If a thing of beauty is a joy forever....

Do you think I'm pretty?

The postmodern aesthetic is a curious beast. I am bothered by what I see. Why has Ugly become the pop-culture lingua franca? I suppose one could take the high road and claim that art is now taking its cues from Guernica, but that would be pretentious. It's just ugly.

I would not let my kids watch "Rugrats". The ugliness offended me, and I preferred that they see prettier things. You know, like "Jem" or "G.I.Joe". (There was the Ren and Stimpy video, but hey, John Kricfalusi is the Arbiter of all true Animation Goodness!) "South Park" has flashes of prophetic insight, but it is itself ugly, while decrying the culture's ugliness. 

The bane of reality TV has brought us the likes of Boo Boo Honey and her mastodonic mother, bellwethers of our physical future. Adult Swim offerings are hideous, if funnily written. Everywhere, everywhere, ugly tonight.

The Dread Dormomoo and I are at Anime Blast Chattanooga, and are having lots of time to talk of things like this. Her question mirrors the statement of a very aware person:"Your mouth says what your heart is full of.". Is the ugliness rampant in the West a reflection of its inward arrangements? May be an obvious question, but it is the one no-one is asking. As the West continues to flee from the foundation that made it great, I suspect that beauty in our culture will increasingly become a premium.

Wherein I exhibit the Wisdom of the Ages

Another reason to love Facebook

"And what knowledge" asked Socrates "may we derive about the author from her writing?"

Resolutions of Muses

It is almost over.

It is almost starting.

Whatever the future holds for the YouEssofAY, it begins now.
Whatever it holds for me, begins now.

I am weary of the Beforetime. It has sucked the life from me, as some vegetarian leech would make raisins of grapes. It has consumed my creativity, leaving me a whispering husk, faintly shaking his cane at the world.
------------------------


I went to bed the other night in a FOUL mood. As I composed myself for fitful slumber, my Muse began to compose, as well: a ripping good poem of metered excellence. It built and built upon itself, oracular bile, and so clearly defined! I knew that it would be waiting for me in the morning.

We know the punch line.

My Stately Pleasure Dome faded to the bare memory of shape. But nonetheless, the message shone through, My Muse was back!

The resolution, then, is to let her hold sway, and indulge in creativity with words, in the image of One who Spoke, and it Was. No, not stodgy religious versifying. Just creativity.

Let there Be....

Perhaps the best advice I have ever given. Or not.

If you plan to blow off the vote, at least go and vote for Gary Johnson. If the Libertarian Party gets 5% of the popular vote, then next go-round there will be NO ballot access issues for the LP. We will be closer to a true 3 (or more) party system. Doing nothing will insure the same old thing election after election.

This small investment of your time will earn interest in the future of our nation.

PLEASE share this around if you find it has merit.

For them wot's interested,

IT'S A LIE!!!

Ohhhh, yeaaahhh!!!!!

This one appeared in Facebook this evening. ANY red-blooded American man or woman would likely read this, do the fist thing and go "YESSS!!" (at least the ones south of the Masie Dixie, and west of the Mississippi). Perhaps the most ardent chicken-necked trendy Bloomborg devotee might feel the flaccidity wane for a brief tick in agreement.

Your Aardvark has long been a capital punishment supporter, mostly for Biblical reasons (Paul 'splains it in Romans 13), but I must admit that exposure to Vox Day's writing has given me pause, not that I think CP is wrong or unbiblical, but that it is wrong for a lawless government to own the Ultimate Sanction. Barack Hussein Obama has taken unto himself the privilege of having death lists, for assassination-on-demand. Not cool. bro'.

Another problem I have with it is that the little sons of Belial that are American progeny now have already learned to game the "abuse" system. "If you don't buy me a new X-Box, I'll tell my teacher that you abuse me." Like that. Imagine if the little darlin' was really ticked at you. One-way ticket to a lethal injection. (I do not believe a jury trial would have the ability to acquit, because with child sexual abuse, the accusation is the sentence. Adrenal glands kick in, brain shuts off: "GUILTY!".

So I have to back off from the fist pump on this one. Leave the real molesters to be dealt with in prison, er, in the courts. BUT! If a person is caught as it were, in the act, then what happens, happens. I would acquit a killing in true defense of a child, all things being equal. Likewise injury. A picture showed up a few days ago of a man's back after momma caught him (a coach) coaching her son in diddlery. She heard a cry, grabbed a kitchen knife, and waded in. The man looked like old National Geographic photos of whales after the whalers had got their flensing knives to work. I shall not find the image, because it was too gross for me, and I used to read my grandfather's medical magazines.

But here is a picture of a whale:

You get the idea.

This does not bother me as much because I am a speciesist, I guess.

I trust mom and dad justice over the Government's, in this case.

Where the Aardvark stands.

The third party guys are pretty much freaks.

The more Constitutional guys (ironically) want to turn the YouEssofAY into a church camp. (And yes, I have a problem with that. You do not vote the Kingdom of God in. You make disciples. See Our Founder's instructions in Matthew.)

The Green Party does not bear consideration. It isn't even amusing this go-'round.

Johnson cannot tell the difference between a Right and a Privilege. This is stupid. (And, yes, that PRECISE point is my problem. It opens the door for more government intrusion into our lives. Odd for a Libertarian.)

Romney and Obama are essentially two sides of the same globalist coin, the two-party ouroboros swallowing its own tail.

Ron Paul, the only real difference in candidates, is pretty much a lost cause, but a principled lost cause. I predict volumes of write-ins for him, from ALL political camps.

Consequently, your Aardvark may need to write himself in, himself being the only arbiter of True Political Wisdom.

That is all.

...And that's the way it is.

Associate Press - 31 October, 2012

FOX to Purchase BBC

FOX TV is set to purchase the venerable British Broadcasting Company for a $5.2 billion stock swap. The BBC, producers of such fan favorites as "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood" will continue to have its base of operations in Great Britain, but, according to FOX spokesperson Lindsay Harcourt "There will be a number of programming changes to consider.". One of the

plans involves cancelling the popular "Doctor Who" franchise, replacing it with a time-travel series based upon "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Says Harcourt: "Time shows are a sci-fi staple. The replacement is in keeping with our corporate strategy." When asked about fan uproar, she said "If it is sci-fi, they'll watch it."

I did this one, too! Artsy me.

The End of the Empire

Lucas' expression shows that he did, in fact, at one time have a soul.

The Uriah Tactic.

The right-wing rags have been a-twitter for months about fell rumors regarding Barack Hussein Obama's...proclivities. Stories of his participation in the Chicago bath house scene. His marriage being camouflage. Like that. If this is in fact true (cue Seinfeld: "Not that there's anything wrong with that."), then it raises uncomfortable possibilities.

The US ambassador in Benghazi, J. Christopher Stevens, was also supposed to be gay. Our State department apparently sent a homosexual to a Muslim country, where such behavior is punishable (at least) by imprisonment. This is breathtakingly stupid, unless there is a Reason. Every indication of late is that the consulate was left high and dry, and that the defenders did so voluntarily, against orders. The CIA operatives there were told to stand down when they wanted to help. Ambassador Stevens was abandoned by President Rainbow and his State Department.

Apparently President Obama did listen during his years under Rev. Wright's preachifying. II Samuel 11 details the story of Uriah. He was one of King David's mighty men. He had a beautiful wife, Bathsheba, who David saw bathing on her roof (David's roof was higher. It's GOOD to be the King.).
David sent for her, and she gave a command performance, while her husband was on the battlefield. Whoops, it was during her fertile time (maybe the bath should have been a clue), and she became pregnant with child, in the family way, with a bun in the oven. David went into scheming mode, and brought Uriah home to confer about the war. David then told him to go home to his wife.

Uriah said "My men are not able to enjoy such comforts." and refused. David got him drunk, delivered him home, but that dratted Hittite's honor held up to the challenge, and he slept in the servants' quarters. No whoopie with wifey. No convenient excuse for David and Bathsheba.

David was a man used to getting what he wanted:

In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.  And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”  So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

Lesson: You put the guy you want to get offed to the front, then abandon him. The enemy becomes your hitman. Obama and Co. watched a drones-eye view as the events took place, rather like David awaiting news from the front. It was just a matter of time.

Benghazi has all the earmarks of this tactic. Why was Stevens marked for death? It certainly appears that he was, and that a badly-done anti-Mohammed movie trailer had nothing to do with it.

Now Ezekiel saw the wheel in a wheel; Way in the middle of the air.

So, we always remember the end of Walt Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", with James Mason's manly English lisp sepulchrally intoning "...in God's good time". The end of George Pal's "The War of the Worlds" has Sir Cedric Hardwicke's closing narration:

"After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this Earth."

Many of the Cold War Sci Fi thrillers had references to God and Creation (even scientists!).
"Red Planet Mars" storyline is:

An American scientist contacts Mars by radio and receives information that Mars is a utopia and that Earth's people can be saved if they return to the worship of God.

What is the point? When the idea of Francis Schaeffer's "Christian Consensus" (I prefer "Biblical Consensus") comes up, the knee-jerk reaction is : "America was NEVER a Christian nation!" "The Founders were DEISTS!!!" "We need unlimited rice pudding!!!!"

Like that. Note that I do not make the claim of America being a Christian nation, but that it was founded on Biblical truth, the very thing that has made the West a success, at least until the West abandoned it of late. Lots of people went to church (at least on holidays) and had a working knowledge of what the Bible teaches. Ten Commandments, Golden Rule. Heck, even Ward and June sent Wally and the Beav to Sunday School, clutching their piaculative pence. There is a God, and we in some way are beholden to him, at least to say "Thank You" in November around mouthfuls of turkey and dressing.

What an odd bit of evidence to find that such a consensus existed at least into the late 1950s, when a majority of science fiction movies were made bowing to a need to acknowledge "God" in their writing (perhaps to appease the Joneses of Peoria). The pervasiveness of belief in God in America was enough to tacitly dictate Hollywood scriptwriting.


Just an odd bit of social archaeology I had to dig out.

 

Lose your voting virginity to Barack Obama, so the State can be your BabyDaddy.

 

 

 

Here's a cute one.

Ummmm...these women volunteer to fly and die for their country. What reproductive decisons are they denied? Has Roe v. Wade been struck down? Have the pharmacies closed? Or is it merely that they must pay for their "reproductive health"?

As to wages, I will note an enormous "gender gap" in our White House.

"According to the 2011 annual report on White House staff, female employees earned a median annual salary of $60,000, which was about 18 percent less than the median salary for male employees ($71,000)."

As to the putative wage gap in the US, Stephanie Wang writes:

America’s “wage gap” between men and women may be more paper-thin than Democrats are letting on, and it’s non-existent among those with a college degree.
President Obama and Senate Democrats have recently taken to repeating Census Bureau numbers showing that U.S. women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, but that figure may not be the best representation of the facts. At the least, it’s not the only representation.
The Census Bureau report is based on workers who earn an annual wage, so it doesn’t take into account professions like school teachers who don’t necessarily work year-round, the Washington Post reports.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics looked at weekly wages instead of annual salaries, and determined that women earn 81 percent what men earn. That gap narrows to 86 cents on the dollar when hourly wages are examined.
And hourly wages among those with college degrees are at parity: The BLS figures show there is no gap between men and women.
Wage comparisons across broad population groups can be significantly flawed, too. When female workers are compared to male workers with similar characteristics, the hourly wage difference is only 5 cents.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/05/white-house-exaggerates-male-female-wage-gap-statistics-show/#ixzz29ytgfag8

 Logs and motes.

A revisitation for a reason.

This may be a re-visitation, but in a time when the "why" of someone's actions may be more important than the actions themselves (think "hate crimes"), Christians are again given the nasty end of the stick.

I pause to allow you to pick your jaw up from the floor.

One of the most annoying things the True Believers do is share, or witness, or evangelise. (Remember, evangel means "good news") The militant atheist crowd, as well as the "just want to be left alone" crowd really militate against this hateful practise of telling them about Jesus. They see it as judgmental, that they are being told they are bad people who are going to hell.

Admittedly, there are some who take it upon themselves to punch someone's ticket, but the scriptures themselves do not offer that as part of the job description. We may speak as far as the gospel does...no farther. Thus-and-so will keep you out of the Kingdom of God. It is up to the hearer to make the connexion. One must recognise peril to recognise the need for rescue.

Since the motive is more important than the action in today's enlightened view, please consider this: is it a bother to you for a flagman to stop you to warn of the bridge being out? Do you malign his callous disregard for your time schedule? The reasonable person sees through to motive: "I don't want you and your family to die at the bottom of the gorge.". Likewise the coworker, friend, family member, or artless stranger who wishes to tell you about the gospel. This person does so with the highest motive: concern for your well-being. He sees you in spiritual peril (Jesus said "No-one comes to the Father except through me".), and wants to throw you a life-ring. Do you argue with the lifeguard who is pulling you to shore?

You may not believe at all, or you may be a lifelong neo-Zoroastrian, but when an unsophisticated evangelist sees you as his personal mission, please understand that what he does is done out of love, out of a true desire to do you good. It is in your purview to say "Not interested." if need be, but please be kind. The believer is doing it with the best of intent: concern for you.

Motive IS important.

Tonight on "Svengoolie":

THIS ISLAND EARTH!

Last day, Saturday.

http://infowarsmoneybomb.com/

But Jesus didn't know Joseph Farah....

I am inundated by political and Christian-ey emails. I calculable percentage of my life is now spent deleting stuff I will never read, and unsubbing. Recently I have been getting adverts from WorldNet Daily flogging a new book that purports to reveal how study of the Mosaic Feasts will enable us to pinpoint the Very Day of Jesus' Return!

Must find my Septuagint, a circular slide rule, and some cr*ck!

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Mt 24:36)

If that were even referring to the Second Coming and Judgment Day. It was A judgment, to be sure. (Read the whole chapter. It is in the context of the overthrow of the Temple, setting it in the lifetime of the disciples " This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.")

So we have another date-setter AND he teaches US how, as well! I am reminded of Edgar C. Whisenant, whose tome 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 said that Rosh Hashanah weekend was to be Rapture Central. At least he didn't set a day or hour.

More to come on other stuff!

Thank you very much...he's here all week. Try the veal.

I received a request from someone with  summat on their mind, but who cannot afford "it getting back" to the wrong folks.

Isn't our free speech culture AWESOME?!

 --------------------------------

I Resemble That Remark
by
Anonymous



I work at a small prestigious university somewhere in the mid-west. As it's a "liberal arts" establishment it's not what you would call a bastion of conservative thought. Because of this & the fact at least three people at work view my blog regularly, I can't post this article on it or even under my own name. If my anonymity threatens the credibility of this article, it can't be helped. In the past twelve years, because of my views, I have been harassed at one work place & fired from another.
On arriving for work on October 13, I was informed of a large gathering of students in the union lobby for the purpose of canvassing surrounding neighborhoods for the Obama campaign. OK. It is their right to do so after all.

While going about my custodial duties I noted a young man giving instructions & passing out packets of info on the areas they were to cover in town. About 4 PM I heard him comment:
"We have some red necks here."
As I superficially resemble that "demographic" I looked up & saw him putting a manila packet in a box & drawing out another. Wether he was trying to "protect" the young ladies in front of him or wanting to impress them is unclear. The contempt in the uttered phrase was, however, quite plain.
While the town the college is in is predominately white, I would hardly call it a hot bed of lynching & cross burning.

It's not just this. A couple days before, I noticed a gathering of young "Democrats" laughing & hooting along with Joe Biden during the VP debate. In talking with & overhearing others at work, I've noticed something interesting. They seem to equate aggressiveness & arrogance with strength. I think it is actually more out of desperation than anything else. Desperation because:
Since the first presidential debate, the paradigm has changed. For the first time the public has gotten to see & hear Mr. Romneys' postion from Mr. Romney himself, unfiltered by a hostile media. Because of that, poll results & moods on both sides of the campaign have changed.
Democrats, from the top down, now realize things are different. This is NOT the John McCain cakewalk of '08 where the presidency was handed to Mr. Obama wrapped in pretty paper & bow on a sterling silver platter. The Dems are now faced with the more than very real possibility of their candidate having to vacate the White House come January.

This does not sit well with them & they are now taking the attitude as exemplified by Mr. Biden. Some across the country have even threatened riot & violence if Mr. Obama is not re-elected. This is what it has come to. It has become more than just an intense political campaign with many on the left looking upon it as a (un)holy crusade with conservatives being viewed as infidels.
If you are conservative & give a damn ... or are just undecided & concerned ... and one who THINKS in a rational manner, then keep in mind that this election is not just about the presidency. It is not just also House & Senate seats up for grabs. It is also about up to two Supreme Court appointments that could determine the character of our Judicial branch & thus our nation for many years to come.

It is also about the expansion of government in areas of our lives we never thought possible a few short years ago. The last four years have proven devastating enough in both terms of government intrusion & the economy. Do we need another four years to figure that out? DO WE?
The decision is YOURS. For Gods' sake ... on November 6, VOTE!
 ---------------------------------

If I may, he exposes a truth!

The majority of the "anti-bullying" foofooraw comes from the types written of here. Perhaps their chicken necks were wrung once too often at recess by kids two grades younger. Yet, the selfsame behavior is their stock-in-trade, from terminal passive-aggressive behavior to their "aggressiveness & arrogance" being equated with strength. Biden's knavery in the debate was a form of bullying, and it backfired, except among the faithful.

I am not happy with our choices, but by Goo, I shall not stand for "four more years" of this trainwreck. If there was a constitutional Zoroastrian zombie running, I would consider him over the incumbent.

A vintage Vargas pinup would do less damage than O'bama.

Six hundred, sixty, and six.

I  received this notification from Etsy (where I sell my shirts online) a few days ago:

"Due to your direct checkout sales volume, we'd like to collect some tax-related info from you.

We are doing this to comply with a new IRS rule that requires Etsy to report sales information, in the form of a 1099-K, for sellers who have reached certain sales thresholds for the year.

This information will be stored with your account and will be used to provide you with a form 1099-K at the end of the year if you do end up reaching the gross sales thresholds." 

I am livid. All the propaganda involved with the income tax hoots about "voluntary compliance", but with the (way past) dawn of the cashless society, every transaction is ultimately trackable. I hear Jack Strawman muttering "Well, if you weren't trying to hide something, it wouldn't bother you." I am not hiding b*mbs, nor Al Qaeda in my trousers, but it bothers me for some TSA lackey to stick his hands in them. The presumption of "guilty until proven innocent" evident in these IRS rules is patently unConstitutional, habeas corpus and all that. I may have to go back to a website-based sales model, which means I have to spend money and time developing a new site which will likely NOT be as friendly for me to use as Etsy.

Color me peeved.

EVERYONE of any size remotely attached to the government (schools, colleges, Baptist churches) requires that I fill out a W-9 if I am to be allowed to sell to them.

Remember, kiddies?

Of course, these are organizations that obtain monies, or special favors, from the Givement, so it makes sense having that requirement, but mere sense doth not it Constitutional make.

Both "real" candidates are big-government characters. I would encourage looking into Gary Johnson.

Because Jay is SUCH a good sport...

Haruhi Suzumiya - Friendship is Divine

But the amazing thing is that the next picture...

The next PONY picture...




I found on YOUR blog, Jay!




Divine.

...and the voice of the Pony is heard in the land....

And because I have nothing better to do:







Which brings me to

OSuKaRuArT

...and then there were none.

Well, four jobs printed today, and I am still upright. Busy, busy. I fixed fried rice, and The Dread Dormomoo did porkchops and onions. Makes a lovely combo! We ate and watched the premiere Who episode for this season, "The Dalek Asylum". We must work our way through to episode 5, the much-spoilered "Daleks Take Manhattan" this weekend. But there is much work as well, so it will all get done somehow.


This is a droll comment:

And Rawesome Green Foods wouldn't be allowed to debate.

 So no Libertarian Party or Constitution Party debaters. Hmmm.
(Gary Johnson is the Libertarian, and is pushing hard to be included. Gary, meet Immovable Object.)

I will write more over the weekend. I dunno about what, as I am weary of the whole two-headed snake of the Republocrats. Neither am I a Loki fangirl, so I won't have "Avengers" fits. (Haven't even seen the movie, yet. The Fans are off-putting to me. Yah. Elitist.

So, happy Friday, all!

Viva la Ponylucion!

My Fa-CHAY-book entry.

So here's the thing. On November 6th we vote for President of the United States. This is not a popularity contest (who has the coolest hair, or the best smile...) or a fanfest ("Ermagherd...it's Lehrki!" or "David Tennant is the BEST Doctor."). We have to assess if we are better off after our current President Obama, or if Gov. Romney has what it takes to lead us back to powerhouse status, or if one of the Unheard-of parties has a viable President (Gary Johnson as a Libertarian, Virgil Goode as Constitution Party, or even Ron Paul as a write-in, f'rinstance).

Please, please, please look beyond "your party" and consider the candidates out there. This is important, and really needs to be done thoughtfully, not just to push a single agenda, but to get our nation working (in every sense of the word). 

This is not an endorsement of any single candidate, but is a call to do this thing right, not as a "Republican" or a "Democrat", or any other mere party. Do this as an American, for the rest of America.

Please check this out. I want feedback.

Star Trek Continues from Star Trek Continues on Vimeo.


 Click the link. The embed window is obstreperous.

So, it's been a long week...

Picture of your Aardvark after printing two major jobs Thursday.

This week has been a "try mens' souls" week. More work than we could possibly get out timely, but we dood it! I am taking off tomorrow, and will veg. I do not hurt now, but that is because aspirin is a food group. Amongst other work, we had a 100+ shirt job, 2-color front and back, due this morning (Friday), and the customer got the artwork to us Thursday morning. This is what happens when customers have had uber service from us in the past, just like the Advanced classes the smart kids take. Lesson learnt? "If you are smart, you have to work MORE!"

Naw, I'm just physically beat. I am astoundingly thankful for our work. I am also astoundingly thankful for my pillow! Loen and Riatsila are at AWA this weekend, selling our awesome shirts of awesomeness.

I'll share some more later.






Rest in peace.

From J. Michael Strazynski: I regret that I must convey the sad news that Michael O'Hare passed away today. He suffered a heart attack on Sunday and was in a coma until his passing this afternoon. This is a terrible loss for all B5 fans and everyone involved with the show wishes to convey their condolences to the O'Hare family. He was an amazing man.

""Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics, and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-Tzu, and Einstein, and Morobuto, and Buddy Holly, and Aristophanes, and - all of this - all of this - was for nothing. Unless we go to the stars. "" - Cmdr. Jeffrey Sinclair - Babylon 5

Glurge.

They DO know that no ten-year-old said this, ever?

Droll, Norton....

Familiarity breeds....

Enjoyment!

Jay, upon meeting me daughter at MatsuriCon in Columbus, he delivered into her care a couple of DVDs, one of which was the fans' choice "Best of Thunderbirds". I had a lot of printing to do today, and wanted something that I did not have to hang on every frame to follow the story, so I plugged it in! After I put the fire out after shorting out the plug - I really had to cram the disc in to fit it in the little holes - I put it in the DVD player.

The first episode was "Trapped in the Sky", the premiere show of the series, and easily the best one. The atomic-powered airliner Fireflash is sabotaged by the nefarious Hood, in a bid to attract International Rescue so as to photograph details of the control panels and conduits in order to become the wealthiest man in the world.

I know, right?

Wikipedia's writeup far outshines my own:

The Fireflash on its maiden voyage from London to Tokyo is sabotaged by The Hood and is unable to land. 

Why do I even try?

I have to say that it is terribly fun, but it suffers from a small problem. It was supposed to be shorter. The first nine episodes were filmed and in the can when their financier Sir Lew Grade was so overwhelmed by what he saw that he insisted that they be hour-long programmes. The nine had to be re-edited, new film shot, the whole schmear, all while NEW episodes were being prepared. It got done, and it worked, but some of the episodes have a stretched feel.

Two things: Alan Tracy is a dreadful little git! Ungrateful, whiny, brattish. These are his good points.
 When Bob Meddings manages to get aboard the Fireflash to defuse the Auto-Bomb Detonator Unit placed by the Hood (no, really...it is one of those little engraved nameplate things. I guess the Hood picked it up from that kiosk at the mall),

























why didn't they close the access hatch on the Fireflash, so Meddings couldn't possibly fall out?
 -------------------------------

I'm not REALLY That Guy. I dearly love all the Supermarionation series. I have just seen them all too many times. I can see little details and plot craters too easily. I remember the first time I watched "Fireball XL5" and noticed the shadow of the exhaust plume on the sky backdrop. It was charmingly jarring.

Sigh. I'm feeling the need to marathon the Anderson series. Even "Four Feather Falls".

Thanks, Jay. It's great fun!  And it ain't Ponies.

Press the button. Go on. You KNOW you want to....

I am NOT a number....

There is a precious meme galumping across Facebookland, where people show off their cognitive dissonance, or their outright stupidity, by becoming a Group's poster children for reading dysfunction. The darlin's identify themselves as "One of the 47%", a reference to a comment made by George Romney at a fund-raiser, speaking to people from whom he wished to raise funds because they had the wherewithall so to fund. He said at one point

"There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney said in a clip from the event first posted online on Monday. "There are 47% who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing."

He was speaking of a very specific demographic: those who "are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing." This is key (if ill advised to have been said at all) because the meme runs thusly:

Mr. Angryman Cecil has defined himself out of the scope of Willard's comment. In short, he is NOT one of the 47%. Here is another:

Mrs. Davidson, of Portland, OR (a bastion of conservative thought), also betrays an inability to read with comprehension, if indeed she read or heard the original at all. She has also defined herself and her family right out of the number she claims so proudly. This series of pictures (and there will be more, oh-so-many more) has all the marks of an organised propaganda to preach to the choir about what a terrible person Romney is, going up against St. Obama the Clean and Articulate.

What, Mr. Wolff? Why yes, "Well, DUUUHHHH" is an appropriate response to my revelation above.

Arrowing to the point, the capacity for people to number themselves, or to include themselves amongst a number, is a curiosity to me. The past year, we have been treated to the 95%-ers, and thus to the 5%-ers, and now the improbable 47% is wobbling about, seeking to find some political purchase on the cratered landscape of Opinion. People craving to be A Number.

I would prefer to be numberless, for to seek Numbering opens one up to the risk of the wrong Number (and I am not going all Left Behind on you, here), being with the wrong crowd, thinking the wrong thought. "The Prisoner" presented to us Number Six, a man who eschewed, no, projectile vomited  the idea of being catalogued numerically by anyone.

“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own.”
 -----------------------------------------------
New No.2: “Good day, Number Six.”
No.6: “Number what?”
New No.2: “Six. For official purposes, everyone has a number. Yours is number 6.”
No.6: “I am not a number, I am a person.”

I would encourage those craving numberdom to be very careful. Numbers are nasty things, and can follow you around. Don't let yourself become a pawn in someone else's political game. I have little fondness for Romney, admittedly less for the President. There are other candidates, other parties...I, too must be careful with whom I  am numbered.

Water, water everywhere....

Nowadays I would encourage everyone to have some water filtration. The two I am looking at are the Berkey system, and the Propur filter.

With all of the stuff in the water, from cysts to fluoride (one of the charges against the Nazis during the war trials was that of poisoning the camp prisoners' water with fluoride.) to arsenic, chlorine, and a plethora of other things our purification systems don't handle, it would be advisable to get as much out as possible, water being essential to life and all....

There is even a GIVEAWAY going on!

PIRATES!!!

AAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHH! 

Jesus fanfic

Photo by Prof. Karen L. King

I am in possession of a document from 2003 that contains a quote: Galileo Galilei saying "I wrote all of Shakespeare's works.". I can even show you the laser printer it was printed on!

We should have the same faith in the veracity of that writing that we should accord the Egyptian Coptic papyrus fragment that is making the chat shows now. You know the one; Jesus is speaking and makes a reference to "My wife..." and “she will be able to be my disciple.”.

Let's look at this: a fragment, smaller than a business card, purportedly written in the fourth century AD, contains things found in no earlier manuscripts (of which there are multitudes). This is me being convinced. The New York Times, ever the theological Source of Record, breathlessly conjectures

Even with many questions unsettled, the discovery could reignite the debate over whether Jesus was married, whether Mary Magdalene was his wife and whether he had a female disciple.

The debate has been quite small, and primarily held amongst cranks. Scripture makes no hint of Mary Magdalene being married to Jesus, or to Shlomo the Tailor for that matter; her identity in Scripture is the woman from whom Jesus cast seven demons. As to female disciples: disciples, yes. apostles, no. The Gospels tell of women of means who helped support Jesus' ministry, so yes, there were female disciples. Herp, derp; why was this ever a question? Read the Book!

I reiterate the contention of Chez 'Vark: The Early Church Pseudepigrapha, with Gnostic Gospels like "Thomas" and "Judas" are Christian fanfic, rather like "My Immortal"  and are to be respected as such.

Cue theremin...

 


 I have seen the future, sez the Nostravark!

First, congratulations, Alabama voters! You have allowed the professional politicians to extort you with threats of prisoners being released, and your children being teacherless or schoolless, and now the trust fund will be pilfered with no promise of repayment.

That said, get set for four more years of President Barack Hussein Obama, because the national Democrat machine will use virtually the same tactics, except that now they will accuse Romney of wanting to kill Medicare, take meals on wheels out of the very mouths of the elderly, and force the children to huff toxic gases straight from the exhaust of military vehicles. And you know what?

You'll buy it. UNLESS of course you realise that NO political party would try to destroy the LARGEST voting bloc they have at their disposal. Republicans will NOT try to kill Grandma or Grandpa, or starve the children in school, or purposely poison your air or water.

The horror...THE HORROR!

I have a terrible, overweening fondness for kitsch. Really love it.
Nothing is kitschier than old-school horror hosts like Zacherly, Vampira, and Ashley Ghastley.
Doctor Morgus is the ne plus ultra.














They were funny, they had consistent schticks, they were funny...AND they were regional! They had the flavors of New Orleans, Charleston, LA.

But now, the ridiculous offerings we have syndicated are blended tapioca, with a few flakes of cayenne for spice. Elvira is just a girl with two enormous...talents,

and the entire show is a way to make jokes about...them. The movie offerings are public domain horrors..."Shock Theater" on the cheap. Elvira has caricatured herself in this incarnation. Her syndicated "Movie Macabre" has at last expired, though a few rattling gasps can be heard on outlying stations. Atomic Mystery Monster at the Gravediggers Local 16 blog writes:

While Cassandra Peterson is a very talented person (I love her albums and her two films were hilarious), I’d be kidding myself if I said that her looks had nothing to do with her success. If you had some guy in black spandex telling jokes about his junk instead of Elvira, Movie Macabre wouldn’t have made it past the pilot stage. Another thing to consider is how a lot of the people who slag on Mystery Science Theater 3000 often give Elvira a pass on doing the same thing, simply because they’re attracted to her.

Pithy.

Wolfman Mac is another story.

He hails from Pontiac, MI, and has a very involved ensemble with a cast of eighteen characters, like Boney Bob, Ivanna Werkagenn, and Torg the Robot. Part of their formula involves inserting themselves into the (again, public domain orphan) movies via bad video effects and rude sounds. Nothing like mature love of classic cinema.

And believe me, this is NOTHING like mature love of classic cinema.

I understand the role of public domain features. There are some corking good orphaned movies out there, but most are that way for a reason, shame being my first guess.  The need to have free movies to show goes a long way to convincing small local markets to give you a chance. Now Mac and Co. are on RTV, seen across this broad land, and the offerings are no better. His production skits are more than adequate, and he sprinkles classic commercials, quirky educational and industrial films, and Drive-in concession ads liberally when his actual featire is short. (FEATURE is SHORT...I could write for Elvira!!!)


The less said about Ivonna Cadaver, the better. Her Macabre Theatre (seems somehow familiar!) is another public domain film-fest! Riatsila sez that watching this is like eating Bob Evans pancakes, and being disappointed because they aren't Cracker Barrel.

She has breasts! See?

My current winner for Doing It Well is Svengoolie, a Chicago fixture in Creature Featuredom. Rich Koz, the current Svengoolie, is a master of the art. His use of sound clips is masterful (he even uses Stan Freberg bits...da man has CLASS!), and he is quite a good song parodist. His schtick is as well-worn and comfortable as your favorite slippers (how dated is that?), and his timing is excellent.

Plus, he pays for his movies.

The classic Universal Monsters are his mainstay, and I must say, for the first time, I am enjoying them. Saw "The Bride of Frankenstein" Saturday night, and MERCY! That was a great movie. The Franz Waxman score was eminently recognisable, as much of it was re-used in the Flash Gordon serials. Elsa Lanchester as the Bride was beautifully photographed. I must say that I understand The Creature's fondness for her!

Give Svengoolie a try. He is the closest I've seen to the classic horror hosts of yesteryear.

Berwyn?

All politics is local

I am sure this may chap some of you, especially those in the targeted professions like teachers, but I ask that you vote "NO" on the Alabama Trust Fund amendment.

Our representatives in Montgomery have overspent, and now want to take (not "borrow") money from the Alabama Trust Fund (royalty money paid by natural gas drilling). They already spend all of the interest; now they want to rob from the

principal. It is like a farmer eating his seed corn. EVERYONE will go hungry after the seed is eaten. If we allow Montgomery to pilfer the Trust Fund principal, it will reduce the annual interest it produces, so they will have to come back crying for more money from the Trust Fund.

It will also send the clear message that we do not hold them accountable for their overspending. "The constitutional amendment does not provide for the payback of the money, but Bentley said that’s his intention." I am thinking "roads" and "hell", here.

"Alabama voters rejected a constitutional amendment in 2010 that would have taken $1 billion out of the trust fund for road and bridge projects." Tuscaloosa News

Be as smart as you were in 2010.

Say NO. Don't let Montgomery eat the seed corn. (And be sure to check the wording on the ballot. Sometimes they get tricky to make a "No" be a vote "for" a thing.)

-------------------------------------
Alabama Trust Fund amendment ballot wording

The precise language as it will appear on the ballot:

Shall the following Amendment be adopted to the Constitution of Alabama?
Proposed Statewide Amendment
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide adequate
funding for the State General Fund budget, to prevent the mass release of prisoners from
Alabama prisons, and to pr

otect critical health services to Alabama children, elderly, and
mothers by transferring funds from the Alabama Trust Fund to the State General Fund
beginning with the state's 2012-2013 fiscal year and concluding with the state's 2014-
2015 fiscal year; to provide a new procedure for distributions made from the Alabama
Trust Fund beginning 2012-2013 fiscal year; to create a County and Municipal
Government Capital Improvement Trust Fund advisory committee; and to provide further
for distributions made from the County and Municipal Government Capital Improvement
Trust Fund. (Proposed by Act No. 2012-490)
Yes ( )
No ( )

No tricks. Yes or no. PLEASE vote "NO".

Remembering 9/11...and 1995....

Welcome to our annual national scab-tearing day, the day we remember when those terriss, ably guided by an unwashed Arab hiding in a cave in Afghanistan, pulled off a GENIUS coup, symbolically (and almost literally) bringing the world's leading Western economy to a standstill by using passenger airliners as manned cruise missiles. I will ever remember waking up to Rick and Bubba on the radio giving commentary, so I upped myself and hied me to the living room where the news was showing the horrors occurring in NYC. Then I heard about the Pentagon, and then the Pennsylvania field.

DAMN those evil terrorists. A thousand Muslim hells be unto them. The vitrification of Afghanistan and wherever else would have made a lovely, gently glowing monument to America's swift judgement of those who would DARE strike our Homeland, for that was the term given life by the Powers who watch over us, however imperfectly, from their eyrie in Washington DC.

And soon, the masterstroke of Legislation was cobbled together to grant us security and safety, wrapped in a virtual flag: The Patriot Act. But wait! Seems the Act has been a Bill Waiting to Happen, waiting for the Right Circumstance:

The next year, months before the Oklahoma City bombing took place, Biden introduced another bill called the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of "terrorism" that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detection of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review. The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode "constitutional and statutory due process protections" and would "authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations.

"Biden himself draws parallels between his 1995 bill and its 2001 cousin. "I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill," he said when the Patriot Act was being debated, according to the New Republic, which described him as "the Democratic Party's de facto spokesman on the war against terrorism." (CNET.com)

This is how the massive bill was written in twenty days. It already existed in main, thanks to Sen. Joe Biden. Knowing this troubles me. What security has it provided me?

I am secure in the knowledge that the TSA, under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security, can and will either take "naked" X-rays of me and my wife should we travel by air. Should we choose not to be fricaseed, we are secure knowing that either or both of our genitals will be fondled by strangers in the Name of Homeland Security, because clearly Bin Ladin is hiding there, as we have seen no pictures of his death.

The government is authorized to spy on its own citizenry without warrant. The President can declare any citizen an enemy of the State, a terriss, and can order him executed by Presidential whim.

Shall I continue? It is late, and we must be ready. As to the masterminds and tools used in the 9/11 attack, again I say damn them. A thousand hells be unto them.

I'm just not as certain who "they" are anymore.

Make of it what you will. From the clown pageant of the "W" years, to the clean, articulate years of O'bama, I have little trouble believing anything  from our servants in DC.

Mourn our losses, certainly. Most especially the loss of our Republic, the loss of our national soul.

Heil der Geburtsland!

Nursery Rhyme for Today

Taken at Rock City, Chattanooga, TN.

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to her cupboard
To fetch her poor dog a bone.
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
Because Ben Bernanke
Was on another
Quantitative Easing kick.

Painting with the broad brush.

Your Aardvark has Obeyed the Barns and Birdhouses, and has Seen Rock City. The Dread Dormomoo and he went to Chattanooga (apparently the only place where they can get awa' and have fun.) this weekend. We went with the Dalkhes, and had a spiffulous time (the spelcheker did not even try  with "spiffulous".) squeezing through rocks looking for gnomes and deer, and marveling at the wonderful beauty at this VERY non-tourist-trap tourist destination. We even braved the Temple of Doom style rope bridge (the "Swing-Along Bridge"),  180 feet of acrophobic nightmare with a beautiful view, none of which himself appreciated, being fixated on the back of the head of the guy ahead. Sorry, no personal pictures.

Overall, the place is one of breathtaking splendor. It earns the Aardvark's Touron Seal of Approval.

Friday night upon arriving, we made arrangements to meet the Dalkhes at Portofino's, a classic Greek-run Italian restaurant. Their Alfredo is worth the trip, even from Schenectady. 

We ate at the City Diner Cafe, natch, and also the Teriyaki House on Ringgold Road (whose white sauce is legendary!) It is in an old Pizza Hut building, so the gag writes itself. It is not a Japanese Happy MealTM Benihana knockoff. The food is prepared in the kitchen, and comes out as a delightful surprise. Himself had Hibachi Steak and Shrimp, the DD having Hibachi Steak. Om nom noms abounded! Breakfast Saturday was at the Diner, Aardvark: Eggs Benedict and Grits (only in the South! PLUS the Hollandaise was outstanding.)) DD: Eggs, Bacon, Homefries. Breakfast Sunday, Aardvark: French Dip Sandwich and Fries (It was 11:30 AM, K?) of which only half was eaten, and your Aardvark retired, beaten. It resides in the fridge, beckoning....The DD had The usual, but with grits.

Dr. Who was on telly after Teriyaki house, and afforded the opportunity to see last week's premiere, AND the new episode this week. It appears to be breaking the Matt Smith mode of "Whose life does the Doctor screw up this week?".

A good time was had by all, and the drive home was full of chatter. One thing that came up was the Dread Dormomoo's feeling of being cheated if she reads a novel which has no Import, no Great Theme, whereupon the 'Vark coined the term "Zombie Novel", that which has action but no soul. Endless spy thriller series seem to fall in that mode, as do most of the pulp novels that have passed before his 'Varky optics.

As tedious as the novels one is assigned in school can be, they have a point, a moral if you will, that which one may take away after the read without feeling it a total waste of time. Silas Marner details the evils of greed, and the Need to Have Others in one's life. The Scarlet Letter examines sin and guilt in the context of Puritan morality, and shows how the most moral among us may be caught in the web (among manifold other lessons). Tom Clancy's doorstops open the door onto the fell vistas of international politics, military might, and spies, with personal heroism normally tilting the scales..

Matt Helm and Fu Manchu, on the other hand....

(It has been said that The DD and the 'Vark have never had a frivolous conversation in their lives.)

Over all, a very good time.

NEXT MONTH: Lake Winnie!

Consumer ALERT!

If anyone is approached by Crescent Processing for your business's credit card processing, RUN LIKE THE WIND! They lie, and they cheat. They have a dismal customer service reputation. This is what drove us to use SQUARE.

Rest Well!

If the video that is SUPPOSED to be herein embedded is not, the link is

HERE!