Jane Goodall didn't monkey around

 

Jane Goodall died yesterday at age 91. She actually worked with chimpanzees and not monkeys or gorillas (ugly or otherwise). Dian Fossey worked with mountain gorillas and was killed in 1985 in Rwanda by poachers. If you are curious, Birute Galdikas studied orangutans. All three were sometimes called "Leakey's Angels," because they were all mentored by anthropologist Louis Leakey. 

All of these creatures are primates which include monkeys (baboons, capuchins and spider monkeys), apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons and humans), and prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers and lorises).  So all monkeys are primates, but not all primates are monkeys.

So Jane Goodall didn't monkey around, she aped around.

I didn't post any of this on social media since people don't seem to have a sense of humor any more, but the anthropologists probably would have appreciated it.

Chews wisely

 

Once again it is National Chewing Gum Day. And anyone who has ever been around cows know they chew their cud. Cows have multi-chambered stomachs and swallow grass or hay quickly without chewing it. It digests in the first stomach chamber and then the cow regurgitates it and chews it it to break it down before swallow it and sending it off to be digested more. 

Not a pleasant thing to think about but a cow chewing it's cud looks like it is mindlessly chewing gum. Which reminds me of a friend of mine in grade school who apparently didn't chew his food the first time either and brought it up later to chew on. I discovered this when we were out on the playground and I smelled hot dogs (which is what the school lunch was that day) and notice Jim was chewing away. That's when he told me about his weird habit. Grosses me out to this day.

Chew on that one for awhile.

Don't call me Ishmael

 

It is National Coffee Day.  And I personally think every day is National Coffee Day, not because I particularly like the taste, but I like the buzz. I started liking the buzz when I was probably 17 or so and drank this rank coffee in the break room at the Boise Public Library. It was your typical Mr. Coffee brewed crap that sat on the heater all day and developed a nice burnt and bitter taste, but it would get you going.

Later in college I knew where all the closest locations were to grab a cup including vile coffee vending machines that were worse than the old BPL break  room coffee. But it kept me going through many a boring class. I learned to drink coffee black because it was often the quickest way to grab a cup and go. This was all before Starbucks turned coffee fru fru and created a million ways to order it and combine it with sugar and fat laced liquids. The mermaid logo at Starbucks is actually a siren (a mythical sea creature who lured sailors). And of course the name Starbucks is the name of the first mate on Captain Ahab's whaling ship the Pequod in Moby Dick.  Apparently one of the co-founds want to call the coffee chain the Pequod but was overruled by the other co-founders.

I have to agree that Pequod doesn't have the same ring to it as Starbucks. But I am a sophomoric old man when it comes to humor and only think of Pequod as "Pee Quad." Not something you want to think about when you order coffee. 

But a two-tailed siren totally makes sense in a place called Starbucks where pretty much nothing costs less than or close to a buck. Give me a break.

Hunting the ghosting ghosts

 

Ironically National Ghost Hunting Day is the same day as National Hunting and Fishing Day this year. I guess they are trying to kill two birds with one stone.

Drum roll with rim shot.

For the most part, I don't think anyone has a ghost of a chance of bagging a ghost in a ghost hunt. Not sure what you would do with one if you found it. What do you mount on the wall? Or is it more of a catch and release type of hunting?

It is also National Corned Beef Hash day which has nothing to do with anything.

But speaking of random things. I found this at Goodwill yesterday.

I didn't have a clue what it was. I assumed it was a planter.

Turns out it is a two-faced Eleguá.  It's a sacred representation of Eleguá, one of the Orishas (deities/forces of nature) in the Yoruba religion and Santería (Regla de Ocha), Candomblé, and Ifá practice. I didn't know what that meant either when ChatGPT patiently explained it to me. I vaguely knew that Santeria was a religious blend of West African spirituality and Catholicism. It developed in Cuba during the colonial period. I assumed it was like voodoo, but ChatGPT explained they are different religions with different origins and practices.   Voodoo is more of a Haitian thing (and a Bourbon Street thing in New Orleans). 

Regardless, I don't have a clue as to how or why my Elegua ended up in a Goodwill and why I bought it other than it was pretty cheap and was on the shelf with planters, vases and pots. 

It does confirm my theory that Goodwill is very much like Forrest Gumps box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.

On a roll

 

It is National Lobster Day (which is a bit more exciting than National Research Administrator Day).  I assume the lobster PR people (and I am referring to the people who promote eating lobsters, not polishing up their image) want you to eat more lobster. 

Eating lobster has always been one of those things people without money think people with money do all the time. It's right up there with caviar, frog legs and escargot (all things I've been served on a cruise BTW).  Caviar tastes like salty fish eggs (which it is), frog legs do taste like chicken, and once you get past escargots being snails they do taste pretty good (I think it is the garlic and sauce though). Lobster tastes good. But it doesn't taste that good that it is worth boiling a creature alive to eat it.

And why do they boil the poor things alive instead of killing them first? It comes down to bacteria that multiply incredibly quickly when the lobster dies. That bacteria produces toxins.  And cooking after it is dead doesn't necessarily kill those toxins. Lobster flesh also breaks down quickly after they die so cooking them alive keeps the meat firmer and sweeter.

None of these things probably make the lobster feel better about being boiled alive. Studies suggest lobsters may feel pain or at least feel a bit upset that they are being boiled. I'm not sure how the studies "suggest" that but it seems highly probable. Pain isn't just a human joy.

Some places in Switzerland and Italy now have laws requiring lobsters to be stunned (electrically or by chilling them) before boiling. I'm not sure that reduces the lobster anxiety.

Tripping? See you next fall!

 

Technically yesterday was the first day of fall...not the Fall, but the Autumnal Equinox (which ironically falls on September 22 and 23).  But most people glaze over when you say, "Autumnal Equinox" and brighten up when you say, "The fall."  

I imagine most people will glaze over at my less than veiled imagery of the Fall from Grace (when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and committed the original sin). But as AI says, in a broader religious sense the "Fall" can be seen as a separation from the a divine or perfect state, a loss of innocence, or the the consequence of defying a divine command (which some people seem to think is Trump).

Bottom line, the fall makes for pretty cool t-shirt designs whether you get the symbolism or not. As I've said before, I throw the pearls out there, whether you make a necklace out of them is up to you.

I suppose that doesn't mean anything to most people either.

Gimme a break

 

I'm trying to get into the Halloween spirit early this year.  I'd like to say it is an effort to revive dying sales, but since they've never had much of a pulse, I'm going to give up the ghost. 

Regardless I have some fun ghost themed designs.

Speaking of the ghost of Halloween past, here's one of my classic posts from 2006 recounting my Halloween of 1968. I'm the one second from the left in the image below.  My friends and I were going as characters from the Dark Shadows supernatural soap opera popular at the time. I was Barnabas Collins, the main vampire.

Sadly, two of the four people pictured have passed on -- Dave Little and Jim Lonnevik picture on the right.  I don't know what happened to Robert Tullis pictured on the left. He was part of my friend group in grade school and then we lost track of each other in junior high and beyond.  

Oh well, I hope they all rest in peace.

Even pirates get the blues

 

We romanticize pirates like we do many criminals and politicians.  Though lately I've been running across posts on TikTok that trash many famous people in history that we thought of as pretty decent role models like Gandhi and Sister Teresa. They throw Thomas Jefferson and George Washington under the carriage as well. 

I don't imagine anyone truly lives up to an image. We are human after all (which seems to be the universal justification for doing stupid shit).  

But back to pirates.

I have been fascinated with them off and on during my life. Because of my long white beard, I've pictured myself as a pirate.  But the reality is that most pirates were young men in their 20s with a few seasoned sailors or captains in their 30s-40s.  People back then didn't live as long and though they sing about a pirate's life for me in Disneyland, it was a pretty rough life.

Nothing is as it is in your mind.

Or that's all there is.

Even Cowboys Get the Blues

 

"Death is just nature's way of telling you to slow down." 

--Tom Robbins, July 22, 1932 - February 9, 2025

We were driving back home from Bellingham on Sunday along I-5 and we drove by the exit that would take you to La Connor, Washington. I said to my wife, "I wonder if Tom Robbins still lives in La Connor."  Then I asked ChatGPT and it told me that Tom Robbins died on February 9, 2025 at the age of 92 in La conner.

I don't know what shocked me more, that Tom Robbins was dead, he was 92 or that I hadn't heard about it. Because if you were to ask me who my favorite author was I would have immediately told you Tom Robbins. And if you live under a rock, Tom Robbins wrote amazing novels like Another Roadside Attraction, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Jitterbug Perfume and Still Life Woodpecker. He was weird. He was eccentric and he was profound. I wanted to write like him.

I saw Tom Robbins two times in my life. Once he was at a Darrel P. Huston Memorial Writing Award gig at the Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle's U-District. And the other time he was speaking at the University of Washington.  He was my idol. But I never actually met him or spoke with him. I did feel like I knew him well. And his novels spoke to me. 

So finding out he was dead and ancient while I still pictured him holding court at the Blue Moon or banging away on an electric typewriter in La Conner was a major downer. I bought what I believe was his last published book: Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life. It came out in 2014.  It was a reflection on his life. I read part of it but never finished it. It is somewhere around here. 

I read most of Tom Robbins earlier books in the 1980s. It was a formative time for me. I was searching and wondering and longing for something. And Tom Robbins books spoke to me. I wanted to be like him and pen these amazing stories and ideas. The closest I ever came was persistently writing this blog despite the lack of readers and recognition. Tom Robbins gave me hope. He did it and I knew so could I.

I desperately wanted to sit down and talk with him. I wanted to impress him with my weird wit and own eccentric spirit. I even fantasized that he would stumble on my blog and reach out to me. 

That never happened. I feel as though my writing was one of his scenes on an abandoned Interstate that the world passed by. But still, I believed I had that spark that Tom Robbins would have recognized.

And now he is dead.  And this Cowboy has got the blues.

Free your nuts

 

I realize I've posted this image before. God knows I rarely repeat myself. But every one has Alzheimer's on social media and it is National Peanut Day. So nuts to you.

I saw some video compilations on Tik Tok the other day of squirrels attacking people. It cracked me up. I of course root for the squirrels. Because if you are stupid enough to tease a wild animal with a peanut you deserve the consequences. 

Take your best shot

 

It's National Day of Encouragement!  And you know how I feel about inspirational shit.  Don't get me wrong, I believe everyone should try and do their best, but as Dirty Harry once said, "A man has to know his limitations." Athletics were never my forte. 

I played on the basketball team in 9th grade. Pretty much anyone who tried out made the team, but they then divided you into sub-teams based on your ability. The A team was basically varsity and played in all the regulation games. Then there was the B, C, and D teams. The B and C teams got rotated in if the A team was beating the crap out of the other team. The D team only played in the 5th quarter. I know what you are thinking, there are only four quarters in basketball. They added one for the D team. So when the custodial staff was sweeping the gym and the spectators had dispersed, the D team took the courts and awkwardly threw the ball around.

I pretty much hate basketball to this day.

Oh, and I wrestled one year in junior high as well. I wasn't any better at wrestling than I was at basketball. It wasn't pretty. Fortunately my parents never came to any of my games or matches. 

But I gave it my best shot anyway.

TV Dinner

 

This is a television that was in one of the warehouses across the street from Graceland where they meticulously catalogued all of his shit that frankly should have been taken to Goodwill long ago when he was still alive. Though I am not sure they had Goodwill back in the 1970s or in Tennessee. At the very least they could have just sat it outside the gates with a "Free" sign on it.

Not that anyone likely would have wanted a television that had be shot and more than likely no longer worked. But the bigger question is why did the people working for Elvis at the time keep the television. 

I know enough about Elvis to know logic should not be applied to his behavior or his staff's behavior. I imagine he shot the television and someone scurried in and whisked it off before he came out of his drugged stupor. The rationale for Elvis shooting the television was apparently that Robert Goulet was on some program he was watching and he didn't like Robert Goulet. ChatGPT says Elvis didn't really dislike Robert Goulet, he just came on the television when Elvis was in a mood. Robert Goulet chalked up the story of Elvis shooting the television as being because of his playful personality.

That's crazy talk.

Regardless, I was able to use the image of one of the televisions Elvis shot (apparently there were quite a few) to create this. The "Kill Your TV" image was ironically from a photo of some graffiti I took a photo of when I visited Memphis back in 2018.   

And of course I turned it into a t-shirt. I also promoted that t-shirt on social media today in honor of National TV Dinner Day.  The irony is is that I don't think too many people remember TV dinners or tube TVs anymore.  

Unfortunately, I think it is also true of Elvis.

It is a sad world we live in.