round numbers

You know the numbers with big round zeros on the end, such as 70, 80, or even 100. I've had 7 of the decade numbers go by. Overall, this makes me feel fortunate.

 

 

 

2000? It wasn't the end of world. Maybe just the start of it's downfall?

 

We all learn to count in base 10, or decimal. Many of you might know there are other useful numbering systems. Hexadecimal is base 16. Hex numbers are used in computer code because it is easier to write long strings of 1's and 0's. The 10 in hex is 16 in decimal. What if counted our years in hex?

 

Using the hexadecimal system, I don't think I would ever reach 70 hex (112 decimal). I hope to reach 50 hex which is 80 decimal. However our minds would adjust to the this system. Before long 50 hex would feel and be consider really old.

 

Are you still with me? 

Did you make it pass the nerdy math talk?

 

Recently, I found a Dire Straits song titled "Why Worry". The lyrical parts are shorter than the instrumental parts. 

My favorite phrase from the song:

 

Why worry?

There should be laughter after pain

There should be sunshine after rain

These things have always been the same

So why worry now?

 

  

Rabbit holes, conspiracies, and various terms

I just climbed out of a rabbit hole.

 

Reality check - Unlike Alice I've never been in a rabbit hole but we have rabbits living under our deck.

 

Can rabbit holes have tangential holes?

 

Much bigger than our rabbits

I would go in order of the title but life often doesn't have order.

 

My older wonderful sister recently shared her exchange with another candidate off her online generated list. I don't care for the term "online dating". Yes it's online but the dating part doesn't match my definition of dating. I suggest calling it "online exposure to weird and infrequently normal people".

 

After a few long phone calls and a dinner she discovered this guy believes a 9/11 conspiracy theory about the twin towers. She told me he has been disqualified but I'm not sure if it was because of his conspiracy belief. Whatever the reasons he was eliminated.

 

This started me thinking of the weird world of conspiracies. It has become dangerous. Jan. 6, 2021 shows that to be true.

 

Spreading conspiracy theories can destroy support for the government and investigating done by various organizations such as the FBI. Questioning statements is good but just believing out-of-nowhere ideas because of your previous mistrust is bad.

 

I first conspiracy theory I recall was the JFK assassination and the next one was the moon landing. Were we just lucky not to have online social media sites back then? I think those theories only spread through tabloids at the check out counter.

 

-~-~

 

I peeked into a rabbit hole when I read the term "anti-self-duality" in some article I was exploring the other day. I backed out of that rabbit hole when I read differential geometry and Riemannian oriented manifold. This is incomprehensible for me.

As a corollary we see that if the cross section of a tangent cone of a noncollapsed limit space of orientable Riemannian manifolds is smooth, then it is also orientable in the ordinary sense, which can be regarded as a new obstruction for a given manifold to be the cross section of a tangent cone.

I think a see a tangent cone in the rabbit hole below (lower right corner??):

one word too many meanings

Maybe you don’t give a shit. Maybe you find my blog the shit.

Whatever. What the shit?
Shit you say.

Yes you are correct. This post is about shit slang. Have you seen the pile of poop emoji? It’s so popular they sell bean bags resembling it. Maybe you have sat on one.

Looks soft but don't get too deep in it.

There are other slang words with multiple meanings and usage but shit is the shit. Instead of getting too deep in shit I’ll just share this youtube video I discovered recently. It’s long for a youtube video, 13 and half minutes. The video is by “Rachel's English”.

Her self-help videos are offered as an online American English pronunciation resource. I learned some of the latest slang and got a few laughs too.

If you had the time to watch the clip you now know some shit. Hopefully this post didn’t stink too bad.

an odd activity

This fool on the hill sees many odd activities as the world spins around. I don't profess to judge what is and what isn't odd. Also, over the years what was odd before doesn't seem so odd anymore.

some find it odd that I pose with painted horses

I say that's a bison bull

Readers of this blog may remember past posts that were based on stories from the "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" radio show. Here's another one.

 

I heard about Desert Sitting (or Competitive Sitting?) on a recent broadcast. While I don't predict this activity to become a trend, who knows. I have practiced sitting for years. This version of the common non-active activity seems odd.

 

The essential parts of this activity is sitting and time. "Competitive desert sitting pioneer Robert Silk..." clocked 14 hours and 27 minutes sitting in Joshua Tree National Park. Here's a trailer for a documentary on his record(?) event.

So far nobody has approached me about a documentary about my odd activities. I need to up my game and take one of them to the extreme. Hmm, I need to sleep on this. Maybe even sleep in.

 

Hey how about an odd comment from you?

how about a little youtube

I still enjoy youtube. More than a decade ago (wow those decades just keep adding up) I enjoyed youtube even more by making and posting videos. I've created a few in the last few years but not like my goofy gadget ones like this one:

 

 

Back then I kept track of many of the favorite clips I would discover. This one ponders how the story of Lassie would be if Lassie was a cat:

Here's another favorite. Not funny but interesting. How often do you get to watch a movie stunt being made?

We now return you to your regular programming. Oh wait it's 2022, what regular programming? It's mostly streaming off the internet. Oh how quickly things change.

still have it

I thought of this post title and wrote it down. Then the next day as I started to write the post I forgot what the "it" was.

I still have many things while I don't have other things. As you just read, I still have the ability to write the obvious.

So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet I still recall as I wander on
As clear as the sun in the summer sky

Yes many faces from my past have faded away. I can still get lost in music. Especially songs with good lyrics.  (more than a feeling)

Seems I've got to have a change of scene
Cause every night I have the strangest dream
Imprisoned by the way, yeah, it could’ve been
Left here on my own or so it seems
I got to leave before I start to scream
But someone's locked the door and took the key

I still have plenty of strange dreams. Most of them are ok and every so often a bit interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

Off the top of my head, no I mean on the top of my head I still have plenty of hair. Now inside my head is a different story. My brain is the creator of illusions so it's hard to know what is an illusions and what is real.

Of course, I still have my blog therefore I'll post a joke I still have.

Late one day, my friend gets pulled over for speeding. This tired looking state trooper comes up to the window. As he hands back the license he says, “My shift ends in a few minutes so if you can give me a reason for speeding that I have not heard, I’ll just give you a warning.”
My friend thinks for awhile and tells the officer, “My ex-wife left me and married a state trooper. I saw your flashing lights and thought it was him bringing her back.” No ticket for my smart thinking friend.

Please share what you still have.

and now

Bear with me

 

Just a minute or two and it will come to me. Problem is will I recognize the original it or will I just go with a new it. Whatever.

2021 minus 1971 equals ? Yeah simple arithmetic says it has been 50 years since my last con--... No! Not that Catholic stuff. It's been 50 years since I graduated from High School. My wife joined me at my 50th reunion events recently. I will confess that I really looked forward to the reunion. I had a fun time. I think she enjoyed it too.

Discussing our USAF time

I suspect the size of your graduating class is a big influence on reunions. Our class of 1971 had more than 400 graduates.

A key factor in the reunion is the planning committee. Our great committee has now planned 8 reunions (they started doing 5 year intervals with the 25th). The first one I went to was our 20th reunion. For me they get better as time goes on. I might have missed only one since the 20th. A group page on FB was used for this one. Event planning is one of the better uses of FB.

Four events were scheduled over the weekend. My wife and I went to 3 of the events. A new idea for our 50th was a booklet with stories from our class. I was a slacker and failed on doing a write up. The interesting stories shared where both sad and happy memories but that's life. Another sad part was looking over a poster of classmates no longer with us. It made me appreciate being able to attend even more.

 

One event for the middle of Saturday was a tour of the downtown theater Rialto that opened in 1926. The place had a great restoration since I watched James Bond there. About 100 people attended the Saturday night dinner. Two of them got up and sang some tunes. I was pleasantly surprised. 

 

 

Draft - It's always something

Such as forgetting to remove "draft" from the post title. 

 

Well it's over now. I'm fine again. Anxiety seems to creep up on me as I age. Is it those life experiences that didn't go well that add to the feeling? I've never liked being late for anything but don't most people feel that way? Being able to give yourself a little spare time to meet that arrival time is sensible to me.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot am I talking about? Well the first time was back in 2013 (see this old post).

Prep for entry

back side moon

Drink rapidly rather than sipping. Not advice for drinking a fine aged bourbon. Good advice for drinking a large unwanted amount of PEG-3350. The 4 liter prescription gives me reason to hate the metric system.

Rapid drinking was one of many instructions provided to me for my colonoscopy. This was my second exploratory visit within my body. I heard the visit went well but I was completely asleep during their expedition so I'll trust their answer.

The first expedition included the day of liquid diet but I don't recall the list of foods to avoid 3-5 days prior to the drilling (procedure if you will). I understand nuts and popcorn could ruin their view. I was surprised being told not to eat healthy food like fruits and cereal high in fiber. Basically go on a junk food diet for a few days.

Another change this time was a COVID-19 test. I'm two shot (jab for the Brits?) vaccinated but I understand being cautious. The test had to be done a specific day. It went well. I was expecting a bit of discomfort up my nose but that didn't happen.

Until my next something, have a listen to "Bad Moon Rising". It's not "a bathroom on the right" but during the prep I was on the bathroom alright.

I see the bad moon a-rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin'
I see bad times today

Watch out now, take care

Watch out for technology messing up your day. According to this report, a driver in Iowa trusted the GPS directions more than the road construction signs.

Please Do Think and Drive

That struck-in-wet-concrete car reminds of a few sites I visited on a recent trip. I traveled through the Texas panhandle for my first time. (BTW I would not suggest panhandling in the panhandle.) If you happen to have a little time in Amarillo TX., and you cautiously use your GPS you should have no trouble finding the Cadillac Ranch and Combine City (the half buried combines were harder to find but Google Maps knew their location). So when they extract that car from the concrete it should be ready for becoming buried art.

 

Cadillac Ranch after a rain

 

Combine City

 

 

George Harrison back in the 1970’s warned us to beware of many things:

Watch out now
Take care, beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you

Watch out now
Take care, beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks

Watch out now
Take care, beware of greedy leaders
They'll take you where you should not go

Oh one more warning - beware of half buried combines.

Running down a

Running down a dream ? Sometimes I wonder if I'm running down a blog. Do you heard the crickets?

 

running down to a Blues Brothers cover band concert

 

Just today I came across (I don't recall how) a quick little song by Barbra Streisand titled "The Minute Waltz". It has me thinking of people who often run late. In other words running down the clock.

 

Oh if you do go running down the highways and byways, don't forget to protect your ducky.

 

Oh here's a clip of the song that started this post. Dreams are weird.

 

 

Meanwhile

Have I told you of my squirrel days?
Mixed nuts are the best.
Once upon a time, ...
Oh yeah some background. (just curious do you often start explaining something or telling a story and interrupt yourself to provide background?)

Not again!

This picture was emailed to me from comedywildlifephoto.

If you haven’t seen their photo collection, check them out. Funny stuff.

Like most I put ideas of human feelings inside that squirrel’s head. Did the squirrel just realize he did something stupid?

Then my mind wandered to thinking about being a squirrel. I know I would still find many things to complain about. The picture has me wondering if squirrels complain.

I grew up with a big weeping willow in our backyard. Maybe the climbing of that tree left me with a connection to those great climbers called squirrels.

Idyllic memories

enough climbing for today

next time I want the apple crisp

fungi is tree related

fungus group includes yeast - yeast is used to make beer

fox tails are better than squirrel tails

a wood giant

Natural color

man-made color - what do squirrels think of this

tree art

more tree art

old tree art

The best tree is one you can lean on.

lean-on-me tree

What if’s two

What if I post another “what if” post? Well, you are reading the answer to that easy question. Oh my last “what if” post was last year. (here’s the link)

what if everyone grabs a seat and calms down

What if I titled this post “Last Chance”? I doubt it would make more people read it but for some reason I see this phrase used in emails offering something to buy. I’ve noticed last chances are typically repeated so unfortunately the last email will not be the last of it.

What if I got a comment from someone asking me to join a secret group? Actually one recently showed up here. You will not see it since it was flagged and I deleted it. It provided me with a laugh since a truly secret group would not drop invites in a very public comment section. Maybe they were actually a formerly secret group.

What if Sheryl Crow invited me over for breakfast. I would certainly eagerly accept but I would reject any offers of french toast. There’s no way I could erase the imagine her lyrics create in my mind (“If It Makes You Happy”):

Scrape the mold off the bread
And serve you french toast again

What if I looked at the hand of fate and saw the middle finger waving back at me? Would it suggest that I change the road I’m on?

What if a politician used these lyrics from Kansas’ song “Carry On Wayward Son” in a speech:

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don’t know

What if you leave a comment at the end of this post?

one of those days

Twirl - maybe it could be the next twitter.

wait a minute, where am I?

I found and copied this curvy curve from The Math Less Traveled blog post.

Wordlessly watching

Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin! Thanks to Sly and the Family Stone for that phonetic spelling.

Wordlessly watching
He waits by the window
And wonders

Wordless activities fail to contribute much for my blog. For me lyrically listening to music works well for generating a post. Not necessarily a perfect post, but judgement doesn’t belong in blogging anyway.

wonders what the little girl is wondering

I’ll start 2020 (can you believe 2020 will be the year of perfect eyesight and limited insight) with a non-correlated collection of thoughts and/or observations, and/or sentences.

It might just be me, but I'm noticing more quotes showing up around the transition into a new year. I found this one about exploring. Quote from the late astronomer Carl Sagan:

"The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. From it we have learned most of what we know. Recently, we have waded a little out to sea, enough to dampen our toes or, at most, wet our ankles. The water seems inviting."

So grant me a billion or so I can fly a rocket to the moon.

As an adult who has traveled beyond our borders and watches a few documentaries, I know not everyone is fortunate to growup with the luxury of having their own room. I gather from the following song (oh this one is from a great musical documentary titled, “Echo In The Canyon”) that Brian Wilson had his own room. I eventually had my own room after my older brother left.



To round off the post (I never write a sharp post, I might hurt myself) I’ll end with a bit of twitter. While twitter speeds the sharing of words, I doubt it helps anyone with their vocabulary or writing skills. Collected tweets by Chicago Tribune columnist, Eric Zorn:

• I never say “It’s the least I can do.” I know in my heart I can always do less
• We need a follow-up song where Dolly Parton comes to her senses and thanks Jolene for taking that cheating dirtbag off her hands
• I’ll tell you who gets a bad rap. Anyone who asks me to do a rap
• His last words were, “You seem upset.”
• Fellas, if you don’t know what you did wrong, do not under any circumstances start guessing
• On your deathbed, tell everyone “pray for me.” Then make sure to leave a note to be opened after you die that says, “pray harder next time”
• Please allow children to believe in Santa. You believe in essential oils and no one is ruining it for you

My past posts related to:
Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin


Wordlessly watching

silly

There's a lot of serious stuff going on lately. I'm a big believer in balance. Here's a small attempt to inject a bit of silliness into the world.

Our adult daughter who enjoys her Christmas elf shared this silly picture recently.

an elf attacked from behind

Her daughter shares her mom's silliness. Kids are great at showing adults how to be silly.

my nose is warm but I can't see

Perhaps the colonial three corner hat was designed as a serious hat. I think they are silly. I do like their look though.

mind if I borrow your hat?

Lastly, during my recent visit to a Waffle House I heard the following song (oh the song came out years ago but it only goes to show I don't get my Waffle House fix often enough)

Oh if anyone from Waffle House is reading this, I would gladly accept any free food offers from your great restaurants.

Nocturnal notes

The opposite is diurnal notes but those daytime notes are nothing special.

Now I'm not saying that I blog at night. I have done most of my post writing as a daylight activity.

Having a thought and then explaining that thought in a post is two distinct activities. Many of the thoughts found on my blog originate at night. What I seem to fail to do too often is writing a note of my nocturnal thought

They are listening

I just asked our Google Home Mini gadget if it would take a note. It told me there was an issue with the permission setting. After some fiddling with my smartphone and the gadget I was able to have the gadget save a short reminder for me. Not quite note taking but possibly useful for remembering a thought.

Most of my book reading is nocturnal. Typically before I fall asleep. I just finished a book titled, The Trouble with Gravity, (blog followers probably recall I read mostly non-fiction). It's a good overview of humanity’s understanding of gravity's pervasive effect on our existence.

I read a few online reviews of the book. I agree with the opinion that book doesn’t provide an in-depth explanation of the various theories of gravity. But those explanations are difficult to present without some serious math and science understanding. So the book offers a good overview history to a broader audience.

A few notes I found interesting:

• Nobody really knows what gravity is. They can measure and predict its influences but still don’t know exactly its composition.
• Throughout the spread of many different cultures/religions the distinction of things up there and down here being very different was incorporated in their views/teachings.
• I learned of Roger Babson who considered gravity to be our enemy number one. He started the Gravity Research Foundation to develop gravitational shielding.
• The LIGO gravitational-wave observatories have unbelievable sensitivity. 

Please listen to a song that leaves me thinking about gravity’s effect on moving the planets around, click the youtube clip below. I didn’t realize until I just read a comment on its youtube page that songwriter, Patrick Monahan, was inspired by his late mother, who had died after a struggle with cancer, and that the opening lines "came to [him] in a dream." A great example of a nocturnal thought.

The lyrics certainly play on ideas of gravity and space.

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star– One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?

unexpected

Oh before I go off on a tangent, I have a brief announcement:

Lisleman is hereby the Emperor of Ephemera.

on the rocks

Great title don’t you think? I’ve had a few titles during my life. Most of them were printed on business cards. I don’t think there’s a big future in business cards.

Recently I was perplexed pissed-off by the unexpected. Not significant in the big picture. But how big is the big picture?

You know the axiom, expect the unexpected? I thought I should just remember that more often. But then my logical thinking started analyzing. My processing of this advice put my thoughts in a spin.

If you expect the unexpected then there is no unexpected.

I suspect my logic here just gave the wrong result. Expressing the advice of staying prepared for unpredictable events/results/demands in your life would be better.

Surprises can also be fun and enjoyable.

There’s always tomorrow. I recall someone called the orphan Annie a procrastinator because of her always singing about tomorrow. Her song “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” provides advice similar to expecting the unexpected advice.

My wife shared an old song that was new and unexpected for me.

I’m sure my wife wasn’t very surprised to see a dead skunk in the middle of the road. Actually seeing one of these nocturnal vermin alive during daylight would be more surprising.

This sighting reminded her of the following song which to my surprise I didn’t remember at all. Seems odd that this is the first time I heard this humorous roadkill song.





Well my empire was vast but gone in a flash. At least I'm not a dead skunk.

searching for something

I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind

Too many words for a T-shirt? I've had conversations with strangers because of what was on my T-shirt but these lyrics might be too wordy for a quick glance at my shirt.

down by the river cooling off

Those searching for something words at the start of this post were taken from the Billy Joel song, "The River of Dreams".







I don't go walking in my sleep, but I do go searching for something in my dreams.  It does seem dreams are like rivers because they are so fluid as they flow through the night. I suspect my something discovery will stay elusive. I'll just enjoy dreaming about what it might be.

fake fish real river

Oh, wait a different song is playing now.

What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I've said too much

See ya, I'll be back to read any and all comments. Meanwhile, listen up or down, just listen.