The Golden Throne

It's tradition for US presidents to borrow famous artwork from museums in order to decorate the White House.  The Trumps requested to borrow a Vincent Van Gogh painting from the Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.  The president and first lady reportedly hoped to display it in the Oval Office.   

The Guggenheim's chief curator declined the request.  Instead, she offered an 18-karat solid gold toilet by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Called "America," the modern sculpture was on display at the museum for a year starting in September 2016.   

Naturally, Trump supporters have their noses out of joint over what they decry as a crass, tasteless and degrading reponse to the current occupant of the Whitehouse.

I call BS.  Crass is as crass does.  Guggenheim is simply dishing the POTUS a dose of his own medicine.   As far as commodes go this golden throne is certainly an appropriate platform from which to perform your morning tweeting.  

You can learn more about this dust-up here.

Friday Music

The British rock band - The Yardbirds - formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja and Paul Samwell-Smith on bass. They worked with a number of lead guitarists – and launched the careers of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck - all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. 

1965 Heart Full of Soul was the Yardbirds' first single after Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton as lead guitarist.  The song reached the top ten on the charts in both the UK and the US.

Deer!

Not the best photo in the neighborhood as the deer are a quarter mile distant and a hurried shot with an iPhone from the vehicle.

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Location:  Top of hill on Swamp looking east.  Just shy of 4:30 PM today.

We killed fourteen deer last season a half mile distant to the east of the woods on the far horizon.  In this photo are fourteen surviving deer.  One can only wonder how many are hidden in the cover.

Mind-boggling amazing...

 

Personal Finance Simplified

Daughter and son-in-law are raising the grandson with the correct financial acumen balanced by excellent values.  Some adults might benefit from something this simple...

War Horror

Jill nailed it.   

Definitely not a film about the war in Vietnam as much as a fictional horror movie set in Vietnam and Cambodia cast with a collection of misfit, drug-addled actors. 

It has been decades - yet after two runs of evening viewing we got thru the ENTIRE 4 hours and 49 minutes of the Redux version. 

No less disturbing.

Yeesh...

The Girls

Trail camera photos from a hike on Saturday.

The Dowager Retriever



And the Blonde Bomber

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Oil or Paper?

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Styrofoam, is a product made from a non-renewable resource - petro-chemicals.  It is just about impossible to recycle and usually ends-up in a landfill taking a minimum of 20 generations (500 years) to biodegrade.  Furthermore, when it inevitably breaks down into smaller pieces it can wreak further harm when ingested by animal life.   

The container featured in the photo holds chicken wings.  After a short zap in the microwave it will become repurposed lunch the next day.  This box is manufactured of paper fiber - a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees.  In a perfect world it would be made from 100 percent recycled paper content which means that no additional trees were used to make it.  Recycled paper saves energy, landfill space and reduces pollution in the water and air.  Yet even if it is made from mixed content (new and recycled fiber) there is no getting around the fact that it happens to be a paper product.  And it bears repeating that paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees.   

That means that I can discard it in my compost pile.  Under optimal conditions in ten days to two weeks it would be gone.   

On balance is a styrofoam container a more earth-friendly choice?  Or is the paper product?  I know where I come down on the issue and I made a point of telling the proprietor of the restaurant that I appreciated her thoughtful choice of to-go containers.  It never hurts to politely reward smart choices and educate to change hearts and minds.    Business Insider has more about this subject here.