Are you looking your locality inside globality?
I am sliding down from this over-blowing tree
This maximum-expansion is shrinking down

Well, I could I say?
Down here, there is something simply-irresistible
This minimum reaching fullness...

Down in the hollow
Nothing...hollows are empty
Holler when you're pinched

On the 4th day of Christmas my doctor gave to me:

One tet nis shot and a fing-ger-er u-up the butt!

For a pain in the neck...

# 184 on the previous OT.

Thanks Heather, blessings and love to you too.

You see Heather, you seem to have been bamboozled too. I am not the scintillatingly brilliant individual you seem to think I am. I know a bit of science and may have a healthy dose of common sense and reason but have very little knowledge of any of the eastern traditions or American politics, that’s Mr. Welsh’s domain. He may be one or many but should that matter? Shouldn’t the message be what counts and not the messenger?

I am Seeking Knowledge, Enlightenment and Peace through science. That would probably enrich anybody willing to give it a try and it has the added value of being real and true. I am an educator who loves making children aware of the wonderful, awe-inspiring side of science; this year it was in Cuba. Yes Carl Sagan is one of my idols; nobody is or was explaining evolutionary biology and astronomy better than CS. To belittle his achievements shows ignorance at its best or worst.

By the way, the Cubans were dancing in the streets the day Obama was elected. They hope the 42 year old US trade embargo will be lifted. Also, Obama’s statement a couple of days ago was welcomed all over the world. It went something like this:

“My administration will value science, reality and facts….”

Hey Skep...thanks for the shout out on the other OT...

I've still not read the book...Plan to do it over Christmas break...

I hope the embargo is lifted....ahhhh....authentic Cuban cigars! I've had'em in Mexico, Jamaica and the VI, but would love to be able to just order them....

Hope you and yours are well. Out of curiosity, (and that's all it is) what is or has been your vocation? teaching, mfg., sales,? just wondering...

You need to take it easy on Baby D...he's about to blow a fluttervalve!

:)

Keith,

That doesn't sound like that great of a Christmas gift. =)

Keith,

That doesn't sound like that great of a Christmas gift. =)

the delusional fake really wants to convince himself that he actually went to cuba...to teach peasant children carl sagan...no one will can say that sagan was not a great man...but u ain't sagan...dimmies like u make a mockery of the man...and next time u go to latin america to teach...tell this audience...

1...what language u use to 'teach.....english, german or spanish...(dreamer).

2...show a video of urself arriving at havana international airprt hauling ur carl sagan DVD player...

3...so the cubans were dancing in the street the day 'bama was elected....wow...like u have to be in cuba to know that ...they were also dancing in the street in casa blanca, kenya, india, san francisco and all over the world...

4...charlatans like u are usually delusional!

5...and Dr. D does not want u here...why do u keep crashing the party?

6...u will never have the class of a skinny...or a steve...i don't think norm will forget ur pathetic insults...

7...heather is a class act...u ain't..and never will...

Obama Blog Update

What Happens in Vegas, Bleeds into Iraq!

Fires are raging
Warmth to some, but I light the Son
Glowing halo's glimpse

.

Hi, Matt!

Happy Holidays! UT

Global Warming...my ass!! Algore is an idiot! Think I'll fire up my truck and just let it run, gas is cheap now. Maybe start the grill and grill some steaks....might burn a couple of big brush piles today...gotta generate some carbon emissions...it's colder'n hell out there!

Oooppsss!! sorry Freeya...or maybe it was Heather...can't remember...I know the above may seem offensively macho...you know...grills, pickup trucks..etc.... you'll be ok...

:)

Haloes grow'nglow
Global warming from the heart
I cycle skinny!

You All

Whoever you are, however
you look, I'm glad that
you are here, and I'm
grateful you write. Keep it
up.

Keith, hope you are doing fine growing through your surgery lying on a warm bed in the misty valley where the freezing river goes to melt.

yo emperor...where u been, bro? have been saucing again? damn! what are your plans for xmas...why don't u stop by the Ranch for a rum and coke or two?...don't forget to haul along with u the biggie from k-country...drinks will be on the man D.

merry xmas to all!

kate...where are u?

the tree is feeling a bit blue at this hour, misses lady tree intensely...he's not sure if another lady will come by any time soon! whoa!

Irvine,

And i'm glad you're here.

Nice to get this (slightly?) out of character message from you.

"Oooppsss!! sorry Freeya...or maybe it was Heather...can't remember...I know the above may seem offensively macho...you know...grills, pickup trucks..etc.... you'll be ok..."

No probs with macho :) only issue is with your statements of ignorance about climate change.

This year is one of the warmest(on an average over location on the entire globe and time period) in the last 3 decades. Unusual extreme cold weathers and other anomalies are side-effects of global warming. The cold weathers in localities across America is a case in point.

One of the things predicted by the climate change science is that if the polar ice melts(as is happening)even further, it will effect the ocean current circulations which are vital for example in keeping Northern Europe and North Eastern US from the complete freezing of their coastlines. If the circulation engine stops, it will herald a new ice age and could lead to a snow balling effect of the entire globe.

"You All

Whoever you are, however
you look, I'm glad that
you are here, and I'm
grateful you write. Keep it
up."

14. Posted by Irvine Welsh

er....*however you look*... what
exactly do you mean by that?

jus' kidding.... you ol' softie you.

Hug.

~V

Thanks Skinny, hope you and yours are well too.

It looks like baby D is asking for it again, if he keeps it up he will get it too. Proof about a Cuban visit, what’s that all about? And why does he know I am not me and was not in Cuba? Maybe faith has something to do with it, just have faith that Skep is Irv and they will miraculously turn into one.

I tried to reason with what Heather calls “a sweet-hearted, creative man”, but he never even gave it a try. To admit he was wrong all this time is just too painful. I am sincere when I suspect he has some sort of hang-up and needs help. Readers of his # 8 will make up their own mind about his apparent disadvantage.

All I did was sending Heather the same she sent me, namely blessings and love. Is that so bad, especially around Christmas?

Why you will not be told of this miracle!
http://nuestrosricos.blogspot.com/search/label/Cuba%2FCentral%20America

You is a nutcase Diablo, but yes, the man is doing their best to keep the brother down:

capitalist pig dogs! (I gotta say that at least once a day)!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Freyja....you're so earnest....brow furrowed, studying, studying, studying....all to make the case that the reason it's so cold, is because it's so warm...ahh well...it's Christmas time..hope you have a wonderful one...sincerely..

skep...thx, have a fantastic Christmas...

Baby D...try to decompress in the Caymans...you're way to young to get your blood pressure up like that...

Craig....screw the snow...bring on the global warming....it'd freeze the balls off a brass monkey where i live...

Ruthie? Oh Ruthie? wonder where Ruth is? Maybe she lost power in the severe ice storms of the northeast. Those freezing cold temperatures, and unseasonably early winter storms...you know...the cold brought on by the heat...or something like..anyway that's what Freyja said...

have a wunnerful day!!

:)

Norm, this is a La Nina year.

And if you respect the scientists at NOAA, here's a good link for you, about the ice cover up north:

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/seaice.html

(or click my name)

Oh, oh, oh....I about forgot...all the little tolerant progressives really have their panties in a wad.....whoahahaahaha!! (I hope Baby D doesn't have that trademarked!) Obama is kissing some evangelical ass....Pastor Rick is doing the invocation....whoahahaahaha!! c'mon you tolerant ones...it's ok!!

:)

Hey it's easy to write a slew of words that have no relation to reality.

On the other hand, to take a fantasy and give it form (i.e., turn it into prose or poetry)...

Or to look something up (oh Gawd!), and then write about something it, separating one's opinions from fact and giving context to the opinions...

Is that too much to ask? Maybe. Maybe so.

Oh Heather...if I can only be like you when I grow up....

:)

I hear that Norm! Obama is nothing but a corporate shill houseboy!

His only hope is to start that U.S. versus Iran & Pakistan war as soon as possible!

Yeah . . .

web def. of delusion...

an erroneous belief that is held in the face of evidence to the contrary

a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea; "he has delusions of competence"; "his dreams of vast wealth are a hallucination"

the act of deluding; deception by creating illusory ideas

A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception.
...

A false belief that is resistant to confrontation with actual facts; The state of being deluded or misled; That which is falsely or delusively
delusory - deceptive: causing one to believe what is not true or fail to believe what is true; "deceptive calm"; "a delusory pleasure"

delusional - suffering from or characterized by delusions;

Acceptance of something as true when it is not.

Fixed belief opposed to reality and not logically sound.

A persistent or dominating false conception regarding matters of fact, and which is resistant to reason.

A false belief system despite clear external evidence to the contrary.

Delusions are fixed false personal beliefs that are not part of the person's culture and do not change, even when other people present proof that the beliefs are not true or logical. ...

My def...

Delusional is to persistently tell false, imaginary stories by convincing oneself that they are somehow true..

And talking about hangups...who the fuck has been bombarding this arena with the same ole, Saganistic, Dakinistic, Dennttic bullshit over and over gain? Who is the one obsessively talkng about "spoon-bending" over and over again? Who is the one changing display names over and over again, as if one is not enuff to tell his predictive, one-dimentional crap? Who is the one consistently being banned but keep resurfing like a lapdog?

A deluded &*%* who knows no *ucking shame!

No Skinny, I haven't froze my toes off or lost power, been busy...sound familiar...very busy.....but, since, you mentioned Pastor Rickie I thought I would comment because I know all the world stops to listen when I speak.....I think the choice is "pure Obama," and I say that because he has said, "the Nation needs to come together," so...it shall be done, starting with Pastor Rickie.

I think the Nation will come together, naturally, when there is something "REAL" to come together for.......but until that time...it's "his party" and he can cry if he wants to......

have a good one...everyone...ruth

Norm, if you can get your head out of your regional... , check this timely article, you might find the laughter catching in your throat... if you have a heart, that is:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/2008_could_be_10th_warmest_year/articleshow/3859373.cms
(or click my name)

Even kids have compassion. And creativity is about as much fun as you can have, outside of love and s-x, and the payoff half-life for creativity is about midway between love and s-x.

So none-a-them excuses about being an immature US male and proud of it: it has nothing to do with maturity, and everything to do with heart. And aren't men supposed to have that quality in spades?

tree

heal quickly

feel well

Hey Li'l Sap!

Just an FYI: from ~Kate

She sent me2 one of those Christmas cards, you know?

The kind that you can record your voice on, dig?

And so's UT has heard her speak directly to mmwaaa for the very 1st time!!!

The blues, angst, and anxiety I had been feeling has lessened correspondingly.

But of course, it's not Monday morning(D-day) yet, and I do expect

a rattled nerve or two to unwind, according to The Plan. See?

Ahh...expectations...and you know what my Buddha says about those, don't you?

It is difficult, I do ugh...ugh...agree. Still chewing the fat off that one.

Btw, my cholesterol level and HDL were superb, even though I was high on potassium.

Another btw, I have my beautiful 14 yr. old daughter living with me.

The gloom and solemn surroundings in which you wish to picture me...

the purest fiction that one can expect(?) from thou.

I will be picturing you on a beach for Christmas

kicking the sand...with no head.

Why would that be? UT

Thanks, Veritas!

Rare as gold you are!

Happy holidays!

Kelly High School in Chicago?

well UT...wish u well on ur journey back to good health...am sure santa has u in mind...he's rubbin' his big belly up at the NP...and smiling from pole to frosty pole...

damn...UT and KT in fone coversation....wow...what's next...fone %^#...damn!

congrats on that...kate is all about peace and love...something a certain peace-of-work outsider round here isn't...what's ur daugter's name?

i'll be keeping all a u classy regs in mind when i get down the grandfolks place and the warm caribbean beach...

u go easy on the eggnogs...ok...

merry xmas to all..

IBD, thanks for straightening out “delusional”, your self-description appears to fit you perfectly.

Rather than assigning the abuse you are taking to single source through your crystal ball why don’t you give it a break and go and relax somewhere. If you tell us you go to the Cayman’s most of us will believe you and will appreciate your absence.

But then we can always count on you to somehow manage to make a fool of yourself!

skeptisch..

i am leaving on tuesday...u'll have the arena all to ur sorry-ass, delusional self...

i dare u... prove to this audience that u actually went to cuba to teach peasants carl sagan!

old dude...do u really think the smart people here buy ur cheesy bullshit? dude u need a doctor that bad? what, don't they have good mind docs in ur neck a the woods in british columbia?

and u keep saying that u and irv are not one and the same...well how is it that 'both' of u have alluded to a billboard sign in ur neighborhood in vancouver? coincidence? damn!

u are the perfect example of delusion...dude!

hey skep...i'll have a margaritta for u and ur million aliases, too, at no cost to u...

btw...granpa, a retire physics teacher, reads IB...he thinks u must be a 'comedian' in ur day job...damn! granpa is so naive!

Heather...aren't you the one that our old buddy Ravi Kopra always called 'miss priggy priggish'?

read your writings, you'll understand why!

as for your article, of course floods, disasters of all kinds are sad..all our hearts bleed at these things, and at the manifold sufferings of our race. We disagree on the source. There have been floods and famines since the beginning of time....no...I don't think my pickup truck contributes....we have tremendously cleaned up our act since the 70's, and a 'coming ice age' was all the rage back then....

so...once again, think i'll fire up the grill, burn a couple brushpiles, and let Miss Priggy Priggish priggishly parse my paragraphs...just a little attempt at creativity there...it wasn't love, and it wasn't sex...but just about the best i could do on the spur of the moment...

I'll bet you get lonely, don't you?

:)

rare as gold..u say UT? damn! put back that thinking cap on, wipe off the lens and u'll see clearly...damn!

Just for starters, we haven't cleaned up our act since the 70's. The increase in population has more than offset any economies in the use of fossil fuels on a per capita basis. And it was all the rage 500 years ago in Europe that the Earth was flat. And if there have always been forest fires, that doesn't negate the fact that forest fires are on the increase due to climate change, and that the climate change is due at least in part to human activities on this over-populated planet.

See, it's like this: that someone says it's so doesn't make it so. Like if someone says, "Hey, the sky is blue" and someone else answers, "No, the sky is green and it's always been green" or "You're wearing stupid-looking shoes," he or she isn't arguing to the point and or making a case, he or she is ignorant, misguided, and/or trying to divert the conversation.

I've seen so many changes just locally, I have no doubt that the scientists are right about human activity being a big problem that will only get worse unless the majority of us see that we're doing the wrong thing, and make personal decisions (that we stick to) to do better.

Did you know that air traffic creates weather patterns that aren't there when planes don't fly? Did you ever spend two days and nights in a city with no power in a very hot summer and realize the air is cleaner and cooler because no one is running A/C's? Did you ever take a look at the drifts of black mold on the ceilings of subway tunnels in NYC and realize the mold is there because all the subway cars are now A/C cooled and the excess heat and humidity is expelled into the tunnels? What about China's pollution prior to the Olympics, and how they reduced it by forcing people to work and drive less, and the enormous algal bloom that came from fertilizer runoff mixing with warmer than normal currents, which almost prevented the sailing events from being held?

If such relatively small, local stuff has such a big effect on local conditions, imagine what the gazillions of people on this planet are now doing to the Earth.

If your pickup were the only one on Earth -- or one of 2,000 -- I'd agree, it wouldn't make a difference. But yours is one of many many inefficient fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. And so it does make a difference.

Would you turn on your truck and lie down in back of its exhaust and drink all that bad stuff into your lungs voluntarily? No? Hmmmm. Would you sit on the hood of your car when the engine is hot and stay there for hours? Well why not? Your truck is giving off gases, particulate matter and heat that this earth doesn't need, simply because some dolt misdesigned it and you bought it.

And why did you buy it? You're vulnerable in part to the images the ad guys put out there, and that's part of the reason you have the truck. Why not find a more efficient, cleaner-burning, cooler truck? Why that truck? And if image is really meaningless, why not have some old truck that at least saves you part of the purchase price, while still carrying your stuff around, taking you places and doing a similarly fantastic job of polluting the earth, just like your present truck does?

I could write for hours days and weeks, loads of stuff that little by little would knock down every one of your contentions and positions. I don't have the time, though. But I did take the time for this comment, for this reason: each person who thinks about these issues a little more deeply is one more person who may finally get it and support change in the future.

It's the people who support future change who are our only hope for turning this ship around.

P.S. Call me whatever you like and make whatever conjectures you want to about my life. If that is what you like to do, have at it.

Skinny #40, we all knew you are a wingnut from your global warming denialism and other right wing conspiracy mongering, but you have just revealed what turd head you are, but no surprise with you thuggish and bullying attitude. At least Ambasteve comes a lot closer to being a genuine Conservative.

***************

Diablo #39

"i dare u... prove to this audience that u actually went to cuba to teach peasants carl sagan!"

I dare you to prove to this audience that you have a luxurious and playboy lifestyle at your "Love Ranch." I dare you to prove that you at least have a high school education, that you actually have job and not just depend on your parents or grandparents or the government for your living. I dare you to prove that you are going for vacation to cayman islands. I am sure you must be taking some pics, post some on Flickr. No big deal right?

"and u keep saying that u and irv are not one and the same...well how is it that 'both' of u have alluded to a billboard sign in ur neighborhood in vancouver? coincidence? damn!"

It was me who alluded to that sign. Skep talks about Vancouver, BC and Canada, but he didn't, as far as i know, mention the Obama billboard.

Skep sure is a Canadian. Do you have a problem if both of us are from Vancouver region? Of if I have been to Vancouver? Or if I make up stories from Vancouver(based around real events and news stories), or from elsewhere?

Very easy to f@#$ with your already muddled mind isn't it? I love it when my trick works soooo well and prove what a confused little dude you are and how easily you can be fooled.

And what about the IB impersonator who likes to f@#$ with you? What makes you think that he didn't sow the seeds of division between you and your once good friend Skep and succeeded?

A while back, I actually wrote about going on a walk around Vancouver, where i described a local death in a lake. These two stories seemed to have worked well with Diablo. BTW I never visit or wrote about Cuba, South America and Down Under which Skep shared with us in the past.

Below is another story I hope you would (like others) enjoy.

**************************************

One has to start somewhere, so I'll start in early Nov. We arrived at our new home, met the landlords, hit it off and they agreed to put a fair bit of work into making it more liveable for us (painting the silly yellow walls an off-white and putting curtains on the many naked windows -- in the event they put in blinds, even better). And we saw rainbows the first three days we were here, and so many deer . . . And we shuffled back to North Vancouver to do our packing for the Final Push.

It was a time of much doubt, worry and panic for my partner, as I was not putting my all into packing and organizing, but still spending some time keeping an eye on business online. Much processing required for this, making the time available for actual packing (or sleep) much less. Such is the irony of fear, aversion and resistance-based dramas. That said, my continued laziness also created problems.

We spent approximately sixteen days at this, with a walk most days in Singing River, our name for the wilderness park which had sustained us for so long. That part was a fond farewell. One of the days we couldn't go there was occasioned by a dental quasi-emergency, with a most kind dentist and his whole office arranging to open the office on the Saturday before our Monday departure to deal with it (and lots of re-scheduling other patients, etc). Existence was very generous, though some cooperation was required.

On the Big Day itself i went to U-Haul to get our One-Way cube truck with trailer for the car (never drove one of those suckers before), and they showed me a few things and left me to it. It took about fifteen minutes to back it into our driveway, with car neatly jack-knifed out of the way, but I did it. Then an amazing day of packing and loading. Our landlord there is in the construction biz and he let us hire his best worker to help us and he was just super, taking care of lots of carrying and careful arranging and tying down of stuff in the truck, including care and protection of plants. And for seven hours we packed more boxes, threw stuff into garbage bags and generally did lots of stuff that "should" have been done earlier. I found myself quite calm in all of this, compared with the sometime dread of earlier moves. And in the end, in order to leave enough time to get to the ferry (an ironclad deadline), we had to leave some stuff behind, and quite a chaos. There was a price to pay for this in terms of interpersonal
harmony, but that eventually settled. Should I have done more earlier? Yes of course, but that would have had a price too. So it goes.

Made the ferry without difficulty and you might think our "difficulties" might then be over. Nooo! Now it was time for more difficulties, totally and obviously self-created. First, as the ferry was near landing, I discovered that I had lost the truck key, as in we ain't goin' nowhere without it. Lots of searching, and getting the ferry people involved, since they have a big interest in getting all vehicles off the boat. Did anyone turn some keys in?, retracing all our steps during the 1 1/2-hour sailing, etc. In the end I found the key (couldn't imagine how it got there, etc), all drama ended.

Until . . .

We arrived, at midnightish, at our new home, and I didn't swing wide enough to turn into the narrow driveway, so the trailer got hung up on a big tree that is one of our gateposts. Heh heh. So near yet so far, again, ain't goin' nowhere. The woman answering the phone at BCAA said she couldn't imagine what the AA could do. My partner had to remind her that their purview is to offer roadside assistance to members -- duh! and sheesh! -- so she did dispatch a driver. While we waited, I went down to the house to start a fire so we could take turns waiting on the road and warming up, but before I could even finish that, my partner ran down to get me, as a neighbourly samaritan had stopped and freed one of the wheels of the car from its imprisoning strap on the trailer. He did the other too -- never mind why I couldn't do that -- so I was able to drive the car off and without its weight, he pulled the trailer sideways with his truck away from the tree and we were driveable again (and cancelled BCAA).

There wasn't enough room to turn this rig around by the house but it was a problem we dealt with calmly the next day with the help of landlord, who had come to help unload. These generous folks had also supplied lots of household stuff to help us land, not least of which was a good two-month supply of firewood.

Etc etc.

Praise the lard, we are here, enjoying, settling in, and my partner is eating more quantity and variety and finally gaining a little weight.

So, so far so good.

Love to all, and thanks for the great company,

Irvine

#39 Diablo

Haven't you been through this yet?

Let's assume I am Skep (and Irvine), then why would I do some sleuthing work that supports to expose Irvine Welsh possibly being Skep!:

__________________________________________________
Irvine Welsh #85 writes "...there has been a local drama recently - The river where I and my partner go walking most days has been the scene of an apparent drowning. A young man who grew up here and knew the river well was crossing it a week ago with some friends (boulder-hopping) and slipped and fell in and was swept away. The other night we came on a news truck / TV wagon and some cops and rescue folks. Apparently the body had finally been found."

I think IW had just "slipped" or gave us a clue into his current place of residence!

I just found a story which matches perfectly with the timelines and the nature of death described in his post:

The Province
Published: Saturday, July 05, 2008

"NORTH VANCOUVER -- RCMP have confirmed the body recovered Friday morning from the swollen waters of Lynn Canyon is that of Andrew Koch.

The 26-year-old was swept away by strong currents June 29 while he tried to cross the river with his friends. Rescue crews called off the search earlier in the week when rising waters made rescue efforts too dangerous. "

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html

I have to wonder if Diablo was right or has some basis for his accusation/confusion about Irvine being Skep (who as per Diablo hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.)

It could be a coincidence, and would be fallacious to assume with certainty that they are the same based on this new evidence. Especially given IW, afaik, didn't reveal his place of residence(s) like I did; Houston.

90. Posted by John [TypeKey Profile Page] on July 7, 2008

John Re. 90

#85 was not posted by me. It is the 'other' guy. Its the IB impersonator/hacker. It looks like he was quiet for a period of time, given no one was talking about him of late. Many people here may find my claim disingenuous, given the Typekey ID was the same and not just the screen name.

But I can tell you that several people here can stand testimony for the existence of this 'other' guy; like Keith's TREE, doodleman, Ed, hgq, Ruth, Aurora C and even Diablo who publicly said so much so in the past.

94. Posted by Irvine Welsh [TypeKey Profile Page] on July 7, 2008

I think I get it, Irvine. But as Ed seems to suggest, it sure sounds like a boogieman argument coming from you. That, or he is a master of deception. I had to use my smart googling skills to nail you to that part of Canada. How cleverly he planted the story from Vancouver to tie you up with him?

PS. I guess Tammy, and that French guy from Canada Jean, can be added to the list of names you mentioned in #94.

97. Posted by John [TypeKey Profile Page] on July 7, 2008
__________________________________________________
http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2008/07/open_thread_134.html

The other one about Obama billboard is this:

______________________________________
I know that most people from US following Intentblog don't really care about what is happening over the Northern Border, but an election there was held yesterday. Now, it has been granted that the Conservative party there is to the left of the Republican party -- some would argue it is even to the left of the Democratic party. This is no longer true. The fact is, the modern Conservative Canadian party is a pretty good clone of the Republican party. The leader, Stephen Harper, advocated joining the war in Iraq. And he wants to do away with the nation's healthcare system. Many members of the party are as right-wing and fundamentalist as Sarah Palin.

In the early days of Bush's administration, the current Prime Minister wasted no photo-op to stand side-by-side with him. He forced an election recently, trying to turn his minority Conservative government into a majority. This would've been a disaster for Canada. It would've been akin to a majority Republican congress, with a majority Senate, with a Republican President. In Canada. Yeah, there are wingnuts--John calls them "rightwing lunatics"-- there, too. But because Canada has a multi-party system, the wingnuts can control all parts of government with about 40% of the national vote.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. Btw, Canadians in the majority have been routing for an Obama administration. People even paid for billboards, out of their own pockets, promoting Obama (you can see them on Vancouver Island). Canada is on the knife edge of an ugly Conservative government, the likes of which most Canadians don't really understand, but Americans know only too well. Anyone driving a beat up old Toyota Camry with a Conservative sticker doesn't really understand where their governmental interests really are. But somehow, you see them all over Canada. For twisted reasons, it is the masculine choice for government -- and low-info voters are voting for them in droves (just like in the USA).

Canada will be due for another election within another couple of years -- that is generally how things play out in Canadian politics. When you speak to your Canadian friends -- encourage them away from the Conservative ideology. Tell them about how you wish you had proper health-care for all citizens. Remind them of the good example that is set by diplomacy. Make an example. And remind them that they are on the wrong track with this government. Hopefully, in a few years time the Canadian politics would be on a better track.

12. Posted by Irvine Welsh [TypeKey Profile Page] on October 15, 2008

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2008/10/open_thread_149.html
_________________________________________

Here Irvine shows his knowledge of Canada and its politics. He need not hail from Vancouver Island or even Canada to have the knowledge about the billboard sign, one could easily pick such info if you studiously follow Obama news, which I suppose he does. Skep or Michel didn't mention the Obama billboard in the thread in question. Diablo made a false claim based on false memory, an example of cognitive bias. Fooling oneself into beveling false facts because your mind and ego cannot accept the possibility of being wrong in your beliefs and arguments.

# 43 and 44
Thanks guys, as Heather says, scintillatingly brilliant!

About IBD you say,
“Very easy to f@#$ with your already muddled mind isn't it? I love it when my trick works soooo well and prove what a confused little dude you are and how easily you can be fooled”.

You guys of course realise he is too stupid to comprehend your comments. He will continue to find a way to make a complete fool of himself for one reason only; it is simply too painful for him to admit he has been bamboozled all this time. For those of you who might feel sorry for Diablo, just remember he has been asking for it for a long time.

Have a good one Irv. My wife and I will have the house full over Christmas with children, grandchildren and friends. Yes, our Cuban Canadian friends will also drop in.

Merry Christmas to all, especially to my missing chum Ron Saywack and his family.

From dust we all came
Dust thou not see we be
Dry twisters the same

So what are you trying to settle?

Me2

skinny, heath made some excellent points in #42.

I hope the below information will be useful to you to be more aware of the issue.

A report issued by NASA this week concludes the rate of ice loss in the cryosphere*(1) is continuing to accelerate*(2):

"Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted at an accelerating rate since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what they say is global warming. ... NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment*(3), or GRACE, mission uses two orbiting satellites to measure the "mass balance" of a glacier, or the net annual difference between ice accumulation and ice loss."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/16/melting.ice

When ice melts, the surrounding air or water cools down, basic thermodynamics. It would be ironic if that cooler air and water from excess northern melt were to work their way south a little farther and a little earlier in the season than they otherwise would have, and maybe even help fuel an occasional localized snow or ice storm, which right-wing*(4) climate change skeptics, especially those bearing a borderline pathological obsession with Al Gore, would then seize on as evidence that global warming is ... well not sure exactly.

Somewhere vaguely between massive inexcusable scientific error and fraud, to an infinitely scalable global conspiracy between a tightly woven cabal of nations who can't agree on something as scientifically basic as what units of measurement to use for a common lug nut. And the wingers will do it, apparently, without a care or thought in the world of the difference between the NASA GISS*(5) 125 year global average temperature trend and related volumes*(6) of empirical data Vs. cherry picking poor comparisons*(7) or the sprinkling*(8) of snow they had on their drive way last Tuesday morning.

*1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryosphere
*2)
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/16/melting.ice/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail
*3)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Recovery_and_Climate_Experiment
*4)
http://www.redcounty.com/sarasota/2008/12/the-right-stuff---12182008/
*5)
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts.txt
*6)
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/12/2008-temperature-summaries-and-spin/
*7)
http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2008/12/note-to-warming-nuts-baby-its-cold.html
*8)
http://www.dailynewscaster.com/2008/12/17/las-vegas-snowed-under-by-global-warming/

hey mike, u troll...have u had ur little swim today? make sure u and all ur phantom selves join u for a little teaspoon skinny-dippin' synchronicity...eeeuuuuhhhhhh....

dude u ain't smart, u don't even look the part...that word is reserved for people like ed, heather UT, kate and our friend flabs...if u were, u won't have to continually resort to ad hominems to attack those u deem lesser that urself...u only prove that u are what u write! don't forget that u are an unwelcome intruder in this arena...if u were smart, u'd be admired and welcome...duh!

caught in the headlites, the multi-faceted dude is doin' his utmost to try to confuse this audience...but the only person he's actually confusing is himself...that is the stuff of delusion, dude.

Diablo wrote "...heather is a class act...u ain't..and never will..." (#8)

Oh sure she is. Skep, Michel and Irvine are much classier and wise than you and norm, certainly.

Diablo also wrote "u will never have the class of a skinny...or a steve...i don't think norm will forget ur pathetic insults"(#8) and "u won't have to continually resort to ad hominems to attack"(#48)

Is this the classy skinny who belittles you (but like a dog you lick him, only to be shoved away over and over again) and attacks people like heath, that you are talking about?:

"Baby D...try to decompress in the Caymans...you're way to young to get your blood pressure up like that..."

24. Posted by skinny [TypeKey Profile Page] on December 18, 2008 10:48 AM

"Oh, oh, oh....I about forgot...all the little tolerant progressives really have their panties in a wad.....whoahahaahaha!! (I hope Baby D doesn't have that trademarked!)"

26. Posted by skinny [TypeKey Profile Page]

"Heather...aren't you the one that our old buddy Ravi Kopra always called 'miss priggy priggish'?

read your writings, you'll understand why!"

"I'll bet you get lonely, don't you?"

40. Posted by skinny [TypeKey Profile Page] on December 18, 2008 06:16 PM

Are you not a man enough to push back this attack on heath and call as spade a spade. Where is your stated altruistic zeal to keep this community pleasant in this case? Instead you are so in love with yourself and your victim hood that you keep defending your yourself to protect your insecure self. Grow up. If you can't take a bow, don't step into the ring. Act like a man.

Sorry for not editing the comment above.

Correcting one of the typos: "If you can't take a blow, don't step into the ring. "

hey skeptisch...50 and 51...dude u don't need to try so hard...damn!...why don't u take a real vacation instead of the imaginary ones...it'll do u a world of good to ease ur delusion and depressions...come to think of it, dude, u are really crying out for attention and a little love...but even if love were shown to u, u won't know what to do about it since u have neva had it...sad!

I am listening dear Diablo, please keep talking. Keep talking. Easy..easy now..let everything come out...slowly..smoothly...you are almost there...

Jared Diamond's 2005 book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" should be on everybody's reading list this year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_(book)

Diamond posits five factors that stress civilizations: environmental degradation, climate change, attacks by hostile neighbors, abandonment by friendly trading partners and rigid ideology. Stable societies can easily withstand any one of these factors alone. Two together, however, lead to significant destabilization and often prolonged backwardness. Most societies collapse under the weight of three.

To varying degrees, we're dealing with four of them.

PS: Diamond's first book was a revelation for me:

"Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies is a 1997 book by Jared Diamond, professor of geography and physiology at UCLA. In 1998 it won a Pulitzer Prize and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. A documentary based on the book was broadcast on PBS in July 2005, produced by the National Geographic Society."

Amazing work.

I find this entire debate moronic because, frankly, there is no debate. Average global temperatures are increasing. I can plot the data on a graph, and even non-scientists can see that the line seems to go straight from lower-left to upper-right (save a few squiggles).

We know what the absorption/emission spectra of the various chemicals we put into the atmosphere are, and we have a fair idea as to what changing the relative concentrations of said chemicals in our atmosphere would do to incoming solar radiation (as in, the original composition tends to be more "invisible" to thermal radiation then the new composition is).

We know that, with the increase of atmospheric temperatures causing a bit more of the ice to melt, the albedo (reflectiveness) of our planet is decreasing, meaning that more of the solar radiation is getting absorbed by the planet and re-emitted as thermal radiation, rather then getting reflected as is back into space. It should be obvious that this would cause an acceleration in the global temperature increase.

I will admit, one of the x-factors in this entire process is clouds. We have no perfect or even near perfect model for how clouds affect the system. Our models seem to be pretty good in the short term, though, so I don't worry about this too much.

It should concern everyone, bar no one, that we could be changing this world to the point where we can't exist on it any longer. Corporate greed and the ignorance of the average person have brought us to a precipice. We may already be past the tipping point, and if we are, we owe it to ourselves to try to pull back from that as much as possible. If we're just close to the tipping point, though, then we need to see an unprecedented level of commitment from everyone in the world to be trying to make the world a better place, and the current buzz terms of "get carbon emissions to this percentage of where they currently are by 2050" is not enough. I think Al Gore's more recent stand of getting below 350 ppm in the next 10 years is a lot better.

I guess I just can't help but in-part marvel and in-part rage at the sheer greed of the companies that are destroying our environment and the sheer ignorance of the populace that is allowing that to happen.

Re. 54

20 minute vid on TED.

Good website for Science Talks if you haven't seen it. Good little talk by Diamond on the subject of collapse. "not a single factor... complex subject, so i have 5 factors..."

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse.html

I don't fault "skinny" at all. It is unfortunate that the tag Global Warming is what stuck instead of Global Climate Change. You mistake seasonal changes for long-term trends. Although we are certainly warming, whenever we get snow in Vegas, or a cooler than normal summer like we had in my area of Florida, though still a drought, we get the deniers focusing like a laser on the word "warming" and denying it because of localized cooling.

I understand denial for one reason, subconscious acceptance of global warming and realization that we can do nothing about it might make a brain deny it in order to keep sane.

Diablo, I wish you happy holidays and a pleasant vacation; real or imaginary. I hope to see you transform from your current manifestation of a bum and an assclown to...you know, somebody.

Last night it snowed in Malibu, but I know studies on global warming are gospel, regardless whether the whole country is freezing, when it's really warming.

Cheers,

Steve

All summer, the north polar sea ice melted.

Ever watch ice sublimate on a very hot day? Ever watch the vapors overflow a tall glass? What effect do you think the melting sea ice has had on the northern jet stream, as well as some of the ocean currents? And once again, it's a La Nina year (look it up).

Come away from the rhetoric and politics and look at the realities, and question, question, question, what you hear, what you think and what people are saying on all sides. Then watch and question some more.

Snow in Malibu is not a previously unknown event. It snows in Israel. It snows in India.

If it snows three feet every year in Malibu from now on, that's something to think about.

Sorry to sound so preachy, but ach du lieber, when people as smart as y'all don't see past the positions your friends are taking, I feel like tearing out my hair.

why wud an obsessed outcast keep maquerading as a freeforya, a salliva, a m(v)anessa, an anne or what have u? this sketisch dude and rudy G...must really have plenty in common like their mutual love for cross dressing while trying to act macho at the same time...but who the fuck would take a joker like this seriously? a delusional latin america carl sagon DVD 'teacher'? dude, why don't u check ur sorry ass into a hospital for mental health treatment? and for possible obesity resulting from inactivity? seriously?

Ambasteve...good to see you. Sorry they lump you in with me, because that puts you in a bad light! You're the nice guy, I'm just enough of a prick to stick my finger in a liberal's eye! What a riot!

Mission accomplished!! I wrote that bit of tomfoolery yesterday, just to see which ones I could smoke out of the bushes! Wheedoggee! Heather came out shooting with both barrels...if she'd been talking instead of typing, she'd have sounded like one of those wildeyed TV evangelists! PrettyFreeya jumped in and it was on!

This is more fun than eating steak...and i love steak!

I sure miss Divya, and Krish, and Scott and Kristin,...hell I even miss Sanctimonious Saywack sometimes! Heather does a good job filling in...on the sanctimonious part anyway...

y'all have a wunnerful weekend. by the way, I really didn't start my truck and let it run, didn't grill anything, and didn't burn a brushpile...just wanted to see how high I could raise your bloodpressure...I know, I know...it's kinda juvenile and all that...Immature male as heather puts it...but it is kinda fun...so predictable...

bye now...I'm going to the doc to see if i have a heart...miss priggy thinks i must not...

:)

flabs...dude, are u serious when u say that u'd vote for that whacked job W again if you could? i think u are jus kiddin'...dude...say, has a lib ever thrown an ear of corn at ur head...ooops i mean a shoe? damn!

D...yes and no...what i meant by that...i would have voted the way i did in 2000 and 2004 given the same choices...again...

I DID NOT MEAN....that i wanted to vote for bush again...the third time...he has been a disappointment to me. He has spent us into debt like the most liberal of democrats, and his education policies have stunk. As far as the war goes...I still have mixed emotions about all of it. I don't think he deliberately mislead us...you know...the left wing mantra...bush lied people died...

I agree with a lot of his decisions, but his leadership in selling them has been atrocious...that has led to his downfall. I agreed with very little that Bill Clinton did, but he had the gift of communication...oh well!!

you have fun in the caymans...gotta go get my kids...

flabs :)

hi there,

well, we are having us a little blizzard up here in the northeast, driving is fun when you cannot see where you are going and you are just guessing..."am I still on the road?"

anyway...I just read the most ridiculous line I have read in a long while.....let me share...it is truly an....oh, gawd!!! line...

mr. S, writes, "I don't think he deliberately mislead us...you know...the left wing mantra...bush lied people died..."

"I don't think he deliberately mislead us"(Bush Iraq invasion, WMDs) really, afterall that has come to light as to Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld's decision to invade Iraq......hmmmmmm.

"I don't think he deliberately mislead us," ohhhhhhh....that is so f-ing sweet....it almost makes me tear up :(((((

sorry, skinny, but that line is so deserving of good ole fashion ridicule.....

have a great evening...all.....ruth

Ok Amba and Norm (great stuff by the way Heath) I will provide you guys proof that global warming is a lie – it has snowed in Spokane – see, no global warming . . .

Induction is a great tool, but using two days, or two winters, out of 20,000 days/winters to prove a point abysmally fails.

The countless millions of buffalo that once roamed the American plains must have died of natural causes; humans had nothing to do with their disappearance. Traffic accidents happen b/c the machinery fails; humans are innocent of any wrongdoing. People don’t kill people; guns kill people! For people who really don’t think humans can alter our environment, I know of this massive canal in Panama that proves different.

Like heath says, run your car exhaust into a closed room and after you are done breathing this innocuous air for a day we will talk about it tomorrow!

He-he

How about that Madoff!

Blagojevich, "I'm an innocnet man . . ."

Where is the war? Where are those darn Pakistanis, Iraqis, Afghanis, Iranians; we got people to kill, and here we are worried about corrupt capitalism . . .

har har har

flabs...i think u shud stay out a pollitics...ur views in this regard are messed up...knowing what u now know...u still believe that that nutbar did not lie about weapons in iraq? u cannot be serious...dude...if u seriously believe that, u are delusional.

another oh gawd!! Rod Blah-Blahvich says he will "fight, fight, fight, until he takes his last breath," hmmmmmm.....and seeing that he is not that elderly....we are in for the long haul....boy, and, the bad news just keeps right on coming....bailouts, auto bankruptcy, ponze schemes, Pastor Rickie and Barak Obama having a "gay" ole time dancing the inaugural two-timing step.........well, if the Nation does not come together, at least Barak Obama and Pastor Rickie will have.....each other :))

and the world goes round and round...

I’m a failed capitalist (well, actually an enemy of capitalism)! Where is my bailout!?!?!

Bush jokes at the hanging of his presidential portrait, “I knew this would get a big crowd, to see my hanging”. He has such a great sense of humor . . .

Being responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands is always good for a laugh; we better drop some more bombs on weddings b/c it is just so neat turning a wedding into a body parts bazaar!

Emanuel is corrupt. Obama is an idiot (and a typical black dude that has a very weird fear of gay people, maybe blacks guys would just be too popular in the gay community: har har har). Caroline Kennedy gets a job b/c she is a Kennedy. Bs! Madoff was not giving the money to the poor, else-wise bravo! Spitzer was overpaying the whore(s). And Palin’s daughter can hook you up with some dynamite meth! Good stuff!

Why don’t the evangelicals demand adulterers be put to death, like the Bible commands, ooohh, but we pick and choose what Scripture to adhere to, especially when it comes to money . . .

No jubilee for you peasant, that is only the “old law”, and the modern Israelites do not even acknowledge releasing “the other” from debt, so you think a “Christian” is going to: the joke is on us, the poor, and we get to pay for the joke too!

You should see the faces of my neighbors getting foreclosed on and having to move out, they look so powerless and sad; too bad they are not smart or else they would not be poor right; oh well, what else would you people do if you did not have us poor dumb folk to herd around; start another war?

Uh-o, don’t let me give you any ideas . . .

Let Wall Street, and Washington D.C. burn!

I am taking both of your arms
Are you ready for a parallel-ride?

Oh! On this face,
What a different back-echo!?!?

Right now, can you see?
We are walking out of normality!

And without a word,
Time is building a new railways-track of us-now

Please, do allow me to take your arm...

Yes! Happy we are now!
Happy holidays we are having!
How happily and quickly we forget!
Has anyone else seen just how happy we have
Become? We are becoming. We have just begun all this.
All this Becoming tires one out as we have
Thrown our weight around finding
The Perfect Gift for our Love!
Yes! A Happy Outlook!

.

Sponsored by NOW
Brought to you by the NEW
Permissions granted via the latest ONE

More time than money
Less money than good credit
More credit than time

Marriage for monkeys
Marry age fourteen over
Merry Aged Tree

Divorced you say
Dee vor rest--3 syllables
Deforest--get green

Mary marries God
Christ and The Church: Great Marriage
Jesus forgives All

Words evolve like us
Fixed from the first beginning
Neutered resistance

Bound to the 4 Laws
All tied up laws to get passed
Get past--overcome

Trained conversations
Hop on bored and speak your peace
Mind your loose caboose

Purpose driven Death
The Grim Reaper drives away
Cars belong in Hell

The Original
Messages originate
Whereabouts unknown

Keith...Vicodin? Oxycontin? :)

Hope your back troubles all go away bro!

merry christmas...

:)

Obama commits to making U.S. leader in science once again.

In this morning's weekly address, President-Elect Obama proclaimed the importance of science, named his science advisors and reiterated his commitment to government funding of research and technology. How sweet is it to hear the words, "It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PMlXNrBxM0g

Hey Craig, yes I heard it snowed in Spokane, my folks have pictures of me as a toddler in the snow back in the day.

Normie, you or I'm your right wing man, happy to be lumped in with you. Speaking of hysteria, remember this headline article from Time Magazine :

Another Ice Age?

Monday, Nov. 13, 1972

The arrival of another ice age has long been a chilling theme of science fiction. If the earth's recent history is any clue, says Marine Geologist Cesare Emiliani of the University of Miami, a new ice age could become a reality.

Writing in Science, Emiliani reports that the earth has undergone at least eight periods of extreme cold and seven of torrid heat in the past 400,000 years. His conclusion is based on cores of ocean sediment from the Caribbean. Composed of the remains of tiny sea animals, the layered sediment provides a record of climatic changes. When the oceans warm up, there is a decrease in the ratio of the isotope oxygen-18 to ordinary oxygen in the shells of the little creatures; when temperatures go down, the concentration of oxygen-18 goes up. Moreover, the proportions are preserved after the creatures die and sink to become layers of sediment. Thus, because these layers can now easily be dated, the shells can be studied to establish past temperature trends.

Scientists once held that there were four ice ages, each as long as 100,000 years, separated by warm periods of at least comparable duration. But Emiliani's investigations, and also those of Columbia University's David Ericson and Goesta Wollin, have shown that the ice ages were as short as 10,000 to 20,000 years. Moreover, Emiliani says, the climatologically comfortable intervals between them were also geologically brief. Thus, Emiliani warns, the present period of "amiable climate," which has already lasted 12,000 years, may soon come to an end, perhaps within the next 2,000 or 3,000 years.

In what direction will the earth's climate then turn? Emiliani refuses to speculate. But if man continues his "interference with climate through deforestation, urban development and pollution," says Emiliani in typical scientific jargon, "we may soon be confronted with either a runaway glaciation or a runaway deglaciation, both of which would generate unacceptable environmental stresses."

-Today of course scientists know better, right!
Follow the money, and the name of the game is green baby.

Stay warm all, I know it's probably freezing where you live,

Cheers to Ruthie, Keith, Kate and the admirable Mr. D, don't let the bot clones get you down, you are ok.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah

Steve

Re. 84

Text of the speech:

" Over the past few weeks, Vice President-Elect Biden and I have announced some of the leaders who will advise us as we seek to meet America’s twenty-first century challenges, from strengthening our security, to rebuilding our economy, to preserving our planet for our children and grandchildren. Today, I am pleased to announce members of my science and technology team whose work will be critical to these efforts.

Whether it’s the science to slow global warming; the technology to protect our troops and confront bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; the research to find life-saving cures; or the innovations to remake our industries and create twenty-first century jobs – today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology.

Right now, in labs, classrooms and companies across America, our leading minds are hard at work chasing the next big idea, on the cusp of breakthroughs that could revolutionize our lives. But history tells us that they can’t do it alone. From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier because we had leaders who paved the way: leaders like President Kennedy, who inspired us to push the boundaries of the known world and achieve the impossible; leaders who not only invested in our scientists, but who respected the integrity of the scientific process.

Because the truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources – it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us. That will be my goal as President of the United States – and I could not have a better team to guide me in this work.

Dr. John Holdren has agreed to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. John is a professor and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as President and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center. A physicist renowned for his work on climate and energy, he’s received numerous honors and awards for his contributions and has been one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change. I look forward to his wise counsel in the years ahead.

John will also serve as a Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology – or PCAST – as will Dr. Harold Varmus and Dr. Eric Lander. Together, they will work to remake PCAST into a vigorous external advisory council that will shape my thinking on scientific aspects of my policy priorities.

Dr. Varmus is no stranger to this work. He is not just a path-breaking scientist, having won a Nobel Prize for his research on the causes of cancer – he also served as Director of the National Institutes of Health during the Clinton Administration. I am grateful he has answered the call to serve once again.

Dr. Eric Lander is the Founding Director of the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard and was one of the driving forces behind mapping the human genome – one of the greatest scientific achievements in history. I know he will be a powerful voice in my Administration as we seek to find the causes and cures of our most devastating diseases.

Finally, Dr. Jane Lubchenco has accepted my nomination as the Administrator of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is devoted to conserving our marine and coastal resources and monitoring our weather. As an internationally known environmental scientist, ecologist and former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Jane has advised the President and Congress on scientific matters, and I am confident she will provide passionate and dedicated leadership at NOAA.

Working with these leaders, we will seek to draw on the power of science to both meet our challenges across the globe and revitalize our economy here at home. And I’ll be speaking more after the New Year about how my Administration will engage leaders in the technology community and harness technology and innovation to create jobs, enhance America’s competitiveness and advance our national priorities.

I am confident that if we recommit ourselves to discovery; if we support science education to create the next generation of scientists and engineers right here in America; if we have the vision to believe and invest in things unseen, then we can lead the world into a new future of peace and prosperity.

Thank you, and happy holidays everybody."

Re. #85 posted by Ambasteve

Interestingly Time article. Indeed, Climate Change was just as "inconvenient" 36 years ago!

Coincidentally, a few months ago, entirely by accident, I came across a 1972 book in a little old antique/curio store in downtown Pearland, TX (a suburb of Houston.) It's entitled "Only One Earth -- The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet", and it's written by Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos. This book predated Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance", by a full 20 years.

I thought it might be interesting to see if such topics as "climate change" and "global warming" were even in our lexicon thirty five years ago.

"Only One Earth" is fascinating to read, even if it is somewhat dated.

Looking through the index you won't find the phrase "global warming" anywhere. However, you will find an entry for "Climate, global interdependence and" that points you to Chapter 13, "The Shared Biosphere."

Let me quote a key excerpt from that chapter:

______________________________________________
"In the field of climate, the sun's radiations, the earth's emissions, the universal influence of the oceans, and the impact of the ice are unquestionably vast and beyond any direct influence on the part of man. But the balance between incoming and outgoing radiation, the interplay of forces which preserves the average global level of temperature appear to be so even, so precise, that only the slightest shift in the energy balance could disrupt the whole system. It takes only the smallest movement at its fulcrum to swing a seesaw out of horizontal. It may require only a small percentage of change in the planet's balance of energy to modify average temperatures by 2 degrees C. Downward, this is another ice age; upward, a return to an ice-free age. In either case, the effects are global and catastrophic."
______________________________________________

Sound familiar? Remember, this comes from a book written 36 years ago! This chapter is literally filled with other observations and predictions that are extraordinarily prescient. The climate change issues we are talking about all the time now were known about a long time ago by a whole lot of people in a whole lot of countries.

The co-authors of this report, who worked with 152 consultants from 58 countries, give real meaning to the word "distinguished" (check out their bios on Wikipedia: Barbara Ward, Rene Dubos).

Barbara Mary Ward (23 May 1914 – 31 May 1981)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Ward

René Jules Dubos (February 20, 1901 – February 20, 1982)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Dubos

Ms. Ward was a pioneer of the field of "sustainable development" and also a strong proponent of "Christian values." Mr. Dubos was a microbiologist, environmentalist, humanist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Amazon.com lists the paperback version of this book, but provides very little information about it. There's only one review, from 1998, with a heading of "Eco-disaster book which struck me as unduly pessimistic." The reviewer only gave the book two out of five stars. I wonder what rating and comment he would give the book today, ten years later?

I guess if you're not ready yet to believe that something is true -- even if it is true -- the natural tendency is to write it (and the messengers) off as either alarmist or overly pessimistic. On this topic, some self-entertaining blowhards may even go so far as to label the information bearers "environmental wackos."

One thing I have learned, however, is that if something really is true it will eventually be shown to be true. (As William Shakespeare said in the Merchant of Venice, "Truth will out.") In this case we are talking about Mother Nature whom, as the old axiom goes, you just can't fool.

It's just too bad -- for all of us, including the ditto heads -- that we have to wait that long to collectively figure out what's really going on before we can apply our creativity and inventiveness to this big challenge.

Yes Ruth

the world goes round and round
it's a big ball of mostly molten rock
somehow we evolved to explain it all
but there is nothing to explain
only experience

round and round and round we go
where it stops nobody knows

where are we
on the circle of life

O

derek

Hey John
I have faith in humanity. We are learning to walk lighter on our rock. It's the only rock we got. In my experience there is a large scale awakening going on. In part and it's a big part, due to the internet and the overwhelming desire of people to want to connect. Political and geographic borders are becoming meaningless as the our next generation begins to take over.

Because of my business I see our young people's priorities shifting from these abstract borders set by our ancestors to a more borderless society.

One world one love, Mon.

If we are ever going to green up our world, we have to stop looking to prove that we need to and turn that energy towards making our individual lives greener. There are millions of scientists and business people working passionately to create the technologies and the infrastructure to do the large scale stuff. We as individuals must work in support by changing our daily habits.

Back in that transitional time when people were coming to grips with a round earth, there were many people that went to their grave believing the earth was flat while their children moved on.

More and more people are waking up to the fact that we do effect our big ball of rock that we ALL live on and even if we don't it is always wise to tread lightly.

peace comes from peace

derek

Keith Yo
I am thinking good thoughts about your medical adventure.

For those who know, Alicia is finally home. 8 weeks in ICU, yo. I got to see her the other day, she only weighs about 90lbs, but she still has that hunger in her eyes. The entrance wound has closed up but the exit wound is still open. It is amazing how much damage the bullet from an AK47 can do. I hope some day we will change our habits about violence. It is not such a productive addiction. Although, through this experience many people had the opportunity to be generous and express much love and they took full advantage of it. Sweet.

derek

Holdren as Obama Science Pick Adds Climate Activism

Holdren, former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, is a specialist in energy and climate change who advised Al Gore on the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” His appointment signals a sharp about- face from President George W. Bush’s approach to greenhouse gases and global warming.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBKZNAvOFy_c&refer=home

Shouldn’t non-violence toward our Pale Blue Dot (Earth) be paramount?

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:pHXw3Gt88rAJ:www.bigskyastroclub.org/pale_blue_dot.htm+Pale+Blue+Dot+(Earth)&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca

Mini,

Did you go to Victoria BC?

I remember you were saying a few months ago that you may be going.

Love

Simon xx

I Dunno if you guys get the X Factor, with Simon Cowell over in the America's etc..

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

watch that clip, she is brilliant.

Love

Simon xx

Thanks for the kind thought, Norm. Happy Holidays!

My choices Monday afternoon will be(I asked):

Demoral or Morphine through the IV

Do you have any advice to give on those two?

Don't worry! I will be scantily supervised.

I probably don't get to choose my candy-stripper, though.

It's a Catholic Hospital(no choice) called St. E's

Services gaily begin at 11:30 a.m.

.

Thanks for the support, Derek!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Christmas aims to be a great distraction.

I'm hoping a band of carolers come by, too.

.

Uncle Christmas Tree

Awesome to hear Alicia is home Derek!

Morphine Keith morphine!

Yeppers Shmuel, somebody once had, don't know who, a picture of a cousin and me standing next to a snowpile taller than us back in 71' I think it was: kewl stuff!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

brother simon(freejohn)...dude...

u're so slow brother...u are a willing coolaid drinker, dude...have u not figured out that that oddity is %^eptisch in disgiuse who calls himself mike and most recently the poster of #91 above...damn!

Baisab(Diablo)

I have figured out nothing except that there is nothing to figure out.

Love

Simon xx

God is now

Love

Simon xx

I want a magic friend!

Hey! Away all these serious-losers!
Away that self-loser!

Away and open the way
I am seeking my magic friend...

Sarah is knocking me out
Out of this place self-paradise

What a dreamer I am
Thinking-punch back
Something does not allow the knock out or to fail

Teenage-package first love-flames
She is walking inside flower-flavors

Singing-hunting to an innocent
Promises of gift-paradise...

sunday, sunday,

Derek great news as to Alicia's condition...may she keep getting stronger everyday...

Keith....sweet dreams when you are under and hope the operation is a success and recovery even better....may your pain in the neck disappear once and for all...

not much to chat about...very uninspiried and I am up to my ears with snow....another storm today and it is starting as I write but must go out and do somemore fun driving later...

I have been contemplating Obama and his choice of Pastor Rickie. It was a choice, I think, that will prove much more satisfactory to Barak Obama's taste, at HIS inauguration, than anyone else's. Really, whatever message he wants to convey with choosing Pastor Rickie is simply lost in the choice itself. Barak Obama, clearly, has much to learn. One thing he will learn, quickly, is that the American public didn't vote for a "school master."

We have quite a mess facing our Nation, it is really astounding considering how well educated, well lauded professionally, all our corporate, financial, government, leaders are and were who helped to quide us down this slippery slope, not to mention, how well paid they were too...can't forget that...in fact. I bet if we looked at all the offshore banks we would probably find the trillions hoarded in their very private stashes...really.

The SEC, a lot has been written about the "failure of the SEC.".....really, I have to chuckle as the word "failure,"...the SEC can only be, in, plain truth, one, of, two things, considering, where, our, financial system, is today and the choice is....INEPT, completely, or CORRUPT. I am going with corrupt, of course, these men were most likely educated at Harvard, Yale, and some other ivy league institutions....so inept seems unlikely.

the SEC, had a serious wake up call in the late 90's and yet....it is 2008 and our financial system has crashed...I think this simply spells CORRUPTION.

The SEC needs to be done away with and replaced.

Really, pondering, this financial crisis, and looking at the state of our global political situation, I would have to say, especially, from this day forward, and, taking, into consideration, the minds of mankind....."if not for the grace of a god"......we would be mush.

So, inconclusion,......this christmas time, if you don't believe in santa,, you can, rest assured, that, and, yes, even, believe in....(especially, all you skeps) and, of course, I know this is like a bitter tasting cough medicine for skeps.......that "if only for the grace of a god"........mush potatoes, we'd be, by now.

So, celebrate, this simple lovely fact this xmas season because, as proven, your fellow man, yes, even our newest, most popular, chosen one, Barak Obama can't keep you and protect you from becoming a mushed potatoe....it is only through the grace of a god....our god, the god, but, maybe, the word god is too tainted by now...thanks, in part, to the Pastor Rickies of this world and others like him of different religions, so, let us just say......if only for the grace of "the one"....who is all, who is we, I, you and me.......happy holidays fellow mushies......))))

ruth

did I mention...'GLOBAL WARMING MY ASS!!'

take a look at a US weather map today... oh but norm....it's cold because it's warm!! It's frickin cold...because that's what it does....

Ruthie Darlin'....have you been in Keith's vicodin stash? little incoherent this morning...oh...and by the way...your side declared Dan Quayle incompetent because he spelled potatoe with an 'e'.... :)

y'all have a wunnerful sunday...just think, only a few weeks until the messiah ascends the throne...all will be peachy then...

The key to understanding what's happening on this planet is to look outside the borders of the continental US to see what's going on. Map boundaries don't stop the weather.

The North American segment of the northern jet stream (there's a jet stream in the southern hemisphere, too) is dipping down in a big U shape over North America. If you think of the U as a weather boundary, and everything outside the U is normal or a little high in terms of temps, and everything inside the U is colder, you have got a roughly accurate picture of how it works. It's that dip in the jet stream that northeastern US residents love to see when the summers are hot and humid. That dip allows the cool air from polar regions to cool the summer days and nights, and clear the skies of a lot of haze and pollution. That dip also typically happens in January and February, bringing the coldest weather to the northern half of the US. Well this year it's happening early. And the dip is bigger than normal. This is in keeping with predictions for more crazy extreme weather as the planet heats up. It's like when water starts to boil -- it goes from simmering little bubbles to big rolling currents of very hot water, as heat (which is a form of energy) increases in the water. It works like that for the air and oceans, too, though thank goodness we're well below boiling.

But is there anything in particular that is causing this instance of the big dip in the jet stream? I looked around online and couldn't find anything about it. However, I found a site that has excellent maps of the sea ice. And here is a 30-day animated loop of northern sea ice concentrations:

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/CT/animate.arctic.some.4.html

(or click my name)

The hole is the north polar region itself. The big leaf-shaped island that's almost all white is Greenland. See how the water between Greenland and Canada ices up over the 30 days?

But take a look to the west, in the waters between Siberia and Alaska, how the ice begins to form, then it seems to melt rapidly starting on 7 Dec... then a few days later there's an increase in ice, then a decrease, an increase, and another decrease, and so on... going back and forth between approximately 80% and 100% ice coverage.

During that same period of time, Hudson's Bay finally gets filled with ice.

And yet the waters north of the Scandinavia peninsulas are still open, with no sea ice except close to their northern shorelines.

It's as if something is pushing waves of warmer-than-normal air up towards and over the pole from Siberia and northern China.

Could that cause a wobble in the jet stream, and thus the current dip? If so, it shows how warming trends can create locally colder weather in some places. And this is just what the global warming models predict.

In past decades, almost the whole Arctic Ocean would have been solidly iced up by now.

Draw your own conclusions.

little tibbit from CBS News this morning, thought I'd share how open and transparent the new adminstration is shaping up to be;

Emanuel's refusal to discuss the matter publicly, and the few comments offered by Obama to date, have prompted questions about Emanuel's ties to Blagojevich and what fallout he'll face as the criminal case unfolds, although sources have said he is not a target of prosecutors. Even so, any hint of scandal for Emanuel threatens to tarnish Obama's promise of new political leadership free of scandal and corruption.

Steve

In Sunday's New York Times, there is this gem -- The President wonders "How did we get here?":

"The global financial system was teetering on the edge of collapse when President Bush and his economics team huddled in the Roosevelt Room of the White House for a briefing that, in the words of one participant, "scared the hell out of everybody."

It was Sept. 18. Lehman Brothers had just gone belly-up, overwhelmed by toxic mortgages. Bank of America had swallowed Merrill Lynch in a hastily arranged sale. Two days earlier, Mr. Bush had agreed to pump $85 billion into the failing insurance giant American International Group.

The president listened as Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, laid out the latest terrifying news: The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks were refusing to lend money.

Then his Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., told him that to stave off disaster, he would have to sign off on the biggest government bailout in history.

Mr. Bush, according to several people in the room, paused for a single, stunned moment to take it all in.

"How," he wondered aloud, "did we get here?"

The short answer is Milton Friedman, Arthur Laffner, Robert Hall, Jude Wanniski, Robert Mundell and Michael Boskin in theory as well as Ronald Reagan, Donald Regan, James Baker, Newt Gingrich, and Alan Greenspan among many others in practice. A longer answer would take a volume but to perhaps put it succinctly for 28 years the Republican party has advocated a deadly framework of economic policies revolving around lower taxes, free markets and free trade. And within this mix is the answer to how we got "here".

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/21admin.html?hp

The conservative recipe for economic prosperity had three main ingredients: cut taxes, low inflation through monetary policy controls and free the market which is an euphemism for unfettered and unregulated markets. The first and last are simply toxic to any large economy. Low inflation is a laudable goal but it's not clear that monetary policy alone is capable of controlling inflation. From the early 1980s through this year, one can make the case that inflation was largely the result of one key factor, we had cheap energy prices. Absent that, inflation can rear its ugly head at any point and earlier this year as oil prices approached $150 a barrel we began to see global inflation tick up. And tapping China's cheap and vast labor reserves also has been a significant factor in checking global inflation since 1991. Both of these factors are outside the control of US monetary policy.

In Sunday's New York Times, there is this gem -- The President wonders "How did we get here?":

_________________________________________________
"The global financial system was teetering on the edge of collapse when President Bush and his economics team huddled in the Roosevelt Room of the White House for a briefing that, in the words of one participant, "scared the hell out of everybody."

It was Sept. 18. Lehman Brothers had just gone belly-up, overwhelmed by toxic mortgages. Bank of America had swallowed Merrill Lynch in a hastily arranged sale. Two days earlier, Mr. Bush had agreed to pump $85 billion into the failing insurance giant American International Group.

The president listened as Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, laid out the latest terrifying news: The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks were refusing to lend money.

Then his Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., told him that to stave off disaster, he would have to sign off on the biggest government bailout in history.

Mr. Bush, according to several people in the room, paused for a single, stunned moment to take it all in.

"How," he wondered aloud, "did we get here?"
_________________________________________________

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/21admin.html?hp

The short answer is Milton Friedman, Arthur Laffner, Robert Hall, Jude Wanniski, Robert Mundell and Michael Boskin in theory as well as Ronald Reagan, Donald Regan, James Baker, Newt Gingrich, and Alan Greenspan among many others in practice. A longer answer would take a volume but to perhaps put it succinctly for 28 years the Republican party has advocated a deadly framework of economic policies revolving around lower taxes, free markets and free trade. And within this mix is the answer to how we got "here".

The conservative recipe for economic prosperity had three main ingredients: cut taxes, low inflation through monetary policy controls and free the market which is an euphemism for unfettered and unregulated markets. The first and last are simply toxic to any large economy. Low inflation is a laudable goal but it's not clear that monetary policy alone is capable of controlling inflation. From the early 1980s through this year, one can make the case that inflation was largely the result of one key factor, we had cheap energy prices. Absent that, inflation can rear its ugly head at any point and earlier this year as oil prices approached $150 a barrel we began to see global inflation tick up. And tapping China's cheap and vast labor reserves also has been a significant factor in checking global inflation since 1991. Both of these factors are outside the control of US monetary policy.

When the stories first came out the other day that Levi Johnston’s mother was arrested on drug charges, I wondered if this could be tied into Wasilla’s reputation as the methamphetamine capital of Alaska:

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/030805/sta_20050308002.shtml

It now looks like this is not the case. Instead we might have more insight into why Rush Limbaugh was such a strong supporter of Sarah Palin. It turns out that Sherry Johnston’s arrest was related to Oxycontin:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/628916.html

Previously National Enquier alleged that Track Palin had been addicted to Oxycontin:

http://www.nationalenquirer.com/_palin_family_shockers_what_sarahs_really_hiding/celebrity/65407

Yes, those small town values which Sarah Palin promotes are just so wonderfully superior to the values of the rest of us.

Bristol Palin's future mother-in-law was arrested on drug charges Thursday:

"Troopers charged Johnston with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance -- generally manufacturing or delivering drugs -- as well as fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, or possession."

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/628010.html

Maybe one day the GOP will realize that neither the drug war nor their 'moral values' are actually getting them what they want.

Unless what they want is sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll -- Wasilla-style.

Dear Keith

May tomorrow's procedure be successful, may the days that follow find you strong and well.

love, h

bought new snorkel...

comes with recommendations/suggestions/instructions...whoa!

To try on the mask, move the strap out of the way, brush your hair out of the way, and just push the mask firmly onto your face.

If it will remain there unsupported, then it is making a good seal. Once you have determined which masks will fit properly, other considerations are comfort, field of vision--some masks permit more view to the sides than others.

Get a spare strap to hold it to your mask. The snorkel mouthpiece should be soft with flexible edges to be comfortable in your mouth.

but what to do if or when a great white comes real close to investigate? damn!

UCT...best wishes.

what a scary ride on that Denver plane!

Well, it's been interesting reading all the problems Diablo is having regarding the same bloggers using different names. I guess there's not much else going on in his life! I'm sending Keith positive healing for his surgery tomorrow. I'm also wishing all of you bloggers Happy Holidays! I pray that 2009 will find our world happier times and more united.

Have a safe and happy trip, Irish.

Best wishes for Christmas.

love, h

thanks...star...

The idealist, and the materialist, the saved and the damned, all end on the same dusty heap. It makes to difference who you were, or what you did, or by what road you arrived at nothingness. Nothingness doesn't discriminate. We can ignore it, but no one escapes. No matter what you think, or what you believe you will forget. Forgetting is your future. You'll forget the whole universe and yourself. Only nothingness remains.

Me, and my spiritual cows

I want to write about this stuff until the cows come home. I never get tire of chewing the same cud. If you see my cows tell them to hurry, I need company. Sitting on my porch, I scan the horizon looking for my herd, but there is no horizon to be seen in this rain, and of course, no cows. Maybe, I own no cows. Maybe, I'm a cow who loves to chew its cud, and pretend it owns a herd.

"but what to do if or when a great white comes real close to investigate? damn!"

You flush the toilet, or turn on the garburator in your kichen sink, 'coz that's where - and in your head - where you snorkel this holiday season.

Well now, this is interesting.

http://anticorruptionrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/12/christine-delay-subpoenaed.html

With all the hoopla about Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, we've plumb forgotten about the ongoing Abramoff scandal. Let's remember that the Governor of Illinois is little more than a neighborhood thug compared to the systematic Republican "culture of corruption" of Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, and their many accomplices. There's still a steady trickle of news stories about new pleas and indictments related to that snake pit of influence peddling and other malfeasance.

It's been years since Tom Delay got indicted. Texas - the Lone Star State's campaign laws aren't easy to break, either - and one hardly ever hears news about that case. Has it gone to trial? Surely I would have heard the verdict had there been one?

Dunno 'bout that, but Anti-Corruption Republican in Texas blog noticed that DeLay's wife Christine had a subpoena served on her last week to be deposed at Federal Court in Houston.

http://anticorruptionrepublican.blogspot.com/

What might that be about?

It's a civil case, Corwin Teltschik vs. Williams & Jensen PLLC, et. al. . Williams & Jensen are of interest as a key player in the Abramoff money laundering schemes. And Teltschik was treasurer of ARMPAC - Tom Delay's Americans for a Republican Majority PAC - one of those organizations designed to perpetuate that ephemeral "Permanent Republican Majority" that they were all hopped up about awhile back, before so many of 'em got busted - or at least booted out of office.

Now there's been a falling out amongst the thieves. Teltschik is accusing his erstwhile co-conspirators associates of damaging his reputation. I couldn't begin to evaluate the merits of the case, but it does seem to me that once you've thrown yourself in with the likes of Delay, you've perhaps already abandoned any concern about your reputation. At any rate, this trial could prove to be informative and entertaining vis-a-vis the financial tricks of that monumentally corrupt bunch.

Mrs. DeLay (represented by Brent Perry, a trustee for hubby Tom's Legal Defense Fund) has moved to permit only very limited questions for the deposition. That's her second choice - what's she's after is to quash the subpoena entirely.

With the plaintiff arguing that Mrs. Delay convinced him to come to work at ARMPAC as its (naive?) treasurer, there's bound to be all kinds of strangeness slither out as this case moves through the court.

ARC points out an interesting tidbit in that Motion to Quash:

"Any testimony regarding her dealings with her husband may be protected by spousal immunity, and attorney-client privilege may attach to any dealings with Williams & Jensen, a Washington, DC law firm. "

Court proceedings get complicated when lawyers are defendants.

This little-noticed civil suit promises to unearth all sorts of juicy info.

Who's got the popcorn?

multiple...117..u are one sick &*^%$#& puppy...

u must be speaking from emperical experience u pathetic, miserable, landlocked, loser...what u don't have any relative to be with u this holiday season? pity u!

yo multiple oddball...do u even know that u are nothing but a lowly coward, a computer freak, a loner, a loser with thick, ugly glasses, obese, jealous, a pan-handler by trade.

if you weren't such a mind-sick specimen, you would have stuck to one ID just like the rest of us... heather, keith, skinny, amber, mieke, derek, D, bonnie and that old man from the filipines...seriously, why do u need so many fucking weird IDs? are u that fucking insecure?

btw... don't forget to take a plunge into that sweet teaspoon, u and all of ur other imaginary selves!

go for free-style swims, there's plenty of room in there for all of u! eeeuuuhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!......

Diablo: Some major projections there from the sad immature loser.

Get a life you pathetic p-o-s.

To everyone here, multiple or not:

http://www.heartphone.org/winterlabyrinth.htm

Happy holy days to all throughout the year!

I am not your "multiple" you creep. Oh, but I must be because any one who call you the dumbshit that you are must be your multiple.

Sandy, thanks for the excellent post on Delay. I remember you exciting debates and conversations with friend_of_chopra a while back. Nice to see you back. Don't let the ignoramus moron get to you. Just ignore him, that's the best response to the attention seeking needy jerk.

***

Sandy wrote about Houston in your post #118

John too wrote about Houston in #87

"Coincidentally, a few months ago, entirely by accident, I came across a 1972 book in a little old antique/curio store in downtown Pearland, TX (a suburb of Houston.)"

Sandy must be John. Skep is from Vancouver. I, Irvine, wrote about Vancouver. I must be Skep. But John is Skep too, because both wrote about science. So...Wait a sec...all four names mentioned have little respect left for diablo, so all must be one. LOL.

ref 124

That must be "friend_of_deepak"

"Well, it's been interesting reading all the problems Diablo is having regarding the same bloggers using different names. I guess there's not much else going on in his life! I'm sending Keith positive healing for his surgery tomorrow. I'm also wishing all of you bloggers Happy Holidays! I pray that 2009 will find our world happier times and more united."

112. Posted by yellowrose

You must be multiple!

Hello self!

Jokes aside, happy holidays to you too.

#122, Wonderful labyrinth...

Indeed, mieke, all through the year...

Happy Monkey! to all

Wonderful Life is a classic movie. Thanks for mentioning that.

Here's a somewhat anti-conventional review of the movie by Wendell Jameson in today's NY Times:

Wonderful? Sorry, George, It’s a Pitiful, Dreadful Life
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/movies/19wond.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

"The classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” stars James Stewart as a man who can see the world as it would be if he had never been born."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life

Speaking of a wonderful life...what a pathetic life and a waste diablo has become. He contributes little to this community, come here to bloviate and hide his miserable little existence. If only an angel, like in the movie, show diablo what the world would be if he never existed, then he would realize how wonderful life really is (/would be, without his disruptive behavior.)

Reactivity practice, anyone?

my bedroom's window faces my neighbor's yard. last night he and his wife threw another party. they seem to have one at least once a month. they hold the parties in their patio, even in winter. The parties seldom end before 1.00 a.m. I use their parties as reactivity practice. i lay in bed listening intently, and watching how i react as the party gets noisier.

oddly enough, they don't play any music. they throw eating, drinking, talking parties only. the conversation starts low, as the food cooks. i smell the meats roasting, the green pepper and onion, and corn smell so delicious. i start salivating right away. I watch myself getting hungry, wanting to raid the fridge. It's hard not to give in as the smells get stronger.

i can tell when they start eating because the steady talking stops. then the conversations resume and get louder as they drink. an hour later peels of laughter began chiming by 11p.m. hollering . shouting, yelling, and guffawing prevails. i'm getting drowsy and fall sleep only to be awaken with a start by a chorus of howling, or guffawing. I watch my annoyance at being startled. And the partying and my watching hit their highs and lows.

I think practicing with everything that annoys us desensitize us to personal hurt, and makes us more sensitive to what hurts others.

PS. I heard the folks here used to have parties, how are they going on these days? Just like Diablo's much touted exploits?

121 u are nothing but a pathetic, cross-dressing, delusional loser! do u really think the good regulars here known know who the hell u are...outcast?

who on god's good earth is sandra, anyway? did u ever introduce ur fat, stupid, ugly self before u start poopin' ur pantz all over this arena? u and all ur other invented, phantom selves with ur trademark, predictable ad hominems....do u seriously expect real people to think u are somehow different?... just go into that brackish toilet of urs and plunge...u good for nothing, pitiful, sore loser..within hours u'll have the space all to your sorry ass self...to play with ur self all u want...till i get back here next year...now go eat ur heart out...

diablo
i too am not a multiple
just a fan of tree who wanted to wish him well
i read what you write
you make me laugh
you are like spice to ib

heath, flabs, amber, doodooman, UT, KT, granpa ed, bonnie and all the real regs...u'll have a great xmas...adious!

124...see the def. of delusion!

may u too have a little holiday cheer with all of ur imaginary selves...and have plenty of nogs to ur little heart's content as i doubt whether u know what a glass of chilled cherry tastes like...hehe!

hey D,
be sure to have an extra terrific holiday!
Merry Christmas,
with love from
~ Kate

And a Very Merry Christmas back at ya diablo!

B

Diablo asked "who on god's good earth is sandra, anyway? did u ever introduce..."

http://tinyurl.com/95spo5

Sandy has posted hundreds of comments, check a few samples from the above link. Unlike you, has also contributed substantively to the intentblog discourse.

Your habit of attacking anyone who don't give a shit to you, and calling them multiple or some bogeyman name like skeptisch, shows what a pathetic disgrace to a thinking being you are.

I also noticed that you have a habit of insulting others with some of the same insults that are thrown at you. This shows that the original insults have stuck with you, quiet aptly.

I suppose you have stocked your mom's basement with enough food and stuff to keep up till next year... But, if indeed you family is paying to fly you over to the next block ...or Cayman ...or wherever, I thank them profusely for their compassion, and the mental torcher they have to knowingly endure when you are in company. As Sandy said, a POS, that's what you are and you should realize it before you attack others whom you dislike here.

Is this for real? ;)

"I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here."

~Warren Buffett~

Merry Christmas and synonymously - here is to the celebrations of all life everywhere for this time or anther let life live in peace.

Enlightenment.. is growth..

someone said to me today "a leaf moves along the road blown by the wind - a force with no visible substance to it...yet it moves the leaf unseen"

and I said to him "The force that observed that very leaf through you is also unseen and you cant know it through your eyes just like you cant know the wind, but still it is there"

Now that is growth when you know that..

Many people aspire at this time of year to achieve or resole things in their life - but really you are already born into the classroom of growth. If you are alive then you are already being educated in the stream of the path back to God - even in pain and despair.

"Why don't you grow up"

we all must have heard that a million times...

but thats more true than we first realize..

we are here to grow up.. when we are all grown up then we will be beyond hatred, lust, pain, misunderstanding and deception. We will have grown up spiritually.. and thats what its all about, in this lifetime or the next - you will grow up one day..

Why not start today?

Love

Simon xx

Merry Christmas and a happy growing up for the year ???????????????????

Too busy growing 'out' rather than 'up,' Simon. 'Up' is a forgotten concept and by some denied entirely.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Dear Santa, please bring me a light-box ;) And thank you for bringing Keith back with his back :)
Can't be bad, hanging loose in this cold weather.

it's xmas eve day and all is well, our snow and frigid windy weather has been replaced by rain and mild temps...and so it goes as our planet experiences the effect of all our foul gases being blown into it's atmosphere day after day without relief.....

I have errands to run, a late gift or two to pick up, need to prepare a dish to add to the table for tonite's xmas eve dinner.

The little guy is off to grandma's house, probably, getting a good dose of pampering which accounts for his adolescent tantrums and crying spells and rude, rude ways....but, in time,, maybe, he'll get himself a "real girlfriend" instead of his internet fantasy to help him over his little boy blues.....it's xmas afterall and miracles do happen...even for naughty little boys.

Pastor Rickie has changed his website taking out his, if you are a gay or lesbian you cannot be a member of "his" Saddleback church......all I can say is.....the gays and the lesbians are the lucky ones on this one. He now says that all the "hate-bashers" against his doing the invocation at the big "I" are really "christ-bashers, or christian-bashers"...seems like Pastor Rickie is confusing himself and his actions with "christ"......more correctly it would be "Pastor Rickie bashers."...a little bit of "divine ego" goes a long way Pastor Rickie....men and "their churches" what can one expect....that's right a lot of ego a "ittle bit" of love.

Actually, I am in a bad mood today....can't tell, I know....I hide it well, but it is the fault of Barak Obama and his Rham buddy....Barak sauntering along the beach, shirtless, enjoying the sun and fun and his Rham off to Africa for the holidays....and me....well...up to my knees in slush....I want a "government" job too...so I can live the "good" life of luxury...

here is too each and everyone of this IB community having a wonder of a xmas along with a jolly good time....especailly Keith who went under the knife....ouch, ouch....and who is now enjoying a bit of the "dopey" thanks to modern meds...have a happy, everyone...ruth

okay, just a little rant....

I do not know if anyone caught the 60 minutes program where the Saudi's were showing off their "oil technology." Really, it was impressive what they have built to get their oil out of the ground...I mean we are talking the most up to date technology....and they are so proud of it. To talk to them you would really never expect these visionary men in the oil business to hold in their right hand, just a proudly, a glob of cultural, religious ignorance that makes one's hair stand on end.....below....

A Saudi judge recently refused to annul a marriage between an 8-year-old girl and a 47-year-old man -- a union apparently arranged by the girl's father to settle his debts -- a lawyer in the case told CNN.

On Saturday, the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother because she "is not the legal guardian of the girl," the woman's lawyer Abdullah al-Jutaili said.

"Therefore, she cannot represent her daughter in these proceedings," al-Jutaili said.

Her parents are separated, he said.

Don't Miss
Clinton's foundation got millions from Saudis, Gates
According to the lawyer, the girl's father arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, who is "a close friend" of his.

The judge did ask for a pledge from the husband, who was in court, not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili.

The judge ruled that when the girl reaches puberty, she will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.

Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said his organization has heard many other cases of child marriages.

"We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men," Wilcke said.

Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the Human Rights Commission, a Saudi government-run human rights group, said his organization is fighting against child marriages.

"The Human Rights Commission opposes child marriages in Saudi Arabia," al-Harithi said. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed."

The spokesman said he did not have specific details about this case but his organization has been able to stop at least one other child marriage.

really, this kind of cultural, religious hogwash deserves complete and total ridicule, not, a...to each his own....turning of the heads because it is just pure...crap.

For these men to be able to move so smoothly into the 21 century when it comes to oil and money while holding children and women rights back in the stone age is inexcusable and downright abuse....f- the cultural and religious excuses they offer...the culture of the Saudi's is that for the men their women and children are their property to abuse as they see fit.....ruth

Now that UT has joined the collar crew...

No. It's not blue, nor white...and it doesn't come with priestly ramifications.

.

My bifocals have been rendered useless, and a good nights rest

is probably more than a few cold and snowy holy days away.

.

Actually, I was hoping to be the first to tread on the fresh, new OT.

I have spare moments galore, and now would be the cheapest way to spend them.

.

The one and a half inch horizontal slice beside my Adam's apple

will dopefully disappear in due time, according to the artist.

.

The sidewalks around here are treacherous, so a slip-sliding trip

to and fro for exercise is a most dangerous endeavor.

Walk I must, though, through the bunny prints and the squirrels nest.

The thinnest sliver of a moon had just shown above the horizon,

not hardly lighting my way, but still and spectacular in and of itself.

Being Christmas Eve and all, I shall don a happy, jolly face

and carefully laugh till my heart is content. After I take

a couple more pills(It is suddenly that time. Yeah!)

I'll be ready again for whatever comes in the next three hours.

.

And then there's that one hour episode I have to traverse

with my own pain-killing gumption, six times a day.

My daughter is learning to forgive me for those crummy 60 minute moods.

I am very grateful for that. The "Sorry!"s are heard fairly often,

as I catch those Scroogey thoughts only after I've acted them out.

I should probably ground myself. And that's a good thing.

Cheerio! Uncle Tree

Merry Christmas Keith,

Take it easy and perhaps in due time your back will be cured forever by this surgery.

Should that be the case, then do as Harb and I do and dance on this great beat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rf26gP0t14

Great exercise!

Love from Mieke

And Ruth, the women are catching up in the Arabic world as well, if only there are already videos on the Internet with women not taking it anymore.

This 'emancipation' only happened in our part of the world about a century ago and very slowly. (R)Evolution takes time but is always in The Scheme of Things (as Harb would put it :)

Come along with us and dance through the change of the season and the coming of more and more light:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rf26gP0t14

To all: happy festive days, all over the world.

Mieke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rf26gP0t14

I seem to forget the more easy way time and again lol.

Click my name and let's dance

Mieke, I am already perspiring lol.

By the way, the thematic line of the song "Ishk tera tarfave" means "your all-consuming love is sending me into spasms...I am missing you sooo badly.

I may give a couple of more links. I am checking for their suitability.

Hi Harb,

Take it easy :)

The thematic line is a beautiful theme.

Let's make it the intention for 2009.

Let's stick together!

Reminds me of a song by Brian Ferry. You can dance on that one quite easily in the same way :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZTsW8WKy5c

OK big kids! Everybody is there?

Ohhh! What are you saying?
Ohhh! You are little and you are there too!
That's perfect!
Let's meet together the olders! Want you?

Good evening!
On this special Christmas 2008
We have 1 good news
Everybody will have to work!
Don't worry, don't worry, the stores are closed! The doors are locked and it's fine that way!

It's a special kind of work
For the next 48 hours I am asking you, to freely-act
I am asking you to simply, kindly and unconsciously act. Can you?

So, let's warm up the scene, a little bit.

You, big kids, I am asking you to have fun and teach this little kid about, the Glory, the meaning of Christmas!

Relax and enjoy your spontaneity
Now, we are watching your "I"
Well, we are watching...

What a nice presentation! Don't you think?
Not that much?
That was funny, no?

I didn't like too much the first Santa
And the helicopter taking away the baby Jesus!
Really?
No!

So what do we do? What do you want to tell them?
Let's call Keith and Mieke!
Keith, Mieke, please, come here!
We want you to bring all these big kids to Deepak up-branch-room!

Please do that for this little kid.
We will wait for you here!

Ohhh Malli and Sarah are calling
See you later...

Attention, everybody is coming back!
How was your work with Deepak?

I agree with you
The branches-corridors are superbly-lighted!

Well, while you were working on Deepak presences,
Here we were preparing the first meal of the evening.

Let's close the I-lights
Let's open our hungry-mind
Ready?...

Yes?

Let's make a second-scene
I want to actualize this nativity-idea...

Love and peace to all this Christmas Eve (US), Night (Europe), and Day (Asia). May we never forget, or turn our backs on, others' suffering, nor forget to share our joys with each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjjTqG2mpfw

love,
h