The World I Exposed: Dustin Griffin Photography: Blog

The Galapagos islands

2012-01-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

These and other photos can be purchased here

The Galapagos

2012-01-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

1. Lots of annoying early twenty something college kids that talked like they just got off the set of "Clueless" unfortunately populated the yacht in the Galapagos. However got to see my first pair of boobies on a tour the first day ; they were of the blue footed type; and although they also have nice breast, I prefer mine with less feathers.

2. Dumb comment by Johns Hopkins student “Why does iguana sex have to be so rough?”

The Amazon Rain Forrest

2012-01-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

The Rain Forrest

I was up at 4am every day, It rained until around 11am the second morning so our morning activity was canceled. the rain was rather romantic, it made me want to write a little, I sat in my hammock and did just that; then I went back to sleep. Once the rain stopped it was another busy day, walked though the jungle looking for howler monkeys and went kayaking down the river to a local farm, I got to eat local fruit there. I Elected to get up again on our last day, this morning, at 4am instead of sleeping in, I left at 10. Did not want to miss any opportunities to do and see things before I left. Always time to sleep on the long bus ride coming up on the 19h.

My tour guide and I did a night walk the other night, one of the people in the group at the time found a wolf spider, me and the tour guide stayed behind by ourselves and took turns taking macro (Very close focus, less then three feet away) shots of it. We were both kinda laughing about how crazy stupid dangerous it was. He at first insisted on me not taking the photos due to the danger, then when he could not get them in focus, his reservations went away and he gave me back my camera and said "Here you try." I laughed and said "You must really want that photo, I can see the headline now "Tourist found poisoned by spider, left good photos in camera." We both had a laugh about it. If the thing had wanted to lunge at us we would have been toast. Just keep that in mind when you look at the shots.

Photos from around South America: Ushuaia, the Falkland islands, Patagonia & Buenos Aires

2012-01-14T22:32:00.000-08:00

All photos avalable for sale by clicking here:

Above: Tierra Del Fogo, Ushuaia, Argentina.

Above: Volunteer Point. the Falkland islands.

Above: Otway Bay, Patagonia, Chile.

Above: Tango, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

All photos avalable for sale by clicking here:

Gimme Some Time!

2011-12-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

Image found on google.com

I got into an argument with a guy last week because he felt it should not be his responsibly to tell time on his own. He actually said to me that “A machine used by a reasonably smart person should be able to track the time for him and that he should not have to worry about doing it on his own” and that I should refund the four dollars and fifty odd cents he spent because he went over his minutes due to his inability to keep time. I responded using his logic and asked him "You consider yourself a reasonably smart person" yes he said, "and you are wearing a watch correct" yes he said, "We'll sir it is my feeling that a reasonably smart person who wheres a watch should be capable of keeping time on his own." I added "I have no control over the programming of the system and I nor the system ever stated or lead you to believe that it was going to tell you how many minutes you had left while you were still logged in. What you are asking me to do is unreasonable because it's going beyond the scope of what the product you willingly used offered. He agreed, I asked "So how do you find that fair?" He said because that's what would make him happy; ship guest I swear, sixty-plus year olds that act like spoiled infants to get their way; a problem perpetuated by the industry. I told him straight up "well its not going to happen, I offered to you 15 minutes back for the slow connection on the session before this, that you just brought to my attention.”

His argument was that since I was crediting time back right in that moment of our talk, for the session before, then that should count as his final minutes and I should reverse the charge and give him the minutes for free. I explained that he was getting the 15 minutes back for free, but that he was not going to be getting the money spent for going over his time on his final session; that charge was accurately recorded." I added that “It is your responsibility to keep track of time on your own” and that further if he repeated the same mistake again, which he admitted that he might, then we would be back to square one."So take it or leave it." He backed down.

Another gentleman and his wife watched this whole thing pan out and the he was smiling a little, when I used the watch comment I saw him whisper to me to let it go. I knew that I was a bit more aggressive in my retaliation than I normally would be, because the man I was arguing with was trying to steamroll me. I apologized to the couple for having witnessed it and the gentlemen said "Not a problem, I'm a professor and I know the feeling. I have to argue with my students all the time. Some people just need to complain." I asked him what he taught, he said "Management." I laughed, classic.

I will be in Antarctica waters on December 27th.

Tango Time in Buenos Aires, Argentina

2011-11-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

Photo by Dustin Griffin

Take a Hike

2011-11-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

‎3 hour hike (2 up, one down) up a mountain outside of Ushuaia, Argentina, final hight 1,200 feet. Spirit was willing but body tired, achy from carrying my camera gear in my side pack, need to start using my backpack again, better weight distribution.

Photos & text (C) Dustin Griffin.

Of Dreams, Jokes and Smokes.

2011-11-10T20:27:00.001-08:00

See the old women sitting in a chair? She reached for her dreams and they weren't there. See the old man in the top hat? He bent down and sat beside where she's at. They talked for a while and exchanged a joke. They went home together and exchanged a smoke. The man left the next day with a wallet in his hand, and left the women's dreams on her nightstand.

Photo & Words by Dustin Griffin.

Rafting in Port Montt, Chile

2011-11-09T05:31:00.000-08:00

Went rafting with co-works in Port Montt, Chile yesterday. The river had 3 to 4 star rapids, very beautiful scenery and great fun; first day in about a month I have been able to do an outdoor exercise related activity.Capped off the day by drinking local wine and eating cheese with friends in a hidden room on the ship.

"…All of the places i've never been too...these are the places you will find me hiding...these are the places I'll always go."

2011-11-09T03:38:00.001-08:00

“I’m on my way back to where I started...all of the places i've never been too...these are the places you will find me hiding...these are the places I'll always go." - Song “Down in the Valley” by “The Head and the Hear:t from their self titled album.

A Peruvian Halloween

2011-11-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was definitely the best Halloween night I have had in recent memory. I caught a free shuttle bus to Miraflores, a 45 minute drive away from the port, with the guest, the shuttle bus broke down and had to pull over on the side of the road, we got lucky though because he was able to flag down an empty shuttle bus passing by, we all got in and drove away without much delay. Miraflores by day was not that interesting I walked around a bit and had some lunch at a three story mall by the beach, the mall had a great view; I had a vegetarian sandwich with a all natural fruit smoothie, no added sugar, so it tasted bland; strawberries, pineapple and oranges. Given that the shuttles take 45 minutes I headed back at around two, to get back in port by around 2:45, had to work at five, I took a nap during the ride back and when I got to my room. Napping on the bus I guess it the polite way to put it, head bobbing in and out of conciseness would be better, exhaustion was catching up with me I guess.

I went back out that night at around 10:30pm with some spanish and non spanish speaking friends from the ship, we had enough people for three cabs so we split up, one spanish speaker for each cab to talk to the cabbie, we only paid eight dollars a person; this was good as these cabbies were charging guest up to fifty dollars for the same trip, leaving from the same place, the port. We headed down to “Pizza Street” which is not the name but the English translation of the Peruvian word meaning the same. After walking down this crowded street full of locals dressed in costumes, and small kids pedaling wears, we found a nice restaurant for the 11 of us. The first round of drinks was pisco sours, a local Peruvian drink made with a local alcohol and egg whites; its semi sweet and very tasty; later rounds were all local beers. I and Jonathan, one of the casino guys, shared a Pizza, my half veggie, his veggie and salami; the portions where small by my pizza standards. I also tried some of Miriam’s fried claims and ate the rest of Shannon’s chicken and mushrooms when she offered it to the table.

Once we left this restaurant everyone one wanted to look for a local club, not my thing usually but I went along. No one wanted to pay to get into any of the places on “Pizza Street” so some of the guys asked the local guy that was with us (He used to work on HAL ships in the Casino, but was on vacation, his next vessel transferring him to Carnival, the casino is a corporate partner like my company, MTN.) to find a place further away that would not be as pricey. After a brief breakup wherein a few of us got separated in the crowed because a few wanted to by some local candy from a street vender, we meet back up with everyone and headed off.

We walked for about fifteen minutes and I was looking around to see if I noticed anything from earlier in the day, I did not know how far away “Pizza street” was from where the shuttles dropped us off, turns out not to far, about four blocks over. I noticed a Casino/Hotel on the other side of the street from The club we final found, it was called the “Atlantic City”. The club was on the bottom floor of a building, it was loud as clubs are, pulsating base lines, and green laser lights penetrating through the room from the ceiling, other multi colored lights bathing peoples bodies, making them look polka dotted. John kept feeding me beers and Shannon, Alex and some of the guys danced a bit, I moved my feet. I was well ahead of everyone in the beer/dink consumption count, but being me hid it well, my brevity in consumption time impressed Jonathan, who had only finished half his beer by the time I had finished my one, on most accounts; at one point he asked me jokingly how long I had been a professional drinker, I laughed and said zero years, that I don’t do it often, this impressed him more. Shannon, Alex and Miriam left before the rest of us, I almost ready to go too but had just ordered a drink and they did not want to wait, so I stayed; a good choice in the end but I was not sure at that point how much longer we would be there.

A few drinks after the girls left “Hey John, what time is it!” John, “A little after two!” I was still standing in roughly the same place bobbing my head when four local Peruvian girls flanked me and started trying to talk to me, and take pictures with me. They then all started dancing around me, the guys I was with watching by the bar, impressed. One of the girls was dressed as a Police officer (Remember this was Halloween night, it was not a set up, and they were not “Working girls” just girls out for the night like the rest of us.) her friends gestured tome to put my hands out with my writes up, hands together, and present them to Ms. Police officer, this made her laugh and we danced a bit and took more pictures. Ms. Officer introduced me to the other girls, one of them was her sister, none of them were older than thirty, most probably in their mid to early twenties; Ms. Officer had braces, she was really cute. I had just finished my third pisco sourr of the evening, the first two being smaller shot portions at the pizza place, and then John tried to feed me another beer, I was trying to stop at this point and told him so, he said i “had to take it because I bought it for you.” Dam spanish hospitality, I took it, but did not intend to drink it, when he was not looking I offered it to Ms. Officer, she took it, drank it, that was my last drink of the night.

Ms. Officer and her Sister.

After a few minutes another beautiful girl emerged from the group after noticing us all trying to talk, it was hard to hear and most of them did not speak a lot of english. This new girl went by Laura, but her real first name was Lalita. She spoke more english then the rest of them, she took my hands and started to teach me to dance; she lead. She tried to spin me a few times at first before I caught on because I thought I was supposed to spin her, once started catching her queues, she would spin me first, I would comeback round and then spin her; “Watch my feet, follow me” she would say; Instant crush. We danced for a long time, I was loosing up, she was laughing saying I was doing better. I kissed her on the dance floor, she kissed back, but then pulled her mouth away after a moment “Why did you do that” she said “Why wouldn’t I, you’re beautiful” I said back, I capped it off by saying, “And I’ve been on a ship for five months” . She laughed and told me I was funny. We continued to dance.

Laura and I left the dance floor and walked near the bathrooms and sat on the steps, she wanted a cigaret, we shared one. She asked me if I remembered her name, I blanked, it was loud on the dance floor and I had only just met her, I asked if she remembered mine, desperately tying to equalize the situation, she had, “Dustin” she said. Shit! I was embarrassed, she laughed, I explained my reasoning, and felt that I was screwed, one giant step back. “How old are you” she asked. “Twenty-eight” I said, “Me also” she replied. I leaned in to kiss her, all was well, she did not resist. She told me she was spanish, visiting her friends, the other girls I was talking too, and that she was married back in Spain, tonight was “Our little secret” she said. Fine by me. “Lets go back and dance some more” she said, I followed.

We went back on the dance floor, our eyes locking as we danced, spin, caress, repeat. I kissed her on the cheek, she played hard ball a few times before turning her head and kissing me back, we were now officially making out on the dance floor. My eye strayed in the moment and saw behind her that Jonathan and Eliana, the sole girl left in our group, his Casino co-worker, were nodding in approval and amazement, apparently I impressed them both. I spun my attention back to Laura, dipped her on the dance floor and kissed more deeply. Laura asked me if I was drunk, I said “Not really” I had not had drank since before I gave that beer to Ms. Officer, granted that was only about an hour ago.

We left the floor again a little later, back to the steps, her friends were there too. I sat by Laura and we talked and continued our now not so secret make out session in front of her friends. Her friends were smiling, they talked to Laura in spanish, Laura translated, telling me that they all thought I was handsome. Laura told me she thought my lips were sweet, she said I was a good kisser (Ladies reading take note!). Booya! Nice thing to hear after months of seemly monkish celibacy on the ship. Some drunk Caucasian idiot (Methinks he did not speak much english.) came over and interrupted us and tried to hit on Laura in spanish, ruining or short time together for a brief moment, she talked to the guy for a minute and he walked away, she was annoyed with him. She asked me if I knew him, I said no and she tad me “He was trying to get me to leave you, he was hitting on me and calling you an idiot.” The guy came back a minute later, I looked back at him as he was hovering over us. He tried to restart his conversation with Laura, I gestured for him to leave and gave him a look, he finally backed away and left. She said thanks.

We sat and continued on for a while with her friends there, after probably a half hour, Pablo, one of the guys in my group, the shops manager, came and said they were ready to leave, and were waiting for me. Shit! Laura and I talked for a minute, having already exchanged information earlier in the night. She was staying with he friends, I was on the ship, no way, no how. I lingered and she smiled “They are waiting, you need to go.” she said. We kissed again, one last time, which turned into three, then four, then more. I got up, she said “If you’re ever in Barcelona, you let me know.” I told her we would keep in touch and she smiled and said “Thank you for this moment.” My heart was breaking a bit, I kissed her again and walked away. I found my group, John was beaming “Did you have I good night” I wasn’t smiling “Yeah, I did” John “Ah fuck you bro, you had a better night then all of us.” This was true, but it ended too soon. We lingered for a moment before heading out, “John, what time is it!” “Five in the morning bro!” I wanted to go back and see if Laura was still there. When we finally found the exit, different from where we came in, it was right on the other side of the steps I was just on, with her. I went over to them, she was gone. Barcelona is now on my list of places I need to to go.

P.S

The cab ride home held symmetry to the days beginning, a bit more than half way back to the ship the cab got a flat tire and we had to pull over. At this point I was half awake, head bobbing in and out of sleep. Pablo and one the other guy I was with (John and Elaine stayed behind for half hour to go to a Casino.) told me not to worry and to stay in the car. I was going to get out, but did what they said. I nodded off apparently; woke up and got out of the car, “Any luck?” Pablo, “Dude you’ve been asleep for twenty minutes.”I’m sorry, you guys said to stay in the car. Pablo “Yeah, I know, just letting you know.” “Okay, thanks for that, so what’s the plan? I think we need to leave this guy and get another cab.” It must be said I only had a twenty dollar bill, the cab was going to be roughly ten dollars each and the cabbie could only give me back ten Peruvian dollars, totally useless to me when we left. It was my feeling that we should not pay the cabbie since we didn’t make it to the destination point and it was not our responsibility to stay and help fix his car; harsh I know, and Pablo told me so “Dude that’s not very nice.” Again I know, but how was I supposed to help pay for the other cab if we gave this guy our money? Eventually the guys listened to me and we flagged another cab over, the cabbie with the gimp tire talked to the other cabbie and, given the circumstances, negotiated a lower price to get us to the port gates. Pablo still gave the cabbie with the tire problem a twenty.

We finally made it back to the port gates, the cabbie was only allowed to take us that far; the drivers that took us out the night before payed a fee to go all the way to the ship to pick up guests. We got out, this cabbie had already been paid his twenty bucks before we took off towards the port, and took the shuttle the extra five minutes to the ship, we were not allowed to walk. I never saw my change, but didn’t care and knew better to make a deal out of it, twenty bucks was a small price for a priceless story…which I guess now isn’t priceless but oh well. When we got back on the ship I thanked Pablo for getting me back to the ship, went straight to my room, stripped to my sleep-ware and took a melatonin capsule, I knew I was going to need a good nights sleep, lucky no work for me in the morning, over night and all. “iPad, what time is it?” “Seven am sir” thanks for that….

Mormanisms

2011-10-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

So I dressed as an Elder Morman for the Halloween party, here are my best bits said in character. 1. To a hot coworker dressed as an angel " My mom says angels where made for polygamist." 2. To a guy whereing a "Funk" music shirt. "They taught us that funk is what Satan does in the bathroom." 3. To a guy dressed as a South American drug lord. " My mom told me you were the best person to get Coke from, do you have diet and how much does it cost?"

The Coldest Place on Earth

2011-10-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

In less then two months I will be traveling tot he coldest place on earth. That’s right, my ex-girlfriends shoulder…and then Antarctica, the second coldest.

Funny quote from one of my iPad/Wifi classes

2011-10-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Me: "Does anyone have any questions or concerns?"
Guest: "Do you mean in general?"
Me: "Well lest keep them specific to iPads or laptops I'm not a psychologist."

Other guest laugh.

image found on Google images, direct link below.

http://dogspoton.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/dog-psychology.jpg?w=276&h=300

Echoes of a City in Silence - New York City 9/11/11

2011-09-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

“And no one dared disturb the sound of silence….” Paul Simon

Never in my life have I encountered a city in such solidarity of silence as I have in New York City on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. For a city of millions, constantly crowded with tourist there was no erroneous noise; no horns, no construction work, no one yelling or talking over top of each-other, in a city surrounded by millions, today one felt as if the city was deserted; one was truly only in the presence of stillness.

I took a cab downtown to the site of the 9/11 memorial, all roads to the main site of the memorial were blocked; family of the fallen were the only ones let onto the actual memorial grounds today. All other visitors were shepherded a block away to Church Street and the surrounding area. Streets were blockaded everywhere, traffic was only allowed to flow in one direction. Everyone was extremely polite and understanding with each-other, no one dared pick a fight or encroach on anyones space, this was New York on its day off. The mood was somber, sobering and heart breaking. I watched on the giant monitor in front of us as the family of the fallen read the deceased names from the master list; the readers were just around the corner, out of site, reading from within the grounds of the memorial. The reading I was told started at around seven or eight that morning; I arrived on the scene at about nine-thirty; they were only at last names starting with the letter “F” when I got there; by the time I had to head back to midtown at eleven-thirty the readers had only just started letter “M.” I must admit, I almost broke into tears more than once during the readings; no one particular thing bright this on, it was everything at once; the surrealism and honor of standing near this place on this day in history, living in this moment, a living part of our nations story and I was watching it unfold from the front lines. It made me reflect on where I was and what I was doing ten years ago when the towers fell, a time that was reminded to all of us in attendance by a blue cutaway shot on the monitor, this shot was displayed at the precise time of an event on this day ten years go, the bottom describing what event happened at that exact moment; 9:59, the south tower falls….ten years ago, I was eighteen, sitting in homeroom at school in Roanoke Virginia, eight hours away, now i’m twenty-eight, standing a block away, witnessing the resurrection of the site I watched destroyed, a work still in progress, only two years ago still filled with rubble.

The readers stopped only briefly between names while I was there, once for a song I could not place, being played on a flute and once for Paul Simon on his acoustic guitar; playing the most somber and quite rendition of “The Sound of Silence” in his career. Some quietly sang along, most took heed of his lyrics and listened to the sounds of a man playing tribute to a city and nation still in mourning; forever so on this day.

Stupid Grandma and the Casino Kid

2011-09-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

Stupid interaction of the week, date 08.30.11

Guest: Can you help me log in.

Me: Okay, here you go.

Guest: Thanks, my kids don't like me to get near computers, here's why (She shows me a gambling website).

Me: I didn't think you could gamble with real money online anymore?

Guest: You can on the ship in the casino.

Me: Yeah, I know that.

Guest: But my grandson likes to play and he can't play in the casino here.

Me: Really? Well how old is he?

Guest: Twenty months. I showed him how to navigate the casino webpage I showed you; he knows how to go in and out of all the different games and navigate the menues. My daughter, his mom is not to happy about it but I told her well at least i'm teaching him something.

Me: Well you have a great night I have to go.

Tonight, 09.02.11, I saw the same lady with her grandson on one of the cafe computers, the kid was whining, repeating in front of the computer to his grandma "I want to go to the casino, I want to go to the casino." Kids grow up so fast....

Image found on google images.

Stupid comment of the Week 8/26/11

2011-08-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Friday,

While waiting for the sandwich I ordered at lunch a guest came up beside me and asked the sandwich-maker for "A tuna melt with chicken instead."

Storm In a Tea Cup

2011-08-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

In honor of hurricane Irene tonight I am going to order a hurricane (The mixed drink) and ask for it to be served in a tea cup, because that's what I currently think of the whole situation.

More Photos from Bermuda

2011-08-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Horseshoe Bay

Crystal Caves

more photos from Bermuda here here

The Nutcracker

2011-08-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

So our new Hotel Director's name is Frank, he's German. Frank told the revenue managers in the revenue meeting today that his name is uncommon in Germany and that he only knows of three other Franks; one was a famous wood carver who made nutcrackers. I said to Frank that I felt this was appropriate as I always felt that Hotel Directors had something in common with nutcrackers; only one person in the room laughed beside me, it wasn't him.

Stupid Comment of the Week

2011-08-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

From the comment cards on the MS Veendam:

"Staff very unhelpful with wheelchairs, would not show us how to use."

Photos from Bermuda

2011-06-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

St. George's Unfinished Church.

Photo (C) Dustin Griffin.

Passenger Conversation of the Week.

2011-06-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I am now working in Bermuda managing the internet on the Holland America MS Veendam; Still doing photography of course too. Here is my standout conversation of the week.

Guest: "Did you happen to find an address book here?"

Me: “No sir, the only thing I have found recently was a rosary and I turned that into the front desk.”

Guest: "Well that doesn't help me much does it?”

Me: “Well it might if you don't find your address book."

- The guest and I had a good laugh, I then instructed him to check with the front desk to see if any other departments had turned in his address book, he thanked me and left.

Bermuda Week 1

2011-06-08T18:29:00.001-07:00

So, I'm traveling again, this time in Bermuda working. I will be here for five months. I'm still getting acquainted to my schedule, but I found some time to take a bike ride today. I Biked from Hamilton to Warwick Parish and back to Hamilton today, 22K total. Took a route through the old train rail's path (No tracks anymore) and took the road back, stopped at a few beaches and the lighthouse overlooking Bermuda on the way back to take photos (Coming soon). If I had traveld another 7k I could have made it straight to the other side of the island, which is what I was going for, but I ran out of time, as it would have taken to long to get back (44k total, 22 up and 22 back). Taking a ferry to travel to the part I missed tomorrow and biking from their back to port, so around 12k bike tomorrow.

"Even an ambitious artist has to be judged on results, not intentions."- Leonard Maltin

2011-05-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

"Even an ambitious artist has to be judged on results, not intentions."- Leonard Maltin

The Badger’s Dissertation from T.H. White's "The Once and Future King"

2011-05-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

The Badger’s Dissertation:

People often ask, as an idle question, whether the process of evolution began with the chicken or the egg. Was there an egg out of which the first chicken came, or did a chicken lay the first egg? I am in a position to say that the first thing created was the egg.

When God had manufactured all the eggs out of which the fishes and the serpents and the birds and the mammals and even the duck-billed platypus would eventually emerge, He called the embryos before him, and saw that they were good.

Perhaps I ought to explain,’ added the badger, lowering his papers nervously and looking at Wart over the top of them, ‘that all embryos look very much the same. They are what you are before you are born – and, whether you are going to be a tadpole or a peacock or a camelopard or a man, when you are an embryo you just look like a peculiarly repulsive and helpless human being. I continue as follows:

The embryos stood in front of God, with their feeble hands clasped politely over their stomachs and their heavy heads hanging down respectfully, and God addressed them.

He said: “Now, you embryos, here you are, all looking exactly the same, and We are going to give you the choice of what you want to be. When you grow up you will get bigger anyway, but We are pleased to grant you another gift as well. You may alter any parts of yourselves into anything which you think will be useful to you in later life. For instance, at the moment you cannot dig. Anybody who would like to turn his hands into a pair of spades or garden forks is allowed to do so. Or, to put it another way, at present you can only use your mouths for eating. Anybody who would like to use his mouth as an offensive weapon, can change it by asking and be a crocodile or saber-toothed tiger. Now then, step up and choose your tools, but remember that what you choose you will grow into, and will have to stick to.”

“All the embryos thought the matter over politely, and then, one by one, they stepped up before the eternal throne. They were allowed two or three specializations, so that some chose to use their arms as flying machines and their mouths as weapons, or crackers, or drillers, or spoons, while others selected to use their bodies as boats and their hands as oars. We badgers thought very hard and decided to ask for three boons. We wanted to change our skins for shields, our mouths for weapons and our arms for garden forks. These boons were granted. Everybody specialized in one way or another, and some of us in very queer ones. For instance, one of the desert lizards decided to swap his whole body for blotting-paper, and one of the toads who lived in the drouthy antipodes decided simply to be a water-bottle.

“The asking and granting took up two long days–they were the fifth and sixth, so far as I remember–and at the very end of the sixth day, just before it was time to knock off for Sunday, they had got through all the little embryos except one. This embryo was Man.

” ‘Well, Our little man,’ said God. ‘You have waited till the last, and slept on your decision, and We are sure you have been thinking hard all the time. What can We do for you?’

” ‘Please God,’ said the embryo, ‘I think that You made me in the shape which I now have for reasons best known to Yourselves, and that it would be rude to change. If I am to have my choice I will stay as I am. I will not alter any of the parts which You gave me, for other and doubtless inferior tools, and I will stay a defenseless embryo all my life, doing my best to make myself a few feeble implements out of the wood, iron and the other materials which You have seen fit to put before me. If I want a boat I will try to construct it out of trees, and if I want to fly, I will put together a chariot to do it for me. Probably I have been very silly in refusing to take advantage of Your kind offer, but I have done my very best to think it over carefully, and now hope that the feeble decision of this small innocent will find favor with Yourselves.’

” ‘Well done,’ exclaimed the Creator in delighted tones. ‘Here, all you embryos, come here with your beaks and whatnots to look upon Our first Man. He is the only one who has guessed Our riddle, out of all of you , and We have great pleasure in conferring upon him the Order of Dominion over the Fowls of the Air, and the Beasts of the Earth, and the Fishes of the Sea. Now let the rest of you get along, and love and multiply, for it is time to knock off for the week-end. As for you, Man, you will be a naked tool all your life, though a user of tools. You will look like an embryo till they bury you, but all the others will be embryos before your might. Eternally undeveloped, you will always remain potential in Our image, able to see some of Our sorrows and to feel some of Our joys. We are partly sorry for you, Man, but partly hopeful. Run along then, and do your best. And listen, Man, before you go . . .’

” ‘Well?’ asked Adam, turning back from his dismissal.

” ‘We were only going to say,’ said God shyly, twisting Their hands together. ‘Well, We were just going to say, God bless you.’ ”

The Badger’s Dissertation, from Chapter 21 of “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White

Nature's Secret: Why Honey Bees Are Better Politicians Than Humans

2011-05-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

In the spring, bee hives get so rich with honey, so crowded with baby bees, they often burst in two. Some bees stay in the original nest with a new queen, but a second group, led by the old queen, heads off to establish a new home. If there's a cloud of bees hanging by a tree branch in your back yard, that's them — the house hunters.

How do they choose a new home?

Ah, says Cornell professor Thomas Seeley, this is the beautiful part: The queen doesn't say, "Here's where we're going!" She's not in charge. The decision is made collectively, bottom-up, and it's done by "voting."

Bees are natural democrats. They've been shaped that way by evolution, plus they've got this spectacular, secret extra ingredient (which I'll describe in a minute). But first, here's the routine:

Ten thousand animals need a place to go. Three hundred of them form a kind of house-hunting "Senate." They're the older, more experienced bees. They fly off looking for options: How about that nice hole on the elm tree? Or how about this even nicer hole in the beech tree?

These scout bees announce their "finds" by dancing. (On our radio broadcast, these bees are played by improvisational jazz violinist Mazz Swift-Camlet, so if you want to dance with them, hit the "listen button.")

Each scout's dance tells the other bees how to fly to the site — this is done by "waggle dancing," a figure dance that gives bees directions. And if a bee really likes the site, she will dance her directions over and over and over, literally hundreds of times. That way, more and more of her sister scouts see the dance, know where to go, and can fly off and check for themselves.

If the site is ho-hum, the second wave of bees will do a ho-hum, say, 10-repetition dance. But if the site is spectacular — high off the ground, narrow opening, facing the right direction, lots of honey storage space inside — then they will give it a spectacular, say, 300-round dance, so more scouts will know where to go. If they like the site, pretty soon everybody is doing the same dance: Let's call it "The Elm Tree" dance.

This is how bees "vote;" they dance themselves into a consensus.

In my Morning Edition conversation with Professor Seeley, I asked him what happens if one of the bees is just so convinced that her choice is the right one, that she just keeps dancing and dancing, stubbornly advertising the Beech Tree — not the elm tree. How does the hive handle a stubborn bee?

Seeley says, "We haven't seen any bees like that."

They haven't?

Nope, he says. "In the world of scout bees, you don't have die-hard bees that just dance and dance and dance forever."

Why not?

Seeley thinks he's got an answer, and it's so strange: After careful observation and testing, he believes that once a scout bee has finished her dance — no matter how strongly she feels about her site — she stops caring.

He thinks there may be "an internal, neurophysiological process that causes every scout to gradually and automatically lose her motivation to dance for a site, even one that is high in quality."

So she's just finished dancing her heart out, telling the hive three times that this beech tree is absolutely, definitely, beyond question the place we need to go, and as soon as she steps back into the crowd, she loses her passion? It just ... dribbles away? And this is genetic? It's built in?

"[It's] built in," says Seeley. He calls this his Retire and Rest hypothesis. "And when you think about it," he says, "that works really well."

Well, It certainly helps things along if there are no fanatic bees, or insistent bees, or principled bees, gumming up the march to consensus. "Those fanatics," Seeley points out, "they're kind of gumming up the works."

Adam Cole/ NPR
True, true. I suppose our House of Representatives would find it a whole lot easier to reach consensus if everybody in the room was automatically drained of passion — and conviction. I'm not sure that's the best way to go about democracy, but it is the bee way.

Tom Seeley, in his book Honeybee Democracy, doesn't exactly admire this genetic "forgetting" in bees, but he does mention its obvious advantages. In science, for instance, eminent scientists often cling to bad ideas until they die.

One difference between aged scientists and aged [bee] scouts, though, is that the people tend to drop out of the debate reluctantly, sometimes not until death, whereas the bees do so automatically. I cannot help but wonder whether science would progress more rapidly if, in this regard, people behaved a bit more like bees.

Maybe "a bit more." But speaking not as a bee, but as me, I'm glad we have our Gandhis, our Lincolns, our Cézannes. Stubborn people with original ideas are what we've got that the bees don't.

--------------------------------------

Article and pictures courtesy NPR

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/24/136391522/natures-secret-why-honey-bees-are-better-politicians-than-humans

This is Amazing, one of my new favorite animals

2011-05-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

"A Mouth I Can't Stop Thinking About"

What we have here is "Sk00tie's" (also known as Polish artist Tomasz Jedrzejowski's) rendering of two Platybelodons on a sunny day about 10 million years ago doing a little "shoveling."

They've got the mouths for it. Platybelodons were a very early form of elephant (order Proboscidea) that wandered across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America doing something — we're not sure what — that caused their mouths to turn into scoops capped by two protruding looking "front teeth." They are wonderfully ridiculous looking; it's like their trunks had a bad encounter with a steam roller.

They weren't born this way. Baby Platybelodons (we have a complete set of fossils showing them at a variety of ages, all from a site in China) didn't have dramatically flat, scoopy lower mouths as infants. As they got older, their mouths changed shape.

What were they doing? Eating, presumably. But what?

Courtesy of The American Museum of Natural History
A family outing.
The obvious answer, thought the American Museum of Natural History paleontologists who first described them in the 1930s, was they'd stick their lower jaws into a pond rich with juicy mud, dig down, scoop up all kinds of deee-licious water plants, throw up their heads, chew, swallow and ... burp.

Courtesy of The American Museum of Natural History
Shovel (left) jaw bone (right).
That would explain the shovel-like shape. Brian Switek, who wrote about these animals on his blog Laelaps, found an early photograph that literally compares the end of a Platybelodon jaw to a shovel. The tool and the jaw start narrow, then broaden in the same way.

Plus, paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn found dental evidence, from those two squared-off incisor teeth at the mouth tip, that Platybelodons were very likely scooping up vegetation.

For 60 years, that's how matters rested, until a younger paleontologist, David Lambert, came up with a wild alternate explanation.

In his 1992 Paleobiology paper, Lambert looked more closely at the teeth, found what Switek calls "bevel marks" that suggested maybe Platybelodons didn't scoop food from shallow ponds (which were not all that plentiful anyway), but instead would grab onto trees with a flexible trunk, yank the branches and rub the wood onto those teeth and saw!

Courtesy of The Paleontological Society
If that's true, this was a lumberjack animal, sawing through tough plants with its two beveled teeth.

But no one knows for sure. There are so many ways to explain how an animal got a mouth like that, and scientists are just beginning to explore the question. So why don't I leave you alone for a minute with your own Platybelodon? The one in this video, animated by Dean Cameron Reynolds, will wink at you, then walk on air, then try to hit you with his front teeth, then leave you in a gravitationally impossible manner ... all in 32 seconds.

check the article out here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/20/136436601/a-mouth-i-cant-stop-thinking-about

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers: A Review by Dustin Griffin

2011-05-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

I just got back to the hotel from the concert in Durham. Steve and the band put on a great show; the music sounds fantastic live and is juxtaposed nicely by Steve’s dry wit and the band's playfulness and willingness to play along with his shtick. It was a great marriage of comedy and music.

I was delighted to realize that Martin and I have a more similar sensibility regarding humor than I had thought. I saw some of his punch-lines coming based partly on intuition and party on research, seeing as I read some articles about how this show is outlined; knowing his style from reading his autobiography didn't hurt either; yet aided by his delivery and the audience reaction I still laughed.

At one point he actually used a variation of a joke I thought of at work. Here is the setup. Steve pointed out that he was using an iPad to display his set list on stage. He asked Woody Platt, the lead singer for the Rangers “What do you use for your set list?" Woody replied "A pencil and paper." Steve then pointed out that his was the most expensive set list ever and that he was entitled to it because his fans demanded it; a lot of his jokes stemmed from him sending up his high and mightiness and his luxurious lifestyle. Anyway, the real punch line came when Steve announced that it was not an iPad but a first generation prototype iPhone; he then put the iPad up to his ear and pretended to answer a phone call. This made me laugh because I had used the exact same joke on a co-worker when he showed me his new Android "Thunderbolt" and I joked that if it was any bigger he might has well have just bought an iPad 3g and used it. Shortly hereafter Steve glanced at his iPad to announce the title of the next song "Anger Birds level five."

Here are some other standout jokes, set-ups and moments:

After introducing himself and the band Martin started off the evening by quipping before playing the first song "And now I'd like to play a song we've memorized." Announcing the second song of the evening Steve said "I'd like to announce this next song." He then started to play the song as the audience laughed.

In the middle of the show Steve pointed out the multitude of Banjos on stage by stating "I suppose you are wondering why I have four Banjos up here. Well, it’s because I have four small penises." Latter he added “Tonight I’m doing two of my favorite things, comedy…and charging people to hear music.”

Setting up the song “Jubilation Day”: Steve standing stage left, the Rangers stage right. “This next song I wrote to prove that not all break-ups are bad, some are joyous. He looks at the Rangers and asks “Guys think of a time when you were so anxious get rid of someone in your life that you hated and had wanted to leave for a long time.” The Rangers stare stage left at Steve standing alone, silence on stage, Steve looks out to the audience to thunders laughter.

Steve announced Charles R. Humphrey, the upright bassist for the Rangers by stating” You know in a bluegrass band there is no Drummer, which is great! Except when we are on the road, because then there is no pot." Laughter. He then added "But Charles makes up for that because his bass doubles as a refrigerator." More laugher. Steve used a callback on this line about a half hour later while announcing a two song break for him, wherein the Rangers played by themselves; upon exiting the stage he said he was going to go have a beer and asked Charles for one. Charles promptly spun his bass around to the back, took off a panel of wood from his instrument, reached inside and handed Steve a beer bottle. Steve raised the bottle to the audience as he walked off stage to laugher and applause.

The encore, which included a four plus minute rendition of the bluegrass standard "Orange Blossom Special" in which fiddler Nicky Sanders had an extended solo wherein he interjected notes from other pop songs such as "Eleanor Rigby" and even some notes from classical composers such as Bach.

Ending the encore with a bluegrass rendition of Steve's novelty hit "King Tut" with Steve doing a few classic pharaoh poses along the way.

photo courtesy flicker via google image search, direct link to image here:.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2471/3565734385_6b38680292.jpg

The Steep Canyon Ranger's Offiical Website

http://www.steepcanyon.com/

Steve Martin's Offical Website

http://www.stevemartin.com/

Sideways Stories From Wayside School

2011-05-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

I remember very little about the stories themselves; but I do remember having read them. I read these when I was in third or fourth grade. The only details I have retained about the stories are in regards to the dilapidated tower of a school that leans and always appears on the verg of falling; that and the nasty trollish like teacher on the cover whom, if I remember correctly, was rather mean spirited for no real reason. These two details have been rattling around my brain for a while, yet the title of the books has eluded me. I finally did a Google search for the phrase "Children's story set in old tower school" and found the title in image search. Clicking it lead me to someone else's blog. You can find the orignal page I took the image from below:

http://thetextfiles.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/5-books-id-like-to-see-as-movies/

What the Internet is hiding from you

2011-05-20T18:34:00.001-07:00

Interesting article about the "internet Bubble" that is created by Google and others, based on individual web history.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/05/19/online.privacy.pariser/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Onion Headlines Written by Me

2011-05-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

- Atheist society concludes there is no Disney World, admissions drop by .001 percent.
- 25 percent of college students think that in a “deuteronomy” class they will study the history of the word “dude”.

Holy Moly

2011-05-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

Article (C) National Geographic

Number of Animals Killed for Food - Wow!

2011-05-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

Article (C) National Geographic

Quotes from "The Fall"

2011-05-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

...A single sentence will suffice for modern man, he fornicated and read the papers.

...I managed to love simultaneously - and this is not easy - women and justice. - Albert Camus "The Fall"

"In an age of electronic marvels, we tend to look to technology to solve our problems..."

2011-05-14T08:26:00.001-07:00

"In an age of electronic marvels, we tend to look to technology to solve our problems. When it stands in for expertise, however, it puts itself between us and the world around us. It mediates and insulates. At its best, technology can empower. There is no one freer than a pilot in Alaska with an airplane. When you take off, you can have thousands of square miles entirely to yourself. There is no mediation. It is a matter of you, your machine and the wilderness. And that's pure freedom."

Read more: Alaska Bush Pilots - Small Plane Crashes - Popular Mechanics
Click to read whole article

Goodbye Hot or Not

2011-05-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

I Finally got around to closing my hot or not account. I had forgotten it was open, it has been years since I have used it. I remember when it was a new fad, I found out about it from an issue of “Game Informer” . While I was in FL visiting some relatives I decided to use a then recent picture of me to see if I could out-score my cousin, Patrick. As of my account closing my score stands at a respectable 8.3 with 216 total votes. Not bad considering I have not changed the photo for any length of time since 2004, and that I’m still around 21 in it. I guess that’s one way to maintain ones youth, keep an outdated photo on hot or not. Then again 216 views in over seven years is’nt all that great either, but hey, by the sites account i’m still hotter than over 70 percent of the men on the site, and I did beat my cousin’s score; then again he didn’t keep his photo up for seven plus years.

This is the final snapshot of my account before I closed it today:

My “About Me” intro has staid the same for some years, I've simply changed the age every year:

And the nerdy ass keywords I have used the entire time:

Forks Over Knives review by Roger Ebert

2011-05-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

“The bottom line: I am convinced this message is true. A plant-based whole foods diet is healthy. Animal protein is not necessary, or should be used sparingly as Asians did, as a flavoring and not a main course. This adds the advantage of allowing us to avoid the chemicals and carcinogens pumped into livestock and poultry. Fast food is lethal. Parents who feed it to their children are helping them get hooked on fat, salt and sugar addiction. The facts are in. Didn't I warn you to stop reading?”

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110511/REVIEWS/110519995

John Darkow doesn't think depending on oil is a good strategy

2011-05-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/09/136136230/double-take-toons-refined-arguments

Bin Laden photo © John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune

2011-05-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

On being well Read - By Roger Ebert

2011-05-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

"At the end of the day, some authors will endure and most, including some very good ones, will not. Why do I think reading is important? It is such an effective medium between mind and mind. We think largely in words. A medium made only of words doesn't impose the barrier of any other medium. It is naked and unprotected communication. That's how you get pregnant. May you always be so." - Roger Ebert

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/04/death_disports_with_writers_mo.html

"Classicism is the subordination of the parts to the whole; decadence is the subordination of the whole to the parts."[1] - Oscar Wilde

2011-05-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

"Classicism is the subordination of the parts to the whole; decadence is the subordination of the whole to the parts."[1] - Oscar Wilde

Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues" review by "Rolling Stone's" David Fricke

2011-05-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

"If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm raw . . . and you would wait tables and soon run the store," he sings in the gorgeously appointed title song [Helplessness Bluse]. It's like Nash's "Our House," rewritten for an age of reduced expectation but rendered with a true seeker's gusto. Too young to have experienced the era he holds so dear, Pecknold has found refuge and inspiration in the echoes.

Me: I couldn't have said it better, it is a fantastic song.

Sadly this isn't fake

2011-05-05T18:01:00.001-07:00

I'm torn, on one hand it took insinuative to make, on the other it was made to allow the guy to be lazy, so he wouldn't have to walk or ride a bike to class. And why would you want to have to cover the thing wherever you went to keep it weather proof?

This is from the latest issue of "Popular Science".

Do we need more proof that Floridians are crazy?

2011-05-05T08:19:00.001-07:00

Location Tracking

2011-05-04T16:52:00.001-07:00

Click to go to article

"Water For Elephants"

2011-04-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Due to the preordained success of "Water For Elephants", which really should have been called "Whiskey for Elephants," 20th Century Fox has already released the title of its two sequels, "Food for Giraffes" and the cautionary prequel"Fish for Tacos".

While were on the subject Robert Pattinson ruined what was otherwise a half decent movie by bringing absolutely nothing to the table. His game plan in every frame? A smirk or a constipated look; he alternates between the two throughout the film, and sometimes, when he decides to try really hard, combines them in the same shot. The Elephant carries more emotional weight in the movie than he does. In every seen the elephant was in I wanted to yell "Will someone please feed the poor thing and let her drink some water." On the other hand Pattinson's presences made me want to see the film recast with an actual actor in his roll. When you have such good actors in most every other roll, you have to look at Pattinson and wonder if that was the Directors first, second, or even third choice for that part, my guess is no. If Francis Lawrence can get a half decent scene out of Will Smith in front of CG vampires then the fact that he can't get Pattinson to do something besides look like he's about to mess himself in front of real people feels more like Pattinson's shortfall as an actor than Lawrence's as a director. This is not to say the movie isn't without other flaws, it's pretty emotionally weightless in its depiction of romance and sympathy for its main character; mainly by fault of Pattinson's inability to lead the cast. However some blame must also be placed on poor pacing at the beginning of the film. Lawrence doesn't linger on the big emotional scene that gets the movie going at all, it's mostly voice over and a brief shot of Pattinson's feet and then off to the train. Never mind that your parents just died, you don't look nearly as shattered or upset as you should. Lawrence uses way to much emotional short-hand in these early scenes and it undercuts the impact and weight of the material. The short lead-in to the past at the very beginning of the movie falls flat as well. Hal Holbrook's take on Old Jacob falls short because he also lacks convection and weight in his words. Both of the actors playing Jacob bring the movie down.

I have heard rumors that Pattinson was sick while the movie was shooting, this doesn't surprise me; he was probably scarred silly to be in a film with actors who are way beyond his range. Most of the real human emotion in the movie comes from the viewer's own anger at watching the animal cruelty by Christoph Waltz's character more than from anything going on between Pattinson and Witherspoon. Witherspoon and Waltz put on a good show but Pattinson weighs them down; the main attraction makes the show feel like a scam, welcome to the circus.

"Home And Dry" - From Andrew Sullivan's blog "The Dish"

2011-04-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

But I do know this. America remains the great dream, the great promise. For all its dysfunction, it remains an ideal, a place where the restlessness of the human mind and soul comes to rest in a place it constantly reinvents and forever re-imagines. I know this in my bones, perhaps more than many who take this amazing mess of a country for granted. But for the first time in my life, I do not feel somewhere in my psyche that I am displaced, unwelcome, an impostor.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/04/home-and-dry.html

“A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged...”

2011-04-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

“A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged.” A word is instead “the skin of a living thought [that] may very greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.” -Randall Kennedy quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes

Cartoonist Mike Keefe's Abusing A Priest

2011-04-20T18:40:00.001-07:00

This comic was found in this article:

Denver Post cartoonist Mike Keefe wins Pulitzer Prize:

http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2011/04/denver-post-cartoonist-mike-keefe-wins-pulitzer-prize/#4

Neil Young concert Review: Mine vs Their's

2011-04-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

I don’t agree with the review below, he gave an intimate, powerful, set that was unconventional and ballsy in its delivery. Easily the least commercial set I have seen from a popular artist. He played everything by himself, including solo-electric-guitar versions of some of his older songs; his base-lines reverberated into your soul only to sucker punch you in the gut from the inside; poignant, powerful and hypnotic stuff.

Bellow is the “The Richmond Times” review. The venue was the “Landmark” theater, which use to be an Islamic mosque, it is a beautiful old building with great acoustics.

The typical history of rock 'n roll in America neither begins nor ends with Neil Young. But with his solo work, ranging in sound from country-flavored to garage band grunge, and as a member of seminal groups such as Buffalo Springfield, and Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, his five decades of singing and songwriting have earned him not just induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame but recognition as one of the genre's most influential voices.

Young celebrated his 65th birthday in November and the cuts on his latest, 2010's "Le Noise," lack the staying power or just plan power of his most memorable work. But despite the lack of recent groundbreaking activity, the native of Canada is still relevant enough to entice an almost capacity Landmark Theater crowd to shell out as much as much as $200 for Sunday night's show.

In the second stop on his spring tour, Young sauntered on stage, decked out in a cream-colored jacket and fedora, and was greeted with a standing ovations.

He pulled up a stool, strapped on an acoustic guitar and harmonica and opened with triple play of very well received favorites, "My, My Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue)," "Tell Me Why" and "Helpless."

While the top of the set list indicated that the evening may be an unplugged greatest hits parade, Young pulled from the non-hit list and shared the unrecorded "You Never Call" and a pair of the political tunes from "Le Noise," "Peaceful Valley Boulevard" and "Love and War." The balance of the evening was a similar split of crowd favorites and others that generated less enthusiastic response.

As Young moved through the set, he also moved around the stage and among the guitars and pianos that surrounded him. And he not so gradually increased the volume from his acoustic guitar opening, moving to acoustic guitar with pick-up and then plugging in completely for the pounding electric guitar accompaniment of "Ohio," "Hitchhiker" and "Sign of Love."

Young's acquired taste falsetto/tenor sounds as true as it ever has. And the meaning hasn't faded from the anthems or the emotion from the more personal ballads that the audience sung along with on Sunday night. But if audience reaction is any indicator, many at the Landmark Theater Sunday night would have voted for more old, less new, more "Harvest," less "Le Noise."

Consider opening act Bert Jansch, the Neil Young of the British folk scene. A founding member of the group Pentangle, the 67-year-old Scottish native is widely regarded as one of his field's most innovative guitarists, singers, and songwriter. But his lovely 35-minute set of contemporary and traditional folk tunes didn't seem to be exactly what most of 3,000 or so people who have paid pretty good money for a Neil Young concert wanted to hear.

Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%

2011-04-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

...America has long prided itself on being a fair society, where everyone has an equal chance of getting ahead, but the statistics suggest otherwise: the chances of a poor citizen, or even a middle-class citizen, making it to the top in America are smaller than in many countries of Europe...

...Alexis de Tocqueville once described what he saw as a chief part of the peculiar genius of American society—something he called “self-interest properly understood.” The last two words were the key. Everyone possesses self-interest in a narrow sense: I want what’s good for me right now! Self-interest “properly understood” is different. It means appreciating that paying attention to everyone else’s self-interest—in other words, the common welfare—is in fact a precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being. Tocqueville was not suggesting that there was anything noble or idealistic about this outlook—in fact, he was suggesting the opposite. It was a mark of American pragmatism. Those canny Americans understood a basic fact: looking out for the other guy isn’t just good for the soul—it’s good for business.

The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout histoory, this is something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late.

http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105

Howard Beale's "Network" Speech, More Relevant Today than Ever.

2011-04-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

"When the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome goddamned propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this tube? So, listen to me! Television is not the truth! Television is a goddamned amusement park, that's what television is! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats and storytellers, singers and dancers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, liontamers and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business! If you want truth, go to God, go to your guru, go to yourself because that's the only place you'll ever find any real truth! But, man, you're never going to get any truth from us. We'll tell you anything you want to hear. We lie like hell! We'll tell you Kojack always gets the killer, and nobody ever gets cancer in Archie Bunker's house. And no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don't worry: just look at your watch -- at the end of the hour, he's going to win. We'll tell you any shit you want to hear! We deal in illusion, man! None of it's true! But you people sit there all of you day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds we're all you know. You're beginning to believe this illusion we're spinning here. You're beginning to think the tube is reality and your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you. You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you think like the tube. This is mass madness, you maniacs! In God's name, you people are the real thing! We're the illusions! So turn off this goddam set! Turn it off right now! Turn it off and leave it off. Turn it off right now, right in the middle of this very sentence I'm speaking now."- Chayefsky, Network, 1976

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_qgVn-Op7Q

On the Financial Crisis - "The One-Percenters"

2011-04-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Exerpt from Roger Ebert's journal:

“What puzzles me is why there isn't more indignation. The Tea Party is the most indignant domestic political movement since Norman Thomas's Socialist Party, but its wrath is turned in the wrong direction. It favors policies that are favorable to corporations and unfavorable to individuals. Its opposition to Obamacare is a textbook example. Insurance companies and the health care industry finance a "populist" movement that is manipulated to oppose its own interests. The billionaire Koch brothers payroll right wing front organizations that oppose labor unions and financial reform. The patriots wave their flags and don't realize they're being duped....I find this extravagance unseemly in a democracy. Many of today's One-Percenters feel no more constraint than Louis XIV. A culture of celebrity has grown up around these conspicuous consumers, celebrating their excesses. I believe rewards are appropriate for those who have been successful. I also believe a certain modesty and humility are virtuous. I find it unbecoming that those who fight most against social welfare are those most devoted to their own welfare....If it is "socialist" to believe in a more equal distribution of income, what is the word for the system we now live under? A system under which the very rich have doubled their share of the nation's income in 25 years? I believe in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. Isn't that an American credo? How did it get twisted around into an obscene wage for shameless plunder?”

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/04/the_one-percenters.html

Bakeoff

2011-04-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

I friend of mine’s brother wants to study either culinary arts or criminal justice in collage; he came to me for advice. I suggested he get a double major so that he could judge bake-offs.

Shut down the government? Seriously?

2011-04-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

"In our own homes, and our own lives, too many of us buy things we don't need with money we don't have, and use credit we can't afford. We don't save anything for a rainy day or retirement. We worship at the altar of immediate gratification, and we kick difficult decisions down the road as far as possible."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/07/navarrette.debt.burden/index.html?hpt=C1

Lent

2011-04-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm so lazy I gave up Ash Wednesday for Lent.

Don't Fear the Reaper

2011-04-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

Photo by Dustin Griffin

Foreign Affairs

2011-04-02T07:26:00.001-07:00

Called FedEx for an international shipping rate, the number I call connects me a person with a noticeable foreign accent; after telling him where the package is being shipped he apologizes and informs me in broken english that I called the domestic shipment office and that I need to be transferred to the international shipment department, he transfers me, I get an american on the other end, too funny.

Tatata

2011-04-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

Overheard at the YMCA tonight:

Four year old girl: "These are my tatas.”

Mom to girl: "That's right, and your tatas and the rest of your special girly parts are not to be seen or touched by anyone until your thirty-five."

I was CNN's choice for photo of the day on March 24th!

2011-03-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

Booya! My photo was chosen as CNN's Travel Photo of the day, albit apparently three days ago, check it out:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/03/01/photo.of.the.day/index.html

The Case of the Shrinking Giraffes.

2011-03-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

Break A Leg

2011-03-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

My advice to a friend about an upcoming job interview:

Words to silly to be spoken are sung - Oscar Wilde

2011-03-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

Words to silly to be spoken are sung - Oscar Wilde

Borderless

2011-03-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite quotes, from "The Grand Illusion" 1937:

"You can't see boarders, their man made, nature could care less"....and besides their bankrupt. Okay, so I added the last part.

Lions in the Serengeti

2011-03-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

Goodbye to Wayne Manor

2011-03-20T16:31:00.000-07:00

In 1992 when “Batman Returns” came out, I got the “Bat-Cave/Wayne Manor” play-set that Christmas, I was nine. I remember playing with it on the floor of my grandma’s house in Florida. I had it set up, its three pieces unfolded, my mom was sick and laying on the couch. We were supposed to go to church that day, with my dad, mom, grandma, grandfather, brother and any other family visiting. I never liked going to church because it took me away from playing with my new toys. My mom decided she was not going to go to church this year because she was sick, I told everyone I did not want to go either and stayed home with her. This is the first year I remember not going with the rest of the family to church. It was just as well, I had the Bat-Cave and my other toys to play with.

Today, I said goodbye to Wayne Manor. The set had been in storage for over a year. We cleaned out the storage unit today. I found the Bat-Cave in a box of old toys I had refused to throw out just over a year ago, now laying in a layer of dust. I pulled it out and recalled the memory of that Christmas morning nineteen years ago; that memory is why I kept it to begin with. I can pick up almost anything I own and remember when and how I got it; I don’t consider myself a materialist, but I like to keep things that trigger found memories, anything from an old toy to a college term papers. I hoped at some point I would be able to pull these toys out and show them to my own kids one day; so that they would have since of time and place, of history of when and how I grew up. At the some time, you have to let go. I am trying to get my past down to the size of a shoebox, or at most a small room. I don’t want “stuff“ tying me down to one physical location, there is too much I want to see and do. George Clooney put it really well in “Up in the Air” if you don’t know the quote I suggest you go look it up. I said goodbye to Wayne Manor today, it was donated to the “Rescue Mission” with the rest of the toys in that box (Sans a few Batmen and Spider-man figures, my mom and I couldn’t resist.) but not before I could take a few pictures. While I will never have the ability to physically touch my trigger again, at least I will forever have the memory itself. As for the pictures? New triggers leading to today and yesterday. Who knows, maybe the little boy or girl who finds this set at the “Rescue Mission” will have their own story to tell in nineteen years.

From the Archives: China Part 2: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

2011-03-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

August 25, 2009: A monsoon in my lagoon...ok so it was a man-made pond and it wasn't mine.....

[Before the Flood]

I had gone out for a few drinks with some of the people from our tour group, a monsoon started in transit from our hotel to our destination - a fifteen minute cab ride. When we got to our destination there was a guy who handed me an umbrella when I got out of the cab, I thanked him for his courtesy and he asked me for 40,000 Yuan for the umbrella - I then realized he was a peddler and gave him back the umbrella content on getting wet.

We where not dropped off exactly in front of the place we where trying to get to, but in front of us and offset to the right was a building in which at least forty people or more had gathered under an awning like rooftop - some people had had actually climbed onto the side of the building under other parts of the roof for shelter - it was that crowded. The people I was with did not want to get more soaked, I on the other hand, not caring - it is only water - and wanting to figure out where we where decided to stroll around the corner to figure out our proximity to the bar we wanted to go to. So, I said I would be right back and ran around the corner to see. We ended up being right across the water from where we needed to be; and luckily their was a concert path to one side of the man made lake. After coaxing my company into braving through the rain to get to the other side - I sang singing in the rain on our trek over, adding a kick of water to one of the girls leg as a punctuation - the company was not impressed with my vocals, my irony and the fact that I splashed her with water -go figure - she was already soaked, who cares! After sticking around for one drink I deiced to go, hoping to make it home with enough time to get a decent night sleep. The others wanted to wait out the storm, but seeing as we had no way of knowing how long that would be, and I, being tired, deiced to go - also thinking I would beat the massive amounts of people trying to leave later.

[Three Feet High and Rising]

I got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on a flooded main road with nowhere to go - I was waiting in the cab with my driver for over half an hour. The first road he took me down was so bad that a cop had closed it off, so we had to go another way, which as I stated did not work. I finally decided I did not want to pay to sit in the cab and wait indefinitely, plus I really had to use the bathroom - and at this point it had been 40 minutes of no movement. Cars and busses all around us had shut their engines off in preparation for a long wait. I was getting anxious. Knowing I had very few options, sit and wait and keep paying this guy or get out and try to walk with no since of where the hell I was. The cab ride which was supposed to cost 15,000 Yuan, (About 3 bucks USD looking back on it now) had sky rocketed to 40,000! I deiced to take my chances and get out. Knowing that almost no one in China speaks english, and only knowing that I should walk forward. It should be noted that the only means of communication I had to get me back to my hotel was a hotel business card that they give to english speakers that has the address printed in Chinese, it is to show to cab drivers ect, at this point the card was soaked. I showed the card to the first person I saw, he looked at me and justerd to go forward and turn right, but of course I did not know when to do this and how long to walk for. With the rain beating down, and water coming up to my socks in some cases, I approached the next two to people I saw. They ended up being two Taiwanese guys staying in a hotel near mine, maybe about five blocks away from where I was staying, and they knew how to get their - also luckily one of them spoke some english, what are the odds eh?.

We started running in the rain, both men had umbrellas, I was wearing white socks, crocks and shorts, one of the men was kind enough to let me where his red baseball cap. So we walked for a good 30 minutes or more down this flooded road in the poring rain; we probably walked a mile or more. I myself relishing in it the whole time with a smile thinking what a good story this will be. Traffic did eventually start back up but almost no cabbies would pull over to pick anyone up, and if they did and saw I was an English speaker, they would pull away not wanting to deal with it and the weather. The men tried hailing cabs for me on on two streets - talking to the driver for me, no luck - all the drivers turned me down. Eventually after standing on a street corner with them for twenty minutes we gave up and I followed them back to there hotel where they tried to call me a cab at the front desk, no luck either. The girl at the front desk spoke to the other two in Chinese, which the english speaking one of the two relayed back to me that She could not get through to anyone because all the lines where busy, and that that I was better off trying my luck outside - even though we all already knew that was going to be an uphill battle. I, trying to be gracious and not over extend their courtesy, thanked the two men and told them not to worry about it, I would be fine. Both men wished be luck, one gave me his umbrella saying I would need it more than him, I tried to tell him to keep it but he insisted - I of cousre gave him back his baseball cap though. Lucky for me the rain had slowed its pace and when I got to the street corner by the ally that housed the two's hotel I was able to hail a cab within two minutes - the cabbie thankfully agreed without protest to take me to my hotel. I laughed once we pulled up to my hotel because the ride only took about eight minutes or so and I swear it was only about five blocks from where he picked me up - had I known where the hell I was I probably could have walked.

I unfortunately did not have my camera on me during this fiasco, I wish I had, but when I came back I garbed it from the room and tried to go back outside to shoot, but the rain had subsided substantially by then, I did get the shot of me to the right though - the on the top of the page was taken in the bar by April, one of the girls I was with.

So, what was supposed to be a twenty minute cab ride turned into a two plus hour journey - talk about no direction home, Bob Dylan eat your heart out!

Me after getting back to the hotel, I grabbed my camera and ran back outside to shoot.

[Keep on the Sunny Side]

Left - the whole gang at the airpot - plus some random guy on the far left - two days later, we got stuck there for an extra three hours due to another storm. When we were finally ready to board the plan I had to run and get the girls - who were a good half mile away in one of the airport restaurants - flag down one of those little airport taxi golf carty things to bring us back to the boarding dock - tell him what corners to round to find the girls, then have them hop in like a scene out of "The Dukes of Hazard", so we could briskly get back to loading zone. Two of us ending up setting in the cargo section of the cart due to space, it was pretty entertaining.

From the Archives: China Part 1: Something Forbidden and Something Great!

2011-03-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

August 9th, 2009: All images made in China. Some photos available for purchase.

This trip was taken durring the summer holiday of 2009:

Me after hiking up some very steep and uneven steps at the great wall. I had come from the other side of the wall and had already been hiking for 40 minutes before deciding to turn around also go the other direction, backtrack and go up the other side, and do it half an hour before we left. I was really out of breath and it was 90 degrees plus humidity. One of the girls from the group saw me sitting down as she was about to start her decent and asked what I was doing, I looked at her and said "I'm resting" and explained where I had just came from, she snapped this photo at my request before going down to meet the bus. It most be noted for all those that don't remember the giant lump on my back that I call a camera backpack weighs around 40 to 50 pounds.

These are the steps I went up, to the first tower before collapsing in the photo below and taking a short rest before going back down, yes I know I am crazy, thats why I was laughing the whole time while I did it....I don't care; I told my self I would be mad if I did not make it up the steps, after all when was I going to be back in China to try again? It took most people a good 40 minutes go get to the tower on the top, above the steps, I made it up the initial steps and to the first tower connected to them in 15, I was rather impressed with myself and gave myself the "Rocky Award" before coming back down to the bus.

This is the other side of the wall I climbed first, it was to the left of the steps, and less crowed with people, so I did it first. You cant see it from here, but if you were to be looking to the right out of from of this shot you would have seen the steps mentioned above on the other side.

Inward shot from the same area as the photo above, I was up those steps (also uneven and irregular in hight from each other.) and over the point of the wall on top of the shot and a ways past it before I turned around to go back to the other side.

A garden area of "The Great Wall".

A closer look at the irregularity of the step sizes.

Another look at one of the paths I took.

Me at the "Forbidden City" sporting my D3.

A candid I took at the "Forbidden Palace".

Robert DeNiro's Inner Riboflavin

2011-03-20T08:49:00.001-07:00

The Wheels of Life

2011-03-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to realize just how small I am to the world.

2011-03-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to realize just how small I am to the world.

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit” - Plutarch

2011-03-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit” - Plutarch

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? - By Matt Taibbi

2011-03-02T19:08:00.001-08:00

“Which is not to say that the Obama era has meant an end to law enforcement. On the contrary: In the past few years, the administration has allocated massive amounts of federal resources to catching wrongdoers — of a certain type. Last year, the government deported 393,000 people, at a cost of $5 billion. Since 2007, felony immigration prosecutions along the Mexican border have surged 77 percent; nonfelony prosecutions by 259 percent. In Ohio last month, a single mother was caught lying about where she lived to put her kids into a better school district; the judge in the case tried to sentence her to 10 days in jail for fraud, declaring that letting her go free would "demean the seriousness" of the offenses.

So there you have it. Illegal immigrants: 393,000. Lying moms: one. Bankers: zero. The math makes sense only because the politics are so obvious. You want to win elections, you bang on the jailable class. You build prisons and fill them with people for selling dime bags and stealing CD players. But for stealing a billion dollars? For fraud that puts a million people into foreclosure? Pass. It's not a crime. Prison is too harsh. Get them to say they're sorry, and move on. Oh, wait — let's not even make them say they're sorry. That's too mean; let's just give them a piece of paper with a government stamp on it, officially clearing them of the need to apologize, and make them pay a fine instead. But don't make them pay it out of their own pockets, and don't ask them to give back the money they stole. In fact, let them profit from their collective crimes, to the tune of a record $135 billion in pay and benefits last year. What's next? Taxpayer-funded massages for every Wall Street executive guilty of fraud?

The mental stumbling block, for most Americans, is that financial crimes don't feel real; you don't see the culprits waving guns in liquor stores or dragging coeds into bushes. But these frauds are worse than common robberies. They're crimes of intellectual choice, made by people who are already rich and who have every conceivable social advantage, acting on a simple, cynical calculation: Let's steal whatever we can, then dare the victims to find the juice to reclaim their money through a captive bureaucracy. They're attacking the very definition of property — which, after all, depends in part on a legal system that defends everyone's claims of ownership equally. When that definition becomes tenuous or conditional — when the state simply gives up on the notion of justice — this whole American Dream thing recedes even further from reality."

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-201102

The Story of the Walk in the Woods and Talking to a Racist Pigeon

2011-03-02T06:13:00.001-08:00

AnimeBerserker: you knows I once asked a pigeon "pigeon, why are you white"
AnimeBerserker: and you know what this pigeon said to me
cheekiemonkie21: what?
AnimeBerserker: first off I’m not racist, second off, I don’t have control of the pigeon, and with that said the pigeon said to me "because I don’t like black people", and with that I said ok and went on my marry way, and then I came across a beaver and said to the beaver "hello their beaver how are you doing today?" and you know what he said?
cheekiemonkie21: what?
AnimeBerserker: he said:" well I’m ok but a little down about being a beaver" to which I said "oh really, and why is that" and you know what I said?
cheekiemonkie21: what did he say?
AnimeBerserker: well he confessed to me " you see I have these buck teeth, and I have to eat wood all day" to which I replied "oh, I see, and why is that a problem"
AnimeBerserker: and you know what he said?
cheekiemonkie21: no what?
AnimeBerserker: well this little beaver said to me, and remember I don’t control him, I don’t know what he is going to say, he said to me "well, its a problem to me being as I never saw myself as a homosexual" so, with that I backed away and went along my marry way, and guess who else I bumped into on the trail that day?
cheekiemonkie21: who?
AnimeBerserker: well open landing by the river, I saw an animal that made me shiver, it was a bear, and he gave me quite a scare. So I walked up to talk to him, he looked at me with a malicious grin, I said hel...hello there bear" to which he said....
AnimeBerserker: oh, you want to know, what happened in this conversation
cheekiemonkie21: yes!
AnimeBerserker: well its not that important so, I moved upon the trail, gleefully singing and then I saw a tail
AnimeBerserker: to what did this tail belong to you ask?
cheekiemonkie21: yes
AnimeBerserker: well I'm afraid I must debunk because on further inspection it was a Trunk!
AnimeBerserker: the trunk belonged to an elephant, who was standing alone looking innocent
AnimeBerserker: I looked up and down and all around and then with out hesitation (I did not clown) I said "hi there elephant, how are you” ... guess what he told me too.
cheekiemonkie21: What?
AnimeBerserker: "he said nothing I must report, it was of a private mater, you know, things of that sort"
AnimeBerserker: so I kept on moving on until at once I came to a lawn, and in this lawn I did sit, and thin I woke up and said "ow shit" the quest did not make any sense you see, you just wasted about fifteen minutes listing to me :-D
cheekiemonkie21: that was funny
cheekiemonkie21: I really had no idea where you were going with that though
AnimeBerserker: thanks, I made it all up on the spot, and I did it clean without resorting to pot
cheekiemonkie21: haha ok Dr. Seuss
AnimeBerserker: Thanks I take that as a complement of the highest sort, and with that in mind I have no retort.

John Dominic Crossan's 'blasphemous' portrait of Jesus

2011-03-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

Interesting article about a world famous Jesus researcher, here is an excerpt:

Crossan says it was "bliss" being a priest and scholar in the mid-1960s because the Roman Catholic Church had instituted a series of modernizing reforms. But conservative church leaders fought those reforms, and Crossan says they pressured him to steer his research toward conclusions that reinforced church doctrine.

"It's like you're a scientist in research and development, and you say that this drug is lethal, and they say, 'Find something good in it,' '' Crossan says.

“If you believe in a God that uses violence to "save" humanity, you'll start believing that violence is permissible in certain circumstances, such as suicide bombing or invading other countries to spread democracy, Crossan says.The human addiction to violence, though, is so ingrained that even the authors of the New Testament had trouble accepting Jesus' nonviolence, Crossan says.”

See the full article here:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/02/27/Jesus.scholar/index.html?hpt=C2

Mobile Phones in Movies -Stephen Merchant

2011-03-02T05:54:00.000-08:00

“It’s too useful, a mobile phone. The classic movie moment of sort of running to the airport to see the girl or to try and get everyone out of the building to stop the bomb, nowadays it's just a phone call. You don't have to race through the streets to get the airport; just give her a call. "You're at the airport? I'm in love with you! I'll be there in 10 minutes!" It's so cheap, because everyone knows what's happening. When you see a closeup on the phone, and the bars signal how much reception there is, they all disappear. "I've got no reception!" That's why increasingly horror films all have to be set in the North Pole.“ - Stephen Merchant

“A Man can consider himself a success if he wakes up in the morning, goes to bed at night, and in-between did exactly what he wanted.” - Bob Dylan

2011-02-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

“A Man can consider himself a success if he wakes up in the morning, goes to bed at night, and in-between did exactly what he wanted.” - Bob Dylan

Quote of the moment

2011-02-22T21:00:00.001-08:00

Quote of the moment:

"I'm sure Nicholas Sparks once said something, but it wasn't worth remembering...."

quoted by myself.

'Everywhere there are smiles and everywhere there is fun, and on every corner hugs and kisses. But never does one see contentment on a person's face.

2011-02-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

Me: Below is a great exerpt from a recent episode of "The Philosopher's Zone" with Alan Saunders, I agree with the italicized statment. To see the full text go here:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/stories/2011/3134122.htm

Alan Saunders: And today on The Philosopher's Zone, we're talking about an Egyptian thinker, Sayyid Qutb with John Calvert from Creyton University in Nebraska.

At the end of the 1950s Qutb lived in the United States for about 18 months, having been sent there by the Egyptian government to observe teaching methods in American schools. His observations weren't limited to schooling, however, and Qutb didn't like what he saw.Take this, for example:

'Everywhere there are smiles and everywhere there is fun, and on every corner hugs and kisses. But never does one see contentment on a person's face. There is no indication of satisfaction in anyone's heart. Life is comprised of constant worry, endless work, unending desire, the constant quenching of thirst, and the effort to be on time.'

John Calvert: I think his basic message is that 'Listen, Egypt is in the process of secularising, it's Westernising, the elite classes are pressing an alien culture upon us. I'm here in the United States, the epicentre of modern material civilisation, and it's not a pretty picture. Don't go there.' I mean he would wander the streets of Greely summer evenings, he was astounded that so few people were on the streets to enjoy the bucolic landscape, and he was mystified that when Americans did appear outside, they would tend their gardens, they would mow their lawns, trim their hedges and so forth. And for Qutb this was symptomatic of America's preoccupation with the materialist aspect of life. You know, rather than engage with their neighbours and so forth, they basically barricaded themselves in their yards, tended their gardens.

The Dyslexics Guide to Normalcy

2011-02-19T08:16:00.001-08:00

If the shoe doesn't fit, try the other foot.
Don't try being normal, let normal try being you.
If you ever find yourself on the bottom of a pool try swimming up.
Stupid questions make smarter people.
The best way to sound smart is to hang around ignorant people.
The best way to get smart is to watch TV land.
If you ever find yourself floating in the sky, don't look to your right.
Always remember that a wind is named from the direction it starts.
If you ever find yourself smoking a cigarette look harder.
If you ever loose yourself, find a mirror.
If you ever loose a mirror, steel one.
Iron is a good source of iron.
The Daily recommended diet allows around 32-grams of phat consume them wisely G.
The "F" word is "Fink".
The "B' word is "bleach"
If you ever find yourself in the lost and found, hug yourself and tell you how much you missed yourself.
If you're ever found drunk, pray it's not by a police officer.
If you're ever found shit-faced, buy soap.
If you're ever found soap-faced you need a new hobby.
Remember a nerd is something you eat too.
Smurfette is not available and even if she was she's to old for you.
And besides, she's married.
A Home wrecker is not someone who demolishes houses.
A "G" string is not for pimps.
If Jesus ever finds you, I'm sorry but you're dead.
If God ever finds you, it's because its Jess's birthday and he has the day off.
If however the Easter Bunny finds you, not only would I recommend switching religions but I would also recommend laying of the pot.
The word mom is imposable for you to misspell unless you are a complete idiot.
The word me refers to you.
A cyanic is not a musician.
Forcing love never works because it's bigger than you and can easily kick your ass.
There are 32 statements on this list not 23.

Memories of my family

2011-02-19T08:14:00.001-08:00

Creationism

2011-02-19T07:57:00.001-08:00

Being a modest man, when I checked into my hotel on a recent trip, I said to the lady at the registration desk ...

2011-02-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

Being a modest man, when I checked into my hotel on a recent trip, I said to the lady at the registration desk ...
"I hope the porn channel in my room is disabled."
To which she replied, "No, it's regular porn, you sick bastard.” - not my line, but still funny.

Sarah & Daniel Before the trip started - I ended up in one of there photos before I ever met them.

2011-02-17T05:59:00.000-08:00

[Sarah & Daniel Before the trip started - I ended up in one of there photos before I ever met them.]

"Hey Dustin,

I forgot to tell you, if you watch our Africa video and have a look in the beginning at the picture where we were at the giraffes in nairobi you are actually in the background ☺ And that was even before we met on the tour! Have a look at it, really funny!

and what am I doing, showing someone how to use a camera!

"☺ yep, really funny!" - Daniel"

More of Daniel's photos from the trip:

Our epic four hour card match, I won for over an hour and then I was the "ass-hole" for over an hour...yes "ass hole" was the name of the game.

Eating lunch outside the truck.

Marc Maron interviewed on "Late Night with Conan O'Brian" in 2000, brilliant!

2011-02-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

“I’m wired to destroy myself, so fighting that wiring is always challenging.” - Marc Maron

2011-02-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

“I’m wired to destroy myself, so fighting that wiring is always challenging.” - Marc Maron

original text here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/arts/09maron.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hpw

Pop-up Bunnies

2011-02-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

from xkcd.com

The End of Trends

2011-02-13T18:46:00.000-08:00

The Internet has so fractured us globally that we no longer are looking for mass-culture experiences. So major trends have become splintered mini-trends — which are not really trends at all. Trends only work when there is a growing audience that buys into them. And trends can only reach critical mass if the masses are not too critical.

And with the decline in trends comes a decline in the notion of there being such a thing as pop culture. Marketing companies can no longer take advantage of trends. So maybe the last trend we will see is a trend toward a Trendless World — full of surprise and originality.

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/09/133616425/the-end-of-trends-if-its-hot-its-over

Maxivision48

2011-02-13T18:07:00.000-08:00

“They were openly annoyed that they'd been asked to check us out. That was a hell of a depressing way to start a meeting. When they finally saw it, they said they didn't care if it was better than current film or digital because "we don't care about quality other than the minimum level the public will accept." When I responded that even if they didn't care, filmmakers do care, they said "the creatives will do what we tell them." It was a scary display of arrogance. But at least they showed up. The rest of the studios' tech guys never even bothered to make the trip, even though Martin Scorsese was quoted in the American Cinematographer saying that he thought MaxiVision was "the most important innovation in cinema in the last half-century." - The Guy who runs "Maxivision48" speaking to Roger Ebert.

for the rest of this article go here:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/01/more_than_ever_the_future_of_f.html

Even in high school I was keenly aware of floating on the river of time. I was placed in the current at birth, and given the opportunity to experience consciousness for an undetermined number of years as I drifted on the river out of Eden. - Roger Ebert

2011-02-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Even in high school I was keenly aware of floating on the river of time. I was placed in the current at birth, and given the opportunity to experience consciousness for an undetermined number of years as I drifted on the river out of Eden.

The God of the Abyss (Chapter 86 of Berserk, the missing chapter.)

2011-02-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

... God?

Welcome

Human

Are you God?...

I am

The Idea

The desired God

The Idea of Evil

God...

This, God? This huge... lump of flesh?...

What you are seeing is a part of me

My core

Look around you

What's this?!...

An ocean of feelings all humans have deep in their souls

A common consciousness that transcends individuality

Their collective consciousness

Its dark side is this swelling ocean

I was born from these swells

As the ego of this world

This world itself is I

The darkness that dwells in every human heart

The Idea of Evil

This is God

God... This...

Does that mean that...

Does that mean that it was humans who created God?

Does that mean that it was humans who desired this?

This terrifying thing?

This... This looks like...

Hell

Some call it that

Hell...

This is just the surface of multiple layers of a whole consciousness

But you know

You know that this place is terribly human

Violence and loneliness

This place is filled with all kinds of blurred negative feelings

It is truly the will that defines human nature

... Yes

it's true

This is... in me

I can feel it

But why?

Why were you born?

Why did humans give birth to this will called God?

Humans

Desired reasons

Reasons for pain

Reasons for sadness

Reasons for life

Reasons for death

Reason why their lives were filled with suffering

Reasons why their deaths were absurd

They wanted reasons for the destiny that kept transcending their knowledge

And that was

God...

And I produce those

As it is what I've been brought into existence for

I control fate

Obeying the essence of humankind

I weave every man's destiny

... Does that mean

that you're the one who controls my destiny?...

that you're the one... who arranged everything so that it would be this way?!

It was established that you would be here since a distant past

By influencing the lower levels of human consciousness

And merging blood with blood

I created the lineage that would give birth to the man you are

To pave the way for the times you would be born in

I manipulated History

And created an appropriate context for you

All the encounters you have had so far

Were all a part of the destiny that led you here as well

... The destiny...

My...

God! What do you want from me?!

As you will

I dwell deep in your heart

I am a part of you

You are a part of your kind's consciousness

A part of me

Your desire is my desire as well

Your actions themselves shall prove to be suitable for your kind as a whole

May those actions bring pain or salvation to the men

As you will

Chosen One

... If so

I want wings

Take within you

The power of feelings this inner world is filled with

And change the physical field that is your body

Into a suitable shape

The essence of comedy is making the meaningful meaningless or visa versa making the meaningless meaningful - Sigmund Freud

2011-02-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

The essence of comedy is making the meaningful meaningless or visa versa making the meaningless meaningful - Sigmund Freud

"I hope always to have the courage to push on to greater failures" - Eugene O'Neill

2011-02-11T20:47:00.001-08:00

"I hope always to have the courage to push on to greater failures" - Eugene O'Neill

"I heard you where shot five times in the tabloids" "It's not true, they never touched my tabloids" - The Thin Man.

2011-02-10T20:06:00.001-08:00

‎"I heard you where shot five times in the tabloids" "It's not true, they never touched my tabloids" - The Thin Man.

The Daytripper

2011-02-09T19:10:00.000-08:00

Intriguing, and I like the message and art. I'm going to have to read this, if you would like to do the same click here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1401229697/downandoutint-20

Memory Is Dynamic

2011-02-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

Memory is dynamic. It's alive. - Waltz With Bashir.

"Do you know what a love letter is? It's a bullet from a gun...."Frank Booth," from "Blue Velvet "

2011-02-06T19:15:00.001-08:00

"Do you know what a love letter is? It's a bullet from a gun...."Frank Booth," from "Blue Velvet "

De-Motivation

2011-02-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Universal Meaning

2011-02-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

Text and image (C) DC Comics.

"I know that if the universe is meaningless...That's a joke at our expense. If it's meaningful...a different joke. Any meaning we make ourselves....That's us pretending we're in out it."