Monday, July 6, 2009

Singing Dolphin Dreams

George Clooney sang to me last night. His voice was not pleasant. In fact, it was so high-pitched, it hurt my ears, like dolphin chatter. Maybe that's why I couldn't get the song he sang out of my mind all day today.

Of course, I am speaking of a dream I had in which George Clooney appeared ... not in the way that a woman might wish him to appear in her dreams, but as a singer ... a very pushy singer who made sure his song sung in a dolphin-voice would not be forgotten.

Since I can't get the words of the song out of my head, I will post it. I think that's what Dolphin-Clooney was trying to tell me to do by singing it so obnoxiously. Hey, who am I to argue with either Dolphin-Clooney or my unconscious mind?

Here are the words, straight from my George Clooney dream to your eyes (blogger not responsible for bad prose imparted in dreams):

"Quiet as a blinking eyelash
Watching waiting for our time
Thirty years is now completed
Time for roaring like a lion.

"Rising like a Grand Tsunami
Riding on a Sea of Green
Thirsty for a taste of freedom
Trust us after thirty years.

"People soft and people harder
Call to heaven, hear their plea:
Cast the tyrants out of power
Trust us after thirty years."


Now, I don't often bother to analyze my dreams, but this one is obviously about Iran. Thirty years refers back to the original Islamic Revolution in 1979. The rest is easy to figure out.

There was one very odd occurance that happened yesterday evening that might have prodded my subconscious brain in this dream's direction. It happened when the D.K. family took our dog for his evening walk. Even though we waited until 9 PM, temps were still in the 90's. In one direction we could see and hear a big fireworks display. Lots of red, white and blue bombs bursting in air! In the other direction there was not much visible in the dark except for the vague outline of a 10,000-ft tall mountain about 20-miles away.

As we were walking toward the mountain, a green light appeared, floating above the barely visible mountain profile. I've never seen anything like it. It reminded me of an occulting green lighthouse light, except the ocean is about 1,000-miles away. It stayed lit, a pure green pulsating light, for about half an hour, then it disappeared.

And the whole time we were walking towards the green light, all I could think of was the Sea of Green that has become the symbol of the Iranian Protests.

The dolphin singing voice remains unexplained as does George Clooney himself (I have NEVER dreamed of him before)!

ps, the light was not borealis like this photo, but it was this color of bright green against a dark sky, which created a similar eerie effect. My mountain light was more pinpointed, more like a lighthouse light. It was not an antennae tower, which in any case, flash RED lights, not green...very odd.

Friday, July 3, 2009

July 4th, Fake and Real ...


Click here for the full page NYT news you WISH was true. The whole thing is a spoof, brought to you by The Yes Men.

July 4, 2009 NYT Edition: "All the News We Hope to Print" ...

Iraq War Ends (troops to return immediately)!

Maximum Wage Law Passed (limiting top salaries to 15 times the minimum wage)!

USA Patriot Act Repealed (a shame-faced congress confesses they only just realized they had the power to do this)!

Evangelicals Open Their Homes to Refugees (limited to the first million Iraqi citizens to qualify, or one-half of the estimated number, whichever is less)!

Ex-Secretary Apologizes for W.M.D. Scare (Condi, not Rummie of course, wants us to rest assured that if there had been even the slightest intelligence that Saddam had real W.M.D. to use against our troops, the Bush Administration would never have sent hundreds of thousands of them to invade Iraq)!

Nationalized Oil to Fund Climate Change Efforts (placing ExxonMobil, Chevron Texaco and other major oil companies under public stewardship, profits to go in a public trust administered by the United Nations, to be used for alternative energy research and development in order to solve the global climate crisis)!

*****DK Note: the above fake July 4th NYT was distributed on the streets of New York this morning. apparently New Yorkers realized immediately that it was a hoax and began using them to wrap day-old fish for garbage pick-up. a few of the less smelly papers have been retrieved as collector's items to be placed in the National Museum of Hope, which due to lack of urban public interest, expects to soon become another rural roadside oddity along with the 2-headed snakes and 6-legged chicken attractions tempting those few brave tourists who venture off the Disney Summer Vacation Trail.*****

And in other news that I first thought was another fake-out, but has been revealed as the ultimate Friday news dump, Sarah Palin has announced her resignation as Governor of Alaska. While I feel happy for the people in Alaska, I do confess to some fear for the caribou, wolves, polar bears and other Alaskan wildlife now that Ms Aerial Huntress will soon find herself with more free time on her hands.

What do you think she's up to? A phony Fox consultancy, or something more ambitious? BTW, that is a fake flag-bikini'd Palin photo, but it goes so perfectly with her announcement on this eve of July 4th, I couldn't resist.

Read: Paul Begala was reminded of a famous Hunter Thompson quote in his analysis of Palin's rambling and infantile mind.

Have a safe and happy July 4th, everyone!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Father's Day Science

Just thought I'd pass along the biological meaning of Father's Day:

Talkin' bout Sex (containing a possible answer to the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the rooster) ...

It was written by the science writer known as DarkSyde on DailyKos, who is now also writing science policy posts at Examiner.com under his real name, Steven Andrew.

Here's a link to more of Steven's Articles. He has a readable style and scientific ability to break down the complex into the simple, then take it back to the geeky level again. And he is Darwin's best friend!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Skirting the Storm



Big thunderstorms tracked beside us all the way home from Salt Lake last week. Very forbidding sky. Lots of scary wind and lightning but we managed to miss most of the hard rain. As I looked at the dark clouds, it reminded me of Anne McCaffrey's books about The Dragonriders of Pern who fight "thread". I started reading her dragon novels in the 1970's and think she's written about 20 so far. "Thread" is what falls on the planet Pern whenever a certain rogue planet's orbit passes close by. Dragons were bred by the people of Pern to torch the "thread" in midair before it could reach the ground where it would destroy everything it touches. "Thread" falling from the sky:

After watching the protestors in Iran this week, it occurs to me that they have been skirting a storm for many years.

I pray the courageous people who have been marching non-violently can maintain their convictions in the wake of the Ayatollah's announcement today that protests will no longer be tolerated. I hope this weekend brings better news and that our media will have the courage to show us more of what is actually happening.

If the crackdown is severe, then I hope for dragons to assist the protestors in their quest for a fair and honest election -- although truthfully I think the quest has expanded far beyond that now -- I think they are getting ready to take on the ruling theocracy. If that is the case, they will need many dragons. People have the power!

For current news not on TV, keep refreshing Nico Pitney at HuffPost.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

if this is tuesday, it must be 2000 or 2004

Being stuck out of town, watching the news out of Iran on a little hotel TV, I couldn't help but compare their election frustration with ours in 2000 and 2004.

Iranian Mousavi supporter 2009, or disenfranchised Floridian in 2000:


Confused Iranian voter 2009, or confused butterfly balloter 2000:


Iranian protestors questioning their vote count results 2009, or U.S. Ohio demonstrators in 2004:

Yes for a brief moment I did wonder if perhaps I had timewarped back to our presidential election in 2000 or 2004 -- but then I remembered the good citizens of the United States did not take to the streets en masse when confronted with questionable election results. That's why I'm so proud of the Iranian citizens for putting their bodies on the line standing up to the police and military and other power status quo. The ability to have valid elections goes to the very core of what democracy means. My heart goes out to the brave Iranian men and women who are risking all in an effort to get their votes accurately counted.

Who's Who in Iran (a guide to the people you are seeing on TV)

Al Jazeera English (click refresh for latest news)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

When the rain comes ...


When the rain comes, you run and hide your head ....

Top photo is a Purple Sage plant in my backyard responding to a little summer rain storm. Then there is Clyde responding to having been bathed on a rainy day. He's usually quite frisky after a bath. Must've been the rain.

And here's my rainy day state of mind: in filling out a crossword puzzle, I come to a 4-letter word for "Optimism". I already have H_PE. What do I fill in? HYPE, of course!

Jeez, well, some days you might be looking for HOPE but HYPE is what you're gonna get no matter where you look!

ps, sorry to be so rushed ...

I'm gonna be scarce on the blogs for awhile, mostly working on a gynormous home design project which I hope to be able to hype soon.

Please don't give up on me!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Way to Go, SS and Vegas PD!


Man accused of threatening president is caught in Nevada
» Secret Service and Las Vegas police arrest Daniel Murray!


The Salt Lake Tribune
By Nate Carlisle
06/06/2009 @ 6:37 PM MDT

Federal agents have arrested the man who went to a St. George bank and allegedly made threats against President Barack Obama.

Daniel James Murray was arrested at 7 p.m. PDT Friday in Laughlin, Nevada, by the U.S. Secret Service and Las Vegas police, said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the Secret Service. Wiley said agents and police apprehended Murray in the parking lot of the Riverside Casino without incident.

Terry Donaho, director of security at Riverside Casino, said Murray was never inside the casino. Neither Donaho nor the Secret Service gave further details.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah filed a criminal complaint Thursday charging Murray with one count of threats against the president of the United States.

According to a Secret Service affidavit filed with the complaint, Murray talked about the bad state of the economy as he opened a savings account at a Zions First National Bank branch in St. George on May 19 with an $85,000 check from a credit union.

The affidavit says Murray returned May 27 to withdraw $12,698 in cash and became upset when a teller said he lacked the proper identification to complete the transaction. He allegedly said that "if I don't get this money, someone is going to die."

After a bank manager agreed to allow the transaction, Murray allegedly said, "The banking system will fail and people will die," then later, "We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States."

He returned on May 28 and withdrew the remaining money in his account, which was then closed, the complaint says.

A former neighbor of Murray's, in Rexford, N.Y., where he lived with his parents said Murray appeared to be mentally ill. Leighann Nastasia said Murray used to walk down the street waving his arms, talking to himself. "He wore a cape," she said.


****D.K. note: some of last night's commenters on Crooks and Liars (see my post below) had guessed Murray might try to disappear in Vegas even though he had last been spotted heading north and east. Good guess! He must have zipped south through Vegas and headed to that back-water bilge on the Colorado River known as Laughlin, where the down-n-outers and never-wuzzers seem to find refuge. As he parked his 8-yr old Buick in the Riverside Casino lot, probably hoping to increase his $85K by playing a little Blackjack before crossing the Colorado into the dusty Tim McVeigh white power area of Kingman AZ, Murray found out you can run but you can't hide from the combined dragnet of Vegas Metro PD and the US Secret Service! Now let's get Murray some serious psychiatric help and let him spend his days contemplating the distance from the sun to the moon as traversed by eagles. I know I feel much safer tonight!****