Sunday, June 29, 2008

Folow-up on Field Day

Well, it's over. Another Field Day done and put away. The setup takes as much as a whole day before start to get things into place. There are radio positions to determin and folding tables or picnic tables to locate and place. There the antennas to be strung between trees or poles, or where ever the ends of two wires can be attached. Then there is the power sources, usually portable generators, but sometimes batteries or solar panels. Generators need to be placed at a distance for safety and noise interference. Batteries and solar goes close to the radios. And then there's the food and cold drinks. Usually a BBQ is made up with pot-luck dishes brought, cakes and cookies and pies magically show up. Cold drinks - water and a variety of soft drinks - are iced down and set aside in large "Igloo" type coolers. A lot goes into this event. Yes, it's supposed to simulate an emergency, but since it's not, there's no need to be completely primitive.

At the end today, the take apart goes much faster. Most all of the food is gone, a few bottles of water are left, litter is picked up and disposed of, and all that's left is to take down antennas and disconnect radios. It goes much quicker than the set up.

One of the side benefits of participating in Field Day is the earning of points based on how many contacts are made. There is a weighted system of point earnings based on number of persons running a location, number of contacts per frequency used, distance of contact, and a couple of other ways to earn points. What does all this point earning get an individual or club. Nothing tangible, but bragging rights mean a lot to many of the participants. Being able to claim most points is a badge of honor. It lasts until next year, then everyone involved starts over.

However, some of the "Big Guns" always manage to get into the top rankings year after year. "Big Guns" are individuals or clubs who have extensive antennas, high power signal boosters, expensive radios, and a "go-for-the-throat" kind of attitude in making contacts. Some folks stay awake the whole time so they can stay on the radio. They eat sandwiches at the radio, take minimum potty breaks, and drink a lot of coffee. The two clubs I belong to are not Big Guns and have a relaxed attitude toward points. If they get points, fine. If not, oh-well, everyone had fun, and maybe learned something or polished their skills under less than perfect conditions.

So now we anticipate and plan for next year. We look over what went wrong and maybe how to prevent it next year. After all, this is a practice drill for a real emergency and things go wrong and ways to work around them are better found when it's not an emergency.

Well, I managed to stay out until about 01:00CDT. Late for me, but I got to both club locations and engage in a pleasant social intercourse with my fellow Hams. ._._.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Field Day

The annual amateur radio field day started at 13:00CDT this afternoon. It will run for 24 hours. During that time, many amateurs will make radio contacts with other amateurs world wide if conditions allow, in a simulation of an emergency. The idea is to see how well individuals and radio clubs can work without electrical power from the main grid, instead using batteries or portable generators, or even solar power. The antennas used are also set up as temporary devices. If there was an emergency in a local area amateurs can set up communications to areas unaffected and pass messages out and receive message back in assisting rescue efforts, law enforcement needs, first aid, and many other agencies providing support to citizens affected by the disaster.

Evidence of how effective amateurs are can be found in reports that came out of Katrina, the many on-going fires in California, floods in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and many, many other instances from the recent past and present. Amateurs have always been ready to assist their local communities in those desperate times. And now we are so much more dependent on computer operated systems of communications. From telephone companies and cell phones to law enforcement and local and state governments, all nearly grind to a halt when those systems fail. Amateurs with their radios and independent power can set up nearly anywhere and get vital info flowing to those needed agencies. And on top of all that, amateurs do it all for free.

So, I'm setting at home right now listening to the traffic on several frequencies. I have a couple of amateur radios since I'm a "Ham." My call sign is KD5MSW. Later today, I'll go out to one of the sites where a one of then clubs has set up and lend a hand at making contacts. I may wind up talking to someone in the next town, or across the state. If conditions are good, I may contact someone in Canada or Mexico, possibly somewhere in England or Europe.

When I go, I'll be sure to take plenty of water and bug spray. I'll stay late and try to stay awake while folks talk across the world all night. Time to grab a bit to eat and get ready. C U on the airwaves.

. _ . _ .

Friday, June 27, 2008

Jesus and the Dinosaurs


OK, so I'm out there in the net casting around for odd and unusual stuff. Here's what I found. Before I go any further, I want you to know that I tried to research it, a little anyhow, and this was found here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/bar-art/414998399/. Also take a look at http://logopolis.typepad.com/logopolis/2008/06/beginners-bible-coloring-book.html and PopRelics.com has a reference. Now, it seems to me to be a faked job of slamming religion, but with some of the fringe religionists out there...


Go to the flickr site and look at the picture and read the accompanying text. If this is real (the coloring book and the text) from someones church or group, it is the most veil and heinous of perversions of misinformation. I would think, and hope, that even the most serious of religious people would not accept this as "gospel." Surely the honest adult with at least a high school level of education would know that even by Creationists time lines for the world, that Jesus and dinosaurs did not co-exist. If Jesus did ride dinos, it would have been such a miracle that it would have appeared in several of the New Testament writings.


No, this is utterly laughable if it's intended to be a put-on. Not because of the comic content, but rather because of fact that some people might believe this. At the same time this is a most damnable piece of work for the fact that someone really might believe this. The ignorant among us will grasp onto any clap-trap put out by "religious" people. Note: "religious" people is meant to describe fringe people, money and power grubbers, flim-flam, itinerant, tent revival, ... descriptive words fail me.

This cartoon does bring out a couple of question. Let's suppose Jesus did ride some sort of dino. The type in the cartoon is some variety of raptor, presumably with a nasty habit of eating anything that moved. So, in order to effect control of such a beast, did Jesus use spurs? How about a saddle? If a saddle, was it a riding or roping saddle? Was it a fancy saddle or a rough and worn working saddle? Would he need to wear chaps? How about riding, or dogging boots? Could he break these critters to become working dinos? Oh, the questions abound, and no answers are forth coming.

Enough foolishness. I'm off to bed, perchance to dream of Jesus throwing a leg and riding out of the coral to round up some stray iguanodons. C U later.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

History Channel = Hot Air

Last night I was watching TV and a program on the History Channel came on. It was trying to present the argument that the Bermuda Triangle and a small Black Hole are the same. I watched for a short while and realised that the program was some of the wildest, unproven, unscientific, clap-trap I had ever seen. They showed a man who had made a "magnetic anomaly" detector who then went out on a boat into the Bermuda Triangle to look for those anomalies. Sure enough, his device went off. Now the appearance of the device looked like something a middle-school teen would put together from Radio Shack supplies. It was hokie with painted on, diminishing sized circles spiraling out from the top of it in a crop circle sort of way. It was at that point that I cut away to watch something more based on reality, like wrestling (no, I didn't really watch wrestling).

I've noticed that the History Channel is showing more programs that are fringe-thinking. It's bad enough that they have resorted to ghosts and spirits and those who would find them with night vision devices. But, there should be some standard for a channel presenting historical fact and recreations of historical events. For them to jump off the deep end like this is disgusting.

If this sort of TV programing continues from them - and it probably will - I'll resort to watching Sponge Bob cartoons. At least that is openly foolish and not pretending to be based on reality. Just my cut on this. C U later.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Hydrogen = Hot Air?

My son stopped by earlier today, and we got into a discussion on fuel prices, gas, alternative energy sources, and it included a lot of BS. Not from me certainly, but...

He mentioned how he had seen a piece on TV about a guy who has developed a means of extracting hydrogen from water in amounts plentiful enough to supplement gasoline and thereby improving mileage from 10% all the way up to 100%. Big claims, that.

So, as is my way, I dived into the net to see what was out there. As it turns out, there are many varieties of hydro supplement out there. Most use an electrolysis method and then combining the resultant gases (hydrogen and oxygen) into the intake side of the engine to assist gasoline or diesel burn more cleanly and efficiently. Claims and proofs vary from lots of claims and no proofs, to modest claims and supposed proofs based on their testing.

I'm far from an expert and in fact in this case I can't even spell "expert" in connection with my name. But,... Many of the claims seem improbable to impossible. One thought that comes to my mind is, if these devices are so good, why aren't big name companies making and selling them? Why aren't some big "aftermarket" auto parts company testing and building these things. If the devices are so good, why aren't the auto manufactures putting them on the cars and trucks. Don't jump up and speak "that" word. Yeah, you know the word, "Conspiracy." If all this hydrogen stuff is so easy, why hasn't it been used years ago. Electrolysis has been known for a long time. In fact, it was discovered shortly after water and electricity were discovered. OK, maybe that was an exaggeration.

I'm just thinking a lot of this is flim-flam. People who rush out to buy this stuff are probably throwing their money away. Time will tell. When a reputable company comes out with the units for retrofit to existing cars and trucks, then I'll believe it.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Perry O. Dollia

Pareidolia, the trick the mind plays on one that allows one to see faces or objects in things like clouds, stains on walls, etc. Many people see religious oriented pareidolia - the face of Mary, or the Christian Cross, or something that those people interpret as a sign from God. The ability to see pareidolia is common because the mind tries to fit unrecognisable or random visual stimuli into recognisable objects. Having a modicum of imagination helps too.


Well, the BA, Dr. Phil Plait, is an astronomer and widely spoke/written debunker of bad science and the edge of sanity thinkers. He has a web site: http://www.badastronomy.com/ where he has written several pieces on pareidolia. He has shown several examples of pareidolia.


I like to cruse the Internet for the odd and unusual. There is more than enough of it out there in web-land. So, this morning I was out in the net and found this cartoon. It is a spoof on the whole concept of religious pareidola and well stated. Herewith I stick it in the blog.



















If you are offended by this, I suggest that you think about how Jesus would show his care for the world. It is unlikely that a grilled cheese, or a stain, or an oddly shapened plant, or any other unusual visual appearance would be the Blessed Virgin, or Jesus, or any message from God. More likely, you allow your mind to deceive you with improper recognition rather than seeing what it is in fact. Critical thinking is necessary in this life. Think people, think!

I need to make appoligies to all the readers. You see I used the cartoon thinking it was in public domain. It is not. The cartoon comes from the "Saturday Morning Breakfast Ceral" found at: http://www.smbc-comics.com/ It was my mistake to use another author's work without citing it and giving credit. I'll try to not let that happen again. And a thanks go to "josh" for pointing that out.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Recant

OK, so I've pulled your leg long enough. The world IS NOT shrinking. The world is of finite size. What happens is the Mid-Atlantic trench is spreading (as are some other smaller spreading trenches). The pace is in step with all the subduction going on. There are other subduction zones in addition to the Asian area. The reason there are not a lot of earthquakes is the spreading is a form of oozing that is slow and smooth for the most part. Imagine over filling a slice of bread with peanut butter and folding it over then squeezing it. The peanut butter oozes out at the edges. Notice it's a slow ooze. Notice also there was no peanut/bread quake while it oozed?

So, the earth is not shrinking. Good news, that. We are crowded as it is. If we don't stop over populating the world there will be no room anyway. We don't need "The Incredible Shrinking World" (a spoof on the titles of "50s-'60s scifi movies). Let's all take a deep breath and relax.

Shrinking World

Ok, I've noticed something. The world is shrinking. How do I know? I mentioned it in an earlier blog, about checking on earthquakes from this site: http://www.iris.edu/seismon/ a couple of times a day. The site shows where earthquakes 4.0 and bigger occur. The most active area is the Asian side of the "Ring of Fire." The name "Ring of Fire" comes from, in part, the earthquakes. Earthquakes also accompany volcanos, which produces the "fire" in the name.

Anyway, to get back to the shrinking. When you look at the display almost all of the earthquakes are on the Asian side. This is due to subduction. You know, where one tectonic plate is sliding under another plate. Well, when the one slides under the other, it melts and over time becomes magma. Some of it, very little of it, comes back up as volcanic spew. The rest just stays down sorta like those spicy BBQ ribs you ate and are now rumbling around in your belly.

Now, think about this. If one plate is sliding under another, and not coming back up, the world must be getting smaller. "Oh!", you say, "What about the Mid-Atlantic trench?" Well, there are almost no earthquakes from that area. Just think about this for a moment... If the trench is spreading, shouldn't there be earthquakes as the world splits open along the trench? You bet! But, NO! No such earthquakes are happening. Therefore, the world is shrinking. Someday in the far,far future, Japan will be an island just off the West Coast. Sorta like Catalina is now. People will take day trips to Japan for the Saki and sushi.

I can't wait.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

What was I going to write...

I had a really good blog in mind and by the time I got logged in, it had disappeared. Well, like the subheading reads, rambles, may not make sense...

If I remember it later, I'll come back and post.

HELP ME! I'M MELTING!

Global warming or not, South Texas can be very hot in the summer. Not as hot as Phoenix, but hot enough to keep me inside. Retired folks like me don't have to go out like poor working stiffs. Went out this mid-morning to do some chasing around - pricing new seat cover for my car, getting some new shirts, car wash, buying lotto tickets - and got back home before it really heated up. Now, at 20:48 Coordinated Universal Time (15:48CDT - 3:48PM) I'm sitting at my computer SWLing. Mid afternoons are a bitch for the lower freqs. A lot of man-made static from power lines, appliances, TVs, other computers - mine as well, and just general noise on the bands. Still, if one tunes around, one can almost always get Evangelical rants from well meaning, but greatly misled individuals who, I suspect really want our money and don't care about our souls.

One of the things I do about once a week on the sjortwave receiver is check with the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Time) time check to see how far off my computer and wrist watch have drifted. The computer has a NIST program that will update the internal clock at a key stroke. The wrist watch must be set manually. I find my watch, a SEIKO, "Railroad Approved" model will drift off about one (1) second a month. Damn and Blast! Why can't I find a watch, at a reasonable price, with better time keeping abilities than that. There are many things in life that upset me, one is a watch that won't keep accurate time. Still, this is the best watch I've had for keeping time, I just wish it were better.

Here's a tip. Next time you are out, buy a bottle of "SoBe" soft drink in the Pina Collida flavor. Don't drink it all, save some for when you get home and pour some Rum, or Vodka, or whatever into the remaining portion. Not bad for home made.

OK, so that's it for now. C U later.

Friday, June 13, 2008

At the end of the day...

Coming up on 10pm CDT and news time. Spent the day child sitting my two younger granddaughters. Then went to a Japan Steak House for hot meal. Hot in the sense that the temp was up because of sitting next to a hot griddle. The wasabi was hot too. Good meal fixed by an Hispanic young man claiming to be from Syracuse, NY. Claimed he was Oriental, but no. He didn't sound like he was from NY either. Still, a good meal.

Tomorrow the daughter and the girls and husband take off for Disney World for the week. That means no child sitting. More time to run the "net."

Things happening all over. Big quake in Honshu, Japan (6.5), Celtics won last night, Mars dirt in the oven, the arrow of time presses forward, but may have not always done so. Pineapple based wine is tasty, chilled. Will sleep in tomorrow, maybe as late as 7am or even 7:30am.

News comes on in a minute. C U later.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Entanglement and Quantum Mechanics

A discussion over at http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/covers the concept of entangled quantum states. The effect is that if one photon of a pair of matched photons has a particular state (+ in our case), then the other half of the matched pair would also be a +. Now if they are separated by a great distance and the first one changes it's state to a - (minus sign) the other also changes to a - sign instantaneously. In other words they seem to communicate their state in spite of being separated at such long distances as to be invisible to each other. We're talking about astronomical distances out to the very edge of the universe. So then the idea comes up that because they know their state, and change together while being separated, they could be used to send coherent information. Now, because there is probability concerns involved, only the sender and receiver of the message would know by prearrangement how to read the message. See, you start out by sending the + and - states of the photons in a digital string. But to someone intercepting the message, they'd have to know what basic coding string was being used to decode the message. At this point the explanation of coded messaging goes off into another whole area of encryption theory and really doesn't have anything to do with the entanglement concept except that entanglement could be used to send encrypted messages. A message "in the clear" could also be sent without having to use any tricky encryption.

One idea that comes to mind for entangled messaging is to use it in computers. If you build a computer with entangled photons or any entangled pair of subatomic parts and change one of the pair, you change the other one. This would cut down on the time it takes to compute. One of the things slowing computers down is the physical length electrons have to travel to send computed + and - (1 or 0) in a digital string. Designers try to get around this by packing more and more CPU elements together in smaller pieces. There is a limit on manufactures' abilities to make things smaller. And we seem to be at about the limit with present ingredients and manufacturing techniques. So developing entangled states would speed things up and allow a tighter packing of computing circuits.

I have to stop now because things are not making much sense to me and I know it ain't making any sense to you either. So, I leave it at that.

Monday, June 9, 2008

The Day...

Spent the day at my daughter and son-in-law's house child-sitting. The two little girls are out of school now and both parents work so grandma and I go over and hang out until the adults come home. The girls are easy to sit with, they are quiet, play video games, watch TV or swim in the backyard pool. Can't let them stay in the pool too long as they would turn into swiveled, sun-burned prunes.

So, I was away from the computer all day. Oh, I could have taken my laptop and gone on-line through their wifi, but I took a book instead. Reading "Empire from Ashes" by David Weber. It's classic SciFi. Lot's of action, technology, human interest, good guys against bad guys...
All that you could ask for in a SciFi story. And Not one bit of Fantasy. Fantasy is a humbug.

Anyway, because of the child-sitting, I'll be away from the computer a lot during the days - maybe three or four week days a week - so blogging will have to wait until the evening. Since this shows up on the site, it must be evening. Yep! C U later.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Sunday Afternoon Blog

I've been watching earthquakes around the world for some time. I go to a web site (http://www.iris.edu/seismon/) which shows events in near real time. Since the original quake in China back on May 12th, there has been large aftershocks measuring at least 4.0 every day in the immediate area of the original shock. The people in the area must be in a continual state of fear that another large shock will hit and undo all the recovery going on.

I've also noticed that the government seems to be responding to the needs on the people in building temporary housing, and very quickly, if news stories are to be believed. It may not be fair to compare them to our FEMA, but their response seems to be at least as quick and possibly better organized than FEMA. The advantage they have over us is there is only one government to provide the aid. We on the other hand, have several layers of government to wade through to get the aid to the people. If government agencies from local to state to federal are not in line politically, slowdown is inevitable. In China any local resistance is overcome by the central government with threats of severe, individual action against the resister. Here, we have to play patty-cake with everyone to get things done. Even within the Fed there is bickering and back-biting for favorable position. While we may have a slower to respond government, I much prefer it to the oppressive central, single government in China.

Still, ya gotta feel of the people in the devastated area, and wonder when the aftershocks will stop. Brings an interesting question to mind. How long after an original quake are additional shocks considered aftershocks and not a new "original" quake. The answer is probably out there on the net, and I may look it up later. We'll see...

Saturday, June 7, 2008

The LHC

Right now, 23:00 CDT, Saturday night, Discovery / Science Channel is showing a program on the LHC and giving lots of background info on how and why the things learned from the LHC will be important. It's speaking of the macroverse and the microverse. We will learn about the observable edge of the universe, at something like 13 billion light years. So far back that the early galaxies don't look as they do now. They're ill formed blobs rather than neat spirals and ellipticals. Later in the program we learn the LHC may help us see even further back toward the singular event, or the "Big Bang." How? The LHC will smash protons together at near-light speed velocities and with greater energy than has ever been produced before. Energies approaching what may have existed at the bang, or billionths of a second after the expansion began. It may be that we are one side of a multiverse that snaps back and forth We will go from a low, nearly zero entropy state at the start of the universe to a high, nearly smooth entropy state when the universe burns out and all the energy is evenly distributed across the entire space/time. Just guessing here, but then it may snap to the other side of an imaginary membrane and produce another singularity.

When you read this, if you know anything about this, you may think I know what I'm talking about. Nope, not even. But, I read a lot and watch Discovery/Science Channel a lot and I have a small understanding of what is going on in the research of these questions of origin. Pardon me now, but I'm gonna concentrate on the program.

The Afternoon...

Well, got two coats of paint on the front door and had rain showers all around, but not on the house - yet. Tomorrow, I'll go with one more coat of paint. The new paint is supposed to cover any color in two coats, but I guess my door was more powerful. The sunflower orange color I had on it shined right through on first coat and is still giving a tint to the new paint. So, one more coat in the morning. And, I didn't get paint all over me or the surrounding structure. Well, not too much.

So in awhile I shower and maybe take Grandma (wife) out for a drink. Sonic has good, flavor-added drinks, or maybe to Barnes & Nobles with the attached Starbucks. A cold, chocolate-ty, coffee drink would go down. Maybe more later...

Painting

Saturday morning and time to paint the front door. Weather forecast keeps trying to put rain - much needed rain - in the offing. If I sit on my arse and do not paint, it will not rain. If I paint, it will help bring rain. I'm torn between the two options. I need to paint the door as I mentioned in an earlier blog. And we certainly need the rain. We are now in the 6th worse drought in this part of Texas as counted from the start of '08. We had little rain in the fall season of '07 so the drought is compounded. On the other hand, if I paint and it rains, the yard will get much needed refreshment and the grass will grow. The lawn will green up and look nice and the wife will quit going on about watering the lawn. I just can't see wasting water on the lawn when we will be going into water rationing if the drought doesn't break. Plus, if the grass grows, it will need cutting. Guess who cuts the grass? OK, so the yard isn't very large. I can cut it in about 20 minutes, including edging and sweeping grass clippings off the sidewalk. The point here is my having to cut the grass. Waaaaaay back when I was a kid we had an old roter-bladed, push mower - the kind where the blades spin as a direct result of pushing the mower forward. Human power was what made it go and cut. I was the designated beast of burden to cut grass as a kid. As a result, I have a long abiding loathing of grass cutting. Oh, to be filthy rich and have yard people come in to tend that chore. I'd just as soon not have it rain so the grass will not grow. Wife thinks that's a horrible reason to extend a drought. Maybe so...

Well, it's coming up on 10AM, so I gues it's time to get up. Have to wash the door first. While that's drying, I'll find the paint pan and roller. I think I know where I left it. Hope everyone is happy with the new paint when it's finished. Catch ya later.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Digging Dirt

The Phoenix has a scoop-full of dirt and who knows what else ready to go into the oven. Hope they discover everything they think may be there, especially water. Salt may be involved in the dig too. Salt should be a common mineral found widely across the Universe. The trick is finding it in high concentrations like in dried up lake/ocean beds. That kind of find would argue strongly for liquid water in the surface at some time in the near to very distant past. It also might be an indicator of life not dissimilar to life in our oceans.

It would be neat to find gases cooking out of the dirt that only could come from life processes. Asking for to much maybe not, dreamers are good at dreaming. I'm one of the dreamers.

While all this robot exploration is good, if we had people on the surface they might find something overlooked by a machine. They would have considerable higher degree of independent action and ability to take advantage of serendipity. Imagine that the scoop on the Phoenix makes a few scrapes on the ground, uncovers a large rock and can scoop no more. Now imagine the human doing the same thing. What is the most likely action of the human. Scratch the rock loose to see what's under it. Maybe a fossil. Machine wouldn't know squat about that, but a human would. We need humans involved as quickly as possible in exploration anywhere we go. Machines are fine for first dig, so to speak, but humans have the brains and discretion to "go with the flow."

Politics and other bad words

Got back from a few chores. So, I looked in on the Bad Astronomy Blog ( go here: http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/) which I do several times a day. He is prolific in his writings and his topic coverage. The most recent blog from him spoke of polls and election outcomes. I, like many others leave replies. It's almost a compulsion to reply. Most often the reply is directed to him, but sometimes it is in response to others' replies.

I know I usually have time to sit in front of my computer and cast about for things Internet-ish because I'm retired. BA on the other hand, spends a lot of time in front of his computer and I wonder what he does for a living. Oh, I know he's an astronomer, but you can't do much research, or teaching to classes, or working with other of his learned peers while writing blogs and occasionally responding to them. Perhaps his wife has a well paying employment position and supports his endeavors. In any case - good work if you can get it.

Now, about the politics. He involves us all, bloggers and repliers, in his scientific knowledge as well as his political opinions. I don't always agree with him. In fact, he and I are at odds on many issues. That may be due to me being a curmudgeon while he's a young man of world travelled status. My hat's off to Dr. Phil Plait.

Guess I didn't have much to say about politics after all. Oh well...

Getting busy...

Gotta get up and go chase chores. We live in an HOA (home owners association) directed development. The original colors on the houses and trim must be maintained. Well, I painted the front door a different color. The HOA hasn't come in the night with burning torches and chants of, "Burn the Monster," but they've let me know I need to repaint the door. I'll try to get the color close. The builder used paint from who-knows-where and finding the exact same shade/color will be difficult.

Still, it must be done, if for no other reason than domestic tranquility. While I'm out I guess I'll go by the drivers license office and get renewed. And the car needs washing (something else I'm not allowed to do in front of my house), and probably should stop and get a few groceries.

I'll tell you, being a "Gentleman of Leisure" sure keeps me busy. Be back for more drivel later.

New at this...

Well, I'm new at this and I'll see how it goes. If you don't like what you read here, move on. I'll delete anything I chose, especially vitriolic, profane, obscene language or referents to same. Persons will not be attacked in character, politics, sex, religion or knowledge. That'll get deleted also. Ideas will stand as long as the idea is framed in acceptable words and language. BTW, I will not tolerate the use of texting shortcuts and abbreviations. And if I see them here, I'll cut them out and LMAF while doing it.