I typically do not use the Nazi word. I most definitely do not call anyone a Nazi. In my view they were very bad people, the Nazi’s and the SS. The Holocaust is something that should not be repeated. Still people being people, it can happen and has.
Hamas and Israel are at war. Hamas did terrible things to Israel. Israel retaliated. When it comes to war, Israel is winning massively. Hamas will not surrender. Hamas is in charge of and runs Gaza. Both Hamas and Israel want the total destruction of the other.
If I was Hamas I would surrender. The Nazies surrendered and Germany is not so bad now. Unfortunately we are talking about religious idealogy. Way back when the Jews would not surrender at Masada, they committed suicide instead. I hope we have all come beyond that sentiment.
Because Hamas will not surrender, the unfortunate Palestinians should be treated as prisoners of war. They need food and medical care. It is up to the Israeli people to provide that care.
The Geneva Convention outlines the care for POW’s. That care should be provided to the Palestinians in Gaza until someone surrenders. Otherwise Israel will have become just like Nazi Germany with internment ghettos.
Back in the 70’s when Tricky Dick was president there was a break-in at the Democrat headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. The reason for the break-in was for nefarious research by people in the Republican Party. A quick illicit look around would become the scandal of all scandals for a generation.
The information reached the president, who suppressed evidence about the break-in. President Nixon, who some called Tricky Dick, even erased an audio tape recording about the break-in that was made in the oval office. At the time this was a HUGE scandal.
The Watergate scandal as it became to be known, caused President Nixon to resign the presidency. Some will offer finer points on the history of Watergate. But the fact is, it was the downfall the presidency.
Foe decades after, any political scandals would be tagged with the suffex -gate. According to Wikipedia there are over a dozen -gate scandals “Billygate, Briefingate, Contragate, Deavergate, Debategate, Doublebillingsgate, Frankiegate, Franklingate, Genschergate, Housegate, Iraqgate, Koreagate, Lancegate, Maggiegate, Nannygate, Raidergate, Scalpgate, Travelgate, Troopergate, and Whitewatergate” in all of them, someone fibbed.
This -gate business started in the 1970’s. In 2020 there was a movie called “ObamaGate”. It was a flop. Still it is worth mentioning that older people still use the term, until recently.
Let’s face it. Watergate was over 50 years ago. Things were so much tamer back then. Now we have Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Things are orders of magnitude worse.
For example, I never thought Trump would actually win. I really thought the deep state would win. So what happened? They didn’t have enough preprinted ballots to stuff the box, or Trump sold out, or he actually won? I have no clue. So whatever. It is what it is.
Was it a decade ago that I went to see Trump the candidate? I thought I saw a smart man. Candidate Trump wanted to define Trump Gate before it actually became a thing. Trump Gate would be a big beautiful gate for emigration. Something like Ellis Island, except there would be multiple gates.
This is something I wrote about previously.
So here we are ten years later, and there is no big beautiful TrumpGate. All we have is a mess. So I will call the mess TrumpGate. Not that anyone knows what I mean, or cares. Is there anything better than TrumpGate?
Sustainable Product Design & Innovation is a degree program developed early in the 21st century at Keene State College. Keene State College is part of the University System of New Hampshire. Here is a link to the schools website https://www.keene.edu/academics/programs/spdi/
It took me a couple years to figure out the acronym SPDI. At first I had assumed it was a STEM or STEAM program (I can be oblivious). Then I noticed that the letters didn’t match. I had to ask what they ment.
My first introduction to SPDI was a tour with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers were we saw their first 3D printers and a machine shop. A few years later we were invited student presentation on their Manufacturing Enterprise course to the . I was quite impressed. I had spent most of my life in manufacturing and the students did a good job of representing the manufacturing structure.
A few years later I was asked to join academia and become a member of SPDI staff. It has been a privilege. Somewhat surprisingly this has been my third longest job. I have only spent more time making automobile headlights and medical devices. Having worked with many engineers in the past, I hope to train the students how to be better engineers.
Let me break down what SPDI means to me.
Let’s start with the word sustainable. The UN defined sustainability in 1987 as the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Written by international politicians that statment can mean whatever you want it to be. I am sure someplace that would be, I have slaves, so my children should have slaves. Myself, I would say, make good things so you do not go out of business. Yes, sustainable is considered a political word. Politicians do choose what is sustainable, that is the way things work. Most politicians support manufacturing. They know we need things.
The next word is product. This is a word I can understand. A product is a thing. Our world is made of things. We depend on things. There is no society without things. Things keep us alive and let us live longer. The vast majority of things in our lives are manufactured. Musical instruments, books, paint brushes, and your phone are all manufactured. Manufacturing is an art.
Design, how do we define our things. How big are they, what are things made of? How are going make these things. We learn computer aided design, how to digitally render things. That is just the start. When we have a thing, how does it relate to other things. How do things work together. Are there unexpected consequences? Form fit and function is what we said in the factory. How does the product do the job? I could go on and on, however I will take a break and go on to what may be the most important word.
Innovation, for me it means collaboration to make better things. How can we make better things? Can we improve the result of two interacting things? Can an assembly of things work better together? That is what learning is.
SPDI is something I can belive in. Recently I have been trying to promote SPDI by giving away SPDI jackets that the students designed. As usual, some people do not agree. We are a Liberal Arts school, not a technical college. My view is manufacturing is the one art all the other arts are dependent on. Just my opinion.
Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander was going to stop by the shop where I work at Keene State College. She had stopped by previously when she was running for Congress. During her llast visit she introduced herself to me. I then wished her luck with the election. She seemed like a nice lady, and she was younger than I expected. She wasn’t the only politician to stop by, however she was the only one that spoke to me. Of course I voted for her, as did my wife. As Tip O’Reilly said, all politics is local.
Political intrigue is for my boss, and he said he was nervous about the forthcoming visit. I really do not know how all these things are arranged, still I know that everything is choreographed. A little bit of time here, some more time there. Talk with this on then talk with that one. It is what the do. I told my boss not to worry, these people are professional talkers, that is what they do. I also said that is not a bad thing.
The reason for all this political interest is the federal government recently funded a new Ultra-Precision Diamond Turning Lab, and two diamond lathes were now in my shop. Big doings. Although I did not directly benefit from the funding, I had played a small part in it’s implementation. Also, the new machines were fun to play with and added interest to my job. I like technology and the political intrigue is above my pay grade.
I do not have a problem talking with people, I treat everyone as a person. Politician or student, I will treat them the same. I may modify my responses as a reaction to the way I am treated, but that is probably normal. As far as I am concerned everyone starts on equal ground.
When it comes to technological things it is easy for me to talk and cause the listeners eyes to glaze over. So I just try and keep to the relevant things. The last time Maggie visited I explained that the reason that diamonds are used as cutting tools is not only are the hard, they are thermally stable in dimensionality. That is what you need to have molecular level accuracy.
In our previous Ultra-Precision class we had set up the machines to teach centrality. Centrality is the ability to make things concetric. To do that we use probes with ruby tips. Knowing that Maggie was coming by the next day I made sure that the cameras in the machines showed both the diamonds and rubies. The cameras showed the images on big TV screens outside the machines.
I had my talking point. If the conversation went quiet I could mention rubies. It is about the kids, so I would let them talk. Typically I am surprised at how well they do. The future is in good hands. Still people become intimidated and do not know what to say, me I just want to move the conversation forward. I felt prepared, rubies are also dimensionally stable and wear resistant. Very important to teaching the art of measurement.
When driving the next day I had a thought. Why not give her a SPDI Jacket. A professor had recently retired and I thought it would be nice to give her a jacket with an embroidered logo as a retirement gift. Of course I wanted one also. I shared this thought of a gift with a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He was very important in the starting of the SPDI program and liked the idea. He said SME would pay for the jackets. So we thought we should expand the recipient list to include all SPDI teachers and student teachers. I ordered two dozen. My goal became brand awareness. Nobody knew, except a very few people what SPDI is. FYI it is Sustainable Product Design & Innovation.
There were also two students chosen to meet with Maggie at the same time. Whoever did the choosing did right. Couple of smart, bright kids. We waited in my shop until the appointed time engaging in small talk. We were given no agenda.
At the appointed time Maggie came in with her entourage. The mayor of Keene, the school Dean, someone from the Keene paper, more people from the school administration, a couple of photographers. I forgot to count how many people there were.
When Maggie came by to speak to the three of us, I asked if she would like a jacket like the one I was wearing. She said she would love one. So I ran off to get her a jacket while leaving her to talk with the students. When I returned I explained the symbolism and meaning of SPDI. I also stressed that the embroidered logo was student designed. Additionally I mentioned that SME had originally paid for the jacket, it was not school funded, in case that ment anything. I knew she is a lawyer, sometimes such things matter. Finally I said, I just wanted a picture of her in the jacket. She quickly put it on and smiled. Then she moved on.
There was a lot of talking, and I quietly snapped a photo of her talking to the mayor and the Dean. I was happy. We all ended up standing around looking at the two diamond turning machines. They they were, the two machines that had been subject of so much conversation. Unsurprisingly it got a little quiet. I happened to be standing next to Maggie and I asked her, did anyone tell you about the rubies? No she replied. I then explained that we use rubies like they use in fine watches. We use them because they are geometricaly stable in a very precise size. For example, during our previous class we were teaching centrality, and had the students index their parts to center using a ruby tipped probe. I mentioned that rubies are used in many types of measuring devices like CMM’s. Finally I mentioned that I used to do laser optical alignment. When you get the centrality just right laser power goes up exponentially! Maggie thanked me and mentioned to everyone that we had all learned about rubies and centrality.
On her way out I gave the Congresswoman an eye loupe designed and made by the students. It had KSC and SPDI lettering on it. Like I said earlier most people do not know what SPDI is. Anything to promote the brand. I thanked her and said that she had made my week. Her reply was “You made mine”. Then I mentioned that I had gotten a photo of her in the jacket. Then she said, “Oh we forgot to take photos”. That is when they took the above photo. She is holding the eye loupe we gave her. She then invited the students to be in the photograph. That photo is one of the pictures she put on her website that day. Smart lady.
Only 3279 days earlier and exactly 227 meters away I had encountered another hi profile political figure, we also took photos, one of which is in one of my previous blogs. The man, who I am sure you know, is from the other side of the political isle. During the the photo he put his arm around me and hugged me. During our conversations I relised that the man who would be president knew, and would know, of my existence and what I had done. So this being a political photo op, and thinking of the past, I asked Maggie if I could put my arm around her. She agreed so I put my arm around her. For me it was symbolic of equality.
Then she was off. They went to see the new room being prepared for the diamond lathes. I chatted with the kids, we thought the visit went well. Then I went back to work. Typically I make myself a couple of coffee and carry it around till I find something too do. That is exactly what I did. After a bit someone came in and said Maggie was leaving the building.
Our new Provost, Kristi Sandy wrote a book in what I would call the observational style. Like this blog. One thing I noticed was Kristi paid attention to what people drive. I do the same thing in real life. So when I heard Maggie was leaving, I carried my coffee out into the hall and wandered towards the exit. I wondered what she would be riding in. I saw a Prius parked outside. Then I saw Maggie head for the exit with her entourage. She waved and smiled. I don’t think she went in the Prius. I think she and her entourage walked to a different building. Who knows what she drives. Busy lady.
The Jesters are running the court. When the King has failed in policy, he turns to piracy. It has been said that a pirate ship was the first true republic with elected leaders. There is a difference between a Pirates and Privateer. Independent Pirates seek no sheltering state, they worship the thrones of currency. Privateers the freelancing warriors of a failing state, attacking success it is declared success is the enemy of the state.
The annotating oils bless the head of the Queen. The privateers know the protections of Monarchy. This is the smart move by the merchants to the Queen. Her Highness the Queen understands who her friends are. Happily she enabl5e them. The admiration is mutual.
The stories of 17th century piracy are plentiful.
The intrigue in the marbled halls of the palace trickle down to you and me effecting our lives and moral well being. What is good for the goose applies to the gander while the foxes have a field day. The hallowed halls reverberate with the echoes of a muddy Woodstock. The truth of dialog is lost.
Here we are in the muddy fields filled with good vibrations. Let us not loose sight of the steeds of yesterday. The iron beasts of the highway. The analog automobile. The world was unknowingly on the precipice of great revolution. One small step for mankind, a shot heard from beyond this world. Fly by wire through a series of ones and zeros.
Revolution was a Ironclad ship against wooden frigates. The world changes from war to peace. Battle ships are forged into cruse ships. Eat drink and be merry. New technologies turn against the enemy.
Nixon was on the front page playing ping pong with a paper tiger. Below the fold pong was the news you could control on TV. Spin the knob and control the paddle and dominate your enemies. With game of pong began the battle for world supremacy. A digital collection of pixels versus an analog celluloid sphere in direct competition for our souls.
In a seeming blink of the eye Napster arrived. Digital vibrations for all! Uncle Sam screams in protest “You must pay” so we did. The digital war was on. What do you listen to? Has it been approved by big brother, the darker state. They know what you are listening to, they will change your mind, cause thee can.
A digital world of charges changes all. Photons and electrons become masters of thought. Who is king again, the wizard behind the curtain has the answer. You, me, yesterday is the future. In whose fifedom do we wakeup. History repeats. As unknowingly simple marionettes, we dance the photons dance. Light is our puppeteer.
This old asymmetric face almost never gets asked that question. It seems nobody really is cares what I think. I have written hundreds of little stories here and have only received a handful of comments. Still, I like to write. I write for me. Most of the time I write about something because someone else has mentioned something. Typically they cannot see an alternative point of view. So if they actually cared about listening they could find something here.
The last time I remember being asked about what am I thinking was a few years ago. I think it may have been about personal relationships. I was too shocked to answer. I did appreciate the question because relationships are precious. Today though, I was asked in a questionnaire about my goals in school. That is really the same thing as asking what I am thinking. So let me tell you.
Some times when a student asks a specific question I may say “The truth is not allowed” for frequently the truth is not a part of the narrative. Some of the time these questions may be political or politically related, and I will not take a political stand in school. I try not to disagree with the curriculum, but I have strong feelings about what is taught. I will summerize and expand on what I wrote in the form today.
Manufacturing is an art. It may be the most important art of them all. Without manufacturing we wouldn’t have the other arts as we know them. Sure we could sing, but we couldn’t record the music. We could bang on a log, but we certainly couldn’t amplify the sound. We could paint, but we couldn’t hang it in the Louvre. All the good things in life wouldn’t be here. I do enjoy the arts.
So why are we in the 17th century? Sure the art of spindle turning was invented in the 17th century. One of the handcrafted chairs in the above image has turned spindles. Most of the other chairs have hand drawn spindles. The bench in the foreground is what is used to shape the spindles and other parts with the draw knife shown. The wood is split by hand with wedges on the log that is in front of the chairs. These individually hand crafted wood chairs are made in the wood shop. The priority here is given to the feel of the cutting tool.
Whoever designed the wood shop gave it an epoxy floor. It is easy to clean. My shop is the metal shop, whoever designed my shop gave it a concrete floor. People in my shop spill oil. People in the wood shop spill wood chips. If oil were to spill on a epoxy floor it would be easy to clean. If wood chips were to spill on a wood floor it would be easy to clean. But no! They gave me people that spill oil on a concrete floor. That is impossible to clean. Life is unfair.
We should be teaching people the art of digital fabrication. That is a saleable skill. How many people want to hire someone who knows how to make a 17th century chair. Yet the decision making priorities have been given to the person making 17th century chairs. Like the 17th century we have empowered a completely feudal mindset.
This is not how to build the future in the 21st century. The key is digital fabrication. Learning the language of the machines. Machines will speak to you if you know how to listen. Listening and communication, that is how to learn. We need to know how machines think and work. How to manipulate software to create things. We need to teach machines how to see with vision systems. How to program robots to do things we cannot. We need to remember everything is alive. We need to know how to make the recipes that make things better.
When people are stressed they tend to stick with the things they know. If they have old ideas, that is what they stick with. They believe in what has worked for them in the past. This is true especially if they think they are the smartest people in the room. Myself, I have had to reinvent myself a number of times. I know that I am not the smartest person in the room. Because of that I listen, and identify who knows what they are talking about. Then I help them. It also works the other way around. The smart students listen to everyone in the room. They then evaluate the relative intelligence of the people, and listen to the smart ones. Those that stand in feudalistic judgment are unhappy.
My objective is simple. Have a student define a thing digitally, then produce the thing digitally. Then define digitally how that thing relates to other things. Finally, collaborate with others how to make better things.
Things may not be as bad as I say. We have some new diamond lathes. They are incredibly accurate. We also received some machines that can measure form and finish down to the nanometer. They are machines for the 21st century. They are properly modern.
Here is a view of one of the new machines working. The little diamond on the tool is making a perfect optic. You can see it just to the right of the small disk that will become an optic. Lots of opportunity to learn. The students running these things are doing a wonderful job. My job is to drag those stuck in the 17th century into the 21st century. Not an easy job. Sometimes I think that it would be easier to get cats in a row. That is the challenge.
I thought eating dogs was an Asian thing. Awful odd thing to hang your hat on in a presidential campaign. I could see no adults in that room. Just well aged children.
When I check Instagram to see pretty pictures from my friends and family I sometimes fall into Threads by Meta. Not sure how they got me into threads, but usually I find it to be drivel. After the dog thing Threads became a cascade of AI generated images of of Kamala with dogs and cats and geese. They were all smiling and happy in their weird AI way.
When the media says something didn’t happen, it usually has. So I went over to that bastion of Right Wing conspiracy Whatfinger to see what they had to say. They were loaded with Springfield police reports about allegations of pet theft and, well, the destruction of evidence by ingestion. No actual photos or convictions though. Sure, it might of happened. People do strange things. What caught my eye was an incident where four Haitians in a late model car were carrying four geese in bags. They were allegedly stolen geese. I remembered the AI images of Kamala with geese in them. I didn’t remember Trump talking about geese. What is up with geese?
After falling into Threads a bunch of times I went and signed up on X. I figured I would need a counterpoint. Wondering what the geese were all about I checked out X. Usually X is about a guy with a bunch of cool rockets and technology. Because I look at technical things it usually shows me technology. This time amongst the technology there was a young Haitian woman talking about Voodoo and animal sacrifices. She says it is part of their culture and should be expected amongst Haitians.
Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere I am told. The country is run by gangs, and probably not a very good place to live. A decade or so ago the Clinton Foundation was supposed to fix all that. Didn’t do a very good job did they. They can’t blame Trump, he had nothing to do with Haiti. I have also read that Haitians are hard workers. I can believe that too. America is the land of opportunity.
Interestingly I read that the goose is also a symbol of opportunity. That would make a bit of sense as typically a goose would make a good meal. So that is that. Still it is very odd thing to bring up. Strange that the AI Prosecutor In Cheif would bring up Voodoo. She got Trump good with that one.
I might check out TikTok to see what they have to say. TikTok probably has more influence thqn anything I looked at anyway. At some point I will check them out. I am a bit curious about the influencers. Something else I do not check is podcasts. Lots of information out there I do not know about.
I figured that “The Dog and Goose” would make a good name for a pub. I would probably serve burgers and fries as well as fish and chips, though I am opento suggestions. Chill, have a drink. Talk. Cheers.
Presidential debate night tonight and I have the TV on. Typically I write about what I see, this time I will tell a story. Back when I was 16 years old, through luck, persistence, gifting, work and prayer I became the proud owner of my first real car(The Studabaker and Dune Buggy don’t count). A gold 1963 Jaguar XKE convertible. At the time it was nine years old and a bit rough. It needed brake work and a few other things. As a teenage boy I had chosen the car because it was the fastest car for the money. Like now, American muscle cars were a lot more money. I thought I was being practical and efficient. That was my logic.
I may have been a little unhappy with my home life. I just wanted to hit the road. Drive and drive. I drove all over the place. I took the car on many road rallies. I went looking for the Jersey Devil in the sand. Set records going to Syracuse. Spent more time with the Jag at Lime Rock than at home. Went on parades through Newport RI. Plus it was my favorite ride to the family farm.
I may have mentioned in some other writings that the car started with four bias ply tires that were four completely different brands. When I drifted through the corners each tire would have its own pitch. On a winding road drifting through different phases of brake induced understeer and throttle powered oversteer different tunes would emerge from the tires. Winding roads without much traffic could be extremely entertaining. With the skinny bias ply tires the cornering speeds were not that high. I spent my summer working at a bicycle shop so I could afford some new Michelin XAS tires. The car cornered much faster, though not as quite entertaining musicly with a single pitch from the squealing tires.
Speaking auditory entertainment, I worked a bit more and bought an Ansa exhaust system. I needed to do this because one of the problems the car had was the brake fluid would boil during spirited driving. Surprisingly when the fluid boils there would be no brakes. So I would turn of the ignition key off to slow the car down with engine braking. When the ignition was off the exhaust system and beyond would be filled with unburned hydrocarbons. When the automobile was sufficiently slowed I would turn the ignition key back on. Turning the ignition back on would introduce a spark that would ignite the hydrocarbons in the exhaust system with a loud bang. The explosions actually split the mufflers. The split mufflers not only let the noise out, they let the heat out setting the carpet on fire. That was a surprise. So I put out the fire and went shopping for a new muffler. I went for a good one. The exhaust was, and still is music to my ears.
I used to like to do all night road rallies. Illumination was important. Because the headlights are under glass there was not much side Illumination so I added three axillary Marchell 8″ lights to a light bar protruding from the grill. There was a spot light in the middle with a fog light on the right and a driving light on the left. I had switches under the dash so I could turn the lights on individually, the car wasn’t capable of providing electrons for all. However I liked the lamps so much I also replaced the headlights with Marchal Amplilux halogen headlights.
My old E-Type was almost a complete and proper sports car. The shocks were a bit soft and I wiped out the drain sump on the fuel tank over an intersection hump. I lost all the fuel and had to repair the tank. At that point I was broke. My dear mother then bought me new Koni shock absorbers.
Another modification I made was to install racing harnesses that came from J.C. Whitney, I believed in safety. One time when I was at Lime Rock Paul Newman’s mechanic borrowed my racing harness for Paul to use in his new racing car. I had to ask for it’s return. I still not really trust those actor types. Yet I will still tell the story.
During my time with the car I put five high school students in the car to drive them home in a blizzard. I had a collection of hats in the car, so if I gave anyone a ride they could have a hat of their choice. I almost always had the top down. Hauled wood for the Boy Scouts campfire, and drove myself to work and school. I even had murder of crows poop on me. Poop landed on the steering wheel windshield and even the shifter. I sacrificed one of the scarfs I had for cleaning.
The most distinctive feature of the car was its long hood. On hills and intersections it was sometimes hard to see where you were going as you were sitting so far back. Yet historically a long hood was a symbol of power. Think of the prestigious cars of the 1930’s, Dusenburgs and Packards come to my mind. Some people would say the long hood is simply phallic. However this is an English car with French illumination and an Italian sound track and a Dutch vibe. So I should say that it is not a long hood, properly it is a bonnet.
So this is a story about memories, I have so many memories about my time behind the long golden bonnet. I sold the E-Type after 50 years, and bought the Mark V. They both have long gold hoods. On the Mark V it is actually called a hood because the car is American. Still the effect is the same. The E-Type may be gone, but it’s essence isn’t. Even the auditory experience is replicated by the Miata from Asia. Even though the NA Miata has two fewer cylinders the revs are proportionally higher at the same road speeds giving an equivalent tone to my ear. Even the stupendous halogen lighting is met with equivalence by the LED illumination in the Cadillac ELR.
So many new roads to explore with emotion and feelings of the past.
Politics is the art of persecution. It really doesn’t matter whom or why. It is about group think. I used to think politics was about the debate of ideas for a better society, or how can we make life better for all. After all we get to choose who runs our government, don’t we?
Now that the Woodstock generation is in charge, we vote on emotions. It is now the Deplorable against the Wacko. Who do you hate more. It is a vote to lock someone up. My observations are political parties are a massive machines of hate. Neither side is innocent.
Persecution is defined as harassment or mistreatment of a defined group of people. Persecution is not free speech or debate. Most likely and without exception, persecution is illegal. Let me explain.
I will choose a metric that cannot be manipulated by media views. This is a metric that anyone can observe. Yet most people are unaware. During campaign season people people put up campaign signs. As long as the signs are not placed on someone’s private property it is a thousand dollar fine to remove the signs.
I discovered that when I put up campaign signage, the signs of some candidates were quickly removed. Anyone can pay attention to campaign signage for president. Anyone can see how long the signage for any president lasts before being removed. I do, and the life expectancy for one candidate is a small fraction of the other.
I have heard of political groups organizing sign removal. That is persecution. Wink wink, nod nod. Anyone can see it, no media needed. Who needs the media anyway. They specialize in persecution anyway.
Ever wonder what a chipmunk is thinking when it is running across the road and stops asymmetrically in front of your car? It is quite obvious that if the chipmunk had continued running it would have reached safety well before you arrived at that spot in the road.
We try to guess which way the chipmunk will go. We hope the chipmunk is near enough to the other side of the road that the chipmunk will suddenly continue on and safely reach the other side. Or we wonder will the chipmunk decide that with a giant automobile hurtling in his or her direction the conditions for safe passage across the thoroughfare is rather poor and turn around too run for whence it came. We then wonder, what is the chipmunk thinking?
We imagine that the chipmunk seeing the car suddenly realizes that his/her demise may imminent and trys to plot the best course of action to safety. Yet the chipmunk freezes, and then we are tasked with trying to evade the chipmunk. This is hard for us to do as the chipmunk may choose any number of actions. The chipmunk may turn around hand head back to safety, then realizing that the other side is actually nearer, turn around again. Or the chipmunk may actually realize that safety is only a few feet away, and continue on. Or despite safety being only a few feet away the chipmunk turns around to head all the way back to where it started. Then remembering that it wanted to cross the road, the chipmunk returns to compleat its original journey. We are then driven into a mental chicain, swinging the steering wheel back and forth trying to predict the chipmunk’s thoughts in what is a life and death situation for the chipmunk.
Because chipmunks have such small brains I surmised that they do not have much processing power. Those moments when the chipmunk freezes are when their little brains are overwhelmed. They need time to reboot and reprocess the information. In essence they are trying to do the time speed distance math, without knowing the math.That is why they dart back and forth. Evolution has not given them time to process the changing world around them. Evolution has not given the chipmunk a reaction to the looming automobile. Crows on the other hand are very good at this task. They may be eating a bit of roadkill when the automobile approaches, their little brain easily does the math and the crow flies away unhindered. Their advantage may be their evolutionary calculation development needed for flight. The chipmunk processor is simply unsuited for the task at hand, it freezes and then reboots. To be fair to the chipmunks of the world, they do this task faster than most of processors built by mankind.
Lately I have come up with another theory. That is the chipmunk is completely oblivious to automobiles. The chipmunk does not actually see automobiles as a threat. Most chipmunks survive automobile encounters. Never has an automobile actually stopped and ate a chipmunk. What chipmunks are doing is natural chipmunk behavior. For example, where did I leave my nuts? What will I have for dinner. Yes I did see a cat over there. Caution hawk above! Yes, where did I leave my nuts again? I must find them. They are here, or there. Check out that cute chipmunk. Yes I will share my nuts.
Of course there are those stories of spontaneous chipmunk flattening. It is said among chipmunks that some will spontaneously flatten in the middle of the road. The more intelligent chipmunks believe that it is some sort of death ray emitted by the hawks above, as the hawks will come from the sky to eat them. There are stories that crows can also do the dirty deed. That is why they like the open road. Chipmunks have learned to run and zig zag to avoid the raptor death ray.
bubbatrump 