Does G-d Exist?
On Wednesday, July 21, 2010, there was a debate, with the topic being “Does G-d exist?”. The opponents were Christopher Hitchens vs. Dr. William Lane Craig. The host was Biola University, a Christian college in La Mirada, CA.
Those who have endured religious debates will be intrigued by the lack of interruptions. With one exception, the two participants were allowed to finish their statements without interruption. The two did seem to have different ideas of what the topic of the debate was.
It is not known who won. There were numerous logical fallacies performed. Stray men were persecuted, and positions were misrepresented. The language was semanticized to the point of no return. This is to be expected, considering that it was beliefs that were being debated. There was self satisfaction at having “this most important of all discussions.”
PG has listened to the debate twice. The second time he followed the transcript, and took notes. His opinion did not change. PG suspects that G-d exists. The world might be a happier place if she did not exist, but we might be stuck with her. Where PG differs with conventional wisdom is on the matter of belief. Is belief the correct way to approach G-d? Is there a better way to “know” G-d?
One problem with Christianity is the emphasis on life after death. It is the only game in town. If you do not agree with the scheme for life after death, you have little reason to follow the Christian religion. The obsession with life after death is not discussed in this debate. In fact, Dr. Craig lists the resurrection of Jesus as being evidence of the existence of G-d.
In terms of tone, Mr. Hitchens is more pleasant to listen to. Dr. Craig speaks with the rhythms of a pulpit preacher. His message could be recycled as a sermon, including this part of his final statement: “And so, I want to invite Mr. Hitchens to think about becoming a Christian tonight.” Dr. Craig played the victim.”First, have we seen any good arguments tonight to think that God does not exist? No, I don’t think we have. We’ve heard attacks upon religion, Christianity impugned, God impugned, Mother Teresa impugned, but we haven’t heard any arguments that God does not exist.”
Mr. Hitchens, speaking before cancer and chemotherapy took it’s toll, was gracious, thanking his hosts repeatedly. His arguments were presented in the manner of a lecture, rather than a sermon. He piled facts on top of facts, and built his case in an entertaining style. What remains of his British tongue is employed to great effect. Whatever one thinks of Christopher Hitchens (and his appalling opinions about the war in Babylon), one cannot deny that he is a master user of the english language.
The debate began with both men giving twenty minute opening statements. Dr. Craig presented a five point argument. (the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the moral argument, the resurrection of Jesus, the immediate experience of G-d) He likes to use big words. Dr. Craig said something in the cosmological section that made PG take notes.
“Typically atheists have answered this question by saying that the universe is just eternal and uncaused. But there are good reasons, both philosophically and scientifically, to think that the universe began to exist. Philosophically, the idea of an infinite past seems absurd. Just think about it: If the universe never began to exist, that means that the number of past events in the history of the universe is infinite. But mathematicians recognize that the existence of an actually infinite number of things leads to self-contradictions. For example, what is infinity minus infinity? Well, mathematically you get self-contradictory answers. This shows that infinity is just an idea in your mind, not something that exists in reality. David Hilbert, perhaps the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century, wrote, “The infinite is nowhere to be found in reality. It neither exists in nature, nor provides a legitimate basis for rational thought. The role that remains for the infinite to play is solely that of an idea.” But that entails that since past events are not just ideas but are real, the number of past events must be finite, therefore the series of past events can’t go back forever.”
A foundation belief of Christianity is the idea that if you have the correct thoughts about Jesus you will live forever. The phrase “eternal life” is repeated, well, eternally. The thing about eternity that you never hear is, is something does not have an end, then it does not have a beginning. To hear about a human life, with a beginning and no end, this is only half of eternity. Getting back to Dr. Craig’s sermon, this does not add up. If life can be said to go on eternally in the future, should it not go on eternally in the past?
The fourth argument … the resurrection of Jesus … is not going to convince some people. If you believe this happened, then you probably believe in G-d already. Dr. Craig said something that would come back to haunt him… “He carried out a ministry of miracle working and exorcisms.”
Mr. Hitchens had a reply. “But there came a time, probably about 180,000 years ago, when, due to a terrible climatic event, probably in Indonesia, an appalling global warming crisis occurred and the estimate is that the number of humans in Africa went down to between forty and thirty thousand. This close, this close—think about fine tuning—this close to joining every other species that had gone extinct. And that’s our Exodus story is that somehow we don’t know how because it’s not written in any Scripture, it’s not told in any book, it’s not part of any superstitious narrative but somehow we escaped from Africa to cooler latitudes was made, but that’s how close it was. You have to be able to imagine that all this mass extinction and death and randomness is the will of a being. You are absolutely free to believe that if you wish. And all of this should happen so that one very imperfect race of evolved primates should have the opportunity to become Christians or to turn up at this gym tonight, that all of that was done with us in view. It’s a curious kind of solipsism, it’s a curious kind of self-centeredness”
“Now it’s often said, it was said tonight, and Dr. Craig said it in print, that atheists think they can prove the nonexistence of God. This, in fact, very slightly but crucially misrepresents what we’ve always said. … Here’s what we argue: We argue quite simply that there’s no plausible or convincing reason, certainly no evidential one, to believe that there is such an entity, and that all observable phenomena, including the cosmological one to which I’m coming, are explicable without the hypothesis. You don’t need the assumption. And this objection itself, our school falls into at least two, perhaps three sections. There’s no such thing, no such word though there should be, as “adeism” or as being an “adeist” but there if was one I would say that’s what I was. I don’t believe that we are here as the result of a design or that by making the appropriate propitiations and adopting the appropriate postures and following the appropriate rituals we can overcome death I don’t believe that and for a priori reasons don’t. If there was such a force, which I cannot prove by definition that there was not, if there was an entity that was responsible for the beginning of the cosmos, and that also happened to be busily engineering the very laborious product—production of life on our little planet, it still wouldn’t prove that this entity cared about us, answered prayers, cared what church we went to, or whether we went to one at all, cared who we had sex with or in what position or by what means, cared what we ate or on what day, cared whether we lived or died. There’s no reason at all why this entity isn’t completely indifferent to us. That you cannot get from deism to theism except by a series of extraordinarily generous, to yourself, assumptions.”
“Now, then he goes on to say the Bible says all men are without excuse: “Even those who are given no reason to believe, and many persuasive reasons to disbelieve, have no excuse but because the ultimate reason they do not believe is that they have deliberately rejected G-d’s Holy Spirit.” That would have to be me. But you see where this lands you, ladies and gentlemen, with the Christian apologetic: You’re told you’re a miserable sinner, who is without excuse; you’ve disappointed your G-d who made you and you’ve been so ungrateful as to rebel; you’re contemptible; your wormlike; but you can take heart, the whole universe was designed with just you in mind. These two claims are not just mutually exclusive but I think they’re intended to compensate each other’s cruelty and, ultimately, absurdity.”
It should be noted that this post is an attempt to condense a two hour discussion into a length that will not scare off readers. Many parts are being left out, some of which might be important. If the reader has the time, curiosity, and patience, here is the video and the transcript. Be sure to put fresh batteries in your BS detector. Use alcohol, drugs, or prayer at your own risk.
The second part of the evening was a twelve minute rebuttal by both sides. Dr. Craig said that Mr. Hitchens did not refute his claims. Mr. Hitchens said:” There is a terminological problem here which may conceal more than just terminological difficulty: The proposition that atheism is true is a misstatement of what I have to prove and what we believe. There’s an argument among some of us as to whether that we need the word at all. In other words, I don’t have a special name for my unbelief in tooth fairies, say, or witches, or in Santa Claus. I just don’t think that they’re there. I don’t have to prove “atoothfairyism”; I don’t have to prove “asantaclausism”; I don’t have to prove “awitchism.” It’s just, I have to say, I think that those who do believe these things have never been able to make a plausible or intelligible case for doing so.”
“probably dying agonizingly of their teeth, poorly evolved as the teeth are and from other inheritances from being primates such as the appendix that we don’t need, such as the fact that our genitalia appear to be designed by a committee, other short comings of the species, exaggerated by scarcity, by war, by famine, by competition and so on and for 98,000 years or so heaven watches this with complete indifference … heaven watches this with total indifference and then with 2,000 years to go on the clock thinks, “Actually, it’s time we intervened. We can’t go on like this, why don’t we have someone tortured to death in Bronze Age Palestine? That should teach them; that should give them a chance at redemption.” You’re free to believe that, but I think the designer who thought of doing it that way is a very, or was a very cruel, capricious, random, bungling, and incompetent one.”
The next section is where the debaters cross examine each other. In this section, Dr. Craig displayed Christian courtesy… he interrupted Mr. Hitchens repeatedly. Here is a key section from the first part (Where Dr. Craig asks the questions)
CRAIG: What is your view exactly? Do you affirm G-d does not exist or do you simply withhold belief?
HITCHENS: I think once I have said that I’ve never seen any persuasive evidence for the existence in something, and I’ve made real attempts to study the evidence presented and the arguments presented, that I will go as far as to say, have the nerve to say, that it does not therefore exist except in the minds of its…
CRAIG: Alright, so…
HITCHENS: Except in the Henry Jamesian subject of sense that you say of it being so real to some people in their own minds that it counts as a force in the world.
CRAIG: Alright, that it’s objective. Ok, so you do affirm then that G-d does not exist. Now, what I want to know and and do you have any justification for that?
HITCHENS: [Thinking his microphone has come undone] I think I’ve come unwired.
The second part… (Where Mr. Hitchens asked the questions) got bloody.
HITCHENS: Ah, well, I’d like to know first: You said that the career of Jesus of Nazareth involved a ministry of miracles and exorcisms. When you say “exorcism,” do you mean that you believe in devils?
CRAIG: What I meant there was that most historians agree that Jesus of Nazareth practiced miracle working and he practiced exorcisms. I’m not committing myself, nor are historians committing themselves, to the reality of demons but they are saying that Jesus did practice exorcism and he practiced healing.
HITCHENS: So you believe that Jesus of Nazareth caused devils to leave the body of a madman and go into a flock of pigs that hurled themselves down the Gadarene slopes into the sea?
CRAIG: Do I believe that’s historical? Yes.
HITCHENS: Right. That would be sorcery, wouldn’t it though?
CRAIG: No, it would be an illustration of Jesus’ ability to command even the forces of darkness and therefore an illustration of the sort of divine authority that he was able to command and exercise. This, as I say, is illustrative of this unprecedented sense of divine authority that Jesus of Nazareth had that he even could command the forces of darkness and that they would obey. So, whether you think he was a genuine exorcist or that he merely believed himself to be an exorcist, what is historically undeniable is that he had this radical sense of divine authority which he expressed by miracle working and exorcisms.
HITCHENS: Right. And do you believe he was born of a virgin?
CRAIG: Yes, I believe that as a Christian. I couldn’t claim to prove that historically, that’s not part of my case tonight. But as a Christian I believe that.
HITCHENS: And I know you believe in the resurrection but…
CRAIG: Yes, that I think we have good evidence.
HITCHENS: As a matter of biblical, what shall we call it, consistency, it’s said in one of the Gospels that at the time of the crucifixion all the graves of Jerusalem were opened and all the tenants of the graves walked the streets and greeted their old friends. It makes resurrection sound rather commonplace in the greater Jerusalem area.
CRAIG: That’s in the Gospel of Matthew and that’s actually attached to a crucifixion narrative.
HITCHENS: That’s what I said, it says at the time of the crucifixion.
CRAIG: Yes, that’s right, at the time of the crucifixion it says that there were appearances of Old Testament saints in Jerusalem at the time. This is part of Matthew’s description of the crucifixion .
HITCHENS: I mean, do you believe that?
CRAIG: I don’t know whether Matthew intends this to be apocalyptic imagery or whether he means this to be taken literally. I’ve not studied it in any depth and I’m open minded about it. I’m willing to be convinced one way or the other.
HITCHENS: You see the reason I’m pressing you is this: Because, I mean, we know from Scripture that Pharoahs’ magicians could produce miracles. In the end, Aaron could outproduce them, but what I’m suggesting to you is even if the laws of nature can be suspended and great miracles can be performed, it doesn’t prove the truth of the doctrine of the person who’s performing them. Would you not agree to that?
CRAIG: Not necessarily, I think that’s right.
HITCHENS: So somebody could be casting out devils from pigs and that wouldn’t prove he was the son of God?
CRAIG: I think that’s right. In fact, there were Jewish exorcists. The only point that I was trying to make there that this was illustrative of the kind of divine authority that Jesus claimed, especially since He didn’t cast them out…
HITCHENS: But if…
CRAIG: …in G-d’s name or He didn’t perform miracles by praying to G-d, He would do them in His own authority, so that Jesus exercised an authority that was simply unhard of at that time and, for which He was eventually crucified because it was thought to be blasphemous.
HITCHENS: Well, it was though to be blasphemous to have claimed to be the Messiah, to be exact. I mean, the people who got the closest look at him, the Jewish Sanhedrin, thought that his claims were not genuine so, remember, if you resting anything on eye witnesses, the ones who we definitely know were there thought he was bogus. But ok, I think I’ve got a rough idea—asuming you make that assumption of his pre-existing divinity, that it’s a presuppositionalist case, I can see what you’re driving it.
CRAIG:: Well no, I’m not a presuppositionalist.
In the rest of the debate, both men rehashed the points made earlier. Both men probably thought himself to be the winner. Pictures for this commentary are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
I Simply Do Not Understand
PG was directed to a post, Why Is There Pee on the Floor?. It was *aimed* at a problem that has existed since man has urinated into a device. This is an issue which *pisses off” a lot of people.
For those who ask “What Would Jesus Do?”, or more properly, Did, the answer is not known. If men, in those times, used a recepticle for urine, the odds are the Jesus missed it from time to time. If he was outdoors, this was not a problem. Does walking on water make you need to pee? What if he had changed the water into beer?
Once, PG was working in a small office. There were two carefully marked restrooms. Once, the ladies were working, the men’s room was occupied, and PG did not think it would hurt to use the ladies room. He was not as careful as he should have been. A few minutes later, there was an uproar from one of the ladies. If looks could kill, PG would have died that day.
The post is written from the POV of educating women about men’s habits. “Sometimes I forget that women do not have penises, not even a little bit. It’s true! Where boys have flesh hoses down there, ladies have I don’t even know what—is it like a butt but more complicated? So women don’t understand the everyday experience of having this dangly fella around and don’t understand stuff like “adjusting” or “shaking”.
Joseph Rosalie Doherty-Bailey “Everything about this is great, except that your opening sentences sort of totally ignore the fact that trans people exist. I don’t at all think you meant to do this, but maybe just keep in mind for future reference that some ladies do have penises and some boys don’t have flesh hoses :) the rest of the post is amusing and swell.”
One possible reason for failing to hit the bullseye would be having two pee holes. PG thought this was an urban legend, so he asked Mr. Google. The query “men with two pee holes” yielded about 42,200,000 results (0.27 seconds). Apparently, someone else wondered the same thing. Wiki answers had a gem: “How does it feel for a man to get his pee hole licked? It feels good for the man but if he peed and then they licked it they would just have sex every day.”
The most accurate discussion was at steadyhealth, 2 holes on penis. (This discussion is sponsored by Edy’s Strawberry Fruit Bars). Norrie asks the seminal question: “Hi. I am a girl 19 years old and, this might sound funny, but I noticed that my boyfriend has two holes on his penis. I know male anatomy, and an average human male has only one hole on his penis. And my boyfriend has two! How can that even be possible? I haven’t asked him about it, because it is an unusual question. Could you explain this to me because I simply do not understand what is the deal.”
Caroljean “Well, not to worry, that is a thing that happens sometimes (one in a thousand), and it is often surgically corrected before the school age. So your boyfriend has probably only one functional hole, and the other (pseudo hole) that doesn’t work. This condition is called Hypospadias. But really, that is nothing of importance, because it isn’t anything unusual, but at the same time not so common.”
Some-Teenage-Dude ” ….O__O… kool!”
jlg_shes ” My boyfriend also has two holes, and he seems to think that, urine comes out of the top hole and sperm out the bottom. Can anyone verify that?”
Guest “hey, i am a male and i have two holes side by side at the center tip of my penis. what usually happens is an extra x chromosome if they are both on top which mine are. one hole is for urine and the other for sperm. we are just more genetically enhanced than most. NOW IF the two holes are not together but spread apart then its a defect and should get fixed. Now most people who have two holes on top, only one of them is usually functional. To have both holes functional and both secreting different fluids (urine and sperm) is an evolutionary advancement. The bacteria from the pee wont be mixed with the sperm when it goes through the tube to be release. SO BE THANKFUL!!! DONT THINK ITS A DEFECT ITS AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANCEMENT”
Guest “All of this about evolutionary advancement is hog wash. Here’s what happened…. when you were developing in the uterus your goods started to develop. Your urethra wasn’t forming correctly and your body recognized the problem and formed another. One is a dead hole. Nothing comes out of it. Nothing. The other one is the functioning urethra and both urine and semen pass through this hole. You were born with two rather than be born with one that wasn’t fully formed. End of story. ”
Bubbles wrote to yahoo answers “about three years ago”. The question was “How do gay guys pee when the pee hole always on the side?”
Dreamland Angel “they will go to women restroom if they dress like a girl but they won’t look unless people want them to see they will pee the same way that men pee unless they already had surgeries to remove that thing to become a woman”
Jonathan “Most of the time, yes. But it depends on whether or not he is a “top” or a “bottom.” Once you have that information it will be easier to determine where his pee hole is actually located. Source(s): nurse md doctor.”
Hexxis “They turn upside down so it looks like a rainbow fountain. Recent studies show if you shove food up your butt you poop out of your mouth.”
Mariners<3 “What the F*ck ARE you talking about?!?!?!!!! A penis is a penis, whether it’s attached to a gay man or not!”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Watering Hole Story
PG and his neighbor DA went out to drink beer and shoot pool. The destination was a place called the Watering Hole. The Watering Hole used to be a VFW. There was a TV repair store next door. When the county legalized bars, the VFW went somewhere else. The TV repair store became the game room. You could see on the floor where the counter used to be.
This was a weeknight. The other customer was already past his limit. The drunk was fussing at the bartender when PG and DA walked in.
PG got lucky and hit a good shot on the pool table. He got a bit cocky, and said “and now for my next trick”.The drunk staggered into the game room and lay down on an empty pool table. DA replied, “Is that your next trick?”
Before long, it was time to go home. As PG and DA were leaving, the drunk was arguing with the bartender. He wanted to buy a twelve pack to take home. The drunk won the argument, and started walking up Clairmont Road with his prize.
PG got a block or so away from the Watering Hole. He saw the drunk sitting in front of a seven eleven store. The drunk was sitting on the curb, drinking a beer. PG drove in front of him, and stopped the car. DA got out, and walked over to the curb. She picked up the eleven pack, and walked over to the car with it. The drunk stood up and yelled obscenities. The car drove away. off. This is a repost.
Happy Birthday Bob Dylan
It was a late may morning in Atlanta GA, and a slack blogger was searching his archives. Yes, Issac Asinov never got writers block, and when he wasn’t going to the bathroom he was typing, but that is a lifestyle choice. Easy writing makes tough reading. So, anyway, in the may archive for 2011 was a post about Bob Dylan’s seventieth birthday. People were taking bets on whether he would make it to thirty, and here he is at seventy one.
Hibbing MN is a cold place. At least it can claim to be the birthplace of Robert Allen Zimmerman. That’s Allen ,with an e, and double L just like hell. The original initials were RAZ, which might be a good trivia question, or, with a silent W in front, radio station call letters. The problem is, he legally changed his name to Bob Dylan, with no known middle name. Those initial are BD, which is where we are today.
On May 24, 1941, the curly haired wonder boi arrived. The world was a different place. Europe was in flames, and eyeing the young men of America as fresh cannon fodder. This was twelve years, eleven months, and eighteen days before PG graced the planet. A twelve year old in Hibbing MN would have no reason to think of a newborn baby in Atlanta GA.
These days, not everyone knows who Bob Dylan is. Auto tuned automated canned music is the next big thing. If auto tune had been around in 1963, we would never had known how badly Mr. Dylan sings. In an age where rappers pay ghost writers to compose their tweets, being able to write songs is not valued. There is just no telling. And so it goes.
A.J. Weberman has made a life out of going through Bob Dylan’s garbage. He wrote a book, “The Devil and Bob Dylan”. “THIS BOOK CHALLENGES ALL PREVIOUS CONVENTIONAL THINKING ABOUT BOB DYLAN. DYLAN IS JUST THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU BELIEVE HIM TO BE. BUT WHAT PURPOSE DOES IT SERVE EXPOSING HIM AS A RACIST, HIV POSITIVE EX-JUNKIE AND HOLOCAUST DENIER? NONE EXCEPT THAT OF TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. $17 INCLUDING POSTAGE! THE BOOK IS 500 PAGES AND FULLY ILLUSTRATED. Selling this book is like selling a book to Catholics entitled Why The Pope Sucks. The pope might such but no one wants to hear it.
This chamblee 54 birthday tribute is composed primarily of three previously published pieces of work. . The pictures are from ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
There was a comment on the Bob Dylan webpage… Everybody knows by now that there’s a gazillion books on me either out or coming out in the near future. So I’m encouraging anybody who’s ever met me, heard me or even seen me, to get in on the action and scribble their own book. You never know, somebody might have a great book in them. PG doesn’t write books. He did grow up in America, and has a few opinions about Bob Dylan. It ought to be good for a few hundred words here. (HT to dangerous minds ) (Chamblee54 has posted about Mr. Dylan before.)
The first time PG heard of Bob Dylan was probably at the record rack of Zippy’s dime store in Cherokee Plaza. There was an album of his greatest hits, and it came with a poster. The poster had a drawing of the man, with psychedelic waves of hair cascading in multi colored glory to the edges. PG never did buy the LP.
The former Mr. Zimmerman was never big on top 40 am radio. Somebody somewhere was getting a headache over those lyrics, but Atlanta GA was not somewhere in those days. By this time, Mr. Dylan had crashed his motorcycle, and gone into hiding. As the counter culture exploded (if only someone had disinfected that counter) the curly haired poet was in hiding, the subject of much speculation. At one point, people were stealing his garbage, and claiming to find evidence of investment in munitions firms. The neoscience of Dylanology continues to this day.
As PG got older and stupider, he heard more and more Bob Dylan music. In the summer of 1972, there was a performance at the Concert for Bangladesh. A couple of albums released during this era sucked, and some people stopped caring about Bob Dylan.
At the start of 1974, a tour was announced. The Band was to be the backing group. The circus came to the Omni, and PG got some of the mail order tickets. He couldn’t find anyone to use the second ticket, and sold it to a stranger outside the arena.
The show was nothing special. Bob Dylan excels at writing, is ok in the studio, and blah on stage. Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was at the show, and was said to look bored. Mr. Dylan was invited to the Governor’s mansion after the show, and talked to the Governor. A lot of people in Georgia were surprised that he would want to run for President.
As the Seventies went me me meing into sex and drugs oblivion, Bob Dylan regained both his writing touch, and love of the spotlight. The Rolling Thunder tour happened, he got back together with Joan Baez, divorced his wife, became born again, became more Jewish, counted money, and generally lived the life. PG did his own version of all that, without Joan Baez or being circumcised again.
In the winter of 1991, America was consumed by war fever. Saddam Hussein had been elevated to next Hitler status, and had to be taught a lesson. One night, Bob Dylan played on a music awards show, and performed “Masters of War”. He played a discordant version of that ditty, with the result that few understood what he had said. By this time, Mr. Dylan had assembled a band, and gone out on the “Never Ending Tour”. A Bob Dylan concert had gone from being a special event, to being another name on the festival roster. Overexposure will do that.
On the last night of the Olympics in 1996, Bob Dylan played the House of Blues downtown. PG won a pair of the $80 tickets in a radio station contest. It was his only trip downtown during the games, and had to wait in a security line to get into Centennial Olympic Park.
The only celebrity, other than Mr. Dylan, seen at the House of Blues that night was Bill Walton. The band was competent…they impressed PG as being like a bar band that did a lot of Dylan songs, with a strangely authentic lead vocalist. The sound in the room was not good, at least in the spot where PG stood. The only song he recognized was “All along the Watchtower”, the Jimi Hendrix classic. Mr. Dylan got a cheer when he put his harmonica appliance on.
The aptly named dangerousminds has a link to a story about the recording of Blonde on Blonde, by Bob Dylan. It only happened once.
Bob Dylan was 24 years old, newly married, and had “sold out” i.e. started to play electric guitar. A bunch of Canadians known as The Hawks (later The Band) was touring with him. Barely a month after the release of “Highway 61 Revisited”, sessions started at a New York studio.
The New York sessions did not work, so a decision was made to go to Nashville. Al Kooper played organ, and served as a music director. A crew of Nashville players was recruited. A bass player named Joseph Souter, Jr. would become famous a few years later using the name Joe South. Kris Kristofferson was the janitor at the studio.
Most studios have bafflers, or sound proof room dividers, splitting the studio into cubicles. For these sessions, the bafflers were taken down, and the band played together as a unit.
The second session in Nashville started at 6pm and lasted until 530 the next morning. Mr. Dylan was working on the lyrics to “Sad eyed lady of the lowlands”, and the recording could not start until he was ready. The musicians played ping pong and waited. At 4am, the song was ready, and the record was finished in two takes.
PG had marginal encounters with two of the players on this album. He met a lady once, who worked in an insurance office. One of the customers was Joe South. His driving record file was an inch thick.
Al Kooper had a prosperous career after his association with Bob Dylan. The former Alan Peter Kuperschmidt produced the first three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums, and sold that contract for a nice piece of change.
One night, Mr. Kooper was playing a show at the Great Southeast Music Hall, and PG sat in front of the stage. During a break between songs, PG asked his friend “what time is it?”. Mr. Kooper heard him on stage, and said it was 11:30.
If it ever quits raining, PG is going to walk to the Chamblee library and return a book, and a cd. The cd is by Bob Dylan, and is a work of genius. The book is about the former Mr. Zimmerman, and is a piece of garbage. (BTW, Dylan is not the only Zimmerman to hit the big time. Ethel Merman was born Ethel Agnes Zimmerman.)
When returning cd’s to a library, you need to get a check in receipt. Once, PG returned a stack of cd’s to the Brookhaven library. When checking them in, one was missed by the scanner. A few days later, there was a note in the mail about an overdue cd.
The good news was, the cd was on the shelf when PG went back to investigate, and the matter was quickly settled. It did not help that the cd was a collection of disco music called “Shake your booty”.
“The freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” was released in the early sixties, when the man was barely old enough to buy a drink. There is not a bad song on it, and several are classic rock staples. At a time when mindless pop dominated pop music, here were thoughtful, moving lyrics.
In 1991, with America in a war frenzy, Mr. Dylan appeared on a music awards show. He performed “Masters of War”, at a time when the majority would be appalled if they could understand what he was singing. Mr. Dylan has been reinvented many times, and often the lyrics get gargled.
Five years later, PG won tickets to a Bob Dylan concert. It was the last night of the Olympics, and the man was appearing at the House of Blues. (Tickets were $80, so the radio contest is the only reason PG went). It was like hearing a good bar band, that did nothing but Dylan songs, with the man as the vocalist. Due to the mix of the sound, PG could not recognize many of the songs.
The book is Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet by Seth Rogovoy. It tells the Dylan tale as a story of Jewish prophecy. PG got to page 16, where the author claims that “Like a Rolling Stone” “almost single handedly revolutionized rock’n roll music”. Huh?
PG was eating dinner, and did not have anything else to read. He got to page 38. Nothing in the next 22 pages changed his mind away from ditching the book. How does nonsense like this get published?
The Humpty Dumpty Conspiracy
The post above this is Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?. If you look at the URL, you will see a -2 after the title. This means that there has been another post at Chamblee54 with this conspiracy oriented title. A trip to google city shows that PG is not the only person to have pondered this issue.
A book, Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?, gets prominent placement. You get what you pay for. “It looked like a horrible accident, but upon further investigation, it turned out to be an even more horrible crime. Local businessman Humpty Dumpty was indeed dead of a fall from his wall. With the assistance of Officer’s O’Ham, Bacon and McSwiney (The 3 Little Pigs) and Officer Jack (The one with a beanstalk in his yard), Storybookland Police detectives Sgt. Joe Bundy and Rookie detective Bill Gimble have their work cut out for them. The suspects include The Big Bad Wolf (Storybookland’s Crime Boss), Jack and Jill (who were suing Mr. Dumpty for their fall), Wee Willie Winkie, The Spider (of Little Miss Muffet fame), The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe… not to mention Mrs. Dumpty, herself. Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?”
There is another book, Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? : “Break-in at the Three Bears family home? It could only be one dame. Wicked witch gone missing from her candied cottage? Hansel and Gretel claim it was self-defense. Did Humpty Dumpty really just fall off that wall, or was he pushed? Here are five fairy-tale stories with a twist, all told from the point of view of a streetwise police officer called Binky, who just happens to be a toad in a suit and a fedora. When Snow White doesn’t make it to the beauty pageant, Officer Binky is the first to find the apple core lying by her bed. When an awful giant mysteriously crashes to the ground, upsetting the whole town, Binky discovers exactly who is responsible. Author David Levinthal and illustrator John Nickle retell these classic stories in the style of a 1940s noir detective novel—for kids! “
Before we get much further in this murky mystery, lets take a look at the original.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King’s horses And all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again!
Humpty Dumpty Sentado en un muro.
Humpty Dumpty Se ha caído muy duro.
Todos los caballeros Y jinetes del rey,
Fueron a levantarlo Y no pudieron con él.
HD is typically thought of as being a giant egg. It is not known why it was sitting on a wall. Eggs usually lay on their side, unless they are sitting in an egg holder. The gender of this giant egg is unknown. Why was a team of horses expected to reassemble a broken egg ?
A character named Humpty Dumpty appears in Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. He has a conversation with Alice, which implies that it is a different HD. Alice is a suspect in the content distribution of HD.
The Chicago Sun-Times published an essay in 2011, The men who pushed Humpty Dumpty. It turned out to be an appreciation of the movie “All The President’s Men”. There was a phrase in that movie, “follow the money”, which might prove helpful in solving this mystery. Maybe the question should be, who paid to have HD pushed off the wall? Maybe a real estate agent was having a tough time selling the property. Who would want to buy a house, with a giant egg sitting on a wall? It might have been a prudent business decision.
The HD metaphor has been used many times. Foreign Policy published a feature, Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed (The Sun-Times essay was published September 16, 2011. The Foriegn Policy article was published September 20, 2011.) The FP article was about Palestine. Newt Gingrich was quoted recently as saying that the Palestinean people do not exist. Perhaps Mr. Gingrich should be considered a suspect in the HD case.
“In his commentary anticipating a Palestinian initiative to promote statehood at the United Nations, Aaron David Miller chooses to focus almost exclusively upon the realities of Palestinian political and demographic fragmentation. But rather than providing an explanation of how these divisions have come about, or recommending means to overcome them, Miller instead suggests that on their account Palestinians remain unworthy of freedom.
“The fact of the matter is that Humpty Abu Dumpty did not accidentally fall off a wall; he was purposefully shoved off the edge of a cliff, beaten to a pulp, and then bombed to smithereens. As for the king’s men, as Miller well knows, they made no effort to put him back together again, instead providing the gang responsible a steady supply of crack and endless rounds of ecstatic applause.”
Four years ago, someone at Yahoo answers had too much free time. There was a post, Did humpty dumpty fall of that wall or was he pushed??? The issue of who offed HD remains a mystery. Some of the answers in this forum try to “explain” the legend of HD. Some fundamentalist Christians will tell you that things are to be taken literally, and that scholarly interpretation is the work of the devil. In spite of these nay sayers, some of the reader supplied answers make sense.
“I’m not sure if this is true but someone once told me that humpty dumpty is about a woman losing her virginity. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.” is a woman who is a virgin. (high up in society) “Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.” Is about a woman losing it. “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again ” once you lose it it’s gone, your never be looked at the same again in society.”
“Actually there is real history behind what we call nursery rhymes. Yes I know I’m cutting and pasting, but here is Humpty Dumpty’s: Humpty Dumpty was a colloquial term used in fifteenth century England describing someone who was obese. This has given rise to various, but inaccurate, theories surrounding the identity of Humpty Dumpty. The image of Humpty Dumpty was made famous by the illustrations included in the ‘Alice through the looking glass’ novel by Lewis Carroll. However, Humpty Dumpty was not a person pilloried in the famous rhyme!
Humpty Dumpty was in fact believed to be a large cannon! It was used during the English Civil War ( 1642 – 1649) in the Siege of Colchester (13 Jun 1648 – 27 Aug 1648). Colchester was strongly fortified by the Royalists and was laid to siege by the Parliamentarians (Roundheads). In 1648 the town of Colchester was a walled town with a castle and several churches and was protected by the city wall. Standing immediately adjacent the city wall, was St Mary’s Church. A huge cannon, colloquially called Humpty Dumpty, was strategically placed on the wall next to St Mary’s Church. The historical events detailing the siege of Colchester are well documented – references to the cannon ( Humpty Dumpty) are as follows:
June 15th 1648 – St Mary’s Church is fortified and a large cannon is placed on the roof which was fired by ‘One-Eyed Jack Thompson’. July 14th / July 15th 1648 – The Royalist fort within the walls at St Mary’s church is blown to pieces and their main cannon battery ( Humpty Dumpty) is destroyed. August 28th 1648 – The Royalists lay down their arms, open the gates of Colchester and surrender to the Parliamentarians
A shot from a Parliamentary cannon succeeded in damaging the wall beneath Humpty Dumpty which caused the cannon to tumble to the ground. The Royalists, or Cavaliers, ‘all the King’s men’ attempted to raise Humpty Dumpty on to another part of the wall. However, because the cannon , or Humpty Dumpty, was so heavy ‘ All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again!’ This had a drastic consequence for the Royalists as the strategically important town of Colchester fell to the Parliamentarians after a siege lasting eleven weeks.”
Pictures are from ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?
What’s the difference between bird flu and swine flu?
If you have bird flu, you need tweetment. If you have swine flu, you need oink-ment.
What did the fisherman say to the card magician? Pick a cod, any cod!
What’s stucco? What happens when you step in bubblegummo.
She was only a whiskey-maker, but he loved her still.
A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class
Because it was a weapon of math disruption.
What’s the Internet’s favorite animal? The lynx.
What is the Karate experts favorite beverage? Kara-tea.
What caused the airline to go bankrupt? Runway inflation.
What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe, idiot! BREATHE!
Where do Floridians wash their clothes? In Fort Launderdale.
What’s a frog’s favorite drink? Croaka Cola.
What bone will a dog never eat? A trombone.
What does a wicked chicken lay? Deviled eggs.
Who can shave 25 times a day and still have a beard? A barber.
What did the rude prism say to the light beam that smacked into him? Get bent!
Did you hear about the fire at the circus? It was in tents.
Mary had a little pig, She kept it fat and plastered;
And when the price of pork went up, She shot the little bastard…
Hey diddle, diddle, the cat took a piddle, All over the bedside clock.
The little dog laughed to see such fun. Then died of electric shock.
Mary had a little lamb, Her father shot it dead.
Now it goes to school with her, Between two chunks of bread…
Jack and Jill went up the hill To have a little fun.
Stupid Jill forgot the pill And now they have a son…
Simple Simon met a pie man going to the fair.
Said Simple Simon to the pie man, ‘What have you got there?’
Said the pie man unto Simon, ‘Pies, you dumb ass’…
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings’ horses, And all the kings’ men.
Had scrambled eggs, For breakfast again…
Georgie Porgy pudding and pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry.
And when the boys came out to play, He kissed them too ’cause he was gay.
There was a little girl who had a little curl Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, she was very, very good. But when she was bad……..
She got a fur coat, jewels, a waterfront condo, and a sports car.
The jokes on this site are believed to be in the public domain. All other textual and graphical material at this site is Copyright © 1999-2008 by Samuel Stoddard. Neither I nor RinkWorks are liable if you keel over and die from reading these jokes. The updated nursery rhymes are from a chain email. The source is not known, and is probably hiding in shame. The pictures are from The Library of Congress. The video is from WTF Japan Seriously.
World Goth Day
In case you did not know, PG is an old fogey. He has not been hip since before Nancy Reagan said no. It is rather amazing that he would hear about World Goth Day, much less know what it meant.
It all started with a tweet. (@BibChr One-star review: and now a word from someone who HATED #TWTG (http://awe.sm/5sV85). A preacher got a bad review of his book, and his feelings were hurt. PG went over to Amazon to make a comment, but was greeted with a message… You must have purchased items from Amazon to post. PG gave up paying for reading material a few years ago, and was not going to change that just to pick on a preacher. That’s what twitter is for. @chamblee54 @BibChr awwww not everyone agrees with your *perfect* understanding of the *perfect* book. While he was there, a “United States trends” was World Goth Day.
What exactly was Goth? When was it popular? Who were popular Goths? Where did they buy their lipstick? Why are you reading this?
According to the WGD web facility, “Best 80’s goth band: The Sisters Of Mercy”. In 1991, PG hosted a tacky party in his back yard. A person, who arguably had Goth sympathies, went to a Sisters of Mercy concert at the Fox Theater that night.That would date the advent of Goth a bit. In other words, the original Goths are telling their teenage children to behave now.
Getting back to twitter, the Gothoids are tweeting up a storm. Lets take a look.
@crocpunch I’m too depressed to celebrate World Goth Day.
@TonyCowards It’s World Goth Day and the sun is shining brightly, who says God doesn’t do irony?
@JDawgMadden World Goth Day? Do we have to dress up in black and write depressing,
Edgar Allan Poe-wannabe poetry?
@prattprattpratt Out of curiosity, what makes today “World Goth Day?”
Did the Goths lobby to have a day? Write their congressman? Who decides? Really.
@NotGaryBusey It’s World Goth Day and somewhere Glenn Danzig is cleaning out kitty litter.
@LauraMcCabe “World Goth Day” Pity no goths will see this trending
as their too busy away slitting their wrists.
@LauraMcCabe_ Just to let Eurovision fans know there is a tranny singing for Croatia
on Thursday. Pretty “woman” with long hair, dress&a nice fluffy beard
@noelfielding11 I personally find world Goth day a bit gloomy.
Might spend it on my own in the cemetery x
@Eve_Barlow If I knew it was WORLD GOTH DAY I would’ve stayed at home and played House Of The Dead in my Beetlejuice leggings with Marmite on my lips.
The WGD facility has a forum, which asks the question Are you a true Goth?. There is one comment in the thread. Somebody is trying to generate traffic for his site, www.Vampirewebsite.net. “Keep in mind most vampires have no idea what they are, and most of them will never find out. When looking for a vampire locally probably the worst place to look is in vampire groups, they are generally over crowded with wannabes and posers. It’s best to just use this page and go basically any where, just as an example we all go to the grocery store eventually.”
Bad Goth, Bad! elevates the conversation a bit. “Goths are everywhere these days. The mall, the beach, and some have even been spotted at sports games. Listen guys, THERE ARE RULES FOR BEING GOTH. If you’re going to represent the Underworld and live in the shadows, you can’t just go around being all normy-norms and drinking Cinnamon lattes next to the Christmas Tree. I’m not going to lie- everyone loves goth style and music on some level (HELLO ALEXANDER McQUEEN and THE CURE), but if you are going to own goth, then you must abide by the goth rules, which means you are ultimately an intellectual, emo vampire (which is really actually very cool). So please act like one. Here are some goths who aren’t following protocol and so I present, BAD GOTH, BAD!”
@SkipsMcskippy So it’s world goth day, I really can’t be bothered celebrating though
@baileyhonsinger I’m totally participating in world goth day. Its my favorite day of the year!!
@ErinDavis88 “@zachbraff: Happy “World Goth Day”, also known as
“Where Did My Parents Go Wrong Day.””
@whitewe9 It’s world goth day. I was going to get depressed about it,
but then I remembered that would count as celebrating.
@jczreid @vairi the irony that I got sunburnt in world goth day has not been lost on me,
even though I was wearing an impressive amount of black
@SmashinBeauty I just found out that today is World Goth day! Happy Goth Day to goths..
if I had known I would have prepared something .. makeup wise
@azroth World Goth day? But everyday is Halloween.
@paulday15 Are goths happy about world goth day? If they are, are they still goths?
@ohmyblainers World Goth Day? Heeeeyyyyy Tina.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Somebody’s Sins But Not Mine
These visits to alternative reality are from a variety of sources. Included are Facebook (fb), twitter (tw), Futility Closet (fc), All Aphorisms, All The Time (Aph), Texts From Last Night (tln) , and Overheard in New York (ony). Attempts to maintain a no profanity blog will be suspended for this post. ~ “A highbrow is a person educated beyond his intelligence.” — Brander Matthews ~ The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club. ~ “And lo, did Phillip make bacon for breakfast! And he smelt the bacon, and he spake unto the kitchen, This bacon needs tofu. And so he added tofu, and it was really really good.” ~ I misspoke when I said, “Have a great day!”– what I really meant to say was, “I’m so glad you’re leaving!” (fb) ~ “Don’t get discouraged because there’s a lot of mechanical work to writing. … I rewrote the first part of A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times. … The first draft of anything is shit. When you first start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none, but after you learn to work it’s your object to convey everything to the reader so that he remembers it not as a story he has read but something that has happened to himself. That’s the true test of writing.” — Ernest Hemingway (fc) ~ A footnote in Byron’s Don Juan mentions a rhyming contest between John Sylvester and Ben Jonson: “I, John Sylvester, lay with your sister.” “I, Ben Jonson, lay with your wife.” “That is not rhyme.” “No, but it is true.” (fc) ~ “Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but rather memory.” — Leonardo (fc) ~ “Winerip says that what worries him is that if automated readers become the standard way of grading essays, then teachers will begin teaching to them, removing a lot of the “juice” of the English language. “If you’re not allowed to use a sentence fragment … [or] a short paragraph … then you’re going to get a very homogenized form of writing,” he says. “The joy of writing is surprise.” ~ Is there anything more beautiful and filled with simple joy than watching onions slowly caramelize in a pan? Don’t say childbirth. I’ve seen childbirth, and it’s nasty. (fb) ~ “It must be obvious… that there is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity.” ~ Alan Watts(fb) ~ I wonder how much water and energy would be saved if we all gave up our various caffeine addictions. Let’s try it. You start. (fb) ~ Apparently, all members of Morons Anonymous are required to drive on Fridays. I encountered quite a few members in good standing while I was out running errands today. (fb) ~ @BorowitzReport No one used to read crazy people’s diary entries, but Twitter fixed that problem. (tw) ~ @BorowitzReport On the eve of Facebook’s IPO, Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg published the following letter to potential investors: Dear Potential Investor: For years, you’ve wasted your time on Facebook. Now here’s your chance to waste your money on it, too ~ @BorowitzReport Romney’s business experience makes him uniquely qualified to be President. Of Greece. (tw) ~ @BorowitzReport If Cory Booker keeps changing his position he will be qualified to run the Romney campaign. (tw) ~ @BorowitzReport Instead of turning them into a game, we should be trying to find the root causes of why the birds are angry. (tw) ~ Why didn’t the skeleton cross the street? He didn’t have any guts. ~ It’s so sad when cute girls are Christians (fb) ~ Eddie This comment was flagged for review. – Don_Bacon Eddie, you should be blown away.~ Should have fought for your right to have more frequent cancer screenings (fb) ~ This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message (including attachments).~ a kitchen timer only works if you use it. ~ Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. Author Unknown ~ @tejucole While performing in Williamsburg, Edward Morris, 50, comedian with the Reeves burlesque company, became mentally unbalanced. (tw) ~ @tejucole On purpose or not, Mrs Heickemrath, 38, of 201 West 105th Street ingested something fatal. (tw) ~ @tejucoleThe books of Harry Elkins Widener, 27, a zealous bibliophile who sank with the Titanic, were donated to Harvard University. (tw) ~ @tejucole “I am happy with my gender, but pure masculinity, which I have been exposed to a lot in life, is tedious and inadequate.”—James Salter (tw) ~ @tejucoleCaptain George Kimmitte, whom Fate had deprived of eyesight, nevertheless found his way to the East River, and jumped. (tw) ~ @alaindebottonIt’s now impossible to write a sentence that won’t offend someone. (tw) ~ @alaindebottonAcquiring enemies doesn’t have to mean one’s life has gone wrong: it may just be a sign one has found things to believe in. (tw) ~ Remember that you are our guests. We will, at our discretion, delete comments that we find off-topic, derailing, un-civil, slanderous, trollish or troll-feeding, petulant, pestiferous, and/or otherwise obnoxious and non-constructive. If we warn you, stop it. After no more than three warnings, you will find yourself banned, and all your future comments will be immediately deleted~ PREMISE: DO NOT comment at all if you think the “right way” to handle Christian disagreement is to make an appointment and chat over coffee first. The vortex of irony you will create by commenting will sap the hair-care products off your stylish bed-head, and we do not want to be responsible for that. ~ “One great idea of the biblical revelation is that God is manifest in the ordinary, in the actual, in the daily, in the now, in the concrete incarnations of life, and not through purity codes and moral achievement contests, which are seldom achieved anyway… We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking… The most courageous thing we will ever do is to bear humbly the mystery of our own reality.” ~ Richard Rohr (fb) ~ “Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: ‘My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.’ This stranger is a theologian.” — Diderot (fc) ~ The world is so strange sometimes. I know almost instantly when a celebrity dies, but don’t realize for 3 weeks that an actual acquaintance of mine has passed. I never got to meet him in person (another strange side effect of social networking) but I got to interact with and watch his compassion and activism, and he was regularly changing the world for the better. Farewell, Alex. (fb) ~ What happens when your soul Begins to awaken Your eyes And your heart And the cells of your body To the great Journey of Love? First there is wonderful laughter And probably precious tears And a hundred sweet promises And those heroic vows No one can ever keep. But still God is delighted and amused You once tried to be a saint. What happens when your soul Begins to awake in this world To our deep need to love And serve the Friend? O the Beloved Will send you One of His wonderful, wild companions (fb) ~ We want to know your opinion on this issue! While arguing about an opinion or idea is encouraged, personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please be respectful of others. The editorial team will delete a comment that is off-topic, abusive, exceptionally incoherent, includes a slur or is soliciting and/or advertising. Repeated violations of the policy will result in revocation of your user account. Please keep in mind that this is our online home; ill-mannered house guests will be shown the door. ~ @tejucole God is love. In Ogdensburg, Miss Donlan, a Catholic with strict parents, was shot by her Protestant lover Hodgins, who drowned himself. (tw) ~ I am tired of being the center of controversy. chamblee54 ~ Now to all those who had so much to say on my post that mentioned religion, since you had so much to say then please have that same spirit when I talk about black on black crime, the economy, education, brothers in jail, single parents or any of the various topics that I discuss on my page.My point of view will always stay honest and I don’t care who doesn’t like it. As a poet I expres myself and I will continue to do so. I don’t agree with everyone and everyone will not agree with me and I accept that. I’m almost positive they don’t pay attention to all those posts that anyone who is my friend can tell you that I regularly make, they just wanted to speak when they felt attacked. Let me say this if you are saved and secure as you claim to be with God then the opinion of Rico Revels should mean nothing to you but obviously truth does still strike a nerve. (fb) ~ So, I see why suburban moms slowly kill themselves with wine and sleeping medications. If the important subjects of conversation in my life were how to get my home owner’s insurance to pay for medical bills for my kid’s poison ivy, pre-school curriculum, and fabric softener… I would want to kill myself too. (fb) ~ The bible is NOT the constitution!!! It’s funny how people try to run other people’s lives by that book. Most of the people who use it in attempt to persecute others tend to be some of the biggest rule breakers. Of course a lot of Christians think all SIN is wrong except for the SIN that they personally commit. This country will be much better when people realize that G-d is not a forced standard but an option and no one should be made to live by the rules of his book. Our laws should be based off the good of the common man and that’s any man not just a Christian one. (fb) ~ @BorowitzReport The fact that the brutal Syrian regime is still in power means that not enough of us have changed our profile pictures. (tw) ~ @BorowitzReport Thanks to Facebook, it’s easier than ever to share things no one cares about with people you barely know. (tw) ~ Here is how people become gay ~ @DONGLORD69 To clarify, he was asking if I get up at night to do a poop. Which I do not. You needed to know this. (tw) ~ @MaraWritesStuff AND THAT’S NOT EVEN A FUNNY JOKE MY MOUTH JUST KEPT DOING THAT BECAUSE I WAS NERVOUS AND CAFFEINATED. (tw) ~ In 1879 Thérèse Humbert was traveling by railway through France when she met an ailing American millionaire named Robert Crawford. She sought medical care for him, and he showed his gratitude with a handsome bequest, which she kept in a sealed safe. Or so she said. Humbert and her husband lived luxuriously in Paris for two decades, borrowing money against Crawford’s unseen gift. When suspicious creditors finally sued her, they discovered that Crawford didn’t exist and the safe contained a handful of worthless papers. She was sentenced to five years in prison. (fc) ~ In 1897 Ohio con artist Cassie Chadwick “confessed” to a Cleveland lawyer that she was the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie and stood to inherit $10 million on his death. She parlayed his sympathy into a series of bank loans and lived lavishly until 1904, when she was unable to repay a Massachusetts banker. Carnegie, who denied her story, attended the trial and saw her sentenced to 10 years in prison. She died two years later in the Ohio State Penitentiary. (fc) ~ “Dancing is a sweat job. … When you’re experimenting you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion. This search for what you want is like tracking something that doesn’t want to be tracked. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable. There must be a certain amount of polish to it. I don’t want it to look anything but accomplished, and if I can’t make it look that way, then I’m not ready yet. I always try to get to know my routine so well that I don’t have to think, ‘What comes next?’ Everything should fall right into line, and then I know I’ve got control of the bloody floor.” — Fred Astaire (fc) ~ Even going forward, wearing flat shoes ~ “How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball. In boxing, your fist usually stops when you hit a man, but it’s possible to hit so hard that your fist doesn’t stop. I try to follow through in the same way. The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.” — Babe Ruth (fc) ~ I have been deleted at least six times by this person….why the friend request? AGAIN? I will always be queer and I will almost always be inappropriate and I think that’s why you deleted me the first six times….. but I’m thinking about it! (fb) ~ Some movies cut into trailers better than others, but by and large you can tell from those two minutes of sample images and dialogue whether or not you want to see it, which is what a trailer is for, of course. And that has to be the most ‘duh’ sentence I’ve ever written in this blog. ~ “It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake” – Frederick Douglas (fb) ~ “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine” – Patti Smith (fb) ~ “Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy” – Paracelsus (one of history’s greatest alchemists) (fb) ~ Selah
Monday Story
PG saw the physical therapist today. His banged up knee is a little bit better, but that does not help his mental state a lot. The physical therapy center should be a place of healing. While the emphasis is on the physical part, most would agree that the mental part is also helpful. Some of the other participants did not seem to care.
It started out on the drive to the parking garage. PG tuned into the Dennis Prager. There was a monolog, about Arabs and their opinions about Israel. According to Mr. Prager, Arab journalists talk about nothing except Israel. This is in spite of the many problems in the Arab world. He then went on to say that this leads to Iran talking about destroying Israel, and getting nuclear weapons to do so.
Lets take this point by point. Several of the Arab states have had revolutions, which either ousted regimes (Egypt) or sparked bloody conflicts (Syria). This is not the same as thinking only about Israel. Next, Iran is a Persian country, that does not especially like Arabs. One of their officials, Mr.Ahmadinejad, made a statement about Israel. Some have translated his remarks to be a threat to Israel’s existence, while others say that he wants regime change. Since PG does not speak Farsi, he simply does not know who to believe here.
At this point, PG turned off the radio, and pulled into the parking garage. After the first visit, he learned the best place to park, and was able to find a convenient spot.
The business of rehabbing a knee is tricky. You need faith that it will get better, even when all outward signs say to abandon hope. When you are working out on a machine, it is easy for your spirits to struggle. The last thing you need is to overhear a loud conversation about a touchy subject.
There are tv sets all over the therapy room, which are tuned in to all news channels. (PG does not know which one.) While PG was stretching rubber bands with his legs, and feeling uncertain about the value of the effort, a story came on the tv about Desmond Hatchett. He is the Tennessee man who has sired thirty children with eleven different women. At least that is the story. PG suspects that a few baby daddies are blaming him for their output, so they won’t have to pay child support.
There was a loud, festive conversation about the Tennessee Babydaddy a few feet from where PG was working out. The loudest was a man who works for the center. PG could hear every word that was said, and did not appreciate the entertainment. PG was in a tough place emotionally, and his neighbors were not helping at all.
The story is a tragedy. At least thirty kids are growing up without a daddy in the house. PG imagines there are a few men who see Desmond Hatchett as a hero. It so is considered racist to discuss one aspect of this story. The story is a tragedy, and these people were having a jolly conversation about it.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Brookhaven Pie
There is an amusing discussion now at Peach Pundit about a proposed City of Brookhaven. The metro area has gone new city crazy recently. Unicorporated Fulton and Dekalb county land has been used to create Sandy Springs, Milton, John’s Creek, and Dunwoody. The latest proposal (the boundaries have not been drawn yet) would use land between Atlanta, Dunwoody, Chamblee, and the unincorporated Dekalb territory to the south. It would probably include the Ashford Park area that PG lives in.
Brookhaven is called the first planned golf course community in Georgia. The Capital City Club anchors a spectacular neighborhood, with a loop road that is popular with joggers, bikers, dogwalkers, and somnambulists. There used to be a city called North Atlanta which was discorporated in the sixties.
With it’s location on Peachtree Road, just outside the City of Atlanta, Brookhaven has been a favored site for McMansions. In the “Indian Village” neighborhood, very few of the original shacks remain. Lynwood Park, the oldest Black community in Dekalb county, is another scene of gentrification.
The story in Peach Pundit is a lively affair. People with reservations about this new city are given links calling them liberal crackpots . The author tells the tale of seeing a young man walking away with his lawn mower. He was not happy with the police response, and feels that an new city police force would do a better job.
The story spawned a festive comment thread. Instead of discussing the merits of a new city, the commenters discuss the pros and cons of confronting the lawn mower thief personally, as opposed to calling the police. There is one comment that begs to be quoted. I agree, creating government is not conservative. It is a conservative reaction to liberalism gone awry.
In other neighborhood news, fishwrapper scribe Jim Galloway talks about the continuing saga of Jill Chambers. The former State Representative is being sued for some debts, and creditors covet her campaign contributions.
In a comment to the Galloway piece, Ms. Chambers writes “The interesting thing is all of this is on the hands of the Feds now – state law does not apply and this cannot be fixed during a special legislative session. That is why the Judge will not consider that the funds were seized illegally BEFORE the bankruptcy.” Two comments down from Ms. Chambers, her creditor’s attorney says “Call me if politicians owe you money. 404.262.1425”
Mr. Galloway reports that Ms. Chambers is currently working for a private investigation firm, in hopes of getting her own P.I. license. Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. This is a repost. The vote on the proposed new city is July 31.
Water Worries
Some people think that the drought is over, and we can go back to wasting water. They are wrong.
From a water supply point of view, Atlanta is a terrible place for a city. 4 million people depend on the Chattahoochee River, an overgrown trout stream. If you look at a map of Georgia watersheds , you see what a small area is covered by the Chattahoochee.
As if that isn’t bad enough, the water is also claimed by Alabama and Florida. A nuclear power plant in Alabama uses enormous amounts of river water. The three states have been arguing in the courts over the water rights for years, and the courts have ruled against Georgia.
For decayeds decades, the developers in Metro Atlanta have built as though having a water supply was not an issue. With dozens of governments to choose from, if the developers are turned down in one jurisdiction, they merely go to another…or make another bribe campaign contribution, and another forest bites the dust.
In an era of tea parties and calls for small government, few have a plan for the water crisis. There are going to be no cheap solutions. Even if we were to have access to the Tennessee River (a very big if), a pipeline to carry the water through the mountains to Lake Lanier is going to be very expensive. We will not get this money by cutting taxes to stimulate the economy.
Even without a water sharing agreement, we almost ran out in 2007. A severe drought cannot be predicted, and another one may start today. The nuclear plant in Alabama requires tremendous amounts of water, and was close to having to shut down.
Much of the rain in Georgia comes from the Gulf of Mexico. This Gulf is currently becoming an open air reservoir for crude oil. What will happen when the remaining sea water evaporates, and becomes rain? Will the water have a helping of crude oil derivatives? At least this water can be used in a nuclear power plant.
Rain water is held in a reservoir until it is needed. For metro Atlanta, this is Lake Lanier. A water reservoir is not like a bank account, where the money earns interest. Water in a reservoir shrinks over time…water on the surface evaporates. When there is a drought in August, with 100 degree temperatures every day, water usage increases, evaporation increases, and there is no fresh rainwater going into the lake. This is how a water problem becomes a crisis.
There are a few, common sense, ways to save water now. Just because we are not in a drought does not mean we need to start wasting water. The water we save now will (mostly) be waiting for us when ( not if) another drought starts.
When you brush your teeth, fill a cup of water up first. Use part of this to rinse your mouth, and use the rest to clean your brush.
If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.
Get a stopper for the bathroom sink. If you shave, save water in the sink to clean your razor.
Keep a jug of water in the fridge if you like cold water. Don’t let the water run until it gets cold.
Take a “navy shower”. Get wet, turn the water off , lather up, turn the water back on, rinse.
Only run dishwashers and washing machines when they are full.
There are many, many more ways to save water. The less we use now, the longer our reserves will last. The water shortage will never be over in Atlanta.
Pictures from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
BP Follies
People are saying more and more about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. TomDispatch has a fascinating paragraph about one of the key players, British Petroleum (BP): “Originally known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, still later British Petroleum), BP got its start in southwestern Iran, where it once enjoyed a monopoly on the production of crude petroleum. In 1951, its Iranian holdings were nationalized by the democratic government of Mohammed Mossadeq. The company returned to Iran in 1953, following a U.S.-backed coup that put the Shah in power, and was finally expelled again in 1979 following the Islamic Revolution.”
If you look at the problems of the world in the last forty years, so many are affected by Iran. The 1953 revolution left great resentment, which became manifest in the 1979 revolution. Soon Iraq…whose border with Iran was clumsily drawn by the British…decides to attack Iran. A gruesome eight year war is the result, with the USA supporting both sides ( as well as possibly encouraging Iraq to attack Iran). The idea was, if they are fighting each other, they will leave Israel alone.
After this war is over, Iraq has a problem with Kuwait over it’s war debt. Another war is the result, with the USA involved. Iraq is vanquished, but some in the USA are not satisfied, and after a few years the USA invades Iraq again. That war is still raging.
The biggest winner of the US-Iraq war (aka World War W) is Iran. This new influence in Persia is very troubling to Israel, which is loudly rattling it’s nuclear saber. While Israel is making noise about Iran, it takes attention away from the Palestinian tragedy.
It is interesting to consider that during the Iran-Iraq war, Israel was the middleman in the “Iran Contra Affair”. This involved selling weapons to Iran, to use against the weapons (including wmd) that we were selling Iraq. Apparently, Iran was not an existential threat in those days.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost. This was originally published at this time two years ago, when people feared the worst about the Gulf of Mexico. There are many indications that the recovery is far from complete.
Chamblee54 
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