Happy Harvest to those who turn the soil, who turn the crops, and who hopefully turn a profit. For the rest of us, let us appreciate what we have and recognize that we are blessed.
Here are a few of mine:

1. A good family, who is supportive and
2. Good friends, ones who will bring me rifles, or shovels
depending on my need
3. Useful work, that pays a good salary and provides for
4. Good food for my table and
5. Interesting things to do and study and learn
6. My cats, who give me love in their own furry way
7. A solid roof over my head protected by
8. Good men and women here at home and in the uttermost parts of
the world who secure
9. That shining city upon the hill.

For this and all His mercies may I be truly grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

It’s Friday, so it is time for SAPPY CAT BLOGGING! Today, Tinker the Wonder Cat!

The Retrotechnologist has a nice essay on telephone exchanges. The two-letters that used to designate the switchboard center where your call was handled. I still like to use the exchanges to figure out where calls originate, though with cell phones now, it is much more difficult. I’ve had my land line phone since 1948, and I have no intention of giving it up.

I haven’t found a list of all the exchanges in the Cleveland are, I’ve learned a couple of them:
LOngacre (56) FAirmount (32)
SKyline (75) GArfield (42)
SWeetbriar (79) TUxedo (88)
MOntrose (66) WEather (to get the weather report and time)

I take it back, there is a list HERE.

Toby Young takes offense at people taking offense. And he’s bang on on the reasons. HERE.

Today is National Buy Ammunition Day. The objective is to:

empty the ammunition from the shelves of your local gun store, sporting goods, or hardware store and put that ammunition in the hands of law-abiding citizens. Make your support of the Second Amendment known–by voting with your dollars!

I was low on .32 and .45 A.C.P. And, since it doesn’t go bad, I’m set for a while.

Cleveland Crime. Shondor Birns. Danny Greene Garrett Morgan

Supposedly, public speaking is a fear of the majority of people in the United States. These people would rather face death, flying, or spiders (No mention of death by flying spiders) than speak to groups. In THIS post Dean Dad asks

Have you found ways to help students learn the conventions of speech in the professional workplace?

Now, I’m an academic physician. Between lecturing, grand rounds, work rounds, and testifying in court, I’ve been grilled in front of many a hostile audience. Frankly, being pimped on work rounds was worse than any cross-examination, as there are no rules of procedure and no judge supervising to say “dial it back, Counselor”.

For me, I fall back on my experience with Mr. Atwell in Theater and Dr. Banks in Debate. In high school and college I worked on stage and behind it on several productions, and in high school I also competed in speech performances. One learns how.

I’ve also been lecturing now for over seven years. There are some subjects I can do without notes. Frankly, I do most of my lectures without notes and I don’t read the PowerPoint slides. There’s a rough outline on the screen, and I use those points as aides-memoires and flesh out the skeleton.

So how do you become a facile speaker? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice, practice, practice.

M1911A1 .45 Animation

And again

The Sam Sheppard Case. The case that made the career of F. Lee Bailey. Key parties, and interesting goings on in Bay Village. Pre-trial publicity and massive egos.