It all started about a month and a half ago, when the following appeared in the comment section:
I find your blog interesting. I look forward to reading it some more.
That was left by anonymous. I don't know why anonymous couldn't use his or her own name, or use a fake name. After all, he or she was paying me a compliment. It wasn't the most imaginative comment, but that's all right. I'll take a kind word any way I can get it. This comment appeared a few more times over a course of a week. Then, one day, a new comment appeared:
Me like your blog. Me want to read more.
Was Tonto a fan? Tarzan, perhaps? About a week later, the syntax improved. There was, however, a suggestion:
I like your blog. How about more pictures?
More pictures? That would assume I had pictures in the first place. "How about pictures?" would have been more accurate. Anyway, whoever anonymous was, he or she didn't hold the absence of pictures against me:
Am really interested in your blog. Keep writing on similar topics
: )
Always nice to receive encouragement. It's not always nice to get utterly confused:
Use the track reply four button operating system. Engineering prototypes plus hard drive replacement procedures. Proceed at ultimate capacity.
I chose not to proceed at ultimate capacity. Anonymous ultimately did:
wwwparishiltonnude.com wwwbritneyspearsnude.com wwwkirstendunstnude.com wwwamywinehousenude.com wwwjessicaalbanude.com wwwlindsaylohannude.com wwwsarahpalinnude.com wwwpaulaabdulnude.com wwwmerylstreepnude.com wwwstatueoflibertynude.com wwwmonalisanude.com wwwtinkerbellnude.com wwwcheerfulbrunetteonprogressiveinsurancecommercialnude.com
Anonymous didn't just stop there, for a week later:
wwwboysboysboysboysboysnudenudenude.com
No celebrity names attached. Guess they're on the bashful side.
It was obvious the spammers had finally discovered me. And horney spammers at that. Well, folks, I hate to do it, but the time has finally come to turn on the word verification thingee. About half of those who follow this blog already have these devices and know how they work. You get a nonsense word like this:
drtopsmh
Which you then have to copy in a long rectangular box, before your comment will be accepted. The idea being that a computer is sending the spam, and thus incapable of copying a nonsense word. I hope so.
But first I'd like to conduct a little test. Those of you who aren't spammers may stop reading. This test is not for you.
Now, spammers, I'm going to give you two nonsense words. Actually, they're not nonsense words at all, they're really scrambled up words, like that one puzzle on the comic pages. You're task, spammers, is to unscramble these words:
CFKU UYO
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
In Memoriam: J.D. Salinger 1919-2010
Writer. Catcher in the Rye.
Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all the day. I'd just be a catcher in the rye and all.
Grand. There's a word I really hate. I could puke every time I hear it.
It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly even knew I was doing it.
If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody.
I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.
That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write fuck you under your nose.
Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all the day. I'd just be a catcher in the rye and all.
Grand. There's a word I really hate. I could puke every time I hear it.
It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly even knew I was doing it.
If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody.
I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.
That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write fuck you under your nose.
Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
In Memoriam: Howard Zinn 1922-2010
Historian. Political Scientist. Author. A People's History of the United States.
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
If those in control of ideas--politicians, corporate executives, owners of press and television--can dominate ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling our streets. We will control ourselves.
Most wars, after all, present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people.
Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat.
If the gods had intended people to vote, they would have given them candidates.
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
If those in control of ideas--politicians, corporate executives, owners of press and television--can dominate ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling our streets. We will control ourselves.
Most wars, after all, present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people.
Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat.
If the gods had intended people to vote, they would have given them candidates.
Monday, January 25, 2010
In Memoriam: Jean Simmons 1929--2010
Movie actress. Hamlet. Guys and Dolls. Elmer Gantry. Spartacus.
"The only person in the picture (Hamlet) who gives every one of her lines the bloom of poetry and the immediacy of ordinary life"
--James Agee
(He wasn't all that ordinary, but a certain Mr. Olivier was also pretty good in that flick. That said, I do agree with Mr. Agee about the beautiful and talented actress. She's also very good in the other three films mentioned at the top of the post, but I like her best as Ophelia, the Shakespearean noblewoman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Call me a hopeless romantic--KJ)
"The only person in the picture (Hamlet) who gives every one of her lines the bloom of poetry and the immediacy of ordinary life"
--James Agee
(He wasn't all that ordinary, but a certain Mr. Olivier was also pretty good in that flick. That said, I do agree with Mr. Agee about the beautiful and talented actress. She's also very good in the other three films mentioned at the top of the post, but I like her best as Ophelia, the Shakespearean noblewoman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Call me a hopeless romantic--KJ)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Following Update
He's left comments in the past, which I appreciate, and he's now bicycled into the lower left hand corner, which I further appreciate. Welcome photographer extraordinaire Once Known as Badger.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Bill of Rights
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Freedom of speech. Cherish it.
Freedom of speech. Cherish it.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Brown But Not Out
Having stayed away from politics for a while, I was going to do a major post about the whole Harry Reid brouhaha, thinking the story still had legs. Well, after what happened yesterday in Massachusetts, those legs may now be stumps. I may still do the Reid post, since I've got the whole thing mapped out in my brain. We'll see. I hate throwing out a map just because it's a bit dated.
A Republican was elected Senator in Massachusetts! A state synonymous with liberalism. At least it is among the talking heads on TV last night. Maybe cliche should be synonymous with cable news. Well, that's kind of harsh. They may have good reason for such generalizing. The state's nickname, at least among outsiders leaning to the right, is Taxachusetts. And, of course, the Kennedys are from there.
Still, there may have been a conservative, even reactionary, undercurrent that went unnoticed. In 1975, an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter was banned in Boston because the general manager of the local ABC affiliate thought the show had something to do with desegregation, which was a hot topic in the city that year due to court-ordered busing. The general manager evidently thought viewers might freak out and turn violent if they saw Arnold Horshack and Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington sharing the same classroom. That same decade also saw the banning of The Jackson Five and Marvin Gaye. In fact, until about 1980, the phrase, or cliche, "banned in Boston" was synonymous with censorship. I'm not suggesting any direct line between Welcome Back, Kotter and Scott Brown's win, only that Massachusetts may be more complex than it's been characterized. And remember, it's had a couple of Republican governors in recent years, including Mitt Romney.
As I don't live there, I don't know exactly where the Democratic Party went wrong in Massachusetts. I do have an idea where it went wrong, or is going wrong, in the nation as a whole, and I'll likely share that in some future post.
To use another cliche, this all could be a blessing in disguise. The burden of the 60-vote majority has been lifted from the Democrats shoulders. The Senate can now pass legislation with a simple majority. If the Republicans threaten to filibuster, let them. Maybe we can make then stay up all night, like back in the old days. C-SPAN for insomniacs.
But that's not the best reason to be rid of the 60-vote majority. Without the 60-vote majority, Joe Lieberman is no longer the most powerful man in the Senate.
Gee, I'm feeling better all ready.
A Republican was elected Senator in Massachusetts! A state synonymous with liberalism. At least it is among the talking heads on TV last night. Maybe cliche should be synonymous with cable news. Well, that's kind of harsh. They may have good reason for such generalizing. The state's nickname, at least among outsiders leaning to the right, is Taxachusetts. And, of course, the Kennedys are from there.
Still, there may have been a conservative, even reactionary, undercurrent that went unnoticed. In 1975, an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter was banned in Boston because the general manager of the local ABC affiliate thought the show had something to do with desegregation, which was a hot topic in the city that year due to court-ordered busing. The general manager evidently thought viewers might freak out and turn violent if they saw Arnold Horshack and Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington sharing the same classroom. That same decade also saw the banning of The Jackson Five and Marvin Gaye. In fact, until about 1980, the phrase, or cliche, "banned in Boston" was synonymous with censorship. I'm not suggesting any direct line between Welcome Back, Kotter and Scott Brown's win, only that Massachusetts may be more complex than it's been characterized. And remember, it's had a couple of Republican governors in recent years, including Mitt Romney.
As I don't live there, I don't know exactly where the Democratic Party went wrong in Massachusetts. I do have an idea where it went wrong, or is going wrong, in the nation as a whole, and I'll likely share that in some future post.
To use another cliche, this all could be a blessing in disguise. The burden of the 60-vote majority has been lifted from the Democrats shoulders. The Senate can now pass legislation with a simple majority. If the Republicans threaten to filibuster, let them. Maybe we can make then stay up all night, like back in the old days. C-SPAN for insomniacs.
But that's not the best reason to be rid of the 60-vote majority. Without the 60-vote majority, Joe Lieberman is no longer the most powerful man in the Senate.
Gee, I'm feeling better all ready.
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