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Valory |
Friday, March 24, 2023
In Memoriam ...
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Yeah, Right, Pull the Other One!
Rant On!
So, because of the current way we live, Mrs. Andrew and I watch a bit of the TV. We watch NCIS, Blue Bloods, stuff like that. And a lot of educational and murder-death-kill shows. Some movies and such, both ancient and modern (love watching old Fred Astaire movies and such.)
And we have noticed things about dramas lately, really starting around 2015 or so. All the crime dramas, really. Guess who the Big Bad has become? Is it Drug Cartels? Nope. Communist China? Nope. Intercity Gangs of any flavor? Nope. Space Aliens? Nope. Bigfoot? Nope. Bigfoot Space Aliens? Nope. Antifa? Nope. BLM (either the minority group or the Bureau of Land Management who are really evil federal jerks?) Nope. Think of any actual criminal violent group of people who are working hard to destroy the very fabric of our nation and are they the Big Bad? Nope, nope, just nope.
The "SWAT" reboot, "NCIS: Los Angeles," NCIS: New Orleans," "NCIS," all of the "FBI" shows, all have the same Big Bad who are causing fundamental damage and are planning the fundamental rearrangement of this great country.
Uplifted Hamsters or other animals escaped from various labs? Canadians? Cubans? Nope.
White Christians.
Get that?
White Christians.
Who are also assumed to be... Nationalists or Supremacists. Because Christians can't be anything else than Nationalists or Supremacists.
Admittedly, the reboot of "SWAT" was a dog-turd to begin with, but in the greater Los(t) Angeles area, no other problem was as critical as dealing with those crazy White Christians (assumed to beNationalists and/or Supremacists.) Same with "NCIS: Los Angeles," sure, Commie China was a problem, so were drug and human smugglers and traffickers and such, but it was the WCNS that were the real threat to the team and the city and, by inference, the nation as a whole.
Same with NCISNO.
Tried watching some of the FBI shows, and, well, besides badly written, again, WCNS are the uber bad guys.
And now, even the original "NCIS" has fallen upon White Christians as THE WORST PEOPLE EVER, whatever the flavor they are, especially if they believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (and that pesky 2nd Amendment thingy.)
So, because of Loyalty and Stupidity, I'll give NCIS one more chance. And then I'll ditch it like so many other shows. Seriously, every year more and more shows get sent to the trashheap of my tv viewing history and looks like yet another one is joining the pile of jetsam.
It's like the scripts are being written by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is one of the most prejudicial, racist and bigoted organizations I've ever encountered. And after reading their version of various activities taken by people in Florida, in comparison to what actually happened, those yahoos at the SPLC are just lying liars that blatantly lie.
Seriously? My fat fundament is The Most Dangerous Threat to This Great Nation Ever? And, yes, I guess I am a nationalist, as I assume that, overall, the US of A is the Best Nation Ever and I want to keep it The Best Nation Ever. But that's supposed to be evil and bad now.
And it's not just Hollyweird. Our own Federal Government, who is supposed to serve us, has taken the stance all throughout its bloated corpulent pustulant body and all of its squiggly corrupt appendages. Like the military.
Sigh.
I hate being stuck in The Fall of Civilization. Dangit.
Sigh.
Rant over. Dangit.
Sigh.
So... Music.
Because of evil Christian stuff... OOOOHHH (waves evil wiggly fingers at all y'all) Muhahahahaha...
There's this group called GOL (gods of luxury) and they did a piece based upon... The Song of Solomon (you know, from The Old Testament) which, of course , you know will make this piece of music weird. It's electronic, and weird, and I really like it.
And just because ELO is still my favorite...
Lyrics
Hello, how are you? Have you been alright?
Through all those lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely nights
That's what I'd say, I'd tell you everything
If you'd pick up that telephone, yeah yeah yeah
Hey, how you feelin'? Are you still the same?
Don't you realize the things we did, we did
Were all for real, not a dream? And I just can't believe
They've all faded out of view, yeah yeah yeah
Doowop dooby doo doowop, doowah doolang
Blue days, black nights, doowah doolang
I look into the sky
The love you need ain't gonna see you through
And I wonder why
The little things you planned ain't coming true
Oh oh, telephone line, give me some time
I'm living in twilight
Oh oh, telephone line, give me some time
I'm living in twilight
Okay, so no one's answering
Well, can't you just let it ring a little longer, longer, longer, longer, oh
I'll just sit tight through shadows of the night
But let it ring for evermore, yeah yeah yeah, oh oh
Doowop dooby doo doowop, doowah doolang
Blue days, black nights, doowah doolang
I look into the sky
The love you need ain't gonna see you through
And I wonder why
The little things you planned ain't coming true
Oh oh, telephone line, give me some time
I'm living in twilight
Oh oh, telephone line, give me some time
I'm living in twilight
Oh oh, telephone line, give me some time
I'm living in twilight
Oh oh, telephone line, give me some time
I'm living in twilight
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Silencing the Voice ...
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(Source) |
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
- Harry S. Truman
If we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.- Noam Chomsky
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(Source) |
'Nuff said ...
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Obsessed
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The Road to Brussels La Belle Alliance on the right. (Source) |
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(Source) |
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La Haye Sainte (Source) |
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Monument to Friedrich Wilhelm, Herzog von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel ~ Kampf gefallen, 16. Juni 1815¹ ~ (Source) |
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In game screenshot |
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In game screenshot |
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Just about where the red arrow is pointing. There I almost became a statistic. |
Monday, March 20, 2023
Leaving...On a Jet Plane...Maybe...Change 1...Probably
So...There We were*...Looking forward to a nice little vacay drifting down the Danube River for a week with our Wine Maker Friends and 26 others. Enjoying various wines and wineries along the way with a couple of follow up talks and tastes on board.
Ahh...Retired Life! Woke up Saturday morning a tad early, still working on changing the body clock to sync with the alarm clock. Mrs. J is still asleep, she's been working hard to get all her guests on board their flights and enroute to Munich. All are enroute or in-country already.
All except she and I.
Insert ominous music score here.
So. I'm sitting in the kitchen, being as quiet as I can to let her sleep. My cell phone dings, I glance at it. The sender is British Airways. NBD, I think to myself, they've been sending me updates on our flight for a few days now. 2000 TO from Austin Bergstrom to London. Clear British Customs, then board another BA flight to Munich to meet the bus to take us to Vilshofen to board the boat. Been getting this info regularly. At that point, I believe it was my Sainted Mother, now Guardian Angel, that tapped me on the shoulder and said "Hey, Dummy! Read the frickin' message."
She's gotten a bit more direct (and tetchy) since she took over the Guardian Angel duties.
Anyhow, who am I to question her? I open it and read that our London to Munich flight has been cancelled and we are now scheduled on a London to Salzburg connecting flight. Should be no problem, right?
Right?
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Google Maps |
Apparently, there isn't an easy way to get from Salzburg to the River. Nice!
So, Mrs. J is working with the River Tour company to figure this problem out. I'm being very quiet and doing what I'm told without asking or commenting.
Self-preservation, doncha-know? Waiting to see how this turns out.
Given the traveling, I think a little space/time physics update regarding this and this week's post is appropriate. It's 6 hours ahead there. Given the circumstances mentioned above, it may be a while before I can get to the internet and respond to comments. Similar circumstances will occur a week from now. The boat docks next Monday early and we're herded to the airport. A million hours later we arrive back home. Responding to comments will be nigh on to impossible. So...Discuss amongst yourselves, please.
On the Grand Daughter front, a bit of good news. She had a visit with her pulmonologist this past week. The appointment went well and the Doc gave LJW the OK to try weaning her off her supplemental O2. She had been using it with a 50% supplemental oxygen level since birth. The Doc said to lower it to 25% for 2 days and see if she handled it ok. Friday (I'm writing this on Saturday VS usual Sunday, see reason above.) the experiment started. Checking with LJW that evening, Miss B was doing fine. So, finger's crossed and prayers up, please. Success here will be a VERY BIG THING!
Pen making has slipped to the back burner of late. Mrs. J commented that there was a lot of dirt being tracked into the house lately, what with the drought, and that we needed to have "Outside Shoes" and "Inside Shoes". Recognizing that I was in the middle of a very large mine field, I responded "Yes, Dear" and the laundry room became my shoe transfer facility.
Unfortunately, the days of my being able to reach down from an upright position and touch my toes without shortly thereafter touching my face to the floor are way in the past. Which is problematic as the laundry room has no seating.
So..A project being presented, regardless of the source, is a gift from above. In the picture above, I'd just applied my first coat of polyurethane to the Shoe Rack/Bench. I'm on coat #3 #6 now and it's beginning to look pretty darn nice. Unfortunately, drying time will finish right about the time we need to leave for our flight.
Assuming, of course, that British Airways figures their contractual obligations out properly. (See update below.)
We'll see.
Given that good news, I decided this picture pretty much sums things up.
Mrs J. Captioned it with "But they told me to pull this to Eject." Girl's got Fighter Pilot blood in her!Hang in there, y'all and Peace out. Whatever will be, will be.
Late Breaking news. Apparently, the moons of Jupiter are in alignment. Mrs. J was able to talk to the right person who could talk to the right person who could...
The River Tour company's agents got us on a Lufthansa flight that arrives in Munich from London within about an hour of our original arrival time. BA couldn't seem to make that connection (in all meanings of that word). So, we've got to get to the airport a little earlier than we were in order to get new tickets printed, but with a little luck we should be good to go. We will see what we will see.
(Hang in there, y'all and Peace out. Whatever will be, will be.)2
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Wasn't Going to Post, Changed My Mind ...
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Old Town Alexandria OAFS Photo |
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Arghhhhhh. And Music.
Head still hurts. Back still hurts. Dog stomped on my wedding tackle so that hurts (120lb dog moving at roughly the speed of light means lots of force and energy transferred.)
So, instead, back to Dad's hi-fidelity music.
Yesterday I was commenting on Anonymous' comment posted at 2:42AM (probably West Coast Time) about his comment:
Um, that and the album cover for Apollo 100's "Joy" album. Can neither confirm or deny same with the Sears catalog if you know what I mean.
So, yeah, I was a pervy little kid, full of raging hormones and such. Eh, I turned out, according to Mrs. Andrew, okay, so...
Apollo 100 was a band put together (from Wiki - Apollo 100 - Wikipedia ) by Tom Parker with fellow session musicians drummer Clem Cattini, guitarist Vic Flick, guitarist Zed Jenkins, percussionist Jim Lawless, and bassist Brian Odgers, starting in 1970 and ending in 1973. Electronic variations of classical pieces, and their first piece, "Joy," an interpretation of JS Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" hit the top 40 chart and was included in several movies. It was, sadly, all downhill for the group.
For to compare, here's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" as Bach and God intended,
And then, to go strange again, Werner Müller and His Orchestra, was another of Dad's favorites. Werner was one of the big composers of space age bachelor pad music according to Werner Müller (spaceagepop.com) and from the web page "Who was/is Werner Müller? Well, he contributed numerous albums to London's Phase Four label, the longest-running of the Space Age Bachelor Pad series. But thanks to London's standard approach to liner notes, although we know exactly what channelization was used and what other Phase Four records were available, we are left knowing nothing of Werner Müller." Nice going there, London Records. Jerks
His (and his orchestra's) version of "Aranjuez Mon Amour" which is part of the Concierto de Aranjuez by Juaquin Rodrigo, always a very soul-stirring piece of Spanish classical music, and Werner does it proud. The piece, played correctly, always has a wistful and somewhat sad sound to it, kind of how I imagine Spain actually is, wistful and somewhat sad.
And, well, just because Bach, JS Bach...
So. Herb Alpert, Apollo 100, Werner and his boys, and others. Dad had eclectic tastes.
See ya.
My parents had a Herb Alpert album with the girl covered in whipped cream and a white blanket (to give the impression it was all cream) on the cover. Boy that sure got my pubescent hormones raging.
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