Butter and Bullets

"Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition a year, according to the National Rifle Association. In the past year, that figure has jumped to about 9 billion rounds," said NRA spokeswoman Vickie Cieplak (ref AP article posted 09/24/2009). Presumably due to the democrats now running DC. Oops, my bad. Of course, the lobbyists still run things. They're just licking more asses these days and fewer elephant tails.

I digress. That's a lotta freeking bullets!!

Some other interesting statistics: Only 1 in 4 Americans own guns. The total ownership is 200 million guns. That means the average gun owner owns 3 weapons. I suppose the good news is that on average only 5 bullets per gun are purchased each year. And only 30,000 of the 7-9 billion rounds kill another American each year. (ref FBI stats)

Chris Rock has a hilarious series of jokes based on the idea of charging $5000 per bullet. The comedy man maybe onto something. Our property taxes could be greatly reduced, the NRA'ers could keep their hand artillery and perhaps a few less deadly trigger pulls would occur.

Cider Time

One of nature's elixir's abounds this time of year and enjoyed by all creatures from the apple worm on up the food chain.

A time gone by.

A time when cows were Jerseys, tractors were cabless, bales were square, silos were tall, manure was spread, barns had stanchions, and corn was feed.

Drumsticks

This party is over, onto the next one.

Looking west from the Kitty Hawk dock.

Crap!

Lunch

Another example of the circle of life.

Remnants of Hurricane Bill

Warnings of overflow, erosion, rip tides and other fun stuff. But never happened. Damn!

Observations from the Banks

- sun screen really is a necessity. For the last 2 days I've shed more skin than an old Texas diamondback. But all in the interest of vitamin D enrichment.

- kids, waves and sand are a happy mix.

- holy hot and humid. Early am exercise is an instant sweat fest. I have no clue why some wait until the mid-day sun.

- check the auto airconditioner before arriving. It'll be working on heavy duty mode and extended overtime.

- I now understand and appreciate southern "slow."

- sand crabs can be herded by welsh corgis.

- a bevy of pelicans is one of nature's most elegant and responsive flying formations.

- I love the exhibitionists that parade the beach line, particularly those taut, bronzed Y'ers wearing nothing more than a handerchief and twin doilies.

- surf fishing appears to be an exercise of futility.

- sandpipers are extremely territorial - to other snadpipers.

- mens's trunk's are designed to hi-light hipbone while hiding kneecap. Quad pockets are apparently essential.

- spray on sunscreen is the new aerosol app. The missed spots become obvious 4 hours later.

- beach patrol with their 4 wheelers have to be the primo summer job ever.

- sun 365 days a year and nary a solar panel in sight.

- steady wind 365 days a year and only 2 small wind turbines in 60 miles of beach road.

- sand flies are mean and hungry for human ankles.

- evening misquitos are still meaner and hungry for any warm flesh.

- early morning surf is the ideal wake-me-up.

- ..................

Food on the Banks Again.

Bri's chicken enchiladas with guacamole and rice. That's a do it again!!

Food on the Banks.

Ash's chili lime burgers ruled. Another do it again!!

OBX

A little piece of heaven, of course, washed down with a locally brewed wheat beer!!

Sun, sand, crabs, scantily clad bronzed bods and of course mother nature's keep them honest ankle gnawing flies.

2 score minus 5

It's a milestone wedding anniversary - 35 years! A few notables:

- 2 well adjusted and educated daughters with gainful careers
- 4 states, 2 apartments, 2 trailers, 4 houses, 1 barn

- 3 dogs, 2 cats, 6 horses and 2 rabbits

- 12 autos, 1 dually, 1 horse trailer, 1 tractor, 3 lawn mowers

- 9 OBX's

- Nova Scotia, British Isles, Bermuda, 2 Vegas, 2 San Francisco, Key West, Toronto ...........
- 2 cross countries

- 3 Disney Lands, 2 Disney Worlds
- 3 businesses

- great inlaws

- 4 funerals

- 7 presidents

- 3 wars, numerous global surmishes
- 4 recessions

- birth of the PC, internet, cell phone, HDTV, GPS, CD/DVD, genone, digital camera, HIV, taser, email, facebook, linkedin, youtube, bottled water, lite beer, cholesterol, sun screen, mountain bike, organ transplant, running boom, mullet, rap, heavy metal rock, hip hop, string trimmer, trans fat, intermittent wipers, cruise control, pheromones, swine flu, lycra, gore-tex, snowboard, Idol, Saturday Night Live, reality TV, lasik.......
- death of the mimeograph, B&W TV, Caledonia Inc., Rockwell International, AMC, family farm, running boom, mullet, Elvis, Michael, George, Jackie, Lew, Austin, Earle, rotary phone, carburetor, American Band Stand, Dukes of Hazzard, Smokey..........

Looking forward to the next 2 score.

Garden gnomes and hanging pots

Uncle Rumpy is on the job.

Mommy and 2 yungins

This is the 3rd or 4th year running that we've had a doe with twins living on the 13 acres. They visit the apple tree between the house and barn almost daily.

Wheel Jockey Endures Suffering and Equipment Issues

Rode the 5th annual West County de Tour yesterday. 50 miles of Erie county's finest paved over cow lanes with 2 HC* categorized climbs. Had 5 things working against me from the start: 1) 40 lbs of fat over fitness weight; 2) had not ridden in a group in at least a year; 3) longest ride of the season so far was 25 miles; 4) there was a 15-25 mile south wind; and 5) a portion of my handlebars broke off during mile one. (It broke off at the bottom loop of the drop section where the clamp for the brake level attached to it. 5 years of salty sweat on aluminum is not a good combination.)

The handlebar thing was the issue that had me freaked. Of course, I could have abandoned and not done the ride as most rational folks would have elected. But in years past I've finished rides and even races on broken seat posts, flat tires, broken spokes, etc. I wasn't going to let a broken handlebar ruin 50 miles of pain, suffering and incessant headwinds. However, what freaked me was the nagging thought that the rest of the bars would break during one the descents off those HC climbs. We're talking about the total loss of control of 2 skinny wheels and nothing between my fat a**, rough pavement and rusty guardrail at over 40 mph!

Rode the first 30 off and on with a pack of 10-12 that kept dropping me and a couple of other chubbo's on the short stub climbs but waited at the tops for us. At the 30 there was a water stop but I left before the others knowing a long climb was ahead. Turned out they never caught me and I ended up riding the last 20 alone and actually felt pretty good. Well as good as any overaged, wrinkle butt, out of condition wheel jockey could feel.

HC = damn steep and long

Can we say cloud burst

Incentive!!

MFA graduate and her mom.

Don't you love smart, educated women!!

before and thereafter

Moved into condition in early 1990. Dirt driveway. Southern deco. The inside is classic inner city ghetto with a country tinge. All set on 13 creek bordered acres.

Current condition. Paved drive. Wraparound porch. Studio. 3 bay, 2 story detached garage. Horse barn. Board fenced pasture. Lush gardens. Full windowed 2 storied familyroom overlooking creek gorge.

Level 2 is a ferocious, short-legged anti-social canine that devours ankles just to hear the sweet music of human screams

It's unfortunate that a fringe of society makes it necessary to go out of one's way to protect one's property and assets. The neighbor's house was recently ransacked so action was needed. Here's level 1.

Level 3 is a barn cat with a haunting yawl that badgers and coy dogs quiver over.

Level 4 makes Dirty Harry look like a sunday school teacher!

sushi and chips

Danny W.'s sushi with a side of ruffled chips washed down with chilled promegranate juice makes for a killer weekend evening meal!!

Testosterone kills

A local event illustrates how testosterone kills and ruins lives. Local 22 yo male drives down city side street. Another local 30 yo yells to driver to slow down. Driver stops car and gets out. House male approaches driver. Driver pulls 357. House male attempts to disarm driver. House male shot and killed. Driver arrested and charged with murder. In less than 2 minutes 1 male dead, 2nd male will likely spend most of life in jail. There were at least 8 "fight or flight" decision points, split between them.

More back story. Driver male has 1/2 dozen citations for disorderly conduct and is a 2007 graduate of the criminal-justice program at a local college. This over juiced male might have become a law enforcer!! The 30 yo is an army vet. Bootcamp is nothing more than a juice enhancer.

Cause of deaths: OD'd on Testosterone.

Perhaps spring is finally here. A few encouraging signs. Sara's is open and people are using the outside tables. Creamland has a line of paying customers. Kit is staying out at night. I felt like washing the car. I took precious out for a spin. Baz's sheddings are everywhere. Didn't have to fire up the familyroom fire. Ran after work. Thinking about stepping onto the scales - NOT.

Jump Start

100 hp subcompact jumpstarts 2000 hp loco.

It's about f---ing time!

2nd sign of spring.

Here's a thought. Don't power eat 4 chocolate pinwheels within a half hour of a hilly 5 mile run!!

Stupid is What Stupid Does

Local cop gets youtubed. Vid shows him at local bar, under influence of alcohol making graphic fun of homocide victim and his mother when she id'd him. Cop is white. Victim family is black. The racial element should be irrelevant to the story but in our culture of political correctness the issue is further amplified.

Top cop asks internal affairs head to look into. (There are many options here and guess which one is taken!!)

Internal affairs dude and youtubed cop track down owner of computer that uploaded the vid (IP address tracking makes it tough to hide). Except that vid owner was brother who just flew back to Austrailia where he lives. Computer brother alleges intimidation by internal affairs dude and youtube cop and was told he would be prosecuted for illegal wire tapping unless the vid was pulled. District attorney says NOT. Cops apparently don't realize that even if the vid is pulled that once on the www always on the www.

How can it get worse - it does!!

Top cop defends internal affairs cop for trying to save the image of the department. Too late!!

Mayor defends top cop and internal affairs cop. The mayor should be the one with the elite political savvy. Apparently not.

Cop on leave with pay.

There's more stupid here than fleas on a dingo.

Sunset

An early spring Erie sunset off of Presque Ise.

143, 144, 145 and ..............

12 feet and counting !! The daffies were moaning "no mas, no mas."

Spring Time in Erie - NOT

Mother nature most certainly has it in for Erie or someone in Erie. I thinks it's me. Last Sat 60+F and sunny. Crocus's start to bloom. Daffies sprout. I actually did an hour of yard work ..... worked up a mild sweat. Carried the Adirondacks to the porch ..... without being asked. Today, 1 week later spitting snow. Stiff, cold northwest wind. Dark gloomy clouds.

It can only be punishment for my own brainless being. Why would any sane being stay put!?............. Perhaps the promise of the impending summer months that will abruptly arrive and lull one back into the grand illusion.

Piss Holes and Frozen Dumps

A sure sign of spring is the emergence of the bright yellow piss holes gleaming in the spring sunlight. Yellow daffies provide a natural garnish to their ominipresence.

Equally scattered about are the dog dumps. The fresh steam has long since merged with the atmosphere, except of course this morning's contribution.

It seems the snow fall record for Erie will not be broken this season. No snow in the forecast and temps are continually edging up. Still impressive season with an official 141.7 inches making it #4 on the all time list. Only one storm of 8 inches from primo. Lots of piles for the spring time pissholes.

Sunny Florida

Did the short week Florida trip. Two days down and two days back. Great weather south of Macon - 80's and clear skies.

A few notables:

- Traffic around Atlanta sucks and that's with 6 lanes.

- Did not see one solar panel in all of Florida. I believe it is called the sunshine state. So what's up with that?

- Looked for access to the Ocala National Forest. Eventually found one trailhead but took a couple of jaunts across RT 40. Why are they hiding it?

- First time on the panhandle. Some sections reminded us of the OBX. Other sections much quieter. And other sections - not.

- Old people all look the same: pot bellies, fat hairless calves, too much exposed chest hair, saggy asses, ...... and the old men don't look any better.

Some eatery notes:

- Chilli's in Princeton, WV met expectations with front stoop parking, good service, good selection of tap, iced beer mug, and good eats with nice blend of background music. No barf bag's.

- Ruth's StreakHouse in Destin, FL. This was a major mistake. I take full responsibility for not immediately turning around after seeing the signs stating valet parking only. The parking lot was nearly empty. The service was on the verge of overbearing. The waitress provided way too much family information and thinking we cared. They prouded themselves on the al carte portion sizes - like it's important the we get 2 heads of broccoli instead of one. The value meal choice was ok although the fillet mignon was cut for a small midget. Oh, almost forgot. They had a wine list 50 pages long but the only beer selection was Anheuser's usuals and we know why they keep them horses. Rating at a generous 4 barf bags.

- IHOP. Tough to argue with breakfast 24/7. Only 1 barf bag due to the sticky syrup containers. But the service was good and the cakes were fine dining.

- Perkins. Sevice was questionable with a late delivery of the cup of soup that should have been a bowl. The sandwich was mediocre at best. 2 1/2 barf bags.

- Grammie Beth's spagetti and meatballs. I got hand it to the old gal. She's still got it. Nuff said. Off scale greatness.

- OutBarf, aka, OutBack. Ok I never learn. I have yet to have eaten at an OutBarf and not woken up 6 hours later with heartburn that would knock a rhino to its knees. Happened again in Princeton, WV. Had the ribs which were good at the initial eating but delivered that 6 hour delay of gut wrenching regurgitation. 3 barf bags. It would have been 4 but the service was ok and the cold tap fosters is always good.

- Holiday Inn Express Continental Breakfast. I generally like the selections. Most have the rasin bran. Most have the scrambled eggs. Some have the cheese egg combo which needs to be rethought cause that cheese blows. Always got cold OJ. 1 barf bag for the keeping the cheese egg combo and in one case not having enough seating capacity.

Both sets of folks were good. The circle of life shows tiny hints that immaturity and pettiness may come full circle. Or perhaps it was always there.

Why not view the world with a half full mindset?

An olive still floats in a half-filled glass.

It's a well worn metaphor but still appropriate in describing one's outlook in life.

A turd by any other name is still a stinking turd.

A stinking pile of dog dump still stinks by any other name. Same goes for managed risked loans, packaged derivatives, underperforming assets and any other Ivy League B-school financing moniker given to "what the hell were you thinking." Anyone with a functioning brain could have seen the divergent trends of personal income and housing pricing. Personal income has remained relatively constant for many years. The only major change has been the 2 wage earner family during the last generation but that has been pretty much tapped out with 75% of the available spouses already in the workforce. Housing pricing has increased 5-10% for a decade. Duh. How could anyone think this could sustain itself even with clever loan packages. And now we have the current mess.

Bankers have become equal partners in society's sludge pool with lawyers and politicians. The crap pile just gets bigger and more pungent.

America's Least Favorite Past Time on Roids

A Rod does juice. Ho-hum. Pass the pretzels and mustard. Why do we care. We don't. Americas least favorite past time has less excitement than mid day shuffle board in the Villages. So why would a juice head risk raisin nuts and juice rage to smack a few more balls out of the park? Some illusion of greatness and a chance to boink Madonna. The later might happen but the former - who cares.

Reefer Madness in a Speedo

Michael got caught sniffing the feel good lettuce. Lost his pic on the Wheaties Box and the US swim team furloughed him for a short spell. Holy crickie. What's next Kermit caught sneaking a peak at Piggies silk undies!?!

Consciousness In a Pickle Jar

I was on that fine edge of a deep sleep and full consciousness when I had the darkest thought. I could hear the wind against the windows. Feel the cool air over my face. Sense my tingling toes against the blankets. Smell the week-old jeans and barely see the dim light through my still closed eyes. Then the thought hit me.

Is one form of hell a fully conscious brain without any direct sensory feedback? Lucid thoughts, desires, awareness but nary a sensory nerve in action. Holy damnation! No sight, feel, sound, smell, taste all the while the brain synapses firing away. To maintain a sense of sanity would the brain create its own imagined sensory feedback? Would its current memories provide the sense of surreal being?  Would new memories occur?

How do we know that this isn't already our current state?!?

Play safe my friends ;-)

last week of January in review

A few notable items:

- 129.5 inches of snow so far in Erie. Makes it the 5th snowest season on record!! Sure looks a record is in the making.

- Bankers have no clue and we're idiots for allowing them to rape the taxpayer. Handing out over 18B in bonuses to bank employees that were taxpayer bailed out is just plain stealing. The reason given is to hold onto the best and brightest. It's ironic that the best and brightest caused the mess in the first place. Quite frankly why aren't the management teams that were in place when they headed under all out of jobs and shunned? It's clear their greed is a major cause of the current global economic crisis the world world currently in.

- The message we're hearing from our new Commander-in-Chief is disappointing. To keep stating that it will get worse before it gets better offers scant hope for the folks that have become jobless, lost their homes, ..... It's no better than the press continuing to headline the massive layoffs, the failed banks and every other doom and gloom issue they can print about. I'm convinced much of the actual recession is a result of the 24/7 negative news causing everyone to panic and compounding the tight economy which is strongly driven by consumer confidence. Why is anyone surprised that consumer confidence is at historical lows when everything one hears is negative. A leader would calm the troops by giving them a sense of hope and guidance on the turnaround. The claim that it will get worse before it gets better is managing expectations of their leadership and providing a prophecy that will be fulfilled just by the fact that the leader had stated it.

- Today is SuperBowl Sunday. Should be an interesting game but I must remind everyone that it's just a game. A few million people will have a day of diversion from life's mundane but world peace and the cure for cancer won't be any closer.

Technology Trajectory

For you technicrats and humans that reap the technology benefits.

Technololgy trajectory is generally a powerlaw function that depicts the ever accelerating technical advances. To show this amazing trend here are some example trajectoties.

Human-to-Human commmuication:

- wall paintings
- messengers
- drums
- handscriped text
- printing press
- pony express
- telegraph
- telephone
- radio
- television
- internet
- email
- cell phones
- texting

Music
- human singing
- phonographs
- magnetic tape
- 8-Track
- Cassette tape
- CD
- flash memory
- internet
- smart phone

Engineering Computing
- abasus
- slide rule
- hand held calculater
- mainframe computer
- PC
- internet

Engineering Documents
- drawings
- 2D CAD
- 3D CAD
- PDM
- PLM
- Expert Systems
- Smart CAD

Medical Care
- herbal
- antibiotics
- scapel surgery
- drug age
- custom drug age
- genetic manipulation

Travel
- walking
- riding horses, camels.....
- canoe, boat
- bicyle
- rail, steamer
- auto
- airplane
- rocket ship
- airplane car

Weapons
- rock, stick
- fire
- spear, arrow
- shield, sword
- gunpower
- cannon
- bullet
- bomb
- nuclear
- biochemical
- laser
- computer virus

From the messenger to the telegraph over 10,000 years. From the telegraph to text messages roughly 150 years.

insurance culture

When and how did we become a society and culture of insurance!?!

Here's a listing of what most people have directly or indirectly:
- car
- home
- life
- health
- workman's comp
- disability
- unemployment
- medicare
- social security

The approximate cost in % of average wages: 50%!!!!!!!!!

If you factor in the cost to business for product/service liability then another few % need to be added.

The cost really is much higher than this. It supports and encourages a litigious society and a sense of entitlement. Both compound the need for more insurance and added cost for the same insurance. This will continue to spiral itself out control and be limited only when people can't feed themselves which is already happening with health care insurance.

Then there's the cost efficiency of the insurance coverage. Insurance companies whether it be Erie Insurance, uncle Sam or your state of residence all have paid people that administer the policies and programs. I'd guess that at least 50% of the oost of insurance is administrative cost. These organizations need to grow to survive so more insurance products are developed and sold.

Some of the big hitters are mandated by federal and state laws. Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, workman's comp, auto ...... Legislators meaning well but feedng the problem with high octane fuel.

The spiral continues unabated.

climate change

Global climate change? Of course. The mult-universe and all it's constituents are continually changing. The earth is nothing but a tiny speck in the universal spectrum but nontheless it continues to change along with the rest of the specks. But this change is occurring at the universal time scale of billions of years.

Closer to home and the human time scale of a millenia or two the revelant questions are whether climate change is occurring and whether humans have had an environmental impact on the 3rd rock from our sun. I'm personally not sure. However, there is sufficient evidence that the local Erie, PA climate is undergoing a short term change. Note the seasonal snowfall totals tallied below. 4 of the 10 snowest seasons have occurred in the last 8 years and we have had 90 inches so far during the 2008-09 season and it's only January 12th and it's currently snowing! Go back 20 years and 7 of the 10 snowest seasons have occurred. On the flip side all 10 of the least snowest seasons occurred between 1906 and 1948. Sure looks like a 100 year cycle to me.

......GREATEST.................................. LEAST
1. 149.1 .....2000-01 ------------------1. 19.6 ..........1932-33
2. 143.0.... 2002-03 ------------------2. 22.8 ..........1918-19
3. 142.8 ....1977-78 -------------------3. 30.4.......... 1931-32
4. 131.3..... 1993-91------------------ 4. 32.1........... 1905-06
5. 129.2..... 1995-96------------------ 5. 32.3.......... 1948-49
6. 124.9..... 1985-86------------------ 6. 35.2.......... 1906-07
7. 122.6..... 2004-05------------------ 7. 35.6......... 1936-37
8. 120.0.... 1970-71------------------- 8. 35.9......... 1928-29
9. 118.7..... 2007-08------------------ 9. 37.9.......... 1921-22
10. 115.9... 1963-64------------------ 10. 38.1........ 1941-42

Head Bangers Better Off Bonging

From the latest "No Shit Sherlock" files:

Metal Health: Head Banging Hurts
Head Bangers at Risk for Neck, Head Injury, Possibly Stroke

http://www.webmd.com/news/20081217/metal-health-head-banging-hurts

Two doctors paid to study why Ozzie Osborne mumbles and drools and brain sloshing may not be terribly healthy for juiced up fans! WTF! OK maybe Ozzie's brain has been through a bit more than concert stage head banging. But slamming one's brain around at a 2 hour concert with 110 dBA noise pounding the same brain has be like no shit it's gonna hurt in the morning!

an option for near eternity

Saw an interesting news magazine feature last night. There are some research groups that have developed the ability to relate brain scan patterns to what the subject is thinking. Apparently most, if not, all people have similar brain wave action when they think of a screwdriver. They can even deduce prior thoughts and future actions.

This in itself is not so shocking but it does bring to mind an option for life extensive beyond incrementalism that diet and good health can provide and even further extensions the holy grail of gene therapy could someday provide.

Here's the top level logic:

- peoples bodies naturally age and will continue to do so until gene and cell repair is doable which is just a matter of time but likely too far out for most of us to benefit from.

- the essence of a person is their memories, thought processes, intuition, reactions, behavior, mannerisms ...... perhaps the spiritual soul one hears about. In crude biological terms it's simply the synapse/neuron information contained in our gray matter. Much like the bits and bytes of a computer database and operating programs. The computer gets old but the programs and memory are in large part still functional, albeit with some file corruption sparsed here and there.

- it's conceivable to me that we are within a generation of being able to capture this information. It could be by brain scanning. It could be by decoding the cell-to-cell connections. It could be DNA deconstruction.....................

- once it's captured then a few options come to mind. Does the computer with the data become the person. Maybe, but doesn't sound like a fun life to me. Perhaps synthetic gray matter will be developed that can be built and/or programmed with the info and a robot body used as the host. Still sounds a bit cold.

- The most intriguing option is to clone a new version of the original person and reprogram their new brain. Kinda like loading the former operating system and databases to a new (and faster) computer. The cloning part is already possible.

- The further beauty of this process it that brain data could be periodically downloaded for any future retrieval. Again similar to daily or ongoing backup files. Multiple clones could be in waiting for use at anytime. No more fear of death for any reason. Backups are always available.

BTW. That file and memory corruption thing could also be taken care of through data freshening. Much like disk de-fragmentation and virus cleaners work.

Seem far fetched? Probably. However, if it should come to past in some form like this then a major downside would be the potential perpetuation of stupid!

2009

Some 2009 targets:

- 500
- 5000
- 165
- 100000
- 190
- 61

2008 revisited

2008 became the year of the dumbass. Some noteable examples:

- Subprime Lenders: Don't they teach financing 101 in ivy league b-schools? Walk into your local bank and slip a teller a note to hand over all her drawer cash and you'll go to jail. Issue millions of $ of high risk loans sending your multi-billion dollar financial serves company into bankruptcy and then collect hefty multi-million $ golden parachute for job well done.

- Detroit Auto: Capitialism created the industry. Socialism will try and save it. Dig out the corporate body bags - it just a matter of when.

- Opec and commodities speculators: The consumer woke up. Green is finally in vogue.

- Sports Un-Legends: the Rocket allegedly does juice, Mindy McCready and Congress; Burress Plaxico becomes spokesperson for the NRA; OJ = Karma. Money still can't buy a pennant.

- Politicians: Spitzer redefines hippocracy. McCain redefines out-of-touch. Palin redefines the low bar. Bush redefines regrets. Cheney redefines at any cost. Hillary redefines coat tails. Greenspan refines whoops. Joe the plumber redefines deafness.

2008 wasn't all about greed, political weakness and dumbasses. Some noteable postive standouts: Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Barack, Warren Buffet, 67 million voters who saw beyond, ...............

I(we) worked the hardest therefore I(we) deserve to.......

"get the promotion"; "win"; "get the girl"; "get into Harvard";..... Wrong, wrong and more wrong. Hard work does not guarantee success. Never has. Never will. Hard work is no doubt a potentially key element for achieving success but is by no means the only and is some times a detractor. Talent, luck, connections, political savvy, bribes, coercion, compromising pictures, drugs, strategic thinking and many more elements play a role in attaining success and are many times more relevant than hard work.

Putting in a lot of extra time at the office helps but if the time is not creating positive results then the time is wasted except for the show factor. BTW, the show factor does work with some bosses that appear to value effort over results. But why not put the extra time in but work smart the same time. That's a winning combination.

If hard work assured success then dirt farmers would all be wealthy and most stock brokers would be impoverished. Does the hardest working athlete always win the race? Almost never. Talent and genetics will win virtually every time. Do the hardest working students get the top grades and get into the best schools. Not always. Brains and/or having parents as heavy endowment donors are likely to be more important factors. Are lottery winners hard workers? As a whole, doubt it. Lucky maybe.

Should hard work be rewarded? In most cases yes. But end results are the true measure of ones efforts and, therefore, results are what should be rewarded beyond all else. So work hard AND smart, produce outstanding results and be rewarded.

human life to 1000 years and longer

Discovery Channel had an interesting segment on this weekend hosted by Michio Kaku a CCNY theoretical physicist. It was about cosmic time scales in general which documented the age of the earth at 4.5 billion years and the burnout of the sun at another 4.5 billion years. Meaning that the earth will have survived 9 billion years barring any unknown event lurking out in the vastness. For further reference the age of the universe is estimated at about 14 billion years - since the big bang and who knows what was going on before then. The point being that the human time scale is but a mere blip on the cosmic scale and likewise on the earth time scale.

Homo erectus has been around about 2 million years which seems like a long time but only a sneeze in the wind compared to the age of the earth. The average lifespan of people living in an industrialized country is just shy of 80 years. For other animals it seems that the smaller they are the shorter their life spans. For example mice only live 3-5 years. Dogs 8-15 years and so on. Their are some exceptions like the tortoise that can exceed 200 years. Interestingly animals larger than humans like horses and elephants only live 20-40 years or less than 1/2 of that of humans. Does our medical knowledge gain us a 50% advantage? Perhaps so, given that the average human lifespan just 50 years ago was less than 50 years and still is in the poorest areas of the world.

This last fact leads to the premise of the show. Apparently our cells are not meant to age. But they do because free radicals disrupt the DNA sequences and the cells no longer know what to do. If this damage could be delayed, reduced or perhaps even reversed lifespans could possibly have no limit.

Now the fun part. What if we could live to be a 1000 or more years old? First off, as mentioned this doesn't mean immortality. We could and would still die from accidents and other non aging events. But a potential life of over 10 times what is conceivable now is intriguing. Social and cultural institutions would change dramatically.

Some interesting questions: Would retirement exist? Does the human pair bond cycle every 20-30 years? Would we become more paranoid about accidental death? Would our impact on the earth become more urgent? BTW 1000 years represents about 30 generations so would the family structure alter? Family reunions would be huge. Would we continue to procreate for these 1000 years? If we could reverse aging, at what "equivalent" age would we select to spend 800-900 years? Imagine having the experience and presumed wisdom of a 200 year old in a 20 year old body?

What would life look like 500 years from now? Cars and autos have been around for less than 100 years. Computers less than 50 years. The internet less than 25 years. Ipods less than 2 years. What technologies are waiting for discovery?

Would genome customizing become available. If one lives 200 years as a 5'10" straight haired blond male could he have his genome changed to live the next 50 years as a 5' 5" curly haired brunette female? How about custom mutations. Once we understand how the DNA sequences work and the potentially ndless combinations that would be available could we purposedly mutate ourselves to any form and function. Recall a mouse genome is within 70-90% of the human genome. So mutating to some enhanced life form seems within reason, in perhaps a Frankenstein kind of way. Or why not be able to leap buildings with a single bound. Birds fly, why not a mutated human. The idea of X-men may not be so far fetched.

Sure would be fun to find out.

summer weekend late afternoons

I have gotten into a routine during the summers that is close to heaven on earth. At about 4 pm I don my cycling gear and head out for a 25 mile ride. The summer months in this mid atlantic state bordering a great lake to the north have late afternoon temperatures ranging from 70 to 85 and generally clear sunny skies. My route takes me over a rolling back country loop where traffic is thin and dogs too tired to chase. It's a tough route with several short out of the saddle power climbs and short 35 mph descents. I work up a good sweat and it gets the heart pumping.

For the last couple of years my exercise has pretty much dwindled down to the weekend days. The days of 300 mile weekly training logs with midweek and weekend races are likely over, although I always have that lingering thought of .........

The apres ride routine is just as relaxing. A 30 minute lounge in the front porch Adirondack chair guzzling a cold water bottle chatting with the woman over her retitement plans and deciding what we will do for dindin that evening.

It's now mid day Monday and I'm yearning for Saturday again.

a testimonial for Starbucks hot chocolate

I am more than happy to provide a postive testimonial for an outstanding product or service. Of course, I am also happy to provide a negative testimonial for a poor product or service.

Starbucks' hot chocolate is by far the best that I have come across. Wegman's is a close second and still on my favorite list but you have to make your own. The stuff they call hot chocolate at McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts shouldn't even be fed to your least favorite swine.

A venti sized Starbucks chocolate jo fires me up for 4 hours of jittery nerve am concentration and savory pallette wonderment.