First, the potential good news. The after-market faring bracket may cost less that I hoped. It turns out, after four hours of (easy) work measuring and building a cardboard model, Honda must have had roughly the same problems with whatever was originally on those bracket mounts. One bracket remains, which I’ll remove to match up the bolt holes, make a mirror image, and then mark and drill the rest of the mounting holes with the brackets back in place.
No more big travel until that piece is installed. It is also evident Sarasota didn’t tighten all the bolts that should have been cinched before it was sold. But I’m slowly gaining on that. Shown here are two cardboard templates, one held rigid in shape by metal strapping. Thus, rather than a 34” long custom piece, I need one bracket and a short piece of 1-1/4 inch wide metal bent around a 12” diameter mold.Trivia for today, or is it? I’ve included a special on trivia for today. The “official” surveys of Americans show that 68% favor using the military to seal off the border from illegal immigration. That’s a majority, Washington. It doesn’t fool anyone that this majority means the Mexican border and the sea lanes from the Caribbean. One can only wonder what the results would be if the surveys were confined to asking only legal Americans. My guess is well over 95% with most of the remainder more undecided than outright against the idea.
Dan Lewis, the “Now I Know” guy, occasionally includes some real research into his daily, but only between long stretches of rehashed Ripley-like episodes. I did not know that kangaroos, although related to cows, do not produce harmful methane gas when digesting their food. Apparently it is some bacteria in their stomach, says Lewis. It is another guess on my part that both Lewis and I publish the same amount of actual research-based material—but then again, this blog makes no such claim to be a fact-presenter.
Would you like a gruesome fact, Dan Lewis? Why not? In the ocean, a self-balancing act if left alone, everything becomes food for everything else. Have you heard of Cymothoa exigua? It is a louse that digests the tongue of a fish, replacing it, and living out its life inside the fish’s mouth. If it makes you feel better, the parasite does not kill the host. For good reason, I am not publishing any links or photos of this creature.
Or how about Rhodes scholars? In 2011 there were 82 graduates. Since 1904, there have been 7,000 graduates. Can you name even one? Come on, these are supposed to be the most remarkable of individuals among us, so think! Hint, around 4,000 of them are alive today. I could never be a Rhodes scholar, as the emphasis is on something that I consider a waste of time on any campus: athletics. The one and only Rhodes scholar I can name is Kris Kristofferson and he graduated way back in 1958. [Author’s note: A few women have made it (to Oxford), but to date none have contacted me, truly a big disappointment. For them, I mean. This is Alexis Brown, the 2012 jackpot winner (a Rhodes scholarship is valued at $52,000 per annum). She will be studying language and literature, although I can’t find any information on her courses or marks to support that qualification. Even her birth date is an Internet secret. Her background is not the place to go looking for solid details, but we are as bound today as back in 2006 to honestly believe the US economy needs more English majors.]
Speaking of intelligence, here is Benjamin, Marion’s lab dog. He not only looks like Millie, he has the same smarts. That is, smart enough to do what he is told until the owner turns her back. Yet, both dog owners swear by the animal’s vocabulary and who’s going to tell them? Neither barks until an intruder knocks something over and both dogs bark at people they are supposed to be familiar with. Dumb and dumber, and in Millie’s case, the family kids were not raised any better. Um, Wallace, I must have had a really stupid dog because he never learned the commands for hush, or get out of the way, or go lie down. (It seems he didn’t have to be told.) Your dog must have been much smarter since he could follow those commands a hundred times a day. Most days of the week.
[Author's note 2016: That last paragraph is unclear. What I'm saying is my dog must have been really "stupid" compared to Wallace's dog, because my dog never learned the commands to "hush" etc. That's because my dog was smart enough to not have to be told to get out of the way, Wallace. Nor did he have to be told the same thing all day long.]
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