Overreach

Posted on 1 November 2012 by bangpitcher

Not content to merely suggest that towns reschedule their planned activities – perfectly in keeping with a State of Emergency – the Governor of the People’s Republic of New Jersey found it within his august powers to reschedule an entire holiday. Henceforth in New Jersey, Halloween 2012 will fall on November 5th, not October 31st as tradition and history suggest.

Reminds me of the Pope cancelling 10 days in 1582, or the King of England finally catching up with the rest of the world by cancelling 11 days in 1752.

Politicians seem to think they’re gods. I hope he gets his big fat can kicked around a bit for this one. What will they do with Guy Fawkes Day?

I have a suggestion for commemoration.

Posted in Politics and Society | 1 Comment

1862

Posted on 10 October 2012 by bangpitcher

One-Hundred Fifty years ago today – October 10, 1862 – Confederate cavalry pounded across the Potomac and raised hell in my hometown of Mercersburg, PA.

I suppose they didn’t give it more hell because they knew the debt their odious cause owed to a son of Mercersburg, that traitorous hound James Buchanan.

Like the no-account, dirty, horse-thieves they were they stole some horses, stole some shoes, stole a map and stole a few people. I expect they stole the lunch they enjoyed at Bridgeside but I can’t find any evidence.

As quickly as they had come, they left for St. Thomas and Chambersburg looting as they went.

Secesh would visit town again the next year and, presumably, the year after that. Funny how little Mercersburg would turn out to be such a crossroads of the war.

Posted in A Hooligan's History | Leave a comment

Challenger

Posted on 28 January 2011 by bangpitcher

Twenty-five years ago at the moment I’m writing I was standing with my family on a frigid Florida along a lake at Kennedy Space Center watching the Space Shuttle Challenger lift off. Minutes later we were driving back out the access road towards Orlando trying to figure out what had happened. Within hours we were wandering numbly through the Disney Village trying to get our minds back on a “happiest-place-on-earth” track and avoid the ubiquitous footage of what we’d seen that cold morning.

Of all the historical moments that have occurred in my lifetime, that’s mine. That’s the one I was present for. What a moment. Tragedy born of stupidity. Although I suppose that all “great” historical moments are born in tragedy. It’s only later we recognize them as turning points for great good. This one, of course, wasn’t a turning point for anything. Nobody learned anything, nothing changed (see February 1, 2003).

Last night as I was thinking on today I felt, as I always do, a deep sadness for the lives that were lost. I still remember all their names: Scobee, Smith, Resnik, McNair, Jarvis, Onizuka, McAuliffe. Isn’t that a pretty impressive cross-section of the United States? I remember what they looked like. I mourn them lost and wish I hadn’t seen it happen.

But that’s the old curse, “may you live in interesting times.” It’s been interesting. So, despite the unpleasant memories, I’ll be glad I was present at a moment in history and proud that there will always be at least one person who remembers the day and those who were lost.

Posted in A Hooligan's History | Leave a comment

Moving

Posted on 6 September 2010 by bangpitcher

So ends my second attempt to live in the big city. While we all wait for what happens next, here are some interesting facts:

I moved twice to the big city five years apart: 2005 to Nashville, 2010 to Philadelphia.

I got to Nashville on Labor Day. I left Philadelphia on Labor Day.

In each town I lived eight months.

In each town I spent less time away than I did living there. I think I calculated that I spent less than eight weeks out of eight months actually in residence in Nashville. In Philadelphia I bet it was less than four full weeks out of eight months.

For every end a beginning.

Posted in Reality is a Harsh Mistress, The Philadelphia Adventure | Leave a comment

Comedy

Posted on 30 July 2010 by bangpitcher

High comedy, this was, high comedy.

Leave the house at the typically obnoxiously early hour required to make the usual obnoxiously long commute. Luckily find out on the way down the street that the Turnpike has been closed for the past four hours due to accident. Re-route yourself down a parallel but very slow road.

Here’s where it gets fun. The parallel slow road goes to one lane for about a mile due to construction. It takes about ten minutes to merge – partly because the truck in front is going obscenely slow and partly because every jackass in the neighborhood is whipping out into the left lane preparatory to cutting back into my lane ahead of the lane merge. ‘Cause, you know, they’re so much more important than me.

I finally get through the light and through the merge area and have to suddenly dodge a universal joint that’s fallen out of the very slow truck ahead of me. Whee! Dodge universal joint, swerve to the right to get around the now dead truck that’s using its last bit of momentum to try and get out of the main flow of traffic in the one lane construction zone.

Now all the traffic is moving slowly, the turnpike is still closed and the word is that all the detouring from the four hour closure means the parallel slow road is choked where it joins the main branch of the east-west turnpike. Already it’s taken an hour to do what usually takes 20 minutes. Just as I’m about to declare all hope is lost I hear the turnpike is open and I’m able to swiftly re-route and enjoy smooth sailing from that point forward.

Total commute time: 2.5 hours. Usual time: 1.75 hours.

The funny ending to the story is seeing one of the trucks that caused the problem in the first place unloading its cargo of dry goods through a hole in the side onto another truck.

What a day.

Posted in Reality is a Harsh Mistress | Leave a comment