How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again! (Mark Twain)
Reggie Gibson, better known as the rapper Saafir, passed away on November 19. While no official cause of death has been released, it was reported that he had experienced ongoing health challenges since a severe back injury in 1992, sustained during his escape from the hard landing, crash, and subsequent fire of TWA Flight 843.
Details about Saafir’s early life and family are scarce. According to Wikipedia, he reportedly lived with Tupac Shakur during their youth. Given Tupac’s background as an effeminate ballet student at the time, some may speculate about the nature of their relationship, though this remains purely conjecture.
Continue reading “My “notable death” Dossier (11/21/24)”This matter was brought up in a comment before now, and I am unable to locate it. It is in regards to Barbara Olsen, who was allegedly killed on 9/11/2001 when the aircraft she was on, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon. I seem to recall that she was able to carry on a phone conversation until the moment of impact.
I am a no-planer, and so do not believe her story or her ending. She was 45 years old in 2001, and so would be 69 now. I will play with some photographs beneath the fold here, but note that her husband, Ted Olsen, remarried (several times), Barbara his third wife. He married his fourth wife, Lady Booth Olsen, in 2006, he 66 and she 45. I was surprised to find that he died just last week, on 11/13/2024 at the age of 84. Lady Booth Olsen is currently 63.
All very interesting, but the question is, what became of Barbara Olsen? The implication of the post and photos I saw was that she is one and the same person, both as Barbara Olsen, and Lady Booth Olsen. I have examined the photos, and my conclusion is that …
Yesterday I had gotten no further than the title of this post when I came upon Kevin Starr’s delightful post on wokism. “I thought I can sit back now, he’s covered an important topic”, being “woke” versus “awake”. Here in the land of the free there is very little awakism going on. That’s always been the case.
Over a decade ago I was a fan of the NPR radio show Car Talk and its hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi. Tommy sadly died of Alzheimer’s in 2012, and NPR reverted to reruns, and then relegated the show to podcasts only. It is still thriving even as the boys talk about cars of the 90s and before. The reason: Tommy and Ray were nice, honest, and funny. As Doug Berman, the show’s founder noted on Tommy’s death, they were “diamonds in the rough.” I lived in Billings at a time when Yellowstone Public Radio would host quarterly fund-raising drives, and I would contribute, but only tagging my money to Car Talk. Then and now I wanted nothing to do with NPR’s woke news and public affairs broadcasts, smug and humorless.
What does it really mean to be “woke,” and how can you tell if you’ve experienced it? Can you even spot it in others? Awakening isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s not a quick fix, a flashy moment, or some energy rush up your spine. Ironically, people who loudly claim to be “awakened” often miss the point entirely. True awakening is more like peeling back layers—each realization uncovers more to understand.
Being truly “woke” isn’t about acting superior or forcing your views on others. It’s about living in a way that encourages understanding and inspires change. An awakened person doesn’t preach—they show through their actions and mindset. Real growth comes from stepping into the unknown, planting seeds of insight, and embodying the changes you want to see. Judging others or locking yourself into one way of thinking? That’s not awakening. True wokeness is about living fully and engaging with the world, not shutting it out.
Instead of pushing your beliefs onto others, stay present and open to learning from different perspectives. We’re all students and teachers for each other. Awakening isn’t about isolating yourself or critiquing everyone else; it’s about embodying the values you talk about. If you’re seeking genuine awakening, remember it’s rooted in love, connection, and growth. Ask yourself: are you here to lift others up and support them, or are you just enjoying the feeling of being “better” than them? Awakening means connecting with something beyond our senses and living that truth every day.
Case in point: What was supposed to be a simple birthday treat devolved into the latest flashpoint after “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg implied that a New York bakery refused to take her order because of her liberal politics. It’s an accusation that the bakery has denied. Now, the store is claiming that an influx of orders has flooded its phone lines as local residents show their support for the small business.
I can’t help but wonder what cut Goldberg got from the spike in sales, all thanks to the free nationwide promotion.
As someone over 60, I find myself suddenly interested in browsing obituaries. However, with the decline of newspapers, my only source is the “Notable Deaths” page on Wikipedia. Inevitably, my curiosity leads me to uncover some surprising and unusual details, so I thought I’d share my recent discoveries here.
Continue reading “My Notable Death Dossier #1”I am very excited to welcome our old friend Kevin Starr back to the blog. My taste in music is pedestrian, right Karen and Richard? Keven is a student of rock and roll. He’s got more, much more to offer. Have fun!
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Welcome to Starr Tracks! I’m Kevin Starr, your fearless (and totally amateur) guide on a mission to rank the top-selling music year by year, starting in 1971 and going… well, until I run out of steam.
“Who is Kevin Starr?” you ask. Well, I’m not a musician, nor a professional critic. I’m 62 and have spent decades listening to music and forming highly debatable opinions.
Thanks to modern technology, we now have access to the kind of epic record collection we could only dream about back in the day. In the ’70s, before the internet was even a twinkle in anyone’s eye, listening to music required buying a big, unwieldy contraption called an LP (short for long player). These discs spun at a mesmerizing 33 1/3 RPM and played sound using a tiny needle, or “stylus”—which was basically like playing music with a sewing machine, if you think about it.
Continue reading “Starr Tracks: Top Albums of 1971 Ranked (Part 1 of 2)”
The above chart is a summary of various hurricane models predicting the future course of Hurricane Rafeal. I got it from an article at Watts Up With That by Kip Hansen, whose cv appears to be a Chaologist, or someone who studies chaos theory. The black spot above Cuba is the 24-hour point for the storm, and the diverging lines thereafter are predictions of its future course by the models.
As you can see, nobody knows. Why it seems almost … chaotic.
Paper ballots are considered the gold standard of vote counting. Three states in the U.S. use them, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. Other states claim to use them, but they are not reliable. Some just issue receipts repeating what the voter intended, but offering no guarantee that is what is recorded. Quite a few states offer nothing, just a smile and thank you to the voter, no assurance at all that the vote was even recorded, much less counted.
In the three states mentioned, voters hand-enter their choices on ballots, and the ballots are then run through optical scanners to tally the vote. It is not fool proof, as the scanning software can be corrupt, but the ballots are stored under lock and key for at least 22 months for recounts and perhaps study or statistical sampling. I think that 22 months storage is the law.
I am winding down now on my second pass through Frances Stonor Saunders’ The Cultural Cold War, befuddled at how new the book seems new to me even as I read it well in 2019 and even took notes.
My original impressions were of how the art world was affected, with the likes of Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol replacing real artists. Warhol is not mentioned, oddly. Could it be that he is left out due to his transparent nature? His work was hardly worthy of mention in the circles of real art, yet he stole the show in the 60s and 70s, Wikipedia now calling him “…one of the most important artists of the 20th century.”
(Warhol became prominent due to an obviously staged event, a shooting by a feminist who advocated the elimination of men, Valerie Solanas. Sometimes it takes a fake major event to garner headlines and usher a fake, a charlatan into the public consciousness.)
In Saunders’ tract, Warhol should be as prominent as Pollock or Georgia O’Keefe, but is absent. Odd.
Piece of Mindful 