Marked For Life

AGeorgiamother who was arrested for allowing her ten-year-old to get a tattoo said she had no idea it was illegal for him to get one, even with her consent.

A tattoo is a form of body modification, made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. The first written reference to the word, “tattoo” (or Samoan “Tatau”) appears in the journal of Joseph Banks, the naturalist aboard Captain Cook’s ship the HMS Endeavour in 1769: I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humour or disposition.

Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice at least since Neolithic times. Dating from the fourth to fifth millennium BC, Ötzi the Iceman, , was found in the Ötz valley in the Alps. He had 57 carbon tattoos consisting of simple dots and lines on his lower spine, behind his left knee, and on his right ankle. These tattoos were thought to be a form of healing because of their placement which resembles acupuncture.

Evidentially, people think body art is pretty. Anyway, it’s in vogue. A lady who worked for me, went with her mother for a tattoo. They each had something inscribed on their ankles.

A friend once asked me what I though of body art and piercings. (Jesus had  body piercings.) We tried at one time to prosecute some guys in the army for defacing government property. It didn’t work. I can tolerate some of the small, tasteful tattooes…it’s those gross, all-over tattoos that the pro basketball players have that keep me from watching them on television. Could we prosecute their mothers for allowing them to get all that ink injected?

Justice For Natalie Holloway

Does it seem that Natalee Holloway has been missing on the island of Aruba since 2005? Not since O.J. has a story received so much attention as her tragedy.

Youths are adventuresome, do things, and go places they shouldn’t, thinking they’re invincable. It appears  that Miss Holloway made some mistakes. Everyone is entitled to life, liberty, and happiness, and the person that denied her those should be punished to the fullest!

History does repeat itself. Van de Sloot, the accused killer of Natalee, has been convicted of killing another beauty in Peru and is currently serving a twenty-eight year sentence there. Al Capone got his due. O.J. Got his due. No one is above the law.

My wife and I spent a day in Aruba while we were on tour. We took safety precautions and stayed with the crowd; didn’t visit any nightclubs or casinos; and didn’t fraternise with any less-than-savory, scraggly-bearded youth named Joran.

Politics Or Art?

Often when Glenda and I are out for our walk, we stumble upon hopscotch mazes drawn by some small school girl, in front of her house. Being raised in the country where we had no sidewalks, I almost feel compelled to hop-skip-bounce across the template.

In Siquatapaque, Honduras, a festival is held each fall where the sidewalks are colored, and the streets decorated with pictures made by placing different colored grain, beans, and seed in a colorful arrangement. It’s beautiful.

Things are different where Disney sits. At one time, the Orlando mayor had invited the people “to chalk up their sidewalks,” when the Magic was in the playoffs. Now a citizen named Timothy Osmar wrote out things on the sidewalk with chalk saying things like “Justice Equals Liberty.” The chalk messages irritated city hall and caused them to stop him. Would they stop “hopscotch?” I don’t think so—that wouldn’t irritate “the powers that be”—be they city hall, The Magic, or Disney!

Abandon Ship!

The captain of the Costa Concordia, which is partially submerged off the Italian coast, is taking heat for abandoning ship. Traditionally, the captain is the ultimate servant to the passengers on his ship. Rather strangely the crew is still expected to serve passengers in the event the ship is sinking and put their guests before themselves. The Captain, being the most responsible officer on board, is expected to be the last to leave the ship after ensuring the safety of his passengers.

The Mariner’s Code Of Conduct was alluded to in Lord Jim, a novel by Joseph Conrad, and is apparent in a number of true accounts of the actions of captains on merchant vessels. Captain E.J. Smith on The Titanic was calm and courage all during her sinking. Coast Guard regulations Code 4-2 states that the commanding officer should be the last one to leave a ship in distress. Navy regulations are the same. Neither regulation nor custom demands that a captain go down with his ship.

 Naturally, this would entail the captain is in the most dangerous position of all, often trying to escape as the ship sinks. This was not always possible so he would “go down with his ship.” Another explanation is that if the ship sank it would be because of his mistakes. To die with the ship would ensure his being enshrined as a hero; otherwise, he faced than the humiliation of a court martial for losing a ship and its passengers. Abandon ship before the passengers and find that there are things worse than death…being labeled a coward or unfit to serve!

Blueberry Wine

A guy I knew planted a blueberry bush but it never bore fruit. It looked healthy otherwise. He was distressed and decided not to plant additional blueberries.

It could be that he planted a blueberry variety that is not self-pollinating, or that pollination was insufficient. Plant a bunch! This will make it easy for bees to cross-pollinate the blueberry plants. “It takes two to tango” in certain cases.

On one of my mission trips toHonduras, I was allowed to attend a party of expatriates. They were inHondurasfor a variety of reasons. Usually they were looking for something they’d never had or something they had when younger, but lost… Or, maybe someone was looking for them.  One of the group was a formerHollywooddirector and was accompanied by his “painted lady,” who was approximately ninety years old. A couple of gays were fire department retirees.

Another was a retiree who’d gone south to raise blueberries. He had a good crop but a small market. He gave me a small bottle of blueberry wine to bring back home. It wasn’t labeled—thus I disposed of it before I left the country. It proved a point, that one can make wine from anything that will ferment.

It wasn’t five-star quality; however, the clerk, bellhop, taxi driver, and a wino at the hotel enjoyed it. That’s another whole story for a later time!

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,400 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

IS Winter Over?

It’s mid-January and not too cold inSouth Georgia. We expect red-breasted robins to appear (in February or March) to signal the advent of spring. I glanced out the window of my office and saw thirty of the beauties on my lawn. My first thought was, “Is spring really here?”

Then I thought of the Canadian geese who came here and stayed. Most any day, we can see 30 or 40 geese at the lake or flying a few thousand feet over to the fairgrounds to forage on the tender-green grass. I’m going to postulate that the birds had encountered warm weather and stopped off here by mistake.  Could these robins be permanent residents who just visited my yard for the day?

I asked my knowledgeable bird-watching friend about them “Were they going north or south,” he replied. This meant he didn’t know.

Heck, we haven’t asked the groundhog yet if winter is over!

Only In The Movies!

Some predictable things that happen in movies were pointed out to me by Will and Guy. I’ve added others that I’ve observed over the years. I wound up serving in Special Services (Not Special Forces) at one time in the military. One of my jobs was running the post theater. I watched each movie several times and began to look for faults in movies, e.g. a jet trail in The Ten Commandments, or tire tracks in a Civil War movie

Some truisms include:

1) During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

2) All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.

3) The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.

4) Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.

5) When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.
All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets that reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying beside her.

6) Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don’t worry which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one.

7) It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts-your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one as they dance around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

Only in the movies!

What About Expiration Dates On Food?

Outdated foods. Are they good? 

“With the current economic troubles, expired foods are increasingly becoming a part of America’s diet,” explains The Atlantic. Re-sellers — called “salvage stores” — have seen sales increase over the last few years. At food banks, there has been a 40 percent increase in demand for these items, according to Feeding America.

 

So what about the safety of these food? Are they fit for consumption? Overdue foods have a stamp of approval from the FDA. According to The Atlantic, “The government agency decided that expiration dates are simply an indication of optimum quality as deemed by the manufacturer.” That’s good news for those of us who have stockpiles of canned tuna, soups, tomatoes, salad dressings, and other shelf-stable items. According to Dr. Ted Labuza, professor of food science at the University of Minnesota, many of those foods can be consumed years after their stamped date.

Christmas Tree Alternative

Now that Chritmas is behind us, I’m seeing discarded Christmas trees tossed out beside the street and parked at the garbage collection sites for shredding. The first time I was in Honduras (in 1988) everyone had a Christmas tree made from a denuded tree branch, painted white, with styrofoam chips attached. They were really attractive, but different…The reason behind the tree facimilie, is the deforestation that has occurred because of the clean cutting of trees. It’s now against the law to cut a tree.    

 A young missionary acquaintance, his wife, and child were assigned to Honduras before that Christmas. They, desiring a back-home tree, went out and cut a small evergreen. They invited their friends over to observe the beautiful tree. The friends, more knowledgable than the newcomers, explained the gravity of the situation. A midnight run was made to the countryside to dispose of the tree before they were found out and prosecuted. The replacement “branch” served quite well.