Well, that was one hell of a week! Thank goodness Godzilla is here to finish us off!
Category Archives: Politics
Proof Of Life – October 07th
A common question I see being asked of various social media commentators regarding today’s world (i.e., the ongoing destruction of the US government and fascist, right-wing, white “Christian” supremacist dictatorship being put in place) is, “What can I, as a simple, normal, powerless individual do?”
I see the same answers over and over, and I don’t know that they’re wrong. I wish that I felt better about them actually working, but it’s all along the lines of 1) write letters and make calls to your political representatives 2) volunteer to help where you can 3) join a peaceful protest 4) talk to your family, friends, and neighbors 5) spread facts and fight misinformation and outright lies and propaganda.
All good ideas. And finally, 6) don’t let them beat you down mentally, don’t let them make you give up, don’t allow them to steal your joy.
Excellent. Easier said than done, however. I’m finding joy to be in short supply.
But I can still find it in simple things, like looking at the clouds and the birds every day. Look at the stars every night, and the sunrises and sunsets every morning.
I was reminded by a good friend the other day that it’s fun to blow bubbles. Ausgetzeichnet! I’ll have to remember to get some ASAP.
I joined the local astronomy group. I’ll have to get my telescope re-aligned and set up again.
Bigger picture, what would it take to start flying again? It’s a long shot, but I hear that we need to set “impossible” goals. (I don’t know if that link to an Instagram post will work here, it’s the first time I’ve tried to do one on this site. If it doesn’t, jut look up “Mace Curran” and immediately go get her new book “The Flipside.”)
This might all be just whistling past the graveyard, but it’s got to beat just giving up and lying down to die. At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Filed under Paul, Photography, Politics
Double Shot
The latest & greatest COVID vaccine on top, this fall’s flu vaccine on the bottom.
Being over 65 and, more importantly, in a state where sanity and real science still outweigh ignorance and kissing the cult leader’s ass, it wasn’t difficult to get access to the vaccines. I’m hoping that the anectodal stories I’m hearing from hither and yon are true and it’s easy enough for those younger to also protect themselves and their health.
I’ve heard it postulated that we got kicked onto our current batshit insane timeline back in 2016 due to the Cubs winning the World Series. That makes as much sense as anything else. The hope is that if the Cubs win the World Series again it will bring balance to the Universe and we can return to a timeline where ignorant Nazi chucklefucks are forced to crawl back under their rocks and hide from the light of the Sun and the company of normal people.
GO CUBBIES!! Fly the W!
In the meantime, ignore the heroin addict with the worm in his brain and the orange makeup queen with the adderal addiction, get your shots by any means necessary, and keep yourself safe and healthy.
Filed under Health, Paul, Photography, Politics
The Final Play
Tonight we’re back at the Ahmanson Theater, probably for the final time for a while.
This is the last performance in this year’s program, and with the anticipated move to a Forever Home up in Hesperia or Apple Valley, we are not planning on renewing our subscription. If there’s something we absolutely HAVE to see, we can get tickets for a single performance and drive down to the big city for a weekend. (Ditto of course for hockey games, football games, baseball games, concerts, plays at the Pantages, etc.)
The Music Center here is about 2-3 blocks from City Hall and the areas where the ICE protests were earlier in the month. To no one’s surprise, despite the grotesque, horrible, and bald-faced lies being spewed by Faux News and ICE and the lower-than-whale-shit chucklefuck in the White House and all of his evil cult minions, LA did not burn down, there isn’t chaos and warfare in the streets, and the streets are not full of bodies. It was boring, except for the traffic getting into valet parking due to all three theaters being live tonight, along with the Disney Concert Hall across the street.
Enjoy your weekend, stay safe – I peeked at the news and it’s getting insane out there. Literally.
Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Photography, Politics
Proof Of Life – June 14th
No, I didn’t attend any of the “No Kings” protests today, as much as I would have liked to. Other priorities, sadly. As noted before, this whole “responsible adult” thing sort of sucks, big time. Not a fan!
It would have been a nice day for it. First day in a few where it wasn’t either “clear and a million” with nothing but blue skies, or hazy and cloudy and grey.
The contrast was much nicer.
Philosophical point – doesn’t the classical description of Heaven sound incredibly boring and dull after about a week? Sure, having anything you want any time you want it with no stress, no worries, no pain, would be fantastic for a while. But for eternity? YAWN!!
Maybe Michael Schur and his team were correct.
Enough philosophy! Back to processing payroll!
Filed under Paul, Photography, Politics, Weather
No Kosmos-482 Here
We’re about an hour into the ±4 hour window for the uncontrolled re-entry of the Russian Venus probe Kosmos-482. No doubt you’ve heard all of the frenzied hype about it – if you’ve been reading this site any time in the last 12+ years, you know my opinion of the mainstream media, their handling of science and fact, and the hysterical hype that they love to shovel over something inconsequential.
The final couple of orbits are over water the vast majority of the time:
Image: SatTrackCam.blogspot.com
and nowhere near the US. Excellent odds that it’s going to splash in the next hour or two.
But if we’re invoking chaos and gremlins and playful demigods such as Puck or Loki, hanging on just a little bit to make to take into that last orbit and then sailing a bit northwest puts it coming down near the Virginia and Maryland areas where there’s this huge White House occupied by an orange troll…
The gods could do the funniest thing!
Yeah, I know that orbital mechanics doesn’t work that way, and I’m a firm believer in science, engineering, reality, and so on. That’s why they would call it an “act of God,” am I right?
Filed under Politics, Silly Shit, Space
Grand Finale
I generally don’t post long videos here (they take up a LOT of space on my corner of the WordPress site and I’m paying for that) but I think this is worth it. The “grand finale” from last night’s fireworks display at Anaheim Stadium.
The Angels won again today, so they’ve taken two out of three games in each of their first three three-game series. By the standard of their dozen or so most recent seasons, that’s about the best they’ve done in a long, long time. There are still 153 games left to go, but 6-3 is a lot better than 3-6 to start, and that losing record is more of the norm.
Enjoy the fireworks and big booms! Try to not stress out too much over the news tomorrow and for the rest of this week. Especially since there’s not much any of us can do about it. The train is out of control, there’s a mad man driving it, those who have the power to stop him are mostly helping him, and the rest of us are just along for the ride.
Keep breathing, folks.
No Context For You – April 02nd
Stormy and dangerous times are indeed upon us, and I’m not talking about the weather. When we started celebrating stupidity and worshiping cult leaders who lie to us with every breath, we set ourselves on a road to destruction. When we turned our back on science, medicine, and knowledge in a time when we desperately need expertise and experience, we put ourselves in an untenable situation.
I fear not just for our nation, but for our society, our civilization, and our long-term existence as a species.
Those storms on the horizon may be upon us sooner than anyone expects, and they may be far more violent and deadly than we can believe.
I hope that I’m wrong. I fear that I’m still underestimating the danger.
Filed under Paul, Photography, Politics
Distorted
On the one hand, it’s just a picture of a reflection in the side of an office building with the unflat glass distorting the image of the under construction office building across the parking lot.
On the other hand, I had just been doomscrolling about the complete, world-class clusterfuck which is the current US government, and I was thinking about how I don’t even know what’s a satirical article from The Onion vs. what’s front page news from the Wall Street Journal any more. The constant lies and misinformation being spread by folks we were supposed to trust absolutely is distoring reality in ways we’re not prepared to deal with on a 24/7/365 basis.
I fear that it’s having effects on me that I can’t prevent, can’t counteract, and can’t avoid. And I’m way, way too old to deal with any of this Civil War II shit.
Filed under Photography, Politics
February Ends On A New Low
It’s truly depressing how quickly our government is being dismantled and a century of hard-earned alliances and trust just tossed into the trash by the psychotic traitor in the White House and his cult. I knew it was coming – I just had no idea it was coming so incredibly fast.
Today’s embarrassing debacle in the Oval Office is a new low, even for this group of ignorant chucklefucks.
Maybe March will be better… (I’m putting my hopes in choelesterol and ketamine.)
In the meantime, the only advice I’ve got to share is to go outside, watch clouds, breathe, relax, and get your blood pressure back down. The clouds here this morning were lovely!
Filed under Photography, Politics, Weather
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 