Stu

Let's make this more basic: 1. Murder is wrong. Full stop. 2. Bigotry is wrong. People who might be different than you are in some way are still PEOPLE. Do not abuse or mistreat them. 3. Right now, black people are being targeted by government employees acting in MY NAME. If I don't speak up, roll up my sleeves and ACT to stop it, then I am complicit. I refuse to condone state-sanctioned murder. 4. Diversity is a STRENGTH. How rich is our culture because of all of the different people from all walks of life who immigrated here? How lucky are we to be able to experience such diversity, right here at home? How much better is our country because of it? THAT is the definition of being "blessed." We need to celebrate our difference as much as we celebrate our unity. 5. We need to be here for each other. We're all we've got. We need to stand up for our fellow human beings. Sometimes the oppressors are our friends and family -- we cannot hide, slink away or bury our heads in the sand. We need to challenge their bigotry and work to change hearts and minds. We (as white people) need to CLEAN HOUSE. Tolerance is complicity; just as the cops who stood by as their colleague murdered Mr. Floyd. Don't stand idly by. Speak up. Educate. And, for pity's sake, HELP. Make your representatives know your name! (Do you know theirs?) Let them hear from you weekly, if not daily. BE A PEST. 6. Make it about LOVE. Don't shirk the word. We talk a lot about "hate crimes." It's easy to hate. We hear that word a LOT. So where's the love? Don't we ALL want it? Don't we all crave it? And doesn't it feel SO much better to GIVE it? WHY can't life be about love? Why can't we help, nurture and lift up our fellow human beings and help them achieve their dreams? It costs nothing to offer words of encouragement, or simply staying the hell out of someone's way. Even though I'm an atheist, I've always liked the "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" ethic., but I also add the other half: "do NOT do to others anything you do NOT want done to yourself." Think of the person you love the most. What would you be willing to do for them? Now think of a stranger and ask yourself, why WOULDN'T you do the same for them? We're never going to make it as a species if we cannot learn to love one another and see and accept the humanity of EVERYONE. Right now, it MUST be about black lives matter. The killing must stop. The situation is untenable, and injustice cannot be tolerated anymore. Maybe one day we can ALL look back and say, "those were dark times, I'm glad that's all behind us." But that time is NOT now, nor is it anytime soon. Not without work. Not without unity. We need to be relentless: as the Marines like to say, adapt, improvise and overcome. And, frankly, I don't care WHY some people or groups ally themselves to this vision. If they do it out of guilt, pride, virtue signaling, anger.... whatever.... as the old saying goes, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Welcome aboard. We love you, too. Just my thoughts and ramblings. If you've gotten this far, thanks for your eyeball time.

So you're taking a peek into our future, eh? Scary times.

Yup! And I would've done the same thing. It must be SO cool to be him! 😄

The launch was fantastic! Say what you will about Elon Musk, but his spacecraft ROCK! Everything about his hardware is state-of-the-art. Form AND function, all operating together. I only hope that all of the attention to detail pays off in safety and success for this and future crews as they "boldly go."

Happy Birthday, my Evil Queen!

You are awesome!

As someone who has been privileged enough to hear you sing, I would encourage you to fight past those nerves and share that voice! You truly have an amazing talent. I've been a DJ for a very LONG time, and I know talent when I hear it. True story!

A judge, as in a court order. Things are kinda nebulous at the moment, though; it's unclear what the scope of the remaining order might be. And, naturally, that is no doubt by design, so that if they want to entangle us in a legal mess, they can. In any case, all should be clear in about 2 weeks.

As a long-time entrepreneur, I'll just say that discriminating among your customers is a bad business practice. Unless your business IS political, then stick to what you do. The irony, of course, is if a Klansman becomes a regular customer, and YOU, as a savvy business owner, make donations to the NAACP or the United Negro College Fund, then you force THEM to fund YOUR causes. In short, leave religion and politics OUT of business. Now, these days it has become fashionable for companies to "stand for something" and that something might alienate some of their clientele. This is a calculated risk; it can backfire in a big way, to the point where you're shut down, OR it can bolster your crappy ass business because ideologues will see your business as the be all and end all. This is what bigots have done for Chik-Fil-A; they saw their revenues increase as a result of gay bashing. Sad, but true. Further, they got advertisement that they could never have possibly afforded simply by the MEDIA constantly YAPPING about it. They played right into their hands. I took a gamble with my DJ business. My issue is gun rights, so I offered discounts for anyone with an NRA or GOA membership, and an even bigger discount for those with a CPL. It worked far better than I could've hoped! Of course, given my circles of friends and clients, that wasn't completely unexpected, but I was surprised by the overwhelming response. (I'm still running that promotion, by the way.) Otherwise, however, I have ZERO mixture between business and politics/religion. My CPL courses at one time were filled with Muslims. When I asked some of them why they chose my class, they said, "nobody else would take us." Considering how "popular" they are these days, it stands to reason that Muslims might feel the need for self-protection? (And LGBTQ, and just about anyone "of color," etc.) My only requirement for students is that they're good people. Sorry to be so long-winded, but the bottom line is that there is GOOD REASON to not mix politics and religion with your business. Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, Tim Ferriss, Ramon Ray, Jeffrey Gitomer.... ALL of the experts from past to present say the same thing. For good reason.

Happy Birthday to DGN's Dynamic Duo! Many, MANY more! ❤️

LOL! Yes, I actually enjoy it. The focused activity just plain FEELS good. But I also worry. It's what I do. So just be safe!

Just make sure it's not too much for YOU! Pace yourself and keep that heart rate in check.

Uh, oh! Look what day it is. LOOK what DAY IT IS! <Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap...!> Okay, here we go, 1, 2, 3, 4... "Happy Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday YOU! Happy Birthday Tron, from your ol' buddy, Stu!" WHOO HOOOOOOO!!!!! Hope this year is your best one yet!

Hey..... how'd I miss THIS?! Hope your Birthday ROCKED!!!!

You? Is that even possible? I sometimes get exhausted just WATCHING you!

WTF?

Happy Birthday Scares! And Happy New Year! Hope to see more of you in 2020!

I find that semantics is the biggest problem here. What, exactly, IS a "soul mate"? How do you define "soul"? From my perspective, it's about love. What some think of as "soul mates" are, more accurately, someone you cannot imagine living life without. You may resonate on many different levels (common interests, attitudes, beliefs, etc.) and/or you may differ significantly, which can only make things more interesting for both of you! But you simply feel a need to have them in your life. An urgent, undeniable, visceral need. When that is mutual, then we may use the tag, but the reality is that it's all about love. You know who mine is.

Right back atcha! Best wishes to you and yours, as well as my whole DGN family. May 2020 be our best year EVER!!!

I actually prefer to be closer to the screen. That said, let me know which showing y'all choose.

Will try to be there. Only one thing can stop me.

1. Christmas day? Friday the 20th or Sunday the 22nd maybe? 2. Long drive for me any which way, PLUS I have no idea where it's playing. So... whatever? 3. I'm in the Roseville area. Anyone nearby is welcome to join me.

Happy Birthday Trene! I hope it's the BEST EVER!!!!

I'm thinking that needs a bit of an explanation....?

Just discovered Cinnamon Coke! YUM!