Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The Revenge of the Blue People

Making a Silas a blue person is really intriguing me.  Keep in mind I've got the cop that I can't do it without a tailing camera so this is just bravado for the moment.

If you dye yourself with food coloring, it will take three or four days to wash it off.  That's not an exceptionally huge deal as I don't see people all that much but it would probably get to be a drag playing the same routine over and over.

There should be more than one planned thing, tho.  Going to Wal-Mart is cool as I really like that one.  I think it's possible some very cool conversation could come out of it.


Maybe we need contrast.  What happens when the blue person goes downtown.


The purpose is only partially to screw with people as there's something interesting that could come from doing it.


There's a carnival-type go-kart track near here.  What happens when the blue person goes racing.


(Ed:  the Apple Store)

Whoa.  Let's find out how hip our hippie hipsters really are.  Could be amusing.

KingPloppy Bristol Brings Golden Gate Park to Cat's Art MusikCircus

KingPloppy Bristol played last night at Cat's Art MusikCircus and I couldn't catch too much of the show but I did hear the Golden Gate Park opening part.  KingPloppy didn't mention this time but his jams went right back there and John Cipollina's spirit was smiling.  It's not that KingPloppy copied his moves but rather he played in that San Francisco hippie style with lots of twang bar and wah-wah and it sounded extremely damn good.  The goodness isn't that he recalls the Park but rather he's exceptionally good at it.

"Mona" gives a taste of the style but to really hear what I mean you need to come out to hear KingPloppy Bristol.

Was Redd Fox Right About Blue People

"If there were blue people, some asshole would hate 'em" - Redd Foxx

That's been a favorite quote of mine ... but ... how do we know it's really true.  Intuitively we know it as there's probably some asshole out there with an attitude toward koala bears.  When there are so many billions of people in the world, you're going to get some with the wires plugged into the wrong sockets.

So, how do we bring science to this and find out if some asshole really would hate blue people.

An epiphany came when I recalled my nephew, The Raven, demonstrated that, contrary to legend and song, it really is easy being green.  It's as easy as taking a bath in food coloring, in fact.

Therefore we conclude it would be easy to be blue ... and all the nauseating song lyrics that go with that.

So, what say we make Silas blue and then put an action cam on him to send him to Wal-Mart.


(Ed:  you don't have the balls for it)

You're probably right but I can visualize it and that increases the temptation enormously.  It requires RayBans as there mustn't be any actual engagement with people.  It would also be better if I had a silent partner who tails me and films the reactions from people when they think I can't see them.


(Ed:  you're less likely to find assholes who hate blue people at Wal-Mart than anywhere else you could go)

Yah, dat's a fact.  It's everywhere else that people start getting superior.  I only have to find one asshole to validate what Redd Foxx said, tho.  He said 'some asshole would hate them' and that's just one.

(Ed:  looks like we have a bet as I don't think you will find one at Wal-Mart)


Yevette, would it be cool to fly back here for a few hours to shoot this.

(Yevette:  of course it would be cool but you gots the money, honey??)

Fookin' details always wreck my plans (sob).


This may have to go to the category of Pranks of Future Maybe as it definitely requires the tail camera, showing what Silas is seeing wouldn't alone be enough.

Eisenhower, the U2 Spyplane, and First Order Irony

Eisenhower has been frequently lauded here as the best President since FDR but there's an interesting twist I learned yesterday.  Briefly, the reason for support for him has been in large part due to his rational approach to military spending as contrasted by the schoolgirls with credit cards approach used by every President since.  (Yes, including Kennedy.  He didn't pay for Vietnam with Kennedy gold.)

Krushchev was the Soviet version of a drama queen but he was a living anticipation of social networks as he was a drunk drama queen and he liked to take his shoe off to pound it on the table, "We will bury you!"

The Fox News crew was mostly underground at that point but it came out in the McCarthy Senatorial Witchhunts even while Eisenhower was laying out the most even-handed Presidential agenda of the post-WWII era.  War hawks were constantly pushing on Eisenhower to annihilate the Soviets as look at Krushchev, look at the massive weapons build-up.  We must strike to prevent their attack.

Because there may be Hoosiers in the audience, let's be clear about the relationship between the war hawks then and now.  Identical.  Lots of noise, rarely proof.


Eisenhower decided he would find out for himself and sent the U-2 spyplane over Russia to find out what was really happening there.  The photographs the U-2 brought back revealed all the places said to be making military equipment were actually making tractors.

Eisenhower called off the military expansion the war hawks were demanding and the war hawks had no success in causing any more problems until they could do it with Kennedy in Vietnam where, characteristically, they made a staggering mess out of it.


It is one hell of a damn shame the Republican Party has no more Eisenhowers.  All the Democrats have got is Michael O'Malley and he's so white he doesn't even cast a shadow.  We're fucked.


Unless!


The Green Party.  Just why the hell are you waiting.  You can vote for reason or vote to continue the corruption.  Your choice.

Monday, March 30, 2015

The Amen Break - Stealing It One More Time

The Amen Break is a short drum riff that provides the cool beat for just about anything ... and that's the trouble with it as the advent of samplers meant it was used for just about everything ... but nobody paid a dime in royalties to The Winstons, the band that recorded it for "Amen, Brother."  (BBC:  Six seconds that shaped 1,500 songs)

Hipsters have flogged the egregious ripoff of this for years and the reason for mentioning it now is that some people are trying to make it right.  You can find the details in the article and hopefully you're in a position to do something.  People have started taking up a collection and it's up to about $20K but that's peanut dust relative to what would have been made if copyrights were honored.

While The Winstons have no resentment after all this time, I do as you make your music and you present it hoping people will dig it.  You don't expect people will copy it or bits and pieces of it to use in something they call original.  You really can't copyright six seconds of something as otherwise people could say they have the copyright on saying 'have a nice day' and then sue anyone who ever said it.  Nevertheless, it wasn't fair and still isn't.

Part of the reason the riff is so common is that it's even in drum machines.  Just push a button and Amen, Brother.

The musicology of this doesn't matter much to me as my concern is fair's fair ... and this ain't.  Hopefully you can throw a few dollars toward their campaign and note The Winstons didn't start it, this came about from people who cared enough to try to make things right.

Marine Le Pen and Her Band of Nukes

Marine Le Pen is Queen of the Fascists in France and she's banking on the same pick-something-and-hate-it approach of every two-bit despot from Hitler on down.  This is all part of the overall PEGIDA white supremacy movement with examples all over the world.

In the recent election, Le Pen's National Fascist Party got a significant increase in representation and the left is steadily fading.  Le Pen sues if you call her a fascist but the shoes fit perfectly.  She's got the same Harmless Hausfrau look as Clinton but trusting either one of them makes little sense given their records.

The beauty part of Marine Le Pen coming to full power in France is the country has one of the largest nuclear capabilities in the world.  When there was above-ground nuclear bomb testing taking place, France did a lot of it.

Hitler didn't have nukes, he just wanted them.  For Marine Le Pen, they're already there and France has had a steady business as a weapons manufacturer.


All the while, the GOP goes on about the huge nuclear threat in Iran when it doesn't have much of anything.

Obama's Operation Jade Helm - Interdicting America

Operation Jade Helm is a military drill that spreads across at least half a dozen states and the premise is it gives preparation for the same type of exercise in a real combat situation.  As part of the drill, troops will be incognito or undercover so they can mix with civilians.

If you're not asking it yet, you ought to be as what 'real combat situation' do they mean.  American soldiers only speak English and couldn't travel incognito anywhere.  The only place this could ever work is right here.

Next question is why are so many states involved as Texas alone is bigger than most other countries.  It goes back to the first question as to just what 'real combat situation' do they mean.

As you saw with the way the Fed broke the back of the Occupy Wall Street movement, there is no limit to how much force they will engage to suppress anything perceived as a 'leftist threat' and if that means shooting unarmed girls in the face with mace then they will do it (UC Davis).  They were being ostentatious in their brutality just as they were during the Days of Rage in Chicago.  The message everywhere was we can fuck you up any time we feel like it and no-one will do anything about it.

The willingness of Americans to revere the military when they really haven't done much of anything is an endless amazement.  There's lots of activity but look for military successes and you'll come up empty all the way back to World War II.  Everything since then has been either a loss or a draw so the only thing we can conclude is they don't learn very fast.

Now you're supposed to accept military paratroopers landing in your backyard because, well, we're just passing through, ma'am.

Previously it looked like catching bin Laden would stand for eternity as the Most Ridiculous Police Procedure Ever Conducted but now the military escalates beyond that so they can bring it here.

This is precisely where I support the Second Amendment as this is precisely what it was written to prevent.  If the Feds come down on you with guns, shoot the treasonous motherfuckers.  It was the order of the forefathers and nothing has changed that.  Never forget We, the People have vastly more guns than the military.  You can listen to Thomas Jefferson or Barack Obama, your choice, but picking both doesn't work.

Operation Jade Helm is up there with any nightmare police state Robert Heinlein could have devised and it's living up to what he predicted.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

Whether that's really an expression commonly-used in the Middle East is unknown but they definitely live it and Saudi Arabia took the absurdity of Middle Eastern chaos to a new level of delight by now giving Israel permission to fly over Saudi land if they do it to bomb Iran.

This is a new twist for Arabs to support Jews killing other Arabs but it works when your crew is Sunni and Iran's crew is Shi'a ... plus being completely insane helps as well.

The question of what you think you're doing over there is so obvious there's no point in even asking it anymore.  This is just an observation that the Middle East script continues to resemble something John Carpenter would write.  I'm not sure if he gave us the radioactive ants but maybe Bibi, our buddy, will be whining about them next.

Help, help!  Israel is being invaded by radioactive ants.  I'm not making this up.  Trust me on this.


Meanwhile Egypt is putting together an Arab military league of countries previously wrecked by US assistance.


It's unclear why the US keeps screwing with these countries as the same thing happens every time.  Much better to get the hell out to kick back and watch them waste each other on TV.  They'll do it anyway so why get your shoes dirty.  Stay home, kick back to watch it on TV, and it'll be better than World Championship Wrestling on Friday nights.


(Ed:  this is anti-Semitic)

Hogwash.  Even if you wiped Israel off the Earth it wouldn't wipe out Judaism.  More than half of the world's Jews are in America.

Saving Judaism isn't it, tho.  Christians just love to fuck with Arabs.  Every few hundred years they get a crew together and, hey, what say we go down to the Middle East and kill some Arabs.

Right-o and off they go.


I refuse to take any of this seriously.  I observe the madness but I'll damn sure take no responsibility for it.  Unfortunately, the ones who do it won't take responsibility for it either.

And There Was Great Joy in Italy

Ferrari is back as Vettel takes first in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Mercedes had been unbeatable but now it looks like a race.

This makes an interesting situation for Lewis Hamilton but his race was really lost in the pits as he was having trouble with his tyres.  (He's Brit.  He uses tyres.)  That meant one more pit stop than Vettel so you still don't really know in a heads-up drag race who would take it.

One thing's for sure is that it will be fascinating to watch.  It wasn't interesting when Vettel would constantly win and many times the television coverage would be of elsewhere in the field.  Every so often they would cut back and confirm, yep, Vettel is way in front.

When he goes to Ferrari and the wins stop maybe you wonder, hey, was he just lucky and had a better car than anyone else.

But not today.

The big question for me is where was Ricciardo.  I didn't watch the race but saw an article to summarize it and he wasn't even mentioned.

What Happened to the Video

Things aren't exactly optimal.  It's boring and it sucks so that's why no news just now.

There hasn't been much but I did do a brief bit with the subject standing in different places in the yard.  In this way the subject can instantly teleport to multiple places in the yard by cutting out the walking part in-between.  With copy and paste of short clips, the subject can bounce around like he's in a pachinko machine.  Another trick that's cheesy but still cool to watch is to crop the screen into quarters and get the same subject in four places at the same time but doing different things.

I wasn't so gung ho for the shoot that I changed clothes or hats or anything in-between positions and you'd have to be fast to do it as you need the same or very similar light for each pose of the subject or you won't be able to do any tricks with both on the screen at once.  To do it, leave the camera running the entire time.  Don't even breathe on it.

The result was about ten minutes of video of some idiot walking around the front yard and standing about for no particular reason ... but ... after editing out the walking parts, the idiot jumps around all over the place.  As if by magic, man.

The bit with the Christmas lights on the porch hasn't happened in part because I'd feel like an idiot standing on the porch covered in Christmas lights.  It would still look pretty cool, particularly with smoke.  The scene is valid for what I want to do but who stands on a porch, festooned with Christmas lights, and waves at a camera like an idiot.

(Ed:  crazy fuckers?)

Nah.  You see in the news what crazy fuckers do.  It's always the polite, quiet ones.  Oh, did you hear?  Chris Christie ate his whole family.  My God.  And he was such a nice young man too.

So the cop on being a crazy fucker isn't going to do it.  I really don't think eating my family sounds like a good idea and I have trouble eating anyway.  I also have no plans for crashing things and being famous for making lots of people dead.

People call me crazy all the time but I don't think of shit like that.  I just think of getting hammered and hanging Christmas lights around my neck like a fookin' idiot.

Note:  if reefer really made you more creative, Justin Bieber would be the fookin' new Jimi Hendrix


I should follow Pol Arida's lead on video as that cat just doesn't care.  He goes full greasepaint if he thinks the shot warrants it.  I really want to shoot some cool video but I've screwed with greasepaint before and no way am I doing that again ... but ... if he can do greasepaint surely I can do Christmas lights.

Part of the reticence is someone sees it and comes up to ask, "Hola, senor.  wtf are you doing?"

Whoa, that's a long answer.

Busting Lubitz in the Minority Report

Many people would like to bring this guy back to life ... and then kill him again for what he did but there isn't much more to say about him although it would be better if news media were disinclined to describe the graphic state of dead bodies on the mountainside as that takes tastelessness into a dimension the world doesn't need.

The bigger deal is how you know the next time you fly whether there's a whackjob in the cockpit who will pull a similar stunt.  When Lufthansa is one of the best and even they couldn't detect the problem, what chance is there any other airline will find a way.

Cat doesn't like flying and we have laughed before about how she would like to talk to the pilot to know he feels good, his attitude is straight, etc before she is willing to fly with him.  Who's going to say she is crazy after what happened.

It sucks to ask questions and then answer them yourself but so it goes this time as it looks like it becomes policy for all airlines to require the presence of two qualified people in the cockpit at all times.  That's fine and will prevent 99% of any such future possibilities.  As we've seen previously, it doesn't eliminate what happens when you have two crazy pilots and they plan it together.


Welcome to American Airlines Drone Operations.

Here the morale of our pilots is much higher because they don't have to be away from their families and there is no potential for rogue pilots when the Drone Operations center is fully-staffed at all times.  We can improve safety, efficiency, and reliability while simultaneously reducing staff costs.

(Ed:  you're saying commercial airlines should not have pilots onboard?)

Actually the economy of air travel and risk management are saying that.  Without pilots and the control systems they use, the aircraft would have much more room for people or amenities.

(Ed:  my flight decision is based on the pilot going into the ground first and he knows it.  If, in his judgment, we are safe to fly then I'm willing to fly with him.  That last-minute 'gut check' is not something a robot could ever understand as we are likely decades from computers being able to reliably make insightful decisions of that nature.)

No question it's safer as there is no chance for whacko cowboys at Drone Operations.

(Ed:  I won't feel safer if there is not a living breathing person who has just as much to lose as me sitting in front, driving the aircraft.)

Well, you've got to realize that living breathing person may be a dribbling lunatic as we saw with Lubitz.

(Ed:  why wasn't he reported?)

That goes against medical confidentiality, the thing that may rile people more than anything else these days.  The need is clear as he should have been reported.  He's a pilot.  He's not thinking straight.  Ground his ass.

If you're going to make that decision, tho, you're going to have to break down some rules on medical confidentiality and do anticipate a ScheisseSturm when you try to implement it.  Consider also that someone may not seek psychological help if they're aware the information would not necessarily be private.

So, how about the guys who sit in the missile silos or run nuclear reactors, etc.  How do you know one of those doesn't go crackers and decides he will cause a meltdown.


(Ed:  this goes straight to "Minority Report")

Righty, right.  There is one difference, tho.  In the movie 'future criminals' would be punished for 'future crimes' whereas in the present time what's desired is to anticipate 'future crime' and prevent it.

(Ed:  what stops the system from being warped to malevolent purpose in the future?)

Washington.

(Ed:  sorry but I'll need a better answer than that.)

The People of the Future Have Been Stolen by Upriser

Maybe you wonder how it's possible to steal something when it hasn't even been born yet but such are the nefarious ways of the Upriser:  Greetings. We Are From The Future. Everything is going to be alright...

Note:  you may not want to skip the article as it starts out with the most glorious example of pseudo-scientific babble I've seen since the last Fox News review of climate change.

Here's an example:

"When this happens electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom are jointly and transiently in a superposition of quantum states, a feature that can never be predicted with classical physics."

Edward O'Reilly (UCL Physics & Astronomy)

Note:  UCL is the University College of London which has no real campus and appears to be of about the same academic standard as the University of Phoenix (i.e. none).


Now it's a bit disconcerting when my material is stolen but it's almost worthwhile for such a stunning example of science pretending not to be bilge water.  Maybe you ask why Man is not on the Moon anymore but then take another look at O'Reilly and it all becomes clear.


Note:  he claims a PhD but I didn't look to see where he got it or in what field.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Welcome to Gattaca, Eugenics, and the Glorious Future

In a previous discussion, it reached the point of affirmation of George Carlin's advisory 'the problem is dumb asses.'  It did not go beyond that to what should be done about it except the suggestion that people with an IQ less than one hundred (i.e. median IQ) should not reproduce.

This is usually attributed to Hitlerian thinking on eugenics but it wasn't that uncommon at the time.  For scientists and philosophers it was an intellectual exercise but Hitler found Mengele and the rest is in the books.

An example of eugenics without NAZI butchers is in the movie "Gattaca" as everyone is genetically-sampled at birth so every attribute is known.  Those who do not meet the 'standard' become the lower class.  Our hero comes from the lower class but he wants to go to space.  He has the mind for it but his heart has a congenital problem.  That makes him genetically-unfit so he can't go.  Drama ensues.

The genetic sampling has already started so the movie provides a novel view of how it might play in the future.

Note:  there is no endorsement of doing any of this as any sort of eugenics filtering assumes those who do the filtering are worthy of god-like powers.  I know I'm not worthy and I can't say I can think of anyone who is.


Maybe there are some compromises to be made.  How about sterilization of violent people.  Anyone who manifests violence through murder, rape, pedophilia, etc loses the right to reproduce.  The flaw to this is the same as the death penalty:  what if you do it to an innocent man who was convicted by mistake.

That's about the limit of what I can accept from god-like powers.  It seems reasonable and righteous for the society to protect itself against those who have shown themselves to be violent.  Some say it's best simply to execute them and be done with it.  I don't agree but it's a position to take.

An additional flaw to this logic is that it wouldn't affect enough people to make any significant genetic shift in the population or at least not for an exceedingly-long time.  When the audience for the procedure is limited to the prison population and not even everyone in it, the size of that audience won't be all that large.

But maybe consider the deterring effect.  If you know you will be sterilized for being convicted of a crime of violence, would that actually deter crime.  Taking away some time is one thing but taking away your baby-making may have some effect.  We observe the death penalty has never changed anything so likely this wouldn't either but maybe.


Maybe there's a compromise in elimination of clearly deleterious genes such as the one for haemophilia.  People afflicted by it can live full lives with appropriate protection or medication or so but what is gained for following generations in allowing that gene to be propagated.

Down's Syndrome is another one.  You love the kid who lives but why keep that going into future generations.


Again, I'm not suggesting anyone do anything but I always started out my meetings with 'what is the problem we are trying to solve.'  From the top we have the problem is dumb asses.  I know I am not worthy of the god-like powers to manage a eugenics program to eliminate dumb asses and I really can't think of a person on the planet I would trust with such power.

Nevertheless, you can bank on the discussion coming regarding genetic selection as mapping of the genome gets progressively more sophisticated.  At least the discussion will come as soon as you get over the heartbreak of Zayn Malik leaving the band.

Meanwhile, we're stuck with dumb asses.  I do have one suggestion:  send them to Indiana.


Update:

It dawned later than Gattaca is an attempt to make a play on the 'active ingredients' in DNA which are Guanine, Adenosine, Thymine, and Cytosine (i.e. GATC).

Ca$h4Gold from the Love Brothers

The Love Brother's CASH4GOLD on Jacksboro Highway in Fort Worth, Texas.


The Love Brothers are just down the road so, if ever I hit financial troubles, I can sell off some of my gold without even driving very far.

The Rolex sign reminds me of mention I saw the other day of a Rolex watch for about forty-three thousand.  It was gold-plated.  Forty-three thousand fookin' dollars and it's only gold-plate?  It doesn't seem they breed them too smart for the upper class but I'm guessing you already knew that.


You won't see stuff like this in "The End of the World in Fort Worth" as making jokes with that is not going to happen.

Makes You Wanna Get a Cheeseburger, Don't It



Oh yeah and give me french fries and onion rings.  I want it all.

Indiana Will Not Serve Pink Chickens

Restaurant owners in Indiana don't believe these chickens were born pink and think it is something they chose.  They have united to tell the good Christians of Indiana, we will serve no pink chickens.


Governor Mike Spence (R,IN) has been a leader in the movement to prevent the serving of pink chickens in Indiana and now his dream is realized.  There will be no pink chickens in Indiana, not now and not ever.

The governor was asked, "Say, guv'nor, aren't all chickens pink once you pluck off the fookin' feathers?"

He replied only with a request for serious questions and was asked if he has any other dreams.  He said his next plan is to make all Indiana highways white like they are in Florida, the way highways are supposed to be.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Saving a 2006 Mac Pro MA356LL/A @yevetten - Updated

Case Study:


Glorious, isn't it.  (Click the picture to see its glory full-size)

Don't be getting all Betty Crocker on me as the machine has nine years of dust so we get the dust off it, don't we.  Hopefully compressed air will be sufficient for that.

Memory:

In the lower right are circuit boards onto which additional RAM can be installed.  This is all the RAM for the system as there is none hard-wired anywhere else.  There are eight DIMM slots and the maximum RAM for this machine is 32 GB.

Plan:  the machine currently has 4 GB of installed RAM.  Increase that to 16 GB.
Cost:  about $115 (much cheaper if used on eBay)


Storage:

The existing disks are Western Digital WD5000AAKS with 500 GB capacity.  The maximum disk capacity for the machine is two terabytes so two more drives can be added.  That's an optional improvement at about thirty dollars each but there's no particular reason to do it right now.

Plan:  increase disk capacity to two terabytes
Cost:  about $60 or so

Note:  Apple's position is the machine will support no more than two terabytes.  Others say that's rubbish.


Video:

The existing video card is an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256 MB RAM.  The card is so old that Final Cut won't even run on it.  You can see the state of it in the pic.  It's a surprise anything runs on it.

Plan:  replace the video card, possibly with Apple ATI Radeon 5770 1 GB
Cost:  $149 (used on Amazon)


Processors:

The machine currently has two dual-core 2.66 GHz processors.

Possible plan:  replace them with two quad-core Intel X5355 2.66 GHz processors
Cost: about $50 (used on eBay)


Display:

The machine uses a 23" Apple monitor but it was happier when it had all three legs.

Gee whiz plan:  Upgrade the display to a 27" Samsung monitor
Cost:  about $350 at PowerMax

This is hardly a top-drawer monitor but you're not spending $1000 or more on it either.  It should provide adequate value.


This is not my machine but rather a case study.

The MA356LL/A was the fastest thing Apple built in its time.  For less than $350 the machine can be in better shape than it ever was as the video card will be much improved; increased memory will greatly benefit Second Life and ultimately Final Cut Pro when that is installed; with FCP installed, the additional processor power will be important as will the need to populate the remaining two disk bays.

You couldn't even buy an iPad for $350 so I'm calling it good value even if it's an old machine.  Maybe the power supply could fail but there's no reason to replace it otherwise.

If you want to get a bit more spendy then replace the monitor as this will still only bring the cost to about $700 which is less than half the cost of the new used iMac.  The upgraded case study machine will be faster than the iMac but it has the liability that it is not possible to upgrade the software beyond certain limits.  Right now the machine runs OS X Lion and that's as far as it can go.  The upgrade to the processors may permit it to go up as far as OS X Mavericks but it's unknown if they will support Yosemite.


Thank you for participating in the worst pun of my life.

Scots Prove Again They Make the Worst Food in the World

Haggis wasn't bad enough.  Deep-fried pizza didn't create an instant heart attack either.

But

Two inventive Scottish sweetologists took some disparate ingredients such as sausage, bread crumbs ... and a Cadbury cream egg.

The problem is the inventive Scottish sweetologists did not fully comprehend there is a reason these are disparate ingredients ... so ... they combined them into something with more concentrated disgustingness than any other food product which has not previously been buried in the ground.  (BBC: Duns butcher creates scotch egg with chocolate twist)

As to which foodstuffs have previously been buried in the ground, we have the Filipino balut (i.e. bury an egg to dig up later for a delicious treat) or the Icelandic shark fins.   We don't know what Icelanders do with the shark fin when they dig it back out of the ground.  We don't want to know.

George Carlin once noted he likes to go to the supermarket to see the weird shit other people eat.  However, George, in Scotland, Iceland or the Philippines it is probably best if you don't.

The Brylcreem and Jesus Party

Some of you know Jesus but, unless you're a GOP stooge, a TV preacher, or a car salesman, you probably don't know Brylcreem, the favorite of greasers for decades.



A little dab will you do ya.  Yes, sir.


That was 1953.  Sixty years later, Ted Cruz is still doing it.  That boy just rocks right 'round the clock.

Someone spin "West Side Story."  I'm getting all weepy.  This is the Final Failure of the Hippies.  Even Brylcreem came back.

Check out TedCruz.com as the contents may surprise you.


There were two things we got from the fifties, the Cold War and Brylcreem, but we don't know what association may exist between the two.  However, we observe there are more greaseballs like Cruz running around these days while, simultaneously, there is an increase in fears of the Cold War.  Thus we conclude predictions of world military activity are possible through observation of the sales of hair tonic at Wal-Mart.


Note:  'greaser' or 'greaseball' are not synonymous with Mexican or Cuban as the term applies to anyone who uses Brylcreem, Castrol 10-W-40 or analogous products on his hair, consequently making himself as sexually-attractive as a visit to Jiffy Lube auto service.

Indiana Hates Queers and Hates You Too

Governor Mike Spence (R, IN) supports freedom in America so he signed the No Queers in My Back Yard law.  Indiana hates queers.

The religious freedom bill gives people in Indiana stores the right to refuse service to people on whatever bigoted basis they like so your best approach to Indiana is to assume they hate everyone and drive around the state rather than through it.


Let's get this straight, Greggie.  This bill won't hurt Indiana's image, it will reveal it for precisely the bigoted, hateful thing that it is.  No more pretending to be righteous now, honey.


It's not so bad they pretend the No Queers in My Backyard law is valid legislation but it burns my ass they want to be recognized for a righteous thing.  They're too gutless to own the hatefulness they made all by their creative selves.


I've heard more than once from black people that the South makes more sense.  A northern racist will say he loves you to your face and call you a nigger when he's with his white friends but a southern racist will call you a nigger to your face.  In either case, they're hateful bastards but at least in the South you know where you stand.  Christians say they love everyone ... just don't let any fags in my store.


Governor Spence's hatefulness is obvious but he still can't touch the California legislators who introduced the legislation to authorize shooting gay people in the head for no bigger crime than being gay.  It is not clear why introduction of this bill has not been prosecuted as a hate crime as it's obviously an organized procedure and it also obviously is intended for an illegal result.  How that is anything different from racketeering and conspiracy is only clear, most likely, to bankers as they have been doing it for years.


People sometimes charge me with hatefulness and this is a mystery as it's not me who wants to shoot gay people, Muslims, or anyone else, for that matter.


Last night I watched "The Purge" which goes down as one of the most despicable movies I have ever seen.  It's based on a false premise (i.e. in the future there will be a Purge Night in which all laws are suspended and people can do whatever they like) and that premise permits speculation on what behavior would result if it were true.  To shorten the movie to its actual content, without law even the best of us turn into vicious animals.

Note:  I watched it because Ethan Hawke stars and he did an exceptional job in "Gattaca" but he made a bad pick with this one.

The first flaw is that Americans don't pay any attention to the law anyway.  Americans only honor laws if they agree with them.  (That's largely true anywhere)

The second flaw is an extremely simplistic view of the reaction good people would have to such a law.  In the movie, people become entirely feudal and turn their homes into fortified castles ... and lots of them get killed.  In the history of the species, however, we form tribes and help each other when situations turn bad.  The tribe still gets a few bad apples ... but those are the ones you send to Indiana.

Therefore, the premise and the conclusion are judged to be rubbish as the premise will never happen and the predicted consequence is shallow Hollywood crap that doesn't even give a single gratuitous boob flash so it fails on the story line and it fails on presentation of gratuitous sex acts.


So, there in a brief roll, we have real laws that mean nothing, fake laws that mean nothing, and an opportunistic Hollywood producer plus some bigoted Indiana legislators laughing all the way to the bank.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

What to Say to the Young Hero

The kid (i.e. twenties ... unknown) decided he wasn't annoying enough with the SUV with the monster boom system in it so he got a motorcycle.  You can be a hero when you're young because you're immortal.

The bike has been tricked out as you can hear from the way it idles that someone screwed with the timing and it's tuned tight.  It sounds like it's at least 500cc and probably 750cc or better.  All of that is very nice, very nice and it goes very fast.

The trouble is the kid is belting the thing.  The boom was annoying but the most that comes is a broken window.  With the bike he's hitting it so hard around here that I've got to think he's riding it that way all the time and that only means one thing:  emergency room.

The kid is not learning to ride as he's just hitting it hard in straight lines on the street which is posted for residential 25 mph.  My concern isn't so much that he'll hit a kid as there aren't that many around here but he's got a fine chance of smashing himself up as it sounds like he's trying to get it with popping wheelies at speed.

It's been a temptation to go over there to show him my shoulder and say, kid, you know what's in there ... metal.  You know why?

Cat said he wouldn't listen and she's right.  Everybody believes they're immortal until they're not.

Don't fuck up, young hero.  It hurts real bad.

Review of Best and the Worst Presidents

The basis for the article is a rating by RantPolitical of the Best and the Worst.

In going through The Best I found a few problems and I'm not much interested in American history prior to the Twentieth Century so I skipped most from before that period.

12 - Lyndon B Johnson

While his work on civil rights was laudable, he was President when Che Guevara was assassinated.  It looked good that he pushed the policy of Democrats internally but outside the country it was the same illegal right-wing agenda we've seen ever since.


10 - Andrew Jackson

Absolutely unacceptable.  He is possibly the most unrepentant Indian killer of all time and he is the reason for the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

It is true he was badass.  No question of it, in fact.  Badass of the Week:  Andrew Jackson

However, in terms of existence as a human being, he just does not qualify.


9 - John F Kennedy

If he gets a point for the Cuban Missile Crisis then he loses it because of the Bay of Pigs fiasco.  He started some good dreams (e.g. a fit and healthy America with 'vim and vigor,' let's go to the Moon, etc), but he didn't actually do all that much, he didn't have time.


8 - Woodrow Wilson

Wilson accomplished a great many things and is routinely regarded as one of the best ... but ... I believe it was during his tenure that taxation on the rich was dropped thus setting the stage for the Great Depression.  When it came, Herbert Hoover raised the tax rates back up again and ended up taking the fall for something which never should have happened in the first place.

This needs to be reviewed further.


5 - Bill Clinton

It was during the Clinton administration that banking across state lines became legal and this gave rise to 'banks too big to fail' and all the problems that gave.  It's valid in liberal concept in that it seeks efficiency through central management but the consequence is as we've seen.  These days Bank of America probably has a fee if you so much as walk on the grass.  There was a time when they would give you a free toaster for opening an account.  You tell me what happened to that.

Note:  Reagan deregulated the Savings & Loan companies, precipitating that financial collapse, but it was Clinton specifically who signed for interstate banking.


4 - Harry Truman

The decision to start the Cold War was his alone.  He initiated above-ground testing and thus provoked the inevitable response from the Soviet Union.  Sixty years later the world still pays for that failure in diplomacy.


As to the others, I either agree or have no comment.


Additions:

Jimmy Carter

While routinely vilified by conservatives, Jimmy Carter is easily the most principled man I have ever seen take the office of President.  If being a patriot is staying true to American ideals and principles, in my judgment, Jimmy Carter did it better than anyone I've ever seen and it's been quite a few now.



And the Worst:

11 - Herbert Hoover

He is tagged with the Great Depression but it was the failure of economic policies prior to his that caused it.  More review is needed but I believe there's plenty of blame to go around on that mess.


It may annoy some of you to see Barack Obama listed as one of the worst but so are Reagan and both of the Bush boys.  The reasons are plain enough but I have more.  I wouldn't remove any of them from The Worst list.

Chance of Getting Electrocuted by Christmas Lights?

Due to personal involvement, the subject is of keen interest to me.

The situation is that "The End of the World in Fort Worth" goes up through the end of the world and then the road scenes which become kind of a tripped-out green ... then dissolve to Silas in the Rockhouse.

That dissolve is weak as why should that happen.  There's some kind of sci-fi transporter system that did it or what.

So.

Dissolve to a scene of the porch of the Rockhouse with some crazy guy in a robe beckoning you to enter.  The reason we know he is crazy because he taps a power cord switch with his toe and the Christmas lights he has draped about his person suddenly light.

While we understand this is a bit abnormal, we think it would look cool.  Whether it would look cool enough to make it worth taking the smoke machine out there is the third question as that would be a massive bitch.  I ain't been feelin' too sprightly and that smoke machine is heavy.

(Ed:  what's the second question?)

Will I get electrocuted by the Christmas lights?  I'm sure you will see why this precedes the third question.

(Ed:  what's the first question then?)

You just asked it.

(Ed:  what?)

Right.

(Ed:  fuck you)

Texas Getting Execution Drugs from Street Dealing Cartel

The premise is that most pharmaceuticals come from Europe.  Since they don't support the animalistic behavior of Texas, they won't sell the state any drug that can be used for execution.

Note:  major flaw in the premise is the idea America is incapable of producing the drugs.  The country can make any drug it likes and has never had any success banning any drug, even heroin, so how is it believable that America cannot produce these chemicals.

Texas officials said they got pentobarbitol for executions in Texas from 'a local pharmacy' but we're not clear on how or why a local pharmacy would be carrying drugs which would only have application in hospitals.  These drugs are hardly the prescription to take home for li'l Buffy's runny nose.  (RT:  Texas gets supply of lethal injection drug for death row)


The question of the moral basis for the death penalty ... or the complete fucking absence of it ... is one thing but the question of process is what I address here as this is an example of one size for America and one size for the rest of the world.  For example, ISIS sets a Jordanian pilot afire and there's massive outrage at the brutality and viciousness of these people.  However, when Oklahoma takes forty minutes to kill a man, we get nothing but excuses ... and they couldn't wait to do it again ... then Arizona did the same thing ... and Texas kills people regardless of whether they're even guilty.  (You can do that when there's Rick Perry to sidetrack and obfuscate the investigation)

Pro tip:  if you'll take that bullshit before Saint Peter, you better take a lawyer with you ... and it still won't work.


You of the noble crew of regular readers do not support killing people so we really don't understand why others have such a thirst for it ... but we're thankful we didn't catch whatever they've got.  Capital punishment is slowly dying out but those who proclaim it cling to it like rosary beads as if continuing the practice gives some greater claim to moral goodness.  For their convenience and spiritual communion we have the Flat Earth Society.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Obama Lector, Psychopath, by Ben Carson

Ben Carson did his level best to encourage the serial killer vote in an interview with GQ by likening Obama to a psychopath.

Pro tip on this, Ben:  if you seriously want to get the job, you need to lighten up a little bit on the crazy shit.


If you don't mind getting clinical with it, calling Obama a psychopath isn't such a terrible thing.  The detachment of emotion from one's actions is a powerful skill.  If it's for the purpose of eating someone's liver, we have a problem with it but there's tremendous applause when Scully can land a monster jet aircraft in a river while scarcely making a splash.

So you're sitting at the controls of a huge jet aircraft with at least a hundred people aboard and you're advised, heya, the motors just quit.  What sensible person can hear this without screeching, "Holy Jesus, we're going to crash!"

Scully switches instantly to Land-in-the-River process and executes it by the numbers.  I mean nothing at all harsh in saying, whoa, that's a little bit abnormal.  He said it's all just the training.  OK, so he's a psychopath but he's modest psychopath.

I don't have serious knowledge of clinical psychology but I've spoken with those who do.  People like Scully such as Formula One drivers or anyone who needs to maintain a huge level of cool while doing ridiculously dangerous things all show a measure of psychopathy, by the psychologist's definition of the term.


So Carson sort of skates on his use of the word ... but then he chucks the whole load into the fire by comparing America to Nazi Germany.

Another pro tip for Ben:  when you're wanting to run the country, comparing it to Nazi Germany may not be your best tactic.


He's got some good ideas but the wingnut is strong in this one.  I thought the other team might have a worthy play with this guy but that's fading.  We've had too much wingnut already.

The Revolution Began with the Clowns


Anti-capitalist protest in Frankfurt two days ago and it follows at least one other some days before that.  As I've said previously, the tyranny will continue until people take it to the streets.  Anti-austerity protests are even taking place in Canada.  When the clowns take to the streets, you know the time has come.

It's all yours, clowns.  Do me proud, you red-nosed jokers.  Set us free.

Middle-Aged, Balding NAZIs

It's all very well to be a skinhead and assault people smaller than yourself on a regular basis and, oh joy, here's one now:



But perhaps comes the time of his Personal Epiphany and he realizes what a miserable bastard he has been.  He cleverly thinks, aha, I will just grow out my hair and that will cover it.

And that works well until the Tragedy of Male Pattern Baldness.  While women have plunging necklines in the front, men get them on the back of the head where the advancing baldness will eventually meet the neck, even for you, young NAZI grasshopper.

So we don't foresee things going too well for our stormtrooper friend when he wants to take the grandkids to the beach or to Disney World.

Unless I miss my guess, NAZI Boy here is going to spend a shitload on Rogaine in his life.


Note:  you'd think he would at least go to a NAZI tattoo artist who could get his tat centered.  This monkey is not only a NAZI but he's a cheap NAZI.

Entire State of Oklahoma Joins ISIS

After the decession of Oklahoma when they were thrown out for being too barbaric even for America, they had some trouble finding a country that would accept them as their history has been well-publicized and their record for the World's Most Brutal Execution still stands at about forty minutes to kill a man.  Not surprisingly, there isn't a civilized country in the world that wants any part of that lot.

However, ISIS likes gory executions almost as much as Oklahoma and they got in touch after the most recent legislative session in which Oklahoma approved, without debate, the use of Nitrogen gas for executions and also the use of an axe or, failing that, a hammer.  (RT:  Bill approving nitrogen gas executions advances in Oklahoma Senate)

As soon as ISIS saw that, they got in touch and found Oklahoma and ISIS have much in common, saying, "Man, we have got to party with you guys."

Praise some wholly idolatrous symbol and let's fuckin' kill something.


Coming soon:  Muslim Lingerie - You Won't Farking Believe This


Dishonorable Mention for Stuart A. Creque who proposed nitrogen hypoxia and possibly other methods for execution in the National Law Review.  There's a special place reserved for burning this motherfucker as execution isn't enough, he studies more ways to do it.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

As to Dredging Up Old Video

First to cop a plea that they weren't that old.  Both of the videos I've released lately were shot in the last three or four years.  I had the footage and I liked it but I didn't like the music associated with it plus I wanted to try some different techniques.

The latest ones are -

"Looking for the Spirits of Palo Duro Canyon"

High-resolution and heavy effects


"Tennessee Hummingbirds HD 1080p"

High-resolution and no effects except slo-mo on the hummingbirds



Medium-resolution and moderate effects plus slo-mo


I'd be most pleased if you would subscribe to my YouTube channel, Peas InOurThyme, as I intend to keep burning them out there as quickly as I can manage or until I fall out of the chair.  After I write about them here, there isn't any particular reason to mention them again so subscribing is the easiest way to keep up, find the stuff, etc, etc.


The ones above are remixes in that I'm taking video I've shot previously and music I recorded at some other time to make the combinations.  "The End of the World in Fort Worth" is all new and that's still waiting on a drive downtown to get additional footage.  There are additional tactical considerations just now but I'm highly-motivated to get the footage of the mural of the charging cattle which covers the side of a building.  That one is a Fort Worth signature and it's a cool-lookin' thing.  I can sneak it into the video in the same way as tv producers put boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes conveniently on the coffee table in sitcoms.  It's valid that our hero is out walking around as where the hell are all the people and, oh wow, check out this cool mural.

For this one I don't want it to take too long but I'm not going to pressure myself over it.  Right now it percolates and that's fine.


What that means also is there is no plan for additional dredging.  There is more footage from Greece and I'll review that but there's not a pressing reason as it's not likely that new music will come that way so it's not a high priority.

America's Moral Bankruptcy

While America demonstrates its moral bankruptcy daily with drone bombing, etc, etc, the American people are not bankrupt in this way ... and this just confuses the hell out of Euros.  They like Americans but don't think for a moment that means they like Washington.  They don't understand how the people they like have elected such a travesty of a government.  I don't understand it either and I've lived here for a large part of my life.

Moral bankruptcy in America is more apparent than real and the much bigger tragedy is cultural bankruptcy.  Yesterday's big news in music was that Taylor Swift has secured the taylorswift.sucks domain name.  Whether that's an admission of reality or a defense against predators is for you to determine.

(Ed:  what's the deal with Taylor Swift?)





Taylor who?


The modern age seems to be the Scourge of the Blondie Bimbos whether it's the barracudas on Fox News, barracuda singers with not a damn thing to say for themselves, or, everyone's favorite, Hillary Clinton.  Barracuda to the right of us, Barracuda to the left of us ...

But at least there's Kanye West to tell you he's bigger than all of it.  Maybe someone should tell him he fights to be King of an Anthill ... or maybe not.  It would just break his heart.

Culture in America is still alive but ... dayum ... is it deeply buried.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Ben Carson - A Credible GOP Candidate in an Empty Field

Ben Carson was raised as someone potentially worthy of support for the GOP candidacy for the Presidency.  That required a bit of review as who is this guy.  (Wiki:  Ben Carson)

One thing immediately apparent is he's considerably more intelligent than the others in the field and is highly-accomplished in his field of medicine.

One thing immediately confusing is why he would be a Republican pick.  He has conservative views on various things but his view of insurance companies is essentially the same as mine:  'the first thing we need to do is get rid of for-profit insurance companies.'

He will unload the Affordable Care Act alright ... in the same way I would do it as I've said for some while it didn't do that much because it was the same crooked insurance companies handling medical insurance after the law as before it.  How medical coverage would be funded was unclear but the traditional GOP, it seems to me, will harshly oppose eliminating the insurance companies.

He also doesn't to give an open deal to gun owners as he wants to restrict semi-automatic weapons, etc.  That has some merit for me as I don't particularly care about assault rifles because a handgun with 12-13 rounds can be considerably more deadly.

With each item I read, he seemed less likely to be acceptable to neocons.

His dedication to Christianity looks sincere and it's not my job to judge him but if I were picking between he and Creflo Dollar for spiritual integrity, I don't think it would take very long.  This makes me wonder if he has the moral strength to resist Koch Brothers money, etc.  Conceivably he's a Republican with the principles of the Goldwater era and I mean that as a high compliment.


Clinton I find not at all trustworthy whereas Carson is a whole different person.  Without further review, in the voting booth I would be more likely to support Carson than Clinton and the thinking is that he is vastly less likely to go square dancing around principles.  His seem to be carved deep.


As to his thinking about evolution, it's troubling but it doesn't matter much to me.  I didn't have the feeling he wants to alter science programs to force that teaching and that's important as I would object strongly to that.


Unknown if he is electable but, in my view, he is worthy whereas I don't believe that of anyone else in the GOP field ... or the Democrat field either, for that matter.  Elizabeth McGovern said again today she will not run and she's a smart woman so she must know she's already blown a significant swelling of support which may be difficult to recover.  I believe her that she won't run and it's unfortunate as she proclaims a nearly-perfect representation of the Democrat platform in contrast to Clinton who gives us the corporate-tainted version.

Cat Didn't Hate It

"Looking for the Spirits of Palo Duro Canyon" is the latest video effort and I thought Cat would consider the interpretation excessive and hate it ... but she surprised me and liked it.

Part of the basis for the use of high effects in the video is that I would have thrown it otherwise.  Driving through the canyon looks ok but it wasn't engaging enough on its own to have any particular value, at least not to me.

As to video reflecting music, this doesn't as it worked the other way around.  I've got eight minutes or so of HD video so what do I do with it.

The music for it is another "Song X" from Cat's Art MusikCircus and it wouldn't ordinarily get much attention because it takes a long time to get started.  That's fine for the approach to the canyon but then it gets spooky and strange which is also fine as the history of Palo Duro goes back ten or fifteen thousand years, possibly longer.  (Wiki:  Palo Duro Canyon)

There are places of spiritual power on the planet and the question always with me is would you feel this if you had not known about it already.  It's so strong in Tennessee that it's almost unmistakeable and so it is with Palo Duro ... but I knew that before I went there.

The answer is I don't know and that's why this particular music.  Hopefully that answer is satisfying to you.

Ted Cruz, the Latest American Presidential Embarrassment

Yesterday I spoke with my conservative but otherwise sensible friend to ask, man, don't these yahoos embarrass you.  I offered that Hillary Clinton embarrasses me and that wasn't simply a throwaway to elicit a response.

Ben Carson is the only conservative candidate he considered worthy of support but he observed there's evidence of damage in that one as well due to ardent belief in Intelligent Design.

Note:  we asked a mouthful of dentists if they believe there is Intelligent Design and they replied unanimously, "Let's review.  You get two sets of teeth.  The first set doesn't even work and falls out.  The second set falls apart so much that it gives me a career for life.  What's your guess about my thoughts on Intelligent Design?"

Part of the basis for my friend's support for Carson is based on a good education but he was puzzled how a belief in Intelligent Design survived that.  In short, he's the only credible candidate for my friend and he's not his dream date.


This is the Era of the Devious Democrats as they don't espouse any part of the traditional platform so they achieve success by ruse.  Obama has been pretending to be a Democrat for years and Clinton looks like she will play it the same way.  That means only one thing:  not one damn thing will change.  That would only be marginally different from Obama who said he would do things ... and then didn't.


Elizabeth McGovern was become a ghost as she was highly-visible for a while but has faded back.  Either she ran out of money or Clinton bought her off.  Bernie Sanders is the only other credible Democrat (i.e. one who really does know and support the platform) but he has no chance of winning.


The ones listed here aren't particularly embarrassing, they're just no damn good or they have no chance.  However, when Ted Cruz enters the contest, it becomes a satire.  He's typical of a class of low brain-weight Republicans who are absolutely rigid in their thinking, have relatively little education, and offer nothing more than the same litany of dogma we hear endlessly from Fox News.  Usually the really inept ones are from the Tea Party but the GOP has been collecting them as well and there's a parade of conservative candidates who could not pass a high school science test.

There's some measure of encouragement in my friend's view of these candidates as it would be most unfortunate if people who really know the GOP platform and history started accepting these lightweights.

As to the definition of 'lightweight,' the Tea Party has been saying for years it wants to defend the Constitution but the only constitutional amendment that's been considered in anything like modern times was the Equal Rights Amendment and that was killed in the eighties.  These candidates couldn't pass a science test and they couldn't pass a history test either.


Another friend of open political persuasion offered that the candidates are representative of a generation with singularly poor education.  As evidence he offered a survey in which college kids at a Texas university were asked who won the Civil War.  Out of half a dozen or so kids, only one knew.  The same was true for the others in a series of obvious questions about American history and the kids got all of them incorrect ... but all of them knew Snooki is / was on "Jersey Shore."

The point of the survey is clear enough but I don't have much reason to believe it.  How do I know they didn't edit out the kids who responded intelligently.  Also, it's not my experience with the kids I know personally as all of them stay aggressively informed.  Therefore, dismissing the generation as a whole doesn't explain it to me.


People sometimes refer to the 'dumbing down of America' but the average IQ of Americans didn't suddenly drop.  However, for some reason it doesn't seem to matter any more.  One example of that is the anti-vaxx crowd as their ability to ignore facts and reality is one of the highest of any group.  Another one is the Fox News fiasco on Benghazi in which everything they said was proven false and yet nothing changes.


Americans are not dumb and yet are doing some remarkably dumb things.  It remains a mystery and this is hardly a Mission from God with me, it's just really unusual to see such incredibly uninformed politicians at the national level so I'm curious.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

"Looking for the Spirits of Palo Duro Canyon" - Silas Scarborough (video)

"Looking for the Spirits of Palo Duro Canyon" features a drive down into the canyon and then through it.  This is a highly-interpretive vision so don't expect a travelogue ... unless you're packing mushrooms.

The music is an ambient improv from a live performance at Cat's Art MusikCircus.  It's slow getting started and deliberately but it will change, as will the visuals.

Perhaps this appears as an arbitrary assembly of dissimilar things to make art accidentally, if no other way.  I'll take the criticism but I don't accept it as the assembly is deliberate and I thought for some while about whether to use the effects.  I believe Palo Duro is an excellent place for trippin' as you're right there with the spirits from thousand of years.  The lights draw me to them and you can make your own conclusion about what happens at the end.




There was a movie called "The Trip" (or some such) from the sixties which I think was trying to show what tripping was like but it's more than what you see.  In any case, I see the retrograde aspect but there's no need to say more as there is no editorial from the video and that, I believe, is the difference.  It won't tell you anything except I hope you enjoy the ride.

Trippin' in Palo Duro Canyon

Palo Duro Canyon has an ancient history with native Americans and the land is now protected ... as a U.S. National Park.  That's a bizarre irony but at least it is preserved and no-one can build a condo out there.

There is over 9 GB of HD 1080 video from driving through the canyon and I figured it's not really a sightseeing tour as the cam looks straight out the front window of the truck.  Therefore I have full license to screw with it.

The result is full trips and this may result in the situation where I wind up thinking after that the stock version is better but I don't think so.  That's cool for hummingbirds but they're moving way too fast for trippin'.  Palo Duro Canyon is a place for a whole lot of trippin' as the southwestern U.S. has all kinds of stuff that will stone you and you bet the native Americans knew about all of it.

So I decided nuts is the answer for this one and it's end-to-end hallucinogenic fun for the whole family.

The final video will be huge and I haven't decided on uploading it.  For now it's in the Holy Mackerel, Check That Out stage.  The reason for doing this is it's high-quality video and I don't want to chuck it.


More video is being discovered as Final Cut Pro really has made managing files more straight-up.  As a result things that were lost get found.

Bertie the Bloated Backside

Jeff the Diseased Lung metastasized across the Internet faster than the most aggressive cancer Marlboro ever devised.  This followed John Oliver's exceptional show on "Tobacco" which investigated how much Phillip Morris International blackmails small countries with court extortion.  PMI can spend so much on attorneys that a country such as Togo has no chance against them.  The purpose behind PMI doing this is to prevent countries from enacting laws for restrictive packaging on cigarettes.

Oliver also did a show on "Sugar" and how people have turned into bloated dirigibles due to over-use but there wasn't anywhere near the reaction as there was to the Tobacco segment.  There definitely wasn't an appearance by Bertie the Bloated Backside ... until now.




Obesity kills more people than smoking so the disparity in response is novel.  I'm guessing it's easy to protest smoking as most people don't have to do anything because they don't smoke.  I'm glad of it as I'll go to buy cigarettes and frequently the cashier has no idea what to do, which cigarettes are which, where to find them, etc.

There was a time when all you had to say was 'Hey, throw me a pack of Humps, Pete,' and he'd chuck you a pack of non-filter Camels, the cigarette that was killing cowboys long before Marlboro thought of it.  If you say that to the lady cashier now, particularly if her name is not Pete, maybe she will slap you because she doesn't know what you mean.  There really has been progress.

Rainy Days and Sundays

They don't get me down ... but they don't get any video shot either.

The walking around part that shows the mural of all the charging cattle ... but ... it doesn't show the mural very well.  This has come up multiple times in talking with Yevette and not because she rides me about it but rather what's the best way to get the coverage since there's no question the mural needs to be in the viddie.

My biggest concern really is that I'm not exactly sure how to find the mural again.  That's not a nail-biting dilemma but it's a consideration at five in the morning as you don't want to get up early just to drive around in circles lost downtown.  An example is the bridge with all the lights at the start of the video.  I had never seen it before and was just roaming.  On seeing it, of course it has to be in the video as it's one cool looking bridge.  As to finding it again ... no possible chance.

Some stuff that definitely will not be in this video is anything from the Stockyards.  Maybe I'll go there for some footage for something else but that aspect of Fort Worth is the AAA drivers club view and that's ok if Fort Worth is nothing but rodeo to you but that doesn't work in this story.

Something else highly important to Fort Worth is Radio Shack as this is / was their corporate headquarters.  I have considered and rejected several times 'innocently' including a fly-by that shows their building.  It's still a possibility because it's a clear example to me of something that was 'eaten by the city' but doing that may inject a bit of political and I don't want that.  If it's the end of the world, your politics don't matter as we all goin' down.

This comes into the category of doing tricks just for the sake of doing tricks ... but ... I wonder if I could poof the whole Radio Shack building just like the people and cars in the rest of the end of the world part.

(Ed:  this is a bad idea)

You're right.  Going even close to the story of Radio Shack is a whole world of tragedy that brings nothing but real heartache.  When I vaporize anonymous people on the street, it's just sci-fi and, what the hell, let's fry a whole busload.  When I take out Radio Shack, even though real life is what really did it, there's a long story of human tragedy for a whole lot of people.  That goes out to the story of Sears and Americana in general.

Definitely leave that alone.  It's a valid story to tell but not at the same time as the current story.


So, I just need that damn mural and I only need twenty or thirty seconds of it!  I knew the week-end was likely a write-off due to rain so tomorrow morning is most likely.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Vaporizing Myself

For downtown Fort Worth, it was important to me not to vaporize the people as I want the effect that the city eats them and I see that said better without effects.  You go into the city and, man, it doesn't just suck your soul ... it sucks you up altogether, man.  For me this gives a nice portrayal of the heartless, soulless, metal and glass corporation sucking up the innocent people, blah, blah ... but I don't have to write any boring editorial.

The premise is there's only one thing to do when the end of the world is coming:  throw a party.  This has been covered previously in building this thing but the conclusion just occurred to me.  I have to vaporize too only presumably now it really is the end of the world so do I vaporize myself or blow up everything.

When lasers are firing, it will be difficult to vaporize myself as it would be obvious where I made the cut to make my exit.  Therefore, maybe it would be better to explode.  How about a nice fireball, a big cloud of smoke and ... fade to black.

(Ed:  when I think of salvation, explosions are usually not part of it)

Good point.  Copping the plea that musical salvation is different doesn't even get off the table.


It seemed cool but the idea now fades.  This is very much a spiritual thing but blowing up the world and really finishing it makes a mess out of any idea of a Second Coming because I've just dusted Jesus' LZ so the Second Coming is a scratch.

This isn't about being over-sensitive but rather why should I step on that story if it's not necessary.  My story is the heartless, soulless city will eat you but there is salvation in music.  There is more credibility to my story if it doesn't needlessly step on any other.

But how the hell does that end ...

I thought I had it with the explosion but that's a bust.  That means more research.

(Ed:  have you rolled it yet?)

Roger that.

"Tennessee Hummingbirds HD" (video) - Updated

So I had new old hummingbird video and I had a new old song, "Finding My Way."  What should I do.   Nothing?   Of course I had to stick them together.

I am SO diggin' having Final Cut run at human speed again.  I can screw with all kinds of stuff now. Yahoo!

The hummingbird is in slow-motion and the intrigue, for me, in the video is the beat for the song is unusual and my mind tries to make a relationship between that and the hummingbird's wing movement.

If using slo-mo hummingbirds to suck you into my music is slutty then call me a crackwhore as I'm going with it.





The video has been altered for my own devious effect.  I hope that doesn't offend purists.


Video shot on location in Lotho's backyard.


Update:

I had to know what this would look like without effects and here's the result.  The video is the highest resolution I can produce and the upload was 800 MB.




Verdict:  I like it better

And Then There Were Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are migratory creatures.  You will see them in Tennessee but not for such a long time as they will fly back to Mexico when the temperature cools.  Monarch butterflies migrate that same long distance ... but hummingbirds don't take five generations to do it.  (The interested student may want to review the Monarch butterfly migration as it's a fascinating exercise.  How in the world does a creature which has ostensibly the brain of a pencil manage to fly thousands of miles ... accurately.)

What this means in the Spring is you wait ... and you wait ... and when are those hummingbirds coming back, man.

They will.  You need a lot of patience with hummingbirds as they are unbelievably fast and photographing them takes the reflexes of a Chinese ping pong player.

So I've got about a minute and a half of video of emerald hummingbirds in Tennessee and, even if I do say so myself, they look highly darlin'.


(Ed:  you were saying about multi-tasking?)

Multi-dorking is when you try to do everything at the same time.  That's the suburban implementation of multi-tasking and, thus far, it has not gone well as nothing ever gets finished that way.

There are three Major Projects right now and the first is "The End of the World in Fort Worth," the second is the Sister Julie CD Project, and the third is getting my act together to play for Cat.  It's been about a week since I mentioned the CD and that's how I do multi-tasking, when the time is appropriate then it's ok to do some multi and at other times I won't touch it.

But now there are hummingbirds.  They're darlin' li'l critters but I don't see them as part of an end of the world story.  Even in my twisted world, that's too weird.


But ... there are the Botanic Gardens near here.  It may be possible to get some footage down there and weasel the hummingbirds into it as if they're down here rather than Tennessee.  Actually they're in Lotho's backyard where I saw more hummingbirds than I have ever seen in the whole rest of my life.  We can pretend they are in Texas for a video, tho.  That might work out ok as otherwise looking at flowers is exciting like watching commercials for extra fibre in the diet.

The Sister Julie CD Project Update

"Finding My Way" was recorded at a level that caused a conflict with other songs on the CD as it would blow you out of your chair when it started.  It's not a loud hammerhead song as really it's more jazzy than rock but the mix could have been better and hopefully that's fixed.

There's an MP3 version of "Finding My Way" available now on the Ride the Dragon podcast.  The song originally appeared on the "Illusion of Gravity" CD.


This one has a different sound from most of my others as there's an octave doubler on the guitar and the song is what resulted from playing around with it.  This kind of song is important as playing something Cat hasn't heard before is close to impossible ... but ... playing something she hasn't heard is the great challenge of playing at the MusikCircus.  This isn't even close to a complaint, it's a delicious challenge.  Surprising Cat musically is a very good thing and hopefully this one will do it.

The recording is from the late 90s and the version I found was so old that it was recorded using Deck II and that hasn't run on an Apple system for almost fifteen years.



I killed "I Love Rats" as I didn't find any redeeming features about the recording.  That's true for many things recorded live as there's almost nothing to be done with them if you don't like the recording after the show.  Maybe you could add some compression, some reverb, a bit of EQ, etc but nothing will turn a bad recording into a symphony, no matter how good you are at studio trickery.  That and one other are out and the flow for the remainder is working for me.


So ... the CD run time is about 66 minutes.  There's still time for about another ten minutes to replace what I chucked so the Sister Julie CD Project is not complete but it's very close.

Friday, March 20, 2015

No Christmas Card for Me from Marlboro

Joe the Diseased Lung

The series of Joe the Diseased Lung pics were fun to make and many people spread them so that feels pretty good.  All I do is screw around for a while making pictures but maybe one of them is the one it takes to get some kid thinking.  That stuff only has to get to one to be a win so I'm pleased.  I doubt Marlboro or Phillip Morris will like the pics much, tho.


Jeremy Clarkson

Dunno if I made the right call with this guy as the impression I get is that he's insensitive but I'm not so sure he's the blazing racist he's accused of being.  It did amuse me when a young producer went on about his trauma after ostensibly being assaulted by Clarkson.  "Mum, that old man beat me up!"


However


Bill Cosby

There are so many reports and I'm not sure which one put it over the top with me that this guy really is a worthless prick.  For quite a while I thought what the news was doing was just another celebrity assassination but now it looks to me like he deserved the bullet.


But


Tobey the Dog

Here's the real dilemma and it involves Tobey the Dog.  He won't eat his chow.  It's Pedigree for Active dogs and he hates it like I feed him chocolate-covered anchovies.  He's not sick and he's definitely an active dog so my dilemma is whether to chuck twenty pounds of dog chow.  I figured he would eat when he was hungry enough but he's kept this stand-off for a week now.  He hasn't stopped eating altogether and the dog isn't going to die.  The only drama is picking the right food.

So there's no big crisis, I've just never seen a dog reject his chow before.  Any dog I've ever known would eat just about anything and he's not a picky dog as the only thing I've seen him reject previously was something I cooked and I wouldn't eat it either.  Take a shot at it if you like, buddy, as otherwise I'm going to chuck it.  He just said don't wait.

Jeff the Diseased Lung - Who Needs Sex Anyway #JeffWeCan



Jeff says he doesn't want Diane Kruger.  We don't believe him.

Jeff the Diseased Lung Goes Flying on Marlboro Air #JeffWeCan


Some people spend thousands of dollars for scents for the body but Marlboro gives you that for free ... for as long as you last ... which probably isn't long.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

"The End of the World in Fort Worth" - About those Gangsters

Another article goes on about a short riff in the tune that bugs me because I can't place where I have heard it.  There are only eight notes and it sounds like something out of a gangster movie with a highly mournful sax.  Poor dead gangster.  That makes sense, naturally.

(Ed:  mournful?  What kind of salvation is that?)

After killing off all the people in Fort Worth, I thought showing them a bit of respect wouldn't be such a bad idea.  This isn't going to change anything about the party at the Rockhouse but it will make the transition more interesting.

Yevette has lived quite a bit of her life in Fort Worth and she thinks the treatment of the city is good.  So long as a real-life native Fort Worthian thinks it's respectful, all is good.

Note:  she didn't think doing the Aztec human sacrifice at the Water Gardens was such a good plan, tho.


The people of Fort Worth don't die but rather they disappear.  There was the suggestion to zap them with lasers to vaporize them but story line I'll hold is that the city eats them.  People go into the city and then they get sucked into cubicles where they're stuck for thirty years.  So ... no vaporizing.  I'm fine with doing it in another one but it doesn't work for this story.

Besides, if I create the idea of monsters then I have to show them or what kind of worthless horror is that.  It worked keeping the monsters inside Hannibal Lector's head but there's a whole treatise on cinema for that.


Cat has a low-res copy of the video but she didn't have time to comment and it will be most interesting.  If anyone can name that tune, it's her.

This may seem like nitpicking but it's fundamental as the riff will come back later and it won't be as a two-bar loop that repeats until I get tired of playing the guitar.  I do think the intro is at least medium cool so the music has to live up to that.  If it's musical salvation until the demons from the other dimension come to snuff you then let's have some of that and definitely nothing mournful.


To some extent I'm dragging this out as I like it that the song can be anything I want from here.  Once I put a track out there, an 'image' is created and people get highly bummed if you make something pretty and then change it.  With the video it's ok doing Take I, Take II, etc as we can talk about the bits as they go together but that doesn't at all work with the music so the next time I post the video it will be at or very near the finish.


People of the Future, the new used Mac smokes through Final Cut.  I only thought it was agonizing using the laptop.  If I had known how much incredibly faster this one can get it done, I would have called it agonizing like sticking burning pokers in yer eyes.  Yeah, and that has got to hurt.

There's a spinner to show progress on rendering the video and that thing climbs like the tach on a Ferrari.  That is the number one most killin' horrible thing about video, waiting for it to render.  That situation is supremely nailed.

New Face of Marlboro - Jeff the Diseased Lung - #jeffwecan

Marlboro has been known for the Marlboro Man's studly image for decades.  There's only one problem:  they keep killing them.  So far, four Marlboro Men have died and, what do you know, all of them died from lung cancer.

Therefore, John Oliver wants Marlboro to consider a compromise between the rigidly restrictive packaging used in some countries and the lackadaisical approach preferred by Phillip Morris International.

To that end, John Oliver gives us Jeff the Diseased Lung


Come on up and smoke me some time.


Here's Jeff with an alpha mask so you can do whatever demented stuff you like with him.  Show your Marlboro love by putting him on the side of a hot-air balloon.




Jeff is getting around.




And of course Jeff the Diseased Lung is a patriot, just ask Marlboro.




Of course Jeff the Diseased Lung loves to go on vacation ... and smoke.