Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Mexican national gets 54 months in prison for making over 1,000 fake IDs in Ohio

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Buendia-Chavarria’s residence in October 2017, where they located numerous false identification documents, five handwritten ledgers containing other peoples’ names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, and in some cases, who the identity was sold to, according to court documents.
Details at CNS News. 

Daily Caller; Who said it? Immigration edition

Totally unfair.

We wouldn't be able to answer these ourselves. The old man is right, it could be anyone. But he and the young dude both make inappropriate assumptions about plain speaking. And although we see them fully formed, they weren't even born when Clinton was president. They cannot be expected to know all his positions back then.

While none of them seem to recognize Democrat positions change by 180° to suit their perceived needs of the immediate present.

Comments to this video on Daily Caller are just mean and stupid.

Children of Asian immigrants tell the sacrifices their parents made

Halloween at the White House

The video is short.

I stepped out today for a short errand. In the first minute a man approached me then passed by at top speed wearing a gold old-fashioned diver's helmet. And I thought, "God, I love this time of year."

Several years ago I went to the Museum of Natural History this time of year. Parked close to the entrance. A school bus pulled up and opened its doors just as I walked in front of it and First and Second-graders poured out, all wearing pre-printed paper masks that they colored and cut out themselves; lions, bears, tigers, elephants, rams and the like, and all of the children, the boys especially,  positively inhabited their represented creature, they poured out roaring, and growling, and threatening, swinging their claws as they all ran with tremendous enthusiasm into the museum beyond their teacher's ability to corral them.

Pittsburgh protestors

Protestors at Tree of Life in Pittsburgh say Trump is not welcome but irresponsible worked up crackpots do not speak for Pittsburgh . Media only pretends they are legitimate.


$50.00 each for four infractions cited by PAP, Pittsburgh  Apostrophe Police. 

Eggplant pancake

This woman's YouTube channel is popular. You might see something here you find interesting. Viewers like her cooking style and her family. Apparently, she shows people an approach they are not accustomed to seeing. Turn on CC for English subtitles. This video commenters are childishly remarking on the suggestive key frame with its long purple eggplant and two eggs. At lest she didn't place the eggs at the base o the eggplant with a spattering of beansprouts. Gawl!

Donald Trump is Finished, deluxe supercut.

This is an obnoxious compilation of douchebag media saying the same things over and over and over, and even saying, "we keep saying this over and over and over."

I don't know what such a video would be good for.  Except for showing it to someone or linking it to say, "If this is where you get your information then you need better sources before we can discuss anything because right now you sound like these people, and you're better than this. You deserve better."

Maybe you'll like it.

Choose not to watch it. I don't care. You won't offend me by rejecting it. It's barely tolerable. Because it's all the people you already wisely avoid.

I'm showing it because I saw it linked three places this morning, through somebody's tweet that got a lot of attention and several hundred amused comments.



2018 Astronomy Photographer contest

The winners of the 2018 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest are out of this world. My Modern Met.





Go look, they'll blow your mind.  And they're the sort of things you can do yourself when you get out of town away from light pollution, like Erie Colorado, or Breckenridge, look up and and see the Milky Way stretch across the entire sky and you go, "Oh my God! There's a lot of stars." Whereas in town you see only the big ones and you go, "Oh, there's the Big Dipper, and there's Orion," and that's about it. But out of town you see those same things among billions of others and it makes you feel immediately tiny and it takes your breath away how small you are; how big your soul is inside your itty bitty insignificant body. How is it then that you are so magnificent? We are like the Tardis that way; gigantic inside and tiny outside and touched with the a spark of eternal divinity. 

Birthright citizenship

In the news because Trump floated the idea of issuing an executive order rescinding the policy. He created a national discussion about the constitutionality of the policy and of his proposed executive order. Instead of just doing it. Obviously Trump wanted as many people talking about this and going on record as possible.

I didn't read any of them seriously, just skimmed them, because I don't care what anyone else thinks, I can imagine the things that they say, I'm not in the mood for another person's lecture on the US Constitution, most other opinions are superficial and suck, and I feel like I'm being played.

* Following Trump, Lindsey Graham wants to end birthright citizenship. The State.  (Article is ridiculously written and comments are even worse)

* Five reasons Obama is to blame for Trump believing he can end birthright citizenship unilaterally. PJ Media.  Lists the crap Obama pulled that pissed off conservatives. It's all review. Comments are sensible with comprehension of US Constitution.

* Revoking birthright citizenship would enforce the Constitiution. New York Post. Sensibly sympathetic along predictable lines.

* Birthright Citizenship: What you need to know. Daily Caller. Nothing new, you already know it all including the 1898 Wong Kim Ark Supreme Court case concerned with offspring of legal parents that do not bear on the issue today of illegal parents. Comments are what you can expect.

* Birthright citizenship and its allies. American Greatness. Sympathetic to Trump, gives a global and historic sweep. Only one comment, found the article useful.

* Trump, the 14th Amendment, the caravan, and the Constitution, PJ Media. Reviews the history of the 14th Amendment.
What Trump has done, in his belligerent way, is to suddenly refocus the debate, just as the caravan approaches and the midterms loom. No doubt, his executive order, should it be forthcoming, will be quickly found unconstitutional by a federal judge, who will promptly issue a nationwide injunction against its enforcement. Such an order will be appealed to the Supreme Court for expedited argument and decision, and very likely (as with the "Muslim ban") will be upheld.
Knowledgable commenters for the most part.
Wotan420  Attila_the_hun • 12 hours ago
All it takes is Trump throwing this comment out there, he knows damn well he isn't going to get rid of this. But all he has to do is comment on a weekend show nobody has ever heard of... and somehow it dominates the entire media cycle for days. The media is so obsessed with BAD ORANGE MAN it really is pathetic. 
The art of the troll, got to love President Trump. 
Harry Reid in 1993: No sane country would give citizenship to people born from illegal aliens. Daily Wire.  Bleh. Highlights Democrat hypocrisy flexibility. Comments are bleh.

* Paul Ryan shoots down Trump's birthright citizenship plans. Washington Times. Nobody cares what Paul Ryan thinks. And I mean nobody. He sounds like a baby. Maybe you'll like this article. Comments are funny.

Justice Kavanaugh declines over $600,000 raised in GoFundMe campaign

Donated to aid his family during the bogus sexual misconduct allegations engineered to crush his confirmation. Kavanaugh declined them citing judicial ethics concerns.

Kavanaugh posted his message on Tuesday to the fundraising page.

A conservative blogger of Brass Pills organized the fundraising campaign posted the official statement from Kavanaugh's representatives distancing the justice from the fund raising campaign.
“Justice Kavanaugh did not authorize the use of his name to raise funds in connection with the GoFundMe campaign. He was not able to do so for judicial ethics reasons. Judicial ethics rules caution judges against permitting the use of the prestige of judicial office for fund-raising purposes. Justice Kavanaugh will not accept any proceeds from the campaign, nor will he direct that any proceeds from the campaign be provided to any third party. Although he appreciates the sentiment, Justice Kavanaugh requests that you discontinue the use of his name for any fund-raising purpose.”
A lot more juicy details at Yahoo, like the sweary words in a conversation that started the fund, the exact amount raised and where the funds will be redirected.  Comments are interesting too, most of them don't care for the tone of the article. Readers are seeing through how things about conservatives are presented on Yahoo and they don't like it one bit. It actually isn't so bad as most.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Kilmeade on Fox and Friends says Trump should drop the phrase "enemy of the people"

Referring to the press, of course. Kilmeade is concerned it "gets too many people" like himself. The press is not the enemy of the people while particular news agencies are clearly biased.

Or something.

Hot Air reports this reasonably.

Reason 1,482,687 why Trump should shut up.

No. You shut up.

    You shut up

You shut up.

    No, you shut up.

YOU! STFU

    No, you!

Trump has already clarified, fake news is the enemy of the people, not responsible news. But shut up anyway.

I hope Trump doubles down, triples, quadruples, quintuples down, sextuples, septuples, octuples down and drives all the press even more insane. I hope he compares them with TASS.

Trump said at this last rally that he is particularly careful boarding and disembarking AF1, careful about walking, because one slip and the particularly malevolent agencies will have it world-wide news that Trump is a hopeless klutz while ignoring everything else that's importanat.

Sure enough, On another site out of Britain in comments a Brit writes "just a gif" and links to this. "I'm a fucking moron who doesn't know how to collapse an umbrella. Donald Trump.

Then another Brit commenter responds to the link, "He really is an imbecile."

Then I'm forced to respond, "Por contrario, Mario. He's changing American politics permanently while you type precious inanities that are wrong. He's smarter than you."   I left off the "you fucking dope" part for the sake of being somewhat civil.

See? Media has done exactly what Trump said they do and here's proof from Britain that he's right. It's not Trump's style to take Kilmeade considered advice.

Ellen with Ditty, and I was like, I had to move that because you set it on top.


Obviously the scare has nothing to do with clowns.

Trump's insane rally schedule

11 rallies scheduled Oct 31 - Nov 5.
October 31, Ft. Myers Florida
November 1, Columbia Missouri
Two on November 2, Huntington, West Virginia and Indianapolis Indiana
Two on November 3, Belgrade Montana, Pensacola Florida
Two on November 4, Mason Georgia, Chattanooga Tennessee
Three on November 5, Cleveland Ohio, Fort Wayne Indiana and Cape Girardeau Missouri

Two in Florida
Two in Missouri
Two in Indiana

Get your tickets here.

When Obama stumped similarly begging money usually in California, I was offended he was using AF1, the accompanying lickspittle press, insane security preparation and entourage, our money and the target city's resources to fund him and his party.

Now Trump is outdoing Obama on a whole new level and I'm utterly fascinated with his stamina.

Because he has the work of fighting off his enemies all day, and I suppose the actual work of government in there too that amounts to thinking and talking about how next to vex the status quo. It must be a full time job instilling the reverse of who serves whom in this country, inculcating the meaning of public servant, emphasis on servant.


This is a fun song in ASL. All the Depeche Mode songs are fun in ASL. But oddly nobody does them online and I think that I have the reason why. They were popular with kids before the Internet was available. Before everyone had handy digital cameras, especially cameras built into their laptops. The kids putting up videos are young people learning ASL so their choices are music charted today. Too bad, Depeche Mode, you missed the ASL Internet by |<--- --->| that much.

I thought about doing videos for Depeche Mode songs myself to compensate for this unacceptable lacuna. I would have to get right on that project to finish before my hands shrivel up into useless rheumatic arthritic gnarled clumps. Plus, I'd have to do Bob Dylan songs too.

If I were more like Trump, they'd already be done. Three in one day.

But then, who would even watch them? Everyone has already moved on. Trump's obsessive compulsive behavior as Super Closer has immediate and lasting historic consequence. ASL interpretive videos of pre-Internet pop songs do not.

Rib eye steak, reverse sear

Oliver's in Denver, on 6th at Gilpin has these steaks, USDA Prime and aged. 

And the owner son of the original owner is a cheerful and helpful and gracious old man well beyond retirement who looks great in his black Polo shirt and even greater when he smiles. 

Here's the dealio, Emilio. The boneless steaks cut thick like this weigh over a pound. The steaks cost $25.00 a pound, each steak cost $28.00. So they had better be g.d. good. 

But who can eat a pound of rib eye steak? A pig, that's who. 

They don't have to be this thick. They'll cut them however you like.

Honestly, half this size would be great. But we're going all in. Have the rest later after we wimp out. Take it home and have another whole meal. Or two. 

Then, after that forevermore until you die it's all, "Oh man, remember that time you reverse seared those huge Flintstone steaks? Those were the best."  

Live Sesh, Thinking

Oh these kids.

Franklin, made up town, real history

This is disconcerting. A game is used to build a town. The town building game is like Google Earth. If you can bear the zippy-zap town building or even possibly enjoy it, there's a good chance you can learn something about American history.

For example, I've been mispronouncing the word mercantilism my whole life. Root word merchant, I thought that was how it is pronounced.

His insistence on the term "white slavery" is disputed in comments over at YouTube for omitting other forms of white slavery not relevant to his colonial town.

Cities: Skylines | Franklin, Episode 3: Founding Franklin

YouTube member donoteat01 channel. 


$200 billion of FANG market cap lost in two sessions

F -- Facebook
A -- Amazon
N -- Netfix
G -- Google

As a group, poof, just like that. The combined companies' market capitalization has fallen from a record $2.5 trillion in July to $1.93 trillion on Monday.

.57 trillion here, .57 trillion there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

Details at Reuters.

Did you feel it?

UN says countries must allow people at risk to request asylum

GENEVA —  The U.N. refugee agency is urging Washington to allow people fleeing persecution and violence, including those who are traveling with the Central American caravan, to request asylum on U.S. territory.
Fine.

The travelers have been offered sanctuary but they cannot accept the terms of settling in Mexico's two poorest states thus duplicating the situation they seek to escape and their minds are made up to invade the United States en mass knowing their numbers will overwhelm our system in classic Cloward-Piven style and knowing previous such invasions worked.

Typically only 20% of asylum seekers are accepted.

And here's the odd thing about their situation. Their home countries are unbearable for their lack of opportunity and their lack of rule of law. So they enter the United States illegally and exist here illegally, thus reconstructing the unbearable situations by their own decisions.

But now there is Trump, and apparently Trump doesn't care what Democrats or the rest of Congress or all media think.

They will not be processed and released and expected to return to court for processing and risk the 80% chance of being rejected.

Rather, this time they will be held for however long the legal processing takes, up to two or three years, and the 80% or so that are rejected will be returned. Families kept intact.

So Democrats and Congress and media can complain about the tent cities and the conditions where travelers are held and their own vast organizing and provocative media event amounting to gigantic fail.

Listen as rattletrap Laura Ingram steps all over her own interview with her sharp jagged voice jabbing and poking and stabbing, slashing around compulsively throughout. If she could just train herself to stfu her interview would improve by magnitudes of order. Let the man tell you what he intends to do.

Monday, October 29, 2018

Iko iko

In ASL class today it was our first day of being required to tell our stories in sign. Pressure was on, I'm gonna tell you what. I did okay, held my own, at least until I told the story of my 10 year old black and white dog named Boudreaux - even my teacher was impressed, not with my finger spelling but with the Cajun name my dog carries around. My hand hurt after telling that story.

Then I got home and a guy came by and I spent the late afternoon making mezuzahs. It seemed like the right thing to do.


Four states could legalize marijuana next week

To varying degrees of acceptance, medical and recreational.

The best part of the article at Reason is at the beginning:
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) described Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's dismay upon hearing that voters in Utah seem set to approve medical marijuana when they go to the polls on November 6. "I said that even Utah is most likely going to legalize medical marijuana this year," Gardner recalled. "McConnell looks and me, and he goes, 'Utah?' [He had] this terrified look. And as he says that, Orrin Hatch walks up, and Mitch looks at Orrin and says, 'Orrin, is Utah really going to legalize marijuana?' And Orrin Hatch folds his hands, looks down at his feet, and says, 'First tea, then coffee, and now this.'"
Ha ha ha. What a comedian.

Utah: 2/3 population thinks medical marijuana is okay
Missouri: prospects not good, plus there are are three confusing ballot initiatives.
North Dakota: unlikely to pass for recreational use having just recently passed medical use.
Michigan: pretty good shot for recreational use to pass.

The article goes into the proposals for each state including Colorado that has an initiative to link the definition of hemp with the Federal definition. It's argued that would give Colorado more flexibility, while counterargument says it's also a path to criminalize marijuana altogether.

I'd explain all the deets but I'm too high.

Joke!

Barbra Streisand brought to tears by Trump

Good.

Because when she's sob, sob, sobbing she's not blab, blab, blabbing. It's the mental state we prefer her.
This antiquated Electoral College doesn't sit well with me.
And that why we prefer her sobbing. She'd rather have modern mob rule.

In an interview recently somewhere with somebody Streisand is incoherent. She lives on her opinions formulated inside her butt hole. She delivers axiom as if it is wisdom and the collection constitutes her political position. Each axiom is its own argument with its own cloud of various rebuttal so there is no clear pathway through the tangled mess. It's more like a pinball machine. She concentrates on motes and disregards everything else. And there is nothing important. There is no discussion about economy, employment/unemployment, disadvantageous trade deals, unfruitful treaties, nothing about N. Korea or ISIS. She sees illegal immigrant children separated but only under Trump, and has no opinion about organized caravans that amount to straight up invasion of a nation presumably of laws, and from countries because they are lawless.

She is a little girl.

And just as incoherent, and no amount of aging is ever going to change that.

Sob away Little Sister, because when she is pleased our country goes into the crapper in all areas that are important.

This woman is 76 years old. Her going around in tears is not cogent, not convincing. Grow the f up already. Their conceit is they are the party of facts not fiction, the party of science and the party of fairness and of tolerance. She is raw female emotion articulated as thoughtfulness.


There are more words and a video at Breitbart and lovely as it is, you won't get anything out of it.

Because there isn't anything there. The lovely piano music is more substantial.

blue cheese dressing


Such a plain sad little salad. He's not even trying.

The sort of thing you make for yourself when you're slumming and totally over it.

But on Tuesday I have a special guest and that means a special salad. My impulse is to get carried away.

* red bell pepper seared on one side to create burn spots.
* avocado
* black olives from the bar not from a tin or a jar
* cucumber
* maybe watermelon
* thick cut applewood bacon
* mushrooms
* toasted croutons
* roasted pecans
* heriloom tomatoes
* possibly apple
* bib lettuce

See the restraint? I'm leaving out artichoke hearts and those stupid ass hearts of palm, omitting fresh water chestnuts, no bean sprouts, no anchovy. No carrots, or black beans, no chickpeas, no kale or celery. No onions, or Mandarin oranges. No corn. No potato. No strawberries or blueberries or cranberries or raisins. No pepperoni or pepperoncini or jalapeño. No shrimp, grapes beets or peas. No cabbage, no pasta, no arugula. No kiwi fruit and no mango. No grapefruit. No tuna or radish or daikon. No watercress. No egg or chicken. No cantaloupe, spinach or pickles or pineapple. Much more is omitted than included, so yeah, I get carried away but not totally carried away.

Chihuly glass sculpture at Victoria and Albert Museum

They call it a chandelier while it has no lights.



And just as I was reading on Amusing Planet, going through the photos and thinking, "Oh man, that's gotta be a bitch to dust ..."


Walk Away

The parade was not that interesting. Dozens and dozens of videos and I'm all, come on! 1/4 of the way through and I'm bored already. The music sounds like Woodstock. Goes like this:

Strum-strum strummy strum-strum strumy
Oh there's a movement sweeping the nation.
Strum-strum strummy strum-strum strumy
Got sick of all the party machinations.
Strum-strum strummy strum-strum strumy
So I quit my affiliation.
Strum-strum strummy strum-strum strumy

*click* Comedian testimonial *click* Stacy Dash *click* Brandon Straka *click*

Interesting people are simply not interesting telling us why and how they finally wised up. And in each instance I'm wondering what took so long. How can anyone so preceptive be so thick for so long? And why do you need a march on Washington about it? Why is this so difficult for you? Shut up already, just vote appropriately henceforth. All is well. Go, and prosper.

I was blind and now I see. Well, good for you.

And still videos are brought to my attention all over the place. Leave me alone already. I don't want to hear their stupid stories.

Until these two ladies. As I listened the impulse to click off evaporated They became more beautiful as they speak until finally two ordinary women become quite stunning. These women are interesting.



President Trump and First Lady host Halloween at the White House

Adorable.

Ptahhotep Maxim 27: Legal Situations

It's short.  Only seven lines.

The opening tercet offers guidance on how to act as a "friend of the court" and the final two couplets give advice on how to deal with a biased opponent.

It says:

If you act as advocate for a court,
a representative of the peace of many,
remove the yokes of an actin.
When you contest with someone who is biased,
keep him from stating his opinion to officials
and making the matter biased to them:
turn your case over to judgment.

Well, D-u-u-U-U-U-U-U-U-u-u-h!





Sunday, October 28, 2018

Sunset



U.S. troops drink nearly all the beer in Iceland

The story on the Daily Caller is a a mess.

The Americans are part of a vast NATO exercise that includes allies, Sweden and Finland are mentioned while NATO consists of twenty-nine nations. The bar owners say the Americans wiped them out. They also say they had to hustle more beer from suppliers and had to borrow extra supplies from surrounding bars.

That doesn't even make sense. A picture is painted of all bars being overwhelmed at once and all beer being wiped out.

Comments to the article are even worse. One wonders, maybe we shouldn't be reading this site.

I have a better story than that.

An acquaintance told me this. It happened some twenty-five years ago.

The cruise operations opened their business to specialty cruises, a regular cruise booked for a specific group of people. The gays organized a nationally advertised cruise. These dudes travel a lot and it was right up their alley ocean current. A trip that began in Florida, stopped in New Orleans then through the Caribbean including Cancún, Tulum and a few other ports.

The operation never serviced gays before and they vastly underestimated how much they drink. They used up all the alcohol on the ship loaded up for the entire trip on the first night.

!

And they tip very well besides.

The ship restocked in New Orleans to something like 10X the usual amount. For the ship operators the trip  turned out a success beyond expectations and the group has re-booked every year since. Now it's a regular thing. The service people like doing this trip because they make much more money in tips than they do from families. All on account of gays drinking so much.

I told the guy who told me this, "What a bunch of f'k'n lushes."

He goes, "Yeah."

See, the NATO guys can and do drink a lot but they are still working, the gays are not.

Sunrise


Baked asparagus with Parmesan

Yesterday I saw America's Test Kitchen do this a bit differently.

ATK poked the asparagus with a fork to release moisture so they don't get soggy. They used egg whites beaten to soft peak with honey more for its sticky quality than for its sweetness. They mixed panko bread crumbs with the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. When the asparagus was all lined up then they dumped more on top of the whole tray of lined up asparagus to form a super thick coating that melted and crusted together. As it cooled they broke apart the spears. They did this in two batches.

I think I'll do this on Tuesday.

L.B.J. orders pants

Maryland High School football player sings National Anthem




Phrase search

A: Ah… Khashoggi… ya won't be hearing about him no more.

Take the Cannoli…. leave the bone saw!

B: My favorite Sopranos episode.

C: Ah……..never mind……we’re having too much fun….😎

C is saying something is wrong.

YouTube [take the cannoli leave the bone saw]
Results:
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Godfather
Sopranos




Magna Carta, Salisbury Cathedral

An American tourist from Louisiana tackled a man using a hammer to smash the glass in the case that holds the Magna Carta attempting to steal it.

The American held the thief on the ground until help arrived.

The 56-year-old American said, "I just had to stop him."

Details at NY Post.

MAGA rally, Murphysboro, Illinois

First, before getting into the rally, my phone rang while I was speaking to someone. I ignored the incoming call. Then, off the first call, I looked at the message.

"Hi [legal name]! This is Joan with the Colorado Dems! Our records show your ballot hasn't been counted yet.

[How offensive, Dems. You should not have access to that information, you hyped up freaks.]

Can we count on you to support all of Colorado's Democrats up and down the ticket including blah blah blippity blah ... ?"

Return message: "MAGA"

This is the second time I did that.

For the record, I'm not a complete asshole on the phone. Only to people who use my phone to abuse me. Later this night I called in an order across the street for a salad and sandwich. Honestly, these people, Taste of Philly, make the best salads ever. So I called back after I ate it and before I ate the sandwich. *bring bring* "Pick up or take out?"

That's how they answer the phone.

"No order. This is Chip, I just now picked up a salad and sandwich from you guys."

"Yeah?"

He was expecting a complaint. "I want you guys to know that you make the best salads around this part of town."

See? It's possible to use the phone to simply be nice.

This rally is different from the previous rallies. It started out somber due to the murders today on Squirrel Hill. Trump invited a rabbi for opening prayer and Trump addressed the shooting first thing. Trump was oddly more subdued, more quiet, less bombastic yet more powerful than usual. The audience more riotously immediately engaged. It is more intimate than usual and Trump controlled the energy masterfully switching between day-to-day anecdotes and issues of national importance. He draws his audience in like children at story time and gives space for them to yell at the top of their lungs.

I must say this and I don't want it to be taken the wrong way, because there are more differences than there are similarities, but when Trump's opponents compare Trump's speeches with Hitler's speeches, I must admit there are the similarities of crowd size, of enthusiastic acceptance, of uniformity of thought in the crowd, and harmony of electric energy that's palpable, of nationalistic fervor, and of the fear that the sight of this remarkable development strikes in the hearts of his opponents. The major differences are, Trump is actually sweet. He's tender. He's funny. He's fair. He is down to earth and nothing but common sense. His speeches and aims are not expansionist.

People stand in the cold and the wet for hours, they walk literally for miles, that's no exaggeration, they tolerate traffic not moving then crawling for hours just to be part of these rallies perceived as historic events. And they do this repeatedly, some do it in series. And they're cheerful and uplifted, and kind hearted through it all.

I've never seen anything like it. Nobody has. Not ever. Never in history. I could be wrong, but I do believe, this is a brand new thing under the sun.

This is the first rally Trump did not single out media, actually point to them arrayed with their cameras, and call them "fake news." He knows he will be criticized for even holding this rally on the day of a massacre so he took the first shot. "We cannot allow these sick and demented people (the shooter) to stop or interfere with what we are doing." The crowd roared their approval.

And not just a regular roar. They ROARED their approval. Because they are the thing that is not being interfered. Each individual made the same decision.

Trump continued, "I cannot allow the actions of one sick individual to disrupt thousands of other people like you. I cannot have them disappoint you." Obviously the crowd is pleased that Trump did not cancel the rally due to national mourning. They roared their approval again. And he had his rabbi as cover.

These are the points where Trump's opponents see similarities with Hitler as they must because no other single person can gather  this much sustained enthusiasm and genuine love. And it must scare the living piss out of them in the same way. Their fear and loathing is the same fear and loathing they have when viewing scenes of Hitler's speeches. In their minds and hearts the two men are equal. But they are not equal. Not by a long shot.

Each rally is fundamentally the same speech. Delivered this often it is now well practiced delivered in natural style and so is the call and response such as you see in Rocky Horror Picture Show. Undeniably, Trump does have a cult following and they're having a blast. Old as he is, Trump himself is energized by these rallies. He's like the Energizer Bunny being recharged. Instead of draining Trump's energy, these rallies recharge him.

So the basic structure is the same through rallies, the basic speech is the same, the schtick is the same across rallies, but each with specific differences written and ad-libbed; Pocahontas, the bomber, the shooter, for example, support for various politicians, variations in story-telling across rallies, interaction with the crowd differs each rally. In some ways Trump is like a stand up comedian politician hypnotist executive with power flowing out of his fingertips and cash flowing out of his ears.

I had a dream that clarified.

I'm standing in a bar with a dream companion at the edge. There are not many people in there. I'm conversing and observing the few people inside. Another long-time friend enters the door in the corner with someone who I don't know. The unknown man is bigger, burlier, bearded, Viking lumberjack looking and he walks somewhat like a gorilla. Now there are more people in the room and their attention is on the two entering.

They cross the room. My friend scans the room chooses a table and the two of them walk directly to it and quietly sit down. My friend walks normally. He doesn't scan the people in the room, just the tables. He is wholly self-contained. There is absolutely nothing distinctive about him. Although the lumberjack guy fairly sticks out by his size.

Immediately, the young men in the room and the females with them drift toward my friend and gather around him. They engage him in conversation and they ignore the burly lumberjack. My friend introduces the lumberjack as his brother-in-law.

From the edge of the room, I think, "Oh, that explains it."

The lumberjack speaks but the others are not interested in knowing him. They want to talk to my friend. They want my friend to acknowledge them. The want my friend to speak to them. To advise them. They want to get him to laugh. They want to buy him a drink. They want a piece of him. They want some of my friend to rub off onto them.

I observe this without astonishment. I've seen it before. I stand there watching and think, "They don't know it, but they are responding to his aura. His spiritual magnetism is a natural physical field that literally pulls them in. I saw it! He would deny this, even as he lives it, and here it is being displayed so obviously. He doesn't even know what is happening himself. His innate confidence attracts others. His success is attractive. Literally attractive. His physical stature, his clothing, his style and his speech are all ordinary while there is something in posture and gaze and engagement and invisible aura and invisible success and confidence and invisible magnetism that pulls people into him. Bang. I wake up.

"Holy shit." I think, now awake. That's actually true in real life. I really have seen this. This is a similarity he shares with Trump. And with a few other people I know. And when I tell these people the traits that they share with Trump, to a person they disagree with me. Emphatically. Because they do not like that comparison. (But I think that they secretly do like it.)

The Murphysboro rally. Recommended. Even if you are bored with these rallies, there is always something to learn from them. In fact, there are things to be studied. I believe these rallies will be studied. And if not, then they should be.


Saturday, October 27, 2018

Young Black Leaders Summit

This is just Trump's entrance. There are many more videos of the meeting itself.

Scooter Fail

This video is five years old, an annoying perennial on sites that share such things. But in case you haven't seen it, here's the worst Moped driver in China. The description says, "good thing he wasn't seriously injured" and that's a shame because he deserves being seriously injured.



Sinead O'Connor converts to Islam

All scripture study leads to Islam,” she said. “Which makes all other scriptures redundant. I will be given (another) new name. It will be Shuhada’.
No it doesn't. Scripture study leads to redemption. And I suggest she look up the word redundant.

But then, she always did have her own way with words.
I figured I'd just sort of pare it down a bit and just make it a ton emptier you know the way that I figured the words suggested I think that its eh eh that its a song that as a singer is eh very enjoyable eh to sing yeah so I suppose it's a song that eh is written for singers yeah. 


Tell Cat Stevens Chip says, "Hey." 




Dave Rubin with Tucker Carlson

Friday, October 26, 2018

Michael Ramirez cartoon


I filled out my ballot this week. First time in my life that I voted straight party line.

I must say, that makes voting a lot easier.

Carousing, harmonica playing Texan just won the Nobel in medicine for his cancer breakthrough

Charles Graeber writing for Wired spends a lot of paragraphs describing who James Allison is and what he looks like, how he behaves and where he comes from, the decisions he made to go from places of little promise to the centers of study and funding, without any of the usual attendant hassles, and his vehicles as they upgrade across decades.

It is an interesting story of unlikely success.

Graeber describes the world of cancer treatment as dominated by surgery, radiation and chemotherapy that successfully treats some 50%. While immunotherapy was considered ineffective. The article takes the reader through our understanding of how the mechanisms of immune system work, through the discovery of the T-cell, how it was differentiated from the B-cell, how its receptor was identified, how it puzzled out that more than the receptor is involved in its activation, in fact, two more mechanisms are involved.
Biology was interesting, diseases weird and fascinating, immunology cool. But cancer, Allison admits, “pissed me off” personally. Allison’s lab had always been dedicated primarily to pure immune research. But now Jim Allison had another experiment in mind, and an intellectual path to an emotional destination. As it happens, that road also eventually led to the Nobel Prize. 
An analogy is employed the receptor identifies the cell for destruction as a key that fits into a lock, but that's not enough, another mechanism must be activated to behave as a gas pedal, but that's not enough either because yet another mechanism is behaving as a brake. In all cases of full activation; key, gas pedal and brake, the brake prevails. So nothing happens.

Allison developed chemical brake-blockers and applied them to mice given tumors. The group of mice treated with brake-blockers dissolved their cancer tumor cells 100% and the untreated mice died of their cancer tumors 100%. The experiment was run twice with the same result.

This anti-immunity therapy is a breakthrough for millions suffering from autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, asthma, and hopefully soon Type 1 diabetes.
His work continues to travel the world, and change it. Allison still plays blues harp—he considered backing Willie Nelson on stage a few years ago to have been a lifetime highlight, before he found out about the Nobel—and he regularly hears from former cancer patients whose lives were changed or saved by his work. He sees them in the halls and on planes; they are everywhere. Not only because they now number in the hundreds of thousands, but because they are us. 
And, his wife says, Jim cries, every damn time.

Happy birthday Domenico Scarlatti

It is said that he wrote 555 keyboard sonatas. I have listened to only a small fraction of them, but I do like this one:



A YouTube search on Scarlatti K. 159 will produce dozens of versions. Here is a harmonic analysis of the work played on some midi something or other, perhaps by a robot.


Interestingly enough even though Scarlatti was Neapolitan he worked in Spain and Portugal. I can hear the Spanish influence in his work.



But speaking of 555, and I think we were, did you know that the listed height of the Washington Monument is 555 feet? Coincidence? I think not.

It's all about cranes

Teddy Bear scare

Foreign worker

Homemade devices satirizing the fake bombs sent to Trump antagonists


I think clicking the picture will take you to the thread with more devices made to appear ridiculous as possible. They include fruit, dildos, hotdogs, anything cylindrical loosely wrapped with wire of any kind including earplugs, clock or watch, cellphone, etc. They're hilarious. The pop-n-fresh refrigerator dough cracked me up because it actually pops. Small Dead Animals liked the one with the jar of maple syrup.  

vortmax on Twitter for the rest of the thread.

Looks like Starbucks

But I'm not sure.

Chelsea Clinton considering political office if someone steps down or retires

Iohud
"I think if someone were to step down or retire and I thought I could do a good job and it matched my talents, I’d have to think if it’s the right choice for me," 
She's doing interviews promoting  her book, Start Now!

The interviewer asks: What changes have you made in the past five years in your family life to be environmentally conscious?

Really? Who cares?
When I take out the trash I dump it all into the bin and keep the plastic liner to reuse. I can usually get two or three uses from a single kitchen trash liner bag. Sometimes four. They're very cheap but I kept seeing all those perfectly good liners being tossed with the trash as if they are trash themselves, and that caused me to think that looks really wasteful. Because they're perfectly white.  
I reuse my teabags as well. I also recycle my sandwich bags. I smash all my beer cans and recycle them,  and we have our maid take our used wine bottles down the bottle recycling place. I also save the corks.
We changed our front yard to rocks and took out the gardens because those things take a lot of water. Plus I don't flush when I do #1. Instead I wait until I do #2. 
And I sharpen my pencils down to nubs where I cannot even hold onto them anymore, then I save the nubs until someone invents a way to turn them into a full-size recycled pencils. So far I have 8 pencil nubs. With pretty good erasers because I hardly erase anything at all once I write it.  
Psych! She didn't say that.
I’ve always recycled and used smart light bulbs and tried to take short showers. The things that seem small are the things that if we all did would make a profound impact. The biggest shift since becoming a parent is talking to my children about why we make these choices at home and why it’s important that we all be part of making these choices regardless of our age.  I love seeing how proud my kids, even Aidan, who is only 2, are when he carries cardboard boxes to the recycling bin. Hopefully it’s just part of their daily lives.
What do you know. Just like a regular person.

Interviewer asks: A  record number of women are running for office this year, many of them inspired by your mother’s run and the results of 2016 elections. Why haven’t we seen your name on the list?
I don’t have any plans to run for office, but it is something I think about as I hope every young person thinks about it. If you care about what’s happening in the world, you have to care about running for and holding elected office. I hope it’s a question that we ask ourselves. For me, I live in a neighborhood in the city and in a state where I feel my family, and what I hope for the world, is well-represented. 
It’s at the national level where I disagree deeply with President Trump on, l think, everything practically.
You weren't asked about Trump, Dear. But since you did, that's a bit breezily general and opaque. What specifically do you have in mind, Trump getting N.K. to stop lobbing missiles over Japan and to be less dominated by China, and hooking up with S.K, Trump disengaging from draining international treaties that do nothing to achieve their purpose except redistribute American money across the globe, renegotiating treaties that damage American middle class, having our allies pay for the defense we provide them, moving our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, lowering taxes and eliminating wasteful and damaging regulations that cripple the economy, reducing unemployment, improving the prospects of black Americans and Hispanic Americans, inspiring the stock market improving your own portfolio without you lifting a finger, bringing back production to the United States, bringing America back to #1 spot in competitiveness, and now, lowering the cost of medicines? Be specific, Dear. Which of these things do you object to? You did say "practically everything." Can we assume you prefer the reverse.

And when it comes to talent, exactly what talent of yours do expect to find a match?

America will never be rid of the Clintons. When Chelsea is old and withered and falling down steps, and coughing through speeches, completely discredited, there will be her spawn to replace her with nothing to recommend them except for their name. Like the Kennedys, Democrats love their dynasties. It's so ... romantic.

And I fear conservatives will do the same thing with Trumps as they have with the Bushes, Rockefellers, and many others. It's natural.  Like a feudal system where the son grows into his father's trade when that's all that you know.

It's all Chelsea knows. She's groomed specifically for this. She's accompanied her mother on countless neighborhood meetings spanning the whole country, hosted by her supporters eager to feel and be engaged. Actually, partying with a purpose. Endless alcohol. Nevertheless, speech after speech after speech after speech at one wealthy household after another, year after year after year. That was Chelsea's life. She knows nothing else but to be hosted in homes of American wealthy, to accept accolades for being a Clinton, awards, positions for jobs she cannot do, and unearned chairs on corporate boards based on her work at her parent's foundations now run out of Canada to avoid vexing US laws.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

President Trump, drug price initiatives

Some twenty years ago I was watching television, a woman with HHS was discussing the cost of pharmaceuticals with a panel of medical professionals. She explained that for moral reasons very poor countries cannot be expected to pay the cost of expensive American medicines. The biggest issue at the time was AIDS. The medicine for AIDS that cost American patients thousands of dollars at the time was sold to certain African countries for under one dollar.

I could be wrong, but that's how I recall what I heard. Not all, but most of the new pharmaceuticals are products of American research by American companies with American government funding. But Americans do not have any advantage in pricing. The industry devised a payment system based on calculations of individual country's citizens to pay. Americans are deemed most able to pay so we're charged the most. Canada and Europeans slightly less able to pay so they're charged slightly less, and so on down to the poorest countries. That's why people were traveling to Canada and Mexico to buy their medicines. It stuck me as simply the most communist scheme that the United States does. The presenters were rock solid defending the morality of their pricing decisions. They had no intention of changing no matter what national crisis was happening. Millions upon millions of lives are affected. Thousands of Americans died for their inability to afford medication.

I was hoping intensely that Trump would address this. And he does.
We’re taking aim at the global freeloading that forces American consumers to subsidize lower prices in foreign countries through higher prices in our country.  And I’ve seen it for years, and I never understood.  Same company, same box, same pill, made in the exact same location.  And you’ll go to some countries, and it would be 20 percent the cost of what we pay, and in some cases much less than that. 
And I’d say, “Why is this?”  I never knew that I would be able to stand here before you and have a chance to fix it.  And that’s what we’re doing.  We’re fixing it.  That’s called “real-life experience,” I guess. 
For decades, other countries have rigged the system so that American patients are charged much more — and in some cases much, much more — for the exact same drug.  In other words, Americans pay more so that other countries can pay less.  Very simple.  That’s exactly what it is.  It’s wrong.  It’s unfair.  It’s not surprising.  I’ve seen trade deals where it’s far more costly to us than even this.  And we’re changing them also. 
Foreign countries even threaten to disrespect our patents if they are not given cheaper prices on drugs.  So they’re not going to even look at the patents.  They’ve been very, very disrespectful, previously, to our country and to all of the things that we stand for.  And especially, they would disrespect patents when it came to American-made drugs. 
The American middle class is effectively funding virtually all drug research and development for the entire planet.  So we are paying for it.  We are subsidizing it.  Everybody else is benefitting.  And they are paying nothing toward research and development. 
The world reaps the benefits of American genius and innovation, while American citizens — and especially our great seniors, who are hit the hardest — pick up the tab.  But no longer. 
Trump continues with important several examples, none of them having to do with AIDS. When he talks about the medication for bone disease he conflates billions and millions. It's easy to do when the amounts are so huge that money becomes so unreal that it's just a concept of zeros.

Finally, a United States president who discusses millions and billions in terms of money saved the American people, by his priorities and his actions, and not in terms of resentful millionairesnbillionaires™to which we had become accustomed.

God bless you, President Trump. This really is an important day. I believe this is right up there with your most profoundly significant achievements to date.


KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's: "The Raft Of The Medusa"

I've seen the original hanging in the Lurve.


I loved that album at the time. I still do, as a matter of fact.

Many years ago, an artist friend did a 3D rendition of Gericault's classic work. It's a large piece, measuring about 6' by 3'. It hangs in our living room:


Here's some detail of the raft:


Colorado art fans might be able to guess the artist.

Overheard at Lem's

It is cold right this minute and I should be working but I am waiting for it to warm up a bit. Chip Ahoy mentioned The Raft of the Medusa, a painting by Théodore Gericault. It is a large painting and once seen not easily forgotten.

One of my sons is a genius when it comes to painting and while he was in school he painted this:


The minute I saw it I cracked up - it is a painting of articles of clothing arranged so that the composition and light mimic Gericault's painting. My son is a funny guy, just sayin'. I keep trying to buy the original from him but somehow that never happens. No inheritance for you!

Preston 10 years after Napoleon Dynamite

The comments on YouTube to the video in Sixty Grit's earlier post are helpful in understanding why people like this movie. They're into it. Apparently the lameness of it resonates. They know the characters and the actors, for example, the blond actor who looks like a 30-year-old student smirking at the ASL performance was said to have been quiet, shy and reserved on set. 

Dillon Edwards compares coffees for Epicurious

Dillon blows my mind. He has a whole vocabulary to describe coffee that includes different types fruit where I have only one word, "Blah!" I couldn't tell a good one from a bad one because they're all bad.

Pence, Honduras, Venezuela

Vice President Mike Pence said that Honduras President, Juan Orlando Hernández, told him that the illegal migrant caravan is the work of Venezuela, with that country's oil cash being employed to destabilize both countries.

This is on American Thinker by Monica Showalter.
The one clue we have starts with the two governments of Guatemala and Honduras, both of which have conservative, anti-Chavista governments.  They also have disgustingly rabid left-wing oppositions, the kind of people who openly admire Hugo Chávez and his utterly failed socialist revolution.  They like Cuba's government, too.  They are rabid left-wingers, and they seek above all to destabilize and topple the countries of their origin in order to see those countries join their heroes.  They can't get elected anymore, so this is what they do.
There is more analysis, supportive evidence, and history at the link.

Whereas Monica Showalter accepts Hernández's explanation that Venezuela's oil money is paying for it, Sundance at the Last Refuge states flatly Venezuela has no oil money to finance such a thing. Venezuela cannot finance their own government. With U.S. sanctions they are entirely reliant upon massive investment by China and Russia. Sundance's analysis gets into China's ownership of 49% of Venezuela state run energy production in which China takes payment in oil for prior loans that Maduro cannot pay back.

Trump has punched Maduro and X--Jinping hard. Suddenly it all makes sense to Sundance. He, she, they, whatever, tell their readers the invasion objective suddenly all makes sense. Sundance reviews the the geopolitical/economic squeeze that Trump put on both China and Russia.

There are 11 serious squeezes listed here.  Worth reading because you'll get this nowhere else. He's published it before, it's not new to his readers.
It makes sense from the perspective of China, Russia and Venezuela to use their alliance to create a border crisis between the United States and Mexico, especially since the interests of President-elect Lopez Obrador and President Trump are now aligned within the U.S-MCA trade agreement; which is structured to the detriment of pre-existing Chinese investment in Mexico under their prior -and corrupt- Mexican leadership. 
Remember, President Trump out manuevered Chairman Xi Jinping in North Korea.  Xi lost most of his control position over DPRK Chairman Kim Jong-un; and while President Trump stood guard on the watchtower North Korea (Kim) and South Korea (Moon) are now happily joined in mutual fellowship.  In the grand trade-conflict between the Red Dragon and the United States, Xi needed a new form of leverage.
Meanwhile, Michael Moore tells his readers Trump is a genius outsmarting Democrats and media with the migrant caravan. His take is quite shallow. He dismisses the caravans as things that have been occurring the last twenty years, that there is nothing special in this one. No mention of its organization, the principals involved, the financing, the legality of the efforts, the international cooperation, the political objectives, the timing coinciding with American midterms. All that dismissed. Through a series of tweets Moore states simply Trump makes a mountain from a molehill and uses it to win midterm election.

His tweets are listed on Daily Wire.

It just occurred to me.

I'm going to take a dive from the thick and serious to the airily artistic.

Some of these pictures I'm seeing would make fine paintings along the lines of The Raft of Medusa  except not as dire. Photograph at the link with "oil painting" filter applied.














Bombs sent to Trump opponents that don't explode

The clocks in the bombs don't have an alarm. They're bogus bombs. Now who would do such a thing? Incidentally, somehow it's known that one was sent to Joe Biden but it hasn't turned up. So far, lost in the mail.

An act intended to excite and incite, excites and incites the easily excitable.

This was the first thing Trump addressed in his speech last night and I must say he was exquisitely presidential in his framing the situation, disavowing all such actions and stating this is an attack on our democratic process and that there is no place for it and the people responsible will be caught and brought to justice.

Duckduckgo: [blame trump, bombs]

* Democrats, media blame Donald Trump for pipe bombs (Washington Times)

* Democrats blame President Trump for condoning "acts of ..." (NY Daily News)

* Hollywood Blames Bombs on Trump: 'MAGA Radicalized More ...' (Breitbart)

* MSNBC Contributor Steve Schmidt Says Trump's to Blame for ... (TMZ)

* Left Blames Trump For Bomb Scare (Infowars)

* Media, Without Evidence, Blames President Trump for Bomb ... (the Political Insider)

* Alex Soros: Trump's 'Demonization of Opponents' to Blame for ... (Breitbart)

* MSNBC Brings On Hillary Aide to Blame Trump for Mail Bombs (Newsbusters)

*  Something stupid (the Hill)

* CNN Trying to blame Trump for Bombs ... (Lunatic Outpost)

* Something stupid (Deadline)

* Something stupid (Business insider)

* Jim Carrey blames Trump, supporters for mail bombs (Washington Times)

* Yes, Of Course Trump is to Blame for the Bombs Sent Today ... (the Mary Sue)

* 'View' Hosts Blame Trump for Time Warner Bomb Scare: 'What.. (Newsbusters)

Disclosure, I didn't read a word of any of it.

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Trump rally, Mosinee WI



ASL, you can't escape it

A friend has been insisting that I watch Napoleon Dynamite. I made it part of the way through, but that is a sad movie, and I don't mean that in an emotive way, rather it is just sad. But there is ASL, so there you go:


I Became a Las Vegas Wine Angel

Apparently this idea was invented for the Aureole Restaurant in the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. There are several other wine angel videos on YouTube filmed in London, Zurich, Others in Las Vegas; the Texas de Brazil, that's a fun video.

Sandra Day O'Connor announces likely Alzheimer's diagnosis

AP

O'Connor said in a letter that she has the beginning stages of dementia, "probably Alzheimer's disease."  She is 88-years-old and her diagnosis was made a while ago and her condition has progressed such she is "no longer able to participate in pubic life." She says nothing has diminished her gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessing in her life and how fortunate she feels to be an American.

Former Bush and Reagan Official: Hitler Was a Better Person Than Trump

Bruce Bartlett

 is former senior policy analyst for Reagan and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at Treasury Department under Bush 41.

Look at the points Bartlett rustles to draw his conclusion.

* Hitler served honorably in the military Trump didn't.
* Hitler was faithful to his wife, Trump cheated on all of his wives.
* Hitler wrote a book, Trump's were al ghostwritten.

These were posted on Twitter @BruceBartlett

He continues.
* Anyone who really thinks a comparison between Trump and Hitler is absurd should watch Triumph of Evil and one of Trump's MAGA rallies.

More of Bruce Bartlett hatred at Daily Wire.

Comments are unkind. And a lot smarter than Bruce Bartlett.

Ethan Frisch compares quality in spices for Epicurious

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Caravan - Part Two



Ok. Ok.

I can kinda understand why Trump would send the Army to keep these fanooks out of America.

Hey Hossaroni



"Boys I want to introduce you to my friend Meyer from Florida. He is a big fan of the show and I wanted him to come by and catch a taping. Meyer this is Adam, Little Joe and of course Hoss."
"I know Mr Lansky Pa. I had run into him a few times when I took a herd into Las Vegas. He has a couple of hotels out there."
"Now Hoss not officially. I just have a few investments that some of my friends look after. But I don't really own anything. At least not in my name anyway. Nice to meet you goymim."
"So Meyer what do you do? You look like my agent."
"Why because he is a Jew? What's the matter with you to talk like that?"
"Now Meyer please don't get upset. The poor kid has been on TV for twenty years and he hasn't gotten laid yet. Every time he meets a girl she gets run over by a cow or something. So please don't take it personal."
"No problem Ben. I know a lot of guys who have that problem. Especailly younger brothers. Right little Fredo?"
"I have to quit this show."
"No problem Adam you are boring as shit anyway. Go out and see what you can cook up on your own why doncha."
"Fuck you Hoss you fat fuck. I am outta here."

Caravan?





What fucking Caravan?



Trump better keep his hands off this Caravan. Vans the Man.

KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's:

edutcher said...
Mama, what made the Good Old Days for women is that they were worshipped by men.
Since then, they've never been happy. 
October 23, 2018 at 10:53 AM 
Amartel said...
These ARE the good old days! We're living alongside some weirdos but don't let that ruin it for you.
October 23, 2018 at 1:20 PM


I have told this story before...

...but here I go again. In 1931 or so my father was a member of a high school band that was one of a number of bands that got together for a massed band event at a stadium where the assembled multitude was conducted by none other than John Philip Sousa, the March King. That is both kind of a big deal and a small thing at the same time - he was conducted by Sousa, but he was one of a thousand players on the field that day. We had a similar thing when I was in band, but I can't even remember who conducted us - it damn sure wasn't Sousa, but there you go.

Anyway, later on, his band was in a contest, a battle of the bands as it were, and while they didn't win the big prize, they were recognized for playing Sousa's Liberty Bell March. Their tubular bell player was sick that day and there was no one able to fill in for him so the prize they won was the "No-Bell Prize", but they never spoke of it after that day.

I am still reading Mark Twain's complete works, and currently he is in Endor, which as Bible scholars know, is the site of Saul's big mistake and Samuel's appearance after he was deceased. Twain doesn't hold back when discussing the sites and towns and places in the middle east - they are all pretty much shitholes in his opinion, and Endor is rougher than most. Ugly mean people living in holes in the dirt, all dirt poor, so poor in fact they didn't even have Endor plumbing.



When I was young we used to go watch the Marine Band rehearse - of course that was so long ago that there weren't any chicks in the band. It sounds less manly now, somehow.


Edit - here is one I learned yesterday - Pasteurize in ASL: