maths

I never knew math, or "maths," as they say in England, could be so much fun.

My Fellow Americans

As president, do you get an expressway named after you? I was wondering this while listening to the traffic report in Chicago. The Kennedy and Eisenhower Expressways are always mentioned – though I never seem to know which one I am on. As I drove I wondered if Reagan has an expressway. Moments later the road I was on became the Ronald Reagan Toll way - not an expressway, but close. Further along it changed to the Ronald Reagan Highway. This all brings to mind Presidential Libraries: if I were Pres I would not want a highway of any kind to go by my name – Jon. And I would not want a library built in my name. I do not want to be responsible for the use of resources that would go into building a Library. I would accept an existing library renamed after me or an abandoned building turned into the Jonathan Sadler Presidential Library. So, yes! I accept your nomination to run for President of the United States of America, still the most powerful country in the world (for the time being).

Somehow, in spite of repeated warnings, I let the bedbugs bite.

More on the Croc Hunter

Steve Irwin’s producer was on the BBC today talking about watching Steve perform mouth to mouth and CPR on a crocodile for over an hour.
(I noticed if you change the title of this post a little it says, "Croc Hunter the More On," but I like Steve Irwin so I will leave the title as it is.)

Rain

Northern New Mexico, August.

Poor Steer

This poor animal had a tire stuck on its head. The top of the tire was hooked on his horn and the bottom covered his mouth. I got out of my car to try to help but quickly realized I would have to be much faster and stronger than I am to catch a steer and hold him still while tring to pull a tire off his head. So I took pictures instead.

Yet another newly discovered bird

If someone can get me a pair of these birds (for my collection) I’ll make it worth your effort.

Hobo Days

When I was in college in California, on the edge of the redwoods, it became fashionable to hop trains. It was also fashionable to take on a moniker or hobo name, mine was Lobo. There was a guy we used to call the Caldwell Kid (Luke) and there was Artichoke, Diamond and many, many more.

Lillian Gish

A man in his 90s, maybe his 100s, walked into a bookstore. I was there too. He was talking as he did things, for instance as he stuffed a piece of paper in his back pocket he said, “put that there . . .” Then he started looking at a book of Hollywood portraits and as he thumbed through it he said, “Lillian Gish, Lillian Gish. That’s the problem with these critics, they’re so damn young they don’t know the great movie stars. Lillian Gish.”

Either Sing or Swim

Singing and swimming are similar. They both involve a fair amount of exhaling. I am sure if you are good at singing or swimming, the breathing in and out are equal, but I am not good at either of them I feel like I breathe out more than in. But the two activities are not interchangeable. If you find your self in the middle of a lake or a river, don’t sing, swim.

Drive-thru

While getting some food at a drive-thru window – I wont say which restaurant because I do not wish to indorse this particular Mcstablishment – I noticed the young man in the window looking past my car across the lot. Following his gaze, my eyes landed at or near the rear ends of two women. The young man asked if I liked what I saw. I will not cast judgment on these women but I will say that they would not have normally caught my eye. I told him that I was trying to see what he was looking at. He said with a knowing grin (that turned out not to know much), “Same thing you are my friend.”

Justin’s Birthday

He’s a mere 26 but his sense of humor is like that of an 80 or 90 year old, very mature. Happy Birthday Justin.
This one I wrote after midnight on the 7th - Justin's birthday- but blogger claims I wrote it on the 6th - Luke's birthday.

Luke's Birthday

I posted this this morning at 1am because I wanted to be the first to wish Luke a happy birthday. Happy Birthday Luke. But for some reason it didn't show up until 11 something pm.

Crikey!

The moment I heard of Steve Irwin’s death I said that if I wrote obituaries the headline would read, “Crikey!” But I forgot that I had a blog and could have written just such a headline. The New York Times used ”Crikey” for a headline in today’s paper.
Oh, crikey, I've got to go to class.

Mammals vs Reptiles

Why is it that large dog breeds do not live as long as the small breeds but large tortoise breeds live much longer than the small ones? Sometimes nature doesn’t make sense. I know what you’re thinking, “what’s natural about a dog?” You’re right. Not much. So, I suppose, the next logical step is to have giant tortoises for pets so we never have that awful experience of losing a pet because the pet will live 150 years.

Good-bye summer

Summer is really over. I know - not really over. Saying “Summer is pretty over,” doesn’t have the same effect.
For some reason blogger is underling my words.
If you clicked on the title of this post and then were asked for a password, I have fixed that. But I have not fixed the underlining.

MTV

The Pussycat Dolls, Panic! at the Disco, and the All-American Rejects all won awards on the MTV Video Music Awards yesterday. I know that sometimes it’s fashionable to appear out of touch with pop culture but I have not heard of any of these groups.