Shapeshifterbelly sent me some photos of dogs made to look silly by their owners. They're quite funny and the dogs have not been harmed, but I think that if we had owners who dressed us in silly costumes just for fun, we would surely bite them!
Thank you, Shapeshifter.
Saturday, 12 November 2011
The elephant in the room
I feel a rant coming. Watching the news can have that effect...
The western economy is tanking. America is in turmoil and the Eurozone is a mess.
Earlier this year I wrote a post about it on Palingates, where I looked at the games being played by politicians, the big corporations and the banks. They dominate the economy in the West, playing with monopoly money while the Chinese expand their manufacturing industry... and their wealth.
We wanted cheap goods and China obliged. In a country with no unions or any protection for the workers, labour is cheap and plentiful. There are no environmental regulations either.
In the West there are many millions of people unemployed. Where are they going to find work? What industries are left? Can the existing sectors create wealth or just the illusion of wealth? Manufacturing is almost dead. We have the brains to advance technology, to move money around, to make day-to-day life easier. But the real work is being carried out elsewhere. The sector that creates wealth is gone and we are left with the sectors that came into existence to service the complexities of that once flourishing, wealth creating manufacturing sector.
In the US and in Europe, there's much talk about austerity measures. The banks created an almighty mess, countries are going broke, so the solution is to replace governments with technocrats. Who are they? Bankers! How neat...
I named this post "The elephant in the room" because for all their talk about job creation, western leaders make no mention of reviving or strengthening the manufacturing sector. Nobody wants to upset the Chinese because they're the only ones in a position to bail us out... with real money.
We gave them the crown jewels of capitalism and now we have to pretend we're still wealthy. All we have left is a pile of pretend money and a bunch of technocrats deciding the fate of a pretend economy.
Watching the news these days is like watching a perverse reality show.
Rant over.
The western economy is tanking. America is in turmoil and the Eurozone is a mess.
Earlier this year I wrote a post about it on Palingates, where I looked at the games being played by politicians, the big corporations and the banks. They dominate the economy in the West, playing with monopoly money while the Chinese expand their manufacturing industry... and their wealth.
We wanted cheap goods and China obliged. In a country with no unions or any protection for the workers, labour is cheap and plentiful. There are no environmental regulations either.
In the West there are many millions of people unemployed. Where are they going to find work? What industries are left? Can the existing sectors create wealth or just the illusion of wealth? Manufacturing is almost dead. We have the brains to advance technology, to move money around, to make day-to-day life easier. But the real work is being carried out elsewhere. The sector that creates wealth is gone and we are left with the sectors that came into existence to service the complexities of that once flourishing, wealth creating manufacturing sector.
In the US and in Europe, there's much talk about austerity measures. The banks created an almighty mess, countries are going broke, so the solution is to replace governments with technocrats. Who are they? Bankers! How neat...
I named this post "The elephant in the room" because for all their talk about job creation, western leaders make no mention of reviving or strengthening the manufacturing sector. Nobody wants to upset the Chinese because they're the only ones in a position to bail us out... with real money.
We gave them the crown jewels of capitalism and now we have to pretend we're still wealthy. All we have left is a pile of pretend money and a bunch of technocrats deciding the fate of a pretend economy.
Watching the news these days is like watching a perverse reality show.
Rant over.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Texan funnies
Mrsgunka sent me two jokes featuring Texans.
A drunken cowboy lay sprawled across three entire seats in the posh Amarillo Theater. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the cowboy, 'Sorry, sir, but you're only allowed one seat.'
The cowboy groaned but didn't budge. The usher became more impatient: 'Sir, if you don't get up from there I'm going to have to call the manager.'
Once again, the cowboy just groaned. The usher marched briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the manager. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy, but with no success.
Finally they summoned the police. The Texas Ranger surveyed the situation briefly then asked, 'All right buddy what's your name?'
'Fred,' the cowboy moaned.
'Where ya from, Fred?' asked the Ranger.
With terrible pain in his voice, and without moving a muscle, Fred replied,
'.....the balcony...'
As the bus stopped and it was her turn to get on, she became aware that her skirt was too tight to allow her leg to come up to the height of the first step of the bus. Slightly embarrassed and with a quick smile to the bus driver, she reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little, thinking that this would give her enough slack to raise her leg.
She tried to take the step, only to discover that she couldn't. So, a little more embarrassed, she once again reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little more, and for the second time attempted the step.
Once again, much to her chagrin, she could not raise her leg. With a little smile to the driver, she again reached behind to unzip a little more and again was unable to take the step.
About this time, a large Texan who was standing behind her picked her up easily by the waist and placed her gently on the step of the bus.
She went ballistic and turned to the would-be Samaritan and yelled 'How dare you touch my body! I don't even know who you are!'
The Texan smiled and drawled, 'Well, ma'am, normally I would agree with you, but after you unzipped my fly three times, I kinda figured we were friends.'
Thank you, Mrsgunka.
A drunken cowboy lay sprawled across three entire seats in the posh Amarillo Theater. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the cowboy, 'Sorry, sir, but you're only allowed one seat.'
The cowboy groaned but didn't budge. The usher became more impatient: 'Sir, if you don't get up from there I'm going to have to call the manager.'
Once again, the cowboy just groaned. The usher marched briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the manager. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy, but with no success.
Finally they summoned the police. The Texas Ranger surveyed the situation briefly then asked, 'All right buddy what's your name?'
'Fred,' the cowboy moaned.
'Where ya from, Fred?' asked the Ranger.
With terrible pain in his voice, and without moving a muscle, Fred replied,
'.....the balcony...'
********
As the bus stopped and it was her turn to get on, she became aware that her skirt was too tight to allow her leg to come up to the height of the first step of the bus. Slightly embarrassed and with a quick smile to the bus driver, she reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little, thinking that this would give her enough slack to raise her leg.
She tried to take the step, only to discover that she couldn't. So, a little more embarrassed, she once again reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little more, and for the second time attempted the step.
Once again, much to her chagrin, she could not raise her leg. With a little smile to the driver, she again reached behind to unzip a little more and again was unable to take the step.
About this time, a large Texan who was standing behind her picked her up easily by the waist and placed her gently on the step of the bus.
She went ballistic and turned to the would-be Samaritan and yelled 'How dare you touch my body! I don't even know who you are!'
The Texan smiled and drawled, 'Well, ma'am, normally I would agree with you, but after you unzipped my fly three times, I kinda figured we were friends.'
Thank you, Mrsgunka.
Labels:
funnies
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Something unexpected from Paraguay
I searched for Paraguayan Harp and found something that took me completely by surprise...
Labels:
music
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Grasshopper's treasures - Part I - UPDATE
A few weeks back Grasshopper mentioned an auction that was going to take place near him. He even offered to bid on our behalf if anything caught our eye and ship it to us, as long as it wasn't a car. Peter wouldn't settle for anything less than a Packard, so it didn't happen (ha ha ha). Joking aside, our friend was successful in securing the lot that had captured his imagination and sent me many photos of his treasures. Grasshopper put his experience in context:
Hi Regina, as you know, I can be an excitable boy and not a very materialistic one at that, but as soon as I heard "arrowheads" (as a gardener and digger of many holes, I was always half looking for one) and laid eyes on this auction display photo, 6 weeks ago, I knew it had to be mine. I became obsessed, lost sleep and when I finally got to examine everything close up I thought it would be way too expensive. At the preview there were 4 people with a magnifying glass hovering over MY stuff for about a half hour, taking notes and pictures so I figured they KNEW. Apparently not. Not knowing what the auctioneer was even talking about I just held my card up in the air and magically the bidding stopped at a very comfortable level for me, so my heart soared like an eagle (much like the one on the root club). Needless to say, I'm just about as happy as a grasshopper can be.
We decided to show the photos in batches and here's the first one, of a couple of carved root clubs:
The intricate handle "chip" carving may mean that these belonged to a chief, or shaman/medicine man.
They're made from the root ball/burl of a young birch tree and the carvings release the spirit of the sacred animal and then they go out and club the crap out of each other with it for fun on Saturday nights. The two I have definitely have battle scars.
Well done and thank you for the colourful description of the clubs, Grasshopper!
There are more photos to come, stay tuned for future posts.
[Please click on images to see all the details in full glory.]
UPDATE
Grasshopper has been doing some research on various items and found something fascinating about the root clubs HERE.
Hi Regina, as you know, I can be an excitable boy and not a very materialistic one at that, but as soon as I heard "arrowheads" (as a gardener and digger of many holes, I was always half looking for one) and laid eyes on this auction display photo, 6 weeks ago, I knew it had to be mine. I became obsessed, lost sleep and when I finally got to examine everything close up I thought it would be way too expensive. At the preview there were 4 people with a magnifying glass hovering over MY stuff for about a half hour, taking notes and pictures so I figured they KNEW. Apparently not. Not knowing what the auctioneer was even talking about I just held my card up in the air and magically the bidding stopped at a very comfortable level for me, so my heart soared like an eagle (much like the one on the root club). Needless to say, I'm just about as happy as a grasshopper can be.
| Grasshopper's treasures |
We decided to show the photos in batches and here's the first one, of a couple of carved root clubs:
The intricate handle "chip" carving may mean that these belonged to a chief, or shaman/medicine man.
They're made from the root ball/burl of a young birch tree and the carvings release the spirit of the sacred animal and then they go out and club the crap out of each other with it for fun on Saturday nights. The two I have definitely have battle scars.
Well done and thank you for the colourful description of the clubs, Grasshopper!
There are more photos to come, stay tuned for future posts.
[Please click on images to see all the details in full glory.]
UPDATE
Grasshopper has been doing some research on various items and found something fascinating about the root clubs HERE.
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