Thursday, February 4, 2016

KLEM FM

From my personal collection of political buttons
It's 1972 all over again with Sanders as McGovern and Hillary as Nixon, so here's a great song from 1972:

Lyrics after the jump. Go on, test yourself. Did you really know 'em all these years?


In the mornin' you go gunnin'
For the man who stole your water
And you fire till he is done in
But they catch you at the border
And the mourners are all singin'
As they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn't hangin'
And they put you on the street

[Chorus:]
You go back Jack do it again
Wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back Jack do it again

When you know she's no high climber
Then you find your only friend
In a room with your two timer
And you're sure you're near the end
Then you love a little wild one
And she brings you only sorrow
All the time you know she's smilin'
You'll be on your knees tomorrow

[Chorus]

Now you swear and kick and beg us
That you're not a gamblin' man
Then you find you're back in Vegas
With a handle in your hand
Your black cards can make you money
So you hide them when you're able
In the land of milk and honey
You must put them on the table

24 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...

Know what's 1972 all over again? Mr. Coffee, that's what.

I looked it up and that's when it was introduced.

The coffee machine that uses coffee packets is going out of business due to drop in sales over several cycles. They cannot handle it anymore. Keurig.

People are discussing the pros and cons and through observing this discussion I was cast back to closing down the house that opened when that coffee maker came out. It was one of the first and most useful accoutrements of the whole place. Used every day. Reliable.

You cleaned it's mesh filter and filled its reservoir with water, flicked the switch and gurgle gurgle gurgle the thing goes right away. In spits and spats at first, fits and starts, surges and spurts then glugga glugga it steadily dripped heated water over the granules into its glass jar on its little heating pad. Well over thirty years, there was never a good reason to replace it. I'd walk in after not being there for awhile and think, "What the f is that thing doing there right on the counter? J.C. get rid of that stupid thing already."

And now, reading about Keurig and being cast back I am charmed by the thought of it. Gurgle gurgle spit, spit spurt.

Drip coffee. Not bad actually although water steeps with coffee granules too long. That's the point of espresso, the water is shoved through the grounds. It doesn't have time to soak.

I smelled coffee gurgling away in a nursing home lobby and lovely as that place is, I thought I would throw up. The most horrible re-percurlated continuously recycling coffee you ever smelled permeating the air. With powders to change it to something else and little plastic straws and styrofoam cups. Barf. These people have no idea what coffee is, what coffee is trying to be.

ricpic said...

The Do It Again sung by Judy Garland is an incomparably greater song. Incomparably.

I must say it was close to impossible to like Nixon but he was a much more complex person than Rodham. She's dreck to the core. Nixon was capable of corruption but he also was capable of action based on idealism. Even if it was, by my lights, a peculiar idealism. The agonizingly slow extrication of America from Vietnam. That was based on his notion of honor, an honorable exit for this nation. Honor isn't even in Rodham's vocabulary.

rcommal said...

Iowahawk is dead right (love the quote currently atop this blog). The only thing I would add* is this: The millennials sure had a whole lot of, um, encouragement from the earlier boomers, not to mention a chunk of the generation just preceding the earlier boomers.

--

*Not to the masthead of this blog, of course! ; ) I mean, of course, to the sentiment and observation expressed by Burge. : )

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Chick has a political buttons collection. Nice.

chickelit said...

These people have no idea what coffee is, what coffee is trying to be.

We've had a Saeco Incanto S-series espresso maker for a few years now. Best coffee investment ever. It consumes beans and water and needs its diaper changed, but that's it.

chickelit said...

Lem said...Chick has a political buttons collection. Nice.

Mostly from 1972. That's when I awoke, politically. I was delivering newspapers in the mornings then too and so I was a bit of a newshound. I would scan the headlines every morning before setting off (much like you do today) to bring people news.

bagoh20 said...

The Dan of Steel.

I know, I know, everybody has their favorite time consuming coffee ceremony involving expensive foreign made Rube Goldberg inventions. To hell with that. Drink instant coffee. Life is too short to go through all that just to heat water. At least get one of those hot water spigots that delivers near boiling hot water instantly. Everybody loves mine. Instant coffee, instant tea, eggs start boiling in seconds, instant soup ready in minutes, and really cuts the grease when cleaning pots and pans. Around 200 bucks - saves hours in your life. which you can then spend learning to fly that drone.

chickelit said...

@bagoh20: My "Rube Goldberg machine" takes about 15 seconds to produce a perfect espresso.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Ah. The coffee rituals. We grind our beans at night and put them into our Cuisinart drip coffee maker and set the time for the morning or just flip the switch, whoever gets up first. Ta dah. Steaming hot pot of coffee. First person up fills up the creamer with half and half and sets out the sweeteners (sugar, honey, agave...whatever). Then we take turns pouring our cups of coffee. Get on the internet on our separate computers check the email and discuss the news, share jokes and of course cute cat pictures.

Unless you are a single person, a Keruig is about the dumbest way to make coffee . The enjoyment of the coffee ritual is that we can BOTH have a cup of coffee at the same time and it is, in ways, a social communal event.

I hate it at a hotel when they have one of those cup at a time machines. Pain in the ASS. Make a cup for my husband. While he is drinking his, stand up and make one for me. By now he is ready for another cup. So...stand up still, make one for him while he waits I drink mine. It is an endless round of making one cup at a time. Stupid idea. We don't get to sit and relax together, converse and drink our warm coffee at the same time.

Now, we bring our to-go-kit whenever we travel. Contents: Vintage Samsonite hard shell train case. Small electric perk coffee pot that makes 4 cups. Avocado green from the 70's bought in a second hand store. Jar of freshly ground coffee beans. Two ceramic coffee mugs. Coffee mate liquid french vanilla creamers, (if we are staying longer we buy some half and half for the mini fridge) Glasses for cocktails. Silverware (spoons, knives, forks) salt and pepper, cloth napkins and placemats.

This way we can have good perked coffee, cocktails in nice glasses and eat like civilized people in the room when we feel like it.

Life is too short to compromise on some things. Coffee is one of them.

:-)

chickelit said...

BTW, I'm surprised that nobody "went mental" over that McGovern button.

bagoh20 said...

I know this is heresy, but I believe that with many things, quality is an illusion that we teach ourselves, or that is taught to us by marketing. Expensive wine, coffee, clothing, haircuts, food, etc. The proof is found in blind comparisons, but even then, you would often choose the "quality" item because it is most like what you were taught is quality. Just one example is haircuts. I pay a friend $10 plus a $10 tip (double her asking price). It takes 5 minutes. I could and have gone places where the cost is 5 times that and takes 5 times as long. I like the cheaper one better on all counts. Expensive vodka is just nuts. Almost nobody can tell tell difference between a $10 bottle and a $50 one, especially since it's almost always mixed. Sorry, but I think the same of whiskies, etc. You tasted an expensive one once and that taste was associated with quality from then on, but if a cheaper one was tasted that you were told was "high end", then that taste becomes "quality". I know I can only say this because some of you can't throw anything at me right no.

For Christmas, my girl got a $300 gift certificate for an expensive store. She went and brought home $300 "designer" shoes. I showed her how bad the quality was with the construction, and showed her how the exact same look could be found for $50 with better quality. She took them back. I know for a fact that often such "high end" products are actually made on the same foreign assembly line by the same people and methods as their cheap competition. I've seen it first hand.

I often eat at expensive restaurants, but I've noticed that my anticipation, and my actual satisfaction with food as I'm eating it, rarely exceeds that which I get from my occasional treat at McDonalds at 1/10 the price. So what am I paying for with all that extra money?

bagoh20 said...

Oh, and cigars: I've tried them at all prices, and I always come back to my lifelong favorite: Arturo Fuente Curly Head Maduro - under 3 bucks for a Longsdale 6-1/2 X 43. Highly rated, and a fraction of the cost of similar rated cigars. I just never found anything I enjoy at much even if they cost 10 times the price.

https://www.famous-smoke.com/search?kw=curly%20head%20%20maduro

bagoh20 said...

Steely Dan music is the same price as Kanye West. See what I mean?

chickelit said...

I know this is heresy, but I believe that with many things, quality is an illusion that we teach ourselves, or that is taught to us by marketing. Expensive wine, coffee, clothing, haircuts, food, etc. The proof is found in blind comparisons, but even then, you would often choose the "quality" item because it is most like what you were taught is quality. Just one example is haircuts. I pay a friend $10 plus a $10 tip (double her asking price). It takes 5 minutes. I could and have gone places where the cost is 5 times that and takes 5 times as long. I like the cheaper one better on all counts.

I get my haircut in Oceanside at a local shop for $10. I avoid them in Sundays because the marines all come in to meet their Monday morning regs.

Expensive vodka is just nuts. Almost nobody can tell tell difference between a $10 bottle and a $50 one, especially since it's almost always mixed.

Vodka is just diluted Everclear.

Sorry, but I think the same of whiskies, etc. You tasted an expensive one once and that taste was associated with quality from then on, but if a cheaper one was tasted that you were told was "high end", then that taste becomes "quality". I know I can only say this because some of you can't throw anything at me right no.

I'm trying to develop a taste for whiskies, but it doesn't come naturally to me.

For Christmas, my girl got a $300 gift certificate for an expensive store. She went and brought home $300 "designer" shoes. I showed her how bad the quality was with the construction, and showed her how the exact same look could be found for $50 with better quality. She took them back. I know for a fact that often such "high end" products are actually made on the same foreign assembly line by the same people and methods as their cheap competition. I've seen it first hand.

But suppose -- just suppose -- that she was trying to turn you on with "those shoes" as well as gain her own confidence. And you rejected her. This is something I would never do to my wife.

I often eat at expensive restaurants, but I've noticed that my anticipation, and my actual satisfaction with food as I'm eating it, rarely exceeds that which I get from my occasional treat at McDonalds at 1/10 the price. So what am I paying for with all that extra money?

Don't you see the inherent contradiction?

bagoh20 said...

"But suppose -- just suppose -- that she was trying to turn you on with "those shoes" as well as gain her own confidence. And you rejected her. This is something I would never do to my wife."

You mean you got married, and you still can't be honest? See that's what I'm talking about. I bet the marriage salesman told you that you would be able to be honest once you got married. Another case of marketing bait and switch.

I don't tell her what to buy or wear, and she agreed with me on the shoes once I pointed out the defects. She always asks me if what she's wearing looks good, and I'm always honest. She thanks me for the honesty, and usually changes if I don't like it. I don't tell her to change - she wants to look good for me. After this shared experience, she really does feel confident and sexy, because she's not guessing or unsure, and I respond appropriately to confirm it. The bonus is that I get to see her undress again. Sometimes we don't even make it out of the house.

"Don't you see the inherent contradiction?" No I don't. Please explain. I enjoy the cheap food at least as much if not more.

chickelit said...

No I don't. Please explain.

For me, it's like saying "I often forget why I comment here rather than tweet."

bagoh20 said...

I'm not real smart, but I guess you mean I appreciate the cheap stuff because it's something different? Maybe you could explain it with emoticons. I'm better with pictures.

rcommal said...

For Christmas, my girl got a $300 gift certificate for an expensive store. She went and brought home $300 "designer" shoes. I showed her how bad the quality was with the construction, and showed her how the exact same look could be found for $50 with better quality.

Wow. Your girl gets a gift, and she gifts herself, and you edit that?

What a schmuck (in that way, anyway).

And I say this as someone who is remarkably low-maintenance in some ways that may surprise, who hoards gift cards like savings dollars (and most often uses them for family things, not personal things--but by choice, without editing), who knows from $50 and $300 & etc. and can choose.

Wow. I wouldn't have thought anything about your phrase "my girl" had you not gone so forth, thereafter.

rcommal said...

Now, I am assuming that the $300 gift certificate for that expensive store wasn't from you. Please tell me it wasn't. Please!

rcommal said...

I often eat at expensive restaurants, but I've noticed that my anticipation, and my actual satisfaction with food as I'm eating it, rarely exceeds that which I get from my occasional treat at McDonalds at 1/10 the price.

Um, so why the fuck do you "**often** eat at expensive restaurants"?

So what am I paying for with all that extra money?

Hey, how about you tell me what you're paying for, why you're doing that? You're the one making that choice. Don't shove that accountability on me.

rcommal said...

As for cheap metaphors and those who use 'em:

Over you.

chickelit said...

Mostly from 1972. That's when I awoke, politically.

I should add that I have fallen back "asleep" and "reawoken" several times since.

Hi r,l! Thanks for stopping by to comment at my ever dwindling blog posts.

rcommal said...

Hi, chickelit!

I strongly suspect that I have wasted your time!

rcommal said...

My problem is that I don't think that I have wasted mine.

Eh. So it goes.