Video - Smart Bird

Many thanks to my friend Paul in England for this video. http://www.flixxy.com/this-crow-is-the-smartest-bird-you-have-ever-seen.htm  I think the bird is smarter then me as I had to watch it twice to see what exactly was going on.

Sunday's Column - Center Ice, Ontario

I have to say that ice rinks are not my favorite  venues for stories.  Let's face it they have a very large surface of gray ice, which is hardly photogenic and also apart from the Olympic gold medal contenders, the people there just go round and round. I had to visit Center Ice in Ontario twice to get a decent line on the article and looking at it now it came out all right.  See what you think. http://www.sbsun.com/lifestyle/20140517/hitting-the-ice-in-ontario-for-skating-activities

Right Track - Government versus the individual

About every ten days I receive a short lecture from Prager University.  Dennis Prager is a conservative commentator who gives a great deal of thought to matters.  Here is a 4:00 minute lecture by one of his colleagues about how goverment has changed in the last 50 years.  I think you'll find it interesting. http://prageruniversity.com/Political-Science/The-Government-vs-the-American-Character.html

Tirade - Vonage

We've recently been subjected to a TV ad by Vonage, the phone company, for their service.  It's given by a man who has the usual enthusiasm for the product he's representing, and he's wandering around various locations seemingly welcomed by all and sundry to his shouted words -  often in other tongues.  My complaint is his dress.  He seems to have been dressed from a heap of clothes rejected by the Goodwill Industries and then having them stored in a heap to have them in a perfectly dreadful condition.  Have we sunk so low that this is now the way we want our representatives to appear to the world?  If he's just a "rep" for Vonage and reflects them, one wonders what a board meeting looks like.  A vagrants' convention?  Come on People!

Music Track - Trance

I was recently made aware of a genre of music called Trance.  It developed in Germany in the '90's and I can see its appeal to those who like their music dreamy and for a concert of it - long!  It sticks to rhythms that are between 125 and 165 beats per minute.  Here is a 4:30 minutes piece by Above and Beyond - a British group.  See how you like it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLMRxJOL4JM

Earthquake!

We're a bit sensitive to earthquakes out here.  The least jolt and the TV screens are full of concerned newsreaders.  Not long after, for the last thirty years we've usually had the appearance of Dr. Kate Hutton the seismologist from Cal Tech.  Now I've nothing against the lady but after all this time, I'm sure I could do as good a job.  And that includes her stand in, Dr. Lucy Jones.  Frankly all they ever do is to say that there's been an earthquake of say. 5.1, which it was the other day, and then point out where it occurred.  All this is read off instruments.  There is only one piece of information that all of us want to know and that is when is the next one?  And that neither of these ladies is able to do.  So what's the point?

Big Bear Performing Arts Center - PAC

Big Bear's PAC

I mentioned that we went along to a concert the other day.  It was at the performing arts center (PAC) in Big Bear.  It really is a very good theater and we have enjoyed a number of performances over the years there.  It is a 400 seat auditorium and there's not a bad seat in the house.  It's too bad that we don't get the regular performers there that we used to, but I believe it costs too much to put on.  Such a shame as it's such a good facility.

Video - Medicine

A fascinating look at advanced technology in the operating rooms of the future.  It takes about 6:30 minutes. http://safeshare.tv/w/DTAINyElxY

Sunday's Column - Riverside Art Museum

This Sunday we visit the Riverside Art Museum.  It houses the largest collection of art in the Inland Empire, but the column looks closely at the actual designer of the building - Julia Morgan.  She was a pioneer of architecture at a time when women were not known to be at the front of the profession.  You can read the entire column at http://www.sbsun.com/lifestyle/20140510/architect-morgans-design-houses-riverside-art-museum

Right Track - Benghazi

After a recent surfacing of an email from the White House, the rascally Republicans are finally about to appoint a select committee to look into the events of Benghazi.  Naturally there are cries of foul from the left.  However, four Americans were murdered and no one has been held accountable.  I watched one liberal commentator go apoplectic the other day about the matter, saying it was just a witch hunt.  But here are a few thoughts.  Why has no one been held to account?  Why has it taken nearly two years for the White House to provide the documents requested?  Why has it taken congress two years and many many oversight hearings to get this far?  And if there is nothing to hide, why is the WH being so tough about it?  As was said over the Watergate break ins, it wasn't the crime that caused the presidency to fall, it was the cover up.

Tirade - Sterling

I recently told a friend in England that racism is a subject that is best never to mention out here.  The traditions are so deep that it's almost impossible to state an opinion without getting into very hot water.  But I have a couple of questions regarding the recent revelation that the owners of the Clippers basketball team is a racist.  How come the NAACP awarded him a a lifetime distinction in 2009, and was about to repeat it again this  year?  As he was known to hold these views going back many years, how come they have surfaced now?  And is the UCLA medical center so replete with money that they can afford to turn away $3 million dollars from Sterling which he was donating to their causes?  Just asking!

Music Track - Runaway

We had a rather rare break-out the other day.  Frankie, one of our two miniature Poodles, somehow got out.  We're not entirely sure how he managed it as the door was only open for a moment and also a fence had come loose.  But there he was wandering around a neighbor's front yard quite happily.  He has a tendency to want to check out more smells than are available in our garden or on his daily walks.  I've taken to quietly singing what I call his theme song to him from time to time.  My rendition is not as good as the original heard here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSkV9pdzLgo

Biggs

I forgot an event last December that was most significant if you were English.  It was the death of Ronald Biggs - one of the ringleaders of the Great Train Robbery.  A self confessed "villain" Biggs nonetheless led a colorful life.  The robbery was on August 8, 1963, when I was a very young man.  The robbers got away with some $75 million in today's money - a little was recovered, but not very much.  Biggs was captured but he escaped from Wandsworth Jail and after some plastic surgery he found his way to Adelaide in Australia.  But the equally well known Jack Slipper of the Yard was on his trail and Biggs had to take off once again; this time to Rio de Janeiro, from where there was no extradition treaty.  Here he lived in some notoriety, giving press interviews, but he yearned for England and an ability to walk into a pub and order a pint.  He subsequently returned voluntarily and was immediately arrested and imprisoned.  Bad health caused the authorities to allow him to leave on compassionate grounds in 2009, but he died last year at age 83.  An interesting life!

Riding Season

It's riding season again - for those who don't like the cold or who don't have the proper gear!  My friend Dennis in the desert sent me this information including the above picture.  Here all the motorcycles in the shot are in the truck driver's blind spot and can't be seen.  For those of us on two wheels the following applies.
 
When riding on highways, try not to "hang" around tractor trailers or any large trucks. Not only do they have a hard time seeing you, but there are other hazards associated with being near trucks, especially flatbeds and dump trucks which spew stones and pebbles behind them. Several times a year there are incidents of wheel separation from commercial vehicles resulting in the deaths of car drivers.
The stats below refer to Ontario, Canada, but there is no reason to believe it is any different anywhere in the World as these commercial carriers try to cut costs. Let's be safe out there.
TORONTO - Several Ontario police forces engaged a two-day traffic blitz in late June, pulling over 190 commercial vehicles deemed to be in need of a safety inspection. Overall, 40% of the total vehicles, which included flat-bed trucks, pickups, cube vans, straight transport trucks, and long-haul tractor-trailers, failed the inspection. And of those 76 vehicles that flunked the safety check, 36 were in bad enough shape to have their licence plates removed on the spot, deemed by police and Ministry of Transportation (MTO) officers to be a safety risk to other motorists on the road. A total of 199 provincial charges were laid. (Source: Toronto Sun)