Gods Of Our Own Time

Elsa Lanchester joined us on this day in 1902.

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Amish aphorism of the day- "Lack of communication creates imagination."

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Thoughts on Eastern Philosophy:

https://fb.watch/nZ4C9FTBb2/

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Legend has it that if you walk the perimeter of Hans Graf Graveyard seven times in the light of the full moon, you will not be alive in the morning. 

Well there's a full moon tonight, and Emma, Gretel and I walked it 7 times. Zuzu might be the only one left in the morning, she only walked it six.

Hans Graf Graveyard (also known as Shock Graveyard) is in the little village of Rowenna, near Marietta. Legend also has it that... get this... a few of Hans Graf's descendants who are buried there were murdered, accused of being werewolves! Supposedly Hans put a curse on the graveyard to protect them in death.

A different story says that Hans Graf himself was a werewolf... a white werewolf... and he comes back to hunt down and kill those who walk the perimeter.

We didn't see any werewolves or ghosts, but Emma should probably still be afraid. Hans is my 9x great-grandfather, and Gretel and Zuzu's 10x great-grandfather. If he shows up at the house tonight, I think he'll spare us. Since we're his descendants, perhaps Emma should be afraid of us.

When we got back in the car, Bruce Springsteen sang the chorus of Atlantic City:

"Everything dies, baby, that's a fact

But maybe everything that dies some day comes back."

I hope to report back in the morning. 

https://unchartedlancaster.com/2019/11/10/haunted-lancaster-the-white-werewolf-and-the-full-moon-curse-of-shock-graveyard/

October 28, 2023

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The greatest stand-up comic of the 70's might be Richard Pryor, and the greatest of the 80's might be Sam Kinison. Somehow they both grew up in Peoria, Illinois???

I just watched the Sam Kinison episode of The Dark Side of Comedy. Before he was well known, he had regular midnight spots at The Comedy Store in LA. Do you know what he would scream at people who left his set early? "I wipe my ass with the names of your sacred dead!"

Wow. Yes. That guy was destined to be a star.

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As I was leaving the gym I saw a table of free donuts... I guess they are for the people who wish they could read a book and then delete the memory of it from their brains.

October 28, 2021

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The Supreme Court has no authority over state elections, but they seem to think they do. Reminds me of the George Carlin joke- "I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it." 

If this band of Constitutional Originalists believes they have that authority, they need to prove it. Maybe they can start with an explanation as to why the Supreme Court never used that pretend authority for over 200 years. If they can't, I'm the new Pope.

October 28, 2020

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I'll bet there are Republicans who would prefer Colin Powell to Donald Trump, and would happily overlook the fact that he's the one who suggested to Hillary that she use a private email server as Secretary of State.

October 28, 2016

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We aren't voting for the lesser of two evils, as John Oliver points out we're voting for the lesser of four evils. And really when you think about it, perhaps we're voting for the lesser of 300 million evils, or hopefully some mid-level evil at worst.

October 28, 2016

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That Ted Cruz sure looks presidential, doesn't he? I mean he just LOOKS like a president. And an undertaker. He might even look more undertakerly than he looks presidential. No wonder he always talks about the death tax.

October 28, 2015

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God and George Washington are crying on each others shoulders, stupefied by how bad that rendition of God Bless America was. They should screen the people who sing at the World Series.

October 28, 2012

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My girlfriend gave me a doughnut for no reason at all.

October 28, 2012

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Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace- "Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women."

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Gulliver's Travels was published on this day in 1726.

"Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old."

Also...

"The tiny Lilliputians surmise that Gulliver's watch may be his god, because it is that which, he admits, he seldom does anything without consulting."

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The Cuban Missile Crisis ended on this day in 1962 when Nikita Khrushchev ordered the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.

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Jonas Salk was born on this day in 1914.

"Are we being good ancestors?"

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Curtis Lee of Pretty Little Angel Eyes fame was born on this day in 1939.

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Bill Gates was born on this day in 1955. 

"I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."

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John Locke left us on this day in 1704.

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not common."

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Jerry Lee Lewis died on this day in 2022. He might be the last of the founding fathers of rock and roll it was alive.

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Hannah Pick-Goslar also left us on this day in 2022. She was Anne Frank's good friend, one of the last to see her alive, and she spent her life telling others about her.

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The Wall Street Journal tackles the subject of ghosts.

Wall Street Journal- Who Was That Ghost? Science’s Reassuring Reply

http://on.wsj.com/1OYNigk

October 28, 2015

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A very enjoyable talk about the impending end of life as we know it.

https://www.samharris.org/blog/item/ted-talk-can-we-build-ai-without-losing-control-over-it

October 28, 2016

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The Onion- Aides Concerned Trump’s Mental Health Declining After President Admits He May Not Be Omnipotent Living God

October 28, 2017

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The Onion- Haunted Hayride Makes Extra-Spooky Turn Onto Interstate

https://trib.al/bQwVjbB

October 28, 2018

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The Hill- Trump defends business practices after report he failed to pay millions in debt

That's the problem with this bozo. He views everything solely in terms of how it affects him, never as a general principle. What if everybody in the country was as smart as him and got that loan forgiven? Check my math but I believe that we would be down $10 quadrillion. His bankruptcies and forgiven loans are paid by us, his lavish lifestyle paid with our labor, especially now, but even before he was president. Don't forget that he said that the $400 million dollars that he owes to who knows who it's just a tiny percentage of his net worth. I'm starting to think this guy might be lying to us...

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/523099-trump-defends-business-practices-after-report-he-failed-to-pay

October 28, 2020

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The Atlantic- You’re Not Supposed to Understand the Rumors About Biden

Long article, but explains the Hunter Biden... "scandal" seems like a strong word for vague insinuations. This is by a conservative writer who has first hand experience with a dirty trickster pushing the story.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/smears-against-biden-dont-need-make-any-sense/616824/

October 28, 2020

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Bill Hicks:

You know what though, I find it ironic that people who are against things that cause sexual thoughts, are generally fundamentalist Christians, who also believe you should be fruitful and multiply? Isn’t that weird? Didn’t’ you think they’d be for things that cause sexual thoughts, you know what I mean? Maybe even a centerfold in the Bible? I don’t know: ‘Mis-Deuteronomy’ ‘Turn-offs, floods, locust and smokers’ ‘Turn-ons, myrrh’ … I don’t know what myrrh is, chicks dig it. Like if I’m a real babe, I’ve got some myrrh, ooh! I did that joke in Alabama; these three rednecks met me after the show: “Hey buddy, come here!! Hey Mr comedian, come here!” Yeah, I love that move: “Come here!” Not a physics major. I mean that’s a safe bet. “Mr funny man, come here! Hey buddy, we’re Christians, we don’t like what you said.” I said: “Then forgive me.”

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Cleese- I think that the real religion is about the understanding that if we can only still our egos for a few seconds, we might have a chance of experiencing something that is divine in nature. But in order to do that, we have to slice away at our egos and try to get them down to a manageable size, and then still work some practiced light meditation. So real religion is about reducing our egos, whereas all the churches are interested in is egotistical activities, like getting as many members and raising as much money and becoming as important and high-profile and influential as possible. All of which are egotistical attitudes. So how can you have an egotistical organization trying to teach a non-egotistical ideal? It makes no sense, unless you regard religion as crowd control. What I think most organized religion—simply crowd control.

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Lebowitz- "I love sleep because it is both pleasant and safe to use. Pleasant because one is in the best possible company and safe because sleep is the consummate protection against the unseemliness that is the invariable consequence of being awake. What you don't know won't hurt you. Sleep is death without the responsibility."

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Nietzsche- "There are two different types of people in the world, those who want to know, and those who want to believe."

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Locke- "Government has no other end, but the preservation of property."

Safety?

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Rodney Dangerfield- "On Halloween, that's when I know I'm ugly. I open the front door and kids give ME candy."

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Oscar Wilde- "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go."

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Normie- "I signed up for my company’s 401k

but I don’t think I can run that far."

Addendum 

Myspace Blog 

October 28, 2006

The NRA Blew My Baby Away: "The Wanderers" as a Metaphor for the War on Terror

Driving along a deer carcass strewn highway in northern PA, I ejected my Ramones cd hoping to find NPR but I found the NRA. A political ad touted a candidate's A-minus NRA rating, and encouraged listeners to compare it to his opponent's D-plus rating. This day and age, and that's what he's running on- unregulated gun shows, armor-piercing bullets, and the god-given right to sign your name with bulletholes in the side of a deer, rapid-fire-style. The first two certainly have great appeal to terrorists. The last one, one would think, could only appeal to the result of Dick Cheney's White House basement laboratory's botched Osama bin Laden clone experiment. But to each his own.

My mind wandered as I drove- How could Johnny Ramone love Bush? How could he steal Joey's girl? The KKK and the FBI, the NRA, bulletholes, violence, terrorists, terrorism, terror, Terror from the Wanderers. Terror from the Wanderers? Where did that come from? Remember "Terror", the 400-pound member of the Fordham Baldies played to perfection by the late Erland Van Lidth De Jeude? I wonder... could the Wanderers could be a metaphor for the War on Terror?

Well, it goes without saying (so I'll say it) that Terror and the Baldies represent terrorism as a whole. If tying a rope around somebody's wang and dropping a rock attached to the other end of that rope off a bridge isn't a metaphor for international terrorism, I don't know what is. 

Remember Terror's girlfriend Peewee? Remember her crying and pleading with Terror before he and the Baldies went off to join the military? "Terror, don't go. Don't go Terror." She was nothing without Terror and the Baldies, no longer able to invoke their names to protect herself. Without Terror she could no longer act tough and talk tough. She needed Terror. Terror was all she had. Peewee is George W. Bush. Peewee, junior, George Bush Jr., it all makes sense. I'll never look at her and Terror making out the same way again. And her black leather jacket represents Bush's shady dealing of Harken Energy while he was on the board of directors. Moving on...

Now I know what you're thinking, "Hey Ben, the Ducky Boys should be the terrorists." No, the Ducky Boys represent American ignorance, apathy, and propensity for, and love of, violence. I should also point out that the Ducky Boys believe it's OK to murder people as long as you go to mass and confession. That speaks for itself.

By contrast The Wanderers represent everything good with America. In the end Richie, the leader of the Wanderers, accepts responsibility for his girlfriend Despie's pregnancy. By the way, having unprotected sex and getting your girlfriend pregnant represents irresponsibly going to war in Iraq and stirring up trouble in the Middle East. The only way we can fix anything is if we accept responsibility.

The party at Despie's represents the UN. People from different backgrounds are all dancing (working together) and having fun (promoting the common good.) The strip poker game represents peace talks. Since it's Despie's party I guess she's Kofi Annan. Wait, no, that's no good. I'm getting distracted... OK, remember when Turkey left the Wanderers for the Baldies? A part of us (the Wanderers) is becoming like the terrorists (the Baldies.) He showed up at Despie's party uninvited and started getting in fights. He's John Bolton, our belligerent ambassador to the UN. But then Turkey gets lost, wanders into Ducky Boy territory and is tortured and killed. Hmmm... got it, John Bolton has been corrupted by ignorance, apathy and violence and in the end has become indistinguishable from it. By the way, Richie and Nina making out in her car outside the party is Abu Ghraib. Despie was NOT happy about that.

The most important scene is the football game. It starts off great. Joey's father is there. The Wanderers and the black team, The Del Bombers, are enjoying a clean game, evidently putting their racist altercation behind them. The Italian "businessmen" are looking on, hoping the Wanderers win so their bet pays off. The game is our domestic policy. What ruins the game? You guessed it, the Ducky Boys. 

But it's a hopeful movie. The Italians (big business), the Wanderers and the Del Bombers (mutual racist sentiment), the other gangs and Joey's father all team up to beat the Ducky Boys. Members of rival gangs help each other tend their wounds. That's free public health care. Working together we can help stop American ignorance, apathy and propensity toward violence. All is well, the Ducky Boys are on the retreat, but then Joey's father flies into a rage. What the hell is wrong with him? He's gone berzerk. He's beating up Wanderer and Ducky Boy alike! He looks like Godzilla. He's nuclear power. It seems controlled but tomorrow we could have another Three-Mile Island, or Chernobyl. Or Hiroshima. We have to keep an eye on that. Let's not forget that our domestic policy shapes our foreign policy.

What have I left out? Joey's shredded "Wanderers" banner is "mission accomplished." The game of "elbow-tit" is justices Thomas and Scalia's support for presidential authoritarianism. Leslie Gore is the Dixie Chicks. "Don't fuck with the Wongs" is "Don't mess with Texas." The ineffective teacher is me, trying to make a difference but failing miserably. Man, I love this. I could do it all day. Oh, I can't deceive you, Dear Reader- I did do it all day. Now, in the interest of time (and your interest- snap, snap, wake up) I'll end it. 

But first, I can't forget about the rumble. It's no accident that Richie didn't want guns involved. He knew that violence begets violence, and that there's no harm in an old-fashioned fistfight (honest debate.) 

So the next time you wander through the deer carnage of northern PA, remember this: an anagram of WANDERERS is WAR 'N DEERS. So how do we want to fight this war on deers? We must ask ourselves, like Richie, not only how we want to live, but how we want to kill, and if we want to kill, so we don't become our enemies. The terrorists, not the deer. Hunting takes patience, responsibility, and intelligence, qualities the NRA is apparently against. They doom us to repeat our history of violence.

The political ad over, it's back to the Ramones. "Well I don't care about history, rock, rock, rock and roll high school." I bet Johnny wrote that. .