Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

Solar Power

Isn't it interesting that just when Bush, et al., plus Insane McCain, who is shilling for big bucks, call for off-shore drilling for oil, which won't do anything to the price of gas, but will set up oil companies for major profits farther into the future, at a time when Bush the Lesser might be on various boards of directors, raking in cash for his posterity, the federal government freezes the use of federal land for development of solar energy farms?

Why the delay? "Environmental studies" are needed.

The reason? This is an industry in its infancy.

I LEARNED ABOUT SOLAR CELLS IN THE FOURTH GRADE.

MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO.

I finally figured it out, though. It's not real.

I'm a character in someone's really bad novel, one that she's making up as she goes along.

Why couldn't I have been Odysseus? Things made so much more sense.

THE HOWES DOWN IN HOWEVILLE

we spent the weekend in minneapolis visiting with the howe's (the kazoofus howe's). a good time was had by all (!). i told kathy that our plans were: eat, sleep, hang out with the howe's, meet keri and keith (of kinnicchick), and laugh. mission accomplished. in addition to those stated goals, we also shopped, drove around, and walked our butts off. when i told my sister we were heading to minneapolis for the weekend, her response was, "what the hell for?" she assumed, as had i, that minneapolis/st. paul was not much of a destination. i LOVED it! what a great couple of towns! no kidding. would be a great area even if the howe's and keri and keith weren't there.

here's a picture of kath and my new bff, kenzie:

and here's a picture of all three of the howe's involved in something, i think it was some kind of wiccan shit, spell-casting, i think.

Undersea World of Royal Dutch Shell, Marathon, et al.

Back in 1995, a large undersea oil field was discovered -- how, I don't know -- and in 1997, a test well was drilled to determine what was down there. Four more wells were drilled to check out the scope of the field, the Neptune Field, which is about 150 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, over ten years later, not one barrel of oil has been pumped, although the drilling platform is designed to pump 50,000 barrels of crude oil and 50 million cubic feet of gas a day. The U.S. is currently using about 9.3 million barrels per day, almost 200 times the amount of oil that will be produced at maximum capacity by the Neptune platform.

The good news is that after 13 years, the Neptune platform might start pumping oil and gas. But do you think the gas price will come down at all because of the 50,000 barrels added to the nation's oil supply? The answer is NO.

Now, not only does John McCain want to remain in Iraq indefinitely (or is that infinitely) and kill, kill, kill, he wants to drill, drill, drill -- he'll probably be dead by the time the first drop of oil is produced, sometime late in the next decade. Do you think the gas price will come down at all in the year 2020 because of the oil that will be added to the nation's oil supply at that time (Or will you have the last of the V-8 Interceptors?)? The answer is NO.

On a brighter note, on the trip to Minneapolis, I saw two wonders of modern technology: the Dyson hand dryer in an airport men's room and the hand dryer that sounded like a jet engine and that nearly ripped my hands off in the men's room at the Lion's Tap in Eden Prarie.

MN

I knew that I wasn't going to be able to see all the sights in just one weekend, but I'm kinda like disappointed that I didn't get to see the chainsaw-carved trout down in Preston, but I guess it was maybe like outta the way a little. And I'm not really interested in chainsaws or trout, actually. So, what of it -- I mean, it doesn't sing or anything, does it? Same kinda reason I didn't take in the Spam Museum.

But Ed's Museum -- that mighta been cool. Gotta call ahead, though, and make sure it's open. 507-352-4205.

Beware When Flying

WARNING: The Transportation Safety Administration does open your checked bag if you are carrying 16 cans of Skyline Chili.

Skyline Chili is, apparently, on the long list of instruments of terror.

Or maybe it was the Danny Boy's Mac-N-Cheese Pizza that was frozen and wrapped in aluminum foil that alerted the x-ray guy, along with the image of 16 cans.

Fishing

I played golf today at a course I hadn't played before, and I used the same ball for the entire 18 holes. That's the same ball I used for 18 holes on Saturday. I've played real well; I'm staying with the same ball next time I play. I'll see if it's me or really the ball that is doing so well. See, golfers are crazy like that.

I was standing up the fairway a bit. One of the guys the old guy in the starter's shack stuck me with was Ron, who wouldn't shut up for the first six holes -- he was hacking away in a shallow ravine that crossed the fairway, trying to get his ball out. So, I watched the two guys, who were fishing in the small river that runs alongside the fairway. They drew their fishing rods back over their shoulders and would flip the fishing thing -- the hook -- out ahead of them.

They were thigh deep in the deep stream. One guy wore high boots, and the other wore shorts. That's where I think there was a problem. The second guy, the one wearing blue jean shorts, a white shirt, and a white baseball hat backwards, didn't have boots; he was fair game for all of the parasites in the water and the lamprey eels that probably swam up river. Of course, there aren't any candiru in the Rocky River. At least, I don't think so.

It took Ron six to get out of the ravine. 13 on the hole. He was quiet after that. That was a good thing. I like peace and tranquility on the golf course.

Butt Paste

After picking up a case of Skyline Chili for someone I don't even know (I'll probably be scrutinized very closely by Homeland Security, since I'm already on the list because I flew a ham and some wires to Florida), I was wandering around Target, looking for stuff to take on a weekend trip, while waiting for my prescription to be filled. And I found this:

Electric Cars

About 27 years ago, I had a client who had a plug-in electric car. I took it for a spin. It ran about half a mile and didn't get up to 35 MPH, which was not what the manufacturer had promised. The car had a bunch of batteries in the front battery compartment and in the back battery compartment and was plugged into an outlet while not being driven. No gas. It was not a hybrid. My client bought it because he thought gas was going to go up to over a buck a gallon and that this was the way to beat the high cost of gasoline.

The electric car maker went belly-up way back then.

Now, the U.S. government is paying lip service to the goal of a clean electric car. In a glorious announcement by the Department of Energy, the U.S. government spoke loud and clear about what is important. The DOE has pledged $30 million over the next three years to develop a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

THIRTY MILLION?

The impeachable offense, otherwise called the illegal, con-job, lied-into war in Iraq, is costing the citizens of the United States and their posterity THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS ($345,000,000) a day. That's one day -- all of that borrowed from China and other countries. $2.4 billion a week.

The DOE wants to spend $27,397.26 per day to develop an electric car.

What are our priorities?

And McCain wants more of the same. For crying out loud, Tiger Woods just won $1,350,000 for playing golf. The total prize money in that tournament, the United States Open Golf Tournament, was $7,500,000, almost as much as the U.S. government wants to spend on electric cars in a year. Kevin Garnett, playing for the Boston Celtics basketball team in the National Basketball Association finals, was paid $22,000,000 this year.

NASA has two electric-powered vehicles that have been driving around Mars, albeit very slowly, for the last four-and-a-half years. We apparently have the technology. There are fuel cells generating electricity on the space station, from which the space shuttle just returned. We apparently have the technology. Germany generates more electricity with wind power than the U.S. generates. Spain generates more electricity with wind power than the U.S. generates.

The oil companies received $18 BILLION in tax breaks last year. If the U.S. government spends $10 million dollars a week on electric cars or on electricity-generating wind farms, it would not spend as much as the oil companies got in tax breaks last year until the ball drops on New Year's Day -- in 2043.

We are leaving a disaster to our posterity -- shouldn't we be trying to do something about it instead of establishing some idiot's idea of democracy over in Iraq? And another flag-waving idiot is trying to take his place ...

It Might Cause a Little Bruising

After the collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis, the bridge that spans the Cuyahoga River in town was examined because it is the same or substantially similar to the Minneapolis bridge. Some repairs were made -- I think.

Now, a highly traveled entrance ramp, which is a bridge itself, to that bridge they repaired has been closed. The officials say they don't know when it will re-open. They found a rather large gap between one of the supporting structures and the bridge. No big deal -- something wasn't connected, it was broke. The bridge might fall down; so, they closed it until -- well, indefinitely or infinitely, whatever.

Here's my question to the road people, the fucking braniac engineers who examine these things and make fucking stupid decisions.

I mean, I'm no fucking rocket scientist, and I know this is a stupid question from some dumb fuck who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about; but if you closed the fucking bridge because you're afraid that the fucking bridge is going to collapse, shouldn't you close the road that goes under the same fucking bridge?

I think that, given the choice, I would rather be on top of the bridge that collapses 18 feet rather than under it when the fucking million-kilogram bridge falls 18 feet onto the top of a white Toyota Yaris with the peace symbol and The Who stickers on the back bumper.

Weekend Homework

If you read nothing else, read this from the Chucklehut.

Unless you're a conservative freak, that is -- or maybe you should be required to read it.

Breast Cancer News

Now, in medical news, some doctors do important research. For instance, it was announced that "premenopausal women with early-stage hormone-sensitive breast cancer derived a significant survival benefit when zoledronic acid (Zometa) was added to the adjuvant therapeutic mix," improving survival by 36%, which sounds pretty good from where I'm sitting. Shouldn't that be on the front page of all newspapers and a leading story on FOXNews?

Oh, yeah, that's right -- it's "good news." It's relegated to ... well, this blog in non-professional writings -- I didn't do a vast Google search, just the first search page, and all the hits seem to be medical journals and sources like that. I wouldn't think that only doctors are interested in this kind of thing.

I guess stuff like this doesn't sell newspapers or TV ads or even internet news site ads.

ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE NBL

we are never moving again. i know -- never say never, but... bill and i were talking about going to the show tonight -- today is our 34th wedding anniversary, btw -- but why leave when this is what we can watch right from our windows?

Golf Gear

I entitled this post "Golf Gear" because I figured that nobody will read it. And I will not link to the page. Because I didn't believe it, I went there; and you can take my word: Across the main window on the home page of John McCain's official website are four tabs -- Strategy, Decision Center, General Election, and Golf Gear. Golf Gear? What the hell?

Rather than golf gear, many bald guys would pay good money for his classified, top secret comb-over technology!

Public Service Announcement About Diet Coke

I heard a rumor that the formula for Diet Coke was being changed. It turns out that the Coca-Cola Company is removing sodium benzoate from Diet Coke. What does sodium benzoate do? It retards bacterial growth and mold formation. It is an important ingredient in soft drinks that count "natural flavors" as an ingredient.

Some scientists say sodium benzoate does more than retard bacterial and mold growth; it can cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria of cells, causing the cells to malfunction. Some other scientists say it is linked to hyperactivity in children. Moreover, it has been shown that when sodium benzoate is mixed with vitamin C in soft drinks, benzene is a by-product; and benzene is carcinogenic. Testing of various soft drinks has revealed the presence of benzene.

I guess we should applaud the Coca Cola Company for its concern about the health of our children and us because chemical testing is still not complete and conclusive about the hazards that have been described.

Well, not exactly all our children. Only those in Great Britain. The Coca Cola Company doesn't give a damn about our children in the U.S. -- no changes here.

Does that have something to do with the ineffectiveness (or corruption, perhaps?) of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration?

Fishes

This is a public service announcement. I've been known to warn the two visitors who can read (I assume that our several thousand other visitors thought this was a porn site.) about nascent dangers in our environment; and here I am, doing it again.

There is something about fish that bothers me. I've written, tongue-in-cheek, about avoiding the fishmongers in the West Side Market because the merchants arrange the fish so that all of them are looking at me -- and I know that many of them are still alive, filled with evil intent.

For the past few years, an epidemic has been raging across the Great Lakes and elsewhere, killing massive quantities of fish. Scientists are claiming that there is no danger to me, a human, even if I eat an infected fish. Do you want to eat an infected fish, a fish infected with viral hemorrhagic septicemia? There's no cure for it, by the way. No vaccine. No drugs.

But they say it's no danger to humans; so, don't worry if you caught your dinner out on Lake Erie or the Puget Sound or off Nova Scotia or in any of the Great Lakes. And viral hemorrhagic septicemia has killed fish in inland lakes in Wisconsin and Michigan. And just yesterday, it was discovered in an inland lake in Ohio. Just remember, though, as you bite into that aquatic delight you caught or which is being presented to you at your favorite seafood restaurant, scientists say that you don't have to worry about a thing.

Oh, I almost forgot -- viral hemorrhagic septicemia is highly contagious. But that's only in fish.

Except that after eating the fish, you have a virus in your body -- I'm sure that the first person with avian flu, bird flu, was told not to worry, too -- and who knows what that bullet-shaped itty-bitty thing "with a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA genome approximately 11,000 nucleotides in length" can do when let loose in the human body. There are "six genes that code for five structural proteins needed to construct the infectious virus particle and one non-virion protein of unknown function."

Unknown function?

We don't know what that thing, that gene of unknown function, does; but it's not harmful to humans, even if you eat it, and even though it's in the same genetic family as rabies, which, by the way, the CDC considers universally fatal [Oh, yeah, you could get a preexposure vaccination or postexposure prophylaxis, but once you start salivating profusely (read that as "foaming at the mouth"), it's lights out in three to four weeks.].

So, I'm going to continue to avoid eating Atlantic Cod, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Bluntnose Minnow, Brown Bullhead, Brown Trout, Burbot, Channel Catfish, Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Chum Salmon, Emerald Shiner, Freshwater Drum, Gizzard Shad, Grayling, Haddock, Herring, Japanese Flounder, Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Pacific Cod, Pike, Pink Salmon, Pumpkinseed, Rainbow Trout, Redhorse Sucker, Rock Bass, Rockling, Round Goby, Smallmouth Bass, Sprat, Turbot, Walleye, White Bass, White Perch, Whitefish, and Yellow Perch.

I don't care what those pesky scientists say. Viruses have been known to mutate -- unless you don't believe in evolution.

Clapton

Saturday, as the starting time of the concert was approaching, the pages of the map in my brain must have been stuck together because I had no clear idea about how to get to Blossom Music Center, which is out in the middle of nowhere, between Akron and Cleveland and Trenton, New Jersey, and Indianapolis -- somewhere in there. A neighbor once called me to find out if he was getting close to the place. "Where are you now?" I asked. "There's a signpost up ahead. Erie, next 5 exits," he said. "You're going to be late," I pointed out. I knew how he felt.

But I was in the general vicinity; and then, as if by magic, the map in my head opened and revealed that Peninsula is east of Richfield and that the road, for which I was looking, was a couple miles farther up 303. Peninsula was the stopping place for the night when navigating the Ohio Canal between Cleveland and Akron back in the 1800's, a couple years before I was born. It took a lot longer to navigate the distance from Peninsula to the parking lots at Blossom Music Center, waiting in traffic on the one-lane road winding through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, than from Cleveland to Peninsula.

Robert Randolph opened. The Jackal had seen RR and the Family Band at a small venue in Cleveland a couple years ago and thought the group was fantastic. There was no disappointment at the large, outdoor Blossom Music Center, which is the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra; and the late-comers missed an act that was, alone, worth the price of admission. Jackal said that the group had toned down their act for the "older Clapton crowd" (or did he say "old Clapton crowd?"); but the group was energetic and tight nonetheless. Robert Randolph and the Family Band will be back at Blossom in August, and I plan to take in the show.

During the intermission, on the large video screens to the left and right of the stage, the management advertised coming attractions and permitted patrons to send text messages to the screen. There were stupid messages, like "ROCKKKKKKKK," and "I LOOOOOOOOVE THEIR FIRST ALBUM!!" and "Hi A;" so, Stacey sent the message, "I LIKE TURTLES." Apparently, the guy in the control booth didn't appreciate that comment because it was not posted during the intermission, which caused Stacey to become irritated. She sent, "You put up stupid stuff like 'ROCKKKKKKK,' but nothing esoteric?" to which she received no reply. After a couple other insults, she tried to be sweet, "What r u wearing?" and "Do u have a girlfriend?" to no avail.

Eric Clapton and his band took the stage. You can find the set list on some other site. "Key To the Highway," "Hoochie Coochie Man," and "Little Wing" set the tone early. And I thought that "Running on Faith" was very well done, with E.C. on acoustic. The crowd raised the roof during "Layla" and "Cocaine." For the encore, Robert Randolph joined the band for a very energetic "I've Got My Mojo Working."

The night would have been perfect, but for the several people in the V.I.P. seating who thought that they were the only people at the concert, staggering down the aisleway in front of us to the restrooms after summoning the waiter for their drink orders about 20 times. Our seats were center stage about 20 rows back.

One guy, who sat at the end of the row, instead of standing up (the pavilion seat rows are actually quite wide) and allowing someone to pass, moved out into the aisle to allow people to get to the aisle, standing directly in front of me each time. Worse, he looked as if he hadn't showered, his hair all greasy and gnarly, which made me gag. I yelled at him only twice. I was nice. I didn't throw anything at him. I didn't choke him.

Although I'm whining about the guy, he was a minor distraction. Clapton was great.