Chamblee54

May 6 is 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.
In non metric news, in 1954 Roger Bannister ran the first sub four minute mile. 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 has strapped two notable prisoners onto the gurney of no return. In 2003, Carl Isaacs was put to death. Mr. Isaacs was the ringleader in the Alday family killing, in Donalsonville GA, 1973. Five years later, in 2008, William Earl Lynd was poisoned by the state. This was the first execution  after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that execution by poisoning was constitutional.
The sign of people born May 6 is Taurus. Included are: 1758 – Maximilien Robespierre//1856 – Sigmund Freud//1895 – Rudolph Valentino//1903 – Toots Shor//1915 – Orson Welles//1924 – Patricia Kennedy Lawford//1931 – Willie Mays//1937 – Rubin Carter//1945 – Bob Seger//1953 – Tony Blair//1954 – PG//1961 – George Clooney.
To make room for these folks, someone has to die. For May 6 this would mean: 1862 – Henry David Thoreau//1919 – L. Frank Baum//1992 – Marlene Dietrich. This is a repost.

PG is running out of things to say. Never mind having something good to say about anyone, he doesn’t have anything to say, good or bad. Fortunately, archives are forever, as Richard Grenell found out. PG found this list in his archives. It is based on 20 Things You Didn’t Know About… Death, at Discover Magazine. This is a repost. These statements have not been verified, and may contain inaccuracies. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
1) The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.
2) There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including “to be in Abraham’s bosom,” “just add maggots,” and “sleep with the Tribbles” (a Star Trek favorite).
3) No American has died of old age since 1951. That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates.
4) The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen. Its decline may prompt muscle spasms, or the “agonal phase,” from the Greek word agon, or contest.
5) Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.
6) Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid—formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol—into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.
7) Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital.
8) More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.
9) It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began.
10) A Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations, and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this “ecological burial” will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
11) Zoroastrians in India leave out the bodies of the dead to be consumed by vultures. The vultures are now dying off after eating cattle carcasses dosed with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used to relieve fever in livestock.
12) Queen Victoria insisted on being buried with the bathrobe of her long-dead husband, Prince Albert, and a plaster cast of his hand.
13)  In Madagascar, families dig up the bones of dead relatives and parade them around the village in a ceremony called famadihana. The remains are then wrapped in a new shroud and reburied. The old shroud is given to a newly married, childless couple to cover the connubial bed.
14) During a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as fuel for locomotives.
15) English philosopher Francis Bacon, a founder of the scientific method, died in 1626 of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it.
16) For organs to form during embryonic development, some cells must commit suicide. Without such programmed cell death, we would all be born with webbed feet, like ducks.
17) Waiting to exhale: In 1907 a Massachusetts doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It’s not.
18) Buried alive: In 19th-century Europe there was so much anecdotal evidence that living people were mistakenly declared dead that cadavers were laid out in “hospitals for the dead” while attendants awaited signs of putrefaction.

As some have noted, today is the National Day of Prayer. If you can’t say anything good about something, you copy a story by Mark Twain. He was a keen observer of the symbiotic relationship between church and state, when it came to wasting the foreign devil. These stories came from Positive Atheism. There are a few more samples of Samuel Clemens talking about religion there, if you have the time and inclination. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress .
One hundred and six years ago, the United States was involved in a war, that did not want to end. This conflict was in the Philippines. Although there had been an official end to the war, guerrillas continued to fight the Americans. The war was a nasty affair, with many atrocities.
The War against the Philippine people was a souvenir of the Spanish American War. There had been a rebellion against Spanish rule in the islands. After the American forces routed the Spanish, the rebellion shifted to the American occupiers. It was a war stumbled into, and difficult to end.
Mark Twain was horrified. He wrote a story, The War Prayer . Lew Rockwell tells the tale “Twain wrote The War Prayer during the US war on the Philippines. It was submitted for publication, but on March 22, 1905, Harper’s Bazaar rejected it as “not quite suited to a woman’s magazine.” Eight days later, Twain wrote to his friend Dan Beard, to whom he had read the story, “I don’t think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.” Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Mark Twain could not publish “The War Prayer” elsewhere and it remained unpublished until 1923.”
Getting back to “A War Prayer”, the story starts in a church. A war has started, and is popular. The troops leave for glory the next day. The preacher has an emotional prayer to send them on their way. Unknown to the minister, there is a visitor. “An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there, waiting.
With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal,” Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”
The stranger motioned to the preacher to step aside. The stranger stepped into the pulpit, and claimed to have a message for the worshipers, sent directly from G-d. The preacher’s message was for support in time of war, and implied that G-d and the preacher support the same side in this conflict. There is an unspoken part to a prayer like this. This unspoken part was what the stranger was going to put into words.
O Lord our Father“, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”
Ye have prayed it“; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits.”
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

Mark Twain wrote a lot during the American Genocide in the Philippines. Many of his words could apply today. War has gotten more high tech…for our side…, but the bottom line is the same. No matter how fancy the weapons get, the casualties are just as dead. The investors, and heroin merchants, make money.
Mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of the Sword;
He is searching out the hoardings where the stranger’s wealth is stored;
He hath loosed his fateful lightnings, and with woe and death has scored;
His lust is marching on.
I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the Eastern dews and damps;
I have read his doomful mission by the dim and flaring lamps —
His night is marching on.
I have read his bandit gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my pretensions, so with you my wrath shall deal;
Let the faithless son of Freedom crush the patriot with his heel;
Lo, Greed is marching on!”
We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat;
Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat;
O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet!
Our g-d is marching on!
In a sordid slime harmonious Greed was born in yonder ditch,
With a longing in his bosom — and for others’ goods an itch.
As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich —
Our g-d is marching on.

Atlanta is going to have an international terminal at the airport. On May 2, a practice day was held. Since PG has too much free time, he volunteered to go help.
Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. was the first black mayor of Atlanta. He served three terms, and saw a fair amount of controversy. The new terminal is names for him, as is the road to it. The name of the overall airport is Hartsfield-Jackson. Mr. Jackson is now staying in Oakland Cemetery.
The new terminal has been years in the making. In 2004, PG helped run preliminary plans. The customer required the job to be run from a cd he supplied, and it was a mess. It had a lot of drawings, in numerous binding packages. The final results look nice.
There is not much of a story. The instructions to find the parking deck worked. There was little traffic going south on I285, in contrast to the parking lot going north. The bridge across the road led into the terminal, just like it was supposed to.
It was a very pleasant morning. Everyone was nice, including the TSA folks. PG kept his shoes on. The customs agent chatted about finding an ATM in the terminal.
PG was asked to find the ATM and restroom. The ATM was nowhere to be seen. The restroom was spacious, and had a urinal design that PG had never seen.
The longest wait of the day was for the baggage carousel. After a second trip through customs, PG went upstairs and got his lunch. He also got a souvenir coin, with the Phoenix logo of the city.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress

Rumor has it that these were found in medical files. It was on facebook, so it must be true.
– The patient refused autopsy.
– The patient has no previous history of suicides.
– Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
– Patient recovering from forehead cut. Patient became very angry when given an enema by mistake.
– Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
– On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
– The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
– The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
– Discharge status: Alive but without permission.
– Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
– Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
– She is numb from her toes down.
– While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.
– The skin was moist and dry.
– Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
– Patient was alert and unresponsive.
– Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
– She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
– I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
– Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circu sized.
– The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
– Skin: somewhat pale but present
– Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities

As you may have noticed, this blog is doing a chapter by chapter breakdown of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia. The author, Elizabeth Gilbert, gave a TED talk, which PG felt obliged to listen to. The talk had accumulated 3,608,721 Views when PG tuned in (Or whatever you do on the internet. Maybe TED provides the turn on and drop out part of the Leary Triad.) PG copied the phrase 3,608,721 Views, in case he wanted to quote it later. When you right click on something, you have the option to “Search Google for Highlighted Phrase”. PG wondered what would come up for 3,608,721 Views.
The top result was a youtube playlist, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (Wii). The first video on the playlist was Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing – Monkey Target – 1’14″380. We see monkeys riding motorcycles, with German titles. The second and third results are youtube playlists, featuring Gymnastics in MacAllen TX.
The fourth result is a phone number. Phone Number:1-(270)360-8721 Carrier: Windstream Kentucky East, Inc. – Lexington(Land) Country: United States State: kentucky Area Code: 270 City: Elizabethtown zip Code: 12932 Latitude: 44.2045 Longitude: -73.6066.
The 800 number for 360-8721 belongs to the Sports Authority 10143 E 71st St Tulsa, OK 74133. This result is sponsored by an ad., Woman is 53 But Looks 27. Buford: Mom publishes free facelift secret that has angered doctors…
After a few boring results, a company called amIvisible has a report for Death or Glory Records Chicago. The report for Death or Glory Chicago shows the address to be 2557 1/2 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 – (773) 360-8721. The news of DOGC reports : Black Friday November 27 2009 The Grand Opening Celebration Thanks to everyone that came out to help us celebrate the grand opening. We had a fantastic time having a drink and eating cheese balls with all our friends. Friday December 4th 2009 We Finally received a couple copies of “Them Crooked Vultures” LP with more on the way. Our good friend Arman Mabry stopped by to give us a couple “Rabid Rabbit” LP’s. Great packaging, limited to 250 on their 12″ single and 500 of their full length Lp.
The last result on page one was Fark 3608721. Brad and Angelina refuse to confirm they are having twins, forcing the media to A) equip paparazzi with X-ray glasses or, B) disguise an ultrasound machine as a Guatemalan orphan in desperate need of a hug.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress<./a>

Doug Richards is an Atlanta tv news reporter. He writes a blog, live apartment fire. He was on the scene twenty years ago today. There was a riot downtown. Mr. Richards had a bad night.
PG was working in the Healey building that day. He ran an RMS, or reprographic management service, in an architects office. He had a blueline machine, ran jobs for the customer, and had free time. PG did a lot of exploring, and enjoyed the various events downtown. On April 30, 1992, there was an event he did not enjoy.
The day before, a jury in California issued a verdict. Four policemen were acquitted of wrongdoing in an incident involving Rodney King. The incident had been videotaped, and received widespread attention. The verdict of the jury was not popular. The dissatisfaction spread to Atlanta.
Sometimes, PG thinks he has a guardian angel looking over him. If so, then this thursday afternoon was one of those times. PG went walking out into the gathering storm. He was a block south of the train station at five points, when he saw someone throw a rock into a store front. The sheet metal drapes were rolled down on the outside of the store. PG realized that he was not in a good place, and quickly made his way back to the Healey building.
A group of policeman were lined up in the lobby of the building, wearing flack jackets. One of the police was a white man, who was familiar to workers in the neighborhood. A few weeks before the incident, he had been walking around the neighborhood showing off his newborn baby.
There was very little work done that afternoon in the architect’s office. Someone said not to stand close to the windows, which seemed like a good idea. Fourteen floors below, on Broad Street, the window at Rosa’s Pizza had a brick thrown threw it. There were helicopters hovering over downtown, making an ominous noise.
There was a lot of soul searching about race relations that day. The Olympics were coming to town in four years, and the potential for international disaster was apparent. As it turned out, the disturbance was limited to a few hundred people. It could have been much, much worse. If one percent of the anger in Atlanta had been unleashed that day, instead of .001 percent, the Olympics would have been looking for a new host.
After a while, the people in the office were called into the lobby. The Principal of the firm, the partner in charge of production, walked out to his vehicle with PG and a lady in operations. The principal drove an inconspicuous vehicle, which made PG feel a bit better. PG took his pocketknife, opened the blade, and put it in his back pocket. It probably would not have done him much good.
PG usually took the train downtown. As fate would have it, there was a big project at the main office of redo blue on West Peachtree Street. That is where PG’s vehicle was, in anticipation of working overtime that night. The principal drove PG to this building. PG called his mother, to let her know that he was ok. The Atlanta manager of Redo Blue talked to him, to make sure that he was not hurt.
If PG had not gone back downtown the next day, he might not have ever gone back. He was back at the West Peachtree Street office, and was assured that it was safe to ride the train into town. The Macy’s at 180 Peachtree had plywood nailed over the display windows. A gift shop in the Healey building had a sign in the window, “Black owned business”. Friday May 1, 1992, was a quiet day.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

This facility recently printed some commentary on the english language, courtesy of Gartalker. Here is part two, not to be confused with number two. Weird is spelled correctly…you can’t have weird without we. Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. This is a repost.
If all that wasn’t bad enough may I point out a few other basic flaws in our language that makes no sense to any one other than us
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? You have one goose, 2 geese; so one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
Once I was in New England and I stopped at a Taco Bell because I actually wanted to taste something. Any thing that wasn’t boiled and maybe had just a little pepper on it. Any way by the time I had left ever kid in the place was saying, “Order that one more time Mr. We just love how you talk.” One girl asks me how long it took me to learn to talk that way. Yankees, you gotta love them.

Here is part seven of state laws that some might find peculiar. Parts one, two, three, four, five, and six precede this feature. Today will will look at Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and South Dakota These regulations are borrowed from Bored. Ohio // According to Ohio law, it’s against the law to kill a housefly within 160 feet of a church without a license. // A policeman may bite a dog to quiet him. However, the reverse is not true, even if it’s a police dog. // Bay Village: It is illegal to walk a cow down Lake Road. // Bexley: The installation and usage of slot machines in outhouses is prohibited. // Breast feeding is not allowed in public. // Cars are not allowed to scare horses in Centerville, Ohio. // Cincinnati: Anal intercourse is banned. // Cleveland: It’s illegal to catch mice without a hunting license! // Cleveland law forbids you to operate a motor vehicle while sitting in another person’s lap. // In Cleveland, Ohio, women are forbidden from wearing patent leather shoes, lest men see reflections of their underwear. // Clinton County: Any person who leans against a public building will be subject to fines. // In Chillicothe, Ohio it is illegal to throw rice at weddings. // Columbus: It is illegal for stores to sell corn flakes on Sunday. // Fairview Park: It’s against the law to honk your horn “excessively”. A grandmother was fined for honking her horn twice at her neighbor. Items left on a tree lawn become city property. A young man was fined for removing an item from a tree lawn even though he had the owner’s permission. // Funeral jargon seems to have crept into the wording of a cemetery fee regulation in Norton, Ohio. There regular plots are $33, but “creamies” are $75. // In Marysville, Ohio it is illegal for a dog to urinate on a parking meter. // In the hippy-dippy late ’60s, Youngstown, Ohio, briefly had a law making it illegal to walk barefoot through town. // In ohio it is illegal to ride on the roof of a taxi cab // In ohio it is illegal to run out of gas // In Ohio, if you ignore an orator on Decoration day to such an extent as to publicly play croquet or pitch horseshoes within one mile of the speaker’s stand, you can be fined $25.00. // In Oxford, Ohio, it’s illegal for a woman to strip off her clothing while standing in front of a man’s picture. // In Oxford, Ohio, it is unlawful for a woman to appear in public while unshaven. This includes legs and face. // In Xenia, Ohio, it’s illegal to spit in a salad bar // Ironton: Cross-dressing is against the law. // It is against the law to roller skate without notifying the police. // It is illegal for more than five women to live in a house. // It is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday. // It is illegal to get a fish drunk. // It is illegal to mistreat anything of great importance. // It is legal to throw a snake at someone but it is illegal to shake a snake at someone. // Items left on a tree lawn become city property. A young man was fined for removing an item from a tree lawn even though he had the owner’s permission. // Lima: Any map that does not have Lima clearly stated on the map cannot be sold. // Lowell: It is unlawful to run a horse over five miles per hour. // Marion: You cannot eat a doughnut and walk backwards on a city street. // McDonald: Your goose may not paraded down Main Street. // No one may be arrested on Sunday or on the Fourth of July. // Owners of tigers must notify authorities within one hour if the tiger escapes. // Participating or conducting a duel is prohibited. // Paulding: A policeman may bite a dog to quiet him. Oklahoma // Alfalfa Bill Murray was a legendary legislator in Oklahoma around the turn of the century who became speaker of the house and governor. He was also a tall fellow, and nothing ticked him off more than going into a hotel and having short sheets on the bed. In 1908 he had a law passed that required all hotels in the Sooner state to have sheets that covered the bed and had three extra feet of linen to cover the head and feet. The so-called “Nine Foot Sheet” stayed on the books for several decades, until after Alfalfa went to his last resting place. // A City Ordinance in Oklahoma, states that it shall be unlawful to put any hypnotized person in a display window. // Ada: If you wear New York Jets clothing, you may be put in jail. // Anyone arrested for soliciting a hooker must have their name and picture shown on television. // Cars must be tethered outside of public buildings. // Clinton, Oklahoma has a law against masturbating while watching two people having sex in a car. // Clinton: Molesting an automobile is illegal. // Dogs must have a permit signed by the mayor in order to congregate in groups of three or more on private property. // Females are forbidden from doing their own hair without being licensed by the state. // Fish may not be contained in fishbowls while on a public bus. // In Broken Arrow, Oklahoma pigs less than 32 inches in length may be kept as pets provided there are no more than two in a house. // In Bromide, Oklahoma it is illegal for children to use towels as capes and jump from houses pretending to be superman. // In Oklahoma… Dogs must have a permit signed by the mayor in order to congregate in groups of three or more on private property. Oklahoma will not tolerate anyone taking a bite out of another’s hamburger. // In Oklahoma, people who make “ugly faces” at dogs may be fined and/or jailed. // In Tulsa, Oklahoma the limit on kisses is three minutes (by law). // In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without the supervision of a licensed engineer. // It is against the law to read a comic book while operating a motor vehicle. // It is illegal to have sex before you are married. // It is illegal to have the hind legs of farm animals in your boots. // It is illegal to wear your boots to bed. // It’s statutory rape for a man over 18 to have sex with a female under the age of 18, provided she’s a virgin. If she’s not a virgin, it is okay, but the said person must be over 16. If both parties are under 18, then the law does not apply. // One may not promote a “horse tripping event”. // Oral sex is a misdemeanor and is punisable by one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. // Residents are taxed for the furniture in their homes, and any other personal belongings. // Schulter: Women may not gamble in the nude, in lingerie, or while wearing a towel. // Tattoos are banned. // Tissues are not to be found in the back of one’s car. // Whale hunting is strictly prohibitted throughout the entire state of Oklahoma. // Wynona: One’s mode of transportation must be tied up while not attended. Mules may not drink out of bird baths. Clothes may not be washed in bird baths. Oregon // Beaverton: You must buy a $10 permit to be allowed to install a burglar alarm. // Canned corn is not to be used as bait for fishing. // Dishes must drip dry. // Eugene: It is illegal to show movies or attend a car race on Sundays. It is legal to conduct a horse race or a symphony concert. // Hood River: Juggling is strictly prohibited without a license. // In Oregon anyone with a bad reputation is prohibited from distributing malt beverages. // In Salem, Oregon, it’s illegal for patrons of establishments that feature nude dancing to be within two feet of the dancers. // It is against the law for animals to have sex in the city limits. // It is illegal to buy or sell marijuana, but it is legal to smoke it on your own property. // It is illegal to whisper “dirty” things in your lover’s ear during sex.// It’s against the law for a wedding ceremony to be performed at a skating rink. // Klamath Falls: It’s illegal to walk down a sidewalk and knock a snakes head off with your cane. // Ministers are forbidden from eating garlic or onions before delivering a sermon. // Myrtle Creek: One may not box with a kangaroo. // No more than two people may share a single drink. // One may not bathe without wearing “suitable clothing,” i.e., that which covers one’s body from neck to knee. // People may not whistle underwater. // Salem: Women may not wrestle in Salem. Springfield It is illegal to own a reptile within the city limits, unless you are a school or city, as a pet. // The “Peer Review Statute” prohibits you from finding out details of any written or oral discussion about your medical treatment. Not even a court of law can. All you can access is what the doctor or nurse voluntarily records in your chart. // You may not pump your own gas in service stations. Pennsylvania // A person is not eligible to become Governor if he/she has participated in a duel. // A special cleaning ordinance bans homemakers from hiding dirt and dust under a rug in a dwelling. // All fire hydrants must be checked one hour before all fires. // Allentown: There is a ban on men becoming aroused in public. // Any motorist driving along a country road at night must stop every mile and send up a rocket signal, wait 10 minutes for the road to be cleared of livestock, and continue. // Any motorist who sights a team of horses coming toward him must pull well off the road, cover his car with a blanket or canvas that blends with the countryside, and let the horses pass. If the horses appear skittish, the motorist must take his car apart, piece by piece, and hide it under the nearest bushes. // By law, “watch stuffers” are unwelcome in McKeesport, Pa. Now, no one is quite sure what a watch stuffer does, but whatever he does, he better do it somewhere else. // Carlisle: In the middle of town, one must pay a fee of $50 dollars a year to park on a particular block. At night, however, the cars must be moved for street cleaning. This law is enforced even if snow or ice prevents the cars from being moved. // Connellsville: One’s pants may be worn no lower than five inches below the waist. // Dynamite is not to be used to catch fish. // Fireworks stores may not sell fireworks to Pennsylvania residents. // In Bensalem, Pennsylvania it is illegal to race mufflerless go-karts after 6PM on Sunday. // In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania it is illegal to have sex with a truck driver inside a toll booth. // In Hazelton, Pennsylvania, there is a law on the books that prohibits a person from sipping a carbonated drink while lecturing students in a school auditorium. // In Philadelphia, you can’t put pretzels in bags. // In the Mount Pocono region any group of 5 or more Native Americans are to be considered a raiding party and may be killed on the spot. // In York, Pennsylvania, you can’t sit down while watering your lawn with a hose. // It sounds like the title of a rock album or something, but “Coasting on Beaver Street” is illegal in Edgeworth, Pa. // It is contrary to Pennsylvania law to discharge a gun, cannon, revolver or other explosive weapon at a wedding. // It is illegal to have over 16 women live in a house together because that constitutes a brothel. However up to 120 men can live together, without breaking the law. // It it illegal to sleep on top of a refrigerator outdoors. // Millville: One may not shoot any dog that is found wandering the streets. The sale of alcohol is prohibited. // Ministers are forbidden from performing marriages when either the bride or groom is drunk. // Morrisville: It is required that a woman have a permit to wear cosmetics. // Motorized vehicles are not to be sold on Sundays. // Newtown: Every outlet or switch (which can be purchased for 59 cents) that is installed requires an electrical inspection fee of 1 dollar and 33 cents. // No man may purchase alcohol without written consent from his wife. // No more than two packages of beer at a time may be purchased, unless you are buying from an official “beer distributor” // Pittsburgh: It is still illegal to bring a donkey or a mule onto a trolley car. // Ridley Park: You cannot walk backwards eating peanuts in front of the Barnstormers Auditorium during a performance. // Tarentum: Horses are not to be tied to parking meters. // The state law of Pennsylvania prohibits singing in the bathtub. // Though you do not need a fishing license to fish on your own land, but a hunting license is required to hunt on your own land. // Witchcraft was first legalized in the colony of Pennsylvania. // You may not catch a fish by any body part except the mouth. Rhode Island // Any marriage where either of the parties is an idiot or lunatic is null and void. // Exercising any labor, business, or work, or using any game, sport, play, or recreation, or causing any of the above to be done to or by your children, servants, or apprentices on the first day of the week (Sunday) results in a penalty of $5 for the first offense and $10 for the second. // In Newport, Rhode Island it is illegal to smoke from a pipe after sunset. // In Scituate, Rhode Island it is illegal to keep a flock of chickens in your motorhome if you live in a trailer park. // Impersonating a town sealer, auctioneer, corder of wood, or a fence-viewer is against the law. Penalty: $20 to $100 fine. // It is considered an offense to throw pickle juice on a trolley. // It is illegal to challenge someone to a duel, or accept a duel, even it it is never actually fought. Penalty: Imprisonment for one to seven years. // It is illegal to coast downhill in your car with your transmission in neutral, or with the clutch disengaged. // It is illegal to place a windmill within twenty-five (25) rods of any traveled street or road. // It’s a misdemeanor to keep more than 11 inoperable vehicles in front of a house. // Professional sports, except ice polo and hockey, must obtain a license to play games on Sunday. // Providence There is not an appeals process for exemption of property tax due to a disability or poverty. It is illegal to wear transparent clothing. You may not sell toothpaste and a toothbrush to the same customer on a Sunday. // Riding a horse over any public highway for the purpose of racing, or testing the speed of the horse is illegal. Penalty: Maximum $20 fine and imprisonment for 10 days. // This state still prohibits unmarried people from having sex under any circumstances. However, if caught, the lovers are both fined only 10 dollars // West Warwick It is illegal to use water on even-numbered days for the sole purpose of watering plants, gardens, or lawns. If you break this law there is a fine of $25-$100. South Carolina // A railroad my not remove itself from a town of more than five hundred people. // All schools must prepare a suitable program for Francis Willard Day. // By law, if a man promises to marry an unmarried woman, the marriage must take place. // Charleston: It is against the law to drive a motorized vehicle on King Street. The Fire Department may blow up your house. This law was made so that the fire department could create a fire brake. // Dance halls may not operate on Sundays. // Every adult male must bring a rifle to church on Sunday in order to ward off Indian attacks. // Fortune tellers are required to obtain a special permit from the state. // Fountain Inn: Horses are to wear pants at all times. // Horses may not be kept in bathtubs. // In some town in South Carolina, it is perfectly legal for a man to beat his wife. But only if its on the courthouse steps on Sunday. // In South Carolina, wife beaters weren’t allowed to hold public office. // In South Carolina you can be fined for not denouncing “the evils of intemperance” on the fourth Friday of every October. // It is a capital offense to inadvertently kill someone while attempting suicide. // It is considered an offense to get a tattoo. // It is illegal to communicate with a woman using obscene messages. // It is illegal to display a confederate flag on a courthouse. // It is illegal to give or receive oral sex. // It is illegal to sell any alcoholic beverages on Sunday, unless you own a private club. // Lancaster County: It is illegal to dance in public. // Merchandise may not be sold within a half mile of a church unless fruit is being sold. // Musical instruments may not be sold on Sunday. // No work may be done on Sunday. An exception is that light bulbs may be sold. // On Hilton Head Island, South Carolina it is illegal to shine a flashlight on a sea turtle // Performing a U-turn within 1,000 feet of an intersection is illegal. // Railroad companies may be held liable in some instances for scaring horses. // Spartanburg: Eating watermelons in the Magnolia Street cemetery is forbidden. // When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic. South Dakota // If there are more than 5 Native Americans on your property you may shoot them. // In hotels in Sioux Falls, every room is required to have twin beds. And the beds must always be a minimum of two feet apart when a couple rents a room for only one night. And it’s illegal to make love on the floor between the beds! // In South Dakota no horses are allowed into Fountain Inn unless they are wearing pants. // In South Dakota it is illegal to try to convince a pacifist to renounce his beliefs by threatening to arm-wrestle him. // It is illegal to lie down and fall asleep in a cheese factory. // Movies that show police officers being struck, beaten, or treated in an offensive manner are forbidden. // No horses are allowed into Fountain Inn unless they are wearing pants.

Bead 037 This bead is the transition from Italy to India. Miss Gilbert arrives at the Mumbai airport, and takes a taxi to the ashram. When she arrives, the morning arati has started. Miss Gilbert quietly joins the party. Through the pasta tumult of Italy, she has not meditated in four months. The mantra comes back… om nah ma shi va ya. Om Namah Shivaya.
Mantra is an eastern concept that is not used well in america. Often you here someone say the mantra, when they really should say the operating cliche. The idea is that you say this phrase while meditating, focus on it, and that your other pesky thoughts will fall by the wayside. PG had a bried encounter with Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism years ago. Their mantra is Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. PG tried to use this mantra, but did not do very well. PG went to one meeting, and stayed on the telephone list much longer. Three years later, the roommate of a friend practiced Daishonin Buddhism. The name and phone number of PG was on his list.
Bead 038 This bead begins with the question Why do we practice Yoga? The capital W at the start is decorative, as is the first letter of all the beads. This W could symbolize the america of POTUS W, who started World War W. The interlocking X and V on the right are formal, with a huge serif at the top. The stoke on the left, the element of the letter which makes a W out of two Vs, drifts out in a curve. This curve on the left gets longer and skinnier, until it is longer than the XV on the right. This super W is from a font called tagliente. Tagliente is based on the copybooks of a renowned 16th century Italian writing … Don’t deny yourself all this beauty, just buy the font and you’ll feel better.
We are still in the process of moving from Italian decadence to Indian pursuit of enlightenment. The bead is a discussion of different types of yoga. It seems like the pose holding type of yoga is hatha yoga. One purpose of this is to prepare your body for the challenge of sitting in meditation.
If you look in Google, you will find a page of EPL quotes. If PG finds this page, and makes it his friend, then the rest of this cycle will be easier to write. But now, he is waiting for a phone call that tells him to get his brother at the grocery store. It would be nice to finish this bead before he gets the call. So it is time to put those typing skills to work. ” Yoga is the effort to experience one’s divinity personally and then to hold on to that experience forever.”
Perhaps this is one essential difference between yoga, and the vulgar Jesus religion that dominates america. In yoga, the idea is to achieve this self-G-d reunion during life on earth. Christians wait unti they die, but talk endlessly about it while alive. (It is acknowledged that Yoga is not a religion, in the sense that it competes with other belief systems. It is a practice, which can compliment these systems. There remains the possibility that you will decide that you don’t agree with the beliefs of your anointed religion after all, in which case you have some ‘splainin to do.)
Bead 039 PG finished bead 038, leaned back in his chair, and looked at bead 039 in the book. The phone rang. The Jack Benney jokes will have to wait.
This bead is about the fine print of the ashram. Its name is not mentioned in EPL, because it neither wants the attention, nor can it accommodate any extra visitors. The people who go there are carefully screened. Those with too many issues are gently encouraged to stay away. The contrast with always evangelizing Jesus people is noted.
PG first heard about Liz Gilbert when she was on BloggingheadsTV. She was paired with Susan Orlean, another lady writer. PG knew nothing about about either. It was determined that this discussion was due for a re-listen, probably while editing pictures from the FSA.
It turns out that PG remembered a segment from this diavlog. The ladies were talking about editing, and how it almost always makes writing better to take things out. Miss Gilbert may have been discussing her taste in men when she says “it’s always better, twenty five percent shorter, always better”. Ms. Orlean says “it’s tighter and cleaner and you’re down to the stuff that really matters”.
PG runs into this when he is formatting text. When you force text into a 720 pixel wide block, it is not always a neat fit. Often, you will have one or two words by themselves on a line, at the end of a paragraph. This is known as a widow, and it is to be avoided. Typically, PG will go in the last sentence, and see if there isn’t a word or three that can be eliminated. The writing is usually better.
Bead 040 This bead is about New Years Eve at the ashram. The first letter is an M. It has the left side spiral of the W, the and a sickle on the right side bottom. This is a mystery.
The internet wankfest yesterday was A Complete Guide to ‘Hipster Racism’. In a facebook thread today, someone said something about telling racist jokes. PG decided to contribute. “How many racists does it take to change a light bulb?” An unkind person said “How many“. PG did not have a clue what to say. The best he could come up with was “It depends on how much privilege the light bulb enjoys.” The next comment: “I don’t think NOT telling racist jokes means one is pretending NOT to be racist. I think we can all recognize our own racism and confront it with each other in ways other than telling racist jokes. if you really want things to get less racist, or be an active anti-racist, I think it’s important not to alienate allies. And most of my allies request that I not tell racist jokes. But, like the article says, you can say whatever you want.” PG did not make any more comments.
Bead 041 This bead is about the process of meditation, and the difficulties it gives Miss Gilbert. Like many people, she prefers the active role of prayer over the passive activity of meditation. Like many people, she finds it difficult to turn off the thinking. While being able to think gives people the intellectual ability to become enlightened, it can get in the way emotionally.
Part of the fun (and frustration) of writing a blog is seeing what posts get traffic, and which ones are ignored. Yesterday, PG wrote a post, Racism Is Obsolete, about america’s national pastime … handwringing about anti black racism. So far, it has gotten two page views. The top attraction today is Presidential Middle Names. Search engine terms today include:what did april glaspie say to saddam hussein, bad warren harding, people who don’t take care of their things, disturbing road kill, horses and drugs, and young dumb thang fucked my best and gave him brain.
Bead 042 Miss Gilbert keeps trying the meditation thing. It is not working.
When you google Eat Pray Love quotes, you get 12,300,000 results. Goodreads has 11 pages, which may be handy for this cycle. Fr. Stephen, MSC has ten quotes, and a comment thread.  I am a collector also of great quotes. I only watched the movie, and I think the book is much better (based from reviews I’ve read). The quotes from the movies are different from those quoted from the book (Ive searched some). Thanks for the review, Fr. Stephen. Regards. // No disrespect, but this book and movie is about a woman who leaves her husband and family and searches for “herself” by looking to culture, food, and men. How is this a God-exalting, Biblical example of what God wants for His people? Don’t be fooled when she talks about God – she is not talking about Jesus, but of the worldly idea of a higher-power, spiritual Being. If we are to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in this desperate world, we cannot point people to movies like this. We need to point them to the Bible. God is not found in a soul-mate, food, or traveling, or beauty. Yes, He created those things and they are not bad, but don’t confuse or credit them as being Yahweh. // I can only agree to Marissa. while those are attractive quotes that we can refer to once in a while but then let us not be tempted by this secular world. I have seen the film but I have not read the book . That is why it is important to know Jesus and his role in your life and to anchor your life with His teachings. I also will not encourage especially my students to watch the film for it contradicts the very essence of our existence. If we search for happiness outside our life at present, there is danger in that because sometimes happiness is a state of mind. You will not leave your husband/wife for that matter just because you are no longer happy. Choosing a life anchored in Jesus is the best way to find your true self.
Bead 043 The ashramers are encouraged to eat carefully. When your body is struggling to digest a heavy meal, it will be much more difficult to hold hands with G-d. This is another thing that is tough for Miss Gilbert… to pass by a buffet with delicious food. At one of the meals, she meets Richard. He is a man. He is from Texas, which seems to be an important detail. Richard is one person in the Indische part of the story who is identified by his “real” name.
In 1985, PG was working in Midtown Atlanta. Lunch was frequently the best part of the day. This is when PG was introduced to Indian food. There was a restaurant on Peachtree Street, just off Tenth Street, called Touch of India. For $3.75 ($4.25 for a meat dish), you got a samosa, curry dish, and dessert. Beer was extra.
This location was almost as much fun as the food. When PG’s mother was growing up, the Tenth Street Theater was in this spot. Behind this building was an apartment building that Margaret Mitchell lived in. This was where “Gone With The Wind” was written. During the nineties, the building was abandoned, and damaged by fire. In this site now is the Margaret Mitchell House. The building with Touch of India was sacrificed for the tourist trap.
Bead 044 When PG was in high school, a gang of hippies decided that 44 was a magic number. Hank Aaron wore number 44. The number does have a certain symmetry, with the factors of two and two and eleven. The fascination continues to this day, with BHO serving as POTUS number 44.
This chapter is about Richard. He used to pray a lot, always saying  “please, please, please open my heart”. This went on until he had open heart surgery. You should be careful when you ask for something, because you might get it.
Bead 045 In this chapter, Miss Gilbert gets better at meditating. A new mantra, Hamsa, helps. This is not pronounced the same as the ham you eat. That type of ham has been used as a mantra, as the videos below demonstrate.


ok Ready for the most disturbing thing EVER? it is a video called pickle surprise. here it features… Ugg just watch the video here buhuhuhuhuhu warning it contains a man wearing a big pickle hat(which looks a little like a dick) It will show Girls laughing,A woman Ummm… “cleaning” her fingers, And Some Creepy guy Will pop up and Just start shouting PICKLE SURPRISE! Then he slaps an English muffin on a plate, Spreads mayo on it, and slaps a slice of ham on it the everybody goes in a hypnosis like stage and just says HAM then he will yell out PICKLE SURPRISE then that woman will say Uh Wheres The Pickle? Tee hee THATS THE SURPRISE!
Bead 046 This chapter is about kundalini shakti. This is like a pot of gold at the end of the yoga rainbow. Your spine becomes clearer and straighter, and then one day a ball of fire runs up your back. If you are reading this, hoping to get an accurate description of what yoga does for people, please skip ahead to the pictures. Find someone who knows what they are talking about.
The forces that the body unleashes can be very powerful. If the person is not ready for this ball of fire, you can be badly hurt. This is one reason that a qualified teacher is essential to the experience. The closest PG has come was a breathing exercise known as “rebirthing”. While laying on the ground, a leader guides you through a period of intensive breathing. When it is over, you feel as though a thousand electrified needles were stuck in every part of your body.
Bead 047 The magic notebook returns in this bead. Miss Gilbert is having dreams where snakes, and mad dogs, threaten her health and well being. She runs bawling into the loo, grabs the magic notebook, and writes “I NEED YOUR HELP”. Before much longer, someone writes “I’m right here. It’s OK. I love you. I will never leave you.”
Back in real time, the Secret Service is having scandal problems. They have recently issued a set of guidelines for the behavior of agents. 4. Patronization of non-reputable establishments is prohibited. Some people are wondering if the White House is a non reputable establishment.
Bead 048 The morning meditation is a disaster. The only person brave enough to talk to her is Richard. He listens for a while, and tells Miss Gilbert that she has control issues. This is a dangerous thing to say, especially when it is the truth. Groceries… which is what Richard calls Miss Gilbert, stews a bit more, and tells Richard to get lost.
Matthew 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. Telling the truth is dangerous business. During the McCarthy era, there was a serious expression… pre mature anti fascist. Those who saw the dangers of Germany, before it was socially acceptable, were considered communists.
Bead 049 When Liz Gilbert was ten years old, she was freaked out that her childhood was slipping away from her. Supposedly, this was where her control issues began. When PG was ten years old, he had witnessed a family crisis that forty eight years later is too sensitive to discuss. This was the summer of Beatlemania, when Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater were running for President. The summer of Miss Gilbert’s control issues was 1979, when Iran was about the explode, and drive Jimmy Carter out of the White House. That spring, PG bought a bus ticket for California, spent a week in a Moonie camp, and came back home. Miss Gilbert is going to be forty three this summer. This seemed very old at one time, especially growing up in an age where nobody over thirty was to be trusted. When you are fifty eight, forty three is a youngun.
One of the pictures for this feature shows the Cameo Lounge. It was a bar, across the street from the Greyhound station. It prospered because of a deal the owner made with the taxi drivers. Whenever they got a fare, and the man wanted to go to a gay bar, he was taken to the Cameo lounge.
Bead 050 The meditation thing is going better, but the distractions are not going to give up. The one that keeps coming back is her rebound bf, the one she thought she said goodbye to in Rome. The inner dialog goes on, until a lion within Miss Gilbert roars “YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS !!!!!!!!!” There were nine exclamation marks in the text.
It seems as though this is human nature. A friend of Miss Gilbert was a counselor, working with boat people from Cambodia. Talk about people with a troubled past. War, genocide, and a treacherous journey across the ocean in a makeshift boat is just a part of the story. So what do these people talk to the counselor about? I met this guy on the boat, fell in love, but now he is seeing my cousin and I want him back. What can I do?.
Bead 051 Later that day, Richard makes a smart comment, and the lion inside Miss Gilbert roared a bit more. Richard was impressed, and took Miss Gilbert into town to share a hallucinogenic Indian soft drink. Richard is careful not to touch the bottle with his lips. While in India, never touch anything except yourself.
When you create do a chapter by chapter breakdown, you need two bookmarks. One is the place where you are reading, like a normal bookmark. The other is for the part of the book you are writing about. The first bookmark is a gospel tract. PG got this while getting the emissions report on his vehicle. The marker for the place where PG has read is an envelope. A telephone message is written on it. PG’s cousin in New Canaan CT called at 3:30 pm, 4-22-2012, with News About Family.
Bead 052 While Miss Gilbert has established a truce with meditation, there is an obstacle to her enlightenment. It is Sri Guru Gita. A 182 verse song written in Sanskrit, “The Geet” is sung every morning, after morning meditation and before breakfast. Miss Gilbert has issues with this practice, and has little control over the situation.
A teacher at the ashram is consulted. Yes, Miss Gilbert does not have to sing the Geet. The guru who founded the ashram teaches that this practice is essential to enlightenment, but nobody has to do it. Ultimately, Miss Gilbert sticks with singing the Geet, because she has free will to stop.
Bead 053 The singing of the Geet is not getting any easier. Miss Gilbert blames the whole mess on Swamiji, the founder of the ashram. Evidently, he was somewhat of a rascal. This is not the first time Miss Gilbert has “butted heads” with the man, who has been dead twenty years when the story is told. If you google the word Swamiji you will get several results, and PG is not sure which one is here.
The first rule of learning how to write is to read, read, and read some more. You cannot read too much. The working title for a Madonna biography was too much, but the book was censored with that title. When the text is challenging, then you can use that as a bad example.
Bead 054 One morning, Miss Gilbert overslept. She missed morning meditation, and was about to miss singing Sri Guru Gita. Scrambling in her room, she discovers that she has been padlocked into her room. While this would be a valid excuse for missing the hour of singing a song that she hates, Miss Gilbert is determined to attend. She crawls out a window, and jumps out of a second floor window. When PG reads this, with his wasted knee propped on a pillow, he winces. If he were to jump out of a second floor window, he would never walk again. As it is, his hiking and dancing days may be over, a thought that brings much unhappiness. But Miss Gilbert has two good knees, and makes it to sing Sri Guru Gita. She found a way to enjoy the singing, and never thought about missing the singing of Sri Guru Gita. again.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library.”
Parts one and two of this cycle have been published.

So, Father Tony did this interview with Andrew Holleran. There was an email exchange, where FT asked a few questions. At the end of the last question, Mr. Holleran made this observation: p.s. These questions (above) are all so serious, it’s refreshing to know someone else cares about them, but the joke is you’re the one who should be answering them, not me! That sounded like an idea for a post. If anyone is not interested in the answers here, you can always look at the pictures. These pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
1) What does one live for, if one doesn’t believe in god or an afterlife the quality of which is determined by our performance on earth?
PG may be the wrong person to ask this. He suspects there is a G-d, and that the world would be a happier place without her. As for life after death, that is not a good guide for life before death. Life is to be lived. Whether you are happy or sad, you are alive, and that is not being dead. Obsession with life after death is not a good foundation for a religion, either.
2) What does one live for if one is single with no foreseeable change to that status, or, single and making no effort to change that status?
PG suggests looking at answer one for this. PG has been single most of his life, and does not see it changing soon. Sometimes, he is surprised he has made it as far as he has. Regardless of what songwriters say, some people don’t do badly by themself.
3) There seemed to be happiness in your voice. What is the source of it, or did I read your voice incorrectly?
PG has been tagged with “negative attitude” for a while. He suspects that it is a bit of hype, but you learn to deal with it. After all, it is others who have to look at the face. Mr. Holleran had a good comment on this.
AH: You know there are people at Harvard and no doubt other places studying happiness. and one theory is that people have a sort of fixed temperature to which they always return, no matter what happens to them – like a thermostat.
4) I’m almost done with the two “f” decades. (I barely remember the two “t” decades.) You are in the “s” decades. What is that like? What do you hope will happen when you get out of bed?
PG is in his “f’s”. He doesn’t hope for anything when he gets out of bed. If he can make it to the restroom without an accident, that is a plus. Not getting thumped upside the head is a good thing, as is not getting arrested or admitted to a hospital. PG prefers to remember to take food off the stove before it is burned, and to turn off the gas.
5) I see that at the Literary Festival in Fort Lauderdale you’ll be reading something from work in progress. Because I won’t be there to hear it, will you tell me anything about what you are working on, or about what you will read?
You are looking at it.
Andrew Holleran wrote Dancer from the dance. It was considered by many to be the best book about gay america in the seventies, aka the candy store. One image stuck in PG’s head … the guy so infatuated that he snuck into the train toilet to smell the feces of his beloved. PG tried to find a copy of DFTD. He went to several bookstores, prepared to pay retail price. Finally, he was helping someone move, and found a copy. PG borrowed that copy, and was halfway through reading it when he found a paperback of DFTD for twenty five cents at Booknook.

Today is Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia. It is an ancient question…how to honor the soldiers from the side that lost. They were just as valiant as the Union Soldiers. Considering the shortages of the Confederate Armies, the Rebels may have been just a bit braver.
The issue of Federalism is a defining conflict of the American experience. What powers do we give the Federal Government, and what powers do we cede to the States? The Confederacy was the product of this conflict. The Confederate States were a collection of individual states, with separate armies. This is one reason why the war turned out the way it did.
This is not a defense for slavery. The “Peculiar institution” was a moral horror. The after effects of slavery affect us today. Any remembrance of the Confederacy should know that. This does not make the men who fought any less brave.
It is tough to see the War Between the States through the modern eye. It was a different time, before many of the modern conveniences that are now considered necessities. Many say that the United States were divided from the start, and the fact the union lasted as long as it did was remarkable. When a conflict becomes us against them, the “causes” become unimportant.
The War was a horror, with no pain medicine, and little that could be done for the wounded. It took the south many, many years to recover. The healing continues in many ways today. Remembering the sacrifices made by our ancestors helps.
This is a repost from CMD 2010. Pictures are from the Library of Congress.