Tag Archives: story
Up Next
The next satirical video stars a new friend of mine, who began with the simple name of “Color Blanks” but will, before your eyes, transform into a
Solar System Sensation!!!
Color Blanks blockhead from above
- Color Blanks blockhead
A new friend has asked me to watch a live performance by an artist named Louis CK, whom I’ve never seen, live or filmed. I downloaded the video and will view in the next few days.
Davos Koolaruckus
Can you name the top five — yes, 5 — competitive advantages, relative or absolute, that the industries and people in the geographic region called Greece have in the global economy?
Seriously.
I’d rather watch Brian/Carley Lee and Joe dancing a Pentozalli “Five Disorienting Steps” than judge that any news of Greek debt restructuring gives us the real picture of hope and prosperity for Athenians and their ilk any time soon.
Meanwhile, the ruckus in Davos…but do you really care what pompous circumstances mean to those who want to give meaning to their lives?
Observing the kids on the dance floor, such as Raymond Linton and Jenn Nye in a waltz, I ponder the future of clashing subcultures, from those who propose and adhere to strict, austere religious practice to those for whom life has no bounds other than gravitational pull and energy consumption.
Can you lift up your subculture without putting down others? Can we not all sail on a ship rising in a high tide together?
When a deputy sheriff like Steve Adkison and his beautiful partner Suzy can put the saucy in salsa in front of appreciative onlookers, we know everything is going to be all right.
Of course, with weapons of mass and minidestruction at the ready, from wooden clubs to radioactive bombs, we’re going to keep killing some of us in our seven-billion-and-growing population from now until the end of time (or perhaps until the end of the leap second).
Gotta go before I get too winded…or windy.
I’ll leave you with these gems:
Don’t get annoyed if you neighbour plays his music at two o’clock in the morning. Call him at four and tell him how much you enjoyed it.
“I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes — and six months later you have to start all over again.” — Joan Rivers
“Let’s be frank, the Italians’ technological contribution to humankind stopped with the pizza oven.” — Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There, 1991
“The sport of skiing consists of wearing three thousand dollars’ worth of clothes and equipment and driving two hundred miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and get drunk.” — P.J. O’Rourke, Modern Manners, 1984
“If savings are below investment, foreigners are financing some of the domestic investment. The difference between savings and investment is equal to the trade (or more precisely, the current account) surplus. If savings fall short of investment, the difference is a trade deficit and is equal to the net foreign capital inflows that are used to make up the difference between investment and saving. In common-sense terms, if we sell more to other countries than we buy from them, we send back the difference as savings, and that partially finances their investment or their consumption.” — Michael Spence, The Next Convergence, 2011
You decide which one is more humorous….or needs some hummus and pita chips.
Two Facts
- Found an old white jumpsuit in the closet where clothes of my youth feed moth larvae. I painted black stripes on the outfit, put it on with an assist from a rusty shoehorn, snapped a set of fake handcuffs on my wrists and ran down the main street of my town. For some strange reason, my marathon training attire attracted attention — several police officers pulled over and asked me for identification. Had to explain to them the only way I can motivate myself to run 26.2 miles is if I’m either being chased by wild dogs or on the run from the law.
- Has it occurred to you yet, if you live in the United States, that the person who wins the next U.S. Presidential election will receive votes from about 20% to 25% of the U.S. population and claim it is a true mandate for change? What will that say about the 75% to 80% who didn’t vote for the person (including those who didn’t/couldn’t vote at all)?
A nod to the success of Karen Hawkins, a secondary schoolmate.
- Book of the day: “The next convergence: the future of economic growth in a multispeed world” by Michael Spence
Future rocketeers, are you practicing your orbital entry maneuvers? Won’t be long now before we need a flock of rocketeers piloting the fleet! [Racketeers need not apply, of course]
As much as I find the storyline of the reluctant leader of the Committee trying, if not tiring, let’s see what the leader recommends after attending the latest Committee meeting…
QUOTE OF THE DAY
from allthingsd:
Terry Gou on the Taipei Zoo
January 19, 2012 at 11:59 pm PT
Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide, and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache.
– Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou, who went on to say that he wants to learn from the director of Taipei Zoo regarding how animals should be managed
We, the members of the Committee, totally agree! 😉
A Working Day in Paradise
Patching holes in the cabin roof today. Talk to you tomorrow.
Have a great day, starting with a great day in the mornin’!
Three data points to keep you occupied:
How happy is your language?
Headline of the day
Driver of allegedly stolen car that
crashed in stable condition
[here]
Don’t you hate it when unstable [allegedly] stolen cars crash? And what happened to the driver?
One more for the road…
Molding a Character out of Molten Glass
I remember the first piece that grabbed my attention. Thick. Heavy.
Ever had a tumbler or paperweight that felt solid? 1 kg or more?
Stripes that ran through it…sigh…
But I lost it in a divorce.
“How did I lose something so precious to me?” Oh…never mind…if you haven’t been there, you wouldn’t understand…even the important things are worth letting go in a divorce.
It’s standing here, the heat in my face as I gather, where I feel truly at home.
My first glassblowing class, unlike yours, was almost a joke. No help from the instructors, as if they wanted to get a good laugh watching us fail. Nothing to take home with me, either.
That’s why you’ve got the molten ball, the flowers, the paperweight and the tumbler.
I want you to remember this day, cherish it, even.
Quiet. There’s a chopper coming in.
I thought we had promises of no warzones anymore. Oh well…
Where was I?
Hmm…I left my job, my “real” job, a while back…’95, I believe.
I got here in 2003.
In between, well, let’s say it was an adventure…renting time in other glassblowers’ studios. Studying under people who had no idea what they were doing and some who were very nearly the best of the best.
Sure, I could have apprenticed at a glass factory but I didn’t want to spend five years learning and relearning the fine art of one single activity, perfecting it before moving on to the next.
I like to experiment, see where the glass is taking me, understanding what the colours and the minerals do in extreme heat.
Yes, I’m married but my husband is the exact opposite of me. Very quiet. A homebody.
That’s okay, though, because we get along.
Besides, he doesn’t mind if I work late.
After all, this is my job and my hobby.
That’s the thing about owning your own business — you never get a day off — if you love what you do you never want to take a day off.
I have my apprentices here, as you can see. I love them all in different measure, just like children, who require various levels of attention, care and guidance because every personality is different.
After you’ve gathered and gathered and gathered, you get a feel for when gravity is pulling, so that’s why you see me absent-mindedly rolling the pipe in my hand. Ask my husband. If I’m standing with a broom, I’ll roll it around, too.
I’ve worked in this business long enough that I’m used to being seen as one of the guys. You don’t get a lot of female glassblowers, especially when I started, so I’m pretty thick-skinned.
That twisted piece down there was going to be a Christmas chandelier or tree topper but I didn’t like so I broke it. I think this piece could be a horn or a party hat. What do you think?
Stop by again soon and I’ll talk with you in more detail. I really think there’s a good story you could make with my character.
I don’t mean I have some sob story that’ll break your heart. I know there are a lot of good people in this town that a story’s begging to be told about us in one of those intersecting storyline/character sketch sort of things.
A small cotton town growing into the Rocket City. Where do we go from here?
When will the first glassblower open a shop on the Moon or Mars? Hey, it’s just a matter of time, right?
treetrunkdings 