Behold one of the walkways to Miami Beach. The coastal road, Collins Avenue” is a short block from the Atlantic and there are dozens of these little dead end lanes that lead to the beach. This confirms the old saw that just because palm trees will grow somewhere, they must be planted. This time of year, that pathway should be jam packed.
Beware of the frost warning tonight. That didn’t stop an excellent bingo and a small party afterward. Not that it was all roses, as repairs cost me $27 which I did not make back this evening. The good news is I finally found a soldering iron that produces enough heat to take care of business. That’s why I spent four hours today fixing patch cables. Man, are my hands shaky compared to when I was 18. Why do I still make simple repairs? Well, back in my day when you needed a cable, you didn’t just waltz over to Guitar Center. The quality of store-bought, I’m saying, has really gone downhill. I’ve rigged up just about every component used in a band and there was a time I remember you bought from the music store because it was better made and lasted longer. Today, it is all junk. The new phono jacks (1/4-inch guitar plugs) from Liechtenstein retail for $7 apiece and don’t even have drill holes to anchor your wires. I suspect that country possesses either no intelligence or no electricity. I mean, how can you mess up a guitar plug?
I’ve finished “The Life-Giving Sea” and it is too deep for casual reading, small pun intended. The author, Bellamy, has a great knack for answering questions you should have asked. He takes it upon himself and does a good job. For example, the current theory of coral reefs is that the central island subsides, or sinks into the ocean. But if so, why does the coral ring stay way out around the original island shoreline instead of gradually filling in the lagoon? Never crossed my mind until he spoke up.I was getting dismayed by so much detail until I got to the final third of the book, where Bellamy (back in 1975) exhibits an astonishingly level prescience via accurate predictions and anticipation of ecological matters. He also quantifies where others merely remark. Whereas I knew the open ocean was not an infinitely bountiful food source; Bellamy states the ranges. And the are from 1 gm per square meter in the barren open sea up to 900 gm in the Humbolt Current, he states, “over eight times the figure for the best beef pasture . . . in the world” (p252).
As well, he regularly makes astounding observations by detailing matters only attributable to a person accustomed to deep thought--which comes across in the book. The Humbolt Current has but three layers in the food chain, compared to dozens or more in other biospheres, where each level of digestion takes away 90% of the food energy. Bellamy states that fish can only eat food which is large enough for them to see (in itself a fascinating remark) and off the Peru coast, diatoms grow just great enough for that to happen. Count the three stages, the anchovies (small fish) eat the diatoms, and are in turn consumed by top level predators (in the case of krill, by whales). Enormous relative amounts of food energy quickly reach the tertiary level. I wonder how many levels is the usual.
Alaine called in the middle of bingo. I placed the phone on the table so she could listen to the show. If that isn’t novelty, what did you hear on the phone today? The cold snap came by at 9:00 PM and for some reason, my Coleman lamp is not putting out any bright light. I’m thinking something is wrong with the new “gasoline” generator. Not only is it hard to light, it soots up the lamp glass. (Later I discover it is a difficult repair, not something for the rookie.)
Later I stopped around to put “Because I Got High” on my various Karaoke lists but did not stay to perform. Here’s my new definition of Karaoke: The Hour of Wishful Thinking. I spelled out the facts of the California trip to Jackie, who agrees it is completely off the affordability scale for now. (This is a car trip, but we both prefer the train. Instead, I’ve suggested we go up to Titusville and witness a satellite launch. That, folks, is the more likely prospect for now.
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