“Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful.”

Before I get started, I commented last week on Texas governor Rick Perry’s thoughts about having his state secede from the United States. I questioned why he would do that when he was asking for federal aid to help out with the violent drug wars along the Texas/Mexico borders. Fair enough. Now, he’s asking for federal assistance with the swine flu. Could someone please remind this guy that he wanted no part of the United States just two weeks ago?

Speaking of the swine flu, this thing  seems to be getting a bit out of hand.

More cases have been revealed today in both the United States and Europe, and the stock markets, tourism, and schools across the United States have all been affected by the disease.

I find myself agreeing with President Obama, who said we should be alert but there is no cause for alarm. The article says there have been no deaths in the U.S. and those affected have been recovering quickly. It’s unfortunate that there have been hundreds of deaths elsewhere, but I don’t see any reason so far for news sites to start throwing the word, “PANDEMIC” into their headlines. Let’s see if this thing gets worse before resorting to a Hollywood movie outbreak scenario.

Speaking of scares, here’s one that happened in Manhattan today.  This is someone’s idea of a photo op?

Apparently, that seems to be the explanation for these low-flying planes over lower Manhattan this morning. However, no one thought to tell Mayor Bloomberg or citizens working in that area on Monday morning.

I was actually working in Midtown today, and didn’t hear anything about this until a few hours ago. However, I can understand why those in lower Manhattan were pretty freaked out. It’s only been about eight years since the 9/11 disaster, and that is a very short period of time to think that all those affected by the tragedy could recover emotionally and physically. Louis Caldera should be questioned extensively about this. We have technology that can make an illusion of airplanes anywhere, and he chooses to have planes fly over Manhattan for a photo-op. Fine work, sir.

All right, I’ve gone over two pretty serious stories so far. How about something a little less taxing on our psyche? Maybe some music… although it seems that crickets in Nevada might even argue with that suggestion.

Yes, readers get a very nice visual of masses of crickets invading parts of northern Nevada. However, residents used an idea from the 1930s (okay, so technology isn’t always the way to go) to ward off crickets with music. Mainly, artists like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.

Any idea that begins with warding off insects with British rock bands from the 1970s… count me in. I like the part about the bands getting played from early morning until night. Imagine driving/walking to work and you’re randomly accompanied by “Sympathy for the Devil” or “When the Levee Breaks”. I just wonder if the residents make playlists where softer hits like “Angie” or even “Stairway to Heaven” (gasp!) would be skipped over for heavier tunes. After all… stopping the crickets is priority number one in this scenario.

With that, I bid you all a fond farewell. The semester is over and I’ve had a blast keeping this blog. I do plan on blogging more, though, just maybe not under this title. Check back soon and I will post an address for a different blog that I will be creating that will probably focus more on sports and life in general. I appreciate everyone for stopping by, and I leave you with this quote from the great David St. Hubbins:

“Well, I don’t really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end because what does the end feel like? It’s like saying when you try to extrapolate the end of the universe, you say, if the universe is indeed infinite, then how – what does that mean? How far is all the way, and then if it stops, what’s stopping it, and what’s behind what’s stopping it? So, what’s the end, you know, is my question to you.”