OFFSHORE
During the 1960's I lived and surfed in Laguna Beach, on those pristine nearly white perfect sands. However, there was a really irritating problem that was always present, sometimes more than others. The beach would have globules of tar all over the beach and consequently, all over my feet. I would have to clean it off with gasoline when I got home. We all assumed it was somehow related to ships dumping stuff somewhere and it floated into our beaches. It was only much later, when offshore oil drilling began off Long Beach that we learned the oil had been seeping out of the ground by itself and floated on down to our beaches. The drill rigs took care of that pesky problem as well as supplying us with some domestic oil for our gas guzzlers.
OWN YOUR OWN
During the last few decades I have been upset by the incessant harping by our government and others (Read fuzzy headed liberals) that everyone should own their home, especially poor folks. Being a home/Apartment designer and builder, I just couldn’t see the where this came from as well as how is this going to work. I saw non-profit corporations springing up all over, getting money from several sources, to provide these poor folks with their own homes. Well, now, a lot of these didn’t even have to put down a substantial down payment, thereby losing nothing by the time they decided to dump the whole thing and go rent somewhere. Then, recently, the whole bloody thing collapsed and we’re all in deep shit now. The message here is you have to work a long time to own something, and maybe you will spend your whole life just renting crappy apartments, just like we all did before saving up enough to buy into the concept of home ownership.
ROADS
I know France is kinda Socialist but they do have their country road maintenance in hand. All over we were amazed at how the small roads looked as if they were just paved last week. I don’t know if a pot-hole exists in France. In marked contrast, the roads around here in Sonoma County are a disgrace! I hoped Public Works would fill all the holes on the route of the Tour de California. I did notice they just marked the pot-holes with orange spray paint so the bikers would be able to see them. I’ll bet that really worked when the peleton swept over them. It’s embarrassing!
OLYMPIA!
Well, the games are here again, but I can’t watch them as the advertising drives me nuts. Anyway, the equestrian event is not my idea of what the games should be. I think the whole concept should be re-visited. The first games were individual trials to find out who was best at any event. You know, wrestling, javelin, running (with & with-out armour), that kind of thing. I don’t know when team sports entered the picture, but that’s when it all went to hell. Badminton? Oh, yeah! How about basketball. Does any other country even have a basketball team? I saw teams playing Field Hockey & handball (with a 6" ball) what the hell are those games? Do we even have teams for those? If so, they are the world’s best kept secret. Badminton & tennis. Now those are probably marginal. Swimming, speed skating, weightlifting, yeah, but water polo? I don’t even want to talk about Curling . Do they still have synchronized swimming? That was hard to believe, although the girl’s gymnasties acrobat floor routines ought to be shit-canned.! Just see what you can do on the rings & bars & horses, forget all this cutsey bull-shit floor routine that nobody has a clue how to score, and maybe they should be more than nine years old. However, how about Beach Volleyball? In a stadium. But they do have the best uniforms (bikinis)! At least that livens things up a bit. Bike racing? Sure, one on one, the best undrugged man wins.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
CATCHING UP ON RANTS
Just returning from Europe, several things were indelibeled on my aesthetic consciousness. The first that was blatantly obvious was the long walk to Customs at JFK. After all the airports of Europe, it looked like we were coming into a third world country. All the mechanical stuff was broken down. Moving walkways, escalators, elevators. I did mention this to a lady at the Admiral’s Club, saying “Did you know your terminal is falling down around you?” She didn’t.
The second great disappointment was getting the old Greenbacks again. This just drives me nuts after using the beautiful and functional Euro money. Their whole system was carefully thought out, not just cobbled together as we do, just keep it looking like it has always been, with an old important person pictured and a masons eye on top of a pyramid plus the ever present In God WE Trust. First of all, our great dollar is worth 63 cents in Europe. Maybe it’s time we hired the Belgiums to design a new currency system as well as new coinage. If a penny costs us two cents to make, is there something wrong here? Just eliminate it. Why can’t we have a dollar coin that doesn’t weigh a ton and pull your pants down. The Euro goofed when they used the penny, but at least it is really tiny.
I am chagrined to be back in a country where all the big rig trucks are ugly as sin. Every time we stopped at an aire (or rest stop/Restaurant/gas station) I had to get out and photograph all the beautiful trucks parked around the place. They are all cab over type, not the long snouted like we have. Volvos, DAM, Mercedes, Renault and Iveco, all are well balanced work of functional industrial art, including the trailers.
Speaking of their transportation systems, they have beautiful freeways all over the place, but they are not free. They are toll roads, usually built and owned by private companies. You must be careful not to get lost and end up on one in the wrong direction, as you may have to go many miles until there is a overpass so you can get back to the right direction. It cost us about $40 in tolls to drive from Dijon to Cassis on the Mediterranean, plus gasole (Diesel) at $7 per Liter!
This is a similar concept in their use of public toilets. In great contrast to our liberal policy that you shouldn’t have to pay to take a piss, any public toilet will cost you (50 cents) and have an attendant to watch over you all. She will be a large older woman, just get used to her working around you. But there will be no grafitti and it will be clean and safe.
I’m really mystified why American drivers don’t want to understand the concept of a fast and slow lane on freeways. I am appalled that probably 80% of drivers here will not move over when a car wants to pass them in the fast lane. Are they just dense? Using a cell phone? Or just being an asshole or speed monitor and will show you. In marked contrast, just try that on a French freeway and will be literally pushed out of the fast lane. However, all Eruo drivers understand the system and will always move over to the slower lane even if they know they will have to go round you shortly. They are always moving over so often, their cars have a turn indicator that only blinks twice when you hit it.
The Golden Gate Bridge is currently considering spending $50 million dollars on a suicide barrier to try to keep idiots from using it as a jumping off platform. Approximately 1600 people have jumped since the bridge opened. That will be about $32,000 per jumper. Now I know our bureaucrats don’t understand the concept of Cost-Benefit Ratio but I do. There has to be some reason involved here and not just a knee jerk reaction to try and stop people who will find other ways to off themselves.
My solution is very simple, extremely cost effective and does not impair the aesthetic design of the bridge, one of the of the most intriguing in the world. Install a plank out about ten feet from both sides of the walkway so the jumpers can march out to their demise with dignity, not having to crawl over barriers and guardrails. The cost of both these leaping places would probably only be about four thousand dollars. Send me the other $49, 955,000.
I assume everyone has heard of the top secret American Embassy being built in Bagdad. Called “George W’s Palace”, “American Palace”, it will be the largest embassy on earth, costing $600 million, with offices for a staff of 8,000! It has 21 buildings, including housing, gyms, tennis courts, pools, movie houses, etc.. all on a mere 104 acres. In addition, we are building four large U.S. Military bases, why? To keep an eye on the Iraqis? If we ever leave.
The second great disappointment was getting the old Greenbacks again. This just drives me nuts after using the beautiful and functional Euro money. Their whole system was carefully thought out, not just cobbled together as we do, just keep it looking like it has always been, with an old important person pictured and a masons eye on top of a pyramid plus the ever present In God WE Trust. First of all, our great dollar is worth 63 cents in Europe. Maybe it’s time we hired the Belgiums to design a new currency system as well as new coinage. If a penny costs us two cents to make, is there something wrong here? Just eliminate it. Why can’t we have a dollar coin that doesn’t weigh a ton and pull your pants down. The Euro goofed when they used the penny, but at least it is really tiny.
I am chagrined to be back in a country where all the big rig trucks are ugly as sin. Every time we stopped at an aire (or rest stop/Restaurant/gas station) I had to get out and photograph all the beautiful trucks parked around the place. They are all cab over type, not the long snouted like we have. Volvos, DAM, Mercedes, Renault and Iveco, all are well balanced work of functional industrial art, including the trailers.
Speaking of their transportation systems, they have beautiful freeways all over the place, but they are not free. They are toll roads, usually built and owned by private companies. You must be careful not to get lost and end up on one in the wrong direction, as you may have to go many miles until there is a overpass so you can get back to the right direction. It cost us about $40 in tolls to drive from Dijon to Cassis on the Mediterranean, plus gasole (Diesel) at $7 per Liter!
This is a similar concept in their use of public toilets. In great contrast to our liberal policy that you shouldn’t have to pay to take a piss, any public toilet will cost you (50 cents) and have an attendant to watch over you all. She will be a large older woman, just get used to her working around you. But there will be no grafitti and it will be clean and safe.
I’m really mystified why American drivers don’t want to understand the concept of a fast and slow lane on freeways. I am appalled that probably 80% of drivers here will not move over when a car wants to pass them in the fast lane. Are they just dense? Using a cell phone? Or just being an asshole or speed monitor and will show you. In marked contrast, just try that on a French freeway and will be literally pushed out of the fast lane. However, all Eruo drivers understand the system and will always move over to the slower lane even if they know they will have to go round you shortly. They are always moving over so often, their cars have a turn indicator that only blinks twice when you hit it.
The Golden Gate Bridge is currently considering spending $50 million dollars on a suicide barrier to try to keep idiots from using it as a jumping off platform. Approximately 1600 people have jumped since the bridge opened. That will be about $32,000 per jumper. Now I know our bureaucrats don’t understand the concept of Cost-Benefit Ratio but I do. There has to be some reason involved here and not just a knee jerk reaction to try and stop people who will find other ways to off themselves.
My solution is very simple, extremely cost effective and does not impair the aesthetic design of the bridge, one of the of the most intriguing in the world. Install a plank out about ten feet from both sides of the walkway so the jumpers can march out to their demise with dignity, not having to crawl over barriers and guardrails. The cost of both these leaping places would probably only be about four thousand dollars. Send me the other $49, 955,000.
I assume everyone has heard of the top secret American Embassy being built in Bagdad. Called “George W’s Palace”, “American Palace”, it will be the largest embassy on earth, costing $600 million, with offices for a staff of 8,000! It has 21 buildings, including housing, gyms, tennis courts, pools, movie houses, etc.. all on a mere 104 acres. In addition, we are building four large U.S. Military bases, why? To keep an eye on the Iraqis? If we ever leave.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
TRAVELS WITH LAMONT
PARIS
We always fly into Paris, just to root around in all it’s history and to determine which Boulevards Baron Haussman cut through the city in 1850. We visited Rue Montorguil, the pedestrian street that’s been a market for centuries. This gives us a couple of days to decompress our jet lag. We make our rounds in our neighborhood on the left bank, to a fromagerie, le Alimentation (Fruits), le Nicolas (Wine), un patissarie for baggette and fab desserts, head back to our hotel D’Orsay, and have a little dinner in our room. I take the opportunity to do my Tai Chi in deserted street in front of the Hotel D’Orsay AT 7 AM.
CRUISE ON THE CANAL D’EST
Met our friends the Dodsons, who picked us up in a Hertz car, drove out of Paris (Insane!) To a small town, Bains-le-Baines, a couple of hundred kilometers away. On the way we stopped at Ronchamp, Corbusier’s iconic chapel. I could never reconcile Corbu’s change of style but it seemed to be well wrought. There was a Sunday service going on so we went in and pretended to be Catholics for a few minutes. More surprisingly, a small school next to it was really interesting, rough concrete, sod roof and a few bright painted surfaces around. I don’t remember seeing any photos of it.
We stayed overnight at the Hotel de la Poste, a converted Post Office. Next day Bill & I went foraging for supplies for a week on the boat. Contrary to all rumors, we found the biggest super market we’ve ever been in. It even took us a while to figure out how to get in the damn place. There was nothing more we could have desired, even large selections of sliced bacons. We then returned the car to Herz, got a taxi back to the boat to unload our stash. We set off for our adventure (Our fourth) down the canal on our $150,000 42' cruiser, three staterooms and a bow thruster.
Joy is a genius at scheduling, she had all our lunch & evening stops already planned. The canal maps we get are extremely well documented, showing where boulangeries, wine shops, etc. are located. Even notes what day the town markets take place. When we got to the end of our trip a week later, we met Emma, CEO of the company (Hotels Afloat) we deal with to rent the boats. She’s a Brit expatriate we have been dealing with for several years. She brought over a bottle of wine and we learned a lot about the French method of taxation and deprivation. She and Joy worked out a deal for Joy to make up schedules for various canals that boat renters could buy from her. These boats cost about 180 Euros per couple per day, about the same as a hotel room.
CASSIS
After our canal trip, Joy and I rented a car and drove down to Cassis on the Mediteranian. We had been here before and wanted to spend a few days in a small old hotel on the plage (beach). This is a typical, picturesque small fishing village. The second day the Mistral started blowing it’s furious blast, which was constant for two days, interspersed with huge rain and lightning storms each night. We don’t get stuff like that in California, and it’s pretty exciting for us. No boats were able to get in or out of the port during the blow.
MARSEILLE
On our way to Marseille, I was eagerly looking forward to stopping at the Museo de Legion Etrangere, in Aubane, on the way to Aix in Provence. These towns look small on the very detailed maps we use but the’re a mess to enter. First of all you have to find the Office of Tourisme, which is generally by the gare, but not always. Sometimes there are signs that direct you to the Office, where you try to find a parking space. They gave us a map of the town and directions to the Foreign Legion. On the other side of town we finally found it, only to find they are closed on Thursday! Awww! I was so looking forward to seeing Capitan D’Anjou’s wooden hand there. He was killed in the famous battle of Camerone, Mexico, where 60 Legionaires fought off several thousand Federales, dying valiantly to the last man.
Well, on to Aix, where Joy tried to find her soap shop, so she can load us up with some heavy gifts for a few thousand of our close friends. Unfortunately, the shop had closed, probably replaced by another Gucci. However, I did find a shop totally devoted to Converse All Star tennis shoes. Probably a fashion I started years ago.
We usually had lunch at Le Deux Garcons, but we were not real starved so we stopped for crepes at a small sidewalk café.
On to Marseille, to La Residence, our favorite hotel on the Vieux Port. We settled in on the seventh floor where we spend endless hours on the deck watching the shenanigans of the French on boats and cars. We were here with the Dodson’s a while back, and it turned out they were celebrating the founding of Marseille 2500 years ago. Try that on for a bit of history! Seems the Greeks got here first while setting out colonies all over the Med. We found a small soap factory, La Savonaire, that Joy had seen on TV (Samantha Brown). We bought so much soap that they gave us a tour. Most of the machines were over a hundred years old but built so massive they are still working fine. They don’t build ‘em like that, anymore.
BLANKENBERGE, HOLLAND
We flew on Ryan Air up to Brussels, but next time we’ll do our math. The short flights around Europe are pretty cheap (80E), but the airports are always way out, there is always a baggage surcharge (200E for us this time!). Maybe back to the train (If they aren’t on strike!). Our ship to Edinburgh goes out near here so we stayed a couple of days in this seaside town. There didn’t seem to be many old buildings (Except our hotel), it was probably bombed to smithereens during the war. They had a slick little tram system that ran up and down the coast, alongside a huge dike that might have been natural. However, it continued through the whole town which was were a wall of ten story apartments extended for many blocks. These all seemed to be second homes.
In a toilet here, Joy found a guy drying his false teeth on a roll type hand towel which was a new experience for her.
EDINBURGH
We boarded a huge ferry for an overnight trip Scotland. No huge waves on the North Sea, just a great lightning storm during the night. Checked into the Hotel Premier Inn - 85 Pounds ($170) new, no phone, no minibar, no coffee maker, no coffee. Had to get up and go next door to a restaurant for breakfast, about $20 each for a buffet. Found out later we could get a $6 continental breakfast.
Visited the Queen’s ship, Britannia. Recently decommissioned. The incredible waste of resources is mind boggling. You had an admiral to run 250 crew. These folks would sail around the world to visit all her domains, review the fleets and all that, but really, was any of it necessary? Not to me, anyway. Even more pathetic was the dukes job, probably all make work shit, which he could do in his very own little play office.
FALKIRK WHEEL
The main reason we came up to Scotland was to see this jewel of the world’s engineering projects. Recently regenerated two old canals, replacing 11 locks at this place with a fabulous wheel. A pretty far out concept, with lots of really sticky problems to solve, all done in about 3 years. The first canal ran from sea to sea yet was only 172 km across Scotland. What’s that? Like Sonoma County? When your boat gets to the top, you go thru a tunnel under the Antonione Wall, Romes’ way to keep out the bloody Scots to the north. These Scots must have been real buggers if the Romans couldn’t suppress them.
FIRTH OF FORTH RAIL BRIDGE
The 1890 engineering feat. At the time , it was comparable to our flight to the moon.
This is a monstrous structure, consisting of huge steel tubes 12' in diameter. The term "Like painting the Forth Bridge" meant a job that would never be finished. However, the Brooklyn Bridge (suspension) was completed in 1883 but was not subject to the huge winds of the Forth. Also the Forth’s span is greater at 1710' vs. 1595' for the Brooklyn. 63 workers died during construction. About the average for the time. No worker’s compensation there.
We specifically took the ferry from Holland in order to come in under the bridge.
Our first order of the day when we arrive at a new town is find a good Italian restaurant. We found Prezzo right next door and had a few meals there. Our waiter was a large fellow from Estonia (Wherever that is). He had great accent so we told him he looked like a movie actor playing a Russian in a James Bond movie. He said he had done a couple of bit parts.
Salade Caprese, Ministrone soup with a bottle of Pogobonsi Chianti.
The first day in Scotland, after visiting Falkirk, we started walking up to the Royal Mile, where all the goodies are in Edinburgh (Pubs, Scotch tasting, etc..) About halfway up my body began to fall apart with a tremendous pain in my back. We had to abort and get back to our hotel so I could writhe in pain lying down. After a couple of hours I began to feel OK. We had no idea what happened , thought it might be my back was out. Next day we got into the pub so Joy could have real Fish & Chips. After waiting a long time and finally getting a table, I was so ill we had to leave immediately. We found a cab, back to the hotel to writhe around a bit. By the next evening, after several hours of agony, Joy got a cab to the Royal Infirmary emergency room. The first nurse I talked to said "Have you ever had Kidney stones?". That made us feel better right away as I had no idea what the hell was wrong with me. After several tests the young woman doctor said I should get an x-ray to see where the stone was. This was at one AM & we had to get to the airport in a few hours so I checked out. Guess what? Even though this was Scotland, they didn’t charge me! (Unknown tourist). But they also didn’t give any pain pills.
AMSTERDAM
By the time we flew to Amsterdam, checked into our houseboat "Donna Teresa"on the De Costa Gracht canal, I had more attacks and pretty much in pain on this nice modern houseboat. By the time we left after a few days we realized I should have gone to a hospital there.
Beautiful women, hair and skirts flying, zipping along the boulevards and traffic, are all over the place. Nobody wears a helmet, except they might put one on a little kid. Most bikes are rattly old things as theft is a major industry there. Bikes have the right of way. Any accident with a bike, the taxi or car is automatically responsible. Unlike here, where motorists try to run down anyone on a mere bike.
We always fly into Paris, just to root around in all it’s history and to determine which Boulevards Baron Haussman cut through the city in 1850. We visited Rue Montorguil, the pedestrian street that’s been a market for centuries. This gives us a couple of days to decompress our jet lag. We make our rounds in our neighborhood on the left bank, to a fromagerie, le Alimentation (Fruits), le Nicolas (Wine), un patissarie for baggette and fab desserts, head back to our hotel D’Orsay, and have a little dinner in our room. I take the opportunity to do my Tai Chi in deserted street in front of the Hotel D’Orsay AT 7 AM.
CRUISE ON THE CANAL D’EST
Met our friends the Dodsons, who picked us up in a Hertz car, drove out of Paris (Insane!) To a small town, Bains-le-Baines, a couple of hundred kilometers away. On the way we stopped at Ronchamp, Corbusier’s iconic chapel. I could never reconcile Corbu’s change of style but it seemed to be well wrought. There was a Sunday service going on so we went in and pretended to be Catholics for a few minutes. More surprisingly, a small school next to it was really interesting, rough concrete, sod roof and a few bright painted surfaces around. I don’t remember seeing any photos of it.
We stayed overnight at the Hotel de la Poste, a converted Post Office. Next day Bill & I went foraging for supplies for a week on the boat. Contrary to all rumors, we found the biggest super market we’ve ever been in. It even took us a while to figure out how to get in the damn place. There was nothing more we could have desired, even large selections of sliced bacons. We then returned the car to Herz, got a taxi back to the boat to unload our stash. We set off for our adventure (Our fourth) down the canal on our $150,000 42' cruiser, three staterooms and a bow thruster.
Joy is a genius at scheduling, she had all our lunch & evening stops already planned. The canal maps we get are extremely well documented, showing where boulangeries, wine shops, etc. are located. Even notes what day the town markets take place. When we got to the end of our trip a week later, we met Emma, CEO of the company (Hotels Afloat) we deal with to rent the boats. She’s a Brit expatriate we have been dealing with for several years. She brought over a bottle of wine and we learned a lot about the French method of taxation and deprivation. She and Joy worked out a deal for Joy to make up schedules for various canals that boat renters could buy from her. These boats cost about 180 Euros per couple per day, about the same as a hotel room.
CASSIS
After our canal trip, Joy and I rented a car and drove down to Cassis on the Mediteranian. We had been here before and wanted to spend a few days in a small old hotel on the plage (beach). This is a typical, picturesque small fishing village. The second day the Mistral started blowing it’s furious blast, which was constant for two days, interspersed with huge rain and lightning storms each night. We don’t get stuff like that in California, and it’s pretty exciting for us. No boats were able to get in or out of the port during the blow.
MARSEILLE
On our way to Marseille, I was eagerly looking forward to stopping at the Museo de Legion Etrangere, in Aubane, on the way to Aix in Provence. These towns look small on the very detailed maps we use but the’re a mess to enter. First of all you have to find the Office of Tourisme, which is generally by the gare, but not always. Sometimes there are signs that direct you to the Office, where you try to find a parking space. They gave us a map of the town and directions to the Foreign Legion. On the other side of town we finally found it, only to find they are closed on Thursday! Awww! I was so looking forward to seeing Capitan D’Anjou’s wooden hand there. He was killed in the famous battle of Camerone, Mexico, where 60 Legionaires fought off several thousand Federales, dying valiantly to the last man.
Well, on to Aix, where Joy tried to find her soap shop, so she can load us up with some heavy gifts for a few thousand of our close friends. Unfortunately, the shop had closed, probably replaced by another Gucci. However, I did find a shop totally devoted to Converse All Star tennis shoes. Probably a fashion I started years ago.
We usually had lunch at Le Deux Garcons, but we were not real starved so we stopped for crepes at a small sidewalk café.
On to Marseille, to La Residence, our favorite hotel on the Vieux Port. We settled in on the seventh floor where we spend endless hours on the deck watching the shenanigans of the French on boats and cars. We were here with the Dodson’s a while back, and it turned out they were celebrating the founding of Marseille 2500 years ago. Try that on for a bit of history! Seems the Greeks got here first while setting out colonies all over the Med. We found a small soap factory, La Savonaire, that Joy had seen on TV (Samantha Brown). We bought so much soap that they gave us a tour. Most of the machines were over a hundred years old but built so massive they are still working fine. They don’t build ‘em like that, anymore.
BLANKENBERGE, HOLLAND
We flew on Ryan Air up to Brussels, but next time we’ll do our math. The short flights around Europe are pretty cheap (80E), but the airports are always way out, there is always a baggage surcharge (200E for us this time!). Maybe back to the train (If they aren’t on strike!). Our ship to Edinburgh goes out near here so we stayed a couple of days in this seaside town. There didn’t seem to be many old buildings (Except our hotel), it was probably bombed to smithereens during the war. They had a slick little tram system that ran up and down the coast, alongside a huge dike that might have been natural. However, it continued through the whole town which was were a wall of ten story apartments extended for many blocks. These all seemed to be second homes.
In a toilet here, Joy found a guy drying his false teeth on a roll type hand towel which was a new experience for her.
EDINBURGH
We boarded a huge ferry for an overnight trip Scotland. No huge waves on the North Sea, just a great lightning storm during the night. Checked into the Hotel Premier Inn - 85 Pounds ($170) new, no phone, no minibar, no coffee maker, no coffee. Had to get up and go next door to a restaurant for breakfast, about $20 each for a buffet. Found out later we could get a $6 continental breakfast.
Visited the Queen’s ship, Britannia. Recently decommissioned. The incredible waste of resources is mind boggling. You had an admiral to run 250 crew. These folks would sail around the world to visit all her domains, review the fleets and all that, but really, was any of it necessary? Not to me, anyway. Even more pathetic was the dukes job, probably all make work shit, which he could do in his very own little play office.
FALKIRK WHEEL
The main reason we came up to Scotland was to see this jewel of the world’s engineering projects. Recently regenerated two old canals, replacing 11 locks at this place with a fabulous wheel. A pretty far out concept, with lots of really sticky problems to solve, all done in about 3 years. The first canal ran from sea to sea yet was only 172 km across Scotland. What’s that? Like Sonoma County? When your boat gets to the top, you go thru a tunnel under the Antonione Wall, Romes’ way to keep out the bloody Scots to the north. These Scots must have been real buggers if the Romans couldn’t suppress them.
FIRTH OF FORTH RAIL BRIDGE
The 1890 engineering feat. At the time , it was comparable to our flight to the moon.
This is a monstrous structure, consisting of huge steel tubes 12' in diameter. The term "Like painting the Forth Bridge" meant a job that would never be finished. However, the Brooklyn Bridge (suspension) was completed in 1883 but was not subject to the huge winds of the Forth. Also the Forth’s span is greater at 1710' vs. 1595' for the Brooklyn. 63 workers died during construction. About the average for the time. No worker’s compensation there.
We specifically took the ferry from Holland in order to come in under the bridge.
Our first order of the day when we arrive at a new town is find a good Italian restaurant. We found Prezzo right next door and had a few meals there. Our waiter was a large fellow from Estonia (Wherever that is). He had great accent so we told him he looked like a movie actor playing a Russian in a James Bond movie. He said he had done a couple of bit parts.
Salade Caprese, Ministrone soup with a bottle of Pogobonsi Chianti.
The first day in Scotland, after visiting Falkirk, we started walking up to the Royal Mile, where all the goodies are in Edinburgh (Pubs, Scotch tasting, etc..) About halfway up my body began to fall apart with a tremendous pain in my back. We had to abort and get back to our hotel so I could writhe in pain lying down. After a couple of hours I began to feel OK. We had no idea what happened , thought it might be my back was out. Next day we got into the pub so Joy could have real Fish & Chips. After waiting a long time and finally getting a table, I was so ill we had to leave immediately. We found a cab, back to the hotel to writhe around a bit. By the next evening, after several hours of agony, Joy got a cab to the Royal Infirmary emergency room. The first nurse I talked to said "Have you ever had Kidney stones?". That made us feel better right away as I had no idea what the hell was wrong with me. After several tests the young woman doctor said I should get an x-ray to see where the stone was. This was at one AM & we had to get to the airport in a few hours so I checked out. Guess what? Even though this was Scotland, they didn’t charge me! (Unknown tourist). But they also didn’t give any pain pills.
AMSTERDAM
By the time we flew to Amsterdam, checked into our houseboat "Donna Teresa"on the De Costa Gracht canal, I had more attacks and pretty much in pain on this nice modern houseboat. By the time we left after a few days we realized I should have gone to a hospital there.
Beautiful women, hair and skirts flying, zipping along the boulevards and traffic, are all over the place. Nobody wears a helmet, except they might put one on a little kid. Most bikes are rattly old things as theft is a major industry there. Bikes have the right of way. Any accident with a bike, the taxi or car is automatically responsible. Unlike here, where motorists try to run down anyone on a mere bike.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
THE ART OF CANAL FALLING
Falling off the boat into a canal is usually not a problem as it is only 6 feet deep and generally about 30' wide, so if you can swim or dog paddle it isn’t far to the bank, where your boat-mate can stop, turn around, and pick you up. Providing she knows how to run the boat. Falling into a lock is another story, however. The water in the locks go up and down about 12' , so if you are going to fall into one, do it when the water is going down and not crashing into the lock in a huge rooster-tail waterfall filling up the basin. By this time I had gone thru hundreds of locks, Joy and I had perfected mooring in a lock as I would steer into the side, bump into the side where Joy would jump off the bow, tie that line while I would shut the engine down, run around and jump off with the aft line and tie around the bollard. Well, I miscalculated the gap and when I jumped off, I pushed the boat away from the quay and dropped into the water. I instantly remembered we had been flushing our toilet into the canal for several days and kept my mouth shut. The canal keeper stopped the water, jumped on our boat, threw me the life preserver hanging on the aft end of the boat, and pulled my out of the water. Checking me over and realizing only my pride was damaged we continued thru the lock where we tied up and took a long hot shower, followed my a good shot of cognac we fortunately had left from our trip to cognac.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
IT'S NOT THAT EASY
I'm sitting here holding a new copy of my 2nd book, "Education of an Architect". I didn't have to pay thousands of dollars to publish a thousand copies thanks to the amazing world of the internet (thank Al Gore). I can publish one at a time at a cost of $6.00 a copy. I just uplaod a few files, pay for it, & wait a few days before it appears in the mail. Done! But to tell the truth, I have a few glitches to work out, like adding some photos, a cover photo, a format change, etc., etc..
Except now it gets a little hairy. Since there is no actual human being involved in this entire process, except someone in Bangladesch who doesn't quite know what to do, I have to ask some friend if they will help me with their Photoshop to get it together.
However, on the bright side, my C-D is ready and in the mail to a few fortuntate architectural affectionados. Although home made, it pretty much covers the history of architecture, at least my contribution to it.
The absurd political circus is in full swing. I can't get very excited about it as I voted several weeks ago. My vote won't really be effective anyway as I've never had anyone I voted for ever win. One thing I like about the Libertarian Party is sometimes you can vote for ex-prostitutes. I figure their grasp on morals and econonimics to be better than the clowns that are on parade, wanting to be president and inherit a couple of terrible wars with nutty Islamic tribes who are intent on killing each other off.
Whould you want to be president? Jeez.
Except now it gets a little hairy. Since there is no actual human being involved in this entire process, except someone in Bangladesch who doesn't quite know what to do, I have to ask some friend if they will help me with their Photoshop to get it together.
However, on the bright side, my C-D is ready and in the mail to a few fortuntate architectural affectionados. Although home made, it pretty much covers the history of architecture, at least my contribution to it.
The absurd political circus is in full swing. I can't get very excited about it as I voted several weeks ago. My vote won't really be effective anyway as I've never had anyone I voted for ever win. One thing I like about the Libertarian Party is sometimes you can vote for ex-prostitutes. I figure their grasp on morals and econonimics to be better than the clowns that are on parade, wanting to be president and inherit a couple of terrible wars with nutty Islamic tribes who are intent on killing each other off.
Whould you want to be president? Jeez.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Publishing
My first book, "HILLSIDE HOMES" was such a success, I lost thousands of dollars. I will let you in on my secret. I’m not sure why I did my first book but I think some sage said " Everyone should build his own house, have children and write a book". I rue the day I heard that one. Anyway, knowing no one would want to publish this kind of book I decided to do it myself. My friend Katheryn helped Gary Snyder with his books on poetry, she convinced me to do one for myself. We put it together, I got all the photos & text in the right format, found a shop to do the color covers, one to print the rest, someone to glue it together, etc, etc. paid $8000 for all that, then sold a few once in a while. While each book cost me $8 each, I sold a few for $10. After a few years Amazon got onto it and started buying a bunch for $6 each wholesale. This way, I got rid of them and only lost $2 each. (Langworthy economics). Now I find they are available in the internet for $280!
Now for some obscure reason I have written another book, "EDUCATION OF AN ARCHITECT", pretty much my auto biography. Lots of good dirty stuff in it. Same scene; I just wanted to do a mock up of it so I took my manuscript, separated it into odd pages & even pages to get copies made, only to find that the copy shop wants it all together, so I had to put it all back to the original format. Now it’s all ready to print but I don’t know what to do with it. I’m designing a cover for it now. I want to put this behing me.
At the same time, I am pretty much finished with putting together a C-D of all my work; My Architecture, My drawings (40 years of unbuilt projects), My furniture, My modular work. I plan to sell this for $35 each, but since it’s on Windows format (Photo Show) it may be limited to Windows users, Macs I don’t know about. Hopefully there will be somewhere I can translate it for them.
Meanwhile, I just heard I was published in a book about "Mid Century Architects" and also mentioned in a book on "Organic Architects". I’ll keep you posted on those items.
Now for some obscure reason I have written another book, "EDUCATION OF AN ARCHITECT", pretty much my auto biography. Lots of good dirty stuff in it. Same scene; I just wanted to do a mock up of it so I took my manuscript, separated it into odd pages & even pages to get copies made, only to find that the copy shop wants it all together, so I had to put it all back to the original format. Now it’s all ready to print but I don’t know what to do with it. I’m designing a cover for it now. I want to put this behing me.
At the same time, I am pretty much finished with putting together a C-D of all my work; My Architecture, My drawings (40 years of unbuilt projects), My furniture, My modular work. I plan to sell this for $35 each, but since it’s on Windows format (Photo Show) it may be limited to Windows users, Macs I don’t know about. Hopefully there will be somewhere I can translate it for them.
Meanwhile, I just heard I was published in a book about "Mid Century Architects" and also mentioned in a book on "Organic Architects". I’ll keep you posted on those items.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Religion kills
I am really upset.
Someone had the brilliant idea to pick the current "7 wonders of the world" by using the internet and have nerds vote on them, just like American Idol, the current cultural beacon. All of the original wonders , picked around 500 BC, are long gone, except for the pyramid at Giza. Guess what happened! The idiot catholics of Brazil got to e-mailing (or be excommun icated?) everyone and told them to vote for "Christ the Redeemer" idol, a 130' tall reinforced concrete statue, built in 1930. Actually, leaving the catholics out of it , the other six choices were not too bad. The Collosseum, Tasj Mahal, Great wall, Petra, Machu Picchu and Chitzen Itza.
However, there is nothing later than 1632 (Taj) other than Jesus. This is telling us that the greatest undertaking by mankind in the last 400 years that is full of wonder is this stupid statue? Roebling's Brooklyn Bridge? Some great tunnel project? The Petronis towers? Eiffel Tower? The greatest Gothic church? Maybe it's like Mel Brook's 1,000 year old man says "Saran Wrap!". Yellow stickies? How about duct tape?
Regarding the leader of the entire world.
I have heard that Christians, Jews, Catholics but mostly Fundamentalist Xians litterly believe that the world was made by Mr. God pretty much about 6,000 BC. However, during the last few hundred years scientists have kind of established the earth to be around 4.5 billion years old, give or take a few million years. My really serious question
is this; Does King Bush II really believe this and that Noah got all the animals, bugs, cockroaches, mosquitos, and virus together in a small boat to float around for 40 days. He must realise that the water would have to be 29, 997.5 feet deep to cover all the mountains. Where did that amount of water come from? More important, where did it go? There are serious people still spending huge amounts of Euros still looking for an Ark. There seems to be a serious gap somewhere between billions of years and 8,000 years in these peoples belief systems.
However, I'm encouraged recently to see so many aethiests coming out of the closet, not so much that they don't believe in a supreme guy but that religion is responsible for so much of humanities misery.
I've just finished a book about the Knights Templar, and the 200 years war the Christians waged in the middle east. I've always wondered how all those thousands of knights were enticed to throw away their lives to go on a long trip (Years!) to capture Jerusalem from a group who had a little different take on old Jesus. It turns out to be a stroke of genius on the part of the popes (Pope Innocent III!!) . Just sign up for a crusade and all your sins will be forgiven. (We don't seem to have 70 virgins in heaven). Also you may keep all the booty and rape all the young Muslem girls you can get your hands on. (Where do I sign?). I don't know if anyone ever had the patience to add all the live's lost on all sides for the 200 years, but in just one small chapter, I counted about 300,000 souls sent to Hell of Heaven by the Crusaders. We're talking men, women and children here. Of course this was what the popes had sent them to do.
Funny how things don't change much, isn't it? A thousand years later we're back doing the same thing to the Muslims (and vice versa) except instead of Jerusalem, our goal is sacred Oil. Well, how else do you expect us drive our guzzler Humvees around to the grocery store?
Someone had the brilliant idea to pick the current "7 wonders of the world" by using the internet and have nerds vote on them, just like American Idol, the current cultural beacon. All of the original wonders , picked around 500 BC, are long gone, except for the pyramid at Giza. Guess what happened! The idiot catholics of Brazil got to e-mailing (or be excommun icated?) everyone and told them to vote for "Christ the Redeemer" idol, a 130' tall reinforced concrete statue, built in 1930. Actually, leaving the catholics out of it , the other six choices were not too bad. The Collosseum, Tasj Mahal, Great wall, Petra, Machu Picchu and Chitzen Itza.
However, there is nothing later than 1632 (Taj) other than Jesus. This is telling us that the greatest undertaking by mankind in the last 400 years that is full of wonder is this stupid statue? Roebling's Brooklyn Bridge? Some great tunnel project? The Petronis towers? Eiffel Tower? The greatest Gothic church? Maybe it's like Mel Brook's 1,000 year old man says "Saran Wrap!". Yellow stickies? How about duct tape?
Regarding the leader of the entire world.
I have heard that Christians, Jews, Catholics but mostly Fundamentalist Xians litterly believe that the world was made by Mr. God pretty much about 6,000 BC. However, during the last few hundred years scientists have kind of established the earth to be around 4.5 billion years old, give or take a few million years. My really serious question
is this; Does King Bush II really believe this and that Noah got all the animals, bugs, cockroaches, mosquitos, and virus together in a small boat to float around for 40 days. He must realise that the water would have to be 29, 997.5 feet deep to cover all the mountains. Where did that amount of water come from? More important, where did it go? There are serious people still spending huge amounts of Euros still looking for an Ark. There seems to be a serious gap somewhere between billions of years and 8,000 years in these peoples belief systems.
However, I'm encouraged recently to see so many aethiests coming out of the closet, not so much that they don't believe in a supreme guy but that religion is responsible for so much of humanities misery.
I've just finished a book about the Knights Templar, and the 200 years war the Christians waged in the middle east. I've always wondered how all those thousands of knights were enticed to throw away their lives to go on a long trip (Years!) to capture Jerusalem from a group who had a little different take on old Jesus. It turns out to be a stroke of genius on the part of the popes (Pope Innocent III!!) . Just sign up for a crusade and all your sins will be forgiven. (We don't seem to have 70 virgins in heaven). Also you may keep all the booty and rape all the young Muslem girls you can get your hands on. (Where do I sign?). I don't know if anyone ever had the patience to add all the live's lost on all sides for the 200 years, but in just one small chapter, I counted about 300,000 souls sent to Hell of Heaven by the Crusaders. We're talking men, women and children here. Of course this was what the popes had sent them to do.
Funny how things don't change much, isn't it? A thousand years later we're back doing the same thing to the Muslims (and vice versa) except instead of Jerusalem, our goal is sacred Oil. Well, how else do you expect us drive our guzzler Humvees around to the grocery store?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Daphne, old friend
She wasn’t my dog. My wife always has a black Cocker spaniel and I inherited the problems of living with animals when I married her. She was really good about cleaning up after the dog (and cat) whenever they barfed or had an accident on the floor. Always cleaning up in the back yard. After all, Daphne wasn’t my responsibility. There was always the problem of how to get a house sitter to take care of her whenever we went on our month vacations to Europe. She was always underfoot, making sure to lick up any bits of food I would drop. She was very French in the way she would sit in the chair while we had our dinner, not saying anything, just kind of wishing she could be like us and eat all that good food. But, no, we always held out and fed her only in her little dish on the floor.
But all of a sudden she’s gone. Why am I all choked up and teary eyed? I never asked for her undying love and adoration. Her only ambition, other than breakfast, was to follow Joy around, up and down the stairs, her constant companion when she was close. Daphne never gave up trying to get me to show her some love or affection, but no, she wasn’t my dog, I didn’t need any of that.
But I miss her terribly. When I open the front door, her little white snout isn’t there anymore. When I’m in the kitchen, she’s not there to pick up little bits I drop . I kind of miss those big brown mournful eyes watching me, hoping I would show just a glimmer of appreciation of her.
Well, Daphne, I really appreciate all you’ve done for me, but kind of late, isn’t it?
But all of a sudden she’s gone. Why am I all choked up and teary eyed? I never asked for her undying love and adoration. Her only ambition, other than breakfast, was to follow Joy around, up and down the stairs, her constant companion when she was close. Daphne never gave up trying to get me to show her some love or affection, but no, she wasn’t my dog, I didn’t need any of that.
But I miss her terribly. When I open the front door, her little white snout isn’t there anymore. When I’m in the kitchen, she’s not there to pick up little bits I drop . I kind of miss those big brown mournful eyes watching me, hoping I would show just a glimmer of appreciation of her.
Well, Daphne, I really appreciate all you’ve done for me, but kind of late, isn’t it?
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
UNCIVIL WAR
Does anyone know that we lost the war (Civil war) in Vietnam? Has anyone projected out a thought of how ‘Nam would be different today if we hadn’t gone in to meddle with the "Noble idea" of staving off the Communist tide? Aren’t they a fairly peacefull country with a Communist government? Maybe the only difference would be the thousands of our soldiers would not have died in vain, to say nothing of the thousands of Asians who died. Of course, we don’t count those, you have to pay some price for Freedom! Or did the huge oil reserves in the nearby Indian Ocean have anything to do with it? Nah. We wouldn’t do anything like that.
Does any of this ring a faint bell? The war (Civil War) in Iraq will soon last longer than the World Wars. Fortunately, we will probably lose no more than five to ten thousand young men & women (plus countless arms & legs) by the time we manage to extricate ourselves out of this mess. By the same reasoning as above, how many more Iraqis will be killed than if Saddam was to continue his cruel regime? Would it be about the same? 100 to 200 thousand souls? "Collateral damage", right?
Let me see if I can 2nd guess our clever, expert International advisers and see exactly how we will be able to leave Iraq. The timing will make no difference. My inadequate understanding of the major problem is the three basic tribes or religions that will have to agree to run the country. The Kurds up north have most of the oil. The rest of this miserable desert is shared by the Sunnis & the Shiites, two branches of the same religion, Islam. ( I’m a little confused by the Kurds faith). How King Bush II plans to get them to agree on anything is unclear to me except to get them all to accept a democratic government and forget they hate each other’s guts.
The only solution I can forsee is to appoint one of the three as a Dictator for life with the proviso that we have access to their oil forever. Also that we must keep our multi million dollar military bases that we built there. Let’s see, Saddam was a member of the Sunnis so maybe we could give the power to the Shiites this time (Or was it the other way?). The first thing they would do would be to kill each other until order was established.
My other and much better solution is to outlaw all religions (Yes, Christianity too!) And share in the oil profits.
But then, sometimes the most obvious solutions are invisible to us.
Brother Lamont
Does any of this ring a faint bell? The war (Civil War) in Iraq will soon last longer than the World Wars. Fortunately, we will probably lose no more than five to ten thousand young men & women (plus countless arms & legs) by the time we manage to extricate ourselves out of this mess. By the same reasoning as above, how many more Iraqis will be killed than if Saddam was to continue his cruel regime? Would it be about the same? 100 to 200 thousand souls? "Collateral damage", right?
Let me see if I can 2nd guess our clever, expert International advisers and see exactly how we will be able to leave Iraq. The timing will make no difference. My inadequate understanding of the major problem is the three basic tribes or religions that will have to agree to run the country. The Kurds up north have most of the oil. The rest of this miserable desert is shared by the Sunnis & the Shiites, two branches of the same religion, Islam. ( I’m a little confused by the Kurds faith). How King Bush II plans to get them to agree on anything is unclear to me except to get them all to accept a democratic government and forget they hate each other’s guts.
The only solution I can forsee is to appoint one of the three as a Dictator for life with the proviso that we have access to their oil forever. Also that we must keep our multi million dollar military bases that we built there. Let’s see, Saddam was a member of the Sunnis so maybe we could give the power to the Shiites this time (Or was it the other way?). The first thing they would do would be to kill each other until order was established.
My other and much better solution is to outlaw all religions (Yes, Christianity too!) And share in the oil profits.
But then, sometimes the most obvious solutions are invisible to us.
Brother Lamont
Thursday, June 14, 2007
EUROPE 2007
Joy and I just returned from a month long trip to France & Spain. Under my expert tutelage Joy buys our cheap airline tickets when they are the lowest around fall, then we use our Miles to upgrade to Business Class and fly in and out of Paris. This gives us a few days at the beginning and end of our trip in Paris to hang out at Harry’s New York Bar (@ sank roo de noo) for a martini and other favorite sidewalk cafes (La Frigate). You probably didn’t know I am a member in good standing of the International Bar Flies (IBF) of Harry’s. At this point our dollar was worth about 75 cents.
Twas not all partying, however, as one of our noteworthy jaunts was to the Musee of Arts & Metiers where we watched Leon Foucault’s Pendulum and learned how he proved the earth rotated on it’s axis. The Orangerie was finally re-opened after a great renovation where Monet paintings are shown. It takes a whole room to show a couple of his 60' long renditions of water lily ponds.
Caught a TGV train to Bordeaux, whizzing through the French countryside in luxurious comfort on our rail pass. Stayed in our favorite Hotel Seze, complete with it’s neon sign outside our little balcon. It overlooks a large park , no grass but trees and decomposed granite only. Do you think the French are going to mow the grass?
Drove up to Cognac one day where we were shown around the Martell distillery, culminating in a tasting of a 100 year old special, and since it was nearly my 77th birthday, Joy bought me a taste of the good stuff. ($1000 per bottle!!). However, some vandals broke off all my rear view mirrors on our rental car one night so I had the opportunity to see how their Policia system works , needing a police report for the Hertz folks. Traded it in on another Renault and drove to St. Emillion and Pulliac to stock up on a case of wines for our bateau trip.
Drove to Castelnaudary to pick up our 27' boat , stocked up on food and shoved off for the week long trip down through 64 locks. Although this was our third boat trip, we had done it with another couple before, and handling the lines was a real challenge for us, as I had to drive it while Joy learned how to be the lone deck hand. We got pretty good at it until I fell into a lock, which wasn’t all that bad, except knowing that we’ve been pumping our shit into it with all the other boats, I tried to keep my mouth shut. The lock man retrieved me and we moored along the bank afterwards, for a good shower and some medicinal cognac. This particular section of the canal was one of the first ones built in the 1600's by the architect Pierre Riquet and had one series of seven locks hooked together in a stair-step mode (Fonserannes Steps). These are self drive barges (yachts) and are normally pretty relaxing just cruising the back country, meeting other pilgrims, complaining about the damn incredibly noisy motor bikes & motor cycles that are just ear splitting and the dogshit on all the sidewalks from those stupid little French dogs. As they say "There are always mosquitos in paradise". We had a problem with our domestic water tank that leaked into the bilges in just a few hours but we managed to keep enough to be clean.
Turned the boat in pretty much undamaged (These cost about $50,000 each), drove up the the Milleu Viaduct (me you bridge) that was recently finished for about $700,000 and in three years. It spans a valley with several tall pylons (Some as tall as the Eiffel tower, 1000'). It was pretty stormy, winds up to 40 knots and wondered if the bridge would be closed, but no, the English architect, Foster & Partners, had a very clever baffle system for just such occasion. We also drove under it to the little town and found a very cool Information center next to one of the piers.
Caught a train to Barcelona, with the border guards trying to outdo each other on being obnoxious. The Spanish train system has been upgraded since our last trip here when they had to change the trucks (wheels) at the border due to the difference in width of the French and Spanish tracks. Our hotel was on the main drag, the Passeig de Gracia, only a couple of blocks from two of Antonio Gaudi’s buildins,Casa Batllo and the Pedrara. We met up with our friends, the Dodson’s for the week, slurping up the great Sangria at Qu QU’s sidewalk café and searching for a tapas that was edible. Spent time in the Sagrada Familia, the great unfinished church of Gaudi’s, where workers are still trying to get a handle on how and when to finish it. The Catholic Church will probably be extinct before this building will be finished as what, it’s about 2/3rd finished after 125 years? The creativity of this architect is pretty humbling, as even his structural concepts are just as incredibly unique. Had to visit the Mies van der Rohe pavilion again, originally built in 1929 (Before I was born!) And recently reconstructed. This building looks more modern today than 95% of all new structures!
Flew back to Paris on EasyJet which is a lot faster and cheaper than a train nowadays, and guess what? Nobody has to take their shoes off at the European airports! A last visit to Harry’s , a little shopping at Printemps Department store with it’s fantastic stained glass dome, plus a day trip to Eperny to tour the Champagne works of Castlelane. Their caves were begun in 1818, hugely encrusted with dripping mold (Yes! All mold is not bad!). It was a great tour, with only us and five Australian guys. Ended with a full glass of their product. Unfortunately, Joy has begun collecting champagne ice buckets, of which they had one she couldn’t resist. Why couldn’t she collect stamps?
As you can imagine, this was all a great deal of work, and we were glad to return home to rest, working full time in our office.
Twas not all partying, however, as one of our noteworthy jaunts was to the Musee of Arts & Metiers where we watched Leon Foucault’s Pendulum and learned how he proved the earth rotated on it’s axis. The Orangerie was finally re-opened after a great renovation where Monet paintings are shown. It takes a whole room to show a couple of his 60' long renditions of water lily ponds.
Caught a TGV train to Bordeaux, whizzing through the French countryside in luxurious comfort on our rail pass. Stayed in our favorite Hotel Seze, complete with it’s neon sign outside our little balcon. It overlooks a large park , no grass but trees and decomposed granite only. Do you think the French are going to mow the grass?
Drove up to Cognac one day where we were shown around the Martell distillery, culminating in a tasting of a 100 year old special, and since it was nearly my 77th birthday, Joy bought me a taste of the good stuff. ($1000 per bottle!!). However, some vandals broke off all my rear view mirrors on our rental car one night so I had the opportunity to see how their Policia system works , needing a police report for the Hertz folks. Traded it in on another Renault and drove to St. Emillion and Pulliac to stock up on a case of wines for our bateau trip.
Drove to Castelnaudary to pick up our 27' boat , stocked up on food and shoved off for the week long trip down through 64 locks. Although this was our third boat trip, we had done it with another couple before, and handling the lines was a real challenge for us, as I had to drive it while Joy learned how to be the lone deck hand. We got pretty good at it until I fell into a lock, which wasn’t all that bad, except knowing that we’ve been pumping our shit into it with all the other boats, I tried to keep my mouth shut. The lock man retrieved me and we moored along the bank afterwards, for a good shower and some medicinal cognac. This particular section of the canal was one of the first ones built in the 1600's by the architect Pierre Riquet and had one series of seven locks hooked together in a stair-step mode (Fonserannes Steps). These are self drive barges (yachts) and are normally pretty relaxing just cruising the back country, meeting other pilgrims, complaining about the damn incredibly noisy motor bikes & motor cycles that are just ear splitting and the dogshit on all the sidewalks from those stupid little French dogs. As they say "There are always mosquitos in paradise". We had a problem with our domestic water tank that leaked into the bilges in just a few hours but we managed to keep enough to be clean.
Turned the boat in pretty much undamaged (These cost about $50,000 each), drove up the the Milleu Viaduct (me you bridge) that was recently finished for about $700,000 and in three years. It spans a valley with several tall pylons (Some as tall as the Eiffel tower, 1000'). It was pretty stormy, winds up to 40 knots and wondered if the bridge would be closed, but no, the English architect, Foster & Partners, had a very clever baffle system for just such occasion. We also drove under it to the little town and found a very cool Information center next to one of the piers.
Caught a train to Barcelona, with the border guards trying to outdo each other on being obnoxious. The Spanish train system has been upgraded since our last trip here when they had to change the trucks (wheels) at the border due to the difference in width of the French and Spanish tracks. Our hotel was on the main drag, the Passeig de Gracia, only a couple of blocks from two of Antonio Gaudi’s buildins,Casa Batllo and the Pedrara. We met up with our friends, the Dodson’s for the week, slurping up the great Sangria at Qu QU’s sidewalk café and searching for a tapas that was edible. Spent time in the Sagrada Familia, the great unfinished church of Gaudi’s, where workers are still trying to get a handle on how and when to finish it. The Catholic Church will probably be extinct before this building will be finished as what, it’s about 2/3rd finished after 125 years? The creativity of this architect is pretty humbling, as even his structural concepts are just as incredibly unique. Had to visit the Mies van der Rohe pavilion again, originally built in 1929 (Before I was born!) And recently reconstructed. This building looks more modern today than 95% of all new structures!
Flew back to Paris on EasyJet which is a lot faster and cheaper than a train nowadays, and guess what? Nobody has to take their shoes off at the European airports! A last visit to Harry’s , a little shopping at Printemps Department store with it’s fantastic stained glass dome, plus a day trip to Eperny to tour the Champagne works of Castlelane. Their caves were begun in 1818, hugely encrusted with dripping mold (Yes! All mold is not bad!). It was a great tour, with only us and five Australian guys. Ended with a full glass of their product. Unfortunately, Joy has begun collecting champagne ice buckets, of which they had one she couldn’t resist. Why couldn’t she collect stamps?
As you can imagine, this was all a great deal of work, and we were glad to return home to rest, working full time in our office.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
...BUT FEAR ITSELF
I have been observing the reactions of our leaders since the terrible events of 9/11. I also am somewhat perturbed that we have been swept up in a wave of fear that it appears that we are doing exactly what these intelligent monsters had planned as a result of their hideous acts. One only has to watch the fast demise of our airlines due to the restrictions we have burdened them with as a result of our panic to wonder will we eventually accept the fact that these kinds of things can and will happen more and more. No amount of banning knives from airport restaurants, taking away my nail clippers or taking my shoes & belt off will put an end to it. Time only will tell if what the outcome of the war with Afghanistan that the military State of Russia called "Their Vietnam"and our invasion of Saddam’s Iraq will damage our world respect. I believe most our frustration is due to the fact that this "New Kind of War" is against individual groups and not countries. Surely our leaders have been studying this type of warfare for decades and have an intelligent response to it. (Don’t they?). After all, they must have been reading the books and watching the movies long enough to know that such actions are possible and are here and now. Although some of the terrorists are home grown (McVie), too many are religious fanatics who are willing to die for those infinite number of virgins in heaven. How is banning bags and coolers going to affect that Great American Church, The Ball Game? Will we be required to allow a complete body search when we attend our churches? Let’s be careful, yes, but let’s lighten up and alleviate our fears. After all, we are not immortal and are all destined to die, some sooner than others. Meanwhile, let’s not fall into the terrorists’ hand and make it so difficult to do business that we destroy our economy.
Patriot Act!
Freedom Tower!
Homeland Security!
"Yee Haahh!" (Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.
Patriot Act!
Freedom Tower!
Homeland Security!
"Yee Haahh!" (Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
FACIAL HAIR
I first grew my beard around 1960 and although it's difficult to believe now I had a pretty strange time of it in the business world I was just entering as a young architect. Once in awhile I was able to understand how a black person felt being in a hostile environment because I was not clean shaven like all the rest of the fellows,( except for a mustache or two).
It's a funny concept, having a beard. Most people seem to think you are hiding but in reality I believe guys who shave are hiding behind a face that is supposed to represent eternal youth. In other words, if you have no beard you are still a youngster, but you really have to work at it, shaving once or twice a day. Of course, since the advent of the safety razor and especially the electric razor, it doesn’t take very much time anymore.
It's interesting to study the cycles of beards in, beards out. At certain times men almost have to have a beard to conform with everyone else. Remember the giants of industry, past presidents and everyone who was a mover and shaker had a beard or at least a giant mustachio in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. But can you imagine a presidential candidate today with a full beard? Can you imagine one with even a mustache? Ha!
However, there is a strange manifestation occurring that I have noticed regarding the facial adornment of policemen and firemen. I don't know what the reason but just take a look at the next officer or fireman you see and notice that more than likely he has a robust upper lip cover(this, of course only applies to males).
However, if you are a member of our esteemed armed forces, just try a little facial adornment and you'll end up doing extra KP. I've been there. I see other nations sailors and fighting men sporting some good hair and it seems such a natural thing. It's a sad commentary on our times, but nothing so sad as finding out that chain stores such as safeway have a POLICY that no male employee may indulge in a beard. Now this really got to me and I was considering organizing a boycott of them by all of us who sport facial hair. However, if you belong to the Cuban National Guard it may be best to grow the longest, scraggiest beard you can if you are looking for a promotion. It's a funny world.
One area in the US that seems to accept beards are the academic institutions of higher learning. A distinguished professor is not distinguished unless he has a good beard. As a matter a fact, I've been accused of being a professor lots of times, especially when I wear my tweed coat, baggy corduroy trousers and act like I own a Volvo.
Another bastion of the baby cheeks has been the sports heroes of our time. However, there is a crack in the wall as I’ve recently seen small increments of facial hair creeping in among the filthy rich players. Since all of our youth emulate these players, it may be the single benefit of our sports syndrome. Maybe next they can get rid of those stupid baggy pants the NBA wears. Who designs those dumb outfits, teenagers?
It's a funny concept, having a beard. Most people seem to think you are hiding but in reality I believe guys who shave are hiding behind a face that is supposed to represent eternal youth. In other words, if you have no beard you are still a youngster, but you really have to work at it, shaving once or twice a day. Of course, since the advent of the safety razor and especially the electric razor, it doesn’t take very much time anymore.
It's interesting to study the cycles of beards in, beards out. At certain times men almost have to have a beard to conform with everyone else. Remember the giants of industry, past presidents and everyone who was a mover and shaker had a beard or at least a giant mustachio in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. But can you imagine a presidential candidate today with a full beard? Can you imagine one with even a mustache? Ha!
However, there is a strange manifestation occurring that I have noticed regarding the facial adornment of policemen and firemen. I don't know what the reason but just take a look at the next officer or fireman you see and notice that more than likely he has a robust upper lip cover(this, of course only applies to males).
However, if you are a member of our esteemed armed forces, just try a little facial adornment and you'll end up doing extra KP. I've been there. I see other nations sailors and fighting men sporting some good hair and it seems such a natural thing. It's a sad commentary on our times, but nothing so sad as finding out that chain stores such as safeway have a POLICY that no male employee may indulge in a beard. Now this really got to me and I was considering organizing a boycott of them by all of us who sport facial hair. However, if you belong to the Cuban National Guard it may be best to grow the longest, scraggiest beard you can if you are looking for a promotion. It's a funny world.
One area in the US that seems to accept beards are the academic institutions of higher learning. A distinguished professor is not distinguished unless he has a good beard. As a matter a fact, I've been accused of being a professor lots of times, especially when I wear my tweed coat, baggy corduroy trousers and act like I own a Volvo.
Another bastion of the baby cheeks has been the sports heroes of our time. However, there is a crack in the wall as I’ve recently seen small increments of facial hair creeping in among the filthy rich players. Since all of our youth emulate these players, it may be the single benefit of our sports syndrome. Maybe next they can get rid of those stupid baggy pants the NBA wears. Who designs those dumb outfits, teenagers?
Saturday, March 03, 2007
ANYTHING WITH A BALL
I’ve been reading about the controversy of pre-game prayers at high school football games. Hey, why not? The great ball triad; Football, Baseball & Basketball have become America’s new religion. How many new three hundred million dollar churches are being built in every major city in the US? Take a look at these monster covered stadiums with their own shopping malls and their vast acres of parking. Instead enticed spending Sunday at your local church or synagogue, most seekers of truth are now spending their time at the ball-park. When I hear how much these fans (that’s short for "fanatic") pay for the privilege to participate in an exercise in mass hysteria for a few hours, I am absolutely flabbergasted. $50?, $100? Wow! And be sure to take the kids to initiate them into the mysteries of shouting obscenities at the umpires or referees.
I actually heard the religious music "Hallelujah" played as a prelude to a basketball game recently. And isn’t "God Bless America" de rigeur before any game starts?
The clincher came during the Super Bow game where a Christian church enticed their wayward flock with a huge 12' TV (High Def?) Screen in order to get them into the church somehow.
Praise the Lord, and Play Ball!
I actually heard the religious music "Hallelujah" played as a prelude to a basketball game recently. And isn’t "God Bless America" de rigeur before any game starts?
The clincher came during the Super Bow game where a Christian church enticed their wayward flock with a huge 12' TV (High Def?) Screen in order to get them into the church somehow.
Praise the Lord, and Play Ball!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
MY MONEY PROBLEMS
One of the side effects of the failed war on drugs is the disappearance of the five hundred and one thousand dollar bills. If you’re under forty, you probably don’t know that such a thing even existed not long ago. Or, if so, wonder why we don’t have them in circulation any more? Whenever I have to transfer a grand from one bank to another, I end up with a fistful of dollars, 20's and 100's if I’m lucky. There doesn’t seem to be any 50's around either. I suppose the Feds believe that if you have to carry around several million dollars , at some point it will just get too burdensome and you will give up, stop selling drugs and get a real job.
In the 60's I was building a house in West Covina for the guy who invented the Go-Cart. He was kind of grumpy, carried a gun in a holster under his hawaiian shirts he always wore. He insisted on paying me in cash whenever I billed for our work every month. We would go over to his bank and he would withdraw nine or ten one thousand dollar bills and hand them to me. I had mixed feelings about carrying around all that cash in the Los Angeles area.
I say bring back the large bills and let the Feds find other ways to fight their pathetic little war, like maybe with an educational program or just let us have a little fun once in a while..
When you see a price listed as $79.99 is it possible you don’t know it is one penny short of $80? This practice is so ingrained in us now that every aspect of business world practices it, at least in the USA. Selling a car? $23, 995. 95. Selling a house? $897,995.99. How often do you see something advertised for $50,000? $600,000? Are we really that stupid? Don’t answer that.
The one business that has taken this to an extreme is the gas station folks. I can’t remember when this started but they were not satisfied with merely $1.99 per gallon, where they could increase the price to $2/gal in one cent increments. Oh, no! They had to break the penny down to it’s lowest denominator, the MILL! Now, a mill is one tenth of a cent. This type of marketing is the kind that drives me crazy! Think about how that differs from just the penny price. Since all prices are set in mills, the increase is still only by the penny. Do you ever see a mark-up from $2.09.to $2.10.4? No, it is always only the penny. See the logic, here? I don’t. Actually, there is no waste of man hours as the 9 mills always stays the same on the signs.
In theory, you are saving one mill for every gallon you purchase. When you fill up with 20 gallons, you have saved 20 mills, or two cents! Wow! How about rounding up to the penny (add one mill!) and do away with all this bogus pricing.
If you youngsters don’t believe any of this, I can show you an actual mill coin. Come to think of it, it may be worth a lot of money due to it’s rarity.
Speaking of pennys, why do we even use the damn things? Seventy years ago there was a lot you could buy with a penny. But these days, I won’t even bother to pick one up off the street, it’s just not worth the effort. I don’t know what it’s made of but I know it costs more than a penny to make, costs more than a penny for businesses to handle it. Get rid of it!
DESIGN OF OUR MONEY
Whenever I return from Europe and begin using our miserable currency and coins again I am appalled at the lack of design we have allowed to happen. We are so inferior to the rest of the world when it comes to our money. Before the Euro(e) was introduced a few years ago, the best money designs without a doubt were the Dutch Guilders. The golden brilliance of their 50 Guilder note was an incredible work of art., with golden color to it’s graphics. Fortunately, the Union hired the Dutch to design the new e, almost as good as their old stuff. Handling such money is almost a joy to pay someone with it.
The French also had a beautiful currency, mostly featuring poets and artists in many colors. The Romanians have a micro chip imbedded in their currencies. Maybe they can keep track of the drug smugglers that way.
The new e is a design tour de force, each bill a different color as well as a slightly different size. Wonderful abstract computer generated designs. The coins are the same in their own way, simple abstract designs of different sizes, some made of two types of metal. We must be a laughing stock of the world when we undertake a "new" design of a bill. It must cost a bloody fortune for the Feds to take out full page adds in newspapers throughout the US letting us all know that the new $20 bill is so superb and is not a bad counterfeit so it’s OK to use. Or how about our new quarters. Everyone gets into the act and you end up with 52 types of ugly coins. I won’t even embarrass you by mentioning the Susan B. Anthony quarter. And ehere in hell is the fifty cent piece?
Let’s give the Dutch a contract to redesign all our money so we can catch up with the rest of the world..
In the 60's I was building a house in West Covina for the guy who invented the Go-Cart. He was kind of grumpy, carried a gun in a holster under his hawaiian shirts he always wore. He insisted on paying me in cash whenever I billed for our work every month. We would go over to his bank and he would withdraw nine or ten one thousand dollar bills and hand them to me. I had mixed feelings about carrying around all that cash in the Los Angeles area.
I say bring back the large bills and let the Feds find other ways to fight their pathetic little war, like maybe with an educational program or just let us have a little fun once in a while..
When you see a price listed as $79.99 is it possible you don’t know it is one penny short of $80? This practice is so ingrained in us now that every aspect of business world practices it, at least in the USA. Selling a car? $23, 995. 95. Selling a house? $897,995.99. How often do you see something advertised for $50,000? $600,000? Are we really that stupid? Don’t answer that.
The one business that has taken this to an extreme is the gas station folks. I can’t remember when this started but they were not satisfied with merely $1.99 per gallon, where they could increase the price to $2/gal in one cent increments. Oh, no! They had to break the penny down to it’s lowest denominator, the MILL! Now, a mill is one tenth of a cent. This type of marketing is the kind that drives me crazy! Think about how that differs from just the penny price. Since all prices are set in mills, the increase is still only by the penny. Do you ever see a mark-up from $2.09.to $2.10.4? No, it is always only the penny. See the logic, here? I don’t. Actually, there is no waste of man hours as the 9 mills always stays the same on the signs.
In theory, you are saving one mill for every gallon you purchase. When you fill up with 20 gallons, you have saved 20 mills, or two cents! Wow! How about rounding up to the penny (add one mill!) and do away with all this bogus pricing.
If you youngsters don’t believe any of this, I can show you an actual mill coin. Come to think of it, it may be worth a lot of money due to it’s rarity.
Speaking of pennys, why do we even use the damn things? Seventy years ago there was a lot you could buy with a penny. But these days, I won’t even bother to pick one up off the street, it’s just not worth the effort. I don’t know what it’s made of but I know it costs more than a penny to make, costs more than a penny for businesses to handle it. Get rid of it!
DESIGN OF OUR MONEY
Whenever I return from Europe and begin using our miserable currency and coins again I am appalled at the lack of design we have allowed to happen. We are so inferior to the rest of the world when it comes to our money. Before the Euro(e) was introduced a few years ago, the best money designs without a doubt were the Dutch Guilders. The golden brilliance of their 50 Guilder note was an incredible work of art., with golden color to it’s graphics. Fortunately, the Union hired the Dutch to design the new e, almost as good as their old stuff. Handling such money is almost a joy to pay someone with it.
The French also had a beautiful currency, mostly featuring poets and artists in many colors. The Romanians have a micro chip imbedded in their currencies. Maybe they can keep track of the drug smugglers that way.
The new e is a design tour de force, each bill a different color as well as a slightly different size. Wonderful abstract computer generated designs. The coins are the same in their own way, simple abstract designs of different sizes, some made of two types of metal. We must be a laughing stock of the world when we undertake a "new" design of a bill. It must cost a bloody fortune for the Feds to take out full page adds in newspapers throughout the US letting us all know that the new $20 bill is so superb and is not a bad counterfeit so it’s OK to use. Or how about our new quarters. Everyone gets into the act and you end up with 52 types of ugly coins. I won’t even embarrass you by mentioning the Susan B. Anthony quarter. And ehere in hell is the fifty cent piece?
Let’s give the Dutch a contract to redesign all our money so we can catch up with the rest of the world..
Saturday, December 23, 2006
THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN
Each year more laws are passed to protect us from injury or death.
We must build our domiciles with stair treads and risers just so, the handrail at a certain height, spiral stairs have to be large enough to make them impractical.
We are being overprotected by our government because we somehow have become to believe that we can't get hurt, that we won't die, and if any of those should happen, why we just hire a lawyer to sue whomever we think was responsible for our hurt.
Now I'm thinking these thoughts while I'm traversing a 12" wide wilderness trail cut into a steep shale slope that falls off about 1,000 feet, no handholds or any such thing to arrest my descent into oblivion. Across the valley I see the rock climbers creeping up huge awesome vertical faces like tiny spiders with very little to keep them from being smashed onto the rocks far below but their skill and daring. I see the hot dog skiers and racers ply their particular kind of skill racing downhill and risk being maimed or killed during the winter season. I see auto racing where one false move or freak mechanical thing will cause a man's car to slide, smash, roll and as if that wasn't enough, break into a high octane ball of fire.
Is there some strange dichotomy operating here? Is there some mechanism in man's psyche that has to go out on the limb, take those chances, and not be confined to the dull world of "safe"?
I believe that the more we mandate that the world be "safe" we must go out and do things that will challenge that dullness, because we are more aware, are living a fuller life, have temporarily escaped from the clutches of dullness.
If I want to build a stair (for a private home) why can't I design it without an outer rail? If I want to buy a "Samba Stair" for an industrial storage mezzanine why can't I use it? It may be safer but unorthodox.
The list goes on and on but the main question here is who presses for these changes, who spends the vast sums of money to get these various things approved and adopted by our code agencies?
As soon as some child gets his head stuck in a baluster or man-
ages to slip all the way through and get hurt then from then on all balusters will be a certain dimension or you can be sued by the lawyer lurking around the stair.
We must build our domiciles with stair treads and risers just so, the handrail at a certain height, spiral stairs have to be large enough to make them impractical.
We are being overprotected by our government because we somehow have become to believe that we can't get hurt, that we won't die, and if any of those should happen, why we just hire a lawyer to sue whomever we think was responsible for our hurt.
Now I'm thinking these thoughts while I'm traversing a 12" wide wilderness trail cut into a steep shale slope that falls off about 1,000 feet, no handholds or any such thing to arrest my descent into oblivion. Across the valley I see the rock climbers creeping up huge awesome vertical faces like tiny spiders with very little to keep them from being smashed onto the rocks far below but their skill and daring. I see the hot dog skiers and racers ply their particular kind of skill racing downhill and risk being maimed or killed during the winter season. I see auto racing where one false move or freak mechanical thing will cause a man's car to slide, smash, roll and as if that wasn't enough, break into a high octane ball of fire.
Is there some strange dichotomy operating here? Is there some mechanism in man's psyche that has to go out on the limb, take those chances, and not be confined to the dull world of "safe"?
I believe that the more we mandate that the world be "safe" we must go out and do things that will challenge that dullness, because we are more aware, are living a fuller life, have temporarily escaped from the clutches of dullness.
If I want to build a stair (for a private home) why can't I design it without an outer rail? If I want to buy a "Samba Stair" for an industrial storage mezzanine why can't I use it? It may be safer but unorthodox.
The list goes on and on but the main question here is who presses for these changes, who spends the vast sums of money to get these various things approved and adopted by our code agencies?
As soon as some child gets his head stuck in a baluster or man-
ages to slip all the way through and get hurt then from then on all balusters will be a certain dimension or you can be sued by the lawyer lurking around the stair.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Mobocracy
MOBOCRACY
Well, here it is election time once again. I’m not sending a letter about it to the Press Democrat this year as they never have printed my letters, anyway.
We Californians are being asked our expert opinion on how to spend 60 billion dollars on several bond issues! What in hell are our legislators doing in Sac? Diddling the pages? Has anyone thought of firing them all and how many billions would that save us a year? Hell, we’re doing all the work.
Virtually unknown to the American masses, there are actually more than two political parties in the United States. As much as we would like to think that our newspapers' sole purpose is to inform us we certainly become political idiots if we are to rely soley on them when it comes election time.
The American voter, (unlike his European counterpart, who demands several viable parties from which to choose) if he can even be motivated to vote at all, seems to be satisfied being spoon fed on Republican/Democrat pablum. Ignoring the main issues that face us: like the tremendous debt of trillions of dollars, some kind of Foreign Policy, being the world’s policeman, the out-of-control drug problems, our massive prison population, welfare abuse, etc., etc., we must know if our candidate is morally fit to represent us and what his abortion preferences are as a good Christian. Yeah, that does a lot of good. Look what happens in the oval office!
This puritanical program neatly sidesteps any real issues before us, so we can sit back in comfort knowing we have elected a Christian saint to lead us (Onward Christian Soldiers!). Then they can pass more laws to modify any behavior patterns they don't like, such as helping us stop smoking, telling us we are too fat or use of our property for "Politically Correct" uses only.
Voters! It may damage your brain a bit but find out what other choices you have. It will actually take a little work on your part to find a candidate that has the same ideas you have on freedom or not so free, from Socialist to Birchers to Libertarians. But stop whining that you don't have a choice. The choice is there, if you'll only make some kind of mental effort.
It wasn’t too long ago that political parties had what was called "a platform". This spelled put the various ideals each party stood for. All you had to do was find the one that fit most of your ideals and vote for the person who represented yours. Now it’s merely a popularity contest to see which Hollywood actor is going to be the most presentable.
As for me, I’ve been happy with the Libertarian platform, although I must admit that I have never ever voted for anyone who had won in all these 20 years or so. All I’m really doing is making a statement that these are my ideals, and I won’t compromise by supporting "The Lessor of only Two Evils". Anyway, ask yourself, who in hell would want to be the next president who would be facing the god awful catastrophe in Iraq?
Well, here it is election time once again. I’m not sending a letter about it to the Press Democrat this year as they never have printed my letters, anyway.
We Californians are being asked our expert opinion on how to spend 60 billion dollars on several bond issues! What in hell are our legislators doing in Sac? Diddling the pages? Has anyone thought of firing them all and how many billions would that save us a year? Hell, we’re doing all the work.
Virtually unknown to the American masses, there are actually more than two political parties in the United States. As much as we would like to think that our newspapers' sole purpose is to inform us we certainly become political idiots if we are to rely soley on them when it comes election time.
The American voter, (unlike his European counterpart, who demands several viable parties from which to choose) if he can even be motivated to vote at all, seems to be satisfied being spoon fed on Republican/Democrat pablum. Ignoring the main issues that face us: like the tremendous debt of trillions of dollars, some kind of Foreign Policy, being the world’s policeman, the out-of-control drug problems, our massive prison population, welfare abuse, etc., etc., we must know if our candidate is morally fit to represent us and what his abortion preferences are as a good Christian. Yeah, that does a lot of good. Look what happens in the oval office!
This puritanical program neatly sidesteps any real issues before us, so we can sit back in comfort knowing we have elected a Christian saint to lead us (Onward Christian Soldiers!). Then they can pass more laws to modify any behavior patterns they don't like, such as helping us stop smoking, telling us we are too fat or use of our property for "Politically Correct" uses only.
Voters! It may damage your brain a bit but find out what other choices you have. It will actually take a little work on your part to find a candidate that has the same ideas you have on freedom or not so free, from Socialist to Birchers to Libertarians. But stop whining that you don't have a choice. The choice is there, if you'll only make some kind of mental effort.
It wasn’t too long ago that political parties had what was called "a platform". This spelled put the various ideals each party stood for. All you had to do was find the one that fit most of your ideals and vote for the person who represented yours. Now it’s merely a popularity contest to see which Hollywood actor is going to be the most presentable.
As for me, I’ve been happy with the Libertarian platform, although I must admit that I have never ever voted for anyone who had won in all these 20 years or so. All I’m really doing is making a statement that these are my ideals, and I won’t compromise by supporting "The Lessor of only Two Evils". Anyway, ask yourself, who in hell would want to be the next president who would be facing the god awful catastrophe in Iraq?
Saturday, September 16, 2006
I STILL HATE THIS
LAUGHING GAS
In the early days of smoking grass, the only available stuff came from the lower reaches of Mexico. Long before our local hippies (& Beatniks) knew you could grow your own, we few hard core (artists, jazz musicians & a few scattered derelict) had to find sources from Michuacan. At that time there were various strains of pot but it was basically what is called "shake", just the leaves, stems & seeds. These days all you can buy is just the bud of the plant, no leaves at all. Well, the gist of my problem is that the old stuff transformed one into a totally hilarious state, rendering everything extremely funny. (& I mean extreme!). My problem is that nowadays all one can get is these powerful BUDS that makes you a total zombie & that may be f ine for some folks, but I would rather retain some sort of ambulatory control. It can be so much fun! Well, forget it, I’m getting too old for this stuff, anyway.
BUMPER STICKERS are such a pathetic method of expressing your views. Do people really think they are changing the world when their only type of voting is sticking clever slogans on the back of their car, so I have to get an insight ot their miseraqble concept of life? Most of these poor, misguided creatures believe the old adage that there can be "Peace on earth & goodwill toward all men". Wouldn't that be just wonderful, except for a couple of reasons; since the recorded history of mankind, say, from 8000 BC, we have been killing, raping, maiming our fellow man for a few reasons, like religion, land or because I wanted you to become my slave. But let's be real. Nowdays it's mostly religion that is responsible for all the mayhem. And not just one religion against another, but the same one (Christianity,(Cathlics vs. Protestant) Islam,(Shiite vs. Sunni) Biddhist’s fighting each other due to some abscure concept of the other's dogma.
Let's try an experiment. Everyone just forget about their religion for a while. Would there be much to kill your neighbor about? Well, sure, his wife, his land, his Porche.
Would the British be able to let the Irish govern their own country? Would Pol Pot have killed off so many millions if their ethnicitiy was not connected to a different religion?
MAGAZINE INSERTS - the very first thing I do when I receive a magazine is go thru it and tear out all the damn HEAVY PAPER INSERTS ADVERTIZING SOME Fabulous deal that I don't give a damn about. Does anyone really send any of these things in? If so, they are contributing to my misery by supporting this insidious form af advertising.
NEWSPAPER HIDE 7 SEEK - My mornings are pretty routine but very special as I dress, complete my toilet (A pretty quick routine) get the cappucino going, pick up the paper in the drivway, when I hit the wall as I struggle to separate the real meat of the paper from the shit I am not interested in. Here's where I meet my nemisis every bloody morning of my life, the cretin who's sole job is to comlicate my life, the miserable person who figures out how to stack the sections of the paper so that I have to handle the adds, separating the wheat from the chaff, sorting this from that. They must stay up nights figuring new ways to frustrate us readers. The worst part of all is the partial overlay of the FUNNIES! Then every once in awhile he/she/it will install a piece on the funnies (I find them funny especial if they're political) that I have to actually try to tear it off but it never quite tears evenly and I lose the punch line of Doonesbury that I ripped off unevenly.
THE LOTTERY - The anti-gambeling Christians (Anti Fun) have been able to keep that horror of morality away from us unknowing souls for so long until the American Indian got his revenge and sidestepped deftly any laws that prohibited having fun. First of all, let me say that I don’t gamble. But, if I was running a lottery, I would only give away minimum amounts of say, 2 million. That would mean you would end up with less than one mil after Uncle Sam got his cut, but hey, that could enhance my life. But in reality, lotteries are run by giving away millions in $5, $10, increments to sucker in all the poor souls, giving them the illusion that they have won something due to the fact that all gamblers automatically forget all the money they've lost beforehand. So the concept is that the dough is saved up until there is 20 or 30 MILLION that someone will win. It makes the bookkeeping easier for Uncle Sam who will reap more that half of that, but it usually demolishes the poor winner who trades in his broom or dishwasher job for being an instant millionaire. Doesn't anyone get it that when the pot gets that high that everyone else buys tickets so that the odds (This is gambling, right?)go up and your chance of winning are even less than when it's a low pot? Probably not. I don't participate in games of chance except trying to make a good living as an architect, which is chancy enough
FOOD & WINE PAIRING;
We've alll been brainwashed all our lives about how you must drink white wine with fish & red with steak. Now I see that the experts are telling me what kind of beer to eat with fish or meat. Give me a break! What's next? Pairing all 20 flavors of vodka with your favorite dish? I find white wine rather insipid unless it's 100 degrees in the shade, and if it's that hot, I'll make sangria. In fact, I relish those days as it forces me to whip up a batch of some real stuff that has rum, Triple Sec as well as the usual suspects of wine & OJ in it. I got this direct from a sidewalk cafe in Barcelona, where Columbus returned from his gutsy journey over the edge of the earth.
But I digress.
Actually, it's about time someone put something in vodka, as up till recently, it was pure ethanol, you could probably burn it in your Formula One race car. I've always wondered how in hell they were able to do vodka tastings, differentiating one ethanol from another & getting blotto in the meantime. Now if they put a flavoring in it at least the graphics on the bottle is improved. But I feel good when I can get a bottle of potato juice from Trader Joe's that has a Russian label on it and has not been manipulated. It still tastes like nothing but has the advantage that my wife can't smell it on my breath.
Monday, July 24, 2006
THINGS I HATE
Now maybe you might think me some kind of professional grump or curmudgeon but as I go through life I am absolutely incensed by certain behaviors and objects that seem utterly useless to me. Let me give you a few examples.
Probably first on my list are one-sided towels. Now look, if your going to expend all that effort to make a towel, why not make both sides with a nice thick nap? But no, they have to make one side absolutely useless by making it almost smooth and non-absorbent. I won't go into who's responsible for these design abominations at this time as I must go on with my list.
How about people who immediately freeze as soon as they step on a moving walkway or escalator? Why do they do that? These machines were designed to assist us , not incapacitate us! To add insult to injury, how many people have to block the left side of the walkway all the while listening to a recording telling them to keep to the right so I can pass. But no, I've got to yell "track" to get their attention and then they act insulted because I want to move by them on the left
When was the last time you were in a bar where you could actually hear another person carry on a conversation as well as order a drink without being blasted out of your hearing because the stereo and/or TV was turned up to full bore? There was a time when conversation was kind of important, but now, it's pretty hard to discuss the nuances of existentialism in a loud holler.
While we're still in the bar let's talk about the universal problem of setting your drink on a napkin. I really hate this! Now you think this might be a small item but you can't get away from it. Whatever happened to the fine sound of the glass being set down on the mahogany bar top? But no, you've got to keep your napkin under your glass. Just try to sneak the napkin out from under the glass, the bloody bartender puts another right under your glass! Come on, let's get normal again!
How about those idiots that have those big white letters on their tires? They really think they are cool while it's pretty obvious they are imbeciles. But then, it’s no worse than the big black "Bra" some wear on the front of their cars as if they are driving a Lamborghini on a gravel road instead of running over to the local Safeway.
Check out the taxicabs, buses and streetcars in Europe to see how much advertising is hung all over the exterior of them. Virtually none! Some tasty stuff inside works fine, but no! We have to plaster all our modes of transportation with all kinds of crap on the sides, back, front ,tops (of cabs) and all this in the name of financial viability. Let's face it, you're going to lose money on these systems no matter what, so why make it ugly? Europeans go one step further, they will make the entire tram (several cars long) into a well designed graphic of one advertiser.
And you wouldn't believe how many people (designers included) seem to think you need a window in front of the kitchen sink. Come on! The best kitchen I ever had was buried in a dark stone walled house. If it has enough character you don't "need" the window at the sink.
Then there’s always the person that still has to tell you to "have a nice day". Jeez, leave me alone. I'm doing the best I can and no idiotic phrase from a stranger is going to change that.
Then there's always a clod who wears his hat while dining in a restaurant. I can understand if it's a cowboy hat (They don't know any better), but baseball caps? No shirt, shoes no service. Hat on, no service!
Next we'll have to get into Lite beers and saccharin.
Have an awful day!
Lamont Langworthy, Curmudgeon First Class
Probably first on my list are one-sided towels. Now look, if your going to expend all that effort to make a towel, why not make both sides with a nice thick nap? But no, they have to make one side absolutely useless by making it almost smooth and non-absorbent. I won't go into who's responsible for these design abominations at this time as I must go on with my list.
How about people who immediately freeze as soon as they step on a moving walkway or escalator? Why do they do that? These machines were designed to assist us , not incapacitate us! To add insult to injury, how many people have to block the left side of the walkway all the while listening to a recording telling them to keep to the right so I can pass. But no, I've got to yell "track" to get their attention and then they act insulted because I want to move by them on the left
When was the last time you were in a bar where you could actually hear another person carry on a conversation as well as order a drink without being blasted out of your hearing because the stereo and/or TV was turned up to full bore? There was a time when conversation was kind of important, but now, it's pretty hard to discuss the nuances of existentialism in a loud holler.
While we're still in the bar let's talk about the universal problem of setting your drink on a napkin. I really hate this! Now you think this might be a small item but you can't get away from it. Whatever happened to the fine sound of the glass being set down on the mahogany bar top? But no, you've got to keep your napkin under your glass. Just try to sneak the napkin out from under the glass, the bloody bartender puts another right under your glass! Come on, let's get normal again!
How about those idiots that have those big white letters on their tires? They really think they are cool while it's pretty obvious they are imbeciles. But then, it’s no worse than the big black "Bra" some wear on the front of their cars as if they are driving a Lamborghini on a gravel road instead of running over to the local Safeway.
Check out the taxicabs, buses and streetcars in Europe to see how much advertising is hung all over the exterior of them. Virtually none! Some tasty stuff inside works fine, but no! We have to plaster all our modes of transportation with all kinds of crap on the sides, back, front ,tops (of cabs) and all this in the name of financial viability. Let's face it, you're going to lose money on these systems no matter what, so why make it ugly? Europeans go one step further, they will make the entire tram (several cars long) into a well designed graphic of one advertiser.
And you wouldn't believe how many people (designers included) seem to think you need a window in front of the kitchen sink. Come on! The best kitchen I ever had was buried in a dark stone walled house. If it has enough character you don't "need" the window at the sink.
Then there’s always the person that still has to tell you to "have a nice day". Jeez, leave me alone. I'm doing the best I can and no idiotic phrase from a stranger is going to change that.
Then there's always a clod who wears his hat while dining in a restaurant. I can understand if it's a cowboy hat (They don't know any better), but baseball caps? No shirt, shoes no service. Hat on, no service!
Next we'll have to get into Lite beers and saccharin.
Have an awful day!
Lamont Langworthy, Curmudgeon First Class
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