FOLIO OLIO

It's my birthday. And what keeps me young beyond my years and wise beyond my peers is that I try to learn at least one new thing a day. Let me demonstrate what I mean...

From a website that researches such shit...

(we were dead last in the survey...no pun intended)

But on the good side...America, as a whole, is solving traffic problems in such a way that fewer and fewer accidents happen. Many times the wrecks are avoided by better road design, or regulating traffic flow. Drunk drivers are still a problem, but the big "solvable" killers are not wearing seat belts and motorcycle helmets. Believe it or not, in America our traffic deaths are what they were in the 1950's, even with many, many more drivers.

She is painted on the road to slow drivers down. Costs? About two hundred bucks. Lives

saved? Who knows. Maybe in this area we ARE getting smarter.

This is transparent aluminum...just like in the movie...

This is a totally organic house that will take a decade to grow...

Yeah, kind of like this one, only on purpose...

This is the size of the hole that supplies those trapped Chilean miners...

Just big enough for a beer can....coincidence? I think not.

There is a huge convention being held in Indiana on Nov. 6. I'm sorry I will miss it...

Here are the topics that most interest me...

(and we go nuts when a middle-eastern nut case denies the Holocaust)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I love that gag for two reasons...One is that the guy said something that I could have very well said, AND two he has a mustache like mine!!!)
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But, of course, blind faith is always good thing...unless...unless we use our minds to ask questions that most of us don't want answered....sad really...

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AN AFTERTHOUGHT: (I was just about ready to hit the "Post" button...but couldn't let it go...yet.)

Some scientists believe that as soon as man became conscious of their own "I", their own understanding of their own being, the fear of death was overpowering. They saw death every day, and it was random, cruel and terrifying. When your brain is faced with this level of terror, it has a defense mechanism, and their minds invented an "out". And the best calming factor of all would be, contrary to all evidence, that we JUST DON'T DIE. We live forever. Just fucking deny it!!!! Problem solved. Now they could get on with "regular" problems....in peace.

Further, let's suppose we all accept this premise and are allowed to have absolute faith that there is an afterlife and to live longer than the whole universe, all we have to do is........what?

Well, there are many, many options. I won't bore you with the thousands of gods that man have had complete faith in during our history, but let's just assume that every "tribe" has it's own god and every one of these gods tell us that you will live forever if we just do X, Y, and Z...remembering the longevity of the god(s) was SOLELY dependent on the survival of the culture that invented it.

My fundamental problem is....get ready....why is it impossible that I can't come up with my own rules to ensure eternal life? What is it about the ancients that makes them so...believeable?

But why would I, personally, want to do that? Believe it or not, some of us don't fear death. I mean that. I don't want to suffer, but death...fuck that bastard.

Further, (if you were a real thinking person) why do you think that ALL the major religions were invented by ancient people of whom we can't ask questions? AND never left any proof. And proof is not having your friends write about you...otherwise we would have to believe everything written on the internet.

To me, the answer is obvious. There can't be questions...thus...faith is paramount.

You put one of those nut cases who are holding that convention in Indiana on the same stage with Hawking or Einstein and....well, you get my point.

Smile, people. Life is beautiful. Bad stuff sucks. Now get out there and do the best you can with what you have. Magic has outlived it's usefulness. Be not fearful of the inevitable, because sooner or later you are going to get fuck in the ass with reality.

(but try to find someone who loves you as much as you love them....it's better that way)

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Now some interesting shit....

This is a pirate in the movie Hook. Who's playing the part?

Highlight (Glenn Close)

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Marvelous...simply, totally marvelous...I stand in awe...

...and I will bet real money that that son of a bitch drinks beer.....YEAH!!!!

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And that last artist...or whatever he is...who brings joy to people like me, gives his shit away. Now listen up. In the 1970's, 8% of all income in the US went to the top 1% of the people. The last time that it was measured was 2007, and by that time the top 1% owned 23%. And further, THE TOP ONE PERCENT OF THE ONE PERCENT (13,000 people) OWNED 11 PERCENT.

I stated before that I thought that the game is fixed and most of you agreed with me. Not because I hate rich people or I have some kind of class envy bullshit, but because I know that rich people can buy and sell congressmen and senators like Pokemon cards.

When I asked a conservative friend's opinion of raising the tax rate on the top earners to what it was during the Reagan administration, he was opposed to it with his reasoning....get ready...."they would only spend the money anyway, not pay off the national debt".

In my opinion we are as fucked as we have ever been and with both sides so entrenched in their voodoo dogma perfection bullshit, we ain't likely to get out. Hoard the ammo and pass the bacon.

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I have predicted in other posts that we will see many more of this type art...

If just to keep some shit out of the landfill...

I like it...

Man, look at this!!! I like the flowers, but why not vegetables?

I couldn't keep my eyes off this image. The terror is palatable, but then you notice the child.....DAMN! Dwell here a minute or two, my friends, and you will feel it also...

I made that image my desktop background...
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You can learn a lot from charts...give this one a go..

(my great friend, Billy, will like that chart)

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I really like this idea, but what do you spin around your finger while you are waiting for the elevator to reach the ground floor?

(TRUE STORY: My friend, Rupert, was spinning his keys in an elevator one time and when the door opened he dropped his keys down the crack and they fell all the way to the basement.)

You would think with all this technology, we could just come up with a better way of getting from point A to point B. Those vehicles are using internal combustion engines...hundred year old technology.