Schbligblog

Survival

mellowsardine — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:29:08 GMT

nukes, tsunamis, asteroids, hypercanes, global warming, etc., all [allegedly] threaten human survival . . . what I wonder about is the survival of our knowledge . . . all these catastrophic disasters would, presumably, leave some of our species alive, somewhere, on the planet . . . how would/could all our collective knowledge about materials, biology, chemistry, physics, survive? Is all now recorded on magnetic or optical disks? Wouldn't stone or clay tablets provide a time-tested way to record what we, as a species, know about the cosmos? Or will it all evaporate, leaving the survivors to reinvent the wheel? Do we, as a species, need stone carvers and clay-tablet scribes, to pass our knowledge on to our heirs?

New idea in mortuary science: Dissolving bodies with lye

mellowsardine — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:35:35 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080508/ap_on_sc/dissolving_bodies;_ylt=Anj15P7cV3u5NzapKJs6bnOs0NUE Ok, what gets me here is the *opposition* to the idea . . . Why would *anyone* object to disposing of your remains in the most environmentally friendly way? Burying requires $$ and land space and equipment to seal off your decomposing body from the naturally filtering rain water that courses through the ground; if the equipment fails, you spread your dna, diseases, and microbes through the ground . . . Burning requires you to purchase one last bit of carbon credit to pay for the fuel and the carbon your body puts into the atmosphere. Whereas flushing the residue down the drain and into the sewage system seems like a marvelously wonderful, reincarnative way to go: the water and all those nutrients get spread around for all the nearby living things to incorporate into their bodies . . . what is McCain's, Obama's and Clinton's view on this wonderful innovation?

ego spirit time

mellowsardine — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:15:29 GMT

an allegory

a male, a bird, and two snakes

mellowsardine — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:14:50 GMT

was the assignment in figure sculpting class

who am eye?

mellowsardine — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:54:23 GMT

yewd thinque i'd know by now after more than 53 years . . . cheque out the video on this page: http://wcbstv.com/papalvisit/pope.benedict.xvi.2.703533.html i am not jewish i am not catholic but I was amazed and moved by this viedeo . . . perhaps because i've studied so gawdamned much history . . . perhaps because i grew up in a muslim nation, Pakistan . . . perhaps because the fates would leave me a stranger in a strange land . . . passing through . . . wondering . . . how do you reconcile people who value your life less than a goat's or an ant's with people who would love, ineverywhichwayofthatword, you if you would just let them . . . what weirdness doth this material world create? i am not jewish . . . i am not catholic . . . (I liked Merton!) i am not muslim . . . tho' all three attracted me at one time or another . . . i am not sufi . . . (but i adore Rumi!) i am not buddhist . . . i am not hindu . . . tho' they've all attracted me at one time or another . . . i am not athiest . . . i am not agnostic . . . i am not a believer in anything . . . beyond . . . you and me . . . I believe in you . . . I believe in me . . . and betwixt us both majik can happen . . . and damn it all its that majik that created religions . . . and recently the ghastly absurdity in the Texas courthouses . . . no wonder, really, why really smart people cheque out . . .

Forearm Dressing

mellowsardine — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:58:06 GMT

(Not to be confused with Italian or Ranch!) The bandage goes up to my arm pit and inside of it is a splint that's supposed to keep the arm relatively straight and to prevent too much bending at the elbow. I am unable to use the arm, for example, to hold a telephone to my left ear. I've been wearing the dressing since Friday morning, 4 April 08, around 10:30 am. Tomorrow morning around 9:30 am I hope the Dr takes it off. It itches inside there and I cannot scratch the itch! I am interested in seeing the incision which I think is longer than I expected, based on the itchees. I think it may be curved, starting around the funny bone notch and proceeding from the back to the front of the forearm. The surgery relocated my ulnar nerve so it wouldn't stretch when I bend my arm and hopefully gave a blood supply to a bruised spot on the nerve so I can get the feeling back into the right side of my left hand.

new van morrison

mellowsardine — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:18:02 GMT

http://www.losthighwayrecords.com/artist/releases/release.aspx?pid=1732&aid=248

So, this is what I get when I post a url link to my daughter's site

mellowsardine — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:32:23 GMT

who do I sue in Georgia for this defamation?

Buy some art! Help an artist!

mellowsardine — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:55:25 GMT

The following is from my cousin, a comic book artist who has worked for all the major publishers, including Marvel and DC: http://bulletins.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bulletin.read&messageID=5574042964&MyToken=0f13f563-a0a5-4e58-9005-b760f589a9cf Hello friends~ Last week was a successful beginning to my campaign to make enough money to buy my house! I have been very touched by the outpouring of support from my friends, fans and neighbors. I am very close to my first goal, but the clock is ticking and I must boldly press forward to see this through. I'm still not out of the woods yet and the situation is still dire. (see my blog for the details) This endeavor involves a lot of time and energy from me and the group of friends helping me. Answering e-mails, shipping and just keeping track of things qualifies as a second (third) job for me. It is one well worth it to simply pay my rent with my art. It's all I've ever known. If I have not heard from YOU yet, now is the time! I've had a great response from several fans at ComicArtFans. com and from my neighbors here at Thursday night's party. Don't feel like you missed out! I still need YOUR support. This week is crucial and I am looking to my MySpace friends to make up the difference! Please make a purchase of Original Art from my online gallery at ComicArtFans. com or contact me at anonymouseye@bellsouth.net to order one of my prints. Special Announcement!! ~ A detail I neglected to mention earlier is that the Conan prints,"Stranger In A Mirrored Glass" are signed and numbered limited editions of 1000. The first 25 have been "vaulted" until all the rest are sold. ;-) The next lowest numbers are going on a first come, first serve basis, with specific number requests granted on availability. When these prints sell out, they will increase in value! Personalized autographs are also available. The depth of color in this print is especially striking and enhanced by a deluxe matte finish clear coating. Yours for $25. 00 ~ Attention retailers and dealers~ Order 4 and get a 5th free! Conan~ The large "Peter Pan and Wendy" photo-prints for $50 each with the same discount offer on large orders. Most of you know how much this house means to me and my art. Rather than choosing desperation in a crisis, I am looking at this as an opportunity to try something new! I am looking forward to how this particular fund-raising venture goes. please re-post this bulletin to help spread the word. I don't underestimate the power of my friends, especially if even half of them took this opportunity to show their support for my art by simply purchasing a print. Thank you all for your continued interest and support of my art. Later~ Craig~

will the democrats self-destruct, AGAIN?????

mellowsardine — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:17:19 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080313/ts_csm/acounting;_ylt=Aj21_4ZPFPc1.DtFjuvg0Vqs0NUE

WANTED!

mellowsardine — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:17:10 GMT

A macro economist who will talk to me and tell me where to locate the statistics/numbers that describe the effect on our overall economy of (1) the collection industry (2) the collection of legitimate debt, and (3) the collection of "zombie" debt, that is, debt which is uncollectible for good legal reason, e.g., the debt did not exist in the first place, the debt was paid in full, the debt was compromised and settled, the debt was discharged in bankruptcy, the debt was extinguished in a year's support petition, the statute of limitations has expired The consumer pundits all tell you that debt collectors "cannot" sue you on zombie debt. This advice is FALSE. The collection industry buys and sells zombie debt over and over and over again, duns on such debt over and over and over again, and, in fact, SUES on such debt in hopes of obtaining a default judgment, turning an indefensible allegation of debt in a real, collectible judgment which provides the basis for garnishments and levies against personal and real property. If you are sued YOU MUST REACT, GET A GOOD ATTORNEY AND COUNTER-SUE, not just for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violations, but for fraud on the court and you; and you must find an attorney willing to sue the lawyers representing the debt collector for abusive litigation in violating their ethical rules by bringing a claim they knew or should have know by reasonable inquiry was without merit. You MUST contact the bar authorities and bring their attention to the suit and the unreasonable investigation of the allegation they conducted prior to filing it. Just a thought experiment tells you that the numbers associated with zombie debt are much larger than the numbers associated with legitimate, fresh, collectible debt. Churning zombie debt gives debt collectors an UNLIMITED supply of claims. I suspect, but I do not know how to prove, that the zombie debt phenomenon, which came to the attention of the media some five or six years ago and has just entered the legal lexicon two years ago, may play a significant role in the so-called "subprime meltdown" and, if it did/does, if it remains an unrecognized drag on consumer confidence, tax rebates or interest rate changes will not assist in changing the direction of our economy. I need to find a macroeconomist who can point me to strong, defensible, authoritative numbers on the subject of zombie debt. Please send me an email here if you can help. By the way, the eclair in the picture is gone: it has been consumed; I ate it. Zombie debt collectors never eat the debt. It comes back from the dead, over and over and over again.

FLoCK?!

mellowsardine — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:57:06 GMT

who has heard of it? is it "safe"? Netscape bites the dust and sends me to Mozilla or Flock? wtf?

I was about to complain about the clouds

mellowsardine — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:00:25 GMT

when they finally cleared

I'm almost ready to support Obama

mellowsardine — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:08:53 GMT

"We can't keep on spending money that we don't have on a war that should have never been fought and should have never been authorized." I'm not so concerned about the money part . . . there are wars that require a lot of money and I think the conflict between the world and Muslims is one of them . . . we haven't faced a conflict like it since WWII, imho . . . It's the other two parts of his response to McCain that concern me . . . And I don't know yet what Obama's response may be: (1) Why should Iraq never have been fought? (2) Why should Iraq have never been authorized? Personally, I think Bush made an historic, strategic mistake going into Iraq . . . It's the reasons why it was a mistake that match with why I think it was mistake, that I haven't heard yet . . . from Obama or for anyone on the left for that matter . . . the lives lost and the money lost aren't the reasons why I think it was mistake . . . Europe, Russia, and China (and almost the rest of the far east) are GLAD to see us spending our capital this way: Why?

Photo Op 20 Feb Night

mellowsardine — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:18:47 GMT

On the night of Feb. 20, the full moon will pass into Earth's shadow in an event that will be visible across all of the United States and Canada. The total lunar eclipse will be made even more striking by the presence of the nearby planet Saturn and the bright bluish star, Regulus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=lunar+eclipse&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Hindu Temple in Lilburn, Georgia

mellowsardine — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:57:06 GMT

My daughter and I visited the temple in Lilburn today. What an amazing place. Italian marble, Turkish limestone, and Indian sandstone, all hand carved and put together without mortar or steel, just the old lock and key puzzle pieces with some help from gravity, 34,000 of them, carved and labeled in India and then shipped to Georgia, just east of Atlanta for assembly. Alec was in sculptor's heaven. More of my pictures from the visit are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mellowsardine/sets/72157603838783006/

it snowed in Atlanta

mellowsardine — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:18:49 GMT

and arabic can't say it snowed . . . it must say it rained snow . . . jest say'n . . .

my second scratch mold

mellowsardine — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:21:58 GMT

the first one was too demanding on my knowledge and not worth photographing . . .

Gallery Crawl #1

mellowsardine — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:41:59 GMT

My NY'08 resolution is to visit all the art galleries within 50 miles of where I live. I got my first shot at two galleries today: (1) By Hand South and (2) Junor Gallery, both in Decatur, Georgia, at the address indicated in the picture. By Hand South seems focused functional and decorative ceramics, glass, room accents, and jewelry. Alec sold jewelry in highschool to finance her concert tickets. She hasn't yet worked in glass but that's on her agenda. Junor is a fine art gallery. At Junor, Basil Watson's figure sculptures and figure drawings captivated me. They remind me of Alec's figure drawings. He's already internationally known and comes from Jamaica: http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=%22Basil+Watson%22+sculptor&btnG=Search Eskender Seyoum was the other artist whose work caught my attention, a marvelously talented Ethiopian and is only just recently appearing and getting attention outside of Ethiopia: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Eskender+Seyoum%22&btnG=Google+Search Alec and Eskender have the same name!

I have that sinking feeling

mellowsardine — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:56:48 GMT

This story is pissing me off . . . I'm getting angry and I have no place to put the anger . . . She's 24 years old . . . I have a (nearly) 24 yo daughter who hikes . . . I hike . . . I've never met her, but I'm a fellow hiker who enjoys the same trails she enjoy(s/ed) http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14983460/detail.html if the authorities would let me hike and search I'd drive up there . . . it's only an hour and a half away . . . and I've spent several nights on Blood Mountain . . .

her big sis nabbed a video

mellowsardine — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:06:32 GMT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nvx1CanTj5Y

Happy New Year!

mellowsardine — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:28:43 GMT

The person in the moon suit is my daughter, pouring iron at about 11:57 pm on 31 Dec 2007 into a reactive mold. More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mellowsardine/sets/72157603599009992/

soda/beer can toys

mellowsardine — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:42:35 GMT

my brother collects these toys from every place he visits around the world. The local Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, Georgia, borrowed a small part of his collection for an exhibit this December. These objects deserve better lighting or their images, but I did the best I could at the exhibition. At some point I'm going to get the chance to photograph them properly. More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mellowsardine/sets/72157603526926627/

iron pour earlier this evening

mellowsardine — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 04:41:00 GMT

another detail

mellowsardine — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 11:58:44 GMT