Neil Armstrong at 82.

I remember very well the moon landing. We kids and the parents were stuck in a traffic jam in Sacramento in the back of the Chevy wagon on the way back from a several day backpacking trip. A week or so on our own in the high Sierra and getting rained on this trip several times.  Down in the valley, it was at least  100 degrees plus. Was that Walter Cronkite doing the radio call? Probably. Good times though. Got orange slushes along the way and us 4 brothers sitting in the back and feeling like real mountain men. And maybe we could go to the moon too. Sorry all the ambition fell out of America while we all fought about Right vs. Left and who should steal the most money.

Massacre at Lonmin

On a hillside north of J'berg the South African police gunned down 30+ striking mineworkers.  Check out the smoke from the guns and the distance between the police and the dead and dying.  This is just like the old days of Apartheid, except the police are now the same color as the demonstrators.  Black.

Sickens me.  I guess color is just a code for lowest class versus the class above and easy to spot.  Looks kind of like a US Civil War reproduction battle, except this is real and weapons in use are assault rifles in semi or full automatic mode.

We need our metals, that's for sure but I call foul.  Lonmin can apologize all they want but the time has past for these kind of tactics .  Or, putting on my cynic hat, are we looking for more of this in the future?

Going camping

The younger generation are getting packed to go for camping at Huntington Lake.  A pretty high altitude reservoir in the Southern Sierra.  As the designated man, I am assigned to make sure the stove is in working order.  It really wasn't that great, being 50 years old or so but Coleman has been making the same model for longer than that and I was able to find out how to get it going.  Soaking the leather in the pump with oil and exercising it for a while and it's good to go.

When I opened the cover to check things out, I found my father had left a note on the handle that said "Take Fuel".  My daughter and I got a laugh out of that.  We can only guess at some trip where upon arriving at the campground there was no fuel.  She'll take the fuel this time.  Thanks, Dad.

Paul Ryan

So Romney has chosen a VP running mate.  Paul Ryan.  Too bad, you lose.  He may have good ideas and everything else but he's got a problem that will never be over come.   His voice is high and whiny.  This can never work with the electorate that needs John Wayne/Ronald Regan.  It's like listening to the rich kid give his project presentation and just cringing all the time.  Sorry dude, you just don't have the presence.