Tag: Information

Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffstalgic

News stories scan make me blanch. Yes, of course there are feel-good Olympic stories. News outlets thrive on those. They sell clicks and papers and increase viewership. People want to feel good about the world. They don’t want to read of a school bombed in Gaza City with nearly 100 killed. And they want to turn away from the Trumpstorm that is the 2024 GOP campaign. Weird describes their candidates and also describes some of the base, but what describes the rest?

Baby formula recalls, Venezuela, Elon Musk, X.

Here, we’re dealing with wildfires and smoke pollution. Wildfires are being fought not just all over Oregon but California, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho, Colorado…that’s just the tip.

This is Saturday, August 10, 2024. There are less than 90 days until the elections.

It’s 62 F. We’ll see our average and usual high today, 92 F. Good. The air is low moderate again, and I can see the mountains and blue skies today.

A dancing outing is planned for Lake of the Woods Resort. The air is checked. Not good. Discussions are engaged: should we still go?

Time to start a new theme week. The idea of going out dancing brought up a bunch of songs for The Neurons, so that’s this week’s theme: dancing. One of their favorites, now circulating the morning mental music stream (Trademark burning) is a 1983 fast-tempo beat by the Pointer Sisters called “Neutron Dance”. Point of order for The Neurons: this is not “Neuron Dance”. Yes, that is how they hear the lyrics, but that doesn’t change the truth.

Though coming out of the techno 1980s, it’s a song for the current era. Themes like homelessness — “The rent is due, I got no place to stay.” Weariness: “It’s hard to say just how some things never change and it’s hard to find any strength to draw the line.”

don’t wanna take it anymore
I’ll just stay here locked behind the door
Just no time to stop and get away
‘Cause I work so hard to make it every day

[Refrain]
Whoo-ooh
Whoo-ooh

[Verse 2]
There’s no money falling from the sky
‘Cause a man took my heart and robbed me blind
Someone stole my brand new Chevrolet
And the rent is due, I got no place to stay

[Refrain]
Whoo-ooh
Whoo-ooh

[Chorus]
And it’s hard to say
Just how some things never change
And it’s hard to find
Any strength to draw the line
Oh, I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance
I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance

[Verse 3]
Industry don’t pay a price that’s fair
All the common people breathing filthy air (Lord have mercy)
Roof caved in on all the simple dreams
And to get ahead your heart starts pumping schemes

[Chorus]
And it’s hard to say
Just how some things never change
And it’s hard to find
Any strength to draw the line
Oh, I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance (Ah, ah, ah)
I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance

[Refrain]
Whoo-ooh
(Whoo-ooh)
I’m on fire, yeah
I’m on fire, yeah

[Chorus]
And it’s hard to say
Just how some things never change
And it’s hard to find
Any strength to draw the line
Oh, I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance (Ah, ah, ah)
I’m just burnin’ doin’ the neutron dance

Let’s all sing it and dance. h/t to Genius.com for the lyrics. Easier to copy than typing them all out.

Stay positive — I now, I’m one to speak — be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue. Coffee and I have met up on a drink day. Here’s the video. Cheers

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Reminders and Insights

Harris Campaign: Donald Trump’s Very Good, Very Normal Press Conference

Both sides are not the same. Don’t let the press convince you otherwise. They’re just tryin’ to make money. Vote Blue in 2024.

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Befloofle

Befloofle (floofinition) – To be stupefied or confused by an animal’s actions, behavior, or sounds. Origins: 1801, in general usage, United States and Europe.

In Use: “Suzanne frequently finds herself befloofled and terrified by her dog’s sudden barking at night as if someone had broken into their house.”

In Use: “Batcat often befloofles Bob as she unexpectedly leaps from the top of one door six feet through the air to the top of another door.”

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Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: Freedayitis

Our weather is continuing its pattern in Ashlandia. High today of 92 to 95 F. This is our average temp for the month. Smoke is up, stinging nostrils, bit of a bloody nose, congestd nose and sinuses, turning my throat into aching parchment. It’s 69 F now on this Friday, August 9, 2024. The air quality is moderate, ’bout 83 in my zone. There is an unhealthy air advistory out for us. It was s’posed to expire this morning but it’s been extended until tonight. Still, better than having a raging fire actually in town. And the air is good enough in my area that some windows are open a few inches. I know from observations and experience, the bad air is out in front of us, to the west. East, and north (today), is delivering decent air. It’s about the vegetation and topography.

We continue to check on a friend who just disappeared. He has health issues; so does his wife. He does have children and grands in the area, so he might be with them. He was taken off by EMTs one afternoon, and that’s the last he was seen by friends and neighbors. They haven’t seen him where he volunteers. Haven’t heard from him. The car is gone, no one answers the phone or emails, or the door. It’s been a pensive month looking for a news update on him. He’s always been very private so we’re hopeful that he’s okay but just keeping to himself and fam.

Today’s theme music goes with a free variation. The Neurons have Queen with “I Want to Break Free” alternating with Neil Young with “Rockin’ in the Free World” playing in the morning mental music stream (Trademark taxing). I can’t choose so I’ll go with both.

Both songs are from the 1980s and established rockers. “I Want to Break Free” was released in ’84. The music video caused a social storm in the U.S. because, oh, no, cross dressing. *gasp*. There’s a small but vocal group of Puritanical Americans who always react with hand-wringing and gasps, and hisses, “Oh, the children, think of the children.” Yeay, I’m channeling some Southpark.

Although this is a love song of sorts, we have those apt opening lines for Trump and the MAGAts:

I want to break free
I want to break free
I want to break free from your lies
You’re so self-satisfied, I don’t need you
I’ve got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free

h/t to AZLyrics.com

“Rockin’ in the Free World” was released in 1989. I initially thought it was in response to George Bush becoming POTUS but later learned, no, it was because planned concerts to the U.S.S.R. were canceled, apparently because the Soviets said, “Nyet.” As for its lines, they are poignantly political (h/t to Genius.com):

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand
We’ve got department stores and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive

That’s America and our overall priorities: guns and wars, consumer goods and driving.

Stay positive, be free, and remain strong. Vote Blue in 2024. Here is my coffee, here is my cup, part my lips and drink it down. Here are the videos. Let’s rock.

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Political Winds

Look out! The GOP has gone full Playground Mode.

Donald Trump calls Vice President Harris ‘Kamabla’. The GOP denigrates Gov. Walz as Tampon Tim.

It’s like they don’t have any policies to address. Sure, they scream about the border but it’s well-known outside of the MAGA world that Donald Trump and the GOP torpedoed the GOP-approved border plan. Yes, Trump screams about inflation but economists are pushing back and explaining, no, it’s not historic inflation.

As anyone paying attention realizes, Trump is using recycled ideas. These are the ideas that took him to the White House in 2016 and hasn’t gotten him anywhere else since then. Worse, as he attempts to deliver his insults and besmirch others, he sounds inept, incompetent, and incoherent. He appears befuddled. Old. Out of touch.

In comparison, Kamala Harris is vigorous, alert, sharp, awake. So is her chosen running mate, Tim Walz. Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, comes across as sneering and misogynistic.

The change from Biden to Harris brought a powerful pivot from how the Harris-Walz campaign responds to Trump. Whereas Joe Biden was from a different era and tried to remain above Trump’s insults, Harris and Walz boldly clap back. Trump and the GOP flail to find smart responses that reverberate with anyone. Hence, he calls her Kamabla.

Weak.

The differences between the two parties and their political candidates now are striking. That difference is galvanizing the Democratic Party while the GOP sinks like an old man trying to settle onto a lumpy sofa. There’s anecdotal evidence that Trump signs are disappearing from Trump country. They’re just not out there as much. It’s like Trump supporters realize that he’s a tired act, vaudeville in an era of Marvel movies. He’s peaked, and now he’s falling. My wife even theorizes that Evangelicals are quietly moving away from Trump. They achieved what they wanted from him for now: with Mitch McConnell’s help, Trump delivered a right-wing Supreme Court and they overturned established precedence, Roe v. Wade. She thinks they got what they want from Trump and now recognize him for the filth he is and are washing their hands of him.

What the right-wing SCOTUS delivered was a fundamental change that is disastrous. Conservative states dominated by men are running amok with anti-abortion laws that have fast lost appeal for the majority of the political body. Instead of attracting new voters, the GOP overreach is repelling voters. Further, after Kamala Harris was put forward by Joe Biden as the next POTUS, young voter registration surged.

I don’t have numbers and hard facts for all of this; it’s just a gut feeling. But my sense is that Harris-Walz is moving toward victory, and the GOP is in retreat. I mean, look how they have reacted to Project 2025 criticisms by trying to hide under rocks in parallel to Trump trying to deny he knows anything about it.

The MAGA GOP’s brand has been revealed to be reactionary, racist, and sexist. All their new ideas are old ideas. They offer leadership that wants to do the same things that failed before. Frankly, much of what they’re suggesting now, such as doing away with separation of church and state, or providing immunity to the POTUS, putting them above the rule of law, and curtailing voters’ rights and the opportunities to vote, is un-American. It might have been part of a past America, but we are now a modern America. Or we’re trying to be. Young voters at least are awakening to this, and it will show in November.

At least, this is what I hope.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Freshfree

Thursday has trundled in, soft of foot and full of grace, delivering smoke in our space, and pleasing night air on our face.

It’s Thursday, 8/8/24, or 24/8/8.

Our smoke has risen into the unhealthy zone. Don’t know which fire is our source. We have many to select from. None too close but valleys channel it in. It looks like crap out there. Can’t see the mountains for the smoke, and the blue sky has been squirted into smoggy tones. 65 F outside my house today, we’re expecting a thirty degree rise to the high. No wind is blowing, so a sort of still deadness rules. I expect zombies to start emerging from the smoke at any moment.

We’ve been spoiled by the peaches acquired at the growers market in the last two visits. Both times we returned with the sweetest, tastiest, most perfectly ripe peaches. Sooo juicy. The blackberries were found wanting. Plump and juicy, yes, but only one out of four is sweet. We’re of the school that blacberries should be sweet and not sour, and the sour blackberries aren’t sitting well on my tongue. Besides those fruits, we picked up green onions — my wife is a fiend for ’em — and greens. Good stuff: local and organic. Non-GMO.

I posted something about Gov Walz the other day. A right wing friend commented, “He put tampons in the boys room.” I reacted, oh, no! How terrible! How tragic! Must cost billions of dollars. Such a waste, such a waste.

Well, no, I didn’t write all that. I thought it. I wasn’t going to write it because the issue doesn’t deserve any oxygen. As Joey from Friends said, “It’s something a cow would say. It’s a moo point.”

My wife has an ongoing thing with spiders in the bath. I use the shower stall, so this doesn’t involve me, but whenever she heads to the tub, she must clear out several spiders. We don’t kill spiders and these are all of the daddy longlegs variations. She plugs up the drain with a cloth to keep them from climbing up through there and removes them by means of a rolled, stiff piece of paper. She calls this her spider catcher. It’s actually an old invoice for blinds. We pulled it out a month ago to see when we purchased our blinds. It hasn’t been refiled because it’s now my wife’s spider catcher. She gives me a summary — “There were three spiders in there. I don’t know they’re coming from. They seem to get stuck. Stupid spiders. I move them and they go right back in there.”

With freedom still my theme this week, The Neurons are channeling Bread’s 1971 song, “Mother Freedom” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark discounted). My older sister had this album so I knew the song. I met my wife later that year. Her sister had the album on 8-track and regularly played it. It’s tres fam. God song for freedom week, though.

Freedom, keep walkin’
Keep on your toesand don’t stop talkin’ ’bout
Freedom, get goin’
Lots to be learned and lots to be known ’bout
People gotta reach ’em
Sit ’em right down and then you gotta teach ’em ’bout
Freedom, gotta win it
Gotta put yourself smack dab in it

Hey tomorrow
Now don’t you go away
‘Cause freedom
Just might come your way

Freedom, keep tryin’
People stay alive and people keep dyin’ for
Freedom, so don’t lose it
Ya gotta understand ya just can’t abuse it
Freedom, get movin’
Never gonna stop till everybody’s groovin’ on
Love for – one another
Callin’ some friend and callin’ some brother

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Just 89 days until the elections. Stay fresh, be strong, and remain postive. Vote Blue. Coffee has found its way into a cup and on into my systems, so all systems are go. Here’s the music video. Cheers

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Asking For A Friend

OK, Trump in Fox interview.  “This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.”  Can anyone tell me what is “sooner” than immediately?

Yep, that MAGAt is a deeep thinker.

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Tidbits

The Next Summer Games

My wife and her friends were talking about the Olympics and the new events that were added. She said, “We’ll probably see pickle ball at the Olympics in four years.”

Laughter rang out. Then one wag added, “And all athletes will be over sixty.”

The Squirrel

My wife and I are driving down the road, a little over the 25 MPH limit. My wife yells, “Watch out for the squirrel.”

“I see it.” The squirrel, like most of them that I see, has darted halfway across the road. After a pause, they took a few more hops toward the road’s other side. Now they’re paused in our lane. It’s still far down the road. There’s plenty of time for the squirrel to get out of the way. I’m reading to toot the horn and brake. “Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.”

“No, it’s a crazy squirrel or it has a death wish. It doubles back.” My wife is intensely leaning forward. “I see it all the time.”

I’d never seen it before, that I know. “How do you know it’s the same squirrel? It cou — “

“It’s the same squirrel, I know it.” She hammers the windshield. “Get out of the road, you crazy squirrel. Move faster. Don’t come back.”

The squirrel clears the road and disappears into bushes on the other side of the sidewalk. “There, they’re gone,” I say.

“You never know.” My wife sits back. “It’s a crazy squirrel. Sometimes I think it wants to get run over. Well, it’s not going to be me.”

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Tuesday’s Wandering Thoughts

I dreamed that I was discussing the mathematical order of operations with several other people. Of all of the subjects, events, and worries I can remember dreaming about, this seems like one of the strangest. Sitting, I kept saying that it’s a matter of precedence and you start with things in parentheses or brackets first, as if that was in dispute.

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