Day at the beach

My understanding is that this is a beach in Korea. Oftentimes I get upset when I find more than a dozen people on the beach.

what does "The Midas Touch" mean

The Midas touch. Where does this saying come from?
Midas was a King of ancient Phrygia. He did a great favor for Bacchus, and he asked Midas what would he like as a reward. Midas wanted that everything he touched turned to gold. And so it happened. Everything, but everything he touched turned to gold> To his anguish and sorrow, even the food he touched turned to gold before he could eat it, and he begged Bacchus to take back the gift he had bestowed upon him.
It is this legend that gave rise to the Midas touch, which means that a person who has this touch is very successful with material affairs, with no great effort on his part. One example that comes to mind is a slogan “ everything we touch turns to sold”, by a local Estate Agent.
Anyhow, it would appear as though by washing his hands in the river Pactolus, the power passed into the river and the sands turned to gold.
Another story about Midas was that he was appointed to judge a musical contest between Pan and Apollo. Midas gave the prize to Pan, and in the process upset Apollo, who in revenge gave Midas a pair if ass’s ears. Midas hid these ears under his cap. However, on a good day his barber discovered his secret, but was threatened by horrible things that would happen to him if he spoke about it. The barber had to tell somebody, so he dug a hole in the ground and shouted into the hole “ King Midas has ass’s ears!” and closed the hole. A reed grew from this hole and when the wind blew, the reed divulged the secret of the King’s misfortune. Midas found out and intended to kill he barber, but Apollo gave back his ears before this happened.

Crazy Kids : Piggy stuff

In a mad rush today, something visual, last of crazy kids.

Crazy Kids: Potty Training

All that needs to be done is to change focus to the sports page...

Must a Blog have a focus?

I read somewhere that a "blog" must have focus to be successful. It must have a niche. Similar to marketing a product. My argument was, stuff that, my niche is anything that comes to my mind. Rambling stuff. In essence what has happened is that my the posts have gravitated towards five major areas, popular mythology, Nautical stuff, origins of sayings , no brain visual stuff and a tad of ramblings. I have the opinion that if it takes longer to read a post than you can hold your breath, 90% of the readers won't read it, unless it is very, very good, or you are talking about something very specific. There are a bunch of things I read about, but will not write about the same stuff. Personal relationships I enjoy if it it done without crying in the soup, Christina for example, and American politics, Carol. I get a better understanding of international politics from blogs than any CNN SKY BBC or EuroNews can do. Anyhow, I am digressing as usual.
I also saw a post somewhere that classified blogs as Commercial, People who write about themselves and people who write about things. Some write for themselves and don't care if it is read by anybody (a kind of therapy) and those who want to be read.
The heading of this post has the word "focus" in it, and I have lost focus already.
Anyhow, while scratching around on Amatomu this morning I had a look at the stats, which I don't really give much attention to, and the most popular pages read over the last week are depicted graphically. This points to a definate niche. Irrespective of what I post, the "reads" have created a niche. Call it a Readers Niche for the want of a better description.

Crazy Kids : The Scotsman

Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?

Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day. There are zillions of examples of bad things that have happened on this date and day. Why? Where did it come from?
Firstly one has to divorce the number 13 from Friday. The unlucky number Thirteen has a history of its own. Buildings often don’t have a floor 13 or a room 13, which has nothing to do with a Friday. This is an unlucky number in its own right.
That leaves us with Friday the 13th.
From what I can find out there are two possible origins.
- The oldest one that can be found is the reference to the Last Supper. Jesus was crucified on a Friday and there were 13 people at the Last Supper.
- On Friday 13 October 1307, the Knights Templar were sentenced to death by the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church with the support of the French King. Their leader was tortured and crucified. The Knights Templar split up and became “pirates” and attacked anything that was Roman or French in retaliation.
Image from Wikipedia

Crazy Kids: Fat Ass

Somehow this could lead to two kids with fat lips....

Helen of Troy, Why did her face launch a thousand ships?

Who was Helen of Troy and why did her face launch a thousand ships?
The whole story began as a result of a fight between three Greek goddesses. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They were guests at a wedding, and, an uninvited Goddess, Eris, gate crashed the party. (She was the Goddess of Discord). She threw an apple of gold amongst the guests that had been inscribed with the words “ A gift for the fairest of all”.
As we know all these Goddesses were very, very beautiful and there was no consensus as to who should get the apple. They appointed Paris, the son of the King of Troy to decide. Each of the goddesses promised him wonderful things to influence his decision. In the end it was Aphrodite who walked away with the apple, after promising Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.
This woman was Helen. The problem was that she was a Greek, married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Anyhow, with Aphrodite backing him up, he went to Greece to visit Helen, and she fell in love with him, as promised by Aphrodite. The happy couple disappeared to Troy. This pissed king Meneaus off. He called upon all the Greek Kings to help him avenge this terrible deed, and a thousand ships sailed to Troy to bring her back. The Trojans were ready for them, and it took 10 years to conquer the city, even with Brad Pitts help.
King Meneaus ordered that he alone would chop Helens head off, but went he found her, her beauty overcame him, and he took her home. (Most probably told him she was sorry and it would never happen again.).
This is the “oldest” version as written by the Greek Philosophers. There are a number of more “modern” versions.
Some say Helen had nothing to do with the decision, and that the war was there for wars sake and she was an excuse. It is also said that the whole fiasco was as a result of male egos.
What is strange is that there are virtually no “images” of Helen to be found.
This image I found at Wikipedia.

Another Crazy Kids : Water Bomb

The split second between a nice dad and bad dad

Two Excellent Posts

-While wandering around I found two excellent posts to read.
The first is all about installing and upgrading a husband by Buffy. This appeals to my sense of humour and I really enjoyed this post.

- On a more serious note there is a post at Synaptoman by Anne Paton, the widow of Alan Paton, author of the much acclaimed " Cry the Beloved Country" that sold more than 15 million copies. If you want an insight into the current South Africa, this is a must read.

Crazy Kids #3: The TripleP

The Triple Pee

Greek Mythology: Medusa, the Ugly One

Medusa was the ugly one. Hair of Serpents and a face so ugly that the mere sight of her would turn a man into stone. (I had a Mother-in-Law who could do that without looking ugly).
Anyhow, she was one of three sisters, and was a mortal. All accounts are that she was born a very beautiful woman, but was transformed into an ugly person. There are two versions as to how this transformation came about.
The first one states that she lived Far up “North” where the sun did not shine. Wanting to go to places more tropical, she had to ask the Goddess Athena for permission. Athena, for reasons unknown, declined to give her permission, which pissed Medusa off, seriously. So, she used the “I am prettier than you insult” and told Athena she would not let her go as she was more attractive than Athena herself. Athena, understandably did not take to this insult, and, having more powers, turned her into the ugly woman.
Another version is that Medusa was caught having a bit of hanky panky with Poseidon in the temple. Athena did not like this and turned her into an ugly woman.
Now to her demise. Athena, despite turning her into something ugly, wanted her dead. This was a bit difficult, as anybody who gazed upon her was turned into stone. So with the help of a bunch of other Deities, they commissioned Perseus to do the dirty deed. They provided him with a sword to cut her head off and a cap that made him invisible. So, now he could approach her without her knowing it, and could chop her head off. To get past the turning into stone barrier he was given a polished shield. By looking at her image in the shield he avoid looking at her directly
From her severed torso Pegasus and Chrysaor sprang forth.
Image from Wikipedia

Climate Change : Quo Vadis?

Too little, too late, another irritating post on Climate Change
The whole weekend I was bombarded by “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” on TV. Virtually every station had something to say. From Sky, CNN, BBC, EuroNews, SABC, Discovery, ad infinitum. And with good reason. What amazes me is that it is all about creating awareness. Bit late for that. We should have passed that milestone a long time ago. Gigs in the park, leaving the SUV at home on Sundays and walking 500 metres to the local deli for the newspaper and a packet of fags is worth diddly squat. It’s too late for lip service.
I am tired of being told that I am a Doomsday Prophet. I am negative, alarmist, will not happen in my lifetime, etc. It is happening now the evidence is there. Just have a look around, those who refuse to see will remain blind.
Governments are not going to do anything meaningful, nada, nothing, zilch and zero. The bottom line is that to bring “things” back into balance, the global economic growth, (as in use of natural resources and production rates), will have to slow down significantly, maybe even drastically. No Government is going to do that. If one Government backs off another will take advantage of resources that become available, to their advantage. No individual or groups of individuals will change this. It is in Mans nature to develop and grow.
Climate Change is a symptom, increased population and production with the effect they have on the environment are the causes.
Malthus was one of the Classical Economists who theorized that there is a balance between resources and population. When population outstrips resources, terrible things happen, that restore the balance. Ever since Malthus published his theory it has been ridiculed and negated. But I find it strange that even today academics find it necessary to prove him wrong. The Big Picture remains the same.
The cynic in me says that nothing pre-emptive will be done on a global scale. We will let mother nature take her course and manage the disasters as they happen. As another cynic said, “we are all part of evolution, and those of us left, will adapt with the changes”.
That sums it up, and I have made peace with that.
Climate is an angry beast, and we are poking it with sticks". W.S. Broecker

Crazy Kids #2 : Apprentice Hells Angel

This picture begs for a caption. Give it a go!!