manlypoodlekip

School starts in two weeks.  Back-to-school ads are in all the media. When I was young back about the time we learned how to safely use fire, back-to-school ads made my poor little heart sink. Now i didn’t hate school just the thought of summer vacation ending. It’s kind of like Thursday being my favorite work day. It is close to the weekend but still a good distance from Monday. Since I am retired this has little meaning. Everyday is Thursday and I don’t have to go back to school. 

Just had “the talk” with my grandson. We were sitting on a bench waiting for the women of our group to finish shopping in what seemed to us every store. As is the custom among my people it was the time to discuss zombies. We talked about the various types of zombies and how to dispatch them. An amazing amount of vital knowledge was passed from him to me. Are zombies scarier than vampires and werewolves? How do they compare with back-to-school ads?

Have been keeping up with the world through the internet, books and certain TV shows. Arrested Development, House of Cards, and a new biography of Eisenhower have lighted my path as I ponder the meaning of life and politics. House of Cards really makes you feel the nobility of most political actions. It’s almost like reading the news. 

As we stumble through the desolate landscape of disquieting and tragic news here and there are glimmerings of hope and wonder. Our Senate passed a bill to lower the student loan rate and just narrowly averted the “nuclear solution”  concerning the use of the  filibuster. Young Mr, Snowden has applied to stay in that bastion of transparency, Russia. Good ole North Korea is upset about about Panama seizing it’s arms loaded ship in it’s Canal. On the home front the Dow reached a new mid-day high and the unemployment rate went down in California. Now if only those recent graduates could find employment with enough pay to comfortably repay their zillion dollar loans. Now you are probably wondering ,or not, about Neptune’s new moon and okra. Are the two related? Or course. Is the name Okra? It would be nice but I read that the moon would be named after one of the Sea God’s nasty children. As for the okra, i have cooked it with tomatoes. New discovery concerning farmers in Europe. Apparently manure was used for fertilizer some 8,000 years ago. Two other studies found that European Honeybees are bringing new viruses to the UK and the pathogen that caused the potato blight is still around. On top of that Monsanto has given up on trying to get the EU to accept GMOs.

Great news for those who were worried that the genes of pre-Columbian dogs had been completely replaced by the genes from European canines. It’s not true.In both North and South America there are dog breeds that contain the genes of Asian decent that came across the ice bridge or something like that. If that were not enough good news it has been found that dogs can see colors to the same extent that red-blue colorblind people can. Dogs can deceive people and other dogs. Now they have found that Chimpanzees and Orangutans have the ability to recollect distant happenings. Wow, is t almost Planet of the Apes time? Will they be aided by color-seeing dogs? Maybe these animals are evolving like the cylons from Battle Star Galactica.

News from space. Not too far from Earth, a gas giant exoplanet that is blue has been discovered. It is blue not from water but from blowing glass. How fast is it blowing? Faster than the  March wind in Lubbock, Texas . 7,000kmph and it is hotter than Death Valley-1,000c. Any creature that could live under those conditions would be tough, strong and probably paranoid. Just imagine a horde of blue, whirling, 1,000 degree zombie attacking the Earth. maybe the highly evolved dogs, chimps and orangs will save the day.

    This morning I awoke to find that the world’s problems have not been solved. Chaos is Egypt and Syria and some of China’s beaches have been slimed by a patch of algae the size of LA County. Poor China!  Pollution has cut life expectancy by five years in Northern China and the Lakers still need some kind of superhero for net season. Yet as I spend the morning in the company of my youngest grandchildren, I find rays of hope. Way way under the ice in Antarctica  there may be fish in Lake Vostok. And a naturalist in Australia has found a rare nocturnal parrot. Now those are exciting tidbits.  Also there was an article about the importance of the ability of humans to throw better than other primates. A chimp could never become a good pitcher. Now before we get too smug a chimp is many times stronger that a human but nanny nanny nanny they can’t throw well.

    A few other notes, Valley Fever which is caused by a fungus has become more common and I must stop and eat with the grandkids. Keep the faith and look always for the good and interesting.

What do these two books have in common? Probably nothing but have just read them as a way of keeping up with both historical and future events. How do I keep busy in retirement besides reading? This morning walked Manlypoodlekip and took a nap. And have just read that a group of men have been treed for several days by a pack of rare Sumatran Tigers. Now that raises a question, would it be better to be treed by rare tigers or those raised in Texas? And speaking of that what are the Lakers going to do next year? At least the Dodgers are looking pretty good. Should LA try to get the Manchester Soccer team? Who will be the next prime minister of Egypt? Should the US get more involved? And did you know that certain rare Lemurs listen to bird calls to warn them of approaching predators. Have not read anymore concerning Randy the red panda. How fleeting is fame.

One article stated that the last living creatures on earth would be some heat tolerant microbes. I think that will be at least several years from now. How would you like to be treed by giant snarling microbes even if they are very rare now. Have been watching a scientific TV series, EUReKA. There may be some fiction involved. It is easy for me to get trapped in the addiction of binge TV series watching. There are so many. I even watched a Dr Who from the fifties. Well on that note I close wishing everybody a happy June 7th and keep an eye out for zombies, tigers and giant heat resistant microbes.