Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

While I don't usually comment on license plate sales on ebay \or otherwise, the Congressional Medal of  Honor plates need to be examined. It's a sticky issue because somewhere down the line there was a man or woman who made a great personal sacrafice to be award the medal.  People always say you dont "win" the award, you recieve it and it 's an honor that you can put a price tag on. I feel b uying the plate cheapens the meaning behind it. Although over the years collectors have definitely tried. The plates  have made appearances at plate shows every so often. Usually collectors stare at the plate and talk to the seller about it, maybe try to talk the price down or even figure out where the seller got the plate.  I even held one in my hand, but decided the price wasn't right. It wasn't the monetary  value, but I would prefer to have a story behind how I got the license plate rather than just say "oh I bought that license plate from another collector...

This caught my eye while surfing the Internet. It seems a COBRA escaped the Bronx Zoo a few days ago. Obviously the news spread and the search for the snake (not to be confused with a NY politician) is that lastest and greatest to have a Twitter account. It seems someone is having a little fun with the incident with one Twitter  account for the Cobra, username "snakeonthetown", which is filled with extremely clever Tweets like " Leaving Wall Street. These guys make my skin crawl." and " On top of the Empire State Building! All the people look like little mice down there. Delicious little mice."   I was literally falling off the chair laughing as I compose this entry. Hey  you have to wonder what kind of person has the mind of a snake?  I could write more but nothing can match the whitty comments of this slimey reptile! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110329/ap_on_fe_st/us_missing_cobra_5 http://twitter.com/BronxZookeeper    http://twitter.com/#!/Bron...

I have been blogging for years and been reading articles on the Internet, mainly linked of Yahoo's site, even longer. After the articles there's a place where people can leave comments, the comments range fro-m intelligent dialogue to absolute absurdity. For the record I KNOW President Obama was born in Hawaii and George W. Bush WASN'T BEHIND 9/11! However every know and than someone posts a comment that blows me out of the water. Like everyone in America I am horrified about what's going on in Lybia.  Ronald Regan was right to call Ghadafi a "mad dog". Personally I co-uld come up with a few more colorful descriptions, but there's too much violence on the internet and I don't want to add to it. We all agree Ghadafi is a bad guy who needs to go. The problem is it isn't that simple, as we found out in Afganistan and later Iraq. However I agree now the United States can't fight on a third front.  Although we can't let him continue his brutal ...

The news from Northern New Jersey is focusing on mainly two things these past 24 hours, the massive flooding that has swept the area and the ongoing fight between Peter King and the Muslim community./ Well since  Hillsdale is indeed right next door, I should mention that the hot spot for news crew is the Ki=ngs parking lot. At first glance people would think it would b e good business for Kings, but then again showing the parking lot filled with water isn't exactly putting out the welcome mat. I  have yet  to ride  my scooter down the road to check the brook. Alright now down to business even if you totally disagree with Peter King, you have to  say he has guts. The problem here, as with most  government policies is if people sense their rights are going away, they'll jump up and down and scream. However once it's explained and parts implemented, then things calm down. King has struck a nerve with people who feel he's targeting a certaain group, the questi...

Well it's a guilty pleasure of mine, I do watch the  Oscars. Maybe it's because such  a movie nut it's actually the one awards program I care about.  People say Oscar's evil twin, the  Razzies, which celebrate the WORST of the movies, is just as entertaining. The nominees for Best Picture, Black Swan, Inception, The Kids Are Alright, (I also enjoyed ) True Grit , The Fighter Toy Story 3, Wintere's Bone (I liked a lot) all deserved the nomination and truthfully I wouldn't have been surprised No matter who won this year. Admittedly I haven't actually seen The King's Speech yet, but everyone knows the story about how King George VI of Britain overcame a stutter to become England's King in one of the most important times history. The story is about the King ,played by Colin Firth overcoming his stuttering problem with the help of a speech therapist Lionel Logue, played by veteran English ac tor Geoffrey Rush.  I won't bother going into details. Th...

It seems like I generally do more writing than reading, my grandmother always asked me if I was reading a book. My answer was I read the paper, although admittedly I have read books since high school, mostly autobiographies andnon-fiction. I alsolove reading other  people's aritcles and my absolutely favorite is Letters to the Editor. It's rare these days to find  a news article thatb I would considr worthy of calling them craftmanship, but letters are always from the gut Notice I said rarely but it does happen./ One such case is the article I linked to below. Written by  Jim Kocsis, WA9PYH, the Ham Radio Bucket List is a must read for all hams who are serious about operating. For those less seasoned  readers a bucket list is things you want to do before you die.  Things  like travel, write a book, whatever, this one is  geared for ham radio operators. Jim, who has been licensed longer than I have been alive (45 years) mixes humor and common sense wi...

Back in July I wrote about this idiot license plate collector I nicknamed "Jerkweed Jaun"(see below). He's still on the  Yahoo list and I'mp still on his case. Call it payback for accusing me of screwing  him out of pl-ates. I won't be satisfied until everyone in t he plate collecting community knows, what a Jerkweed he ha beco-me. His who-le approach to collecting i0s wrong, he tries to get p=lates for nothing, breaksx trade promises on a whim and other stunts that  would give a collector a bad  name. His pattern, make noise on the list for a few days and then  go back into hiding until his next st9upid request. Believe  it or not Jaun has tried to make truce saying he didn't mean to jerk me around, but I'm not buying into the scam. I am a big believer in giving people a second chance, but I don't think Jaun deserves that chance. On the contrary, I believe he needs to be taught a very hard lesson and I feel I need to teach it. While I won't accus...