A Gamer’s Story 1:                                                                                 

September 2, 2023. I’m playing Starfield. I paid 30 bucks on top of 60 bucks to play 4 days early. Why did I do such a foolish thing? I’m a Gamer. I made my character  – a gray haired guy with a pronounced paunch, I’m not proud. I joined the Constellation faction like I’m advised and started Quests. I read in one of the forums that it’s possible to find a note dropped by a killed Spacer that contains a “Secret Note” that starts a quest called Mantis. THAT Quest rewards the completer with great armor and a Brand-New Spaceship (Very Big Deal)! Further reading reveals the “Secret Note”  is found randomly if at all. Ok, I’m good with that. I’m in this for the long haul. My picture is in the Dictionary next to pa·tience.

September 6, 2023. I’m playing Starfield. I’m noticing a lag in the sound – occasional staccato sounding. Not right, but it is September 6 – opening day and 100 billion gamers are wandering around the Servers.  I’m Level 7 (of 50). I can fly a Spaceship and fight bad guys in space and on the ground. I joined the Freestar Collective because they are like wild west Marshalls. On my first quest with the Freestars – “Where Hope is Built” I found the Secret Outpost drop and got the Mantis Quest! Holy Shit. Holy Shit! I got so excited I forgot about the Freestar quest I was doing and turned tail for my ship and got hopelessly lost and used ALL my Meds and most of my Ammo to finally get back to my ship and take off. Heading back to the Jemison  System, my top of the line Dell laptop shut off. No warning. Just sudden blank space. Similar to the look on my face. I press the power button see Dell for 2 seconds then off. Again. Again. Again.  Then I remember the definition of insanity and think about dinner and other life stuff for the rest of the day.

September 7, 2023. I’m playing Starfield. My Dell started up fine. What happened? It’s another mystery. But I did realize that except for a few photos and notes for some future blogs ALL my stuff is in the Cloud. Of course the cloud itself remains  –  (Shatner pause…)   a Mystery.  About the Mantis Quest – I tried and found I’m not NEAR strong enough yet. But I got the Quest!!!! In the meantime, I’ll continue to play Starfield, getting better everyday. I’m a Gamer. I’ll get that ship.

Trust the Science Part 1:                                                                     

If you Goggle: Why is the ocean off Ecuador cooling instead of warming? The Answer is: Scientists are not entirely certain what is keeping the “cold tongue” cool. 

There is a plant found only in Death Valey AZ that thrives in temperatures of 120 degrees. Scientists do not know how.

Astronomers have detected gamma rays being emitted by the sun that are “more energetic” than expected. The sun should not be producing this intensity of gamma rays. How and Why the Sun is producing these rays is a mystery.

I’m good with all this mystery. Science is a process. As we learn we go. What bothers me the most is that these are the SAME PEOPLE who say smoking and bacon are bad. Kinda makes one wonder. What if they’re wrong? Think of all the bacon missed? I’m thinking Denny’s All American Grand Slam and 3 cups of coffee. If that don’t float your boat, hit the road and look for a Buc-ee’s.

Weather and the Weather Channel          

I spent Wednesday watching the Weather Channel’s reporting of Hurricane Idalia’s progress up the west coast of Florida. I congratulate the Channel for their excellent coverage. They had 11 crews out in various places reporting on conditions. How do I know? Because they told me about 4 times an hour. “We have 11 crews in 8 states bringing you the latest coverage and National Weather Service Forecasts”. I was mesmerized from 10AM to 5PM. When my lovely wife got home at 5:15PM she asked what was happening? I told her Idalia was a cat 3 Hurricane when it came ashore around Cedar Key in the Big Bend area and then turned northeast and went through Georgia and North and South Carolina reaching the Atlantic. She looked at me like I had 2 heads. “You DO KNOW that the storm is still south of Tampa and won’t make landfall until tomorrow morning, right?” Now I looked at her like SHE had 2 heads. And then it dawned on me. The charts and graphics were so good and the talking so monotonous that I was convinced it was all over by 5PM Wednesday.

And sure enough, she was right. This morning those 11 crews (actually, they stopped saying the number, so it’s probably 4)  were reporting trees falling in Perry, Florida, and flooding in Georgia ahead of the storm. For 15 minutes, I watch a grove of oak trees with about 3 million other viewers just to hear the CRACK and see huge limbs fall. Clearwater Beach is a barrier island. They are called Barrier Islands for one reason: they act as barriers to storm water surges. Unfortunately, we usually build expensive houses and restaurants and marinas on them. It does make for good television and what surprises me is William Shatner hasn’t carved out a place for his unique staccato narration. “WHY do these storms form, HOW do they navigate, WHERE will they make landfall – WE – JUST  –  DON’T  –  KNOW.” 

God Bless and Goodluck to all in the danger areas. Keep your batteries dry.

Public Service Announcement 2:           

The bottom of a conventional car comprises frame rails, interconnected exhaust pipes, differential (s), a gearbox, fuel distribution systems, and drive shafts. Because Tesla doesn’t need any of this equipment, the bottom of the car is a convenient location to install the battery pack. And indeed, Tesla batteries are installed on the underside of the car.

The Tesla Model 3 has a ground clearance of 5.5 inches (140 mm) for the standard rear-wheel-drive version and 5.2 inches (133 mm) for the all-wheel-drive version. The tallest Tesla battery is 80mm or 3.2 inches tall. Some quick mental math and we have a Battery Top of 9 inches (max) from the road surface. A picture is worth a thousand words:

Bottom line   –   You really want to stay out of water with an electric car and that includes flooded parking lots and driveways. Go Green.

Mother Nature

This week the big story in the United States is WATER & WIND, last week it was FIRE & WIND. I have on occasion been forced to war with WATER. Water always wins. Nature can be unrelenting and therein lies her power.

I was a young man playing in the Atlantic Ocean with 7 friends in Amagansett NY in the 1970’s when a riptide swept me away. I watched the shoreline shoot past me and was eventually spit onto the sand gasping and trembling about a half mile down the beach. “Didn’t anyone miss me?”, I asked after trudging back to the blankets. “Nope”, said the silence. I would like to note, none of those “friends” are still around.

The following year I was in the same beach house during Hurricane Belle. The wind was blowing so hard, my brother-in-law’s Chevy Vega’s windshield was scored by sand beyond repair. We had taken the car to the beach (because we were young idiots who would live forever) and walked the water-line to get away from the blowing sand. Suddenly the Eye of the Hurricane came by and everything changed. The sun came out, the wind stopped, and it was a normal day except for the churning frothy white-capped waves as far as the eye could see. Weird for sure. Lasted about 60 seconds. Nature can be a trickster.

I once flew into Denver to visit a Sales Office on a Sunday about 3 hours after a Tornado had touched down in the Office Mall I was to visit. My office was untouched but the building across the courtyard had half its brick facade blown off by the wind. When I arrived Monday morning a construction crew was beginning to take down the remaining bricks. When I left Tuesday 3PM they were STILL taking off the same number of bricks that Nature had taken off in about 2 seconds. Mother Nature is a force to be respected.

Public Service Announcement 1:

The latest internet slang term to hit the waves is “IJBOL”. Should you receive a message that contains this acronym, do not panic. Here are the two things you need to know:

#1.  IJBOL means I Just Burst Out Laughing.

#2.  Whoever sent you that message is an asshole.

A Time Without Anger:                      

In the early 60s John Littleford, an engineer working at the Berkley campus of the University of California, brought his dog Ludwig to campus with him. Soon after the Student Union complex and plaza opened, Ludwig began playing in the Sproul Plaza fountain while Littleford worked. Ludwig von Schwarenburg quickly became so widely associated with the fountain that the Regents named it after him, making it the first location on campus to be named after an animal.

The name stuck. In his 1965 article about Berkeley activism in The Nation, Hunter S Thompson wrote of activists on the walk near “Ludwig’s Fountain.” Before the days of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) and Holy Hubert Lindsey’s open-air pulpit, Sproul Plaza was Ludwig’s domain. Ludwig’s owner moved in 1965 and the dog’s time at the fountain ended.

Ludwig showed up every day and  chose to participate in whatever was happening. Could this happen today? Where’s the anger? Even the Board of Regents agreed Ludwig was cute and gave his name to the fountain. And where were the bat-shit crazies yelling about dog saliva poisoning our children’s precious body fluids.

Don’t say those were calmer times! It was the Sixty’s! Vietnam protests. Civil Rights protests. Woman’s Rights protests. No, Ludwig’s success was caused by Ludwig, a big, friendly dog who just wanted to do whatever dogs do every day around a fountain. No anger involved. Is there a lesson there? Don’t ask me – I’m just the narrator.

Beware the Bat-Shit Crazies:                      

In 1968, Pop artist Andy Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas, a peripheral figure in the New York art world. Two bullets from Solanas’ .32 Beretta ripped through Warhol’s stomach, liver, spleen, and lungs. Doctors barely saved his life — in fact, he died, briefly, but was revived — and the experience had a lasting effect on his art.

Valerie Solanas was born in 1936 in New Jersey. The only thing GOOD society ever gave Valerie was her name. Before she could reason she was beaten and broken. Valerie died in 1988 in San Francisco of pneumonia.

Between those two dates, Valerie led an interesting life as a struggling  fill-in-the-blank. While Milton Berle was entertaining most Americans at least one American was sodomized little Valerie. Is it any wonder her views have been described by Alice Echols as “unabashed misandry“.  Let me save you the Google lookup – it means she hates men with great passion.

The Andy Warhol press release of his shooting described Valerie as ” a peripheral figure in the New York art world”. In real words, Valerie was a bat-shit crazy hanger-on mostly seen clutching a worn self-published Manuscript that she would swear to be the next Moulin Rouge or some such ranting fodder. We all know the Valeries of our respective communities. We silently moan when they spastically flop into a chair and holding their manuscript as if a club, await the comments period.

In 1968 Valerie was one of maybe a thousand that was crazy enough to need help. Valerie actually GOT help at hospitals several times in her life. Did they work? BUT TODAY  –  here’s the bad news: the number of Valeries has increased. Maybe one in twenty? What do you think? It sure as hell ain’t getting better. Shame on us, or as Aunt Edda would say: Tch Tch Tch . Be careful out there. If we were looking at a very old map the seas surrounding all lands might say in large forbidding font “Beware the Bat-Shit Crazies”.

Wastin’ Time                                   

The kongoboken site is part Obituary. I anguished for a week over that notion. I welcome it now. It shouldn’t stop the process (just added that last word b/c of the double ss).

But here’s one good result of my weeklong muteness: a new Dad Quote or Life Quote or something of Cosmic significance – became manifested.

Life is a series of daily improvisations. The secret is showing up.

Yes, you can successfully argue the there is way too much Woody Allen in there, it is nevertheless true – very true. Ponder it for a moment – maybe over the next cigarette (I can only wish).

Along the way to that revelation, I discovered (or maybe re-discovered) the fact that I am a “sittin on the dock of the bay” type guy. You know, the kind of guy that likes to watch the tide come in or vice versa. My mother would say “You’re Laaxxey”. She had away about saying it, well… shrieking is more appropriate, that would pierce a tonal wave in my inner ear and I could only see her lips moving – no sounds. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Otis wrote most of Sittin by the Dock of the Bay, sittin on a friend’s houseboat in Sausalito CA in 1965. He’d moved from Georgia and was working hard to break into the music industry with little to show. The song was almost finished in Memphis. Otis said he’d replace the whistling with lyrics at a later date. That later date never happened. Otis Redding died in a plane crash three weeks later. The whistling is still there. He was 26 years old. To be cut short so soon – one can only wonder at the amount of time Otis could have wasted had he lived.

Otis Redding – Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay – YouTube

Pee Wee Herman

died, and a little voice said, “you should write something about Pee Wee Herman”. I haven’t written a thing since. What am I? An obituary site? Maybe I am and maybe I’ve got to feed the little voice lest I go mute. So here goes:

Paul Reubens was an actor best remembered for his Pee Wee Herman character. He played a Pinocchio clad stick-like boy with a high voice and a higher “HaHa” laugh that became his trademark soundbite. Pee Wee wasn’t in the right cosmic time slot for me – I grew up with the Soupy Sales Lunch Hour; so I’ve always sided with the White Fang/Black Tooth fanbase. Pee Wee was competing with Eddie Murphy’s Gumby on SNL in my stoner days.

Pee Wee had another chance to entertain my son with some Movies but couldn’t compete with Transformers and Diablo and Harry Potter. Paul Reubens made a good living and fought his demons and was more successful than many. I would have had him over for dinner for sure. Soupy? I’m not so sure. Officer Joe Bolton? NAAAAA.