Potato Bugs

One night in 1963 I was on door watch in a building at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The largest, scariest bug I had ever seen came crawling toward me out of the darkness. If you remember the kids plastic 'Cootie' toy of that era, that is what it resembled. I later learned it was a potato bug, a harmless critter common in California. Here is a spoof on the bug from the web.Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things: "Q: I have potato bugs in my vegetable garden. How can I rid myself of these pesky critters?
A: Drench your entire yard with gasoline and set it ablaze. Once the fire has burned itself out and the ground has cooled, cultivate the soil to a depth of seven feet, saturate the area with battery acid and top the surface with gasoline. After a few minutes, most of the surviving potato bugs, now irritated, will burrow up for air. Set the yard on fire again, and let it burn itself out. The remaining bugs should be crisped. Add water. Only then, and only maybe, will you rid yourself of potato bugs.

POTATO BUGS AS PETS?
As most species of potato bug are good climbers and can gnaw through 12-gauge steel mesh, a tight fitting lid is required made of a good quality 16-grade galvanized sheet steel with nail holes (no bigger) to allow for air flow. The walls of the cage should be galvanized steel backed with 5/8' plywood, carefully mitered at corners and reinforced with L brackets to prevent escape. Wood screws are preferred over nails for assembly, as potato bugs have been known to ram against the walls until the nails eventually loosen from the wood and work free, compromising the integrity of the structure, and allowing the creatures to infest your house and lay eggs in your ear canal or anus.

Exxon Exec Loots Company Treasury

I submitted this letter to the Bloomington op-ed page. I think the GOP needs to be out in front of Democrats on this issue to show that as free enterprise advocates we will not tolerate corruption.

op-ed letter:
Lee Raymond, the Chairman of Exxon, recently retired with a retirement benefit worth $400 million. This is such a blatant looting of company assets that it makes a mockery of the value of work. It leads to distrust in the free enterprise system. We hear of these outrages almost every day. The stockholders own the company. These executives are not owners, they are employees. They are hired to manage the company. They are entitled to a salary, not the crown jewels. However, with the collaboration of a corrupt board of directors, the door to the company safe is wide open.

What bothers me as much as the unchecked greed is that these guys can still go around posing as great businessmen and leaders. Their self-serving books are published and they are sought after as paid speakers at Universities and conferences.

The business community, the business press and the public need to take a moral stand… even though these guys beat the legal system we should view them as corrupt and shun them in public life. No TV commentator job, no book offers, no invitation to speak at the IU School of Business.

The death of Chief Sitting Bull

In the fight with Custer at the Little Big Horn, Chief Sitting Bull was primarily a medicine man who gave encouragement to the warriors. The fighting Chiefs, most notably, were Chief Gall, Crazy Horse and Red Cloud. After the victory over General Custer in June of 1876, Sitting Bull and several thousand Sioux fled to Canada. In 1881, most of the Sioux had returned to the U.S. to live on reservations and the Indian wars were considered to be concluded. Sitting Bull also returned, reluctantly, under an amnesty agreement with the U.S. Army. For a brief time in the 1880’s Sitting Bull traveled with the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show as a celebrity attraction.

In 1890, Sitting Bull was accused of agitating trouble on the reservation and a squad of Indian police were sent to arrest him. As he was being escorted from his cabin to his pony a crowd of rebellious braves gathered and tried to block the police. Shots were fired on both sides and the police retreated to the cabin. However, Sitting Bull had been wounded. A 2 hour stand-off ensued with some shooting back and forth. Then, a cavalry detachment arrived and quieted the situation. By then, Sitting Bull had died from his wounds.

An poignant footnote to this incident: During the stand-off at the cabin, Sitting Bull’s pony was waiting nearby. It was a trained one he had in the Wild West Show. The shooting caused the pony to occasionally break into it’s little routine of show tricks.

ref:Crimsoned Prairie.... by S.L.A. Marshall

Italian Cookies

For all the Italians out there or those who are lucky enough to be married to an Italian, or even to be friends of Italians.

An elderly Italian man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite Italian anisette sprinkle cookies wafting up the stairs. Gathering his remaining strength, he lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven, for there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite anisette sprinkled cookies.
Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted Italian wife of sixty years, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man? Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself towards the table, landing on his knees in a crumpled posture. His parched lips parted, the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.

The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.....“Don’t touch!” she said, “They’re for the funeral!"

State of the Union speech 2006

When the President mentioned his failed initiative to fix social security the Democrats drowned him out with their gloating applause. The Democrats refuse to make counterproposals because they know there is no painless solution. So all we hear from them is partisan criticism. What a spineless, self-serving party they are!

...Such stuff... As dreams are made on

We are such stuff As dreams are made on and our little life Is rounded with a sleep...'
--From The Tempest (IV, i, 156-157)
[Jump to the quote in the text of the play]
Prospero has consented to the marriage of his daughter and Ferdinand in this whimsical play about reconciling with family, forgiveness, and faith in the future. Prospero lives on a magical island with his daughter, Miranda, and a host of spirits and sprites. He was banished by his brother over a decade ago, and has now used his magic to cause the ship on which his brother and King Alonso and his entourage were sailing to come under his influence. They have been shipwrecked on Prospero's island, and a series of magical events occur. When Miranda and Ferdinand are about to marry, Prospero speaks the famous line which celebrates that uniquely human blend of mind and matter.
Themes/Keywords: dreams, magic, spells"

Carly Simon put out a nice song called "The stuff that dreams are made of". Have you noticed how many song lyrics play off of well known phrases?

William Shakespeare | Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look

William Shakespeare | Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look: "'Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.'
--From Julius Caesar (I, ii, 194)
[Jump to the quote in the text of the play]
Caesar speaks these words to his devoted friend, Mark Antony, noticing that Cassius is lurking nearby. He tells him that he distrusts lean men, contrasting Cassius with Antony, the latter who loves plays, laughter and music, as opposed to Cassius who reads too much, is never entertained, watches men and their motives far too closely, and never smiles. He tells this to Antony as a way of educating him, not out of fear of Cassius. However, Cassius has just tried to convince Brutus that Caesar is a danger to the republic, and has begun to seek Brutus' help in removing the dictator who is on his way to becoming crowned monarch. Cassius is indeed dangerous, as Caesar himself has fortold.
Themes/keywords: Danger, conspiracy, mistrust"

The Paragon of Animals

Shakespeare Quotes - Find a Shakespeare Quote Here!More Shakespeare:

Pick up a newspaper and read the bad news and you may question whether the praise in the following quote is justified.

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? ..."

--From Hamlet (II, ii, 115-117)

Badges?

 
A trio of bandits confront a miner packing out his gold. They claim to be Federallys (police) but the miner is suspicious and asks to see their badges. “Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!” With those words Alfonso Bedoya achieved screen immortality in his role as the Mexican bandit “Gold Hat” in John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. 

Shakespeare belies his own words

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...
Shakespeare may have reached a dusty death described in the pessimistic passage below but his work lives on and contradicts the "signifying nothing" phrase.

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

--From Macbeth (V, v, 19)