The Story of Heroes, and Siamese Siamese Cats?

Gandhi was assassinated on this day in 1948.

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world."

(Maybe that was his assassin's motto as well?)

Eight years later Martin Luther King Jr.'s home was bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery bus boycott.

Violent ends for each, no doubt, but look at the progress.

Today is Martyr's Day in India.

Gandhi and said, "We believe as much in the purity of race as we think they do... We believe also that the white race of South Africa should be the predominating race."

Not sure if they consider it Martyr's Day in South Africa.

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Gandhi with the Dalai Lama.

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Nadal and Medvedev have been playing for four and a quarter hours. Medvedev won the first two sets, Nadal won the next two. Getting ready to head into the 5th set. Exciting!

January 30, 2022

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Destruction is easy, construction is hard.

Bill Maher- "It's easy to spray paint fuck you on a federal building. It's a little harder to work inside. It's not the screamers and the tweeters. It's the political wonks who know how to make actual progress as opposed to doing progressive theater in the streets."

https://fb.watch/inxvEu4Eoc/?mibextid=NnVzG8

January 30, 2021

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Thomas Paine- "When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon."

*I'd assume he would believe that would hold for women too.

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I'm not one to get into ad hominem attacks on the way people look, but it's simply a fact that articles have been written on the valid question of why people are so repulsed by Ted Cruz's face. And what a sad plight for Ted Cruz's face. In 2016 it became Plato's Perfect Form of the Smarmy Liar. So very reasonably he grew a beard, and now his bearded face is associated with helping inspire a violent attack, and brief takeover, of our own Capitol. Now he can't be clean-shaven and he can't have a beard, so what's next? Maybe he could further appease the Qanon idiots and reveal his true lizard face.

January 30, 2021

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My idea of a perfect joke.

Emo Phillips- "When I was a child, I used to pray to God for a bicycle. But then I realized God doesn't work in that way- so I stole a bike and prayed for forgiveness."

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Someone once asked Hank Wiiliams how he writes his old, sad songs. He said, "I don't write them. I just hang on to the pen and God sends them through."

A perfect country music tidbit!

January 30, 2020

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The president's defense argues that the House should have taken subpoenas to the courts if they want cooperation, and meanwhile the president's lawyers are in court saying that they don't have to cooperate with subpoenas. If they make their case in plain language, it's simply- "We believe presidents are above all oversight." 

We should make a list of countries with leaders who believe they are above all oversight. I'll start- North Korea, Russia, Turkey. Huh, all of Trump's best buddies.

January 30, 2020

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You know the Democrats' problem? (Other than being demon-rats as tens of millions of commenters will assure you.) They have to demand that TRUMP testifies, and then settle for Bolton and the others. And then after Bolton testifies, keep demanding Trump. "Now we HAVE to hear from him!" And what would he have to lose anyway as a result of his truth-telling, except for complete and total double-dog nuclear exoneration?

If Obama were President right now and did the same thing as Trump, he would have been impeached ten times over, with seven-plus Democrats joining with Republicans to remove him. And then Biden would be president and the Republicans would have gotten exactly what they wished. Hey wait a second... I must have got that wrong.

January 30, 2020

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It almost seems like the lowering of the corporate tax rate mirrored the rise in the ultra-rich, and is inversely proportional to the number of hours of family now has to work to keep their head above water. Remember when only one parent had to work?

January 30, 2019

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I was just emailing via voice to text, and Gretel interrupted me. I'm not sure what I was actually saying to her but I very nearly sent our bookkeeper a very normal email that ended with this bombshell: "Daddy Charlie Blaze he saying screaming is Hannity broke a bunch of little balls bump into something they had to clean in the winter."

January 30, 2019

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I always intend to watch the State of the Union and make fun of it, but it's intolerable no matter who is president. Besides, Trump speaking all subdued and deliberately gives me the heebie-jeebies.

January 30, 2018

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Edgar Allan Poe- "When a madman appears thoroughly sane, indeed, it is high time to put him in a straight jacket."

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And to think if Little Marco would have countered with Trump the Chump, this all might never have come to pass.

January 30, 2017

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I'm confused. It's not a Muslim ban. Christians have preference. Their intent was to find a way to ban Muslims legally. He didn't run the executive order past Constitutional scholars. He can do what he wants because the people voted him in. He ran on banning Muslims. Sounds like a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

January 30, 2017

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Trump can pick a Supreme Court Justice nominee who passed through the Senate with close to 100% approval for their District Judge posts. Or he can pick judges who passed about 50/50. Depending which type he picks will define the battle that will come from it. What do you think he will do? Here's my prediction- as always he'll pick the path of most resistance.

January 30, 2017

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When Trump says he wants to nominate judges in the mold of Scalia, I like to remember that Scalia was the deciding vote allowing flag burning under the First Amendment.

January 30, 2017

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Emma Eck is a hero! She stopped alongside the road and helped a lady who fell out of her wheelchair into a deep puddle.

E- You have a very broad definition of hero.

B- The hallmark of the true hero is that they don't wish to be considered a hero.

January 30, 2013

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What do you call the conjoined kittens of a siamese cat?

January 30, 2011

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My stomach just laughed at me like a demonic clown... time to cut back my pain medicine I think.

January 30, 2011

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On this day in 1703, the Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.

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The first assassination attempt against a President of the United States occurred on this day in 1835, when Richard Lawrence attempted to shoot president Andrew Jackson. He was subdued by the crowd, including Jackson himself. 

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Hitler took office as the Chancellor of Germany on this day in 1933. Six years to the day later, during a speech in the Reichstag, he made a prediction about the end of Jewish race in Europe if another world war were to occur.

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On this day in 1969, the Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London! It was broken up to some enemies of humankind! For all we know, it would still be going on.

Vonnegut- "I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, ‘The Beatles did.'"

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Franklin D. Roosevelt was born on this day in 1882. Still strange to me that he was a contemporary of my great-grandparents.

"Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."

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Happy birthday to Vasily Arkhipov, who joined us on this day in 1926. Remember to think for yourself, don't necessarily go with the crowd, and you too might save the world one day.

https://youtu.be/E2sqI9aBas0

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Richard Brautigan joined us on this day in 1935.

"I have always wanted to write a book that ended with the word 'mayonnaise.'"

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Other notable birthdays- Gene Hackman (1930), Dick Cheney (1941), Christian Bale (1974)

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Dorothy Thompson left this one this day in 1961, presumably not afraid to die at the time.

"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live."

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Other notable deathdays- Orville Wright (1948), Professor Longhair (1980), Lightnin' Hopkins (1982), Coretta Scott King (2006)

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Time- Q&A With Director Werner Herzog

https://youtu.be/YrKK9v-RoIk

It's not too often you get the opportunity to prove Werner Herzog wrong, but I'm sure that at least one of you ladies can do it. Would you find it exhilarating to be shot at but not killed? Gentlemen, feel free to chime in too.

January 30, 2010

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Matt Taibbi- Populism, Just Like Racism

I think people will be talking about the "highly complicated merger of crime and policy, of stealing and government" for a long time...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/populism-just-like-racism-183505/amp/

January 30, 2010

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TED Talk- Why Societies Collapse by Jared Diamond: 

Genius concerning the end of civilizations, fool concerning the end of a full head of hair.

https://youtu.be/IESYMFtLIis

January 30, 2013

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Cracked- 12 Drunk Texts Recovered From Famous Moments in History

Can't stop laughing at #6... but don't waste your time, it couldn't be stupider.

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_518_12-drunk-texts-recovered-from-famous-moments-in-history/

January 30, 2013

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Buzzfeed- 23 Insanely Haunted Places That'll Scare The Shit Out Of You

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annakopsky/insanely-unsettling-haunted-places-you-can-actually-visit#.et30EVkAaY

January 30, 2016

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50 years since the rooftop concert. I was watching Don't Let Me Down the other day with Gretel, and she started laughing... she thought it was funny that they were on a rooftop singing "don't let me down." I must have watched that video 100+ times over the years, never crossed my mind.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/beatles-famous-rooftop-concert-15-things-you-didnt-know-58342/

January 30, 2019

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Big Think- There’s no way we could stop a rogue AI

If a rogue AI destroys humankind, hopefully it's because it invented the funniest joke possible and we all die laughing.

https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/superintelligent-ai-planck

January 30, 2021

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Fantastic, the story of a blind art collector showing his $120 million Picasso to some friends and he turns and puts his elbow through it. Fran says, "I thought, there is no more suitable and potent symbol for our time than the image of the blind art collector. I think that sums it up. If you were going to write a history of the era, you would call it The Blind Art Collector, and Other Stories."

https://youtu.be/MEuR1ycUFqk

January 30, 2021

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Louella Gallagher- The World's Greatest Knife-Throwing Mother

https://youtu.be/IpWJK9t5l58

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Mark Twain- "Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe."

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Nikolai Gogol- "It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry."

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Jonathan Rauch- "Disagreement is where knowledge comes from, it's what allows us to check each other's errors."

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Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces- "Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. The warrior's approach is to say “yes” to life: “yea” to it all."

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Norm MacDonald- “They say that if you’re afraid of homosexuals, it means that deep down inside you’re actually a homosexual yourself. That worries me because I’m afraid of dogs.”

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Sopranos-

Meadow- What's your problem?

A.J. (listening to heavy metal music)- Asshole Robert Frost. How am I supposed to know what this means?

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Buddha- "You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger."

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Edward Abbey, The Journey Home: 

Some Words in Defense of the American West- "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."

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Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known- "The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence."

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Anne Applebaum, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism- "The emotional appeal of a conspiracy theory is in its simplicity. It explains away complex phenomena, accounts for chance and accidents, offers the believer the satisfying sense of having special, privileged access to the truth. For those who become the one-party state’s gatekeepers, the repetition of these conspiracy theories also brings another reward: power."

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Orwell- "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

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Patton Oswalt:

“You know what doesn’t age well? Woke. It really doesn’t. I’m woke, I think. But I won’t be someday, and so will all of you. Be woke. Be open-minded. Just don’t pat yourself on the back, ’cause it’ll bite you in the ass. Everyone getting canceled now for not being woke was woke about something, they just couldn’t keep up with progress. Progress will always fucking steamroll you. I’m very pro-trans, very pro-gay marriage, very pro-gay rights and very pro-abortion. But that’s going to blow up in my face someday. I’ll be doing comedy when I’m 70, and I will let slip something that I won’t be able to keep up with. I’ll be like, ‘I don’t think people should fuck their clones.’

“‘Boo!’ 

“‘No wait, I’m pro-trans—’

“‘Fuck you, clone hater!’

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Pete Seeger- "Once upon a time, wasn’t singing a part of everyday life as much as talking, physical exercise, and religion? Our distant ancestors, wherever they were in this world, sang while pounding grain, paddling canoes, or walking long journeys. Can we begin to make our lives once more all of a piece? Finding the right songs and singing them over and over is a way to start. And when one person taps out a beat, while another leads into the melody, or when three people discover a harmony they never knew existed, or a crowd joins in on a chorus as though to raise the ceiling a few feet higher, then they also know there is hope for the world."

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Dorothy Parker:

I like to have a martini,

Two at the very most.

After three I'm under the table,

after four I'm under my host.

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Mel Brooks- "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die." 

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John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America:

"When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would scratch this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ships's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, once a bum always a bum. I fear this disease incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself....A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we not take a trip; a trip takes us."

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H.L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy- "Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby."

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You know what they say about Gandhi. He walked so much that the bottoms of his feet got really rough, and his hunger strikes sometimes made him really weak, and his food choices gave him bad breath. He was a super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

And with that, I'm calling it a day.