Some thoughts after a great 3-day weekend

Trent Knuckles is publisher of The News Journal.

Thoughts after a long Memorial Day weekend:

• I want to lead off by encouraging anyone and everyone who is interested in the least in “events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism about health care and health in Kentucky” to check out the Kentucky Health News online blog at kyhealthnews.blogspot.com.

Al Cross, Director of Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, and an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media, is responsible for the blog and he has many, professional contributors. These are real reporters working under the guidance of a true master of his profession. They work hard to provide accurate, and highly useful news about health care and health in Kentucky.

With so much confusion and misinformation out there — sometimes spread purposefully, sometimes unintentionally — reliable sources like Kentucky Health News are vital for an informed society.

• The gorilla story! If you haven’t seen or heard of this incident, you live in a cave … on Mars!

A friend of mine joked that clearly they should have blown the kid away and spared “Harambe,” the gorilla. The negative reaction would have been much less harsh.

• Donald Trump has weighed in on the gorilla situation, by the way. He thinks zoo officials made the right call. So, it’s official. They definitely did the right thing.

• Top three stories in my Yahoo! News feed right now: something about a huge alligator on a Florida golf course, Disney execs reportedly aren’t happy about the upcoming Star Wars movie “Rogue One,” an Instagram photo singer/actress Jessica Simpson in her patriot American Flag bikini for Memorial Day.

Yep! That’s where our attention is focused as a country, folks. The important stuff.

• The amount of roadside garbage I see anymore has reached insane levels.

It is everywhere!

I’ve looked closely. People will often make the excuse that it is really just garbage that has blown into low areas or comes from somewhere else.

Nope! Walk along the roadside and look. It is ALMOST ALL cups, plastic bottles and cans. That’s stuff thrown out of car windows.

It’s sad to see the complete ruining of our earth right before our very eyes.

• Memorial Day and Labor Day are my two favorite holidays.

Neither have a lot of needless stress or drama surrounding them. Memorial Day, you decorate gravestones and thank our vets for their service to the country. Then you grill out and have a good time and rest. Labor Day, you just don’t work. Simple. Effective. Nice.

Labor Day is by far my favorite.

Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving … blah! You can keep them. The thought behind them is nice, but it’s all just gotten totally out of hand. Those are no fun at all for adults.

Halloween is good, though. It’s kind of fun.

But Labor Day and Memorial Day are my top two favorites, by far.

• I fell asleep over the holiday weekend and had a vision.

An angelic being came to me and told me what a good and kind soul I have been in recent months. With a background of heavenly singing, she advised me to make my Amazon.com wish list public and that, in so doing, many great gifts would come my way for my 43rd birthday, which I will celebrate June 6.

When I awakened, I felt very much at peace.

What a nice dream!

• I’ve been thinking recently about proper mugshot etiquette. There really needs to be some rules for this sort of thing. So, here are my thoughts.

If you are charged with a misdemeanor or non-violent felony, I think it’s probably a good idea to smile. You don’t want to look like you are mean or a thug because it only invites the idea that, in fact, you are mean and a thug. A pleasant smile softens things a bit. Makes you seem more human.

If you commit a violent felony crime, or do anything involving harm or neglect of a child, smiling is not the right thing to do.

It makes you look smug and unrepentant. Go for a more vague, perhaps bewildered and downtrodden look instead.

And whatever you do, don’t fight with deputy jailer before you get your mugshot taken. The ones of people in the restraining chair look horrible. You definitely don’t want that as your post arrest legacy. Makes you look like a crazy person.

• I’d hate to be worker on the Knox County side of Corbin right now. Two percent to be taken out of their paychecks beginning July 1. Ouch!