In my desire to make racism go away because of it's inaccuracy in terms of what it is that can't really be pinned down, it hasn't left me with rosy colored glasses that refuse to see the reality of the world around me.

Bigotry exists.

​My first experience with bigotry was with a newly hired second manager at McDonalds who decided to kill two birds with one stone. We'd recently hired a young black teenager who was beautiful, had a sunny smile, tons of "Ten" braids in the way I thought of them due to the popularity of the movie by that name, and a readiness to work. The new manager didn't like that I didn't wait to ask his opinion but acted like the floor manager that I was hired to be.

Our first tussle came when I put several people on lunch breaks because the restaurant was empty and they hadn't received them yet. They wouldn't likely get one later on due to the heavy business we always had Friday nights with local football games. He ordered me not to give any orders, to only do what he asked. Then he went out to the lobby and drank coffee with a buddy. None of the prep work got done. None of the employees got breaks. No one got assigned to duties. It all waited on him to act. He drank coffee instead. Eventually, the lobby was so packed with people, the garbage cans overflowing with garbage, and we were short handed the two coffee drinkers that I eventually took a walk and asked him if he intended to help because the way things were going we wouldn't likely get out of there until really late. Second manager came to the rescue, throwing buns around and ordering people here and there and we finally all went home at four a.m. when his lack of managerial skills and preplanning led to our late escape.

​The next morning when asked about the mess, I told my colleague that I had been ordered not to tell anyone what to do and didn't get out of there until four a.m. I turned to see the new manager listening in.

​So on this next shift, I was ordered to do multiple jobs, cook fries, make milkshakes, clean the lobby, and back all the staff up. I quietly did so but on my pass through the lobby I heard the second manager say he was "going to get rid of me and that would teach me since I had just moved into an apartment on my own and couldn't argue."

​The next shift, the second manager ordered me to tell the pretty black girl to change her hair do because it didn't look good.  So I did, telling her "the second manager told me to tell you" and writing the same words on her application. I then suggested she tell her parents and to get a lawyer.

​So I do know that people can be mean, can bully people, can get "even" with people, can hurt, attack, abuse and do other illegal things that all revolve around hate. I am not naïve.

​But I do like the word bigotry much better than racism. For one reason, bigotry puts the blame for the hate where it sits, namely in the person doing the bullying, having the mean attitudes, and doing the nasty things against people that earn them the title.

​With racism, the guilty edict goes against an entire set of people, placing the activity society wide and making everyone aware that we are human in the worst ways. Even if we are the nicest, most charitable, friendly, kindly acting people in the world, we are still guilty.

​I don't believe anyone is guilty until proven so. It's the way in the United States that many of us have been brought up to believe. Racism convicts everyone without trial, convicts everyone to a set of beliefs based on bad science, convicts everyone of being suspicious of everyone because we are all different.  With bigotry, the same is true on a small scale where a person's acts convict them of being hateful and mean. This was true of my second manager while everyone else came and went to our work place, all doing the same job while paying their bills and going to school. Except for that one person, there was little evidence of hate.

​I quit working at that business the next day, when my supervisor couldn't accommodate my desire to work a shift where he wouldn't be in charge. Three days later, I had a new job and a $0.35 raise. Three months later, I was working at Boeing for $6.00+ an hour more, making more money than my supervisor or my second manager.

For my husband and I, the initial idea to see the Gettysburg National Military Park was a matter on the road and why not stop?

This was not our first visit to a national military park that offered tribute to the fallen during the Civil War. It was our first visit to Pennsylvania. 

Probably most striking for us was our first sight of the park, the peaceful countryside belied the idea that a 160,000 soldiers would gather here and in a short three days of fierce fighting change the course of history, leaving over 50,000 dead. Notice the size of that cannon compared to the houses.

Our visit didn't fall into one of the slots where volunteers recreate the war. The markers in the park pretty much tell the story of unequal forces, of who owned the high ground, of who most desperately needed to win and of the ultimate defeat of the Confederate Forces.  It also shares the tale of the surrender and of the Gettysburg address presented by President Abraham Lincoln. The memorials are often works of art, such as the one below of a Confederate General.

Here is the photo of the high ground captured by the Union Forces at Little Round Top:

Wikipedia has a terrific map showing the various movements of troops. We went to see what happened and why and of course, to honor the dead and feel a sense of gratitude for leaving in peaceful times now.

The famous words of the Gettysburg Address. A map of the vicinity.

The closest I came to visiting "the Grand Ole Opry" was my visit to Opryland Amusement Park while working for Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama. On the weekend, I went with friends up to Nashville and had a fun time riding all the rides and stopping at some of the shows, like the one in the picture above.

A good way to find out about events in Nashville is through the Sound Off Blog. Maybe this time when I drive through Tennessee, I'll see a great concert.

I'm taking an introductory astronomy class at Oxford Continuing Studies and this is the sky map of the sky above my home town using Virtual Sky. The tool allows various map projections and the ability to change the date and time and position. You can also choose which lines you turn on.

On my visit to the Columbus Lighthouse in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, I wondered what could possibly have inspired such an immense outpouring of ugly cement, but as I was introduced to the history and purpose behind the building my approval grew. The museum and memorial in honor of the 500 year anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing in the Dominican Republic is actually a storehouse of culture dedicated to showing what life in the Americas was like in 1492. The secondary purpose, of shining a large cross into the night sky is now limited to special occasions. Read more about the history of the Columbus Lighthouse here. The interior contains  models of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria (see photo left).

In the base of the cross are rooms storing collections of artifacts produced by the people of the American countries including this one to the left provided by Venezuela.

This makes this museum quite useful to students studying Pre-Columbian peoples.

The Dominican Republic provided a number of artifacts for the collection including a box containing the purported ashes of Christopher Columbus, Taino artifacts (read about the end of the Taino's here), and from the mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II.

Taino artifact shown in the photograph to the left.

Artifacts from the mass by Pope John Paul II below.

One of the thrills of visiting the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck, Nova Scotia for me was finding out that Alexander Graham Bell and Frederick Walker Baldwin had created one of the first hydrofoil vehicles, the HD4, and used it to set a world speed record in 1919.

One practical application that came out of Alexander Graham Bell's research was a tetrahedral towing device used by the Navy for target practice. These were used for a number of years although they suffered from structural problems. See photograph below for an example pontoon and tetrahedral object. Although Frederick Walker Baldwin and Alexander Graham Bell's wife Mabel rode the hydrofoils, Alexander Graham Bell did not, according to t.

The museum explained Alexander Graham Bell was fascinated with water striders because of their ability to move across the water. Water striders, Jesus bugs, skimmers, water skaters and water skeeters all belong to the insect family Gerridae.

My first experience with a hydrofoil was at the Boeing Factory in Renton, WA where I worked as a decal maker. The factory sits on Lake Washington and Boeing had a dock they had used for delivery of supplies during World War II and put to use designing, building and testing their passenger Jetfoil. See here for more history about Boeing's hydrofoil work. 

My only exciting tale about the hydrofoil, other than the engineer that used to scare me by walking by and grabbing my neck to give me a neck massage while I worked at the punch press was the day one of the diver's got trapped and they used the small hydrofoil to rescue him. It made factory life a lot more interesting.

The first hydrofoil was designed and built by Enrico Forlanini in1906 , according to the US Hydrofoil Association.

My husband and I visited the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area near Christmas, Florida and found that hunting season was on. Hunters and other visitors got permits at the main gate; hunters checked in I think with hunting licenses , too but since it didn't apply to us we didn't stop. We didn't mind especially even if we hadn't taken safety vests along because it was raining. 

Part of the answer we found when we reached Lake Charlie  (see photograph) and found this license plate classic. In case you are interested in hunting in Florida, the answer to what, when, where, how is answered at the Florida Hunting and Fishing Wildlife Commission webpage where you find that alligator, deer, ducks and geese, dove, quail, turkey, small game (squirrels) and hog are hunted. The web page offers the correct information about safety, seasons, hunting outfitters and much more on the site, along with information for people with a felony conviction. 

For nonhunters, the site is good also, since you're less likely to prefer to stay in your car if you know that hunting season is over. Since it was our first visit, we didn't mind seeing people properly carry their weapons and saw a good variety of habitats on our drive along the loop round that goes through this area.  There's also good fishing, camping, hiking, picnicking in the area, along with over 50+ different species of butterflies.

In this photograph, Sue, the horse is walking a treadmill that operates a saw blade. The attendent holds the log in place and measures the next cut. The overall system works well, especially if you need to keep a healthy horse happy and working. Horses that aren't used in any fashion get worried and unhappy. The system makes a nice pile of evenly cut firewood--the major form of fuel for the region in year's past.

King's Landing Historical Settlement near Moncton, New Brunswick is a historical park that saved thirty buildings from flood water's when the St. John River was dammed for electricity. The park helps to provide a historical background to farming in the region.