Saturday, July 23, 2016

Saturday and Sundries


Occasional commenter "JD" in the UK sent me, as a "wonderful antidote to the general madness all around us", a link to a story about one Justo Gallego (right). He is building a Cathedral in Mejorada del Campo near Madrid.

The Madman & The Cathedral
Also a video. More are available at YouTube.






I noticed, in glancing down Wikipedia's list of people, events, holidays and observances for 24 July a note that the date marks the feast day of Christina the Astonishing (c.1150 – 24 July 1224). Curious to know about this lady's ability to astonish, I read further. Christina
first astonished those gathered at her funeral by waking up and reportedly floating to the rafters. From then on her life seems to have consisted of a long line of astonishments - Wikipedia has details; for a lighter read see Ship of Fools, HERE.






I do wonder about husband's photo, snapped in an antique store somewhere on our travels. Did the store owner deliberately set that clock to quarter to 3? It's quarter to three there's no one in the place except you and me....

Okay, that's enough




Not sure whether I've seen one of these on our travels - maybe not, or I'd surely remember it!
Rescuing America's roadside giantsBy Jasmine Taylor-Coleman.
Anyone making a road trip across America will sooner or later run across a giant statue - a cowboy, an American Indian chief or a lumberjack, perhaps...........





On Summer

“I believe someone made a grievous mistake when summer was created; no novitiate or god in their right mind would make a season akin to hell on purpose. Someone should be fired.” ― Michelle Franklin







When I think of Hillary Clinton (I do try not to) I also think of Eva PerĂ³n, and The show Evita. Yeah - I know there are massive differences, but.... For me the ultimate definitive version of the show's music and lyrics is the original concept album, recorded long before any stage show or movie had appeared. Below, from the original concept album singing "High Flying Adored": Julie Covington as Eva and CT Wilkinson as Che - accompanied by some nice high flying photography.







Twitter had an amusing theme one day this week:
#Upper-class Beatles. A few of my favourite entries, with, for any Beatles-challenged readers, translation to the originals:



I want to own your land  (I want to hold your hand)

Lovely Rita, meet the maid  (Lovely Rita meter-maid)

Why don't we do it in the Rolls?  (Why don't we do it in the road?)

Hey, you gotta hide your Chardonnay  (Hey, you gotta hide your love away)

Heir comes the son  (Here comes the sun)

While my gardener gently sweeps  (While my guitar gently weeps)

Lucy in Dubai buying diamonds (Lucy in the sky with diamonds).

11 comments:

  1. Justo Gallego...what can I say? I've never quite understood the concept of building structures to practice religious worship when nature provides some of the best of heaven's offerings right here on Earth. The Pagans understood their immersion in creation as one with the natural surroundings, but leave it to organized religion to separate and elevate humans above Gaia, requiring a house of worship. I'm happy Justo found his personal calling to fulfill.

    Patron Saint of the Insane is a good tale! Those Catholics have a saint for everything. I wonder who they will select for their Saint of Pedophilia?

    "Quarter of Three" is definitely toe-popping music. Gary U.S. Bonds did it best:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoopfp5iaKw
    Bonds sued Chubby Checker for his lifted beat to "Dancin' Party":
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv8DAP0Agac

    A good blog for roadside structures:
    http://www.roadarch.com/roadside.html

    I've lived all over the USA. My time spent in most of the northern states was accompanied by brief, cooler summers. I remember one year in Massachussetts that was cooler than normal, not warming into summer until late July. I had a wonderful, hot Labor Day weekend at the beach, then a cold front arrived a couple of days later, plummeting us into an early, cold fall-winter season, not to warm again. I don't have to concern myself with that here in the Deep South...some of our winters here are much like summers up north.

    I noticed the "High Flying" video, at the thirty second mark, states "65 Seasons Video Creation". Not sure what that's all about...LOL. Maybe it ties into your remark about summer.

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  2. BTW - PBS' 2016 Film Festival is on until July 29th...25 short films. View online or Roku's PBS channel:
    http://www.pbs.org/filmfestival/home/?utm_source=promourl&utm_medium=direct&utm_campaign=filmfestival_2016

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  3. mike ~ Thanks for your observations and additions!

    BUT...this is THE one

    https://youtu.be/CD7aWI2favI

    We're almost to triple digits 99 at present getting to at least 101 in an hour or so.
    :-(
    I remember nostalgically British summers, years ago, when if we had a couple of days of sunny early 70s degrees weather we counted ourselves lucky. We moaned about it, of course.
    Back to Joni's song: "don't it always seem to go that ya don't konow what ya got 'til it's gone?"

    Still though, I recall a heatwave in 1976, I'd been working in the civil service for a bout a year then - in an office with no air conditioning (AC was virtually unknown in the UK). Our windows would open only a little, offices
    on the 4th floor city centre. A colleague took to wearing one of those Arab head-dresses he'd brought back as a souvenir from army service in the middle east; said it kept the sun off his neck. :-)

    Thanks for the PBS info.

    We've just got into "Poldark" on Amazon (it has been on PBS under Masterpiece Theatre I think - you might have seen it). Excellent production. It's a re-make of a series first on TV in the UK in the 1970s. Don't think we even had a TV back then, at least not a reliable one - didn't see the series, anyway.

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  4. Oh..."One for My Baby"...LOL...didn't even cross my mind until reading your comment.

    Yes, sometimes we don't know how good we have it, that's for sure. I remembered two other incidences of chilled summers. One in WA state shooting-off fireworks July 4th, but freezing in the upper 40s at high noon...wore a heavy jacket. Another was the month of August in CO camping in the mountains. Camped au natural without a tent...tucked myself into my sleeping bag and it was chilly, with a full moon...then woke at sunrise with about a half-inch of snow covering me.

    I lived twelve years in Ventura, CA, which is a coastal city on the Pacific Ocean. We had a weather condition called "June gloom": fog, mist, and mid 60*s...could last all summer, but was usually limited to June and July. Ah, the good ol' days.

    Thanks for the "Poldark" reminder. I had intended to view when it was on Masterpiece, but got lost in other activities. It may still be on Roku-PBS...I just checked Netflix and it isn't available, even on DVD. I'd like to read the Winston Graham novels.

    Miserably hot day here, too. I rode my bike to the store after leaving comment #1 and was drenched and dripping sweat upon returning home. We are returning to drought conditions here. I have very large cracks in the yard. No rain for about seven weeks now. Air conditioning is marvelous!

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  5. mike (again) ~ OOOh - a half inch covering of snow, au naturel... sounds wonderful right now! :-)

    We've just binged the last 3 episodes of "Poldark" season 1. I think season 2 kicks in on PBS in late September (not sure if that's here or UK though - will check tomorrow.)
    I'd like to read some of the novels too - will go scavenging at E-bay in the morning.

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  6. I just saw your sidebar about the leaked emails from the DNC. Can't say I'm too surprised by the content of the emails and I doubt you were, either. It was fairly obvious and didn't require much reading-between-the-lines processing of Wassershit's nefarious, obstructive behavior, as well as other DNC insiders.

    Politico is mentioned...did you see the Intercept piece about the paid-for interviews at next week's DNC?
    https://theintercept.com/2016/07/01/convention-parties-lobby/

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  7. mike (again) ~ Yes - Bernie told us weeks/months ago about suspected rigging - now it's before us in black and white - with more to come according to Wikileaks.

    Bernie has, apparently asked for Wasserman-Schultz to resign. I read somewhere today that she will not have a speech slot at the convention this week, but will simply gavel in the convention and gavel it out.

    Thanks for the link - hadn't seen that one. More nefarious "pay-to-play"!

    Bernie's speech will be on Monday, I recall reading earlier this week. I wish he'd give 'em hell, but he's too much of a gentleman, and likely wary of causing someone to feel angry enough to cause him, his Senate seat, or even his family harm. That has been a worry for me from the beginning. The Dems managed to get rid of the danger to them in a, so far, physically harmless way.

    It proves, somewhat, that Hillary Clinton and the DNC were truly afraid of his campaign overcoming hers, so much so that she needed this kind of collusion and possibly some other fraudulent fingers in pies voting-wise in order to beat him.
    Still, though, if only more people had supported him....if only, if only, if only...

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  8. I think Bernie did have a lot of support. He was damned from the get-go, due to his Independent vs Democratic Party selection. Hard to say what the outcome would have been, had he ran as an independent...he would have been excluded from the debates and primaries, that's for sure. His decision to run as a Democrat eliminated a majority of potential voters registered as independent, if they lived in a state with a closed primary. I think there are 26 states with Democratic Party closed primaries. About 35% (or more, depending on source) of the registered voters are independent. Bernie did amazing well considering that he worked within the confines of the DNC and more than half of the USA's states held closed primaries.

    Bernie gave Hillary his support, but I believe he has yet to concede to her. Technically, the DNC is contested at this point. It's a shame that 33 states' super-delegates were bought by the Hillary Victory Fund (apropos name for her fund, as she bought her victory) prior to the primary elections:
    "The Super Delegates now defying democracy with their insistent refusal to change their votes to Sanders in spite of a handful of overwhelming Clinton primary losses in their own states, were arguably part of that deal."
    http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/how-hillary-clinton-bought-the-loyalty-of-33-state-democratic-parties/

    Bernie's effort was not in vain, as he has greatly influenced the DNC platform and voters' mind-set. It will be interesting to see-hear him at the convention. I'm hopeful that all hell breaks-out. He's in a bit of a tough spot, delivering a speech to an audience that was largely condescending and abhorrent toward him, but he's full of grace and style.

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  9. Should also mention that it's time the USA joined the rest of the democracies around the globe by having one federal election by popular vote...no more state election primaries or electoral votes. Difficult to achieve that initiative with a congress controlled by our two-party system and the inherent lobbyists...too much for them to lose.

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  10. mike (again) ~ He didn't concede, but he did endorse Hillary Clinton - presumably as preferable to Donald Trump (not preferable to Himself!) ;-)

    I've just watched a video by a young guy (non-pro I suspect) setting out the situation as it stands for Bernie at the convention. It's 18 mins long, but worth a look.

    https://youtu.be/Z-4NdhxfOLE

    I agree, Bernie's efforts were not in vain - seeds were sown, minds were stimulated. DNC has been shown as the corrupt inbred thing it truly is, or has lately become!

    Bernie's convention speech will be carefully crafted for sure - but I hope he allows himself leeway for the odd impulsive and telling comment.

    Agreed on the need for federal election by popular vote - or at the very least a simpler process than is in place at present, getting rid of complexities, super delegates and the wide differences of electoral systems from state to state. Madness!

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  11. mike ~ Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is "stepping down" after the convention

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/debbie-wasserman-schultz-resigns_us_5795044ae4b0d3568f8397f7

    Her job's done now anyway, the throne and crown are all polished and shone, ready for Her Maj Clinton.
    :-(

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