OT ~ Welcome to Saturday!

open thread.jpg

Sit-a-while
on swinging porch
where tin-dippers and
sweet water
in cool touches
meet lips
from hand dug wells.

A work in progress


~ Edward Hopper, Notre Dame, 1907

Good morning good people,

The old, inexpensive, night train from London to Paris, nightlife of Saint Michel, the beautiful women on Boulevard Saint-Germain and fresh loaves to die for all in the shadow of the grand dame.

Those were the days.

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

“With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason."

In those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was frightening that it had nearly failed.”
― Hemingway

The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame ~ Maximilien Luce

Miracle
"Following the tragedy of Monday’s fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, news came on Friday of a miracle as sweet as honey.

"The hundreds of thousands of bees that lived in hives inside Notre Dame’s roof are alive and well, according to the beekeeper, or apiculteur, that oversees them.

“Thank goodness the flames didn’t touch them,” Nicolas Géant, the hives’ 51-year-old beekeeper, told CNN. “It’s a miracle.”

"Three hives that are home to an estimated 60,000 bees each – 180,000 bees in total – are located on a lower roof atop the cathedral’s first floor."


Robert Delaunay ~ The Spire of Notre Dame, 1909-1910

“People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ~ Hemingway

A heads-up: coming soon to Saturday's OT, a discussion about medicare for all.

Almost forgot, i'd put this aside for today:

For 45 years, a raucous musical revue show in San Francisco has lured locals and tourists alike, including the Queen, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

Beach Blanket Babylon claims to be the longest-running show of its kind in the world. It also features hats of improbable dimensions.

But on Wednesday, producer Jo Schuman Silver, the widow of creator Steve Silver, announced to her team of 85 staffers that the final performance of Beach Blanket Babylon would take place on 31 December. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/18/san-francisco-beach-blan...

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smiley7's picture

A little time for coffee and i'll resume. In the meantime, have a good morning and conversation.

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lotlizard's picture

https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/39/the-whole-earth-jamboree

W.C. Ellerbroek

. . . Anger is when your personal fantasy of how things ought to be isn’t matching your fantasy of how things are, but you feel that you might do something about it. Depression is a similar thing where you feel that your fantasy of how things ought to be and your fantasy of how things really are, aren’t matching and that there’s nothing that you can do about it.

. . . I believe that anger and depression are pathological emotions, that they are immediately responsible for the vast majority of human ills, including cancer, and I have accumulated a significant amount of very interesting material on this . . .

I have collected, from over this country, from various correspondents, 57 extremely well-documented cancer so-called miracles. A cancer miracle means that this person didn’t die, when they absolutely, positively were supposed to.

Robert Horvitz

This isn’t a new argument, but I started thinking about it again Friday night. Just before I fell asleep, I remembered something that a well-known California artist had said to me last January. We were talking about a show he was having in New York, and he said, “I’ve been thinking about this for a few years and I think it’s about time to start thinking about a ‘dictatorship of environment.’ ” This would be kind of an analogue to Marx’s concept of the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat.’ I guess the idea is that those who abuse the environment have to be smashed and held down for a time so they don’t re-emerge.

Now, I’ve never heard anyone else talk about a dictatorship of the environment. Most environmental people that I do come in contact with seem to have a kind of romantic, libertarian, passivist, anarchist or social-democratic philosophy. But this fellow reminded me that, at this point, there’s no logical link yet to any particular form of large-scale government in environmental thinking, and under crisis conditions, there’s actually a very strong totalitarian temptation — if you really believe we’re facing something like an ultimate state-of-emergency and species survival is at stake.

. . .

Environmentalism may be nibbled to death by its friends and enemies alike. As far as I’m concerned, remaining a merely cultural phenomenon — a hip, white, intellectual, feel-good association — is as undesirable as going the authoritarian route. Fortunately, the middle paths still seem wide and plentiful. I hope we have the opportunity, and the will, to head down a good one.

Forty-one years further on: sorry to say, it seems we didn’t.

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smiley7's picture

@lotlizard The Whole Earth Catalogue Smile

“I enter your secret places with my mind, I enter with your Presence / I roar your Lion roar with mortal mouth! One atom to one lung, one pound to earth your radiance is speed’s blight and death to all sentient beings . . .” Ginsberg

Big thanks and a great day to you, lotlizard.

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Lookout's picture

I've been thinking about the way both occupy and the XR actions are not being televised. If you want to be bouyed read today's XR newsletter.
https://rebellion.earth/2019/04/20/update-5-police-turn-pirates-the-pink...

I saw you posted AOC's vision for the future earlier this week smiley, and I thought you might enjoy this interview with the creators (I did).
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/18/we_can_be_whatever_we_have

Another rainy AM - we got 2+ inches yesterday, but skies are supposed to clear later. At any rate no trade day for me. I need to regrade my road and then move over to mow. When I came in last night it looked like the grass had grown a foot this week.

All the best to all of you!

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

smiley7's picture

@Lookout
a rough period. Have to find the courage to enjoy the good days; damn these infirmities when they get the best of us.

Snow forecast for the mountain, beginning at 11am supposedly; feel like Hemingway's Spring thoughts above.

AOC is working hard; don't we wish all congresscritters would do so?

Thanks a mil for the links; should have time to enjoy them later today.

Play on, my friend, and have a good one.

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The one phrase I remember from high school French class. heh My neighbor friend spoke fluently, her dad was a diplomat. I cheated with her on all my homework but still somehow managed to pass the tests. redwood freshman My aunt from Carmine Street used to visit friends in the south of France to escape Manhattan summer, they had a little farm and she loved speaking French and traveling. right on

Good coffee smiley7. cheers I like to drift along with your reminiscences. Totally relied on spell check for that word it gave me brain lock.

Maybe TBU will stop by and say something if he knows wtf is going on up north.
‘An audio gathering ground’ is slashed: The purge of a public radio station

Dramatic funding cuts, staff firings and the sudden clear-out last week of KHSU-FM, Humboldt State University’s popular public radio station, have outraged North Coast listeners and lawmakers who are demanding to know what has happened to a community institution.

The removal of staff was done under the watch of university police.

“KHSU is the heart of this community and that heart was ripped out,” state Sen. Mike McGuire told The Sacramento Bee on Friday.

whoa

“KHSU goes far beyond being a University asset and should not be evaluated and disposed of without community input,” the letter read.

But an animated McGuire minced no words Friday in criticizing the decision calling the cuts in staff, volunteers and funding “an outright slaughter of a community institution.”

“How this unfolded is completely unacceptable. KHSU isn’t just a radio station – it’s an audio gathering ground that’s been in existence for a half-century,” McGuire said.

"An audio gathering ground." huh good one McGuire, and good job Wood. right on go lumberjacks fight fight fight oyoy

HSU Marching Lumberjacks Storm in • Fight Song

They march in the Citrus Fair parade every year, they are fun. I bought a tshirt that says "Kiss My Axe HSU". Humboldt, the real northern california. love thy forests

Off the rails on the swings? Yep they tried it. lol

Crazy Train on the Swings - HSU Marching Lumberjacks

sketchy
PEACE

edited: two proof read failures.

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smiley7's picture

@eyo
so many places, The Village, France, and the good pot and fishing in Humboldt.

Needless to say, the fire touched deep into the old recesses. The fantastic cheeses and table wine so delicious and less expensive than a bottle of cola. Sipping espresso for hours at outdoor cafes, reading and flirting with everyone, i'm sure; on stage in a quiet, real way.

Cheers for the great post. Come on back, i'm still editing; moving over those bookmarked i'd saved for today.

Couldn't sleep last evening and took a pill which put me out; no worries, i enjoy writing on the fly better anyway.

Have a great northern California day.

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@smiley7 coast to coast.

Everybody's Smoking Marijuana

The God of Cannabis

lord of bhang
peace ritual

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smiley7's picture

@eyo
different highs that were so recognizable based on where the pot was grown; and Humboldt grass was in steep competition to Hawaiian, i recall.

Note, we sure did get a lot of bicycles shipped to RDU from Hawaii; amazing how much fits inside the tubes. Smile Fun and selfish "remissnesses" this morning, forgive me, Smile

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And my other friends.

So many very sad things lately--Notre Dame and Assange among them. My mind cannot dwell long in any of those places for long or I will break, maybe forever, and without having changed a thing, anyway.

I am glad the Caucusers who are still with us are still with us and wish everyone good things. If I had the power to bless you all, I would. As it is, I can but wish every one of you an enjoyable weekend and a wonderful holiday to anyone who celebrates any holiday in any way.

Speaking of which, I will tell a Passover story on myself I've told before, but it makes me laugh at myself and may make a reader smile.

I once worked in a firm whose PTB were all Jewish. Every year, after the first night of Passover, they would all comment to each other about still being stuffed from dinner the previous night.

Food is one of my joys and I love that many Jewish observances take place in the home, not just in a temple. For both reasons, I had long wanted to experience a seder. And, I got an invite! Based upon all I'd heard, I made sure not to eat much that day.

As I looked around the table, I wondered what in the hell the partners who ran the company had been talking about. A mouse couldn't eat enough salty parsley or horseradish to still be stuffed the next morning! Who get that one egg on the table, I wondered?

I desperately tried to fill up on each item that was passed in between reciting the history of Passover and singing Passover songs. I could hardly wait until the next one got passed. So much time lapsed in between these "courses" that I was starving by the time the next skimpy item made its way around the table. In the interim, I couldn't keep my hands off the matzoh!

Turned out, after the symbolic foods are consumed and the history and singing conclude, the actual Passover meal began--kosher, yeast-less items of the hostess's choosing. My first seder dinner actually consisted of a lovely matzoh ball soup, lots of roasted chicken with many well-prepared side dishes and a very rich and yummy flourless chocolate cake. Problem was, I was too stuffed with dry matzoh to eat any of it!

Since then, I've been invited to many seders (which I enjoy very much). My advice is, have a savory snack before you go to a seder so can make it to the actual meal, as opposed to the purely symbolic foods, without bogarting the matzoh!

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smiley7's picture

@HenryAWallace
pleasure of attending one. Did have Jewish girl friends in New York, one who drove in from Long Island--her father owned a candy business--and she drove a Jaguar. We were good bunny rabbits, i recall almost making love on Christopher street. Had a diamond studded cigarette holder in those times, think that must have been my ticket to love. Smile

Do recall a wonderful feast with an Italian family; going with my friend and neighbor Ricky who worked for the Voice by train to Darien, Conn. to their home. His mother laughed and laughed at my voracious appetite.

Have a great weekend, Henry.

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@smiley7

diamond-studded cigarette holder!

When I was newer, I actually avoided people with money and knew I'd never marry one. Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

I never made love on Christopher Street, but I did love Christopher Street. Does that count?

And Fourth Street. "Definitely Fourth Street." (in my best combination of Dustin Hoffman as Rain Man and Bob Dylan as himself--or whoever he was when he recorded that song.)

Contrary to the cliché, I thought Manhattan was a great place to live, especially when young and single, but not a great place to visit. I especially loved the Village on Sunday mornings in summer, when anyone who had the means was away for the weekend and/or "summering" elsewhere. (According to Molly Ivins, Texans don't use "summer" as a verb.)

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smiley7's picture

@HenryAWallace
between 3rd and 4th. Lived all over the Village. Sundays, beautiful brunch outside at Pennyfeathers with a copy of the Sunday Times and often a stroll with my ex to the Battery and back up through Little Italy in time for dinner with opera singers filling the streets in song.

Someday, a New York meet=up would be great as so many of us have lived there.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@HenryAWallace
Until I read this:

(According to Molly Ivins, Texans don't use "summer" as a verb.)

, I was pretty much unaware that anybody did, though in thinking about it, I realize that I have heard or read it a very, very few times, probably mostly from a woman we know who grew up in the Hamptons.

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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 --

smiley7's picture

@HenryAWallace
had the pleasure of working with him for about two weeks in the Ballroom scene of Billy Bathgate. Interesting, to relax, he hung upside down on a special bar situated for him just off set, bent at the knees.

He as most greats i've run across was very humble and nice off set; we joked about his riding his motorcycle one day as he rode up to me outside where i was hanging out. "Don't tell anyone," he said, "the insurance company doesn't need to know." We talked of relationships, i recall as that was during the end of my first and only marriage.

Well, it is a good memory.

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smiley7's picture

@HenryAWallace
And two inch silver bracelets, an amulet or Dad's distinguished-flying-cross around my dangerous neck or at times a wonderful chiffon scarf of about an inch and reaching the waist on each side.

I was in costume. Being an actor in loving color broadcasting in dancing slim, strong weight. A young man and bisexual.

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lotlizard's picture

https://www.taz.de/Kolumne-Habibitus/!5590173/

Seems rather self-indulgent and lacking in empathy. Also plays into the hands of right-wing populists who would characterize the message here as basically anti-white.

Not really doing the cause of migrants and multiculturalism any favors.

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@lotlizard

Had the Sphinx or the Taj Mahal or the Mona Lisa or the Great Wall of China or Mesa Verde any widely-admired, iconic building or work of art been destroyed, I would have been sad. I was sad when the Iraq Museum was sacked. I was also sad when I learned the Pieta had been smashed. (perhaps not the best examples, but I'm truly taken aback.)

It has nothing to do with the skin color of the people who live in the same country as the site or work. Also, who expects any building or other inanimate object to feel anything?

Duro-centric? Self-indulgent? Lacking in empathy? Anti-white? Anti-multicultural? Anti-immigrant?

Sorry, I don't get where you're coming from with any of that.

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lotlizard's picture

@HenryAWallace  
Hengameh Yaghoobifarah’s linked column and the fact that German daily Taz (owned by a co-op of which I’m a member) printed it.

Ms. Yaghoobifarah writes that when she watched Notre Dame burn, she felt nothing.

She further writes that people on social media mourning the loss made her feel bored, then angry because she misses a similar outpouring of grief re migrants drowning in the Mediterranean, or holy places destroyed in Syria and Iraq, or things Trump is doing. She compares the loss of one cultural treasure to climate change. No one’s raising 750 million euros in donations to fix that.

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@lotlizard

As far as Yaghoobifarah, it's perfectly possible to mourn the loss of an icon, as it was originally created, and also mourn human suffering. It's not as though, had the OP mentioned human suffering, I would have replied, "Fuck that human suffering noise and that destruction of Syrian and Iraqi antiquities noise. The real--and only--tragedy is the Notre Dame fire." However, as my post mentioned, dwelling on any great sadness--and while trying to survive ourselves--can be more than some humans can bear, especially those blessed and cursed with an abundance of empathy.

I find her assumptions and premise misplaced.

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lotlizard's picture

@HenryAWallace  
So apologies from me to you and smiley as well.

For what you all are doing and the beauty and uplift of what you all are posting, I don’t express my appreciation anywhere near as often or as emphatically as I ought and you all deserve.

Ah, anyway it’s time I headed out to my friends’ allotment garden. Catch some rays, watch some birds and bees, see the young peach tree in bloom . . .

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@lotlizard

That and an heirloom tomato fresh off the plant are my most favorite foods. No, add corn, picked in the field and run home.

Alas, I live in the city with only a terrace. No yard or garden, much less orchards.

Communication is a two-way deal, "speaker" and "listener" are both responsible. I should have known you were not scolding smiley or me. Not at all like you.

Enjoy the rays and the day.

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smiley7's picture

@lotlizard
I don't read German, your link, sorry.

Anyways; i'm celebrating art today; the living, breathing, significance and memories it brings to life. And if that ain't universality, i've been wrong for a lifetime.

Goodday.

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lotlizard's picture

@smiley7  
column I was annoyed at, not you or any c99ers. Sorry.

I meant to object to Ms. Yaghoobifarah’s opinion that anyone who attaches importance to Notre Dame is being contemptibly Eurocentric. Venting about white Europeans and racism is sort of her stock in trade — the Taz provides her a forum for same, presumably in the interest of diversity.

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smiley7's picture

@lotlizard
Really enjoyed the read from The Sun.

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lotlizard's picture

@smiley7  
for me it was the end of an era, as if a friend had died.

A writer I very much admired from that era was Anne Herbert (known for the quotation “practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty”).

Was saddened to learn, only a year or so ago and more or less by chance, that Ms. Herbert had already departed the planet back in 2015. I thought her passing might have attracted wider media coverage and thus not have escaped my notice. But society marches on; like so many in today’s global economy and information deluge, old Whole Earthers are mostly left behind and forgotten.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@lotlizard

But back in the day, I was there.

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____________________

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

@Pluto's Republic  
https://kk.org/

In contrast, Jay Kinney strikes me as having more strongly taken to heart the Whole Earth crew’s parting advice — “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

https://jaykinney.com/

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@lotlizard

...during Kelly's years, especially with the Well, I did more projects there after he transitioned to Wired. Many accomplished people drifted in and out. It was an organic blend of bleeding edge technology, Eastern philosophy, noetics, and the virtual community frontier.

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____________________

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

@Pluto's Republic  
I just noticed that James Baldwin has also left the planet. Happened a bit more than a year ago. Sad

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@lotlizard

...on many projects. It was an interesting time. A time of firsts. One night I was arriving at the whole Earth and Howard was leaving with this fellow with blond dreads, who was carrying some computer equipment. We chatted in the dark for a bit before I went in to the office. Later Howard returned. He told me the guy he was with showed him something amazing. It made the Internet "visible." "What do you mean visible?" I asked. We were all using computers. FTP, word processors, email, the Well was a bbs. "Wait till you see it. I can't explain it. He calls it Mosiac. It's in color. He says it's a browser." Howard went off to do something, when he returned, he said, "It's going to change everything." "Is he coming back," I asked. "He's heading back to Palo Alto."

That just popped into my head. I had forgotten about it until just now.

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____________________

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

@lotlizard

The Whole Earth Catalog was a big influence in my youth. I still have a few different editions. Great homesteading guide for me.

Thank you both for your work!

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

smiley7's picture

@lotlizard

"Eschew blandness. Eschew causing other’s pain. We are all the target so wear bright colors and dance with those you love. Falling in love has always been a bit too much to apply to one person. Falling in love is appropriate for now, to love all these things which are about to leave. The rocks are watching, and the squirrels and the stars and the tired people in the street. If you love them, let them know, with grace and non-invasive extravagance. Care about the beings you care about in gorgeous and surprising ways. Color outside the lines. Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. This is your last chance." ~ Anne Herbert

Curious, do you read the Foxfire books, too? https://www.foxfire.org/ I really enjoyed those as well.

Appreciate the good reads you've brought yesterday and today. Sorry i jumped to a quick question, before thinking on it, i should have known better, just didn't stop and think your post through. I understand, now, thank you for being gracious.

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@smiley7

attacking those who mourn the loss of Notre Dame (among other things). Please see her reply to me.

ETA: I see now that she replied to you as well. Poe's Law is strict!

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mimi's picture

@lotlizard
of the opinion piece - published in the TAZ newspaper -had.
That lady felt nothing and was bored when watching the fires of Notre Dame. Of course that's worth to write about... not.

I think me German in the German diaspora forgets sometimes too, that you in the diasporas of the world wide web and here don't read German. It happens. Let's forgive each other. Thanks for the link, lotlizard.

You should hear me curse when someone makes lingo-related sarcastic comments, using artistic videos iand songs in good 'ol American Englsh and I understand nada. Acute

Really so much better to listen and to smiley's beautiful selection of music of art. I am more and more in love with this place.

To all of you.
Give rose

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smiley7's picture

@mimi
comma makes all the difference. So easy to be misinterpreted on blogs and thank you mimi for reminding us of the special place we walk here on c99.

We cleared up the communication quickly, no offense was intended or taken.

Happy you enjoy the music. have a wonderful weekend.

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magiamma's picture

we went up to Davenport yesterday and did two drawings. I had some resistance to doing the second one but it turned out to be one I like a lot.

what is odd, funny, weird is that the had seems to know what to do when I stop thinking and just let it go really fast. I am sure there is some brain thing that happens, but whatever, it works.

it turns out that this process of drawing is keeping me grounded and maybe sane given all the input to my system re climate breakdown. heh.

Davenport tree 2.jpg

thanks for the ot and have a good one all...

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

smiley7's picture

@magiamma
prepared to take flight was drilled into us at drama school; and it's great fun when one can let go, isn't it? Few substitutes, if any, for discipline and technique.

Although, a few artists seem to be born with knowledge in their genes.

Thanks for sharing your work and have a lovely day.

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@magiamma

draw.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@magiamma
the coast and a left at Half Moon Bay, and then a stop at Davenport for coffee, the half-hearted failed attempt to avoid the baked goods available to be carried over to something to sit on on those cliffs and promontories overlooking the pacific for consumption. Alternatively, later in the day, a good spot for a picnic of bread and cheese or sandwiches, the obligatory apple or orange and some vino, out on those same seating arrangements. That's a great drawing, and really captures the place for me, as I'm sure it will for any who know the place moderately well.

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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 --

If you find yourself "over-apologizing" -- apologizing too often, or too profusely; if you often find yourself worrying that something you said or wrote or did may have given offense, and may be causing some other person ongoing distress even well after the fact, necessitating all manner of self-abasement and forelock-tugging and prostrations and whatnot, perhaps you should stop and ask yourself: "Do I have some good reason to think that I'm important enough in the minds of everybody else that I must be very, very careful not to hurt their feelings?"

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

smiley7's picture

@UntimelyRippd
television and the high hopes expressed contemporaneously amount the potential of the new medium. Today's social media unfortunately breeds contempt in its anonymity.

A saving grace here may be that so many of us knew each other online when we began.

Isn't it all really manners that matter?

As to narcissism, seems to be a part of the human experience, good and bad.

When communication works, it's a splendid moment. The challenge it seems in today's society of cell tweets is to sift through the propaganda, more so than simple concerns of a human attempting to express something.

Anyways, all this is beyond my paygrade and i'm just rambling.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and hoping you've a wonderful holiday.

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Marijuana Movies & Ultimate 420 Stoner Videos

This was a difficult list of marijuana movies to put together... And then I got HIGH.

LOL
It seems impossible that I did not know it was dude dude dude looking out my back door, maybe I forgot. deja vu anew
...
The Big Lebowski The Dudes Song

... next
Cheech & Chong - Up In Smoke

...next
random pick
simple smoke caddyshack mix

...next
reefer madness
easy rider
... on and on keep going
huh
What is The Union? I don't know, didn't click.

good day

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smiley7's picture

@eyo @eyo

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enhydra lutris's picture

and today's farmers' market is cancelled for some annual festival that I have no real use for, so the whole day is disrupted and deranged. No biggie, as it just leaves more time for getting stuff done outside that is not counter-indicated by wet soils and foliage. it seems vaguely reminiscent of Lookout's situation, except for the 35% chance of intermittent thunderstorms here, that it is hard to take too seriously.

Lovely column, as usual, smiley. What can one say. I have been to Paris twice and count myself lucky to have seen Notre Dame as it/"she" was. There is a sorrow for everybody's join loss of a work of art, and, in this case, a cultural focal point of sorts, but emotionally, not truly more so than with the damage to or destruction of other architectural and or artistic wonders and other cultural icons. Humboldt losing KHSU is probably more powerful to the locals there, a different but immediate artistic and cultural icon close to the hearts of the locals. I imagine what it would be for the Bay Area to lose KPFA & KPFB. I don't listen any more, but simply knowing that they are there is somehow a visceral thing.

For me, the sadness about Notre Dame is more intellectual than emotional, a punch in the mind rather than a punch in the gut. I traveled to Europe late in life, jaded, over acquainted with world history, more laden with cynicism than was perhaps good for my psyche. Pick up a guidebook to any country, any major city and there will be a recitation of great cathedrals one must visit for their beauty and the beauty of their collections. I was blisteringly aware that they were almost all funded by the rape and robbery of the americas, the pacific islands, africa and asia, the enslavement and exploitation of vast numbers of peoples abroad as well as the gulling and exploitation of the locals, not to mention the theft of the possessions and estates of heretics, infidels and even those merely imperfect in their rituals who lived right there are wee neighbors before their execution or exile. Every mother church has enormous wealth, and yet each individual cheesy (from the Italian Chiesa, or church) assiduously nickle-dimes visitors to view its many wonders. So yeah, the Church of Rome wouldn't even notice the expenditure of funds needed to rebuild Notre Dame, but won't because it needs those funds for its war until the end of time against contraception, choice, doctrinal impurity, heresy and atheism.

I read lotlizard's link in a machine translation and so had some difficulty and questions, but must agree that the article is ... rather self-indulgent and lacking in empathy. and plays into the hands of right-wing populists but I can also see the linked article's point as well to some extent. Folks are starving and dying of preventable disease and treatable injuries world wide. All of the highly orchestrated continuing anti-poverty and/or anti-climate change drives, all of the refugee relocation or settlement programs haven't yet raised anywhere near the figure that was spontaneously dedicated to rebuilding this one ediface, but there will be no such outpouring to rebuild Iraq or any town or village therein, nor Libya, nor Syria. You cannot raise that kind of bread for ordinary people, the little people with their little woes and troubles. (I will note that certain governments have no problem raising that kind of money to bomb them into the stone age, however, including bombing of cheesies, monuments, cultural artifacts and the like.)

All the same, this column is a thing of beauty, as was/is Notre Dame, so as with anything else, we mustn't decry this outpouring and this rebuilding effort simply because it stands alone. Instead we need to decry the failure to engage in all of the other projects and activities that should also be going on at this moment in time.

This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands in the morning, I'd best find something to do around here (and more coffee),

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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 --

mhagle's picture

@enhydra lutris

Very thought provoking.

Thank you!

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

smiley7's picture

does come after the fall and dead of winter, just takes more time. Anticipation may be one of human's greatest gifts as it can assuage the angst of bad days and times.

Instead we need to decry the failure to engage in all of the other projects and activities that should also be going on at this moment in time.

In times of trouble i go, as i've written here often, to Thornton Wilder's burial scene in Our Town

Looking down from above at the townspeople mourning at her grave site, Emily says:

"They don't understand do they Mother Gibbs?"

"No dear, they don't, she replies."

"Poets and saints, maybe, some do."

Throughout history, artists have often led the charge in changing the human condition as we all know.

And if in the rebuilding of Notre Dame, a focused light can also shine on all the tremendous needs of this world, bring it on, the conversation sorely missing on most front pages.

Thanks for your good thoughts and happy gardening.

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CEOs

Health insurance executives are increasingly betting that Americans like private coverage more than health benefits that would only be administered by the government given public statements by CEOs and information pushed by their lobbyists.

As presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and some Democrats push a single payer version of Medicare for All that would replace the private healthcare system, health insurers are countering with more aggressive responses, touting their worth to U.S. consumers and patients. Insurers are touting their businesses and noting Americans are buying what they have to offer backed by polls and surveys saying consumers are satisfied.

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smiley7's picture

@gjohnsit
working in the industry. Profit takers, added gatekeepers and bureaucracy, that's what private health insurance is.

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Lily O Lady's picture

you could visit Sainte-Chappelle also located on Ile de la Cite. It isn’t a cathedral, but is a beautiful Gothic chapel within the Conciergerie. As I understand it, the stained glass of Notre Dame suffered during the Iconoclastic Fury of the French Revolution, but Sainte-Chapelle, within the walls of the Conciergerie, was used to store documents stacked high. The windows were thus protected and really are a sight to see. Sainte-Chapelle really is prettier than Notre-Dame.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

smiley7's picture

@Lily O Lady
good to see you. Thanks for reading and sharing. Hoping you are in good health and spirits.

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afternoon sun ... probably hunting the groundhogs that earlier today were, somewhat recklessly, wandering insouciantly about, finding things to nibble on.

i've never seen one out here before ...

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

smiley7's picture

@UntimelyRippd @UntimelyRippd
cool beans. Forgot, if i know, the region in which you live. They grow as large as lions here up high in the Appalachians. In all my wilderness fishing and hiking only had fleeting daytime glimpses; heard them, known they were there feelings; but never in broad daylight.

Wow, just wow; what a good feeling today's thread gives me.

Thank you for sharing.

edit for sp

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mhagle's picture

@smiley7

A couple of years ago I was on the gravel road driving to town when a bobcat casually sauntered across the road in front of me. Beautiful. Sad though, a close friend stepped outside her door to see her pet cat in a bobcat's mouth, with no way to save her cat. Sigh.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

smiley7's picture

@mhagle
leaving a mountain watering hole. A young man was showing off his kill as though it were an elk on the first day of season in Wyoming. Poor creature filled the bed of his pick-up truck.

Used to be a little anxious when in the wilderness with a dog; rested more easily with the dogs that stayed close but feared for my roaming ones.

Tales of big cats in the area abound and i think, almost sure, i heard one for a few days near Hound Ears' mountain.

Playing now, have a wonderful holiday.

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@smiley7
around the corner of the house, and then again, and then skulking off into the bushes, while we dashed from window to window and room to room checking it out ...

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

smiley7's picture

@UntimelyRippd
at night if it stays around.

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smiley7's picture

Romney will be the repug candidate in 2020. No science behind this, just gut speculation; been wanting to share this, so i have.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

want to 'thank you' for the shout out about MFA. As of late yesterday, it will be almost three weeks from now, not two, before I post on MFA. (It'll be around our schedule of travel to have additional tests run on Kaity, IOW.) Still, appreciate the 'advertisement, so to speak. Smile

Our dear Magi did me a tremendous favor the other day, when she located a transcript of the Fox Town Hall (with Bernie). As luck would have it, it was Part 1, which included the discussion on Medicare. Had she not turned it up, I was going to have to do a manual transcription--not fun. Again, 'thanks, Magi!'

Pleasantry

Also, thank you for today's excellent OT. I'm always amazed by the gorgeous artwork that you present on Saturdays, and, I'm also very appreciative of your excellent taste when it comes to music--especially, classical. Good

Thank you for the Hemingway quotes. I'll be back in a bit, to watch the video on Paris. Appreciate that you gave mention of/honored the Notre Dame Cathedral. Think I've mentioned [more than once] that Claire de Lune has always been one of my favorite pieces (to play).

If I can relocate it, I'm going to swing back by and add (by edit) a video of "Rosty" Rostenkowski fleeing from seniors circa 1989. If Dems push through a bill that destroys our current Traditional Medicare program--replacing it with a 'managed care' system--my bet is that they may wind up doing the "Rosty Rumble," too. Biggrin

Actually, I think it would be an absolute hoot to see Pelosi and Schumer fleeing a pack of p*ssed-off 65+-year-olds, especially at their ages.

Hey, hope you have a nice rest of your weekend!

Bye Mollie

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

smiley7's picture

@Unabashed Liberal
will be a pleasure. Smile

Hugs to pup with spirit through these tubes.

Whenever on the MFA. I'll brush up amap.

Powerful feelings watching the Dame burn; had to express them best i could. Had to use greater music and words than i'm capbale of; but, hey, my memories are digitally recorded, little words meaning even less in the cosmos; but, they are set down.

I'm hopeful of having some assistance on Saturdays as the Summer and outside weathers nears as i've much to accomplish and for health desperately need to push on out and about amap.

Good fortune in testing and thanks for being here.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@smiley7

in that I didn't know what AMAP stood for. Smile

(until I Googled it)

And, thanks for the kind well wishes for little Kaity!

Mollie

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

smiley7's picture

@Unabashed Liberal @Unabashed Liberal
A little music as we all need love, AMAP and monitoring works, too.

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Greetings

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smiley7's picture

@Portlaw
Good to see you. Thanks for being here.

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Great diary. Thanks

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mimi's picture

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