Tuesday, December 30, 2008


this is a piece of a watercolor i did some time ago. it's large, and i have a few more that are a quarter of large watercolor paper i will be scanning.

have no idea of news lately, but armeggedon outa here. it's a setup. we've been pillaged, robbed, threatened and intimidated. i worked hard to get obama elected. but now it's time to stand up, speak up. we've been robbed and it was an inside job. the political must be transfomed or else.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Microsoft files pay-per-use PC patent | Tech News on ZDNet
"Microsoft's patent application does acknowledge that a per-use model of computing would probably increase the cost of ownership over the PC's lifetime."

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Friday, December 26, 2008


very pleasant xmas day, slow and uneventful. spent afternoon at tom and erin's where i snagged the above foto. early to bed.

Thursday, December 25, 2008


if someone, somewhere, greeted me in the appropriate season with "happy haj" would i be insulted or offended?

no.

if they greeted me with "happy" anything it would be ok with me.

"it's dark out here, i can't find tomorrow"
john mellancamp

"i got a pain in my side but i keep travelin on"
john mellancamp

"it's not dark yet but it's getting there"
dylan

"there's no room to be anywhere"
dylan

memes and topoi. another new now.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008


there was a science fiction short story written in the 30's by two writers whose names i forget. a projection into the future, it featured a world in which a tiny minority enjoyed the privilege of time because they were not compelled to buy anything. the rest of the populace had to rush madly about in order to consume.

why do i bring it up now? to point out that the meltdown that blew in with no warning a month or so ago was always in the story, entirely visible and almost palpable for 2 or 3 generations.

who felt like they lived in a house of cards back then? or now? do you?

Tuesday, December 23, 2008


back in aville, the vortexes are quiet. too quiet. i intend to stop the contentless prose of the daily posts the last day of the year.
foto from back yard of eap.

if i had anything to say it is that the so called bad guys, republicans, are not the bad guys. the thugs, vandals and heistmeisters have made no mistakes the last 20 years or so. the last eight at least. they have robbed you, intimidated you, and gotten away with it. revenge is not productive, so where does that leave you?

whatcha gonna do?

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Free Will Astrology : Aquarius Horoscope:
"Aquarius (January 20-February 19)
Would you like to consistently be in the right place at the right time in the coming weeks? Personally, I'd love you to have that knack. It would make my job more enjoyable, since I could fall asleep each night with the comforting thought that you are meeting your dates with destiny while you're at the height of your powers. So what IS the best way to ensure that you will have impeccable intuition and a great sense of timing? Here's what I say: Set aside all expectations about what the past implies and what the future may bring. Instead, cultivate a desire to recognize and respond to the raw truth of each new moment."

Thursday, December 11, 2008


nice overnight camp w/ good folks, charley and moriah's, including her dad and susie, lot's of rain.

image above from the waterfall.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

good morning. headed for the hills. i'll be at charlie and moriah's where cousin bob and susie are visiting. back friday. if the creek don't rise.

Monday, December 8, 2008

photo removed. richard said it looked like a power plant. it did. first time-exposure i tried w/ digital. first time i have removed a picture. it was richard and debbie's house last nite.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

posting to let all know i'm still kicking. and shed some light on house of cards (tip of sombraro to sr. jeff)

> Subject: FW: Why we're in financial trouble
>
> Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a
> farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey
> the next day.
> The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I
> have some bad news, the donkey died.
> Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money
> back.'
> The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent
> it already.'
> Chuck said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead
> donkey.'
> The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?'
> Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
> The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a
> dead donkey!'
> Chuck said, 'Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't
> tell anybody he's dead.'
> A month later, the farmer me t up w ith Chuck
> and asked, 'What happened with that dead donkey?'
> Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at
> two dollars a piece and made a profit of $998.'
> The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'
> Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his
> two dollars back.'
> Chuck now works for Goldman Sachs.
>
>

Thursday, December 4, 2008

winter... like everything, it's not what it used to be.

when i lived with my wife and children on big ridge in s. jackson county i noticed a yearly shift the 3d or 4th week of december. already very cold, it was like something flipped a switch and then it got cold. very cold. the topography, the earth itself became ice-cold. a real change.

wonder if it still happens?

Monday, December 1, 2008

tip of the hat to jeff in nm for the following:

> Subject: FW: Why we're in financial trouble
>
> Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a
> farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey
> the next day.
> The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I
> have some bad news, the donkey died.
> Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money
> back.'
> The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent
> it already.'
> Chuck said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead
> donkey.'
> The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?'
> Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
> The farmer said, 'You can't raffle off a
> dead donkey!'
> Chuck said, 'Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't
> tell anybody he's dead.'
> A month later, the farmer me t up w ith Chuck
> and asked, 'What happened with that dead donkey?'
> Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at
> two dollars a piece and made a profit of $998.'
> The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'
> Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his
> two dollars back.'
> Chuck now works for Goldman Sachs.
>

Thursday, November 27, 2008


heard a tale on NPR yesterday about chartres cathedral, modern art, and various other items that might loosly be called numinous. included was a short reading from dharma bums by jack kerouac. this concerned his departure from the fire lookout tower he had spent some months in. on his way down the trail he had stopped, turned around, kneeled down on one leg, and as he had been taught by "japhy ryder" (pseudonym for poet whose name i can not recall at the moment), thanked the cabin he had just left.

years ago i asked jack what the relationship was between his summer on the mountain and the moment we were then experiencing.

he paused briefly and then said "i'm talking to you aren't i?"

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

"Obama's thrilling election—something not long ago many wise heads said wasn't possible—also made more imminent the prospect that the dark night of the worst administration in history was ending. The American people had overwhelmingly rejected the Bush regime's stupidity, cupidity, its wars, its lies, its torturing and its secrecy, its ineptitude and its power grab that threatened constitutional government. The relief was palpable. Washingtonians were simply smiling as they hadn't in years. Something new was coming, and it was to be looked forward to. People felt cleansed."

Elizabeth Drew - NY Review of Books

thanks and a tip of the hat to richard for this piece so appropriate for thanksgiving.

drew's piece very upbeat. smiles are good.

(but)the very next long range and necessary phase is a removal of the power complex that has become enmeshed with all institutions and dominates them. until they are run along lines other than those damned meeting charades complete with power point bullets and decisions already made i don't think anything will change the confluence of power, domination, neoslavery, cheap thrills and the end of the organic. not far down the road.

the only solution is inside the head.

like my favorite line from r.d. norriss on zeke and the big wheel produced in '99:

"hang another millennium on the old clothes line.
we'll greet the next one on our knees,"


grabbed this picture from the vast assembly of "stuff" i have been relocating on appropriate HDs.

you know of course the word bibliomanacy? but do you know how to spell it? neither do i. if it is a word used nowdays it means flipping a book open to a page and and blindly putting a finger somewhere. then read the sentence. like this:

"So far from there being any spontaneous communication under this regime, these electronic media are carefully controlled to make sure that 'dangerous', that is, unorthodox views do not slip through. Such a system permits neither colloquy nor dialogue, as in genuine oral discourse: what takes place is for the greater part only a meticulously arranged monologue, even if more than one person is present on the screen. A population entirely dependent upon such controlled oral communication, even though it reached every human soul on the planet, would not merely be at the mercy of the Dominant Majority but would become increasingly illiterate and soon mutually unintelligible. Thus once again the parallel between the Pyramid Age and our own forces itself upon the observer: here in prospect is actually the electronic Tower of Babel."

Lewis Mumford
The myth of the Machine, v.2: the Pentagon of Power (1966)
p. 298

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

long day. lot of housekeeping (hard drives) (kitchen and front room). finished naomi klein book. interesting what a mind can do today, write a book the subject of which probably could not be found 10 years ago. her's is disaster capitalism.

finishing up lewis mumford's pentagon of power. if i could type i'd throw a few of his observation up here. longest , most penetrating view of where we are today. the culture which has replaced the kosmos as our world. based on power and domination. he argues that today is a replay of the "pyramid age" when monumentality was created through coercion, slavery and the whip. today it is enforced through the descended grid of science, the rise of the THE MEGAMACHINE:
"Before the 19th century was over the New World's promised land was destroyed by the very forces that had created 'civilization': the expanded bureaucracy, the conscript army, the centralized state, the slavery, the rise of imperialism. The mechanical world picture produced an environment in which the technological complex - the Megamachine became an end in itself."

your money or your life.

and just last night the local media used the words "time theft". an example is using email for personal life while at work.

YouTube - An anthropological introduction to YouTube

YouTube - An anthropological introduction to YouTube

Monday, November 24, 2008

this is not the last post to this now ancient blog but i'm getting close. i think i'm thru redoing up the image archive extravaganza. lots of new material. dreamweaver tables that glitched the index page fixed i hope. videos looking good. i'll be replacing some of the music w/ newer stuff on the jamwavez page. kindly take a look and let me know of any surprises and maybe i can put a lid on this thing.

Sunday, November 23, 2008


redoing gallery site have recovered many forgotten images of which the above is one. new gallery will be up soon.

hyperinsomniac night last night. i waited it out. feeling pretty fragile today. radio on turned down low. what did you miss by sleeping?

art bell march 2001 rebroadcast with someone who worked in "tabloid television" at it's inception and wrote tabloid baby. he was knowledgable, soft spoken, recovered, many observations about "reality shows". scary stuff.

followed by coast2costAM 4 hour JFK assasination anneversery special. really scary stuff.

must have mostly dozed after that, while BBC murmered.

then at 7 NPR gameshow (name forgotten). something about marrage being the period before divorce.

followed by lee ann's weekend PBS show. the only thing i remember is something about software that corrects pitch of recorded vocals.

then i got up and started a brand new day.

Friday, November 21, 2008


besides cyberdoodle got two prints done yesterday. still stalking wild DVD authoring.

blowing snow this morning, not a lot here. last night i noticed even the preliminary sealing of air leaks made dwelling esp. in the "front" which in this places faces back. today at high noon or whenever it's warmest i will finish that chore. pick up a few groceries but do not look forward to panic stricken shoppers stocking up to beat the weather. maybe it won't be so bad.

coast2coast had an expert on predicting earthquakes last night. he at least sounded like he knew what he was talking about which was watch out for dec 11-17 or 18th due to i think high tide, full moon, the closest approach of earth to the sun during it's yearly trip, and a bunch of other factors i didn't quite make out. he was talking west coast.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

worked on and finished birthday gift for granddaughter lily. late of course. also finishedfooling with prep for a new DVD, as wellas assembling alternate production suite that i hope works better than the kluge i've been using. matter of fact burning dvd right now.

then whipped into action outside: hardware store (insulation goodies), dropped mail off at post office, setting up for large watercolor.

is there anything significant to say in this post?

just a minute, i'm thinking...

Wednesday, November 19, 2008


among other things i'm reorganizing pictures and images. immediate cause: looking for a shot of granddaughter lily whose birthday i missed. generic cause: slow as i am i work fast in the morning and throw pictures up willy-nilly. ie sloppy. will i ever learn to work in a more organized manner? i doubt it.

anyway found this image and now you have.

explanation of youtube action below: this was posted on more blog's than mine. lots of discussion about whether it was "real" or digitally created. i went for "real". the last (?) word on this ill post below when i find it.

"Will also take this opportunity to note the one winged landing 'For Fun' video I linked to.... Well, it seems likely to be a fake. I thank the many readers for letting me know on this 'one'. It may actually have been done on a Mac (maybe a PC) with a model airplane 'incident' being melded into the reel. Anyway - amazing what you can do with video editing software right at home these days."
from OWC newsletter.

Monday, November 17, 2008

The best Air Race Pilot ever?

perhaps i should explain: i am rebuilding site so i don't post to it every day. so it stands as an online booth where one can buy an image or two, archival everything.

then i ca work on my "statement" about this life. i'm guided by the stars and they haven't let me know yet what is and is not.

i used to know the word shells surrounding, impressing themselves into each world, useful for postcards. not so facile now. nor glib.

fate
doom
sanskaras
fata morgana
samsara

include no map of what is to be much less what is.

so i sleep when i sleep (sometimes). and the converse.

Sunday, November 16, 2008


cold, no snow. daily homily not happening.

social life still contracting.

bits and pieces of "the past" flow past. who was that fast man?

read a little till 2AM last night, meister eckhart.

Saturday, November 15, 2008


dashing down the finish line. a long 12 hours at the image machine. DVDs, MPGs, and weirdest of all dreamweaver plus firefox = glitch on gallery page where picture appears in wrong place until you reload page. it is all quite beyond me. want to make it right and also redo flash galleries before i drive to chapel hill.

tomorrow i take a load to goodwill.

the island seems smaller today. a change in the air, i can smell snow. the light has become a translucent window to dead images, sparkling waves of slow glass like stories of the lizard who daily hides behind my shadow.

Thursday, November 13, 2008


almost finished site touchup.

A Fake Expert Named Martin Eisenstadt and a Phony Think Tank Fool Bloggers and the Mainstream News Media - NYTimes.com:
"Mr. Gorlin, 39, argued that Eisenstadt was no more of a joke than half the bloggers or political commentators on the Internet or television."

Wednesday, November 12, 2008


here is the plan: all of the graphic goodies on upper right sidebar will go away and all be accessible from gallery.

the blog will slowly evolve to something else (again). that will not involve daily posting. rss feed link will be relocated to top so it can be easily found.

then all will be wrapped up tight. need to fix some glitch on gallery page and firefox,
work with the captions in image gallery. and walk away. want to watercolor for awhile.

maybe change blog to a project page where various stages of work in process could be shown and discussed.

did you happen to seePBStonight, a show on dementia in the elderly. very interesting and full of new information.

Monday, November 10, 2008

i am deconstructing this site currently so expect to see goofier things than normal for a few days.


beaverdam lake, yesterday at dusk.

as usual i have very little to say. want to know what i'm going to do this week? so do i.

intentions:

sort through debris in living room, all from art studio (chuckle) which i unloaded last week.

assemble load of clothes for goodwill.

print 10-15 prints and send to denise in denver for her resteraunt.

place about 80 postcards somewhere to sell.

upload 2 12 minute videos and link to new video location.

buy roundtrip airline ticket to phx jan15-feb15.

redo and fix gallery page. pretty shabby right now.

put new link to 2 cd's of mine i found on the net and had forgotten about.

get it together to drive to chapel hill the 18th for short visit.

then hunker down for the most troublesome part of the year to me, the dreaded holiday season. last week driving somewhere i heard the first christmas carol.

Saturday, November 8, 2008


a delightful day in the sun. waves of friendship wafting thru the air. the color of the air.

soon as i do some housekeeping i am going to stop the blog for a week or so. tiptoe softly backwards out of the game tower with a paintbrush in hand. i want to do 12 large - for me - watercolors that are a set. 12 what? disciples, moons, eggs... nope.

so you will see changes.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

This happened in Oakland the other day. School students were protesting immigration raids and a newspaper photographer making a video was bumped by or bumped a police car with her elbow. She kept the camera going as long as she could. The police confiscated the video but later gave it to the newspaper. The district attorney declined to charge her with anything.

click to see clip

the citizenry of USA can be demographically divided in many ways. one very useful division is into two groups:

those who have experienced the sort of outrage the clip shows and

those who find it unbelievable and immediately jump to the conclusion that the embattled reporter must have done "something" wrong.

to the second group i can say that there are good middle class folks who have spent their entire adult life aware that this stuff "happens". casualties of the "kulture wars" that began in the late 50's and ain't over yet by a long shot, obama or no obama.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist - Beyond Election Day - NYTimes.com:
"As important as this choice has become, the election is just a small first step. What Americans really have to decide is what kind of country they want.

Right now the United States is a country in which wealth is funneled, absurdly, from the bottom to the top. The richest 1 percent of Americans now holds close to 40 percent of all the wealth in the nation and maintains an iron grip on the levers of government power.

This is not only unfair, but self-defeating."

Monday, November 3, 2008


i'm ready. the train is leaving the station. hop on. play it out.

"So far from there being any spontaneous communication under this regime, these electronic media are carefully controlled to make sure that 'dangerous', that is, unorthodox views do not slip through. Such a system permits neither colloquy nor dialogue, as in genuine oral discourse: what takes place is for the greater part only a meticulously arranged monologue, even if more than one person is present on the screen. A population entirely dependent upon such controlled oral communication, even though it reached every human soul on the planet, would not merely be at the mercy of the Dominant Majority but would become increasingly illiterate and soon mutually unintelligible. Thus once again the parallel between the Pyramid Age and our own forces itself upon the observer: here in prospect is actually the electronic Tower of Babel."

Lewis Mumford
The myth of the Machine, v.2: the Pentagon of Power (1966)
p. 298

Sunday, November 2, 2008


a day of rest. which for me is my work. people "edgy". weather beautiful.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

maybe a peep into another time and place would be a good thing to do today.
YouTube - Django Reinhardt - Video Quintette du Hot Club de France

but then there is today

Friday, October 31, 2008

Thursday, October 30, 2008


this election process is driving me crazy. the absurdity of this national charade is over the top. and mccain inc. may win, steal, or otherwise become president. mainly because there are a lot of decent americans who will vote for him. why?

there is a type of advertising (i forget the name of the catagory) whose purpose is not to sell but to make you feel comfortable about already being sold. coca cola etc is a good example. the electorial information glut is serving a similar purpose. total fabrications daily that make the retrograde voting population feel good about it's cultural identity.

i have spent my whole life, and maybe you have too, living in this cultural war. i'm sick of it. and now the election loaded with corporate entertainment values.

but i will not quit the real battle for the real world.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008


picture taken last sunday from behind the obama folks pushing forward to the 2 very long lines of palin people. at the time the auditorium and overflow auditorium were full and locked down.

i'm going to shut the blog down for a break in the next few days. i'm tired and grumpy and will be working for obama.

Monday, October 27, 2008


fwd to me by jeff in NM. don't know who did it, but they did good.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Daily Kos: State of the Nation:
"Governor Sarah Palin was prayed over by an Alaskan preacher to protect her from witches, but he ought to have thought of zombies as well. She's coming to Asheville, North Carolina tomorrow afternoon, and her visit coincides with our city's Annual Zombie Walk."

when i found out about the zombie part around noon i decided to show up and walked downtown to avoid traffic and was happy to observe i could walk for 5 hours because that's what i did. i don't think i got any images but i'll know tomorrow.

the above link is a pretty reasonable observation about the difference between street theatre and protest.

i spent some time mingling with the saraphiles spread out in lines blocks long even after the civic center was full and locked down, as well as the overflow venue featuring giant screen. i heard the words "weirdos" and "freaks' murmered many times, including from a roman catholic cleric of some sort connected with the basilica across the street from the civic center.

away from the crowd i overheard a couple wondering what "they" were trying to accomplish - and this was before the zombies showed up. i couldn't help myself from telling them that the aville kids were just having fun, not a confrontation, which is exactly what gordon in the above link was promoting.

ran into some of the blogger team i haven't seen for awhile. they are taking care of business. tomorrow i expect i can post a link to some pretty interesting photos from this group of smart and hardworking folks.


took some fall color pix by walking around the block yesterday. on is above.

but i am bothered greatly by the massive heist the financial giants and fading nation states have gotten away with. i don't care who is elected president if the megaoligarchic pillagers are not brought to justice. if obama wins and i sure hope he does, and the neo-vandals are not thrown in the slammer you can kiss the world you lived in as a child goodbye. hello dystopia.

Saturday, October 25, 2008


the daily daze
and the cloud of news
glide thru the maze
sucker punch the muse

Friday, October 24, 2008

Obamalina

Obamalina
"What defied credulity was the story's dateline: Asheville, North Carolina."

spent yesterday gliding and stumbling thru various graphic apps, paying bills and then richard rescued me and took a beautiful walk nearby. i made a mental note to do it again today with a camera, realizing i did not have to do parkway for color.

but it is a dreary rainy day today. change of plans: totally organize, pick up, shuffle, volunteer at obama HQ, finish video, put away a zillion back up disks i've been sorting for a week and most importantly lay down and read a book.

Thursday, October 23, 2008


noon thursday. i made the mistake early tis morning of letting windows update itself. after a couple of hours a dialog box popped up that said "acess denied" and it is still undoing what it took all morning to do, telling me that windows might not work anymore. you know what? it never did, it never does. a historical accident of time and place and the need for a standard operating system is the only reason this house of cards exists today. what does this say about neocapitalism? the best, the most productive, the simplest and most effective product is not what our present diety the Market gives us.

last night i had the pleasure of playing music spontaneously with two excellant musicians in a room full of instruments and electronics. unplanned. i haven't enjoyed myself so much in a long time. it reminded me of those far off times when a small circle of friends occaisionally dipped into this playfullness, only no skilled musicians. just handing instruments that we didn't know how to play around and... well playing.

so last night i played electric bass, never had one in my hands before, and i passed the audition so to speak, if i had known how they are tuned i don't know what would have been, but what a ludic limbic boost.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008


nothing to say today. plenty to do.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008


pic i took wherever i was the other day. i did my best towards a postcard of wnc.

nothing much more to say. i'm hiding out this week but may take a drive to graveyard fields of color.


well i'm back. looked at from one way i spent the whole summer rigging truck etc for a camping trip. and stayed two nights sleeping in the dark, cold, well worth it. i realized on this trip that the inside of the camper shell is not ready for prime time. definitely have to build some sturdy storage inside.

slept first night near waterfall, 6 or 8 long walks to set up. the mountain top was deserted. the next morning a few charlie and moriah showed up to take a break from caring for charlie's dad who is at home and in hospice. and i relocated to camper. spent the afternoon and evening wondering around, taking pictures and communing with the spirits. a beneficial timeout.

as happens, home looked and felt super when i got back.

i'll spend the day resetting. this week i think i'm going to stay home, letting various processes continue, and next week burst upon the social scene, reintroducing myself to the many folks here i haven't seen in a long time. and vote early. and winterize the house

Sunday, October 19, 2008


excellent camping, can't say enough about it. more pix coming.

Thursday, October 16, 2008


didn't quite make it out of the house today.but i am packed and ready to go. leaving early tomorrow for cousin moriah's and charlie's.

back sunday.

i saw most of the debate, probably over an hour. i thought mccain probably did himself more good than harm.

but it was like watching a punch and judy performance. an outdated, obsolete style of performance, akin to the old miss america contests. the format is ridiculous. by that i mean the stage, camera angles, lighting and graphics. i could not help but see both candidates with little earpieces like the talking heads wear, and at the bottom running flashing meters displaying realtime info a la nascar, and voice overs from the troika of commentators, perhaps speaking in low respectful tones as in a golf game.

a charade.

i will still vote early for obama. a no-brainer.

as an aside, i was fascinated by the quote "charactor is destiny". i may be wrong but i got the idea it was heard as a clever phrase made up on the spot. no referance to heraclitus who originated the idea close to 3000 years ago.

(hmmm... just discovered this is the title of a book by mccain. shows you how much i know.)

but obama could lose. we could lose if the election is stolen, or if iran is forced to defend itself by some form of surgical strike.

my insulin pump has ew meter in place and i am obligated by destiny to leave today for long delayed camping trip. i will be back in town by saturday, sunday at the latest. probably take me all day to wrap up a few dangling obligations and pack.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Lewis Mumford Quotes
"One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence."
Lewis Mumford

this popped up on screen this morning. it was a link on gmail menu. don't know if coincidence - nah, no such thing - or they knew that i was going to post some mumford quotes this morning.

i am finishing pentagon of power, one of his last books which i think i read when i was young. i am convinced that this book and 3 others do more to describe what is happening in our lives today than all the pundits in the world. read the comments on links below. better yet, read the books.

they are:
The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by boorstin. published i think in early 50's, this is the book from which ideas like psuedo-events, the graphic revolution, photo-ops, public relations, advertising and the manipulation of your thoughts were introduced.

the myth of the machine:
technics and human development
by mumford;
the long view of technical progress and coercive power.

the myth of the machine:
the pentagon of power
by mumford
thoughtful analysis of the culture of today and power, compared to the early egyption and mesopotamian empires.

the shock doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism by naomi klein:
written 2 years ago, a text book analysis of heists like that just pulled by the oligarchy.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

there ought to be a law - probably there is.
Greg Palast
"BBC-TV: 'Set up to steal it again.'
Is 2008 already fixed?"

Monday, October 13, 2008


illustrator. learning it,

and a lot more. talk about a habit. every day another lorez cyberdoodle.

Sunday, October 12, 2008


last watercolor i painted. a month or so ago. had a bum day yesterday, glucose was high all day, finally got it down around 7 in the evening. discovered huge fauxpa in checking account which i am scrambling to fix today. did attack last room to simplify so living room is now full of art materials, paintings, cd-roms and dvds to sort. beautiful day out. that's where i need to be.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Friday, October 10, 2008


not leaving for famous camping sojourn. yesterday the blood glucose meter connected to insulin pump stopped working. this meant a day trouble shooting, on the phone, buying batteries etc. conclusion this morning is that the pump company sends me an RMA and new meter which i'll get next week. in the meantime use backup which works fine after i replaced batteries. the signs are clear: when i go camping i want to have both meters up and running. a no brainer.

so richard tom and myself took a serendipitous walk. through a sweet neighborhood just south of here.

and i'm stuck here for awhile. i'm not panicing plenty to do here.over the weekend i guess i will follow the spirit guides and start on the back room where i paint and sleep. i'll feel like an archeologist.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008


example of my latest preoccupation. wanted to see how it played on this page. i'll have to fool with it to eliminate bars on each side. later. click on video link right side to see them all.

watched the debates last night w/ a friend at merrimon st asheville brewing company. very easy not crowded (unless you were in line for a beer). i dozed thru it. format was like an infomercial for cookware. a charade.

winners and losers: mccain held his own. won't change anyone's mind.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

BlogAsheville


more - much more - on obama visit to aville. biggest thing to happen here in ages, reverberations still happening. bloggers covered it excellently.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Economyincrisis.org - America's Economic Report - Daily

 "Congress should focus the bailout on refinancing the troubled mortgages as the Home Owners' Loan Corp. did in the 1930s, not on the troubled institutions holding the troubled instruments linked to the mortgages."

Mad Dog Palin : Rolling Stone

"Palin's crack about a mayor being 'like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities' testified to the Republicans' apparent belief that they can win elections till the end of time running against the Sixties. (They're probably right.)"


mr obama was in town yesterday. still is. i had thought to go to rally yesterday but rethought it when i learned that folks had been arriving since 9pm the night before, waiting for the gates to open noon saturday.

so then i thought to go on my long delayed camping foray which i have been getting ready for since may. but remembered i was running out of a med i take daily so will have to take care of that today.

then my router took a wrong turn and knocked me off the net. trying to fix made it worse so i went to bed.

but as sen. obama said yesterday - while i could still access the net - "i will not give up".

so i am back up this morning but still have to get wireless talking to router.

{later} wireless is up and all is well. the lesson here for me is if i have to dig around hardware and software do it in the morning when i am a little more bright.

BTW democracynow.org features today a talk by naomi klein whose book the shock doctrine which i have almost finished is the clearest broadest description of the dysfunctional economic world we live in. if you haven't read the book the talk may not be totally clear but well worth an hour. the public sector, the commons, has been dwindling down to nowhere and the reason is what the book is about.

Friday, October 3, 2008


little of this and a little of that. a little less of this and a little less of that.


did this cyberdoodle in illustrator. haven't used it much since version 5 or maybe it was 7. it has come a long way.

watched a little of the debate. haven't yet got the buzz on who won lost blew it etc.

obama will be in town sunday. i'll probably be in celo or linville.

i've been remaking old animations and pieces of this and that into videos and up loading them. a couple more and i will try switch account to one with fewer restrictions - file size running time etc. you can view what i have up by clicking on video box right sidebar.

Thursday, October 2, 2008


maybe you don't know what these pictures - the one above for instance - are. i grab one in the morning and see what happens. like a morning walk or meditation it gets my day going.

going somewhere,

so now i can eat breakfast, finish a video snippet, take a shower and hit the road. lots of maintainance things to do in town today.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008


M BZ.

obsessive. beautiful fall day i spent chasing various projects around the house. i yamwhatiyam.

as an inarticulate participant in "history" i am finding the $ meltdown a difficult thing to describe. the searching, tentative manner in which humans thought out loud sometime in the past , the ruminating, the silent mull, the personal discourse, all seems to have been buried under a tsunami of berserk images and instant cliche.

one puzzling aspect is the meme that it happened in one news cycle. but it didn't. it is merely the tail end of a 30 year process which of course is stage within a larger process. it is really implicit in the neo-cons' agenda. profit trumps nation state.

why should the obama folks think he must respond to each day's attack? because kerry didn't? because he taught constitutional law? right now he should use each sound byte to characterize the attack and then talk about this old tired republican talking point machine. how it works, why it works, and the new context in which it no longer works.

we hope.

YouTube - DENNIS KUCINICH TELLS THE TRUTH...

there is more to the news then the news.
YouTube - DENNIS KUCINICH TELLS THE TRUTH...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

globeandmail.com: Dylan to stream next album

globeandmail.com: Dylan to stream next album:
"Bob Dylan's new album will be released one week early as a free online stream on National Public Radio's website.

NPR Music will stream the entire two-CD, Tell Tale Signs, beginning at 12:01 a.m. EDT Tuesday. It will be available for listening at least until Oct. 7, when the album is officially released by Columbia Records."

Monday, September 29, 2008


the endless simplification. yearlong cleanup at home starting to pay off. yesterday i was into closets and among the items found were two of the above. i-ching coins from who knows when. before new year i might even find the third one.

today i get into CD & DVD disks used in projects and backups. a headache job a more methodical person would not have to look forward to.

economic meltdown: the fix is or will be an extension of the problem. same oligharchs, same metaphysics - what is value? - and same answer - value is more value. the infinite regress of smoke and mirrors.

Sunday, September 28, 2008



'nother beautiful day. been lashed to the computer for awhile. modernpeasant video presence should manifest soon.

was going to the BlogAsheville third anniversary do last night. to see a few old friends. haven't been real active in this group of late. but they are rolling and the 3rd annual extravaganza there were i'm sure a lot of new bloggers in attendance.

but i got a call from some friends that have just returned from a 6000 mile jaunt to glacier national park hauling firewood, a motorcycle and two dogs. adventure still has a place in the world so spent a quiet evening with (now) old friends,

Saturday, September 27, 2008


photp iaken by the side if the road after a truck breakdown. few years back.

i've been assembling video collection online. ready in a few days.

i now have my first neighbor in a few years. turns out to be ninian's friend matilda.

i watched the debate. sort of. i was practicing scales on the dobro which kept my attention from the box whose look and feel to me was so archaic and stylized. it was like a bad memory. the camera angle on pbs anyway was of interest: camera on left showing both "contestants" put mccain closer, bigger and obama in background, apparently mccain had been dosed w/ some drug that made him totally unaware of another presence on stage so he monologued like a stump speech. obama was relegated to the background looking exaserbated at mcmain trying to get a word in edgewise. all in all i imagine the buzz this morning will be that mccain "won". i have no idea what either one of them said and don't think it matters

Friday, September 26, 2008


don't know about you but i had a very unusual day yesterday. endocrinologist appt at 11. the doctor took one look at my left foot and more or less freaked, sending me immediately to st joe emergency room to see an internal disease specialist. i arrived and was put into nice little cubical with one of those nice new very expensive hospital beds. blood was drawn and the very pleasant nurse was the last person i saw for 2 1/2 hours. i fell asleep. when i woke up i left the nap place and told the staff i had been forgotten. flurry of activity. i got dressed and ready to leave. the doctor who was in charge encouraged me to stay, that blood work had been done and the doctor was on his way. turned out to be a nice and very competent doc, and told me there was no problem.

the nap was about the most restful time i have spent in a long time and i guess i surprised the staff by being calm cool and pleasant. i mentioned to the nurse that it was absolutely the last time i would go to the hospital w/out a book. so she rustled up three, one of which was the first eagle by tony hillerman. i had thought i had read all of his books but this is a new one and i took it home.

so what happened? my endocrinologist simply was making sure the bad thing was not happening which would be cellulitus turning into drug resistant staph and morphing into "flesh eating bacteria" which is not happening.

the doc also told me to walk which was good to hear.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

the republicans "have merely been using populism as cover for the Establishment's most enduring wet dream: an unregulated economy; that freest, hands-off, carefree, happy-go-lucky, socially Darwinistic marketplace of clear winners and losers."
buzzflash

Wednesday, September 24, 2008


what a mess. i've got a bum leg that may take 6 weeks to be right - i hope. was going to camp out for three days with a large circle of new old friends but that is not happening now. plus there is a problem w/ getting gas in the area that may take a week to resolve. of course it may take forever.

the masters of the universe have one day left to "fix" the economy. what a dismal joke. what is it, $300 billion to be used to buy what won't sell and no law applies? he could buy you and me and that would be that. come to think of it, maybe it is a good thing to make a law that law does not apply to the "fix", since the dept of justice has become an arm of the big criminals and little more.

a democracy requires the rule of law. a fascist dictatorship requires smoke and mirrors - and that is what our economy is made of today - and no giggling.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Crooks and Liars : The Shock Doctrine: The evil of “Disaster Capitalism”:
"There has been no shortage of books chronicling the dystopia that is the Bush Administration. And in this job, I’ve read quite a few of them. None of them have made as powerful an impact as Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine. I promise you, it will change how you look at government policy and responses. It also finally sealed forever, for me at least, the coffin of the utter bollocks of Friedman economics. Listen to me carefully, you free market fanatics: FRIEDMAN. POLICIES. DO. NOT. WORK. PERIOD. His version of ‘free market economics’ STIFLES democracy. They create an oligarchy that is the opposite of democracy."

Marc Cooper: We Want You: Join HuffPost's On-The-Ground Citizen Reporting Brigade

Marc Cooper: We Want You: Join HuffPost's On-The-Ground Citizen Reporting Brigade:
"As Campaign '08 comes to a dramatic close are you as bored, frustrated and often outraged as we are about the blizzard of totally predictable media bloviating that seems to blanket us 24/7? Then help fight back by enlisting in the growing army of HuffPost's OffTheBus citizen reporters. After you sign up for our Special Ops reporting team, we'll be issuing weekly assignments targeted at your local communities. Our ranks are open to everyone, everywhere, but we're especially interested in those living in battleground states who can regularly report. And those who are adventurous, curious, and passionate about communicating their observations and experiences to a national audience."

Donald Craig Mitchell: McCain Camp Lawyer Illegally Advising In Alaska; Palin Attorney General In Hiding

Donald Craig Mitchell: McCain Camp Lawyer Illegally Advising In Alaska; Palin Attorney General In Hiding:
"The first new development was the decision by the McCain presidential campaign to fly New York City attorney Edward O'Callaghan into Anchorage to elbow Palin attorney Tom Van Flein aside and assume command of the governor's effort to run out the clock on the investigation until after the November election.

O'Callaghan told Newsweek that 'he and another McCain campaign lawyer (whom he declined to identify) are serving as legal 'consultants' to Thomas Van Flein, the Anchorage lawyer who at state expense is representing Palin and her office in the [Troopergate] inquiry. 'We are advising Thomas Van Flein on this matter to the extent that it impacts on the national campaign. I'm helping out on legal strategy.''

The pickle O'Callaghan's wagging tongue has gotten its owner into is that, pursuant to Alaska Statute 8.08.230, a person who is not a member of the Alaska Bar who while physically present in Alaska 'engages in the practice of law' is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. And in Alaska the 'practice of law' includes 'rendering legal consultation or advice.'"

David Schrader: Last Exit Before The Abyss

David Schrader: Last Exit Before The Abyss: "after years of supporting massive de-regulation and profiting from unnecessary war, oil speculation, and the buildup of a phony 'ownership society' stuffed with junk loans, they and their cronies have finally driven the SUV completely off the cliff."


if the fictional "we" - you may remember "john q. public" - were living in other times, other places - we would know we had been raped and pillaged. the masters of the universe have run a con game on humans, and the old story is reaching another climax.

to be ready for it may be a contradiction in terms.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings - NYTimes.com

Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings - NYTimes.com:
"As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” the congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.”"

Sunday, September 21, 2008

September Surprise- by Justin Raimondo

September Surprise- by Justin Raimondo:
"I don't see why the defeat of the Georgians in Saakashvili's war on the Ossetians has to mean the plan to strike Iran via Georgia has been canceled."

Time: New McCain Attack Ad Plays Race Card

Time: New McCain Attack Ad Plays Race Card
surprise

Huff TV: Arianna on the CBS Early Show Discussing the Politics of Palin

Huff TV: Arianna on the CBS Early Show Discussing the Politics of Palin
a far sighted women, i hope she is right.

Menachem Rosensaft: McCain Campaign Cries Wolf Over Anti-Iran Rally Fiasco

McCain Campaign Cries Wolf Over Anti-Iran Rally Fiasco:
"The organizers had initially invited Governor Palin without ever contacting, let alone inviting, anyone from the Obama campaign. When they finally issued a belated invitation to the Obama side, it was accepted, and a prominent Democratic Member of Congress was going to speak at the rally. The organizers then disinvited both Governor Palin and Representative Wexler. And whom does the GOP hold responsible for this fiasco? Barack Obama, of course."

Dan Lyons: A Gloomy Vista for Microsoft | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts | Newsweek.com

A Gloomy Vista for Microsoft :
"'Nobody here looks at Vista as a fiasco,' says Brad Brooks, a Microsoft marketing vice president. If that's true, and nobody at Microsoft thinks Vista has been a public-relations nightmare, then the company is in trouble."


nice photo. somewhere in NC.

am not hitting on all cylinders. bum leg but it is getting better. i can hobble along pretty well.

hope i'm well enough to camp out in surry county next weekend.