1.31.2020 -looking down AT me

looking down AT me
peacoat, blue jeans, cowboy boots
Gosh! what year is this?

I looked down at myself this morning.

I saw the front of my peacoat.

I had one strap of a backpack over my right shoulder.

Blue jeans.

501 Button Fly Levis.

And cowboy boots.

My brain hit a time warp.

Was I walking across the parking lot to the TV station where I worked and it was 2020.

Or was I walking across the diag to a class in Ann Arbor back in 1984.

Was my back pack filled with computers and apple devices.

Or was my back pack filled with books and note pads and an apple for lunch.

I describe my wardrobe as “classic”.

My wife and daughters describe it as “Dad’s clothes”.

Cotton button down shirts.

Khaki slacks.

Both plain and pleated so there.

I am not trying to pull off any look.

I am not trying to dress like a college kid.

I am just trying to be comfortable.

The other day my wife got into a discussion about my shoes with some of the boys.

The boys being son Lucas and Alexis’ baby daddy, Taqir.

Wife points at me as says, “He has worn the same low cut, white Nike’s his whole life.”

I respond that actually over the last 40 years I have had 4 pairs of low cut, white Nike’s.

I asked the boys how long a pair of ALL LEATHER white Nike’s should last?

“10 years at least,” was the answer.

“But it’s all the same looking shoe. When do they go out of style?” says wife.

The boys looked at each other.

Looked back at my wife.

And responded together.

“White, Low Cut, All Leather Nike’s go out of Style?”

“NEVER!”

1.30.2020 – more flexible

more flexible
W76
deterrent option

Double U, Seventy Six.

W76-2 to be more precise.

What is the W76-2 you ask?

It is our latest nuclear bomb.

It just shipped out on US Submarines from Kings Bay Naval base at the North River in southeastern Georgia.

It’s production was ordered from the White House in 2018.

According to the Guardian,

The US has deployed its first low-yield Trident nuclear warhead on a submarine that is currently patrolling the Atlantic Ocean, it has been reported, in what arms control advocates warn is a dangerous step towards making a nuclear launch more likely.

Advocates of W76-2 argued that the US had no effective deterrent against Russian tactical weapons because Moscow assumed Washington would not risk using the overwhelming power of its intercontinental ballistic missiles in response, for fear of escalating from a regional conflict to a civilian-destroying war.

Deployment of new US nuclear warhead on submarine a dangerous step, critics say – Julian Borger, Wed 29 Jan 2020.

This is what worries me most about Trump-mania.

When the news focuses almost on the President and what he SAYS, who is paying attention to what he does?

In the last 2 years, the decision was made that the US needed a newer SMALLER Nuclear Bomb.

A bomb SMALLER than the ones dropped on Japan in 1945.

A bomb small enough that if dropped on the US Capitol Building would destroy the building but not even cause windows to break at the White House.

Maybe that is what appealed to the President.

A comparison of how Washington, D.C. might be impacted by the detonation of, from left to right, a W88, a W76-1, and a W76-2, as a generic example, according to NUKEMAP’s models. The gray outer circle is the maximum extent of light damage, such as broken windows. The yellow circle, clearly visible in the cases of the W88 and W76-1, is the extent of thermal raditation, which can cause third degree burns. The other colored bands cover more extensive damage and the spread of radiation, as well as the immediate fireball, outlined in red.

(Above from Navy Missile Sub Has Begun Its First Patrol Armed With Controversial Low Yield Nukes – author: joe@thedrive.com)

The bomb went into production.

The bomb went into deployment.

Did anyone notice?

I did not notice.

I like to think I follow such things.

I accept the policy of Mutual assured destruction (MAD).

I accept the idea that these bombs are here, both sides have them and that’s that.

I am reminded of Carl Sagan on Nuclear War when he said, “The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.”

Now the US has the W76-2.

Still waist deep in the gasoline.

But smaller matches.

1.29.2020 – man on the beach said

man on the beach said,
try the other side of the boat.
bread, fish on the fire

Futile.

Futility.

Ugly words.

Waste and frustration.

Driving fast down the wrong road.

Fishing all night and nothing to show for it.

Peter the Apostle and his buddies went fishing one night.

Went fishing and caught nothing.

Tired, frustrated, most likely a little bit cross with life, hauled in their nets and headed for shore as the sun came up.

Far on the shore a man waved and caught their attention.

How is the fishing? the man on the beach yelled.

Peter might have shook his head slowly or held out his hands, palms up to show their were empty.

“Try the other side of the boat?” yelled the man.

I have often wondered just what Peter thought at this moment.

“YOU COME OUT HERE AND TRY THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BOAT!”

Maybe not.

Maybe if the man on the beach is Jesus and he is yelling advice, even if you aren’t sure at that time the man is Jesus, something about the man makes you less likely to question the advice.

So Peter tells his friends they are going to try one more time.

I am sure Tom, Nate, John and Jim and the other two guys were thrilled.

And on the other side of the boat, the net comes up filled with fish.

Peter and his friends drag their nets full of fish onto the beach and find the man there with bread and fish already on a beach fire.

Lots of lessons might be drawn from this story.

Lessons like the answer to problems may be closer than you think.

Try to look at your problems from a different angle.

Turn to the man on the beach for direction and advice with problems.

I like the end of the story.

On the beach, breakfast was ready.

Regardless of how the night of fishing went.

Regardless of whether or not the fisherman took the advice of the man on the beach.

Regardless of whether or not there were any fish on the other side of the boat.

Breakfast was ready.

Ready and waiting.

1.28.2020 – Edge of the abyss.

Edge of the abyss.
Fall in? Fall out? Fall Over?
I know where I am!

A physicist is pulled over for speeding.

“Do you know how fast you were going?” says the cop.

“No,” says the physicist, “but I know where I am.”

A good example of why there is a lack of science humor despite the success of the Big Bang Theory TV show.

An interesting show that ran out of wit in season 2 and added girlfriends and 2 and a half men punch lines.

I am not sure how long could the show could have lasted on just jokes about physics but I digress.

I took the trash out last night and looked up at the moon.

Sky was clear for the first time in a long time.

Moon was a brilliant Waxing Crescent with Venus shining, BLAZING in the sky close by.

I went inside and to get my grand daughter and carried her out in her bare feet to see the show.

I miss Orion down here in the south.

As a kid in Michigan, going out sledding on cold nights in January, Orion filled the sky.

Looking at stars I get nervous that I am standing on the surface of this planet and there is nothing between my head and the moon.

Nothing between my head and Venus.

Nothing between my head and the starts.

The moon is about 238,855 miles away.

Venus is 162 million miles away.

Stars I don’t want to think about.

Thinking this way makes me feel … small.

I remember that film we all watched back along the way somewhere.

So pleases to learn that THAT film is available.

Why am I not surprised that it was created by the Film Board of Canada.

If you haven’t seen it, from a kid rowing in a park a camera zooms away deep into space.

Then the camera stops zooming out and zooms back in and disappears into the cells and atoms of the kid.

It is available on YouTube.

The concept is also made plain in Horton Hear’s a Who by Doc Suess.

You remember, “BOIL THAT DUST SPECK!”

Watching Cosmic Zoom, looking at the moon, who is to say Suess isn’t right?

How does all this fit?

I am reminded of Uncle Albert Einstein’s, “My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality.”

How much of what Uncle Albert ever said was what Uncle Albert really thought.

Is something valuable because of who said it?

Or is the value in the thought expressed?

Humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit.

The little we can comprehend.

Little is the word.

Standing on the surface of this planet.

Out under the moon and planets.

I know where I am.

1.27.2020 – Wonderful new word!

Wonderful new word!
Soppressatta! At same time,
new pizza topping.

Our youngest son has been auditioning for various summer dance programs.

All the auditions so far have been at the Atlanta Ballet studio in West Midtown, Atlanta.

The prize in this box of Cracker Jack is that my wife and I get a couple of hours to be downtown.

Not that we need an excuse to go downtown, but it helps.

Yesterday we went out for a late lunch.

We had stopped in at this spot for a cup of coffee last week and decided to go back and try the food.

The menu was filled with new words.

New words that I guessed were also new names for old foods much like Patagonian toothfish shows up on menus as Chilean Sea Bass.

Words like Muhammara, Chorizo, Guanciale and Boerewors.*

Yeah sure.

Like the old coach in the movie, The Natural, says to Robert Redford when they go out for Italian food, “You can’t pronounce it but it sure does eat good.”

One word stuck me.

Soppressatta.

Soppressatta?

Pronouced sop·pres·sa·ta, we had to ask the server what it was.

She smiles and says, ‘Its a fancy Italian sausage, like pepperoni.”

Sounded okay.

The pizza came with tomatoes, big leaves of basil and these paper thin, silver dollar sized slices of what I guessed was the Soppressatta.

Tasted great.

Just like soppressatta was supposed to taste.

At least to me it did.

In a way it was like the stories about the Connoisseur who samples a 200 year old bottle of supposed fine wine.

The Connoisseur pronounces the wine as excellent but then not too many, if any people KNOW what a 200 year old bottle of fine wine is SUPPOSED to taste like.

I enjoyed the soppressatta.

I loved the word.

Soppressatta.

“So PRESS at ta”, I said out loud.

“So PRESS a ta Don Corleone”, I said out loud until my wife told me to shut up.

I had to get out the Google.

Ever have one of those moments where maybe you really did not want to know?

The Google reported that soppressatta is an Italian pressed sausage made with Pig’s head, tongue, belly and stomach.

I left it there.

I did not ask the server about the origins of their soppressatta.

When I thought about it for a bit I decided, so what?

It tasted great.

This place proclaims …

To the mindful, to the curious
to the brilliantly flawed.
To those seeking comfort, respite,
splendor, and sustenance…
The Bold Monk welcomes you.

Quite a statement for a restaurant.

If you decide to eat in a restaurant that makes such a statement, don’t ask what it is in the sausage.

Just eat it.

Seek the comfort.

Seek the respite.

Enjoy it when you find it.

*Muhammara – a thick pomegranate syrup, can be found at Middle Eastern markets
Chorizo – mixture of chopped pork meat, pork fat, salt, whole pepper grains, cinnamon, achiote
Guanciale – an Italian cured meat product prepared from pork jowl or cheeks
Boerewors– coarsely minced beef and spices