Mr & Mrs Caveman For Dinner

Having fallen hopelessly, passionately, in love in middle age, what do Boyd and Mrs. Boyd talk about during dinner?

Last night it was cavemen with Mexican food. Carla picked my feeble mind about the links from our chimpanzee-like ancestors to modern man.

LiveScience gives a great run-down of the top ten hominids to work with.

From Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) to my personal favorite, the Neanderthals and why some people have big noses, we covered the fabled path from monkey to man.

For the record, we're both deeply christian, but also happen to believe in evolution.

Monkey Island Model Progress

Below are two images from my Monkey Island project.

Before starting on the model in the real world, I'm building it in my computer using Google Sketchup. It's a great (and free) 3D modeling program from Google.

Thirty years ago, I would have begun the model building process by drawing up a blueprint on paper, but computer generated 3D modeling is a much stronger tool.

Although very rough, you can see I'm starting to develop the basic shape. The idea here is that I'll be able to use this computer model to create a card paper rough model of the castle that I can then add clay details to, finishing the model.

Perils of Stick People

For years we've depended on stick people to keep us safe. This flickr photo pool gathers stick people warning signs from all over the world. See if you can figure out what the danger each picture tries to prevent.

Social Networking For Grown ups

Social networking sights like Facebook or Myspace are far more popular with kids, but they're actually more useful for grownups.

When you're a kid, you see you have a lot more opportunities to see your friends than when you're a grownup. You go to school five days a week and most of them are there. You go to football games on Friday night and they're there too and Sunday school on Sundays and parties and dances and sports and all sorts of opportunities for social interaction. When you're a grownup all that slows down considerably.

When you're an adult things are different. You go to work five days a week, but most of those people aren't really your good friends. Some you don't even like at all. When you get home you have kids or housework to deal with and going out just isn't as much fun as it used to be so it can be weeks between times when you see your friends face-to-face.

That's where social networking sights come in handy. You can check sights like Facebook or Myspace once a day and get short snippets of life from and about your loved ones. Folks who just love to talk (like me) might even keep blogs that you can read and share.

There's a stigma attached to older users of social networking sights because predators have used them to solicit children. The stigma is going away though and, thanks to some very diligent people, the predators are being caught and dealt with.

It may be easier for me to adapt to this type of technology since I've been on the Internet so long, but the Internet is changing all of our lives and I'm going to predict that this type of social interaction is only going to grow among all age groups as time goes on.

So, What was that?

It's an elephant.

When I was a kid, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to town. Somehow my mom got wind of when they would be unloading the circus so she took us kids to watch.

A whole army of trailer trucks were waiting at the fairgrounds with strange looking people speaking strange languages milling around them. I was eight years old and had my Kodak Instamatic ready to capture the spectacle.

I was thrilled beyond measure when they started unloading some fifteen or twenty Asian Elephants from the trucks. Circus ladies in circus outfits rode the elephants the two-hundred yards from the trucks to the livestock buildings at the fairgrounds where the elephants were held for the circus.

The elephants were too big for the regular livestock stalls so they kept them in the judging area which was about a quarter acre of covered open space. The circus people set up ropes so we couldn't get too close to the elephants and they couldn't get too close to us.

Excitedly, I began snapping Instamatic photos of the giants. One big female took and interest in the process and started reaching out to me with her trunk.

Whoever set up the ropes must not have calculated correctly because this big baby was able to snap the camera out of my hands with the tip of her trunk. Immediately a long-haired, German-speaking fellow retrieved my camera for me.

My Instamatic was covered in elephant snot, but I got the picture! What you see above was taken the moment before a circus elephant stole my camera!

Where have you gone, Atticus Finch

Mississippi turns it's lonely eyes to you.

This business with Dickie Scruggs breaks my heart and who knows where all the tentacles of this debacle will end.

The story emerging from this case is one of a pin-striped gang of street thugs, running Mississippi like their own private turf, extorting millions, both legally and illegally from anyone stupid enough to do business in Mississippi.

It would make a great plot for a John Grisham novel. Don't expect one though, John's pretty friendly with the principals.

One thing that particularly bothers me is that I really admired Ed Peters and Bobby DeLaughter before learning that Scruggs and his cohorts lured them into their web.

The thing these guys don't seem to get is that we mere mortals depend, desperately depend on the law to be true and honest and most of all, just. For us, for "we the people", the law is much more than just an opportunity to make millions like a football star. It is the whisper thin barrier between our simple lives and abject chaos.

What they did, what we have to suspect they have been doing for thirty years, is very close to treason. Robin Hood and Atticus Finch never made a billion dollars.

Tupelo Bigfoot Caught on Film

Clearly this short film shows some sort of primate, I'm not sure if it's really Tupelo though.

Bigfoot Spotted in Tupelo

Bigfoot has been reported in Mississippi and Arkansas for years. Maybe somebody should have checked the costume shops.

From the North East Mississippi Daily Journal

4/9/2008 6:44:42 PM

By Danza Johnson
Daily Journal

TUPELO – With four gorilla sightings on Thomas Street on Wednesday, it seemed the infamous Oliver inspired a copycat or copy primate.

According to police, two postal workers and two parents picking their children up from school claimed to have seen a huge primate run into the woods behind the post office shortly after 2 p.m.

Because all the accounts were separate instances, School Resource Officer Lt. Terry Sanford said he doesn’t doubt that people saw something, but he’s almost sure it wasn’t a gorilla.

“We got a few calls about the gorilla, but we didn’t see anything,” said Sanford. “People said they saw the animal run into the woods. I think what they saw was a person dressed in a suit trying to get a reaction out of people.”

A local costume dealer said a man and a woman bought a gorilla head and hands Tuesday, stating that they already had a suit.

If anybody wants to arrange Bigfoot sightings in Jackson, we have the above suit here:

Guess What This Is

What in the world can this be?

I'll give you some hints:

• I took the photograph myself in 1974.
• The subject smelled really bad.
• I wasn't in any danger but I almost lost my camera.

Monkey Island Postcard

I found this old post card of the Jackson Zoo Monkey Island. It says "58" but it looks older than 1958 to me. If I had to guess I'd say this was probably from the '40's. "58" is probably the catalog number for this particular postcard.

It shows the island as seen from the alligator pond with the ramada (like a band stand, not the hotel) in the background. Where you see a stretch of trees is now the elephant exhibit.

This was probably a black-and-white photograph that was tinted in the printing process to make it appear color. That's why it looks sort of like a cartoon.

The little houses still existed when I was involved with the friends of the Zoo back in the 80's and 90's. They weren't on the island anymore though, and were only brought out during Christmas at the Zoo.

It seemed like they were wood covered with porters cement. As I recall, they were from the original zoo at the Jackson Fire Department before they moved to Livingston Park.

The whole island was originally covered in concrete to make it easier to clean up the monkey poo. I think they dug it up so grass and what-not would grow, but it may have just washed away through the years.

I don't remember the tree. It was gone before I got to zoo going age. I believe the little bridge may still be there under all the brush that's grown up.

Model Of Jackson

Once upon a time, there was a small-scale model of downtown Jackson.

I remember it was displayed in the foyer of the auditorium for years when I was a kid. I'm sure there was a plaque or something on it saying who made it and why but I've long forgotten such details.

It was a huge thing, maybe eight feet long by four feet wide and included pretty much all of downtown.

Does anybody remember this? Does it still exist somewhere?