Saturday's Situation

• A song that I'm going to say confidence is high I like and that you will not.
• Until recently I used to frequently bump into an ex who was still hung up on me or, to be more correct at least the evidence is there- she looked like she has been kicked in the guts when she saw me and her voice trembled when we spoke. She would look sad and have a hard time tearing herself away from me. 
• Good grief.
• We argue over the affect movies and other audio visual mediums have over people. The power movies and TV has over us is pervasive and nearly complete- in ways we can't even discern. We are absolutely wired for and to TV and movies. If you doubt the negative affect they can have on us how about all the times it has a positive effect- the times we will admit to being changed and altering our behaviors ?
• An old ER doc told me once. When there is a new movie or show that highlights some risky behavior I automatically brush up on treating the injuries that behavior might cause and prepare myself for seeing an increase in those injuries.
• At EDGEFEST 21 FG and I danced in the trash and vomit and I sang this to her with Hayley Williams backing me up. It was like a country song with more weed smoke and less river banks and four wheel drive trucks.
• Cheaper Than Dirt has new Goretex sleeping bag cover bivy sacks for 40 bucks- buy one. If you sleep outdoors at all it will be the 2 best 20 dollar bills you ever kissed goodbye. You slip it over your sleeping bag and it will keep wetness off your pretty face. It will act like a sheet early in the evening when it is warmer and in colder climes offer several more degrees of warmth. Shove 2 OK sleeping bags one into the other and then put those in the bivy cover and you will be good down to freezing and below depending on the rating of your bags.

Friday's Dispatch

• Of course everybody who is anybody knows Boxcar Willie but did you know he was a B 29 bomber pilot and a flight engineer on tankers in the Texas Air National Guard ?
• I got three chilrens and number foe on da way. I can't afford to feed dem on no minimum wages. Actual statement I heard made by a protester over minimum wages for fast food employees and I promise you- I am being kind and not wanting to make her look bad- she was much less well spoken and rambled on with a couple more lines just as damaging and yeah- comical. They want 15 bucks an hour- or more than a medical assistant will make after 9 months of expensive and intense classwork and dangerously close to an LVN after a year+ of school or a dental assistant after 8 to 12 months of school. They are if not crazy, oblivious and ignorant.
• My uncle was a US Steel worker in Gary Indiana. He took me and my dad around and showed us around the mill in the early 70s. We walked across the slag heaps where impurities off the steel would be dumped. Uncle told me about boys who stepped on not completely cooled areas and would pull their feet up after breaking through the crust and there would be nothing but bone- or nothing there at all. Their feet would be burned completely off. Omigosh- I just realized- he totally lied to me to keep me close to them and out of trouble. That old fart. Well, it worked, not only did I stay close, I kept them in front and judging as uncle was fatter than dad I walked perfectly in his footsteps.
• I loved him though. He was one of my heroes and both he and aunt Beulah indulged us kids.
• Perhaps, we should know the story of Gennie Polarski.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Hannelore Schmatz died on her descent from Everest's summit in  1979. She sat to rest on the way down and died in place. For years her body was along one of the routes and climbers would see her body in a sitting position leaning against her pack. They would comment on her eyes being open and the way her hair blew around. She eventually fell over as you see in the bottom picture and then was later blown away. Someday I will have a boat or ranch named Hannelore.
  
  

Thursday's Thoughts

• Cold War Kids- Something Is Not Right With Me.
• There is thankfully and surprisingly a stink being raised over our purchase of Russian Mi17 helicopters over our own Chinooks for Afghanistan. From why are we buying the $#%^@ things in the first place, to why Mi17s at inflated prices when Chinooks are better birds that create jobs here to about a thousand other questions- there is a rat in that woodpile somewhere.
• Last night (12/10/2013) I dreamed some real hot woman was dragging me around by a chain and I was crying- boo hoo sad boy crying. It seemed very real- if I didn't pull against the chain it would choke me down blacking me out and if I did pull against the chain it made more pressure against my knees, hips or buttocks and hurt.
• By fussing at my daughter the other night I made her cry. I felt like a monster.
• My morning ritual: Realize I'm alive. Wish I were dead. Say good morning to FG, smell her and ask about her night. Stagger by computer and slap the power button on the way past. Start coffee. Take medicine. Watch Good Mythical Morning. Wish I were rich so I didn't have to go to work. Go to work.
• The other day I saw a bathtub for sale that was carved from a single granite boulder that weighed 6,000 pounds. When I see something like that I think of something I bet maybe only two other weirdos would- where will that thing be in 500 years?
• There was just a story on about a ships cook who got trapped under an overturned vessel in an air pocket- for 3 days before his rescue. Wow.
• For the the gazillions of dollars they must have FOX And Friends news show production values can be low. They have some very clumsy transitions between segments. Their news ladies are always hot though, so there's that I suppose.
• Iran has recently announced it has successfully sent a monkey into space and returned it safely to terra firma so, making them only about 65 years behind the west in space flight and 1000 years behind otherwise.
• The revelation that Kidd had cancer was shocking but man, to my eyes he hadn't been looking good for a while and I made no effort to follow him other than being a pretty faithful listener and occasionally seeing promo shots on the web. With a show like that we wonder, Would a show with that cast minus Kidd have worked on its own from start-up? and Would the show make it without Kidd? Now we have to find out the answer to the second question.
• Day before yesterday (12/18/2013) I saw a woman try to cut off a guy on a motorcycle who was passing people on the shoulder to get to his exit. Crazy. Literally insane. She could have killed him over a stupid pissin' contest. If she had struck him I wouldn't have left the scene without seeing my name and contact info. on a police report.

Onion-y Goodness

WASHINGTON, DC—A National Weather Service advisory predicting that graphic blood storms will touch ground in the southern U.S. Wednesday is being met with numb resignation by weather-weary Americans.
Enlarge Image
Satellite image of the approaching storm of blood.
"Guess I should go buy some plastic tarps and cover up the house, or what remains of it," said Scott Huster of Waveland, MS, echoing the sentiments of a nation battered in recent months by a succession of violent hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornadoes.
According to the advisory, clouds of pure blood have congealed in the atmosphere above Port-au-Prince, Haiti and are heading north at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. NWS meteorologists predict that the unprecedented storm will splatter most of the Gulf states and West Coast by Friday.
"I suppose I'll have to cancel the barbecue," said Larry Milhouse of Kiln, MS.
Meteorologists are predicting an epic storm of biblical proportions, marked by bullet-velocity winds and flash blooding in low-lying areas. In the Great Lakes and New England states, blood may even coagulate and freeze into softball-sized clot-hail, shattering windows, damaging roofs, and triggering massive blockages on roads and highways.
"Blood-hail can't be any worse than the early thaw in spring," Vermont mother of four Stacey Boswell said. "Still, I'd better take the clothes off the line."
During a Monday night press conference, acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison recommended that citizens of the Southwest evacuate the area immediately, in order to avoid bile blizzards and packs of marauding wolves.
"We recommend that people stay indoors during the storms," Paulison said. "In addition to gale-force winds, the blood storms carry multiple forms of bacteria and disease, such as Hepatitis B."
Georgia resident James Treadwell had a characteristic response to the warnings.
"I'll just put on some extra-thick boots," Treadwell said. "I'll get an umbrella, and cover up my open cuts."
Naples, FL resident Kathy English said she is determined not to let the gruesome weather disrupt her everyday routine.
"I'm not that worried—at least the blood's supposed to be warm, unlike the sleet that got us last fall," said English, a dog-walker who does not expect a decline in her business during the storm. "Plus, it's only supposed to be a Category 3 blood storm."
According to NWS spokesperson Joe Colby, the worst blood storm conceivable is a Category 5 on the Saffir-Savini Meteorosanguinity Scale. In this type of storm, bubbling, boiling blood the consistency of corn syrup pours from the skies, scalding every exposed living thing and sparking fires.
Although FEMA officials have encouraged citizens to evacuate to Canada, many Americans have opted to wait it out.
"I've driven in the early-season blizzards for the past three weeks—how much worse can a little blood be?" said Indiana resident Clark Merrit. "I also worked in a slaughterhouse for 20 years, and trust me, you get used to the smell."

Wednesday's Digressions PM Edition

• Why country music was awful in 2013
• There is a brain dead child child in the news now who died after surgery as I understand it due to blood loss. The family wants to move the body to a facility that will maintain bodily functions for the decedent. Earlier I saw a headline with the child's picture, " Hospital refuses to operate on her. " Man, I don't even know where to start with that- they're stirring a pot of crap, instead of educating. They're being inflammatory at the very, very least.
• Black and tan are a favorite color combination although I have no favorite color.
• Six harsh truths that will make you a better person. Language warning but really- reading this and acting on it may change your life.
• Multiple times in my old apartment I would notice a way too new looking steam cleaner in the dumpster. There must be valves or pumps that get clogged easily so the owner chunks them. I restrained myself from diving in and snagging one to see  if I could fix it.
• Starbucks coffee is terrible and expensive and they sell millions of cups of it every day.
• It is the dead of winter in Texas and my children are playing outside in T shirts.
• Be careful what you wish for.
• I didn't know a big thing now is to say making fun of pajama boy is antisemitic- he looked ridiculous in that ad but it never occurred to me to think of him as Jewish.
• Last night (New Years eve 2013) I heard fireworks going off that sounded like grenades going off- literally. I sensed they were fairly far away but they still rattled the windows.

• 

  This is was probably my favorite pajama boy related meme.

  

  Although this was a strong second
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

I Love you, I Hate You

I can't live without you 

I breathe you 

I taste you

I can't live without you

Wedneday's Digressions

• Result of search for, 1957 Chevy burnout.
• At a patients house once I was stuck watching a marathon of those inside prison documentaries. Interestingly, I noted at least 2 slang phrases the prisoners used were misheard rap lyrics. Good grief. One was, shock collar which I know they misheard from a popular rap song by Lil Troy where he uses the term, "shot caller ".
• Ha, popular came out as poopular up there first.
• In 2009 a collector found a previously unknown picture of Phineas Gage. He thought it was of  a whaler and a harpoon.

  

  I was fascinated by the case of Phineas Gage as a boy and delighted in nursing school that he was discussed in multiple classes. I am really glad this portrait of him wasn't lost to us.

• Zac just referred to a start/stop game of Monopoly we've been playing as, The never ending game. I would guess we have about 6 hours invested at this point.
• I was the victim of  hostage taking malware where the computer locks and you can't get in without paying a fee. The only contact you can make is with the miscreants who own the software that takes over your machine. A programmer and bug specialist I know each tried to recover the machine and failed. It was nearly brand new and a total loss.
• If you became a part of couple with someone could you live in a house formerly inhabited by that person and their former spouse? Is it a purely inanimate object or are there ghosts of a sort that would affect you and maybe both of you too much? Could it matter some times and not others- would it just depend as we say?
• My microwave's underlight beeps when you turn it on or off- annoying. My guess is most of us can guess when a light comes on or off and does or does not do what we wish.
• Yesterday Iceland police killed a man- for the first time ever in the nation's history. Unusually to our senses I think, the police department expressed regret and offered condolences to his family.
• A headline earlier asked, " Are probiotics a sham? " Why yes, yes they are. After companies have made a gazillion dollars, resources have been wasted and millions have pinned their healthcare hopes and dreams on 21st century snake oil; thanks for asking and digging in there a little journalistic dudes and dudettes.

  

  I have mentioned before that beached/grounded ships intrigue me and always have. Here, Malika lies beached off the coast of Mauritania.

  

  I have never seen any interracial prawn but this makes me think of a title for an interracial skin flick.

  

  True Frankenberry.

  

  Breakfast yesterday morning consisted of this plus a large cran juice and 3 cups of coffee. I was good to hook for hours.