The Don Ho Solution
Published January 25, 2012 | 
Now here’s a bit of interesting news. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Makers of great big ships among other things.) has come up with this cool, efficient, and dare I say, “fun” way to cut up to 25 percent of CO2 emissions from large cargo carriers. Heck, they’ll even go a bit faster as well! The big idea? Blowing bubbles!
The Season of Sticks
Published January 5, 2012 | 
The brown season is upon us here in central Wisconsin. Well, it’s nearly brown, mostly brown, primarily brown. Yes, there’s some snow, some ostracized bits of white clinging to the edges of the roads and hugging the walking trails. These miniature mountainous ranges of white are all that is left to remind us of this season’s occasional short snowfalls. Snow that had not been pushed or plowed into serpentine heaps has long since receded into the earth. Occasionally hidden in the shadows of the forest or tucked at the foot of the tall prairie grass, a small smattering of snow remains, just enough to make anyone who complains of having “no snow” a liar. Continue reading
Posted in Nature & Wildlife, Outdoor Recreation, Quixotica, Random Thoughts | 
autumn, hiking, winter | 
Leave a commentNew Years… Whatever…
Published January 2, 2012 | 
OK. So I suppose I should do some sort of New Year’s post. I actually forgot it was New Years until halfway through yesterday. A Toast! ”Speech! Speech!” For me, 2011 was a bit like an iPhone photo of a salt truck. The content was really only mildly interesting to me, and soon forgotten all together. It was ok, but not high quality and all-in-all it was a bit subdued, even a little blurry. The upside is that many folks had that sort of year so I’m not alone. In fact, many folks had a much worse year, so I should feel better than I do I suppose. If we’re honest, we all have those sorts of years.
In the end, I don’t even want to imagine what 2012 will be like.. I’m not all that into ritualistic resolutions that are born of self recrimination and soon lead to more disappointment. There are better routes toward self-improvement. For what it’s worth, I’ll take 2012 as it comes. If in the end, it’s nothing more than another low quality photo of a boring subject, I’ll remember to be happy that I had the camera to take it all in, in the first place… Welcome to 2012. .. “And they’re off!”
Well, that’s a gloomy read.. I suppose I could have just as easily have posted.. I feel fine.. Aww, but where’s the fun in that?
Waterline
Published December 20, 2011 | 
It’s that time of year. You know, the time of year when you finally get to catch up on all the video games you bought but never played, and dig in to all those old episodes of Ghost Adventures.. Frankly, I love Ghost Adventures. This show has single-handily proved to me that ghosts don’t exist and what’s more, it’s educational… What better program could you ask for to teach your child all about critical thinking? Yeah, well.. Between the ”how-did-you-get-that?” EVPs and that ghostly Ovilus language database thingy… Continue reading
Repetition Cycles
Published October 28, 2011 | 
”Ladies and gentleman, let me lay on you a so-so entertainer,
not much of a humanitarian, and this cat was never nobody’s friend.
In his final appearance on the great stage of life – uh, you can applaud if you want to…”
We’re always looking for something new. New events, new toys, new gear, new apps, whatever. Even a new us occasionally. Probably ever since the phrase “24 hour news cycle” was invented, we’ve been on a continual race to a state of constant boredom. I mean let’s face it, for most of us not much new really happens. Instead were distracted by repetition cycles, where the same stuff, the same actions and the stories are repackaged in slightly different ways just far enough apart that they seem like, something new. Continue reading
Miles
Published October 25, 2011 | 
Alone and bored on a 30th century night. / Will I see you on the price is right?
Will I cry? Will I smile? / As you run down the aisle.
It’s all been done – BNL
There’s no one out here but me and the guys working on the railroad tracks along the shore. Day 18 of my “100 miles to Winter” paddle is in the books. Each day I can feel winter getting a bit closer. There was ice in my boat on Saturday and the last couple days have just been cool and cloudy. Occasionally I catch glimpses of the sun through the thick, late October clouds. Today I made a mental note, there are now fewer miles ahead than behind. 56 miles down, 44 miles ahead. I’m reminded of a story I read about a guy who took his bike across country awhile ago. He said that when he started, everyone he met said, “Wow, you’ve got a long way to go.” They would often look at him as if he’d somehow fail in the end. People often assume that big things can’t be done. It’s something in our DNA. Then one day he noticed something… People he met were now saying things like, “Wow, you’ve come along way.” That’s when he knew he must have crossed the half way mark. Not paying close attention, he had to go back and check the math. He found that he had come just a bit over half way. Continue reading
O.K. So let me be honest here. I’m dreaming of summer. I’ll admit it. I don’t know what ever came over our silly ancestors as the continued to move north way back in the day. Sure, it was probably summer as they traveled further and further north toward the top of the earth. At first, things probably seemed pretty sweet. What more could you ask for than open fertile land, lots of animals and air conditioning? Yeah, but come November they had to be thinking, “What the hell are we still doing here?” Next thing you know they were all huddled in caves around a dwindling fire and just hoping the meat would hold out. And they stayed?! Idiots! Continue reading →