Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Kurushi

Ever since my teens when I was entranced and inspired and uplifted by the works of e. e.  cummings and Rod McKuen and The Beatles, I have been positively influenced by the poetry, sculpture, bravery and, especially, the music of Yoko Ono. This live performance she gave in London at the age of 76, is, for me, stellar. John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj3XWYQoQio

America and the world must not forget the vast crimes commited by the Bush Regime

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110425_9334.php

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Mr.

Colonel Applegate walks alone into the street of the night
looking like someone's uncle but he isn't and he wanders
in his baggy brown pants down empty gray streets
                                      of the city
and he stands thinking beneath a street light
                                                  each night
as he pensively holds a fresh rose
And Mr Colonel Applegate has no hopes or dreams
but still he strides, journeyman of the city streets
in the morning
looking like someone's uncle and the children playing
                          look up from their skipropes and jacks
                          and marbles
as he stands there smiling, pensively holding a dewy rose
                            with a hand in his baggy brown pants
and the children are spellbound by his brown fantasy eyes
glimmering like warm diamonds just above
his somehow summer smile just below
his nose quietly savoring the fresh rose
                                           and then Dr. General Applegate
turns away
              walking down the morning streets getting warm,
looking like a king
                carried in by a wave from the sunrise
                and each day Captain Admiral Applegate
                will be a journeyman of the city streets
                with his smile below the rose beneath his diamond eyes
and curious, dull, fish-like eyes of lonely people
will turn his way with a hint of envy
but he will stride down the warm streets,
leaving footprints of liquid sun
as he turns words into butterflies
And someday you may hear the sound of him walking past your house
as Superintendent Applegate's baggy brown pants  rustle
as they stride through the cool, blue morning air.


                    John A. Starnes Jr.   5-29-1970

'Dream Chaser' Space Shuttle By Private Enterprise

I love the design and practicality, plus it will be launched atop the old reliable workhorse Atlas V booster also made here in the U.S.   John

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser_(spacecraft)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Do you like Star Trek?

If so...check this out.  VERY cool.  John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6STlxPrwJE&feature=feedrec_grec_index

Cracker and Me Getting Seashell Grit for Chicken Health

I love south Tampa's Picnic Island Beach, and Sweety, my dog before Cracker, loved it here too...she knew the route and would whimper with excitement in her seat belt once she realized after a few crucial turns that we were going there again. After I shot this I got in the water where I learned that Cracker is very much a water dog......he'd swim out to me, go back to the shore then come out to me again. Fun little day trip to get chicken grit!  John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk9zf1a5bRM

Thursday, April 14, 2011

a poem I wrote in Tampa in 1986....

           Last Night

Last night
the breeze through my bedroom window
was cool and carried distant trainsong,
and the scent of green leaves bruised by frost.
The sheets were crisp against my neck.
I studied moonshadows on the wall.

I heard a bobwhite
cry out in the autumn dark...
if that moment could have been held
it would be a gem,
a lense.

Soon I dreamed of the black lip of a midnight tide
moonlit and creeping inland;
a scent of wet algae and
stars....
the metallic taste of mystery.

I dreamed of a moonlit glass train,
the transparent cars roaring past me
just as the first snow of the season began.

There was no smoke,
no whistle of heat and steam,
only the smile of the waving engineer
and the gleam of clear wheels on steel.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

My Vision of an Airworthy U.S.S. Voyager





I made this several years ago in Denver after thinking of it during a rare night of insomnia one of the first winters I got to spend here in Tampa. I began with a model kit for the Starship Voyager, heavily modified it, then added wings and fins since I feel the saucer section itself would generate lift. I love the looks. I sold it for $125 on E-Bay. Enjoy, John

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Check Out This Home Made Glider That Holds One Person!

Years ago in Denver I briefly considered trying to make a personal glider using the foam cores for steel doors I saw many hundreds of while dumpster diving at a door factory...but I never made it a priority. This plane looks SO COOL...and I love the launch!   John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_EjsgLXdb8&NR=1&feature=fvwp

The Next Corvette?

 I LOVE the Centennial Stingray concept car, one version of which appeared in a 'Transformers' movie. After a few decades now of the Corvette evolving rather "safely", I hope the C7, due out in 2013 I think, is boldly revolutionary and rattles people, just as the 1963 Stingray did.   John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHAT-_dQ3B4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Thursday, April 7, 2011

'Hey Jude' by The Beatles on David Frost

I think I was 16 at Robinson High School here in south Tampa when this iconic song and TV broadcast came out....it is still a treasure in 2011. Enjoy, John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg8bUjxYT08

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Aerial views from a drone of the massive damage at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

I had not realized that the tsunami and subsequent hydrogen gas explosions had so very badly damaged the reactors. John


http://cryptome.org/eyeball/daiichi-npp/daiichi-photos.htm