TEST1 2018

IN TWEET: IF YOU THINK AN “IN AND OUT” MILITARY STRIKE IS POSSIBLE IN SYRIA, I HAVE A BRIDGE IN BROOKLYN FOR SALE REAL CHEAP. WANNA BUY IT? When I hear terms like “surgical strike” applied to the utter shit-storm that is Syria , I cringe. Aside from the fact that the United States doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to speedy exit strategies, the complexity of what’s going on in Syria makes Iraq and Afghanistan look like the PONG of war zones by comparison. My foreign policy strategy with regard to Syria is this: STAY OUT. I fully agree that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an evil butcher who cares about one thing: maintaining power. He doesn’t give a hoot what the rest of the world thinks and he has even less regard for human life. It should come as no surprise that he would lob chemical weapons at his own people. The man is a megalomaniacal loon. Trying to apply our standards of human decency, honor and reason to his actions is a lost cause. I also agre...

IN TWEET: TODAY MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ICONIC “I HAVE A DREAM…” SPEECH. READ THE ENTIRE SPEECH HERE AND VISIT THE KING CENTER ONLINE. Embedded below you will find the entire six page “I Have A Dream…” speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963 on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Click on any individual page below to enlarge the image. It will automatically open in a new browser tab or window.   CLICK HERE to access an archival PDF of the complete text of the speech. You will be able to view the document in an online PDF viewer as well as download a version for offline viewing.   CLICK HERE to visit the website for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change.              

In words and actions Russia has proven itself undeserving and unworthy of hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics. CLICK HERE to get a horrifying glimpse of what life is like for LGBT citizens trying to do something most of us take for granted: the act of going about their everyday lives. What is going on in Russia is an insult to all decent humans and an affront to the spirit of The Games. In addition to the video I link to above, here is a particularly good segment from the 8/22/13 episode of ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES . He sits down with Russian journalist Masha Gessen for an incredibly powerful conversation about what life is like for the LGBT community in Russia today. NOTE: YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW THIS VIDEO FROM ANY DESKTOP OR LAPTOP BROWSER. SOME MOBILE BROWSERS, HOWEVER, DO NOT SUPPORT EMBEDDED PLAYERS FROM THE CONTENT PROVIDER ABOVE. IF THAT IS THE CASE, CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO THE VIDEO  SITE AND BOOKMARK FOR VIEWING LATER IN AN ENABLED BROWSER.

LOCK-ON WITH PETE HOGAN: EXCLSUIVE TO RONTHINK BIOSHOCK fans rejoice! The game you know and love is back and back big time. BIOSHOCK INFINITE is a winner. Even better, it’s now it’s available at a reduced price. See “Editor’s Note” below for more info. BIOSHOCK is one of the greatest first person shooters of all time. BIOSHOCK 2 had a big shoes to fill and wasn’t as great as the original. Still, the sequel avoided the dreaded sophomore slump of most game franchises by delivering a satisfying experience. BIOSHOCK INFINITE takes everything that was great about the original and multiplies it by a 1000! The third chapter in the BIOSHOCK saga is set in 1912 in Columbia, a floating city launched by the US government to promote “American values.” The city was soon turned into a twisted religious utopia by it's founder Zachary Comstock after he claimed he received a prophecy about the future and began referring to himself as "The Prophet". You play as Booker Dewitt, a pri...

Spider and web shot with a Nikon D40X. Original color image was de-saturated and re-rendered in black and white using a combination of GIMP and PAINT.NET .

A beach rose in full bloom just after pollination by a bee. This image was originally shot in color using a Nikon D40X. The image was then fully de-saturated and re-rendered in black and white using a combination of GIMP and PAINT.NET . The black and white image was not digitally tinted. To get the effect seen above, the original color image was laid on top of the black and white rendering in GIMP. The two photo layers were then digitally combined with the color image set at 0.75 opacity.

A late summer hibiscus flower in full bloom shot using a Nikon D40X. The original color image was de-saturated using GIMP . Photograph by Ron Hebshie.

IN TWEET: I DON’T WANT TO MESS WITH TEXAS BUT I DO QUESTION THE SANITY OF THESE THREE REPUBLICANS FROM THE LONE STAR STATE. No, Rick Perry did not make the list. Top 5, maybe, but not Top 3. He’s just too easy a target and much less of a current threat than these three nut jobs. Forget about their party affiliation. I’m convinced they’re on an entirely different planet than the rest of us. Of course, they each hold an elected office so a majority of the people who turned out to vote supported their oddball platforms. That means they’re not the only inmates running the Lone Star Asylum. TED CRUZ (U.S. SENATE) Forget about the fact that he looks like a mash-up of Sean Hannity and one of those sad sacks you find trolling Christian Mingle looking for a Jesus lady . Ted Cruz is a Tea Party crack-pot masquerading as a guy with all of his faculties intact. He is certainly proof that just because you have an Ivy League education doesn’t mean you will legislate intelligently, rational...

IN TWEET: THE NEW HULU ORIGINAL ANIMATED SERIES “THE AWESOMES” ISN’T THE WORST THING ON TV. IT’S JUST NOT…WELL…AWESOME. In the spirit of full disclosure, the new Hulu original series THE AWESOMES was already at a huge disadvantage right out of the gate. I am not a fan of television animation. I’ve never been able to sit through a full episode of THE SIMPSONS . I don’t think FAMILY GUY is a little slice o’ brilliance. I stopped watching SOUTH PARK several years back (right around the time it became as insufferably self-impressed as creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone ). With that said, I’m also pretty sure that if you are a fan of the genre, THE AWESOMES is going to land in your house with a thud. THE AWESOMES are a motley crew of seriously flawed super heroes. After their leader retires, Prock ( Seth Meyers ), his sad sack of a son, takes over. All the quality members of the group immediately flee and go solo. Prock has to re-assemble a team or lose government funding (don’t as...

IN TWEET: EIGHT BITS OF TASTY TV CANDY. JUST THE TICKET WHEN YOU NEED A LATE SUMMER BREAK. EYES OPEN. BRAIN OFF. POUR A COLD ONE. ENJOY! We’re in the thick of the dog days of summer. That odd, sticky and sultry window between the warm months and the first chill of fall. It’s perfect weather to crank up the AC, crack open a Wailua Ale from Kona Brewing Co. and escape with some mindless entertainment.  More and more, networks and streaming media services are filling summer months with original series programming. As audience fragmentation continues and competition for eyeballs gets even more fierce, content providers are downright paranoid about conceding June, July and August. Almost extinct is the old-school habit of stocking schedules with nothing more than re-runs and burn offs. While it is harder to find quality programming when the temperatures are high, it’s also a perfect time to latch on to a new guilty pleasure. These are shows that exist for one reason: entertainment....