Remember bag phones? I do. When I got one it was the best thing in the world. Or it was but it wasn’t. You could make calls from your vehicle and if you really wanted to you could hook a battery up and sling it over your shoulder and carry it with you. The battery didn’t last long, it was heavy and wasn’t worth the trouble. There was no caller ID, no missed call alert, no nothing, just a phone. It worked great as a phone allowing you to make those calls you needed to make. It was a tool of convenience.
Today, as predicted then, your cell phone is now your do all computer, phone, text, email, internet, phone book, Twitter, Facebook, weather radar, grain market ticker and a list of apps and downloads for whatever else your into. It is your way to stay connected to the world. You can literally do everything you need to do in your office on your phone while sitting in your vehicle or café or where ever. You’re connected.
Connected. Well pardon me while I disconnect myself. If all of this “being connected” is the eight lane information super highway, when I am taking the next exit for the information super cow path. You all know what a cow path is don’t you? That little worn down dirt tail in the cow pasture, a trail with grass on both sides, an occasional cow patty in the middle of the path and beautiful scenery on both sides. Have you forgot what a cow path is?
The last few weeks, ok really off and on for the last few months I have experimented with my new bag phone. No I don’t have a real bag phone, but I have turned my Droid into a bag phone. It says in my truck. I don’t carry it when I am out of the truck or working around the farm. It says in the truck. It stays in the tractor or combine when I am working in them because it is a safety device. I have been stunned at the amount of work I can get done without my phone on me. I can work without the constant calls, emails, Twitter updates, market updates and so forth.
In short my “new” bag phone has allowed me to get blue collar work done that my white collar phone wouldn’t let me.
Now let me be clear: I have made a lot of money with my Twitter account the last two years give or take a month. Not in selling a service or product on Twitter but just in having the largest research community in the world reporting information to me that allows me to make farm decisions quicker. I don’t care about Brittney Spears or some junk like that on Twitter, I care about the dollar, grains, crude, potash and the like. Yep there is money to be made with Twitter. You have lots of people willing to share freely what they know and you have to get dialed in but there is money to be made off that info for any farming operation.
Same thing with those market and product updates sent via text message. But I don’t need play by play information taking up my day and phone call after phone call in between those Tweets or texts to keep my hands busy on the phone vs. on the work at hand. So by conscious effort, I have taken the first exit I could find off the paved eight lane super information highway and found the fist cow path I could take. I have even begun to change how I do email and have found more peace of mind in it all.
Oh I like to go to the over pass and watch the fast cars go by, but there is something, maybe more to be gained by taking the cow path.
So if you need me, send me a text, email or Tweet. Call me and leave me a message. Just as soon as I get back in the truck I will check my bag phone and get right back to you. Don’t worry I haven’t left the world of technology, still on Twitter, Facebook and blogging, just taking a break and listening to the cows moo, the birds chirp, the wind blow and the bugs talk while I work.
Three surgeons are discussing who makes the best patients to operate on.
The first surgeon said, “Electricians are the best, everything inside is color coded.”
The second surgeon says, “No, I think librarians are, everything inside them is in alphabetical order”
The third surgeon shut them up when he said: “You’re all wrong, politicians are the easiest to operate on, there’s no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains, and no spine, plus, the head and the butt are interchangeable!!
Archie Bunker…………
Time.
24 hrs in a day.
60 minutes in a hour.
60 seconds in a minute,
1440 minutes in 24 hours
3600 seconds in an hour.
86400 seconds in 24 hours.
Time.
365 days a year. (unless your Dir Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, then there is 364 see her comments here)
7 days a week
52 weeks a year (yea 7 X 52 is 364, who knew the DHS was so smart?)
Time.
There is never time to do it right but there is always time to do it over.
We waste time by burning daylight and try to make up time by burning the midnight oil.
Time.
Whos got time, I’ll make time, you got the time, when I get time, what time is it, time for a change, tying to make up time, killing time, time and time again, is it time, time time time is on my side, if I had time, the time goes by, our time is gone, where did the time go, time has expired and I have run out of time.
Time.
Wow, that post just wasted 10 minutes I will never get back.
I seems that we are bombarded with experts at every turn anymore. If there is no one to serve as an expert, someone seems to always self appoint themselves. In some cases there are gatherings of experts walking all over each other trying to get to the top of the expert pile. Most of these folks while possibly well meaning or even good hearted generally have no clue what the heck they are talking about or they come across so absorbed in their own self promotion that they are not tolerable.
Case in point #1: I got a notice that a person to whom I have a very casual knowledge of had passed away. Upon following a link to read what happened I found a gaggle of experts on a discussion board that not only knew what happened to him and how it happened, but his life story in many details. The kicker is that the 4 or 5 pages of comments were dominated by three or four people who were telling all the other people they were wrong. The funniest post was were one person commented on the deceased’s connection with Illinois, to whom the lead expert on this fellow admitted he didn’t know he had any ties to Illinois then wanted proof that the commentator knew what he was talking about. Funny to me but I can just imagine how sad it might have been for any of the family members who might have happened upon this mess. I do know the “one” head expert mentioned above in this discussion, he is an expert on everything he talks about, just ask him. He is one of the skid-marks in the underwear of life that we, regrettably, cant dispatch in a burlap bag with a concrete block tied to it over a bridge into the river.
Case in point #2: While I was trying to find some ballistic information online I came across a discussion on how the .17HMR was not suitable as a coyote round and would not kill anything bigger than a prairie dog. Having dispatched coyotes, at range, with my .17HMR I thought that I must hurry out into the fields and tell these coyotes go get up and run along, despite the smell and decay, as they must be mistaken that I had killed them. The expert was using all kinds of “math” and “physics” to show that the .17 lacked the punch and power to take a dog down beyond 50 yards etc so forth at nausea. Despite testimonials and the comments of a real hunting expert (a person acknowledged as knowing what he was talking about), this fellow held to his guns that you needed a big gun to kill coyotes at range. Maybe coyotes in Ohio wear bullet proof vest or their fur is like Kevlar due to difference in their winters or something. Despite this expert, I still dispatch ole wile coyote with a .17HMR at every opportunity.
Case in point #3. I have been bombarded with propaganda to attend a farmer/consultant field day on growing corn and soybeans like a “high yield expert”. I do attend field days, when there is something to learn or there is a topic of interest. Its just part of the learning and educational process that farmers must go through if they are going to compete and stay profitable. That being said this particular field day is a big JOKE. Its put on by a couple of self promoted and self proclaimed experts whom I wouldn’t let on my farm. One half of this Abbot and Costello team I have know and been some what acquainted with for over 10 years through a friend. They are only about the sale and what they are selling today is better than what they sold yesterday. Did I say this was a joke already? What do they know? NOTHING. Most of what they are going to present is either stolen from universities, picked from other companies with similar products or services and other field days or is not proven with independent non biased research and is only being used to end up selling a couple of products that they get kick back for. Yet, with no industry certifications or qualifications, they have set themselves up as experts, and got the backing of people who should know better, on growing high yield crops and are fleecing attendees for big money when its all said and done.
Case in point #4. The University of Illinois Extension. A complete Chinese fire drill of experts who have never “been there or done that” trying to tell the world how much they know about the real world. Nuff said there.
Yes, I have had my fill of experts this year already. That is why I wont be going to any more field days, conferences or meetings other than a very select few for the remainder of the year. That is also why I have assigned junk and spam status to a lot of emails from experts and why I have erased several talk and discussion boards from my internet favorates.
The result of riding myself of so many experts is that my blood pressure is much lower lately.
Trust me, I know what I am talking about…………..
The last few weeks I have taken a bit of time to really watch and listen, as much as I can stomach, the morning news shows. Really most are more like tabloid talk shows than news shows, there seems to be little news and a lot of comment and mud slinging. The one thing that they all have in common, minus maybe one, is the soft sell of a political view or spinning of the news to their political view. For me it seems pretty obvious what they are selling, and I am not buying. So here are my reviews/overviews/comments on my watching of the morning news shows. Take it for what its worth.
In no particular order:
Morning Joe. Joe Scarborough is the “anchor” of this program along with his sidekick Mika Brzezinski. They have a panel of has been political hacks and has been media types as their choir to whom the seek comment on about every story they cover. The leather faced choir is dull and adds little value to the program as far as I can tell. All of these horses should have been let out to pasture a long time ago. Joe, while reported to be a Republican (and I have no idea why this is important) seems to not have any anchored values on any issue and is blown in the wind on what he believes or feels on any topic on any day by what the old horses say. A better show would be Morning Mika, where they just let Mika do the news and not have any old fart choir, comments or Joe to bring her down and mess up the program.
Fox and Friends. Steve, Brian and Gretchen (of who hasn’t been on much the last two weeks I have tuned in) anchor a program that tries to offer news it appears along with to much stuff that isn’t news. The non news seems to outnumber the news items about three to one. The news items are reported almost always with comment from the anchors or their panel of “fair and balanced” hacks. There is always disagreement in the panel (big surprise there) and while there is room for comment the anchors always have to comment on the comments. I find this to be very boring and not watchable. Worse yet the real news segments are very short and incomplete. Much like Morning Joe, Fox and Friends needs to loose the panels and just stick to the news. Brian’s humor is much needed and appreciated on the show. Cut the junk out, cut the comments out and make the news segments longer. Then I could stand to watch the show longer than 10 min a morning.
Countdown. I assume that Keith Olbermann’s Countdown show that is on in the morning is a rerun of the show on at night. It doesn’t matter. Two things about this show or more important the shows host. I have never seen a person on TV look like they are in so much pain. Seriously, he looks like he is in a tremendous amount of pain (or severally constipated) while he is reading his lines. That and how one person can be full of so much hate. I tried to watch this several times and just couldn’t. Get this man some professional help, he needs it.
American Morning on CNN. The only show that is maybe as bad as trying to watch Countdown. Its very shallow. OK shallow doesn’t describe how “non” deep it is. Ditch the anchors, get some news anchors and just do the news. Better yet just pipe in the HLN feed during this time slot and save the production money CNN. It’s the cellar dweller for a reason.
Imus in the Morning. Not much news. They do a news segment that covers the “top” stories, a business news segment (its on Fox Business News after all) that covers breaking business news of the morning and they have comment. Just enough comment and not too much. It’s a radio show and Imus interviews his guest, does his commentary along with the shows cast following the script. It has the right amount of humor and interviews and depth on interviews. I don’t know if its because its not a “news talk show” or if its because it’s a “radio show” that’s on TV that makes it different and entertaining. Other than the “Blond on Blond” segment which features Imus’s wife, the show is watchable.
Overall after surfing the programs in the morning anymore I migrate back to Imus and end up spending most of my morning news show time on his program. I laugh, watch and listen while I am getting ready in the morning. What ever this show is doing works for me and makes me watch and listen (except for when he drags his wife on, then I go to the Weather Channel) for most of the morning.
To be truthful there isn’t much news on the news programs or stations anymore. If you want news, you’re not going to get it from any of these shows without the slant they want you to hear. Matter of fact your not going to get any news, just a headline with lots and lots of comment from people that don’t have a clue what real people living in or going though in this country right now. .
There is now conclusive evidence that Osama Bin Laden is DEAD.
Last week he registered to vote in Chicago!
Spent some time this afternoon on the Cat pushing trees that had fallen into the field edges from fence rows and woods during the last few weeks wind and rain storms.
A Cat is like a backhoe, you dont know how handy it is to have until you got one. Then you wonder how you ever got along without one.
Now, if it will just stay dry for a while…….maybe I can have some pictures of field work to post in a few days……..
Out of focus photos provided by my bride, Lori…………..
I couldnt resist the temptation, I hooked up the little tractor to the little disc and went and disc up the garden.
OK that wasnt a big deal. But I took pictures with my cell phone and sent them to some friends and told them the ground was working like a lettuce bed.
Actually, it was working like a lettuce bed, that was part of what I disc up…..
Well all at once its March 8th and the panic has started. Looking out the back door it doesn’t look much like a warm and dry farming March does it?
OK, not really a panic but a realization that its almost time to farm. OK, not really time to farm, maybe 20 days away at the fewest and 50 days at the most, it all depends on the rain.
And rain is in the forecast, again, for tonight and tomorrow. Even with water standing in the fields, between the ridges and in the wheel tracks of the wheat fields more is on the way. I dont need it right now, I need a day or two of dry to get some wheat sprayed.
The panic time is upon us, or at least some of us, as we get deeper into March. Wonder what is going to happen when April gets here?
Don’t forget you can hear the entire presentation at the 2011 Farm Futures Management Summit Jan 4th and 5th in St Louis. Register Here.
I recently purchased the MAGPUL DVD set The Art of the Tactical Carbine. For those of us who are fans of the black rifle I would highly recommend it for any rifleman’s library. Very, very well done instructional video in my opinion.
In the first DVD there is a point where they are working on some fundamentals when one of the students has a small problem. While one of the instructors is helping him fix the problem the instructor says something, while not an exact quote, to the effect of “I rode the little bus to school and didn’t see you on it, should you have been on the little bus with me?” I found this funny to say the least as well as a unique way to get a point across with some humor. It wasn’t a put down it was a way of saying that I have made the same mistakes. I liked it. I liked it so much; I am stealing it and using it myself!
Well anyway I have two days to put together or finish a presentation that needs to be to the meeting organizers for publishing in the program packet. Then maps to be done for some soil testing, some soil test to deliver, some bills to send out, some bills to pay, and then the county Farm Bureau annual meeting tonight. That is just today.
The rest of the week doesn’t look any slower either and at some point I have to get some of these CCA credits out of the way. They are such a pain anymore.
Just finished a drive back from Phoenix, all 1600 miles of it, and now its time to get back to work. But first some random thoughts this morning.
We have had about .75 of an inch of rain from the storm that went thought this morning. I really hope that’s enough to get the wheat to come up. It has been a long time between rains here, like August I think, so we needed every drop.
I continue to watch with great humor the liberal left eat their young and euthanize their old: The Juan Williams firing. NPR really messed up this time and I think it is going to hurt them were it hurts the most, their pocket book.
The President seems to be using racial slurs now to describe the Republican Party at some campaign stops. Note that NPR or the other three letter left wing news organizations aren’t picking it up and reporting it. The national double standard continues for this President.
In driving back from Phoenix all you heard on the radio was campaign ads. Negative ones at that, and they all sounded the same, from one race to the next, from one market to the next, from one state to the next. Sad, sad, sad. Its no wonder good people don’t run for office.
I continue to be amazed at the lack of service that one can get at equipment dealerships, fertilizer dealerships, chemical reps and so forth. Get the money and don’t worry about the customer. I am lucky in one respect, I have a good fertilizer/chem dealer who takes care of me, even if they are an hour away. TC and the folks at Browns Feed and Chemical at Galatia have once again done a great job spreading P and K, as well as my lime. Good job guys!
Learned yesterday that Miles Farm Supply/Opticrop has sold to CPS. Really sorry to hear that. I liked Miles and Opticrop and the jobs they did. CPS doesn’t have a good track record down here. Will have to wait and see what happens in the transition.
Time to go, more later.
My new deer stand might be the back porch. This doe was eating apples off the apple tree not 30 ft from the deck in the back yard. The dogs didn’t scare her, but the chickens would cluck at her and half way charge her and ran her off.
As seen from the kitchen out the deck door……….
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