Just a short, but sweet, note for today.

How often we Americans, especially in the last year, hear rumblings from abroad about the ill manner in which we are thought of by people in other parts of the world. Well here's a view from Australia that will warm you hearts America. John J. Ray is a PhD.......so he puts considerable thought into his writing. Enjoy.

Dr. Ray on Stupid Americans

Time moves on....

You saw, of course, that TeeVee legend Jack Paar has died. Most Bloggers, being of a younger age grouping probably weren't around when Jack was big news on TeeVee. I hope, however, that those who weren't took a minute to listen to the news reports and learn the immense contributions that he made to the way TeeVee is now for better or worse. I was a young sprout when he was on and wasn't allowed to stay up that late, nor watch "adult content" shows of that type. Which was tame compared to the general content on the tube today. It was in the halcyon days of black and white, when, if you got three TeeVee channels you were lucky or lived in a major market area.

The other major passing I noticed was that of Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, an NFL hall of famer from the early and mid 50's. I don't remember so much about Crazy Legs as, and this is hard to believe for anyone under 45, but we didn't get NFL games on TeeVee. I always did love his monicker though...he just seemed like the epitome of an NFL player. He and Bronco Nugurski. With names like those, you just had to be good. Also, on a personal note, my Sunday school teacher Hal Dean, had played with Crazy Legs in the early 50's when Hal was an offensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams. Hal also played for Ohio State when they won their first National Championship where he was coached by the legendary Paul Brown. I saw Hal this last year, crooked broken nose and all, and he still insprired some degree of awe in me, like if I couldn't recite my daily Bible verse, he'd break me down like an old shotgun.

Jack LaLanne....

Ha, Ha, We have a personalized, autographed picture of Jack LaLanne and you probably don't! I know you're jealous!

I remember seeing the original Jack LaLanne Show on black and white TeeVee when I was a kid. Quite honestly, at the time, I thought "what a hokey bunch of hooey", or something to that effect. Here's a guy in a black ballet outfit doing exercises with a chair for a prop accompanied by cheesy organ music of the type that you used to find on Sunday at the original Furr's cafeteria in Midland. Needless to say I didn't watch the show, but perhaps I should have because Jack and his lovely wife/assistant Elaine LaLanne were the originators of much of the fitness business as we know it today.

In fact Jack invented many of the machines which are now common place in modern fitness centers. And he made it OK for ordinary men and especially women to go to such places. He transformed the old boxing style "gyms" into accepted establishments that showed the common man how to exercise, eat right and make fitness a lifelong process. And he hasn't let his age [89 y.o.] slow him down.

For those to young to remember Jack, go to his website linked above. His accomplishments and some of his antics are amazing. Like the time he towed 6 rowboats from Alcatraz to Fishermans wharf, swimming while handcuffed. At the age of 60. The signed photo reads, "To my new friends Wallace and Julie, you two are the greatest! Stay in shape always". As Julie mentioned, I wish he would have quit writing after the first sentence. The second one makes me feel guilty, compared to him!

What the heck happened....?

Over the past 36 hours I have been deluged with calls and emails wondering what the heck happened to Streams online and it's parent company Big Gold Dog.Com. For all 3 people who inquired, here is the answer. The answer can be summed up easily in two words. Network Solutions. You who are web literattzi will know exactly what I mean without further explanation. For those who are not web geek inclined here's how it works.

To have, hold and own a web domain [Dot.Com] you must register with a company authorized to allot web addresses and assign IP numbers. Every domain, be it .net .com .org .tv or .edu is assigned a unique set of numbers. Its IP address. This web address i.e. domain, must be renewed periodically with a monetary payment to the registrar who does no work for this payment, but will jerk your website off the air if not paid. This, in the past, has been through a company separate from the "hosting" company. Network Solutions was the original government sponsored clearing house for this function. After the web became a more mundane everyday place, and because Network Solutions [NetSol] had a monopoly the authorization to allot IP addresses was given to many more private providers. However, I conjecture that NetSol still maintains the bulk of registrations and therefore the records of individual domains. My origininal registrations had to go through them, and were still there.

The problem is, in my opinion, that NetSol was big, unwieldy and still thought of themselves as a monopoly. And so the service and useablity in a word....sucked. And in the main still does. Which brings us to the 36 hour downtime of Big Gold Dog. Com. The domain expired. Expired without a word of written or email notification to me. The problem was in the notification addressses. I had instructed them to change and update these the last time I went through this process on another website. Like many company's who think of themselves as the only game in town, I suppose they couldn't find the time to update the info I gave them, therefore and to wit, I didn't know the domain was due to expire. I manage 15 different domains and websites for companies and friends in addition to kind of having a somewhat real job, so I don't keep all the expiration dates on the forefront of my brain, what little there is left. The only way I came to realize the domain had expired was by the ERROR message in place of my website, and the fact that several people emailed on another account telling me my biggolddog.com address was being "bounced".

Anyway, all is well now, Streams, Big Gold Dog. Com and all affiliate sites are up and running and the domain email is in service again. I know this however, I'm going to use my free choice as a consumer and transfer all my domains over to my good Aussie friends at my host server Server101.Com. Martial, the owner, and his mates in Australia take good care of me. They send notices when credit cards expire or need updating. They send thank you notes for being their customer. They have instituted a really good workable spam suppression system, they are economical and they're good! And I can count on them to inform me well in advance when one of the domains under my care is about to expire. In other words they take care of their customers.

A big fat American problem....

Several months ago I was strolling down the aisle of the Albertson's supermarket when I spied a man in a wheelchair trying to retrieve an item from a frozen food case. He was hard to miss as he weighed in, I conjecture, at well over 350 lbs. As I approached I also noted that he was on an oxygen system attached to the wheelchair. My first thought was one of sympathy for him. It must be hard to be in a wheelchair and obviously in poor health. I was glad to see his wife walk up to assist him. She was hard to miss too. She must have tipped the scales at over 250 lbs. herself.

As I waited for them to finish and give me a chance to get into the display case, my attitude changed. They must have spent 4-5 minutes srcounging around the display case, the ice cream case, all the while loading sugar laden treats into their already crammed shopping cart. A cart I noted which contained super-sized bottles of old fashioned sugar sweetened sodas, "hungry man" extra portion fried chicken dinners, precooked "fat burgers" and a myriad of items that, if you were not in a wheelchair on oxygen.....would put you there.

Now this is America, land of bounty, and our constitution gives us the complete right to sample of this bounty each to our own desired consumption levels even if it means turning ourselves into fat gluttons. However what struck me about this couple was their clothing which had a rather familiar Salvation Army look to it. How could these people afford an overburdened shopping cart full of rich treats? And more importantly how were they paying for their obviously more than average medical care?

I didn't see them check out, so I don't know that they used food stamps or other government assistance, but I would bet a box of Krispie Kreme doughnuts that they weren't paying for their own medical care. And the article referenced below bears me out on this. Read it. You are paying for obesity....to the tune of about $39 billion a year -- or about $175 per person. I don't know about you.....but it sends me off the richter scale to be out $175 so a pair of obese slobs can be given wheelchairs so they can go and empty the ice cream case.

The Cost of Obesity

Mr. Dean's whacked out opus.....

A short note of comment on Howard Dean. Idealism is a noble characteristic. Fanatical whacko'ism is just plain crazy.

Julie had MSNBC on the TeeVee as she drifted off into slumberland last night, and I left it on when I came to bed after winning the Grand Prix Championship on PlayStation2. The program was a recap of the Iowa caucuses and I wanted to see how it came out and how the winners and losers would portray their standings. I saw that Senator Edwards guy, whom I would not recognize if he and I were the only ones in line at the Taco Bell. He sounded sincere and sure enough glad to have come in second. I'm sure he was. No one knows a thing about him, except he is the guy who wants to run a friendly campaign.

And then came the Richard Dreyfus clone, Howard [my shirtsleeves are rolled up 'cause I'm a workin' man] Dean. If I had a suspicion that there is something wrong with his brain before, I'm certain of it now. Ranting about how glad he was to have come in a distant third, he led his minions in a recitation of all the states they are going to visit and how he was going to take back America. To get a good idea about how this all played with the masses, read the comments at Tim Blair, in of all places....Australia. Good by Howie.

Visitor from down under....

Thanks to Slatts! from Geelong Australia for stopping by the the webcam this evening. Slatts! was treated to some exciting action of me personally sitting in my personal chair doing nothing. I think that the cost of the webcam has been vindicated by this cross cultural exchange. As he said in his email while viewing....."I'm glad to know the back of your neck is not red".

Slatts!, or Bernard Slattery as he is known to his wife, is the astute newpaperman who introduced me to my personal sister city of Coober Pedy, Australia. Which brings to mind a rather striking coincidence I had several weeks ago. Two people whom I know from Midland have recently been to Coober Pedy. The first was a close friend of Julie's whom we had dinner with on News Years Eve. He mentioned that he frequently visits "down under" and I, of course, brought up my relationship with Gary and the good folks in Coober Pedy. His eyes lit up when he announced that he had been there several times and except for getting into a fight at a bar within four hours of his arrival there.....he really loves the place. He commented that the folks and ambience there reminded him of West Texas, which is the very thought that I had when I named CP as my sister city. My hunch was correct as it turned out.

Just days after I had this encounter, I was meeting friends at The Gnu Coffee Shop in downtown Midland where I know the owner John. John has been traveling a lot in the last year, and sends postcards to his employees and patrons as he travels. As I was glancing over his latest batch, I noticed a recent one from Coober Pedy. Turns out John is touring Australia and had spent several days there. I hope he didn't get into a fight.....he's not a very big guy. I look forward to his return to catch up on the news from Coober Pedy. Gary, the editor of the online Coober Pedy News has been stymied of late in his access to the news.

This and that.....

I know that secretly some friends of mine chide my foolishness for having a WebCam. Fair enough, it is not a necessity of life by any means. But I like photography and sometimes I do new things in the digital realm just for the challenge and thrill of seeing if I can accomplish the task. Besides, we at home on Bedford Drive have fun with it, so we deem it worthwhile. But now, for the naysayers, comes word that a woman's webcam has saved her life. Kicked by her horse and incapacitated, Bev Holzrichter of Iowa credits her webcam viewers with helping her to receive assistance.

So, if you are a viewer of our webcam, The Bedford Cam© and you see me fall out of my chair in my underwear and hit my head [not to be confused with sleeping at the desk], please feel free to call for help. Now I remember why we got it. It's a medical response device.

*********************

And this in from the Associated Press:
(AP) -- "White men still dominate university professorships at the nation's top science and engineering schools, even where many of the doctoral students are women and minorities, according to the results of a survey released Thursday".

While I'm sure this release is designed to make liberals and minorities seeth with indignation, my thought is that this could mean that women and minorities are smarter than white men. In my experience top engineering and science workplace jobs pay one whole enchilada more than smarmy professorships. Just a thought.

Howard Dean leads the band....

Mr. Dean's Opus...

I don't normally comment directly on things political for several reasons. First, there are people, many people, on the web who do it more effectively than I do and, quite frankly, I get tired of reading about it. However after watching and reading about the campaign of one Mr. Howard Dean, I could no longer hold back from an essay on the subject. The more I see of the man, the more I am struck by one thing.

Mr. Dean is the long lost, and given up for dead, brother of actor Richard Dreyfuss. Not only is the physical similarity striking, but the characteristics and mannerisms of his personna are straight from the Dreyfuss mold. Dreyfuss's stock in trade as an actor is playing the kind of character that immature women find adorable. The bumbling numbnuts who is well intentioned but because of his ineptitude is always held back from being a real success until the end of the film when he accepts who he is and finds limited happiness in that. He plays with distinction the smarmy misunderstood nice guy who gets trampled on by more "type A" personalities. The man for the thinking people of the world, who just don't quite have the skills nor ability to influence things themselves.

And so it is with Howard Dean. His missteps in coherent speech, his quoting of bogus facts, his self acknowledged expertise in such areas as the Bible and national defense, all could be Oscar roles for Dreyfuss. He presents himself as the little guy fighting the system, Mr. Holland trying to give you, the common man, a little bit of his learning. He's smarter than you, he knows what you need. If I were to see Howard Dean on the street, a pudgy little strutting bantam rooster in a short sleeve shirt and tie, I would think........"Band Director". Not that I have anything against band directors, but I don't think I want one to be our President in these slippery times.

Ah Wilderness.....

Mountain lions are running amok! Beware mountain lions. Run, as fast as your legs will carry you, there are wild animals out in the ah.....well wild.

The news media has another story of mayhem among us. I've seen mountain lion attack survivors interviewed, mountain lion rescuers interviewed, mountain lion experts interviewed. The talking heads talk with a tsk, tsk atitude. "While bike riding in the Wilderness area, Joe Q. Public, actually encountered a wild animal." How could this happen? Wild animals in the actual wild attacking poor innocent humans. Something must be done. Now unfortunately, I suppose, a vast majority of the new urban America didn't have a clue that mountain lions, coyotes, woodchucks and the like actually exist in close proximity to humans. They do, and not necessarily by the animals choice. We keep building in their habitat and pushing into their natural territory. What do we expect? Especially in California where in the area of the "incident" a goodly part of their natural territory was burned to the ground partly through human inattention.

In Texas the mountain lion population increase has actually been a success story. Hunted to near extinction, the Sonoran Desert version of the lion is slowly starting to repopulate the Big Bend and Davis Mountain regions of the state. After much hard work I might add. And what threat do they present? One study showed that from 1890 to 1990, there were 11 known mortalities by mountain lions in the United States and Canada combined. I dare say that there are that many traffic deaths in Los Angeles a day.

Much like the "sharks are coming" media frenzy of several summers ago, the mountain lion frenzy is utter nonsense. Just another news event about nothing. I'm sorry for the bikers injuries, but if you want to get the "wilderness experience" on your bike.....be ready for it all.

And in another of my five decades of photography series....here's a close encounter wilderness experience of my own:

Yellowstone Bear, 1963

Previous:
Mesa Verde #1
Mesa Verde #2

More pathetic moaning.....

I know that if you were here, you would ask me how I'm doing today. Since you're not, I'll just tell you. I'm doing just several steps above wretched.

Having continuing sinus problems due to our climate here, it is particularly gauling to have the further and added discomfort of a cold. This too shall pass, but let me describe how I would prefer to spend the weekend. It would be in an oxygen tent hooked up to a strong drip IV antibiotic, laced with morphine. Morphine being named after the the god Morpheus, the god of sleep. I'd like to be knocked out for several days, waking up cured of the cold and sinus infection and completely rested. Instead..... I'll be getting up at 7:30 A.M. to go to young Jack's first church league basketball game of the year. And may a pox fall on the house of the person who scheduled a church league basketball game at 8:30 on a Saturday morning.

Pathetic update...

Updates to this digital space have been few and far between lately. And the news today is pathetic and half hearted. I have excuses for my sloth however, very valid excuses. For one I, once again, have some sort of respiratory distress, better known as a cold. My second one this year, or rather within a year since we just started 2004. Colds in my life have been few and far between and two within a year is unheard of. I blame it on my deteriorating sinuses, dust in West Texas, noxious fumes from Mexico and probably global warming. Cold's render my brain into a fog, even more so than at most times. I have trouble getting started on things, and in fact, have problems delving into the deep thinking required to write something of interest.

My other excuses include, "hey.....I'm married now and I have family responsibilities" and "I've become addicted to PlayStation2© Formula One Gran Prix Racing". Don't bad mouth me for this. If you are a guy, you too would become addicted to PS2 Gran Prix Racing if you had it; if you are a woman just compare it to shopping. The thrill of it will capture you. I've always loved auto racing, and some people know that in my prior, younger life I actually went for a week to the Bob Bondurant Racing School in California where I learned the basic skills of auto racing. I won't dwell on this, but I have to tell you that PS2 Gran Prix Racing brings back the thrills. It is very realistic and requires some skill and practice. Now all I need is a good "racing wheel" that is compatible with PS2. The one I bought is junk. If you or the geek in your life knows of a good car racing wheel controller please let me know....I'll be in your debt.

In other digital news, the WebCam is up and functioning well, although coverage of the household activities is spotty. There have been some great moments of the Big Gold Dog sleeping and if you time it right in the evening, you'll see the bride or me at the keyboard. And for those interested I've got some pictures of The Big Wedding up at: Wedding Photos

Live action webcam......!

You asked for it and now you have it, live action from the headquarters of Streams. I finally got my Christmas "toy" from Julie configured today. The webcam is now running, providing you with the ultimate in reality based media entertainment. You'll see dramatic shots from our office, the hallway behind the office and the view up and down Bedford Drive. Inside you'll see Pancho, Julie, Jack and Tres with occasional appearances by Daphne, the outdoors dog. Outside, you'll see crazed speeding teenagers, crazed speeding 30's something women in their SUV's, dramatic weather shots and squirrels scratching at the windows.

The images are set to update every 30 seconds when the camera is on. We have yet to set a schedule and I'm not sure whether we will leave it on all day, so for now, you're best bet to catch some real action is probably during the evening hours of say.....8 p.m. till 11 p.m CST. And as a real treat, I'll soon be testing out the live "streaming" video capabilities of the system. Perhaps we'll have a news conference soon.

For the Geeks in the crowd, the hardware is a Logitech Pro 4000 camera system with their Image Studio software. The server pull software is by WebCam32 and the reloading capability on the website is via a Java Script I generated with Team Anfy software. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised that when I put it all together it worked like a champ the first time up. I recommend the Logitech camera.....the pictures are, I think, good as compared to other PC webcams I've seen, and it also takes great AVI formatted movies. The WebCam32 software is a snap to use, and has many cool features that I have not yet utilized. Like streaming video. I can't wait. Hope you'll visit us often at: The Bedford Cam