Horse Manure Park

I've always loved useless knowledge. Trivial stuff. Interesting facts that really don't mean a whole lot in the big picture. This little quirk about me isn't always a good thing. I found history so interesting that my first college degree was a BA in American history. Basically, I went to college for fun (a rather expensive way to have a good time, by the way). Two other degrees followed. And no, I'm not boasting. On the contrary, I am embarrassed by the fact I had no focus or direction when I was younger. I wasted a lot time, energy and tuition just floating down the river of books and term papers. So that's my story. Once upon a time my mind traveled "any way the wind blows," to lift a line from a song. As I've gotten older, I am much more focused , but I still love useless knowledge. I guess it is in my DNA. But history has always intrigued me, especially quirky bits of history.  Since you are reading my blog, I know you're smart and you might h

There has not been a live sporting event on television for a couple of months now and I'm reaching the depths of despair.  The wide world of sports have always been one of my main escapes from the real world and I'm not afraid to confess that I really, really   miss it. So how desperate am I to watch a little friendly competition? Well, yesterday I watched Korean baseball.  For real. Korean baseball.  The game featured the Samsung Lions versus the LG Twins. The game interested me deeply because my Samsung television is connected to an LG soundbar. I mean, what are the chances? (Trust me, I can't make this stuff up).  Members of the LG Twins, whose names I cannot pronounce. As the contest unfolded, the broadcasters (who were quarantined in their own hotel rooms, watching the game on t.v.) remarked that Korean baseball was different from Japanese baseball, which itself was different from American baseball.  To be honest, it looked like baseball to me. And it was a very welcom

Little Richard died yesterday, Saturday, 9 May 2020. Just when you thought this year couldn't get much worse.  So now, all of my "Mount Rushmore of Rock and Roll" icons are dead. I've always regarded Little Richard and Chuck Berry as 1A and 1AA on my Mount Rushmore of Rock and Roll. Both rose to fame at about the same time. Berry, who died in 2017, is known as the "Father of Rock and Roll," Little Richard as the "Architect of Rock and Roll." It is impossible to say which was more influential.  My third icon is Fats Domino, who also passed away in 2017. Domino is inexplicably overlooked by many critics, yet he's credited by everyone from the Beatles to Elvis Presley as an enormous influence; not only was Domino an innovative songwriter, he was a Billboard monster, scoring thirty-seven Top 40 singles in his career. Many music historians say Domino recorded the first rock and roll record, which was also the first of its genre to sell a million cop