WELCOME TO
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is a FAMILY FRIENDLY web publication featuring an eclectic mix of (hopefully) humorous stories, answers to (mostly children's) questions, interesting news topics and odd or eccentric viewpoints and opinions. Basically we cover anything that interests me (aka Grandpa Oddball). If you have a question or topic you'd like to see covered click on our ask or suggest links. If you have a news item you'd like to share or if you have alternate viewpoints or opposing views to our opinion pieces that you'd like to submit click on our submit link. We're not proud and will consider any family friendly inquiry.
Yup, that's me - Grandpa Oddball slaving away in my hospital bed
on my laptop to create GetOddNews. I'm not confined to a hospital
bed but I do spend most of my time there. Most of the rest of my
time I spend in a special chair we bought and in between I can
get about the house using a walker (with therapy I'm now able walk
short distances).
GetOddNews is run by me (Grandpa Oddball) as a family friendly web site with an eclectic mix of (hopefully) humor, facts, and some eccentric opinions. Most of the material is written by me but I encourage others to contribute as well (especially those that disagree with me - I'm trying to get a variety of opinions).
So just who am I and why did I create this web site? Good questions! And I'll try to answer them here. Specifically the following questions are addressed:
If you have more questions you'd like to see answered here click on the ASK link to send them to me (please preface the question with the word ABOUT: so I can distinguish the question from the regular question submissions). Now to the answers!
I'm an over sixty grandfather with a wonderfully
supportive family. Over twenty years ago I was afflicted
with Multiple Sclerosis. In addition about five years ago my
pancreas exploded into pieces with the result that I have spent
the better part of the last five years in hospitals and nursing
homes fighting for my life. Actually I was not conscious most of
that time so I don't remember much of the experience.
Technically the condition is called necrotizing or hemorrhagic pancreatitis but practically
it means that my digestive juices are spilling into my body cavity
instead of my intestines. It's now a race to see if my body can heal
itself faster than it digests itself. At the moment I won't give
odds on who wins.
Years ago I was trained as a physicist and spent many years working as a technical consultant but due to my medical condition that world has passed me by and I haven't kept up. Currently we (my wife and I) live on social security disability income and what savings we have but our savings are gradually being depleted due to medical expenses. My illness has also significantly impaired my cognitive abilities which tends to come and go along with my lucidity but hopefully I'll remain lucid long enough to be of some use. Frustratingly I have to relearn many things that I used to know but in doing so I've found that I'm able to explain them better to others.
In addition to my formal training, my hobby has turned out to be just researching anything that interests me at the moment. As a result I've studied a lot of subjects and lately I've found that people for some strange (to me) reason seem to be interested in my opinions on those subjects. My interests tend to be wide-ranging and I've noticed that the opinions I form on a subject are often considered to be odd or eccentric. Well, as long as people are interested in my opinions I'll try to provide them.
As with many of my projects this one came about by accident. Two seemingly unrelated incidents eventually culminated in the idea for this web site. After I came home from my second major hospital and nursing home visit I just lay around in bed vegetating. In order to prevent me from turning into a mental vegetable my daughter devised a project for me to build them a web site for their specialty business. I spent many months learning and relearning the necessary background and while that project didn't work out in the end it provided the background for the effects of the next incident.
My oldest grandson (age 8) got an email account and started emailing me questions. I replied with a mixture of (I hope) age appropriate responses coupled with links to more advanced material. The intent was for the responses to be read by a child and an adult (such as their parents) together so I included enough links to explanatory material so that the adult would be able to answer most additional questions on the subject should those additional questions arise. Much to my surprise I found my explanations to be more popular with the adults than the children. So many people wanted copies of my explanations that providing everyone with copies was becoming a burden so we thought of building a web site using the background knowledge gained from my abortive attempt to build a web site for my daughter.
From those humble beginnings the web site just seemed to evolve with a life of its own. In addition to answering my grandson's questions it seemed that people wanted me to add an opinion page so I did. A number of people wanted me to include copies of the stories I've told over the years. I'll try but I'm not sure I can remember them all (my memory is pretty well shot due to my illness!). Finally, I find many things in the news amusing and when I tell people what amuses me they express an interest in my including that amusement on my web site also. Don't know if this latter idea will work out. Well, honestly, I don't know if any of this will work out but I'll give it a try. If nothing else the project keeps me busy.
Not much of a name I grant you but there aren't too many unique and easily remembered Internet domain names available. I just arbitrarily chose the simplest one I could find that was easily remembered and which was vaguely descriptive of our content.
Well, why not? I'm a grandfather and some people find my opinions odd or eccentric. Besides I had to find some name that was compatible with the name of the web site. Grandpa Oddball seems as good a name as any.