News from Waterworld

In my area people have been driven to panic buying - there is no gasoline available, no bottled water, heck, I was just in the Wal*Mart and there wasn't a banana in the place. Yes, we have no bananas, I have never seen that before.

The eye of the storm will hit the coast later, as near as I can tell, and we just started getting rain from outer rain bands at 8:00 PM sharp. It is heavy rain but not steady.

My friends who live on a river down near the coast decided, after much hesitation, to leave their house which is a few blocks from the waterfront. They own a house right down the road and so we did some visiting and galavantin' and wood working and sittin' around visiting, which is what they call it around here. The weather was warm, a bit breezy, there were some clouds, even some blue sky visible. Not the worst hurricane I ever saw, that's for sure.

But the interesting part, at least to me about this storm's track is that rather than the initial forecast that it was going to run straight at us, it has looped south of us and then it will run west of us. At least that is the current projection. I am okay with that.

In any case, that's the first report from hurricane alley.

Last evening's sunset:

We went for a walk and my dog was keeping an eye out for a hurricane:

Afternoon sky:

Evening sky:

It's not even raining now, but then again, the storm has not yet come ashore.

More as conditions warrant.

It's a natural question.

The Last Confederate Widow Tells Nothing

I signed up for the free version of Ancestry.com, well, it will be free if I remember to cancel, but you know how that goes. I started out with known knowns, and have found a bit of new information in just a couple of hours. For instance, I now know the name of the woman holding onto my grandfather's arm in this picture - she is Lydia Lavenia Touchstone, widow of Amos Carson Hilton, late of the Mississippi 19th.

As near as I can tell, this picture was taken in 1942 as the country was gearing up for WWII. On the right side of the photo, in the back row, are my father's side of the family. They gathered at my maternal grandfather's house in Jackson, as people were concerned that life as they knew it was about to be altered drastically. They were correct. My mother's father, in the center of the front row, died in 1944. His mother lived to be 97 - I had no idea that anyone in our family ever lived so long. The things you learn along the way, eh? She outlived her husband and her son. Both of my older brothers got to meet her. What a long, interesting life she had.

Anyway, I met or knew 9 people in that picture, and as far as I know, only my cousin, the young girl in the front row, is still with us, if you consider living in Australia still with us.

I got to stay in that house a couple of times, but after my uncle pissed away his inheritance the house was lost to our family and was picked up and moved to a park in Jackson. The land around it was developed into a housing tract, no doubt with the word "Plantation" in its name. So it goes.

I wish I had met that dog - what a good looking animal.

Did someone say Jackson?

WKRLEM: Be true to your farts!

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linky

Lyrics after the jump

WKRLEM FM: Remember your history......or you are doomed to repeat it.

Bob Dylan cover: Don't Think Twice

link in case the video doesn't load

h/t: William

Neuroskeptic: "Mr. B kept Cash on his mind both day and night"

"A man developed a passionate love for the music of Johnny Cash after being implanted with a brain stimulation device. The unique story is told in a case report in the Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience journal, published on the 6th May."

The authors, Mariska Mantione and colleagues, describe the case of “Mr. B”, a 58 year old Dutch man who had suffered from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety since the age of 13.

Numerous medications and psychotherapy had failed to provide relief. So Mr B. was given deep brain stimulation (DBS) as a last resort treatment. The electrodes were placed in the nucleus accumbens.

It worked: his OCD and anxiety symptoms went down, down, down, so much so that he felt like his spirit was finally unchained:

Mr. B. reported he felt very confident, calm and assertive and he started to call himself “Mr. B. II”, the new and improved version of himself.

But it wasn’t just his symptoms that changed; his musical taste did too. Previously Mr B had been quite fond of the Rolling Stones, but he wasn’t really a big music lover. However,

…a half year after DBS surgery, Mr. B. stated that he was turning into a Johnny Cash fan. He had been listening to the radio, when he coincidentally heard “Ring of Fire” of the Country and Western singer and experienced that he was deeply affected by the song. Mr. B. started to listen to more songs of Johnny Cash and noticed that he was deeply moved by the raw and low-pitched voice of the singer

His appreciation for the Man in Black soon progressed from liking into devotion. Mr. B kept Cash on his mind both day and night (read more)

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Oceanside is now surrounded by 2 or 3 different wildfires. If the wind shifts, we'll be choking on smoke.

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For Janet (of Waco fame) and for Spinelli:

"Ne'er the twain shall meet"
~ have you ever been Kipled? 

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord

Sorry I Missed Your Birthday John

It was yesterday, and I just plain forgot.  I apologize.  You were born in 1932, right?  You'd have turned 84 yesterday and there would have been a big cake and a lot of friends calling and probably some television people with cameras and boom mikes jonesing around for a 3 minute interview for the evening news.  Your kids would have been there, and maybe the grandkids, too.  They'd all sing Happy Birthday To You and then make you blow out the candles on the cake.   But really, they'd want you to sing to them.

Just like you sang for everyone else all those years.

Get Rhythm (1956)

Released as the B side of his "I Walk The Line"

Lots of "blogger entendre" in the lyrics...