Open Thread - 5/5/23 - Wishes and Dreams
I wish presidential elections made our lives better. The occasional candidate appears, gets my hopes up, I dream of them winning, then The Machine takes over, takes those candidates over, and we are right back where we started. Over, and over, and over again.
I wish the internet could be utilized to educate us. I dream of being able to discover facts and truths with the swiftness of a click. And then, we have the Twitter Files to teach us we can only know as fact what some NGO says is fact.
I wish we could have the freedoms and right granted to us by our Constitution. I dream of the day when protests keep us out of wars, out of jails. Snowden showed me I am totally unrealistic.
No matter how futile my wishes and dreams have been, I cannot kick the habit. I would not recognize me, or my life, without them. Why would I shut down my imagination and become a veritable robot?
We talk about ways and methods to get out of the downward spiral a lot on this site.
Figure out how to grow your food, renew the soil, raise animals, join and support co-ops.
These are acts spurred on by wishes and dreams, expressions of hope, determination, and defiance of defeat.
We are a motley crew of fighters. We haven't given up. We won't give up.
We wish, and we dream, and nobody will take that from us.
Comments
Good morning to all you dreamy members!
Anything happening in your world? We want to know.
Open threads are wide open to open minds!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Oh my yes, what a wonderful introduction
My biggest problem these days is trying to sort out the things I want to do, things that intrigue me, things that challenge me, things that lead me down a path I have never been, never knew existed.
Your song provides an example for me. I grew up without any resources to enjoy music, then didn't have the time. That song is one of my favorites and I have looked for different artists renditions, so much passion put into some, like Anne Hathaway's version. And then there's Ruthie Henshaw and her early performance in London.
In many of the songs and music I research the pedigree, where it came from, why it came, how some minor tweaks by a new artist made such a difference. Last week or so with the Ben E King thread the song I found so moving was the I Who Have Nothing and then I listened to it so many other places.
I've been quite taken with some of what I call Pop Classical, and what Taylor Davis does, and then there are the soundtracks like Somewhere in Time with the Rachmaninoff adaptation.
So many paths, so little time. Trying to get there before some copyright infringement claim by an investor.
Then there are the books. Just yesterday I saw an opinion piece that a journalist penned 20 years or so ago describing the changing experience an early Tennessee Williams short story had on him when he was just entering teen years struggling in late 50's Baltimore. He stole it from a library because it wasn't allowed to be seen. I had never read any of Williams early works. Though I'm not gay I can empathize as an impoverished boy in a catholic school. Fortunately I had a very good librarian who I now realize jeopardized her job for me.
I found a copy of it in library genesis. I can't afford to pay the ransom at Amazon.
At this time in my life I finally get the means to pursue and the capitalists are trying to put a toll on everything and/or block it. Force me to use a smart phone so that I become very visible for access to my wallet and throw all kinds of meaningless entertainment shit at me just trying to move me into the line to the fiscal abattoir.
Oh well... C'est la vie.
Be well everyone and enjoy our internet while we have it.
Thank you.
I was so lucky to be able to
take piano lessons. My dad sold half his herd of cattle to buy me a grand piano when I was 11. A great sacrifice.
The nearest record store was 35 miles away. We managed to get a good music collection over the years.
Your library story sounds like my dad's story from the 20s. As for me, we had an awful school library, no public library, so families bought encyclopedias from the door to door saleslady, who happened to be the elementary school principal.
What I get on my searches for info are demands I remove ad blockers, give my email address, sign up for a free 7 day trial, set up an account, all ploys to get $ from me. It has degraded the overall quality and opportunities to learn and let your curiosity run wild.
The best example of pop classical I recall is from the movie, "Ground Hog Day". Bill Murry's character learned to play, having lessons day after day. He played Rachmaninoff's Variation No. 18, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He begins in the traditional way, then takes it to a jazz/pop rendition.
Try as I might, I could find the movie, but not a clip from it featuring that music.
Hey, I love it that you are going down new paths. I you find an escape hatch from this prison in which we live, kindly leave it open for us, ok?
So glad you dropped in.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The John Barry composition for Somewhere in Time
uses the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as the basis for the soundtrack. Maksim does a very nice rendition. BTW, the movie was a chickflik but I liked it.
I don't know how to do multiple youtubes but I believe this is the thing you looked for (well music at least)?
https://youtu.be/R-JjzU1ZwXE?list=PLf10VA90zVApmezfg67Qv4p9jePvFTJRD
......
I play that little song, wish I had an orchestra behind me.
All musicians start with baroque. (Think:Bach) Then, classical. (Think:Beethoven) Then Romantic. ( My preferred for piano is Rachmaninoff.) DeBussey a close second, much easier to play that that damn Russian. He had long fingers.
I am not a fan of modern classical music. It itself a goofy term. I did play lots of Satie, whom I love, but gave it up after that. I listen to it, and it is notes, not anything like a melody.
I ranted a bit, but nobody is an accomplished musician or opera singer if they did not study baroque. That is the ground laying basis for everything that leads to classical music. It was a joy to hear that for the thousanth time, and thanks for sharing it with everyone.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
the guy himself
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I realized a dream
or three, just within the past couple of weeks. Our insurance company finally paid out our claim after our 2022 house fire: 13 months, 2 weeks and a day after the fire. It was almost a joke, far less than half of the stated value of the policy, but all the sharks had already been fed out of the policy long before we got a crack at it. At least it was nonzero. C'est la guerre.
We took those funds and paid off a longstanding tax bill to the IRS, incurred when I drained my 401K to try to keep from losing our ranch during the last crash (lost it anyway). With what was left, we paid off a bunch of other debt, and then took a 2-week bucket-list trip to Scotland.
My rather dour Newspeak comment was posted from a little pub on the Isle of Mull where Orwell reputedly used to pop in for the odd dram.
I (re-)learned many things from this first international trip in over a decade, many of which I mentioned obliquely in that comment. Clean trains and ferries, clean cities, exceptionally friendly and proud people with a deep, deep historical understanding of the world. We visited Edinburgh Castle, and saw the Stone of Scone (the Scots more properly call it the Stone of Destiny), just a couple of days before it was spirited away so that Bonny Prince Charlie can sit on it today.
We only saw one cop the entire time, and he wasn't wearing a flak jacket, helmet, or camo, and he actually smiled at us and actually greeted us warmly.
We toured the highlands and the lowlands, took a wee cruise on Loch Ness, made it to a number of favorite distilleries, and drank whisky and gorged ourselves on haggis, neeps&tatties, cullen skink, and all of the other uniquely Scottish delicacies (ohmigawd, sauteed scallops fresh from the sea, shucked in front of us with the roe still on them, cooked on the dock right beside the boat that brought them in and served on paper plates)...
And then we returned to the US this past Monday, which involved a 5-hour ordeal in getting through the TSA meatgrinder in Dallas. And that put me right back into my usual and customary state of enraged American depression. Didja know that TSA doesn't do Precheck for international reentry in Dallas? Neither did I. Fat lot of good that did us. I guess the airport is too small.
Anyway, I now think of that trip as an extended version of the 72-hour respite from an abusive relationship. We're cash-poor again, but far less in debt (and nothing at all to the Feds).
The other dream I realized? Two solid weeks without a white-flash nightmare. One of my dreams was not to have that dream for a while... And now I think I know where I'm going to go expat. I need the rain.
Thanks for the OT!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Good afternoon!
My insurance company treated me like an arsonist. Then, they said there was only 40% damage. I told them I expected the full payment, or they could expect me to sue them. Awful experience.
I have never owed the IRS more than I could pay upon request. I may not be able to say that again. My taxes jumped way up on my return filed for 2022. I sometimes think, what's the point of working for so few pennies on the dollar, with everything I have in overhead going up to the sky.
The last trip I had booked was a 11 day Scotland tour. COVID has ended my international travel. If I had gone,I would have seen what you saw on that tour. I would have skipped on the haggis, thanks very much! I would have joined you at the bar/pub, though.
I do not think most Americans who have never traveled internationally, can realize the US has such a brief history, foreigners consider we really have none. Yet. Talking to locals who do know they are the result of long, rich histories, on their turf, is just mind blowing. My nice cop experience was in Brazil.
My ex-pat dream would be Austria, but that is only if I hit the lotto.
DFW is one airport I avoid. I will pay more for another flight plan to avoid it.
I hate that the white flash dreams persist, but you just made a great dream come true, so there's that!
So glad you aren't burdened by debt anymore. I hope you feel taller, and freer.
So nice of you to drop by.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
No kidding. I certainly wish
that I'd never owed the IRS more than I could pay them, because they absolutely rape you on penalties in addition to the interest. And then charge you interest on the penalties, which increases the penalties under their ever-so-convenient payment plans, so that they can penalize you more. However, when you are trying to skirt bankruptcy because your entire industry has gone Tango Uniform via legislative fiat, you do what you can/must to keep the roof over your head. So the 401K got tapped, and the revenues never came back in time to cover the resulting tax bill and penalties and graft and corruption. Eh, byegones. We learn from these things. Cured me from ever buying real estate again, lemme tellya.
Truth be told, we should have simply left the keys in the mailbox and walked away a couple of years before: we'd have been better off for the last decade. But it is really hard to give up on a dream. That dream was to have some land around us, and be independent. Well, there ain't no sech thang, in my experience: every industry and every income stream is six inches or one bad session of Congress away from no longer keeping one alive, no matter how many years one has invested in it. Something about not being in the Big Club comes to mind.
So we're just going to be footloose and asset-free Owners of Nothing, and decide what we want to do when we finally grow up. And it will more likely than ever include one-way tickets out of the country.
And I suspect that it'll include haggis, which really gets a bad rap. Seriously. There's this whole movement in American gastronomy called the "snout to tail" approach of wasting nothing. Well, hell, the Scots have been doing it for 700+ years, even if it does involve stitching it into a lamb's intestines and roasting it... That makes me feel taller and freer all by its lonesome. At least, if you ignore the fact that I seem to be farting more often than usual the last couple of weeks... (;-)
Seriously, thanks for the kind words. We really needed a win (even if it turned out to only be a redefinition of a massive loss), and this one had been a very, very long time coming. We'll now be traveling abroad more, I think- at least once we figure out how to get back *in* without TSA fucking with us until we bleed out the ears.
Once you are outside the US, travel is easy. It really makes you wonder why you come back. And it illustrates that the TSA is just one more way that Da Gummint assures that the coppertops never know what life outside the border fence is really like. I hope that you have another trip or two in you: that's worth a dream or two, IMNSHO...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Hi Fridayers
Hope it's all good out there!
I think it is often credited to Ben Franklin, the great saying, to paraphrase, 'Most people die at 25 and aren't buried until they are 65, because that is when they lose their dreams'.
Audubon and Lincoln both had three bankruptcies. They kept going forward. They kept dreaming.
We must have dreams, we must have hope, we must think positive, Since it is true that (was it W.Clement Stone?) 'as you think, you are'.
Dreams - Van Halen, the Blue Angels vid
speakin' of which, I gotta fly... have a great day all!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
do you really fly in those thingies ? /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
not that way Mimi ;)
Hi Mimi, no I don't fly, but it is my favorite method of locomotion. And am so busy all the time it often feels like that is what I am doing... I would considered an avid aviation buff in most circles. Be well!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Skyhawk heaven
It's a coincidence that I have two significant memories tied to the Van Halen video. The first is that my dear late brother loved Van Halen, and met Eddie a couple of times, incident to at least one of their concert tours, when he practiced entertainment copyright law. So any time I hear this, I think of my brother, who lived the dream in the Big Apple when he was a young successful lawyer, until he didn't.
Virtually all the bomber pilots I worked with on daily basis for a few years (as a ground pounder in peacetime, fortunately) had already qualified in this aircraft. I saw skyhawks flying regularly at a military airfield where there was still an operational A-4 squadron. I've seen the Blue Angel skyhawk performances a few times. I also knew a naval pilot who did a "translant" in a skyhawk after one of the Israeli wars. It required at least one mid-Atlantic tanker rendezvous. For a solo pilot, in a single engine aircraft, this is really an achievement.
There was a copy of this poem in the ready room-
High Flight
(edited for a typo)
語必忠信 行必正直
A-4s
Yeah those Skyhawks were great... I saw the Blue Angels in them as well... but am so old I saw them in F-11 Tigers! Saw the Thunderbirds in F-100's and F-4 Phantoms, the flying brick. That is a great poem, hadn't seen it in a while, thanks. The A-4 was said to be one of the least maintenance heavy planes, the opposite of a A-5 Vigilante that needed 100 hours for every hour in the sky.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Never saw an F-11
Didn't even know about them till just now. We had F-4s in the airwing and an RA-5C detachment. Unfortunately, one of the latter crashed on the flight deck while landing and blew up. All the pilots I knew regarded the A-4 highly. Her majesty's navy took quite a beating from Argentine Airforce A-4s in the early stages of the Falklands war.
I saw several crashes and the sequelae of others. I adopted a rule that most people consider irrational, I wouldn't fly on any aircraft unless ordered to do so. Not too long ago, some one told me that military aviation was no longer like that. I think 2 F-35s were lost in a relatively short time after that. I just found a pretty good article on military aviation safety that is pretty interesting on this subject.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/military/story/2022-07-22/mili...
Even though I didn't fly I learned alot about safety theory, which I found useful, just from being around pilots for several years.
Thanks for telling me your experience dystopian.
語必忠信 行必正直
Good morning otc, feliz cinco de mayo.
After a couple of days rain it is time to maybe get going again outside, starting with a new bird feeder to hang, a grill to clean and some branches from the oragne tree to trim back from under the eaves. After that, quien sabe. Made a list yestidday and it runs to over two pages, heh.
Not thinking of any of the calamaties, or lesser grief out there at all today. Going out for an early dinner, going out because it is our anniversary and going early to avoid all the blitzed fratboys gulping down coronas with a lime.
So, let the endless yard work begin, soon as I do my breakfast dishes
.
Have a great weekend, 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 --
happy anniversary!
celebrate while you still can
was looking for Joe is in a dream, but couldn't find it
question everything
Hola!
We normally have little cinco de mayo celebrations. Music, food...but after the Mexican illegal murdered 5 Hondurans, nah...not in the mood.
We noticed our grill was flaking off paint from the lid. It might drop on our food. We have a new one, will toss this old one, rather than repair and refurb it.
If we made a to do list, it would be a book. Chores are never ending.
Happy anniversary and enjoy a delicious dinner and loving dinner date! The chores can wait.
Thanks for dropping by, friend, and let up know about your dinner and if you got out before the rats arrived.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
She is back in the limelight! .......Shudder!
I can hear her voice already.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/05/biden-to-name-neera-tanden-as-h...
oh noes!
She can't get approval to do harm here, so appoint her to do harm there!
Dammit, what is fucking wrong with TPTB?
Here is my wish and dream: That they all are disappeared!
Keep us educated, humphrey!
Glad you dropped in with the info!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hola todos, FWIW they banded the CalFalcon chicks
today, two females and a male.
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 --
It appears as if we won't be hearing much from him in the
future.
This comes from a Ukrainian source but it seems legit.
https://english.nv.ua/nation/pro-russian-blogger-gonzalo-lira-detained-i...
I was afraid of that...
...but thanks for letting us know.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I don't know how he lasted as long as he did.
Some were skeptical of him being where he is, saying what he says, especially after he was detained then freed.
Nothing says "I am not controlled opposition" like being arrested and charged for speaking the truth.
Very sad, very scary. It could happen here one day to more than just Assange and Snowden..
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
positive future images...
You have to build a vision of where you want to go and who you want to be, before you can get there. Doesn't mean there won't be road blocks and detours. Persistence is required to reach your dream's destination. My buddy's line is, "There's a lot of work in a dream."
Been caging tomatoes and peppers this AM, and planting sweet tater slips next week. Always something...
Thanks for the dreamy OT.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I have a concern
that our youth limit their dreams to having a new Iphone and enough money to be gamers. How would they even know how to formulate a plan for a quality life of explorations, much less how to work toward achieving it?
As depressing as our reality and our future can be, we started out with our dream. Some of us even made it a reality.
We didn't give up, did we?
We are giving advice to my secretary who just put in her first garden. She planted a variety of vegetables. She is composting. I worry deer will come along and destroy her corn, but my brother discovered a fairly cheap way to block 'em. She can take a look at his garden.
Have a great day, my friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The amount of money
available to buy politicians is unfathomable to the average citizen. And most of that money was absconded from the very citizens it is used against.
The ruling regime is well insulated from the populace with hundreds of billions of dollars.
It's really trillions of dollars, but that is even more unfathomable.
Thanks for the Boyle tune and the OT.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
If our dollars are worth nothing
then neither are theirs. Hope their robots can cook. And get them on and off the commode.
I don't know, earthling1. I just know I will not be a willing participant in my death, your death,or the destruction of this planet.
I visited our county VA rep. this morning. When I told him I thought we should disband the military, and make it perfectly legal for corporations to hire mercenaries on their dime, he nodded his head up and down.
He doesn't like executive order conflicts, likes the good, old fashioned congressional authority of declaring war, making war much less likely.
I actually enjoyed a youtube video of her appearance on some British Got Talent show. She was ridiculed, until she started singing.
She has a great voice.
She was nobody, dreamed she could be a famous singer if she trained and trained, and get the opportunity to compete.
She dreamed that dream, worked hard, and it came true.
Thanks so much for dropping by, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I need the best prayer you know - now ! /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
We have some members here
that can make that happen mimi.
Don't give up hope.
Always drop in anytime.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Do it yourself like this:
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
If you want a good summary of American politics today
I would recommend Rob Urie's piece in Counterpunch.
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
I was so irritated by CP's weekly email
I received yesterday, that I unsubscribed.
Article after article parroted the CIA talking points. If I wanted to listen to Rachel, I would. I don't.
I am glad to read Urie's smack down of the Democrats. And the left-right paradigm in general.
It is capitalism, the 1% against the 99%, the whole idea behind this site. Voting should be well thought through, and not knee-jerk.
Thanks for reiterating the reason for the site's purpose, and always bring in articles from any source, that tell it like it is.
Have a wonderful weekend, and many thanks for Urie.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
My husband saw and killed
his first copperhead! A little baby, just the kind that bite and unload all the poison they have!
Might have on shorts, but boots will be worn in this yard until winter.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981