Jack Manassas and Company

1 August 2016  – The Bell Ringers Last night, we had another visit from the bell ringers.  These are two young men that have been making the rounds of the neighborhood, ringing doorbells late at night.  On 7/31, they rang the doorbell once at 10:15 PM.  I saw them running down the street about 15 minutes later.  They returned and rang our doorbell again several times at 0:45 in the morning. I suspected they would be back again tonight.  So by secret means known only to the Boy Scouts, I managed to surprise them as they were sneaking up to the front door to ring it again, at 10:11 tonight. Because I happened to have my camera with me, I took several pictures of them as they ran away, and continued to take pictures of one of them as we ran down the street. “What the hell?” he said as I continued to take pictures of him. “What the hell?  What the HELL?” I yelled at him as he ran up the hill.  “What the hell are you doing, ringing doorbells ...

October 25, 2015, Sunday After breakfast, we crossed to Pacific time and readjusted our clocks. We stopped in Wallace Idaho, site of the Big Burn, a huge wildfire that consumed millions of acres of forest land in Idaho, in 1910. We ate at the Silver Grill and Bar, then went across the street to Tabor's Emporium. This is a gigantic consignment shop. Apparently, when old people die in town, their relatives clear everything out of the house and put them on sale at Tabor's Emporium. For $26.45, we found and bought what appears to be an actual Toltec mask. This is a ceramic mask with the Toltec helmet and one cheek puffed out as if chewing coca leaves, and a lizard on the forehead. Someone clumsily drilled a couple of holes on either side of the mask and threaded wire through them so that it could be hung on a wall. The mask contains no maker's mark. It has what appears to be very old dirt in the nose holes. As soon as we can, we will have the mask assess...

How to Remove an embarrassing image from Google Suppose you do something stupid, like getting an embarrassing picture taken of yourself at a party. Suppose that the picture gets posted to a website, and that it comes up at the top of the images page when your name is googled on google images-- How do you get rid of the picture? 1. Contact the website to have the webmaster remove the image. If clicking the embarrassing picture gets you to a website, Google will not remove the picture. First, you have to get the website that hosts the picture to remove it. Fortunately, this is usually not too difficult. The webmaster of the site will often remove the picture if asked nicely. Hosting companies are sensitive to bad publicity, especially if there is even a hint of libel, and many picture-hosting sites have a link to request removal of the image. After the host removes the image, it could still show up on the google search. After removal, clicking...

It's time for another break from the usual boring contents--This is a campfire story I told in 2009 at a Webelos-A-Ree campout in October--This is an annual campout that allows Webelos to visit a number of scout troops in the district, and see if they can find a scout troop that they would like to join.  We planned to have a campfire with skits and stories at our own campsite, but a hard, cold rain began in the afternoon.  We tied tarps to two sides of a camping shelter, and were gathered inside it, listening to the rain drumming on the tin roof.  Thunder and lightning echoed through the valley.  A campfire looked unlikely.  "Who has a story?" someone asked. "I do," I said.  "But I'm not entirely sure I _should_ tell this story." Just then, lightning hit close to the campsite, and a very heavy burst of rain drummed on the tin roof.  I looked around the shelter slowly. "Now I really don't know if this is a good idea.   But maybe i...

October 23, 2015, Friday We went to Mount Rushmore this morning-an awesome sight!   The cost was $11 per car for admission, and the Golden Eagle yearly Park Pass does not apply to that fee. It was much more developed than Anne remembered, to her great disappointment. I didn't remember being there at all, until we took the pathway to the old viewing platform. I remember the stones of the old walkway, so this must be one of the places that I visited when I was five years old.      We accidentally went to the Crazy Horse Memorial, just down the road. The cost was $11 per person, or $28 per car. It was well worth the price! This site has a Museum of the American Indian, the great restaurant, information on the stone carving project (the 30 foot face of crazy horses complete, and his hand is almost complete), and much historical information.   The museum even has some of the actual beads that were used to trade for Manhattan Island, back when...

October 22, 2015, Thursday We saw the Corn Palace. It was being redecorated on the outside.  We took pictures on the inside and the outside of all the corn art. Even though it was the off-season, and the eerily quiet, there were still quite a few visitors.   We passed through the Badlands, now a National Park.  Anne says it is very different from when she last visited, 30 years ago--But the Badlands are constantly washing into the White River on the plains below the Badlands Wall.  In 20 more years, what we see now will be washed away to reveal new stripes in the sediments.   Wall, South Dakota was just a little further.  We visited Wall Drug. They have really cleaned up the kitschiness from 20 years ago.  Many of the shops had impressive goods for sale, especially boots and other leatherwork.   We drove through Rapid City, South Dakota, and over the mountain to Keystone, a former gold-mining town. The Holiday In...

Here, I take a break from the most boring blog on the face of the earth to post a campfire story, first told around a campfire to the members of BSA Troop 649.... Or WAS it just a campfire story?  You can be the judge.  And if you have the courage,  tell this story aloud, around a campfire some night when the sparks ascend straight up to the starry heavens.  If you are bold, act out the dance steps at the end--but without the knives!  And you may just learn some eternal truth that (you will see!) was hidden in plain sight all along... The Butcher Dance You have probably seen documentaries on public television stations.   They are certainly educational, even interesting, but I doubt they are your favorite programs.   Nevertheless, somebody has to make them.   There are people who spend a career doing nothing but making documentaries.   Some of these people specialize in a particular kind of documentary. Once upon a time, and n...