July 31, 2004

           Really, nothing happened in the world today. Except a royal wedding. No, not the big shots, but something I can identify with--the surplus English daughter. I ran afoul of that same situation in my teens. I did not know that there were not enough earls and barons to go around. It's a classic example of supply and demand. If you're English and have a daughter, dump her quickly.

           So let's look to see who Lady Davina Windsor, issue of the Duke of Gloucester, was able to haul to the alter. The old duke by the way is cousin of the Queen and grandson of Geo. V, a famous battleship. Davina married the son of a sheep shearer, albeit, a champion one.
           He is full-blood Maori, locally known by the Brits as a "wog". They met on a "surfing vacation" in Indonesia. He is a carpenter from East Cape, the furthest north-western tip of New Zealand, where the unemployment rate is 66%. The papers will only say he has a son from a "previous relationship" which we can presume falls somewhat short of marriage.
           "Other than the bride's immediate family, no members of the royal family attended".
           What's my interest in the matter? Two-fold. First, my rule that you never marry a woman with a cuter younger sister. And two, the younger sister. These gals, are, in my opinion, the best looking of the Royals. Lady Rose Gilman, b.1980, was the one I wanted, instead she married a real estate agent. I can dream, can't I? Her occupation is listed as "23rd in Line of Succession to the British throne", which certainly beats what I've dated lately. Namely a hairdresser and a filing clerk. Yes, Ken, but both of mine were female.

PS East Cape was a conquered area. The British moved in 18,000 troops and heavy artillery to blast 4,000 Maoris out of their villages in 1860. The unknown New Zealand Land Wars. The Maoris were protesting the forced sale of their land to sheep farmers. No, I'm not missing any of the irony here.

July 30, 2004

           A Friday after a successful payroll run means an easy day. It says here I put $188.50 in the bank. I took the evening off and went to the research section of library in Hialeah. Like Canada, the library research section is where you go when you want to be all by yourself. That's where I learned more about the Messerschmidt 262, Germany's late-war jet fighter. That's your trivia for today. Each flight required 640 gallons of fuel. I could not find comparable data for other aircraft. The greatest number of 262's ever flown in one day was 59. (On the same day, the Allies flew 840 fighters.)
           And the term "blue moon" is not ancient. It was coined in 1946. Tonight is a blue moon.

July 29, 2004

           This must have been such a nothing day I didn't even write anything on the desk calendar. A Thursday, I believe. When payroll is successfully done, as it always is since I arrived, ahem, we go out to an extended lunch at the office. It seems to me I recall going to the place that serves soup in a big bowl of bread. But these were the days before digital cameras became affordable. I searched a bit and could not even find a photo to scan.
           Let's dip over to NASA and see what went on today. Ah, here's an item to ponder. The PR director for NASA said today that if a planet had an atmosphere, we'll fly over it. He is referring to Mars. However, with those "bales of thousand dollar bills" burned up by each Shuttle launch, an airplane on Mars is fiction.
           To emphasize the matter, here is a satellite photo of Mars, one of the best available in 2004. It shows the Martian surface near the southern edge of the "Grand Canyon". At this distance, the Martian equivalent of the state patrol could not even give the rover a speeding ticket.

           [Author's note: ten years later, even with the advent of drones, we are still driving around the ditches of Mars. No aircraft has even been announced that would fly over the Martian surface. One could say that is due to the accuracy of satellite photos. Or one could say NASA has made another massive blunder backing the International Space Station.]

July 28, 2004

           Good news, it turns out JZ's dad wants the whole house painted. This will keep us busy for a while, I mean, have you seen the size of the house? Today after work we went to buy $280 in paint to get started. But maybe less good news in other areas. My studio apartment has only one parking spot, so I leave my second vehicle at work. More accurately, in the empty lane along the side of the parts department. There are a couple others who do the same.

           Today we were told to move the cars. Hmmmm. Something is afoot. Nobody ever goes back there except the security guard. Change is not good, that's a lesson learned from my days in a cube and the corporation. Sellout? Merger? Worse, bankruptcy?
           Ah, but why be concerned with the future when there is so much fun to be had right now. Here is a photo of us visiting at the banquet last weekend. The lovely Alaine, but I don't recall the other lady. This is at the main hall in Ocean Reef, the family has an annual get-together there. This is my first time there.

July 27, 2004

           Today in history. In 1957, a study in England discovered a “direct link” between smoking and lung cancer, the tobacco industry replied that was “matter of opinion”. In 1940, the Germans first began using their Enigma machine. In 2003, the telemarket “no-call list” was establish and 758,000 people signed up the first day. You’d think that would send a message to DC, but no.
           Apparently I stayed home and read something called “Glory Road”. Not the basketball book that stole the title from Heinlein, but the mercenary for the Empress of Twenty Universes. I cannot today (2014) even recall this novel.

           (Author's note: Today in 2008, the Phoenix landed successfully on Mars. Not to be confused with Viking, the Phoenix landed near the Martian north pole. Like many such missions, it actually landed a month ago but is just beginning to send back data now. And within two months, it went dead. Later photos from Mars orbit showed the solar panels had been damaged, probably by a windstorm. It was this later lander that suggests the wind damage.]

           The only important finding was trace elements of metals needed for life and the soil was more alkaline that expected. It is a difference in acidity, not the mere presence of it, that is believed to be a condition for life to begin. Here is evidence of the wind on Mars.


           Here's some neighbors from Ocean Reef came by for tea. Good thing we have lots of parking. Seriously, I was in poor shape the entire day at work and could not wait to get home for a long sleep. This is just a photo of the dockside at Ocean Reef last weekend. I have no idea who owns those boats.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 26, 2004

           JZ and I are going to paint again. He isn't sure what's lined up but it will be at least the garage of his dad's house. That's a weekend of work. Here's a photo of my diving buddies at the club over the weekend. We formed groups of two, but one lady was left over so I had two companions. I didn't dare say how little use I would have been if anything had gone wrong. This was the snorkel tour I joined up thinking everybody else would. Nope, JZ stayed in the marina pub.

           This was also a Monday at work and I began to hear rumors of internal squabbling on the job. I could pretty much guess which two morons were the root of the problem. Hector and Charlie. Two last-chancers, deadbeats who put in their time but never could understand that was nothing special. I barely know them but am aware they despise me for no reason. Well, there is a reason. Jealousy, the jealousy of the common peasant against those who do things with their lives. I grew up around it.
           I went to the Denny's in Hialeah (the good part of town) after work. A good book, I stayed there for several hours. The staff knows me and don't mind if I hang out. I keep thinking I'm getting a little stronger each day, but then I require lengthy rests. What's to become of me?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 25, 2004

           JZ and I were to meet up at the new location in the west end, his family opened another restaurant out in Doral. But he didn't show, so I visited. After an hour, I went over to his condo and woke him up. He'd been late partying at Churchill's. We decided to take the boat on a tour of the harbor. Here is Sailorman JZ, mighty explorer of Miami Bay.

           This was my first time out on the water since I arrived in Miami on Christmas Eve, 1999. That day, I parked my car at the airport and flew to S. America for a month, or was it two? I recall the millenium on the south bank of the Orinoco, in a village called Marjuanta. I don't recall when, or why, I ever returned to Miami. That's what I thought about on this boat ride.

           Sailing is okay, but like air travel, I can find it boring after an hour. He wanted to go back to Ocean Reef, but he forgets I have a regular job. On that note, I found one of the very last photos I have of the head office where I worked. Bland as it looks, this was one of the best places I ever worked. Inside was a lively community. But the owner had recently passed away and the internal stresses began to appear. And they went bankrupt a year or two after I left. See what happens when you aren't nice to me?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 24, 2004

           The incomplete calendar notes say JZ and I went to see a 3D movie and were not impressed. Also, that I had to move the car, which draws a blank memory for me. Move a car? Maybe back to west Texas if I had the money. Here is a picture of the analemma. That's the figure eight thing infinity symbol you see on some globes. It is a sun pattern, and one of my tasks is to figure it out.

           [Author's note 2017: now I remember the car. It was the Taurus which I had parked on the street near the compound where I worked. It was there for months, never bothering anyone. But the City of Doral saw fit to pin a note on it saying it had to be moved. Thank goodness I kept that car, it was the only transportation I had for a few years after my Caddy was gone. That's the same Ford Taurus that took the toothpicks to California a year previous. The picture below is the Taurus at Ocean Reef on July 22 in 2004. I was going to link back to it, but what the heck, I'd rather repeat the photo.
           The picture above is a demonstration of how long things can take. It would be some ten years before I had time to study celestial navigation and learn about this stuff. How nice it must be to have the means to pursue these things when one is young instead of working like a slave to pay the bills. Sigh. And be careful not to hand me that crap that anybody can do anything they want if they really try for only a loser who never tried would think such a thing.]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 23, 2004

           Hello from Ocean Reef. Here's a charming photo of poolside. This was the day I actually went snorkeling, the most exercise I dared in six months. Buoyancy made it far easier than I thought. The tour is arranged by the club, so we saw the best fish schooling areas. The guide went further to show us the more rare species of coral. I found the reefs to be six or somewhat more feet deeper in the water (at low tide) than the tropical reefs of the Philippines. I had difficulty staying under long enough to view much. But the good news is I can say I was the only man on a private boat with around 60 young, skinny women. Don't get that every day. Or year.

           This was my first real outing since late 2003, I was still quite weak and could not yet walk that steadily. I was back at work, but my job performance was also stumbling. I would nod off, wake up, and find dozens of mistakes of the type I never make, that is, roughly the same mistakes the average person makes. I looked again and again, yep, when I'm half-dead, my brain begins to work just like other people in their primes. Am I making this up? Or did I slowly work my way out of this horrid existence after a few years? This was also the stretch where my hair turned completely white. Bleach white, no trace of color. No pictures.

           Later, we left early to drive home in the daylight. The club exit is on Card Sound, which is famous for "traditional" Keys lifestyles, so just drive through it. Of course, JZ wanted to stop on the way to pick up groceries. Guess Ocean Reef didn't have enough food to fill him up, maybe? Here is his condo kitchen, note the 60's decor. This isn't JZ's doing, but a very common design [flaw] in Florida. What I remember most from those days was the cranky air conditioning vent above his head.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 22, 2004

           A weekend at the Ocean Reef resort. This is a family tradition. JZ got there a day before me, so he was completely stuffed. That's saying a lot for the human eating machine. Seriously, I've seen the guy eat four steaks. Never let him loose at the Big Texan. I couldn't find him for the first few hours. He was so over-full, he had to go crash out to get rested up for supper. The supper, that is the big banquet. Here is Alaine, the babe, come searching for me in the golf cart. I was lost. I mean, have you seen Ocean Reef?

           Well, I meant that question for the few. Of course, people like Ken, Hector, and Patsie never see the insides of such places. They have a security gate at the entrance seven miles away to keep out the riff-raff. In fact, if I can find any more pictures, you'll see I don't think Ocean Reef even allows fat people in there. Not that I could see, anyway.

           We were there a couple days this time, but JZ mostly hit the food bar. I went snorkeling on the private reef, one of the few great ones left. Later, we mostly stayed by the pool, except for the time JZ thought he could still swim across the salt water pond. Oh, now I see her, okay, JZ I get it. All you had to say was you liked her looks and I'd have brought her home for you.

           Back then, the Taurus was still in new condition. Here it is, about a year after I owned it. It was just a second car, but the economy compared to the Cadillac meant this quickly became my primary transportation. Note--years later this was also the vehicle which showed driving was too stressful for my heart. Sad, because I remain convinced that I love to drive through the countryside.

           Later, we met up (JZ, Alaine, and I) at the piano bar in the marina. Swank, but absolutely no single women in the place. Not even one. Yes, guys, I was looking. For that matter, there seemed to be no single women at Ocean Reef period. To those who say I must be looking in the wrong places, explain that one. Ha!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 21, 2004

           Ekhert's. Today was the first time I was ever in one. I think they've been bought out by Walgreen's or CVS. Hey, I've never been in around six major US stores, like Work Warehouse. Ha-ha, I just thought of that, no it is not because I don't work. I work harder than any government employee. It says here JZ finally bought new tires. Guess who talked him into that. The guy does not drink coffee. But he likes canned milk straight.
           Here is some coffee trivia. My advice to remove the coffee lid before drinking is valid. Somebody went ahead and counted the aromas. They involve 700 chemicals. Now that is the way to enjoy coffee. Unless you actually like the smell of warm plastic, Ken. In terms of net worth, coffee is second only to oil as a world commodity. It takes 600,000 beans to fill a coffee sack. And most chocolate contains caffeine derived from coffee.
           And guess what I am about to go for?
           Here is the view from Mt. Everest. The local Nepalese call it the "Goddess of the Sky". It is what they do. That is the kind of thing that makes locals everywhere, well, locals everywhere.

July 20, 2004

           A sad anniversary. It was 35 years ago that the Apollo 11 guys walked on the moon. Sad, because we should instantly have set out for Mars. It was known that Mars had an atmosphere and probably water. Instead, the money got wasted on 135 "shuttle" missions that went nowhere. Now the money is being wasted on a space station. Compared to a manned mission to Mars, all these other side-projects are duller than dishwater.
           The "Mars face" photo was taken from orbit in 1976. Here are the photos of increasing detail taken by subsequent orbiters.

July 19, 2004

           The Apollo missions brought back a total of 800 pounds of moon rocks. Most of it has never been analyzed. Here is a photo long since forgotten. This is the Apollo 13 service module that exploded. The is the photo of it drifting away, showing the damage under that panel that blew away.

           I do have a question. The Mars face. Why does it look like Mary Chapin Carpenter?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 18, 2004

           The thing about these desk calendars is they don't give you room to expand on anything. My notes today said it turns out the problem with JZ's tires was tread separation. That's thrilling. It says we went to a James Bond movie. I don't recollect which. And somehow, a bunch of beach sand got tracked into my Cadillac. But hey, it was a Sunday.
           Here is Andromeda, a galaxy 2.6 times the size of our own. You can just make it out with the naked eye, because I could when I was a kid. It is unknown how the galaxy came to have two nucleii. (If it was a galactic collision, there would be distortion of the spiral shape.) But eventually, there is a good chance it will hit our galaxy. It is one of the few space objects heading our way and it is moving 68 miles per second.

           No need to worry, by the time that happens, Earth will be long dead and gone. Actually, the two galaxies would pass through each other with minimal disturbance. That's how sparse things are in outer space. If you want to see the best photos ever taken (Hubble) of Andromeda, try this link. Make sure your equipment can handle such a huge file and give it time to download.
           The galaxy appears surrounded by stars, but all those starts are in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. These have been compared to looking through a windshield full of raindrops, I like that analogy. In fact, the vast cosmos out to Andromeda is mostly empty space. Here is an lower-res picture of Andromeda.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 17, 2004

           The calendar tells all. The new retread tires JZ put on his truck both went flat. We fixed them and went to Churchill's, where I've already dated all the good-looking women at least once each. And we drove there in JZ's truck, I like to live dangerously. How does a guy with twice as much money as me manage to only put old tires on his vehicle? Plus, the truck wobbles on the these tires.

           "No problem," he keeps saying, "this is nothing."

           "The problem will be if we have to walk the last ten miles to your place." I replied.

           JZ, thinking quickly, "If it goes, I won't make you walk. I'll drive it on the rim."

           "I was afraid you'd say that, old pal, I was afraid you'd say that."

           That's me practicing my dialogue. It's a long story.
           Speaking of vehicle, I had to replace a window on my Cadillac, which I only wrote down as "expensive". And my mechanic, Manuel, at El Mago de Ponche was off sick. So I had to pay full price. Don't you hate it when that happens? (El Mago de Ponche roughly translates to "The Magician of Punctures")
           And here is a picture of the "sundial" on the Mars rover from 2004. When I look at it now (2014) I notice I could probably use it to calculate where on Mars that thing is. I could guess the latitude for sure. But I would only have to know a few things about Mars to do a position fix. That's assuming that the same physical principles apply over there, probably a good assumption. God doesn't play dice with the universe.
          Naw, with all the new theories about meteorite and asteroid impacts wiping out the species, it is more like he is playing Crokinole. Just so you know, Mennonites and Amish are allowed to play Crokinole. Rumor has it they invented the game. Hey, no batteries required.

July 16, 2004

           Today, we take a peek at Martha Stewart, as she begins her prison sentence for insider trading--her broker (Peter Bacanovic) also got five months. He had simply left a message on Martha's answering machine that he "thought the stock (ImClone) might start trading downwards". Clearly, that is part of a broker's job, so somebody was leaning on him to confess to something. But Martha was the big fish.

           Ah, Martha, the first celebrity bust of the century. It is clear now (2014) that she was innocent, that the authorities had criminalized an ordinary business transaction for their own edification. Here are some gems you probably didn't know. As a "struggling student", Martha's teenage modeling rate was $50 per hour (around $437 per hour today). In 1956, she paid as little as 4% income tax. A house sold for $22,000 and minimum wage was $1.00 per hour ($8.75 today).
           Martha has had all pictures of herself younger than 21 purged from the Internet, but here is a still from her Lifebuoy soap commercial, at age 15 in 1956. She babysat for Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. In 2008, she was denied entry into the United Kingdom because of her "criminal record", but domestically, she turned the prison sentence into one massive publicity grab, tripling her net worth to around $700 million at last count (2011).
          Here is a photo of her prison cell.

July 15, 2004

           I know there are word processed files for this month somewhere, I'll add them if they turn up. But otherwise, I've only got the notes from my desk calendar. Patience, I know those files still exist. On this day, Canada withdrew its ambassador from Iran. I don't know the reason, but damn, Canada, you sure know how to hurt a guy.
           Trivia. On this date in 1869, a French chemist patented margarine. In 410 A.D. the Teutonic knights got their asses whupped at Tannenberg. In 1995, Amazon sold its first item on-line, and has gone on to become the most successful annoyance of every on-line search since. And in 1971, Nixon and his henchman, Kissinger, began the long slow sell-out of American jobs to China, claiming it had something to do with ending the war in Viet Nam. What a crook, er, I mean, crock.
           Meanwhile, here is a photo of the Bubble. This was taken by the new, improved Hubble telescope. Which for some reason has never been focused on either the Moon or Mars* that we know of.

*I was referring to closeup images. There are plenty of long shots. But no photographs of Mars in the range of accuracy one would expect from a telescope that can capture distant galaxies.

[Author's note 2015-07-15: ha, ha, this is nothing in another 48 months, Florida was due to have a bubble of it's own, in which thousands of "home-owners" got their feet wet.]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 14, 2004

           Nothing recorded this day except my bank balance. Here is a photo, one of the last taken by on the lunar surface. This was back in 1972, on the last moon mission, Apollo 17. Then came the dreaded waste of the shuttle program. Thirty years and 135 launches for nothing. They finally chucked the whole program, but replaced it with the equally lame International Space Station. Low Earth Orbit is not where it is at. This photo shows the lunar mountains on the horizon. The lander left the moon a few days later and nobody has been there since.

July 13, 2004

           JZ got two flat tires on his truck. I drove over in the Cadillac and helped him buy new ones. So he bought retreads. Then again, I wouldn't sink much money into that truck either. Come to think of it, I'm about done sinking money into this Cadillac. It is finally showing its age as well.
           Here is the "Martian Street Map". It is really the polar regions where frozen liquid, probably water, is pushing up the terrain into these natural shapes. But that is not to say they could not be man-made, I mean, have you ever seen a road map of London or Tokyo?

July 12, 2004

           Officially, nothing happened this day. It was a Monday back at work for me. Gallivanting around the countryside is fine, but I still worked full time in July, 2004. Trust me, I was probably exhausted. Y'day's post on Marco Island was popular, I'll tell you just a little more about the place.

           This is an aerial view of the south-facing hotel strip where JZ and I stopped for brunch. I don't know which one we picked, but that's fine. All American waterfront hotels are about the same. This stretch is 90 miles from Miami, or 95 miles by boat if you head north from Key West. There is a hydrofoil trip available if you have the money.

           It is fat city. You must have the big bucks to live there, and the locals are doing everything they can to keep it that way. For example, most of the best beach areas are residents only. They accomplish this by making every access to the beach trespassing on private property. And they've long wanted to close the main bridge. Since the state says no, they regularly hold "marathons" across the bridge to completely stall traffic. Here is the best photo I have of the bridge, from some stock source.

           There is little special about Marco Island except that it is the largest of the "Ten Thousand Island" group. Other anti-tourist tactics include excessive bridge tolls and squeezing the traffic lanes by adding a bicycle path. The message is clear--the locals want to turn the island into their private preserve--as long as the government shells out for all amenities to keep them connected. I believe it is called the Goodland Bridge. In 1960, Marco Island was uninhabited. See video.

July 11, 2004

           JZ and I went to Marco Island. It was your classic day trip, something utterly new to JZ. We drove west on Tamiami Trail (Tampa-Miami) straight through the alligator fields. The following is an account of what I recall from this trip ten years later. (This anonymized picture is four years later, in 2008, when in happier times, Wallace and I visited Naples Beach.)

           Rewind to 2004. The alligator population, which we are told was endangered, has certainly rebounded. The roadside swamp is teeming with them. I don’t know, but most seem to be around five feet long. We drove my Cadillac, taking a few side roads through the remote areas JZ didn’t know were there. I’ve recorded elsewhere how he normally only travels with his family group. He is taken aback by my willingness to leave town with less than $100 in my pocket.

           No destination was planned. We drove through Everglades City, wondering at the strange house designs. We discovered later it was due to regular flooding. There were also these cheap-ass “retirement” homes we saw for the first time. They are called “estates” but in reality, they are packed ten or so to the acre.
           We had left without breakfast, so we took the east entrance to the island, not the big bridge shown on postcards. JZ knew there was a Burger King. There was also an excellent dollar store, he went crazy stalking up on you name it. However, when we returned a year later, the store had been closed by the plaza owner for selling food products that competed with their anchor clients.

           JZ had visited the area with his dad and brothers, so he was the tour guide. Marco Island, expensive as it is, doesn’t appear that swank. Just my opinion. We eventually wound up near the main bridge, there is a side road to the beach which consists almost entirely of crushed coral and broken seashells. This was the origin of the “sand hieroglyphics” which are the zig-zag patterns of tire tracks over the beach. Unlike sand, the coral keeps its shape until washed away. (These were also some of my earliest digital photos.)

           There is a long jetty, JZ raced to the end while I was just able to waddle out far enough for a view. I watched the fishermen and pelicans, but was in weakened condition, I mostly stood around. We did notice a jet-ski accident, but this may have been one of the other times we eventually returned to Marco Island. This lady had flipped her rental jet-ski and was getting exhausted while her “instruction” just laughed. I remember thinking how if she went under, I would have tried to save her. Fortunately the Coast Guard showed.
           We drove up to Naples, it was windy, so we looked at the beach, then returned to a Hotel on the south beach of Marco Island for munchies. A nice resort with a Tiki bar. It was summer, so the inevitable rainstorm had us holed up in a stairwell with the staff. We drove back out to the main road and here is where memory fails.

           At least one of the times we were at that junction, we stopped for gas and there is or was a biker bar in the jungle. Two biker mommas saw us in the truck and flashed us their boobs. JZ, terrified the bikers would blame us, high-tailed us out of there. We went ten miles down the road to the next station and told the ladies there what had happened. They promptly hiked up their tops and said, “Like this?”
           Back then, the Everglades was the Everglades. It was Old Florida and that is gone.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 10, 2004

           My notes say this was a Saturday, that I repaired the window on my Cadillac for $200, and that I had new tires mounted. That was at El Mago de Ponche on 8th Street, or Calle Ocho these days. I remember the day because I was so weak, still recovering, that I fell asleep in their waiting room. The chairs are uncomfortable and they keep the TV up loud, but I spend so much money there, they left me sleep for close to six hours.
           In those days, I was still nursing the numbness along my left side. It had not yet been determined that driving was part of the cause. Too tired to make it home, I drove over to JZ's and crashed. I don't usually recall individual days, but he said I looked like I needed a break. We decided on a Sunday trip.
           From Mars, here is a picture of the Missoula Crater. It's one of those panorama photos you have to blow up in size to see the details. Just click on the photo and use the slide controls.

July 9, 2004

           It was this date that the people who investigate such things (Senate Intelligence Committee) ruled that the US government (Bush) and the CIA had completely and knowingly falsified the reasons for the invasion of Iraq. Note that the term "invasion" is the correct one, not the "peacekeeping" or "liberation" metaphors used for other wars. This time the US sent troops to permanently occupy the ground and enforce a political system upon them. That is an invasion. All of this information was nationally televised.
           July 9, 2004 was not, historically-speaking, all that colorful of a day. I even tried looking it up on the trivia sites. Nothing. But if, like myself, you spot the distinctive "Aussie accent" as being Irish at its core, there is something to that. Today in 1791, the first lot of transported convicts to Australia. And they were all Irishmen.
           I see an uptick in popularity of these "space photos", but keep in mind, all them belong to somebody else. Here is an interesting photo from the middle of May this year. This is heavy material for the "face on Mars" people. This photo shows the interior of a crater where the sand dunes form this pattern. It is called the "brain" crater. Now get this, it is almost precisely the right size and shape to fit inside the "face". How's that for coincidence?
           Or is it now?

July 8, 2004

           It's a Thursday, other than that it appears that JZ and I watched "Bonanza". You know, out west where the sky is blue and the Lorne is Greene. JZ swears the episodes are colorized, like old Gilligan re-runs. Not so, Bonanza was always filmed in color because the idea behind the series was to sell color TVs. JZ and many others considered Bonanza a western, but even as a lad, I found it to be late night soap. I very rarely watched a full show. You might say I found the pastel of the painted backdrops to be more colorful than Michael Landon's acting.

           [Author's note 2014: yes, Bonanza was always in color. I just looked it up. Hop Sing only appeared on every eighth or ninth episode and he was paid only for those scenes.

           Trivia. Today in 1932, the Dow-Jones average closed at its lowest ever: 41.22. It was also the day of the big shootout in Juneau, Alaska, back in 1898. Here's a picture of Soapy Smith. He was from Denver, I think.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 7, 2004

           Taking these entries off my desk calendar shows the Google has sealed off yet another freedom on you. Before, you could post an article on any date and the entire software path would show that it was published at that time. Now, Google has altered the paths to now show the publication date (2014) in addition to the post date. That did not used to be, so that is just another example of how all Internet corporations, no matter what their roots or their high-sounding policies, they all gnaw away at your freedoms like a thief in the night.
           JZ and I tried to use one of those windshield repair kits on my Cadillac. We could not get it to work. That's the hairline crack that started in Denver in 1999, creeped across the side from using the winter heater in 2000, and finally split the windshield using the A/C in Florida. It was a hairline crack, but right across just above the spot where the windshield wipers hid. That repair goop only works on tiny "starburst" chip type damage.
           Here's a first from the Galileo explorer, that all but forgotten mission to Jupiter from 1989. This is a picture of an asteroid that has its own moon. Can you see it? This photo was taken 1993 but its a timeless classic. I think the asteroid is called Ida.

July 6, 2004

           JZ and I went to U-Pick, the junkyard that charges you to do your own salvage. It does not say what was broken. But for some reason, I sent Marion $70 for "rent". Rent what? She's richer than I'll ever be.
           Here is a photo of what are called "star trails". They are time photos taken while slowly changing the focus. Note the differing colors. These can be analyzed to show the stars composition, and thus, its age.

July 5, 2004

JZ and I went to Churchill's and chased women all afternoon. It is technically the July 4th holiday, but that fell on a Sunday this year.

Here is Phoebe, one of Saturn's moons. And you can see it in 3D if you have a pair of those red-green glasses.

July 4, 2004

           This was the day JZ and I went over to do some pool maintenance at his sister's. JZ took out a pickax and hit his ankle on the second swing. That's my buddy. No picture but he would not go to the clinic. So we piled in his truck, the one with the missing back window and went over to Churchill's Pub in Little Haiti. I had a lot of fun with the waitresses from that place. The scribble in the calendar margin indicates we spent $48 that time around. You're only young once. But I guess dudes like JZ and I kind of drag that out as long as possible.
           Early this morning a space probe sent an instrument package crashing into a comet, an event that was soon forgotten. It may sound like there were missions all over the place in 2004, but the reality was NASA was just cashing in on a large number of independent missions that had been launched in earlier years and were now arriving at their destinations simultaneously. As far as I know, the mothership had a "tennis racket" to collect comet dust and ten years later, finally returned seven of these particles to Earth. If I recall, there was a sign-up program to help examine these dust specs, something like Stardust@Home, but you can look that up.
           Note: this looks like a staged photo or simulation, but it is an actual snap of the impact taken from 435 miles away. The sparks flew, and if you look closely, there were other jets from the comet center. As far as I know, there was nothing noteworthy came of this mission.

July 3, 2004

           A broken tail light cost me $75. That would have been on the Cadillac. I still had it some years after I could no longer afford it. Sentimental value. That Caddy was a car that got you from A to Z. I can hear the peanut gallery saying I don't want girls like that. The hell I don't.
           Here is a picture out of sequence with the time line [of this blog]. It as actually taken in January 2005, but it is included here because so many people have forgotten that, while NASA was on the decline, the Europeans had entered the race. They landed a probe on Titan, probably Saturn's most intriguing moon. Their photography is amateurish, but here is yet another reddish, barren plain like Mars. So this photo, showing nearby boulders about 9 inches long, was ho-hum. Yet, it was a completely different undertaking, utterly different than the Mars landers.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 2, 2004

           I was, I think, still too weak to write full journal entries, so once more, I take these notes off my desk calendar. It is still possible one day I'll find a binder of notes from this period, so don't despair. This was a full moon, and apparently it loomed large over Miami. Why else would I note it?
           Maybe because that month has a blue moon. That's a month where there are two full moons. The second one is the blue moon. But it isn't actually blue, so like the photo below, use a blue lens filter.

July 1, 2004

           Apparently my bank balance this day was $15,710. Where does the money go? Here is a photo of Saturn's rings from the Cassini probe. I don't know if this date is exact, but this is typical of the first images being received. I take the banding to be the result of gravity sorting the particles. But I'm not so sure that is the only factor.