Veeeeeeery interesting

This is pretty interesting:  It seems that a papayrus fragment (early writing paper) that was discovered in 2012 and has become known as "The Gospel of Jesus's Wife" is likely real and not a modern day forgery.  

Researchers at Colombia, Harvard, and MIT (and The National Enquirer?) did their fancy-pants analysis and said it was almost certainly part of an ancient manuscript that wasn't edited or tampered with.  

The papyrus, ink, etc was all genuinely ancient and not a modern reproduction.  On it is supposedly written, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife....'." and goes on to say, "She will be able to be my disciple...".

I'm sure women's groups are ecstatic, reminding everyone of the old saying, "Behind every good man is a good woman" and saying this should open the door for women to become priests.

And atheists are probably stirring the pot, too, suggesting that Jesus might have just been a guy looking for an excuse to get away from the Mrs, the in-laws, taking out the trash, etc.

I'm thinking this will eventually just go into that "unsolved" file along with the Shroud of Turin and that supposedly divine piece of toast that looked like Jesus.

I doubt it will change many minds.  Carry on.  :)

S

Lemme see....tab A goes into slot B....then fold and....

Progress report:  Here is the current status of the major addition to the already large home we built for for M/M W two years ago.  They've developed a bad case of the "while you're at it" syndrome, adding even more on the fly.  Now the home will have a combined total of over 10,000 sq ft.

They're like rich kids turned loose with daddy's credit card.  Now they've discovered the large unused space just below the roof, aka the attic, would be a good place for another media room.  Yes, I said another.  

 

They sent me this email attachment yesterday saying this was the look they wanted to replicate, including the LED star field in the ceiling.  My response:  "Sure.  Make the check payable to...."

It will be quite the estate, I must admit.  And today it begs my attention.  Gotta go.  Have a great day everyone.  :)

S

Is ANYONE looking out for us?

This doesn't pass my smell test:  I just saw a piece on the news about the skyrocketing cost of generic drugs.  Remember how we used to jump at the chance to buy a quality generic drug instead of the high-priced name brands?  Those days are apparently fading fast.

Once the manufacturer's protected patent period (20 years?) expired, then the formula was open for other drug makers who could make and sell the same thing for a fraction as much.  (The protected period was meant to give the original maker the opportunity to recover their R&D costs.)  As long as you bought from a legitimate pharmacy and stayed away from the dubious mail order stuff made in Bangladesh or somewhere similar, it was a great deal for consumers. 

Now I hear that the price of generics is skyrocketing.  One pharmacist interviewed gave as an example one antibiotic that she said she has been buying for years for $40-$50 for a bottle of 500 that now costs her $2,195.  That's more than DOUBLE TRIPLE too damn much!

I have no idea what's going on, but I smell a rat.  Are there no honest businesses left who can deliver a good product / perform a good service at a FAIR price?  Is Screwing The Public the new hot major at university business schools? 

S

Another difference between men and women

Another of my life's observations:  If the label declares it to be "healthy", women will buy it, regardless of how nasty it tastes, while men, apparently, would rather die than put it to their lips.

Case in point:  "Very Green Juice Smoothie".

I happened to be home yesterday when K came home for lunch.  We each fixed ourselves something to eat. ME:  a salami and cheese sandwich on sourdough bread, some barbecue potato chips, and some sweet tea.  K:  some of this ^ stuff and some "cranberry almond grain medley with barley, wheatberries, wild rice, and quinoa."  *quin....what?*

 

I'm sure my dad would have said, "It looks like its already been eaten once."

She tried to hide it, but I saw her take a little bite of the stuff that's usually found in a feed bag, then take a little sip of the green stuff, then make a face like she'd just licked a car tire. 

I don't think many men would put themselves through that.  We're apparently less scared of dying than we are of eating cranberries with almonds, barley, wheatberries, wild rice, and quinoa.  

Especially after I looked up quinoa and found this:

Quinoa (/ˈkiːnwɑː/ or /kɨˈnoʊ.ə/, Spanish: quinua, from Quechua: kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, as it is not a member of the true grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beetroots, spinach and tumbleweeds.

Goosefoot?  Tumbleweeds? 

So, how bad do YOU want to live?

S

EDIT:  Now she's just being gross.  K just left for work with her "breakfast": 

Some purple stuff mixed with her green stuff to make mud colored stuff, blaspheming my Texas Tech tumbler in the process.  :(

"Always get married in the morning."

"Always get married in the morning.  That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted the whole day."

Ha!  That from the recently departed Mickey Rooney, who was married 8 times during his 93-year life.  Of course I know who he was, but I was never a big fan.  The childhood actor's heyday was long before I was born, and in his later years he was a successful Broadway actor, a medium I never much cared for.  Still, based on his wit, I think I like him.  :)  RIP Mickey.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something a bit more thought provoking:  I saw one of those "The seven most..." lists on the internet, so of course I had to read it.  (I'm a real sucker for those.)  This one was about the seven wealthiest present or former NFL players, and includes names like Joe Montana, John Elway, and Brett Favre.  Number one was Roger Staubach, worth $600M.

Roger was / is a very stand up guy, a former Naval Academy scholar-athlete who played for the Dallas Cowboys back in the 1970's.  But his money didn't come so much from football, but from real estate.  While he was still playing he worked in the off-season learning the commercial real estate business.  

After he retired from football he started his own company, hired some sharp people, and thrived.  A few years ago he sold his business for $640M, and now I learned that at that time he only owned 12% of his company.  Over the years he had given the other 88% equity interest to his employees.  

It just goes to show that you can be a good guy, reward and acknowledge those around you, and still get rich yourself.  It's such a nice contrast from those who want to pay their employees coins while they're raking off mega-millions of dollars for themselves.

Which leads to this segue:  I don't understand greed.  I know it's one of the seven deadly sins and all that, but I don't get it.  Why do some people go to the lengths they do to acquire as much as they do?

I mean, I love smoked sausage.  We had some for dinner last night.  If I was more affluent I'd have a freezer with a dozen rings of sausage in it.  And if I somehow hit the financial mother lode, I'd have a thousand rings of sausage.  And if I won the lottery, I'd own 10,000,000 rings of sausage. 

Wait....what?  Why would I do that?  It would be more than I could ever eat in 10 lifetimes.  What's the point?  Why do some people stiff others just so they can put another billion dollars in the bank, along with the other billions they already have?  Does the concept of "doing good" ever cross their mind?  With a few exceptions, I'm thinking not.  

I certainly believe in enjoying the fruits of your labor, but at some point it just gets ridiculous.  I don't understand greed.

S

Cars and Coffee, April 2014

A cool, cloudy early morning didn't deter the few thousand Cars and Coffee fans who came out to see interesting cars.  My friend Neil and I met there around 7:30 and were pleased with the offerings this month.

The first car I stumbled across as I entered was this Austin Healey 3000. 

It's a good thing K doesn't let me take my checkbook to C&C, never mind that my mad money account wouldn't buy even one of the wire wheels on this beauty.  (I could have a helluva nice head start before the check bounced, though.)

The Brits were well represented today by some other fine examples, too, like this MGB GT V8....

....and it's topless cousin, this MGB roadster.

But I've saved the best from Morris Garages 'till last, this 1961 MGA.

Listen up Joe H:  Rob the grandkid's piggy bank, mortgage the house, sell a kidney, whatever you have to do....the original (and still current) owner, a retired TWA pilot, is downsizing his lifestyle and is willing to part with this prized toy.

For a more-than-fair price of $26K you can relive your yout and once again own a MGA.  Wow, was this car nice!

On to something(s) German:  I still like this Z3M Coupe.  It was shunned by buyers originally, but I think its odd shape is interestingly quirky. 

Eat your heart out Winnebago.  THIS is Bohemian RV-ing at its finest!

 It also sported my co-favorite sign of the day.  :)

A couple of other, slightly hotter VW's caught my eye today too, like this R model (V6, AWD)....

....and this GTI.  (The Gen-7 model will be here in the States soon.)

How 'bout some new American muscle?  This is the new Dodge Viper, which sported the finest rear end I saw today.  (Or at least the finest that I'll admit to ;)  I wonder if Italian coachbuilder Zagato knows Dodge has pinched their famous "double bubble" roof design?

And in fairness, some old American muscle, too:  This really nice Plymouth Barracuda.  (Remember the Barracuda?  Remember Plymouth?)

Lots of Jeeps there today, too.  None, though, were any nicer than this classic Willys Jeep pickup.

It was wearing my other co-favorite sign of the day.  Beautiful rifle in the gun rack, too.  (Hey, this IS Texas :)

 Screw Mustangs!

THIS is the Ford I want!

 Here's some trivia for you:  This is a '50's vintage Goggomobil.

 It was built in Bavaria after WWII, I'm guessing to satisfy an urgent need by circus clowns to have a tiny car to climb out of.

 

In a more serious vein, this is a very rare Nash Healey, and a spectacular example it is, too!  It's the first one I've ever seen in the flesh.

 

This was an odd duck of a car, a collaboration between the American Nash-Kelvinator Co. and England's Donald Healey Motors (who later built my fave, the Austin Healey).

It was a Nash Healey that was driven by Clark Kent in several episodes of TV's The Adventures of Superman (when he wasn't wearing his leotards and leaping over tall buildings in a single bound).

I'll close out this month's C&C review with this cute little '50's vintage BMW Isetta 300 that the owner has nicknamed "Snail".

As it drove off you could almost hear everyone say in unison,

 "Look at that S-CAR-GO!"  :)

Hope you enjoyed Cars and Coffee, April 2014.

S

Some interesting skies, and the ultimate tailgating experience...

Spring is my second favorite season (following closely behind Autumn) mainly because I love the springtime thunderstorms that regularly roll in from the west.  I love to sit outside and watch them march steadily towards me, then at the last minute duck back inside.  Last night we had some nice boomers.  Unfortunately there was some damage farther north and east.

I just saw on the national news this same scene, taken from the ballpark a couple of blocks south of me.  Ominous looking, but it caused no damage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It seems a couple of my Texas Tech bros (actually one is a sis) are re-purposing old shipping containers to offer the ultimate tailgating experience:

That's how you do it.  Texas Tech engineering at its finest!

Happy weekend everyone.  :)

S