Open Thread - Thurs 29 Dec 2022 - Inspiration!
Some Inspiration:
One of the towns close to where I live...
is called Poulsbo (some history of the town). It's something of a tourist destination (now) and bases a lot of its attraction upon it being founded by Norwegian settlers. The little town is well known in some areas of the world for its ancestry; for example, Scandinavian royalty have visited it. The town now has a very sweet and quaint visage, one which has been improved quite a bit since I first visited, and then moved to, this area in the early 1980's.
Image from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Image from link below to the 'Eric's Heroes' story
And this pretty visage along Poulsbo's main street is due to mainly one man, an immigrant from England named Bill Austin. He's known as Poulsbo Bill. He's as old as my Dad (87) and still going strong! And I knew nothing about him and all the work he did, painting and designing things, until he was featured on a segment of a local newscast called 'Eric's Heroes'.
Poulsbo Bill, from the Eric's Heroe's article linked above
It's wonderful how his skill at painting and his vision (and ability to excite a lot of people to support him and help him) has led to such a pretty little town. It's inspiring to see what we can do when we have a vision. Poulsbo Bill is a great example of that!
Do you have any inspiring stories to tell? About someone's visions? Your own? I would love to hear about them in the comments!
An English Bumblebee:
In other good news, a bumblebee species that hasn't been seen in Devon, England, since 1978 has reappeared. Hopefully more native species everywhere can reclaim their lost territories, like this little bee seems to be doing.
And finally, just for fun:
A picture of goats! This is Maggie, back in 2012 a couple days after she was born. She didn't do well (was laid on inadvertently by her mother and nearly died) and so she became a house kid.
Maggie, only a few days old. The stuffed sheep she is with is about 2 inches tall. The penguins in the back are about 4 inches tall 
Maggie and Jaska were best buds, and here's some proof! Jaska became Maggie's sister/mother. It was cute how hard Jaska tried and how confused she was. Maggie would try to nurse from Jaska. Jaska would pick up her leg, expecting a 'sniff' as dogs will do, and then be totally shocked when the sniff turned into a nurse! And Maggie was very frustrated, as there was no milk! Still, they got on well together, and remained best buds until Maggie passed away last Spring.
Maggie and Jaska. This was about 11 years ago!
Comments
Good Day Everyone!
It's almost the New Year. I'm kinda looking forward to that!
We went from 17 last Thursday as a low, to 52 on Christmas Day as a low. That is rather astounding. It was icy here, but man, Buffalo, New York has been hammered (I have a sister-in-law that lives there, water pipes broke at her work, and then everything inside froze, as well as outside).
Have a great New Year's Eve and Day!
Post whatever you are doing, learning, reading about, etc, below. Love to read it! And keep safe in the winter cold!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Nice pictures
Sima! It makes me want to cuddle both those furry critters. Sorry that Maggie is no longer with you but she must have been a joy.
I have ambivalent feelings about tourist towns...mostly because they're filled with damn tourists. But...on the other hand...tourists can help the economy of a small town. I just wish tourists could spread out and not inundate a place all at once...it would make things much more pleasant for all involved.
I'm all for designing beautiful small towns and beautiful cities. I think that should be the general goal. We have, across this country, turned so many towns and cities into ugly places. They are places of strip malls and parking lots with no trees (cue J. Mitchel).
I also object to the Potemkin village model, where you have one small area absolutely enchantingly designed but hides behind it an area of poverty and ugliness. I'm visualizing that tweet that humphrey posted the other day in QMS's OT about Pelosi'e district with all the homeless living on the street.
https://caucus99percent.com/content/open-thread-we-28-dec-22-cosmos.
It's not the fault of the homeless who have no choices left. Instead it is the fault of the politicians who waste our tax money on a current conflict that is a complete money drain, instead of spending said money on our own people, towns, and cities. Just think how we could build attractive communities for our old and young people.
Anyway, thanks for the OT Sima. If wishes were fishes all our communities would be beautiful (as they should be). We could all be tourists in our own places and flock to our own areas with as much joy as tourist do. That would be my wish....not sure what that has to do with fishes but I do like fish so there is that.
Hope you are well up there in the beautiful North West part of this country. Wishing you best wishes and fishes this New Year.
I'm generally ambivalent about tourist towns as well...
And I am about Poulsbo. I think it's heyday for me, was in the late 1990s. Before the county opened up the northern part, Poulsbo, for big commerce. Before that, Poulsbo was designated as a small town, and kinda rural. after that, well, we've got a Walmart there, and a Home Depot, and about three grocery stores, and bleh. When I moved here, it was the town south of Poulsbo which was the designated 'shopping' town. And they put a mall in that town, in the early 1980s. Now there's two malls, several shopping complexes and a HUGE medical complex. Ok, maybe I just don't like that type of 'progress'. Heh.
Have a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. And a great year, I hope we can call have a great year!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Poulsbo was one of the many
places we enjoyed so much in the 12 years or so we lived on the Kitsap.
We had many restaurants and hangouts that meant so much to us, like Sogno di Vino where Angela was more family than a restaurateur. There was so much culture there. So much of a match to our lifestyle, so much passion for quality.
When our projects in the area ran down we looked to ease into the leisure life by moving within Kitsap or slightly more to the north along the sound. But family called more and we moved back to Indy. So much for passion.
A few years ago we looked back to that area in hopes of reviving the dreams. Since we had some financial closeouts in the area we revisited Poulsbo. The memory turned out to be better than the reality. The tech boom and the gen-Z lifestyle has had a big impact on that quaint unique PacNW locale.
We had found that the sacrifices needed to live in an area given over totally to the neolib economics and the corporatization of Indy. So we've ended up in the Tri-Cities. If I have to abandon dreams of passion, at least the traffic is better.
Family is good but not at the expense of our personal principles. But that's a different topic.
Thank you, you've brightened my day.
(added on edit): Perhaps next time I'll relate our last experience when we visited Snoqualmie Falls in hopes of having a lunch.
You lived on Kitsap?
That's awesome. I really, really liked the Puget Sound area before the big tech boom. Now, I still really like it, but, dang, it's changed. They are putting in condos in my little town (Kingston). Those things have the potential of almost doubling the population, all in a little area. But, being it's Kingston, as soon as they started, the national economy went south. That seems to happen with all Kingston mass building projects
Tri-Cities is a nice area, too! I've enjoyed it every time I've been there.
Have a great New Year's weekend, and I'm looking forward to hearing about Snoqualmie!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Yeah Goats
Love the baby goat. Goats live quite a long time and are really good pets. I had one that used to follow me like a dog.
Haven't posted lately. I was one of the unlucky ones who had pipes break during the freeze and of course being Christmas, you could not find anything open.
On top of that, had to take someone to the emergency room the day after Christmas. It was cold and crowded. Thought that I would have to be admitted for pneumonia, we sat there so long. And I was wearing a coat, hat, and gloves. The place was filled with small children. You could tell they were sick. Their faces were all red and flushed. Nothing worse than a sick kid.
There is a town over here called DeFuniak Springs which keeps trying to become some kind of tourist destination. It's the county seat. They want to lure people after going to the beach. The thing is you have to have something which people want to see or do. A few old buildings along with the broken sidewalks and places needing a paint job is just not going to do it.
Some towns can't be tourist destinations..
It's just not in their 'genes' if towns had genes. For example, my little town can't be a destination. Big time city planners often try to make it one, and they always fail and lose lots of money too. This has happened since the town was founded. It was supposed to be a tourist destination for the loggers/workers/etc from the eastern side of the Puget Sound. They'd take the boat/ferry (this was in the late 1800s') across the sound and stay in Kingston, supposedly. But, it didn't work then, and it still doesn't work. Why? Because Kingston's a ferry terminal and everyone coming from somewhere else just wants to get off (or on) the ferry and go to whereever they are truly visiting. We're a drive through town.
Goats make great pets. We've had some that ended up house training themselves, after they grew up inside as kids. One is Lily, she's just the best. I'm glad you liked the pics (I posted them for you and otc, basically
)
I'm sorry your pipes broke. Ours are ok, but a friend's septic busted and flooded their basement during our big freeze. Gag. I can't imagine the emergency room after Christmas, either. Sorry you had to go there! I hope your New Year's weekend and the new year are much better!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good day Sima, et. y'all. Sometimes I feel so Uninspired.
I guess I instinctively look to Clio, one of the muses with maybe a side order of Euterpe. (Perhaps only because there is no muse of puzzles, logic and science.)Many versions of them and their ancestry, but one classic has them born of Zeus and Memnosyne, a Titan and goddess of memory, which lists them as:
Calliope (epic poetry)
Clio (history)
Euterpe (flutes and music)
Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry)
Melpomene (tragedy)
Terpsichore (dance)
Erato (love poetry and lyric poetry)
Polyhymnia (hymns and sacred poetry)
Urania (astronomy)
Sure are a lot of them devoted to various forms or types of poetry.
be well and have a good one
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 often feel uninspired too...
But, your little bit about the muses has inspired me. Roman soldiers used to play some kinds of board games (we have found the boards and playing pieces). I wonder what muse oversaw that, if any? Now I gotta see if I can find out.
Thanks for the ear worm! Have a great New Year's!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Some positive news for a change.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/29/brazils-lula-picks-amazon-defe...
Thanks for the positive news
I hope Lula can make happen a lot of the changes he's promised. And I think appointing Silva is a great step in achieving that.
Have a great New Year's!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
worthwhile read: a view from Up North
https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/zydfap/reflections_on_the...
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
I'm not Canadian, but I agree...
with the long post you linked to. Canada was where us Washingtonians would go for good health care. Not so much anymore. It was always sort of a dream: 'I'll move to Canada when I retire'. Not so much anymore. Britain was like that too. Not so much now.
That Weird Al song was great, thanks for the link to that!
Have a great New Year's weekend and upcoming new year!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
My goat story
Before I started school, we lived in a rental house. One small section of it was formerly a tiny barber shop.
Dad rescued a sick goat. Mom put it in the vacant shop. Land lord saw it, kicked us out. My parent's fought him long enough for my Dad to actually get us a home built. He finished it after we moved in. The goat survived, and we gave it to someone who needed the milk.
Now, I have a few days off, though it might be appropriate to do some house keeping. The first step is to de-clutter. I have to figure out which sweaters stay put, which ones go into the new dresser.
59 sweaters. It is necessary for me to keep court clothes in rotation so I do not look like I have a uniform, but this is a bit overboard. Roomier storage will help. I will be able to actually see what I already have and won't go shopping. (That's my excuse, and I am sticking to it.)
The sorting of long sleeve, short sleeve, sweat shirts, tee shirts...people, I need a beer break!
Hope everyone had a great day!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
My consulting practice
for many (20+) years was as an expert witness in patent litigation. I worked with many attorneys, but the one I would call my career mentor had an absolute uniform. He had probably 50 copies of it, between his practices here in CO, out in CA, and back east, but he was absolutely consistent. I’d show up for a deposition in my goin’-to-a-funeral suit, but he’d stroll in in what looked like it came off the cover of GQ in maybe 1980- but always pristine and up-to-date, somehow. He was the Captain Jack Sparrow of the patent world, and he *did not lose*.
I wish that congress hadn’t gutted the patent process in 2014, but they did, and my practice died. I’d happily back that (now long retired) man up again any day, because he was always *correct* (which in lay language means “right”), and my job was to establish *that*, beyond any possible reasonable doubt to a lay jury. This was focused on really esoteric stuff having to do with semiconductors, and there are *no* laypeople who understand the material. We won over 90 cases over 20 years, and only two went to trial. We never lost.
So I have a wierdball connection with the legal world- and truth be told, I’d rather drink molten lead than do another deposition, for the rest of my natural life, without him in my corner. If I was in the wrong, he would say so before we entered the room, and we would not go there.
I suspect, but cannot prove, that only @OTC has been served more times than me. But perhaps as an officer of the court- they knew how to find ya, so you haven’t had a guy on your porch banging on the goddamned door with that equally damnable envelope. As a nerd, I never had that protection… Boo.
BTW, his uniform suits were, and will always be, tan. And now you know. Hell, I doxxed myself when I put my name on the contact list here. I’m close to retirement, and out of the business, and fuck ‘em all if they can’t take a joke. I’m still looking for a tan suit, and the confidence to walk into a room and *own it*. As a drummer, and a musician, no problem. But in *that* arena? No MF’n mas.
Now, let’s talk music, or recipes. Or critters, because we used to raise llamas before the Present Unpleasantness. Whatever. Now, how about them Broncos, eh? Fuckers still can’t drive, for love nor money…
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I bet you've owned it more often than you
know, tan suit or not!
So, talking Llamas... how did/do you manage to get around the spitting? We had llama relatives, alpacas, for a bit. I like them alot, but for two things. 1. Spitting. They never ever spit at me, they liked me. But they spit at anyone else, like people coming to adopt baby goats, and so on. 2. Standing in the water troughs. All summer, every day, they'd get the water troughs dirty, and we'd have to refill them, even though we had misters and sprinklers going to cool the alpaca. Still, I really liked them. But we couldn't get the goat kids adopted, so we never got any more alpaca after the first two. We found those two a good home though!
Hope your knee is doing well, and you have a great New Year's and 2023!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Llama spit.
Camelids spit primarily to establish herd order/dominance. Spitting is basically camelid for “don’t do that, dammit!”. Nobody spits at the alpha. So what you need to do is simply be the alpha. As the person with the access to the *food*, this is easier than it sounds…
We almost never got spit at in daily life. However, if you decided to show the critters, you have to groom them. And the sad fact is that most llamas simply hate to be show-groomed: the deep cleaning process really gets on their nerves. That is when you learn that there are three levels of spitting…
Level One, the shot across the bow. The critter will look at you, then look slightly away, and spit a little saliva about 2 feet in front of you. This is a simple statement of “knock it off”. Of course, if you are grooming, you keep going.
Level Two, then, is a clear escalation. They’ll pin their ears, look right at you, and spit a little saliva with some cud in it about 6 inches in front of your nose. This means “knock it off, you cretin”. Of course, if you are grooming, you keep going.
Which brings us to the dreaded Level Three. You have to really piss them off to get here. They look you right in the eye with this odd expression, and then completely empty the contents of their first stomach right onto you. Green, smelly, sticky, gooey, and is every bit as gross as it sounds. And then they stand there with their mouth open and tongue hanging out, which in llama means “gawd, that was really disgusting- why’d you make me do that, dumbass?”. They have two more stomachs available in a pinch, each filled with successively worse stuff, so that typically means that grooming is done for the day.
We were showing our stud at the Estes Park Wool Market one year, and we’d finished grooming (with several Level Twos) and had gone to get dinner. The barns are wide open, so anybody can walk through. Our stud was really friendly, generally, so he’d often stand in the stall with his head out through the bars on the panel to watch the world go by. The folks in the next stall told us that just after we left, a lady with big poufy hair and a white blouse walked up to him, said “What a cute llama!”, and put her arms around his neck and hugged him.
And, of course, since he was already well-primed from his grooming, he just *unloaded* on her. Stem to stern, top to bottom, sort of like Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s “Meaning of Life”.
I’d have paid good money to see that… I miss ‘em.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Boy, am I late replying!
Thanks for this info about llama spitting. I never realized the three levels, but I can see them now, as I think back on my experiences with the alpacas! I never got spit at, but my husband did. And he never got a level three, but some people coming to buy goats did! Yuck!!!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Tan Suit, Attorney at Law
sounds awesome! Mucho respect!
Hardly anybody knocks on doors with subpoenas nowadays. Service via email is now approved.
Semiconductors? gaaahhh!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yes, it was the
nerdiest of the nerdy. But it paid the bills for many years. I still hope that a contract or two will drift by after I finally retire, just to keep some additional cash coming in, but we’ll just have to see.
Service by email, eh? Shows how long I’ve been shut down. Got served once down at the barn while trimming llama toes (yes, this is a thing), but the llama was in too good a mood, and I couldn’t get her to spit at the guy. There is no justice…
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Your Dad obviously rocked.
Much respect!
Decluttering clothes, I did that this summer! I understand about the 50+ sweaters. Heh. I sorted them like you, long sleeve, short etc. And then I made piles in the various drawers. I did this with pants, leggings, t-shirts and so on. And the rule now is: when I wear something for the 'top' (sweater, t-shirt etc) I can only wear it once, then into the laundry. THe leggings can be worn twice in a week, then into the laundry. When they come out of the laundry, they get stuck at the bottom of the appropriate pile. Only the item at the top of the pile can be worn next, I can't sort through and pick a 'favorite'. This way, everything gets worn, and I won't have 20 year old t-shirts in the closet! Ohh yea, and no shopping until something wears out, or is so out of fashion, or I hate it so much (gift shirts are often like that
), that I throw it out. And if it was a gift from someone I really love a lot, I take a picture of the shirt, and keep the pic and throw out the shirt!
And now, you know how weird I truly am
Have a great New Year's and awesome 2023!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I have been asked to do an OT on Dad.
Coming up next Friday, unless I fly off the handle at an attorney or judge and wind up in jail. That's coming next week. Unless, jail.
Ok. I stocked up on certain wools, certain cottons, after reading there will either be a shortage, or sky high prices coming. Anything given to me is worn as lounge wear at home. Old tee shirts become cleaning rags.
Well, photo before toss is a sign of a goober, sima.
That is from one goober to another!
Have a safe New Year's Eve celebration, and I hope your resolutions are reasonable and attainable!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
A bounce off of your Bill Austin story
Just read a piece a couple of days ago (can't find it now) about a growing rural movement in Russia called the Tom Sawyer Festival where local residents come together and repaint and restore old storefronts and buildings simply to save them and beautify their rural towns and villages.
Someone there read off of Twains prose about Tom having to whitewash a fence and enlisted his young buddies by convincing them he was doing it because it was a lot of fun.
Numerous before and after pictures were shown of some really beautiful old architecture and homes refurbished from all over small town Russia.
Will keep searching for the link, but it may have been off my cel phone, I go back and forth.
Those low temps are not normal for someone who lives in the Rain Shadow of Mt. Olympus, no?
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
That fest in Russia inspired by Tom Sawyer
Wow, that sounds great, what they are doing. And inspirational! I found an article from the Moscow Times about it and learned more.
We almost beat our low temp record, but not quite, and yes, those lows are not normal. We usually maybe hit the high 20's on a cold day, but very rarely go below that. It was COLD. How's the weather treating you now? It was weird here, we usually get hit by strong winds, but the last windstorm never hit here. Shadow of Mt. Olympus, I think!
Have a great New Year's and new year and thanks for the inspiration!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so