Happy Leap Day Open Thread: Monday, February 29, 2016

It’s Leap Day Woo Hoo! Commence to Leaping, if only to conclusions

Today's number is Twenty-Nine

29 is a prime
29 is copper
29 Palms is a small town in the California Desert
29 Palms is a large US Marine Corps Base in the California Desert
The Chattanooga Choo Choo departed from Track 29
I-29 connects Missouri & North Dakota. No one knows why.
29 is the maximum age at which one is trustworthy (Weinberg’s dictum).
29 BCE was the Year of the Consulship of Octavian and Appuleius
Horace wrote the Occidit Daci Cotisonis agmen (an ode) and Virgil sarted the Aeneid
29 CE was the Year of the Consulship of Geminus and Geminus
February 29 only occurs in years that are divisible by 4 and if they are also divisible by 100, then they must likewise be divisible by 400. Such days can only occur in the year of the monkey, the year of the dragon and the year of the rat.
On this date in
1916 The minimum age for factory, mine & mill workers in South Carolina was raised from 12 to 14
1988 Svend Robinson, of the Canadian House of Commons, came out as gay
2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed as President of Haiti by a coup
Born this day in
1736 Ann Lee, a religionist and founder of the Shakers
1812 James Milne Wilson, A Premier of Tasmania who died on 2/29/1880 at the age of exactly what?
1860 Herman Hollerith, who invented the Hollerith code for punched cards, the punched card tabulator and co-founded the predecessor of IBM
1904 Jimmy Dorsey, a saxophonist, composer & bandleader
1908 Balthus, a painter and illustrator
1916 Dinah Shore, a singer, actress and Chevy promoteuse
1928 Tempest Storm, a dancer, actress and singer
1952 Bart Stupak, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, representing the Vactican and the US Council of Catholic Bishops. A probable member of The Family (aka The Fellowship) he obstructed passage of the ACA insisting upon anti-choice (or forced birther) clauses. He retired rather than run against a pro-choice woman in the next primary.
1960 Khaled an Algerian singer-songwriter
Died this day in
1880 James Milne Wilson, the 8th premier of Tasmania
1960 Melvin Purvis, famus feebie
1992 La Lupe, the queen of latin soul
2012 Roland Bautista, a guitarist (Earth, Wind & Fire)
2012 Davy Jones an actor, singer and guitarist (The Monkees)
Holidays, Holy Days, Feasts, Observances and such
It’s Rare Disease Day (don’t run out and get one, all the same)
The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates February 29. This appears to be a thing with them - pick a date and they celebrate it. Keeps their hand in, I guess.
Track 29
So Roy Rogers got these spiffy new custom hand made boots, wore them home, saddle soaped them and put on the porch to dry overnight. When he worke up they were gone, solid gone, and there were mountain lion tracks leading away from the porch. Angrily, he saddled up old Trigger and rode off with Dale Evans singing Happy Trails in the background. A few hours later he returned with the carcass of a mountain lion thrown across the saddle, and Dale rushed out to greet him singing ….
“Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that ate your new shoes …”

sorry

Jimmy Dorsey
bourgeoisie? What?
Scarce, or, in a word
It’s that boogie woogie again, but not quite
Well, a leap is almost a jump
By special non-request
Dinah Shore
a duet wherein Pearly Mae briefly channels Satchmo
bluesy
Best known song
La Lupe
Earth, Wind & Fire
I can see by your outfit that you are no cowboy
Something groovy
their September song
The Monkees, a made for TV band
not "happy", "funky"
Yet another choo choo
the cynicism, the ennui, the Sgt. Pepper jacket and fake base ...

Khaled (Cheb Khaled)

OK, it is an open thread, so go for it

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hecate's picture

I-29 connects Missouri and North Dakota so that the corn from Iowa can flow both north and south.

A worried woman wrote into a numerology tube: "My husband keeps seeing the number 29 everywhere! What is 29 meaning?" She was told that "the number 29 has to do with intuition, spirituality, teaching, charisma, and diplomacy. It's a teamwork number, meaning things tend to go better as a team than as individual effort."

If you add the 2 and the 9 in 29 you get 11. If you add the 1 and the 1 in 11 you get 2. If you add that 2 to the 11 of 2 and 9 from 29 you get 13. And then everything is alright. And then if you add the 1 and the 3 from 13, you get 4. And then everything is perfect.

If you put a monkey, a dragon, and a rat, in a split-pea shell, they will sail to Caledonia.

They tell me that when I was, like, four or something, for about six months I refused to answer to any name but Roy, wore my cowboy hat and "gun pockets" everywhere, and refused social intercourse with anyone who claimed they could not see my horse Trigger. I decline to have any memories of this period, although there exists abundant photographic evidence.

Kind of a bummer, back there in 29 BCE, when everyone had the same name.

29 Palms is a heaving hellhole where the temperature averages over 100 degrees for three solid months. White people in 1895 rounded up some of the Indians they had ruined in the missions and stuck them in a 400-acre snake-pit outside of town. Today these Indians run the Tortoise Rock Casino in 29 Palms, where they take the white people's money.

Robert Plant wrote a song about 29 Palms but I am not embedding it here because probably Beelzebub is in it. There is a different-one song called "The Lady From 29 Palms" that was recorded by many people who are now dead.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG-hVV6EwAU]

Melvin Purvis was the victim of a gun fail; he shot himself in the head while trying to extract a jammed bullet from his pistol. He then became one of the dead people. By the Law of Names, if your name is "Melvin," you will not be a master of coordination.

Copper doesn't understand why people think silver and gold are more bitchin'.

Balthus went to Switzerland during WWII so the Germans wouldn't put him in a furnace.

Aaron Copland did fine things with the Shakers' "Simple Gifts."

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI6RYZygevA]

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enhydra lutris's picture

solved the great HWY 29 mystery. Thank you.

Twentynine Palms is probably gorgeous today, or will be soon, because this is a mega-bloom year down thataway. Death Valley is already cutting loose. If we didn't have our plans locked in we'd maybe run out to J-Tree, taking us through 29 Palms on our annual spring desert run.

The Lady from 29 Palms is great - thanks for posting it.

Copper doesn't understand why people think silver and gold are more bitchin'.

It is because they are Noble metals.

Thanks for the morning Copeland.

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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 --

hecate's picture

is against nobility. It is a Leveller.

A lot of people think the neoconIlluminatiHebrews run everything. But they are wrong. It is actually corn, that is the Ruler.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGLdsC0SqT4]

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enhydra lutris's picture

historically, for other grains. It is generally denotes the principle or primary grain in whatever locale or culture it is used, often wheat.

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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 --

hecate's picture

have a corn maize, someone with a chainsaw will be in it.
Corn-Maze-Web-Banner.jpg

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Shahryar's picture

This has stayed with me for years.

With a Marine Corps base you've got military families living there. Husbands or wives go off to fight in one of our many wars and the spouse waits and waits, worrying about his or her loved one overseas...because war is dangerous and you never know when someone's coming to your house to say "sorry, we regret to inform you that you're a widow now."

I read this article about a young lady whose husband was in someplace we were terrorizing. She lost control of her car and was killed. And I pondered this. Hubby in Iraq, in a dangerous place, wife in 29 Palms, at least she's safe. And yet she's the one who's not safe at all.

See, I believe in love, even if it's between a killer (that'd be the hubby) or perhaps a naive foolish lad (the hubby again) and his confused but loving wife. Giving Hubby the benefit of the doubt, that he joined the military for the college money and found himself shipped out, there he was, hoping to get through it and get back to Loving Wife, cherishing the letters or emails, counting the days until he could return.

And then that. Struck me as terribly sad. Oh yeah...the Iraqis...that's another story and I imagine there are several million of them that are as sad.

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enhydra lutris's picture

the odds of being born on February 28 are a mere 1,461 to one. However the odds of being both born on February 29 and then also dying on February 29 like James Milne Wilson did are 2,134,521 to 1. They did get the year of his death wrong per my sources, but math is easier than history. If 1461 to 1 is really correct, then squaring it gives 2,134,521 on any calculator you get your hands on.

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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 --

hecate's picture

is so wrong; it is brain-hurting; I prefer circles; the reason why there is music is so we can Know everything there is in math without having to undergo all the squaring and fractioning and digitalis toxicity; if it requires a calculator, I instead turn up the radio; history, why, it is a breeze. ; )
Screen-Shot-2015-12-14-at-5.12.17-PM.png

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enhydra lutris's picture

invokes images and memories of trig. (sadly for those who dislike it, that is)

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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 --

hecate's picture

has great summations of both history and math:

History

Every 30 years or so, Elders arm Children
with expensive weapons and send them away
to kill other children similarly armed.

Some do not return. Some return
maimed or terrified into madness.
Many come back brutal.

Nothing else changes.

Mr. Krupp got the whole works back
by producing a single document

from his briefcase.

Math

One and one makes two. There is a
two which is one,
at last. One alone is lonely.

Three is possible.
There are plenty of holes for everybody.

Four is nearly impossible.
Try it.

A great mathematician
(and this is a true story),
while waiting in a brothel and
looking at dirty pictures,

suddenly got the vision of
all the combinations of all the
plugs and holes of Nine.

Excited, he ran home and invented our
theorems of combinations and permutations.

That day, he didn't get laid.

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gulfgal98's picture

of mine was born on February 29 sixty four years ago. Today he celebrates his 16th birthday! Biggrin

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

lotlizard's picture

2012 live performance of the 1983 parody of Chattanooga Choo Choo by German rocker Udo Lindenberg.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderzug_nach_Pankow

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enhydra lutris's picture

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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 --

link

The full results of Iran’s election for its 290-seat parliament still aren’t in, but the results from the capital city of Tehran show a dominant performance by the reformist candidates, who won all 30 seats in the capital, in an embarrassing loss for the hardliners.
The reformists were expected to do well, with the reformist Rouhani government campaigning heavily on its success in securing sanction relief with a nuclear deal, something the hardliners opposed every step of the way.
Despite the early results showing the reformists dominating, analysts still say they don’t expect anyone to secure a 146 seat majority in parliament. There is also a vote on the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, which would be in charge of appointing a successor to the Supreme Leader, important as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is in poor health.
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hecate's picture

is pinning shit on a disgusting serial killer today.

Hooyah.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

…on that day in that place, were there as a result of a murderous US invasion of a sovereign nation, including the hostage. War criminals, all of them.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
hecate's picture

are finally looking at the sheet people and wise guys in The Hairball's underpants.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

…to be president of the greatest terrorist threat to the world:

Trump’s campaign is haunted by his reported dealings with a mafia boss, a drug smuggler, and a Russian gangster, as well as his dad’s alleged Klan arrest.

This could really work.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

link

On the Republican side, the new survey finds Trump's lead is dominant, and his support tops that of his four remaining opponents combined. The businessman tops his nearest competitor by more than 30 points: 49% back Trump, 16% Marco Rubio, 15% Ted Cruz, 10% Ben Carson and 6% John Kasich.
Trump's supporters are incredibly enthusiastic about the coming election, and largely committed in their support for him. Nearly 8 in 10 say that they are more enthusiastic about voting this year than in previous elections, among Republicans who are not supporting Trump, just 39% say they are more enthusiastic than in years past. Likewise, 78% of Trump's backers say they will definitely support him vs. 22% who say they could still change their minds. Among those backing other candidates, 57% say they are committed to their chosen candidate.
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lotlizard's picture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susurluk_scandal

The Susurluk scandal was a scandal involving the close relationship between the Turkish government, the armed forces, and organized crime. It took place during the peak of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, in the mid-1990s. The relationship came into existence after the National Security Council (MGK) posited the need for the marshaling of the nation's resources to combat the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

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everything is great for me

In sweeping passages, he rejected the economic pessimism dominating the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign as “dead wrong” and made a case for a bright future. A supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton, the 85-year-old Berkshire chief executive officer didn’t name the candidates espousing a dark outlook. But his message put him at odds with most of the Republican field and Clinton’s primary challenger, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
...
Candidates who have been painting a picture of economic woe were doing so to win votes, not because it accurately reflects the nation’s challenges, he said.

“As a result of this negative drumbeat, many Americans now believe that their children will not live as well as they themselves do,” Buffett wrote. “That view is dead wrong: The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history.”

The oligarch has spoken.

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Shahryar's picture

if people would stop looking at how messed up everything is it wouldn't be messed up!

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mimi's picture

leaving a note that I enjoyed your music pieces today. I feel so discouraged and old that being nostalgic to the dream world of those songs made me feel like "oh, the good ol times", which probably they never were, but it feels as if they were in the songs.

Have a good day, all.

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first-time homebuyers

“First-time buyers in high demand areas continue to encounter instances where their offer is trumped by cash buyers and investors,” adds Yun. “Without a much-needed boost in new and existing-homes for sale in their price range, their path to homeownership will remain an uphill climb.”

Home ownership is getting concentrated at the top.

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link

This wave of debt coming due through 2020 is bigger than previous five-year schedules of debt maturities in 2013, 2014 and 2015, according to Standard & Poor’s data. It includes about $2.3 trillion of junk-rated debt, with about $418 billion of that rated B- or lower. And it peaks in 2020, with $2.1 trillion of debt coming due, which is greater than the peaks of the most recent previous maturity walls.

Corpdebt.PNG

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mimi's picture

Why I don't use heroin

Bernice was raped by her mother’s boyfriend when she was 12. She ran away from home, found heroin and crack, and started prostituting. She is in her 30s now. I met her five years ago when I was new to this world. After hearing her story I asked if she needed help getting into rehab and therapy. She responded:

“You want me to sit in a circle and sing Kumbaya and suddenly pretend my mom’s boyfriend didn’t fuck me in the ass when I was a child? Am I supposed to suddenly have a relationship with my family? How can 28 days and a few pats on the shoulder fix what I have been through? How?”

I have never suggested therapy again, unless they mention it first.
....
I never saw Bernice again, she disappeared from the streets, presumably into a rehab, jail, or perhaps she moved to another town. Still, I cannot forget the last thing she said to me, “Why am I using drugs and hustling? Because I am out here trying to kill myself. I want to get a gun and do it faster, but I am too scared to blow my head off.”

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mimi's picture

The Graveyard of the Elites
I won't excerpt, because anyone who wants to read this article, has another preference of what is important in this article.

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shaharazade's picture

Eric has an autograph from Davy Jones, the Monkey. They both had the same manager when Eric went to LA to be a pop star and Davy Jones was a former looking for work pop star He drew a cute daisy under his signature. The manager was a terrible 'pop star' manger, his main business being hustling pornography and non-pornographic boring educational material.

My toddlers loved the Monkeys and although I rationed out their allowable time watching TV it was a better show then the Beatles cartoon show which I hated. They also loved the Grateful Dead which we would listen to on the radio on a FM show called 'Live from The Family Dog.' when Mountain's of the Moon would come on they would lie mesmerized on the floor and go into the same blissful state that Mr. Roberts Neighborhood induced. I was not a Dead Head and always found it strange that they became such a cult band. My infants were early mesmerized dead heads without imbibing any drugs. They also liked The Band. My oldest got sent home from kindergarden for bring Jeremiah Surrender to share with the class. The teacher said it was pornographic and put us both in timeout for for accumulated inappropriate behavior.

As a DFH I did not notice this was a dirty song and neither did my son. We just liked the music. I was glad that he was listening to The Band's album as I was getting tired of hearing Aoxomoxoa.

Let all get up and dance to a tune that was a hit? after my mother was born.....

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enhydra lutris's picture

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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 --

shaharazade's picture

and Neil Innes is still one of my favorite artists ever. Years ago a local record store that was going out of business offered for a really low price for a deal where you brought your LP's in and they converted them to DVD. Neil Innes's 'Taking Off' and 'Sundown' by an Austin band called Rank and File who we're a country western punk commie band called the Dills in my youth, were my conversion picks. Good and funny my criteria for music and most art or pop art which is my favorite kind of art.

More Neil....

So join the the rank and file...

More Rank and File

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hecate's picture

alternate universe the Grateful Dead had the TV show, while the Monkees were relegated to the radio; your oldest got a Prize for sharing "Jemima Surrender," and "When You Awake" is the national anthem.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU-3bkiD_Nk]

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shaharazade's picture

and really in my mind, perhaps that reality does live longside the current one that seems to be a veer off into darkside.

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