We should not moor a ship with one anchor,

or our life with one hope.

– Epictetus

THE SQUONK.
(Lacrimacorpus dissolvens.)

The range of the squonk is very limited. Few people outside of Pennsylvania have ever heard of the quaint beast, which is said to be fairly common in the hemlock forests of that State. The squonk is of a very retiring disposition, generally traveling about at twilight and dusk. Because of its misfitting skin, which is covered with warts and moles, it is always unhappy ; in fact it is said, by people who are best able to judge, to be the most morbid of beast. Hunters who are good at tracking are able to follow a squonk by its tear-stained trail, for the animal weeps constantly. When cornered and escape seems impossible, or when surprised and frightened, it may even dissolve itself in tears. Squonk hunters are most successful on frosty moonlight nights, when tears are shed slowly and the animal dislikes moving about ; it may then be heard weeping under the boughs of dark hemlock trees. Mr. J. P. Wentling, formerly of Pennsylvania, but now at St. Anthony Park, Minnesota, had a disappointing experience with a squonk near Mont Alto. He made a clever capture by mimicking the squonk and inducing it to hop into a sack, in which he was carrying it home, when suddenly the burden lightened and the weeping ceased. Wentling unslung the sack and looked in. There was nothing but tears and bubbles.

Source: 

 F E A R S O M E C R E A T U R E S O F T H E L U M B E R W O O D S 
( 100th A N N I V E R S A R Y H Y P E R T E X T E D I T I O N )

See it here.

The Wall Street Journal has a really nice photo essay by Alexandra Wolfe of some of the Underwater Photography Awards from the UK. Very interesting and breathtakingly beautiful!

Here is the link.

This week NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information announced that the 2016 global averaged surface temperature of the earth set a new record over the previous record, 2015, by a whopping .07 degrees farenheit. This sounds alarming, and it must be a very complicated job to measure “global average surface temperature”. I’m sure this made tantalizing headlines in all the usual news outlets.

Remembering my high school chemistry and physics classes (dimly), I wondered what the statistical margin of error for this data was. And I had to drill down a couple of pages into the sources to find it, but there it was. The number is plus or minus .27 degrees F over the statistical 20th century average.

Obviously that means that there could have been satistically been a huge decrease in the global temperature as surely as there could have been an equally larger increase! And I wonder if they measured “global average surface temperature” in 1900 the same way that they measured it in 2000 to arrive at that 20th century average?

The bottom line is, you can interpret the results of this data anyway you like to suit your own agenda. Lord knows the “National Centers for Environmental Information” are.

Here’s a link to their data:

http://www.noaa.gov/stories/2016-marks-three-consecutive-years-of-record-warmth-for-globe

“Competitions are only opportunity for inexperienced youth to air precocious propensity.”

Frank Lloyd Wright in his autobiography, writing about architectural competitions.

Here Is the context in the full passage:

“The world has gained no building worth having by competition because: (1) The jury itself is necessarily a hand picked average. Some constituency must agree upon the jury. (2) Therefore the first thing this average does as a jury, when picked, is to go through all the designs and throw out the best ones and the worst ones. This is necessary in order that the average may average upon something average. (3) Therefore any architectural competition will be an average upon an average by averages in behalf of the average. (4) The net result is a building well behind the times before it is begun.

This might seem democratic if mediocrity is democratic ideal in architecture. No. Competitions are only opportunity for inexperienced youth to air precocious propensity.

Moreover, to further vitiate the competitive objective every architect entering any competition does so to win the prize. So he sensibly aims his efforts at what he conceives to be the common prejudices and predilections of the jury. Invariably the man who does this most accurately wins the competition.”

Last week’s bloody drone injury to Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer’s right pinky put the Indians in a bit of a jam in their starting rotation. So manager Terry Francona did the obvious. He called up 24 year old rookie pitcher Ryan Merritt from the AAA Columbus Clippers to start in a crucial game 5 of the American League Championship Series in front of 50,000 screaming Toronto fans. Just his second start in the major leagues!

Despite looking a bit shell shocked, Merritt proceeded to mow down the Toronto Blue Jay’s best for 4 1/3 innings, putting them in position to unleash their relievers, shut out the Jays and send the Indians to the World Series for the first time since 1997.

Probably the best compliment I heard on Merritt’s performance was from none other than retired Boston ace and 8 time all star turned color commentator Pedro Martinez, who said on air, “I want to start my career over as this guy!”

You just can’t make this stuff up!

The Indians start the World Series next Tuesday with home field advantage against the winner of the NLCS, either the Chicago Cubs or the LA Dodgers.

Here is the coverage on mlb.indians.com.

Go Tribe!

The Maunsell Sea Forts were constructed In the Thames estuary in early WWII to protect the Southeastern coast of England from Luftwaffe raids. They were named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The technology was later used in the construction of offshore oil rigs. The forts were armored anti-aircraft gun platforms anchored to the sea bed. The forts were decommissioned in 1957, and in the mid 60’s, became home to a series of pirate radio stations until those were outlawed by England in 1967. One of the sites, Rough’s Tower, has been occupied since 1964 and is know as the “Principality of Sealand” which claims independent nation rights as it is located in international waters, although this is unrecognized. 

For more information, look here on Wikipedia. There is a current effort to restore the forts. See Project Redsand for more information.

Congrats to my sister-in-law turned dress designer Lisa Balconi and her partner Cherie Henn for getting an appearance on the NBC Today Show with Kathie Lee Gifford on August 2nd! That’s Lisa on the right in the little black dress, her latest creation. Those aren’t available yet but will be soon. Also in the picture from the left are Cherie’s daughter/model Lauren, Lisa’s partner Cherie and Kathie Lee all looking gorgeous in Lisa’s dresses. And hey, that’s Regis Philbin next to Lisa modeling the shorties! Congratulations ladies! Hope you’re ready for the wild ride you may be on now!

I also helped Lisa out a little with the art for her logo.

Here’s a link to their website:

http://www.tee2seagolf.com/

Don Trump, Jr. last night before his speech while he was viewing the commotion as Alaska protested the way their votes had been counted and demanded a recount.

“So this is how the sausage is made.”

Here’s another wheat free and gluten free recipe that’s pretty darn good! Not low carb though!

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2016-07-20 08:33:42

Yields 24

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Prep Time

5 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

5 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

1. 1 cup creamy peanut butter
2. 3/4 cup sugar
3. 1 large egg
4. 1/2 tsp baking soda
5. 1/4 tsp salt
6. 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
3. in a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda and salt
4. Stir in chocolate chips
5. Form dough into golfball shaped balls and place 2" apart on prepared baking sheet
6. Bake 18 to 20 minutes until cookies are puffed and lightly browned
7. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes
8. Transfer to wire rack to cool

Notes

1. This is an easy recipe. Our oven runs hot so had to reduce baking time to avoid burning.

Adapted from Southern Living

Adapted from Southern Living

John Haskins Graphic Design http://haskinsdesign.com/