3388 Natural art, garbage art

Sunday, November 6, 2011

“…those who wrestle with something and come out on top
tend to have a better understanding of that something
than those who merely submit to it.”

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My body is falling apart. My skin no longer fits, drapes in folds above my knees, on my neck, my jowls. I can't trust my knees anymore. I who used to sit on the floor by preference, and could rise straight up without using my hands or knees, now find it difficult to get my behind off the floor.

But I'm not dead yet. I am very proud of the fact that I can carry an 18-pound Nugget in a backpack carrier for at least a mile with no effort or effect. (I say at least a mile because that's the most I've done. I'm sure I could go farther.) Uphill is a bit difficult, but even without her on my back uphill has always been more difficult.

Very proud and happy.

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This is amazing. A murmuration of starlings, recorded in Ireland. It starts out with a few stills, then goes to video. It raised my spirits.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

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There's a story going around about a cleaning woman who damaged a 1.1 million dollar artwork by, uh, cleaning it. I got curious about what a one million dollar artwork looked like, and sniffed around until I found this story, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/nov/03/overzealous-cleaner-ruins-artwork?newsfeed=true, which has a photo of the full installation, and also mentions several other artworks over the years that had been ruined by cleaning and janitorial staff.

The murmuration video above raised my spirits. The linked artwork story cast me down again. So many people want to ignore or destroy natural art, and exalt crap art. I don't understand.

I flat-out do not understand modern art. Frankly, I agree with the cleaning staff. Most of it is crap. The only art involved is the art of convincing someone that a) it's art, and b) is worth anything. Apparently if you have that talent, you can dump a bag of household garbage on the floor and convince someone it's "art".

(In fact, according to the story, someone did exactly that. The cleaner ruined that one by throwing the garbage out.)

Bull poopy. What's that old saying about fooling fools?
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3387 Damned if you do and....

Friday, November 4, 2011

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature,
the heart of a heartless world,
and the soul of soulless conditions."
--Karl Marx --

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I will reserve my thoughts on Herman Cain's sexual harassment problems, where the claims came from, who dug it up and why, whether it means anything or not, blah blah blah.

But listening to some of the arguments, I've concluded that in general, victims can't win.

If they report it to HR, they might get some money from a settlement, but it comes with a requirement that they can't ever talk about it. Companies often settle these claims because it's cheaper than the legal fees of fighting it would be. Almost all individual victims end up settling, because they'd be an individual fighting a company/corporation in court, and who's going to pay their legal fees if they lose against a corporate army? Companies often settle without the permission of the accused harasser, and a settlement is therefore not an admission of guilt.

The end result is that the accused harasser can claim that it never happened, that the accuser is a liar, and the accuser/victim, we don't know which, really, cannot refute that under the terms of the settlement.

Either way, settlement or go to court, the alleged victim will be either branded forever a money-grubbing liar, or face a high probability of bankruptcy.

If they don't report it to HR, if the victim realizes there's no way to win and it's a sure way to lose a job, and good luck getting a good reference when you look for another, then when she (or he) finally does report it, everyone assumes that it's obviously not true, because if it were true, why wasn't it reported earlier? Therefore it didn't happen, and the accuser is a publicity-seeking liar.

All accusers who can't afford to fight an army of lawyers in court become a liars, regardless of the truth.

It reminds me of rape accusations, back in the 50's. In most states the victim had to produce TWO witnesses to the rape, or a bruised and battered body she could have acquired in no other way, otherwise she was lying. Most victims never reported the rape.
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3386 Too much light

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

"A friend is one before whom I may think aloud."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson --

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I've discovered something else I miss besides the woods, and space, and quiet, and decent roads, and lack of crowding, and wild turkeys, and foxes, and deer, and cows (especially the calves).

I miss stars.

At the old house the sky was full of stars. Here there's a few. They are so few and so scattered that I can't find any of the few constellations I know. All my life Orion has been over my house, but I can't find him here. I can't find Ursa Major or Ursa Minor or the Milky Way! It's that bad.

I can't find Arcturus, the star that I'd assigned to Jay. Or the Pleiades.

I've missed the stars since I moved here, but I got especially frustrated when I saw a very bright star in the east (maybe a planet?), and tried to find some recognizable constellation somewhere so that maybe I could locate it on a star map and find out what it is.

Nothing. A star here, a star there. Scattered, far apart, and dim.

But at any time of the day or night, I'll see a minimum of three airplanes.

Not a satisfactory trade.

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Later - I found a website about stargazing (http://stardate.org/nightsky/weekly), and my mysterious "star" is Jupiter.
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3385 Nuggetosaurus

Monday, October 31, 2011

Of course I know how to push your buttons. After all, I sewed them on!
-- Cathy Guisewite, "Cathy", mother to daughter --

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She wasn't frighten by anything that came to the door.

Tired little girl.

Grrrr--rawr!
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3384 A Little Relaxation

Monday, October 31, 2011

However you choose to keep score in the game of life (possessions, sexual conquests, etc.) it will impress only others who keep score the same way.

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The tire place called. Hal's hips, legs, and knees are ok (slight dent in the rim, but it'll hold), and he's got another new paw. I'll pick him up tomorrow.

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So far I've had 20 trick-or-treaters. I'm handing out small packs of Twizzlers (the least sugary candy I could find) and bottles of bubble stuff. I bought the Twizzlers this afternoon only because I was afraid the bubbles wouldn't arrive in time, but UPS came through and they did. The kids seem to like the bubbles, especially the older kids, which surprises me.

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The Hairless Hunk called yesterday. The old house upriver has several branches down, and none hit the house. An old previously damaged black locust at the end of the driveway broke in half. He'll clean it all up.

There's no power, therefore no heat, and there might not be for a week or more, but I'm not worried because it won't be cold enough long enough to freeze pipes. The back of the house has a lot of glass, and it faces west, and the sun isn't that low yet, so it really does warm the house.

Next trip up I'll winterize the place. That means I'll have to carry water to wash and flush, but I can do that.

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This video is not safe for work. Remember the Thigh-Masters? This, the Tug-Toner, is sort of along the same lines. It's funny:

[http://youtu.be/R2ewsEKVJVA]
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3383 Hallowe'en

Monday, October 31, 2011

He who controls the agenda controls the outcome.

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Here's a cute Hallowe'en card:

http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/bws8Shell.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3125133/graphic1

Here's some goblins in space, from NASA (they're really there!):

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111031.html

And here's a scary story:
Yesterday I went to a Meetup lunch in Princeton. There were three others there. It was good. Nice folks.

On the way home in Hal, I took the exit off route 440 for route 9 south, and on the exit ramp (around the curve so it wasn't visible), I hit a pothole. There was a loud bang, the car jumped, and then it started shaking. The dashboard told me the passenger side front tire was "low".

As soon as I could, I stopped and got out to look, and this is what I found:
Low? An understatement.

Joy. That's the fifth potholed tire in eight months, at $400+ per tire and $200+ per alignment.

They're "run flat" tires, and it wasn't riding on the rim yet, so I drove to a discount tire place about 10 miles down the road, close to home, and left Hal parked in their lot, and called Daughter to pick me up. I drove Fred over there today, arranged for a new tire for Hal (that's one of the tires I replaced just a few months ago, and it may be under warranty) and asked them to check the suspension, rim, axle, and whatever else.

And if that's ok, I still have to call the BMW dealership and schedule another alignment.

I can't afford this! Not right now, anyway!

I'm beginning to think I can't afford New Jersey. (Becs, resist the impulse!)

(Which reminds me - when did no-name ordinary grated romano cheese go to $18 a pound?)

---------------------------------

I went online to find out how to report potholes. Surprise! This pothole has already been reported, 12 months ago! Sounds like a valid lawsuit to me....
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3382 News Flash

Saturday, October 29, 2011

I guess I'm glad I didn't go upriver to the old house as I had tentatively planned before the tax crap hit the fan. This just in:

Dutchess County Executive William R. Steinhaus, in consultation with the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, Central Hudson and New York State Gas & Electric, has declared a countywide State of Emergency for the County of Dutchess effective 7pm this evening (Saturday, October 29th).

County Executive Steinhaus said, “Law enforcement, public works and utility crews are all reporting treacherous weather conditions with downed limbs and power lines. To ensure public safety and allow crews to address hazards and restore power, a State of Emergency will be in effect from 7pm this evening (Saturday, 10/29).”

The State of Emergency declaration states: “all roadways in Dutchess are closed and traffic is prohibited except for: medical and health facility personnel, law enforcement and public safety personnel, first responders, utility, maintenance and public works personnel, snow removal sanding, salting and clearing operations personnel, facility operations persons deemed necessary for plant operations by their employers and public and government personnel involved in the emergency operations.”

The state of emergency is issued pursuant to Section 24 of New York State Executive Law. It is enforceable by local, county and state law enforcement agencies.

Leaves are still on the trees. Unfortunately, the trees are no longer standing. The last time this happened was about 1995ish, snow while the trees still had leaves. Jay and I lost 23 !!!! trees on our property - the old house. I guess I'll hear tomorrow (or whenever the power comes back up) from the Hairless Hunk how many trees I've lost this time. And how much cleanup will cost.

I hope none hit the house.

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3381 Then

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Death is an alternate existence.

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Man, I write next to nothing here for months, and today you can't shut me up. Must be the snow....

Why is it that every time I connect with someone from the past on Classmates.com, they immediately put my email address on their broadcast list and start sending me those stupid cutsy-poo memes that everybody has been sending everybody else for years? Then I finally get annoyed and ask them to remove me from their forward lists, and they get pissed and I never hear from them again.

Well, today I got a forward of the "Remember Back When" genre. Then, coincidentally, Becs wrote about how different playtime is for kids today as compared to Back When. I started to write a comment on Becs' post, then decided it would be too long, so, Becs, here's my comment.

Yeah.

When I was in the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades, we lived in Ottawa, Ontario. We kids used to go everywhere in the city on the city buses and trolleys. A nickle got you on, and you'd get a transfer when you got off that was good for several hours, which you could use on any other bus or trolley, where you'd get another transfer, and so on. You could go anywhere, all day, on that one nickle.

No cell phones. We left the house in the morning with our nickle, and our parents didn't know where in the whole city we were, until we showed up again at supper time. We had another nickle in our sock for the pay telephone, in case we got sick or something.

Actually, we often left the city. We'd take the bus across the river to French-speaking Hull, basically the "other half" of Ottawa, to go to French movies. If we took the ticket stub to school, we'd get 5 points credit in French class.

We'd go for bike rides, straight out into the countryside, passing signposts that said "Ottawa 20 miles" (it was still "miles" then, pre-conversion) behind us.

Or we'd go to the Parliament buildings in the middle of the city, and watch the mounties and pet their horses. There was a hotel near Parliament with an indoor pool, and no one ever questioned our right to use the changing rooms and swim there. I guess they just assumed our parents were guests or members.

The Rideau Canal snaked through the city. It froze in the winter, and we would skate the length of it (maybe 4 miles?) and back. No adults herding us, just lots of kids on the ice.

We were 10, 11, 12 years old, but younger kids were doing it, too. Here, now, kids can't walk the 1/2 block to their home from the school bus until they're over 12. If a pre-approved adult isn't waiting at the bus stop, the driver is not allowed to let the kid off.

Kids are learning that the whole world is depraved. "Back When", we were pretty much set loose on the world. And, hey, we survived! Along the way we learned about weird people, and good people, and dangerous things and safe things. Getting lost and finding our way back again.

We learned about making independent choices, and dealing with the consequences.

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Hallowe'en. I don't want to hand out sugar, the state won't allow fruit (unless very expensively individually wrapped) and last year's kids didn't seem too thrilled with bags of salty corn or potato carbs. This year I ordered small bottles of bubble stuff. The supplier called yesterday (the order was placed over a week ago) and has promised that they will arrive by 3 pm Monday. They're being shipped UPS from a warehouse in northern NJ, so, maybe.

I don't know what I'll do if they don't arrive on time.

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Go to snopes.com and search for Halloween apples razor. There's only one documented nutcase. The rest seem to be hoaxes, or kids being "funny".

People overreact to everything, and I think it's because they've been "guilted" into feeling responsible if anything goes wrong.

That, plus the fear of lawsuits.

And the fear of not being politically correct. (Which, by the way, leads to a whole new topic: "Politically Correct" is gradually going from being a social thing to being a real political thing. People are being arrested for insulting the government or government employees. Death threats or real death are dealt for being "unpatriotic".)

Sheesh.

Really, truly, watch the video in the previous post.

...What if some stupid kid drinks the bubble stuff and gets diarrhea, and the parents sue me? See how it works, where it goes? In the current American climate, it could happen....
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3380 Would you believe?

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The deepest despair is full of secret satisfactions.
-- Albert Speer, Spandau Diaries --

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Remember the quote above when you read "train wreck" blogs. Partly as it applies to the writer, partly as it applies to the reader.

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Would you believe it's 34 degrees F, and it's snowing, and it's sticking?

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Would you believe there are actually women who never touch their own breasts, and who act disgusted when you suggest that they do, to, like, check for lumps and stuff? Like you've asked them to do something "dirty". Really. There are women who have never seen themselves naked in a mirror.

I cannot imagine being so disconnected from and disgusted by one's own body. But they really do exist, right here in River City.

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Would you believe that I know a man (well, actually two men, although I haven't seen one of them in a decade or more) who is disgusted by everything his body produces. Even sweat. He's embarrassed to be seen with beads of sweat on his brow, let alone allowing anyone to actually touch his sweat. He showers at least twice a day, more often if he can manage it.

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The following video is Terence McKenna. Mr. McKenna died in 2000 of a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a particularly nasty type of brain tumor. During his life, he, like Timothy Leary, was a proponent of psychedelic drugs as a means of opening the mind to other dimensions.

I do happen to believe that there's a lot more going on than we can normally perceive, that there is another dimension to reality, and that if you are open to it, you can catch glimpses, but I don't agree that magic mushrooms is the key to that opening. Rather, I believe that psychedelics just turn one's mind around into itself. A fractal mobius strip mirror.

Be that as it may, I do agree with Mr. McKenna's take on relativism and political correctness:

[http://youtu.be/7OX77Qv66qw]
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3379 Tax Shock

Saturday, October 29, 2011

One does not reject, dislike, or avoid pleasure itself because it is pleasure,
but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter
consequences that are extremely painful.
-- Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC --

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I don't pretend to understand the green quote above, but for some reason it intrigues me.

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Latest hitch in my gitalong: The township has suddenly become aware that there's a house on my lot, and has raised the assessment. I get quarterly coupons to pay the real estate taxes, and I have dutifully paid them, to the tune of almost $3,000 so far for the first three quarters of 2001. That sounded about right to me, so it never occurred to me that there might be a problem.

My house upriver is technically larger than this house, walk-out basement, 2.5 car garage, deck and huge windows across the back, on 1.3 acres, on a ridge with a fantastic 20-mile view. This house is smaller, on a tiny lot (probably about 1/4 acre, over half of which I can't use because of a township easement), no basement, tiny 1 car garage. The taxes upriver are a bit over $5K per year, so a bit less than $4K here seemed a bit high, but reasonable enough.

Surprise! That was just for the land. Now that they've figured out there's a house (in addition to the mail box they'd been sending the coupons to, don't know what they thought the box was attached to), they've sent me a bill for the back taxes for 2011. By 11/10 I have to come up with an additional $5,198.75!

The total tax bill for this house is almost $8,000 per year! Holy Crap! I was not expecting this. Gonna have to have a talk with the assessor, I think.
.

3378 Bits

October 28, 2011

Next to great joy, no state of mind is so frolicsome as great distress.
-- Henry James, A Most Extraordinary Case --

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From Criggo.com:

Sigh. I've seen this suggestion (left) many times before, elsewhere. I always wonder if the person is serious, if people are really this stupid, or if it's just a lame joke.

On the other hand, I've heard people say it, in all seriousness, regarding the deer crossing on route 199 west of Milan.

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I hate my latest hair trim. It goes straight across the forehead and makes me look a lot like Linda Hunt, especially as my face gets thinner. Don't get me wrong - I adore her - but I'm used to a different me in the mirror .

What's worse is that she and I are about the same height. The first time someone asks me for an autograph....

------------------------------

The folks diagonally to the right across the street (the fire chief) have moved. I twice saw a large rental truck in the driveway, but I never saw them putting anything in it.

They also took the storage shed that used to be at the end of the driveway. I had suspected that the shed contained the source of that mechanical tree frog sound that had slowly been driving me crazy, either that or some kind of pump on the next street over. I haven't heard the sound since they moved, so I'm hoping that was it.

I am sleeping a bit better since they left.

Now I'm curious. What was making the sound? Maybe a freezer? Is it reasonable that a freezer would run at night in the winter when the temperature is well below freezing, but not during the day?

Now that the sound is gone, the curiosity is taking over the crazy-making duties.

--------------------------------

I got a cute birthday card from the Nugget. She had addressed the envelope herself (but they had to take the pen away from her when she started eating it). The card (one corner had been chewed) wished me a happy fourth birthday. I wondered about that for a moment, but the inside said that Gramma was so wise and knew so much she must obviously be old.

To six months, four is old.
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3377 A fashion education

Thursday, October 27, 2011

What bothers me about God is that he hates arrogance so much,
but doesn't seem to mind cruelty.
-- Paraphrased from Elaine May and Mike Nichols (actress and director) --

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I've been coming across references to"hipsters"and "hipster fashion". In my own head, with no evidence to guide me, I decided it had to be kind of like a 30s-movie relaxed preppie sort of thing, where one could wear what one liked without regard to what's "in".

I googled some images. Man, was I wrong!

It's more like a cross between grunge and hippie, but hippie that has discovered polyester and lycra, and has no sense of flow or beauty.

Bleck.

(Yeah, they wear neck scarves in June, but they HAVE to because they have NO BODY FAT to keep them warm!)

Images: http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f89/hipster-street-style-45811.html
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3376 An adult response

Thursday, October 27, 2011

One parent can support ten children, but ten children cannot support one parent.
-- Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz --

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"After 10 hours of negotiation, Europe may be on the way to solving their debt crisis. So that’s another way Europe is nothing like us. The negotiating. And the solving." (From http://www.shoeboxblog.com/?p=28121.)

3375 Sleep, ribs, headache

Sunday, October 23, 2011

One who considers himself a victim of circumstance
is more often a prisoner of his own decisions.

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This is a note for my own memory. Ignore.

Sleep - bad for several weeks. Disturbed by brain running in high gear. Fall asleep easily, but wake multiple times with cascading thoughts.

Headache - across lower back of head and neck. Often wake at very early hour and can't get back to sleep. One aspirin helps. Disappears when I'm upright. Neck creaks for a while when I move it after I get up. Headaches are very rare for me, so this is a worry.

Ribs - they hurt. Low, high, front, back, pain moves around. Definitely the ribs, not inside. About two or three weeks now. Also right hip, for about a month or more, moves around front, back, side, high, low.

Reasons? Heat blows on bed, on head, during night. Closed the vents completely last night, did sleep a little better. Still same bone pain, but headache less this morning. That mechanical tree frog sound from across the street disturbs me, causes tension in my neck. If things don't improve, try sleeping in a back bedroom. Can't hear it there. Bone pain - wondering if the kidney-protecting calcium reduction is causing it. I'm going to ignore doctor recommendations and add the magnesium back in. Maybe ribs hurt from leaning over the play yard sides?
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3374 Reluctant Shopper

Saturday, October 22, 2011

I love my country, but I fear my government.
-- Bumper sticker --

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Would you believe I have nothing to say?

Sigh.

Nothing happening.

Oh, something that did happen: In Thursday's mail I got a birthday gift coupon from Coldwater Creek. I don't need clothes! I haven't bought anything in ages, and had no plans to do any clothes shopping in the near future. Far future, either. But there was no minimum to use the coupon, and if I didn't use it soon it would expire, so I figured what the heck, I'll pick out something for the amount of the coupon and get it for free. Note that I've already bought so much from them that I'm a "onecreek elite shopper", which gets me an automatic 5% off all purchases, and free expedited shipping, so it wouldn't cost me anything. I'm too cheap to pass up free clothes.

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!!!!!

So I went to the website, and clicked on the outlet, where stuff is 30-70% off.

Surprise. Thursday evening happened to be one of their big sales. 40% off everything, on top of the outlet discount! Holy crap!

So, outlet. 30-70% off list price. Then 40% plus my elite 5% off that reduced price, then the birthday gift amount off that total. And free shipping.

The order arrived today. I am now out of hangers.

It's official. I've hit the tipping point. I can never again lose or gain weight.

--------------------------------

One of my purchases was this jacket, in a size 8 (I get size 6 for summer, 8 for winter). What they sent instead was this skirt, in a size 42. Repeat, size 42.

I called customer service, and they're going to send me the jacket. They include pre-paid postage labels for returns (for elites), but if you don't want to package it for shipping, you can take it to any store.

I hadn't been to the local store yet, but I'd heard it was in an upscale enclave, so I went there this evening to return the skirt and check out the mall.

Two interesting things happened:
1. They'd never heard of OneCreek Elite. A quick check with corporate surprised and educated them. Apparently I'm the only elite in the area.
2. They accepted the returned skirt, and handed me a coupon for 40% off anything in the store.

Sheesh! I don't know how they're making any money on me!

--------------------------------

Coldwater has some very nice things. And if you can wait until an item hits the outlet, you can get some fabulous deals. But! They also have some pure crap. The kind of stuff that stretches out of shape by the third wearing, or is so thin it's chintzy, or so stiff it's like cardboard, or so badly made it sticks out in odd places and the buttons fall off. You have to get to know the inventory, the materials they use. I've made enough mistakes that I can look at the photo on the website and tell you whether it's quality or crap. I still get crap about 10% of the time, but they are very good about returns, and the other 90% is worth it.

But the main reason I buy from them is that once you've figured out your size, everything fits the same, which makes online (outlet!) shopping a breeze.
.

3373 Bits from around the web

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.

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Mr. Diety and the Naughty Bits. God's committee designs humans.
http://youtu.be/G5wYT_IdYac

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Dylan Ratigan, in a passionate plea, makes an excellent point, that the "Occupy Wall Street" type groups need to focus on one problem and propose one fix, and this is it:
http://youtu.be/CJKFw2Lk92g

I absolutely agree!

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The Catholic Church just can't get a break these days. Read this:

300,000 babies stolen from their parents - and sold for adoption: Haunting BBC documentary exposes 50-year scandal of baby trafficking by the Catholic church in Spain

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049647/BBC-documentary-exposes-50-year-scandal-baby-trafficking-Catholic-church-Spain.html#ixzz1bGxfoUwl

They were telling young "unsuitable" mothers that their babies had died at birth, and then they sold the babies to more "suitable" couples.

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Just to be even-handed, there's the story of the (presumably Protestant) prison chaplain to whom a prisoner in Britain had (sort of) confessed his crime, and the chaplain turned right around and told the authorities. The chaplain felt no need to respect any confidentiality, because he felt that the prisoner "was not religious". As noted by the folks at http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/, apparently if the guy had gone to church regularly, he would have been allowed to get away with murder.

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What the hay, let's go for the shotgun effect. How 'bout the church in Winnipeg that shut down their food bank because it attracted poor people, which was "uncomfortable" and created "social unrest in the church". According to the minister, "A food bank is a social service, and that is not who we are." They are cancelling it to concentrate on "more church-specific activities". They say that clients of the food bank have not accepted personal responsibility for their need.

Um --- I don't know what to say. Maybe they're right. Not in their attitude, but in their need to concentrate on church-specific activities, like, oh, reading the Bible for starters.

Story at http://drreid3.newsvine.com/_news/2011/08/30/7532123-headline-church-closes-food-bank-because-it-attracts-poor-people. Pastor backpedals at http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/02/21/church.html.

Note: There's a discrepancy in the dates on those stories that I don't understand. Old story that's been picked up again? Same minister doing the same thing again at a different church? Coincidence? I don't understand.

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Just to be clear, I am not anti-God or anti- whatever anyone's belief is. I *AM* anti-church, especially patriarchal churches, anti-organized and hierarchical religion, anti-human-defined "belief".

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When I saw this, I thought of The Queen (inside joke, ignore). Venn Pie:


How 'bout spiced apple on one side and pork mince on the other?
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3372 The future is arriving, duh?

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
-- Oscar Wilde --

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Interesting.

http://chzsetphaserstolol.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/star-trek-is-just-around-the-corner.jpg

Click the link to see, then click the graphic to enlarge. (It's safe. I downloaded and scanned it.)
.

3371 Strange

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

There is nothing wrong with having nothing to say --- unless you insist on saying it.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson --

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On the porch this afternoon. A very long, deep, low horn sound that vibrated in my chest. Sounded like it was coming from the bay. Maybe a ship.

I had a very strange reaction.

Back when I was in my early 30s or so, when I was very unhappy and slightly, um, "disconnected", every so often I'd think about aliens, about spaceships, sort of like "War of the Worlds" or any of the dozen or so '50s invasion movies, but more personal. I spent a lot of time alone back then, and I'd imagine a flying saucer or something, something very strange, landing near me, and aliens getting out. I imagined what I'd do. Where I'd hide. What it would mean. It was very strong and very frightening.

I heard a deep sound this afternoon, and for some weird reason I was momentarily afraid, and even though I knew it was most likely a ship in the bay, I looked at the thick clouds above (it's been raining steadily) and I fully expected to see something unearthly there.

And I wondered what I'd do.
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3370 Manifesto

Cards and poster available at www.holstee.com/manifesto.

3369 Read reports with a grain of salt, please!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The author of The Starr Evidence, a compilation of Clinton/Lewinsky testimony,
is Wall Street Journal reporter Phil Kuntz.
I can't believe that name is real! Especially in that context.
--Silk --

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Iraq and Afghanistan are slowing down, so now "they" are hot to attack Iran.

Interesting, eh?

Do we have any more influence over what our government does than the Iranian people have over what theirs does? What does that mean?

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A long time ago I pointed out that the job market died at about the same time as the military needed volunteers. I predict that the job market will not recover until the military no longer needs large amounts of bodies.
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