Clayton Hackett

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My niece Tree lives in San Antonio, Texas. She is a neat lady who works as a school teacher. Her husband Clay is in graduate school.
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He has a nice Nikon digital SLR and is an excellent photographer.
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They were in town over Christmas and took this picture of me and my little doggie.
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My new digital camera boasts an effective 12.1 megapixels. This picture was done with a Nikon that that has an effective 6 megapixels. This ought to tell you something. Six megapixels really is plenty. And it tells me a lot about his skill as a photographer, and Nikkor lenses, and proper lighting. And to a certain degree achieving quality through quantity.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (If you click on this picture it will enlarge all of my old age visual faults to an absolutely amazing degree)

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Dakar Rally Cancelled

For the first time in its 30 year existence, the Paris to Dakar rally was cancelled today because of terrorist threats.

This is one of the world’s largest and most famous of all races. Certainly to the off-road community in 4 wheel drive cars and motorcycles, this is like the Formula 1 or the Indianapolis 500.
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The men and women who compete in this event are some of the toughest, craziest competitors in the whole world. Many millions of dollars have been spent preparing for this race.

Cancelling this event is unprecedented. It is a very real comment about the state of world affairs. And this has nothing to do with Bozo The Clown, aka George Bush II. But the threats were real and were made by al-Qaida, so in my mind this falls in the category of more troubles caused by lunatic religious fanatics.
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LINK: http://tinyurl.com/2k8s45


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Hector Bernal

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It is a genuine shame that the economic slowdown is resulting in the Hal Marcus gallery in El Paso, Texas closing down. The two ladies who own it are good business people, really pleasant, and hard working. This has been a unique and special art gallery under their ownership. I will miss it.
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One of the artists in their collections has been Hector Bernal. I have a couple of paintings by him. I bought another one today and gave it to my sister. Bernal is a very imaginative and talented painter.
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The following is taken from their web site at http://www.halmarcus.com/artist_gallery/bernal/bernal.html
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Hector was born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. He came to El Paso at the age of twelve in 1959. He then attended Aoy Elementary School in south El Paso. He also attended Bowie High School and graduated in 1968. His priorities changed soon after graduation. He got married and started a family. Having the responsibility of supporting his wife and children, he had no choice but to neglect his painting. He took a job as a commercial artist in 1974 and also worked at The Popular Department Store and The White House Department Store. He resumed his painting in 1986, since he had a little more time and space. In 1997, he had his first one man show which was a great success. Since then he exhibits his works and continues to paint. "Painting has always been the language of my inner being. It is my gift not my profession. Modernism and technology dazzle everyone, but we remain as artists to say who we are with our hands, our imagination and with our vision. I strongly believe that a man as an artist should always be concerned with the problems of social struggle. Painting to me is a process of freedom by which I express not simply what I see but how I feel and see with my eyes. Through painting I want to express what moves me most....the human aspect"
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---------------((click on the picture and it will enlarge)
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Mike Huckabee

THE GOOD: Governor Huckabee has some really appealing qualities. He is funny. Really funny. After looking at Bush and Cheney for this long, a little bit of humor seems in order. Mike Huckabee is from the first generation in his family that did not have dirt floors.

He sure looks like a uniter rather than a divider. Really. But so did George Bush II when he ran for president the first time. We need to take a look at his history back when he was Governor of Arkansas.

He made a major lifestyle change and lost over 100 lbs. Even though he is a Southerner, he no longer eats fried foods or sugar. He now gets a little exercise. This certainly indicates that he is a strong willed person.

He plays the bass guitar. This is great and a good bit more contemporary than playing the saxophone.

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THE BAD: He is a Republican. Twice now in my adult lifetime the so-called fiscally conservative Republicans have almost bankrupted the country. And keep in mind that in the South this affiliation with the Republican party may well have other serious implications like hidden racism; ethnocentrism and bias against people who look different than white males, etc.

He strongly opposes universal health care. This alone almost overrules all of the positives in my book.

He wants to eliminate the IRS and institute a national sales tax. Not a VAT like in Europe. Since this is inherently a very regressive tax, he will pre-refund a certain amount to poor people. Most people hate the IRS so this sounds good. But historically the federal government having the ability to tax rich people in order to fund social concepts was genuine reform that helped the common man. Thinking that this will fly is completely unrealistic in my view. It makes me think that perhaps he is more charming and charismatic than he is intelligent.

His major support comes from evangelical voters and women. He was a Baptist Minister. Well gosh. I can forgive lots of things in one’s past if one is sorry and repentful. But I haven’t seen any indication yet that he has opened up his eyes to how narrow this thought pattern and belief system is.
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We have had a really dumb, stupid goof-ball as president for a lot of years now. Do we really want Gomer Huckabee next?
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Huckabee revels in the class war. He’s Two-Buck Huck, and darn proud of it. He likes nothing better than playing the Hick from Hope. He and his wife lived in a trailer for a while, he points out. His son killed a dog one summer, “a mangy dog” at that, as Huckabee explained to the befuddled national press corps. He said he used to eat squirrels, cooking them up in his popcorn popper.
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The preceeding is a quote from the NY Times http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/intro/?em&ex=1199595600&en=15c2838ba1928613&ei=5087%0A

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Nice Sunset

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Here in the high desert of West Texas it is cool this evening with a brisk wind.
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And the sunset was absolutely beautiful.


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------------------------------------------This is a link to a high resolution copy of this photo: http://tinyurl.com/2ok4nk
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Inu Got Lost

My dog and I took a longer walk than normal out in the desert this morning. There was a fair breeze blowing. I found two nice sized pottery shards from the prehistoric peoples who inhabited this land a thousand or more years ago.

After the dog and I had already gone about 1-1/4 miles, Inu took off chasing a rabbit. I didn’t pay any attention because this is quite normal. But when he had been gone almost 20 minutes I began to get a little concerned.

Using the GPS I started backtracking and calling out his name. I would get up on the top of sand dunes and call out to him. I was feeling very self confident so I’m sure my voice sounded optimistic and in fact a bit macho. But after backtracking a good long way I have no doubt that my tone of voice was beginning to sound a little less confident. In fact it probably was beginning to sound a bit desperate. I was having all sorts of horrible fantasies about what had happened to my best friend. I was feeling a little guilty too, because I had been wearing the headphones listening to George Harrison. So if he had called out to me I probably would not have heard him.

Here is what the track log looks like.

We normally go about 1.0 miles total, and after I had gone almost 1.75 miles I was nearing exhaustion myself. So I decided to walk to the car, thinking I would drive around the desert on the dirt roads calling out to my little buddy.

When I got about ½ mile from the car I saw a tiny little black dot sitting in the middle of the dirt road about 150 yards away. I yelled his name, and as soon as he realized that it was me, we ran towards each other like a couple of long lost lovers. Well, perhaps it was more like me being an elderly man waddling along at top practical speed franticly waving my arms, and him the fantastic athlete that he is actually leaving a dust trail behind him as he hauled his tight little furry black ass in my direction.

Inu is so incredibly intelligent. I’m sure if he were telling the story he would say that all along he knew where he was, that in fact the problem was that his human got a bit lost. This is not a correct description of the facts though, since I am the one who was carrying the GPS.

Once Inu realized that we were separated, rather than wander around desperately, he ran ahead to a cross roads of 3 dirt roads about 1/3 of a mile from where the car was parked out in the desert. He knew (correctly) that whichever direction I came from, if and when I returned to the car I would pass that point. This is where he was patiently waiting when I saw him.

My Hero: Inu The Super Dog!
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Morning Walk With The Dog

My dog and I had a very nice walk out in the desert this morning.

The sun was shining brightly, the sky was a beautiful color of blue, we had a very light breeze, and the temperature was a perfect 46 degrees F (7,8 C).
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This is a link to a high resolution copy of this photo of Mt. Franklin: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2315/2155729324_cbdc4de453_o.jpg

We walked 1.3 miles (2,09 kilometers), first following the 1,000 year old trail through the desert made by the native peoples.

After going about ½ mile we had climbed up onto the mesa. We then used the Garmin GPS to return to several locations where in the past we have found evidence of inhabitation by prehistoric peoples.

At an elevation of 4,030 feet MSL (1.228 meters) we found a nice pot shard. N 31.74791, W -106.25580

The Discoverer of Leukemia

My doctor in England who is one of the world's top specialists in leukemia posted this on his blog. I love the image of two Germans dueling to the death with sausages:

Rudolf Virchow was one of the two men who first described leukemia in 1845 (the other was John Hughes Bennett, an Englishman who was Professor of Medicine in Scotland). Virchow, as well as being the greatest pathologist ever, was also a Public Health Specialist and social reformer, and something of a politician.
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In this respect he quarreled with Bismark, the German Chancellor. Bismark challenged him to a duel, and being the one who was challenged, Virchow had the choice of weapons. He chose sausages.
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I came across this fascinating fact and the mind's picture of two hirsute Germans bashing each other with German sausages was funny but undignified.

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This is how Virchow wanted to fight to the death with a sausage. He proposed that one of the sausages should be injected with a deadly bacterium. Then each would choose a sausage and eat it. One of them would die a horrible death in writhing agony. After all, skill with a pistol or sword should not be the determining factor in an argument. If they could not agree by discussion, why not let chance sort out their disagreement.
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Bismark withdrew his challenge.

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LINK: http://mutated-unmuated.blogspot.com/2007/09/discoverer-of-leukemia.html
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Morning Walk

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While we were out walking in the desert this morning a tow plane pulling aloft a glider flew past. With the moon in the background I couldn't resist taking a picture.

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After we were done walking we went and filled the Toyota Crayola up with gas. Goodness, this is the second tank in a row that we have gotten in excess of 40 miles per gallon. This tank did include a trip up to Las Cruces, New Mexico USA but I was moving right along at 70 - 75 mph, so imagine what it would do if I set the cruise control on 55 or 60.

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Vespanomics

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Yesterday I was surfing a bit and came across the definitition for Vespanomics.

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When I lived in Europe I drove many kilometers on my trusty little Vespa. It had a Garmin satellite navigation GPS on it, and it took me lots of interesting places. At one time in Europe I had a big V8 Mercedes SUV, and many years ago I drove a Corvette Stingray. I'm glad that I finally woke up out of my stupor and bought a Toyota Prius. Now that I am living back in America I own four different good-fuel-economy vehicles.

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The Toyota Corolla frequently gets better than 40 miles per gallon, and in pure city traffic it normally gets around 37 mpg. In fact for the last two tanks of gas in a row it has gotten in excess of 40 mpg. Or for my friends in Europe who can't even standardize the 220 volt mains plugs in their houses, around 17.2 kilometers per liter or 5.8 liters per 100 kilometers.

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The Honda Reflex 250 cc scooter will cruise happily at 75 miles per hour and gets around 60 or 65 mpg. I also own a really nice little retro 150 cc scooter, and I've got a really fun little 33 cc motorized aluminum folding bicycle which gets a fuel economy far in excess of 125 miles per gallon of gasoline.

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I look around at all these really stupid people driving around in their large V8 pickup trucks and SUVs. Many of these vehicles were purchased with 60 month finanacing. These people are happpy as pigs in slop when they get 20 mpg, since they normally get about 10 or 12 mpg driving around town.

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Good Grief America. Wake Up! Gasoline pricing is trending upwards medium to long term. Are you retarded or something?

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Celebrate The Death of Saddam Hussein

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Today is the first anniversary of the death of a horribly brutal and evil man. The worst environmental criminal of the the last century.

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The only regret I have is that this terrible man was not humiliated more at his execution.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein

Notable Deaths of 2007

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The Boston Globe has an excellent series on the internet about the many famous people who died during 2007.
This series is clearly worth checking out: http://www.boston.com/news/world/gallery/2007deaths/
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The following are the ones that meant the most to me.

(click on this composite picture and it
should enlarge enough to be readable)

Scary Stuff

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If you are female, or have young children, you should check out the sex offender list for your state.
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These are public records.
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I had never gone to this web site before, but it turns out that right here in my neighborhood there is a guy living who had some sort of a legal problem in the past involving a six year old girl that got him put on the list: https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/DPS_WEB/Sor/index.aspx?PageIndex=Display&SID=03348503
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This individual is regarded by the competent state professionals as low risk. And the event occured 12 or 13 years ago. But it still gives me goose bumps. Are sex offenders ever fully rehabilitated?
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scary Stuff For Sure!
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Tiger Attack

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As more details of the fatal San Francisco zoo tiger attack come out some things are becoming clear. Two of the brothers involved were from India, and had previously been involved with the zoo and the police for trying to provoke the tiger. Their response to police questioning this time was very hostile indeed. So probably they were taunting and provoking the big cat.
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Irrelevant. The zoo is clearly at fault. 100%
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Their trying to blame the attack even partially on the zoo visitors is a gross abdication of their responsibility. The zoo visitors should have not been able to easily get in the enclosure in order to dangle their legs in and taunt the tiger. The area was improperly designed.
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The moat had no water in it. Wrong! These moats should be deep enough that the animal cannot reach the bottom and use the bottom to jump up from. Ever tried jumping out of a swimming pool when you are in the deep end and your feet don't reach the bottom?
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The wall that the cat jumped/climed over was far too short. Not just a little bit. A lot! And it should have had a smooth surface to prevent the animal from getting any grip on it using its claws.
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The San Francisco Zoo did not adequately protect either the zoo visitors or the tiger, which had to be shot by policemen. So the zoo did not not fulfill its responsiblity either to the animal or the visitors.
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The zoo is horribly at fault.
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LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119950257310069637.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Let The Voters Decide

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George Bush II, Hillary Clinton, and virtually all of the other presidential candidates talk about how vital democracy is. And how important it is that the voters get to make the decision on who represents them. They get up on their arrogant high horses and lecture the people of Pakistan and Iraq.
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What a bunch of hypocrites. Hearing all of them talk about the importance of free and fair elections reminds me of south Florida and the butterfly ballot.
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Al Gore got the votes, not Bush II. And even when the voters do elect the person they voted for the lobbyists and the rich campaign contributors have a vastly larger say regarding how this country is run than the voters do.
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In the American form of democracy the voters do actually have a little power. But that is all. Just a little. And to pretend otherwise is pure hypocrisy.
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Berlin Wall

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I have been the the Berlin wall several times. First in the early 1970's when I was stationed in Germany as a soldier. Then two times in the mid 2000's.

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I took this picture of a painting on one section of the wall. The whole rest of the world knows just how brutal our form of democracy is.

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The presidential candidates need to remember how important this is to the future of the country.

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Stained Glass Kokopelli

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My niece who lives in San Antonio made me what may be the nicest Christmas present I've gotten in at least the last half century or so.

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She made me a beautiful Kokopelli from stained glass. I am humbled at her skill and generosity.

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Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

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I would like to wish all of my friends and colleagues who have CLL a very satisfying and fulfilling New Year 2008.
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Thank heavens for the CLL support group on the internet. One lady in her 70’s who has CLL today posted a message entitled “Cancer Sucks.” I find that to be a wonderfully articulate description of the situation.
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I think that the trick is: Make The Best Of It. However much time you have left, give as much love as you can and be as generous as you can. Not just generous in the materialistic sense, but also generous with your love and praise.
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It is sometimes difficult to realize that we have cancer, but then the lymph nodes and the spleen begin swelling, the night sweats completely soak your bed, the cycles of constipation and then frequent and unpredictable diarrhea begin again.
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Some of one’s swollen lymph nodes are visible. The ones on my neck are readily apparent despite my attempt to camouflage them with a beard. Normally one wears a shirt, so the big swollen lymph nodes under the armpits generally don’t show. At night I have to position my head at just the right angle on the pillow or the neck lymph nodes are rather painful and impede sleep. But the interesting ones are those inside the body. Sometimes they get large enough that they begin to push on useful organs, like the esophagus. So choking while eating can become a problem. And other lymph nodes inside the body can press up against organs like the lungs, bladder, and heart.
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I take my dog out on one mile (1.6 km) long hikes in the desert each morning and evening. So I am not totally out of shape. But the uncontrollable sweating is amazing! At any temperature above about 65 degrees F (18 C) I sweat like a pig. Living in the southwestern desert of America this means most of the time. So one gets used to changing one’s socks and underpants 2 - 3 times per day. And real care needs to be taken about this part of hygiene, because allowing the skin to remain in contact with soaked clothing too much of the time can result in fungal or mould infections. Which the body’s weakened immune system has a real tough time fighting. Dental hygiene also takes on a new sense of urgency. There is lots of speculation about why CLL patients tend to get leg cramps at night.
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One of the biggest concerns is respiratory infections which can easily lead to pneumonia. This is what most CLL patients eventually die of. Uncontrollable pneumonia.
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As your blood begins to get overloaded with the cancerous dysfunctional white cells which refuse to die and go away, there are fewer and fewer red blood cells. So your lungs and heart have to work harder and harder to carry enough oxygen around to the various tissues in the body. Eventually one's platelets (which help clot the blood) begin to decrease dangerously. This is normally a sign that the disease is rather advanced.
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With the body’s immune system functioning far below par you tend to get sick easily. And you take a lot longer to heal up when injured or sick. You get to where you dread being around a group of sniffling and coughing children. After a while you begin to think of yourself in a Howard Hughes sort of way, washing your hands frequently, carrying around hand disinfectant, and wishing you could wear a face mask into Wal-Mart.
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And it affects one’s self image. I cannot imagine any woman being interested in me, except perhaps out of pity. So mostly it is just me and my dog facing the world together. Maybe in some sort of twisted way this sense of aloneness is responsible for me getting a concealed handgun license and always carrying. Always. Every time I leave the house. If I leave the house without my conealed handgun I feel almost naked. And in college I believed in Ghandi. I really thought I was a pacifist.
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There it is. We really do have cancer. You can get all sorts of tests done which attempt to predict your remaining life span. Some patients choose to do chemo, which I personally think of as injecting rat poison. One step away from the medical profession’s blood letting of the 16th century. Remember the barber-surgeon back in the 1500s? They even did it to King Henry VIII. Chemotherapy treats some of the symptoms, but in most cases it actually makes the immune system work even more poorly than it was. Sometimes much worse.
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It is a simple fact that lots of people die from CLL every day. So don’t grumble and complain. Just make the best of the time you have left.

Christmas Materialism

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I was raised as an Episcopalian/Anglican even though I am not gay. I was confirmed in the church, and I even wore the long black dress and helped the priest out in the service on Sunday mornings.
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Nowdays after living more than half a century I absolutely do not believe in the tooth fairy. Or that Santa can fit his fat ass down a chimney. I would worry about any political candidate who said he really believed in the Easter bunny, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, that tin men can rust, or that throwing water on witches would cause them to melt down.
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I feel the same way about the fairy tales regarding this unwed chick having a little baby while she was still a virgin. Yea right, I've heard that stuff before. Even the little sister of Britney Spears is smart enough not to try that story.
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And it would be nice to be able to walk on/levitate over water, or transmute water to wine, but these are clearly just fairy tales.
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But I have to say that the Christians do have a lot of beliefs that I agree with. I think that the Christmas gift giving concept has turned into mass hysteria, and that it has become a form of extortion. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is now the Pope of the Catholic church in the Vatican had this to say about modern Christmas celebrations:
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday urged Catholics to rediscover the religious significance of Christmas, saying the holiday should not be dominated by materialism.
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The Pope's words at his Sunday blessing to crowds in a rainy St Peter's Square marked the second consecutive day that the Pontiff warned of consumerism just as the Christmas shopping season kicked off in Italy.
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"Too often, unfortunately, today's manner of living and perceiving Christmas suffers from a materialistic mentality," he said.
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On Saturday, when Roman Catholics marked the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the leader of the 1.1 billion member Church said adults were only deceiving children by introducing them at ever younger ages into a life of unbridled materialism.
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Too many children were growing up in a world saturated with "false models of happiness" and being lured by unscrupulous adults into what he called the "dead-end street of consumerism," he said on Saturday.
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-------------------------------------------- Right on Bro!
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Turquoise

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This is copied from the December newsletter of the Deming Gem & Mineral Society:

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December’s Birthstone. . .Turquoise

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There's something special about this sky-blue gem. The American Indians mined thin turquoise veins and believed the stone brought together the spirits of sea and sky to bless warriors and hunters. A turquoise arrowhead assured accurate aim. The Navajo considered turquoise sacred, giving it as a special gift for some happy occasion, and always wearing at least one bit of turquoise, even if it was only a bead tied in the hair.

Turquoise was used for beads by the Egyptians also, as well as for inlay in gold, as early as 5500 B.C. The oldest dated piece of jewelry is said to be an Egyptian bracelet set with turquoise from the oldest source of turquoise, the Maghara Wadi mines in the Sinai Peninsula.

The highest grade of turquoise has for centuries come from the Persian mines near Nishapur, in the Iranian province of Khorosan. The Persians have regarded turquoise as their national gem. The stone occurs in irregular patches and narrow seams in a brecciated trachyte porphry associated with limonite.

“White Buffalo” Turquoise: When discovered in the Dry Creek Mine on the Shosone Indian
Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada, in 1993, they were not sure what it was. Because of its hardness, it was decided to send it to have it assayed and their suspicions proved correct; it was in fact white turquoise. It was not until 1996, however, that it was finally made into jewelry.

Turquoise gets its color from the heavy metals in the ground where it forms. Blue turquoise forms where there is copper present, which is the case with most Arizona turquoises. Green turquoise forms where iron is present; the case with most Nevada turquoises. White turquoise forms where there are no heavy metals present, which turns out to be a very rare occurrence. To date, no other vein of white turquoise has been discovered anywhere else and when this current vein runs out, that will be the last of it.

Because white turquoise is as rare as a white buffalo, the Indians call it "White Buffalo" turquoise.

Odontolite - Tooth Stone or Bone Turquoise is actually the bones and teeth of animals, fossilized and colored blue orgreen by iron phosphate.

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