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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by sigismund on September 25, 2011, at 17:54:35
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street » sigismund, posted by sigismund on September 25, 2011, at 15:47:03
That is the kind of China I respect. Not the new China.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 25, 2011, at 22:35:36
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street, posted by sigismund on September 25, 2011, at 17:54:35
Thank you for the video. I feel much better. The news had hit me like a brick, but I feel much better now.
I'm sending some music in return. The words seem dire, then pivot into liberation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJtjqLUHYoY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
My links open?
Posted by sigismund on September 27, 2011, at 2:33:02
In reply to Carlos Gesualdo » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 25, 2011, at 22:35:36
Your links open for me.
I even read St Genet once, on the subject of sexuality as a choice. The style of that book is perhaps attributable to the litres of alcohol and many Corydranes a day Sartre took while writing it. I tried to find out more about this OTC med...
Du médical au récréatif
Il y a 50 ans, une minorité détudiants et de créateurs absorbaient des excitants pour accroître leurs performances intellectuelles. Le prolifique philosophe-auteur Jean-Paul Sartre pouvait engloutir un tube entier de corydrane par jour, soit un mélange daspirine et de 144 milligrammes damphétamine, relate sa biographe Annie Cohen-Solal (Sartre 1905-1980, Gallimard, 1999). La corydrane, classée produit toxique en 1971, est interdite depuis.
I too could be recreatif if not prolifique with that.Perhaps I hoped for some bitter and liberating irony. I chose to be straight when I realised gay was the province of ........on no no no no no, I can't say that.
I should just try to settle down and ask myself who annoys me most.
I'm with Margaret Thatcher....the nanny state annoys me most. Christopher Hitchens (I think) confessed to having sexual fantasies about her. Well, maybe. Let's forget Thatcher and Reagan. It's so hard to have any fun. Such hard work.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 27, 2011, at 14:53:44
In reply to Re: Carlos Gesualdo » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on September 27, 2011, at 2:33:02
You want bitter and liberating irony and I send music of redemption. Oh well. In the context of Gesualdo's life, redemption might be thought ironic. It was certainly worked for. I hope he won.
Why is there so much silence in the world? Yet so much flippin' noise.
I don't know what a nanny state is.
Power is a great aphrodisiac.
Can one be both a Puritan and a hedonist? I suppose I am the former now, living through my son's nearly unbridled
involvement in living. But he is beginning to catch on. I try to slow the process down a bit, that waking into the reigning social reality. Let him dream a little longer. Why hurry towards the inevitable? Let it come.That is the definition of having grown up: pleasure takes work.
I have forgone coffee. Too much tea now.
Satre used to give me a stomach ache. Really. I used to read Camus. He loved his illiterate mother. He knew he was an irrational being. He felt uneasy with the existentialists that adopted him. There. The full and subjective extent of my knowledge of French philosophy.
I wish I had had that little video when I first taught. It was a backwater state school. The big insult was to say something or someone was gay. The almost equal insult was to call someone a pussy. All about who was the f*ck*d and who was the f*ck*r. I tried a direct dialog with the students to my own ridiculous failure. It was at that school that eagles formed within the essays.
Had I been skilled at questions, there might have been better results.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 27, 2011, at 15:05:45
In reply to Bitter substances » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 27, 2011, at 14:53:44
Did you ever read Peter Pan to your children? It is wonderful. Just enough danger to make it delicious and just enough social commentary to keep a grown up amused but not beleaguered.
Posted by sigismund on September 27, 2011, at 15:20:02
In reply to Bitter substances » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 27, 2011, at 14:53:44
>The big insult was to say something or someone was gay.
Of course, and it was when I was at school. Back then it was (and it had to be said with a tone of angry contempt) 'You are a f*ck*ng p**ft*r'.
Now that puts me in time and place. We don't have p**ft*rs any more. They have vanished. But it was much more threatening than being told you were gay, which, it has to be said, could also be said in a tone of angry contempt.
When my kids used that expression I took issue with them once or twice. By the time they used it they had forgotten where it had come from and they felt I was being pedantic. I did of course say things like 'I'd be delighted if you were gay', which led them to say things like 'You're weird'. Later I could see that the terrible Australian homophobia had been moderated. In my son's muck up athletics day the gay boy wore a dress and they all played together happily enough. I know because I saw the videos they made. This would have been inconceivable 45 years ago. But we made a point of not sending our kids to the kind of 'good' school I went to and chose a humane catholic school instead where they took community values seriously.
Posted by sigismund on September 27, 2011, at 15:26:42
In reply to Re: Bitter substances, posted by floatingbridge on September 27, 2011, at 15:05:45
No I didn't, but I tried to read The Happy Prince which we had listened to as kids on bakelite records read by Bing Crosby. But it was hopeless. I am in tears with the Happy Prince almost from the beginning.
We were little when we used to listen to it. It was a big thing for me.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 27, 2011, at 16:08:52
In reply to Re: Bitter substances » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on September 27, 2011, at 15:20:02
Well, things are better here and they are not. I mean, they are a lot better. Yet....
The way gay was said only ten years ago in that East Coast school carried a bit of weight. Maybe not that of p**ft*r (I first heard that on Monty Python). But enough to make me pity the theoretical and silent 10% of the class who had best remain quiet if they did not want their car tires slashed or deal with other such playful high spirits. Plus that pussy term sends me over the edge every time. Or the West Coast
version: stop crying, you sound like a girl.I don't know. We have Hollywood here. Everything is cool, right? Like we are so over that. Maybe there will always be some excuse to beat the daylights out of someone else.
I can't wait for the first, you're weird mom. That will be akin to losing a first tooth.
My son plays with children with 'two mommies', and that is the way it is. We live in a very liberal area, so much so that it is sometimrs as oppressive being politically correct as it is for me to be 'positive' or upbeat 24/7.
Posted by sigismund on September 27, 2011, at 19:07:46
In reply to Re: Bitter substances » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 27, 2011, at 16:08:52
Posted by floatingbridge on September 28, 2011, at 1:35:10
In reply to Re: Bitter substances » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on September 27, 2011, at 19:07:46
That was interesting; the comments especially. Some went over my head in their references. I am paranoid so try to steer clear of the deeper conspiracy theory. I am more comfortable with terms like anti-social sociopaths and psychopaths rather than believing those in power are Satanists as one commenter suggested.
I live here. What can I say that hasn't been said? And all that money poured into such inhumane ends, our infrastructure collapsing while the home team keeps cheering onward.
Still, I take humor when it comes. I liked this comment:
____________
"It also did irreparable and perhaps permanent damage to the economic capability of the United States to wage imperial wars. "
Good Freaking God, I hope so.
_____________
Posted by sigismund on September 28, 2011, at 12:03:10
In reply to Re: Bitter substances » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 28, 2011, at 1:35:10
Well yes, but only at terrible cost at home.
I was speaking to an old fashioned Scottish socialist, almost a Marxist (they can be like that in Scotland) and he had done some work with the Americans in one of the intelligence agencies, and I asked him how he felt about doing it, and basically he said 'They're our family'.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 28, 2011, at 12:39:24
In reply to Re: Bitter substances » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on September 28, 2011, at 12:03:10
Thanks sigi. My husband and I were talking about the cold war and how mother Russia wrecked herself keeping up. China is doing the same. So are the States. It's a shame because of the insustainabilty of it, and all the other life forms going down, the oceans and deep forests. Those are the last refuges, and I think of them as the last refuge of human wonder.
The default Buddhist (maybe Catholic?) perspective of one big boat we row together. Even with the flippin' psychopaths.
Of course, when my husband can no longer work and we have no health coverage, my posts will have a different tenor. There is a terribly steep rise in methamphetamine sales here. There is the war on terror and the war on drugs. Twin catastrophes.
Posted by sigismund on September 28, 2011, at 14:41:21
In reply to Re: Bitter substances » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on September 28, 2011, at 12:39:24
Back then I mocked that Norman Rockwell world I knew from growing up in a similar one, but I don't feel like that now.
I think instead 'These people had MORPHINE available OTC and they didn't radically abuse it, they had HEROIN available in unit doses for HANGOVERS, now they are talking about banning Seroquel in jails.'
Human society has always had its awful aspects. We went through a very positive time here in the late 70s where the government of Malcolm Fraser (who famously lost his trousers in New Orleans) let in a quarter of a million (I think) Vietnamese refugees after the end of the war there. No attempt was made by either party to turn this into a nightmare from which they would save us. That is inconceivable now. Nothing good will come of it. It's all spin and focus groups and fear. The lies are so deep and the positioning to cast blame on the other so complex you have difficulty working the truth out about anything.
Posted by floatingbridge on September 28, 2011, at 15:06:39
In reply to Re: Bitter substances, posted by sigismund on September 28, 2011, at 14:41:21
and coca cola, which I crave occasionally. I try to get the sucrose sweetened cola. We say the Mexican import is best (we=husband and friends).
There is a picture of my grandmother at a soda fountain drinking a cola. She wears a kerchief on her head and looks very cheerful. Post-1904 cocaine deletion.
I wonder when they stopped coke syrup (not the cola syrup). My father used to talk about this remedy from boyhood.
From wiki:
When launched Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola (the "K" in Kola was replaced with a "C" for marketing purposes).[25][26]
Coca cocaine
Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose; in 1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca-Cola did once contain an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass, but in 1903 it was removed.[27] Coca-Cola still contains coca flavoring.
After 1904, instead of using fresh leaves, Coca-Cola started using "spent" leaves the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with cocaine trace levels left over at a molecular level.[28] To this day, Coca-Cola uses as an ingredient a cocaine-free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey.
In the United States, the Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant,[29] which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, the Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use.[30]
Kola nuts caffeine
Kola nuts act as a flavoring and the source of caffeine in Coca-Cola. In Britain, for example, the ingredient label states "Flavourings (Including Caffeine)."[31] Kola nuts contain about 2 percent to 3.5 percent caffeine, are of bitter flavor and are commonly used in cola soft drinks. In 1911, the U.S. government initiated United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, hoping to force Coca-Cola to remove caffeine from its formula. The case was decided in favor of Coca-Cola. Subsequently, in 1912 the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act was amended, adding caffeine to the list of "habit-forming" and "deleterious" substances which must be listed on a product's label.
Coca-Cola contains 46 mg of caffeine per 12 fluid ounces (12.9 mg per 100 ml).
Posted by floatingbridge on September 28, 2011, at 15:14:58
In reply to Bitter and sweet, posted by floatingbridge on September 28, 2011, at 15:06:39
It was the cola syrup my father used to settle his stomach. We could drink a little cola as children when ill. That and ginger ale.
I wonder about kola nut vs coffee bean. I always attributed the lift from coca cola to just the mix of caffiene and sugar.
Posted by floatingbridge on October 1, 2011, at 19:00:08
In reply to Another day on Wall Street, posted by floatingbridge on September 25, 2011, at 1:52:47
http://blog.timparkinson.net/2011/09/30/lies-damn-lies-and-photoshop/
About the falsifying of the photo:
"People can make this an issue but when the food runs out I am eating them."
Oh well. To even further compound the matter, there it is. Not 'if' but 'when' the food runs out.
Has it always been so difficult?
Posted by floatingbridge on October 1, 2011, at 19:29:05
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street, posted by floatingbridge on October 1, 2011, at 19:00:08
>Has it always been so difficult?
Even without a working knowledge of world history, the question seems foolish.
The rest, in my head, was 'to be idealistic'.
I imagine that's the provenience of the young.
During the US Civil War, uniforms were sold the Union army that were so shoddy they tore in the rain.
There has to be a way to remain humane.
Posted by sigismund on October 2, 2011, at 4:13:54
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street, posted by floatingbridge on October 1, 2011, at 19:29:05
You will find a way to remain humane. It might be easier if you are not?
I enjoyed "Life and Fate" on that general subject (but you may not!).
I'm travelling for a bit and will look in from time to time.
Not sure I want to travel any more (that's the sort of thing you think in the departure lounge). I prefer Pilates and rainforest regeneration.
Should be catching a local train from Dakar to Bamako. Maybe. Visa permitting. If I survive the 22 hour flight to Madrid.
Posted by sigismund on October 2, 2011, at 4:16:49
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on October 2, 2011, at 4:13:54
Negative reviews are always interesting. The most negative ended with....
In trying to give Grossman the benefit of the doubt, I forced myself to read the whole book. It wasn't worth it. To be fair, though, Grossman's book is less propagandistic than a speech by Ben Bernanke.
Posted by sigismund on October 2, 2011, at 4:19:54
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street, posted by floatingbridge on October 1, 2011, at 19:29:05
You will find a way to remain humane. It might be easier if you are not?
I enjoyed "Life and Fate" on that general subject (but you may not!).
I'm travelling for a bit and will look in from time to time.
Not sure I want to travel any more (that's the sort of thing you think in the departure lounge). I prefer Pilates and rainforest regeneration.
Should be catching a local train from Dakar to Bamako. Maybe. Visa permitting. If I survive the 22 hour flight to Madrid.
Posted by floatingbridge on October 2, 2011, at 7:32:49
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street » floatingbridge, posted by sigismund on October 2, 2011, at 4:19:54
Happy traveling. The destinations look fantastic. Yes, I would love an update from time to time. I'm sure others would, too.
Good music in Bamako?
Cheers, sigi!
Posted by floatingbridge on October 3, 2011, at 11:08:07
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street, posted by sigismund on October 2, 2011, at 4:16:49
Seems to be going strong despite negative reviews....
Was pleased to read this (and to find out I needn't go to SF to participate. There will be an occupation here).
http://www.truth-out.org/five-ways-occupy-wall-street-has-succeeded/1317476360
I hope your travel is pleasurably engrossing now.
Posted by sigismund on October 4, 2011, at 10:03:06
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street » sigismund, posted by floatingbridge on October 2, 2011, at 7:32:49
My feet eventually gave way in the Prado.
(Some of the Christianity is a bit wearing. I couldn´t help thinking of Lou since so much of the collection seems to come from Phillip II and often shows that old fashioned Christian antisemitism.)
But I did get to see some things I really liked. The Garden of Early Delights was spine tingling, the Breughels were pretty good but I wanted more, there were a couple of rooms of El Grecos (that kind of Christianity never bugged me) and lots of Goyas (including his black paintings). And some Rafaels.
Madrid is hot. Am I just imagining that it a bit run down? Unemployment is 20%? Some homeless, some begging, nothing you wouldn´t be used to though. It can´t be so hard to sleep out for now.
Posted by sigismund on October 5, 2011, at 4:49:20
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street, posted by sigismund on October 4, 2011, at 10:03:06
My feet are swelling up. And I don´t even take Nardil.
The worst painting of that sort was one where the Virgin is in purgatory and either she or some infant (I forget) squeezes her nipple so her milk falls on the heads of those suffering the torments to relieve them.
Posted by floatingbridge on October 5, 2011, at 8:25:15
In reply to Re: Another day on Wall Street, posted by sigismund on October 5, 2011, at 4:49:20
Sigi, do you know I just laughed about that. Thanks. That's the surreal catholicism I remember growing up. Though not that particular image.
Is the garden of earthly delights the same as the garden of early delights, or did the later come first?
Well, as I get older, I do a normal activity like walk all day, and my feet swell or my hips hurt. I am beginning to get used to this, but resent the impingement. I hope your feet
aren't really, really swollen. Are they? Keep them up. Arnica oil massaged into them and lower leg?Did you sleep well last night? I would have seen all the paintings of that day when I closed my eyes at night. I haven't been so overstimulated by art for years. I find it delightful. Maybe you have other descriptions.
What's on the agenda today? Your wife is surviving this art onslaught well?
How I wish I could see some of the Prado.
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