It's March,  a month designated as a time to honor women and the roles they play in the world.  

According to Wikipedia, "the earliest reported Women's Day event, called 'Woman's Day,' was held on February 28, 1909, in New York City -- organized by the Socialist Party of America." The following year, the movement gained steam, as "100 delegates representing 17 countries" endorsed the idea as a means "to promote equal rights and women's suffrage."

Then, in 1911, more than a million people in Europe paraded, marched and carried banners at the first International Women's Day, demanding "the right to vote, hold public office and protesting job sex discrimination."

Here in America, President Jimmy Carter designated March 2-8, 1980 as National Women's History Week. Later, Congress declared March as National Women's History Month in perpetuity in 1987.  

It's been a long, hard fight, marked by remarkable heroism, bravery and sacrifice. Much has been achieved in the last 100-plus years, but sadly, much remains to be done in what is a never-ending struggle for equality and justice.

As a man who believes deeply in equal rights, I stand with them.

Throughout my lifetime, I have been blessed to be among strong women, starting with my mother. Some would call her hard-headed, but she made her own decisions and stood by them. Likewise my mother-in-law, who loved to laugh but was tough when she needed to be, as was my sister-in-law, who was really more like the sister I never had. Then there were the educators, particularly my journalism teacher, who set me on my career path and called me out when I needed it.

But the strongest, most resilient woman in my life is my soulmate and partner, my wife, Pam.

Gentle, kind and caring, with a ironclad commitment to fair play and doing the right thing. Those who know her also will tell you she's fiercely loyal, fiery and passionate in her beliefs. Friends can trust her with any secret, because they know it will never pass her lips. If you decide to challenge her, better bring a lunch. I've never seen her shy away from a fight.

A voracious reader, smart and savvy, she can hold her own in any setting, and would be right at home  with writer Dorothy Parker at the famous New York Algonquin Round Table, or sharing cocktail banter with Hemingway and company in 1920s Paris.

In short, she not only well knows the importance of this month, but also takes her  place on the front lines as women once again have to fight to preserve the hard-won rights gained by so many before them.

The website for International Women's Day says it:

"Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge gender equality."

Of course, I'll never truly know what it's like to be a woman, to be relegated to second class status, to fight for things men take for granted as  a birthright. 

What I do know is I take tremendous pride and have undying admiration in all Pam does for women's rights, and the fight for common decency everywhere. There's one thing I always want her to know:

I have your back.

​You know what I love? Finding new desserts.

Like when I discovered kolaches in the small, North Texas town of West. Originally from the Czech Republic, these sweet dough pastries with fruit in the middle would send me to sweetness heaven.

As Fat Tuesday approaches, Pam and I always celebrate Mardi Gras in our own way by going to Publix for a traditional King Cake. This year, while strolling the bakery isles, we saw a new confection by the King Cakes: Paczki.

They looked like big donuts. As we are also fans of donuts, and intrigued by the name, why not give them a try?

One taste and it was another expressway ride to sweetness heaven! I had to know more about paczkis, so of course I clicked over to the trusty Wikipedia:

They come from Poland, and have been around since the Middle Ages. A paczki is "a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened ball and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. . .Although they look like... jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast, and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings." Ours had a custard filling, and was much denser than regular donuts.

While Poland marks Fat Thursday (the last Thursday prior to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent) with paczkis, in America, Polish communities celebrate Paczki Day on Fat Tuesday (thus the connection). It even goes on to say some Paczki Day celebrations are larger than St. Patrick's Day festivities, especially in a Polish community near Detroit. It is likened to the Mardi Gras of the Midwest. Who knew?

Thanks to Publix, the Barker household now has a new tradition: King Cakes and paczki. If I could just find some kolaches around here, we could make it the Fat Tuesday Trifecta.

Social media has long needed a new sheriff in town, and one has arrived.

It's called Blue Sky, and millions of users are making the switch to try it out.

Of course you can still find us on Facebook and Instagram, but please visit us over at Blue Sky as well. You can find Pam here and Gerry here.

Welcome to the party, Blue Sky, and we'll celebrate with a little music --

In June of 2022, we took our granddaughter, Cate, on a cruise to Mexico to celebrate the end of school. On our port stop in Cozumel, we all went on a shore excursion that centered around Mayan culture. Among other things, it included a re-creation of the Mayan ball game, Pok-Ta-Pok. 

I shot several videos of the game, which are posted on our YouTube Channel.

Much to my surprise, a year later I was contacted by a Korean TV show, Talkpawon 25hrs, asking my permission to use the Pok-Ta-Pok video in their show. I said sure, just give credit to North Palm Beach Life.

I didn't think too much more about it until recently, when I checked our usage stats on YouTube. For context, most of the 500-plus videos posted there get views in the dozens, some in the hundreds, and on occasion, the thousands. Imagine the shock when i saw the Pok-Ta-Pok video had logged 91,847 views!

More recently, I was contacted by Brian Ross, who requested use of the same video for a new series about the history and archeology of various cultures around the world. You can view the result below, along with the original Pok-Ta-Pok game video.

​As Brian notes in his video, we really are all connected in this universe of ours.

Today I'm going to indulge in that time-honored tradition enjoyed and practiced by grandparents since time immemorial:

Brag on my granddaughter.

If you look on the right side of our home page, you'll see a new addition under "Contributors" -- called "Center Stage With Cate." It's a new blog from our 11-year-old granddaughter, Catherine, or as she is known, Cate.

While she is gifted with many amazing talents, her creativity and artistry do indeed take "center stage." Check out her blog and that's where you'll find her latest endeavor -- writing a book.

It's the story of a farm girl and a family of cats, told in alternating chapters, the first two of which have been posted in the blog. It doesn't have a name yet, but so far, she has written 20 chapters and counting.

​While we are justifiably proud of all her accomplishments, I take particular pride in her love of words and writing. Partly because that's been my own chosen profession -- journalism -- and partly because that was the path I chose at almost the same age.

And even though I loved science (as does Cate, by the way), I was drawn to expressing myself through the written word. My own grandfather, who worked in the printing industry, told me I had "ink in my veins," and I think he was right.

Unlike Cate, I never tackled a novel. My efforts were mostly short stories, poetry and science fiction. My handwriting was, and is, terrible, so it was the happiest day of my young life when I successfully harangued my father to get me a typewriter (at the time, computers were the stuff of science fiction).

It was a used Underwood, which he found in a pawn shop. Interestingly enough, it used to belong to a reporter for our hometown paper, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. That same paper where, some 10 years later, I would go to work as a copy editor and then, their first, full-time rock music writer. Who knew?

The downside to getting a typewriter in middle school is being self-taught to type -- the "two-finger method," as it were. And once you are programmed, you can't unlearn it. But I am proud to say I can still get to 45-50 words a minute (if you don't count the typos).

Whether Cate ultimately decides to pursue writing, or art, or science, or something entirely different, I'm busting my buttons. That's one of the joys of being a grandparent.

You hear it said "there's an app for everything." That's no small exaggeration.

According to industry reports, there are currently close to nine million apps available worldwide, with most residing on Google Play Store (3.5 million) and the Apple App Store (1.6 million).

In 2023, users downloaded almost 150 billion apps and games, a 3.9% increase over the previous year. Google Play had "113.2 billion downloads in 2023, iOS had 34.9 billion downloads." Worldwide, China recorded the most downloads, followed by India and the United States.

Individually, the average American has 80 apps on their smartphone and "uses 9-10 apps per day and 30 per month." In fact, almost 85 percent of time we spend on smartphones is spent using apps.

Need proof? My iPhone is happy to provide it. All I need to do is go to my Settings and choose "Screen Time." It will show me total time spent using my phone, including time spent on individual apps by day or week. It literally tracks and records every interaction I do on my device.

My question is, "Do I really need to know?"

Is it to shame me for spending more time on games than reading the news? Or just remind me of the hours I spend on a phone that I could have put to better use? I can't help but feel my phone is judging me.

Of course, the biggest "self-help" use of apps has to be health and fitness. It's a trend that's been building for years. Check out this CNET report from several years back:

​Now, all of the above is well and good, but are you ready  for a life expectancy app? Enter "Final Countdown," the app  that predicts how long you may have to live.

It provides "an estimate of your life expectancy based on official WHO data, scientific researches, your unique habits and lifestyle. The purpose of the app is to raise awareness of the time everyone is running out of. The shocking information, which is represented by a countdown clock is a powerful tool, that is capable of making the users think about their lifestyle and motivate the individuals to change it for the better. Try changing your profile settings, and see how much time there is left with different lifestyles!"

Now I ask you: If something could really tell you, with accuracy, how long you have to live, would you want to know? Not me. I am very much a "carpe diem" kind of guy. Or as they say in the song,

                                                                  "The future's not our to see -- que sera, sera."

Speaking of songs, the one app I wouldn't want to do without is Shazam, which, when activated, can "listen" to a song and give you the title and artist.  It's amazing, and I'm sure Gomer Pyle would agree:

We never met Bob Barker, but he always felt like family.

The iconic host of TV's longest-running game show, The Price Is Right, who recently passed at age 99, was always present whenever we were filling out an application or checking in to a hotel.

As soon as anyone saw our last name was Barker, the next question became predictable:

"Any relation to Bob?"

I already my standard comeback ready:

"If so, he's not claiming us."

This little dialogue exchange became a standard part of all our road trips. And when it didn't happened, we kind of missed it.

If we had been related, I would have been proud. Like Bob, we are avid animal lovers. Plus he just always seemed like a nice, genuine guy -- the kind this old world needs more than ever.

Rest in peace, Bob -- from your maybe, long-lost cousin.

The subject of UFOs took centerstage in our nation's capital this week at a Congressional hearing where one witness said not only does our government possess downed alien aircraft, but also has recovered the bodies of alien pilots. He also testified of a super-secret program to reverse engineer alien technology that's been going on since the 1930s.

Now that's a lot to unpack.

The whistleblower -- David Grusch, a former intelligence officer in the Air Force and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency for 14 years -- has credentials to make such claims. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any hard evidence that could collaborate his story.

Do I want to believe him? As a longtime fan of "Ancient Aliens" and the whole UFO phenomenon, sure I do. In fact, I hope it is true, and aliens really have been visiting us for thousands of years, serving, for lack of a better term, as our "cosmic caretakers."

And that brings me to my own "conspiracy theory," of sorts. Consider this:

When the New York Times published those Navy videos of unexplained UAPs (Unidentified Arieal Phenonmena) interacting with our jets in 2017, it propelled UFOs into the mainstream like nothing else, giving it a new credibility at the same time.

In 2021, the Pew Research Center reported: "As an unprecedented U.S. intelligence report brings new attention to the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects, about two-thirds of Americans (65%) say their best guess is that intelligent life exists on other planets."

Could it be it's all part of a grand plan to "condition" the human race to the reality that other lifeforms do exist and yes, they are among us.

And why now? Maybe, just maybe, the answer is two words: Climate change.

If our planet really is facing a Doomsday scenario in the next 25-100 years, and we have already passed the tipping point, the time could be right for some do-gooder aliens (we hope they are) to come to our rescue. At least, that's my theory.

Over 50 years ago, the brilliant Rod Sterling landed on the same idea in his "The Twilight Zone" episode, "To Serve Man." Except in that case, the outcome was decidedly darker. Take a look in this clip:

 Since we don't know what we don't know, it's anybody's guess what the real truth is. But if it comes down to saving the planet, let's don't rule anything out.

Every time there's a new "Gigi in the 561" podcast, I learn something new. Such as, who knew QR codes were on the way out -- at least at restaurants.

You know what I'm talking about -- those odd-looking, square, Barcode-on-steroids images that you see almost everywhere. You scan them with your smartphone camera to get more information, enter contests or trigger some other clever marketing gimmick. In the case of restaurants, it pulls up their menu in place of the traditional one you hold in your hands.

QR (Quick Response) codes have been around since 1994, when a Japanese car parts company came up with the idea. They needed to keep track of their inventory, and barcodes didn't cut it. As they say, "necessity is the mother of invention." From that humble beginning, the QR exploded onto the scene.

The menu QR code didn't really gain traction until COVID hit, and "touchless" took over wherever possible. But even then,  it was often more trouble than it was worth. There was time spent fumbling with your phone, trying to get the right scanning angle. If you were with friends or business associates, God forbid it didn't work and you looked like a doofus.

We have actually been on some cruise ships where QR was the only option -- there were no regular menus. Putting all your eggs in the technology basket -- yeah, that's a good idea.

Quoting from an article in Gizmodo:

“They (QR codes) are almost universally disliked,” Kristen Hawley, founder of the restaurant technology newsletter Expedite, told The New York Times, citing one reason as etiquette. Taking a phone out at a table can feel like a distraction, something people use to pass the time when they would rather be doing almost anything else, and when forced to use a phone as a menu alternative, it successfully kills the mood."
It's not like people using their phones while dining isn't annoying enough already. Do we really want to provide another reason not to interact in what is supposed to be a social setting?

​For me, it harkens back memories of the Cue Cat, the ill-fated, proprietary, barcode reader that debuted in 2000 as the "next big thing." By using a cat-shaped scanner attached to a computer, users could scan a special code to navigate to a specific Internet URL. It drew in a bevy of investors, including my former company, Belo (owners of The Dallas Morning News).

Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Installing it was clunky and time-consuming, consumers didn't see the need and there were privacy concerns as well. After a big, initial splash, it quickly flamed out in a sea of negative press. It was pretty much history by 2001, and Belo ended up writing off nearly $40 million.

The idea of information shortcuts isn't a bad one. With billions of URLs out there, having instant access to the ones we want has merit. We just may have to wait until the human-computer interface is perfected.

Until then, can I have a menu, please?