I’d never quite figgered out how to add a “contact us” clicky thingy to the home page of Tacky Raccoons. It really wasn’t at the top of my list of time wasting experiments, and I’d completely forgotten about it until Finnicky Penguin emailed me the Key to the WordPress Chamber of Secrets (more commonly known as the WordPress FAQ forum). Talk about new and improved, cutting edge, wave of the future, now more than ever, state of the art advanced tublication.
In other words, we’re at the dawn of a new era, and it’s all for our children and grandchildren for they are our future. It’s all gravy from here on in, and we’re all in it together.
By adding this simple contact tool to your favorite website, we are proactively reducing YOUR carbon footprint and saving the environment. “But how is that even remotely possible, Bunk?” you axe. It’s actually very simple.
Every keystroke takes energy that every reader of TR must replenish with fuel consumption, like eating Cheetos while typing.
Each additional unnecessary keystroke it takes to contact us also consumes the electricity that powers your keyboard, mouse, monitor/screen, PC and laptop. Fewer keystrokes lead to energy savings. Click on the “Write Bunk” thingy at the upper right hand side of the page. One click. That results in a gross energy consumption reduction of 2,200%, not counting the Cheetos. Very impressive.
The climate is already cooling as we speak… because it’s night. Also, fewer people are clicking fewer keys to contact me. At night.
It’s your choice, so do your part. Click once. Leave a comment and save the planet, or live with your decision and die. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for all the little bastards of the future.
Your Pal, Bunk
P.S. Diesel’s Basic Tenets of Economics and Capitalism is a must read, especially for you folks whose garage is infested with teenagers, or if you are a teenager yourself. It’s very concise, and it’s very very true.
Bluegrass has its roots in northern Britain according to my ear. The chord patterns of early country music from Appalachia follow those of Scottish and Irish reels. In the immigration wave of the early 1800’s, the Scottish and Irish tended to venture southward, away from the constrictions of the north, to where they could work their own land. No wonder that early southern recordings sound similar to those of Ireland and Scotland.
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys popularized it and gave the style it’s moniker: Bluegrass. This song (video from 1956) is a tribute to Pendleton Vandiver, Monroe’s uncle. Monroe joined his uncle Pen’s band as a kid; his sound dates back to the turn of the century.
The Dillards were the Darlings clan on the Andy Griffith show. The Dillards decided that L.A. had more to offer than the Missouri Ozarks, and advertised themselves on the streets in the early 1960’s.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were influenced by the Dillards, and took Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. BoJangles” for a ride.
What I was really looking for when all this linkyness began was New Grass Revival‘s version of “Steam Powered Aeroplane,” one of the prettiest bluegrass songs I ever heard:
"Well I went away on a Steam Powered Aeroplane.
Well I went and I stayed and damn near didn't come back again.
Didn't go very fast on a steam powered aeroplane,
The wheels went around, up and down, and inside and then back again.Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine, if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane.Well I'd could be PILOT on the Steam Powered Aeroplane.
I'd pull that pilot wheel 'round, then back again.
And I'd wear a blue hat, YEAH, on the Steam Powered Aeroplane,
With letters go 'round the brim and then back again.
Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine or if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane."
Here’s the songwriter, John Hartford, with Tony Rice, Vassar Clements and others. (Yeah, his vocals don’t do justice for the song.)
Great pre-sunrise morning roadtrip music, just like Pat Metheny’s “New Chataqua Highway,” or anything by Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grappelli.
[Bunk’s compiling his roadtrip list for next month. Lemme know your favorites.]
Individually, these .gif’s are kinda bland, but patch ’em together and they’re kinda cool. Scrolling your mouse wheel up and down like you just did doesn’t faze ’em either. Too hot to handle and too cold to hold.
[Standing orders: If anyone recobanizes these and knows the original source we’ll give proper credit here.]
I think it’s just a blind groupmoon. Notice that the floor mat happy face looks kinda puzzled in a slightly disturbed pensive kinda way.
Gravity is not a constant when objects of large mass interact. Sumomass in foreground floats erratically in the presence of a more massive opponent as Captain Pickard watches from ringside.
There’s something just not right with gaijin sumo wrestlers.
[First image from here via here; 2nd from here; Flabby Road image here.]
I really need one of these for when pens become obsolete. The complex shapes you can create while leading on and convincing telemarketers that you’re REALLY interested in their product/service/investment scams almost rival my own analog version.
Reminds me of The Stress Calendar. It was an 18″x 24″ blotter type pad that sat on top of a file cabinet adjacent to one of the office telephones. The boss didn’t believe in letting underlings have telephones at our desks so we had to go to the one next to The Stress Calendar. Very efficient.
Here’s a sample:
[Doodle Keyboard images from here. The Stress Calendar doodles from Bunk’s Garage.]
Tacky Raccoons 