Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Something/Someone Old
My Something Old today is an author I'm very fond of. Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe, and Everything, and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, a science fiction trilogy in four books :-). He also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
For those of you who are unaware of his work, here is a taste of it. The first chapter is pretty nearly guaranteed to hook you. You don't need to listen to the whole 5 hours of this. Just listen to the first nine minutes. You won't regret it.
Here is Douglas Adams' last interview. It was the month he died. He was 49. Since I'm also 49, that is not only sad, but vaguely creepy.
The word I'd use for his interview is poignant, not because he died so soon after (though the fact that he was about to launch on another set of novels which he never wrote does gall and sadden me), but because of his vision of the future. Since he died in May 2001, before 9/11 and the subsequent downward slide of the world, his vision of what was to come is heartbreakingly positive. Surprising, for someone who was more of a humanistic satirist than anything else. I didn't expect such optimism from him. It reminds me of the days we all thought the Internet--and digital technology generally--were going to result in more democracy and more freedom.
It's worth remembering what we were like before all this happened to us.
Something New
OK, I'm going to have to put more time into this OT. As you may have noticed, I've identified a few sites that I go to repeatedly, like the site about borrowed words, the one about the world's oldest trees, and the one about new inventions. I'm going to have to stop doing that, at least for the "something new" portion of this thread, because every time I go to the "new inventions" site I see something horrifying:
Tiny, Lens-Free Camera Could Hide in Clothes, Glasses
Who in the hell ever thought this was a good idea? Probably the military-industrial complex; it sounds like something they'd like.
To rephrase, what non-sociopath ever thought this could be a good idea?
A tiny, paper-thin camera that has no lens could turn conventional photography on its head, according to new research.
The device, a square that measures just 0.04 inches by 0.05 inches (1 by 1.2 millimeters), has the potential to switch its "aperture" among wide angle, fish eye and zoom instantaneously. And because the device is so thin, just a few microns thick, it could be embedded anywhere. (For comparison, the average width of a human hair is about 100 microns.)
OK, I take it back, it does sound like it has a few non-horrifying applications, and possibly the inventors were not sociopaths:
It could even be designed to launch into space as a small package and then unfurl into very large, thin sheets that image the universe at resolutions never before possible, he added.
https://www.livescience.com/59642-ultrathin-tiny-lens-free-camera.html
But they couldn't possibly be so naive that they wouldn't understand what the most immediate and prevalent application of their technology would be. And it's not just the professional snoops and bullies who would use it. Say hello to a whole new world of slut-shaming; all it would take would be one girl who wanted to bully another girl taking a picture with one of these things in the locker room of a school. There would be no way to stop it from happening.
Why the hell do they have to keep inventing horrifying things? Don't they have enough?
I definitely am going to have to find a new source of something new.
Something Borrowed
In line with my Douglas Adams theme, here is a band making an actual recording of a fictional song from The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. I'm counting this as Borrowed because they borrowed the lyrics. I love the fact that millenials (or are these people even younger?) still love his work enough to write music to his lyrics:
Something Blue
I've been trying to figure out who was the first person to use the flute in blues music. Haven't figured it out yet, but I've found some great music. This is Donald Byrd. This guy is freaking awesome:
Damn, he's good. I could listen to that forever, or close to it.
How are y'all today?
Comments
Thought it couldn't get worse. Wrong.
Sonoma Strong
WAR ON THE POOR
B-52s aren't all that's been activated, who else loves bombing poor people?
Former FEMA director James Lee Witt to lead local organization Rebuild North Bay
What a racket! And then pile on another Clinton crony consultant. Goodbye cruel world.
Rents rise after Sonoma County fires as luxury vacation homes come on the market
Late stage capitalism, makes me sick to my stomach. And crazy in the head. "That's the system."
Just waiting to increase profits off suffering and disaster, how disgusting. Sounds like an algorithm. No wonder there are so many homeless in the Bay Area, Vacation Rentals. Our politicians are disgusting to never change the rental laws, never protect anybody. Especially after Brown cut redevelopment funds to zero. ZERO! Democrats.
I don't want live here anymore, these are not my people. This song always reminded me of Bill Clinton, and now we've had the biggest fires evah! it is back. "There's always a faster gun for hire." Paddock seems so long ago, hurricanes and floods too:
Peter Wolf - Billy Bigtime (1984)
goes around comes around
@eyo New Orleans all over
New Orleans all over again. That's why they don't want to stop global warming. It's not just the petrochemicals that are profitable; the disasters are profitable too! Win-win!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Looking for more leaders like this Kiwi
###
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
The answer is 42....
now if we just knew the question. Douglas Adams is fun. I didn't realize he died so young.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/yes-the-answer-to-the-universe-really-...
Off to do my chores. Thanks for the OT and hope you all have a good day!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
@Lookout Just remember...
Just remember...
Don't pick it up, pick it up, pick it up
It's a hot potato
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Recently watched the movie streamed on Hulu.
Heh. Don't forget your towel!
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
My gateway to the Internets is 192.168.42.1
In honor of Douglas Adams, that is the router's address on the LAN side. It is a managed router I pay rent on like most others, but my ISP has a big clue and sense of humor. They are my oldest active Internet account "Member Since ... 1995".
Thanks a lot Can't Stop the Signal, I do enjoy your essays. Flying my freak flag online is a bummer, bitter cynicism is a bummer, poverty is a bummer, so is war. It's all right in my face and I don't know what to do about it. Bummer.
good luck
@eyo You're welcome, eyo. I'm
You're welcome, eyo. I'm glad you are here; you have a perspective that I want to hear about. And yes, it's a bummer. Everything that's provided for us to buy or to buy into is going to be a bummer from here on out. Independence, sustainability, temporary autonomous zones, invention are the only ways we're going to create temporary or semi-permanent positivity. And we're going to have to create it, because no-one with power will.
But because they've been looting us for decades and creating cute things like a depressed wage scale, the (related) war on time, and the war on the culture--which has now gotten so bad it's affecting people's ability to conduct personal relationships and even casual interactions with each other--we don't have a lot of resources for invention. This is the problem we should probably be grappling with, but it requires, first, a new understanding of "politics" and "activism."
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Since this is an OT, probably this is the place . . .
I enjoyed your essay as always. Haven't taken the time to follow all of the links yet.
Last Saturday I was invited by a friend to attend the meeting of the Sun City Democrats to hear a speaker, Mary Jennings Hegar, author of Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman's Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front. She is running for congress.
Sun City is a huge, somewhat extravagant, retirement community. My two friends who live there are retired teachers, so income levels range from well-off to very wealthy.
MJ was a fabulous speaker. I am so excited she is running. Renewable energy as it relates to national security is one of her main issues. She also said she does not plan to use Internet trolls in her campaign.
In the past few months Sun City Democrats have grown from 200 to over 500 members.
I am personally a pretty inactive Green Party member. There are no meetings close by, but I support their platform.
Though, IMO, this meeting was pretty blame encouraging. It's the population the democrats can relate to, so if they run someone who sounds fairly progressive, that's great. I don't see how they could possibly make inroads into the 90 percent though. No talk of helping the poor or raising minimum wage, etc.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
@mhagle glad to hear from you,
glad to hear from you, Marilyn. It's always cool to see you show up in my thread.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Thanks for sharing this mh
What about veteran's issues? Consumers? Car Standards? Those are issues a little less troublesome than dealing with the poors.
Would be interesting to get feedback on this from them?
Have you yet seen this?
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Good morning, all!
How's it going?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
If nuclear annihilation comes, we may not even find out about it
https://www.scribd.com/document/25013844/The-Road
All of a sudden, the world we knew would just be gone, and we’d never find out exactly what happened, or why.
Goodmrning, CSTMS. Blues//jazz//rock is a fluid boundary.
Was a time hwn jazz/blues was played with full orchestras and big-bands, so there might be some flute buried in the background of stuff by WC Handy and suchlike antiquities.
As headliner? Your artist and some of his licks remind me of Moe Koffman, who is usually considered to be a jazz dude. 1958 --
1969 --
Yusef Lateef is also usually considered to be a jazz dude, though he wrote a book on playing the blues flute. He was big on getting some of that North African/Arabian/Middle Eastern influence into his pieces, though not necessarily on the following cut from 1957:
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 --
@enhydra lutris I remember a picture I
I remember a picture I saw once of Ray Charles with his head in his hands in front of a blackboard which diagrammed (or attempted to) the relationship between jazz, blues, and rock n roll.
That Moe Koffman is something.
He's late, and white, but I love this (the DJ also kills me):
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
One thing about flute is that it is not always
played by a "flautist" - which is what somebody who plays it almost exclusively calls themselves. There are tons of musicians in the jazz/blues/rock mishmash who, if one looks them up are listed as something like Saxopohone & woodwinds, tenor and alto sax plus woodwinds, clarinet and woodwinds, etc. Any of them is perfectly capable of deciding to see how something would sound on the flute, especially when noodling around, and, if it is cool, adding it to the repertoire. That results in a lot of more or less one off flute pieces.
Yes to Jethro Tull, too.
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 --
I am getting things accomplished today.
Not well. Maybe 1/4 speed. Got a bunch of bills paid. Autopay is tougher, they all have special codes it seems. And I have trouble finding paper bills and username/password booklet is lost in debris. But it begins.
Anyone heard about sink flies? I guess they breed in plumbing elbows, of which I have plenty. Too many to flush them all every day, what with being hospitalized for combination over 2 weeks. Larger than fruit flies, noisier, too. Just more shit to deal with at 1/4 speed.
Maybe now I can respond to collection calls. Chase calls me at least 5X/day. Starting at 8AM. Ending after 10PM.
Off to do another load of bloody bedsheets. H2O2 works best if applied diretly to the stain and then launder with detergent. Some bloody stuff will just be tossed.
Humpday. It may be another turnaround for me. But I have no confidence in my physical abilities now. Trying to walk up the hill again.
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.
@riverlover I *hate* what bill
I *hate* what bill payment has turned into in the digital age. How dare they say it's more convenient.
More convenient for the owners, maybe.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The Spain that Catalonians don’t want to be a part of
Unlike Germany, Spain never de-Nazified at all. After the death of Franco, the crimes of his regime over the many decades of fascist rule were amnestied and the social, political, cultural, and economic structures of fascist supporters and sympathizers left in place (a large part of this segment of society ended up in Rajoy’s party).
Here’s the website of the FNFF, a tax-exempt foundation dedicated to memorializing Franco. It reportedly even receives government subsidies.
http://fnff.es
Good morning world
Beautiful sunny day here in Zion National Park.
Truth about taxes....
Yeah, we are really worried about their taxes....
These people apparently didn't get the memo (seen often here) that medicare for all is not possible....
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Get ready for $70 entrance fees to Zion
The National Park Service is such a tiny part of the US budget, surely we can spare a bomber or submarine or 2 to keep the parks for the People as they were originally intended. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is just another greedy, extremely short-sighted, selfish asshole working for the Oligarchy. The Titanic continues to be unsinkable I guess.
National Parks for the Rich
Beware the bullshit factories.
Yes, saw that, public comment is open
now hope all will let them have it!
This is part of a move to get people upset with the Park Service to soften up for further privatization and sell off of public lands!
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Save Blair Mountain
thanks for the OT
enjoyed the Adams trilogy back in the day: Hitchhiker's, Goodbye and Thanks for all the fish, and Restaurant at the end of the Universe. BBC was broadcasting a series which I caught, think early 80's? Many classic lines in there. LOL
Zionism is a social disease
HR 861 = RIP EPA & HR 899 = RIP DoE
Guess we get to start all over again! /s
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
@Deja I'm caught between
I'm caught between sorrow and a shrug.
When the EPA is muzzled and can't talk about nor act against fracking, should we mourn the loss of the EPA?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Same. EPA didn't do Jack in West, Tx & BOOM!
And they don't do Jack when people living near fracking sites or other toxic sites complain about bad smells, bad water, etc.. I guess they're just a money pit. Like the FDA and USDA - useless as tits on a boar hog.
Abolish *all* these agencies that suffer from regulatory capture
All “regulation” has got us, even under Democrats, is Lanny Breuers and “too big [a donor] to prosecute” all the way down.
Turn regulatory enforcement into one of those militarized police forces, with RICO teams like SWAT teams.
Let’s see how the 0.01% likes it when they and their buddies, the Wall Street bankers, are rousted from their beds in the middle of the night at gunpoint.