Tuesday Open Thread 19 FEB 19 ~ Full Moon


Call it the Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, Wolf Moon or 'supermoon', about once every 19 years, February has no full moon at all. This isn't one of those, but we've got plenty of 19's to go around.

d7Knoj6Rn6ZRT3ZsW4vmd7-650-80.jpg
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Quote

“A number is still very accurate, but its role is changed.
In the changed role this number enriches the silence.”
“What is it, in fact, that we are supposed to abstract from, in order to get, for example, from the moon to the number 1?"
~

Welcome

Not much in the way of steerage today. Rudderless, as now I type. One of the things about these open threads, for it to make sense time wise, we write them ahead, so they are ready to go. Then catch-up as best after. If around to act as a sounding board for comments. Not a big one for dictating the tone of the thread. Would rather hear what you got. And then steer once in the stream.

~
~

Swapping ideas with JtC about sharing this OT with others. If you would like to take it on any given Tuesday, let us know. Personally, I can give direction with templates. Easy Peasy. Soft sell. It is fun to open up and listen, joke, share a song or two. Pictures, philosophy or (aghast) political points. The boating season is beginning to heat up already, so my free time is diminishing. Would rather see this thread properly attended. Thanks!

~

Credits
Photo courtesy of Frank Langben
Quote 1 by Dejan Stojanovic, Serbian Satire and Aphorisms
Quote 2 by Gottlob Frege

~

Door is open, floor is clean. Dance to the music.

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I wanted to put together a Yosemite ski trip for yesterday and today. Could not get it together for less than around $2K for last minute travel from NY. Stayed home to save money and deal with snow removal here. Saw this notice in Yesterday's daily report email from the park. Was bummed out!

Badger Road And YSSA Open Today

As of approximately 0700 on Monday, February 18th, the Badger Road and YSSA are open to the public with R2 chain restrictions. Thanks to the Road crews for their hard work and long hours.

As of yesterday, there was 111 inches of snow on the stake at the A-Frame. According to park records, that is a historical snow depth record for this date!

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@jbob
We've only had a couple inches so far this winter. Course that could change radically with a Nor'easter.

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Centaurea's picture

What a propitious day for Bernie Sanders to officially declare his candidacy.

https://www.vpr.org/post/hes-2020-bernie-sanders-running-president-again

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

@Centaurea
Thanks for the link.
Really supported his efforts during the 16 primary. Then felt burned. Not sure the enthusiasm will return. But I wish him well any hows.

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Centaurea's picture

@QMS
2016 was like "young love", your very first love affair when you're still young and innocent, stars in your eyes, etc. (And more apt to feel devastated when it ends.)

This time, it's a more mature love, like when you've been around the block a few times already. Not so starry-eyed, more "feet on the ground", feeling a bit bittersweet, but still willing to give it a go. (And the rewards may be greater for mature love; older and wiser and all that.)

That said, I'm also supporting Tulsi at this point. In order to be in the debates, she has to meet new DNC requirements as to donations and polling, and I want her to be in the debates.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

@Centaurea
A Bernie / Tulsi ticket would be awesome. Can't help to wonder how 'they' will knock him out this time around. The DNC may go broke trying.

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Centaurea's picture

@QMS

Sanders/Gabbard would be my ideal ticket..

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

@Centaurea

As far as identity politics, including age, that ticket would be balanced.

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mhagle's picture

@QMS @Centaurea

Together they are a pretty well-rounded team. And both constantly introducing legislation. That point is key for me.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

@mhagle

regard to any individual politician other than Conyers, but introducing legislation can be a triple-edged sword.

Introducing legislation, knowing it will not become law, can be done cynically, solely to impress voters. That sword is of course, aimed at voters for personal gain of the sword wielder and/or his or her political party. This sword may deceive voters. Aside from that, it will neither better nor worsen our lives.

Introducing legislation knowing it will not become law can be done with the best of intentions, bringing things to the attention of voters until the concept is "normalized" and the demand for it grows and grows. tThat sword is aimed at politicians for the benefit of most Americans. I hope and believe that Conyers, regardless of #metoo allegations,* introduced HR 676 (Medicare for All) every two years with the best of intentions. Whether this sword eventually betters our lives or never does that all depends upon Washington's power players.

The third and final sword is, of course, introducing legislation with a good faith hope and belief that it will become law. This is, of course, the only legislation the impacts our lives in general. Whether it betters or worsens our lives, or a mix of both, depends upon the content of the legislation.

Few in Congress get their bills or amendments passed and those that do pass are usually those the majority of Americans would rather have done without.

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@QMS

As I have posted before, I may never come to clarity about Bernie 2014-2016. He wrote a relatively short time ago that he would run if he thought he was the best person to beat Trump in the general. I would bet that he knew then that he was going to run.

I think that Bernie has lost some supporters but gained others. At the very least, fewer people this time will need to ask "Who is Bernie Sanders?" However, I also don't know what, if anything, has been done to unrig the Democratic Party.

In my state, which is a semi-open primary state, having registered as unaffiliated in August of 2016, I can vote for him in a Democratic primary; and I will. I don't feel a need to vote in the Green primary. Anyone who subscribes to the principles of that Party will be fine with me.

What I did last time that I am unlikely to this time during the primary is volunteer, donate 'til it hurts and raise money from others. If Democrats are going to rig the primary--and I believe they may--it will be without sacrifices from me. I may donate some, but not as much as I did in 2008 or 2015-16. Raising money from others during the primary was my biggest regret last time, so I will not be doing that.

My only move, other than voting for Bernie in a Democratic primary, would be to vote in the Republican primary against Trump. However, I have a feeling DT will have won the primary well before Super Tuesday, as he did last time.

After Super Tuesday, I will have to assess my options for the general. Then again, my state is so "blue, no matter who," in Presidential elections that my vote for President never affects my state's electoral votes. So, I may vote Green then, just to keep showing that some of us support positions to the left of the Democratic Party. Most likely, any contributions I make will be to the Green Party so it can fight those undemocratic ballot access laws in as many states as possible.

US politics = FUBAR.

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@HenryAWallace @HenryAWallace
Good morning. I did, like you, for Bernie, ended up Green in 2016. That whole DNC / super-delegate / rigging machine really makes me doubt our votes count for much. It seems incremental, but the progressive idea is formulating stronger in peoples minds. We can envision a better future, and the impending climate chaos shortens the horizon.
Thanks for chiming in.

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Lookout's picture

What type of boating are you into QMS?

Early in our history people would boat downstream to New Orleans, sell their goods and boats, and then hike back home on the Natchez Trace. They had time on their hand floating downstream and played a lot of music. Many old time tunes are named after rivers and the boating experience...

Here's one called boatman-
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09n2J40a7_A]

fiddlers 1900 travelers.jpg

Hope you all have a good day....another wet one here. Last year was our wettest year on record. Looks like we might surpass it this year...at least so far.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout @Lookout
Thanks for the boating songs. Know of a few old sea shanty's. Worked the Big Muddy for awhile on tugs. New Orleans is a fascinating city. Also, scrabbled around the bayous for several years working the oil patch. The cajun culture is somewhat unique.

Switched from commercial to 'recreational' early 90's. Building yachts in New England and Singapore. Now just manage a couple yacht service concerns, doing deliveries, teaching and training the next generation. The body resists the bilge crawl anymore. Sea water is in the blood by now.

Cheers!

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@Lookout
put out a couple CD's, but couldn't find him on the tubes. Found this instead...

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mhagle's picture

When I have the opportunity to read here there have been many wonderful essays, like for instance hecate and the deer story. Great open threads as always. Just really busy with early gardening efforts and family stuff.

On a political note . . . one of the positive results of the election in Texas was more progressive candidates winning locally. The Texas Organizing Project, IMO, is an impressive group. I am on their email list and this was in my inbox this morning.

A win against mass incarceration in Harris County

This past Tuesday was a historic day for criminal justice in Harris County. In rejecting District Attorney Kim Ogg's request for an additional 102 prosecutors and nearly doubling the budget of the public defender office, Judge Lina Hidalgo and Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia, made clear that Harris County is serious about ending mass incarceration. When TOP knocked on the doors of tens of thousands of people of color in November 2018, they responded to voting for candidates who were committed to partnering with us to reform a criminal justice system that has broken up too many families and destroyed too many lives. We look forward to taking the next steps to create a criminal justice system that honors people's humanity and dignity, and that uses incarceration as a last resort. For more information, call or text Gracie Armijo at 832-998-0269.

Also spending time initially reading and watching Dr. Gabor Mate' on how childhood trauma and life's traumatic experiences affect our health . . . and more recently Dr. Peter S. Levine on healing trauma. I only discovered Dr. Levine last week, so am only starting to read/listen to his work. Both Dr. Mate' and Dr. Levine have books and/or audiobooks on scribd.com. I read "When the Body Says No" by Dr. Mate' last month. They both have many YouTube videos. Here are a couple of them:
[video:https://youtu.be/gHGXNbbzw9g]
[video:https://youtu.be/9hP2KJ3UgDI]

Anyway, it is all helping me. Was sort of a missing link in my spiritual practice.

Wish you all a fabulous Tuesday!

Smile

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

mhagle's picture

@mhagle

I will miss him very much here. It can all end fast.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

@mhagle
Yes it is sad to lose such voices. Riverlover, divine order. They live on in the contributions shared with us. Glad to hear you are busy with good things. Justice is a good fight. Trauma repair is tough too. Started a couple juvenile delinquent outreach programs around the states. Engaged local businesses to sponsor kids already in the juvee system, cleaning up parks, organizing community improvement activities. The goal was to reach the hearts and minds of troubled youth before they matriculated into the adult system. A very hardened bunch. Feel like we touched only a very few with a nudge toward positive growth. Was very emotionally draining for me. But worth it.

Good luck!

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mhagle's picture

@QMS @QMS

Started a couple juvenile delinquent outreach programs around the states. Engaged local businesses to sponsor kids already in the juvee system, cleaning up parks, organizing community improvement activities.

Wonderful thing you did. There is no doubt you touched the souls of these children, even though they maybe didn't let you see it. Public school teaching is another emotionally draining effort. Partly because often and increasingly more so you are not able to really give them what they need.

In my personal case, I wasn't traumatised in the traditional sense like these children you were helping. These kids, and there are way too many of them, have been brutalized, often intentionally. What I am hearing from Dr. Levine so far makes me believe his methods would definitely help them. What Dr. Mate' exposes is often a sort of whitewashed trauma. He uses a method he calls, "compassionate inquiry." Because it is not the brutal blatant abuse we don't recognize it as trauma. I had loving wonderful parents and family members. No brutal blatant abuse. But one of my older sisters was severely bullied in school. She was and is an eccentric profoundly dyslexic genius who didn't fit in. My parents and my older sister near her age suffered with her. My other traumatic event was an abusive 17 year long marriage. I kept the abuse a secret for 35 years. And my oldest sister died suddenly at age 27, leaving a son, husband and losing her unborn daughter. Guess that fucked with me too. And in 2015 her husband and son died too leaving a wives and 2 more children each. Ah . . . . ya di ya di ya.

But it seems to me that this sort of life experience is not unique to me here at c99. Dr. Mate's point is that many of our illnesses and all of our addictions are a result of often unrecognized trauma. Both Dr. Mate' and Dr. Levine make the point that there is a difference between memory and recall. We might not recall many events in our lives, but our bodies remember them all. Even the pre-birth fears of our mothers.

So it is a matter of pondering and compassionately inquiring, "which events were traumatic?" And then applying the Dr. Levine's healing techniques.

Sounds over-simplified. IDK. I feel better anyway.

Forgive the rant. Kind of nice to write it down.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

@mhagle
You expose several incisive understandings to the nebulas state of trauma and our adaptive accommodation of the growth challenges left in its wake. Thanks for that. It is sometimes a personal journey taking many moons. The fact you are taking on the challenge seems very healthy.

I'm with you there.

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mhagle's picture

@QMS

Smile Smile Smile

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

enhydra lutris's picture

so ran out last night and "tarped" most of the more vulnerable plants with sheets of row cover and old sheets. We've got a monster fan we put under the orange tree as well. It seems like the back yard is all ok, even though all moderately shallow standing water froze solid and the bird bath/fountain is mostly iced over.

No mucho to contribute today, still shocked about do. Also much to do around here in the next week or two, including making an honest attempt at remedial pruning of our runaway apple tree while still slightly mobility constrained and last day of Great Backyard Bird Count.

Getting ready for yachting season must be an interesting get-ready process, "lessee, where the hell is my fid", heh, don't envy you. But, iirc, Ashley's is now available from the archive, so you can put it on your phone until it all comes back, assuming any of it is still relevant.

Thanks for the OT.

Have a great one.

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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 --

@enhydra lutris
Glad you have the tools to save your green friends. The orange fan reminds me of the huge piles of old tires they burn in the orange groves of FLA. The thick smoke mitigates the effect of frost on the orange blossoms, but boy does it ever stink! Makes the oranges taste like a drag racing strip. Wink

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enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS
I never knew what they burned in them, but I assume diesel or even lower grade. Monster fans became big out here over the years, as in powered windmills. Our's is just a "whole house fan" somewhere between 2 and 3 feet diameter.

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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 --

Raggedy Ann's picture

Snowing here in the land of enchantment. The state is closed down, so I get a snow day at home. My compadres at the university are thrilled to be home, too. I usually get a snow day when they don't, as I live 50 miles east and 1100 feet higher than ABQ. Happy they got it too, this time. It's been snowing since I've been up, around four hours, but it started before. It's not heavy - we'll get around 6"-8" - but it's welcome! Divine order would have asked me how much I got, since he had a home ~70 miles north of me, sigh.

That's a lot of snow at Yosemite! My nephew lives in Reno, so I'm always thinking of that Donner party. The conditions today might be what they encountered back then. Stay home, jbob.

Have a lovely Tuesday, folks! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

@Raggedy Ann
Always loved visiting Taos, before it got hip anyway. The big difference between western snow and the eastern variety is the weight of it. I think of telemarking in powder above Flagstaff and Utah versus trudging thru the heavy wet stuff here. Sticks to the skis.

Cheers!

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@QMS
Learned to ski as a child. The school had a ski program open to everyone that wanted to learn and could afford to pay $1.50. I graduated in 1970 and have visited sporadically over the years. My parents moved to ABQ when dad retired in 1971 - we were native New Mexicans, but not native Taosenos. Good memories!

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

hold on to your socks, mellow man rocks

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magiamma's picture

great strand of comments today... 37 when I left my house at 6a got down the hill and it was 36. frost on the river front. more snow than ever in the sierras. worked my ass off for Bernie. wish him will. no money this time but all systems go otherwise. we need a unified CA strategy. fuc the dems. good to 'see' you again mhagle. trauma sucks so we must help where we can. q, boatman, what a trip. grew up on a small plane airport. at 12 - hey kid, wake me up when we get to that mountain. anyone can fly a plane once it's in the air. even my cat. random sloshing. gotta go digmore in the mines of Climate Breakdown. tropopause normally is 7K feet high at the equator and 4K at the poles because hot air is bigger. but now tropopause is 7K at the north pole and pushing polar vortex asunder. poor p.vortex. but worse 'n that is jet stream meandering drunkenly. so hot air holds more moisture which there is a bunch of. drunken JS just loves to tango w that hot air and the oh-so-cold leftovers from p.vortex, all and all, making very much wet and consequently dumping a bunch of snow on the sierras. heh. (tropopause, boundary between troposphere and stratosphere) and... the big bumps of high pressure are a bunch bigger now so JS just has to dodge them and meander even. more. wildly.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_hwerqogzQ]

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

@magiamma
now that's a concept that sends the imagination into the stratosphere. I've seen horses drive wagons and dogs steer boats, even salamanders piloting leaves. Cats in the air, junior birdman, cats in the air upside down...

Chuckles

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roll by". Although we are getting a light rain here and being overcast now, will probably not see the full moon tonight.

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@randtntx
Without having to see it behind the clouds. Last night it was a spotlight on the snow. Bright!

Thanks for the Lightfoot. Roll on.

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Big Al's picture

even though I'm banned? I don't want my writings on there if at all possible.

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@Big Al
I'm clueless, but if you go over to the update 2:19 update DK straw poll thread, there appear to be alot of Kos people there that may help with that.

Good luck.

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Big Al's picture

@QMS Since I'm banned I don't have the ability to comment there, and I won't do a sockpuppet.
Just wondering if anyone has looked into it. Trying to do some housekeeping and remove my essays from democratic party blogs.
Maybe it's not possible.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Big Al

is to delete the content in them. The header and the comments will still be there. I cleaned up my image library there after I stopped writing and they are gone not only from mine, but everyone else's who used them. I gotta lot of flak for doing that.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Big Al's picture

@snoopydawg Can't edit them at all. When you're banned, you're banned.
I sent a message to gestapo hq asking how I can do it. Probably, they somehow believe it's their content. Just wanted my stuff off there, preparing for a run for Congress with the People's Party.

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snoopydawg's picture

This is fun to watch.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.