“I need a price check on morons”

 

HP kroger poop

I wonder what the 4-digit code is for poop. And what’s the price per pound these days?

The uncertainty of this life

As I mentioned in a recent post, my Uncle Don passed away recently. His oldest child, my cousin Bob, was going through Uncle Don’s safe deposit box and found a copy of my father’s will, which he mailed to me.

It starts out this way:

I, Herbert J. Dotterweich, now residing at 389 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, being of sound mind, and mindful of the uncertainty of this life, do make, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament.

I know my dad modified the boilerplate language of wills to add the phrase “and mindful of the uncertainty of this life”.  I know because the will is dated November 20th, 1968. 11 days after my mom died of leukemia, less than six months after being diagnosed with it, at the age of 33. “Mindful of the uncertainly of this life” indeed. He was mindful of it for the rest of his years on earth, as he raised four kids by himself.

Today is my dad’s birthday. He would’ve been 85. I miss him every day. But I also smile at the fact that when he changed the wording of the will, he added “the uncertainty of this life” not “the uncertainty of life.” Because he was a believer. I am too.

herb and olga wedding 2

 

 

 

Keef still kicking

I recently watched the documentary “Keith Richards: Under the Influence” on Netflix and highly recommend it.

 

Ol’ Keef has a face that “looks like 30 miles of bad road” as my friends in Arkansas used to say. He’s abused his body with every substance known to man… and probably a few that haven’t even been discovered yet. Yet he keeps on kicking. If you watch the documentary, you realize that part of that stems from the fact that he still has a childlike wonder at the magic of music. When he talks about being drawn to Mick Jagger at a train station when they were both teenage students, it was because Mick was carrying albums by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters… and you can tell Keith is still excited about those artists.

In some ways it’s a shame that the great R&B and blues artists from the U.S. had to be “repackaged” by British rock and roll bands. But as Buddy Guy mentions in the movie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and other blues loving bands gave those older artists a second chance at success.

 

 

He’s “L.A.” but he’s not from L.A.

The Wall Street Journal has a nice article about Cincinnati-born and bred musician turned songwriter/producer/record mogul Antonio “L.A.” Reid. He’s been spinning records since he was a boy, and he’s managed to turn his love of music into a lucrative career.

Here’s footage of him drumming with the band that gave him his big break, a Cincy band called The Deele.

 

 

And here’s another that made the soundtrack to “Miami Vice”…

 

Want to stop global warming? Eat more tofu.

Pop quiz:

Which of these activities helps more in the fight against global climate change:

A. taking public transportation to work every day.

B. Eating a vegan diet.

The answer is B, by a wide margin. This report is a real eye-opener. Check out this line from the summary:

Human consumption of meat and dairy products is a major driver of climate change. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their production are estimated to account for over 14.5 per cent of the global total. This is more than the emissions produced from powering all the world’s road vehicles, trains, ships and aeroplanes combined.1 

I’m not a vegan (for the record, I’m lacto-ovo, with shades of pescatarian), so I won’t preach too much. But it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing proposition. Just having one meatless day per week could help immensely. Check out these stats (Source):

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

  • 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
  • 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
  •  70 million gallons of gas — enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
  •  3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
  • 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

  • Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;
  • 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;
  • 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;
  • Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

So just for a day, skip the sirloin and have more salad. It’s better for the planet – and that’s no animal excrement.