WATCHES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT

I recently posted about my grandfathers watch, which was made in 1938.     It is an mechanical watch and must be wound every morning.  Only a few old people nostalgically use a mechanical watch like this any longer. 

Now watches have morphed into  wearable technology. 

I found it interesting that a friend of mine said his grandson, in highs school, did not know how to read an analog type watch display.   

the Ol'Buzzard

MY GRANDFATHER'S WATCH

I only remember my Kentucky grandfather (1886-1964) from the few minutes I saw him when I was nineteen and had just enlisted in the Navy. 

He was tall like me, and I suppose I have some of his traits. 

 

Years later, in my fifties, my wife and I moved from Alaska to Kentucky, where we lived for a few years.  In an antique shop in Paducah, I found some of his belongings in a consignment display case.  There were some letters he had written, some photographs and his railroad watch.   He had worked for decades with the Illinois Central Railroad.  I bought his watch and my cousin bought the rest of his consignments.

The watch never worked properly, and it has remained in one of my drawers for over twenty years.

  

I posted earlier about jobs that have been replaced by technology.   There is a jewelry store in our town, that has been here longer than anyone can remember.   The owner is near my age, and he inherited the store when his father retired many decades ago.   He is a jeweler and a watch repairman.   He recently sold the store, but returns on Tuesday through Thursday to repair watches.   Soon watch repairmen will be consigned to history, replaced by cheap, disposable electronic watches. 

With that in mind, I decided to have my grandfather’s pocket watch repaired.

  

Each morning I wind the watch.  All my jeans have watch pockets, so now this is the only watch I carry.  This watch is a touchstone to my time of life, that will soon become history.

the Ol’Buzzard 

TRUMP'S UKRAINE CONNECTION FROM A CANADIAN LIVING IN UKRAINE

It is hard to understand the politics of foreign countries unless you make a study of them.   The best resources are foreigners living in the  controversial country.

I urge everyone to access the comments of  The Blog Fodder, a Canadian citizen's living in Ukraine. 

THE BLOG FODDER



His is a blog worth following
the Ol'Buzzard

IMPEACHMENT

Finally, the Democrats are moving toward an impeachment inquiry!


Right after a two week recess?????

What the fuck
the Ol'Buzzard

SACRIFICING TO THE EQUINOX

My wife and I celebrate four days of the year: the two equinox and the two solstice.

How better to end summer than with a BLT, potato chips and a glass of Guinness?  

On this fall equinox we celebrated the coming of autumn by sacrificing the last tomato of summer. 

Welcome Autumn

Welcome to the world

The season of aging

Is the time of beauty.

the Ol’Buzzard

TO SHE WHO SEEKS

I SEND YOU ELEVEN PIPERS PIPING










CONGRATS ON YOUR ELEVENTH
the Ol'Buzzard

HOMO SAPIEN SAPIEN REX

Being fed intercerebrally may be just one indication of a cognitive change in humans that will result in a Darwinian evolution of our species.   From a prior post.

In the first half of the twentieth century people invested cognitively; they read magazines and books; they listen to radios programs that required focus and a cognitive investment; they corresponded with written letters and spoke to each other in person or on the phone; they played games like chess, checkers, cards, backgammon – and even children’s games required thinking and imagination.   People’s everyday life required attention to details for most actions.   People did math – they balanced their checkbooks, and advanced math was assisted by slide rulers that required translation into powers of ten.    Even the movies, as corny as they seem now, relied more on dialogue: Who’s on first base?

Today people require little cognitive investment.   There is little personal interaction.  People correspond by abbreviated tweets.    Young people sit together in a room focusing on their phones.   In restaurants people have their phones beside their plates.  Entertainment is designed to stimulate, not inform.   Young people play video games that are interactive, but not cognitive stimulating.   Research for students is now Google.   Alexa takes our voice commands and changes our channels or plays our music, computers can control our environment, cars can drive themselves…

We are advancing into an environment where humans are required less and less investment in their daily lives and well-being.  We are becoming the mushrooms fed and entertained by technology. 

 

This will bring about a Darwinian change in our species.  One that will be totally distinct from Homo Sapiens Sapiens (modern man.)   Perhaps we might name our future selves Homo Sapiens Sapiens Rex: the pentacle of the species.

Of course, the Rex of a species becomes less adaptable.

And in evolution, it is not the biggest or the smartest or the strongest of a species that survives; but the most adaptable.

   

We are becoming less adaptable. 

the Ol'Buzzard  

THE BIG SLEEP

Last night we watched Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, staring Humphrey Bogart, on Turner Classic Movies.   Most of the movie was shot outdoors at night or in dark rooms. 

 

It became clear early on that the dialogue was the basis of the story and the videography was background – the platform to deliver the dialogue.   If you did not pay attention to the dialogue you would lose the narrative of the story. 

 

This is so different to the movies of today, where the videography, the blazing color, the special effects, the extreme action, and the too loud background noise is designed to entertain movie goers, with little requirement for cognitive investment.   The dialog, in most of today’s movies, is designed to loosely tie together one action scene with another. 

 

Being fed intercerebrally  may be just one indication of a cognitive change in humans that will result in a Darwinian evolution of our species.

How about that word: intercerebrally.  I just made that up - but it makes sense - it's a good one.

the Ol'Buzzard

SURVIVING THESE DAYS OF INSANITY

The Buddha became enlightened (AWAKE) when a beautiful young girl brought him a bowl of rice and a refreshing drink of water

SCARIER THAN A VIKING RAID

The Great Chinggis Khaan and his Mongol warriors were undoubtedly the fiercest army ever to exist.  They practiced genocide, killing hundreds of thousands on their conquest of western Europe.  

the Ol'Buzzard

FOOD SAVER

It is just my wife and I, so when we bought food the excess often spoiled before we had the same meal again.   We sometimes froze our excess and usually we ended up throwing it away with freezer-burn.

 A few years ago, I bought a new Food Saver through e-bay for under forty-dollars.   That purchase has turned out to be one of our best buys.  Now we buy food when it is on sale and vacuum pack it, and it last for months.   Things that come in quantity we divide up to portion sizes; sliced bacon, we will divide into four strip units, vacuum pack and freeze them; then when we want bacon and eggs, we just take the vacuum-packed bacon out an hour before we cook, and it is as fresh as when we bought it.

Salmon, pork chops, chuck roast and hot dogs ready for the freezer

 fresh blue berries, quick frozen and then vacuum packed

We even vacuum pack individual sandwich makings, like ham and cheese.   When we want to make a sandwich, we can open the pack, place the makings between two pieces of bread – with of course mayonnaise – and we are good to go. 

  Swiss cheese and Kentucky ham ready for a sandwich 

We buy the rolls of bag material and cut it to size.  A fifty-foot vacuum sealer roll cost around nine-dollars, so there is a small expense; but what we save in wasted food, and the quality of the frozen food, is well worth it.

There are many vacuum food savers, with a lot of different bells and whistles, that are priced upwards to three-hundred-dollars, but this inexpensive one works just fine for a small family.  

the Ol’Buzzard     

ARE YOU A PRACTICING CATHOLIC?

OR DO YOU LIVE IN THE WORLD OF SANITY AND REALITY?

In Tennessee, the head of St. Edwards Catholic school sent a letter to parents notifying them, that after consulting with Vatican exorcists, he was banning the Harry Potter books from the school library. 

“These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true,” He went on to note, “the curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.”

Statues that cry blood, cannibalism during the Eucharist, a virgin birth, walking on water, angles, Satan, hell, heaven, Noah’s ark…

I guess once you have bought into the package you are vulnerable to believe anything. 

Will there ever come a time when the human race is intelligent enough to relinquish religion?

the Ol’Buzzard

A POST TO THE PERFECT PEOPLE

FUCK EM
the Ol'Buzzard

ZEN POETRY

awake

THE HUMMINGBIRDS ARE GONE

After an unusually cool August, early signs of Fall are everywhere here in Western Maine.   There are bright splotches of orange and red in the maple trees, and the hummingbirds have abandon our feeders. 

We tolerate summer for the tomatoes; but Fall and Winter are our time of year.  Soon we will be in such vivid color that it is almost an overload; followed by the first pristine snow fall that will turn the world white.   

With day temperatures around sixty and night temps dropping into the forties and fifties I have donned my lighter weight long johns.   

Today I have to change the filter in our oil tank and get our Monitor heater on line.   I  have left much of my summer maintenance to the last minute, so for the next two weeks I have to become responsible and dutifully perform.   

Here in Maine, Winter is always coming. 

A RETROSPECTIVE OF 9/11/19

FACT OVER FICTION

Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on the attack of 9/11 were citizens of Saudi Arabia.   Osama bin Laden was Saudi Arabian.  The hijackers were financed by wealthy Saudi businessmen.  

On 9/11 The United States was attacked by factions of Saudi Arabia.

Why don’t we call it as it is?

the Ol’Buzzard

FEMINISM

S17 Ep 26 - Christina Hoff Sommers

Psychologist have an ongoing debate of ‘nurture or nature’ as the primary contributor to human development.  We are a product of our social experiences, learning and social norms; but we are a young species that just stepped out of the trees on the African plains some four million years ago.

   

In the process of evolution, the primary aim of every species is to reproduce itself.  Embedded in our DNA is the sequence that has allowed our species to survive – and some might say too successfully for our own good.

The human animal reproduces sexually.   Women and men have different functions in reproduction.  Women produce approximately 250 eggs in their lifetime.   One ejaculation of a man contains more than enough sperm to impregnate every female in the United States.

 

Women, once impregnated, experience a lengthy pregnancy, during which she nourishes the developing young in her body, then after birth provides nourishment, security and comfort for a helpless infant.

After birth man’s instinct is to provide and protect his sexual partners, and by extension the children, from environmental dangers and other males.

 

Women until menopause, and men throughout their lifetime have the desire to copulate.   This is the animal side of our DNA that ensures the continuation of the species.

In the evolutionary process of genetic replication, women’s success depended on the number of children she could produce and nurture, and man’s success was decided by the number or women he could inseminate.

Ahh, there is the rub.  

 With the advancement of cultural norms and science and technology, the reproduction of the species no longer defines the roles of women and men.   Women are now moving into Maslow’s definition of Self Actualization – pride in self and accomplishment. 

This is an adjustment that conflicts with four million years of human development.

   

We, as a species, are going through a struggle to redefine the roles of women and men into the future.  The acceptance of sex and sexual desire has to have a place in those social norms and, a definition between sexual predation and sexual invitation must be understood. 

the Ol’Buzzard

OLD AND FOOLISH

When I turned 70, I did a static line parachute jump at 5,000 feet.

Now, a decade later, and not being of sound mind and even less sound in body, I decided I wanted to do a solo freefall parachute jump.   The nearest jump school was three-and-a-half hours from home (seven hours round trip) but I made the trip down and signed up on a Saturday.  Another round trip the following Wednesday (leaving the house at 4 a.m.) to attended an eight-hour training – coming home with muscles aching that I hadn’t used for years.   Yesterday, another trip down, leaving the house at 4:35 a.m. 

 

I arrived – some more training – then wait…   We had a cloud cover and students can’t jump in clouds. 

 

About 2 p.m. they canceled it for students.   You could still jump tandem with an instructor or come back the next day to try again.   The weather forecast shows mostly cloudy for the whole week, so I said fuck-it and jumped tandem.   The idea of a fourth seven-hour round trips in one week sucked.

We went out at 15,000 feet - free fall for 10,000 feet; then flew the chute down for a landing.   It wasn’t a solo jump as I had planned; but it was great – and I got it out of my system. 

 

In retrospect, the reality is that I am too fucking old to keep playing young men’s games.  I would recommend a tandem jump for anyone – you don’t have to go through all the training I did for a solo freefall.

 

I am sore this morning, but ambulatory: thank god for BC Powders.

the Ol’Buzzard

REPARATION FOR SLAVERY

We carry no guilt for the acts and beliefs of our ancestors.   Different times, different places, different mores, different accepted values...

My grandmother's uncle was in the Klan and her generation of my family in the 20’s and 30’s in Mississippi were proud of it.  One of her brothers was the head warden of the infamous Parchment Penal Farm in Mississippi.  Yet, I have great-great-grandparents that fought of both sides of the Civil War.  One of my great-great grandfathers died in the battle of Shiloh fighting for the North. 

Slavery was an abomination everywhere.   Slavery existed in British, French, Portuguese, and Dutch colonies into the 19^th. century.

Are there atrocities throughout history?  Yes.    The human race is an atrocious animal. 

Rather than mire ourselves in the past we should only be accountable for our actions today, for we live in a different time and different place. 

 

The discussion for reparation for slavery is a dividing issue and should not become a Democrat issue in the 2020 election.  Remember: the one and only goal should be to defeat Donald Trump. 

 

The discussion of reparation should be put on hold until after the 2020 election; at that time this discussion is warranted.

the Ol'Buzzard  

WORDS TO LIVE BY

 What is to be will be

What ain't to be just might happen

the Ol'Buzzard