Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer.
Just watching him makes it seem easy - to win gold # 11 tonight - so exciting.
And there are more events to come!

Happy Wednesday everyone.

love ~~~~ Kate

quote for the day

"The Zen Buddhists (and all sensible people-V) understand that our happiness is not dependent on the world nor on what happens to us in it, but on the way we see and interpret things. In essence, we must become very simple. When we see, we just see. When we hear, we just hear, and so on. But, over time, we do not just see or hear. We see and hear through a filter of concepts that may consist of expectations, anticipations, prejudices, and likes and dislikes"

V

Sam Stein: GOPers For Obama Rip McCain On Georgia, Tout Hagel As VP

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/12/gopers-for-obama-rip-mcca_n_118414.html

"The imperative was there, said Leach. It was simply a matter of showing Republicans the shortcomings of the current administration and convincing them that Obama was within their political mainstream.

This is not a time for politics as usual," said the former congressman. "The portfolio of issues passed on to the next president is as daunting as any since WWII. The case for inspiring new political leadership and the social ethic has seldom been more evident. Barack Obama's platform is a call for change, but the change that he is articulating is more renewal than departure. ... It is rooted in very old American values that are very much part of the Republican as well as the Democratic tradition. ... The national interest requires a new approach to our interaction with the world ..."

Holy War Games

Phelps endorses Sam

One wet finger at a time

Squeeky-clean is the purest gold

Born-again savior
Reform the box "I am" in
Perfect space between

Thnaks for the tip, John.

More Republicans for Obama!

Sometime back Lou Thieblemont, mayor of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania and lifelong Republican switched parties so he could vote for Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary.

During the primaries there were several other prominent/and ordinary Republicans who were for Obama, also called Obamacans.

Well there is lots more news on that front yesterday as noted by the Sam Stein article linked by John. Former GOP Representative Jim Leach endorsed Obama and kicked off the campaigns official Republicans for Obama effort.

"It's been a very difficult thing for me because I've never endorsed a Democrat before...but sometimes in life you come to a juncture where it's very clear the national interest trumps party discipline" - Jim Leach

On a conference call yesterday Leach endorsed Obama and kicked off Republicans for Obama. RforO will launch a website later this week and has a leadership committee of about 20 current and former prominent Republicans. Rita Hauser, International Peace Institute Chair and 2000 New York Finance Chair for Bush will lead the group with former Republican Senator Lincoln Chaffee.

Also yesterday Fairbanks, Alaska's Republican Mayor Jim Whitaker endorsed Obama.

Other Republicans who have endorsed Obama include:

-Tom Bernstein who went to Yale University with Bush and co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with him

-Oregon's First District GOP Congressional Nominee Joel Haugen

-Reagan policy advisor Bruce Bartlett

-Delbert Spurlock, who was Assistant Secretary of the Army under Reagan

-ex Senator (and Governor) Lowell Weicker of Connecticut

-Tony Campell, a former GOP congressional candidate from Maryland

-Douglas Kmiec, a Republican who served in the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan

-Dorothy Danforth Burlin, a lawyer who is the daughter of former U.S. Senator John Danforth

-Susan Eisenhower, president of the Eisenhower Group

Let's take a look at some of these people and why they are for Barack in their own words.

*

Susan Eisenhower:

Here is why she is a Obamacan from a beautiful op-ed of hers in the Washington Post endorsing Obama.

"We have been living in a zero-sum political environment where all heads have been lowered to avert being lopped off by angry, noisy extremists. I am convinced that Barack Obama is the one presidential candidate today who can encourage ordinary Americans to stand straight again; he is a man who can salve our national wounds and both inspire and pursue genuine bipartisan cooperation. Just as important, Obama can assure the world and Americans that this great nation's impulses are still free, open, fair and broad-minded.

.......

It is in this great tradition of crossover voters that I support Barack Obama's candidacy for president. If the Democratic Party chooses Obama as its candidate, this lifelong Republican will work to get him elected and encourage him to seek strategic solutions to meet America's greatest challenges. To be successful, our president will need bipartisan help.

Given Obama's support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole. Without his leadership, our children and grandchildren are at risk of growing older in a marginalized country that is left to its anger and divisions. Such an outcome would be an unacceptable legacy for any great nation."

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020102621.html

*

Lou Thieblemont:

Here is why the Republican mayor of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania is voting Obama.

"I'm sick and tired of the politics of fear in this country. He's the only one who doesn't do that, He's the only candidate who's said he'd talk to our enemies and try to get some common ground."

*

Lincoln Chaffee

Here is what the only Republican senator who opposed the war said when he endorsed Obama

"I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability,"

*

Douglas Kmiec:

Douglas Kmiec served in Reagan's DoJ but he's supporting Obama too and penned a Slate article about it.

"Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence, and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and that he wants to return the United States to that company of nations committed to human rights."

www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/convictions/archive/2008/03/23/endorsing-obama.aspx

..........

All around the country Republicans are flocking to Obama beacuse they are fed up with the modern Republican Party and are ready for a change.

YES. WE. CAN.

one sick ole doggy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1izMDbiJfo

.........then the filters become just things to notice
as i eat my mango rice today
each bite awakens me
each awakening brings me to realization
then another bite...............

thank you food network

derek

say no to wars! stop the killing of innocents~!

hi there all,

as I type, that ole white haired dude has been on CNN discussing the Russian-Georgian conflict...actually, I think he is answering questions about it to reporters...looking all PRESIDENTIAL, sounding like a man "in the know," acting like he is absolutely ready for that 3am call to the big house.....now, I would say that this conflict could not have come at a better time.....for the white hair dude..he is in town, and Barak Obama is not.

but where is Barak Obama? oh, yes, they gave a run down on his activities this week while he vacations in paradise.....eating at four star restaurants...viewing the "Dark Knight," enjoying the beach and building sand castles with the girls.....gee...he seems to be missing in action....did we miss his news conference? did John McCain take up all his air time?

boy oh boy..this situation does not look good for Barak Obama....but that ole white haired dude is having the time of his campaign..hmmmmmmm.interesting....ruth

Oh, I forgot to mention...

it is being reported that the ole white hair dude's(sorry to keep using Paris's line....but I did love that video) foreign policy advisor was a lobbyist for Georgia and he may still be getting some moo-la from Georgia....gee isn't that some kind of convenient....hmmmmm...interesting

incestual politics....boy these lobbyists just hop in an out of bed with anyone, anywhere, anytime....I'll scratch your back if you launch a missle or two or treeeeeeee...???????ruth

Olbermann is just hilarious . . .

Bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pur whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

- Charles Bukowski

"Do you not know that there comes a midnight hour when every one has to throw off his mask? Do you believe that life will always let itself be mocked? Do you think you can slip away a little before midnight in order to avoid this? Or are you not terrified by it? I have seen men in real life who so long deceived others that at last their true nature could not reveal itself;... In every man there is something which to a certain degree prevents him from becoming perfectly transparent to himself; and this may be the case in so high a degree, he may be so inexplicably woven into relationships of life which extend far beyond himself that he almost cannot reveal himself. But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and he who cannot love is the most unhappy man of all."

"Once you label me, you negate me"

--Kierkegaard

" But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love,...."

Vanessa, I have been transcribing an interview for days, one that I had recently with one of the directors of a play my daughter was in this summer. Am finally almost done. It has been such tedious work, especially since we were sitting in a noisy place and the recording includes all that background noise, too, but the last question I asked her was about the things she values.

Here is the beginning of what she said, and now I am going back to capture the remainder of it.

"For me it's trying to explore humanity in all its different ways. It's about … as an actor, for example, … when I was a kid, when I was younger, and I think a lot of people still do that in theater, … you put on a mask, so you're not yourself and you do a whole bunch of things. But my realization throughout the years has been more about taking off the mask and looking deeper into me to reveal more about me as I speak, as I am performing, … it's about revealing what this character has in common with me, because if I speak from a true experience then it will sound true."

Just wanted to share that, with you and with all you other revealing people listening in!

Love,
~~Freyja

Vanessa,

The only bluebirds I've seen are bluejays, and they are nasty, cranky birds that don't sing but screech at everything that moves, and yes, I can attest, there is one in my heart. ;)

John,

Unless you are thinking of blue jays you saw back east, what you probably have been seeing are Steller's jays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steller%27s_Jay

Crested with mainly blue body and black upper parts, etc, they are indeed noisy. They are BC's official Provincial bird :-)

Irvine

Irv, thanks for the inf. I thought they were the same species as back east, but the nastiness is the same. One dived for my girlfriend's hair a year back. I guess we walked under its nest.

"The Blue Jay occurs from southern Canada through the eastern and central USA south to Florida and northeastern Texas. The western edge of the range stops where the arid pine forest and scrub habitat of the closely related Steller's Jay (C. stelleri) begins. Recently, the range of the Blue Jay has extended northwestwards so that it is now a rare but regularly-seen winter visitor along the northern US and southern Canadian Pacific Coast, and some stray birds may even occur in California nowadays. As the two species' ranges now overlap, it sometimes hybridize with Steller's Jay"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Jay#Range

Blue jays were abundant where/when I grew up. As were crows, and other birds/animals.

Blue Jays always had the most fascination for me.

Blue Jays taught me 'stealth' ... how to be quiet in the woods.

I always love to hear them squawk, though.

A couple of years ago while running through the woods, I had a chance encounter with a blue jay -- we simultaneously surprised each other -- just a few feet away...

eyeball to eyeball,
absolute recognition,
nary a sound.

irvine

Lol Irv, interesting chat. I'm a Vanessa collard-dove. I eat cabbage.

Do you really know me or did we just meet on the run? Interwoven we all be.

#14 to #21 thanks to all of you.
And Charles Bukowski, Kierkegaard and the director of the play~~thank you.

a very timely conversation for me

a bird brain discussion by one posing as many yakking it up with self 14 thru 20! that must take some twisted, bent, psychotic mind to do, dude, no? whoa!

This is one aspect that I highly admire and respect. Your love for nature and spending a lot of time in it.

As a student of J.Krishnamurti, spending time gardening, hiking or running in nature is a very important part of his teachings. Not losing touch with nature and our relationship to it.

I know many of you, like Irvine, Ed, Kate, Derek, are very connected to nature and in touch with it. I honor and respect that. Preity

bery naive!

Most men are, just as most halloween costumes
create a romantic version of a fantasy vision.

I get it Preity. Is that another way of saying that Diablo is old and ugly?

No, it's a way of saying that it's all a fantasy. Your's and Diablo's idea of what a wo/man is or looks like is made up of imagination.

So, me, dressed as a woman is as much a woman as any female dressed the same except that when a man dresses as a woman, he seems to have more of an interest in the overall effect that most woman who just do it out of habit have.

Old is ugly when the mind looking is ugly, or is the comparative mind. When we grow too lazy to see, we can use our symbols instead. If we be patient with our slowness and wait, there is always beauty, there.

There is endless life in true undifferentiated beauty. Priety

bluejays are certainly intelligent ...
closely related to crows, ravens and magpies ...
the family Corvidae.
they use one of those loud calls to summon
others when they discover a food supply ...
rather than keep it all to themselves.
i found that behavior lifted them up a notch
in my own appreciation.
they also 'alert' everyone else in the forest
of the presence of an intruder.
usually me. ;)

so yes, irvine ...
great teachers in/of the value of stealth
and quiet.

Thanks for posting the Bukowski poem, Vanessa.

mini

"So whether you're crawling to Czestochowa or cashing a big commision check, "this too shall pass" is a good attitude to adopt.

And this is because it will."

157. Posted by danashields on August 10, 2008

Thanks for sharing your experiences and your excellent thoughts, Danashields.

Good stuff Vanessa and Freyja!

Birds are a chirping right now, always singing such pretty songs . . .

"No, it's a way of saying that it's all a fantasy. Your's and Diablo's idea of what a wo/man is or looks like is made up of imagination."

Well then. I've got an awesome imagination, as I have been blessed to have had some beautiful girlfriends (inside and out) who more than lived up to the challenge of my expectations.

IOW, I've found my imagination realized many times in my life so far.

"So, me, dressed as a woman is as much a woman as any female dressed the same except that when a man dresses as a woman, he seems to have more of an interest in the overall effect that most woman who just do it out of habit have."

Natually. Men make significant what the women find banal due to habit. Just like a drag king will make much of a tie and mustache.

It's called fetishization.

When I observed a transgender society at a cotillion in SFO, I was amazed at how some of those girls liked to look like grandmothers. Even those in their 20s. There's quite a spectrum within the transgender community, almost as much as there is without.

"Old is ugly when the mind looking is ugly, or is the comparative mind. When we grow too lazy to see, we can use our symbols instead. If we be patient with our slowness and wait, there is always beauty, there."

No doubt. But those who play with fire may find themselves burned, or in denial of being burned when they are black and smoking.

But those who can sustain such a denial are talented for it, and they have my admiration.

"There is endless life in true undifferentiated beauty. Priety"

That's one way of seeing it. Another is ' '.

.

#14 "There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover....."
~~Vera Linnet Boid~~

We Brits gonna let it all hang out, don't you know! Whoaaaaaaaa, Diab.

Take it from Diablo, Preity. He's been trying for years and all he has to show for it is his rep as having the intelligence of a lava lamp.

Ok, yes, dear dot, some of us like Diablo better than you but only because he's so rare and you're so common and not because you're too mean or too short. Preity

What's so "rare" about a by-the-book ubermoron? Not that I don't like him -- but he's only rare because most folks of his ilk have the sense to refrain from exhibiting their skills so unabashedly.

Yes, Preity, we do so love the rare and the beautiful. It catches our eye amidst the rats and the trash.

Yet, as per Ed, it is said that the cockroach will inherit the earth and who can disbelieve in them?

And, as per Bonnie, it is also said the the whippoorwill sings. The bird of the night heralded in poems of the graveyard, one might imagine romance in him. Truly, though, he does not sing as much as screech loudly a single repetitive cry that infiltrates the dreams of anyone so unfortunate to have him settle in a tree outside of their window.

V

John, Sharon, Mini, Craig, Ed ...

I've fallen in love with Bukowski and I can't get up. ;-)

~V

"What's so "rare" about a by-the-book ubermoron? Not that I don't like him -- but he's only rare because most folks of his ilk have the sense to refrain from exhibiting their skills so unabashedly." mani

It isn't the by-the book ubermoron that's rare.

Or the by-the-book uberseekers like Simon Freejohn that are rare.

It is humor, fearlessness, imagination, and the ability to live out the life and the being that one is born to with enthusiasm and without being cowed by those who would imagine themselves as being something better than he is.

In other words, yes, people like Simon rare because most folks of his ilk have the sense to refrain from verbal jousting....

reworded more accurately as people are easily fooled into believing in the worthiness of others and in their own unworthiness and because of that, we sit silently not daring to go beyond the dull boundaries that those who aggressively promote their own minds and worths set up for us,

as the same old bags of hot air tell us what and who we are and what and how to be and believe...

Here, for you, cranky ol' bird.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fNhqaZMAC8

"It is humor, fearlessness, imagination, and the ability to live out the life and the being that one is born to with enthusiasm and without being cowed by those who would imagine themselves as being something better than he is." [#40]

That's the result of grandiosity as a result of a narcissistic character structure.

"In other words, yes, people like Simon rare because most folks of his ilk have the sense to refrain from verbal jousting...."

That's called a lack of common sense.

"...as the same old bags of hot air tell us what and who we are and what and how to be and believe..."

Is that another hot wind I hear blowing?

Here in Colorado there are Stellar Jays, back home in Houston, Blue Jays.
I am partial to Stellar Jays with their charcoal black heads and their iridescent blue bodies. Under the blue Colorado skies they take on a magical glow but then so does everything here.

Yes Preity, I am much more comfortable alone on a rocky slope than in a crowd on the internet or some fancy dinner party or back in the race in Houston.

as i drift down this lazy river
a jay comes to rest on my bow
are you just blue
or could you be stellar
and with that it flew away

on a rocky and dusty slope i sit
under the shade of an aspen tree
a jay comes to rest on my backpack
looking curiously at me
are you a poet or artist
for no gun do i see
we sat and watched the sun go down
that stellar jay and me

derek

from the dust and dirt
i come from
to the dust and dirt
i go
the stuff in between is just fertilizer
so when i die
i grow

derek

Re. 40

"It isn't the by-the book ubermoron that's rare.

Or the by-the-book uberseekers like Simon Freejohn that are rare.

It is humor,"

Not a Diablo/Simon strong point imo, "dot" -- but do go on!

"fearlessness,"

...is not the same as courage -- it's more akin to cluelessness, but let's plunge on....

"imagination,"

*Now* you've right on it!

"and the ability to live out the life and the being that one is born to with enthusiasm."

That too -- quite admirable!

"and without being cowed by those who would imagine themselves as being something better than he is."

All wo/men may well be created equal, but the gifts of incarnation vary very widely indeed. It's not a matter of "better," it's just a roll or two of the karmic wheel and/or the genetic dice.

"In other words, yes, people like Simon rare because most folks of his ilk have the sense to refrain from verbal jousting...."

Agreement noted.

"reworded more accurately as people are easily fooled into believing in the worthiness of others and in their own unworthiness and because of that,"

I agree that there's no reason for anyone to feel unworthy on account of the words of nominal others -- imo we should all shine on as our talents and tendencies allow.

"we sit silently not daring to go beyond the dull boundaries that those who aggressively promote their own minds and worths set up for us,"

Wow, what a towering statement of Heath-class victimhood -- crystal clear. Thank you.

Of course there are no such "boundaries" and no reason why anyone should accept what are actually self-contrived limitations. I'm glad Diablo and Simon still sing despite whatever limitations
other folks see them as having.

"as the same old bags of hot air tell us what and who we are and what and how to be and believe..."

Nobody can tell Simon anything, he is about as in the know as humanly possible -- just ask him, he'll tell you himself!

yo

from the dust and dirt
i come
to the dust and dirt
i go
the stuff in between is just fertilizer
so when i die
i grow

to the dot brain...

the lava brain must be the ones who fail to see who u are, forever making fun at them by tripping them into responding to u posing as many...and having them think u are different...

and isn't amazing how all ur ugly "selves" have an intense interest in the same subject matta all at the same time, always? dude that is freakin' sick!

Yo Diablo
So what if some one pose as more than one or if more than one poses as one or if one is just one.

Maybe some have too much inside to just be one.

.......some people have two people......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShAGmU5139g

derek

Diablo,

Be calm. "dot" can't hurt you beyond the misery you inflict on yourself in your desire to stamp him down and make him seem like something less than you are.

The Internet troll as the trickster archetype

Lord Andrew J. Andrews II wrote an essay on the troll as an archetypal trickster:

"The troll comes to the door of a new forum and sets down his bag of tricks. If he has a grudge against the people inside discussing and debating their passions with a certain degree of amicability, peacability and decorum, he does not show them. He has the cracked, stoic smile of Robin Goodfellow, a Puck with the simple desire to disrupt peace itself. He loves chaos; his bag is full of golden apples he can lob to set the masses squabbling. He has also many masks, smoke bombs, straw men, cloaks, puppets, matches, ethanol, knives, dust, sand, and magicks of the most arcane sort. He knows what he is about -- causing trouble. Why? This is the troll’s darkest mystery -- if any one knew his secret, he would die. For all trolls, their motive power is this: without contraries, they cannot progress...Read On...

Link
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/30/the-internet-troll-a.html

I talked to North via her myspace.
Whether she is banned or not, she told me to tell everyone at IB, thanks but no thanks. She does not want to be apart of IB.

derek

CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION!

Ref. 51

Please don't visit click link from Boing Boing that lniks to www.drewspeak.com website which has been warned to be an ATTACK site, that may harm your computer. Your computer security should alert you about the site, as it did mine, but just in case.

The full essay is available here:

http://trollpolice.com/2007/08/29/hello-world/

Thanks.

"She does not want to be apart of IB."

I think that's good for her.

She had a lot of axe to grind here over a long period of time against Mallika Chopra and Co. I think she finally got fed up of it, and took Mallika Chopra's advice that intentblog is not suited to address her personal issues and that she find some place else to better address her specific needs.

Irvine
Don't we all have a little troll and trickster in us? I know I do.
Doesn't that keep us from getting too lazy?

I love the style of just this paragraph, I am also glad I don't just click on to any old site. Do I need to bring protection to click your name?

derek

Lord Andrew J. Andrews II

Great name

I recently bought a piece of equipment from a guy named Taylor Taylor in Texas.

derek

Yeah, North played all sorts of games. She used aliases in the past (which isn't a crime in itself), but intent that matters. Like the 'CNN reporter' alias that occurred during one of her first bans, as I understand it, from the archives. She later seemed to have claimed she did not use that alias. Or given non denial denials like the statement below:

"Whether she is banned or not,..."

Of course she doesn't accept the fact. She needs the moral high ground. She doesn't want to be seen as someone who was kicked out. But then she also loves to be the victim of unfair treatment; although she was welcomed back multiple times.

She doesn't see any fault on her part for being banned repatedly over a period.

If I remember well, she even claimed impersonations of her id, when she was called out for the nasty comments and on her id, both before and after Typekey. [#48 gives evidence contrary to that claim.]

Its like the Edwards' affair. The affair i itself was not the bigger crime, not being honest about it was.

There need not be shame in getting banned, and coming back and enjoying the positives and sharing with others.

Having grudges and storing hurt feelings doesn't help you even though you seek to find your peace elsewhere. I hope North finds peace and home and connections somewhere in the wide world of internet.

"Don't we all have a little troll and trickster in us? I know I do.
Doesn't that keep us from getting too lazy?"

Indeed. "Troll" is a very abused word. We all show 'trollish behavior', but most of us here are not trolls (the label.) If you want to know trolls you got to visit Usenet groups, or some un-moderated political blogs.

Hey Irvine
The opening paragraph was the most fun. The rest of the article reads like most other info-articles. This is the last sentence of the article.

"Who knows? All I understand is that the Internet troll exists by the grace of those who give him a voice; without that, he is nothing."

derek

Reproducing the entire essay (Ref. #53) below, for those who are hesitant to visit the "trollpolice" link:

"The Internet Troll As The Trickster Archetype" by Lord Andrew J. Andrews II

“The troll comes to the door of a new forum and sets down his bag of tricks. If he has a grudge against the people inside discussing and debating their passions with a certain degree of amicability, peacability and decorum, he does not show them. He has the cracked, stoic smile of Robin Goodfellow, a Puck with the simple desire to disrupt peace itself. He loves chaos; his bag is full of golden apples he can lob to set the masses squabbling. He has also many masks, smoke bombs, straw men, cloaks, puppets, matches, ethanol, knives, dust, sand, and magicks of the most arcane sort. He knows what he is about - causing trouble. Why? This is the troll’s darkest mystery - if any one knew his secret, he would die. For all trolls, their motive power is this: without contraries, they cannot progress.”

I composed this in my notebook a while back; it seemed an exciting way to portray the rapidly-shifting identities and nuisance/amusement factors of these all-too familiar faces in all my old Usenet haunts. I do not deny that a certain nostalgia colours this imagery: the truth is, I was once an Internet troll, “back in the day” when I was an angry, atheist teenager on an AOL account. You know the type, I’m sure. Let me tell you: I trolled pretty hard. That’s all behind me, of course, and I don’t regret having outgrown the adrenaline rush of just rolling out and pissing off some Christian group, a WebTV board or a wrestling forum. It had its thrill at the time, but I eventually just figured out I would probably piss more people off writing my own blog than I would trolling anyone else’s. I offer no apologies for this. I imagine a sizable percentage of regular Internet posters have some small, guilty history of trolling - it’s been a common phase among a lot of the posters I’ve come in contact with over the years.

I do not necessarily wish to excessively extol the virtues and powers of the Internet troll; these persons are typically not quite so epic as they are a nuisance. They are readily the bane of many close-knit Internet communities, descending like a swarm of ethereal locusts from cursed heaven - a fantasy plague of boors eradicating established social orders with malice and confusion.

An article printed in the Washington Post entitled ominously “Female bloggers harassed, menaced” depicts the unfortunate story of Kathy Sierra, a blogger and software developer who had a horrifying ordeal with anonymous trolls: someone apparently posted images of her with a noose around her neck, someone made numerous threats and crafted images involving her being suffocated, her throat being slit, her being ejaculated on, etc., all presumably laden with a psychotically-creepy-murderous inflection. The woman eventually canceled a speaking arrangement at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology conference and went “underground” and blogged under a pseudonym, after announcing on her website: ““I have canceled all speaking engagements, I am afraid to leave my yard, I will never feel the same. I will never be the same.” Horrifying, sociopath behavior like this constitutes one of the potentialities of the troll: the individual who is truly vicious, twisted, obsessed and angry, an ugly, anonymous, dark-minded person with a hellbound will to do you pain. I imagine this image might stir some atavistic archetype: is this not the type of creature nightmares are made of? This, certainly, should be seen as an aspect of the devil.

Dear reader, I understand I’m relying heavily on phantasmal and fantastic imagery to examine this phenomenon: I believe it is crucial, then, when attempting to diagram the complex sociology of the Internet community, one recognize the mythical, virtual qualities of the medium. I hope that we can forgive this elevated language, or perhaps even accept it and play around with it, to see what ideas can emerge when viewing these “obvious” trends in Internet sociology through the painfully anachronistic context of old pagan gremlins.

The landscape which surrounds the Internet troll shimmers with the potentiality of violence, the unspoken simmering of anger and resentment towards the harasser as things get furiously heated. The shooter at the Case Western rampage, a 65-year old with confirmed “severe personality disorder” named Biswanath Halder was apparently motivated by this post from an anonymous troll to his website’s guestbook (http://web.archive.org/web/20031215053508/http://halder.ws/) : “Bizzy Halder is a moron. This guy makes a living out of creeping people out. From his fake hair, to his fake teeth, his whitey tighty shorts and pants, to his shit stained sweaters this guy is a LOON. He’s been kicked out of every lab on campus and everyone makes fun of him. So let’s not even talk about credibility. Don’t listen to a word this guy says.” Shortly afterwards, he opened fire on Case Western with an automatic weapon, apparently attempting to target the troll, a co-worker he suspected of having hacked his website in the past. Neither the man he killed nor the others wounded were the troll. The delusional Indian man had been, quite literally, swinging at spirits, or in this case, shooting at spirits.

Internet trolls can have real power. They can alter your emotional landscape, insert their presence very tangibly into your life. Being trolled can be a harrowing experience. Because of the implicit anonymity built into Internet dialogue, the user often has no clear idea who is harassing him/her - they are confronted only by an adversary who might be represented only by an alphanumeric “name” and a barrage of abuse. There is often little recourse against the offending party. Back in the day when I trolled Usenet, many persons tried to report me as violating my ISP’s Terms of Service to no avail. I received not one single piece of mail from my Internet provider asking me to stop being such a pain in the ass, despite the fact that I was very obviously flooding newsgroups with flames and nonsense, enough to render legitimate conversation impossible. In the instances where physical threats and the like are leveled, there is a venue for law enforcement to get involved, and rightfully so, but rarely are trolls ever quite that vicious. Most of the time, flames will fall within the bounds of protected, free speech: one can no more muzzle a blatant troll than he can any other dissenting view.

A classic rule of thumb has ever been: do not feed the trolls, and many a new user has been regaled with this adage in the face of an inflammatory poster; the problem is, few persons are willing to heed this familiar warning. One might note similarities in this attitude to that of Americans in the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Center and Pentagon; when confronted with the premise of ideological terrorism, it is the typical human response to fight fire with fire, trade blow for blow. In mediums of the ideological, textual, and memetic, however, fighting back against malicious phantasms is unproductive. When one is literally “swinging at spirits”, these spirits gain power and substance they hitherto do not possess. It is through opposition and response that they gain validity, become “real” enough to cause the stir and scenes they aim to make.

Moderation features are often nearly useless against these guys: erasing a post makes a troll only more determined to write the same sort of message again, and banning a troll practically guarantees he will darken your doorstep again with a vengeance. I read an account of a Slashdot troll once who claimed to have scripts constantly fishing for proxy servers and free e-mail accounts so that he could consistently hold hundreds of accounts simultaneously in order to vote himself to whatever position he pleased via the meta-moderation system; while I cannot guarantee the veracity of this man’s account, it nonetheless demonstrates the level of effort a troll is willing to exert into making his point. And while I would imagine that each individual troll has his own agenda, this all begs the question - what, exactly, is the point of trolling?

Chaos, discord, controversy, argument; the troll often serves as the Erisian element, capable of galvanizing and polarizing unsuspecting groups with his tricks. What’s the point? Maybe it’s fun to push the limits, to agitate people, to vent one’s hostile emotions at unsuspecting, real persons under the mask of anonymity. Maybe it’s an outlet for real cruelty and vehemence, maybe it’s a hobby, anything could be driving the motivated troll. There are troublemakers in all sorts of settings, in all sorts of mythologies - a troll can be equated to Loki or Anansi just as easily as they could a vitriolic bigot. Who knows? All I understand is that the Internet troll exists by the grace of those who give him a voice; without that, he is nothing.

I agree, I think it's about degrees.
There are no vicious people here.
Mischievous but not truly mean.

"The opening paragraph was the most fun. The rest of the article reads like most other info-articles."

I agree.

"If you want to know trolls you got to visit Usenet groups, or some un-moderated political blogs."

No thanks
I would be one of those little fish in the bait ball with hungry sharks and tuna picking us off one by one until all that's left are scales floating to the ocean floor.

As regrading North, I do believe that she was handled an unfair treatment, and any possible disgust regarding ib is understandable. and so were many others during a period of a some months under the previous admin(there seems to be a new one now) Maybe the former one was overtaken by anti-chopra spammers and some real trolls, and become very reactive. North seems to have became a sad victim of abusers and the moderators.

I think your probably right about North.

This site did test my will at times. I try not to be a victim.
There is much to learn here and there is much to share.
Iron sharpens iron so they say.

derek

I just reinforced some negative stereotypes about North in #54, #57 which are completely uncalled for and unsubstantiated.

I apologize for that.

whoahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa.........whoa!

Prepare now for the Beijing Olympics.

Learn Chinese in 5 minutes (You MUST read them aloud) English - Chinese

That's not right! Sum Ting Wong

Are you harbouring a fugitive? Hu Yu Hai Ding

See me ASAP ; Kum Hia Nao

Stupid Man:
Dum Fuk

Small Horse: Tai Ni Po Ni

Did you go to the beach? Wai Yu So Tan

I bumped into a coffee table! Ai Bang Mai Fu Kin Ni

I think you need a face lift! Chin Tu Fat

It's very dark in here! Wai So Dim

I thought you were on a diet! Wai Yu Mun Ching

This is a tow away zone! No Pah King

Our meeting is scheduled for next week! Wai Yu Kum Nao

Staying out of sight: Lei Ying Lo

He's cleaning his automobile: Wa Shing Ka

Your body odour is offensive: Yu Stin Ki Pu

Great:
Fa Kin Su Pa

Talking about moderation, as long as i'm here to protect the smaller birds food offerings through moderating the behaviour of the larger birds in my garden, it should be fine.

Wait a minute!

Pigeons are equally as large as the crows but their behaviour is such that the smaller birds don't suffer, so the above should read...

"as long as i'm here to protect the smaller birds food offerings through moderating the behaviour of the CRAFTY birds in my garden..."

""Don't we all have a little troll and trickster in us? I know I do.
Doesn't that keep us from getting too lazy?"

-Derek

"Pigeons are equally as large as the crows but their behaviour is such that the smaller birds don't suffer, so the above should read..."

-Irvine

We don't have crows here but Ravens (larger), and they are revered as leaders of a clan of the local peoples. They are like the coyote in other native traditions - the tricksters.

They are very very smart, even for the corvids, and some have been trained to talk. I once had one say "hello" to me from the top of a pole in Seattle - very very early AM - and no one else was around! Say what you will - i KNOW it was the raven, I looked up - said, "Bird???" - and it cackled at me and flew away! Then there was one here that got the attention of my daughter and I way out the road, and kept turning around making sure we were following, as it led us up a hill - it was like being inside a fairytale. For that reason I have a more special relationship with them than the eagles or the big Blue Jays (all cousins, all scavengers, even the crows). Yes, they are aggressive, but I appreciate their craftiness. Right now we are having the hummingbirds arrive - big festivals, everybody puts out their red feeders of sugar water for the fat little buzzers.

:)

The energies of many lurkers goes into their One shadow self, the troll.
It goes without saying, for there are many collards with common root connections, especially in Ireland.

hi Edmund - you are so funny
:)

Keith,
I am amazed each time I watch Michael Phelps swim.
No duck out of water there!

As for me, I need Derek's rowboat. We are getting soaked here.

love ~~ Katie

Right now...

I am like Someone who is in a house that is flooding from all four directions... Whilst having a cup of tea or coffee with a Home Insurance broker..

I am the House owner and you are the Insurance person...

My existence if you like on this earth is to be a wittiness to suffering. Infact you could even say that I deal in suffering. Like a botanist studies Plant life, I am an interested person in the human condition.

Most of you here are not Interested in the human condition as a plant is not a botanist..

Right now I feel crippling pain;

Its not my pain but I traded another person for it...

Karma

I can't see or converse in my true spiritual self when I am here you see...

Karma is quite simply "What you are is what you will be.."

Some of you mistake me for being like you are and as a result of that you put conditions on to me and paint me in your own self reflection based upon your egoity..

You won't recognize me from an egoic point of view. Like your own spirit is veiled from you so my words are alienated to your mind.

I don't merely know everything, I have unknown everything. I don't use your tools anymore to see the world. The tools of knowing are not something I can even use anymore.

I am an Idiot you see?

I a an Idiot if thats what you paint me to be in your own idea of what reality looks like.

I would love to be your idiot if thats what you want.

Think of the person you respect the most (Except a small child)... Think of all of the things they believe in and have taught you. All of the ideas and sayings they are...

They don't know shit... and you are as lost as they are.

Unless They tell you what I tell you... they know naught.

I don't even care about you half as much as they do though right??

Caring is a point of view...

I love you with no point of view, with no vantage point, with no knowing but with a love that transcends knowing, transcends life even. It is a spiritual love that is as fierce as a tiger and as gentle as a feather.

Narcissus will be hurt by me but I love Narcissus, I love Narcissus so much that I would even say these words at Narcissus's funeral "I miss you Narcissus. You were my friend; you made me survive, you even sheltered me, I even believed your lies once. Thank you"

You assume yourself you see?

At the same time you assume me in your point of view as it has been assumed over these 20,30,40,50,60 years of age you see?

What I am saying becomes reflected in your own self mirror image of your contracted self.

What I say appears to you convoluted by yourself.

What I am saying is a truth that shines throughout the Universe. It even gives rise to your sense of else, separateness and egoic, Narcissus point of view.

Everything I say to you above... means absolutely nothing

Don't believe a word of it if you don't want to..

If you say it is horse shit... then of course thats what it is because you are a creator of your own world you see...

It is crap, it is pointless in the light of consciousness that you pour onto it...

For me it is simply words, I have no investment in it at all. I don't care if you believe, disbelieve or otherwise in what I have said.

There is simply nothing to i...

Seventh stage realization is to fall into the pot of creation without a single thought or doubt left in your entire being.

Sal Namaria

Love

Simon xx

If you watch this tribute....

You will probably think that her is a lot of famous people celebrating the life of a person..

That is only true to a point...

A Life is equal to the blink of an eye in the realms of spirit and soul, A lifetime is like us going to the toilet how ever regular or not that may be...

When a person lives there life seflessely..

They become less impermenant in egoity and reflect the real self... the ever shining, ever bright self. God is everlasting and great and when God is recognisednot as a seperate self or exterior self then great lifetimes, great moments are wittnssed..

Here is a celebration of that..

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bklrAloz_XA

Love
Simon xx

Jimmeny Cricket
Master of disguised tree limbs
Please! No breaks needed

Mi'Lady North once re-posted my entire entree!

Freaked UT out! Loved her mucho after that!

We understood each other...like cereal.

Honey Nuts and Oats~~her favorite.

Many of us made history here.

We have played a bunch.

Thanks to the ONE?

Well...don't

say one.

Say,

me

2

~Kate
#74~
XO
I

"Invisibility Cloak on the Horizon, Scientists Say"

http://tech.msn.com/news/articlecnet.aspx?cp-documentid=9337061>1=40000

It has to do with light or lack thereof. Pretty interesting! Invisible wo/man next?

Love, Char

Tammy,
Turn it up all the way
and dance
:))
love you girl
mommy of beautiful baby to be
so much to say
Sharon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81PfFrl6Ars

Kate

Are you watching the women's beach volleyball?
Those ladies are awesome. Yay!

Love
B

Happy Birthday, India!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6PHJg9D_Sk

(Vande Mataram)

Happy Independence Day, India!

Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera (in a clip from Swades) for the NRI's out there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC-RFFIMXlA

what's up with 'bama putting billary on the ballot? is dude losing it or is this a calculated risk? and can she not say "no thanks?" damn!

For all those living away from home and missing those dearest to their hearts.... This classic Pankaj Udhas song brings tears to the eyes and touches the heart. [from the Naam(1986 film starring Sanjay Dutt)]

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3UNkw1TJLc

***

Pankaj Udhas (1951 -) is a pre-eminent Ghazal singer from India. He is credited with bringing this unique singing style where Urdu verses of poets are set to music to the mass audience across the country along with other musicians like Jagjit Singh and Talat Aziz.

It's so she can "turn her delegates over" to BO in a very public way, kind of like giving orders to her disaffected heavy supporters, D. She's on the ballot, she concedes, she gives her delegates to BO, like that.

BO and HC worked this out together. HC has some very die-hard pissy supporters who'd vote against BO because they're still so angry / disappointed. If they really care about HC, when she tells them to go over to BO, they will. And that's the point of the exercise. It's smart of them -- much better to get the HC-related grumbling out in the open and get past it, to give BO all the support he needs to win.

love, h

"what's up with 'bama putting billary on the ballot? "

Sounds cool enough.

"Reports of strife between negotiators for Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are exaggerated and the two sides are nearing an agreement on how Clinton's delegates will participate in the formal nominating process at the Democratic National Convention, according to advisers to both Democrats.

Although Clinton had resisted pressure from donors, allies and supporters to accept demands to allow her name placed in nomination, she and aides to Obama seemed to realize independently that doing so would be the best way to incorporate and welcome Clinton's supporters into Obama's general election campaign, both symbolically and practically.

According to several people who have spoken with her, Clinton originally believed that if her name were included in the roll call on Wednesday, August 27, she would inevitably wind up with fewer delegates than the 1896.5 she earned from the primaries. That would look bad and could demoralize her supporters.

In negotiations this summer with Obama's campaign, Clinton's team did not ask for Clinton's name to be submitted.

But within the past week, Clinton advisers informed the Obama team that many of Clinton's staunchest supporters felt strongly that something had to be done, and that Clinton had concluded that, in part for the sake of unity, their wishes ought to be respected. They heard back immediately: the Obama campaign had always been open to having her name placed in nomination alongside his."

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/a_little_bit_more_exposition.php

Some people worry that this would spawn countless "Democrats divided" storylines, but it seems harmless enough. And if it helps bring closure to some of Clinton's staunchest supporters, so much the better. And if it helps remind the world that the Democratic race came down to a woman and an African American, then that's just gravy.

It should make for some nice theatrics. A dramatic roll call, with Clinton delegates hopefully sticking with her for the first count, and then unity as the party comes together on the second count.

"what's up with 'bama putting billary on the ballot? is dude losing it or is this a calculated risk? and can she not say "no thanks?" damn!"

Metamoron #85

I agree with ya!

Has Obama lost his spleen and incisors?!

How can he agree that Hillary Clinton name to be on the roll call ballot at the convention?

This is insane. What if dragons come flying out of her backside? What if she is cutting deals with some of his pledged and super delegates to elect her Queen of All Things Blue and Red? How about if the Clintons create a scandal against Obama this coming week... like they call him really, really, stinky names... or accuse him of not being ready on day forty-three... or what if they produce a photo of him and Osama Bin Laden playing piano together... all to scare the delegates into voting for her at the convention? I simply cannot believe this. Obama has made a huge and dangerous mistake, much like the other fourteen other huge and dangerous mistakes he's made up until this point, which is why he got killed in the primaries and is trailing McCain by 100 electoral votes. This is why John Edwards is the nominee! Never trust the Klingons, never ever.

NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gldlyTjXk9A

Dear Bonnie

I posted this somewhere else, but thought I'd share it here too, as it shows something about how I edit a poem. It's three drafts of a poem I started a few months ago, titled 'What separates, what connects'. It's still not finished.

First draft:

words wall us apart
the more florid or dramatic
the less they seem to mean
all things
large and small
in this world we call real
as well as things
I feel but can't see
tie us

words divide
fingers and mouths
acting
on their own
draw letters
moist dark filigrees
that pressure-burst
me backwards
down the tunnel
I call us

words are
the past of a burnt-out fire
the was of now
that stood
in lieu of what another life
might have
offered us
if sand or light
could say
the things I try to say

Second draft:

words tear us apart
the more florid
the less they seem to mean
what ties us
are all things
large and small
and things
I feel but can't see

words pour
in moist dark
filigrees
from fingers
out of mouths
pent-up pressures
burst
and send me
back
down the tunnel
of us

words are
the ash of burnt-out fires
the was of now
they stand
in lieu
of what might have been
if sand or light
could say
the things I try to say
with words

Third draft:

what connects us
is everything
we feel
but can't see
words break
us
the more we try to say
the less we mean

in filigreed dark sounds
that fall
from fingers
spill
from mouths
words build
and break
to move like arrows
back down the tunnel
of us
they're ashes
of old fires
the could-have-been
of now
that stands in
for what would be
if sand or light
could say
the words we speak

what connects us
is everything
we feel
but can't see
the silent you in me
is who I follow
there I hold
there I stay
a silent me in you

The first draft is the poem after more than two hours of edits. The second draft is after six more hours of work. The third draft is after two more hours of work. To be able do the third draft, I had to take a four-month break from the poem.

The poem moves from an explicit expression of personal angst to something more thoughtful that better expresses the emotional and existential complexity that created the internal pressure from which the poem came.

I read a poem inside my head and out loud, notice where I'm not comfortable with the language or what it's saying, and make changes at those points.

I do drafts and edits in a private Blogger.com blog. When I think I'm starting to lose the freshness or force in a poem, I make a new copy of it on the blog and work on the new copy as I edit. That becomes the next draft version. I could also do it by hand, or in Word, Google Docs, or anything else, but I like to use a Blogger.com blog for poems because the look of a poem draft on the published blog page helps me read it differently.

In the editing process, I try to discover what I'm really trying to say. It's never what I thought I was saying.

As many writers have said, the parts of your writing that you're most in love with are probably the most flawed. It takes time to see that, in each piece. It takes time to find the parts of a raw poem that are the bits that are important to save. It's also kind of fun to see how much you can tear one of your own works apart, to see what's left standing.

love, h

dot brain speaketh! poor minion!

just . . .

checking

Hi heath

Thanks for your feedback. That's very helpful...especially the part about setting it aside after tearing it apart to see if what you meant to say is what you said and editing and editing again....

Yep I agree the parts we first think are the best are usually what gets shredded. :)

Thanks again,
B

heath,

Thanks too for sharing your poem and how it progressed. Nice!

Love
B

shukriya - koi baat nahin, Bonnie

love & hugs, h

It's here...Baracky II!

Finally, a sequel that's better than the original (Barack Obama as Rocky and Hillary Clinton as Apollo Creed.)

The primaries are over...the general election is on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fNgA5xLxao

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. Barack is back in the ring with a new challenger. With the help of his former rival, will he knock him out? Check it out! I especially like the symbolism of Apollo and Rocky training together, and even Bill has a cameo spot!

This video is insane!

I love it. Whomever put this and the last one together has got some talent. I was laughing at the fact that McCain's head had to be superimposed onto the body of Mr. T. LOL!

Dear Tiger, Irv, and all who vector on both India and tech stuff, my songs blog activity for the past 24 hours is double what it normally is, as people look for Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera. When they search from India, they often look for Yes Jo Des Hai Mera. Cute.

love & hugs, h

summersun, where are you???

aur darknight???

will the real . please stand up?

any new Mullah Nasruddin's from any intrepid wit?

tigers are still a-prowl, though mostly they're quiet nowadays.

where where are the lambent poets of yore?

oh ufff, you guys used to be such fun.

a tout a l'heur, babies.

love, h

The people who put that video together are and continue to be geniuses.

All three chapters so far...

The casting of Hillary Clinton as Apollo Creed remains brilliant.

It was perfect in the primary and it's perfect in the general.

In fact, it's unbelievable how perfectly it continues to work.

And McCain as 'Clubber' Lang! Ha!

Three chapters?

I've seen two. Dammit! The one with HRC and this one. There's another out there? Anyone have a link?

#101

Here:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY

IMHO, the best effort so far.

But the the Baracky II was damn good too.
Genius. The person who put that together touched on just about every issue...

"The Empire Strikes Barack"

Is the name of the 2nd effort.

Baracky II borrows from Rocky III

The sequence here is more confusing than the Rambo Series.

First Blood
Rambo: First Blood II
Rambo III
Rambo.

That does not make sense.

Thanks John. That was brilliant!

I think we need a Baracky III before this is over, then save Baracky IV and V for his reelection in 2012.

Although in the latter movies Rocky gets some brain damage, I don't really want to see Diablo-syndrome happen to Baracky. We'll see.

"The sequence here is more confusing than the Rambo Series."

Wait until the next Rambo film comes out.

It'll probably be titled "Blood."

Or "II".

Or Blood: Rambo II: The First.

#90 Dear Heath,
Do you mind if I stay silent?

Whippings for the soul
Such is stern compensation
My cream is crying

what kind of an 'animal, so-called person,' would do grave harm to a defenseless, tiny, innocent 3-month-old baby?

"We don't have crows here but Ravens (larger), and they are revered as leaders of a clan of the local peoples. They are like the coyote in other native traditions - the tricksters.

They are very very smart, even for the corvids, and some have been trained to talk. I once had one say "hello" to me from the top of a pole in Seattle - very very early AM - and no one else was around! Say what you will - i KNOW it was the raven, I looked up - said, "Bird???" - and it cackled at me and flew away!" #72

~~~Hi Freyja,

I remember once seeing a group of either crows or ravens sitting in silence on top of the hill. They were sitting at a distance of about a metre from each other in a large circle and what struck me immediately was their solemnity and something dead about their eyes which seemed to dully stare.. It was as if they were gazing emptily at a single place in space, seeing something that i couldn't, and yet as one they stared and stared at an empty space which united them, And i found myself thinking that they seemed like a group of close family members gathered round the graveside of a loved one just standing there together saying a silent empty eyed goodbye.

"Then there was one here that got the attention of my daughter and I way out the road, and kept turning around making sure we were following, as it led us up a hill - it was like being inside a fairytale. For that reason I have a more special relationship with them than the eagles or the big Blue Jays (all cousins, all scavengers, even the crows). Yes, they are aggressive, but I appreciate their craftiness."

~~~ Yes... one can't help admire them and they are so clean... it's a joy to watch the sun sparkle on their feathers when they're washing and splashing.

"Right now we are having the hummingbirds arrive - big festivals, everybody puts out their red feeders of sugar water for the fat little buzzers."

~~~ Feeding and watching brings an abundance of joy and what a wonderland they trustingly share when we enter their world on their terms of respect and no harm.

~~V

#107 They..the crows...were considering Avtar's theory, even at that early stage, Vanessa.

Actually, I think you are on to something, they have an uncanny affinity with death and can home in a body long before you would expect them to see it randomly.
I had a thought-provoking experience recently. A neighbours dog was run over by a motorist. We buried it in my garden field, that, some six months ago. I wasn't thinking of crow behaviour as they are always around, so I'm not able to say they visited the grave. However, six months or so later I noticed, in passing, a crow sitting in the grass next to the grave. For a third day in a row, I got puzzled so approached to see what it was about. He was, in fact, sick so I backed off, seeing that he hadn't the strength to flee.
The next day he laid dead alongside the dog's last resting place.

Coincidence? No, something especially for me, I think.

Ed

Did you know that the poetic term used in literature for a group of crows is a "murder?"
Of course, scientists would call them a flock.

Crows have an endearing characteristic that apparently is not shared by other birds---they can identify people as individuals. While you can get chickadees to eat out of your hand, any old hand will do, and I suspect the chickadees do not know you as an individual. Crows will!!! If you toss them peanuts (preferably unsalted in the shell) on a regular basis, they will wait and watch for you. Not just any person, but you. If you do this often enough, they will follow you down the street to get more, even if you're in your car.

love
B

PS, Ed, crows are especially vulnerable to the West Nile virus, so hope that's not what happened to the one in your garden. The presence of dead crows is one of the first signs of a potential outbreak. Just in case you didn't know this.

B

Hello Ed and Bonnie ~~

I can tell you that here in the north where I live there has been a definite change in bird migratory patterns.

I live in far northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior. I have watched eagles stay all winter long the past few years and that is unheard of. There are far less robins then formerly here during the summer months and I'm not sure if that's because they are nesting further north or because more have been lost to the West Nile virus than previously thought. (I read recently that while crows were thought to be the carriers it seems robins have a higher incidence of carrying the disease.)

Morning doves now live here and formerly they were rarely observed this far north very often... now there are many of them. (Bird hunters are now allowed to kill them. What triumph is there in shooting something so gentle as a dove? I don't understand the way people think.)

Chickadees used to live here all winter long but are now mainly wintering further north.

I could go on and on... it's incredible to me to believe some people are still in some denial of global warming. Things are changing.

People can observe birds everywhere. We are all traveling together on this planet and those things which affect any species will ultimately affect us all.

It gladdens my heart that others, such as both of you, care too. Love from ~~ Vanessa

#109 Hi Bonnie,
Crows, for us, which flock, we call rooks and related and much more fun, the jackdaws. Our local crows, the Carrion, mostly stick in pairs, though family will tag on as they mature. Even so, I'd certainly call them a 'murdur.' Hungry, they stop short of nothing, as do magpies, seeking out and robbing the eggs and fledglings of almost all other birds, but no corpse gets wasted either so they balance up with all the clearing of the carnage we get of animals and birds on our roads. Jackdaws are certainly the most amusing and intelligent but there's something special about my crows. It's that deeper knowingness and that's why I always stop to chat with them in spite of the Devil!

Yo, Vanessa, glad we are in common.

Ah
to be bold enough
to look a raven in the eye
to accept the outcome
which ever way it may be
then dare i a word
spoken in it's direction
my racing heart
it sees right through me
this bird

derek

Heath
Thank you for sharing your process.
I can see the flow getting better.
I especially like this

what connects us
is everything
we feel
but can't see
words break
us
the more we try to say
the less we mean

Wow. I like the evolution of this phrase. Fewer words but more beautifully to the point. It reminds me of a mature musician that play less but get more sound. They are able to find that balance between how much they can play and how much people can hear.

in filigreed dark sounds
that fall
from fingers

I would just take out filigreed letting the reader explore the dark sounds them self.

in dark sounds
that fall
from fingers

Just a thought. I hope you don't mind.
I find it very inspiring for artists to share they're processes with each other.

Powerful piece Heath
I look forward to reading the final when you feel finished with it.

much love

derek

on my bow
as i drift
a shadow moves
cross my finger tips
it's my friend the raven
and what does he bring
or have i drifted
away from everything
my bones shiver
and quiver
with joy
i step
onto the water
and clouds
and the darkest of sky
into the black he leads me
into the light he leads me
into the light
he leads me
into the light
as it dances
cross my bow
as i drift
in my rowboat

derek

word is that the man van wants to join doodooman on his rowboat for a little avian talk...hmmn...hehe!

it's a little cool here today in n. cal!

Oh Diablo
I prefer to drift alone.

.........you don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me......I'm a loner....a rebel....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKLizztikRk

For long missing poets:

To V: Silver Bracelet

As fun as walking in the rain
with unshod feet that squelch
in wetnesses
as real as poplar leaves that
fall to curl like paper boats
on winds of change
as magic as a twist of spiderweb
so fine the average human eye
can't see its strength
we make gold filigrees of touch
you are a silver bracelet curved
around my wrist
these nights have made me musical
a violin that plays your thoughts
without a touch

Sikkher 7/7/7

doodooman...

it's not meole dude!

it's the resident trannny! u know...danm!(m)anessa? hehe!

ps...it's quite obvious u spend too much time alone.....whoa! haha!

No more school-dictature!

Get out and see
Earth wind and fire

Get in and learn
Groove as final exam...

Be nice to Derek D.

By the way brother we going to be seeing your mug on our next seesmic conversation. See the mischievous one himself . . .

har har

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvkX3t5LgVI&feature=related

Twice-born black Savior
Reform the box "we be" in
Perfect this instance

Not so gentle now
Merrily the river runs
Driftwood dreams along

Cultures need vultures
Big bears breed in Caucuses
Innocent pandas

Beloved Vanessa,

Years ago in the late 1970's, I read "We Are The Earthquake Generation", I vaguely remember catastrophe in the form of Earth changes via earthquake, tidal waves, etc.. Coastal areas are most affected. There was a map to show where in the USA, land would remain.

The Mid-America, Ohio would be a relatively safe area. Must be., we have birds that I've never heard or seen before. Perhaps it is just me...

And I always wonder why no one pays attention to animals before such massive devastations. They always sense impending danger, from whatever source. You know the government has been using dolphins for various communications etc. for years, homing pigeons were used before the advent of modern communication as well as hawks and falcons. A few years ago I was surprised all of a sudden how many crows and ravens were flying all over the city and not only farm or park areas. Then the mosquito- West Nile disease came and I noticed many dead birds, especially the crows and ravens. I notice I don't see any.

Pay attention to pets. Ohio had a couple earthquakes and I remember our dog and cat were pacing and hiding for days before.

Animals always greet me when I walk in my parkway. One has to be in tune to them with a caring and acknowledgment of their existence. A kindness...And animals, birds can show us much.

The larger truth is what affects one of us will affect us all, including are furry and feathery friends.

Love,
Indy

Yo Diablo
Your so cute or are you?
I doubt we will see you on seesmic my devilish friend.
But that's okay I still have my vision of you.

Oh, and I could care less whether some is male, female or something in between. People are people no matter the package or lack of package.

There's a difference between being alone and being lonely Mr. Diablo. I am typically surrounded by people and the times I get to be alone are precious to me. Cause I am a loner..........a rebel.................

Hey Empyrius
It's okay that's just Diablo's way of saying he loves me........I guess.

I love you Diablo

derek

Crimes against birds are up ....

Is it because the birds are hanging out in places they are unaccustomed to?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7561497.stm

Or is it some new twist on kicking the dog after a bad day at work?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/7529039.stm

From the BBC:

"[P]olice in Devon arrested a 21-year-old man who had been luring gulls by throwing bread, before attempting to shoot them with a BB gun. The RSPB [Royal Society for the Protection of Birds] said there have also been reports of gulls being kicked or beaten to death. Garden birds like pied wagtails, blackbirds and blue tits have also been hit.

"The statistics and details that have come to light through this report are shocking and disgusting," Ms Atherton added."

Perhaps it's both?

Dynamics of bird populations are changing, too, at least in part due to global warming. We have our Dawn Chorus Bird Blog here on Daily Kos. Birders are almost everywhere, even here in the US. But in the UK? Birding has been a big part of the national identity for ages. Amongst other things, that means there's lots of historical data around to look at population trends, habitat loss, etc.

"A conservation coalition's report says some finches, robins and tits are all laying [eggs] earlier and puts this down to warming caused by climate change."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7561497.stm

Similarly, wintering birds perhaps don't travel as far south as they used to for a suitable place to sojourn until it's time to return to arctic nesting areas:

"Overall, numbers of farmland birds remain about half of what they were in the 1970s, while wintering populations of water birds have risen considerably. The RSPB [Royal Society for the Protection of Birds] said birds were having to respond to climate change to survive."

Part of what attracts people to birding, aside from an excuse to spend time outside, is that the avifauna is complex, and ever dynamic. No accident that "canary in the mine" is a widely applied metaphor:

"This year's report shows that climate change is with us already; and from our gardens to our seas, birds are having to respond rapidly to climate change simply to survive," said Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB's conservation director. "As often before, birds are acting like the canaries in a mine shaft and giving us early warning of dangerous change."

Yup, climate change is here. For a long time, public discourse has too much acted like changes wouldn't move forward, so long as we were "debating" about it. The Bush/Cheney administration even tried to deny it with a cover up for a while. Amazing. No wonder we have Fox news audience and climate change denying morons like "Betsy" S. repeating such bs here at IB.

I'm not big on religion myself. But I am glad to hear that young evangelicals (especially) - a republican vote bank - are turning increasingly to climate change as a top issue.

Sharon
I'v been having video difficulties but I did see your latest video.
I will be back in the visual world soon. See you three.

The conversation becomes easier over time.

The Space Between Lyrics

You cannot quit me so quickly
There's no hope in you for me
No corner you could squeeze me
But I got all the time for you, love

The Space Between
The tears we cry
Is the laughter keeps us coming back for more
The Space Between
The wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep safe from the pain

But will I hold you again?
These fickle, fuddled words confuse me
Like 'Will it rain today?'
Waste the hours with talking, talking
These twisted games we're playing

We're strange allies
With warring hearts
What wild-eyed beast you be
The Space Between
The wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep safe from the pain

Will I hold you again?
Will I hold...

Look at us spinning out in
The madness of a roller coaster
You know you went off like a devil
In a church in the middle of a crowded room
All we can do, my love
Is hope we don't take this ship down

The Space Between
Where you're smiling high
Is where you'll find me if I get to go
The Space Between
The bullets in our firefight
Is where I'll be hiding, waiting for you
The rain that falls
Splash in your heart
Ran like sadness down the window into...
The Space Between
Our wicked lies
Is where we hope to keep safe from pain

Take my hand
'Cause we're walking out of here
Oh, right out of here
Love is all we need here

The Space Between
What's wrong and right
Is where you'll find me hiding, waiting for you
The Space Between
Your heart and mine
Is the space we'll fill with time
The Space Between...

Dave Matthews

Science 4 July 2008:
Vol. 321. no. 5885, pp. 24 - 25
DOI: 10.1126/science.321.5885.24b

EVOLUTION:
Where Have All Thoreau's Flowers Gone?
Elizabeth Pennisi

By retracing Henry David Thoreau's footsteps during his famous stay at Walden Pond, researchers have detected a disturbing pattern in the fate of scores of plant species as the New England climate has changed since Thoreau's time, one that they described last week at the Evolution 2008 meeting.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/321/5885/24b

---------------------------------

From Thoreau's Walden Pond:

"Early in May, the oaks, hickories, maples, and other trees, just putting out amidst the pine woods around the pond, imparted a brightness like sunshine to the landscape."

The writer/philosopher who marched to a different drum took a detailed census of plant life around Walden Pond, and someone else did so again about 100 years ago. So this is an extraordinary historical archive to compare and contrast with today's vegetation. Reported in the July 4 issue of Science (subscription required for all but intro paragraph):

" By building a flora family tree that incorporates the "Thoreau" species and mapping onto the tree each plant's response to the 2°C increase in the region's average temperature since the famed author was at Walden Pond, the researchers have discovered that climate change has placed whole groups of plants at risk and that the more charismatic wildflowers that prompt conservation efforts, such as orchids, are among the most vulnerable."

Turns out that certain groups of plants were more affected than others. In particular, those that flowered based more on temperature did better, overall, than those more hard-wired to day length (photoperiod):

"Wildflowers with more northern ranges proved the least flexible. Thus irises, orchids, lilies, and bladderworts were among the plants that had declined the most--they tended to flower the same time of year, regardless of the weather. "That climate change is affecting whole sets of species differently is intrinsically interesting," says Horvitz."

Not mentioned in the article is the problems associated with migratory pollinators. Even if a plant adjusts its growth and flowering to temperature, it might not have the right pollinators there at the right time. Specifically, some differences in response amongst plants that respond to temperature (a change in their calendar) vs. those that respond to photoperiod (a decline in abundance). The ol' birds and bees are a part of the picture, too, as pollinators and seed spreaders. If their various calendars and abundance are affected differentially, that amounts to some big gaps in the great chain of life:

"Seabirds around the UK's northern shores have not been coping with drastic declines in prey such as sandeels in recent years, a consequence of industrial fishing and climate change. This has brought abrupt local collapses of some colonies of species such as puffins and terns
...
"The rate of redistribution of some water birds has been dramatic in recent years, but for some species we still know little about the extent to which decreases in numbers in the UK are due to redistribution to other parts of their range or real decreases in overall numbers," said Richard Hearn, water bird monitoring programme manager at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust."

Shooting birds for fun - which is perhaps being prosecuted more seriously in the UK than here in the US - is hardly a useful tactic in dealing with the many serious problems before us. Thank goodness people are, at least to a degree, increasingly recognizing we've got serious problems facing us.

I have a really cool commission in the works. No contracts have been signed yet so I am still in that visualizing it done stage soon to turn into that letting it go stage so the magic can happen.
I'm very excited about this one.

derek

Birds
Are they the descendants of the dinosaurs?
If so and I'd like to think so, then they have survive so many challenges from asteroids to climate change and even the addition of feathers. Can they survive the indifference of humans?
The indifference must go.

derek

It is amazing when beings sing to God..

Not just Animals such as humans, Whales, Birds but even celestial bodies... They reach with their vibrations toward the heavinly father.

God is not UP by the way... God is all ways.

There is no up with God you see..

When was the last time you raised your voice to God?

Go on call to him now...

It is always there..

Don't ask for forgivness or salvation but just celebrate him from within

Call to her for love in the moment without past or future and hear their love in your voice as it sretches toward them..

Raise your voice to God man...its fuckin beautiful..

Love

Simon xx

why did god preferentially treat birds more favorably that humans... god damn it...he gave them wings and ...well...as for us...u know...that sucks!

derek,
That's awesome about your commission. I wish you mucha magia. Looking forward to seeing you.

The space between has been my favorite place to be lately.

Simon,
I couldn't help but think of this when I read your post. "just celebrate him from within."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZzAhYeH0A&feature=related

Sharon

maybe not really it.

is this closer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_c_MHkba5c&feature=related

still may be a little too beseeching, but it is joyful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMXtH01BTNE&feature=related

one more Simon

Out of all the writings I've read so far of yours this has most affected me and my life, so I am bringing here, for you to read.
As I read these words it finally dawns on me, why I was drawn to you in the first place. So these words could reach a place in me that i new was there, and needed healing. I think I may depart IB soon, as I have found what I was seeking, Thank you and I love you, all of you, Tammy.

Love you too, Tammy. You are so selfish. You found what you want, and leave us?! :)

Hmmmm, I couldn't really find the videos to make that work, Simon. These videos do give me the feeling of a heart full of love, especially 'Joyful, Joyful', just all out rejoicing. I almost posted 'Oh Happy Day', when he hits that high note and the jubilant harmony of the singers, man.
But... the joy wears off in just a matter of minutes. It's kind of like a drug, I need another fix after just a short time.

I may be missing the message you're sending.

The Maker

Oh, Oh Deep water
Black, and cold like the night
I stand with arms wide open
I've run a twisted mile
I'm a stranger
in the eyes of the Maker

I could not see
for fog in my eyes
I could not feel
for the fear in my life
From across the great divide
In the distance i saw a light
John Baptist
walking to me with the Maker

My body is bent and broken
by long and dangerous sleep
I can't work the fields of Abraham
and turn my head away
I'm not a stranger
in the hands of the Maker

Brother John
Have you seen the homeless daughters
standing there
with broken wings
I have seen the flaming swords
there over east of eden
burning in the eyes of the Maker
burning in the eyes of the Maker
burning in the eyes of the Maker
burning in the eyes of the Maker

oh river rise from your sleep....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5pQxygMRKQ&feature=related

I'm not exactly sure why something like "The Maker" feels more like singing to god to me, and to me is what feels "fuckin beautiful". Maybe it's where I'm at right now. But something that speaks of both ends of the spectrum, and the peace at the place where they meet, this feels true to me, and gives me a sense of joy that lasts longer than a quick fix.

Most importantly, this prayer connects me with my peace, and I notice I'm a better mom because of that. There's nothing more important to me right now.

Much love,
Sharon

Tammy,
I just read your post. I was writing mine while you were posting yours. Your question and answer from Deepak is healing for me, too. In fact, I think that's why I'm drawn to the space between, the place where the 2 ends of the spectrum meet. This is where I can heal. It's where I can love all aspects of me.
Thank you, Tammy. I'm not trying to flatter you, I just think you're an incredible woman. Thank you for your friendship and love.
I love you,
Sharon

"[Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford] In one of the numerous letters, from January 28, 1754, he coined the word serendipity which he said was derived from a "silly fairy tale" he had read, The Three Princes of Serendip. The oft-quoted epigram,

*******************
"This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel,"
*******************

is from a letter of Walpole's to Anne, Countess of Ossory, on 16 August 1776. The original, fuller version was in what he wrote to Sir Horace Mann on 31 December 1769: "I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel – a solution of why Democritus laughed and Heraclitus wept."
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpole ]

One could add that it is both to those who "do" both, and neither to those who do neither.

"Phelps set world records in seven of his eight swims, with only the 100m fly mark not broken. He also won the 400m IM, the 200m IM and the 200m fly, breaking his own world mark in each, and led off the 4x200m free relay."

That is just incredible!

Why leave Tammy?

145,

She Can't go anywhere.

Nothing can leave you nor can anything be gone.

It is very easy to understand this...

One day your life will end as you know it as it has for some people around you.

Does this make you any less than you are right now?

If life is so impermenant then why even bother living?

Because the appearence of material life is an illusion. You are not the things you have nor are you anything you fear to lose including your body and your false state of self.

Those that you love in their different forms are beyond those forms.

I have nothing what so ever that I could lose.

There is nothing in this material world that you could own that would not eventually disappear you see...

So there is nothing to own, there is nothing to lose, there are no goodbyes. What love, impression, Understanding somebody graces you with will stay with you even when that identity has expired..

everything, everybody you believe you own or are related to in some way or attached to in some way is complete nonesense when felt from a seperate ownership point of view. There is no "My Wife" "My Husband" "My Son" "My God"

The only thing you are truely related to is the divine self existence which is the source of all manifestation.

"Goodbye, This is the end, I won't ever see you again, speak with you again, love you again, smell you again, touch you again, taste you, feel you again or hear you again"

LOL... What does that mean?

All of those things mentioned are temporary states of flux that people do with each other via the five senses.. This stimulates us and gives rise to desire, emotional attachment and so on and so forth..

All one has to do to go a step beyond this is to look at a very simple process.

"Who is it that is behind the senses?"

Who is that feels stimulated by the information recieved?

It is here where Impermenance becomes irrelevent because the one who interprets the senses is a timeless wonder.. She or he is the source of and what gives rise to stimulation - not any exterior force.

If two people make love... When they are really making love, there is only one person in that bed even though they may be in two body forms.

Or it could be on the floor, or in a hamock I suppose.. or anywhere else that people make love.. at 30,000 feet even. LOL.

The one who is the experiencer of all material stimulation is this timeless wonder who really makes it all happen. Once you find Him or her then you can always hold on to everything regardless of materialism.

Love

Simon xx

There is something behind you...

Hi Sharon,

I am sitting here watching an incredible sunset over the South China Sea, and listening to your selection "The Maker". Thanks for turning me on to Daniel Lanois. It's my first time to hear him or this song. I also just listened to another version he did of this song with Emmy Lou Harris check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR2jTxHVUwM&feature=related

Thanks
Stan

...be it a fart or a fat ass.

All things must pass gas stations.

Darn it, Stan! You snuck one in on me.

Like a fart in a cullender
This too shall pass.

VMAT2

The God Gene

ME2

The TREE toed

.

No really...check this out. "Choosing Your Religion"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/14/choosing-your-religion_n_118907.html

You can safely assume that you've created God in
your own image when it turns out that God hates all
the same people you do. ~ Anne Lamott

Me2

.

Is it possible to consciously activate one's own sympathetic nervous system?

It would certainly be a useful and pragmatic survival skill.

And it would manifest instantaneously the moment you thought you needed it.

God has always been "Johnny-On-The-Spot", eh?

A true religious experience includes a personal, heart-felt response.

There is no way round that fact, folks. Thank goodness!

Damn...God is even(oddly enough)faster than Phelps!!!

???????You don't think....not......really???????

I have discovered that I know nothing.

derek

Book Review: Who Cut the Cheese?: A Cultural History of the Fart
Jim Dawson
Berkeley, CA:Ten Speed Press, 1999.

Once again proving that every aspect of the human condition has or will have a book written about it, Who Cut the Cheese? chronicles farting in history, linguistics, art, literature, music, religion, entertainment, and other areas of endeavor. When covering a subject like this, there are only two ways you can play it: solemn and studious or whimsical and tongue-in-buttcheek. Luckily, Jim Dawson goes for the latter. Among the things you'll learn:

· "The fart is created mostly by E. Coli and other bacteria in your intestine that feast upon fermenting food and then collectively microfart inside you; the air you swallow and your stomach's alkaline secretions also have an effect on your farts. On the average a fart is composed of about 59 percent nitrogen, 21 percent hydrogen, 9 percent carbon dioxide, 7 percent methane, and 4 percent oxygen--all of which are odorless. But less than 1 percent of a fart is made up of tiny amounts of other chemicals--such as ammonia and skatole (from the Greek skatos, meaning shit)--that stink so pungently, people can smell them at levels of 1 part in 100 million parts of air . . ."

· Hitler was a chronic farter. To combat his constant breaking of wind, he took a quack cure that contained, among other things, strychnine and belladonna. For eight years, he ingested high amounts of these poisons, which very likely contributed to his irritability and dementia.

· Dinosaurs farted so much during the Jurassic period that, due to the Greenhouse Effect, they increased the earth's temperature enough that the atmosphere was made hospitable for the rise of mammals.

· Presently, cows, termites, and elephants are farting so much that they might raise the earth's temperatures to a point where humans can no longer survive.

· Horace, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Swift, Blake, Mozart, Salvador Dali, and other creative geniuses have waxed eloquent about passing gas. Bosch, Beardsley, and other renowned artists have immortalized farts in their art.

· ". . . [T]he word pumpernickel comes from "devil's fart" in German. Pumpern means "to fart" and nickel is a "devil" or "goblin." The idea, according to etymologist Martha Barnette, was that dark, heavy pumpernickel bread could "produce outbursts of flatulence as powerful as those of Satan himself."

· In 75 A.D., when Judea was under Roman occupation, a Roman soldier farted at Jews gathered for a Passover feast. They turned on the Romans, who called in reinforcements. Ten thousand people, mainly Jews, died as a result.

Who Cut the Cheese? also covers the classic recording "The Crepitation Contest" (with a complete transcript), the fin de siecle French entertainer who performed fart tricks for sell-out crowds, farts in movies and the Bible, Howard Stern as Fartman, the legends of Marilyn Monroe's and Abraham Lincoln's bottled farts, and much more. It isn't quite definitive--if nothing else, it leaves out James Joyce's passion for hearing and smelling his wife's farts--but its scope makes it a breath of fresh air in the field of fartology.

http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/review/id1135/pg1/index.html

spirituality: fart is the cry of an imprisoned turd

check out other examples:

Googlism for: fart
http://www.googlism.com/index.htm?ism=fart&type=1

the *art speaketh...speaks for itself...wont u know!

tammy...have a great life...girl...it was nice knowing u! i knew u were a always a little spazzy, whimsical...but u never meant any harm, u were always like a pussy(cat)!

morning all,

Hi, Derek, you write, "I have discovered that I know nothing"

well then, you are in good company, here, at IB.:))

there is lots of knowing nothing a goin on here and we all have a different opinion on it because we are a very diverse bunch.....and, apparently, if you are not having an opinion day it is all about the nature of farts for those whose focus in up their butts:))))))

have a great sunday...and enjoy...ruth

Deepak Chopra and intent folks will always be around here for you. Be well. Best always for you, and best wishes for the baby you are carrying. You and the baby you give birth to need all the love and care that you can tap into from the generous and some times indifferent universe. I am glad you found what you wanted at this important period in your life. But as we already know, finding never stops and what we want never ends. Life goes on, beauty never ends. You are a beauty. -Chris

Dear Tammy,

Deepak Chopra and intent folks will always be around here for you. Be well. Best always for you, and best wishes for the baby you are carrying. You and the baby you give birth to need all the love and care that you can tap into from the generous and some times indifferent universe. I am glad you found what you wanted at this important period in your life. But as we already know, finding never stops and what we want never ends. Life goes on, beauty never ends. You are a beauty. -Chris

Sharon,

Of the time that has passed in the music industry there are few or maybe even no Artists that have came with Incredible Style, The best Looks, A Voice that is so rare that it has an Operatic range and all this with a very loving and deeply spiritual personality. It is very rare that those qualities are fuesed into one entertainer...

I am not really that big a fan of this artisit even though I recognise his brilliance. Of his time if I had been born I would have rather gone and seen the Beatles Live than him I would imagine. Never the less people who did go and see him live or even got to meet him said it was an extraordinary experience.

this Artist had such presence that he could take the breath away from millions of people by just walking onto the stage..

Whether you like his music or not his legacy is undeniable..

If you have not guessed who it is I am talking about yet then you must be from another galaxy where radio broadcasts from the 1950's 60's and 70's have not yet penetrated as most local aliens like this artists I am told on good authority..

he will always be the King and even in death his music is outselling many popular artists today.

Who better than to sing to God than the King himself..

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-gCKwY4X3zo&NR=1

Somebody may well make a derogatory comment about Elvis's death after this post but I would like you to consider that that actually says more about you than Elvis. The same with any derogatory or hurtful posts about people it speaksvolumes about the amount of negative energy that you are demonstrating.

Love

Simon xx

"Phelps set world records in seven of his eight swims, with only the 100m fly mark not broken. He also won the 400m IM, the 200m IM and the 200m fly, breaking his own world mark in each, and led off the 4x200m free relay."

That is just incredible!

144. Posted by empyrius

****

But not unexpected. He was the favorite to win 8 golds and with record times...

*****

Bolt set a new 100 meter world record. Now that's something! He is the favorite to win 200 meters. That would make him my best athlete at this years Olympics.

Hi Stan,
Sounds incredible, I can only sigh and smile imagining that.
I've been listening to Dave Matthews lately and really enjoying his music. I've always liked him, but the lyrics are hitting me differently right now. I stumbled across him singing "The Maker", a song I'd never heard before, then noticed other artists singing it. I really liked Daniel Lanois' version, someone I'd never heard of before. Youtube is opening me up to a whole new world of music, which I've only begun to explore since coming to IB. It's very cool.
I enjoyed "The Maker" you posted with Emmy Lou Harris. Thanks very much.
Sharon

Hi derek,
Yeah, your post got me thinking. If someone had a gun to my head and said, "Tell me one thing you know. If you're telling the truth I won't shoot."

I'd probably say, "I don't want you to shoot me. I want to live."

Does that count as something I know?

Sharon

Simon,
Elvis will always be the King to me. I remember the moment I found out he died. As a kid, if one of his movies was being televised, I was sitting in front of the tv. I know many girls loved him like a crush, but it wasn't that way for me. Something about him, he made me laugh, he made me cry, he touched all the places inside. I would compare him to Michael Jackson, the way he affected me, only moreso.

"Tickle Me", my all time favorite Elvis movie. I tried to find a clip of the saloon fantasy gunfight scene, but couldn't. He is hilarious.

But here's something

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fc-35WCpEg&feature=related

um, yeah, I meant all the intangible places inside.
He wasn't a crush because I really wasn't up for competing with those several billion other women. But, he let me dream. He lived life, felt everything, expressed everything. He showed me there's more than meets the eye, even if I don't know what it is.

love you Elvis

dear Tammy,
I will miss you! Thank you for coming to IB and sharing the rainbow colors of your life.

I am glad you have found the place in you that is no longer seeking, you have reached the fullness of the present moment :-)

Don't be surprised, if it slips away momentarily, cause that does happen on the journey - events and people will come along and challenge your peacefulness.

Love and blessings to you and your children, and your precious child- in- waiting to be born to infinite possibilities and discoveries.

lots of love,
always
~ Kate

Hi Kate!

.

;~)

.

Speaking of leaves, there was this One time
When my surroundings disappeared

An ongoing displacement of a nowhere situation, as it were
A transcendence of that which once was, came to be

Not knowing how to deal with a loss of identity
Lost in Time and Space, being only and just an entity

All was well as far as I could tell,until
I heard the voice of my daughter saying, "Dad?"

Exactly, Keith, we are all tied up with each other. How can we get all tied up in advance with our meself......one 'illusion' into another? Cancel that word, please, or boil up in a pot with 'reality'.

Illusion Reality Stew
How long does it have to boil? I'll have a bowl.

Hey Sharon
I know nothing
or
I know nothing

It reads both ways.

Without man
is there hope
for gorilla

Does this mean if humans are gone there is no hope for gorillas?
or
Does it mean with humans gone there is hope for gorillas?

I've been reading "Ishmael" again. Patty reminded me the other day,
Aloha Patty.

And yo, I really don't know anything.

peace and play

derek

Hey Ruth
Yo, when the conversation goes south it's sure to rise on that cloud of gas.

peace

derek

Hey Derek, will you have a pipe of peace instead? When I looked in the stew pot, it had all boiled away to nothing......not even a whiff!

doodleman,

Without man there does not need to be hope.. It is man that has invented the concept of hope. The Gorilla exists beyond that concept. If there was the most beautiful waterfall ever in existence but nobody to look upon it, is it still beautiful?

If you really "know nothing" then the Universe will be exposed to you as being totaly none neccasery. You have to forget about hope and any form of pedefined destiny or organising super being.

You in fact are totaly none neccasery. the same goes for my seperate self.

The world and the extended Universe are apparent but not neccasery.. If the world had not come to be then it would not have made the slightest difference to that which you and I are essentially.

When you become a "none knower" then you drop the need for validitity to your self, for the world as it is appearing, the Universe or Gorillas and mankind. Nothing is to be validated or imagined. What will be will be.

Love

Simon xx

```

Isn't this the same 'thing' as saying that in Reality, there is no such 'thing' as (no)thing?

```

Hey derek,

"I know nothing
or
I know nothing

It reads both ways."

What do you mean?

"And yo, I really don't know anything."

Is this something you know?

Sharon

I sound kind of like a smartass. I didn't mean it that way. Just asking...

Hi Simon,

I think dogs hope. It seems like they do. Sometimes they wait by the door or under the table, hoping to be let out, hoping for a bite. Sometimes they sit at your feet, looking at you, hoping for some love, a stroke or a scratch behind the ears.

I could imagine a gorilla hoping. If one of his family is ill, he may hope for a recovery. Or if one of the group is in danger, the other member's might hope for his safe return.

And remember the video Derek posted a while back... Christian the lion. He was so ecstatic to see his caregivers again after I don't how long it had been since they released him to the wild. It makes me think that maybe, fairly soon after they had released him that first time, Christian hoped they would come back for him.

And who knows, maybe trees hope for the rain during a dry spell.

Sharon

Sharon
I would never take you for a smartass.

"And yo, I really don't know anything."
The more I learn the more I realize how little I know.

I know nothing. I have no knowledge.
I know nothing. I have an understanding of nothingness.

It's kinda like an optical illusion of words or perceptions. It triggers a feeling in me I can't quite describe. The idea a set of words can read in different ways, mean different things. Like the gorilla koan. It's not to answer the koan but the idea of challenging our perceptions. There is no answer to the gorilla koan, there are many answers.

I got to thinking about the videos. How we fumble around for the right words to express the same thing, only to find we are just expressing our perceptions our unique way of seeing everything.

I think we dance around the indescribable with questions we can't answer.

I think the sages have put them in koans to help us realize there is no point in KNOWING.

I think there is a point in sharing our experiences but not to know something, but to feed that indescribable thing inside us.

Simon
I am a meaningless miracle. If I were not here the universe would not be the same.

Hey Ed
I'll spark up a bowl of peace in my pipe and pass it across the pond to you. Too bad about the stew cause I might get the munchies.

Bonnie
How can there be a 'thing' unless there's a (no)thing. We are just not aware of this (no)thing or nothingness. It's there, I have touched it.

derek

"I know nothing. I have no knowledge.
I know nothing. I have an understanding of nothingness."

Hey derek,
I felt like I should get this play on words, but it just wasn't coming to me. It's very nice.

Everything you've said is very nice.

Every thing you have said. Every word and the way you've strung them together. So very nice.

And... actually I like not knowing. It's fun to imagine, not knowing makes this possible.

"I think we dance around the indescribable with questions we can't answer.

I think the sages have put them in koans to help us realize there is no point in KNOWING.

I think there is a point in sharing our experiences but not to know something, but to feed that indescribable thing inside us."

I love to dance, and I think you are a genius.

Also, I can be a smartass.

Sharon

Thank you Sharon you are too kind.

I just get lucky with words sometimes.

Keep dancin' and let that smartass out from time to time.

derek

doodooman...the craven! (ok...look it up!).

Hey All!

.

Kate's in Tampa, and I

for ONE (off course)

wish her and her's

the best of luck!

.

Take care, Princess!

Inside my city
I have lost myself
Up over the sky in many thought-towers
I know I was not there anymore with you

Inside my city
I have lost myself
But now it's my choice
I am going down-town

Near the bay
Since the first day
The sun kissing the river with rays
In the sky, spark-lights
Inside my city...

Hi Gang,

Ck out Jackson Browne "The Pretender"
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8lB82L8wc

Cheers,
Stan

Again, I am coming
Oh yes, I am coming
How could I forget

I want to tell you everything
I want to hug, love, with sharp-power of words
I cannot, I am falling

I want so much to try again
Yes, I am willing to tring again in a forever effort
I am force-amazed, I am willing again

You are making me shaking like a leaf in the wind
Your eyes are full of this one-eye
Looking back, left, right is the same

How could it be?
HOW???
I am seeing nothing
And yet, I am seeing myself-you everywhere

I am falling, my love
Take this ride lady-parfum
I am falling because of you walking my mind...

Again, I am coming
Oh yes, I am coming
How could I forget

I want to tell you everything
I want to hug, love, with sharp-power of words
I cannot, I am falling

I want so much to try again
Yes, I am willing to tring again in a forever effort
I am force-amazed, I am willing again

You are making me shaking like a leaf in the wind
Your eyes are full of this one-eye
Looking back, left, right is the same

How could it be?
HOW???
I am seeing nothing
And yet, I am seeing myself-you everywhere

I am falling, my love
Take this ride lady-parfum
I am falling because of you walking my mind...

Again, I am coming
Oh yes, I am coming
How could I forget

I want to tell you everything
I want to hug, love, with sharp-power of words
I cannot, I am falling

I want so much to try again
Yes, I am willing to tring again in a forever effort
I am force-amazed, I am willing again

You are making me shaking like a leaf in the wind
Your eyes are full of this one-eye
Looking back, left, right is the same

How could it be?
HOW???
I am seeing nothing
And yet, I am seeing myself-you everywhere

I am falling, my love
Take this ride lady-parfum
I am falling because of you walking my mind...

Desire is part of the inbuilt survival mechanism that keeps animals searching for food and replenish their species.

A dog may desire to be scratched, or desire food in its mouth... but I think Hope still remains with their human observer.

In reality Hope is a completely stupid notion. I hope I might win the lotto tomorrow night, If I played it. It doesn't mean I will win the lotto because I hope to win. If money was something I desire then a more practical and real approach would be to forget about hoping for anything and instead make a plan to invest some of the money I have into the right ventures and the right areas and work hard to increase the amount of money that I have.

The same is the case for anything you desire. Take Happiness for instance, most of us would like to be happy. Hoping for happiness will not bring you happiness. Planning your life better so that you can move into an area that will possibly bring happiness forward for you in some way might bring you happiness..

You have the power, but you don't use it - Instead you wait for some exterior power to provide everything for you. It is not going to happen. The power is within - Not out there waiting to respond to your hope, its already within you to be or do anything you might hope for.

Love

Simon xx

doodleman

"If I were not here the universe would not be the same"

Where is here?

Hey Simon

Where ever I am.
Currently I live in Colorado. One of the most magical places I've ever been. But then again magical things seem to follow me around or do I follow them around. Just seems like everywhere I go things are vibrant and energized. Sometimes I feel the world I experience is very different than the one most other people experience.
Colors and textures, sounds, energies, they're so vivid and strong that often it overwhelms me. I can do nothing but stand and take it in. It sounds strange but it's like the color of a sunset, the energy it gives, energizes me like food and not just for that moment.
Most people are just passing by unaware of the richness right in front of they're eyes. It seems like the world they experience is not as alive. it just doesn't seem like very many people celebrate the miracle that we are here. They would rather argue abut why and miss the joy of just being here.

But why am I saying all this to you. I guess I just wanted to say it. Thanks for the spark Simon.

Now I bow to a true genius a true guru and a gentle giant.

Mr. Taylor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzpbl2LgHXU

derek

if that video and song doesn't bring tears of joy, then you need to listen again.

love compassion and tears of overwhelming joy

derek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAdSMMdFmI

Oh Johhny
What can I say. I bow but I watch my back for he may leave a gift unexpected.
Maybe set me a drift in boat............

derek

Hey Diablo
You have no idea just how much of a coward I am.

peace and snuggly love to you Daiblo and tell the ladies at the Love Ranch, Yo.

derek

hi dear Keith,
Fay is passing by, and thankfully
just bringing some cool gusts of wind,
perfect for kite flying :)
~ Kate

Derek and Sharon,
for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQeqmNbA2Hs

sailing
into
Beauty

with a dream

and the

Wind

yo doodooman...

damn dude!

u got to see these three new babes at the Love Ranch...damn!...kim, steph, and andrea...they all wore short, cut-off hot,hot, hot pants...on saturday night...i tell ya dude...these babes cud make an ole dude like u throw away your viagra in a heart beat...natural stimulants...dude!

and for the
part in each of us that
longs to
Sail

freeeeee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQeqmNbA2Hs

sailing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpbuqh12oj4&feature=related

yo tammy...r u still pouting? i know u'll neva leave IB...

a couple a years ago ole flabs 'left'...and some thought he'd neva come back...then there was all this out pouring of luv for him...everyone wanted him to stay...thinking he was a good guy who'll neva cum back...there was a personal feeling of loss? but is dude back? yo!

I was never pouting silly, I'm posting at the other site, and exploring myself with myself, yup. I love you, you know that. I just don't have much to say, but I still check you out : ) Love
TC

Hey there Tammy!
Glad you are not leaving us forever.

love
bonnie

Those 'crows' again, they're bright.....

Magpies can recognise themselves in a mirror, scientists have found - the first time self-recognition has been observed in a non-mammal.

Until relatively recently, humans were thought to be uniquely self-aware.

Scientists now know that most chimpanzees and orangutans can recognise their own reflections.

Some birds react when shown a mirror, but it is unclear if they know they are looking at their reflection, German experts wrote in Plos Biology journal.

Dr Helmut Prior, from the Goethe University in Frankfurt, and his colleagues carried out a series of tests on five hand-reared birds.

In one test, the researchers placed yellow and red stickers on the birds in positions where they could only be seen in a mirror.

On seeing their reflections, the magpies became focused on the stickers as they tried to reach them with their claws and beaks.

On several occasions, they succeeded in scratching the stickers off, which put an end to this behaviour.

Black stickers placed on the birds' bodies did not elicit the same response.

When no mirror was present, the magpies took no notice of the stickers.

"We do not claim that the findings demonstrate a level of self-consciousness or self-reflection typical of humans," the researchers wrote in Plos Biology.

"The findings do, however, show that magpies respond in the mirror and mark test in a manner so far only clearly found in apes, and, at least suggestively, in dolphins and elephants.

"This is a remarkable capability that is at least a pre-requisite of self-recognition and might play a role in perspective taking."

BBC Science and Nature
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7570291.stm

"If you never change your mind, why have one?"

ok then if u say so...question is...how often do u change?

Mr Taylor,

That is quite beautiful on that day at least...

Here is wherever you are tats right

In fact You are the Here, the very fact of you is the here.

Quite often when I travel people will say "Where do you come from?" or Where do you live. I have to stop myself in most cases from pointing to my chest as if to say "This is where I am"

Love

Simon xx

Hi Ed

Re: 203
Should you be interested, you can view videos of birds and their behaviour at

http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/

b

Tammy,

Sort yourself out you trollop!!

before I jump on I jump on a plain with my Gran and sort you out Hun!

Im telling you..

LOL

and I wont hesitate to use her on you!

Love

Simon xx

a pain-killer drug abuser and donut-hamburger loving lard-ass/fat conservative mouth-piece has a dire warning for JM! 4 veep...no pro-choice...u hear meeeee.....its gonna kill republican party 4 years to cum....whoahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaasaaaa!

Tammy,

Sort yourself out you trollop!!

before I jump on I jump on a plain with my Gran and sort you out Hun!

Im telling you..

LOL

and I wont hesitate to use her on you!

Love
The Granny Basher!! xx

Thanks Bonnie, an Englishman says kool!

There's a range of magpies, alright. We only know the 'imfamous' European black and white, Pica pica. I guess that was the one played with by the Germans. They often get a bad press and folks tend to despise them for their nest-pillaging, whilst I always defend them, because the larger crows do the same to them. There's something special about clean-cut black and white. Deep down I think that's what bothers folks. ;)

Yes, cool website, that. I have it bookmarked for when I do a Tammy! Yo, Tammy!

Ed,

TOON ARMY!!!!!!!!

Ha yes, Simon, and when the Saints go marching in..........

So nice to know you are safe, Kate! Luvz, UT

This man.. I know him infact his name i George... George Elliot is his name.. I just saw him today.

He once recently had a terrible realisation..

He realised that even though he was so Handsome, weathy, succesful, Young, Prosperus, Intelligent, organised and Funny that one dy even though he had strived so hard to achieve these things he was going to lose them all. He would lose them ebcause he could not stop age or aging then dying...

So taking this into account he was pretty flaming pissed off!

So he thought about it...

Then he realised that if... he had a problem with his finances, he would call his accountant, if it was his teeth the Dentist, His hair the Barber, Cooking his personal trainer, Sex his brother, A Rash his Cousin Lindsay Passionrain, Women his Uncle Barry and real deep hurting problems his Mother Georgina you see.

So he thought...

"Who hell can I call about losing everything and complain and get this stuff sorted out"

So he Picked up the phone just about to call someone to compain and every strand of hair on his head dropped out on the floor. He was totally bald. He walked to the Mirror and ran his hand over his shiny head.

He whent again to use the phone to call someone and this time his teeth collapsed in his mouth and fell from his mouth onto the floor like dominoes..

He stood in shock for a few moments hardly able to believe what was happening to him..
He eventually came to his senses and made for the phone again but now his knees grated under his weight and every joint in his body pained him with each movement.

he grabbed the side of the couch in agony as his body cracked with pain...

He stretched out his hand toward the phone and saw his skin wrinkle and fold about his skeleton and his viens blue and sloppy hang drooping over his knuckles..

"Oh My God" Said George as he fell to the floor still reaching toward the phone.

As he neared the phone almost touching the handset it began to ring. His wrinkled fngers snapped around the plastic and lifted the reciever..

"Hello" he croaked through his baron creased mouth

"You rang" said the voice on the phone that he could barely hear through his deafened ear..

"Who is this?" asked George gasping for his breath

"Its the Avon Lady" Said the voice as George snapped out of dream and scrambled with the phone reciever.

Love

Simon xx

hi Keith,
It was a bit blustery this afternoon.
as UT would know - branches can smack a thing or two around (if they so choose too :-)

I bet we would have had lots of fun getting my kite detangled from the twines.

Trees are notorious for taking out a kite!

p.s.
running like the wind is one of my favorite things to do on cool mornings, and late summer evenings.

~ Kate catch me

Ed & Bonnie,
Have you ever heard of the anhinga.

It is a water bird. And they are really fun to watch - when you can spot one.

These birds do not have oil glands which waterproof its feathers so when they swim - their feathers get very wet.

You should see when they dive and chase fish underwater. In the park where I like to walk, I have only seen a few this past year. They can fly with their wet feathers - but not very well.

And when they sun themselves on a rock or branch, they spread their feathers so wide, and they look beautiful.

Can you join me Sat. morning for a bird watching expedition :)

love ~~ Kate

hey Vanessa,
your comment #2 - quote for the day
I like it
it makes me
Happy
;)

Hi Kate
Sure! At your's, Ed's or my place, or somewhere in between. :)

Here's an anhinga drying itself.

http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/votacio.phtml?idVideo=3698&Anhinga-anhinga

love
b

#215 Yo, Si, I thought that was going to be another biblical Job story....well, not so far off.....
'"Its the Avon Lady"

So that's the 'Goddess' Meike and Betsy S were blogging about?

Like Kate* #2 pleases me 2

Just now drying my wings for the flight of my life ;)) XB