my high-school days. Many of their songs do make you smile. They have that quality about them....a little bit of joy....or that encouragement to see the joy. I tend to be a grouch much of the time so the reminder to look for the joy and then to try and spread some of it around is good.

which I like to think should be about coming together in peace and harmony.

I can dig it.

(C) Wizard of Id, 1970s version.

more singing

...Sons of 1984 was recorded live with help and performances from an audience in New York and overdubbed by another audience in San Francisco.

Todd Rundgren - Sons Of 1984 (Lyrics Below) (HQ)
https://youtu.be/uGsmJ-RKDIE

Open your eyes and see
The world I couldn't change for you
Reach out your hand and take
The world that will belong to you

We were on our way to a better day
And the spirit was in us all
But as time went by we fell by the wayside
Maybe you'll be the last to fall

You are the only ones
There is nobody left but you
You are the chosen ones
There is nobody else to choose

Back when I was young, my hope was strong
But the time blew it all to hell
If I thought I knew what was good for you
I would have gone and done it for myself

Worlds of tomorrow
Life without sorrow
Take it because it's yours
Sons of 1984

I can still see the great panorama of hate
Being cleansed by our loving hands
But the brothers broke stride, the sisters cried
Now you have to start all over again

--- audience participation hint
Rage Against The Machine - Democratic Convention 2000
https://youtu.be/0g_MNpS9hM0
"apparently there's some other show going on across the street here, but it's all sold out"
---
Did anyone else notice the petition tracking link in last night's EB was a domain called "actberniesanders.com"? NOPE, I am not volunteering updated voter info so the Ds can rent it out as "proprietary" data for profit, not falling for that D-Value bullshit again. Fool me once...
Jerry Brown wanted to save the planet and the California budget. How did he do?
The budget has a surplus, homelessness is an environmental disaster. keep flushing

Some critics, however, said it was hypocritical to crusade against climate change while approving more than 23,000 new oil and gas drilling permits in the past eight years.

“He has not put a single limit on oil drilling in the state,” Consumer Watchdog’s Jamie Court said in September. “It’s literally drill, baby, drill.”

"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." Thanks Hollywood.

physical and wonder how I'll spend it. Probably not out doing a lot of meeting and socializing, but that said, my wife and I have been indulging in a chunk of that of late. Every week, usually on Monday, we go walk a roughly 4 mile out-and-back up at the lake. We always say "hi" or "good morning or whatever" to those we encounter walking in the opposite direction as we go. A great number of them so likewise, even if they wren't going to first. It slightly brightens the day, but I also think that those out doing that kind of walking are generally more prone to that kind of behavior and seem to share some various affinities, especially those walking in pars or groups.

I do suspect that at some point I will wind up at the hardware store getting a fitting or two for a project or two, since I can't be out digging and lifting and crap.

Somehow the entirely of this video, images plus music brings a smile to my face today, as does the spontaneous realization that a certain god was obviously the prototype and archetype of the internet troll, who has been trolling his followers since he created them. Heh. Happy Tuesday.

QMS, Say can I have some of your purple berries?

I give smiles away all I can, they are free ya know. It is such a universal thing it is amazing. Like music it crosses the language barrier. A smile can pierce armor.

Think positive. It is magic. Someone I can't recall who, said "as you think, you are." Do you see the good or the bad? Is your cup half full, or half empty? We don't let people put their fingers in our food, so why do we allow them to put shit in our heads? Which will do infinitely more damage than fingers in our food would. Negative thinking is poisonous, it kills joy and happiness. Being positive, or not, is learned behavior, and fortunately it is up to us how we want to think, and be, and, we can change anything we
don't like.

As the moneyists (which is what capitalists are - let's call it what it is FFS) with their fetishization of finacialization destroy the world around us, and anyone that questions it is Russian, perhaps it is even more important to see the good in people, and especially places, while its still there to enjoy.

Could Monty Python be wrong?

This makes me smile:
The great Terry Kath (what a sad story) - this whole show is very worth watching...

Don't know where this came from but I happen to remember a portable orange record player I had as a kid. Back in the day when we used to listen to records for amusement, I very nearly wore a groove in my Mary Poppins album. I was simply nuts about that movie and went around the house constantly singing the songs. When I was about to begin 1st grade, I begged my Mother for a Mary Poppins lunch box featuring Mary wearing her prettiest white dress and whimsically winning a horse race riding a carousel horse while carrying a matching parasol to boot! It was the most magical lunchbox I'd ever seen and practically perfect in every way. My Mother, who did not own a car, had to walk to three different stores before she found one. But find one she did and I proudly carried that lovely little lunch box every day to school.

Thanks for the great topic and open thread!

[video:https://youtu.be/AivZSC9J3Rs]

rough).

since about ten months or so my sistern and I are in rather grey, sluggish, dark mood. I am angry inside, she doesn't really want to do anything at all anymore in her life. Bad, bad.

So, we sit on our patio and watch our great garden, the birds, the sqirrels and our 'helper who is getting our mood up' has a great way to trigger laughs. We break out singing. My sister knows all the childhood songs, he knows all the hippy songs of the seventies from Germany and US and each time we have had it with life, we start singing out of the blue. And then we smile a lot. And then we sigh a lot. We invented our own sighing competition. My sister always wins. She wins in everything. And I always lose. So I sigh some more. Til the birds can't stand us anymore. Then we make each other smile again. Then it is time to go out and do some errands.

I am smiling now. Thanks for the wonderful Open Thread, QMS.

Senator Van Hollen says Russia not only got Trump elected in 2016, but also has been targeting Mueller directly, ZOMG!

My part of Germany shut down analog cable TV and went full digital last week.

I was happy for, like, two days because now, I thought, I would be able to get English language programming again.

Now I’m probably going to delete said English language programming — BBC, CNN, and Bloomberg — from the channels list, because the steady stream of neoliberal economic supremacy and Atlanticist propaganda makes me sick.

This is a wonderful thread you started QMS. You never fail to make me smile.

[video:https://youtu.be/Ow0lbyPkpnU]