Jimmy Joe Reeves

August 26, 2012

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How’s that for a hot German actor, singer, musician, producer, and gay man?  If I ever get to Germany, I’d like to meet him.  We chatted briefly one night by instant messages, but I was driving and couldn’t say much.  Maybe someday he can show me around Berlin.  One can dream! His Facebook page. His Google+.

From the Archives: 2/26/2008 – On Coming Out To Friends: One stays, one goes

August 21, 2012

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February 2008

Just when you think you have it figured out…

I was sitting at Denny’s recently, trying not to listen to a group at a nearby table gossiping about some of their friends and the trials and tribulations they were going through, when I started thinking about two friends of mine. Each reacted to my coming out differently, and I had thought I knew how things would go when they found out. Boy, was I ever wrong.

Dennis and I met in Mrs. York’s Norcross’* 6th grade class, way back in 1968.  We have been ‘best friends’ ever since, with only a few years of not much contact when Dennis became a born again Christian at about age 18.  Since I had been sure that I was an atheist since about the time we met, I thought this would be the end of our friendship.  While we went several years with only sporadic contact, we eventually became close again.  Over the years, Dennis attended several religious colleges, and graduated from the Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.  My ‘best friend’ was a Southern Baptist minister!  I often tell people that I may be one of the only atheists around with his own minister!

Don and I met in high school.  We became fast friends pretty quickly, and ran around a lot during our school years.

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Mars isn’t the only place we’ve landed out there!

August 19, 2012

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The surface of Titan, a satellite of Saturn

Space Cadet JimmieJoe is taking me to task right now.  This is a big thing, and I missed it!

On January 14, 2005, NASA and ESA landed a probe on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn!

I don’t recall being aware of this, at all.  I don’t even know if I’ve seen this picture before, but if I have, I’m fairly certain I would think it was of Mars.  Instead, this is the surface of a satellite orbiting a planet 794 million miles away from us (at it’s closest approach).

I’m thinking, right now, of all the hoopla surrounding the recent landing of the Curiosity on Mars, and marveling that there was not something similar back in 2005.  Yes, the Huygens probe, part of the Cassini mission, only parachuted to the “ground”, and Curiosity did the whole ‘heat shield – parachute – retro rocket – sky crane’ deal, but still…

I missed it!  (hanging head in shame, avoiding the glare of 12 year old Space Cadet JimmieJoe)

Mars, and Titan.  But did you know, they’re not the only two places we’ve set down on.

We’ve landed on another planet, too.

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A Woman, A Sweaty Horse, and 9-1-1

August 14, 2012

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The Definition of Insanity

August 13, 2012

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… is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.

For almost ten years, voters in the Visalia area have elected, and re-elected, Devin Nunes to be our congressman in the House of Representatives.  In at least one election, Nunes ran unopposed.  In those ten years, we’ve seen a dramatic jump in the number of dairies in Tulare County and the surrounding area.  Tulare County is now #1 in dairy production in the United States.  Tulare County is also consistently #2 or #3 in overall agricultural production in the United States, usually hot on the heels of Fresno County.  Despite this leadership in the dairy industry (Representative Nunes’ family business) and agriculture, Tulare County is also one of the poorest counties in California.  Nearly a quarter of the population live in poverty, and one in three residents receives state aid.

One has to ask, in the midst of such wealth, why is the poverty level so high, and what has Devin Nunes done in his tenure in Congress to alleviate that poverty?  The answer, based on continuing high poverty levels, would seem to be “not much”.  Republicans love to talk business, and clamor for government to be run “more like a business”.  Well, we’ve had ten years of Mr. Nunes’ being in our employ, and we don’t have much to show for it (unless you’re a dairyman or farmer).  It’s time we seriously considered firing Mr. Nunes for his lack of success in solving the problems that have been plaguing Tulare County for years.  After all, that’s what any business would do, right?

On Sunday, August 12, 2012, I attended the grand opening of the Otto For Congress office in Visalia.  Otto Lee is a Commander in the Navy, Bronze Star recipient, private business owner, and former Mayor and Council member in Sunnyvale.

Otto Lee brings a fresh perspective to the needs of the new 22nd District.

Sunday’s office opening was a chance for people to meet the candidate, and talk to him about his goals and plans for the future.

There are many different groups that fall under the banner of what might be called Democratic “special interests”, and my interests are, of course, in the area of LGBT issues.  I had an opportunity to sit down with Otto for a few minutes, and discuss those subjects.

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7 Minutes of Terror – landing on Mars – by Sky-Crane

August 6, 2012

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This is the best video I’ve seen so far explaining how Curiosity was designed to land.  I’m just amazed that it worked.  Twelve year old Space Cadet Jimmiejoe was bouncing up and down, telling me it was going to work no sweat, but I really didn’t believe him.  I worried that the parachute would fail, or the heat shield would get hung up, or the retro-rockets wouldn’t fire correctly… and I really sweated the whole sky-crane thing.  That was just crazy writ large!  Hover 60 feet in the air, and drop this huge thing down on a tether?  Are they nuts??  Then the tethers had to be cut, allowing the rocket frame to fly away.  If that hadn’t worked, it would have dropped on top of the lander once it’s fuel ran out.

BUT IT WORKED!

Congratulations to NASA and JPL!

You know what would be cool?  I know it can’t happen, but wouldn’t it be something if Curiosity could, at the end of it’s science programs, drive to one of the other lander’s locations, just to visit?  Too far, over terrain that would probably be impossible, and the mechanisms of the machine would likely never survive, but that would be something to see.

Space Cadet Jimmiejoe is a happy boy – Curiosity safely on Mars

August 5, 2012

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Photo illustration by NASA

Here’s what it might look like if you were there right now.  Curiosity is safely on the surface of Mars!  After a 7 minute landing program that took the lander from 13,000 MPH to a soft landing, the first pictures have been downloaded.  Science starts soon!

 

Photo: Mars Curiosity/NASA

The parachute popped exactly right.  The retro-rockets fired perfectly, bringing it to a hover over the ground, then dropped it to the ground on a sky crane system that has never before been attempted.  Now the rover begins at least two years of science work.

Space Cadet Jimmiejoe is jumping up and down like crazy.  I’m glad to see he’s still around.

“I say.. I say… dial 9-1-1, son. Quickly, now…”

August 3, 2012

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(That title should be read in the voice of Foghorn Leghorn)

You never know what you’ll hear on the other end of a 9-1-1 call.  Here’s one I took the other night.

Now, this came in from a disconnected cell phone, so there was no way to pin-point it’s location, and no way to call it back.

Fortunately, these chickens sounded Code 4 (no assistance needed) to my ear, so I’m not real concerned about their status. (the voices you hear are background noises in the dispatch center, picked up when I transferred the recording to my phone.  The call was only clucking.)

When I was a kid, we raised some chickens, and I learned the difference between contented clucking, and panic clucking.  This sounds like contented clucking, to me.

This was a first.  I’ve never taken a 9-1-1 call, even an accidental one, from a chicken before.  I’ve heard stories of cats and dogs calling 9-1-1 during actual emergencies, but I haven’t experienced that.  Maybe that’s something for the future.

Cluck cluck.

Rolland from Ghana wants to be my friend

July 17, 2012

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Oh my…  Rolland from Ghana wants to be my friend.

I’m pretty sure this is about the same thing as the Nigerian prince who needs me to help him move a few million dollars (or something).  Or like the emails I get telling me I’ve won 150,000 Euros in the lottery there (that I never bought a ticket for).

Sigh.

If that’s really “Rolland”, he sure sent the right picture to get my attention!  Too bad (for him) that I don’t fall for such come-ons.  But if he wasn’t on the other side of the planet….

I’ve been Bouska’d! Start the clock…

July 13, 2012

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Friday the 13th.  Not scary at all.  A bit nervous, perhaps, meeting a photographer of Adam Bouska’s caliber, and having him take my picture, but that went well, and the ominous date faded to a faint memory as the event kicked off (not that I’m superstitious or anything).  Adam is a friendly guy, obviously talented (look at the NOH8 pics!), and he and his team have the shoots humming along like a well-oiled machine.  Even got a hug at the end of my shoot!  He and his partner are both genuinely nice, friendly guys, and made all of us feel at ease, even as they kept the line moving.  With almost 800 people who Facebooked a RSVP to attend, there’s a lot of pictures to take!

If you’d like to have your picture taken, be sure and check out the NOH8 Campaign‘s site, and see if they’re coming to a city near you soon!  If so, get in line like the rest of us, and join in the campaign.

Larger images of the above pictures after the jump.

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