Drove up to Portsmouth, NH today (actually up to Kittery, Maine first to do some critically urgent purse shopping at the "premium" outlet stores).

Ate at the GasLight Grill in Portsmouth. Good food there. Parked outside was a classic, beautiful mid 1960's Porsche 912. I like the 911 / 912 body shapes of that age much better than the later "muscularized" shapes. This has so much understated class.

Ironically, the car is owned by "The Salt Cellar" where (last trip) I spent $24 on 3 ounces of exotic salts (Himalayan Thyme, Peruvian whatever.... and some other stuff). So you know how the owner can afford a perfectly restored classic Porsche.

Here's Deb after a really really nice .... hmmmm, I actually have forgotten what she drank ..... ahhhh Sangria !

The book 2001: A Space Odyssey is much better than the movie (I liked the movie a lot). The book is carried along by its narration - a movie depends heavily on dialog which is very sparse here.

The ending is 1000X more clear and interesting in the book than in the movie. In truth it is much more of a beginning or re-beginning rather than an ending.

A few fascinating (and REAL!) pictures of Saturn & Moons, from the (now extinct) Cassini Spacecraft.

There's life (or something like it) out there, I believe that religiously !

Gerrit Duo's Painting (1650 !): Dog at Rest

I lust stumbled upon this little (it's just 7" X 9") wonder in a glossy museum brochure I got in the mail.
What's not to love here?

This gem was hanging on some (rich) lady's wall down in Orange, Texas when someone from an auction house (Christie's) "found" it while settling her estate.

This is pretty much as wonderful and timeless as a still life painting can get.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

I was once a big fan of the internet, for it's being a wonderful way to share facts and opinions on literally anything. That was about 20 years ago, and things have changed a lot. A really big lot. The internet is now like an ever-expanding universe of every stupid thought that ever occured to anyone (myself included) with a keyboard and a bug up his nose.
It never turns off, shuts down, closes, takes a break - it only gets bigger and filled with more thoughts, ravings, opinions, proclamations ...... bigger and bigger and bigger. Nothing gets erased.

It's overwhelming to the point of being useless.

So . . . I have a proposal: internet service providers should charge people 10¢ per word that they upload to the internet (added onto basic services).

Problem solved.

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Strangely, that's not what I started out to talk about. What it was is ("What it was is?" is that English??) .... people these days feel the need to create stories where there are no stories - to string together a few facts and make up a new conspiracy or uncover a hidden pattern of bad behaviour that we all need to be aware of. The "news" media of course keeps itself alive doing this, and it is now ingrained in our social behaviour as individuals - put a few half-facts together, wrap a false explanation around them, post it on the internet, and it will soon become a reality that people will spread around and believe in.
That their story is wrong is not important. What brings people together is that they like believing it, and since it brings them together it must be good, or at least acceptable.
Making up and spreading BS stories therefore must be good for us.

I am thinking of a group of these little field squirrels (what are they called?), eating with their heads down. One guys looks up, barks a lot, they all skurry into their holes, hearts beating with fear. Nothing happens. After a while they come back out. False alarm. They start eating again. But they are all glad and happy that one guy barked about a danger that didn't exist. They feel safer somehow.

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That last paragraph reminds me of something I read long ago. It was some political despot speaking. He said something to the effect:
"You just need to convince the population that they are in danger from something. It may or may not be a real danger, but that's not important - just convince them they are in danger. Then tell them that you are the guy who can protect them from this danger. You will become their leader."

This becomes especially ironic after the despot is in power. The non-existent "danger" never really surfaces or hurts the people, and he says "See, I protected you".

Below are some scenes from our trip to Boston yesterday. Incredibly, we ran into Mike and a coworker on the train. The odds here are astronomical !!

A GIF animation made from one of the pictures below.....

How to make "sketches" using The GIMP.

The Museum of Russian Icons? ..... What??

Never thought of Russia as a religious (specifically, an Orthodox Christian) country. We baby boomers grew up as the Russian Communist government banned religions and religious practices and severely censored art, literature and free speech.
So . . . I got an accidental education on that topic today.

Our local public library has free passes to places: I wanted the botanic gardens today. "Sorry, not available today. How about The Museum of Russian Icons?"...... I winced, she shook her head yes "It's very nice" .... I grimaced, she smiled, what the heck, I wasn't going back home to watch the "soaps" was I.

"Russian Icons" are religious paintings and "multi-media" craftwork that have been going on for a thousand years; They are painted on wood panels or embroidered (jewels, gemstones) on woven fabrics, and are fascinating to see up close. The style is what I'd call medieval European religious style - flat looking, no attention to prespective whatsoever, very ornate and "heavy" feeling, most are time-worn and in need of some care and restoration.

But I was entranced ! I didn't know this stuff existed.

Back to history: Russia was a very strict Christian Orthodox country from about 1000AD up to the Russian Revolution (1917?). Then the Bolsheviks outlawed religions, practices, churches and art. That is the Russia that we baby boomers grew up with - not a nice place.
That lasted up to 1991 when the Soviet Union broke apart.

About the Museum itself: / Link: Russian Icons

In the 1960's, plastics engineer Gordon B. Lankton went to work at Nypro, an international injection molded plastics company, in Clinton, Massachusetts and eventually became president. In 1989, on a business trip to Russia, Mr. Lankton purchased his first icon at a flea market. His collection quickly grew, and eventually gave birth to the idea of starting a museum. Mr. Lankton chose Clinton for the location to give back to the community that had supported him.

I don't regularly follow the media coverage of the "Royals" - the births, the weddings, the scandals, the Queen's new hat, the Kings limp, the spunky new Prince, etc etc etc.
I do pay a short attention every once in a while, when something pops up on TV, but I can't name the kids or even all the grownups. But still, in the back of my mind, I know the Royal Family is there, it'll always be there, and they are showing us something important and something we (or at least, I) want to believe.

They show us how nice it is to be "proper" and civil and elegant and kind and graceful.
They authenticate our (my) fantasy of how right everything would be if we were ruled by a family of benevolent Kings and Queens.

They are a living fantasy that, against the chaos of our daily news, I enjoying getting momentarily lost in once in a while.

Dracula - The Spanish Version

This is on the disk with the classic Bela Lugosi version; it's actually very good - maybe better (You have to deal with the subtiles). The lady has just been bitten by Drac, and doesn't look too disappointed to me. On the right is the big guy himself looking kind of guilty.

I must have a million photos of the benches. So peaceful sitting there. Me, the buzzy bugs, the twitchy birds, the on and off breezes.

Simple people see things in only 2 dimensions - like a coin. One side is this, one side is that. Right / wrong ; black / white; good / bad. That gives them the confidence to have a strong opinion about everything. "It's simple" they say.

Intelligent people see things in many dimensions - more like a sphere than a coin - many sides - lots of shades and colors between "black and white". Nothing is nice and simple because ...... nothing is nice and simple. They always have doubts about their opinions because they know that reality is probably more complex than anyone's capacity to understand it. They envy, they loathe, they fear simple minded people.
Intelligence is kind of a curse really.

Dave and (GE buddy) Bill Visit the USS Constitution

Note the recoil restraining ropes and the pulleys, wedgeblocks and "steps" used to aim the canons.

These C-shaped ribs (made of live oak) below deck were a design-innovation that allowed them to install twice as many canons on deck. The ship was wicked fast and outgunned most everything on the water.

The sleeping quarters look spooky.

Woodwork is first-class.

The tiller (long rod) controls the rudder and is moved with pulleys. The "degrees port & starboard" are marked on the ceiling.

Miscellaneous Thoughts on a Rainy Day

Colonizing America

Go back 400 years .... European countries send explorers here, and set up small colonies. The idea was to exploit whatever natural resources that were here for the benefit of those countries. After some bickering, the English more or less beat the other countries at this game and America becomes a bunch of various small colonies ruled by England.

Usually, throughout history, it is the local natives who rise up and revolt and kick the mother country the hell out. But in this case .... the new land barons (who came from the "motherland") revolt and take over the country for themselves. I don't think this had ever happened before or after.

Living in a Nicer Reality

Reading a short story, I come across .....

"...[there was this] Greek shipping heiress who taught me a signiicant lesson ..... by asking, when I arrived to interview her in her orchid-filled sitting room on the second day of a paralyzing New York blizzard whether it was snowing outside."

Contrast this heiress' life with ours.

Why do I need to know that someone in [____] got [____] or said [____]?

Can't I just peacefully, quietly wonder "is there a blizzard outside?" or "is the world doing well or tearing itself apart?" without actually caring or getting emotionally involved.

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An eye-opening documentary (on Amazon videos):
When the Moors Ruled in Europe.

What Has The World Come To ?

The Millenials: The baby boomers really screwed up this world. The world was wonderfully perfect before 1945. Then the boomers came along and they totally ruined the world for us.

GenX: We racked up $200,000 in student loans, studied hard for 6 years in college, got PhD's in 12th century Scandavian embroidery, and still can't find jobs. It's all the boomers to blame.

The Social Justice Warriors: Look at those women appropriating African culture by wearing sandals and hoop earings, and listening to jazz and R&B. What gives them the right?

The Snowflakes: Please explain to your infant what you're doing before you change its diaper, so ( 30 years from now) they won't have imaginary repressed memories that you sexually molested them as infants. And please never refer to your child as a "boy" or a "girl" until they are old enough (let's say in High School) to decide what they want to be called.

The #MeToo's : Forty years ago, he kissed me goodnight after a college date. Yeh ... I giggled and dated him for 6 months after that, .... but really it was inappropriate behaviour on his part. I know he did this with other girls too; now I think we should all band together and destroy his personal life and ruin his career.

The Baby Boomers (singing softly):

𝄞♫♪♬ . . . Swing low sweet chariot.
Come on down and carry me home. . . . 𝄞♫♪♬