Author: earlthepearl137

I'm a big fan of Harness Racing and Minor League Baseball (Lancaster Barnstormers). In case you didn't realize it, that's not my picture in the photo. That's my all-time favorite baseball player, Mickey Mantle, in racing silks before a celebrity Harness Race.

The Tooth Fairy

by earlthepearl137

Back in January, I decided that the hip pain I was feeling made the pain of a hip replacement worth my while.  So, I told the VA doctor and started on the road to the surgery.  What a long, strange trip it’s been.

First I had to meet with the Orthopedics department to get their assessment of my hip.  They set up an appointment for x rays.  The x-rays confirmed that a hip replacement was in order.  But now I had to get confirmation from my cardiologist and dentist that I was cleared for surgery.  I expected my cardiologist to tell me that I needed more stents or some other work done, since I’ve be sluggish for months.  Nope.  He sent me for two different tests and the results came back, okay.  Not perfect, but okay for surgery.

Then I hit my first roadblock.  I called my dentist who I haven’t seen in years and left a message.  He didn’t call back.  So, the following week, I left another message and again he didn’t call back.  The following week I left another message and the next day I got a call from the office.  They would only see me if I got a referral from another dentist. WTF.  I decided to find another dentist.  When I go to the VA Clinic I pass by a dental office.  The bus there doesn’t run often, but the office is near the bus stop.  I called, and I asked if they were accepting new patients.

There was a pause, where the person on the other end of the line wanted to say, “Duh!” but she controlled herself and just said, “Of course.”  We set up an appointment.

I thought this would be easy as I didn’t have any pain, though I did have one broken tooth.  The X-rays revealed that I needed more work than I thought.  So, I made another appointment to get started.  Now, it was time to catch the bus home.  That bus stop wasn’t far, but it was on the other side of what is basically a busy highway.  It was at least 10 minutes before I saw a big gap and made my move.  Here, you should remember that I have a bad hip.  I made it half-way across, and realized that I would have to wait for another break in traffic to complete the crossing.  So, I stood in the middle of the highway with cars whizzing by on both sides waiting for a break in traffic.  After about 5 minutes, a lady came out from the car repair business on the same side of the street as the dentist.  “What the hell are you doing?  You can’t stand in the middle of the highway.”

I yelled back that I was just trying to get to the bus stop.  She shook her head, and mumbled something I didn’t understand.  Finally, I saw my break and I made it to the bus stop unscathed.

After my dental appointment the following week, I decided to just catch the bus at the same stop where I got off, ride to the end of the line, stay on the bus, and ride home, instead of trying to cross the highway again.  That worked.  It took much longer, but it worked.

After my appointment yesterday, I realized that I had about an hour and 20 minutes before the bus would arrive.  This time I brought my walker, not just a cane, so, figuring that I was now a tiny bit faster, I decided to cross the highway again.  I had plenty of time before the bus would arrive, so I waited until I was sure that I had enough time to make it all the way across.  It was about 15 minutes before I saw my opportunity, and I took it.  I made it.

Here’s where I should mention that the bus stop doesn’t look like a bus stop.  The weeds on the side of the road have overgrown the bus stop sign, and there is no shelter, marking, or anything else that would let you know that it is a bus stop, except that it is across the street from the bus stop heading in the other direction.  I had my walker, so I sat down on the shoulder of the road to wait.

About 20 minutes later a cop car went by going the other direction.  He waited until it was safe, made a u-turn, and pulled up a few feet behind me, lights flashing.  He got out and asked me if I was okay and what the heck was I doing.  I told him I was waiting for the bus.  He didn’t see any bus stop sign, so I told him that the weeds were blocking it.  He checked. I mentioned that I wouldn’t object if he put me in the back of his patrol car and drove me into town.  He said that was against the rules, wished me luck, and drove off.

So, I went back to patiently waiting for the bus that I knew was still more than 45 minutes away.  It hadn’t even passed by in the other direction, yet.  Then, a woman came out of the dental office and yelled something at me.  I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the traffic noise.  She waited for a break in traffic and ran over to me.  Was I okay?  What was I doing?  Once again, I explained that I was just waiting for the bus.  She told me that she was waiting in the dental office with her teenage son, when she saw me through the window, she was worried that I was a dementia patient or something.  I was slurring my words.  I assured her that I was fine.  I was just going home after a trip to the same dentist, and the reason I was talking funny was because the Novocain hadn’t worn off yet.

She asked where I lived and offered to give me a ride home.  That was better than a visit from the Tooth Fairy.  We crossed the highway together, with her holding out her hand to slow down the traffic.  We got to her car.  She called her son to tell him that she would be right back.  Melisa and I headed for my house.

Along the way, we chatted and realized that we both had moved from other places to Lancaster.  She was from Baltimore.  It was an interesting conversation, and she told me to take her phone number in case I ever needed a ride.  We realized that we both like to play Scrabble, so we made plans to get together for a Scrabble game.  So, I wound up making a new friendship, and now have another Scrabble player to hang out with occasionally.

I have another Dental appointment on Thursday.  I wonder if I should bring my Scrabble board.

Peace & Love, and all of the above.

Earl

Enjoy the Journey

by earlthepearl137

Today, it was raining as I went to the V.A. hospital in Lebanon, PA, and it reminded me of something that happened years ago in a city far, far away.  I was reminded that while the destination is important, the journey can be just as important. 

I was working for Publishers’ Phototype, Inc. in East Rutherford, New Jersey.  My friend, Robert P. McAuley got me the job.  (So, check out his books on Amazon.  Though he is probably more well known for his contributions to Aviation Magazine, he’s written tons of terrific books about time travel in his 1800 Club series.)

Anyhow, the job was like a dream come true.  P.P.I. was the middleman between almost every magazine and the printer.  Middleman is grave misnomer, though, as most of the staff were female.  So, after years in the military and working as a Frameman for the N.Y. Telephone Company, it was a pleasant change of routine to be surrounded by intelligent, interesting, sexy females.  I did, however, manage to keep in on a professional level (no matter how much I tried not to).

I worked in a division known as CBS magazines.  Working directly with the editors, we prepared every page of Boating, Popular Photography, Car & Driver, and a few other magazines to go to the printer.  I loved it, but then something happened.  I got transferred to the 4-12 shift.  I don’t mind working odd shifts, but the bus home to Jersey City stopped running at 11 p.m. 

So, my first night on the new shift, I had to walk home 7 miles.  Two of those miles were on a stretch of Route 3 that goes over the Hackensack River.  There was no pedestrian lane.  I walked on a narrow shoulder of the road just about a foot wide.  I was scared, and all the honking didn’t help.  Then I got to four miles of Paterson Plank Road that was mainly occupied by junk yards and the junkyard dogs who guarded them.  The barking was constant and scary.

The last mile was residential as I walked home fearlessly through my neighborhood, and I was pretty calm by the time I got home.  I knew that I had to do something to improve the first six miles, though.  I invested in a reflective vest, a flashlight that was the size of a war club, and a Sony Walkman cassette player.

So, the next afternoon, I went to work with a knapsack full of snacks, cold-packed beverages, vest, flashlight, Walkman, and my favorite cassette tapes.  Since I was now more visible from a distance, the honking was greatly reduced as I walked over the bridge.  The first two miles of the journey was a great improvement over the previous night.

On the four deserted miles of Paterson Plank Road, I cranked up the volume to 10, and roadside Karaoke was born.  I couldn’t even hear the barking dogs, and they truly were, “Out of sight, out of mind” as I sang along to the tape.

I sang quietly on the last mile through residential streets, but I did have one more song to belt out. As I got within a block of my home, I sang You’ll Never Walk Alone, the song that Jerry Lewis always sang at the end of one of his telethons for “Jerry’s Kids.”

It was a 90-minute journey and I made special cassette tapes that made that journey the best part of my night.  After I left that company, the thing I missed the most was that 90-minute walk home.

Today, I went to an appointment at the V.A. Hospital in Lebanon, PA.  I don’t drive, but the V.A. provided me with a free Uber ride to and from the appointment.  On the way back I saw that there was a paperback book in the seat pocket in front of me, “From Darkness Into Light.”  I pulled it out and noticed that the author’s picture looked very similar to the one I saw in the rear-view mirror.  I questioned him about it, and he told me all about his journey from troubled youth to respectable author.  Then he performed an epic poem that he wrote one time while driving 300-plus miles from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.  It was incredible.  I’m slightly deaf and the road noise was making it hard to hear, so I just kept saying “Louder” and he really got into the performance, keeping one eye on the road and the other on his spellbound audience in the rear-view mirror.  Before I knew it, the sun was out, and I was home.  Sometimes the journey is just as much fun as the destination.

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon (1987) “You’ll Never Walk Alone”

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

May 4th, 1970

by earlthepearl137

Back then students were protesting the War in Vietnam. They showed great courage in the face of National Guard soldiers who had their weapons pointing at them. Even the all-American surfing dudes, The Beach Boys, got into the protest.

The Beach Boys – Student Demonstration Time (Memorial Montage Project)

In addition to the deaths of Phillip Lafayett Gibbs, and James Earl Green, two students who died in Mississippi, four student were slain at Kent State University in Ohio.  They were Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder. They inspired Neil Young to write, Ohio.

Ohio

These songs help drive the protestors to victory ending the war.  Now, we are once again facing a government hell-bent on not hearing the pleas of the people.  Fascists are trying to take over our country.  People by the millions are turning to the streets to protest.  May good, once again, triumph over evil. Mel Brooks knows a few things about fighting Fascists.

Young Frankenstein A Riot Is An Ugly Thing

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Baby, Your the GRINCHiest

by earlthepearl137

A Gangster now known as Donny Two Dolls

Back in my day, on a TV program named 77 Sunset Strip, the parking lot attendant, Kookie Burns, used to say, “Baby, you’re the Ginchiest.”  If you’re under 70, you might need to see this clip from Dick Clark’s American Bandstand to get an idea of his character.

Edd Byrnes & Connie Stevens “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb”

Back then, ginchiest was Kookie’s beatnik word for somebody who was the absolute coolest person.  Nowadays, we have somebody who is the exact opposite.  Donald Trump is the GRINCHiest person.

When a reporter informed him that there would likely be a toy shortage this Christmas, if he kept the high tariff on China, Trump said that children would just get two dolls instead of 30, and they might cost a little more, but it wasn’t a big deal.

No toys for our little tots?  No big deal?  If a Democrat said that, the Fox “News” Nutwork would already be screaming about the heartless “War on Christmas” by pinko leftists.  Now, since Trump said it, they don’t even bother to comment on his comment. If they ever have to say something, they will find a way to blame it on Biden. “If Biden didn’t force all the toy manufacturers to move to China….”

Donny Two Dolls doesn’t think anything about taking away somebody else’s toys, but he raced back from Italy immediately after the funeral of Pope Francis, so that he could get in a round of golf at his club in New Jersey before the sun went down.  He sure won’t give up any of his toys, but he expects your kids to “take it like a man.”  Beside, why are you wasting your money on toys when you can get your kids digital action pictures of Donald Trump for only $99.99.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Update – Don’t Fear the Future

by earlthepearl137

It seems that I’m not the only one who thinks we could have a Utopia or a Dystopia in 10 years.

Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’

You can read the article on the web. Just Google Bill Gates on AI: Humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’

It’s gonna happen. We have two paths we can take. One leads to a Utopian society, where machines do most of the work and we spend five days a week doing the things we actually want to do, reading, writing, hobbies, vacations with loved ones, spending time with our families, taking classes, or just about anything else we want to do that’s not too expensive. The other path leads to a few trillionaires doing whatever they want to do, no matter how expensive it is, while the rest of the world lives in poverty because there aren’t enough jobs and the government doesn’t provide a safety net.

To achieve the Utopia, everyone will have to get along. If we continue to fight each other we will be doomed. Our only hope is to work together to create a wonderful world.

To achieve the Dystopia, we don’t have to change a thing.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Never Again, Again

by earlthepearl137

I wondered why the Jews didn’t fight the Nazis, so I looked it up. The idea that Jews didn’t resist the Nazis is a misconception. Jewish resistance took many forms, from armed uprisings like the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to acts of defiance within concentration camps. However, the Nazis used extreme violence, deception, and psychological tactics to suppress resistance. Many Jews were misled about their fate, believing they were being relocated rather than sent to death camps. Others faced impossible choices, with families threatened and communities devastated.

They fought, but it wasn’t enough.

Fifty years from now, will our ancestors be living in autocracies ruled by cruel dictators and wonder why we didn’t fight harder? Will they wonder why we didn’t recognize the obvious evils and fight harder against them? People are already being dragged off to concentration camps in foreign countries without even a hint of due process. Nine to Zero Supreme Court decisions are now being laughed at and ignored by the current regime.

“All that is required for evil to win is for good people to say nothing.”

Stand up. Say something. Like our fine neighbors in Canada say, “Elbows up.” “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.” Fight the tyranny now, while it can still be stopped. Don’t make your children and grandchildren wonder why you let it happen.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Reply

by earlthepearl137

I want to reply to all the people who commented on my most recent post, but I don’t have a “Reply” button. So, until I figure it out how to do that, I’ll just post this as a new post.

Most people commented along these lines…”when you look at the current scenario in the US where the rich are not only determined to get richer by the usual methods, but by re-directing financial support from those needing it into their coffers, it would be enormously hard for the rank and file worker bees to trust.”

I agree 100%. This will not be easy. The rich will make it very difficult, extremely difficult. It won’t happen until we reach a tipping point where the rich have almost everything, and the people have almost nothing. The thing is, I believe that day is rapidly approaching. With AI, Robots, and Drones, most workers can easily be replaced in the next decade or two. Unfortunately, the benefits of the technology will only go to the companies who own the AI, Robots, and Drones. They will not willingly share the wealth. We won’t get more leisure time, but they will get more money. They will have the money, BUT we have the many. We can change society by sheer force of numbers. We can make the future brighter. They know that, so they simply keep us divided. That is their strategy, and unfortunately, it is working. Someday, though, when we’re really downtrodden, out of necessity, we will put aside our petty differences. We will stop with the nonsense of white people versus people of color, middle class versus the poor, educated versus the uneducated, Democrat versus Republican versus Independent, and young versus old. We will unite and win, but it may come too late, especially when the rich will control all media, and they will not tell us the truth. We have to start now.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Don’t Fear the Future

by earlthepearl137

A fellow blogger wrote that she passed through a hotel and there weren’t any desk clerks. There were six computer terminals where guests checked in and out, and there was only one employee there to provide assistance to anyone who needed it.

She worried what this might mean for jobs in the future. I chose to embrace the idea, feeling that AI and Robotics can actually lead us to a more utopian society, not a more dystopian society. To help me formulate my plan for the future, I naturally turned to AI, and here is the result.

The 16-Hour Workweek: A Bold Vision for a Better Future

Imagine waking up to a world where work is no longer the center of life. A world where AI and robotics handle most of the labor, and instead of scrambling to protect jobs, we redefine work itself. In 10 years, automation will replace many routine tasks—so what if, instead of fighting it, we embraced it and gradually transitioned to a 16-hour workweek?

This shift wouldn’t just prevent mass unemployment; it would reshape society for the better. More people would stay employed, but with shorter hours, higher efficiency, and more free time to spend on leisure, creativity, family, and community.

Why a Shorter Workweek Just Makes Sense

  • Automation Will Handle the Heavy Lifting: AI and robotics are replacing repetitive and technical tasks—we don’t need to work 40+ hours just to keep the system going.
  • Less Burnout, More Productivity: Studies show that shorter workweeks lead to higher efficiency. When people work fewer hours, they work smarter.
  • A Creative Renaissance: With more free time, people will write more, read more, and engage in art, crafts, and learning—ushering in a new wave of cultural growth.
  • Strengthening Human Connections: Imagine having more time to actually enjoy life, engage in the community, and focus on personal fulfillment.

Making It Happen

This won’t happen overnight, but a gradual reduction over 10 years—starting with a 32-hour week, then 24 hours, before finally arriving at 16 hours—would allow economies to adapt. Governments and corporations could incentivize this shift, ensuring wages remain fair and working conditions stable.

So the big question is: Would you support a future where work is a fraction of what it is today, leaving more room for life itself?

Drop your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear what you think!

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Who You Gonna Call?

by earlthepearl137

Just for the sake of argument, let’s say you’re a billionaire.  No, a multi-billionaire.  What would you do?  Would you buy a private jet?  Probably.  Who would you hire to fly the plane?  Tom Hanks played Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in the movie “Sully.”  Would you hire him?  No.  He’s not a real pilot.  You would hire someone with a pilot’s license.  You could hire Tom Cruise who played Lieutenant/Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the movie “Top Gun.”  He actually does have a pilot license, but he is the exception to the rule.  Most actors are actors, not the role they are playing.

If you needed surgery, would you hire Alan Alda, who played Dr. Hawkeye Pierce in “M*A*S*H” from 1972 through 1983?  Or maybe Hugh Laurie who played Dr. Gregory House in “House” from 2004 through 2012, or Richard Chamberlain, who played Dr. Kildare in “Dr. Kildare” from 1961 through 1966, or George Clooney, who played Dr. Doug Ross in “ER” from 2000 through 2009?  No, you would find a real surgeon, one who actually went to medical school and practiced surgery.

If you had legal problems, would you want Raymond Burr defending you.  He played Perry Mason in “Perry Mason” from 1957 through 1966 and never lost a case, at least not until “The Case of the Terrified Typist.”  James Spader was terrific as Attorney Alan Shore in “Boston Legal” from 2004 through 2008, but in real life, he never passed the bar.  If you needed a lawyer, you would hire an experienced lawyer.

Jane Withers played Josephine the Plumber in Comet ads from the 1960s through the early 1970s, but if your gold toilet was overflowing, you would call a real plumber.  If you needed other home improvements you probably wouldn’t call Tim Allen, even though he played Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor on “Home Improvements” from 1991-1999.

If you bought a major league baseball team it is unlikely that your starting pitcher would be Charlie Sheen, even though he played Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn in “Major League.”  Kevin Costner played “Crash” Davis in “Bull Durham,” and he pitched a perfect game in “For Love of the Game,” but he probably wouldn’t make your team either.  It’s also unrealistic to think that you would have Robert Redford in the lineup, even though he played Roy Hobbs in “The Natural.”  It’s also quite unlikely that you would have Tom Hanks manage the team, even though he did a swell job as Jimmy Dugan in “A League of Their Own.”  If you did hire these guys instead of professional athletes, you might learn the hard way that “there’s no crying in baseball.”

If you chose to buy a football team, Cuba Gooding Jr. would probably not make the team, no matter how much money you showed him, even though he played well as Rod Tidwell in “Jerry Maguire.”  Adam Sandler and Burt Reynolds both played star quarterbacks in two different versions of “The Longest Yard,” but neither of them would start on your team, unless you didn’t care about winning.

If you wanted to sign a prize fighter, I’m sure you would want somebody with more real ring experience than Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Will Smith or Hilary Swank, even though they put in many hours as Rocky Balboa, Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali and Maggie Fitzgerald in the movies.

The list of famous people you wouldn’t hire could go on and on.  In just about every case you would hire a professional, instead.  Maybe, you might make an exception and hire Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson as bartenders, but otherwise, you would stick to people who do the job in real life, not actors.  If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, you’re not going to call Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd unless you need a laugh.

My favorite TV President is Martin Sheen who appeared as President Josiah Bartlet in “The West Wing” from 1999 through 2006, and my favorite movie President is Michael Douglas who played President Andrew Shepherd in “The American President.”  Kevin Klein was also a great substitute President in Dave, but I wouldn’t vote for any one of these three to be the actual President.  They don’t have the real-world experience.

So, I wonder why 75 million Americans elected to the Presidency a failed businessman and con artist who bankrupted 3 casinos and was convicted of 34 felony counts of fraud, simply because he played a successful businessman in “The Apprentice” from 2004 through 2017.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Get Ready, Because Here I Come

by earlthepearl137

This song is 20 minutes and 31 seconds long.  It’s mostly an instrumental, so you can listen to it and enjoy it while reading this blog. Actually, it should only take a few minutes to read this blog, but you’ll probably want to listen to the entire song, anyway. It’s a masterpiece.

In 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was adopted.  It established a legal framework for the use of the world’s oceans, including the regulation of deep-sea mining in international waters.

The United States has still not ratified UNCLOS.

UNCLOS has faced opposition from certain U.S. senators over the years, preventing its ratification.  A notable instance occurred in 2012, when a group of 34 Republican senators, led by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), publicly opposed the treaty.  This group included senators like Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH), among others.  Their opposition was enough to block the two-thirds majority required for ratification in the Senate.

What was the result?  U.S. companies didn’t want to invest billions in deep-sea mining in international waters, without having the legal protection of the U.S. Government as a signatory of the U.N. resolution.

Guess who did sign the U.N resolution and invest heavily in deep-sea mining technology?  China.

Well, over the years, oceanographers discovered an interesting area on the ocean floor where polymetallic nodules were “growing.”  These small potato-shaped mineral deposits have been formed over millions of years as minerals like manganese, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements precipitated from seawater and formed around small rocks or shell fragments, kinda like the way pearls form around bits of sand inside an oyster’s shell.  The greatest accumulation of these nodules is found in an area called the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.

So, U.S. companies are not mining these deep-sea nodules but China is, and a funny thing happened on the way to the future.  We’ve known the value of manganese, nickel, and cobalt for centuries.  The value of rare earth materials , however, was not so well known.  Recently, in a speech about a potential deal with Ukraine, President Trump even referred to them incorrectly as “raw earth materials.”  No big surprise.  He’s not exactly a scientist.

I’m not a scientist either so I had to look them up.  Here’s what I found.

Rare earth elements (REEs) consist of 17 elements on the periodic table, including the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. Here are their atomic numbers:

  • Lanthanides:
    • Lanthanum (57), Cerium (58), Praseodymium (59), Neodymium (60), Promethium (61), Samarium (62), Europium (63), Gadolinium (64), Terbium (65), Dysprosium (66), Holmium (67), Erbium (68), Thulium (69), Ytterbium (70), Lutetium (71).
  • Others:
    • Scandium (21) and Yttrium (39).

These elements are prized for their unique properties and are critical to many technologies, like magnets, batteries, and LEDs.

You don’t need to memorize the names of these elements, but let’s have another look at that last sentence.  These elements are prized for their unique properties and are critical to many technologies, like magnets, batteries, and LEDs.

So, while China has been harvesting these precious “potatoes” off the ocean floor, the U.S. has been waiting since 1982 for the Senate to ratify UNCLOS. The result is that China is now the world’s largest producer of rare earth elements, and the U.S. relies heavily on imports, particularly from China, for processed rare earth materials.  China is kicking our ass in the area of refining rare earth elements.

Let’s revisit that sentence one more time.  These elements are prized for their unique properties and are critical to many technologies, like magnets, batteries, and LEDs.

Ukraine has rich rare earth deposits, which is why – Surprise Surprise – Donald Trump wants to quickly end the war in Ukraine so that the U.S. can start mining their rare earth elements.

So, Ukraine, Donald Trump desperately wants your rare earth elements and he will stop at nothing to get them. He’ll even cooperate with Russia. So, like the band Rare Earth said in 1970, “Get ready, because here I come.”

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl