And there was war in heaven

Balance

Instructions

A musical offering and other observations

[odeo=http://odeo.com/audio/17137793/view]

NTodd is wicked smart.

Whose mission?

Hat-tip Ellroon.

Should poor people be denied music, or even poetry, unless by corporate consent?

for anne sexton

looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real

all of the buildings, all of the cars
were once just a dream
in somebody’s head

she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam

lets take the boat out
wait until darkness
let’s take the boat out
wait until darkness comes

nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day

there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone

dreaming of mercy st.
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms again
dreaming of mercy st.
‘swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms

pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word

confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest;he’s the doctor
he can handle the shocks

dreaming of the tenderness, tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary’s lips

dreaming of mercy st.
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms again
dreaming of mercy st.
‘swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy’s arms

mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy

Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea

Recommended listening:

• To Bedlam and part way back

Little Amsterdam

for RAINN.

Too busy for poetry?

Don’t click.

Advice from Kurt Vonnegut

Wear sunscreen.

Click.

Update: I have been hoaxed, as Ombudsben points out in the comments below. The commencement address was never given, and it was not by Kurt Vonnegut. Here is one account of the story.

Still, it’s good.

This is my message to you.

Recommended listening:

• Even the hopeless sinner

Do you prefer plagues of locusts?

What is six times nine in base thirteen?

The act of writing is the means by which our consciousness can be focused and analyzed for coherence. If our thoughts are jumbled we would write in such a fashion. If we have a point to make, our thoughts can be arranged around that point. If we are searching for something which others could help find, our thoughts might be phrased as questions. If we already know the answer, it might be that in asking it of others we answer it to everyone.

What is the Ultimate Question?

You know. Life, the Universe and Everything.

Can you compute?

Following, the back of the Regional Transit Connection ID Center Processing Fee Receipt calculation, and verified by my wife, the graduate statistician.

And she cast a spell to bring down the Emperor and his works

Embed disabled link

Recommended listening:

• Past is prologue
• Tech support

Shawn Colvin Cover

Down at the train they go to Independence everyday
Anywhere else now, it seems like a million miles away
And I must have been high to believe
that I would ever leave
No, I’m just a flat, fine line
Like the Wichita skyline.

I rode on the airstream to cross the great lonesome afternoon
And I wished hard enough to hurt, drove fast enough to catch the moon.
And I must have been dreamin’ again
Cus there’s nothin around the bend
Except for that flat, fine line
The Wichita skyline.

As far as Salina I can get that good station from LaRue
I’m searching the dial, scanning the sky for a patch of blue
And I watch the black clouds roll in
chasing me back again
Back to the flat, fine line…
the Wichita skyline.

There’s a certain slant of light…

It’s been a weird day. There’s a quiet today, almost like the ceiling of the world is pressing down. I’m listening in, and everybody’s hushed. One thing happened, this happened, I’ve been given the ‘keys’ to post here on cannablog. This got me to fretting a little: What if I don’t write right? What if we have inextricably diverging visions? There wasn’t a lot of direction given, more like “Here you go. Sink or swim.”

So. In just such a situation I think whig himself would go relax with some herbal remedies. My solution is to just write. It’s a good combo, really. He’s major on the visuals, I’m crazy on the words. I guess if this doesn’t suit, I’ll just congenially hand the keys back.

And for today, such a weird, silent day, a dead hermit and favorite poet said it better than I ever could.

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.

None may teach it anything,
‘Tis the seal, despair,-
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘t is like the distance
On the look of death.

-Emily Dickinson

When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.

Remembering the future

Where do you think you’re going?

First the words, and then the music

And then more words.

A song of seeds, the food of love

“She’s trying to stop me from helping you!” Click the video to watch it elsewhere, it won’t embed.

Late show

A frog is a frog.

4:20 of Woodstock ’99

An eye for a spine on the side of the road

No music now, unless you read it

ARTIST: The Beatles
TITLE: Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End
Lyrics and Chords courtesy Gunther Anderson

[ Ebdim7 = ]

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

/ Am7 – – – Dm7 – – – / G7 – – – / C Em Am Dm9 – / G7 – C – /

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

/ C – F – C – / C – F – / C Em Am Dm9 – / G7 – C – /

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

{Refrain}

Boy, you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time

/ C – G – / – – C – / 1st / G – C Am7 /

I never give you my pillow
I only send you my invitations
And in the middle of the celebrations
I break down

/ Am7 – Dsus2 Dm / G – Csus4 C / Fmaj7 – Dm E7 / Am – G – /

{Refrain, ends with / C A / C A /}

Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight

/ D – E – / A – Ebdim7 – / A – /

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make

/ A – – – / G – – – / Bb – – F – G / C – /

And now, for something completely different

Judge the tree by the fruit thereof

You do not have to eat poison, and you can be sure that if you consume enough of some things you will die.

Some things are so benign you can eat them without limitation and become healthier.

Recognize the difference.

For GenX, this is Woodstock.

I just cried, listening.

Shakespeare’s nephew

You could define E-Prime as the English language written or spoken without use of the words, “to be.” The statement, “To be or not to be, that is the question,” could have as one possible translation, “I question my existence.” Everyone does, of course. You could think of U-Prime as E-Prime without the use of “I.” So much seems unexpressible. If “I” does not exist, then how can these thoughts have value? Because in reading them, they become your thoughts.

Habeas. You have.

Taste, Feel, Smell, Sound, Grow, Remain, Stay, Turn. Others exist, these came first to mind from childhood.

Move, Slide, Rearrange, Smile, Love.

Create.

You’ll do, the movement you need is on your shoulder

Spice for the recipe

No time, like the present

And later he fell upon a sea of hands, who supported him and lifted him up

Free concert up on the roof

Rock the Casbah.

Do the right thing, John

This is an historic time. We do not have the luxury to hope for opportunities in the future to correct what must be fixed now.

You are connected with a third rail, the blogosphere is powerful and can shock you if you are not properly grounded.

Choose your adventure.

Behold Atlantis!

Sunk beneath a frozen ocean, and soon to emerge: one effect of global warming.

Who will go and populate this new continent where people once lived? Those first who cannot live where they are now should always have the right of return.

Those who know how to live in harsh environments will be essential.

Related post:

• Global warming a reality

System of music

Music lesson

I have much to learn.

Global warming a reality

We might as well make the best of it, and this will probably be good for Finland’s tourism and immigration, if they wanted such things. The downside to tourism (and for that matter, the general warming trend) is that we lose our traditional winter cultures. We need to preserve them, however, for future generations to survive a time when the world might again return to the past or present day temperatures. We as a human species need to be prepared to live in changing environments and teach our descendents how we have fashioned ways of surviving.

That, you see, is the purpose of religion.

It is a survival trait of the human race, and of all species of animal and plant. We alter ourselves by our choices of what we value and pass along to the next generation. In our choices of how and who we conceive with, on a physical plane but also on an intellectual or emotional plane, because these teach others and ourselves to make good or bad choices as we and others have made.

Here’s some pictures of Finland.

I pass along my understanding of the world as I gain it, and sometimes my understanding changes. I am willing to admit that I make mistakes. We all do, but not everyone will say so.

All of the mythologies are history. None of them are false, in the sense that they aren’t talking about real things, but they are metaphors to some extent, due to the limitations of human language. When and as we overcome our communication barriers, our language becomes stronger and our stories become better.

Not every story is a good example to follow. You need to be discerning. Consider whether the source is trustworthy. Test for yourself. What do you want to be when you evolve?

Whose example do you follow? Do you evolve beyond that?

What will humanity be like in the future? What do you think we can do right now?

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

— Mohandas Gandhi

Is it A.D. yet?

Imagine peace

Here. I guess it’s skippy’s day today.

Music is language, handwritten and spelled

skippy had it, watch and listen how a master does it.

Related posts:

• Music is language.
• Music is language.

“Please don’t sue me. I’m just a fan.”

We are the ’80s

Selah

A few days late

NTodd has an interesting perspective on the issue of birth control, of which abortion is only one component. I tend not to write about this issue often because it is so deeply a matter of personal conscience what determines the relative value of a given human life over another. I also take a Monty Pythonesque view on the issue of contraception, which is to say their true view and not the view they satirize by their famous song.

Let me take a moment to point out the obvious hypocrisy of anyone with a purportedly pro-human life outlook being advocates of war. Obviously they value some lives more than others, and some are entirely dispensable to them.

No sane person wants there to be unwanted children or abortions, if it were possible to avoid having them without doing violence to women (or men). We should not want to mutilate people’s genitals, we should not want there to be any harm done to the innocent.

We don’t often enough stop to consider that the cause of violence is usually violence. Stop non-consensual sex and you will stop most or all of the abortions that occur. Stop adultery and you will stop the rest.

Oh, but you don’t want to stop adultery, going by what I see.

Except to punish the woman, because she is the one who is subject to violence from her spouse if she is caught with child.

We have to end the violence done to women, and you know that divorce must be a right for that very reason. But what many of you don’t know or publicly admit due to the risk of persecution is that violence can be tamed by cannabis — marijuana. It is a lie and an obvious one at that when prohibitionists associate cannabis with violence, when the only violence is involved in the criminal aspects of prohibition itself.

End cannabis prohibition and you will see that the very thing you criticize about “hippies” is their non-violence.

End cannabis prohibition and you will end the war in Iraq and in the rest of the middle east. Cannabis can be grown to fuel our economy. Cars and trucks can run on clean biological oils. Paints and chemicals can be made from it. Cannabis may be sacred but she is also profane. We have a petroleum economy today but we cannot have a petroleum economy forever.

Turn this mutha out.

Tidal wave

A very large wave begun in the very deepest parts of the ocean, it does not look like much out there because in the volume of water the depth of the wave is very slight. As it moves toward land it swells in size like a shark rising up out of the water, devouring the water ahead of itself.

If you have a little advance warning you can seek higher ground.

War is the enemy of the poor, and the rich

When you spend lives and treasure to destroy lives and treasure, you impoverish yourself.

Listen to Doctor King.

Please read

driftglass.

Now is the time

Via.

It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Update: replacement video:

Vox populi

Now it’s just about time for the penguin on top of your television set to explode.

Hat-tip JC Christian.