Die Anstalt - Griechenland (31.03.2015) (English version)

If only American writers were as brutal and honest in criticism of government outrages as takes place in Germany and is exemplified by this brilliant performance.  The closest in American television was M*A*S*H but its primary objective was comedy whereas the focus in Die Anstalt is information and truth while delivering it in a savagely-comedic way.

No need to repost the video as it is in the following article.


There is great hope for me in seeing such literate protest.  It's disappointing it doesn't happen here but there's no reason it cannot.

Dissent is the definition of patriotism as dissenters are the only ones who ever push anything forward or know enough about the subject to submit a cogent argument.  Conservatives consider it patriotic to hold steadfast to the position that 'one must never mess with a hummer.'  They will not seek change as it's contrary to their philosophy.  Fair enough but it's logically impossible for such a system to evolve.

Where this gets ugly is in the way supporters are cloned and you can see that in the exceptionally low level of knowledge of the actual problems in the world while that knowledge is replaced by sound bites.  It's not that America 'dumbed down' but rather some major dumb asses were recruited because they're easy to control.  There are more dumb asses than smart people (i.e. it's a bell curve) so that approach will always win but the expense is dissent is destroyed by literacy that would not be adequate to get out of a high school.

Therefore, it is hugely encouraging to me to see valid and accurate dissent presented formally without the obligatory conservative shout down that inevitably follows here.  Jon Stewart and John Oliver do good work but even they don't punch as hard as the content presented here.

I cannot possibly give a big enough hat tip to everyone involved with Die Anstalt as they go straight to the heart of the humanity or the lack of it in conservative governments which have become so pervasive in the modern world.

Die Anstalt: German / Greek Negotiations - Brilliant (video w/subtitles) - Updated

Even if you don't like subtitles and who would ... this is funny stuff.

Don't bail before the Troika goes to help the Greek restaurant owner.

There is a major statement on austerity and these guys are brilliant in delivering it.  My respect for Germany goes even higher.  The German government probably won't like it much, tho.


From the video statement:

Special thanks to Hagen Fleischer (historian), who examined and reviewed german-greek relations in his decade-long scientific research.

The TV-show “Die Anstalt” broadcasted on 31 March 2015 is based on his work, which was excellently realized by the cabaret artists Max Uthoff, Claus von Wagner, Arnulf Rating, Serdar Somuncu and Klaus Eckel.

By now, this show reached millions of people, especially in Germany and Greece.

However, we think this contribution to a better understanding among nations and people should be offered to as many countries as possible. Thanks to the support of Thomas Kehr and Carsten Schmidt, you can find a version with english subtitles here.

As you can see teamwork aproves again as an essential contribution to a peaceful coexistence.

So last but not least: YOU can contribute to this peaceful coexistence. With your active support we can spread this video all over the world.

I Would Have Been a Good Wife

As in I would have been a fookin' nagging bitch.  Yesterday I was busting the Hippie Girl for putting cat litter in the recycle bin and I was pissed too.  No, man, garbage in the big one and recycles in the blue one.  I sounded like some dork who writes parking tickets.

She asked what goes into recycle and I told her anything that did not at one time walk, slither, or get poisoned by Monsanto gets recycled.  I have my recycle rules, see (laughs).

And if we didn't finish a soda, we pour it down the sink, yes?  See, we get ants otherwise and we don't like ants.

I'm such a nagging bitch.

The Hippie Girl got a vacuum cleaner but take a guess as to the only one who has used it.  Yep, li'l wifey.

I'm not whining.  I think it's funny.  I strike the pose of a fookin' rock god but really I'm a hausfrau.  This kills me!

I would put curlers in my hair ... if I had any hair.

I wonder if she thinks my ass is fat.

The Blog Hits 300,000 - Thank You

There isn't a single reason in the Universe that getting to 300,000 hits on the blog should have any significance ... but I do get a kick out of it.

(Ed:  what else do you get, like stuff that jingles?)

Nothin'.

(Ed:  so you're still broke?)

It's the story of my sad life, Officer Muldowney (sob).


However, what I do have is "Ride the Dragon" (links to MP3 on the podcast - free) and I stopped listening to it after I was satisfied it's ready to 'print' but this would be a peach of a time as there's a lot of dragon riding needed just now.

(Listening)

Yah, I can live without video.  It pisses me off that I can't do video just now but I can ride dragons.  Yep, that I can do.  There is zero computer involvement in performing the song as all of it's live just as it came down the pipe.  All the computer added was the ability to record it ... well, plus stream it outbound to Second Life.


Whoa, I forgot about the applause at the end of it and that makes me laugh every time.  It really isn't a lie as the performer can't hear applause in SL so girls would throw lingerie to me rather than tips ... or both if they had a lot of money ... or a lot of lingerie.  I don't mean they would throw panties once in a while, I mean every time and lots of them.  I had so much lingerie from it that I would have been the hottest transvestite in Second Life.  Maybe I should have tried it as that probably pays better than music.

So, thanks very much for following it.  I don't know what it means but it doesn't really have to mean anything.  So long as you have the peace and the love, understanding will come eventually.  Elvis Costello just found it faster.  Cool guy.  Often misunderstood.

In fact, let's hear some of that.

Long, long time ago The Freezebirds covered this one.  For all the electronics, nothing substitutes for a face-to-face jam.

Saving the CD for the Sister Julie Project

The first "Pigment of My Fascination" going out the door went to Sister Julie but it arrived looked it was been subjected to some major international unrest.

So ... make another one.

But ... I made the CD on the iMac ... which is down flat.

However, the one disk drive both computers can read is the one that houses the music.  I thought I was going to have to play Internet Bowling for Dollars in bringing up the iMac on another port on the router and hopefully it stays up long enough so I can transfer the "Pigment of My Fascination" play list and songs.

Then came the aha moment as that data is already here.

Brief interruption to validate the playlist in iTunes.  It's present and the CD will burn today.  I'm pretty sure I have some jingle to ship it.  This time for sure.

Note:  the above is why I have always used Apple for my own production work.  I'm not too pleased with Apple just now but this is the first time in thirty years there has been a situation like this.


Side-note on an additional diagnostic:  there is value in bringing up the iMac without anything whatsoever attached to it and observing its behavior under that circumstance.  I know this is boring to you like counting bedbugs in a New York City hotel room and I do apologize as I'd like this swill to be at least marginally entertaining.

A Nightmare Within a Nightmare

A circumstance such as a nightmare within a nightmare seems like it should have some measure of Nightmare Physics, kind of like noise-canceling headphones or so.  The general circumstance is a looney who walks around in circles compounded by the new used iMac sitting in total silence on the floor.  In my thinking, a good enough physicist should be able to reverse that so the looney sits in silence and the iMac walks in circles.

An iMac that walks in circles can be cured.  All computers are saved by hitting them.  This doesn't work worth a damn with people but it works every single time with computers.  If you keep smacking that bitch, you will dominate and that's based on well over thirty years of professional experience.

Tip for those in Kentucky:  no, this does not mean hit it with a hammer.  That's different.

You try it, try it, try it in a systematic manner to eliminate any potential source of insult to your glorious machine.  But sometimes the patient still dies.  I'm inclined to take it to the Apple Store but I haven't seen a whole hell of a lot of competence from Apple over this so pessimism is high.  The alternative thinking is to wait for 10.10.4 but that is so much productive time going down the toilet.

But ... what if I take the looney to the Apple Store but keep the computer here.  Perhaps that's the physics of it and the computer will suddenly start working again.

Plus, for icing, I'm told I'm a patronizing fuck because I don't give love to Republicans.   Um ... what?  Is there anything anywhere on this site that gives you the feeling I will ever get lovey with the GOP.

Note:  if you do find it, please do let me know ... so I can get rid of it.

GOP, blah, blah ... I'm talking about a serious nightmare and not the same old turtle politics.  A busted computer is a big deal.  My life is not on that computer as my life is when I pick up the Galaxy Guitar and play it, most of all when I play it for Cat ... but ... there are terabytes of what became of my life, as wistfully creative as they try to be, and that's a stab in the heart.


I'll take a bow over being fairly restrained about it as this, for someone who lives almost entirely in a virtual world and always has, it's the same as the house burning down.  When a house burns down, calm, methodical steps will build another one.  Easy peasy.  Yah, right.

In fact, this is why I did so well with mainframes ... I wasn't afraid of them.  I always had total confidence that whatever went wrong, I could fix it or pull in the right people to get it fixed.  That served well except mainframes bore the hell out of me.

Coolness does still prevail although, by all rights, I should be running naked in the street screaming, "The Peruvian guinea pigs are coming to attack me because people in Peru eat them and they want their revenge."

It's not fair as I've never even been to Peru (yet) so why should guinea pigs attack me.  The Cadillac Man has been there, tho.  He has made the pilgrimage to Machu Picchu so he's going to Heaven for sure.  I hope he's aware Saint Peter will ask him if he ate any guinea pigs.  Cadillac Man and I don't talk often but we do talk long and he has not mentioned eating guinea pigs.  I am afraid to ask.

iMac Cracks Up on Yosemite 10.10.3 - Live from the Laptop with God and Taylor Swift

After three tries with SMC reset, the iMac restarted again.  If it goes an hour before crashing again, I'll be surprised.

So.  The iMac will be shut down until some sensible disposition for the problem is discovered.  The laptop will be swapped back as the primary and this is hugely limiting but at least it's connectivity.

My thinking is to take the iMac to the Apple Store and, ok, you tell me.  The problem is it goes with live data as in not-backed up.

(Interruption for yet another iMac crash.  That article was at most five minutes into it after coming back up and, whammo, it's down again)

The iMac is now shut down and on the floor.  The laptop is now the primary.

In-between the crash of the iMac and the startup of the laptop, there was time for some Pre-Apple Elimination jams as in music that doesn't need a computer for any damn thing.  It was a good vibe even if it wasn't hard-core and felt good to play.  Sometimes it doesn't have to be more than ice cream as when you play it will melt at whatever rate you like.


Update on "Pigment of My Fascination" CD

The CD did make it as intended, true enough.  This started as the Sister Julie Project and she's Sister Julie because that's SL code for we don't bone.  She has done some highly sweet sisterly stuff, tho.  I'd hate like hell to forget to say that.

So, the CD did make it as intended and that sure enough.  However, it's also true that it was mangled all to hell and useless.

But it's understandable.  It has a song, Sister Julie's favorite, "Ice Cream Blues" and the theme of it is time melts like an ice cream.  With each new day, you know all the more it is true.

However, God hears this and thinks, well, I've been here for a trillion years or so and I'll tell you time doesn't melt at all, Mister Too Big for your Guitar Britches.

So then I have to consider to myself.  Do I really think I can handle a discussion of existentialism with God.  It would be like telling him an elephant joke after he's been hearing them for a trillion years.

There was only one thing to do so I said, "So, you wanna smoke a joint, man?"

I should emphasize I don't buy this God-fearing business.  I do not understand being afraid of someone who made a platypus.

So we smoked for a while and I asked him, "Man, what's up with Taylor Swift?  Why did you do that?"

He told me to relax.  Little girls need to dream of growing up to be horrors like Taylor Swift so they can replace her when she grows and turns into a real singer ... or she doesn't.

I was shocked and said, "Wow!  It sounds like you believe in evolution!"

He roars laughing and says, "Dude, who do you think invented it."

OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 in Beta - Further Debug with Yosemite 10.10.3 Here

OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 is the grand Fixed in the Next Release fantasy of data processing.  It means nothing.  What means a lot is OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 is constantly crashing despite reviewing peripheral devices for problem sources and elimination of possible culprits.

- Both external disk drives were disconnected.  This blinds the system as all significant data files are on them.  One is a Firewire 800 drive with a Thunderbolt adaptor.  The other is a USB 3.0 drive.  Even with both offline and disconnected, OS X Yosemite crash behavior was not altered.

- Apple advised removing Kensington Expert Mouse trackball as 'it has not been updated in years.'  That's not true as v1.2 was released in November of last year.  In any case, I removed all Kensington code and disconnected the trackball.  The Apple Expert Mouse was used instead.  No change.

- Find Any File is a tight, fast searcher that does a much better job of hunting out files in unusual places than Spotlight.  Seven dollars at the App Store.

Using that tool, I removed any trace of anything accused of being villainous and even some that wasn't.  No change.

- All peripherals have been disconnected with the exception of the USB port to the audio mixer.  Without that, the computer is an ashtray.  A USB hub was eliminated, etc.

None of these things have had any effect on constant crashing from OS X Yosemite 10.10.3.  The system is completely unreliable.  Final Cut has nothing to do with it except as a fast way to trigger it. Any other crash comes at random with no apparent trigger.

Silas Scarborough - Fashion is My Life

You, too, can dress in this type of sartorial splendor, a look so impressive that fellow travelers would rather drown than ride on the same cruise ship with you.

Several things are required for this level of fashion

1)  A singular indifference to the opinions of others as you see what they wear with their backsides jiggling to the world as if all have at once become drunken plumbers.  (I don't have a big enough butt to be a plumber.  My backside (sob) ruined my life.)

2)  Color-blindedness is helpful.  (I am not color-blind, I just don't care.)

3)  A delight in providing the example for straight people as they go about their boring lives.  On seeing me, they shudder and continue with their predictable paths because they think it will keep them safe from dressing like this.  (It won't)

4)  Embrace the splendor of a total contempt for dress standards.


My ol' Dad still has the title as it didn't faze him at all to go outside and wander about the garden.  He wasn't demented, he just didn't care.  Why should anyone have a problem.  Am I not covered?


Much of my life I resisted.  No, no, I am not like him.  Um, guess what.

Hanging on the Cusp of 300,000

Only a couple of hundred to go so good chance that happens today.

Naturally that means one thing:  spam the damn CD.

So, "Premise of My Fascination" is in the sidebar, it's definitely the best recording I ever made, and it's only ten bucks ... cheap.

This disc is filled with such vibrant groovulosity that it may well bring out the stars in the day time, although (sob) I am not one of them.

OK, did that.  Check.  Onward to the important stuff like just what happened to the vacuum cleaner.

The Vac:  amazingly enough it's now assembled and works.

Other Important Items:

My friend bought me a pair of shorts so ugly that people wouldn't even wear them on a cruise ship.  Of course I love them.  The beauty part and I do mean beauty is the shirt.  It's so perfectly mismatched that people in New England wouldn't wear them.

Note:  people in New England don't care what their outfits look like.  They find comedy in people finding them quaint.  In other words, people in New England wear cruise ship clothes because they don't care whereas people on cruise ships do it because they don't know the difference.

However, this splendid ensemble goes beyond quaint, it goes beyond hideous .... THIS is Silas.

A pic will come.  I need the right hat.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough ... Assemble Vacuum Cleaners

There are many dreams I might have had for this day but, as I am sure you have already guessed, standing above all of those things is the glorious splendor of domesticity and learning the intricacies of assembling vacuum cleaners.

It's a Dyson which I gather is a good one but what is good about something that makes such an infernal noise.  Open the windows and let the wind blow the dust away.  God made the dust so he should deal with it.  Are you with me on this, men?

(Ed:  shut up, bitch.  I had to assemble one.  You have to assemble one.)

Nevertheless, good sir, I submit this is May Day, the day of the workers, the builders, the people who put the world together while people in offices took credit for it.  I should spend such a day assembling a vacuum cleaner?  It's disrespectful to all the workers who have been beaten to shit by rent-a-cop thugs for standing in strike lines for fair treatment.

(Ed:  see above about shut the fuck up and assemble the vacuum cleaner)

Well, ok.  I don't see a whole lot of workers around so my process of elimination tells me you are correct.

Um, one tiny question:  how the hell do you assemble a vacuum cleaner?

When You Bite Into an Apple and Get Half a Worm

There's been a preponderance of focus on Apple lately as many people have the black screen problem with Yosemite 10.10.3 or yet different problems with it and Apple has proven to be more useless than an outfit which doesn't give a shit about that product and is instead focusing on making cheap but expensive cheap watches.

Note:  Apple is trying to push this off as a kernel panic and that's rubbish as the machine crashes much harder than any kernel panic I ever saw.  A kernel panic doesn't typically require an SMC reset.

A 'kernel panic' is when you get a black screen with sentences in multiple languages telling you the machine just committed suicide.

The Apple OS X is being gutted presumably because the texter types don't have the language skills of a lab rat and have no use for computers.

At this point it looks like Apple has peaked.  They make no significant advances in computing anymore and instead focus on trivia.  Look for a merger with Mattel Toy Company soon.  Imagine, soon Barbie will have a smart phone and you can even make calls with it.  Just think, you and your Barbie Phone.  It will be special, won't it.  Only from AppMat, your toy computer specialists.

They've started doing nothing but marketing hustles as the Apple Watch is the most grasping product they've ever made.  The iPad was grasping as well and Apple deliberately didn't put phone capability in it because they feared a loss of iPhone sales (see below on this).  The iPad didn't require an iPhone, however.  Now we have the Apple Watch and it's easily topped the iPod for cheap hustles as it's useless without an iPhone.  Welcome to the Apple Toy Pyramid and Tim Cook is the new Pharaoh.

Note:  AT&T will tell you the iPad will soon have phone capability and buyers don't need to do anything.  This is complete fantasy and your first problem was going into the AT&T store for any of their over-priced rubbish.  (The store in particular is the AT&T store on Jacksboro Highway in Lake Worth, Texas, where they took egregious advantage of a buyer and told her one lie after the other)

The only trouble with finding half a worm in an Apple these days is that it's Tim Cook's worm.  Have a nice day ... if not such a nice meal.

Apple is becoming more Microsoft by the moment and all to thunderous applause of millennials ... plus the sound of crashing desktop computers.

What will Apple do after this ... probably nothing, or at least nothing that matters.


Or perhaps Apple takes a look at Louisiana and figures why should America need computers anyway.


Using an iPad to Make Phone Calls

Here's one way to tell Apple to kiss your ass on the hustles.  If you use a combination of Google Voice and Talkatone, you can make phone calls from your iPad over WiFi and they will cost you zero cell minutes.  Logically, it should work fairly well with 4G as well but you'll need to do your own research on that.  Here is more information from Talkatone.