May 6
May 6is a day in spring, with 35% of the year gone by. It has it’s fair share of history, some of which did not turn out well. In 1861, the Confederate Congress declared war on the United States. In 1937, a German zeppelin named “Hindenburg” exploded while trying to land in New Jersey. In 1940, Bob Hope did his first show for the USO, somewhere in California.
Roger Bannister ran the first sub four minute mile, on May 6,1954. The current record is 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj on July 7, 1999, with a party with Prince to celebrate. Since most track meets now use 1500 meters, the mile record is more or less obsolete.
On this day, Georgia executed two notable prisoners. In 2003, Carl Isaacs was put to death. Mr. Isaacs was the ringleader in the 1973 Alday family killing, in Donalsonville GA. Five years later, in 2008, William Earl Lynd was poisoned by the state. This was the first condemned man to die after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that execution by poisoning was constitutional.
Taurus is the sign for those whose blood starts to pump May 6. Included are:
Maximilien Robespierre (1758) Sigmund Freud (1856) Rudolph Valentino (1895)
Orson Welles (1915) Willie Mays (1931) Rubin Carter (1937)
Bob Seger (1945) Tony Blair (1953) PG (1954) George Clooney(1961)
To make room for these folks, someone has to die. For May 6 this would mean:
Henry David Thoreau (1862) L. Frank Baum (1919) Marlene Dietrich (1992)
This is a repost. It ia written like H.P. Lovecraft.
Super Hero
Robert Allen Zimmerman
Arrived in Duluth Minnesota May 24 1941
Eight days later he was edited
Two wars later he became Bob Dylan
And slept with Joan Baez
He sold out by playing electric guitar
Science Test
When PG hears about the Pew Research Center, he thinks of a picture of deodorant testers sniffing away. In fact, PRC is a serious research house, full of dedicated focus groupies.
One recent event is a Science and Technology Knowledge Quiz. Some say this knowledge is the door to a brighter future. Many stumble over the threshold. This test will tell PG how he “measures up”.
The first four questions are true/false. The next nine are multiple choice, The demographic questions involved gender, age, and education.
PG scored 12 of 13 correct. He did not answer question four. This is a design flaw in the study. Many studies require you to leave an answer before going to the next question.
This result is better than 85%, below 7% and the same as 8%. People with too much free time can learn more in the report. Those who feel that G-d is in the details are likely to be disappointed.
Monty Python
Chamblee54 left a comment
Promoting his poorly-read blog
The ALL-CAPS whiner calls it SPAM
The next day saw a politically-correct omission
If remembering Confederate Memorial Day is SPAM
Then Chamblee54 is Monty Python.
Joker
The last two weeks have seen the trifecta monday post describing an after dinner ecstasy, involving a deck of cards. Trifecta works in units of three. One more post is required. The trilogy troll will not triumph. Curley and Larry will find Moe.
The cards marked jokeroker were removed from the deck before the event. This deck had two jokers. One joker had a note. Guarantee If there is any defect in this pack we shall be glad to replace it. Return it unused to The United States Playing Card Company Cincinnati, Ohio 45212
The jokers had a drawing of an unsmiling king. He was riding a bicycle, with six spades on his shoulders. The king was riding by a stone, with the number 808 engraved. 808 is the telephone area code for Hawaii, and is a police code for disturbing the peace. One of the first synthetic drum machines is the Roland TR-808. These three digits are formed by sandwiching a zero between two manifestations of two cubed. The eight is also the infinity sign, stood on one side.
Poker rhymes with joker, but the game doesn’t use it. The fool of the tarot deck is said to be the inspiration for the joker. If so, then this is the only representative of the major arcana in standard playing cards. The character in the Batman shows is probably not inspired by the playing card. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. They have nothing to do with the subject of discussion.
Jack Of Clubs
Last week in this space, there was a plan for after dinner entertainment on a Saturday evening. The piece was performed Saturday the thirteenth, the opposite of Friday the thirteenth.
There were only twenty five people in the house when the after dinner circle convened. PG told the players to get in a counter clockwise circle, and made a gesture indicating that the circle should be clockwise. Sometimes showing that you can be corrected makes you a better leader.
After the small groups were formed, and the players sent out for dessert, PG drew a card. The Jack of Clubs picked him. After all the instructions to the other participants about being open to intuition, PG drew a blank. What on earth does the Jack of Clubs see in his soul?
After the main circle broke into groups of four, there was one player left over. The PG group became a group of five. The consensus was that the person with the highest card should go first. A man with an ace went first, and said something.
PG said that his card was about all the jack he used to spend in the clubs. The man on the card looked unhappy, as card royalty often does. Perhaps PG should loosen up, and start to spend more time in the clubs. If this is going to happen, it will happen later. This Saturday, PG went directly home.
Perhaps the clearest message was received by the man seated next to PG. He had the Five of Spades. There were five azalea plants in his yard, and it was past time to trim them back.
A decision was made to not pass the cards around the circle, but to talk about tv shows. PG was forced to admit that he had never seen “The Golden Girls.” The color of his face told many stories.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union soldiers, from the War Between the States.
Four Suits
The program tonight is an exercise in alchemy and intuition. A deck of cards is being passed around the circle. When it reaches you, please take one. Close your first two eyes, and look at this card with your third eye. It is about what the card sees in you, and not what you see in the card.
Get in alphabetical order, based on the third letter of your last name. Starting with A, count off into groups of four. We will break into these groups of four.
What the card finds in you can be one of several things. It can be a comment about how you feel about life. It can be a song, a poem, a gesture. It does not have to make sense.
We are using ordinary cards for this exercise. These correspond to the minor acana of the tarot deck.
These four groups are:
clubs – wands – earth
diamonds – pentacles – air
hearts – cups – water
spades – swords – fire
One person will allow the card to share what it finds. Remember, this can be a comment, a poem, a song, or a gesture. When the first person is through, the person to his left will share what the card finds.
When you are through with the first round, you can hand the card to the person on your right. The group will go again, with the second card telling the story it finds. This will continue for four rounds, until all four persons have been explored by the four cards.
Before you gather, you are invited to go to the dessert table, and get a plate of dessert. This exercise in intuition will be conducted over dessert.
We will not meet in the large circle again tonight. When the small groups are finished, the heartweaving is over. You can take as much time, or as little time, as you want.
Please get a plate of dessert, and meet in your group of four. Blessed Be.
Add Vice Subtract Virtue
it is is not about justice
it is having a big emotional experience
that validates privilege
the person judging on you
is just as messed up as you are.
add vice subtract virtue.
Television
The idiot box
Does not have a lid
Some say it is a jar
Or a door left ajar
For jar heads
The boob tube
With talking heads
You can turn it off
Shock And Awe Day 2013
Ten years ago, Iraq teetered on the edge of regime change. It was obvious what was going to happen, at least at first. Amerika was going to storm in, kill a bunch of people, and take over.
In post 911 Amerika, the military industrial complex saw an opportunity for plunder, unrivaled since the fall of the Soviet Union. The stories of WMD would infect the body politic with fear of a mesopotamian madman. Saddam Hussein wanted Iran to think he has wonder weapons, and did not think Amerika was serious about regime change. We all make mistakes.
In the ten years since the time of shock and awe, trillions of dollars have gone down the drain, dragging the mighty Amerikan economy along into the sewers of bankruptcy. One of the oldest civilizations of mankind was reduced to hiding, from neighbors, behind concrete barricades. They fought the conquerors with bombs triggered by garage door openers. Thousands of women and children have been murdered. The WMD were never found.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Chamblee54 
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