Comments for Observations on the Obvious | Eastern North Carolina Now

A good conspiracy theory depends on the idea that it is far fetched. I have another theory.

"The Philadelphia Experiment and Russian Collusion"

Here is the link to the article on BCN:
beaufortcountynow.com

It is the best I could do on short notice.

Commented: Saturday, May 5th, 2018 @ 8:22 am By: Bobby Tony

No doubt, the original Groundhog Day. I enjoyed The Philadelphia Experiment original movie which was a rehash of the theme.

Commented: Friday, May 4th, 2018 @ 11:36 am By: Bobby Tony

I guess Kurt's writing is an acquired taste which I never took the time to acquire or investigate short of a few quotes. Like Hunter Thompson, he was outside the norm in many of his tomes. I have no doubt that he suffered from PTS'D' and that may very well be why I dare no stir the ashes of his writings for fear of creating a spark in my own tinderbox. Perhaps it is time to prod a bit.

"Vonnegut definitely had survived a lot. His once wealthy family was impoverished by the Great Depression, causing grim strains in his parents' marriage. His mother committed suicide. His beloved sister died of breast cancer, a day after her husband was killed in a train accident. But the defining horror of Vonnegut's life was his wartime experience and surviving the Dresden bombing, only to be sent into the ruins as prison labor in order to collect and burn the corpses. The ordeal cropped up continually in his work, but most notably formed the basis of Slaughterhouse-Five, the book that made Vonnegut famous."

www.theguardian.com

Commented: Friday, May 4th, 2018 @ 9:39 am By: Bobby Tony

This line from my article 'Naturally, as I said, this is not an original idea by me' prompted me to follow my natural OCD tendencies and do further research.
I found this discussion of the writer Kurt Vonnegut last novel. It gave me pause for two reasons:

1. I may have inadvertently plagiarized Kurt in this Article.
2. If indeed my thoughts parallel Kurt's mind then I should be afraid. Be very Afraid!

"It is no surprise that Vonnegut, a writer who saw the golden age of short story writing collapse under the weight of the widespread adoption of television, is no fan of the screen. But Vonnegut’s reason for disliking TV is less curmudgeonly than humane. His final novel, Timequake, includes a short story about an alien who invents the television. The invention soon replaces traditional learning: rather than develop their imaginations, the aliens learn from a box that gives them images splashed across a screen. As they lose their imaginative abilities, they lose the ability to “read interesting, heartwarming stories in the faces of one another.”

home.isi.org

Commented: Thursday, May 3rd, 2018 @ 7:55 pm By: Bobby Tony

It is illustrative to note that I did not like the SOB for a good part of my early adult life. It was not until I began to understand his early life circumstances that I understood the "Forged in Fire" nature of his character. He was a hard "Taskmaster", but it probably saved my life. I was indeed fortunate that he lived to 99 years old when I could relate to him adult to adult and my brother and I became the caretaker. I will admit it took some time for the Fruit to take root but the ground was a bit rough for a while.
To plagiarize Robert Frost

"And that has made all the difference."

Commented: Thursday, May 3rd, 2018 @ 9:58 am By: Bobby Tony

I distinctly remember reading the book but the time frame was unclear. I think it may have been assigned reading for a 10 year old boy in the fourth grade (which would explain the 1955 time frame) and then the Disney movie was shown on TV which cemented the images.

My dad's reading leaned heavily toward Louis L'Amour. I never understood why he was so enamored with reading Books in French until I got older.

Commented: Thursday, May 3rd, 2018 @ 8:40 am By: Bobby Tony

Reviewing the article after posting, I had some trouble with the time line. I was 5 years old in 1950 so I doubt that I was able to read the book at that time. As with most things involving memory of your childhood we have a tendency to compress dates into an illogical time line. I assure you I was not a reading prodigy at 5 years old. After some research, I found what I think is plausible explanation for my confusion.

"One of the first Disney movies to be shown on television, this was first telecast in January 1955, as part of the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (1954) television program. It was the first Disney live-action film to be shown complete on television, in two one-hour installments shown a week apart, rather than having the entire film on a single evening. It was broadcast again in the 1960s, in the same format, after the series had changed its name to "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" and the show had moved to NBC." IDMB

So, before you award me the Black Spot, I think my narrative is still intact with some allowance for slight embellishments. For those who don't remember the Black Spot, it was enough to kill the Pirate Billy Bones when the blind man gave it to him.

en.wikipedia.org

Commented: Thursday, May 3rd, 2018 @ 8:07 am By: Bobby Tony