Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.
This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.
It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.
It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."
I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.
You know I think I found a perfect way to be honest and travel with the pooch! Drive in your own vehicle! You'll see more sights, stay in a pet friendly hotel and maybe have some adventures. But thats just my opinion.
We've been flying two or three times a year the last few years, and with layovers and return flights that's probably eight or ten different flights. I haven't seen a single service dog. I wonder if it's more of a problem on other airlines or for certain departure point and destinations?
Oh, wait. At least half of those are international flights. I don't know how or if this applies to service dogs, but pets for sure have to quarantine before they can cross international borders. When we moved to Germany the second time, we had two dogs, and we rehomed them rather than put them in quarantine for (six months? I think it was).
And yet, they never ask people who had siblings things like "Was it hard, not being the center of attention?" Or, "How did it feel to feud with your siblings over the inheritance?"
To be fair, when it comes to the latter question, it doesn't really need to be asked because a lot of the time people will come out and complain about it on their own. That's what happened with my father-in-law, anyway.
And I will say this. Even though I was an only child, big family gatherings were a part of my childhood, and I generally enjoyed them. I do kind of miss it in middle age and do sometimes go overboard when it comes to giving Christmas gifts as a result.
Horace didn't "invent" souvenir. He maybe expanded the word's meaning from it's original use "to recollect" or "to remember" into "a token item that reminds me of something."
If this is how the article writer wants to define the beginnings of one word, he or she is clearly bad at this and everything else they wrote is now in question.
These entries haven’t been chosen based on pure nostalgia, nor the viability of their comebacks — many have a poor chance of resurrection indeed. Rather these are simply things that it would genuinely be nice to see revived, and in many cases wouldn’t need to supplant culture’s current offerings, but could co-exist as happy supplements alongside them — additions that would make for richer and more varied lives.
In other words, opinion. That's fine. Nothing wrong with opinion, so long as it's based on facts. Well, maybe I have a different opinion.
Soda Fountains
In an age where fewer people are drinking alcohol, the soda fountain just might be the third space we need again.
Better idea: bring back drinking alcohol.
Attention Spans
While I admit I agree with this one, it still comes across as grumpyoldmanish.
Carrying Cash
But there are times and places where cash still comes in handy: a high school basketball game, the bait shop in the middle of nowhere, the after-hours campground fee box, the valet who deserves more than a muttered thank you.
None of those situations apply to me. Also, I don't like lying to beggars when they ask me if I have any spare cash.
Eccentricity
There’s lots of evidence that people, on the whole, are getting less weird. Less deviant, less creative, less inclined to divert from the standard societal lockstep. It seems like we have less eccentrics than we used to — those oddballs who dressed differently, read strange books, and didn’t care if anyone understood them.
Whaaaat? Have you seen the internet?
Paper Maps
They don’t buffer, they don’t die at 3%, and they don’t reroute you into a lake.
Look, I'm a huge fan of both GPS and paper maps, and on long trips, I always keep a road atlas with me as backup. But anyone who thinks no one ever got turned around by using paper maps is fooling themselves and bordering on Luddism. In truth, GPS is excellent at getting you un-lost when you've relied too much on paper maps. And anyone who blindly follows a computer's directions into a lake, well, honestly, that's on them.
Not to mention I'm the only person in the world who actually knows how to re-fold one the right way.
Door-to-Door Knife Sharpeners
You’ve heard of door-to-door salesmen, but did you know there used to be door-to-door knife sharpeners?
Right, because letting a stranger into your house to play with your knives is such a great idea.
Penmanship
It’s particularly rewarding to master cursive — a skill that’s especially endangered, not only in regards to writing it but even reading it.
Yeah, no. Although I was learning that shit back in the pre-PC days, I never got the hang of writing in cursive. And I never could read it, most of the time.
You know what I am pretty good at, though? Writing neatly in the all-caps block style preferred by engineers. I was good at it before I became an engineer. It got me my first job in an engineering office, as a drafter, before CAD took over.
I went through a phase where I tried to learn calligraphy. That was easier than cursive (with the right tools, anyway). Kids these days (dammit, now you got me doing it) probably think of cursive as just as antiquated as I thought of calligraphy.
Real Dates
Yeah, right. For me, that would require a woman, and that ain't gonna happen. Though the authors seem to be talking about it in terms of what other people do, and to that I say: mind your own business.
Typewriters
I learned to type on a typewriter. First a manual one, then an electric one, then a fancy IBM Selectric with limited editing functions, kind of a middle step between typewriter and word processor/printer.
Word processors are superior in every way.
Landlines
No.
Only reason to have one, for me, is that they tend to work even when the power is out. I have a generator for that now, and a spare battery I keep charged, one that can transfer charge to a mobile phone. And that niche case doesn't even come close to making up for the telemarketing calls I'd receive at all hours.
Record Players + Vinyl Records
In a world of endless, algorithmically curated streaming playlists, listening to music on a record player makes music listening feel like an event, not just background hum.
Where have these authors been? Those still exist. And I agree that vinyl records have their charms. But as is often the case with me, convenience wins out. Also, there was the flood incident back in the 80s that destroyed my extensive vinyl collection, and no, I will never get over that.
Colorful Insults
Modern insults are pretty boring — mostly the same set of expletive-laden put-downs.
On this one, I am in complete agreement. Not that I don't get extensive use of the "expletive-laden put-downs."
Neckties
Neckties aren’t expected in many situations anymore — but that’s exactly what makes them meaningful. Wearing one signals intention, care, and the willingness to rise above the bare minimum.
I'm pretty sure neckties got started before the collar button was perfected. Their whole purpose was to keep your shirt closed so no one had to look at that chest hair and get all excited (or disgusted). They then became an impractical fashion accessory. They're also exceedingly dangerous in a fight.
Film Cameras
I have mixed feelings about this one. First of all, as with vinyl records, they absolutely do still exist. They're just not as much a part of everyday life as they used to be. As someone who used to use them to make beer money, I do feel a kind of nostalgia for them, and even more for the darkroom skills I carefully cultivated.
But, again... I'm too damn lazy, and there's no going back now. Digital cameras have amazing quality these days, and they're convenient. Also, one of the best things about film cameras was Kodachrome (cue Paul Simon here), and they stopped making that.
Wood-Burning Fireplaces
Most fireplaces now run on gas. Flip a switch and you get some instant heat and ambiance.
I do appreciate the radiant heat of a fireplace. But, again, I think of all the wood I had to saw, chop, and split as a kid, and then I have nightmares for a week. No, thanks. Not to mention atmospheric particulates.
Anyway, there's more at the link, if you can overcome your reluctance to click on a site called Art of Manliness.
I'm reminded of those horse carriages in Central Park. I don't know if they still have those; I haven't seen one since before Covid. They'd line up at the south corner, Fifth and 59th, right across from the giant modernist cubic Apple store, and you'd get liveried around in a carriage with the clop clop and the plop plop. I never did it, just saw it. I don't think they treated the horses very well, but that's not my point; my point is that, sometimes, it's better to just let things die a natural death and stop longing for a past that, honestly, wasn't that great.
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