The Coen Brothers

I have a few questions:

How do they write this stuff?  It is awkward. The literature is treated with violence even more than the characters are.  How do they get away with the stereotypes and the vivid treatment they endure. 

How do they combine randomness and continuity into a movie about a bunch of goof balls.  IT IS PURE GENIUS.

There is a lot of talk about Jeff Bridges in their movies.  I am still reeling about Holly Hunter.  She is everything the Coen's writings are.  She is as beautiful and complicated as the stories themselves, a petite tight body that wastes nor hides anything like their sculptured scripts and with a crooked mouth she delivers the twisted dialog effortlessly.   She is as masterful at acting as they are at creating movies.

I wish I could write like they write.  I aspire and practice.  Someday, I hope to birth a complete sentence near the quality of the Coen brothers. 

The Constitution: Eleventh Amendment

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.


Nit picky lawyer stuff.  I cannot figure it out even though Wikipedia explains it.

I have a feeling that the rest of the amendments will go that way.  I am boring of this quickly.  No, that is not accurate, I am becoming frustrated with this peculiar institution.  I am fighting every instinct I have to not abandon this idea of reviewing the Constitution and its amandaments.  I want to complete something for no other reason than to complete it.  I did not think the process of reviewing one of the world's great document would piss me off so much.  Even though the founding father's english is plain english, I can barely understand it.  I trust almost nothing in print so any treaties on the subject is subject to conjecture.  I want an easy way. 

I will finish this, my treaties on the Constitution and I will stop whining.

Gender, transgender.

Here is the thing, I understand that with all the intolerance and self-centered people in America that a written policy on transgender issues is needed.  That is not to say that America has a corner on bigotry and prejudice.  They do not.  If America is truly a great society, the Declaration of Independence should cover it.

I have read many accounts of gender, transgender, gay and lesbian people in the native Indian populations of America.  Some accounts were chronicled in the movie, Little Big Man.    You also see it in all ancient writings so it is not new or odd.  It is simply different.

I knew a lady that thought she was a horse.  Really, she would eat nothing but bean sprouts and lemon grass for lunch.  They had to restrict her grazing at the salad bar.  Is that discriminatory.  It is a trans species identity.  She was a good worker, used the toilet properly, had nice haunches and kept quiet.  She could sleep standing up and everything.

I knew a lady that dressed like a man most of the time, looked like a man and slept with men.  She insisted on using the men's bathrooms.  It was confusing.  I was so confused and I cannot even imagine how confused she was. 

The transgender policy talked about being understanding during the "transition".  Is that like when the sun comes up and the vampire has to seek darkness.  What about a black man "passing" as a white man.  How about Sammy Davis Jr. He was a short, one eyed black Jew hangin around with a bunch of Dagos. Which section and chapter of the tolerance policy covers that  situation.  Transition, does that mean until the wardrobe change is complete?  How about a plumbing change?  The lady who dressed like a man did have her tubes tied up.  Is that part of the transition.

Here is one. Who cares.  Judge people on their merits as a human being.  Lets judge people on fairness and love.  Lets hope they have compassion and wisdom.  Lets do not judge them on where the zipper is or even how often they zip it down.  Do not judge, period.

Sports Team's Names

Palestinian BusTours( Basketball) This would be similar to the Lockerbie Sky Riders.  This was part a three on three basketball league that was a yearly event at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.  My brother was attending there in the mid seventies.  The name of your team was much more important than your talent.

The Nads(Basketball)  This was the name of a little kid's basketball team in a city league.  They had all these little eight year old girl cheerleaders  running around yelling, Go Nads, Go Nads, it was priceless.

Ding-a-lings(Softball)  Enough said

Swingin-D's(Softball)  This men's slow pitch softball team was mostly drinking beer and falling down.  They had a great name and a great logo.

Chicken on a Chain(Bull Riding)  Mental picture is worth a thousand words.

Mud Hens(Baseball)  Classic

The Zips(Akron)  This is short for Zippers.  I guess Akron was the zipper capitol at one time.  The University of Akron adopted the name.

Purple Flirt (Rowing)  Not really rowing.  It was a log floating off the coast of Pigeon Key, FL.  My cousin Mark and I rode this thing for several days.  It was a classic.

Devil Rays ( Baseball) A great name and then they changed it, Morons. 

Not much else.

Friday Science, Earthquake

Earthquakes occur around the world as we know.  Last night, there was a big one 7.3 in Alaska.  Everywhere has had significant ones except the San Andreas area.  The entire pacific rim has shifted west and Calififirnia is hanging on with a thread.  It will snap soon. It is due for "The Big One" that occurs every 100 years or so.  If you go to California, I advise you stay in small one or two story motels with plenty of open spaces.  That's all I know.  I figure in the next 8 months. 

I want what I want

You hear this and think.  "Ok, that is actually a reasonable statement".  A person works and  saves to have what they want.  Reasonable!

"No, it is not reasonable".  It is double declarative and softer way of saying "Gimme".  The statement hints of self-centering, intolerance and greed.  Those who use this phrase have an entitlement issue.  Hmm, I wonder if we heard those words echoing from the concentration camps or the CIA prisons at Guantanamo and Kosovo. 

Torture Officer:  "You will die here with unclean books if you will not tell where the CIA money is in Iraq?"

Imam Ali:  "I don't want those unclean books, I want clean books, I want what I want!"

You probably did not hear that too often wafting off of the steel fences.  I will have what I deserve is almost the same tone. 

How about, "I will have what I can get".  That is more realistic, and a least shows less entitlement and a earned kind of attitude.  "I will take what I can get" is a little better.

"Take what you need and leave the rest" is better yet.  I would say that there is almost no entitlement or deserve in this world. 

Angry Friend:  "Are you going to let them walk all over you that way"
Non-Aggressive Friend:  "What else can I do, its the government"
Angry:  "They don't have the right to do that, get a gun, move to Spokane, that will show them"
NAF:  "It is just a car registration, so the price went up.  We have to pay for your Army Vet insurance some how"
Angry:  "The will know what kind of car you drive and then they will take it if they need it or know your ability to escape them if they are hunting you.  If they know you have a Hummer, not that plastic shit H3, then they know you are serious about your independence."
NAF:  "All that from vehicle registration, I never would have imagined.  Just for the sake of an argument which is quite a prosaic statement, why would anyone want my 1985 three cylinder Geo Metro with a broken windshield.  Hell, it can barley get up my driveway."
Angry:  "Well, you are no threat, you are a biologist working for NASA, your right, what the hell would they want you for"  "I am talking about Juba and people like him."
NAF:  "Juba, the guy that is drunk by 2pm every day?"
Angry:  "They keep him drunk, he's got shit on the government"
NAF:  "He's got shit on this pants, at least that is what it smells like"

I may feel I deserve some things but that does not mean I will get them or even appreciate them if I had them.  I want, I think that is what makes me human.

The Constitution: Tenth Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Plain and simple.  The most important part is the end.  ......or the people.  The "or" part bothers me but the founding fathers never forgot about the people.  They knew that for a union, state's rights had to be trumped and that people's rights also had the ultimate voice.

We as a people forget to exercise our Rights.  We let them get fat and lazy and well we as a country are now on life support because our arteries are clogged with greed, sloth and hard living.  Cheap thrills, corn liquor subsidies and drugs will do it every time.

the Bills of Rights were added as an appendix to the Constitution to give them visibility and strength.  They could have written them into a rushed document.  The Articles of the Confederation were a rough draft.  The Constitution had to get finished for this peculiar institution to get going.  It would need some tweaking.  As I review the remainder of the Amendments and the Constitution itself, I am sure I will get pissed off.  It will be a nice ride though.

Important stuff

I had a dream the other day that I was someone that all of a sudden was of interest to everyone, especially big companies and governments.  They are wanted me on their team.  I was important. 

Father's day is coming up and I was thinking about if I was a good father, important to my kids.  It is a guess of course but I think so.  Over the years my kids have given me gifts that they thought was the best present a dad could have.  Most of them I did not have or want or need but I could tell, regardless of their ages, these were gifts that they thought were perfect for me.  I would open the gifts and I just knew that my kids loved me more than I loved them, if that was possible. 

My youngest writes me these cards and they say things like "I love you verry mutch"!
That is a whole lot better than "I love you".  He added that little extra effort to spell word he did not know how to spell.  I like that.  I remember giving my parents cards and I loved them a bunch but I did not feel I had to tell them though I wished I could have given them so much more.  I do remember that.    The fact that all my kids seem to try to give me a laugh or call me once in a while means so much more than anything I can think of.   It is important that I remain their father and hold up my end of the bargain for them being born, to guide them to a full and joyous life. 

Rebellion

I wonder where I got all my rebellious nature.  My parents did not seem to have such a bent.  Maybe it was the middle child thing.  This country was built by a bunch of rebels.  When my brother was trying to channel Billy Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, I was trying to understand the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.  Henry David Thoreau came into my life when I was a teenager.  I tried reading a bunch of stuff he wrote but it was like eating really spicy chili.  On the food note, his grandfather was responsible for the first known student protest in the Americas, The Butter Rebellion.  I guess the food sucked at Harvard.  "Behold, our butter stinketh!— give us therefore, butter that stinketh not."  Not as good as "Give me liver or give me death" but close.  Back to the spiced chili thing.  It tastes so good yet you know the pain is coming with it.  You have to eat it slow and chew it completely.  That is why reading Thoreau is like eating really spicy chili.

Lets distinguish rebellion from sinning and criminal activity.  To the some who color within the lines always, whether a minister or fruit cake, there is little wiggle room and willful deviation is as sin.  One of the great rebels, Martin Luther said something like "we are all sinners......and fall short...." so shut up.  Martin knew something about sin that had been lost in the translation or the drifts of the years.  He also knew that he had to deviate, he had to run outside the lines because the people who drew the lines, either intentionally or inadvertently left out a few important facts.  These facts were going to cut into the bottom line of Big Business (the Church).  People did not need the Church for salvation.  It was a gift from God.   REBEL, indeed.  That would be like saying we did not need the FDA, Homeland Security, the Congress of the United States and giving proof to the degree that the common man understood just how feeble those institution are. 

So, if I want to drive the wrong way in a poorly designed, nearly empty parking lot that was built for a thousand cars, I think I can do it without sinning.  That is all I am saying. 

Friday Science: Mental Illness

While helping my son with his math times tables, I found myself confused with 5 X 9 and 6 X 9.  I have always been fascinated with the fact that 45 and 54 are mirror images of each other.  Left handed and right handed versions of things also interest me, sugars and dimeric things.  I am mentally ill.  Being a Star Trek fan, I doubt where I never doubted before.  I was never a good speller, now I suck chum as a speller.  Not only do I tell myself the same stories over and over again, now they have subtitles.  German or Spanish phrases fly through my mind while I retell the near same versions of tales.  I cannot even begin to deliver a quote of a movie or a book.  Even if I could remember it, by the time I finished it I would would not even know why I was talking.  It is like waking up from a drunken blackout and find yourself talking, which has only happened to me once.  I thought I was just sleeping but I woke up at a dinner party telling a joke.  It had to be funny, everyone was laughing.

Mental illness is great though.  I can take even less responsibility for things.  I can blame most of it on raising children.  Those mindless brain damaged mutants we love not only suck the life out of us but they actually cause brain damage.  Twenty years of deciphering lies and cryptic messages while all the time trying to be celibate and useful will destroy brain cells.  There should be a labelling campaign.  A man's penis and a woman's vagina should be tattooed at birth with a warning.  "Children are the leading cause of brain damage in adults" 

 While at Wally-World, a three year old is screaming for ice cream and I autonomically jerk hard left driving my shopping cart into a pile of carrots.  I am not taking responsibility for that.  That noise sent shooting pains into my cerebellum and down my sciatic nerve and down  to fifth metatarsal bone and its associated phalanges and out my pinky toenail.  Mental illness means no responsibility.  I will start talking to myself louder and then a twitch will grow into a tick.  I will find a nice comfy chair and rock back too far, bang my head on the fireplace mantle and it will be time for a dirt nap.  As it should be.

Tax Evasion

Wesley Snipes owes the IRS/US Government about 14 million dollars.   That is quite a bit of money.  Films he was part of made almost a billion dollars so even if he got just 10 percent, that is about a 100 million.  He has been paying lawyers for ten years to fight the IRS who almost never loses.  The IRS makes mistakes but they do not lose often.  My question is, did Wesley spend 14 million dollars on lawyers?, possibly. Is it  more possible to not pay the IRS for "income tax?  The tax lawyers were probably cheaper than the "keep my stupid black ass outa jail" lawyers.  Those guys are more expensive than high priced call girls at a congressional golf tournament. 

There is a veritable universe of tax dodges, loopholes and tax shelters.  They all have one thing in common.  They pay only a fraction to accountants, lawyers and the IRS.  Wesley did not want to pay anyting, bless his little Jones High School heart.  If he wants to read something interesting about the IRS, look at the tax code.  I will paraphrase it.

"Wes, you owe us money, pay up or we will find you."

 Ask Capone for directions to the Big House.  Now he has to spend more money keepin Bubba off his ass and trying to salvage a career while doing the Bend and Snap in the prison showers.  I do think it is kind of ballzy that he wrote the IRS a bad check for a cool million.  I think 14 million was a pretty good deal looking in the rear view mirror for Bubba. 

The Ninth Amendment: The Constitution

"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people"

What? Que? Come Hither once more?

I think it means there are fundamental rights of man (all people) not specifically listed in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights but that does not mean they do not exist and should not be protected by this document.

Robert Bork, often considered an originalist, has likened the Ninth Amendment to an inkblot. Bork argued in The Tempting of America that, while the amendment clearly had some meaning, its meaning is indeterminate; because the language is opaque, its meaning is as irretrievable as it would be had the words been covered by an inkblot. According to Bork, if another provision of the Constitution were covered by an actual inkblot, judges should not be permitted to make up what might be under the inkblot lest any judges twist the meaning to their own ends. 

With a name like Bork, who gives a shit and I have always considered him an inkblot.  He is just one "j" away from being a Norse tennis player or a hack musician.  Also, he is an originalist which has something to do with a strick view of the Judicial process but more closely resembles and organist or someone infatuated with a horses organ.

Alexander Hamilton addressed this issue in the Federalist Papers, #84 and James Madison also stressed that a congress whom he does not trust being given authority to usurp some rights at some time does not imply that they should be able to run a muck continuously, like they are now and on other unspecified rights not spelled out in the constitution.  It was more about limiting power of Congress and not granting freedoms.

It seems like a catch-all amendment to begin the tie up of the Bill of Rights in a nice neat package.

Little League Team Tryouts

There used to be a tradition in Little League baseball called tryouts.  It was a chance for coaches of teams to get a look at the players new to the league.  They may be young or old, experienced or novice.  Everyone not on a team the previous year had to "try out" his skills for the coaches.  It was an annual right of passage.  If for whatever reason you did not want to play on the same team for another year, (the beginning of the pussifying of America) you would have to try out again.

I watched my dad pick kids at tryouts and they were not always the most talented but he would see something of value in them.  Of course, Dad could see something of value in everyone and so it was.  I personally never had to try out because he was always coaching or my older brother was in the league already.  Families stuck together.  I became a coach, a not very good one and I am sure that my "tryout rules" were part of the problem. 

The first two rules are for the player:

Rule 1:  If they could not stand in line and be still during tryouts, I did not want to deal with them on my team. The kid had to look interested in playing baseball and not grabass.  I felt I could teach a kid to hit a baseball or turn a double play if he was interested. 
Rule 2:  A kid had to be able to catch the ball a little bit and not be afraid of it.  I was not as worried about throwing as I was catching.  Some of the best arms ever could throw it to the moon and that is where it ended up most of the time. 

These rules are directed toward the parents.  These days you are drafting not just the kids but the mom and dad, little sisters and little brothers.  The dad that coaches my team from the stands can only be tolerated if his wife/girlfriend has a nice butt.

Rule 3:  A Good looking mom with team mom potential is very important, especially with female sports. Sometimes a good team mom is better than a nice butt. 
     
Rule 4:  Dads that want to help and coach, volunteer to help.  If they are yelling at their kid from the smoking area, be careful, very careful.  These kids are can be first picks but dad is baggage.  If they are later picks, the kids are usually quit malleable because dad has worn them down to a nub.  These are some of the best kids to pick.  They blossom like lilies after a rain and are usually very appreciative. 

Rule 5:  For a good team year after year, a dynasty, you need to look at the younger brothers.  They will be on your team also (next year) so you need to keep this in mind while drafting the older sibling.   I had three brothers on the team and they were are mediocre or average players but they loved to try and played hard.  Their mom was cute and a great team mom.  They basically counted as 1 big pick. 

Warning: the dad, mom and coaching, encouraging from the stands thing.  My dad had a parent giving signals to his son pitcher who was good but could have been better.  My dad called "timeout" walked up to the fence and asked the man if he wanted to coach the team.  The man said "no" so my dad asked him to please stop sending signals to his son or he would take him out of the game and put him in the stands.  Enough said.

I loved playing and coaching.  I was not very good at either.  Little League was great.  The last time I watched a game they had changed the rules and kids were crying and talking on cell phones in the dugout.  Not for me.  No changes for the better.

Planking

Eureka,
I may have found the salvation of my artistic soul.  The phenomonon called Planking.  One of the descriptors of this expression was from

By Bonnie Malkin, Sydney of The Telegraph

The first thing a serious planker needs is a healthy disregard for the law — and personal safety. A sense of adventure will also come in handy.

The next step is to perfect your technique. To do this you may need to spend a good few hours lying on the floor, face down, and imagining that you are a piece of wood. It is best to practise in the privacy of your bedroom or living room before you’re ready to take your art to the streets.

(I respect the law but have a deep seated conspiracy complex and a streak of rebellion a mile wide.)  I want to imagine that I am a piece of wood.  It reminds me of primary school and imagining I could be something other than a poor black boy with red hair and one eye.

To plank a wild animal or a Sarah Palin rally would be a supreme act of artistic expression.  How is this related to the first amendment?  If some hanging clot can protest at funerals then I should be able to pretend I am a Norther Larch plank and lie flat as a board in a flowerbed while some Neo-fascist rewrites history.

Friday Science: Unusual Life

I have read two articles this week about seriously strange life forms on earth.  I am not surprised by either.  They both are confounding though.  The first one rocked me to the core of existence.  It is a parasitic crustacean that lodges itself on the tongue of a fish and slowly eats the fish tongue completely.  Fish need a tongue, God said as much by giving them one in the first place so the crustacean attaches itself to the fish's stub of a tongue and grows itself to "replace" the tongue.  I was so aghast by the story that I could barely finish watching the video.  

The second story was a tiny worm, technical name is a nematode that lives in cracks in the rocks a mile deep in the earth's crust.  They live on bacteria in pockets of water (literally drops) trapped in rock formations.  I guess water and these worms work there way down into cracks that form in the crust.  Hell, I don't know and I don't know why except that because they can survive, they do survive.

There have been the cyanide eating bacteria discovered in strange dead places, the fossils of bacteria found in the staggeringly old places and all of them just discovered.  There will be more discoveries to follow these fine works of research.  This reminds me a guy who could find a woman "anywhere".  He picked up a woman at a Toll Booth.  Think about that for a few seconds.  You drive up to a toll booth, pay you toll and ask "Hey, do you want to go out for a drink and dinner?",  She says, "Sure, my shift just ended" and she jumps in your car.  That is almost as remarkable as a worm living in a rock 5000 feet below the earth.  Well, almost.

The Constitution: Eighth Amendment

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted".

Almost an exact duplication of the English Bill of Rights of 1689.  There was a movie about dat, with Chirstian Slater and ole "Can I have another one Sir".  It was really hard to watch but was very good.

I think in this pussyfied country we live in, the cruel and unusual punishment has come to mean do not make the convicted feel bad because he/she is a dumbass criminal.  I think we should treat them with respect.  For instance, don't rape the women because they are shoplifters.  Do not punch the bank robber in the face every day because we can.  Things like that.   Bail is just to assure the accused will show up for court to be tried by a jury using the other parts of the Bill of Rights.  They were created to protect basic, decent rights of men.  They are not a Bill of Wrongs.  Once they are convicted we should be able to treat them a crapload worse. 

Remember, all bets are off for the Bill of Rights when we are at war.  The Congress has given the President the ability to suspend basic rights because he wants to.

Uncle Bob

Recently, I was asked to send a note to my cousin.  She was putting together a father's day card for her dad, my Uncle Bob.  Maybe it was his birthday, I don't know.  I am bad about reading entire emails and miss alot at the end.  She wanted us to write something about memories of her dad (My dad's bro)  We were pretty close emotionally and geographically to Bob. The following was what I wrote for his card. 

Uncle Bob was our emergency contact.  We memorized the phone number at the Used Care Exchange so even if we could not find our parents, we could call Uncle Bob.    When Joe and Ben were nabbed acting foolish (not paying for stuff they desired)  at Ron Jon's Surf Shop, Who do you call? Uncle Bob! 

When I was in college at  FTU (UCF) in Orlando, where did I go for a home away from home? Bob's house.  Aunt Nat would cook and I would eat.  They gave me the code to the garage door so I could make myself at home.  Of course, I bought my first car from Bob.  I abandoned it on the highway somewhere and hitched a ride to the Used Car Exchange and bought another $50 car and off I went.  When I would come in to get another junker off the back lot he would say, "That previous one lasted six months? I did not charge you enough for it then".  Off I would go clanking and belching smoke in a wobbling junker.  What a great Uncle to not only give me a car for $50 but a show car with four different size tires and a hole in the dash where I could put a stereo. 

Thanks for everything Bob,

love, 

        Ziffle

Bob and Natalie (wife) gave me a Christmas present 30 years ago.  IT was a set of microwaveable bowls and a bacon cooker.  I still have one of those bowls with its lid.  It is the best cookware ever.  It is the Revere Ware of microwave stuff. 

A Puddle for your thoughts

I threw my grand-daughter in the mud pond the other day.  She deserved it.  Her father had killed a snake and thrown it on the bank.  It was a water snake, most likely a moccasin which for those that do not know is a vile, mean, hateful creature.  The Cotton mouthed Moccasin will come after you and chase you.  There is no minding your own business with this spawn of Satan.   She told me it was still alive and wanted me to go see it. I told her "if it is dead, I am going to throw you in the pond with it".  It was stinky dead.  Snakes stink sooner after death than any animal I know.

Anyway, she snapped a noodle and popped a vein all at the same time.  She started chasing me which brought laughter from her father and me and everyone that could see this fat ole man running from this eight year old crazed banshee.  I don't know if it was the fact that she could not catch me or the laughter from her father or what but she dramatically fell to the ground and started uttering swear words and insults in rapid succession.  I laughed even harder.

I told her later that I did not intend to embarrass her or scare her, I just wanted to play and play I did. 

Verified

There is a nice feeling when one's theories are proven accurate.  Unfortunately for me most of my theories deal with the painful side of living.  I have theorized that the older one's age progresses, the dirtier the bottom half of the body gets.  I am living that theory.  While not revealing too much detail of my showering routine, I know that it is rare that I wash my feet.  I cannot safely or comfortably reach them while standing.  Toppling over in the shower will get me a one way visit to the rest home these days.

I made the statement "if an animal's excrement is as large or larger than mine, it will make a lousy pet".  With the equines in the yard and the canine beasts in the house, it is clear that once again, I am correct.  Sadly.  They eat more than I do and that is a trick and they shit more than I do and than is just disgusting.  How could I do this to myself.  Well, I did not, I only vaguely allowed it.  In fact, I guess that is why I vaguely remember saying "No". 

I also said that a women's butt looks smaller on a motorcycle.  I will have to just continue believing this is just an illusion because I am not going to approach a biker chick with a ruler and ask her if I can measure her butt while on and then off the bike.  I have avoided a pummeling for more than twenty years now, I am too old for that kind of verification and the superiority that I feel in have such a novel theory is wonderful.

Friday Science: Sports injuries

Force = Mass X Acceleration

Football, Baseball and Basketball, Tennis, Golf

Thirty years ago they athletes were smaller.  They all had a few big guys like Kilabrew, Too Tall Jones and Wilt but the average size was much smaller.  If you plug in this larger size into the Force equation, you get

F= m*(1.2) x A so even if the athletes are not any faster, the forces at which they work with are much greater when concerned with movement.  A collision of any kind with today's athletes creates forces that a body was not taking 30 years ago.

With the tennis racket and the baseball bat, they are lighter in weight and have other flexing rebound forces that are greater than 30 years ago.  Babe Ruth swung a long, heavier bat that did not flex much.  Today's bats are lighter and can be swung much faster and have a reflex that gives extra power.

F=m(1.2) x A(1.5)

The basic capacity of the human body has not changed.  The forces acting on the body have increased whether someone is running into you like in football and basketball or you are trashing the joints and muscles of baseball or tennis players.  Golf clubs are high tech and the golfers are stronger.  They engineer swings and clubs to leverage force.  The joints and spine take the beating.

If you are stronger, larger and moving faster, you will hit and be hit harder.  You will also break down more often and more seriously.  You need to get the money up front because you will break sooner than later.  It is all science.

Chicken Sandwich

Recently I bought a chicken sandwich.  It was a piece of chicken, broiled and a bun.  That was it.  I thought carefully and then said "Ah man".  I had left the eating area to enjoy my grilled chicken feast.  Did I have salt, no, did I have sauce, no, did I have any saliva in my mouth, no.  I was not Pavlovianing at the thought of a nice juicy sandwich.   I ate it of course, the main goal was sustenance management anyway.  In fact, I have reduced most of my life to sustenance management.  At first I think it was economic survival.  I now live a pauper's way of life.  Am I missing something?  I can add it to the list of things I missed starting with the two french girls with wine and short shorts in the BMW.  I insisted on selling those stupid T-shirts instead of ditching the whole enterprise and running off to who knows where with the smarmy wenches. 

The chicken sandwich is a metaphor of my life sometimes.  Chicken salad is the metaphor for the rest of the time.

The Constitution: The Seventh Amendment

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Sometimes I think that they should have lumped a few of these in together and saved a lot of time.  I guess the Bill of Rights was that so I should shut it.


There it goes again, formatting that I did not do or ask for.  Hmmm


The right to a jury trial, to keep fat headed judges in line.  "You're all out of Order".  What about twelve angry men, is that good.  Henry Fonda cannot be in every jury box.  Ask, Canasta Jane Fawlfront of Cheshireton in Bristol.  She was convicted of threatening a hedgehog.  The judge, who was from Australia which pissed up a lot of Brits, called the tart a Hog thrasher.  Scarcely anyone knew what he was talking about so the jury convicted her of animal cruelty for chasing the bint with a bit of a switch and it ran in the road and was smashed by the 8:23 to Yorkshire.  Hedgehogs, although generally considered a common rodent, are cute so the jury sentenced her to housecleaning for the Vicar.    The Judge threw the entire mess out because it was actually an Echidna which is not related to the hedgehog at all.  


Lost my point on this one.  

Oh, trial by jury and cannot be tried twice for the same offense.  Good stuff.