Open Thread Monday 07-06-15
Monday morning humor is an ode to many politicians:
"When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares it is his duty." ~ G.B Shaw
Monday morning scoreboard: USA 5 - Japan 2
Here's a 30 second glance at the @CarliLloyd hat trick - slightly less time than it took her to score them. #gocaRli pic.twitter.com/TGilUyeQy9
— Rutgers Athletics (@RUAthletics) July 5, 2015
Greek people vote NO 61% to 39%
Thank you to everyone who's shared this with me 
#OXI pic.twitter.com/MeOaLe8PJE
— F Stavrakopoulou (@ProfFrancesca) July 6, 2015
My favorite Greek food is Taramasalata...
A mainstay of any Greek meal are classic dips such as tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber and garlic), melitzanosalata (aubergine), and fava (creamy split pea purée). But the delectable taramasalata (fish roe dip) is a must. This creamy blend of pink or white fish roe with either a potato or bread base is best with a drizzle of virgin olive oil or a squeeze of lemon.
What's your favorite?
Monday morning poetry:
Song
The weight of the world
is love.
Under the burden
of solitude,
under the burden
of dissatisfactionthe weight,
the weight we carry
is love.Who can deny?
In dreams
it touches
the body,
in thought
constructs
a miracle,
in imagination
anguishes
till born
in human—
looks out of the heart
burning with purity—
for the burden of life
is love,but we carry the weight
wearily,
and so must rest
in the arms of love
at last,
must rest in the arms
of love.No rest
without love,
no sleep
without dreams
of love—
be mad or chill
obsessed with angels
or machines,
the final wish
is love
—cannot be bitter,
cannot deny,
cannot withhold
if denied:the weight is too heavy
—must give
for no return
as thought
is given
in solitude
in all the excellence
of its excess.The warm bodies
shine together
in the darkness,
the hand moves
to the center
of the flesh,
the skin trembles
in happiness
and the soul comes
joyful to the eye—yes, yes,
that's what
I wanted,
I always wanted,
I always wanted,
to return
to the body
where I was born.Alan Ginsberg
Enjoy your day!
Comments
JtC, good morning...
Twitter is not embedding? What am I not doing right?
Good morning smiley...
thank you for the Monday morning OT. A few months ago I installed a new text editor that was light years better than the old one, it's the one with the customizable toolbar above it. For some reason it broke the twitter images and I have not been able to debug it. Alternatively all one needs to do is click on the date in the lower right hand corner of the tweet or the pic.twitter link to view the original tweet and images. Sorry about the inconvenience. I'm still working on finding the culprit.
Thanks JtC...
No biggie, folks can click to the tweets easy enough. How's your cold this morning, gone I hope?
Thankfully, we have cloud cover and it's cool this morning, but there is an extended heatwave on the way, yuck.
It's better...
thanks for asking, smiley. The aches and pains are over now is the coughing and sinus draining stage. Getting hotter here too and back to a chance of rain every day of this coming week, again!
Here in Oregon
we seem to have a endless heat wave going on. Everyday it peaks out at 95- 100 degrees at about seven or eight o'clock at night. By one o'clock in the morning it's down to about eighty four. Really getting to me. On the bright side it looks we're going to have a cool spell coming on this Friday that will take it down to the mid to upper eighties. The lows at night once it start cooling are in the 60's so we do get some relief.
Spent two...
wonderful years in Ashland; loved Oregon, especially the fishing. Yep, i don't to heat too well anymore, can't breathe.
Follow-up ...
Vancouver is uncharacteristically hot as well. Are you getting the impact of the El Nino apparently forming in the pacific?
Good Morning Smiley
I love those old mountain vistas. We stopped to absorb the New River gorge during our trip to Pittsburgh. The bridge, on US19, cut 45 minutes off the trip down the canyon and up the other side.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Nothing like the Smokey Mountains
They are so soft. Hope you had a good trip.
The weather in northern Michigan has been beautiful. Sunny and in the 70s. I haven't done anying but sit in the sun and read fiction. On the 4th, we had a great fireworks display. Up the beach, there lives a retired and licensed pyrotechnician. He put out three rafts of fireworks and delivered quite a show over Hammond Bay. Before and after him, the amateurs took their turn up and down the beach. It's been a wonderful weekend, and we still have five more days left.
I brought work, but I really don't want to do it. I got a Kindlefire for Christmas last year, and I never really used it - learning curve. I don't like it for games, but I can't believe how nice it is for reading a book. Hmm, so what should I do? Read my binder full of the Workforce Investment Opportunity Act Operations Manual, or more fiction on my Kindle? hmmm
Hope everyone had a great holiday.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Hi dkmich...
Thinking of you on the lake; in the day, we spent lovely and peaceful times on Washington Island. Caught lots of perch in the harbor. Enjoy your reading.
Good day Tim...
Maybe we can go down the Nolichucky gorge someday. Many of the outdoor folks from here work the New River in season. I've never been down it.
How did the new van travel?
Hoping to get down to WS next Monday for the voting rights protest. We'll see, old car in shop as I write. Regards to Sweetie.
Might try to get to WS too
The wild card is toilet facilities.
The van makes things much easier. Plus I have noticed soccer moms checking me out.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Waiting to hear about
Floydfest responsibilities and to see if the car repair is "trust-able." Lots of folks we know are going; ideally, I could tie the trip in with heading on down to see Mom. Let's stay in touch about WS. Good the van makes a positive difference; careful with those S moms, they catch good looking young men off guard and score from what I've heard.
U.S. Sided With Tax-Avoiding Companies Over Contracting Ban
link
Good day gjohnsit...
thanks for the heads up. I often wonder about our Republican administration.
Isn't that the truth?
Good Day smiley and all you 99%'ers!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Afternoon GG...
Been such nice and cool weather here this past week; I already dread what's in store beginning tomorrow, hot hot hot forecast as far as one can see.
i recall down your way having those good afternoon showers almost daily in the summer, cooling things down.
I have been enjoying it lately
These wonderful mild temperatures have made the mornings particularly nice. Our goal every summer is not to turn on the AC. So far, so good. Last year we turned it on for a few days in late August when my mother and sister came to visit. I cannot say enough about having a whole house attic fan! They are wonderful!
Yes, Transylvania County gets a lot of rain, usually over 90 inches in the western part of the county around Lake Toxaway. Here in Brevard, we get less but still our share, which I love. The afternoon showers really cool things off. BTW, in 2013, the city of Brevard went well over 100 inches of rain.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
speaking of whole house attic fans...
We bought a whole house generator. We were losing power so often and long, I thought what the heck. lol - haven't had a power outage since.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Cool!
I am not sure what a whole house generator is. I am assuming that it is a regular gas fueled generator that is big enough to power an entire house.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
yep
Tv, computers - absolutely everything.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Good Morning Smiley7
such a nice soft Open Thread. Thanks for music and poems.
I have nothing to say, listen to France24 in the background and so not want to know anything anymore right now. It's not over until it's over. And somehow who wouldn't want to know when it's over. Better an end with horror than horror without ending? Let's see what is happening on Thursday and Friday.
Oh, and I can't stand that foreign press always quote our worst daily tabloid newspaper as the "most distributed daily newspaper", the "Bild Zeitung". No serious person should quote it. Well, I want to go into hibernating winter sleep.
I am going to do deep cleaning something something now to get rid of my frustrations...
https://www.euronews.com/live
Hi mimi...
glad you enjoyed the music and Song is my favorite poem. I'm anxious today as well; think I'll get out a little. Have a good afternoon and thanks for reading.
if I hear a classical music piece like the one in
your introduction, I am always amazed how rarely one hears something like it. Here in the US you have the radio channels for specific genres. They never mix different styles of music on the same channel. Or may be I haven't discovered it yet. I am so out of the loop of everything.
https://www.euronews.com/live
We have internet radio
and one of the best stations on it is from Germany. Don't know if they play classical but they have a good variety of music and don't seem stuck in the usual genre's like US radio. I listen to a local station here KB00 a community supported station, that has a a wide range of music programs that runs the gamut globally from folk, old jazz, standards, hiphop, electronica, afro-pop, even europop. They seem to let the disc jockeys play whatever strikes their fancy. It's fun as it takes me out of my own narrow grooves.
Hollande and Merkel live now on France 24
so far I haven't understood what Hollande is saying. Arggh I have to wait til I hear Merkel in German. The translator gets on my nerves. Oh, she just says the same thing over and over, rely on the solidarity and responsibility of ALL, which means Greek should show reforms as prerequisite for new negotiations to show the Greeks' side of responsibility. She didn't say anything new. Same as last week's words.
Someone says European Unity has lost its dignity. Hollande talked about the dignity. Well, what a word. What is your dignity might not be the my dignity.
Nothing to see here, move on.
https://www.euronews.com/live
hollande and merkel
should quit politics and go on a helpful TV show. Hollande should pedal a bicycle, wearing a little red cap, towing behind him Merkel, asprawl in a sort of expando dog cart. Like this, together they shall tour their respective countries, noting places of natural beauty, and where there is good food and wine.
What's dignified
about a economic hit job by a gang of global pillagers and disaster cappies? Perhaps they meant their victims the Greek people should face their austerity fuckatude with dignity. Kind of like Obama lecturing people to be responsible and sacrifice for the banksters. Eat your peas or make that cat food if you can't afford peas. We can't go over those fiscal cliffs of mass destruction as it would be the end of the world as we know it, so feed the beast. Unbelievable that lot's of people support punitive austerity measures to the people who live in these targeted countries, doled out by economic hit men. Got into it with the dkos neoliberal bankster gate keepers yesterday and could not believe their upside down anti-democratic defeatist logic. They are really into Axelrod's inevitable 'world as we find it' and can see no other world then this viscous, cruel mad one we currently inhabit. They call this inevitable world pragmatic and reality based. They are blame the Greek people for not paying their debts and being corrupt slackers. Upside down and as pig ignorant as the teabagger's they fear and loath. Think they are all suffering from Stockholm Syndrome .
Amen...
it's hard to eat dignity or pay the rent with it. i did enjoy the Greek people saying fuck off to austerity.
yeah, right now many want to fuck Germany
especially ... I wonder what I would say if I were there and had a real impression how "fucking arrogant" they are. It's kind of hard to be an expat. Don't know your host country, don't know your home country, end up with no country and have to live in the intertubes. Very unhealthy. Sometimes I catch some nuances from the home front, but more often than not I miss the obvious from there as well.
https://www.euronews.com/live
IMHO, it is not Germany as a country
it is the same as it is with the US. Our politicians have given our country a very bad name.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
kind words, but not so true, we elect our representatives
pretty democratically in Germany. So, we can say that we are responsible for who we are having in our government and parties. Or say it in other words, we were always good in electing our own lame capitalists or in the past tyrants and faschists. I can't get over the fact that everywhere you look right-wingers, oligarchs and self-serving lame capitalist lovers have taken over. There is no left anymore, nowhere. That's so unbelievable.
What you say is more true, imo, for the US, because you actually don't vote in a democratic fashion those who represent you. So the population is less responsible for what your oligarchy-bought politicians are doing.
https://www.euronews.com/live
This might be interesting
I'm exited about this movie
Hope Oliver Stone doesn't do a hatchet job on Snowden like the 2013 Disney movie about Julian Assange. I like most of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's movies he's a good actor. I did see an interesting 2012 Australian Indie about Assanges early life and his career as a 'white hat hacker' that I liked. I didn't make it through the Fifth Estate it just pissed me off. I don't know how accurate Underground was but it was entertaining and well acted.
Underground: The Julian Assange Story
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357453/
Cool!
afternoon smiley...
great tweet!
oh, and, spanakopita, hands-down.
Hey Joe...
yum, yum, followed by a piece of Baklava. Enjoyed those photos of Maine and hope the family fed you well in PA.
OMG
Baklava is so good that it should be banned (from my diet).
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Used to be a little
Greek joint at the intersection of West 4th and Minetta Lane and they served killer Baklava, taramasalata and grilled spring chickens. Should i say, sweet memories?
Thank you, Smiley--your OT is such a treat! I had wanted
to add to your discussion on the Greek referendum, but after spending 45 minutes trying to figure out how to post the video--I had to give up!
(I may try a little more later, since so many folks here seem to follow events in Greece. I even followed JtC's previous instructions--using "object" code--but I guess what works for C-Span, doesn't necessarily work for CNBC.)
Quickly, though, before I take 'the B' for a walk, I ran across several pieces about the upcoming (for 2016) huge rate increases in health insurance premiums. (The frame is that it affects the ACA Federal/State Exchange. The reality is that it will affect everyone who is insured.)
In Georgia, one company, Alliant Health Plans, has submitted a proposal for a hike as high as 85 percent! Minnesota and New Mexico beneficiaries will likely also take a major haircut. I'll post the link after I've had a chance to save/protect it (by Tweeting it).
Also, looks like HHS Secretary Burwell (on the Charlie Rose Show) has all but told us (coded, of course) that we'll be taking a haircut on 'entitlements' by the looming October 1, 2015 budget deadline. (I'll post that video, if I can figure out best how to achieve it.)
Hard not to take Ms Burwell seriously, since she served the White House OMB Director from 2013-2014, before her appointment to HHS. Yikes!
To end of a more hopeful note, read today that FSC will be releasing her economic policy planks soon. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing what her team of economists have come up with! [/snark intended]
Mollie
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Hi Mollie...
I recall our online conversations years ago about ACA. Of course, taking advantage (increased premium costs) is built into the model. The 'Grand Bargain Gang' will not rest, we know. Thanks for shinning the light on these rip-off-agents parading as healthcare professionals.
How are you feeling? Forgive me, I missed earlier that you were having some health challenges.
Thanks for being here, j.
Thanks for asking, Smiley. Probably not as well
as I'd wish, but at least I get a rest [from treatment] until this Fall.
And, in the meantime, we're going to take a few [mostly] 2-3 day RV trips over the next month, or so. (Mostly to state parks in the area--there are some really nice ones. Not exactly exciting, but very restful.) And since we regularly use a Wi-Fi hotspot, I can still easily put in my 2 Cents, along the way. Just wish the heat would level off a bit. Usually, one of our favorite vacation pastimes is visiting Zoos, especially when taking short trips. But, heck, it's just too hot to put that on the itinerary (for a while, anyway). Still, we look forward to it.
Oh, here's one of the articles on the huge premium increases that I mentioned earlier. Didn't get to Tweet it yet, but since it's a HuffPo piece, it's not likely that the Dem Party apparatchiks will kill/cull this one. We really worry about the steep premium hikes, since our medical bills are already stupendous.
Yikes!!!
Later, when I'm not so tired, I'll state my disagreement with the good Dr. Jain's analysis. His 'frame' that the premium increases will be limited to insurance purchased through the (so-called) Federal and/or State Marketplaces, is simply wrong.
For now, though, You and Everyone have a nice evening!
Mollie
For fun, here's a stock photo of a rabbit that I found, recently. I adore these little critters--we've had 4-6 'regulars' this summer (so far).
[Rabbit With Carrot, Stock Photo]
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.