IMAGE OF THE WEEK:
Bus-ted

“Students…were showered with debris and jumped out of windows…”

PHOTO CREDIT:   Patrick Reddy/Cincinnati Enquirer
(Jan. 22, 2009 – Read article)

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I saw this Saturday:

NYC eatery grants freedom to lobster centenarian

By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer Verena Dobnik, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jan 10, 2:05 am ET

AP – In this photo released by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, ‘George,’ a live 20 pound …

NEW YORK – A 140-year-old lobster once destined for a dinner plate received the gift of life Friday from a Park Avenue seafood restaurant.

George, the 20-pound supercentenarian crustacean, was freed by City Crab and Seafood in New York City.

“We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace,” said Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA spokesman Michael McGraw said the group asked City Crab to return George to the Atlantic Ocean after a diner saw him at the restaurant, where steamed Maine lobster sells for $27 per pound. George had been caught off Newfoundland, Canada and lived in the tank for about 10 days before his release.

Some scientists estimate lobsters can live to be more than 100 years old. PETA and the restaurant guessed George’s age at about 140, using a rule of thumb based on the creature’s weight.

He was to be released Saturday near Kennebunkport, Maine, in an area where lobster trapping is forbidden

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And I wondered…

1)  Would W snag him for lunch?
2)  Is this “guessing age by weight” theory infallible?
3)  What if he’s 20 and just eats something juiced with steroids every once in a while?
4)  If this theory were applied to humans, wouldn’t Barry Bonds be over 1,500 years old?

It amazes me how easily most people accept some printed opinion as fact without questioning it.  Like when someone writes, “The fossil dates to 15 million years ago when…”   So they think.  Doesn’t make it true.  Carbon dating is not always precise, and most rules/guides have exceptions.  I hope this lobster is 140, but I’d rather “news reporters” went back to the old standard of distinguishing opinions from facts, especially when the facts are not supported by any data, instead of stating opinions as if they are unquestioned facts.  Does that make me jaded or just committed to the truth?

When it comes to information, we are largely a spoon-fed society, and spoon-fed societies grow up to be pretty much whatever the feeders want.  Seems to me that critical thinking is largely a lost art.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
All Smiles

PHOTO CREDIT:   Greg Kreller/Idaho Press-Tribune
(via San Francisco Chronicle, Day in Pictures, Jan. 7, 2009 )

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The new year is off to a good start here at wildcane central.

On Jan. 1, I made my first appearance at the famed Rose Parade, followed by a visit to the Rose Bowl.  One of the guys at work had a last minute cancellation, and I got the ticket for free.  It definitely looks and feels different in person than it does in the aesthetically framed TV presentation.

We left the office at 6:45 am, made the short drive to Pasadena, then walked about 2 miles up the parade route to a corner business “acquired” for the day by a company we work with.  They served a bountiful breakfast buffet that included personalized omelettes, while folding chairs on the edge of the parade route beckoned.  They also had a wide variety of beverages and later offered lunch.  The morning chill quickly dissipated into a perfect, warm sunny day.  Only 1 float broke down and had to be towed that we saw, and that stealth bomber fly over was cool both times.  Blink and you miss it.  Really.  The weirdest part, to me, was watching the second parade.  At the end, there’s this line of oversized tow trucks that weren’t used driving out 2 x 2 or 3 x 3.  I didn’t count, but there had to be more than 30.  They must have 1 for every 1 or 2 floats just in case.  Imagine if they ran out of tow trucks and a float broke down.  Lots of egg on the face.

Our game seats were in row 77, at the top of one end zone filled mainly with USC fans.  We walked all the way to the last row and laughed at the 76 there.  We only had to climb over about 7 people to find another row up, 77.  There were better views of the game, but we had the best view of concession stands outside the tunnel.  It was a long but interesting day.  We walked a total of about 7 miles, and my shins actually ached starting the next day for about 12 hours.  I’ve walked a lot in my life, but never so much the same day.  Got home around 9 pm and actually turned down an invitation to see a movie at my friend’s house, feeling a bit wiped out.  The next night, though, we went to see that comic book-style “Spirit” thing by Frank Miller (“Sin City,” “300″).  I scored free movie tickets at the office Christmas party, so I’ve been enjoying those.  I also got one of those Visa gift cards and have been enjoying using it on stuff I don’t normally buy for myself.

Work is still crazy busy with no sign of slacking off, but my evenings have been relaxed since I quit my second job in November.  I’ve finally organized most of the clutter again into manageable–whatever–and am turning my thoughts back to writing.  So the new year has a nice feel to it so far, at least for me.  I hope you can say the same.  I’ll probably get back here this weekend to look around at what others are doing and saying…