Random 2016 posts, a New Year’s tradition

Continuing my theological journey, and why 1977 sucked.

This is a thing I continue to do at the beginning of the year: pick a post for each month of the previous year, using a random number generator, which may not actually be random, but is sufficient for this exercise. See how well it reflected that year just passed, or did not. Pretty sure I got this from Gordon, who lives in Chicago, who remains the only non-local blogger I ever met.

I think I enjoy this a lot because it’s so…numerical. And random, or randomish.
random-cwt_wfm
The graphic is random. I went to Google, limited to .mil sites, and typed in the word random, and this was the first one to come out that didn’t seem to represent a random check of one’s belongings. This is, as you well know, “Final review and comparison of Figure 1 shows that overall the noise characteristic of the CWT TFR is similar to the synthetic white FM integrated to time …”

Yer random 2016 posts:

January: Z is for Ze (or zie)
In September 2015, “Harvard University made a buzz after allowing students to select gender-neutral options like ‘ze,’ ‘e,’ and ‘they’ on registration forms.
(An ABC Wednesday post; I often write about words and the language)

February: Winter 2015-2016
(The one thing I hate about the metric system is that one gets to below zero WAY too easily.)
(Landed on a parenthetical aside! A still true sentiment.)

March: March rambling #1: wipe out cancer in a decade
Kintsugi: The Art of Embracing Damage.
(It is inevitable that, with two dozen link posts during the year, I’d hit upon one!)

April: Haunted computers
My current Amazon Fire is operable so far, knock my forehead.
(STILL working, though there’s a mysterious crack on the screen.)

May: Not getting to Facebook
(Oh, and why, you may ask, are all the graphics below?)
(More proof that I’m technologically impaired.)

June:Polly ticks, again
I have been told to my face, “Racism will go away, if we would only stop talking about race!”
(Didn’t believe it then; sure don’t believe it now.)

July: George Takei
I vaguely remember that George Takei was politically active.
(This was in response to an Ask Roger Anything question.)

August: The First Ward of Binghamton
Though I spent 18 years there, none of the interior structure looks familiar, though the back yard does.
(A specific reference to the house I grew up in. Arthur helped me with the map, because, as established, I’m technologically impaired.)

September: The 21st century’s 100 greatest films, part 1
97. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009) -DK (don’t know)
(I am doing fewer lists these days than I used to. I don’t even see ones I WANT to do much anymore, though 1971 music MAY be on the horizon.)

October: Baptized again
I hadn’t gone out with ANYONE from mid-1975 through the end of 1977.
(Continuing my theological journey, and why 1977 sucked.)

November: November rambling #2: Book two of the trilogy
“Who thought we’d have to deal with this in our lifetimes?”
(Quoting the Weekly Sift guy, after the unfortunate election of Donald TRump.)

December: A Yuletide tradition: Ask Roger Anything
So I guess I’m NOT so pure of heart as to be happy writing a daily blog that no one reads.
(My quarterly entreat, in which I get as close to baring my soul online as I’m likely to do.)

The blog at random 2015

The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and #10 in South Africa in 1975.

randomThis is a thing I continue to do at the beginning of the year: pick a post for each month of the previous year, using a random number generator. See how well it reflected that year just passed, or did not. Pretty sure I got this from Gordon, who lives in Chicago, who remains the only non-local blogger I ever met.
I think I enjoy this a lot because it’s so…numerical. And random.

The graphic is random. I went to Google, limited to .gov sites, and typed in the word random, and this was the first one to come out.

January: So, unintentionally, I’m taking life lessons from David Brooks.

February: Viola Liuzzo was a white Detroit housewife who was shot to death by Ku Klux Klan members following the voting rights march in Alabama, the march depicted in the movie “Selma.” (This was in a conversation about Black History Month.)

March: Now, Arthur explains this situation more than I’m inclined to. (About NYC newspapers, and George W Bush and Selma)

April: “Devote your energies to a cause that might actually make a difference in someone’s life.” (A quote from some annoying local media persona, with whom I disagreed.)

May: So I checked out Fred’s blog, and liked it so much that I read his entire backlog of articles, EVERY DAY, going back to January 2003. (How I started my blog, on the 10th anniversary, thanks in part to Fred Hembeck.)

June: One of the two or three best James Bond songs, this from The Spy Who Loved Me. (Re: Carly Simon at 70)

July: The need, at least for some of them, to ascribe all the problems in of the world at the feet of religion. (Answering An Arthur question re: ask Roger Anything)

August: Dealing with the environment’s a waste of time? (A real-life- non-Internet, argument I tried avoiding having with a stranger.)

September: For instance, what is the character to the right? (Political correctness, and Donald Trump.)

October: The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and #10 in South Africa in 1975. (Re: the song Jackie Blue)

November: However, a few will struggle and it is exactly those veterans who need a Veterans Treatment Court program the most. (My 11/11 post)

December: In some way, the politics are more utopian than the science. (My review of the movie The Martian.

Oddly, I missed all the weekly ABC Wednesday posts. In fact, more than their fair share of posts were from Fridays and Saturdays.

The blog at random 2014

It’s entirely possible (likely) the Bible doesn’t always mean what we THINK it does.

Gmsh: a three-dimensional finite element mesh generator
Gmsh: a three-dimensional finite element mesh generator

This is a thing I continue to do at the beginning of the year: pick a post for each month of the previous year, using a random number generator. See how well it reflected that year just passed, or did not. Pretty sure I got this from Gordon, who lives in Chicago, who remains the only non-local blogger I ever met.

I think I enjoy this a lot because it’s so…numerical. And random. The graphic was a random graphic from a .gov site

January
“The Yardbirds allowed me to improvise a lot in live performance and I started building a textbook of ideas that I eventually used in Zeppelin.”
(A Jimmy Page quote, for his 70th birthday)

February
There’s a lot that this movie got right, starting with an actor, Oscar Isaac in the title role, who could act, plus sing and play guitar convincingly.
(My not-so-positive review of the movie Inside Llewyn Davis.)

March
As a huge fan of Dr. Seuss, I was rather interested in this blog post by Chuck Miller: “Don’t cry because you thought he said it.”

April
However, I’m going to limit the songs here to those written, or co-written, by Christine, only because it fits the family group motif.
(My M for the McVies of Fleetwood Mac)

May
Back in October 2001, the Wife and I went to Cherry Valley, NY, about an hour west of Albany.
(A tale of our 2014 return to the Limestone Inn)

June
The last Sly album I bought, until considerably later, was the druggy There’s A Riot Going On, with two Top 40 singles in the US, Family Affair, #1 for three weeks in 1971, and Runnin’ Away, #23 US in 1972.
(U is for Unique)

July
“Do public facilities need to be sanitized of all things religious to insure separation of church and state?”
(Uthaclena asking Roger anything.)

August
This time, though, I was feeling reflective when I awoke.
(Musical thoughts after a rare nap.)

September
“And today, many go so far as to say that the opposing party’s policies threaten the nation’s well-being…”
(Quoting a Pew Research poll re: the political polarization of the American public)

October
Before the superhero-movie renaissance, a struggling Marvel sold the FF’s film rights (along with those of the X-Men) to 20th Century Fox at terms very favorable to Fox.
(About the cancellation of the Fantastic Four comic book)

November
Re the Ferguson protests, which I saw described as “mind bogglingly incomprehensible”: “It’s Incredibly Rare For A Grand Jury To Do What Ferguson’s Just Did,” as even Antonin Scalia could tell you.
(One of my end-of-month summaries.)

December
It’s entirely possible (likely) the Bible doesn’t always mean what we THINK it does.
(On the Bible and gay-bashing. Interesting that is the very next post after the previous link.)

Hitting two ABC Wednesday posts is about right: 2/12=1/6, close to 1/7.

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