Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Just watched Julie and Julia which I quite enjoyed, although the kids were totally bored and went into their (newly redesigned) bedroom to play with their phones and Helena, despite the fact that it was much more a girl’s movie than a guy movie, kept nodding off.

Sure, Meryl Streep was brilliant as Julia Child, but the film was much more than that – in fact, that was precisely half of it.  It was really the story of a blogger who was kind of obsessed with Julia Child, not in a delusional, deranged sense, quite…she could joke about her obsession and her friend’s put up with her obsession (of course, they were getting a gourmet dining experience for free), but she  did have friends and was basically a normal person, she wasn’t walking around in a fantasy world or anything.

I found it interesting as the story of a blogger.  Of course, she was a very successful blogger, which I am not, and she was totally focused on one topic, although perhaps with asides about life in general,  whereas I usually talk about politics, which bores most people, or poetry, which bores an even greater percentage.

In fact, I feel a bit guilty tonight because I’m not writing more about the travesty in Nevada, but I wrote about that last night and my only addition today is that Hillary supporters don’t seem to give a shit that the election is rigged, which is pretty depressing.  I might write more on this topic in a couple of days.

Anyway, I enjoyed the film. I like biopics of famous people, to see how they made it to the top, but with this split story technique there is a certain trajectory events are expected to follow.  So, it was expected as a grand finale that she would meet Julia Child.  That did not happen.
Because it was a film based on real life.  I like it  that they left it real.

When Bernie says he’s going to fight for every vote, for every delegate, he means he is going to speak, and try to persuade people, and legitimate stuff like that.

Hillary Clinton is apparently prepared to cheat for every delegate.  The huge amount of voter disenfranchisement in New York and Arizona did not satisfy her.  Rigging the machines in Delaware and Illinois was not enough.  Sending out her increasingly pathetic excuse for a husband to block polling places in Massachusetts was not enough for her.

There is some serious shit going down right now, as I write, at the state democratic convention in Las Vegas.  I’m not 100% clear on the details because, as I said, it’s happening right now, but here is how I understand  it.  Sanders delegates were kept outside of the main arena and a vote on the rules occurred before they were in.  When they got in they called bullshit and demanded a revote.  The state chairwoman, a mean looking piece of work, defiant like Dolores Umbridge, called for a voice vote.  Despite the fact that the Sanders vote was just obviously way, way louder and longer, she ruled for Hillary.

I’m not sure if it was one or two delegates that were at stake, or 10 or 20, or all of them, but it’s blatant and it’s disgusting and the Sanders delegates are pissed.  Calls have gone out for demonstrators, volunteers are trying to bring in pizzas for the Sanders delegates, encouraging them not to go home, and the pizza delivery people are not being allowed into the convention hall.

I urge everybody to keep abreast of this story, and I would like to encourage my Clinton supporting friends to watch this video.http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/279930-nevada-dem-convention-devolves-into-chaos

Just watched an episode of ‘Through the Wormhole’ with Morgan Freeman.  An interesting thing about that  is  this:  since I’m not  actually a scientist myself,  Morgan Freeman’s voice carries the same  level of authority with  me as does Neil deGrasse Tyson or Michio Kaku, even though I know  he  is only an actor and they are actually scientists.
This isn’t  a terribly dangerous thing because Morgan Freeman (who is probably a reasonably intelligent guy, I’m not dissing Morgan Freeman) is reading from a script,  and the shows writers probably do have  serious scientists  among them.

The phenomenon manifests itself in other ways as well,  though.  For instance, somebody who is stupider than Donald Trump (Yes, they exist) has  no way of knowing who is smarter, Donald Trump or a bag of poop, because they both seem smart to them.
But, I digress.  The theme of the program was the brain, autism, monosavants, stuff like that.  They were hooking up electrodes  to peoples heads to stimulate certain parts of the  brain  to see if they could enhance creativity.  They could.

They talked  a bit about how this could be applied.  Maybe people could learn faster, and get better grades in school,for instance,  or learn how to play a musical instrument without years of practice.

I felt they were missing the point.  Why not hook this thinking cap device up to a bunch of scientists, engineers, college students  and science fiction fans, a few thousand of them, and start  brainstorming about how to get clean  water to everybody on Earth, or how to build a space elevator, or how to stop  global warming?  How about adding a control group who are microdosing on LSD?  What the hell, throw  it all  into the mix.

Of course, having  intelligent solutions to our  problems is only have the battle.  Getting the great ideas implemented, within our  current system which is ruled  by short term greed and pig ignorance, will be the hard part.  But having  great ideas would be a good start.  You can’t have too many good ideas.

Today is not the first  day that I’ve posted an original  meme -that was probably  about  a week ago.  I didn’t continue the practice, though, because the choices of picture are kind of boring  – I’m  really tired of the “One does not simply….” guy.  Also, I think the value of these things to serious debate is somewhat less than even twitter…somewhere down  around bumper sticker or T-shirt level.

But then today I saw somebody do a Bernie Sanders one with  the line at the bottom “Crazy Bernie” and I thought THAT is a great catch phrase.  Because Donald Trump used it as a slur, if we embrace it, it’s great  It blows up in Trump’s face, it’s a good way to enumerate the good points about Bernie and not just in one long, boring rant, which I  usually do, and Hillary Clinton definitely cannot use it.  Trump’s name for her is Crooked Hillary.  Crazy can have positive complication.  We say that about our friends.  Crooked has no positive implications at all.

Also, I  realized we can  upload and use  any photo we like.  So, I intend  to post 2  or 3 of these  a day, every day.  But I might still rant on a bit in the comments section as well.  It’s not exclusive.

It’s not Bernie Sanders all the time on my Facebook page, although  that’s the vast majority  of my posts and those  I actually respond to.  Weddings, births, birthdays, promotions, life events, get the like button.  A Bernie comment, especially an anti-Bernie comment, will bring a tirade.

But, I  do get people posting other stuff, little reminders that life goes on  outside of politics.  A friend (who also lives in Prague) just made the comment (which people who live here make frequently) that the constant construction  of  the tram lines probably has more to do  with guaranteeing employment  than their actually needing replacement.  I’m sure it’s true,  but….

Not actually my neighborhood, but this is what it will look like

They started  tearing  up the tram lines in our  neighborhood two, maybe three months ago, and I assumed that  was the  deal.  Now that they are  near  completion, I see what the plan was.  Between the rails, and a bit to either side, they’ve laid  down sod, creating a lovely, green median  strip.  There are many other neighborhoods in  Prague that  have this and I think it’s lovely.

When no tram is coming, it’s a long, green lawn.  When the trams are rolling across it, they are rolling through the grass, it almost looks like they are floating.  In this fairy  tale city of castles and ornate, ancient buildings, it fits  right  in.  As if to say, when a fairy tale city adopts modernity, it doesn’t need to lose it’s fairy  tale personality.  Trams can roll across grass.
So, I’m not bothered by the months of inconvenience.  We’re right on a  Metro  line, so it hasn’t mattered much  anyway and  the improvement to the neighborhood is worth it.

My son, however, says he’s still angry about the disruption.  What does he know?  He’s 13 and his idea of classy  urban  architecture is a football stadium.