Monthly archive for May2014 - page 4

Was that the dawning of The Age Of Aqauarius?

Was that the dawning of The Age Of Aqauarius?

If you  have read much here you know that musically I am stuck in the 70’s.  If you haven’t read much here, congratulations on not wasting a lot ot time on the internet.  Now go tell all your friends and acquaintances that might be  disposed to wasting a lot of time on the internet to read this blog.  Thank you.  Now back to our program – in listening to my 70’s playlist today up comes ” Aquarius” by The 5th Dimension, a song that gained popularity in the late 60’s (ok, not 70’s) as one of the songs from the musical “Hair”.  This was at the peak of the hippie movement and the lyrics are all about how the dawning age of Aquarius will usher the human race into an era of perpetual peace, love and understanding.

Still there? OK, I’ll get to my point (finally!).  The song was released about forty years ago and the human race is just as screwed up now as it was then, if not more.  So what the hell happened?

I looked up “Age of Aquarius”; follow the link if you have some time, but I’ll give you the short take:  Various astrologers and philosophers have competing theories about what it actually means and when it will arrive (or did arrive) based on differing astrological calendars (though Robert Zoller’s summation seems to fit the current times very well).  Of course it helps to have some belief in astrology, which I don’t, but this is a thought exercise.  Oh, sorry I forgot to tell you – this is a thought exercise.  So The Age of Aquarius  may or may not have dawned or have yet to dawn and if so, there is no guarantee that it will usher in an era of “sympathy and trust abounding”, “mystic crystal revelations” or “the mind’s true liberation”.

My question is: if the earth’s relative position in the cosmos were able to influence human behavior, is the human race even capable of achieving that level of enlightenment?

The short answer in my opinion: NO.  Let me expand that somewhat:  Can A Human Being achieve that level of enlightenment?  Most likely YES;  Can the Human Race as a whole achieve that level of enlightenment?  Most likely NO.

Magical rays of love from the universe are not going to change human nature.  There will always be warmongers, sociopaths, haters and idiots with too many items in the express lane.  No, the only thing that can change human nature is one human – who can change his or her own human nature.  One person cannot change the world – only themselves.  One can only influence what is outside one’s self.  If you want to change the world, change yourself first – clean up your own act.  Tidy up your own metaphysical house and yard and before trying to reach outside your borders into someone else’s territory and change other’s behavior.

What do you think?  Leave your thoughts in the comments!

My Best Quiche Recipe…And by “my best” I mean “someone else’s”

My Best Quiche Recipe…And by “my best” I mean “someone else’s”

A normal person suggested I post more recipes on this blog.  Up til now I have only posted one recipe and that was for the perfect Manhattan.  So let me think…hmmm… I don’t think  it’s a good idea to turn this into a cooking blog since I can only “man cook”.  But I will post a recipe this time as a personal favor.  You owe me now!  Note that this is not my recipe – if it were my recipe it would likely be inedible.  And actually it’s not a recipe at all – it’s a link to a quiche recipe from a celebrity chef.  I won’t tell you who it is but I will give you a hint – he is f*cking famous.  Plus I liked the name: Rocket, Mushroom and Bacon Quiche.

That's a quiche?

That’s a quiche?

 

You’re Welcome!

Ad Infinitum

Ad Infinitum

It’s more Latin!  This phrase meaning literally “to infinity” or loosely “without end”.  In conversation and writing it is used to describe a process that continues without a foreseeable conclusion or resolution, not to describe a person physically moving toward infinity.  If one were moving toward infinity what would that mean?

 

Ad Infinitum...Et Ultra!

Ad Infinitum…Et Ultra!

 

Since infinity is not a physical object, one could never reach infinity much less move past it.  Even if given all of eternity (I assume).  Infinity is defined as the quality of being infinite, or without end or limit; or a space, amount or period of time that is without limit or end.  Well, that clears things up…not!  One thing is known – this post will not go on ad infinitum.  The End.

Estimated Cost Of California “Bullet Train” Goes Up By $940 Million…

Estimated Cost Of California “Bullet Train” Goes Up By $940 Million…

…Aaand that’s the good news.  It appears to some observers that the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) may have wanted to obscure that fact from the public.  The San Francisco based engineering firm URS corp. was tasked with preparing a revised cost estimate, and complained that they had been “instructed” by the CHSRA to hold estimates to a baseline established in 2012.  URS said in their March report that the new estimate of $7.13 billion, an increase of $.94 billion was accurate and that “in their professional opinion” CHSRA was incorrectly assigning cost increases to a contingency account.  In response, the Rail Authority sent a letter to the firm asking it to revise it’s report, stating that the estimates were “misleading and not accurate”.  That settles it then.

“The  ultimate cost of the Central Valley segment will be determined by many factors not yet known, …which may explain why URS produced a higher estimate”...”It is noteworthy that over the life of a project, as design progresses, there will be several estimates,” the authority said. “A change in one estimate does not necessarily result in a change to our budget.” – CHSRA Statement

Ahh…the “Living Breathing Budget” theory.  The California taxpayer may now rest easy.

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day

…to my Mom and all moms near and far, past and present!

 

Flower basket

Massive Tunneling Machine bores giant hole…Taxpayers asked to fill it with their money

Massive Tunneling Machine bores giant hole…Taxpayers asked to fill it with their money

Close enough.  “Massive Tunneling Machine Stuck Under Downtown Seattle, Fix Could Cost Taxpayers Millions”

Seems that there is a large construction project in Seattle for which the contractor purchased one of those giant machines that bores tunnels – like the English Channel Tunnel* – and the gizmo has broken down and is stuck.  A lot of cash is needed to free it.  The question is, whose cash will it be?  So far the State of Washington says the contractor should pay, the contractor says their not paying.  Could there be a lawsuit on the horizon?

The repair is likely to cost $125 million, which is $45 million more than the machine cost to begin with.  The project has already incurred cost overruns of $190 million due to “unforeseen problems”:

“Among the issues the project has encountered are: too much groundwater; a labor dispute involving the International Longshore and Warehouse Union; and a well that Bertha ran into, damaging her massive cutter head and main bearing.”

By the way, Bertha is the boring machine, that is the machine that bores the hole not the boring machine.  Anyhoo…who could possibly have foreseen a labor dispute?  I mean..c’mon.  That never happens.  And when there’s a labor dispute nothing bad ever happens at the worksite.  Nice giant boring machine you have there…be a shame if something happened to it while it was in the middle of a tunnel 1000 feet under ground.  Oh, wait.  Something did happen to it.  Never mind…move along…nothing to see here.

*The English Channel Tunnel  passes under the English Channel and connects England and France via railway.  The Brits call it “the chunnel”.  The French call it “le chunnel”.

It’s still Friday…

It’s still Friday…

…so more music!  Let’s go for something with broad appeal like…The Eagles.  Who doesn’t love the Eagles?  Except you, you commie.  Take a hike.  Now for everyone else…this was the only version of this song I found that had (the original vocalist) Randy Meissner doing the vocal.  Though it was shot in 1977, at least it wasn’t recorded on someone’s phone so video and sound are pretty decent.

“…put me on a highway, show me a sign.  Take it to the limit one more time…”

 

 

 

Friday is Music Day!

Friday is Music Day!

I blogged awhile back about a few music performance shows that I found on cable and one of them was Guitar Center Sessions.  You can guess by the name it’s mainly guitarists or bands where the guitarist(s) are prominent, so if you like some guitar playin’, this is your show.  Anyhoo…I happened to catch an episode a few weeks ago with Peter Frampton.  Yeah, you know “Frampton Comes Alive” Peter Frampton, though he was well established before that came out in 1976 (38 years ago! Sh*t!).  He played a song I did not expect – not one of his.  The song was played as an instrumental – no vocal (except the voice box solo) and it was…awesome.  I would have never expected him to play this song, coincidentally one of my favorites:  Soungarden’s “Black Hole Sun” (I know!):

 

Though the hair is gone, the jam is on.

Who rescued Who?

Who rescued Who?

From Yahoo:  On a farm in North Dakota, a 3 year old wandered away from the house.  When mom noticed the child was missing, authorities were notified and a frantic search began.  Approximately 200 volunteer searchers worked into the night and at 2:30 AM the boy was spotted in a field…with the dog literally babysitting.

They found the dog laying on the boy. “[Carson] said, ‘Mom, I was really scared but Cooper laid on me, he kept me warm,'” said Courtney Urness. Cooper might have been returning a favor for the Urness family. They rescued him when they found him as a puppy wandering by the side of the road three years ago.

GoodDoggie

Young Ukrainians train for irregular combat against Russians as Ukraine slides toward war

Young Ukrainians train for irregular combat against Russians as Ukraine slides toward war

Politico: In anticipation of a Russian invasion, young Ukranians prepare to fight for their freedom and autonomy against vastly larger and more powerful forces.

We think we have it bad:

Many of us are here learning the basics so we don’t get killed in the first minute of the war,” says Tanya, a 38-year old graphic designer and the camp’s coordinator. “Maybe with what we’ve learned we might last one or two days.”

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