Whitey

Hmm...


White paint and interior.
I kinda like that...


Yes, I still miss that one.

HeHe

New Day

Yeah, so this is just another go-read suggestion.

It's Tom Engelhardt talking not just about the elections cycle, but also the state of the state.  His suggestion is that we're moving through a new normal,   There are touch points at our military, national security, media and election cycle.  The normalization of the extra ordinary...

In some way, all of this could be said to work. At the very least, it is a functioning new system-in-the-making that we have yet to truly come to grips with, just as we haven’t come to grips with a national security state that surveils the world in a way that even science fiction writers (no less totalitarian rulers) of a previous era could never have imagined, or the strange version of media overkill that we still call an election. All of this is by now both old news and mind-bogglingly new.
Do I understand it? Not for a second.
This is not war as we knew it, nor government as we once understood it, nor are these elections as we once imagined them, nor is this democracy as it used to be conceived of, nor is this journalism of a kind ever taught in a journalism school. This is the definition of uncharted territory. It’s a genuine American terra incognita and yet in some fashion that unknown landscape is already part of our sense of ourselves and our world...

Here is a link to the whole article.


(Side note, this is the third or forth article I have read in recent days that keys in on our volunteer military and it's modern function as a manner of business, Maybe that is coincidence, the talking point of the week, or something?)

Miss America

That looks terrifying.


Though the face full of exhaust might take the edge off...
I guess.


(Some info here, if you're curious.)

Cui Bono

Yup

Oh Tay

Did you hear about Microsoft's little AI experiment Tay?

They built a learning tweet-bot and set it loose on the net yesterday.
It took it less than 24 hours to go absolutely Donald style crazy, based on what it learned interacting with real folks on line...

Full on anti-feminism, Hitler praise, overt racism, the works.
Automatically spewing hate tweets within a hours of being allowed to interact with us meat sacks.

A reflection of humanity, learning how to fit in with us...

They unplugged it at midnight.


So, yeah.

Maybe that is what we really are...

Smart

Nighty Night

In case you have a bit of insomnia...

Rally

Want to read about old Chevy's racing through rice paddies and down Chilean dirt roads?


Of course your do...

Go here.


(And now I want to build an old Chevy to drive trans Canada, to the arctic circle.  Great.  That's just what I need.)

Joyride

Pretty sure that RC jeep is a Tamiya piece of kit?

I remember that being one of the kits, from my yoot...

Boots

Hey, uhm, wait a minute...

I feel like I must have missed a big story, somewhere.


A Marine was killed by a rocket attack on a forward fire base, in Iraq, over the weekend?
Eight others were wounded?

That is, of course, tragic...


I was fully aware that we're actively engaged in operations against ISIS, sure.
There are probably all manner of spec ops things going on that we'll never hear about.  Sure.
Did I miss the story about how we're close up and personal with regular troops on this?

Setting up forward bases in an insecure corner of Iraq sure seems a lot like "boots on the ground" to me.
It certainly doesn't sound like a "training exercise" so where are we with this action, officially?


An undefined war against an loosely defined enemy, with unclear objectives?

Really, was there a press release on this that I missed?

Stripped

So Hot Wheels I can hardly stand it...

The Struggle

Did the morning routine, dogs walked, yadda yadda...

I woke up feeling hungry.
Had a touch of food poisoning a bit back, so I almost always feel hungry these day.  Dropping ten or more pounds in few days does that to you I guess.

Anyway, doing all the walking and what not, I was just thinking about breakfast.
Deep into thinking about breakfast.
I had time, walking, thinking, hungering.

Thinking pancakes, then remembering that fresh loaf of bread I picked up.

Toast, oh yeah, gonna eat some hearty, crunchy toast...


Only to discover a total lack of butter.

Man...


The struggle, here, is real.

Apple Pie

I like pie.

Dalek

Digging on this, right now.



Attribution

Laughtrack

Now I want an arctic fox for a pet...just to have somebody around that laughs at my jokes.

Not a Laverda

I kind of think it's hard for any bike other than a Laverda to pull off that orange...


(Technically, not their orange, but you get what I am saying.)

This does a pretty good job of it, though.

Huh

This song has been on the gal's playlist for years now...and I just happened across the video.


So, yeah...

Now I can think of the guy in the monkey suit when I hear it.

Omission

I had this whole post going in my head, for a few days...
Something about ego and humility, and what I have learned about the two.

But there is still so much to learn, myself, about diminishing one and fostering the other.
It occurred, to me, that any attempt to write about either both would be presumptuous...

So, I won't.


Instead, I will make a point of pointing out that conscious omission, here.


One of my greater talents, if I allow the ego to speak, is just that - omission.
Absence, the unsaid, all of that.
That is where I excel.


Perhaps, this is some admission, confession or poem...

Tangled Webs

With With

Oh, man...
There is a lot I miss about Philadelphia, but the sandwiches may be right up at the top of the list.

This dude actually found some of my favorite spots.


For the record, John's was my jawn.
That roast pork sandwich is killer and the steaks are better than most, in my opinion.
It's a place you gotta plan your day around, though.  They're only open for four hours on weekdays.
All that planning and anticipation might be what makes 'em so good, no that I think about it...


Now I am hungry.

Artist

Another artist, though not depicted as a young man...


This time accompanied by his chauffeur and perhaps funeral director.
The details on that bit have faded, here.


I suppose, having an associate willing to shuttle you home after a bottle of grape, in the park - as well as dealing with your physical remains once you shrug off the old mortal coil is rather versatile...

Only Natural

Do you have any friends that do the paleo diet thing?

That shit tickes me.  You've heard of it right?
People try to follow a diet similar to what we imagine cavemen might have eaten.
I am paraphrasing the premise, of course, I am sure there is some dude, in a white coat, doing television appearances on the subject, delivering a very expert opinion.

So, you know, that whole premise of understanding our natural state - maybe, that is the part that interests me.

Here is a bit on that subject I found fun to read and ponder.  Excerpt-

One of the central conceits of the “man’s natural state” argument is that if we go back to some point in time, we’ll find it. We’ll finally come across the state of being where man lived totally in harmony with each other and with nature; eating the perfect diet for health, worshipping the correct gods, having sex in the natural and acceptable way.

That link is a bit of a rabbit hole, so apologies.  It's an article on a book, with links to tangents.  The article is enough to make me want to read the book.

Celebrity

What is it about celebrity that has gotten so amplified lately?

I have been pondering on this a lot, recently.
The election cycle, well, that has amplified my consideration of how fame has garnered an intrinsic level of associated/perceived power, but I think it goes beyond that.
Perhaps the social currency celebrity generates is now valued more by our culture and thus craved more at a personal level?

There are probably a dozen great books or studies on the subject, I just haven't bothered to look for 'em.

This guy, famous artist guy, I mean that is kind of funny but I am not sure that he is joking.
But by declaring himself famous, somehow, has gained him access to the real world art business, which is something a bit hard even for arguably more talented artists...


Being famous seems more important the younger you look, demographically, which fascinates me.
There are kids of friends who have listed that as there greatest ambition, though with follow up questions they never seem to have an answer for what they want to be famous for...
The abstract ends are valued more than the means, I guess.

And there is this cancer kid, here in this state, which might be what got these gears turning.
Out of consideration or good taste, I resisted jumping in to a post that that subject, yet here I am...
What drives a terminal child to select fame as his "make a wish" dream?
He just wants to be famous, he said that...
He's just a kid, and as a society we've taught him that is the greatest goal or ambition?


Probably not done thinking about this, but I am not sure how deeply I want to think about it...
It seems a toilet swirl of depressing suck, if I dwell on it too long.

Sure

Projects

Haha!

Oh, man, this dude wins the project in the garage game...

"Just need to find a few more parts.  It's really starting to come together.  Still scopin' eBay and Craigslist for some wings at a decent price, but they're coming...I can feel it."

Wait

Is that an AMC Eagle rally car?


It is, isn't.
Damn...


Not sure how this is the first one I have ever seen, but now that I have it seems like a fantastic idea...

Artist

Portrait of an Artist, as a Young Man (and a Handsome Dog).

Super Tuesday

So, yeah, that thing.
Anyway, politics...
I don't really even want to talk about it, so I won't really.

I did find this article addressing the populist rise in the 1896 election cycle valuable.  Excerpt, to suggest why it might be worth your precious minutes-

There are strong links between the campaign of 1896 and the campaign of 2016. The explosive growth of enormous wealth concentrated in a few hands gave America its first Gilded Age with its attendant miseries. But their corrosive effects brought about the insurgent spirit that eventually will always rise against injustice. When the two forces collided they brewed volcanic passions that almost tore the country apart.

If you like reading about we got here and the struggle of contemporary culture and/or politics mirrored in past events, it may be worth a few moments.

Neighbor

This guy, Lou, from down the street...


He seems nice.