10 Signs To Help You Tell When We Are Really Living In The Future:

1) Wearing blue jeans is something that old people do.

2) The Rolling Stones are considered corny.

3) References to Ronald Reagan on TV are always prefaced by the explanation that he was President of the United States from 1981 - 1989.

4) People laugh when you use words like 'Television' or 'Telephone'.

5) You start to tell stories about what you had to do to maintain your 'Gasoline Car'.

6) You have a sentimental collection of physical money items such as coins and dollar bills.

7) References to the most prevalent popular music form of the late 20th century are misspelled "Rock and Roll".

8) People smoking Marijuana are asked which medical problem they are using it for.

 9) People put down "Catholic Popes?" as the answer to "Who were John, Paul, George, and Ringo?"

10) You read about some group of politicians calling themselves "Republicans" who claim that they were the ones that first warned the country about global warming.

the spirit hand writes in the language of sleep
a kind of breath that two may speak in
alluding, asynchronous, discarnate
no clearer than you remember dreaming it

it writes us as a sign that sees,
as an instant of the night made sun,
more whole than any moon,
and yet
sadder still, even in an ecstacy of blind signifying light

two songs

Bend Or Break

Before The Fall

despite some muffed chords, mushy patches in the rhythm, video flaws, and a weird light effect on my right hand, here are a couple of songs that i wrote

my 1967 gibson J-50 (modified)

here is the J-50 i bought in 1972 relaxing at home. i had the adjustable bridge and heavy pick guard removed back in the 1970s, and my friend sharon johnson painted the rose

Ignatz Mus Nom

DADDY! DADDY! - SEE MUS?!?


I EATZ HIM!

"A Greater Impact On The Environment Than Any Other Single Organism In History"

And it wasn't a good impact.

Back in the twenties, there were two difficult problems plaguing the auto and consumer goods industries in general and General Motors in particular: one was the tendancy of gasoline to burn too quickly and cause car engines to "knock", and the other was the ironic habit that refrigerator coolants had of catching fire and burning up the refrigerator.

General Motors subsidiary Dayton Research Labs put a certain Thomas Midgley jr, Cornell graduate in mechanical engineering, on the case. In 1922 he found that tetraethyl lead would do the trick. The problem, of course, is that lead is poisonous. GM marketed the additive under the deceitful brand name 'Ethyl', and set about fending off critics who pointed out the obvious. In the meantime, Midgley quietly took a years vacation during 1923 to recover from lead poisoning.

But the controversy wouldn't end. At the various plants that GM set up to produce the additive, there were numerous cases of hallucinations, insanity, and deaths due to lead poisoning. In Oct 1924, Midgley himself tried to put an end to the bad press by staging a public demonstration where he poured tetraethyl lead over his hands and then put the bottle under his nose and inhaled the fumes for 60 seconds, declaring that he could do this every day without harm.

He then quietly took another year's vacation to recover from the effects of this demonstration.

The next project was refrigerants. Compounds used at the time included ammonia, cloromethane, propane, and sulfur dioxide. Midgley and his team came up with the idea of combining fluorine with hydrocarbons creating dichlorofluoromethane, the first chlorofluorocarbon. The idea was to exploit the volatility of fluorine needed for refrigeration, but bond it to carbons for stability. This was marketed as 'Freon'. As a moral matter, one has to give Midgley a pass here, since it wasn't at all clear at the time that CFCs would damage the ozone layer and eventually be banned.

Midgley received a number of awards for his work, but fate was not done with him. In 1940, at the age of 51, Midgley contracted severe polio. He rigged up a system of "strings and pulleys" to help others lift him out of bed, but met his fate at the age of 55 when he became entangled in the device and strangled.

It is still possible to believe in the unqualified advance of technology and science, but it is clear now that often a technological solution causes almost as many problems as it solves. Some historians now even cast the Neolithic Revolution - the invention of farming - as an emergency stopgap measure that took on a life of its own, causing human populations to grow out of control. Clearly, things like atomic energy and automobiles are not unambiguous technological wins. Thomas Midgley's life reads like a parable of that phenomenon. In spades.

(p.s. the quote used as the title is from environmental historian J.R. McNeil)

RYAN PLAN - SERIOUS SUICIDE ATTEMPT OR MERELY A DESPERATE PLEA FOR HELP

specialists are in disagreement as to whether the gop was in serious despair of any future happiness or merely attempting to draw attention do its serious and life-threatening teabag infestation last week when it committed an apparent act of suicide

the republican party attempted to, and may have succeeded in, alienating the most conservative and reliable block of conservative voters in the united states, senior citizens and those approaching that age, by announcing plans to destroy medicare and distribute the dismembered remains to its wealthy donors. the plan envisions handing out coupons that the elderly could use to attempt to purchase medical insurance on the open market

older people are, of course, the worst possible risk for health insurers. not only are they by far the most likely to need expensive care, but are also the least likely to be able to pay back the insurance companies

"it's not unusual that a teenager's desperate plea for attention goes wrong and results in serious lasting damage or death, and this might be what happened in this case" said dr ernest toungue. a therapist at the walgreen's medical center - a widely utilized source of health care including pap smears and other cancer testing - disagreed - "nobody in their right mind could imagine for a second that the american people would be stupid enough to fall for this - this was a deliberate attempt on the part of the republican party to destroy itself permamently"

strasbourg oaths, 842 AD

the first example of any of the romance languages that were evolving from latin, it's closer to modern catalan than anything else. there was to be no more substantial documentation of french, spanish, italian, or any other romance language until the eleventh century. the text is a single and unique flash of light illuminating dark age french

Pro Deo amur et pro Christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, d'ist di in avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo et in ajudha et in cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son fradre salvar dist, in o quid il me altresi fazet, et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam prindrai, qui, meon vol, cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit

Si Lodhwigs sagrament que son fradre Karlo jurat conservat et Karlus, meos sendra, de suo part n lostanit, si io returnar non l'int pois, ne io ne neuls cui eo returnar int pois, in nulla ajudha contra Lodhuwig nun li iu er

(“For the love of God and for Christendom and our common salvation, from this day onwards, as God will give me the wisdom and power, I shall protect this brother of mine Charles, with aid or anything else, as one ought to protect one's brother, so that he may do the same for me, and I shall never knowingly make any covenant with Lothair that would harm this brother of mine Charles.

If Louis keeps the oath that he has sworn to his brother Charles, and Charles, my lord, on the other hand breaks it, and if I cannot dissuade him from it — neither I nor anyone that I can dissuade from it — then I shall not help him in any way against Louis")

Ignatz T. Crazypants

ignatz is a savannah katz

FLORENCE

getting lost in florence, we stumbled across the synagogue

florence, river arno

door to cosimo medici's place

VENICE

venice, window of a marionette shop

venice high fashion shop display on the canal

signs direct the tourists to the campo s marco. but to get there, you must pass under a building, through an unadorned dark subterranean passage hundreds of years old

~~~Indecipherable Herbarium ~~~ ~~~~~~~~The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is a mysterious handwritten illuminated manuscript with pictures of unidentified plants, fanciful drawings of naked women lounging in a hallucinatory universe of tubes, and bizarre and wonderful cosmological mandalas. The writing is in an unknown alphabet or cipher, and despite the attentions of the top cryptologists over the decades, nobody has ever made a dent in figuring out what it means.



Scientific tests and internal evidence seem to verify the manuscript as a genuine production of the early 16th century rather than a more recent hoax. My personal opinion, though, is that the "writing" is nonsense, and that the book was created by somebody who wanted people to think that he or she had a book of secret magic that only they could understand.

Lost Hexagrams Of The I Ching

Hexagram number indeterminate - Fog

up and down need to be relative to something fixed. bumping into people is not the same as going somewhere. wandering around can lead you back to the same place. or not

the superior man checks his compass before spinning.

good fortune!

Lost Hexagrams Of The I Ching

hexagram number 'who cares' - Weather Report

Pissing, with frequent stupidity. Chance of shitstorms.

The superior man stocks up on tuna fish and peanut butter.

Good fortune...

~~~~ Mon mai longe liues wene, ~~~~

Ac ofte him lieth the wrench.

Feir weder turneth ofte into reine

And wunderliche hit maketh his blench.

Tharuore mon, thu the bi-thench,

Al schal falewi thi grene,

Weilawei, nis king ne quene,

That ne schal drinche of deathes drench.

Mon, er thu falle of thi bench,

Thine sunne thu aquench.

Lillian Roth

Lillian Roth (December 13, 1910 - May 12, 1980) was a singer and comedienne who appeared in the movies in the early 30s



Intelligent and very cute, and a talented physical comedian as well as an excellent singer, she was featured in the Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers in 1930, where she reprised the skit which is shown below in the form of a short:

Meet The Boy Friend, 1930



(extra jazz aficionado points to whoever can identify the violinist in the opening minute of this short!)

The Story Conference, 1934



The thing that takes Lillian's story from that of a bright bauble of the jazz age to real pathos was her struggle with alcoholism. From about 1935 to the early 50s (except for a couple of appearances in 1939), she disappeared from show business while she went through this dark passage in her life. She joined AA in 1946, and in 1954 she published her autobiography, I'll Cry Tomorrow, which became a bestseller and was made into a movie starring Susan Hayward.

She returned to performing, appearing in a successful nightclub act in the 50s, and broadway musicals in the 60s and 70s.

No matter how much alchohol, bad husbands, and financial difficulties plagued Lillian throughout her life, she never lost her unique sparkling charm and intelligence that shines so brightly in the clips that preserve her for us. Here she is at 47, after having survived her biggest ordeal, looking like a million dollars:

What's My Line appearance, 1957

Janus

then unclasp all, and let your compass be the windrose
eyes starlight blind infinity refresh, oh spin my axis spin!
truth revolves too fast, daylight burns too clean,
there is no end of doors, and our gods are mobius and ourobouros!

Lost Hexagrams of the I Ching

Hexagram number negative - Backwards Day

painting yourself into corners is declared the new way forward. enemies are the new friends. fish practice walking backwards and shop for bicycles

the superior man discovers no innovations in maps and continues reading. good fortune

Lost Hexagrams of the I Ching

hexagram number irrational - Monstrosities

hamsters get married to rats. a law is published declaring food to be shit. armies follow the battle plan of their opponents and attack themselves

the superior man keeps his friends and his goals the same, and contemplates large pictures

good fortune

Important Medical Information

the next version of the DSM will include a description of stupid personality disorder:

Stupid Personality Disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as “a pervasive pattern of idiocy, a marked susceptibility to ridiculous theories and meaningless slogans, need to issue fascist diktat, and a lack of information gathering ability [1], beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Lack of ability to gather, digest, and understand easily available information.
2. Intense attachment to pet theories, and a obsessive preoccupation with them.
3. Rejection of any facts that contradict these pet theories, accompanied by intense anger, and denigration of the person bringing these facts to their attention.
4. Marked susceptibility to conspiracy theories, random bullshit dressed up with ten dollar words, and melodramatic but impotent threats.
5. Addiction to issuing orders in Command Voice.
6. Poore speling and CAPITAL LETTERS
7. Inability to admit that perhaps one might be mistaken in some small detail.
8. Black and white thinking, perfectionism, inability to put themselves in other people’s shoes.
9. Narcissistic personality disorder

Lost Hexagrams of the I Ching

hexagram number square root of my homework - Loud Fish

pigs and fishes declare the best way to get to vegas is to drive the chevy over the cliff. somehow, it forgets to fly. they blame the sandwiches, so nobody gets any lunch. fish.

the superior man picks up the discarded sandwiches and speaks in riddles. good fortune.

irrational number in the second place - the chevy stays on the highway. fish food is dispensed but the fishes argue with it. good fortune.