Poor Little Fella

I tried calling Bullwinkle but he's just not picking up the phone.

Ideas for Defeating Libyan Forces

From a memoir about WWII combat flying comes this bit of unknown history:


Once I heard of a gunner who ran out of ammunition, and in desperation threw toilet paper at the Russian Yak, and the Russian was frightened away by it!! The Russians did not know what toilet paper was, so this pilot probably thought the gunner was throwing a bomb at him. This trick worked many times.


I don't know how advanced Libya is, so it's possible they are familiar with toilet paper. In that case, we should try stranger things like labradoodles or Lady Gaga's accessories.

Pac Man!

Highlights of Research no.1

From the Jan 2009 issue of Sociology of Religion comes the enticingly titled paper Round Trip to Hell in a Flying Saucer: The Relationship between Conventional Christian and Paranormal Beliefs in the United States.

To save you the trouble of reading this paper in its entirety, here is a sort of executive summary presented via key excerpts:

In this paper we examine the relationship between conventional Christian and paranormal beliefs. Conventional Christian beliefs are those such as belief in Heaven, Hell, and the existence of God. Paranormal beliefs include belief in UFOs, astrology, haunting, communication with the dead, and Bigfoot.

But are these different types of beliefs compatible? Will someone who believes in eternal life or the resurrection reject beliefs in flying saucers, ghosts, extrasensory perception (ESP), and the like?

Finally, a number of studies have discussed potential nonlinear effects… Paranormal beliefs are strongest among those with no Christian beliefs and with the strongest Christian beliefs, and are weak among those with moderate Christian beliefs.

Those with higher levels of education and income are significantly less likely to report strong paranormal beliefs. Also, older and white respondents report lower levels of paranormal belief than do younger and nonwhite respondents… Moreover, females are statistically more likely than males to report beliefs in paranormal phenomenon.

Waterfront Restaurant: Last Week vs. This Week

This is a photo from last week. The lower parking lot is almost entirely submerged but the edge of pavement is visible at the bottom. Note the space between the bridge pillar on the left and the restaurant.




This is a photo from today. There is no space between the pillar and restaurant; it's staying there for now and a tugboat (presumably the one that towed it back) is to the left/behind the restaurant. The water level is much higher this week and the lower lot is totally submerged.




Last week showing the lower lot. The stairs are almost entirely under water today.



Lower lot today. Note the traffic signage on the left.



Last week. This is the pile of river debris that wedged itself next to the restaurant. It's mostly tree parts but there are scores of bottles and I'm sure there's a tire or two somewhere in the flotsam.



A lot of the debris seems to have floated downstream after the restaurant dislodged last night. But it's being replaced quickly enough.




No time to put on clothes or shoes... gotta get down there and see it before it floats away again!




Here's the story from FOX19.com.

Parallel Universe Queen City Tower

This is what the Queen City Tower might look like if Gaudi was the architect:



It could work... after all, Chicago pulled off AQUA. Symmetry and right angles are so overrated.

High Water

It's high, but not as high as it was in 1993. Back then, the water submerged all of Serpentine Wall and pretty much most of the flagpole portions seen in this photo. The concession stands were under water. Mehring Way and Pete Rose Way were under water. The Lytle garage was at that time a surface parking lot and I remember seeing the gate sticking out of the water.

And even that doesn't come close to the Mother Flooder of 1937 which turned all the downtown streets into canals.

And now another rainstorm has begun just as I am typing this...

Fossils

Some years ago I dated a woman whose parents were hippies. They lived down the street from a responsible alcoholic, a gentle and kind man who could never quite conquer his demons but always cared for his cats and had enough sense not to drive a car. So when he visited, he did so on his riding mower, puttering the quarter mile or so along the side of the road.

One summer day I was over there hanging out when the neighbor rode over. He came inside and had a mumbling conversation with the mother for a few minutes as I listened, amazed that she could understand any of the words. Eventually they decided to go down to the nearby creek for a swim and I tagged along to play with their new puppy.

When we got to the creek they took off all their clothes and got in. The mother asked me if I wanted to swim but I hadn't really prepared myself psychologically for skinny dipping with my girlfriend's 55-year old mother and an alcoholic neighbor. Fortunately, Ohio was covered by a shallow sea 450 million years ago so I was able to excuse myself from the situation by looking for fossils in the creek bed.

I didn't find anything there, but I did find the cool rock below on a hike in the woods last weekend. It seems like there is a little bit of everything in here... based on my thorough research (i.e. looking at some pics on this page), I think there may be brachiopods, snails, clams and cephalopods, and maybe more.

This is not a Toliet

The Monolith

When I saw this I thought of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
It's in a downtown park, nowhere near outer space or chimps with sticks.