Picture of the Day - Light Cleaving Darkness

Back side of a passing storm as seen from South Atascadero this afternoon.

Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XXXVII

For the first time in the 3-1/2 year history of this blog it made advertising money last month. Not by coincidence, last month was also the most creative month I have enjoyed in the history of this blog. Again, not by coincidence last month was the most visited month in the history of this blog. I'm still not even close to Google cutting me a check but the point is this thing is gathering momentum and it is exciting to see. Oh, and by the way, when you click on any ads you see... I get paid.

I'm Finally Getting Caught Up 

For the first time in ages I'm caught up on my bills. If I can keep that going and start maintaining an "Oh Shit" Fund then I will be in a position to start paying off some debt to the ex-girlfriend who doesn't answer my e-mails.

If You Don't Like The Weather... Wait a Day

Yesterday was brilliantly sunny and warm and windy and dusty with the strongest Santa Ana Winds I have possibly ever felt in the upper Salinas Valley. It was fortunate there were no major fires on the Central Coast or for that matter anywhere in Southern California. Today was cold and cloudy and windy and finished wet with more to come tomorrow.

What The Hell Happened To 2011?

If anybody reading this knows where it went please tell me. They say the older you get the faster time passes and I'm sorry to admit I've gotten caught up in the slip-stream of accelerating entropy. It boggles my mind that the current semester ends in a month and a half.

Something That Didn't Happen In 2011

The world sure as hell didn't end as false prophet and religious charlatan Harold Camping claimed it would. God spoke soon thereafter by smiting Camping with a stroke. Putting words in God's mouth is serious stuff. With his End-Of-The-World predictions for 1988, 1994, May 2011 and October 2011  having fallen through he has now retired and admits that God wasn't kidding when He said what He said in Matthew 25:13.

Something That Did Happen In 2011

I finally got kicked off LA-Rocks on Yahoo Groups. Brad Smith, the owner of the group, is a ding-dong (in my opinion) with quite a reputation as such within the Southern California rockhounding community. He has a long history of erratic and arbitrary and inconsistent decision-making on LA-Rocks. That was never more plain to see than in his decision to kick me off the group today for making some unflattering observations about the Chinese forgery pandemic and then putting a Neo-Liberal/Progressive in his anemic and vapid place after he suggested my comments were "bigoted". It feels strangely liberating to be rid of the oppressive yoke of Brad Smith's personality flaws and character defects and ass-backward management style.

Should There Be a SoCal-Rocks?

I am seeking input from you all and others as to the efficacy of starting an alternative Yahoo Group to LA-Rocks. I invite your input in the comments below. A lack of commentary by you will be taken as a NO even if it has more to do with nobody who is reading this particular column being especially interested in Southern California rockhounding.

The Mother Of All Ironies

President Barack Obama has publicly expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street ne'er-do-wells. He can't control his Inner Community Organizer in this regard which has caused him to say something incredibly ironic because... ironically enough it was Liberal, Jewish, Heavily-Democratic Wall Street that underwrote his 2008 campaign and Obama's Wall Street bail-outs were simply a political payback. I have not heard much about this fact coming out of the Occupiers.

Oh, But The Ironies Get Even Better

An equally or perhaps even more outrageous irony is that George Soros' philanthropic money used to support a wide variety of causes both good (education) and bad (anything he does political) was generated utilizing the very worst sorts of economic activity that has the Occupy Wall Street crowd worked up into a frenzy. However, as a result of Soros trying to buy off his own conscience by underwriting Neo-Liberal/Progressive political activities like MoveOn.org they will give the Man Who Broke The Bank of England a free pass on his manifold moral transgressions such as his pulling the rug out from under the Asian Tiger and Tiger Cub economies in October 1997 leading to great economic and social upheaval and harm.

All The Republican Candidates Suck

Each of the current crop of Republican candidates suck for one or more reasons. My favorite is Newt Gingrich (he's actually an intellectual) but he handed his balls to his wife at some point and thus has no chance as Commander-In-Chief. Herman Cain is a cool cat but has no experience and has blundered his way through his first campaign crisis which does not inspire confidence. Michelle Bachmann is old news and Rick Perry and Mitt Romney are empty suits. John Huntsman, Jr. and Rick Santorum are even less than empty suits. Ron Paul is a nut. What more can I say?

So What Was Resigning Her Governorship All About?

Sarah Palin resigned her governorship of Alaska (she failed to finish her first term) with the implicit motive of preparing for a run for the Presidency in 2012. Now she is not even a candidate (unless she jumps in late which seems less likely all the time). If she was not going to run for the office this time around then why did she quit her job before it was even completed? Her behavior strikes me as impulsive and erratic and her thinking as being too non-linear. By design or default she seems content on building a political brand for herself and savor being a political celebrity more than being an actual politician. She strikes me as very light-weight and full of herself.

Hillary Clinton For President 2012

Being a male of the species and thus a visual creature I just had to put that headline there to politically arouse myself. I know Hillary Clinton won't actually do it but gosh, wouldn't it be nice if she did? I never liked her as First Lady but she was a solid U.S. Senator earning the respect of even her Republican peers. As Secretary of State she has earned the respect of the world and the American People by being the most effective member of President Obama's cabinet. Consequently, she has impressively reinforced her resume for a possible future run for the office her nation ought to have elected her to back in 2008.

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Another View From The Day Lassen Went Nuclear

Last month in my "The Day Lassen Peak Went Nuclear" column I omitted this wonderful vintage postcard image of the Plinian eruption of Lassen Peak on May 22, 1915, due to my failure to find it in the course of my research. Or perhaps I did see it briefly but I saw it in thumbnail scale and was unimpressed. In any case I found this image tonight while perusing my friend Lin Kern's cool column "Lassen Volcano Eruption of 1914-1915" which I had not previously seen. I highly recommend you check out. This image is clearly taken from somewhere in the northern Sacramento Valley in either Shasta County or Tehama County but I cannot further constrain the location beyond that.

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Quote of the Day - H.L. Mencken

"The main thing that every political campaign in the United States demonstrates is that the politicians of all parties, despite their superficial enmities, are really members of one great brotherhood. Their principal, and indeed their sole, object is to collar public office, with all the privileges and profits that go therewith. They achieve this collaring by buying votes with other people's money. No professional politician is ever actually in favor of public economy. It is his implacable enemy, and he knows it. All professional politicians are dedicated wholeheartedly to waste and corruption. They are the enemies of every decent man."

~ H.L. Mencken

Kim's Caveat: I would not go so far as to suggest Mencken is correct about ALL politicians but merely MOST of them.

Huell Howser Tripping Out

If you have ever watched any of the various public television programs produced and hosted by Tennessee transplant Huell Howser but most famously "California's Gold" then you will get the humor in this video. Otherwise, you will not "get" this and not appreciate the humor so in that case you are discouraged from watching this.

Picture of the Day - My Morning Petrified Wood

In 2008 I found this petrified wood limb segment outside Joseph City, AZ. Upon my return home I used a wet grinder to polish both exposed ends of it. The specimen now adorns my backyard picnic table. 

Photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Caveat Emptor Moldavite

I attended a wholesale show this past weekend and came across some fake Moldavite I am sharing this with you so you the reader can be a more informed consumer. The material was the centerpiece of four separate expensive pendants. I will not identify the dealer in question who I found selling this material so as to not upset the applecart of my friend who is in the show. However, just to spice this column up I offer two clues. If seller of the fake Moldavite were to know I outed him he'd try to throw me in the Black Hole of Calcutta and make me sari I did so. Update as of 12/03/11: two of the four have sold to to some simpletons.

The color is slightly grayer than the real thing and the etching is a bit less sharp than the real thing.

Notice the rather large diameter saw marks on the back of the "moldavite"?

Both photographs by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)