52 Years Of Living Presidents
The United States passed a milestone October 28, 2015. Few people noticed. We now have a new record for US Presidents not dying in office.
George Washington was inaugurated April 30, 1789. All Presidents lived to finish their time in office for 51 years and 339 days. William H. Harrison died April 4, 1841.
Mr. Harrison was the first of the zero factor Presidents. From 1840 until 1960, any man elected President, in a year ending in zero, died in office. In recent times, Ronald W. Reagan and George W. Bush survived the zero factor. Maybe the middle initial made a difference.
John F. Kennedy made an unwise trip to Dallas TX on November 22, 1963. No President has died in office since then. 51 years and 340 days went by on October 28, 2015. Barack H. Obama is assumed to be happy about this.
While no Presidents have died in the last 52 years, there was one that did not finish his term. Richard M. Nixon resigned from office August 9, 1974. He did live another 20 years. Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress.
Meaningless All Purpose Insults
TERRELL, BRYAN KEITH GDC ID: 0000293638 ~ Brian Keith Terrell ~ Marcus Ray Johnson ~ @lizzwinstead Hey @realDonaldTrump you are a bloviating dumpster of human filth. Go enjoy some Chinese food with Erick Erickson. ~ It’s got a beat and you can dance to it ~ @Chamblee54:I thought sufi was something you said when calling a hog to dinner. ~ @gpandatshang That joke is not halal, to say the very least. ~ @WernerTwertzog American public art is important for making Americans hate art. ~ Yesterday was also the 72nd anniversary of the birth of Jim Morrison. ~ They probably designed the Capital City Club so that the clubhouse (i.e. bar) is in Fulton County. Dekalb was dry until the early seventies. ~ 4:45 sentimental narrative 48:11 the eagles ~ @Smooth_Orator i hate you coon n****s worse than i hate white racists. just a bunch of stupid ass gullible fucking idiots. fuck you. ~ take break for shower before dinner take “what kind of drunk” test ~ @SlavojTweezek Under communism, rapacious entrepreneurs will be replaced by party-vetted worker-staffed innovation committees. ~ Why was a political goofball like Al Gore the spokesmen for climate change concern? It is as if someone wanted someone the conservatives would make fun of. ~ What kind of drunk are you? ~ Western Officials: Iran Retreating From Syria Fight ~ How to Uphold White Supremacy by Focusing on Diversity and Inclusion ~ bible name ~ if i get blocked ~ maybe i need to listen to this weeks episode if you are accused of white privilege you are doing it right ~ 1- You did not mention the fascist fascination with fashion. All three words have a common root. The German and Italian fascists were known for their snappy uniforms. This is one area that the Donald does not live up to the F label. It also makes you wonder if it is appropriate to call groups like Haesh fascist. 2- People who casually use the label “racist” don’t have a whole lot to credibly say in this conversation. Both “fascist” and “racist” are grossly misused and overused, and lose a great deal of meaning in the process. Both “fascist” and “racist” have devolved into meaningless all purpose insults. 3- The paper mache animal on the wall does not add anything to the conversation. ~ @AdviceToWriters Writers have no real area of expertise. They are merely generalists with a highly inflamed sense of punctuation. LORRIE MOORE ~ This might be the start of a poem. Of course, I don’t know what many of these words mean, or, more important, how they are pronounced. ~ I don’t like using they for singular. I recognize the need for gender neutral pronouns.The confusion caused by “redefining” they is not the best way to remedy this. ~ If They can be singular, then Y’all can be singular. ~That may be the best argument yet against Singular They. ~ pictures today from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Bowel Games
The story below is a repost from 2013. The Dawgs had a bad season, and will be going somewhere. They have a large, wealthy, fan base, which is greatly loved by bowl game organizers. The pictures are from The Library of Congress .
The Georgia Bulldogs beat somebody’s Aggies in Shreveport, Louisiana last night. The affair is something called the Independence Bowl. The Fishwrapper has an ad for a casino-hotel-spa. The link no longer works. Athens can go back to creating a school the football team can be proud of.
This is the season of bowl games. A few years ago, any town with a stadium, and a chamber of commerce, could get a bowl game. Any school with .500 season could go to a bowl, many of whom now had grafted on corporate names. There was, literally, the poulon weedeater bowl holiday classic.
What follows is a story PG read in Sports Illustrated when he was a kid. There is no source, and there is a slight possibility that it is not true.
In the sixties, NBC had a new years day triple header of bowl games. The sugar bowl was followed by the rose bowl was followed by the orange bowl. Hangovers and national championships were fixed in one day. NBC made handsome profits.
An Olympic committee had a meeting one day, to determine who would telecast the upcoming games. The man from NBC went in, with charts, and promises of money for the amateur athletes. The presentation from NBC centered on the january first triple header, the sugar bowl, the rose bowl, and the orange bowl.
Another network won the bid to telecast the games. After the meeting, an Olympics official had a private conversation with the NBC man. The committee felt that their emphasis on the bowel games was in bad taste.
Tibetan Peach Pie Part Four
Thomas Eugene Robbins was working in a Seattle radio station when Charles Manson came to self promote. This is on page 241 of Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life. TER drops a quote from Henry Miller, who is talking about Arthur Rimbaud. “like a man who discovered electricity but knew absolutely nothing about insulation.” Or maybe the insulation was made of asbestos, and whose removal would cost exponentially more than installation.
TER passed on the chance to discover Mr. Manson, which may have been a good move. Before long, TER found himself in the same facility as the doors. TER says he found his writing voice that night. “Their sound is the sonic equivalent of Edgar Allen Poe going down on the Snake Woman, while Jean Genet and the Boston Strangler cut cards for leftovers.”
About this time, TER began work on Another Roadside Attraction, the novel that would make him famous. He spent the week in South Bend WA, and weekends working at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. This is perhaps the most pretentious newspaper name in history, even for the Hearst corporation. TER spent those weekends in a flophouse, the Apex hotel, whose wallpaper would have sent Oscar Wilde screaming into eternity.
Soon ARA was published, ignored in hardback, but became an underground sensation in paperback. This was the first TER book that PG read. One of those paperbacks was at a yard sale, a few days after PG saw the Rolling Stone piece. After paying the fifteen cents, PG took the book home. On page three, Amanda asks someone about the meaning of life, or something equally goofy. The man asks what she will do in return. Amanda batted her eyelashes, and said the she would suck off the man.
At that point, PG knew that he wanted to finish ARA. Many people say it is the best TER book, and PG is inclined to agree. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was made into a movie, and the ones after cowgirls all had their charms. The latter books, while tons of fun, have the air of contractual obligation. The lifestyle described in the latter part of TPP must be expensive to maintain. Still, ARA is what made the rest of them possible. Included in this is the move to La Conner WA, made April 1, 1970. TER says to make all moves on April 1. Especially when moving out of a town whose mayor supplemented his income by selling men’s suits out of an Oldsmobile. The suits were stolen off cadavers by enterprising funeral directors, who left the underwear behind.
Before long it is 1971. TER is settled into La Conner WA, except when he puts a duck mask to see a proctologist. The word legendary comes into play. This affable adjective it is misused, misunderstood, and mistaken. It is similar to the contemporary compulsion to decry racism and terrorism. What this has to do with the Chelsea Hotel is a good question. This is where TER stayed, while editors shehawed over Cowgirls. Maybe the editors were legendary racist terrorists.
So Cowgirls comes out, and is a hit. Still Life with Woodpecker, though not as much fun as the first two, is an even bigger hit. TER goes through money, women, and drugs, not always in that order. (TER says he never wrote while intoxicated. However lubricated reality was in his off hours, while on the clock he was straight and narrow.) This can be tracked in his stories. In ARA, the characters realize that alcohol is an imperfect drug. In Woodpecker, cocaine is in fashion. In the post Woodpecker days, alcohol is used more and more.
On page 330, PG is in the Kroger parking lot, waiting on a rider to finish shopping. This passage was written by hand. (TER likes to write with a pen, while PG is hopeless away from a keyboard.) A scribble pad, with a Thoreau quote on the cover, was used. … While reading TPP in Kroger PL, I saw the way the sun fell on some brick columns. I got the camera to take pics. Meanwhile TER is meeting Love of Life#4. The batteries on the camera ran out before I was finished…
The lady friend is still connected to TER. They met in 1987, on page 333 of TPP. Half the antichrist, which somehow that seems like a happy accident. The book has 362 pages, and the clever turns of phrase are fewer and fewer. This will probably be the last installment of the chamblee54 appropriation of TPP. Parts one, two, and three have already seen the light of day. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. They were taken during the War Between the States.
Brian Keith Terrell And John Watson
Before discussing tuesday’s planned execution, it should be noted that chamblee54 missed an execution. Marcus Ray Johnson was poisoned November 19. His crime was committed in 1994.
Barring last minute appeals, the state of Georgia is planning to poison Brian Keith Terrell Tuesday night. Mr. Terrell, was convicted of murdering John Watson on June 22, 1992. John Hamish Watson, another Mr. Watson, was the “elementary” friend of Sherlock Holmes.
The first trial of Mr. Terrell resulted in a hung jury. The most recent appeal deals with concerns about the substances the state plans to inject into Mr. Terrell. Previous appeals were based on jury selection issues, and the traditional complaint of ineffective counsel.
Marcus Ray Johnson was white, as was his victim Angela Sizemore. Brian Keith Terrell is black. It is not known what race Mr. Watson was. (Barbara Terrell, the mother of the accused, had discussed marriage with Mr. Watson.) The state of Georgia seems to alternate between white and black people when conducting executions. Kelly Gissendaner a white woman, was executed before Mr. Johnson. The executions of Ms. Gissendaner, and Mr. Terrell, were delayed for several months after the execution drug appeared to be cloudy.
Here is the story of the murder. It is condensed for this blog. Readers wanting the full story can go to Murderpedia, and Attorney General’s Press Advisory. Most of this story is from Murderpedia, with additional details, as noted, from the Attorney General.
Barbara Terrell the defendant’s mother, had been assisting the victim, seventy-year-old John Watson, with meals and errands since 1989. Watson had a number of health problems and required dialysis three times a week. Barbara Terrell received no compensation for her services, but Watson had promised to include her in his will, and they had discussed marriage.
On May 1, 1992, Terrell was released from prison on parole. Watson met Terrell through his mother and Terrell was inside his home on several occasions.
On Saturday, June 20, 1992, Watson called the sheriff’s office and reported receiving ten canceled checks, totaling about $8,700, which had been stolen and forged…. Terrell, who had recently bought a car and new clothes despite not having a job, told his mother that he could not repay the money.
John Watson’s body was found on his property at approximately noon on June 22. He had been shot four times and severely beaten in the face and head. The medical examiner testified that either the gunshots or the beating would have been fatal, and that the victim was still alive when receiving all these injuries. Shell casings found on Watson’s driveway indicated that the firearm used in the murder was a .38 or .357 caliber revolver. …
Jermaine Johnson, Terrell’s cousin, confessed to his role in the crime and testified at trial in exchange for a five-year sentence for robbery. He stated that he and Terrell checked into a motel near Watson’s house at midnight on June 21. Terrell locked the keys in his blue Cadillac … They broke a window to get into the Cadillac. Terrell had a .357 or .38 caliber revolver and he asked to be dropped off at Watson’s house. Terrell told Johnson to return for him at 9:00 a.m. Johnson went back to the motel, slept until 8:30 a.m., and then drove back to pick up Terrell. Before 9:00 a.m., he had a conversation with the motel manager in the parking lot as he was leaving. The manager noticed that the broken glass in the parking lot was on the side of the car opposite the broken window, indicating that the Cadillac had been moved since the window was broken. The man with whom she spoke matched Johnson’s description and she testified that he was alone.
Johnson drove back and forth on the road in front of Watson’s house … Witnesses saw Johnson driving Terrell’s blue Cadillac at this time. Johnson testified that Terrell appeared near Watson’s house and he stopped and picked him up. Watson’s neighbor testified that at approximately 9:30 a.m., she saw a man wearing a white shirt standing next to a large blue car parked on the side of the road. Terrell was wearing a white shirt on June 22. Terrell told Johnson that he had shot a man. Terrell bought new clothes at a department store and took a bath at his grandmother’s house while Johnson washed the car.
Terrell took his son to the zoo, where he disposed of the pistol. When Watson missed his dialysis appointment, a search began for him at his house…. Evidence found at Watson’s house after he was discovered missing showed that, during the murder, Terrell hid at the corner of Watson’s house waiting for him to come outside to go to his dialysis appointment. Terrell then fired repeatedly at Watson; however, the initial shots all struck the driveway, possibly because Terrell had a defective wrist that caused his hand to point downward when raised. One shot, however, ricocheted up and struck Watson in the back of his thigh. Terrell then reloaded and continued his attack. Terrell overtook Watson, struggled with him, shot him three more times, dragged him across the lawn to a more secluded area, and beat him brutally about the face and head, breaking bones in his jaw, nose, cheek, forehead, and eye socket and knocking out some of his teeth. The beating was so severe that bone penetrated into the victim’s brain.
When questioned by the police, Terrell admitted committing the forgeries, but denied the murder. He said that he and Johnson had checked into the motel with a woman, who was never identified, and stayed there all night after he had locked his keys in the car. He said that they did not leave until 10:00 or 10:30 a.m., when they broke the window to get into the Cadillac. Later in the interview, a police officer asked him how the woman got home and Terrell stated that Johnson drove her home early that morning, which would have been impossible if the keys were locked in the car at that time. When Terrell realized that he had contradicted himself, he refused to answer any more questions. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Prayer Shaming
Prayer shaming entered the vocabulary this week. Some moving lips were offering “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of the latest commodity shooting. Some pundits thought it odd to offer T&P. Many of the people offering T&P are shameless attention mongers.
Many religions have prayer. The idea is that you talk to G-d. Sometimes it is a public ritual, sometimes it a private conversation. The star of the Christian religion, Jesus, is quoted as favoring private conversations. This does not stop his believers from making a grotesque spectacle of prayer.
The sad truth is that many of the prayer perpetrators talk too much. Telling them to talk is like telling an alcoholic to take a drink. Talking is seen as taking action, while listening is seen as being passive. This is just one of the problems in our culture.
Whenever there is a mass shooting, people say a lot of silly things. They argue the semantics of terrorism. There is two wrongs make a right rhetoric about race. In america, if you can’t say anything worthwhile, you whine about race. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Rudolph
The story below 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.
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.
Gene Autry had a radio show, “Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch”. He created the “cowboy code”. Number five gets our attention today. Under this code, the cowboy must:
1. never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
2. never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
3. always tell the truth.
4. be gentle with children, the elderly and animals.
5. not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
6. help people in distress.
7. be a good worker.
8. keep himself clean in thought, speech, action and personal habits.
9. respect women, parents and his nation’s laws.
10. be a patriot.
“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”. You just can’t get away from race.
Celebrating A Championship
18 Very Sweary British Words You Need To Use Right Now ~ shitpouch. bawbag, wazzock, fuckwit, tosspot, twatface, jebend, piss stain, wankstain, cock womble, fucknugget, jizzmonger, spunktrumpet, arsebadger, fanny flaps, cunt puddle, cuntybollocks, fuckety bye ~ Thomas Jefferson was in France during the Constitutional Convention, engaged in the pursuit of Sally Hemmings. ~ I was walking back from the drug store. It was getting a bit warm, so I took my tobaggan hat off. I looked for a pocket to put it in, and realized that my baseball hat had fallen out of my pocket. I thought of retracing my steps to find the baseball hat, but decided that it was not worth the trouble to look for an old worn out hat. I then looked up, and saw the baseball hat sitting on the sidewalk, in the place where it had fallen out a few minutes earlier. ~ Every now and then, I look in my email and see another comment to my post on the GSEMH ~ just caught the 50th anniversary! of Alice’s restaurant masacree on pbs. Brought back the memory of seeing Arlo at the Great Southeast Music Hall. I was drunk(and maybe other) and it was my birthday, so my bf said I should try to talk to Arlo because my name is Guthrie! I was just drunk and young enough to do just that. I finagled my way to the tourbus door(was pretty good at talking my way into things back then), announced that I was a cousin, and ended up sitting at the little bus table, smoking and talking with Arlo and fam. Pretty sure all I added to the conversation was a shit-eating grin, but it was one of the highlights of my youthful escapades. Loved going to the Music Hall! Ah…youth and happy times. I also lived at Bordeaux apts for a while! Peace:) ~ I did not see the exchange that led to this “unfriending.” The “nuclear option” may have been justified. I would like to urge caution in using the “unfriend” option. If you are tired of a persons opinions, you can choose “unfollow.” You will not see the person’s posts, but they will remain in your friend collection. I have been unfriended a few times. It can really hurt your feelings. Sometimes it was for trivial offenses. Other times, I honestly don’t have a clue what the problem was. People see something that they do not like. They feel like they need to take action. The act of telling someone they are no longer your friend is just a click away. I wonder if any of these people regret this action later. You can pretend that it never happened, but this “unfriending” will be in the background of your interactions with this person. No matter how friendly this person is to your face, you will always know that they “unfriended” you. The same thing applies to blocking someone on twitter. You can say that you are better off without this person in your life. I don’t like the way this creation of barriers feels. I would rather get along with, and respect, other people. If they say something that you are “offended” by, maybe you are too sensitive. Not everything you hear is going to agree with you. ~ @whitman632 Never ever get behind a zombie at a men’s room urinal. ~ strange fruit ~ If you were north of I85 … ~ Or whining about other peoples racial attitudes. ~ Self righteous mouth running about what other people say. ~ when your idea of taking action is to unfriend a social media contact you take the side of the oppressor ~ Maybe he was a sports fan celebrating a championship ~ Are there gender neutral alternatives to sermon and mammon? ~ Maybe we can quit using labels and two-wrongs-make-a-right logic. ~I was wondering when the snarky response was coming. Then I realized I did not click send. ~ Our addiction to fossil fuels is a problem. Global warming may be the least of our problems. ~ Maybe it is an opportunity to write something. ~ 1- Maybe it is an opportunity to write something. 2- Sometimes an ideological argument is just an excuse for a petty playground fight. You may think you are arguing about _____ but what is really going on is “you are a poopyhead” “are not” “are too” ~ Any holiday that can lead to a picture like this can’t be all bad. Yes, there are lots of issues involved in the treatment of Native Americans. That should not stop us from enjoying this holiday. ~ fancy ~ mice ~ Brian Keith Terrel ~ Marcus Ray Johnson ~ more polite about it ~ GSEMH ~ Hippie Heyday: The Ultimate Flower Power Quiz ~ @chamblee54 made it all the way through this weeks episode_thanks for giving me a challenge, even when i don’t make it through @TheKevinAllison What kinda stories usually make you turn the show off? @chamblee54 (1) the last one was about conversation w. dying father-it brought back memories-it is subjective, often dealing with my @chamblee54 (2)mood when i listen_ my friend had an alzheimers mom, & i doubt i would have wanted to relive that experience @chamblee54 (3) just do what you are doing- if i can’t take the heat i know how to get out of kitchen- this might make good blog post @TheKevinAllison Gotcha. Yeah, many times, people are triggered or tailspun from stuff even we couldn’t predict. ~ this is not a good year for football in georgia ~ pictures from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Stage Names
SheLia Twatt ~ Anne Tissipation ~ Sharon Sharalike ~ Bertha DaBlues ~ Dee Boner ~ Sue Nahmi
Amanda Hugankiss ~ Amanda Shagg ~ Davida Loca ~ Unita Muzzle ~ Cincy DeFlesh ~ Kay Keenitet
Lucy Lastic ~ Phyllis Steen ~ Shelita Hamm ~ Dale Neverknow ~ Natalie Attired ~ Gladys Overnow
Dora Jarr ~ Eileen Dover ~ Emma Roydz ~ Helen Wait ~ Helen Wheels ~ Jenny Tull ~ Anita Dump
Ophelia Balls ~ Mysha Long ~ Eileen Dover ~ Fannie O’Rear ~ Sue E. Generis ~ Ida Nevernoedit
Tara Newassle ~ Ester Diefor ~ Maude Lynn ~ Lois Steam ~ Viola Fuss ~ Fay Tality ~ Eda Bagel
Lilly Pad ~ Magnolia Blossom ~ Rhoda Dendron ~ Jacklyn Hyde ~ Amanda Ryder ~ Kay O. Pectate
Anna Palumbo ~ Ivy Drip ~ Frieda Gogh ~ Vera Lee Isay ~ Hope Anna Prayer ~ Huda Thunkit
Marge Inavera ~ Polly Glott ~ Clare Voyant ~ Wanda Lattary ~ Tara Bull ~ Billie Rubin
Nevah Hoidovit ~ Ima B. Leaver ~ Miss Konstrude ~ Miss Ann Thrope ~ Misty Meaner
Holly Ween ~ Jillian Dollars ~ Sue Veneer ~ Robin Cradles ~ Jenny Taylia ~ Colleen Allcars
Farrah Moans ~ Pandora Spocks ~ Candace B. Real ~ Lois Commondenominator ~ Marsha Dimes
Lilly Screams ~ Tulita Pepsi ~ Erasmus B Dragon ~ Ivana Uranus ~ Lovee Uranus ~ Anita Uranus
Irma Gedden ~ Eileen Wright ~ Lisa Carr ~ Bella Aiche ~ Anna Conda ~ Tessie Tura ~ Rose Above
Constance Sweat ~ Freida Katz ~ Anita Amanda Luv ~ Imelda Ledder ~ Ouida Peeples
Gia Dunno ~ Jenny Saykwah ~ Cienda Light ~ Aida Biggun ~ Barbara Seville ~ Mary Jo Figaro
Pita Ann deWuff ~ Polly Morfuss ~ Karen Fernaught ~ Leticia Papers ~ Hedda Lettis ~ Nana Yabiz
Jean Poole ~ Ginger Snapp ~ Queen Obnoxia the III ~ Helen DaBed ~ Ms. Sitona Mai Feze
This repost, written like Stephen King, has pictures from The Library of Congress.
Eighty Percent
It is a T shirt treasure, and a coffee cup classic. “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” This gem is blamed on Allan Steward 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. This is a repost.
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.
Bernied Out
Bernie Sanders is speaking at the Fox Theater tonight. While PG enjoys a free circus, it is doubtful that he will atttend tonight. There are just too many problems with Bernard no-middle-name Sanders, who will be known as BS in this report.
When watching the Demo debate, PG realized that BS is a jerk. He is loud, abrasive, and ugly. BS is always ready to make an angry, shouting speech. BS is a cranky, ill tempered old fogey, with too many opinions. One Jew, a thousand opinions.
It is not enough that BS is a jerk. There is also his adoring followers, the bernoids. That is a contraction of Bernie and annoyed. Bernoids make evangelical christians look restrained. Bernoids seem to think that the louder they scream, the more memes they post on facebook, the more likely their hero is of being elected. It would be a luxury to consider the candidates on their merits, rather than reacting to the obnoxious behavior of their followers.
So much for style. BS doesn’t do too good on substance either. Does anyone really think that BS will make college tuition free? And pay for it with the revenue from environmentally sensitive unicorn ranching? The Repub dominated congress is not likely to go along with this.
It is ironic that BS is telling the truth on many issues. There is massive income inequality in Amerika. Unfortunately, loudly whining about it is not going to do anything except fire up the bernoids. The one percent is getting a good laugh.
BS said in a debate that Muslims should pitch in to defeat Haesh. (This part will be done from memory. Google should have the exact words.) This is what Israel wants. If Syria’s government is fighting rebels, then nobody is fighting Israel. There is a lot of killing going on in the middle east. BS wants to see more, as long as Israel doesn’t get hurt.
The Georgia primary is March 1. This is after a few primaries, and the field may start to narrow. Maybe a strategic vote against a Repub is in order. Or, maybe a Demo vote is the way to go. Bernie, with all his faults, is more appealing than Hillary. PG will probably make up his mind while walking to the polling place. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Theology Is Worse
If you don’t like the text, skip over it and look at the pictures ~ The adjective “white” does not need to be there. ~ statistics ~ 01:05:11 PM so i try to delete an empty folder and the machine totally wigs out the only way to restart is to cut the power off which leads to a cranky startup ~ @lucygabs i now realise i should have used a comma ~ if a woman wants to be a poet she must dwell in the house of the tomato ~ The forum is no longer. ~ a racist is someone who calls their neighbor a racist we are all G-d’s children ~ @SlavojTweezek Workers of the World, ignite! You have nothing to lose so inflame! ~ the anagram for narcissism is racism sins ~ @Mchankins hasn’t tweeted yet. ~ @Milbank Gutsy Republican leaders strike Islamic State with lethal barrage of clichés. ~ @lucygabs If you can differentiate between white christians and the kkk/westboro, then you can differentiate between muslims and isis. ~ Luther Mckinnon The adjective “white” does not need to be there. ~ Katie Brown I strongly strongly disagree. White Muslims are rarely mistaken for members of ISIS. Black Christians are rarely mistake for members of the KKK. The whole meme is based on a more complex discussion of assumptions based on the intersection of skin color in relation to religious ideology – and the way that these relationships can be misconstrued by the uneducated. ~ Luther Mckinnon Arabs and Persians are caucasian. ~ Tyler Wallace It’s not a meme. It’s a tweet. ~ @lucygabs ICYMI: http://bit.ly/1MbHH2D Stop telling me Fashion isn’t a ‘real’ degree, written by yours truly. ~ JOHNNY SAID THE N WORD ~ racial privilege of cows ~ @EricaJong @BarnardCollege today is #internationalMensDay #WorldToiletDay Gettysburg address was Nov 19,1983 ~ This user’s activity is private ~ “Your ignorance is profound, though typical of the standard brainwashed college graduate in the United States today…. I like to throw Libtard terminology right back in their faces. ~ @JordynPhelps Trump says he’s been described as Ernest Hemingway of Twitter ~ @RaymondMcDaniel I don’t trust anything that explains everything. ~ I was listening to a podcast about a lady with a broken vagina when I saw this. I had to pause the podcast to read this story. ~ In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. ~ Four labels to avoid: liberal, conservative, racist, terrorist ~ What does this refer to? ~ “Philosophy is useless theology is worse” Mark Knopfler ~ What you say about Jesus says more about you than it does about Jesus. ~ – I’m going to pray for you ~ We need to quit judging people on their racial attitudes. Just because you consider someone to be “racist” does not give you license to trash talk them. ~ @pourmecoffee “500 phrases from scientific publications that are correlated with bullshit” ~ Sicko Manhattan dentist busted for child porn, selling meth after he told informant he attended bestiality parties in NYC: officials ~ Find out which Beatles song are you? ~ How to Grieve Over Black Celebrities’ Stupid Comments About Race and Racism ~ show them these 5 paragraphs ~ bounce house ~ dogmatic ~ pictures are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
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