underrated towns

 

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Hayter’s article for April 10, 2022

“Underrated destinations”

          Kay is ready to go on a trip, preferably before summer. There was a time in people’s lives when trips had to be taken in the summer, because of the children. Summers were the only time that kids or teachers could take off for any duration.

        Since Kay and I retired, we refuse to schedule any travel during the summer months. It’s too hot, and there are too many kids running all over the place. I like kids. Always have. That doesn’t mean I enjoy eating in the same restaurants or going to the same places. We simply must schedule a trip before late May. The problem is, we’ve been to all of the worthwhile places in Texas. Texas, being such a large state, has many places that aren’t worth seeing.

     Unfortunately, I reached a point where I don’t care to get too far from the house. There’s no reason to. I like my living room chair, my TV remote, my bed, and my bathroom. But, Kay is in the mood to roam, so I feel it proper to accompany her. It’s for the best.

           Today, I spent time looking at destinations outside of Texas. I managed to find one of about 80 websites that advertised “The Most Underrated Destinations.” The word that grabbed me was “underrated”. Underrated is a word generally associated with the word “affordable”.

          On this particular site, the first place suggested is Tulsa. I couldn’t come up with a single city or town in Oklahoma that anyone might consider being underrated. Let’s face it, places in the Sooner State are generally rated right. Are you familiar with the comment, “It doesn’t get any better than this!” In referencing Oklahoma, the comment would end with a question mark. Hey, I’ve been there, my family has lived there, and I only return for funerals.

          Moving right along, Cleveland, Ohio also made the list of the underrated. For years, Cleveland was known as “Mistake on the Lake”. But today a research group has determined it to be underrated. Take that Lake Erie! There has been some refurbishing going on in C-town. I don’t know what all that entails, but I do know that The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame is in The Cleve. If you’re headed east or west through Ohio, that’d be a good place to visit. The Big Plum also has a Warehouse District, Arts District, and Old Theatre District. I would consider visiting two out of those three if they were closer to home.  

          The only Texas city to be considered as an underrated destination is San Antonio. I like San Antonio. I’d like it a lot better in the winter, but being a teacher at the time, I’ve only visited during the summers. I don’t like San Antonio in the summer. I’m not crazy about Conroe in the summer, but it’s cheaper for me than any other place in Texas. Oh, and I like my bed and restroom in Conroe. I haven’t been to San Antone in a good while. I don’t know how long the River Walk was during my last visit, but, at the moment, it is a 15-mile walk. You ask me, that’s more of an overnight River Cruise.

          Oddly enough, Miami is also considered an underrated destination. It’s known for celebrities, luxurious hotels, and exquisite restaurants. There is also a nearby ocean, with the occasional hurricane, and gang shooting. Of all of those things, the one that keeps me from visiting is the fact that it’s known for its “Conspicuous Over Consumption”. There is nothing I need to over-consume.

          Let’s turn over all the cards and get to the most underrated destination according to the site I visited. The place is called Philadelphia! I said, “Phila—” Oh, you heard me. Let’s see, Philly has the Rocky Statue. I’d like to get a picture of Kay looking up at a giant Rocky. When we were in Claremore, Ok, she got a picture of me looking up at a statue of Will Rogers. The statue is in Claremore, not Tulsa.

But, what say, we stay out of Oklahoma and return to Philadelphia, where you can take free yoga classes at Race Street Pier. That’s as tempting as a free ball-bearing in a Snicker bar. 

For me, the big draw for Philadelphia has to do with its history. In 1789, the  Constitutional Convention was held in a small church building in Philly. The convention was held during the summer. The windows had to be closed because they couldn’t chance anyone listening in on their debates. At one point someone mentioned having a King. If word got out about that, the church building would’ve been burned down with the delegates in it. 

None of this matters, because even the word “underrated” can’t make a place affordable. We’re living in an expensive time. So, that leaves Waco. The good thing about Waco is that it’s close by and the average stay for visitors is one day. 

Kay and I have been there several times and have seen all the town has to offer. Except for the zoo. The Waco Zoo has Galapagos turtles and meerkats. Kay loves stuff like that. So, I’m going to wait for her to get in a better mood and then spring this on her. One of the town’s slogans is “Keep Waco Wacko!” Kay’s gotta love that. – Keep me in your prayers.

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hayter.mark@gmail.com

 

         

 

 

 

Venus a fire trap

Hayter’s article for April 3, 2022

“The Venus Fire Trap”

          Some of you may recall that for our last couple of gatherings I’ve been meaning to tell you about the planet Venus. Well, this week I plan to do just that. The process will involve you joining a class I teach for a few of my friends. Tuition is free. All I ask is that you don’t misbehave. Here goes.

All right, class, settle down. And while you’re at it, sit down. It appears that Charlotte and John are absent? Since John isn’t here, perhaps we’ll get fewer interruptions. Okay, notes out. Let’s get started.

          Class, today we will be looking at Venus, but only through our imaginations. So if you’re imagining anything else during class, quit it! As you know, Venus is the fourth planet from the sun. -- Yes, Janet? Correct, it’s the second planet. I’m sure the rest of you knew that, you just didn’t give a rat’s rump.

          There are some weird things about Venus. For one thing, it is the only planet that orbits the sun upside down. We’re not sure why, but it is theorized that a billion or so years ago, something hit it. – Yes, Curt? Okay, I suppose it could’ve been a massive mallard from outer space. Curt, I don’t need you to take John’s place. But, I’ll tell him you tried. 

Not only is Venus upside down, but it spins counterclockwise. All of the other planets spin clockwise because that’s what they’re supposed to do. But Venus has to be different. I’m sure you know the type. And, as if that’s not enough, it takes Venus 81 of our days to spin around once, and 225 days to make it around the sun, making its year 140 days shorter than ours.  

Venus is also the hottest planet in our solar system. It’s further from the sun than Mercury, yet, the surface of Mercury is cooler than that of our second planet. That’s because Venus has a thick atmosphere.  You would not believe the cloud cover. Scientists first believed the cloud was made of water vapor, like ours. Turns out, it’s hot and heavy, composed mostly of carbon dioxide. The only way you can get a picture of the planet is to get below the clouds. 

In 1965 the Soviet Union attempted to do just that. While we were planning to land a man on the moon, the Russians sent a probe to Venus to get some photos. They never heard back from the probe, because it supposedly melted before landing. Their seventh mission to Venus was a success. They managed to determine that the average temperature at the surface of the planet was 862 degrees. They also managed to get a few bad photos, before their camera and landing craft melted.  The Soviets attempted 27 landings on Venus. The last one was in 2020. The next is supposed to be in 2030, when they try to determine if one of the gases in the thick, boiling atmosphere of Venus might harbor a lifeform.

Yes, Jill? -- How could the surface of Venus be hotter than Mercury? Oh, I thought I mentioned that. Let’s see, Mercury has no atmosphere at all. The heat from the sun hits it and then dissipates into space. The thing about Venus is that the heat is not able to return to space because it can’t penetrate the cloud cover. Coming in is okay. Going out is not an option. 

          Before we leave Venus, are there any questions? Cool. For those of you who slept through the first segment of class, you’ll want to stay awake for this one.

We’ve covered some of this previously. The Solar System’s ninth planet was first discovered in 1906, by a scientist who named it Planet X, And, this was before science fiction movies. Unfortunately, after the guy died, no one else could find Planet X. All they could find were specks of light in the same orbit around the Sun. One of ‘em had to be Planet X, but which one? In 1929, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, supposedly located X. After the story hit all the newspapers, an 11-year-old British girl suggested the planet be named after  Mickey Mouse’s dog. – Wait, that’s not right. 

The planet was actually named after the Roman god of the underworld -- Pluto. The Greek name for the underworld god was “Hades”. The name “Pluto” sounded less threatening. As you likely noticed, all of our planets are named after Roman or Greek Gods. At first, Pluto was believed to be larger than Jupiter. Much later, it was found to be two-thirds the size of our MOON!. Since 1930, astronomers have estimated there to be 200 to 10,000 other Pluto-sized spheres in what is called the Kuiper Belt. That’s a continuous blanket of ice and rocks that orbits the sun from a distance further out than our eighth planet. And that would be? – Big Al? Yes, “Neptune”. The Roman God of the Sea.

          Bottom line, if we continued to let Pluto be classified as a planet, the International Astronomical Planet-naming Society would have to come up with, perhaps, thousands of other Pluto-sized spheres in the Kuiper Belt. The Society members were already embarrassed about overestimating the size of Pluto, so they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves further by coming up with a bunch of weird names for the thousands of yet-to-be-found planets in the Kuiper Belt. So some astronomers call the Pluto-sized spheres, dwarf planets. Others call them “space debris”. 

          To this day, some astronomers still consider Pluto to be a planet. Russian astronomers? They don’t care one way or the other.  They’re too busy discovering life on a planet that is hotter than a burning log. – For homework this week, let’s all be nice to others. Tough times require kind people. I consider myself one because I’m assigning NO HOMEWORK!   

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hayter.mark@gmail.com

 

Abnormal times

 

Hayter’s article for March 27, 2022

“Abnormal is the new Normal"

          Excuse my tardiness. I was watching the beginning of the news when I remembered our scheduled meeting. My priorities get all jumbled sometimes. It’s been that way all my life, but it’s not my fault. 

When I got to be a teacher, I hated to preach to the class about getting stuff done on time, because I knew what a hypocrite I was being. Instead, I might tell a class, “Look, I’m among the worst procrastinators on the planet. For example, the test I’m giving you tomorrow, I  haven’t made out yet. I’ve discussed how a bill becomes a law and how amendments get passed. I just haven’t decided on the questions to ask. But, it’s coming. I’m starting on it right after Rockford Files.” 

I tell you that to tell you this, I’m approaching my deadline, but have yet to figure out what to talk about. It’s a lot like last week. This time I got delayed by the news.  I only watched four news events before bailing. 

The first story had to do with President Biden addressing NATO. Europe and the U.S. need to figure out how much trouble we can inflict on Russia before Putin decides to nuke us? That’s certainly an eye-opener.  The next story was an update on Ukraine and how determined they are and how they’re receiving help from others. Ukrainians are tough as tacks. 

After that, they cut to a commercial and then came back with a story on the bird flu. No worries, you don’t have it. You can’t even get it. Well, perhaps if you kiss your uncaged parakeet. I can only imagine how hard it is to not kiss a bird. 

After the bird flu, there was another commercial, after which they did a piece about the destruction in New Orleans after the tornados.  Those people can’t buy a break. I left after I saw another commercial coming on. 

Out of those four news items, the one that most affected me was the one about the bird flu. Granted, I’m not all that concerned with every bird type, but I wish them all well. But chickens? Life without chickens would really mess me up. They’ve already bagged and burned a million of ‘em. With millions to come. There is no bird out there that is safe. 

          Prices continue to shoot up because of COVID. Then prices have increased because of the difficulty cargo ships have of finding places to unload. I  don’t know what all was involved in creating such a dilemma, but somebody probably does. And the scarcity of new cars? It supposedly has to do with the lack of electronic chips out of Taiwan. That and maybe the inability to unload Toyotas from the ships stranded outside the harbors. The cost of petroleum is going up, apparently because it can. We’ve got more oil than we have places to put it, yet, the prices continue to soar. I misled my economic classes about the law of supply and demand.

So, we’ve got all of that going on and more. And now we can add an increase in the price of chicken. And, turkeys! Also, the cost of building supplies is out of sight. I’d be surprised if it didn’t take over a decade to repair many of the losses in New Orleans.

          Let’s face it, today’s “normal” is abnormal. As Buck Owens sang, “Yesterday’s gone, and tomorrow’s out of sight, so help me make it through the night.” No that wasn’t Buck. Regardless, the economic and political events of today are unlike anything I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. And, there is no immediate solution to any of it. Nothing is normal. Most of us may never see the return of our old normal. I’m feeling blessed that Kellog Cracklin’ Oats showed up in Kroger. It costs more than a gallon of gas, but it was there for a little while.

          Fortunately, there are a lot of people out there involved in helping others. During the news coverage of the disaster in Louisiana, there were scenes of volunteers providing aid to people who lost everything. Locally and abroad people are using their money, time, and effort to aid people they don’t know. Survivors don’t need a sermon or a lesson on political thought.  They need what each of us has needed at some point in our lives. Help. They may not ask for it, but their needs cry out for it.

          As a group, we each fit into one of two categories. Those with different religious beliefs and those with no religious beliefs. We’re all doing what we do. When we feel threatened by the opinions of others we may spend time, attention, and money trying to end whatever we see as a threat to our “freedom.” Freedom is limited, to some degree, for any person who lives within a group. Putin is one of the few exceptions.

          There are always those who need help. Right now there are more than is normal. It’s Mark and perhaps a few others who need to begin placing more focus on the plight of others and less on the opinion of others.  No questions asked, just help where we can with what we have. It’s a guaranteed freedom. It’s called “kindness”. We can practice it or not. --  And that, my friend, is the ending I chose just a couple of minutes ago. That’s an example of procrastination.

Next time, I’ll try to keep last week’s promise about telling you about the oddity of the planet Venus. You might want to research that. What a crazy planet.

 

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