420 Festival
The third sunday in april is the start of the warm weather festival season. When PG called Uzi, at twelve noon on the dot, the only question was which festival to go to. Both Candler park and Piedmont park are notorious parking disasters. Uzi speculated that they should go earlier, rather than later, and PG agreed.
Since PG had not bathed since friday, a shower was in order. The idea of showering before going to hang with hippies is a bit esoteric, but this is PG we are talking about. While waiting for the hot water to reach his back, a cosmic thought plowed through his head.
There are two questions that many people face these days. Are you a racist? Do you believe in G-d? These questions are very similar. Both are nobody else’s business. Both concepts are dependent on the definition of key terms. Whereas the concept of G-d seems to be shrinking, the boundaries of racism grow larger every day. PG has long questioned whether belief is the proper venue for knowing G-d. Maybe having a yes/no opinion on racism is similar. Being honest is a dangerous business.
So Uzi arrives at PG’s place at one pm, exactly one hour later. It was no surprise when the side street by the park had no parking, and you had to go three streets west to find a place. There is a entrance gate to the festival, with wristbands enabling beer consumption on sale. PG asked for a non drinker discount, which is tough to facilitate with free admission.
The 420 festival is set up different in 2013. The main stage has moved a hundred yards south. There is a VIP area in front of the stage, with an admission charge. The concept of a VIP area in Candler Park is …. WRONG. It should be noted that few people paid the VIP surcharge.
There was something called the Silent Disco. People were wearing headphones, and dancing to the canned music. Some of the people seemed to be having fun, so it must be ok.
A proposal was made to go by Piedmont Park, and see what the parking looked like. Just driving down Piedmont Avenue in front of the park was a gridlock nightmare. At three pm, it was too early to go for dinner. Ordinarily, this would be the time for getting started. Some things you have to try once, just so you will know not to do it again.
Use Less Gasoline
This information was originally posted five years ago. PG received a chain letter email about gasoline prices, with these suggestions. With demand increasing, and supply decreasing, the price of petroleum is going to go up.
Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline. When it gets warmer gasoline expands. When you pump in the afternoon or in the evening… your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline plays an important role.
When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less fuel for your money.
Fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The more gas you have in your tank the less air is occupying the empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you might imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.
If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop , DO NOT fill up–most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered. You might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
War Stories
Recently, when I went to McDonald’s I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. ‘We don’t have half dozen nuggets,’ said the teenager at the counter. ‘You don’t?’ I replied. ‘We only have six, nine, or twelve,’ was the reply. ‘So I can’t order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?’ ‘That’s right.’ So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets. (Once, I asked for sweetener, and she said they only had Splenda and sugar.)
Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, ‘I’m almost out of typing paper. What do I do?’ ‘Just use paper from the photocopier’, the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five ‘blank’ copies.
A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid had eaten ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and he should be fine. Mother:’I just gave him some ant killer……’ Dispatcher: ‘Rush him in to emergency right away’
I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those ‘dividers’ that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn’t get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the ‘divider’, looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code, she said to me, ‘Do you know how much this is?’ I said to her ‘I’ve changed my mind; I don’t think I’ll buy that today.’ She said ‘OK,’ and I paid her and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.
A woman at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM ‘thingy.’
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. ‘Do you need some help?’ I asked. She replied, ‘I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can’t get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?’ ‘Hmmm, I don’t know. Do you have an alarm, too?’ I asked. ‘No, just this remote thingy,’ she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, ‘Why don’t you drive over there and check about the batteries. It’s a long walk….’
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Life Insurance Is Too Morbid
Tom Clancy gave an interview to Don Swaim in 1986. Mr. Clancy sold insurance before his writing career took off. “I never do life insurance. It is too morbid. I do fire and casualty”
1986 was a curious time in history. America was in the middle of an arms buildup. Research was producing space age weapons. These weapons would not be used in combat for several years.
It is said that killing becomes more impersonal as weaponry advances. Certainly fighting with swords is more personal than with rifles. (This does not imply that this killing is less horrible.) With “smart bombs” and drones, killing people has become almost antiseptic to the American forces. “Young men of military age” in Pakistan might have a different opinion.
At the time, the perceived threat was from Communism, and the Soviet Union. The question was raised, why would the Soviets start a war with the west? Mr. Clancy talked about the Japanese decision to attack Pearl Harbor, and the German invasion of the Soviet Union. “The decision to go to war … is probably never a completely rational decision.”
About two thirds through the interview, the speed of the tape slows down. It sounds like the talkers are intoxicated. It is during this segment that a vodka shortage in the Soviet Union is discussed.
After the interview, PG looked at facebook. A friend posted a graphic with a reputed quote from Albert Einstein. “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots”
PG did a bit of research, and left a comment. “I suspect that Dr. Einstein did not say that. Wikiquotes does not have this quote. Whenever you see a quote without a source, you should suspect it. Also, what is the context? If a comment is true, it does not need a famous name at the end.” Two minutes later, Carrie Williams said “Thanks Debbie Downer”.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Repost Repast
It should come as no surprise that people on the intercom are still being asked to repost graphics. The current crop is a mixed bag. There are things here which are definitely not recommended. As always, the offending suggestion to repost has been deleted, and these sanitized graphics are available for use. In the case of one, there was not much left after the repost request removal. There are better superstitions to display a belief in.
The top graphic is a traditional favorite of digital warriors. It is a call to test for drugs anyone who applies for welfare. In Florida, 98 percent pass the test. Contrary to what the sign says, many people feel that drug testing is not ok for job applicants. Drug testing condones the use of alcohol and tobacco, and is an additional expense for cash strapped states.
Motorcycle safety is the subject in graphic two. It is tough to argue with. All vehicles have a right to the road, and should be allowed to arrive alive. Arguments about loud pipes will be heard later.
The Holocaust is remembered in graphic three. This is included because of the general tackiness of repost requests, which might be disrespectful to the memory of six million people. The “final solution” is one of the darkest events in human history. There are better ways to remember it.
Number four and five are things which no sane person would do, or do do. One is a chain letter type request, asking you to repost the graphic “if you believe in G-d.” The visual quality of this image is a prayer request all by itself. The other is a request to send animal waste to a popular church in Topeka KS. The USPS is not the appropriate facility for this process. How would you feel if you magazine was shipped next to one of these fecal packages?
Blue eyes are highly valued in modern America. A graphic devoted to their praise is not going to hurt anyone. Some stories about Frank Sinatra may contradict this graphic.
The last graphic does not suggest a repost. It involves a reputed story about John Lennon. PG does not know if the story is true, but suspects it is not. The story involves John’s mother, Julia. It was a difficult childhood, with John raised primarily by his Aunt Mimi. If the story is not true, then it is an insult to the memory of John Lennon. He deserves better.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. This is written like H. P. Lovecraft.
Hawaiian Good Luck Sign
Dear Grand-daughter, The other day I went up to our local Christian book store and saw a ‘Honk if you love Jesus’ bumper sticker . I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting.
So, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, am I glad I did; what an uplifting experience that followed. I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is, and I didn’t notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn’t honked, I’d never have noticed. I found that lots of people love Jesus!
While I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, ‘For the love of God!’ ‘Go! Go! Go! Jesus Christ, GO!’ What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus! Everyone started honking! I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling at all those loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love!
There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach. I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. I asked my young teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant. He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I have never met anyone from Hawaii , so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign right back. My grandson burst out laughing. Why even he was enjoying this religious experience!! Praise the Lord!!!
A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So, grinning, I waved at all my brothers and sisters, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed that I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared.
So I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!! Will write again soon, Love, Grandma. This is written like J. D. Salinger. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
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.
Justin Bieber Today
Anne Frank House is an official facebook page. (“The Anne Frank House – More than a Museum. Besides managing the museum, the Anne Frank House develops educational products and activities: http://www.annefrank.org/”) They had a celebrity visitor recently. “Yesterday night Justin Bieber visited the Anne Frank House, together with his friends and guards. Fans were waiting outside to see a glimpse of him. He stayed more than an hour in the museum. In our guestbook he wrote: “Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.” Tonight Bieber will give a concert in Arnhem in the Netherlands.”
AFH also has a twitter account, @annefrankhouse. Yesterday #JustinBieber visited @AnneFrankHouse In our guestbook he wrote:Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl…. 1,274 Retweets 390 Favorites 10:04 AM – 13 Apr 13. There was a reply. @ontarioglow U were able to read his hand writing?? That takes talent @annefrankhouse.
The internet is exploding with interest.
@dorseyshaw c’mon guys, at least Bieber didn’t sign that Anne Frank note with a yolo hashtag.
ItsARampageLana I feel like this qualifies as a milder form of Holocaust denial.
destor23 The ignorance that Bieber has displayed here is simply staggering. Everybody with a brain knows that Frank would have been a One Direction fan.
@SandraKon “Who is Anne Frank and why did Justin Bieber go to her house? He never comes to my house. Jealous.” – Beliebers everywhere” idiots.
@hlmurray if Anne Frank were alive today she’d be 83. how many 83 year olds are Justin Bieber fans?
@marianettle It’s not like Anne Frank and Justin Bieber didn’t have anything in common. Both are/were hiding deep in the closet.
Pictures from The Library of Congress. The spell check suggestion for hashtag is aghast. The spell check suggestions for Beliebers: Berliners, Libeler. This was written like Kurt Vonnegut.
Your Life On Text
An all caps graphic washes up on the digital shores from time to time. The author, and copyright status, are not known. It was not written here. Reading it can be a chore, even though it looks cool. It is also selfish… the only opinion that matters is the individual reading it. It doesn’t have a good beat, but you can dance to it. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
This is your life.
Do what you love, and do it often.
If you don’t like something, change it.
If you don’t like your job, quit.
If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV.
If you are looking for the love of your life, stop:
They will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.
Stop over analyzing, life is simple
All emotions are beautiful.
When you eat, appreciate every last bite.
Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things and people,
We are united in our differences.
Ask the next person you see what their passion is,
And share your inspiring dream with them.
Travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself.
Some opportunities only come once, seize them.
Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them
So go out and start creating.
Life is short. Live your dream, and wear your passion.
“Do you have to be a poet? If you don’t have to be a poet, be a prose writer. You’ll get further faster. Poetry — there’s probably more poetry published today than any time in the history of the world. Nevertheless, there is this — people think they have this blindness when they see a line in the typography of poetry, and it just blocks them. So if you can say the same thing in prose, you’ll probably be better off” Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The Poems Of The Taliban
In the aftermath of 911, the United States needed to get revenge. Afghanistan was invaded. There was little discussion, and the decision was a popular one. The heroin dealers, whose supply of product was endangered by the Taliban, were especially enthusiastic.
Ten and a half years later, there is plenty of heroin. Other than that, there is little improvement. Thousands of Americans have been killed and wounded. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent, at a time when the Government is going deeper and deeper into debt. Untold thousands of people have been killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Dubyatiefstan. The end of the tunnel gets darker, and further away, every day.
There is a story at Informed Comment, Afghanistan’s Taliban – a differing view of drones. It seems like the people in Stan Land are used to having our flying death machines overhead. … ‘It’s the Americans trying to view our naked wives’.”
Poetry of the Taliban is a book coming out soon. In the mad rush to demonize and destroy, it is forgotten that it is human beings we are fighting. “But this is just really guys who write poetry and are Taliban, and then talk about issues they relate to, in sometimes very artistic fashion, in sometimes very simple language. And on a very wide range of subjects. I think also that the Taliban poetry thing had a very different quality when we moved down from Kabul to Kandahar. Because even though a lot of our friends aren’t pro-Talib at all, they would have these tapes with these songs, and would listen to it all the time and it would be on always.”
“I’ve been through the poems looking for references and it doesn’t really come up. The cultural universes of Taliban poems, the songs of the Pakistan Taliban, they’re far more tightly controlled. Interestingly this is another argument to support their being different groups, because the way they go about the songs is different operationally. In Pakistan it goes through a strict production factory, more or less, to make sure the poems properly represent the line they want to take. It’s much more a propaganda product than the stuff that the Afghans come up with. And in the 260 poems we have in our collection there’s not a single mention of drones, and these are poems taken from the south east as well as the south [of Afghanistan].
In the 260 poems we have in our collection there’s not a single mention of drones.”The only thing which comes up and does so twice is the image of Ababil, the green bird, which is a Koranic metaphor for when Abraham is fighting against Nimrud and God sent the green birds to support him. This, I know from talking to Pakistani journalist friends of mine, comes up quite a lot in the drone literature of the Pakistan side, the green birds. The two are often paired together in curious ways. But it’s not really used that way in Afghanistan… Drones don’t really feature in the cultural or aesthetic. Obviously in the videos which come out, which are coming from the east, you’ll have the drone animations and things like that. But that’s coming from the contact with the Pakistanis.”
It should be noted that the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan was drawn by the British, and is disputed today. Much of the territory in Pakistan was in Afghanistan at one time. This is some of the wildest land on earth. It has seen many would be conquerors over the centuries. It will be there when the Americans take their toys home. This is a repost. This is written like H.P. Lovecraft.
Repost If You Are Not Scared
There is a bit of graphic wisdom on facebook. The title of the image is “Post this on your wall and see what peol llke about u:” The graphic was found on the wall of Eddie Williams (ImyChocolateily). The graphic was posted with the comment, “Repost if u ain’t scared.”
There were comments associated with the graphic. Ebonie Marie Nothing n***** cause i see u every day and we look alike January 3 at 12:18pm · Like · 18 Eddie Williams U just called yourself ugly then dumbass January 3 at 12:22pm via mobile · Like · 36 Ebonie Marie Lol i didnt call myslef shitt i said i look like u so nothuing cause i see u every day i didnt call u ugly u dumbass January 3 at 1:19pm
Mr. Google has 13 million things to say about Repost if u ain’t scared. The top result is a forum comment, Hacker I ain’t afraid of you. “take a long, hard look at yourself. Know what I see? I see a big loser with no life who has to make others small to feel special. Repost this if you’re also sick of Hackers: I. Ain’t. Scared. Of. YOU. And neither are my friends. ” PG thought you were supposed to use one period per sentence, placed at the end.
Retro James Hamilton reposted the graphic. Kayla Christine Schlaugat 12 I say Carissa Seguin guys james doesn’t need to inflate his ego anymore Kayla Christine Schlaugat Lol …. Awesome Carissa Retro James Hamilton Lol, thanks rissa. Buzz kill. I suppose I can try to tone down the ego a bit if I must.
The tastefully named that ***t ain’t cool gives some advice. “Just a friendly reminder: If you see any artwork/gifs in the League tag that arn’t yours and have ‘Elohell’ on the bottom, don’t repost it. Elohell is not a correct source. They are content thieves. The same goes for if somebody reposts something without the source or proper credit. Please don’t do it. Just don’t repost work that isn’t yours in the first place. If you want to post something so bad, use a source finder like SauceNAO to find it. “
Some beta facility called who’s talking, serves as a tweet distributor. Is this why Al Gore invented the internet? JBitch559 : Idc waat others saY I’m , diagnost with depression & anorexia .Repost if your suffering from any disorder; http://t.co/1VnOYfQGpK rachbuck : I have this secret fear that all those “repost if you love God” pictures that I skipped out on will come back to bite me on judgement day. janine_kitteh : I am sooo boardnothing to do but fantasize bout liam payne yumm but thats good repost if u can relate fllow 4 a fllow RubyBluOfficial : REPOST* … If you supporting my Cosmic Journey then please follow @webornlosers !!! I’m all shades… http://t.co/OaIDCrmbN0
The last result on first page is from google+, Your Daily Love Emotions. Tell a girl she is beautiful – she will believe it for a moment. Tell a girl she’s ugly – she will believe it for a lifetime. This post is written like William Shakespeare. “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.

























































































































































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