Robin Williamson: "For Mr. Thomas"

"I HOLD your photo to the mirror upside down."

You just do not hear enough about Robin Williamson these days, years. Here's his and his partner Bina's page. That site directs you here to find old albums, including the one this song is from, 1981's Songs of Love and Parting:

Originally released on the Irish Claddagh label in 1981, 'Songs Of Love And Parting' was Robin's first solo album after the amicable demise of the Merry Band. All songs were written by Robin (with a few traditional tunes thrown in for good measure!) and are now regarded by many as his finest compositions.

The album contains the classics 'For Mr Thomas' (a tribute to the Welsh Bard), which was later covered by Van Morrison, 'Fare Thee Well Sweet Mally' and 'Flower Of The Briar'.

"For Mr. Thomas":

Oh, Seve Has Left Us

I first blogged about Seve Ballesteros being diagnosed with brain cancer shortly after it was reported in October 2008. I've updated those posts several times, and now the story has sadly come to an end.

Seve Ballesteros, the charismatic Spanish golfer who won the Masters twice and the British Open three times and helped propel Europe’s rise in the Ryder Cup competition with the United States, died early Saturday at his home in northern Spain, where his struggle with brain cancer had gained wide attention in the sports world. He was 54.

The story resonated with me for a few reasons: I remembered watching him as a kid with my dad, and how calm and cool and smiling he was—a sportsman who actually deserved his fame; I was playing golf a little at the time the news came out; and, most importantly to myself, my sister Nancy had died of the very same disease four years earlier. She was just 42, and I spent a lot of the eighteen months she lasted after diagnosis with her, and hers and our family, so I actually know a lot more about this particular form of cancer than I'd like.

Anyway, Seve kept a great spirit throughout this, as the times he spoke publicly or sent messages to his fans show, and he lasted much longer than the disease usually allows. And I'm just sad he's gone. Much warmth and condolences to his family and his many, many friends.

So long, Seve Ballesteros.

Atlas Shrugged II

Oh good god this is funny.



From Second City.

"TRAINS!" just might become the new "WOLVERINES!"

"How to Make Your Lie Go Mainstream in 26 Easy Steps"

Hee-freaking-larious.

One American on Trump and the "Long Form"

This needs to be watched, carefully, by a really lot of people.



An excerpt:

It was during my viewing of this video [Trump’s remarks in New Hampshire] that I began to cry. I thought of my ancestors, both direct and collective, who had fought and died so that I might be treated as an American. I then thought of this fetid, smug, hate-filled, wealthy white man taking credit for the release and yet still not being satisfied. It does not matter how long we’ve been in these United States. We will never be American.

So, tears in my eyes, pain in my heart and rage in my soul, I composed this video message. More than written text, it comes close to expressing my full pain at witnessing a white man who was handed everything call the President of the United States (and me) a nigger.

Limb Regeneration...in Humans?

Can we do like the tadpoles do?

"Ooh ooh child"

At the other blog.

Two Firefighters Dead: How Greed Kills

A depressing but illuminating example of what the "small government," "anti-regulation," "John Galt" crowd means for America.

The End of Medicare

Funny.

Avalon, New South Wales, and Three Generations of Artists

I've got a new post up (as well as several others I haven't linked to back here), at my other gig.

"Go Ahead and Say It"

It's been years since I posted this song. One of my very favorites.

Is This a Game of *Risk*?

So weird:

At sea, news reports said six NATO warships started patrolling off Libya’s coast Wednesday to enforce a United Nations arms embargo, but Germany, which has opposed military intervention in the Libya crisis, said it was withdrawing four of its ships in the Mediterranean from NATO command. To offset the impact of its action on other NATO allies, Germany said it would send 300 more troops to Afghanistan to help operate surveillance aircraft, German officials said.

Bigots Complain to UN About Bigot-bashing

What assholes.

The Naked Eye

At the other place.

Six Ways Fukushima is Not Chernobyl

One list here; my list here:

1. The Chernobyl disaster took place in the Ukraine, in what was then the USSR. The Fukushima disaster is taking place in Japan, a much more densely populated country than the Ukraine.

2. The Fukushima plant's reactors have containment units, Chernobyl's didn't. (If containment units at Fukushima fail, please see "Five Ways Fukushima is Not Chernobyl.")

3. There wasn't a major catastrophe already happening in the region around Chernobyl.

4. Fukushima is on an ocean. Chernobyl wasn't.

5. Everybody already knew long before the Chernobyl accident that the people running the plant there dangerously skirted safety rules.

6. Fukushima starts with "F." Chernobyl starts with "C." Other words that start with "F" include fucked, fuuu-huuuu-ck!, FAIL, and four-year-olds.

The Message From Fukushima

News agencies have been bantering about the real message that should be learned from Japan's ailing nuke plants. Here it is: Nuclear energy would be awesome…if there were no such thing as earthquakes. Or tsunamis. Or humans.

Air pressure inside the No.2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, located 250 kilometres north of Tokyo, rose suddenly when the air flow gauge was accidentally turned off, its operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said.

Japan's Nuclear Plant

I'm just going to say that calling this Japan's Chernobyl has to be overblown. The USSR's nuke plants were nowhere near as safe as plants in Japan (and in many other countries) today.

But, that said, this guy knows a bit more about it than I do:

“The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.”

Are we supposed to believe that they can't pretty easily get replacement generators in there? Why?

Maddow: Michigan GOP bill would allow takeover of local governments

The sick part about this: they'll still have people who believe them when they call themselves the party of "small government."

Governor Walker: "In my heart I know I am funny."

I finally found Walker's equal from the movies:



The moment beginning at 5:34 pretty much sums up where Scott Walker is going to be one day. Hopefully one day soon.

The Proper Way For Americans to Think

Professional political-religious-asshole Mike Huckabee was on a radio show yesterday talking about how African President Obama is, because it's what professional political-religious-assholes do. In the course of the conversation he said this:

.

..one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American ... his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours

"Ours." Our way of viewing the world, history, liberty, truth - all that jazz. Because, you see, there is only one proper way for YOU, American, to think. And Mike Huckabee knows it. Exceptional.