Signal Wave
Good morning to all!
Here's what I've just finished reading (in the "narrated-by-a-dog" category of books):
Damien Dibben's novel tells the story of a basically immortal dog and his basically immortal master. The dog, who narrates the story, is about 217 years old at the beginning of the story, which gives new meaning to the command "Stay." The dog's master tells him to stay at the foot of some church steps if they get separated, and he does...for 200 years.
It's not always a happy story, but it's a good one, and the dog's sidekick is enough reason to read it by himself. Unlike the solemn and highly intelligent narrator, he's a very doggy dog; when he starts travelling with the narrator he says "We're a pack! You're going to take me to see the realms!" and afterward, every time he gets excited, he starts baying "To the Realms! To the Realms!" Having a very excitable bull terrier puppy who loves car rides made this hilarious to me.
Old Yeller warning (tm): there is a sad animal death in this. I don't like spoilers, but these days I give people a heads-up if something really sad is lurking in a story; in times like these, I think people should only expose themselves to sad story elements if they choose to.
I've had this song on my mind lately. It keeps coming to mind every time I think about the Russian people and what I'd like to say to them if I could.
So sick of the umpteenth version of the standard American foreign policy narrative, more degraded and disgusting each time it comes around. Our exceptional, solitary integrity is so amazing it can make nuclear war a good thing. Just ask our politicians or our media.
When did it become unusual to NOT want nuclear war?
This is how I feel:
And is there glory there to behold?
Maybe it's my imagination--
Another story there to be told!
So I'll play...I'll wait...(your time)
And I'll pray it's not too late
We came...so close (so far)
Just a beat of a lonely heart
And it's mine...and I don't want to be alone.
And all the wonders made for the Earth
And all the hearts in all creation
Another story there to be told!
So I play, I'll wait (I'll wait)
And I'll pray it's not too late
(Living love between the lines)
We came...so close (so far)
Just the beat of a lonely heart
And it's mine
And I don't want to be alone.
Afraid my tv/film offering this week is less than inspiring; I watched The Fury, a Dutch film about what it was like to be a woman in the Netherlands before its sexual revolution.
Tiny, the main character's aunt, is a teenager in the fifties. She has sex, apparently willingly, with a much older man (and, at one point, with all his friends that he decides to share her with). She's about 14 when she gets pregnant, and then, of course, it's not his problem. It's actually nobody's problem except her older sister, who attempts to help her by getting her an abortion. It's impossible to get one that is medically safe from an actual doctor, and, well, you can write the rest of the story yourself. Except that there's some rather disturbing sexual activity between the aunt and her nephew, instigated by the nephew once he reaches adulthood. Even weirder, they seem to go right back to a more ordinary filial relationship after that. I found that part of the story pretty disquieting, but then pretty much everything that happened after she went to a back alley abortionist was fairly awful.
I'm curious as to whether the word "fury" can also mean one of the Erinyes in Dutch. Hell, I'm wondering if "de helleveeg" actually means in Dutch what an English speaker would think of when they hear the word "fury." Translation is a funny thing, and I have no facility with northern European languages except English, the linguistic Runaround Sue of Northern Europe.
I'm having a hard time with the designation of Drama/Comedy for this movie. Not seeing a lot that's funny.
I did go see The Meg with my boyfriend. That one was fun, as long as you like big shark movies. 
How are you all today?
UPDATE: I tripped over this while idly websurfing. Anybody know if this is for real?
1. If You’d Like to See the Black and White Difference Between a Nation With Super Divergent Deforestation Rules, Just Look at the Border Between Haiti (the Wasteland on the Left), and the Dominican Republic (Tolkien’s Forest on the Right)
Comments
Wiktionary offers the English translation “b***h”
https://nl.wiktionary.org/wiki/helleveeg
. . . for helleveeg in the sense of “een verschrikkelijk vervelende vrouw” (an extremely annoying woman).
Just came across this item from 2008. Who knew that, back in the day, Israel banned the Beatles?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/22/israelandthepalestinians.t...
@lotlizard... hilarious - and @CSTMS ... back in the days
like in 1963-1964 I was in what was Highschool in Germany and I had a girlfriend and I envied her because she had the Beatles records (small black ones) and I at home had not. Only classical music in our house.
When my father became aware of the Beatles he just shook his head and said crazy folks, then he tried the Twist dance movements, stumbled over his own feet, and made us laugh. Then he told about his own business' lawyer, who was a friend of his, who was what my father called a 'filou', highly intelligent but, as my father said, he was just a crazy guy and really loved AmeeicannJazz and Blues. So, he couldn't decide if he was a filou, a lovely crazy friend or just a great mind and human being. (he was the latter as he gave me real good and unusual advice ten years later, when I needed it).
Around 1967 the anti-baby pill became awailable in Germany. So, all of the sudden the complaints of German women, who had to get their abortions in the Netherlands, because you couldn't get one in Germany at that time, were mute. Those folks, who wanted to put you down to have become pregnant without wanting it, said you were just dumb and loose girl. No woman could say anymore, those bad males are at fault, who left them with their pregnancy all to themselves. They could have avoided that situation. The pill, the wonder drug, was available, so why didn't you use it, dummy girl. That's how it went back then, as I remember.
Whatever, I ended up thinking that women have to take the responsibility for their pregnancies, if they incidentically happened without having wanted to get pregnant. It was not anymore our mothers (grand- and greatgrand others times). You could protect yourself.
I heard about the expression "Back Alley Abortion" much later, all I remember is that you could get the 'safe abortions' only in Holland (Netherland, Dutch) in the mid sixties.
https://www.euronews.com/
@mimi Mimi: I wonder when
Mimi: I wonder when that started then? It was pretty clear the girl's pregnancy happened in the fifties. Maybe it was in the early 60s that the Netherlands decided to legalize abortion...going to look it up.
OK, looked it up, and this is weird, given your experience:
History
Abortion was deemed illegal under the Penal Code of 1886. Convictions were all but precluded, however, by a requirement that the prosecution prove that the fetus had been alive until the abortion. The Morality Acts of 1911 closed this loophole, and strictly barred all abortions, except those performed to save the life of the pregnant woman.
Legalization reached the forefront of public debate in the Netherlands during the 1970s as many other Western European countries liberalized their laws. The Staten-Generaal, however, was unable to reach a consensus between those opposing legalization, those in favor of allowing abortion, and those favoring a compromise measure. A controversial abortion law was passed in 1981 with single swing votes: 76 pro and 74 against in the House of Representatives, and 38 pro and 37 against in the Senate. The law left abortion a crime, unless performed at a clinic or hospital that is issued an official abortion certificate by the Dutch government, and the woman who is asking for the abortion declares she considers it to be an emergency. The law came into effect on November 1, 1984.
??? Maybe Wikipedia is wrong. I'm going to look further...
OK, looks like this is about right...abortion started getting legalized in the 60s, and became available in the early 70s:
HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL
Abortion is legally regulated in the Netherlands and the care is professionally organised. All this was preceded by stirring times and political and social tension in the sixties of the last century. The Beahuis & Bloemenhovekliniek abortion clinic in Heemstede played an important role in the legalisation and acceptance of abortion in the Netherlands.
Until the sixties, abortion was seen as a ‘crime against decency’. Gynaecologists only carried out an abortion on medical indication. Women with an unwanted pregnancy who wanted an abortion were referred to the clandestine circuit, with all its medical and judicial risks.
In 1971, the first plans to set up a specialised abortion clinic in Beverwijk were prepared. On 7 July 1971, the ‘Beahuis’ abortion clinic started up, with two specially-trained GPs and a small team of nurses and staff.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
oh my, you did a lot of research ... and overestimated
my experience ... "and this is weird, given your experience".
I think, because lots of those times are lost in my memory, I became aware of the "safe abortion" discussion only in 1972, because that's when I dared to give birth to my son ... and some folks didn't think that was the best thing to do in their spontaneous reactions. Lot's of assumption made, from any angles that are out there in people's minds.
I remember that people said that you can get a "medically safe abortion" only in the Netherland and I don't remember when people started talking about it.
I couldn't have done it. Safe or not. That was not the deciding factor for me.
Just saying ... my experience is just listening to folks spontaneous reactions ... and more I don't like to say.
https://www.euronews.com/
@lotlizard Huh, it sounds like it
Huh, it sounds like it was whoever did the English translation that brought in the reference to the Erinyes.
Israel banned the Beatles? Huh.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The Reactionary Nature of Science Denial
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDi1iOxCFRI]
Note: He does make a mistake when he says that tulips come from Denmark. They're from the Netherlands.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
"To the Realms! To the Realms!" go dawg go
Thanks, I live on a busy street that leads to the River Path parking lot. Some mornings I can hear a dawg coming with its head out the window, barking "to the realms! the whole way. I call it the dawpler effect, and after today I am going to go out on my deck and bark back... "To the realms!" as they whiz by. Right on.
Love and Peace
@eyo Isn't that made of
Isn't that made of awesome?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I never encountered a book told from the point of view
of a dog. However, your essay reminded me of a quotation that has been attributed variously to Jim Brewer and Groucho Marx.
Any day that I may be quoting Groucho is delicious (as are your essays).
@HenryAWallace One of my favorite
One of my favorite quotations.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
good mornng,CSTMS, just a quick HI! In Fallon NV with a tablet
and crappy wifi. Heading out soon. 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 --
@enhydra lutris Have a great time, e.l.!
Have a great time, e.l.!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Will not a tablet
work inside a dog?
H/T to Henry.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Morning peeps!
Coffee is incoming after an extended repair session. The electric cord to the coffee grinder shorted out (not enough to trip the breaker, just a SNAP) where the cord was cut from passing through the plastic housing. Easy, right? Just remove these two screws, cut off the cord, strip the ends, attach to the motor, reassemble. Ten minutes tops.
Thhhpt.
The screws required a hex key, of which I have about 30, but none the right size and without the right size you really can't do anything.
So I'll back the screws out. Where the hell is the reverse drill bit? Nowhere to be found. Never mind, I'll just destroy the damned thing. Where's the drill. WTF???? Twenty minutes later the drill was two feet from where I was standing, with the reverse bit in it. Fine, it's all fine.
Bit's too big for those screws, it won't bite.
Fine. It's all fine. Where's the big drill? It's got a 3/8 inch bit in it. That'll do. Put it in reverse, plastic flies everywhere, but the screws come out. Base comes off.
Cord disappears into the plastic shroud, still no signs of the motor.
Fine, it's all fine. I'll just pull out the slack cord and splice it to the rest of the cord. Where are my wire nuts. Here's some. Splice. Great, let's put it back together.
Plug won't fit through the base, I need to pull the splice apart, thread the stub of the cord through, then resplice.
Fine, it's all fine.
Let's close it up. There isn't enough plastic left for the screws to bite into, and I don't have the right hex key anyway.
Duct tape. Better put on a double layer.
So, exposed wire nuts, duct tape, wobbles on the counter BUT it works. The sweet taste of victory!
Re: Haiti and DR forests. I don't know if it's still like that in DR, but that was real at one time, might still be. It was documented in I think Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed".
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
@WoodsDweller Holy shit, Woods Dweller.
Holy shit, Woods Dweller. Are you actually a Woods Dweller, far from a city center, and is that why you didn't go, "goddammit, I need coffee NOW" and go get some before pursuing further repairs?
Grats on your victory!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I am, in fact a Dweller within the Woods
Nearest coffee would be at a gas station 15 minutes from here. The nearest thriving metropolis is 35 minutes. For the price of two or three of those stupid coffee flavored milk shakes people seem to want to live on these days I can just buy a new coffee grinder, which I'll probably have to break down and buy.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
Ten points
for your repair before replace and recycle or repurpose.
Any way to apply a hand crank?
Two more points for the thoughtful use of duct tape.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
No to the hand crank
But if I manage to get the plastic housing off and wire directly to the motor, drill a hole in the back, do I have a spare grommet anywhere? Hot glue the base back on...
IT JUST MIGHT WORK!
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
forget the grommet
if your wire re-connection works, use the hot glue for a grommet. Silicone works too, just let it set up before moving it. It's the McGiver way.
@QMS 10 pts for the
10 pts for the MacGyver reference. LOL
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@earthling1 Oh I agree with
Oh I agree with repair before replace. I'd just go buy a cup of coffee from the local 7/11 or whatever first.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Israel bombed Damascus International Airport
Wonder why? Had US help on logistics.
the Whalers
Good for the Whales!!!
Good afternoon all!
I have been "enduring" the remnants of Florence today.
We were predicted to get 2-4 inches of rain with winds of 20 mph and very heavy rains this afternoon. But nature steered the more intense storms to our northeast and we ended up with a steady light rain all day. My guess it will end up less than an inch and a half. As far as wind, there was an occasional light breeze, otherwise all has been calm.
The only things I actually had to "endure" were the loss of internet for a couple of hours and two antsy springer spaniels with cabin fever. We got lucky here in our part of the Appalachians.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@gulfgal98 I'm hoping my friends in
I'm hoping my friends in Pittsboro are all right. I'm going to try calling them tomorrow.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Thanks for those interesting reviews, CStMS--
love the book jacket photo of the Weimaraner--he's sorta sad-looking, but he's a very handsome fellow.
Between rain showers--nothing serious, just steady--we're packing car. Taking a break, and thought I'd check in, and say 'hi.'
Glad you Floridians got to dodge the bullet this time! Sending my best wishes to Nancy, Smiley & Tim, and any other Folks who're dealing with bad, or treacherous weather. Stay safe!
My small contribution this evening is a striking (I thought) photo of a Lion, here,
Hey, Everyone have a nice Sunday evening!
Blue Onyx
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
~~Lao Tzu
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
@Unabashed Liberal Holy shit, is that for
Holy shit, is that for real? I didn't know they came that color.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Twitter says fake
However, if there are melanistic leopards and tigers, logically there should also be melanistic lions. How well they would survive in the wild is a good question.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Hi, TOM! Well, my initial reaction was like CStMS,'
but, since I post from this account pretty often, admit that I took it for legitimate.
Now, a quick search did bring up this Wikipedia entry about black Leopards, Jaguars, and a Lion + Jaguar cross in a wildlife sanctuary in Ontario, Canada.
Wouldn't doubt that it could have been photoshopped. Looking at samples of political satirical photos, I know that 'someone' is certainly very good at using that application.
Good to see you!
Blue Onyx
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Obama admin’s failure, and why singling out Manafort is bullshit
https://www.epsilontheory.com/repo-105/
@lotlizard The law absolutely
The law absolutely depends on the lawbreaker's position in society. That's why I don't consider the U.S. to have a legal system.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Reading on Monday morning . . . nice . . .
Like the sound of the dog story. Movie not so much - a bit too horrible for me. Thank you for the forest picture. Reforestation. We need it everywhere.
Comments were fun too . . . especially the coffee grinder repair thread.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo