Hallelujah.............................................

George Harrison...................................................My Sweet Lord

Ride the skies atop a screaming bird of truth...

from our friends at xkcd, who publish wondrous cartoons that I sometimes can understand.  Broaden your horizons....visit their site regularly.

Way over my head.....................................

Mamas and the Papas........................I Saw Her Again Last Night

It will be a very sad day.........................

.................................when there are just no newspapers to read.

Here's hoping they find a way to change their business model.
Chart from here.

Fifty years ago........................................

Petula Clark...........................................................Downtown

like leaves in the wind..................................

Jefferson Airplane.....................................Comin' Back To Me

Opening paragraphs......................

      May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month.  The days are long and humid.  The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees.  Red bananas ripen.  Jackfruits burst.  Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air.  Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun.
-Arundhati Roy,  The God of Small Things

Come alive...........................................

The Beach Boys and Lorrie Morgan............Don't Worry Baby

Well, yeah........................................

via too

Smoke 'em if you got 'em......................

via

In praise of high standards.....................

"I wish those kids had said, "Mom, Dad, raise your standards for me. I deserve it."
-Seth Godin

Full post here.

Fifty years ago..................................

...........................................at the movies:  The Sound of Music

Julie Andrews..............................................My Favorite Things

Or, as we used to say......................

..........................................................back in the fraternity house, "Normalcy is just the psychosis of the majority."

“The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. "Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does." They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted.” 
-Aldous Huxley

Fuss all you want about "income inequality," but...

“Under capitalism the common man enjoys amenities which in ages gone by were unknown and therefore inaccessible even to the richest people. But, of course, these motorcars, television sets and refrigerators do not make a man happy. In the instant in which he acquires them, he may feel happier than he did before. But as soon as some of his wishes are satisfied, new wishes spring up. Such is human nature.” 
-Ludwig von Mises

chart via

Opening paragraphs.......................

      It was late August 1939, and French winemakers were fretting about the harvest.  Two months earlier, the outlook had been bright.  The weather had been good and there was the promise of an excellent vintage.  Then the weather changed.  For six straight weeks it rained, and temperatures plummeted.
-Don & Petie Kladstrup,  Wine & War:  The French, The Nazis & The Great Battle For France's Greatest Treasure

Acoustic Pie.............................................

Humble Pie........................................................For Your Love

Port Clinton, Ohio...Wednesday...6:05 am...

The sun rises over Lake Erie

My view for most of yesterday........................

Good luck with that plan...............................

via

That's some catch.............................

.........................................................................that Catch-22.

Fifty years ago....................................

The Yardbirds...................................................For Your Love

Opening paragraphs..............................

      On the morning of the first day of Jean Dussault's trial on charges of extortion, Joe Gillis used his "State House Viewpoint" column in the Boston Commoner to "put the matter in political perspective."  In the last springtime of years when there was no statewide election in the offing and no overriding issue up for battle in the General Court on Beacon Hill, Joe Gillis did a lot of columns that assisted the readers of the Commoner in perceiving connections between politicians on the Hill and events that did not seem to have much to do with them or their careers.  "Someday,"  Leo Rosen said when he read what Joe Gillis had to say about the implications of the trial of Jean Dussault, "old Joe is gonna reach so far to grab a column out of thin air that he's going to give himself retroactive case of spinal bifida."  And when that day finally came, Leo Rosen did not mind admitting, he was going to take Joe's State House beat away from him.
-George V. Higgins,  A Choice of Enemies

Give me things that don't get lost.......

Neil Young.............................................................Old Man



lyrics here

Gonna try this today.............................

Will report back tomorrow................................

via

Priorities..........................

“We make fine bourbon at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon.”
-"Pappy" Van Winkle, Sr.  as excerpted from here.

Observe the choice:  15 or 20 years old.  More here.

School is in session.........................

Our friends at Maggie's Farm point to the Art of Manliness, who is presenting the Winston Churchill School of Adulthood.  Please do attend!

Fifty years ago.......................................

The Newbeats.......................................................Break Away

This one is for Ray.......................

Source and back story is here.

Sage advice...............................

via

Watch the sunrise.................................

I can feel it, now it's time
Open your eyes
Fears be gone, it won't be long
There's a light in the sky
It's okay to look outside
The day it will abide
And watch the sunrise

Sun, it shines on all of us
We are one in it's hand
Come inside and light my room
like the heart of every man
It's okay to look outside
The day it will abide
And watch the sunrise

I can feel it, now it's time
Open your eyes
Fears be gone, it won't be long
There's a light in the sky
It's okay to look outside
Your love it will abide
And watch the sunrise

-Big Star

Scott continues to broaden our horizons.  Music here.

My simple plan....................................

Grass Roots.................................................Let's Live For Today

Seem about right...................................

"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."
-Eric Hoffer, as channeled by Craig Newmark

Opening paragraphs..........................

The island of Nantucket, Massachusetts -- high summer, the western end of the harbor crowded with boats, many tied up at the jetty.  Among them was a scarlet-and-white sportfisherman named Dolphin.  On the flying bridge, a gray-haired man sat at the wheel playing a clarinet, something plaintive and touching.  He was around sixty, a white curling beard giving him the look of an old sailor.
-Jack Higgins,  Rain On The Dead

Fifty years ago.........................................

The Beach Boys............................................Kiss Me, Baby

Oops.  Try going here for a listen to Kiss Me, Baby.

Most likely he is correct.....................................

Paradox.................................................

     

 I am very much like the philosopher who was asked by a student, "Professor, it is said you believe that paradox is at the core of all truth.  Is that correct?"
     "Well,"  the professor answered, "yes and no."
      If you think you have discovered a great truth, and it is not a paradox, then I suspect you may be deceiving yourself.

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

      While Zen was my first spiritual home, after fifteen years I became restless.  Stumbling along, to my amazement I gradually discovered in Christianity a world of paradox that had been lying quietly in wait for me.  Take the doctrine that Jesus is both human and divine - not 50 percent one and 50 percent the other, but "fully human and fully divine."  What could be more paradoxical than that?  Or that God resides both inside of us in Her still, small voice and simultaneously outside of us in all of His transcendent otherness?   Or that salvation is the result of a mysterious mixture of both grace and works for which we will never have a mathematical formula?  The there were the words of Jesus himself:  "Whoever will find his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."  Or:  "You must be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves."

-M. Scott Peck, as excerpted from Golf and The Spirit:  Lessons for the Journey

Helping in the Heartland......................

Back story from John E. Smith is here.

the sun was in their eyes........................

Mountain........................Theme From An Imaginary Western

Beauty......................................................

Peculiarity....................................

Ben Carlson reminds us of the madness of the mob:

Herd behavior comes about because of the fear of missing out, the fear of being in, ignorance, greed and loss aversion. The technical reason is different ever time something gets too far our of whack in the markets, but the real reason never changes — we’re human.

Improve..................................

Stuart Schneiderman points to a Time Magazine essay that points to bad habits that lead to bad mental health:

"But the small choices you make every day may also affect your mood more than you may realize."

Fifty years ago.......................................

Roger Miller............................................Engine Engine No. 9

Know....................................................

“Eventually all things fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moments, and know EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON.” 
-Albert Schweitzer

YouTube video, from whence above photo came, here.

Subtle..........................................

Subtle awareness of the truth of the
universe should not be regarded
as an achievement.
To think in terms of achieving it is to
place it outside your own nature.
This is erroneous and misleading.

Your nature and the integral nature of the
universe are one and the same:
indescribable, but
eternally present.
Simply open yourself to this.

Verse 24
Hua Hu Ching:  The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu
Brian Brown Walker

Perspective............................................

Sand, as viewed through an electron microscope.

Karma...........................................

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour.

A Robin Red breast in a Cage

Puts all Heaven in a Rage.

A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons

Shudders Hell thr' all its regions.

A dog starvd at his Masters Gate

Predicts the ruin of the State.

A Horse misusd upon the Road

Calls to Heaven for Human blood.

Each outcry of the hunted Hare

A fibre from the Brain does tear.

A Skylark wounded in the wing,

A Cherubim does cease to sing.

The Game Cock clipd & armd for fight

Does the Rising Sun affright.

Every Wolfs & Lions howl

Raises from Hell a Human Soul.

The wild deer, wandring here & there,

Keeps the Human Soul from Care.

The Lamb misusd breeds Public Strife

And yet forgives the Butchers knife.

The Bat that flits at close of Eve

Has left the Brain that wont Believe.

The Owl that calls upon the Night

Speaks the Unbelievers fright.

He who shall hurt the little Wren

Shall never be belovd by Men. 

He who the Ox to wrath has movd

Shall never be by Woman lovd.

The wanton Boy that kills the Fly

Shall feel the Spiders enmity.

He who torments the Chafers Sprite

Weaves a Bower in endless Night.

The Catterpiller on the Leaf

Repeats to thee thy Mothers grief.

Kill not the Moth nor Butterfly 

For the Last Judgment draweth nigh. 

He who shall train the Horse to War

Shall never pass the Polar Bar.

The Beggars Dog & Widows Cat,

Feed them & thou wilt grow fat.

The Gnat that sings his Summers Song

Poison gets from Slanders tongue.

The poison of the Snake & Newt

Is the sweat of Envys Foot.

The poison of the Honey Bee

Is the Artists Jealousy.

The Princes Robes & Beggars Rags

Are Toadstools on the Misers Bags. 

A Truth thats told with bad intent

Beats all the Lies you can invent.

It is right it should be so;

Man was made for Joy & Woe;

And when this we rightly know 

Thro the World we safely go. 

Joy & Woe are woven fine, 

A Clothing for the soul divine. 

Under every grief & pine

Runs a joy with silken twine.

The Babe is more than swadling Bands;

Throughout all these Human Lands

Tools were made & Born were hands,

Every Farmer Understands.

Every Tear from Every Eye

Becomes a Babe in Eternity. 

This is caught by Females bright

And returnd to its own delight. 

The Bleat the Bark Bellow & Roar 

Are Waves that Beat on Heavens Shore. 

The Babe that weeps the Rod beneath

Writes Revenge in realms of Death.

The Beggars Rags fluttering in Air.

Does to Rags the Heavens tear. 

The Soldier armd with Sword & Gun,

Palsied strikes the Summers Sun.

The poor Mans Farthing is worth more

Than all the Gold on Africs Shore,

One Mite wrung from the Labrers hands

Shall buy & sell the Misers Lands:

Or if protected from on high.

Does that whole Nation sell & buy. 

He who mocks the Infants Faith

Shall be mockd in Age & Death.

He who shall teach the Child to Doubt

The rotting Grave shall neer get out. 

He who respects the Infants faith

Triumphs over Hell & Death.

The Childs Toys & the Old Mans Reasons

Are the Fruits of the Two seasons.

The Questioner who sits so sly,

Shall never know how to Reply. 

He who replies to words of Doubt

Doth put the Light of Knowledge out.

The Strongest Poison ever known

Came from Caesars Laurel Crown.

Nought can Deform the Human Race

Like to the Armours iron brace. 

When Gold & Gems adorn the Plow

To peaceful Arts shall Envy Bow.

A Riddle or the Crickets Cry

Is to Doubt a fit Reply.

The Emmets Inch & Eagles Mile

Make Lame Philosophy to smile.

He who Doubts from what he sees

Will neer Believe do what you Please.

If the Sun & Moon should Doubt 

Theyd immediately Go out.

To be in a Passion you Good may Do,

But no Good if a Passion is in you. 

The Whore & Gambler by the State

Licencd build that Nations Fate. 

The Harlots cry from Street to Street 

Shall weave Old Englands winding Sheet.

The Winners Shout the Losers Curse,

Dance before dead Englands Hearse. 

Every Night & every Morn

Some to Misery are Born. 

Every Morn and every Night

Some are Born to sweet delight. 

Some are Born to sweet delight,

Some are Born to Endless Night.

We are led to Believe a Lie

When we see not Thro the Eye

Which was Born in a Night to perish in a Night.

When the Soul Slept in Beams of Light.

God Appears & God is Light

To those poor Souls who dwell in Night,

But does a Human Form Display

To those who Dwell in Realms of day.

Auguries of Innocence

William Blake

Patiently waiting...................................

Seals & Croft..............................................Summer Breeze

The riddle..............................................

"We all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out.  The mystery of life is the plainest part of it."
-G. K. Chesterton

The Intertunnel is a fabulous place...............

I stumbled across the Chesterton quote in the post above somewhere in my travels.  I liked it.  I saved it.  Yet, with all things Intertunnel, the question arises, "Is it so?  Did he really say that?"  Curious, the Oracle Google was consulted.   According to Google and according to Dale Ahlquist, in Lecture 18: William Blake, Chesterton wrote:

No pure mystic ever loved mere mystery. The mystic does not bring doubts or riddles: the doubts and riddles exist already. We all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out. The mystery of life is the plainest part of it. The clouds and curtains of darkness, the confounding vapours, these are the daily weather of this world. Whatever else we have grown accustomed to, we have grown accustomed to the unaccountable. Every stone or flower is a hieroglyphic of which we have lost the key; with every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand. The mystic is not the man who makes mysteries but the man who destroys them. The mystic is one who offers an explanation which may be true or false, but which is always comprehensible – by which I mean, not that it is always comprehended, but that it always can be comprehended, because there is always something to comprehend. The man whose meaning remains mysterious fails, I think, as a mystic.

Good enough for me.

Forty years ago........(has it really been that long?)

Jefferson Starship.....................................................Miracles

Remember.................................

Fifty years ago...................................

Roger Miller.................................................England Swings

Verse.....................................

      "Make a habit of practicing meditation, and do not let your mind be distracted.  In this way you will come finally to the Lord, who is the light-giver, the highest of the high."
-The Song of God:  Bhagavad-Gita


1.  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 

2.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 

3.  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 

-Psalm 1: 1-3
The Holy Bible, King James Version

Sixty years ago........................................

The Platters...............................................The Great Pretender

Now, why didn't we think of that...............?

There are currently an estimated 70 million empty high rise apartment units in China, for example, because under the baleful influence of unlimited credit these apartments were built for asset appreciation, not occupancy.
-David Stockman, as excerpted from here