SUPERBOWL FORTY-EIGHT

FOOTBALL FAN (A foreigner):

Sc-use me?

Where's your super bull playing?

FOOTBALL FAN (An American):

No bull.

And it's called the Super Bowl.

FOOTBALL FAN (A foreigner):

I know.

The Super Bull.

FOOTBALL FAN (An American):

BOWL...B...O...W...L.

Not BULL...B...U...L...L.

FOOTBALL FAN (A foreigner):

Oh.

No bull...just bowl.

FOOTBALL FAN (An American):

That's right.

No bull.

FOOTBALL FAN (A foreigner):

(Still confused)

No bull?

So what animal will be in the bowl?

FOOTBALL FAN (An American):

Seagulls and horses!

The big day is here:

The Super Bowl.

Today’s gladiators will fight (not to the death), but to the tunes of colliding tendons and bones, and the abundant rattling of mantled craniums.

Why do so many of us love to watch football?

We certainly don’t watch because we want to see these gladiators get injured.

Getting hurt just comes with the territory.

Maybe women tune in to watch the padded and unpadded areas of the players:

“Ooh, nice butt.  Wow, look at those legs!”

Commentators should talk less.

I miss John Madden.

He didn’t go on and on about statistics, but stayed focused on the live action, and gave humorous and concise one-liners.

I like the finesse of the running and passing.

The one hand catches by receivers!

The flying vaults to get touchdowns and first downs!

Perhaps forgotten and not given enough credit are the actions of the linemen.

The sounds of the tumult which emanate from their grunts, groans, and growls should be amplified to force spectators to appreciate their arduous labors.

If getting there is half the fun, then arriving is the pinnacle of the spectacle.

Touchdown!

And then the roars---not of lions---but of spectators who are watching the lion hearts!

Everyone enjoy!

 

IT’S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

  

JUST A SECOND

The time is always, and the place is everywhere.

Dean Koontz

Space and time, time and space.

We all live in space.

We all pass our time in space.

The earth is in outer space.

Where is time?

Sometimes we are not aware of space as much as we are of the time that we spend or occupy in that space.

We have heard or said, “Don't space out” or “You're spacing out!”.

The presence of drugs is not a prerequisite for this imperative.

But we don't usually hear or say, “Don't time out.”

Well, I suppose in sports it might be said.

We might occasionally hear or say, “Give me some time” and “Give me some space.”

We might have had a timeless experience, but never a space-less one.

We might say that we had the time of our lives, but we wouldn't say that we had the space of our lives.

Unless it was a parking space.

We say time is money, but we don't say space is money.

We sometimes run out of time, but do we ever run out of space ?

Maybe we do when we're putting clothes in the closet, food in the fridge, or people in a car.

What is a space-time continuum?

I'll look it up.

Wikipedia says:

Spacetime

In physics, spacetime (also space–time, space time or space–time continuum) is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single interwoven continuum. The spacetime of our universe is usually interpreted from a Euclidean space perspective, which regards space as consisting of three dimensions, and time as consisting of one dimension (often termed Minkowski space or the fourth dimension). By combining space and time into a single manifold, physicists have significantly simplified a large number of physical theories, as well as described in a more uniform way the workings of the universe at both the supergalactic and subatomic levels.

Time is very important when we have to be somewhere, when we have to be on time.

When we aren't working, we pass away the time--- we let time slip by---and we don't pay as much attention to the time as when we are working.

We don't pay too much attention to space when we are working.

We ask “What time is it?”, not “Where am I? or “What space am I in?”

In our free time we do pay more attention to space; that is, where we are, and where we want to go.

All of these ruminations have little to do with the reason why I wrote this.

It's because of this article that I saw today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2544130/The-worlds-accurate-clock-revealed-wont-lose-second-five-BILLION-years.html

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

NOT MUCH TO REPORT

Not much to report.

Not much going on.

At least in my neck of the woods.

I'm reading one Dean Koontz novel after another, so fast that I soon forget what one was about because I'm already reading the next one.

Not much is going on, yet I feel obliged (or obligated?) to write about things, or something.

I got the pet Schnauzer her haircut today.

It's been at least one year.

She should smell better now.

We know which teams will be at Super Bowl 48 (I don't want to use Roman Numerals).

Jimmy Fallon will soon be King (no offense to Larry King) of the Late talk shows.

He fits the bill.

His comedy, personality, and skits fit the times.

I now subscribe to HULU and NetFlix.

HULU for watching the late night comedy shows the next day.

Netflix for movies.

Climate change is in the air and in the news again.

Predictions are being made.

There may a mini-ice age just ahead.

In addition to the Super Storms.

And seas and oceans rising.

California is as dry as a desert.

It's a good thing that Mexico exports vegetables to the U.S.

Dennis Rodman and Justin Bieber should become roommates.

It bugs me that I'm not able to post pictures on my blogs.

I recently thought about this:

I remember staying up all night (for inspiration and motivation) in college to write term papers that were due the next day.

One time for a philosophy course I wrote two, but was supposed to turn in three.

I told my professor that the third one fell off of my motorcycle as I was riding on the interstate to get to class, and he said “that's o.k.”.

Thank you Professor Weir!

In college I briefly was a roommate in a house with a very nervous student.

We spoke very little.

He stayed up quite late.

He was studying and reading everything about Napoleon, especially his war tactics. 

I was pretty nervous then, too, but not from reading about Napoleon.

I was just nervous.

I am reading and re-reading Sylvia Plath's last book of poetry called Ariel, and for some poems I am sketching little illustrations.

Next, I want to read all of Dickinson's poems again.

Good night and sweet dreams.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

IN THE NEWS: MARIJUANA DENNIS RODMAN CHRIS CHRISTIE AND MAPPING THE HUMAN BRAIN

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/01/08/alaskans-likely-to-vote-on-marijuana-legalization-this-summer/

Recently I heard one pundit on TV say with a tone of elevated dogmatism, “Of course, Bob Dylan's song Everybody must get stoned  isn't about smoking marijuana.”

The pundit didn't give the correct title of the song, which is “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”.

After picking myself up off of the floor, I changed the channel.

This clearly wasn't the alleged station with fair and balanced news, and this pundit (if he was on anything) sure wasn't on Mary Jane.

“During the recording of Rainy Day Women #12 & 25, Dylan was high on cannabis, having passed joints around before the recording.”

[Howard Sounes, Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, Doubleday 2001].

*

In other news, Dennis Rodman (take the jewelry out of your face...it looks horrible!) has become the official stooge of the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un.

Dennis should consider toking on some pot, instead of putting so much alcohol into his brain.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dennis-rodman-sings-happy-birthday-to-n-korean-leader/

*

Chris Christie may have traveled a bridge too far, and it's a bridge that won't go away or be easily burnt on his journey to becoming the next President of the United States.

Which is good news for Jeb Bush and other hot GOP contenders, whoever they might become.

http://swampland.time.com/2014/01/09/apologetic-chris-christie-on-bridge-flap-i-am-not-a-bully/

*

Scientists are gleeful that they are getting closer to understanding the human brain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/science/the-brain-in-exquisite-detail.html

But psychologists and philosophers aren't any closer to fathoming why this brain does what it does.


*

Outer Space, the oceans, Fusion, and the Human Brain.

Which one will be conquered first?

Don't ask Dennis Rodman or Kim Jong-Un.

Maybe Bob Dylan.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

NEANDERTHALS AND DIABETES

 

Poor Neanderthals!

When will they be left in peace?

This and that accusation, discovery or conclusion is always being made about Neanderthals.

The latest allegation blames Neanderthal DNA for Type 2 Diabetes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2529822/How-NEANDERTHALS-blame-people-getting-diabetes.html

I'll bet I'm not the only person who has wondered where diabetes came from, but I would have never thought to blame Neanderthals.

You just never know about some things.

If Neanderthals were alive they would be in court all the time, suing the hair off of the Homo Sapiens who have made all of these accusations.

What causes Diabetes?

Not obesity.

Not sugar.

But Neanderthals!

Poor Neanderthals!

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND NEANDERTHALS!

SANTA CLAUS JESUS AND MEGYN KELLY

The Isle of Wight

 

Dedicated to Megyn Kelly and all things white.

 

CHRISTMAS IS WHITE

SANTA IS WHITE

SNOW IS WHITE

JESUS IS WHITE

LIGHT IS WHITE

(THE SKY IS BLUE)

PAPER IS WHITE

(UNLESS IT'S A DIFFERENT COLOR)

THE POPE IS WHITE

THE PRESIDENT IS WHITE

(AND BLACK)

DANDRUFF IS WHITE

UNDERWEAR IS WHITE

(UNLESS IT'S A DIFFERENT COLOR)

RON WHITE IS WHITE...

BUT WHAT COLOR IS THE ISLE OF WIGHT?

 

 

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND WHITE!

FATE

Destiny by John William Waterhouse


Today is December 18, 2013. 

I'm reading REFLECTIONS ON THE CIVIL WAR by Bruce Catton, and thought the following sentence from this book fit what I wrote below in a letter that I posted in 2007: 

"The human trajectory is eternally incalculable, beginning in deepest mystery and going blind to a fate no one can predict." 

*
 

I had just left work and wanted to buy a vanilla ice-cream cone.

I could have done otherwise, but I didn't.

I turned right from Dyer Street onto Honda Pass.

I was only a few hundred yards from getting my ice-cream cone.

Then, suddenly, a white car started turning left without any signal.

I also swerved left and accelerated forward to get ahead of the car's path.

I thought that I had succeeded in avoiding a collision when...

CRASH!

Some unprintable swear words came out of me.

Then I looked in my rear view mirror to make sure that the white car's driver was not "running away".

He wasn't.

We both pulled into a parking lot.

I took a look at the damage from the collision.

The door on the passenger side was smashed in, but I could still open the door and close it.

I said to the other driver, "I tried like hell to miss you, but you just kept on coming."

The driver produced his driver's license, and I fished out my insurance card.

I said to the driver, "You’ll admit that this was your fault?”

He said, "Well, I don’t want to say that."

"But you will admit that you turned in front of me?”

"Yes, I was making a U-Turn."

I wrote down his name, address and phone number.

I left this scene and drove about one block to get my ice cream cone.

I wouldn’t be thwarted by Fate.

As I am driving I often ponder what ifs.

What if I went this way instead of another?

I believe there is something true about intuition and gut instincts.

For example, before I decided to get my ice-cream cone I again thought about the consequences.

Maybe something bad will happen.

Should I go this way?

Bingo!

Something bad did happen.

None of us can stop living or doing what we do based only on what ifs.

Maybe you don't think about what ifs as much as I do.

It's probably better for your health.

I remember a short story in which an all-powerful computer was "killed" when it was asked to define fate.

Maybe I should stop trying to escape or define my own fate.

Just let it flow.

S*** does happen.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

A SELFIE A HANDSHAKE AND GEORGE W. BUSH

 

 

 It is a difficult time to be President of the United States.

(I was going to write “President of the Free World”, but of course, a lot of the world is not so free.)

President Obama handed the radical right-wing loonies more ammunition to put into their muskets when he shook hands with Raul Castro.

The handshake occurred during Nelson Mandela's funeral.

The handshake might have made Nelson Mandela proud of Mr. Obama.

The “selfie” that President Obama snapped is a different story, but I'm more upset that liar-liar Bush-on-fire, was given a ride to Nelson Mandela's funeral aboard Air Force One with the President.

George W. Bush should have taken a domestic flight.

In fact, Mr. Bush should be in prison for what he did to Iraq and America.

Maybe a Cuban prison.

Instead, the smug and ignominious physiognomy of George W. Bush was seen, and he, proudly showed off his paintings.

I wonder if his stuff is any better than Hitler's?

I know, this is a distasteful low blow, but it came to mind.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

CABBAGES AND KINGS ON THE MOON

 

 



"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

From The Walrus and The Carpenter

by Lewis Carroll

Since I eat a lot of cabbage, and sprinkle basil on almost everything, it came as a sweet surprise that the moon will soon be seeded with both cabbage and basil, plus other flora, in an experiment to see whether fauna---namely the human sort---can live on the moon.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2516538/One-giant-leek-mankind-Nasa-try-growing-vegetables-herbs-moon-humans-day-live-there.html

*

I guess the moon will eventually have some cheese, too.

 

*

 

Humans should already be living on the moon, cooking up a storm, taking Moon-lit---I mean, Earth-lit drives.

*

I'm sick of looking at moon, knowing that Big Macs and DQ Blizzards should already be there.

*

I don't believe that aliens have ever stopped us from returning to the Moon.

I believe it's just that we're too lazy and stingy to return.

*

Men are also too busy trying to kill each other, instead of flying to the Moon and Mars.

Isn't that why women should be in power instead of men?

Then we might be headed for the stars instead of sowing so much death and destruction.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES ON THE MOON!