April Fools

Asmall gallery of some of the more unusual vehicles seen at Deming's annual "Smokin' Oldies" car show, because I suddenly ran out of time to write a clever April 1 post....

Easily the most unusual vehicle at the show.. and it wasn't even in the show!
 Honda GoldWing  powered trike.

Gotta love the coolant overflow receptacle!

Waiting for the intrusive wand ultrasound.

"Girl I'm just a Jeepster for your love"

Several visitors were fatally impaled on the fins.

Insert toilet seat joke here.

Shamed!

I've been shamed.

I have this "Donate" button, over there towards the top of the right sidebar.  I figured, what the hell, maybe someone's getting enough enjoyment, or useful information out of this blog that they'd maybe pay fifty cents for it.  It's been there for nearly the entire eight years this blog's been in existence.  In all that time, there has not been a single donation made.  Not even when we were roaring hither and yon around the country in the Hare-Brained Express, and I was posting up a storm.

I had pretty much given up on getting rich off this blog.  I had thought maybe I could get beer money, between the Donate button and the Google Ads, but no such luck.

But something changed today.  I opened my emails and discovered that a donation of more than fifty cents had been made into the PayPal account!  Significantly more!  By someone I don't even know.  And this, during a period when I've been posting at a rate of 4 times a year.  Obviously, this is a call to do much better.

Thank you, person from Farmington, NM.  I will try to do better.  It's not like there hasn't been a whole lot going on around here.  And if we get the water pipes replaced, and Margaret's yarn supply organized, you can most certainly sleep in the "Lincoln Bedroom" if you're ever down here.

Here's a picture from my recent trip to Kilbourne Hole.

180° view inside Kilbourne Hole

Persistence Hunting

The pronghorn. The fastest mammal in North America.. the second fastest animal in the world, capable of running 55mph for extended periods.

In another part of the state of New Mexico, hundreds of miles from where I'm sitting, human beings tried to run a pronghorn down, using only their lung capacity, their legs, and their brainpower.  What the hell are they up to?

"The pronghorn is the second-fastest animal on earth, while the men are merely elite marathon runners who are trying to verify a theory about human evolution. Some scientists believe that our ancestors evolved into endurance athletes in order to hunt quad­rupeds by running them to exhaustion. If the theory holds up, the antelope I'm watching will eventually tire and the men will catch it. Then they'll have to decide whether to kill it for food or let it go."

I'm not sure whether or not I can buy into that theory, but it's really tantalizing to picture it.  Read the whole article to find out how these world class marathoners fared against our New Mexico Pronghorn.

This, of course, is not the only animal that is run down by humans.  There are numerous, incredibly fast and agile football players in college and pro ranks, including the University of Michigan who hale from a poor, rural location in Florida called Pahokee.  They  hone their skills like this..



Cottontails and "muck rabbits" (whatever they are)are one thing. Our blacktail jackrabbits are another thing altogether. Nobody is going to catch one on foot. That's why we use another method that's nearly as old as persistance hunting-

Scientists Just Wanna Have Fun

Music awards you never heard of.. "Best Lab Song". And the winner is:



..as judged by the editors and writers of BioTechniques, The International Journal of Life Science Methods. Isn't Baylor a Baptist college? They're dancing! I won't tell.

Other finalists in the competition can be found at EarthSky. I didn't watch them, but I'll assume they're as good as the one above.

Actually, I have watched one of the other finalist videos. I even posted it here.

The Finest In Automotive Spy Photography

Several times over the past 25 years, I've been fortunate enough to be in  the right place at the right time to photograph upcoming automobile models on public roads, doing "real world testing".  Most often the vehicles are disguised, with outlandish extra body panels, or wild graphic paint schemes, designed to misdirect the viewer's eyes so as not to determine exactly what the shape of the car really is.  Other times, when they're closer to production, only the badging, and other identifying marks are stripped from the cars.


I first got lucky in Anchorage, Alaska of all places.  Engineers apparently experienced a stalling problem, and left what would later become the Subaru Impreza abandoned in a hotel parking lot, with the hood up.  I snapped away. I couldn't help it.  Those pictures ended up in AutoWeek Magazine.


Jump ahead several years, and I'm working as an independent representative for a firm which required me to visit a lot of backroads businesses.  I was in Livingston County, Michigan when a convoy of overly clad vehicles was leaving a rural gas station.  Again, I fired away, and again the images ended up in AutoWeek.  It was America's first look at the Oldsmobile Alero and Pontiac Grand Am.


Recently, I happened to capture images of the 2012 Audi A6 on nearby back roads.  These were brokered to several automotive online journals by the "Doyenne" of  automotive spy photography, whose name you would recognize instantly.


What follows, is the published account of my most recent discovery.  It was late at night, at a gas station in Abilene, Texas......

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Our intrepid, tireless, ambitious, poverty-stricken, Instamatic®- toting, weasley, automotive paparazzi have been at it again.  Caught real world testing, without so much as a single fig leaf of disguise is Ford’s upcoming retro spectacular, the 2014 Edsel Redux!  (pronounced Ree-doo).

Word has been out there among the automotive cognoscenti for several months now, that this masterpiece of backward-thinking was in the works, but this is the first time it’s been captured on film, as it were, and we here at AutoLuddite were victorious in the bout of feverish bidding that ensued to be the first to present this image to the public.


Our sources in the industry tell us this fantastic retro-sled weighs in at an astonishing four-and-a-half tons, due in part to the extensive use of carbon fiber in the floor mats, and turn signal indicator.  Power to overcome massive amounts of inertia comes from the technologically advanced cast iron, straight 6 cylinder EcoBǖst, (pronounced boooost), engine, which produces upwards of 175 BHP when using 102 octane unleaded fuel.  Naught to 60 times are expected to be in the range of sometime before dark, therefore, no convertible model is expected to be produced.  Our sources tell us that an optional 3-speed manual transmission, mounted on the steering column (!), has never, ever been considered.

The designers have really outdone themselves in recalling the essence of the original, right down to the extremely wide white sidewall bias-ply tires, to the rust spots on the quarter panels.  One wonders why, with all of these styling cues resurrecting the marque’s illustrious past, the “toilet seat” was left off of the massive chrome grille?  Perhaps it will appear on a higher trim level model.  We can only hope and pray.


Unfortunately, prices are not expected to fall in line with those of 50+ years ago.  You can expect to pony up around $25,000 for a base model, to a staggering $55,000 for the super deluxe, although to be fair, that price does include your own personal dwarf mechanic in a satchel, so you will never have to worry about breakdowns, or even regularly scheduled maintenance.


The Edsel Redux will be produced in limited quantities, by Ford of Honduras, and for reasons known only to those at the very top of the Ford hierarchy, will only be sold through Kia dealerships.   We look forward to our first test drive!


- Peter S. Tingly,  AutoLuddite




....Y'know... I've been thinkin'... I might just could be wrong... about all of this.  Just sayin'.

Sagan Would Be Shocked.

I had heard it was BILL-ions and BILL-ions of times bigger than that.

(a scan of an old vacation slide).

Not A Couple.

Ever wonder what would happen if your dog jumped a jackrabbit when a large bird of prey was in proximity?   Would the bird, (in this case a handsome Prairie Falcon) join in the pursuit?  Would it steal the prey?  I wondered the same thing!
I’ll keep on wondering, too, because the falcon  flew off just a second after I snapped this image, and a good half hour before we finally jumped a hare.   Ah, what might have been.

Start The Revolution Without Me.

I find it interesting that in the midst of a revolution, someone in Cairo still finds the time to surf to this blog to look at the Victoria's Secret image.

Snipe Hunt?

Taking off later today to meet up with Dutch and head to Arizona. We're taking a couple of dogs and will be on the hunt for the famous, elusive Jackalope! I've never seen one, and Dutch hasn't hunted them in a long, long time. More than 25 years, in fact. Everyone's seen pictures, of course, and.. um..

Oh.. hold on a second..

It seems I've made a mistake.

I'll get back to you on this in a couple of days.

Off The Wall.

Search terms that bring people to this blog:

OK.. Victoria's Secret I get. But the Beck thing? WTF? And what they get when they see the Beck post, is just the Esquire Magazine photoshoot image I grabbed from the Google to illustrate a post on a completely different subject. Go figure. Ah well, it's all traffic.

My Mistake. The Mystery Deepens.

A while back, I wrote a post here, titled "Winner... and still champion", voicing my amazement, and consternation over what I said at the time was the single most viewed post in the history of this blog.  I wondered at the motivation of people from all over the world who would want to view an image of two deer fu... mating.

Well, Blogger has new stat tools, and it turns out that I mis-identified the December 2007 post that everyone was looking at, and had I been more observant at the time, it would have been clear to me that they were all looking at this one*:

..and it's obvious when you look at the Google search terms used that brought all these people to the site, they weren't coming (no pun intended) for the article.  But, at least I have a little more respect and understanding for these sad, lonely men from around the globe.

So, case closed?

Not exactly, because when I look at the Blogger stats, I find that in their history (which, unfortunately, only goes back to May of last year), the most viewed post, by a very, very big margin...  is this one!

I just don't get it.  I really, really don't.



*Of course, posting this image again, means it will turn up in Google search results twice as much. Well, driving traffic to the blog, for whatever reasons, is what I want.  More eyes on the blog, means potentially more eyes on the ads.  There's a method to my madness.

Scanners Plus! O Tannenbaum.

Yes.. it's a Shoe Tree. Don't strain your eyes, the original image will appear in its full size in a future post. Meanwhile- the best to you in this holiday season!

Art Is Where You Find It.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email notification about a new geocache in the area. It was out beyond the interstate in a forgotten "subdivision" called Sunshine Valley Ranchettes.* The name of the cache was "Dry Well Cache", and sure enough.. there was a dry well there. The cache was pretty easy to find, but I was more interested in this cryptic note at the end of the cache description: "Be sure to check out the "Library" 1/3 mile to the East". Trust me.. there is nothing out there but dust and mesquite, so I had no idea what this was referring to. Being only a third mile away, I was about to find out. I assumed it was some joke, and was probably a pile of old "mens' magazines" someone had dumped out there.

I was totally unprepared for what I found:

A library!

These are the kind of things that make you go "WTF?"

Looking about, I found that someone... or probably several "someones" had put a lot of work into the landscaping and design of this... installation. Because that's what this is- an art installation. I found the clue in the bottom drawer of the file cabinet.

(Below the drawer with every issue of Cabinet Magazine.. the top drawer contained the card catalog).

Not only is there the Library, but a horse shoe pit, (with horse shoes), a cemetary, and even a "Biodegradable Toilet"!

But who put it here? And when? Being the desert, things remain pretty much unchanged from season to season. I would have to wait till I got home to get the story.

Which is what I did. Googling "rebargroup.org", I came face to face (after navigating a few pages), with the very installation I had just been exploring! You'll have to admit, that's quite a story!

So, who is REBAR Group?

"REBAR is an interdisciplinary studio operating at the intersection of art, design and activism."

Be sure to check out their website to see some of the many installations they've done all over the country. Very clever. Very entertaining. The story of the building of the Cabinetlandia National Library (with pictures!) can be found here. I wonder how many people, other than me, and a handful of geocachers, have seen this place? Somehow, I think that's not important to the artists.

*This part of New Mexico was peopled by schemers and dreamers who, decades ago, laid out dozens of subdivisions in anticipation of the housing boom that never happened. If you look at a detailed Google map of Luna County, NM, you'll see the roads, hundreds, maybe thousands, of them. In reality, they don't exist, which is why, if you're going to visit us: don't trust your GPS for directions!

Winner.. And Still Champion!!

This is a re-post from December 2007, because... well because, unofficially, this is the single most visited posting in the entire history of this blog! Why? Beats the hell out of me, (although I have my suspicions), but since it's once again December here it is for all those sickos out there:

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Georgians. Pick Up Trucks. A Pee Wee Football Team?!?

This will irritate Todd, but I can't help myself. There's just too much raw material. I'm just at a loss for this guy's motive.

All that's missing is "Mama", and "Prison". "D-i-v-o-r-c-e" is probably in his future, if this loser's even married.

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Oddly, it's also the post with visitors from the largest number of foreign countries.. especially nations of a certain, uh, religious bent. Things that make you go "hmmmm".

If you don't believe me, just check the FEEDJIT Live Feed widget on the sidebar.. look for "...December 2007". This has been going on for 3 years.

Combing The Fields.

We went out with the All Girl Hunt again on Sunday... me with Willow and Ashley, Dutch with Phyllis, Cinnamon, and the eunuch JRT cross, "Jack".  We went to a field that had been fairly barren of late, and we'd left it alone for several weeks.  Additionally, we decided to go north instead of our usual route south.  We hadn't gone north in almost two months, and on this day we were going to go further north than we ever had.  This would prove to be a pretty good idea, as the GPS track above indicates.

I was walking Willow on a slip, because she had shown more than a passing interest in Jack.. as potential prey, not as a hunting buddy.  I thought it would be a good idea for her to get used to him.  We jumped the first jack pretty quickly (start and finish point of the day's walk is the lower left corner).  Willow showed an impressive burst of speed initially, but after a minute was well behind the group, which ended up in the foothill rock and scrub which effectively ended the course.

We walked a good distance further north when all hell broke loose.  A hare popped up, and the dogs gave chase.  I slipped Willow, and she took off in the opposite direction!  I thought, "Oh, she doesn't see it".  Au Contraire... she was off on a different rabbit!  We'd jumped two at once, and Willow had exclusive use of the second one.  While Dutch watched the main group, I followed Willow's progress, as she worked it pretty well, until...

... it went under the fence, which is how Willow learned the "fence lesson".  Go under it like the jack does.. and like the Pronhorn does:  the bottom strand is not barbed.  They usually only make this mistake once, and fortunaely, there were no matching lacerations under the blanket.  Margaret will  have an opportunity to try out the brand new, in-the-box Singer she got at last weekend's auction for $30!

Shortly after the fun with JR's 9A and 9B, I spotted another, who stayed out of everyone's sight, scooting low to the west.  The dogs didn't see it, thus "JR10nc" as in "no course".

Our day wasn't quite done as we made one more north-south sweep, and just as we were approaching the road that runs through the the middle of the fields, we found one more to chase.  By this time, I felt comfortable enough with Willow's ability to find her way back that I was letting her free course.  She was still showing some interest in Jack, but it was more curiosity now, than something like lunch.  This course was short, as the rabbit made straight for the brush.  After four good chases, one which ended up with the rare instance of the rabbit jumping into a hole, we decided to head back for the vehicles.

I called this post "Combing the Fields" because I thought the track was going to look like the teeth of a comb, (which it does.. a very small comb), and I thought we were going to to go up and down a few more times than we actually did.  Making only 4 sweeps, the track looks like something completely different, doesn't it?  Can you see the rabbit?  And not just any rabbit...  Maybe I should have named the post: "Frank"

Wolfman.

I know, it's a movie opening soon.  This has nothing to do with that, but will attract traffic to the blog from Google searches for the movie.

This is actually about Sandia.  We went out hunting today, as we do a couple of times a week.  This was a particularly rewarding day, with 4 long courses, culminating in a take on the mile+ fourth chase.  And as always, I took lots of pictures.  Many of them were pretty good, but it was a detail I noticed on one that caught my attention.

That's Sandia.  Looking scary.  And he looks so skinny when he's standing still!  Looking at it, I was reminded of something else:

Yeah.  That's what I thought.

Willow - Bella - Nessie - Willow

Think this would ever happen before the advent of the internet?


I received a phone call this morning.  Early.  As in, I had just gotten up and let the dogs out.  It was from a very nice gentleman in a place called Porcupine, South Dakota.  Being fairly geographically-competent, I kinda knew where this conversation was going.


It seems, this man does some coyote hunting every year around Thanksgiving near Casper, Wyoming.  This past Thanksgiving, his favorite dog.. a black and white 3/4 coyote hound x 1/4 Scottish Deerhound named "Willow", escaped from her truck box, and was last seen chasing Pronghorn.  Though they stayed in the area for 3 days looking for her, even going back at night time with spotlights, she was gone.  They made the assumption that she was dead.. either run to death by the Pronghorn, or a collision with an embankment or some other immovable object.


The scene now shifts to somewhat later.  Early in December, a stray, fitting the same description is picked up by Casper Animal Control, and at some point is adopted out under the name "Bella".  Apparently the person adopting this dog expected some drooling, happy, jump-in-your-lap-and-lick-your-face black lab-type dog.  After 6 days, she was returned to the Casper shelter.


I don't know the details of how the rest of this tale gets to the present, but I can probably construct a plausible scenario.  After a certain amount of time, with no more potential adopters, "Bella" was scheduled for euthanasia.  Which is where, apparently, Black Dog Animal Rescue, being a "no kill" shelter, comes into the picture.. , and therefore, where Margaret and I come into the picture, as recorded in the previous post.


So, back to the phone call.  The gentleman from Porcupine wasn't trying to get his dog back, as I initially feared. He "thought (I'd) like to know something about (my) new dog."  And this is her story:  She comes from some very accomplished coyote hunting stock.   Her father is a large, black coyote hound named "Tippy".  Why "Tippy"?  I'm not sure, but it might be because he has three legs, and despite this handicap, was still capable of chasing and killing coyotes.  Her mother, "Sting", is half Deerhound, half coyote hound.  Willow was his favorite dog, and he just wanted me to know he was happy that she ended up in a good home.  So just as we will with the Black Dog people, we'll be touching base periodically with this Mr Vaughn in South Dakota.  (it's kinda like your adopted kid being able to finally find his birth parents)..  I think we're going to go back to the name, Willow.  She seems to respond to it, and it's easier to call loudly.


We've been exceptionally lucky with all of the dogs who have come into our lives from varied and sundry sources.  Randir, the deerhound who outlived all his mates and contemporaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who had an unofficial national fan club, and her sister, Fanny.  We're still learning about the talents, practical and comedic, of little Miss Ashley.  Even Rally the broken, epeliptic coldblood greyhound had her moments  I see no reason for our luck to change now  Timing, it seems, really is everything.

History Quiz.

Since we've been in a nostalgic frame of mind lately, this is a picture of the 1964 Ann Arbor (MI) High School debate team.

Why?

(Some of you know, and I know who you are, so if you answer, your comment won't be published until the quiz is over. If ever. Clues may be found in the labels.)

Of no particular connection to the quiz, but currently topical, the write-up accompanying the picture (which appears in the 1964 Omega, the high school's yearbook), recounts the teams win at the Flint Northern Invitational Debate Tournament, where the debate topic was: "Resolved that the federal government should provide essential medical care for all citizens at public expense."

And That's Why Glenn Beck's Crying Like a Little Girl.

Voters' Testosterone Affected By Presidential Election Outcomes - Really - Air America

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Who would have thought anything worthwhile would come out of Duke?

MMmmm..... Aaaccc-c-c-kkk.. THUD!

HT to Frank Vigneri, who really really needs to avoid this place like the plague.


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