But I AM 80!

I like to think I am somewhat the realist. While many seem absolutely fixated on not revealing their age, I have always felt age is a sort of barometer of achievement. Perhaps in my look at life I feel much more positive about living this long as I never expected it. The last couple generations in my family have been relatively shortened lives. My Father had a heart attack at age 47 that could have easily killed him. He never recovered completely and finally passed at age 58 with his 3rd major heart attack. My brother died in his early 60s of heart and other ailments.

James Mangold, director of the new 5th film in the Indiana Jones series commented on an expanded aspect of the view from atop several generations....

"We can’t hide from where we are in our lives — none of us can — and neither can Indiana Jones," Mangold told The Hollywood Reporter. "I wanted to follow Harrison’s own lead and simply deal with it straight on."

I happen to be the same age as Harrison Ford, having my 80th birthday just 2 months ago. I now look forward to driving this somewhat banged up body as far as I am allowed...I am hopeful my outlook, while realistic, is as positive as can be....having gotten this far seems to me to be an incentive to go on.

Something missing!

 I am left with the feeling that all the "news writers" (they are not reporters nor journalists) are blind and meandering all about the topic of CCP's balloon and its purpose/equipment. 1st-We knew before the balloon entered the USA, apparently via Alaska and Canada, of its existence. We could have ended this right there, off the shores of Alaska...or, perhaps, on land in the sparsely-populated state. 

How about this idea?  Where is the map of the complete track of the balloon? You know our radar has this baby all the way. I have seen some random spots where the thing hung there in the sky...no one has yet apparently gotten a hold of the idea. That would tell you in a heartbeat whether or not the thing was directed or controlled.

You don't suppose the truly open administration could be hiding the track to protect someone?  Hmmmm

Long Time No Post.....Here we go again!

 I shall endeavor to bring this blog back to life. Health issues, a near-death post surgery internal bleed and a series of three stents in my heart's circulatory system have wrought a lot of absence from blogging. Let's go back and post as the field of topics on which to post grows ever more Bidenesque.....rich and full of really dumb stuff!  Onward!

Reverse Space Elevator? Sounds reasonable!

My fellow earth-bounders interested in space in all its possibilities are most likely aware of the long-studied potential for a space elevator. Basically the idea has been to tie a super-long nano-tube (they are not yet capable of producing this, but advances come every day) to a well-fortified base on Earth and then extend the tube into space where a station would be built at the top in geosynchronous orbit. Then a car of some fashion would leave Earth and travel to the top. From there space jumps could be launched with materials brought from Earth. This station would be thousands of miles in space.
One problem not near a solution is the 17,000 estimated pieces of satellite and space junk in orbit.

Now a new proposal......hang the elevator from the moon toward the Earth. End it in orbit above the space junk and transport to and from there. Thus two-way shipping could be achieved.....supplies and parts for space ventures go up, and materials mined on the moon come down.

It is being studied....

I find it amazingly possible! No cable from Earth to be exposed to everything from airplanes to space junk. There remains development of the nano-tubes able to be strung in lengths. And, one would still have to carry the materials going and coming by a ship/airplane to and from the Earth and Moon.

Exciting!

A Trip Down Ancestry Lane.....

My family tree, long a bit understood due a book published in the year of my birth, 1943, is much expanded because of Ancestry, the program. The truths therein contained, and about which I shall write a lot more in a different post, reveal some interesting facts about DeLand males....

We are, as a rule, long-lived critters.

Going back seven generations from me they average 82.5 years of age...and this includes my Dad who was only 58 when he passed. His life was shortened, almost assuredly, by participation in WWII.
My great-grand George lived to 102, and my name sake Paul, from the 1600-1700 crossover, lived to 97.

Guess I better buckle up for a much-longer ride than anticipated.....

I'll post more on this soon as I find myself fascinated by the facts in Ancestry!

Duke (Paul K., II)

Spending Billions under Liberal Plans or Making It Simple!

 The multi-million(or billion)aires fly extravagantly, and frequently, to meet and chastise us as to our use of the atmosphere, lands, and everything else they so loudly proclaim as destructive and perhaps world-ending!
 
Trees are gold...  the answering cry. Why not cease flying your multi-million dollar jets to far-flung places and instead donate the cost of your fuel to help plant trees. No fanfare, no thousands gathered to celebrate one-another. Just buy small trees for everyone to plant. You might just "save the world!"

It ain't rocket science folks!

Duke

The Dwindling List

My first and powerful impact of the dwindling list was 1993, some quarter of a century ago.....Wow!, has it been that long? My Mother passed away. She had been in ill health and had numerous problems which plagued her for many years.

We proceeded to the formal ritual of visitation, held in our hometown, followed by the service and the trip to the cemetery where she was interred beside my Father who had passed more than a decade before.

Then to the house for the post-funeral burial ritual of food and drink with family and friends. Some of the friends were those of my parents, from their generation.

I went through the motions and then months later it suddenly hit me, during a time I was reflecting on her loss, that I AM THE OLDEST member of my immediate family.

No longer available to me are any folks who KNOW! Know my family, know its history, its ties, its members.....where we lived.....HOW we lived.....none of that exists.

If my sister, my brother or I don't remember it....it is no longer there. Unless some distant relative knows, or has recorded and MADE PROVISION to pass it on, It is no longer there.

Now, those 25 years later, my Brother, 10 years younger, is gone, and just this past weekend we held the life celebration for his former wife....always a family member....

The dwindling list!

Now....a new tool. For Christmas I received both the DNA test from Ancestry and membership in Ancestry. Suddenly, there I find a treasure trove of family.....History, generations of history. Pictures. Notations about lives, professions, military service, etc.

WOW! I can pass a lot of family along. Not all the details, but more than I ever imagined.

I spent a lot of January just getting into the system......I have located close family missing from my life for 70 YEARS!

I am enjoying this and intend to pass it along to my children/close relatives.

Keep family close because there is a "Dwindling List!"