Brown Motion

Curious title because it is.  Pelham refers to none other than one of my fave authors P.G. Wodehouse.  That his career took off has something to do with an officer that gave him his first jobs at the HSBC or Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.  In part because his pop (PG's not the officer's) who was a HK magistrate pulled some proverbial strings (may be they were on his robe or his hat that he wore when on the job). The very bank at the heart of a recent price fixing/financial mumbo jumbo scandal as reported by a newspaper called the Guardian (feel good newspaper run by the Brits no less).  I researched this interesting tale further and came upon published propaganda material from HSBC that goes as follows - Wodehouse’s career with the bank was short-lived and far from glittering; and yet memorable for all concerned. In his first year he was late for work on 20 days (excluding ‘foggy mornings’, which did not count) - a number only exceeded by two o...

There is none in this blog.  However the purveyors of this platform (Google) on which I so freely ramble have decided that said matter will not be allowed to make an appearance.  Beginning Mar 23. To which I say what about Sexually Implicit material? I am confused is all.  If explicit is not allowed is by definition implicit allowed?  Or is it implied?  Explain - anyone? The other question is why this future date?  Why is explicit material not so explicit before an arbitrary point in time?  That is not explicitly explained.  The axe seems to be coming down on images that someone may have posted that may be categorized as such. But wait- what if a drone took an image of me peeing in Central Station?  Inside the men's room no less.  What if that was a Google drone? Does nudity matter?  What other people do is other people's business after all?  Perhaps not.  That much is explicit.

As sci-fi thrillers go this one was a fun watch.  Scarlett Johansson plays Lucy, a girl who is an unwitting accomplice in a sophisticated drug operation run by dudes from south Asian territory.  The location is shown as Taipei but it could have been filmed anywhere for the ground shots. Lucy accidentally imbibes a super chemical (the drug) that enhances her mental capacity beyond the normal bell curve - way out. She essentially becomes superwoman.  As she achieves amazing neural capacity she also accelerates her own demise as the cells in her body succumb to laws of entropy. Morgan Freeman adds color in the form of a brilliant scientist that is researching the human evolutionary path and the neuro-science behind it.  The two lives collide when the protagonist queries up someone with knowledge of the human mind and the capacity to harness it before her eventual and rather quick expiration, in the form of Morgan's character who is in Paris doing a serie...

Tis the day when the roses find premium pricing - these days a dozen of the finest fetch a cool $40...only to wilt in a day. But the family felt like being outdoor - it was 75 Degrees Fahrenheit at the beach - literally a heat wave in the middle of a California winter.  Thusly we decided to commune with John Muir - a 19th century naturalist and lover of wilderness as well a legacy in the Northern California region.  A national park is named after him called Muir Woods - up along the coast where the redwoods stand tall - few miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. While the park itself proved to be a challenge what with many like minded citizens finding the soothing shade of the giant redwoods inviting, and parking situation to rival a Maroon 5 concert we drove a few more miles to hit the beach and the surf.  Along the Pacific coast we found another spot honoring John Muir - this one a rehabilitated stretch of sand called Muir Beach. Waves crashing yet with ...

Some funny stuff I read recently from the minds of sharp wits - My wife and I were happy for 20 years.  Then we met. Divorce rates among women and dropping these days especially as they have realized that they don't need the pig for a little sausage. Any husband who says 'My wife and I are completely equal partners', is talking about either a law firm or a hand of bridge. Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards. A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong. A man inserted an 'ad' in the classifieds: 'Wife wanted'.  Next day he received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: 'You can have mine.' The most effective way to re member your wife's birthday is to forget it once.

Here is another blog praising one of the rare and fewer privileges of being in America.  The NPS or National Park Service.  If there are any institutions that allow unfettered access to the great outdoors inspite of the overall degradation of natural habitats due to largesse of first world consumer habits it is this.  Due in part of the foresight of some thinkers (Roosevelt in 1908) these parks provide reserved wild spaces for a common man to come and enjoy. We visited a place not far from home in the central California region, right alongside the San Andreas fault line - Pinnacles National Park. It is the western remnant of a long extinct volcano that was split by this fault line aka the massive quaking that happened as two plates rubbed with the other half down near the Los Angeles basin some 200 miles south. Unique parts of this park include the Talus Caves (which are caves formed when boulders fall into a ravine creating a cave) as well as a dam t...

We have our mind set on visiting our 5th continent this spring.  Our fifth in the order of continents visited - the destination an ancient Inca city high in the Peruvian Andes.  A UNESCO World Heritage site. All that may sound sexy or highly cultured but is quite taxing on the brain and wallet so getting there is another matter entirely.  The easy way is to simply get one of the tour operators to plan it for you and let them drive you like cattle.  No control on schedule or destinations and an arm and a leg to boot in terms of Dollars or Soles (in this case). It is a multi stage itinerary and investigating and booking all aspects of the trip is a journey in itself as we have realized.  It reminds me of the days certain religious types from India visited destinations like Tirupati Tirumala Venkata also on a mount (much smaller hill than the Peruvian Andes we are planning) but much older in historic context.  In a way this too is a pilgrimage ...