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Happy Motoring!

Audioslave — Getaway Car

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On April 30, 2011 @ 3:17 pm

Weekend Music Thread – The Poetry of Music

Bob Dylan — A Hard Rain’s A-gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue eyed son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded in hatred
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what’ll you do now my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my songs well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Covered by Jason Mraz (my favorite version):

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On April 16, 2011 @ 2:03 pm

Americans Can Lose Weight By Doing Nothing (Really!)

First off: Nicely written, sir.

Secondly: WOW!! I’ve never heard of anything so AMAZING… Except for back in high school, when they explained that whole calorie thing in detail. You and I must be among the tiny minority who were actually paying attention. I’m living, breathing proof that it works, too. A few years ago, after deciding that being overweight was very inconvenient, I lost about 80 pounds in four months by doing just what you have explained. People would say, “Wow! How did you lose that much weight?” and I would say, “I quit eating.” This didn’t seem to compute with most of them, so they would invariably ask, “What do you mean ‘you quit eating’?” and I would answer, “I mean I quit eating. I cut my calorie intake down to 1200 a day, and, as you can see, I lost a shit load of weight.” They would then ask what I ate 1200 calories of, and I would say, “Whatever I want, as long as it doesn’t add up to more than 1200 calories. I’m partial to frozen pizzas and canned chili, with the occasional cheeseburger thrown in for variety.” This seemed to blow their minds, because they just don’t understand that it’s a simple numbers game — it doesn’t matter if it’s wheat germ or tubs of ice cream, as long as the count matches the goal. In fact, eating smaller amounts of higher calorie food seemed to be less difficult than eating larger portions of low calorie stuff. I didn’t experience as many cravings that way — other than just being constantly hungry, which you actually do get used to. I did take the recommended daily dose of a quality multi-vitamin, but that’s usually a good idea anyway.

But, I would like to make one suggestion to help round out your hypothesis: Pain Management. Counting calories is easy, not eating as much as you used to is hard — in fact, it’s literally painful. The concept of hunger pains in not something to laugh at, and no one will be able to maintain a lower calorie diet without coming to terms with it, and eventually mastering it. Chronic pain is a common topic out in the inter-tubes, so there’s lots of online articles and such to help the self-imposing novice to know what to expect, and maybe learn a few tricks to help ease the discomfort. I did it by being an obstinate son-of-a-bitch to myself, but others may not be lucky enough to have that as a personality trait.

Otherwise, you win the “Your A Genius Just By Pointing Out The Obvious To The Morons” award. As Eddie Murphy’s old SNL character “Velvet Jones” would have once said: “It’s as simple as that!”

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On April 7, 2011 @ 1:47 am

From the Muddy Banks of Rememberance

I guess I’m about as gen-x as they come, ’cause I knew exactly what this article would be about as soon as I read the title. I even had “Something in the Way” playing in the back of my mind as I started reading.

I was living up in Everett, WA at the time he died, having moved there from central Florida when I got out of high school in ’92. I really liked Nirvana, and owned all of their albums, but I wasn’t fanatical about them like so many others. They were just another foundational group in the realm of all things grunge, and I didn’t really fit in with any music scene at the time — though I’ve come to love that genre more and more as the years have past. The reactions to his death that I observed seemed to be very mixed. Some young people were ambivalent, saying that he was just another famous addict that didn’t make it out alive — while others showed a deep sadness and loss of direction. I’ve stayed somewhere in between. He was one of the most unique lyricists I’ve ever experienced. He could make a person question how they felt about the world without actually reminding them of anything cohesive. I remember driving around downtown Seattle with a friend a couple of years later, stoned out of our minds and listening to Cobain play noise guitar to William S. Burroughs insane spoken word on “The Priest They Called Him”, and really being affected by his unique musical style. I think he would be one of the most influential personalities in modern times, if he hadn’t had that terrible moment of desperation.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On April 6, 2011 @ 2:40 pm

GOP Apology For Being “Deceitful Corporate Puppets”

Homerun, AdLib! I totally flaked on it being April 1 until the very end…

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On April 1, 2011 @ 3:56 pm

The Crazy Badass Honey Bear

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was awesome!

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On March 11, 2011 @ 9:54 am

Harry’s Law Wins!

I’ve watched this show since it’s first episode, and I think it’s the best new show on television. I don’t care if the “formula” has been done before. The first thing that struck me was how it doesn’t glorify the legal system like so many others do. As much as I enjoyed watching it, twenty years of “Law & Order” has done a lot of damage to how the average person perceives our court system. The idea that the letter of the law is somehow more important than the intent of the law, and the humans that are caught up in it are somehow less important than the system itself, is a dangerous idea. The concept that the judge is all powerful — instead of just being a senior lawyer that has been charged with administering proceedings — and the lowly, stupid jury is a necessary evil forced upon the system, is a dangerous idea. So far, Harry’s Law has done a good job of addressing those ideas without openly demonizing the system itself. I hope it has a long run, ’cause I’ll be watching.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On March 16, 2011 @ 2:27 pm

Yes Virginia, There is Class Warfare

Excellent post, AdLib! And an excellent thread to go with it.

You guys rock!

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On March 7, 2011 @ 12:04 am

I can’t stand most of that horrible channel! “You have to spend money redecorating your home in order to sell it.” WTF! Since when? What ever happened to moving all of your stuff out and letting people use their own imaginations? And the way they do stuff on the cheap — if I saw that kind of crap in a house I was serious about, I’d take it off the top of my offer!

The best of the worst is the international real estate propaganda. My dad would truly love to escape this country (when and if my mom is willing to move away from the grandkids), so he keeps up with the markets from several different sources — including friends that have already become expats. He laughs his ass off at the hugely inflated prices they come with in Central America and southeast Asia. What a giant scam!

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On March 6, 2011 @ 9:42 pm

The Daily Planet, Vol. 14

I’m in the same boat, Abby. My head is full of thoughts as I’m reading, but by the end my brain is going in too many directions to focus on just one item…

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On March 5, 2011 @ 11:37 am

Christchurch Earthquake – A First Hand Account

Yep. New Madrid, MO is across the river from the top side of the bend.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On March 1, 2011 @ 2:43 pm

Thank you for this excellent account, HCP. I hope you and your family, and all of Christchurch, stay safe after all of this.

The worst I’ve been through were a few hurricanes, and a couple of them were pretty bad, but it’s very different when the community has days to prepare. Earthquakes scare the hell out me. I can only imagine what it’s like to have a major quake sneak up on you, and then an even worse one a few months later, and then realize that there’s just no way to know if the clock has been reset — or if it’s just getting started. Just thinking about it makes me queasy.

I currently live in the central part of the U.S. — less than a hundred miles from an area called the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Scientist still don’t understand why it’s there or how it works, but between 1811 and 1812 it was the site of several major quakes estimated to be over 7.0 (and maybe as high as 8.6) — powerful enough to make church bells ring a thousand miles away in Boston! Some geologists say that it could happen again at any time, but they just don’t understand the fault enough to even begin to know when. I’ve asked some people around here if they’re prepared, and they just shrug and say that they think about it when disasters happen in other places, but then they forget again after a few weeks. Maybe they’ll be lucky enough not to find out what it’s like.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On March 1, 2011 @ 2:18 am

Montana tea party on crack … or something

Excellent article, Haruko! With any luck, the label of “American Taliban” will become more and more obvious to the swing voters. Over the next two years, let’s hope that each and every one of their ridiculous acts turns out to be another round they’ve fired at their own feet.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 27, 2011 @ 12:34 pm

In the World of the Blind, We’re Often Led Off the Cliff

I agree that the President could easily over-play his hand in this, but I’m worried that many of the “I can’t be bothered with thinking for myself” types will completely ignore the reasons for not directly entering the fight. Let’s see if I can imagine what they’re thinking about this (when and if they actually do): “Obama say he put on shoes and stand in crowd — pretty news people show me video! But him not stand in crowd. Obama not tell truth! Obama bad… Yay! Millionaire Money Drop on!! Money good! {drool…}” Ok, maybe that was a bit over the top, but these so-called “swing voters” don’t understand what’s really going on. Rep. Grijalva may be right — a little bit of showmanship might be the right move.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 27, 2011 @ 2:48 pm

Pessimism in the Age of Mass Manipulation and Plutocracy…

I found this article by Mark LeVine on Al Jazeera English:

History’s shifting sands

I think it hints at many possibilities, but the one that I hope for is the realization that we are failing to honor the hopes of our founders.

It now seems clear that hoping for the Obama administration to support real democracy in the Middle East is probably too much to ask, since it cannot even support full democracy and economic and social rights for the majority of people at home. More and more, the US feels not just increasingly “irrelevant” on the world stage, as many commentators have described its waning position in the Middle East, but like a giant ship heading for an iceberg while the passengers and crew argue about how to arrange the deck chairs.

Luckily, inspiration has arrived, albeit from what to a ‘Western’ eye seems like the unlikeliest of sources. The question is: Can the US have a Tahrir moment, or as the great Arab historian Ibn Khaldun would have predicted, has it entered the irreversible downward spiral that is the fate of all great civilizations once they lose the social purpose and solidarity that helped make them great in the first place?

We each still have the power to vote, and a unique constitution that gaurantees our equally shared sovereignty and our rights as human beings. This means that the possibility of change for the better still exists. The oligarchs must show their hand when they make each push to change that guarantee, and each of those times will be just as dangerous for them as they will be for us.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 26, 2011 @ 10:19 pm

UNEMPLOYMENT…is STILL an issue!

Well done, Abby! Not only is this an excellent article, the comment thread is amazing as well. How is it that the masses have accepted a view of the government vs. corporation dynamic that is so ass-backward when many of the immediate issues can be expressed so succinctly? It boggles my brain!

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 26, 2011 @ 12:28 am

Arab Uprisings: Still Writing History

Great article! My brain is having a hard time trying to absorb all of the information that you’ve packed into your summaries! It’s no wonder that so many lazy minded Americans have no clue as to what’s really going on over there. A few hundred years of American civil unrest compared to the thousands of years of it in the Middle East and north Africa is like comparing an apple to an entire bushel of oranges.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 24, 2011 @ 2:26 pm

The Daily Planet, Vol. 4

This is an article from In These Times about the challenge of reforming an already weak NLRB:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6858/will_nlrb_general_counsel_enforce_labor_law_or_does_the_nlrb_even_matt/

The financial neutering of these types of agencies is intended to reinforce the idea that “government is ineffective” and therefore a waste of money.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 23, 2011 @ 6:46 pm

I Never Saw The Temple…..

Great story, and well written. I sometimes imagine what it would be like to magically travel back, like in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and observe the events of my past with my adult mind. How much of what was going on around me did I miss? How much of it do I remember correctly? How many times did a seemingly unimportant event completely change my path in life? Of course, I’ll never know. I don’t have children (so far), but it’s at those moments of reflection that I begin to understand what must be going through a parent’s mind everytime they offer up that ever-so-heartbreaking “no”.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 22, 2011 @ 10:30 pm

Memo to Members: How We Choose Front Page Posts and Other Editorial Policies

AdLib — I… WHOA!! Did you just turn on spellcheck!?! FREAKY!! Anyway, I just installed Firefox, and it works just fine! I’ll just use it from now on.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 23, 2011 @ 8:12 pm

I just tried my Google Chrome browser (that I almost never use), and it did the same thing. My video driver is recently updated, but I’ve had this same problem at other times in the past. I’m guessing that it has to do with Vista (which isn’t exactly stretching the imagination). I’ll download FireFox and see how it reacts.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 23, 2011 @ 7:49 pm

I use Internet Explorer 8 on a 32 bit Vista system (and not by choice, I assure you).

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 23, 2011 @ 7:37 pm

If it’s just me, then it’s no big deal — I can work around it. I just don’t want anyone interested in joining the site to be discouraged by having a similar problem.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 23, 2011 @ 7:34 pm

Mine has never worked correctly — I still don’t know what the second item is on the “Take Action” menu :-). It could just be my setup. I’m running Internet Explorer 8 on fully updated 32bit Vista, so it wouldn’t surprise me any.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 23, 2011 @ 7:28 pm

@AdLIb — I like the new changes, but I’m having a problem with the drop-down menus for “Speakers Corner” and “Take Action” being visibly blocked by the YouTube video in the “PlanetPOVideos” box. I’ve seen this same issue with embeded videos on many other sites, and I was thinking that if I’m not the only one with this problem, maybe you could flip-flop it with the “Sponsors” box.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 23, 2011 @ 7:09 pm

The Daily Planet, Vol.1 Sunday Edition

Excellent set of articles! This is something that I would like to more of.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 20, 2011 @ 5:18 pm

Wisconsin, what does it really mean?

Ha!

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 20, 2011 @ 6:35 pm

It’s also about the potential monetary loss from the legal liability. There are a lot of parents out there that can’t admit that they’re part of their childs problem, so instead, they immediately turn to litigation against anyone who questions their ability. So even if the school has a successful way of dealing with a problem, the parents will threaten to sue them if they attempt to try — all in the name of avoiding a “label” that they consider “embarrassing”.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 20, 2011 @ 6:32 pm

You better be careful about checkin’ your chicken out on the patio — you could get arrested for that… 😆

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 20, 2011 @ 5:57 pm

Balancing Incentives…

Another excellent article!

I think the most depressing version of the perverse incentive concept can be applied to the American voter. They put politicians into office that will do just about anything they can to help those entities that will cause the most harm, just so that voter can say that they expressed an opinion of what they’re against. It’s like voting for the bully that beats up on everyone, including you — just because you both root for the same team. It’s just unreal.

I think the current governor of Florida is a perfect example of this: “I’m disabled and on dialysis, and I rely on the continued availability and solvency of Medicaid to survive, but I’m going to vote for the man who won the Republican primary — even though he oversaw the largest Medicaid fraud in history — just because I’m also a Republican.” It’s just not rational.

p.s. Somebody let me know if I’m mixing my analogies up.

» Posted By ParadisePlacebo74 On February 19, 2011 @ 8:36 pm