Journeyman - San Francisco is the Setting for Most of the Journeyman Series
Journeyman - A Love for a Lifetime - Pilot Review
Journeyman (pilot) doesn't spend a great deal of time with character development, or setting the stage for the saga to come. Within minutes the central character Dan Vasser, played by Kevin McKidd, wormholes out of his domestic suburban San Francisco life in 2007 into the chaos of unexpected time travel.
Journeyman - Kevin McKidd as Dan Vass
In most time travel stories the time traveler pops into the past, and back into contemporary time instantaneously - that is not true in Journeyman. When Dan Vasser finds himself co opted into the role of savior of lost souls the time he spends in the past results in his disappearance in 2007.
Journeyman - Gretchen Egolf as Katie Vass
Dan's spouse Katie (Gretchen Egolf), friends, and brother Jack (Reed Diamond) take notice of Dan's disappearances, and come rapidly to the false conclusion that his ramblings about time travel are the result of a drug problem.
Journeyman - Reed Diamond as Jack Vass
The pace of the pilot is so quick that there's never much time to abandon one's sense of belief, which makes the pilot work. Of course with any pilot there are many questions which are left with the viewer about just where future episodes are headed, and what will become of the characters.
Journeyman - Monique Curnen as Nicole Gaines
The pilot has a throughly "modern" style (for this time). There are scenes in which the iPhone and bluetooth earset, 2007's cutting edge cellphone and trendy cell companion, are juxtaposed in the same act, and scenes with brick sized early model cell phoned. Cell phones which were considered cutting edge in their day, but which seem so laughable today. Perhaps as a reader from the future, you get a chuckle thinking of the iPhone as cutting edge? It's this effect that seems so interesting in the Journeyman. The creators of the series revel in their ability to step the viewer into the past. Who would have thought that 1997 would be considered ancient history?
Journeyman - Charles Henry Wyson as Zack Vass
Two thumbs up for this now apparently canceled series which can still be seen on the NBC.com website. With a writers strike in full force the series will likely remain available online, but for how long only a time traveler could say. If any NBC executives are reading this, please bring back Journeyman. The Journeyman was a class act from beginning to finish. The series had a luxurious feel to it. There was almost a movie like level of quality about it, and if it ends now, it is certain that science fiction fans will make reference to it for many years to come. Perhaps the series may be revived on the SciFi channel if NBC decides not to pick the show up again? In any case there's so much trash on television, just turn on MTV for example, that it's a sad thing to watch a good series like Journeyman suffer such an ignoble fate.
I haven't endorsed a 2008 presidential candidate yet, but I drive an SUV with an Obama bumper sticker on the back. Despite my implicit endorsement of Barack Obama, I plan to plaster a Hillary Clinton bumper sticker on the same bumper once it arrives in the mail.
It seems I'm undecided, kind of. And it's a bad place to be, for I usually have already chosen a candidate at this point in the Primaries.
This time it's different, but not for a lack of good candidates. I love the whole idea of throwing away my vote on Dennis Kucinich. That will show them that they can't railroad me into supporting another mainstream candidate! But wasted the vote would be. Even John Edwards, who I also very much agree with on most of the issues is beyond capturing the nomination. And that's what really matters in the end - viability.
Which candidate has a real chance at winning the party nomination, and which candidate has a real chance of winning in November are of utmost importance for me at this point in my life. That doesn't mean that I would ever vote for a candidate that I didn't agree with on most of the issues, but it does mean that I no longer want my vote to fail.
Every four years I hope I'm doing the right thing, and I vote for who I believe will help the majority of Americans, and the world. I make my choice based upon a variety of inputs including what I've read, and what I've seen in the media. I also listen to what other people have to say. Finally, I listen to my heart. I have to have a good feeling for a candidate before I can vote for them. I have to believe that the candidate is honest. I have to believe that the candidate cares about the issues, and about the people, and not just about themselves, and obtaining power.
The candidate I choose doesn't have to be able to accomplish all the things they say they want to achieve during their time in office. I'm too old and wise to believe that one man, even the President of the United States, can go it alone. The President must be a person willing to work with both sides of the Isle. They must compromise despite all their campaign pledges to do otherwise.
Many people have criticized President Bill Clinton for having endorsed many programs which cut back on entitlements, as well as his lying to Congress about having an affair. I never thought that President Clinton owed anyone, except Hillary an explanation about his affair, and many of the changes in the entitlement programs protected those programs from cuts during the Bush years. Despite what people say about Bill Clinton his time in office was marked by growing prosperity, and peace. He left the nation with budget surpluses, and a world filled with people who respected the United States. Mr. Clinton was capable of compromise. He was a "middle of the roader", and he was attacked from both ends of the political spectrum for choosing the middle as his starting point.
Nowadays when asked why he felt he had failed to succeed in capturing enough votes to pass his administration's national health care plan Mr. Clinton wisely admits that he had asked for too much too soon from a Democratically led Congress. He admits this was his administration's biggest failure, and that if he had only asked for various smaller elements of the same package he could have achieved his goal. That's a big lesson for any President, and at the center of this learning process was Hillary Clinton. Despite her idealism she has certainly learned that compromise, and taking small cumulative steps is the way toward progress in the long run. This is not the Great Depression, and changing the national health care system despite the ongoing, and ever worsening crisis in health care won't come in one piece of legislation. Hillary certainly knows this better than anyone.
Now I have to ask, what would happen if Hillary Clinton were president? Would she be like Bill? Would she be able to accomplish what so many U.S. presidents have failed to do in the past - transition the nation to a single payer health care system? And what about all of the other programs which could help the middle class which have largely been turned upside down by the Bush Cronies? Would Hillary be able to make the difference so many people want?
My guess is that it all depends upon who is in Congress. If the Democrats take additional seats in the House, and Senate then Hillary could work toward creating a government that responds to the needs of the majority of people in this nation - instead of just to the rich.
But if Democrats fail to land additional seats then no matter how hard Hillary tries much of the legislation she hopes see passed might languish.
U.S. Presidential Candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
And what of Barack Obama?
My heart tells me he is the more exciting candidate. He is a good looking young man, with a beautiful young wife. They are both well educated professionals. The Obama family are in fact this decade's Kennedy family. There's a lot of romance there, a lot of excitement, and people feel that. This is not to say that Mr. Obama isn't idealistic, or honest for he appears to be both. Nor is it possible to claim that Senator Obama isn't highly intelligent, and eloquent for he is impressive on both scales. It's just that he does shine very brightly indeed over the quiet, even awkward Hillary Clinton when placed on the same stage.
And perhaps that's why younger voters are so attracted to Obama, but it doesn't explain why I feel drawn to supporting his candidacy. For the record I am proud to say that I voted for Mr. Obama in his Senatorial campaign. He was the best candidate, and we Illinoisans were fortunate indeed to end up with a Senator so able as he. Yet what do I see in Obama, or what do I want to see in Obama that makes me want to support his candidacy for the nation's highest office?
And that's where I find myself trapped. Do I vote for an individual because of his potential, and his sincerity, or do I vote for a woman because of her years of experience, and her practical willingness to compromise?
It really all depends upon Congress. If the Democrats gain additional seats in the House, and Senate, and take the Executive Office as well, then it won't matter whether it's Mr. Obama or Ms. Clinton that sits in the oval office, but if the legislative branch is as nearly divided as it is today the nation will need a cold blooded realist, and a president willing to compromise - one with experience on the Hill. Senator Clinton comes with that experience, while Mr. Obama does not.
So despite all of the excitement, including my own, about supporting Barack Obama I'm quietly convinced that Hillary Clinton would make the better president.
Having said that, I'm not sure if she'd make the better candidate, or if she can win the presidency. I feel Barack Obama has a better chance of winning in the general election. Which brings me full circle, for I don't want to vote for someone if I think that person has no chance of winning.
So I'm watching, and waiting for a sign that Hillary Clinton could win in November, and I'm waiting for a sign that Barack Obama is a very fast learner, and despite his hope to be a president for change that he'll also be able to play the Washington game so well that at least some of what he promises will come to fruition.
The coming weeks will tell the story. We are living in an interesting historic moment. Who will fight for the middle class this coming November? Who will take the government back from the evil regime that grabbed control seven years ago? Hopefully it will be either Senator Clinton, or Senator Obama, and that much I can endorse.
Democrat Donkey: I Endorse The Democratic Party 2008 Presidential Candidate
Meet Oreo, our hamster. Well, actually she's not mine, so much as she's my daughter's pet. Still she's a member of the family. Shhhhhhhh! Just don't tell any of our four cats that she's in the house.
Oh, why do we call her our magic hamster?
Because she's still alive in a house with four cats.
I've rewritten this post a bit which you can do on a blog.
All day yesterday morning I was in a funk. I recall my supervisor asking me if I wanted to draft up a letter for her, and I agreed - but I didn't understand a word she said. Why?
Because I was thinking about how I had missed my opportunity to have a photograph which I took published in a "Lincoln Book". I admitted to my supervisor that I was distracted, and explained why, and she told me it was totally understandable, and recommended I "work through it". Neat advice.
Well I eventually got my focus, but I was still hoping beyond hope that I managed to respond in time to the author's initial inquiry. I told myself that book publication deadlines are often missed, and guess what I was right, for the author responded last night saying that he had delayed publication, and that the photograph which I captured of the Abraham Lincoln Volk Bust would be included in his soon to be released book.
I know the title, and the author's name, and will release this information soon - within a few weeks - as the book will be published very soon.
For now I can say that I'm happy. I know happiness is fleeting, but I feel that way right now, and wanted to gloat? No, I wanted to share this news with my fellow bloggers, and with the world. While I have had my photographs regularly published in the Illinois Times I will admit that I am a loyal fan of Abraham Lincoln. I've spent many an afternoon watching Lincoln related seminars on CSPAN, or reading Lincoln related books. Growing up in the heart of the Land of Lincoln has had its affect.
And with the upcoming Bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth to know that my name, and photograph will appear in a book on Abraham Lincoln is a rather incredible privilege for me.
Meet The Optware Holographic Versitile Disc (HVD).
The Sony Blu Ray High Definition DVD stores a whopping 25 Gig per layer. A dual layer Blu Ray disk will therefore hold up to an amazing 50 Gigabytes!
Really incredible.
However, the capacity of the cutting edge Blu Ray is dwarfed by the Optware HVD.
The Optware HVD has a current capacity of 3.9 Terra Bytes (expected to increase).
One Optware HVD holds the equivalent of:
Six thousand CDs. or Eight Hundred and Thirty DVDs.
It makes the Sony Blu Ray format look puny.
Using standard video compression (e.g., MP4) one Optware HVD disc can store up to a year of continuous video recording. The same Optware HVD disc could store several decades of audio recording using standard audio compression (e.g., MP3).
Optware HVD versus DVD
The Optware HVD is the same size as a DVD, and operates with the same type of drive equipment - meaning no enormous cost are involved in manufacturing, or distribution.
Obviously there are differences in lasers (there are two, one red, the other green), servo controls, firmware, and software, but the major breakthroughs have already been accomplished, and the HVD format is now being funded, and moved into launch stage by a consortium of major Japanese electronics firms.
The Optware HVD - Coming soon to a Best Buy near you!
Today's temperature rose into the sixties. That's right the cold spell which took temperatures down to single digits last week broke, and now we have Spring weather in January.
Tomorrow will bring even warmer weather, perhaps thunderstorms - yes, that's thunderstorms, not snowstorms in January (we're living in Florida now).
I used my time wisely, and washed my SUV, being careful not to spray myself with the freezing cold water coming out of the hose. I also swept out the garage. I probably could have mowed the lawn, but decided that would have to wait another four to five months.
The sun set spectacularly, and I captured some pretty photos. The photograph was taken at sunset Sunday evening, January 6th, 2008. It certainly seems that the temperature extremes that once were so rare have become rather the norm in this age of global warming.
Photo: Winter Sunset - First Week January 2008 - Jerome, Illinois
So might suggest that if we simply average out the temperatures that everything is perfectly normal, but that's all to simple, and deceitful way of portraying what is happening of late with our weather.
My guess is that there is simply more energy trapped within the atmosphere, and that this is causing the huge temperature swings which we are seeing more frequently. I know I should feel happy that the frigid cold temperatures which have haunted the Midwest for weeks have finally been driven off, but the fact that it is in the sixties in the first week of January in the Midwest is disturbing.
Photo: Unbearded Lincoln Unbearded Lincoln is based upon cast made by Leonard Volk, ca. 1900. Leonard W. Volk was granted a Design patent for this bust on June 12, 1860. The bust was on loan from the National Park Service/Lincoln Home National Historic Site.
I'm cleaning out my email inbox which has become super cluttered with junk mail and this is what I found:
Dear Mr. Prophet,
I saw your August 27, 2005 blog's photograph of the Leonard Volk bust of Abraham Lincoln. It's a beauty! I had read the story of Volk making his head cast, but had never seen the resulting bust.
I am writing (and publishing) a book about Lincoln and would like to include your photo (converted from color to gray-scale). I'll give you credit, of course, and I'll send you a copy of the book, too, which I expect will be out this calendar year. Want me to include your URL in the photo credit? It is your photo, right? :-)
Thank you, and regards,
I've kept the author's name a secret for now.
Just great. I wrote the author back, but I guess he's probably published his book already.
My fifteen minutes passed me by, and I didn't even know it.
In the meantime I'm unsubscribing from like fifteen different newsletters - this has got to stop.
UPDATE: I am just so depressed about this now. I won't say why. O.K. I will say why. The book was published. And it wasn't a small unrecognized Lincoln book. I even read an article about it on CNN, and then at the SJ-R. And then I blogged about it!
Yes, I blogged about a story about a book which my photograph could have been part of without even knowing it.
I'm out of here - time to go open up some beers.
UPDATE FROM SEVERAL DAYS LATER: I didn't actually blog about the upcoming book. I was thinking of another book, or actually it was probably just a paper, or study. AND the photograph above will be included in the soon to be published book. Yea!
Photo: JeromeProphet - The Mysterious Fog - Iles & Veterans Parkway - Springfield, Illinois
How many of those who lived in ancient times were lost to, and never returned from the mysterious fog I do not know. How many trains, planes, ships at sea, and automobiles have been lost to a similar fate I could not say, but I do know this - fog is a killer.
The mysterious fog compresses space into a finite zone as it fills every little space. Yet it is also true that the mysterious fog expands space in a most uncanny way, for what can not be seen becomes an idea - and ideas are infinite.
Photo: JeromeProphet - Automobiles In The Dark Mysterious Fog Of Springfield, Illinois
The mysterious fog creates beauty, by destroying the mundane. Light is transformed into beams of light, and halos. Within the mysterious fog light becomes spectacle, and darkness becomes enveloping.
The mysterious fog asserts itself into reality, yet it also evades our attempts to define it, for the mysterious fog possesses both substance and yet remains ethereal. The mysterious fog is magical.
The mysterious fog is alive, for it lifts, and descends upon us, it both surrounds us, and then disappears. We grasp at it, and find nothing. It is everywhere, yet nowhere.
The mysterious fog creates possibilities. Some too horrible to ponder, for there might just be monsters lurking within - waiting - for you.
Photo: JeromeProphet - Sonic in the Fog - Iles Ave - Springfield, Illinois
You say it's not so, that such things are impossible, but how can you be sure of anything - for you too are within the mysterious - fog.
One can't help but think what a long dark time it has been under the current regime. The people of the United States fall into three camps. Those that cheer on the destruction of the democratic republic, those that dread the end of their freedoms and rights, and those that couldn't care less.
I'd say most people living in the U.S. are so busy just trying to survive that they hardly have time to care much about greater issues. That's what those in power rely upon to stay in power, and to get away with the abuse, and neglect they call leadership.
It is precisely due to the fact that such an important decision as electing a President is left up to so many who feel that they could care less, yet vote, that we ended up with the buffoonery of George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney.
The nation went from a time of balanced budgets under President Clinton, peace, and growing prosperity to one of constant war, and deficit spending. A huge tax cut was made permanent for the ultra rich at the expense of social betterment for the rest of the populace.
Under the new regime the old GOP constituency, the military industrial complex, could be paid off again as defense spending went haywire - while our infrastructure was allowed to crumble.
Many thinking people lost hope.
Why not occupy Iraq using trumped up charges, and use deficit dollars to do so? The pork barrel would be filled for those connected to the traditional GOP lobby - in the name of the never ending "War of Terror" of course.
How could a people, as if frightened children, run to and endorse such a petty despot? How could a people sell themselves so short?
The right wing religious zealots who control the Republican party will no doubt pull off the nomination of their chosen candidate. The Democratic party will eventually select a candidate that is barely electable. We've seen it before - image over substance. People will look for the sound bite, and sound bites are what the people will get. The next President of the United States will be elected on image, just as the last one was.
And in November the people will once again take a stab at choosing the best candidate, and many will vote for what they feel is the lessor of two evils.
The nation's infrastructure will continue to fall apart, the health care crisis will not be dealt with, the raging trade deficit will not be reduced, the budget deficit restarted by G. W. Bush will not be ended, the war in Iraq will not be stopped, and on, and on, and on.
But the rule of the white Christian male will be continued, and that is what is so important to those who vote based upon image. They want the assurance of the great white father. They want to run to their great white daddy to take care of them in a time of never ending uncertainty - even if that great white daddy will betray them in the end.
The fact is, that no matter who wins this election the nation will be better off than the current regime. Given a choice most Republicans would have chosen another candidate than George Bush had they known what he was going to do.
I see light at the end of the tunnel, and it gives me hope, but when we reach it I'm not so sure if it won't lead us back down into yet another dark place.
I'll never forget the incredible freezing cold of that morning. When I watch this Obama advertisement I know I was in that crowd, one of those freezing people huddled with thousands of others - hoping to see in the man something we could latch onto. Something that would give us hope that our nation wasn't beyond repair.
Nearly one year ago Barack Obama announced his run for the Presidency on the grounds of the old state capitol in downtown Springfield, Illinois. Now today the people of Iowa will vote for who they believe will make the best President. Let's hope they make the right choice.
Disclaimer: All similarities between the characters in this sketch, and anyone living, ever have lived, or other fictional characters is purely coincidental.
Scene Two:
Knight: In the name of the Three Kings I command you to open this door!
Silence
Knight: Boy, go to the door.
Squire: Yes Sire.
Knight: See if it opens.
Squire: Might I try knocking first?
Knight: If you must.
Squire: (Knocking) Is anyone home? Is anyone here?
Silence
Knight: Just try opening the door.
Squire: Yes Sire. Sire, it appears to be locked.
Knight: Locked? Now that's odd.
Squire: Open this door! Open this door!
Knight: We know that you're in there. I command you to open the door!
Door creaks open slowly revealing just an eye.
Mary: Who is it?
Knight: I am the brave Knight RayShoop or west Springfield.
Mary: Who?
Knight: It doesn't matter who I am. The Three Kings demand your audience immediately.
Mary: The Three Kings? Last I heard we had but one King.
King of Canoe: We have traveled far good lady, and wish to speak with Mary, and Joseph.
Mary: Are you a King?
King of Satellite: Good lady, indeed he is, as am I.
Mary: (speaking to the Knight) And you would be the third king?
King of Canoe: Actually he's our guard. The third king was unfortunately indisposed.
King of Satellite: Good lady please tell us where Mary, and Joseph live.
Mary: Well it all depends upon why you need to speak to them.
King of Canoe: We mean them no harm. We wish only to pay homage to the baby Jesus.
Mary: The baby Jesus?
King of Satellite: Yes, do you know of him? We have traveled a very great distance!
Mary: I know of no baby Jesus, but I do know of Mary, and Joseph.
King of Canoe: Now we're getting somewhere. Just point us in the right direction then.
Mary: You need travel no further, for I am the Mary you seek.
King of Satellite: Splendid! And the baby Jesus?
Mary: Our daughter Jesus is no longer a baby. She was born twelve years ago.
King of Satellite: A twelve year old daughter, how very special indeed!
King of Canoe: Don't forget why we are here King Satellite!
King of Satellite: I meant nothing by it King Canoe.
King Canoe: I know you all too well King Satellite, but let the good lady continue.
Mary: I'm afraid you have reached us at a particularly bad time.
King of Canoe: Bad time?
Mary: Pardon me King Canoe, but your face seems familiar.
King of Canoe: I'm not quite sure what you're getting at.
Mary: Yes, now I remember, you're from these parts - just a few miles west of here!
King of Canoe: I assure you my lady we have traveled a great distance.
King of Satellite: Yes, a very great distance, and all this talk is tiring. Now where is Jesus?
Mary: I'm afraid I can't let you in. Jesus isn't feeling well.
King of Canoe: We won't stay long, we just want to bestow some gifts upon the child.
King of Satellite: Yes, upon the child.
Mary: Gifts?
King of Canoe: Yes, I have a jar of Sarcasm Balm mixed with oils of Witty Remarks to offer.
King of Satellite: And I have a box filled with Smug Superiority incense for the Christ child.
Mary: What kind of gifts are those? Please now, leave!
King of Canoe: You must let us speak to Jesus! Where is the man of the house?
Mary: Joseph?
King of Satellite: Yes, where is Joseph. He's bound to have more sense than you.
Mary: As I have said now is not a good time.
King of Canoe: Please explain. I am not used to being denied what I want.
Mary: He's gone mad! He's been drinking like a fish, and well, he's lost his mind.
- Mary Breaks Down In Tears -
King of Satellite: Joseph, or Jesus?
Mary: Jesus is our daughter. Joseph, my husband has run off threatening to do himself in.
King of Canoe: Do himself in?
Mary: Yes, and sweet Jesus is very concerned. She has threatened to do herself in too.
King of Satellite: But we have traveled very far, and have our sacred gifts to bestow.
King of Canoe: Maybe perhaps we could speak to the child?
King of Satellite: Yes, perhaps you could show me to her bedroom.
King of Canoe: Now that is simply enough. First my daughter, now Jesus?
King of Satellite: I meant no harm! I only seek a youthful bride.
Mary: Her arm has a slash mark from the wound she put upon herself. I think you should go.
King of Canoe: This has been one big waste of time. Let us go now.
King of Satellite: And I traveled so far. Perhaps then one of your daughters King Canoe?
Disclaimer: All similarities between the characters in this sketch, and anyone living, ever have lived, or other fictional characters is purely coincidental.
Scene One
Knight: Out of the way! Out of the way you!
Squire: Move out of the way! The three kings approach!
Peasant Woman: The three kings?
Squire: Yes, the three kings, and they've traveled far indeed.
Peasant Man: But I only see two.
Squire: Two? Oh yes, one failed to make the trip.
Knight: My good man can you tell us where to find Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus?
Peasant Man: Baby Jesus?
Knight: Yes, yes now do tell us where to find the Christ child.
Peasant Woman: Well, there is a Mary and Joseph living on the hillside to the west of town, but they haven't a baby at least not that I know of anyway. They do have a son named Jesus, but he's about twelve I reckon.
Knight: Twelve? You must be mistaken. My lordship this fool claims he knows of no baby Jesus.
King One: Just point us in the right direction will you?
Peasant Woman: Off to the west, you'll see them on the large hill to the west, but you won't find any baby Jesus.
(Photo: Matt Knoth) Tatiana - Victim Of San Francisco Zoo
I can not understand how anyone who even has a cat could not be flabbergasted at the pure negligence of those in charge of the San Francisco Zoo.
I was particularly amazed at the statements made to the press by the Director of the San Francisco Zoo which was the Zoo involved in the horrible mauling of two young men, and the death of a third on Christmas day (2007).
San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo acknowledged that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high, after previously saying it was 18 feet. According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the walls around a tiger exhibit should be at least 16.4 feet high.
Mollinedo said it was becoming increasingly clear the tiger leaped or climbed out, perhaps by grabbing onto a ledge. Investigators have ruled out the theory the tiger escaped through a door behind the exhibit at the zoo, which remained closed Friday "She had to have jumped," he said. "How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me."
Amazing yes, but not to have been anticipated - no!
Our cats have no trouble at all making incredible leaps from a sitting position. For example they regularly jump from a sitting position on the floor to the top of the CRT computer monitor which is sitting upon the computer desk I am using right now. They look up, appear to be making some kind of calculation, position themselves again, reevaluate, and then leap. In less than a second they are up on top of the monitor several times their height. This is normal cat behavior, and ability.
When motivated, that is chasing after a rapidly moving light reflection emitted from a laser pointer, I've seen our cats nearly reach the ceiling - that's right - nearly climb a straight horizontal wall coming within inches of the ceiling - twelve feet high! They do this on a mad dash after a rapidly moving laser reflection. They do it without even thinking - no thoughts, or inhibitions - and perhaps that's why they are able to do it at all, as cats are usually rather cautious creatures, until they are playing at hunting, or actually hunting. Then things change.
I've had the freaky and scary experience of being in a small closet with a frightened cat which was bouncing - that's right, not jumping, but bouncing off her feet to the height of my face at least five feet high.
I've seen one of our cats jump right out of my arms clear off of a porch, and land at least twelve feet away in a dead run towards a rabbit.
And I've seen one of our cats make an incredible dash up a tree while being chased by a dog covering twelve feet vertical in less than time than the blink of an eye.
Cats possess abilities that far surpass humans in the ability to jump, and dash at prey, or away from predators. Some people believe that cats are wimps because they are very cautious and shy by nature, but that is in their programming, and has kept them out of trouble for a very long time. It would be a very frightening world indeed to wake up to a world in which cats were not cautious and shy. Imagine living with an aggressive feral cat - quite scary indeed.
We may live with the smaller cats, but they haven 't lost their abilities, and we may cage up the larger cats and foolishly put them on display, but they're still the remarkable creatures they are in the wild.
Even with a twenty feet wide moat, which the San Francisco Zoo has in place around the fence separating it's tigers from visitors, it is quite obvious that a twelve and a half feet high wall was no match for a Siberian Tiger. I'm guessing that the teenage boys, which were victims of the mauling, taunted the tigers, and finally the dominant tiger decided to put an end to the abuse.
Putting any creature on display for hundreds, even thousands of gawkers each day must be quite stressful on those held in captivity, and I know that cats tire quickly, and need fourteen hours of sleep each day to stay in a positive mood.
I find it hard to fathom how those in charge of the San Francisco Zoo could have been so unprofessional as to have allowed such a dangerous set of circumstances to have taken place. It seems as if they neither understand the ability or psychology of their captives, or those who come to gawk - and sometimes abuse.
The San Francisco Zoo must be a very poorly managed institution to have ignored such a safety oversight. One expects more from a civic institution staffed by well paid "professionals". The San Francisco Zoo should be closed down until it can prove that the animals held captive there are not being abused, and neglected, and should not reopen until it is safe for humans to gawk at the captive animals again.
My blogging has been rather sparse lately, but I have been busy with Christmas, and now with Overtime at work.
I bought my daughter a new PC, and I spent several evenings last week installing software, and hardware too. I wanted it to be just right for Christmas morning. Little did I know her MP3 player needed to be authorized, and that the firewall would interfere with her music listening pleasures.
I had to head off file sharing by beating it to the punch - is that a mixed metaphor - by getting our Rhapsody software installed on the new PC.
I could go down the list of software I installed, and configured so that on Christmas morning she'd have a great experience instead of what usually happens when one installs a new computer.
I'll be putting in some OT all the way up to New Years so expect sparse blogging until the new year arrives.
In the meantime I had a really nice Christmas - now if I could just take a small nap please.
It's not often that I am taken by surprise so it was my pleasure to experience a sense of fond surprise when I received a Christmas gift from a fellow blogger.
While I can't tell you who gifted me, as I've been asked not to, I did want to say thank you for the wonderful collection of teas, and the infusers. I haven't made any tea yet, but I have indulged my olfactory curiosity and openned a few of the tins - wow! Talk about flavor!
Also, the little booklets about tea are really neat.
I've never infused whole tea, and so I'm really looking forward to it. So too is my spouse.
I wish I could respond by gifting you, but I'm totally financially unable to, but maybe one day. Plus I'd have to start scanning over your older blog post to see what you're fascinations are.
In the mean time, once again, I wanted to say thanks. I hope you had a merry Christmas, and I wish you a wonderful new year!
Items Randomly Lined Up In The Bathroom - Twenty Three Is Everywhere, But Who Cares?
Tonight my daughter insisted that the family watch a movie together. She was quite convinced that it would be well worth our time, as she had seen it before, and was impressed.
It was The Number 23
As I watched the movie I found myself half interested in the plot, and almost fell asleep at several points. My daughter on the other hand continually looked over at me, excited by the various implications of the movie. The number twenty three is everywhere.
The fact that the number 23 is made up of two low numbers, numbers which are used in common everyday life, or can be easily obtained by simple counting, subtracting, dividing, or multiplying other common numbers didn't cross my daughter's mind.
She was after all under the spell of the number 23.
Just as the human brain is designed to find facial patterns, which makes us all vulnerable to seeing cloud creatures looking down upon us on a cloudy day, so too does the mind attempt to organize the world about us into other more easily understandable patterns. This is after all how human beings managed to survive in a world of faster, and more ably equipped predators. We organized the world outside ourselves to match the ever more organized mind within.
The number 235,742,100,300 for example will never have a movie based upon it, because it is simply too long of a number, and no human on this planet seemingly relates to the fact that this is the number of sentient, and quasi-sentient creatures in the Zebulon star system wiped out by Neader Colonial Invaders in a rather unremarkable spiral galaxy two billion years ago. Yes, I just made that up, but who knows - the Metaverse is an awfully big place.
It is therefore left to the shorter numbers, which the human mind can more easily grasp and manipulate, to act as harbingers, and portents - of betrayors of hidden connections, and worth. It is the human mind which insist on making the numbers 666, 7, 11, and even 23 important. It is the human imagination which assist such numbers in raising both goose bumps and hairs upon the back of the neck, and in giving them a meaning at all.
This is not to suggest that hidden order does not exist within a greater level of chaos, or that hidden meanings can not be devined from applying a simple filter upon reality. Conspiracies exist too, however, it is obvious that it is the mind's desire to create a simpler and more understabable world which is the underlying significance of the number 23.
Not only is it seemingly necessary to understand our world, but it also appears necessary to misunderstand it as well. It's an old story. Numerology is just one in a long list of recently abandoned methods upon which human beings have depended upon to make sense of it all.
However, in this modern age, an age of science one would hope that numerology would have seen its final day, but the human psyche is not willing to give up what the brain so willingly wants to project - connections where none exist.
My daughter added up some numbers tonight, and is convinced of the significance of the number twenty three. Despite my attempts to explain that the movie The number 23 is in fact fiction, she is convinced that there must be something special about the number.
I guess I shouldn't have pointed out to her immediately after watching the movie that the letters which make up the names of personal care products, pictured above, add up to twenty three. Nor was it a good thing that upon quick review that she discovered that the dates of birth of her father and mother are connected to the number 23, and that her date of birth is similarly so connected. It's going to be a long night as she is now finding it difficult falling asleep.
I would never tell her that I started writing this post at 2:03 A.M., nor would I try to explain that as I look up to write this concluding paragraph that it is 2:30 A.M., or that the number of letters in the file name of the photograph above is twenty three letters in length.
Sister: -crying- It's just that now that mother has died I don't want this to be the end of the family.
Brother: Well, I agree with you there. Mother wouldn't have wanted that.
Sister: I wanted to come to mother's funeral, but we just couldn't. I don't want you to hate me for that.
Brother: I don't hate you. In fact I added a telephone number to my Internet Phone with your long distance area code.
Sister: What?
Brother: I created a phone number so that you can call me anytime you want without long distance charges. It's unlimited too, so we can talk for hours if we want.
Sister: Oh, really?
Brother: Yes.
Sister: Hmmm.
Brother: So here's the number. I made sure to check, and it's a local call for you. Call me anytime, day or night.
ONE YEAR LATER
Not one incoming call placed to brother's Internet Phone line from sister.
Brother's Spouse: Honey, we're paying five dollars extra each month for that phone line, and your sister has never called even once, can't we get rid of it?
That's how long I've given myself to write this post. Last night my spouse spotted a mistake on our bank balance. We quickly called the bank. Turns out an online vendor I had purchased a Christmas present on had charged us twice.
Like the majority of Americans we live paycheck to paycheck.
So this is a big deal.
Up until two in the morning checking everything. And calling the bank. Calling the vendor.
Internet purchasing sure is convenient, but it also entails risk.
We'll see if they do what they said they'd do by this morning, and back out the duplicate purchase.
Meanwhile, all of our Christmas plans are on hold.
Springfield, Illinois Under Ice - Leaves Under Ice
The ice storm which hit Springfield, Illinois and the Midwest in middle December 2007 hit many communities far worse than Springfield. Ice coated power lines, automobiles, homes, trees, sidewalks, roads, and lawns, all which makes for dangerous travel.
December Ice Storm Coats Springfield
Many communities out west lost power. Even Central Illinois communities, like Jacksonville, Illinois lost electricity which can be dangerous during the winter.
Natural Beauty of Springfield, Illinois - Tall Grass Under Ice
Despite the dangers and inconveniences of the ice the transparent layer of frozen water makes everything strangely beautiful - almost alien in appearance. Is this what life on an ice planet looks like?
Springfield, Illinois In The Winter - The Hilton
Downtown Springfield, Illinois can be a beautiful place. The nature photographs taken of all the ice covered trees and lawn were taken in downtown Springfield on December 10th, 2007
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is the building in the background. The brilliant colors reveal the high levels of anti oxidants present in the branches which is probably how trees and bushes survive the winter.
Downtown Springfield, Illinois In The Winter Time - Horace Mann Plaza
Ice seems to bring out the beauty in the mundane, but it also amplifies the beauty of what is already beautiful.
After rummaging around for old flashlights, and batteries my wife and I went to the door to look outside. It is raining, but very lightly. One would think that's good, but the truth is I don't believe it's a good thing. If it was pouring down the ice would have to melt off the trees, and power lines, but with the slower precipitation it just freezes on the already ice coated surfaces.
We no sooner opened the door than we heard the crashing, and thud, of a tree limb hitting the ground, which is never a good sign.
C.W.L.P., the main provider of electricity in the Springfield, Illinois area doesn't take its responsibilities seriously enough. Recently a power turbine simply blew up, setting a power generating facility on fire. In Springfield, Illinois most people seem to believe that this is normal, and that no one is to blame when buildings blow up.
I mention this because I don't believe that C.W.L.P. takes the time to make certain that overhanging tree limbs are cut back away from their power lines. We have a neighbor who has a large tree, and a main power line for the whole block north of us runs under some of the upper branches of this massive tree. Why weren't these tree limbs cut back? Poor management most likely.
So hearing the sound of tree limbs crashing to the ground isn't a good sign at all. Meanwhile I heard on an A.M. radio station that many cities in Oklahoma are without power, and will be for over a week. This in the heart of winter.
Now the same storm system moves east, and everyone is just keeping their fingers crossed. So far most of the system has moved north east, more northward than east, following the jet stream's faster track up north. This has kept most of the nasty ice weather north of Springfield, Illinois.
I feel sorry for those folk living in a huge tract between Sangamon County's northern border all the way north past Chicago. Speaking of Chicago if the storm keep moving in the same direction poor Chicago appears right in its path.
Having said that the overall eastward movement of the entire system, if the system doesn't break up, or if temperatures don't change, could result in Sangamon County getting hit with freezing rain sometime soon - tomorrow perhaps?
From my perspective there's little that I can do. I guess I could fill up the gas tank and start driving south. A few hours drive, and I'd be safely below the freeze line, and would be inconvenienced only by the cold winter rain.
But here I make my stand in the village of Jerome, Illinois a suburb of Springfield, Illinois. I've spent the last hour carefully studying a variety of colorful animated weather maps available at wunderground.com.
I first looked at the local radar map, and felt rather lucky. I didn't see anything to be alarmed about. I then zoomed out to the regional map, and felt my heart sink, but still I felt it wouldn't be that bad. I looked at the animation over, and over again looking for some hint of which direction the ice was really headed, and I timed how long it was taking for the evil ice clouds to pass an area the size of Sangamon County - the County I live in.
Looks like it will hit in two hours, but we'll only get maybe an hour's worth of ice, or so I initially estimated.
But then I had to zoom out further, and look at the national maps. I realized then that the coming ice storm was much larger than what I had guessed.
It looks like the majority of the nasty stuff is heading north of Sangamon County, but our County falls within the soon to be affected area. In fact I've seen enough ice storms dump their worst blows on their southern fringes to know that things could actually be worse for Springfield than for say Bloomington. Only time will tell.
It does look bad. The Santa Anna winds, or whatever they are called this time of year, seem to be bringing up streams of humidity from the Pacific by way of Mexico. All that vapor is moving with the jet stream directly for Central, and Northern Illinois, and other Midwestern states.
This storm has already wreaked havoc on states west of here, and now it is our time.
If this were summertime we'd be happy for the rain, but when it's freezing cold out, but not quite cold enough to produce snow, it makes for a dangerous ice storm.
Everyone would rather have snow than ice because ice is so darned dangerous. From the ever growing number of fools driving their SUVs at speeds way too fast directly into power poles, to tree limbs crashing down upon transformers and taking out power to whole subdivisions, we are looking at dangerous roads, and sidewalks, and hours in the cold and darkness.
Things I recall from the week I spent without power in March of 2006 in the aftermath of two F2 tornadoes which struck the Village of Jerome, and Springfield, Illinois:
The freezing cold seeping into our home.
The disconnection from the rest of the world - no land line phones, nor cable television, nor Internet.
The joy of canned food.
The mad scramble to find batteries, candles, extra blankets, battery powered alarm clocks, old battery powered AM radios with run down nine volt batteries.
The mist from a warm shower rapidly forming droplets in the cold air illuminated by a single beam of a flashlight pointed upward toward the ceiling.
The freezing cold air which greets you when you step outside the shower warmed bathroom into the cold dark house.
Kids asking repeatedly if school has been canceled.
Wanting to go to work to find a safe warm well lit place.
Listening to hours and hours of AM radio news covering the weather disaster.
The flickering of candles.
The slowly fading light from flashlights with dying batteries.
The thrill of buying a hot pizza, but having to find a way to pick it up.
A sudden overwhelming appreciation for linemen, and journeymen.
A feeling of joy when you find out the electricity it back on.
Elation over the return of cable television, and most important of all broadband Internet.
Dave of The11thhour writes a regular feature pitting the National Weather Service's predictions against The Weather Channel's. I'm not really certain why there are differences, but there are.
This morning as rain continues to pour down upon the city of Springfield, Illinois, and Central Illinois in general I am very concerned about the potential for massive power outages, and treacherous road conditions during this freezing cold weather.
I too am a bit confused by some of the predictions coming from our weather experts. Here's an example from the State Journal-Register:
"Steadier freezing rain will begin around dawn (today), causing significant problems during the morning hours," said Dan Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln. He said the heaviest precipitation is expected from 5 to 7 a.m. in Springfield and the surrounding areas.
"It will turn into light rain by (this) afternoon as temperatures slowly hedge around the freezing mark, right around or just over."Counties including Sangamon, Cass, Christian, Logan, Menard, Morgan and Scott were placed under an ice storm warning Saturday that will continue until noon today. The warning indicates ice-covered roads are treacherous and power lines and tree branches may snap.
...
Smith said periods of freezing rain were to continue the rest of Saturday night, with temperatures expected to hold steady early today between 25 to 29 degrees.
Warmer air is expected to change the freezing rain to rain later in the afternoon. However, the National Weather Service warns the rain may result in more ice accumulation before causing it to melt.
"On the backside of the system, we might see some freezing drizzle but nothing significant," Smith said.
If people must travel this morning, the National Weather Services advises motorists to keep an extra flashlight, food and water in their vehicle in case of an emergency.
So, things are bad, and getting worse, but will get better? Wow! This is what we're paying for? That's quite a prediction from the NWS.
We have rain coming down over an area that's freezing cold. I'd say that's pretty significant. To suggest that rain may cause the ice to melt, but build up more ice before it does so - sounds very predictive, but doesn't say much really. In the past I'd say the NWS has had no idea of whether more or less ice will form at a particular point in an ice storm, but this prediction isn't really that tough to make because eventually the ice will melt - it's only a matter of time.
What do you have when you combine a strike with highly creative entertainment oriented people?
In the age of Youtube you have a series of fascinating short films which allow those on the picket lines a chance to explain why they are on strike, and the consequences of being on strike.
Writers Guild of America members are striking due to their concerns that as their industry is moving increasingly into the digital age the residuals they would receive from their works viewed via the Internet will be limited to $250 per show per year. That's right, no matter how many times a movie or television episode is viewed over the Internet during the course of a year the residual would be limited to just $250.
Why We Fight - An Entertaining Explanation Of Why There's A Writer's Strike
Before we go any further let me explain that we're not talking about illegal copies posted to Youtube, or other video sharing services from which neither the studios or the writers receive compensation. No, the issue here are the made for theater, television, and increasingly made for the Internet movies, and shows. These are the programs which the entertainment industry itself are offering via the Internet, and selling advertisements for, and therefore earning a revenue with. Those revenues are expected to grow into the billions as the television industry moves onto the Internet. Despite this growth in revenue the studios see it as a means of destroying the writers union.
While there are some millionaire writers out in Hollywood, and New York, the vast majority of those responsible for writing all the shows we watch at the theater, and on television, struggle to make ends meet in their highly competitive industry. WGA members rightly argue that as the entertainment industry migrates to the Internet that some of those profits in the form of residuals, need to be shared with the writers.
Studio Heads Admit Huge Profits But Won't Share With Writers
The WGA members are in fact looking at the future of the entertainment industry, and argue that under the current compensation agreement that they will see less income for their creative works as more of that work appears exclusively on the Internet.
Their argument makes perfect sense, and in fact if it wasn't for the studios short sighted greed this would have been settled long ago. I've included some Youtube videos with this post as they are both informative, and entertaining.
As a blogger I appreciate the time, and effort it takes to create using the written word. Writing is work, and those who write professionally need to be compensated fairly.
Earth from Four Billion Miles Away (Edge of Solar System)
The Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
If you read my last post it's easy to guess that just about any car would have been a step up for me, and that's true, but I'm glad I made the decision to buy a Mercury Moutaineer.
It's definitely a lot of SUV to handle at 215 horse power. The V8 growls with power, and it's loaded with nice features, leather seats, and lots of interior space. If it was a female, which it may very well be, it could be argued that I'm in love - or is it sex? Oh well, whatever it is, it works for me.
Mercury Mountaineer Making Use Of Those 215 hp.
Did I mention it can haul over three and a half tons, or that its AWD (all the time)?
I was actually sad to see my little 1988 Plymouth Horizon go, but after nineteen years in service to my family it was long past time for a change. As I've said in other post either hatefully, or sentimentally, the little 1988 Plymouth Horizon very much reminded me of the story of the Little Train That Could. While it is only an inanimate object the fact that it was so small yet played such an important role in taking me, and my family where we needed to go for so many years it was like a member of the family.
Do you believe that the little hatchback hauled not one full sized Christmas tree, but two full sized Christmas trees on the inside? It also helped my wife (before she was my wife) move, and my brother in law move, and my family move.
Just a few hundred here, and a few hundred there and the little Plymouth Horizon will be off and running again. It may turn out to be some teenager's first car! Or it may just end up sold for parts - who knows?
I donated it to a local charity - for the tax write off.
If you surf to the Youtube page that host the video I link to you'll see some rather positive comments about the car. It's very close to being an antique, and its odd look may end up making it a beloved old relic - I mean the model, not my particular car, but that's six to ten years into the future. For now they have a value of about two hundred dollars - LOL!
About a year ago I wanted to post this video, but I never did.
I find it fascinating that cats are able to make nearly four hundred different sounds.
I suspect that the cat in the video had been listening to the barking of a dog, and is imitating it.
They memorize sound patterns, such as the sound of cat food being filled into a plastic cup, but they also know the sounds of pumpkin beetles in flight for which they seem preprogrammed.
So much hardwiring involved in being a cat, yet there's enough ability to learn that each cat seems unique.
I was listening to Pam Furr this afternoon, and I couldn't help but notice how much effort Pam put into trying to help an elderly gentleman believe that he was worth caring about.
The call concluded with the infirmed gentleman proposing marriage.
Well, actually there was a silly joke about Viagra, but that's another story.
Old Man: Wasn't that girl who you were hanging out with during Thanksgiving meal..,
Teen Age Girl: I know where you're going on this - just shut up!
Old Man: No, I won't shut up.
Teen Age Girl: I don't want to talk about it.
Old Man: Wasn't that the girl who stole you cell phone?
Teen Age Girl: No, it was another girl.
Old Man: But wasn't she the one you suspected?
Teen Age Girl: It was another girl - damn it!
Old Man: Right, and now your wallet is gone.
Teen Age Girl: Why does this stuff always happen to me?
Old Man: You're not a victim.
Teen Age Girl: Yes I am!
Old Man: You bring thieving WHITE TRASH into your home on Thanksgiving Day. She's one of your drug friends. She steals your cell phone to sell for cocaine. You then deny it, and hang out with her again. And now you claim you're a victim?
Teen Age Girl: Just shut up!
Old Man: I guess now is the time to share this little nugget of wisdom with you. It's an old saying.
Teen Age Girl: Just go away. I don't want to hear it.
Old Man: It goes like this, Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Teen Age Girl: Leave me alone!
Old Man: Shame on you, that's what it means. You must accept full responsibility for the actions of your friends - your so called friends - those which you only have one thing in common - drugs. Until you learn that lesson, that you're not a victim - that you choose to make these things happen to you - you won't have my respect.
I purchased a new vehicle last weekend. Actually, it's only new to me, but it's a huge improvement on my last set of wheels.
I don't really mind the car payments as I had just paid off my daughter's car the week before.
I had been driving a nineteen year old compact car. It was in its own way a hero. That's right - the car was a hero. It performed well beyond the call of duty. Every day that I drove it I was amazed that it kept going as well as it did.
This part, or then that part would break, wear out, or malfunction but it kept going.
I had for awhile thought that I'd like to turn it into a collectors car, and maybe even pimp it out!
But I don't have that kind of money to burn putting into an old car.
So now it sits waiting to be towed within a week or two.
In the mean time I love my new auto. It is in fact like having a new girlfriend.
I find myself smiling for no reason at all, and then I realize I'm actually happy!
Yes, happy!
And I know why. It's the thrill of driving a nice automobile.
My family feels the same way. They actually want to take rides!
Yup! It's that nice!
Soon I plan to drive up to Dave of The11thhour to show him.
Jim Croce "I've Got A Name & Five Short Minutes" Intro By Keith Moon
About the time most kids should be doing their homework my buddy David (nope, not the Dave of the11thhour), and I would hop on our bikes and ride around in the evening. How we managed to ride at break neck speeds down unlit streets without killing ourselves is a testament to youthful eyesight, and stupidity. We'd locate a favorite hang out, and smoke a few cigarettes, and then ride back to his house and listen to the radio for awhile.
David had three beautiful older sisters, which made it a pleasure to hang out with him. Susan whom I had a crush on a mile wide, was about a year and a half older than me, but two grades higher. The boys that she was dating were older than her, and she was always going out on dates. She was as pretty as could be, and seemed so sophisticated.
The way Susan took drags off of her cigarettes, and the way she exhaled. The fact that she was allowed to smoke in front of her parents! Her cute smile, and incredible eyes. Those blue jeans tugging perfectly at every curve. Despite her flirting I had no chance. Me on my bike, versus a never ending flock of eighteen year old boyfriends picking her up in their muscle cars. Still my heart pounded just to be near her.
Jeannie was the next older sister, and she was a beautiful blue eyed blond like Susan. She also had a more sympathetic nature toward me. I call it sympathy now, but at that time I hoped it was more. She was three years older than me, and those three years were like an ocean that made any idea of going out with her laughable. Still she smiled at me, and looked me in the eyes, and joked with me. But the truth was I was her little brother's best friend, and even if she thought I was cute it was probably more puppy dog cute than anything else.
The eldest sister rarely hung out with us. She wasn't the beauty her younger sisters were, and she was headed to college. She spent more time with her parents, and so I never really had the chance to know her well. There was always that eldest child that was far out ahead in the world - those who experienced the 1960s in the baby boomer kind of way. This girl wasn't one of them, she would have been part of the group that came immediately after.
David had a younger blue eyed blond sister also as pretty as could be, but too young for us to really want to hang out with - in fact we'd tease her regularly, but all in good fun. We considered her more a security risk than anything else - what if she found out we smoked? She'd tell our parents. There were always those younger kids who came immediately after us in age, and you'd have to watch out - because aspiring Tweens get ratted out.
Finally there was the baby brother, Joey, who was just a few years old. Not much to say here, but David, and everyone else in this family treated him with love. He was the family mascot, the last of the clan.
Quite a family. Back then it was pretty much the norm for parents to have four, five, and even six kids. Many family had quite a few more. I was raised to feel that only children were to be pitied - and so I did.
David was very much a middle child - like myself.
Before we entered the teen world of pot smoking, and drinking we would score a pack of cigarettes out of a vending machine, and think of ourselves as cool for doing so.
We even shared a girlfriend. Those days were innocent. When I say girlfriend, I mean smooching, holding hands, and hugging - which at that age would send my heart soaring. And while thoughts of racing to second, third, and even forth base filled my head it was not to be - at least with that girl.
On the evening of September 21th, 1973 I had zipped on my bike down the dark canopied street to hang out with David in his house. That night I recall that we were in his bed room. The floor was finished pine. Dave sat at one end of the room, and I the other on the floor. His room had little in the way of furniture, but it was cooler that way as it made the room much bigger, and the ceiling much higher.
We had hung out in David's bedroom many times while reading his collection of Ripley's Believe Or Not books, Mad Magazines, and old comic books while listening to rock and roll hits on WCVS.
I expected a similar night of just hanging out, but when I arrived I noticed that David was totally bummed out. His back was against one wall, with the radio playing next to him. I finally asked him what was wrong, and he told me that folk musician Jim Croce had been killed in a plane crash the night before. Not long after sharing this news with me some of Jim Croce's songs played on the radio - it was I guess a tribute.
David handed me a clipping from the State Register about the plane crash. As I read the article I was stunned. How could someone so young, so cool, so talented die? We both sat there listening to the radio not saying much. David was bummed out, and so was I so I didn't stay long.
It's funny how memory works. Maybe that's how tragedy always works? I'm not certain, but I'll always remember the night I discovered that Jim Croce died. The bike ride home in the dark must have seemed a bit darker that night. . . Bad Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce
Well the south side of chicago Is the baddest part of town And if you go down there You better just beware Of a man named leroy brown
Now leroy more than trouble You see he stand bout six foot four All the downtown ladies call him treetop lover All the mens just call him sir
And its bad, bad leroy brown The baddest man in the whole damn town Badder than old king kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
Now leroy he a gambler And he like his fancy clothes And he like to wave his diamond rings In front of everybodys nose He got a custom continental He got an eldorado too He got a 32 gun in his pocket for fun He got a razor in his shoe
And its bad, bad leroy brown The baddest man in the whole damn town Badder than old king kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
Well friday bout a week ago Leroy shootin dice And at the edge of the bar Sat a girl named doris And ooh that girl looked nice Well he cast his eyes upon her And the trouble soon began And leroy brown learned a lesson bout messin with the wife of a jealous man
And its bad, bad leroy brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old king kong And meaner than a junkyard dog,
Well the two men took to fightin And when they pulled them from the floor Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle With a couple of pieces gone
And its bad, bad leroy brown The baddest man in the whole damn town Badder than old king kong And meaner than a junkyard dog
Unilever, the same folks that have brought us Slim Fast, and Axe may have seen the light, or gone mad? They have released several Dove commercials which essentially mock the very foundation of the beauty industry.
Onslaught warns of how girls are brainwashed into believing themselves unworthy, and end up mutilating their bodies, and yo yo dieting to achieve a higher state of "beauty".
Dove's "True Colors" Commercial
Dove True Colors commercial doesn't sell soap, or shampoo, instead it recognizes that girls are brainwashed into hating themselves at an early age by a society hell bent on achieving bodily "perfection".
Dove's "Evolution" Commercial
This is a great commercial because most women, and men believe what they see in advertisements, and magazine covers. They then feel insecure about themselves, and it fosters a great deal of unhappiness which advertisers prey upon.
Dove's "Pro Age" Commercial
Dove has come out with a Pro-Age line of products. Dove is laying it on the line. Not only commercials, but also a line of products deliberately designed to kick some sand back into the face of those who have been bullying women about their age for a very long time.
While some are suspicious of the intent of Unilever marketing Dove this way, while selling Axe with blatant sex appeal it doesn't diminish just how good these Dove advertisements are one little bit.
First I want to say I won't be buying a brand new automobile. I'd have to win the lottery to do that earning what I do in my current position.
I will, however, be buying a car new to me, and very soon.
For those who know me this is a very big event. I've been driving around town for years in a rather remarkable vehicle that is just months away from being twenty years old.
Some would look at it, and see it as an aging piece of junk, but to me I saw a loyal workhorse which took me everywhere I needed to go without asking for much.
I had planned to keep my twenty year old car for three more years. I figured I'd be entirely debt free, and have a few thousand dollars saved up for a down payment on a new car by then.
That was the plan.
And as described in a prior post the car decided that it was not a realistic plan.
It conked out on me this weekend.
It's not the first time the car has come to a halt on the road. I've always shelled out the few hundred dollars here, and there to revive it, and keep it going, but this time is different.
It's probably only the timing belt. The belt slips, the alternator doesn't spin, and the battery doesn't charge. I've seen it before.
But at this point the brakes need work, the tires are bald, the front seat is broken, the head liner needs replaced, the horn needs to be fixed, there's rust forming here, and there, the paint is beginning to spot up, and the suspension is loose.
I could probably drive it, and fix it up, but it would cost fifteen hundred, or perhaps two thousand dollars.
If I did I'd still have a twenty year old car - and that's the problem.
Despite my car's loyalty, and my loyalty to it - it is time to part ways.
Having just paid off my daughter's car I can now afford to buy a new car for myself, and so that is what I'll do.
It's a thrill, and a pain in the butt to look for cars, but in the end I know within a few days, or maybe a few weeks I'll be driving around in much newer car, and I'll be asking myself then why in the heck I didn't dump the old car long ago.
Father: Well don't worry we're on our way to your friend's house so you can try and find the new cell phone we just bought you to replace the one you deliberately smashed into pieces.
Daughter: Why do you have to drive?
Father: Because it's my car.
Daughter: Well I haven't driven in a week.
Father: So what?
Daughter: I can't believe you bought me that piece of shit.
Father: That piece of shit is a pretty nice car.
Daughter: The tires on it are dangerous.
Father: Which is why we're going to have them replaced.
Daughter: You bought me a piece of shit.
FATHER'S CAR SUDDENLY CUTS OUT. IT SLOWLY COAST TO SIDE OF ROAD POWERLESS.
Father: We're poor. That's why I drive around in a twenty year old car.
Comet P17/Holmes appears in the constellation Perseus. If you know where to look you'll see it in seconds. There's no Moon out now, so it's definitely time to have a look.
I always refer to Perseus as "The Special K Constellation", as it looks to me like a giant letter "K" in the sky. To those who take the time to learn the constellations the night sky is no longer a spatter of random lights, but instead seems comfortingly familiar.
Each season brings the comings, and goings of these familiar patterns of stars. We learn not only their names, but also the myths which surround them.
Knowing the constellations made it very easy to locate comet Holmes. It took me about one second to locate the comet in Perseus, but I don't expect everyone will have the same experience. I recall decades ago when I viewed my first comet how difficult it was. I can only suggest not to give up, because it's worth the effort.
For those who don't have binoculars, or a telescope - well, you don't need them. The photo I took does not do justice to Comet Holmes. Comet Holmes appears far bigger, and brighter than the little dot which shows up in my photo. It's very easy to see - even though you won't see a tail.
The comet is coming head first and so we can't really see much in terms of a tail, but don't let that scare you away, or into a fall out shelter.
My Own Backyard Photo Of Comet Holmes
You'll be looking for a fuzzy spot. It's as bright as a star - sort of. I say sort of because to a camera it's not as bright as a star, but to the naked eye which works with the brain to capture and interpret images it appears as bright as a star - just fuzzy.
Thanks to Dave of The11thhour for mentioning comet Holmes last week.
I don't believe ever before have people been able to create a phenomena such as the 2 Girls 1 Cup Reaction Video Phenomena.
Now that there is an Internet, and a Youtube there are new forms of expression, and new ways to network socially. I would have never guessed that reaction videos would have been a product of the Internet, but they are. And now we have absurd micro-phenomena such as the 2 Girls 1 Cup Reaction Video Phenomena that is sweeping Youtubers.
I highly recommend that my readers do not ever watch the video upon which this phenomena is based. I have heard that it is highly disturbing. I only post this as a minor footnote into what was going on at this particular time on YouTube.
Journeyman - San Francisco is the Setting for Most of the Journeyman Series
