Blowin' in the wind

Thoughtful words set to music can send a message people remember.

 

How many violent ICE attacks on our streets before we vote for change?

I hope the answer blows into the voting booth this fall. 

Don't need no credit card to ride

Don't need no credit card to ride this train.

 

That's a bit long for a post title. However, it's a good line for a song.

The power of love can move people to act in good ways.

It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes
But it might just save your life

There are many powers, solar power, hydro power, muscle power, etc. But here in the US we need to remember the power of voting.

"The Power of Love" was released in the mid 1980's. Compared to today, I had more muscle power back then.

I could even slalom (BTW I had to look up the spelling of that) on the water. Here's a short clip my younger sister shot from the boat.

 

 

 (Hey did I do a good job fitting that clip of myself in this post? Just posting the clip by itself seems like too much self promotion.)

Rabbit holes, conspiracies, and various terms

I just climbed out of a rabbit hole.

 

Reality check - Unlike Alice I've never been in a rabbit hole but we have rabbits living under our deck.

 

Can rabbit holes have tangential holes?

 

Much bigger than our rabbits

I would go in order of the title but life often doesn't have order.

 

My older wonderful sister recently shared her exchange with another candidate off her online generated list. I don't care for the term "online dating". Yes it's online but the dating part doesn't match my definition of dating. I suggest calling it "online exposure to weird and infrequently normal people".

 

After a few long phone calls and a dinner she discovered this guy believes a 9/11 conspiracy theory about the twin towers. She told me he has been disqualified but I'm not sure if it was because of his conspiracy belief. Whatever the reasons he was eliminated.

 

This started me thinking of the weird world of conspiracies. It has become dangerous. Jan. 6, 2021 shows that to be true.

 

Spreading conspiracy theories can destroy support for the government and investigating done by various organizations such as the FBI. Questioning statements is good but just believing out-of-nowhere ideas because of your previous mistrust is bad.

 

I first conspiracy theory I recall was the JFK assassination and the next one was the moon landing. Were we just lucky not to have online social media sites back then? I think those theories only spread through tabloids at the check out counter.

 

-~-~

 

I peeked into a rabbit hole when I read the term "anti-self-duality" in some article I was exploring the other day. I backed out of that rabbit hole when I read differential geometry and Riemannian oriented manifold. This is incomprehensible for me.

As a corollary we see that if the cross section of a tangent cone of a noncollapsed limit space of orientable Riemannian manifolds is smooth, then it is also orientable in the ordinary sense, which can be regarded as a new obstruction for a given manifold to be the cross section of a tangent cone.

I think a see a tangent cone in the rabbit hole below (lower right corner??):

Searching for something to say

Feeling like I ought to sleep 

Spinning room is sinking deep 

Searching for something to say

 

Those words were playing in my headphones when I thought, yes I feel that way. Ok, most all time the room is not spinning or sinking but I never know what to expect in these crazy times.

 

These lines come from the Chicago song "25 or 6 to 4" (personal note - I never felt very comfortable sitting cross-legged on the floor)

 

staring too long and hard

 

Like others, I wondered what this song was about. It's about what to write about in your next blog post. No, it was about trying to compose a song over a long night.

 

Life is a struggle even without others creating tragedies such as insurrections, war and other atrocities. Too many issues to cover in a blog post.

 

Tomorrow there will another televised report from the 
House Jan. 6 committee. Are enough people paying attention?

 

 

Can't you just see it in his face?

Here are a few lines from the Monkees’ song “Words” that remind of that former orange headed president and his close friends.

But all I can hear are those
Words that never were true
Spoken to help nobody but you
Words with lies inside

Nowhere to run

For more than four year many of us felt like we had nowhere to hide from the constant abuse of our country Trump has inflicted.

Nowhere to run, Nowhere to hide from you babe
Just can't get away from you baby, no matter how I try

Cause I know you're no good for me (You're no good)
But you've become a part of me

I wake up feeling sorry I met you,
Hoping soon, that I'll forget you

Now finally we can see the end of him. Soon he will be discarded. Possibly remembered only for displaying the worst example of an elected official.

On the road to civility

Civility comes from the word civis, which in Latin means "citizen".

The last few days of post-election counting and dishonest White House statements reminded me of the Black Knight scene in the “Holy Grail” movie.

King Arthur: Look you stupid bastard, you’ve got no arms left.
Black knight: Yes I have.
King Arthur: Look!
Black knight: Just a flesh wound.

Trump doesn’t need to lose his limbs, just concede and keep quiet.

Taken from email sent today by Joe Biden:

In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.
With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.
It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.

no sympathy

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, FOUR years
Stole many a man's soul and faith

Yes, I've been watching the RNC coverage combined with some listening to lyrics of my favorite songs.

(please note most all my posts are non political but certainly not this one)

According to Wikipedia Thugs from the Thuggee cult

The Republican strategists attempts to polish up mean Mr. Mustard’s image enough to reassure swing voters that he is OK enough was on full display. In other words, asking for sympathy for the devil (more about the devil part later).

The week before I watched the DNC coverage. I watched both on the PBS channel. I enjoy the commentary. I used the mute button more with the RNC coverage.

So Trump got his name in fireworks over the Washington monument. That should be enough. Resign now it's not going get better Donny John. Oh, spelled out in fire, the devil? Oh never mine.

As I checking the lyrics to the Rolling Stone's hit song, I came across this line:

And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay

I had no clue to what this referenced. Thanks to a bit of clicking on the internet I found it most likely refers to the Thuggee cult in India's past. Some historians believe the British exaggerated the problem to justify some harsh laws in India. I don't know, but it had me thinking of the thugs associated with mean Mr. Mustard. I included the Thugs picture I found on wikipedia.  

The devil in the details - a favorite phrase but since I don’t really believe in the religious concept of the devil, I’m using the term more as slang. I do love deviled eggs.

when what whatever

I bought a ticket to the world
But now I've come back again
Why do I find it hard to write the next line?
Oh I want the truth to be said.

NOT my backyard

This post begins with words from the 80's song True by Spandau Ballet. Two thoughts in those lyrics is the reason I put it this post. First one is the difficulty in writing the next line. More importantly, the second one is wanting the truth to be said.

Confused yet? I sure am. The past hit song True would be classified as a love song. I classify this post as a grumble of thoughts and complaints.

Don't you agree, when you are doing or have done wrong then you want the truth to be hidden or denied.

In other words what is it you don't want us to know?

During 2000 and 2001, I made two business trips to Caracas Venezuela. I mention this because I just watched the story of family stuck in the current economic and humanitarian crisis there.

The country had problems then too. But nothing like today. I recall seeing the slums on some of the hills surrounding the city. But people were working. Both of my trips were enjoyable. I thought of going back for a vacation years ago. No more. Other than brave reporters who would want to go there today.

Some thoughts:

• Government is important and not to be taken for granted.
• No government system is perfect. No magical solutions.
• Government is more than political slogans.
• The respect and following of the rule of law is vital.
• Respect for all people is vital.
• The larger the gap between economic health of the rich and poor, the more potential for violence and unrest.
• The bottom and middle working groups need growth. Not the top rich.
• History shows that dictators don't run countries for the benefit of all its people.
• Venezuela is an example of dictators ruining the lives of their people.
• I'm worried about our current leadership's disrespect for law and justice among other inadequacies.

Lastly, the following thought came to me recently while I pondering common phrases:

More people should try eating thought for food. No calories and you may find a good idea.

Here's link to that song if you don't recall it.

parody of rhyme

I thought of updating an old nursery rhyme while in the shower today. The one involving an egg having the unfortunate last name of Dumpty. The poor guy had a thin skin and liked walls.

Then it occurs to me, Trumpty Dumpty. Well duh, that name has been around since the 2016 election. Maybe I subconsciously pulled it from my memory. I don't know.

So I did a quick google on "Trumpty Dumpty". Yeah I was not the first one to put those words together. Also an image search produced many orange-faced eggs.

One of the images lead me to this meme generator site called, imgflip.com where I created the following cartoon.

Here's my updated rhyme:

Trumpty Dumpty raided funds for his wall

Trumpty Dumpty made an impeachable call

Trumpty Dumpty took a big fall


All the GOP pols and the GOP attorneys

Couldn’t Trumpty back together again.

(don't blow the whistle on me but please leave a comment)

 

A better position

The sleeping position works well for me. I’m probably in the sitting position too often too.

I’ve had positions of some authority somewhere in my past, I’m sure of it.

a bed or a bench?

A few thoughts to nibble at before I offer a more consequential one. Grab a drink, some might be a bit dry.

Walking on sunshine - certainly more stable than walking on moonshine.

Facebook confession: Bless me Facebook, it’s been 14 minutes since my last reaction to someone’s rant.

Poor Renee - So many people telling her to walk away. Wow, such a multitude of “Walk Away Renee” covers. And when I see the sign that points one way, I’m going to just stand, stare and cause a traffic jam.

Start playing bridge - I just discovered the game of bridge uses the terms, no-trumper and dummy. I’ve never even tried to play bridge but our dummy president doesn’t even make a good joker. It would be nice to have a no-trumper day.

When you retire you work by the hour. You punch out when you die.

I was just a kid with black and white TV when JFK was shot. I didn’t need technicolor to eventually learn that our world should not be viewed as black and white.

a sign found at an art museum

Now a slightly more serious thought regarding position. Are we/world/you/family/anybody in a better position today than a generation ago? Looking backwards can distort your view. The good stuff will appear larger in the rear view mirror. What exactly was better back then?

There are a few books out about this idea (I have not read them but did read a magazine article on this subject). Here’s my short take - yes in general we are in better position regarding life expectancy, crime, education, air quality and other stuff like availability of flavored yogurt. However, the better positions/conditions are not evenly distributed. Also, the billions of connected internet users become more aware of news. (first quarter of 2018, Facebook had 2.19 billion monthly active users - I didn’t know the number was that high) Since stories of tragedy, threats, disasters, deaths, and general awful events sell much better in the news business than the wonderful stories there are more people than ever before learning about awful stuff. It makes us think our world situation is very bleak.

One more thought about viewing/remembering the past. Often the bad times are forgotten more than the good times. (let the bad times roll??) The result of this is the past looks better than now. I reason this is because if the bad didn’t actually happen to you, you probably were upset because of its uncertainty. Uncertainty of possible bad events can be very scary. If that possible bad event never happens or at least if it doesn't happen to people you know, then later on you forget about it.

I recall a time when news organizations and government would worry about spreading a panic. Do they still worry about panics or have they discovered there is revenue in little panics?

Certainly we are better off. We have youtube. Ok here’s a cover (from Ally McBeal soundtrack) of that simple song about Renee and a street sign:
 

get out of our lives Donny John

Disclaimer: Now I'm a disclaimer, not a trace of truth in my mind. Perhaps my twisted words have more truth.

I know you're hopin' to find
Someone who's gonna give you piece of mind
When times go bad
When times go rough
Won't you lay me down in tall grass
And let me do my stuff

I'm just second hand news
I'm just second hand news

Second hand news is better than fake news. Get ready, I’m going to bounce from Fleetwood Mac to Carly Simon to Simon and Garfunkel. I found a great parody of a classic song used to satirize Donny John (oh I decided to start using “Donny John” for our can-you-believe-it president - Thank you Tina Fey). 

don't know if I want to try this beer

Before I get to this brilliant piece of satirical work I would like remind you (and myself) that back in the fall of 2015 I based a parody on “You’re So Vain”. Back then I just thought Donny John’s campaign was a PR stunt. Here’s a link to that old post.

Now that (can you believe it?) he hangs out at the White House when he isn’t at one of his resorts I’ve updated a few lines my parody.

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your HAIR strategically dipped below one eye
Your scowl was taut
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself cavort
And ALT RIGHT dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and

You're so vain
You probably think this NATION is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this NATION is about you
Don't you? Don't you? 

starting the world glowing

But my parodies don’t fly too well without a band and singer. This parody I found on Fakebook has it all - great words, and good singing voices. Check it out:

only want to know

Everytime I look at you
I don’t understand
Why you let the things you did
Get so out of hand
You'd have managed better
if you'd had it planned.

(more lyrics I skipped)

Don’t get me wrong, don’t get me wrong
Don’t get me wrong, only want to know,
Only want to know, only want to know,

Donald Trump, Donald Trump
Who are you? What have you sacrificed?
Donald Trump, superstar
Do you think you’re what they say you are?

(if you manage to avoid the news, please note our country’s administration is less than a month old and things have gotten out of hand. Not a good start)

Maybe I’ve caught a case of headline stress disorder. Lately the news has been derailing my train of thought. What is going on with my postings? In the past I’ve avoided politics and religion which I don’t believe mix well together. Now I write this post.

First off I’m NOT seriously equating DT with JC. I'm just picking out some lines from these lyrics and reinterpreting. Let me explain. I was thinking about this fake news garbage and then read a disturbing conspiracy theory (I might get back to it in a later post). As I pondered weird stupid theories/stories, I remembered a post I did back in 2011 titled, Aliens coming tonight.

After I awoke hours later, the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar washes up in my brain. So I go to youtube and watch a clip of the hit song with lyrics. I like two of the songs in the set but I started listening to the other ones on my quest.

(short true side story - while I was looking up this rock opera, I accidently typed an extra ‘p’ and got “Jesus supperstar”. I think that fits since Jesus did have the most famous supper of all time.)

I guess my current worldview has become distorted because I’m relating these lyrics from a rock opera to today’s White House. The weird thing is as I looked over other songs from this rock opera I found more lyrics relating to today. The Brit, Sir Tim Rice, wrote these lyrics in 1970. Did he accidentally predict the future?

I offer you this selection of lyrics from a 3 different songs:

What’s the buzz?
Tell me what’s happening.
Why should you want to know?

-

Sleep and I shall soothe you
Calm you and anoint you
Myrrh for your hot forehead
Then you’ll feel everything’s alright

-

We dare not leave him to his own devices
His half-witted fans will get out of control
But how can we stop him
His glamour increases
By leaps every minute

Finally from the song, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”, I find these words:

Should I bring him down
Should I scream and shout
Should I speak of love
Let my feelings out
I never thought I’d come to this
What’s it all about

 

If you have any answers to “what’s it all about?” please tell me in the comments.

I would miss him even if Hillary won

I need to move on. I don't recall the departure of a president being as emotional as this one. Maybe if Hillary had won his departure would have been easier. No matter who won he and his family were going to leave the White House. He was a fine father, and a fine president. I'm sure he will continue to be a fine father.

Over the last eight years I've enjoyed the Whitehouse.gov site and their youtube channel. (doing this post reminded me to unsubscribe to that youtube channel and the FakeBook White House page which of course are given to the current president)

Today I was watching some legacy type clips and found this interview of Pete Souza, the former White House photographer on the GQ site. Here's two photos from that interview story:

good luck Donald

I started to write my reaction to this election but then reminded myself that I don’t really cover politics much here on my blog. I wondered what to write and decided just to not bother. You might have read my past rants about all the election garbage spread around fakebook. I rationalized to myself that those fakebook rants would apply to both sides of our political divide. I’m not trying to hide that I like President Obama and thought Hillary Clinton would have made a better president than Donald. This blog is a fun thing for me and I’m not out to sway anyone’s political views. Nor do I want to argue about that on this blog.

Election night renewed my dislike of polling and the electoral college. I’m hoping that Donald does NOT keep his campaign promises. We don’t need his crappy ideas.

I wish him good luck in running our big government.

Other recent events:

a table set for the missing veterans

Veteran's Day

I had my free Veteran's Day lunch with one of our daughters at a Texas Roadhouse. Very nice. The local veterans group set up a table for the MIA/POW's. It was a good reminder that too many veterans never returned and are still unaccounted for.



Supermoon - when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.

Did you take a glance at the supermoon over the weekend? It did seem brighter. It’s hard to measure any difference with your eyes when there is just dark sky around it. Also if your eye has something in it like a big pizza pie. I would rather eat pizza than remove it from my eye. Of course as happens to many, my eyes are often bigger than my stomach.





Plenty of food references in this song. You’ll sing Vita Bella - since this election I just can’t sing life is beautiful yet. That election pizza has given me a long spell of heartburn.

A great songwriter Leonard Cohen passed on:

SNL and Kate McKinnon nailed it with their Leonard Cohen tribute combined with a remark about the election. Just in case you are not an SNL fan, Kate McKinnon has played Hillary Clinton during the campaign.

at the zoo

Someone told me
It's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it,
I do believe it's true.

I need to stop following the 2016 elections.

“...Pigeons plot in secrecy,...”

However I do prefer a zoo over a circus.

ramble with a rumble

Feeling lucky?

I was working on a post about luck and being lucky. As luck would have it, I got bored, didn't win the lottery, and wrote this post instead.

Clarifying - that’s a shampoo thing right? I’m not trying to clarify anything here. In fact my thoughts will probably just increase the general confusion.

colorful mind expansion

Amazing how one letter difference between words alters the meaning so dramatically. Consider the phrase, “seen in public”. Now drop the ‘l’. Unless you are a flasher do you want to be seen in pubic? Pubic should not be public in my opinion.

Could it be winter cabin fever? Sure many have felt the desire to get out, escape, after being cooped up too long. But a fever? So the next time I have a fever I should book a vacation? If everyone did that world epidemics would be even more common. Get rest, drink more fluids, have some soup.

Thinking of escape (really I’m writing this from home not prison and my fever has dropped) did you know they are bringing back the “X Files”? I recall enjoying that show in past. (of course it might be just an implanted memory that didn’t really happen) The truth is out there but that doesn’t mean we get to know what it is.

I really don’t believe in extraterrestrial aliens (hmm another implanted thought). However, after hearing some of the 2016 campaign clowns I’m changing my view.

If you are looking for me, I’ll be down in Lisleman’s Few Clowns Short Basement Corner of Fame designing a UFO sensor.

a UFO homing device?? nice colors

my favorite mistake

Will this be yet another mistake? I don’t want this blog to get political. So I’ve been reluctant to share this idea of mine here. But on the other hand (that hand that doesn’t do much anyway) why not. The readership is down (close to being sunk). So I’m going to expand on the idea of making a mistake. However, I will not get drawn into a debate about the current political candidates.

“The perfect ending to the bad day”. That confusing phrase from Sheryl Crow’s “My Favorite Mistake” song can make sense if you let ‘perfect’ and ‘bad’ join together to describe a real terrible day. Phrases like this is why I enjoy listening to the lyrics.

Our never ending election cycles have given us a few perfect mistakes to consider.

 

Here’s my perfect idea for a bad post.

Do a parody of the song “You’re So Vain” using Donald Trump and his campaign. I always thought the Donald was very vain. I believe even his hair is vain. The Donald could become the perfect political mistake.

Now if you please, add your suggested lyric ideas in the comments. Of course, if you don’t find this at all funny then have a great perfect day and come back for the next post which will not be political at all. Actually, given that it’s Donald Trump I don’t consider this post very political since I have a difficult time equating him to a serious political leader.

Here’s my hope for a campaign hit: (if you can sing along and carry a tune please do a recording and post it on youtube, please just mention this post )

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your HAIR strategically dipped below one eye
Your scowl was taut
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself cavort
And all LAWYERS dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and

You're so vain
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

Reality show several years ago
when you fleeced the naive
Well, you said you have such pretty hair
And your shouted words make me heave
Do you care who makes the things you love
And can you handle a hot Mexican tamale
They had some dreams, stopped by walls on the border
walls on the border and

You're so rich
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so rich
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

They had some dreams, stopped by walls on the border
walls on the border and

You're so vain
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your HAIR naturally won
Then you spew words like you’re a nova
you curse everyone under the sun

Well, you're where you golf all the time
And when you're not, you're planning
Some lawsuits, Oh your third wife is no friend
Wife is no friend, and

You're so vain
You probably think this RACE is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this RACE is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

lets go to the beach and protest

Is there an award for protest creativity?

I would nominate this group in Australia who protested the G20 meeting and climate change issues. 

I don't know if they had a check-your-bum qualification screening but there are a few nice rears on that beach.  No need to wave a sign, just wave your behind.

I understand the head-in-the-sand protest was a beach bums protest to their prime minister's lack of action on climate change.  What great site to hold a protest.  Do you think they had some beach volleyball afterwards?


Photo credit - I wish I could have been at the beach to take the pictures but instead I grabbed them off this article at ITV news.

Veterans Day view

First off, it’s important to note that we call it Veterans Day not War Veterans Day nor War Day. President Wilson proclaimed Armistice Day which celebrated the cessation of a war. In 1954, Congress renamed it Veterans Day.

Veterans Day is about the willingness to serve, common good, families, citizens. I suggest we celebrate the people and their families that have served or are serving to stop or prevent war. It’s not a celebration of past war.  It's a belief in a common good.

My family includes many veterans; father, brother, cousins, uncles. None of these relatives died in combat. It’s their willingness to serve that deserves honor.

I served in the US Air Force. I joined while Vietnam was winding down. I didn’t plan or want to go to war but would have if called. At the beginning of my military career, we briefly went on high alert because of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Had that crisis escalated, I might have found myself in “harms way” for a problem I knew little about. Knowing little or even nothing about the background of a crisis that might kill you, probably happens too often.

While I was serving in the Air Force, I first heard the term keeping the peace used with the military. The objective of our military should be peace. Many have differing opinions about military roles. I think our military has allowed us the freedom to express these opinions.

It seems our world always has man-made threats to peace. The common good isn’t common with everyone. Remembering wars, and especially the veterans and their families will help us make common good more common.

To the veterans - thanks for your service! 

(a quick rant) Also, Veterans Day is not handy term to throw in your red-white-and-blue sale day ad. I, nor any veteran I know, feels honored by sales ads.

flip falling fragments

Dry leaves flip and fall from our trees.  I like them better up on the trees than on the lawn.  Leaves and fragments both disappear but you can record and share your fragments of thought online.  I'm flashing my fragments online for your enjoyment.

Our daughter can carve better than me

They closed post offices and put up a facebook. They took all the payphones and put them in a phone museum. And they charge the people over $100 for their data plans. Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone. (did you recognize the song I was listening to?)

A political related fragment - skip if you wish - 
I voted this week. Illinois has early voting which is convenient. Voting should be convenient since the campaigning is so annoying. We have a close race for governor this year. You might recall Illinois has a checkered spotty dismal past regarding good lawful governors.

The Chicago Tribune reported a recent poll (I dislike polls. Too many and they can be twisted to show what the campaigns want.) with the following break down:

D candidate 43%
R candidate 45%
L candidate 4% (either Libertarian or Loser take your pick)
Can’t make a decision 7%

Now if you are awake enough to add these percentages up, you’ll find a total of 99%. That damn elusive 1% group again! They are just 1% but they have the most influence. Amazing since they are just a margin of error.

Buffalo Bill is a cool name

Looking for excitement? Go to a busy shopping center, drive around, get a good parking spot and then sit your car with the reverse lights on. People will probably fight over you and surely honk. If you are really hip, tweet the whole episode while sitting in your car.

don't park here

I've accepted that we all have different talents. Most of time this works well for everyone unless your talent is illegal.


There was a time that I tried gently whispering in her ear. I had limited success. I got bored and popped a bag of microwave popcorn instead.

One, Two, Three, Four, Sha la la lala

Warning - Do not drive or operate heavy machinery while reading A Few Clowns Short. Also do not read if allergic to laughing.

Oh and be sure to check out the other FF posts over at Mrs. 4444's blog.