One year ago today: April 8, 2016, overcharging for everything.
Five years ago today: April 8, 2012, find the differences.
Nine years ago today: April 8, 2008, too much buyer beware . . .
Random years ago today: April 8, 2009, the almost mailboxes.
Today’s read is a wee bit of a history lesson. As for the events of the day, I’ll bypass my usual hourly format. I drove from Miami to Lakeland in record time on the Rebel. I’ll depart from my usual hourly log because the route should be familiar by now. So I’ll sneak in a little book-learning and the rest, you can decide if it’s entertainment.
I sprung for breakfast at the Denny’s across from the university on Dixie. Prices have gone up much faster than the food and service have improved, seriously. The meal was at best semi-enjoyable. Within 15 minutes, I was westbound along Tamiami. So were a remarkable number of motorcycles. My intention was to make time, so I arrived the 75 miles into Carneston in record. time. In fact, my whole ride back was record, just under 4-1/2 hours. That’s ride time, it took 5-1/2 hours actual time because of stops.
There are two popular fueling stops along the Tamiami trail. The last gas station out of town is kitty-corner from the Miccosukee gambling casino. It was established before the ban on Everglades development, so it has been the last chance for fuel for decades. They make a killing. I took this photo on the run, but you can see 13 motorcycles. The other end of the trail, 75 miles away, is the Carneston intersection.
There is nothing unusual about seeing sixty or more motorcycles stopped there for gasoline, or what they have told the Millennials passes for gasoline, but what do they know? (It requires more gasoline to grow the corn for the ethanol than is saved by the additive.) It is unwise to enter the Everglades from either direction without full tank.
I say with the Rebel, there is a required gas stop every 91 miles and those take an average 15 minutes. I know, that seems excessive, but that’s how it averages out. Traffic was light except for motorcycles. I took the Imokalee turnoff on north to La Belle, all this is easy to find in an atlas, for those who remember what an atlas is. The weather was slightly chilly so I pressed on more than usual, arriving at the Olga Mall on the return leg for the first time, see below. The staff was not the pretty ladies, who I missed, but I stuck around for coffee and two cookies.
Yes, you heard that. My diet is finally unrestricted. But I’ve lost my taste for a lot of my own traditions. I can no longer conceive of eating a steak. (Note that my comments about diet and nutrition are not necessarily medical advice from my current doctors, who have never advised me against GMOs. They have given stern warnings about carbs and salt.) There were several times I wanted to stop and tourist, but kept going.
Yakutsk, Russia.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
Here’s something you’ve never seen before. I mentioned last trip the phone in the Olga Mall. I’ll research this company, but here is the manufacturing plate on the fully function phone in the mall. Note, that’s functional incoming only, as there is no dial mechanism. These old phones were built like fine pieces of furniture. When I worked at the company, there were still many old-timers around who “could build anything out of wood”.
Since around 1923, the phone company began making all its own equipment, so this outfit would no longer have existed by then. The Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Company”, Chicago, Rochester, Kansas City. By then, the phone company had wheedled itself a virtual monopoly on what equipment could be connected to a phone line by claiming the old “safety” angle and that the phone lines were their property, not yours. This ruse lasted until the revived demand for answering machines in the 70s and 80s. Even then, the phone company fought back by billing customers for service calls where the problem was determined to be caused by CPE, customer provided equipment.
By early afternoon, I was in La Belle, then on to the Olga Mall. The seat on the Rebel is small and my own seat is no longer quite that way. So I welcomed the coffee. I was making good time, so I stayed there a bit and read some of the old books. The shelves of old material is for decoration meaning I may be the only person who’s ever read them. That means trivia. Remember the Monroe Doctrine? That’s the one where America imposed a ban on any European-style military alliances from anywhere in the western hemisphere. It created a “dog’s manger” and that’s your trivia. What is a dog’s manger?
According to the book, it is a situation where you have to do something you normally would not do because if you don’t, somebody else will. The Monroe Doctrine was, of course, not popular with many other nations seeking to expand into the New World. They viewed it as an early example of American interference in their affairs. Ha, little did they know that was just the beginning. It helps to understand at the time, the USA did not have the armed forces to back up most of its elbowing. Many smaller European nations could have defeated the US at the time.
Except for Britain, whose army was small, none of the others had the capability of fighting a war across the ocean. So the USA got away with the Monroe Doctrine—barely. The problem was, while the policy prevented the establishment of alliances, it did nothing to prevent European nations who already had colonies in the new world from selling them. Not many people know that Denmark owned a few islands in the Caribbean. And they went on sale for $25 million.
This means a potential enemy nation, like Germany or Russian, could buy these islands and turn them into military bases without any need to form alliances. Thusforth, the USA was obligated to buy the islands so nobody else could. These islands were never turned into American states, dependencies, or colonies because at that time, the USA was avowedly anti-imperialist. Note, the reason for that stance was the USA sought to break up existing empires, using the power vacuum to re-conquer those territories using financial means, a process that remains on-going to this day.
[Author’s note: you can verify that by looking at which countries the USA lists as “enemies”. We’ve done this before. It’s any country that refuses to have their money backed by US dollars, or even tries to establish a value-backed currency. It is also any country who tries to deal in oil in any other currency than US “petrodollars”. There are the enemies of the USA.
Example: countries that refuse to allow a central bank like the Federal Reserve would include North Korea, Cuba, Syria, and Afghanistan. Countries that tried to trade oil for non-US money like Venezuela, Russia, and Iran. Countries that tried to establish gold or production-backed money systems, like Libya and Germany (yes, Germany, just before World War II). All of these countries have been declared enemies and normally are bombed back into submission.
There are many theories that explain who is behind this policy. They all have one group in common. If you’ve been paying attention, you can figure out who that is on your own.]
“The invisible man married the invisible women
and the kids are nothing to look at either.”
The balance of the trip was bland except for the fact it was by motorcycle. It’s far more adventuresome to cover 250 miles by that mode than sitting in a car. You get the sights, sounds, and smells of America. That last one has a range from blooming magnolias to the roadside cattle farm north of Immokalee. Nothing new this trip. I hit the thermocline just after turning onto Highway 37 and it was chilly be the time I approached Lakeland. That’s as exciting as it was for me, too. I got into town by 5:00PM and took it easy.
Here’s a picture of a label you may not be seeing much more. It seems that Monsanto is not only using its political clout to ram through a law allowing them to change this artificial compound’s name to “corn sugar”, they are seeking to block other products from advertising the absence of it. I am not an expert on food additives, but I definite notions about people who insist they have a right to lie. I have that against Monsanto more than anything single issue with their products.
If it does not exist in nature, you should not be eating it. The only thing you should be using Canola oil for is polishing your furniture. I have long ceased buying Campbell’s soups because every last can contains modified starch. This is difficult to fathom, because regular starch is just a cheap and easy. When I see modified anything, back on the shelf it goes. This is blogworthy because the jam in this photo was from the Russian store. Remember the letter I wrote to Leningrad about how to sell their products by stressing non-GMO?
[Author’s note: the joke was on me. When I got the jam jar above home and read the fine print, this was a product of New York.]
Last, upon returning I see that a black cat with white paws has begun prowling my yard. He can’t get the cardinals but it causes them stress. I have a vinegar-laced water pistol at the ready. Some say it isn’t the cat’s fault, it’s all instinct. Well, it’s like fat girls who model swimwear these days. Nobody says they can’t, but where possible, they need to be taught the wisdom of practicing those instincts elsewhere. For christ’s sake.
I want to emphasize to the reader that my interaction with fat women and old women is not hostile or impolite in any way. Never make that mistake. The word to describe how I get along with such people is “cordial”. Yes, it is considerably different than my behavior around those I find attractive, but there is nothing wrong with cordial. It is not especially odd to find me reading or writing in a room full of women that I don’t find attractive, but only an asshole would rate this as rude. But I’ve had that happen. Remember Cathy Wells?
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