One year ago today: May 7, 2016, drink Stolichnaya?
Five years ago today: May 7, 2012, bifocal eyeballs.
Nine years ago today: May 7, 2008, . . . and evidence of self support.
Random years ago today: May 7, 2007, The Titanic, micro-brewery.
A touch of insomnia had me up at 3:19AM thinking on how to proceed with that shed roof when the slope isn’t up to spec. See, I’ve long since learned to turn sleeplessness into a positive instead of worrying about it. Mind you, not having an alarm clock ticking in the corner is also a hell of a boost. I’m going to apply the same strategy as leveling the house. Run string lines eave to eave and gradually press the sections into place. I also read another few pages of the book on the migration of tectonic plates. It did little to dispel my theory that the entire race of Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, and the lot were bloodthirsty mental retards.
It did, however, cause me to haul out an old earthquake map I had of the undersea plates. Generally the plates are large—until you get to the Caribbean and the, I dunno, Philippine Plate? Both of these zones are near the equator. If you ask me, yes, it does look like they are fractured pieces, broken off the big nearby continents. Off the tip of Patagonia, you get that similar pattern with the Scotia plate. I’m not as well-stocked with seismic maps as you are, but I would like to see a globe so the Antarctic plate isn’t so distorted.
Is it possible the big plates shouldered Antarctica from a balmy climate in the Indian Ocean to where it is today. My tendency is to regard Antarctica as off the tip of South America, but it is also south of India. If there is a force strong enough to push India into Asia, creating the Himalayas, could not a similar force move an entire continent further in a direction with no intervening land mass? I don’t see why not. Especially if South America was once further south and rotated out of the way.
One avenue these researchers pursue that I do not agree with is their conclusion that the local inhabitants today are the descendants of the culture that built these ancient empires. History shows that every empire eventually collapsed by dropping trade barriers and allowing in masses of immigrants looking to hook up for the free ride. Why wouldn’t the Mongols stay in Rome for the free bread and circuses? There is no doubt some watered down genetic connection with the great ones, but let’s not be calling modern day residents of Rome, Cairo, or New York the same bloodline that rose to dizzying heights. These are the offspring of the masses who moved in later to pick the bones of the dying Empire carcass. Just look at Europe.
Yes, they will last because such random features often jolt up my ratings.
But sorry, lads, this is not normally an accumlator blog.
Diamond mine.
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Needing a supply run to the south end, I hopped on the Rebel and met with an unplanned perfect motorcycle day. So I took a three hour side trip, almost as much time as it takes to drive to Miami. That was also unplanned because I got lost. Hello Florida road system, where the maps, GPS, and road signs are three different species. So you’ll know, when I talk about a road trip, they do not originate from my house, but from an arbitrary intersection in Lakeland, the corner of Pipkin and Florida.
Wrong, there are no roadsigns, I wound up on County Road 471, where most of the locals decided they also wanted to go for a Sunday drive. At 70 mph. The road makes a beeline through a semi-tropical forest, another item not mentioned on the computer maps. I liked the forested roads, people think Florida is all built up but there are thousands of square miles of real forest.
What’s real? What I mean is a landscape with dozens of plants all growing naturally. If you go too far north, the forest changes to bush. Wilderness becomes monoculture of one kind of tree by the millions so thick you can’t walk through it. In Florida, you could, if you had to, walk through the average forest. So beautiful, I kept on going and wound up in Terrytown. Now I know I’m lost.
I asked a few locals how to get back to Auburndale, around 41 miles away. That met with blank stares. I know, women have a theory that men won’t ask for directions because it makes them look dumb. I [had] glanced at a map a few days ago and know that to the east is a road that goes to Polk City. Just keep going east and you’ll find it. But the locals can live their an entire lifetime and have no clue where that road is. Ladies, if you want to ask such dwellers for travel instructions, don't be calling men stupid.
So I asked for directions at the local gas stop. Oh, the one lady says, you go that way. Um, ma’am, I just came from that way and it goes to Lakeland, not Auburndale. Well, she says, that’s the way SHE always goes to Auburndale and same with her family. Next, is the fat girl with the smart phone. Weird, the phone showed the map upside down, with Tampa on the right, toward the Atlantic Ocean. I didn’t know Google maps would display upside down. And I still don’t know why.
That got nowhere, but before I walked in, I glanced at the tree shadows to orient to the sun. My hobby being celestial navigation, I know how to do this. The freeway cult is in Florida, except they don’t even need the freeway. That’s the crowd who have worked there for years but have zero idea what the next town up the road is, or how far away. Since I could not find anyone who had ever heard of Auburndale, the biggest town in the vicinity, I asked for Polk City. Oh, they said, you just keep on this road.
[Author's note: the sad part is, I asked the fat girl how old she was. She said 17. Folks, that's who will be running this country in another 25 years. But you don't really have to worry about them becoming the leaders in your old age. For if this is the caliber of individual our education system is spitting out, the damn country won't even be here in another 25 years.]
Have you seen the stats on auto theft, the joy-riding kind? The majority are 16 year old males who've learned they can't be charged in adult court. And guess where they learned that? Do I blame the young men? No. They are growing up in a world devoid of any opportunity for most of them, but surrounded by constant reminders of all they don't have--and that it is necessary to have those things to get laid. Add them together and sure, you get a teenage crime wave.
I'm serious about that. In my day, yes, I too had to spend long empty hours of youth with nothing, knowing whatever chances for fun I may have had in life was slipping away. Sure, lots of people full of free advice would say if you want something go out and work for it. And like I've pointed out, do that and by the time you are 25, you'll have that bicycle you needed when you were eight. I got no use for that brand of free advice, and neither do you.
In fact, allow me to come up with a neat quip: "Never follow anybody's free advice unless your doing so would cost them at least something."
And women wonder why men avoid this royal nonsense of asking directions. Because such women are shallow and likely to attach equally shallow criticism to anything a man does. Trust me, wherever I am standing, I have a fantastically better idea where I am than ANY local I've talked to in the last twenty years. Whenever I got good directions, it was from somebody like myself, and I'm no local. I randomly took a few roads that looked like they went east and finally, 19 miles away, I hit Hwy 33, the road to Polk City. The directions the people had been giving me were in the opposite direction because it looped up through Leesburg and Orlanda, nearly sixty miles out of my way. Then I remembered when you use GPS, they’ve been paid a fee to direct you through the center of every town and tourist trap.
I had continued north to Webster and turned east. Now I know where Mascotte, Florida is. And Groveland. Miles out of my way. Here’s a picture of the only road sign on 471. If I had turned right here, I would have been in Polk City in 16 minutes instead of two hours. Still, what a drive. I saw roughly 80 other motorcycles out for the day. A lot of them wear biker leathers where I tend to wear what I put on that morning. So maybe I do look like a preacher heading back from church.
I’m still designing the smaller wood lantern so nothing on the shed got done today. The delivery driver isn’t back from Ft. Meyers yet. The bluejay has figured out a way to get at the birdseed. I saw him this morning, he can’t fit into the feeding tray area, but he’s leaned to tilt the whole assemble to one side and peck at the seeds that fall to the corner. Smart bird.
“All my dance moves look like I’m trying
to tell the guy on first to steal second.”
Central Florida closes down on Sunday, unless you are part of the credit card tourist set. I’ve often wondered if anyone who pays $200 for a seat really enjoys the show. For those who have forgotten, this is primarily a journal that turned into a blog, and the topic of the day is anything that stands out, good or bad. Well, a couple days ago I got that some-kind-of bit marks on my shin, but I also noticed my chest felt “prickly”. I wrote that off to wearing a light t-shirt in the blazing sun.
Here’s the Rebel odometer, showing 16,242 miles on the clock. I drove home via Polk City and Auburndale since I’m now familiar with that part of the terrain. But don’t try this at home, central Florida is still a rat’s next of unmarked but paved country roads. Often the signs that say things like “478 East” have no bearing on the actual direction. Tamiami Trail, which is marked “North” actually travels east-west across the entire state. That’s it, since I had a big French toast breakfast right here and didn’t stop except for directions all day. There are no roadside diners left in America unless you make a dedicated effort to find them. Gone are the days, sadly, were every town had a spot with a counter, swivel stools, and free refills.
[Author's note: about those roadside diners, everybody back then knew that the diner would make more money if they didn't give the free refills and badgered the counter customers to buy a meal they didn't really want. But to do so was unAmerican. To change all that, what you do is let in 50 million unskilled, unschooled, Third Word immigrants. Pretty soon nothing is free, by golly.]
ADDENDUM
Two reports on the radio. It seems the consumption of “sugary” soft drinks, read “high fructose corn syrup” has been linked to brain aging and memory loss. Some people still need Boston University to tell them there is a connection. Two such sodas a day can lower your memory scores by 11 years by the time you hit 60. Never forget that.
The other is that many Americans, and this is once again going to sound awfully familiar to those who have been reading this blog, have been having mini-heart attacks and strokes for years after they turned 30. This was reported here in 2004, and my conclusion then is the same as today: it’s the diet. I’m now entering my 15th year without beef products, HFCS, modified grain starches, and cut-backs on dozens of other suspect products. That would include cake mixes, soda, tuna, and, most sausage. And in that time, largely reversed, not just halted, but actually reversed a major heart condition. Coincidence? Perhaps.
Texas in the news again. It’s one those localities where teens of an unspecified race insist on pointing pistols at trigger-happy police who love to show up at late-night drinking clubs on weekends without even being asked. Now I hear the state (don’t quote me on this as I was listening to libtard radio) is planning a law that restricts the adoption of white babies by Jews, Muslims, and queers. I’m shocked. Mainly because I thought such a law has always been in effect. No, I’m not against such adoption, I’m against the problems down the line that the taxpayer has to pick up the tab. Where’s Ann Coulter to clarify this position?
I still can’t find that clip of the classic Coulter comeback, so I’ll repeat it as best I can. Some stupid liberal lady berates Ann for being against people’s rights to do what they want with their bodies. Ann cuts her off, saying she is not against any such thing. She is against society having to later support these people when they wind up on welfare. (Same thing I’ve been saying since I was eight.)
So the liberal tries to paint Ann as intolerant by asking if the welfare were taken away, would Ann then support the liberal cause?
Replied Ann, “I wouldn’t care.”
Classic.
Last Laugh
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