Monthly Archives: August 2017

Presidential Eclipse

This is rich. The Sun and the Moon.  Most people probably saw this somewhere, but it is worth mentioning once more that it would be in the president’s own best interest if someone took his phone away.  Somehow Trump thinks this meme tweeted by one of his devotees was worthy of his retweet.  It’s a well known fact the man has the attention span of a gold fish, but if he thought it through he would realize this is hardly flattering.  We know English grammar and vocabulary were not exactly his scholastic strengths, and obviously any kind of subject involving history must have been a challenge for him.  But now maybe we have an understanding of where his climate change denial comes from.  Science class must have been a big bother to him.  He probably felt it was more important  to get a a good look up little Lucy’s skirt than it was to pay attention on the day his teacher explained a solar eclipse.  Actually you couldn’t ask for a more appropriate analogy to the Trump presidency.

We had a former president who was a bright star of  intelligence and dignity, was eloquent, diplomatic, principled, and respectful, and then along comes the next one and the light went out.  And an eclipse only lasts for a short period of time.  Let’s hope there is something merciful on the horizon and the Trump  presidency moves into its short and final stages.

The reaction of course is something we should expect from this man who seems so desperate for attention and adoration, but not only did President “Thumbs for brains” appear clueless about the meme itself by retweeting it, but it turns out the sender of this ironic tweet is a practicing white supremacist.  Once again, how appropriate.

Who Are We?

I think I have mentioned I read a lot. It’s the way I cope, living day to day in Trump world.  Lately I have developed a curiosity about things that are existential and philosophical.  Probably a big waste of my time.  I should be watching sports on TV.  I like to read about evolution, and books about that topic will inevitably ask the big questions, Who am I and Where did I come from and How did I come to be here?  Well shit, I know who I am, at least I know my own name.  And I came from hard working parents who were raised in the the corn belt with midwestern values and settled and raised their family in a very conservative western, overwhelmingly white, state.  I never saw a black person in my home town and it was not until I went to college in Omaha that I had any contact with members of that race.  And I am embarrassed to say that in spite of having absolutely no interaction with a black person, when I was young I had prejudices against them that were of course unfounded and ridiculous.  Those misconceptions were a product of my father, a member of the “Greatest Generation,” the generation that saved the world from Naziism but paradoxically had engrained in it feelings about black society that ranged from prejudicial naiveté, as was the case with my father, to outright hateful bigotry.

Stupid Dicks

But I grew, matured, and became aware of racial/social injustice, and believed that, slowly but surely, as a country we were progressing likewise.  And so It is upsetting to me to see something so disconnected from American principles like we all witnessed in Charlottesville Virginia earlier this month.  I know who I am.  But who are these stupid dicks and where in hell did they come from?  Those are the big questions I have.  What was striking to me and particularly alarming as well was the fact that the white supremacist faction during this demonstration was pretty much all young men.  What I expect to see at these supremacy gatherings are old farts, men my age who still have not been able to cast aside the prejudices of their fathers.  I see far more men of the generation behind me participating in these nefarious demonstrations.  It is a generation that by now should have a better grasp of racial issues and  a more flourishing respect for humanity.  I can’t help feeling that instead of our society evolving forward with more understanding and compassion, it is slipping backward and becoming  more prejudicial and tribal.

I seriously doubt the morons carrying tiki torches and screaming racial and religious insults were in Charlottesville to express disapproval of removing a statue.  They were there to foment trouble and express hatred.  And yes there were those with an opposing viewpoint that felt it was important to take a stand and physically confront the rabble of white supremacists.  Certainly that is regrettable.  But to say there was a moral equivalency between the two groups, as did our ignorant, unhinged president, is absurd.  One side was spewing racial and religious hatred and the other had members among it that became lamentably but understandably incensed enough to react.

Perhaps people should take some time off from their busy programs of harassment and give serious thought to role reversal.  Envision a time gone by where your white ancestors were abducted from a far away land, chained together and stuffed on slave ships for a couple of months, forced to labor in a foreign country of ruling blacks, and were whipped, raped, mutilated, hung and abused in every way imaginable,   Of course there were no legal repercussions for any of the atrocities because slaves were considered property and in the eyes of a slave holder had little connection to humanity.  And lets say after a bit of time a large segment of the black population decided there should be an end to all the cruelty, but another segment of the black population decided it was not about to relinquish its peculiar institution of inhumane conduct and thus raised an army that initiated a treasonous war with the intension of governmental separation.  Then that war took the lives of over a half million of the country’s black men, but as horrible as it was, at least it once and for all put an end to the practice of white enslavement.  And imagine that even though slavery was officially abolished, a good percentage of blacks maintained an erroneous sense of superiority over the white race, accompanied with practices of intimidation, and inaugurating upon it one indignity after another.  You can bet as time moved along the white population would not appreciate seeing any kind of reminder about that scandalous past.

To those legitimately  participating in this demonstration or any other for sentimental or historical reasons and think it is important to save these statues, personally I would not argue your point.   Save all those statues of Confederate soldiers, but put them in museums all around the county and attach to each a narrative that explains what the Confederate South in America stood for, which was slavery, intolerance, and an appalling example of man’s inhumanity towards his fellow man.  It is indeed important to save history, but it is just as important to remember it.

 

 

 

 

Shelter

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!  Autumn is close approaching, so it’s that time of year you know.  But are you ready for some FALLOUT?!  Armageddon is just around the bend, so you might want to prepare.  Have you stocked up on bottled water?  How about your basement?  You could be living down there for a bit, so you should think about making it comfortable.  I wouldn’t delay sealing off your basement  windows much longer.   Home Depot is already running out of cinder-block.  Damn I just thought of something.  I don’t have any kind of generator.  It’s football season for Pete sakes. I simply must have ESPN access.  I know for a fact the NFL is not about to let a little nuclear attack interrupt its cash flow.   My big screen is in the basement at least, so I’m in good shape there.  But if my only electric power source is a gas- fired generator, do I have to step outside to fill it up?  Maybe I can trick my wife into taking care of that.

What else should I get?  Of course I need some snacks.  I really like those lime chips.  I want to reserve all my generator output for my TV, so I probably can’t afford the power drain of a refrigerator.  It would be nice to have ice for my scotch, but there are worse things.  Of course I have plenty of scotch on hand.  Geezuz I hope you’re not one of those dumb bastards that’s never prepared for a scotch emergency.  I have a shower in my basement, but I have no idea how long I’ll have running water, so my guess is it could get kind of stinky down there.  Do you think two cases of Febreze will do?  And while I’m on the subject of stink, what about taking a dump?  How do you handle that?  Sure I have a toilet in my basement, but again it’s bound to stop flushing at some point.  I think what is commonly recommended is a bunch of buckets.  So I’ll get some of those. But at some point you have to empty them, right?  Son of a bitch!  I suppose I’ll have to be the one to quick-step outside and take care of that.  It’s just fair.  My wife handles the generator and I take care of the squat buckets.  If you know anything about marriage, a stable one is all about compromise.  Please don’t let my neighbor know I’ll be  emptying my buckets over the fence.

The bad thing is there won’t be football on all the time, so I need some other form of entertainment. My wife and I aren’t terribly fond of card games.  But we both really enjoy reading.  At least we have plenty of books.  It would be nice if the two dip shits that seem intent on doing all they can to get us into this mess were so inclined An Incurious President

Relativity

I’m 70 years old today!.  Everyone says that’s just impossible, that I don’t look a day over 50.  OK.  It’s Trump-speak.  Alternative fact. The word Everyone should be more like “Everyone,” in quotes, which would then more accurately qualify the statement to include only those enduring nuclear cataracts and acquaintances afflicted with insufferable niceness.  But still, looks aren’t everything.  Sure I’m losing hair in areas desired and growing it in places that seem counter evolutionary.  And the leathered skin on the backs of my hands has all the look of a Slinky in motion whenever I rotate a wrist.  I’m considering an upgrade from bifocals to tris as well as another new knee, and what the fuck is that little lump doing on the inside of my calf.  But guess what?  My gut might be expanding, but so is my brain capacity.  I know some shit.  Inside my head is a treasure trove of facts and ideas straining to escape. After 70 years of storage, it’s difficult to contain it all.

Contemplating on Lake Tipsy

For instance, did you know a ten gallon hat will only hold 3/4 of a gallon.  Is that a bunch of shit or what?  And during your lifetime you will create enough saliva to fill a couple of good-sized swimming pools.  That means if you hang around your local western wear store for a few days you could fill up one of those ten gallon hats.  Serves those bastards right for dicking us over for so many years.

I Have an Axe & Know How to Use It

King Henry VIII slept with a gigantic axe beside him. Maybe you don’t find that surprising since the guy was known to have ended a marriage or two by utilizing the instrument.  You would think any of his wives that still had their heads attached would have considered the practice a bit odd though.  But I bet you didn’t  know I sleep with an axe too.  Well, not all the time.  Just when I’m camping.  And I guess you wouldn’t call it gigantic.  It’s my camping hatchet.  So far my wife hasn’t voiced any concerns. Another thing.  Besides the hatchet on one side of my bedroll, I sleep with an ice pick on the other.  Consider this knowledge fair warning if you have intentions of sneaking up on me in the middle of the night.

As you might have guessed  I’m very much an outdoorsy kind of guy, so I know a lot of stuff about the animal kingdom too.  Billy goats urinate on their heads, and birds don’t urinate at all.  A flock of crows is not called a flock.  It is called a “murder.”  Look it up if you don’t believe me. Every human spends a half hour as a single cell, thus we are basically related to early protists like amoeba.  Moving up slightly on the evolutionary ladder are the multi cellular Coelenterates which  encompasses the animal phyla Cnidaria, although the validity of this classification is disputed since the relationship with it and the Ctenophora is not as distinct as once thought.  But all you really need to know about Coelenterates is since they use their solitary orifice as both a mouth and anus, it has been determined it is from this phyla from which Donald Trump has descended.

I know a lot of science too, and not just piddly stuff.  I’m talking about complicated shit, like relativity.  E=mc2 my friend.  If I wanted I could explain this to you, but it took Einstein himself  an entire day to explain it to a bunch of smarty pants physicists back in 1905, and I haven’t got all day.  To make it simple for you I’ve come up with my own postulation about relativity. Observe the following:

       where R represents basic relativity, meaning relatives of the in-law dimension, god I hope you know what the two parallel lines mean,   in this case means a regular pie that you might eat, not that math equivalent of 3.14, (although coincidentally that was the number of pies my uncle Ralph ate years ago at the church pie-eating contest right before he collapsed with a cholesterol induced myocardial infarction)  and of course even you can figure out what a sad faced emoji represents.

Since they likely have no clear understanding of the physical laws and adaptations required in their new world order, I usually take a moment to explain my theory to any incoming fellow in-law. The other day I sat down and did just that with the most recent in-law addition, Steve, and though his mind tends to wander on occasion I think he finally has a decent grasp of how the whole thing works.  In it’s simplest terms, what the equation postulates is that at any point in time, there exists the probability of an in-law of any dimension shoving a pie in your face.  I derived my theory back in 2002 at the Old Mill laboratory on Green Lake MN.  That’s when my sister-in-law Kim smeared my face with a piece of chocolate cake.  Since this is my theory, I have  taken the liberty to incorporate both pie and cake into the symbol  .  If you feel there are other variables that should be included in my pie/cake symbol, let me know and maybe we can work something out.  I heard Nikki once threw a worm at my fellow brother-in-law Jim in the fishing boat, but it never hit him in the face, so obviously that would never survive scientific scrutiny.

The best thing about my theory is there is an applicable companion one that  I call the Inverse Theory of Relativity.  It is represented by this equation:

     where every variable is the same as it is in my Regular Theory of Relativity, except that the sad faced emoji is replaced with a happy faced emoji  because it is my face when I blasted Kim’s face with piece of chocolate cake in 2012 at the Long Climb House on Green Lake.  You can not help but conclude from both of my theories there seems to be some kind of evolutionary displacement of pie by cake going on in the universe.  I don’t know for sure if this is related to climate change, but rest assured I intend to get to the bottom of it all.  I have deep affection for pie and would hate to see anything bad happen to it.

No researching slouch himself, here you see my nephew neck deep in some scientific inquiry of his own on the beach at Green Lake.

As you can see I’m a pretty deep thinker and obviously don’t just sit around doing nothing.  Ok I do take a nap daily but that’s because there’s a lot of neuro-electrical activity going on and the generator has to be recharged.  I realize there’s a good chance you might not be so equipped, so you probably don’t  understand.  If you ever want to achieve my level of intelligence by the time you are 70, it might be a good idea if you stop wasting your time reading shit like this and open up a book* for a change. Trust me it’s not going to kill you.

In parting, let me just say if you leave everything to the last minute…it will only take a minute.  And worms taste like fried bacon.

*Should you be interested in other compelling information like this, buy my book “Fishing with Bobby and Mike” you cheap bastard.  Geezus you’ve got Amazon Prime by now don’t you?