Something About This Isn't Right

...but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.......

On The Other Hand....

(in reference to yesterday's post title)

Today's NYT reports, Fiction Reading Increases for Adults

After years of bemoaning the decline of a literary culture in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it now believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed. ...Among [the] chief findings [of the report] is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen.

In addition, reading of "literary works" and poetry is up the most in the 18-24 demographic.

It seems the old slogan, Reading is FUNdamental!, still holds true.

31 August 1945

Part of an email received from my Dad:

Sixty-three years ago today, August 31, 1945, I stood at an altar in Duke University Chapel and watched as a lovely young lady danced down the aisle to the melody, “Here Comes the Bride.

Happy 63rd to my parents!

Neighborly Neighbor Update

It appears that he is fine... but that his Saab has gone to that Great Car Park In The Sky.

For those who don't know, he was in a collision yesterday. The car in front of him was slowing down to turn, he slowed down, but the car behind him ... didn't. The driver of the car behind admitted to not paying attention, and there was no doubt as to the fault in the accident.

Neighbor went to the hospital and was checked out fully, and sent home. He's pretty much okay, just some soreness (as is normal after any accident), especially in his right leg, which was tensed on the brake pedal and therefore absorbed a good deal of the shock. His insurance is providing a rental car.

So, except for the loss of the Saab (which was a very nice car, btw)... all is good.

Thanks to everyone for your expressed concern!!

ICICoMB, Part Phy

Well, I have returned to the Secret Lair (aka '73 Winnebago) none the worse for my travels. In fact, I am much richer because whilst on the journey for to celebrate Sol Invictus - err, I mean Christmas - with the family, I also got to meet two of my favorite InterWebs friends in person!

Yes, it was The Inaugural Convocation of the International Cadre of Misphit Bloggers!

I picked Jen up at the Krispy Kreme in the beautiful city of REDACTED, NC and we drove to the Piedmont Triad International Airport to meet pido's flight, which was scheduled to arrive at noonish. For the next not-so-little while we watched the flight board as his flight maintained a steady status of "DELAYED", then suddenly it changed to "ON TIME", two and a half hours after it was supposed to land.

An hour later, we watched as the jet taxied up to the concourse, and then as the weary travelers deplaned and met their loved ones (and/or probation officers). Then we watched as the concourse emptied out of all arrivals and waiters-for-arrivees. Did he sneak past us? Did he go immediately to the smoking lounge or the bar to check the football scores? As Mama Shakes would say... WTP?

Eventually, Jen found a working pay phone (neither of us had a functional cell phone) and called pido's cell number. "I'm in the bar at the Charlotte airport!", he announced cheerfully! [Okay, I don't know if he was cheerful about it, as he was talking to Jen, but he was in a bar with football on the TV, so he couldn't have been too sad.] Alas, due to being stacked above Charlotte, he was unable to catch his scheduled connecting flight. "I'll be there soon!" he promised [or something like that].

By this time both Jen and I were feeling somewhat peckish, so we walked to the Food Court. We took one look at the menu (and prices) and decided we weren't so peckish after all. But the nice lady behind the counter did take pity on us (or had previously been visited by Marley's Ghost) and gave us free cups of coffee.

Finally, 7.3 years... okay, 4 1/2 hours... after his original flight was to arrive, pidomon suddenly appeared in front of us! w00t!

Continued here....

While at the restaurant, I remembered that I, too, had a camera, and took these two pics of my Phellow Misphit Bloggers.

Jen, writing the above-linked post

Jen and pido, backlit

(they both look much better than my poor photographic skillz show them)

We then took pido back to the airport, for his return to Extreme East Texas (aka Baltimore). Goodbye photos here....


Then, by the light of a full moon*,...


and after returning Jen to REDACTED, I betook myself back up the mountain and into the loving paws of Teh Kittehs (who have mostly forgiven me for being gone for so long).

I'm already looking forward to the Second Inaugural Convocation of the International Cadre of Misphit Bloggers! Perhaps we can include some more misphits at the next one (PD, Cunning, I'm looking at you two in particular).




*full disclosure... I did use the headlights on the car to help guide my way back to Teh Mountainz, NC.

Automotive Update

So what happens to a car when it's parked for over a month in the woods in Autumn?

This:

My poor be-leaféd car

It would be worse, but the wind has been blowing a bunch over the last few days and some of the leaves that decorated the car were, like, totally blown away, dude.

That's all about to change, however, as yesterday I betook myself (in Neighbor's truck) to the Offices of Insurance and License Plating and received in return (drum roll please)...

My wonderful be-taggéd car!

Yes, Friends, Acquaintances, and Those Who Randomly Ended Up On This Blog & Are Wondering What The Idiot Author Is Going On About, I can now (legally*) drive Teh Car!

!!!!

I feel like perambulating - just because I can!!!!!!**


* - I did not drive the car whilst it had no license plate on it. There are some things too stupid for even me to do.


** - I won't, though, because a) it would be a waste of gas, b) there ain't hardly no gas in the car and what little money I have with which to put gas in the car must be hoarded carefully for a time when I have a reason to drive, and c) gasoline is expensive as shit these days!

Space: The Final Frontier

Fifty years ago today, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite - and the space age. I was not around when this happened, but from what I have read - and learned from my Dad - the launch caught the United States by surprise, and a hasty (and initially unsuccessful) American Space Program (soon to be renamed NASA) began. NPR has several stories about the impact of the Sputnik launch.


I was talking to Dad the other night and he told me that the local radio station in Seward, Alaska - where my family lived at the time - would broadcast the times when the basketball-sized sphere would be passing overhead. He still remembers watching in wonder as the satellite moved across the sky (in later years, I would do the same thing, watching the Apollo ships, Skylab, and then the Space Shuttle as they crossed the nighttime sky over North Carolina).

The Soviets also managed to put the first animal (a dog named Laika), man (Yuri Gegarin) and woman (Valentina Tereshkova) into space. America, however, "won" the race to put man on the moon (Apollo 11 in 1969) - a feat no other nation has yet to accomplish, although the Chinese are supposedly working on a lunar program.

I remember the excitement of the Apollo missions to the moon, and, like those older than me who will "always remember where they were" when JFK was shot, I will always remember being in my sister's living room, watching the TV as Neil Armstrong descended the ladder on the "Eagle" moon lander, and set foot on the moon.

"That's one small step for Man, one giant leap for Mankind"

To my six-year old self, that event was the coolest thing ever. I could envision more trips to the moon, and then to Mars and beyond. Unfortunately, once the race to the moon was won, the Space Program became less important. After all, we had shown the "Russkies" and the rest of the world that our national dick was bigger we were number one in space. It was time to get back to more important things, like stopping the Communist juggernaut in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Today, America's premiere launch platform, the Space Shuttle, is aging and out of date (an iPod probably has more memory and computing power than the onboard computers) and there is a vigorous debate ongoing as to whether we should even be funding space exploration.

I say that humanity has always been interested in what was "over the next hill" or "across the sea", and there is no sea larger nor more intriguing for exploration than the vast cosmos.

Do You Miss The Weekly World News?

You're walking through the woods on a sunny day when you notice some sort of structure ahead.

Something besides nature inhabits these woods.


What exactly have you stumbled upon, you ask yourself?

Oh, my FSM!, you think. Could this be the near-mythical Secret Lair (aka '73 Winnebago)?

Indeed it is, my friends. For the first time EVER, this reporter has managed to obtain photographic evidence of the habitat of the elusive Phydeaux Speaks. Unfortunately, when your intrepid reporter attempts to move closer, the vicious guard kitties are alerted to his presence.



Heart thudding in his chest, this intrepid reporter slowly backs away from the vigilant feline sidekicks, making soothing noises.

Luckily for him, the reporter escapes unscathed.

_________________________________


In unrelated news, BBC Overnight, the freakin' BBC, is wasting a whole segment on the latest Britney Spears whatever-the-fuck-she's-doing/has done-now. Aaarghh!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

You may have noticed a bit of a change in the look of the place. Starting with the name. You are now at "Phydeaux and Phriends". This is due to the fact that I am welcoming my (real world) phriend, Cunning Linguist, as a contributor at my humble interwebs home.

Mr. Linguist and I have been friends for a long time, and have often discussed all manner of topics, from how to curb Global Warming to the corruption in our political system to the relative airspeed velocities of African and European swallows.

Señor Linguist is an artist and artisan of great talent, and, if we're lucky, he may talk about those aspects of his life, in addition to his political and cultural posts. His is an intellect that I highly respect and I am "pleased as punch" to add his voice to my own, especially since he thinks differently from the way most of us do.

I hope you all will agree.

As he is a blog neophyte, I am putting his first post up for him:

What is Civilization?

What is civilization? It's a question that I find myself asking a lot these days. Is it filling your time with entertainment? Or the convenience of jumping in your car to buy something that you don't really need? OR IS IT SIMPLY BEING CIVIL TO EACH OTHER AND THE GUY DOWN THE ROAD?

I have a question that I've been meaning to ask;

In a class oriented society such as ours, how can we hope to overcome prejudice and segregation when class by definition is segregating?

Any candidate that can answer that can have my vote!

the nature of things

So we step away from nature for the sake of civilizing ourselves, thereby creating a void that we try to fill up with stuff, activities,entertainment, whatever, it doesn't really matter what we chose to fill it with, the fact that civilization as we practice it leaves us with a burning hole to fill is the point I'm trying to make. There are numerous case studies of indigenous peoples. These studies show that they do not experience such a void. In fact there are diseases found in civilized cultures that are not found in the natural environment, such as schizophrenia and bi-polarism. Einstein's theory of relativity, we've made monumental strides towards physical health issues but we're loosing our minds in the process. I just don't think we can change the nature of things.

- Cunning Linguist

Good News

Quaker Dave is back! Stop by his new place, take a look around and say hello.

Let's Hear it For "the Man"!

(Photo gleefully stolen from The Asheville Disclaimer, click on pic to embiggen)

The Asheville couple who were recently arrested for "flag desecration" (Petulant has the initial news report) have had all charges dropped.

For a full on write up and rant, go see Dr. Monkey's post.

The Return of the Moyers

Bill Moyers, a respected and distinguished journalist, who once served as White House press secretary in the LBJ administration, and 'retired' form the PBS program NOW, returns to PBS this week with his reincarnated Bill Moyers Journal. The show will premeire with a special episode on Wednesday, called "Buying the War" and will continue on Fridays.

Every responsible citizen should tune in.

For a taste of Bill Moyers, click here.

Close Call

"Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation."

Not much to say about this Detroit News article that won't end with my incarceration....