James Hauenstein's Blog, page 13

Why?

Ask yourself.What am I missing from my TV screen that will change the world?Nothing!Yet, a Japanese scientist has come of with a brand new feature you will all be licking your chops for!A Lickable TV screen!Now all those cooking shows you watch will be more meaningful.TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A Japanese professor has developed a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate food flavours, another step towards creating a multi-sensory viewing experience. The device, called Taste the TV (TTTV), uses a carousel of 10 flavour canisters that spray in combination to create the taste of a particular food. The flavour sample then rolls on hygienic film over a flat TV screen for the viewer to try. In the COVID-19 era, this kind of technology can enhance the way people connect and interact with the outside world, said Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita. "The goal is to make it possible for people to have the experience of something like eating at a restaurant on the other side of the world, even while staying at home," he said. By Rikako Murayama and Rocky SwiftWait a minute?If everyone in my house is licking the TV,will I get there colds, flue, or COVID viruses?If I wipe the screen with Clorox if the person before has licked it,will I be poisoned?
 My question is,what will the Porn Industry do with this feature? This is,I've Heard About Smell-O-VisionAnd AromaRama Which Failed MiserablyBut Tasting Your TV Screen?Jim Hauenstein
And,
“Television is the soma of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.”
- Robert MacNeil - That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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I Believe My Scientific Methods And Explanations Are Sound

If you are aReligious Person,you certainly do not believeor agree withDarwinism.Right now,I am having a real hard time believing in it myself,when I am told that this is my long lost relative. I did know people who had acne this bad inHigh Schooland others who had aBig Mouth,but nobody was thatGreenwith envy.
Bag-like sea creature was humans' oldest known ancestor. "A tiny sea creature identified from fossils found in China may be the earliest known step on an evolutionary path that eventually led to the emergence of humans." From Saint John's College, University of Cambridge
Let's take a look at why theResearcherssay thisMicroscopic-Sea-Bag-Creatureis our long lostAncestor.
"Named Saccorhytus, after the sack-like features created by its elliptical body and large mouth, the species is new to science and was identified from micro-fossils found in China. It is thought to be the most primitive example of a so-called deuterostome -- a broad biological category that encompasses a number of sub-groups, including the vertebrates."
Do you see our first clue?Deuterostome.Which is;A mouth that develops separately from the blastopore.Yes,blastopore is associated with the digestive track.So,since it has a mouthand food doesn't get blasted straight threw the microbe,it resembles us?
"Modern humans are, however, unlikely to perceive much by way of a family resemblance. Saccorhytus was about a millimeter in size, and probably lived between grains of sand on the seabed. Its features were spectacularly preserved in the fossil record -- and intriguingly, the researchers were unable to find any evidence that the animal had an anus."
That explanation won't do.Without an ass,how can humanity becomeAsinine?
"Most other early deuterostome groups are from about 510 to 520 million years ago, when they had already begun to diversify into not just the vertebrates, but the sea squirts, echinoderms (animals such as starfish and sea urchins) and hemichordates (a group including things like acorn worms). This level of diversity has made it extremely difficult to work out what an earlier, common ancestor might have looked like."
Now I had enough already.Sea Squirtsand I are related?"Sea squirts have a tunic, or test, which attaches to a substrate."
What?If I had to wear aTunicall day I would beTestytoo!And just because I am overSixty-Years-Oldand hold myMother'shand,does not mean I have beenSubstrateorSubdued.I just feel secure when I do it.
"Sea squirts have two siphons - an inhalant siphon, which they use to pull water into their body, and an exhalant siphon, which they use to expel water and wastes. When disturbed, a sea squirt may eject water from its siphon, which is how this creature got its name. If you remove a sea squirt from the water, you may get a wet surprise!"
By Jennifer Kennedy Marine Life Expert for about education.com I guess that does sound like relatives of mine.But only on myWife'sside of the family.They are alwaysSquirtingandBlastoporingall over the house when they come to visit.  And then I have to clean it up!
This is,I Am No Biologist,But I Believe My Scientific Methods,And Explanations Are Sound.Jim Hauenstein,
And,
“These mysteries about how we evolved should not distract us from the indisputable fact that we did evolve.”
- Jerry A. Coyne - That is my story and I am sticking to it! Like what you are reading,or do not like what you see.Set up my Blog as your Homepage,or sign up as a Follower,or leave a Comment,or a Suggestion,and I will answer you in a Post. Thanks for reading.

 

Unconsciousness

"Hello? Is anyone there?"
"I don't understand where I am?"
"Everything around me is complete darkness."
"Except."
"Except for this egg shape bubble of white light which surrounds me."
"I can't see any beams of light from above, illuminating this area and I don't see anyway for the light to be coming upwards from the floor either."
"But, when I move, the surrounding light moves with me."
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

Frustration hits me and I scream, "Is this some kind of joke?"
"Is someone playing a joke on me?"
"Am I in a huge warehouse? Or maybe in a large aircraft hanger?"

Nothing. Not a sound. Maybe if I keep talking.

 "When I walk, in any one direction, I never seem to reach a wall. I never reach the end. The floor seems like cement, when I walk on it, but I cannot touch it directly through the bubble. It doesn't feel cold like cement can get at night. When I try hitting it with my knuckles, my fingers don't hurt. Why? What is this place?"

"I have had enough! I am going to sit right here until whomever is playing this joke on me is bored and turns on the lights and shows me who they are!"

Well, shouting doesn't seem to make a difference. I would like to know who is doing this to me. I wish I had a watch with me. I cannot, for the life of me, tell if I have been sitting here for five minutes, or five hours. I am neither thirsty, nor hungry. I am neither tired, nor energetic. I am, I am just, just here.

"This has gone on long enough!" I demand. "Can anyone hear me."
"Please. I'm scared. If I'm sleeping, I want to wake up.....

"You want to wake up you say?" interrupts a familiar sounding voice. "Are you sure?"

It's my voice. Somebody is copying my voice to a T. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The voice says, "I am happiness. I am anger. I am emotional. I am rational. I am your memories, your hopes, your dreams. I am you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask.

It's as if the impersonator doesn't want to hear my last question and it answers my second query of, "What do you want?"

"I want what you want. I want what we both want."

"And what is that?" I ask.

"I want the passion back, that I felt for my wife, when I first met her. I want her to come back to life. I want to be a better husband, a better father. I want my children to grow up happy. I want to stop worrying about the future. I want to be contended with where I am in my life right now."

"So you think I am unhappy?" I ask the voice. 

There was a long moment of silence. 

So I ask the voice, "Is my family OK? Are they alright?'

"Not if you stay here. Not if you don't want to wake up."

"What are you talking about?"

"Listen," it says. "Listen closely." 

At first nothing. And then. 

"Those are my children voices. They are crying. They keep calling my name, asking me to wake up. Wake up from what?" I ask.

"Now it's your choice." says the voice. "You can either sleep now, restfully. Be contented with the life you had, and travel on to your next journey in blissful peace, or."

The voice pauses, giving me time to think about what it has just said.

Then, "Or, you can wake up and go back to the world you once knew. To your  children, watching them grow older, while you get older still." 

I knew the voice would pause at this point so I could give him my answer. 

"I want to go home, to my family. They need me and I need them."

"Okay then," says a more jovial voice. "Just listen to your children's voices and follow them."

I get up and start walking towards the familiar voices, and as I do, the egg shape bubble of white light grows bigger and bigger. Until it, pops!
This is,Last Night's Dream, As If I Was In A Coma.Thank God It Wasn't True.Or Was It?Jim Hauenstein,
And,

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”

- Mahatma Gandhi - That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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Warning; Severe Weather Coming To Virginia

While I was traveling across America for two months I had perfect weather along the way.The only poor driving weather was in Northern Arizona when it snowed.Now the Governor of Virginia Declared a state of emergency for this coming weekend! 
The weather was fine when I was there around Christmas time. Not all situations on my vacation were safe ones.Here I am right before being knockout by a Christmas tree in Wisconsin. Being influenced by my brotherand his gang of marauders at a bar,while watching the Packer game, But not all was lost.Because I got to hold onto my new granddaughter. Whatever happened to my hair? This is,Going To Be Doing A Little Remodeling Tomorrow So I Will Be Back On Saturday.Don't Let That Stop You From Reading All The Wonderful Stuff I Have On This BlogJim Hauenstein And, “Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life”
- Michael Palin - That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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What Did I Say?

Did I make it sound on my last post that I was going to try to write everyday? I know it's hard to see but if expand this picture there are deer in front of the trees.This is in Grant Park in South Milwaukee.There were never deer in the park when I lived there or I would have hunted them down with my little plastic bow and arrow when I was a kid! Now where was I?Oh yes.I was talking about how I was going to write on my Blog everyday after I got back from my two months of vacation. Part of the old gang.Well,the good looking ones at least.
I really wanted to stretch this picture until I looked skinny.Of course,I'm the one in the middle.It turns out I needed to rest from my vacationand didn't have the gumption to write!All that traveling put a toll on me and I ended up gaining about 25 pounds! I know,I carry all that weight welland I'm so good looking too!
Go Packers!  Picture of my Dad standing next to the statue of the wrestler
The Crusher!If you expand this picture you will see on the statue's belt the phrase:World Heavyweight ChampionThe CrusherThe Man That Made Milwaukee Famous.You will also see that at the age of 96 my Dad still has all of his own teeth! I do have an idea for a new short story I have been thinking about.Unlike most writers who know what they are doing,I have to think about a story for awhile,then one night I'll dream about it and I'll have a new short story.I'm also editing a Novella I have been working onand hopefully will publish it in Amazon Books by this summer. This is,Hoping YouAnd Your Family Had A Great Holiday SeasonJim Hauenstein And, “It's not about presents but it is about your presence. Therein lies the spirit of the holiday season.”
- Julieanne O'Connor - 
That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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Family Is Important To Me

I'm back!  (Motion detector camera outside my sister's house.)
I was traveling around the country for the past two monthsand I have some photos I will be sharing with you for the next few days. The top three pictures are from Pittsville, Wisconsin.
These three are from Cadillac Ranch in Texas where everyone gets to spray paint whatever they want on half buried Cadillacs. I want to mention that I am sorry that I wasn't able to visit everyone this time around. There just wasn't enough time since I had to visit my family. We were in Wisconsin, Ohio, Philadelphia, Virginia, and our final stop at Marietta, Georgia.I had a great timeand I wish I had more time to be with friends.Family has to come first I'm afraid but I will be backand I will try to visit as many friends as I can on each trip I take to Wisconsin. Happy New Year Everyoneand stay safe! This is,A Proud Papa Of Seven ChildrenA Proud Grandpa Of Fourteen GrandchildrenandA Proud Great-Grandpa Of Two Great GrandchildrenJim Hauenstein And, “Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn't mean to take.”
- Angela N. Blount - That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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Valleys And Hills Of Life

   I'm sure you all know that life is a journey of valleys and hills. My metaphor of having ups and downs which happens to us all. But the metaphor has a deeper meaning than just saying up and down. Valleys are usually seen as beautiful places with rich vegetation and wildlife. Top of the hill has been synonymous with success. So instead of ups, where things might be going good for you at the time, and down, where things start going bad for you, look at life as a series of valleys and hills. Valleys are a low point but they also mean there is opportunity coming, lessons that can be learned for improvement, and for your future looking brighter because you will soon be on your way up again. Being on top of the hill means you will eventually start heading down towards the valley but if you prepare and take life in stride you will always be heading back up.   Why am I telling you this? Because my last post depicted me in the lowest part of my valley. I was forgetting about how I will soon be on my way up. And it has happened. I am once again the proud grand-papa of a baby girl.    I am so proud of my eldest daughter who decided this baby girl's middle name should be that of her motherand my wife,Julieta! This is,I Am So Proud Of All Of My ChildrenJim Hauenstein
And,
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
- Albert Einstein -  That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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The Holidays Are Here And It Is Tough

 I just want to let everyone know this is my first time going through the Holidays after my wife died earlier this year.  The Holidays in our house starts with Halloween and runs through New years Eve. I will write as much as I can when I can but right now I'm struggling with motivation.This is,I Spent The Last Thirty Years With JulietaJim Hauenstein And, “We should always be grateful for the faults in our partner because if they didn't have those faults from the start, they would have been able to marry someone much better than us”
- Ajahn Brahm - 
That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
            Only this and nothing more.”

    Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
    Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
    From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
            Nameless here for evermore.

    And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
    So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
    “’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
            This it is and nothing more.”

    Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
    But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
    And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—
            Darkness there and nothing more.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
    But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
    And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—
            Merely this and nothing more.

    Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
    “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
      Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
            ’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

    Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
    But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
            Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
    For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
    Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
            With such name as “Nevermore.”

    But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
    Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
    Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
            Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

    Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store
    Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
    Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
            Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”

    But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
    Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
    Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
            Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

    This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
    This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
    On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,    
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

    Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
    “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
    Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
    Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
    On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
    Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
    It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
    Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
    Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
    And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
    And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
            Shall be lifted—nevermore!

This is,One Of My Favorite Poems Of All TimeAnd One Of My Favorite WritersJim Hauenstein, And, “Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence.”
- Edgar Allan Poe - That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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Read Terrifying Stories And Poetry

Reprising my Post Eve Of Halloween.
From October 30th of the most frightful year of all.2020*****
Yes,it is the day beforeHalloweenwhen people who celebrate theDay Of The Deadbegin the ritual of scaring themselvesand their loved ones with storiesand poetry of the macabre.Trick-or-Treating is tomorrow and I plan on reading theRavenbyEdgar Allen Poeout loud to the kids who knock on my door,watching all theTree House Of Horrorepisodes from theSimpsons,and covering my eyes when my kids put on theSquid GameonNetflix.If you are like me,reading terrifying storiesand poetry is far more entertaining to the mind then watching all the special effectsHollywoodcan cook up.So,for your weekend pleasure,here are some links to frightfulPoemsand scaryStories. Poetry*****
 Vegetarian ZombieThe Curse Of Being A Vampire1800 Aussie Ghost Story Stories*****Tic Toc Toc - A Horror Story The Refrigerator Hacker Kingfisher - A Flash Fiction Story And The Child They Love - A Flash Fiction Story Did It Hear Me - A Flash Fiction Story 21st Century Way of Talking to the Dead  A-L-I-V - A Short Story This is,There Is Plenty More Where That Came From Under The Headings Of Poetry And Short Stories & Flash FictionJim Hauenstein And, “Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog,  adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing.
For a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn, and caldron bubble.”
- William Shakespeare - That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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I'll Be Seeing You