Pappa Bear profile picture

Pappa Bear

Dear Brumus, the ship will be ours...

About Me

For openers (and this seems a good place to open) I'm here because my kids suggested it. It would be fun, they said, and they were right!I like most everything sensory that doesn't hurt: absurdly funny movies (Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Leslie Nielson), Civil War skirmishing in the North-South Skirmish Association (http://www.n-ssa.org ); the smells of new-mown grass and burned black powder; a good cigar, baseball, Jack Daniel's "nice" and women who are pretty AND intelligent. And none of these things necessarily in the order listed.I've been around the block often enough to have memorized most of the chuckholes and spot the good parking spaces. I remember radio when it had scripted programs, tv when it came in black-and-white on three channels at my cousin's house ('cuz they HAD one), anytime-day-or-night passenger trains, Dwight David Eisenhower and the night Sputnik went up ('cuz that was the night my dog got loose, got hit and got killed). I remember polio, and lining up in the Saybrook Elementary School gym to swallow the sugar cubes that made the threat go away; I remember segregation and Selma, the march on Washington and the "I have a dream" speech. I remember exactly what I was doing at noon on Nov. 22, 1963 and May 4, 1970, at 8:40 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, and at lots of times before and since.I remember Republicans when they stood for fiscal responsibility and personal liberty; I remember Democrats when they stood for something -- anything. And I remember when being an elected official was a mark of honor rather than proof of guile. But enough of politics.I am physically, emotionally and intellectually large, having long ago discovered that "different strokes for different folks" goes a lot deeper than Sly Stone. I have pushed life's envelope and discovered it is in some places elastic, in others tympany-tight. I've grown wise enough to avoid, when practicable, the drumheads.I am in philosophy Libertarian -- "Mind your own business and don't hit your sister" would make a great national motto -- and in practice Christian, although actually agnostic. But the 11th commandment works, whether you believe in Jesus, Muhammed, Budda or Jerry Garcia.
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name: jim
Birthday: 6/23/45
Birthplace: Ashtabula, OH
Current Location: Avon, OH
Eye Color: brown
Hair Color: what hair? Oh! Bray
Height: 6'3"
Right Handed or Left Handed: right
Your Heritage: 11 generations American, some german, indian, etc.
The Shoes You Wore Today: Rockports
Your Weakness: chocolate ice cream
Your Fears: alzheimers, failing my family
Your Perfect Pizza: everything AND anchovies
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: win the Pulitzer
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: "..."
Thoughts First Waking Up: is it 5:30 yet?
Your Best Physical Feature: beard
Your Bedtime: when i damn well feel like it
Your Most Missed Memory: my father saying grace
Pepsi or Coke: Dr. Pepper
MacDonalds or Burger King: Chipotle's
Single or Group Dates: what's a "date"?
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Constant Comment
Chocolate or Vanilla: you have to ask??
Cappuccino or Coffee: coffee
Do you Smoke: cigars
Do you Swear: to tell the truth...
Do you Sing: lustily
Do you Shower Daily: waste of water and skin oil
Have you Been in Love: oh, yes
Do you want to go to College: would LOVE to go to college!
Do you want to get Married: yes, but my wife wouldn't like it...
Do you belive in yourself: there's nobody else in whom to believe
Do you get Motion Sickness: yep
Do you think you are Attractive: in an old-fart, Dumbledore sort of way
Are you a Health Freak: hardly
Do you get along with your Parents: did with dad, not so much with mom. Long story
Do you like Thunderstorms: LOVE 'em!
Do you play an Instrument: used to play guitar
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: yep
In the past month have you Smoked: yep
In the past month have you been on Drugs: prescription
In the past month have you gone on a Date: nope
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: yep
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: Oh, my God, the very THOUGHT of it!...
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: wish I had. Love it!
In the past month have you been on Stage: I'm on stage every day
In the past month have you been Dumped: Taken some, but not been dumped myself
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: not enough water around here
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: a couple hearts, in my dreams
Ever been Drunk: I'm a skirmisher, aren't I?
Ever been called a Tease: not lately
Ever been Beaten up: nope
Ever Shoplifted: nope
How do you want to Die: quickly, neatly and on the bottom
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: I ask myself that every day.
What country would you most like to Visit: England
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color: blue/green
Favourite Hair Color: blonde/black/brown/magenta/blue
Short or Long Hair: yes
Height: 8'10"
Weight: 100
Best Clothing Style: loose
Number of Drugs I have taken: enough
Number of CDs I own: too many
Number of Piercings: ??? Bring your bayonet and give it yer best shot!
Number of Tattoos: "no identifiable marks or scars"
Number of things in my Past I Regret: not all that many
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!
You are a
Social Liberal
(86% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(93% permissive)

You are best described as a:
Anarchist
..TR height=6 ..TABLE
..TR height=6 ..TABLE
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test
You Passed the US Citizenship Test
Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct! Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

My Interests

Guns and shooting sports (especially Civil War skirmishing in the North-South Skirmish Association, www.n-ssa.org ), politics, media, world affairs, prime cuts of red meat.

.. --t--My score on.. --/t-- The Accurate Indicator of Mountain Manliness Test :

Bear Killer
(You scored 33 Sheer Rugged, 9 False Manly, 3 Smarts!)

http://panther.is1.okcimg.com/users/830/14/83001578583364167 56/mt943362005.jpg

EEK! A perfect rugged score.You really know what it means to be rugged. To be a MAN. What it takes is WILL. You don't feel the need to prove nothin' to nobody. You do what you do and you DO it regardless of consequences. You're so rugged you're probably not even on the computer right now. Your manly essence is stretching far and wide, making people cry and taking internet tests all on it's own.You're made perfect for the hermit-man lifestyle. Don't shoot me. Please.

.. --t--Link.. --/t--: The Accurate Indicator of Mountain Manliness Test

View My Profile: bard_of_avon

( .. --t--OkCupid Free Online Dating.. --/t-- )

I'd like to meet:

Thomas Jefferson, "Cump" Sherman, Gracie Slick.

Music:

Music? Yes! Eclectic here. Choose from: Grateful Dead, Blackwood Brothers, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Statesmen, Janis Joplin, Beethoven, Cathedrals, Mozart, Beach Boys, Bones Apart, Gaither Vocal Band. In short, Southern Gospel, 60s/70s rock, classic classical - good musicianship in nearly any form. I love to sing, too. Sang bass in high school, college and community choruses as well as various quartets. I'll enjoy sitting through some musicals -- 1776 (rings most of my bellfry) Phantom of the Opera (the movie's better than the stage show) among them. But, sorry, culture mavens, send your opera and rap tickets to some more deserving soul.

Movies:

Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, Spaceballs, Princess Bride, Ben Hur, The Meaning of Life, And Now for Something Completely Different, Men in Black, 1776, Blazing Saddles, Robin Hood - Men in Tights

Television:

Weather channel. History channel. Brit Hume on Fox and the morning crew on CNN. Most of the rest of it isn't worth the invested time.

Books:

Killer Angels; about anything Robert Heinlein ever wrote, especially Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land; the Bible as literature; whatever's next on my reading stack.

Heroes:

Delbert D. Strang, a fellow I wish you could have met; my son, Ben, whose unfailing courage in the face of adversity serves as a model for me every day. Thomas Jefferson, Tom Paine, John Peter Zenger (and the jury that nullified the law under which Zenger was tried and, in so doing, gave us a free press); Joshua L. Chamberlain, without whose instincts the War of the Rebellion might have ended differently; those millions of dads who get up and go to work so their families will not want for the necessities of life; those millions of moms who do the same thing; those millions of kids who struggle to better themselves and their stations in the face of all hell raging among us. Those thousands of teachers -- the good ones -- whose value will never be appreciated or rewarded. But as someone said, "Life is not fair." Do you do the right thing? Then you're on the list.

My Blog

The Man who Sold the Wind...

Anybody here remember D.D. Harriman? If you're a Robert Heinlein fan, that name should be lurking in your deep memory: Harriman was "The Man who Sold the Moon" - the first book in  Heinlein's "f...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:09:00 PST

Building the tools to build the tools

No doubt: Google is the greatest research tool since the printed page. I proved it again just now, by sourcing a quote I've used with all my kids. It describes how I've always considered my parenting ...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:52:00 PST

Mike Huckabee and the smooth stone

Okay, I admit it. When I want serious radio news, I listen to National Public Radio. Yes, it sometimes reveals an agenda with which I do not agree. But as one of my colleagues once...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 03:21:00 PST

Old newsguys grumble a lot.

The question before the MySpace Journalists! group was, where do you think the profession of journalism is going? I really tried to control myself, but, as usual, could not. So, here's what I posted....
Posted by Pappa Bear on Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:54:00 PST

"O, thus be it ever..."

This piece, picked up in our local paper this morning, has stuck in my mind all day. I finally had to say something about it.   ----------   A citizens policing organization in a town south ...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:52:00 PST

The pale horse walks too close

"Crumbum's" gone. I found out this morning when a friend, a columnist with whom I used to work, called me to comiserate. Instead, he in fact told me the news.  The funeral is tonite. "Crumbum" wa...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Fri, 21 Sep 2007 08:23:00 PST

231 years and counting

To:John AdamsThomas JeffersonBenjamin FranklinJohn Hancockand all the delegates of the Second Continental Congress, assembled in Phila., Anno Domini 1776:Almost two and a half centuries, gentlemen, an...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:40:00 PST

What the blood in Virginia demands

I am persuaded that a piece of the response to the horror at Virginia Tech must be the re-invention of protective institutions for people whose mental illness presents a clear threat to themselves and...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:03:00 PST

Happy birthday, Dad!

One hundred years ago today, in a run-down shack on the black loam prairies near Plymouth, Indiana, the man who eventually would help create my life came himself squalling into a world where the ...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:31:00 PST

Pappa preacher, Bishop Bear

Mom would have been happy. Or maybe not. I was conceived, she once told me in the throes of a parent-teen screaming-for-control match, to be a preacher.  Not just a white-collared clergyperson, ...
Posted by Pappa Bear on Tue, 02 May 2006 06:38:00 PST