David's Anthem Journal

About My Ugly Photo

 

 

A reader sent me an e-mail message stating that I should delete my photo from the blog because it is ugly.

I couldn’t reply to him, in my inimitably light manner, because he used a fake e-mail address.

Yes, I guess it is an ugly photo, but my loving spouse endorses it as the best of a bad lot.

Let’s face it, folks: No one is ever going to confuse me with Brad Pitt, or any other matinee idol for that matter. And my Walter Cronkite-like image may not win many converts.

For better or worse, though, it seems to adequately portray who I am, at least by the following measure: the number of residents who approach me during my weekly SCA wanderings to say they recognize me from my picture and thank me for the blog.

As Cronkite used to say, “And that’s the way it is.”

 

On 9/11 … We Remember

 

Many days of memorial remembrances of the tragedies of September 11, 2001, will of course culminate with countless observances and tributes on September 11, 2011.

I’ve inserted a link below to one of the dozens of videos marking the occasion on YouTube. After reviewing many videos, I found that this one contains some of the most memorable graphic images to remind us of just how shocking and gruesome were the events of the day …not just at the World Trade Center buildings, of course, as this video depicts, but also at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field.

As we pause to commemorate the occasion, please be aware that a grave injustice is being committed against those who responded to the WTC site, working that day and for months afterward to recover remains and participate in the massive cleanup.

The injustice is the refusal to recognize and provide compensation and medical benefits to the inordinately large number of responders who have developed various types of cancers. This is despite the recent finding of a medical review panel that the responders have developed cancer at significantly higher rates than the population at large.

While it is a useful exercise to remember 9/11 by sharing personal stories of where we were and what we were doing when we learned of the attacks, what would be more useful is to contact our Nevada Senators and U.S. Representatives and ask them to fight as hard as they can to provide these benefits to the responders who are in such dire need.

 

 

How to Fudge Statistics

Over on the Goodman/Arendt forum this morning (Sept. 7), Richard Arendt is trumpeting a claim that their forum is now more popular than my blog because, he says, “as of Tuesday afternoon, we have now recorded in excess of 800,000 hits (as of this writing 800,652) …as compared to David’s Anthem Journal, currently at 798,857.”

While the readers of the respective blogs/forums are the ones who decide which they value more, and I am not concerned with entering into an endless spitting contest over Arendt’s use of “hits” as a distorted metric to determine popularity, I will provide you with some evidence as to why the point Mr. Arendt tries to make with his “statistics” is basically meaningless and nothing more than an apples-to-oranges comparison that has little merit.

For a technical analysis of the two communications channels, I invite you to use the search box on the left of the screen to search on the term “Shubitz.”

Should you choose to do this, you will find a completely factual and impartial comparative analysis conducted by leading SCA techno-geek Steve Shubitz in July, 2010.

Since the Shubitz article is technical enough, I will eschew the mumbo-jumbo and give you some basic facts.

The first thing to note is that the more than 1,200 subscribers to this blog receive my articles not by going directly to the blog, but as e-mails sent straight to their e-mail inboxes by the third-party FeedBlitz service within minutes after my articles are published.

These subscribers do not have to go onto the blog unless they want to post comments or read the comments of others.

That’s more than 1,200 people who are reading the blog articles not by going onto the blog, which would create “hits,” but by staying within their own personal e-mail services.

In fact, I rarely go directly onto my blog myself. Almost all my articles are composed in the offline Windows Live Writer application, from which they are automatically published to the blog. In addition, every comment posted on the blog by one of my readers also comes to me as an e-mail message, eliminating my need to go onto the blog to read the comments. I only visit my own blog when I want to add comments of my own.

Even if one wanted to analyze a blog in terms of “hits,” Steve Shubitz pointed out in his analysis that hits are affected by how many graphic images are embedded in a post.

For example, Mr. Arendt has taken to adding many graphic images to most of his articles. If he publishes an article that has 6 graphic images in it, his statistics will show not 1 hit, but 6 hits for each occasion that an article was looked at by one of his readers.

When you combine the two elements mentioned above, which are the fact that my subscribers receive the blog articles by e-mail and that Arendt uses many graphic images, it is not surprising that the number of hits has surpassed mine, and I am certain that disparity, meaningless as it is, will continue to grow. Shubitz discusses this concept thoroughly in his article.

There is another statistic that would be equally meaningless had it been cited by Mr. Arendt, and that is the number of “posts” to the respective blogs/forums.

As of this writing, the Goodman/Arendt forum shows 3,337 “posts,” while mine shows 2,520.

Here is where the difference lies: Each of my 2,520 posts, or articles, was written by me, while the sum total of posts on the Goodman/Arendt forum is made of articles and comments by all of those who have written and commented on that forum.

Comments are not included in my post statistics, but if I used the same metric, combining original articles and comments as the Goodman/Arendt forum lists, I would have to add in the 10,299 comments currently reported on my blog, for a total of 12,819 “posts.”

While my monthly reports show that my blog was accessed at least once by 3,081 separate computer addresses (IP addresses) during the month ended August 31, perhaps a more meaningful comparison would be to look at the number of readers who have actually taken the trouble to subscribe to the respective blogs/forums.

This is apparently a figure that Goodman and Arendt cannot manipulate.

As of this writing, I have 1,207 subscribers, an all-time high, while the Goodman/Arendt forum lists 320 subscribers, a ratio of nearly 4 to 1 in my favor.

Finally, there is the matter of impact. Calls to action on the Goodman/Arendt forum have a history of failure. With Arendt’s urging and active support, he could not even get the relatively small number of signatures needed on petitions to initiate a recall election of sitting SCA directors. And they have NEVER succeeded in electing any candidate I opposed to the Board of Directors. In contrast, every single candidate I have endorsed for election, without exception, has been elected.

So it bothers me not at all if they want to trumpet non-existent “successes,” because the proof is in the pudding.

As always, I thank my loyal readers for helping to make David’s Anthem Journal the effective success it has become. If the “other guys” want to delude themselves with the belief that I am out of favor and fading fast into oblivion, perhaps because they don’t understand RSS feeds and the versatility of a blog compared to a glorified free-of-charge bulletin board, that is just fine with me.

Congratulations, Derek Jeter!

 

I try not to use the blog too often to digress from topics that are of potential interest to Sun City Anthem residents, but I believe this is one of those infrequent occasions that justify doing so.

Many of my readers know that I am an intensely devoted fan of the Boston Red Sox. But like many true devotees of their favorite teams, I am also a passionate fan of the game itself.

Any true baseball fan has got to be celebrating today’s milestone accomplishment of New York Yankees’ shortstop Derek Jeter, who became only the 28th player in baseball history to reach the 3,000-hit plateau.

And he did it in style, with a home run that made him only the second player –along with Wade Boggs- whose 3,000th hit was a home run. And it didn’t end there, as he recorded an incredible five hits in a game in which his final hit, a single, knocked in the run that allowed the Yankees to edge the Tampa Bay Rays.

Jeter is the first Yankee to record 3,000 hits, a surprising statistic in view of the team’s storied history. He is only the 11th to reach the milestone with one team, only the third shortstop in history to do it, and trails only Hall of Fame members Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron and Robin Yount as the youngest to accomplish the feat.

So congratulations to Derek Jeter for reaching a richly deserved goal and for embodying, throughout his steady career, the best that baseball has to offer.

This is what baseball is all about. This is why it has been the passion of so many American boys, and their dads, and their grand-dads.

“What Has He Done Positive For Our Community?”

Dear Readers: In a recent post on another communications channel, resident Marcia Kosterka posed this question:

Now ask yourself, what has Berman done that is positive for our community except spew venom at targets he has selected? It is long past time for him to haul himself out of the pigsty he favors wallowing in and attempt to join the human race by trying to heal this community instead of constantly dividing it.

Coming especially from Ms. Kosterka, who many have told me has been divisive in her own right, whether it was in the course of her work on the group leading opposition to the Sloan Pit Mining proposal, her accusatory comments toward leaders of the Women’s Club, or her role in helping to destroy the former Government Affairs Advisory Committee, I found the question she posed about me rather amusing.

I will answer the question here. It is going to sound like bragging, which is how those who already have a brief against me will surely interpret it. But at the risk of boring you, I hope my friends, and anyone else who knows and thinks they understand me, will appreciate that my intent is not to brag, but to simply give examples of why I believe in giving back to my community.

If I have any special talents or skills, they lie mostly in the area of communications. I hold a degree in public relations from Boston University, worked in the PR and advertising field, served as a senior public affairs officer for General Dynamics Corp., and I was a public relations consultant advising clients at the highest corporate levels. I also went through the legendary Procter & Gamble marketing training program.

That is why you will see that many of the activities I have chosen to volunteer for are related to communications in one form or another.

I feel somewhat comfortable in laying this out for you, for YOU to decide, since I am not running for any elected office now or in the future. Now, on with the show, not necessarily in chronological order!

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For the past 16 years, including the five years immediately before we moved from Massachusetts to Sun City Anthem, Rosalyn and I have been fundraisers for Shade Tree Shelter. Shade Tree, located at Main Street and Owens just north of downtown Las Vegas, is the area’s premier full-service facility for homeless and battered women and their children, and now also for their pets.

Over the years, we have raised and donated $45,000 to Shade Tree through the sale of Las Vegas calendars via the Internet, with thousands having been shipped to dozens of countries. You may also have seen us at our table, selling calendars for Shade Tree at the annual December holiday fair at Anthem Center.

Several years ago, we procured the labor and materials to completely pay for the installation of shelving and cabinetry in the basement storage area of Shade Tree’s then new facility.

In 2003, Roz and I were greatly honored to receive Shade Tree’s Community Partnership Award at a special luncheon. This award is generally given to businesses, gaming companies, etc., and it is highly unusual for individuals to receive it.

We love the people at Shade Tree and the work they do, and plan to continue our support as long as we are physically able.

I might mention, too, that I try to promote the worthy charitable activities of our clubs and individuals who ask for publicity, but we also try to do our part in our own way. In the past, this has run the gamut from sponsoring a hole at the Annual Minuteman Foundation golf tournament to donating a gift for auction at the successful Henderson Hospice fundraiser.

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Not long after we arrived in Sun City Anthem nearly 11 years ago, we became aware of the mounting opposition to major changes being proposed in the Anthem Master Plan. As I attended community meetings designed to organize the opposition, I volunteered to be an active participant and was pleased to be accepted to develop communications with residents to keep them informed about our activities. An added blessing was that it allowed me to make the acquaintance of many current and future community leaders who went on to do many good things for SCA.

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When the community mobilized to successfully fight the proposed location of a heliport, I served as the communications coordinator, keeping the community in the loop by producing brochures, news releases, and helping to coordinate the attendance of residents at hearings of the County Commission.

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After joining the Computer Club, during the days when Windows XP was the primary PC operating system, I organized instructional packages into customized curricula, teaching beginner and advanced classes in XP. To this day, former students come up to me to say that they were among the best classes they have taken.

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I was a member of the first Sun City Anthem Communications Committee.

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I was a member of the original Recreation Amenities Committee that led the planning for the future Independence Center. As leader of the Committee’s communications team, I produced a series of 10 monthly newsletters over a 13-month period, inserted into Spirit magazine mailings, to keep residents informed every step of the way. Resident feedback on the effectiveness of the communications program was overwhelmingly positive.

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I participated on the original Restaurant Search Committee, making sure that our meeting minutes and reports were made available on the community website and designing a PowerPoint presentation to present to the Board and residents.

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When the resident teams were created to plan for the 2005 transition from developer to resident control, I chaired the Print Media Group of the Communications Transition team.

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During the early days of the Performing Arts Club, I joined the club, appeared in several shows, and realized a longstanding ambition to write and deliver my own standup routine, which was well received. Over the years, I have assisted directors with designing and publishing show-related materials, have helped many performers to acquire and edit their music, and this past September, expanding on a show I produced several years earlier, I produced and directed a music trivia show and contest that was received very well by our audience. I am currently designing a professional playbill for Nicole Duffel’s spectacular show to be presented in early June.

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I ran for and was elected to your Board of Directors, focusing on developing this blog after resigning in July, 2006.

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I served as Chair of the SCA Election Committee.

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After submitting samples of my writing to the editor of Greenspun Media Group’s Henderson Home News, I was chosen to write a bi-weekly opinion column for their chain of weekly newspapers, which I did for a period of three years.

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I have delivered talks to our Lifelong Learning Club on two occasions.

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I have introduced our Activities Manager to several performers who were hired to perform successfully in Freedom Hall.

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I am a a member of the volunteer proofreading team for the Spirit magazine, submitting at least 100 corrections to the editorial content per month, a task that takes about three hours to perform.

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I am a volunteer reporter for Channel 99 and have served as a co-host for the “Anthem Alive” program.

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When a talented resident singer needed technical support for a CD she was recording, I designed her packaging and labels and obtained her music licenses for her.

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This past December, I produced a holiday event at Green Valley Ranch to honor military families who have loved ones serving overseas. The project involved recruiting talented SCA performers and the cast of “Nunsense,” coordination with military liaisons, fundraising efforts, and much more. It was a success by all measures, and many of our participants said it was one of the most rewarding things they have ever done.

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Most recently, acting on my belief that progress on replacing the demised SCA message board was proceeding too slowly, I engaged in extensive research seeking to identify one or more vendors offering a suitable product. My report and recommendation was presented to the Communications Committee this past week, was well received (copies available on request), and a recommendation for a trial of the product is apparently going to the Board of Directors at its next meeting.

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I am as proud of this blog as I am of anything else I have been involved with in Sun City Anthem. As I circulate in the community, these are examples of the frequent comments I receive:

“Thank you for keeping me informed.”

“You have made me feel I am really part of my community.”

“You are like my newspaper.”

“I appreciate your commitment to truth and honesty.”

“When do you sleep?”

“Why can’t you ignore the nasty people?” (I try, but it’s hard).

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Kosterka asks: “What has Berman done that is positive for our community?”

Not much, I guess.

How about you, Ms. Kosterka?

 

 

 

 

 

Political Vitriol: It Exists Here, Too

 

This is an Anthem Journal editorial.

Dear Readers: This is a difficult editorial for me to write, because it seeks to make comparisons that some may strongly disagree with, or at least may believe are not valid. But in considering whether to write this piece, I have consulted with many residents over the past week or so, and I am encouraged by the level of agreement and support I have encountered.

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The discussion starts with the despicable, universally condemned attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the murder of numerous people who were gathered to see her.

While the temptation is to fix causation on the right wing, citing as partial evidence the tone created by gun sight cross-hairs overlaid on a map that included Giffords’s district, there appears to be no evidence that the accused killer was influenced by such images and their accompanying rhetoric.

What the Tucson incident has led to, however, is a national discussion over the decline in civility that exists, such as it is, in our political discourse.

“It is fair to say, in today’s political climate, and given today’s political rhetoric, that many have contributed to the building levels of vitriol in our political discourse that have surely contributed to the atmosphere in which this event transpired,” said a statement issued by the National Jewish Democratic Council.

“We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” Giffords said last March. “But the thing is that she has it depicted as the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve got to realize there’s consequences to that.”

This is not to assign blame for such things to the right. The left has been guilty of extreme language, too.

“The point isn’t to quash free speech,” said the Chicago Tribune. “It’s to ceaselessly attempt to balance robustness with civility, passion with restraint. That mission, by the way, falls to every one of us – not just to those other people, over there, blinded by their foolish ideology to what’s obviously true.”

Said Pima County (AZ) Sheriff Clarence Dupnik: “It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. That’s the sad thing about what’s going on in America; pretty soon we’re not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people willing to subject themselves to serve in public office.”

This brings us to Sun City Anthem, where the level of vitriol toward our elected leaders and Association volunteers has many saying, “I worked hard all my life. Why should I subject myself to such vilification, such name calling, such unfounded and unfair accusations?”

The result, of course, is a constant challenge in finding community-minded volunteers.

In recent months and weeks, we have seen community leaders called crooks and criminals. We have seen our committee members disparaged as being incapable of independent thinking. We have seen Board decisions compared to the murder of millions by the Nazis in The Holocaust, or accused of practicing McCarthyism. We have seen our volunteers labeled as pigs and described as living in a pig sty. We have seen others called “psychotic” and “brainless.” And worse.

No intellectual discussions of approaches to governance or the legitimate pros and cons of official decisions. Just a constant stream of personal attacks.

I have no quarrel with those who have disagreements over policy and decisions, but injecting personal attacks into it is what brings the level of discourse down into the gutter.

Most of those who move into a homeowners association such as ours understand that they are joining a community which is governed by RULES set in place for the common good. They have the option to either join together in observance of these rules, which include our CC&Rs and related documents, along with a substantial Nevada statute, or they can choose to live outside of an HOA where rules are not needed.

Even within the HOA, if we don’t like some of the rules we can elect new Board members and set about changing them.

One of the Board’s harshest critics, writing on another blog, simply doesn’t understand HOA structure.

“I’m an adult, an old adult getting older each and every day,” he writes, “that somehow in hell made it to the age that I currently am, living by my own rules…”

“I don’t ask anyone to live by my rules, and don’t expect anyone to tell me how to live by theirs.”

“What does a homeowners association provide you other than the lunacy of a bunch of nutcases that need to make rules?”

“The hell with a Board of Directors. Other than making sure the bills get paid and the service work is done properly, leave us alone.”

“Allow me to secede from this ridiculous form of rules and I will agree to privately pay for any services that I personally desire. My property taxes already pay for my streets, I’ll pay the $10.00 to use the pool as well as any other user fees, but I am willing to forgo all the other ‘benefits’ I seem to be charged for, but never use, in order to support the rules of most others that spend my money like it was derived from rubbing Aladdin’s Lamp over and over again.”

This is clearly a man who needs to be living in a neighborhood which is not part of an HOA, because in his world everyone living here would make their own decisions on what to pay for and what not to. Sorry, but that reflects a base, fundamental failure to understand what an HOA is.

As you know, I began this editorial with references to the tragedy in Tucson. Lest you think it is a stretch to bring that sad event into a discussion of life in an HOA, former Sun City Anthem Community Manager Arnie Snow might disagree with you.

On April 19, 2000, ironically the fifth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, Arnie Snow was manager of an Arizona HOA called Ventana Lakes. On that date, and in Arnie Snow’s presence, a disgruntled former homeowner burst into a meeting of the directors and, brandishing several weapons, shot two directors to death and wounded several others.

The killer, Richard Glassel, received the death penalty and still sits on Arizona’s death row after several appeals. At worst, he’ll be behind bars for the rest of his life, because he was also sentenced to 351 years for the shooting of those who survived.

Homeowner anger can boil over and happen anywhere, and failure to engage in civil discourse is not a good recipe for getting along.

 

Debunking Community Patrol Rumors

 

This is an Anthem Journal editorial.

There is no question that an issue exists over pending SCA Board of Directors consideration of the approval of David Servello as Chief of the Community Patrol.

As far as I can tell, it seems to be boiling down to a question of Servello accepting the status of the Patrol as a service group  ultimately responsible to the Board, which is the entity that bears all final responsibility and liability for actions undertaken by the Association and its constituent elements.

Unfortunately, some in the community have sought to take the issue to a different level by manufacturing concerns that are simply not real.

One of these, maliciously planted and already proven false, was that the person beaten out by Servello in the recent election for Chief is the brother in law of the SCA Board President.

The latest false rumor is that the Board wants to use the Servello issue as an excuse to disband or cause the dissolution of the Patrol so that it can spend untold thousands to hire a private security service.

I have sought out most of the Board members to ask about this, and what I have been told is that the rumor is completely false and utter nonsense.

Each Board member I’ve asked has said that discussion of a private security service has never occurred, and each is appreciative of the valuable services performed for SCA residents by the Patrol.

Those who would tie consideration of Servello as Chief to the viability of the Patrol are employing a tactic to scare and intimidate. The argument goes that if Servello is not approved as Chief, every Patrol volunteer, or most of them, will quit.

That is called putting one’s self ahead of the community. No individual should be placed ahead of the common good.

Based solely on what I’ve read on another blog, Servello has been asked to sign some sort of document accepting the reporting relationship between the Patrol and the Board, and agreeing to some sort of process for assuring the relationship. The document has been portrayed as some sort of “loyalty oath.” Whatever it is, and whatever becomes of it, one can only hope that Dave Servello will act for the good of the community. His concern for our safety and welfare has never been in question, but it appears to boil down to a simple matter of acknowledging a reporting relationship to a body elected by the entire community, not just by his fellow Patrol volunteers.

 

The December 14 Gaming Workshop: Why Are We Even Having It?

(This is an Anthem Journal editorial)

A Board of Directors workshop to discuss the recent gaming poll is scheduled for 2:00 pm on December 14 in the Delaware Room at Anthem Center.

A question some have asked –and it’s a legitimate one- is why this workshop has not been canceled in view of the fact that the total number of responses to the poll fell short of the required 35% plus 1 that would have authorized the Board, if it chose, to engage in discussions with the restaurant tenant regarding gaming in the restaurant bar area.

After all, the poll returns fell 354 short of the number needed for the Board to take the step of deciding if it would enter into discussions with the tenant under the terms of an amendment to the restaurant lease.

The first point to note is that the stated purpose of the workshop is to discuss the poll results, and conducting the workshop was never made conditional on what those results would be.

What we do know is that there is no longer any requirement under the terms of the lease amendment to hold any discussions with the tenant regarding gaming.

The question that must now be asked is this: With the poll results in hand, does the Board have any authority or mandate to still go forward with gaming discussions if it wishes?

I believe the answer is both no and yes. The Board no longer has a mandate, but it does have the authority to consider the poll results and act on what it believes is in the best interests of the community.

The Board could decide to put the matter to rest for the foreseeable future, or it could decide to still explore the possibility of gaming, not based on the total numbers of poll cards returned, but based upon what the results, such as they are, do tell them.

Looking at the data from the poll, it is clear that the usual apathy in our community when it comes to polls and SCA elections was again in effect, as fewer than 31% of the eligible homeowners mailed in their cards.

One might reasonably infer that many of those who did not return cards simply don’t care what happens next.

But on the other hand, the results themselves are interesting. With nearly a third of our homeowners returning cards, sentiment among those participants has swung to the positive side by a substantial margin, with positive responses beating negative responses by 334 votes, or a percentage margin of 58.15% to 41.85%.

That is a substantial turnaround from just two years ago, when more than 65% of a smaller number of respondents answered a poll question indicating they opposed a restaurant with gaming.

So it is quite appropriate that this workshop be held, in order to discuss and receive resident input on what the poll results mean and what the Board should consider doing on a going-forward basis if the tenant still wants to make a case for gaming, even though the lease-amendment provision has not been met and the Board could not act under authority of the lease amendment.

There is one major reason why this reporter would like to see gaming discussions take place:

During the course of community debate while the poll was underway, many questions were asked about how gaming could be implemented and why potential obstacles to gaming were not first being looked into and reported to the community before we were asked to state a preference for or against the idea.

Whether there is gaming in the near future or way down the road, it is always possible that it could happen, and I believe it is important to do the necessary research and investigation, sooner rather than later, in order that we all can learn what is involved in the process and what roadblocks may exist.

This is why the December 14 workshop may be very important, and why those with a passion on either side of the issue, along with those who want to be better informed, should consider attending.

To restate: The Board no longer has a contractual obligation to the tenant regarding gaming, but it also does not have a legal obligation to completely walk away from the issue. Whatever the Board decides, it may become a key issue in the upcoming Board election.

What’s Gotten Into This Woman?

It seems like Rana Goodman will stop at nothing to twist the truth when it comes to attacking this reporter.

First she attacks me for taking down a comment by a reader named Marge Carey who is looking for an appliance repairman she used several months ago but lost his contact information.

Because Ms. Carey posted her comment under an unrelated topic, where it might be missed by readers, I have now done her the courtesy of creating an original article on her behalf, which not only makes it easier for readers to find but also gets it to blog subscribers within minutes via a FeedBlitz notice.

Ms. Goodman, a linear thinker if there ever was one, apparently missed my statement when I created the Neighbors Helping Neighbors category that I will create original articles for those looking for information if they e-mail their requests to me so that I can feature their information for maximum exposure.

The simple explanation is that Rana does not know how these things work.

The second item concerns an offensive comment by an anonymous poster suggesting that because Rana has had some recent medical problems, it must be due to things I have written.

Ms. Goodman, who has no conscience when it comes to allowing posters on her blog to attack their fellow residents in the most egregious of terms, thinks I did wrong in managing my blog so that the types of attacks she obviously condones on her blog are prevented here.

I might have allowed the anonymous poster’s comment to remain on this blog, but for the fact that the “name” and e-mail address she used both proved to be phony. It was undoubtedly a put-up job, because although the comment was taken down from this blog within minutes of its posting, Rana managed to get a whole article out of it.

By the way, several comments posted to her blog in recent days, expressing disagreement with the prevailing views over there, were quickly deleted by her. Talk about calling the kettle black!

 

 

I’m Asking For Your Opinion

Dear Readers: As many of you may recall, I occasionally ask for your input regarding types of content I may be considering for posting on the blog.

For instance, your solicited feedback influenced me to NOT use the blog for the posting of classified ads from our readers.

I almost always have no trouble in deciding that an item is suitable for posting because of a direct relationship to Sun City Anthem. And it is usually fairly easy to determine that other items are of enough general interest because of a peripheral proximity to our community.

But then it gets a bit tough, and that is where your opinions are valuable.

Today’s case in point: Perhaps like you, I often receive links to YouTube videos that do NOT have a relationship to our community, but are simply enjoyable to see because they might be funny, entertaining, heartwarming, or just incredibly creative.

Sometimes these video links come to me from friends in our community and elsewhere, but I also receive information from professional media sources who have me on their distribution lists.

When I come across videos I think you would enjoy seeing, even if they have no possible relationship to Sun City Anthem, would you like me to link you to those videos, or do you feel you already receive enough information from me and do not need to be told about these.

Please post a comment to let me know what you think, but before you finalize your opinion, I’d like to give you a fantastic example of what I’m talking about.

SCA resident Chuck Simmons sent out a link to a marvelous video that someone went to a lot of effort to create. This video has been viewed nearly 2.5 million times as of today. The creator took the song “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins and matched it to dance sequences from dozens of movies produced over the years, and the result is absolutely amazing.

Watch this incredible video and then tell me if you want me to tell you about others that might appeal to you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYL3j27sSH8

Don’t forget that you can expand the video to full-screen size, which will enhance your viewing pleasure.