Millions Of Lowest-Bidder Parts
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The actress behind ‘Peloton wife’ has finally spoken
That famed John Glenn quote about a rocket’s millions of lowest-bidder parts
Electric Slide vs. Cupid Shuffle vs. Cha Cha Slide vs. The Wobble
Ford Factory Lofts Getting Whitewashed As Part of Planned Renovations
National Endowment for the Arts Warns Public about Grant Scam
Why Political Candidates’ Family and Friends Are Fair Game
Israel supporters defend Trump’s vicious anti-Semitism
my house is a safe zone firearms are welcome here
Survey Claiming That LGBT People Are Less Racist Misses the Reality of Racism
Yes, there’s racism in the LGBT community. But there’s more outside it.
Man Eats $120,000 Art Basel Banana As ‘Performance Art’
“He did not destroy the art work. The banana is the idea,”
I’m a Trans Woman, My 5 O’Clock Shadow Is a Badge of Visibility
Man addicted to brake fluid claims he can stop any time he wants
Judge orders Gov. Kemp to undergo questioning in Georgia election suit
Granny Witches: A Necessity for Daily Living
Possibly Helpful Language for Responding to Transphobia in Feminist Groups
Make Your High Last For 8 Days With This Bong Menorah
Sober Bars Are The New In Thing For Recovering Alcoholics To Enjoy The Social Scene
Nothing Says Christmas Like … a KFC Fried-Chicken Fire?
If You Still Hate Michael Vick, You Might Be Racist
Preposterous ideas from Atlanta’s past decade that actually came true
Gov. Kemp Responds to Water Litigation Ruling
Bill to Prohibit Hair Discrimination Advances in Assembly
A new study linking profanity to honesty shows people who curse are more authentic
Feds raid 6 local grocery stores; customers blocked from going inside
Italian town discovers why you should never put Christmas lights on a palm tree
The Root’s Michael Harriot Sits Down With Pete Buttigieg
Boris Johnson Is Showing Western Politicians How to Win
Calls Out Oprah … Why’s She Only Going After Black Men?!?
Washington Post’s Afghanistan Story Reveals Core Folly of American Defense Strategy
Jason Isaacs Wants Racists to Stop Pretending to Be Star Trek Fans
The BBC is releasing over 16,000 sound effects for free download
Dams and Reservoirs Can’t Save Us. This Is the New Future of Water Infrastructure.
Takedown: The five best sentences EVER
5 Best Sentences You’ll Ever Read By Donna Calvin Classroom Socialism
Did an Economics professor use grading of exams to teach about socialism?
From Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, Paris Nov. 13. 1787.
This Is What Racism Sounds Like in the Banking Industry
Which is worse, bigotry or cowardice in the face of bigotry?
Avoid This Pronunciation for Professional English (American) – 10 Words
Berlin’s subway sets the standard for how to treat a city’s residents
lester bangs ~ michael c. bryan ~ work computer ~ ~ gerson on trump ~ the ramones
Dorma McGruder ~ hate groups ~ n-word ~ Laci Green
ban porn ~ top 10 memes ~ white men ~ peloton
Can we find another metaphor to replace “the plank in the eye”? This bit of Christian rhetoric is past the expiration date. ~ Quit worrying about finding examples of hypocrisy. Two wrongs do not make a right. Base your argument on facts, rather than shady logic. ~ Unless they are under oath, a person who says “I don’t know” is probably telling the truth. ~ Merriam-Webster’s Words of the Year 2019 Word of the Year: They Top Ten: Quid pro quo, Impeach, Crawdad, Egregious, Clemency, The, Snitty, Tergiversation, Camp, Exculpate Spell check suggestions: Snitty: Snotty Tergiversation: Conversation ~ 1:48:40 being being friends with women is a lot of work I made this comment, so I could have the comment by the she wolf. When I clicked on the link to make sure it worked, youtube played a Dr. Squatch commercial fwiw, the entertainer said that she enjoys wolf jokes. Her twitter handle is @michelleisawolf ~ 32:15 we have to look at these things with our brains and we’re taught that when it comes to race we’re just supposed to look at these things with our gallbladders and it doesn’t work for anybody ~ Lady Windemere’s Fan We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Lord Darlington, Act III In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. Mr. Dumby, Act III A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. [Answering the question, what is a cynic? Lord Darlington, Act III ~ Chicopee Man Begs Badass 77 Year Old Chesterfield Woman To Call 911 After He Broke Into Her Home And Got Stabbed By Her ~ pete buttigieg and michael harriot systemic racism and white supremacy in particular I believe is the force that is most likely to destroy the United States of America ~ I’m convinced that if we don’t wrestle down white supremacy in our lifetime that they could kill the American project ~ we held a koala bear took a picture with a koala let me tell you they every I feel like the American version of that animal seems like so cute and like soft and light it feels like a stuffed animal what we think a koala is … it was tiny right same size that I thought it would be but the thing was like fucking three bowling balls it’s just so heavy and it’s a bear it’s a real bear … to say it’s a ball of muscle would be a tremendous understatement ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Rudolph
Someone posted a bit of revisionism about a holiday classic. As he sees it, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is about racism.
In a bit of yuletime synchronicity, the urban mythbusters at Snopes posted a piece about Rudolph the same day. It seems as though the Rudolph story was originally written for the Montgomery Ward Stores. The idea was to print a Christmas booklet to give to customers. A staff writer named Robert L. May was picked for the job.
Originally, there were concerns about the red nose, and the connection to heavy drinking. At the time, the original meaning of “merry christmas” had been forgotten. Merry meant intoxicated, and a merry christmas was a drunken one. The booklet was released. It was a big hit with shoppers.
Mr. May had a brother in law named Johnny Marks, who was musically gifted. Mr. Marks wrote the song, and somehow or another Gene Autry came to sing it. A story (which PG heard once, but cannot find a source for) had Mr. Autry doing a recording session. The session went very smoothly, and the sides scheduled to be recorded were finished early. There was a half hour of studio time paid for. Someone produced copies of “Rudolph”, gave them to the musicians, and the recording was knocked out. It became a very big hit.
“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” has become a beloved standard, without the troubling religious implications of many holiday songs. It is the second biggest selling record of all time. The only song to sell more is “White Christmas”.
The story above is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. There is an appearance by Gerald Rudolph Ford, and his women. Betty was a merry soul.
What Is A Cynic?
“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” ― Oscar Wilde. This quote is one of Oscar’s greatest hits. If you think about it for a minute, it is not totally accurate. You are not supposed to think. Quoting Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde is about sounding clever, not making sense. Did he really create that definition of a cynic?
Oscar Wilde is a quote magnet. This is more than something you put on your refrigerator. When people hear something clever, odds are good that Oscar will get the blame. As Dorothy Parker wrote: “If, with the literate, I am, Impelled to try an epigram, I never seek to take the credit; We all assume that Oscar said it. [Life Magazine, June 2, 1927]”
Wikiquote says this line is from Act III of Lady Windermere’s Fan. It was spoken by Lord Darlington. Did the play write intend for the line to be taken seriously, or was he making the character look foolish by saying it? With Oscar Wilde, it could be both of these things at the same time.
Principle Four, of the four principles of quotations, reads “Only quote from works that you have read.” In the case of Lady Windemere’s Fan, this would mean a youtube video of the play. There is a posh BBC production available. You don’t have to watch the cell phone recording of high school players.
Lady Windemere’s Fan is a production where upper class Brits say clever things in glorious costumes. Nobody ever goes to the bathroom, or looks less than perfect. Lady Windemere’s six month old child is neither seen, nor heard. Lady Windemere finds out her husband, Lord Windemere, is having an affair with a Mrs. Erlynne. The Lord proceeds to invite the floozy to Lady Windemere’s birthday party.
After the party, the men go to their club, then to Lord Darlington’s room. There are five men in the conversation, beginning with Lord Windemere. Lord Darlington has just told Lady Windemere that he loves her, and wants her to run off with him. Lady Windemere said no. Lord Augustus is a suitor of Mrs. Erlynne, and is begging her to marry him. Cecil Graham, and Mr. Dumby, wear their splendid costumes with conviction.
The scene starts with the men saying clever things, most of them insulting to someone. Lord Augustus, or Tuppy, is the butt of many jokes. Before long, we get this exchange:
Dumby. I don’t think we are bad. I think we are all good, except Tuppy.
Lord Darlington. No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Dumby. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars? Upon my word, you are very romantic to-night, Darlington.
Cecil Graham. Too romantic! You must be in love. Who is the girl?
Lord Darlington. The woman I love is not free, or thinks she isn’t. [Glances instinctively at Lord Windermere while he speaks.]
A few minutes later, we hear another famous Oscarism.
Lord Darlington. What cynics you fellows are!
Cecil Graham. What is a cynic? [Sitting on the back of the sofa.]
Lord Darlington. A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Cecil Graham. And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Pretty Monsters Part One
Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. The book used today is Pretty Monsters, by Kelly Link. PG was given a copy of PM, and asked to create an artistic response. This post is part one of this response. Quotes are from a .pdf of the text.
Citizen: An American Lyric was PG’s introduction to Big Read. CAAL, a rambling art book, was not a good fit for PG. (Part one Part two Part three) When the lady from 7 Stages turned up with a box of books, PG was wary.
PM is presented as a social justice commentary. “Her stories are about more than strangeness, more than the fantastic—they’re about inclusion, diversity, and acceptance of alternate world views.” PG has nothing against diversity and inclusion. He just enjoys a good story more.
PG did not need to worry. Pretty Monsters is a collection of short stories. The first two … The Wrong Grave, The Wizards of Perfil … are fun to read. Each is a fantasy, a type of story PG normally does not read. If you think enough, you can make them about alternate world views. That is, if your idea of an alternate world includes digging up your dead girlfriend.
The Wrong Grave is the story of Miles Sperry, and his late girlfriend Bethany Baldwin. Miles wrote some poems for Bethany after the car crash, and put the only copy in her coffin. Miles goes to the graveyard one night to retrieve the poems. All goes well, until there is a complication.
“He yanked and someone else pushed. The lid shot up and fell back against the opposite embankment of dirt. The dead girl who had hold of Miles’s boot let go. This was the first of the many unexpected and unpleasant shocks that Miles was to endure for the sake of poetry. The second was the sickening—no, shocking—shock that he had dug up the wrong grave, the wrong dead girl. The wrong dead girl was lying there, smiling up at him, and her eyes were open. She was several years older than Bethany. She was taller and had a significantly more developed rack.” …
“The wrong dead girl spoke first. “Knock knock,” she said. “What?” Miles said. “Knock knock,” the wrong dead girl said again. “Who’s there?” Miles said.
“Gloria,” the wrong dead girl said. “Gloria Palnick. Who are you and what are you doing in my grave?”
“This isn’t your grave,” Miles said, aware that he was arguing with a dead girl, and the wrong dead girl at that. “This is Bethany’s grave. What are you doing in Bethany’s grave?”
“Oh no,” Gloria Palnick said. “This is my grave and I get to ask the questions.” …
Miles and Gloria have a discussion about life when you’re six feet under. Gloria is delighted at a chance to escape. Miles is a bit wary. Finally, they go to a cabin, owned by someone’s weirdo parents. Most of the older people in Pretty Monsters are weirdos. After Miles leaves the room, Gloria leaves something for him. “The dead girl reached down her shirt and into the cavity where her more interesting and useful organs had once been (she had been an organ donor). She’d put Miles’s poetry in there for safekeeping.”
As you may imagine, there are some plot twists that were not documented here. Chamblee54 tries to be a spoiler free zone. If you really want to know what happened to Miles, or The Wizards of Pefil, you will have to read the book. Efforts to bring PM to television are another, less amusing, fantasy.
The Wizards of Pefil happens in an unidentified foreign country. This is one of the themes of Pretty Monsters … you seldom know where the story takes place. Wizards also takes place during a war, but we don’t know which one. It is after the invention of railroads, but outside the grasp of recorded history. This is why they call it fantasy.
Onion and Halsa are traveling with Halsa’s mom. The soldiers are coming to their town, and they need to get out. The money is a bit short, so one of the kids has to be sold to the Wizards. First, it is Onion, but the Wizard’s flunky wants Halsa. We don’t know why they would want Halsa, and her hateful mouth. Wizards work in mysterious ways.
“Everyone knows that the wizards of Perfil talk to demons and hate sunlight and have long twitching noses like rats. They never bathe. Everyone knows that the wizards of Perfil are hundreds and hundreds of years old. They sit and dangle their fishing lines out of the windows of their towers and they use magic to bait their hooks. They eat their fish raw and they throw the fish bones out of the window the same way that they empty their chamber pots. The wizards of Perfil have filthy habits and no manners at all. … the wizards of Perfil eat children when they grow tired of fish.”
Halsa tries to get by. The wizards live in towers, out in a swamp. Onion is on a train, except when a Onion clone is hanging out with Halsa in the swamp. Onion is in a world of trouble. He knows the soldiers are going to attach the train, and kill everyone. Nobody listens to him. So his clone goes back to the swamp, where Halsa is learning about life.
“… she was coming back from the pier with a bucket of fish, there was a dragon on the path. It wasn’t very big, only the size of a mastiff. But it gazed at her with wicked, jeweled eyes. She couldn’t get past it. It would eat her, and that would be that. It was almost a relief. She put the bucket down and stood waiting to be eaten. But then Essa was there, holding a stick. She hit the dragon on its head, once, twice, and then gave it a kick for good measure. “Go on, you!” Essa said. The dragon went, giving Halsa one last reproachful look. Essa picked up the bucket of fish. “You have to be firm with them,” she said. “Otherwise they get inside your head and make you feel as if you deserve to be eaten. They’re too lazy to eat anything that puts up a fight.”
There is another plot twist, and a spoiler to avoid. This is enough for the first post. Part Two, part three, part four, and part five, are now available. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
War Between The States
It is a truism that history is written by the winner of the war. This seems to apply to the naming of the conflict. There was a horrific armed struggle in North America between 1861 and 1865. The name used most often is Civil War. To many in the South, it is the War Between The States. In PG’s humble opinion, WBTS is a better name.
In fifth grade, PG had to write an essay about the Battle of Atlanta. The essay was a device for teaching grammar, utilized by the english teacher, Miss McKenzie. The contest was sponsored by the Daughters of the Confederacy . The expression “Civil War” was not permitted. The proper name for this conflict was War Between the States.
In many ways, this conflict started as soon as the United States became independent from Great Britain. The South was an agrarian society, with slaves to work the fields. The north was becoming an industrial society, with a need for an independent work force. The north wanted high tariffs to protect her industries, while the south wanted to sell it’s cotton to Europe. There were plenty of ways for this conflict to manifest.
Slavery was a very important factor. The south wanted to keep “the peculiar institution” intact, while many in the north were horrified. There were numerous compromises over the years, as Congress struggled to keep the Union intact. This ties in with a central dilemma of the american experience … how much power to give to the states, and how much power to give to the federal government.
The phrase civil war is defined as “A war fought between factions of the inhabitants of a single country, or the citizens of a single republic”. By the time the shooting started, the southern states had left the union. They formed a confederacy of independent states, rather than one monolithic union. It was, indeed, a war between the states.
This is a repost. Pictures, of Union soldiers, are from The Library of Congress.
The recent destruction of #SilentSam, was defended by a quote from the 1913 dedication speech. Here is something else that Julian Carr said that day: “In the knowledge of subsequent developments, the progress, peace and prosperity of our united, common country, victor and vanquished now alike believe that in the Providence of God it was right and well that the issue was determined as it was. And the people of all sections of our great Republic, moved by the impulse of sincere and zealous loyalty, of fervent and exalted patriotism may say: “All is well that ends well.”
The demonization of the Confederacy has intensified lately. Yes, slavery was a wretched institution. However, much of the rhetoric today does not take into account many of the other causes of that war. And it forgets that *the war is over.* The early twentieth century was a time of reconciliation between the north and the south. Yes, there was Jim Crow, and white supremacy. People of color (both black and non black, both north and south) were treated horribly. Creating a more perfect union is a slow, and uneven, process.
Part two of today’s feature is a double repost. Part one is based on an interview with Shelby Foote, where he goes into some of the points made above. If you get a chance to listen to the link, you can hear Mr. Foote talk for an hour in a luxurious Mississippi accent. The second part of today’s feature goes into some of the financial causes of the War Between The States. It is an old truism that all wars are about money. The causes people are told about, both at the time of the conflict and historically, are not always the real reason for the war. Look at how WMD was used to justify “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” WMD was the excuse for the conflict, not the reason.
PG spent a pleasant Saturday afternoon editing pictures from The Library of Congress (which illustrate this post) and listening to a 1994 interview with Shelby Foote. There was a book to be sold, and Mr. Foote made the necessary appearances to sell the product. The gentleman has a handsome Mississippi accent, and is a delight to listen to. There is a transcript, aka the lazy bloggers friend.
A few of the things he said are timely. When this show was taped in 1994, Mr. Foote spoke of healing from the War Between the States. Today, we seem to be regressing. Trash talk about the Confederacy is back in fashion. It is a good time to revisit these comments. Shelby Foote died in 2005, and can no longer comment.
“Slavery is a huge stain on us. We all carry it. I carry it deep in my bones, the consequences of slavery. But emancipation comes pretty close to being as heavy a sin. They told — what is its million or 7 million people, “You’re now free. Hit the road,” and there was a Freedman’s Bureau, which was a sort of joke. There were people down here exploiting them. Three-quarters of them couldn’t read or write, had no job, no hope of a job, no way to learn a new job even, and they drifted back into this peon age system under sharecropping, which was about all they could do.
To this day, we are paying and they are paying for this kind of treatment. I don’t mean there should have been a gradual emancipation. I mean there should have been true preparation to get this people ready for living a kind of life. They were free and should have been free all along, but they were not prepared for living in the world. They’d been living under conditions of slavery, which kept them from living in the world…..”
“The Civil War, there’s a great compromise, as it’s called. It consists of Southerners admitting freely that it’s probably best that the Union wasn’t divided, and the North admits rather freely that the South fought bravely for a cause in which it believed. That is a great compromise and we live with that and that works for us. We are now able to look at the war with some coolness, which we couldn’t do before now, and, incidentally, I very much doubt whether a history such as mine could have been written much before 100 years had elapsed. It took all that time for things to cool down….”
(Booknotes host Brian) LAMB: “Was the Civil War inevitable? FOOTE: I think that it was necessary. I do not believe that those differences could have been settled without bloodshed. The question is the horrendous amount of bloodshed. That was not necessary. That could have been stopped at some point. God knows. But there apparently were differences so profound between the abolitionists in New England and the fire-eaters of South Carolina that dragged the rest of the country into this conflict that I’m inclined to agree with Seward, who called it an irrepressible conflict….” (Chamblee54 recently published a post, Why Was The War Fought?. about the financial aspects of the War. Follow the money, and find the truth. The post is seen below.)
LAMB: “From what you know now and your own political philosophy, if you had a voice and you lived back there, which side would you have been on? FOOTE: There’s absolutely no doubt. I’m from Mississippi. I would have been on the Confederate side. Right or wrong, I would have fought with my people. LAMB: Why? FOOTE: Because they’re my people. It would have meant the end of my life as I had known it if I fought on the other side. It would have been a falsification of everything I’d lived by, even if I opposed it. No matter how much I was opposed to slavery, I still would have fought for the Confederacy — not for slavery, but for other things, such as freedom to secede from the Union.”
Last week, this slack blogger found a tweet. The tweet said that Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy fought the Federal Reserve, and both were killed. I did a little research, and found something that questions the conventional wisdom about the War Between the States.
Before getting to the quote, a disclaimer is in order. 100777.com is a sketchy website. What is says cannot be taken as literal truth. However, the statement about WBTS does raise some questions.
“One point should be made here: The Rothschild bank financed the North and the Paris branch of the same bank financed the South, which is the real reason the Civil War was ignited and allowed to follow its long, and bloody course.”
Maybe it was not the Rothschild Bank that financed WBTS. Somebody did. War is a profitable enterprise. People are going to egg on the combatants, knowing that there is money to be made. Someone encouraged the southern states to secede. Others encouraged the north to take a hard line on slavery, knowing that it would lead to a profitable war. Was slavery the reason for this war, or the excuse? Follow the money.
Rhett Butler was a central character in Gone With The Wind. He was a blockade runner, bringing in supplies to the south. He said this: “I told you once before that there were two times for making big money, one in the up-building of a country and the other in its destruction. Slow money on the up-building, fast money in the crack-up. Remember my words.”
It should be noted that slavery was a big money operation. “But I think we think of it differently when we realize that the value of slave property, some $4 billion, enormous amount of money in 1861, represented actually more money than the value of all of the industry and all of the railroads in the entire United States combined. So for Southern planters to simply one day liberate all of that property would have been like asking people today to simply overnight give up their stock portfolios.”
When the thirteen colonies declared independence, they were not creating a union. The idea was to kick out the British. The concept of a federal union, made up of more-or-less independent states, was fairly new. States had conquered other states, and formed empires, for a long time. A federal union of states was a new, and controversial, idea. Many European states wanted to see this federal union fail. These states encouraged the south to secede. Some people say the War Between the States began the day the British left.
Pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library “… a collection of images of downtown Atlanta streets that were taken before the viaduct construction of 1927 – 1929. Later, some of the covered streets became part of Underground Atlanta.”
Henry Woodfin Grady
Before yesterday, PG did not know much about Henry Woodfin Grady. He saw the statue downtown, and visited people in the namesake hospital. PG knew Mr. Grady was a newspaper man, and a pioneer salesman of Atlanta, Inc. There was something called The New South Address.
That all changed Wednesday morning. Editorial: Mayor Bottoms, tear down this statue! was the headline at the Signal, Georgia State University’s student newspaper. Someone at the University of Massachusetts read the New South Address, and found some amusing quotes.
“What of the negro? This of him. I want no better friend than the black boy who was raised by my side, and who is now trudging patiently with downcast eyes and shambling figure through his lowly way in life. I want no sweeter music than the crooning of my old “mammy,” now dead and gone to rest, as I heard it when she held me in her loving arms, and bending her old black face above me stole the cares from my brain, and led me smiling into sleep. I want no truer soul than that which moved the trusty slave, who for four years while my father fought with the armies that barred his freedom, slept every night at my mother’s chamber door, holding her and her children as safe as if her husband stood guard, and ready to lay down his humble life on her threshold. History has no parallel to the faith kept by the negro in the South during the war.”
This is one of the nicer parts. About half the speech is about the Negro, and what the White man should do about him. When PG finally read the speech itself, he was amazed. The rhetoric was much worse than PG expected. If you want to get your woke knickers thoroughly twisted, read between page 23 and page 33. (The speech starts on page 21.)
The well meaning GSU students printed a dose of contemporary rhetoric, about a speech given October 26, 1887. PG summarized this on Facebook. Editorial: Mayor Bottoms, tear down this statue! The GSU Signal cranked up the purple prose machine for an attack on Henry W. Grady. “A monument to Henry Grady and his accomplishments on Marietta and Forsyth streets — also named Henry Grady Square — still stands today. Etched into his plaque are three celebratory words: “Journalist, Orator, Patriot.” Let us be clear in recognizing that Grady, as a journalist, promoted racism. Grady, as an orator, promoted racism. And Grady was certainly no patriot — he was simply a racist.”
A facebook friend, who we will call Macon, asked “What part of it do you disagree with?” 28 comments later, PG got on his digital horse, and rode into the sunset.
The initial response was about the the comment “Grady was certainly no patriot — he was simply a racist.” The New South Address was in 1887, 22 years after the War ended. Before that hideous conflict, the states were seen as separate entities, with helpful guidance from the Federal government. When the Confederate states left this union, a ghastly was ensued.
After the south was conquered by the north, there was little doubt. The states were governing districts, under the control of the mighty federal government. Most people today take this arrangement for granted. The truth is, it has been controversial over the years. In his landmark address, Henry W. Grady was calling for an economic union of the south and north, to go along with a militarily-enforced political union. 22 years after a horrific war over secession, a southerner was calling for a stronger union with the north. To PG, this is patriotism. The fact that Mr. Grady said impolite things does not change this.
Macon responded “… but he was a racist …” A few comments were exchanged. Macon said what Macon wanted to say. PG said what PG wanted to say. PG was ready to walk away, and go to the gym. Before leaving, PG said: “I note that you have not addressed the patriotism issue. You asked me what I disagree with, in this assessment of Henry Grady. I replied that working for a strong Federal Union, less than a generation after the War Between the States, was an act of patriotism. You have not responded to this.”
When PG got back, he saw where Macon had posted a series of lurid quotes from the NSA. What PG missed, at first, was the comment “I agree it was patriotic.” Since PG had missed this comment, he continued to hammer away at the patriotism issue. Finally, Macon said “Yes, was Sen. Joe McCarthy a patriot? Was Hitler? … ” Godwin’s Law is now in effect. Adult conversation has left the building.
What to make of all this? It is apparent that Mr. Grady said some unfortunate things. Does this negate all the good that he did? Looking back, it seems that the main contribution made by Henry W. Grady was as a salesman for the south. In Atlanta, a town built on marketing, this makes him a publicity patron saint. Now we are learning about exactly what Henry W. Grady said. G-d is in the details. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
What Are You Trying To Proooove?
Once a week, bloggingheads.tv has a feature called Science Saturday. Some of the best feature John Horgan and George Johnson. They are pals, and say “oh really” a lot. This past week they discussed the business of scientific research, how big money can corrupt the findings. It makes cents sense … when you get government grants to fund your research, it is in your best interests to get the results the government wants. Or, if your employer stands to make billions of dollars from selling a new drug, you want to “prove” that the drug works.
Perhaps it is a semantic issue. People often say prove, when what they should say is indicate. Prove is a murky legalistic concept, full of smoke and mirrors. Indicate is what the numbers on the screen say.
John got mixed up in a controversy about this recently. While discussing this, he quoted an scientific journal to about Why Most Published Research Findings Are False . This caught PG’s ear, and made him put down his photo editing, and make a comment. (Those pictures from the War between the States have waited 145 years. A few more minutes is not going to hurt.) This comment resulted.
chamblee54 wrote on 12/18/2010 at 02:10 PM Re: Science Saturday: Discovery and Invention (John Horgan & George Johnson) John makes a bold statement .
It seems as if an author, writing behind a paywall , wrote about corruption of the scientific method. At the end, he wrote “Just because an idea is true doesn’t mean it can be proved. And just because an idea can be proved doesn’t mean it’s true. When the experiments are done, we still have to choose what to believe.” ( John says it here. The link no longer works. )
In a touch of irony, George begins the discussion by recalling a visit to California, and a report on the medical marijuana scene. Marijuana is a good example of the government deciding the results, and then commissioning a study to “prove” what had already been decided. If your lab depends on Uncle Sugar for funding, then your study is going to show that Reefer makes you turn purple.
When PG was in tenth grade, he had a geometry teacher. She had participated in LSD experiments (and said a shot of whiskey would do more for you.) Basic geometry is dependent on proofs, or a series of statements that show a theorem to be true. (There is a difference between a theory and a hypothesis.) A foundation concept of geometry is the Pythagorean theorem. This teacher said it was possible to disprove the Pythagorean theorem.
A couple of years later, PG grew shoulder length hair, and went to visit his uncle. The relative was known for being to the right of Herbert Hoover, and was not amused by PG’s fashion statement. The uncle got into the firewater, and would say, over and over, “What are you trying to proooove with your long hair?” Spell check suggestions for proooove: ovenproof, groove.
This is a repost. Bloggingheads TV is having money problems, and is converting into a non profit enterprise. The future of Science Saturdays is in doubt. In another surprising development, research shows that tabloids do not always tell the truth.
Sounds Like Netanyahu
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falcon post mortem ~ sylvester ~ do you eat dog? ~ 70’s commercials ~ Purpose of Poetry
stacey movie mogul ~ Waiting for Obama ~ #WaysToRuinThanksgiving ~ mayor pete
@TFLN (310): Sooo What’s the best way tho find out it he’s into anal? (1-310): I think you have the wrong number, but good luck with that ~ @DothTheDoth Practice self-care like Medusa, take care of your hair & turn everyone who has wronged you into stone. ~ i had an adventure last night. I got up to pee, and decided to put something on my shoulder. I had a new jar of the lotion. I opened the jar, and noticed a few bits of dirt in the top. Someone had opened the jar, taken some of the ointment, and put it back on the shelf. ~ 1:10:19 I have a consulting company and I go around the country and I talk to every level in the chain of command including the frontline troops guys that work construction guys that work gas oil guys that are out do linemen that are output you know at manufacturing everything those people they’re they’re met most of them they’re not out on the fringe somewhere you know what they’re thinking about they’re not thinking about what Trump soon they’re actually thinking about you know how they’re gonna if they’re gonna get to take a couple days off over their Labor Day weekend they’re getting thinking about have the save enough money they can get a new truck that’s what they’re concerned about they’re not thinking about this they’re trying to live their normal lives ~ @USNatArchives We confess, this memo is one of our favorite #ThanksgivingDay documents. President Carter apparently did not “especially like” green peas, but he was fine with fresh (not frozen!) green beans. What dish do you dread at Thanksgiving? @CarterLibrary #foodhistory ~ @TimJDillon We let my six year old cousin say grace and they just came out as non binary and called my grandfather a colonizing pig. Interesting start to dinner lol. ~ Pete Buttigieg Is a Lying MF ~ Pete Buttigieg Called Me. I figured one of his surrogates would argue with me for a few minutes and I could continue my day trying to be a thorn in the side of white supremacy (The third thing you should know is that I actually keep a small photo of the mouse from Pinky and the Brain beside my bed that says: “What are you going to do today, Michael?” The answer is always the same: “Fuck with white people.”) ~ When people say these things, it fits their agenda at the moment. They may, or may not know, that they said something contradictory in the past. Either they don’t care, or can rationalize it away. Maybe they are paid to produce this nonsense, or they sincerely believe in what they are doing. If all else fails, make a lot of noise about your agenda, and people will be too weary to argue with you. Think of our dialog last week about quote attribution. You said you like the quote, and are not concerned about the details… or something like that. The stories you mention fit the headline vomiter’s agenda, and they are not concerned about the details. ~ At the time, an “inhalant” called Locker Room was on the market. It was a “popper”. You unscrew the lid of the little bottle, inhale the fumes, and get a buzz. Between shows, someone apparently gave Mr. Crystal some coke. He said thank you to the person, and made a snorting gesture. I was seated on the floor, in front of the stage. I said, a bit too loudly, Locker Room. Mr. Crystal stopped talking. “Locker Room. I need the hecklers rosetta stone to know what this guy is saying” ~ your racist uncle bought the turkey ~ your racist uncle paid for the turkey ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ this poem was read last night in decatur. It is based on tweets by @sarafcarter:
another day another ponytail ~ ’cause I’m just too lazy to wash my hair
show some respect for the ladies who fail ~ i want to be hearing Lizzo down there
eye doctor what brings you in here today ~ i’m having trouble seeing the red flags
do coke in bathroom wearing lingerie ~ the fitness class was full of scumbags
don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it whore ~ single motherhood sex work addiction
or be buried inside the gucci store ~ oh thank g-d i don’t have a prescription
single motherhood sex work addiction ~ just have your cake & eat it too far
oh thank g-d i don’t have a prescription ~ therapist office right next to a bar
just have your cake & eat it too far ~ or be buried inside the gucci store
therapist office right next to a bar ~ don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it whore ~ selah
About That Ta-Nehisi Coates Video
So there is this video, Ta-Nehisi Coates on words that don’t belong to everyone It is being praised to high heaven. PG has some issues with this entertainment. The transcript is from vox, Ta-Nehisi Coates has an incredibly clear explanation for why white people shouldn’t use the n-word. This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress.
TNC gave an interview once, The Playboy Interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates. (The link no longer works.) “The n$$$$$ thing? I understand if you’re black and you say, “Man, I had white people call me this shit all my life. They called me this shit when they hit me upside the head, and I don’t want to hear it.” I understand that. But that ain’t everybody’s experience. I’ve never had a white person call me a n$$$$$. I had somebody call me le négre here in France, but I was 38 years old and I couldn’t have cared less. It didn’t mean anything. So not all of us come out of that experience.”
The monolog starts off with a discussion about how some words are appropriate for some people to use, but others should not say them. “My wife, with her girl friend, will use the word bitch. I do not join in. You know what I’m saying? I don’t do that. I don’t do that. And perhaps more importantly, I don’t have a desire to do it.” The question arises: is his wife a four legged dog? Unless she is, then the b-word does not apply to her.
“Coates pointed to another example — of a white friend who used to have a cabin in upstate New York that he called “the white trash cabin.” “I would never refer to that cabin” in that way. I would never tell him, ‘I’m coming to your white trash cabin.’” Of course, a person with an upstate cabin is likely to be far removed from the trailer park. He is using *white trash* with irony, and would not be the least offended if TNC called it “the white trash cabin.”
“The question one must ask is why so many white people have difficulty extending things that are basic laws of how human beings interact to black people.” (Is TNC saying that black people are not human beings?) … “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you. You think you have a right to everything. … You’re conditioned this way. It’s not because your hair is a texture or your skin is light. It’s the fact that the laws and the culture tell you this. You have a right to go where you want to go, do what you want to do, be however — and people just got to accommodate themselves to you.”
At this point, PG turned off the video in anger. He has never been taught that everything belongs to him. Nobody that PG knows has been taught that. PG does not know anyone who teaches that message. This is a lie. It makes PG not want to believe anything else that TNC says. Maybe there is some privilege/culture mumbo-jumbo that explains this concept.
Lets go back a minute to the white trash cabin. TNC does not want to use this phrase. And yet, he feels entitled to make a sweeping generalization like “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you.” It is wrong to say white trash, but ok to slander white people.
“So here comes this word that you feel like you invented, And now somebody will tell you how to use the word that you invented. ‘Why can’t I use it? Everyone else gets to use it. You know what? That’s racism that I don’t get to use it. You know, that’s racist against me. You know, I have to inconvenience myself and hear this song and I can’t sing along. How come I can’t sing along?’”
“The experience of being a hip-hop fan and not being able to use the word ‘ni**er’ is actually very, very insightful.” To begin with, why do you assume that PG is a hip hop fan? Many white people think hip hop is garbage. And so, if you are forced to listen to music that you don’t like, how does that make you want to use a word that degrades the user? The logic of TNC is falling apart faster than the Falcons pass defense in the Super Bowl.
“It will give you just a little peek into the world of what it means to be black. Because to be black is to walk through the world and watch people doing things that you cannot do, that you can’t join in and do. So I think there’s actually a lot to be learned from refraining.”
If you are in the mood to get yelled at for a half hour, you can ask someone about “things that you cannot do, that you can’t join in and do.” There might be some. If you go along with the rhetoric so far, you will probably believe what you hear. You might even understand why not using a nasty word will give you “a little peek into the world of what it means to be black.” As for PG, he seriously doubts this. He is not someone who says that this video is “an incredibly clear explanation for why white people shouldn’t use the n-word.”
Once upon a time, cigarettes were advertised on television. One new brand was a cigarette for women, Virginia Slims. The ability to kill yourself with tobacco was presented as being a privilege. Some wondered why women would want to take up this filthy habit. Today, African Americans have the privilege of using the n-word. What a deal. A nasty word, which degrades both the speaker, and the spoken of. Why would anyone want to use that word?
If you don’t have anything good to say, you can talk about the n-word. This *trigger* word is an aphrodisiac for the american body politic. Recently Ta-Nehisi Coates performed in a video, Ta-Nehisi Coates on words that don’t belong to everyone There is much praise for this entertainment, like this: @SneakerWonk “#TaNehisiCoates has an incredibly clear #explanation for why #whitepeople shouldnt use the #nword.” PG has a few paragraphs, about this video, in the text above.
PG has written about racism, anti-racism, and racial attitudes on many occasions. People get angry, and call PG rude names. He must be doing something right. Later, there was a double feature about James Baldwin. In the first half, Mr. Baldwin expresses a few opinions about that word. In the second half, PG substituted racist for the magic word, with interesting results.
One item that keeps coming up is speculation about who invented the n-word. Negro means black in Spanish, and is derived from a latin word. The Oxford English Dictionary has some usages going back to 1577. “1577 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. (new ed.) 389 The Massagetes bordering vpon the Indians, and the Nigers of Aethiop [Sp. los negros en Ethiopia], bearing witnesse. ~ 1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft vii. xv. 153 A skin like a Niger. ~ 1608 A. Marlowe Let. 22 June in E. India Co. Factory Rec. (1896) I. 10 The King and People [of ‘Serro Leona’] N$$$$$$, simple and harmless.
The TNC video is based on the concept that white people want to use the magic word, but should not. This assumes a great deal. Chamblee54 published a piece about the n-word, that spelled out why he does not like to use this noun/verb/adjective/adverb/interjection. Here are four reasons for a white person to refrain from saying america’s favorite dirty word.
1- The n-word hurts people’s feelings. PG has known many fine Black people. He does not want to say anything that will hurt these people.
2- Being heard saying the n-word can cause all sorts of problems. This can include physical retribution, loss of employment, lawsuits, and having to listen to enough loud angry words to make you wish you had never learned how to talk.
3- It is not a fair fight. There is no equivalent phrase for a Black Person to say to a White person. Why give that power to another group of people … to turn you into a mass of incoherent rage, just for hearing a six letter word. The closest thing is “Cracker”, which PG only recently found out was an insult. There used to be a minor league baseball team, the Atlanta Crackers.
4- The use of the n-word demeans the user. When you say an insulting word about another human being, you make yourself look bad. For a Black person, using the n-word degrades them as the object, as well as the speaker. Why would a person would want to do that?
The Monty Python Quiz
No One Expects This Spammish Inquisition – It’s a Monty Python Quiz! turned up on the internet this morning. Yes, the Pythons were funny, but “Beatles of comedy”? In the spirit of copycat posting, here is the quiz. Additional comments, when the interest is there, are by chamblee54.
1. Which one of these was NOT considered as a title for Monty Python’s Flying Circus? Owl Stretching Time, Whither Canada?, The Toad Elevating Moment, Casper & Mandrilaftalen. … PG did not have a clue, so he clicked the last answer. … That’s right! Casper & Mandrilaftalen wasn’t considered as a title for the show but was a Danish cult television sketch show inspired by the Pythons.
2. The Pythons adored dressing up as old ladies with notable, peculiar, high-pitched voices. These characters appeared in many sketches, but what were they commonly known as? Ratbags, Pepperpots, Biddies, Squawkers. … Here again, PG is not Python Trivia Fluent. He has always liked the term “Biddy,” and will guess that. … Not right! While they were certainly biddies they were known by the cast and fans as Pepperpots.
PG has a limited attention span. Twitter and facebook await. New depths in trump derangement syndrome wait behind every sponsored spam salesman. Things are a bit better on twitter. This gem is just one example. Meet Carey Leone: Northborough Mom, Former Dancer Who Lost Her Mind Over Mustard Spill At The Bruin’s Game, Says Video Was Taken Out Of Context. If you want more details, you can use the link. Now back to the full Monty.
3. In the famous Dead Parrot sketch, what creature is offered to the unimpressed customer as a replacement for his deceased avian companion? Wombat, Halibut, Bee, Slug. … PG saw the FDPS, but forgot the details. Halibut it is. … I’m afraid not. The Pythons definitely loved halibuts (and fish of all kind) but a slug was offered as a replacement.
4. The famous foot that squashes the opening credits with an audible raspberry was purloined by animator Terry Gilliam from which famous painting? Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time by Bronzino, The Wedding of the Virgin by Raphael, The Deposition from the Cross by Pontormo, The Garden of Gethsemane by Vasari. … This is getting technical. When in doubt, go with the title that does not mention the bible, which is Venus, Cupid, etc. … You got it! It was Bronzio’s masterpiece that Terry Gilliam nicked the foot from.
5. In the Nudge Nudge sketch, where is Terry Jones’s wife from, which sends Eric Idle into paroxysms of excitement? Penge, Purley, Balham, Banstead. … Banstead is the blandest of the four names. Banstead does not sound like a bell. … You’re off the mark – Terry’s wife was from Purley (squire) not from Banstead – which we may have possibly made up.
6. The famed classical composer Arthur Jackson has a rather unusual nickname, according to the show, but what is it? Liquorice, Two Sheds, Paper Round, Toffee Hammer. … Is Liquorice a foul tasting candy, or something you put in a drink? … Oh no – the composer in question was, of course, Arthur ‘Two Sheds’ Jackson (because he was thinking of buying another shed.) … Maybe the famed classical composer was looking for someone to give him shed.
7. In The Mouse Problem, the telephone number of a mouse advocate was given out during the sketch, but which actual celebrity did the number belong to (and had to be edited out of subsequent repeats)? David Frost, Barry Cryer, Ronnie Barker, Cliff Michelmore. … David Frost was the star of That was the week that was. Ten year old PG felt so cool watching tw3. Sir David Paradine Frost is the only celebrity that PG knows here. … It was! Or, in fact, it was David Frost’s production company offices that got many annoying calls from Python fans.
8. The first series of the show featured fairly elaborate episode titles (many being rejected names for the show) – but which particular animal featured in two separate series one programme titles? Owl, Sheep, Ant, Moth. … Originally, the dead parrot was going to be an owl. … Not quite – there was only a single owl (Owl Stretching Time) but there were two ants mentioned in episode titles.
9. Python characters and sketches have given their name to innumerable things: fossils, landfill sites, asteroids, rock bands – but a ubiquitous computing term is named after a famous Python scene – what is it? Gumby, Spam, Pither, Biggles. … If you miss this one, you are too stupid to be alive. Spam, hold the glory. … Correct! That delightful phenomenon known as spam, as in junk email, is named after the Python’s famous Spam sketch.
10. The documentary exploration of notorious gangsters The Piranha Brothers reveals that Dinsdale Piranha was plagued by an imaginary giant hedgehog – but what was he called? Spiny Norman, Spiky Jake, Snufflin’ Simon, Sticky Rick. … Norman was immortalized in song by Sue Thompson. … You nailed it! That giant imaginary hedgehog was called Spiny Norman. … PG foolishly clicked onto a video by “Ask a mortician.” Now YT is directing him to shows like To Die & Mummify In LA: Yvette Vickers. The sponsor is “America’s ORIGINAL BUTCHER”, Omaha Steaks.
11. Monty Python’s Big Red Book was, obviously, not red but had a blue cover. The original hardback version also has a sticker on the front – but what did it say? Do not open, Contains nuts, Free for Popes, Very urgent. … The pope gets everything else for free. … That would be a fairly Pythonian book sticker – but the one we were looking for: Very urgent.
12. Upper Class Twit of the Year competitor Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris was said to be married to… what? A very attractive table lamp, The winner of the Derby, A small nugget of plasticine, A rather fine bottle of port. … The lamp glows when he turns him on. … Very nice! The spouse of Mr Zinc-Trumpet-Harris was indeed rumoured to be a table lamp. … Or as the gentleman in the Nudge Nudge sketch might say, “nice, very nice, know what I mean” while making a few vaguely suggestive hand gestures. That is a score that even a Gumby would be proud of.
This is amazing. Despite having watched hours of Python product, PG only knew one answer. Through dumb luck, he got 5, of the remaining 11, correct. PG is smart enough not to click the “Share your result” button. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the photos in March, 1940. Main street corner. Las Vegas, Nevada
Thanksgiving Story
Thanksgiving was a time our family cherished. It was the only time all of us got together under one roof and mingled. Except for me. ~ I was the the family embarrassment. They were Catholic, and disliked my way of life. I played guitar, loved Heavy Metal, and worshiped Satan. ~ All this explains why my family shunned me. In their eyes, I was the flaw of a nearly perfect gem, but in mine, I was the cream of the crop.
I should’ve known they had something awful in mind when they asked me to join them somewhere. They drove me to the very corner of the ranch. ~ “What the fuck are we doing back here,” I asked. My only reply was, “Shut up you blaspheming fool.”
At last we got to the destination. My father, mother, and sister were standing around, wearing funeral clothes. ~ In the middle was a shallow grave. “What’s that hole for?” I asked dumbly. “Take a guess you satanic fucker!” Was the reply from my father.
I felt a thud on my head. I hit the ground with a loud thlap. I turned in spite of excruciating pain to see my uncle wielding a shovel. ~ I touched the back of my head to find my fingers coated in blood. I suddenly grew light headed and passed out. When I woke up I inhaled dirt. ~ Luckily, my family didn’t know how to properly bury someone so I was able to dig myself out. I sat there and puked for about fifteen minutes.
When I got back, it was Thanksgiving night. through the window I could see my family, sitting there, saying grace like the sheeple they were. ~ Seeing them praying made my hate for them and all Catholics grow. It went from a smouldering, muddled anger, to a flaming, outrageous hatred
I ran into the garage and found my uncle’s shotgun, sitting there, waiting for me, beckoning, saying, “Go ahead, make these fuckers pay.” ~ “Hi Mom!” I shouted as I pulled the trigger, I started laughing uncontrollably as I continued firing at my family until I was empty.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” My father asked, wounded, shot in the gut. “Wrong with me?” I asked calmly. “What’s wrong with you?” ~ With that I threw the gun away and dined. Not on Turkey, but on raw human flesh. It was the best Thanksgiving ever. ~ Twitter serialization by @creepypasta_txt. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Inspiration Is For Amateurs
It is a T shirt treasure, and a coffee cup classic. “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” This gem is blamed on Allan Stewart Konigsberg, better known as Woody Allen. The percentage goes up and down, and life is sometimes substituted for success.
The quote was recently featured at WIST, or Wish I’d Said That. This quote site is known for giving a source, unlike the sites featuring purring platitudes in front of a cultural kitten. The current top offering is “Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.” Virginia Woolf attributes the baroque comment to Roger Fry who was not afraid of the author.
Getting back to Mr. Allen and success statistics. He accepts full responsibility for the remark. In 1989, notorious conservative columnist William Safire asked Mr. Allen about whether he said life or success. The answer was rather surprising.
“The quote you refer to is a quote of mine which occurred during an interview while we were discussing advice to young writers, and more specifically young playwrights. My observation was that once a person actually completed a play or a novel he was well on his way to getting it produced or published, as opposed to a vast majority of people who tell me their ambition is to write, but who strike out on the very first level and indeed never write the play or book.”
In other words, you don’t just show up empty handed. If you have an idea, you have to employ the writing formula, ass + chair. You have to turn the tv off, leave the beer in the refrigerator, sit down, and push buttons on the keyboard.
The second part of today’s entertainment is an encore presentation, Inspiration Is For Amateurs. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
PG was listening to an interview with a fiction writer. Someone said “Inspiration is for amateurs.” PG has always been more impressed by action than beliefs, and this phrase made sense. This repost is a good excuse to post some more pictures from The Library of Congress.
The phrase is from a painter named Chuck Close. His output is expensive, and widely enjoyed. A spinal injury left him paralyzed, but did not stop him from producing. Here is the full quote:
“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”
A man once made pottery. It was said that the man only worked with passion, and that if he didn’t feel this passion he did not work. When PG heard that, his thought was that if PG worked that way, he would never finish anything. Most of the sticker pictures take a while to finish. PG always gets tired of the picture before it is through. The idea is to go to the studio, start to do stuff, and before long the enthusiasm will return. Any image requires a certain amount of time with the belly pressed against the work table, or the digital equivalent.
The formula for writing is ass plus chair. A teacher once said to not stare at the blank page, waiting for a bolt of lightening. Start to write something, and the ideas will start to sputter out of the pipeline.
It is not enough to have a bright idea. You have to work the problems out. Sometimes, you spend more time finding out what does not work, than what does. You have to do it wrong before you can do it right. Genius is ninety nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. If any cliches have been overlooked, please add them to the comments.
One thing that is helpful is to be focused. The internet can be a problem. When you should be thinking about your product, it is very tempting to see the latest on Facebook or Twitter.
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