AARP reports that Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer, got mad at scammers and thieves. Scammers often target seniors. Now he is getting even in creative ways. For example, “The smash-and-grab thieves who are breaking car windows and stealing from the vehicles. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s really bad. I’ll be working potentially with some law enforcement. There will be a very uncharitable amount of fart spray involved.”
Game on!
– Jet Cannon
May 18, 1980. With the power of a nuclear explosion, Mt. St. Helens erupted.
Tragically, fifty-seven people were killed; 200 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. Furthermore, per Wikipedia, geologists predict that future eruptions will be more destructive, since the configuration of the lava domes there require more pressure to erupt. Despite this, Mount St Helens is a popular hiking spot, and it is climbed year-round.
We, on the other hand, commemorate this historic event with a pint glass from North Drinkware.
Says North Drinkware, The Mount St. Helens Pint is our handblown, 16 oz pint glass with USGS data of Mount St. Helens molded into the base of the glass. The details of this iconic erupted 8,366 ft peak come to life with your favorite drink in the glass.
Made in Portland, Oregon our glasses are lead-free and dishwasher safe. All glasses are handmade one-of-a-kind products that may have slight variation. Our commitment is to donate 1% of the sales of each glass to these select non-profits that are working to protect the mountains or improve the community surrounding each mountain featured in our glasses.
– Jet Cannon
Ford announced that their F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck is rated at up to 580 horsepower with the larger, optional battery. 580. That means an estimated 0 – 60 time of 4.5 seconds. That’s quick. In a truck. That looks like a truck (not like Tesla’s CyberTruck). And that explains the long waiting list to get one.
An article in New York magazine’s Grub Street by Emily Sundberg observed that twenty-somethings are suddenly on to martinis. At least in New York. She suggests a number of theories to explain the new trend. We just think, well, where have you been?
We loved this paragraph:
“Martinis are also a move away from the whole natural-wine bonanza of a few years ago, a drink that offered some kind of higher moral imperative of being closer to the land and less processed or whatever. Martinis offer no such sanctimoniousness: “They’re not good for you, they’re just good,” posits chef and entrepreneur Jonah Reider. “A martini is judged on the execution: so impossibly ice cold it’s surprising its not solid, one elegant garnish, dangerously filled to the top of the most inconvenient un-ergonomic glass shape of all time — and preferably with leftover martini sitting in a spillover cup sitting on ice.””
Twenty-somethings…. welcome!
– Jet Cannon
Adding to the human suffering, the Russians destroyed the world’s largest aircraft as part of their assault on Ukraine. The Antonov An-225 Mriya was a huge marvel and now it’s gone.
When the United States wants to remind not-so-friendly neighbors not to be messin’, we’ll have “boomers” like the USS Nevada pop up from the depths and create a little Buzz. This one surfaced in Guam.
Packing a serious nuclear warhead punch, subs like these are usually hiding out deep in one of the oceans as a deterrent to attack on the US or our allies. Each sub carries 24 missiles, each with multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads…. possibly eight or more. Luckily, in the 6o or so years subs like these have been patrolling the depths, we haven’t had to use them. Thank you for your service!
AARP Magazine has a nice article on the best places to live post-pandemic. Our town did not make the list.
Their criteria:
Their cities:
What does this have to do with catching a mellow Buzz? Nothing. But nice places to live are mellow and you can always add the Buzz later.
Paralympians compete in their 50’s and sometimes, in past Games, into their 70’s. Among the 240-member Team USA per AARP, the incredibly impressive over-50 Paralympians include archers Lia Coryell (56) and Andre Shelby (52); cyclists Alicia Dana (52), Freddie De Los Santos (51), Aaron Keith (50), Monica Sereda (54), Jill Walsh (58) and Joe Berenyi (52); rower Russell Gernaat (55); table tennis player Michael Godfrey (57); shot put thrower Scot Severn (53); and wheelchair fencer Terry Hayes (63).
Go USA!
To the Baby Boomer Purple Heart recipients and families and all the estimated 1.9 million soldiers awarded this medal….. thank you.
There are approximately 70 million Baby Boomers living in the United States right now. 70 million!! And some interesting things are emerging.
Now, none of the above is backed up by any facts or data. But does it matter? It feels good! It feels right! It must be true!
– Jet Cannon
Jagger Eaton’s bronze medal in the street skateboarding event at the Tokyo Olympics inspired us to take up skateboarding again; learn new tricks, slide down steep rails, and do spin moves over concrete stairs. What a great way to stay in shape! Gym is closed. Weather is good. Enjoy the outdoors. Perfect for Baby Boomers. All except for the skateboard part.
More appropriate for Boomers is walking or biking. If there’s a park nearby, throw in some bench push-ups and rail pull-ups (beware of skateboarders sliding down the rail). Stairs? Take a few careful trips up and down. Access to a pool? Swimming engages the whole body and is low-impact. Access to a body of water? Kayaking or canoeing works the upper body.
Fitness for Baby Boomers is perhaps more important than it is for the younger set. That said, we need to select sports that make sense. Save the BMX biking and skateboarding for those whose bones mend quickly.
Olympic couch-surfing is great for inspiration but remember to get out there and stay fit!
– Jet Cannon
Photo courtesy of Arizonasports.com
That’s not true. No word on a Spinal Tap tour. But according to ultimateclassicrock.com, many bands are restless after Covid Cabin Fever. Acts you may remember include the Stones, Alice Cooper, Def Leppard, Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, Motley Crue/Poison/Joan Jett, Chicago/Rick Springfield, Rod Stewart, Journey, Foreigner, Metallica, Cheap Trick, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, Green Day/Fall Out Boy/Weezer, Elton, Guns N. Roses (with Slash and Duff), Kiss, Ozzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ringo (with Steve Lukather and Gregg Rolie), Aerosmith, Black Crowes, Styx, Sammy Hagar/Whitesnake/Night Ranger, Grand Funk, ZZ Top and The Who to name a few. Check the InterWeb for dates near you.
– Jet Cannon
Okay Baby Boomers. If you only indulge in cannabis once a year, this is your day!! Allegedly started by some highs school-age Boomers in San Rafael around 1971, 420 was code for smoking at their usual 4:20 PM time. Or something like that. Nowdays there’s a celebration on “Hippie Hill” in Golden Gate Park.
If cannabis is not your thing, then raise a toast to you fellow Boomers to show that you’re really hip.
-Jet Cannon
Do I like vodka? Not really. But not not really either. C’mon, it’s vodka!! It’s stealthy, I’ll admit that. My personal lasting early impression of the stuff – aside from waking up bleary, a ~16 yo, next to a seagull pecking at trash near my high school face, the morning after an ill-advised alcoholic score – is of the girl with the really reeeally long hair in 11th grade with her huge macrame purse that ‘concealed’ her bottle. Vodka is, and ever has been to my mind, just like that…clear and pure and clean. The perfect liquor, which is to say, the most serviceable but also the most dismissible. Doesn’t smell like anything. Nobody ever said, ‘you stink like a vodka factory’. It should taste like…ethylic alcoholic water… nothing!! It should taste like nothing. Only it so f’s you up. No notes is good notes!!! I’ll have me some gin please! But I digress.
Au nyet. Madison Avenue (is there still a Madison Avenue??!?) disagrees strongly. So did the Europe Union, recently quibbling over what vodka ‘is’, which led to the Schnellhardt Compromise. Something about alcohol content or the kind of potatoes or whatever, but a compromise. I guess that’s good, we certainly don’t want any more unpleasantness among the Eastern Euro people.
But come the mother f__ on!! It’s vodka, Fricken vodka!! The less taste the better, everybody knows that!! It’s neutral. And yet (see pics), my local BevMo has many many many many ‘varieties’ of The Vodka. Some of them behind glass, lock and key. Call an associate for that $weet $tuff!
It’s like water. Wahh..ter. Where I grew up – Maryland – Wuoouh-der. Let’s face it, the best water tastes like…absolut nothing. Nothing at all. But again, the ad men would disagree. There IS a difference…you can TASTE the difference. Your mouth can FEEL the difference. Just tryyyy it!
I really can’t/won’t. Vodka gets you buzzed, and the cops can’t smell it. Good water is nice like air; you don’t need to think about it. Good water tastes like nothing at all. And good vodka tastes like the 11th grade.
