31 July 07 - 19:13Slime in the Ice Machine!!

When I lived in Houston, I didn't get much of a chance to watch much local television.  When I did, it must have been the usual stuff, because I only remember one thing for certain from Houston television, and that is Marvin Zindler.

I don't intend to do an obituary on Marvin, although I am writing about him because I heard on the radio yesterday that he had died.  I don't know what  KTRK in Houston intended him doing on their station, but I do know he made me watch their news program.  Marvin was just Marvin and one of the most significant things he did was doing pieces on people who needed help because the system was screwing them.  Once you found out what the issue was, you would find out how Marvin had unscrewed things for them.

In addition to these saintly things, Marvin would also do a daily listing of local restaurants and how they were rated by the health department.  He would finish up with a list of them cited for "Slime in the Ice Machine."  It could have been boring, but Marvin made it an event.  In fact, If I had the chance I would watch him again.  This is probably why Channel 13 gave him a lifetime contract.

Marvin practically yelled when he talked, and once done with his part of the news he would shout, "This is Maaaaaarvin Zindler, Eeeeeye Witness News.

I was sorry to hear he skipped out on that lifetime contract.

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29 July 07 - 20:20Parenting tip

Here is a parenting skill tip. If your daughter comes home and looks like the girl in this picture, don't believe her if she says the drugs in her pocket don't belong to her.

One thing that I really hate is lying. Not because I am sensitive to it, but probably more because I don't expect it. Usually, I am trusting of people. Since I don't lie to others, I more or less expect the same.

I did learn from parenting and 9 years of teaching junior high school that lieing can and will occur. I always found there were three reasons why the younger family member or student would lie. The most obvious reason with a youngster is often fear of punishment, however, I found that not wanting to dissappoint was often a reason as well. Another reason, actually kind of a scary one is denial. In that case the youngster does not want the situation to be true and they lie, hoping it will go away. In this case they are also lieing to themself.

So, parents out there. I repeat, if your daughter comes home looking like this, it doesn't matter what her motivation is, don't believe her when she says the drugs in her pocket are not her own. And for heavons sake, don't believe her if she says their are no drugs IN her, because with a pie faced look like that, something is causing it.

Later.

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28 July 07 - 19:14A Snape in the Grass

Finished the "Deathly Hallows" yesterday.  I read the last sentence as the airplane I was on landed.  Naturally I don't want to spoil the book for those who have not read it, but I was happy about one thing.  I was right about Snape.

I was not right "in specific" but I was right on target in my assessment of his personality and character.

As always, I like the general Harry Potter stories that Joanne Rowling writes, but some of the things that seem to happen by chance in the series make the books seem a bit haphazard or unrealistic to me.  This book was no exception.  But then, hey, it is a book about magic and witches and wizards!

The general sense of growing up and the overall way she took the series from the viewpoint of children to a more mature viewpoint of young adults was something I liked, and I don't know if she did it on purpose or it just happened that way as a result of the story telling.

Oh, and as usual there were a couple of English phrases I needed to look up.

Later.

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20 July 07 - 23:19Democrats Finally Learn

I learned this on my own, simply living my life.  Note how the Democrats play to the gallery, knowing the average American doesn't have clue about their current attention getting topic.

Here are some great quotes for you from the liberal, uninformed, and self-serving left, both media and elected officials.  These comments are in regards to people crabbing about formaldehyde odors in the free trailers we gave them.  WE, the taxpayers gave these folks a FREE place to live and they are crabbing about it.  The smell is making them sick.  First the quotes:1) A day after hearing testimony about health problems from Hurricane Katrina victims who had lived in government-supplied trailers, members of Congress on Friday questioned why a federal agency was auctioning many of those trailers to dealers and individuals across the country.
2) "I understand the need to not lose money, but if the trailers are going to make people sick, maybe we should consider cutting our losses," said Rep. Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.).

3) "A sale is out of the question," said Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). "These trailers should be taken out of commission until we can guarantee their safety — and the information we have received so far provides no certainty that the health risks associated with these trailers has been addressed."

I am not an upper crust congressman or senator who lives a life of fantasy.  I am an average person who once paid (note that I said paid) a great deal of my hard earned money to live in a trailer house for four years of my life when I was teaching school.

My new home that I paid for made my nose hurt when it was new as well.  I asked the people who sold it to me and they told me the smell was due to formaldehyde from the glues they use in making the mobile homes.  I took it in stride.  That was in the late 1970's.  Are these morons just now learning of this?

I applaud our Democrat elected federal officials for finding this out a mere 30 years after I did by purchasing a mobile home.  Cut your loses guys, you are publicity seeking imbeciles.  Perhaps your constituents are not bright enough to know what you are, but anyone who thinks things through will understand your shortcomings.

Are all Democrats this wimpy?  Why do you have to jump on bandwagons you know nothing about, except you think it can get you votes?

Marla, my honey, when are you going to grow up and quit being a Democrat?

Later.

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18 July 07 - 20:57Hmmmm, how would I make that?

Sandra finds some interesting sites.  I think she subscribes to a service or something.  Anyway, after spending 20 years as a manufacturing engineer it is fun to see how things are made, especially things from fields other than the ones I am used to.

The site has loads of methods and I suppose it could be used by those of us in the United States should we ever decide we want to make things here instead of buying things from China and pretending we made them.

Names like Emerson, Black and Decker, Dell, etc. which are meaningless these days as they import their stuff from China.  Some of these companies are so lazy they even have the Chinese design their products.

Enough crabbing.

Look for yourself.

http://www.madehow.com/

Thanks, Sandra.

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18 July 07 - 15:15Piper Cub

Some years back I built a radio control model airplane.  The actual model was called a "SIG Cadet" and it was what could be called a "trainer."  Since I didn't know squat about building such a plane I asked a friend if he knew anyone who had experience with radio control models.  It was at this time I met Dalton Brightbill.  I would have met Dalton in the mid 1970's.  I am sad to report that he died in the late 1980's.  He graduated from high school in 1947 so he would have been only in his late 50's when he died.  Alas, he was an excellent model builder, but did not take very good care of himself.

I painted my SIG Cadet bright yellow, the color of a Piper Cub.  I painted it this color because of the plane my Mother flew.  I actually started a model of a Piper Cub, but we moved to a new location and I never again had a workshop to build my models.  I miss this activity.

Here are two artifacts of the Piper Cub for you to see.  One is an altimeter I bid on, but did not get on Ebay, the other is the Cub logo.

Sometimes we do not tell our parents how their past has effected us.  In this case, I painted the model to match my Mom's training plane and started my next model as a Cub.  Perhaps it is time to get back to making models.  I liked them a lot.

Later.

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17 July 07 - 21:39Amelia, my lost hero(ine)

She's back. TIGHAR is, again, looking for Amelia Erhart on Gardner Island which is now marked Nikumaroro on maps due to changes in jurisdiction.

This has always been a story that has fascinated me since I was a little squirt. My Mother was a pilot who learned to fly in the early forties or late thirties. In my mind I think I identified my Mom and Amelia as the two most "famous women pilots of the forties" even though they never met each other, and I think my Mom was probably influenced by Amelia and not the other way around. My Mom was probably more famous with me than the general public.

TIGHAR (pronounced "tiger") stands for The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. I have no affiliation with them or any opinion of their work other than it is interesting. I am currently pondering donating a small amount of money to them (like 20 bucks or so) simply because I find their work fascinating.
They are a good mirror of what Amelia was all about in her day. She was an adventure seeker, but she marketed herself to scrape up extra money and outside support for her adventurous activities. So does TIGHAR, I have no problem with that.

They combine the two of the things that I find most interesting in life, archeology and puzzle solving. For today, read up on TIGHAR and see who they are at http://www.tighar.org/.

Later

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16 July 07 - 12:12A tragedy, indeed

This is a great joke to use when introducing somebody at a meeting.  You simply insert their name.  If you don't have that type of opportunity, then pick the politician, friend, or fitting person of your choice and tell the joke.  To give the president a break and I have inserted Nancy Pelosi into the story as I know she wants to be treated like a great politician.

REMINDER: THIS IS A JOKE!


Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while visiting a primary school class, found herself in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings.

The teacher asked Ms. Pelosi if she would like to lead the class in a discussion of the word "tragedy". Agreeing she askes for an example of a "tragedy".

One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a runaway tractor comes along and knocks him dead, that would be a tragedy."

No," says the Speaker, "that would be an accident."

A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."

I'm afraid not," explains Nancy Pelosi. "That's what we would call a great loss." The room goes silent. No other children volunteer. Nancy's eyes search the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?"

Finally at the back of the room Johnny raises his hand and very seriously explains, "If a plane carrying the you, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was struck by a missile and blown to smithereens that would be a tragedy."

"Fantastic!" exclaims Nancy beaming, "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?"

"Well," says Johnny, "because it wouldn't be a great loss, and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."

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15 July 07 - 10:56I Bin thinkin

I was thinking about the problems Muslims are having with their church in the context of my small town "Protestant Christian" upbringing. Where I grew up, the only religious differences were which denomination. Catholics were on one end of the spectrum and Seventh Day Adventists on the other. Not to mention the Baptists and Non-denominational groups or the Jehovah's witnesses. There is something to this line of talk, however. You should know that that all of these religious groups were basing their beliefs on the same basic set of documents.

The same thing happens with other religions. Different Muslim sects, basic differences in branches of the Jewish religion, and all sorts of interpretations of the same basic documents in the numerous far eastern religions. The different sects have different doctrines based on the same basic documentation. Why is that?

It seems that it is basic human nature. Two of us hear a speech and get different meanings out of it. We hear the same thing and end up in different frames of mind. With religious variation there is something else going on. The basis for any recognizable religious doctrine is history and its interpretation. Religions have voluminous histories.

The basic core of any religion's documentation is huge based on words written alone. Take the Roman Catholic Church as an example. Depending on the language (or even the translation used), their Bible contains about 900,000 words in the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha. The Quran supposedly contains somewhat fewer words, but it also contains a huge amount of information.

This information is read, misread, read out of context, statistically analyzed, interpreted, memorized, remembered correctly and incorrectly, and otherwise assimilated by us humans. Sadly, religion seems to be utilized badly by those who are the most religious. Here is a short list of some of the organized activities Christian churches undertook in the middle ages.

• First Crusade (1095-1099)
• Second Crusade (1147-49)
• Medieval Inquisition (1184-1220s)
• Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s)
• Third Crusade (1188-92)
• Northern (Baltic) Crusades (1193-1410)
• Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)
• Teutonic-Estonian War (Estonian Crusade) (1206-1227)
• Albigensian Crusade (1209- )
• Waldensian (Vaudois) Persecution (1211- )
• Children's Crusade (1212- )
• Fifth Crusade (1217-1221)
• Sixth Crusade (1228-1239);
• Papal Inquisition (1230s)
• Seventh Crusade (1248-1250)
• Papal bull authorizing torture by inquisitors (1252)
• Crusade against the Tartars (1259, 1389, 1398)
• Eighth Crusade (1270)
• Ninth Crusade (1271â€"1272)
• Aragonese Crusade (1284-1285)
• Alexandrian Crusade (1365)
• Crusade of Nicopolis (1396)
• Hussite (Bohemian) Wars (1420-1434)
• Crusade of Varna (1444)
• Crusade of 1456 (1456)
• Spanish Inquisition (1476-1834)
• Portuguese Inquisition (1497-1821)
• Roman Inquisition (1588-1858)
• Katharina Kepler's Witchcraft Trial (1616-20)
• Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
• Trial of Galileo (1633)
• Salem Witch Trials (1692)

And if you recall recent history, Irish Christians were fighting between themselves on religious grounds at the very end of the last century. I really don't think any of this makes God very happy, but, I am not as well versed in the thoughts of God as those religious leaders who claim to know God's thoughts. Remember, it is because they are "moved" by Him that they take the actions they take.

I am done thinking now.

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14 July 07 - 23:40Life in the scared lane

Quote from Bloomberg.com, "President George W. Bush rejected demands from lawmakers in his own political party to develop contingency plans for the Iraq war, including a withdrawal of U.S. troops."

For the record, this is a very misleading statement.  There are two representatives that have taken this position.  Holly Rosenkrantz (whoever she is) of Bloomberg should try to be a bit more balanced in her reporting.

I am also growing tired of the characterization of the war as "an unpopular war."  What's with that? Was there ever a popular war?  Is war supposed to be "popular?" I thought war is a competition of resolve between two entities.  In case the weenies of our country have not realized it, they are the ones who weaken our position.  We are no longer a strong country when we have the likes of the Democrat party exercising their power in this area based on polls or popular thinking.  I think it was wrong for them to seek power on the basis of stopping the war.  That alone was dispicable.  Recall that they are a party based on the belief that government should give the good life to everyone who wants it with no other reason than their desire to have things go their way.

With that in mind, what else would we expect from the Democrats.  They are the party that caters to the "me, me, me" people of our country (including non-citizens).  It is a bit surprising that any Republicans would not be able to figure out the reasons they need to support the war, but perhaps they are simply weak.

And so they cry, "Waah, waah, waah.  War makes me unhappy and is unpopular with me. Make it go away."

Well the war is "unpopular" with me, too.  I wish this had been a quick and easy war, but it is not, so I try to take it like somethiing other than a crybaby weeny.

Later.

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13 July 07 - 08:15Britney Spears Herself

My wife never listens to me.  Let me elaqborate on one instance.

When our daughter was young Britney Spears was a teenage sensation.  At this time I explained that Britney was simply a manufactured product created by her parents, entertainment managers, and opportunity.

But she can sing, was the arguement.  Sure she can, and so could the front two rows of ladies in the church choir each Sunday, but they aren't making albums.  Britney was.

She will disappear, I said.  She is not a true talent, she is eye candy, cuteness, a reasonable voice, and a lot of coaching and editing.

She is NOT on the same level as Elvis, Madonna, B B King, Prince, Joe Walsh, Paul McCartney, John Denver, and a long list of other DRIVEN musicians who ache to move you with a performance.  No way is she in their league.  No, way. 

Alecia Moore, Pink, has called Britney Spears an "entertainer" who is not a "real singer".   I wouldn't even go that far. She is only an illusion, an image of an entertainer. 

In fact, it is now worse than that.  She has turned into a drunk, druggie, spoiled brat, loose woman who is out of control and can't see beyond the end of her own nose.

Pink says Britney isn't a singer, she is only an entertainer.  Pink is too kind.

Sorry my honey, I was right on this one.

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12 July 07 - 08:45Memory enhancement

My Mom will appreciate this one!!

THIS IS A JOKE!!

There was an older couple who were having the usual problems remembering things.  The older you get the harder it is to remember, so they decided to take a memory course.

The instructor did a great job teaching them all sorts of great memory techniques, and the techniques worked. They worked so well that the couple had to show off to all their friends and neighbors.

The neighbors were also impressed. Some time later a neighbor walks up to the man as he is working in the yard.

The neighbor asks, "Hey, John, could you give me the name of the instructor for that memory course you took a while back?"

John looks up and thinks for a moment,  "Well, it was... um, ah, hmmm... let me think a bit..."

John thinks a bit more and a flash of inspiration hits his face.  He asks, "What's the name of that flower the women like so much?  You know the ones I mean, they grow on bushes and they smell real nice, but they have thorns on the stems?

Neighbor says, "Oh, you mean a rose?"

John replies, "Yeah, that's it!"

He turns and shouts into the house, "Hey, Rose, what was that memory course instructor's name?"

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11 July 07 - 08:08News Update and some RSS Babble

I changed the RSS news feed for the blog.  I don't know if any of you are aware of how the RSS feeds work, but if you do please let me know.

I can tell you this much.  RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." An RSS feed is basically just a file which can be read as a "web page." It seems they are written with XML (Extensible Markup Language) tags that are interpreted by an RSS aggregator in one way and a web browser another.  The files can also be read by a word processor or editor where there is no interpretation.

An aggregator basically rearranges and formats the RSS feed.  Feedsweep is a free service that will aggregate my chosen RSS feeds in my short news column to the left.  It takes the parts of the feed I want and acts like an editor by showing just how much I want to show in the format I want to show it.

It is possible to run my own aggregator on the web server, but I haven't felt the desire to learn the bits and pieces I need to do to do that.  Currently I am featuring only one feed, Yahoo's "odd news" feed.  I am not limited to one feed and I choose the number of articles listed as well as how much is listed.

Any time you see the little yellow XML tag on a site, you can assume it has an RSS feed.  Click on it and you will see the feed.  You can "subscribe" to the feed and your computer will update daily (or whatever) from my blog.

Enjoy the blog no matter how you access it.

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09 July 07 - 08:08A Doctor a day keeps the penny away

Ben Franklin provided us with a large number of slogans and wise sayings. Here are a few he didn't think of:

** Twelve Thoughts for Any Day **

1. Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.

2. There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.

3. When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.

4. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

5. Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.

6. A penny saved is a government oversight.

7. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

8. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

9. He who hesitates is probably right.

10. If you think there is good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.

11. If you can smile when things go wrong, you probably have someone in mind to blame.

12. The real purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

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08 July 07 - 10:10Second honeymoon

THIS IS A JOKE

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years before.

Because of their hectic schedules it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minneapolis and flew to Florida on Friday, and his wife was flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel and unlike years ago, there was a computer in his room and he decided to send an e-mail to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her e-mail address and without noticing his error, sent the e-mail to the wrong address.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a Minister who was called home to glory after suffering a heart attack. The widow decided to check her e-mail, expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and then fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room found his mother on the floor and then glanced up and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I have Arrived!

Dearest Love:

I know you are surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send e-mail to your loved ones. I have just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your rrival tomorrow and look forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is hot down here.

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07 July 07 - 08:08American Made

This lack of American desire to compete is one of my pet peeves. Looky here....

In 2006 Kia Motors of America broke ground for its first US assembly plant in West Point, Georgia. This plant will cost over $1 billion. Hyundai already has a $1.1 billion automotive assembly plant in Alabama which is one of the most advanced of its kind. The plant employs more than 2,000 highly skilled workers and began production of the Hyundai Sonata on May 20, 2005. This plant added the Santa Fe to the production line this year (2007).You know, I hear this world economy stuff over and over. The world is flat when it comes to manufacturing. OK, lets say it is. Why can't we use that to our advantage?

So the Koreans can make money making cars here.  Additionally, the Japanese car companies can make cars in the United States and make money, they have made Toyotas in the US for years. Lets check. Toyota currently operates thirteen vehicle, engine and parts plants in North America and will soon open a second plant at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.Oh, most have most of these plants in Mexico, right? Need that cheap labor...

Lets check. Here is an overview of Toyota's North American Engineering and Manufacturing:

In 2006, Toyota produced more than 1.55 million vehicles and 1.4 million engines at its North American manufacturing facilities.

By 2008, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build nearly 2.2 million cars and trucks in North America.

Annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totaled more than $29 billion.

North American Manufacturing Facilities:

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA)
Erlanger, KY

Bodine Aluminum, Inc. (Bodine)
St. Louis, MO; Troy, MO and Jackson, TN
Produces aluminum cylinder heads, cylinder blocks and other castings

Canadian Autoparts Toyota, Inc. (CAPTIN)
Delta, British Columbia
Produces 22 aluminum wheel models for Toyota's vehicles globally

New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI)
Fremont, CA
50-50 joint venture with General Motors
Produces the Toyota Tacoma, Corolla and Pontiac Vibe

TABC, Inc. (TABC)
Long Beach, CA
Produces steering columns, stamped parts, catalytic converters, coated substrates and after-market truck bed components
Produces stamped parts for Toyota Corolla, Matrix, and Pontiac Vibe
Assembly of medium-size commercial panel trucks for Hino Motors

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Inc. (TMMAL)
Huntsville, AL
Produces V6 and V8 engines for Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, NUMMI, Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi, Inc. (TMMMS)
Blue Springs, MS
Start of production by 2010
To produce the Toyota Highlander

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc. (TMMC)
Cambridge & Woodstock, Ontario
Cambridge: Produces the Toyota Corolla, Matrix and the Lexus RX350 - the first and only Lexus vehicle produced outside of Japan; four cylinder engine assembly.
Woodstock: Start of production: 2008, to produce the RAV4

Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California (TMMBC)
Tijuana, BC
Produces the Toyota Tacoma and Tacoma truck beds for NUMMI

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, Inc. (TMMI)
Princeton, IN
Produces the Toyota Tundra, Sequoia and Sienna

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK)
Georgetown, KY
Toyota's first wholly-owned manufacturing plant in North America
Produces the Toyota Camry, Solara and Avalon; Four cylinder and V6 engines
Camry hybrid production begins in late 2006

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. (TMMTX)
San Antonio, TX
Toyota's San Antonio plant opened in November 2006. When the plant reaches full operations next spring, it will have the capacity to produce 200,000 Tundra full-size pickup trucks and employ 2,000 team members. The plant represents an investment of $1.28 billion.

The 2,000-acre TMMTX site houses 21 suppliers who produce parts and components and ship them directly into the plant. The on-site suppliers include seven minority-owned joint ventures, will employ 2,100 at full production, and have cumulatively invested approximately $300 million.
Produces the Toyota Tundra

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia, Inc. (TMMWV)
Buffalo, WV
Machines and assembles four cylinder and V6 engines for TMMC and TMMI;
Produces automatic transmissions for TMMK, TMMC and TMMI

Subaru Indiana Automotive, Inc (SIA)
Lafayette, IN
Start of Toyota production in Spring 2007
To produce the Toyota Camry

It would seem that General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler need to rearrange their thinking. The $2000 per vehicle charge for healthcare costs is an accounting trick. If they want to overcome it they need to segment their businesses in their books and get some profitable economy cars on the market.

The lack of ingenuity and these companies is appalling.

Others can make money here, I suspect these American companies have overpaid high level management. Cronyism is what I suspect, but I have no way to prove it.

Maybe it is time to buy a "foreign" car that is made by Americans. I always try to resist this and support the big three, but they really need to get their "poop" together.

Come on Big Three guys, join the present. Make your move.

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06 July 07 - 08:08Boys and their toys...

This is a good old picture.  There are a lot of things in this picture that bring back memories.  I can't pinpoint the year, but believe it was probably 1964, although it could have been 1965.  One thing is for sure, it is Christmas.  I remember very clearly the year that my youngest brother Wendell got a slot car set.  Slot cars were big in the sixties and they could be had in different scales.  This set was a Mattel HO scale set which would have been what is called 1/72 scale.  This was a very popular slot car set at the time.

The house at 702 Ash Street had a full basement.  Almost any time of year we could use the basement to play.  The house was an older house and it had a large room that we used as a "play room."

Remember the cub scout uniforms?  Cub scouts make pinewood derby racecars.  Also, just up the road from our house was the county fair grounds which had a dirt racetrack used for stock car races.  In the Ben Franklin variety store there were cheap plastic cars which were a nice size and weight for rolling on an angled piece of plywood.

Back to the playroom.  In this room we took a piece of plywood and used roofing nails to make lanes for inclined races with the cheap plastic cars.  It was fun and sometimes my two brothers and myself found activities that we all three could do.  This plastic car racing was one of them.  We used oils for the axles and sandpaper and all manner of plans to make the gravity driven cars run faster.

But Christmas kicked it up a notch.  The slot cars were extremely fun and were the result of our parents seeing the correlation between the gravity cars we were using and the slot cars they bought us for Christmas.  They saw that we played together, and they liked that.

Well, it worked.  To make a long (very long) story short, the slot cars became a source of family pride and we had a huge four lane racetrack in the basement for years.  Great fun, great togetherness.

Later!

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05 July 07 - 08:08Almost an artist - Me!

Today I was browsing to a forum and noted a picture of a scary face which was called, "Scary."  This  face made me remember the vampire movies and comic books I used to read as a kid (see previous article for image).  Of all the scary movies I was most spooked by the vampires.  They had the ability to look normal, but then they grew fangs and became "rotten" looking.

In order to make the picture I envisioned I searched for the parts of the picture you see above.  I started with the girl and the house.

After adjusting the contrast on the house, I used the "oil painting" effect on the vampire girl and then found an edge feature called erode which made her look scarier.  I then made sure her background was a good mauve color so blend into the edges of her hair and face and did a transparent paste in front of the house.  This was the start of the scary girlfriend picture.

I do this in my old Jasc Paintshop Pro 7.  I have a newer versio, 10 I think, which was a Christmas gift, but it is sluggish when it runs and I feel clumsy since I am not used to the new placement of the features.  It is probably a poor choice for a professional, but since I am not a professional I get by with using it.

From this point I pasted the house and girl onto the sky background, darkened it by using a paint pour of black with a high tolerance and low opacity.  Next I pasted in the bats followed by the moon which included a few stars.  In each instance I sized and prepared the picture to be pasted so it would give the desired size and effect.  With the bats I made a second picture and positioned them repeatedly until I got the effect I wanted.

Finally I painted in the darkness at the left which covered the green bushes and gives the effect of a dark area, perhaps a tree.  The cloud over the moon is partly copied and then enhanced with the paintbrush.

I made a mask for the girl's face to imitate light coming from the left and touched up a bit with a build up brush.

There she is, my scary girlfriend.

I like art, but I'll be darned if I can draw.  This electronic cut and paste stuff makes me happy!!

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04 July 07 - 11:38Time for a Parade!

This is an old picture of my Dad (Dick Armstrong), and my brothers Charles (left), and Wendell (Center) with me at the right sporting some rather large ears. All the better to hear my mom, who is behind the camera, saying "smile" and "cheese." As a family we loved our cameras.

We are all in our uniforms of the day. The location is 702 Ash Street, Lisbon, North Dakota. The fact that Charles and I are wearing Cub Scout uniforms and it is summer suggests that Wendell is in the first grade, Charles in the third, and I in the fifth. This would be the last time I wear my uniform for something official. You can see that I have all three sets of badges which were wolf, bear, and lion. this is the triangular patches that form a "V" on my pockets.

Charles will go on to be the only one of us to become a boy scout after his three years as a cub scout. My Dad is sporting an American Legion outfit. The event is probably not Independence Day, although it might be, but is more likely Memorial Day. There would have been a parade for either, but the Cub Scouts would have been easier to organize in May before school was out.

A parade for the fourth would have mustered at the south end of town in the area of the railroad station and grain elevators. Once assembled the parade would march north and dissipate in the area of the bridge. If the parade was for memorial day there would be a ceremony on the bridge and one at the cemetery, just a bit further north (up the hill).

On Memorial Day the parade would have consisted of a band or two (the high school band and junior high band), convertibles with the mayor and other assorted elected officials, Miss Lisbon, some cars and pickups from local businesses throwing candy at kids, the boy scouts, the cub scouts, the American Legion, horses, a simple float or two, some times Shriners, and probably a thing or two from another town.

Everybody shows up for something like this. On the fourth the makeup would be the same, but probably without the school bands. When the school bands did not show up a truckload or two of fun loviing adults who thought they could play would drive in the parade.

Yup, this picture is around 1962, in spring or early summer. When I think of it that way it seems like a long time ago.

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02 July 07 - 19:16What Robin Williams didn't say.....

Robin Williams probably didn't say this (even though some say he did).  Some of the ideas are incredibly good no matter who said it.  I think Mark Twain wishes he had said this, I know I do.

A GREAT PLAN

Here's the plan:

1) The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past and present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini and the rest of them 'good old boys'. We will never "interfere" again.
2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No more sneaking through holes in the fence.
3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are. France would welcome them.
4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit. No one from a terrorist nation would be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself, don't hide here. Asylum would not ever be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers.
5) No "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby.
6) The US will make a strong effort to become self sufficient energy wise. This will include developing non-polluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.
7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else.
8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere". They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if any anyway.
9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an island some place. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, it would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.
10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer.
11) And lastly bring back the manufacturing from our country, curtail the cheap imports from all over the world and put the middle class back to work in our country.

Now, ain't that a winner of a plan ??

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01 July 07 - 19:59Some of my sick thoughts

Sandra Wrote........

Lincoln,

Michael Moore.  His latest film is named "Sicko" and it's about the state of healthcare, associated expenses, the cost of insurance if they'll even cover in this country Vs so many other countries with better doctors, healthcare, etc., for really cheap or free.

Anyway, he was on Leno last night.  He'd heard all about how things are going at Guantanamo.  The detainees there have the most incrediible care -- operations for whatever, top surgeons, free drugs, special care for anything they need, all sorts of treatments and tests (Osama may be there for his kidney dialysis?).  AND WE'RE PAYING FOR IT!

The firefighters at the Twin Towers have all sorts of medical problems now from all the shit they inhaled and either can't afford or are refused medical insurance (I guess it would be too ongoing and is a preexisting condition with any new company.  BROTHER!)  

Soooo, he loaded a bunch of the 911 firefighters on a boat and motored to Guantanamo to get them the same sort of treatment the government is paying for.   They weren't allowed to land.  So, he took them to Havana.  They were not Cuban citizens, obviously, but they were given the most incredible care and treatment for a teeny weeny FRACTION of what it would cost here.  And one woman DID go snooping around at night to find out if Cuba was doing it all as some sort of publicity stunt, trying to make the US look bad.  She reports, No, everyone there is treated the same way.

Interesting, whether you use it or not.  Bears more looking into.  You know that physicians in England are paid bonuses each year for patients who are treated well and get over whatever afflictions or are cured of or just live longer with better quality  because of their treatment?

See ya sometime!

Sandra

Lincoln Replied...........

Sandra,

Actually I have spent a bit of time researching this as there is no balance in what this idiot presents.  He is beyond the scale when it comes to being far left and is probably one of the most harmful elements in our country when it comes to his patriotism.

With that said, he is allowed to do that in the United States (present biased unbalanced unscientific  and, actually, distorted viewpoints) based on our bill of rights.

Here is some of the data I have found, and remember that it is difficult to compare directly as the methods for collecting data in our countries differ.  This is information from the CIA, a fairly reliable source of information/

United States
6.4 deaths/1,000 live births
78.0 years
99% literacy
Population 301,139,947
3.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Internet Users 205,327,000 million (68.2%)

Cuba
6.0 deaths/1,000 live births
77.1 years
99.8% literacy
Population 11,394,043
-1.57 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Internet Users 190,000 (1.6%)

Our live birth death rate and life expectancy is very similar to Cuba as is our literacy rate.  Both of our countries offer a reasonable chance at being born alive and, then living to a ripe old age.

However, for every 1000 in our population 3.05 persons migrate to our country while in Cuba 1.57 move out.  In fact, in Cuba they have no way of knowing this type of thing since private citizens in Cuba are prohibited from buying computers or accessing the Internet without special authorization.  Foreigners may access the Internet in large hotels but are subject to firewalls.  Some Cubans buy illegal passwords on the black market or take advantage of public outlets to access limited email using the government-controlled "intranet."

This is simply a backdrop.  The healthcare system in the United States  is a bit more difficult to understand than that of other countries because it is more of a patchwork.

Taking sick people to Guantanamo is not only idiotic, but is an indication of the type of mentality the Mr. Moore has.  Because of his lack of balance it is difficult to compare reality to his unrealistic stunts.

Like I said, I have not seen "Sicko" but I did see "Bowling for Columbine" and found it to lack a sense of reality.  Marla and Ashlyn saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" which was equally idiotic.  None of us want to see Sicko, as it doesn't interest us on any level,  entertainment or otherwise.

So my problem is how to try to analyze a complex issue distorted by an idiot without giving some sense of validity to his invalid arguements.

If I figure this out I will put something on the blog, as it is an interesting topic.

By the way, people in Cuba have no way of even knowing about things like this as they are considered to be simply elements of the state.  They are kept healthy as part of the overall good.

We treat prisoners of war in a humane manner.  It is our way.  It is nice to know that Cuba treats its citizens the same way we treat our prisoners of war in more ways than one.  Well, maybe internet use is a bit higher in Cuba....

Maybe I can just put this email in the blog.

Lincoln

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