Back Better

Well, my back has finally improved to the point where I can actually sit in front of my computer for long enough to type in a blog post. I spent of most the last two weeks being lazy, reading and watching TV as my brain turned slowly to mush. Hopefully a little time doing some actual creative activity like writing in my blog will counteract the effects of all that wasted time. --gk

Bad Back

The bad back is back. I've been pretty sore for most of this week. I tried to work out on Monday but that just made it worse. It usually helps to do some type of exercise, but when I get it wrong it makes it worse, and I got it really wrong this time. So ... I've been just laying around in bed reading or watching TV most of the time, and I ran out of new books. TV this time of year mostly sucks, so whatcha gonna do? Rage, rage against the aching of the back. (My apologies to Dylan Thomas.) --gk

ZOOfotos The Border Band 08/04/2006

The Border Band entertained us at the ZOO with some of their own special brand of Rawhide Rock on Friday, August 4th, 2006.
Check 'em out at:
The Border Band 

... See my Tabblo>

Still Hot

I haven't quite melted yet thanks to the application of liberal amounts of air conditioning as required and the fact that I live in a basement where the outside temperatures have a lesser effect. People who live upstairs from me have been running their A/C continuously for past few days. It was only 104 yesterday, but that's about as hot as I ever remember for Lincoln. Not much fun. It's supposed to cool off today, but I'll believe it when I feel it.

Hot!!

We're back to the normal weather for this time of year in Nebraska, HOT. It's not too bad for me, since my basement stays fairly cool even when it's in the 90s and 100s outside. I just open the windows after it cools off at night. That doesn't work when it stays up in the 80s all night, so I do occasionally use a little A/C ... only a couple of times so far this year after it got up to 108 last week.

I usually don't mind either heat or cold while I'm awake. I like the variable weather in the plains of the Midwest, but when I'm asleep I need to stay warm. My body slows down a lot. My pulse gets down into the 20s and my body temperature get down to around to 96 or 97. I guess that's not too far from normal considering the amount that I exercise and the fact that I've been on a caloric restricted diet for over 30 years. I generally only eat 1500 to 1800 calories a day compared to the normal 2400 to 2700 required for my activity level. I'm fairly skinny, 6 ft - 140 lb, as a result, but I seem to also be very healthy. I save a lot on groceries too. --gk

Computer Problems

I've been having some computer problems with my desktop the last couple of days. It would boot up, but then the screen would go dark after a minute or two. Nothing really consistent but very annoying. I tried a few things, and finally used Symantec/Norton GoBack to return the configuration to the last one that seemed to work. That seemed to solve the problem. I was amazed. I've been running that installation of XP for two years or so, and that's usually long enough for extreme bit rot to set in. So far I seem to have gotten lucky, (Knock on wood.) I just hope it stays that way.

Poor Design

The human body is just so poorly designed! If the so-called Intellegent Design Theory is correct, how come the design is so damned poor? Backs and knees are extremely poorly designed. They fail on almost everyone in less than the expected human lifetime. I really don't think that you can call that intelligent. It would really take very little to make all the human musculoskeletal structure much better than it is, make us all extremely athletic. Nobody with any intelligence would have designed in the possibility of becoming morbidly obese, yet a large percentage of Americans are just that. And the percentage is increasing.

What brings all this up and makes me so testy about it is that my back is acting up again. I've learned exercises and things to avoid to keep it in line, but it periodically ignores all my careful tenderness and lets me down anyway. Oh well, we are born to suffer, and then we die. --gk

It's Hot

Well, really it's just warm. I like weather, and I even enjoy extremes. That's why I live here in the Midwest. We get most of the extremes except for hurricanes, but the tornados are just about as exciting on a local level, and we don't need to build all those levees.

I've been waiting for this Global Warming thing to kick in and give us some really exciting stuff, but it doesn't seem to be working that way. They're getting all the fun stuff on the coasts, and we just get drought. Summer temperatures haven't really seemed to increase any, although the winter temperatures do seem to have gone up some. I hardly had to turn on my furnace at all last winter.

It looks like Southern California is overdue for another big earthquake too. They have all the fun. Of course we do have that really big volcano under Yellowstone. If that baby lets go, Nebraska could be buried under several feet of ash. And we could always hope that the New Madrid fault down around St. Louis could have another coniption. Take our minds off the Mideast for awhile. (I'm making an assumption here. I know that I have a mind, but the evidence from TV and other forms of popular culture seems to indicate that I'm in the minority hereabouts.)

Antediluvian Flatus

That's just a fancy way to say 'Old Fart,' but I get to add another year to my age today, so I guess it's fairly accurate.

I'm planning on going out to celebrate this evening; so if you happen to be driving around downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, be careful not to run over any drunks lying around in the gutters. It might be me.

I HATE MORNINGS!!!

I really hate mornings. I really hate getting up out of a nice warm bed and facing all that horrid sunshine or rain or whatever. I used to put my (Very Loud) alarm clock a full room away, so it forced me to actually get out of bed and move around and get my heart started, etc. I have even been known to refuse to go to bed just so I wouldn't have to get up the next morning. It doesn't work. Eventually your body forces you to go to sleep, and it's better not to do it while driving or even walking.

Now that I'm retired and have no earthly reason for early rising, it seems easier, and I do seem to manage to get myself started almost every day unless I am actually sick. The process seems to be so painful though, that I usually need to bribe myself with the promise of a few hours of fun playing on the computer instead of getting anything useful done.

Coffee is my friend. Without coffee there is no such thing as morning. All praise to the god of coffee. Is there a god of coffee? Should I start a new religion? If it will make mornings more bearable, I will do it. Well, perhaps some things are a bit beyond my aged bones, but I'd be happy to make the coffee and watch while someone else does the contortions.

Best Breakfast Ever

Heinz toasts new product -- 5/19/2006

From: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Austrailia)

FOR those who find baked beans on toast just too messy to put together, help is on the way. Heinz has devised a frozen baked bean sandwich which simply needs to be heated in a toaster.

Heinz chief Bill Johnson said the company needed to give people "new ways to use beans. If people take the time to cook beans and put it on toast, why shouldn't we cut the process for them and give them beans on toast?" he said.

The technology is being developed by Heinz researchers in New Zealand.

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The main problem with this story is that it's about something happening in New Zealand, and it appeared in an Austrailian paper. That almost always seems to mean that it's a hoax of some kind.

Baked beans on toast doesn't sound all that bad to an old bachelor like me. Just two ingredients really, although the toast does require a bit of preparation, which is a definite negative. It covers two of the basic food groups, your can of beans and your bread. If you have a can of beer with it, you're pretty much golden. One problem that might bother those with higher culinary aspirations is the fact that all that stuff is pretty much the same color, so if you happen to have some still green celery or pickles (much more likely in bachelor pads) around, they might be a good addition. Remember that mustard is yellow, so it's a good addition too, and you can make a nice design on top to impress your girlfriend.

The BBC on UFOs

UFO study finds no sign of aliens

Mark Simpson -- BBC News

A confidential Ministry of Defence report on Unidentified Flying Objects has concluded that there is no proof of alien life forms.

In spite of the secrecy surrounding the UFO study, it seems citizens of planet Earth have little to worry about.

The report, which was completed in 2000 and stamped "Secret: UK Eyes Only", has been made public for the first time.

Only a small number of copies were produced and the identity of the man who wrote it has been protected.

His findings were only made public thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, after a request by Sheffield Hallam University academic Dr David Clarke.

The four-year study - entitled Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK - tackles the long-running question by UFO-spotters: "Is anyone out there?"

The answer, it seems, is "no".

The 400-page report puts it like this: "No evidence exists to suggest that the phenomena seen are hostile or under any type of control, other than that of natural physical forces."

It adds: "There is no evidence that 'solid' objects exist which could cause a collision hazard."

So if there are no such things as little green men in spaceships or flying saucers, why have so many people reported seeing them?

Well, here is the science bit.

"Evidence suggests that meteors and their well-known effects and, possibly some other less-known effects are responsible for some unidentified aerial phenomena," concludes the report.

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Well, darn! I was hoping that the aliens would land and take over. They couldn't possibly do any worse than our current leaders. Could they? Well, I guess they could start eating us, but I'd probably be OK. I'm so skinny that I'd be last one they'd chose for the table.

Birthday Gift Ideas

People have occasionally asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I thought I'd publish this gift idea. I do have a fondness for pictures of dead presidents and even greater fondness for pictures of Salmon P. Chase. Sounds like a breed of underwater dogs bred to retrieve fish. Nevertheless, this is one of my favorite portraits. --gk

Elderly v.s. Dirty Old Man

I believe that yesterday was the first time that I've ever referred to myself as elderly. On the other hand, I've owned up to being a dirty old man since I was a sophomore in college back in the 1960s. I've also given up referring to myself as "The World's Greatest Single Individual Living Human Being." Used to be my stock answer to, "How are ya?" It did seem to amuse people for quite a few repetitions, or maybe my friends were just shallow or had short memories. I don't think anyone ever thought I was serious, but I did meet one young lady who thought I was arrogant and self centered.

I suppose I am a bit arrogant in that I do have a lot of faith in my understanding of the world. I do have some standards that I like to maintain in chosing the people that I associate with, but I don't really go to any great lengths to disparage other people or avoid them unless they make me seriously angry or ill. I will respond to claims of fact that seem to be wrong or stupid, but I don't claim to be an authority. I just point out where such claims may be verified or falsified by generally accepted sources. More often I make jokes that show the claim in a humorous light without laughing directly at the claimant.

I don't like discourtesy, violence, or angry argument. I do like serious debate and humorous repartee, which is French for conversation. I do dislike the French also. They are so impressed with themselves; however, that I'm sure they don't care.

Writely Blog Post

This is an attempt to post to my Blog from Writely. Let's see if it works? --gk

Elderly Lincoln Man Almost Drowned in Bed!!

It rained several inches in Lincoln this weekend, and some of the water seeped down into my basement apartment. I was forced to do a bit of mopping, but my kitchen floor is now as clean as can be. Of course this happened right after I'd cleaned the floor anyway, but now it's been rinsed several times. I'd move except that my landlord likes me and keeps my rent low because I cause so few problems ... just got me a new stove and refrigerator and replaced my shower too. The apartment as a whole just got a new washer and dryer as well.

I'd like for it to dry out for a while though, so I can get a little biking in and go out to see all the spring flowers and green grass. I expect even with all that rain we're still in drought conditions because of all the non rainy days for the last couple of years, so we can still use a bit more. Just hold off for a few days. --gk

More Food Worship??

I ran into this little guy on my way downtown last Friday night. He was just sitting there by the side of the walk, so I thought I'd try to get a picture. As soon as I knelt down, he came right over and checked out the camera to see if it was edible. I had to move it back a little to get this picture. He came right up to my shoe but lost interest when he found out that I wasn't actually going to feed him.

I guess it really wasn't fair. He was doing all this posing for me, and I didn't have any food to give him. I guess that's the breaks when you go out panhandling.

Food Worship in the United States

I knew Americans were getting overweight and even obese, but worshipping produce? This is a couple of miles beyond silly and over there with the UFO nuts and the alien abductees. Look, God is communicating with me through my tomato! I mean doesn't he know how to dial a phone or something?

Are we supposed to look for concealed messages from God whenever we eat any fruit or vegetables. What about pasta? Is angel hair pasta some kind of mysterious message from the heavens? Who can repair my alphabet soup if the messages from God aren't coming through by the letters in my bowl? Do I need to take it to a priest and have it blessed or something? Did the person with the sacred tomato win the lottery the next day? I bet they did. So many questions, so few answers. --gk

I Guess I'm the April Fool!

Science, or at least some cartoon animals, have finally discovered what makes relationships so darn difficult. I leave you to ponder the following.

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Of course there is some hope for those of us with overactive imaginations or delusions of adequacy. We can just develop a relationship with an entirely imaginary person and redo mistakes until we get them to come out right.

Next year on Valentines Day I'm going to ask women to be my imaginary girlfriends. That way I can have as many as I want without having to worry about all the entanglements or remembering the their names and buying them gifts on their birthdays and stuff like that.

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OH! I AM SO COMBOBULATED!!

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Well, it's nice to know that there is a technical term for my condition. I think it would be a little more impressive if I converted it into fake Latin as Combobulatus Terminalius. Then whenever people ask me how I am I can just say, "Well, I'm combobulatus terminalius, but it isn't serious."

I used to say, "I'm the worlds greatest single individual living human being." so fast that nobody could understand it, but that's so patently false that I finally gave up on it shortly after entering puberty.

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Now at last here's an award that I'm sure that I can qualify for. As soon as I get that Perfect Procrastinator award at the next meeting of the Procrastinator's Club, I'm going to find out how to apply. Unfortunately, something always seems to come up to put off the programs for the Procrastinators, so it may be awhile.