What's Hot on the Blog 2/28

Entry	Pageviews
Donald Trump Saves the Military While Ignoring Inf... Feb 28, 2017	48
The Panda King Rules his World Feb 28, 2017	40
When Sex Really Doesn't Matter Anymore Feb 28, 2017	37
North Korea Executes People with Anti-Aircraft Gun... Feb 28, 2017	36
Now a Cameo from Alex Jones at his Psychotic Socio... Feb 28, 2017	34
When the State Will Pay You to Make Babies Feb 28, 2017	32
Release of the "Ride the Dragon" CD Feb 28, 2017	25
What's Hot on the Blog 2/27 Feb 27, 2017	25
"Supper's Ready" | Angelo Di Loreto and Adam Krome... Feb 28, 2017	19
Racism is Supporting Obama Even When He is Wrong Jun 23, 2013	13

Donald Trump - fifty billion or so additional for the military but zip to combat infectious disease

The Panda King - his rulership is unquestioned (the picture was not from the same source as the video but maybe they're the same pandas)

When Sex - a robo cathouse, fo' real ... and it won't be the first ... is that a dream come true or what

North Korea - people don't seem to question things too much, particularly just how is it even possible to whack someone with an anti-aircraft gun

Now a Cameo - every man in the world looks better just because we're not Alex Jones.  In this one he goes on about liberals praising Lucifer and it was so wtf it needed validation.

When the State - how about a bonus from the state when you make a baby, mother?  At least two countries are considering that due to low birth rates.

Release - got to get the CD released after way too much yap about doing it

What's Hot

Supper's Ready - a remarkable cover by two pianos

Racism - this article has got some major staying power but it needs about a thousand reads to make the all-time hit list.  It's a tough go for a new one to break into that list.

Release of the "Ride the Dragon" CD

The release of the "Ride the Dragon" CD has been pending for some while but I've kept thinking maybe I want something different on there.  Something I want more than that is to accomplish something and getting it done would be a big bang.

It's amused me from the start that it will be censored on Facebook without even listening to it because of the CD cover.

The graphic won't be changed because I like it and also because the comedy of being banned for cartoon boobies is worth far more to me than sales which might otherwise come.

Ed:  what if it doesn't get banned?

Then I guess then I'll need some other excuse when people don't buy it.

Ed:  more likely it's because you don't lift a finger to market it!

I'm guessing you may think I'm not aware of this.  Even so, market, for me, means going to get some fresh French bread and I do that willingly.  Besides, if I make marketing any more than that then I have to give up the freedom to speak freely and I won't.


The charge to release the CD was paid long back so all I need is to upload the songs and let it rip.  If I get cracking on it soon then it will happen in a few hours but more likely it will be later in the evening.


This comes after another visit to VA today and I returned with a fistful of expensive antibiotics and, everyone's favorite crazy maker, steroids.  This is to try to knock out the huge congestion in my chest which has persisted for months.  I haven't written so much of the medical aspect of late but nothing improved and I've been more or less content that things aren't getting quickly worse.

There's quite a bit of darkness and I have no intention of going into any of it.  VA asks every time if I'm depressed and of course I'm depressed as poverty and illness will drop anyone down.  The next question is whether I feel suicidal and I don't.  Ms Kersa was asking me about that since she's quite sure I'm crazy and wanted to be sure about the situation.

I emphasized again only a fool would not be depressed when things suck beyond all imagination but still that makes it all the more important to find things which don't suck.

Ed:  therefore the CD?

Yep


Note:  I've written from time to time on infectious 'superbugs' but that's not the situation in my case since I have been refusing them.  However, today Ms Kersa listened to my chest and she wasn't having any refusal.  She said this one is expensive but I don't know how much or why.


The depression of late hasn't been overwhelming but it got one sight deeper and much of that revolves around the feeling of hopelessness, being trapped, etc, etc.  Poverty is a large part of that so the latest thinking is to open a Patreon account and look for some support that way.

Ed:  why should anyone do that?

If you like Ithaka then you have a reason.  I'm not looking for charity; I'm looking for support.  It takes quite a bit to write the articles for Ithaka even if only in the time it takes.  So that's what I give and it's a reason I think support is valid.  I won't post advertising since the next thing after that is some wanker starts hustling a porno site with pics of nekkid cheerleaders.  It's not going to happen here.

Ed:  what's wrong with nekkid cheerleaders?

Nothin' ... so long as you're nekkid with them but they have no business here.


I told Ms Kersa that VA was a large part of my hope when there isn't a whole hell of a lot it elsewhere.  I told her that makes her an important person in my life.  She hugged me.  I couldn't believe it.

I've remarked before about the love in her heart since she came in for work at six in the morning to get me started in the program when I first went to VA.  I can't even imagine the difficulty for her in helping all these beater vets who are in such a hell of a mess and without a heart the size of a mountain I don't believe she or anyone could do it.

She hugged me.  How about that.

Hola, Fort Worth ... Muy Bueno, Muy Bueno

You may not be accustomed to this part of America since many here don't speak English or not well.  Nevertheless, the people in this area are Hispanic but they're Americans and they work so damn hard to succeed.


Some don't make it but a larger reason for the success of these types of places is more likely to be the expense of banks.  Overdraft charges from a bank can easily murder someone with not much money so many here don't use banks at all.

Unknown if a bank was involved in financing this restaurant but it's similar to many in the area.

Hispanic people know very well about parties.

This one is wild.

The people in the house next door throw parties all the time and the volume goes up a little but there are no out of control drunkies running around making a stupid ruckus.  They have many parties but they're always very cool.


Taqueria restaurants are more common than McDonald's, much more common.

Perhaps you have heard of Pollo Loco (Spanish for 'crazy chicken') and this is a Pollo Loco trailer for a truck.

If the only way to launch the business is to do it from your house then it will happen that way.

All of these places are on Hemphill Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas.

When the State Will Pay You to Make Babies

There was a well-publicized law in China which forbad more than one baby per family and they enforced the law, to their great notoriety, with mandatory abortion.  That policy succeeded, apparently, better than they had hoped for reducing their population growth since now they encourage couples to have a second child and may even award 'birth pay' for doing it.  (RT:  Cash on delivery: China contemplates rewards to urge couples to have 2nd child)

In China, the birth rate was low by state mandate but that wasn't the case in Spain and the same situation is true in which the state is looking for ways to encourage people to have children.  (RT:  Spanish government creates new sex position to stimulate low birthrate)

Note:  that title goes into the Book of Unfortunate Titles since any new sex position which is not in the Kama Sutra is officially defined as a gymnastic trick and not a sex act at all.

The Spanish government has taken a radical step to arrest the country's declining birth rate – by creating the position of a ‘Sex Tsar’. It’s part of bid to encourage a baby boom and boost the population slump.
Galician senator and demographics expert, Edelmira Barreria Diz, has been appointed government commissioner with special responsibility for challenging the nation's sliding birthrate.

Last year Spain recorded more deaths than births for the first time since World War II prompting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to take action.

- RT


Unknown how much low birth rates have to do with the ZPG Movement (i.e. Zero Population Growth) of the Sixties but probably most of it is because people can't afford children and the ones who do it anyway wind up in a financial hellhole.

The low birth rates are common across all of the developed nations and they sustain existing populations if they keep an average of two births but it's not uncommon when they don't.  Maintaining the population is fine but it does nothing to accommodate growth and that's where the migrants come into it.


There's no need for the editorial on the need for migrants since you know it already but the thing you may not know is there is state-level recognition of the problem of low birth rates so it might behoove you to consider it as well.

Ed:  do you expect me to immediately start making babies?

No, and, despite all the offers, I won't be doing it either.


Australia was paying out a baby bonus and my family immigrated there from Scotland but my ol' Mother was getting a cheque from the state for the babies she was making.

Note:  unknown if that policy continues in Australia.  I've not heard of such a policy in America but there probably isn't one.


People are having great fun with xenophobia just now but it doesn't work and, in fact, it has never worked.

North Korea Executes People with Anti-Aircraft Guns

There's all kinds of yap about fake news but I haven't heard anyone question how it's even possible to execute someone with an anti-aircraft gun.  (CNN:  North Korea executed 5 security officials, South Korea says)

People won't buy it if CNN says North Koreans eat their children but this story has been playing for some while as Kim Jong Un's latest favorite way to execute people.

Five North Korean officials have been executed by anti-aircraft guns, according to South Korean lawmakers.

The deputy minister-level officials had worked under the recently fired state security chief Kim Won Hong, and are believed to have been executed for making false reports to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to two parliamentarians who had been briefed by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS).

"Kim Won Hong, the state security chief, is in a house arrest situation after an investigation and more than five deputy minister-level officials who worked under him have been executed by anti-aircraft guns," South Korean lawmaker Kim Byung-kee said.

- CNN


Doesn't anyone ask what's the fucking point?

New anti-aircraft weapons mostly use missiles but the older ones were either flak guns to shoot the ordnance high enough to hit bombers or they were the four-barrel, high-caliber machine guns.  Either way, killing someone with this type of weapon is hardly worthy of Inquisition standards since it would be over instantly.


Rockhouse credibility judgment:  less than zero


It's novel to see CNN getting self-righteous about justice in North Korea when America has the highest percentage of incarceration for the population of anywhere else in the world.  (WIKI:  List of countries by incarceration rate)

The heinous level of incarceration of juveniles in America is patently evil but that number has been falling for years and was at its height during the Bill Clinton administration.

Note:  recording in that scale only goes back to 1997 but the trend toward reduction in the juvenile prison population has been consistent since that time.


It's not hard to see the reason it's so easy for this type of news story to work since right now on Twitter, there are many arguing vehemently about Kellyanne Conway putting her feet on a sofa in the Oval Office.  (Fox News:  Twitter erupts over image of Kellyanne Conway kneeling on Oval Office couch)

Note:  the link is to Fox and ordinarily I would ignore it but I've seen those Twitter monkeys really are going berserk on the matter and Fox happened to have a convenient link.


While it may seem America is populated solely by hopeless nitwits, at least one is still thinking.  America's traffic problems have now got so bad that some guy opened his taco truck for business in a traffic jam in Seattle yesterday.  (KING 5:  Seattle taco truck serves stranded drivers)

Rachel McQuade and her husband were caught behind a tanker that overturned on I-5 Monday morning, blocking all southbound lanes.  Then the couple noticed a bright green beacon of hope: the Tacos El Tajin food truck.  The clever truck operators opened for business right there on I-5, even accepting debit cards for payment. 

Rachel's husband got four tacos and a drink on the freeway - with a great story to share.

- K5

The Panda King Rules his World

The Panda King directs and his loyal subjects obey.

Ed:  they look like they're about to go into one of those Chinese gymnastics routines.

You'll love the part where they balance spinning plates on bamboo rods.


The King Panda doesn't have too much luck stealing apples from his subjects in the following video.




Ed:  is this supposed to be ethology?

Nah, this is watching animals in a zoo.  Maybe it's kind of interesting that King Panda doesn't push it.  He tries to take food from others but he doesn't get it and he doesn't escalate to a bigger fight for it.


This one is for ethology.

There was a sci fi story way back and a dim recollection reveals some kind of creatures from beneath the sea from where they rose to primacy in the world.  They liked to go to the beach as much as we but the difference was all of them would set their chairs to face inland.

It looks like they're returning.

Now a Cameo from Alex Jones at his Psychotic Sociopathic Best

I love Alex Jones since if I will be free to speak then that venomous fuck has just as much right.  So long as there are shitheels like Alex Jones in the world, it makes the rest of us automatically look better.

America is already great when you can make a career out of being a prick.  Such people somehow thrive on vilification and that's true in some twisted way for Jehovah's Witnesses since it's said they get extra credit with God if you abuse them when they try to Spread the Word.  That's not a problem in the Hispanic part of town, tho.

Ed:  why not?

If you don't speak Spanish, the Jehovah's Witnesses don't want to talk and go on to the next house.

Ed:  it sounds like a Conspiracy of Mexican Jehovah's Witnesses!

Could be.  Let's get Alex Jones on that after he did such a good job on the Satanic Left in this video.






Coming soon, the Invasion of the Mexican Jehovah's Witnesses in Taco Trucks.  Aiiiiyyyeeeee!


Jones is such an asshole, tho.  He's going on and on about worshipping the devil and eating human flesh and it amuses me that "Supper's Ready" comes up as topic on Ithaka quite a bit ... that one is sure a Lullaby for Legba, huh?

The most unusual part is people believe him and, judging by his pudgy demeanor, they feed him relatively well.


So, uh, fuck you, Jonesie boy.

Can't you feel our souls ignite
Shedding ever changing colours, in the darkness of the fading night,
Like the river joins the ocean, as the germ in a seed grows
We have finally been freed to get back home.

There's an angel standing in the sun, and he's crying with a loud voice,
"This is the supper of the mighty one",
Lord of Lords,
King of Kings,
Has returned to lead his children home,
To take them to the new Jerusalem.

- Genesis

"Supper's Ready" | Angelo Di Loreto and Adam Kromelow with Two Pianos

What an extraordinary idea




I wouldn't really call myself a Genesis purist but I really dig the band and I found surprising coolness in this cover.

While it's impressive, the nature of a piano as a percussion instrument is a limitation which prevents reaching the full scope of expression in the song.

Some say instead the violin is the king of all instruments and it doesn't suffer from percussion but usually does from the lack of it.

Ed:  everything in music is necessarily a compromise between what you can hear and what can be physically played

Welcome to the band

Donald Trump Saves the Military While Ignoring Infectious Disease

Fighting against the Blue Army goes well, citizens, but we must keep up the pressure.  We must persevere and soon we will win the much-deserved victory ... or something like that and it will cost another sixty billion.

That's the Donald Trump Plan which, what do you know, looks almost exactly like the old plan.  The new old plan comes from the same whiner who said he saved twelve billion last month ... while he was setting up to blow five times that much.

The beauty part is he says he will cut sixty billion from domestic programs to make it balance.

A big deal at the Rockhouse has been support for programs to help people get off heroin.  We all know the problem and don't need searchlights in the sky to announce it but we do need money all across the country to help people get clean and stay that way.  Lotho knows the most about such programs and I'm sure he knows also the probability of financial support from the state is dropping by the minute.

- RT:  Trump to boost Pentagon budget by $54bn - White House


There's no intention in trying to score points against Lotho since he hasn't been dancing a jig over Trump's appointments any more than anyone else.  I'm not positive but it looks for him like more of the Obama Effect (i.e. he talks really sweet on Prom Night but he's gone the next day).  Trump hasn't Obama'ed me since I took my beating already when Obama did it.

I had hoped there would be more imagination in Trump but, in fact, he seems almost entirely bereft of it.  There are consequences, however.


Likely you have heard about some unknown 'superbug' which was impervious to all antibiotics and whacked some older woman in Nevada some months ago.

Have you heard about increasing the capability to fight off such bugs, do more research to find how they work, discover better drugs for dealing with them, etc?  (RT:  WHO urges quick development of antibiotics to combat superbugs, warns options are running out)

It's even got that 'combat' word the statists love so much but still they find a way to do nothing.

Looks like Good'n'Plenty candy but it's Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) bacteria © Reuters


The World Health Organization (WHO) has urgently called for the creation of new drugs to tackle 12 superbugs which do not respond to antibiotics, warning that drug resistance is on the rise.

The "priority pathogens" list released by the organization on Monday, catalogs 12 families of bacteria which poses the greatest threat to human health.

The list specifically highlights "gram-negative bacteria," which are resistant to multiple antibiotics. Such bacteria have built-in capabilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material which allows other bacteria to also become drug resistant.

- RT


There's no way for America to be great again ... when it's sick.


Sure that's the throwaway line for the day but doesn't obviate the fact of it.  We observe through multiple research papers that dollars for science in developing various treatment protocols seem to be available but we see from the news announcements for other things that there's no money for ensuring anyone ever sees the benefit of them.

In short, scientists have been working to try to discover the source of the problem with drug-resistant microbes but it all stops after that.


Assuming a drug is discovered, the standard process after that is it gets patented to ensure other medical companies can't legally produce it.  Then the price of the drug gets bumped astronomically each time rights to the drug are sold and quickly the result is people can't afford it anymore.

Ed:  the Shkreli Effect?

Yes.  It's a uniquely American disease.  Woolworth's parasites of Shkreli's nature come along and it seems like whacking him will take care of the problem but doing that doesn't change it at all.  He's not significant; he's just another noise.


Have you seen Donald Trump lift a finger toward Big Pharma?

Right.  Me either.

When Sex Really Doesn't Matter Anymore

The first cathouse mostly populated by robos is opening soon in Spain and you will be able to make appointments to dally with those delectable digital damsels (i.e. sex robos) soon.  (RT:  Come on, Barbie, let’s go party: Europe’s first sex doll brothel opens in Barcelona (PHOTOS))

Here's your very own incarnation of Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory only this chocolate is sexy ... or it would be if any real chocolate were in it.

- RT

Holy mackerel!  Check out the size of those bazongas, huh.

Asians may have many things but large breasts are not among them and they're as uncommon as, say, Israelis with big hearts.

Ed:  you miserable anti-Semitic prick!

As you may notice, American Jews do not bomb people when you go near their houses whereas Israeli Jews do it all the time.  Therefore, I submit Judaism has nothing to do with it and people become evil pricks when they go to Israel.

Ed:  Israel just demonstrates more of the nationalism seen elsewhere

Yah, we have seen what nationalism does and it brings to humanity the same thing syphilis brings to love ... which brings us back to the primary topic.


This could be the beginning of a new sexual revolution.  Brits and Americans go to Thailand to fuck children or do whatever they do with ladyboys.  Spain is already a favorite for Brits so starting the robo sex revolution for them in that country is an excellent choice.

Ed:  you won't change the destination for sex tourists unless you make the robos look like children

That's not a problem, Dagwood.  We only have to modify the molding process somewhat to crank out sex robos at any age the customer desires and, here's the beauty part:  it's not pedophilia because they're not human.

Ed:  you're the sickest motherfucker since Gollum!

Lighten up, Premature Excoriator, since my only engagement with sex robos is within the context of reporting on the robo evolution which, like most things, the majority of people deny.

Ed:  except when you're a Brit and want to screw one while you're on holiday

Roger that, Dagwood.


Ed:  can you still catch venereal diseases from them?

Of course since the bacteria or virus only needs someplace to wait for you and will work just the same once you arrive.

Q:  Why don't you use the same chicken euphemism as others and say such maladies are sexually-transmitted diseases?

Ed:  because the euphemism only meant people don't take them seriously and get more of them.


Sex workers are typically required to get regular medical inspections everywhere except America where they still pretend prostitution doesn't happen or if it does they pretend they can control it.

Maybe you have heard of some type of inspection planned for robo sex workers but the Rockhouse has missed that announcement.

Ed:  if these robos are so damn smart, they should be able to inspect themselves for medical safety!

They don't do anything of that nature but they give great head.

Ed:  do they?

Dunno but probably not.


Prospective punters will be glad to know that each of the dolls are “thoroughly disinfected” after each use, though which unfortunate person has that job is unknown.

Sex doll brothels have already proven popular in Japan and China - whether the Spanish will have a similar taste for these silicon companions remains to be seen.

- RT

There you have it.  There's no state inspection of robo sex dolls but, trust us, we will do that for you.


Ed:  all of this comes from sexual repression in the church!

Well, it's tough to tag the church when China and Japan are leading the loser way with sex robos and Christianity hasn't sold so well in those countries but free love looks like it must be booming.

Ed:  maybe we will see an uprising from human hookers who will sue the robo cathouses for restraint of trade?

The taxi drivers tried that against Uber ... and got nowhere whatsoever.


Welcome to This is the Future and Why Didn't People Think to Do More With It.  Now we have robo cathouses.  Fly me to the fuckin' Moon, huh.

What's Hot on the Blog 2/27

Entry	Pageviews
When the Vatican is More Progressive than Donald T... Feb 27, 2017	51
What's Hot on the Blog 2/26 Feb 26, 2017	39
Beat Club Studios [1972] | Jeff Beck Group Feb 27, 2017	39
It's Ghastly What Donald Trump Does with Ketchup Feb 27, 2017	36
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Nantes Feb 27, 2017	35
"Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind" | Marlene Dietrich Feb 26, 2017	30
Racism is Supporting Obama Even When He is Wrong Jun 23, 2013	25
"A Million Reasons" Behind the Scenes | Lady Gaga Feb 27, 2017	23
The Giant Flying Squirrel Was Lost But is Found Ag... Feb 27, 2017	21
There's Science and There's "Weird Science" Feb 27, 2017	14

When the Vatican - has more technical sophistication than Donald Trump

What's Hot

Beat Club - was one of those studios where really amazing things happen, this time with Jeff Beck

It's Ghastly - Donald Trump always has his steak the same way

Sag Mir Wo - "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" is sung in German by Marlene Dietrich and she does a beautiful job of it

Racism - calls out Obama on his duplicitous positions

A Million - it's a beautiful song and this version shows some of the background in putting the stage show together

The Giant - the squirrel is beautiful and it flies in the high mountains

There's Science - the movie in which a young Bill Paxton played some kind of large amphibian