Sunday, October 9, 2016

FOUND: unseen footage of the Challenger disaster (for real!)





Creepy clowns? Give me a break!





http://www.snopes.com/scary-clowns-kill-23-people-in-canada/

Fact Check
Fake News
Killer Clowns in Canada
Fake news reported that weapons-wielding clowns from the U.S. invaded Canada and murdered 23 victims.

Dan Evon
 Oct 04, 2016




CLAIM: Weapons-wielding clowns from the U.S. invaded Canada and murdered 23 victims.


FALSE


ORIGIN:On 3 October 2016 the Global Sun web site published an article reporting that weapons-wielding clowns from the U.S. had invaded Canada and murdered 23 victims there:

As it’s getting closer to Halloween, what seemed to be a harmless joke at first, suddenly turned into a serious matter with the police. What started off as reports of creepy clowns luring around neighbourhoods in the US, has suddenly escalated to another level. It is believed that the surge of clowns spotted wielding weapons originated from some states in America, but has made it’s way up north.

There was no truth to this story. The Global Sun is a fake news web site that does not publish factual stories, as noted in their disclaimer:

The Global Sun is a satire website, articles/post on the website are all made-up stories and should not be taken seriously.






This fabricated killer clown story was published in amidst numerous reports of clown sightings in the United States. In August 2016, residents of Greenville, South Carolina reported that clowns were attempting to lure children into the woods. A few weeks later, the clowns had migrated to North Carolina, and since then scary clowns have been reported in various locations across the United States — although actual evidence of their existence is lacking:

But amid all of these reports, no clowns have been photographed. Police investigators have found no traces of clown activity. Not even a stray red nose or a strand of blue hair.

So what are these insidious creatures? According to one clown expert, they’re probably “phantom clowns.”

Fake news web sites have taken advantage of the recent uptick in coulrophobia to publish bogus reports about clown-related deaths. However, clowns did not kill 23 people in Canada, nor was a clown shot in Fort Wayne, Indiana.






BLOGGER's COMMENTS. OK then. . . From the very beginning, the "creepy clown sightings" reports made me groan. There was more than a faint smell of bullshit about them, but everybody seemed to be getting on the bandwagon and reporting it as straight news - including CTV, the Vancouver television station my daughter Shannon works for as a reporter.

The other day, a school in Vancouver had to be put on lockdown due to high school kids in creepy clown costumes chasing after kids. So is this a copycat crime of a NON-crime? 





What probably disturbs me the most is how quickly pure fabricated bullshit becomes actual news. If it's on the internet, no matter how hokey the site, it MUST have happened, and it is replicated and replicated without ANYONE checking to find out if it's factual or not. So much for getting it from three sources. That just takes too long for today's lightning-paced media demands, so you just grab whatever pops up, anywhere.

I see this in coffee rooms and bus stops and everywhere people casually talk (not that they do any more: too busy looking down and wiggling their thumbs). "Did you see that story on the blah-blah?" "Yeaaaaah. . . it's really awful, isn't it. The world is getting so violent." Never mind if the item appeared in the Bogus Satirical Fake Parody News, or if other stories on the same site were along the lines of "man eats 5000 gallons of ice cream in 5 minutes and dies on the street". 

So I'm not sure what is going on. I'm going to ask Shannon.





'Clownpocalypse' hits B.C. with creepy clown confrontations

Teens arrested for creepy clown threat

Local teenagers are jumping on an unsettling prank that’s sweeping North America, but police aren't laughing.

Clownpocalypse hits B.C. with creepy clown run-in

A letter was sent home to parents in Langley, B.C., after students reported being confronted by someone wearing a clown mask.

CTV National News: Clown hoaxes becoming frequent

A U.S. trend is making its way into Canada. Creepy clown sightings are becoming frequent and freaky. CTV's Kevin Gallagher reports. Police forces and school districts across B.C. are urging caution as a bizarre trend dubbed the "clownpocalypse" on social media triggers arrests and school lockdowns.

It comes in the midst of a string of "creepy clown" sightings in Canadian cities including Toronto, Halifax and Edmonton, as well as many U.S. cities. The phenomenon has also involved threats made on social media, and usually involves vague warnings about violence at schools.

RELATED STORIES

'Clownpocalypse': Canadian students fall prey to viral scare

Why are we so afraid of clowns?

PHOTOS



In this file photo from 2015, a man dressed as a horror clown is pictured when thousands of revellers dressed in carnival costumes celebrate the start of the street-carnival in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner

That's prompted action by police forces in British Columbia. Surrey RCMP are asking the public to report any unusual clown sightings after a terrifying incident Wednesday night where a man wearing a clown mask jumped out of the bushes and chased four teenagers.

"He was carrying something in his hands that may have been a baseball bat. The male was laughing as he was chasing them," said Sgt. Alanna Dunlop. No one was injured but the force is taking the incident very seriously.

In nearby Langley, a stranger wearing a clown mask apparently approached middle school students on their way to class, which prompted a note sent home to parents. "On two recent mornings students have reported being confronted by a stranger in a clown mask on the way to school," the letter dated Thursday from HD Stafford Middle School reads. Principal Shawn Davids said the school administration and RCMP believe there is no immediate danger to students, but advises students to walk in pairs and avoid distractions like iPods and text messaging.




“Out of an abundance of caution, it is recommended that students walking to school be vigilant in the coming weeks as we approach Halloween and in light of the ‘creepy clown’ internet phenomenon being reported,” Davids wrote. Two teens in Prince George, B.C., were arrested after a posting a clown-related post on Instagram that read: "Every school in PG is about to get hit."

The post prompted a partial lockdown at a local high school. RCMP said at no time did its investigators believe the threat was credible, but officials asked all area schools to keep children inside and lock all external doors.

"Although we had no evidence that indicated violent action would take place, police were deeply concerned about the threats and acted with an abundance of caution," Cpl. Craig Douglass said.
The 17-year-old taken into custody was released without charges, but the 16-year-old was scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday and criminal charges are being considered.

More threats were reported to local schools on Friday, prompting six area high schools to be briefly locked down. RCMP investigators in the latest case determined that the threats were not credible and, in some cases, outdated.

With an increased police presence posted at schools in the Prince George area, Douglass said the investigation into the threats was tying up resources "that could be better used responding to where they are truly needed."





The clown pranks are drawing serious police resources to American schools, where every threat is taken seriously.

It's even drawn concern from the White House.

"This is a situation that local law enforcement authorities take quite seriously," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

Social media users have been documenting the prank phenomenon under the hashtag #Clownsightings.




OK, the emphasis is mine, but doesn't this sound like Prank-o-Rama or a Prankfest to you? Who has actually gotten hurt in these things? Isn't this just a case of a high school kid in a dollar store mask running around in circles after a screaming little kid, her fear whipped up by her gullible, know-nothing parents?

The blue/italic portions indicate that the cops really think the whole thing is bullshit, but they dare not say so. Hey! It says there are creepy clowns ON THE INTERNET. So it must be true.





RELATED BLOG POST (one of my better ones, I think!):  

I Hate Clowns

Addenda. WHY we are afraid of clowns. The Experts Speak!

So-called “creepy clown” encounters are making people nervous across Canada and the U.S.

The sightings may be part of a viral trend that swept into several U.S. cities, where there have been reports of clowns terrorizing children and stalking people in the street. But why are we so scared of clowns to begin with?

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Steven Schlozman says it has something to do with how clowns are portrayed in popular culture.

“They are supposed to be fun, but they have been part of the horror canon now for awhile, at least 20 years and probably more,” Schlozman told CTV News Channel on Thursday.




He points to films and television shows that have taken the idea of a fun-loving, happy clown and turned it on its head, introducing the maniacal killer character clowns into our thriller lexicon.

From a neuro-biology perspective, Schlozman said clowns also “violate” the rules of pattern recognition.

“We know what a person looks like -- they’ve got two eyes, a nose and a mouth, and so do clowns,” Schlozman said. But with clowns, their facial features are exaggerated and “grotesque.”




In addition, their features are frozen or “stuck,” says Schlozman.

“There’s a permanently painted smile or a permanently painted frown, so you don’t actually know what their motivation is,” he said. “That’s I think what gives people a bit of the willies.”

Schlozman acknowledges some of the fear of clowns is circumstance.

“I think clowns at the circus or a birthday party are not that scary,” Schlozman said. “Clowns in your backyard – that’s a little creepy. I wouldn’t want to see it.”

(So now we know!)



Saturday, October 8, 2016

The Northern lights of Norway






You tell 'em, Bobby






A ladder to the stars: way to go, Bob




May God bless and keep you always 
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others 
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars 
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young 
May you stay forever young.






May you grow up to be righteous 
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth 
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous 
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young 
May you stay forever young.





May your hands always be busy 
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation 
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful 
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young 
May you stay forever young




Bright birds





Thursday, October 6, 2016

Sweet kitty blue eyes





National Anthem subliminal messages: I can't even SEE these fucking things!





In the past few years, the internet has gone from "the gift that keeps on giving" to a cacaphonous bedlam of screaming-each-other-down-so-we-can-go-viral, wildly competing voices. The worst aspect of this is the mad competition to post a video of your kid having a meltdown and screaming in terror and grief, so that it can appear on the TV news and make the kid's parents vaguely famous for a day (until someone else comes along with a cuter, more traumatized kid). Never mind the one-year-old strapped to water skis that I recently saw: it was "his idea", of course, just like Jon-Benet begging and begging her mother to put her in beauty pageants when she was two. And just as safe .

And never mind what the KID thinks when he/she is a little bit older, and the humiliating, shitty-pants, howling video shows up on her Instagram page, mocked and jeered at by her "friends". It's quite ironic that while internet fame is ridiculously fleeting, these videos are forever. There is really no such thing as "delete". (And with kids, there is no such thing as "choice").

The aptly-named viral video is truly a sick phenomenon, but who notices it? Who even says anything any more? Once more, we're frogs in hot water, chuckling away at the casual violation of a child's emotional wholeness for the sake of popularity and "fame".




Which leads me to something KIND OF related to this.

Every time I look on  YouTube, there are approximately one billion more videos on the subjects I am interested in: meaning that it is much HARDER for me to find anything I want. With no sort of filter on the quality/quantity of content, YouTube is simply drowning in its own material. I found a playlist with 1,697 videos in it just of old TV signoffs. You know: those things they used to have at the end of the broadcasting day before everyone went to 24 hours.  (Too long ago for YOU to remember, of course.) I seldom saw them as a kid because I just wasn't up that late, except for the few times I was allowed (as a rare treat) to sleep on the pullout sofa in the den and watch Hoolihan and Big Chuck.

But since they continued well into the '80s, I do remember signoffs and the strange things that happened in them, especially the religious messages - why on earth do we need a religious message before we turn off the TV? Is it like that awful prayer, "If I should die before I wake" - ? But even in the '80s, there were sermonettes and reflections and Thoughts for the Day, generally sappy and pretty excruciating. They usually rotated Christian and Jewish (but likely not Muslim) clergy for these, just to show they were Not Prejudiced and Jewish people maybe had something to say too, before the test pattern and the "booooooooooooooop" came on for the next six hours.




Sleeping in the den, if I was watching Canadian TV, which was not too bloody likely, there would be a nice version of O Canada with pictures of moose and squirrels and stuff, and Mounties doing the Musical Ride. But usually I'd have U. S. channels on.  So I'd have to sit through the plodding, martial, heavy-handed American national anthem (which I now see has so many question marks in it that it should be called The Star-Spangled Banner?), in which the tune is almost as bad as the militaristic, violent, battle-inspired words. Sorry, American friends (especially YOU, and you know who you are), it's the anthem I hate and not you. In my present frame of mind, I despise ALL anthems, in fact. The very idea of one makes me squeeee-yuke.





So in clicking around amongst all these hundreds and hundreds of signoffs - most of them too recent to really please me very much - I once again ran into the above National Anthem Conspiracy Theory video. There are tons of them on YouTube.  Like most conspiracy theories, it's stupid: people rabidly WANT to believe them because their lives are dismal and they feel like flops and failures as human beings. Or else they're just bored. Real life isn't spicy enough, they don't yet realize they're going to die, perhaps horribly - so they have to jack up their adrenaline by climbing the sides of buildings and stuff, and believing this shit.





Supposedly, way back in 1966 or whenever, The Government had someone doctor up the words on the screen to say all kinds of subliminal, authoritarian things (but only if you looked real fast). It's hard for me to wrap my head around the concept of displaying the lyrics of your own national anthem, to begin with. Unless English is your second or third language, you're going to know them already. You sing them at every sporting event, You would know them from childhood, along with putting your hand on your heart and reciting, "I pledge allegiance to Big Brother" (etc. etc.)  I think you HAVE to know them to become an American citizen, don't you? So the whole idea of flashing the words across the screen, especially in such an ugly font, is pretty ludicrous, and may well be a hoax in itself.




Maybe if your brain works either really quickly or really slowly, you'd be able to somehow perceive all those Orwellian messages about God and the government and obedience and, most menacing of all,  Naomi. (I am reminded of - oh, I've GOT to do a palindrome post soon, they'll get me out of this vile mood! - "I moan, Naomi", or even "'Naomi, sex at noon taxes',  I moan".)

But this probably isn't THAT Naomi. This is a Naomi meant to read backwards only.




If all this had worked, how do you account for the unprecedented upheaval in the social order in the late 1960s? Couldn't people read? Weren't they paying any attention to the subliminal messages? Reading them - actually reading words they had been singing since they were two? Several videos have debunked the subliminal messages as mere video doctoring, which of course never happens! How can you change a film? A film!

Think of the Hanging Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. There are STILL people who believe that sucker was there in the original film, and that the studio somehow blotted it out by superimposing a bird. Thus Judy Garland and her merry companions danced down the Yellow Brick Road with a dead human body just hanging there in the woods, in full view of the camera, the cast, the director and the technicians.

Though it could very well be that the munchkin blotted out the bird. These things happen in the merry old land of paranoid mistrust.





The Star Spangled Banner Lyrics

By Francis Scott Key 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?





On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!





Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!






Now, there are aspects of this that I find strange. Of course Americans don't go on and on singing EVERY verse of their national anthem. They make the first verse look like a walk in the park, and even speak of slavery in an ambiguous way (not to mention justifying conquest "when our cause is just").. But putting that aside, I find it strange that there are three question marks in the first verse, the one they DO sing at sporting events. I noticed this in the subliminal messages video, and thought it couldn't be right. I don't expect Americans to question things like this - oh, maybe they do, I'm just in a bad mood about Trump, and no doubt you are, too. HIM I question, and how he ever got so far.

Just for the sake of fairness, and because I don't really know the other verses, here's the Canadian one. We've been squabbling over the sexism of  "in all thy sons command" for years now, wanting to substitute "in all of us" - which I wouldn't mind so much, if it didn't clang so badly in a lyrical sense. But it will probably happen anyway. At least it's better than the original suggestion: "in all of thy command", which demonstrates a jaw-dropping ignorance of the grammar of that line. In that version, Canada is somehow the one with (noun) "command". The actual meaning is in the imperative: "please, please, wonderful Canada, command true patriot love in all your sons (which includes sons with no wee-wee)!" It's the upside-down sentence structure that has people confused. But there are still people who argue bitterly with me about this. "All of thy command", indeed.





When I decided to dig this up, I was astonished to find all these different versions. The thing evolved. I am not going to bore you with an endless history of all the different permutations, except to say that it evolved from a quite majestic French lyric that nobody understands, into the middle-of-the-road English one we sing today (at sporting events). Incredibly, in the current official version there is still a mention of God, which for some reason no one objects to - yet. Who knows what the substitute for the lines "God keep our land/Glorious and free" will be? "Justin Trudeau" might work for the first one.

O Canada! Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempe,
Protègera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protègera nos foyers et nos droits.

Verses additionnel:

Sous l'oeil de Dieu, près du fleuve géant,
Le Canadien grandit en espérant.
Il est d'une race fière,
Béni fut son berceau.
Le ciel a marqué sa carrure
Dans ce monde nouveau.
Toujours guidé par sa lumière,
Il gardera l'honneur de son drapeau,
Il gardera l'honneur de son drapeau.

De son patron, précurseur du vrai Dieu,
Il porte au front l'auréole de feu.
Ennemi de la tyrannie Mais plein de loyauté.
Il veut garder dans l'harmonie,
Sa fière liberté;
Et par l'effort de son génie,
Sur notre sol asseoir la vérité.
Sur notre sol asseoir la vérité.

Amour sacré du trône et de l'autel,
Remplis nos cœurs de ton souffle immortel!
Parmi les races étrangères,
Notre guide est la loi;
Sachons être un peuple de frères,
Sous le joug de la foi.
Et répétons, comme nos pères
Le cri vainqueur: Pour le Christ et le roi,
Le cri vainqueur: Pour le Christ et le roi.





In the following version, there was an attempt at a literal/word-for-word translation of the French original, which came out about as well as these things usually do:

O Canada! Our fathers' land of old
Thy brow is crown'd with leaves of red and gold.
Beneath the shade of the Holy Cross
Thy children own their birth
No stains thy glorious annals gloss
Since valour shield thy hearth.
Almighty God! On thee we call
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall,
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall.

Now, HEY, this one reminds me so much of America the Beautiful that it just isn't funny. Amber waves of grain, and stuff. (I still haven't figured out what a "fruited plain" is.)

O Canada! In praise of thee we sing;
From echoing hills our anthems proudly ring.
With fertile plains and mountains grand
With lakes and rivers clear,
Eternal beauty, thos dost stand
Throughout the changing year.
Lord God of Hosts! We now implore
Bless our dear land this day and evermore,
Bless our dear land this day and evermore.





And here you see our staunch ties with Britain, which existed until they weren't there any more. Which they aren't. But I do remember having to draw a Union Jack in school, and singing God Save the Queen.

O Canada, our heritage, our love
Thy worth we praise all other lands above.
From sea to see throughout their length
From Pole to borderland,
At Britain's side, whate'er betide
Unflinchingly we'll stand
With hearts we sing, ‘God save the King.’
Guide then one Empire wide, do we implore,
And prosper Canada from shore to shore.

THIS one is getting closer to the final version, but it just goes on too long.

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love thou dost in us command.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The True North, strong and free;
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

(Refrain)

O Canada! O Canada!
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow,
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow,
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea;
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and free!





(Refrain)

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years,
From East to Western Sea.
Our own beloved native land,
Our True North, strong and free!

(Refrain)

Ruler Supreme, Who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within Thy loving care.
Help us to find, O God, in Thee,
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day
We ever stand on guard.
(Refrain)

And now, pant-pant-pant, here we are at the one we actually sing. Pared down immensely. It has been subtly changed through the years, particularly removing three or four "stand on guards" that really didn't need to be there. But I like it. I don't sing it very often because I don't go to sporting events.

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.






TOP-UP. I usually top these things up because I forget something, or else think of something else I want to tack on. 

My Dad, bless his sometimes-belligerent soul, was born in England and had not much patience with what he called The Americans. He especially did not like their anthem. How often I remember (over and over again, because he didn't seem to remember doing things) he would bellow his own version of the first couple of lines:
O say can you see
Any bedbugs on me?

He generally ended his satirical version with "the land of the free, and the home of the slave." He had something there. I grew up in Chatham, which is in the Windsor-Detroit area and a settlement point for the Underground Railroad, a historic route of refuge for slave families. I didn't even know what it WAS until much later, as it was never once mentioned in school, though we had a high black population in Chatham. Each of my classes had at least 3 or 4 black kids out of 30, and sometimes more like 5 or 6. But nobody stopped to ask how that happened. 

As with the Royal York Hotel turning away George Gershwin because he was a Jew, Chatham turned away black history and virtually annihilated it - when it should have been a point of pride. So everybody got cheated. One wonders why humanity has such a tight grip on mean-spirited bigotry. It will be the death of us, I am afraid - and sooner than we think.










Tuesday, October 4, 2016

You guys are at the wrong feeder!





Note how our lovely flicker (a type of woodpecker) hammers away at the feeder. This sort of bird usually eats grubs and bugs.  I have no idea why she showed up that day, or stayed so long. It was a sort of mystical experience.




I also had no idea a Steller's jay would eat suet, but the way he's going at it, I think he'd eat just about anything. I'm posting these here strictly so I can TRY to post them on Facebook.


Actual 1961 Nuclear Attack Message: please remain calm







Horch!




The celebrated Horch.

Robin Williams: how we got it all wrong




Robin Williams: the terrorist in his brain

About all I can say about this piece of writing (click on link, above) is that it's extremely important.

When Robin Williams killed himself two years ago, he was, in essence, already dead. But by the time the true story came out (in the results of the autopsy, which took three months), everyone had moved on. When it happened, there were lots of editorials written about how he was a sad clown who killed himself because he secretly suffered from depression (as in "but doctor, I AM Pagliacci").  His suicide spawned a lot of fevered articles about how we really really have to stop stigmatizing mental illness because look what it can do, even to a rich and famous person (and it's REALLY not supposed to happen to them!). A few people claimed he was "selfish" and just moping over his career slowing down, throwing his life away to hurt his family. And I remember a lot of people flung up web sites and Facebook pages just to talk about their depression because they were sick and tired of being ashamed of it and hiding it, but those sites just kind of faded away after a while. At any rate, I don't see them any more.

Here is what really happened.





Williams died from the effects of a horrible disease called Lewy Body Dementia. It devoured him, mind and body, frighteningly quickly. Though the symptoms caused his doctors to believe it was Parkinson's, it wasn't. It was something so much worse that I can barely get my head around it. I have no idea why anyone should have to go through such a hell on earth, and I believe he ended it while he felt he still could. 

Because no one had heard of Lewy Body Dementia and because people preferred to just see him as a sad clown and a poster boy for Reducing The Stigma, and because they had lost interest anyway, the public missed it almost completely.

Robin Williams' widow wrote this eloquent piece, this cri du coeur about the hell they walked through together,  for a neurological journal. They probably would not normally publish a piece by a non-neurologist.  But this woman got a closer look at the ravages of Lewy Body than all of them put together. It is an incredible piece of writing, long, but it barely scratches the surface. It is almost unbearable to read because it brings home the fact that all our lives hang by a thread, all the time. It is a powerful truth, and it continues to be powerful whether we believe it or not.






Monday, October 3, 2016

Hilda in the autumn



 
Nothing's quite as lovely.




Trump it





trump
(trÊŒmp)

1. n (Instruments) a trumpet or the sound produced by one
2. (Ecclesiastical Terms) the last trump the final trumpet call that according to       the belief of some will awaken and raise the dead on the Day of Judgment
3. vb (Music, other) (intr) to produce a sound upon or as if upon the trumpet
4. (Music, other) (tr) to proclaim or announce with or as if with a fanfare
5. (intr) slang Brit to expel intestinal gas through the anus
[from Old French trompe, from Old High German trumpa trumpet; compare trombone]

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Robert Frost is a complete NOBODY!


STOPPING BY THE WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING BY DONALD J. TRUMP

BY ROTTINGPOST ON MARCH 25, 2016 • ( 140 COMMENTS )




I have a pretty good idea whose woods these are, believe me.
And let me tell you something, my people say he’s a complete nobody.
This guy lives in the village. So what if he sees me stopping here?
I dare him to sue me! I dare him!

And by the way, this snow is pathetic.
These are by far, the least downy flakes ever!
I hear they had to import them from Canada.
I don’t know. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn’t. We’re looking into it.

My horse – he’s the most incredible horse, seriously,
I have the greatest, the classiest horses –
My horse doesn’t even know what the hell we’re doing here.
The horses love me though. They do.
They’re always shaking their bells at me, it’s very loving.
It’s a beautiful thing.

Let me tell you something, these woods are an embarrassment.
They’re not dark. They’re not deep. They’re nothing. They’re for losers.
And I cannot wait to sue this guy.
I cannot wait to sue this guy.


PLEASE NOTE. This is the way it appeared. You know as well as I do that
the poem is "Stopping BY Woods", not "by THE Woods". I'm sort
of hoping that's part of the satire and not ignorance on the part of Rottingpost.




Drama in the back yard




(Please note. These gifs can run slow at first, or at least they do for me. Once they have gone through a full cycle, usually 10 or 15 seconds, they should run smoothly.) The first day I ever worked with the video camera, every bird in the neighborhood suddenly showed up - including some we had rarely seen before. This is a female flicker who has taken to the suet feeder. She hung around for quite a long time - oh, so beautiful, while I scrambled to capture video of her.  I hadn't put the camera on the tripod yet and was wobbling all over the place. I don't know when we'll see her again.




Up close and personal with a Steller's jay. These guys are frequent visitors and tend to gulp and guzzle the seeds, quickly emptying out the feeder. They are so beautiful, almost as mystical at the flickers.




We were amazed that the flicker hung around for so long. In this case, it flew down and pecked at the crack in the door. Flickers are a kind of woodpecker and would normally go after grubs in the ground. This time it actually used the feeder (very briefly), hammering away at it.




Squirrels! We have three baby squirrels living in the back yard. This happens every year. They were likely born in the spring and are SO CUTE that we can't bear to keep them away (like so many bird-feeding people try to). We couldn't believe they'd go after suet or be able to get to it. Obviously they can. Occasionally we get fat bushy-tailed grey squirrels, and even the odd red squirrel which is particularly adorable.




We have tons of juncos in the yard. This is an example of a particularly handsome male. They just hang around and eat, mostly the fallout from the feeder. They are easygoing and don't attack each other, believing there is plenty to go around.




And this is the miracle - even more miraculous than the appearance of the flicker. This is a spotted towhee, a bird we have only rarely seen, and always on the ground. Not sure why so many amazing birds showed up when I was using the video camera for the first time!