Eye Candy For Car Freaks #6 (Photo Essay)

I thought I'd finished with the eye candy, but when I stopped by the supermarket this afternoon, I found this little baby sitting in the parking lot. It's a restored 1937 Ford four-door converible. Unfortunately, it was parked in a space that shaded the front end, and as I was trying my best to squeeze some decent photos out of the situation, the owner emerged from the store, and the subject of my photo essay was driven away.

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Eye Candy For Car Freaks #5 (Photo Essay)

This is a 1929 Ford Model A, converted into a classic "Hot Rod." This conversion was very popular during the 1950s, and remains fond in the hearts of American car freaks.

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Eye Candy For Car Freaks #4 (Photo Essay)

This is a 1960 Cadillac Series 62 four door coupe, another of the vehicles owned and operated by Napa Valley Tours & Transportation. How would you like to try parallel-parking this monster in a tight parking place?

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Eye Candy For Car Freaks #3 (Photo Essay)

This time we have a restored 1954 Buick Special two-door coupe. I passed it while driving home one day, turned around and came back, and snapped off a bunch of pictures. The lighting could have been better because it was parked in the shade under some trees. While I was taking the photos, the owner came out of the nearby house, and before she drove away, she was nice enough to let me photo the interior through the open door.

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Eye Candy For Car Freaks #2 (Photo Essay)

I frequently drive past Napa Valley Tours & Transportation. Sometimes they have a "specialized" vehicle sitting there in their parking lot, and they tolerate me doing my thing with my camera. This is a 1948 Packard Custom Limousine. It reminds me of an upsidedown bathtub. I'm absolutely fascinated with the hood ornament.

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Eye Candy For Car Freaks #1 (Photo Essay)

NASCAR had a race last weekend at Infineon Raceway over in the next county. The day before the race, Office Depot, sponsor of Tony Stewart's #14 Chevy Impala, had a promotional event at their store here in Napa. Those of you who are car freaks might enjoy these pictures.

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Puzzle

This was stolen from the March 30, 2010 Parade supplement to the Sunday edition of the San Francisco.

If you can figure out the solution to this puzzle, please send your answer to me via Wireclub mail. Only one try per person, to be sure of your answer.

DO NOT LEAVE THE SOLUTION AS A COMMENT FOR OTHERS TO READ ! ! !

Here's the puzzle:

Say that Ryan runs track for his high school. On training days, his dad picks him up at 6:05 p.m. One day, the session ends at 5:45 p.m., so Ryan starts jogging toward his father's workplace on the way home.

Ryan knows he can jog the three miles in 15 minutes, at which point his dad will be getting into his car. They meet up by the car and head home.

En route, they are delayed at a railroad crossing, but they still arrive four minutes early. How long were they stuck at the crossing?

( Don't consider other factors, such as time spent getting in and out of the car, etc. )

More Pictures Of The Blacktailed Deer (No Pooping This Time) (Photo Essay)

She continues hanging around. I continue taking photos.

Carl Sagan And Another (Perhaps Futile) Attempt To Explain Myself As An Agnostic

A short time ago I wrote a blog pertaining to my professed stance as an agnostic. It was an attempt to provide a nice, short, concise description of my acceptance of that philosophical position. It failed spectacularly. I will try again.

This time I am going to draw upon the life, writings and attitudes of one of my heroes, the late Carl Sagan. He described himself as an agnostic. Sagan had a perception of our universe, and an attitude about how we perceive it, that I find extremely appealing and logical. I’m going to attempt to draw an analogy between my stance as an agnostic, and some of the attributes of Carl Sagan. Perhaps this will shed some light. It may fail spectacularly again. There’s only one way to tell …

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Carl Sagan was a strong, outspoken proponent of SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence ( sometimes referred to as “space aliens.” ) At the same time, he was an outspoken skeptic of the idea of UFOs and visits to Earth by extra-terrestrials. There is no conflict between these two positions. As Sagan saw things, there is no more important question than whether or not we humans are alone, and no more worthy human pursuit than to try to answer this question. Carl Sagan also acknowledged that thus far the question remains without a rational answer. So far, we just don’t know if we’re alone or not.

What is it that suggests that there might be extra-terrestrials out there? The suggestion comes from the vastness of the known universe. It’s just so big, and has so much stuff in it. That simple fact makes for a compelling suggestion that we might not be alone. That compelling suggestion is reason enough to try to find the answer to the question of whether we are alone or not. But there is a huge difference between a compelling suggestion and verifiable evidence, and thus far, with any of the efforts we have been able to mount, there remains no evidence of other intelligent beings that withstands the rigor or scientific examination.

This, to me, perfectly parallels the attitude of an agnostic.

The simple fact that we, and the universe, exist makes for a compelling suggestion that there is some reason behind it, perhaps even a creator, perhaps not. The wonder of the universe compellingly suggests to me that there might be something more than just the idea that existence exists. It’s compelling enough to simply not be just dismissed. But thus far, there is no evidence that withstands the rigor of scientific examination.

I’m asked by atheists, either directly, or by implication, why I don’t see, as they do, that the lack of evidence of a god is enough evidence in itself to prove that no god exists. Again, I’ll defer to Carl Sagan, who maintained, in his book “The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could challenge the existence of a god would be an infinitely old universe, an idea diametrically opposed to the currently accepted idea of time and space beginning with “The Singularity,” also known as “The Big Bang.” (My apologies that I do not have a direct quote.)

Here is Carl Sagan in quotation:

From his book “Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science” :

“Some people think God is an outsized, light-skinned male with a long white beard, sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the sky, busily tallying the fall of every sparrow. Others—for example Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein—considered God to be essentially the sum total of the physical laws which describe the universe. I do not know of any compelling evidence for anthropomorphic patriarchs controlling human destiny from some hidden celestial vantage point, but it would be madness to deny the existence of physical laws.”

From “Conversations With Carl”, an article by Tom Head in “Skeptic” magazine, issue 13:

“I’m agnostic.”

Note: I drew upon the Wikipedia entry “Carl Sagan” in my composing of this blog.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan

Pictures Of A Blacktailed Deer Taking A Poop, Etc. (Photo Essay)

Back in March I posted a couple of photo blogs displaying some pictures of a pair of does, blacktailed deer, that had been hanging around my property.

http://www.wireclub.com/Blogs/StuckInTheSixties/161895

http://www.wireclub.com/Blogs/StuckInTheSixties/165032

I recently was paid a visit by another doe. Late on the day of June 6, 2010, when the sun was setting, I found her relaxing in the shade under some trees. The sun was casting long dark shadows across the otherwise bright sunshine, making conditions difficult for photography, so the quality of this first set of pictures is pretty poor.

A few days later, on June 10, she returned in the bright midday, out in my field where there were no trees and shadows, so the second group of pictures were much better.

Rochy, These Pictures Were Made For You (Photo Essay)

Last year I drove into San Francisco to attend a concert, unaware that the concert had been cancelled. Because of the shutdown of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the traffic was a nightmare, and to make sure that I was going to be on time for the non-existent concert, I drove down there several hours early so that I'd miss rush hour traffic. With some time to kill, I knocked around taking some photographs.

I posted those pictures in a couple of blogs:

http://www.wireclub.com/Blogs/StuckInTheSixties/148708

http://www.wireclub.com/Blogs/StuckInTheSixties/148707

Rochy told me (both in a comment, and conversationally) that she appreciated my posting pictures of San Francisco, a city she loves. I also love San Francisco (though I'd never live there ... I'm a country boy).

On May 25, 2010, I once again drove into The City for the rescheduled concert. Again, to avoid rush hour traffic, I went a little bit early. But this time I had far less time to kill, and didn't have the opportunity to do any "serious" photography. But I did have enough time to snap off a few pictures in the northwest part of San Francisco, for no reason other than that I figured Rochy would appreciate them.

So these pictures are for you, Rochy.