THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS:

I ran across a Web Site, mother-talk, whilst surfing the blogasphere tonight, that was touting this book:The Dangerous Book for Boys, and I found it to be quite interesting and amusing, as it caused me to reminisce about my own childhood and that of my Son’s.

The book outlines many building and adventure projects for a father and son to do together. It includes building a Soap Box Racer from rummaged parts, a Bow and Arrows from tree limbs and branches and twine, and several other activities.

The postings on mother-talk are all ecstatic about the bonding and camaraderie of their husbands and sons playing together. There is also a Trailer for the book on YouTube.

As a child and again as a father I remember doing all these activities as a natural occurrence. We had no commercial outlet for our toys or recreation. We used our imagination and the natural material and skill resources we had at hand to develop games, activities, and toys to play with.

I remember one Saturday afternoon, when I was about twenty seven years old, after spending the early afternoon playing with my son and a half a dozen neighborhood kids, a young boy of about eleven or twelve years old came to our door and knocked; my wife answered, the boy asks her if Philip could come out and play! I guess a kid, to a kid, is a kid, no matter his age.

I’m all for this book, and I think it should be purchased and used as a guide to get fathers and sons together to share discovery, fun, and develop the youngster’s imagination and hand crafting skills.

It just seems a shame though, that the inspiration has to come artificially, from a book, rather than naturally, from ones own imagination.

GREAT CONVERSATIONS III

Well, we finished reading in The Civically Engaged Reader and are now reading the first selection from Great Conversations III: Chaucer’s, The Pardoner’s Tale!

We did most, but not all, the selections from TCER as everyone was anxious to get back into GC III.

Great Conversations III consists of fifteen short selections plus two full length selections, Machiavelli’s The Prince and Bronte’s Jane Eyre, at the end.

I’ll post the highlights of any spirited conversations if/as they occur.

Great Conversations is part of the Great Books Foundation.

Great Conversations is a text based Socratic Method of learning.

THANK YOU!

ALL YOU BRAVE VETRANS WHO HAVE GIVEN YOUR BLOOD AND LIVES FOR OUR GREAT COUNTRY AND WAY OF LIFE; WITHOUT YOUR SACRIFICES WE WOULD NOT BE ENJOYING THE LIFE WE HAVE.

WE AMERICANS ARE FORTUNATE TO KNOW AND ENJOY THE TRUE FEELING OF FREEDOM, THE SECURITY OF RULE OF LAW THAT IS FUNCTIONALLY SOUND, THE SECURITY OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP WITHOUT FEAR OF LOSS, STABILITY OF OUR ECONOMY AND SOCIETY AND CULTURE, THE SENSE OF BEING AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY.

WE ARE FORTUNATE NOT BECAUSE OF LUCK, TREACHERY, OR GREED; BUT BECAUSE WE ARE HONEST, INDUSTRIOUS, GENEROUS, KIND, AND PROUD OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. WE KNOW THE VALUE OF THESE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND HOLD THEM DEAR TO OUR HEARTS.

WE ARE MOST FORTUNATE BECAUSE WE ARE WILLING AND CAPABLE OF DEFENDING OUR COUNTRY AND SOCIETY; THIS HAS BEEN TRUE OF THE PAST, IS TRUE OF THE PRESENT, AND WILL BE TRUE OF THE FUTURE.

LET US NOT FORGET OUR HERITAGE, OUR CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD A FREE WORLD, OUR SCARIFICES IN BLOOD AND TOIL, AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE REST OF THE WORLD TO HELP THE NEEDY AND OPRESSED.

THANK YOU AGAIN VETRANS OF YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW!

PHILIP R CARR: A PROUD U.S. CITIZEN

RAMBO IV

With a couple of months of HALF LIFE online fraging under my belt and my adrenalin and testosterone levels peaking at maximum, I can’t wait for the release of Sylvester Stallone’s next installment of RAMBO IV on May 25th.

If the trailer is any indication of the action (violence) then it will be a real ass kicker! In the three and one half minute trailer Rambo rips out one mans throat, guns another to pulp with a .50 Cal MG, decapitates another, and disemboweling yet another! I just hope they didn’t use up all their material in the trailer.

A SAD DAY

On Monday, May 20, 2007 fire severely damaged the famous Clipper Ship, Cutty Sark, at her mooring, on the Thames, in London.

Pictures: Top, Cutty Sark

Bottom, Thermopylae

She was the epitome of the great age of sail, in the 19th Century. Along with her archrival, Thermopylae, they plied the oceans to bring tea from China to Great Britain.

Cuty Sark’s fasted run from China to Great Britain was 90 days for the 15,000 miles. That run calculates to 7.0 mph, average speed. These Clipper Ships often had 1000 mi runs at 11.5 mph.

As a reference, the modern speed record for a long distance sailing ship is: 20.6 mph!

Cutty Sark was under restoration at the time of the fire. Preliminary estimates of the fire damage indicate that she was not damaged so severely that the restoration cannot continue.

Good luck gallant lady, here’s hoping that you survive yet another century.

MOTHER NATURE’S WONDERS

Nancy and I birded Miller Island Wild Life Refuge this afternoon and spotted another great find!

Within a quarter mile stretch we spotted first a pair of Sandies approximately 75 yards out, off the road.

Whilst trying to get a better view of this pair we moved about 20 more yards down the road and found another pair just 10 yards from our car!

Scanning further out into the field we spotted a threesome about 150 yards out.

After about ten minutes of ogling these 7 birds we moved on down the road another 100 yards and discovered another pair with two chicks!

Finishing our loop through the refuge we spotted Red Wing Black Birds, Cow Birds, Yellow Headed Black Birds, Black Necked Stilts, Kill Deer, White Pelicans, Male Harrier, Kestrel, and Canada Geese with half grown chicks.

All in all a great hour of birding!

Surfing through some of my favorite BLOG sites the other day I came across this link: LILEKS!

After bragging to some of my fellow reading group members about my find of the century: LILEKS, they inform me that he has been around for years, and is one of the most popular BLOGS there is; where have I been?

Anyway: if you are like I was and haven’t yet visited LILEKS I highly recommend it. It will be most interesting, and entertaining, to those of my generation; or the weirder segment of the Baby Boomers. One feature I found most interesting is the Podcast: “The Diner”. “The Bleat” and “The Quirk are his daily, bread and butter, features.

BEAUTIFUL SUNSET TONIGHT

Here are two pictures of a beautiful full Rainbow, taken today here in the Klamath Basin at sunset.