Thought for the day

Losing a companion, Dusty

My dog, Dusty, is very ill.  The prognosis is grave.

He is not hungry and is declining to eat.  I fear the end is near.

A few thoughts on the loss of a great dog.

“Dogs leave pawprints on our hearts” – Author Unknown

“Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he’s owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.” – Gene Hill

“Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.” – Amy Sedaris

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.” – James Herriot

“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day.” – John Grogan

Moving to Cleveland

The ex is moving to Cleveland.

Living the dream.

Sounds like the perfect place for my ex-wife. Cold winters, a stagnant economy, a true rust belt city.  At least it is cheap.

The 104th best place to live in in the United States a couple of places above Youngstown.

She has such deep Cleveland roots.  No friends or family except for her new husbands.   Far away from the one son who she still has a relationship with.   Not sure the other son has any plans to ever visit Cleveland.  Far away from any potential grandchildren.  Good luck with that.

Commit adultery, marry the sickly boss and get a free trip to Cleveland.

Karma is a beautiful thing.

https://youtu.be/yJMa20xXykI

Portugal is a beautiful place.

I loved the scenery, the fantastic beaches, and travelling with my partner Brigid.  

A few photos from the trip

Thought for the day

I am at the point in life where you start thinking about all of the places you would like to visit and then start thinking of how many healthy years of travel I am likely to have to look forward to.

Then look at my work schedule and my bank account.

The math is not adding up.

Thought for the day

Death in the afternoon 2018

It is a cool evening in Madrid.

A horn blows.

A sign tells the crowd the bull weighs 483 kilos.

The bull enters the ring.  It is a foreign place and he scans his surroundings.  He is not intimidated, he is master of his world.  No body fucks with a bull.  He knows this.

The horns are sharp and wide.  His body is pure muscle. 

He trots with confidence.  There are several matadors around the perimeter of the ring.  They pop out of their protected wall slots in the ring and waive a pink cape at the bull.

There are six quick young matadors in the ring armed with capes and dressed in ornate outfits with bold colors.  He charges the men.  The matadors, like gladiators before them, take turns drawing the bull to them.  They wave their capes and the bull charges. They seek the safety of their slots in the wall when it gets too intense.

The bull is pissed off but has no fear. He charges, they draw him into their cape.  They retreat.  They repeat. 

A bull has a strange fascination with the cape.  The matador is standing inches away from the cape but the bull declines to avert his attention from the cape.  If his focus was to change the matador would be gored.  The danger that bull will realize his enemy is not the cape and attack the matador makes some compelling viewing. 

The bull is annoyed but strong and proud.  He charges again and again.  Part of me is rooting for the bull.

 

A horn blows.

Two large horses and riders enter the ring.  The horses wear padding.  The men carry spears.

The bull takes aim at one of the horses.  The horse is blindfolded and does not react to the charge.   The bull blasts the horse broadside sticking his horns into the padding.  The horse adjusts its balance but barely moves.  The bull plows into the side again.  The rider moves his foot forward to avoid a horn and stabs his spear into the back of the bull.  He leans into the spear driving it deeper in the bulls’ back.  The bull pushes again against the horse.  The rider removes his spear and blood seeps down the side of the bull. 

The bull may be bleeding but he is still strong, proud and pissed off.  A matador approaches the bull and diverts his attention.  The bull make a run at the matador’s cape.  The matador easily steps aside.  

A matador slips into the protected slots in the wall and grabs two small spears decorated with colorful ribbons.  His mission is to stick these into the bulls back.  The matador inches towards the bull which is being distracted by two other matadors and their capes.  He is wary and exposed.  When the time is right he lunges to the bull, avoiding the horns, and stabs the bull in the back with these spears.  This seems like the most dangerous part of the ritual as he is not protected by a cape to distract the bull.  At points he is directly in front of the angry bull.

After stabbing the bull they grab two more spears and repeat the procedure.

A horn blows.

The bull is bleeding and the muscles in his back have been damaged.  He is breathing heavier yet still is capable of goring anyone or anything in his way.

It is time to finish off the bull.

A lone matador remains in the ring with his cape.  It is now one man against one bull.

He attracts the bull.  The bull runs at the cape which is pulled over his body.  The bull turns and they do it again.  The bull charges the cape and gets its horn momentarily stuck in the ground which almost causes the bull to cartwheel.

The matador is getting closer to the bull and showing his control over the more frustrated bull.  The bull passes inches from the matador.  The matador stands in front of the tired bull with his cape at his side.  When the bull charges it still goes for the cape and not the man.

The bull is breathing hard and has lost some of his energy.  After displaying his dominance the matador goes to the wall and collects his long thin sword.

A few more passes by the bull through the cape.  The matador is sizing him up.  He lets the bull come close and spears the bulls behind the head with his sword.

The bull takes a few steps and collapses.  Another sword is placed into his spine. 

He is dead.

A horn blows.

A team of mules come out and they hook up a harness to the bull and drag him out of the arena. 

Ernest Hemmingway once said:  “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”

It is perilous old-school entertainment.  Matadors are routinely gored.  A wrong move can result in death or injury. 

The bull has a shot to inflict pain or death on the matador.  It rarely succeeds and ultimately dies.   It is a perhaps a better death than being electrocuted in a slaughter house. 

Hemmingway is correct that this is not a game.  The same can be said for motorsports, the insane feats on You Tube or the increasing amount of X games that push the danger with higher jumps and more flips.  These “sports” are unnecessary, but get millions of views.

These unnecessary acts of death defying bravery is an ancient tradition.  Humans have been entertaining themselves with death since the gladiators. 

I watched motorsports this weekend.  I would go to a bullfight again.

Thought for the day

A good question on a cold night.

I

Ole and Sven are Minnesota Vikings Fana and so am I

Ole and Sven die in a snowmobiling accident, drunker than skunks, and go to Hell.

The Devil observes that they are really enjoying themselves. He says to them 'Doesn't the heat and smoke bother you? Ole replies, 'Vell, ya know, ve're from nordern Minnesooota, da land of snow an ice, an ve're yust happy fer a chance ta varm up a little bit, ya know.'

The devil decides that these two aren't miserable enough and turns up the heat even more.

When he returns to the room of the two guys from Minnesota , the devil finds them in light jackets and hats, grilling Walleye and drinking beer.

The devil is astonished and exclaims, 'Everyone down here is in abject misery, and you two seem to be enjoying yourselves?'

Sven replies, 'Vell, ya know, ve don't git too much varm veather up dere at da Falls, so ve've yust got ta haff a fish fry vhen da veather's dis nice.'

The devil is absolutely furious. He can hardly see straight Finally he comes up with the answer.

The two guys love the heat because they have been cold all their lives. The devil decides to turn all the heat off in Hell. The next morning, the temperature is 60 below zero, icicles are hanging everywhere, and people are shivering so bad that they are unable to wail, moan or gnash their teeth.

The devil smiles and heads for the room with Ole and Sven. He gets there and finds them back in their parkas, bomber hats, and mittens. They are jumping up and down, cheering, yelling and screaming like mad men.

The devil is dumbfounded, 'I don't understand, when I turn up the heat you're happy. Now its freezing cold and you're still happy. What is wrong with you two?'

They both look at the devil in surprise and say 'Vell, don't ya know, if hell iss froze over, dat must mean da Vikings von da Super Bow!'

Divorce is making families 66% larger

Interesting article from Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/divorce-is-making-american-families-66-bigger  By Ben Steverman

Thus far I have avoided that expansion.  That is not true for my sons who have acquired, I use that term loosely, a bunch of new step-relatives.

That is a lot of families.  The bonding may not work as the bonds are week and not necessarily supported by extended family.

I agree with the article that this certainly complicates relationships.  I do not think this is a good thing for our society.

"The rise in divorce and remarriage is driving this growth in family size. Over the past two decades, the divorce rate has doubled for older Americans. Almost 30 percent of people over 50 had been married more than once, according to a recent study by scholars at Bowling Green State University. About 40 percent of older Americans with children are in stepfamilies, according to survey data.

“People in stepfamilies are often unsure of what their obligations are to their stepkin,” said Bowling Green sociology professor Karen Benjamin Guzzo. “It’s not uncommon for individuals to feel like they have to choose how to spread resources across their biological and step-relatives.”

"Couples with adult stepchildren are 11 percentage points less likely to give time to their children, and 13 points less likely to receive time from kids.

“The increased availability of kin does not fully compensate for the weaker bonds among family members in step families,” the paper concludes."

Reminder:  Make good choices

Happiness

“What is happiness? It’s a moment before you need more happiness.” -Don Draper


I heard this quote on CNBC.  With the markets hitting all time highs, we all want more.  More money and more happiness.  I do not think it works that way.


A fictional marketer pretty well describes our short attention span.  Behind that quote is a smart screen writer.