Open Thread - Friday, September 9, 2016
Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.
~Ernest Hemingway~
Thursday night came upon me quickly. I was unplugged for the past week and it felt good. Sweetie and I completed our road trip Tuesday night and I am just now getting my bearings.
We got off to a slow start. Hermine rained on uswell into the night. I can get the wheelchair van into the garage, but can not get it open to pack. Plus, a bunch of the care giver tools were needed for morning. I packed Saturday morning and we did not get on the road until a little after 11 AM. It was overcast, but by the time we go to Durham, only 1/2 hour down the road, the clouds receded and the day turned beautiful. We made it to Pittsburgh before dark.
The mountains of western North Carolina, western Virginia and West Virginia were particularly vivid green. Usually, this time of year is beige and yellow from the summer heat and dry conditions. The flora and fauna is thriving from this summer's copious rain.
For the most part, the trip went well. Sweetie's mom lives in a retirement home, not a nursing facility. The care giver paradigm was middling. We had hospice place a hospital bed into the guest suite and I figured out a way to take care of Sweetie.
The trip may be the last time that Sweetie sees her mom or brother. I was expecting an emotional catharsis that never came. It was a nice visit, without drama.
I think the hardest part of the trip was not being able to talk with Sweetie while we rolled. That and just figuring out how to get things done in strange environments.
How the funk yinz guys been? What's news?
The thread is open.
Have a great weekend!
Comments
As I am first, I must say that I (and many others) have been
thinking about you both and how things were going. Sounds like that family goes by the rules of little emotion. Safer that way, must have been private heartaches all around. You missed an explosion and several battles, including a meltdown here. No radiation leaks. So things were fine.
Welcome back, Tim. Off to take recycling down!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Corn-syrupy theory consciousness raising corner
The tide is turning: the official story is now the conspiracy theory
Also posted at Zero Hedge and OpEd News:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-08/official-story-now-conspiracy-t...
http://opednews.com/articles/The-Tide-is-Turning-The-O-by-Paul-Craig-Rob...
Bertrand Russell (Sept. 1964): 16 questions on the assassination
http://22november1963.org.uk/bertrand-russell-16-questions-on-the-assass...
(found via Josh Mitteldorf at OpEd News)
http://opednews.com/Quicklink/Bertrand-Russell-was-a-Con-in-Best_Web_OpE...
Morning Tim! :=) I'm back from summer break and am real
happy to "see" you and your OT. What a trip, eh. Mobility issues make traveling a complex undertaking. It sounds like it went all right, except for where it didn't. It is good to hear the latest news about your Sweetie. Send our love and regards to her, eh.
Best wishes, g
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
I am so glad that the trip went as wekk as it did.
Kudos on the music choices.
I echo Henry W's sentiments re: you're trip, also the music
I also have my own musing to get to here.
I've been binge-watching BBC America since 8:30 PM last night. Why, you may ask? Well, let me tell you....
In 1966, on that day, September 8, and at that time, 8:30 PM, Star Trek premiered it's first television episode of what is now known as "Classic Trek" with Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (the late Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard McCoy (the late Deforest Kelly), Mr. Hikary Sulu (George Takei), Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols, who is an excellent singer, btw), and Lieutenant Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (the late James Doohan). The first episode was "The Man Trap" involving an intelligent creature that sucked the salt out of people's bodies by luring them in by way of creating an illusion for them to see an attractive person of the opposite sex (perhaps it could also do one of the same sex, since it has to read your mind to pluck out the attraction factor, and it just didn't run into any LGBTQ people yet, but whatever). BBC America ran that episode first last night, and has been running the episodes in order since.
A few observations and a bit of a confession.
One, yes, I'm a Trekkie. Modestly so, as I don't dress up in costume for conventions, nor am I well-versed in Star Trek trivia. The only piece of Star Trek merchandise I possess is a replica hand-held communicator (with that chirping sound indicating a caoo) as it appeared in the Classic episodes. Yes, a Trekkie. And flame away but I remember 1966, and what this country -- and the world -- was like back then, and it is rather nice to have a vision of the future where we all indeed get along, having solved the problems of war, racism, climate change, poverty, greed (in which I include lust for power, and which, when combined with monetary incentives, pretty much lies behind all those other problems) and emerged ready to explore and get to know more about our universe and our surroundings.
One observation I have had about the series itself, is how fun it is to watch. Granted, that first episode kind of throws the viewer into the deep end of the pool and says, "Okay, now swim!" But it's still quite fun, as are the subsequent episodes, with the crew dealing with several challenges to their basic philosophy of seeking out new life and new civilizations. The interplay between the characters is endearing and probably the best part of the series, but I'm also enjoying the adventures and writing of the episodes.
A second is how long each episode actually is, which says something about commercial television. BBC America is running each episode uncut, which means no part of the episode is cut out to fit it within a conventional hour and allowing for the modern length of commercial breaks. Those breaks are still running at the modern length, which makes the episodes stretch from one hour to nearly one hour and fifteen minutes.
And you wonder why TV sucks so much these days.
My final observation: When you can comfortably fit the 50th anniversary of any cultural phenomenon within your lifetime, that's when you start to be really aware of your age. I can remember watching those Classic episodes as a kid; I was 9 years old when the damn series premiered. Ah well. My joints and gray hairs had already told me I wasn't as young as I was, so no big deal. Still.....
Anyway, on a more pleasant and frivolous note, I pulled out a CD last night -- the first cut had become an earworm -- and played it on the way to the store in the late afternoon. So for your earworming pleasure, I present a song by Mr. Woody Guthrie, as interpreted by Billy Bragg and Wilco:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GDU6ns2mRM]
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon
Morning Tim, peace to you both.
I read an article this am by Ron Paul, talking about how our votes really mean nothing because we're really controlled by the "Deep State". We've been talking about that more recently, the Deep State. It got me thinking of an essay I might write, combine it with JFK's secret society speech, President Wilson's remarks on the Federal Reserve system, Ike about the MIC, etc.
Really, debating Trump vs Clinton is kind of silly in the big picture. Like Ron Paul said, nothing will change. I have to go back to my instincts on this and say that Obama proved it. That's what Obama gave us that we should be grateful for, he proved it doesn't matter.
http://theantimedia.org/ron-paul-vote-secret-government/
Facebook censors most famous war photo from Vietnam era,
then censors and bans writer who criticized said censorship.
http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentar/Dear-Mark-I-am-writing-this...
(found via repost at Zero Hedge)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-09/dear-mark-zuckerberg-no-i-will-...
Jesus Fucking Christ, this is outrageous,
I knew that my guts told me the right thing. There is something disgusting and evil about this Zuckerberg "boy". If that is really true, well I wish his facebook enterprise goes to hell and he with it.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Don't get too upset, mimi.
This is just one more of Zuckerberg's stunts for free publicity/advertising. It's part of the Facebook m.o. - banning photos of breastfeeding women because their nipples might show (= big uproar, what about men's nipples in bare-chested photos?); drag queens must use their legal birth names on Facebook accounts (= big uproar, why can Lady Gaga use her stage name?).
It's tiresome and hardly worth the bother. The 32-year-old Zuckerberg, currently worth $54.5 billion, is pretty much to the internet what Trump is to politics - just one outrage stunt after another, free publicity and all that.
Only connect. - E.M. Forster
oh, to censor this specific photo,
to me, is absolutely a reason to be upset. Luckily he can't eliminate this photo completely from the internet or other archives. To me that is more than a PR stunt. I think it's a Nazi-like online "book burning" event met with utter ignorance and "what's the big deal about it" attitude by the online audience.
This specific censorship is politically motivated, and imo not comparable to the nipples blackouts and all that other crap.
Ok, I calm down now. Said my thing. That's all.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Oh, I can agree with you about
political censorship of evidence of US war crimes. In fact, my first reaction when I first saw mention of Zuckerg's censorship yesterday at that bastion of press unfreedoms RT.com was to look you up here to get your reaction and to see if you could possibly post the photo here yourself. However, you were involved in discussing (an apparently monotheistic) God concept, and I didn't want to be intrusive with something so off-topic.
Meanwhile, that photo is now getting more exposure across the internet than it has in many years.
And, while it does, there's no such exposé of photos of children deformed by the use of white phosphorus by the US military in Iraq. There are lots of such photos spread across small blogs across the internet, but I've never seen one of an even post-surgery "healed" child in what passes for "respectable" US media outlets - and this at the very time the US-backed Saudis are using white phosphorus in civilian neighborhoods and villages in Yemen.
A good deal of effective propaganda is what is suppressed, not just historically but in the current moment.
Only connect. - E.M. Forster
$54.5 billion???!!???
that's a good argument for a maximum wage. $5mil a year is like, a LOT of money for anybody in any year. Anyone making that much or more should be plenty happy with it. You might choose a different number. I picked that one because it's such a large number that greedy people who say "mine! mine! all mine!" might think it's enough dough to roll in.
I hear Paul McCartney's close to being a billionaire, which is also way too much. But at least he contributed something lasting. Facebook will be gone in 10 years. For Zuckerberg to have 50-60 times as much money as McCartney (and many, many times more than Ringo) is just wrong!!
but but but I need all those....
cars, planes, trains, homes, buildings, businesses, countries, politicians, so live my kind of life style don't ya know......!
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
in 10 years
And Cat make it sooner!
Call it CT if you will, but I just can't buy that Facebook became as wealthy and powerful as it is today merely by piping ads into people's houses via (mostly) DSL service. I am convinced to my bone marrow that Z sold personally identifiable information to governments for a goodly chunk of that money. Yes, I could be wrong; I admit it and wouldn't mind being wrong here. But I don't think I am.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Glad the trip went well Tim...
and that you and your sweetie made it home safely. Wish we had been getting some of the rain - even Hermine missed us.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Heh. Those signs are all over in the Westlands Water District,
notorious water abusers, who, among other things, grow a lot of cotton because toxic selenium in the soils have ccumulated to the point that food crops would be toxic to whomever (or whatever) eats it.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good to see ya Tim. Looks like you had a safe trip, so good
for that. Be good to yourself and the best to you and sweetie.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Glad you had a safe and happy trip.
As nice as it is to leave, it is always just as nice to get back home.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Hi Tim,
It sounds like your visit was a peaceful, even if sad one. It was so wonderful of you to make this visit happen. I’m really sorry that it is not possible now to have those intimate exchanges over long miles on the road together. I wish the best possible for you both.
[video:https://youtu.be/1bccOfePKVc]
[video:https://youtu.be/bXu_cRaQK7A]
Good Evening Tim
I am happy to hear that your trip went safely and well. My own family is from that same part of Pennsylvania and they have always been fairly stoical too. One never knows how much grieving goes in the heart. I am glad that your Sweetie got the chance to see her family once last time. Peace to you both.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy