Blog Archives

Curtis Gates (1916 - 1991)

8/26/2023

Do you remember Festus (Curtis Gates), on Gunsmoke? He really was a cowboy as he grew up on a ranch in Colorado for most of his young life. His father became a sheriff.

Curtis was his team's quarterback in high school where he also played the Clarinet in band. During World War II, he served in the United States Army. Before trying his hand at a music career (he wasn't in to acting yet), Curtis went to college to study medicine, but left because his heart wasn't in it.

When Frank Sinatra left the famous Tommy Dorsey Band, Curtis was his replacement for a short period of time as WWII was getting ready to unleash. He then went on to perform from 1959 to 1962 with Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers and put out the famous song: "Ghost Riders in the Sky."

He was a special actor in many ways and the studio wanted to turn him loose into movie roles which included: "How the West Was Won," "The Alamo," and "Mister Roberts." "Gunsmoke," was a hit television show from the start and when Dennis Weaver (Chester) left the show as Matt's deputy, Curtis took his place. There were five different deputies on the show from 1955 to 1975, but he by far stayed in the role the longest at 11 years. What's funny is that the guy who most people thought was just a typical peripheral costar, was actually the most talented entertainer out of anyone on the show.

He married Torrie Connelly in 1966 who had two children. Curtis never had any of his own. They remained married until he died in his sleep at the age of 74, from heart failure. He was a very amazing man. How do I know? He was a registered republican. 😎

When most people met Curtis outside of his roles in Hollywood, they couldn't believe how tall he was. Why? Because the 6'6" tall Matt Dillon was larger than most NFL players at the time, and it made Curtis look really small even though he was six feet tall.

Kites

8/25/2023

Kites are said to have been invented in China by a farmer around 2800 B.C. The word is he accidentally flew his hat so to speak as he was tying a string around it because it was windy out and it flew out of his hands and did its kite thing in the air. An inventor/philosopher helped him turn it into something to play with and it was a huge hit. They were even trying to build a kite that was sturdy enough to fly a human in the air, but it never worked. They were a couple of thousand years ahead of their time.

The kite took off like wildfire in Asia and Europe, but no country has built more beautiful kites over the years than China. To them, it was, and is still, art.

Where Will the Money Come From?

8/25/2023

Let me ask you this. Have you heard any liberal, I repeat any, who has stated where the U.S. will get the billions of dollars that it has been receiving in gas tax revenues once electric vehicles are the norm like they hope?

Pretty much all levels of government have been enjoying those tax revenues (i.e., city, county, state, federal, etc.). You see democrats aren't counting the inevitable taxes which will be levied on electric vehicles to get the gas revenues back in the budget so when they compare costs between electric and gas vehicles, the numbers are significantly off from the get-go because the study includes taxes on fuel and not so on electric even though it will take place. This is yet another tactic by democrats. The truth often isn't palatable, so they conjure up lies to move their ideology forward. They aren't transparent regarding the taxes involved with EV's. They conveniently leave it out of discussions. I just don't understand why their representative's lying day in, and day out doesn't bother them. I believe that someday they'll come to the realization that the end does not justify the means. Hopefully it won't be too late for our Republic.

One, fight to ensure energy sources such as coal, natural gas, and oil, are the norms and people can transition into electric vehicles (EV) when they feel comfortable doing so and can afford doing so. It shouldn't be forced on anyone. Or we can sit back and get railroaded as we were with the COVID vaccine and keep our mouths shut even though we knew the information at times was false.

The bottom line is that there aren't just a few problems with the massive push into EV, there are several and they're serious. We can't afford to give up our national security due to other countries having leverage on us based on the supply needs we'd have if we moved forward (i.e., batteries, construction material for the new EV's, etc.).

Having to play nice with China and Russia because they'd have power over us with the supplies necessary to manufacture electric vehicles, is scary. Trump's mentality was the total opposite. He wanted us to control our own destinies and it began with being energy independent which was awesome while it lasted since Biden nixed it on day one of his presidency and things went south quickly. Which begs the question: "Is Biden really for us, or against us?" Did the money sent to the Biden's from various people from other countries help pay to steer foreign policies? Absolutely no doubt in my mind. The Quid, the Pro, and the Quo are easily identified and should be easily prosecuted, but it's not happening. Why?

The GOP Debate

8/24/2023

I'm not an expert on the matter, but I'm glad Trump stayed out of last night's debate even more so having seen it. Experts were going back and forth on whether it was the right call for Trump to skip the debate so there's no sure answers in this case, we'll have to see if the polls move one way or another.

If Trump were there it wouldn't have been the same debate where we can get a decent feel for some of the other candidates. Anywhere Trump is, he commands attention. I didn't want everything to be about Trump, I want to see the democratic process play out. Politics has a lot of risks/rewards tied to it I don't think there were enough positives at this early stage in the game for Trump to jump into the debate. When the field has been whittled down then it would be good to see him on stage.

From an optics standpoint, I believe that aggressively attacking Trump last night wasn't a good move; this can be seen in the crowd's reaction when they'd boo some of the attacks. Strangely enough, even though a lot of people hate Trump, some of them have empathy for him because they know what he's been through. Hillary almost stole 2016 and Biden did steal 2020 while the whole time, both of these people and their party were making claims that Trump was doing the nefarious things they were actually doing. It's madness.

I can't stand it when the candidates talk beyond their time and when candidates start talking over one another. I'm surprised, but one of the worst offenders (I felt), was Mike Pence. He came across way too hard in my opinion. To be honest, I was surprised when he decided to run. I liked him as VP, I just don't see him as president.

My top two picks for the best performances during the debate are Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramasamy. I've been a fan of Nikki's for years because we had a home in South Carolina for decades. She is not a fake politician. She's the real deal. She's transparent. She's bold. She's intelligent; and, she's extremely well liked in and outside of politics. She made us look great on the world stage. How do you think we look now?

Vivek is a phenom at anything he does. I listened to his Val Victorian speech when he was in high school, and he sounded the same back then as he does now. My only big concern with Vivek is some of his foreign policy ideas which I agree with some, but they are easier said than done. Vivek is more of an isolationist like me in that I prefer it be a critical situation involving our national security, before jumping into wars whether fighting them or helping to fund them.

By the way, when it comes to Ukraine, my concern is Russia making the move in the first place. They want something so they take it. My belief in supporting Ukraine at this time is to ensure Russia doesn't get a strong foothold right next to Poland. The G8 would never be stable as Russia would continue to rattle their sabers and Poland would be on edge 24/7.

From what I could tell, Vivek was attacked more last night than even President Trump. Nikki Haley was sure lighting him up; but the thing is, I've watched enough of these debates to know that if you can figure out who is being attacked the most, then regardless of the polls, you have an idea as to who the actual candidates are concerned about, and it was easy to see that they're very worried about Vivek.

Slinky

8/23/2023

I'm sure it shocks some young people today that many of us played for hours with such awesome toys like Slinky and Etch-a-Sketch compared to what they have available at their fingertips these days.

In case you didn't know, the Slinky was invented by a Naval engineer (Richard James), in 1945. He was in charge of finding ways to more effectively move cargo on and off ships. He accidentally knocked one of their springs off an inventory shelf and when it hit the floor and started going down a few steps, it did its Slinky thing and Richard was mesmerized; he was also late for dinner. 😁

He and his wife, Betty, decided to use what they'd learned to build a toy. The biggest problem being that due to the war, metal prices were very high, but they thought the concept was too good not to run with the idea quickly.

When they first demonstrated their product at the American Toy Fair in 1946, it sold out in 90 minutes when they were supposed to be there for two days. Buyers from major toy department stores were stopping by their booth to see what the fuss was about. It was a great kind of overwhelming.

The Slinky was so successful that Richard and Betty were able to pay off their investors in months, not years. Adjusting for inflation, they sold $6 billion worth of Slinky's in ten years. Richard was a phenomenal inventor, but Betty was the head of the operation; she could pretty much run any company in the country, she was that good. She ran the company all the way until she was 90 years old when she died of congestive heart failure.

Richard and Betty could've been filthy rich pretty much any time they wanted as companies were constantly trying to buy them or at least buy rights to Slinky. The money wasn't their driver. They loved kids and saw where toys were getting too expensive for low-income families, so they created a toy that cost less than $1.50 (they started off at $1) and fought every year to keep the costs low.

Thanks Betty and Richard. What a tremendous legacy!

I Can't Take Much More!

8/20/2023

Hunter's two IRS misdemeanor charges have been dropped by the DOJ even though there couldn't be any clearer evidence of his guilt. The federal judge made it sound like an innocent mistake on Hunter's part in not filing for taxes on time. By on time, we're talking about him hiding the money so he wouldn't pay taxes and get caught for his dirty deeds.

Now what's more likely, Hunter forgot to report income, or he did so intentionally especially since he did file and pay taxes, just not for his hidden income? And why did everyone in his family have the same case of amnesia during the same tax returns? There are seven people, including Hunter, who the DOJ knows didn't report income so what about them? The evidence is simple and clear and there's no doubt if it were you or me, we'd be wearing an orange jumpsuit by now.

I've never in my life seen so much corruption at such high levels. I promise you this, if we continue to let liberals get away with this, then kiss our Republic goodbye. Double standards have never sustained throughout history. There's always an uprising and it's never pretty and things certainly are never the same including a lot of relationships.

One last thing. I read where several people have come forward stating that the DOJ is doing everything it can to prevent Hunter from going to court and the inevitability of his dad having to testify. Plus, as they've seen, the more they look the more corruption they find so the DOJ wants to shut down investigations that would hurt the Democratic Party. Pleading the fifth would be detrimental to Joe Biden and of course the truth coming out certainly would be. It would be a horrific no-win situation for him, and I'll enjoy every minute of it.

A Funny Story

8/19/2023

A story I've told before, but worth the humility of sharing again:

Maggie and I had a slow drip in the kitchen faucet, and it kept getting worse, so she wanted me to call a plumber. I kept bugging her to let me fix it but for some reason, she didn't have a lot of faith. Shame on her!

I finally wore Maggie down and she let me attempt to fix the faucet. When she told me I could do it I was so excited I ran to the garage to get my tools and was started in on the project in about one minute. I was in my element, great attitude and extreme desire to get the job done on my own (plus save a few hundred dollars in what I would've had to pay a plumber). I'm a smart boy.

Within a minute or so into the project and while disassembling the faucet, a huge geyser blew up and water was streaming from the faucet to the top of the kitchen cabinets. I was freaking out but trying to keep quiet because Maggie was in another room, and I didn't want her to know what was happening; it would be total humiliation with an "I told you so," that would last a lifetime.

So, what in the world happened? Well, in my excitement of getting authorization to take on the project from my boss (Maggie) I forgot a very, I repeat very, critical rule and that is to cut off the water supply before working on the plumbing. I'm not a plumber but trust me on this.

At this point it had gotten to where the kitchen was like a Lucille Ball episode. I was grabbing everything I could to stop the water. I did find that putting your hand on top of the faucet to stop the water from flying up was futile. All I was doing was spraying the water everywhere and not just to the ceiling as I was completely soaked.

We've all been in similar circumstances where logical, simple things, become complicated because we're basically out of it and not thinking straight. I realized I had to get to the water supply to cut it off but then I blanked out on where it was, so I called a buddy who was a real estate agent and fixer-upper and he ran over to pull me out of the mess I had created. Although at this point, I was already in too deep. The faucet was in pieces because of the water gushing out so at the very least, I'd need new plumbing.

By this time, Maggie had made her way to the kitchen, so my cover was blown. Although the cat would be out of the bag when my buddy (Chuck) showed up anyway. I'll never forget the first three words she said to me when she came across the madness in the kitchen and that was: "What the hell!" I was deflated. My plumbing career was over. I had to question what I was going to do with the rest of my life. 😁

After all the mess I had created, there was only one hope for recovery and that was to call a plumber. It ended up costing us about three times more to replace the faucet than what it would've if I had called the plumber in the first place. Plus, all the clean-up efforts we wouldn't have had to deal with.

Moral to the story, besides never forget to turn off the water supply, stick with what you're good at. If you're not a plumber, don't plumb. If you're not an electrician, don't electrocute. Well, that doesn't sound quite right but you get the picture. 😎 On a positive note, I did make some money selling a lot of my tools at our next garage sale. Great prices and barely used. 😉

The Land of Fruits and Nuts

8/19/2023

Once again California is experiencing electrical grid overloads and their citizens have been asked to reduce usage. Prices have skyrocketed while electricity is being rationed. And even though this happens fairly frequently, California is leading the charge for electric vehicles. Does anyone else see this as insane? Is it possible to commit people to a mental institute who are this out of touch but aren't a family member? I say let's give it a shot. 😎

The picture below is one of California's solar farm eyesores which used to be a beautiful mountaintop. The wind turbines that have been placed off of our shores are experiencing all kinds of issues, mostly environmental ones like animal life declining on or near the wind farms. Surprise, surprise, the mainstream media doesn't see this as a story. I thought they cared about the environment. My bad.

Notice the other picture of wind turbines at sea. It's easy to see how big these things are when compared to the oil platform also in the picture. What's worse is that almost every component of these monstrous turbines is manufactured outside of the U.S., mostly in China and Russia. I don't care who you are, if you don't understand how dangerous this is in having enemies control our power grids, then it's time for you to pack up your things and say goodbye to the good old, U.S. of A. Thanks!

Keri Russel

8/19/2023

Keri Russel (age 47) isn't your normal Hollywood actress even though she's been working in Hollywood since she was a teen. Her television shows have been huge successes like Felicity, and The Americans. Her next anticipated hit television show has now come out called: Diplomat, which is the brainchild of the creator of West Wing.

Her movies have been mostly few and far between although if she's in it, it usually does well with audiences, mostly the television shows crowd. Her movies include Mission Impossible III, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Cocaine Bear (in theaters now), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, We Were Soldiers, and Waitress. She's been nominated and/or won 30 acting awards.

She's extremely attractive and received offers for modeling while growing up but since her family moved around so much (her dad was an auto manufacturer executive with Nissan), she never pursued it. Her real passion was in dance and even though she didn't think she had a chance because dancing was about all she could do, she was cast on the remake of The Mickey Mouse Club, which also included Britanny Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake; three extraordinary music artists. Whoever cast that show, knew how to identify talent that's for sure. Keri felt like she was the least talented among the cast members and fought this anxiety and pressure quite often.

She was on The Mickey Mouse Club, between 1991 (she was 15 at the time) thru 1994, and then chose to step out and see what else she could do. She landed a role on Bon Jovi's hit music video "Always," which really launched her career in show business as she was an instant hit with fans. Out of nowhere, lightning struck, and Keri hasn't stopped since.

She speaks out at times regarding the Hollywood culture, of which she wants no part of, and is why she paced herself in the acting business. She wanted to live as balanced of a life as possible. She grew up in a mostly conservative environment in Arizona, Colorado, and Texas. She wanted a husband and children of which has come true as now she has three little ones. She's gorgeous and she's also a pro at what she does. I find it interesting that she's been hired by actors/directors like Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson as they're perfectionists. Her work ethic is a lot like theirs and they appreciate her professionalism. Way to go, Miss Keri!

BTW: I think she looks a lot like Charlize Theron in this picture.

Making a Positive Difference

8/17/2023

This is part of a personal account story that was written in 1920.

I was on vacation and decided to take a walk on the beach at sunrise. I was surprised at how many people were out but then noticed why as the beach was filled with sea life; sand dollars, seashells, and star fish, were everywhere.

I came across a man who was picking up star fish off the beach and throwing some of them back into the water and I asked him what he was doing, and he said that he was inspecting the fish and if he saw they were still alive, he threw them back into the ocean. I kidded around, looking at the vast amount of sea life on the beach, and asked him if he might be wasting his time as there were just too many to help. The stranger reached down and picked up a star fish, then turned it around in his hand to verify it was still moving and it was. He took the fish and threw it back into the ocean, smiled, and said: "I made a difference in that one's life."

The above is a great life lesson. We don't have to fix everything, we should do what we can, with whatever we can, whenever we can, and let things fall where they may from there. The outcome is generally uncertain, but anytime we have the chance to provide some form of positive influence, we should. If anything, it makes God happy and shouldn't that be our number one goal?

Let's not worry about trying to save the world, to fix everything around us, and instead focus on the fundamental few things we can impact; like ourselves and our own personal development journey. If someone were to walk by those star fish not bothering to help out because the task seemed insurmountable, then nothing would change. Everyone loses. The devil loves complacency. He loves it when we run away from hope and we're left with nothing but unnecessary fear, wishful thinking, and a low self-esteem. It's his job and he's good at it.

"Become the change we seek in the world." - Ghandi

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Author: John Mann

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