*It's Friday night, and I'm not out getting drunk or laid. I'm sitting on the couch with the Couch Behemoth:
This warm fluffmonster has attached itself to my legs and won't let go. For the time being I am stuck right here, where I sit. Life could be worse.
*Courtesy of ML, I present to you an old-school method of keeping one's pencil from rolling downhill:
Seems quaint to some of us, but keep in mind that there is a whole generation or two of spoon-fed Americans out there who have not only never considered utilizing this trick, but probably aren't capable of thinking of it to begin with. That's shopping mall culture for you.
*Movies to recommend: Mesrine, Parts 1 and 2, and Carlos, Episodes 1 thru 6. Mesrine concerns the career of the French master criminal by that name, and is a 2-part, 4+-hour epic crime bio. Carlos is a 6+-hour French fictional mini-series concerning international terrorist Carlos the Jackal and his Dr Evil-esque crime capers. It is even better than Mesrine. If you like 70's crime complete with shootouts, you will like these films. Actually, Munich would complete this series. Don't watch them too close together though, or the stories and events will all start to bleed into one another and you will find that you cannot remember what happened to who, when.
Let me add, as a caveat, that both Mesrine and Carlos were BAD, BAD people, and I in no way condone anything they did. I do, however, really dig 70's crime flicks that have lots of shootouts.
*I probably shouldn't post this, since I lifted it directly from Penny Kelly's blog. BUT, I think it's cool and timely, even if some elements of it are too New Agey for me. Here is what Penny Kelly has to say about:
The Economy
People keep asking me what I see for the economy. Over the years, I have often been present at a global gathering of planetary citizens. This is a gathering that happens in an other-than-physical setting and at which we decide how to move ahead as a collective, as a civilization. Usually, millions of people are present.
Starting in January, 2010, we could not agree on how to handle the situation in the world. For more than ten months there was a deadlock. The impasse was over the subject of money. Some people felt that the money system should be preserved and we would just have to work out the current problems within that framework. Some felt the money system should be abolished as the source of all our problems. Some felt that a shift toward balancing financial systems and changing the rules in First World countries was the answer. Others felt the money system should be left in place but utilized with a totally new kind of license and largesse. And some felt that power in the financial markets should be shifted to new countries, which would not really have solved anything.
Then, in November, 2010, there was a collective decision to allow the old financial system to go down. Everyone agreed that they were willing to work through whatever challenges would come up as a result of this decision. The general consensus was that the stalemate could not go on any longer and that this would serve as a good test of our willingness to work together, to heal ourselves, to heal the planet, and to be more inclusive in our creative designs for the future.
Everyone agreed that the best way to take the money system down was slowly, easily, and with lots of warning so that people could make changes and shift their thinking, while at the same time shifting their money into investments that would build a new world AND develop the basis for a new money system. The critical window of how to start the process was set for March 1st through June 15th of 2011. The idea was that if we could make it through this window of time without a catastrophic crash, we could ease out of the old financial system and into a new one.
We are in that window now. The old economic paradigm is coming apart and the new one is just beginning to come together. New investment money is starting to move into place to fund the business, machinery, research, and systems that are much more Earth-friendly.
If you are looking for signs to tell you what to do with your money, consider the following. The old system is greed-centered; the new system is heart-centered. The old system is predatory; the new system is family-oriented. The old is based on tightly centralized control and hierarchical decision-making. The new is dispersed, individualized, and springs from common sense. The old is global in approach; the new is local in approach. The old system is characterized by careless destruction of Mother Nature, whereas the new system is careful to rebuild and nurture Mother Nature. The old is based on capitalism; the new is based on communalism (take note – that is not ‘communism’). The old is based on democracy and the ability to hide behind big, collective institutions; the new is based on personal responsibility and a willingness to take action on your own. The old operates like a drama queen; the new operates like a monk. The old is based on captains of oligarchy; the new is based on servant leaders. The old is featured in media struggles daily, the new is not even on the radar screen yet. However, the economy of the new paradigm is taking shape as we speak, growing and moving toward a new vision of the future, while the old paradigm keeps talking about recreating the past.
Can we nurture the new paradigm wisely and well, without the mistakes caused by being in a hurry, and get the new system to resilience before the old one is completely defunct?
(The above blog entry was written by Penny Kelly)
*That's it, Champ. I'm off to bed soon. My nephew turns 1 tomorrow. Gotta get up early and head South for the day, get him a present and all that. One more thing - worked on a new tool box today, but it's a bit of a bummer because the box itself just isn't very high quality to begin with. I can't take it apart and put it back together soundly because the pine slats will shatter. So, I reinforced the inside corners with metal brackets and attached the lid with hinges and a hasp lock. Tomorrow I stain it and then I let it dry for a few days. Ciao.
†
*Movies to recommend: Mesrine, Parts 1 and 2, and Carlos, Episodes 1 thru 6. Mesrine concerns the career of the French master criminal by that name, and is a 2-part, 4+-hour epic crime bio. Carlos is a 6+-hour French fictional mini-series concerning international terrorist Carlos the Jackal and his Dr Evil-esque crime capers. It is even better than Mesrine. If you like 70's crime complete with shootouts, you will like these films. Actually, Munich would complete this series. Don't watch them too close together though, or the stories and events will all start to bleed into one another and you will find that you cannot remember what happened to who, when.
Let me add, as a caveat, that both Mesrine and Carlos were BAD, BAD people, and I in no way condone anything they did. I do, however, really dig 70's crime flicks that have lots of shootouts.
*I probably shouldn't post this, since I lifted it directly from Penny Kelly's blog. BUT, I think it's cool and timely, even if some elements of it are too New Agey for me. Here is what Penny Kelly has to say about:
The Economy
People keep asking me what I see for the economy. Over the years, I have often been present at a global gathering of planetary citizens. This is a gathering that happens in an other-than-physical setting and at which we decide how to move ahead as a collective, as a civilization. Usually, millions of people are present.
Starting in January, 2010, we could not agree on how to handle the situation in the world. For more than ten months there was a deadlock. The impasse was over the subject of money. Some people felt that the money system should be preserved and we would just have to work out the current problems within that framework. Some felt the money system should be abolished as the source of all our problems. Some felt that a shift toward balancing financial systems and changing the rules in First World countries was the answer. Others felt the money system should be left in place but utilized with a totally new kind of license and largesse. And some felt that power in the financial markets should be shifted to new countries, which would not really have solved anything.
Then, in November, 2010, there was a collective decision to allow the old financial system to go down. Everyone agreed that they were willing to work through whatever challenges would come up as a result of this decision. The general consensus was that the stalemate could not go on any longer and that this would serve as a good test of our willingness to work together, to heal ourselves, to heal the planet, and to be more inclusive in our creative designs for the future.
Everyone agreed that the best way to take the money system down was slowly, easily, and with lots of warning so that people could make changes and shift their thinking, while at the same time shifting their money into investments that would build a new world AND develop the basis for a new money system. The critical window of how to start the process was set for March 1st through June 15th of 2011. The idea was that if we could make it through this window of time without a catastrophic crash, we could ease out of the old financial system and into a new one.
We are in that window now. The old economic paradigm is coming apart and the new one is just beginning to come together. New investment money is starting to move into place to fund the business, machinery, research, and systems that are much more Earth-friendly.
If you are looking for signs to tell you what to do with your money, consider the following. The old system is greed-centered; the new system is heart-centered. The old system is predatory; the new system is family-oriented. The old is based on tightly centralized control and hierarchical decision-making. The new is dispersed, individualized, and springs from common sense. The old is global in approach; the new is local in approach. The old system is characterized by careless destruction of Mother Nature, whereas the new system is careful to rebuild and nurture Mother Nature. The old is based on capitalism; the new is based on communalism (take note – that is not ‘communism’). The old is based on democracy and the ability to hide behind big, collective institutions; the new is based on personal responsibility and a willingness to take action on your own. The old operates like a drama queen; the new operates like a monk. The old is based on captains of oligarchy; the new is based on servant leaders. The old is featured in media struggles daily, the new is not even on the radar screen yet. However, the economy of the new paradigm is taking shape as we speak, growing and moving toward a new vision of the future, while the old paradigm keeps talking about recreating the past.
Can we nurture the new paradigm wisely and well, without the mistakes caused by being in a hurry, and get the new system to resilience before the old one is completely defunct?
(The above blog entry was written by Penny Kelly)
*That's it, Champ. I'm off to bed soon. My nephew turns 1 tomorrow. Gotta get up early and head South for the day, get him a present and all that. One more thing - worked on a new tool box today, but it's a bit of a bummer because the box itself just isn't very high quality to begin with. I can't take it apart and put it back together soundly because the pine slats will shatter. So, I reinforced the inside corners with metal brackets and attached the lid with hinges and a hasp lock. Tomorrow I stain it and then I let it dry for a few days. Ciao.
†
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