Chamblee54

There is a bit of common sense on the climate today, from an unlikely source (thanks). It seems like James Lovelock, a much revered elder statesman of climate science, gave a pair of interviewsin the UK. Merry Olde England is the home of the University of East Anglia, whose Climate Research Unit was embarrassed recently by some hacked emails.
The Guardian printed a transcript of it’s interview with Mr. Lovelock. There are some good quotes.
“Fudging the data in any way whatsoever is quite literally a sin against the holy ghost of science. I’m not religious, but I put it that way because I feel so strongly. It’s the one thing you do not ever do. You’ve got to have standards.”
(Regarding the data fudging scandal ) “I was utterly disgusted. My second thought was that it was inevitable. It was bound to happen. Science, not so very long ago, pre-1960s, was largely vocational. Back when I was young, I didn’t want to do anything else other than be a scientist. They’re not like that nowadays. They don’t give a damn. They go to these massive, mass-produced universities and churn them out. They say: “Science is a good career. You can get a job for life doing government work.” That’s no way to do science.”
“The good skeptics have done a good service, but some of the mad ones I think have not done anyone any favours. Some of them, of course, are corrupted and employed by oil companies and things like that. Some even work for governments. For example, I wouldn’t put it past the Russians to be behind some of the disinformation to help further their energy interests. ” ( PG muses that many of the climate change skeptics are old anti communists, Now, they are playing on the same side as the Russians they once were so fond of hating.)
“I think the skeptic bloggers should worry. It’s almost certain that you can’t put a trillion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere without something nasty happening. This is going to resolve itself and global heating is going to come back on stream and it’s these bloggers who are going to be made to look weird when it does.”
(On how humans will ever manage to tackle climate change:)” We need a more authoritative world. We’ve become a sort of cheeky, egalitarian world where everyone can have their say. It’s all very well, but there are certain circumstances – a war is a typical example – where you can’t do that. You’ve got to have a few people with authority who you trust who are running it. And they should be very accountable too, of course.
But it can’t happen in a modern democracy. This is one of the problems. What’s the alternative to democracy? There isn’t one. But even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while.”
And so on and so forth. According to this esteemed scientist, global warming is real, but mankind may be too collectively stupid to deal with it. Or it might not become manifest for another thousand years. The more we learn about the climate, the more we realize that we don’t know.

As is often the case, the comments to the transcript made more sense than the primary text.
“I am surprised that in all of this article the actual problem we have is not mentioned or addressed. That the earth contains a finite resource, oil , gas , coal , minerals food which we treat as being infinite. Even if global warming did not result at all in any way from this.. we would still be heading for a complete disaster as we consume every last resource.. consumerism and capitalism will be the roots and engine of our downfall.. “
“The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stone. We might grow more food,recycle our minerals and metals and develop alternative sources of energy. As we get richer,population drops and there will be plenty for all. Don’t worry, be happy. You are only here once, and remember : What has the future ever done for you?”
“Good point. The American Dust Bowl wasn’t caused by too much democracy, was it?! It was caused by rapacious financial interests in the form of farmers trying to get too much out of the environment for profit. That was 80 years ago & we have learnt nothing since.
Capitalism has destroyed agriculture because farmers are put under such financial pressures that they sacrifice good farming practice for profit. So it is capitalism that needs “put on hold” not democracy, Dr Strangelove….I mean Lovelock.”
” Lovelock is an arrogant old bastard who will never own up to a fundamental mistake he made many years ago. CO2 is a trace gas in the atmosphere and a poor absorber of IR compared to water vapor which is not only seven times better at getting energy from sunlight, but has 200 times as many molecules to do it! It’s effect is 1400 times that of CO2, but it is ubiquitous, cannot be be controlled or taxed so the elected class ignores it. It is just that simple.
Carbon is 84% of all petroleum fuels and natural gas. The controlling and taxing of carbon will give more political and economic power than anything that has happened in 800 years, the signing of the Magna Carta.
If CO2 were increased to 10,000 ppm it would just become significant in the atmosphere system. That would be a 2600% increase from the present 380 ppm. Give us a break.”

It is easter. Once, it was a day to celebrate springtime, the renewal of life after the chilly winter. Then, some people who take their myths literally came into control. The story of the day is of an avatar ( G-d become man), who died, and then rose from the grave.
Not only do they believe the story, but they also believe that this belief allows them to live forever. PG does not agree, and would appreciate the Jesus Worshipers a lot more if they kept their ideas to themselves. Sad to say, the believers like to talk about their beliefs. Many seem to think that the louder they talk, the more true the belief.
In the 2100 years since his life and reputed rebirth, Jesus has become quite the cult of personality. Many feel that the current Jesus has almost nothing to do with the historic Jesus. PG agrees with this view, that Jesus is a modern day golden calf, a idol created by man. The best way to learn about Jesus is through the words and deeds of his believers.
Pictures for this feature are from the Library of Congress.

It was dead saturday 1973, the day between good friday and easter. PG and his friend Gibson have traveled from Athens GA to Charlotte NC to see a rock concert. The plan was eight bands in a crowded football stadium.
PG had never been to an outdoor concert, and had some ideas about how it would be. They were in the house early, and set up a blanket about thirty feet in front of the stage. For the first part of the day, the crowd stayed off their turf.
The first electric act was Brownsville Station. The first thing they did was encourage the audience to crowd in front of the stage, resulting in a mob scene for the rest of the day. BS played loud heavy metal, with a guitar/vocals guy painted like a clown. They were a three piece band that day, as their bass player had gotten a job selling furniture in Kansas. “Smokin in the Boys Room” was a hit for this ensemble later that year.
The concept of multiple stages had not hit North Carolina, and there was a long wait between acts. The next band was Mason Profit, who rocked. “you are talking about boogie, you don’t know shit about boogie.
By this time, the crowd was getting off on their downers, the sun was shining, and PG was out of water. It only got better as the day went on. The scheduled next act was Captain Beyond, but they canceled. The replacement was another Capricorn act, Marshall Tucker. They were good, but not really memorable.
The afternoon went on and on. Goose Creek Symphony came and went, followed by Wet Willie. WW had a routine where this pretty girl was walking down ___ street, which in Charlotte was Independence Boulevard. Eventually, the sun went down, and ZZ Top came on stage.
ZZ Top was the high point of the day. The beards were only about four inches long. They introduced one song, saying ” this is something you might know about, song called beer drinkers and hell raisers”. They were the only band to do an encore, with “Francine”.
The next act was Mahavishnu Orchestra, which PG was convinced was the greatest band that ever lived. The stadium crowd was not conducive to their style, but they delivered a good show. John McLaughlin played a twin necked guitar, which PG found a bit disconcerting. The electric violin player was a stand out.
By the time MO finished, PG wanted to get away from the front of the stage. He took to wandering around the back of the stadium while the Allman Brothers played. The back of the house was full, although there was room to walk around. Before long, it was time to hit the road back to Georgia.
Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress. The people in the pictures were at the show, in spirit.

PG got a chain letter email a few minutes ago. In the spirit of tmi, the answers to this will be a post for today. Answers were not made under oath. Pictures are from the library of congress. They are from the Roger Fenton pictures of the Crimean War in 1855.

Welcome to the FIRST 2010 edition of getting to know your friends and family.
Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to your friends including the person who sent it to you. The idea is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known! Just press the ‘forward’ button then you can erase my answers and add yours.
1. High heels, boots, or sneakers? Sneakers//2. What time did you get up this morning? don’t remember//3. Diamonds or pearls! electronics// 4. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? That thing Sean Penn directed about the Emory graduate who got weird. //5. What is your favorite TV shows? NFL //6. What do you usually have for breakfast? steamed potatoes//7. What is your middle name? Campbell//8. What ood do you dislike? eggs, olives//9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Workingmans Dead//10. What characteristic(s) do you despise? Selfishness //11. Favorite Clothing? cheap //12. Anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Italy//13. Are you an organized person? sometimes//14. Where would you retire? here//15. What was your most memorable birthday? six//16. What are you going to do when you finish this? eat//17. Furthest place you are sending this? the internet//18. Person you expect to send it back first? don’t expect it back//19. When is your birthday? May 6//20. Are you a morning person or a night person? Afternoon//21. What is your shoe size? 12// 22. Do you own any animals? no//23. Any news you’d like to share? disgusted with Good Friday//24. What did you want to be when you were little? Astronaut //25. What is your favorite flower? reefer//26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? April 3//27. Do you wish upon stars? Leave Marilyn Monroe alone.// 28. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? melted on a lightbulb//29. How is the weather right now? Sunny and warm..//30. Last person you spoke to on the phone? “Bradley”//31. Favorite soft drink? Tea.// 32. Favorite restaurant? Depends on my mood //33. Hair color? gray, and it is all there //34. What was your favorite toy as a child? baseball bat//35. Summer or winter. spring//36. Chocolate or vanilla? bubble gum //37. Coffee or tea? Tea//38. Do you want your friends to email you back? better than any enemies//39. When was the last time you cried? don’t remember//40. What is under your bed? hardwood and a crawl space//41. What did you do last night? copied pictures from the library of congress//42. What are you afraid of? Jesus//43. Salty or sweet? Sour//44. Favorite day of the week? Monday//45. How many people will you send this to? whoever bothers to read//46. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? it depends

The octagon is a magic shape. If you ever go to a Chinese restaurant, you are likely to see windows in octagon shapes. It has something to do with the feng shui. This does not carry over to Octagon soap, despite the snazzy retro wrapper.
When you take an interlocking border tile, and run it through the changes of an octagon, you have another shape entirely. This is what PG has been making pictures of the last few months.
For those new to the horrors of PG, he likes to make sticker pictures. These are faux stained glass images…that is, you shine the light through them, rather than on them. The base is a 3 mil mylar film, which was intended for the originals of building plans. The colors are sticker paper (red, yellow, and green) and masking tape (blue). There is a one eighth inch overlap between all the sections, which serves the same function as solder in stained glass. If you look at the design drawings, they have two lines for everything.
It is a good hobby. It features cheap materials, and provides hours of soul satisfying time cooped up in a studio ( which looks a lot like the third bedroom, or PG’s room as a kid). The studio is a safe space. PG likes to think that G-d comes by to help out, although others might differ.
The border tiles were inspired by a trip to Pasaquan. This was the refuge of another misfit who made pictures. He painted his house, and some cement structures on the grounds, with Sherwin Williams paint, in colorful patterns. Pasaquan is located near Buena Vista, GA ( pronounced BOOna VIS ta). In his images are circular s shapes that connect with each other.
Sometime last year, PG decided to draw the border tiles into an octagon. This caused a bit of brain damage, but PG did not give up. The first one was round, and then PG decided to try the same thing with straight lines and ninety degree angles. This caused more brain damage, and PG only has so many marbles left.
There are six pictures on display in this post. One does not have the border tiles. One has the round border tiles, and one has guts that look like a mandala. Some of these may have been posted before, but PG is too slack to go back to see.
The pictures are in the order of production. The titles are : 319 Wiggles, 320 Miss Pig, 321 Corners, 322 Green Square, 323 American Beauty, and 324 Workingmans Dead.
The last two were designed and assembled at roughly the same time. PG had a cd of “Workingmans Dead” that he listened to every day in the studio during these two projects. While naming things for the Grateful Dead is a bit of a cliche, PG is not picky about how he names these images.

There is a little video floating around on Facebook now. It shows a man, in a chair, with his adoring wife and daughter looking on. The man acts like his is driving (barefoot). Soon, an accident is imminent. His daughter (wearing pink wings) comes over, leans over his lap, and stretches her arms across his waist, seat belt fashion. The wife does the same thing, except she is the shoulder harness. Silver confetti flies all around, the man leans forward, and is stopped by his “seatbelt”.
PG is a long time user of seat belts, even before the nanny state told him it was the law. In 1974, he was rear ended, and would have slammed into the dashboard if not for his seat belt. It is a very good idea to use a seat belt, which is why chain pulling videos like this are not a good idea.
It is a law of human nature, the more often you are told to do something, the more likely it is that some people will not do it, just because. You still face the consequences of this misbehavior, but you go ahead and do it anyway. Or you wear the seatbelt (or the condom, or you just say no), but feel manipulated and spoken down to. At some point, you should let people old enough to drive act like adults.
Then there is the family values angle. PG, for better or worse, is single. There is no adoring, pink wing wearing daughter to make a seat belt for him. Is PG not a child of G-d, worthy of the love that all human beings are due? This attitude…that a single man is inferior… is on display constantly. It takes a lot of ignoring to get through the day sometimes, without manipulative videos, telling you what you already know.
The video is promoted on Facebook with this slogan: How many people will watch before this is BANNED forever!?. There were three comments below the slogan, when this post was written.
Wow. That brought tears to my eyes. I will re-post with a short story…
But why would it be “banned” Bill? What’d I miss?
Got your attention, didn’t it… (from the poster of the video).
Pictures from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

PG found a series of podcasts at New Yorker online. People, usually published authors, choose a short story from the magazines archive, and read it. Last night it was “My Russian Education”, written by Vladimir Nabokov, and read by Orhan Pamuk.
The story is part of Nabokov’s autobiography, “Speak Memory”. Before that publication, it was printed as a short story, and presented as a work of fiction. The podcast host asked Mr. Pamuk why Nabokov would blur the line between fiction and biography like that. The answer was that authors are not as concerned about this difference as editors, and presumably readers. It changes the way a piece reads, whether it is marketed as true memory or made up story.
Hearing a story read, rather than silently scanning it with your eyes, also changes the way a story feels. MRE is more about the father of Nabokov, and his dangerous political activities in St. Petersburg before the Russian Revolution. To have this story read by a Turk, with ESL pronunciation, adds the sense of a European story from a bygone era.

The following is a repost. This is an advantage of having built up an inventory of posts…when writers block comes to visit, you can pull an oldie off the shelf. Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
The way it works here is to look on this day in the archives. The selection today is one year old. And the situation is getting worse. BHO seems to like playing with toys . The drone war has been expanded, and is routinely conducted in Pakistan. Just as we invaded Afghanistan without any discussion, Pakistan is pulled into the killing without even an attempt at justification.
We are fighting in a poor part of the world, where a majority of the people cannot read and write. We are a wealthy country, that kills by remote control, with no risk to the pilot. When you talk about “hating us for our freedom”, you may want to think about that.
One of the features of the babylon war is the use of drones. These are unmanned airplanes, that launch missiles by remote control.
There is much to complain about in the babylon war. We invade Afghanistan to get revenge for nine eleven, and now we are stuck there. Literally trillions of dollars have been borrowed to pay for this enterprise, with more to come. And we are using unmanned planes to attack people in Pakistan.
A wealthy country is spending trillions of dollars to attack poor people eight time zones away. This wealthy country does not even put its men at risk in these attacks, but does them with unmanned aircraft.
Something is not right.

PG does not live in the district formerly represented by Nathan Deal. If Mr. Deal is still in the race for Governor come primary time, and he is the best candidate, PG may well vote for him. In a race with John Oxendine and Roy Barnes, anything is possible.
After being represented by Cynthia Mckinney all those years, PG does not feel qualified to assess the integrity or legislative ability of someone else’s congressman. The fact that Mr. Deal is ranked as one of the 15 most corrupt congressmen in Washington is of little interest.
What PG is worried about is the clown (sorry about that Bozo) who is the press agent for Mr.Deal. As seen in the channel two video, he is overweight, does not wear a tie on camera, and has the worst hair this side of Elton John.
Is that his real hair, dyed rotten apple red, and cut with a soup bowl six months ago? Or did he steal a wig from an unattended Goodwill collection box?
And does anyone really think that the ethics investigation against Mr. Deal is a witch hunt, brought about by Democrats who worry that Mr. Deal would beat Roy Barnes?
This guy gives new meaning to the phrase done deal. The pictures of the spokesman, moving his lips, was from a channel 2 video. The black and white pictures are from the library of congress.

John McCain is in another tough election, this time for his senate seat in Arizona. It is so tough, that he got his former running mate, Sarah Palin, to campaign for him.
One wonders is anyone in Arizona is angry because Mr. McCain has spent so much time recently running for President, instead of representing Arizona? And why does he usually look like he is vaguely nauseous? (Other than the obvious answer here).
Ms. Palin made an ironic comment at the :10 point of this video. “We might as well call it like we see it and not beat around the bush”. If she is going to talk about our former President, she should say it to his face.
Ms. Palin repeatedly used the phrase “lamestream media”. She seems to forget that she is a paid commenter at Fox news, which is about a mainstream as you get.
HT to JoemyG-d.

The digital  medium listverse posted a list of “10 Rock Bands You Either Hate Or Love“. What follows is a commentary by PG about these acts. If you are not interested in his opinions, skip to the pictures. Picture are from the Library of Congress, and regard The War Between the States.
10- Captain Beefheart and his magic band-There was a sampler LP by Warner Brothers around 1970 or so. Available only by mail order, the LP had songs by a variety of Warner Brothers artists. Captain Beefheart was represented by “Hiella guru”, which had a sort of catchy sound. A voice said something like ” Damascus estate”, which fit the overall dada sound of the band.
Years later, a groupie wrote a tell all book about her youthful adventures. It turns out the voice said “The mascara snake”
In between the sampler LP and the groupie tell all book, Captain Beefheart played a show at the Great Southeast Music Hall, then located in Cherokee Plaza. PG liked to show up after the second set had started, and the ticket takers left the door open. The night CB played, PG mistimed his visit, and got to talk to a high school classmate, but did not see the show.
09-Metallica- There was a saying in “The electric kool aid acid test” ( which was not the origin of the phrase “drink the kool aid). The merry pranksters set off on a trip around america, and someone said “you are either on the bus or off the bus”. Those might not be the exact words, and they don’t sound as profound without the acid to drive home the emblematic attitude.
Getting back to Metallica, PG has never been on the bus for heavy metal. He heard a thing by Metallica on the radio that was pretty cool, and he read an interview with them in a magazine, that made Metallica look like a bunch of alcoholic right wing jerks. They are staggering all the way to the bank.
08-U2- Paydirt. The favorite band of millions, and the only thing that can make PG switch radio stations faster than a used car dealer commercial. Incriminating evidence of Payola in the radio industry,the U stands for Ugh. The guitar player only seems to know one riff. If autos could run on Bono’s ego, there would be no energy crisis ever. (Did you know that Bono is a vocal Jesus Worshiper?)
07-Aerosmith- These guys are famous today because they didn’t OD, despite the best efforts of Stephen Tyler. The simply are not that good.
06-Sonic Youth-PG quit being hip a long time ago. Once he saw a comment about Bono, and thought it was about Sonny. He does not know enough about Sonic Youth to have an opinion. And, for once, that is going to stop him.
05-Elvis Presley- There was a story about Elvis and Natalie Wood. She wanted him to be in a movie she was making, and he did a screen test. To the surprise of many, Elvis could act when he wanted to. The only trouble was, Colonel Tom Parker did not want him to do the film, and so it didn’t happen.
Elvis is an American phenomenon. He was the union of hype and talent. He was also watched over by Colonel Tom Parker, and never stepped out of the role that was chosen for him. Elvis also had the musicians gift for self destruction.
PG heard a racist rant about Elvis once, to the effect that Elvis stole his music from black people. Which only means that it was worth taking.
04-The Beach Boys-Like Elvis, The Beach Boys are tough to not like. Even Nancy Reagan was a fan, and Brian Wilson did not just say no. Maybe they became a self parody, but when they were in the early sixties prime, there was no one who could sing like them.
03-The Velvet Underground-The Velvets existed before recording technology could handle them. There recorded output sucks. The Andy Warhol days were essentially an audition for John Cale, Lou Reed, and Nico. All of them did outstanding work after the demise of the VU. When PG saw Lou Reed doing car commercials…
02-The Eagles- PG read the tell all book by Don Felder. This was the meanest, most selfish bunch around. They made some good records, did mountains of drugs, and wrote songs that are endlessly quoted by people trying to appear intuitive.
PG stood outside the Omni one night, trying to get a ticket to see The Eagles inside. One of the scalpers had a t shirt, with the phrase “DISCO SUCKS” in six inch tall letters. This negativity is what PG associates with The Eagles.
01- The Grateful Dead-PG has written about the Dead before. Lots of people think they are groovy. What is usually not said out loud is the “other ones”, who are not on the bus.
The Dead liked to be loose on stage. Sometimes, this translated into shows that were horrible. Many people, not indoctrinated into the cult of Jerry, went to one of these shows and decided that yes, they were dead, or at least smelled like it.
Dead heads can also be a problem. Like some of the other units in this list, there are fanatic followers of the GD. Like many fanatics, they sometimes turn as many people away from the object of adoration, as the do towards it.

Once again, there is little to say. It is time to borrow. The source today is Gartalker.
The original author was a woman.
There is a saying, beg, borrow, or steal. They all involve the transfer of something, presumably of some value, to another party. The receiving party probably will not compensate the distributor. Another option is purchase, which is not considered in this case. Once money changes accounts, taxes are usually involved. If their is one thing that Gartalker and PG agree on, it is generating less tax revenue for our various governments.
The best verb for the transfer of this story is steal. It is a story about a beggar. The pictures are from the Atlanta Beltline corridor, taken 01-23-10. One of the pictures has a cussword.
I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.
I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, ‘If I give you this money, will you buy chocolate with it instead of dinner?’
‘No, I had to stop eating chocolate years ago’, the homeless woman told me.
‘Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?’ I asked.
‘No, I don’t waste time shopping,’ the homeless woman said. ‘I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.’
‘Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?’ I asked.
‘Are you NUTS!’ replied the homeless woman. I haven’t had my hair done in 20 years!’
‘Well, I said, ‘I’m not going to give you the money. Instead, I’m going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.’
The homeless Woman was shocked. ‘Won’t your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I’m dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.’
I said, ‘That’s okay. It’s important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and chocolate.’