Sunday, October 31, 2021

HALLOWEEN NOT A WASHOUT!

 



I can't call it rain.   It is more like living  under a waterfall.   The rain has been torrential all night and is expected to continue until 11 am.   By that time four inches will have fallen in eleven hours.   


As of now brooms are grounded; but my wife insures me she will be able to fly tonight. 





the Ol'Buzzard

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

ANSWER TO BORN FREE

 

Born Free, in one of your comments you questioned the idea of relocating to a simpler lifestyle as you age.   


For twenty years we lived in a small, two story post and beam chalet in the woods.   We were on a private dirt road that had to be maintained by the occupants on the road, we supplemented our heat with firewood, we had to maintain a well and wellhouse through the Maine winters, had to maintain a septic system; mowing, snow removal, maintenance... Being rural we often lost power every winter for three or four days at a time.   The demands were great, but it was the life-style we chose.   It was good, but I feared that my wife would not be able to maintain the place when I am gone - and it was getting to be a grind for me.





We had never considered living in a mobile home in a park until we started to look at available housing in our area.  Places were over priced and we felt we would be inheriting someone else's problems - we just found nothing we liked.  After shopping for almost a year we checked out some double-wide mobile homes on the internet.   They are not like the trailers of yore.  They are built to the same standards as modular homes/ new homes.   There are scores of floor plans available at varying price ranges.


The decision came when we found a small park of twenty homes with an opening.   The occupants are all older adults with no children.  It is rurally located but with easy access to town.  The park owners set high standards for all the occupant units.   The road is plowed in the winter, the grass is mowed, there is a convenient garbage dumpster emptied twice a week, the septic systems are pumped yearly, we are on town water, there is even a hair dresser at the entrance to the park so my wife can easily walk to get her hair done.   We were skeptic of living in a community, as we have always lived somewhat isolated; but the neighbors are nice.   The choice of the park was more important then the selection of a home.  





We have three bedrooms, living room, dining area, kitchen with a walk-m pantry, laundry room, and two baths.  The master bathroom has a large walk-in shower large enough for us both to shower together. All the appliances are new; I even had a generator installed in case of power outages.  We absolutely love this place, and being in our later years we could not have made a better choice.   The stress factor far less than owning a home and land.   










Hope this answers some of your questions.

the Ol'Buzzard



Monday, October 25, 2021

4 A.M. Ramblings, Or Is There Intelligent Life In The Universe?

 



 

There are numerous numbering systems.   The system most widely used in society is base ten.  The base ten system has ten numbers: 0123456789.   We have ten fingers and ten toes so this is a system easily visualized.   Where the individual numbers fall (the place value) determines the overall value of the number.

5283.12

         


The octal (base eight system) has eight numbers 01234567

 

The counting system that runs the world (computer language) is binary or base 2.  It only contains two numbers: a one and a zero.

001 = 1

010 – 2

011 = 3

100 = 4

101 = 5

110 = 6

111 = 7

1000 = 8

1001 = 9 

1010 = 10 etc.

Where the number ‘one’ falls determines the value of the product.


View the place values as a series of switches.   Each switch can be either on or off - one or zero.   There are thousands of switches on a microchip and the order you turn them on or off determines the value of any certain number. 

 

Mathematics is a language, and when physicist exceed their ability to express concepts in verbal language, they resort to mathematics formulas.

 

OK, where am I going with this?

We are constantly looking for intelligent life in the universe.  We always view alien life as having a head, legs, arms and a body, with some similarity to humans, or at least something familiar to us.  

 

We are a carbon base life form and the general consensus when looking for life in the universe is to look for elements with carbon base that might indicate life. 

 

But what if the intelligent life in the universe is not carbon based – but mathematical based.   Suppose the dark matter that physicists are always searching for is actually an intelligent binary life form with energy spikes falling in a place value system far exceeding anything that we can comprehend.  We tend to call it AI or Artificial Intelligence, when it is possibly OI – Original Intelligence: life that is not physical but intellectual.

 

the Ol'Buzzard


Wednesday, October 20, 2021

DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE

 





My wife and I have always lived close to each other and close to the earth.  Almost everywhere we have lived our life has been dictated by the seasons.  

 

We have no friends or associates that visit us, and we see her family only once every few years.  Some people might call us recluse; but we are not.  We enjoy travel, shopping and eating out - together.  We are pleasant with neighbors and people we have to interact with.   We don’t dislike people; we just don’t like being around them.

 

We avoid all holiday times like a plague.   We have our own celebration for spring equinox, summer solstice, fall equinox and winter solstice.   Other than that, we decorate and enjoy Halloween. 








Every witch must display her broom.   Her's gets decorated with the seasons. 




Decorations can last well through November



A wall tile representing seasons in Alaska



Cats and bats and pumpkins too, with Salem in the corner





I can't take credit for any of the decorations.  I would live a solitary drab existence without my wife.


Halloween is the time of witches.  How could we not celebrate it?




the Ol'Buzzard

Sunday, October 17, 2021

ESTABLISHING A NEW RELIGION

  



 

Thanks to Leanna and her Religion In A Nutshell posts, I lay awake from five to six this morning contemplating religions and their God Heads, in respect of the fundamentals of Physics. 

 

There is a striking similarity between an atom and a solar system.  Enough so to form the basis of a new religion.

 

 The atom’s nucleus (the sun/star) contains all the energy.   Electrons (planets) rotate around the nucleus forming atoms.   Atoms (solar systems) coalesce together to form a galaxy (molecule).    Galaxies (molecules) group together to form a universe.

 

Coalescing universes (molecular groups) could well be the building blocks for a living organism living on another dimensional planet (electron).   The process could start all over again where that dimensional planet is actually an electron building toward a group of universes forming yet another living creature living on a higher dimensional planet (electron) that builds toward another living organism…  

 

Until there is finally one single organism, not on a planet, floating in the void of some space, that is the final product (God, if you will) of multiple dimensions combined.




 

Of course, the laws of physics still apply to that chain ending in a God.

 

 So that God would have mass and exert gravity; and each time that God defecated the shit would fall into orbit rotating around the deity, until He/She/It was surrounded by an ever-growing shit ball floating through space, in search of another shit surrounded deity of the opposite gender in order to have sexual intercourse; because in the end, the Hokey Pokey (getting laid) is what it is all about.   

 

Perhaps, not necessarily a different gender; but it is still the Hokey Pokey.  That's what it's all about.

the Ol’Buzzard


Saturday, October 16, 2021

2024

 


the Ol'Buzzard

ALONE

 


I get up early with the cats while it is still dark outside.   It is quite before the world awakes.   I love this time of morning, and especially today with rain drumming on our metal roof.   After the cats are fed, they go back into the bedroom, onto the bed with my sleeping wife.  I am left alone, with the dark, and the rain, and I like it. 

 

Some of our most precious time is our mind time.   When we are alone with our selves and out thoughts.   





 

the Ol’Buzzard


Friday, October 15, 2021

DON’T BE AFRAID OF CLIMATE CHANGE

 



 

Our climate is changing.   We are past the point of going back.  One good thing about homo-sapiens is that we are adaptable.  When things become critical, we temporarily join together and adapt.

 

We shouldn’t worry about an asteroid strike either.   The world is not going to end similar to the dinosaur extinction.    Nations have the technology to destroy or divert such a catastrophe.    

 

Pestilence will not kill us all.   Medical science has the technology to produce vaccines and treatments that will allow the majority of us to survive.   Pestilence does, however, thin the heard of the weak and stupid.  We are seeing this happen now.  In this way it strengthens the races.

 

So, what do we have to worry about?   Is it likely we will face a massive extinction?

 

If we do it will be self-inflicted.   We have to fear our own nature and short-comings.

 

Russia has enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on this earth.  The United States have even more, and more powerful nuclear weapons than Russia.   China has a large nuclear weapon stockpile.   North Korea possesses nuclear bombs.  India and Pakistan are nuclear armed nations.  The U.S. has undoubtedly armed Israel with nuclear capability.   Nuclear technology is no longer confined to a few, it is accessible to the world.  The ability and technology to destroy all living things on this earth exist today; and it is in the hands of a few humans.


Add to this, religious extremism.  Islamist who get dewy eyed at the thought of jihad – dying for a holy war.   Fundamentalist Christian groups fantasizing the end times.     And just plain crazy, unhinged people that get access to the nuclear codes.  (Trump asked Kelly; If we have nuclear weapons, why don’t we use them?)

 

It takes only one disturbed, deranged, irrational paranoid narcist to light the match. 

 

 Fuck it


the Ol'Buzzard

Thursday, October 14, 2021

THERE IS A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

 


 



1.      Propane prices are increasing

2.      I need to get my propane tanks filled before winter

3.      There is a spike in coronavirus in our county

4.      Maine economy is suffering from corona virus pandemic

5.      The Democrats are capitulating, as usual, to Republicans

6.      Donald Trump could well be reelected as President of the United States in 24

7.      China is threatening Taiwan

8.      A clash between China and the U.S. could lead to nuclear war

9.      The earth’s climate is passed the tipping point of recovery from climate change

10.  Earth is a very fragile planet circling a minor star in our galaxy

11.  There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy

12.  There are hundreds of billions of galaxies in our universe

13.  Our universe is expanding in size

14.  For the size of the universe, think of the largest number possible, then add one

15.   There could well be infinite universes.

16.   I need to get my propane tanks filled before winter. the  





the Ol'Buzzard

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

THE PUREST WATER IS DISTILLED WATER

 



We began our teaching in an Athabaskan Indian village north of Fairbanks Alaska.   When we first arrived, we were met by the Chief and told not to drink the water in the housing, because it was polluted with fuel oil.   The village had electricity supplied by four massive generators.  Two would run for 24 hours and then the other two would be switched on line.   There was a massive fuel oil storage area, and someone in their questionable wisdom had placed the village well in the oil farm. 

 

We were told to haul water from the Lodge for drinking.   The Lodge was a large building with a kitchen, dining room, first aid room and six rooms to rent to hunters and fishermen that could be guided by the local Natives.  The problem was, that the men in the village were so hostile to outsiders, non-native sportsmen were afraid to enter the village.

 

Two weeks after we had arrived, the Chief came over and told us the water from the lodge was found to be polluted.  We were told not to drink the water without boiling. 

 

 There were approximately one-hundred and twenty-five people in the village and probably over two-hundred sled dogs.  There were at least five big dog yards, and almost everyone had from three to five dogs tied in their yard, so it seemed likely that the well was probably polluted from dog feces.  

 

The nearest clean water was supposedly in the next village about twenty-five miles away, via one land dirt road with some harrowing drop-offs – about an hour trip by truck each way.

 

My wife had seen an advertisement for a water distiller from a company called Water Wise, located in Florida.   We immediately sent off for one.  This was in 1985.   For the rest of our time in the villages we distilled our water.

 

 There were high cancer rates in the villages and I am convinced that was probably due to water impurities.   

 

Since that time, we have distilled all our drinking water.   The electricity cost appears to be about fifty-cents per gallon.  We are now on our third Water Wise distiller in thirty-six years.




 

We moved to a new house last year, and this is the first time in our married life that we weren’t on well water. I don’t care for the taste of the city water, often there is a chlorine taste, so we are still distilling our drinking water.

 

Water Wise distillers cost about three-hundred and fifty dollars; but if you shop on line you can find them for as little as two-fifty.  

 

And before you ask; a friend of mine borrowed one of our old distillers and made whiskey (white lightning.)   We both drank it and didn’t go blind.   I am not sure how alcohol interacts with the aluminum tubing, so I wouldn’t recommend it.    

 

Besides, if you are looking for rot-gut whiskey, it is cheap enough to buy without taking chances with alcohol poisoning. 

 

The Ol’Buzzard

 



WINDOWS ELEVEN

 




 

YOU’VE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME.  

 

I just watched a YouTube video on Windows 11, and I didn’t understand single word.  

Ok, techies, and most young people, probably require ten-thousand bells and whistles to keep them interested; but I don’t want to have to learn a hundred step program just to check my mail, watch a few YouTube videos, make an occasional post on my blog, and access my word processor. 

It has taken me ten years to get comfortable with Windows 10.  

 

I hate it

the Ol’Buzzard


Tuesday, October 12, 2021

RAGE RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

 







I just got through a fifteen-minute work out on my Total Gym.

 

Occasionally I post about products I like, or don’t like.   I don’t get any kick-back of any kind from the products.  For me it is just sharing my personal opinion of a product in a time of corporate hype.

 

Many times, I have posted about my Total Gym 1400; but I feel so enthusiastic about its benefits that I am posting again.

 

I bought my total gym in 2008 and paid just over $200 for it.   As some of you know, I am in my eighties.   I have used the total gym for fifteen minutes a day, occasionally missing a few days, but not for long stretches. 

 

I do three sets of five exercises facing forward and seven single sets of exercises facing backwards.  I take no time between exercise sets, so end up with a good cardiac workout. 

 

I hate to think what my body would look like and what my strength and endurance, such as it is, would be without my total gym.  

 

The Total Gym 1400 can be purchased through Walmart for $249.00.  The 1400 is a good basic gym – all you need.  Some of the Total Gym products with bells and whistles can run $800.00 or more; but they are no better than the 1400, just more glitzy.

 

 


CLICK HERE - LINK TO WALMART TOTAL GYM ADVERTISMENT 


With the total gym you can pick the exercises and the resistance that best suits you. 

 

The Ol’Buzzard is just telling you: you can do a routine of ten to fifteen-minutes of exercise right out of bed each morning and your day will be better.   You will be healthier.  Your body will be toned.   It is one way to rage rage against the dying of the light.  


the Ol'Buzzard



Saturday, October 9, 2021

ADVICE FOR SURVIVALIST AND DOOMSDAY PREPPERS

 




 



My creds are that I was a U.S. Navy survival instructor (winter bush specialist) for eight years, and a Maine State hunting and fishing guide.

So here’s my advice to all the Mad Max posers.

You don’t need a bug-out bag to survive.  Here are the most important survival tips you will ever need.

1.    Get the Corona virus vaccination

2.    Get a flu vaccination

3.    Get a pneumonia vaccination

4.    Get a tetanus shot

It is not enough to dress up in your Rambo gear and hide out in your basement with your AK-47 while you wait for all the hot women that are going to want to fuck you.  






You also have to be immune to all the diseases that will be rampant after society collapses.   

 Get Vaccinated.

the Ol’Buzzard

 


Thursday, October 7, 2021

BOOK REVIEWS

 


I am a voracious reader.  I am never not reading at least one book.  I have eclectic taste, but sci-fi futuristic and spy fiction rarely appeal to me.  

That said, I am currently reading Star of the North by D. B. John, and it is a riveting, can’t put down, thriller.  This is the story of half Korean/American identical twin girls.   One sister is kidnapped by the North Koreans; and the trials of the other sister’s efforts to get her back.   The book gives an in-depth insight into life in North Korea under the Kim dynasty – an almost unbelievable dehumanized society.




 

A second book that I highly recommend is Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith.  It is a murder mystery taking place in the dark society of 1953 Russia; a fearful time when no one was above the scrutiny of the Russian Security Forces.  Child 44 is one of the few books where the movie (DVD) is every bit as good as the book.




 

the Ol’Buzzard


Wednesday, October 6, 2021

THE DEATH OF DEMOCRACY

 


When I don’t know something I go to places where other people think. 

Neil de Grasse Tyson

The problem with this concept is separating the wheat from the chaff: where you go for your information.

 

We live in a world where truth is determined more through emotions than logic, and just because a lot of people believe something doesn’t make it true. 

 

There was a time when the lunatic fringe was silent, because society gave them no platform.  Then, the Koch brothers organized and financed the Tea Party revolution, and the inmates realized they could take over the asylum.  Now the lunatic fringe has become the lunatic mainstream.

 

These are the people that rage and rant on Facebook and Twitter.   Through algorithms they are grouped with like minded people, and their delusions are reinforced: Trump won the election, Covid pandemic is a farce, we should overthrow the government, we should threaten our opponents with violence, God chose Trump…

 

Unfortunately, we can’t put the genie back in the bottle.  One entire political party has drunk the Cool Aid.  

 

We are experiencing a political Darwinian evolution that will determine whether our 250 year experiment with democracy will survive.

the Ol’Buzzard



Monday, October 4, 2021

MORE COMPLAINTS ABOUT CHANGES

 




 

I have complained about companies cutting cost by reducing the amount of product in their packaging.

But since I have gotten older, there are other things that devious society have slipped into my daily existence. 

·       Somehow, they have made stairs higher without my knowing it.  I use to be able to take them two-at-a-time, now I have to hold on the handrail, and am out of breath at the top.

·       Shoes are smaller, I am a size twelve, but have to buy a size fifteen.

·       When did they let teenagers become nurses and doctors?

·       There is something wrong with my household mirrors.  They display how I might look when I am ancient…   I think it is probably some advertising trick of insurance companies.

·       It is one thing for corporations to cut the size of food products, but now Wrangle is skimping on the length of material in the waist of their jeans.  I know I am a size 34, but I have to by a size 38 stretch; and I have to open the top button when I sit down to eat.

·       On most TV shows the actors whisper, and I have to turn the volume up to 90 to hear what they are saying.

·       Yesterday some woman opened a door for me and called me sir – what the fuck!

Things just aren’t the way they use to be; and I know it’s a conspiracy





 the Ol'Buzzard


Saturday, October 2, 2021

REDIRECT NOTICE

 This has happened before: Yelowdog Granny has three post on my reading list, but when I click them I up comes the same post.  It is happening with all the other blogs on my reading list.  Above the post, on the upper right it reads: REDIRECT NOTICE.


What the fuck?

the Ol'Buzzard