An observation: Coleslaw never really goes bad in the fridge, it just turns into sauerkraut with carrots.

— TK

Your Daily Classifed Section for Today, January 16, 2017...

My mother-in-law passed from this life at around 9:20 pm on New Year's Eve. I will miss our little broken conversations in "Spanglish". Her English was actually better than my Spanish, but I knew more cusswords in Spanish. Not that she would use that sort of language. But she lived 84 years. How many of us will experience that much life? I'll miss our little trips to Krogers, or to her family doctor, or to Esparanza's restaurant — her, me and Gabie, the three of us.

Baby Goats: they’re right next to the beer.

Your Groucho Marx Line for Today, Wednesday December 14, 2016:

“I never forget a face — but I’m going to make an exception in your case!”

“No, I don't need any help. Everything's fine.
Thanks for asking.”

— TK

I Can't Be Seen.

I'm happy to report that I've recently completed the MP Industries course, "How Not to be Seen," and absolutely thrilled to tell you that I'm currently being seen at around 60% less often than previously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltmMJntSfQI


-TK

1/12/2015

Today's Fun Fact

Dec. 16, 2014


Fun Fact: Liopleurodons smell real bad.

* * * * *

The Neighbors are Moving!

Dec. 15, 2014

I knew that the neighbors were moving. What I didn't realize is just how much they were moving...

In reality, this event happened last year, and I believe (although I can't confirm it) that the First Darned Baptist Church (bless 'em, they're actually good folks, I just call 'em "darned Baptists") bought the property and sold the house off. I didn't talk to anyone to find out where it was going. Just watching the entire process was quite interesting. If I recall, it took the better part of two weeks to prep the house for moving and finally get it rolling..

What will happen to the lot? Church parking lot, I'd be willing to wager. Another lot at the end of the block was also leveled that year, but the house went down instead of moving. No parking expansion in evidence yet, but I'm expecting that lot by lot, my home is going to be completely surrounded eventually by parking, and my Sunday mornings will be a cacophony of slamming car doors and the happy chatter of Baptists heading to church.

My landlord and landlady bought their house many years ago in Foat Wuth, and moved it some 30-odd miles to its present location. I think I recall the landlord telling me that the move mostly went smoothly, although they hit a minor bottleneck at one point.

* * * * *

My Five Most Influential Dinosaur Movies and TV Shows

Dec. 13, 2014

OK, the fourth installment in the venerable Jurassic Park franchise is due to hit a theater near me in six months, and my goose bumps are pulsing with excitement! It will have been 14 years since the last installment — way too long — but I’m certain that the wait will have been worth it. I’m going to steal and alter an old joke told by (if I recall) David Letterman: this goes to show that America is still the world’s leading producer of dinosaur movies. And people say that we don’t make things here any more.

So, as I reflect back on my 120+ years of movie going, I pause now to mentally compile my personal list of the most influential dinosaur movies I’ve watched. OK, the first of these isn’t technically a dinosaur flick, but it’s close enough for consideration..

1. Godzilla Versus the Intestinal Flu (1963). Ishirō Honda, Chonosuke Okamura, James Mason, Perry Mason

Synopsis: Tokyo police are baffled by a series of mysterious regurgitations. Eventually, the military forces of the entire planet are allied to stop the threat, but victory comes from the most gentle and innocent of sources — the Girl Scouts.

My take: Like virtually all of Japanese cinema, this production is just dripping with symbolism and multiple levels of meaning. It’s pretty clear to everyone that the Big Guy represents the menace of nuclear war; the terrified populace of Tokyo stand in for a cowering humanity faced with the threat of global annihilation; no one doubts that the Girl Scout cookies represent the possibility of salvation in the midst of catastrophe. Generally, Japanese critics are agreed that the Girl Scouts themselves represent the ancient Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion, Kannon, although Westerners can be excused for not making the connection. However, the gigantic vomit covering the city has been problematic for critics and film historians. Does it represent the repulsive in human nature? Does it symbolize mankind’s rejection of the natural world in favor of technology? After much consideration, my conclusion is that the upchuck represents an upset tummy.

2. Honey, a Dinosaur Ate the Kids! (1989). Rick Moranis, Brinke Stevens, Stig Olin, James M. Buchanan Jr., Bessica Raiche

Synopsis: Absent-minded geneticist Wayne accidentally synthesizes a dinosaur, and to hide his blunder from the boss, brings it home and attempts to hide it in his garage. Hilarity ensues as the dinosaur eats the mailman — and the kids — smearing blood and flesh all over the interior of the garage! But all is right in the end, as the family dog cleans up the mess.

My take: A light-hearted, sappy little piece of cinematic fluff, Honey, a Dinosaur Ate the Kids! is notable mainly for the extremely accurate, lifelike rendering of the Giganatosaurus. Minor quibble: the Giganatosaurus is depicted with four toes on the left foot; I’m pretty sure both feet had three toes. So call me a perfectionist.

3. Waltzing with Dinosaurs (1999). Narrated by Alistair Cooke

Synopsis: This ground-breaking BBC TV mini-series introduces what was then a very controversial idea among paleontologists: dinosaurs not only were warm-blooded, but they could dance.

My take: For decades, paleontologists considered dinosaurs to have two left feet. However, the startling 1938 discovery of ancient preserved tracks in the bed of the Paluxy River in Texas demonstrate conclusively that not only did these ancient reptiles have right feet as well as left, but they could trip the light fantastic. However, as startling and revealing as the series was (with ground-breaking animation), I’m still not convinced that T. Rex could rumba. Olé!

4. The Land Before Madonna (1986). Madonna, Dave Bancroft, Clement Serkis

Synopsis: Was there a time before Madonna? What was the earth, and life on earth, like before Madonna?

My take: It’s hard to imagine what life was like before Madonna, and some people insist to this day that Madonna has been around since the dawn of time. However, this entertaining docudrama takes us back to a time before MTV, music videos, and Who’s the Boss. Amazingly, we are told that there was virtually no music being produced during the Triassic. I’ve got to admit that the animated critters are first rate, and the lush prehistoric landscapes are breathtaking, but there’s not a Sound Warehouse (which has also been around since the dawn of time) in sight. Plenty of food for thought, but I’m not sure I’m buying any of it. Still, it’s been very influential.

5. Night of the Living Apatosaurus (1967). Fay Wray, Robert Conrad, Leis Meitner

Synopsis: An absolutely humongous plant-eating dinosaur shows up and stomps all over everybody and everything. Will humanity survive? Why do I ask all these questions?

My take: Wow, scary. The truly frightening thing is that the apatosaurus isn’t squashing cars and people out of malice — it’s only trying to find a delicious cyclad tree to munch on and there’s all these little people and buildings and obstacles in the way, and well...gosh...when you’ve got big feet it’s just really difficult to not step on things you didn’t mean to. Sort of like the situation with me and my cats. Humanity is destroyed simply because we can’t get out from underfoot. How depressing. By the way, the apatosaurus looks like it was modeled out of clay. But really lifelike clay.

* * * * *

Next month: The plant documentary that made me change my religion.

Dan Gilbert: Stumbling on Happiness

Well, I completely blew off the month of October, 2012. So now I've made a Second-Tier Vow (not as much energy put into it as a First-Tier Vow) to redouble my efforts and write more. After all, if one wants to become skilled at writing, one should...well, write.

Recently I became aware of Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert, whose book Stumbling on Happiness reveals some amazing research on what makes people happy.

Click on the book cover to go to the official website.

This is a book that I'm going to have to get, as soon as I can budget for it (money being tight right now). In the meantime, there's a video of a TEDtalks presentation ("The Surprising Science of Happiness") given by Dan Gilbert which apparently covers some of the material presented in the book. The clip can be viewed at either the TEDtalks site or on YouTube. Here's a link to the YouTube version:

Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness

One of the amazing results of research (a factoid?) presented by Gilbert in this lecture: people who won the lottery, and people who became paraplegic (lost the use of arms and/or legs) rate as psychologically equally happy with their lives one year after the event. In fact, on the bar graph Gilbert presents of the data, the paraplegic group is just a tick happier than the lottery winners!

Screencap from Dan Gilbert's TEDtalks presentation.

This is somehow stunning — yet not unexpected — to me. My spiritual tradition teaches that happiness is not dependent on external things like wealth or social standing or political power — or any particular situation or location. Happiness is a quality of mind and a way of reacting to the content of our mental processes. You cultivate happiness; it's not something that you find somewhere. But this little illustration from Dr. Gilbert brings home the point in stunning clarity. You probably thought, as I did, "Wow...if a severely disadvantaged person such as a paraplegic is happier with his or her life than I am, then something's wrong here."

An important point that I've heard several spiritual teachers/wise people from various cultures, religions or societies emphasize is that even happiness can be an impediment to your own mental health. Or more precisely, the craving for or clinging to happiness can paradoxically cause unhappiness if your quest for happiness doesn't succeed. Therefore, you need to create happiness in whatever situation or experience you happen to find yourself in, in the moment.

Paradoxically, for me to find happiness, I have to drop even the idea of happiness, and to settle back and find value in, and be grateful for, whatever I'm experiencing in this moment — pleasant, unpleasant, neutral.

Physican, meditator and Huffington Post contributor Mark Hyman touches on this in his essay, "Why Doing Nothing is the Key to Happiness:"

What matters most in life is the quality of our experience, the ability to be awake to what is real and true in our lives, for the difficult and the happy times, to be awake to each person we touch, to our own experience, to the moment we are in, to the simple, sweet, and alive gifts of a smile, a touch, a kind deed, the breeze on our skin, or a firefly flickering in the early summer night.

But that is harder than it sounds. Our monkey mind gets in the way. In order to pay attention we need to be quiet, to be practiced at stillness, to know the habits of our mind and be skilled at dancing with them, not to be controlled or dominated by them. To witness the thoughts and feelings we have without having them overwhelm, dominate, and control our lives.

So that is my task now, to paradoxically find happiness by not seeking it.

—Tony

Most Paradoxical Headline of the Week

Our Most Paradoxical Headline of the Week is brought to you by The Washington Post's website:

More than a dozen killed in riots as 'Day of Love' for prophet in Pakistan turn deadly
 

A Few Quotes Concerning Substance Abuse, Addiction and the Human Mind

“Drugs can bring about meaningful experiences, but the one who takes a drug has not made causes for such effects. He has just temporarily altered nature, like injecting a monkey with hormones that send him shooting up a tree to pick coconuts. Such experiences my be true but not good or good but not true, whereas the Dharma is always both good and true.” — Achaan Chah, A Still Forest Pool

* * * * *

“Between the stimulus and the response there is a space and in that space lies our freedom.” — Bob Stahl, PhD, from his GoogleTechTalks video presentation on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu5irWStNvA

* * * * *

“During the late 1970s and early 1980s, (Robin) Williams had an addiction to cocaine; he has stated that he has since quit. Williams was a close friend of and frequent partier alongside John Belushi. He says the death of his friend and the birth of his son prompted him to quit drugs: ‘Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped too.’” — from the Wikipedia entry on Robin Williams, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams

* * * * *

“Though one were to conquer a million men in battle, that man who conquers himself is the greater victor.” — The Dhammapada, verse 103

* * * * *

“The way of the vow: SAJJA

“The Pali word ‘sacca’ (usually spelt sajja and pronounced sat-cha) means a solemn declaration about the active fulfillment of a truth.

“According to Luangpor Charoen, (Abbot of Thamkrabok Monastery), the physical detox is only 5% of the Thamkrabok treatment. You must do the remaining 95% of the work in your mind and through your action.

“If you want to enter the drug-detox area and start with the purification of your body, you will have to go through the ceremony of SAJJA. The Sajja is a very essential element here in Thamkrabok. It might be the most serious and the most important thing you have done so far in your life.

“The Sajja looks like a vow. But it is far more than just a promise ‘to be a good guy’ or ‘a good girl’ from now on, having nothing to do anymore with consuming or promoting alcohol or other drugs.

“Sajja is a sacred act that, if you believe in it, will connect you with your will power and with something ‘beyond’. Something that is far more existential than the fight against the drugs! It connects you with a teaching. This teaching is not given in the form of intellectual lectures. But it will be there for you in any moment you really want it strongly enough and when you are ready for it.”

— from the website for Wat Thamkrabok, a legendary drug treatment center and Buddhist monastery in Thailand

The Kwik Kar Archives: The Neck from...PLANET X!!!

Wow...how time flies! Seems like it was just yesterday when Kwik Kar Scioness Debbie Lincoln's husband Mike had the neck operation (2003). And yes, that's a copy of Mike's actual neck X-Ray image we used in the ad. I swear that whatever the doctors put in poor Mike's neck looked exactly like a section of chain from an old Harley-Davidson. See for yourself:

Kwik Kar Lube & Tune is a registered service mark of Kwik Industries, Inc.

The Kwik Kar Archives: From the Flight Log of Dusty Brittain!

Let's take a look back to November 11, 2003 and see what Kwik Kar of Weatherford Technical Jargon Specialist Dusty Brittain was up to. Ah, yes...

Kwik Kar Lube & Tune is a registered service mark of Kwik Industries, Inc.

The Kwik Kar Archives: Debbie Injury Update

Please bear in mind that today's Kwik Kar of Weatherford Blast from the Past happened a decade ago. Debbie has since healed up just fine. Sadly, however, she's never ridden a horse since the accident. Instead, she now rides goats, because you don't fall nearly as far in the case of a spill. The horse was relatively uninjured, and went on to an illustrious career as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. So, without further ado...

Kwik Kar Lube & Tune is a registered service mark of Kwik Industries, Inc.

The Kwik Kar Archives: Irish Wolfhound to the Rescue!

Let's take a peek back in time — a little over a decade, to be exact. Dachshunds no longer rule the earth. It's the Age of Irish Wolfhounds. Read on...

Kwik Kar Lube & Tune is a registered service mark of Kwik Industries, Inc.

The Kwik Kar Archives: Miniature Golf!

Right up front, I'd like to briefly address a controversy which this ad touches on. Here, I call miniature golf the "silliest sport." However, I've had other folks swear up and down that curling is the silliest sport; while others are quite sure that egg tossing or gurning fits the bill. Despite my verbiage in the ad, I'm really neutral on what constitutes the silliest sport. But I have to admit that curling is just about the most bizarre competitive endeavor I've ever seen. I say "bizarre" here but what I really mean is that it's the most unusual, exotic, somewhat hypnotic, cryptic, fluid, graceful yet inscrutable sort of thing. What are these people doing? How do you score points? Do you even score points? Well, apparently there are enough folks who will gather and watch curling; just look at the viewer stats on this YouTube clip:

(Screencap)

Watch this clip at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpP30ADVTfA

126,935 people viewed this clip! Apparently, curling is Big Stuff in places I don't hang out in much. But, like I said, I do find it strangely hypnotic. Go watch this clip and pay attention to the guys with the 'brooms' (my terminology) who appear to sweep the ice ahead of the 'stone' (their terminology) as it glides down in a stately procession of stone and humans. What are those guy's positions called? What are they doing, exactly? It's most perplexing. I notice that 22 people out of 65 who bothered to express an opinion said they "dislike" this clip of curling. Those must be the Scottish folks. Sorry, Scotland. Better luck next season! Do they even have seasons in curling? Oh, well.

On to this week's Kwik Kar of Weatherford glance back in time, from 2004:

Kwik Kar Lube & Tune is a registered service mark of Kwik Industries, Inc.

The Kwik Kar Archives: Flu Season!

Today's Kwik Kar Blast from the Past first saw ink in March, 2005:

Kwik Kar Lube & Tune is a registered service mark of Kwik Industries, Inc.

The Call of the Small But Wild

I've noticed that a lot of folks in my area call them 'locusts', but it might be a bit less confusing to call them 'cicadas', which is their other common name.  You might be in a part of the world that doesn't have cicadas, so here's a photo of one:

Don't bother clicking, it doesn't get any bigger.

I'm used to hearing the word 'locust' used in reference to grasshoppers. I think that in the King James Version of the Bible, whenever locusts are discussed, the reference is to a grasshopper species native to the Mediterranean region and/or North Africa.

Anyway, if you've never lived in an area that has cicadas, you don't know what you're missing! Their pulsating, drumming, cycling song is such a familiar part of the sonic environment that to me it just doesn't feel like summer until I begin hearing them. I can understand why some folks might get annoyed with the racket they can throw up, but to me their plaintive attempts at communication are pure music.

Now, in nature no species exists in a vacuum, so to speak. In many parts of the United States, we have other species that feed on these big, juicy insects. One in particular has always struck awe in me, and that is the so-called 'cicada killer wasp' (Sphecius speciosus). These are huge wasps, whose main claim to fame is that they are able to catch, paralyze and haul cicadas in the air back to their nests.

Here's a photo of an Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp in the act of hauling a cicada. This photo was found at Wikipedia.com and is said to be in the public domain, but I'd like to give a public tip of the hat to Mr. Bill Buchanan of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for getting what must be a pretty rare look at the wasp at work.

 Photo courtesy Bill Buchanan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Public domain.

A brief search on the Interwebs indicates that there are two species found here in Texas, the Eastern and Western cicada killer; my local variety are the Eastern. I've been stomping around in the wild — with a camera — for decades, and I've never actually seen a wasp hauling a cicada like this, but I knew that they did this and have always hoped to see it one day. We've got several cicada killers now nesting in a city park just a couple of blocks from my home. I've starting doing morning walks in the park again for exercise, and almost ran into one this morning as she hovered around the dirt mound that marked the entrance to her burrow in the ground. She was not aggressive in the least, although she hovered close for a few seconds, checking me out. According to the Wikipedia article on these wasps, they'll generally not attack humans and will usually only sting if you attempt to handle one roughly or step on it with a bare foot. However, the sheer size of these creatures, and the fear of what that sting must feel like, has always caused a deeply conditioned urge to arise in my mind —the urge to flee at a rapid departure rate! Interestingly, the Wikipedia article relates that one person stung by a cicada killer has stated that the sting was little worse than a "pinprick." Somehow, I'm not completely buying that, but I'll try to remind myself of what this guy said next time a wasp the size of a small hummingbird is hovering next to my face!

So early this afternoon, on my way back home on foot from downtown, I passed by the city park, and just barely beyond the park I happened to glance down at the sidewalk and saw a wasp lying there dead. It was right next to Main Street, and appeared as though it might have been struck by a vehicle, although damage to the creature's exoskeleton was not immediately obvious. I walked past a ways, then turned back to pick it up, thinking "I'll photograph this guy and put in on the blog somewhere." As I approached what I thought was the location of the wasp on the sidewalk, I found that what I was now looking at was a cicada, lying there with no apparent damage whatsoever. Looking around, I soon spotted the wasp I had seen, just a few feet away. An idea formed in my mind about why I was finding these two large insects lying so close to each other and out of commission. I surmised that the wasp was hauling a freshly caught cicada across Main Street, heading back to its burrow with the meal, when hunter and prey were hit by a vehicle. It made perfect sense. I picked the cicada up and examined it closely. There was not the least sign of injury to the insect; it was just lying there. This made sense, because the wasp paralyzes the cicada with a venomous sting but doesn't kill it. The animal appears dead but is actually just immobilized and quite alive. The female wasp (the males are supposedly stingless...I'm not sure I'm buying that one, either) hauls the living but helpless cicada down her burrow, lays her eggs on it, and when the baby wasps hatch — voilà! Instant cicada meal! It's as fresh as fresh gets, and even more convenient than frozen! No microwave needed!

 I cautiously picked up the wasp by one wing. Not much damage to the body, but the other large wing was missing about a third of its length. I believe these insects have two sets of wings; if so, she also had a severely messed up small wing on that side as well. And she was dead as a doornail, poor girl.

Here's her death portrait:

Clicking on this photo won't get you anywhere, either.

She's shown larger than life in the photo, but notice how relatively massive her body proportions are compared to other wasps, like this guy:

 Public domain photo.

She's built for hauling heavy loads, I'd say. And here's a photo of her together with the (probable) cargo:

That's pretty impressive, to be flying with something that I'd estimate weighs three to four times what she does.

No wonder wasps give me nightmares! Images like the following in the media don't help, either:

'Wasp Woman' images are apparently now in the public domain.

"A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN BY DAY —A LUSTING QUEEN WASP BY NIGHT." Sounds like a girl I used to date. For a wasp-creature, she's kind of attractive and looks a lot like Susan Cabot from the neck up. Who's the guy? He doesn't look like he's having a fun date at all.

This image is in the public domain.

The good folks at aircraft engine builder Pratt & Whitney had an ad that ran in a 1952 edition of the Saturday Evening Post which featured this great illustration of a Wasp-Turbine hybrid. Interestingly, P&W had an engine series named 'Wasp' but they weren't jet engines as shown here. Thanks to fellow blogger PhilAreGo! Read his description here.

That's all. I've gotta buzz off to bed.