Author: James Amos

  • Rethinking the Poem “Thinking”

    Rethinking the Poem “Thinking”

    I found this poem on the web entitled “Think.” The author was listed as “Anonymous.” It’s male centric and I’ve been trying to think of a way to modernize it so it’s more applicable to anyone, male or female. Now, according to Wikipedia, the original was actually written by Walter D. Wintle in the late…

  • Patio Tomatoes Did Not Turn Red!

    Patio Tomatoes Did Not Turn Red!

    OK, so Sena picked all the patio tomatoes and most of them didn’t turn red, especially the slicers. She’s done with growing vegetables. I saw an article about why tomatoes don’t turn red and it makes sense. The featured image shows the patio tomatoes in the plastic bucket for comparison with the red store-bought tomatoes.…

  • Pondering a Mystery in My Past at Huston-Tillotson University

    Pondering a Mystery in My Past at Huston-Tillotson University

    I found a photo of me in the Downs-Jones Library files at Huston-Tillotson University (formerly Huston-Tillotson College) today. It’s the featured image for this post. I was going down memory lane looking at old pictures of former classmates and teachers at H-TU and—there I was. It’s a photo of me in 1975, and it looks…

  • Could Thumb Wrestling Make a Comeback?

    Could Thumb Wrestling Make a Comeback?

    I was noodling around the web yesterday and accidentally on purpose found out thumb wrestling used to be a thing. Sure, it’s been about 20 years ago, but it’s overdue for a comeback. They even had this little wrestling ring box that athletes could put their thumbs through. Did you know there used to be…

  • Upcoming Svengoolie Movie: “Werewolf of London”!

    Upcoming Svengoolie Movie: “Werewolf of London”!

    Svengoolie intro: “Calling all stations, clear the air lanes, clear all air lanes for the big broadcast!” The Svengoolie show will be airing the movie “Werewolf of London” this coming Saturday night. It was released in 1935 and features something I don’t usually associate with werewolves—a special flower. Anyway, it’s the first full-length werewolf film.…

  • Svengoolie Movie: “The Black Scorpion” Subtitle: “Stay Out of Trouble Juanito!”

    Svengoolie Movie: “The Black Scorpion” Subtitle: “Stay Out of Trouble Juanito!”

    Hey, I watched the Svengoolie show “The Black Scorpion” last night and I think a subtitle could have been “Stay Out of Trouble, Juanito!” Every time I woke up, that seven-year-old kid was getting himself into another jam. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This is a 1957 film starring Richard Denning as Hank Scott,…

  • See The Patio Slicer Tomatoes!

    See The Patio Slicer Tomatoes!

    I have an update on Sena’s patio tomatoes. The last time I wrote about this, there were virtually no slicer tomatoes although there were a lot of cherry tomatoes. There are now visible slicer tomatoes in the pot on the right, which I’m sure will make it to our dinner table soon!

  • Big Mo Pod Show: The Yellow Butane Curse and Other Fun Things

    Big Mo Pod Show: The Yellow Butane Curse and Other Fun Things

    I got off my schedule last week on listening to the Big Mo blues show, but as it turns out, he was gone last Friday. I heard last night’s blues show and heard Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Riviera Paradise. So, of course that was not on the list of songs for the pod show today, but…

  • What Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Said

    What Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Said

    While yesterday’s post on Dr. Melvin P. Sikes was mainly about my personal impressions of him as a teacher, there are a couple of web resources which gives a little more texture about him apart from my imperfect memory and limited experience. One of them is a formal course outline and evaluations he and another…

  • Pride or Rhetoric? What Would Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Say?

    Pride or Rhetoric? What Would Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Say?

    I noticed the headlines about the DEI flap at The University of Iowa, the one with the official apparently spilling the beans about University of Iowa’s DEI program not going away despite being illegal while maybe being unaware of being filmed. I’m not going to retell the story. However, it does remind me of a…