Happy Halloween

Here is a Halloween song sung by the incomparable Eben Portnoy.



Thank you Ken for emailing the song to me today.

Sunset

The photo accompanying this post is from a hike I took last summer with my chum Chuckie V. AKA Charles Veylupek. Chuck has almost completed his PCT hike from Mexico to Canada. I have heard that there is some snow in his path.

There are a finite number of smells in the universe so, unfortunately, some things have to share - like a Subway sandwich and an armpit. Sure, in the heat of passion that smell can be tolerated but how passionate can one get about a sandwich?

Do you know what made me think of the above? I bought a Subway sandwich (Veggie Delight) and it smelled like sweat.

Adolf or Arnold

The Lillian Gish fan walked into the coffee shop and said, with his hand raised in salute, “Field Marshal Rommel reporting.” Then he said, “He probably doesn’t even know who that is. They don’t study history at that damn school.” Then he said, as if to himself, something about Rommel being faithful to his wife. Turning to (or on) two college gals he asked, “Do you know the name of Alexander the Great’s horse?” To which I said, “Trigger.” No one seemed to hear me. He continued, “or do you just study sex parties at that school?” As he exited he said, “Heil Hitler, I mean Schwarzenegger, I’m getting my fuhrers mixed up.”

Fever

One of my students today said to me, “If you have a fever you should go to the doctor.” I wondered aloud why she brought it up. She said that she has, “Hand, foot and mouth disease.”
I said, "What a mouthfull." And I wondered if it was really a disease. It is and it's a common one.

Mayonnaise

Ever wonder what happens if mayonnaise is allowed to freeze? It turns beautiful.

To many births or not enough deaths?

The U.S. population hit 300,000,000 yesterday morning at 7:46 EST. One person will be born every 7 seconds and one person (hopefully a different person) will die every 13 seconds. To slow population growth, we need to reverse this trend.

At the time of this writing the population has grown to 300,011,026. Click to see what the population is now.

Fish Too

There are two fish species discovered every week compared with two bird species every year.
Look, my blog is developing a theme.

Mouse

Luke thinks I'm avicentric when it comes to newly discovered species. Here's a little something for you mammal lovers.

Yet yet another newly discovered bird.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri

The great thing about killing the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq is that we (you? One?) can do it every few months. It makes a great news story: “US Military has killed the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, (insert name here).” The only part of the headline that needs editing is the name of the leader. It’s kind of like knocking over weebles. They wobble but they don’t fall down. If we knock over a red and white weeble a blue and white one pops up. Sure, it looks different but it serves the same purpose.

Today is the birthday of my pal Pam, and my Dad. Happy Birthdays.

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.