Sunday, April 30, 2006

Liberal gibberish: they call it communicating

If you haven't had a giggle today, slide down the page to just past my list of interesting links and click the Rant button on the Autorantic Virtual Moonbat. Or if you are from Oregon and need an emetic to regurgitate that poison tofu you just mistook for food, you can go to the so-called Democracy for Oregon website. I don't normally like to give the opposition a push, but it's worth a giggle to read some of their balderdash plus like Sun-Tzu says
know yourself, know your enemy: 100 Victories.
Don't know yourself, don't know your enemy: 100 defeats
Which is also a good reason to go to these sites:
Faith Freedom
Apostates of Islam
Religion of Peace

The fall of Rome, redux

Ooh, I like this place. Heavy themes, gnashing teeth and visceral responses. Truth is painful but cleansing.

Over the Bill and Far Away

Over the Bill and Far Away This kid is funny

Repeat until heard: Close the Borders

Heidi at Euphoric reality has a great article entitled It's the Borders Stupid! and I can't agree more. Let's all just keep chanting "Close the Borders" and like Horton Hears a Who Washington will finally hear us.

An interesting side note: I just read a Rasmussen poll that says a third party candidate could conceivably win the 2008 presidential election running only on the Broken Borders issue. If Colin Powell would run independent on that issue he'd scoop it for sure.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

More thoughts on cooperation

I've been thinking about my earlier posting about the Gasoline boycott Chainletter and you know, it's sort of funny but my recommendations have a lot of other things going for them besides saving gas. There would be a dramatic increase in personal connectedness in our society. People would have to learn some of the arts of tolerance, forbearance and social grace that have been gradually declining for the last 25 years or so. People would be safer (traveling in groups often has that affect) Both creativity and technology would be given a big boost. The division of opinion and an individual's sense of isolation would be decreased. Don't get me wrong, I'd love 50 cent a gallon gas, but if we can't have that maybe there is a silver lining to a little bit of creative social adaptation.

Another hot day on the farm

Got through wrapping the little trees in Deer-X, watering the greenhouse and spreading many hundreds of pounds of year-old fertilizer in the grapes and orchard. Had to break the ammonium sulfate up with a shovel. Then I had a sort of flashback to that "ice warrior" dream earlier in the week. Ammonium sulfate looks very much like several day old snow.

Also went and re-watered the greenhouse after lunch. It was 107 in there, what a sauna! But the plants still seem to be loving it. It is supposed to near 90 external temp next week so I will definitely have to move the plants out before that as internal temp will be about 120 when that happens.

No dreams to report last night. Probably getting too busy and physically tired to support the additional mental activity of lucid dreaming these days.

Corn planting starts in about 4-5 days followed by black plastic rows and transplanting of melons and etc.

Hope your day grows with happiness just like my little plants.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Aha! Gotcha you corrupt politicians

Y'all probably know all about this, but I just found opensecrets.org one of those websites I was wishing existed only it did all along. Finally we can all see who has been buying our so-called representatives.
Another great little article from TCS daily. I love this line:

It's as though aid agencies need to fail in their targets in order to maintain their missions. After all, if their programs succeeded they'd put themselves out of business.

It's the same story with doctors and politician. If doctors actually Cured things instead of just treating them they'd lose business. And if politicians actually solved problems they would diminish their hold over the mass consciousness of their slaves constituents.

A story worth repeating.

Kyle McDonald is trading his way up to a house and all he had to start with was one large red paper clip. You may have already heard this story but I found it fascinating. It exemplifies the great spirit of companionship which the web often fosters.

Protesting the wrong thing, again.

Illegal immigrants are preparing to protest again. Like it's really going to mean something this big push on their part. If they have to protest why don't they protest over something really important like the ongoing genocide and repression by islamists in Darfur? Oh no! It's way more important that they get some stupid symbolic victory over the will of the American people, proving to us once and for all that we'd all be helpless without them. "Forget all the pain, murder and suffering going on somewhere else in the world and pay attention to our little problem" is what they are saying.

In some ways I'm totally looking forward to this because maybe it will wake America up. More importantly it will prove that life will go on just fine without slave labor.

Another hot day.

Planting, planting, planting. My fingers are getting rubbed down from all this planting. Dirt under the fingernails is irritating. And this is just planting phase 1. Phase 2 will be when we pull the black plastic mulched mounds and put these plants into them. There will be at least 8000 feet of that another 12,000 feet (all lineal not square ) of watermelon, pumpkin, winter and summer squash. About the same time we'll start putting in a half acre a week of corn. The first planting will be closer to an acre as there are three different types in the first planting: 65, 75, and 89 days to production respectively.

No dreams of import last night.

I've got a small side job today of wrapping some of our young fruit trees in Deer-X to keep those giant buck-toothed long-legged hoofed rats from eating on them.

Apple trees are flowering like crazy and turning the air into a living perfume of wonderment.

Wishing your day full of love and light and life and freedom.

More Dubai shinanegans

Curious George is up to no good again. Damn he makes it hard to stay with republicans. On Bloomberg TV this morning I saw that el Presidente is pushing to sell 9 of our military manufacturing facilities to a Dubai owned company. What absolute nonsense! Didn't he get the message last month? Once more this will push Congress and the Senate to unite against him, I hope. Does Georgie boy really think that any country which is actively funding terrorism can be trusted with any part of our military operations? What sort of Orwellian doublespeak is this?

It really makes me agree with my dad. This just looks like some enormous convoluted chess game designed to keep the people of America (if not the whole western world ) agitated, upset and tired. A sort of shell game between our politicians and our media. Over here it's illegal immigration, over there it's the war on terror, the middle shell has gas prices and the one on the far right is global trade. Oops! don't forget China and then Russia sneaks up and steals your sandwich.

I gotta go work in the garden just so I don't think about this stuff.

Have a wonderful day.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Just curious

Just curious aren't we all Jason? This kid has some good stuff (he could be 80 for all I know but he strikes me as having a young mind and that's a good thing) He also seems to be good at peaving off liberals and that's always fun.

More acres turned

A bunch more soil broken out, half way to being ready to plant. Big greenhouse got to 103 today, going to have to start moving plants out if that keeps up. Supposed to cool off after tomorrow though so we'll see. 5000+ melons and sundry other plants growing like crazy.

I'm sore and tired and dirty and I've still got a couple of books I need to read on and have to do one last water check on the plants so this evening's post will be cut short.

Wishing you freedom, insight and happiness.

Another fine spring morning

Going out to bush-hog a field of mustard here in a few minute. Then I'll be plowing again for a couple of hours. Maybe take a break to work in the vineyard for a bit, put a little fertilizer on the grapes etc.

I had a really interesting dream about being at some sort of a resort and then I had a moment of lucidity which totally screwed up the dreams because I was like "Cool, now I can go anywhere" so I went to this little bistro in what I think was New York City or maybe Chicago. Somewhere mostly east and a little north. Distance and scale are difficult to judge in dreams. Could've been in Europe for all I know. Other than that the dreams I had were some of the coolest ever except I can't remember much before that moment of lucidity and after I was free from whatever influences regularly plague my dreams and having too much fun to record it all.

Hope your day is fine and smooth.

Gasoline boycott chain letter

Ever since 1996 whenever the price of gas has spiked at a new high I have gotten a chain letter in my email. It goes something like this "Want lower gas prices... Let's all boycott the biggest 2 producers Exxon and Mobile... We can get 300 million people to join the boycott just send this to 10 people on your email list.

The first 3 times I got this I did as suggested, sending it off to 10 of my friends. And presumably most if not all of them did the same. And yet nothing came of it. Exxon and Mobile didn't lose huge profits that year. Their stations here in town remained busy. Why? More importantly why not? Why didn't this work?

Several reasons come to mind. The internet has penetrated less than what, 60% of homes in America? (South Korea kicks our butts with 71% highspeed connections) So at most it could leverage like 160 million people. Figure the chain letter doesn't work well and you lose as much as half again (unlikely, how hard is it to forward?) that leaves 80 million. Still 80 million people boycotting the biggest producers and discussing this with their friends, family, coworkers etc. should've had some impact.

The problem is more complex and simpler than the letter assumes. More complex because gasoline producers and their system of pricing is interconnected. Gasoline at your local station could originate from any number of producers. Plus it's the total supply that affects price not just the demand at one or two major outlets.

The problem is simpler because of the people getting the email: they just didn't change their behavior, continuing to buy at whichever station was convenient.

The reality everyone in America is avoiding ( for very selfish and self-centered reasons ) is that we could easily solve this problem. The solution is no further away than the end of the arm you hold your cellphone with. Our behavior is what drives these prices. Feeding money to the terrorists who want us all dead and the corporations that could care less so long as they keep making money hand over fist.

If (and it is a huge IF) we would just work together to reduce our driving, use of electricity and other oil consuming behavior things would change quickly. Most importantly IF we stuck with it for even a short while longer than the bare minimum that SUV and Humvee owners feel we must then there would be a huge backlash throughout the oil industry and the middle eastern oil producing countries.

Can you imagine the impact of a concerted effort by Americans? Everyone car pooling, grocery shoppers forming buying and transport consortiums for each neighborhood.
Cut back on the use of plastics, switch to more efficient lighting. Don't travel unless you must. Use the phone! Telecommute a few days a week. And do all these things for like 6 months. Every oil tanker in the world would be sitting still full in port.

Our previously mentioned chain letter has already given us some statistical data about the likelihood of such an intentional and conscientious change in behavior. Unlike during World War 2 when every single American worked for the good of the whole world, the Democrat and Republican politicians have already made sure in at least one arena the first half of that old adage no longer holds true: United We Stand.

The second half of that phrase is disturbingly much closer.

Update: in case you are looking for afore mentioned letter, go here.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I love wikipedia

For lots of reasons. I've learned a ton of stuff about math and string theory I never knew thanks to them. Wish I weren't a poor farmer or I'd contribute some cash to them.
Today's featured article was a real blast from the past and a reminder of the sort of thing that is easily forgotten (or covered up by certain parties) check it out:
1996 U.S. campaign finance scandal I bet the demos wish that was forgotten. An interesting reminder too because that Hu fella (murderin' bastard as his people call him) was just here being entertained by Bill Gates and Pres. Booshy.

Liberals like the taste of foot

Will they ever get their foot out of their collective mouth?
My friend Del sent me this:

Gym Instructor Mocks Bush In Front Of First Daughters
Tue Apr 25 2006 10:32:05 ET

A spinning instructor at Washington, DC's Sports Club/LA mocked President Bush without realizing (believe it or not) that a first daughter was in his class!

ROLL CALL reports: The instructor, Glenn Makl, is said to be horrified to learn after class that the president's daughter Jenna was there to hear his making fun of President Bush and handing out of a video clip compilation of some of the president's more memorable gaffes and malapropisms.

Jenna Bush was working out at the club with her boyfriend, who later complained about the politcal ranting of the trainer, a source tells the DRUDGE REPORT.

If you haven't got enough of such rants, please try the "Autorantic Virtual Moonbat" in the side bar further down the page. Quite Droll!

Saber Point

Ol' Stogie Chomper at Saber Point hits the nail on the head again. What will we ever do with this so called "leadership" we have in Washington D.C. ? Voting in democrats is like swapping one kind of cancer for another. Both equally deadly. The problem with our system of representational governance is that once someone is voted in they are no longer accountable to their constituency. The electorate should be allowed on the fly replacement options just like anyone would have in the working world. If an employee is jaking it, fire the bastard right then and there and replace them with someone who actually will do the job. Rinse and repeat for an effective leadership.

Morning report

Will be working in the greenhouse this morning, getting in the last of the melons. Should put us in the 3000+ melon plant range. The rest will have to be direct seeded.

Many dreams last night, mostly gibberish. But I did have 1 of interest (and no I haven't checked the comments from yesterday's posts yet...) In the dream I was walking down a sort of alley or path lined on both sides by a weathered grey wooden fence. There were patches of bright white snow on the ground, so I could tell no one else had been walking there. The path seemed to be in the mountains because it was quite steep and had sharp switch back corners with mounded sides of bare light orangeish colored earth. At one place on the fence someone had written three times one on top the other: Ice Warrior. When I arrived at the bottom of the path it opened into a sort of meadow with trees and a few spring flowers showing.

Well, off to work I go. Hope your day is sweet and fine.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Casting Pearls Before Swine

Casting Pearls Before Swine
Right wing funny warning: this is pretty cool.

Post shower relaxation

Broke out about another acre of ground this afternoon: hot, dusty, gritty work. Also loud and smoky.
But I feel much better now.

Have a bunch of items to take back to the library tomorrow. Some I finished some I didn't.

After last night's delightful dreamlet I'm looking forward to what tonight might bring. It's always sort of like panning for gold or fishing. You just let it happen and accept what comes to you. I wonder if I can dream about something that someone posts in my comments before I read it? That would be freaky. Nothing gross please. I will chose not to dream of anything someone might write which I would find unpleasant so save yourself the trouble if you're cruel. Otherwise any suggestion will be interesting and I'll post any results of weirdness. Might even make that a weekly feature.

Sending you freedom and exuberant thrills of happiness.

Yet another thing to worry Rae Ann

Positive Liberty describes a drug-war torture incident in Campbell County, Tennessee including a link to a 40 minute recording of the incident made by his wife.
Oh America, how I cry for thee...

Springity spring

Another delightful warm day in the fields. Just got through watering the big greenhouse again, 99 degrees on the ground and everything is growing great.
Earlier I went to the big city of Medford and spent out about 600$ for drip tape, irrigration parts and sundry others. These hallucinatory oil prices are killing me! And still 2 months at least until cash flow which means the credit card companies are very happy.

It is so beautiful out there today. A few puffy clouds again but the sky is mostly tending towards azure. The shadows have an unusually lively and refreshing quality on such a fine spring day. Like the faint after taste of winter still lingering on the world's tongue.

Only one dream of interest last night. It was early in the day and a spring shower lashed the yard between mom and dad's house and the maintenance shop. A feather blew by as splatterings of rain covered me. The first time ever I actually felt the rain on my skin in a dream. I grabbed the quill of the feather and it pulled me into the sky, tumbling in the wind with the rain drops.

A day of happiness and freedom to you.

Monday, April 24, 2006

The price of hubris

Ahhhggg! Apparently it is alright to feel like a god but when you admit to it that's a bit much. My back is so sore and I've had a rotten afternoon. I can't get the darn emulator for my Smartphone program to work right. The emulator runs but the stupid VB embedded program environment won't hook to the emulator correctly for some reason. I had the same problem 2 years ago when I did some PocketPC programming but I can't remember how I fixed it. After that my main computer crashed and one of my acquaintances had to poop in my cheerios (figuratively speaking) It always sucks when someone not actually part of your business has influence over how your plans are going to be directed. I won't name names but someone decided they didn't like the way I was designing part of my program and decided to interfere. Thus causing me much angst. What good is being in business for yourself when someone else can force a change in the direction of your operation? I don't mind the change in direction, it's the almost 100% certain loss of money that pisses me off! And it always has to come out of my wallet never anyone elses.

Ah well enough whining. I'm glad to be alive on this bright green and blue ball of mud.

May the sky and sun and moon and stars smile upon you.

Plowmeister

Woo-hoo!
Man, have I had a long day of breaking earth. I don't take my ego seriously at all, it's the best thing in the world to laugh at but sometimes when the tractor is roaring like some ferocious beast and ground is grinding and crushing and plunging under steel blades of mighty infernal smoke belching machinery and my tiny frail human form is mastering muscle and hand-eye coordination to control the whole fearsome mess I feel like a FREAKING GOD!

And it was a terribly lovely day with puffy white clouds blowing around a limpid blue sky. I don't really know what limpid is but it looks right in that sentence.

No dreams to report from last night, thankfully. That was getting to be a bit much.

Will probably take a short nap and then go do some work in the vineyard. Need to cut a bit of regrown blackberries and maybe trim a few more grapes before they get too far out of dormancy.

Wishing your day full of energy and joy and lightness of spirit.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

And even more insanity

While I'm on the whole intellectual property subject: here's some more insanity to show us all where the world is headed

more fascinating stuff

The Creative Commons seems to me a pretty smart organization. Somewhere in the world some control freaks (either in gov't or industry like the RIAA) are totally freaking out!

Happy Dirt Day

Yesterday was Earth Day so I declare today Dirt Day:

If you click to get the bigger view on this one you can see our ol' 806 international which needs a new fuel pump, starter and some cam inserts. It's on the left behind the dirt. The dirt was so beautiful I decided we needed 2 images for your edification. In the one below you can see some of the mobile home park which is next door.

deep dreams

Some heavy stuff last night, even a tiny bit of lucidity in my dreams.
Found myself visiting with an old friend, Scott Davis. He'd put on some weight. We were at the coast touring through some dilapidated buildings which turned out to be craft shops. At one we found a curio shaped like a translucent red snake wrapped around 2 dice. It reminded me of a ter'angreal from one of Robert Jordan's books and I told Scott about it excitedly. I think my reading about quantum probability influenced that one. I entered a deeper dream state then which is foggy now. An episode of time later I found myself wandering in a swampish region near a desert where some people were having a gathering. I spotted a fellow wearing a turban who kept trying to hide behind a towel draped across a dead tree. In a nearby glade another man was hanging snake skins on a tree to dry. He told me they were for a special charm he was making. I threw up my arms and thunder rumbled in the distance. The man flinched and said "I wish you would stop doing that!" Again some time passed between dreams and I found myself walking across the roof tops of mills and factories in the nearby town of Grant's Pass. I began to traverse a suspension bridge which was made of cable and noticed a graduation going on beneath me. The bridge was very high in the air and began to sway and tremble and seemed about to pull apart. Then I woke up.

Now most of that I can tweak a series of psychological perspectives out of easily enough. Much of the rest I can derive from reprocessed memory. The last bit was particularly vivid as if lit by early morning spring light. But really nothing of significance there except for the further practice of refining my dream attention. Maybe a little insight about the mullah snake magic if one believes in such things. I avoid the blindness of skepticism as much as I do that of credulence.

Well, it may be Sunday but the good weather forces me back onto the tractor today. If I knew for sure it would rain Tuesday I'd wait but since chances are low I've got to bust down everything I plowed yesterday with a disc today or I'll be planting in slabs of sun baked adobe.

Freedom and happiness!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Going to bed early

Because I is so tired. I'll try to get pics of the field up tomorrow morn.
Blog on lovely world.

Chance and stupidity

Ifni (goddess of chance and numbers) taught me a lesson about keeping my mind on the job. I was moving the cement mixer down by the big greenhouse, still frittering to myself about complaining neighbors, when I forgot that the mixer handle folds in one direction. As the thing got going down hill the mixer barrel got over center and the handle folded thus flipping it onto it's side and jamming one of the foot pads into the soft flesh above my left knees. Gave myself a nice little furrow of my own about 3 inches long. Son-of-&!#(% you can imagine I turned the air blue for a few minutes as I limped into the house for some bandage and tape.

But other than that the day has gone well. Almost done plowing last year's cantaloupe field. Will try and get a pic of that up here for your edification.

One sided civility

Getting some plowing done this morning with the ol' 165 Massey. A lovely morning with puffy clouds.

Had the neighbor flag me down and complain that I'd left the radio on in my greenhouse over night and it had kept her awake. So sorry about that, you can be sure it won't happen again. It amuses and worries me when I have such an encounter. She mentioned that other people in the mobile home park had been over-hearing my radio during the day. So now I'll remove that from the greenhouse. Because in this day and age of civil complaints and warrantless lawsuits I just can't take the risk of offending any one of the 50+ people in that mobile home park. Sure, it's ok for them to throw empty spray cans, wood scrap, paper towel rolls, broken toys, old plastic containers and an assortment of other junk over the fence into my fields but if even one of them go to the county with a complaint about dust, noise or smell from my farm then Bam! restraining order and/or financial penalty on me. Never mind all the years that someone from the mobile home park has stolen corn from my fields. Apparently civility is a one way street. I think the real reason they didn't like my radio playing was that it was tuned to Lars Larson.

Anyhow, done with my little break and snack so I've gotta get back out on the tractor and start plowing the next field. This'll be where we plant white corn this year, was the cantaloupe field last year so there should be some good residual calcium to help the white corn be especially fine.

Wishing you freedom and happiness.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Blogriculture

Shameless elf promotion. Oops, I mean Self promotion.
I've been linked by yet another blog! check it:
Blogriculture
Thank you Capital Press.
That makes 2, I hope I can stand the fame!

Brrrr....

Something to give you the chills. {warning! graphic images from Iraq }

Looking forward to Glenn Reynold's new book

New Atlantis has a great excerpt from Glen Reynold's upcoming book "An army of Davids" which I am now totally looking forward to. I might even Buy this one. Nobody tell the library, ok?

The article is called "The rise of the guerrilla media" and it's about us, the bloggers. Since we're all immense egotists I'm sure you'll all love it as much as I did.

I can substantiate the fact that I've been telling my friends something like this for years, although I wasn't thinking of blogs at the time. To me the big transformative media change was going to come from what I saw as the obvious convergence of 3 technologies: the cell phone, live streaming video and GPS. Put these together with a little cryptographic trickery to prevent faking and you have the perfect witness. Events will be recorded with unquestionable veracity especially if more than one witness is present.

I feel like a bum Friday

I feel like a bum because I didn't work very hard today. Got up a little late (6:30!) did a little computer stuff, planted a few trays of melons, got ready for a new software project involving smart phones (just what I need!) then went over to the second farm and sprayed the roads with round-up while dad disc'd the field with the 165 Massey Ferguson. Only serious work I did today was pulling up the old rug from our selling room, that was hard but didn't take but about 20 minutes. Came home, watered the greenhouse and planted a tray of "Planter's Jumbo" cantaloupe and "Jumbo Hale's Best" similar but different varieties.

So all in all I was pretty much a slacker today. If anyone has some good ideas for smart phone programs they'd like to have just let me know, I'm gonna need some projects to stretch my mental muscles on. Will most likely write the first programs in Visual Basic Embedded and only move to VC++E if I have to. I hate C++ it's just an excuse for some programmers to be obtuse. I wonder what the situation with Java is on smart phones? I'll have to look into that, I really like Java (both the code and the drink.)

Wish the world freedom and giggles.

Collective artificial stupidity

Oh, this is just too good a giggle. Big thanks to the Egyptian Sandmonkey for pointing me too this most illustrious source of Unformation: The Uncylopedia

Thursday, April 20, 2006

synthetic knowledge

I've heard of artificial flavoring but not synthetic knowledge.
Bookmarked this fella about 2 months ago and then forgot all about him. He's got some good brain morsels in his writing.

Watermelon me worry?

Spent much of the day in a steaming hot greenhouse planting cantaloupes and seedless watermelon. With the radio tuned to classical music instead of talk radio it was easy to forget the problems eating at the human world. I was busy making things grow and that is the best effort I can make to improve the world so why should I carry the extra burden of worry? Find something real in the world that you like and can do well. (Not just reading web pages and dreaming up angst) Focus on how you can make your private little area as best as possible. That is the only hope we can offer this troubled little world.

Good morning bloggy

Today is planting: melons, melons, melons. 8 kinds of cantaloupe, crenshaw, watermelon all sorts of good stuff.

Only one dream of interest to report from last night. Sometimes I think that things from outside my usual realm of experience impinge upon my dreaming mind. Last night was a good example. Steve and I were driving to one of our high school hang-outs, a swimming hole on Abegg road. Only things were different now, someone had planted huge trees along the left side of the road. The trees where white almost like paperbark birch but instead of branching out like birches they tapered to a single point like delimbed pine trees. They were bundled together with steel bands in places and floated suspended about a concrete like surface. In retrospect they remind me a lot of rockets. Except they whispered in the wind like real trees do and seemed to sway with some internal movement of earth and sky.

You've got to see at this point that there's absolutely nothing about these "trees" which could come from my daily conscioussness or experiences. They don't represent anything and they aren't a reprocessing of my memories as current psychological theory says dreams would be. They must have some exterior source.

A day of freedom and happiness to you.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Tell the president of China

Just got through with another Chinese frustration torture ala Walmart.

Had a battery that I needed to charge, it was drained (not dead, just out of juice) and I needed a new battery charger so on the way home from my niece's softball game dad stopped at Walmart; bought me their best (made in China) battery charger.

When hooked to the battery it refused to charge, just kept flashing the "Check" light. Turns out they designed it as a "smart" battery charger which is supposed to detect the battery before it will start charging. I'm standing there staring at the thing. With a little testing I figure out one thing: it works great when hooked to a battery which is already charged. Now just how smart is that? As safety features go it stinks since now I'm tempted to go on a shooting spree in Walmart, since I can't go on one in China (totally kidding here, I'd never do such a thing!)

It makes me wonder if I should be afraid of the Chinese because it is such a clever way to destroy a country: by undercutting their business competition with low price goods which in turn are utterly useless to the consumer who is forced to endure another wasted trip to Walmart. Or, should I feel sorry for them because this is actually their gods-honest best attempt at manufacturing something which should be a simple product?

Anyways, here's a picture of the damn thing, try to avoid it:

Status Quo: no mo'

During today's brief shutdown of blogger I came inside from watering the 107 degree greenhouse (whew!) and watched a little TV. Skipping from news channel to news channel, history, diy, hgtv, discovery it really got me thinking of a recent post by Lubos Motl.

I more readily find fulfillment of my entertainment and information needs through blogs and the web than I have any hope of doing through broadcast TV. Furthermore reviews of products and services by my fellow bloggers are collectively more reliable despite any corruption due to commercial agencies or special interests. This is sort of a case of what David Brin calls "reciprocal accountability" and a very fine concept it is. If only we could get this sort of accountability from our elected officials.

My hope is that as this medium continues to enrich our lives it also gives us all some advantage which will become evident to those who are averse to seeking out and exploring the blogiverse; lowering their natural resistance to new things. Perhaps there is a threshold of connectedness, a sort of critical mass of understanding beyond which we as a collective could finally realize some of those dreams that individuals have always sought from their society. I'm not about to suggest peace would be one of those: that's too grandiose a dream for this realist. But if we could solve some of the little problems in each of our lives maybe we could then each work on solving those problems which are in all of our lives.

And that's Guy's Groovy thought of the day. Be Happy.

A lovely spring day

To spite the enemies of freedom and joy here is a happy picture of Fielder Mountain.

Early to bed, early to rise

But I'm neither wealthy nor wise.
No significant dreams to report, one minor dream of being back at North Valley high school. Steve was there and I kept finding handfuls of electronics parts scattered around, mostly coils and circuit boards. Go figure! Oh, and I dreamt of borrowing someone's flute although I didn't start playing the flute until years after high school and those were all handmade bamboo flutes, not the silver kind that comes in a case.

Today is another fruit tree spraying day and start filling pony-paks after I go to Ace and get some soil. But first I have to water the big greenhouse (you can find pictures of that in my January archive, I think)

Have a wonderful day of enlightenment and delightenment.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The Lumley Vampire "underground" NEWSLETTER: Persuasive Interrogation

Wow! the blogosphere has tuned into me, trying to like totally cheer me up. Another funny story from
The Lumley Vampire "underground" NEWSLETTER: Persuasive Interrogation

ReLo Angst: It's Just a Numbers Game

Oh man, I don't know why but this story made me laugh. It was nice to have a lighter mood after today's political nightmares... Hope you enjoy it.
ReLo Angst: It's Just a Numbers Game

McCane-Kennedy nightmare

Apparently the American people are about to receive a spiritual a$$ fu(K!ng courtesy of that fat windbag drunk driver Tedward Kennedy. He has proposed a bill which will allow 30 million foreigners to legally invade our country over the next few years. Almost 10% of the population will be people who have nothing in common with us, not language, not loyalty, not philosophy not even hygene. (Oh yeah, and now I'm instantly labelled a racist just because I care about the country we live in.)

The sadistic bastards in Iran are chuckling with glee as they cook up nuclear death and those lousy liberal bastards and republican sell-outs are playing social grab-ass with our culture. If my psyche weren't already numb from the constant erosion of common sense in America I'd be sick to my stomach. But you know what? I'm gonna get up tomorrow morning and go back to work and keep on making my little corner of the universe the best place I can. And when some moslem terrorist roasts Ted Kennedy's fat backside with a nuclear bomb I'll just say "Told ya so!" and I won't even feel bad about it because I'll still be too numb.

A limited time offer!

For a brief time only I'm making my Enormous List Of Blogs available to the general public. Don't get your hopes up! Although this is a pretty big list, the categories aren't linked to a single index yet and my brain works in weird ways so figuring out the categories might weird you out. But every single blog is from someone who is a REAL PERSON and not some commercial entity. Well, ok, except a few under bizness.
Enjoy!

Yae! the pony-paks are here!

Finally. Now I can plant another 7200 wonderful flavor generating machines for the delight and wonderment of my human consumption units.

Mainstream media info conspiracy?

I've been following some disconcerting news from Alexandria Egypt via the Egyptian Sandmonkey and Big Pharaoh apparently there has been some remarkable violence there between Coptic Christians and muslims since Good Friday. I've been watching and watching all 5 major news channels (on cable) Fox, both CNNs, MSNBC and that other one CNBC, I think. Not a single channel has mentioned this outbreak of sectarian violence once in the last 5 days. What's the deal? Do they really think that Katty Couric changing jobs or the lacrosse team getting busted for alleged rape is more important to us? Or is my dad right (as he so often is) and there is a program of disinformation in place yet again. I know what Uncle Al would say, or I can imagine something sufficiently caustic. Even KCMX talk radio with Bill, Lars, and Mike haven't popped this up on their radar. Weird!

Monday, April 17, 2006

A bibliophile's nightmare

Whoa is me! Calamity, disaster and despair.
I just found out that the Jackson county library system has had it's O&C funding pulled. If we don't get a districting bond passed between now and next summer we'll lose all 15 branch libraries.
If you haven't had the fortune to enter a Jackson county library, let me tell you! It is one of the finest library system's I've ever been in. Certainly the best on the west coast. I've been in libraries in every major city from San Diego to Seattle and on the whole none of them can beat the service, efficiency and efficacy of the Jackson county library system.
And to really ice my aggravation cake I've found out that the county commissioners are playing political pool in an attempt to leverage the library system, basically holding the libraries hostage. Neither of our senators are doing anything about it either. And el Presidente supremo Boosh has denied any extension to our O&C funds as well.
The clouds of stupidity gather on the horizon of southern Oregon. Will the rain of chaos come and wash away all those who might dare to learn and think?

Monday's aren't so bad...

Just got back from a delightful breakfast with my friend Del at the Powderhorn Cafe. They have some really wonderful biscuits and gravy. Del is a retired junior high school science and math teacher and we have some of the most pleasant conversations, subjects ranging from quantum physics to social dynamics to our favorite foods and other elements of personal history. It is vastly interesting the coincidences between my life and the lives of my friends.

Waiting for the plastic pony-pak trays to show up for my greenhouse operation; bummer. I've got a few dozen I can scavenge from last year but they're a pain in the behind to use.

Only one interesting dream to report from last night: was visiting my uncle in Colorado Springs and found myself relaxing with a lovely lady on my arm while watching some movie or another. Very peculiar that as I haven't had a girl friend in some years much less one while being in Colorado. Then she and I went to the coast and she kept freaking me out by talking like the susuration of the surf. "Quit it! You're freaking me out!" I told her. She had a shopping list at the top of which was a CCD camera, that especially charmed me since most people would have written digital camera, not Charge Coupled Device (which is what CCD stands for) I think it was the fact that she knew what CCD meant that charmed me. Then she stuck the list to the bottom of my bare foot and laughed at me. Anyhow, no idea where the content of that dream originated, would almost certainly have to categories it as "external influences"

Hoping your day is peaceful and vigorously full of freedom.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter morning excitement

Whoa!
One of the heating coils in our small greenhouse (which is against the back of mom and dad's house) decided this was a good time to burn out. So shortly after 9am the smell of burning plastic began to pervade the house. Thank God we didn't go out for Easter breakfast with the family! Quickly the three of us were searching for the frightening smell. "Out back, the greenhouse!" dad shouted. I dashed up the steps and around the side of the house. Sure enough, black smoke filled the small space. Dad was on my heals with the fire extinguisher. He held his breath and ran in, already small 4-5 inch flames could be seen above the sprouting table. One big Swoosh of extinguisher powder and the thing was dead. Dad and I were shaking and almost laughing with relief.

That was a couple of hours ago. No damage to the house but what a smell! Icky, icky, icky! We lost about 100$ worth of sprouts but who cares about that? I can replace them easily enough. A couple of big fans running in the doors and the house is almost clear of the stink.

Anyhow, hope your Easter is safe, fun and peaceful. God bless.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Rain makes blogs

I'm out of pony-paks and almost out of potting soil and it's pi$$ing down rain so I'm being a delinquent and writing lots of blogs today. Just found this site: Porkbusters These people are freaking awesome! Please visit them and pass the link on to someone else.

And another one

Just because it inflates my ego!
You Are Internal - Realist - Powerful

You feel your life is controlled internally.
If you want something, you make it happen.
You don't wait around for things to go your way.
You value your independence and don't like others to have control.

You are a realist when it comes to luck.
You don't attribute everything to luck, but you do know some things are random.
You don't beat yourself up when bad things happen to you...
But you do your best to try to make your own luck.

When it comes to who's in charge, it's you.
Life is a kingdom, and you're the grand ruler.
You don't care much about what others think.
But they better care what you think!

Yep, that's me alright...

Another of those silly blog things

Here's one of those weird blog elements you can get for free. I kinda liked this one today so I decided to put it here. I've been reading a lot on quantum mechanics and string theory lately so the probability angle on this seemed pretty cool right now.

You Are The Wheel of Fortune

You represent the cycles of life, death, and rebirth.
You embrace change, the the ups and downs of life.
Fate is something you accept, even when you could possibly change things.
Big things tend to happen to you more than other people.

Your fortune:

Something huge is about to happen in your life, and you have little control over it.
You must accept your destiny, but luckily it is good fortune that has come your way.
Big things and big changes are about to come your way.
And while things will be intense for a while, they will be followed by a period of rest.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Rain this morning, Spray this afternoon

It's lovely and wet out there this morning. So peaceful and calm beneath the low grey sky.
Will spend part of this drippy morning repairing the spray rig so I can put copper fungicide on the fruit trees later today. One of those tasks I'm not terribly excited about doing but it has to be done despite any dislike of mine. Always rewarding to know the trees are happy though.

Nothing special to report in the dream domain. Did spend part of yesterday working on some sounds for the 3DML dreamroom project I've imagined up. Going to be using binaural brainwave guiding to produce some special dreamy effects. If you haven't got the flatland rover for use with 3DML you're missing out, it's plenty fun especially if you like playing god or goddess. Check it out at Flatland.

May your day be full of happiness and struggle that leaves you stronger.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Illegal immigration and farm workers

Had a friend ask me if new immigration laws would affect me. Apparently they assumed I was using cheap migrant workers on my farm. I had to make my self very patient and explain that I couldn't afford migrant workers or the inclement insurance issues that go with them. They seemed stunned that I was able to operate this entire business with just me and dad and the occasional assistance of a niece or other relative.

My first impulse when faced with a labor need isn't to go looking for some poor shmuck who can't find anything else to do. I automatically turn to further automation. Machines always work better than humans. And I think this is really the case for anyone seriously thinking of achieving a productive goal.

The reason I had to be patient while explaining this to my friend? My grandfather had to work hard for over ten years to become an American citizen. He and his entire family had to completely abandon their native language, Dutch (it was the law at the time) and my father and his siblings had to endure what can only be described as racism from English speaking whites as they entered the American mainstream. And yet we are all happy to be Americans, we pay our taxes and obey the laws of the land. I don't see any of this dedication on the part of those illegal aliens forcing their way into our country and our economy. Furthermore I and my cousins, third generation Americans, still face the after effects of the financial burden placed upon my grandfather's family when coming to this country. No one will ever pay reparations to us, entitle us or provide us with the additional services many illegals now enjoy for free. And why not? Because we are legal white citizens.

America is the greatest country on earth, a beacon of freedom and prosperity that everyone in every country yearns to emulate despite their despots' best efforts to suppress the truth. My people came here legally because of this and will continue to contribute to that greatness. We won't be swamped beneath a tide of cowardice and despair which has nothing but contempt for the people of this great country.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Feeling good

Another hot day in the big greenhouse. Started moving cukes and melons off the tables and onto a holding pattern on the floor. Still putting in lettuces and more new melons, winter squash etc. Also making another attempt at papaya but I think the seed is too old so I way over planted those. Will be interesting to see if I can get them up and growing better than the ones I lost last year (damn all spidermites!) if the papaya grow I'll keep them in the greenhouse as late as I can and then move them into big pots for the rest of the summer. Then if all goes according to plan I'll plant them in the center of the big greenhouse next fall and maybe by summer '07 I'll be the only Oregon papaya producer. Not really a financially viable crop, just trying to prove my superior gardening prowess.

No significant dreams to report from last night. Just one weird one about living in an apartment complex, apartment 4B. Icky, icky, icky! The Guy don't never want to live in a little box. Must have sky over head or just as well be dead.

Wishing you the love of the spirit and freedom.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Hopefully I won't offend blogger

I love writing using blogger. Blogging is a fun release wherein I can pretend that someone cares.
However I've really got to wonder about the other blogs out there. I've just been hitting the "next blog" button for a while and what a raft of absolute shlock I had to drift through just to find one or two blogs by real people who were only slightly less interesting than my own random ramblings about farming and my nightly sojourns into the realm of dreams. Most everything is either some bizarre commercial attempt or else just completely un-interesting. Furthermore since I only speak a smattering of Germanic languages, very few of the enormous scaffold of blogs in spanish, portugese and/or the dozens of other languages are anything more than an irritant. A nod to you multi-cultural snobs: yes I know these people are real valuable human beings with feelings and rights, yadda, yadda, yadda. Doesn't mean jack to me bub. On more than a few occasions I've found Japanese blogs which were delightful even though I couldn't read a smek of it. Why Japanese? I don't know, but some of them make really cool blogs especially some of the freaky anime/tech/geek/nerd stuff. Rock on you Jappy brain-cases!
Anyhow, on back on the subject of dreams: this place is really cool. I printed up one of the entry point images and hung it in the barn at a place I pass by every day. Sure hope I can orient while dreaming and find my way there. Will be the first time I've actually tried to control my dreams with a real target in mind. Should be worth the effort just for the sake of some inner discipline and exploration if nothing else.

In the greenhouse many, many cantaloupe and cucumbers have emerged from the soil. Watermelon are also starting to pop up along with the first of the specialty eggplant from Baker Creek Seeds.

Still wishing you love and freedom.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Workaday

Planting mix:
8 parts peat moss
7 parts vermiculite
3 parts perlite
2 parts sand
1 part dolomite
Actually I'm not sure if that is exactly how I mix it. I've been doing it for so long I don't measure it like that anymore, but it's something like that. I mix the first 4 and add the dolomite and mix it again and then add water.
The lettuce plants that are coming up look super. The melons and cukes have just emerged and also look great but time will tell for sure if everything is right. I lost a fair number of tomato plants to botrytis because I let them get too damp, dang it!

Dreams continue to haunt. Not as compulsive or weirdly threatening, but the night before last I struggled with the wall of fog and early this morning I dreamt a strikingly real experience of being in my greenhouse. The white of the plastic formed a perfectly uniform perceptual cue not unlike the wall of fog, perhaps transformed into a dome which due to it's familiarity was not so threatening. Also there weren't the weird insectoid angles of dark emanations which I kept getting glimpses of through the wall of fog. Definitely will find the dome of fog much more usable and not so hard to penetrate.

Hoping the spirit finds a way to free your heart.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Daylight driving me out of my mind time

The recent flood of vivid dreams seems to be receding. Only had one episode wherein I was watching an empty warehouse for some odd reason. I have a feeling I was waiting for blind Gregory to show up, not too surprising after his uncalled for ejection of me from his acquaintance. At least I found out exactly how important my "friendship" was to him. Always best to move on smoothly but the subconscious often reflects. Another oddity was the shady tree lined lane or cul-de-sac wherein a lady darkly dressed strolled up to me unexpectedly from between the trees. A brunette with oddly hispanic/asian features. Slender and graceful she frightened me from the shadows.

Out of sorts during the daylight due to savings time. That and the encroaching allergy season getting its hooks into me. Still, getting some good planting done as well as a little reading. Ray Kurzweil's book "The Singularity is Near" is sort of inspiring although heavy on supposition. Nice to read something with a positive incline after reading Robert Spencer's book "Onward Moslem Soldier" which I suggest everyone who cares for freedom to read. It might ruin a nights sleep but better that than school bombings.

May the Dragon's eye pass you by and the shining light of freedom show you the way.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Dreams along the coast


Continuing the saga of dreams fostered by a lack of inebriants, last night was another marathon. This time every dream and dream sub-scene contained a coastal reference. Firstly just traveling along that oddly unique roadway that is the coastal route. Escaping from an assortment of pursuers I found myself in a tour boat, witnessing whales and the rocky shore so common along Oregon's coast. (I should note that I've never been on the ocean so my imagery sprang from somewhere else; a mix of river trips and TV shows perhaps?) I spent a little time exploring green and mossy tidepools slimey with algae. I began to feel queasy and someone kissed me on top the head and I felt better. Then I was thinking of buying a bowling alley/movie plex which was slowly moldering in the salty ocean air, probably at or near Brookings. Some people with children in a van came by and gave me and the lady I was with (? That's a new one worth noting) a ride to a different local, a wind swept but heavily forested hill high above the ocean with new paving on the road. There was much more but it is now becoming lost in the fog of daily awareness.

Today: more planting, repair the spray rig so I can hop on protecting the fruit trees whenever the weather turns dry enough again. Dad and Bro are gonna go take down the sawmill frame from the hill where we were cutting oak planks a couple days ago.

Hoping the spirit spices your life with some vivid moments and breathe-taking freedom.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Last night and today

Whew! Vivid and intense semi-lucid dreams last night.
Started out visiting with Steve and his family. Pat got ahold of the knife I got for christmas last year and broke the blade. In a rage I managed to restrain myself and while my arm was shaking I forced myself to put the knife down on the table rather than stabbing anyone. Then I was sucked into one of the gaps in the broken blade and found myself on a bus trip to a campus where I was lost but could move with fluid grace and lightness of body. Climbing walls like a spider by rocky handholds I could also fly but when I flew towards the ceiling of one corridor's tiled roof the brick like texture kept receding. The higher I flew the bigger the volume I was in became until my flight created a huge cavern. I dropped to earth and found my way through watery waysides and liquid landscaping lined with blue primroses, daffodils and azalea. I couldn't get out of the interminable corridors, but unlike such dreams in the past I refused to awaken. I persisted in searching for a way out and found my way to a place where the road led into a great chasm looking off into a vast wooded space which terrified me. A lady who looked a little like my niece Charley told me which way to go and I found my way back through a restaurant with red velvet walls and onto the bus I had earlier departed only now I was carrying a bag full of items which weighed me down and kept my movement from being so graceful. My friend Steve showed up again at this point and I think he helped carry the bag because motion became much easier. We found our way to an auditorium where some people were waiting for us and the show was about to start. Just before I woke up I had a vivid image of Mt Hood with no snow on it. This description doesn't do the dream justice because it lacks in every way the immediacy and intensity of the experience but it was fun for once.

Today was a great day for work. Planting cantaloupe and cabbage. The big greenhouse is nowhere near full yet but it's definitely shaping up. Dad and I went to the second field and laid out flags for the new fence, a job which looms large and burdensome.

Wishing you freedom and joy.