The Morning Grind

A few thoughts for you to grind on while you enjoy your morning beverage of choice.
According to legend Kaldi an Ethiopian goat herder noticed his goats became more energetic (jumping/dancing goats) when they nibbled the bright red berries of a certain bush. Kaldi chewed some berries and as a result took some to an Islamic holy man in a nearby monastery. The holy man disapproved and threw them into the fire,an enticing aroma billowed from the berries. The roasted beans were raked from the embers,ground up and dissolved in hot water,yielding the first cup of coffee.
Kopi luwak is a coffee so delicious it retails for a hundred dollars a pound,but before you decide you will have to try it you might want to know the process behind it. In places like the Philippines and Indonesia civets (a weasel like critter) are fed whole coffee cherries. The outer fruit is digested but the beans themselves come out the other end. Something happens to the beans caused by the civet's digestive juices. Farmers collect the droppings and thoroughly wash and dry them. The end result is a brew with rich aroma,full body and no bitterness. I am all for thinking outside the box,but why would anyone decide to dig through weasel feces for coffee beans??
One final thing to chew on in regards to coffee. During the Civil War the union designed a gun with a hand crank coffee grinder in the stock. One solider in each company could carry the coffee grinder gun and do the bean prep for the rest of the company. The guns were deemed impractical for battlefield use,but surviving specimens can fetch up to $45,000.

Debatable Genius

There is some debate on the inventor of the cat flap or cat door,but it is most commonly thought that Isaac Newton should be credited. A rather funny story about his invention claims Newton made a large hole for the mother cat, (whose alleged name was Spithead) and a smaller hole for the kittens not realizing the kittens would follow the mother through the larger one. A neighbor of Newton's said "Whether the story is true or not there are in the door to this day two plugged holes of the proper dimensions for egress of cat and kittens". True or not it makes a fine story.
Today technology has made advances in cat doors,ranging from weighted flaps,magnetic flaps,to the more sophisticated electromagnetic flaps that detect a magnet on the cats collar. The top of the line cat flap has a reader to read a cat's microchip implant rather than the cat having to wear a collar.

A Missed Opportunity

I have been to Crater Lake several times and never spotted one of these critters, but with the amazing lake to look at a person could easily overlook the pika. The pika,aka rock rabbit or cony are only found in the western part of North America. Despite the nickname they don't look much like their cousin the rabbit. They have small rounded ears,no tail and bodies about the size of a tennis ball. They are the smallest member of the rabbit family,and it is believed they evolved from a Siberian critter that crossed the former land bridge between Asia and Alaska. They eat flowers,grasses and other plants which they store in haystacks which are easier to spot that the pikas themselves. They  sound like a dog's squeaky toy when they vocalize. Their ability to keep their bodies warm in fierce conditions now may pose a threat to the pika. They are not yet listed as endangered,but they are being studied to determine if climate changes will effect them.

Face It

I was tempted to use a book title for today's blog ("A Face in the Crowd") but decided that if I am going to start a new challenge using book titles I want to start it with a new month.
Most of us were warned by our mothers when we were young to stop making faces or they would stay that way. Today's blog seems to disprove that theory...or maybe not?
The English Dialect Dictionary defines gurn as "to snarl like a dog;to look savage;to distort the countenance". The Oxford Dictionary suggests Scottish derivation,related to grin.
In the US it is usually just called making a face,or pulling a face. In the UK it is called a gurn or chuck and they are a rural English tradition. The most notable is held annually at the Egremont Crab Fair,which dates back to 1267. The origins of the gurning competition are not clear.
The competitions are held regularly in some villages with contestants traditionally framing their faces through a horse collar-known as "gurnin through a braffin". Those with the greatest gurn capabilities often have no teeth as this provides greater jaw movement. In 2010 Anne Woods was finally accepted into the Guinness Book after winning the championship 27 times.
I may not be able to write a blog tomorrow as it is the day of the change over from the evil Century Link,and who knows how long or how well that will go? If not, I will be back as soon as possible.

Privacy?

I know it has been around a week since the Prince Harry in Vegas escapade,and I told myself when it happened that I was NOT going to blog about it,but I guess I was wrong again. I can't get it out of my mind what it must be to be born into a position like that,where your every move is pretty much open to the public,always under scrutiny and in the case of being literally born into it makes it all the more awful. The guy is little more than a kid and really wasn't doing anything that unheard of for someone that age,and certainly no one would have given it a second thought if it was just some nobody whose naked pictures popped up on the Internet. Most people probably think that being born with a silver spoon in your mouth must be the greatest thing there is,sorry no amount of money could get me to trade in my private life for being continually in the spotlight. It is any wonder that so many celebrities turn to drugs and excesses,and that so many die young. It doesn't seem like much fun to me to live a life that really doesn't belong to you. I much prefer my life of obscurity.

The Grimm Facts

This is just a little something I happened across that I thought was interesting. Jacob Grimm one of the Brothers Grimm of fairy tale fame, also made a linguistics discovery know as Grimm's Law. He published a book of his studies titled "Deutsche Grammatik" ("Germanic Grammar") which in a nutshell is a description formulated by Grimm pointing out prominent correlations between Germanic and other Indo-European languages of Europe and western Asia. I have often noticed this on my trivia site,that you can get pieces of other language by their similarities to the English counterparts. Of course the correct pronunciation is a whole other ballgame!

To Bee or not to Bee

I read something a few days ago about bees having to mourn their keeper by the hives being draped in black cloth or they would fly away or die,so this has been simmering on the back burner for a bit.
Bees have long been regarded as wise and even holy insects,having foreknowledge of secret matters. Bees have also been thought to be divine messengers and their constant humming a hymn of praise. Because of these things it is considered unlucky to kill a bee.
If a bee flies into the house it is a sign of good luck,or the arrival of a stranger;however for it to be lucky you have to allow the bee to stay or fly out on its own. A bee landing on someones hand is believed to foretell of money,on the head means the person will rise to greatness. It was once thought that bees stung those who swore in front of them,and also they would attack an adulterer or unchaste person and that a virgin could walk through a swarm without being stung.
There is believed to be a strong link between bees and their keepers,they don't prosper around anger or hatred and will either die or fly away. It was also thought that the bees needed to be informed of births,weddings and deaths in their master's family. It was especially important for the bees to be informed of their owners death. The widow or eldest son would strike each hive three times with the door key and say"The master is dead!" In other areas the hives were put into mourning by having black crepe draped around them.

The Joke is Nearly Over

I finally reached the end of my rope yesterday with my telephone/Internet provider. I have been a steady customer with the same company since the early 70's and for over 30 years at my current location...but none of that means anything to them,it is easier for them to look upon me like something less than savory that they stepped in. The reason for my contact with said company was I had received my bill online and after making a change to my account last month that was supposed to lower my bill from $96 to $88 the bill was suddenly $119,so another call ensued. After an hour of giving the same information over and over I was told they couldn't help me with the problem and I needed to call customer service,which is where I had thought I had called in the first place. I said yes,I would be calling them as soon as I lined up another carrier I would be calling to cancel my service.
Not to name names,but Century Link,aka Qwest, aka, Pacific NW Bell,and I believe before that simply Bell Telephone has never been a very customer friendly company,in fact to go one further if there was a way for them to conduct business without any human contact what so ever they would be overjoyed. I know this first hand as I worked for them for a period of time in the mid 70's. There was almost a union strike  and the union had T-shirts made that said "Ma Bell is a Dirty Mother",and even through the multiple name changes that statement remains true. I need to mention at this point that I find it hard to trust a company that is changing its name as often as any career criminal would find need to change theirs. I would also like to clarify the word "bundle",they use it in a way that is meant to make you think of something like "bundle of joy" or another pleasant image...in reality it means that they intend to charge you a bundle for giving you the least they can for your money. Then there is the feeling that you have just signed a contract with Satan himself for your very soul when you agree to accept their terms,and they are like drug dealers,once they know you are dependent on them they tend to keep you at their mercy,or rather lack of mercy. So this morning I went elsewhere and arranged for the same services that I have been getting through Century Link plus my TV which was not included in Century Link's billing and the grand monthly total for my new services will be $68,except for the first month with will be higher because of installation. They were very nice and I don't even have to contact the previous carrier to discontinue my phone with them,I will however have to call them to disconnect the Internet. I can only hope they have a policy in place that says they have to ask customers why they are switching because they will be the ones hanging on the phone for hours on end if they do,and hopefully it will be recorded and maybe actually save someone the same grief in the future,though I am not going to hold my breath on that.

Low Life

A new nematode species has been discovered 2.2 miles deep in the earth,before this discovery only microbes were known to occupy those depths,which are what the devil worm feeds on. The worm was first found in a South African gold mine,but it took considerable time and effort to determine if the worm had been tracked in by miners or had come out of the rock. Evidence was found that the worms had been there thousands of years surviving the crushing pressure and high heat of the depths. Not only does this extend the boundary of multi cellular life on our planet,it may extend to life on other planets.

Horse of a Different Color

The quagga was originally thought to be an individual species in 1778. Because of the variation in coat patterns (no two zebras are alike) it was hard to determine which animals were true species,subspecies or variants. Before all the particulars were sorted out the quagga had been hunted to extinction for meat,hides and to preserve feed for domesticated stock. The last wild quagga was probably shot in the late 1870's,the last specimen in captivity died August 12,1883.
The quagga was the first extinct creature to have its DNA studied,and recent genetic research has revealed it not to be a separate species but a sub-species of the plains zebra. The quagga lived in the drier parts of South Africa on grassland.
The good news is the Quagga Project was started (1932-2006) in South Africa by selective breeding from plains zebra stock. In January,2005 Henry was born the first quagga like foal,the goal of the project is to restore the quagga into their natural habitat.

Name Game

From my earliest memories I can recall naming things,one of my many quirks. It may have started with a bantam hen that was given to me,or maybe the parakeet I received for my 5th birthday. It has progressed over the years to the point where I name vehicles and even some inanimate objects. But names you hear everyday?how often do you think about them and how they came about?
Today we will look at the name California,the most common explanation of how California got its name is from a 1510 romance novel by Spanish author Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo titled Las Sergos de Esplandian (The Adventures of Esplandian). In the novel a mythical island is described whose only inhabitants are beautiful Amazon warriors ruled by Queen Calafia. Since the only metal found on the land is gold,they had tools and weapons made of gold. The name of the island was California.
A second possibility is an epic poem written in Old French from around 1140-1170. The poem mentions a place name Califerne.
The third and least romantic is from the Catalan words cal and forno which mean hot and oven,for some reason I favor this one over the other two.

Scandals of Yesteryear

John Quincy Adams was the 6th President of the US,he was the son of John Adams the 2nd President and called himself JQA to avoid any confusion. Adams followed a rigorous physical regimen throughout his life. Every morning he woke at 5 AM (4:15 in the summer) to begin his routine. He swam naked in the Potomac river,he was a good swimmer and could swim for 50 minutes and kept increasing the time until he could swim for 80 minutes,but decided not to try for longer. Anne Royall,the first US professional journalist,knew of his morning swims and after being refused interviews time after time,took his clothes and sat on them until she had her interview. She was the first female to interview a president. It seems to me that his swimming naked in those times (1825-1820) would have rivaled any of our more current presidential scandals,but apparently the years have diminished the impact of his little quirk. JQA and Theodore Roosevelt both refused to be sworn in with their hands on the Bible when they took the oath of office. Adams was 5 foot 7 inches tall and had a high shrill voice,he also suffered from depression (you would think the endorphins from the exercise would have helped). He was the first president with a middle name. He was also the first president to have his photo taken.

Less Than Humane

To start this story at the beginning I have to tell what transpired about 5 years ago. I grew concerned about the deer and raccoon population in town and called the Department of Fish and Wildlife. While discussing the problem I pointed out that many people were feeding these wild animals and that was part of a potential problem with the animals over breeding because of plentiful food supply,I also warned that if something wasn't done to curb the population boom that eventually their predators would follow their prey,which would be cougars. That has all come to pass now as nothing was done then and now the cougars have made their appearance on the scene...now people are concerned and want laws passed prohibiting the feeding of wild animals (a little like closing the barn door after the cows have got out) and wanting to know what to do about the over population problem. I am not jumping in this time as  they are too stupid to think of putting out salt licks with birth control in the mix then maybe the cougars should just have them for dinner. But wait,the story gets worse.
Last week  the paper ran a story about an 80 year old woman that was feeding a feral cat colony,(and providing litter boxes which she cleaned daily,and also taking them for vaccines and neutering) down along the Riverwalk on the east end of town,and they were wondering if the not feeding wild animals should be applied to that practice...HELLO,cats,even feral cats are not wild animals, they have been domesticated at some point. These poor animals have been dumped there by people that couldn't even bother to take them to the shelter where they could be properly cared for and with any luck eventually be placed in homes. A group of us were talking about the whole sad story when one of the more entitled among us said that she didn't think they should be there,nor did she think it was alright for bums to sleep in the blackberry bushes around the area. Not to mention that she also thought the blackberries should be removed. Excuse me,but this is not her personal garden and if walking by that area offends her delicate olfactory senses she should simply walk elsewhere. Not to mention that it is public property and the bums have just as much right there as anyone,has she no compassion for either her fellow man or animals? What about the 80 year old woman? I am betting that the relationship with the cat colony is of a symbiotic nature and would harm her as much as the cats.

Pluto and the Easterbunny

When I first thought of this title my mind went on to make a strange cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse's dog Pluto and Bugs Bunny playing the part of the Easterbunny. A little side note,Bugs Bunny is a Looney Tunes/Warner Bros. creation that was influenced by an early Disney character,Max Hare. Today's blog isn't really about either of them!
Pluto the ex-planet has some dwarf planet pals and that makes me feel better about the demotion from planet to dwarf planet. Makemake,aka 136472 and initially known as 2005 FY is a dwarf planet about 2/3 the size of Pluto. Before those names the team that discovered Makemake used the codename "Easterbunny" because it was discovered shortly after Easter. The name Makemake,the creator of humanity and god of fertility in the mythos of the Rapanui,the native people of Easter Island,was chosen to preserve the object's connection with Easter. It is the second brightest object in the Kuiper belt after Pluto. It is also the third largest known trans-Neptunian object (TNO) after Eris and Pluto. Its orbital period is 310 years.

Another One Bites the Dust?

Hah! I bet you thought I was going to start a new song title challenge,nope though I have been considering if it would be possible to use book titles, specifically Stephen King titles for a whole month,but that is still in the thinking about stage. I do believe that this song title was a Queen song,but that is not what this is about.
My house is situated within spitting distance of a 4.2 mile long bridge between Washington and Oregon,and for some reason it seems to attract quite a number of suicides and people just leaving their cars on the bridge and disappearing. The latest of these occurrences happened early this morning around 3,according to the paper the police were dispatched at 3:24 so I assume that the car was abandoned around 3. The police found a dog in the car,keys in the ignition, and a woman's purse with ID. The Coast Guard searched both from helicopter and boat for 2 hours and found nothing. I would not be too optimistic of the outcome,they never seem to turn out well...but then again maybe it is an area frequented by aliens and that is what is behind all the weirdness associated with the bridge? Yes,that is my vote! Alien abductions.

To DC or Not to DC

The first Washington Monument (designed to honor George Washington) is located in Baltimore,MD. In 1815 a statue was designed by Robert Mills,who also designed the Washington Monument in Washington,DC at a later date. The 178 foot doric column has a ground floor museum with information about George Washington as well as about the construction of the monument. 228 steps to the top of the monument provides an excellent view of the city. The monument was closed in June of 2010 for safety reasons,missing mortar and rusted support brackets. Initially the closure was to last three months but as of December 2011 it is still closed. Does anyone know if it has reopened yet?

Parking / No Parking

First off today I like to occasionally thank my continuing readers and welcome new readers,I have noticed  more people in France reading along. I don't care if you laugh at me,or laugh with me, the important thing is to laugh. Also for those of you who may wish to comment,I would love to hear from you but I don't get comments unless you are a follower of the blog,or read from my Facebook page.
Today is about parking as indicated by the title (okay,the titles don't always relate to the subject directly but I usually get around to tying it in somehow). I heard on Millionaire that the department store Babies "R" Us has privileged parking spots for expectant mothers,and I wondered how that would work? Considering that most of the shoppers would be pregnant women how could all the spots be select? And how could they tell if a woman was pregnant...I mean she could not be showing yet,or on the other end of the scale could be obese, but either way how would they know? Women of non-childbearing age need not apply.
Now for the no parking portion of the blog...I live on a hill which is great for the most part, good view and secluded, of course the drawbacks are the possibility of a slide and getting down the hill in winter weather. Today the neighbors are having a city lot that has overgrown laurel trimmed down to enable their view I was happy to see that they were only topping it and not taking it out completely as the roots play an important part in preventing slides. The people they hired to do the trimming arrived this morning in 3 different rigs (3 people) 2 of these rigs were crew cab pick-ups the 3rd was a king cab. This is a narrow dead end street with limited parking but instead of parking 2 of the rigs in their employers driveway and one along the side of the road they parked all 3 along the road,one of which is still blocking another neighbors garage. First of all it indicates poor business sense for them to bring 3 rigs for 3 people (the equipment would have easily fit into any one of the rigs) and it just seems rude to assume they can take over the better part of the street when they could have just as easily parked one rig in a safe spot that would not have hindered our local traffic. I don't know maybe I am just getting to be a complainer,but things like that tend to get under my skin!

Here Kitty,Kitty

Madagascar is home to a variety of plant and animal life,a number of species unique to the island. The fossa is one of these species,it resembles a primitive cat,but is actually one of the largest members of the mongoose family. It can measure up to 6 feet long from nose to tip of tail and weigh up to 26 pounds. It is the largest carnivore native to Madagascar and feeds on lemurs,and most anything else available including wild pigs. It uses its long tail for balance while moving swiftly through the trees. It is a solitary animal,spends time in the trees and on the ground,it is also active both day and night. Fossas are presently endangered due to habitat loss.


Mongoose



This is a Fossa,doesn't look much like the mongoose does it?



Anti-Social

It is that day I dread most of the year...okay,maybe I don't give it that much thought but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It is the annual block party and though I don't really consider myself anti-social I am sure that is what the neighbors think,I think of myself as a social loner. I don't mind talking to people one on one or even a small group,but anymore than around 4 people and I just lose focus. To me it is like trying to watch a room full of televisions all on a different channel and knowing that at some point you will be asked about everything that is on. It also seems silly because no one really has anything to say to each other so everyone tries to force conversation and it just doesn't work for me. Don't even get me started on the time and place...but as long as I am started,the time is 2 pm and I have already had lunch by then and am not even ready for a snack yet,and they have it right in front of my house so if I do want to go anywhere I have to go before it starts and stay until it is over. If it were up to me I would say have it closer to the dead end of the street where there is paved parking on both sides of the street so there would be no need to block off the street,but once again what do I know?

Cute...or Not?

Echidnas (pronounced E-kid-na) along with the platypus are the only members of the monotreme family,which are mammals that lay eggs and produce milk for their young. They resemble the hedgehog and the porcupine. The echidna is found all over Australia and can survive a range of temperatures and habitats. They are mostly nocturnal. They have a normal short coarse hair to keep them warm and long sharp spines. They have a pointy snout and extremely long sticky tongue to catch ants and termites.
The Echidna have a unique breeding system,the male has a four-headed penis (a whole new meaning to penis envy!). During mating the heads on one side shut down and do not grow in size,the other two release semen into the females two branched reproductive tract. The heads used are swapped each time the male copulates. The female develops a pouch at the start of mating season,about 3 weeks after mating the female digs a burrow and lays one soft leathery like egg which she then deposits in her pouch. After 10 days the egg hatches and the young blind echidna attaches itself to a milk patch in the mothers pouch. Once spines develop the young (called a puggle) are evicted from the pouch and return to the burrow but continue to suckle for 6 months.

Accidental Cleaning

Do you ever hear of a new product and wonder how someone came up with the idea? That was my first thought when I heard about the Xeros dry cleaning (nearly) waterless washing machine. The amount of water used is 90% less than a conventional washing machine.
Okay,here comes the part that made me wonder,this new process uses nylon beads to clean. The idea for the polymer based cleaning came from a chemist working on how the dyeing of plastics used in fabrics ( I hadn't thought about plastics being used in fabrics either,though I suppose I should have). He realized that stains on clothes acted similar to dyes. The nylon beads attract stains to their surface then the stains diffuse into the center of the beads.
The savings in water,detergent and electricity,including cost of the beads is about 30% savings. The beads are reused until they reach their saturation point (about 100 uses) and are recycled. Since so little water is used there is no need for drying. 

Further Proof

Stop me if I am wrong,but I am thinking this is more proof of the Pangaea theory. Zealandia is a nearly submerged continental fragment that sank after breaking away from Australia 60-85 million years ago and separating from Antarctica 85-130 million years ago. It may have been completely submerged 23 million years ago and is still 93% submerged.
Zealandia,aka Tasmantis is larger than Greenland. New Caledonia is at the northern end of the ancient continent and New Zealand rises at the plate boundary that bisects it as shown in the map below.

Thunder Chicken

I ran across this bird on the trivia site I frequent and wanted to include it in a blog because of its unusual appearance.
The Great Blue Turaco (aka Psychedelic Turkey) has a stout body and long tail. Both sexes are identical and their coloration doesn't change during the year. They are poor fliers but excel at climbing and will hang upside down to reach fruit at the end of branches. They eat the fruit of trees and shrubs,and are found in sub-Saharan Africa,they are mainly  arboreal. The Great Blue Turaco live in groups of 6-20 birds. They build a flimsy nest of twigs and leaves where the female lays two blue- green eggs. Their population is stable at this time,but the status may change with deforestation.

Persian Pickles

I have always had a fondness for the paisley pattern (I also love pickles). In high school the best dressed,and possibly best teacher wore paisley ties which also contributed to his "cool" factor. There are many thoughts on basis of the design,yin and yang,teardrops,young palm fronds,pine cones,pears and kidney shaped. The pattern is sometimes called "Persian pickles" by American quilters. Paisley is of Persian origin and was initially woven into shawls. In the 19th century soldiers returning from India brought home cashmere and silk shawls and the design was in demand. The weavers of Paisley in Renfrewshire,Scotland became the foremost producers of these shawls and the design got its English name from the town.

To Hair is Human

War is usually caused by one of two things,greed or religion. You would think it would be an easy thing to deal with...just get rid of the causes. Of course that isn't going to happen or it would have happened long before now.
Some interesting things about different religions,most religions don't pay much attention to what the Bible says about haircuts which is,"no razor hall touch his head...He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long" also in a different book of the Bible "They shall not make baldness on their heads." So if you are going to take the Bible seriously,you what? go by the parts you think are serious? The Rastafarians take it seriously plus incorporate African freedom, refusing to use combs,razors and scissors. The Sikh also believe in unshorn hair,but the difference is one of their codes of conduct include a comb.
To get away from the hair topic I find it interesting that there are religions that base their beliefs on eggs being how the world was formed,one is Chinese Phan Ku,the other Tahitian Ta'Aroa though the stories that explain the beginnings differ. A side note to these beliefs is that the Big Bang Theory is also about an egg like object that expanded until it created the universe. No guessing who has the story right.

Treasures Galore

On July 29 my blog was about Oak Island and what is referred to as the Money Pit,it was titled Island Girl. I stated that I didn't think I could go along with the treasure theory and thought it was more than likely just a sinkhole. Since that time I have had two serendipitous occurrences that have been stuck in my head since it seemed a bit peculiar to write about one treasure and suddenly have two more things relating to that come to my attention.
First of all I received my new copy of Mental Floss magazine and one of the stories in it was about all the shipwrecked treasures that  for the most part have been untouched as there was no way, until recently, to safely retrieve them due of the depth of the various wrecks. There are approximately  3 million shipwrecks around the globe with at least 100 of them with potential values of around $50 million. The cost of the retrieval would cut into the profit considerably,and of course the countries that the ships belonged to often want their treasure back,but if you want to hunt treasure it is probably more worthwhile than risking life and limb at Oak Island.
The next thing that happened relating to treasure was I reread "The Gold Bug" by Edgar Allan Poe. If you have read the short story you might recall that the character William Legrand finds a gold bug and a scrap of parchment and figures out the location of Captain Kidd's buried treasure. One of the points he made when describing how he figured out the cryptogram was that he knew it would be simple as pirates were not know for being well educated,which in turn supports my previous thoughts on the Oak Island treasure...but then again who knows?

A Whole New Ball Game

Today's blog is also about dealing with a disability,but it was only by coincidence that it came to my attention after yesterday's blog.
Blind tennis was invented by Miyoshi Takei,at first he just tried hitting a regular tennis ball without considering where it would go,then he designed a special ball that is larger and rattles so blind players can track it (also referred to as playing by ear). It is played on a badminton court with string taped to the lines so players can "feel" the court. Players are expected to hit the ball after it bounces two to three times depending on their level of impairment. It is now being established as a sport in several countries,including: Britain,Korea,China,Taiwan and recently the United States,Russia and Australia. The first championship took place in Japan in 1990.
Miyoshi died at age 42 when returning home with his blind wife he fell in front of a train in Tokyo, so he will not get to see the sport he created advancing.

Amazing Animals

If you are a Dean Koontz fan you may have noticed pictures of him with his Golden Retriever Trixie. I am reading her memoir by Koontz A Big Little Life a memoir of a joyful dog named Trixie. Trixie had an early retirement for an organization called CCI due to an injury.
Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) was founded in Santa Rosa, California in July 1975. Since that time it has grown to a national organization. CCI is a non-profit organization that trains and provides assistance dogs for people with disabilities other than blindness. CCI trains four types of dogs,service dogs (mobility assistance),skilled companions trained to work with an adult or child with a disability,hearing dogs for deaf or hearing impaired and facility teams. Facility teams are a dog and partner that have interactions with disabled both physically and emotionally. The facility dogs also have most of the skills of service dogs.
They use purebred Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers as well as a cross between the two breeds known as a LGX. The dogs go through extensive evaluation before being accepted for the breeding program. When it comes time to raise the puppies volunteers take over at 8 weeks and are responsible for the all around care and training of around 30 commands until they are 16-18 months old at which time they are turned into the CCI center for advanced training. The 6-9 month advanced training begins with more screening and if the dogs don't pass they are released from the program.
I found the whole process a testament to humanity,both of the dogs and the volunteers and staff of the program.

August Advisor

I would like to welcome the Iceland reader...if you are still reading that is! I didn't notice Iceland on the Stats map until you lit it up,or course it is all white on white until a country signs on, so it is somewhat hard to see borders.
August 1. National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
2. India Pale Ale Day
3. National Watermelon Day
4. Twins Day Festival
5. National Mustard Day
6. Wiggle Your Toes Day
7. Sea Serpent Day
8. Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbors Porch Night (the reverse of stealing pumpkins)
9. National Polka Festival
10. Lazy Day (I can get behind this one)
11. Presidential Joke Day (they were all jokes in their own ways)
12. Middle Child's Day
13. Blame Someone Else Day
14. National Creamsicle Day
15. National Failures Day (you know who you are)
16. Bratwurst Festival
17. National Thrift shop Day
18. Bad Poetry Day
19. Potato Day
20. National Radio Day
21. National Spumoni Day
22. Be An Angel Day (I would just as soon keep breathing,but if you are interested see # 24
23. National Spongecake Day
24. Knife Day
25. Kiss And Make Up Day ( odd that it comes after knife day)
26. National Cherry Popsicle Day
27. Petroleum Day
28 World Sauntering Day
29. More Herbs,Less Salt Day
30. National Toasted Marshmallow Day
31. National Trail Mix Day
With this handy guide have a great August!

Half-Baked

If I were still using song titles for my blogs I would have used "Crazy Train" for today's. It was written by Ozzy Osbourne,Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley and was released on September 20,1980.
I don't want to beat this spider thing to death,heaven forbid, it is bad luck to kill spiders! But an alert reader (as opposed to a comatose reader) wondered how they got the spiders high on the various drugs that they introduced to them. My best guess is some kind of contact,whether they sprayed it on their pre-drugs web or just a surface that they were certain to end up on or maybe even the spider itself? I am relatively certain that they didn't pass out miniature drug paraphernalia and tell the spiders to go for it,but what do I know? Since I am back on about the webs,the ones on my porch look like a game of cat's cradle gone seriously wrong.
Ever notice how more on drugs,or even moron drugs sounds almost like war on drugs? Okay,I am getting off my point,and I do have one. I was reading a book set in Florida and the Baker Act was mentioned which is like the involuntary psychiatric hold for 72 hours in the rest of the US states,but I guess with all the extra crazies in Florida state they needed a special name for it? It made me wonder why that didn't work for me when my friend was going down the tubes and her husband had the final say on having her committed,from what I gathered anyone close to the situation can initiate the hold. Oh well,it is too late for her now. Something to file away for possible future use.