Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in capthraw's LiveJournal:

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Monday, April 16th, 2007
9:21 am	The Aliens HAVE Landed I'm not Hot-Doggin' ya! Check this out. These bizaare craft were plainly visible here in Silverton, COTU at the intersection of Water and "C" Streets LAST NIGHT!! What can it mean? Will we be awarded the knowledge of the universe? Or a stern warning to mend our nasty ways or else... A point to ponder... SLOut. Current Mood: weird Current Music: KMHD (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 31st, 2007
10:34 am	FOUR March 19, 2007 marked the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by forces of the United States. And for the fourth time, tens of thousands of Oregonians marched in the streets of Portland to protest this action as well as INaction by those in power who have done little to put the brakes on this hideous adventure. Also during this same time, a group of Buddhist Monks created a mandalla "sand painting" at Willamette University in Salem. After a week of painstaking work, the finished image was brushed away... shortly after the Portland march ended... SLOut. Current Mood: peaceful Current Music: Sacred Buddhist Chants (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 5th, 2007
2:35 pm	From the DC Wilderness Out in the hinterlands, beneath the flight line of National Airport, comes the second installment of the Seventh Dawn Trilogy. Solo voice with crow and jet accompaniment. Song performed and composed by Cocotopia, filmed and edited by Capthraw: (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, March 2nd, 2007
7:20 am	Dark Daze at Stonehenge Way back in the late Carteronian era, when moving imagery was mainly produced via photochemical means, I had the unique opportunity to dabble in in this media. One of which, you could actually hold up and see the tiny pictures that make up the sequence. Working at the time for my Rich Uncle Sam, were were encouraged to spend our free time using the "company" resources for our own creative endeavors. One thing I was always fascinated with was the idea of shooting a film in negative. Obviously a simple process in today's now-a-go-go non-linear digital daze. But then pretty much all the film we had at the time however was "reversal" stock, similar in form and function to slide film. No negative - straight to positive. Imagine my delight when I stumbled across a bunch of outdated NEGATIVE 16mm film stock. Plus-X if my memory serves me correctly. So with negative film loaded into the hyper-spendy crystal-synced Arriflex BL 16mm movie camera, with Nagra IV reel-to-reel audio recorder, I visited my musical cousins one weekend and proceeded to shoot a couple of my cousin Heff's more interesting original tunes. The first features the artist in "Neg Face" performing the following hauntingly beautiful tune he called "Dark Days." We processed it back at the lab through the Kodak Versamat aerial film machine, carefully winding the film onto a reel by hand as it spooled out the other end. The resulting images were less than top quality, as this droid was not designed for such stuff. But we did obtain images! Several years later, I was able to get these film clips and 16mm fullcoat magfilm transferred to 3/4" U-Matic video tape, where it languished in my basement for over 20 years. Recently however, I bit the bullet and copied these tapes to MiniDV, and from there into my computer ane Adobe Premiere Pro. On this same reel was several other pieces: Another tune by Heff, and one by his partner in musical crime Cocotopia and some raw footage I shot of the 1979 total eclipse of the sun, that happened to have it's totality on the Columbia River Gorge next to a replica of the famous Stonehenge monument, built by Sam Hill as a memorial to WWI soldiers. Being in February in the PNW, few of us actually expected to see the eclipse, but Druids who were visiting from California for the blessed event, had loudly proclaimed, (on the front page of the Oregonian newspaper!) that with their Weather Magicians would clear the skies for a good view. And they delivered. These clips seemed a natural supplement to Heff's song, so here it is: "Acidified" by batch processing through various PhotoShop filters and with a minimally tweaked audio track. Looks more bizarre that I had imagined! SLOut. Current Music: KMHD-FM (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 31st, 2006
10:44 am	ChemTrails: More Fun with YouTube For the past several years I have been collecting digital image sequences shot in connection with air travel. I discovered that if I put the Canon A-60 PowerShot in "Rapid-Fire" mode, it will shoot off a continous stream of images as long as the shutter button is depressed. The interval between the images depending upon image size and ambient light. The smaller the image size, the quicker it shoots. So by setting the image size to the smallest setting, (640x480 pixels, later re-sized to NTSC), I can usually pop off images every two seconds or so. But I have to keep the finger on the button. Took a bit of practice, but I did manage to semi-perfect the procedure. But what to do with a bunch of time-lapse clouds and planes? Airport scenes and people movers and moving? Run them through PhotoShop filters of course! Makes a shaky view out of a scratched plastic airplane window look like a shaky abstract watercolor painting one might see hanging on the wall in one of the finer motel rooms in Las Vegas. But I degress. ChemTrails! Here they are! Discovered during the analysis of this graphically manipulated footage; clear, conclusive proof that ChemTrails are actually ......... ......................,^72 created by ............... ............................................................#%.. So give it a view! SLOut. Current Music: Flamenco (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 8th, 2006
2:33 pm	We Lost! One of the few Dems that did. Oh well. On with the battle! The neighbor boys came up with the meme of "2020 Oregon" on election night. It's morphed and has taken on a life of its own, as evidenced by my Videomeme interpretation of it all: Back to reality. Back to life. SLOut. Current Music: Tribal Drums (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006
8:39 am	Battle of the RoboCalls As the campaign for the Oregon House gets down to the wire, the mud is starting to fly. It's pretty amazing actually, from a graphic art standpoint. After a bunch of mailers sent out for the The Incumbent campaign by the state R Machine, obvious flaws began to pop up. Like a "personal letter" from the "Desk of Big Money Incumbent" where The Incumbent's hometown is misspelled, twice, on the letter itself and the envelope. Additionally "The Incumbent" touts the "Five Enterprise system..." I wrote his campaign to ask WHICH of the Five Enterprise systems he supports. I got no reply. Then ANOTHER one in baby-poop brown, touting The Incumbent as "Champion for Seniors" he sent out last week. Note that the second headline reads: "The Incumbent Will Continue Advocate for Seniors Through." And several of the "Oregon Seniors" in the flier appear in the materials from other republican's mailers, (as well as on my Kodak PhotoCD clipart disk under "Seniors"). Then the comparison piece, where The Incumbent points out that The Farmer VOTED AGAINST five pieces of important legislation in the last session that The Incumbent voted yes on. An amazing claim, mainly due to the fact that since The Farmer was NOT in the legislature, he could not vote! We replied with our own Postcard pointing out the obvious. We have been playing up the "Special Interest" angle bigtime with our slick four color mailers, (That I as a graphic artist get to create). The Big Money Game is one of my favorites. Several Oregon legislators accepted expense-paid trips to Hawaii courtesy of the Beer & Wine lobbyists, and "forgot" to report the trips. One of them even said "The Lobbyists said we DIDN'T have to report these trips." Well there ya go. We also published our own "newspaper," which ALSO ruffled some feathers. Notably our article on The Incumbent's Record. The R Machine got the R-dominated Oregon Farm Bureau lobby to send out a RoboCall throughout the district. These are canned audio messages automagically called to home phones designed to leave messages on machines. Needless to say, they DON'T say the piece is wrong, (It's not). Just that The Incumbent gets an 'A' and their endorsement. We responded with our own RoboCall from a real (Republican) farmer. I called and left the message on THEIR office machine. Then they returned fire with the following from Republican 'biggie' Rootie-Tootie Smith, The Incumbent's mentor, predecessor, and former timber industry lobbyist, blasting The Farmer's involvement in an "ENVIRONMENTAL" group. This is particularly interesting situation where folks around Molalla were trying to get the City NOT to dump raw sewage into the Molalla River. Of course, the City et al dumped big bucks and violated some election laws into defeating this, and trounced it, (Only city residents could vote, and the river doesn't even flow through town). Then they raised rates anyway and blamed the folks trying to stop the dumping! However, the timing of Tootie's tooting was such that it arrived on district message machines just before our RoboCall, so we got the immediate last word. Anyway, feedback from the folks we encounter is very positive for The Farmer, and we are cautiously optimistic. The national "Throw The Bums Out" mentality seems to be taking hold. And no Diebold here! Oregon is completely Vote By Mail. Built-in paper trail, and two weeks to cast the votes. "Election Day" is simply the last day you can return your ballot. WISH US LUCK!! Rootie-Tootie does. SLOut. Current Mood: optimistic (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
8:53 am	The Rural Road to Pachydermic Education Continues Well, here we are, just shy of a month left in this and other races. And with a month of experience behind me, I must admit this has indeed been and continues to be a learning experience for me. The Farmer continues to mingle with the masses. Last Saturday he remarked that he would be a "Walking Animal" and visit even more houses and meet even more people the following day. Our PR campaign is ramping up big time with our first mailer cast into the Postal Sea on Saturday, (mere moments before the local Post Office shut their doors) and another, our first full color "positive" piece going out district-wide today. As a graphic artist, I get to design and produce these "slick mailers." Since we have me on board, the campaign saves the bucks that we would normally have to pay to produce these things. Another graphic artist has been doing the main walking piece, so we are indeed fortunate to have his donated in kind services as well. And the other volunteers. Dedicated folks that continue to impress and amaze me with their dedication. Of course the big news has been getting The Farmer on the Hartmann Morning Show, (easier than I thought!) and getting the endorsement of one of the largest weeklies in the District, (in spite of an otherwise great article riddled with factual errors - OOPS!). And I have taken on the task to follow The Farmer around with my camera and document as many house parties, candidate forums and other public appearances, which I routinely post on the Web site under our Events pages. Meanwhile, The Incumbent's Website remains unchanged since the State Republican machine flipped the switch to light it up last month. Another less successful, though appreciated by those that show up has been our Thursday Free Movie Nights, where we open the doors to our Silverton campaign HQ to show a variety of timely classic films. Last week was "Atomic Cafe" with a couple of old Twilight Zone episodes, (remember "The Monsters come out on Maple Street?"). The local theatre owner (and Mayoral candidate) has been providing fresh buttered popcorn. This week: "Advise & Consent" All in all, a different kind of campaign. But we are still doing the conventional stuff as well: Canvassing, phoning, letters to the editors and various GOTV activities. Tonight we have our first public meeting with the opposition, during a candidates forum being sponsored by the Foothills Grange in Colton. Finally a chance to see "Our Representative" in the flesh. I will be there to video tape the whole show. And of course hand out our first "Hit Piece." No mud, just facts. The Incumbent's voting record juxtaposed with his campaign contributions. Ya gotta love it. Like a critter that is being hunted, turning to the hunter and presenting him with a fully loaded elephant gun. Meanwhile the hunted critter stays in the background, (being $18K in the hole according to the latest C&E). The only evidence of active campaigning being the State R machine's "Hoffman Institute" phone and mail polls. Apparently fishing for a perceived public direction, these have been pretty mild so far. However, I still keep expecting that other shoe to drop one of these days. But we continue to press on, best symbolized by The Farmer's constant canvassing throughout the district, and knock-knock-knocking on all those doors. SLOut. Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Bop on KMHD (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
6:16 pm	Mystery Fruit along the Campaign Trail One of the more interesting aspects of being campaign manager to the owner of an exotic alien fruit nursery, is all the truely bizarre alien fruits I get to sample! Take this guy for example, (right - click for detail). I was walking down a row of different vines looking for The Farmer's partner & co-owner of The Farm and campaign treasurer, when I couldn't help but notice these odd pods. I saw that some were split, revealing this weird thing inside. She said its an "Akeba" from Japan and China. One eats the inner deal that looks like a cross between a very ripe oyster and moldy caterpillar. "Tastes like tapioca with seeds." She said. Very good! In spite of its distictly "bivalve" appearence. I also found these odd little pears that looked more like apples. The initial taste burst DOES say "APPLE!" But after a bit of chewing, "PEAR" seams to be screaming in the background. Mmmmmmm. In other news of the campaign, I got The Farmer to "appear" (if that is the word) on lefty Talk-Jock Thom Hartmann's morning radio show live on KPOJ AM 620, our local, (Oregon) "Air America" station. And my previous comments about the Incumbent's apparent "tired look" in his campaign material was born out when he announced last week that he has lung cancer and is currently under going chemo. He has vowed to stay in the race however. If he wins and resigns, the State R Machine gets to appoint an un-elected replacement. Meanwhile The Farmer continues to press the flesh and meet folks on his door-to-door blitz of the district. This Saturday we take the show to the Silverton Grange for its first annual "100 Mile Breakfast." All food from within 100 miles of Silverton. And this will be no average "Pancake Feed" fundraiser. I'll give a full report after... SLOut. Current Mood: hungry Current Music: KMHD 89.1 (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
7:40 pm	Employed! Well, for the time being, as a political hack... What's it like to run a new rural progressive campaign for state house of representatives in a majority pachydermic district? To me that question was as relevant as what kinds of rocks there are on Mars to most folks. But since the first of September, I am beginning to find out! No stranger to the political scene, I grew up as a "Mall Brat" with parents working near the and in the Marble Palace. Maybe that is why I steered clear of any sort of career dealing with politics. Focusing instead on the arts; both graphic and aesthetic. But being unemployed with time on my hands, I volunteered to help on The Farmer's second try for State Representative. A month later, I have now found myself employed and running the campaign as manager. A trial by fire, but so far an extremely interesting ride! The key thing in all of this is of course the Candidate himself. One of those rare types that has vowed not to take any contributions from PACs or other special interest groups. Instead, the campaign is fueled entirely by donations from individuals and small businesses. By contrast, the Incumbent is running on a record that includes a long list of "big money" special interest donations, with votes to match. So here I am, in the thick of it. Of course I am drawn to that smoky cloud of opposition graphics: Field sign with Website; Slick three color tri-fold legal-sized mailer; And the smiling face in the pictures, proclaiming "Our Representative." Our representative whose voting record matched the Republican speaker's by 98%... But who is that man behind the curtain? I still see things through my right-brained artist's eye, so tend to see between the lines of code. The pre-packaged website contains the usual slick issues and "meet the man" pages. His slick mailer likewise has that formula "Generic Candidate" look and feel. One could almost imagine template files supplied by the State republican machine. Red, white and blue CD-ROMs with InDesign and Quirk files. And lots of little Republican elephant clip art too. But the most interesting observation to me is that the smiling face of our representative has a look of weariness to it. Like he is simply going through the motions. Perhaps almost wishing for defeat so that he can go back to selling real estate. But maybe I'm reading too much into images. Meanwhile, The Farmer continues to walk the district door to door. During the summer he drove his biodiesel tractor in numerous small town parades throughout the district. He shows up at house parties and nursing homes with different varieties of fresh fruit from his farm. It goes deeper than the straight issues. It goes to attitude. And I like The Farmer's, (biased as my humble opinion may be). So now that I'm here, in this new sphere, I thought it would be interesting to see how a new rural progressive like The Farmer will fair in today's changing scene, weather and authorities permitting, of course! Or to paraphrase that great wise-guy Charlie Kane: "I think it would be FUN to run a campaign!" Stay tuned... SLOut (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 31st, 2006
6:21 pm	Space Lizard vs. Militant Martians Round Two: Here is the latest in my on-going rousing of the rabble. My recent post resulted in two comments. The first from an Austrailian who didn't see the point in discussing 'U.S.' matters: ====================================================== > So if you want to discuss the federal US budget on > Mars and DOD, I'd have to shut up and watch.... On the contrary. Everyone in the world has a stake in this. YOUR country's leaders listen to YOU, their citizens. They in turn need to deal with the United States. Unless you believe the U.S. is doing just fine in its dealings with the rest of the world. We, as United States citizens are "blessed" with using 30% of the world's natural resources, with a much smaller fraction of the world's population. Some would say, this is our right. "After all, WE developed the technology." Others may disagree. So in response, we have this HUGE military to "help them" agree. Its actually extremely transparent. Its a wonder why more folks don't see it. Or maybe they do, and see nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with the CIA over-throwing the president of Iran in the 1950s because he wanted to nationalize their country's oil industry and kick out BP, (a British company that currently pumps oil out of Alaska, among other places), and installing the brutal Shaw. Pissed off people eventually rebelled and blamed us. Nothing wrong with the CIA over-throwing the president of Chile when he wanted to get more money from ATT for the cheap copper they were mining there to build America's telephone network. Again, pissed off people eventually rebelled and blamed us. Nothing wrong with the CIA over-throwing the leaders of (INSERT OTHER COUNTRIES HERE) ... and pissed off people CONTINUE to rebel and blame us. Other leaders of countries that "help" us continue to support us by repressing their citizens to the point that often 50% of them are concidered property, and more extreme members of their societies fly planes into our buildings. We respond by invading another oppressive country that had nothing to do with this attack, under false pretense, but clearly as a means to control more limited natural resources. ALL these acts were sold as "protecting our National Interests." All have resulted in our country and the world becoming less secure. Its easier to exploit existing resources than to develop new ones. Then again, I recall a President once saying that we do things NOT because they are easy, but because they are hard. The people in power, (and I don't mean U.S. politicians) would rather exploit the limited material resources we have here on this planet, instead of the unlimited materials and energy offered to us off-world. Its cheaper in the short-run to fuel an economy with non-rewable means, keeping people ignorant and happy, than to educate them and expect great accomplishments. Like building a new world from scratch. Thats pretty hard. However, in the LONG run, its much more expensive. And guess who gets to pay? Our children and theirs. This will very soon become painfully obvious when the happy ignorant people get un-happy. Because the gasoline is not cheap anymore. And they get laid off because someone else on the other side of the world is willing to do the same job for much cheaper. The longer we, as a WORLD. allow these corporate thieves to rape our planet, and protect their pillage by military means, the longer until we become a true space faring species. Does anyone seriously dispute that the United States does indeed use at least 30% of the worlds resources? Probably more? Can anyone offer me a rational explanation as to why this should remain the case? This issue goes MUCH DEEPER than the United States of America. It effects us all. And by default, the future of the New World. ====================================================== The second was from an U.S. Army vet, who couldn't possiblly see anything wrong with high military spending. In typical conservative style, he trotted out a long list of carefully chosen 'facts' while omitting others. "Need I remind you..." this line of reasoning goes, "...if not for the Nazis' R & D we would never have gotten to the Moon." True enough, but this is not, IMHO a justification to continue down this particular path: ====================================================== > Need I remind you that... No you don't. I am fully aware of past and present situations. However, I still stand by my assertion that the U.S. DOD budget is indeed bloated beyond belief, and as a result, stifles all other endevours, weakens our position and standing in the world, and will in the end bankrupt our great country unless we can change the direction we are headed. Question is FOR WHAT do we need to spend this HUGE amount of money? (money I might add is being borrowed from our children and grandchildren's futures). Security? There are more terrorists pissed off at our country than ever. Why? As a direct result of "protecting our national interests" which are really national and multi-national CORPORATE interests. I don't advocate total elimination of the DOD budget. Just a dramatic reduction of it. We can't make the world a better place and us safer by throwing money at the problem. Doesn't work. Should be pretty damn obvious to anyone with half a brain. China's ENTIRE military budget for last year was $35 billion. If ours was TWICE that we would have an "extra" $400-some billion to play with. What could we do with that? Maybe refund some NASA Missions that we canceled: Terrestrial Planet Finder: 1.7 Billion Constellation-X Observatory: $2.5 Billion Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter: 10 Billion OR: $75 billion: Hire 1.5 million new teachers at $50,000 per year in salary and benefits $200 billion: Build 10,000 new schools at $25 million a piece $250 billion: Double the number of students receiving Pell Grants to 10 million, and double maximum grants to $10,000. Imagine the dramatic changes that flooding our communities with education would bring--more hopeful youth, less crime, a spectacular increase in scientific interest and the arts, combating institutional racism and segregation, and showing the world that our country values children over military aggression. Of course, these huge benefits will force some to sacrifice. The corporate board members of Halliburton and Bechtel will have to tighten their belts, and the shareholders in Northrop Grumman would have to go without their second summer homes. But I guess we owe it to these crooks to keep they're corporate interests safe. > National Defense is an enumerated function of the US Constitution. Yes indeed. But this goes WAY BEYOND defense. It makes our country, and by default the entire world, less safe. Continue rattling that saber my friend. All you will end up with is a sore wrist and a sore world to go with it. And I might add that separation of the different branches of the government is also an enumerated function of the US Constitution. Something the current administration seems to have conveniently forgotten. ====================================================== So there ya go! Some of the preceeding I took from another site. More as it trickles in... SLOut. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 27th, 2006
10:02 pm	City of Books - School of Films "Have you tried Powells?" a fellow space cadet friend inquired several years back at a meeting of the Oregon L5 Society. I had been talking about the book that "got me going" on the Martian lava tube cave concept. One of those slick hard-cover NASA publications sold originally at cost through the Government Printing Office. Called "Volcanic Features of Hawaii as a Basis of Comparison to the Planet Mars." First checked it out in the early 1980s from the Salem, Oregon public library. It has since been removed from the stacks. So I did try Powells City of Books, fabled in song & lore. The logical place for it, (I assumed) would be the astronomy/space section. Nope. Then on a whim, I checked the geology by state section in "H." Sure 'nuf, there it was! Used in great condition for $10. Of course, minions from far and wide know Powells. Indeed, I have often found EXACTLY what I was lurking for within those massive stacks, (rumored to be the world's largest indy book seller). From a reprint of von Braun's rare but famous "Mars Project" for $7.00 to the official comprehensive plan for the City of Rajneeshpuram for $5.00. So when my Cousin Heff lamented the fact that he NEGLECTED to purchase a book of Thomas Nast cartoons, I filed that info away in a corner of my ROM. I had never heard of such a book, and having just completed my own book of Homer Davenport cartoons, I was itching to see more of Nast's work, as he was Davenport's main inspiration. From Heff's description, I am guessing that this is indeed the same tome... (If he HAD an LJ account, I could ASK HIM direct, but he has YET to make that effort - hopefully the minions of Maryland will whip him into shape). My opportunity arrived tonight! I had dropped off my child unit there on Friday, as she was going to meet up with her Mom and Step-Dad to attend a outdoor Bluegrass Concert. I was to pick her up, again at Powells on Sunday afternoon. I never heard from her by 6:00, so I headed up. Of course, to pass the time, I cruised the stacks. I went to the Pearl Room on the top floor, where the "Art" section was. Looked in vain for a political cartoon section. I finally resorted to ASKING the kid at the info desk. "They're on the ground floor in the coffee shop..." he said, "...unless its a relatively famous guy, in which case it would be alpha-filed by last name." So I buzzed over to the "N" section, and THERE IT WAS!! Ahahahahahaha! But Wait! There's MORE! I also whipped by the magazine racks, and saw a mag-rag with the "Yellow Kid" on the cover, called "Hogan's Alley" after the original strips. A magazine dedicated to cartoons! Political, strips AND animation! In it was an article about Disney and GM's collaboration that resulted in the animated educational film "The A-B-Cs of Hand Tools." DOUBLE WOW! Just last month, my friend Doreen had called me to say a local area rural school had a bunch of "old movie reels" that the janitor was ordered to pitch in the dumpster. I whipped out there, and met up with the guy, a younger kid, that handed over a massive pile of 16mm film cans with movies. "It seemed like a shame to throw these out" he said. The pile included several works on "Nuclear Preparedness" from the 1950s, a couple of Disney educational flicks on hygiene featuring Donald Duck, a print of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," AND the afore mentioned "A-B-Cs..." which until tonight, I had no clue that it was a Disney flick as well! And to wrap it all neatly up with a sychronistic knot on top, "Owl Creek" was written by Ambrose Bierce, one of Willy Hearst's boys and contemporary of Homer Davenport. And of course the "Yellow Kid" spawned the term "Yellow Journalism" as both the Hearst New York Journal and the Pulitzer New York World were both running their own versions of the same strip. Guess I best pull out the Bell & Howell projector out of the basement, ($15.00 at the Goodwill, and both projector and exciter bulb work!!) Time to pour a scotch on the rocks and go through the pages... SLOut. ps Found TWO other books: "Life on Mars" a scientific piece misfiled and placed in the Metaphysical/UFO section, and a cool little book called "Dynamic Dinosaurs" about various physical aspects of these critters. Thats Powells for ya! Something for everyone. Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Miles Davis (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 26th, 2006
10:25 am	Playin' Possum... Visiting Marsupial at Stumpy's Cat Cafe, August, 2006 Click Picture For Detail While sitting on the deck, swilling swell swill, it was noticed that we had a primal visitor. Stumpy's Cafe of course does not descriminate against so-called "lower" mammals, so this guy just continued to chow down as the flash kept popping... Good to the last lick! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, August 25th, 2006
11:01 am	"There He Goes Again..." Can't help it, actually. The issue of Mars and money comes up, I jump in and point at that big critter sitting in the corner... "Where will we ever get the bucks?" they ask... As a long-time Martian, I subscribe to many various discussion list relating to this endevour. One list has been disscussing this very topic. I decided to add MY $0.02 worth. I'll let ya'al know how it progresses. Below are my comments to the "Mars Homestead Project" list: ======================================================================== > I'm not sure that there might not be a feasible idea there somewhere, > but it's not there enough to be useful. Until we can identify a > source of money, the answer to the statement "I think I just stumbled > across a solution to the funding problem" is "nope, keep looking." Here's a handy bit of info to chew on: 1. Cost of Bush 1.0's "90-Day Report" Mission to Mars: ~$450 Billion 2. Bush 2.1's Pentagon Budget for 2006: ~$450 Billion ...and that is JUST 2006. Anyone care to figure out how many of these types of over-priced missions to Mars we could have taken since that original Report came out in 1989? How many MORE Mars Direct type missions we could have done in the same period? Never mind improving U.S. infrastructure; highways, power-grids, water. And education. And health care. And developing alternative energy sources. These ALL take a back seat to DOD. Until we get a handle on the obscene, bloated spending being pissed down that rat hole known as the 'military industrial complex' we will never get to Mars. Many folks prefer to ignore this ugly 500 kilo gorilla lurking in the room. Some may even say we NEED to spend those bucks to 'protect our freedoms.' Others may say to question such spending is 'un-patriotic.' What is un-patriotic is to NOT question authority. Our great country was founded on that principle. What is un-patriotic is our country being bankrupted by corporate criminals under the guise of 'protecting national interests,' while the people are distracted by other more important issues, such as gays exchanging finger jewelery or burning the flag. This issue NEEDS to be discussed and addressed. Getting a handle on MIC spending is essential to the future of our planet as well as the New World. "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - (Republican) President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What did Iraq had to do with that [9/11]?" - Ken Herman/Cox News, Aug 21, 2006 "Nothing." - (Republican) President George W. Bush, Aug 21, 2006 On to Mars! =========================================================================== FWIW, I had truncated the above. Here is the entire transcript: HERMAN: A lot of the consequences you mentioned for pulling out seem like maybe they never would have been there if we hadn’t gone in. How do you square all of that? BUSH: I square it because imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein, who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who had relations with Zarqawi. You know, I’ve heard this theory about, you know, everything was just fine until we arrived [in Iraq] and — you know, the stir-up-the-hornet’s-nest theory. It just doesn’t hold water, as far as I’m concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were... HERMAN: What did Iraq have to do with that? BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what? HERMAN: The attacks upon the World Trade Center. BUSH: Nothing ... Except for it’s part of — and nobody’s ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a — Iraq — the lesson of September the 11th is: Take threats before they fully materialize... =========================================================================== There ya go! As they say in the industry: "Clear as Mud." Current Music: www.KMHD.org (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006
8:35 am	Martian Myth Busting Background: The following was hand-delivered to our local, (Silverton, OR) weekly trout-wrap, the Silverton Appeal-Tribune, after reading an article in last week's edition, urging folks to get out and look up to see Mars, the Red Planet, as it appears the closest it has to Earth in 60,000 years. Problem is, this happened three years ago, (CLICK HERE for a Time-Lapsed Time Exposed view). August 17, 2006 To The Editor: The Internet can be a great tool. A useful source of seemingly obscure bits of information. But this new fount of knowledge also has its dark side. Usually expressed in the form of SPAM email, which takes many forms, from pleas to smuggle ill-gotten gains out of Nigeria to the latest sexual enhancement drugs. Another, less extreme piece of SPAM has been making the rounds for several years now. Usually crops up in the summer, with only the year changed. The subject matter relates to the "Closest Approach of the Planet Mars to Earth in over 60,000 years." The message goes on to recount how on August 27, the Red Planet will be so close as to be plainly visible to the naked eye. Indeed, often the report is that it will be as big as the full Moon! This refers to the Earth-Mars opposition - when both planets are lined up on the same side of the sun, and are closest to one another. Happens about every 26 months. Last occurred in October of 2005. As a long-time Mars enthusiast, I continue to get queries from normally intelligent friends and neighbors asking if this is indeed true. Well, it was partially true in 2003, when on August 27th of that year, Mars indeed did get the closest it has been to the Earth in over 60,000 years. It was at that time almost 32 million miles to Earth. It appeared in the southern skies as a very bright red star. But it was NEVER as "big as the full Moon." If it had been, we would be in serious trouble. But since orbital mechanics so far seems to be working, we are indeed safe. So here we are again, three years later, and the Silverton Appeal-Tribune has a feature story, repeating, almost verbatim this piece of SPAM, (8/16/2006 - Page 8A "The Red Planet is about to be a spectacular site" [sic SB "Sight"]). At least they left out the "size of the full Moon" part. But regardless, it is indeed sad when a source of "news" doesn't even bother to check these simple facts. A quick Google of "Mars Opposition" pops up the NASA JPL Mars Opposition page, complete with an interactive Java Script diagram. The bottom line? On August 27th of 2006 Mars will be on the other side of the Sun, over 239 million miles from the Earth! The next opposition occurs on December 18, 2007, when the Red Planet will be 54 million miles away, or the closest it has been to the Earth in 26 months! Gus Frederick (aka Space Lizard) President, Mars Society, Oregon Chapter Current Mood: annoyed (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 13th, 2006
10:34 am	Great DOG o-MIGHTY! I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and lack of steady employment when I finally decided to check it out. Uncle Phil's new gig, built out of the ashes of Will Vinton Studios. The upper left corner says all. OODLES of animation jobs! With a slick Web-based application interface. Hmmmm... Been padding & updating the old rez for upload. Wish me luck. Applied to a host of various positions. Nuthin' ventured; nuthin' gained. Sorry Will, but I need the work! Just hope they like me. LOTS of 'Young Turks' out there to compete against. But this Old Dog knows OLD tricks and quite a few new ones too. Maybe I should get a pair of Nikes for the interview, if I get that far... AND its only forty miles from the Center of the Universe... YOW-ZA SLOut. ps 'Laika' was the first dog in space. A commie 'Pupnik.' Current Mood: optimistic Current Music: KMHD Trad Jazz Hour (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
10:59 am	Martians in the Beltway I'm back in the Center of the Universe after 10 days of adventures in the Boonesborough/Washington DC area. More like Venus than Mars, heat-wise! After a delightful visit with the minions of Maryland, cousins, cousin-kin and assorted Wrinklies, I joined my fellow Martians at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel for the 9th annual Mars Society Conference. As many of you know, I am a 'Martian.' An active member of the International Mars Society, and serve on its Steering Committee. It is a global group of folks that share a common passion about the exploration and eventual colonization of the Red Planet. This year's conference, being held in our Nation's capitol, featured a Thursday afternoon 'Capitol Hill Blitz' in which over a hundred of our members visited their various Congressional staff to 'lobby' the Mars concept. I was one of them. The talking points of course related to this concept, but I felt that one major point needed to be stressed in addition. That being the obscene waste of monies being pissed away by the Pentagon, not just in Iraq, but as a whole. So I made a point of adding THIS point to my chat with Congresswoman Darlene Hooley's Technology and Education staffer. No conflict here. He assured me, and I agree, that the Congresswoman is on the same page in regard to this issue. My position, somewhat of a minority one in the Society, is that we can't go to Mars until we get a handle on this issue. I left the same message with Senator Ron Wyden's staffers, (Also left them both copies of my new Homer Book ;o). BTW, both do support the Society's Mars position. I felt that this was a worthwhile activity, (except the part where I decided to walk back to the hotel in 100-plus degree heat and got lost). Fast forward to Friday night. After the "Martian Poetry Slam" was a panel discussion on Risk. The idea being that there are many 'risky' things we do on Earth that are 'riskier' than going to Mars. The four panelists represented different risk-takers; venture capitalist, MIR space station astronaut and a former CIA operative that spent time in Iraq after the invasion, (apparently to shadow troops and 'glean any info' that they may come across). And of course, Bob Zubrin, the President of The Mars Society. The format for all Mars Society talks is to have the presenters present, followed by a Q & A period. So after all the presentations, I zipped up to the microphone and was first in line. I reminded everyone about the price tag NASA gave Congress after Bush 1.0 made HIS "Bold Plan" for the future of U.S. space exploration in the late 1980s. He asked NASA for a "Bold Plan" and 90 days later, they came back with the number $425 billion dollars: To send a fleet of massive space ships, assembled in Earth orbit, carrying everything needed to get there and back. This "90 Day Report" also known as the "Battlestar Galactica" approach has long since been dismissed as an extreme waste of money. Mainly due to the fact that most of the materials needed for the return trip, FUEL, can be made on Mars, automatically from the Martian atmosphere. Live off the land. This dramatically reduces the cost. So I reminded the panel and the audience of this often ridiculed outlandish price tag. Knowing the answer myself, I asked Zubrin what the budget for the Pentagon was LAST year alone. "About that." He replied. The obvious implication being that since the Congressional sticker-shock to this bloated Bush 1.0 proposal in the late 1980s up to the current Bush 2.1 era of now, we could have launched DOZENS of 90 Day Report missions to Mars. I then told them all that I personally would have rather spent that money on the 90 Day Report style trip that what we are spending on these other "adventures," ESPECIALLY Iraq. The moderator, a DC local who risked climbing a mountain in Alaska, asked if this was a question. I replied no, a statement that we need to deal with this issue. Suprisingly, I got a very loud applause! As well as quite a few folks that came up afterwards and thanked me for saying it. The biggest joy was when at the banquet the following evening, a NASA robotic scientist I know mentioned that he bought the DVD of the talk, because he had to leave early. He said he marveled at the contrast between the easy-going Martian Gus and my "angry testimony." He then said it needs to be said more and thanked me for bringing it up. So there you have it. Sorry for the long-windedness, but I wanted to stress that the peace issue needs to be permeated and nurtured in all layers of society. Like me, you may be very surprised to see how many folks also believe as we do, but don't speak up because they think they are alone. So a loud Westerner in a louder shirt bellowing into a microphone, (and being recorded for the archives) may spur others on to speak up too! SLOut. Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: KMHD-FM "Jazz, Blues & NPR News" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
1:44 pm	Life in the BBBasement SD 08012006.1326 Sitting in the Boonsboro Basement, awaiting approval of the latest final versions of the Killer Peptide illustrations, from the Reactive Surface Texans. Had to make 'em bigger and less numerous... So in the meantime to keep the neurons nibble, I have been playing with my Cousin Heff's image from several days back. Sittin' in the local Co-Op, throwin' back smoothies... His table-top pal is this week's Content Paradise 'Freebie' is a Poser model for a Indricotherium, "...the largest land mammal that ever lived..." Cool dude. Bitch to get to walk though. Poser is prejudicial towards bypeds... More soon... SLOut. Current Mood: artistic Current Music: Sometimes (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
10:05 am	Touch Down! Landed safely. Now in Boonesboro, MD. The big SNAFU was when the fascist TSA goons confiscated my six bottles of fruit cordials I hauled along for the Mars Society Auction and cousins. Why? They read my whimiscal label on the back where I said in part: "Made from equal amounts of 190 proof alcohol and distilled water..." The woman, (who no doubt FLUNKED chemistry AND Home Economics) explained that "We can't allow 190 proof alcohol on the plane..." I tried to explain that when one adds to 190 proof alcohol an equal amount of distilled water, it ceases to be 190 proof alcohol, but instead 95 proof, but is actually even less with the fruit juice. More like 70 proof. But she was insistant: "It SAYS it has 190 proof alcohol in it, so it MUST have 190 proof alcohol in it..." I offered to pull off the labels, but the plane was loading. She said she would hold them for me until I return. BLOODY MORONS. But the 3 bottles Oregon pinot sailed through no problem. Nice to know the TSA is thourough enough to read the labels. Too bad they're too stupid to figure out what it says... More Later... SLOut. Current Mood: annoyed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, July 28th, 2006
9:37 am	Standing By to Stand By Gets them every time. My cool little fold-up tripod. Has a VERY sinister X-Ray signature. So for the second time in as many flights, they had to 'hand-check' my backpack/camera bag/laptop case. She FINALLY digs down to the offending item. "What's this?" says she... "Tripod." says I... "Cool tripod!" says she ... "I need to show this to the X-Ray operator!" Actually kinda nice as the delay gave me extra time get get my stuff back on ... computer and shoes and ID and ... Cooling my heals now waiting for the plane. Snagged some more 'People Mover' time-lapse for the 'Happy Chem Trails' video, now in data acquisistion phase... Same Flight, multiple stops. 'C' Pass. Blah. Hopefully I can snag a port window seat in SLC, or before the flat boring terrain begins... More someplace else. SLOut ps Shooting time-lapse of the plane being refueled. Missed the pull-up... Current Mood: bouncy (2 Comments |Comment on this)