DESMOND T. DOSS, A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO WON THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

DESMOND T. DOSS, A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO WON THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

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I hadn't head of Desmond Doss (1919 – 2006)- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Doss - who was the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor until I came across a note about him. He was one of only three who was so honored. He was a Private first class at the time of his actions. As a Seventh Day Adventist Doss refused to carry a weapon into combat and served in the Pacific theater of World War II as a medic. He…

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MATT EMMONS AND HIS BAD LUCK

MATT EMMONS AND HIS BAD LUCK

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Matt Emmons is a native of New Jersey, and an American competitive sport shooter. He began shooting competitively at high school. At 17 he became a member of the National Rifle Team. In college he won the NCCA a rifle championship four times when he in college. He has had an amazing career of success in his field. But, he also has had a bizarre history of bad luck in the Olympic shooting events. In the 2004 Summer Olympics he had…

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YOU’VE HEARD OF “SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT”? WELL…….

YOU’VE HEARD OF “SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT”? WELL…….

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You get all the news here. A couple of news items caught my eye this week. The first two involve a couple of guys who managed to shoot themselves in the testicles. How could they have done that, you ask? Well, to start with, it helps to not use common sense. Our first victim was a macho kind of guy who, for reasons I’ll never know, walked into a Lynnwood Lowe’s Home Improvement store with a handgun stuffed down the waistband of his pants. Maybe he had…

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NEWS TRIVIA FROM EUROPEAN PAPERS

NEWS TRIVIA FROM EUROPEAN PAPERS

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While we were in Europe, I enjoyed reading the European newspapers. One item I thought amusing was in the London Daily Mail. It reported that billionaire socialite Goga Ashkenazi was at a charity auction when an expensive painting was being auctioned off. She made the mistake of spotting her new friend, Jennifer Lopez, at the auction. The mistake was she waived to her and that resulted in her inadvertently buying a $240,000 pound ($347,544.00 in U.S. dollars) painting by accident. I had…

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FINAL TRAVEL REPORT

FINAL TRAVEL REPORT

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We left our hotel in Positano and drove for an hour and a half to the Naples Airport on Friday. The weather was clear and cool. The Naples airport is small and easy to get around. Security was quick and we ended up at our gate with much time to spare. The intercom continuously is broadcasting flights and flight departures with gate changes in Italian and English. The door alarm would go off for no reason. Frantic calls to someone…

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REPORT FROM SUNNY POSITANO

REPORT FROM SUNNY POSITANO

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Today is Thursday here at the San Pietro Hotel at Positano. On Tuesday we had bright sun and after all the poor weather it was welcome. We got a ride to the top of the walk at Positano and headed down ending at the beauty salon. Lita had her hair fixed and they gave me my buzz cut for $30 Euro's. We came back to the hotel and had lunch at the main dining room. I realized I had lost…

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REPORT FROM HOTEL SAN PIETRO

REPORT FROM HOTEL SAN PIETRO

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Today is Monday here in Italy and we have moved to a new hotel. This morning we were picked up at our hotel Santa Cantrina at 11;00 am and driven on Amalfi Drive about 20 minutes or so to the San Pietro Hotel close to the town of Positano. The sun was out, but the forecast was for rain in the afternoon. This small, unique hotel is one of our favorite in the world. Named after Saint Peter (the owner was…

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HOTEL SANTA CAGTERINA AMALFI

HOTEL SANTA CAGTERINA AMALFI

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Lorenzo picked us up at noon and we loaded our luggage. We wove through the Rome traffic to the autostrada and headed for the Amalfi coast. Traffic wasn’t heavy and we were at Naples in a couple of hours. Once we exited the highway for the local roads they because narrow two lane roads. At each small town we would find cars parked bumper to bumper against the stone walls on the side of the road which reduced the width…

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THE BLACK SWAN

THE BLACK SWAN

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In logic there is a "black swan" concept. In its simplest terms it refers to the fact a proposition is scientific only if it can be proved false. That idea was made popular by Karl Popper. For example if we see a white swan we know there is at least one white swan, but it is conjecture to conclude all swans are white. The fact is that finding one black swan would falsify the conclusion all swans are white means it is capable…

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ROME UPDATE

ROME UPDATE

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Somehow in my narrative report I managed to overlook the fact that we didn't go directly from the airport to the hotel in rome. Instead we spent the first night at the wonderful La Posta Veccecia located on the ocean some thirty minutes from Rome. It is one of our favorite hotels. Previously the vacation home of J.Paul Getty, this wonderful small hotel has beautiful landscaping around it and is right at the water. We were only able to spend one…

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