PN:
Joe’s Comment – No explanation required. I’m living two dimensions in a four dimension world….. Fifi Joe!
Stephan Pastis does cartoons with impact. They leave a footprint.
Why Joe Doesn’t Dance
If it isn’t obvious, hold my beer and watch this!
The short sailor with the happy feet (and the big mama) says it all:
Joe says imagine, if you will, those crazy feet – all the servicemen from 2:28 on (especially the short man and tall woman 2:59) – that is Joe’s brain in action.
Now you’ve got it!
Shades of R. Crumb.
The above version of Sing, Sing, Sing was by Benny Goodman’s band, featuring the incomparable Gene Krupa drumming (1937).
The song (with lyrics) was composed in 1936 by Louis Prima, featuring Louis Prima on trumpet, and Gene Krupa on drums. It’s original name is Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing). The Louis Prima Band performing the song with lyrics in its original tempo and beat:
Here is a version with drummer Jimmy Vincent. Beyond description:
Jimmy Vincent is unsung (minor pun). He was with Louis Prima for over 20 years. From Joe’s perspective, he has all the licks and shuffles of the greats like Krupa and Rich. Take a gander:
Legal Marijuana
Joe and I must admit to a criminal past.
As a young man of 18, a “friend” introduced us to pot.
Not to make too critical a judgement against ourselves, we were fools of the caliber and stature of Stromboli’s donkeys (remember Pinocchio?).
Years later we managed to extricate ourselves from the legions of users.
It became a choice of being functional vs being a vegetable.
Scarcity in the presence of demand is a basic rule of economic reality: as demand goes up and supply goes down, the price of the commodity rises.
Another rule of human nature is that which is decreed illegal (those items and services not deemed immoral or unethical) attract attention in inverse proportion.
Joe and I wonder what and how the police will do when confronted with the stoner brigade out for a night of munchies and fun who decide to drive a vehicle.
The old days of our youth produced Cheech and Chong, who begat various movies about the culture and life-style surrounding those so laid back their skull occipital bone touches the ground. This was the dope humor of the day. A memorable scene from “Up In Smoke”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuYeQi4wB_k
As Tommy Chong says, “I hope you’re not busy for about a month”…..
That was 1978. Comments about the culture, the humor, the movie, from Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong here.
It was all fun and games.
Advance the clock 40 years.
What was is no longer. The “10 cent bag” is long gone. The THC content is up from a few percentiles to new heights every year; 25% is available.
The cost has risen. The toxicity of Joe’s youth was eclipsed long ago by orders of magnitude.
What are the effects and affects on the community?
Colorado state has had “legal” marijuana for the longest. Reports are varied. Here’s one from the Washington Examiner. A Snopes check agrees on some counts, not others. Who validates Snopes is another matter.
Joe says the big issue is the big money.
Big money has done great damage to the affordability of many things in life; sports (hockey, baseball, football, NASCAR), the legal system (justice seems a function of $$$ not truth or evidence), politics (Joe says he can only name one politician who is NOT beholden to lobbyists / backers / controllers).
Here is an essay written by “Rob”, gleaned from the website “Knuckledraggin’ My Life Away“. In the comments Rob says he wrote this article 10 years ago.
Joe says there are a few quotes that rang true in the essay –
…..”What has happened in the interim has led us to the point where legalization is no longer the issue. What was seen as, and perhaps was, a fairly harmless diversion has developed into an underground economy based on a substance which bears little resemblance to the Wacky Weed musicians used to hit up between sets, and lovers squirreled away for those special Friday nights. In the old days, weed was mostly imported from Mexico, and connoisseurs regaled the rest of us with tales of Acapulco Gold and Oaxacan, Panama Red and Colombian. Man, if you think this stuff is good, wait’ll I tell you about the stuff my cousin brought back from vacation…
In the ’70s, the stories changed from the Senior trip to Puerto Vallarta to the year-long sabbaticals in The Land Of Bad Things. Young Nam vets would talk about nightmares in the jungle, firefights and ambushes from the perspective of being so wasted the whole thing looked like a fireworks display, with the added frisson of the possibility of getting killed. Overnight, dope stories weren’t very funny anymore, and the stuff these guys were talking about didn’t sound much like what you’d been sneaking at your sister’s wedding party. The new tales were of seabags full of Thai stick, Dopp kits stuffed with Afghani hash, and hallucinating about Custer while facing down hordes of little men in black pajamas with an M16 on full rock ‘n roll. Talk about your buzz kills.”
The article goes on to detail more of the history, the economic impact, and the involvement of big money and bad people.
Joe and I think, because of our (theoretical) Libertarian belief, that adults deserve little restriction on their choice of poison, with our usual caveat: your adult activity brings no harm to others, other’s property, or financial burden upon the state.
Other than that, whoopee ding!
However, scientific study about the effect and affect on children before birth (in utero) and in developing youth has created data that, when analyzed, is not benign or propitious.
Joe says that every action has an observable reaction (apologies to Newton).
Hence, let the decision to use / abuse rest with adults on condition of accepting the consequences and outcomes of their behavior.
Joe and I will strongly discourage experimentation with alcohol and marijuana by our grandchildren.
Futile maybe, but necessary.
The fear of suffering the consequence of not saying anything grossly outweighs speaking out from fact and experience.
Everyone else has already bitten the apple.
That fucking snake never takes a day off.
Dr. Kary Mullis
Joe and I have featured Dr. Kary Mullis in past rants.
He is a Californian eccentric, winner of a Nobel Prize in biochemistry.
This TEDx presentation is a humorous recounting of the early formative days of a scientific mind; specifically, his own.
Another of this brilliant man, discussing a project he is directing:
Intellectual Froglegs
Joe Dan Gorman is in fine form:
https://vimeo.com/297534982
14th Amendment
The “Caravan of Democratic Hopefuls” continues to travel toward the American southern border.
Still no proof of whom what and how this garish pre-election stunt is being financed, supported, and executed.
POTUS is resolute and adamant regarding the potential clash, as is his administration. It might be summed up as succinctly as “No way, Jose!”.
Then along came Jones:
In this instance, the real Jones is the 14th Amendment to the constitution. These amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th) were specifically and uniquely meant to end slave / involuntary servitude, confer citizenship on freed slaves, and guarantee voting rights. These three amendments are often referred to as “the Civil War Amendments”.
This does NOT mean that having a child on American soil confers citizenship to any and all without prejudice.
Period.
End of discussion.
Watch and learn as Stefan Molyneux explains the “birthright citizenship” conundrum:
Prager U
This is an excellent primer on illegal immigration by Tucker Carlson:
JBP Update
The doG damn BBC is so far left that this recent interview is like a grade one primer on how the f’n world works.
Christ Almighty©, where do they get these stupid women?
Joe can’t help being judgemental: this woman Helen Lewis has drunk all the Kool Aid of third wave feminism and is snorting the powder of man hate. She is dense, shallow, coddled, ill informed and illogical. Jordan should be charging her full psychological consulting rate, because he is schooling her while he addresses her malcontent. She is an unwitting dummy.
Update: I thought Joe was too harsh in his criticism of Ms. Lewis. After all, she’s just doing her job. I watched it again. It was cringingly difficult the second time. After careful deliberation, I’d add to Joe’s descriptors – rude, disrespectful, and double the dose of shallow.
Joe says it is getting harder and harder to watch stupidity:
Halloween
Joe and I don’t get it.
Real life is way more scary.
Dressing up or pretending was never a once a year performance for us.
We dress up every day.
And the world thanks us for putting on clothes.
Grandson Rourke had a whale of a time dressed as the grim reaper with long bony rubber hands and a wonky eyed mask the eyes of which light up and a “scary” voice speaks when he pushes a button.
He got lots of loot.
Not one kid (other than Rourke) came to the door.
Lots of Cadbury little chocolate bars in a bowl on Thursday morning.
So much for our all meat diet until they are all consumed.
A couple of interesting graphics –
Elizabeth Warren: Redux of the Redux
Joe asked me to get an estimate of cartoons, memes, annotated graphics, and gifs of Pocahontas.
I did a few quick Google searches.
And a Duck-Duck-Go search.
Finally, a Bing search.
My final tally?
There are lots and lots and lots.
And the hits keep coming!
Website Goodness
Joe and I spend a large part of every day on the Internet.
We surf and stumble and click and search for technical information, educational information, music, movies, ebooks, memes, humor; whatever!
There exists a website named Earl of Taint that totally amuses us to no end.
Here are some of his caustic (and cruel?) photoshopped creations – gotta love the pee stains on Justin’s panties –
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS
Some sage learning from William Durant –
Some application of that learning –
SUNDAY SERMON
Today’s sermon is from Dr. Ramani Durvasula, a professor of psychology at California State U.
Joe and I had several encounters this week with various individuals that left us wondering who (or whom) was the wackjob and whom (or who) was the nutbar.
While stumbling around the Internet we discovered some interviews on “MedCircle“, which is a “service” that purports to help those interested in understanding various abnormal psychoses in themselves and those around them. Mental illness is us.
The following interview with Dr. Durvasula had Joe at full alert.
She uses lay terminology and easily understandable examples to convey the basic parameters defining the particular anomaly in question.
This was the first Joe watched.
He was so enthralled he watched a dozen more.
Dr. Ramani is easy to understand, easy listening, and easy on the eyes.
A trifecta!:
After two hours of watching the beautiful and wise doctor, Joe has concluded, without a hint of boasting or hyperbola, that he is a borderline personality disordered narcissistic socio-psychopath, with high notes of anxiety and guilt.
Fucking fabulous…..
Redemption seems more implausible every day.
WEATHER (OR NOT)
For some reason, the weather this week has reminded Joe of a few rainy day songs.
Mostly ’cause it rained every single day.
On Friday the sun came out in the late afternoon to laugh in our face.
Followed by rain on Saturday.
Rain on Sunday (after a hopeful sunrise of clear skies which lasted 30 minutes).
The 14 day forecast (Joe wishes the weatherman erred about bad weather as much as he does about fine weather) shows sunny periods for two days, and rain for every day.
Just lovely.
Joe says the one and only good thing about a rainy day is that the temperature somewhere has to be above freezing.
Not much happy happy joy joy.
Let’s hear some of the songery that floated through old Joe’s borderline personality disordered narcissistic socio-psychopathic highly anxious and guilty little pea brain during the almost deluge always gloomy constant drizzly prelude to the entrance of Old Man Winter (in seven damn weeks!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDVnjCwCYCs
All the above are not upbeat cheerful “own the world” anthems. No singing in the rain for Joe.
At the end of the day, the message from the vitamin D depleted sun worshiper is as follows –
Rain, rain,
Go away.
Come again another day.
Little Joey wants to play.
Joe (drenched) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez is waterproof –