A piece of candy: Earlier this month, I was reminded of John D. Rockefeller’s practice of carrying coins in his pocket and handing them out to those he observed being kind, respectful or demonstrating industry. At the funeral of John McCain, Former President George W. Bush (Rep) was sitting next to Michele Obama (wife of Dem. President Obama). Without prompting, Pres. Bush reached over and handed Mrs. Obama a piece of candy, which she readily accepted – both smiled. My thought was that we need to pass a piece of candy to those sitting next to us much more often.
How to change the World: It seems to me that I do a great deal of complaining about the degradation of our society – it is the American way. I think that shows how far I have fallen along with a great many amongest out citizenry. I recently ran across this video by Admiral William H. McRaven addressing a Navy Seal’s graduating class and was given the hope that maybe there are those out there that will change the world for the better of all. I truly believe that there is hope for us here in the USA. We simply need to make our bed each morning! https://biggeekdad.com/2017/08/how-to-change-the-world/
Movies, TV, Books: 1. “Puzzle”: Husband: Where’s dinner? Wife, as she works on putting together a jigsaw puzzle at the dining room table: I guess I forgot! Did you forget to buy my cheese at the grocery also? Wife: I did! Husband: This is bullshit!” This movie is loaded with scenes like this – it simply keeps you guessing as to what is going to next come out of Agnes’ mouth and keeps you laughing along the way. “Agnes (Kelly Macdonald), taken for granted as a suburban mother, discovers a passion for solving jigsaw puzzles, which unexpectedly draws her into a new world – where her life unfolds in ways she could never have imagined.” (Fandango movie review). It is not a movie for everyone because you have to think through the entire movie as to what is happening – it is not going to be explained to you. And the best part, you might think you know where the movies is going to end up, but it doesn’t. The movie is highly acclaimed but was only in theaters for one week. I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD. 2. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”: (Netflix): “"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" is an old-school, old-fashioned entertainment, a romantic drama bursting with scenic vistas and earnest charm that contains just enough mystery to keep us involved.” (L.A. Times, Kenneth Turan, 8/9/2018). Again, this isn’t for everyone. I enjoyed it because of the English scenery and because it is a period piece of the impact of WWII and German occupation. It has a number of plot twists that keeps you looking around the corner, although you figure out very early where it is headed with the main character. |
Daily Observations: This section will be something that simply boggled my mind at the time it occurred which honestly turns out to be nonsense when I think of it later. I thought it worthy of my pen anyway. A Devastating Discovery! (April 2017) The cause for this devastating update began innocently enough yesterday at lunch. Most Tuesdays throughout the year are reserved for having lunch with a dear friend of mine. This friend is a very seasoned & knowledgeable doctor (hereafter referred to as “Doc” as I will try to protect the guilty who contributed to the horribly described events hereafter) in charge of the residency program at a local hospital. After ordering our lunch, Doc told a story as to a recent patient who showed up in the emergency room seeking pain killers for back pain. Doc looked me directly in the face and said: “I told him he didn’t need pain killers, he needed to lose about 50 lbs.” I didn’t give the story much thought until I went to bed last night. It seems that I can spend a good deal of sleeping time re-hashing the most insignificant things. One such thought last night was Doc’s story about losing 50 lbs. Was it coincidence that I am really in need of losing 50 lbs.? Would one of my best friends say this to me? I admit I have recently heard this suggestion from multiple sources, but a good friend? By this morning, I was convinced Doc was right and action was required on my part. I vowed to start a diet and exercise program immediately to conquer this demon of being “obese” as repeatedly declared by the VA! I got up, put on my bionic knee brace and was out the door with my walking stick (after cleaning off the cob webs) for the 1.3 mile walk to Hardee’s! Luckily, after about a half mile I ran into another friend who is out every morning and evening to take care of the abandoned cat population in our area. I was already exhausted and needed a rest. Meeting this particular friend has repeatedly raised the question in my mind: Why is it that so many kittens/cats are abandoned? My friend, hereafter referred to as “Catcarer” (he feeds this cat population twice a day, has them spaded & neutered, takes them to the vet when they are injured or sick and gives them a decent burial) first stated that he had been checking the obituaries daily to see if my name would turn up. (Note: this practice of looking for me in the obituaries was later echoed this very same morning by two school crossing guards). I told all three of the year long process of having my left knee replaced. After my attempt to explain the situation of my bum knee to Catcarer, he endorsed my theory as to the medical use of senior citizens. Senior citizens are the live testing pool for everything in the medical community. The use of senior citizens enables the insurance, medical and government communities to charge money while they experiment without complaint from the patient – right? Establishing “protocols” enhances profits while not having to take the blame for screw-ups if the patient dies – “we did everything possible using the latest and greatest” is often heard throughout the medical community. And then if the patient doesn’t die before the needed surgery, the medical community can charge for the surgery and “rehabilitative care”, meaning more money. (Note: sorry to get off the story, but, I tell this senior citizen story to everyone.) By now I was feeling a little depressed, but I hadn’t made it to Hardee’s yet! So, I hopped the remaining .8 mile to Hardee’s on my semi-good leg as the bionic leg wasn’t really feeling bionic by now. Having reached Hardee’s excited by the anticipation of getting my breakfast biscuit, I immediately noticed a new advertising bill board behind the counter. It was really nice, modernizing the area. Of course, my first thought was that Hardee’s had raised its prices. A quick review disclosed they had not. However, there was an immediate recognition that something had drastically changed. Each item had listed beside it the calories in the product being sold. For many years at Hardee's, I have had a sausage & egg biscuit for breakfast; equal to 560 calories. Staring me in the face on the new billboard was a sausage & egg biscuit equal to 690 calories! Now, most people might think: “More for your Money” - not so when confronted by additional calories, especially when starting a new diet! Well, this disclosure did NOT deter me from ordering a sausage, cheese & egg biscuit! But I was wondering why the additional calories. I called the manager over who explained two new rules in the food industry. First, any food item sold is now required to disclose its correct calorie content at the time of sale. Second, Hardee’s was required to change the recipe for its biscuits to healthier ingredients. I responded that I didn’t notice any change in the taste. The manger stated that food items now sold by Hardee’s were not allowed to have trans-fats in its product. Puzzled, I asked, so, if you take away trans-fats, it increases the calorie content? Yes is the answer. For a Hardee’s biscuit, the additional calories added up to 130, a 23% increase! I ate my biscuit, enjoying every morsel and started crawling home, totally devastated as to what I had learned and suffered this day. It takes a good while to crawl 1.3 miles and I thought hard for the entire trip home as to my dilemma. Should I give up Hardee’s biscuits and push the dieting and exercise to lose 50 lbs.? Of course, you know I am sitting here laughing as we both know the answer to that one! Tomorrow morning, I will get up, get into my car, drive to Hardee’s and get my sausage & egg biscuit! I might just pick up an order of hash-rounds as well! How quickly life goals change, even for us senior citizens! |
Old Wooden Box: This section will be devoted to articles I have written as to my past life experiences which I have accumulated over the years or for stories from my personal past history. Skunk Hunting: Probably the oldest animal sport by the Thies clan is hunting skunks! My father who began the tradition around 1925 first told me of this special family skill when I was an impressionable teenager living at George’s Lake. Seems his mother, my grandmother, Pearly Boyd Thies was a local Matriarch in the sleepy Seminole Indian town of Wewoka, Oklahoma. Her Husband, Joseph was a local contractor of some reputation allowing a comfortable life-style until the Great Depression. Joe, their oldest son (my father by adoption) was sort of a local celebrity himself. He was very much a Tom Sawyer type child, always up to some mischief that eventually was brought to the attention of his mother for the necessary correction of proper behavior. And this is where his skunk hunting skills comes to light. Seems that Grandma Pearly would have bridge parties at her big home once a week. Every lady that was of some import in Wewoka or who could at least play bridge was invited over for the weekly games. These ladies would sit around the card tables doing what they felt was important; things like playing bridge, drinking coffee and spreading all the latest local gossip. This was simply more than Joe could tolerate and during these bridge gatherings he would leave the house to find greater adventures. So the story goes, one day, not having anything better to do, he was walking through the woods when he ran across a skunk. I am not sure how the skunk was caught, but I do know that Joe held it by its tail so that it could not do its special skunk business! He took the skunk home to proudly show it to his two younger brothers, at least that’s the excuse he always told. He took the skunk into the house right in the middle of his mother’s weekly bridge party. Well, the women being the anti-hunters they were and not understanding important boy things simply did not grasp the importance of capturing this special animal. They began screaming hysterically and running out the front door. Joe dropped the skunk and ran out the back door – not ever fully explaining why he left the skunk behind or how long it was before he came home. You can imagine the rest of the story – it was really a smelly event! But the family reputation for skunk hunting was cast. Hearing this story, I could not pass up the challenge of a particular albino skunk that frequented the garbage dump behind our house on George’s Lake. This was especially true because that skunk was always spraying my poor old dog – Jeff! Jeff was a good hunting dog, but he never seemed quite sure as to what he was to do after he found his prey, especially skunks! The skunk would always get the best of Jeff by spraying him good and he would come home stinking only to be left outside for days while the smell wore off. So, I found it to be my responsibility to rid our community of this particular skunk. Every night, I would take out the .22 caliber rifle (the only gun we had) along with a flashlight and walk up and down the dump trying to find that albino skunk! It wasn’t easy looking for an albino skunk with the two-cell flashlight I had, especially with the batteries almost dead! But finally, we met up eyeball-to-eyeball, which was a good thing for me because he couldn’t squirt me looking eyeball-to-eyeball. Upon seeing me, he tried desperately to get his tail turned around. But with my superior hunting skills and great luck, I was able to shoot him before he could do his damage. I was a mighty proud teenager for killing that skunk and immediately told Jeff that he had nothing further to worry about, at least as to that skunk. All night as I lay in bed I was thinking what a great deed I had accomplished and felt I should be rewarded in some manner. By dawn I had the perfect solution. I would skin that skunk, tan his hide and keep it in my room as a trophy. I immediately found me a piece of plywood and some nails to stretch out the skin. I also got a box of salt from the kitchen cupboard which would be needed for this professional tanning project. By now, Jeff was all for helping with this most important community project. He and I went to the dump and shortly found our trophy to be. Of course after being out all night, this skunk was covered in other vermin that felt they had found themselves a free meal. We gathered the skunk, washed him off and started on the skinning process. That didn’t work out the way I thought it would. My knife simply wasn’t the sharpest and skinning the skunk didn’t follow the pictures in the book. But, I was able to get a piece of the skin off the skunk. It was only at this point that I realized he wasn’t truly a totally albino skunk, he just appeared that way in the heat of the hunt. Even so, I stretched his skin out, nailed it to the board and poured the salt to it. Now, history has a way of repeating itself. After completing my tanning project, I headed to the house for much needed food and rest. I didn’t really know that my mother was canning that day and that she had several other ladies over for the day’s events. I had hardly set foot in the house when I heard my mother screaming “What’s that smell?” I had no idea what the problem could be – truly I didn’t smell anything! But shortly I was handed a bar of soap and told that I was to go to the lake and scrub my clothes and myself until the smell was gone. And I was to take Jeff with me. Needless to say neither of us got anything to eat. As for my father, I really think he knew what was going to happen by the telling of his story. He just walked around for weeks shaking his head and laughing every time he walked by me. And what happened to the skunk skin I had so carefully prepared for tanning? Well, it went back to the garbage dump and the vermin waiting for their evening meal; they appreciated my adding the salt! And that’s the way the true story goes from the old wooden box about the Thies family’s propensity for hunting skunks. Until next time, hold on to your memories, they are the character of your life.
I said it first: 1) These mosquitoes are big enough that I can see their tail numbers without glasses! (To explain why I might need a blood transfusion after walking outside this summer!) 2) Those that cover their body with piercings and tattoos want to look different as opposed to making a difference – which holds its value longer? |
Travels: I am often asked as to what places I like to visit and why. This section will cover such places. China and Tibet – October 2013 I have been asked many times as to why I would be attracted to traveling in China as it is so far away and so different in political structure culture. Most Americans believe China is a dangerous enemy as to the economy and military. I am not so certain that is true. From Orange Park, Florida, it is 7,466 miles to Beijing (formally known as Peking), Outside the peripheral attraction that allowed me to take many photographs of this beautiful country and my amateur’s attraction to a history of a country always known to be self-reliant, the original inventors of many scientific and industrial items and never having participated in a world war, there were two driving forces to my curiosity to this country. The first was the cultural and religious impact of Buddhism in a country with a population of approximately 1,415,984,000 as of September 1, 2018 (the largest population in the world at 18.54% of the world’s population). In comparison, the population of the United States is 1/4 that of China at 327,159,000 (4.28%) on the same date. China has a land mass of 3,624,807 square miles (population density of 390 people per square mile - $9,060 per capita income), which is slightly larger than the United States land mass of 3,531,837 square miles (population density of 93 people per square mile - $50,610 per capita income). Note: India is in second place and moving up fast: population 1,356,586,000 (17.74% of world population), 1,147,955 sq. miles (1/3 the land of China or the USA) – 1,180 people per sq. mile). Depending on how populations of world religions are viewed, Buddhism ranks fourth (7.1%) in the world behind Christianity (31.59%), Muslim/Islam (23.2%), and Hinduism (15%). Buddhism is the only recognized religion of China and the government would state that 95% of the Chinese population practice Buddhism. Surprisingly, Christianity has a large presence in China, just no cemeteries. The second and more personal attraction to China was my study and admiration of Joseph Needham who attended and became Master at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge. Needham was a world-renowned biochemist specializing in embryology and morphogenesis. He was clearly “outside the box” in his personal life. He had two incredibly brilliant women who saturated his adult life. He married the Gwei-djen came from China to Cambridge as Needham’s student researcher. In turn, Needham became Gwei-djen’s student in everything Chinese. The result being that Needham over the following decades became the world’s expert authority on China. His greatest strength was the fact he early on learned to read, speak and write Chinese. Because Needham was a world recognized scientist and had self-educated himself to read, speak, and write Chinese, the Royal Society asked Needham to become the director of the Sino-British science cooperation office in Chongqing, China where he served from 1942 to 1946 (WWII). Remember that Japan had invaded and occupied China for years before the start of WWII. As Director with diplomatic privileges, Needham openly and freely traveled throughout China offering the world’s support to the scientific community while collecting documentation and data on the scientific discoveries and culture of China. At the end of WWII, Needham became the first Director of UNESCO at the the newly formed United Nations. In 1948, this led Needham to propose to Cambridge University Press a project to publish the information he had collected over the years he had spent in China. That project has become the encyclopedia known as "Science and Civilization in China" which continues to be developed and published to this day at the "Needham Institute", Cambridge University by the Cambridge University Press. I have been to the Needham Institute several times and have found it fascinating as to the data and memorabilia collected during Needham's life time. I now own a piece of that memorabilia from Needham’s time in China. All of my reading/research/visiting of the Needham Institute led to a strong desire to see what fascinated this fascinating individual. The China trip was not designed for tourists. It was a professionally designed life-enrichment course offered to alumni of Oxbridge (Oxford & Cambridge Universities). For such programs, the universities enlist a world-renowned professor who is an expert in the field of study encompassing the particular trip. This trip was entitled: Tribal and Sacred China; A Journey through Laos, Yunnan and Tibet. The renowned professor for this particular trip was Dr. Charles Albert Edward Ramble who is an anthropologist and former University Lecturer in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at the Oriental Institute, Oxford University. I found Dr. Ramble not only brilliant and informed, but a super down to earth individual. We all simply called him Charles. At the end of the tour, I told him that I had not memorized or could I even remember one name he had stated in his lectures – he simply laughed. His retribution was a photo-bombed picture of me sitting under the Chinese Communist flag! I was the only American on this particular trip. The other 20 participants were from England and Australia. I felt as if I was on the very bottom of the celebrity list as we had medical doctors, diplomats, college professors and leading experts in various chemical and engineering fields. Regardless, they were all interested in my areas of expertise, including the Chinese and enjoyed my "American perspectives on the English language and criminal justice systems throughout the world" including China. My first reaction to my visit in China is that if I were a young person I would seriously consider following a career path within the country. Overall, China resembles the United States in the late 1700s/early 1800s at the start of the industrial revolution with opportunities around every turn. The large cities, such as Beijing are very “Western” in comfort, but, very Chinese in culture. As to the culture of the Chinese people, I feel it is mediated and controlled by three powerful forces. The first is the political/government structure – communism. Under the Chinese governmental structure there is no direct input by the common population to choosing those individuals leading the country. Leadership is selected very similar to corporate America. They are chosen by the hierarchy that is structurally more powerful and in place when selections for political positions are made. Most biases found in corporate America are found in the Chinese political structure. However, there may be a greater patronage structure which may influence the feeling by the general population of corruption within government. Those feelings are well-founded. There is a lot of finger-pointing that those in government are proficient in graft leading to their own wealth, but nothing else, especially when it comes to the welfare of its citizens. For the several years since my return, the government has come down hard on corruption as free enterprise has expanded. There is no question that religion plays a very strong role in Chinese culture. The government-sanctioned religion is Buddhism. The government officially states that 95% of the population is Buddhist. However, Buddhism is considerably like the Protestant religion; it has many different strands that practice a broad spectrum of morality in the name of Buddhism. Generally, Buddhism does teach core values that are used by the government to maintain control over the population. Buddhism teaches a very strong influence of family, loyalty, hard work, and dedication to the general welfare of the population. Buddhist core values are the same as those generally found in most every religion. However, in Buddhism, there is one overriding principle that I heard over and over in discussing the motivation of the individual to follow the rules and control of the national government – the principle of “reincarnation”. The theme states that if the individual is good, takes care of their family, and is productive in his life (for the state), the individual’s reward is to come back in the next life with less suffering and greater worldly reward. The third powerful force/control is simply one of resources. Keeping in mind China is nearly the same size as the United States in land, several more facts demonstrate this element of control. The population of China is four times that of the United States. As to that population, 75% of the Chinese population works in rural agricultural jobs. For the population of China, the resource of water is extremely limited. China has one fourth of the United States freshwater supply. This Limited resource of water is a controlling force in rural China. There is no running At the same time, almost every home has electricity. Electricity usage is limited, most homes having only one or two lights. Electricity for cooking, heating, and refrigeration is nonexistent. Most homes have access to a cell phone and/or a computer. The older Chinese population believes this “Western technology” is detrimental to the younger generations who in their minds are becoming lazy. With the inadequacy of water/sewage and electricity comes tremendous costs in terms of the quality of life for the average Chinese citizen. The government spends tremendous resources on building, infrastructure, and production of products in the large cities. However, that covers only about 25% of the population. Government theory is that people will migrate to these larger venues as means of raising the standard of living for the Chinese people. That is a very slow process. As to the country-side/Landscape I was exposed to, it is captivatingly beautiful. I was in China in the late fall/early winter when the countryside was in fall colors and crops had been harvested. I would anticipate the country is equally beautiful, if not more so, in the spring. The negative side to the country itself is that it is not well maintained. There is garbage everywhere. When things are no longer usable they are simply discarded where they were last used – trash is prevalent everywhere. The Chinese people do display a curiosity of “Westerners”. There was no feeling the Chinese people felt envy, animosity or the need to mimic the Western culture. They My idea that they are curious as to Westerners comes from the observation that they were measuring us as to our feeling towards them and as to our disposition in general. They are told that we are the enemy. I definitely had the feeling that most rural Chinese are not extremely happy with their lives. They seem to live as a requirement to make it to their next life. They clearly believe that if they work hard and are loyal to everyone other than themselves, they will be rewarded in their next life. I truly enjoyed this learning experience. In the broad range of cultures I have observed in my travels, I felt a certain connection with the Chinese people. I feel it is an exciting time in China if you are privileged in terms of finance, education, and opportunity. If you are not one of those fortunate individuals, life is extremely hard and not one I would enjoy living. |
Obscured Thoughts: This section will contain items that might express some particular view more concisely than I ever could. For this newsletter, I have chosen several of the poems by the Lebanese-American poet Kahili Gibran published in The Prophet, first published in 1923 by Alfred Knopf. The book has been translated into 40 different languages and has never been out of print.People were gathered in the market place in the city of Orphalese asking questions of the Prophet. They would shout out their questions: On ChildrenAnd a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." And he said:Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. On Laws Then a lawyer said, "But what of our Laws, master?" On Freedom And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."
Favorite recent Pictures: What you might look at is considerably less important than what you see! New photo postings: 1) Around Town – Summer 2018 https://www.flickr.com/photos/gatorprowl/albums/72157700313403024 2) I took a short trip out to visit my sister and niece in Texas. The few shots I took can be found at: Texas – August 2018: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gatorprowl/albums/72157670809799227 Lincoln Memorial - Washington D.C. Antietam Battlefield - Maryland Niagara Falls, New York Letchworth State Park, Finger Lakes, New York' Watkins Glen State Park, Finger Lakes, New York Corning Glass Museum, Corning, New York
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