Glen Green - Your humble host.
Most commented posts
- GlenGreenDotCom’s 11th Anniversary — 6 comments
- The Sound of Summer Running — 5 comments
- Facebook and Politics — 3 comments
- Trumped Trump — 2 comments
- The Nightmare Before Christmas — 1 comment
Glen Green
Author's posts
Jan 31
Arbitrary Amazon Parcel Packaging
Amazon is a huge company that puts in an amazing amount of effort and intelligence to make for great online shopping experiences. But the capricious nature of Amazon’s packing frequently amazes me. A recent case in point: one order of coffee (about $20 value) and an order of two external hard drives (about $500 value). …
Jan 22
December 2021 – Quote of the Month
“The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.” ~Conrad Anker
Dec 16
Creepy Cat
This month’s Pressed for Time Post™ ®© leads us to a screen shot from Season 2, Episode 19 (44th overall episode), “The Liberation of Marcia Brady“. In this episode, Marcia is interviewed by a TV reporter on her thoughts on women’s liberation. When she gets home, her family gathers around to see her on TV. …
Dec 02
November 2021 – Quote of the Month
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” ~ Marie Curie
Nov 29
OSHA Compliant Heater
Went back in the photo vault to April 2004 for this one. This floor heater and sign were spotted in a West Virginia campground bathhouse. The bathhouse burned down some years later. Coincidence?
Nov 15
October 2021 – Quote of the Month
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ~ Albert Camus
Oct 29
Murray Slaughter’s Slaughter
I enjoy old TV shows, for the sake nostalgia, and for the little cultural gems that can be found in them. Take for example, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. At the time, it was very much adult comedy, that explored new territory (such as a happily single, unmarried working woman.) But even the salacious, sexual …
Oct 20
September 2021 – Quote of the Month
“It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: “And this, too, shall pass away.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
Sep 18
Gun Shy
Security Theater amuses and frustrates me. Today’s random photo from the vault was taken at Bangalore Palace, October 31, 2015. Here is a simultaneously funny and scary example of Security Theater: an unattended rifle, leaning, rather precariously against a shrub. I watched for some time: no sign of the guard. What could possibly go wrong? …
Sep 13
August 2021 – Quote of the Month
“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into …
Aug 24
Flamenco Raccoon Kitsch
When writing a post title, I try to think of something witty, or at least punny while also being succinct. Alas, I couldn’t think of how to encapsulate this post with anything pithy. Maybe, my difficulty stems from the fact that I’m writing this with an insomniac brain starting at 3:30am. But I’m going to …
Aug 18
July 2021 – Quote of the Month
“If we offer too much silent assent about mysticism and superstition – even when it seems to be doing a little good – we abet a general climate in which scepticism is considered impolite, science tiresome, and rigorous thinking somehow stuffy and inappropriate. Figuring out a prudent balance takes wisdom.” ~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted …
Jul 29
Pro God Pro Gun Pro Life
Spotted in the parking lot of a local store: I especially like the extra special logical incongruity of the ‘Pro Gun’ pistol barrel pointing at the ‘Pro Life’ heart. The woman who (apparently) owned the vehicle was about mid-30s. White. She had a huge bag of dog food that I helped her heave into the …
Jul 11
June 2021 – Quote of the Month
“Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic.” ~ Thomas Szasz
Jun 28
Monuments for Slavery and Holidays for Freedom
Facebook, like most social media, has been a disappointment to me and I’ve taken to staying clear of it. But recently, after more than a half year’s absence, I did have an occasion to login and wish a friend well on a project. Naturally, I got sucked in… It wasn’t long before I came across …
Jun 23
May 2021 – Quote of the Month
“If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate. … Choose science.” ~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
May 24
20 Years of GlenGreen.com
I’m a couple of days late in posting, but on May 22, 2021: This website turned 20 years old. I’m sorry that I did not get to the post on that day, but life has been busy. – Good busy. – So: I’ll forgive myself. When I started the site, I had some hopes that …
May 18
April 2021 – Quote of the Month
“We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.” ~ Walter Savage Landor
Apr 27
It’s Just the Flu
In the last year, Covid has almost become the new, go to small-talk default subject, like weather. And so it was, that in talking with a work colleague, the person I was speaking with balked at the notion of getting a Covid vaccination. The person said, Covid is, ‘Just the flu’. And went on to …
Apr 13
March 2021 – Quote of the Month
“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mar 31
Merchant and Urns
I spent a good deal of timing writing posts to the Friends and Family section of the site this month, and so: all I have time or energy for here is a quick and lazy sharing of a nearly random photo from my collection. This is a merchant on the streets of Mandawa, India taken …
Mar 26
February 2021 – Quote of the Month
“Groundhog found fog. New snows and blue toes. Fine and dandy for Valentine candy. Snow spittin’; if you’re not mitten-smitten, you’ll be frostbitten! By jing-y feels spring-y.” ~ The Old Farmer’s Almanac
Feb 28
Gleam Your Evening
Some text spam makes you feel like you’re missing out. I’ve never been ‘gleamed” before. It sounds so dirty and erotic. But it is nice to know that three strangers (Lippke, “I” and Layla) can surely sense that this link could gleam my evening. And it’s cute that they have a pet name for me, …
Feb 11
January 2021 – Quote of the Month
“But he that sows lies in the end shall not lack of a harvest, and soon he may rest from toil indeed, while others reap and sow in his stead.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
Jan 31
Trump is Flushed but the Stink Lingers
The year that was 2020 was so challenging, it apparently decided to leak into January 2021 with an encore act called, ‘violent sedition in America in the interest of overthrowing a free and fair election’. I could vent and storm on Traitorous Trump and his minions until my fingers bled onto my keyboard. But after …
Jan 09
December 2020 – Quote of the Month
“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” ~ Garry Kasparov
Dec 31
Christmas Kitsch
As I’ve noted before, I’m rather a fan of yard Kitsch. (As long as its in other people’s yards, not mine and not my next door neighbors. [- It’s more of an, ‘admire from afar’ appreciation.]) So, it was with some enjoyment that I share this house. Every year, it’s good for some amusement. But …
Dec 12
November 2020 – Quote of the Month
“Not long ago, if you wanted to seize political power in a country you had merely to control the army and the police. Today it is only in the most backward countries that fascist generals, in carrying out a coup d’état, still use tanks. If a country has reached a high degree of industrialization the …
Nov 30
Trump, the Losingest Loser Loses
I’m happy to be wrong about Trump winning Pennsylvania. But why was I wrong? For starters, I suppose I was wrong because I didn’t want to let my guard down based on the surprise of the Trump 2016 outcome. I didn’t want to feel complacent. And because of my apprehension, I put more effort into …
Nov 29
October 2020 – Quote of the Month
“There’s no art in this White House. There’s no literature, no poetry, no music. There are no pets in this White House, no loyal man’s best friend, no Socks the family cat, no kids’ science fairs. No time when the president takes off his blue suit red tie uniform and becomes human, except when he …
Oct 29
How Democracies Die
We’re counting down to the election. Less than a week away now. I think there is a palpable dread in the air. My take is: even if Trump is flushed from the White House, the damage that he and his toadies have done to this country may be a fatal wound. – It will certainly …
Oct 27
September 2020 – Quote of the Month
“The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg,‘My Own Words’
Sep 18
I Hope I’m Wrong
I’m writing this, having just learned that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. Vladimir Putin’s puppet, Trump and Moscow Mitch will steal another position on the Supreme Court. Last weekend, I had an occasion to drive across Pennsylvania. I saw Trump signs out number Biden signs at a ratio of about 100 to 1. And …
Sep 18
August 2020 – Quote of the Month
“The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate.” ~ Francis Bacon
Aug 30
Vacation Mirage
End of the month; actually a lot happened; more than I have time to write about; yada yada yada… So, instead, in commemoration of the vacation I’m not taking this summer because of the plague: here is a hot summer breeze blast from the past photo memory. Lake Powell: September 3rd, 2017. Oh, how I …
Aug 04
July 2020 – Quote of the Month
“We should always be asking ourselves: ‘Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?’” ~ Epictetus, Enchiridion
Jul 29
Five Feet Nine Inches
My better half and I know, or at least highly suspect that among most of our friends, we’re the considered the crazy germaphobes. Visiting Home Depot tonight, we saw a woman pushing her cart around without a mask. (In spite of the BIG sign on the store front that says masks are mandatory.) We grumbled …
Jul 22
June 2020 – Quote of the Month
“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
Jun 30
Faith, Hand-washing, Compost Trespassing and Milk Drinking
Some more sights from a neighborhood walk I did in mid April. Again: I wonder at people’s thought processes. This is a decently maintained property. (Although the garage looks a bit nicer than the house, interestingly enough.) There is an interesting combination of earnestness and humor.
Jun 28
May 2020 – Quote of the Month
“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” ~Pablo Neruda
May 31
Yard Adornments
In pursuit of some level of exercise, I have occasion to walk local neighborhoods. There are little, implied stories in the neighborhood yards. I’m rather found of yard kitsch. There is a story here, if only we can read it. Here is one such story: This is the front yard of a house. The lawn …
May 31
April 2020 – Quote of the Month
“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.” ~Yoko Ono
Apr 26
Exposed Exposé
Watching news on YouTube yesterday, I was amused by a little detail I noticed in the background of a video of Alex Ward, a VOX staff writer, as he was giving a report to CBS News. In the video, Mr. Ward is well besuited as he outlines the latest speculation on Jong-un’s health from his …
Apr 26
March 2020 – Quote of the Month
“Yet do not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unkown. Rede oft is found at the rising of the Sun.” ~LegolasThe Two TowersThe Lord of the RingsJRR Tolkien
Mar 30
Wondering Where the Lions Are
COVID 19 is the mainspring of the day. It’s hard not to make note of it this month. Here, at the end of March, we’ve watched as the virus has risen from footnote to a driving force of the world in about a month’s time. Remarkable. Even now, there is a struggle with the concept …
Mar 28
February 2020 – Quote of the Month
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always …
Feb 29
In Gear Against the Gloom
Ah! February 29th: the rarest of blog days. Kind of makes me wish I was born on February 29th, then I’d be four times as young. Since September of last year (2019), I’ve been getting out, doing a lot of walking and hiking. And this last weekend, we did an overnight backpack trip. (I’ve done …
Jan 28
Single Rubber Glove
I started to write an entry on the state of news and the world of politics but I felt the life force draining from my body, so I’ve shelved that. Let’s just say: it’s bad and we’re all doomed and leave it at that for now. However, in a matter that somehow feels vaguely like …
Jan 26
December 2019 – Quote of the Month
“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.” ~Charles Dickens
Recent Comments