee for my in-room coffee maker. I think it is fine, I am sure it is difficult to get good help for the wages these hotels are willing to pay.

In both overnight travel cases; however, the drive was bad. At those times, I miss Europe and the ability to jump on public transportation like the train and zip from point A to point B. We had a big storm this week and there were many trees down on the road between Charlottesville and Richmond. This meant tree cutters everywhere and traffic delays. The week before I was stuck in Northern Virginia traffic with bad tires that were losing air. C’est la vie.

As you can see here, just a very superficial update and in the hope that this blog still penetrates the Russian sensors (I used to have a lot of Russian readers) I wanted to let them know about the big lie that they are being told about the need for this war. As I mentioned in my past post, my heart goes out to the Ukrainian people and to the Russian folks as well, especially those who oppose this insane war but are afraid to express themselves.

I am upset (02/26/2022)

I am upset! Who wouldn’t be? As a lot of you, my readers know, I am politically opinionated when it comes to U.S. politics, but I usually stay quiet when it comes to international issues. But no longer!

This world has been plunged into a war that is completely unjustified and started to stroke someone’s bruised ego. Russia has invaded Ukraine under false pretexts. Supposedly, according to the Russian leader Ukraine is being led by neo-Nazis and that is a bizarre statement to claim of a Jewish president. I am sure there are much deeper reasons for the invasion, and there is no need to go into it in this blog. I just want to register my displeasure and anger with the situation.

I have been glued to the television and the news. I am extremely concerned about the situation in Ukraine. Now, since the publication of my blog, 2% of my readership has been from Ukraine, and they ranked 4th in countries of origin. My thoughts, prayers and solidarity are with you. I have to admit, 15% of my audience is from Russia (you guys ranked 2nd). My thoughts a, prayers and solidarity are with you who oppose this stupid war but are afraid to express yourself. We have heard the reports of arrests of protesters and opposers of the war. I realize you are being ruled by a ruthless dictator. May he rot in hell!!!