CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
Twenty years ago California passed a laws to make our total environment accessible to wheelchairs and other disabilities. This included all apartments and commercial buildings. Money was no object. The Feds followed soon after following California’s pioneering efforts. The concept of “Cost Benefit Ratio” is an unknown concept with our government entities. These laws are always easily passed, as no politician would vote no on such a controversial law. I’m not bitching about the fact that such laws are passed, but how such laws are written and interpreted as a zero tolerance concept. Such laws as the ADA (Americans with Disability Act) , are so complicated and fuzzy the spawned groups who made a good living off it.
Initially no one knew who was in charge of enforcing these laws. Building officials didn’t know much about the law, but it soon became prevalent in all aspects of our lives, buses, trains, streetcars had to retrofit in a hurry to avoid huge penalties from individuals & groups who had their rights violated.. There is virtually no way to win such a lawsuit for a small business but cities & large corporations scrambled to conform.
The concept of the ADA is that all people, regardless of their infirmity, must be able to use all facilities like the rest of humanity. They make absurd claims that 40 million Americans are handicapped. This means partial blind, deaf or just a broken leg from your skiing accident.
Let’s take a look at the area that really upsets me, the replacement of all curb ramps in all intersections in all the cities and towns of the U.S. I’m not complaining about a curb ramp has to be installed where there is none. My problem rests where I see a ramp being jack-hammered out after five years in order to install the newer, upgraded design. You’ve seen these replaced with a slightly different slope, a nice bright yellow feely pad, plus a level area at the bottom fills up with water when it rains.
The costs of the upgrades add up to an astronomical amount. I’ve checked with various cities and I’m told each one costs about $5,000, if there are no problems or infrastructure to change. Does anyone not believe that a powerful lobby pushed thru these new versions that require the yellow pads, which cost about $350 each. Just do the math, Sebastopol has about 100 intersections times four ramps equals a couple of million dollars. Meanwhile our roads are falling apart due to lack of funds.
Nobody seems to be upset by these costs, as they say, well, the Feds pay for all this. But I see that my taxes pay for all this. I don’t mind doing it once, but changing ramps every 5 - 10 years is plain crazy. Zero tolerance is also part of the problem, 1/4" tolerance in most cases. Well, the world is not made that way. If not, the Department of Injustice will see to it that you are punished.
POLITICAL DICTIONARY
Democracy People meet & exercise the government in person
(For small areas only)
Republic People assemble & administer it by their representatives & agents
(Large areas only)
Senate Two reps/State
House of Representatives By population. About 30,000 per rep.?
So you see, we don’t want to impress Democracy on the world, we want to get everyone to form a republic. Let’s get with it, Talibans!
But Sparta, Athens, Rome & Carthage were Republics, although they didn’t let the riff- Raff vote, only landholders.
NOT EXACTLY A NOVEL
Recently, I finished reading THE FEDERALIST, 85 essays written by Madison, Jefferson and Jay (Who’s he?), in about three months just prior to the ratification of the Constitution in 1888. It has become the classical interpretation of the Constitution. I had always wanted to read it and lo & behold, there it appeared at the Graton Post Office where we leave and pick up books.
I had always thought the Federlists were people who wanted too much power for a Federal government, but it turns out they were just rational , intelligent beings who wanted to have a government of all 13 colonies. There’s all kind of interesting shit in there, like, some states wanted to break up into 3 nations, or two nations instead of just one United States. (North and South, for instance).
These gents gave detailed arguments pro and con for all the issues of our proposed Constitution. For instance, if the House of Representatives consisted of one rep for 30,000 people of a state, how do you figure in the slaves, as they represented about 20% of the population? Well, they finally considered that they weren’t exactly chattel or all human so they figured each slave was about 3/5th of a person.
These short essays appeared about every two days for months, considering such things as how long should a president serve? Two years? Four may be best. How long for Senators? For Representatives? For Judges? Interestingly, the president was not voted by the popular vote, but by the Electorial College, who were representatives of the people, maybe they still do, I can’t tell. Also, the State Legislatures woere to elect the Senators. What happened to that? A lot of stuff came from the structure of some states legislatures and governors. But our division of power into thirds: Executive, Legislative & Judicial was unique in all of history. Adams seemed to be the heavy when it came to researching the history of republics, including Greece and such.
They spent lot of time on how to pay for a Federal Gov., and the thought of a personal Income tax didn’t enter their minds. A Bill of Rights was defeated but finally added in 1791 as the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution..
What is really amazing is the Constitution is only seven pages long.
Think about that.
LUCKY DOGS
We’ve lost it. Culture doom. Pets with Disabilities Act. It has come to my attention that when your pet has a major health problem, we have unlimited options for assisted living. Owners (Only in America) will go to any extreme to facilitate their pet’s mobility and health. In lieu of “putting them down” or “euthanizing” , no matter how painful it is for us, we can’t call it “killing the little sucker”. Old dog become paralyzed in his hind legs? His spine has collapsed? You can choose between a vet bill of several thousand dollars or buy a canine Cart from Eddie’s Wheels. They will ship out a wheeled gismo for your cat, dog, bunny, goat, sheep or alpaca for only a couple of thousand bucks. Who in hell in his right mind would buy a pet from “Pets with Disabilities”? Independent Animal Rescue in North Carolina paid $2300 for surgery on a CAT that had a broken leg! We spend $48 BILLION on pet products per year! That may be more than we spend on our kids! The pet food aisles in our markets are larger than some European stores!
Even worse! ‘Three Dog Bakery’ franchise will prepare a “Feast fit for the Beast” of Lamb Wellington, Kibble, spinach dip & pumpkin pie all for $20! I’m not even going to get into Pet psychiatrists, Massues & chiropractors. Does anyone here think we are pampering our pets too much?
After all that, I have a confession to make. My first wife, Joyce came with a male red cat named “Red”. While living in Malibu he got run over on the Coast Highway, which resulted in his two back legs broken to smithereens. We didn’t have much income at the time but Joyce, who probably would have thought twice before paying for my hospital bill of broken legs, paid hundreds of dollars to her vet to fix up old Red. I have to admit, he faired pretty well during a long convalescent period with his entire hind end wrapped up in a cast with the tail sticking out of it. It wasn’t long before he mastered the art of walking on his front legs, his rear end up in the air. He even was able to hop up on chairs with his balancing act. After he got out of his cast he walked with hardly a limp. Of course, he only lived another couple of years so Joyce really didn’t get her money’s worth.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
IMMAGRUNTS
THE REVISED “COLLOSSUS”
It appears time to update Emma Lazarus’s sonnet on the Statue of Liberty as we have
certainly revised our concept about immigration.
Let’s just take the last part of the poem:
....”“Bring, ancient lands, your storied pomp for our Empire” cries she with silent lips
“Give me your fired-up, your super rich, (Keep your fucking poor) your educated
masses yearning to earn more and usurp our scientists, their white collar criminals of
your teeming shore. Send these, the world travelers, luxury laden to me, I lift my lamp
beside the golden door!”
KLEENEX
As the old saw goes; We can land a man on the fucking Moon, but can’t get a box of
Kleenex to give up a sheet of tissue without ripping it all to shreds! Maybe we can give
NASA a contract to see if they can overcome this incredible problem. Now an engineer
would know enough about the tensile stresses in paper to align the fibers in the proper
direction that would give the strongest tissues and not disintegrate when you pull it out
of the box.
FAKE TREES
Why do we Americans have such an antipathy to innovation and science? If we allow
cell phone towers at all (Bodega Bay has no service) we have to disguise them into a
fake tree or something . A tower in itself is just a clean artifact that is pretty innocuous,
but these trees, they must cost a fortune, which of course, we will pay for in our service.
They do not appear to be anything like the nearby trees, they are the wrong color, the
wrong shape, and a totally wrong idea!
We have become the keeper of the flame of fake shit, e.i. every local tourist bus is a
terrible reproduction of a SF cable car, every little tourist train is a crappy little white
replica of a choo choo train. (Although I have to admit, they have the same damn train
in Marsielle).
DICTIONARY
Bourgeoise = Commercial Class, a Capitalist, that’s us, folks!
Bolsheviks = The majority who seized power (Bush II)
Proletarian = Workers of the World, Unite!
THE SACRED DEFENSE (OFFENSE) BUDGET
There are rumblings from the White House that to reduce spending we may even
take a look at our Defense Budget of 700 Billion a year. What? Reduce our hundreds of
bases around the world? Stop building our Posh Palaces of Embassies around the
world? What madness is this? How are we to keep our Empire together if we reduce
the massive spending? What kind of crazy ideas would we use the money for? A health
care system similar to most of the other developed countries? Maybe we could increase
THE WAR ON DRUGS, or THE WAR ON POVERTY! (But never a WAR on WAR!).
But let’s be real, we are so embedded in a Military-Industrial Complex our citizens
would never go for it. Why? Because we have too many citizen workers who make a
good living off military spending. Why are we still building zillion dollar aircraft carriers,
zillion dollar nuclear submarines? How is it that these giant machines help in door to
door guerrilla fighting which is the closest thing we get to fighting these days. I know
why we build super fighter jets, so we can sell them to other countries so everyone can
stay on a war mentality. I believe we don’t count the money it takes to care for our
wounded, amputees for the rest of their lives, which may be 50 years as most wounded
are about 20 years old. Bush didn’t include the costs of his two wars in the budget, at
least Obama includes it. How do we justify we spend nearly 50% of the entire world’s
defense spending? That’s a pretty big stick, isn’t it? And if you believe we can impose
a republican government on a middle eastern country that has been killing each other’s
clans and tribes for thousands of years, you’ve been smoking the good stuff.
BOOK REPORT
I’ve just finished (for the second time) THE SABRES OF PARADISE by L. Blanch. It’s
the story of Shamyl, an incredible warrior and leader of the fight against the Russians
in about 1850 who wanted to wrest the Caucasus from the mountain people. I guess
we never learn as the fight is reminiscent of our current wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. The
Russians had unlimited fighters with all the latest technology (Cannons, guns, etc.)
while the Tchechins had only sabres & old rifles but an indomitable spirit to defend their
towns in nearly inaccessible mountain country. Of course, the biggest help was they
were driven by a fanatic religion called Islam. This incredible war went on for 25 years,
during which hundreds of thousands died on both sides, (some very painfully) including
women and children. This was called collateral damage. Sound familiar?
I also learned the word “Bistro” came from the Russian officers who were in a hurry
when stopping at a small café and hollering “Bistro” which means “hurry!”. This should
get me a free glass of wine from Mathew of Underwood bar & Bistro here in Graton.
It appears time to update Emma Lazarus’s sonnet on the Statue of Liberty as we have
certainly revised our concept about immigration.
Let’s just take the last part of the poem:
....”“Bring, ancient lands, your storied pomp for our Empire” cries she with silent lips
“Give me your fired-up, your super rich, (Keep your fucking poor) your educated
masses yearning to earn more and usurp our scientists, their white collar criminals of
your teeming shore. Send these, the world travelers, luxury laden to me, I lift my lamp
beside the golden door!”
KLEENEX
As the old saw goes; We can land a man on the fucking Moon, but can’t get a box of
Kleenex to give up a sheet of tissue without ripping it all to shreds! Maybe we can give
NASA a contract to see if they can overcome this incredible problem. Now an engineer
would know enough about the tensile stresses in paper to align the fibers in the proper
direction that would give the strongest tissues and not disintegrate when you pull it out
of the box.
FAKE TREES
Why do we Americans have such an antipathy to innovation and science? If we allow
cell phone towers at all (Bodega Bay has no service) we have to disguise them into a
fake tree or something . A tower in itself is just a clean artifact that is pretty innocuous,
but these trees, they must cost a fortune, which of course, we will pay for in our service.
They do not appear to be anything like the nearby trees, they are the wrong color, the
wrong shape, and a totally wrong idea!
We have become the keeper of the flame of fake shit, e.i. every local tourist bus is a
terrible reproduction of a SF cable car, every little tourist train is a crappy little white
replica of a choo choo train. (Although I have to admit, they have the same damn train
in Marsielle).
DICTIONARY
Bourgeoise = Commercial Class, a Capitalist, that’s us, folks!
Bolsheviks = The majority who seized power (Bush II)
Proletarian = Workers of the World, Unite!
THE SACRED DEFENSE (OFFENSE) BUDGET
There are rumblings from the White House that to reduce spending we may even
take a look at our Defense Budget of 700 Billion a year. What? Reduce our hundreds of
bases around the world? Stop building our Posh Palaces of Embassies around the
world? What madness is this? How are we to keep our Empire together if we reduce
the massive spending? What kind of crazy ideas would we use the money for? A health
care system similar to most of the other developed countries? Maybe we could increase
THE WAR ON DRUGS, or THE WAR ON POVERTY! (But never a WAR on WAR!).
But let’s be real, we are so embedded in a Military-Industrial Complex our citizens
would never go for it. Why? Because we have too many citizen workers who make a
good living off military spending. Why are we still building zillion dollar aircraft carriers,
zillion dollar nuclear submarines? How is it that these giant machines help in door to
door guerrilla fighting which is the closest thing we get to fighting these days. I know
why we build super fighter jets, so we can sell them to other countries so everyone can
stay on a war mentality. I believe we don’t count the money it takes to care for our
wounded, amputees for the rest of their lives, which may be 50 years as most wounded
are about 20 years old. Bush didn’t include the costs of his two wars in the budget, at
least Obama includes it. How do we justify we spend nearly 50% of the entire world’s
defense spending? That’s a pretty big stick, isn’t it? And if you believe we can impose
a republican government on a middle eastern country that has been killing each other’s
clans and tribes for thousands of years, you’ve been smoking the good stuff.
BOOK REPORT
I’ve just finished (for the second time) THE SABRES OF PARADISE by L. Blanch. It’s
the story of Shamyl, an incredible warrior and leader of the fight against the Russians
in about 1850 who wanted to wrest the Caucasus from the mountain people. I guess
we never learn as the fight is reminiscent of our current wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. The
Russians had unlimited fighters with all the latest technology (Cannons, guns, etc.)
while the Tchechins had only sabres & old rifles but an indomitable spirit to defend their
towns in nearly inaccessible mountain country. Of course, the biggest help was they
were driven by a fanatic religion called Islam. This incredible war went on for 25 years,
during which hundreds of thousands died on both sides, (some very painfully) including
women and children. This was called collateral damage. Sound familiar?
I also learned the word “Bistro” came from the Russian officers who were in a hurry
when stopping at a small café and hollering “Bistro” which means “hurry!”. This should
get me a free glass of wine from Mathew of Underwood bar & Bistro here in Graton.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME
HOW TO GET MARRIED THE HARD WAY
In 1988, bereft any reason, I made a deal with Joy to get us to Greece if I agreed to marriage. Joy was keeping a pretty tight leash on me and after her divorce we decided for some insane reason to find out how difficult it would be to get married in Greece. Being a fan of Socrates and Plato, I really needed to walk on the same stones they did in the Agora so many thousand years ago. We prepared months ahead before embarking for Greece by visiting the Greek Embassy in San Francisco, filling out several long forms. When we did arrive in Athens for only two weeks, we began a long round of searching out various public buildings, then the American Embassy, waiting in lines, buying small postage like stamps that had a perforated corner that certain officials would tear off and keep. Never did know what that was all about. At one point we had to find the Athens newspaper, place an ad about our impending fiasco, then wait a couple of days to search thru the paper where the want ads and notices all look alike to try and find our notice. They don’t use the same alphabet as it looks similar to Russian, but we finally spotted the name of my father, Harry, kind of written mostly in English. That tipped us off and we cut it out and ran (well, took a bus) back to the official who told us we would have to wait a month as they only marry folks once a month. This was not becoming fun anymore, why didn’t we just go to Tijuana Mexico where we could do the whole thing in an hour? During our panic period (We were scheduled to get to France) we were told by someone that one of the suburban towns might be able to do it. A friend called around and found that the town of Palio Pasihiko would be able to do the deed.
We found the town, a suburb of Athens, where the town hall was in an older mansion. Fortunately a Brit expat worked there as a secretary and she really got excited about the whole affair as she didn’t think they had ever had a wedding there. Bully! However, the Mayor could do it but wouldn’t be back for a week .That would work, as we wanted to stay on the idyllic island of Santorini anyway. We’ll be back in a week.
We trained to Piraeus, the ancient port nearby and caught a huge ferry to the island, checked into the Atlantis Hotel, the largest there. It didn’t take us but a few hours to realize there was an idyllic small Hotel Fira, cascading over the edge of the caldera for the same price. We bailed out of the Atlantis, hired a donkey to carry our bags down to our new fabulous digs. Here we stayed for a week sipping Ouzo, watching the tiny cruise ships a thousand feet straight down in the caldera.
During this time all was not bliss as we had to fill out more papers, where we ran into a couple of snags. Number one, you can’t get married more than three times and there was some concern of how many times I was. This would be my third. The next problem, in this Catholic nation, Joy and I had written Atheist and agnostic under religion. We quickly changed our status and although this would be my third, it was barely OK. Fortunately, we had spent a lot of time in a local cantina and befriended the owner, Papadakulas, who had the hots for Joy,(Shirley Valentine?) whose wife worked in the American Embassy in Athens. She managed to straighten the mess out and by the time we got back to Athens, everything was cool.
The mayor duly wed us, although he spoke no English, with the secretary spouting “Bully!” every few minutes. A short ceremony, I signed the document after Mr. Mayor, and Joy stepped up to the desk to sign but was rebuffed, the mayor looking at her as if she was crazy and informed us the wife does not participate to that extent. Oh well, at least we did the whole thing, Joy will just have to learn to walk ten feet behind me. Time to get out of Dodge as our boat to Brindisi, Italy is due to shove off that evening. We ran to the nearest taxi stand, a couple of blocks, where there stood several Mercedes. However, today was a smog day in Athens and only even numbered taxis were allowed in the city, and all these at this stand were odd numbered. We were frothing at the mouth by the time they found out we were newlyweds, made some calls, and got one to come by and directly pick up our bags at the hotel and drive the hundred kilometers to the port of Patras. It’s really hot in summer Greece and our driver kept falling asleep at the wheel. I had to constantly holler at him, punch him on the arm, to keep him awake long enough to get us to the port.
We arrived just in time to find out that the ship company was on strike . It would be hours before they got that resolved and were admitted to a small, Spartan stateroom with a couple of small bunks. We sailed off into the sunset, stopping at Corfu where Joy tossed her flower tiara onto the waters of the harbor. That was just too romantic!
However, the worst was over, and the happy couple pretty much lived happily ever after, bickering majestically.
In 1988, bereft any reason, I made a deal with Joy to get us to Greece if I agreed to marriage. Joy was keeping a pretty tight leash on me and after her divorce we decided for some insane reason to find out how difficult it would be to get married in Greece. Being a fan of Socrates and Plato, I really needed to walk on the same stones they did in the Agora so many thousand years ago. We prepared months ahead before embarking for Greece by visiting the Greek Embassy in San Francisco, filling out several long forms. When we did arrive in Athens for only two weeks, we began a long round of searching out various public buildings, then the American Embassy, waiting in lines, buying small postage like stamps that had a perforated corner that certain officials would tear off and keep. Never did know what that was all about. At one point we had to find the Athens newspaper, place an ad about our impending fiasco, then wait a couple of days to search thru the paper where the want ads and notices all look alike to try and find our notice. They don’t use the same alphabet as it looks similar to Russian, but we finally spotted the name of my father, Harry, kind of written mostly in English. That tipped us off and we cut it out and ran (well, took a bus) back to the official who told us we would have to wait a month as they only marry folks once a month. This was not becoming fun anymore, why didn’t we just go to Tijuana Mexico where we could do the whole thing in an hour? During our panic period (We were scheduled to get to France) we were told by someone that one of the suburban towns might be able to do it. A friend called around and found that the town of Palio Pasihiko would be able to do the deed.
We found the town, a suburb of Athens, where the town hall was in an older mansion. Fortunately a Brit expat worked there as a secretary and she really got excited about the whole affair as she didn’t think they had ever had a wedding there. Bully! However, the Mayor could do it but wouldn’t be back for a week .That would work, as we wanted to stay on the idyllic island of Santorini anyway. We’ll be back in a week.
We trained to Piraeus, the ancient port nearby and caught a huge ferry to the island, checked into the Atlantis Hotel, the largest there. It didn’t take us but a few hours to realize there was an idyllic small Hotel Fira, cascading over the edge of the caldera for the same price. We bailed out of the Atlantis, hired a donkey to carry our bags down to our new fabulous digs. Here we stayed for a week sipping Ouzo, watching the tiny cruise ships a thousand feet straight down in the caldera.
During this time all was not bliss as we had to fill out more papers, where we ran into a couple of snags. Number one, you can’t get married more than three times and there was some concern of how many times I was. This would be my third. The next problem, in this Catholic nation, Joy and I had written Atheist and agnostic under religion. We quickly changed our status and although this would be my third, it was barely OK. Fortunately, we had spent a lot of time in a local cantina and befriended the owner, Papadakulas, who had the hots for Joy,(Shirley Valentine?) whose wife worked in the American Embassy in Athens. She managed to straighten the mess out and by the time we got back to Athens, everything was cool.
The mayor duly wed us, although he spoke no English, with the secretary spouting “Bully!” every few minutes. A short ceremony, I signed the document after Mr. Mayor, and Joy stepped up to the desk to sign but was rebuffed, the mayor looking at her as if she was crazy and informed us the wife does not participate to that extent. Oh well, at least we did the whole thing, Joy will just have to learn to walk ten feet behind me. Time to get out of Dodge as our boat to Brindisi, Italy is due to shove off that evening. We ran to the nearest taxi stand, a couple of blocks, where there stood several Mercedes. However, today was a smog day in Athens and only even numbered taxis were allowed in the city, and all these at this stand were odd numbered. We were frothing at the mouth by the time they found out we were newlyweds, made some calls, and got one to come by and directly pick up our bags at the hotel and drive the hundred kilometers to the port of Patras. It’s really hot in summer Greece and our driver kept falling asleep at the wheel. I had to constantly holler at him, punch him on the arm, to keep him awake long enough to get us to the port.
We arrived just in time to find out that the ship company was on strike . It would be hours before they got that resolved and were admitted to a small, Spartan stateroom with a couple of small bunks. We sailed off into the sunset, stopping at Corfu where Joy tossed her flower tiara onto the waters of the harbor. That was just too romantic!
However, the worst was over, and the happy couple pretty much lived happily ever after, bickering majestically.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
WORLD CHUMPS
ALLAH
Einstien believes in -Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists (laws), not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings.
JUDGE JUDY
I’ve always wondered how she worked. Well, here’s the skinny from my humorous friend Judge Beds. First of all, she is not a judge. Her parties agree to take their case out of the court system & have them heard by Judy. This is all small claims stuff. This is like how a mediation or arbitrations works, except in her case, the show pays all the claims (small claims is what now? $5,000 max.?),. Naturally, there is no shortage of “contestants” as they can’t loose, even if they lose. And I guess there are lots of shows that emulate hers. The California Commission on Judicial Performance gets more complaints about Ms Judy than all the other judges in the state combined, but she’s not under their jurisdiction. She probably makes more money than all of the combined judges also in the state.
HERE’S GOOD NEWS (Belatedly)
The struggle for our minds is not only here in the U.S. The Christians and Muslims are just as active over there.
On October, 2007, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly approved a resolution recommending that it’s member governments oppose the teaching of creationism as science. The creationist movements possess real political power, especially here in US. The fact of the matter is that some advocates of strict creationsm are out to replace democracy by a theocracy. We must remain vigilant! (God willing?).
BELATED SURPRISE
I was apprenticing with architect DK Taylor during 1958 in Scottsdale, AZ and did work on the drawings of the O’Conner house,( mostly the details). As far as I remember, this was the only project Don was able to get built, except for the concrete deck panels for the Westward Ho Hotel in Scottsdale. Also, I built the model for their house (An earlier version) which FLL Wright saw in the window of Don’s office and commended me on my work, which pretty much stoked me.
This is all pretty trippy as just last week I started reading “CLOSED CHAMBERS” an insider’s view of the workings of the Supreme Court as I wanted to know more about how it Worked and the part Sandra Day O’Conner had in it.
Also thought you’d get a kick out of the house I worked on for Paolo, surrounded with his future. I was paid a dollar an hour from Paolo, then paid it back to Taylor so I could work for him due to some complicated work laws we were doing. Of course, this was the economic model I used for the rest of my career.
I’m interested to know why & how they moved the entire house, adobe blocks and all to another location at the Arizona Historical Society. At the time, I didn’t know Sandra Day O’Conner was the wife of the client, John Jay.
MUSLIM DICTIONARY (From Allah, the beneficient and most merciful)
I’ve learned a couple of new words while reviewing the Koran.
Lapidation Stoning her to death
Imurred House arrest for life.
PALIN?
A politician is one who promises you a bridge, when there is no river.
JUSTICE FROM THE SLUMS OF BOMBAY
Justice is a judgement that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not done until everyone is satisfied, even those who offend us and must be punished by us. Justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them.
SCULPTOR’S DILEMMA
Have you ever tried to capture the essence of flame in a solid material ? Bertoli did a pretty good job of the flame held in the Statue of Liberty’s torch, a replica which stands in a small square in Paris. (Just the cold leafed flame. I spent endless hours stoned in Big Sur before attempting a 6 foot high concrete flame. It stood in front of Deetjin’s Big Sur Inn for many years.
FOUCAULT’S PENDULUM
Like the one at the SF Academy of Sciences. I observed his original one at the Musee des Arts & Mietiers in Paris a couple of years ago. . He built this in the old Pantheon church dome with a 67 meter wire and a 28 kg bob in 1851. This was the first proof that the earth was round and rotated every 24 hours. I never was able to figure out why this was the proof until today (Eureka!) . All I had to do was Google ”About Foucault’s Pendulum” to find the answer. Essentially, the pendulum ball does not move in a circle but the floor (And the tutelage, ergo, process earth, of course) rotates! in San Francisco, it rotates 220 degrees in 24 hours. At the poles it rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours, while at the equator, there is no rotation. The real trick was at the top where Foucault put a magnetic ring that keeps it going (It switches on & off each swing) to overcome air resistance as it is not in a vacuum .
COOKIN’
Anthony Bourdan, the chef, is promoting the idea that every boy and girl should be taught basic cooking skills in high school. He feels it should be one of our fundamental skills, like crossing the street or being trusted with money. As I’m learning some of these skills late in life, I realize what a wonderful asset that would have been in my life. During my high school days, girls were taught “Home Ec” or how to open cans and stuff. Until it became a glaring illustration of everything wrong with gender politics, and finally rejected. Now, no one cooks. At college, knowing how to cook would be a real method for impressing your classmate to get them in bed. (Foreplay!) And what better way, in the morning, to make a simple, beautiful omelet for her.
Things kids need to know are such basic skills as chopping an onion (Although most of our young Chicanos are pretty proficient at this). Rudimentary knife handling, sharpening,
THE GRATON DECAPITATION SOCIETY
When I discovered my client, Harry, had a plethora of bottles of champagne of questionable pedigree, and simultaneously that my friend Dodson knew how to break into a bottle of champagne, just like the Lieutenants of Napoleon’s Grand Armee, I got a small group together to observe the process. Under the expert tutelage of Bill, each of us wacked off the head of a bottle of old champagne, about half of which were drinkable. From now on, I think I’ll use that method instead of agonizingly trying to extricate the cork, to get at the bubbly.
BIG FROG IN SMALL POND
What do you mean, WORLD CHAMPIONS? Are we Americans so out of touch with reality that we believe our Empire is the world? These left over from high school games, these ball games (Base, Foot, Basket, etc,) are only played here in the US, which is a tiny portion of the America’s and a smaller portion of the world. Your Giants are not World Champs, but merely National Champs as this game is basically not taken seriously anywhere else on the Globe. Now the Soccer World games are exactly that, they have teams from all over the planet, (Actually even a bunch of losers from the US). The winner of those games are truly WORLD CHAMPIONS.
Einstien believes in -Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists (laws), not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings.
JUDGE JUDY
I’ve always wondered how she worked. Well, here’s the skinny from my humorous friend Judge Beds. First of all, she is not a judge. Her parties agree to take their case out of the court system & have them heard by Judy. This is all small claims stuff. This is like how a mediation or arbitrations works, except in her case, the show pays all the claims (small claims is what now? $5,000 max.?),. Naturally, there is no shortage of “contestants” as they can’t loose, even if they lose. And I guess there are lots of shows that emulate hers. The California Commission on Judicial Performance gets more complaints about Ms Judy than all the other judges in the state combined, but she’s not under their jurisdiction. She probably makes more money than all of the combined judges also in the state.
HERE’S GOOD NEWS (Belatedly)
The struggle for our minds is not only here in the U.S. The Christians and Muslims are just as active over there.
On October, 2007, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly approved a resolution recommending that it’s member governments oppose the teaching of creationism as science. The creationist movements possess real political power, especially here in US. The fact of the matter is that some advocates of strict creationsm are out to replace democracy by a theocracy. We must remain vigilant! (God willing?).
BELATED SURPRISE
I was apprenticing with architect DK Taylor during 1958 in Scottsdale, AZ and did work on the drawings of the O’Conner house,( mostly the details). As far as I remember, this was the only project Don was able to get built, except for the concrete deck panels for the Westward Ho Hotel in Scottsdale. Also, I built the model for their house (An earlier version) which FLL Wright saw in the window of Don’s office and commended me on my work, which pretty much stoked me.
This is all pretty trippy as just last week I started reading “CLOSED CHAMBERS” an insider’s view of the workings of the Supreme Court as I wanted to know more about how it Worked and the part Sandra Day O’Conner had in it.
Also thought you’d get a kick out of the house I worked on for Paolo, surrounded with his future. I was paid a dollar an hour from Paolo, then paid it back to Taylor so I could work for him due to some complicated work laws we were doing. Of course, this was the economic model I used for the rest of my career.
I’m interested to know why & how they moved the entire house, adobe blocks and all to another location at the Arizona Historical Society. At the time, I didn’t know Sandra Day O’Conner was the wife of the client, John Jay.
MUSLIM DICTIONARY (From Allah, the beneficient and most merciful)
I’ve learned a couple of new words while reviewing the Koran.
Lapidation Stoning her to death
Imurred House arrest for life.
PALIN?
A politician is one who promises you a bridge, when there is no river.
JUSTICE FROM THE SLUMS OF BOMBAY
Justice is a judgement that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not done until everyone is satisfied, even those who offend us and must be punished by us. Justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them.
SCULPTOR’S DILEMMA
Have you ever tried to capture the essence of flame in a solid material ? Bertoli did a pretty good job of the flame held in the Statue of Liberty’s torch, a replica which stands in a small square in Paris. (Just the cold leafed flame. I spent endless hours stoned in Big Sur before attempting a 6 foot high concrete flame. It stood in front of Deetjin’s Big Sur Inn for many years.
FOUCAULT’S PENDULUM
Like the one at the SF Academy of Sciences. I observed his original one at the Musee des Arts & Mietiers in Paris a couple of years ago. . He built this in the old Pantheon church dome with a 67 meter wire and a 28 kg bob in 1851. This was the first proof that the earth was round and rotated every 24 hours. I never was able to figure out why this was the proof until today (Eureka!) . All I had to do was Google ”About Foucault’s Pendulum” to find the answer. Essentially, the pendulum ball does not move in a circle but the floor (And the tutelage, ergo, process earth, of course) rotates! in San Francisco, it rotates 220 degrees in 24 hours. At the poles it rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours, while at the equator, there is no rotation. The real trick was at the top where Foucault put a magnetic ring that keeps it going (It switches on & off each swing) to overcome air resistance as it is not in a vacuum .
COOKIN’
Anthony Bourdan, the chef, is promoting the idea that every boy and girl should be taught basic cooking skills in high school. He feels it should be one of our fundamental skills, like crossing the street or being trusted with money. As I’m learning some of these skills late in life, I realize what a wonderful asset that would have been in my life. During my high school days, girls were taught “Home Ec” or how to open cans and stuff. Until it became a glaring illustration of everything wrong with gender politics, and finally rejected. Now, no one cooks. At college, knowing how to cook would be a real method for impressing your classmate to get them in bed. (Foreplay!) And what better way, in the morning, to make a simple, beautiful omelet for her.
Things kids need to know are such basic skills as chopping an onion (Although most of our young Chicanos are pretty proficient at this). Rudimentary knife handling, sharpening,
THE GRATON DECAPITATION SOCIETY
When I discovered my client, Harry, had a plethora of bottles of champagne of questionable pedigree, and simultaneously that my friend Dodson knew how to break into a bottle of champagne, just like the Lieutenants of Napoleon’s Grand Armee, I got a small group together to observe the process. Under the expert tutelage of Bill, each of us wacked off the head of a bottle of old champagne, about half of which were drinkable. From now on, I think I’ll use that method instead of agonizingly trying to extricate the cork, to get at the bubbly.
BIG FROG IN SMALL POND
What do you mean, WORLD CHAMPIONS? Are we Americans so out of touch with reality that we believe our Empire is the world? These left over from high school games, these ball games (Base, Foot, Basket, etc,) are only played here in the US, which is a tiny portion of the America’s and a smaller portion of the world. Your Giants are not World Champs, but merely National Champs as this game is basically not taken seriously anywhere else on the Globe. Now the Soccer World games are exactly that, they have teams from all over the planet, (Actually even a bunch of losers from the US). The winner of those games are truly WORLD CHAMPIONS.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
INVENTIONS
INVENTIONS
Architect’s have to be very inventive as so many of the details of a building are unique and basically have to be invented.
I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of inventions that were pretty important way before the year one (Before my time). This kind of stuff is really interesting to me and I don’t know if anyone else is interested, but I do offer a small segment of it to whet your appetite.
CHRONOLOGY OF INVENTIONS by J.L. Langworthy
-1,000,000+ Control of Fire (a biggie)- Europe
-30,000 Axe head - Europe
Maniac squeezer - South America
Boomerang - Australia
Toggle-Joint Harpoon - Eskimo
Axe handle
-8000 Agriculture
Blow-gun
Tobacco Pipe - Sumer
You’ll have to get the rest from me if you want to know what happens next.
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO
In between my Blogging I try to keep busy doing architecture. I seem to be able to keep most of it a secret, inadvertently, but it’s time to come out of the Design Closet. The following are some of the work I’ve been doing recently.
PALM SPRINGS RESIDENCE 4,600 SF About $2.500,000
This was a preliminary design for a couple for a lot adjacent to a golf course. The garages for cars and golf cart is set in a driveway court (With a Moroccan color scheme) as it also offers extra parking for guests. A small casita is a separate building for guests. Exterior finish is EIFS over plywood base to fend off stray golf balls. Also large doors and windows off the patios are protected with a sun-screen with adjustable baffles for sun control in the blistering summers. The entry walk bridges a lap pool with a glass floor. Ceiling heights reflect the importance of each area, from 8' to 20'.
DRIFTWOOD RD. SALMON CREEK, Addition & renovations 495 SF+ 246 SF addition $300,000 budget
An old 1970's structure with no real bedroom and only a 5' galley kitchen and minimal bath but in a prime location next to a state park and beach. We added a small bedroom with laundry, inserted a new kitchen in the odd bay and under the existing stairs, also expanding the tiny bash into the old kitchen area. New roofing, insulation, cedar siding inside and out, all new fenestration and mechanical systems, a small gas stove as the only heat, copper gutters, black slate floors throughout except for the bedroom. New septic system.
MIWOK RD.. SALMON CREEK Bodega Bay Addition & renovation 800 SF+ 450 SF addition $280,000
An expanding family living in a 1980's house needs to add bedrooms and baths to accommodate the couple and two young girls. In an area of strict zoning and septic restraints, 480 SF is the maximum allowed addition of conditioned area. We have proposed a new carport (Cantilevered roof) a garage for a boat and small workshop as well as the bedroom & bath additions. As the existing roof is termite infested, we will replace it with an undulating roof that will continue over the new work. Light tan colored rock will emulate the nearby sand dunes at the beach. A new septic system has been installed, and Coastal Commission approval is being sought, which will take about three months.
GRANNY UNIT Graton , Renovation 384 SF $22,000
Legalizing a non-conforming very small studio granny unit. Upgrade this old ‘70's hippy shack to current code required a foundation, new bath & kitchen, interior finishes, new windows & doors.
LYSTER RESIDENCE Laguna Beach, CA 4,700 SF $3,000,000 estimate
A steep angled uphill lot for a couple and their teen age daughter has severe building envelope restrictions but is finally under construction after two and a half years it took to obtain Design Review approval from an anal city review process. Based upon a triangular grid, all exposed framing is cris-crossed on the grid. On four levels, beginning with a four car underground garage, the second level has the entry for walk up from the street plus a studio and guest room above the garage. The third level contains the two bedrooms and a music room, while the fourth level contains the living, dining and kitchen areas, which have a fine view of downtown Main Beach of Laguna. Low pitched roofs are within one inch of the “Building Envelope”. A large percentage of the roof area is planted to conform to strict run-off rules. Exposed steel, re-sawn timbers, glass and rough finished stucco are the main materials. Originally an inclined lift was proposed to get from garage to the kitchen, but had to be abandoned due to too many code restrictions. (I had used inclinators extensively in Laguna). Instead, we had to use two elevators in a stepped mode in order to keep within the height limit imposed on the site.
Architect’s have to be very inventive as so many of the details of a building are unique and basically have to be invented.
I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of inventions that were pretty important way before the year one (Before my time). This kind of stuff is really interesting to me and I don’t know if anyone else is interested, but I do offer a small segment of it to whet your appetite.
CHRONOLOGY OF INVENTIONS by J.L. Langworthy
-1,000,000+ Control of Fire (a biggie)- Europe
-30,000 Axe head - Europe
Maniac squeezer - South America
Boomerang - Australia
Toggle-Joint Harpoon - Eskimo
Axe handle
-8000 Agriculture
Blow-gun
Tobacco Pipe - Sumer
You’ll have to get the rest from me if you want to know what happens next.
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO
In between my Blogging I try to keep busy doing architecture. I seem to be able to keep most of it a secret, inadvertently, but it’s time to come out of the Design Closet. The following are some of the work I’ve been doing recently.
PALM SPRINGS RESIDENCE 4,600 SF About $2.500,000
This was a preliminary design for a couple for a lot adjacent to a golf course. The garages for cars and golf cart is set in a driveway court (With a Moroccan color scheme) as it also offers extra parking for guests. A small casita is a separate building for guests. Exterior finish is EIFS over plywood base to fend off stray golf balls. Also large doors and windows off the patios are protected with a sun-screen with adjustable baffles for sun control in the blistering summers. The entry walk bridges a lap pool with a glass floor. Ceiling heights reflect the importance of each area, from 8' to 20'.
DRIFTWOOD RD. SALMON CREEK, Addition & renovations 495 SF+ 246 SF addition $300,000 budget
An old 1970's structure with no real bedroom and only a 5' galley kitchen and minimal bath but in a prime location next to a state park and beach. We added a small bedroom with laundry, inserted a new kitchen in the odd bay and under the existing stairs, also expanding the tiny bash into the old kitchen area. New roofing, insulation, cedar siding inside and out, all new fenestration and mechanical systems, a small gas stove as the only heat, copper gutters, black slate floors throughout except for the bedroom. New septic system.
MIWOK RD.. SALMON CREEK Bodega Bay Addition & renovation 800 SF+ 450 SF addition $280,000
An expanding family living in a 1980's house needs to add bedrooms and baths to accommodate the couple and two young girls. In an area of strict zoning and septic restraints, 480 SF is the maximum allowed addition of conditioned area. We have proposed a new carport (Cantilevered roof) a garage for a boat and small workshop as well as the bedroom & bath additions. As the existing roof is termite infested, we will replace it with an undulating roof that will continue over the new work. Light tan colored rock will emulate the nearby sand dunes at the beach. A new septic system has been installed, and Coastal Commission approval is being sought, which will take about three months.
GRANNY UNIT Graton , Renovation 384 SF $22,000
Legalizing a non-conforming very small studio granny unit. Upgrade this old ‘70's hippy shack to current code required a foundation, new bath & kitchen, interior finishes, new windows & doors.
LYSTER RESIDENCE Laguna Beach, CA 4,700 SF $3,000,000 estimate
A steep angled uphill lot for a couple and their teen age daughter has severe building envelope restrictions but is finally under construction after two and a half years it took to obtain Design Review approval from an anal city review process. Based upon a triangular grid, all exposed framing is cris-crossed on the grid. On four levels, beginning with a four car underground garage, the second level has the entry for walk up from the street plus a studio and guest room above the garage. The third level contains the two bedrooms and a music room, while the fourth level contains the living, dining and kitchen areas, which have a fine view of downtown Main Beach of Laguna. Low pitched roofs are within one inch of the “Building Envelope”. A large percentage of the roof area is planted to conform to strict run-off rules. Exposed steel, re-sawn timbers, glass and rough finished stucco are the main materials. Originally an inclined lift was proposed to get from garage to the kitchen, but had to be abandoned due to too many code restrictions. (I had used inclinators extensively in Laguna). Instead, we had to use two elevators in a stepped mode in order to keep within the height limit imposed on the site.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
ZERO TOLERANCE
ZERO TOLERANCE & the Secret War
The concept of zero tolerance seems to be a result of writing laws that cannot predict all the ramifications of a particular area. Take for instance, HC accessability, an area where I am an unwilling participant, as most architects and builders are.
I am always amazed when I see taxpayer’s money (mine) squandered mostly due to a few greedy people (parasites) feeding on our fear of being sued due to some minor infractions of handicap accessability issues.
But, there is always someone to interpret our poorly written laws to line their pockets, and unfortunately they have the backing of the Department of Justice of the United States. Try fighting that battle.
The thing that really bugs me is all this stuff seems to be secret. What do they want other than money? We all want to conform to the ADA laws, but not to do unreasonable, expensive and unnecessary work due to ambiguous laws. Is it true that the state has recently adopted new HC laws that will result in the Justice Dept. Will lean on the Dept. Of Transportation who will lean on the county public works, etc...to build a $40,000 parking space in Graton when in reality, there was only a few inches out of conformance (Might as well be 20 feet). All the sidewalk ramps in the state (or all 52 states) are to be replaced due to a small redesign? I realize our government does not understand or care about such mundane concepts as “Cost benefit ratios” which means that the costs of something should be related to the benefits derived , not so open ended that the results will cost untold, yes, un-calculated, not even considered, millions and billions. Meanwhile, our roads are falling apart and we can’t afford to repair them.
I’ve already watched, as you have, cities jack hammer up lots of curb ramps to replace those that are not in conformance with the new regulations. And probably, will have to torn up in the near future, to conform to some ever changing guidelines. It is a pretty blatant how some lobbyists working for the folks who make the yellow knobby pads that are now required on all intersections got to our lawmakers to change the handicap laws so they had to use the pads. This means tearing up all the old curb ramps and replacing them with new ones.
How much does it really cost to replace each ramp? City engineers won’t tell me but I’m hearing about $5,000 per ramp. Who pays for all this? We do! Does anyone care? Am I the only one?
PEDESTRIANS
So many young people are getting hurt and killed in crosswalks, I began to wonder why. But then, I began to observe how youths go about crossing a street. I’ve been surprised how some get into a crosswalk and feel as if they’d entered a force shield as they totally ignore the machines around them. They are so complacent they believe no vehicle can penetrate the sacred zone where they tread. Allow me to offer a suggestion. Send all teenagers to Rome for a week, let them walk around the city and if they survive the no holds barred traffic streams in the crazy Italian method, then upon their return you can bet they will look upon any vehicle in sight to be a potential threat to their very life and limb to maybe pay a little more attention and to drivers who are paying even less attention.
COPING IN HARD TIMES
Please revisit my recipe for Depression Dinner in my Blog “Misery Revisited”.
Meanwhile, I’ll pass on a few more tips on how to survive this second depression (for me anyway).
1. I like a glass of Port after dinner like the next gentleman, but the good Spanish stuff is over $20 a bottle and my favorite Australian Tawny Ports are over $12 a bottle. Biting the bullet, I buy a local Fairbanks Port (from Modesto) in a 1.5 litre bottle for $7. I decant this into a saved good empty bottle of Morgado Porto or Presidential Porto, as it is easier to pour out of a small .75 litre bottle. Then I don’t think any more of it and pour myself a small glass of my “vintage” port (and for my guests).
2. Keeping my office expenses down is a big part of my life since I virtually have no work during these hard times. With two printers, one fax, a big copier and a large plotter, ink cartridges are a big expense. Fortunately, my local Ace Hardware store and our local Whole Food Market are able to supply me with refilled cartridges for one third to one half the price of a new one. You have to plan a head a little as it may take a few days to get you ink jets back.
3. Lunch - In the good old days (About two years ago) I used to get out to the local cafe, (Underwood Bistro) and have a wonderful salad with a couple of glasses of wine almost every day. I even had a tab there! Well, those halcyon days are long gone and I’ve managed to come up with an alternate solution to the problem. The inspiration was when one of my artist tenants, Becker, gave me a case of really good wine, mostly Pinot Noir. I would tell a friend that if he brought over a couple of sandwiches, I would have a couple of fabulous wines for us (Fabulous in my book means $40/bottle). When the wine gave out I changed my tactics to ask them to bring over a bottle of red and I would have a fabulous sandwich for us. This system is working smoothly and sometimes I add a quick visit to France or Italy via my snapshot of architectural wonders on a big screen during our repast, since we can’t get to Europe right now..
ROADSIDE MEMORIALS
A recent invention, leaving plastic flowers, balloons, and other trash where someone has been killed. Who is supposed to clean up all this shit? Similar to “Outpouring of grief” for celebrities whom one had never met of known the person. A prime example was Di’s over reacting was the humongous pile of rotting flowers and debris left by all the “grieving” citizens. Her only accomplishment was divorcing Charlie (Good move) and shacking up with an Arab zillionaire (Good move #2).
WAITERS - who say “No problem”. Does that mean they anticipate one as a usual event? There better not be a problem. Also waiters who have to tell me their names. Yeah, well, I’m Lamont and I’ll be you very small tipper if you keep up this buddy bullshit!
WINE TANK IMPLOSION!
Pictured is a 40,000 gal wine tank that recently was crushed by that unknown force, vacuum in our neighborhood. Seems a tanker truck got too close and scraped off the valve and access port. As all the wine gushed out it created a vacuum so strong it crushed the stainless steel tank like a dixie cup. About three million for the wine and several thousand for the tank. Winemakers have to be careful even when transferring wine out of the tanks as they have to remember to open a vent valve on top to alleviate any vacuum. This actually does happen occasionally. Workers were able to contain the wine and keep it from getting into a nearby creek and get all the fish drunk. That’s one thing I like about living in this area, when I see a tanker truck drive by, it more than likely will be full of wine instead of gasoline
MERCHANT OF DEATH CAPTURED!
Back in June I noted Viktor Bout was the “Merchant of Death” and was selling weapons in competition with the US (We are the world’s largest purveyor). I read this morning he has been captured and the US wants to extradite him for trial here. This could get interesting as he was transporting equipment for the United States in Afghanistan as well as buying fuel from our armed forces for his old Russian planes so he could supply the Taliban. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
U.S. SUPER BASES
More post-war help for the Iraqis due to the massive post-war building program we have ongoing in Irag. Take for instance, the new US Iraq Embassy - 21 buildings, 104 Acres - Bigger than Vatican, and of course, the cost is kind of secret but probably in the billions. This whole thing is supposed to be secret, but things leak out. Like it’s the largest in the world,, One billion and only 1/3 complete - For staff of 8,000 workers!
ALSO!
We are building Four Super bases in Iraq - $230 mill. Each for 55,000 soldiers
Biggest base = 15 square miles “Country Club” status, with pools, golf links, movie theaters, etc.
SERIOUS THOUGHT
One has to have a soul in order to suffer in Hell, Purgatory, or be happy in Heaven.
So at some point in our evolution we invented our “soul” in order to be threatened with one or the other. (Oh, no!, Don’t let me go to Heaven!).
If we knew where we came from before we were born, we would know where we were going when we die in the afterlife. I mean before crawling out of mom.
Inequalities of life - All men (women, too) are not created equal as we are led to believe. We may be sort of equal under the law, but that’s about it. Some are born slaves, idiots, genius, prodigies. Some with monumental talent, some just morons and vegetables. Some are lawyers or polititions. Some cultures threw them back (like the AmerIndians).
If animals don’t have a “soul”, when did man get one as he evolved from the chimpanzee?
Soul - The essence (not material) of a being that continues after one ’s body dies. From low to high? Stone to man? Anything higher than Man? To re-incarnate?
RELIGION DICTIONARY
Since most of the world’s wars are religion based, we should keep up on our daffynitions.
Omnipresent - Present in all places at all times
Omniscient - Infinite awareness, understanding
Omnipotent - Unlimited influence,
Ecumenical - World wide influence, Christian unity
Theist - Believes in a God.
Deist- Advocates natural religion based on human reason rather than revelation.
Atheist - Denies the existence of a supreme being.
Agnostic - A person who does not deny the possible existence of a God but holds that his existence and the origin of the universe are not known and probably cannot be known.
Gentile - A non-Jew or non-Mormon
Circumcision - From Egyptian tombs, Jews came from Egypt, ergo, brought it to the lucky Arabs and the rest of the world. 30% of all males got it. (Not me!). This was an obvious method to keep Jewish girls to know if they were having sex with a Jewish boy. (Until the Catholic boys started getting cut also). This is so cruel, how about just tattooing a symbol on our dicks?
Soul - The spiritual part of man believed to give life to his body and in many religions regarded as immortal.
MISCELLANEOUS
Miracles - Blind to see, Talking snakes, Garden of Eden, Dead to life, virgin birth,
Most are taken from previous myths of older and out of style Gods.
DOUBLE SPEAK
Prison - Correctional Facility
Prison Hospital - Correctional Facility Hospital
Dump - Refuse Disposal Site
Sebastopol Police Services - Police
Patriot’s Act - Orwell couldn’t have done better
Freedom Tower’s - Let Freedom Ring! We are so frustrated because we weren’t attacked by a country, just some freaky religionist fundamentalists. But we found a couple of countries that needed to be destroyed, nevertheless. (And the had Oil!).
POLITICAL DICTIONARY
Republic - Representative Democracy, as opposed to Direct Democracy.
Republic - Head of State (President, Prime Minister) appointed by elections.
Constitutional Law put limits on power (Sometimes).
Problem of corruption (Always).
Hegemony - Dominance over another
GOALS FOR TOTAL WORLD CONTROL (This’ll be for your own good). The following groups make it pretty evident what their ultimate goal is:
Communism
Islam
Christianity
Atheism (My choice!, but I’m not going to kill anyone over it.)
POST WWII Most countries needed small, cheap cars, here are some that appeared.
Japan - Subaru 360 (Copied Fiat)
East Germany(Russia) - Trabant (A piece of shit)
Germany - VW bug (It’ll never sell in US)
France - Citroen 2CV (My choice!)
Italy - Fiat 500 (Joy’s dream car)
US - Cadillac (We don’t need no steenking small cars)
EARTH LIFE
Planet Earth has only about 5.43 billion years left. About 10,000 years until next Ice Age.
The concept of zero tolerance seems to be a result of writing laws that cannot predict all the ramifications of a particular area. Take for instance, HC accessability, an area where I am an unwilling participant, as most architects and builders are.
I am always amazed when I see taxpayer’s money (mine) squandered mostly due to a few greedy people (parasites) feeding on our fear of being sued due to some minor infractions of handicap accessability issues.
But, there is always someone to interpret our poorly written laws to line their pockets, and unfortunately they have the backing of the Department of Justice of the United States. Try fighting that battle.
The thing that really bugs me is all this stuff seems to be secret. What do they want other than money? We all want to conform to the ADA laws, but not to do unreasonable, expensive and unnecessary work due to ambiguous laws. Is it true that the state has recently adopted new HC laws that will result in the Justice Dept. Will lean on the Dept. Of Transportation who will lean on the county public works, etc...to build a $40,000 parking space in Graton when in reality, there was only a few inches out of conformance (Might as well be 20 feet). All the sidewalk ramps in the state (or all 52 states) are to be replaced due to a small redesign? I realize our government does not understand or care about such mundane concepts as “Cost benefit ratios” which means that the costs of something should be related to the benefits derived , not so open ended that the results will cost untold, yes, un-calculated, not even considered, millions and billions. Meanwhile, our roads are falling apart and we can’t afford to repair them.
I’ve already watched, as you have, cities jack hammer up lots of curb ramps to replace those that are not in conformance with the new regulations. And probably, will have to torn up in the near future, to conform to some ever changing guidelines. It is a pretty blatant how some lobbyists working for the folks who make the yellow knobby pads that are now required on all intersections got to our lawmakers to change the handicap laws so they had to use the pads. This means tearing up all the old curb ramps and replacing them with new ones.
How much does it really cost to replace each ramp? City engineers won’t tell me but I’m hearing about $5,000 per ramp. Who pays for all this? We do! Does anyone care? Am I the only one?
PEDESTRIANS
So many young people are getting hurt and killed in crosswalks, I began to wonder why. But then, I began to observe how youths go about crossing a street. I’ve been surprised how some get into a crosswalk and feel as if they’d entered a force shield as they totally ignore the machines around them. They are so complacent they believe no vehicle can penetrate the sacred zone where they tread. Allow me to offer a suggestion. Send all teenagers to Rome for a week, let them walk around the city and if they survive the no holds barred traffic streams in the crazy Italian method, then upon their return you can bet they will look upon any vehicle in sight to be a potential threat to their very life and limb to maybe pay a little more attention and to drivers who are paying even less attention.
COPING IN HARD TIMES
Please revisit my recipe for Depression Dinner in my Blog “Misery Revisited”.
Meanwhile, I’ll pass on a few more tips on how to survive this second depression (for me anyway).
1. I like a glass of Port after dinner like the next gentleman, but the good Spanish stuff is over $20 a bottle and my favorite Australian Tawny Ports are over $12 a bottle. Biting the bullet, I buy a local Fairbanks Port (from Modesto) in a 1.5 litre bottle for $7. I decant this into a saved good empty bottle of Morgado Porto or Presidential Porto, as it is easier to pour out of a small .75 litre bottle. Then I don’t think any more of it and pour myself a small glass of my “vintage” port (and for my guests).
2. Keeping my office expenses down is a big part of my life since I virtually have no work during these hard times. With two printers, one fax, a big copier and a large plotter, ink cartridges are a big expense. Fortunately, my local Ace Hardware store and our local Whole Food Market are able to supply me with refilled cartridges for one third to one half the price of a new one. You have to plan a head a little as it may take a few days to get you ink jets back.
3. Lunch - In the good old days (About two years ago) I used to get out to the local cafe, (Underwood Bistro) and have a wonderful salad with a couple of glasses of wine almost every day. I even had a tab there! Well, those halcyon days are long gone and I’ve managed to come up with an alternate solution to the problem. The inspiration was when one of my artist tenants, Becker, gave me a case of really good wine, mostly Pinot Noir. I would tell a friend that if he brought over a couple of sandwiches, I would have a couple of fabulous wines for us (Fabulous in my book means $40/bottle). When the wine gave out I changed my tactics to ask them to bring over a bottle of red and I would have a fabulous sandwich for us. This system is working smoothly and sometimes I add a quick visit to France or Italy via my snapshot of architectural wonders on a big screen during our repast, since we can’t get to Europe right now..
ROADSIDE MEMORIALS
A recent invention, leaving plastic flowers, balloons, and other trash where someone has been killed. Who is supposed to clean up all this shit? Similar to “Outpouring of grief” for celebrities whom one had never met of known the person. A prime example was Di’s over reacting was the humongous pile of rotting flowers and debris left by all the “grieving” citizens. Her only accomplishment was divorcing Charlie (Good move) and shacking up with an Arab zillionaire (Good move #2).
WAITERS - who say “No problem”. Does that mean they anticipate one as a usual event? There better not be a problem. Also waiters who have to tell me their names. Yeah, well, I’m Lamont and I’ll be you very small tipper if you keep up this buddy bullshit!
WINE TANK IMPLOSION!
Pictured is a 40,000 gal wine tank that recently was crushed by that unknown force, vacuum in our neighborhood. Seems a tanker truck got too close and scraped off the valve and access port. As all the wine gushed out it created a vacuum so strong it crushed the stainless steel tank like a dixie cup. About three million for the wine and several thousand for the tank. Winemakers have to be careful even when transferring wine out of the tanks as they have to remember to open a vent valve on top to alleviate any vacuum. This actually does happen occasionally. Workers were able to contain the wine and keep it from getting into a nearby creek and get all the fish drunk. That’s one thing I like about living in this area, when I see a tanker truck drive by, it more than likely will be full of wine instead of gasoline
MERCHANT OF DEATH CAPTURED!
Back in June I noted Viktor Bout was the “Merchant of Death” and was selling weapons in competition with the US (We are the world’s largest purveyor). I read this morning he has been captured and the US wants to extradite him for trial here. This could get interesting as he was transporting equipment for the United States in Afghanistan as well as buying fuel from our armed forces for his old Russian planes so he could supply the Taliban. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
U.S. SUPER BASES
More post-war help for the Iraqis due to the massive post-war building program we have ongoing in Irag. Take for instance, the new US Iraq Embassy - 21 buildings, 104 Acres - Bigger than Vatican, and of course, the cost is kind of secret but probably in the billions. This whole thing is supposed to be secret, but things leak out. Like it’s the largest in the world,, One billion and only 1/3 complete - For staff of 8,000 workers!
ALSO!
We are building Four Super bases in Iraq - $230 mill. Each for 55,000 soldiers
Biggest base = 15 square miles “Country Club” status, with pools, golf links, movie theaters, etc.
SERIOUS THOUGHT
One has to have a soul in order to suffer in Hell, Purgatory, or be happy in Heaven.
So at some point in our evolution we invented our “soul” in order to be threatened with one or the other. (Oh, no!, Don’t let me go to Heaven!).
If we knew where we came from before we were born, we would know where we were going when we die in the afterlife. I mean before crawling out of mom.
Inequalities of life - All men (women, too) are not created equal as we are led to believe. We may be sort of equal under the law, but that’s about it. Some are born slaves, idiots, genius, prodigies. Some with monumental talent, some just morons and vegetables. Some are lawyers or polititions. Some cultures threw them back (like the AmerIndians).
If animals don’t have a “soul”, when did man get one as he evolved from the chimpanzee?
Soul - The essence (not material) of a being that continues after one ’s body dies. From low to high? Stone to man? Anything higher than Man? To re-incarnate?
RELIGION DICTIONARY
Since most of the world’s wars are religion based, we should keep up on our daffynitions.
Omnipresent - Present in all places at all times
Omniscient - Infinite awareness, understanding
Omnipotent - Unlimited influence,
Ecumenical - World wide influence, Christian unity
Theist - Believes in a God.
Deist- Advocates natural religion based on human reason rather than revelation.
Atheist - Denies the existence of a supreme being.
Agnostic - A person who does not deny the possible existence of a God but holds that his existence and the origin of the universe are not known and probably cannot be known.
Gentile - A non-Jew or non-Mormon
Circumcision - From Egyptian tombs, Jews came from Egypt, ergo, brought it to the lucky Arabs and the rest of the world. 30% of all males got it. (Not me!). This was an obvious method to keep Jewish girls to know if they were having sex with a Jewish boy. (Until the Catholic boys started getting cut also). This is so cruel, how about just tattooing a symbol on our dicks?
Soul - The spiritual part of man believed to give life to his body and in many religions regarded as immortal.
MISCELLANEOUS
Miracles - Blind to see, Talking snakes, Garden of Eden, Dead to life, virgin birth,
Most are taken from previous myths of older and out of style Gods.
DOUBLE SPEAK
Prison - Correctional Facility
Prison Hospital - Correctional Facility Hospital
Dump - Refuse Disposal Site
Sebastopol Police Services - Police
Patriot’s Act - Orwell couldn’t have done better
Freedom Tower’s - Let Freedom Ring! We are so frustrated because we weren’t attacked by a country, just some freaky religionist fundamentalists. But we found a couple of countries that needed to be destroyed, nevertheless. (And the had Oil!).
POLITICAL DICTIONARY
Republic - Representative Democracy, as opposed to Direct Democracy.
Republic - Head of State (President, Prime Minister) appointed by elections.
Constitutional Law put limits on power (Sometimes).
Problem of corruption (Always).
Hegemony - Dominance over another
GOALS FOR TOTAL WORLD CONTROL (This’ll be for your own good). The following groups make it pretty evident what their ultimate goal is:
Communism
Islam
Christianity
Atheism (My choice!, but I’m not going to kill anyone over it.)
POST WWII Most countries needed small, cheap cars, here are some that appeared.
Japan - Subaru 360 (Copied Fiat)
East Germany(Russia) - Trabant (A piece of shit)
Germany - VW bug (It’ll never sell in US)
France - Citroen 2CV (My choice!)
Italy - Fiat 500 (Joy’s dream car)
US - Cadillac (We don’t need no steenking small cars)
EARTH LIFE
Planet Earth has only about 5.43 billion years left. About 10,000 years until next Ice Age.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
EUROPE DESIGN
MR. COFFEE
I finally got thru to corporate headquarters and talked to an actual representative of the company about the design deficiencies of my espresso machine. I just wanted to give them some follow up regarding their machine I had just purchased, although superior in some ways to my now abandoned Krups Espresso machine. It was really helpful that they said the conversation was being recorded, I said I didn’t give a shit about that. First of all, their two handles to operate the thing are shaped in such a peculiar, non-ergonomic way that I found it impossible to use. (See my previous Blog where I showed “There, I’ve fixed it”). I also wanted to point out that the water filler hole is mostly blocked be the valve mechanism resulting in water splashing all over when filling. (Although if I was left handed it could work fairly well). Another improvement would be to round off the left hand portion of the machine over the coffee cup to reflect the movement required to tighten the cup handle (left to right). Do these people really use industrial designers or just get some kid out of college to cobble a design together? Anyway, when I finally did talk to Mrs. Coffee about some feedback from an actual user, she said they did not have that capability. How in hell do they know about any design problems? When people stop buying the damn things due to some really stupid features? What is happening? First Krups wasn’t interest and I had the same thing with even Subaru. I’m just going to give up trying to help these companies.
TRAVELS WITH LAMONT
I finally got thru to corporate headquarters and talked to an actual representative of the company about the design deficiencies of my espresso machine. I just wanted to give them some follow up regarding their machine I had just purchased, although superior in some ways to my now abandoned Krups Espresso machine. It was really helpful that they said the conversation was being recorded, I said I didn’t give a shit about that. First of all, their two handles to operate the thing are shaped in such a peculiar, non-ergonomic way that I found it impossible to use. (See my previous Blog where I showed “There, I’ve fixed it”). I also wanted to point out that the water filler hole is mostly blocked be the valve mechanism resulting in water splashing all over when filling. (Although if I was left handed it could work fairly well). Another improvement would be to round off the left hand portion of the machine over the coffee cup to reflect the movement required to tighten the cup handle (left to right). Do these people really use industrial designers or just get some kid out of college to cobble a design together? Anyway, when I finally did talk to Mrs. Coffee about some feedback from an actual user, she said they did not have that capability. How in hell do they know about any design problems? When people stop buying the damn things due to some really stupid features? What is happening? First Krups wasn’t interest and I had the same thing with even Subaru. I’m just going to give up trying to help these companies.
TRAVELS WITH LAMONT
EUROPE ENGINEERING WORKS - When Joy & I get to Europe, we try to visit some outstanding engineering project. Here is a partial list of some of our favorite spots.
TIDAL ELECTRICAL GENERATION Brittany?
On one of our trips to France, we discovered a pretty far out and progressive electrical generating system that uses tidal movements for generation. This is situated in a large estuary near Dinard and St. Malo, just South of Mont St. Michael. As the tides flow in or out, it passes thru a long series of turbines that lie beneath the road bridge. All this is incorporated in a bridge which runs on top of it. When the tide changes, letting the water in or out of the estuary, the turbine blades rotate and generate electricity. Each turbine is about 8' in diameter, one of the few drawbacks is the corrosive salt water on the equipment.,
I had some great photos of this but my camera was ripped off in Antwerp.. The turbines are reversible, of course, to take advantage of in and out tides. This has been in operation for about 30 years, the only drawbacks are the salt water on all the equipment. There is one lock that allows all the small water craft access thru the dam & roadway.
MIDI CANAL France
This was the first canal built in the 1600's to link the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
The Architect Pierre Riquet solved the main problem of how to replenish the locks as they were emptied to let the barges pass. He built a huge reservoirs at the highest places as rains (even in summer) would keep them full. There are a about a hundred locks from near the top down to sea level. Joy & I rented this small “Barge” with just the two of us and it was a lot of wor
k navigating all the locks by ourselves (We prefer another couple to help). That’s probably why I fell in a lock for the first time. At one point there are a series of seven locks, like a staircase. It takes a while to get everyone up and down these but sometime after the War (II) a side lock was built to accommodate the 120' long canal barges. This is a tilted channel with a sliding gate that is high enough for the barge. It is operated by this monestrous moveable machine pictured..ROTTERDAM BARRIER Rotterdam, Holland
The largest man made moveable object on earth, the Maastracht Barrier is a mind boggling structure. It consists of two floating gates, anchored to at ball joint about 30' in diameter (Ten meters to you). The struts are about 12' diameter and each gate is as long as the Eiffel Tower is high (About a thousand feet). This allows the Dutch to close off the Rhine River when the North Sea gets too high and can protect the harbor from flooding. The barrier can hold back about 9 feet of the north sea, but then they have to be able to let the river water out too, so you figure out the math, I can’t
FIRTH OF FORTH BRIDGE Edinburgh, Scotland
This is an oldie but a goodie. Built after the previous rail bridge was lost with an entire train in 1860, this bridge is going nowhere. The main support tubes consist of bent iron plates riveted together to form about 12' diameter. This was built about the same time as Roebling’s Brooklyn Bridge and is slightly shorter in span but has to withstand winds much higher than the Roeblings. This bridge has so much iron to paint that entire families spend their lives on it. The term “Like Painting the Forth Bridge” means it will never get done.
FALKIRK WHEEL Near Edinburgh, Scotland
Proving that the Scots haven’t lost their genius for engineering and everything else, this contrivance replaces 10 locks joining two canal systems. It operates like a Ferris wheel with two buckets of water. Four boats enter the upper bucket while four more load in the lower one. Some ingenious gates are close and the whole thing rotates around till the upper tubs are on bottom to unload. Always a balanced load, a 13 HP motor moves it all. There is a swell restaurant below where we had a sandwich and a glass of Gallo wine, while we watched the rovolutions thru the glass roof.
HOLLAND INFLATABLE DAM Somewhere along our canal route from Sneek to Amsterdam, Holland
On our Dutch canal trip we approached a very peculiar structure. Wonderful in design, we finally realized it was two ends of a very large inflatable dike. Each end was a four story building where control rooms operated the whole thing. This probably doesn’t get used but every few months or years, meanwhile the tube rests on the bottom of the canal, which at this point is really a river. Before we embarked on our boat, I explained in detail to our new boat mates the intricacies of negotiating locks that were 15 feet deep. In actuality, the deepest lock we went thru in Holland was only 18 inches drop!
EIFFEL VIADUCT - Brier, France
Canals once in a while have to cross over a road or another canal and in few cases, a river. Such is the case with the canal that crosses the Loire River just before it enters Brier. Constructed in 1897, it features the longest such viaduct in France, 663 meters. Gustav Eiffel was the engineer on the piers but strangely, not the steel members that span between them. These canals are only about six feet deep and of course, you all remember your physics class that any boat will displace an equal amount of water.
LA DEFENSE BUILDING Paris, France
This building is so spectacular that we have to repeatedly visit it. Paris is a city t
hat has a certain height limit for any buildings due to an unfortunate high rise called the Black Tower. Everyone was so incensed about it that they outlawed anything more that about seven stories, the usual old Paris building height. This was due to the fact that no one would walk up more than seven stories. Most elevators have been retro-fitted in all the buildings after it was invented in about 1850. However, in their infinite wisdom, Parisian planners designed new city areas on the outskirts of Paris so you can build really tall skyscrapers. La Defense, amazingly, is a government building, with its huge hole in the middle, giant monumental stairway (No handrails, please), glass external elevators and the “Clouds” designed by an artist to kind of fill the hole.PONT DU GARD Somewhere near Avignon, France
Back to the good old days when you had lots of slaves, the Romans designed a water system for their camps in Southern France(Gaul). This viaduct, one of the largest and best preserved, still could serve the use it was for which it was originally conceived. Just to get water from one side of a small river to the other sometimes stressed the Roman engineers, but did not deter them. It was a combination roadway, and waterway, and the size of the stones are impressive, hard enough to weather only little in the last two millenniums.
MILLEU VIADUCT Milleu, France
Back to the 21st century, here is the world’s most beautiful bridge. Recently completed, designed by Richard Rogers (Of Pompidue Center in Paris), a truly awesome achievement. Perched on several towers span a deep gorge, it replaced a treacherous and very dangerous highway portion of a highway from Paris to the South of France. The highest concrete tower is as high as the Eiffel tower, 1,000 feet. Amazingly, it was designed & constructed in about four years, For a cost of only 600 million Euros. The French, being a socialist country, Bids project out like this to private companies (we do it with our socialistic CalTrans), who in turn hire the architect as part of the team. The winner then builds it (with his financing) and owns it and runs it for seventy years, when they turn it over to the government. The steel roadway was built in the Ukraine, and trucked to the site, erected by pushing it out to the towers.
Friday, June 25, 2010
CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
CARR RESIDENCE
I'm just finishing a wonderful medium sized residence in Graton are for the world's best client. I knew if I stayed with this long enough I would encounter him. Harry Carr is a doctor here in Sonoma County, a batchelor who has a rare affliction, good taste in design. 2400 square foot with three bedrooms, the house has three heating/AC zones, ceiling heights that vary with the use (Basic 8'' general, 10' at kitchen & Master Bedroom, 14' at Living & Dining). Cedar celilings at high areas. Interiors are cherry floors 
with black slate at higher use areas. All cabinets are cherry. Joy & I have been able to help with the furniture specifying as well as designing a few major pieces (In cherry, of course). We used a single ply membrane on the roof, EIFS (Exterior Insulation Insulation System) for exterior walls, with redwood trim and trellising. Incredibally, the cost of the house came in at $256 per square foot, an amazing cost for this area considering we used the best appliances and fixtures available.
with black slate at higher use areas. All cabinets are cherry. Joy & I have been able to help with the furniture specifying as well as designing a few major pieces (In cherry, of course). We used a single ply membrane on the roof, EIFS (Exterior Insulation Insulation System) for exterior walls, with redwood trim and trellising. Incredibally, the cost of the house came in at $256 per square foot, an amazing cost for this area considering we used the best appliances and fixtures available. All lavs have wood countertops, which I like to use, except for granite in the kitchen. The house sits on a west facing slope overlooking vinyards and apple orchards.
THERE, I'VE FIXED IT
I've used the Krupps espresso maker for 20 years. My third one failed after many years of service so I bought a new one for $60. after a few months, the valve was difficult to use so I returned it to the store and they gave me a new one. Lo and behold, the same thing happened after another few months so I tried to let Krupps know of the problem. Well, this day & age, companies don't seem to want to hear anything negative about their product, and after trying on their web site, calling them, etc. to make them aware of this problem, I gave up. I returned it again, got my m
ony back, went over to Target and bought a Mr. Espresso for $25. (Actually $24.99). This machine is just the basic coffee maker with milk steamer like the Krupps, except not quite so cool looking. But it actually has a few features that are superior to Krupps. However, there is a major flaw in their design as the knobs are of some really weird design that actually hurt my fingers to operate it. In lieu of tossing the whole godamn thing out I, being the ultimate do it you selfer, decided I could make it funtional without too much trouble. I simply screwed on two plywood discs to the knobs, added a bit of epoxy, and viola! it works better than my old Krupps. Of course, I will paint them black and all will be well with my morning espresso.
I've used the Krupps espresso maker for 20 years. My third one failed after many years of service so I bought a new one for $60. after a few months, the valve was difficult to use so I returned it to the store and they gave me a new one. Lo and behold, the same thing happened after another few months so I tried to let Krupps know of the problem. Well, this day & age, companies don't seem to want to hear anything negative about their product, and after trying on their web site, calling them, etc. to make them aware of this problem, I gave up. I returned it again, got my m
ony back, went over to Target and bought a Mr. Espresso for $25. (Actually $24.99). This machine is just the basic coffee maker with milk steamer like the Krupps, except not quite so cool looking. But it actually has a few features that are superior to Krupps. However, there is a major flaw in their design as the knobs are of some really weird design that actually hurt my fingers to operate it. In lieu of tossing the whole godamn thing out I, being the ultimate do it you selfer, decided I could make it funtional without too much trouble. I simply screwed on two plywood discs to the knobs, added a bit of epoxy, and viola! it works better than my old Krupps. Of course, I will paint them black and all will be well with my morning espresso.I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!
Harley Davidson motor noise machines. These miserable people that need to assert their idiocy on the rest of the population ought to be neutered so they can't reproduce anymore. Then maybe in a generation we (If we still have any hearing left) can spend the rest of our days in peace. My house is several hundred feet from a minor highway and although I do hear all the cars passing by,, it's mostly the air and rubber that I hear. But there is always some fool ripping by with his no muffler Harley blasting a noise path thru the neighborhood. I perceive these egotists at the center of a decibil monster that is a circle several hundred feet in diameter destroying the peaceful lives of us tranquel folk. I cannot imagine what is must be to live in a place like Richmond, Virginia, where they passed an Ordinance making it illegal to "cause a disturbance" that can be heard 50 feet away from the noise source. Now, I know that nut cases like Sarah Palin wouldn't let government intrude on our lives like that, but I'm all for it, and give those folks a medal who passed the ordinance on top of it. Of course, then you have to battle the ACLU that you're taking away the rights of others to fuck up the life of your neighbors.
VACATION TIME, AGAIN
Oh yeah. But we're not going anywhere soon.
All I've got are some memoriesw of Europe so I 'll just regurgatate some of those in lieu of actually being there. We always get in a weeks canal cruise which has become deriguer anytime we do play on the other side of the pond. It's pretty amazing that they will let you drive off in a $100,000 boat with only five minutes of instruction. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough on our cruise in North Holland as they didn't mention how to work the air conditioning (or that there even one was there) and we hit one of the hottest weeks in history. Joy & I shared the boot with two women from the East, but I was the capitan, of course, with my vast knowledge and experience on boats. I was a qualified submariner, you know. Pictured is our boat tied up in a small medievil town noth of Amsterdam, searching out a cold beer. Of course, these are not always strickly a canal trip as once in a while we found ourselves out in the middle of a huge inland sea (Zee). This kind of freaked Joy out but we soon realized that the water was only 3' deep if you miss the dredged waterway. We actually did ground once but got away without too much damage. If you choose this method of sightseeing, be sure to get a boat that has a BOW THRUSTER, a very important feature, especially when backing up to a dock. And always remember to duck when going under a low bridge.
BOOK REPORT
"Blowback" by Chalmers Johnson, lays out the dangers faced by our overextended Empire, which insists on projecting it's military power to every corner of the earth and using American capitol and markets to force global economic integration on it's own terms. This book, written a couple of years before 9/11, warned us of the consequences of our foreign policies that rely on a massive military presence in so many countries. His more recent book is "The Sorrows of Empire" to opens our eyes to our 800+ military bases around the world (We have 80 bases alone on Okinawa). We may be at a point where our military is so imbedded in our government it may be too late to regain control from them. Onward, Christian Soldiers!
Thursday, June 03, 2010
CHICKEN OR EGG?
CHICKEN OR THE EGG?
Have you ever wondered why chickens lay eggs every day while other birds in our trees only lay a few in a nest maybe once or twice a year?
I’m glad you asked! It seems that chickens were domesticated about 10,000 BC , in India or Vietnam from the Red Jungle Fowl, who still exist and look just like a real chicken. Dogs & pigs were also domesticated about the same time, my guess is that you needed eggs with your bacon, didn’t you? A chicken, if left alone, when about a dozen eggs are laid (a clutch) she stops laying and sits on them , turning them over until they hatch, then they’re on their own pretty much. However, some clever dude found that if he took away each egg as soon as it was laid, the hen automatically laid another to take it’s place. The hen does this diligently for a few years until she runs out of eggs, then it’s time to whip up the Coq au vin. Those of you who are anti-Columbus should realize we have the Spanish to thank for introducing this wonderful commodity to the Western World.
OLYMPIAN GAFFE
It has degenerated from an original contest between men to see whom would be the victor or the best or more skilled at a particular area like javelin, discus, wrestling, racing, etc. How do you justify that the current highlight of the Olympics is “Ice Dancing”, have we become a world of pansies? How do you even judge that? It appears that if you perform a couple of “Triple Axels” in your choreography and not fall down too much and show a lot of panties, wee, you’r going to be the toast of the sport world. I have to admit that it may be more physically exerting than “Synchronized Swimming”, or even “Curling”. Curling is all skill, if you’re adept at sweeping furiously with a broom. What’s next? Yoga? Ballet?
GEOGRAPHY PROBLEM
Here is something has mystified me for years. I have yet to get a clear answer from anyone & I thought hordes went to Niagra Falls to get married. All the pictures I have seen of the falls show the river running from right to left. However, I assume (maybe this is where I am wrong) that the river runs from the lakes to the Atlantic, in other words, from left to right from the US side. If that the case, all the pictures of the falls are taken from the Canadian side. Help me out here.!
AVALANCHE!
A new house was just completed next door to our little ‘A’ frame cabin at Donner Summit and has presented us with a new problem as their roof snow builds up on their 4 in 12 metal roof and will slide off in a big mass which ends up inside out porch. Joy is afraid someone will be caught in this small avalanche and has taken steps to alleviate the danger. Hearing the avalanche canons occasionally gave us the idea that a loud bang could knock their snow off when we desired. We considered getting some blanks for a handgun, but settled on trying a recording of Beethoven’s 1812 Overture which features actual cannons in the score. Not having that handy, the closest score she had was Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lot of Love”. Joy positioned the Subaru in our drive, opened the doors, put on some earplugs and played the drum solo part wide open. Voila! The whole snow load slide right off the roof! Mission accomplished! We now have plans to drive up and down the streets playing our song and blowing all the snow off everyone’s roof.
CLEAN ENERGY REPORT
On one of our trips to France, we discovered a pretty far out and progressive electrical generating system that uses tidal movements for generation. This is situated in a large estuary near Dinard and St. Malo, just South of Mont St. Michael. As the tides flow in or out, it passes thru a long series of turbines that lie beneath the road bridge. All this is incorporated in a bridge which runs on top of it. When the tide changes, letting the water in or out of the estuary, the turbine blades rotate and generate electricity. Each turbine is about 8' in diameter, one of the few drawbacks is the corrosive salt water on the equipment. This installation has been operational for many years, maybe twenty years? I'd show you pictures of it but some asshole stole my camera.
WALLED CITIES
One of our most memorable experiences (Only if you’re a history buff) is staying in an old walled Medieval city in France. Aiuges Mort, in the Languadoc area of Southern France, is one of the few left that have a couple small hotels inside the city. Cars are not allowed so you have to drag your bag all thru the city banging around on the old cobblestones. Naturally they do have a system of allowing small delivery vehicles in at certain times. In the Hotel St. Louis (He really wasn’t a saint but a real asshole). We had a small room in a sixteenth century building with a tiny balcony overlooking a small square . It’s not the same as the Reniassance Faire, but you do get the feel of life in a fifteen century, before the cannon rendered the huge walls obsolete. Nevertheless, you could almost read the history of these walls, from the lower level Roman stonework to the top of the battlements, the stonework changing style about every 400 years of it’s building.
Also in southern France is Carcassonne is totally restored, being restored in the 1800's by the Architect Villet le Duc. Of the three hotels in the cite, we stayed for a few days at Hotel _____? It also gave one the impression of living in a filthy town, in a 12th century abbey, converted when indoor plumbing arrived. However, they never quite understood the system of plumbing vents as the sewer smell was sometimes pretty ripe. (Naturally, this was the cheapest of the three hotels in town). Otherwise, we were happy, roaming up and down the ancient stone circular staircase that was amazingly worn from hundreds of years of wear.
THE MERCHANTS OF DEATH
I am currently reading about the people and companies who make war, not love. It’s pretty interesting reading a book written just before the 2nd World War. The names Krupp, Rothechild, etc. have a marvelous method of supplying both sides of antagonists with weapons with deals made between countries to go easy on bombing other’s plants & facilities.
THE MERCHANT OF DEATH
Then I read about Victor Bout, a Russian and a current purveyor of weapons. This guy is pretty amazing, selling to both the rebels & the government of all the African countries so they can kill each other more efficiently. He has developed a huge clandestine airline of huge, tough, Russian Air Force surplus planes. He knows how to get around all the controls the UN imposes on arms selling. Incredibly, he was selling to the Taliban and the US occupation force at the same time in Iraq and Afganistan. Sometimes these things just don’t seem believable.
MORE UNBELIEVABLE SHIT
An even more interesting book is The Sorrows of Imperialism, by Chalmers Johnson. The extended title is “Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic”. The author describes the rise of our Imperialism in the last 100 years, beginning with our acquisition of the Phillipenes, Guatanamo Bay & Hawaii. The military is so ensconced in our government with lobbyists, the shuffling of presidential advisors & advisors that we probably will not be able to reverse this process. Did you know we had 80 bases on Okinawa alone? Shit, that has to be smaller than California, doesn't it? No wondedr the Okinawans hate us, as well as the rest of the world. However, most of the world relies on our money that they have a hard time getting us out. It seems we have about 800 bases in a network around, the world, probably why our military budget of 400 Billion a year is larger than the combined budget of several of our allies combined. We just want to protect our oil supplies. And it just isn't Republicans like Bush I and II, as Democrats have kept it going also, even Carter.
There's no hope!
Have you ever wondered why chickens lay eggs every day while other birds in our trees only lay a few in a nest maybe once or twice a year?
I’m glad you asked! It seems that chickens were domesticated about 10,000 BC , in India or Vietnam from the Red Jungle Fowl, who still exist and look just like a real chicken. Dogs & pigs were also domesticated about the same time, my guess is that you needed eggs with your bacon, didn’t you? A chicken, if left alone, when about a dozen eggs are laid (a clutch) she stops laying and sits on them , turning them over until they hatch, then they’re on their own pretty much. However, some clever dude found that if he took away each egg as soon as it was laid, the hen automatically laid another to take it’s place. The hen does this diligently for a few years until she runs out of eggs, then it’s time to whip up the Coq au vin. Those of you who are anti-Columbus should realize we have the Spanish to thank for introducing this wonderful commodity to the Western World.
OLYMPIAN GAFFE
It has degenerated from an original contest between men to see whom would be the victor or the best or more skilled at a particular area like javelin, discus, wrestling, racing, etc. How do you justify that the current highlight of the Olympics is “Ice Dancing”, have we become a world of pansies? How do you even judge that? It appears that if you perform a couple of “Triple Axels” in your choreography and not fall down too much and show a lot of panties, wee, you’r going to be the toast of the sport world. I have to admit that it may be more physically exerting than “Synchronized Swimming”, or even “Curling”. Curling is all skill, if you’re adept at sweeping furiously with a broom. What’s next? Yoga? Ballet?
GEOGRAPHY PROBLEM
Here is something has mystified me for years. I have yet to get a clear answer from anyone & I thought hordes went to Niagra Falls to get married. All the pictures I have seen of the falls show the river running from right to left. However, I assume (maybe this is where I am wrong) that the river runs from the lakes to the Atlantic, in other words, from left to right from the US side. If that the case, all the pictures of the falls are taken from the Canadian side. Help me out here.!
AVALANCHE!
A new house was just completed next door to our little ‘A’ frame cabin at Donner Summit and has presented us with a new problem as their roof snow builds up on their 4 in 12 metal roof and will slide off in a big mass which ends up inside out porch. Joy is afraid someone will be caught in this small avalanche and has taken steps to alleviate the danger. Hearing the avalanche canons occasionally gave us the idea that a loud bang could knock their snow off when we desired. We considered getting some blanks for a handgun, but settled on trying a recording of Beethoven’s 1812 Overture which features actual cannons in the score. Not having that handy, the closest score she had was Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lot of Love”. Joy positioned the Subaru in our drive, opened the doors, put on some earplugs and played the drum solo part wide open. Voila! The whole snow load slide right off the roof! Mission accomplished! We now have plans to drive up and down the streets playing our song and blowing all the snow off everyone’s roof.
CLEAN ENERGY REPORT
On one of our trips to France, we discovered a pretty far out and progressive electrical generating system that uses tidal movements for generation. This is situated in a large estuary near Dinard and St. Malo, just South of Mont St. Michael. As the tides flow in or out, it passes thru a long series of turbines that lie beneath the road bridge. All this is incorporated in a bridge which runs on top of it. When the tide changes, letting the water in or out of the estuary, the turbine blades rotate and generate electricity. Each turbine is about 8' in diameter, one of the few drawbacks is the corrosive salt water on the equipment. This installation has been operational for many years, maybe twenty years? I'd show you pictures of it but some asshole stole my camera.
WALLED CITIES
One of our most memorable experiences (Only if you’re a history buff) is staying in an old walled Medieval city in France. Aiuges Mort, in the Languadoc area of Southern France, is one of the few left that have a couple small hotels inside the city. Cars are not allowed so you have to drag your bag all thru the city banging around on the old cobblestones. Naturally they do have a system of allowing small delivery vehicles in at certain times. In the Hotel St. Louis (He really wasn’t a saint but a real asshole). We had a small room in a sixteenth century building with a tiny balcony overlooking a small square . It’s not the same as the Reniassance Faire, but you do get the feel of life in a fifteen century, before the cannon rendered the huge walls obsolete. Nevertheless, you could almost read the history of these walls, from the lower level Roman stonework to the top of the battlements, the stonework changing style about every 400 years of it’s building.
Also in southern France is Carcassonne is totally restored, being restored in the 1800's by the Architect Villet le Duc. Of the three hotels in the cite, we stayed for a few days at Hotel _____? It also gave one the impression of living in a filthy town, in a 12th century abbey, converted when indoor plumbing arrived. However, they never quite understood the system of plumbing vents as the sewer smell was sometimes pretty ripe. (Naturally, this was the cheapest of the three hotels in town). Otherwise, we were happy, roaming up and down the ancient stone circular staircase that was amazingly worn from hundreds of years of wear.
THE MERCHANTS OF DEATH
I am currently reading about the people and companies who make war, not love. It’s pretty interesting reading a book written just before the 2nd World War. The names Krupp, Rothechild, etc. have a marvelous method of supplying both sides of antagonists with weapons with deals made between countries to go easy on bombing other’s plants & facilities.
THE MERCHANT OF DEATH
Then I read about Victor Bout, a Russian and a current purveyor of weapons. This guy is pretty amazing, selling to both the rebels & the government of all the African countries so they can kill each other more efficiently. He has developed a huge clandestine airline of huge, tough, Russian Air Force surplus planes. He knows how to get around all the controls the UN imposes on arms selling. Incredibly, he was selling to the Taliban and the US occupation force at the same time in Iraq and Afganistan. Sometimes these things just don’t seem believable.
MORE UNBELIEVABLE SHIT
An even more interesting book is The Sorrows of Imperialism, by Chalmers Johnson. The extended title is “Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic”. The author describes the rise of our Imperialism in the last 100 years, beginning with our acquisition of the Phillipenes, Guatanamo Bay & Hawaii. The military is so ensconced in our government with lobbyists, the shuffling of presidential advisors & advisors that we probably will not be able to reverse this process. Did you know we had 80 bases on Okinawa alone? Shit, that has to be smaller than California, doesn't it? No wondedr the Okinawans hate us, as well as the rest of the world. However, most of the world relies on our money that they have a hard time getting us out. It seems we have about 800 bases in a network around, the world, probably why our military budget of 400 Billion a year is larger than the combined budget of several of our allies combined. We just want to protect our oil supplies. And it just isn't Republicans like Bush I and II, as Democrats have kept it going also, even Carter.
There's no hope!
Friday, February 05, 2010
JUST READING
JUST READING
I’ve always heard about the conflict of the Federalists & Anti-Federalists but never came across much about it. Finally got it together and read LIBERTY’S BLUEPRINT by M. Meyerson, who clarifies it nicely. During the time it took to write & ratify the Constitution, anonymous authors wrote about eighty essays that were published in the New York newspaper weekly. Signed Publius, it was mostly John Adams & Alexander Hamilton who wrote them. Naturally, an antagonist soon appeared under the name of Brutus, to take the other side of the arguments. The biggest nut the framers of the Constitution wrestled with was mostly how much power was to be given to the individual states versus the power of the Federal government. Madison’s in depth study of all previous governments was a great asset to the essays and helped the statesmen understand the pitfalls of each. Some of the questions were pretty basic, like should we have a president? Who would elect him? Surprisingly, they were not elected by popular vote originally, but by one of the houses. I guess it took years to get it all finished. They spent a lot of time on the power of special interests, but couldn’t believe that would become our method of government.
Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob. (Anonymous).
HYPOTHESIS
Also just finished a DVD of Smithsonian about the history of earth. It’s kind of interesting to note that each stage of development kind of correspond to the current stage of most of the other planets of our Solar System. What I’m thinking here is our search for life on other planets even outside our own system has to coincide with a very narrow time frame in the development of a planet. In other words, our planet is 4.5 Billion years old, yet we only became cognoscent of the possibility of other cultures in the last 50 years. If our planet continues it’s evolution (After all, we all are destined to die, even planets) it will destruct in a few billion more years. Maybe human life forms may only be around for another several hundred years and then die off. You can see the very small window of opportunity for us to emit a signal during the entire billions of years of a planet’s life. For two planets to coincide at their apogee is a far probability.
HAIKU (JL2)
Look! How did my lawn get covered with diamonds?
Oh. It’s only snow crystals in morning sunlight.
THE GARAGE DILEMMA
The great American garage has always been a big problem for me and I usually try to convince my clients to use a carport, for several reasons. One, a modern car is actually waterproof, unlike the buggies of the past. Especially in our climate where we don’t have to shovel snow off it in the mornings. Two, sure as hell, the garage will be filled up with junk of some kind and there you’ve lost your car space. A recent study pointed out that 50% of Americans can’t park in their garages, and this was a National study (Snow country). Told you so! The auto is an integral part of our lives, so why not make it easy to access? Third, there is no third. A carport just gives a more open and light feeling in a house. In some instances on small narrow lots, I’ve even had to use the carport as an entry to the house. In my condo, only three of us out of 28 can use the garage.
SHOPPING
I recently went shopping for pants, which I do about every ten years. My last pair of Levi’s were marked “Relaxed Fit”. Now what in hell does that mean? It Wasn’t until I got my new jeans (Regular Fit) that I realized that “Relaxed Fit “ meant “Fatty Fit”. Can’t we just be a bit more honest and call it like it is? How about “Skinny Ass Fit”? “Kind of Normal Fit”, or “Old Wide Ass Fit”?
THREE MILES
There is a statue in the square of Delft, Holland of Hugo Grotius, a lawyer around 1600. He is famous for his writings on international law, among other things. Most of what we currently use today was based on his thoughts of it. One item that might interest you is his concept of International waters being three miles from shore. The reason for this is at the time, that was as far as a cannon could fire in those days to defend their country.
HATE REVISITED
My wife just came across my original Hate List of only about five items. But one of them is still driving me nuts. It’s that almost everyone in the US ends a telephone conversation with “Bye Bye”. Now where in hell did that come from? Are we all infants and still need coddling? You’ll never be able to stop yourself from doing it but just begin
noting how many people do it. Or more of a challenge, see how many people don’t say “Bye Bye”.
Bye Bye.
I’ve always heard about the conflict of the Federalists & Anti-Federalists but never came across much about it. Finally got it together and read LIBERTY’S BLUEPRINT by M. Meyerson, who clarifies it nicely. During the time it took to write & ratify the Constitution, anonymous authors wrote about eighty essays that were published in the New York newspaper weekly. Signed Publius, it was mostly John Adams & Alexander Hamilton who wrote them. Naturally, an antagonist soon appeared under the name of Brutus, to take the other side of the arguments. The biggest nut the framers of the Constitution wrestled with was mostly how much power was to be given to the individual states versus the power of the Federal government. Madison’s in depth study of all previous governments was a great asset to the essays and helped the statesmen understand the pitfalls of each. Some of the questions were pretty basic, like should we have a president? Who would elect him? Surprisingly, they were not elected by popular vote originally, but by one of the houses. I guess it took years to get it all finished. They spent a lot of time on the power of special interests, but couldn’t believe that would become our method of government.
Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob. (Anonymous).
HYPOTHESIS
Also just finished a DVD of Smithsonian about the history of earth. It’s kind of interesting to note that each stage of development kind of correspond to the current stage of most of the other planets of our Solar System. What I’m thinking here is our search for life on other planets even outside our own system has to coincide with a very narrow time frame in the development of a planet. In other words, our planet is 4.5 Billion years old, yet we only became cognoscent of the possibility of other cultures in the last 50 years. If our planet continues it’s evolution (After all, we all are destined to die, even planets) it will destruct in a few billion more years. Maybe human life forms may only be around for another several hundred years and then die off. You can see the very small window of opportunity for us to emit a signal during the entire billions of years of a planet’s life. For two planets to coincide at their apogee is a far probability.
HAIKU (JL2)
Look! How did my lawn get covered with diamonds?
Oh. It’s only snow crystals in morning sunlight.
THE GARAGE DILEMMA
The great American garage has always been a big problem for me and I usually try to convince my clients to use a carport, for several reasons. One, a modern car is actually waterproof, unlike the buggies of the past. Especially in our climate where we don’t have to shovel snow off it in the mornings. Two, sure as hell, the garage will be filled up with junk of some kind and there you’ve lost your car space. A recent study pointed out that 50% of Americans can’t park in their garages, and this was a National study (Snow country). Told you so! The auto is an integral part of our lives, so why not make it easy to access? Third, there is no third. A carport just gives a more open and light feeling in a house. In some instances on small narrow lots, I’ve even had to use the carport as an entry to the house. In my condo, only three of us out of 28 can use the garage.
SHOPPING
I recently went shopping for pants, which I do about every ten years. My last pair of Levi’s were marked “Relaxed Fit”. Now what in hell does that mean? It Wasn’t until I got my new jeans (Regular Fit) that I realized that “Relaxed Fit “ meant “Fatty Fit”. Can’t we just be a bit more honest and call it like it is? How about “Skinny Ass Fit”? “Kind of Normal Fit”, or “Old Wide Ass Fit”?
THREE MILES
There is a statue in the square of Delft, Holland of Hugo Grotius, a lawyer around 1600. He is famous for his writings on international law, among other things. Most of what we currently use today was based on his thoughts of it. One item that might interest you is his concept of International waters being three miles from shore. The reason for this is at the time, that was as far as a cannon could fire in those days to defend their country.
HATE REVISITED
My wife just came across my original Hate List of only about five items. But one of them is still driving me nuts. It’s that almost everyone in the US ends a telephone conversation with “Bye Bye”. Now where in hell did that come from? Are we all infants and still need coddling? You’ll never be able to stop yourself from doing it but just begin
noting how many people do it. Or more of a challenge, see how many people don’t say “Bye Bye”.
Bye Bye.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
ONCE MORE AROUND THE SUN
CONFESSION
As an architect, we have to know quite a bit about mechanical systems as well as enough structural knowledge to design a 10 story building that will with-stand a major seismic event or a hurricane. But occasionally, down here on the micro level of household lighting, well, it is possible to miss. A case in point being a light fixture over my stair at my condo we completely renovated five years ago appeared to be turning orange. This was a halogen lamp, which was original before our remodel so I figured it was time to replace the lamp. It being located halfway down the stair, it was difficult to access with anything I had but I laid our ladder nearly flat from the top stair to the adjacent wall. This was probably not a good idea but I was able to get up to it and install a new lamp without maiming myself. However, after putting everything away, the light was still orange. It must be the fixture itself. I called our electrician, Pedro, who arrived a couple of days later. Meanwhile, I had made a little platform Gismo that allows a ladder to barely set on the steps and nearby wall. Pedro took the fixture down, tested it and found that it wasn’t getting full power (120 volts). At that point he looked at the switch which is a slick paddle type we installed during our remodel. While taking it apart he realized it had a very small sliding thingy that allowed one to dim the light. In my defense, all the other dimmers in the house are a very different type with a large paddle one moves to dim it. Also, no one in his right mind needs a dimmer on a stair as it’s kind of a dangerous place. Unless you really look close at the switch it is not apparent that it’s a dimmer. Anyway, the problem happened due to me just hitting the paddle to turn it on or off , not realizing it was a dimmer. Over the years the slide gismo would move incrementally when I hit it until the light was dimmed. Well, Pedro was good about it and only charged us about half his normal fee, as he realized that he should have began with the switch in the first place.
BOOK DUST COVERS
When you (Or if you ever) buy a hardback book, it comes with a “Dust cover”, or a marketing ploy to attract your attention to buy it. Now this is something that really ticks me off, people who do not throw the cover away, and try to keep it on the book forever. You can’t read a book with the dust thing on as it keeps slipping around, falling off, getting in the way of serious reading. Who ever came up with the idea of calling it a Dust Cover, anyway? A book cannot collect dust when it is standing on a shelf, can it? If it’s laying around, being read, will it collect dust? If so, you better just turn on your Moron Tube and forget about books, they’re not your thing.
QUIET TIME
Most mornings I get up early around six, do my toilet (which takes about three seconds to accomplish the return to my usual suave and deboner self), fire up the Krups espresso pot, pick up the Press Democrat, and read all the miserable news with my coffee and oatmeal. Joy arises about the time I’m ready to leave, after I’ve made her another batch of cappuccino. I give her the old so long kiss, as I won’t be seeing her for about an hour at my office. Then I repair to a local bakery for a coffee and maybe an Italian turnover, if I’ve opted for the Union Hotel Bakery in Occidental, driving thru the vineyards. There, I can read one of the three books I’ve got in the pipeline in peace and relative quiet, as Joy tends to fill up any quiet space with some kind of chatter, irrespective of my sitting tranquilly trying to read about the History of Warfare.
VIEWING GOD
I overheard a couple of atoms in a cell in one of my toenails discussing the existence of God. They had heard that it was a He and he was obviously an old man with a long white beard. Now I was amazed they had somehow gotton that description pretty close to my actual appearance. However, one of them was asking me to improve his life by granting him (I think it was a he) a favor of one sort or another. I didn’t have a real way to tell him that I had no real control about his existence as well as the fact that I’m merely a speck myself in the ocean of life and some other force has been running my life which I really don’t have any control over, ergo, no way I could help the poor devil out myself. Oh, well, I’ve got to trim my toenails this weekend so that may solve his problems.
As an architect, we have to know quite a bit about mechanical systems as well as enough structural knowledge to design a 10 story building that will with-stand a major seismic event or a hurricane. But occasionally, down here on the micro level of household lighting, well, it is possible to miss. A case in point being a light fixture over my stair at my condo we completely renovated five years ago appeared to be turning orange. This was a halogen lamp, which was original before our remodel so I figured it was time to replace the lamp. It being located halfway down the stair, it was difficult to access with anything I had but I laid our ladder nearly flat from the top stair to the adjacent wall. This was probably not a good idea but I was able to get up to it and install a new lamp without maiming myself. However, after putting everything away, the light was still orange. It must be the fixture itself. I called our electrician, Pedro, who arrived a couple of days later. Meanwhile, I had made a little platform Gismo that allows a ladder to barely set on the steps and nearby wall. Pedro took the fixture down, tested it and found that it wasn’t getting full power (120 volts). At that point he looked at the switch which is a slick paddle type we installed during our remodel. While taking it apart he realized it had a very small sliding thingy that allowed one to dim the light. In my defense, all the other dimmers in the house are a very different type with a large paddle one moves to dim it. Also, no one in his right mind needs a dimmer on a stair as it’s kind of a dangerous place. Unless you really look close at the switch it is not apparent that it’s a dimmer. Anyway, the problem happened due to me just hitting the paddle to turn it on or off , not realizing it was a dimmer. Over the years the slide gismo would move incrementally when I hit it until the light was dimmed. Well, Pedro was good about it and only charged us about half his normal fee, as he realized that he should have began with the switch in the first place.
BOOK DUST COVERS
When you (Or if you ever) buy a hardback book, it comes with a “Dust cover”, or a marketing ploy to attract your attention to buy it. Now this is something that really ticks me off, people who do not throw the cover away, and try to keep it on the book forever. You can’t read a book with the dust thing on as it keeps slipping around, falling off, getting in the way of serious reading. Who ever came up with the idea of calling it a Dust Cover, anyway? A book cannot collect dust when it is standing on a shelf, can it? If it’s laying around, being read, will it collect dust? If so, you better just turn on your Moron Tube and forget about books, they’re not your thing.
QUIET TIME
Most mornings I get up early around six, do my toilet (which takes about three seconds to accomplish the return to my usual suave and deboner self), fire up the Krups espresso pot, pick up the Press Democrat, and read all the miserable news with my coffee and oatmeal. Joy arises about the time I’m ready to leave, after I’ve made her another batch of cappuccino. I give her the old so long kiss, as I won’t be seeing her for about an hour at my office. Then I repair to a local bakery for a coffee and maybe an Italian turnover, if I’ve opted for the Union Hotel Bakery in Occidental, driving thru the vineyards. There, I can read one of the three books I’ve got in the pipeline in peace and relative quiet, as Joy tends to fill up any quiet space with some kind of chatter, irrespective of my sitting tranquilly trying to read about the History of Warfare.
VIEWING GOD
I overheard a couple of atoms in a cell in one of my toenails discussing the existence of God. They had heard that it was a He and he was obviously an old man with a long white beard. Now I was amazed they had somehow gotton that description pretty close to my actual appearance. However, one of them was asking me to improve his life by granting him (I think it was a he) a favor of one sort or another. I didn’t have a real way to tell him that I had no real control about his existence as well as the fact that I’m merely a speck myself in the ocean of life and some other force has been running my life which I really don’t have any control over, ergo, no way I could help the poor devil out myself. Oh, well, I’ve got to trim my toenails this weekend so that may solve his problems.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)