ESCARGOT LOUNGE [Lounge Home| previous| next| Pepe's Scar| Mizar5]

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mooG Monday, August 22nd 2005 - 09:30:22 PM Tones, thanks for the heads up (or down?) in Yellow about Bob Moog's death. Sad news, it was one great documentary i saw in April and i loved the theremin, seems like a real challenging instrument to play... And good for Madeleine she decides what to do herself, this is publicity anyway, right? Angel, cool link you added to your post. I so love to learn about the US of A and somehow am preparing for next year :-) Off me goes now, a manana...

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angel Monday, August 22nd 2005 - 08:33:08 PM Tones: Sort of reminds one of a dynamic duo, after the release of Gaucho.... Nigey: Hey, thanks for the "sin nombre" reference. Very cute. :-)

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tones Monday, August 22nd 2005 - 07:50:26 PM http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4172750.stm hello everyone... sorry I'm so behind in my lurking, but I wanted to let you know Madeleine's apparently ok... --- Singer Peyroux 'found in the US' Missing jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux has been "found" after her record label hired a private detective to trace her. Bill Holland of Universal Classics and Jazz said they had "tracked her down very quickly. Much to our embarrassment she was with her manager in New York." According to her manager, Peyroux does not want to do any further promotion for her Careless Love record, currently at number seven in the UK album chart. "He said we should go away and leave her alone," Mr Holland told BBC News.

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angel Monday, August 22nd 2005 - 06:41:32 PM http://www.ranchocamulos.org/History/#anchor53572 Well, I managed to get enough of the backlog of work that I have to do on the weekend finished and did take a beautiful drive over to Port Hueneme, to see Pretzel Logic perform. This was the 3rd time I had traveled over to the Ventura area in the past month or so and it is always such a joy to drive. So close to LA and yet, so very different. The park was right on the beach, so we were getting a lovely breeze and some marine layer, to keep things from getting too hot. It was greatly appreciated, especially after the intense heat, last year at Hermosa Beach. view on the festival, from the pier The band did a fine job and what was special for me, was the chance to see their 2nd set. I usually have to leave an evening concert after the 1st set, so this was a treat. One of the things I don't believe I have ever seen them perform live is the title cut from Aja. I had wandered over to some of the booths that were selling things and the opening chords of that song, made me come right back, front and center. A well done performance and obviously, not easy. Another really cool thing was watching the audience, who are mostly not SD fans and how they react. My favorite was the Hot Dog walk around character, who I caught dancing to one of the Steely Dan songs. I actually went up to him later and he gave me the "thumbs up" for the quality of their performance. I stopped at a fruit stand by the Camulos Ranch and took a few shots of the supposed setting of the book, "Ramona". Click the link, for more info on that. A nice day, all in all.

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monday monday Monday, August 22nd 2005 - 11:34:46 AM Moving words, moving pictures and a weekend carrying educational moments. Completely forgot the other day, when at my destination, the man of the house was watching this and where it usually would strike me in a magical chord, i flipped it to the back of my mind BUT took a snapshot all the same just to make sure when rewinding the events of the day. ßlaise, ou est tu? There's a lonely table in the corner...

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G Saturday, August 20th 2005 - 05:26:12 PM Quick one. Received an email just now from the Radio Dupree team (one of them) about a message he had just posted in Blue... it concerns your new project, --N! Gotto run, work screams at me aarrgghh!

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Memories of Barnegat Bay Saturday, August 20th 2005 - 05:18:16 PM Daddy G...The reason I was in Barnegat was to visit a guy who worked on my website (very briefly -- won't go into that, the guy had some connections very similar to those, shall we say, that Becker and Fagen encountered during their Jay and the Americans days :)). It was actually a bit of a schlep to the Jersey coast from the North Shore of L.I, but seeing the lighthouse made the trip worthwhile! --N.

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Daddy G. Saturday, August 20th 2005 - 03:24:38 AM "Daddy G, now I know where you live ;). Believe it or not, I've actually been to Barnegat and have seen the lighthouse. Yes, there is a Long Beach in New Jersey, I can attest." --N. Wow, this internet thingie really is making the world smaller, isn't it? :-) I never expected anyone reading this to say they've actually been to LBI and the lighthouse. I mean, I know it's not really that far from NYC, but what are the odds? (I won't call it synchronicity, but it is somewhat coincidental.) LBI is about an hour's ride or maybe a little less from where I live further inland (about halfway between Philly and LBI—fringe of "Pine Barrens" country if you've heard of that). I'm far enough away from the shore to not be in tourist land, but close enough for easy access. And as I said, my Dad likes to sit and watch the boats go by as long as there's a decent breeze and it's not too hot out.

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been through Hicksville on a horse with no legs... Saturday, August 20th 2005 - 12:38:28 AM Angel -- "Caballo sin Nombre"...the horse with no name :)... LOL! --N.

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tones Friday, August 19th 2005 - 08:55:41 PM hello everyone... yes... save that bridge!! It's beautiful. Hey, on another topic... if anyone sees Madeleine Peyroux, please have her phone home... Jazz singer Peyroux 'disappears' A record label has hired a private detective to trace jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, whose album has been steadily climbing the UK charts. The US singer has failed to turn up for any promotional work, according to Universal Classics. It said this was not the first time she had vanished, spending seven years busking in Paris after the release of her debut album. Record bosses said she was "proving impossible to track down". more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4165074.stm

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on the island of Long Friday, August 19th 2005 - 07:46:21 PM Howdy Angel...hope you find time for a nice walk along the beach this weekend! Daddy G, now I know where you live ;). Believe it or not, I've actually been to Barnegat and have seen the lighthouse. Yes, there is a Long Beach in New Jersey, I can attest. --N.

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angel Friday, August 19th 2005 - 05:56:38 PM Hi Nigey: Still busy, but Pledge ends this weekend, so I am hopeful that a bit of time might surface. :-) Next month we will be changing the entire storage system, for our recordings. The day for the changeover.....9/11. Somehow appropriate, on some level. I am sure the changeover will greatly impact me, at least for the short term, but for my sanity's sake, I am not thinking too hard about it quite yet. -- Gina: When I commented the other day that the bridge was beautiful, that (the picture just below this post) was the bridge I was refering to. I thought that was the one coming down. Later, I figured out that it was the one downstream from this arch bridge. I am with Daddy G on this one, it doesn't look like it should be coming down. What's the story there? -- Daddy G: I never heard of a Long Beach in New Jersey. I, of course, knew of the one on Long Island and the one in the LA area, never Jersey. What a beautiful area and lighthouse. Speaking of the ocean.....If I can manage to make the time, I am thinking of trecking over to Port Hueneme (pronounced Why-knee-me) on Sunday.

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Daddy G. Friday, August 19th 2005 - 04:53:56 PM Sorry 'bout that. It was late and I guess I didn't proofread because I put the HTML link tags in place, but forgot to cut-n-paste the actual web page links into'em. They work now. Not that they're "must-click" links or anything, but if I'm gonna put the HTML there I'd better put the actual destination pages too. My bad, as they say. Gina, that bridge looks too good to have to come down! I'm guessing there must be structural flaws or some serious inadequacies if you're looking closer at it?

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ps Friday, August 19th 2005 - 11:07:31 AM daddy G, you're here and also here alas don't work... This pic from the day before yesterday. The historical bridge in Vroenhoven, a little upstream the canal... this is scheduled to go down next year... And this horse, was cute because he was waiting for someone and very anxious about it too...in a village i'd never been before, well, village too big a word actually...

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g Friday, August 19th 2005 - 11:05:06 AM hey, this gets better each day! keep 'em comin', daddy G. Howdy ~N, i like your voice, as Angel says, heard it on your cd so it has a familiar ring to me too. Anyway, reminds me of my early radio days, when listening to AFN, american forces network, the military in Germany (and Brunssum, Netherlands). I listened during the evening and night, enjoyed those hearplays...that's when i was introduced to American English and always liked the sound of those voices in the dark... also, as written in Mizar5, it was AFN radio that introduced me to Steely Dan (Haitian Divorce) and had me get the Royal Scam album... also, woke up in the dead of night (often fell asleep with the radio on) because a deep voice was singing about dental floss (ha!) and moving to Montana soon... yep, that's my introduction to Frank Zappa, the Montana song from Overnite Sensation, had to get that album too ofcourse. Therefore, mucho synchronicity bumps when learning about Nigey's story regarding this particular album :-) Radio is still one heck of a medium.

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Oops, forgot one pic Friday, August 19th 2005 - 06:54:45 AM This pic was from a lighthouse trip in late spring this year. The closer I got to this guy the more he hunched his neck down, I assume in preparation for possible flight. But he never flew, which I was glad of since I wasn't trying to scare him off, I just wanted to get a decent shot. BTW, G, I too really like the look/design of that pedestrian bridge. Seems like bridge designers are really creative these days. Good night/morning.

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Daddy G.P.S. Friday, August 19th 2005 - 06:38:18 AM I didn't know it myself until rummaging around some of the Barnegat Light historical pages online here and also here (btw the video at this second link doesn't seem to work—it'd be nice if it did) that "Old Barney" (which is in the Long Beach Island town now named "Barnegat Light") at 165 feet tall, or 50.7 meters, is the second tallest U.S. lighthouse. Apparently Cape Hatteras lighthouse in North Carolina is 191 feet tall, or approximately 58.7 meters. (If my Googled info and my math are both correct.) Yeah, I know no one cares, but it was news to me. Oh well, enough blathering for one night... :-)

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Daddy G. Friday, August 19th 2005 - 06:02:23 AM Angel, Glad you got the communique. I look forward to seeing some future "angel scenes." In the meantime, here are a few more Daddy G. Jersey scenes... ________________ Dad and I often do Long Beach Island (Jersey shore) day trips during the summers. He likes to sit near the Barnegat lighthouse ("Old Barney") and watch the boats go by. Haven't done it near as much this summer due to the price of gas, but we went today. The first few of these are from 2003 when the lighthouse was closed most of the summer for repainting... The scaffolding was almost all down here... Looking up... The rest of these are from today when I even managed to mount Old Barney. Er, climbed atop Old Barney. No, no, let''s try again... I climbed to the top of the lighthouse. (Cost: $1 & creaky knees, View: priceless.) Looking down... Looking over the inlet to the Atlantic Ocean... WARNING: 217 steps... Looking back down (breathlessly!) at the last of those steps... You can find some historical photos from Long Beach Island at the LBI Museum site "Gallery of Images". Included in the photo album for "Points of Interest" are a couple shots of the Hindenburg flying over the island.

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ps Friday, August 19th 2005 - 01:27:58 AM Angel...I still don't like the sound of my voice :p ...sometimes when doing stuff like radio, I feel I must be a masochist :)! Hope things have slowed down a bit and you're finding a little time to relax :)... --N.

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across the (radio) waves... Friday, August 19th 2005 - 01:22:24 AM G., it was such a trip to hear your voice on the phone during the radio show today...the connection was so clear that it was hard to believe you were in Belgium. And having heard your singing voice, your speaking voice was so familiar...it was as if we were old friends :)...synchronicity indeed! It was really the highlight of the show... :) Your part of the world looks beautiful. I'm going to go back and have another look at the photos again now...seems like a great place to visit! :)

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angel Thursday, August 18th 2005 - 06:35:56 PM What I found so amazing about meeting Nigey in person was the fact that, due to hearing her talk on her "Reinventing the Wheel CD, I KNEW her voice! You could have blindfolded me and I would have known it was her. I wonder if the same thing will occur, if we actually do meet someday, Gina? I love the styling on that (luckless) pedestrian bridge. Economy of material and beauty. Your home town is lovely, too and cobblestones! There are very old sections in the city, especially in Queens, that have the old cobblestones still around. Brings you back to another time and place. Daddy G: Since you checked in, I just wanted you to know that I had posted something the day I received your email about how to post pictures and the website I posted on (I believe it was the Yellow) crashed on me and the post was lost. I was so very out of time, that I have not had time to even remember the incident until now. I thank you so much for the inside look at the process. When I get a life again, maybe some pictures will follow. Pledge finishes up this week, so I am hopeful. :-) Gina: Thanks for adding the word on my last post. So frustrating to see a mistake and not being able to do anything to fix it.

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Daddy G. Thursday, August 18th 2005 - 05:02:30 PM Can't stay long or say much this a.m., but beautiful pics, Gina! Always lurking, but enjoying the view(s) more these days. :-)

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aarrGhh Thursday, August 18th 2005 - 04:40:51 PM http://wusb.fm/website/ lol. funny, i'm listening to John and Nigey's show, tuned in right the very minute they had Romeo & Juliette playing :-), geez, speak of coincidence and synchronicity, it scared the wits outa me!! they were talking about people even listening to the show from way over yonder in Belgium and i tried both numbers (grin) to call in and verify that i am indeed listening. But nobody answered... Okay. Tried again when there was no music playing and talked to John (briefly) and Nigey. That was a trip, hehe, and the first time we ever actually get to talk over the phone, crystal clear connection, if ya didn't know there was all that distance in between, i could be on the next corner... Great. All of this after 5 years or so of long distance electronical and snail mail packages friendship :-)

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Talkin' 'bout the Ghetto... Thursday, August 18th 2005 - 03:54:29 PM This section of town is called "Wittevrouwenveld", it's considered as mostly social housing for "lower class" families, senior citizens, also many muslems live here, as well as students... it is one of the oldest sections in town and they're trying to "upgrade" it, as in wanting to build expensive apartment buildings and such... there's a high rate of criminality however (but not compared to the States, these streets are safe to wander!) and the neighbourhood has a bad image... It's not a neighbourhood of scholars, but i like the no nonsense attitude of the people here... only 2 months ago the police closed down a couple of illegal marihuana plantations (pic 2), attics and rooms full of them :-)

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Cry me a river... Thursday, August 18th 2005 - 03:18:19 PM Had to go into the city of Maastricht, the old hometown. Needed to be on the other side of town, so i had to cross the bridge... which one i wondered since we have four bridges across the river Meuse (not counting the old railroadbridge that's only used by the paper mill) within the range of maybe only 1 kilometer, maybe even less...I decided to take the new one (been there like a year and a half), a pedestrian/bicycles bridge only... it connects the old town with the new section Ceramique and the Quartin Latin-like "Wyck" that used to be a separate village in the olden days. But I start this very very brief tour with the "Onze Lieve Vrouwe Wal", the only wall left from the original fortification...This is near where the Musketeer D'Artagnan died btw! A Lonely Planet excerpt: The Netherland's oldest city, Maastricht sits at the bottom end of the thin finger of land which juts down between Belgium and Germany. Its history stretches back to 50 BC when the Romans set up camp on the bank of the River Meuse. Fortification walls still partly surround the city, and you can explore a 10km labyrinth of tunnels on the city's western outskirts. Today this lively city has a reputation even in its own country of being a little foreign. You can sample the distinct tastes of neighbouring cuisines; and in February you can party with the rest of the revellers in the Netherlands' largest carnival festival. Old fortification wall. Notice the group of junkies on the right? See how estranged i am, don't know its name... View on the left, the old St. Servaes Bridge view on the right, the Bonnefanten museum "bullet" tower and the promenade and newly built condos When walking down the bridge, the 1992 Square view from the other side, along the river Meuse... New to me too, they call this building the "Admiral"...

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g Thursday, August 18th 2005 - 07:50:04 AM good morning! great Angel, and here are 2 pics i haven't scanned yet, just took pics of them to have a quick example here. First one is the old bridge that went down before the arch bridge was built, and a dam with a road.

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angel Wednesday, August 17th 2005 - 10:13:04 PM To put some of these modern pictures in their historical context, here is a short paragraph about some of the engineers who rebuilt the bridges, that Gina is showing us. Thanks Gina, for giving me the name of the units. "After their success in Cherbourg, the 1056th performed clearance missions in Belgium. Sunken barges were removed, lock basins repaired, and damaged bridges were either removed or repaired. One area, the Albert Canal, was reopened to traffic by 15 December 1944." "The unit then crossed into Germany on 13 March 1945 and was responsible for one of the greatest feats of engineering of the war. The 1056th built the first fixed railroad bridge across the Rhine river. The total length of the bridge was 2,216 feet and had 10,850 feet of graded approaches. The first pile was driven on 29 March 1945 and the bridge was open to traffic at 0100 hours on 9 April, only ten days, four hours, and forty-five minutes after the first pile was driven."

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epiloGue Tuesday, August 16th 2005 - 09:48:34 PM Hey there Daddy G. You said it, "hits home", in your case literally since it's about the Americans who were here. Great old pictures from way back when. Gonna take some time to scan those three albums, but i think it's worth it. There's gonna be a film/documentary/photo collage about this new bridge and the history involved, so those old pics sure come in handy. I joined the group since yesterday actually and next year, 2006, when the whole area is done and finished, the film etc is gonna be presented. I am now looking into the options to write a book about it, with some of the regional historians and such... Amazing what you can get involved in in just a few days :-) I'm a wee bit sad it's over now, kind of...so here are the final pics...I took my bicycle and drove alongside the canal, to see how many ships were waiting, all the way to the dam/lock of Lanaye (a small rural village, French speaking), where the river Meuse from Maastricht joins the Albert Canal, kind of, in the direction of the city Luik/Liege...then once passed the lock, i was crossing the bridge of Lanaye and back to the village on the other side of the canal. Did i mention we actually have a small yachting club here? Always forget about that one, but i took a pic. And then the finale, those who still had the energy to stick around for the "testdrive" and the first ship to pass after the deconstruction of the old arch bridge. Its rubble btw will be used to build the walking lanes and such in the area, so the old bridge kind of stays around. That's a nice thought... Ships waiting, south of the bridge Turning bridge into rubble isn't... ...half as much fun if there isn't any audience... Cleaning out the canal Almost done And off we go... Darn, i lost count... The lock of Lanaye The river Meuse and the city of Maastricht, vaguely on the right Ships waiting and the bridge of Lanaye Looking back, canal is left, lock on the right side Little garden on water Bridge of Lanaye and my bicyle Yachting club There's only one bridge now The last of the Mohicans? The first ship passing through in the direction of Antwerpen/Anvers Ships waiting north of the bridge, to go into direction Luik/Liege Knock knock Was i still counting? German skipper painting his ship

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Daddy G. Tuesday, August 16th 2005 - 08:26:32 PM Yeah, great pics, G! Thanks for posting'em. There's always a certain fascination watching a big project like that, wondering how they'll do this or do that and then you see it first-hand. Then the history behind it all really hits home.

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arrGhh Tuesday, August 16th 2005 - 06:24:03 PM Angel! Well, i'm out there all day because there's still a lot to be covered. I was taking shots of the boats waiting and talked to one guy. Within 2 minutes he said he had albums of WWII when the Americans rebuilt all the destroyed bridges along the Albert canal AND this very spot where i've been hanging around for the past days... It's amazing! You see how they built a dam and a road after the old bridge (the one before this old arch bridge) had been destroyed by the 2nd Regiment Grenadiers so the Germans couldn't use it. This is amazing documentation and that skipper gave me three albums with old pictures, taken by an American soldier who was part of the bunch that rebuilt all the destroyed bridges along the canal. Have to scan them in and can then show you... Best part is, i showed it to the guys from the government (who is financing this project) and there were some pics they didn't have, so they were quite happy, it's for the national archives. Am outa here again...

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angel Tuesday, August 16th 2005 - 06:16:51 PM Gina: Like Nigey said, you really do have a story there, in pictures and words. I love checking it out! Thanks for pointing out the boats waiting for the canal to clear. It helped me to see what is going on in some of the shots. I also love the houses in Belgium, so very different from what I see on a daily basis. -- Still so incredibly busy. I feel like I don't have a life. Sigh....

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bridGe Tuesday, August 16th 2005 - 05:09:47 PM Hi Nigey... Well, wait 'til you see the other bridge they're gonna replace! For now, with a little imagination the rubble is like modern art...

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bridge of sighs Tuesday, August 16th 2005 - 12:16:32 PM Great photo-journalistic documentation there, G. -- a very sad moment. Maybe it's appropriate for everyone to take a few minutes to reflect on how many beautiful, historical things are being lost all the time, and vow to do something about it... --N.

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morninG Tuesday, August 16th 2005 - 11:47:54 AM The bridge is down. According to the bystanders, the "Ole Lady" sure didn't give up without a fight. The schedule was for one arch to be down at noon. It took them 8 more hours to finally succeed. The canal was traffic-free until 6am this morning, so they had to go on all night, to clear the second arch as well. That one went down this morning. I woke up because our local "Don Camillo" tolled the deathbells, as he said he would do as soon as the entire bridge was down. But there are problems, as you can see in the pictures. It will take them until 6, maybe 7pm to clean it all up. For now, the ships are lining up along the canal. This is gonna cost a lot of money. Production lines are stopped, cargo can't get delivered etc etc. But the workers kept on going for more than 24 hours, without sleep... Some of them looked like shit when I went to take some shots... Anyway... here it is:

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g Monday, August 15th 2005 - 10:59:48 PM hi... last on Janis, i did hear about a documentary on her background, how she didn't have anyone for prom night etc etc. She's not a fav of mine, still what I saw on that Festival Express dvd, she sure was something else and delivering with a passion. And yes, too bad she was self-destructive. Tried to upload an avi movie from Bospop, Steve Lukather and co. But it didn't work. Will try again some other time. Spent all day outside watching and witnessing one half of the bridge coming down. Took them all day and there sure was hazard involved at times. Anyway, here's some samples, gotto go...

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and another thing Monday, August 15th 2005 - 07:16:27 PM janis joplin was too angry for me, sorta like alanis trying that stuff - but bob dylan - yeah - he's still okay - even if he can't remember his lyrics now -

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lp, hungry for lunch Monday, August 15th 2005 - 07:15:19 PM hey wow angel - that sounds awesome thought tiring! tell me when it airs in MPBN

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angel Monday, August 15th 2005 - 06:57:14 PM I vote with Clas: Joplin never did it for me, too much yelling. But then again, I don't like much Dylan, either. The voice always bothered me. Loved his lyrics though. :-) Gina: See my post on the Yellow regarding rental hints. Antiques Roadshow: I ended up being the greeter who sent each person to the "triage" appraisers. So Hubby on one line and me on the other, ended up greeting over 6 thousand people in that 12 hour period. It was brutal! 2 bathroom breaks and one 1/2 hour lunch. Boy, were my feet tired. But I got one of the Kino Twins to appraise my furniture. So that was good. It ended up being Georgian (Russian) from the 1800's. Not worth all that much though, maybe $500. It was interesting to hear the history of the piece, though.

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"if I owned Hell and Texas, I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell" Monday, August 15th 2005 - 03:34:52 PM I saw Janis Joplin at the Hollywood Bowl in 1970...can't say I was a huge fan, but her performance was electrifying that night...it had to be the best concert by a vocalist I ever attended. A good friend of mine went to high school with JJ in Port Arthur, TX...his theory was that growing up in such a redneck place was the worst thing that could have happened to her...classic case of a smart, talented, sensitive person in a very hostile environment. Too bad it ultimately caused her to self-destruct. G., my e-mail's been on the fritz since last night...been meaning to get back to you with a couple ideas about rental cars and whatnot. Not to mention the radio show :)...well, laters! --N.

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C Monday, August 15th 2005 - 01:40:32 PM The Remains of the Day is a great movie. Anthony Hopkins is a great actor. I read the book too, a little more substance in the book, as always when converting novels to, especially, hollywood-movies. And can't agree with you on Janis Joplin. It must be something personal, can't stand that woman.

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outraGeous Monday, August 15th 2005 - 12:34:28 PM howdy C... Maybe JJ did scream a lot, but I seldom or never actually heard anyone who could scream in key like she did, not a false note and loads of emotion behind it. I wouldn't want to have to listen to her all day, but she carried it with her personality. We watched a documentary on tv yesterday, about the hostages in Irak. That business with Giuliana Sgrena... And regarding politics... The Remains Of The Day was on tv as well... in this case it's not "the butler did it" but "the butler only served as that was his duty"...

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C Monday, August 15th 2005 - 10:24:32 AM Ange? Gone to the movies?

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C Sunday, August 14th 2005 - 10:56:41 PM Angie - are you really that brainwashed over there, for real? I mean, look at John Mu, now he's madder than a mad motherfucker again, he's lost all sense, what's the matter with him? Are you seriously believing all the bull your government, the Fox News and the Jewish Lobby are telling you? Where's the Opposition? Whatever, got to go home. Sleep tight Babes.

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C Sunday, August 14th 2005 - 09:50:37 PM "...there has never been anyone like her, right?" Thank God no. Janis was a screaming drunk bitch. Highly overrated. Brrr...

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trained Sunday, August 14th 2005 - 02:18:04 PM http://www.festivalexpress.com/ Been watching that Festival Express dvd for a Sunday brunch in bed. Very nice footage AND sound from way back in 1970. Janis Joplin is outrageous and there has never been anyone like her, right? And St. Al's Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead... and i sure liked the Sha Na Na rock 'n' roll 50s strutt that seemed like such an anachronism or speedrock n roll punk... about musicians not used to drinking, this the first time they "hooched" themselves for like 24 hours nonstop... yes, we had a great time watching that one. T, we got the Bueno Vista Social Club in mind for next sunday... you're welcome to hop over! now off to a group of amateur actors who are preparing a play for a local festival end of the month... gonna learn about the olden days of the belgian rural life in the 17th century...

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Social study indeed! Saturday, August 13th 2005 - 05:49:33 PM http://chrisdickson.blogspot.com/ Hey ß (especially you, but for whomever's interested)... the Ruthless forum has numerous threads and to get a clear idea of the forum and its inhabitants, it does take a little while if not quite some investment of time. The first impressions are obvious, they seem like a rude, juvenile, noisy bunch of young ones flaunting their appetite for porn the way young teenagers would wear their "no war make peace" buttons a couple of decades ago. Nonetheless, there is articulate written speech in there, as well as thoughtful conveyance of ideas or views. They discuss movies, talk about paranormal phenomena and are delightedly happy because Julia Roberts decided to quit acting after her Broadway debut in a stageplay. I did see a thread about Reagan's grave but haven't read it, there is way too much in there to grasp in only a couple of days. Two Ruthless staffmembers created a new thread this morning, about a Chris Dickson radio show and they were supposed to be aired as guests. Somehow this didn't seem to work out and those staffmembers had to ventilate their dismay, naturally in their own clubhouse. I still had no clue what it was all about until i googled for that radioshow and its host. The link above kind of explains it all and i did remember reading messages about that WorldNetDaily website. Had no clue what that was all about, but i just kept on scrolling and reading for the sake of reading and getting some first, second and third impressions. So this is all about young ones dancing on Reagan's grave and pictures posted in the Ruthless forum. The "Satanist" reference was something that had me misguided in the beginning too, until Giton explained to me it was all a joke, merely some randomly picked titles. When someone had posted 666 posts, they were given the status of "Satanist". Nothing serious, nothing real, merely the kind of humor some or most of the boardmembers seem to share. Anyway, thought this was worth the mention in here. It also confirms what i've come to believe in these past days, that assumption and prejudice never weigh as much as taking a little effort and try to understand what's behind all of the facades, noise and cyber skindeep covers. And how "dangerous" it can also be. To not understand and let fear rule common sense and sobriety. Makes me wonder about the vulnerability of misconception, ignorance, generation gaps etc etc. Who's right, who's wrong... And you will love this apparent contradiction in terms i read in the blog: "An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God."

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Last 3 days Saturday, August 13th 2005 - 01:39:50 PM

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morninG Saturday, August 13th 2005 - 09:43:43 AM hi! took some pictures when in Sweden, from Uppsala and Stockholm... have to dig them up :-) on another note, completely forgot Mizar5 celebrated its 1st anniversary on August 10th. no clue at the time the joke would grow into something serious! have some news on the Walter Becker/Krishna Das project, got an email from drummer/percussionist Matt Kilmer. Should also have asked him whether he's related to the actor Val Kilmer, who was on tv yesterday in the movie "Red Planet" about a team landing on Mars. Always like to watch Terence Stamp play, he was priceless in the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert film... Ok. Mizar5 duty first, then off for breakfast...

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C Friday, August 12th 2005 - 10:08:21 PM We, Lena and I, have a small "around the year house" (which means we can be there in the frozen winter too) on the countryside, and I like being there, for the darkness and the silence. But not for too long. I get the creeps and start longing for bumping into folks in the crowded subway.

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 09:35:33 PM Clas: Well, I won't deny anyone else their love of the big city life. And I even can see the attraction for all the conveniences and wide variety of shops, entertainment, etc. But I grew up in the country (thus accounting for my love of some country music, I guess) and my brain just somehow became wired for the more laid back (and quieter) country lifestyle, I guess. And it's not that I really hate or even dislike big cities, but just that given a choice between that or a more rural life I'll go with the latter. But I don't go to extremes either---you'd never catch me pitching a tent in the woods and livin' off the land. Angel: Yes, sorta through Gina. I'll email you separately and fill you in on the 'how.' Then maybe you'll be able to post some pics too, like that antique love seat.

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C Friday, August 12th 2005 - 08:34:07 PM Daddy G - you're not a big city lover? I am. Love walking the streets of Manhattan, Paris, Barcelona, yes, even Stockholm (during the light and warm part of the year). Great you guys showing all those pics, it's fun! LP - I'd love to see New England. Especially Marthas Vineyard. Don't ask me why, maybe it's just the name of the place that attracts me. And New England, all novel's of John Irving comes to mind.

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angel Friday, August 12th 2005 - 06:10:05 PM Yes, up a bit early, because of the Antiques Roadshow training. Get trained at 4P today. I took pictures of my husband's antique love seat, to show the Kino twins. Goes back to Chicago in the 1800's or early 1900's, I think. Our relatives, who I visited last week, have a chair from the same set. While there, I took a picture of it, too. We will see what the Kino's have to say. I have always been curious. Daddy G: Those sheep are incredible! I love it! I get blimps all the time here in LA. They pass right over our lot. Sanyo, Met Life, Goodyear, Fuji, Saturn, you name it. Dodger Stadium is just a quick drive East on Sunset. ;-) Got beauty pictures at home, but no time today or tomorrow. Maybe on Sunday. Daddy G, how did you make it happen, through Gina, or somewhere else?

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PS Friday, August 12th 2005 - 04:06:16 PM Meant to mention, G, that I enjoyed your story about the accidental mass printing from the early Yellow days. And hey, who hasn't done something like that at some point? :-)

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 03:56:00 PM Last one for a little while, I promise. Literally down the street (next house, in fact) an uncle of mine has some chickens, a few sheep, and a couple goats. The youngest goat occasionally likes to hop up on the sheep, sometimes jumping directly from one onto another over a gap of a couple feet. The sheep don't seem to mind. See, I don't just do bugs, I do goats and sheep too. Wait a minute, that just doesn't sound right. :-) Anyway, I like to call this series "Billie the Kid rides again"...

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 03:44:48 PM I just want to say up front again that I too am enjoying the various local color pics. It's a nice touch to make the site a little more colorful. Those blimp photos and the mention of local histories remind me that I'm not more than an hour away from Lakehurst, NJ, site of the famous Hindenburg crash in 1937. Here's a Hindenburg/Lakehurst link with a slight German flavor.

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 03:28:59 PM No, nowhere near Passaic unless you consider a 2 hour drive near. It's all relative. A lot nearer than the Netherlands, of course, but still I've never been to Passaic. Close, but never actually been. Went to NY once. And at the risk of offending any NYers out there, once was enough. Just never been a big city guy. Where was I? Oh yeah, discussing "where am I." :-) I'm in Southern NJ (though not extreme southern), a lot closer to Philadelphia than NY. All my local TV/radio stations come out of Philly. A couple more pics... Earlier this summer the Goodyear blimp flew directly over the house (and only the second time ever that I know of). I could have had some spectacular closeups if I'd had my camera handy right from the start (a lesson there perhaps). By the time I ran in, grabbed my camera and got back outside beyond some trees that block the view it was further away. An overcast day which didn't help the pic quality, but these are two of the better ones shrunk down to fit here... As Mark Knopfler might say: "Sailing to Philadelphia." Or at least heading in that direction...

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lp waiting for coffee Friday, August 12th 2005 - 03:13:42 PM angel is up very early today, no?

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Live from Maine Friday, August 12th 2005 - 02:59:43 PM This hotel is right next to the Town pier on my sunny island A view of the downtown from the water

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lp Friday, August 12th 2005 - 02:57:29 PM check your email for a couple of local color pics

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g Friday, August 12th 2005 - 02:45:21 PM Clas, you're a good charmer, that's what i meant to say. a charming fella, easy to talk to and with. grin. although not everyone in the ole yellow agrees... ß, my humblest apologies if i in any way violated your sense of privacy in showing those Magog pictures and not until now i realize i should have asked your permission first BUT i was enthusiastic and it was the dead of my euronight here so no way i'd think real straight (if ever perhaps, hehe?). so, for the record, is it okay if i post your beautiful photographs in a public space so others can enjoy the sightings of a beautiful country that has an interesting history and culture very mucho worthy to share? that Magog site wasn't available say in 19100. see how progress sometimes is for the best (and the curious). signing out and off to balance out last night's disturbance in the sleep-awake hours...

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C Friday, August 12th 2005 - 02:43:53 PM http://www.steelydangallary.se/paintings/hammarbyhojden.jpg here's my neck of the phil woods: looking at the pic you're standing with your back at stockholm, it's about one or two kilometers into town, a fifteen minutes walk. Lena and i live in one of those apartmenthouses seen to the right.

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and viewed from space Friday, August 12th 2005 - 01:58:45 PM looks like a little white dot on a crooked dark blue "i". Precious. According to this I am a mere fraction of one in a million pixel on there, some sub-sub-pixel getting all agitated over nothing. That's the perspective. b

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C Friday, August 12th 2005 - 01:53:59 PM Ha! Printing page 1 of 378, I can feel the pain Gee. Poems in German? I was younger back then.

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b vapor Friday, August 12th 2005 - 01:49:16 PM Nice Magog site though. I'm discovering my own place, minus the warts. Yes this is my hometown presented under its very best of guises. And isn't it always that way? Lovely though it is. And I do like the concept of people showing their own neck of the woods. It adds much color to the place.

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b sub-atomique Friday, August 12th 2005 - 01:24:25 PM "According to Pat Beemer's unusual gift for maintaining the site's calendar." Nah... The book script was just not "y2k-compliant" at the time, couldn't handle the year 2000, which was funny. But this had little to do with the host. In fact, he should have kept it like that but elected to change it many times for matters of household security, and reappropriated it for his own in the process, giving it his own angle thereafter, pretty much shaping the populace to his liking. And more power to him, really. It did have its charms way back when. It had some decent writing, people who cared for its direction: oleander, roy, ducky, inspired a certain quality in approach to the browser come contributor. Even the asses back then felt they should prove they could write intelligibly and attempted to be entertaining. It also attracted newcomers then. Not a new soul since petee... and a population fast dwindling down to a handful of particularly talkative fellas. That it's all a matter of taste, I will second, for sure. And don't tell me I've transposed the Steely Dan catalog into zeitgeist wordplay and will never get a witness... Never knew I was that shitty at it. Years I went on babbling... noone told me to stop and hone my chops first. You really should have spared me the embarrassment. Gotta learn some humility down the line, find my rightful place, right? Right. Now... may I be the first to say that you do take your liberties with other people's output every once in a while (add to postings, publish pictures, etc.), which is surprising coming from someone otherwise so protective of intellectual property. Or is it that some holds more value, supersedes in rank all that other "pedestrian" stuff? You may be right for the most part. Having said that, it's really been nothing too bad, thus far, other than for the element of surprise. Maybe a slight irritation felt in passing at worst... Comes a time though when you should imagine how you'd feel if you got the same treatment over your own copyrighted pearls.

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virGin internet days Friday, August 12th 2005 - 12:04:18 PM When looking for stuff i came across this (see pic) and it took me straight back to way back then. Had just transferred from a job that ate me alive to find myself involved in another job that would have the same effect at some point, although things were still looking good in the beginning, as always when in a new job. Yep. Some months earlier i'd been introduced to the wonders of internet and i was still in that phase of repetitive euphoria for having found the coolest online place ever, the Sign In Stranger guestbook, the GB, the Yellow. According to Pat Beemer's unusual gift for maintaining the site's calendar, we speak of the year 19100. It was Friday, May 26. So i was @work and whenever i had some time to spare, i checked into the GB to read the conversations and experience the heavy commuting that was going on in those days. And throw in a couple of paragraphs myself ofcourse. At some point things were neat, the blazer rouge, wormy, Clas, Steviedan, mr La Page, Chere, fezo, ygk, Miz Ducky, Aja etc etc... they were all posting nice-interesting-funny-witty-hilarious stuff so i wanted to print it out and take it home with me, so i could get another look at Wormtom's parody, read Clas' poem in German and be a sucker for his smooth words, phrases I read so many times again whenever a new woman came aboard the GB. Hey, some great lines you got, Clas: Where's my Netherlands friend Gina (or another name)? I sat up last night writing a poem to her. It took some time, first I had to write it in Swedish, then translate it into English, and then from English to German, It was a hell of a ride. Now i could swear i've read those words only recently again, and it was not because of a trip into the GB archives... Anyway, so i hit the print button but had no clue how to just print a page or two, three or even make it stop. I thought that would be easy, but because the computers were part of a network, we could not control the panel so my repetitive euphoria turned into a deep nerve-wrecking shame because the printer down in the office would not stop printing once i tried to make it stop after i'd read a message on the screen saying "Printing page 1 of 378." What? How? Oh no... In a few secs the world just kind of collapsed on me, i felt shame, guilt and Dostojevski's Crime & Punishment dominate the universe of my feeble being and i sooo wished to have not wanted to print out those stupid pages, i so wished i hadn't found the GB... One of my colleagues and friend sat across me and could see something was wrong, when i explained it to her she told me i had to call the helpdesk, they could make the printer stop, so i wouldn't have to worry. And in the meantime i could hear the damn machine spinning. No need to elaborate on the fact the helpdesk guy couldn't hide his malicious pleasure when hearing me stutter about what it was i had done. One does feel like a child, when you have to give your name, computername and/or number and such. Awful! I walked a walk of guilt and shame when i went to the printer to collect my GB pages, all 54 of them! So here they are, and i guess here they stay. If only as a (now) funny reminder of a very very embarrassing situation and the price one pays for internet/user's ignorance...

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morninG again... Friday, August 12th 2005 - 10:40:25 AM hey, great pics Daddy G. New Jersey... how come that sounds familiar in a way? Ah, i remember. How's about Passaic, anywhere near you...? (grin) and you shouldn't have mentioned the dust on your digital camera. you just wrote yourselves a commitment :-) so we're all anxious to see more of New Jersey then...

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 06:19:41 AM Thanks for the general encouragement on the pic posting, G, and thanks also for the help in getting it working. I still have to dig further through my archives to see what else I can find that might be of any possible interest, but that's a project for another day. For now it's just neat knowing that if I happen to snap a pic I think is interesting in some way I can post it for general perusal. who knows, this might even get me to dust off the digital camera that I haven't used in months and go out in search of shots.

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 06:10:48 AM Wow, it works! OK, one more quickie before bed... Just to include something in a musical vein, here's an Elvis sighting in Tuckerton, NJ, at a small root beer joint...

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 06:03:59 AM Testing with a pic from Long Beach Island at the Jersey shore in June of this year... Seagull lineup at the Jersey shore. Alright, which one o' you punks got my windshield?!

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morninG! Friday, August 12th 2005 - 03:00:04 AM Hey there, just missed ya it seems. I know i know, should be sound asleep at this time of European hour, but am @work and considering life's options. That's exactly what we like to see Daddy G, everyday stuff you might see differently now some strangers want to have a glance at it: the environment, a street, a corner, a car parked against a tree, the blue or grey skies, the grumpy neighbour... Here's another example of ß's home: Canada's Lac du Monet... (Lake Magog): ye ole wooden bridge Lake Magog "weedwhacked". Plenty of fish?

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Daddy G. Friday, August 12th 2005 - 02:42:18 AM Always happens... When I don't get online for 20 hours or so and then do, there's soooo much to catch up on! Enjoyed the various pics of the bridge and then Long Island. When I get a chance I may rummage around my archives and see if I can dig up anything of some sort of potential interest. I don't really think of my little part o' Joisey to be all that interesting, but I suppose many people think that about where they live, especially if it's where they grew up instead of transplanting to. Of course, if I do find any pics to post then I'll have to figure out how to do it. Don't know if I can, but I have an idea how to try. Anyway, still catching up on other things. Good Night or Good Morning...

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C Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 09:59:57 PM What I understand from interviews and other sources (this is a small country) the recording of Wadenius' guitar wasn't the funniest thing he had done in a rec studio. Playing those licks to a drum machine, day out and day in. And Fagen sitting at the console staring down at the floor, no smile, no nothing... brrr... But, hell, the result is great. Gotto go home. Naked. Have a great night!

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angel Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 09:46:17 PM I have ALWAYS loved the guitar on Snowbound. Just like I LOVE the end of On the Dunes (I could loop it forever and be happy). I understand the feeling with Tomorrow's Girls, too. (Minus the obvious angel reference in the lyric. lol) It always gives me a feeling of female promise somehow. Girls just at the beginning of their womanhood. Empowerment and all that. Probably not what Fagen was getting at, but I am not looking at the lyric right at this minute, to get a true read. But thinking of the song, brings these thoughts to my mind.

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snowwowbound Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 09:22:54 PM It's funny how the music of Kamakiriad can sound so different each time when listening. kind of compulsive behaviour now, eh, to give the disc a spin again with the recent topicals. anyway, today for the very first day the guitar on Snowbound had me glued on my chair. Georg Wadenius really really is a fine player. And there's something about Tomorrow's Girls that has me smile, no, grin right the minute the song starts. I don't know. Yes. This has me look forward to a new DF album indeed... signing off and out, g

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howdy Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 07:44:02 PM It was a very easy find, so i added it to your post, Angel. Thanks.

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angel Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 07:30:42 PM http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-ptuj10jul10,1,6711011.story?coll=la-travel-headlines Here's that letter I was refering to. You can find the original article on the LA Times website, if you are so inclined. Clouds saved the bridge in historic Ptuj I was shocked when I saw Beverly Beyette's article about Ptuj ["A Fresh Surprise in Old Europe, July 10]. Who had ever heard of Ptuj, Slovenia? I had, because I flew a P-38 fighter during World War II from our base in the Foggia, Italy, area. My very first mission March 17, 1945, was to dive bomb the railroad bridge in Ptuj — a mission that was later called off due to weather. I really enjoyed reading the article and learning about an area that is not in the mainstream of travel. I'm glad Ptuj was spared that day. It's too bad so many beautiful areas were destroyed during that war.

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angel Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 07:10:47 PM I remembered that LP sent the EMG mouse pad to Blaise. :-) Centerport/Setauket part of Long Island is so beautiful, also, Oyster Bay and Port Jeff. I haven't been in those areas in more years then I want to talk about. As we drove around Hicksville a few weeks ago, Nigey mentioned that instead of taking the LIE or Northern Parkway, they took Woodbury Road, to get down to me. My memories of Sunday afternoon drives with my family all center around Dad taking off on Woodbury Road and just going through all these beautiful areas of Long Island. My Dad worked 6 days a week and on his only day off, he would drive us around. Unfortunately, these days most of my vacation time ends up centering on Hicksville alone, with a possible quick trip over to Manhattan. A real shame, cause as you can see, the North Shore is beautiful! Gina: That old bridge is beautiful! What a shame that they are putting up a new Cable Stayed bridge in its place. I assume it either needed to be widened or the bridge is too old to fix? Speaking of WWII and Bridges. A few weeks ago in the LA Times Travel section there was a story about a bridge in some country (which one escapes me at this time) and that it was the only bridge in this country that didn't get destroyed, during WWII. The next week there was a letter from a man who served during WWII and his mission had been to bomb the bridge, but the night he was to do it, the weather was bad and the mission scrubbed. He was glad to see that it had survived. I should try to find the story, since I only saw the followup letter.

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luckless pedestrian Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 05:41:11 PM http://cgi.ebay.com/Japan-KAMAKURA-DIABUTSU-Real-Photo-Postcard-1920_W0QQitemZ6199283490QQcategoryZ20259QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem when i think of kamakiriad, coming back and in late on the conversation below in here, i think of the kamakura in japan KAMAKURA II KAMAKURA III will send some pics for posting to gina - i still can't figure out how to do that myself - lol

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total diGital Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 04:28:21 PM well Daddy G... please don't hesitate to show us around your habitat, (size of the pics in here is width 300 height 225) HINT HINT. same goes for our islander LP ofcourse and the Sunny Cal residents. A little visual Frisco, mr t? Some urban wings of the angels, Angel? And Clas, what about some of your Pippi Longstocking Land? Or YGK, pix us a Manhattan (if you still live there)... and anyone else for that matter who'd like to lend a visual hand in here :-)

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Long Island Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 04:12:08 PM Nigey sent these. A (non)typical case of synchronicity @work, she was thinking about sending pics of the Long Island scenery and met with similar ideas when opening the Cafe door :-) Ok. Here it goes, Tour D'Ile Longue... Setauket Mill Pond:This is historical territory too...the Revolutionary War was fought in these woods and around these old structures. The graveyards around here are full of Revolutionary War heroes. view from front windows of our previous house Carolyn Church. Built in the later 18th century. We could see it out our back door in Setauket. Took this yesterday afternoon while feeding the ducks and swans. This is near where we live in Centerport. Eric took this at work a couple of weeks ago. It's the view across Long Island Sound toward Connecticut from the Vanderbilt museum gardens.

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footnote Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 02:56:00 PM yes the cards... expensive little trend as a hobby, some media-induced and peer-driven occupation. Glad that's done with.

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b Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 02:52:17 PM Well, have to remain on topic somehow... lp sent me that a while back. I am still grateful, btw. Not the view from my house, no. I'd have to blow up the school across the street, zooom in tight and then that is what it would look like. Don't tempt me. very nice pictures of your neighborhood down there. Ancient battlefields and such, evocative. gotta run take care

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ps Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 02:25:25 PM hey, you got a Steely mousepad.

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g Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 01:58:35 PM ß, is that a view from your house? pretty much the same as here. yes, kids and their stuff. never heard of those cards until the kamakiri card and the collection your son has. it's this COLLECTING stuff, right? yes, and "clever" marketing, like "free" stuff in the bags potato chips. at the risk of sounding old, me thinks i grew up in not such a bad decade and era. are those cards for boys only? for grrrls they have Diddle around these parts of the mainland. and maybe it's not even hip anymore to collect Diddle images and his friends... and yes, you're referring to those rare indidividuals who might have a wretched or stretched view on the world, everything in it and themselves. but it's in a way their prerogative and a few conversations or attempts might be very educational. ok, before i hit these keys for work again, some more visuals of the environment. a beautiful ancient bridge that's next on the list to be demolished after they finished up here... and that one truly is a historical monument. but it still has to go... like the old bridge here, it was a major part of WW II. The Germans conquered all of those bridges along the canal, except the one in this small village, The 2nd Regiment Grenadiers blew it up, so the Germans used gliders to cross the canal. Yeah, we're living on former battleground here...

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b Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 01:05:37 PM Now would you hang long with a man who has a method to manipulate others for a mantra? Why, I'd be on guard constantly. Must be lonely up there. Hell is other people, with their cheap books, I say.

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your hill there Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 12:34:03 PM looks like a scale model of my own. sort of. close... but nah...

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sin chronic city Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 12:30:58 PM something like that, with bugs. Those still the issues, right? I'm tryin' to fit in here!... bah

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no skin off my... fore Thursday, August 11th 2005 - 12:25:17 PM Yu-gi-oh cards were big with children about a year or two ago. I remember picking that kamakiri one up from under the bed. I just went "huh?", I think. Troubling sometimes, mass production waste. Out of the hundreds he still has, couldn't find that one. So much for syncronicity. aww...

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Sun Mountain Wednesday, August 10th 2005 - 10:32:49 PM

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Not your Ruthie Wednesday, August 10th 2005 - 07:11:43 PM http://ruthlessreviews.com/forum/index.php posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 4:32 pm Post subject: Re: To the new visitors. penismightier wrote: It's not about Reagan. It's not about Nixon. It's not about God. It's not about Bush. It's about learning. So, please, don't shut your brains off. Read a bit in here. That's what I've been doing these past 2 days. Reading. And before, some time ago, I've scrolled up and down the lists of topics, members, stopped to stare at the -registered- users online increasing with each new hit of the refresh button and kind of only sensed a jitterbuggin' appendix of doom, gloom and oh yes, porn for the awakening rushes of sexuality that somehow get stuck like a needle in a bad groove. At first it's all just noise and shouting, something I also felt when checking out the regular Ruthless website. Something I wouldn't have done if it weren't for one of its contributors who, via another website of a totally different nature than this one btw, became a long distance compadre of mine. Since we both like to write. And I am doing this professionally. For tender cash. Including learning moments like this very day, interviewing people that take in Belorussian children who suffered because of the Tsjernobyl nuclear disaster back in 1986. These kids spend a month of vacation in healthy environments, clean air (well, relatively spoken) and can really relax, kick back and build some energy and strength. This organization has been doing this for over 12 years now, they have to work with the Ministery of Education in the Respublika Belarus however and endure Alexander Loekasjenko's dictatorial whims. Most of the areas surrounding Tsjernobyl are still contaminated and dangerous. Even if it's almost 20 years ago, people still suffer on a daily basis and there's hardly a future for children or even adults. Those who move to Moscow sometimes even rather return home to work their radio-active land and eat the bad crops because they can't adapt to the city pace and feel estranged. 12 years ago more than 1000 children ranging from 8 until 15 years old came to this region of the country, later on they broadened the age max 'til 18... Loekasjenko also felt the kids were only allowed to go 2 consecutive years or else they would become too "western" to his taste. It took a lot of work and diplomatic skill to get him to reconsider. So some kids really managed to visit their "adoptive" families each year. What is sad, is the fact the organization hasn't been able to find guest homes for more than 5 kids this year for this region. Nationwide it's only 200. Reasons why? A society changing. Family values changing or disappearing. Households of two working members, no kids to stand in their ambitious ways. Those who have kids, don't want to welcome a strange kid from a far away country and risk some radio-active something whatever...? These Belorussian kids are not radio-active and it's not like some happy-go-lucky radiating bug jumps to some fresh smelling skin to pollute it's biosystem. Hm. My point? Correct me if I'm wrong, but First Impressions do count. This got nothing to do with conservatism or a limited state of mind, let alone the burdening shackles of upbringing, generation and age. There's a lot of directionless impulse in here, it's what the cybervibe says. There's a lot of language and attitude that can be tiring if you're looking for real sensible things while giving the benefit of the doubt. So many members, so many posts, so much mayhem too. I don't like porn. I do like humor. And I learned to be ruthless while exchanging civil handshakes and a smile. So somehow I managed to rinse the cobwebs (or should I say cockwebs?) out of my hair, step over my initial sadness and shock for finding so many lost souls in here and decided to give it some thought. Oh, and mind my words, this is just my view, opinion, subjective assessment of the time spent so far. Still, now I don't hear the shouting, nor see sticky damp rooms full of masturbating Woodpeckers. And lets not forget the damsels in excess! Anyway, if it weren't for those cute little pictures above on the left (next to the RUTHLESS title) and some faces and personas I liked, I would not even have bothered to sign in and try to establish some sort of communication level with some of you. Well then, may this be a reciprocal experience... Yours sincerely, Rumpus _________________ tickle its foreskin before you penetrate the mind reply by Giton from Germany: Anyway, in case you consider staying, Rumpus, welcome. As Jimmy pointed out, the "Ruthless" section of the forum is all about madness. If you have any special interests to talk about, just look for didcated threads or visit some of the subforums, which generally have higher quality contributions. On your statement, it seems you obviously took us for a bunch of antisocial child-haters. But be assured that is not the case and half of the forum members either have kids or consider to have some in the future. I understand your opinion on this Belorussian kids issue as I feel the same (given my country practically neighbours Belorus, we hear it in the news every now and then). Alienates me a little bit. Sounds like you dream of the 60s where women were chained to the house and dominated by their husbands. At least, that's the vision of "family values" most conservatives have. And why do you blame "society" (also a very vague term)? Isn't it hard-core capitalism, cuts in social welfare and national policies that force people to work till exhaustion and keeps them from raising children? That's at least my perception of things and I always found it schizophrenic that conservatives promote both, total subjection of the working class and family values, at the same time.

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thought train Wednesday, August 10th 2005 - 02:08:54 AM http://www.jwz.org/webcollage/ ...thinking about how rational thought seems to be so hard for some people, and decided to google "rational thought". First thing that came up was this: WebCollage: Exterminate All Rational Thought. http://www.jwz.org/webcollage/ ...and I thought, "I'm right. There's some sort of plot against rational thought." Nice sight though..

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C Tuesday, August 9th 2005 - 10:48:56 PM Hi YGK - I don't know exactly know what you mean with "up with" - some days I'm pissed and tired, other days, most days nowdays actually, I'm pretty fine. The old fights at the Yellow is a habit hard to break, but it feels like it isn't for real, look at Mu, he's happy again... it's like an old marriage :-)

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ygk Tuesday, August 9th 2005 - 10:14:04 PM Clas: hey thanx for the response you gave bill....and what's up with you? I know you miss pompe, as I likewise do my feline friends nearly two years gone......they're at a country club upstate, but I do miss them..... cheers, G, and everyone ygk

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C Tuesday, August 9th 2005 - 09:54:24 PM The lounge? What used to be there, before it vannished? Are you serious, are you giving me a sleepless night? My ordinary email address and homepage are up again. Thanks Allah for the gold! Hoola Bandoola! Javeh! Jesus Maria Magdalena! Hallelujah and Praise the Man! Pjuuuh, I am tired, it's time for the naked ride home. Naked, which means it feels naked without the dog.

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g Tuesday, August 9th 2005 - 09:35:37 PM last one for the day... completely forgot to "lounge" the entries, so we lost about 2 weeks, including ß's not-yet-birthday cakes and such. ah well. Clas, found another Halcyon painting for the Lounge, so it's in your honor :-) and Barbra sings: "when in Maine i do as the Mainers doooooo"...

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Daddy G. Tuesday, August 9th 2005 - 09:30:15 PM Angel, I have that same DF W&M CD. Haven't listened to it lately. Now that you mention it maybe I'll dig it out in the next couple of weeks and spin it again. (I've been involved lately in a tedious time-consuming personal project that I want to finish.) Clas: You're right, Kamakiriad does mean "journey" or some such. "Kamakiri" is the car, but a "Kamakiriad" is the journey in said car. But I guess it's all just playing fast and loose with languages and translations. Sometimes I like to go on a "LeBaroniad." (Hmm, that just doesn't roll off the tongue in quite the same way.) :-)

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Daddy G. Tuesday, August 9th 2005 - 08:56:12 PM Looks like the bug interpretation outnumbers the weapon interpretation, so I'll stick with believing it means "praying mantis." More serendipity that way. Or synchronicity. Whatever. :-)

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angel Tuesday, August 9th 2005 - 08:53:40 PM I just finished Brian Sweet's book last week and yes, I did indeed see that very thing mentioned. I also have it on a CD called Donald Fagen Words and Music, which came out just when Kami was released and Donald mentions it on that, too. But it slipped my mind, during "The Mantis Conversations". lol LP: The Kino Brothers (Leigh and Lesley). They are the nicest men. Very friendly and charming. They came up to Hubby and I and introduced themselves. It was a pleasure to see them in action. Gina: We mentioned number 18 on that list, when talking to a visiting relative on Sunday. The guys mentioned that Channel 5 has gotten to the point that they make fun of the Storm Watch stuff, by calling it Drizzle Watch. lol

... CAFE D'ESCARGOT Doesn't matter where you been or what you've done [ TOP]