The Soundtrack of our Lives. The Bedroom Partner? Your Favorite Summer Cocktail. Mint Juleps. A Young Virtuoso.
- Quote of the Week: “Music is the soundtrack of our lives. “ – Dick Clark
I agree with Dick Clark’s quote. Music really is a long soundtrack that aligns with our lives. There is music that I listen to today that instantly takes me back to the past, with vivid memories of the exact place I was when I heard the song. There are songs that remind me of my high school days (Bachman Turner Overdrive’s Takin’ Care of Business), my college days (Donna Summer’s Bad Girls) and every period of time up to today. Some of the music played by the bands I enjoyed have been recognized at one time or another with election to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame being the benchmark of honor.
Every year, whether you agree with the nominees or not, musicians and bands are nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The recently announced 2025 inductees are Bad Company, Thom Bell, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Nicky Hopkins, Carol Kaye, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa, Soundgarden, Lenny Waronker, The White Stripes, and Warren Zevon. Unfortunately for me, a few of my favorites did not make this year’s list including Billy Idol and The Black Crowes. I am not sure how these two could be left off the nomination list but in years past there have been many great acts who did not make the nominee’s list.
The song Fell On Black Days, with the late lead singer Chris Cornell, helped put the band Soundgarden at the top of the charts in 1994. The strong bass groove, clean guitar, and pounding drums – for me, one of the best alternative songs ever written, and vocals by the outstanding Chris Cornell.
- Alternative romance. Solo weddings. Parties of one. Single karaoke. This is not a random hyperbole but real life happenings in Tokyo and other major cities that garner most of a country’s population. The cause and effect are stimulated by artificial intelligence (AI) – a topic I mentioned in JustMyTake over a year ago:
Previous posts have discussed artificial intelligence (AI) and the dire need for regulation. To me, the upside of AI is the massive quantity of information and processing speed AI offers, especially in the fields of healthcare, science, and education. Unfortunately, the threats posed by AI are not fully understood and sometimes underestimated by scientists, politicians, and the media. If you benchmark AI as a robust optimization system, can AI subsequently generate unintended consequences in the forms of miscommunication and manipulation? How crucial for those continuing to develop AI is a responsible and transparent approach, considering not only the benefits but also the potential risks and ethical implications? If many people cannot tell when they are being manipulated by social media, what chance do we have with the continued development of AI?
The flip side is the ability of AI to be used in the wrong way. Here is one example: a North Carolina-based technology company recently evaluated if their AI software was able to generate thousands of molecules that could be used as chemical weapons – in just a few hours. They deemed the test a success and obviously stopped the research experiment before any of these molecules could be fully developed.
Do not get me wrong, I am a proponent of technology and the use of AI. I am only restating that the world needs to get its arms around the use and development of AI to ensure there is regulation as it relates to nuclear, biological, and chemical protection. I am open-minded and have adapted to the ever-changing landscape of technology. I have often said that at this point in my life, nothing really surprises me.
That thought changed a bit Sunday evening as I watched a segment of 60 Minutes. The segment covered the ever-decreasing birthrate and population of Japan, the systemic issues with people never marrying, and the socio-economic issues facing the Japanese workforce. At the 6:50 mark of the video below even I was surprised. Let’s just say that robots making their way into the bedroom did not sit well with me. Watch from the 6:50 mark and tell me your thoughts. No, and no is my thought.
- Regarding romance, I find it mind-boggling that America is consumed with the Bill Belichick saga. Why does anyone care who this football coach, at the age of 73, spends time with? Yes, there is a big age gap between Belichick and his girlfriend. C’mon, that age gap is only forty-nine years. 🙂
- Last week’s Question of the Week offered up a few answers to a difficult question. Thank you to all who provided your answers.
If your child were on a campus and an incident similar to the one at FSU occurred, what and how would you respond to your child? What words would or could you use to ensure your son or daughter could carry on without issues?
I think we have become a much softer society and that coddling has happened too often. We live in a tumultuous world and as much as I’d like to believe there isn’t evil or bad out there…there is.
I think canceling classes or postponing exams, etc. prevents children/students from learning to cope with messed up life events.
Hey Gary, thanks for being both interesting and provocative. On this question I don’t have an answer. My opinion is we collectively as a society have become so tribal and combative that our government has become incapable of depoliticizing something as tragic as school mass shootings. That in turn has made it impossible to deal with mental health, social media and gun issues through legislation. We can’t fully protect our young people, nor ourselves. So, if given the choice between hiding in our homes or living life to the fullest, I’d choose the latter for my kids. And every day I’d be thankful for their health, safety and happiness.
It doesn’t have to be on a college campus, it could happen to any of us anywhere. The shooter chose the destination to get attention by a group he or she was harmed by and the shooter suffers from a brain disease which means they have no logic.
I would tell my children to carry on and to fight for more nationwide care for people with mental health disease and limits on the types of guns people can own. Mental health is an extreme health and safety crisis and in America weapons of war are everywhere.
In other democratic countries, people can have firearms but not weapons of war. Why do hunters and homeowners need semi automatic weapons? The weapons of war of today, are not the right to bear “arms” of the Constitution.
The help for people living with mental health disease, also brain disease is not helpful. This is not heart disease or cancer, their brains have a disease and they have no logic, they are not bad people, they are not getting the proper health care that people with other diseases are getting. So when people say “it is not the gun, it is the person” They are correct, it is not a gun, it is a weapon of war used by a person whose brain has a disease.
I hope I never have to have that conversation. Just let them know I love them.
You have a very difficult question today.. I am not sure how I can talk to my kids if something like that happens… It is pure fucking insanity that we allow so many guns in the streets and fuck the saying “guns don’t kill people, people kill people!” I am sorry, this is so stupid… people kill people and guns kill people but people without guns can’t kill so many.
What people don’t know (maybe?) is that seeing someone being shot dead in front of you is an insanely traumatic experience even when you are the shooter….
Brother I honestly can’t figure out what to say to my kids if something like that happens other than supporting them and showering them with love.
Difficult question for a Sunday 😁
This is a grief condition where remembrance, talking about it, and grief consulting finds humbleness and peace. For Anna & I we tried to protect them…it was the wrong move…they seek their own protection in their own way knowing you are there grieving too. Love can win….
Welcome to the crazy world…do / act what is right…
Good question. Wow. My affinity with our 2A rights, and my love for north Florida (Tallahassee in particular) might skew my opinion. If one of my daughters, both “firearms aware” had been at this incident, I’d like to think they would have stepped in to stop the shooter. I gotta think on this some more.
I thought about that when you originally asked. Truthfully, I am covered with uncertainty. Our next door neighbor in VA had a daughter whose dorm room was struck multiple times the morning the VA Tech shooter went wild years ago. My thoughts have always been to trust in the Lord and try to avoid stupid situations—Do not place yourself in potential dangerous situations period. There are some real evil folks in the world, but as the Latin slogan says: Illegitimi non carborundum—don’t let the bastards get you down. Live your life, day to day. Tomorrow will have its own issues. Fear sucks.
Here is this week’s Question of the Week: With yesterday’s Kentucky Derby in the books and thousands of mint juleps consumed, as summer quickly approaches What is Your Favorite Summer Cocktail? Will your share your drink recipe with all of us?
- Regarding the Kentucky Derby, yesterday was the 151st edition of the Run for the Roses. Mint juleps, ornate hat-wearing, and the big party that always takes place in the track’s infield, with Sovereignty outdueling 3-1 favorite Journalism to earn the garland of red roses.
Every horse in yesterday’s Derby was a descendant of Secretariat. Known as Big Red, Secretariat was an American thoroughbred racehorse who was the ninth winner of the 1973 American Triple Crown, setting and still holding the fastest time record in all three of its constituent races (The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, and The Belmont). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time.
Some of the traditions of the Kentucky Derby:
- The mint julep is the official beverage and has been since 1939.
- Like the Masters green jacket, the Garland of Roses presented to the winning horse is the most coveted possession in all of horse racing.
- While the mint julep is the official beverage of the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Hot Browns is the official food of the race. The sandwich, created in 1920 by The Brown Hotel, is white bread, turkey, tomato, bacon, and creamy mornay sauce. The second traditional sandwich is the Benedictine Sandwich made of cucumber, green onion, cream cheese, dill, and mayonnaise, again placed between slices of white bread.
- The famous hats and distinct headwear come from the Derby’s earliest days when full morning dress was required by all attendees, which included proper headwear for women.
- Cash is the only way you can place a bet at Churchill Downs as Kentucky laws prohibit the use of credit cards to place a bet.
- The “Walkover” is the quarter-mile walk before the Kentucky Derby involving the horses, their trainers, and their owners.
Let us hope that these traditions, some from 1920, continue as part of “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.”
- Pure Talent. Based on today’s Quote of the Week, I could have highlighted a musical talent from Dick Clark’s American Bandstand show. Instead I selected Sasha, a ten-year-old virtuoso who shows us tremendous joy playing live in front of dozens of amazed spectators. Sasha is Pure Talent!