Dog Ear – Page 57 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

January 11, 2024

Not again dammit! (DOG EAR)

o this sucks. I’d been invited to help run three model railroads during a local event. I’ve proven myself to the owners with running and dispatching their lines. Super. These were jammed into two days and as I always do, I wanted to blog each of them (my blogs are famous in the local community). The next morning (early) I went to write the first one. Everything went fine until I went to include my link to my website’s book page (where my various offerings are available). And wouldn’t you know it – the references to Amazon (which you have […]

January 18, 2024

The game is afoot! (DOG EAR)

ames are media and so they get an occasional spot on my media-blog. And here it is! The thing about games is how diverse the field is now. Using Steam, you can choose from thousands of games of any genre you prefer. It’s all there. My first game (and the reason I signed up on Steam) is Spelunky. Originally a freebee eight-bit game, in Spelunky, you play the role of a spelunker who is trying to get to the bottom of a maze of tunnels. The remake (the first, not “2”) really was my prefect go-to comfort game – there […]

February 1, 2024

Duel of the Samurai (DOG EAR)

t was an interesting day. My friend Chris models (indirectly) the railroad yard at Taft, south of Orlando. Of course, the only real way this game executive and dad can really get an idea of the actual industries and scenery is google maps. You just can’t really stroll onto railroad property anymore, not with the railroad cops and hobos (both equally dangerous). So I suggested making a day of it using SunRail, our local north-south heavy rail than runs down the CSX lines into Taft (which he wants to see up close). So we did. It was a nice ride […]

February 16, 2024

Missed signals (DOG EAR)

o today, here’s a brief column about the earliest form of human communication: the gesture. In this case, it’s flipping the bird. Side note: Yes, the finger came about after Agincourt in 1415, but it is a gesture so I’m going with it. Now, I’m a cyclist. And a pedestrian. I walk and bike more than most people, and hence can tell you that most people drive like furious buttheads. Having been on the receiving end, I slow way down and swing way wide of any non-car humans. I’ve been hit by cars once while on foot and six times […]

February 22, 2024

Politics (DOG EAR)

very now and then while scrolling FaceBook, I’ll find an old Calvin and Hobbs strip. I’ll generally pause and enjoy it (which is probably why the FaceBook AI bots send me more of them (creepy)). I like the fresh art and the humor of a child who, like Dennis the Menace, is out of control. It ended after ten years when creator Bill Watterson decided he’d said all he could and couldn’t work with the compression of comics in dying newspapers. I can respect him for this. Recently a Dilbert group showed up, complete with a weird cartoon that didn’t make […]

March 7, 2024

Future Nostalgia (DOG EAR)

ne of the popular methods of making distant future scifi relatable to us in the present day is to adorn the stories with items that relate to our world. The idea is that our present is carried into this future, to make us more curious. After all, there is our time carried forward for our amusement. Some examples. The Rocinante – This is the space ship in the wonderful Expanse series. It is the name of Don Quixote’s broken-down mount, and sorta hints that the heroes of that series consider themselves misguided in their various quests. Also, in one part, […]

March 21, 2024

A dated Quest (DOG EAR)

omeone loaned me the first (and really, only) season of Jonny Quest. It was fun to watch, and it involves the titular character (a young boy) whose father, one of those all-fields scientists of yore, takes him on all sorts of adventures. Included in their posse is body guard/builder Race Bannon and a young Hindu boy, Hadji, who the good doctor adapted after the plucky lad saved his life (hey, besides the thirty-two gallons of blood I’ve donated, I can think of two specific lives I’ve saved. Nobody’s adapted me). Oh, and Bandit, the dog who growls at scorpions that […]