Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
I stole this graphic from a Facebook post I saw today. Not mine at all. But as I encounter bloggers who sometimes issue GRRRRRRs in response to news events — won’t give any names here — I thought the graphic was apropos.
You can probably bet I’ll spend some time in my private growlery over the next few days.
We share our house with two floofs. Both are cats, strays that decided to call our place home. One is Papi, the ginger blade, also referred to as Meep and Butter Butt. The alpha cat is Tucker (pronounced Tuck-ah), a black and white mixed fur cat with shades of Maine Coon. He’s older by several years.
Tucker has recently taken to not responding to me. Not responding, that is, until I mention Papi’s name. I can and do say, “What’s up, Tucker, are you hungry, what do you want,” etc., and get nothing. But if I say, “What is it, Papi?” Whoa, Tucker turns and marches over.
In my mind, I attribute this whole thing to Tucker trying to trick me into thinking he’s Papi. When I call Tucker by Papi’s name, Tucker is thinking, “I did it! He thinks I’m the other cat.”
As anyone who lives with an animal knows, this is basic flooflighting.
Mood: feelinalright
It’s crazy frog outside.
‘Crazy frog’ is a mondetext. A mondegreen is ‘a word or phrase that results from a mishearing especially of something recited or sung’. (h/t Merram-Webster). I figure that a mondetext would be a mishearing by an app when creating a text message, especially homophones. In this case, I was speaking into my phone, texting my sister when my wife behind me said, “It’s freezing fog outside.” The app turned that ino crazy frog. It’s our new household phrase for 2025.
Frida, January 17, 2025, has commenced in Ashlandia with crazy frog at 32 degrees F. A stagnant air advisory is in effect. When the fog burns off or moves away, it’ll be cloudy, sunny day that will make the thermometer sing at 46 F at its highest.
Alexa tells me that the Supreme Court ruled that TikTok is a goner. That’s business in ‘Merica.
Since mondegreens were introduced as a topic, The Neurons have awakened and put one of my favorites into the morning mental music stream. “Alive and Kicking” was released by Simple Minds in 1985. When it came out, my wife and I were out for a drive when it hit the radio. After a moment, she asks, “Are they singin, ‘I like the chicken’?” If you wanna check out other mondegreens, here’s a short list of some well-known mishearings.
Closing with hope that you have a strong day. Coffee and I have come together in a good way once again. Here’s the Simple Minds video. Sing along with it: “I like the chicken.” Cheers
Flooflemma (floofinition) – A usually unpleasant choice faced by an animal. Origins: First known use in 1523 in Europe.
In Use: “Facing a major flooflemma between being bored in the house or being outside where it was cold, Papi chose to keep going in and out, causing some friction with his hooman room mates.”
In Use: “Forced into the flooflemma of not eating or eating food she didn’t like, Sunshine lived up to the Floof Code and walked away from the food.”
Yesterday was Wednesday. Per tradition, our local beer group met at a local brewery, Caldera Brewing in Ashland. The group’s name is Brains on Beer. It always makes me cringe, but we inherited that name.
Two new members joined us last night: Darrell James, engineer and novelist, and Dr. Pepper Trail, forensic ornithologist and poet, author of the collection, Cascades-Siskiyou: Poems. Mr. James learned of our group because, besides being a semi-retired engineer, he’s an energetic person who does home repairs for several members. Dr. Trail worked with and for several of our members, and they thought he would enjoy our company.
Whenever new people join us, the telling of the group’s origins is done. And I realized as I sat this morning and thought about last night, the whole story of the group’s beginnings is rarely told.
What is told is that four men came together to talk science and have coffee each morning. They shifted to meeting once a week, at night, to have a beer and talk science and technology. The four men cited are Lt Col Michael Quirk (Ret, US Army), Professor Frank Lang, Dr. Ed Shelly, and Michael Hersh. All are deceased. But while they were the first four BoBs, a woman was responsible for the group being formed.
See, Michael Quirk’s wife was a social worker. Through her work, she noticed that many men age into lonely, solitary lives. She knew that a strong social life helps people remain mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy. So Diane encouraged Michael to start the social group and shift from coffee in the morning to beer in the evening once a week.
Since that start around 2008, we now have 23 members. All are liberals, BTW. It’s not a rule, but that’s how it’s worked out. Ten to fourteen people usually show up each week. We had thirteen last night. We have one person named Bob in our BoBs. From engineers, we now include medical doctors, forensics scientists, microbiologists, botanists, teachers, an ornithologist, journalists, photographers, database administrators, graphic designers, architects, and firefighters in our numbers. We also have three female members. Since we began the habit of rounding up the bill and donating to STEAM programs in our valley, we’ve donated over $43,000 to buy computers, tubidity meters, and microscopes, among other things, while supporting local robotics teams and Ashland ScienceWorks.
And it all started with one woman’s idea.
If you’re ever in Ashlandia, come on by and meet us. We start at 4 PM every Wednesday. We usually collect $20 per person. Your first visit is on us.
Mood: coffeetrippin’
Today’s theme music is “One Thing Leads to Another” by the Fixx out of 1983. This new wave offering occupants my morning mental music stream due to Jan Resseger’s excellent posts about Ohio and Catholic Republicans’ relentless efforts to undermine public education. They’ve been working on this for decades. Along the way, they’re also trying to First Amendment Establishment Clause’s prohibition of state sponsored religion. While they were about it, they also made money off it. Classic GOP trifecta: make money, undermine the Consitution, and promote their brand of existence to the detriment of others.
While that’s one reason for the Fixx’s residency in my head, there is also climate change. I was thinking about it in conjuntion with the California fires. Dryer conditions and high winds fostered by climate change promote conditions ripe for disaster. California is just the latest example. One thing leads to another. Of course, reading online comments about it, many right-wingers state the problem is that the state didn’t rake the forests and/or didn’t take measures in their forests to reduce the chance of wildfire. They are completely oblivious to the locales of these fires in cities. But then, the right-wing’s increasingly narrow sources for news, lower education, and flawed critical thinking is another example of one thing leads to another. It’s why the United States must suffer with a convicted felon, documented liar, and unrepentant conman as POTUS. One thing leads to another.
It’s Thursday, January 16, 2025. Winds are calm and the sky is blue in my scope of sight. The temperature has been climbing tick by tick from its overnight low of 30 to its present 35 F ever since the sun began singing its song of dawn. Today’s high should be measured in the mid-fifties. Reached 52 F yesterday, and it was a pleasant, satisfying experience.
Saw my ortho surgeon yesterday. He declared me healed from my surgery and the issues which triggered it. I agree. I’m still dealing with bilateral lower leg, ankle, and foot swelling brought on by lymphedema, but I’m dealing with that as well. Wear compression socks each day. Also apply Ugli Butter CBD Cream to my legs, ankles, and feet. That also does a wondrous job of reducing swelling and inflammation. I also exercise the areas multiple times throughout the day, indulge in serious hydrating, and elevate my feet at night. Impressive difference is being noted throught this combo. I still need to address and attack the root causes, though.
Coffee and I hacked out another kitchen treaty. This calls for me to brew the grinded coffee, treat it with heated water, and then imbibe it. As part of its side of the agreement, coffee will bless me with an enjoyable experience and increase my energy levels and focus.
Hope you have an awesome Thursday. Remember, courage. Here’s the music. Cheers
Mood: hotimeinthehouse
Today’s theme music comes fresh out of The Neuron mill. Walking through the house this morning as dawn asserted its presence, the heat was running. The furnace temp was set on 68 F but the air out of the vents felt blazingly hot on my skin. My SO and I went through our usual comedy skit of me commenting on the hot air and my wife asserting, “Warm at last.”
The Neurons almost instantly fired up “Summer in the City” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark toasted). The 1966 Lovin’ Spoonful song is a paean to a city’s day heat and its impact, and then how life burst forth at night, after the heat has retreated. A perfect song for Wezda, January 15, 2025 in Ashlandia, where it’s 28 F at my place. The sun is shining and the frosty valley is tranquil under a deep blue sky. There’s a freezing fog warning out for us. They said it will expire in about seventy-five minutes. Today’s high will supposedly be 59 F. Supposedly couches the prediction for me because we didn’t get anywhere close to our supposed high yesterday.
There I go, grousing again. Grousing is just not a word that I hear much these days. It was Mom and Dad’s favorite. Both of them would use it regularly in conversations, as in, “Your Aunt Jean was grousing about her children again today.”
After thinking about it part of yesterday, I inserted it into several conversations. Turned out to be a conversation stopper. Fer instance, my wife had gone to a “girls’ night” at a friend’s house. These girls are all in their upper sixties and beyond. The original intention had been to do the do at night but they all protested, “No, I can’t drive in the dark.” So girls’ night was moved to the early afternoon.
When my wife got back, I asked, “Do anyone at girls’ night grouse about anything?”
She stopped and stared at me. “Grouse?”
“Yes.”
“I haven’t heard that in years.”
I nodded. “Me, neither. I thought I’d bring it back.”
Alright, coffee and I have signed another cooperative agreement. I have a doctor’s appointment to hit. Then it’s grocery shopping.
Be strong and fly your flag high. Hope your day is going well, wherever you are, whatever the weather. Hope that the wars end soon. That the right wing regains its senses and became less negative, reactionary, and hateful. Hope that the California wildfires are stopped with no more loss of life so they may begin rebuilding.
In other word, I hope. Remember, this year’s word is courage. Here’s the music video. It’s an interesting one to me, watching them perform this song sans any sort of cords, wires, amplifiers, or microphones. Cheers
Mood: Moonflyin’
Today is Twosda, January 14, 2025. Another cold morning in Ashlandia — up to 28 F under the sun’s influence — but we’ve been granted a bright blue sky and unfettered sunshine. For the moment. That could change. Experts sa clouds will move in but the temperature will push the mid-50s.
Had a powerful Inauguration Moon carrying on through the night. Although Inauguration Day happens every four years in the U.S., the first full moon of Jan. is often referred to as the Inauguration Day Moon. Other countries sometimes call it the Revolution Moon. Some wags refer to the Inauguration Day Moon as the Grrr Moon, depending upon who won the election or the circumstances of the election. That’s how I’m referring to it myself this year, for my own reasons.
The California wildfires continue to burn across the news front. Death toll is rising, 24 now. The devastation so far put the Eaton and Palisades fires at the third and fourth worse fires in California history since 1991. What a calamity. The buildings can be rebuilt but what a chunk of life and history the fires have taken. Then there’s the impact on the environment and wildlife. The brightest part of the story, if one is wanted, is how other states and our neighbors from Canada and Mexico have stepped in to help fight the blazes. Yet, of course, the rightwing echoes with lies and misinformation about what’s going on. They’ll do anything to tear down, and nothing to help.
Today’s song is “The Long Run” from 1979 by the Eagles. The Neurons put it into the morning mental music stream (Trademark pending) based on a few song lines as we go into a Republican-led Federal governmen. “Who is gonna make it? We’ll find out in the long run. I know we can take it if our love is a strong one.” So here we go: what’ll happen in the next two years? Because 2026 — the midterm elections — will probably be a revelation of some kind, if all hasn’t already been revealed before then.
Coffee and I have come together. Time to launch into another day. Here’s the music. Cheers
I think it’s time for us to modernize how we refer to the moon. Like Harvest Moon, Wolf Moon, and the like. Like the Full Moon, when people are expected to act out, should be called the Coffee Moon. Because, as someone relatively sane who is forced to deal with others’ craziness, it takes a lot of coffee to get through it.
Likewise, the first full moon in November should be called the Black Friday Moon. Doesn’t matter if it falls on Friday; are you really so naive and out of touch to believe that Black Friday, that day in November when retailers and manufacturers slash prices, is limited to that one day? Hell no, sisters and brothers. Black Friday commences weeks before. The actual Friday named in Black Friday is just the height of the shopping frenzy. And if you think that I’m being too US-centric in this, Black Friday, that shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving in the US, is now a global affair.
Besides the Coffee Moon and Black Friday Moon, I believe a Superbowl Moon is in order. The event is televised around the world now, even though many are tuning in for the commercials or halftime entertainment. I’d suggest a moon to ‘honor’ turning our clocks back or forward, but that’s all over the place right now. There are a number of moons which could be called Beer Moon. Use your own noodling to get to the nub of what I’m suggesting there.
What used to be known as Harvest Moon should probably be dubbed ‘Earnings Moon’ to recognize that annual earnings reports are coming out. Sure, Earnings Moon doesn’t have the romance attached to it that Harvest Moon might carry, but romance is fading so we might as well face up to who we are. This one might be US centric.
Should there be a Cynic’s Moon? Because I, at least, am very cynical about the world’s state. Also, does anyone have any thoughts on which moon should be the Bullshit Moon? Because there’s enough BS going around in my view that such a moon is definitely warranted. Just watch a Republican gush about PINO-elect Trump and you’ll see what I mean.
Michael Seidel, writer 