Think You're Leading Edge?

Check this out if you think your cell phone is state of the art. You're in for a surprise.

All the defense contractors have them! Why don't you?

Adding Insult To Injury

A "friend" of mine who follows this blog, sent an e-mail saying he was shocked to see an actual photo of my wife and me on the previous post. In a feeble attempt at humor, he sent this picture, which he described as what he said thought we looked liked prior to seeing us in the "Joey Has Landed" post.

Now I ask you, if you were a regular reader here, what would ever give you that idea? One of my goals in starting Father Time's Place was to let retired people (and those thinking of retirement) know they have nothing to fear and everything to be excited about. I know. Bad sentence construction but I couldn't think of any other way to say it!

I have encountered people who, for a variety of reasons, intensely dislike or even fear the thought of being retired. In many cases their fears have a legitimate basis; for example, no longer being considered a "contributor" to the economy, being thought of as "old", or facing the specter of declining health. However, I learned long ago not to try to "convert" people; I would have made a damn poor evangelist. But, if I can demonstrate that it's a fantastic time in one's life cycle, and not the "end of the road", I will have made my point.

Look forward to retirement friends. It worth the wait.

Joey Has Landed

Joey officially became a member of the Times' household May 27, 2006 at 3:30 PM PDT. For the three spoiled cats, "hell week" is officially in session. Each cat is puffed up twice his/her/it's normal size and sleep is now an option rather than the norm.

I love it!

Joey, as the previous post indicated, is a work in progress. The shelter did get him bathed and groomed, but the matted fur required a buzz cut on his back which is not the typical Shetland Sheepdog look. He has a long ways to go before he's going to be considered a stud by the opposite sex.

In the top photos, we see Father Time and Ms Time, (who is clearly astounded by the whole process) taking delivery from the animal shelter which is barely one step ahead of Abu Ghraib as far as conditions are concerned. (Thank you Fly for pointing that out.) The last picture is Liz Dodge, a tireless and caring dog lover, who spends almost as much time finding homes for orphan dogs as she does training her Border Collies for agility trials at the national level. She is truly the Mother Teresa of the canine world. I hope that sounds like a compliment Liz; it was intended to be, but I'm no Hemingway. Right now I'm just barely Father Time.

A Home Without A Dog and Vice Versa

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Our Shepard/lab mix dog Buddy passed away last year after 14 years of protecting the yard from evil birds and sleeping cats. Life has been peaceful and quiet - much to our dismay.

So, when a friend sent these pictures of a homeless Sheltie in Southern Oregon, we all joined together in perfectly elegant English and exclaimed, "We gots to get that dog!"

After a three-hour drive, we will pick him up Saturday at the shelter. Then, after what promises to be an interesting return trip to Father Time's peaceful retreat, we expect all hell to break loose as Joey (that's his new name) and the cats get acquainted. We have one acre of fenced land so the show should rival the Indy 500 for lap times, exciting crashes, and pit crew trips up trees to rescue terrified cats. I plan on sitting in my lawn chair with a cold beer and acting as race steward, black flagging tired kitties and refueling the ones still in the race.

You should be jealous - very jealous!

Evening In The Cascades

One of the great things about camping is the time one has to watch the shows nature provides free of charge.

This is one of those shows, and the price is right.

Discount Dan Joins The Immigration Debate

Infrequently, (like once), I've mentioned my friend Discount Dan in Las Vegas. He's a blog lurker (that's a compliment DD); however via e-mail, he's anything but quiet. For instance, here is a slightly edited version of his views on immigration:

Seems I've pushed a button regarding the immigration issue. As you know am not a big fan of the current administration. However, from one that lives in a community with a high % of illegal as well as legal immigrants, one can start to see the complexity of the issue. Let me try & clarify what I perceive from living here in Nevada.

First, yes, both legal and illegal aliens contribute either directly or indirectly to the economy. However (and a big however), the illegal ones, especially in the construction industry, are paid either in cash or as independent contractors receiving a 1099 vs. a W-2, thereby putting the responsibility of filing and paying taxes on the immigrant.

Needless to say this rarely happens and that taxable income for both the county and fed's is lost. They do however use a disproportionate share of county & federal services, i.e.: county health services, schools, family aid programs etc. Local hospital emergency rooms have become the physician of choice for these folks given that they have no healthcare programs or primary care physicians. This places an incredible burden on the facilities here resulting in patients not being admitted due to overcrowding. You can't lay the entire burden of that problem on the illegals; however they contribute significantly to the problem.

Before you start to think you've been friends with a closet bigot, I'm simply pointing out the issues that I see & hear about frequently. There are other issues as well, cultural, language barriers etc. but the above is the most visible manifestation. These are ongoing problems for most of the communities in the southwest and probably elsewhere.

Is the answer putting up a wall along the border patrolled by an armed national guard the answer? Of course not. I think that would just exacerbate the problem and probably result in some form of human tragedy not to mention a severe deterioration of our relations with Mexico.

Do I have answers? Not hardly, but I actually agree with a small portion of GW's plan. The idea of "visiting" workers with some form of documentation (putting the burden on the employer to withhold taxes, and document the employment) has some appeal. Requiring workers to have basic English language skills definitely. Some form of border control has to be put in place to stem the flood of people until a more humane approach can be formulated. Am not in favor of wholesale amnesty or deportation of millions of people. We've created this problem over a span of 25 + years, turning a blind eye to our southern borders in favor of cheap labor. We will not solve this overnight. We also have an immigration service utilizing 30 or 40
year old quotas making it extremely difficult for those industrious souls trying to immigrate legally (such as our relatives did generations ago).

I firmly believe it cannot continue to be business as usual. Not all immigrants are our friends, not all are industrious or law abiding. We should not become a welfare state for Mexico's poverty stricken population. I know that sounds somewhat cold, but we do a poor job of taking care of our own population below the poverty line much less taking on another country's.

Solitude In The Cascades

I haven't passed on or suffered any calamities; the time had come to seek the quiet of the forest and allow my "serious" side to come to terms with humanism, Buddhism, war, and mosquitos - two good things and two that suck - in the latter case literally!

Warning! Please forgive the more serious posts that will soon follow. There's a lot to unload and shape into an emerging philosophy that's been delayed too long. As my kids would say - my good, your bad.

Fear not. The Father's sense of humor is not dead - just resting up for an intellectual jihad!

Peace and fresh baked bread to you all.

Showing Some Cleavage

By Popular Demand

A friend suggested that I could increase my readership if the blog featured more cleavage. So, as an experiment, I have decided to give it a go.

What Is Cleavage?

The orderly arrangement of atoms in a mineral can be seen in its tendency to break along smooth planes in specific directions --- a property known as cleavage. The planes are known as cleavage planes. A mineral's ability to resist breakage depends on the strength of chemical bonds between the atoms in its crystal structure. The stronger the bonds, the more difficult it is the break the mineral.

What makes a chemical bond "strong" or "weak?" In simple terms, the strength of a bond depends on the intensity and the shape of the electrical field (the complex cloud of electrons) between two atoms. Describing the electrical field and all of the factors that control its intensity and shape, however, is a very challenging task. To do it, chemists measure physical and electrical properties of each atom and use those measurements to describe the bond mathematically. One of the most important measurements is the distance between atoms. As a rule of thumb, the closer two atoms are to each other, the more tightly they bond together, all other factors being equal.

In most crystal structures, atoms are closer together in some directions than in others. Thus, the bonds in those directions are stronger. Cleavage takes place along planes that cut across the longest, weakest bonds in the structure.

Some minerals, such as the micas, cleave in only one direction. Others, in which more than one set of layers is weakly bonded, may cleave in two or more directions. Geologists can use the number of cleavage directions and the angles between them to distinguish one mineral from another. For example, the four cleavage directions in the mineral fluorite, pictured above, produce perfect octahedral fragments --- a very distinctive characteristic of that mineral.

Some minerals, such as quartz, do not exhibit cleavage at all, because there is little difference in bond strength from one direction to another in their crystal structures. Such minerals break to produce a rough, non-planar surface called a fracture instead.

Your Input

If you have found this information useful, let me know. Right now, I'm researching hose. My friend also said if the blog featured more hose, I would see a corresponding uptick in readership. This is hard work!

Cooking Bachelor's Delight

My friend The Fly is now living the "good life" in the Mojave desert. He puts in long hours at work and then comes home to what many of us recall as bachelor hell - having to fix a great dinner in 15 minutes or less.

This is a common situation that arises for many reasons:
1.) ravenous hunger,
2.) lack of cooking expertise,
3.) lack of money due to purchases of new cool stuff for the pad,
4.) lack of patience,
5.) lack of a female friend who will cook for you,
6.) exhaustion due to heat,
7.) need to write letter to Mom,
8.) forgetting to stop at store and pick up Hungry Man TV dinners.

Therefore, as a public service, I'm sharing my recipe for Bachelor's Delight. It's fast, nutritious, and tastes great.

Utensils Needed

1- Old aluminum pan leftover from last week's TV dinner. Don't bother to wash it because the high oven temperature will kill any bacteria that are attempting a hostile takeover.

1- Can opener. A bottle opener will also work but takes longer to punch multiple holes in a can; plus, you waste some of the contents but can get those last little bits out by rinsing the can with some stale beer.

1- Spoon. Any spoon! Plastic or metal, clean or previously used is OK. If previously used, dip in beer briefly to kill gazigglies.

Ingredients

2 cans - Coors; one for cooking; one to drink.
1 cup - corn flakes
4 slices - Velveeta cheese
1 cup - crumbled leftover potato chips
1 can - Stagg chili. Use only Stagg! Other brands of canned chili have wussy names and are not "manly".

The Procedure

Dump everything into the aluminum pan except corn flakes and beer. Add one half of remaining beer to mixture and top with corn flakes.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until remaining half of beer is drunk. Remove from oven and eat directly from pan. Crackers make a great side dish with this recipe. When finished, place the pan back in the trash in case it's needed again.

Disclaimer

This is an old family recipe and has been made available as a public service. Any resemblance to food providing actual nutrition is coincidental. Enjoy!

Volcanology 101

There is so much ancient volcanic evidence in Washington, Oregon, and Northern Cal, veteran hikers soon learn the terms used by scientists to describe peaks, rocks, mounds, and soil strata; that is, if you want to sound like a highly astute, primal "old hand", you use the geologists' vocabulary.

A favorite spot for many NW backpackers in Oregon is Mt. Jefferson. The mountain itself tops out at 10,000+ feet and is cloaked with five glaciers. The land surrounding it is primitive, unspoiled, and isolated. Hopefully, it will stay that way since all 111,000+ acres are managed by the National Forest Service and are designated partly as a National Park and partly a "wilderness" area. Those familiar with the Pacific Crest Trail know it passes through an area called Jefferson Park. This so-called "park" lies in the center of the Jefferson Wilderness and is backpacker heaven with dozens of cold, clear lakes.

However, the main attraction is Mt. Jefferson, an extinct (we hope!) volcano, that reaches 10,497 ft. in height. If you are really into volcanoes, you'll love the geology of Jefferson Park.

Glossary (Courtesy of USGS)

If you're not familiar with volcanologists lingo, here are some basic definitions you can toss around at cocktail parties:

Ash: Fragments of less than 2 millimeters in diameter of lava or rock blasted into the air by volcanic explosions.

Basalt: Volcanic rock caused by partial melting of the Earth's crust.

Caldera: A large volcanic depression, commonly circular or elliptical when seen from above, caused by a volcano collapsing into itself.

Cinder Cone: A circular or oval cone made up of small fragments of lava from a single vent that have been blown into the air, cooled and fallen around the vent.

Composite Volcano: A steep-sided volcano composed of many layers of volcanic rocks, usually made from high-viscosity (thick like honey) lava, ash and rock debris (broken pieces).

Dome: A steep-sided mound that forms when viscous (thick like honey) lava piles up near a volcanic vent (opening at the surface).

Fumarole: A vent that releases volcanic gases and steam.

Lahar: A mixture of water and rock debris that forms on the slopes of a volcano. Also known as a mudflow or debris flow. The term comes from Indonesia.

Pumice: A light-colored volcanic rock containing lots of bubbles from trapped gases. This rock can sometimes float on water.

Pyroclastic Flow: A hot, fast moving and high-density (thick like a dust storm) mixture of ash, pumice, rock fragments and gas formed during explosive eruptions.

Shield Volcano: A volcano shaped like a bowl in the middle with long gentle slopes made by basaltic lava flows.

Vent: An opening at the surface where magma, gas and steam erupt.

Volcano: A vent at the surface where magma, gas and steam erupt. Also, the landform constructed by volcanic material.

Future Explorations

In the near future, I'm heading back to the Jefferson Wilderness to find - and hopefully photograph - some of the glaciers and maybe a vent or two. Since the Wilderness is located at an elevation of 7,000+ feet, and the trailhead starts at 3,000 feet, I plan on a slow, leisurely hike into the park, with plenty of time for campsite locating, fishing, and exploration.

Part of the advance planning includes determining and loading at least 20-30 waypoints into my GPS for a four-day trip. I don't know which is the most fun - the planning or the execution. Decisions, decisions!

Heading Out

The snow has melted at the lower elevations - between 4000 and 5000 feet - so it's off we go. This time overnight, followed by a two-night trek in two weeks. Posts will be infrequent but exciting and replete with bear stories. Hopefully, they will be in the third person. [Fingers crossed]

Press on!

Should We Blame It On Our Business Schools?

This is something that has bothered me for years:

I am not aware of a single university level business school that teach quantifiable "stability," or "sustainability" measures as a means of evaluating a business' success or failure.

What then, is their focus?

They preach constant and continued growth in profits and capital resources, by any means possible, as the fundamental underlying strategy for operating a successful enterprise. Yes, at reputable schools, the phrase "any means possible" is usually ameliorated by required classes in business ethics; however, once you have completed the requirements for a MBA degree, the departing message at graduation is always clear; "Grow your business or be considered a failure."

True, MBA candidates have been exposed to business ethics, but ask yourself, "When was the last time I saw consumer-favorable, or even stockholder-favorable ethics, in action?" All one needs to do is look at CEO salaries, bonuses, and stock options. Or bogus accounting procedures used to bolster less-than-acceptable profitability (or losses.) Do they define "ethics in action?"

So What's The Big Deal?

Clearly, we live on a planet of fixed geographic size. Besides habitat, it also serves is our only marketplace. It's a fact that we are reaching a saturation point at exponential speed. What happens in ten or twenty years when "growth" is physically impossible?

Example 1: Getting into China's marketplace will take a few years; by then maybe Africa will have developed into a major market. Add to the mix the fact that worldwide companies are buying up smaller companies rapidly. Even more interesting is that their are no international monopoly regulations. Now, I'm no George Orwell or Alvin Toffler, but the fact is no one is taking a long-term view of commerce and where it's going.

Example 2: As businesses become bigger, they gain enormous resources that enable them to better control their destinies. In the "old days" they achieved their revenue and profit objectives through aggressive marketing techniques. Lately, however, they have increased their muscle by adding massive amounts of leverage and control through raw political influence. Frequently, I find myself wondering, "Who IS running America?" Is it the will of the people and stockholder interest, or big business joined at the hip with the Federal government? Or, has the Federal government become the real big business? Worse yet, isn't reality the unholy marriage of big business and government who together, run our lives and control our futures. Ask other people who observe the business scene. Most say, "It's hard to tell the difference between the two." And even more alarming, are people I talk to who say, "Quit being so naive. We really know who runs things, don't we?" (Wink wink.) Then they leave for Cancun on the next flight.

Is There An Answer?

I don't know. But it has to change.

While We Ponder The Immigration Issue

I just read this. Please consider it my contribution to the current debate over illegal immigrants.

A rabbi put this question to his students:

"How can we determine the hour of dawn, when the night ends and the day begins?"

One student suggested, "When from a distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep."

"When you can distinguish between a fig tree and a grapevine," offered another.

"No," the rabbi said. "When you look into the face of a human being and have enough light to recognize that person as your brother or sister. Up until then it is night, and darkness is still with you."

Author unknown.

It Looks Good If Your Floor Is Warped

The latest project to emerge from Father Time's workshop is this magnificent bookcase/room divider. I learned long ago that quality work can only emerge from a scrupulously clean environment. My shop is, as you can clearly see, in near "operating room" condition.


Not only do I have the latest in fine woodworking machinery, using leather belts derived from the hides of grain-fed Australian wildebeests, but I also installed a highly efficient furnace to keep my materials at a constant temperature in the cold weather.

As a result of these major investments, heritage furniture will continue to emerge based on Father Time's motto: "Quality Is An Accident If You're Lucky."

Father Time's Time Machine

I have discovered the secret to time travel - sleep. Last night I went to bed and I was 66 y/o. When I awoke this morning I was 67 y/o. Isn't it amazing what one can do when one has an in-depth understanding of quantum mechanics, physics, and advanced mathematics? At least, in my mind, someone with those skills should be able to do amazing things. If I just knew someone................

Anyways, I'm off to go hiking. It doesn't get any better than this!