Yeah still Behind…

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Someone who shall remain husband has turned this into “the man who traveled in elephants” type of trip. Turns out stopping to see the world’s largest ball of twine and such slows a trip down to a crawl.

I will try to post tomorrow, but if I fail…

Look, I’m hoping this is Arab braggadocio. However those of you in large, soft-target type of places, and those of you obviously identifiable as Jewish, kindly watch your six tomorrow, please. https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/10/11/a-worldwide-terror-spree-this-friday-n583948

To paraphrase, in a completely different context the ending of another Heinlein story: It’s already been a bad week. We don’t want to lose YOU. (Also, no free kittens. They have homes. And we have at least one backup.)

On the serious side, guys, mind yourselves and those you care for. It’s been a bad year. And though I’m 90% sure it’s nonsense, it matches my nightmares too closely, and there’s that large open border.

Be not afraid, but be careful.

157 thoughts on “Yeah still Behind…”

  1. See you and Dan in a few hours. Seeing the world’s largest ball of twine would only tempt my inner demon to treat it like the gordian knot. I’m sure those who can’t join us can amuse themselves for a few days, right guys?

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  2. L’Chiam!

    (Toothy grin)

    I am assuming the stupid schmucks ain’t -that- stupid. And if they are, well, someone’s gonna have an interesting day.

    (Toothy grin)

    “Behind every blade of grass” folks.

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  3. OK, I’ll leave one battle pack of Swiss out and open. If 480 rounds don’t slow them I’ve always hoped to die on a big pile of hot brass instead of draped with tubes and wires.

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  4. “I thought about having the elephant carry the suitcase. Until I realized he already was carrying his trunk.” I’ll stop sharing my baggage now, and Good Day to you all.

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      1. Obviously wasn’t the southern part of Stinson Beach. Ah, to be young again, and discovering why certain portions of the anatomy should be shielded from the Sun. Learning by experience teaches the strongest.

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        1. It sounds like that part of Stinson Beach was similar to the ones near Davenport, in Santa Cruz county. Somehow, I managed to avoid getting burnt in places where the sun shouldn’t shine, though I managed to get some amazing sunburns in Santa Clara valley. Protip: working on a motorcycle without a shirt might not be a good idea on a sunny day. It took several hours to get the engine back together and in place, and my back didn’t forgive me for several days.

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          1. Kind of makes you glad you don’t ride on your back, huh? Although if you ride tandem, it’s kind of embarrassing to say, “Honey, don’t hold me too close please.”

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            1. Also, riding in a boat pulling water skiers in Florida is a good way to get sunburned fromt and back thanks to reflectedsunlight. One of the few times I’ve burned bad enough to blister.

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              1. Water skiing under overcast sky. Never burned before. It was bad. Blistered everything not covered. Wearing one piece (never was into bikinis). I hadn’t normally sunburned despite rarely using lotion. After that sunburning became a problem. Never again that bad.

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              2. Four of us went to Lassen Park one Memorial Day. We walked through the snow-field to the outskirts of Bumpass Hell (about 8000′ elevation), and got horrible burns on our faces. I had a hat, but the reflected UV meant that anything not covered was nuked.

                We found zinc oxide at a store on the way home; we figured if we walked into any other business, we’d probably get LEO attention for the weird looks alone.

                Yep, blisters, and I had to sleep on my back until my face healed.

                We live at 4300′ now, and while I’ll wear short sleeve shirts, ain’t going topless. On a bright day, I have a hat to protect my balding head. :)

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                1. And yeah, this was when sunblock lotions were pretty much unknown. I think I got my first bottle (Bullfrog, SPF 15) a year or so later. #Betterlivingthroughchemistry

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                2. $TINY_TOWN is in the totality zone (for values of during an annular eclipse) for today’s festivities, but for once, the weather-guessers were right about clouds blocking the view.

                  Never saw a total eclipse of the sun. Don’t expect to do so in the future. I’ll catch the livestream and remember my Johnny Cash. :)

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                  1. I saw a little with the cheap (99 cent) filter glasses. Before the ring fully formed, you could see the crescent, but once it was fully developed, the filters were too effective, and the cloud cover negated everything else.

                    My first eclipse watching was some time in the early 1960s. I’ll count this as a win for the bucket list.

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                    1. I remember the partial eclipse in upstate New York back in the 1970s. Too far from NYC for the totality, but it was definitely eerie with a significant drop in luminosity, like evening coming early. You could feel the air cooling. Even the animals acted strangely. We caught the fringe of the eclipse here in southern NH a couple years ago, but that wasn’t quite as dim or noticeable.

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                    2. I gave a few second’s thought to going north to see that eclipse, but after years of mostly rural driving, I really didn’t want to.

                      Today’s had us almost in the center of the annular line, close enough to not matter. OTOH, with moderate cloud cover, it was a bit frustrating. The filter glasses did cut out the glare, and I could see an image of the sun, up until totality. (Once it hit full, the filters were too strong, but the clouds obscured too much.)

                      I remember reading about W. Carlos (of Switched On Bach fame) and his/her love of chasing eclipses.

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                    3. Here in southern Willamette valley it might have gotten darker, but as hard as it was raining, and as dark as the clouds were? Um. There was a Solar Eclipse today?

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                  2. We’re down on the coast and while it got groomer, it was too cloudy to see anything.
                    We’re planning to run north into the totality zone for next year’s eclipse.

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        2. The worst sunburn I ever had was on the tops of my feet. One June soon after school let out I got the chance to spend two weeks at the beach. I’d already tanned my face, arms, and the back of my neck doing farmwork on the few warm days we got in the spring, and I was quite careful about what else I exposed until I’d built up some pigmentation – but I forgot about between the flipflop straps. It’s impossible to even sleep without brushing that area against things…

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  5. I expect there will be some idiots that take up the “cause”. Same areas as all the “peaceful protests”. Anywhere else they’ll be met with visible resistance and they’ll melt away. What I do not expect is flat out attacks on vulnerable “no self protection allowed” locations. I pray I am not wrong.

    Have fun at the convention.

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      1. We know that disarmed Israelis died, while armed Israelis killed Ham-Ass terrorists and mostly survived. Leftroids won’t want to admit that, or concede the obvious. Hopefully, other folks will understand, and act accordingly.

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          1. That’s why the coddled left-wing spoiled brats are demonstrating in support of Ham-Ass. It’s what they wish they could do if they weren’t such chickenshits.

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  6. Take care. I’m busy today getting the house ready for my daughter’s sleepover tonight tonight. But we also have the funeral of her old after school sitter this afternoon who was battling breast/ovarian cancer. Uff-da, it’s been a week.

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  9. If you need a rest in Mesquite, NV please let me know. No bacalao hitting allowed. We are the last 80 mile outpost before Sin City. Also, you’d miss Ammo and Max.

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  10. I am of the opinion that everyone should see the world’s largest ball of twine once in their lifetime. If only to realize that it’s creation is what people used to think of as being at least mildly insane.

    Myself, I have to use both hands to count (it’s on the way to the stomping grounds of the previous four generations in my family). At least I don’t have to take the house slippers off yet.

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    1. Gotta wonder, did somebody set out to make the world’s biggest ball of twine from the outset, or did they start winding twine for some other purpose and then think, ‘Hey, this could be…’?

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      2. IIRC, it was a farmer with the “I’ll find a use for this someday” mindset, and never did. (Somehow, it was in a place where it’s natural enemies – rodents, birds, mold, and mildew – could not get at it.)

        Then a descendant came across it and said “Well, maybe this will get some tourists to stop by our produce stand.” (Never did, as they didn’t invest the funds like the owners of “The Thing” did to advertise.) Later, they presented it to Cawker City, which holds an annual event at which people can make their own twine contributions (I believe it has to be actual sisal twine, not the crappy nylon stuff.)

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  12. Safe travels, have fun, and remember life is for living, we all forget that from time to time. We are adults and as yesterday showed we can amuse ourselves, quite well actually. Still chuckling over Wiley E Post super genius, though I thought it looked more like Snidely Whippost, meh.

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  13. “no free kittens”

    I suspect the felines in question will have rather strong feelings about being not-free, curiosity being a known predilection of such creatures. Liberty to the kittens!

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    1. We just got a new not-free kitten.

      He bit three of us and ricocheted all over the place in the process of becoming not-free.

      Having discovered that we provide gushy food, tummy tickles, and warm places to sleep, he now approves of not-free. :D

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        2. Meanwhile Morrigan lost three quail to an insufficiently fastened door and the skinny black cat was around. Sigh. They were my favorites. Hunchy, litte lame foot and deposed king. Very sweet birds all.

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  14. Sigh, soulless Sarah unappreciative of hubbie’s pause to ponder the balled twine monument sacred to all of us ‘No don’t throw that away, someday we might need it’ ers!

    Me, yep I heat with hot air but the 350 pound cast iron radiator I’ve in my, of course someday I just might need that, metal pile, hey it was free and someday….

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  15. I grew up on roadside America. It’s how by eight, I’d already seen a five hoofed donkey, six legged cow, a Fiji Merman, Rock City, Mark Twains home town…I could go on. I could read a map before I could read a book. People make fun of Buck-ee’s, but it brings fond memories of “Stuckey’s! Five miles!!”

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    1. Or “South of the Border” billboards for 200 miles each direction up and down I-95. I think the first Pedro billboard for South of the Border used to be in downtown Richmond. But we can’t have Pedro billboards anymore, not politically correct.

      “Everybody’s a weiner at Pedro’s! You never sausage a place!”

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      1. Stuckey’s on the east coast remember once you got south of DC they were everywhere in the Carolinas and Georgia on the way to my uncle’s in Atlanta. And the billboards were everywhere too. Source of Pecan praline and fireworks…

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        1. Yep, I remember stopping at them on our trips from MD to FL on US301 when I was 12 or so.

          And FIREWORKS! I got enough 1-1/2″ strings, cherry bombs and cracker balls to last a month. :-)

          There was also Hornes’, but they didn’t have as many stores. I forget which one had the sign “Eat Here and Get Gas”.

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        1. There’s a lot fewer than there used to be. They’re still everywhere for about 50 miles in either direction of SotB but not nearly as many as in the golden days of the place. And yeah, Pedro got the Speedy Gonzales treatment as a mascot…offensive to Mexicans. The few billboards that still have a Pedro on them, last I saw (a few years back) he was a generic inoffensive smiling happy Mexican with a sombrero, not the old lazy Pedro. Most of the old Pedro billboards or gone or have been replaced with stuff that’s a little more generic.

          To be honest I’m surprised the place is still open. The owner died years back (interestingly, he was a Yankee that moved to South Carolina and made SotB the first integrated workplace in Dillon County) but it’s still there, kind of a time warp really. I don’t know how many people stop there anymore to ride the Holy Neon Sombrero or stay at the motel, or do anything other than get gas and get back on I-95.

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          2. Wow. I stayed there once when my ship transferred from Groton to Charleston for the shipyard (so 30 years ago).

            I’ll be sad when it does go. That’s a classic piece of Americana.

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  16. One of the interesting things about “The Man Who Traveled In Elephants” is that the title doesn’t work to anyone my generation or younger, because the cultural context is not there and has not been for generations. From the late 1800s and train culture through the first half of the twentieth century, “I travel in shower rings” (to cross the streams and work in a John Hughes reference) was widely understood to mean “I’m a traveling salesman and my product is shower rings”. Generation X and younger have to figure out that context, somehow. (Yes, it is inferrable from the story, but not immediately.)

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        1. Might be both, but the overt discussion is safety. Seems sketchy for 10-year-olds to go door to door. Was mid-90s sometime, I believe, when that got traction; our daughter did door to door around then, but both my wife and I took order forms to work and delivered later.

          Wife was also Cookie Mom one year; a pallet of GS cookies is kind of a lot.

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          1. Candy and beef sticks (BSA) was door to door, or box in office. I just paid the amount was in the box and hoped everyone paid their dollar. (Never was shorted.) Popcorn was pre-order, door-to-door, or office. Last time son did door to door was 2005, with another scout. I was the visible adult, even though they were 16 and 17.

            The other time the scouts went door to door was to leave flyers, but only around where a Christmas tree was scheduled to be picked up. If someone was home they knocked. In fact we took very much advantage of they younger first year scouts and webelos about to transition from cubs to scouts. Who can say no to taking their Christmas tree to a small scout standing there in the obvious wet and cold? Adult was there to drive, two older scouts to load the trees, and the young small scout to drum up more business. Done right < 20% trees picked up were the ones pre-scheduled for pickup. The biggest day when *I drove, the take was $1200 gross. Suggested donation (early ’00’s) was $8 regular, $10 flocked, $15 and up for larger trees. Of coarse a lot just gave $20.

            (*) Hubby and I never worked this at the same time. We did have a pickup so one of us drove as much as we were available. Our son didn’t always go either. As long as there were 3 or more scouts as part of the crew, he wasn’t needed. I think the largest, over the entire fund raising activity, per hour rate the scouts earned was $15/hour ($30/hour net actually earned). Not bad for 10 – 17 year olds.

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        2. Is that safety or just nobody is home anymore?
          ………….

          Wags hands. Depends on locations. In general I’d say “easier”. I used to set up a box in the staff cafeteria (small) when kid was in cubs. Never got cheated. (I just wrote a check for the entire box, then got “paid” back.) Better value than the snack machine in the lunch room. But that was when the candy wasn’t the fancy candy but standard Hersey bars. Between candy bars/beef sticks, and popcorn, sales, son learned retail was not in his future if he could avoid it.

          We aren’t seeing any neighborhood kids because the kids in the neighborhood aren’t in organizations out and selling. I think the schools finally got the message “we pay property taxes, stop this nonsense”. When I have seen scouts out selling, it is always when one would expect people to be home. Rarely in pairs, even if in pairs, parent in tow. That is what I did with our son. When a scout shows up at our door, I look for the parent. Even if just the kid from down the street.

          Also, (although from what I understand product sales do not apply) the new standard of not awarding individual scout accounts based on time worked on troop fundraisers, instead it is 100% troop funds, is just wrong. Yea, know it was a legal ruling. Just plain wrong. Troop son belonged to half was troop funds (for multi person equipment (tents, etc.), high adventure account, scholarships, awards, etc.), and half per hour worked into scouts and scouters accounts (yes, including adults). Even council product sales. Only then the 1/2 the troop got went for better “sales” prizes (tents, cots, backpacks, etc.). Scouter accounts could only be used for scouting activities, equipment, and scouting fees. If scouts quit, their scouter accounts reverted to the troop fund.

          After son’s first year, he paid for all his scouting expenses, and yearly enrollment. Our scouter accounts paid for our yearly enrollment and training expenses (including Woodbadge), and helped pay for National Jamboree (2x) for son (mine volunteer fees were tax deductible, so out of pocket, not out of fund), and Philmont (1x) for son (dad’s Philmont fees and travel were tax deductible, so, again, out of pocket). While we could afford to pay son’s scouting expenses, the thrill he got that he earned and paid for it, was important then, and even now. Plus he set the example for other scouts whose parents could not afford the extras. Building their self esteem too. Now? Report from troops is they no longer have the heavy go-getters for big yearly group fund raisers. Why? When no matter how hard the individual works, the benefit is the same for the ones who don’t lift a finger. Seeing troops reverting to multiple fund raisers per year. Which used to be able to avoid.

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          2. Popcorn sales splits are up to the individual troop, at least in my council. If it’s all going to the troop, yell at the committee.

            (My daughter’s troop takes a larger split of fundraisers, but that is because they are still new & insolvent.)

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            1. Not the council product sales. The non-council fund raisers where scouts and scouters put in time.

              () Christmas Tree Lot Sales.
              (              ) Christmas Tree Pickup.
              () After Game Stadium Cleanup.
              (              ) Game Parking Fee Collection.
              (*) Etc.

              100% troop funds is a perfect illustration of the fallacy of communism.
              ………………….

              Yes. (I think so anyway.)

              Gee. Who’d think that suddenly participating in non-council fund raising suddenly became minimal to non-existent. The days the truck I or others drove who brought in $800 – $1200 gross per day weren’t putting in a few measly hours to just pickup the trees scheduled. We were starting at 8 AM and often going to dark, with the scouts assigned to our truck. That is working every hour to pickup multiple trees (were suppose to break off if not getting a lot of extra trees, also had to get all trees scheduled). That is what it has (apparently) devolved to. If funds earned are going to be distributed no matter what the effort is? I get it. Instead of one major fund raising effort per year (beyond council product sales), they are having to do multiple during the year.

              Heard about this around ’15 and it was due to a legal ruling. Would not surprise me if pendulum has swung away from this, and troops are ignoring the ruling, or it changed. After all it is all bookkeeping. Could be the council too, but I heard about it first from someone in a different council.

              As I said above, after son’s first year, he was able to pay for everything scouting out of his family scouting account. Even the poorest scout family could do this.

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              1. All the troops that I know of around here—Girl Scouts as well as BSA—have a hours-share method of dividing up fundraising. All hours worked are logged, total fundraising amount is divided by hours total, then each scout gets that times however many hours they worked.

                People who work get credit, and the poor schlub who gets the low-sales time doesn’t get penalized. (Or the kid who is just awful at sales. Sometimes that’s how it goes.)

                I can’t imagine what idiotic ruling decided that wasn’t a good thing. Of course, with a proper accounting, sure, all the money goes to the troop—which a committee could then distribute to the scouts as they wish, including “since they worked this many hours…” So it might be in effect here and we just do the end run around it.

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                1. All hours worked are logged, total fundraising amount is divided by hours total, then each scout gets that times however many hours they worked. People who work get credit, and the poor schlub who gets the low-sales time doesn’t get penalized.
                  ……………………..

                  Exactly how the non-product sales fund raisers worked. Not based on single days take in. Thus early (before most trees were down) or late (after most trees had been picked up) workers weren’t penalized. My point on the difference on how (seems to be) worked now VS then is with the new ruling there is no incentive to “work the street” when picking up a scheduled tree.

                  I can’t imagine what idiotic ruling decided that wasn’t a good thing.
                  ……………………..

                  Agree. I suspect someone who couldn’t bother to get their scout to fund raisers didn’t think it was “fair”.

                  Of course, with a proper accounting, sure, all the money goes to the troop.
                  ………………………

                  Exactly. Not like the money could be used outside of scouting needs and events. Or taken if they quit scouts (changing troops, the money went to the new troop in the scouts name).

                  Honestly. Glad to read that this has swung back. FYI. Heard about the change from multiple sources. I was shocked.

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      2. In the 1990s, at least, it got supplated by “relationship marketing”, where salesmen would only go to homes where they had been invited or gotten contact info from previous customers.

        Why yes, I did try to sell CutCo Knives for a summer.

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              2. One of my wife’s students was selling Cutco, very early in our marriage.

                We said sure, come on over, we don’t have any decent knives yet.

                He came, and did his thing, and I started showing him features he did not recognize. Had him for a couple of hours, but yes, we did buy a set.

                Still have them 50 years later, though I replaced them with Shuns a few years back.

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                1. My aunt’s fiance (Mom’s kid sister, 9 years older than $OLDEST_BROTHER) was selling Cutco and Wearever(?) cookware to pay college bills. My parents bought a few knives and a bunch of the aluminum pots and pans. I got a couple of the knives when I graduated college and moved out, and the pots lasted at least another 20 years after that.

                  I have a couple of Cutco knives, though one handle got too close to a heat source. The replacement policy was more than I was willing to pay, but the knife is still functional. OTOH, we bought a set of Henckels knives from Costco, and I’m using the chef’s knife several times a week. Still use the Cutco paring knife; that’s getting close to 50 years old.

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        2. There was an auto glass dealer that would NOT leave us alone.. based an hour’s drive (one way) away. $HOUSEMATE finally set up an appointment and they sent a rep. – who told and told off about it. He was quite sore at having driven all that way “for nothing.” Our reply was if they didn’t start respecting Do Not Call, we’d do it every time they called. Gee, suddenly when it cost THEM for a change the calls ceased. One gall DID call to try to tell us off, I think. I suspect $HOUSEMATE either laughed at her or told her off – with the same “If you keep calling despite DNC, we’ll keep scheduling until you learn.” reply.

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      3. Door-to-door was rare where I lived in the ’60s and ’70s. OTOH, I was a latchkey kid, with the house usually vacant. (Some of Mom’s part-time jobs let her eat lunch at home, but not all of them nor always.)

        The descendant of that was the “invite a salesperson”. Did that for an encyclopedia and some wine and some other things (insulation, roof–both no-sale). Not sure if the Cutco knives was D2D or invite. Not much of a sale, two knives.

        I think GS cookies were tables at the stores. The boy scout troops were healthy in the blue-collar neighborhood where I was a little, but when we moved to a more upscale neighborhood (farrrrrrrr better schools), scouting was limited, especially for boys. Bluebirds and GS, some Cubs, but the BS was almost dead.

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      1. Fine, “late Gen X”. I only ever heard about door to door salesmen from jokes, old TV shows, and older people talking about them.

        Including one poet who had a poem called The Kirby Man, and had to explain to a bunch of kids all my age what that was.

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        1. Idiosyncratic maybe, but I got it from a passion for old books. Read a lot of 30s, 40s, and so on pulp once upon a time. They had their own section in the library, and it was quiet.

          I think old pulp is good for young minds. Miles better than the woke stuff that turns kids off reading these days.

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    4. I was born in ’64 but always considered myself part of Gen-X. I never understood the title, so thanks for explaining it.

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          1. “Last I heard you were selling steam automobiles.”
            -line about having to get of that business-
            “What happened?”
            “Someone invented one.”

            Hrmm… ALL marketing, NO substance. Was ‘The Music Man’ written by an engineer? Or at least inspired by…

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            1. He was a skilled conman. It’s a known arche-type, though not one that you see as the protagonist all that often in movies (at least not to the level that he does it), outside of spy films.

              I think my favorite moment in it is when he’s triumphantly singing “76 Trombones” to himself, while Marian sings “Goodnight, My Someone”. Then all of a sudden he pauses, has an “Oh, Crap!” moment, and then he’s the one singing “Goodnight, My Someone,” while she triumphantly sings “76 Trombones”.

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              1. Con movies have a long and venerable tradition, even though they don’t get made often because doing the plot in a way that works, is clever, and the audience hasn’t seen before is difficult. (See also why mystery movies are no longer a thing. The mystery locks in the ending, is hard to do right, and robs producers of the chance to do “creative input”.)

                But The Sting, Diggstown and Bowfinger (it’s a different take, but it’s still a con) all come to mind. Not to mention The Grifters.

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                2. And in the SciFi realm there is “The Last Starfighter” where Robert Preston essentially reprises his Harold Hill role from Music Man (sans music). Amazing Graphics for 1986, the company that did the special effects effectively went broke trying to create the effects.

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                    2. Looks like it WAS 1984, my memory is faulty. OK he actually could get you a position defending the Frontier but he really wasn’t supposed to recruit Terrans for the bounty :-) so he is still very shady. I wonder if the Dirctor WANTED him to play it like Harold Hill or if Mr. Preston was one of those actors that really only have one character they do, but they do it really well.

                      Because the company that did the effects went belly up there were several models of the gunstar that went into public usage (although NOT Public Domain I suspect) that were all over the place round about 1989 as the hardware was then fast enough to light and transform the 8K or so polygons in real time at 30 FPS.

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                    3. While it’s true he never pulls a full-blown con, it is noted that he has a habit of misleading hapless humans about what they’re being recruited for, and has been doing it for a very long time. I have a recollection that one of his contacts asks him about a certain sword in a stone…

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                    4. “I wonder if the Dirctor WANTED him to play it like Harold Hill or if Mr. Preston was one of those actors that really only have one character they do, but they do it really well.”

                      Apparently he played Henry II in the stage version of “The Lion in Winter”, so I’m guessing that he had a wider repertoire. But he was good at the Harold Hill role (he first played Hill on stage, and won a Tony for it), so it’s perhaps not surprising that he would be asked to act similarly in TLS.

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              2. The Flyover Falls community theater group (er, the larger of the two; the other does smaller-cast plays) did The Music Man(1) some years ago. Haven’t seen much since before Covidiocy; they took a chance on The Producers (2) and $SPOUSE (along with much of the county) hated it. They used to do classic revivals (Sound of Music, Les Miserables, Camelot), but the modern stuff has been spotty. They did do a respectable version of Cats.

                (1) They usually hire one pro actor, decidedly not a star, but someone familiar with the piece. The rest is local talent.
                (2) I liked the movie better; something about the stage version just didn’t gel. OTOH, Mel Brooks is an acquired taste that I’ve partially lost.

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          1. I did not know that. I thought it was a more general phrase meaning “to have seen something extraordinary”.

            But I didn’t look it up. 😕

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  17. Tell Dan thank you

    I think the way things are and how you feel them having you look at the world’s largest ball of twine and such is the best thing for you right now.

    We are too alike and making you unfocused for silly stuff is what you need. I know because otter news, cat reddits, and Twitter bunnies are how I get through the day right now.

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    1. One snatches what sanity may be had as one can, these days. If it comes in the form of silliness and humor, so much the better. A soul’s burden is lightened when laughter and not grim necessity occupy it.

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  18. For Christians and Jews.

    No promises about our earthsuits, which have an expiration at the pleasure of the Almighty; but I gain great comfort in believing the LORD will see to my safety as I trust in Him.

    Psalm 91:5-10, English Standard Version

    You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
    nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

    A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
    You will only look with your eyes
    and see the recompense of the wicked.

    Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
    the Most High, who is my refuge—
    no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
    no plague come near your tent.

    Hebrew text and an English translation here:
    https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2691.htm
    (even a link to “Psalm 91” spoken in Hebrew)

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    1. Well timed, thanks.

      Pile of crap today. Probably more Monday. Need to adjust my attitude asap, because “embrace the (unpleasant)” is now a thing

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    2. @ setnaffa – thanks for the link to the recitation. Our high school choir performed Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms back in the late sixties, and I loved the way Hebrew sang. It was new at the time, having debuted in 1965, and quite ambitious for a medium-sized town in Texas.
      Background and lyrics — Bernstein’s selection of texts is quite appropriate for these troubled times.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichester_Psalms

      Psalm 91
      11 For He will give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
      12 They shall bear thee upon their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

      Alluded to by Satan in the desert when tempting Christ, although the Psalm’s promises apply to all of the faithful.
      Lucifer’s been working that territory for a long time.

      Luke 4
      9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
      10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
      11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
      12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

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  19. Kino Lorber had a sale, in addition to having a couple of movies I was going to buy at some point in any event, and I thought it might be mildly amusing to use the contents of the order to demonstrate how… eclectic… my taste in cinema is. A total of eleven titles arrived this PM.

    The Lady from Shanghai, 1947. Orson Welles big studio film noir, mostly bought it because it was ten bucks. I don’t hate it, but it’s also not my favorite Welles or noir film.
    The Suspect, 1944. Charles Laughton and Ella Raines film noir directed by the underrated Robert Siodmak. Haven’t seen it yet, but I can’t pass up a Siodmak for under ten bucks on Blu.
    Bend of the River, 1952. Jimmy Stewart western, one of a run he did in the 1950s with director Anthony Mann that are, if you only know Stewart’s pop culture persona, shockingly dark. This one starts with him saving a man from being lynched. The man tells him “if it makes any difference, I didn’t do what they were hanging me for.” Without even looking at him, Stewart says coldly “It doesn’t.”
    Last Year At Marienbad, 1961. French New Wave movie that I’ve not yet seen. I tend to find New Wave filmmakers to be overrated, with a few exceptions. I’m giving this one a chance because it was cheap (again, under ten bucks; I had thought it was part of the Criterion Collection and therefore rather more expensive), and because Trailers from Hell Guru Allan Arkush recommended it, and his opinions on films are usually worth considering.
    Von Richthofen and Brown, 1970. The movie on which Roger Corman decided he was burned out as a director, so he quit to “take a break.” The break became founding New World Pictures and producing a lot of the most memorable exploitation films of the 1970s, with barely a month of actual off-time. Weirdly, it’s a Corman-directed film I’ve never seen.
    Black Gestapo, 1975. One of the oddest blaxploitation films of all time, and that’s saying something. Also a fascinating movie to watch as a writer, because it largely wastes its premise, and it’s instructive to think about how they could have made better use of the idea without increasing the budget.
    Year of the Jellyfish, 1984. AKA Year of the French Topless Beach. Totally bought this because star Valerie Kaprisky spends most of the film nude or nearly so.
    Color of Night, 1994. Did I get this because it’s Richard Rush’s last film as a director? Because it’s Bruce Willis at an interestingly odd period in his career? Or because the stunningly gorgeous Jane March spends much of this neo noir in the buff? (Spoilers: Actually all three reasons.)
    Unstrung Heroes, 1995. A forgotten gem of 1990s Hollywood, directed by Diane Keaton (of all people). Coming of age story about a Jewish boy whose father, a strident atheist (well-played by John Turturro), sends him to live with his two crazy uncles (Michael Richards and Maury Chaykin) when his mother comes down with terminal cancer. On top of being an interesting little story, well-made and well-acted by all involved (having a script by Richard “The Fisher King” LaGravenese doesn’t hurt either), it has a truly remarkable score by Thomas Newman, fresh off The Shawshank Redemption, in which he decided to echo the main character’s mental and psychological turmoil by composing only for “strange” instruments not usually used in film scores.
    My Journey Through French Cinema, 2016. A French director explores the history of French film through his own experiences with it. This was not on sale, but looked either fascinating or painfully pretentious, and I decided to bet on “fascinating”. We shall see.
    Overwhelm the Sky, 2021. A three-hour black and white epic shot for $50,000. I blogged about my interest and reservations about it several months ago, and have now (finally) acquired it. (On DVD, because there is no Blu Ray, for whatever reason, possibly because it is such a niche movie that putting it on Blu made no economic sense.)

    The only way in which this haul is not reflective of my tastes is how mainstream most of it is. Last Year At Marienbad probably still counts as “basic bitch” for most cineastes, e.g.

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  21. Yet another reminder that the Left’s “decolonization” rhetoric masks a desire for genocide:

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    2. As a Native American, I get to decolonize them, yes? Ship their marxoid asses back overseas!

      And too funny! Auto-corrupt keeps changing the above to “deodorize”. LMFAO! Stinky hippies!

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      1. “Decolonize? You first, buddy.”

        Oh, and nothing says sticking it to white European colonizers like laying Bach.

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            1. Well, of course Bach was really African before the international conspiracy of Whiteness rewrote the history books, like they did when they hid the fact that the civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Japan and India were all built by Africans. Doubtless they built Turtle Island as well, before the coppery-white colonizers crossed the land bridge from Russia.

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            2. Well certainly his two wives did as he had 20 children (though only 10 made it to adulthood and no his first wife did not die in child birth as far as we know).

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      1. Killing people is easy. Cleaning up the mess afterwards sucks. Of course irresponsible people leave the messes for someone else to clean up. And yes, Hamas is very irresponsible.

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      2. Evenstar said “So what they want to kill all white people?” Well not just that, they’d likely want to kill all the Asians, Hispanics (of whatever skin shade), and Native Americans (for some values of native), as well as many of their kith and kin who look successful. Its seems like its the Crab Bucket writ large.

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  22. Before my wife got sick, the world’s biggest ball of twine was on our list things to see when I finally “put in my papers.” We’d even even scouted several places to live outside of Soviet California that we could use a a launching pad for all those road trips we had to defer while I was busy making a living.

    A few other thing on the list are

    Enchanted Highway in North Dakota
    Carhenge in Nebraska
    The Thing in Arizona
    Barringer Crater (we did visit this about 25 years ago but my wife really wanted to go back to Winslow so…).
    Tombstone, AZ
    Hole in the Rock in Utah
    VW Spider in Iowa
    Any number of so-called “mystery spots”

    Alas now, if I ever get to see any of these things it will be by myself.

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