Tales From the Perimeter: Hammers

Perimeter meaning the 6 mile patrol road inside the fence of the military installation on which I formerly worked, where some half a dozen of us comprise a pool of running “talent” and strive to show up for a noontime run a couple times a week if we can escape our desks. We share a lot and these guys are one of the core pillars of my sanity.

[Image credit Hurley Auctions]

 

It's been far too long since I put up a Tales From the Perimeter post, but since I retired my running frequency with the group has plummeted.  At any rate, though, I'm sure our next run will feature this recent email as a discussion topic:

 

Guys,

Saw this photo among items in a on-line tool auction I was recently bidding on (JH bids on-line for tools ALL the time).  Of course, I thought immediately of PH, our local rocket scientist and the classic analogy: Dumb as a box of hammers.  Although in fairness to PH, me cutting off part of my finger in a snowblower may move me past him on the smartness scale, in the negative direction.

 

Where are all you vacationers now?  I’m thinking about coming up for a run by the Ides of March.  Will have to be finger-dependent, however.  I see the doc this afternoon to get stitches out…but an infection has developed in the finger that may set things back awhile.

 

And no email from me would be complete without a Chuck Norris quote, since you all are clamoring so desperately for more.  In deference to JH, who inexplicably is NOT a fan, I’ll put it at the end.

 

Regards/Gary

--Where there is a will, there is a way. Where there is Chuck Norris, there is no other way.

I continue to love these guys as brothers, from having shared--literally--blood, sweat and tears over the years and over the miles.  I hope that you are fortunate enough to have some similar running compadres.

 

 

Karma. Fracking. More Karma.

Karma's a bitch, Mister 1%.

This from Dependable Renegade, who points us to ThinkProgress:

Exxon CEO Comes Out Against Fracking Project Because It Will Affect His Property Values

As ExxonMobil’s CEO, it’s Rex Tillerson’s job to promote the hydraulic fracturing enabling the recent oil and gas boom, and fight regulatory oversight. The oil company is the biggest natural gas producer in the U.S., relying on the controversial drilling technology to extract it.

The exception is when Tillerson’s $5 million property value might be harmed. Tillerson has joined a lawsuit that cites fracking’s consequences in order to block the construction of a 160-foot water tower next to his and his wife’s Texas home.

 

The Wall Street Journal reports the tower would supply water to a nearby fracking site, and the plaintiffs argue the project would cause too much noise and traffic from hauling the water from the tower to the drilling site. The water tower, owned by Cross Timbers Water Supply Corporation, “will sell water to oil and gas explorers for fracing [sic] shale formations leading to traffic with heavy trucks on FM 407, creating a noise nuisance and traffic hazards,” the suit says.

 

While the complaint deals with noise and traffic issues, it's still quite ironic that Tillerson has been mighty dismissive of the more significant issues associated with fracking encountered by other homeowners:

 

When he is acting as Exxon CEO, not a homeowner, Tillerson has lashed out at fracking critics and proponents of regulation. “This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery, growth, and global competitiveness,” he said in 2012. Natural gas production “is an old technology just being applied, integrated with some new technologies,” he said in another interview. “So the risks are very manageable.”

In shale regions, less wealthy residents have protested fracking development for impacts more consequential than noise, including water contamination and cancer risk. Exxon’s oil and gas operations and the resulting spills not only sinks property values, but the spills have leveled homes and destroyed regions.

Karma.  Think about it, Mr. Tillerson.

 

Bobsledding Vs. Ultrarunning

[image credit Wikipedia]

I heard this quote while I was watching some Swiss bobsledder during the just-concluded Winter Olympics.  Evidently he was expected to do well at these games.

I wrote it down, it tickled me so:

"He's got the weight of a great sledding nation on his shoulders."

Wow.  Makes me really glad that all I do is trudge or slog or mosey through the backcountry trails, just me and no other responsibilities to others or to my country.

Please note that I am in no way making fun of this guy, the Swiss, or the sport of bobsledding.  We all--myself included--specialize in some pursuits that others think to be odd. 

It just struck me as a peculiar comment, one that I cannot ever imagine being applied to me or to Ultrarunning.

 

Last Post on Gun Culture and Stand Your Ground

No, not because the problem is resolved.

It's because the problem isn't resolved, and won't be, and writing about it just makes my head hurt.  If the nation didn't take any meaningful action after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, if the bottom line essentially was "Tough break about those kids, but we have this much more important gun fetish to consider," then it's game over for reason and sanity.

So to preserve my sanity I'm gonna stop writing about guns etc. after this post...but not before turning to the Rude Pundit for his unique way with words.  As I have mentioned before, the Rude Pundit uses crude over-the-top language and hyperbole to make his points in a unique way.  And I almost always find myself in total agreement.

Link is here; you'll need to scroll down to his post of 20 Feb 2014, entitled "Jordan Davis Killer Michael Dunn Was Just Another White Coward with a Gun":

Take the gun out of the hands of Michael Dunn, and he backs the fuck up and drives away. See, if you have time to reach in your glove compartment and get your semi-automatic pistol out, you have time to shift into "reverse." If the semi-automatic pistol ain't there, all you got is a car that moves in various directions. Without his gun, George Zimmerman sits in his fuckin' car and waits for the cops. Without his gun, Curtis Reeves goes back to his fucking seat and watches a shitty movie. Because these men, and so many others, are pussies who would never push things to a confrontation without having the gun readily available.

You should be able to defend yourself when you're being attacked. But you should also have the balls to fucking suck it up and walk away or call a cop. Instead, we have states that are filthy with racists who have been told they don't have to back down for anyone, least of all that scary-looking nigger. Well, that racist is gonna think, what the fuck is the gun for anyway?

Think about it.

French Quarter Kitty...and Ultrarunning

The bride was just in New Orleans this past weekend, on her way to a western Caribbean cruise with the ladies, when she snapped this image:

[image credit The Bride]

 

 

It's a good life, darlin'.

The Ultrarunning part?  I ran 10 miles a couple days ago with no ill effects from or on my finger.  Next milestone--that I am truly dreading--is getting the stitches out on Tuesday.  Just thinking about it makes me cringe.  It's not that I've ever had a history of terrible experiences with removal of medial sutures, it's just that the end of my newly-truncated finger is just so sensitive to the touch.

I plan to ask for Novocaine to prep me.  The marvels of modern medicine, and all that, right?  This is the era of not needing to suffer needlessly.  Better living through pharmaceuticals! 

 

Cats in Art: Three Animals (Dog, Fox and Cat) (Marc)

[Late update 1030 Sunday: I just took another look at this image.  Now I see a horse head, eye closed, facing right and parallel with the dog's head, with the horse's nose almost touching the nose of the dog.  The head of the horse is integrated into the cat like 2 pieces of a puzzle, with the horse's mane being the chest/shoulder stripes of the cat's fur.]

 

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I'm using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

This is my tenth post on Franz Marc (1880-1916), a key German painter whose life tragically ended early on the Western Front in 1916. Maybe he even knew my great-grandfather. This will be a multi-week series (I am still uncovering his cat works).

 

Image credit The Atheneum, here. Three Animals (Dog, Fox and Cat), Franz Marc, 1912, oil on canvas, 31" x 41", held by Kunsthalle Mannheim (Germany).

 

 

OK, this painting takes a bit of staring at to get it to register.  The pale gray dog in the center is obvious, as is the red fox in upper right.  But what's that under the dog's belly?  Or what looks to be a single eye (in a feline head?) to the right of the dog's face?

 

When I initially tried to find the kitty I just could not see it at all--then it practically leaped from the painting, over on the right edge.  Maybe you saw it immediately, but I had a temporary visual or mental block.

 

While the dog and fox are bold and obvious, almost forceful in their strong lines and strong colors, the kitty is an interesting counterpoint: muted, demure, and melting into the shadows. 

 

But seemingly unconcerned about the close presence of the canid brutes.

 

 

 

Yeah, That'll Work...and Ultrarunning

Via our friends at Boing Boing, this bit of insanity:

A Kansas lawmaker has introduced a bill allowing parents, caregivers, and school officials to give harder spankings. The Sunflower State is already one of 20 (mostly Southern) states in which children can be hit as long as no mark or bruise remains afterward, but this proposed law would protect adults who strike kids forcefully enough to cause redness or discoloration. The woman behind the measure is Wichita’s Gail Finney, a Democrat and mother of three sons. She outlined her objectives for the Wichita Eagle: to define corporal punishment for the judicial system, to restore parental rights, and to shield old-school disciplinarians from child abuse charges. “What’s happening is there are some children that are very defiant and they’re not minding their parents, they’re not minding school personnel,” Finney said. Even with “a small amount of a bruise, a parent could still be charged with child abuse when it wasn’t anything serious.”

Says Boing Boing:  

The research on hitting children is pretty clear: it doesn't work. The bill would allow teachers and administrators to hit children, even those over 18, with permission from their parents -- legalizing the restraint and violent assault of a legal adult by a government agent. 

 

So, if I get this right, the "thinking" is that if you hit a defiant kid--harder now than formerly--that'll somehow make them less defiant.  Yeah, that'll work.  Instilling the fear o' God and all that stuff.

 

What might work better would be to take said defiant child and challenge him or her to work out their aggression and angst on the trails.  It certainly works for me whenever I am feeling anti-social.

 

And while we are bashing on Kansas, another legislator has come up with this equally hateful idea under the guise of "protecting the institution of marriage."  But making hate lawful by cloaking it in religious terms is still hate:

The bill passed by the Kansas House of Representatives today has a bland title-"An act concerning religious freedoms with respect to marriage." But the language cannot conceal the vicious discrimination it's intended to protect. The bill would allow not only private businesses but, quite remarkably, state officials to withhold services from gays and lesbians as long as it is motivated by a "sincerely held religious beliefs of the individual or religious entity regarding sex or gender." This reprehensible proposed law would render gays and lesbians second-class citizens in Kansas and deprives them of rights most people have long taken for granted. 

The law allows private business to deny gays and lesbians "services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges" based on their sexual orientation. By granting immunity to anyone who denies services to gays and lesbians based on an asserted religious belief, it would prevent gays and lesbians from suing even based on common-law rights that require public accommodations to accept all comers on equal terms. The law is not even limited to same-sex couples, but permits the denial of services to anyone "related to, or related to the celebration of, any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement." Rather than extending civil-rights protections to gays and lesbians, the Kansas law would move the state in the opposite direction, diminishing the civil rights of gays and lesbians (and, possibly, straight people with gay and lesbian friends as well).

You should go read the entire article.  And maybe avoid Kansas if you can.

 

I Awoke This Morning, Full of the Possible

I needed some inspiration today for getting back into the swing of Ultrarunning. 

The past 6 weeks have been fraught with health issues: a nasty case of bronchitis that took me down for 3 weeks, followed closely by a careless accident where I severed the last joint of my ring finger in my snowblower.  While one joint of a ring finger might not seem like much, it's been quite uncomfortable and is in fact a big deal.

I should note that I have been able to resume running...I was concerned that the act of running would induce a case of too-painful throbbing in my newly-truncated finger.  Actually, not a problem.

With that as a preface, today I stood in back of my minivan and took courage from this:

I splurged a couple years ago after the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run on this vanity plate.  And that's exactly what it is: a testament to my vanity at being able to run 100 miles.

It's not bragging if you can do it, right?