deja vu all over again?

Looking at the second video on my last post made me think of something that happened when I was living in Australia in about 1978 or 1979.  We had acquired a young dog, Perpy?, and the girls, Perpy and I went up to Canberra for a 2-3 week period during which I was rehearsing and then playing [violin] in the orchestra for a Christmas time production of "Pinafore" [I think].  The group was desperate for players since a lot of the locals had gone away for the holidays, so they were willing to rent an apartment for me, as well as pay me.  There were several problems. First the apartment was not air conditioned - and December/January is mid-Summer for Oz.  Second, the rehearsals were lasting until about 11PM, so my girls, who of course accompanied me to them, were having to stay up a bit too late.  One of the other players, a younger woman with 2 girls of her own, very generously offered to let me, girls and pup come and stay with her, her husband, her girls and her young German Shepherd.  To make a long story shorter, after I made sure that she'd ok'd the extra babysitting with her hubby, we moved in.  We had a great time, but when we loosed Perpy into the backyard with this German Shepherd, J and I were afraid the GS would eat or seriously damage Perpy, because Perpy wouldn't let her alone.  What happened next was amazing - wish I had a picture of it - the GS finally had enuf of Perpy's shenanigans, opened her mouth and, gently, clamped down on Perpy's head.  Instant quiet on all fronts.  Perpy was held that way for a few seconds, released unscathed, and preceded to behave.  Whew!
On another note.  I have discovered that by watching the odometer on my car, if I keep RPM's to around 1500 or less after starting up from a slowdown or stop, my mpg's don't decrease, or at least not as much as if I accelerate rapidly, which I have been prone to do in the past.  My car does get reasonable, but not great, mileage - somewhere between 14-19 in town if I don't have too short a trip or too many stops and slowdowns, and over 23 on the highway.  I don't know how good it is on a highway because I haven't recently taken any trips over about 50 miles to check it [and don't recall what it was then.]  So, maybe this weekend, I'll take a somewhat longer ride and see what happens.  Oh - my car warranty requires that I use premium and I noticed too late at, I believe, a BP station last week that there was a sticker saying no more than 10% ethanol.  Hope I haven't screwed up my engine.

posted by: mafidl at June 12, 2008 13:26 | link | comments (1) |
pets, nostalgia, conserving gas

friends?

Have you heard that ALL of us are descended from the same group of ancestors from about 75,000 years ago?  ALL OF US.  It seems that we have basically the same DNA - whether we're from Europe, Asia, Africa, Micronesia, or Iceland!  If so then why can't we get along?  I know this song doesn't have such a general theme, but it's the closest I can come: Maybe if we didn't always try to smother/convert everyone?

 

posted by: mafidl at June 11, 2008 13:40 | link | comments (3) |
world

Aricles and Books and Jokes

Hillary's first draft concession speech, rejected in favor of the one she gave.  Thanks to friend R and Miami Herald editorial columnist Carl Hiaasen, we "know" what she really wanted to say. 
Also, in case you haven't heard of Hiaasen, he is very eloquent, astute, and often bitingly funny.  His book, Team Rodent, shows how, as a long time - native?- Floridian, he hates Disney and why, of course.  I also read many of his early fictional books, including Tourist Season, Native Tongue and Double Whammy - and one or more of those, can't recall which [CRS moment?], dealt with a character he called Skink, who was a former Florida who, uncharacteristically of earlier [at least ] governors, was not corrupt, became sick of the graft and corruption in Florida politics [state politics, only, of course, ahem - anyone heard of Hialeah?] and walked out of his office one day, went bush, as Aussies say, and,in addition to eating road kill, worked to thwart Florida projects he deemed at best unworthy [real estate, theme parks, etc] with, I guess you'd call them, guerilla tactics.  Another book on guerilla tactics that I loved, is the Monkey Wrench Gang which is about a ragtag group's attempts to prevent a dam from being built on the Colorado River. A new edition is also available on Amazon, but this one describes what it's about.
Since I'm on the subject of favorite books of the past, The Umpire Strikes Back, definitely not fiction, but humorous,  whether or not you're a baseball fan, is a really fun read. What a character!
And, finally, not humor or fiction [?], The Barefoot Mailman which is, of course, probably available on Amazon or ... but this gives a good historical description, fascinating, actually, of how mail reached the very isolated area of South Florida once upon a time.
Finally, did you hear about the Buddhist who went up to the hotdog vendor and said: "Make me one with everything", handing him a $20 bill.  In a minute or so the vendor handed him the dog, and after waiting patiently for a couple of minutes, the Buddhist asked "what about my change",  whereupon the vendor replied "change comes from within".
Finally, why couldn't the Buddhist vacuum the corners of his room or his venetian blinds?  Because he had no attachments.
Apologies to Emma and I have a feeling there's a lot wrong as far as Buddhism is concerned,  with the first joke, especially, except for the comments.
And again, a question:  is it really insulting for Republicans to refer to their opposite as the Democrat Party, rather than the Democratic Party?  Am I naive? I didn't find that a slur, but at least one friend of mine does.
 TTFN

posted by: mafidl at June 09, 2008 11:40 | link | comments (1) |
politics, books, humor

Me again

Jim Morin's editorial cartoon in this morning's Miami Herald says it all.  He is a wonderful cartoonist and if you do not regularly see his cartoons, please go to this link. 
His cartoons remind me very favorably of the cartoons of the wonderful Aussie cartoonist Larry Pickering.  He decided to run for a political office back in the 70's, having been the Canberra Times cartoonist for years.  That was a mistake, since he was, as Morin and many other political cartoonists are, very astute and wonderfully expressive and critical about the political scene.  He didn't make it politically and went back to being what he was definitely meant to be - a remarkable political cartoonist.  I count myself fortunate, indeed, that I was living in Canberra, later in Albury, during a period where his cartoons were being published.  His series on Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was hysterically funny.  Whitlam and others in the political scene of the time were depicted as "chooks" [Aussie for chickens] and the former PM, McMahon, complained one time that his cartoon lacked a penis - so he became the only male depicted with one.

Again, I am conflicted about an Obama-Clinton ticket - but acknowledge that it should secure a Democrat president, which I think we desperately need.  Different TV and other news sources seem to be indicating that Obama's confirmation as the probable Dem candidate [why do they keep on calling him and Bush the pre-sumptive candidates? and she adds: I guess they aren't "the candidates" until the Conventions confirm them] is already having a positive effect vis-a-vis our relations with our allies as well as some other countries. 
I can't believe the, at best tastelessness, of an artistic show opening in NYC.  According to the artist the show is about character assassination, but nevertheless, I sometimes wonder if artistic freedom goes too far on occasion, this being one.
And, finally, on a lighter note, this received from friend L:

posted by: mafidl at June 05, 2008 10:23 | link | comments (6) |
politics, humor, jokes, nostalgia

Woe

I listened to all of Obama's and Clinton's speeches last night and as much as I could stand to listen to McCain's - does it seem as though it was not fair or reasonable for him to jump in and give a speech on the night of the last Democratic primaries and possible decision on candidate?  I also tried to see if I could post the McCain and Clinton speeches, but couldn't find them on YouTube - maybe I didn't search correctly?  It was of interest that Hillary's speech was given in a venue where no cellphone or Blackberry signals were available and there were no TV monitors - so the people who were in there, probably for more than an hour, were unaware that Obama's numbers had reached and exceeded the magic number.  Hillary is being criticized for her speech - that she didn't do the right thing.  I don't know whether Hillary as Veep would be a good idea or not, but it might clinch a Dem victory - first time in history [?] that we will have a "ruling triumvirate".
Anyhoo, the Miami Herald had several articles of interest this morning.  One dealing with FPL's request to raise our electricity bills by 16%!  What next?  There was a list of tips on how we can save on power, and I'm going to adopt several of those. [e.g.I'm at work and my thermostat is set on 82° and my 2 ceiling fans and other fan are off.]  I will also call about other options listed there.
Another item detailing the loss of more rain-forest is definitely bad news.  That will definitely contribute to global warming in a big way.
Then, if you're worried about possible foreclosure on your home [I mentioned in an earlier post  [May 29, A Rant] that my complex is having problems, so many of our residents [their are 783 units] are in a bad way, consider the plight of this celebrity.
One other item that I forgot, is the Layoff of Physicists and other workers at an important California nuclear plant.  The Bushies aren't the only source of security worries.
So on those happy notes, I'll wrap it up for now. TTFN

posted by: mafidl at June 04, 2008 13:27 | link | comments |
politics, weather, world, ecology, bridges

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