Saturday, March 12, 2016

Saturday and Sundries

The Vertical Oracle
Fun way to get a quick, do-it-yourself answer to your question of the moment. Answers can be cheeky, occasionally spooky. The idea, and the deck of cards were creations of astrologer Antero Alli, and Sylvie Pickering. Illustrations from the deck of cards are also featured at Free Will Astrology, with weekly horoscopes there.








Robert Crumb taking on Donald Trump in 1989. Nothing’s changed in 26 (or 2,000) years.

Rest of cartoon at link.




Staying with bilious thoughts of Donald Trump, a poem by Ogden Nash who, if time-travelling, could've had Trump in mind as he wrote the following ditty. One might say the poem could equally apply to Bernie - or to my husband anyjazz - but neither would, I suspect, ever be "at the club", and in the case of anyjazz at the barber's either; my own "nimble fingers" are in charge of what remains of his hair.

"Once eager for, I've come to dread
The nimble fingers of my barber;
He's training strands across my scalp
Like scimpy vines across an arbor.
The conversation at the club
Is all intestinal or molar;
What dogs the class of '24? ['64?]
Another day, another dolor."


(From A Man Can Complain, Can't He? (A Lament For Those Who Think Old)






Hair we go again...I've always included a bit of the old back-combing technique to boost my baby-fine hair, but this is ridiculous! (More at the link)

This May Be the Weirdest Beauty Moment of Paris Fashion Week





Backlash against Bernie- clip from RT America with Ed Schultz & Thom Hartmann
As the Democratic Primaries become tighter and tighter, negative press against Bernie Sanders has some questioning his earlier decisions. But what’s the story behind that?







Goodness me! It'll be time to move our clocks an hour forward tonight, or first thing tomorrow.


I'm "livin' on Tulsa time" myself these days. In the 1990s, back in Yorkshire, we saw Don Williams, on good old Greenwich Meantime, sing this song live during a concert in Harrogate.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Vertical Oracle's collage tarot deck is strangely beautiful, I think, though I'm no expert on the finer points of tarot symbolism.

Crumb I find relentlessly depressing but always all too apt. Interestingly, wiki advises that at one of Trimalchio's feasts, 'a dish to represent every sign of the zodiac' was served.' Worth checking out if one had a copy of 'Satyricon' to hand. Seen the movie but never read the book. If Crumb recommends it, perhaps one could just dunk one's own head in the toilet and leave it at that. Can you tell the world is too much with me sometimes ;P

Loved Ogden Nash since I was a youngster - your pick is most choice. As for fashion week anything these days, seems just another sign of societal degeneracy.

Didn't know Bezos recently purchased the Washington Post. Not sure how important 'print' media is to average voter anymore. And, nowadays, once the words are spoken, it's impossible to stuff the genie back in the bottle anyhow. Ex, Hillary's remarks re the Reagans and AIDS.

If we could 'Spring forward' more than just an hour, I wonder when in the future we'd choose to arrive....

mike said...

I visit freewillastrology.com regularly, so I'm familiar with the cards. I remember when Brezsny introduced them on his site. My favorite card (I think the name of it is) "A trip to nowhere"...the tram suspended in outer-space.

Too many individuals out there that could use one of R.Crumb's "swirlies"...maybe a swirly into a black hole.

I suppose that I'm fortunate to have most of my hair, though thinner, but still intact. Just last night, I talked to a relatively youngish (39 yrs old) guy-neighbor. We were talking about his recent mulching of his flower beds to beautify the bare spots. He made the comment that he should mulch his scalp to hide the receding hair...LOL. I didn't make any comment, to lessen his pain. I don't have the problem, so not sure how I'd feel about baldness of my own, but so many of the fellows I know make such a big deal about it...like their manliness goes down the drain with each strand of hair loss.

Rick Owens trend is copycat of Sia ("Chandelier" song): http://hollywoodlife.com/pics/sia-pics-singer-photos/

Backlash against Bernie...what can be said, except such be dirty politics. Amazon is the new Walmart and Jeff Bezos is the new Walton family.

"... He is also a member of the Bilderberg Group and attended the 2011 Bilderberg conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and the 2013 conference in Watford, Hertfordshire, England.

As of January 1, 2016, according to Forbes, Bezos is listed as the 4th wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $59.2 billion. He was ranked the second best CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review, after Steve Jobs of Apple.

He was named World's Worst Boss by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), at their World Congress, in May 2014. In making the award Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the ITUC, said 'Jeff Bezos represents the inhumanity of employers who are promoting the American corporate model...'

An article that ran in the New York Times described working for Bezos and Amazon in the offices as a grueling and inhumane experience with many employees regularly being terminated or quitting."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos

Daylight Savings Time is so abstract! Another human imposition upon our natural biorhythms. My critters, Junior and GiGi, will enjoy tomorrow evening, as they will be fed an hour earlier according to their natural, by-the-sun, time keeping. I typically watch the local and national news from 5 PM to 6 PM, and they are fed shortly after. I'm on no real schedule and I could easily continue onward with solar time, but TV tends to interfere, at least with bedtime. I don't watch daytime TV, but the late afternoon news, then later night viewing, usually ending with "Nightline"...then time for bed. More often than not, my later night viewing is really on the internet, but with the TV on in the background.

Twilight said...

Sabina~ Re Rob. Crumb - I first heard of him via the movie "American Splendor", because I lurve Paul Giamatti and never miss one of his films. He played Harvey Pekar in the film, and Crumb was part of the story-line. Later on husband bought a paperback copy of Robert Crumb's illustrated comic book type version of "Book of Genesis" which is interesting to browse, even for the non-religious. (I felt certain I'd done a post on Crimb and/or Harvey Pekar but can't find one so must have changed mind).

Ogden Nash is a fave of mine too!

Yep - different world now, social media and internet have changed us - or rather exposed us -and Them!

Not sure I want to jump into the future, at my age it's probably not a good idea! ;-)

Twilight said...

mike ~ That deck of cards is weird, in a good way. Creator of it, astrologer Antero Alli used to regularly frequent an astrology message board of which I was a member in years gone by. He was always very helpful to members, and an engaging writer. Astrologer Zane Stein was another regular helper on the board too. I remember them both with distant fondness.

Hair has been a constant bugbear of mine all my life - extremely fine hair, though once very thick is now thinner and finer still, since I stopped having it coloured! Lots of "product" helps - always has but now helps more, as better helpers become available on the market. If I allowed my hair to grow longer, and used huge amounts of gunk, I feel sure I could get that exact look in Rick Jones' fashion photo. That'd shock 'em in downtown Oklahoma! :-)

Time changes used to bother me a little during working life, now not so much. At least it's just an hour now - there was a time once, I think, when it was 2 hours "double summertime". That'd be really annoying!

Anonymous said...

Only very recently discovered via radio that Crumb has a mega 78 rpm record collection - I love that real old stuff. Here's a snippet re same:

http://www.6moons.com/worldmusic/hotwomen.html

mike - LOL re that hairdo you linked. Yes, am aware of horrific working environment at Amazon. Currently reading 'Trees on Mars: Our Obsession with the Future' and Bezos in there, along with many others plying the public with 'disruption'; indeed, can't help thinking if the author knew astrology, he'd see his entire book is a perfect example of Pluto/Cap sq Uranus/Aries. (Which reminded me that Uranus is nipping along towards Taurus ... and pondering that scenario.)

Me too, Twilight, fine hair, straight and slippery so always escaping any/every hair clasp. Thinning too, but still grows like a weed, oddly.

Ditto about jumping into the future, tho Dad 94 this year (and still firing on all cylinders - he says he's in the departure lounge) and his mother almost made 107! Wonder if we'd live differently if we knew our 'best by date' ;P

Twilight said...

Sabina ~ Crumb is likely a fascinating character in person.

Whoa - you must have inherited the right kind of genes for a long ride home! :-)
My lot (grandparents and parents) averaged mid-80s and a few of 'em into their 90s, depending on smoking history. A couple of male cousins haven't done as well though, one heart attack @ 65 and another, I heard about just last weekend, gone from cancer and didn't reach even 60. Best not to ponder on it overmuch!

mike (again) said...

Sabina -

"Uranus in Taurus 2018 - 2025

From 2018 Uranus will be in Taurus, combining Uranus’s enthusiasm for progress and change with the material and earth bound energy of Taurus, a sign known for being resistant to change.

Uranus in Taurus is more about using new ideas to change our material reality, as opposed to using new ideas to fight causes (Uranus in Aries).

Some say it’s about finding new ways to make money. Others say it corresponds to the fall of civilizations. Uranus was last in Taurus 1934/35 – 1941, which was definitely a time when we were destroying (bombing) a lot of material structures.

Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet ruling the affairs of the heart, relationships and aesthetics, as well as our attachments to matter and the way we spend money.

It will emphasizes new ways of expressing love. It will show us better ways of working together, in groups, rather than just as individuals, which heaven knows will still probably involve computers… sigh.

Also possible is a resurgence in experimental or progressive creative art movements, revolutionizing what we consider to be beautiful. Or even old art forms delivered to us in new ways.


It will certainly challenge us, as a planet, to get beyond strong attachments to matter. But if we detach from matter in a negative way that could indicate a time return to totally trashing the planet because we prefer to be selfish and lazy, again.

Something might crash again to loosen us up from matter.


From 2018 to 2023 both Uranus and Pluto will be in earth signs, which, in theory, bodes well for more focus on the earth, honouring Mother Earth. Uranian inventiveness coupled with the earthy Taurus should encourage innovation and developments around nature, farming, matter and earth. Living more progressively and at the same time more conscientiously (sure that will definitely happen…)

Actually there was something in the news recently about synthetic genes being injected into real things, not like GM because those are real genes injected into real things.


Maybe everything gets destroyed in the meantime and we totally return to the earth like Neanderthals."

http://www.planetdetachment.com/2011-2015


From Jessica Adams:
"Astrology Special – New World Economy 2018-2026"
http://www.jessicaadams.com/2015/07/14/astrology-special-new-world-economy-2018-2026/

Anonymous said...

Thanks, mike. The planetdetachment site was new to me. As to Jessica Adams' take on things, her confidence in her own predictions for 2015 seems unwarranted in the face of reality.

Thinking last night along the lines of Aries = I AM, Taurus = I HAVE (presumably marking the move from nomadism to pastoralism), I read that the modern gold standard was dispensed with under the most recent period of Uranus in Taurus. This lead me to surmises about the worship of golden calves, which, in turn, lead me to discover that it was around 1500 BCE that Moses descended the mountain with the tablets and found his people worshipping the calf (Exodus). And, sure enough, Astrodienst ephemeris displays Uranus entering Taurus on May 16, 1500 BCE. So, presmably we may expect to see the demise of some aspect(s) of materialism in the years to come.

mike (again) said...

Sabina - Jessica Adams may be correct with her financial-banking statements, whether she's actually predicting or simply reading financial sections in the news. I've read a number of articles in the past six months or so regarding blockchain technology (think Bitcoin). The Guardian had this in yesterday's edition:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/13/blockchain-technology-bitcoin-banking-change


"When Moses was said to have descended from the mountain with the ten commandments (c. 17th – 13th century BC, the end of the Age of Taurus), some of his people or followers were found by him to be worshiping a golden bull calf. He instructed these worshipers to be killed. This represents Moses "killing" the bull and ending the Age of Taurus, and ushering in the Age of Aries, which he represents."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_age#The_Age_of_Taurus_.28The_Taurean_Age.29


1850 to 1852 had Uranus-Pluto conjunct at the very end of Aries and very early degrees of Taurus, joined by Saturn the last two years. In the USA, Uranus in Taurus coincided with the heightening of the gold rush (and inherent environmental destruction), western population expansion, transcoastal railroad, development of abolitionism, Native American decimation, increased immigration. The events leading up to the Civil War occurred in the 1850s. Materialism increased.


From Wiki "California Gold Rush":
"... As the Gold Rush progressed, local banks and gold dealers issued "banknotes" or "drafts"—locally accepted paper currency—in exchange for gold,[120] and private mints created private gold coins.[121] With the building of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, gold bullion was turned into official United States gold coins for circulation.[122] The gold was also later sent by California banks to U.S. national banks in exchange for national paper currency to be used in the booming California economy.

... The Gold Rush stimulated economies around the world as well. Farmers in Chile, Australia, and Hawaii found a huge new market for their food; British manufactured goods were in high demand; clothing and even prefabricated houses arrived from China. The return of large amounts of California gold to pay for these goods raised prices and stimulated investment and the creation of jobs around the world.

... Preceding the Gold Rush, the United States was on a bi-metallic standard, but the sudden increase in physical gold supply increased the relative value of physical silver and drove silver money from circulation. The increase in gold supply also created a monetary supply shock."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush

From Wiki "Abraham Lincoln":
"...Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, which had a statewide majority in Illinois. In 1858, while taking part in a series of highly publicized debates with his opponent and rival, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln spoke out against the expansion of slavery, but lost the U.S. Senate race to Douglas."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln

Anonymous said...

mike, Thanks for the mild and informative corrective.