Blue ice has turned out to be more interesting than I had expected. The physics are well known, the way the little bubble are formed by the accretion of snow but it seems odd to me that, according to different search engines, it seems localized to Mr. Beagles' neck of the woods. I don't think I've heard of blue ice until recently and I'm not aware of it forming at this end of Lake Michigan, which is odd considering that both lakes Huron and Michigan are essentially the same body of water. Maybe Mr. Beagles can tell me whether or not blue ice forms equally on both sides of the big bridge.
So, Uncle Ken doesn't "get" walking across a frozen river or lake. That's too bad, it's part of the wonder of nature with it's bleak desolation and sense of danger. A lot of things run through your mind as you listen to the slow creaking and cracking of the ice; you have to keep your wits about you. Some folks even think it's fun to go ice skating on a frozen river, I know I did.
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You dawgs you can go on and on, and on and on, and on and on, about a fairly obscure invention, the ice cream machine, yet a simple device like the pencil that touches everybody's lives and is possibly in danger, gets not a yip out of either of you,
Quit being such a sourpuss, Uncle Ken. It's been many months since Mr. Beagles and I have discussed ice cream machines, and we didn't really get into them that much but it seems like a major bone of contention for you. And maybe you can explain why you think that pencils may be in danger; they're not.
Personally, I like pencils, a lot. About ten years ago my sister asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I replied Dixon Ticonderoga #1 pencils and she came through like a champ, about six boxes worth. Still have some left, too, but they're not as good as they used to be. The wood casings don't seem to be cedar anymore, more like some kind of processed wood product. It makes a difference, they flex a little more and the lead keeps breaking inside the wood when I sharpen them with a blade. It's tough to get a good pencil these days, you have to go to an art supply store to get the nice ones. My current favorite is the HB2 Mirado Black Warrior.
When I was a kid I liked the white pencils with the blue Jay's Potato Chip logos on them but they were round and kept rolling off the desk. And those flat carpenter's pencils were a curious change of pace but had little utility in my childhood endeavors; now I understand how useful they are. Mechanical pencils drove me nuts in the fourth grade; I kept breaking the damn leads. They were cool but too fussy for me at the time and now I know better but don't have any in my current inventory. They're too specialized for me right now unless I get back into drafting.
I was going to go off on a tangent about fountain pens but that can wait. But those ink bottles with the separate well were cool, weren't they?
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Unlike many past years I've seen quite a few of the Oscar nominated movies, none in theaters. I won't name them all, but I think The Darkest Hour was the best of the bunch. A well told story, and Gary Oldman really nailed it with his portrayal of Churchill. Your opinion may vary.
It's true that there is a lot of silly emphasis on fashion and style at the Oscar ceremony but I don't mind. They're having fun and it would be churlish of me to piss on their moment in the spotlight. I don't even mind what is called "political correctness" since some things need to be said and some issues need to be addressed. Only time will tell whether or not any real change will be wrought. And I don't think that the pendulum is swinging towards puritanism although it may seem that way. We can disagree without becoming disagreeable, can we not?
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Despite there being an apparent lack of interest in the reputation economy, here's another tidbit: Social Scorecard
Like it or not, I think China is now the dominant force in global affairs, followed by Russia. The US is like a chicken with it's head cut off, with no real strategy except the rantings of a loon. Maybe that's the strategy, from Nixon's playbook, to convince world leaders that you're a madman to keep them on their toes. It's worked before but they may not get fooled again.
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Remember Daniel Ellsberg, he of Pentagon Papers fame? He's still around, talking sense, as depicted in a recent WIRED podcast. What surprised me was that he and a fellow Rand Corporation colleague felt that Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove seemed like a documentary to them. And, according to Ellsberg, it's the US, not the Russians, that has the Doomsday Device.
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Do the arts elevate?
They can, but I think the arts are more of a reflection of reality, as expressed by the artist, musician, dancer, or whatever. But it sounds like a trick question to me, relying too much on subjective interpretation and I'm not enough of a snob to impose my aesthetic sensibilities on others. To elevate is not the same as to uplift, in my opinion, and I won't discuss it any further at this time. There is no need for me to chew upon every topic until nothing of value remains; a little mystery can be a good thing.
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The Fantanas are another group I was unaware of, so I had to look them up. Shills for Fanta, who'd of thunk it? And now they have a guy in their ranks. But who remembers what the Swedish Bikini Team was selling? All I can think of is that it was probably a beer but I don't care enough to look it up.
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