{"id":252,"date":"2006-12-08T11:45:52","date_gmt":"2006-12-08T17:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2006\/12\/08\/elements-of-life\/"},"modified":"2006-12-10T01:56:17","modified_gmt":"2006-12-10T07:56:17","slug":"elements-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/12\/elements-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Elements of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, a prominent farmer’s house caught fire (here<\/a> and here<\/a>). He and his wife got out, due to smoke detectors waking them, but he went back in. He didn’t leave.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, trucking magnate J.B. Hunt died, several days after slipping on ice outside his home (here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Now, both were men up in years, so should have been expected to have passed in a more conventional and peaceful way. Yet, one was by fire, and one was by ice. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, a prominent farmer’s house caught fire (here and here). He and his wife got out, due to smoke detectors waking them, but he went back in. He didn’t leave. On Thursday, trucking magnate J.B. Hunt died, several days after slipping on ice outside his home (here and here). Now, both were men up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brick-bats-reportage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/02\/brokeback-storm-or-ice-mountain\/","url_meta":{"origin":252,"position":0},"title":"Brokeback Storm or Ice Mountain","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Brokeback Mountain.\" A Brick review. It's a winner. It's for mature audiences, mature as in for grown-ups who realize sadness exists as does love and passion. Mature as in people who love \"story\" and love characters developed in \"story.\" What I haven't seen, though, is a professional review saying this:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":220,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/07\/ice-is-nice-til-pass-on-gas\/","url_meta":{"origin":252,"position":1},"title":"Ice is Nice til Pass on Gas","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2006 Ben S. Pollock We need a barometer. It will predict when gasoline costs too much. Just under $3 a gallon here in the Arkansas Ozarks. Everyone complains, but while we're driving perhaps more carefully, combining errand trips, topping off the tank, we're not all buying scooters. We're not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6948,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/12\/vanilla-chocolate-vices\/","url_meta":{"origin":252,"position":2},"title":"Vanilla and Chocolate V’Ices","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Given that ice cream, gelato, sorbet or even \"nice cream\" are indulgences, here is an alternate name. As nice cream usually refers to a banana-based treat (my adaptation in Notes below), I'm going for \"v'ice\" \u2014 short for vegan ice. The vanilla mock ice cream is adapted from Silk's recipe.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sides"","block_context":{"text":"Sides","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/sides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Illustration of polar on iceberg nearing desert island","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":582,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/08\/strategic-lactose-reserve\/","url_meta":{"origin":252,"position":3},"title":"Strategic Lactose Reserve","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- The crisis in ice cream is one that should concern even those who dislike the confection, though that's one smear of fudge sauce against them already. The price of ice cream and comparable cooling sweets has jumped so much, so quickly that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7918,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2024\/08\/friday-night-re-pabst\/","url_meta":{"origin":252,"position":4},"title":"Friday Night Re-Pabst","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"DIY Michelada Is Superior Several years ago I came across a curious cookbook. It comprised workable, simple and healthy vegan recipes but as a parody of a diet book, The Taco Cleanse: The Tortilla-Based Diet Proven to Change Your Life. Its authors \u2014 Wes Allison, Stephanie Bogdanich, Molly Frisinger and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sides"","block_context":{"text":"Sides","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/sides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"4 empty beer bottles, each a different color","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-bottles-2018-Wikimedia-Commons-1920x1080-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-bottles-2018-Wikimedia-Commons-1920x1080-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-bottles-2018-Wikimedia-Commons-1920x1080-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-bottles-2018-Wikimedia-Commons-1920x1080-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-bottles-2018-Wikimedia-Commons-1920x1080-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beer-bottles-2018-Wikimedia-Commons-1920x1080-1.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/01\/decisions\/","url_meta":{"origin":252,"position":5},"title":"Decisions","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 13, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004. The old chestnut of a philosophical construct: If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today? Ideally, you'd spend lots of time in the park, barefoot (the sun would be warm and shining of course), using\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}