---o0o---
Friday, March 31, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
U.S. Marine Corps women's boot camp, 1943
By Jack Brummet
This is a photo of my mom, Betty, in Marine Corps boot camp in 1943. She's in the top row, fourth from the left. On her right is her friend Loa (she named my sister after her).
---o0o---
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Poem: [You can't see earth]
By Jack Brummet
1
You can't see earth
From the dark side of the moon
But maybe that changes
With the accelerating deceleration
Of the moon and earth.
A waning Gibbous moon
Dangles 1.3 light seconds away,
The Sea of Tranquility
A menacing sinkhole.
You can't see earth
From the dark side of the moon
But maybe that changes
With the accelerating deceleration
Of the moon and earth.
A waning Gibbous moon
Dangles 1.3 light seconds away,
The Sea of Tranquility
A menacing sinkhole.
2
The moon
And fog
Are in cahoots.
The moon
And fog
Are in cahoots.
Do our brains have a tide?
---o0o---Monday, March 27, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Sonnet: The green knight
By Jack Brummet
On the floor in the distance
Bercilak de Hautdesert
Battle-axe in one hand
A branch of holly in the other
Walks toward you
And asks if you want to play a gameYou swing the axe
His helmet flies
And the head tumbles down the hall
The Green Knight picks it up
And tells you to meet him
At the Green Chapel New Year's morning
For his exchange blow
The head is laughing in his arms.
---o0o---
On the floor in the distance
Bercilak de Hautdesert
Battle-axe in one hand
A branch of holly in the other
Walks toward you
And asks if you want to play a gameYou swing the axe
His helmet flies
And the head tumbles down the hall
The Green Knight picks it up
And tells you to meet him
At the Green Chapel New Year's morning
For his exchange blow
The head is laughing in his arms.
---o0o---
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Truckin': The President tries out a big rig
The President met with a group of truckers and trucking CEOs at the White House Thursday afternoon, "to discuss healthcare." Here are images from the photo-op.
---o0o---
Friday, March 24, 2017
Richard Nixon's Commandments of Statecraft
1) Always be prepared to negotiate, but never negotiate without being prepared.
2) Never be belligerent, but always be firm.
3) Always remember that covenants should be openly agreed to but privately negotiated.
"Public tactics tend to harden the opposition.
Successful diplomatic or business negotiators resist the temptation to grandstand or make public demands that can be interpreted as threats."
Successful diplomatic or business negotiators resist the temptation to grandstand or make public demands that can be interpreted as threats."
5) Never give up unilaterally what could be used as a bargaining chip. Make your adversaries give something for everything they get.
6) Never let your adversary underestimate what you would do in response to a challenge. Never tell Him what you would not do.
7) Always leave your adversary a face-saving line of retreat.
8) Always carefully distinguish between friends who provide some human rights and enemies who deny all human rights.
9) Always do at least a much for our friends as our adversaries do for our enemies.
10) Never lose faith. In just cause faith can move mountains. Faith without strength is futile; but strength without faith is sterile.
11) "Sometimes leaders are hesitant about executing strong and controversial measures in the belief that a less than full-hearted operation mutes criticism. When you once decide, go with all your might."
12) "When saying 'always' and 'never,' always keep a mental reservation; never foreclose the unique exception; always leave room for maneuver. A president always has yet to be prepared for what he thought he would never do."
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Statues from Rapid City, Iowa's City of Presidents (with images of Nixon, Van Buren, FDR, Coolidge, Harrison, and Grant)
To learn more, do a search on City of Presidents statues, or start at the Rapid City presidents website .
They do not yet have a statue of Barack Obama or Donald Trump. President Obama's is on the way. President Trump's will come after he finishes his term (in whatever fashion!).
They do not yet have a statue of Barack Obama or Donald Trump. President Obama's is on the way. President Trump's will come after he finishes his term (in whatever fashion!).
---o0o---
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The irregular middle finger roundup (Emmy Anderson, The Grateful Dead, Ben Affleck, Carrie Fisher, Grace Slick, Iggy Pop)
By Mona Goldwater, Signs and Gestures Ed.
The latest batch of middle fingers submitted by readers. Keep them coming!
The latest batch of middle fingers submitted by readers. Keep them coming!
Emmy Anderson
The Bride
Former President of Mexico Vicente Fox (on the right) sending a greeting to President Trump
Carrie Fisher
The Grateful Dead, 1967
Trump supporter at a rally gives the finger to the press pen
Grace Slick
Ben Affleck
Iggy Pop
Unknown sunbathers
---o0o---
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
World Poetry Day, Part 2: The Day Lady Died by Frank O'Hara/Painting of O'Hara by Alice Neel
It is 12:20 in New York a Friday
three days after Bastille day, yes
it is 1959 and I go get a shoeshine
because I will get off the 4:19 in Easthampton
at 7:15 and then go straight to dinner
and I don’t know the people who will feed me
I walk up the muggy street beginning to sun
and have a hamburger and a malted and buy
an ugly NEW WORLD WRITING to see what the poets
in Ghana are doing these days
I go on to the bank
and Miss Stillwagon (first name Linda I once heard)
doesn’t even look up my balance for once in her life
and in the GOLDEN GRIFFIN I get a little Verlaine
for Patsy with drawings by Bonnard although I do
think of Hesiod, trans. Richmond Lattimore or
Brendan Behan’s new play or Le Balcon or Les Nègres
of Genet, but I don’t, I stick with Verlaine
after practically going to sleep with quandariness
and for Mike I just stroll into the PARK LANE
Liquor Store and ask for a bottle of Strega and
then I go back where I came from to 6th Avenue
and the tobacconist in the Ziegfeld Theatre and
casually ask for a carton of Gauloises and a carton
of Picayunes, and a NEW YORK POST with her face on it
and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of
leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT
while she whispered a song along the keyboard
to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing
---o0o---
Frank O’Hara, “The Day Lady Died” from Lunch Poems. Copyright © 1964 by Frank O’Hara. City Lights Books.
Alice Neel, portrait of Frank O'Hara
Happy World Poetry Day! "Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley Reading by Bryan Cranston)
Ozymandias by Percy Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique landWho said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
---o0o---
Monday, March 20, 2017
Updated: List of characters in The Beatle's songs
Eight years ago, I tried to write down the names of every character I remember appearing in songs by The Beatles. Since this was published in 2009, various readers have sent in some of the missing characters, and a lot came in from Facebook today. We're at least more complete; who else are we still missing?
A barber A boy A fireman A girl A girl like you A lucky man A pretty nurse A rich man Another girl Another lover Another man
Baby Bad boy Beautiful people Billy Shears Blackbird Boys Bulldog Bungalow Bill
Captain Marvel Chuck Crabalocker fishwife
Dan Dave Dennis O'Bell Desmond Doctor Robert Doris
Edgar Allen Poe Eleanor Rigby Expert Textpert Choking Smokers
Father Mackenzie
Georgia Gideon
Hari Krishna He Her Henry the horse Her Majesty Him His Mother His Wife Honey Pie
I
Joan John Johnny Jojo Jude Julia
Lady Madonna Lil Loretta Martin Loretta Martin’s mother Lovely Rita Lovers and friends Lucy Lucy in the sky
Maggie Mae Magill Martha Martha my dear Mary Mary Jane Maxwell Maxwell Edison Me Mean Mr. Mustard Messrs K and H Michelle Miss Lizzy Mister City Policeman Molly Mom Mother Mary Mother Nature's Son Mother Superior Mr.H Mr. Heath Mr. K Mr. Kite Mr. Moonlight Mr. Postman Mr. Wilson Mrs. Robinson My monkey
Nancy Nowhere Man
Old Flattop Other Lover
Pablo Fanque Paul People and friends Peter Piggies Piggie Wives Pigs Pigs in a sty Polythene Pam Pornographic priestess Prudence
Rita Rocky Raccoon Rose Rosie
Sergeant Pepper Semolina Pilchard Sexy Sadie She Sir Walter Raleigh Somebody
Taxman Teddy Boy The All-American bullet-headed Saxon mother's son The banker The Blue Meanies The Children The Doctor The Duchess of Kircaldy The Duke The Eggman The Eggmen The English Army The fool on the hill The Hendersons The Joker The King of Marigold The People The Queen The Taxman The Walrus This bird Two of us
Valerie Vera
We Wilson
Yoko You Your bird Your boy Your mother
Baby Bad boy Beautiful people Billy Shears Blackbird Boys Bulldog Bungalow Bill
Captain Marvel Chuck Crabalocker fishwife
Dan Dave Dennis O'Bell Desmond Doctor Robert Doris
Edgar Allen Poe Eleanor Rigby Expert Textpert Choking Smokers
Father Mackenzie
Georgia Gideon
Hari Krishna He Her Henry the horse Her Majesty Him His Mother His Wife Honey Pie
I
Joan John Johnny Jojo Jude Julia
Lady Madonna Lil Loretta Martin Loretta Martin’s mother Lovely Rita Lovers and friends Lucy Lucy in the sky
Maggie Mae Magill Martha Martha my dear Mary Mary Jane Maxwell Maxwell Edison Me Mean Mr. Mustard Messrs K and H Michelle Miss Lizzy Mister City Policeman Molly Mom Mother Mary Mother Nature's Son Mother Superior Mr.H Mr. Heath Mr. K Mr. Kite Mr. Moonlight Mr. Postman Mr. Wilson Mrs. Robinson My monkey
Nancy Nowhere Man
Old Flattop Other Lover
Pablo Fanque Paul People and friends Peter Piggies Piggie Wives Pigs Pigs in a sty Polythene Pam Pornographic priestess Prudence
Rita Rocky Raccoon Rose Rosie
Sergeant Pepper Semolina Pilchard Sexy Sadie She Sir Walter Raleigh Somebody
Taxman Teddy Boy The All-American bullet-headed Saxon mother's son The banker The Blue Meanies The Children The Doctor The Duchess of Kircaldy The Duke The Eggman The Eggmen The English Army The fool on the hill The Hendersons The Joker The King of Marigold The People The Queen The Taxman The Walrus This bird Two of us
Valerie Vera
We Wilson
Yoko You Your bird Your boy Your mother
---o0o---
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Thank you Chuck Berry
By Jack Brummet, American Music History Ed.
Thanks for the music, and rock and roll in general, Chuck.
I wonder what people at the other end of the line will think if they are able to play that record on the Voyager?
Thanks for the music, and rock and roll in general, Chuck.
I wonder what people at the other end of the line will think if they are able to play that record on the Voyager?
---o0o---
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Restless Books series "The Face"
By Jack Brummet, Mod Lit Ed.
I've thought a lot about faces the last few years. I've now read both the the Abani and Ozeki volumes of "The Face" series (Restless Books). Both are very fine books. So far, three have been released.
"It's a jazzy concept: Give hugely talented writers the same basic notes (their own faces), turn them loose and watch them riff seemingly endless melodic variations on the theme. The prompt is diabolically clever…. deep, intricate, often funny, and genuinely moving meditations on family, ancestry, race, ethnicity, culture, aging, past, present and future…. If Restless Books can sustain this level of quality throughout the series, I'm in for the long haul.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
---o0o---
Friday, March 17, 2017
The German word Fremdschämen
Fremdschämen is used to describe someone who feels embarrassment for someone else. The corresponding noun for this feeling is Fremdscham. English equivalents include “vicarious embarrassment” and “empathetic embarrassment,” but neither are in common use like the German word fremdschämen.
----o0o---
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Drawing: Faces No. 1916 (The room with the layoff survivors]
By Jack Brummet
The room with the layoff survivors. [five minute drawing with Industrial Sharpie® on 18" x 24" fir plywood].
The room with the layoff survivors. [five minute drawing with Industrial Sharpie® on 18" x 24" fir plywood].
---o0o---
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Monday, March 13, 2017
"President Trump signs order to revoke Clean Water Rule"
By Mona Goldwater, Social Mores Ed.
It's hard to find this out online, but I bet 1) Trump Tower; 2) The White House; and 3) Mar A Lago all have their own filtration systems. As long as The Chief is OK, we're OK. You have to figure that someone who enjoys golden showers is probably not all that worried about water quality.
It's hard to find this out online, but I bet 1) Trump Tower; 2) The White House; and 3) Mar A Lago all have their own filtration systems. As long as The Chief is OK, we're OK. You have to figure that someone who enjoys golden showers is probably not all that worried about water quality.
---o0o---
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Maxine Waters has the goods on The President?
Maxine Waters says on MSNBC that sex allegations in Trump dossier are true (declines to provide evidence for how she knows)
[8:47 AM · Mar 9, 2017 - Sam Levine @srlVia Twitter®]
---o0o---
Friday, March 10, 2017
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