Francis X Archibald A South Carolinian on Issues Great and Small

Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Visitors Out: Total Visitors Out: 0 0 2554 2554

Happy 4th of July
2008-07-03 13:02:00
(Lyrics (originally a poem) by Katherine Lee Bates.)O beautiful for spacious skies,For amber waves of grain,For purple mountain majestiesAbove the fruited plain!America! America!God shed His grace on thee,And crown thy good with brotherhoodFrom sea to shining sea!O beautiful for pilgrim feetWhose stern impassion'd stressA thoroughfare for freedom beatAcross the wilderness.America! America!God mend thine ev'ry flaw,Confirm thy soul in self-control,Thy liberty in law.O beautiful for heroes prov'dIn liberating strife,Who more than self their country loved,And mercy more than life.America! America!May God thy gold refineTill all success be nobleness,And ev'ry gain divine.O beautiful for patriot dreamThat sees beyond the yearsThine alabaster cities gleamUndimmed by human tears.America! America!God shed His grace on thee,And crown thy good with brotherhoodFrom sea to shining sea. ...

Did he get a watch?
2008-06-28 09:17:00
Yesterday the third richest man in the world, Bill Gates, (lower left in the photo) retired from his 33-year job at Microsoft and moved on to philanthrophy. Question: Did he get a gold watch? ...

Slicing your banana
2008-06-27 17:25:00
This is the results of an unscientific study over a period of years and my final conclusion: Based on my personal research involving the use of many knives and bananas and careful involvement in such activity, it is my contention that it is highly unlikely and practically impossible for a man to slice a banana into a bowl without putting at least one piece of the banana into his mouth during the slicing. ...

Good for health and pocketbook
2008-06-21 10:18:00
Walking is good for my health and today it was good on my pocketbook. At a yard sale I bought an almost new walker and transporter chair for use by my wife Mary. The walker comes with a seat she can use if she tires and it has a basket beneath the seat to carry things. The chair is lightweight, has folding handles, removable food pads and will go in the trunk of a car quite easily. The seller started at $80, I came back at $60 and we settled on $70 for the two. Each of these aides for handicapped people easily go for somewhere around $200 each. ...

500
2008-05-31 21:33:00
Hoist a glass for Manny. He hit #500 Saturday night in Baltimore and joined a short list of only 24 men who have hit that many home runs in their careers. ...

Memory trigger for Alzheimer's patients
2008-05-22 07:47:00
I was thrilled yesterday when the keynote speaker at the Alzheimer’s Association 7th annual Elks educational conference in North Charleston asked me to write up my son’s “great idea” to trigger memories for his mother, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.Jolene Brackey, author of “Creating Moments of Joy,” and leader of her organization, Enhanced Memories, made the request after I described for her and the several hundred people at the conference my son’s accomplishments. “I want to remember this great idea and pass it along,” she said.Last week Patrick came to my apartment and carried away nine medium sized boxes of family photos and 35mm slides going back almost sixty years. Some of the photos, packed in shoe boxes, were taken before Mary and I ever met. We joked this was a five-year project he was undertaking.I underestimated Patrick’s interest and skills. By Sunday he had taken a sampling of the collection, digitized them with a scanner into his computer. ...

Bad news about a friend
2008-05-20 15:57:00
The news about Senator Edward Kennedy's malignant brain tumor saddened me tremendously. It is as if it were an intimate and close friend about whom the sad news rolled over the world. ...

Jesus is Coming - Look busy
2008-05-15 02:14:00
Today four adventurous souls living/working at Franke at Seaside walked to the high point on the Ravenel bridge between Mt. Pleasant and Charleston. This is a monthly event offered for residents. I took some digital photos along the way and you may see these the site listed below the picture. I am the man in the black shirt- - which I bought at a George Carlin performance. (If clicking on the URL does not take you to the web site, cut and paste it in your address box.)http://picasaweb.google.com/archinsc/BridgeWalk05142008 . ...

Looking to the future
2008-05-10 01:42:00
"A few years ago the National Science Foundation put out a scary and much- discussed statistic. In 2004, the group said, 950,000 engineers graduated from China and India, while only 70,000 graduated from the United States. But those numbers are wildly off the mark. If you exclude the car mechanics and repairmen - who are all counted as engineers in Chinese and Indian statistics - the numbers look quite different. Per capita, it turns out, the United States trains more engineers than either of the Asian giants.""We are living through the third great power shift in modern history. The first was the rise of the Western world, around the 15th century....The second shift which took place in the closing years of the 19th century, was the rise of the United States....During this Pax Americana, the global economy has accelerated dramatically. And that expansion is the driver behind the third great power shift of the modern age - the rise of the rest."The foregoing are from the upcoming book "T ...

Hoisting the banner
2008-04-24 00:30:00
The banner hung on the Green Monster in Fenway Park at the opening of the season commemorating the 2007 World Series victory may be bigger than mine but mine was hung with the same pride and joy felt in Boston. My banner is on the wall outside my apartment door in the Trailside Building at Franke at Seaside, Mt. Pleasant, SC, where it has already received a couple of compliments. Two of my sons gave me this during last weekend. A friend suggested a cafe curtain rod (instead of a dowel) and I added a light gold chain to the rod. ...

Wachovia
2008-04-14 15:07:00
I believe KEN THOMPSON,Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wachovia Corporation, who has been in his current position for the past eight years ought to take a 40 percent cut in his annual compensation - since that is the amount Wachovia cut stockholders' dividends today. ...

All in a row
2008-03-15 14:43:00
On my exercise walk this morning I watched a band of ducks, approximately 20 of them, paddle two abreast across the lagoon in our subdivision. When they reached a certain point they switched to single file and made a looping turn and went down the length of the waterway. It was a classic manuever that would have made a drill sergeant at Parris Island proud. It was an enjoyable moment. ...

An Irish Tale
2008-03-10 16:11:00
I got the following from my sister who got it from a friend who passed if on from a friend, etc. etc. With St. Patrick's day around the corner it seems appropriate to be telling Irish tales. Hope you enjoy:IRISH BIRTH CONTROL Mrs. Donovan was walking down O'Connell Street in Dublin when she met up with Father Flaherty.The Father said, 'Top o' the mornin' to ye! Aren't ye Mrs. Donovan and didn't I marry ye and yer hoosband 2 years ago?' She replied, 'Aye, that ye did, Father.'The Father asked, 'And be there any wee little ones yet?'She replied, 'No, not yet, Father.'The Father said, 'Well now, I'm going to Rome next week and I'll light a candle for ye and yer hoosband.'She replied, 'Oh, thank ye, Father.' They then parted ways.Some years later they met again. The Father asked, 'Well now, Mrs. Donovan, how are ye these days?'She replied, 'Oh, very well, Father!' The Father asked, 'And tell me, have ye any wee ones yet?'She replied, 'Oh yes, Father! Three sets of twins and 4 singles, 1 ...

New Phone #
2008-03-07 00:54:00
Some people cannot organize a two-car funeral. That's an old, worn thin bromide but it applies from time to time. Case in point, my new cable TV, Internet and telephone provider said they would capture from my old provider (who does not cover my current area) the phone number we had for over 40 years at our home in Hanahan. Today, they admitted they failed and shifted the fault to failure to follow procedures, although they never revealed the procedures when they connected the three services. Case of one hand not knowing what the other one is doing. Anyhow, they apologized, threw some dollars my way and the temporary phone # they gave me at hookup is now my permanent land line. So if you would like to chit chat you may reach me at 843 388 7576 (old girl friends, bill collectors, and those wishing to borrow money should continue to call me at the old #.) ...

Farewell to Hanahan
2008-02-27 22:18:00
An 0pen Letter (The Hanahan, Goose Creek, and North Charleston News, February 27, 2008)Farewell to HanahanDear Editor:Forty-eight years ago, fresh out of the Air Force, Mary and I and two sons came to live in Hanahan. Now we are leaving and could not just slide out of town without expressing what these 48-years in Hanahan have meant for us.There could not have been a better place to live and raise a family; (three additional children were born during these years.) This is not an idle statement made by uninformed people. Mary and I were blessed to be curious. We traveled around the world and lived temporarily in Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa. Always we came back to Hanahan happier than before.The Hanahan schools and our church prepared our children for life’s challenges, college work and exciting career opportunities. Religious education, local sports and activities, high school sports and band programs, each contributed to making our family’s lives richer in so many ways ...

E-mail.address/phone update
2008-02-24 02:04:00
Hello Friends and associates:I have changed my e-mail to: arch@archibald99.com.My address has also changed after 44 years. It is now: 1700 Franke Drive, Apr 105, Mt Pleasant SC 29464-3986Phone: 843 553 1607 (May not connect for 10 days. Being "captured" from previous service provider. ...

Push polling against Hillary
2008-01-23 20:23:00
Got a push polling telephone call this morning alleging that some former FBI agent said Hillary Clinton in 1993 yadda, yadda, yadda. I hung up before I could determine if the push polling favors Barack Obama or John Edwards. I would lean to Edwards' benefiting because African-Americans are unlikely to cite FBI agents as paragons of truth, justice and the American way. The push poller and who paid him are unknown but in the end the question is, "Who benefits?" ...
Polling 

PsyOps in Green Bay
2008-01-15 00:11:00
PsyOps, long thought as the domain of the CIA and military intelligence, are part of the Green Bay Packers bag of tricks. In the first quarter of Saturday's game against Seattle, temperature 31 degrees and snowing, the Green Bay employee who drove the cart used to take injured players off the field was wearing short pants as he drove an injured Seattle player to the clubhouse. Seattle players and sideline personnel stared at him as they stood shivering in the cold. ...

Reflections
2007-12-30 17:18:00
As the new year dawns and the old one drops away, newspapers, magazines, talk shows, and, yes, even blogs are expanding the list of "ten's." My local paper had the ten top news stories of the year nationally, statewide and locally, which is really 30 in all. Then there are the ten best people and the ten worst, the ten best TV shows, and the ten we would like to forget quickly. The ten best movies and the ten that went straight to DVD in the middle of the night. Look long enough at little league, high school, colleges and even the pros and there is an endless list of tens just below the surface. My dentist, and probably yours as well, could come up with his/her ten best and ten worst mouths of the year. The possibilities are without limit. It is akin to staring into a black hole. I started to write my top ten list of the major personal events of the year but they turned out to be depressing or fleeting or fell into the "who the hell cares?" category. Just let me say my wife is doing fa ...

By-pass Japan - save time!
2007-11-01 00:29:00
If you are planning to visit Japan after November 20 be prepared for a long wait at the airport or seaport. The country will begin finger-printing and photographing all visitors from that date. This is somehow supposed to increase security in that country. Sounds to me like a real pain in the a**, especially if you have a visa you obtained from one of their embassies or consulates outside the country. ...
Japan  Time 

Champions, Again
2007-10-29 14:10:00
Jonathan Papelbon jumped for joy after striking out the last batter in the last inning of the fourth and last game of the 2007 World Series. The Red Sox closer got the final five outs in the game played Sunday night in Denver and won by the Red Sox 4-3 for their second World Series championship in four years after waiting 86 years. The flag on the Green Monster honors the 2004 Championship team. Another flag is in order and will likely be unveiled soon. ...
Champions 

Why Al Won't run
2007-10-24 03:52:00
Al Gore is unlikely to run again (for the Presidency). His ideas are catching on, but people still don't want to pay for them."Besides Mr Gore, however, no plausible candidate of either party favours a carbon tax, the most efficient way to tackle emissions. (Chris Dodd, a Democrat, does, but he surely won't win.) Voters prefer solutions that are either cheap or that they think will be paid for by someone else. A poll for the New Scientist magazine in June tried to quantify this, with sobering results. Only half of Americans would favour rules to force power companies to emit less if that raised their monthly electricity bill from $85 (the average in 2005) to $155 (an estimate of the hike needed to lower American emissions by 5% by 2020). And only 37% could stomach a tax that raised petrol (gasoline) prices to $4 a gallon. That would be an unprecedented hardship for Americans but barely half what the stuff now costs in Britain."This is why Mr Gore talks more bluntly now than he ever did ...

Sign says it all
2007-10-22 16:00:00
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Unbelievable
2007-10-18 10:55:00
So help me Jesus, this is from The New York Times, Oct. 18, 2007: "The Portland (Maine) school board on Wednesday approved a measure allowing middle-school students to gain access to prescription birth control medications without notifying parents." About five of the school's 500 students reported themselves as being sexually active. What are we coming to? ...

South Carolina's Congressional Scrooges
2007-10-13 16:20:00
One need not travel to Washington to learn how their congress person votes on critical issues. The results are announced immediately over the airwaves (and usually on the following Sunday The Post & Courier runs a graph reflecting the votes.) On Thursday next there will be one of these important votes when the House of Representatives considers President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The President says the current version of the bill is too expensive to continue. He doesn't remind us of his (and other Republican scrooges) philosophical opposition to all government-run health care. (Look up who voted against Medicare forty years ago.) SCHIP only happens to be their latest victim. When he was Governor of Texas, Mr. Bush unsuccessfully sought to limit access to the original SCHIP. In other words he has a track record against helping needy families with insurance coverage for children. By-the-by, during the period 2003-2005, Texas had the highest rate o ...
Congressional  South Carolina 

Waste not, want not
2007-10-10 22:07:00
This morning when I sat down with my coffee and newspapers I decided to also have some toast and jam to enhance the start of a new day. A loaf of fresh raisin bread was waiting to be opened. I bought it yesterday with the anticipation of how good it would taste this morning. Right beside it, however, was a wrapper holding only the two crusts from a loaf of whole wheat bread that I have been eating on this past week. This loaf of bread had passed its sell-by date on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday (October 2). What to do? Give in to my hedonistic nature, or remember the words of my late mother: "Waste not, want not. Clean your plate. Children are starving in Ethiopia and China."In conversations with friends and strangers over the past twenty years since I turned 50 I have been amazed to hear played back to me some of the same admonitions and bromides that were pounded into my head by my mother. (My father took French leave when I was a small child.) I wonder if my grandparents pounded these ...

Into the shelters - not me
2007-09-28 15:06:00
Perhaps you are old enough to remember newsreel pictures of Londoners (men, women and children) seeking shelter from German bombs by sleeping in subway stations (the tube in London-speak) night after night, huddled on thin mattresses, fully clothed, side by side, from one end of the platforms to the other, breathing each other’s air. Probably two to three hundred people in each station. Alternatively, you may have seen such scenes in movies.All this comes to mind as I read (The Post and Courier, Sept. 28, 2007, pg 1AA) the story and view a picture of a 10 acre underground quarry being readied in Huntsville, Alabama, to shelter 20,000 people from the threat of nuclear terrorism by al-Qaida or some other terrorist group. Even if I move to Alabama (highly unlikely) I am not crawling into some hole with 20,000 other people, probably mostly strangers, not one-percent of whom are on my Christmas card list and sharing this cave with them and the colony of bats currently in residence. I only ...

How did she know
2007-09-22 17:16:00
Every since I hooked onto the internet eons ago my e-mail inbox has received SPAM messages touting alleged sex enhancement products. Lately they come with an opening line to wit: "My wife complained my Johnson was too small. Look at what I did." I don't do much looking but instead send back queries along the lines of, "How did she know? Who was she comparing you with?" ...

First sight - only 10 days after Labor Day
2007-09-14 22:12:00
I went to Wally-Mart today and while shopping for toothpaste the sound of a child's laughter attracted my attention. When I turned my eyes blinked quickly at the first sight this year of Christmas decorations: Santa Claus, elves, snowmen, reindeer's; plastic and rubber, blown up, some twirling around, ready for your front or back yard and entertaining greatly a little boy riding in a shopping cart being pushed by a couple of women who were enjoying his excitement and peels of laughter. Christmas goods are coming out earlier each year. It is only ten days after Labor Day. Prediction: by 2010 merchants will start the Christmas season on the Fourth of July! ...
Labor 

Integrity remains in fashion
2007-09-14 15:25:00
Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots, might have more Super Bowl rings than Vince Lombardi but he trails far behind the legendary NFL coach of an earlier time in integrity. I believe he also lacks the self-confidence Lombardi had in himself. When the unknown Lombardi was announced as the choice of the Packers screening committee, a member of the executive board asked , "Who the hell is Vince Lombardi?" When he showed up for work, Lombardi said, "I want it understood that I'm in complete command." And he never looked back, and he never covertly spied on the opposition. ...
Fashion  Integrity  Remains