I didn’t watch any of the memorial services yesterday. I didn’t tune into the radio and listen to the 9/11 commentary, ten years later. When I was on the elliptical machine at the gym last night, I kept my headphones in my MP3 player instead of watching the solemn and respectful services. I didn’t post, or re-post, and of the ubiquitous Facebook or Twitter 9/11 memorial...
American politics are a mess. I have never been more disturbed and concerned about the future of our nation than I am right now. Our politics have never been more partisan. Our leaders have never been less willing to compromise. Grand gestures and impossible ideology have become more important than doing the right thing. Ad hominem attacks are the norm. Red herrings are the rule of the...
I was home alone every day with a deadly disease ravaging my body and trying to take my life from me. My children were in school, my disabled parents were unable to visit me, my wife was at work – providing me the insurance that was saving my life, my brother was working every day, and my sister was living in Europe. Every day I would wake up, drive myself to my radiation treatments, then...
S&P dropped the U.S. credit rating today from AAA to AA+. This is a huge blow not only to US interest but to the global economy as a whole. The ramifications of this downgrade will be felt all around the world. According to S&P, the US medium-term debt reduction strategy isn’t enough and is a reason why they downgraded the US. Of course, I knew the right, the tea partyers...
I love using StumbleUpon. You’ve seen the cartoons on the Internet where StumbleUpon kills productivity and is the anathema of sleep. I agree with it 100% – it’s addicting. You select your interests, press Stumble, and viola! A page relevant to you pops up. I wanted to drive Stumblers to this blog, so I tried an experiment. I paid Stumble $50.00 to promote my blog in...
I am a cancer survivor. In August 2008 I was diagnosed with Head and Neck cancer, and an incredible and grueling journey began. A journey that included surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, depression, fatigue, hopelessness, anger, despair, and a forced view of my mortality. It was also a journey of hope, love, compassion, understanding, and renewed vigor for life. When death comes knocking at...
When I first learned I had cancer, I started this blog. It has garnered enormous interest, tens of thousands of views, and many cancer fighters have expressed interest and gratitude for it. I was re-reading my blog today and realized that there are a lot of blanks in the diary – I left out things that I didn’t understand, or were afraid to discuss., So I will go, post-by-post, and...
I grew up in a staunchly religious family; a Southern Baptist family to be exact. When I was about ten-years-old I was told that Satan was working through rock and roll bands and that rock and roll was filled with subliminal messaging. Subliminal messaging would turn our nation’s youth into devil-worshiping hooligans and imperil the very souls of those who listened to it. Among the worst...
I’m extremely fortunate to be friends with a NASA engineer who works on the Shuttle engines. My buddy Eric is more of a NASA nut than I am. Eric understood the historic and significant nature of the last two space shuttle launches, and he was in a position to create very rare and very impressive memorabilia for me and my kids. Eric wrote a letter. He hand-wrote to me and all three of my...
You may remember that last year I blogged about how I ditched my cable company. I got rid of all cable services and watch 100% of my television streamed to my tv via the Internet and a little program called “PlayOn.” It’s been well over a year and I am EXTREMELY pleased with it. I get pretty much everything I ever want to watch, with a few exceptions, through PlayOn. I...
Ron Sparks is a technology professional, science fiction and fantasy author and poet living in Zurich, Switzerland. His latest book "ONI: Satellite Earth Series Book 1" is available on Amazon.com.