I will be the first to admit that 2023 was probably the worst year of my life. Too many hospital stays; too many friends gone to their rewards; and, Kathy going too soon.
I'm doing okay with the help of family and friends, I'm doing well and in better health sinc my pacemaker implant.
Thanks to all of you who check on the site and i will try to do better in the coming year.
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For nearly 50 years, Mike Bishop has been in my life. From the day Cliff Biggers told me about A FUNERAL FOR THE EYES OF FIRE, I was hooked and then meeting him at a small convention in 1976, we became friends.
Mike was always Mike and I will miss him greatly.
Another reason I have been lax in posting is that Kathy was diagnosed with MDS Leukemia in July. She had been treated for anemia and they continued running rests and did a bone marrow test and discovered that her bone marrow was not producing viable cells or platelets.
Normally in the case of MDS Leukemia, the body will be lacking in red blood cells or white blood cells or platelets. Sometimes two of the three types may be affected. In rare cases (approximately 6,000 cases annually) all three types of cells are undeveloped.
She was able to get into treatment within a week of the diagnosis and went through three rounds of treatment and two or three units of blood and platelets a week. She continued to get weaker and spent 10 days in the hospital in September.
She fell on October first and spent another 10 day in the hospital. Her oncologist told use that the treatments and blood infusions were no longer working and there were no other options.
We brought her home on October 11 on Hospice care and she died on the 13th. I'm posting her obituary below.
Kathy Christian Hunter, beloved wife of Barry Hunter, to whom she was married on December 22, 1968, and mother to Scott Hunter, went to her forever home (on October 13, 2023) after a short fight with MDS Leukemia. She was surrounded by her family and dearest friends.
Kathy was born on November 21, 1950, at McCall Hospital to Julian C. and Kathryn Eubanks Christian, who preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by her daughter, Kimberly Dawn Hunter and her brother, Robert C. Christian.
Kathy graduated from West Rome High School in 1968, and Coosa Valley Tech in 1969. She worked at GMAC while Barry was in Vietnam. She joined him at Fort Hood, Texas where their daughter Kimberly was born and died in 1970. After returning to Rome, she resumed her career as sales secretary at Boise Cascade Homes in Rome and Atlanta. She was private secretary to J.B. Dodd at Rome Bank & Trust. Later she joined the firm of Smith, Shaw, Maddox, Davidson, and Graham as executive secretary to Oscar Smith. When Smith retired, she became legal secretary to C. Wade Monk and Preston Smith. She was in that position until Monk took the position as Corporate Attorney at Floyd Medical Center where she joined him as his paralegal. She remained in this position until her retirement.
Kathy is survived by her husband Barry, her son Scott, his wife Apryl; grand-children Addisyn York, Christopher Barber, and Taylor Beard (Jonathan) of Sparks, Nevada; Gregory Barber (Jasmine) of Rockmart, Georgia, Kayla Bevers (Kyle) and Blake Jones of North Topsail Beach, North Carolina; great-grand-children River Beard, Abigail, Wyatt and Delayne Bevers, and Ramsey Jones. She is also survived by sister-in-law Brenda Christian of Savannah, Georgia, brother-in-law Jon Hunter (Kym) of Brooksville, Florida, and Joyce Port (Steve) of Atlanta, Georgia. Other nieces, nephews and cousins also survive.
The family would like to express thanks to Dr Dilawar Khan and his staff, the Atrium Hospital Infusion team, the third floor Oncology staff, and Heyman Hospice for their professional and sympathetic care.
According to her wishes, Kathy was cremated, and no services are planned at this time. Her wish is for everyone who knows her to remember the times she may have touched your lives and to hug your family and friends. Tomorrow is not promised, and one never knows what may happen.
In lieu of flowers, Kathy requests that you make donations to Cancer Navigators, Heyman Hospice or your favorite Veterans charity.
I will post more later...
I hope everyone will accept my apologies for the lack of content during this year. It is getting hard to remember the work ethic that was the various incantations that was Baryon.
From ditto and mimeo to xerox and inkjet to pure electronic content and now to this not frequent enough epistle to my few remaining friends and dare i say "fans"?
This year started out with a knee replacement and a fall resulting in an ankle injury that is just now almost fully healed. A trip to the hospital for dehydration and kidney failure, then a case of the Covid Delta (I've had three shots and two boosters and still caught it.)
Lately, there have been more falls and strained muscles in my other knee resulting in more hospital time with all kinds of tests. Again, they decided my kidneys weren't working properly, my heart was playing flippity flop with my blood pressure bouncing like a red rubber ball.
This time, they did a total revamp on my meds and so far they are making me feel somewhat better. I would say more human, but don't want to get carried away. The meds keep that out of reach. Sluggish, dizzy, no desire to be creative are what my waking hours are filled with.
Don't get me wrong - I still get joy from my job helping Veterans. After all, I've been in their boots and fought the system, so who is better to help them than a crazy old 75 year old veteran.
Life at 75 is a lot different at 75 than it was at 35 when I started this Baryon journey. Always remember that a baryon is one of the smallest particles of matter and I hope that it has matter a small amont for you.
(See how my mind wanders!)
MIDAS by Tyler Jones, Earthling Publications, Limited signed edition, $60, ISBN:9781736928479.
I'm sure that the title might give you an idea about the subject matter of this years addition to the annual Halloween volume from Earthling Publications. It is always a welcomed addition to the season and one I look forward to every year.
This one is a bit different in that it is a western themed story about the search for the cause of the Midas touch and the cost you have to pay to possess it.
Jeremiah Pevensie, a former preacher, and his wife are suffering the loss of their young son when a dead man and his brother arrive at their farm.The dead man has a map that leads to an impossible location and promises great riches.
Solomon and his group of followers are also seeking for the map and will not let anything get in his way to find it.
After Jeremiah returns from his journey, he begins a building project that refurbishes the town and begins a construction project on a mansion that seems to have no end.
Jeremiah is also working on a project of his own that will return his wife to her former happier self.
The story is well written and has a different take on greed and how it can come in different ways. A husbands sacrifice, a zealots plan to rule the world, and a mothers love all lead to a story of terror the likes I have never read before.
Here is another winner from Earthling and you need to get a copy before they are gone. www.earthlingpub.com
John Romita, Sr has passed at the age of 93. He was instrumental in developing the First Marvel Super Hero age. He may have drawn many characters, but he will always be the man who made Spiderman the most famous and and loved character in comics.
I haven't kept up with comics in my later years, but Romita has always been a favorite of mine and willbe remembered by myself and others as one of the best.
Rest in peace, your mark on comics history is secure.
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The code, which Microsoft said was installed by a Chinese government hacking group, set off alarms because Guam would be a centerpiece of any U.S. military response to a move against Taiwan.
Reporting from Washington
Around the time that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was examining the equipment recovered from the wreckage of the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast in February, American intelligence agencies and Microsoft detected what they feared was a more worrisome intruder: mysterious computer code that has been popping up in telecommunications systems in Guam and elsewhere in the United States.
The code, which Microsoft said was installed by a Chinese government hacking group, raised alarms because Guam, with its Pacific ports and vast American air base, would be a centerpiece of any American military response to an invasion or blockade of Taiwan. It was installed with great stealth, sometimes flowing through routers and other common internet-connected consumer devices, to make the intrusion harder to track.
But unlike the balloon that fascinated Americans as it performed pirouettes over sensitive nuclear sites, the computer code could not be shot down on live television. So instead, Microsoft and the National Security Agency were set on Wednesday to publish details of the code that would make it possible for corporate users, manufacturers and others to detect and remove it.
The code is called a “web shell,” in this case a malicious script that enables remote access to a server. Home routers are particularly vulnerable, especially older models that have not had updated software and protections.
