When A Person Is Precious

I described someone today -- searching for the right word -- as "precious," and the woman I was talking to, the daughter of the person being described, said, that was "the right word" to describe her with. Which made me feel good. I had those few seconds and could have blown it royally.

What "precious" means in this case is almost an intuitive leap. Someone off the beaten path yet with enough remaining style and eclat (that's a word, I think) and approachability to be "dear," yet maybe not so much as to be universally acclaimed as such.

I myself don't volunteer too much, but I try to give bursts of that sort of thing. Just don't hang around more than 10 seconds or it will either evaporate or wear thin. I detect it in others, but seldom enough that it's worth a comment.

Take a Loadoff

Are you tired, dead tired, feeling withdrawn, lacking the energy to go on?

Take a Loadoff.

Loadoff is non-habit forming, safe and effective, recommended by three out of four doctors. And the fourth doctor's a wreck.

BREAKING: Deputy and Two Dogs

I see a disconnect from what's important on CNN. They're showing a few minutes of a Joe Biden speech. He's telling a pleasant anecdote about himself and John McCain, then he starts getting fired up, attacking the Republicans with some red meat, and guess what --

We're breaking away at this point for a story about a deputy somewhere who may or may not have killed two dogs.

Let me make it perfectly clear, I'm not saying there's something wrong with our media and their priorities. But maybe the dog story belongs on Animal Planet. Just saying.

Six Months or Last Minute

This blog post raises an excellent point regarding McCain's vetting process for a vice presidential running mate.

John McCain clinched his party's nomination all the way back on March 4. He's had six months to carefully select and vet a running mate, and what did he do? He waited until the absolute last moment - until Obama made his move - and then acted in a purely reactionary fashion. He made his selection rashly, on a whim.

The man had six months to get the job done. And he waited until the absolute last minute to throw something together.

The blog post quoted was written by someone called "EarlG." EarlG states the case perfectly: McCain "made his selection rashly, on a whim."

John McCain has very bad judgment and is not fit to be President of the United States.

Skateboarding to the Left, to the Right

I should never have commented on the jumping skateboard boys. Now that I've commented, I'm seeing them everywhere. They're even vanishing on me!

Last night I came around the corner and there was a couple of boys doing the traditional skateboard straight-up jump, failing to make a nice landing, as usual. I got right to the garage, got my cell phone out, I was going to snap a picture of them through the garage window, and they were gone. Within 30 seconds! I went running to the front door and out. I looked up the street, down the street, across the street, and even over on a different street. But they had vanished. It was weird.

Since then, I saw another kid somewhere else today, doing the flipping into the air thing, without success. And lastly, so far lastly, I happened to be looking across the road and there was two more boys (or maybe it was one) flipping it into the air, then tipping it up at a 45 degree angle.

They're everywhere!

More Skateboarding

I chanced to observe another earnest kid, a teenager, working at his skateboard. Kind of hunching, hulking over it, his head down, eyes trained on the board, then doing his best to flip it up in the air, turn it over, or whatever.

It looked like an unsuccessful attempt, but I only could see one attempt while driving by.

Skateboarding

I saw something amazing today, something I'm glad I lived long enough to see. And in a way I saw it twice, but let's just go with the first one first:

I saw a kid on a skateboard who seemed to be using it as a means of transportation. That is, he was going from here to somewhere else, in a straight line, on a course that, if pursued, would get him there.

This is amazing for obvious reasons. As we all know, skateboards were apparently made for simply standing on and trying to flip over, or to jump curbs. That's about all you ever see anyway, kids endlessly trying and failing, trying and failing, then occasionally succeeding, to flip it over and remain upright.

The other incident -- and this isn't as rare -- was a kid on one of those two wheel skateboards, which must be fairly new -- new to me -- and he also was going from one place to another. But these look like they're designed more for getting around, and they look like they ride in a smoother way.

Later in the day, then, my normal sensibilities were restored, when I was driving along and saw a kid with a skateboard. He waited for me to pass, then I looked in the rearview mirror in time to see him standing on it and trying to flip it over. Of course he failed.

Gitmo: Nice Play to Live

Senility Alert #7452:

During a question-and-answer session with Walter Isaacson today, Sen. John McCain said Guantanamo Bay is “one of the nicest places in the world to live in.”

Let's see, a detention camp, barbed wire, a little cell, no way out... Yes, that sounds most pleasant.

Spiritual/Political Absurdities

We find it hard to believe these things are being discussed as though any of it makes any rational sense whatsoever:

John McCain's campaign ad "The One" has generated a lot of buzz regarding the "Left Behind Series." Political commentators are comparing McCain's portrayal of competitor Barack Obama with the blockbuster apocalyptic series' depiction of the antichrist. But even the series authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins don't think Obama is the antichrist. What may have been created as a farce has generated a firestorm of controversy on the internet.

"I can see by the language he uses why people think he could be the antichrist," adds LaHaye, "but from my reading of scripture, he doesn't meet the criteria. There is no indication in the Bible that the antichrist will be an American."

The article goes on to consider seriously the fictional Antichrist character of the "Left Behind" books, as though there could be any clue there about Obama. Look through history; the track record on identifying "the Antichrist" is so far a big fat zero.

This is simply stunning stuff for the ignorance of it all. If there's ever a book called "The Decline and Fall of the United States of America," by one of Gibbon's descendants, there will surely be a chapter on this kind of thing!

UPDATE: The actual truth, of course, is that Ronald Reagan faked his death, and is even now in an underground lair in California, directing world events. He is the true Antichrist, twisting knobs at a big media console, planting devious thought seeds in every enemy of the good. He wears a helmet sort of like the one Ming wears in Buck Rogers movies.

Horray for Mike Myers!

McCain featured Dana Carvey and Mike Myers in a scene from Wayne's World ("We're not worthy") in one of his scurvy ads.

Myers' people called and threatened McCain with legal action unless they took it down. They did, and released an edited version.

What really is wrong with this twerp, McCain? Can't he be a serious candidate, and let us know his serious plans for the country? What positive reason would anyone have to vote for him? He's simply worthless in every way.

Horray for Mike Myers! Except if I have the bucks these guys have, I don't threaten, know what I mean?

Cokie Roberts Thinks Hawaii is "Foreign"

A tip of the hat to "Hope Reborn's" diary at Daily Kos, with some great pictures.

John McCain has been trying to paint true American Barack Obama as "foreign," and now he's getting some help from Cokie Roberts. Obama was born in Hawaii and went there for his vacation. He has family there. She calls this a bad move, because Hawaii is "foreign."

So, one of the United States is actually foreign? 50 states, right? 50 stars on the flag, right? All about the same size? Not 49 regular stars and one tiny one with an asterisk. This is absurd.

"Hope Reborn" has some great pictures, videos, and things, including one of a memorial to Pearl Harbor. You might recall, Pearl Harbor wasn't "foreign" in 1941. We went to war right after it was attacked.

Cokie, such a tool.

First to Know

I'm going to be "the first to know" who Sen. Obama chooses to be his running mate. True story.

Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign -- choosing a running mate.

You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.

This is going to be exciting, I hope. I'll be walking around with this knowledge and everyone will be going, "So who was it?" But of course I can keep a secret, so my lip's zipped.

If I ever choose to reveal it to the world, please check back here because this is where I will post it, if I ever do.

Or, I guess -- and this won't be as fun for me -- you can click the link and also be the "first to know."

8-8-8

How big a deal is 08-08-08? I guess it isn't really a big deal.

Unless Nostradamus said something about it. Did he?

It's just a nice coming together of digits, with several arbitrary elements. But it's OK. Eight has to be one of the fattest feeling numbers, plump on the bottom, equally plump on top. It's a very feminine number, the curvy look. What other things could be said for it? It seems like the number of "too much" or "an added bonus." If you think of seven as the number of completion -- which is the way it's referred to a lot -- eight is one more, therefore a bonus.

You can roll in on all eights, flip 'em over and roll back out!

The Polyphonic Spree

Have you ever heard the song, "Section 10 (A Long Day)" by The Polyphonic Spree?

I had never heard it before, and was listening to the album while writing a blog post. Since I'm basically concentrating on writing that -- the article "I'm Withholding Judgment," on John Edwards having or maybe not having a love child -- I'm not paying strict attention to this track playing in my earbuds.

It's fine as background, then I start to notice that it's going on for a while, and that it's a lot of prolonged, mechanical sounding tones played without a lot of variance and melody. So I look at the CD cover and it's timed at 36:30! That's interesting.

There's like 26 or 29 people in this group, but I don't think they all had a part in this track.

It doesn't sound like a track for listening to if you're just listening to songs. But if you're doing something else, it's kind of a nice! I heard the whole thing, which might not happen that often.

McCain AWOL Since April, Wants Congress to "Work"

Let's see, if you're a senator who hasn't been at your job in Congress literally since last April, and it's now August, maybe you're the last guy who should be insisting that Congress get back to work!

The Next Cheney

The Democratic party is getting ready for John McCain's veep pick. There's a website in advance of the announcement, called "The Next Cheney."

Included there is a rogue's gallery of some of the possibilities. Whether any of them would ever live down to Dick Cheney's abysmal standards, I hope we never have to find out. It's a scary prospect, though, something best left to stories told around the bonfire at Halloween.

And speaking of Halloween, there's an interesting quote over there that really just about puts the last nail in the coffin of whatever was left alive of McCain's judgment. "With a little more luck, I might have been able to ask you to be my Vice-President." — John McCain to Dick Cheney, 10/23/01.

Please join me in a horrified cry: "God forbid that John McCain ever becomes president!"

Don't falme me pleas

That's funny, a pathetic little nothing of a diary, by Joan Evan.

But this part makes it worthwhile, a true LOL moment:

"Don't falme me pleas"

Merry Christmas

Well, it's August! So let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas.

It is a blessed time of year, certainly, and it revives the ancient hope that all of us have, of "Peace on Earth, good will toward men."

And it also has its fun side -- no big secret there -- since most of us have great memories of what we're going to get, what Santa has put in our little sock, and of the family meal and gathering. And who can forget visions of sugarplums?

May all the joy of the holidays be yours this year, from my family to yours! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Pray at the Pump

Here's one for the ages, folks holding prayer services at St. Louis gas stations thanking God for lower gas prices and praying that they'll go lower. Those who pray at the pump also sing "We Shall Overcome," putting in this new verse, "We'll have lower gas prices."

Is this what the spiritual life is all about? LOL. Praying for lower gas prices, even at the pump itself?

Hey, since prayer is being treated as such a frivolous thing, I have a request. Anyone watch All My Children? Please pray that things will work out for Greenlee and Aiden. There's some contention now with Greenlee hearing that Ryan still loves her, and it really could go either way.

This Is Your Brain on Hope

Cute one from MoveOn.org. Effective, too, I think.

Is This Old Dweeb Even Trying?

Hey, I know what it is to have trouble with short term memory. The other day I fed my cats, got distracted and did it wrong. We have their dry food in a plastic container. But I somehow put the plastic container itself where their food goes and the food wasn't there for them to eat. I quickly caught the error before the cats starved, thank goodness.

But even I wouldn't forget having used the word "timetable" just the day before if I happened to be a candidate for President of the United States and that was a particularly big issue, as it is this year. I want to be gracious and not call McCain a liar (at this minute anyway). So what is the problem? Just confused? Or something worse? An old man with no memory?

Albums I Think Are Exciting

Qkumba Zoo - Wake Up & Dream -- This is one I got at a garage sale a week ago on Saturday. It was a quarter. It also was marked "Not For Sale" so it was a promo copy. How the folks at the garage sale got it, I don't know. It wasn't a group I'd ever heard of, but for a quarter I'm usually in the mood to take a chance. I haven't heard the entire thing, but parts of it I've heard several times. I love it. It has a world vibe going on, some foreign tribal words in it of some derivation. And some beautiful vocals and exotic tunes. The first several songs are the ones I'm familiar with to some extent. They are very catchy and dreamy, including one called "The Child (Inside)." Very nice song. All of them are quite cool, but this is a very neat one. The group on the cover has a weird, eclectic look, strange hairstyles and all quite exotic.

Roxette - Joyride -- I've been listening to this one almost constantly. I got the CD "Look Sharp" at Goodwill sometime in the last couple months. I listened to it so much that it's hard to believe, because it's great right straight through. So I ordered this one, Joyride, and it's also great right straight through. Some of the songs have a very exciting guitar presence. There's something about some of Roxette's intros -- on Look Sharp and Joyride both -- that remind me of the intro to "Last Train to Clarksville." There's a lot of very nice guitar stuff going on. Then there's the vocals, so sweet. The title song is an exciting one, which is lovable from the first listen. "Hotblooded," I'm thinking it's a cover song, but it's not. She's "hotblooded, baby," and that's good. The other songs -- there's some slow ones, but OK. "Soul Deep" is another title that is recycled, but it's a completely different song. This is a fast one, with a soul vibe. Exciting song. "The Big L" is an exciting song too, love and lust. The last song, "Perfect Day" is a slow one, a thoughtful song to wind up the album. As on Look Sharp, in a way, although, "Listen to My Heart" isn't quite as mellow. To me, and I haven't charted it out, I hear echoes of the Beatles in the album Joyride. Nothing too blatant, but some of the phrasing, such as in "Joyride," the word "joyrider" reminds me of Day Tripper. There's also lyrics including "no reply" and "hiding away," and just some sounds that hint at the Beatles without coming right out and saying it. Anyway, this and Look Sharp are both fantastic albums.

My Cell Phone Drowned

I'm very careful with keeping water, coffee, liquids out of electronics. I remember when keyboards were new and expensive, the place I worked they were strict about not getting your coffee near the keyboard.

When it comes to my phone, I'm very careful as well. But since you're expected to carry it around all the time -- through many bumps and travails -- all kinds of things can happen to it. It's there, then it isn't because you've forgotten it somewhere.

One day in the winter I had gone somewhere and returned to the place we were staying. And a couple hours later I went to check my phone and it wasn't there. So I retraced my steps, which led to the car, and guess what -- the phone was lying in the middle of the street! It was a cul-de-sac and has little traffic, and there was a car right across from my car, so any car that happened through there would've had to straddle my phone. It was winter, as I said, and cold, so for a while that day my phone was very sluggish. But it recovered.

Then the other day I went to get a pizza. I called the pizza place a few minutes before I got there to order. And I thought I put the phone on the seat, but maybe I put it on my lap. Just before I got there it took off with a huge downpour, raining. So when I got to the pizza place, I jumped out of the car and went running in. I'm standing in there and felt down for my phone and it wasn't there, so I thought it was on the car seat. When I got the pizza, 10 minutes or so later, I went running back to the car in the torrential rain, and there was my phone, lying in a puddle, getting soaked to the bone.

I picked it up of course, but it never worked from that point on. I dried it out, took it apart, etc., but nothing could bring it back from the dead. So I had to go get a new one.

They're so hard to keep track of entirely. It's a regular job to keep a cell phone from getting lost or destroyed.

Bush: "A Total Failure"

Nancy Pelosi, bless her heart, in an interview with CNN, had some interesting things to say about President Bush:

"You know, God bless him, bless his heart, the president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject."

She also said the Congress was busy "trying to sweep up after (Bush's) mess over and over and over again ... The president knows it. He needs something to talk about. Because he has no ideas."

Every once in a while someone says something that boils down the argument to just a few words, and puts the truth out there in as plain a way as it deserves. This is one of those times.

Full of G-nats

I went for a dog walk in the park tonight, and the park was full of g-nats. I'm adding a G there because that was our conversation. You hear of people dropping their g's, but gnat has an added g even though it's silent.

I walked into at least one cloud of g-nats, which makes your hands do this Kali swatting. It's crazy. They're like a swarm, buzzing in many directions yet maintaining a sort of pulsating ball. When you walk into it, you might expect them to buzz up an extra three feet, but no.

So you're walking into their tightly knit ball, then they're running headlong into your head. It seems like this would disrupt whatever harmony exists in their buzzing and loose adherence to the swarm. Whether they're able to go back to their orbits and courses, only God and scientists know.

The other bit of interesting buggery was all the lightning bugs, blinking out some kind of mating code. "I'm here, my butt's yellow, I'm ready, my dear." Could it be nothing but a mating call? Or are they indicating their presence for some other purpose? None that's discernible to the casual onlooker.

Then apart from the lightning bugs -- obvious as they are -- and the clouds of g-nats -- obvious also, once you're in their epicenter -- there are the random zaps to the head or the ear of some extraneous bug dwelling apart from the pack, or flying in a more subtle pack, perhaps like geese, in a V. Whap, one hits my head and you swat at nothing.

McCain Tackled on Football Story

It's nice to see this guy get busted on something...

Here's McCain, traveling around, telling the same story about his POW days, and substituting whatever the local football team happens to be for the benefit he can get by buttering up the local folks.

Here's one story on all this phoniness. McCain's telling a moving story about his time as a POW: "When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the pressures, physical pressures on me, I named the starting lineup, defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates." (My emphasis.) OK, that's definite, the Pittsburgh Steelers. That would be in Pennsylvania, as I understand it, not Wisconsin. A team that is called the Steelers, if my ability to see is working, and not the Packers of Green Bay. One starts with an S and the other with a P. There would appear to be no confusing the various distinctions here.

But wait, what is this? McCain is recycling a story already published in a book? Maybe a book like J. Peterman's, with some great stories he bought from Kramer? And in his book, he's recounting the story of his interrogators in Vietnam: "Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron." (My emphasis.) Is this sinking in? The Green Bay Packers offensive line, not the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line. Two teams, two different lines, one with an O and one best represented with a D and a Fence.

Ha ha ha.

ABC News now has an update, as McCain has slithered out of whatever hole he lives in to correct the record: "And the McCain campaign just told ABC News that the senator made a mistake -- it was, indeed, the Packers." The senator made a mistake. Writing over there, Jake Tapper says, "McCain's valor as a P.O.W. is beyond admirable, but this business of substituting the Steelers for the Packers is odd, though as I said, the McCain campaign says this was an honest mistake."

Honest mistake, that's funny. Too bad the media didn't bend over backwards for Kerry like this!

It's obvious that he figured he could go to various towns and just substitute whatever team in the story. If this would have gone unchecked, there's no doubt he would've soon been here locally, praising every team, even our local junior varsity team, saying back in Vietnam when interrogated he claimed their members as his "squadron." "Yes, as I recall, there was little Jimmy Smith at tackle, Bobby Hagen the kicker, and Craig Swartz quarterback. And Mr. Anderson from the locker was their coach. That was a big year. I believe they scored that year, an accidental safety."

McCain Wants to Kill Iranians -- He's Joking

I'm interested in humor, as in those times when you're "joking" and you say what you really mean to say. In this case -- with John McCain -- someone mentions cigarettes and Iranians and his first thought is "Maybe this is a way of killing them." It sounds like what he actually would like to do.

Uncommon Sense

Blog on politics, pointing out the various absurdities that is the John McCain campaign. Such as kicking out the woman with the "McCain=Bush" sign when presumably Bush is someone McCain likes and wants to be more like.

Uncommon Sense.

Animist for Spare Change

Just a blog to note. "Animist for Spare Change."

It looks like a good effort to me. "The unlikeliest poet from Ulan Bator also attempting inconsistencies - prose, thoughts, absurd, and whatever." By Ramakrishnan Parthasarathy.

Lay Off The Nigerians!

In the article about John McCain still hating the "gooks" of Vietnam, even 40 years later, there's this question by someone: "If Sen. McCain had been captured by Nigerians, could he call those people 'niggers' and think he wasn't going to offend everyone who is black?" That question is asked by Guy Aoki, president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, an anti-defamation group.

To which I say, hey, Mr. Aoki, lay off the Nigerians. The Nigerians have been very very good to me. In fact just the other day a wealthy chieftain died, leaving his fortune to someone who happened to have my email address. Even now we're in communications -- the Nigerian beneficiary, myself, and my bank -- to forward a sizable handling fee overseas so that I can receive some of the inheritance, a pretty hefty payoff, I might add. It's in the high seven figures, meaning millions.

Does McCain Have Issues?

McCain is still calling the North Vietnamese "gooks"?

"I hate the gooks," McCain said. "I will hate them as long as I live."

The article I linked to says "gook" was first used in 1899 by American soldiers fighting Filipino insurgents. In the Korean War, it was aimed at Koreans and Chinese. Then against the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Now it's seen as a slur toward any Asian or Pacific Islander.

McCain was tortured in Vietnam.

Now, 40 years later, he still hates "gooks." Which might bring up the question of what people around the world think of America when we torture others. But, hey, forgive me for bringing up the obvious.

Random Acts of Interruption

Do you like guys who just come up to you and start talking? I don't mind it, really, and am actually fascinated by it.

Myself, I'm definitely not one of those guys. I'm like a social ninja -- you don't know I'm there and you don't know I've gone. I'm in -- with a beeline for the punchbowl -- I'm out. I prefer to keep my eyes averted and not to say too much.

But I'd like to have a "collection," some kind of "scrapbook" of these guys who occasionally come up to me and start talking. If I could do it, you know, it could be like my mother, who used to pin live butterflies to her curtains. They're up there flapping till they die, which could take months. (Wow, that was a terrible thing she did!)

I've had two close encounters lately that stick out in my mind. I only want to mention the most recent one, since he appeared sane enough. I'm at Subway, and the guy behind me is wondering what the $5 subs are. He's not really asking me, but I point him to the list, being a nice guy.

That's all the opportunity he needs. Now he's asking me if I know how Subway got their start, and he's explaining it. It seems there was a guy on his lunch break in New York one time, who brought various sandwich ingredients to his job. Then someone wanted to buy a sandwich from him. The next day he did the same thing. And before long that was all he did, made and sold sandwiches. According to my guy, that's why the Subway stores all have New York wallpaper!

I'm nodding, saying "Huh!," and making other appreciative noises as I make my way for the door, leaving him alone with the young lady working there.

How to Write a Great Poem...Maybe

Here's point by point how to do it.

It's kind of like Mad Libs, only you have to fill in everything.

20 steps that starts with 1) Begin the poem with a metaphor, and ends with 20) Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that "echoes" an image from earlier in the poem. Check out the link for the points in the middle!

Crazy Grandpa McCain Sees Conspiracy

Put away the blunderbuss, ma, Grandpa's on the warpath!

Of course we're referring to everyone's crazy Grandpa this year, John McCain. You know, he served in the military. Of course you know. There's no family mealtime that can go by without Grandpa McCain boring us kids with all his escapades. He fought the Vietnamese single-handed. He personally killed Hitler. He was there at Versailles. And he not only shot the first shot in the Civil War but the last one!

Ma looks over at us kids and gives us a dirty look. That means we sit up extra straight and look at Grandpa McCain while he's talking. But even he has his limits, and eventually he can tell we're not that into it. We want to go out to play, and he says, "Oh, go on, get out of here, you little rascals!" He fought the war for the likes of us, and this is the thanks he gets. We don't want to hear about carpet bombing villages while we're trying to eat. I can look down at my mashed potatoes and gravy and see a little lake, even an ocean, and I can see Grandpa going down, his plane demolished, him climbing up the hill, standing there at the top -- it's mashed potatoes, go on, eat them!

But now he's out on the campaign trail. And he's seeing the enemy everywhere. Nothing gets by his eagle eye. Whether it's Barack Obama, Jim Webb, Wesley Clark -- whether they served or not, they're all a bunch of scoundrels -- scalawags, like us kids. That darned eagle eye of his, you can't get away. He'll call you on it! It's all he wants to talk about.

I remember some other family warriors. My uncles -- you couldn't get them to talk about the war. Hardly. They'd rather just let it go. They didn't have much to say. That's probably the way it should be. But this is everything there is to Grandpa's life.

Religious Liberal

A religious liberal blog, good one.

http://religiousliberal.blogspot.com/

Visiting Graves

I was talking to someone today who was telling me about a colorful individual (and his wife) from years gone by. Someone in my town. No one I personally knew but I've heard the name a few times in conversations.

So I said, "Is he buried around here?" And she told me where he was buried and just the sketchiest details of how to get there.

Later then I was in the area of the cemetery and decided to buzz in and see if I could see his grave. Driving slowly, looking, without getting out at this point. Don't see it... Then later, somewhere else in the cemetery, I wanted to get out and check out this other person's grave, and finally, larger than life was a big tombstone with the last name of the guy I was originally looking for.

It didn't do me much good, though, because it was just the last name, both sides of the tombstone. And I glanced around and didn't see any individual tombstones that would match up with the family in question. So I don't know where my person is buried precisely.

But someday, someday, I'll take the time and scout it out. I don't know why I want to see his grave exactly. Maybe it's just when I hear of someone colorful like that, it's a kind of personal connection to at least stand there where their remains are for a few minutes.

Classic Rock Society

Link to a music site with lots of information, concerning classic rock recordings, groups, news. In the UK. Points to various legal downloads or links for listening to tracks posted by the groups themselves.

http://theclassicrocksociety.blogspot.com/

John McCain Didn't Love America

The Daily Snipe

Does it seem that the McCain campaign is doing nothing but sniping at every little thing? Each day when we get the news, it consists of the same thing: Obama has done or said something, and McCain criticizes it, whatever it is.

Whether it's how he finances his campaign, who his advisers are, what he says about terrorism, what he has for lunch -- it's something for McCain to gripe about, whine about, and to act offended over.

As for financing Obama's campaign, McCain's gripe is that Obama made some sort of 'solemn pledge' to tie one hand behind his back. The 'solemn pledge,' of course, was no such thing, and whatever it really was, it was all contingent on negotiations and certain understandings. But throughout the campaign thus far, McCain has mucked around with his financing to the point that whatever integrity it may have started out with (may have started out with), it's long gone, evaporated, floated away...McCain is simply trying to force parity in the money they have to spend. It's transparent and pathetic.

So McCain has to try to score points by acting offended, acting the aggrieved party to a 'solemn pledge,' i.e., just posturing and lying. (Haven't we had enough of liars for the last eight years? I know I have.)

The truth is Obama is going to get more contributions than McCain. But it's a lot of smaller contributions, which as far as I can tell is public financing. Duh.

I can't stand McCain -- that ought to be obvious. But he would be a lot more tolerable if he were running a positive campaign. Stick to the issues and quit the daily carping, the daily sniping.

Old Time Radio

Here's a place that looks like it links to lots of archives of Old Time Radio shows, mp3s of episodes of shows from way back, '30s, '40s, '50s.

Calf Killer Old Time Radio.

I have quite a few OTR shows, burnt on discs some years ago. I never listen to them, but I know they'd be good. I tend to drift. Some are not great quality, but some are very clear. There are thousands of episodes out there of detective stories, mystery stories, horror stories, and comedies that you may never have dreamt existed.

One of my favorites, back when I was listening to them, was a show called "Diary of Fate." And, hey, sure enough, there's a link off to a directory of this show's episodes. There's only 25-some episodes, identified by the name of the main character of that episode.

The premise of "Diary of Fate" is that Fate (that inexorable force behind everything) is personified, and reviewing a big book that has the life stories of various individuals. He has a slightly sinister, satisfied-about-it voice when he does these reviews. Each review is an episode of someone who did something terribly wrong. Perhaps it could've been avoided, perhaps they might not have gotten caught, "but for a little thing." Fate says that a lot, "It was a little thing." Such as a happenstance visit, a red light at an inopportune moment, a phone call that delays you, etc. And in the episodes it's these "little things" that Fate uses to seal their fate!

A common premise would be trying to get rich by killing someone in the way. But the little things pile up and next thing you know...their life's down the drain! It's a good show.

Calf Killer has lots of links, and some of these shows I recognize as ones I have. The "Adventures By Morse" link doesn't go anywhere live, and I only tested a couple links.

As far as I know, they're public domain, either that or they're so forgotten that no one cares.

Memory and Rhetoric

Flip that around, Rhetoric and Memory!

I don't know that I can sum up this blog adequately. It is scholarly, concerned with bibliographies, quotes, papers, and projects involving rhetoric, memory, and education, with an apparent interest in African America, Latino, women's, and LGTB studies.

Forgive me if I'm wrong!

True Hauntings of America

If you like ghost stories and haunted places, here's a blog worth checking out: Haunts of America.

They've got some kind of flash thing going on there, so it won't allow my computer to copy anything. But the stories look interesting and well-researched.

I saw one on a haunting at a reformatory in Ohio. I was trying to clip a piece, but couldn't do it. It spoke of negative energy in the chapel. Maybe the negative energy has affected the site.

Dog Yoga

Blog: Barking Buddha Doga

Appears to be a worthy pursuit. I'm not sure of the concept, but my imagination tells me certain things about it, the relaxing qualities of dogs and other animals.

My own dog is always up for a nap. There seems to be a nap radar built in. If she detects a nap coming up, she's right there against the back of my legs. I can usually fall asleep pretty fast, but with the dog curled up there, it's a matter of a few minutes.

If that's not the concept of that particular blog, then so be it. There are other good things that would pertain to the subject of dogs.

Monasticism.Blogspot

Blog. The musings of Fr. Peter-Michael Preble.

Pastor of St. Michael's Orthodox Church of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese.

Posts on religion, religious issues, politics, and quite a few posts in his archive.

The First Person to Jump Off the Brooklyn Bridge

The first person to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge was Robert Odlum, a swimming teacher from Washington, at 5:45 PM, May 19th, 1885. Here's the rest, a post at Reflections From the End of the Night.

Byzigenous Buddhapalian

Blog to check out.

Miscellaneous spiritual, aesthetic, cultural, and political explorations by a world citizen.

Would appear to have a Democratic point of view, anti-McCain point of view, meaning intelligent.

Lots of interesting things, lots of links to other blogs.

My only negative is it has more pictures of buildings than I want to see. So probably some architectural interests as well.

Lots of Good Looking Stuff

PIGLIPSTICK.

Politics, culture, videos, liberal point of view, anti-Bush, intelligent, lots of graphics, interesting videos and things. Check it out.

Bush on Clinton and Obama

George Bush weighed in Friday on the Democratic candidates in an interview with an Italian journalist.

"I thought it was a really good statement, powerful moment when a major political party nominates an African-American man to be their standard bearer. And it's good for our democracy that that happened. And we also had a major contender being a woman. Obviously Hillary Clinton was a major contender. So I think it's a good sign for American democracy."

This is the kind of thing our pathetic president should have been saying over the years. He's been such a partisan hack, so oblivious to the notion that he's the president of the entire country, that you just don't expect to hear anything of graciousness or a sense of things coming from his lips.

One of my biggest objections to Bush is that he chose to go it alone, not caring for the rest of us.

Kino No Tabi

There is a world. You can't think of it as Japan or America or anywhere really that you've been.

This book is book one of "The Beautiful World." By Keiichi Sigsawa. First published 2000, Media Works, Tokyopop. This one, English translation, published 2006. Marketed to teens, young adult fiction.

It has episodes in the life of Kino, a young woman, and Hermes, her motorcycle. Hermes has a consciousness, talks, and is an actual character throughout.

Kino travels and stays in countries, or cities, for three days tops. She didn't always travel. When she was just about grown up, an old man came to her town, and stayed with her family. His name was Kino. He questioned the customs of their country, which included having a physical operation when you were 12, making you a grown-up. He assembles the motorcycle from the scrapheap.

Kino leads Kino-to-be to question this growing up business, a serious thing there. In the process he's killed, then they're coming at her with the knife, she gets on the motorcycle and leaves home. Doesn't call, doesn't write.

From there on, the book gets going. These episodes take her to various countries, like her own country, each with some peculiar ways. There's a city that has one survivor in it, because in the process of governing, everyone else got killed. So it's a functioning city with massive graveyards. There's a country of competing cities, who have overcome war between themselves, but this is won by keeping a common enemy in the middle, and periodically going out to massacre them. The book ends up with a city (country) where you compete for citizenship in a series of personal battles, more or less to the death.

Kino and Hermes have conversations, they rest and relax, there's some humor.

Everything seems to be making some statement, about government, the choices we make, mass behavior, personal awareness, and so on. There's one episode that reads like a real parable. Some guys working for 50 years but separately. Something like this: One is polishing railroad tracks, one is dismantling the tracks, and he's followed by another putting the tracks in place.

Kino is tough. She carries two guns, one a more conventional gun which can be shot over and over. And one that has a liquid 'bullet,' which needs careful preparation, good for one shot.

The book reads in a light, breezy way. The customs are so bizarre -- but really, if we could detach ourselves from our own customs, we could see that some of them approach or reach absurdity as well.

The story continues on beyond this book, as the cover says there is an eight-volume series. A piece of the back cover blurb says, "a critique on the inherent beauty of imperfection, oscillates between philosophical and winsome, while remaining consistently and overwhelmingly imaginative."

John and The Amazing Monochromatic Backdrop

As someone who studies and consults on the psychological effects of color for a living -- I consult for big bucks; you know the color of the sky, blue? That was me -- I found the image of John McCain's pale white head against the solid green background last night very nice, very nice indeed.

There's something about the color green that is suggestive. Obviously, we use it as a color suggesting the environment. Some places of course it wouldn't literally pertain, but that's beside the point. Also, green is the color of our money. You can look at the graphic there and if you were to squint at it and picture it a little larger horizontally, you can see John McCain's suggestion. That he's like other great presidents. A presidential head in the center of money. It's a very prosperous color in that regard. Seriously, draw an oval around him, and you've got a rival for Franklin on the hundred.

Now, since the speech, some have made light of the setting. You've got Barack Obama (booo!!!) surrounded by a sea of admiring supporters, full of life, bouncing to the beat, buoyed by their glad spirits, a sea of color in amazing liveliness. Color, all the colors in a rich, glad harmony, a happy profusion that really was kaleidoscopic, memorable, exciting. And not just the people -- blacks, whites, browns, young, old, Orientals -- but their signs, and clothing, all bobbing and waving with high energy, and all the breathtaking flashiness you can imagine. Clearly disgusting. And then you have John McCain (yaaay!!), much more humble than Obama, a man who decided on a color (green) and stuck with it, not trying to be flashy, not trying to show off his supporters, several scattered out in a small hall. Because McCain knows where the focus needs to be, on the man himself running for office. The crowd is anonymous, and should not be part of the equation. No one's voting for them.

Seriously, I was enthusiastic for McCain's presentation, but I had one beef. My biggest criticism is the way McCain was framed during the speech, that they didn't have a tight enough shot of his head. The green was good, but it should have been just at the edges, with his face filling up most of the screen. People like a president who's close, very close to them. But we need to find the positives with what we have. He filled up the screen adequately, he managed a brave smile when it seemed appropriate, his thin, remaining white hair appeared to be nicely in place. He went along with the flow, a comfortable, meandering flow.

If I were consulting for the McCain campaign, I'd counsel them to get rid of the crowd all together. Too distracting! With silence, the viewing audience can concentrate more on the content. Keep the single green background -- that's good -- but go in for a very tight shot on his head. Have him pause longer between sentences. It would make the tone seem more serious, which you want in a president. As for the smiles, what he's doing is good. But one suggestion: try for harmony. Such as look left, smile. Speak three sentences. Look right, smile. A pattern like that will keep the audience at home engaged and pleased. He says "my friends" a lot. That's also good. But have him add adjectives to spice it up, such as "my dearest friends," "my treasured friends," and "best friends forever."

As far as further analysis of the color, hmm, what more can I say? Yes, I'm a consultant, but what else is there? I think I mentioned it was green. Let's see, checklist here, green with some white print, white hair, pale skin, and some darkness in his suit. All looks real good, very good.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Term

Underground Reads

Interesting concept, a guy in New York asking strangers on the subway what they're reading. Then he posts the results to this blog, Underground Reads. That sounds like it could be very mundane as well as very interesting.

The blogger, named Garth, is an English teacher at High School for Public Service in Brooklyn, and also a writer.

One of his posts involves the book pictured, and Garth gives this report:

Manhattan bound 2 Train, Winthrop to Grand Army Plaza Jackie felt caught with "trash." As soon as I asked her if we could discuss her book, she started laughing. She was reading The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Kinsella. "It's an escape," she called her experience of reading the book, which was recommended by a friend. "It's about a woman who quits her job as a lawyer a job as a house keeper, even though she can't cook and clean."

So, if you don't want to be caught with trash, don't read where this guy might be lurking!

Spiritual Technology For A New Aeon

An interesting looking blog, Augoeides, Spiritual Technology for a New Aeon.

By a guy, who says, "I am a Thelemite and ritual magician who has been practicing for more than 25 years. I have a degree in experimental psychology from Saint Olaf College, a well-regarded Lutheran school that has a surprisingly good collection of Aleister Crowley's work, and have been involved in Ordo Templi Orientis since 1995 and Masonry since 1997. In the mundane world, I have worked as a software developer since 1992."

First thing I see, looks like he thinks meditation is simple and right-there-already for you. Instead of having to pay out big bucks to get started What follows is a quote:

1. Sit comfortably with your spine straight. Cross-legged is fine, Lotus is better if you can do it - but don't wreck your knees.


2. Pick a mantra, a simple sound that you can repeat over and over again. The classic "AUM" will work fine for this.


3. Close your eyes and begin repeating the mantra.


4. Do this for twenty minutes every day.

"Now aren't you glad you read this blog? If you're interested in trying out the technique I just saved you $2500!"

That's a refreshing approach (getting back to me, end of his quote).

I see magick, witchcraft, Llelwellyn stuff, Beliefnet, Thelema (hate to say, I've heard of that but have no idea what it is,) Kabbalah, mysticism.

Naked Covers

Wow, cool, the White Album for books.

I saw this story at the Joseph Likes blog.

Penguin is publishing some books with blank covers, so the reader can draw his or her own cover.

I like the idea a lot!

Let's keep books around, and not let anything happen to them.

George W. Bush -- A Mistake

Louis is on the right track with his new blog, George Bush: A Mistake. "My goal is to convince the Republicans to vote for Democrats, and anyone else to go for Democrats," which is a worthy goal.

I would put this blog in the category of "It shouldn't be necessary for an ordinary citizen to have to do this, because the obvious should be obvious to everyone." But the feeling is real -- why can people (media, whoever, lifelong Republicans) not see this?

You have to wonder about people sometime. If they were bit by a snake a hundred times, would they still reach in the hole and say, "Nothing bit me." In other words, it's best to recognize what's going on with our government, and vote for change.

I Feel Like...

...you feel when you think you're late for a meeting, or have missed a class, or worse, have missed a final exam. Like when you sleep in, the alarm doesn't work, you wake up and realize there's no way you can make it where you need to be.

It's disconcerting. But there aren't any meetings, any appointments, anything I can think of.

John McCain Still Young

This year the Democrats have been making "hay" out of John McCain's age. Without exception, they have been saying that he is too old, that he should be younger.

To their objection we chime in: A man has no say-so over when he is born. This is a matter rightly left up to his parents. From time immemorial it has ever been such, and, despite political caviling, we feel that we can state with confidence and clarity it shall ever be!

We wish to state our own opinion today, that there is nothing wrong with John McCain's age. We declare, also with confidence, that he can still be a fine president -- a great president -- no matter when he was born. And history proves our case.

I believe we can all agree on this one fact, that John McCain was born in 1936. In our everyday way of thinking, that's quite a ways back. The car had been invented by then but not much else.

1936! They say, "How in the world can anyone serve as president who was born in 1936?" I've heard it over and over, and as one who is sick and tired of hearing it, I feel I can speak for others who would say they also are sick and tired of hearing it.

Let's turn to the book. What does history teach us? Our first president, George Washington, was born in 1732¹. Our second president, John Adams, was born in 1735². In fact, the first twelve presidents were all born in the 1700s³. Right on the face of it you can see that if they were all born that long ago, there should be no problem with McCain's relatively recent birth year of 1936.

There have been numerous great presidents. Our history is a proud one, whether it has been a time of peace and plenty or of war and bloodshed. Troubles have at time run rampant over our land and the world, but it was at those times that presidents have stood the test and have brought us through. But were they not "too old" to get the job done? Not at all. Abraham Lincoln, one of our better-known presidents, was born in 1809⁴. He wasn't too old, was he?

Lincoln was preceded by Fillmore and Pierce, both born in the 1800s⁵, and they were followed by numerous others, including two born in the same year, Grant and Hayes in 1822⁶. (This coincidence was apparently not a problem.) So, being born in the 1800s was not an automatic disqualifier back then and it should not be now.

When we come to the 20th century, we might assume that every "modern" president was born in the 1900s. But that would be an assumption that should not make rashly, for the very simple reason that it would be wrong. In fact, several of our presidents in the 20th century were also born in the 1800s⁷. These include Theodore Roosevelt, born as far back as 1858⁸! The great Democratic president who led us in World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt himself, was born in the 1800s, in 1882⁹. To us, that is aged, and factoring in his handicap, he had some strikes against him. But FDR declared his generation the Greatest Generation, then set out to prove it so.

That brings us to the 1900s. We had presidents born in the 1900s starting with John F. Kennedy. He was born in 1917¹⁰. Ronald Reagan in 1911¹¹. Up through President George H.W. Bush (1924¹²), all of our presidents were born before John McCain.

The case has been made. The facts have been gleaned, sorted through, and presented. The year a man was born has never been a disqualifier for the highest office in the land, and it should not be now. John McCain, born as we said in 1936, could still make an excellent president. We say this based primarily on his merits, a matter of opinion. But we say it also based on the inarguable principle of precedent. Others -- many others -- born earlier than John McCain -- have served as president with great distinction. Now -- today -- this is no time to declare it otherwise.

¹ Borgna Brunner, editor-in chief, Time Almanac 2004, Needham, MA, 2003, p. 112.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Ibid.

Graduation

Is there anything more boring than graduation? Let me run through a few possibilities, then dismiss them: 1) Watching barbers give haircuts; 2) Waiting for charcoal to get white; 3) Listening to Mitch Miller records; 4) Interstates. No, all those things are more interesting than graduation.

Fortunately, I don't have to go to any graduations this year. The only thing I like about graduation is hearing its theme song, "Pomp and Circumstance." It's perhaps the most perfect endless song. It just keeps shuffling along as long as people are shuffling in. One year I sat in a position where I had a great view of the band. The band conductor keeps them going through the generations and cycles of that song's duration. But with the last kid, the one who's name starts with Zzzz, the band members' eyes jump down to the big final finish, and they carry out the song's ultimate destiny and it is resolved.

One other year I was smart enough to sit up on the very last row of the bleachers and they had open windows right there. There was just the slightest breeze, but the gym was totally hot. Looking down around the room, with no air conditioning, the programs were being put to necessary use as fans. But with our slight breeze we were the most comfortable folks in the room, along with our fellow backbenchers.

Another year I was trying a whole psychic, empathic, yet mischievous thing. A kid sitting a couple rows down and right at the edge of the bleachers was playing a handheld video game. I was trying mental effort, kinesis, willpower, and the same kind of shifting power you use when bowling, to make his hands heat up to an unbearable temperature so he would lose his grasp on the video game and it would go crashing to the floor. As it turned out I either wasn't successful at this, or my better angels, whom I am barely on speaking terms with, interceded to spare him and to save me from psychic inflation. I was just watching Excalibur the other day, and you might remember that part where Arthur abuses his powers with his sword and defeats Lancelot in combat? I was doing the same thing, seeking to do something unjust, and something spared me the grief. (Or perhaps what I was attempting is impossible. But coincidences aren't impossible.) How great it would've been, but I'd have paid for it in some way!

Graduations. So terrible.

I Was Wrong, Thankfully

This is embarrassing. I wasn't too accurate yesterday in my assessment of David Cook's chances on American Idol. Even tonight I was thinking he was going to lose, which would have left David Archeleta as the winner. But that wasn't to be, and it was the best outcome.

Not that it matters too much to me personally. Both will have recording contracts, red carpet treatment, brunch at the finest hotels. And I'll still be sitting here in my underpants, occasionally looking out the window, watching for my ship to come in. I keep saying if I sit here long enough, singing in the shower on bath day, Clive Davis will come to my door.

As it is, actually, is I don't sing well. I'm like Frank Sinatra in that I have lost my range with age. The big difference between me and Frank is that my range was already very limited. A few octaves lower than dog whistles and a few octaves higher than a low rumble. Middle C. That was the one note I could hit. And now even that's gone. My singing is essentially that one day, Mondays, when I shower.

I like to sing the song "Supper Time," an old church song. I don't know if you know it, but I have expansive gestures for it, especially two parts. It goes, "When I was but a boy in days of childhood, I used to play till evening shadows come." Then the next line has my hand going back and forth in about a three foot alternating wave: "Then winding down an old familiar pathway." And the next line has me miming big elephant ears, each two foot wide: "I heard my mother call at set of sun." Of course the chorus is so familiar it need not be quoted.

As for David Cook, a Kansas City boy, yea! Kansas City! The Plaza! Westport! Crown Center! Other things, what's that big farmers' market, City Market!

American Idol

"Let's get ready to rummmmmmbbbbbbble." That guy was on American Idol tonight. Did you know he has that phrase copyrighted, has the rights to it in some way, maybe like a trademark? And that he probably does make a fine living going around to events saying it?

They had a whole boxing theme, as it was David Cook vs. David Archuleta in the finale. The finale competition, that is, because the finale-finale is tomorrow.

Then it was time for the singing, and our favorite, David Cook, let us down. Since it was a boxing theme maybe he took a dive for some reason. His first song sounded pretty good (and actually I preferred each one to David Archuleta's songs), but David A. had the advantage in sounding more popular, more mainstream. Also David C.'s songs, except the first one, didn't seem to have that special quality in touch with the evening. They just sounded like typical songs, and David A.'s songs sounded like they were meant to convey something about him, about the competition, and about his feelings.

So Simon Cowell had it right, that it was a knockout on David A.'s part. It could be David C. sees some advantages to coming in second. One of those theories. But who knows.

The Moon

The moon tonight is big and bright, clap clap clap clap.

Maybe it's a full moon, certainly full-ish. And a crisp yellow, at least five minutes ago.

I had a clear shot at it through a clearing in the trees. Very nice. It looks so close.

I wonder about the astronauts who landed on the moon, if they think about that every time they look up and catch sight of it. That would be a mixed blessing. But probably it'd be worth it to have that added perspective, of what it's like to be there, and what it's like to see here from there.

I don't know -- I think you'd be walking around like a marked man, someone with secret knowledge. Like "I know more than you know about the moon!"

See Ya in 2011!

Someone was just telling me the oldest line in the book tonight, which is how "Time flies." I say it sure does, things are always coming around, like the next morning.

(I need to make an indepth study of why it seems like time goes faster when you're asleep.)

But I really didn't think I had a blog sitting here quite this neglected, the last posts in 2005. That goes way back. Somehow this one got forgotten!

So...in case that happens again, I'll make a point of doing something else here in 2011.

Oh My Gosh

The last post at this blog was 2005. I actually had a pretty nice background, a cool, lightly fading color scheme with Kafka in there and some German dada nightclub sign, and a picture of some other artsy looking guy, I can't remember who. But blogger had an upgrade since 2005 and when I did the upgrade all my old stuff disappeared. And now I wouldn't know how to get it back. Not that it was all that great, but it had more character than this.

But so little time for messing around with such things! I've already messed around quite a bit today, with this or that. I have a few other blogs, and am trying to loosen up a bit and post a few things. I was picturing today what it'd be like to sit here all day and do this. Of course you'd run out of experiences to talk about. And life requires more than commenting on yourself commenting on things! Like reading, going to parades, going out to eat, joining clubs, visiting relatives, trying to make friends, volunteering for offices, being a secret crimefighter when everyone else is asleep, etc.

One big trouble with being a secret crimefighter these days would be that there are video cameras everywhere. So there you are, swinging from a wire in an alley, skulking around in the dark, just you and your utility best. But because of all the video cameras, they see you there, and it's suddenly no longer a secret. "We've got a male subject, stretch underwear, mask, cape, and a bat ears. What shall we do with him?"