Gloucester Sunset

Celebrity Sightings

Mike and Tom

Seemingly everywhere lately, the  ubiquitous Tom, was sighted at Fenway Park the other night. He an his friend Mike were smiling on the way home from the Park as the Red Sox won

Whacked out ACID Trip

I've been experimenting with ,

NO not ACID !! I have been experimenting with ideas as to a title that might grab some poor suckers attention just long enough to write a damn comment !!

I also thought I'd throw in a few pictures of what I think it might be like if you watched the NFL on LSD

Really though,

I'm just guessing ....

Seems as though it would be a bit

surreal

Thing is, using Crazy Titles may be a little like the boy crying wolf.
Here I am promoting a story about a "Whacked out Acid Trip and there was really no acid involved!!

Think of this visit as being part of an experiment and you are one of the test subjects, sorry I haven't any drugs for this experiment. On the bright side, I don't have any surprise elctro shock treatments in store for you either !!

So how did you find this post? and What led you here??

Labor Day Weekend...The End

We are lucky to have a great weather for this Labor Day weekend.

The weekend that really spells the END of summer .

No more Beach Days....

The Party bear will miss those Beach Days !!

But the Fall remains my favorite season, the colors, the warm days with no humidity. Cool nights that are great for sleeping and Football !!

Thanksgiving, my Favorite Holiday in my Favorite Season

Every Sunday and Monday and sometimes Thursday...It's Football, Snacks and Beer !!

Of course there is also Baseball if the Red Sox can keep it going this October and if they only go farther than the Yankees I will be happy with their season.!!

Enjoy your weekend and let me know,

What will you miss about summer ??
What are you looking forward to this fall ??

Blast From The Past

July 4, 1937

My Dad is the Tall Handsome Devil in the front row, his little sister to his right and the kids from the neighborhood where he grew up in rural Pennsylvania. Also pictured are my Grandma and Grandfather.

Thanks to my cousin Tom, for digging out the picture and sending it to me.

The Power Of Suggestion

Have you ever wondered about the power of suggestion and how it might impact your life??


I read somewhere once that "only crooks and grave robbers play on our unfounded insecurities and use those to manipulate and control us." I wonder if the power of suggestion is really that strong??

In the 1950's a professor of psychology did an experiment to test his theories with regard to "social pressure." and to see if such pressures could make a person say something that was obviously incorrect.:

Here is a synopsis of the test results that I found at the wikipedia site:

This experiment was conducted using 123 male participants. Each participant was put into a group with 5 to 7 "confederates" (People who knew the true aims of the experiment, but were introduced as participants to the naive "real" participant). The participants were shown a card with a line on it, followed by another card with 3 lines on it labeled a, b, and c. The participants were then asked to say which line matched the line on the first card in length. Each line question was called a "trial". The "real" participant answered last or penultimately. For the first two trials, the subject would feel at ease in the experiment, as he and the other "participants" gave the obvious, correct answer.

On the third trial, the confederates would start all giving the same wrong answer.

There were 18 trials in total and the confederates answered incorrectly for 12 of them, these 12 were known as the "critical trials". The aim was to see whether the real participant would change his answer and respond in the same way as the confederates, despite it being the wrong answer.

Solomon Asch thought that the majority of people would not conform to something obviously wrong, but the results showed that participants conformed to the majority on 37% of the critical trials. However, 25% of the participants did not conform on any trial. 75% conformed at least once, and 5% conformed every time.

Interesting that over one third of the people tested conformed with the obviously wrong answer. I guess they wanted to be part of the group. They felt comfortable in the first couple of tests and began to bond with those around them. Peer Pressure is what it is..


So what groups are you a part of? Maybe it is a Religious group? Political ? Are you Conservative? Liberal ? Maybe it's a combination of them all. Maybe religious people tend to find themselves locked into a conservative political group because they find that the liberal groups that are around tend to be at odds with their conservative religious views. After all, Liberals might as well call themselves Communists, right ??



Where do we form our opinions, beliefs? Do we come up with them ourselves or are they formed within our groups??


Maybe we share opinions that are popular and promoted by our favorite media outlets? Take Glen Beck for example. Here is a guy that has great popularity. If you are a fan of Glen Beck then it is likely that you are a conservative.

He describes his show as a "Fusion of entertainment and enlightenment" He has suggested that Obama's Health Care reform is a means by which he can effect reparations for slavery. If you are a fan of his then it is likely that you believe that. One because you like Glen Beck and two because you want to be part of the group that likes Glen Beck. Peer Pressure, just like in High School !! Cool (-:


His shows are filled with moral outrage and apocalyptic views of the future. Basically if you are part of his fan base, his group, then Glen Beck can scare the shit out of you. That is certainly not his primary purpose but it sure helps the ratings.


I am wondering these days where all the conservatives get programmed and I think I am on to something even bigger then Glenn Beck !!


Talk Radio !! Did you know that among Americans 12 and older, that 90 Percent of them listen to radio each week. That is more than the Television, Newspapers Magazines or even the Internet.


Through 1700 radio stations across the US, some 50 million Americans are listeners of the news/talk format every week. GUESS WHAT ??


Of the 257 News/Talk stations owned by the 5 top commercial station owners:
91 Percent of those stations are Conservative
9 Percent are Progressive or maybe prone to expounding on more Liberal Discussions of the daily news.


Which group are you in??


I got these stats from this report: The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio. Read it if you dare!!

Of course if you like Glen Beck then you will likely dismiss me as a rabble rousing communist. That is, if you want to stay comfortable in your group of peers, even if they are wrong about so many things!!


Bottom line here is be your own group and step away from the traditional biased media and start trying to find the real problems in America. One of them is the News. Another is the Insurance Companies. Is Obama the enemy, I don't think so. The Savior, no. But he is someone trying to make a change? Unfortunately in this political climate that we live in. The money being thrown at Washington's legislators from the private sector will only dilute and muddy the change.

We need to make Health Insurance AFFORDABLE for everyone.


I didn't say FREE, I said Affordable.


Don't let the crooks, (The Insurance Companies) win.

Crazy People At The Beach

Normally Long Beach in Rockport looks like this...

With a Hurricane offshore it's more like this..

Smart people are observing, morons are actually in it!!

It's all fun till somebody gets dragged out to see and dies.

Lasagna Smack Down

On the banks of a local pond, at a house tucked away - on an island I never new existed -  in a town I spent a good part of my youth, was the first LASAGNA Smackdown I have ever been to.

I arrived at  the secret island location by crossing a bridge (Arrow top right ) And then found the home of Fred and Michelle's tree shrouded villa. (Arrow on left)

A cook off which put 6 variations of Lasagna up for tasting. 

While everyone at this gathering had good things to say about all the entries, for me there were 3 stand outs


There were 2 Mexican Variations of this Italian Classic, the Meat one , a bit spicier and the Chicken one, a bit milder  = BOTH delicious.


My favorite, prepared by the Hostess of this Food Fiesta, was the Cold Lasagna filled with vegetables and just seemed a perfect pasta dish for the hot summer night.


There was no official vote taken and all but one pie, which was good but found to have been purchased at an Italian Bakery and was entered into this contest under the guise of homemade,  could have been winners.  


A special note: the contestant that entered the illegal pie was later exonerated for his underhanded entry after he produced a bottle of Homemade Sambuca .=  Delicious!!


All in all I am looking forward to another food smackdown!

picture courtesy of Google Maps