“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”
~ Voltaire
Dec 03
November 2017 – Quote of the Month
Nov 26
Staring at the Sun
Congratulations to the Staring at the Sun team that wrote, directed, acted, produced and worked on the movie for winning Best Feature Film at the Big Apple Film Festival.
As IMDB says about this humanist movie, “Two teenage Brooklyn Hasidic schoolgirls, unable to live under the strict rules of their community take the family car and run away across America to find what they assume will be the life of total freedom that lies beyond their insular world. They discover that a world where they don’t understand the game is more dangerous than a world with too many rules, and they try to make their way in a new context, under new identities, and within an entirely new lifestyle.”
BAFF’s 2017 Best Feature Film Winner, November 07, 2017 at the Tribeca Cinemas with winner Writer / Director Harry Greenberger accepting the award.
I’m looking forward to the next movie by from the same directing, writing, producer team.
Nov 13
October 2017 – Quote of the Month
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”
~ Albert Einstein
Oct 19
The Guts to Corpse a Skeleton
Corpsing a Skeleton
“Corpsing” is the Haunters’ verb for taking a skeleton and turning it into a corpse – something with a little skin on the bones. (And while we’re handing out definitions, “Haunters” is the name given to those of us who have a fixation with Halloween – specifically with the creation of haunted houses, fiendish home decorations and costumes.)
Even though I’m not having a Halloween party this year, I’m already planning for one next year. So, with many stores displaying their Halloween goods, I’m compulsively buying decorations. This means, for example, that every time I find myself at Home Depot these last couple of months, I’ve purchased a skeleton or two. (Home Depot and Walmart have the best prices. Sadly: Spirit Halloween is almost twice the price of those stores.)
Two Home Depot skeletons in cart, on route for a very dark fate.
Once I got my latest skeleton home, I laid it our on a work table and surrounded it with paints, sprays, stains, plastic sheeting, plasters and all manner of chemicals.
My goal for this project was to experiment with different methods to create a ‘juicy’ corpse with many organs still in tact.
The operating table and supplies.
I wanted to create a simple set of organs: faux lungs, tracheal tube, intestines, liver and heart.
Plaster craft cloth, bucket and two air packing bags that were transformed into the Skeleton’s lungs.
I used plaster cloth bandages that I purchased from Amazon to wrap some packing bubble bags as a form for the lungs. For other organs, I used roughly formed tin-foil bases. I kept the organs simple and undetailed because much of their presence is buried under layers of plastic ‘skin’.
Plaster wrapped packing airbags for lungs and a tin foil air pipe ready for plaster wrapping.
I’d thought to use some ping pong balls for eyes, but the ones I bought were too big for this particular skeleton. Besides, this model had glowing red L.E.D. lights and the addition of eyeballs may not have obscured those lights too much.
Lungs, air pi[es and heart, ready for paint.
Testing placement of organs into the chest cavity.
In order to give the corpse some more form, I also experimented by adding some plaster cast to the hands. In the end, that probably wasn’t required and could have been just as well executed with built up, melted plastic wrap.
The plaster cloth is great for creating sturdy structures, but the results look very much like pock-filled cloth. I mitigated this with heavy does of glue, plastic, paint and glossy paints to give a more organic material feel.
Adding a plaster base for creating a more fleshy hand.
I painted the organs with a combination of fluorescent and standard paint. Throughout the project, I tried to walk a line between realistic colors and fluorescent that would at least partially glow in black-light.
The first layers of paint on the internal organs.
Before I started to layer in the organs and skin, I gave select portions of the skeleton’s torso a red and black spray-paint job to emphasize its depth.
I covered the eye’s LED lights with electrical tape before spray painting the sockets, thinking that I’d later remove the tape. In the end, I kept the tape in place after a test revealed that the red light behind them gave an eerier glow.
Red paint on the inner skeleton.
Once I had a base level of bloody color on the skeleton itself, I laid down cut painters plastic tarp within the chest of the skeleton. I pulled portions of this up through the neck hole so that it would appear as remnants of tendons, sinew and veins once melted.
Lining the skeleton with Home Depot painter’s drop cloth (.7mm).
Organs were laid in next before they were in turned covered around with plastic.
The organs being placed onto the plastic within the torso cavity.
Once all of the organs were wrapped, I melted them selectively with a heat gun.
– Note: This task (and others) were done outside in an attempt to offset inhalation of noxious vapors.
Organs sealed into the plastic wrap, ready for the heat gun.
The whole project involved may layers of plastic and paint, as I felt my way to a look that satisfied me. But quickly, with even minimal layers, the organs were quickly buried under paint and melted plastic.
Layers of grisly paint being added to the offal.
The paints looked best when they were fresh and wet. I used reds, blues, purples and pinks. The reds and purples looked best, but I was glad to have hints of other colors.
Drying over night.
On my initial pass, the intestines appeared insufficiently connected to the rest of the body, so I added more layers of plastic across the torso, trying to get a cohesive look.
Adding more layers of plastic skin, prepped for the heat gun.
I love the organic holes that form when the plastic melts: creating the look of body fibers disintegrating.
Melted plastic skin, sans paint.
It’s hard for me to muck-up the skull. I love their ‘unskinned’ look. Nonetheless, in order to obtain the look of a fresher corpse, I added plastic wrap which I melted with the heat gun.
Skull wrapped in plastic.
I added a lot of melted glue to simulate layers of sinew and veins. (Again: bulk glue sticks bought from Amazon). On top of all of this, I used stain from Home Depot to paint the melted plastic ‘flesh’.
Staining the newly melted plastic skin.
I was actually happy with this version of the corpse, but it was too similar to another one I’ve done, and I felt that much of the blue, purple veins and organ details were lost.
Stained corpse. I actually liked the skeleton a lot at this stage and could have stopped, but I wanted something more ‘meaty’ and asymmetrical: as if parts of the body weren’t as decomposed.
I also found this version too symmetrical, and at the prompting of friends, I added more layers of plastic muscles to the left arm to imply a corpse that was decomposing asymmetrically.
Building up the left arm, with additional plastic wrap to help create a less symmetrical corpse.
All of the glue and plastic had buried the teeth, making the skull look too much like a blob, so I took a Dremel to the teeth and did some creative dentistry.
The teeth had been covered by too much pseudo-gore, so I took a Dremel to expose the teeth and make them appear more generally abused.
I revisited the skull throughout the project, and added some more character with subsequent layers of paint and plastic. The glowing L.E.D. eyes had a surprisingly good effect as they glowed behind the layers of glue and paint. (Not shown illuminated here.)
Post dental cleaning skull closeup.
I dribbled layers of blue and red veins and arteries across the body. I’d tried painting them on with a brush, but the texture was too rough and failed to provide the organic look that I could achieve with the less work intensive effort of pouring paint right onto the body.
Painting in arteries and veins.
The paint looked too bright and 2-D for my tastes and the body was still looking too symmetrical so I added another layer of 3-D sinews but this time rolling the plastic into long tubes before hitting them with the heat gun.
Adding 3-D veins and sinew.
I was also not satisfied with the default flat hand pose, so I bent back select fingers and blasted them with heat and held them in place with tape while they re-hardened, giving them more of a sinister pointing look. For my next corpse, I’ll do this process before the body is covered in goo.
I don’t like the standard, flat hand pose of the skeleton, so I took a heat gun to the fingers, bent them back and held them with tape so that they’d freeze into more of a sinister pointing gesture.
Still, I found the body too symmetrical and too much of the organ details were getting lost, so I ripped back the plastic skin on the right side of the torso and even went so far as to cutting a couple of ribs, bending them outwards under heat, simulating some unfortunate trauma.
I broke a few ribs and tore back layers of plastic skin on the body’s right side since much of the organ details had been lost, buried under layers of flesh.
The final corpse had the majority of the rot on the body’s right side.
Torso of the nearly finished product. (The only addition was to hit the organs with high-gloss clear enamel to maintain a wet look.)
I finished it up with high gloss clear enamel, concentrating on the goriest bits for that fresh, moist look. I think that, when actually staged for Halloween, a good touch would be the inclusion of crows, rats or bugs.
The whole figure, hung to dry from a tree.
For my next body, I may try a dusty, ancient partially mummified corpse for one body or perhaps a burned body. Alternately, I may build up more of the face and body with plaster cloth before corpsing the body.
The funny thing is, there is an aspect of this that isn’t easy for me. Ever since I was a kid, I kept my toys fairly pristine. – For example, I was never one to put stickers on something I owned. Even now, I like the look of the untarnished original skeletons. But clearly, I’ve not left this compulsion hold me back.
As I gleefully work on these projects, I’m left to wonder why I get some fiendish enjoyment from creating Halloween spooks. But truly, one of my ideas for fun in distressing and gorifying the pile of prop bones and skeletons that I have piled in my house in the hopes that I can scare the bejeezus out of someone.
Oct 12
September 2017 – Quote of the Month
“This is the sense of the desert hills, that there is room enough and time enough.”
~ Mary Hunter Austin
Sep 28
Seasonal Candy
Halloween candy spotted in a store.
“So what? – it’s September 28th! ‘Tis the season!“, you say.
The photo was taken on July 31st. (I kid you not.)
On second thought, maybe it was just very late candy from last year…
Sep 13
August 2017 – Quote of the Month
“I think some of the funniest and most artistic people I know are the ones who had a hard time at school. They often have humility and artistry. So, as much as I feel bad for kids who have to go through a rough childhood, I believe that if they can turn it around, it’s going to make them better people later on.”
~ Drew Barrymore
Aug 18
Monumental Mistakes
Since Dear Leader Trump’s recent comments regarding the Charlottesville demonstrations and related violence, I’ve seen many people on my social media channels offering a defense of the Confederate monuments. (Supplemented with bogus stories about the Confederate flag.)
First, an overview of where I stand on some related matters:
- I’m heartfelt advocate of freedom of speech, and that means unpopular speech, even speech that qualifies as ‘hate’ speech. Now, there are nuances to be explored here, such as: speech that incites violence and concerns about censorship from public media companies such as Google and Facebook that would be worth a post by themselves. It isn’t popular speech that needs protecting, it’s unpopular speech that needs the protection. But in short: I support the right of the KKK and similar hate filled groups to peacefully protest, write and speak and the best way to eliminate this speech is by the propagation of better ideas.
- I’m against the mob actions where confederate statues are pulled down and destroyed, in ignorance or willful disregard of the civilized processes of a democracy You may be right, that a statue is offense, or you may be the taliban. – Be cautious in forcing your ideas onto others: you might be right today but you might be wrong tomorrow and then your mistakes are doubled.
Remastered Ghosts of the Past
Those points made, these monuments that celebrate the Confederacy and those who lead the rebellion need to be removed or at least recontextualized from their places of commemoration.
History cannot be erased, only our memory of it and it’s very fair to be concerned when we look to modify or update markers of the past. But similarly, we must evaluate if those markers are accurate, or just. Such is the case with the heroic depictions of Confederacy.
There were certainly brave people within the Confederacy. And there were no doubt many who fought from a sense of family and a type of tribalism. But the enterprise of the Confederacy as a whole was evil: it existed with the goal of continuing some 245 years of slavery in North America and any attempt at beatification of this monstrous, generational crime is the real attempt to whitewash history.
Jefferson Slaves
At Trump’s press conference he rhetorically asked: “This week it’s Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You really do have to ask yourself: ‘Where does it stop?‘”
Jefferson (one of my favorite founders, I’ll note) was a slave owner. So, how do I square that with memorial’s to Jefferson? (Or Washington, etc.)
The difference being: there aren’t memorial’s celebrating Jefferson as a slave owner. In fact, if you visit Monticello you’ll find lessons acknowledging this fact and this miscarriage of his ideals.
Jefferson failed on the question of slavery when peers of his time did not, (including one of my other favorites, Thomas Paine).
But we don’t celebrate Jefferson for owning slaves. We celebrate Jefferson for the formulation of ideas that were better than the individual. – We don’t rebuke history, we look at it with a steady eye and honest heart: the good and the bad, so that we can learn from both.
History Lesson
At the end of World War II, the Germans took down the memorials of the 3rd Reich, placing them in museums and providing education around others.
We can learn from this. – Take the most noteworthy pieces, and place them in museums or grounds that provide context. Explain the history of the Confederacy, their leaders and the root cause: Slavery. (Those that aren’t of note can be stored for future consideration.)
The German’s don’t have Hitler Highschool, and neither should we.
Still disagree? What about this Kentucky memorial to Confederate General John Hunt Morgan. – It’s a nice looking piece of sculpture: cutting a nobel figure, complete with a plaque giving the visitor a synopsis of his history. What else would want to know? Why be such sensitive snowflakes about this harmless statue?
How about the fact that the statue stands on one of the largest slave markets in the South? – How many people were torn from their homes, their loved ones, shackled and held as lifelong forced labor prisoners who’d committed no crime on this very ground? And what do we see? – A handsome depiction of a nobel Confederate General on his mighty steed – an enforcer for slave masters. Imagine if your grandparents, and their parents and their parents had been slaves and you had to walk past a statue celebrating their captors on the very grounds where they’re lives had been sold. Many of our fellow American’s don’t have to imagine.
Don’t kid yourselves, these statues tell lies but it’s not too late to set the record straight.
Aug 09
July 2017 – Quote of the Month
“The crucial test of ethical values is whether they apply to strangers, and those afar, not just in our midst.”
~ Bernard Crick, Essays on Citizenship, 2000
Jul 27
iPod Sunset
In 2014 Apple announced that it would stop supporting its professional photo management software ‘Aperture‘. Since then, I’ve been in the slow (and painful) process of migrating my photos to Adobe’s Lightroom. As such, today, I finally got around to importing a batch of old photos from October 2005 and came across this picture.
In 2005, I’d taken this photo of my, then new iPod (3rd Gen, I believe) and all of the CDs I’d ripped to it. It was a marvel.
Completing the circle of obsolescence, today, Apple announced the discontinuation of the iPod. And like the loss of Aperture, I find this regrettable since I’m partial to creating highly tailored, custom playlists as opposed to streaming mixes formulated by some unknown DJ or cold calculation.
Dear iPod, your click-wheel may be lost, but it’s not forgotten. Play on!
iPod and imported CDs, circa October 2008
Jul 27
Lettuce Spellcheck
I’ve never been a great speller, but c’mon! – Eat ‘n Park missed the pun, “Salad Bar, Can’t be Beet! Let-Us Eat”!
Jul 17
June 2017 – Quote of the Month
“Broken by it, I, too, may be; bow to it I never will. The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
Jun 21
May 2017 – Quote of the Month
“The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.”
~ George Orwell
May 30
Fluffy Pillow or ET Arms
Shopping at a local Sears Outlet, my eye was caught by a comfy looking pillow.
Looking closer, I see that the manufacturer was kind enough to provide an illustrated guide on how to use the pillow.
Looking closer yet, I noticed the girl with the E.T. Arms.
Ouuuuch…
(PS. * Yes: I know, the pillow is supposed to be just that fluffy…Still, it’s disturbing.)
May 01
April 2017 – Quote of the Month
“Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”
~ Frank Herbert
Apr 07
Who Needs a Donation When You Can Like, Share and Pray?
I spotted this on a Facebook “wall” and found it nauseating. It made me angry. The post is exploitative and cynical on such a scale that it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t purposefully, carefully, engineered to be as misanthropic as possible.
I did a little searching to see if I could uncover the story behind this particular image. – So many posts like this are old and / or have aren’t even remotely accurate (in terms of what is actually depicted or their source).
I didn’t happen across the backstory (it appears to be a new meme). But I did come across this excellent article.
The essay makes several points:
When it comes to posts like this, one share does NOT equal one prayer. One like does NOT mean you think the baby with a physical disability or difference is “still cute.” One comment does NOT mean the sick child or abused puppy “will be saved.”
Here’s what you’re actually doing when you type Amen or share the photo on your wall:
- You’re exploiting what is most likely a stolen image of a child whose family has no idea it is being used.
- You’re making the owners of the page that posted it or the twisted people who stole the photo and created the post a whole lot of money.
Don’t get me wrong: I think there is value in sharing articles and raising awareness on issues. But the vast majority of these memes are bogus (and/or painfully out of date.) Even if this case of Bella with brain cancer is real, sharing it isn’t akin to raising awareness of a cause that gets little attention. “News flash: Cancer = Bad”.
And in what alternate world is a child with a brain tumor not receiving prayers? (The efficacy of prayer aside.) “Sorry kid. You know how it is. A brain tumor is a sign that god has marked you for damnation. I just can’t be seen praying for you. It wouldn’t go over well with the big guy.” Come on people! Do you really think a kid with cancer had to mock-up a graphic for facebook to get somebody to pray for them?! YOU ARE BEING PLAYED FOR FREE ADVERTISEMENT!
I’m confident that those who click, “Like” or share are people of goodwill, but besides the dubious source and quality of these memes, there is something of a cynical escape clause in every click.
It’s easy to hit the little thumb icon and feel good about oneself, but if you want to help a cause, REALLY help – consider a donation of your time and your money. – Don’t “Like” don’t share – you’re just chumming the waters for the cynical sharks of fake news and lining the pockets of the unscrupulous.
Care to help somebody suffering from cancer? Want to share something? Start here.
Apr 07
March 2017 – Quote of the Month
“Besides, as the vilest Writer has his Readers, so the greatest Liar has his Believers; and it often happens, that if a Lie be believ’d only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect…”
~ Jonathan Swift
Mar 31
Google Home-Freshner
I noticed this sitting window sill at the office.
Don’t let anyone kid you. The Google Home isn’t nearly as good as the Amazon Echo.
I must have asked it 20 questions and it didn’t answer me once. I do have to give it credit though: the office never smelled fresher.
Mar 09
High Security
Mar 09
February 2017 – Quote of the Month
“A good deal of tyranny goes by the name of protection.”
~ Crystal Eastman
Feb 12
Explorers Club of Pittsburgh Podcast
For lovers of Pittsburgh and / or lovers of adventure sports, I highly recommend giving a recent Fitness Lab Pittsburgh podcast a listen. And hats off to the ECP president Ron Edwards on a great interview that really provides perspective to those who might not have the experience but want to learn more about mountaineering and climbing.
Ron Edwards has a long history with the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh (ECP); he has served as the club’s President since 2015. He is also an instructor in the ECP’s Mountaineering School, Rock Climbing School, and Backpacking School.
Feb 07
Dive Right In
The fact that signs like this are deemed necessary is exactly why I avoid public swimming pools.
Report all conditions involving vomitus, fecal contamination or unsafe conditions to the management immediately,
Do you think someone chose the term, ‘vomitus’ because it sounded more, classical, more Roman perhaps than just straight, ‘vomit’?
Be sure that it’s fecal contamination and not just plain-old feces that might be just laying around the pool.
How about urine? Is blood okay for swimming? I guess only scoopable body excrement is worth a special sign shout-out.
Come to think of it, doesn’t this sign apply just about everywhere?
Jan 29
Mother of Exiles No More
Trump has made cowards of us all.
No immigrants from any of the seven countries on the list — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and Somalia — have killed Americans in terrorist attacks in the US. Not one. What immigrants and refugees from most of those countries are doing, however, is fleeing repression, violence, and war — in the case of Iraq and Yemen, wars started or supported by the US itself.
A Syrian refugee child plays at Al Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan near the border with Syria, December 3, 2016. Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Reuters
I would say, ‘Welcome to Trump’s America’, but apparently that is no longer allowed and honestly, you’re chances of doing better elsewhere have just improved – relatively speaking.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!“~ Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus
Jan 20
Mourning in America
“A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.”
~ Henry A. Wallace
Jan 20
Farewell President Obama
I didn’t always agree with him, but I believe him to be a man of great integrity, intelligence and heart. Easily the best president in my lifetime. He will be sorely missed.
President Obama bends to 5-year-old Jacob Philadelphia, whose arm raised to touch the president’s hair — to see if it feels like his.
Jan 12
December 2016 – Quote of the Month
“The split in America, rather than simply economic, is between those who embrace reason, who function in the real world of cause and effect, and those who, numbed by isolation and despair, now seek meaning in a mythical world of intuition, a world that is no longer reality-based, a world of magic.”
~ Chris Hedges
Dec 30
Mac Rumors
I’ve been using Apple Macs since I started on a IIfx more years ago then I care to recount.
My current Macs (a 17″ laptop and a Mac Mini) are from 2010. They’re starting to show their age and I’d like to upgrade them.
Alas, with the recent exception of the newly released MacBook Pro, Apple has been neglecting their Macs. MacRumors Buyer’s Guide shows the majority of Macs in the “Do Not Buy” category.
Maybe that wouldn’t be too bad if refreshes were happening regularly, except for the fact that most of these Macs are years old and still selling for their original price.
As of this writing, the iMac has gone 444 days without an update. The Macbook Air, 662 days. The Mac Mini, 806 days and the Mac Pro 1108 days.
Many are worried that Apple is abandoning the Mac – with desktops being woefully neglected. Some say that Apple should stop building Macs (even though they make 22 billion dollars selling them). But I argue that’s a big mistake.
I use a PeeCee at work. They get the job done but even to this day they are rough around the user experience interface. Apple provides a walled garden. That’s sometimes bad, but more often it has been a positive experience for me: making my system’s more secure and more plug and play. I can spend less time futzing with the machine and more time producing my own work.
And for me, the foundation of that garden wall, the beginning of my participation in the Apple ecosystem is the Mac. – Specifically, the desktop (Mac Mini.) It is the server of all my media. It is wear I sit when I’m editing photos or writing posts. (My laptop sits in on a coffee table in front of the couch, where I do more casual work.)
Laptops are great and have their place; iPads are good (although no substitute for the way I work) and I’m constantly on my iPhone but none of them are a substitute for a good desktop.
I still very much want a desktop because I want a large screen. (All the pixels in the world shoved into a small screen would still be a very limited experience [which is also why they should bring back the MacBook Pro 17″]).
I could of course, get a second monitor for my laptop. But I still have a slew of peripherals (about 6 active external drives, 2 USB hubs, an external blu-ray burner) that make plugging and unplugging a laptop a very bad experience. That’s why I prefer the ‘headless’ Mac Mini: a machine I should be able to upgrade at a relatively low price point and without the waste of getting a whole additional monitor that is part and parcel in the iMac.
Tim Cook has said that Apple is, ‘very committed’ to the Mac. They have a funny way of showing it. Apple is the world’s largest company. Perhaps, instead of focusing on building a huge spaceship office, they should have a few more of their 66,000 US employees concentrate on the horse that got them there.
I imagine the day will come when desktops are wholly replaced by a different computer user experience, but we’re still a long ways away from that. And in the meantime, if Apple abandons or neglects it too long, this long term advocate will have no choice but to look elsewhere for a solution to my needs. And once I’ve left the walled garden, then my ties to Apple will start to unravel.
Dec 01
November 2016 – Quote of the Month
“Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.”
~ Wendell Berry
Nov 10
Beware of a Deplorable Trump Comb Over
Chump Trump Change
I’m sickened and aghast that Trump won† .
I won’t claim that the election was rigged. Trump is the president elect. (Not that he’d have said the same if he’d lost.)
But that doesn’t mean that I have to support him.
I appreciate and advocate that Obama is continuing the legacy of a peaceful transfer of power, but I can”t get behind his statements that, ‘we are all rooting for his (Trump’s) success in uniting and leading the country.’
No, President Obama. No, I’m not rooting for him. I do not want his ideas, his racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, credulous, isolationist, criminal, warmongering, fascist, mendacious ideas to be remotely successful or that he should unite us, as a country, in the pursuit of the worst of human nature.
I’d thought that Trump was going to lose. I’d thought that the neo-cons / alt-right misinformation campaigns through mass market, corporate controlled media was a snake that was about to eat its own tail. But I underestimated the effects of a generational long intellectual poisoning.
And indeed, it is this generational effect that has me feeling grave beyond the damage that Trump and Pence will do in four years. With the Republican senate instituting a constitutional crisis by failing to even hold hearings on Obama’s respected, centrist nominee to the Supreme Court, we’re now in line for one and likely more Trump / Pence ultra-conservative judges. These judges will almost certainly be in place well after Trump’s other cronies are swept into the dustbin of infamy.
There isn’t much hope for the foreseeable future. Even if Trump dies or scandalously crashes and burns (and that is doubtful since he seems to be made of poisonous asbestos), we’ll still be stuck with far right wacko Mike Pence.
Deplorable
Hillary Clinton famously said that, ‘you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.‘ (A phrase that she later recanted.)
What is far less reported is that she want on to say:
‘But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here — I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas — as well as, you know, New York and California — but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different.’
For my part, I think that broadly calling a group of people by a label is errant. But Ideas, and individuals, and philosophies, they can be deplorable. Discrimination, racism and those who willfully hold to these concepts are worthy of reproach. But beyond that, who would argue that the KKK or ISIS aren’t deplorable as a group who hold a shared philosophy? And they are a ‘group’ because they share an ideology – a hateful ideology that civilization must rebuke. But to be clear: I think that the vast majority of Trump’s followers do not hold to these ideas.
But Trump himself? He is a promoter of dark, malignant lies and fear mongering hatred and is to be berated every time he pukes out his venom.
Some Animals
And I hold little hope that he’s capable of meaningful, positive change. I won’t be fooled by his attempts to whitewash and comb-over his false statements.
Ever read George Orwell’s Animal Farm? Recall how at night, when the other animals weren’t looking, that the pigs repainted the seven commandments of Animalism? “All animals are equal” became, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
Well, the attempt to white wash Trump’s history is well underway:
Muslim ban statement ‘removed’ from Donald Trump’s website.
The Trump team appears to have removed the statement, in which Mr Trump said on December 7, 2015:
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.
According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine,” the statement continued.
Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”
The only thing wrong with this cartoon is: Trump doesn’t actually say he’s sorry. He just changes the subject to his next obscenity.
My memory isn’t so short. I won’t soon forget what Trump has said and done and I’ll resist his, and his advocates’ efforts to further poison the country: to make America Hate Again.
† (Footnote: And lest we forget, for the record: Trump won the electoral college but like G.W. Bush’s first election, Trump lost the popular vote.)
Nov 08
October 2016 – Quote of the Month
“The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist; a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.”
~ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Oct 25
Trumpster Fire
Dump Trump
We’re on the cusp of the election and it looks like Donald Trump is going down in flames.
Donald Trump Dumpster Fire aka, “Trumpster Fire”
Beyond all of his lies, beyond the misogyny, xenophobia and calls for violence , Trump’s latest trick is to attempt undermining the foundation of our democracy: the expectation of a fair and honest election.
There is no doubt, that we need to keep a weary eye on the fair and legal proceedings of our elections, but making unsubstantiated claims that are elections are rigged is antithetical to a democracy.
George to John and Beyond
I’d once heard it said, that the most important election in a fledgling democracy isn’t the first one – it’s the second. The fact that George Washington peacefully ceded power to John Adams was more critical to our democracy than the election of Washington himself.
But the Donald is prepared to burn the country down with false allegations in order to protect his ego since, he knows, in his dark heart, that he’s going to lose hard. And what’s worse: to a woman!
Sep 29
Guernica and the E Street Band
Friends from work were aware that I had the privilege of seeing Bruce Springsteen from ‘the pit’ (now a great term BTW) a couple of weeks ago. During our lunch conversation, one of my friends said he wasn’t interested. He doesn’t like how Springsteen gets involved in politics; that he thinks artists and the ilk should keep their mouths shut about such things. And to be clear, my friend’s argument wasn’t with Springsteen’s views (although I don’t think it is a coincidence that he doesn’t agree with them), his argument was: actors, musicians and the like should keep their mouths shut.
Springsteen opened with a beautiful rendition of ‘New York Serenade‘ for his September 11th show in Pittsburgh. With no commentary he then proceeded to play a number of songs from his album, ‘The Rising’. – Songs influenced by the events from 9/11.
For those ignorant of the matter, they should understand that Springsteen is famous for telling stories and anecdotes during his show: many humors, some touching, others telling but few explicitly political. Still, during the nights performance he did have two choice words for Donald Trump.
But beyond that, he let the work speak for itself and I’m left to marvel how anyone should think that an artist shouldn’t be involved in politics. I wonder how limited that would make all forms of art. By direct way of example, a significant portion of Springsteen’s best work is political in nature.
That isn’t to say that an artist is right because they are an artist, or famous, or both, nor does all art (or artist) need to be political but throughout history artists and philosophers are often the people who have helped highlight and elevate political discourse the most.
“Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact. ”
~ William S. Burroughs
Picasso’s Guernica is regarded by many art critics as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.
I wish more of our society worked to be both informed and passionate about governance and if that means that Ted Nugent has a voice in the discussion: good. – I’ll take my chances that, over time, the best ideas win out.
Aug 29
The Dreamers of Dreams
I really know next to nothing about the man Gene Wilder who died today at the age of 83.
We are the music makers… and we are the dreamers of dreams.
~ Willy Wonka
But I do know that he left an indelible glowing and warm memory in my childhood: that of Willy Wonka from the 1971 classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
“I can’t go on forever, and I don’t really want to try. So who can I trust to run the factory when I leave and take care of the Oompa Loompas for me? Not a grown up. A grown up would want to do everything his own way, not mine. So that’s why I decided a long time ago that I had to find a child. A very honest, loving child, to whom I could tell all my most precious candy making secrets.”
~ Willy Wonka
And so, for his artistry and in morning of another childhood light that is crossed by shadow, I was sorry to hear of his death. But I hope that the images and sounds of his whimsical, (if sometimes deliciously dark) portrayal of the candy man lights a candle of pure imagination for generations to come.
“Where is fancy bred, in the heart or in the head?”
~ Willy Wonka
Thanks for the memories Mr. Wilder.
“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.”
~ Willy Wonka
Aug 03
July 2016 – Quote of the Month
“My attitude to peace is rather based on the Burmese definition of peace – it really means removing all the negative factors that destroy peace in this world. So peace does not mean just putting an end to violence or to war, but to all other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, such as inequality, poverty.”
~Aung San Suu Kyi
Jul 31
Camp Cow or Brazen Bull
Buy a Brazen Bull for your next Lawn and Torture Party
I have a fondness for lawn ornaments – as long as they are in other people’s yards and preferably not next door neighbors.
On my drive home from work, I encountered a roadside collection of custom made metal yard decorations and I had to stop to check them out.
I quite enjoyed the 6 foot tall velociraptor but I was really intrigued by the six foot long golden bovine grill: both aesthetically ‘striking’ and functional!
Seeing this grill reminded me of the dark tale of the Brazen Bull: a torture and execution device designed in ancient Greece.
The story goes that an ancient greek ruler – Phalaris commissioned a bronze boiler shaped like a bull to torture and execute criminals. The concept behind the device was that some luckless wretch would be tossed into the metal sculpture while a fire was lit beneath – cooking the condemned alive.
As if that wasn’t fun enough, the chap who invented it – a fellow named Perillos, designed it with a series of pipes that converted the screams of the condemned into the sounds of a bull angrily bellowing. (In fairness: remember that this was before TV and Donald Trump rallies.)
Unfortunately for Perillos, Phalaris ordered that the inventor be tossed into the chamber for its trial run. (The National Endowment for the Arts had a much rougher funding and vetting process back then.)
The story also goes on to tell that later, Phalaris himself was killed in the brazen bull when he was overthrown.
I think there is a lesson here about the risks of getting involved in roasting one’s fellow humans in metal farm animals.
Anyway, who wants a hotdog?
Jul 08
June 2016 – Quote of the Month
“While we are under the tyranny of Priests, it will ever be their interest, to invalidate the law of nature and reason, in order to establish systems incompatible therewith.”
~Ethan Allen
Jun 19
Warning: Outdoors May Contain Nature
Personal Tragedy or National News Fodder
On June 14th, 2016, tragedy struck a Nebraska family when their two year old son was attacked and killed by an alligator at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. Five days later and this event is still making national headline news.
As unadulteratedly heartbreaking as this is for the child’s family; as much as they will be scarred for the rest of their live; even allowing Disney’s place in popular culture and footie-pajama memories; this story does not warrant the national handwringing that has been blaring from our media for nearly a week.
News Flash: Alligator’s Live in Florida
Risk Assessment
Just another hunter like a wolf in the sun
Just another junkie on a scoring run
Just another victim of the things he has done
Just another day in the life of a loaded gunThe odds get even, you name the game
The odds get even, the stakes are the same
You bet your life~ Rush
According to the 2005 Scholastic Book of World Records, the majority of the world’s alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators in each state. (Southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side.) There are 1.3 million alligators across the state of Florida ‒ that’s one for every 15 people.
Disney World is built on wetlands – the natural habitat of gators and other Florida native reptiles. In fact, they built the park on a big mound of dirt from the earth that was scooped out to make the Seven Seas Lagoon. The entire property is interconnected via canals and is quintessential alligator habitat.
Disney World covers 43 square miles and hosts 50 million visitors a year. (And there are another 60,000 employees who work at the park.)
A small subset of Disney World’s Waterways surrounding the Magic Kingdom
Nearly 90 percent of all alligator attacks in the U.S. happen in Florida. Florida averages about seven serious unprovoked bites a year, and officials put the odds of someone being seriously injured by an unprovoked alligator in Florida at roughly one in 2.4 million.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission there have been 56 alligator attacks in the Sunshine State between 2010 and 2015, with only one fatality. The main reason is, small alligators make up the majority of the alligator population and don’t pose a threat to human beings.
And yet, for all of the alligators sharing the same space as mouse ear attired tourists, there have only been two significant attacks on humans since the parks inception. – And that is in spite of visitors propensity for feeding them and approaching them for photo opportunities.
Odds on Death
Compare those stats with these odds of death in America:
| Cause of death | Number of U.S. deaths | Rate of deaths |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cardiovascular disease | 614,348 | 193 per 100,000 |
| 2. Cancer | 591,699 | 186 per 100,000 |
| 3. Chronic lower respiratory disease | 147,101 | 46 per 100,000 |
| 4. Accidents | 136,053 | 43 per 100,000 |
| 5. Strokes | 133,103 | 42 per 100,000 |
| 6. Alzheimer’s disease | 93,541 | 29 per 100,000 |
| 7. Diabetes | 76,488 | 24 per 100,000 |
| 8. Influenza and pneumonia | 55,227 | 17 per 100,000 |
| Drug overdoses | 47,055 | 15 per 100,000 |
| Kidney disease | 48,146 | 15 per 100,000 |
| Intentional self-harm | 42,773 | 13 per 100,000 |
| Septicemia | 38,940 | 12 per 100,000 |
| Liver disease | 38,170 | 12 per 100,000 |
| Transportation accidents | 37,195 | 12 per 100,000 |
| Parkinson’s disease | 26,150 | 8 per 100,000 |
| Firearm assault | 10,945 | 3 per 100,000 |
| HIV | 6,721 | 2 per 100,000 |
| Pedestrian deaths | 6,258 | 2 per 100,000 |
But even if we sift the data to eliminate many of these causes of death (which are often the result of broader lifestyle and hereditary causes) and we go the the extreme – death’s caused by animals, this is what we see:
Average annual animal caused fatalities in the US, 2001-2013
- Alligators, sharks and bears each kill an average of one person per year.
- Venomous snakes and lizards kill six per year
- Spiders kill seven
- Cows take out twenty people per year on average
- Dogs – man’s best friend – takes out twenty-eight people
- Bees, wasps and hornets kill fifty-eight
Caution: Signs Up Ahead
In spite of these facts and the incredibly low odds of getting hurt, let alone killed by an alligator, this event has led to some criticize Disney for not having proper signage.
Although Disney did in fact, have signs meant to discourage swimming, I think it is fair to say that given the beach like property, wading into the water was not an unreasonable thing to do and so the family can’t be blamed for being reckless.
But because the family and unfortunate child weren’t careless, that doesn’t mean that Disney is culpable for the actions of all indigenous animals on its property.
But still we’re told: signs would have made a difference, even though it would take quite a sign to list the causes of death at Disney World. If not signs: perhaps fences around all water. If not fences, walls…
Everglades National Park sign warning not to approach alligators.
A number of years ago, I did a bike tour of the Everglades National Park. Mammoth alligators would often sun themselves on the bike trail. One either rode around them (our option), or turned back. Seeing these great animals was a fantastic experience.
My friends and I talked to a park ranger about the gators and tourist reactions. We were told stories about tourists who would lay down next to 10 foot long alligators so that they could get their photo taken by their family. One tourist had even climbed on the back of an alligator for a photo opp, all in spite of the numerous signs to be found warning people not to approach alligators.
If signs weren’t good enough to keep people from approaching the actual alligators themselves, how effective is a sign going to be to keep people from simply wading into water?
We react to untimely, visceral death more emotionally than the everyday variety, even if we’re far more likely to give up the ghost from a car accident than an attack from a reptile. We may die in our lazy boy recliner at the age of 90 or we may be a bear’s breakfast when we’re 16 years old. But in the end, given enough time, life is 100% fatal and there aren’t enough signs in the world to keep nature at bay.
For my part: if I ever get taken out by a wild animal, either by my own stupidity or by the chances of life: please don’t post any signs or erect any guardrails in my name.
On the other hand, I would take a nice trail name. Perhaps something like, “Glen Green Grisly Grizzly Memorial Scenic Sunset Trail“.
Disney: You’ve Been Warned
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?~Five Man Electrical Band
May 28
Big Screen TVs Squashed by UHD
Bigger is Better if You can Stand it
When I was a kid, the “cool” place to sit in a movie theater was in the very back row. As I got older, I realized that defeated much of the purpose of going to the movies: a larger than life BIG screen experience. By sitting at the back of the theater, one essentially makes the 35 foot screen equivalent to watching a 50 inch screen from ten feet away. You can hold up your hand and block out the screen if you want.
I’m now of the philosophy that to fully appreciate the movie going experience, the screen should be just shy of comfortably filling my peripheral vision.
So, it should be of no surprise that, as something of a home theater aficionado, I buy the highest quality big screen I can afford. Currently that means a 75″ 1080p Samsung Series 8 8000 that I bought a year or two ago. If I had my way, I’d have at least a 120″ TV.
I’ve also been working to upgrade my home theater speakers, which included transitioning to Definitive Technology speakers. Having tastes that exceed my budget, I haven’t bought a full compliment yet but I did buy a Definitive Technology center speaker.
And here is where my 1st world problems start: my legacy Ikea TV stand (from the days when I ‘only’ owned a 65″ Sony Vega), is barely large enough for my Samsung, but more to the problem: it does not accommodate my center speaker, so I’m forced to sit my speaker in front of my TV. This is only barley tolerable when I’m watching a letter-boxed movie and the image isn’t blocked by the speaker.
I’m not prepared to wall mount my TV or speaker for the time being, for various reasons, so this problem sent me on a hunt for a TV stand or entertainment center that would accommodate both my center speaker, components and TV without my image being blocked.
This issue is further exacerbated because my speaker not only fires sound forward, but up towards the ceiling as well, so I don’t want to trap it inside a cabinet or under a shelf. So, I’ve spent a good bit of time trying to find an attractive solution and have been surprised to find that there are few good choices to accommodate TVs larger than 65″.
Where Have All the Really Big Screen 1080p TVs Gone?
My search took me both online and to brick and mortar stores like my local Best Buy, and it was here that I was surprised to find 65″ Ultra High Def TVs are now as cheap, or cheaper than my 75″ 1080p TV was a couple of years ago. Perhaps with the release of UHD Blu-Rays and some streaming content starting to be released, it will finally be worth buying an UHD TV. This was a new temptation and I started to fantasize about moving my 75″ TV to another room, thinking I might be able to forego the Ultra High Def and instead get a larger 1080 big screen.
So, I perused the TVs in Best Buy and then later, at home, online and to my dismay, I started to learn that big screen TVs – bigger than 65 inches, have started to disappear. My search finally lead me to this article “Where Have All the Really Big 1080p TVs Gone?” that explained the disappearance: Ultra HD happened. In terms of TV pricing, the race to the bottom has run its course; right now, manufacturers are now looking for reasons to charge more for their televisions, not less.
So, I’ll probably be forced to commission a custom TV stand that fits my needs and I’ll likely be making for UHD TVs to become both big and affordable.
Oh, how shall I ever survive?
Apr 30
Trumped Trump
Donald Trump could almost qualify as a cartoon character, except for the dark rancor that spews from his round, orange mouth. What at first might have seemed like an extension of one of his reality TV shows has long crossed the border into scary fascism.
Here is why I think the man is a danger based on his own words:
-
Donald Trump is xenophobic
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people.”
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population.”
“I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”
-
Donald is antithetical to the values of liberty and justice
“I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
“We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet. We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people who really understand what’s happening and maybe, in some ways, closing that Internet up in some ways.”
“I would certainly implement that. Absolutely… There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. We should have a lot of systems… They have to be. They have to be… It’s all about management.” (In reference to supporting a database and ID cards to track Muslims in the U.S.)
-
Trump’s willful ignorance which includes science, history and world affairs
“I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump–I mean, it looks just like it’s meant for a horse, not for a child, and we’ve had so many instances, people that work for me. … [in which] a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back and a week later had a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.”
“Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK? I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don’t know. I don’t know — did he endorse me, or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.” (fusing to condemn former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and noted white supremacist David Duke, who endorsed Trump for president)
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Donald’s sexism
“You’re disgusting” – said to a female lawyer during a court case after she asked for a break to pump breast milk for her 3-month-old daughter.
“26,000 unreported sexual assults [sic] in the military — only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
-
Donald Trump’s pandering
“I love the poorly educated.”
-
Trump’s arrogance (and insecurity)
“All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”
“My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.”
“Look at those hands, are they small hands? And, [Republican rival Marco Rubio] referred to my hands: ‘If they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.”
“I think apologizing’s a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize, sometime in the hopefully distant future, if I’m ever wrong.”
-
Donald’s immaturity
“I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there’s plenty of subject matter right there.” (On Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul)
“You know, it really doesn`t matter what [the media] write as long as you`ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
“A person who is very flat chested is very hard to be a 10.”
-
Trump maligns, bullies and incites violence
“He’s (John McCain) not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK, I hate to tell you.”
“There may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience. If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.” (Encouraging violence at his rallies)
“That was so great. Who was the person who did that? Put up your hand, put up your hand. Bring that person up here. I love that.” (Praising two audience members who tackled a protester at his rally in South Carolina, Feb. 16, 2016)
-
Donald Trump is avaricious
“The point is, you can never be too greedy.”
“The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”
-
Donald’s creepiness
“I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
“My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.”
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Donald Trump is a conspiracist
“An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud”
“I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”
“It’s really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!”
-
Sadly, ‘The Donald’ might be right about at least one thing…
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
Mar 30
Clown and Pig have Bad Intentions
Have you ever watched a horror film that depicted a possessed or evil doll and thought that it stretches credulity to think that anybody would ever buy such a creepy looking toy in real life?
Annabelle the doll from the 2014 movie says, ‘Take me home. What could go wrong?’
Chucky from the 1981 movie “Child’s Play” has eyes that only a serial killer could find enticing.
Well, wonder no more. I spotted these two evil stuffed toys leering out from the bin of an arcade claw game in a local Steak ‘n Shake, just waiting to dine on the flesh and soul of some foolish suburban family.
Stuffed Clown and Pig will drink the warm blood of your children.
“Here you go kids. – Enjoy your new stuffed toys and sweet dreams!”
Feb 29
Fit to be Tied
Trying to increase my fitness, I’ve been working out six to seven days a week, for 30-90 minutes a day. – A pretty respectable workout routine. And yet, in spite of the fact that I’m going out of my way to pick up weights and run, I get very irritated anytime I forget my water bottle or music and I have to walk a single flight of steps to retrieve them so that I can start my exercises.
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