Tomorrow I will return to rant mode with a scathing condemnation of postal service shipping and related hobby douchery.
1. MUSIC - I've made brief music comments. Today's blog title is the name of a Dream Theater album that celebrated the ten year anniversary of its release within the past few days. Music is very important to me. I started playing violin at age 8 or 9, mistakenly thought it wasn't cool and switched to drums in junior high school and then started a life long love for the guitar. I was a teenager in the late 70s and early 80s and developed a love for mostly British music from early prog rock like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and ELP and early metal like Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. Then I discovered Metallica from their early demo that came out as I was graduating high school. My high school metal band didn't yet know of this San Franciscan thrash band that would become metal's most successful act. Our set list included Judas Priest, UFO, Michael Schenker, Aerosmith, Nugent, Then metal was everything until I heard Dream Theater and discovered a melding of the epic compositions and dazzling virtuosity of prog with the gnashing teeth and crunch of metal. Now I listen to a much wider variety of music including most genres. I can go from Pantera to bluegrass to a cello concerto. But bands that combine prog and metal to great effect remain my mainstay. Opeth is the epitome as they are of similar age and share similar influences. They swiftly and seamlessly switch from death metal to prog sections that even include the use of mellotron, an instrument that harkens back to early 70s Genesis. Between the Buried Me is a more recent favorite and their music shifts from modern tech/math metal to prog to Stravinsky! So even in my early 50s I am a metalhead and Opeth, Gojira, Meshuggah, Between the Buried and Me, Katatonia, Arch Enemy, Conquering Dystopia/Loomis/Merrow, Daylight Dies, etc. dominate my playlists.
/m\ /m\
2. Random trivia question 1: What is the only bird with a penis? Hint: No, it is not a cock. (Answer at end).
3. TATTOOS - I got my first tat at age 36. It was a kanji (oriental character) that supposedly meant "to love, promise or cherish". My ex-wife and I got matching ones on our ankles the day after our wedding in Chicago. Silly romantics. Thankfully it is now covered up. It was another six years before I got inked again. This time I was in San Antonio for ArachnoCon and had my favorite tarantula put on my outside left calf above the silly kanji. Anyone who doesn't know what species it was/is doesn't know me very well. That was it until two years ago when I returned to Chicago and met Andy Daugherty (Andy's Tat2 Crue, Belvidere, IL). His first project was to rework the Poecilotheria subfusca tat from San Antonio, which wasn't done well and hadn't aged well. Next thing I knew I was often in Andy's chair and I kept adding. I now have two leg half sleeves featuring the subfusca and P. miranda on the left and E. olivacea and C. schioedtei on the right. The filler are custom flowers, foliage, butterflies, a dragonfly. After my mom passed I had wanted to get a memorial tat in tribute to her. I knew then that I would start black & grey sleeves and while Andy could continue his color work on my legs, I wanted my mate Mark Pennell (Serious Ink Tattoo Studio, Shirehampton, Bristol, UK) to do my arms. His first session was about 9 hours to do a lower half sleeve in tribute to my mother. Later he did a two session - one in the UK, and one in USA - Darwin half sleeve on my lower left arm. Then after I lost my beloved dog Taylor Mark did an amazing portrait of her - with her ashes ceremoniously dusted onto the ink- on my upper right and, more recently, did an amazing clouded leopard on my upper left. Next week he will continue our work towards a full sleeve on the right. I've lost track, but I now have about 60 hours of ink. And most of it was done at age 49 and 50!
4. Random trivia question 2: Well since I did a penis one ... The vagina contains a natural lubricant called squalene. What animal also has squalene (although not necessarily in a vagina ...)? (Answer at end).
5. GUNS - My father is a retired police chief. He taught me to shoot in his Evanston, IL police department range when I was a little boy and I've shot handguns and long guns all my life. I have a concealed carry permit and my Kimber Master Carry Pro .45 (or Glock 23 .40 S&W) is often hidden on my hip. I've taken numerous classes in combat shooting, shooting from the holster, etc. and practice almost every week. I've always loved target shooting, period. I was on an archery team in my teens and I am an avid dart player. I like aiming. But guns are a controversial topic and American gun culture is seen as strange by those in other countries. I visit the UK often and one of the oddest things for me is seeing policemen without pistols. They have batons, spray, maybe a taser. But they don't carry firearms. If they encounter criminals with guns they have to call in a special unit ("SWAT") that is armed. That seems daft to me. But it's all a matter of perspective. Getting into debates about guns with people always brings me to what for me is a simple truth. Generally, the sensible answer is in the middle. Call it moderate if you must. Although I've shot for over four decades and carry a gun I have never been an NRA member. That's because I disagree with their stance. I believe in my right to sport shoot or defend myself and others with deadly force by being responsibly armed. I believe in the training and licensing required, not to mention the background checks and fingerprinting. The NRA doesn't. They think the second amendment is absolute. I don't believe that people should be able to own automatic assault rifles. To protect gun rights the NRA argues the extreme - the second amendment means you should be able to carry a bazooka down the street. Sensibility is in a moderate stance, but the moderate stance is seen as weak and you have to go to the extreme to fight tenaciously and win. Let's bring this to our reptile hobby. To protect our right to keep geckos and king snakes we must fight that everyone should be allowed to have a 20 foot plus reticulated python or perhaps venomous snakes. Is the sensible solution in the middle? Discuss among yourselves.
6. Random trivia question 3: My favorite trivia is not about sexual organs. My topic is geography (much to the dismay of my family who I subject to geography quizzes at parties I host). What language is the most widely spoken in the world (by first language speakers)?
7. PHOTO THEFT REVISITED - My last blog covered photo theft and I forgot to mention one thing. I love Instagram. It's my favorite social media as it essentially is just sharing photos (or 15 sec vid clips) and people mostly like and rarely comment. Hashtags make finding content of interest easy and it doesn't have the nonsense and noise of Faffbook. However, I made a bad assumption when I first started. One of the things I liked was that you couldn't download and steal images. At least that was my naive thinking. I've since discovered that, OF COURSE, there are apps like Instagrab. It allows you to save pix. My early IG pix weren't watermarked, but now they are. Lesson learned. But one of the cool things about IG is an app like Repost. I argued yesterday that FB people must use the Share feature to show the origin of photos. Well, Repost does exactly that on IG but it automatically puts the username of the original poster on your reposted (shared) image and your shared post contains their text and hashtags. I highly recommend Instagram and hope you'll follow me @exoticfauna.
8. In conclusion, thanks for reading and I hope eventually I will get comments/feedback and questions. I still have no questions for "Sunday, Fun Day". It was an opportunity for you to get me to tackle the controversial or call out the douchenuggets. I promise brutal frankness.
All the best, MJ
5. GUNS - My father is a retired police chief. He taught me to shoot in his Evanston, IL police department range when I was a little boy and I've shot handguns and long guns all my life. I have a concealed carry permit and my Kimber Master Carry Pro .45 (or Glock 23 .40 S&W) is often hidden on my hip. I've taken numerous classes in combat shooting, shooting from the holster, etc. and practice almost every week. I've always loved target shooting, period. I was on an archery team in my teens and I am an avid dart player. I like aiming. But guns are a controversial topic and American gun culture is seen as strange by those in other countries. I visit the UK often and one of the oddest things for me is seeing policemen without pistols. They have batons, spray, maybe a taser. But they don't carry firearms. If they encounter criminals with guns they have to call in a special unit ("SWAT") that is armed. That seems daft to me. But it's all a matter of perspective. Getting into debates about guns with people always brings me to what for me is a simple truth. Generally, the sensible answer is in the middle. Call it moderate if you must. Although I've shot for over four decades and carry a gun I have never been an NRA member. That's because I disagree with their stance. I believe in my right to sport shoot or defend myself and others with deadly force by being responsibly armed. I believe in the training and licensing required, not to mention the background checks and fingerprinting. The NRA doesn't. They think the second amendment is absolute. I don't believe that people should be able to own automatic assault rifles. To protect gun rights the NRA argues the extreme - the second amendment means you should be able to carry a bazooka down the street. Sensibility is in a moderate stance, but the moderate stance is seen as weak and you have to go to the extreme to fight tenaciously and win. Let's bring this to our reptile hobby. To protect our right to keep geckos and king snakes we must fight that everyone should be allowed to have a 20 foot plus reticulated python or perhaps venomous snakes. Is the sensible solution in the middle? Discuss among yourselves.
6. Random trivia question 3: My favorite trivia is not about sexual organs. My topic is geography (much to the dismay of my family who I subject to geography quizzes at parties I host). What language is the most widely spoken in the world (by first language speakers)?
7. PHOTO THEFT REVISITED - My last blog covered photo theft and I forgot to mention one thing. I love Instagram. It's my favorite social media as it essentially is just sharing photos (or 15 sec vid clips) and people mostly like and rarely comment. Hashtags make finding content of interest easy and it doesn't have the nonsense and noise of Faffbook. However, I made a bad assumption when I first started. One of the things I liked was that you couldn't download and steal images. At least that was my naive thinking. I've since discovered that, OF COURSE, there are apps like Instagrab. It allows you to save pix. My early IG pix weren't watermarked, but now they are. Lesson learned. But one of the cool things about IG is an app like Repost. I argued yesterday that FB people must use the Share feature to show the origin of photos. Well, Repost does exactly that on IG but it automatically puts the username of the original poster on your reposted (shared) image and your shared post contains their text and hashtags. I highly recommend Instagram and hope you'll follow me @exoticfauna.
8. In conclusion, thanks for reading and I hope eventually I will get comments/feedback and questions. I still have no questions for "Sunday, Fun Day". It was an opportunity for you to get me to tackle the controversial or call out the douchenuggets. I promise brutal frankness.
All the best, MJ
Answers: 1. swan 2. shark 3. Mandarin
