Painting: In the Bunker, Hitler contemplates the fall of Berlin

Poem: Changes 63/After Completion

1

The transition from confusion to order is completed
And everything is in its proper place.
Even in particulars

—When perfect equilibrium has been reached—
Any movement may cause order.

In transition from the old to the new time,

Indifference is the root of all evil.
Take thought of misfortune
And arm yourself against it in advance.

2
The finest clothes turn to rags.
Be careful all day long.
While man sees what is before his eyes, God looks into the heart.

3
After crossing a stream
Your head can get into the water
Only if you are so imprudent as to turn back

As long as you move forward
And do not look back,
You escape the danger.

With each glance
You're tempted to sneak
You remember the woman with no name—

Lot's Wife—
Standing in the hail
Of fire and brimstone.

She glanced back
At Gomorrah and turned
Into a pillar of salt.

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Happy Birthday Willie Shakespeare!

Happy birthday to Willie the Shake. . .maybe! Tradition says the great poet William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon, England, on April 23, 1564. Church records show that he was baptized on April 26. Three days was the normal amount of time to wait before baptizing newborns.
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Hillary puts on her cracker accent for an African American audience in NYC

I knew she did this when she was in the hustings, way down south, but now she's using the southern twang in New York City. . .to a black audience. Here's the video:

Sheryl Crow's Solution For Saving The Planet

"I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting."

It's these kinds of statements that are not winning the hearts and minds of the people you actually need to convince Sheryl.

Ms. Crow said on April 19, in Springfield, Tennessee (Gore Country): "I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming. Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating. One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required."

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Poem: Changes 62/Preponderance of the Small

Small things may be done
Great things should not be done
The flying bird brings the message

It is well to remain below
Great good fortune
A bird should not try to surpass itself

And fly into the sun
It should descend home
To the earth and its nest

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A coincidence? Rapist Sought.

Obviously someone got the irony here...

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The Time Has Come For George W. Bush And Dick Cheney To Pay The Piper

Click the photograph to enlarge
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Alien Lore No. 103 - The Face On Mars

click to enlarge

In July, 1976, Viking Orbiter 1 was acquiring images of the Cydonia region of Mars and photographing a region of buttes and mesas. Among the hills was one that, to the Viking investigators scrutinizing the images for likely landing sites, resembled a face. Owing to the importance of the landing site search, and with a desire to provide the public with at least one familiar-looking landform amid the craters and exotic terrains found all over Mars, an image including the face-like hill was released as part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's public relations effort. The text of that release notes the face-like hill. The image above, on top, was taken recently. The second image is from that initial batch of photos NASA/JPL released thirty years ago...

Of course, following the release of that picture and story, many in the UFO community have argued that the face-like hill is artificially shaped.

The image on top--Image PSP_003234_2210 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on 05-Apr-2007 [1]. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 03:28 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 73 degrees, thus the sun was about 17 degrees above the horizon. The season on Mars is Northern Autumn.

[1] For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.

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Poem: Changes 61/ Inner Truth

1

The wind blows over the lake.
The water's surface ripples as the visible

Effects of the invisible appear.

2
Pigs and fishes are the least intelligent
Of all animals and therefore
the most difficult to influence.

The force of inner truth must grow strong
Before its influence

Extends to such creatures.

With people as intractable and difficult
To influence as a pig or a fish,
Success depends on the right approach.

3
A crane calls

In the shade.
Its young answers.

4
I have a good goblet.
We share

A glass of wine.

5
You find a comrade.
Now he beats the drum, now he stops.
Now he sobs, now he sings.

No matter how close you are,
If your center of gravity
Depends on them, you are tossed

To and fro between joy and sorrow.
The moon is nearly full.
The team horse goes astray.

6
The cock is dependable.
It crows at dawn,
But it cannot fly itself to heaven.

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The Band: Video and lyrics to Don't Do It

The Band often played Don't Do It as an encore. It was the last song they played (albeit in a truncated, one-verse version) at their Last Waltz in 1976. It was usually sung in a dual lead by Rick Danko and Levon Helm. If you'll excuse Robbie Robertson's posing here, this is a decent, but not definitive version. . .




Baby don't you do it, don't do it
Don't you break my heart
Pleeeeease don't do it, don't you break my heart

A sacrifice would make you happy if nothing for myself
Now you wanna leave me for the love of someone else
My pride is all gone whether I'm right or wrong
I need you baby to keep on keepin' on

You know I'm trying to my best
Oh i'm trying to do my best
Don't do it, don't you break my heart
Pleeeeease don't do it, don't you break my heart

My biggest mistake was loving you too much and letting you know
Now you got me where you want me and you won't let me go
If my heart was made of glass well then you'd surely see
How much heartache and misery, girl, you've been causing me

While I've been trying to do my best
Well I've tried to do my best
Don't do it, don't you break my heart

Pleeeeease don't do it, don't you break my heart

Go down to the river and there I be
I'm gonna jump in girl, but you don't care bout me
Open up your eyes
Can't ya see I love ya?
Open up you heart, girl
Can't ya see I need ya?

Oh baby don't do it, do it, do it
Don't you break my heart
Pleeeeease don't do it don't you break my heart

My biggest mistake was loving you too much and letting you know
Now you got me where you want me and you won't let me go
If my heart was made of glass well then you'd surely see
How much heartache and misery, girl, you've been causing me

While I've been trying to do my best
You know I've tried to do my best
Don't do it, don't you break my heart
Pleeeeease don't do it, don't you break my heart
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UFO Lore 102 - Twelve favorite images of The Greys

[click the images to enlarge]

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