On a couple of occasions I’ve take the time to listen to the 9/11 audio tapes, culled from air traffic control and military recordings from the day. From those I have formed some impressions. The U. S. military command structure behaves like a bloated bureaucracy. Despite claims that they have “learned their lesson” from 9/11, I…

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” ~Voltaire Years ago, a young lady I was trying to court told me one time, “You’ll never find the truth through science.” This is one of the principal messages of religion, because it is the only argument it can offer against science. Science…

I was at a dedication ceremony recently when I ran into Christine, a refreshingly liberal friend of mine who teaches at the college here. The event marked the installation of a “Peace Pole” at the courthouse, and Christine made a short speech. She talked about diversity and tolerance, and mentioned that there were blacks, whites,…

While watching YouTube recently, I came across a video by James Yeager, a brilliant military and personal defense tactician who is socially deeply misguided, in which he demonstrates which amateur radio transceivers he owns and how he carries them. Apparently, at least based on the stream of comments to the video, he does not have…

Most of the intelligent people in the world spend much of their time thinking curiously. Whether we are curious about the nature of the universe or the nature of the minds of those around us, curiosity is at the core of human progress. Last month I acquired a DB910CE-M 1900mhz antenna for only the cost…

I have said time and again that the demise of the newspaper business isn’t just bad for journalists, it’s bad for democracy and our nation. I wrote this as I learned that the Chicago Sun-Times, the number two newspaper in America’s third largest city, announced it is laying off it’s entire staff of 28 photographers….

“You’re fascinated by the gory details! You’re mesmerized by your own fear. You revel in floods, car accidents, unstoppable diseases. You’re happiest when others are in pain. That’s where I come in isn’t it? I’m here to lead you by the hand through the dark forest of your own hatred and anger and humiliation!” ~Talk…

My readers know that Abby and I recently completed our required testing for our Oklahoma Self Defense Act permit to carry a concealed weapon. Today we went together to the Pontotoc County Justice Center to be fingerprinted. As we expected, my fingerprints were easy to scan, but Abby’s, which have always had smooth ridges, were…

“In the high school halls in the shopping malls conform or be cast out…” ~Rush, Subdivisions In April 1999, my sister came home from work early and turned on the television just in time to see the very earliest moments of the news coverage of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado. She says that…

I have an extremely overactive brain. Sometimes I think it’s why I can’t always sleep, and why television, particularly reality TV, bores me. Once in a while I imagine what I would do with a million dollars, or a billion, and of course I plan all kinds of political and intellectual mandates for Richard’s New…

During a recent trip out west, which I aborted because of a death in the family, I stopped at something I have photographed several times over the years, a touristy knock-off of Stanley Marsh’s famous Cadillac Ranch, the Bug Ranch. Located at an exit along Interstate 40 at Conway, Texas, this display of Volkswagens buried…

I have a very regularly recurring dream that in my job as a photographer, instead of digital, I shoot something on black-and-white film. The rest of the dream is spent in attempting to get the film processed and failing to do so.

Bainbridge, Oregon (AP) – Fallout from Superstorm Sandy has influenced conduct of the 2012 election. Due to delays in infrastructure repair and the abilities of voters to get to the polls, the election has been split into two phases. Those voting for Democratic candidates are slated to vote today, while those voting for Republicans are…

This could be about 09/11, the day the stock market crashed in 1929, the day Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, the day of the Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City, or any other landmark day in the history of human cruelty. While the tragedy of 9/11 had a catastrophic effect on the morale and psyche of…

I knew a guy who was making some kind of “stick it to the man” point by not rinsing his dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. The result was serving food to us on dirty dishes and him looking like an idiot. He never caught on why we stopped having dinner with them. This…

A recent comment I made on a friend’s blog: …the Smart Phone era is one of the things that makes being a professional photographer difficult. People are actually happy with the crap they get out of a lens the size of a match head, as long as they can pass it around at work and…

Some of you may have noticed that there is a blog seemingly missing from the links list here at richardbarron.net. It was The Knowledgeum, a blog I had intended to use primarily as my “angry rant” blog as well as my “avant garde” blog. The blog you are viewing now, The Giant Muh, was my…

Based on the play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, the 1986 dramedy About Last Night… stars Demi Moore as the shallow, good-looking bitch like the ones who wouldn’t go out with me in the 1980s, and Rob Lowe as the shallow, good-looking douche who those women went out with instead. It co-stars Jim Belushi as the…