The Message
This content was published November 13, 2o25. … The novel I am writing is now known as “The Confessions of Gnarlene Widget.” This is more commercial than “Novel with No Plot”. The role model is “Trout Fishing In America”. When I run out of things to say, I read a bit in TFIA, and am inspired. … The next chapter is a little story, that takes a little over two pages to tell. Some people were going camping, and looking for a good place. While on the road they pass a parade. The parade was a shepherd who looks like Adolph Hitler, only friendly. Following him were a thousand sheep, three horses, and a wagon. The sheep left organic souvenirs, lots of them.
The campers decided they didn’t like the first site, and went back up the road to another place, The sheep souvenirs were everywhere. Before long the parade was on the road again. They gave the Hitler look alike a beer for his trouble. Finally, the campers found an acceptable place to camp. They caught some trout that looked like leaves for dinner. … As I type this, the computer music player has a concert by Roger Waters playing. The song on the machine now is “Sheep”. Mr. Waters used to be a key member of Pink Floyd, but had issues with some of the others.
They went on without him, and even did a stadium tour under the PF name. The keyboard player recently passed away. He was friendly with Mr. Waters, who reportedly did not like onstage improvisation. I found the playing of “Sheep” at this moment to be an incident of synchronicity and simultaneity. … Back to the story in TFIA. The campers had a happy camper night in the acceptable place, and looked down the valley to see the sheep, the shepherd that looked like Hitler, and the wagon. … Under the borco bookmark, across the page from the first part of this story … Which was titled “the message”… is a yellowed newspaper clipping.
The clipping was written by the Associated Press, and was on page 3a of The Atlanta Constitution, Fri. Oct. 26, 1984. The Headline reads ”Novelist Brautigan found dead in home”. The 49 year old author had found life to be troubling, and ended it with a gunshot wound. There was a quote from Tom McGuane …”When the sixties ended, he was the baby thrown out with the bathwater”. Sometimes it is best to enjoy the product of a craftsman, and not use his life as an example.
The other side of the piece of yellowed newsprint is a picture of a whiskey bottle. The paper around the neck of the bottle says Canadian Mist. It must be from the english speaking part, or it would be spelled Canadien. Under the brand name, in fancy letters, it says Eighty Proof. The bottle is lit from the left side, with a bit of a crest visible atop the storage part of the bottle. A four legged animal is standing guard for a coat of arms. Under the watchful animal, The word IMPORTED is in all caps, in the same font as Canadian Mist. The word Canada is in little letters below that, just above the place where scissors separated the clipping from the rest of page 3a.
The message in the title of the sheep/Hitler lookalike story has a meaning. The camper received a one word message that night. The word was Stalingrad. … In 2008, I decided to participate in Nanowrimo Today’s text is a sample of the result. The goal of NW is to write a 50k word novel in one month. NW tells you to write first, and edit later. The result, at least for me, was a pile of unreadable junk. Stream of consciousness is more fun to write than it is to read. … The perps pulled the plug on Nanowrimo in 2025. There were reports of AI issues and content verification concerns. Whatever … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in July 1941. “At the entrance to the airport. Washington, D.C. municipal airport” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Charisma Lessons
This content was published November 19, 2008. … Last friday night, The Justice House of Prayer went to Castro Street in San Francisco. They do this on a lot of friday nights. They will sing and play guitar, and sometimes they will preach. They are “Christianists”. … Last friday night was not an ordinary friday night. Ten days earlier, the voters of California voted to pass Proposition 8, which bans same sex marriage. The people on Castro Street were angry. The message of JHOP was seen as a provocation. A mob developed, and the police had to escort the JHOP to their vehicles.
There is plenty of blame to go around for this ugly incident. The video shows the police leading some people away from an angry mob. It makes the mob look ugly, and indeed there seems to be excessive reaction here. … But what about the JHOP? They knew what they were getting into. Were they looking to create Goodwill for Jesus, or were they looking to pick a fight? Why couldn’t they just take a couple of weeks off until the passions over Prop 8 cool off?
What does this say about Jesus? Anyone can read from the bible. Anyone can talk about Jesus. There needs to be trust for the person listening to the message to believe what the preachers are saying. JHOP seems to have forgotten this essential first step. They seem to be looking for a confrontation. … Jesus worship is often seen … with a lot of justification … as preaching hatred against gay people. Many of the Castro residents have struggled with Jesus worship, and come to the painful decision that they simply don’t agree with it. Others agree, but want to live the way God made them.
There are all sorts of ways to take this message, and many of them cause pain for the people being preached to. For a group of people to come into someone’s home and preach a painful religious message … without gaining the trust of these people…it just isn’t right. It does not speak well for Jesus. … When you preach to people without their trust, you speak in vain. When you do so out of lust for confrontation, you speak in vain. When your preaching causes pain to people, you speak in vain. … The third commandment speaks to this…”exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”
This content was published November 16, 2008. … At about 1:30, PG called Uzi, and said to meet behind the waffle house. Today, the sunday walk was going to be in East Atlanta …. PG was true to form in making a wrong turn on the freeway, forcing a drive down Spring Street to North Avenue. There was little traffic, and soon the men were on Moreland, crossing I 20, and making that weird turn off Moreland onto Flat Shoals. … The East Atlanta shopping district is not very big. It can be covered on foot in a few minutes. There are plenty of unused buildings, and former parking lots with a fence in front. The transitionality of the neighborhood is a work in progress.
There are plenty of places to get a drink in East Atlanta. While PG was taking pictures of graffiti on the side of the Earl, Uzi said that he never did care to be in a bar on Sunday afternoon. PG thought back to his drinking days, and agreed. Sundays are for riding bikes, hiking, watching football, not cigarette smoking drunks. … On the way back to the car, Uzi saw a tree stump in a vacant lot. He decided to count the rings on the stump. By his reckoning, the tree was 130 years old when it was murdered. There was some serious fighting in this area during the War between the States. This would have been 144 years ago, or before the tree was planted.
There was once a band leader on the Tonight show named Tommy Newsom. Johnny Carson had reports of Mr. Newsom going to Central Park, and taking charisma lessons from a tree stump. The stump in East Atlanta is utterly lacking in charisma. Reports of local musicians taking charisma lessons from this tree stump are not to be believed. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Howard Liberman took the social media picture in September 1942. “Gloucester, Massachusetts. A vessel unloading fish. The man at the “niggerhead” with a rope is controlling the canvas basket that brings fish up from the hold” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
If I Had A Hammer
This content was published November 1, 2022. … @itstimetowrite “#writingprompt Pick 3 objects around you at random. The first item is a character’s portal, the other their prize, the last is their crutch. Interpret this, figuratively or literally, into the genre of your choice. #amwriting #writingcommmunity” The first object that I picked up was an orange. It was sitting on the desk. Since I was going to eat the orange, I substituted a paper clip. Since the instructions say “around you,” the many promising items on the desk will be ignored.
I turn 270 degrees, and finds a “QUICK START GUIDE” on the shelf. It is a booklet, 2″ x 5″, with basic instructions for JBL TUNE 215 TWS ear buds. This has sat on the shelf since the device was purchased, and will probably be discarded once this exercise is complete.
The utility shelf on the wall behind me is the next stop. A tube of equate athlete’s foot cream cream is chosen. 95% of the product has been removed from the container. A flat object has rubbed the side of the tube, driving the remaining Clotrimazole in the direction of the dispensing orifice. It is not known how many more applications of the prophylactic compound remain in the tube.
The character today is Paulie DePape, a California hammer enthusiast. Paulie was so excited about his latest purchase that he went to see his mentor. Unfortunately, it was 2:30 am, and the mentor was busy putting his cell phone in the bathroom to charge. Paulie tried to get into the San Francisco mansion, using the paper clip as a portal. It did not work, and Paulie broke into the residence with his new hammer. The new device was magical indeed … when Paulie broke the laminated glass on the back door, the glass fell back on the patio.
Paulie looked in his pockets, and found the “QUICK START GUIDE.” In his hammer-headed state of mind, Paulie opened the QSG, and realized that he already knew what it said. He turned the QSG over, and saw the fine print instructions in a variety of exotic languages. This was not much of a prize. Paulie held his mentor’s domineering wife responsible. Paulie grabbed his hammer, screamed “Where’s Nancy,” and ran up the stairs.
At this point, Paulie tripped over his hammer, and injured his leg. He would need a crutch to complete his mission, but all he had was an 95% empty tube of Walmart Athlete’s foot goo. Paulie quickly realized that the tube would be useless as a crutch.
By this time, the police had been notified. The mentor answered the door, and then tried to grab the hammer away from Paulie. He was very proud of his new hammer, and angry at Nancy for giving him a QSG as a prize. Paulie snatched the hammer away, and proceeded to brain the mentor. The police interrupted this procedure, and took Paulie into custody.
Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture: “Print made in the 1960s by the Lane Brothers of a photographic image of Stone Mountain, showing an early version of Robert E. Lee’s head (with hat) — probably the initial carving by Gutzon Borglum. Borglum’s work was destroyed after he left the project in 1923. Stamp on reverse of print is later Lane Brothers stamp: “Lane Bros. Photographers, 241 Peachtree-Arcade Bldg., Atlanta, Ga., MU. 8-2513.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Tussit Chronicles 110925
It is another Sunday morning. Wake up and live. After I get moving, I look for something to put on my blog. The idea is to do as little work as possible. This is the guiding principle of the universe … nature will find a way to do a chore with as little effort as possible. With the blog, enlightened laziness means an archive post with few links. Many of these links need to be revived using the internet archive. This process is painfully close to being work.
This is November, which means 30 days of dead. Somebody puts up a Grateful Dead download every day in November. For years I faithfully downloaded every one, only to realize that a substantial percentage were crap. This is the dirty truth about the GD. For all the ethereal vibes, there is a lot of boring crap. … I listened to deadhead babbling before I got to see them. That night at the Omni was late 1973, post PigPen, definitely after the glory days of the band. Of course, I kept trying.
Truckin’ – New Speedway Boogie is the TDOD offering for today, and it sucks. Which is a shame. I like those two songs. A love song for the Altamont concert, what’s not to like? Still, this rendition is clearly from the later days of the band, and just doesn’t have the Jerry juice that the faithful demand. I was going to say that Deadheads live for, but that wouldn’t have made any sense.
The GD were originally the Warlocks, but had to change it because of someone else using the name. It is one to the freakydeaky parts of rock mythology that Lou Reed was also calling his band the Warlocks, and had to rebrand. What if Pigpen had come to rehearsal with an S&M novel, and decided to call his band the Velvet Underground? Or Andy Warhol saw the future of hard drugs, and decided to call his band the Great Dead Junkies. We will just never know.
Three posts from the November archive were considered today. Thanksgiving Letter is from Margaret and Helen. They were a blog sensation in 2005 … these old ladies from Texas who sent folksy posts about their liberal politics and bacon grease. The last M&H post was October 2024, JD Vance thinks bullet proof glass will abortion proof our vaginas.
In 2016, there was a lot of noise being made about Donald J. Trump. While some of it was true, a great deal of it was total nonsense. There was this tsunami of negativity about the orange haired wonder. After a while, it got tough to tell what was true, what was true but you gotta understand, and what was total bullshit. Then I came across one item that was easy to debunk, but which was widely believed by the Hillary Happy Public. This item was the notion that DJT was endorsed by the KKK.
Of course DJT won the election, and America melted down. The various media actors were lamenting the normalization of caucasian stupidity supremacy. One episode in our national reality show was an article in the New York Times about a man in Ohio named Tony Hovater. He enjoyed being white entirely too much. It is only the last part of the second article that I saw the missing piece of the puzzle. Mr. Hovater ranting about the federal reserve. I realized that this was not a threat to america. Instead, this was the guy in the break room who will not shut up and get to work.
The pearl clutchers said that the NYT took what was dangerous and made it seem normal. This put the future of democracy at risk. The truth was the opposite. Tony Hovater is normal and boring, and the NYT tried to make him look exotic and dangerous. … Mr. Hovater seems to have faded into the background. You have to set google search for the last year to find anything. The ADL takes a break from normalizing genocide, to profiling a whiteboy group that Mr. Hovator was connected to. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in October 1940. “ Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family, Pie Town, New Mexico … Photograph shows Jack Whinery (1907-1994) with his wife Edith and their five children, Wanda, Edith, Velva, Jack and Lawrence in his father’s lap. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Eighty Percent
It is a T shirt treasure, and a coffee cup classic. “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” This gem is blamed on Allan Steward Konigsberg, better known as Woody Allen. The percentage goes up and down, and life is sometimes substituted for success.
The quote was recently featured at WIST, or Wish I’d Said That. This quote site is known for giving a source, unlike the sites featuring purring platitudes in front of a cultural kitten. The current top offering is “Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.” Virginia Woolf attributes the baroque comment to Roger Fry, who was not afraid of the author.
Lets get back to Mr. Allen, and success statistics. He accepts full responsibility for the remark. In 1989, notorious conservative columnist William Safire asked Mr. Allen about whether he said life or success. The answer was rather surprising.
“The quote you refer to is a quote of mine which occurred during an interview while we were discussing advice to young writers, and more specifically young playwrights. My observation was that once a person actually completed a play or a novel he was well on his way to getting it produced or published, as opposed to a vast majority of people who tell me their ambition is to write, but who strike out on the very first level and indeed never write the play or book.”
In other words, you don’t just show up empty handed. If you have an idea, you have to employ the writing formula, ass + chair. You have to turn the tv off, leave the beer in the refrigerator, sit down, and push buttons on the keyboard.
I was listening to an interview with a fiction writer. Someone said “Inspiration is for amateurs.” I have always been more impressed by action than beliefs, and this phrase made sense.
IIFA is from a painter named Chuck Close. His output is expensive, and widely enjoyed. A spinal injury left him paralyzed, but did not stop him from producing. Here is the full quote:
“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”
A man once made pottery. It was said that the man only worked with passion. If he didn’t feel this passion, he did not work. If I worked that way, I would never finish anything. Most of the sticker pictures take a while to finish. I always gets tired of the picture before it is through. The idea is to go to the studio, start to do stuff, and before long the enthusiasm will return. Any image requires a certain amount of time with the belly pressed against the work table, or the digital equivalent.
The formula for writing is ass plus chair. A teacher once said to not stare at the blank page, waiting for a bolt of lightning. Start to write something, and the ideas will start to sputter out of the pipeline.
It is not enough to have a bright idea. You have to work the problems out. Sometimes, you spend more time finding out what does not work, than what does. You have to do it wrong before you can do it right. Genius is ninety nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. If any cliches have been overlooked, please add them to the comments.
Focus is helpful. The internet can be a problem. When you should be working on your product, it is very tempting to see the latest on Facebook or Twitter. … Chuck Close passed away August 19, 2021. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture was taken June 13, 1922. Viola LaLonde & Eliz. Van Tuyl. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Putting The N Back In Twitter
This content was published November 30, 2022. … @JoshuaPHilll “Elon Musk: I love free speech!! The free speech: “Use of N-word on Twitter jumped by almost 500% after Elon Musk’s takeover as trolls test limits on free speech, report says.” This message was retweeted, and showed up in my feed. The bs detector will not quit buzzing. The Washington Post is the source for Business Insider.
WaPo relies on a tweet by Network Contagion Research Institute. @ncri_io “Evidence suggests that bad actors are trying to test the limits on @Twitter. Several posts on 4chan encourage users to amplify derogatory slurs. For example, over the last 12 hours, the use of the n-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average.” The only documentation offered is a bar graph.
What to make of this? We don’t know who is using the magic word. It might be #BlackTwitter, which is permitted to use America’s favorite naughty word. Does The Washington Post see twitter as competition for ad revenue? Other people might have a motive for bashing Mr. Musk.
@kevinhoff Replying to @BusinessInsider “I bet anything it is manufactured. Tune the bots to post the word over and over and over again. Write a post about it. Blame @elonmusk Continue to turn a blind eye on all diverse communities. Rinse and repeat. I will also bet this will all change once everyone gets verified.” There are plenty of possibilities to consider.
Who is the NCRI? It appears to be a well funded operation, with plenty of A-list clients. Two of the displayed studies deal with COVID: “Russian disinformation campaigns are trying to sow distrust of COVID vaccines, study finds” · “QAnon’s corrosive impact on the U.S.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in May 1938. “Children at flag raising. Irwinville School, Georgia” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Mansplain
This feature was published October 17, 2025. … There was a link on facebook to a rather wonky article, Mansplaining 101: How to Discuss Politics and Feminism Without Acting Like a Jackass. The concept is that men sometimes do not show women adequate respect when talking to them. The Urban Dictionary has entries for both mansplain and womansplain. Neither entry is complimentary. This is a repost. Many of the links no longer work. The pictures are more entertaining.
The policymic feature is a few months old, and apparently was the scene of a lively comment debate. Unfortunately, some people flagged a bunch of the comments. Little is left. This is the top comment: “Feminism doesn’t need to make room for men, men need to make room for feminist ideas in their spaces.” In one sentence you managed to discredit your entire argument. Who wants to argue with someone who thinks any opinion from the opposite sex isn’t worthwhile?”
When you google mansplain you are referred to a tumblr, Academic Men Explain Things to Me. This is supposed to be an authority on mansplaining. As this post is written, the top three posts are a boss who mispronounces a name, a grandfather who tells girls how to shave their legs, and an eavesdropping customer who tells a woman how to get to sleep better. This is not especially helpful.
Blank splaining seems to be a versatile label. It seems to be a way of attacking the messenger, instead of dealing with the content of the comment. It is true that the tone of comments can be troublesome. People often come across as condescending, especially when they are. It just seems to this observer that little is gained by putting a label, like mansplaining, on this phenomenon.
I have been in many discussions where I was spoken down to. Jesus worshipers are notorious for not respecting people who don’t agree with their ideas about religion. There is also the possibility that people use this attitude of superiority as a weapon to cover up uncertainties about their position. Human beings are funny animals. We are not always the fair, logical creatures we think we are.
Another label that goes in front of splaining is white. The urban dictionary says this about whitesplain: “The act of a caucasian person explaining to audiences of color the true nature of racism; a caucasian person explaining sociopolitical events and/or history to audiences of color as though they are ignorant children.” Contrast this to the word on blacksplain: “Explaining things pertaining to African American history and culture, to someone who is racist or racially ignorant.” The white person is always wrong in this scenario. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Edward H. Hart took the social media picture “between 1895 and 1901.” “U.S.S. Texas, Capt. Sigsbee and officers” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Lower Than A Snake’s Belly
This content was published October 21, 2008. … It is amazing what gets your attention when you should be looking for a job. The yahoo page had a link to a poll of the “49 most influential men of 2008”. Polls like this are usually rubbish, but there is a post to be written.
I don’t have the patience for all 49. This is one of those deals where you have to click on a link for every name on the list. That is a lot of work, especially for men I have never heard of. I seldom watch TV or pay full price for movies, so a lot of celebrities go under the radar. It will be fun to see how many I have heard of. There is a profile about each man, but that is another click, and wait for the popupdropdown ad to clear. This is going to be a lot of work just to get to the top ten. · If you can’t say anything good about someone, don’t say anything at all.
1 – Barack Obama … Hype is color blind. · 2 – Steve Jobs · 3 – Micheal Phelps · 4 – Robert Downey, Jr … Rehab does work sometimes. · 5 – Stephen Colbert · 6 – Gordon Ramsey … This is the first one I totally don’t know. Mr. Ramsey is wearing a chef’s outfit, which is a clue. · 7 – Christian Bale · 8 – Rob Kay … Mr. Kay designs video games. If you see Mr. Kay … · 9 – Cristiano Ronaldo … Mr. Ronaldo kicks soccer balls. and has an Irish cousin named Ronald O’McDonald.
10 – John McCain … Bless his heart. · 11 -Lorne Michaels … Mr. Michaels gets points for staying alive this long. · 12 -Tom Ford … Mr. Ford is a fashion designer. No word on what kind of car he drives, or whether he pardoned Mr. Nixon. · 13 -Mark Zuckerberg … Mr. Zuckerman invented Facebook, and is glad this list is not in alphabetical order. · 14 -Dana White … Mr. White fronts something called “Ultimate Fighting Challenge. … One more “influencer” I have heard of, and I quit. It doesn’t matter if I have seen his show. · 15 -Jon Stewart … Mr. Stewart is a comedian/political commentator.
This content was published October 22, 2008. … In a couple of weeks, the election will, blessedly, be over. The only thing that could screw up … north of Florida … is a Georgia race where no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote. In 1992, the incumbent Senator was an Atlanta Baseball fan named Wyche Fowler. He was confident of victory, but many were dissatisfied with his performance. The Libertarian candidate, Jim Hudson, got enough votes to force a runoff. In the runoff, Repub Paul Coverdell won election. Mr. Fowler was consoled by the job of Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. A few months after he left that position, 15 Saudi nationals flew planes into American buildings. … This story does have a moral. If you want Saxby Chambliss, the incumbent, to spend more time with his family, then vote for Democrat Jim Martin. While the Libertarian movement might be a good idea, this is not the time to push it. … Saxby Chambliss is a vile man who needs to retire. His issues and shortcomings are well documented elsewhere. In addition, he has a funny first name.
The rest of this feature is a personal story about Mr. Saxby. As it became obvious that we were going to invade Babylon, I decided to go on record as being opposed. I felt we were starting something we were not going to be able to finish, that we could not afford, and was based on shaky premises. Once the fighting started, I would support the troops. However, before the “shock and awe”, I would speak my mind. The email/letter went to My House of Representatives lady, and the two senators.
The house lady at the time was Denise Majette. She had defeated Cynthia McKinney the previous fall. Ms. Majette sent a long and thoughtful reply. While she did not explicitly say so, I got the sense that she was opposed to the invasion. However, due to some votes cast in the previous congress, there was little that could be done to stop the war. … Of the two Senators, I never did hear from Zell “ZigZag” Miller. My letter mentioned that “You were elected to represent me”. Mr. Miller was appointed by the Governor to finish the term of Paul Coverdell, who died. Mr. Coverdell was a Republican. The Governor and Mr. Miller were Democrats. Mr. Miller has since decided that the Democratic Party is too liberal for his taste. ZigZag is lower than a snake’s belly.
Mr. Chambliss did send a reply to my letter. It was a few months after “Mission Accomplished”. Mr. Chambliss praised the war. He made no mention of my objections to the war, which were still valid in those early days of the insurgence. I wonder if his staff even read my letter. … Saxby Chambliss needs to retire. Some lobbying firm will give him a nice job, and the taxpayers will only indirectly pay for it. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken February 24, 1966. Shell Oil Company meeting Stone Mountain Inn. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Money Hymn Of The Republic
This content was published October 29, 2009. … Mark Twain wrote a lot during the War 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. And the investors 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 God 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 God is marching on.
This content was published October 13, 2008. … 22 WORDS weighed in today with a comment about web design for dyslexics. No jokes please. … The post linked to a site called dyslexia.com. They say that dyslexia is a gift. While I would not go that far, some of their ideas are useful. The basic concept is that if something is easier for dyslexics to read, it will also be easier for non dyslexics. … This makes sense. While I don’t follow all of them, there are some good points here.
1 – Keep paragraphs short, and use a medium amount of text on each page. If a long article is posted, create a topic index at the beginning, so that the dyslexic reader can quickly narrow in on the parts that interest him or her. · 2 – Use default font settings or provide a way for users to choose their own styles. That way, a user can choose their own preferred font with their browser, or create their own style sheet. Many dyslexics find they read best with one particular font. · 3 – Keep your main text left-justified. It is very hard to read paragraphs where all lines are centered or which are right-justified.
4 – Use a consistent layout and format throughout the site. It helps to have navigation aids laid out consistently on every page. · 5 – If you use frames, be sure to provide a no-frames alternative; some text-to-speech software cannot read text on framed pages. · 6 – Make a list of relevant links at the end of a paragraph or section, rather than merely placing the links within the body of the text. That way the user can find the important links without needing to read all the text. Be sure to clearly describe the type of information or site the link will lead to.
7 – Use medium icons to help with navigation between frequently used web pages. There should also be a text alternative for navigation (or the ‘alt’ tag should be used), for those individuals who rely on computers to read the page contents to them. · 8 – Never use flashing text. Do not use animated or moving graphics unless the animation is necessary to illustrate important information, such as an animation demonstrating how a machine works. Even so, it is best to place the animation on a different page, or to set it up to start only when clicked.
9 – Avoid using background images behind text. Make sure that there is a good contrast between the color of the background and the color of text. · 10 – Do not set up background music to play, unless the site gives the user a choice whether to turn it on. … Several points ring especially true here. Short paragraphs are the way to go. A long block of text is intimidating to many readers, and screams out “skip over me”. On a more personal level, I have a tough time with quotes from the Bible. That is a subject for another post, if not a new blog.
Background music that starts without asking is a peeve of mine. This is highly unthoughtful to your visitor. If you are already listening to something, or are in a place music is inappropriate, this is going to cause problems. Flashing text and background images are also annoying, but at least they do not make noise. There is a reason I do not like MySpace. … For blocks of text, left-justified is simply the way to go. While centered text may be good for ads and invitations, it is a lot of work on the eyes to follow for extended reading. And, why on earth would anyone ever use right-justified?
A post like this is not complete without a hypocrite alert. I have heard people say they do not like multi colored text, that it can be difficult to read. Black text is a holdover from dead tree journalism. I probably will continue to use colors, though maybe with a bit of restraint. The rainbow posts are fun. Using colors for quotes and different themes helps the reader to tell when the subject has changed. Red letters stand out when you want to make a point.
The internet is a work in progress. People are learning what does and does not work. Just because you can do something … like have an automatic music player … doesn’t mean that you should. It is like when telephone answering machines first came out. At first, the idea was to have a clever message for incoming calls. Then, people got tired of listening to those, and the basic messages we have today became popular. Some techie things are suggested here … letting the user choose the font…are a bit too geeky for me, although I guess that could change. The main idea is to show a bit of courtesy to your visitor. It is not like your blog is the only one. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture: “Two individuals pose with Irvindale’s “Minnie Quarts” dairy cow, 1940s” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Tease Tuesday Burlesque Nerdtastic
This content was published September 11, 2019. … The day had been rolling along. Some dark clouds started to gather, and I saw relief from the hot weather. A strong rainstorm moved in. All was well, until the lights went out. A large tree fell on the power lines up the street. It was going to be a while before the juice came back on.
I did not want to spend a night in a dark house. There were a few possibilities. Then I remembered Tease Tuesday Burlesque Nerdtastic. Off into town I went. I was reminded why I don’t like driving at night. The oncoming headlights get brighter as you get older.
The format is simple. A lady gets on stage, wearing an elaborate costume. Bit by bit, the costume comes off. The g-string stays put. The boobs have pasties. Some of the pasties are festive. The boobies propel the sequin powered pasties into circadian circles.
The show was fun. I have only been to a few tittie bars, and did not especially enjoy them. I have been to a few drag shows, which is what TTBN reminded me of. A drag show with real girls.
I talked to one of the *movers and shakers* of the event at intermission. She went to her first condition when her mother was pregnant with her. This was the post-dragoncon event. The nerdiness was intentional. The lady agreed with my observation about drag shows. She said that she always wanted to be a drag queen, but told that she did not qualify. She showed her nay-sayers that she could, indeed, be a drag queen.
One of the acts in the second half had a trigger warning. If you did not like clowns, or simulated drug use, go hang out at the bar until she was over. The costume was dayglo clown makeup. The music was “Cocaine,” by Eric Clapton. Huge bags of *white powder” were displayed. At the end of the number, a bagful of pastie pastry flour decorated her clown face. Before long, the show was over. There was not a bit of redeeming social value. It was one hundred percent entertainment.
The next stop was a nearby little shopping center. The first bar had a man singing karaoke, two people dancing, and five men sitting at the bar. The lounge across the parking lot had a drunken greeter, who was very glad to see me. I stayed for a minute or two, and went into the larger shopping center next door. The “wrinkle room” had gone out of business. The laundromat next door remains.
Since this was Tuesday night, I was surprised to see anyone out anywhere. I was even more surprised when the Heretic had a full parking lot. Their show was winding down, and I got in without a cover charge. It was a drag reality elimination. People had ballots, and were going to vote on who went to the finals next week. A six seven black man, wearing a glittering silver gown, asked me if I had voted. I told him that I saw cars in the parking lot, and wandered in. I did not stay to see who won. … Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in 1941. “A baggage-truck driver. Washington, D.C. municipal airport”.
Nothing
This content was published September 15, 2024. … Do nothing for as long as possible
This statement has two words ending in NG, long and nothing. NG words are challenging to spell backwards, as G is usually silent in front of N.
N and G are used to euphemize or represent. An example is N-word, aka America’s favorite dirty word. The less said about those six letters, the better.
G-word is sometimes used to represent God. Sometimes, one might want to refer to the concept of an almighty presence. Unfortunately, some people think they own God, and get angry if anyone disagrees. It can be very unpleasant for all involved.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media photograph in August 1940. “Members of FSA (Farm Security Administration) cooperative (Harper hay chopper). Box Elder County, Utah” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
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