Pumpkin and Honey Bundy

Reading up on the couple who shot two cops and a civilian before killing themselves in a Las Vegas Walmart, I am getting less of a "revolutionary" vibe than a "Pumpkin and Honey Bunny" vibe:





Oops, the male shooter did a stint at the Bundy Ranch, make that Pumpkin (Pumpaction?) and Honey Bundy.

Meanwhile, conspiracy diva Alex Jones wants to make the shootings all about him... damn, what a narcissist! If the government wanted to silence the guy, they could have whisked him away to a FEMA camp with an enforced vegan dietary regime faster than he could have said "false flag". When the Wendy's triple bacon cheeseburgers finally make him go the way of still-dead Breitbart, his audience will claim that the government did him in... did you know that the CIA has poison darts that can mimic the effects of years of arteriosclerosis?

The whole damn country needs a chill pill at this point.

About the Mothership

In a comment to my last post, long-time reader Butch Pansy asked about the status of the mothership:


Forgive the non sequitur, but I can no longer find Sadly, No! This is distressing me. Neither Chrome nor Safari has been able to find the server for days,now. You are not my only hope, just my best one. I miss lurking there. Thanks for your own interesting posts, by the way. I lurk around here a lot, as well.


The "Sadly, No!" server was moved about a week ago, and there are still technical problems. There has been a lot of back-and-forth behind the scenes, but the boffins are working on the problem. Fear not, "Snark Central" should be up and running soon. I hope so... while I have all of my "womb-mates" linked in my blogroll, there are some (GASP!!!) blogless sadlynauts out there.

Seriously, people, start blogging... until then, we'll all be waiting for the mothership to get back in working order.

More Voynich than Voynich?

From the "How the hell did I miss this?" file, I just learned about The Codex Seraphinianus, an art book from the late 70s by Italian polymath Luigi Serafini. The book is an "encyclopedia" from another world, a very Borgesian concept. The book also seems reminiscent of the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript, which can be downloaded from the Beinecke Library website. Note to self... visit Beinecke while dressed as Wilbur Whateley, demand to see Necronomicon. Hilarity sure to ensue.

Back to the Codex Seraphinianus, the images manage to be beautiful and slightly disturbing at the same time. The work is reminiscent of Del Toro at his best or Kliban at his most outré. Sadly, the book is very expensive... purchasing it would seriously cut into the booze fund. I checked the county library system, but the book is not available.

Note to self, get Wilbur Whateley costume out of storage, don't travel by train...

Slamming Private Ryan

On this, the 70th anniversary of D-Day, I am perplexed by the right-wing outrage over the release of POW Bowe Bergdahl. Perhaps the best characterization about the faux Bowe scandal is Jim Wright's piece at "Stonekettle Station", the gist of which can be summed up with the following excerpt:


There is no crime so great that leaving him in the hands of our enemies is the indicated punishment.

He was, he is, one of ours. Period.

For better or for worse, he’s one of ours, and we don’t leave our people behind – not even the deserters.

We Americans sent him into the meat grinder and it is our sacred obligation to get him home, no matter what.

Even if he was dead.


To me, the most disgraceful conduct in this ugly incident is that of John McCain, a former POW- he has infamously flip-flopped on the Bergdahl release.

Besides the stated-principle of bringing our soldiers home, negotiating the release of Sgt Bergdahl is useful from an intelligence-gathering perspective. Having been in the "enemy's" custody for years must have given Bergdahl an insight into how they tick. The conduct of the "War on Terror" has been characterized by oversimplifications and a clumsy application of power. If we continue the fight, we have to fight smarter, we have to pursue worthwhile security goals rather than slavishly devote ourselves to an unrealistic, ill-defined goal of "victory".

The cable networks will probably be playing Saving Private Ryan on a continuous loop today... would today's conservatives consider FDR to be the villain of the movie? Uhhh... no need to answer that! The way they are talking about the Bergdahl release, it seems the right-wingers would change the motto on the POW/MIA flag from "You Are Not Forgotten" to "Let Them Rot, if That Serves our Political Purpose".

Slacking Off?

It's been a couple of days since I posted... Work has been busy, and I have been "suffering" from a bit of spring fever. This afternoon was a particularly gorgeous one, after a rainy, blustery night. There are a lot of topics I could post about, but I figured I'd put up a quick "placeholder" post. As I usually do when I'm overwhelmed by a plethora of topics with too little time to cover a single one adequately, I think I'll post a video. Last week, I heard the song Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors by Editors on the radi-adi-o, and I was struck by the title, and the image that it conjures in my mind. Here's a video of a live performance from 2007:





I can't believe I missed this one for so long.

Redbud Keeps on Giving

I am going to open this post with a tip of the hat and a thank-you to Thunder, who clued me in to the edibility of redbud flowers. The pretty flowers have a hint of sweetness and make a dramatic addition to a salad:

Today, I tried the young, green seed pods for the first time, stir frying them much as I would stir fry snow pea pods, which the redbud pods resemble somewhat:

The trees are fairly prolific, and there are enough of them so that I could gather a fair amount of pods without overharvesting. They have a nice, tangy flavor and are more "substantial" than snow pea pods- they are pleasantly chewy.

The fully developed seeds are also edible, the Native Americans used to roast and eat them. In a couple of weeks, I should be able to put them to culinary use. At any rate, the redbud is pretty much the giving tree described by Shel Silverstein- it is not only a beautiful element of the landscape, but it provides a diverse edible bounty for the entire spring.

Thanks, Thunder! Thanks, redbud!

Happy Birthday, Sister Mine!

As is usual, I take an opportunity on this day to wish a happy birthday to my Irish twin sister. When we were kids, we'd be impossible to be around for the period when we were the same age, but the acrimony would end instantly on my birthday. Thankfully, we outgrew this odious habit a couple of years ago.

My sister's husband is being transferred by the military to a post in California this summer, so I hope to be able to make a triumphant return to the West Coast (it's been a while since my two epic cross-country road trips). In the event I make a family visit, I'll get the word out... it'd be nice to have some "inside information" about the City of Angels.

Happy birthday, little sis!