Loose Note

Mar. 13th, 2016 03:40 pm
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GetTV was showing the 1960s Jason And The Argonauts just now.  It's weird that when I saw it in theater when I was a kid that I was so awed by the effects.  I still see the genius in it, even though now it's painfully obvious how it was done.
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Sagittarius Horoscope for week of July 2, 2015

There are lots of inquiries and invitations coming your way -- perhaps too many. I don't think you should pursue all of them. In fact, I suspect that only one would ultimately make you a better human being and a braver explorer and a wiser lover. And that one, at first glance, may have not as much initial appeal as some of the others. So your first task is to dig deep to identify the propositions that are attractive on the surface but not very substantial. Then you're more likely to recognize the offer that will have lasting value even if it doesn't make a spectacular first impression.

You WOULD have to say that to a research addict, would you?

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Sagittarius Horoscope for week of January 22, 2015


Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) didn't like to work hard, and yet he was also prolific. In fact, his desire to avoid strenuous exertion was an important factor in his abundant output. He got things done fast. His most famous opera, The Barber of Seville, took him just 13 days to finish. Another trick he relied on to reduce his workload was plagiarizing himself. He sometimes recycled passages from his earlier works for use in new compositions. Feeling good was another key element in his approach to discipline. If given a choice, he would tap into his creative energy while lounging in bed or hanging out with his buddies. In the coming weeks, Sagittarius, I recommend you consider strategies like his.

"Looney Tunes", huh?  Maybe I ought to find some cartoons to watch.

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Sagittarius Horoscope for week of September 4, 2014

In Roald Dahl's kids' story James and the Giant Peach, 501 seagulls are needed to carry the giant peach from a spot near the Azores all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. But physics students at the U.K.'s University of Leicester have determined that such a modest contingent wouldn't be nearly enough to achieve a successful airlift. By their calculations, there'd have to be a minimum of 2,425,907 seagulls involved. I urge you to consider the possibility that you, too, will require more power than you have estimated to accomplish your own magic feat. Certainly not almost 5,000 times more, as in the case of the seagulls. Fifteen percent more should be enough. (P.S. I'm almost positive you can rustle up that extra 15 percent.)

Oddly enough I noticed that the film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull was available on DVD from Oldies.com and I was rather curious about that.  Was it a sign?

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Superman 2 was on one of the TV networks we get this afternoon, and I have to say it hasn't aged as well as I expected.  It got me thinking about things like speed and how we perceive motion.

I'm about average size for a human being.  If I went like the Man of Steel and flew at a rate of my own body's "flight length" per second, that's only about 5 mph--or jogging speed.  Just to put this in perspective:

* A WW1 biplane fighter at combat speed travels at five times its length per second.

* A WW2 heavy bomber or transport plane at cruise speed will also be moving at about five times its length per second.  (Because of the difference in size compared to the smaller planes of WW1, this would mean double the actual speed!)

* A WW2 fighter at its combat speed would go 15 times its length per second.

* A modern fighter jet at Mach 1 would be moving 25 times its length per second.

* A NASCAR or LeMans race car at 200 miles per hour goes nearly 20 times its length per second.

We don't think of these things when we watch fantasy movies (or sci-fi space opera) because we don't want to suspend our disbelief.  When Harry Potter is on his broomstick we don't clock his progress because he's moving at the speed of plot, not 45 miles per hour.

FP

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Sagittarius Horoscope for week of September 19, 2013

In the indigenous culture of Hawaii, "mana" refers to a spiritual power that may abide in people, objects, and natural locations. You can acquire more of it by acting with integrity and excellence, but you might lose some of it if your actions are careless or unfocused. For instance, a healer who does a mediocre job of curing her patients could lose the mana that made her a healer in the first place. I believe that similar principles hold true for non-Hawaiians. All of us have an ever-shifting relationship with the primal life force. What's the current state of your own personal supply, Sagittarius? It's time to make sure you're taking full advantage of the mana you have been blessed with. Your motto: "Use it or lose it."


So we're playing M:TG now? My deck is obsolete but I can't justify going to Wal*Mart to buy foil packs.

It's a shame the game is so adversarial. Why aren't there avenues for cooperative play?
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Sagittarius Horoscope for week of July 25, 2013

I suspect that you are longing to take a quantum leap of faith, but are also afraid to take that quantum leap of faith. You sense the potential of experiencing a very cool expansion, while at the same time you hesitate to leave your comfort zone and give up your familiar pain. In light of the conflict, which may not be entirely conscious, I suggest you hold off on making a gigantic quantum leap of faith. Instead, experiment with a few bunny hops of faith. Build up your courage with some playful skips and skitters and bounces that incrementally extend your possibilities.


Last few weeks Dad tried to talk me into applying for a mental health disability. I have a job possibility in the works, so I had an excuse to forgo the application this time, but I fear there will soon come a time when I can't.
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Sagittarius Horoscope for week of August 2, 2012

For a while, French writer Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was very poor. He lived in a place that had no heat and almost no furniture. To enhance his environment, he resorted to the use of fantasy. On one of his bare walls, he wrote the words, "rosewood paneling with ornamental cabinet." On another, he wrote "Gobelin tapestry with Venetian mirror." Over the empty fireplace he declared, "Picture by Raphael." That's the level of imaginative power I encourage you to summon in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. So much of what you'll need will come from that simple magic.


Yes, there are times when exercizing a fantasy is more satisfying than outright making reality of it. That "old airplane movies show host" idea, for example.
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Sagittarius Horoscope for week of July 26, 2012

After consulting the astrological omens, I've concluded that during the next three weeks, you will deserve the following titles: 1. Most Likely to Benefit from Serendipitous Adventures; 2. Most Likely to Exclaim "Aha!"; 3. Most Likely to Thrive While Wandering in Wild Frontiers and Exotic Locales; 4. Most Likely to Have a Wish Come True If This Wish Is Made in the Presence of a Falling Star. You might want to wait to fully embody that fourth title until the period between August 9 and 14, when the Perseids meteor shower will be gracing the night skies with up to 170 streaks per hour. The peak flow will come on August 12 and 13.


The wild frontiers and exotic locales aren't likely, at least for a while.

Reading this, I was reminded that a whole genre of music was invented not by the performance but by the description of said performance, when a reviewer wrote that Jimi Hendrix' guitar play was like "heavy metal falling from the sky". Maybe this means, I might discover something completely new to human experience, even if I don't do it myself.
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My wishlists are a known quantity.
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What I've always said I'd do if I had the power of God--build dozens of life-supporting planets across the cosmos and drop a lot of people from here on them so as to prevent future wars and conflicts here.
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ExpandPosted Here Because It Times Out Or Glitches When I Try To Watch It At CBS.Com ).

PS: When I attempted to establish a CBS.COM account using my Facebook ID, I found out that I already had an account with there, and revived it. Unfortunately, I can't link to it, but if you want to friend me there just look for sbierce@hotmail.com in the Friend Search function.
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I've Updated My Presense In Blogged, tho' it doesn't mean much of anything to anybody I know.

Meanwhile (and this is Livejournal-related), somebody has been going around making nonsensical whines in lots of Livejournals--including MINE--about the character of Sevarius Snape and what happens in Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows. Let me make this as clear and succinct as possible: CUT IT OUT!

1) You aren't making friends, whoever you are.
2) I neither agree nor disagree with you. Harry Potter is one of those pop culture things I like but am not a super fan of. I don't read the books, but I like the movies. If you met me in person, you would see why I would identify with Snape on some levels. But I'm not going to get my dander up because of the story or what happens in it. (I have not seen the latest movie yet and probably won't till the DVD appears. I've been buying the Special Edition multi-disc sets when they appear.)
3) Your latest sockpuppet identity has been Banned from my LJ but not reported to LJ's authorities. Just showing up on somebody's LJ to rant and not engage in a more civil manner is rude and childish. Please, learn some manners and perhaps we'll get along fine.

FP
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On the English-language news from Japan that we get from PBS World channel overday, there was a story about a Singapore department store that was a major influence on Asian fashion culture for years, celebrating a grand opening of a showcase store in its hometown. Since the narrator's English was not particularly easy to listen to, I muted the sound on the TV. Mum took that as a hint to start the conversation, telling about how "Western" the styles are now...

And my reply was that "no, their styles aren't Western...their styles are GLOBAL". Fashion isn't decided in Milan or Paris or Brussels or New York--it's decided EVERYWHERE now. The world's culture is now a melting pot and fashion is one way that it's emerging into its next phase. I mentioned that American culture--in particular, pop culture--is persisting in what has been termed "magical Orientalism"--in which the East (and the Middle-East) is presented as more exotic and mystical than not only it is but more than it possibly could be. Meanwhile, the real Orient has the same smartphones, the same Buick cars, the same social networks and the same television programs that WE do. And life is just as mundane, complicated, and tediously desperate as we have it here. Magic Orientalism could be excused in previous centuries, but not now. (Being the otaku that I am, I've never really put creedence in magical Orientalism--tho' what do you call the NewType phenomenon in comparison?)

As irony would have it, at the same time we watched that TV program, we were sitting down to dinner: our version of Chow Mein, which isn't exactly real Chow Mein but as close as we can manage here in the Tennessee country.

Meanwhile, the area I live in is probably looked at by outsiders through the lenses of Uncle Remus, KFC, Mayberry, The Dukes of Hazzard and old country music records. Do those other cultures see this one as possibly possessing something that may not be here? I guess if they didn't, Sevier County's economy would have never gotten going, eh?
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As part of a package deal, long ago, I got a pair of starter packs for the then-passe Doomtrooper collectable card game. Last night, I was looking through them and wondering what I could possibly do with them.

There is a restaurant chain in Florida called "Pit Boss", which has pretty darned good BBQ. One thing they did as decor was to set playing cards and poker chips in the tabletops and seal them over with a thick, smooth layer of transparent polyurethane resin.

So what if I did something similar with wall panels for a game room/"man cave"? Set up a theme of multiple "players", cards in hand (paper cutout palms) around a "table". If I could afford it, I'd somehow have a miniposter showing an imagined view of what the result of the play is. Hey, an action scene from a game magazine/module would likely work...all it needs to be is an impression, not an exact match.

I can do this with three "properties" based on what I've got on hand--the aforementioned Doomtrooper, Magic The Gathering and Gundam War: Gundam Wing.

But then I'd need a place with a game room. And wood paneling and loads of poly resin.

Idea man can't help having ideas. The stars can't shut up.
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Full of Eastwick Witches and West End Girls...West End Girls!



Who does own the old Harvey Comics "stable" these days, anyway?
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I'm researching my story idea and I need to know if there are any Creole words for the species of snake known as the "water moccasin" or "cottonmouth". I've found general words for "snake" in Creole but they all seem to be loanwords from Euro languages (French, Latin, English, Dutch) that had mutated from generations of adaptation.

Just point me to a source, please?

FP
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The Weather Witch has successfully performed her incantation; now it's up to YOU. Go outside with a bath or beach towel and wave it at the sky. Tlaloc is looking for you. If he finds you, he will quench your land with his rain. Now is the time to do the rain dances. Tell all your neighbors and friends.

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Stephen R Bierce

March 2022

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