North American Battle Wagons, or Honey, You Shrunk The Jeep

 I have been driving Jeeps for the majority of my "career".  I have been driving Jeep Wrangler TJ since 1996 without a stop.

This is my second TJ.  They are now getting thin on the ground, so I don't say "Oh Look!  A Parts Car!" as frequently as I did when I saw one. 

I still do the Jeep Wave, and I always would Tread Lightly when I was off road.  I haven't gone off road since moving to Florida in 2006 so he's been a Pavement Prince since then.

The thing is that when I got my first Jeep, a CJ7 back in 1984, I noticed that it was much higher than most cars on the road.  I used to be amused looking down into cars and seeing the goings on in there.

You folks are nuts!  All sorts of things happened!  I was immediately taught that if I could see down, so could the truck drivers in a "Big Rig" so I made sure not to do anything "untowards" in my own cars from that point on.

Then I went back to "regular cars" until my first and second Wranglers.  I noticed that I was above the majority of cars, but not as much as before.  So much so that it was a surprise when I saw someone enjoying the driver of the car ... from the passenger seat.

Wink! Wink! Say No More!

But that visual advantage was disappearing.  As time went on, I became "regular sized" if not a bit small.

Yes, a Jeep Wrangler is "average sized".  No longer, the current Jeep Wranglers have four doors and is just too big.  Bloated for me.

This was beaten home after I stopped at the end of the workout the other day.  Someone parked a wall next to me.  I fail to see why someone needs a full sized pickup truck, GMC Denali, just to get in a workout at a park.

This was the literal illustration of what I heard described as a North American Battle Wagon.  Massive.

I am 6'4" tall.  A Very Fit 193 CM, if my math is correct.  I am used to looking over things.  I tell people that I usually write my initials in the dust of their refrigerator tops when I visit.

I will wait until you check to see if I did.  Then you can clean your fridge top.  It's why mine is a "Counter Depth" and there's no gap at the top.   Saves me from cleaning!

There was no possible way I can see over the top of this truck.  In fact, standing next to it in my sneakers I was eye level with the driver's view.  Luckily the driver was on the trail getting their Beta Endorphins on.

I squeezed past this monster truck and thought to myself that I used to consider the old Toyota 4x4 trucks big when they came out in the late 1980s, and "what on earth!" would I have considered this beast when I was driving a little first generation Honda Accord in College? 

*shudder*

Getting the bike on the rack on the back, chuckling at my bumper sticker which proclaims "I workout because salads are boring", I had to squeeze past this huge beast to get in my now "Little" Jeep Wrangler.  The driver left adequate room but I am not used to not being able to look over the tops of things.  I see more bad haircuts than you may realize.

Driving home on US1, Federal Highway, in Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale, there was more.  It was driven home that we love huge trucks here and we are locked in an arms race of keeping up with the neighbor's beast trucks each time we upgrade.

There is a house down the block that the smallest truck that they own is what is now considered a Mid Sized truck, larger than my own Jeep.  It is about the size of a base Ford Truck that would be a Work Truck, stripper, these days.  They have so many trucks on their own suburban lot that it spills over the property line onto the neighbor's on one side, and the other side had put boulders on their side of the property line to stop them from "encroaching".

A bit drastic but I'd do the same.

So I guess my idea of getting a wee little, efficient, car is foolhardy.  I'd be a speed bump to these giant beasts in one of those.  I've done that before and thanks, I'll pass.

What's next?  Large cars are at best impractical, and at worst destroying the environment.  At one point in time, an AMC Gremlin got 18 MPG and they were advertised in the mid 1970s as being a "Fuel Saver".  I have a derivative of the same engine used in many of those cars and the 16 MPG I got in my last tank now is in no way thrifty.

The full sized pickup truck that was a loaner to a friend struggled to get 10 MPG city.  It dwarfed my own Jeep.  I know his driving patterns, he's much less "assertive" than I am on the road.

I don't know that there is a solution here, seeing the way politics are going.  At least with EVs, Hybrids, and Electrification, the efficiency of these things is getting better.  That old first generation, "Mark 1" Honda Accord I had got a reliable 30 MPG which is average in a car, low for a hybrid now.

Anything that small would be missed by one of those massive beasts coming out of a driveway.

Forget getting another Motorcycle.  My typo of "Mortal Cycle" must have been a Freudian slip due to the traffic we have here.  The woman on the scooter on the same trip home yesterday was dwarfed by my own "Little" Jeep, watching her weave in traffic had me terrified for her as she avoided one clueless huge beast after another.

I'm thinking that there really is no room for efficiency and a "tidy" rightsized car on the road any more.  Not here.  That would explain why someone commenting that "Bad Driving Has Become Normalized" makes so much sense to me. 

If they can't see you, you aren't there.

Good luck out there, I have an appointment at 1pm that I have to brave the other idiots on the road.  Trust me, if I can smell your pot smoke, that officer can as well.

And put that damn cellphone away, it's still against the law to use hands on cell phones in most jurisdictions.

Remember

On September 11, 2001, I was sitting in my office.

I had recently ended my morning call to my rather competent client, and hadn't yet gone to do battle for my client with my rather incompetent management at work.

Things started getting strange out in the hall outside my door.  It was a buzz that was unnatural.   One of those moments that remains in your mind a long time afterwords.

Internet access got slow.

My immediate boss came in and asked me to check the news.

That was how I learned that thousands of people were in the process of being murdered by a terrorist attack in NYC, The Pentagon, and Pennsylvania.

Suddenly my incompetent management problems at a University on North Broad Street in Philadelphia became even more unimportant than they were before, it became a September Tenth Problem.

Later we had heard of this once ever commercial put out by Budweiser Beer.  This went out on the Super Bowl in 2001 during Half Time.

I missed it.  Then as now, I aggressively skip commercials.

If I see a commercial there's going to be a compelling reason for me to watch it.

As much as I try not to share Youtube links, here it is in case you have not seen it.

The sheep does not fight. It fleece.

Happy Veteran's day to all who are serving, and have served, of every nation.

First, a history lesson and perhaps a little alternative history.

If it had not been for the Last Bourbon King Louis of France, the history of the United States would most likely be very different indeed.

You see, The Continental Congress was running low on funds and managed to secure money from the French government of the time to continue the fight. 

That benefited the French King since it helped the balance of power to tip somewhat in their favor against the British and King George.  It also directly influenced France since that money came from somewhere, directly from some French pockets.  In this case, taxes were raised.  If you ever heard the saying "Let Them Eat Cake" it was referring to the poor at that time, in France.

That led to the particularly bloody French Revolution, the overthrow of the French Monarchy, establishment of the La Premiere Republique Francaise, the extermination of the French King and Marie Antoinette, the terror, and later Napoleon's Empire and The French Conquest of Russia.

You can easily take that further and say that the added instability after his downfall caused the later upheavals, revolutions, and wars in Europe, all the way to this current day.  Added poverty caused by the war, and Civilians always suffer most under a ground war in any given country. and the increased taxes and poverty to go to fight those later wars including the Russian Revolution, First and Second World Wars, Korea, Vietnam ...

You get the picture.  It is entirely possible to say that some of those wars, and some of the later new countries would not exist as a result of American Independence.

Even if I believe that this situation has been a benefit to my own personal life and existence.

Enough history and alternative history.  

I did do a passing search and look around.  I find no comment as to whether it is factual or not on Snopes or other places, however it is widely quoted. I've heard it said even by my own father who fought to liberate Manila and other places.

This would be my turn to quote the story.

Since it is veteran's day, this particular story is quite appropriate.  In my mind, it is more of a comment against officious people in positions of power and uneducated people than The French...




Passport? What Passport?

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 92, arrived in Paris by plane with his son.

At French customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."

The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible! Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France!"

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look.

Then, he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on, D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchman to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.

Crumpets and a Simplified Recipe

 If you write, everyone has their complaints and comments.

If you write about anything that has measurements, and are writing from one of the three Non-Metric countries, you will get some crank somewhere complaining about "You Should Use Metric".

First, shut up.  You are being pointlessly rude.  Blog writers have no control over the government.  I wish we did.

Second in this case, this recipe is easier using Imperial Measurements.  "For Round Numbers."

Actually, that's not completely true, this recipe boils down to a bunch of ratios.  And of course the ratios are forgiving and flexible.  Since the local conditions may effect how much fluids your recipe will "take up", you may add a little more or a little less the next time you try this.  For us, today, in a dehydrated house in Florida's Dry Season, 14 to 10 was fine.  If you think that someone in a farmhouse in the 1700s used 2% milk instead of raw whole milk you just may need to relax a bit.

Crumpets.  The first time it was written down, that we know of, the recipe appeared in a cookbook in 1769.  Metric was not invented, and cooking was simpler back then.  No refrigeration, "critters" were in the house, measuring was a "guess", and so on.

You have so much of this, you add double that amount to it and a spoonful of a third ingredient, and you are done.  Cook until it looks right.

That's this recipe.

As for why the US does not use Metric?  We do, legally.  All "our" measurements are defined in Metric anyway.

The reason was that back when the French offered us an Official Kilogram the first time in the very early days of the Republic, the Official Kilogram was stolen by Pirates, and by the time we could get another one, it was deemed too late to get everyone to switch.

Seriously.  Pirates.  They must have thought that the ship was carrying Spanish Gold Doubloons and they got a Kilogram.  Probably made of brass.  Yarrrr!

Another case of the French helping out the United States that the people should realize here just how good a friend they have been throughout our history.

Thank you, France.

This recipe is all about Ratios. It also comes in two parts.  The yeast mixture, and the ratio of Flour to Fluid.

Simple:

• Yeast and Salt - 1 Teaspoon.  I used a common one to measure.
• Sugar - 2 Teaspoons.  Literally right out of the drawer.  

• Flour 10 parts
• Water 7 parts
• Milk 7 parts.

Now to codify this a bit to a proper recipe:

Ingredients

• Yeast - 1 Teaspoon or about 5 Ml
• Salt - 1 Teaspoon or about 5 Ml
• Sugar - 2 Teaspoons or about 10 Ml

• Flour - 10 ounces or about 283 Grams
• Water - 7 ounces or about 198 Grams
• Milk - 7 ounces or about 198 Grams

Process:

• Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl except the Flour.
• Whisk the Flour into the mixture slowly until you have a smooth loose batter.
• Cover the batter with a towel and allow to double in size and there are bubbles forming.

Cooking:

• Preheat your griddle to about 350F/175C.
• Generously grease the griddle with butter or oil if you prefer.
• If your griddle begins to smoke, reduce temperature.
• Generously grease the Crumpet Rings, if you use them, with butter and place on griddle to warm.
• Add batter to the middle of the Crumpet rings until they are filled side to side but do not overfill vertically.  About half way up the Crumpet ring for a Crumpet.  Thicker Crumpets won't bubble as well but will produce a slice-able English Muffin.
• Cook Crumpets until they begin to bubble, then wait until the tops are rubbery and perhaps dry to the touch.
• Remove each Crumpet from their ring gently, and flip it to the uncooked side.
• Cook until they begin to brown.

Remember

It is September 11, 2015.

If you would like to explore the National September 11th Memorial Site for the Museum in New York, the link is here.

The 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony will be held in New York at 8:40 AM.  The link for the webcast for the event can be found at this page on the Museum site.

If you would like something perhaps a little more uplifting, the last remaining rescue dog is being given a Dream Day.



Yes, it has been 14 years.  It doesn't mean we need to forget.

Martin Luther King on Nonviolent Change

For this day, I wanted to see if I could find something that explained something that happened years ago that I had missed.

I am engaging in a little historical fact checking in my own head, a little self-reeducation of things that I had forgotten.

I had heard that Dr. Martin Luther King had been a strong believer in the process of nonviolent change.  Through the dust and fog of the intervening years, and through the current disturbances through the world, it was a strong contrast to how things have happened in this century.

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964)

This is one of the videos that I have found that speaks to the subject.  It is Dr Martin Luther King being interviewed at some point in the 1950s after the desegregation of the Little Rock, Arkansas schools where he gives his own views on the subject as well as his own theories on how to effect change in society.

If you ignore the interviewer, who was not terribly effective, you hear MLK's own words on this subject.

"Noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good"  MLK

Remember

The link for the 9/11 memorial site is here.  You can watch the memorial ceremony today live from New York at the site, and find out more about how they are honoring those fallen on and after September 11th.

http://www.911memorial.org

World Trade Center, 1986 - Photo Courtesy of Eric Reivik

Diane Cline's Way... and Cake - Picture

One of the nice things about living in a "Small Town" is that things eventually get made right.

Diane Cline, a woman who I was privileged to know from my own civic work, passed a few months back.  To say that the central business district of Wilton Manors, the Wilton Drive, looks the way it does because of her and her efforts is a serious understatement.

She was the driving force behind the modernization of the entire district from the two lanes with parking it once was, to the widening and refurbishment of the current five lanes, the addition of improvements and other factors that make modern Wilton Manors what it is.  Recognizing the need for correcting the Car Culture of South Florida, she led the effort to reduce the Drive to two lanes via our own Wilton Manors Development Alliance, then the Wilton Manors Main Street. 

The Two Lane Initiative is the idea that we should turn Wilton Manors into an even more walkable city than it currently is by limiting the Drive down to two lanes and increase parking so that the businesses can thrive - it's a win-win for everyone once it gets done.  It would also raise the property values of town, make it easier to cross the streets, and reduce the carnage that happens when people expect drivers in South Florida to follow the Uniform Vehicle Code by allowing pedestrians the right of way.   Diane understood this as a fundamental human right and worked tirelessly to allow this to move forward.

Her pet projects were many and historic, such as the Wilton Manors Historical Society, and the Wilton Manors Women's Club.  If you didn't know Diane, you probably didn't know how Wilton Manors worked and how it came to be.

She used to say that Wilton Drive should have been called "Diane's Way", a clear double entendre to those who knew her.  But either way you read that, it was correct.   It simply wouldn't be what it is without the efforts of this amazing woman.

Last night we gathered, Family, Friends, and the rest, at the little park in the middle of town, Jaycee Park to honor Diane with a get together.   There at the park, we saw the growing Children's Art Project that was just expanded to include the bricks that form a small plaza in front of the Post Card through Diane's efforts with the Wilton Manors Development Alliance and the Wilton Manors Historical Society.  The Jaycee Park improvements are there because of Diane's and others civic efforts, and it was across the street from the heart of the city near Hagen Park, the Women's Club, and "New" City Hall.

At least it's "New" to me since I'm one of the long-time new-comers.  Newish?  Not sure.  Never mind that, I'm rambling.

There's a little street behind the Jaycee Park and Children's Art Project.  NE 5th Street.  To rename Wilton Drive might have brought a twinkle to Diane's eye but it would have been a bit confusing to all the businesses.  So instead of renaming that, NE 5th behind that park will now have another name.   Diane Cline's Way.  A nod to all of her works through her long and productive life.

We got to see the unveiling of the signs by the family, and the commissioners, and had a chance to visit with friends.  One of the nicer things about living in a small town.  Sure you get to know everyone, for better or worse, but when you get together, it's always worth the time.   We got to stand in the middle of Diane's Way, talking about her good deeds, and having her cake.   Diane did have a sweet tooth so she would have enjoyed some of that cake.  I know I did, I would have loved a second piece!

If anyone reading this would like to be a part of getting the Children's Art Project finished, you can sponsor a brick.  Just follow through this link to the page on the Wilton Manors Development Alliance's page for the artist's drawing of the Children's Art Project where you can see what will be when it is complete.

I promise you, I'll keep an eye on them while I'm able.  Diane would have liked it that way.  

Remember

12 years ago the Towers were needlessly destroyed and the world changed.

There was an account of someone who had witnessed the offense from Lower Manhattan that day.   It was an email that got passed around the world many times.   Reproduced on Neil deGrasse Tyson's web page, I have the link here. 

The current use of the site is for the National September 11th Memorial Museum.  You can see the write up on Wikipedia here.   The picture below is from that page.

Happy Labor Day, But What Is This Thing Anyway?

Ok so here I sit.  It's September 2nd.  Today is a "day off" for most here in the US.

I have some beef in the refrigerator for the Traditional Cook Out.   We'll be making burgers and baked beans.  Probably some canned corn will get nuked, not so sure about that, and there will be time for me to make some sort of dessert.  Some neighbor somewhere will be shooting off fireworks so the dog will hide in his crate later on.

But why did this come about.

When I was growing up, they made sure that we got some sort of feel for why the day exists, but I can't say that the history is too well passed on.  The wind up to the day we'd hear blurbs about what the history was, and to be thankful for the struggle and so forth.

Maybe it's me, but I just haven't heard all that much about it.  I avoid most "live" broadcast media these days anyway.  If I watch the One Eyed Babysitter, it is with the remote control in hand and the 30 second skip button at the ready.  5 presses and I'm through most of the commercial garbage and back to the 21 minutes and 45 seconds of content per half hour.

So it could be me.

I just didn't hear much programming on the International Labor Struggles of the late 1800s.  No mention of how the day started in New York City by Labor "activists" that spread through the US.  There was scant mention of how people actually died in strikes protesting 60 hour work weeks, to earn a full day off Sunday, let alone a weekend. 

It must be a result of having only six companies owning something like 90 percent of the media outlets in the US.   No wonder why I get my news from the BBC, and they have their own bias these days in comparison to the way they were when I was growing up.

I decided to look into things a little bit.  The US government has an amazingly dry and uninformative site up at the Department Of Labor that gives the barest of information.  I guess they are trying to be Politically Correct since they don't want their budget cut by some right wing tea party propagandist.

The Wikipedia site goes into more detail about the history.  The thing with them is that they actually expect you to read more of the links and dig deeper on your own.  To really wrap your head around it, you might need to read about the history of Labor and Labor unions in the US.

There are professors who's specialties are the entire subject of Labor "relations" in the US and in other nations.  You can read about it for hours.

It seemed that the history being history, you have to actually want to pursue this on your own until the dog knocks over a plant or you simply get your fill of the information. 

Most won't, history is not going to go away - or will it?

The bottom line is that you have the Day Off today because there were people who died for that right.   They died for the right to a living wage, a safe workplace, and so many things that are taken for granted these days.  Unions are not perfect, I was "compelled" to join one when I worked at the School District, and since I am not a teacher, it was a complete waste of time for me.  They weren't concerned with people in other job categories.

But Unions perform a function that is larger than their 11 or so percent of membership in this country.  Unions are a safeguard for the workplace.  They are there to make sure that the laws don't slide backward too far, that things are kept in some sort of balance, and that the social programs that we have all forgotten that we have are kept in place.   Call it a safety net for society, they have a purpose much greater than the Day Off mindset would believe.

So when you have your burger and beer, enjoy it, but give a thought to why you are able to have that day off.   I'll be in search of a Documentary.  Maybe I'll get that insight I'm looking for.  

Now, where's that remote?

50 Years Since I Have A Dream

When I worked at the School District of Philadelphia, I would get the Martin Luther King holiday off of work.  I wasn't the kind of person that would volunteer to build schools, I always had enough of my own projects to do.  What I would end up doing was to have the TV on and get caught up in my home.

One year I got the bright idea to leave the local PBS TV station on when they ran a day of programming about the Civil Rights Struggle.  I'm a documentary junkie so I got my fill that day.   They did run the I Have A Dream Speech as well as many others, and what I was left with was more than just a sense of history, but a deep sense of loss that this man, Dr. Martin Luther King didn't have more years to share his vision.

The few speeches that did get recorded were always worth listening to, and always fascinating both in and out of context.

I managed to find a place to pull them down on MP3 and loaded them on my trusty player at one point.  Listening to them on the way to and from work on the train happened more than once, they did get into "rotation".

No matter what your political bend, the time spent listening to this man is well worth it. 

Since the I Have A Dream speech is available readily online, you can find it here.

As for the other ones, I'd say happy listening.  Many of them are available in random places, and I did find a helpful web site at Stanford University with a list of some of them for your clicking pleasure.