It’s more than a chip from the old block so they speak could be the worlds finest potato chip

 A CHIP FROM THE OLD BLOCK?   

When I was. Young (and my heart was never an open book) there were many things I could count on.  Playing out in the yard where one block of the sidewalk was first base, a swing set pole was second, a flowering bush was third and a bare spot meant another run in the 37 to 34 barn Varner  was home became the site of day-long ball games interrupted only for lunch was one of those things.  Lunch was without exception a peanut butter sandwich a cup of colored sugar water known as Koool-aid  and from the big bowl a handful of Sterzing’s potato chips.  When the long summer turned to school days and we came home for lunch or took our mid-day feast in a brown  bag  there was probably milk delivered from the Sunshine  Dairy and sometimes  at home some Campbells Chicken noodle soup....but there was always that handful of Sterzings...

Now this blog has featured potato chips before  so we won’t belabor  the histor of this uniquely American food and the fact they originated because a customer  complained that  his potato’s weren’t sliced thin enough so the cook got irritated  and sliced some really thin.  Sometims necessity isn’t the mother of invention so much as a well-aimed middle finger to a whiner.  It is, however, worth stating that some chips were. Local and for  some folks they became. Part of how a community  is defined.   It happens with other foods too.  Have  you ever heard of a Philly cheese steak, a New York strip, Texas Toast, or Long Island Iced Tea?  Well that’s because people started and continue to identify  those things with a feeling  of home, of location, of culture.  It’s because  the natives  of a region, a community, etc..identify that thing a as part of  the toolkit used to bring meaning to their cherished experiences.  

Peace and Joy and Sterzing’s  Chips

Down below there is a link to. A podcast featuring Craig Smith the President of Sterzing’s  Foods and he describes the ways  this food  became a part and remains a part of the culture of Burlington Iowa, Southeast Iowa and for some folks far beyond.   It brings light to the idea that intentional actions are at pla.  There are elements in every community  that lead to traditions and rituals that don’t happen at the fairgrounds or on the waterfront—they happen  at kitchen tables, in campgrounds, during picnics and while sipping one’s favorite adult beverages.  They are quiet and a little crunchy celebrations of events that say “I’m going to remember the best of my childhood—I’m going to persist in  believing that my neighbors care enough to build or maintain  a foundation for  my memories.  These customs and traditions let us experiment with new experiences and  come back to a solid place if we step in some quicksand.  In short they give us  some sense of stability  know matter where we choose to cut new paths either alone or with others.  When we have some symbols even those that come in  a yellow bag (maybe green too?)  with red letters  we can reach out and learn that we  can find the right path for us and still understand that there. Can be many paths.  

Anyway seeking peace and joy  often means finding the traditions where you are and when you are there...using. These to build meanings and understand the meanings others bring to their world.  Sterzing’s are part of how I bring meaning to  my experiences of lunch, family, and community just as certain as Tulip Time  brings meaning to Holland Michigan and Pella Iowa or the Butter Cow is a monument  at the most famous state fair  in the known.universe...the Iowa State Fair.  

So find some traditions or start building some...these are the tools of seeking peace and joy that we can do with a purpose.   Either that or  just get your hands on some Sterzing’s, build some memories or let some good ones float into your world for a few. Minutes.... 

y

https://peaceandjoy505.libsyn.com/sterzings-a-chip-from-the-old-block

This or that yes or no?

 NOT  JUST THIS OR THAT

Would  you prefer a dog or cat?

A small umbrella or a hat?

Republican or Democrat?Are you this or are you that?

Real whipped cream or zero fat?

Just relax or demand it stat

Play  a “tele” or a strat

Are you this or are  you that?Swing a club or swing a bat?

At pesky flies or swarming gnat

Have plain skin or get a tat

Are you this or are you that

Land with grace or just go splat

Wash at home or laundry mat

Will you be nice or Be a brat

Are you this  or are you that?  Will you take a hit or stand pat

Did you stand when others sat

Is forcing extremes  where it’s at?

Are you always this and Never that?

Well some folks like black and some people like white .... but the compromise  is rarely gray... as we go post pandemic  maybe we can choose many roads and  try not to bounce each. Other off the side rails with labels.... 

Just  a thought....

Everything but… Well maybe everything

 EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK....

SO ..... Tomorrow will mark the 31 month anniversary. Of this blog.   It all started by reading a simple sentence that said  writing for about three minutes in the morning would  help a person reach  some type of insights and a bit of tranquility.  I though “three minutes? Hell it takes me three minutes to put on my shoes—let’s give it a try”. Well some 31 months  later  I’ve followed  my stream of consciousness over boulders of trivia, history, philosophy, and personal spiritual debates.  I was reviewing  this month’s entries and my relentless curiosity pulled me by the ear into a flawed  mental review. Of all the topics  my writing has touched upon... and not one individual reader will ever know how grateful I am that some of you have come along and read this stuff....mostly you’ll never know because I’m rotten at saying. Thanks.  

The trip down memory lane reminded me that there are some places I want to stop back at and there a few I don’t want to visit again, however a phrase came to mind and it’s where I’m going today.... 

This blog has covered about  “everything but the kitchen sink.”  Well not after  today ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages...

The Kitchen.Sink and beyond?   

Many houses  we live in today were built without. A kitchen sink or plumbing that didn’t go into the house at all.  Wash tubs were filled from an outdoor. Pump and the wash tub was used for dishes, laundry, scrubbing floors and all types of things.  Then  in about 1900 (less than 125 years ago) indoor plumbing started to become popular and was brought into the kitchen where a kitchen sink was constructed  with  special considerations being made for the female who was going to use it.  There were no “kitchen counters”  so the sink was. A single free standing  unit.  Now these sinks were. Usually formed so that the chief  dishwasher person could use them without bending too had and so that things could  be place on a nearby  table our stack of dishes after being washed.  The kitchen sink became  a standard feature  in most  homes by 1930.  Okay, but along came a World War less than 20 years later and kitchens were advancing  —now how are these things related?  During the War to end all wars communities. Had metal drives to support the war effort where households were asked to donate absolutely any  nonessential  metal.  Citizens were asked to donate “everything but the kitchen sink.”  

Well soon  there were counter tops and two sided sinks became popular (one side for washing/one for rinsing).  Other appliances were now being used to do laundry and flooors.  Most baby boomers and older folks grew up in homes where a common childhood chore was  washing or drying dishes but then.... then came the dis washer.  

Well the history of the dishwasher  includes a hand cranked model  in the 1850s... but that didn’t catch on.  Then a rich lady who got tired of servants chipping her fine china had her engineer husband design what would become the first automated commercial units.  Of course only rich people and restaurants  had these  units.  In the 1950s as few units started making their way into American homes.  These units finally became more affordable and more efficient.  Modern dishwashers now actually are more environmentally  friendly than using your kitchen sink in many cases.  .

So...what’s next in dishwashers...who knows...sonic food removal... let’s  just wait and see... 

The Pewace and Joy. Of pondering  the kitchen sink...

I guess I believe we’ll need a bathroom sink for a long time... The kitchen sink?  Well maybe not... We have moved  from no kitchen sink to a modified  design and now the task that these sinks were designed for is changing. And all in  about  150 years.  In the history of mankind 150 years isn’t even a blink of a very slow eye moving in slow motion.  So what? 

Well you see many of us get anxious when seeking peace and joy means making changes.  There is a lot of anxiousness surrounding technology.  However, I almost never hear about  people worrying  when it comes to kitchen sinks and the changes we have gone through right?  Maybe when we consider exploring life changes we could ponder  the kitchen sink and not get too frightened as we focus on the purpose of the changes we would like to see?  well  it’s time to pull the stopper and let  this entry. Go down the drain.... 

Spaced out? Not a bad thing?

 SOMETIMES BEING A PIONEER. CAN BE FAR OUT MAN....

This weekend marked the  anniversary. Of the launch  of Pioneer 10.  This  is a space probe/satellite and between  Pioneer 10 and 11 there are some remarkable things we have  learned about Jupiter and Saturn.  Not only that we are sending these two probes “far out” so to speak.  P-10 gave us our first “up-close” look at Jupiter and then kept right on going.... It is one of five  earth-made objects to leave  our solar system and If it stays on target it will reach/crash into  a star named Aldebaran ...but not right away like in 2 million years.  So why does  this thing  take so long to get there?  Is it traveling slowly?  It barely creeps along ahaving a maximum speed of a mere 82,020 miles per hour.  To give this a little further perspective ... this would be going back and forth across the United States 240 times in one day if you didn’t have to stop  for  a bathroom break or to buy  that fuzzy dice key chain stop the mega-truck stop on I-80 near Wilton, Iowa.  

Now Pioneer 11 (P-11).also took a look at Jupiter and then did a slingshot move and rocketed over to Saturn.  It achieved similar speeds and left the solar system.  Now we. Aren’t quite certain where this eventually encounter another stellar body.  There’s a star in Sagittarius that might connect some 4 million years from now.  

If humans could send these things out to get pictures of planets 50 years ago, why are we so shocked that our friend got a picture of us  holding one too many beers at that party last week. And they were only 8 feet away?  Oh and why are we amazed that Google Earth. Can give us a photo of our roof from space?   Now another fascinating fact about these two probes is that they completed their missions quite sometime ago and yet they kept sending data (doing  what matched their intended. Purpose)  for quite some time past the time NASA expected.  Each has now finished sending data, however. They carry messages for distant solar systems just in case they meet some interesting  E.T.  Out there.

What’s the “seeking Peace and Joy” connection?  

First these are experiments to learn new things.  Next they had an initial purpose, yet once they checked it out they found there was so much more  in the universe that they could observe and draw meaning from.  Oh and they are still moving out there to deliver a message and they have moved far beyond  wwhat was expected.  It’s that way with seeking peace and joy and passing along information.... you may find what what you were looking for and then want more and the universe will often provide you an endless supply of knowledge or  at least a couple million years worth.  In seeking peace and joy, you provide  or walk along  someone  to support. Someone with knowledge and in the future you carry a message  further. And further and though you aren’t quite sure  of the ultimate  outcome some amazing things can  happen  along the way.  

Okay ... it’s time  for me to go where  a few people have gone before... to cook dinner...so..I need to blast off.   The next few entries  will be multimedia commentaries about tech as a blesssing and a curse and  what post-corona notions. Might matter in the  peace and joy world....

Until then  let’s  aim for the first star to the right and engage.   

Sore throat?

 LIFE: IT’S NOT. LIKE A GIRAFFE WITH A SORE THROAT

Maybe it’s a little warmer out than some would like and maybe the humidity is peaking a bit above the 50% mark...well it’s summer so remember this when your glasses fog over coming in from the cold....Let’s face it. This weather isn’t that bad....you could be a giraffe  with a sore throat.  

Well we’ll get to the giraffe thing in a minute,yet that’s not the whole “seeking peace and joy” message here so before we visit the zoo....let’s back up the little train that goes around it for a second.  

Did you notice the opening did two. Things  that are designed to discount your sense of  right here and right now?  This happens to us all the time and over time  the impact is as subtle as a marching band in a monastery.  

First i said not to complain because  there’s a different weather condition you  may be more annoyed with and then I said you should feel okay because  someone (okay a giraffe) could have it worse off than you.  

It’s important to point this out because we often lose our sense of the here and now when other folks pull us into the comparison  game.  There’s a comedy  act that starts with We were so. Poor  we had no carpet anywhere in. Our house.  We only had wood floors... The comedy partner says  You had floors?  The first comedian says yes but we had really crappy  shoes and the wood gave us splinters and blisters...of course the  second comedian says —You had feet?

You see the comparison game always discounts  the experience and what might be learned from it or what understanding. Might be shared by  trying to externally modify its meaning.  

Second  if we look at the comparison model and then keep looking for someone who has it worse off it increases the need and frequency. Of developing. The need to feel superior  to someone else.  It leads to sympathy sometimes and hurt rarely leads to sympathy’s stronger cousin—empathy.  

Okay psychology. Lesson over...let’s talk giraffes

They. Are the tallest  animals. On the ground/earth with  legs that. Are often six feet tall...They are so tall that their long, long, necks cannot reach the ground  so when they don’t get enough moisture from the vegetation  they gobblethey must bend their front legs in a very awkward manner in order to hit the watering hole.  The giraffe  doesn’t have to look around. To see how they look compared to. Others.  The spot pattern on each adult is like a human fingerprint, absolutely unique.  I guess  teen-age giraffes don’t have to text each other to see what everybody is wearing or listening to.... they aren’t going to be copying  anyone.  

Giraffes can run for miles. At 10 miles per hour and when they want to crank it up they tilt  the radar gun around  35mph.   Oh and if you are  of a certain  age and up in the night to use the bathroom and get annoyed at how little sleep you get (comparison warning)  these bad boys and girls gsleep standing up and sleep between 5 and 30 minutes a day.  

Oh and the giraffes have no choice they are pretty much always sticking their necks out—right?  

Well  to sum up... living an experience often means avoiding the comparison game.  Maybe we could channel our inner giraffe and be comfortable with our uniqueness and find some peace there.  Giraffes find there  nourishment  by sticking. Their neck out and  maybe we could  enhance the process of seeking  peace and joy by “sticking our neck out” or taking some risks and experimenting?

Okay that’s all from the zoo...

Summer is just starting don’t get strung out?

 PULLING SOME “STRINGS” ANDGETTING INTO THE WEEDS

Summer is fully upon us now and it means picnics, camping, the beach, cold adult beverages etc.etc.etc...and of course amnesia.   Amnesia?  Well it seems every year a substantial percentage. Of people forget how to drive  in snow or sleet every summer and so there. Must be some form of summer forget functions at play.  

Yet  all is not sunshine and rainbows when it comes to the season of sol...Summer  brings with it that almost endless supply of uninvited greenery that we commonly call WEEDS.

Now about 50 years ago  someone  got really tired of kneeling down with a knife or bare hands and pullling, pulling, pulling.  They thought and thought and thought and finally decided there could be this  machine that would whip a chord around at mind blowing speed and that this chord would decapitate the unwanted ground cover.  ....And all was well—-or. Maybe not.  

You see this chord had to be light enough for the motor to generate. Enough rpm to spin a cutting head and while wire whips could have been light enough they would get caught on chain link fencing and tear up wood trim.  They could spark on stone or concrete etc. so wire chord or metal blades in general wouldn’t be idea.  So yes...plastic was the ticket.  

Of course the weed eater...weed whacked...or just plain string trimmer got popular in a hurry and people ...more people buy them each year at the rate of about  10 million more each year and estimates are that there are over 100 million  in existence in the US  right now ‘Existence” being the key word.  Notice  no claim was made. About how many  are in use?  

You see anyone who has ever spent much time with. These modern marvels will tell you about their ingenious nearly fatal flaw—the trimmer. Line and spool assembly.  

We won’t spend too much time on the spool assembly except for stating these are not the same from brand to brand.  While  most of the assemblies are not. Too difficult to attach and then put  back onto the main device, almost every manufacturer has managed to include one or more  small fragile plastic pieces in the head that spins at hyper speeds guaranteeing that if something  falls off it will  be launched  in a random direction into a busy street, hedge or if it is a green or black part it will definitely  land somewhere in the grass or in the patch of weeds you were whacking.  Since these  spool assemblies  are often  build to “float” or automatically feed more string they regularly contain a spring that is essential to the operation of the device and prone to bounce away every time the trimmer line is replaced.   Okay lets review so far... We have these devices that  do a fine job of whipping weeds, yet the companies should technological leadership for the rest of the technology. Sector by producing small essential parts that only their brand  uses and that are easily lost.  They sold these tech secrets  for the cell phone industry making it a certainty that no two devices use the same charger and adapters for all the possible functions.  

Okay now the trimmer line...First of all because these things were to be used by men there was a need to make some bigger and stronger. Than others so that  we could brag about  having a bigger one or a longer one..or something like that and with that we needed. All sorts of different trimmer line.  Some  trimmer line is thinner and more of it can fit  on spoools that hold varying amounts.  Some spools allow for two lines and some  are single liners.  Some Easters allow more than one size chord, but now many.   Now with rare exception this line regardless of its thickness is made from extruded plastic—which is plastics that has been heated and stretched.  Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist. To figure out that a spool  spin nil at high revolutions and encountering  friction may creat heat—and you guessed it... the plastic chords are heated just to the point where the outer edges  melt slightly and cause the merger of the chord/string.  Then the hot spool can no longer release  the chord as designed when. It gets chipped away by the weeds/fence/your boot/your neighbor’s annoying cat—oh wait..other yard obstacles.  

So then you stand in your yard  with  your whackerin hand removing the spool  parts.  You  spend the five minuted needed to find the parts that. Have bounced around. Your yard and  the extra minute admiring the string of swear  words you have just used in a linguistically artful combination... and then you either  use a store bought replacement spool which costs  about as much per inch as prize Manhattan real estate or any sort of plastic surgery.  Or you may buy  just replacement  line and wrap the  existing spool  on your own hoping  that you have done this in  they right direction or the chord. Will not travel in the direction needed  and your likelihood of success will then equal. The likelihood that GPS technology or navigation technology  will ever be named after the Donner. Party.  

So. Now let’s say we have this  plastic  war weed warrior spinning and doing it’s job and that includes the little pieces of chord flying off into the years when  need be.  What  happens to this plastic?  Rumor has it that  the plastic flies into some dark hole and attaches to the socks that disapppear into an alternative universe where honest politicians  find all the socks that disappear along with all the checks that are in the  mail and where all your calls are really important to us.  Well... seriously no ne has ever really considere what happens to the plastic.  Maybe small animals and  birds eat it which would explain how you never see a “Plastic pink flamingo factory” and yet you see a lot of them.  I know there is a lot of plastic  in our oceans so some of it may go there...who knows?  

Alright what’s this have to do with Peace and Joy?  Well it seems that we do need to do something about some weeds as they can dominate. Our pathways and impact our serenity and yet before  whacking away  maybe we can consider that universe puts some of them  there  for a purpose that we might not  grasp.  Maybe  they are a home for butterflies and hummingbirds?  Maybe when they die in the winter they add nutrients to the  ground so that. In some future world a strong oak tree can  make roots that support the glorious trees in future firsts and furnishings.  

You see seeking. Peace and joy and life are not. Always that simple and maybe we should just  get down on our hands and knees a bit  and let nature reveal itself a little more.  

Enjoy Summer!

 

Has anybody seen my old friend Bobby?

  Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?

Well in the “seeking  peace and joy world...there may be a reasonable argument for  using the proper  title of the RFK principle.  That is to say in  a spiritual and mental space where hard work optimisimpersistence and experimenting are. What stands for “hope” Bobby’s edict of pushing us  not to ask “why? But to look. At the world before us and ask why not?”  Seems to ring out like a weedwhacker at seven on Saturday morning.  That is to say some will be irritated if you constantly ask 

Why Not?” And others will hear. It loud and clear and be inspired.  

So it was on this day in 1968 RFK was gunned down just after winning the California primary which  probably  would have lead tow presidential run.  We will never know what that would have looked like in the arc of history...so let’s move on... 

Asking why not-points people away from “who is to blame for the troubles we have and points people. To a broad range of possible directions to move forward.  Seeing perfectly where you come from only tells you where you were and may keep you from choosing to attempt to go back whereas asking what’s possible  allows so many  more chances for working together to move  she was combining talents and honoring a wide range of dreams and purposes.  Seeking Peace and Joy seems to fit right into honoring dreams and gifts people have learned and shared.  

...And in other news....

The first commercially viable personal computer

THE APPLE II  went on sale for the first time. On this date in 1977.  This led to a worldwide  (web? No). Revolution as this tool became and continues to become  the paint brush,telephone, library, movie/music studio, and unfortunately  weapon of all connected  people and nations. Is the computer  good or evil—neither... Cp,[others don

T kill pipelines people do.  Computers don’t spread lies minds and hearts do... I will rob ably  do a whole week on the computer/phone/gaming system/ universe when it comes to peace and joy sometime  in the next. Month or so... yet for now I’ll just note I owned an Apple IIgs and  it opened up a world that still holds  a warm place in my  heart and has a direct connection to this blog... as I have used the computer to continue to learn and grow and seek connections with beautiful people and endless stores of  knowledge.  

For. Now let’s just say I look at the computer. And ask ‘why not?”  

Explore. Alternatives...believe. In possibilities... and know that the tools are often right at your fingertips if you  persist and experiment...

So here’s to the crazy. Ones—

Cars that run on alternative fuels new science question peace and joy question

  Alternative  fuel. His it really what we want?

What history  tells us

Okay we are starting to see hybrid cars, some electric only vehicles and even some self-driving  buggies out there.  One of the claims we are hearing. Is that we need to get away from fossil fuels and dependence. Upon  things like pipelines and oil tankers etc.  Well it’s not like  pipelines can cause any social. And political  or environmental controversy—right?  And. Large ships going through small man made canals haven’t ever been muchof a headache—right?  

So having  brought this to light it seems that  the relatively new concept of creating fuel from renewable biofuels doesn’t seem  all that radical.  Well...before we go praising  our modern  thinking...let’s get some facts about our automotive history.  

Yesterday marks the anniversary  of the halt  in production. Of what is probably America’s most famous antique car and the one that put moving assembly line manufacturing on the map—in 1927 Ford rolled out it’s  last Model T.

Here are some things. We think we know about. Ford’s Model T.

Ford did say  you can have a Model T in any color you’d like as long as it’s black...and yet for the first six years of it’s production you could get a model T in some other colors including green and red.  It was only when Ford wanted. To make the3 assembly line faster and cars more affordable that the color restrictions came in.  Also Olds—the car company had the first assembly line they just didn’t make it move.  Ford got the idea from meat packing plants therefore the model T was related to the T-Bone?  

Anyway ... we will get to the peace and joy and modern day implications soon...just one more diversion... 

The 1908 price of the model T was about. $800.  In 1927  the price was down to $290.  This meant many many more people could afford one.  Oh and the fuel thing.  If it hadn’t been for “STANDARD OIL”  being a monopoly driving the price of gas ...Ford was ready to switch to a plant based biofuel such as ethanol.  Imagine if our foreign policy hadn’t been driven. By dependence upon foreign  oil or our domestic politics weren’t clouded  and fractured by debates over oil reserves, fracking, and pipelines?  Instead of Texas Oil Tycoons we might have Corn Cartels?  

So what does this have to do with seeking peace and joy?  

Choices we make in life and that purified or stripped of historic  context often become mythic and have far too  much influence on today.  Sometimes we become afraid to change because things have always even this way...well maybe?  After all  we may think there is  no greater spiritual division than. God and the Devil—-and yet... at one time Satan did work FOR. God.... Things are not what they. Always were and THEY CHANGE.  

So in seeking peace and joy it is perfectly  acceptable to use change and experiment and accept  change.  Also  history can educate but let’s not  let it dictate.  Ultimately we will make decisions and we can help each other. By making sure. That others understand them in order that  we all can learn from each other’s great ideas and mistakes.  In short it’s not  all (or only ) black and white and we can always find different  sources of energy to fuel all the  things we want to move forward in this life—even the Model % that reached a max of 20 horse power and 45 miles per hour... Oh and by the way just to end up on a final note the Model T —the American classic was modified to be a truck a saw mill power plant and grain processing  engine a mobile chapel and some other crazy variants.... So even back then we knew that standards  could be  set and bent a little for the needs of people and seeking peace...and the definition of joy has flexibility too.  

Well I must get this down the road