Random Blogs (372)

Kristel Candelario, enjoying some time on a beach. She posted it to her social media with the caption: “The time enjoyed is the time truly lived.” For ten days, Candelario had the time of her life in Puerto Rico...

Ohio woman gets life in prison after toddler starved at home while she was on vacation..




The judge who oversaw Candelario’s case, Brendan Sheehan, said traveling out of state while leaving a toddler home alone without food was “the ultimate betrayal” that deserved one of the harshest legal punishments available.

judge convicted Kristel Candelario of a life sentence without parole. As he passed down the sentence, he spoke the following words: “Just as you didn’t let Jailyn out of her confinement, so too you should spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom. The only difference will be, the prison will at least feed you and give you liquid that you denied her.”


Ohio woman gets life in prison after toddler starved at home while she was on vacation..

Trump teases. Make America Great Again! He is spot on in this interview about other countries taking from the USA.

An Ancient frog species named after Kermit the Frog by scientists


Kermit the Frog has been around since 1955 – but a new Kermit on the block was actually around much longer ago.


Scientists have uncovered a fossil of an ancient 270-million-year-old amphibian ancestor, and named it after him.

I was waiting at a red light yesterday when a guy in an SUV pulled along side of me. The music coming out of his vehicle was so loud, it was making my car thump. I didn't know the (hip-hop) song, but I could clearly hear the lyrics from inside my car with the windows rolled up and the a/c on high.
A friend of a friend owned a car stereo shop who did custom work. By word of mouth, people came from miles for him to install some HUGE systems. Most upgraded car sound systems have special speakers and a sub bass box in the trunk that only plays the low notes.
Some background:
It's usually stated the range of human hearing is 20 to 20,000 HZ (hertz or cycles per second) and there are many factors that affect those numbers. loud sounds for example. Industrial workers in high noise environments are required to use hearing protection. The guys at airports who direct jets into the gate wear noise reducing protection. Loud sounds without hearing protection will accentuate hearing loss. Ask any Heavy Metal musician if he's got hearing loss and their first response could be "Huh?"

SPL is the acronym for Sound Pressure Level and there are metering devices for measuring pressure. I've always heard sound pressure is measured in decibels for music loudness and for the purpose of this blog, any pressure musical or not, is considered the same. Sub-octave sounds below the threshold of human hearing are felt more than actually heard and can be described as pulsating air.

So what's the purpose of a 5,000 watt sound system in your SUV?
It doesn't follow logic, but in certain circles there is status for having 'more bass' much the same as someone on a Saturday night doing racing with the fastest car or the most horsepower.

The shootout is a competition event where vehicles are 100 yards (or more) from the judge who has a decibel meter. They play their best sound with hope of generating more SPL's at the greatest distance.



This style of competitive volume isn't limited to the United States, as many of the photos I've seen are from enthusiasts in European countries.

Because of the high power current draw, the vehicles have to be equipped with several alternators and batteries to generate sufficient wattage.

Gaze upon the clear sky above,
Where stars twinkle with gentle love,
Like a canvas, it's painted bright,
Carefully etched in the night.

Observe the vibrant nature's art,
Unaware of your weary heart,
It doesn't know of your missteps,
Or how you've wandered, ill-equipped.

You've strayed from your intended way,
To know God, you seek day by day,
But your path is preordained,
Even when you feel restrained.

For a time will come, you'll see,
To know God, you'll be set free,
But until that destined hour,
Embrace life's uncharted bower.

When I joined CS, there were complaints about 'how good things used to be' with the old timers. During the 'newbie week' before I was allowed to blog, I went through old blogs. Lots of old blogs. There were episodes of gossip, biting and back stabbing back then... pretty much what all social media sites have to endure. Collectively, we are all in different age groups, have economic differences, language and cultural differences as CS's reach is global. In the right state of mind, it's a sharing of differences and ideas. In the wrong state of mind it's a separation.

Someone did a Facebook page where they clipped headshots of members showing them in less than positive settings. Obviously, those ORIGINAL members had sufficient issues then to prompt a tattle-tale page away from CS.

The site I was on before CS was a fun place to blog and though there were differences of opinion, we all got along. Loosely managed, the administrator couldn't keep up removing scammers and hackers, so he assigned the URL to another dating site and closed the place we called home. I received a text invitation from a friend to join CS. To my surprise many of the members from that site were here long before me and I knew there were complaints from a few of the older members, how they said the new wave was different and didn't fit in. As a group (regardless of personality) they/we were disliked. That was no secret and some were blatant to voice their dislike for members who weren't in their clique.

Over time, many of the original members have moved on, so have the ones from the other site. Remember Willy? Our friendship goes back many years and his escape from CS was an untimely death. We agreed to disagree on many levels, but I still miss him.

What I've found remaining from the original CS group are some venom filled complainers, especially one scornful gossiper from the Emerald Isle. You would think there would have been some acceptance for the second wave. Not true, she and one of her pals still hold a grudge and takes swipes at Americans (especially at me) regurgitating their dislike whenever they can.

Being friendly doesn't work.
Being funny, doesn't work either.
Ignoring them, doesn't work as they complain about that too. It seems battling with other bloggers gives them pleasure.
Saying nice things to other members is an invitation to get your head chopped off and others in the fray will piss on you and laugh.

Recently a member was booted out by administration, there must have been a reason. But, It doesn't matter how many people liked him, if what he said didn't agree with CS, they (management) chose to close his profile. I believe their decision is final. There have been instances where a few waited a while and returned with sock profiles. Maybe they are under the radar of administration or quietly given a second chance.
That to me is really not important... either way.

Claimed by one, I write boring blogs and clip news articles, much the same as others, although he contradicts himself by posting similar boring things.


In closing this blog, I hope the instigators of hate will come to their senses and act like responsible adults and not 'shallow thought' gossip mongers. CS history records itself as the blogs of those who cause a ruckus often disappear and worse, their profiles go silent too.

Are your proud of your actions here?
Be an asset to CS and not a liability.



In the words of Rodney King: "Can we all get along?"

Five Bulgarians have been jailed in the UK for the biggest benefit fraud in history. 54 million pounds were claimed fraudulently by using false names and scams.

In the late 60's and early 70's there was a popular venue where they held teen dances Saturday and Sunday nights. It was originally a grocery store that went bankrupt, not long after it became a gathering place where they projected surfing movies on the wall. A father and son bought the place, erected 2 stages and hired local bands to perform there. The pay wasn't great, but it was steady work where as many as 4 bands playing each night and sometimes we were booked 6 to 8 nights a month.

The venue (legally) had a capacity of 90, but there where nights where kids stood outside waiting to get in and it was mostly 'standing room only' as the owners packed the place.
Lots of places would stamp your hand as identification so you could leave and return later and more kids would pay to get in as soon as a few left... even if they were going for a hamburger with plans to be back in 30 minutes. So total paid attendance would easily be 250 to 300 in a 4 hour period.

Because it was so popular, bands as far as 50 miles away were booked to play there. I got to hear a good sampling of the music being played in South Florida. There were a few Latin (Cuban) bands playing and a few soul or blues groups, but mostly the mix was rock & roll and later changing to hard rock music.

Over the years, I had been in a few different groups and my father managed us which was great because he was friendly with the owners that helped us get more bookings.

One afternoon, we had solid rain for a few hours and the streets were flooded. Some of the groups were forced to cancel their appearances. We weren't booked that night, but a desperate last-minute call from the owner asked if we were available. No problem. Our drummer had a Volkswagen bus, so we loaded our gear and was able to go through the flooded streets to make it to the gig! That effort put us in 'solid' with the owners.

As always, it was important to have a good opening song at the beginning of each set.
There was a band we often shared a stage with called "The Body Shop" and they played a mixture of blues and rock & roll. They were located across town so none of us knew them from school or any other connection, but we got along great with no friction or band rivalry in any way, so it didn't matter if they opened the set first or we opened the set first.
The cool thing about this group was they often opened their set playing the high-energy song "Living in the USA" by the Steve Miller Band.
I heard this song on the radio today and it reminded me of the group.
Great song!



"Somebody get me a cheesburger..."

When your remotes have their own side of the bed

I have an added feature with my phone carrier to notify me of potential spam calls and an enhanced blocking feature. For some reason my good friend John gets added to the blocked list. Several calls to tech support gets him removed and minutes later... he's back to being blocked!

My call was transferred from the carrier to Samsung's tech support where I installed an app allowing them to do diagnostics remotely on my phone. They couldn't find John on the blocked caller list so it must be a glitch. According to Samsung, the cure was to go back to the carrier and get a new SIM card.

A second after I entered the store, the salesman asked if he could help. I explained my friend keeps getting blocked on my phone and that Samsung said I need a new SIM card.

Immediately I detected an attitude... he said that wasn't the problem and that I needed to buy a new phone. After we went through the identification verification, he got the tool to remove the SIM and I said "The phone is still on!"
That didn't stop him from removing the SIM and inserting a new one while the phone was powered up.

Flipping screens on my phone and his tablet to enter the new number scanned from the card holder, he was back and forth a few times removing and reinstalling the SIM. All attempts were unsuccessful as the phone reported no SIM installed, when one was in the phone. He removed it again and installed the old SIM and got the same message.

At that point... he told me my phone was broken. I asked his name, SNATCHED MY PHONE FROM HIS HAND, said "Have a nice day" and walked out of the store.

Ya think I was pissed?

There's another store 5 miles away, so I went there.

Explaining the salesman (at the first store) 'hot swapped' the SIM on my phone. The new guy knew exactly what I was talking about. He scanned the card, installed a new SIM, powered up the phone and all was well.



I cannot recall how many times my phones have had SIM card changes in the last 25 years and EVERY time it was done with the phone turned off.

Basically, removing the SIM while the phone was on, damaged it, installing a new SIM while the phone was on, damaged it too.

John isn't on my blocked list anymore.

I'm happy that the issue was only with the SIM cards and thankful that it didn't damage my phone or the SD memory that shares the same tray.

Not rocket science...