CAN’T SAY FAIRER THAN THAT

Seemed like it might be time to look at some religion other than political Christianity, especially when, Tennessee, good Christians have instituted the rule that, if you don’t pay the firemen, they let your house burn down.

"Hence there were no abstruse theories about the creation of the universe or the existence of a Supreme Being. These matters might be interesting but they would not give a disciple enlightenment or release from dukkha. One day, while living in a grove of simsapa trees in Kosambi, the Buddha plucked a few leaves and pointed out to his disciples that there were many more still growing in the wood. So too he had only given them a few teachings and withheld many others. Why? 'Because, my disciples, they will not help you, they are not useful in the quest for holiness, they do not lead to peace and to the direct knowledge of Nibbana.' He told one monk, who kept pestering him about philosophy, that he was like a wounded man who refused to have treatment until he learned the name of the person who had shot him and what village he came from: he would die before he got this useless information. In just the same way, those who refused to live according to the Buddhist method until they knew about the creation of the world or the nature of the Absolute would die in misery before they got an answer to these unknowable questions. What difference did it make if the world was eternal or created in time? Grief, suffering and misery would still exist. The Buddha was concerned simply with the cessation of pain. 'I am preaching a cure for these unhappy conditions here and now,' the Buddha told the philosophically inclined bhikkhu, 'so always remember what I have not explained to you and the reason why I have refused to explain it.' – Karen Armstrong, Buddha (Penguin)

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The secret word is Secret

BIG BROTHER WANTS HIS TOY BACK

Do I need to comment?

“A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online. The post prompted wide speculation about whether the device was real, whether the young Arab-American was being targeted in a terrorism investigation and what the authorities would do. It took just 48 hours to find out: The device was real, the student was being secretly tracked and the FBI wanted its expensive device back, the student told Wired.com in an interview Wednesday. The answer came when half-a-dozen FBI agents and police officers appeared at Yasir Afifi’s apartment complex in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday demanding he return the device. Afifi, a 20-year-old U.S.-born citizen, cooperated willingly and said he’d done nothing to merit attention from authorities. Comments the agents made during their visit suggested he’d been under FBI surveillance for three to six months.” Click here for more

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPACT OF HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP

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SPACE OPERA (Tattoo Special 2)

Yesterday we ran a link to a gallery of robot tattoos. I have problems believing this one is real.

PIG V PIG

“Fuck you, Tex!”

Shall we start placing bets?

"(Reuters) - October won't be the best month to be a feral hog in the state of Texas. The state's Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has declared October "Hog Out Month - Get the Hog Outta Texas!" as part of a campaign to eradicate the pests. The campaign aims to get Texans to lock and load and hunt down the animals, which cause widespread damage to farmers and other landowners. "Not only are feral hogs a costly nuisance to agricultural operations and wildlife habitats, but they are increasingly finding their way into urban areas and destroying residents' yards, public parks and golf courses," Staples said in a statement this week when the campaign was unveiled. "On my ranch in East Texas, I have eliminated a number of hogs and I am asking Texans around the state to step up and join the county challenge to learn about feral hogs and how best to legally hunt and trap them in their area," he added. Feral hogs are mostly domestic pigs that have gone wild, with some European wild boars that have escaped from exotic game ranches thrown into the mix and bloodlines. State officials estimate the feral hog population in Texas to be around 2 million and they are estimated to cause around $400 million in damage annually as they eat or root up pastures, crops and even golf courses. This makes them one of the most costly invasive species in the country. The campaign may not please some animal rights groups but Texas farmers don't need much prompting to pull the trigger when it comes to feral hogs. Their numbers are growing because they are prolific breeders with few natural predators and are moving into suburban and urban areas. They are also regarded as a challenge to hunt or trap because they are wary and intelligent. In author George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm," the pigs ran the show for a reason. "Get the Hog Outta Texas" month will feature a challenge among Texas counties that will run until October 31. The county that documents the most hogs removed during the month will get a $25,000 grant toward what the Texas Department of Agriculture terms "feral hog abatement technologies."

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The secret word is Ham

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST YOYO

Human ingenuity knows no bounds.

"Chris Allen, a professional yo-yoist, made an enormous yo-yo out of two dog pools. It’s 35 inches across, 18 inches wide, and weighs 5.4 pounds. Allen tested it while standing on the roof of parking garage of the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California.” Click here for the video

ULTRA-RARE PARTY HENDRIX

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SPACE OPERA (Tattoo Special)

Click here for a whole gallery

THE VERY VERY RICH ARE VERY VERY PISSED OFF

Believe it or not, billionaires feel victimized.

“Look out, they're angry. Foaming-at-the-mouth angry. And they're lashing out, saying they won't take it anymore. As one of their leaders angrily cried, "It's a war." Indeed — they're on the move to take their country back. Forget the tea party rowdies, this is the champagne party! More precisely, it's the Dom Perignon-$1,000-a-bottle-champagne-party, propelled by — get this — billionaire's rage. Yes, some of the richest, most pampered people on the planet — people who literally wallow in luxury every day, with never a concern about losing a job, a home or health care, or getting their kids into college — these people are wailing in self-pity. They are Wall Street hedge-fund operators, which essentially means they are high-flying financial flimflammers. What has stoked them into an elitist fury is a Barack Obama proposal to close off a ridiculous tax loophole that has let them pay only 15 percent of their lavish income in taxes, rather than the 35 percent rate that us commoners pay. One of the richest of the ragers, Steve Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group, sees Obama's proposal as an outrageous intrusion into the suites of the elite, comparing it to "when Hitler invaded Poland." This over-the-top-tantrum comes from a multibillionaire — a guy who spent $3 million in 2007 just to throw himself a birthday party!” Click here for more

Click here for The Who

The secret word is Rope

INFESTATION IS NO JOKE

UK Steve sent this. It’s serious. Click here.

JOHN LENNON PROVES THAT "CATHY’S CLOWN" IS ONE HARD MOTHERFUCKER SONG TO SING

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And now click here for the Everly Brothers

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Dick and Jane Frozdick found the big furniture experiment very amusing at first. Little did they suspect how hideously it would all end.

YOU CAN NEVER EAT ENOUGH FISH

DON'T YOU MISS THE 20TH CENTURY?

DREAM MANIPULATION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF CHEESE

Who needs drugs when there’s provolone?

“There’s an old wives’ tale that claims that eating cheese before bed makes you dream weird and incredible things. For serious? The British Medical Journal thinks so. A finely-aged 1964 edition tells of a man whose nightly supper consisted of cheddar, served straight up. This man was haunted by horrible, horrible nightmares: “He dreamt of [a workmate], terribly mutilated, hanging from a meat-hook. Another, he dreamt of falling into a bottomless abyss. When cheese was withdrawn from his diet the nightmares ceased.” As we know, the British Medical Journal doesn’t lie. Doctors don’t study for ten years just so they can make shit up in a trade mag. Neither do old wives, for that matter. But if you’re still sitting there making scrunched-up “cheese isn’t a drug” faces at me, you’re not alone. For some weird reason, everyone wants to disprove the cheese-dream myth. For example, I told my housemate last night and she was all like, “Yeah, I suppose so. But it’s just cheese.” Just cheese? You’re an idiot, Claire.The fact is, cheese doesn’t grow on trees. It’s made using a pretty elaborate mélange involving milk, rennet (an enzyme taken from mammalian stomachs), and any number of molds—a hodgepodge of ingredients and baffling techniques. Most important, somewhere during that whole process, a thing called tyramine is produced. This is essentially a form of dopamine that, while it can’t get you stoned, can trigger high activity in the part of the brain that controls REM. In other words: If you shove a whole lot of it in your face just before sleepies, weird shit might happen." Click here for much more.

But beware the Evil Cheese Panda

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The secret word is Gorgonzola

Norman Wisdom – RIP

NOW THEY TELL US?

And whoever suspected Marlboro had a therapeutic upside?

“You all know very well the dangerous health risk of smoking because it has over 300 carcinogens that have proved to be as damaging to the lungs of the smokers. Nevertheless, research has shown a 50% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson disease in smokers as compared to the non-smokers. Nicotine has also found to give an encouraging result especially in improving ADHD symptoms and reducing the risk of developing ulcerative colitis. Still, I don’t agree with this type of therapy for adults and particularly not for teens and children.” (Lifted from Healthmad)

THEY WARNED US WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE STARTED MESSING AROUND WITH THE MARRIAGE LAWS

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GRATUITOUS WHAAA???

THE SNITCHES ARE AMONG US

If you needed one more disappointment in the Obama promised land of hope and change, it’s in how the post 9/11 domestic secret police/spy industry is still being run with a corporate vengeance.

“There is a continuum between those who would express dissent and those who would do a terrorist act,” Mueller said ominously in a 2002 speech. “Somewhere along that continuum we have to begin to investigate. If we do not, we are not doing our job. It is difficult for us to find a path between the two extremes.” What does that mean? Just last week, FBI agents raided half a dozen homes of anti-war activists in Minneapolis and Chicago, carting away papers, computers, clothing, and other personal effects, all in the name of investigating “material support of terrorism.” The activists, their supporters, and their attorneys have a different view: they see the raids as designed to intimidate and disrupt legitimate political dissent -- points on “the continuum.” It is a virtual certainty that evidence of intrusive surveillance will surface as these cases mature. In Pennsylvania the continuum has meant, most recently, that the state Office of Homeland Security contracted with a small outfit, the Institute of Terrorism Response and Research, run by a couple of ex-cops, one from York, Pennsylvania, the other raised in Philadelphia and a veteran of Israeli law enforcement. For the past year, the institute has been providing secret intelligence reports via the state Homeland Security Office to Pennsylvania police departments and private companies in order, the reports say, to “support public and private sector, critical infrastructure protection initiatives and strategies.” (Click here for much, much more.)

Click here for John Lee Hooker

The secret word is Informer

FIRST LEMMY, THEN CARL JUNG, AND NOW…

Yes, my droogs, it’s an Allen Ginsberg action figure.


(Click here for Howl)

PANCAKES COME IN A MANIFOLD FORMS Part 2 (Scroll back to Sunday Breakfast)

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

As far as anyone knew, Gypsy Rose Frozdick was world’s first stripping ventriloquist.

DON'T YOU MISS THE 20TH CENTURY?

Bob buys boots. Wandering heels optional. (Image sent by UK Steve. Note the picture of The Who on the wall.) Click here for Nancy Sinatra.

DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL

The intrusion of a serious and importunate reality flow necessitates Doc40 being a little late today. But don’t worry, friends and neighbors, all will be back to what we laughingly call normal by tomorrow at the latest. And even in this temporal complexity, we won’t leave you wholly empty handed.

The secret word is Chaotic

GRATUITOUS BARDOT & BIRKIN

And click here for some rare Buddy Holly

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

I am inordinately fond of pancakes and always have been. From thin crepes with lemon juice, to a plate of silver dollars with sausage on the side, to a big fat buttermilk stack foundering in a sea of maple syrup, I’ll eat fried batter until I can eat no more. I have to admit, however, the idea of pancakes from an aerosol can creates mixed and conflicted feelings deep in my culinary aberrations. I have to admit, you see, I also have a perverse attraction to the Jetson school space food, and pancakes from a can sure as hell qualify as that. When our pal Zoe first alerted me to this pressurized wonder, my first thought was to speculate if you could squirt the stuff onto some recycled black plastic platter and place it straight in the microwave. I have yet to conduct such a nuke-potential experiment but I will report back if I do. My second, and less happy thought was whether the Batter Blaster is really just one more step to humanities ultimate corporate fate/doom when, monstrously obese, we are simple plugged into intravenous hoses of high fructose corn syrup in some miserable approximation of The Matrix.

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The secret word is Griddle

PANCAKES, OF COURSE, COME IN A MANIFOLD FORMS

MARILYN SEZ...

“As they very rightly say, sometimes you eat the bear and sometime the bear eats you.”
(Image from Roldo)

SIGNS FOR THE TIMES

GRATUITOUS LEE MARVIN

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