Jack’s Old & Busted Blog

The Perseids meteor shower woke me up Tuesday morning, sorta. The critters (three cats) started acting nutty about 3 a.m., so I got up to see if they had brought in one of those noisy bugs they love to play with (cicadas). I noticed one of them staring outside a window; that’s when I saw the flashing lights in the sky. At first I thought it was lightning, but then I realized it was too frequent and regular to be lightning. Bright streaks behind the thin, high layer of clouds gave it away: It was extra-terr-est-ual! Can’t imagine how beutiful it would have been on a clear night. I try to get a glimpse of this event each year, and have seen some good ones out on the lake, but this beat all. I’ll have to set the cats again next year.

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It’s been raining quite a bit the last 24-hours. And I was hoping to get away with one more lawn-mowing this season. Oh, well.

xXx is one kick-butt flaming-pinata-full-of-spider-monkeys of a movie. I give it five stars. Finally, I didn’t feel ripped off at the theater. (Movie) cliches are only cliches when they are poorly executed; xXx delivers.

Changed my email address. I’m not going to be blackmailed by Apple for what was supposed to be a free, lifetime email addy (I don’t care about fine print; they know what they were implying to people). I highly recommend Yahoo mail for a free, albeit non-POP address. They seem to have good spam filters, too.

Sometimes the magic works. . .
Watched Little Big Man last night (on VHS–it’s not even on DVD). For me, there are certain films that seve as tonics — life-affirming, re-centering texts. LBM is one of these. Can’t remember when I first saw it, but I’m pretty sure I caught it on TV one summer afternoon when I was a kid. I’d never been a fan of westerns, but this seemed a little different, so I watched the whole thing and was hooked. Thought of myself as a real “human being” ever since.

As I was watching it again, I thought about how impossible it would be for this film to be made now. It’s a political movie, and although the PC movement would endorse the film’s core values, the candid interpretations of racism, sexism, etc., just couldn’t be done convincingly today. Not to mention the whole animal rights movement — the things they used to do with horses!

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The little yellow bird is back. It’s a male Golden Finch in his seasonal technicolor prime. He looks like something you would buy at a pet store.

Saw signs this weekend, which is quite good on a number of levels. I have always been fascinated by crop circles, and read quite a bit about them the last time they were a popular topic. The maddening thing about them is that there has to be an explanation beyond the ordinary. I know there have been hoaxes, both “official” and impromptu, but the differences in the hoaxed circles and the real ones are pretty obvious to me.

There are a gazillion crop circle sites out there, but there is one that stands out as a definitive source. You can also find this article that is fascinating even if you think the crop pattern is a hoax.

My theory: Crop circles are simply our own military playing with satellite weaponry, testing their accuracy, targeting, etc. The best crop circle examples seem impossible to do from the ground using the popular twine-and-board-stomper method, especially when you look at the swirled patterns of the flattened stalks and the way they are bent (not to mention the evidence of heat damage).

Always the entrepreneur, I’m working on my own “Bonsai Crop Circle Starter Kit,” soon to be as seen on TV, I hope. I’m taking orders now.

My days as a Google-whack are over. I guess google really does eventually get around to indexing everything. It’s only a matter of time before Google assumes consciousness and becomes a new life form, like some terrible Terminator/Encyclopedia Brown creature.

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Heat has been awful. I’m ready for fall and the nice, motorcycle-friendly temperatures. The Beemer is water-cooled, so there’s no more lugging through traffic listening to the pistons slap. I do miss the Sportster, though. It was definitely more fun to ride, even if your arms would go numb after an hour or so. The k75 is at the opposite end of the smoothness scale. In fact, it may be the smoothest MC motor ever. Three cylinders g-o-o-o-o-d.

The brakes on the k75 are incredibly squeaky: it’s endemic to these bikes, so it doesn’t mean anything’s “broken.” I will replace the pads next spring, just because of age. Right now, tho, it’s kind of fun to stop in traffic and see people’s hads whip around looking for what is surely a dumptruck bearing down on them. Makes people aware of you. I guess the alternative is just not to brake. . .