A few years ago there was a great Greek play. It still has great impact and the script has been turned into a movie. Rumor has it that the title of this column will be on the Marque.

The main character of the play is Oedipus, the future King of Thebes. Rumor on the boulevard has casting looking seriously at Mark Wahlberg or his brother Danny. They have the personalities to portray Oedipus. Action with great facial recognition and emoting skills.

Later, as a cameo will be a great new actor, Tony Fauci as Sigmund Freud who took the play and made a complete fabric of psychiatric analysis. It seems logical but Oedipus did not need the advice of Mr. Freud. He was clueless and not consumed by the syndrome. He was a super puzzle solver however. We get down to the riddles he solved.

“What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three in the evening?” The answer (spoiler alert) A baby, a man and a man with a walking stick.

There was another riddle, it is not certain it will be in the film; “There are two sisters, one gives birth to the other and she in turn, gives birth to the first” This one is not in the script. Too hard as the riddle was a more recent addition and even harder than the first. The answer is, the sisters are day and night. Good riddle, but the audiences will be baffled again and as a teaser for the preview it is one too many.

So the movie/play goes on (it was performed in many venues including London’s famous Royal Opera house) It should be directed by noted critic of almost everything, our current president, but he is not capable at this time to direct anything.

The ending is tragic in the original play and may not sit well with audiences or critics who usually enjoy these types of films. The main character blinds himself and his mother commits suicide. That could be rewritten with Caveats to the playwright. He has been dead for a number of years and the agency that represented him no longer exists either.

So, the credits will feature the original playwright, Sophocles and his old office building up on Mars hill in Athens. His writings are now available in your local library or on Amazon. A good author who had some great ideas that were well received and still are. He was not available for an interview for the rushes.

If you like intrigue, plots with surprising twists accompanied by tragedy, this play and soon to be movie is for you! Bring a college student of the classics who the explain the original play. It’s pretty good. Jack Gator

There is a recording made of copper, coated with gold, and sealed in Aluminum. It’s a little dated, so it would have to be played on a record player. Most likely a 33 1/3 rpm. It could be a 78 or a 45 too. Details are unsure at this time.

This recording, obviously, is pretty expensive to make AND there is only one such disk in existence. At this time, it is in transit to a stranger a few thousand miles away with a very vague address as well.

It is unknown whether it will be playable or if the stranger has a record player available to play it. It’s a dicey shipment and the cost of making and shipping it is very ‘steep’ The music performers are not getting paid very much except in royalties which have yet to be determined.

The reasons given for not sending the record player are mainly the cost of shipping and the size of the player itself. There are other things in the shipment (special cameras, recording devices, and radios to send pictures from the cameras. Pretty state of the art stuff as the shipment was made in the middle sixties! There is a short statement on the record that offers friendship to the recipient and a request to return the favor if possible.

The shipment could have contained a good scotch or some maps and addresses to contact us. We all wonder what will become of this gesture of friendship to a total stranger. An unknown stranger who’s only address is vague to say the least.

It was 1965 when the shipment was made and the arrival time is also vague. The vehicle that has the camera has taken some great photos that it sent back and there is some concern for the power demands to keep sending updates on the shipment’s progress.

You may have guessed at this point that the shipment was on a NASA spacecraft, Voyager 1. Some great photos came out of the cameras and the spacecraft has entered ‘deep space’ and the shipment of the gold coated record is on the way. The vague address is the closest star system to us, next door neighbors as the universe goes. Proxima Centuri, about 4 light years away. It would only take 4 years to send a message to them via a cell phone but there are no cell towers on the way to boost the signals.

The Voyageur spacecraft will arrive at the shipment destination in approximately 167,000 years and by that time a few changes may have occurred in our star system. Speculation from the ‘experts’ in these things believe that by the time the record arrives our sun will have collapsed and earth will no longer exist. Oh well, at least the recording will survive for millions of years as it ‘speeds by’ that close star with perhaps people like us that even have 33 1/3 record players! They will, of course have to see it and get their hybrid craft up to about 10,000 MPH to catch it. Who knows?

The recording? Pretty swell. There are two musical performances to illustrate our civilization. First one is Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto 2 and the second is Chuck Berry’s “Johnny be good.”

Chuck already had a gold album with more songs, but what the hey. Think of the royalties!

This surreal story is found in last years July issue of Scientific American. First time photos of Uranus and Neptune included. Long live Rock and Roll! A bonus feature of this incredible double album It’s pretty good. Jack Gator

Photo of ‘deep thought’ Courtesy of the Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks.

Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

I just discovered the purpose of shinbones: They’re devices for finding furniture in a dark room.

I’m never sure what to do with my eyes when I’m at the dentist. Do I close them? Do I stare at his face? Do I look at the ceiling? What’s the proper etiquette here?

I have all the money I’ll ever need – if I die by 4:00 p.m. Today.

Google Maps really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.

To err is human. To arr is pirate.

I feel like getting something done today, so I’m just going to sit here until that feeling passes…

Tip of the week: When going through airport customs and the TSA agent asks, “Do you have any firearms with you?” do not reply, “What do you need?”

I just read a list titled “100 Things to Do Before You Die.” I’m pretty surprised “Yell for help” wasn’t one of them.

when a fly or small bug lands on your computer screen, has your first reaction ever been to try and scare it with the cursor?

People think I’m too patronizing (that means I treat them as if they’re stupid).

“Dammit I’m mad” is spelled the same way backwards. Think about it

My wife just told me that her birthday is tomorrow. Wow, like maybe more of a heads-up next time.

Son: “Dad, there’s a monster in my room, can I sleep in here?” Dad: Look, it’s you he’s after, why make it my problem too?

2020: We aren’t allowed to go out in public. 2023: We can’t afford to go out in public.

George MacDonald: “All that is not God is death”

Dostoevsky: “Tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be banned from thinking so as not to offend the imbeciles”

It was in the evening, Jack was preparing to retire. The room was cozy with a very nice fire.

Jack had just seen an important official that wore strange attire. .

He was a high government official and a man to be respected.

But he dressed as a woman, his identity Jack quickly rejected.

He appeared with long tresses, and claimed an impossible way

that before what he was a he, he had changed DNA.

Professor McFarkle was presented with his incredible machine

That could change anyone’s sex to the opposite one seen.

The social implications were strongly attested

by government laws he officially invested.

McFarkles invention was loudly applauded, with the greatest success,

to create bearded women that could be wearing a dress.

Young children were shown by men changing to women and opposite when,

it was as taught quite natural they could change pencils to pens.

Quite a few parents got angry and did not comprehend, why their children had to listen to a perverted cause,

but then found themselves opposed by new government laws.

Insanity is rampant in society today, and no one seems to know how it happened this way,

but all scriptures will show that it will be happening, and many people will say,

Jesus shows us His way, the way we must go,

for the Bible tells me so. It’s pretty good. Jack Gator

It was in the evening, Jack was preparing to retire. The room was cozy with a very nice fire.

Jack had just seen an important official that wore strange attire. .

He was a high government official and a man to be respected.

But he dressed as a woman, his identity Jack quickly rejected.

He appeared with long tresses, and claimed an impossible way

that before what he was a he, he had changed DNA.

Professor McFarkle was presented with his incredible machine

That could change anyone’s sex to the opposite one seen.

The social implications were strongly attested

by government laws he officially invested.

McFarkles invention was loudly applauded, with the greatest success,

to create bearded women that could be wearing a dress.

Young children were shown by men changing to women and opposite when,

it was as taught quite natural they could change pencils to pens.

Quite a few parents got angry and did not comprehend, why their children had to listen to a perverted cause,

but then found themselves opposed by new government laws.

Insanity is rampant in society today, and no one seems to know how it happened this way,

but all scriptures will show that it will be happening, and many people will say,

Jesus shows us His way, the way we must go,

for the Bible tells me so. It’s pretty good. Jack Gator

As do most of us, we get a little bored watching the scenery go by as we keep a sharp lookout for errant deer, errant drivers and those lines we drive between. Isn’t it absurd that the only thing keeping all of us from collisions is paint. Headlights help a lot, but mostly to see the lines of paint. The game gets a bit challenging when there is snow and ice covering the lines. It really does feel like a video game, driving at speed.

Back to the scenery. One cold day, Jack was motoring south and at that time, he was counting chimneys and the wood smoke. Quite a few modern setups with wood boilers in the back yard were seen. It’s a good thing that windows are closed in the winter at the boiler homes. High barometric pressure or temperature inversions can cause some of those homes to almost disappear in a wreath of smoke.

There were quite a few homes that had masonry chimneys visible and some of them were in use as Jack motored by. There were a few of the old masonry chimneys that had shiny pipes coming out of them. An obvious concession to modern fuel of petroleum base. However, when Jack crossed Highway 8, the wood smoke was gone from the homes. Almost every roof top chimney seen had the propane exhaust pipe sticking out of it.

Putting the exhaust pipe from the propane furnace out of the chimney seemed logical to Jack. How else to do it? There are possibilities of wall ‘thimbles’ that can allow the venting but the easiest route is the old chimney. It seemed a bit sad to Jack to see the wood heat (or fireplaces) supplanted by a digitally controlled furnace connected to city gas lines or the ‘big boy‘ propane bombs in the backyard.

Jack was one year old when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, it was nicknamed the Big Boy. Jack was exactly one year old when that happened. What a birthday candle. But, it brought Jack’s dad home. And a lot of other dad’s too. War is like that. Some dad’s come home, some don’t.

Back to the chimneys. Jack noticed wood heat at quite a few of the homes he drove by on his way down to merge onto another highway that begins at Highway 8. There were quite a few homes and business’ visible from the next highway going south. No wood smoke, no piles of wood and not even any outdoor wood boilers. Every chimney Jack saw had the ridiculous metal pipe sticking out of it. A periscope that was looking at progress coming with a petroleum based civilization. Jack wondered if Dr. Suess would be interested in a book about it. “Why was the chimney there and why was it lifted and taken somewhere?”

There is a saying of sorts that living is more real north of 8 I don’t know if that carries much weight and if living there is really that great (back to the Lorax) But there is a subtle difference the further north of 8 you go. Longer driveways, more barns and cows and horses and more wood smoke and real chimneys that survived the propane efficiency movement. More crumpled seed hats and the pickups are not quite as pristine either. Towns that you can walk through the main street in about five minutes. We do have some modern concessions though. There are sidewalks and some folks even have paved driveways. Now and then milk can be dipped out of the bulk tank too.

Lots of cords of wood stacked (new comers stack between trees) Big logs, split stacks and wood sheds. It’s a mess heating with a stove in the house, but nothing beats standing in front of a well built fire when it’s below zero outside. The cat water bowl froze to the kitchen floor at Jack’s house about forty six years ago. Jack now has insulation and a better wood stove. Life is different north of 8. It’s pretty good. Jack Gator