tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33868563908925236182024-09-11T21:16:09.302-04:00A place where I can hang my hat and muse on life its ownselfRichard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.comBlogger217125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-55043214573421663252016-10-21T21:44:00.000-04:002016-10-21T21:44:38.854-04:00

Welp, it appears that Roger Goodell, the NFL, and the "New York Football Giants" are auditioning for a remake of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight with their handling of (soon to be former) Giants kicker Josh Brown. Brown had been arrested in Seattle in May 2015 for domestic violence and served a one game suspension at the start of the current season. After I wrote this post Wednesday, news

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-17922506871737515962016-10-19T12:34:00.000-04:002016-10-19T12:34:47.440-04:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the color pink seems to be everywhere. October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the color purple is conspicuous by its absence. Over the years, I have written about both causes but looking back, I guess I have written more about Domestic Violence just because there's such a concentration on Breast Cancer Awareness (here, here (both

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-57552589728016925352014-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:002014-11-11T07:00:00.325-05:00

This year, 2014, is the 100th anniversary of the start of the war that culminated in an Armistice signed on November 11, 1918. Thus ended the "War to End All Wars" on the Western front. Why specify that it was only for the Western Front? A few years ago, I transcribed my best friend's grandfather's autobiography which included quite a bit about his Army experiences along the Mexican border in

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-69482146589823341382014-10-03T13:12:00.000-04:002014-10-03T13:12:32.135-04:00

Although October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we have actually (I hope) gotten quite a bit more aware of domestic violence these past few months. We never know what action or incident is going to be a tipping point for an issue and cause it to dominate the news cycle. For domestic violence, apparently seeing Ray Rice carry his unconscious fiancée from an elevator in Atlantic City, then

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-38297487610130470042014-06-04T13:36:00.000-04:002014-06-04T18:04:04.808-04:00

According to this article this morning from CNNMoney, the official BLS Jobs Report for May, due this Friday morning, will show that the US economy will finally have recovered all the jobs lost in the Great Recession:Set your sights on this number: 113,000. That's how many jobs the U.S. economy needs to hit its break-even point, to finally recover all the jobs lost in the financial crisis. Get

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-37874870275709875762014-05-26T11:25:00.000-04:002014-05-26T11:56:43.398-04:00

Today is Memorial Day 2014. It's been a few years since I last posted on Memorial Day. As I noted then, this holiday was originally known as Decoration Day though the name gradually changed over the years and in 1968 the date was changed from the traditional date of May 30 to the last Monday in May. The US Department of Veteran's Affairs ("the VA") has been in the news quite a bit recently and

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-41750475130501902842014-01-21T11:23:00.001-05:002014-01-21T19:39:57.345-05:00

I am hesitant to write about Essay Anne Vanderbilt but I have been bothered by some of the responses I have seen, even from writers that I have a great deal of respect for. Be forewarned that this post is going to cover some uncomfortable topics. I would like to ask forgiveness in advance if I say something or phrase something inappropriately. Friday evening, I was scrolling down my timeline on

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-30049764283927788082013-12-01T14:47:00.000-05:002013-12-01T14:47:31.234-05:00

I took a bit of a roundabout path to reading this Op-Ed from the New York Times Editorial Board. I am still seething after having first read it a couple of hours ago. It seems whichever member of the Editorial Board that authored this, thinks the military members are not "sacrificing" enough so pay and benefits need to be "on the table." As I looked through the short bios of the various members

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-87074250720793097552013-11-30T13:30:00.000-05:002013-11-30T13:30:15.419-05:00

Well, here we are, the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the shopping season is upon us. Of course, some stores have had Christmas decorations up since before Halloween. Remember when the shopping and calendar years had distinct seasons? I do understand the desire of retail stores to push the envelope since for oh so many retail stores, the Christmas sales are the difference between an annual

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-64380532611698272013-11-28T07:05:00.000-05:002013-11-28T07:05:00.719-05:00

A couple of years ago, I wrote this post covering just a few of the things for which we should not be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Here we are two years on, and there are still a large number of things not to be thankful for and the list does seem to get a bit larger all the time. Retail stores are opening earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving Day, no longer content with opening in the early AM

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-63560160477813139232013-11-19T16:39:00.001-05:002013-11-19T17:33:15.792-05:00

In some ways it does not seem like it has been fifty years. In other ways, it seems like it has been even longer. This Friday, November 22, 2013, it will be fifty years since the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. That day fifty years ago was also a Friday. I remember it was a sunny afternoon and I was sitting in Mrs. Prahl's 6th grade class. If I remember correctly, we were

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-89150849962648109132013-11-11T10:18:00.000-05:002013-11-11T10:18:07.929-05:00

Today is November 11, 2013. Veteran's Day. Ninety-four years ago was the first observance known initially as "Armistice Day":World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-31251999646254246482013-10-31T11:14:00.001-04:002013-10-31T13:59:57.142-04:00

If you have been reading my posts, you know I am among the long term un/underemployed. I was laid off from my then employer in April 2004. I know most economists place the official start of the Great Recession in December 2007 but given their continual "surprise" at how the economy does not conform to their expectations, the reality is a bit different. When I was laid off, I had spent the past

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-15837745824019169342013-10-27T14:47:00.000-04:002013-10-27T14:47:26.296-04:00

If you have been reading my posts over these last few years, you are most likely aware that my chosen career field is Software Quality Assurance and Testing so needless to say, I have found the contretemps about the Affordable Care Act web site to be quite interesting. A friend from my small hometown in Kentucky last Wednesday (October 23) posted a link to a New York Times opinion piece by Dr

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-12177853821526834872013-10-18T16:48:00.000-04:002013-10-18T16:54:06.594-04:00

Well, the Republican Congressional Arson Committee was out-voted Wednesday and the government shutdown has ended and the debt ceiling has been raised. At least for a few months. Now come the analyses striving to set the Conventional Wisdom. First up we had this from McClatchy on Tuesday, before the shutdown had been ended:WASHINGTON — It may be one of the most serious missteps of the federal

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-13288831588866539492013-10-09T12:33:00.000-04:002013-10-09T18:32:07.518-04:00

I have been marveling these last few days at the whining coming from various news outlets and elected officials, especially those that tend to be a tad more right wing. It seems they believe that President Obama and the Executive Branch are making some decisions of what gets shutdown a little painful. This from Investors Business Daily probably captures the feeling reasonably well:President

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-45114705405972326832013-10-06T10:31:00.001-04:002013-10-06T10:31:49.574-04:00

October is a busy month. Schools have settled into the day-to-day routines. The sports world is busy with the MLB Play-offs; NFL, college, and high school football seasons are in the mix; the NHL has started its season; and NBA basketball training camps have started. College basketball has started having "midnight madness." The news and weather shows are providing fall foliage reports.

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-20181552931290089992013-10-04T10:17:00.000-04:002013-10-04T10:17:19.219-04:00

Oops. So much for the monthly Jobs Report. One of the effects of the government shutdown (no Fox News, it is NOT a "slimdown") is no monthly Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS web site has a "Special Notice":This website is currently not being updated due to the suspension of Federal government services. The last update to the site was Monday, September 30. During the

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-12496739956110956592013-09-19T12:43:00.000-04:002013-09-19T12:43:16.700-04:00

Today (Thursday, September 19) is International Talk Like A Pirate Day so here is my obligatory "Yaaarrrr." Or maybe it should be an "Arrrggghhh!" Yeah, I think I will go with the "Arrrggghhh!" After all, that is my normal response when I read the daily idiocies in the TradMed like the articles on Sunday that inspired this post. I could probably link to most of the posts I have written these

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-14353190251243795182013-09-15T13:46:00.001-04:002013-09-15T13:46:33.262-04:00

I was looking through various "news" web sites this morning when I came across this article from Tiger Beat On the Potomac (h/t Mr Pierce). The headline alone made me shake my head, "Wall Street gets misty as Bloomberg departs" then it just got worse as I read the "article": Michael Bloomberg isn’t leaving office until January but Wall Street is already beginning to miss the New York City mayor —

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-16813355686217310612013-09-11T16:01:00.000-04:002013-09-11T16:44:59.479-04:00

A couple of years ago, just before the 10 year mark after the 9/11 attack, I wrote this blog post, A Personal Reflection on September 11, 2001. If you haven't read it, please go and do so and I'll wait for you. It won't take too long. You're back? Cool. But just in case you didn't want to take the time to read, I want to quote my final paragraph: The other thing that has stood out in my mind

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-85494931998070579702013-09-10T15:25:00.001-04:002013-09-10T15:25:41.420-04:00

I have been struggling these last few days and weeks to come up with something to say about the possible US engagement/bombing of Syria. Usually when I write a blog post, it comes together quickly and the words just flow but this is different. Part of it is knowing that some people I respect seem to think bombing Syria is a good idea for some reason. Another part is a lot of people I do not

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-41856140835149645812013-09-06T14:25:00.000-04:002013-09-06T14:25:05.374-04:00

Well the August Jobs Reports are in, and, as usual, the numbers were not as expected. From Reuters:U.S. employers hired fewer workers than expected in August and the jobless rate hit a 4-1/2 year low as Americans gave up the search for work, complicating the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to scale back its massive monetary stimulus this month. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 169,000 jobs

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-19333646254055370112013-09-01T18:23:00.000-04:002013-09-01T18:23:27.737-04:00

Well, well, well. As I look back the last couple of years, it seems I have established a small tradition of writing something about Labor Day. This is the post I wrote in 2011 and this is last year's post. As I read my words from the last two years, I recognize that very little has changed in some ways yet in others, we have seen some massive changes. Labor Day 2011 was just before the start of

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3386856390892523618.post-7241414071856342592013-08-28T13:28:00.001-04:002013-08-28T15:12:43.948-04:00

Fifty years ago today, August 28, 1963, I was an eleven year old boy. I do not recall if we had started back to school on this date but may well have. As it was, I was no more than a week or so maximum away from being a sixth grader. I do not have any memories of Dr King's speech (pdf) or the March on Washington. I was vaguely aware of the actions of Bull Connor in Birmingham, AL but the church

Richard Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00900197266400910955noreply@blogger.com0