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Just pray you don't find one of your own family photos on there.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
LaBrea Tar Pits
Shay and I were fortunate enough to spend some time at the LaBrea Tar Pits recently. It was really a fluke; our destination for that weekend just happened to be on the same block in downtown L.A. When we found a bit of spare time, we walked down towards the Pits.
On the way, we passed the "Variety" building.
And this section of L.A. is known as the "Miracle Mile," lots of museums are in the area. This, we assume, is some sort of artistic display...
I'm standing in front of hundreds of street lamps.
We walked along a little further and came upon this:
We paid the admission to the Tar Pits Museum, and immediately saw fossils that had been pulled from the tar, or asphalt over the years.
To say it was impressive would be an understatement. We were amazed at what we learned in there.
Amazing facts from the Tar Pits:
1. The pits did not exist in dinosaur times. They were formed several centuries later.
2. Over 100,000 complete mammal fossils have been pulled from the various tar pits.
3. Right now, pit #91 is being carefully excavated. That means there are 91 tar pits in the area.
4. The most common fossil found is that of the wolf. Over 1,600 wolf fossils have been recovered, and the photo below is a wall displaying about 420 wolf skulls:
5. Extinct animals such as the saber tooth cat, the American Lion, the Cypress, and the mammoth have been excavated from the pits. Below is a picture of a saber tooth cat (not tiger) and an American Lion:
6. Bison as well as sloths were pulled from the tar pits. And they were the SAME SIZE....so the sloth on Ice Age wasn't exactly drawn to SCALE!!!
The sloth is the one on the right:
On the left is a Cypress, and in the middle is a mammoth.
The middle of the museum exhibit was called the "fishbowl," it's where volunteers and scientists are working on fossils behind large glass windows.
There are two movie theaters, showing documentaries about the pits and the work the museum does. One movie that we watched explained why so many mammals were found in big clumps together.
In their research, they've learned that a large mammal (like a mammoth) would be walking along and suddenly get stuck in the tar pit. Not like quick-sand, it was more like fly paper. They wouldn't sink right away. They'd be stuck, though, and eventually they'd become distressed because they were starving to death.
Predators (like the wolves) would hear this disturbance and start circling to get themselves some dinner. Then they'd move in on their prey, and get stuck. A whole pack! Well then the other predators and scavengers would come around, to take advantage of the opportunity. And they'd get stuck too.
And the whole lot of them would sink slowly, dying together.
When researchers pull out a big chunk of asphalt (solidified tar) the bones are jumbled together, belonging to several different animals.
They clean the fossils, reassemble, and either put them on display at their museum or sell them to museums all over the world. The tar pits make such an amber color on the fossils, you can identify one that came from L.A. by the color of the bones. You could be in a museum in London or Tokyo, see a dark-colored fossil, and know that it came from the LaBrea Tar Pits.
On the way, we passed the "Variety" building.
And this section of L.A. is known as the "Miracle Mile," lots of museums are in the area. This, we assume, is some sort of artistic display...
I'm standing in front of hundreds of street lamps.
We walked along a little further and came upon this:
We paid the admission to the Tar Pits Museum, and immediately saw fossils that had been pulled from the tar, or asphalt over the years.
To say it was impressive would be an understatement. We were amazed at what we learned in there.
Amazing facts from the Tar Pits:
1. The pits did not exist in dinosaur times. They were formed several centuries later.
2. Over 100,000 complete mammal fossils have been pulled from the various tar pits.
3. Right now, pit #91 is being carefully excavated. That means there are 91 tar pits in the area.
4. The most common fossil found is that of the wolf. Over 1,600 wolf fossils have been recovered, and the photo below is a wall displaying about 420 wolf skulls:
5. Extinct animals such as the saber tooth cat, the American Lion, the Cypress, and the mammoth have been excavated from the pits. Below is a picture of a saber tooth cat (not tiger) and an American Lion:
6. Bison as well as sloths were pulled from the tar pits. And they were the SAME SIZE....so the sloth on Ice Age wasn't exactly drawn to SCALE!!!
The sloth is the one on the right:
On the left is a Cypress, and in the middle is a mammoth.
The middle of the museum exhibit was called the "fishbowl," it's where volunteers and scientists are working on fossils behind large glass windows.
There are two movie theaters, showing documentaries about the pits and the work the museum does. One movie that we watched explained why so many mammals were found in big clumps together.
In their research, they've learned that a large mammal (like a mammoth) would be walking along and suddenly get stuck in the tar pit. Not like quick-sand, it was more like fly paper. They wouldn't sink right away. They'd be stuck, though, and eventually they'd become distressed because they were starving to death.
Predators (like the wolves) would hear this disturbance and start circling to get themselves some dinner. Then they'd move in on their prey, and get stuck. A whole pack! Well then the other predators and scavengers would come around, to take advantage of the opportunity. And they'd get stuck too.
And the whole lot of them would sink slowly, dying together.
When researchers pull out a big chunk of asphalt (solidified tar) the bones are jumbled together, belonging to several different animals.
They clean the fossils, reassemble, and either put them on display at their museum or sell them to museums all over the world. The tar pits make such an amber color on the fossils, you can identify one that came from L.A. by the color of the bones. You could be in a museum in London or Tokyo, see a dark-colored fossil, and know that it came from the LaBrea Tar Pits.
Nunchuck Skills...
After working hard in his Mixed Martial Arts class for several months, Shay was finally able to move up a notch. He is in the picture bowing with his Sensei.
And next week he starts working on his nunchuck skills. Napoleon Dynamite would be very excited.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Mojo
Steve thought the word Mojo was created just for the Austin Powers movies. Apparently he hid under a rock during the 60's. Or on a tractor.
His brother Jack is in a band and after careful consideration they chose the word Mojo for the band name.
Can't really tell you what Mojo means (who looks up that stuff??) but I do know the band rocks. They rock!!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
I Like Cars
I really do like cars, I always have. They're an interesting part of American history, and they're a great hobby. There's more great car stories out there than you can shake a stick at, and I love listening to them.
Like the car that carried around a couple of so-called bootleggers on the dirt roads and washed out bridges of Hazzard County....
Sometimes the car didn't survive the jumps. Okay most often the car didn't survive. So they made LOTS of General Lees. This one was in good shape because it wasn't jumped. And it was signed by my new good buddy George Barris...and that OTHER guy...
But THIS ONE actually got jumped. Several times. And it was auctioned for a fraction of what most would expect it to go for. (I think that's called a Recession..)
Doc! You built a time machine.....out of a DeLorean?
Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer!
The van from Little Miss Sunshine. Minus Grandpa's body in the back:
Oh man, Elvis's 1960 Lincoln.
Too much.
Steve and his boss Mike feel the same way about cars, and they have some great friends and acquaintenances who share their passion. Growing up, they idolized the drag racers and the street rodders who had the cool cars. One of their idols, Tommy Ivo, was a guy who'd grown up doing television roles and got into drag racing.
His four engine dragster was immortalized by thousands and thousands of little boys who used their model glue and paint to assemble Tommy's ride. So Mike decided to buy the original.
During the auction, he outbid Tommy Ivo, and won the car for $190,000.
After Tommy got over it, he came out and autographed the car:
Then stood with the guys and B.S.'d about the car:
Could you imagine standing around casually talking to someone you idolized throughout your childhood? I took photo after photo, capturing as much of the moment as I could. I would hope someone would do the same for me, should I ever finally meet Madonna.
And stand around talking about how awesome she was when I was growing up.
But then the moment got a little better.
Steve introduced me to Joe Amato. A drag racer who Steve has watched over the years, and yes, there's a model of his dragster in the house:
Too surreal.
Like the car that carried around a couple of so-called bootleggers on the dirt roads and washed out bridges of Hazzard County....
Sometimes the car didn't survive the jumps. Okay most often the car didn't survive. So they made LOTS of General Lees. This one was in good shape because it wasn't jumped. And it was signed by my new good buddy George Barris...and that OTHER guy...
But THIS ONE actually got jumped. Several times. And it was auctioned for a fraction of what most would expect it to go for. (I think that's called a Recession..)
Doc! You built a time machine.....out of a DeLorean?
Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer!
The van from Little Miss Sunshine. Minus Grandpa's body in the back:
Oh man, Elvis's 1960 Lincoln.
Too much.
Steve and his boss Mike feel the same way about cars, and they have some great friends and acquaintenances who share their passion. Growing up, they idolized the drag racers and the street rodders who had the cool cars. One of their idols, Tommy Ivo, was a guy who'd grown up doing television roles and got into drag racing.
His four engine dragster was immortalized by thousands and thousands of little boys who used their model glue and paint to assemble Tommy's ride. So Mike decided to buy the original.
During the auction, he outbid Tommy Ivo, and won the car for $190,000.
After Tommy got over it, he came out and autographed the car:
Then stood with the guys and B.S.'d about the car:
Could you imagine standing around casually talking to someone you idolized throughout your childhood? I took photo after photo, capturing as much of the moment as I could. I would hope someone would do the same for me, should I ever finally meet Madonna.
And stand around talking about how awesome she was when I was growing up.
But then the moment got a little better.
Steve introduced me to Joe Amato. A drag racer who Steve has watched over the years, and yes, there's a model of his dragster in the house:
Too surreal.
Recruiting the Youth
When opportunities come up, you can't turn them down simply because you have other things planned. I think it's called multi-tasking.
But then the plans and the opportunities kept changing, so I had to do this thing called "improvising."
I had a six hour drive to make, and a deadline for mailing about 100 packets to people in our county. It had to be printed, folded, stuffed, addressed, stamped, and sent THAT DAY so it would be post marked in time.
But I couldn't make the six hour drive with Steve, he had to leave early in order to get the semi truck parked in a decent place. I had to wait until the printing for the mailing was done, and also I had yet another dentist appointment to get to.
Aha...solution. Shay gets bored on those long drives. So he found himself folding, stuffing, addressing, and stamping all those packets:
Years from now, Shay will be running for Mayor and he can tell his potential voters that he has been involved in the political process since he was 12 years old. And he can show them that picture as proof.
The mailing went out on time, we eventually made it to our destination, and we managed to have some fun as well! Pictures to follow, of course.
But then the plans and the opportunities kept changing, so I had to do this thing called "improvising."
I had a six hour drive to make, and a deadline for mailing about 100 packets to people in our county. It had to be printed, folded, stuffed, addressed, stamped, and sent THAT DAY so it would be post marked in time.
But I couldn't make the six hour drive with Steve, he had to leave early in order to get the semi truck parked in a decent place. I had to wait until the printing for the mailing was done, and also I had yet another dentist appointment to get to.
Aha...solution. Shay gets bored on those long drives. So he found himself folding, stuffing, addressing, and stamping all those packets:
Years from now, Shay will be running for Mayor and he can tell his potential voters that he has been involved in the political process since he was 12 years old. And he can show them that picture as proof.
The mailing went out on time, we eventually made it to our destination, and we managed to have some fun as well! Pictures to follow, of course.
George Barris
My new buddy, George Barris. Who is that guy??? Well most "guy guys" know who George is, because they've built models of his creations. They've read about him in all the automotive magazines. But most importantly, they've seen his stuff in movies and on television for the past 50 years.
Remember the General Lee? That's his. Remember K.I.T. from Knight Rider? His. The jalopy from Beverly Hillbillies? His. But his most recognizable creation has to be several of the Batmobile designs.
He's quite an accomplished guy, and when I saw him in L.A. I nearly tackled him. He didn't mind. In fact, he hung around and invited us to come see his shop some time.
I believe I'll be taking him up on that!
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