Chamblee54

Boing Boing has an entertaining yarn today about an exploding can of sauerkraut. A food science class in Prince George, British Columbia let a can of “the popular German sausage topping” sit on a shelf for a few years. The students were quarantined after the incident. ( Is the Quran involved in a quarantine?) “Teachers didn’t know what was inside the can when it blew up, and called the local fire department and police to prevent an outbreak of botulism, a potentially fatal disease caused by bacteria sometimes found in canned food. “
The only problem with the panic is that sauerkraut is way too acidic for botulism, which cannot survive in an environment of less than ph4.6. “Liberty cabbage” is about 10 times too sour.
The embedded video features Sandor Ellix Katz , a “fermentation fetishist” and author. Mr. Katz lives at Short Mountain Sanctuary, described by Boing Boing as a “queer intentional community”. SMS is in Cannon County, Tennessee. The opening to the video was shot on the back porch of the kitchen.
In the video, Mr. Katz talks about the difference between canning and fermentation. In canning, the factory tries to kill the bugs. Botulism is a tough critter, and will often survive the canning process. In fermentation, the microbes are encouraged to grow, and the acids produced will kill botulism.
Of course, sauerkraut is never going to be popular with everyone. In the comments at Boing Boing is this item, from “ugly Canuck”. “I once saw an interview with a hundred-year-old British guy who had fought in the First World War; and when he was asked what the secret to his long life was, he answered, with a twinkle in his eye, “I never ate sauerkraut.””
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

One hundred years ago, President William McKinley was near death. He had been shot September 6, 1901. Medicine at this time was primitive compared to today. During surgery after the shooting, the bullet was not removed. The University of Buffalo makes this comment: “Dr. Mann and the others were neither trained trauma surgeons nor did they bother with disinfection, not even wearing gloves. The first bullet had done little harm; the second entered McKinley’s abdomen. The physicians used improperly sanitized probes and when Mann could not find the bullet, he closed the incision without draining the wound. It was a fateful decision.”
After surgery, the President was taken to the home of John Milburn. He seemed to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse and died September 14, 2001.
President McKinley had been shaking hands at a reception. The meet and greet was at the Academy of Music, as part of the Pan American Expostion in Buffalo, New York. A letter to “The Nation” has this viewpoint. ” Whatever other results may flow from the assassination of President McKinley, let us hope that that object-lesson may be sufficient to put an end to our national habit of promiscuous handshaking in public. It is hard to conceive of a spectacle more fatuous and less edifying than that of a horde of country bumpkins, criminals, cranks, idlers, and curiosity-mongers standing in line waiting for a chance to grab and squeeze the hand of the unhappy Chief Executive of this country.”
There were anarchists in 1901, who had murdered several European leaders. Several of McKinley’s advisors did not think the reception was a good idea, and forced him to have extra security. A writer in the Buffalo Courier observed on September 5 “The surrounding of President McKinley by a body-guard of detectives when he appears in public, is probably as distasteful to himself as it is to abstract American sentiment, but as long as the earth is infested by malevolent cranks and unreasoning Anarchists, the precaution is entirely proper.”
A young man named Leon Czolgosz ( pronounced CHOL gosh) managed to wait in line with a concealed weapon. He was seen to shoot President McKinley. He was immediately captured, and executed October 29, 1901.
The video embedded with this feature speaks of a possible conspiracy. There would seem to be people who stood to benefit from having Teddy Roosevelt in the White House.
Lew Rockwell speaks of a rivalry between John Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan. Rockefeller man McKinley was replaced by Morgan supporter Roosevelt, who promptly began to break up the trusts. Another historian, connected to Lyndon LaRouche , speaks of British interests, and the rise of Confederate power. McKinley was a target of media superstar William Randolph Hearst. An editorial printed in the April 10, 1901 Journal asserted that “If bad institutions and bad men can be got rid of only by killing, then the killing must be done.”
Some say that a murder one hundred years ago does not affect us today. However, an argument could be made that the death of McKinley set in motion events that led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System, and American participation in World War I. Both of those events have had effects lasting until today.
It is curious how President McKinley is mostly forgotten today. Some say he was most popular President since Lincoln . McKinley had been a wartime President, who won. His sucessor, Teddy Roosevelt, is on Mount Rushmore, and is a superstar President. Mr. Roosevelt also ran as a third party candidate in 1912, and helped to elect Woodrow Wilson. ( Mr. Wilson was alleged to be a member of the “Omega Group”.) Mr. Roosevelt’s popularity is very different from the other three Vice Presidents who were promoted by the murder of the President.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.

This weekend is the start of the NFL season. At the first game, the players, from both teams, stood silently and held a finger in the air. The gesture meant that the players were united in the negotiations with the league for a new union contract.
During the game, an announcement was made. Tom Brady, a quarterback, signed a contract. Terms were not released, but the estimate was that he would be paid $18 million a year. This works out to a bit over a million dollars a game.
The New York Times had a story this week about stadium debt in New Jersey. It seems like the old Meadowlands Stadium, now a parking lot, has roughly $100 million dollars in debt remaining. The taxpayers of New Jersey, for some reason, are responsible for this. The Giants and Jets open a new stadium this weekend. Somebody paid $1.6 billion for the new facility. HT to aimlow.
Locally, the Falcons are clamoring for a new stadium. Twenty years ago, the team threatened to move, if a new stadium was not built. A hotel-motel tax was passed to pay for it. Today, the state is broke, and Atlanta is poised to run out of water. Where will the money come from to pay for a new stadium for the Falcons?
America is in an economic mess. We are borrowing to pay for two wars, eight time zones away. The needs of education, health care, and infrastructure are immense. Can we afford to pay a quarterback a million dollars a game? Where does the madness end? Is football about to become the luxury our culture can no longer afford?

“In the first year of the twenty first century, there is strange and wondrous beauty. ” So said the trailer for a movie about the year 2001, produced sometime in the sixties. The reality was different.
Today is the ninth anniversary of the day that 2001 is remembered for. 911 has always been a political/religious/media carnival, but this year has taken an ugly turn. The anti Islam hatred is breathtaking. What does this say about Jesus?
One feature of the last ten years is the rise of citizen journalism. 911 is a big story, and many bloggers tell their 911 story . Mine is repeated below, with a few comments from 2009.
Last year, it seemed like the momentum for observing 911 was running out. Since then, the war effort in Babylon has changed. For some reason, a wave of anti Islamic hatred has taken America by the throat. And yes, there is an election in a few weeks. The even year 911s…with an election to be exploited…have always been noisier than the odd years.
So here is the annual 911 story from Chamblee54. Joe My G-d was on Manhattan that day, and has much more to say. The pictures are from The Library of Congress. span>
Today is the second 911 since the regime change. Mr. Bush gained much political capitol from the attacks, and used it foolishly. America is stuck in two costly wars. America has gone from a budget surplus to a trillion dollar deficit. Mr. Bush dug Mr. Obama a deep hole to climb out of.
The knee jerk reaction to 911 was to go to war. An invasion of Afghanistan was facilitated by “Operation Enduring Freedom” on October 7, 2001. Eight years later, America is stuck. Al Queda and the Taliban exist, as well as other jihad fighters that have not become famous. Pakistan is in danger. Iraq and Iran are allies. America is being bled white by these wars, and cannot withdraw for fear. This is a self inflicted defeat. The terrorists won.
When PG started this blog, other bloggers liked to tell their 911 stories. A quick glance today says that this custom is fading away. The corporate media is making less noise about 911 now, which is also good. How do you best remember a humiliating disaster?
PG is going to buck the trend, and publish his 911 story for the fifth time. This is written in first person. The company where PG was working no longer exists.
Most of my fellow bloggers are telling their 911 stories. Mine is not that dramatic. I was at work, and someone called out that someone had run a plane into the World Trade Center. I didn’t think much of it, until I heard that the second tower had been hit, then the pentagon, then the towers collapsed, then a plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
I focused on my job most of the day. There was always a lot of melodrama at that facility, and concentrating on my production duties helped to keep me sane. This was roughly the halfway point of my seven year tenure at this place, which featured an unfortunate association with a professional Jesus worshiper. After the extent of the damage became known, he shouted “ They are doing this for Allah” , and prayed at his desk. After seeing just what a hateful loudmouth Jesus created, the spectacle of the PJW praying made me want to puke.
I became alienated from Jesus during these years. Where I had once been tolerant of Christians and Jesus, as one would be with an eccentric relative, I had come to loath the entire affair…and I do not make excuses for Jesus either. I hear of others who found comfort in religion during this difficult time, but that option was simply not available for me.

PG woke up on nine ten ten, rumored to be the German cousin of Rin Tin Tin. He cut the computer on, went to facebook, and saw some well meaning friend saying ” If you have lived through something that proves that our G-d is an awesome G-d, press Like! “. This tidbit is featured on a like page with ads from E-Harmony.
This rubbed PG the wrong way, and he began to think of a reply. The third commandment, with it’s caution about using the G word in vain, was an option. Another option was ” If you have lived through something that proves Jesus is an asshole”. That is a rude thing to say about a useful body part.
Breakfast came and went. The internet has people with things to say. PG decided the thing to do was get on his bike and go to the yard sale. There were several boxes of VHS tapes. PG bought “Naked Lunch”, “Monty Python Volume 13”, “Beetlejuice”, and “The Big Lebowski” for two dollars.
All this time, PG was mulling over his post about religion. Between nutcase preachers who want to burn the Koran, bald headed bloggers , and 56 years in America, there is no shortage of material. The trouble is, no one is going to change their opinions because of it, and this will not make PG enjoy his own life more. You should never wrestle with a hog…you will just get dirty, and the hog will enjoy it.
When he got home, PG opened his email, and there was a message with “FW: Fwd: Fw: Southernisms / Northernisms ” in the subject line. When in doubt, recycle a joke email. HT to Uzi for this message. Pictures for this entertainment are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” PG listened to the Allman Brothers while composing this post.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH The difference between the North and the South – clearly explained….at last//The North has Bloomingdale’s , the South has Dollar General//The North has coffee houses, the South has Waffle Houses .//The North has dating services, the South has family reunions.//The North has switchblade knives, the South has .45’s//The North has double last names, the South has double first names.//The North has Indy car races, The South has NASCAR races .//The North has Cream of Wheat, the South has grits.//The North has green salads, the South has collard greens .//The North has lobsters, the South has crawfish .// The North has the rust belt, the South has the Bible Belt. //FOR NORTHERNERS MOVING SOUTH . . ….. In the South : If you run your car into a ditch, don’t panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don’t try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.//Don’t be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store… Do not buy food at this store. //Remember, ‘Y’all’ is singular, ‘all y’all’ is plural, and ‘all y’all’s’ is plural possessive//Get used to hearing ‘You ain’t from round here, are ya?’//Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.//Don’t be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can’t understand you either.//The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner’s vocabulary is the adjective ‘big’ol,’ truck or ‘big’ol’ boy. Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.//The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper .//Be advised that ‘He needed killin..’ is a valid defense here.//If you hear a Southerner exclaim, ‘Hey, y’all watch this,’ you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he’ll ever say.//If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn’t matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.//Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim.//In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.//AND REMEMBER: If you do settle in the South and bear children, don’t think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, we ain’t gonna call ’em biscuits.//Send this to four people that ain’t related to you, and I reckon your life will turn into a country music song ‘fore you know it.//Your kin would get a kick out of it too! // SOUTHERN GALs Southern women know their summer weather report: Humidity, Humidity, Humidity //Southern women know their vacation spots:The beach,The rivuh,The crick//Southern women know everybody’s first name:Honey,Darlin’,Shugah//Southern women know their religions: Baptist, Methodist, Football,//Southern women know their cities dripping with Southern charm: Chawl’stn, S’vanah,Foat Wuth, N’awlins , Addlanna //Southern women know their elegant gentlemen:Men in uniform,Men in tuxedos,Rhett Butler//Southern girls know their prime real estate:The Mall,The Country Club, The Beauty Salon//Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins: Having bad hair and nails,Having bad manners,Cooking bad food//More Suthen-ism’s:Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don’t “HAVE” them, you “PITCH” them.//Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up “a mess.”// Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of “yonder.”// Only a Southerner knows exactly how long “directly” is, as in: “Going to town, be back dreckly. I need sum kobir”//Even Southern babies know that “Gimme some sugar” is not a request for the white, granular, sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.// All Southerners know exactly when “by and by” is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.//Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who’s got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor’s trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin’!// Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between “right near” and “a right fur piece.” They also know that “jist down the road” can be 1 mile or 20.//Only a Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol’ boy, and po’ white trash.//No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.// A Southerner knows that “fixin” can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.// Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, … and when we’re “in line,”… we talk to everybody!// Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they’re related, even if only by marriage.// In the South, y’all is singular, all y’all is plural.// Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.//Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.//When you hear someone say, “Well, I caught myself lookin’, you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!//Only true Southerners say “sweet tea” and “sweet milk.” Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it — we do not like our tea unsweetened. “Sweet milk” means you don’t want buttermilk.//And a true Southerner knows you don’t scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,”Bless her heart”… and go your own way.//To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your sweet little ol’ heart!// And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff….bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin’ to have classes on Southernness as a second language!//Southern girls know men may come and go, but friends are fahevah !//Now Shugah, send this to someone who was raised in the South or wish they had been! If you’re a Northern transplant, bless your little ol’ heart, fake it. We know you got here as fast as you could.// SAVE YER CONFEDERATE MONEY, BOYS…..THE SOUTH’L RISE AGAIN

Henry Kissinger told a joke to Richard Nixon. It became known as Mr. Nixon’s favorite joke. A man asked Richard Wagner, Do you spell your name with a W. He replied, Nien, W.
It is 1027 pm, edt, on September 8, 2009. Soon it will be 09-09-09. It is already that day in Europe and Asia, not to mention Africa. If Africa is backwards, remember that it is, time wise, ahead of America by several hours.
)()()( oops, the shift key just loves to make trouble. Lets try this again. Be sure to leave the 9mm alone. Or use the canine squad. If you see Kay, give her love potion number nine.
090909 is a really neat day. And not just because the day after tomorrow is 911, and we know goes on then. 090909 is the last day of its type until 01/01/2101. A day expressed by three zeros and three single digit numbers.
Nine is the largest of the single digit numbers. It is a baseball team, without the DH. A baseball game lasts nine innings, just like a pregnancy lasts nine months. A pregnancy is not considered a complete game if it is rained out after the fifth inning.
Nine is pronounced the same as No in German. Is today known in Berlin as oh no, oh no, oh no? Will Yoko Ono make an appearance to celebrate? Will The Supremes reunite and square to become the Supreme Court?
Nine is an odd number. Nine is three squared. If you multiply a number by nine, and then add the digits of the sum together, you will get nine. An example is 2×9=18, and 1+8=9.
Nine is six upside down. A pristine pastime popularized 69. Jimi Hendrix wondered if six turned out to be nine, he don’t mind. The Beatles did a song called Revolution number nine, which said “turn me on dead man” if played backwards. Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine.
This is a repost from this time last year. This is the year of tens. In 31 days, it will be 10/10/10. Rin Tin Tin will still be dead.

September 8 is International Literacy Day . Many of us take the ability to read for granted. We forget the millions in the USA who cannot read, or can only read simple things.
It was not that long ago that all communications were by word of mouth. First man learned to write, and to read what was written. ( There were probably some who thought writing to be evil, that man should depend totally on memory.) For many years, only a few people were scribes. Texts were copied by hand. Creation of the medium was a major chore.
In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. It has been downhill ever since. With more reading material available, more people learned to read. They were no longer dependent on what their leaders told them. Whether this made the people more independent, or made the leaders work harder to manipulate the people, is a good question.
While reading is a good activity, a bit of thought about what you are reading is helpful. Not everything that you read is the truth. This is why PG likes fiction…with a novel, you know it is a made up story.
Today, there is more to read than ever. The printed page is supplemented by the digital offering. Not everyone is happy about the advent of e books. Indeed, both hard copy and virtual verbiage have pros and cons, in addition to prose and poetry.
There is also collections of quotes about reading. These provide a collection of different ideas, not all of which are agreeable. The pictures for today’s adventure are from The Library of Congress. An HT for the word on ILD goes to Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub .
Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown- There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read. ~G.K. Chesterton ( PG does not really agree with this. It is included as an illustration of the difference between wisdom and a clever phrase.)- Many people, other than the authors, contribute to the making of a book, from the first person who had the bright idea of alphabetic writing through the inventor of movable type to the lumberjacks who felled the trees that were pulped for its printing. It is not customary to acknowledge the trees themselves, though their commitment is total. ~Forsyth and Rada, Machine Learning- I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen, “Enough Bookshelves,” New York Times, 7 August 1991 (PG went to a party once at a grand house. There was a library room, whose walls were lined with bookshelves. The man used the shelves to display his baseball hat collection.)- Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx- A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb- We should read to give our souls a chance to luxuriate. ~Henry Miller- Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you. ~Harold Bloom- There’s nothing to match curling up with a good book when there’s a repair job to be done around the house. ~Joe Ryan – A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul. ~Franz Kafka- Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all. ~Abraham Lincoln- Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures. ~Jessamyn West ( As the prolific Author Unknown puts it, to tell the truth you need to write fiction. Also, real life is bad fiction.)- TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they’ll have with twenty-six. Open your child’s imagination. Open a book. ~Author Unknown- Books had instant replay long before televised sports. ~Bern Williams- This will never be a civilized country until we expend more money for books than we do for chewing gum. ~Elbert Hubbard- Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. ~Mark Twain- No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning- Medicine for the soul. ~Inscription over the door of the Library at Thebes- I divide all readers into two classes; those who read to remember and those who read to forget. ~William Lyon Phelps- Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes. ~John LeCarre- Never judge a book by its movie. ~J.W. Eagan ( A man sat behind a lady and a dog in a movie theater once. The dog sat on the edge of his seat during chase scenes, and howled at the jokes. Finally, the man could contain himself no longer, and tapped the woman on the shoulder. Ma’m, I am astonished at your dog’s enjoyment of this movie. So am I, Sir, he hated the book.) – The multitude of books is making us ignorant. ~Voltaire- There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book; books are well written or badly written. ~Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 – Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. ~Richard Steele, Tatler, 1710- A dirty book is rarely dusty. ~Author Unknown

PG has reread How to choose a guru by Rick Chapman. The book is a look at spirituality of all sorts, with a special emphasis on Meher Baba.
HTCAG can be a frustrating book. The main focus is on finding a “perfect master”, and the path to enlightenment under his guidance. If one is not inclined to this level of dedication, then a reader can be left feeling inferior. This is similar to the despair people feel when they think they are going to go to hell because they don’t have the correct ideas about Jesus.
Still, this is a valuable book. It takes a look at spirit from the perspective of all religions. A central concept is the avatar, the idea of G-d become man. The avatars of recorded history include Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed. Some say that Meher Baba is the modern avatar.
Mr. Chapman has a knack for phrasing. There are expressions that PG remembers from reading HTCAG in 1978, that are still there 32 years later.
The average persons speculation about consciousness…has “the stink but not the weight of his turd”
If you have been toying with the thought that any form of Satan worship can lead you to higher consciousness, sober up by reading the story of Dr. Faustus. There are many paths to enlightenment, but this back alley isn’t one of them.
GOOD THOUGHTS/GOOD WORDS/GOOD DEEDS Don’t be sidetracked by elaborate creeds and doctrines- the truth is as simple as it is profound. From the ancient teachings of Zoraster to today, these three principles have been the heart of the message of every G-d realized Master.
BOOKS “Excellent guides until you find the Way.”–Abu Sa’id
EVANGELISMAn authentic Master will encourage you to let your life itself be his message.
TRUTH, OLD AND NEW One time the Buddha was approached by a young man who was skeptical about Gautama’s renowned divine status. “Does the Blessed One teach a path that is new and original?” he asked. One of the Buddha’s close disciples, Sariputta, turned his gaze from the Master to the skeptic and replied, “If the Blessed One taught a path that was new and original, He would not be the Blessed One!” “Well said, Sariputta,” smiled the Buddha, “well said.”
CREATION, THE STORY OF First, there was G-d. Then, there’s you. Then, there is G-d.
…the scriptures of the past compare to the writings of a present-day Perfect Master just about the way that dust compares to honey.
A real guru never has any form of sexual relations with his followers. If a person posing as a guru tries to seduce you in the physical sense, then you can have no clearer indication that he is a phony, a pathetic and hypocritical collection of unresolved desires.
Several of the above quotes are available in copy/paste form at Meher Baba Information, for which this reporter says thank you. This site says that Rick Chapman is a follower of Meher Baba, and met him in 1966. This relationship is never made explicit in HTCAG. A glowing chapter is devoted to Meher Baba , and this relationship is not surprising. Still, HTCAG might be a bit more upfront if this relationship was clearly spelled out.
Meher Baba was born February 25, 1894 with the name Merwan Sheriar Irani. The name Meher Baba means “compassionate father”. From July 10, 1925 until his death January 31, 1969, he maintained silence, and communicated by gestures that were interpreted by his followers.
With all of it’s human imperfections, HTCAG was a valuable book to PG. It is easy to read, will expose you to ideas about spirit, and get you to think. When you grow up in the Jesus Worship tradition, one can be aware of a spirit within. At the same time, you are frustrated by the obsession with life after death. You sense that there is more to G-d than scheming to live after you die. HTCAG is one path for this journey to follow.

This a story of war, and pictures. There are two groups of pictures. The people in these pictures are all deceased because of war.
A lady named Kaziah Hancock lives on a goat farm in Utah. She renders oil portraits of soldiers who have died in foreign wars. The pictures are based on photographs of the soldiers, while still alive. The portraits are shipped to the family of the soldier.
Eight time zones away, there is a “pastel-colored room at the Baghdad morgue known simply as the Missing , where faces of the thousands of unidentified dead of this war are projected onto four screens.” Families come here to look for relatives, to try learn about their loved ones.
The pictures are not based on a photograph from happier times. “No. 5060 passed, with a bullet to the right temple; 5061, with a bruised and bloated face; 5062 bore a tattoo that read, “Mother, where is happiness?” The eyes of 5071 were open, as if remembering what had happened to him.”
In the story quoted here, the mother of 5061 identified him as her son. “No. 5061 was Muhammad Jassem Bouhan al-Izzawi, father, son and brother. At 9 a.m., on that Sunday, Aug. 15, his family left the morgue in a white Nissan and set out to find his body in a city torn between remembering and forgetting, where death haunts a country neither at war nor peace.”
Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress.

WFMU has an audio file on the subject of brainwashing. BW is a concept that was popular in the sixties, but seems to have faded away since then. The idea is that a person can have his outlook changed by exposure to ideas that he once found disagreeable. Maybe the reason it is no longer discussed is because it is subtly practiced on the population here.
The term brainwashing first was used during the Korean War. Soldiers who were captured by the enemy were subjected to psychological warfare, and some of them succumbed.
The man in the tape, Edward Hunter, plausibly claims to have invented the term brainwashing. During some Asian war, he was talking to someone, and they used the phrase “wash brain”. Mr. Hunter claims to have been a journalist, but appears to have had some work with the CIA and OSS  (the world war two predecessor to the CIA).
Mr. Hunter had some interesting things to say. To him, John Birch was a hero. The bad name Mr. Birch got as a result of his namesake organization is most unfair to his memory. “One of America’s greatest heroes ever”.
The interview was broadcast on WJW in Cleveland OH, on “The Important Show”. WJW had been the home of rock and roll pioneer Alan Freed. The Hunter broadcast evidently took place some time in the 1960s. Whether this is before or after the death of John Kennedy is not known.
PG has always worried about the environmental issues regarding the disposal of rinse water after brain washing. Pictures for this exercise are from The Library of Congress.

PG got an email from Uzi, with a list of home remedies, and alternate product uses. Peanut butter has three alternative uses, which is one more than preparation H. No one ever made a preparation H and jelly sandwich.
To remove labels off glassware, rub with peanut butter. To remove ink from the face of dolls, use peanut butter. To get the scratches out of CD’s, use peanut butter, and wipe off with a coffee filter.
Peanuts were used by the Incas in 950b.c. It probably didn’t take much imagination to grind the beans into a paste. To claim inventing peanut butter is like claiming to invent the knot.
In recent times, Dr. Ambrose Straub of St. Louis patented a peanut butter-making machine in 1903. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented a “Process of Preparing Nut Meal” in 1895. Kellogg served the patients at his Battle Creek Sanitarium peanut butter.
Joseph L. Rosenfield invented a churning process that made smooth peanut butter smooth. In 1928, Rosenfield licensed his invention to the Pond Company, the makers of Peter Pan peanut butter. In 1932, Rosenfield began making his own brand of peanut butter called Skippy.
Did someone say George Washington Carver? Dr. Carver discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut. However, Dr. Carver did not patent peanut butter, as he believed food products were all gifts from God. The Incas beat all of these men by 2800 years.
In 1976, a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia was elected President. It is also known the his brother Billy ran the family business, while Jimmy got mixed up in politics. While President, Mr. Carter was revealed to be a major user of Preparation H.
Now that we are confused about who invented peanut butter, the next question is, why butter? In The Netherlands, the product is called Pinda Kaas, or peanut cheese. It could as easily be mud, goo, or cream, as butter.
A google search on “why is peanut paste called peanut butter?” yielded an article about salmonella issues. Wikipedia sheds no light on the subject, but does mention that peanut butter is an effective bait for mouse traps. This is a repost. The picture of Jimmy Carter is from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” . Other pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Inventors.about.com has a page about “The history of peanut butter”. Portions of the text were copied into this post.

In the waters of the Turkish bath, Herbert took a break. Honest work was tiresome, and the taunts of neighbors did not make it any easier. Sometimes, the only thing you could do was look forward to the end of the day.
Her skin was as smooth as silk, but had the color of spoiled milk. You wonder how Jizzelle got like this. In her youth she had been a beauty, and the decline was steep.
Though he had reservations for dinner, Herbert decided to stay a bit longer at the baths. While he really did love Jizzelle, sometimes her hygeine issues were just too much to bare.
When she glided into the room, Arthella knew every eye was on her. Not every girl  embellished her plastic leg with glitter and sequins. The mother of pearl external brassiere was a special touch.
The chirping of the baby birds showed that they knew it was feeding time. Jizzelle was too lazy to feed them, and Arthella was not yet used to moving on her glittering prosthetic. Herbert knew it was his job, but somehow just did not care.
Unlike her sister, Arthella took a bath every day. The only problem was, she left the supplemental leg on. The glitter and sequins washed off the plastic leg, and caused major plumbing problems.
Before the rains came Herbert had wondered when he was going to work again. Being a rent boy was lots of fun, but the rude comments from Jizzelle were annoying. Now that the rain was falling, Herbert never lacked for something to do.
The broken perfume bottle was the beginning of the end for Herbert and Jizzelle. He bought the perfume to cover the revolting aroma. Herbert never suspected Arthella would break the bottle.
Despite many unsuccessful attempts ar reconciliation, the marriage of Herbert and Jizzelle was off. The many troubles stemming from hygeine issues could not be resolved. While Arthella thought she could snag handsome Herbert on the rebound, she too was destined for disappointment.
The slow, steady dripping in the bathtub could only mean one thing. Arthella had hoped to lure Herbert into the water with her for a prosthetic free romp. The only trouble is, Herbert had a date.
This story is based on an exercise at thewritersspot .