Comments by Bobby Tony | Eastern North Carolina Now

Many Doctors will tell you the one of the biggest dangers to your health is SUGAR. But saving the world from CLIMATE CHANGE has such a much better ring to it. Don't forget to look out for those "occasional nut shell pieces"

I think I can safely say I have broken my resolution, but I doubt anyone actually placed a bet considering the long odds.

Best Wishes for a healthy, prosperous and safe new year.

Commented: Wednesday, January 1st, 2020 @ 9:39 am By: Bobby Tony

Thank You. Least we think the show is over, we are only starting ACT II. It kind of reminds me of Tom Sawyer, who was ordered to Whitewash the fence and managed to trick his buddies into doing the work while he sat by and watched.

Given President Trump's penchant for the limelight, I suspect he is enjoying this immensely while at the same time bitterly complaining about the whole project.

It has all the elements of today's mess. Whitewash, Fence, and a bunch of brain numb painters eager to get their hand on the brush. The end result being predetermined. A Clean White Fence which the painters will claim their work was a Whitewash and Tom's (The Donald's) Fault.



Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Commented: Thursday, December 19th, 2019 @ 8:35 am By: Bobby Tony

I guess I had Roosevelt's “The Man in the Arena” speech in mind when I alluded to the spectator sport. My lament is really directed to the fact that we have relaxed our standards for our leaders which has resulted in a ruling class that no longer drawn from the ranks of the average citizen.

My favorite part of the speech is not the arena reference so often quoted, but the paragraphs before it. We no longer select our leaders from average citizens who 'possess the gifts of sympathy with plain people and of devotion to great ideals classes.'
-- -- -- --
"But with you and with us the case is different. With you here, and with us in my own home, in the long run, success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional crises which call for the heroic virtues. The average citizen must be a good citizen if our republics are to succeed. The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation. Therefore it behooves us to do our best to see that the standard of the average citizen is kept high; and the average cannot be kept high unless the standard of the leaders is very much higher.

It is well if a large proportion of the leaders in any republic, in any democracy, are, as a matter of course, drawn from the classes represented in this audience to-day; but only provided that those classes possess the gifts of sympathy with plain people and of devotion to great ideals."
www.leadershipnow.com
-- -- --
Not everyone is called to preach or serve in public office, but neither the preacher or the public official should be ever think he is above criticism because he is in the arena. The biggest danger is not the people in the arena but the public that allows them to stay there too long. Teddy himself found the allure of the arena too great a magnet when he chose to return to politics in the 1912 election believing he was the savior of the Republican party..

Commented: Wednesday, November 20th, 2019 @ 7:46 pm By: Bobby Tony

It's nice to wake up every morning with a clean slate. I know it may be a problem for the readers to keep seeing repeats of my thoughts but in the it reminds me of the quote from Men In Black when the Cop drops off the Cat at the Morgue..

Cop: There's a problem with the cat. Sign here.
Laurel: (deputy medical examiner) What's the problem with the cat?
Cop: It's your problem now.

Commented: Tuesday, October 8th, 2019 @ 9:47 am By: Bobby Tony

While Beaufort County Now will be a permanent online library for your articles, I dearly hope you are keeping a printed copy for future generations of the family. After all, it is possible that digital content will not be a permanent as some of us have come to expect (reel to reel, eight track, cassette, VHS). These stories will provide a historical context to these times for your family.

Commented: Monday, October 7th, 2019 @ 7:36 am By: Bobby Tony

Here us an interesting exercise.

"Make a list of all the things you forgot and try not to forget them again."

Believe it or not, I think it works since I have an empty list.

Commented: Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019 @ 10:10 am By: Bobby Tony

I always try to use humor to diffuse the potential calamity of losing one's cognitive abilities. In reality it was somewhat of a shock with this memory lapse since it involved the loss of "Working Memory" which is used to perform tasks. We all seem to have lapses in
"Short Term" memory from time to time but when it involves a skill set it can be disconcerting.

I remember that Glen Campbell who had severe Alzheimer's was able to continue to play the guitar and remember all the intricate chord and picking leads while at the same time forgetting the lyrics and often playing the same song over again a few minutes later in his last concerts.

I am not overly concerned because I know that the only thing we have to fear is .. .. .. .." Well you get my point.

Commented: Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019 @ 6:08 am By: Bobby Tony

Just in case one think I have gone soft here is the rest of the bar stool banter.

The question arose about what I would do when if Beto "The Blessed One" (see www.thinkbabynames.com )was elected and came to take my nonexistent AR15 or AK47.

“We’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore,” O’Rourke said.

I say nonexistent because I swore over 51 years ago I would never own or touch another M16, AR15 or AK47 and have kept that promise (resolution) But like many Americans, if the day comes when Benito or one of his henchmen comes to take away my right to own said weapon, I may have to break my promise.

Perhaps therein lies the solution to the Gordian Knot that perplexed Alexander the Great.

["According to the ancient chronicler Arrian, the impetuous Alexander was instantly “seized with an ardent desire” to untie the Gordian knot. After wrestling with it for a time and finding no success, he stepped back from the mass of gnarled ropes and proclaimed, “It makes no difference how they are loosed.” He then drew his sword and sliced the knot in half with a single stroke."]

The General Mattis translation

‘I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you 'Mess' (edited) with me, I’ll kill you all.’

Commented: Tuesday, September 17th, 2019 @ 11:51 am By: Bobby Tony

And just to think that George Carlin's most famous monologue is no longer relevant. But just for the record, Bono is a Friggin Idiot. I hope the publisher will give me a pass on the use of the "F" word in this comment since it was used as an adjective.

Commented: Friday, September 13th, 2019 @ 9:49 am By: Bobby Tony

I always got a chuckle out of the From Russia with Love scene when Kerim ask the Russian agent if he wanted to hear about his life. Talk about a captured audience. Source IDMB quotes:

[after James and Kerim bind and gag Benz, the Russian agent, James leaves while Kerim sits down to guard him]

Kerim Bey: I've had a particularly fascinating life. Would you like to hear about it?

[Benz tries to grunt "no."]

Kerim Bey: You would?

Commented: Monday, September 2nd, 2019 @ 7:30 am By: Bobby Tony

I agree. I was not precise enough. When the federal government provides money it always comes with strings attached which was the original "Nose in the Tent." That is how they can control a local state, city, county of village by using the power of the purse to affect local actions. The money should flow from local to national only to fund the "BASIC" constitutional functions of the national government. I am sure Diane has addressed this issue. Of course the other solution is that every educational institution be required to only provide education and not research, edifices of alumni, or perhaps even dorms and dare I a say sports entertainment. Our concept of tax exempt status has long been corrupted by politicians.

www.aau.edu

Commented: Sunday, August 25th, 2019 @ 7:30 am By: Bobby Tony

All joking aside, Each human has an internal gyroscope. Once the direction is set it will guide us to the destination. Long ago I realized that most of us operate on autopilot. Accordingly, I did not spend too much time trying to watch diet, exercise or specific program. I just tried to set a goal and let the gyroscope handle the details. It took me a while to learn that setting goals are often too specifically geared to the desired results rather than direction. I think this quote holds true for most things in life including even the most mundane.

Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit ; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny. - - - Charles Reade

Commented: Saturday, August 24th, 2019 @ 6:36 am By: Bobby Tony

I could never really be a minimalist. It is not in my DNA.

DID I EVER TELL YOU ABOUT THE TIME I_____

Commented: Wednesday, August 21st, 2019 @ 8:16 am By: Bobby Tony

It all started when I got this rude message from my computer.

Commented: Tuesday, August 20th, 2019 @ 5:55 pm By: Bobby Tony

I'm not sure if it will take a Pitcher of beer or a six pack while one is reviewing this chart.

Commented: Thursday, June 20th, 2019 @ 10:05 am By: Bobby Tony

The post was done on the fly on Apple IPhone and uploaded using the Advanced Editor for BCN which automatically converts to HTML code. Your platform is remarkable in its ease of use as well as your broad latitude for allowing various post from this old grunt.

In order to provide some more perspective I took this picture. If each of the 100 on my list were represented with just a single BB the total weight would be slightly over one ounce. It does not sound like too much weight to carry but it seems to have gotten heavier in the past few years. The smallest package I could find of BB's is 152 which is shown below next to a 1968 quarter. So emotional size and weight is all a matter of perspective.

Commented: Tuesday, May 28th, 2019 @ 11:48 am By: Bobby Tony

We went down this road when we delegated a parents responsibility to provide the moral and character foundation of our children to public education system. We should not be too surprised when those same 'teachers' stray from teaching their subject to propagandizing their students.

It is almost always the ones who are secure in their publicly funded job that demand more from the endless trough of public money confiscated from the producers. I am sure we have all had teachers who were dedicated and made a difference in our personal life. We may even have had a few teachers who exhibited a standard of behavior that exceeded what our own parents required.

Teaching in its most admirable form is based on motivating individual students to excel and achieve goals they themselves set while at the same time maintaining a minimum level of proficiency for all students.
But at it most elemental form it should serve only two functions:

• Teach the subject they are paid to teach.
• Provide a yardstick to judge each students progress against the performance standard established for that subject.

Perhaps the first sign of a system gone astray is stated in the article.

"The protest organizers should choose a non-school day," Johnson said in a statement. "The legislature will be in session in Raleigh for at least another three months, a time period that spans dozens of days students are not scheduled to be in school, including spring break and summer break."

To elevate a profession above its core curriculum because it somehow involves young impressionable minds, it to create a society that will eventually have to learn the hard lesson of life later on:

"EVERY TUB REST ON ITS OWN BOTTOM"

"Professionalism is based on the quality of performance not the line of endeavor. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." John W.Gardner and or Cavet Roberts

Commented: Wednesday, April 24th, 2019 @ 11:58 am By: Bobby Tony