22 September 2013
A Quiet Week
22/09/13 12:08
I discovered something. I discovered that when you are hanging around the house,”convalescing” not a lot happens. When the biggest question of the day is if you’ll nap in the morning or afternoon, or both, there’s not a lot to talk about. I’ve been recovering well. My doctor took a look at the incisions on Wednesday and said there was no sign of post operative infection or any other issue. I’m getting stronger each day. My stamina is improving and as long as I don’t get overconfident and try something stupid I should continue to get better. The general rule is if it hurts, don’t do that.
This has given me time to notice things. Those of you that know me well know that nothing good ever came from me having time to notice things. What sort of things, you ask? Well for example our local movie channel apparently sells advertising by the show not the film. You pay to run your commercial during The Noon Movie, or The Classic Film, or Svenghoolie’s Creature Feature but it’s up to the channel to decide what film to run. I noticed this on Thursday when The 4:00 Movie was Moby Dick, and it was sponsored by Greenpeace.
I couldn’t stop laughing about this long enough to watch the film.
And then there was the report on the BBC World Service about the Northern Snakehead, a nasty, aggressive, invasive fish that has taken root in Maryland and elsewhere. There was even a report of one in Vancouver. The story was about a group of fishermen and restauranteurs that are trying to make Snakehead a delicacy. The idea being to wipe them out by eating them faster than they can reproduce. It’s not a bad idea, people have been doing that with all sorts of things for centuries. Unfortunately, they’re having trouble getting people to eat something called ‘Snakehead’. It needs a different name. Now there is precedent for this. One report is that the fish we call ‘tuna’ was at one time known as Horse Mackerel. The name was changed to make it more marketable. Similarly the Snakehead needs a more marketable name. I’d suggest Asian Green Fish. For one thing in the wild the Snakehead is quite green. It would also tie in with the eco benefits. Each one of these fish that’s eaten is one less in the wild, where they shouldn’t be, which is good for the environment.
Lastly imagine the marketing potential of a brunch special: Green Fish and Ham.
I had another idea this week. This goes back to a bit of reading I was doing on the Civil War. One of the mysteries of the Civil War is the Rebel Yell. They talk about it at the time ,but as there was no recording equipment back then nobody really knows what it sounded like. Most of the speculation has been that it was some variation on the ‘Yeee Hawww!’ cowboy yell but that’s just a guess. They don’t actually have any idea.
I had a different thought. Suppose the Rebel Yell was actually really stupid sounding. Imagine Stonewall Jackson telling his men “All right boys, let’s let ‘em know we’re here”, at which point 50,000 grey clad Confederate soldiers all sound off with Curley Stooge’s “Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk”. That would be impressive. It would also be effective as the opposing force would have to stop laughing before they could fight back, giving the Confederates an advantage. But then, on a rainy day at Appomattox, all of the southern soldiers agreed “Well, THAT didn’t work. Let’s never make that sound again”, which is why nobody today actually knows what the rebel yell was. It also explains why the Stooges were more popular in the North than the South. This chain of thought has led me to realize one other thing as well.
I need to start getting out of the house more.
So besides Doug's craziness, he is doing quite well. On Monday we go back and see the surgeon to get the results of the path report. Will update folks on the results once we know more. Thanks for everyone's emails, calls, SKYPE, thoughts and prayers. They are very much appreciated. We feel very lucky having such wonderful friends and family. (Marsh)
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Momili knows she's not supposed to be on the planetarium couch. We found her like this. TECHNICALLY she's not on the couch.
Living on the coast is so interesting sometimes. Saturday morning we had thick fog, but only between us and the ocean. On the inland side of the house it was a sunny day.
This has given me time to notice things. Those of you that know me well know that nothing good ever came from me having time to notice things. What sort of things, you ask? Well for example our local movie channel apparently sells advertising by the show not the film. You pay to run your commercial during The Noon Movie, or The Classic Film, or Svenghoolie’s Creature Feature but it’s up to the channel to decide what film to run. I noticed this on Thursday when The 4:00 Movie was Moby Dick, and it was sponsored by Greenpeace.
I couldn’t stop laughing about this long enough to watch the film.
And then there was the report on the BBC World Service about the Northern Snakehead, a nasty, aggressive, invasive fish that has taken root in Maryland and elsewhere. There was even a report of one in Vancouver. The story was about a group of fishermen and restauranteurs that are trying to make Snakehead a delicacy. The idea being to wipe them out by eating them faster than they can reproduce. It’s not a bad idea, people have been doing that with all sorts of things for centuries. Unfortunately, they’re having trouble getting people to eat something called ‘Snakehead’. It needs a different name. Now there is precedent for this. One report is that the fish we call ‘tuna’ was at one time known as Horse Mackerel. The name was changed to make it more marketable. Similarly the Snakehead needs a more marketable name. I’d suggest Asian Green Fish. For one thing in the wild the Snakehead is quite green. It would also tie in with the eco benefits. Each one of these fish that’s eaten is one less in the wild, where they shouldn’t be, which is good for the environment.
Lastly imagine the marketing potential of a brunch special: Green Fish and Ham.
I had another idea this week. This goes back to a bit of reading I was doing on the Civil War. One of the mysteries of the Civil War is the Rebel Yell. They talk about it at the time ,but as there was no recording equipment back then nobody really knows what it sounded like. Most of the speculation has been that it was some variation on the ‘Yeee Hawww!’ cowboy yell but that’s just a guess. They don’t actually have any idea.
I had a different thought. Suppose the Rebel Yell was actually really stupid sounding. Imagine Stonewall Jackson telling his men “All right boys, let’s let ‘em know we’re here”, at which point 50,000 grey clad Confederate soldiers all sound off with Curley Stooge’s “Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk”. That would be impressive. It would also be effective as the opposing force would have to stop laughing before they could fight back, giving the Confederates an advantage. But then, on a rainy day at Appomattox, all of the southern soldiers agreed “Well, THAT didn’t work. Let’s never make that sound again”, which is why nobody today actually knows what the rebel yell was. It also explains why the Stooges were more popular in the North than the South. This chain of thought has led me to realize one other thing as well.
I need to start getting out of the house more.
So besides Doug's craziness, he is doing quite well. On Monday we go back and see the surgeon to get the results of the path report. Will update folks on the results once we know more. Thanks for everyone's emails, calls, SKYPE, thoughts and prayers. They are very much appreciated. We feel very lucky having such wonderful friends and family. (Marsh)
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Momili knows she's not supposed to be on the planetarium couch. We found her like this. TECHNICALLY she's not on the couch.
Living on the coast is so interesting sometimes. Saturday morning we had thick fog, but only between us and the ocean. On the inland side of the house it was a sunny day.