skyblog and chaos

let there be songs to fill the air

2009-04-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

The grateful dead.
ripple.

my daughter, branwen, loves this song. which is cool, because it's one of my favorite songs by the dead. like'em or not, you have to admit the profound influence they've had in music and in the lives of so very many people.

i've seen them live a few times. i've hung out in the parking lots and the campgrounds selling jewelry. and i've received the much sought after miracle ticket twice. it's a shame it all had to end.

count me in and then count me out

2009-03-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Waking Hours

i'm very tired right now. not even sure what to write. yep. that tired.it's been raining off and on for two days. that, and a bit cooler than last week. i think it's got me down.

a few years ago i had a job working the grill/snack bar at the local public golf course. very small, sort of run down place, run by the county park district. i served a lot of burgers, fries, and beer.

while i worked there i met one of the local wing-nuts, a woman named gloria. i have no idea what gloria's madness is all about, but i can tell you the woman is definitely not operating from the same dimension as the rest of us.

she seems to wander from one local establishment to the next, buying things and freaking out the employees (and customers) she comes into contact with.

she can start out talking to you in a very normal and polite tone. but, no matter what you do or say, something is going to happen that will piss her off. she doesn't usually get loud about it, just pesters you to death and contradicts herself, changing her mind...it can go and on.

it goes something like this:
gloria: i'd like a burger with everything on it. and make sure you cook it well. you can get sick from undercooked meat. and i'll have a mountain dew also.
you serve her what she ordered.
gloria: thanks.
she sits down and starts to eat. then she stops. and comes back to the counter.
gloria: this burger is overcooked. i can't eat it at all.
you fix another one, medium rare this time. she thanks you and goes back to her table. and then she comes back.
gloria: why does this have onions on it? i can't eat onions, they upset me. and they're so strong i can't just take them off, the whole burger tastes like onions now.
another burger bites the dust. a new burger is prepared and served. she's content to sit down again. for ten whole senconds.
gloria: is this mountain dew, i don't want this. i ordered and iced tea.
she gets her iced tea. sits down again. another ten seconds pass and she's back.
gloria: this burger is undercooked.

...you get the idea, now? and, of course she will tell you you are the one to blame. you're just not listening. on and on.

i hadn't seen her for awhile and a few days ago ran into her at the local gas station. she was getting coffee. i was talking to the guy at the counter. and in the middle of my sentence she just hollers out whatever crazy question she had. something about the flavored creamers. everyone froze. and turned. and stared at her. it really was just too funny, but i guess you had to be there.

i'm sure the guy at the counter knew her, you could see it from the frightened look in his eyes. he knew what he was in for. she would be there for half an hour asking questions and complaining. all for a cup of coffee.

here's to gloria and all the other sweet, harmless, crazies out there in the world. they make my life a little more entertaining.

listen, there's music in the air

2009-03-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

bob mould. brilliant.
hüsker dü in the 1980's, sugar in the 1990's...and he's still touring, working, writing.

bob mould played a free concert down on the riverfront something like
10 years ago. i took my daughters. it was their first live rock show.

this song has been rumbling around in my head for a few weeks now. today it is dedicated to undisclosed recipients. you may be thinking, "hey, that's not fair." but it's my blog, i'll do what i want.

so, why undisclosed recipients, why this song? the word resonate comes to mind. like an echo, like ripples in the water, this song moves beyond the here and now. and, as such, the implications of the lyrics in my life right now apply to many. many people, many situations, many moods.

it's bittersweet, kind of a theme in my life these days. sadness and joy blending together, calm and peace mixed with anxiety. finding balance, that's the goal. i think that's what i'm after...understanding that sometimes, when you mix two very different tastes (or themes, ideas, feelings, what have you) that you find a new harmony.

mistress mabel

2009-03-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

i love the fratellis.
really.
a lot.
they're - oh - that post punk revival thing? or something? kinda remind me of the kinks? and, sadly, they are apparently taking a break. whether temporary or permanent is anyone's guess. but it does make me sad.

anyway, today's song goes to the lady pushing her shopping cart out the door of the grocery store today while i was on my way in. she was, i dunno, maybe 70 or so years old and she had this crazy wild mess of white hair on her head. it was all curls and just sticking out every direction. the funny thing is that she was otherwise, flawless. perfect makeup, tastefully dressed.

i couldn't stop staring at her. she looked so relaxed and content. and that hair, my god, it was wild!

i got almost to the point of passing her on the sidewalk and she spoke to me. she said, "you must be freezing to death, wearing shorts today."

i smiled and looked at her, she was wearing a just below the knees skirt, stockings, and, of course, sensible but stylish shoes.

i said, "well, then you must be too, you are wearing a skirt. but actually, i think it's quite nice out today, i'm not cold at all."

she smiled back and it just dazzled me. she had that old-money classiness and yet had a wildness about her. "well, everyone is entitled to her own opinion. i am cold, i think it's freezing outside. you have a lovely day dear and stay warm."

(it really was around 55-60º outside today, not that cold.)

when i got home i logged into pandora and the first song that played was "mistress mabel". i immediately thought of the lady at the store...i wonder what her name was, she looked like she could be a mabel.

let the spinning wheel turn

2008-11-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

R.L. Burnside.
blues isn't a genre of music i know a lot about, but i do know that i seem to be drawn to the southern blues style. delta blues, swamp blues. i was introduced to r.l. burnsides music several years ago. amazing stuff.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

...for the guy working at larosas pizza. he told me he was too old for rock n roll. (honestly, dude couldn't have been more than 30 or 35 years old at the most) he said to me...i used to play metal/punk rock stuff, but i have two kids now, and im just too old for that sort of thing.

so, he says hes into the blues now.... and his new hero is mississippi fred mcdowell.

i was standing there, paying for my pizza, trying to remember the names of a couple of more contemporary artists that i knew this guy would like, just couldn't get the names in my head.

i came up with one of them on my way home. that was jon spencer blues explosion. blues influenced, but i don't know id really call them blues.

the other was an old blues guy who had a more contemporary sound. i couldn't get it so i started searching when i got home. r.l. burnside, that's the guy. and when i checked out his bio on allmusic.com, lo and behold, fred mcdowell was his neighbor and taught him a thing or two about music.

funny how things work out like that.

now that i think about it, what started the conversation with pizza guy was that he stopped on his way to the register to adjust his tuque. i told him he looked fabulous, he didn't need to fix his hat for me.

he told me he had just come from the back of the store where he had been listening and dancing to, you know the song, he said, he hummed a little bit, they tell me the band is called blood sweat and tears.

so, i'm revising my age estimate. dude has to be under 30. anyone over 30 really ought to know who blood sweat and tears are, right?

redux

2008-11-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

some things just need to be repeated.

tonight the guy at the corner carryout, when i told him i was going home to stare at my computer, said, "you like conspiracy theory stuff? there's this great movie you should watch. it's called loose change."

i told him i'd already seen it. seen the first edition three years ago. he was stunned. he told me i was the first person he'd mentioned it to who has heard of it.

really?

from wikipedia:
"An August 2006 Vanity Fair article suggested that Loose Change "just might be the first Internet blockbuster" as it became the most watched video on Google Video in May 2006, being viewed at least 40 million times on that site, and with the official Loose Change website receiving over 100,000 hits a day. Millions more have viewed the film via unaffiliated websites. More than one million copies of the DVD have been sold, and many more have been given away."

and here's a 4 minute trailer for loose change final cut

final cut, because the film has been revised and remade a few times now.
...and the loose change 9/11 blog.

no matter how you feel about 9/11, no matter how you feel about conspiracy theories, you should at least know that this movie, and others like it, exist.

speaking of other movies like it...zeitgeist, the movie

no narrow focus like 9/11 here. zeitgeist is way more comprehensive. it attacks religious institutions, governments, and the banking cartels.

watch it, you should...

(PhillipWest's origami is amazing!)

you heard me, chicken

2008-11-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

a couple of videos from a band called empire dogs, out of stockholm, sweden.
i can't find a lot of info on them. their website is down at the moment, though they do have a myspace profile. happy, poppy, retro sounding kinda stuff. not going to blow your mind, but they sure are fun to listen to.

this week seems to have dragged on. something about november, it seems to take forever to get through it. maybe it's anticipation of the upcoming holidays, i don't know.

i think i'll dedicate today's videos to the wing-nut at the corner convenience store.

i go to this store every day. really, to buy smokes, usually. i've lived in the same place for 8 years, small town, so this little store is very familiar to me. and i tend to linger when i'm there and chat with the employees. i started talking with one of the new guys. he seemed nice enough.

a few nights ago my daughters' friends stopped by and told me that they had just come from the store and this guy, this employee, told them that he thinks i like him and that he thinks i might ask him out.

upon hearing this, my daughters and i simultaneously made that sound: eeewwww... (funny, all of us at once.) but, really, this guy... i don't think so.

my point here is that these girls to whom he imparted this information are thirteen years old. and i just really don't think it was an appropriate conversation for him to be having with kids. especially kids who are friends with my daughters. what the hell was he thinking?

i mentioned it next day to my favorite of the store's employees. and she must have said something, because last night when i ran up to the store, dude was completely non-communicative with me.

i feel bad, kind of, sort of, well, maybe not really. but i'll give him today's blog post, just to be nice.

you would somersault in sand with me

2008-11-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

i'm still feeling quiet and dreamy...so...

first video is gabe dixon band "all will be well"...they've been compared to dave matthews and david gray...i can hear that. it's a singer/songwriter thing. i love piano.

second video is zero 7 "somersault"...it's the lyrics that made me post...well, and i love this song. apparently the funny little dance sia and tina do in the middle of this live version has something to do with the music video that was released for this song.

today's video shout-out goes to three individuals who just happened to be there for me these last couple of nights.

i've been having a bit of a time with my two (yes, two) pre-teen daughters. i'm raising them alone and sometimes it's just damn hard. really hard. because pre-teen girls are a mess.

(i've come to the conclusion that all those stories about children being possessed by the devil (the exorcist, et al) are just allegorical references to normal pre-teen behavior. i have seen evil and i call her daughter.)
(~_^)

anyway. sometimes i just get to that point where i think i will fall apart. but these last couple of nights, just when i thought i was going to break, i got phone calls and emails.

i don't live in the city and money is tight and i have to be home for my kids (yeah, yeah, you get the picture) so i don't go out much ...so...yay! for emails and phone calls.

and cheers to those who talked and laughed with me.
... (and promised to help me bury the bodies)
... (no, just kidding).

distractions IV

2008-11-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

well, after a very brief trip to chicago that left me too tired to think about posting blogs, i'm back.

if you've yet to hear of the books or the movie twilight, well, i guess that means you're not a crazed teenage girl. because they all have. and so i found myself driving through the middle of the night to hang out on the floor of a chicago suburb shopping mall for 12 hours so that my daughters might have the chance to see robert pattinson, star of the aforementioned movie.

well, after a very brief trip to chicago that left me too tired to think about posting blogs, i'm back.

if you've yet to hear of the books or the movie twilight, well, i guess that means you're not a crazed teenage girl. because they all have. and so i found myself driving through the middle of the night to hang out on the floor of a chicago suburb shopping mall for 12 hours so that my daughters might have the chance to see robert pattinson, star of the aforementioned movie.

yep.
and they got to see him, along with thousands of other screaming females.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

anyway...on to my distractions.
today's word is ensconced - to settle securely or snugly.

i found this site: SFZero
and, actually, i'm kinda jazzed about it.

this is a brief description from their site:

SFZero is a Collaborative Production Game. Players build characters by completing tasks for their groups and increasing their Score. The goals of play include meeting new people, exploring the city, and participating in non-consumer leisure activities.

tasks.

well, one recent task bears the title "the arcane ensconced", which is, of course, how i wound up on the site. the task is "install a secret message."

**another task is "what this place needs..." - install in a public place (as permanently as possible) something that you think that place needs.

**"ethereal cartography" - "make a map of something that does not exist physically"

**"selective cleanliness" - "create reverse grafitti"

** "public patch" - "plant and grow vegetables in a public place"

you complete the task and post verification in words and images and then you receive points. some tasks require a collaborative effort. some you can do on your own. the points you receive advance you levels.

so, you get the general idea here...i'm going to go sign up now...

obsession

2008-11-14T05:35:00.000-08:00

well, i haven't posted for a couple of days because i've been out of town.
tuesday night i left for chicago with my daughters so that they could see robert pattinson (the star of the soon to be released movie, twilight) live in person at orland square mall.

it was total madness. but it was fun.

thanks to gross mismanagement on the part of hot topic (i will be posting another blog with my rant about this), who are sponsoring the tour, my kids didn't even get a chance to line up for the much desired wristbands that were needed to get rob's autograph.

but they did get to sit on the floor of the shopping mall for twelve hours so they could catch a glimpse of him for ten minutes or so. which was good enough for them. all in all it was a good trip.

so, twilight mania.
i looked up the soundtrack listing for the movie.
the song that follows is a live version of one of the songs on the soundtrack.

distractions III (anomalous phenomena)

2008-11-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

intimation: to indicate or make known indirectly; hint; imply; suggest

image:antarc-tia.blogspot.com

this article:
Fruitfulness of math not an intimation of a transcendent mind!

"All we can ever know about the world is what our mind lets us know -- our perception and awareness of external reality are limited by our mind. We can never know more than the mind can assimilate and process, nor can we discuss any aspect of the world for which there is no language. The fact that our mathematical laws of nature explain the world is no miracle -- it can't be otherwise. The laws of nature describe the world we know and that world is a reflection of our thinking and our language -- of our mind."

the site is Science Frontiers: The unusual & unexplained:

Science Frontiers is the bimonthly newsletter providing digests of reports that describe scientific anomalies; that is, those observations and facts that challenge prevailing scientific paradigms.

It's a big site.
Articles spanning four decades. archaeology, astronomy, biology, geology, geophysics, mathematics, psychology, and physics.

the person behind all this is william r corliss, an american physicist and writer who has become known for his interest in collecting data regarding anomalous phenomena.

it's mentioned that corliss has been inspired by charles fort, which means, well, he has lots of company. google charles fort...

fortean times issue 200

...and looking at charles fort took me to this site:
Google Earth Anomalies

...and then i got sidetracked, playing with the map...

linear features: cuba - area 2
Google Earth Anomalies

(sorry folks, i'm a little tired tonight, so this is as good as it gets)

one last thing, if you are curious about the first photo posted in this blog (you should be) go here.

love story

2008-11-11T05:40:00.000-08:00

more tom.

sorry, i just have to get this out of my system.

unfortunately none of these videos are actually videos, they're just the song.

for those of you familiar with tom waits, these are old songs, so the familiar raspy, gravelly voice is not so evident and the songs themselves lack the experimental edginess that lots of people associate with his music. these songs, are just simple song of love and heartbreak.

**update: well, the warner music group (wmg) in their infinite stupidity keeps deleting the originals of these songs. what happens now is obvious: the songs are amazing but countless numbers of people will hear them recorded by artists other than tom, and those are the versions and the artists they will support. wmg is killing their own business by making the music they want to sell so inaccessible that no one will hear it and thus no one will want to purchase it. morons. who knows how long these will stay up. if the link is broken, let me know.**

in the order that i've posted them, they seem to me to tell a story, one that i'm all too familiar with. (covers are noted, otherwise they're originals)

this is a nice cover by hakon l tandberg

Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue,
Well the music plays and you display
your heart for me to see,
I had a beer and now I hear
you calling out for me
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

Well It's a quarter a two
and looking at you
and going down, going down slow
Well It's a quarter a two
and looking at you
and going down, going down slow

Lazy trip to heaven on the wings of your love
Banana moon is shining in the sky,
Feel like I'm in heaven when you're with me
Know that I'm in heaven when you smile,
Though we're stuck here on the ground, I got something that I've found
And it's you.
And I don't have to take no trip to outer space
All I have to do is look at your face,
And before I know it, I'm in orbit around you
Thanking my lucky stars that I've found you,
When I see your constellation, honey, you're my inspiration, and it's you.

You're my north star when I'm lost and feeling blue,
The sun is breaking through the clouds don't you, don't you know it's true?
Honey, all the other stars seem dim around you
Thanking my lucky stars that I've found you,
When I see your smiling face, honey,
I know nothing ever going to take your place, and it's you.

cover by: bow campbell's bloody hell

Nobody, Nobody
Will ever love you
The way I could love you
Cause nobody, nobody is that strong
Love is bitter sweet
And life's treasures deep
But no one can keep
A love that's gone wrong

The evening fell just like a star
Left a trail behind
You spit as you slammed out the door
If this is love we're crazy
As we fight like cats and dogs
But I just know there's got to be more

So please call me, baby
Wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

And I admit that I ain't no angel
I admit that I ain't no saint
I'm selfish and I'm cruel but you're blind
If I exorcise my devils
Well my angels may leave too
When they leave they're so hard to find

**jrbaylor on youtube uploaded the previous video. there's lots of great stuff there and he has a link to a youtube account he created that's all tom waits. check it out.**

cover by hakon l tandberg (his link is above, under "hope that i don't fall in love with you")

I'm singing this song, it's time it was sung
I've been putting it off for a while,
But it's harder by now, 'cause the truth is so clear
That I cry when I'm seeing you smile.
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then I'll be gone.
Every time that I tried to tell that we'd lost the magic we had at the start,
I would weep my heart when I looked in your eyes
And I searched once again for the spark.
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then I'll be gone.

I can see by your eyes, it's time now to go
So I'll leave you to cry in the rain,
Though I held in my hand, the key to all joy
Honey my heart was not born to be tamed.
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then I'll be gone.

And yes, I know that our differences pulled us apart
We never spoke a word heart to heart
And I'm glad that you're gone
But I wish to the lord that you'd come home

And I'm glad that you're gone
Got the feeling so strong
And I'm glad that you're gone
But I wish to the lord that you'd come home

the first tom waits i ever heard was in the summer of 1984, in yosemite national park. the guy who lived in the tent next to me was playing "closing time" ...i was so blown away by what i was hearing that i went over and asked him what he was listening to. it's not often that an artist has such an impact one me that i remember the first time i heard them.

as for my love story...i guess it's not over yet.

distractions II (forks for all!)

2008-11-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

today's word:
horripilation - goose bumps

i thought this one would be easy. it wasn't. after sorting through page after page of definitions for the word itself i had found very little i thought was entertaining.

there were several references to the fork of horripilation, which is apparently a quest item for a game called the elder scrolls.

i liked this:

image from the elder scrolls series of video games
if you give the Fork of Horripilation to him, he responds, "You bring the Fork! Happy day! The blind shall see! The lame shall walk! The short shall tall! Forks for all!"

i also found several references to marilyn manson. once i started looking all i could find were three year old articles about manson wanting to make movies. (manson quote: "It's horrifying, and it's depilatory. It will horrify the hair off of your legs.")

but not much more than the articles...so, i kept looking...the film in question is called phantasmagoria: the visions of lewis carroll. (and that's about all i could find.)

and while marilyn manson may be a fascinating subject, i felt i needed more. well, something that more directly related to my word for the day, anyway.

and then, buried on page 13 of the google search results i found a website called popkalab, and i thought it was pretty cool. the site belongs to artist, multimedia developer and producer, ricardo nascimento. he has a projects page, it has five projects listed, with titles like "suffering machine" and "authority" (...are you curious yet?)

but the project in question, the one that had the reference to horripilation, is called the taiknam hat, which is described as kinetic head-wear that reacts and animates to medium wave radio signals.

really.

now, go ahead and click the link for popkalab, scroll down to see the photos and below that is a link for videos of the hats in action.

Taiknam Hat, 2007, by Ebru Kurbak, Ricardo Nascimento and Fabiana Shizue

how did this relate to horripilation?
here's a bit taken from the what is the taiknam hat? page:

This project is an alternative attempt to materialize the immaterial space of radio waves by emulating horripilation, an automatic instinctive reaction of living creatures to sources of irritation and stress....
...Taiknam Hat aims to utilize the biological facts regarding the causes and properties of horripilation in birds as a metaphor, in order to express our bodies' irritation towards electromagnetic radiation as well as to create a visual and tactile signage of their existence for other people.

bring a bible and a rope

2008-11-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

i'm not sure i could put it into words.
if you don't get tom waits, then you don't get music.
...or art.
...or life.

every now and then i'll pull up a tom waits song to listen to.
the only problem is that once i start listening to his music, it's hard to stop.
and so it started last night.
and i have to keep listening to his music because everything else just pales in comparison.

i got a phone call today from an old friend. every time he calls he inevitably drags the subject of sex into the conversation. will i have sex with him?...every time i tell him no and that he just needs to let it go. he's been ignoring me saying this for years.

why am i telling you this?

i'm telling you because, for all you guys out there, don't do this to girls...it's annoying. more than annoying, i think that, inevitably, it puts a strain on a friendship.

anyway, in the course of our conversation, we moved on to other subjects. and my friend told me that his dad, who has been sick for a very long time, just died.

and i know how hard it is to lose a parent. and i'm sorry for him. it's a difficult thing.

so, tom's video is for my friend who called today. because the music of tom waits has always conveyed more about life than any other music i know.

chicks rule

2008-11-09T12:57:00.000-08:00

two videos, again, today.

first is amanda palmer, from the dresden dolls (a way cool band, if you've never checked them out, you should). the video is from amanda's youtube site, the song and video are dedicated to sarah palin.
damn. what an hysterically brilliant video. words like acerbic, sarcastic, scathing come to mind, or maybe just fucking funny will do.

second video is, keeping in line with yesterday's blog about screaming metal and today's theme on girls, a band called my ruin, the song is called ready for blood. the singer here is tairrie b. from what i've gathered, she started her musical career as a hip hop artist. go figure.

a couple of years ago she was in a terrible car accident and nearly lost her arm. she has a vlog on their youtube page (the link i've posted) with footage of her recovery process.

i found a great site recently, wears the trousers magazine, dedicated to women in music. both of the artists i have posted above i got to from this website.

and today's musical inspiration is from my friend monica. i had breakfast with her this morning. monica is, i suppose, my best friend. she is also one of the very few girlfriends i have. we've known each other for 24 years, a long damn time.

monica is one of the strongest people i have ever known. and, no, i don't mean physical strength (really, now). a single mom who managed to hold it together, raise two kids, and get a masters degree in nursing. she deserves the world. and she deserves respect. like all of us, really.

chicks rule.

distractions

2008-11-09T04:41:00.000-08:00

you know, just something to keep my mind busy. to keep me distracted.
o.k.

a little game, total nonsense, just for fun...
finding websites based on dictionary.com's word of the day.

today's word:
resplendent: having brilliant color, beauty

my first click took me to an artist site, called resplendent chaos - it has chaos in the title, i figured i'd like it.

the first thing i see on the page is this:

badmags.com
yep. this looks like fun.
the image, and there are more than this one, goes with a link to a site called bad mags
here's a bit from the site:
BAD MAGS illuminates the darker recesses of "pop lit"--focusing upon the strangest, sleaziest and most unusual periodicals and tabloids published in the US from the fifties through the eighties.
worth it to click the link? i think so.

anyway, back to resplendent chaos... i click "about the artist" to discover this blog belongs to a woman who goes by the name 14.
her interests list has all kinds of things that appeal to me.

she mentions the fool tarot card in her list of interests. and she has a section of work that is all cards. here's one:

resplendentchaos.com
agony of my heart.
well, i can relate to that.

her art is cool.
her blog is funny and worth reading.

here's a bit:
I've spent much time lingering near tourist traps with my sketchbook this summer and here are some of the results. I couldn't help but notice a large number of horizontally-challenged butts populating the streets this year. Yep. I decided to create a comic strip called Butts of Summer and this is my first panel.

or maybe:
All Drakker Von Zorgbot wanted after a stressful day spent hauling quantum foam across the vast interstellar wormhole superhighway was a relaxing drink of scotch at his favorite galactic quandrant watering hole. What he got instead was an insatiable Earth vixen hellbent on tease and titillation.

...and she has lots of great links.
go. have fun.

cheers.

for awhile

2008-11-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

devin townsend

first video is a song called "the greys" from an album called ziltoid the omniscient. this album is a solo effort. devin wrote, recorded, mixed, produced, and performed the entire record by himself (he didn't play drums, they were recorded using a software synthesizer). this guy has tremendous talent. (the video is not an official video, it's fan-made.)

second video is an interview from 2006. kinda dorky but i needed a reference point for this person who creates such beautiful and bizarre music. i should also mention that, from what i've listened to so far devin townsend is really all over the place musically. he seems to me to be genre-defying.

today's videos are for jordan. of all the people i've known and been friends with no one has ever really been a fan of metal, not really.

...until jordan. i suppose i always had preconceived notions about metal. it struck me as banal and annoying and, generally speaking, just kind of lacking in in intelligence and depth. it always seemed so one dimensional to me.

and from jordan i learned to think about it all in a different way. and i suppose i now have a new appreciation for what it's all about.

and i'll be honest here, i have teased jordan mercilessly about some of his music preferences. making fun of what has been dubbed the "cookie monster" singers...the guys who just kind of scream gutturally and incoherently when they perform. (like cookie monster's incoherent and gravelly voice). and, yeah, devin townsend does a fair amount of screaming into the microphone.

oh, and the proliferation of blood and guts...that whole fascination with the macabre thing that is so prevalent in metal music. and, of course, there's the satanic twists in some of the groups. i poked fun at all that.

but jordan just kind of quietly accepted it all... all my teasing. and he kept talking about and kept playing the music he liked - and i never stopped listening.

falling down

2008-11-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

no stories, no dedications. i'm too tired to think at all.

i just wanted to share it with you.

norah jones.

similar situation

2008-11-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

arlo!!!

arlo guthrie is a brilliant man. and i mean brilliant in more ways than intelligence. he shines and sparkles. he is funny and passionate. seeing him perform live is a life affirming experience.

(just a side note here: if you're uber-conservative, politically speaking, you may well not appreciate the "bleeding heart liberal" message arlo delivers...which is a shame.)

i'm posting two songs. the first is a short clip of "this land is your land", a song we all know, that was written by arlo's dad, woody guthrie. the second is a slightly altered version of "i'm changing my name to chrysler", just one of many very funny songs written by tom paxton.

i'm dedicating today's selections to my friend art, a man i met some 24 years ago at yosemite national park. we had both been hired to work in the park for the summer and were in the employee training program together.

because we were living and working on a piece of land owned by the federal government, it was required that we be fingerprinted.

on our way to the building where we were to have our fingerprints taken, one of us, i'm not sure but i think it was art, started quoting form arlo guthries very long and wordy song "alice's restaurant". the other one, probably me, chimed in on the lyrics. and thus began a new friendship.-

"and friends, somewhere in washington, enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints..." (link here, for the true story behind the song and the lyrics to the song)

i lost touch with art a long, long time ago and just this past year found him on myspace, and we've been talking ever since. i wrote him a few days ago asking him for his thoughts about good places to live in the pacific northwest, where i am planning to move next year.

art has travelled extensively, and a lot of his travelling has been on foot. he has done two peace walks out west these last two years. this year he walked the west coast from the mexican border to the canadian border.

t-shirts

2008-09-21T04:58:00.000-07:00

You know, I'd really like to post blogs more often, but ever since the death of my pc it's just been hard.

Anyway, today I stumbled across this website: CarryaBigSticker, and while scrolling through the shirts I read this: "These shirts are illegal in five states and the target of a $40-billion dollar class-action lawsuit."

WHAT? A t-shirt? Why?

Apparently some people took offense at the design of the shirt. It lists the names of soldiers who have died in the war with the slogan "Bush lied, they died"superimposed over the top.

The shirt:

The laws:

"Louisiana and Oklahoma both passed laws in 2006 limiting the use of the names and likenesses of the Iraq war dead. In 2007, Arizona, Florida and Texas followed suit, passing laws that created penalties for the commercial usage of service members' names without prior permission. In Arizona, violations of the law are punishable by up to six months in jail and fines of up to $2,500 for an individual or $20,000 for an enterprise."

...and The lawsuit:

The ACLU is also defending Frazier in a pending lawsuit filed against him in federal court in Tennessee by a couple whose soldier son was killed in Iraq. Robin and Michael Read of Greeneville, Tenn., have asked that their case be expanded to cover more than 4,000 casualties and seek more than $40 billion in damages.

I can't help but wonder, if the shirts had been pro-war and listed the names of the soldiers, would all this hullabaloo have ever happened?
Would it?

A federal judge stated that the law banning the shirts cannot be used to prosecute Frazier because the shirts are "core political speech fully protected by the First Amendment". But, it's not over yet, the laws that were passed are still in place and the lawsuit still exists.

And, you know, I think I might have to buy this shirt.

culture jamming

2008-05-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

this all got started...well, i don't really know how it all got started.

===============================

yesterday i found myself at the website for the yes men. if nothing else, click the link and check out one of their "latest hijinks". the "exxon's climate victim candles" is hysterically funny. they posed as national petroleum council representatives proposing a new form of fuel, vivoleum, made from dead people.

an excerpt from the speech given at the go-expo oil conference:

"Vivoleum works in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production," noted "Exxon rep" "Florian Osenberg" (Yes Man Mike Bonanno). "With more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for Vivoleum. Fuel will continue to flow for those of us left."

=======================

also, check out RTMark ...they have a great list of ideas and things to do.

++++++++++++++

sniggle.net is an incredible resource on culture jamming. they have enough links to keep you busy (and entertained) for weeks.

for example, billboard liberation:

seriously, sniggle.net covers a lot. hakim bey and william s burroughs and the dead kennedys, bugs bunny and bigfoot, loki, anansi, and wavy gravy, abbie hoffman and robert anton wilson, tons of people and pranks you've never heard of (but you should), and a bookshelf section filled with good things to read...you get the point.

++++++++++++++++

cheers.

b is for beer

2008-02-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, will publish a new novel this fall by Tom Robbins called B is For Beer.

According to HarperCollins executive editor David Hirshey, who is editing the book, it is about 100 pages long, and takes the form of a "hallucinogenic hymn to beer, children, and the cosmic mysteries that sustain us all."

Mr. Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, has not written a novel since 2003's Villa Incognito, and B is for Beer will be his first since leaving Bantam Books, his publisher of almost 30 years.

Mr. Hirshey worked closely with Mr. Robbins as his editor at Esquire from 1985 until 1995, but had fallen out of touch with him in recent years. In fact, Mr. Hirshey said, he had not spoken to Mr. Robbins in a decade and had not been able to track down his contact information, when he got a phone call from him out of the blue about a week before Christmas.

"He calls up and tells me that he's left Bantam Books and he has something that he thought I might enjoy reading," Mr. Hirshey said. 'And then he says, 'Do you know anybody at Ecco? Two of my greatest heroes are Leonard Cohen and Charles Bukowski and I know that they're both published by Ecco. It would make me really happy to be part of that pantheon.'"

Mr. Hirshey called Ecco editor-in-chief Daniel Halpern and told him about the book, and Mr. Halpern agreed immediately to publish it.

...so it goes

2007-12-18T05:34:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was reading a blog (Tim Sandlin - yes I mentioned him in my previous blog) and there was a reference to Vonnegut's asshole.
(Really)

This is Vonnegut's asshole:

...reading the blog I was reminded of another blog I was lucky enough to stumble upon called Vonnegut's Asterisk. It's a very funny bit compiled by Eric Spitznagel where various writers submit their own artisitc interpretation of their own assholes.

What can I say? I'm easily amused.

Although I didn't really start this post with any intention of talking about Kurt Vonnegut - a genius - I just thought the links I posted above were places you ought to visit...they made me laugh. Everybody needs to laugh. Not that you will neccessarily think that this stuff is funny. (even though I think that you should).

Actually, I didn't come here to write about anything in particular at all. I just figured I should satrt posting blog entries again. Because, of course, it entertains me. (Remeber, I'm easily amused.)

My life is pretty boring (by my standards). So I'll share with you how a typical morning goes around here.

Usually I wake up against my will sometime between 5 and 6 in the morning because the newest member of the zoo, an eight week old puppy named Snickers, is having a fit because he can't jump onto my bed yet and he thinks that's where he should be. Why does he think this? Because that's where my other two dogs are.

So I pull him up, thinking I will sleep some more, but Snickers has other plans and proceeds to pounce and bite and play and annoy. So, I drag myself out of bed so that I can take him outside. This means Fleck, my cranky old beagle, and Sammy, the border collie with boundless energy, now believe they should being going outside too. Sam bounces up and down (like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh) and Fleck barks. I manage to get leashes on them and get the door open. The dogs rush outside knocking over and stepping on the cats who are prowling the front porch waiting for me to feed them.

I get the dogs back in the house and feed them. Now the two cockatiels, Twister and Gordo, (there's a reason I said Snickers is the newest member of "the zoo") are wide awake and squawking. I get food for the dogs. I get a pitcher (yes a pitcher) of cat food and stumble back onto the porch. Cats being how they are they have decided to seek revenge for the beating they took from the dogs and now they are trying to trip me and knock me down as I head for the food bowls.

Cats fed, I go back inside to feed the birds. I get a cup of coffee and sit down for a minute. But just a minute because Snickers is not yet housebroken and he's just finished breakfast. So he goes back on the leash and the two of us (the other dogs are jealous) go outside to break up the ice on the cats water and feed the rabbits (two of them, too). Their water containers have to come inside to thaw (which means I'll have to go back out again in a few minutes).

In the meantime (while the bunny water thaws) I may or may not feed the fish, the guinea pig and check on the hamsters. Sometimes, I wait until later in the day for these creatures.

Then I get to sit down in front of the computer for a few minutes. And look at the time. I am not, nor have I ever been, a person who thrives on less than 8 hours of sleep. And I rarely accomplish this anymore. So, I look at the time and think I can lay down for half an hour before I have to get up and wake my daughters (two of them too).

But the zoo is one thing and my daughters are another story completely. And waking them and getting them to school is another blog altogether. You should be tired now. I know I am.

cheers.

love and hotcakes

2007-12-16T05:42:00.000-08:00

Today when I got out of bed, my daughter Muriel was in the kitchen making pancakes. She said she was hoping to surprise me with breakfast in be. "But then you woke up. Can you come help me?" So I found myself in the kitchen, helping her make the pancakes. I will, also, of course, be the one washing the dishes later. But it was the thought that counts.

Since I can't seem to get it together to post a blog more than once in a blue moon I thought I'd give you the short list of my favorite (so far) myspace blogs.

I should mention that my PC recently crashed and I am using the spare, which is a MAC. It's basically the same, but the little differences are getting to me. One, for example is the little note I get when I try to post a blog on myspace: "the computer you are using blah blah blah does not seem to support the advanced editor blah blah blah press o.k. to continue in plain text". Excuse me? MY computer doesn't support. My little second hand computer? Or is that your multi mega billion dollar site can't be bothered to support other formats like Apple and Firefox?

Here's the links to the blogs:

The A.D.D. Blog
by Brad Listi. He posts an entry every day. How cool is that? And they're all fun to read. He also has a book out - that I have yet to read...Christmas is almost here, hint, hint.From Brad's blog:
"I'm in a hurry, as I was in a hurry yesterday.

With this in mind, I've decided to slam two cups of coffee quickly and then just sit here and write as fast as I can for fifteen minutes. And then be done.

The fallout of this decision would appear to be twofold:

1.) You get the contents of my mind, pretty much uncut, however they might exist for the duration of these 15 minutes.

2.) While the posts may be entertaining at times, they also run the risk of being haphazard and scatter-shot and sloppy and thematically dissonant, and so on. And possibly even stupid and boring.

But whatever. It's not like it really matters.

I mean, sure, it does matter, at least on some level, as you fine people are kind enough to check in and read this thing everyday, and I want the writing to be at least somewhat quasi-engaging. But it doesn't matter-matter in any kind of serious, interplanetary way. (At least, not that I know of or can conceive of.)

I think that's why I like blogging, and why I've been a fan of it ever since I started doing it. The literary equivalent of graffiti art. It's quick. It's weird. It's imperfect. It's unpredictable and immediate.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

Whatever."

Read it. You'll like it.
Tim Sandlin
Another writer. More books you could maybe think about buying me for Christmas.

From the Grovont blog:

"Leila asked me to tell her a bedtime story last night and because this is Thanksgiving week, I told her the old Isuzu legend about the true meaning of Easter. The Isuzus were a splinter group of Arapaho that lived in Yellowstone after the Battle of Greasy Grass. Other Indians considered them the bastard spawn of Custer, and it is true many of the Isuzus had blue eyes and a tendency to self-promote. Their tragic flaw was the fact they were high-centered and prone to rollovers.A missionary named Sister Leslie Gore converted the entire tribe to Christianity in 1888 by teaching them the alternate words to "Jingle Bell Rock." But some of their Christian traditions intermingled with the Happy Hunting Grounds faith system, such as the belief Mary was impregnated by a geyser.Leila didn't believe me. Clutching her little Piglet stuffed pig, she said, "You're making this up as you go along, Dad." I said if she didn't go to sleep the Sandman would rub dirt in her eyes."

There are a few more. I'll post them later. The kids and the dogs are distracting me...cheers.p.s. trying to post html code is a drag. anyone with a mac out there and a suggestion? i have this thing called a 'user agent switcher' but it slows down my computer too much. i also have scribefire but have yet to work with it and don't know what it will do (or if it's worth my time).
p.p.s. any cool myspace blogs you read? let me know.

a few quotes on religion

2007-11-18T05:53:00.000-08:00

I recently grabbed my copy of Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins off the bookshelf to read it again. Not too far into the book I read this:

"To diminish the worth of women, men had to diminish the worth of the moon. They had to drive a wedge between human beings and the trees and the beasts and the waters, because trees and beasts and waters are as loyal to the moon as to the sun. They had to drive a wedge between thought and feeling, between the lamplight by which they count the day's earnings and the dark to which our Pan is ever connected. At first they used Apollo as the wedge, and the abstract logic of Apollo made a mighty wedge, indeed, but Apollo the artist maintained a love for women, not the open, unrestrained lust that Pan has, but a controlled longing that undermined the patriarchal ambition. When Christ came along, Christ, who slept with no female, neither two-legged or four, Christ who played no musical instrument, recited no poetry, and never kicked up his heels by moonlight, this Christ was the perfect wedge. Christianity is merely a system for turning priestesses into handmaidens, queens into concubines, and goddesses into muses."
~Tom Robbins from Jitterbug Perfume

I'm not a fan of religion. I was raised Catholic but by the time I was 10 or 11 years old I had big issues with Catholicism and the Bible. There seemed to be too many conflicts...one could not possibly live the life they were telling me I should live...impossible. Besides, the grown-ups and authority figures weren't living the way the bible said they should, the way Catholicism said they should, bunch of hypocrites.

"A myth is the dynamic of life. You may or may not know it, and the myth you may be respectfully worshipping on Sunday may not be the one that's really working in your heart and the one that's out there in the view of your religious instructors."
~ Joseph Campbell

Well, anyway, I experimented with a variety of different religions over the years. I relate most to earth-based religions because they are more life-affirming and tend to be a little more egalitarian than the rest.

From Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth--an Interview with Bill Moyers :

"MOYERS: In the Christian story the serpent is the seducer.
CAMPBELL: That amounts to a refusal to affirm life. In the biblical tradition we have inherited, life is corrupt, and every natural impulse is sinful unless it has been circumcised or baptized. The serpent was the one who brought sin into the world. And the woman was the one who handed the apple to man. This identification of the woman with sin, of the serpent with sin, and thus of life with sin, is the twist that has been given to the whole story in the biblical myth and doctrine of the Fall."

"MOYERS: Does the idea of woman as sinner appear in other mythologies? CAMPBELL: No, I don't know of it elsewhere. The closest thing to it would be perhaps Pandora with Pandora's box, but that's not sin, that's just trouble. The idea in the biblical tradition of the Fall is that nature as we know it is corrupt, sex in itself is corrupt, and the female as the epitome of sex is a corrupter..."

But in the end I came to realize that religion of any kind was not going to work because they all wanted me to believe in something supernatural and although I'm not entirely averse to the idea of the supernatural I'm not willing to commit to anything in the form of an organized ritual.

"...The idea of the supernatural as being something over and above the natural is a killing idea. In the Middle Ages this was the idea that finally turned that world into something like a wasteland....In a wasteland, people are fulfilling purposes that are not properly theirs but have been put upon them as inescapable laws. This is a killer..."

"...The spirit is really the bouquet of life. It is not something breathed into life, it comes out of life. This is one of the glorious things about the mother-goddess religions, where the world is the body of the Goddess, divine in itself, and divinity isn't something ruling over and above a fallen nature...

....However, our story of the Fall in the Garden sees nature as corrupt; and that myth corrupts the whole world for us. Because nature is thought of as corrupt, every spontaneous act is sinful and must not be yielded to. You get a totally different civilization and a totally different way of living according to whether your myth presents nature as fallen or whether nature is in itself a manifestation of divinity, and the spirit is the revelation of the divinity that is inherent in nature."
~from Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth--an Interview with Bill Moyers

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."
~ Seneca

cheers.

costumes

2007-10-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

A long list of costume ideas from Costume Idea Zone. There are hundreds more on their site...

Ceiling Fan Write "Go Ceilings!" on the front of your shirt. And don't forget to cheer!

Piece of Gum Stuck to Your Shoe Dress in all pink and attach a shoe to the top of your head.

Leafblower Wear a baseball cap with a leaf dangling down in front of your face. When someone asks what you are, blow on the leaf.

Partly Cloudy With A Chance of Showers Wear blue surgical scrubs, glue cotton in a patchy pattern all over the shirt and carry a squirt gun.

Frank Einstein Get a Frankenstein mask and attach an Albert Einstein wig, spray the wig with green haircolor, wear a lab coat with pocket protector, pens, etc.

Attack Dog Trainer Take a stuffed dog and sew it to the arm of a long-sleeved shirt so it looks like it is biting you. Wear a name tag ("Bob's Attack Dog School). Add blood and scratches all over your body.

Not a Happy Camper Wear a camp t-shirt and cargo shorts. Tear holes and burn the edges of the clothes, then attach leaves and sticks, burnt and melted marshmallows and fake bugs to the clothes. Tease your hair; add melted marshmallows and fake welts and insect bites to exposed skin. For more effect, attach a rubber snake to your ankle as if being bit!

Spin Doctor Wear scrubs or a white doctor's jacket. Attach political buttons and stickers all over yourself.

Old Man and the C Wear fishing clothes (jeans, flannel shirt, fishing hat, etc.). Carry a fishing pole and/or tackle box. Make a big letter "C" and wear it around your neck or over one shoulder.

Bathroom Stall Wear a light-colored sweat suit and attach a roll of toilet paper to a string around your waist. Carry markers with you and have people write things on you throughout the night.

Conspiracy Theorist Wear a tin foil hat, jeans, and a slightly grubby shirt. If male, don't shave. Carry several pieces of paper clutched in your hand, with government websites, how JFK died, etc. Bring a few computer disks and a "debugging" device. Wear makeup to appear very tired, and constantly look over your shoulder.

Whack-A-Mole Find a tall cardboard box and cut holes for your head and arms. Paint your face brown with whiskers. Paint the box to look like an arcade game, with coin slot. Attach a mallet to the box.

Bar Fly Attach two strainers to a hat or mask to create "fly eyes." Attach fly wings to a black shirt and wear black pants. Carry around a liquor bottle/shot glass/beer and pass out bad pick up lines, "Do you come here often?" "What's your sign?" etc.

Shooting Star Fashion a large star out of cardboard and wear it over your body. Carry fake gun(s) or water pistol(s) and shoot at people.

MySpace Page Take a large piece of posterboard and create a MySpace page, with pictures, comments, etc. Cut a hole for your face. Carry around a small music player.

Lame Excuse Wear signs on front and back reading something like "The check is in the mail" or " I tried to call you.? Wrap your foot in bandages and use crutches.

Road Kill Wear gray sweats and a gray t-shirt. Use pieces of masking tape to make a dotted line down the front of the t-shirt. Use an old stuffed animal or two, cut random parts off (head, leg, tail, etc.) and use paint or fake blood to make the parts dirty and bloody. Pin the parts to your t-shirt.

Jesus at a Job Fair Wear "Jesus" robes, with a beard, long hair, and crown of thorns, but add a tie. Hand out resumes of your holy accomplishments, i.e., started world religion, motivated millions, etc.

Assault with a Deadly Weapon Wear a salt shaker costume (wear all white, with a white chef's hat), and carry a knife.

West Nile Virus Wear a Cleopatra or Egyptian costume. Then use makeup to create rashes and sores all over your skin.

Devil Went Down To Georgia Dress like a tourist, and add devil horns, a tail and carry a pitchfork. Carry a suitcase with a sign: "Georgia or Bust." Place some Georgia maps and travel brochures prominently in your shirt pocket.

Devil's Advocate Wear buttons and carry signs that say "Devil is 1" and "Vote for Satan," etc.

Self-Absorbed Attach sponges all over your body.

Refrigerator Magnet Paint a shoe box black and attach it to your back.

Mastercard Ad Wear whatever clothing you choose. Attach a sign to your back that says "Shirt: $30...Jeans: $50...Shoes: $70......Halloween costume that took minimal effort: Priceless.

Magic 8 Ball Wear all black. Cut a large 8 out of white cloth, cardboard or paper and pin or tape it to your back. When people ask you what you are, tell them "reply hazy, try again," or "cannot predict now." Or tell them to shake you and ask you a question.

Frank-n-Stein Wear a name tag that says "Frank." Carry a large beer mug.

Peace and Quiet One person dresses like a hippie (jeans, flowered shirt, peace signs, beads, headband, etc.). The other person dresses up like a mime (striped shirt, black pants, suspenders, white facemakeup, etc.).

Peace, Love and Happiness For three people: one person dresses like a hippy with a giant peace sign on their chest; one person wears red and white, with a giant heart on their chest; and one person wears bright yellow, with a giant smiley face on their chest.

Bush and Chain-y One person cuts some branches off a bush and attaches them to their clothes. The other person wraps chains around themselves.

Dick Cheney and his Hunting Partner Both wear hunting fatigues. One person uses make-up and fake blood to create shotgun "wounds."

Exorcism He wears a priest costume (cassock, white collar, rosary, bible). She wears pajamas, and uses make-up to create a bloody and gory face. Add some "green goo" to the front of the pajamas.

Devil Made Me Do It She dresses as a pregnant angel and carries a sign that says "the devil made me do it." He dresses as a devil.

Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol Everyone dresses in navy blue business suits. Make a large fake check out of poster board. One person carries red roses, another person carries balloons, and others carry a camera and microphone.

Liquor Cabinet Each person dresses like a character from your favorite liquor bottle: Captain Morgan, Sam Adams, St. Pauli Girl, Jose Cuervo, etc.

Pac-Man and Ghosts One person wears a large yellow circle of cardboard painted to look like Pac-Man. Everyone else dresses like little ghosts, and chases after him.

Breakfast Club Each person dresses up as a famous character from a cereal box (Trix rabbit, Lucky Charms leprechaun, Tony the Tiger, Cap'n Crunch, Count Chocula, Snap, Crackle and Pop, etc.).

Four Elements of the Earth Earth, wind, fire and water. Earth wears green and brown. Wind wears white and silver. Fire wears red and orange. Water wears blue and aqua.

Your Conscience (for a group of three) One person dresses as a devil, another as an angel, and the third person dresses normally and stands in the middle.

S'mores For three people: one dresses like a marshmallow, another a Hershey's bar, and the other like a graham cracker

Magnetic Poetry Everyone wears all white. Each person has a sign on their chest with one word on it. Have people make sentences out of you by moving you all around.

Lawn Ornaments Everyone dresses as a different lawn ornament: jockey, gnome, flamingo, etc. During costume contest, throw down a piece of simulated grass and everyone strikes a pose.

infiltration

2007-10-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

Danny Torrance: Mr. Hallorann, are you scared of this place?

Dick Hallorann: No. Scared - there's nothin' here. It's just that, you know, some places are like people. Some "shine" and some don't. I guess you could say the Overlook Hotel here has somethin' almost like "shining."

Danny Torrance: Is there something bad here?

Dick Hallorann: Well, you know, Doc, when something happens, it can leave a trace of itself behind. Say like, if someone burns toast. Well, maybe things that happen leave other kinds of traces behind. Not things that anyone can notice, but things that people who "shine" can see. Just like they can see things that haven't happened yet. Well, sometimes they can see things that happened a long time ago. I think a lot of things happened right here in this particular hotel over the years. And not all of 'em was good.

~from The Shining

I originally sat down with the intention of doing a little research on haunted places (Hallowwen is getting nearer). And, believe me, there are tons of sites on the internet dealing with the topic. And I will likely post some links on hauntings later, but not today.

While I was poring over the seemingly endless collection of 'haunted' websites I found my attention being repeatedly drawn to websites on abandoned buildings. I suppose it seems natural that the two - haunted and abandoned - are inextricably intertwined.

I've always been drawn to abandoned, empty buildings, manmade places that are being reclaimed by nature. I also like the idea of being in places where I know I'm not supposed to be. I love photography and the sites listed below are some of the best I found. A few of them have links for purchasing photos, if you're so inclined.

There is very cool webring (I spent a lot of time there) called Urban Exploration that is host to lots of these sites.

Abandoned is run by Uryevich, a photographer who explores abandoned and unfinished buildings in Russia.

© 2003 Uryevich

"I think we are all not indifferent to abandoned things. The Abandoned have some sort of a strong and complicated connection with our souls; some people get scared and try to escape their impressions, some fight with them and try to destroy or rebuild or just leave their own footprint on the abandoned site to prove that they're stronger than this world. And some do not try to do anything - they just look and listen to the Abandoned, enjoying those impressions, feeling the real meaning of time. I am one of them. "
~ from the Abandoned website.

Opacity.us is loaded with photos by a graphic designer and programmer who goes by the nickname Motts. (This may be my favorite site.)

© 2007 opacity.us

"Once a building no longer serves its purpose, and all of its functionality ceases to exist, it becomes truly fascinating. Each room is transforming into something new at its own rate, yielding to the forces of nature as it reclaims man's creation.

The corrosion and decay paint vibrant colors across otherwise dull surfaces, lit only by natural sunlight spilling into the spaces at unaccustomed angles. Each object left behind becomes more significant than it has ever been, hinting at the life prior to its disuse."
~ from the Opacity.us website

Michael Cook is responsible for the Vanishing Point, photos of tunnels, storm drains, etc. This is like urban caving.

image:Michael Cook

"This is a website about spaces that exist at the boundaries of modern control, as concessions to the landscape, as the debris left by economic transition, as evidence of the transient nature of our place upon this earth."
~ from the Vanishing Point website

abandoned places has a really great layout as well as cool photos.

copyright © Henk van Rensbergen

"Old buildings, abandoned hospitals, industrial palaces overgrown with plants and trees,
the remaining walls decorated with graffiti, smashed windows, rain dripping through the roof... "
~ from abandoned places website

There are dozens more sites like these that I visited, let me know if you're interested in more links. Or just check out the Urban Exploration webring. Most of the individual photo sites have links pages too.

The last link is Forgotten Ohio. Not for its stunning photos but because it's home, for now.

image:forgotten ohio
For those of you who live in Ohio, definitely check out this site. Maybe do some exploring of your own.

cheers.

where there's smoke...

2007-10-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

"If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh."
John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton
Hisotrian (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902)

On a bright and cheery (but still random) note today, I give you links to some maps:

Havaria Information Service - Alert Map (RSOE EDIS, Emergency Disaster and Information Service). Red tide in Florida, meningitis in Indiana, volcnaoes erupting, earthquakes shaking, biological hazards...yep.

Global Incident Map.com, a global display of terrorism and other suspicious events. Created by the publishers of TerroristWarning.com and TransitSecurityReport.com.

BBC has a map called One Day of War that describes political conflicts around the globe.

The IDMC (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre)Internally displaced persons are "persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised State border."

(I'm wondering at this point how many more of these links you want to look at ...there are thousands of them.)

So, the last link is from NobelPrize.org, the Conflict Map, an interactive history map showing conflict througout the world from 1900 to 2000. Definitely a cool map and worth checking out.

That's all for now.

cheers.

Oh, wait, sorry, that was all maybe kind of depressing, so for a little comic relief I give you the Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth. Go ahead, click it and read it...

recycle

2007-10-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that there is way too much stuff in the world today. It is also apparent that people throw away perfectly good stuff all the time. Any given day of the week there is trash night somewhere in the city and the sidewalks are lined with objects that are in good condition and perfectly useful.

It makes me mad.

The first thing that makes me mad is the simple fact that so many goods are tossed in the trash because they are old looking or maybe because the bathroom walls got painted and now we have to get new towels to match the new paint color...whatever.

The second thing that upsets me about all this good stuff in the garbage is that there are so many places that will reuse/resell them. Why throw them away when they could be recycled?

Freecycle is an internet organization that allows you to post things that you want to get rid of. You then get email replies from people who are interested in your stuff and it is then their responsibility to come to you and pick up the junk they want.

There are a number of organizations that you can donate your items to. Goodwill, for one. Salvation Army and Amvets will come to your house and pick up items you wish to donate.

Read the article at emagazine.com for more info on how to recycle practically everything.

Check out BookCrossing, it falls into the recycling category, I think. It works like this, you register your book(s) on the website and then leave the book in a public place for someone to find and hope that they will register it too, and you can track its progress. (remember Where's George? Same concept, way cooler).

And then there's composting. It's really not all that hard. I have a big plastic coffe container in my kitchen (with a lid) that I put food scraps in and when it gets full, I dump it outside. I have a pile behind my garage and I don't do anything with it. It's just a place to dump food scraps and yard waste. It's not too challenging.

Indoor composting is a little trickier, but it can be done.

And, finally, because I like stuff, the best part of recycling is getting what you want. There's always second hand stores. Buy your stuff used. Dumpster dive and trash pick.

Or you can just do it for free...

image:freegan.info
cheers.

reverse graffiti

2007-10-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

...because julie asked and it's her birthday.
...because it's been a really long time since i posted a (random) blog.
...
...
REVERSE GRAFFITI is created by removing the dirt from things to create art/graffiti.
Wikipedia has an entry for it.

The UK's Paul Curtis, better known as "Moose," is one of the technique's pioneers. Operating around Leeds and London, he has been commissioned by a number of brands, such as Smirnoff, who want to convey a sense of "clean" in an innovative way.

Paul Curtis:

Link for Symbollix website (Paul Curtis)

On a more overtly environmental bent, Brazilian Alexandre Orion, turned one of Sao Paolo's transport tunnels into a stunning mural last summer (see video below). The mural, comprised of a series of skulls, very succinctly reminds drivers of the impact their emissions are having on the planet.
(click here for full article from Inhabit)

One of Orion's photographs:

The video below is Alexandre Orion in action.

link for ossario.net

Of course, searching for reverse graffiti took me many places, I particularly liked the Wooster Collective site...check it out.

cheers for now.

carrot tops are green, einstein

2007-07-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lost in my own little world this week. I haven't been able to think straight the past several days. No idea why that could be. ^_^

So, I realized it's been awhile since I posted anything here. So here's a very short little bit about being ginger...

The genetics of red hair, discovered in 1997, appears to be associated with the melanocortin-1 receptor, which is found on chromosome 16. Red hair is associated with fair skin color and sensitivity to ultraviolet light. The MC1R recessive gene, which gives people red hair and fair skin, is also associated with freckles, though it is not uncommon to see a redhead without freckles. Eighty percent of redheads have a MC1R gene variant, and the prevalence of these alleles is highest in Scotland and Ireland. The alleles that code for red hair occur close to the alleles that impact skin color, so it seems that the phenotypic expression for lighter skin and red hair are interrelated.

There's only between 2 and 4 percent population of redheads on earth, however the gene is often carried but not often shown. Percentages on countires are as follows: Scotland 13%/ Ireland 10% / US-2 to 4%/ France 0.03%. One estimated data shows that in factuality there's only 1% Redheads in the world.

The pigment pheomelanin gives red hair its distinctive color. Red hair has far more pheomelanin than other hair colors, but far less of the dark pigment eumelanin. Auburn hair has both pheomelanin and eumelanin.

There is some indication that the uncommon pheomelanin/eumelanin ratios found in redheads may be correlated with some corresponding variations in the abundance of other hormones and neuropeptides, including epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine, and oxytocin. The speculation is that the cell biology which produces epinephrine (adrenaline) needed for the high-energy fight-or-flight response is linked to the cell biology that governs the relative production of pheomelanin and eumelanin. This finding might explain why redheads are often characterized as having a distinct temperament compared to the rest of the population.

...That last paragraph (from wikipedia) is just too much. It is inevitable that any discussion of redheads must make reference to the widely held belief that redheads have fiery personalities.
Whatever.

How do you get a redhead's mood to change?
Wait 10 seconds

How do you get a redhead to argue with you?
Say something

What do you call a Redhead with an attitude?
Normal

things to click on...

2007-07-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

the bubble project

the human clock

and...
the human calendar

...that's all for now
enjoy

see what happens...

2007-06-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

i posted this as a bulletin yesterday and got a couple of comments about it...so i thought i'd post it in my blog too....that's what happens when you encourage me.

well, 25 q's is not so short...anyway, this is the quotes in abundance version...because i never can give a straight answer

1. Ever punch someone in the face?
"Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence." -Jim Morrison

2. How old are you?
In dog years, I'm dead. ~Author Unknown

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country. ~Kurt Vonnegut

3. Are you single or taken?
I like being single. I'm always there when I need me.
-- Art Leo

4. Eat with your hands or utensils?
"Civilization has taught us to eat with a fork, but even now if nobody is around we use our fingers." Will Rogers

5. Do you dream at night?
If we shadows have offended, think but this; and all is mended that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear and this weak and idle theme no more yielding but a dream.
-Shakespeare

6. Ever seen a corpse?
"He's dead Jim" -Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy from Star Trek

7. Have you ever wished someone dead?
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
-Elie Wiesel

8. Do You Like Bush, the president?

"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president."

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."

"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things."

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

9. Whats your philosophy on life? and death?
Barn's burnt down: now I can see the moon. ~Masahide

10. If you could pierce anything and your parents/boss wouldn't care what would it be?
Our bodies are apt to be our autobiographies.
- Frank Gillette Burgess

11. Do you trust the police?
"I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police." -Keith Richards

12. Do you like country music?
"Country and Western music? It's contrived calculated, commercial music. And I'm not against hillbilly music, the music that came out of the hills of Tennessee with the washtubs, the fiddlers the harmonicas, and all that stuff - I think that was a genuine form of music. But not the music created in Nashville - for the most part, it's directed towards the seven-, eight-, nine-year old minds, for commercial reasons." -Stan Kenton

"If you talk bad about country music, it's like saying bad things about my momma. Them's fightin' words" -Dolly Parton

13. What is your fondest memory?
"Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories." -Steven Wright

14. If you could change anything about yourself would you?
It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to. ~W.C. Fields

15. Would you visit GoofyAuctions.com if Chuck Norris threatened to get naked?
Chuck Norris is Luke Skywalker's real father.

16. What do you wear to sleep?
"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know." -Groucho Marx

17. Have you ever peed in a pool?
Little Van is approached by the lifeguard at the public swimming pool.

"You're not allowed to pee in the pool," said the lifeguard. "I'm going to report you."

"But everyone pees in the pool," said Little Van.

"Maybe," said the lifeguard, "but not from the diving board!"

18. Would you hide evidence for me if I asked you to?
it's the american way...

19. If you only had one day to live, what you do?
What if the hokey-pokey is really what it's all about?
-Unknown

20. Who's your crush?
"The mark of a true crush Is that you fall in love first and grope for reasons afterward." -Shana Alexander

"Crushes are wonderful -they make you feel like you're two years old and you say the stupidest things."
-Sandra Bullock

21Do you think a bald Britney Spears is attractive?
"You can't help but change a little bit, but on the inside I'm still completely the same person.". -Britney Spears

22. What's your favorite color?
"Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too" -Gladys Taber

23. If you could bring back anyone that has passed, who would it be?
A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

24. Tell me one interesting/odd fact about you?
"There is no such thing as a weird human being, It's just that some people require more understanding than others"

"We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves."

"Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide."

"Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef"

----TOM ROBBINS

25. What is the wildest thing you have done in 2007?
I mean, you didn't really think I'd do something like *that*.

take us out of orbit mr. sulu

2007-06-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

You'll have to forgive me here, but this video (rather a series of 9 videos) showed up in my YouTube subscriptions from mwowm23 **update, apparently this account has been suspended. and i can't find the whole movie on youtube, so here's a link to watch it on google video.** I've been watching them pop up over the last few days and today the 9th video showed up. I hadn't yet watched 1 through 8 but thought 'what the hell, I'll go straight for the puchline' and clicked on the 9th - and last - video.

When I was a kid I was addicted to Star Trek (The Original Series). Since it was in reruns there were times when I could watch it 2 (or even 3) times a day.
(Most of you reading this probably already know that I'm a very odd person, so this really shouldn't surprise you.)

So, back to the video, the title being "Star Trek - Wild Turkish remake". After I watched the video number 9 and laughed out loud through parts of it I thought I'd find out a little bit more....and found a review that is as funny, if not funnier, than the videos.

Read the whole review in The Wave Magazine (really, you should read it). Here's a little bit of what you'll be treated to:

In the original Star Trek, Captain Kirk was all that is man. He'd tear his shirt off and fight a lizard monster from a space couch covered in green alien sluts. In Turkish Star Trek, reverse all of that. The movie starts with Kaptan Kirk practically prancing over to his chair to sit down cross-legged and daintily lisp out orders. He and the Turkish Uhura discuss something, which reminds me that I should let you know that the movie hasn't been subtitled and I've never even heard of anyone who's ever heard of anyone who speaks Turkish. However, judging by the way Kaptan Kirk is sitting, he and Uhura are discussing the useful applications of not having a penis.

I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone crazy enough to actually watch this movie so I'll post a short clip here.

Enjoy the madness...

next weekend

2007-06-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

who wants to see this film... ??

where in the hell...

2007-06-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Just a few videos here **update: just one video now, i guess youtube removed the others, but this one has all three i originally posted**. I tried to do a little more with it but I'm too busy pondering the implications of al-Quaeda being a wing of the Masonic Order... together they are no doubt responsible for the first moon landing being reincarnated in Arizona which is nothing more than a stunt to convince us all that there is no life on other planets, because they don't want us to know that the fact is that al-Quaeda and the Masons have been communicating with Darth Vader for decades now constructing their plan to take over the Universe.

So...sit back, relax, have a cup of Kofi, and watch the videos...

FUNNY
...obviously they're going to show us the truly ignorant responses, and one would hope that most people really do know how many sides there are to a triangle (uhhhh, there's no sides??)

A country that starts with a "U"...derrrr, idunno...

MORE FUNNY (uhh, i think there's a revolution going on pretty soon)

O.K., just one more...
Star Wars is based on a true story. true or false?...

Test Your Geopgraphy...go on, try it.

cheers.

daniel c. dennett

2007-06-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

"It has been estimated that ten thousand years ago, the human population comprised a small fraction of 1% of the mass of vertebrate life on land; today, we, together with our livestock and pets, make up about 98% of that total. We exploit an ever increasing share of the planet's resources, but we do offer something in return.Now, for the first time in its billions of years of history, our planet is protected by far-seeing sentinels, able to anticipate danger from the distant future—an asteroid on a collision course, or global warming—and devise schemes for doing something about it. The planet has finally grown its own nervous system: us. We are responsible for the future of life on the planet, in a way no other species could ever be."

Daniel C. Dennett, the author of Breaking the Spell (Viking, 2006), Freedom Evolves (Viking Penguin, 2003) and Darwin's Dangerous Idea (Simon &Schuster, 1995), is University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.

His first book, Content and Consciousness, appeared in 1969, followed by Brainstorms (1978), Elbow Room (1984), The Intentional Stance (1987), Consciousness Explained (1991), Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995), Kinds of Minds (1996), and Brainchildren: A Collection of Essays 1984-1996 (MIT Press and Penguin, 1998).

He co-edited The Mind's I with Douglas Hofstadter in 1981. He is the author of over three hundred scholarly articles on various aspects on the mind, published in journals ranging from Artificial Intelligence and Behavioral and Brain Sciences to Poetics Today and the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.

Here is a link to some of his work that you can read online.

The following is Interview 6 from a series of 6 short clips presented by the Tech Museum on YouTube. Dennett talks here about teaching courses on World Religions in public high schools.

bats in the belfry

2007-06-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

i'm only going to tell you that by yesterday (sunday) afternoon i was a little bit sleep deprived because sleep deprivation has a way of messing with my perception.

so...
sometime in the afternoon i discovered i was out of cigarettes. i have a (slight) nicotine addiction. i decided i needed to go up the street to buy more cigarettes.
the sun has been beating down on my car so when i get in it is unbelievably hot.

i start the engine and turn on the radio. grateful dead. touch of grey. i haven't heard this song in a very long time.

hearing the grateful dead always brings a flood of memories. and a lot of those memories (flashbacks) involve altered states of mind. naturally.

during the short trip to the store my mind is completely preoccupied with these memories.

tripping at buckeye lake. shoreline in california - one of the coolest places i've ever seen a live show.

sacramento - where the cops confiscated a couple of nitrous tanks and dozens of people stood around and booed while the police emptied the contents of the tanks into the air.

indianapolis - i think that was the one where a bunch of people broke down the fence and crashed the show.

cleveland - the cops confiscated all my jewelry, stuff i was trying to sell. within literally a few minutes of this unfortunate event a couple of guys walked up to me and my friend and asked "hey, are you going in?" "no, we don't have tickets." "well, now you do" and they handed us two tickets.

pittsburgh -never mind, pittsburgh is a blur.

on it goes...

back to here and now, i make my purchase and am headed home, my head filled with places far away. as i'm turning down the little lane that takes me to my driveway there's something laying among the rocks by the railroad tracks. it's small, why did i even notice it? no, really, i swear that looks like the bowl for a water pipe.

i can't stop the car. if i stop i'll be sitting, more or less, halfway on the road and halfway on the tracks, not a good idea. so i park my car and walk back up to the tracks. i'm really thinking that the lack of sleep and the song on the radio...well, i must have imagined it.

but...
there it is, little purple hose attached to it (probably the purple that caught my eye), lying on the ground. right. so i picked it up and carried it home, even though i really have no use for it. i couldn't just leave it laying there.

...all that has nothing to do with the title of this blog (or maybe...)
..."bats in the belfry."

i was pondering yesterday the seemingly endless number of words and phrases we have in the english language that describe insanity.
as well as noticing how many of these words describe not only mentally unbalanced people but are also used both good and bad to describe events, places, experiences, etc.

so, in a rather transparent (oh yes, and lame) attempt to get people to actually post replies here (because i honestly have no idea who's reading): what favorite words/phrases do you have to describe crazy.

**it's mostly painless, you just hit the reply button and type.**

a children's book about beer

2007-06-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

That's right. As yet unfinished...this is not your ordinary children's book. No, dummy, not because it's about beer.

"The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion, and the tyranny of the dull mind forever threatens -- but our lives are not as limited as we think they are, all things are possible, laughter is holier than piety, freedom is sweeter than fame, and in the end it's love and love alone that really matters." - because it's written by TOM ROBBINS.

A series on northwest writers being published in the Seattle-Post Intelligencer has featured Tom. Click the link, if you know what's good for you. (Better tasting, Less filling)

The series also features clips of a video interview with TR as well !!!

Timidly, Gracie tapped Mr. Perkle on the elbow. Her voice was shy and squeaky when she asked, "Daddy, can I please taste your beer?"

"No way," her father snorted over his shoulder. His eyes never left the screen. "Beer's for grown-ups."

Gracie turned toward Uncle Moe, who grinned and beckoned her over, as she had suspected he might. Uncle Moe extended his can -- and just like that, behind her daddy's back, little Gracie Perkle took her first sip of beer.

gurus - richard feynman

2007-06-06T20:44:00.000-07:00

Richard Phillips Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American physicist known for expanding the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, and particle theory. He was also famous as an unscrupulous prankster. He was a proud amateur painter and bongo player.

"we never are right, we can only be sure we're wrong"

"Cargo Cult Science", by Richard Feynman
(Adapted from a Caltech commencement address given in 1974; HTML'ed from the book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!")

"But then I began to think, what else is there that we believe?...So I found things that even more people believe, such as that we have some knowledge of how to educate. There are big schools of reading methods and mathematics methods, and so forth, but if you notice, you'll see the reading scores keep going down -- or hardly going up -- in spite of the fact that we continually use these same people to improve the methods. ... It ought to be looked into; how do they know that their method should work? Another example is how to treat criminals. We obviously have made no progress -- lots of theory, but no progress -- in decreasing the amount of crime by the method that we use to handle criminals.

Yet these things are said to be scientific. We study them. And I think ordinary people with commonsense ideas are intimidated by this pseudoscience. ...

So we really ought to look into theories that don't work, and science that isn't science.

I think the educational and psychological studies I mentioned are examples of what I would like to call cargo cult science. In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they've arranged to make things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head to headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas -- he's the controller -- and they wait for the airplanes to land. They're doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn't work. No airplanes land. So I call these things cargo cult science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they're missing something essential, because the planes don't land. "

(a little bit about swimming pools, tremendous messes, moscow radio and 1/8 inch black holes..."and it's all really there, that's what gets 'ya")
Richard Feynman on the electromagnetic spectrum:

things that annoy me...

2007-06-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

am i just too stupid to get this:

"Never update the firmware if the problem you're having is the
drive isn't seen by windows, won't write with the included
software, or other interface related problems, unless (in
the rare case) the firmware specifically states it fixes the
problem you are having. Firmware updates normally don't
address these types of problems. Trying to update the
firmware when there are interface problems can damage the
drive's firmware. Being able to read but not write is caused
by bad firmware or an interface problem. An error when
updating the firmware is usually caused by a problem with
the drive interface or there is more than one drive
connected to that IDE channel."

...because it seems to me like they just listed every reason anyone might have to want to flash this fucking thing in the first place as a problem that can't be fixed by updating. so why bother? really? would anyone go to the trouble of finding the damn application and downloading it if they weren't having problems? how i interpret this little disclaimer is: "yes, we know we have shitty products that don't work. sorry about that. but we have provided you with this worthless update to try and make you think that we actually care when in fact we don't give a damn." ...nevermind. i'm going to bed.

7. When the upgrade is complete the screen should say FIRMWARE UPDATE SUCCESSFUL. Re-boot your PC.
8. Enjoy!

sicko

2007-06-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

From the introduction to Uninsured In America by Susan Starr Sered and Rushika Fernandopulle. I strongly encourage you to click that link and read the introduction to this book.

"When we began mapping out this project, our initial working title was Scraping By: How the Uninsured Cope with the Health Care System. By the time we completed our trips to Texas, Mississippi, and Idaho, we had abandoned that title. First, we learned that, for most uninsured Americans, there is no health care "system." Rather, they deal with a blotchy and frayed patchwork of unreliable and inconsistent programs, providers, and facilities. Second, we learned that many, if not most, uninsured Americans are not scraping by very well at all."

If you have ever been a victim of medicaid (and, believe me, people who are forced to use medicaid are victims), if you have ever tried to sustain helath care for your children when you lose a job, you will understand just how difficult the system makes it for a person to maintain good health care, if they can get any at all.

More importantly, the health care problem in the U.S. is not just about health care. It is a significator of something far more sinister. Again, from the introduction to Unemployed In America, the authors compare the current trend in the U.S. of marginalizing the poor to the caste system in India:

"Echoing the classical Indian caste system, membership in the American caste of the ill, infirm, and marginally employed carries a moral taint in addition to physical markings and occupational immobility. This taint is a product of the moral value that American society has traditionally placed on productive work and good health....The belief that illness is a marker of personal failure, together with popular images of the unemployed as unworthy "bums" or "welfare queens..."

If you are reading this and saying to yourself "No, no, I don't think that way, Americans don't think that way", then stop and think again. Time and time again I have seen videos on YouTube, comments on Myspace, blogs, editorials, news programs, you name it, condemning those who do not follow the rules.

We hurl insults at them. We offer useless suggestions about what they should do to improve their lot in life. We tell them it's their own damn fault. We suggest that they're lazy. We look down on them with pity. We tell them that they are whining crybabies and they should shut up and get on with things. We continue to believe the myth that everyone has the opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. We want them to understand that this is the land of opportunity and that there is simply no excuse for them to be in the predicament they are in.

What happens next? All those worthless, lazy people start to believe. They've heard it enough times, seen it in the eyes of people they come in contact with..."Well, that's just the way it is. I could make things work if I just tried hard enough. I guess I am a worthless, lazy person."

And how do I know this is true? Because. All that crap has been forced down my throat. And it doesn't come from nameless strangers and the media alone. Actually, most of the time it comes out of the mouths of friends, family, co-workers...in other words, people I know.

And not once do we stop to think about what must be done to fix things. Please make a note here that I am not suggesting that I need help (or pity or excuses). I am a capable person. I know how to take care of myself. And, I'm going to tell you, believe it or not, that most people in America are capable of and know how to take care of themselves. But our current socioeconomic and political system does not offer the tools we need (in terms of jobs, health care, etc) to make that a reality.

Things need to change.

Michael Moores new movie comes out this month.

(Much has been done to discredit Michael Moore as a complete fool and lunatic. Rubbish. Moore is a threat to mainstream media and their corporate interests. He is also a threat to government and politicians left and right, and their corporate interests. Think about it.)

The trailer for the new Michael Moore movie "Sicko"

propaganda for the evolutionist cause

2007-06-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Dinosaurs, that is...

(video: markdaycomedy and myspace.com/markday)

You may think it's all just funny (that is, if, like me, you believe creationism is ridiculous) but...
How many creation museums are there now? I found listings for at least 23. (not so funny)

And YES, there are dinosaurs at the creation museum because dinosaurs existed, we have proof in the form of bones and whatnot. But what many don't realize is that the dinosaurs and humans lived together. Noah even had some on the ark. Unfortunately for the dinosaurs, the post-flood environment was not good for dinosaur habitation and they all died. Bummer.

Dinosaurs in the bible? Yep, here they are:

Leviathan: A Fire-Breathing, Smoke-Snorting, Stone-Hearted Sea Monster (definitely a dinosaur)

Unicorns: (really, a dinosaur, what other explanation is there for it?)

Flying Fiery Serpents: Here there be dragons! (ahem, I mean, dinosaur)

Behemoth: He moveth his tail like a cedar. (tail like a tree? no animals like that, a dinosaur)

Cockatrice: (monster hatched by a reptile from a cock's egg; able to kill with a glance )...errmm.., must be a dinosaur of some sort.

BUT, No ALIENS, bummer. Aliens and life on other planets is silly, really, how could you believe such a thing. Have YOU seen an alien? Do you have proof? Of course not, noone has proof, which is proof that they don't exist. DUH. Aliens are simply a logical extention of evolution, which is evil, which is why the idea of aliens are evil. People who think they've seen aliens are simply people who have been possessed by Satan in an attempt to confuse us and turn us all away from God.

But, hey, who needs martians and life on other planets when you have heaven and hell and angels and demons? They are in the bible and they are REAL. Heaven is a real place (as is its counterpart, Hell) Jesus said "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you." See? A real place, and its got masions too, how cool is that? And Hell is real, lake of fire and all that stuff. Not cool at all.

And angels and demons, and Satan and the Holy Ghost are all real too:

"Angels inhabit a spiritual realm/dimension and we do not know how this interacts with our own space/mass/time continuum. Ever since Einstein, we know that time is not a constant and is affected, for example, by gravity, so time (if it exists as such) in the spiritual dimension is not necessarily the same as time in the dimensions we know". (taken from the "answers in genesis website - this is the guy responsible for the creation museum in Kentucky).

Well, it's starting to thunder and lightning outside, and I just read this article (God Considers Smiting Bible Pirates) from BBspot ...I'm starting to get worried.

m is for

2007-05-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

m is for many links...(my version of a bulletin gregory posted.)...go on, click a few links...

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.

And remember - you CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

.Name
michaela

. Famous Artist/Band/Musician:
madonna
madonnalicious

.A song:
midnight rambler
rolling stones

. 4 letter word:
moot
strange?
a good way to waste time

.A Colour:
moss green
coloria

. Animal:
manatee
cincinnati zoo
graeme base

. Country:
madagascar
national geographic

. Boy Name:
mohinder
heroes

. Girl Name:
macy
macy gray

. Occupation:
metallurgist
u.s. department of labor

. Celebrity:
michael moore
michael moore

.Food:
mozarella
epicurious

.Something found in your kitchen or bathroom:
mirror
english beat

.Reason for Being Late:
it's a mystery to me..
structured procrastination?

.Something You Shout:
merde!
dictionary

wtf

2007-05-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

this flyer - from the school next door - was taped to my front door...

**i've lost the image...it was a flyer stating that they were going to fire a civil war era cannon. i'll repost it when i find it again**

where in the hell are they going to fire it? probably right into my backyard. i wonder if the village would let me have a cannon...i could fire it at the school. just to help them get into the spirit of the whole civil war re-enactment thing, you know... because i'm such a good neighbor.

or maybe not

2007-05-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

i've clicked on the "post new blog" button at least a half a dozen times in the last two days.
written and rewritten and then just closed the window and abandoned.
the problem as i see it is that i'm feeling just a little too self-absorbed and preoccupied with me to write anything that isn't entirely about me.

no worries, you say? well, actually, i think it's a bit risky. despite what some of you may think, i tend to be a guarded individual.
i've described myself as shy before...does that really cover it?

i'm looking at an online thesaurus.
reticent, diffident, reluctant, disinclined...yeah, those are nice words.
those words led me to some not-so-nice words. but i'm not in the mood for that.

i like words, i can easily stay distracted for long periods of time at internet dictionary sites. too bad for me that i can't retain any of that information. if i could i might be able to write something intelligent. (and i'd probably stop wasting time on internet dictionary sites.)

well, no, that's not right. (the part about intelligent writing not the part about me wasting time)
even if my brain could easily memorize words and their meanings, that does not presume i could write a sentence.
two different things, really...two different thought processes.
it's objective vs. subjective. a person might be able to ace a multiple choice (objective) exam on vocabulary, that does not necessarily mean said person could write sentences (more subjective) using all those words.

i don't like objective tests. when i was in high school (long time ago), i always received poor grades in classes where the grades were based on objective exams. when i went to college and found myself in classes like that, i dropped them and picked up different classes.
i'll take a blue book over multiple choice every time.

(hang on a minute...
is this going anywhere?
probably not.
and, you know what? i think that's a fairly accurate and succinct run down of the past few days.)

blunk drogging

2007-05-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

i don't know. frustration manifests in many ways.
i only wish i had a camcorder so i could be cool like "nalts" and vlog about mid-life crisis and roller skates....

maybe if i had a brand new pair of roller skates everything would just be o.k....(yeah i know i've posted this video before, but you really should check out "the bastard fairies"...)

really, you should...

cheers.

mothers' day

2007-05-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

Mothers' Day Proclamation: Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870

Mother's Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost theirsons. Here is the original Mother's Day Proclamation from 1870, followed by a bit of history.

Arise then...women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts!

Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:

"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies.

'Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage.

'For caresses and applause.

'Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

'We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

'From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!

'The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.

'Blood does not wipe our dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace...each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God..

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality, may be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient and the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe of Boston, Massachusetts, the famous lyricist of 'Battle Hymn of the Republic", appalled at that time by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, wrote the above proclamation, had it translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Swedish, and disseminated it internationally.

In Julia's own words, "The question forced itself on me, 'Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of human life, which they alone bear and know the cost? I had never thought of this before. The august dignity of motherhood and its terrible responsibility now appeared to me in a new aspect."

Julia went to London in 1872 to try to organize her conference, and when an established peace organization there would not let her speak to them because of her gender, she hired a hall and conducted her own meetings. However, this work did not come to any quick fruition, and Julia returned to Boston.

But Julia Ward Howe did not give up. She began to promote a festival to be known as Mothers' Day, to be devoted to the advocacy of peace, and to be celebrated on June 2 each year, which in Boston is a good time for outdoor meetings and in the midst of the flower season.

This initiative was successful, and Mothers Day was celebrated for many years in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Edinburgh, London, Geneva, and even in Constantinople (Istanbul). However, a later effort organized by Anna Jarvis to commemorate her mother's death eventually also became popular, and since it did not include the same controversial call for peace and conflict resolution, it eventually gained the political 'upper hand'. Motherhood itself, not the more controversial idea of women coming together in activism for peace, prevailed.

However, what Julia wrote in 1870 is generally considered to be the original Mothers' Day proclamation. The 'Festival of Peace' she called for and worked so hard for did not take place until 1904. However, it was decided there to set aside one day in the year to prompt women to work toward resolving conflict peacefully.

In 1914, by popular demand and without reference to its actual pacifist origins, US President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday of May as Mothers' Day in the United States of America.

Happy Mothers' Day!

15-4-3

2007-05-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

MORE SURVEY CRAP...sorry, it can't be helped.

DON'T change your top friends, and answer 15 questions about the 3rd person in your top friends.

1) What's their name?
Forrest

2.) Where is # 3?..
fucked if i know...somewhere in the downtown/clifton area, i suppose. but i know where he'll be later tonight...

3) How did you meet them?
drunk and brazen behavior - on my part. forrest tells this story, i really can't recall it too clearly (convenient, yeah, i know) i guess i just started talking to him at sub galley one day. apparently i asked him what his sign was. he told me, "taurus" and i said "oh, you're one of those people who thinks they know everything" the rest, as they say, is history.

4) How old were you when you first met?
funny you ask, we were just talking about that last weekend. either 28 or 29.

5) Is this person one of your best friends?
uh-yep.

6) When was the last time you saw this person?
last weekend.

7) Are you related to this person?
not that i'm aware of...but with a fake birth certificate in my possession i can honestly say i don't know.

8) Are you their bf or gf?
nope. but don't tell anyone, i like it when people are confused.

9) How many times do you talk to this person in a month?
i usually see forrest every weekend.

10) Do you think the person will repost this?
nope.

11) Describe number 3 in only one word.
momentous

12) Whats their favorite color?
don't know...how about blue?

13) Whats your favorite thing about this person?
i like it that he thinks he knows everything.

14) What does this person drive?
he drives all the women...ohhh, you mean drive like an aoutomobile?

15) Do they have any kids?
nope.

Now Repost this as:
"Can u answer 15 questions about number 3?"

la,la,la

2007-04-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

Beacause I still think everyone should be reading Hump Jones Dot Com and Brainsturbator...because anyone who can mention Tom Waits, Tom Robbins, and Carl Jung in one article is all right. (Click the photo below to read it **broken link, don't bother clicking**)

life advice by special request, peace to weirdos worldwide

...and MORE...oh yeah, theres's more: If you haven't spent a week (or half your life) at MIQUEL.com, well, what are you waiting for?

*i have to get some sleep now so that i can be bright and cheerful to chaperone the 4th grade field trip to COSI. more about that tomorrow...because, really, i'll just have so much fun with the other parents - who, most likely, have never heard of tom robbins or tom waits, and have only a vague idea of who carl jung is...

because

2007-04-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

because karyn dared me...or at least that was the title of the bulletin she posted....and sometimes the weirdness of the viral bulletins just gets the best of me and i can't help myself .... and because, as always, i think it would be entertaining if people replied when i posted this crap.

but history has shown *sigh* that bulletins such as these (including all those wild and crazy surveys) very rarely get a response. well, truly, everything very rarely gets a response,,,(maybe if i put up naked pictures of myself?) so, i post it in my blog, because, well, just because, posting it in a bulletin might be too scary. people might think i'm serious...

oh, wait, people think that anyway (silly rabbits)...i'm only serious when i talk about lawn maintenance equipment and the fact that no gasoline powered lawncare machines work properly on my property. i believe that this is because my house and property sit on top of an ancient burial ground or some other morbid thing like that and the resulting voodoo causes the mechanical malfunctions.

oh well...enjoy thinking anout the answers you might give to the following...because you know that i was thinking about how i would answer if you had posted it and, believe me, that was entertaining.

Answer this and send it back 2 me in my inbox. You can add more to these if you want. Post it on ur bulletin w/ out the answers. You might be surprised w/ the results

y = Yes n = No m=Maybe
Would you? Will you?

[_] give me your number? (_ _ _) _ _ _ - _ _ _ _
[_]watch a porn movie with me?__
[_] kiss me?
[_] let me kiss you?

[_] take me out to dinner?
[_] let me drive you somewhere?
[_] take a shower with me?
[_] buy me a drink?
[_] take me home for the night?
[_] let me sleep in your bed?
[_] Sing car karaoke w/ me?
[_] re-post this for me to answer your questions?
[_] Come pick me up at 3 am because my car ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere?
[_] Lock me in your room and take advantage of me?
[_] let me make you breakfast?
[_] help me with homework?
[_] tickle me?
[_] let me tickle you?
[_] stick up for me if i was being put down?
[_] get wasted with me?
[_] instant message me?
[_] greet me in public?
[_] hang out with me?
[_] bring me around your friends?
[_] make out with me?
[_] in public?
[_] fuck me or get fucked by me?
[_] in public?
D0 Y0U...
[_] think im cute?
[_] think im hott?
[_] want to kiss me?
[_] want to cuddle with me?
[_] want to hook up with me?
[_] want to live happily ever after with me?
AM i...
[_] smart?
[_] cute?
[_] funny?
[_] cool?
[_] loveable?
[_] adorable?
[_] compassionate?
[_] great to be with?
[_] attractive?
[_] mean?
[_] fuckable? *cough* *cough*.....u dont have to answer this one
HAVE Y0U EVER...
[_] thought about hooking up with me?
[_] found yourself wanting a kiss from me?
[_] wished I were there?
[_] had a crush on me?
[_] wanted my number?
[_] had a dream about me?
[_] been distracted by me?
[_] masterbated to my pictures?
[_] had a dirty fantasy about me?
ARE Y0U...
[_] happy you know me?
[_] mad at me?
[_] thinking about me?
[_] going to repost?

a good idea...

2007-04-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Recently, another Cincinnati bar removed it's ashtrays and became non-smoking (more or less) thanks to the totally stupid anti-smoking legislation passed in the state of Ohio last Novemeber.

** A little side note to anyone feeling compelled to post a reply about how smoking is bad for you - Don't do it! Of course it's bad for your health, we all know this. It is not the point at all. Corporate America is bad for us, but they've not been banned. The negative impacts big business have on your health makes the negative impact of second hand smoke on your health look like a day at the spa. **

As I was saying, one of my favorite bars is gearing up to tell me I have to go outside if I want to smoke. However, living on a state border proves an advantage to me. I can go to Kentucky, they don't have anti-smoking legislation.

But, where to go? There are lots of bars and clubs in Northern Kentucky. I know very little about them. And the idea of bar hopping to find the perfect place just really sounds exhausting. CinWeekly has two categories in their bar search, Central/Ky Riverfront and Northern KY., with a combined total of 244 bars. That's a lot of places to visit.

So I got to thinking about this little problem (always a dangerous thing) and came up with a fun and clever solution. What I need is an interactive website that suggests bars and clubs (and while I'm at it how about restaurants too) that I might enjoy based on certain criteria.

I could search based on my favorite places in Cincinnati.
Like this:
"If you like Top Cats/Fat Cats in Cincinnati....you might like N.KY. bar here. "

Or maybe I would like to search by bar criteria. It could work like all those endlessly fascinating quiz sites floating around on the internet...
"What are you willing to pay for a well drink? A. b. d. d."
"What size drinking establishmment do you prefer? a. b. c. d."
You get the picture. At the end of the quiz you hit the results button and voila! A list of places you might enjoy visiting.

Or, maybe, if all else failed, you could just have a random choice made for you. (something like the Wheel of YouTube)

Or, maybe I could consult with a psychic?

Oh well, just a thought. The weather is nice today- bright and sunny for a change, so I'm going to go outside and play...and, hey, it's still legal to smoke a cigarette in my backyard (for now, anyway).

sometimes you feel like a nut....

2007-04-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Because I am too lazy to really write a blog...sit back, relax, enjoy the video.

America: Sweet Freedom

machelli's channel

hollywood squares

2007-04-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Q: Do female frogs croak?
A: Paul Lynde - If you hold their little heads under water long enough.

Q: If you're going to make a parachute jump, at least how high should you
be?
A: Charley Weaver- Three days of steady drinking should do it.

Q: True or False, a pea can last as long as 5,000 years.
A.: George Gobel - Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes.

Q: You've been having trouble going to sleep. Are you probably a man or a
woman?
A: Don Knotts - That's what's been keeping me awake.

Q: According to Cosmo, if you meet a stranger at a party and you think that
he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he's married?
A: Rose Marie - No, wait until morning.

Q: Which of your five senses tends to diminish as you get older?
A: Charley Weaver - My sense of decency.

Q: In Hawaiian, does it take more than three words to say "I Love You"?
A: Vincent Price - No, you can say it with a pineapple and a twenty.

Q: What are "Do It"; "I Can Help"; and "I Can't Get Enough"?
A: George Gobel - I don't know, but it's coming from the next apartment.

Q: As you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands
while talking?
A: Rose Marie - You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll
give you a gesture you'll never forget.

Q: Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?
A: Paul Lynde - Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.

Q: Charley, you've just decided to grow strawberries. Are you going to get
any during the first year?
A: Charley Weaver - Of course not, I'm too busy growing strawberries.

Q: In bowling, what' s a perfect score?
A: Rose Marie - Ralph, the pin boy.

Q: It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist camps.
One is politics, what is the other?
A: Paul Lynde - Tape measures.

Q: During a tornado, are you safer in the bedroom or in the closet?
A: Rose Marie - Unfortunately Peter, I'm always safe in the bedroom.

Q: Can boys join the Campfire Girls?
A: Marty Allen - Only after lights out.

Q: When you pat a dog on its head, he will wag his tail. What will a goose
do?
A: Paul Lynde - Make him bark?

Q: If you were pregnant for two years, what would you give birth to?
A: Paul Lynde- Whatever it is, it would never be afraid of the dark.

Q: According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the
habit of kissing a lot of people?
A: Charley Weaver - It got me out of the army.

Q: It is the most abused and neglected part of your body, what is it?
A: Paul Lynde - Mine may be abused, but it certainly isn't neglected.

Q: Back in the old days, when Great Grandpa put horseradish on his head,
what was he trying to do?
A.: George Gobel - Get it in his mouth.

Q: Who stays pregnant for a longer period of time, your wife or your
elephant?
A: Paul Lynde - Who told you about my elephant?

Q: When a couple has a baby, who is responsible for its sex?
A: Charley Weaver - I'll lend him the car; the rest is up to him.

Q: Jackie Gleason recently revealed that he firmly believes in them and has
actually seen them on at least two occasions. What are they?
A: Charley Weaver - His feet.

Q: According to Ann Landers, what are two things you should never do in
bed?
A.: Paul Lynde - Point and laugh.

THIS is cool!

2007-04-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Formed in early 2007, The Zimmers are not only the oldest gigging band in the world (with an average age of 78), they are also the most celebrated, having recorded their debut album at the famous Abbey Road Studios, under the watchful eye of Acclaimed Producer Mike Hedges.

**there was a video here, but they have disabled embedding...NOT COOL. if you're curious, you can watch their videos on myspace, the link is up above...**

wordplay

2007-04-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

note: proceed only if you're terribly bored.

a few years ago i had a friend who found himself sitting in the county jail for a month or so. after a couple of days there he told me was bored and asked if i might send him letters. it would give him something to look forward to everyday.

i said i would. however, when you sit down once every couple of days to write a letter to the same person you quickly find yourself at a complete loss for what to say.

writing letters is a totally different exercise from having a conversation with someone. and it is also, i think very different from email and texting and whatnot. you're putting pen to paper, and once you're finished you fold it, put it in an envelope, seal it, put a stamp on it and deliver it to the post office. it's a more physical act and it takes up time and space, and therefore has, in a certain way, a feeling of permanence. you don't get that feeling with email and texting.

so, one day while sitting at the table to write, i came up with an idea that we could play some word games. i would write out the rules and send them. he would play the game and send me his response. then i would take my turn and send it to him.

one game that we both had fun with and played more than once was a random word selection story. i chose from the dictionary (closing my eyes and picking a page and pointing) a word from every letter in the alphabet and we both had to write a story using those words.

somewhere in this mess of a house i still have all those letters but i'm not going digging for them today. nope. instead i thought i'd look up 26 words. and if you feel so inclined, maybe you can play along. depending on how totally convoluted my story gets i may or may not post the story i write..but if you ask real nice and send me yours, then i'll send you mine.

we changed the rules as we went on...limiting how many proper nouns or overly technical science terms could be in the list, putting "q" and "r" together and doing the same with "x", "y" and "z"...stuff like that. but for today, i thought i'd go with the original idea. you may use the plural form of a word. you may change the tense. you may not use the word in a way that doesn't fit the definition (i.e. out of context).

here are the words (definitions are copy and paste from Dictionary.com)

alternator: An electric generator that produces alternating current. The generator's coil is rotated (by a turbine, motor, or other power source), and its circular path causes it to cut cross a magnetic field (set up by strong magnets), first in one direction, then the other, with each cycle. The electric potential induced in the coil by this motion thus alternates between positive and negative once with each cycle, resulting in alternating current.

before: adverb1.earlier in time; previously; "I had known her before"; "as I said before"; "he called me the day before but your call had come even earlier"; "her parents had died four years earlier"; "I mentioned that problem earlier"

at or in the front; "I see the lights of a town ahead"; "the road ahead is foggy"; "staring straight ahead"; "we couldn't see over the heads of the people in front"; "with the cross of Jesus marching on before"

confuse:
verb1. mistake one thing for another; "you are confusing me with the other candidate"; "I mistook her for the secretary" 2.be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly; "These questions confuse even the experts"; "This question completely threw me"; "This question befuddled even the teacher" 3. cause to feel embarrassment; "The constant attention of the young man confused her" 4. assemble without order or sense; "She jumbles the words when she is supposed to write a sentence" 5. make unclear, indistinct, or blurred; "Her remarks confused the debate"; "Their words obnubilate their intentions"

decolonize:–verb (used with object) 1. to release from the status of a colony.
2. to allow (a colony) to become self-governing or independent.
–verb (used without object) 3. to free a colony to become self-governing or independent.

equitable:adjective 1. characterized by equity or fairness; just and right; fair; reasonable: equitable treatment of all citizens.
2. Law. a. pertaining to or valid in equity.
b. pertaining to the system of equity, as distinguished from the common law.

futuristic: –adjective 1. of or pertaining to the future: a futuristic view of the world.
2. ahead of the times; advanced: futuristic technology.
3. (sometimes initial capital letter) of or pertaining to futurism: the futuristic rejection of traditional forms.

Gijon: (he-hon')
A city of northwest Spain on the Bay of Biscay west of Santander. Of pre-Roman origin, it is a major port and industrial center. Population: 270,000.

Hittite: –noun 1. a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 b.c.
2. an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, preserved in cuneiform inscriptions of the second millennium b.c. Compare Hieroglyphic Hittite.
–adjective 3. of, pertaining to, or belonging to the Hittites or their language.

industrialize: –verb (used with object) 1. to introduce industry into (an area) on a large scale.
2. to convert to the ideals, methods, aims, etc., of industrialism.
–verb (used without object) 3. to undergo industrialization.
4. to follow or espouse industrialism.

jaded: –adjective 1. dulled or satiated by overindulgence: a jaded appetite.
2. worn out or wearied, as by overwork or overuse.
3. dissipated: a jaded reprobate.

knotted: –adjective 1. having knots; knotty.
2. tied in or fastened with a knot.
3. made or ornamented with knots.
4. Botany. having many nodes or nodelike swellings; gnarled.
5. Zoology. having one or more swellings; nodose

liable: adjective 1. legally responsible: You are liable for the damage caused by your action.
2. subject or susceptible: to be liable to heart disease.
3. likely or apt: He's liable to get angry.

moray: –noun, plural -rays. any of numerous chiefly tropical eels of the family Muraenidae, having porelike gill openings and no pectoral fins.
Also called moray eel.

native: adjective
1. characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin; "the native North American sugar maple"; "many native artists studied abroad" [ant: foreign]
2. belonging to one by birth; "my native land"; "one's native language" [ant: adopted]
3. characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning; "native Americans"; "the aboriginal peoples of Australia" [ant: nonnative]
4. as found in nature in the elemental form; "native copper"

noun
1. an indigenous person who was born in a particular place; "the art of the natives of the northwest coast"; "the Canadian government scrapped plans to tax the grants to aboriginal college students"
2. a person born in a particular place or country; "he is a native of Brazil"
3. indigenous plants and animals

Olympics: see Olympic Games
Olympic Games
pl.n.
1. A group of modern international athletic contests held as separate winter and summer competitions every four years in a different city. In 1994 the winter games were moved ahead two years so that the winter and summer games would alternate every two years. Also called Olympics.
2. A Pan-Hellenic festival in ancient Greece consisting of athletic games and contests of choral poetry and dance, first celebrated in 776 B.C. and held periodically until A.D. 393 on the plain of Olympia in honor of the Olympian Zeus. Also called Olympian Games.

promontory:–noun, plural -ries. 1. a high point of land or rock projecting into the sea or other water beyond the line of coast; a headland.
2. a bluff, or part of a plateau, overlooking a lowland.
3. Anatomy. a prominent or protuberant part

queen: –noun 1. a female sovereign or monarch.
2. the wife or consort of a king.
3. a woman, or something personified as a woman, that is foremost or preeminent in any respect: a movie queen; a beauty queen; Athens, the queen of the Aegean.
4. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a. a male homosexual, esp. one who is flamboyantly campy.
b. drag queen.

5. a playing card bearing a picture of a queen.
6. Chess. the most powerful piece of either color, moved across any number of empty squares in any direction.
7. Entomology. a fertile female ant, bee, termite, or wasp.
8. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter Q.
–verb (used without object) 9. to reign as queen.
10. to behave in an imperious or pretentious manner (usually fol. by it).
11. Chess. to become promoted to a queen.

reading:–noun 1. the action or practice of a person who reads.
2. Speech. the oral interpretation of written language.
3. the interpretation given in the performance of a dramatic part, musical composition, etc.: an interesting reading of Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
4. the extent to which a person has read; literary knowledge: a man of wide reading.
5. matter read or for reading: a novel that makes good reading.
6. the form or version of a given passage in a particular text: the various readings of a line in Shakespeare.
7. an instance or occasion in which a text or other matter is read or performed, usually without elaborate preparation and often as a means of testing its merits: The playwright wants to have a reading of the play for prospective producers.
8. an interpretation given to anything: What is your reading of the situation?
9. the indication of a graduated instrument: The reading is 101.2°F.
–adjective 10. pertaining to or used for reading: reading glasses.
11. given to reading: the reading public.

speedway:–noun 1. a road or course for fast driving, motoring, or the like, or on which more than ordinary speed is allowed.
2. a track on which automobile or motorcycle races are held.

thither: –adverb 1. Also, thith·er·ward to or toward that place or point; there.
–adjective 2. on the farther or other side or in the direction away from the person speaking; farther; more remote.

underskirt: –noun a skirt, as a petticoat, worn under another skirt or a dress.

vitriol:1. Chemistry. any of certain metallic sulfates of glassy appearance, as copper sulfate or blue vitriol, iron sulfate or green vitriol, zinc sulfate or white vitriol, etc.
2. oil of vitriol; sulfuric acid.
3. something highly caustic or severe in effect, as criticism.
–verb (used with object) 4. to treat with or as with vitriol, esp. sulfuric acid.

word:–noun 1. a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning. Words are composed of one or more morphemes and are either the smallest units susceptible of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under certain linking conditions, as with the loss of primary accent that distinguishes black'bird' from black' bird'. Words are usually separated by spaces in writing, and are distinguished phonologically, as by accent, in many languages.
2. words, a. speech or talk: to express one's emotion in words; Words mean little when action is called for.
c. contentious or angry speech; a quarrel: We had words and she walked out on me.

3. a short talk or conversation: Marston, I'd like a word with you.
4. an expression or utterance: a word of warning.
5. warrant, assurance, or promise: I give you my word I'll be there.
6. news; tidings; information: We received word of his death.
7. a verbal signal, as a password, watchword, or countersign.
8. an authoritative utterance, or command: His word was law.
9. Also called machine word. Computers. a string of bits, characters, or bytes treated as a single entity by a computer, particularly for numeric purposes.
10. (initial capital letter) Also called the Word, the Word of God. a. the Scriptures; the Bible.
b. the Logos.
c. the message of the gospel of Christ.

11. a proverb or motto.
–verb (used with object) 12. to express in words; select words to express; phrase: to word a contract with great care.
—Idioms13. at a word, in immediate response to an order or request; in an instant: At a word they came to take the situation in hand.
14. be as good as one's word, to hold to one's promises.
15. eat one's words, to retract one's statement, esp. with humility: They predicted his failure, but he made them eat their words.
16. have a word, to talk briefly: Tell your aunt that I would like to have a word with her.
17. have no words for, to be unable to describe: She had no words for the sights she had witnessed.
18. in a word, in summary; in short: In a word, there was no comparison. Also, in one word.
19. in so many words, in unequivocal terms; explicitly: She told them in so many words to get out.
20. keep one's word, to fulfill one's promise: I said I'd meet the deadline, and I kept my word.
21. man of his word or woman of her word, a person who can be trusted to keep a promise; a reliable person.
22. my word! or upon my word! (used as an exclamation of surprise or astonishment.)
23. of few words, laconic; taciturn: a woman of few words but of profound thoughts.
24. of many words, talkative; loquacious; wordy: a person of many words but of little wit.
25. put in a good word for, to speak favorably of; commend: He put in a good word for her with the boss. Also, put in a word for.
26. take one at one's word, to take a statement to be literal and true.
27. take the words out of one's mouth, to say exactly what another person was about to say.
28. weigh one's words, to choose one's words carefully in speaking or writing: It was an important message, and he was weighing his words.

X-chromosome: n. The sex chromosome associated with female characteristics in mammals, occurring paired in the female and single in the male.

yesterday: –adverb 1. on the day preceding this day.
2. a short time ago: Yesterday your money went further.
–noun 3. the day preceding this day.
4. time in the immediate past.
–adjective 5. belonging or pertaining to the day before or to a time in the immediate past: yesterday morning.

zinc ointment: –noun Pharmacology. an ointment composed of mineral oil and zinc oxide, used in medicine in the treatment of skin conditions.

myspace

2007-04-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I've had enough of MySpace. I waste way too much time logging in to see what's going on and 99.9% of the time I find that I am disappointed.

The only way I can see to save myself from this exercise in futility is to shut down this account.

And so it will be. I figure I'll keep it open until Friday...and then, POOF!, it'll be gone.

Cheers.

...this will only take a minute

2007-03-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

...the process of discovery involves trying (and spectacularly failing) to once again assist with homework, as follows:

That's it...no directions, no clue. Muriel has no idea what she is really supposed to be doing, and neither do I.

...sport that uses steam? huh? Is that what he means? Is that what we are looking for? Are there sports that use steam? All I can think of is well, there's a nice sauna/steam room at the local YMCA - does that count?

So I decide to google "states of water", common uses for water, steam, ice...no luck, really. Most of what I find is stuff about water in the environment. But I haven't given up and I keep trying different keywords and phrases. Finally, in exasperation, I simply typed "what sport uses steam?" And there, at the bottom of the page is a Wikipedia entry....

"the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt"

That's right, folks, Extreme Ironing!

So, well, the homework isn't finished, but we've all had a good laugh.

Any ideas on that nasty piece of homework (I'm beginning to think the science teacher is slightly sadistic) - just let me know.

cheers.

picture day

2007-03-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine who has kids once told me that she had never bought, nor would she ever, school pictures for her kids. Her argument being that they always looked bad and cost too much. They are not cheap, I agree, however, a chunk of the money from the sales goes back to the school, so I guess that's o.k. And although I suppose some of the old school photos I have are not the greatest, they aren't really that bad either (o.k., well maybe they are). At the very least they are entertaining.

But, after this mornings fiasco, I wonder if maybe she's onto something. Because my kids have arrived at that age where what they look like matters. It is an inevitablility, just part of growing up. But, damn, it was hard enough for me to live it, now I have to experience through my kids?!! And if they had just got out of bed today knowing that there would be no pictures today, it would have been much more pleasant...

Both girls wanted to "do something" different with their hair (too young for makeup, thankfully). I tried to encourage them to NOT. Sadly, I failed. So...this morning it was braids and ponytails, and re-washing the hair...all with no happy ending, just frustrated kids - and frustrated me. (Welcome, Mom, to the wonderful world of early adolescence.)

So today, I will find all my old school photos and when the girls come home from school, they will have something to laugh at, and maybe it will sink in a little that, in the end, we look how we do, and a photo is just a photo.

time

2007-03-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

Daylight saving time starts this Sunday, March 11.
Apparently many are worried that this might cause problems with computers and what-not...whatever. I'm not getting into all the doomsday stuff here because, well, I don't care. Besides, it's being beaten to death by the media who have nothing better to do (with their time) than attempt to incite panic.

It's really more about light than it is about time, anyway. And for that I was reminded of the old tv show "Northern Exposure" and the character "Chris". In one episode he builds a light sculpture. I've looked for a good photo on the web, can't find good one - no big surprise there...but I did find this:

A little bit about light from the tv show "Northern Exposure" (this is the speech Chris gives before unveiling the sculpture): Goethe's final words:
"More light." Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry, "More light." Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlight. Neon, incandescent lights that banish the darkness from our caves to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floods for the night games at Soldier's field. Little tiny flashlights for those books we read under the covers when we're supposed to be asleep. Light is more than watts and footcandles. Light is metaphor. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on, the night is dark and I am far from home, lead thou me on. Arise, shine, for thy light has come. Light is knowledge, light is life, light is light.

I should have given up on this whole post, because it just isn't coming together for me..I found myself totally off-topic on the whole DST thing and looking at Norhtern Exposure websites instead (I loved that show)...so I'll just end the misery here and now with a video clip from the show.

sorry

2007-03-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

If you're easily offended, if you're a fan of Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith, if you don't like Scottish accents, and flinch at the word vagina, please don't watch this video. Me? I laughed so hard in the first 15 seconds I had to restart the video. This is his YouTube link: MarkDayComedy. (and, as always, apologies to those who are just so cool that they've already been there and done that.)

todays homework

2007-03-05T04:33:00.000-08:00

The February book project for my 4th grade kids was a biography/autobiography. In true "like mother/like daughter" form, Muriel waited until I told her it was time for bed to tell me that she hadn't finished her project. She had chosen a little book about the U.S. presidents and was making bookmarks for 25 of the presidents. The bookmarks would include three facts. So, to help get this thing done, I told her I would write the facts while she read them off to me. Many of the facts were random bits of trivia. I guess I never paid much attention in history class. Here's a few that entertained me (but keep in mind that I am easily amused)

-James Madison was the first president to wear long pants.

-John Quincy Adams was the first president to have his picture taken.

-Andrew Jackson became a soldier when he was 13. He also had a pet parrot who had to be raken away during Jacksons' funeral because he kept swearing.

-William Henry Harrison had the longest inauguration speech. He also had the shortest term in presidential history.

-Abe Lincoln liked to keep important papers in his hat.

-Ulysses S Grant got a $20 dollar speeding ticket for driving too fast in Washington D.C. (I assume a horse and buggy?)

-William McKinley was the first to use campaign buttons. He was also the first president to ride in a car.

-Woodrow Wilson kept sheep on the White House lawn.

-Warren Harding once gambled away a whole set of White House china.

-Richard Nixon came home from WWII with poker winnings of more than ten thousand dollars.

Want more? Maybe not. But what did I do when I sat down at the computer? I looked for more random trivia, of course Below taken from Presidential GUF. By the way, you really should - especially if you're bored - check out that link (but remember what I said earlier about me being easily amused). It goes to a page on Ray Bromley's SCUM. site. He has GUF on all kinds of things. Really.

No President has been an only child.

Of the 42 men to serve as President, 14 have been Masons.

Three Presidents have died on the Fourth of July: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe.

More Presidents have been Episcopalians (eleven) than any other denomination.

Only two Presidents, John Adams and George Bush, have had sons who became President. Both fathers were one-term Presidents, elected just after serving two terms as Vice-president. Both sons had the same first names as their fathers.

All U.S. Presidents have needed and worn eyeglasses, although some did not wear them in public.

Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan are the only Presidents to have been elected with 49-state majorities.

Six Presidents have had the first name "James," more than any other name (Madison, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, Garfield, and Carter).

cheers.

may offend the pious

2007-03-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

1. How did you find out about God?

___ Newspaper
___ New Testament
___ Torah
___ Book of Mormon
___ Koran
___ Other Book
___ Television
___ Divine Inspiration
___ Word of mouth
___ Dead Sea scrolls
___ My mama done tol' me
___ Near-death Expe rience
___ Near-life experience
___ National Public Radio
___ Tabloid
___ The Blogs
___ Burning Shrubbery
___ Who?
___ Other (specify): _____________

2. Which model God did you acquire?

___ God of Israel
___ Jehovah
___ Allah
___ Just plain God
___ Krishna
___ Father, Son & Holy Ghost (Trinity Pack)
___ Zeus and entourage (Olympus Pack)
___ Odin and entourage (Valhalla Pack)
___ Gaia/Mother Earth/Mother Nature
___ None of the above; I was taken in by a false god

3. Did your God come to you undamaged, with all parts in good working order
and with no obvious breakage or missing attributes?

__ Yes __ No

If No, please describe the problems you encountered
(indicate all that apply):

___ Not eternal
___ Not omniscient
___ Not omnipotent
___ Finite in space
___ Permits sex outside of marriage
___ Prohibits sex outside of marriage
___ Makes mistakes (e.g., Geraldo Rivera, Jesse Helms)
___ When beseeched, doesn't stay beseeched
___ Requires burnt offerings
___ Requires virgin sacrifices
___ Plays dice with the universe

4. What factors were relevant in your
decision to acquire a God? (indicate all that apply)

___ Indoctrinated by parents
___ Needed a reason to live
___ Indoctrinated by society
___ Needed target for rage
___ Imaginary friend grew up
___ Hate to think for self
___ Wanted to meet girls/boys
___ Fear of death
___ To tick off parents
___ Needed a day away from work
___ Enjoy organ music
___ Needed focus on whom to despise
___ Needed to feel morally superior
___ Graduated from the tooth fairy
___ My shrubbery caught fire and told me to do it

5. Are you currently using any other
source of inspiration in addition to God?
(indicate all that apply)

__ Self-help books
__ Tarot, Astrology
__ Star Trek re-runs
__ Fortune cookies
__ Annie's Mailbox
__ Psychic Friends Network
__ Dianetics
__ Playboy and/or Playgirl
__ Rock & Roll
__ Biorhythms
__ EST
__ Television
__ Internet Message Boards
__ Mantras
__ Jimmy Swaggart
__ Crystals (not including Crystal Gayle)
__ Crystal Gayle
__ Human Sacrifice
__ Wandering around in desert
__ Burning shrubbery
__ Other:_____________________

6. Have you ever worshiped a false God before?
If so, which false God were you fooled by?
(indicate all that apply).

___ Odin
___ Cthulhu
___ Lottery
___ Baal
___ Beelzebub
___ The Almighty Dollar
___ The Conservative Right
___ Mick Jagger
___ Bill Gates
___ The Great Pumpkin
___ Ronald Reagan
___ A burning cabbage
___ Mushrooms
___ Other: ________________

7. God employs a limited degree of Divine Intervention to
preserve the balanced level of felt presence and blind faith.

Would you prefer:

___ More Divine Intervention
___ Less Divine Intervention
___ Current level of Divine Intervention is just right
___ Don't know - what's Divine Intervention?

8. God also attempts to maintain a balanced level of
disasters and miracles.
Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5 God's handling of the following:
(1 unsatisfactory, 5 excellent):

Disasters:
1 2 3 4 5 Flood
1 2 3 4 5 Famine
1 2 3 4 5 Earthquake
1 2 3 4 5 War
1 2 3 4 5 Pestilence
1 2 3 4 5 Plague
1 2 3 4 5 AOL
1 2 3 4 5 Republican Congress
1 2 3 4 5 Jerry Lewis
1 2 3 4 5 Dubya
1 2 3 4 5 My last relationship

Miracles:
1 2 3 4 5 Rescues
1 2 3 4 5 Spontaneous remissions
1 2 3 4 5 Crying statues
1 2 3 4 5 Water changing to wine
1 2 3 4 5 Walking on water
1 2 3 4 5 Stars hovering over towns
1 2 3 4 5 VCRs that set their own clocks
1 2 3 4 5 Clear and competent statements by the President
1 2 3 4 5 My present relationship

9. Please rate the following on a scale of 1 to 5
(1 unsatisfactory, 5 excellent):

1 2 3 4 5 God's Courtesy
1 2 3 4 5 Answers to your prayers
1 2 3 4 5 Are your spiritual needs being met?
1 2 3 4 5 How are your shrubs doing?

10. Do you have any additional comments or suggestions
for improving the quality of God's services?

Thank you for participating in this survey. 3.7 blessings have been
deposited in your account, and you are automatically entered in our
"Free Absolution" contest.

fucking kangaroos

2007-03-01T04:37:00.000-08:00

This is and old (2003) flash animation by Jason Windsor (obligatory link- will take you to wikipedia article **article is gone. this video is now attributed to fluid, claims to have been originally released on albinoblacksheep**)...I haven't seen it in years....I thought I'd brighten your day and post it here. CHEERS.

thoughts

2007-02-28T04:56:00.000-08:00

You know, being unemployed means (among other things that we won't get into here) that I spend a lot more time sitting in front of my computer than any SANE person ought to (of course I have NEVER claimed to be sane)...but still.

So, I sign on, have a look around, find interesting things that I think might be interesting to others and post them on this odd little blog I have.

No one ever really says anything. No comments, no mail.

And then I have this evening of total frustration trying to help my kids study for a science test and post a blog about it...thinking to myself, how boring, really, is my life. BUT, much to my surprise, this seems to entertain people.

I don't understand.

I mean, would you really rather hear about what I do?...when there are far more interesting things going on in the world.

I could babble on about how incredibly difficult I think it is to turn the strings on a cello. The first time I tried I thought they worked like a guitar...I was wrong. And I broke the string. And, of course, had to take the instrument back to the folks I rented it from and be teased mercilessly by the owner for being such an imbecile.

I could talk about kids report cards and their reactions to them. And my reaction and how I feel about the public school system (they aren't happy thoughts). And how difficult it is for me to walk the line between wanting my children to be able to participate in the "system" and wanting them to know what total bullshit... how completely unfair and mercenary and destructive I think it all is.

I could write about my love life (oh wait, I don't have one to write about).

Or maybe how my mind reels when I get questions like "Mom, why do we call it a black eye when it isn't black and what it really is is a bruised eye. So why don't we just call it a bruised eye?"

But it all strikes me as something so ordinary, in a way, that I wonder why anyone would want to take the time to read it.

4th grade test

2007-02-25T04:58:00.000-08:00

it is a sad, sad thing that i find it difficult to help my 4th grade daughters study for their science test.
but, damn if it hasn't been a pain. and now, you get to suffer with me....

so what is it that my brain can't seem to get a grip on: simple machines.

there are six types of simple machines: the lever, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge, the wheel and axle, and the screw. compound machines are machines that are made up of more than one simple machine.... but it is the classes of levers that became challenging for me.

there are also three different classes of levers (where "f" is the fulcrum, "r" is the load, and "e" is the effort):

class :1 an example would be a seesaw.

class 2: an example would be a wheelbarrow.

class 3: an example would be a baseball bat. (honestly, i didn't know a baseball bat was a lever)

easy enough? sure until you start getting into more examples of these types of machines. for example, a traditional doorknob would be a wheel and axle, right?:

right???

but what is this? ...

(well, actually it's an arne jacobsen door handle)
but for the purpose of our study in simple machines and according to the study guide brought home from school it is an example of a lever. (really?) problem is, i can't figure out what class lever it is. either a class 1 or a class 3.

so i googled it, because my kids wanted an answer...and i found this:
"A door knob or a faucet on a sink are really round levers, and the "fulcrum" is in the middle where the axle turns. " (from Dirtmeister/Scholastic)

and then this:
"A wheel and axle is a lever that rotates in a circle around a center point or fulcrum. The larger wheel (or outside) rotates around the smaller wheel (axle)."

whatever. (i decided that, for their test, the Arne Jacobsen style door handle was most likely a class 1 lever - does that seem right?...maybe?)

i'll leave it at that, and i'll leave you with some double levers (because we all need levers and because it amuses me)

first class:

second class:

third class:

slugs

2007-02-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

The slugs from the movie "Flushed Away"...

5 bucks is 5 bucks

2007-02-19T05:03:00.000-08:00

I'm not complaining but I'm tired and my head hurts and the kids are sleeping in the living room (which means they're about 10 feet away from the computer). So, here's a little list of links...music related, in some way or another. (well, tech-recipes and del.icio.us you can use to search for music related stuff). That's it for now. Don't like it? Think it's lame? Too bad. Go read some other blog. **

Link for Pandora

Link for Last.fm

Article about:Pandora and Last.fm: Nature vs. Nurture in Music Recommenders (by Steve Krause)

Link for Magnatune

Link for Allmusic

Link for Audacity

Link for Tech-Recipes

Link for del.icio.us

Link for Zokky Lyrics

**Oh, I'm just kidding, lighten up and get over it. Cheers.

tarot

2007-02-17T05:07:00.000-08:00

...one of the more unusual forms of creative and spiritual expression, i think.

If you're curious about the different decks that have been created go to the Aeclectic Tarot site. They have images of hundreds of decks. Many of them have links to buy the decks. This site also has links to other tarot sites, tutorials and forums (and more).

You can get free readings on the internet. This seems odd to me since the effectiveness of tarot as a divination tool is the physical manipulation of the cards, in other words your psychic/spiritual energy manifests itself as you choose the cards with your hands...so how to do that with a computer generated program? But still, it can be very entertaining.

There is an excellent and very comprehensive on-line course for learning tarot. ...if you're so inclined.

If you're interested in a little history Trifoni.com has lots of good stuff. It seems a little hard to navigate, but still...

And now...some pretty pictures:

Chris Paradis - The Rock & Roll Tarot:

The Hermetic Tarot- an artistic recreation of the original tarot deck by Golden Dawn occultist MacGregor Mathers:

The Book of Thoth deck designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris.

The Rider-Waite Tarot is a classic Tarot deck, perhaps the most well-known in the Western world.

Abyssal Tarot:

Tarot de Pumariega:

(o.k., that's enough...go and have a look yourself)

insect lab

2007-01-25T05:10:00.000-08:00

Mike Libby spent his youth developing a keen understanding of the material world looking under rocks, dismantling appliances and practicing alchemy with ingredients found under the kitchen sink. Additionally he drew pictures, built fantastic machinations that completed mundane tasks and studied various musical instruments to little accomplishment.

He went on to transcend these hobbies at college, graduating with a degree in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1999. He has since attended the Vermont Studio Center, and has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions between New York, Rhode Island and Maine. He is currently developing his other sculptural work for future exhibits in New England and beyond; residing and working in South Portland, Maine.

Check his work out here: Insect Lab ...

WEF

2007-01-24T05:14:00.000-08:00

I like Forbes, because they like lists, and lists are fun.

Like...the 400 richest Americans: "A nine-figure fortune won't get you much mention these days, at least not here. This year, for the first time, everyone in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion. The collective net worth of the nation's wealthiest climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion."

(I'm just giving you the top 5 ...because I'm lazy and you can look them up at Forbes.com)

1. William Henry Gates III Net Worth: $53.0 billion
2. Warren Edward Buffett Net Worth: $46.0 billion
3. Sheldon Adelson Net Worth: $20.5 billion
4. Lawrence Joseph Ellison Net Worth: $19.5 billion
5. Paul Gardner Allen Net Worth: $16.0 billion

Gates and Buffett also have the number 1 and 2 position on the World's wealthiest list. Also interesting to note (you know how I feel about Walmart) that 5 different Walton family members are in the top 11 of the U.S. list...combined the Walton family net worth is over 75 billion.

What's all this got to do with anything?

Nothing, I suppose...I was looking for info on the World Economic Forum in Davos (which started today and has lots to do with many things) and got sidetracked...

"About 2,400 businessmen and politicians are expected to attend the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, including 900 company chief executives and board chairs and 24 heads of state -- among them British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel."

The list of participants is huge. (The WEF lists are here)

"Among the participants :

There are 24 heads of state or government participating in the Annual Meeting: Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority; Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee; H.M. King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland; H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco; Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan; Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan; Abudllah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia; Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Felipe Calderón-Hinojosa, President of Mexico; Micheline Calmy-Rey, President of the Swiss Confederation and Federal Councillor of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland; Ferenc Gyurcsany, Prime Minister of Hungary; Tarja Halonen, President of Finland; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia; Jakaya M. Kikwete, President of Tanzania; Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil; Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, President of the Philippines; Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa; Angela Merkel, Federal Chancellor of Germany; Ahmed Mahmoud Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt; Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam; Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden; Fouad Siniora, Prime Minister of Lebanon; Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of Latvia; and Viktor Yanukovych, Prime Minister of Ukraine.

There will also be more than 30 Trade and Agricultural ministers, seven European Commissioners, and five cabinet members from the United States.

Among the other participants are heads of international organizations including Mohamed M. ElBaradei, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna; Richard Feachem, Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva; Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva; Peter Piot, Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Geneva; Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), New York; Paul D. Wolfowitz, President, World Bank, Washington DC; Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris; Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi; Heizo Takenaka, Director, Global Security Research Institute, Keiko University, Japan.

NGOs and labour leaders and academics include:

Irene Khan, Secretary-General, Amnesty International; Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch; Barbara Stocking, Director, Oxfam Great Britain; Hany El Banna, President, Islamic Relief; Gerd Leipold, Executive Director, Greenpeace International; Markku Niskala, Secretary-General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Guy Ryder, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation; Sharan Burrow, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions; and Philip Jennings, General Secretary, UNI Global Union; Lester R. Brown, Founder and President, Earth Policy Institute; Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford; Susan Greenfield, Director, The Royal Institution of Great Britain; Jessica Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School; Laura D. Tyson, Dean, London Business School.

Personalities from the cultural world contributing to the debates in Davos will include musicians Bono and Peter Gabriel, author Paulo Coelho, Chess Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, and painter and sculptor Romero Britto."

Opinion varies on what exactly is going on here...decide for yourself.

Is it an "ideal place for dialogue and debate regarding the major social and economic problems of the planet, since representatives of both the most powerful economic organisations and the most powerful political organisations are present, since intellectuals also participate, and since there is a generally informal atmosphere encouraging wide-ranging debate."

Or is it really just "a business forum, where the richest businesses can easily negotiate deals with one another and lobby the world's most powerful politicians, and that the aim is profit-making rather than solving economic problems like poverty....an elitist forum for circumventing democratic politics, and for encouraging non-transparent, secretive decision-making." (previous 2 quotes from wikipedia)

work

2007-01-23T05:16:00.000-08:00

taken from the afl-cio working america website:

Job Loss Since 2001

Since 2001:

Nationwide, an estimated 830,000 white-collar jobs have been sent overseas;
2.8 million manufacturing jobs have been lost, according to a study by the Progressive Policy Institute;
Nearly one in every six manufacturing jobs have been lost in Ohio;
One in five jobs have been lost in Pennsylvania;
One in nine in Minnesota; and
One in sixteen in Oregon.

Looking Ahead

Some experts believe that up to 14 million middle-class jobs could be exported out of the United States in the next 10 years, according to Forrester Research Inc.

Solutions

Remove Incentives
Current laws allow companies to indefinitely defer paying taxes on overseas income, while deducting much of their moving expenses when they send jobs overseas. Lawmakers could remove these incentives.

Reward Companies that Create Good Jobs in the United States
Many companies that send jobs overseas get tax breaks. If the United States taxed these companies, we'd generate an additional $7 billion to $12 billion in taxes. Lawmakers could give tax breaks to companies that keep jobs here in the United States.

Require that Jobs Paid for by the Government Stay in the United States
Many government call center jobs are being sent to overseas call centers. For example, 40 states now have outsourced the work of their food-stamp call centers to foreign countries. Lawmakers need to make sure that state-contracted work be performed here in the United States.

((well, how are you doing - financially?))

In 2005, the average CEO of a Standard & Poor's 500 company received $13.51 million in total compensation, according to an analysis by The Corporate Library. This represents a 16.14 percent increase in CEO pay over 2004....

The average annual household income in the U.S. for 2005: $46,326 (keep in mind, folks, that this is per household, not per worker). That's down $1,273 from 2000.

innovation/1

2007-01-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

Human-Powered River Gymnasiums for New York

Mitchell Joachim & Douglas Joachim

These River Gyms would travel circuitously along the Hudson and East Rivers. Fitted with onboard purification devices, they would help mitigate water pollution. Equally as significant, they would ease the transportation burdens on various ferry lines and carry volunteering commuters in tow. The benefit of extra passengers increases the vessels' mass and amplifies the intensity of the exercise. Along the edges of each river body a modest docking facility would serve members as a point of departure with lockers, a reception desk, health food kiosks, etc. The idea is that you can easily access your River Gym vessel to travel to and from multiple points in the city.

The notion of transforming wasted human mechanical energy into a useful kinetic gymnasium is unique. The multiple benefits of increased transportation, water purification, caloric energy expenditure, and superior changing views is invigorating. Our proposal is intended to redefine the urban gym in a cost effective and environmentally friendly manner. This is the kind of munificent vision for which the great city of New York is renowned.

innovation/1

2007-01-22T05:20:00.000-08:00

Human-Powered River Gymnasiums for New York

Mitchell Joachim & Douglas Joachim

These River Gyms would travel circuitously along the Hudson and East Rivers. Fitted with onboard purification devices, they would help mitigate water pollution. Equally as significant, they would ease the transportation burdens on various ferry lines and carry volunteering commuters in tow. The benefit of extra passengers increases the vessels' mass and amplifies the intensity of the exercise. Along the edges of each river body a modest docking facility would serve members as a point of departure with lockers, a reception desk, health food kiosks, etc. The idea is that you can easily access your River Gym vessel to travel to and from multiple points in the city.

The notion of transforming wasted human mechanical energy into a useful kinetic gymnasium is unique. The multiple benefits of increased transportation, water purification, caloric energy expenditure, and superior changing views is invigorating. Our proposal is intended to redefine the urban gym in a cost effective and environmentally friendly manner. This is the kind of munificent vision for which the great city of New York is renowned.

perspective

2007-01-20T12:27:00.000-08:00

Powers of Ten....a 1977 documentary film written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames.

powers of ten :: charles and ray eames from bacteriasleep on Vimeo.

my ten year old daughters...

2007-01-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

...i said, "well, i think you'll be bored. it's a lot of grown up stuff that you may not understand." ....branwen said, "i don't care, i want to watch it anyway."

WALMART the high cost of low price

...and branwen and muriel both watched this movie. it's been awhile since i've seen it. if you haven't - you should.

it's really not just about wal-mart. it's about so much more...trying to explain points of the movie so that a 4th grade mind could grasp it really drove that point home for me tonight. i'm not sure i did the best job... because how can you explain it. why? why do we allow people to suffer and live in poverty? why does wal-mart get money to open their stores and yet we allow schools to fall apart and close and we allow families to live in poverty without health care?

why indeed?

well, my sweet children, the world is what it is. and we can't change it all at once. but if we learn... if we continue to look around us and allow ourselves to experience things as they are, for good or bad, that's the first step. we can't stop living and learning because we don't like what we see. too many people choose to live in a bubble, feeling safe and secure, not seeing the whole world around them, because it's scary to them and because if they see other people suffering they may feel guilty because their lives are so much better. this is a mistake. because those people living in bubbles are probably missing out on the good stuff too...things that are beautiful and inspiring. so, keep your eyes open and your mind open and keep living...because that's what matters most.

rip raw

2007-01-11T17:36:00.000-08:00

Robert Anton Wilson Defies Medical Experts and leaves his body @4:50 AM on binary date 01/11.

All Hail Eris!

On behalf of his children and those who cared for him, deepest love and gratitude for the tremendous support and lovingness bestowed upon us.

(that's it from Bob's bedside at his fnord by the sea)

the (official) robert anton wilson website....

for julie

2007-01-03T17:38:00.000-08:00

i can't do this survey...nope. i've answered all these before and i don't think anyone cares anymore. so, for your entertainment (and because it fits right in with the "i don't think anyone cares" line,) this is the you tube version of a survey...where i copy the words from the survey and search them and then choose the first video that pops up. i didn't watch a lot of these longer than it took to copy and paste and i am in no way responsible for choosing the content, so you're on your own. some of them i found quite painful even for the few seconds it took to get the job done. some of them, however, entertained me.

The longest survey you'll ever fill out! Do the world a favor: fill it out and post it for all your friends.... Do this because the person who did this didn't sit here for ages for nothing. Answer all the questions honestly, no lying to avoid stuff.

Single or Taken: Bodyjar - You've Taken Everything

Happy about that: What are you thankful and happy now for...?

Siblings: "get down from the table and stop picking your nose"

Eye color:Cat eyes have different eye color

shoe size: Rose, on shoe sizes

Height: 9 seconds, a kid gets measured

What you are wearing right now: no videos found

Best place to go for a date: no videos found

FAVORITES

Kind of pants: Full of Fancy covering The Ergs' classic "Kind of Like Smitten

Number: "one, i don't believe in marriage. two, you don't want to be with me. and three, are you out of your mind?"

Animal: lipsyncing and dancing with broomsticks

Drink(non alcoholic): peter getting pissed on non alcoholic beer

Sport: kid jumping rope in a gym

Month: "we can both now share the PMS experience: monthly man"

Juice: skate video

Favorite cartoon character The second episode of Diggys World chronicles the "real" lives of some of our favorite cartoon characters
---------------------------------------------------------------

Have You Ever. . .

Given anyone a bath: no videos found

Bungee Jumped? this was in the comments section: "that had nothing to do with bungee jumping yah fuckin idiots"

Gone skinny dipping? some guy mooning a camera

Eaten a dog?: eaten by a cow? go figure.

Loved someone so much it made you cry?: no vidoes found

Broken a bone? Travis Pastrana talks about all the bones he's broke (while he gets his hair done?)

Played truth or dare?: kids...

Been on a plane?: What Snakes On A Plane Could Have Been (bad cartoon drawings)

Been in a sauna?: no videos found

been in a hotub?: no videos found

Swam in the ocean?: no videos found

Fallen asleep in school?: no videos found

Ran away? uh, video of someone running through the grass

Broken someone's heart?: someones broken heart:( (by playing bad music and making bad videos)

Cried when someone died?: more bad music and video

Cried in school?: preschool (FRank always had to cry when mom dropped him at the school)

Fell off your chair? Singing a song from camp

Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call? no videos found

Saved AIM conversations?: no videos found

Saved e-mails? "Save The Fur is a organization that is out to stop PeTA." this video totally confused me ...i have no idea what it means

Made out with JUST a friend?: kids at a diner

Used someone?: This is a video I made using icons and quotes, for the song DHT - Someone (more bad music)

Your good luck charm?: Do NOT kick your Good Luck Puppy (animation)

New fav. song One Night Magic-Utada Hikaru. whatever. it isn't even a video

Last thing you ate? video game taped with the song "spirit in the sky"?

What kind of shampoo/conditioner do you use?: no videos found (what a surprise)

Ever Had. . .

Chicken pox: bad video of kids being silly

Stitches: the new Stitch attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland,

Broken nose: clip from the longest yard

----------------------------------------------------------------

Believe in love at first sight? Janelle Believes In Love At First Sight

Believe in long distant relationships? no videos found

Like school? kids dancing at school...no sound

Who was the last person that called you? no videos found

Who was the last person you slow danced with? no videos found

Who makes you smile the most? this is mostly about tk and kari breaking up and her getting togther with davis(is there no end to this madness of bad music and homemade video?)

Who knows you the BEST? Songs - Best of You
Artist - Foo Fighters
Anime - Neon Genesis Evangelion + The End of Evangelion (i really don't like anime)

--------------------------------------------------------
Do you like filling these out? no videos found

Do you like yourself? They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings.
Steal a little and they throw you in jail,
Steal a lot and they make you king.

Do you get along with your family?: Homemade Plastic Sheeting Excitement Device.

(the video is funny but you have to clck on this to read this guys video descirption...like this:)

"And further: Yes, yes, before everyone hurls their insults and accusations at me for being an idiot or labels this as the redneck's equivalent of some other "legitimate" sport, let me just explain to you that I am both an idiot AND a redneck, and that the alternate title to this video is, "French Rednecks in Space: Honky-Tonk Revenge Manifesto—Wind-Surfing in the Fields of Love, on Mars," so save your fingers to type something that actually cuts me to the heart rather than just scrapes the surface of things."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obsessive Compulsive?: Obsession,Compulsion,Addiction the second demo video. just myck and drizzle

Suicidal?: it really sucks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Random Questions:

What did you do yesterday? holy shit, this video is over 12 minutes long and starts with a country music song.

Any awards? Keane performing 'Is It Any Wonder' live at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards in Copenhagen on November 2, 2006

What car/truck do you wish to have?: no videos found

Where do you want to get married?: Song: Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Otherside (remixed with - surprise, surprise -anime)

Good driver?: RALLY GOOD DRIVER (that's the tag. i thought hmmm..."what's a rally driver?" and then clicked the link and then laughed out loud...but we all know that i'm a little on the strange side)

Good Singer?: wicked good singers

Have a lava lamp? Today we have something non-sexual for you.... This video shows you how to make your own home made lava lamp.... Lay back and learn !

How many remote controls are in your house? no videos found

What was your last dream about: no videos found

Chocolate or Vanilla? Christopher says "Chocolate Vanilla Ice-block"

Skiing or Boarding? Snow boarding

Summer or winter? My Sreet In Winter And Summer

Silver or Gold? home vid singing

Diamond or pearl? pokemon/nintendo video crap

Pepsi or Coke? pepsi commercial

Coffee or sweet tea? Indonique Teas Commercial

Phone or in person? In search of Joel's missing cell phone

Are you the oldest or youngest? no videos found
-----------------------------------------------------------
Today did you

1. Talk to someone you liked as in love: no video found

2. Buy something: some guy walking through a store, not speaking english so i don't know what the importance thing is he's looking for, damn.

3.Fly? this is just weird beyond description

4. Talked to an ex?: no videos found

5. Miss someone?: song by Evanescence, Someone Missing...home video
________________________________________________
Last Person that

6. Slept in your bed? video blog - ugh

7. Saw/heard you cry? Because of You
by Kelly Clarkson

8. Made you cry? You Made Paris Cry!

9. Went to the movies with? Loudon Wainwright III - The Swimming Song (this one's o.k....it doesn't hurt your brain)

10. Said "I Love You" to you? Gerald said i love you to kim in homeboy

___________________________________________

11. Ever been in a fight with your pet? no videos found

12. Been to Mexico?: 12 seconds, i'm not convinced

13. Been to Canada? Trudeau gets a last-minute invitation: a visit with Chairman Mao. This CBC-TV clip includes a segment about the meeting from Chinese TV.

14. Been to Europe? hi my names stephen and your about to get spanked
__________________________________________________

Random. . .
15. Do you have a crush on someone right now? no videos found

16.What book are you reading? Has YouTube replaced reading (thanks mom)

17. Best feeling in the world? Nothing In The World - By Teo

18. Future KIDS names? some kids vlog

19. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? no videos found

20. Favorite sports to watch? boys, attempt at a comedic homemade video

21. Piercing/Tattoos? nasal piercing and pelvic tattooing

22. What are you most scared of right now? no videos found

23. Who do you really hate? anime, of fucking course oddly, they aren't crediting the music

24. Do you have a job? i think this guy is serious

25. Have you ever liked someone you didn't have a chance with? no videos found

26. Are you lonely right now? Basin Street Blues by Kid Koala
27. Song that's stuck in your head right now? OMG, I don't have one in there!

28. Have you ever played strip poker? no videos found

29. Have you ever gotten beat up? oh, more anime (AMV anime music video?) Music: Billy Talent- Red Flag

30. Have you ever been on radio/TV? no videos found

31. Have you ever been in a "mosh-pit"? no videos found

___________________________________________

Random

what color is your underwear right now? no videos found

What's the first things you notice about the opposite sex? no videos found

Your Favorite Food? Lucie and her students tell the world about their favorite foods

Ever get so drunk you dont remember the night before? no videos found (thank god)

Are you too shy to ask someone out? no videos found (i'm sure if i had it would have been another one of those anime music videos)

Aim? girl dancing in her bedroom

Butter, Plain or Salted popcorn? no videos found

Dogs or cats? bad audio, really bad, hurt my ears

Favorite Flower? This is Remedios, my turtle. She's eating hibiscus, her favorite type of flowers. Isn't she adorable?

Do you like to travel by plane as opposed to car? no videos found

How many pillows do you sleep with?no videos found

Repost this as: "If you make it through"

Ha. I made it through. for the record, my searching was sorted by relevance.

drums

2006-12-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

...no, the title really hasn't got anything to do with this post.

i'm not a big fan of surreal art, but i thought this was an interesting site:

a link to miquel.com. a HUGE list of links. you could spend a very long time here.

speaking of huge lists, i've posted this site before but... fusion anomaly is special for me because it is one of the first really mind blowing things i ever found on the internet...i randomly stumbled on to it many years ago. and i've intetionally gone back again and again.

landover baptist. funny and irreverent. don't go there if you are easily offended.

The INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY (pretty much self explanatory)

Sadly, No. ...an entertaining blog. to say that it's just a blog about politics doesn't quite do it justice... when i clicked on it today there was a video posted of a Cheap Trick cover band...no, really.

(enough. for now.)

solstice

2006-12-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

"Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. The lowest elevation occurs about DEC-21 and is the winter solstice -- the first day of winter, when the night time hours are maximum.

The reason for celebrating solstice is simple:

From the time of harvest in the fall up to the winter solstice the days continue to grow shorter, the nights longer, and the weather becomes colder. In early primitive cultures survival became more difficult. Following solstice the days start to lengthen. Even without modern time-keeping instruments this lengthening of the daylight is noticeable within days of the winter solstice. The lengthening of the days offers the promise of spring and easier living conditions. As a result solstice has become a symbol of hope and a cause cause for celebration.

I suppose it is all a matter of perspective, or opinion, or belief...Monotheistic religions, like Judaism, Christianity and Islam, tend to view time as linear. It started with creation, a definite beginning, and has a definite ending...the world as we know it will end at some point in the future. Earth centered religions (Pagans, Aboriginals) see time as circular and repetitive, with lunar (monthly) and solar (yearly) cycles.

There seems to be a great deal of debate about celebrating Christmas - the birth of Christ - on December 25th. The argument from non-Christians is two-fold. First, although noone really knows when Christ was born, it is very unlikely that he was born in December. Second, is that December 25th was chosen because of it's relation to the winter solstice....an attempt to take Solstice and obscure its meaning by celebrating a new (Christian) tradition.

Many Christians are all riled and shouting that we need to put Christ back in Christmas. A smaller group of Christians are cleverly claiming that since the heathens are correct in their assertions that Christ wasn't born in December and the holidays' traditions are largely pagan in origin, that Chrisitians should NOT celebrate Christmas at all.

To all the Christians out there I have this to say: YES! Put the Christ back in Christmas or celebrate Christ's birth at another time of year. In doing so, you will no longer be celebrating a heathen holiday. Your soul will be saved.

And I will no longer have to sit in bumper to bumper traffic or stand in check out lines that stretch to the back of the store. My soul may be damned to hell, but my holidays will go a little more smoothly. (Seems like a fair trade off to me.)

Can we all just agree that Christmas as we know it has nothing at all to do with Christ or with Winter Solstice or whatever other spiritual holiday...it is what it is. And what it is....is lights on houses, decorated trees, presents galore, and an excuse for having parties with family and friends.

As for Solstice (you say you knew I would come full circle on this?), I will celebrate in my own quiet way. As always. It is real and tangible. I can see it, taste it, touch it, smell it, hear it. It is dark, savory, cold, smoky, and hushed. (an interesting side note, our christmas traditions appear to be the very opposite sensations: holiday lights, sweet treats, warm fires, pine and cinnamon, christmas carols). Solstice is something I experience intuitively. I have no need to argue whether or not it is real or valid or worth acknowledging. I don't have to reference a book or gather with like-minded others to confirm its existence. All I have to do is look around me and know that it is.

cheers.

jim lambie

2006-12-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

i'm (still) not much in the mood for blogging...

here's some links:

tate britain

carnegie international

pingmag

here's some pictures:

terence mckenna

2006-12-03T17:51:00.000-08:00

Terence McKenna (1946-2000) has been studying the ontological foundations of Shamanism and the Ethnopharmacology of spiritual transformation for the past quarter century. An innovative theoretician and spellbinding orator, Terence has emerged as a powerful voice for the psychedelic movement and the emergent societal tendency he calls The Archaic Revival. Poetically dispensing enlightened social criticism and new theories of the fractal dynamics of time, Terence deobfuscates many aspects of the visionary lexicon, and then some. As Artist Alex Grey suggests, "In the twilight of human history, McKenna's prescription for salvation is just so crazy it might work."

Terence McKenna Bibliography

Ego is a structure that is erected by a neurotic individual who is a member of a neurotic culture against the facts of the matter. And culture, which we put on like an overcoat, is the collectivized consensus about what sort of neurotic behaviors are acceptable.

We have wandered into a state of prolonged neurosis because of the absence of a direct pipeline to the unconscious and we have then fallen victim to priestcraft of every conceivable sort.

We are so much the victims of abstraction that with the Earth in flames we can barely rouse ourselves to wander across the room and look at the thermostat.

Apparently there is a great discovery or insight which our culture is deliberately designed to supress, distort and ignore. That is that Nature is some kind of minded entity. That Nature is not simply the random flight of atoms through electromagnetic fields. Nature is not the empty, despiritualized lumpen matter that we inherit from modern physics. But it is instead a kind of intelligence, a kind of mind.

If you really wanted to study an aboriginal race and you really had a hot technology, what you would do is study their social psychology and you would say, "are there any chinks in the armor of their expectations about how reality behaves?" and you would discover in studying us - this species intoxicates itself and it has a curious attitiude towards it's intoxications: anything goes. So if someone drinks a bottle of stolichnaya and announces that they see pink elephants we are all amused. We say of course you do you're drunk out of your mind.. Isn't it obvious that an alien would hide its presence in an intoxication? This is the non-invasive, tasteful, respectful way to have intercourse with another species. ..you put yourself into a plant, You put a barcode into a molecule. Then the shaman intoxicates himself and he says 'aha it's an ancestor spirit' or 'it's the soul of the plant, but whatever it is it's giving me good information. It's telling me where the reindeer went..what the weather will be next week..who stole the goose..who slept with who..and which of the ill members of my tribe will live and who will die..'

medicine wheel

2006-12-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

The Creator is the beginning of life and its ending, the great mystery within all things and around all things, the Universal Energy,...in many native languages the word for creator...was a verb, indicating the movement, the activity, the motion, the pulsation of this sacred never-ending force.

from Dancing With the Wheel Sun Bear, Wabun Wind and Crysalis Mullgan

Sun Bear Medicine Wheel

that's it! i'm moving!

2006-12-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

So where ARE the Safe Places on Earth? Where can we go to avoid catastrophic disasters from a sudden and violent change in our climate? Perhaps we should begin by telling you there are few, if any, safe places in the world of the future. All of the current scenarios for severe weather and climate change entail monster storms, massive flooding, disruption of agriculture and political turmoil.

We have conducted a risk assesment of the Earth's safe places, based upon key factors including Climate, Seismic Activity, Exposure to Pollution, Vunerability to Terrorism, Economic Stability, Local Food Supply, and Resources.

In reviewing the Earth's safe places, we considered many locations, but only one safe place met all of our key factors. Our final choice for the Safest Place will probably suprise you, because it is located much farther north than anyone would suspect for such a delightful climate.

Our choice for Safest Place is Powell River, British Columbia. Protected by lofty barrier mountain to the east and west, while being warmed by an inland sea, Powell River is rated by the USDA as having the same climate as Houston, Texas and St. Augustine, Florida.

can surveys be a hobby?

2006-11-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

1) Who is the last person you high-fived?
did you know there was a national high five day? there's even a myspace profile

2) If you were drafted into a war, would you survive?
of course i would survive, because i would refuse to support the draft and refuse to be deployed.

3) Do you sleep with the TV on?
there was a time when i did. a long time ago i lived in a broom closet in farmington - detroit, basically. i'm not really sure it was a broom closet. it was the second floor of a building that had never intended to have apartments. nonetheless, our "apartment" was one room (about 8 x 10) and a bathroom (of sorts) - that was it. so we decided it had been a utility closet in a former life and dubbed it the broom closet. i lived with a guy named sean. sean insisted on sleeping with the tv on, which i thought was really strange. actually sean was strange - and for many more reasons than sleeping with a tv on.

4) Have you ever drank milk straight out of the carton?

who hasn't?
here ya' go, all the bad habits...

5) Have you ever won a spelling bee?
well, sometime between 3rd and 5th grade i was in a spelling bee at school. and everyone was eliminated but me and terry m. (i think it was terry). we went through several rounds, just the two of us. and then i got the word "aspirin". and i misspelled it: a-s-p-r-i-n. and, of course, terry spelled the next word correctly, and i lost. but i've never forgotten how to spell aspirin.

(hey, who deleted question #6?) oh well, still on the topic of spelling bees:

..."bee season", a rather unusual movie about, among other things, spelling bees.

7) How fast can you type?
not fast enough to get one of those jobs that require you to type 50-60 words per minute...or whatever the number is. but i learned to type when i was in kindergarten and i think that should definitely count for something.

8)Are you afraid of the dark?
no. being afraid of the dark is silly. i'm afraid of all the psycho, crazy, weird things that lurk in the dark.

9) Eye color?
blue

10) How do you want to die?
i don't want to die. i want to live forever. i think it would be, oh, i don't know, a contradiction (of sorts) to my plan to live forever to think about the manner in which i might die.

11) When is the last time you chose a bath over a shower?
sometime in the past week or so.

12) Do you knock on wood?
only when i'm knocking on someone's front door.

13) Are you drinking anything right now?
yes. (coffee.) here's a link to a really nice coffee maker i like (christmas is coming) from crate and barrel.

14) Do you think you're attractive?
some days are better than others.

15) Can you hoola hoop?
oh, hell. no.but i have many other talents.

16) Are you good at keeping secrets?
why? what is it you wanted to tell me? (check out postsecret...unless you're depressed, then i don't recommend it)

17) What do you want for Christmas?
peace on earth...but if that won't work i'll settle for a nice, warm pair of socks.

18.) Do you know the muffin man?
the one who lives on drury lane?

19.) Do you talk in your sleep?
i've been told that i do. but since i'm asleep when it happens i don't know if it's true or not.

20) Who wrote the book of love?
according to google you have some choices:

21) Have you ever flown a kite?
yeah. the best ever was in florida, on the beach. we tied extra spools of string on it and when it finally crashed it was at least a mile up the beach.

23) Do you consider yourself successful?
(see answer to number 14)

24) How many people are on your contact list of your cellphone?
well, my current phone has maybe 15-20. which is why i have to use my old phone to look up numbers.

25) Have you ever asked for a pony?
i had a pony (patches) and a horse (jack) when i was a kid. but i didn't like the pony - he was mean (i still have a scar). so we sold the pony and kept the horse.

26) Plans for tomorrow?
sleep. a lot.

27) Can you juggle?
(see answer to number 15)

28) Missing someone now?
as far as i know everyone is exactly where they ought to be right now.

29) When was the last time you told someone 'I love you'?
yesterday.

30) And truly meant it?
yes.

32) How are you feeling today?
trying to psychoanalyze me?

33) Have you ever been suspended or expelled from school?
almost...(but they never really could prove it was me.) ;-)

34) What are you looking forward to?
i'm not. i'm having a very zen moment right now.

35) Have you ever crawled through a wall?
that night be cool (or maybe just uncomfortable)...but i've been through breakdown in caves and it can feel like crawling through walls.

36) Have you ever eaten dog food?
no

37) Can you handle the truth?
yep. and i can handle lies too....how about that?

39). What 3 things can always be found in your refrigerator?
strange question...i wouldn't say always, but usually: cheese, milk, fruit

40) Any cool scars?
well, there was that incident with the damned pony...

42) Do you like or have a crush on anyone?
maybe.

43) How many kids do you plan on having?

i have two right now...

44) have you ever been in love?
yes, asshole (thanks, julie, for that answer, i couldn't have put it better)

46) Do you talk to yourself?
of course, because i know how to keep secrets.

47) Do you like dancing?
yep.

48) Three of your favorite foods:
cheese, tomatoes, bread (mmm...bruschetta)

49) Two things about the opposite sex that appeal to you?
well, when i think about my former boyfriends....i guess it would be...nah, i'm not going there.

50) What are you thinking about right now?
how many more questions are there?

51) Who did you last talk to on the phone?
a stranger (i was at work, silly)

52) Where is your phone?
about 6 inches from my hand...but we all know the real question is "where the hell are my car keys?"

53) Who was the last person you hugged?
my daughters.

54) What is your favorite color?
i don't have a favorite color. but colorstrology tells me that apricot orange is my birthday color. and then there's colorgenics that gives you a personality profile based on your choices of most appealing colors.

55) What is the last movie you watched?
boondock saints

56) What song do you currently hear?
no song right now. just the water filtering in the aquarium. (reminds me that i need to add water to the tank and change the filter.)

57) Are you currently suffering from a broken heart?
my doctor says my heart is fine.

58) Would you ever date anyone on your friends list?
(see answer to number 42)

killing time

2006-11-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

band to band

i clicked "random link" under the "create map" heading on the sidebar and got this:

The path between Screaming Target and Throw Rag contains 10 steps:

Screaming Target

Who Killed King Tubby?

1991

1989

From Here To Eternity Live

1999

Line-up #2

1981

1990

Andrew Taylor : "Andrew Eldritch"

The Sisterhood

Giving Ground

1986

Patricia Rainone : "Patricia Morrison"

1985

1983

Kristy Wallace : "Poison Ivy"

The Cramps

Fiends Of Dope Island

2003

Scott Franklin

Charley Horse

Unholy Roller

2005

10.

Sean Wheeler

Throw Rag

13 Ft. And Rising

2005

this is the problem

2006-11-19T17:59:00.000-08:00

you see, this is the problem. my children have been behaving like turds for the past hour. i finally told them i had had enough and i was going to the grocery and they had to stay home. this did not work. they stood in the doorway and refused to let me leave, saying they were coming with me. they blocked me with silly grins on their faces and told me that i had to turn my frown upside down and that i needed to feel the peace. when i said fine that i was going to sit down and ignore them, branwen came over and sat in the chair next to me with a notebook and pen in her hand...."tell me, ms. c. how do you feel today" pen poised over the paper. "do you feel angry, sad, depressed, mad at your children? do you feel like you are going to explode into a million tiny pieces and never come back?".....and muriel standing in front of me with a happy face balloon blocking the computer monitor. but little does she know that i don't need to see the monitor to know what i am typing.

Muriel: She does not have the peace treaty right now. That is very very very very very very very very very very very very BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Branwen: I have noticed that her levels of feelings have been going up and down like this happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry happy angry ok now this is what it is happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy. this is what muriel is angry angry angry angry angry angry angry angry angry angry angry angry and so forth.

....straight from the minds of the 10 year olds...who took over control the keyboard to type the previous two paragraphs.

yeah lou, it's a real luna moth

2006-11-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

i've seen luna moths a couple of times...once when i was in bar harbor, maine. i was working the graveyard shift at the acadia resaturant. other than the gas staion a couple of blocks away it was the only place open all night - which should be a clear indication of the profitability of staying open all night. bar harbor was a ghost town after 2 am. it was probably around 3 or 4 in the morning and not a soul was stirring except me, clode, the cook, alex, the dishwasher and jeremy and justice who also worked at the acadia. justice was up because she wanted to keep us company and was bored and an insomniac. jeremy was the other server who worked the graveyard (on the 2 nights that i didn't) so he was in the habit of staying up all night. we were all sitting at the big round table in the back smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, waiting for the sun to come up and the breakfast shift and lobster fishermen and early morning tourists to come in.

the acadia was about a block and half from the ocean and we had the door open because it was a nice night and it felt good to have the outdoor air coming in. it was cool out - about 40 degrees - but we were so accustomed to the cool nights that it didn't seem cold to us.

a lone car came driving down the street and parked out front. a couple who had been on the road late got out of the car, came into the restaurant and, after thanking us for being open (little tourist towns really do have a dead, creepy, otherworldly feel late at night) they ordered some coffee and a bite to eat. they also complained about the door being open because the air coming in from outside was cold. i was, begrudgingly, heading to the door to shut it whena huge luna moth flew into the restaurant, enchanting us all. it was just so beautiful. it flew all the way to the back of the room before turning around and heading back toward the door, so we all had time to watch it and enjoy it before it was gone.