Poem: Platoon

click to enlarge


We all have a platoon
Of partly-contained,
Spooky and multiple personalities
Ready to burst from the clown car confines.
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Alien Lore No. 158 - The Apollo 12 UFO sightings

Apollo 12, with Charles Conrad, Dick Gordon, Allan Bean was airborne-- less than a minute after blast-off, when it was hit by a bolt of lightning . All electrical equipment shut down, but within three minutes , power was restored. The source of the bolt remained a mystery to space experts. No one could ever really explain where the lightning came from, if it was lightning.

As Apollo 12 rocketed at the Moon, observatories throughout Europe began reporting sightings of two bright flashing unknown objects in the craft's vicinity. One UFO semed to be following the spacecraft, and the other seemed to be traveling in front of it. Both objects were blinking on and off rapidly. On November 15th, the three Apollo 12 astronauts told Mission Control/Houston that they had in fact sighted two "bogeys."

The rest of the story? Crickets, so far.
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Poem: The Jitters

The Jitters

1
We almost always feel less
Safe than we actually are.

And not feeling safe uses
Vast swaths of bandwidth

With its high noise to signal ratio,
Leaving nothing redemptive

In the wake of paralysis
By the jitters.

2
It comes like a hit and run driver
Shooting through the crosswalk

As you stop
To tie your shoe--

Luck and circumstance
Conspire to save you.

3
Every throbbing second you spend here,
You engage in a game of dodge ball,

And bob and weave through a multitude
Of objective hazards, walls, and shoals

Over which you have no control―
And only a fraction of which you ever see.

4
If we knew of every near-miss,
It would be tough to keep shuffling on,

And somehow, we learn just enough
To mostly keep us on our toes.
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drawing: the management team

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Barbara Bush (Sr) in a swimsuit, The Brady Bunch porn movie, and other oddities

Babs Bush Sr. in her swimsuit

This is just some blogger navel gazing, when it gets down to it. For some reason, this blog has been getting a bazillion hits this week...the biggest draw: Barbara Bush Sr. in her younger years in a bathing suit (600 hits this week!), the Brady Bunch porn movie, that perennial draw, the Enunclaw Horse Sex story, and The Walribi tribe penis shaking custom. Out of 3,500 articles here over the last 4 1/2 years, it's the juicy and sometimes scandalous ones that draw the perennial crowds.



OK, I'll take it. Somehow my poetry, art, biography, and political commentary never draw quite those same numbers. . .
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Three-quarter ton bull drags officers down NJ street

Do you think they took a little ribbing when they got back to the station house?

(AP) - PATERSON, N.J. - Police say a 1,400-pound bull that escaped from a northern New Jersey slaughterhouse dragged officers with a lasso down a street and ran 10 blocks before being captured and sedated. Chief John DeCando, spokesman for Paterson Police's animal control division, says the bull was being unloaded at ENA Meat Packing Inc. when it broke loose just before 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Police tried to corral the bull by lassoing a rope around the animal's neck, but it dragged officers down the street instead.

DeCando says traffic was light during the bull run. He says the area where the officers were dragged was not residential or near a school.

Officers finally corralled the animal and DeCando was able to sedate it.

No injuries were reported. The bull was returned to the slaughterhouse.

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Triple portrait of SoS Hillary Rodham Clinton

Click to enlarge the SoS

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Seattle rain and The Beaufort Rain Scale

Seattle, Washington is well-known for its rain, but many cities have greater rainfall than Seattle (especially in the east, and particularly Lousiana and Alabama [it's the Gulf!]). It rains very often in Seattle, but it is often a drizzle or sprinkle. The rain in other cities is often heavier, causing them to have larger averages.

Tonight, the sky is dotted with cirrus clouds. Sometime in the next few hours, I expect we will see them converge. . .rain is predicted for tomorrow. The clouds tonight are scattered enough that you can still see numerous stars and glimpses of the moon.

The annual rainfall in Seattle ranges is almost always between 37 and 39 inches.


Average Rainfall in Seattle by month:
Jan 5.13
Feb 4.18
Mar 3.75
Apr 2.59
May 1.78
June 1.49
July 0.79
Aug 1.02
Sep 1.63
Oct 3.19
Nov 5.90
Dec 5.62
Total 37.07

According to Livescience.com, Seattle is actually pretty far down the list of rainy cities, with a little over three feet of rain. Many cities in Florida and Louisana get a couple feet more rain than Seattle, and there are cities in Alaska and Hawaii that receive over eight feet of rain anually. New York City gets at least three more inches of rain than Seattle does, annually; those inches, however, fall on far fewer days.


The Top Ten US cities for rainfall:

Mobile, Alabama--67 inches average annual rainfall; 59 average annual rainy days

Pensacola, Florida--65 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average annual
rainy days

New Orleans, Louisiana--64 inches average annual rainfall; 59 average
annual rainy days

West Palm Beach, Florida--63 inches average annual rainfall; 58 average
annual rainy days

Lafayette, Louisiana--62 inches average annual rainfall; 55 average annual
rainy days

Baton Rouge, Louisiana--62 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average
annual rainy days

Miami, Florida--62 inches average annual rainfall; 57 average annual rainy days

Port Arthur, Texas--61 inches average annual rainfall; 51 average annual
rainy days

Tallahassee, Florida--61 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average annual
rainy days

Lake Charles, Louisiana [Lake Charles is also the name of my favorite Lucinda Williams song] --58 inches average annual rainfall; 50 average annual rainy days

The rain in Seattle splashes, burbles, spouts, gushes, mists, pours, pounds, drizzles, sprinkles, and precipitates. Rain is really just the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into drops heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface of our planet. Much of this planet depends on rain for fresh water, both collecting on the surface, and in creeks, rivers, and ponds, as well as recharging the subterranean aquifers and springs that we tap with our wells. In many parts of the world--specifically the arid desert regions--water never even reaches the surface. This phenomena is known as virga. In Seattle, we do not experience virga.

According to the Wikipedia, "The fine particulate matter produced by car exhaust and other human sources of pollution forms cloud condensation nuclei, leads to the production of clouds and increases the likelihood of rain. As commuter and commercial traffic cause pollution to build up over the course of the week, the likelihood of rain increases: it peaks by Saturday, after five days of weekday pollution has been built up. In heavily populated areas that are near the coast, such as the United States' Eastern Seaboard, the effect can be dramatic: there is a 22% higher chance of rain on Saturdays than on Mondays."

I can't determine who came up with the Beaufort rain scale. It's been drifting around the interweb for a long long time now...you can find it in some places with huge lists of recipients, and about twelve carats > in front of every single line.


The Beaufort Rain Scale

Force 0: Complete Dryness. Absence of rain from the air. The gap between two periods of wet. Associated Phrase: "It looks like it might rain."

Force 1: Scotch Mist. Presence of wet in the air, hovering rather than falling. You can feel damp on your face but if you supinate your hand, nothing lands on it. Associated Phrase: "I think it's trying to rain."

Force 2: Individual drops. Individual drops of rain falling, but quite separate as if they are all freelance and not part of the same corporate effort. If switched on now, windscreen wipers make an awful screeching noise. Spectacle wearers begin to grumble. A newspaper being read outside begins to speckle. Associated Phrase: "It's spitting."

Force 3: Fine Rain. Raindrops falling together now, but still invisibly, like the spray which
drifts off a fountain with the wind behind. Ignored by all sportsmen except Test cricketers, who dash for cover. Spectacle wearers walk into oncoming traffic. Windscreen wipers, when switched on, make the windscreen totally opaque. If being read outside, a newspaper gets damp. Associated Phrases: "Is it worth putting the umbrella up?" and "Another fine rain you've got us into."

Force 4: Visible Light Shower. Hair starts to congeal around ears. First rainwear appears. People start to remember washing left out. Ignored by all sportsmen except Wimbledon players, who dash for cover. A newspaper being read outside starts to tear slightly. Associated Phrases: "It's starting to come down now," "It won't last," and "It's settled in for the day now."

Force 5: Drizzle. Shapes beginning to be visible in rain for the first time, usually drifting from right to left. Windscreen wipers are too slow at slow speed, too fast at fast speed. Shower-proof rainwear turns out to be shower-proof all right, but not drizzle-proof. First damp feeling inside either shoes or neckline. Butterflies take evasive action and begin to fly straight. A newspaper being read in the open starts to turn to pulp. Associated Phrases: "It's really chucking it down now," "It's raining cats and dogs," and "Nice for the farmers."

Force 6: Downpour. You can see raindrops bouncing on impact, like charter planes landing. Leaves and petals recoil when hit. Anything built of concrete begins to look nasty. Eyebrows become waterlogged. Horse racing called off. Wet feeling rises above ankles and starts for knees. Butterflies fly backwards. A newspaper being read in the open divides into two. Gardeners watering the flowers begin to think about packing it in. Associated Phrases: "It's coming down in stair rods," and "It's bucketing down."

Force 7: Squally, Gusty Rain. As Force 6, but with added wind. Water starts to be forced up your nostrils. Maniacs leave home and head for the motorway in their cars. Butterflies start walking. Household cats and dogs become unpleasant to handle. Cheaper clothes start to come to bits. Associated Phrases: "It's pissing down now," and "There's some madman out in the garden trying to read a newspaper."

Force 8: Torrential Rain. The whole world outside has been turned into an en suite douche. It starts raining inside umbrellas. Windscreen wipers become useless. The ground looks as if it is steaming. Butterflies drown. Your garments start merging into each other and becoming indistinguishable. Man reading newspaper in the open starts to disintegrate. All team games except rugby, football, and water polo called off. Associated Phrase: "Jesus, will you look at that coming down."

Force 9: Cloudburst. Rain so fierce that it can only be maintained for a minute or two. Drops so large that they hurt if they hit you. Water gets into your pockets and forms rock-pools. Windscreen wipers are torn off cars. Too wet for water-skiing. Instantaneous rivers form on roads, and man reading newspaper floats past. Rain runs up windows.

Force 10: Hurricane. Not defined inland - the symptoms are too violent and extreme (cars floating, newspaper readers lost at sea, people drowned by inhaling rain, etc.). So, if hurricane conditions do appear to pertain, look for some other explanation. Associated Phrases: "Oh my god, the water tank has burst - it's coming through the kitchen ceiling," and "I think the man upstairs has fallen asleep in his bath."
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Alien Lore No.157 - The Nome, Alaska abductions and "The Fourth Kind"

In 2005, the FBI sent homicide detectives to investigate a series of unsolved disappearances and deaths in Nome, Alaska. Most of the victims were native villagers. Between the 1960s and 2004, over 20 people mysteriously died, or vanished. In 2006, the FBI concluded that "excessive alcohol consumption and a harsh winter climate" were to blame for the disappearances.

1n 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. This system of classification behind it was started by astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek, and was first suggested in his 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. He introduced the first three kinds of encounters.



A new movie, The Fourth Kind is set in Nome, Alaska, where--mysteriously, since the 1960s--a number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. The movie has opened up a debate about whether any of this is actually true or not, or if the movie is really just another Blair Witch style documentary.

“The movie looks ridiculous,” said Kawerak Inc. Vice President Melanie Edwards, who watched the trailer online Monday. “It’s insensitive to family members of people who have gone missing in Nome over the years.”



According to Kyle Hopkins of adn.com, after years of rumors that Nome had become a dangerous place for travelers from the villages, local officials in 2005 released a list of about 20 disappearances and deaths in the city. The cases dated back to the 1960s. At the time, a Nome police officer was on trial for the murder of a young village woman, and some residents mistrusted city police.

The FBI stepped in, reviewing two dozen cases, eventually determining that excessive alcohol consumption and the winter climate were a common link in many of the cases. Unlike other commercial hubs in rural Alaska, Nome is a “wet” city, with bars and liquor stores.
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We often take heart in those statements that play to what we believe or want to believe

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"A majority of patients who have one hip dislocation will never have another."
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The English Beat return to Seattle October 3

Ranking Roger, one of the founders of the two-tone ska movement and The English Beat are returning to Seattle for a show at the Showbox on October 3rd. I'll be there. I've seen them in both Austin and Seattle. The show at Antone's was one of the best shows I've ever seen. The one at the Showbox in Seattle was pretty damned good.

The Beat became the English Beat. Ranking Roger (the lead singer and writer) and Dave Wakeling also went on to form General Public, who were lesser in my booklet, but had greater success. Other members of the original The Beat went on to form Fine Young Cannibals, a blue eyed soul band that had huge success both stateside and back in the motherland. The Specials, The Clash, and other bands all contributed members to the various configurations of the band that still exist today. For me, it's Ranking Roger's songs and voice that were the soul of many of these bands. He is a charmer and still has vocal and guitar chops.

Come on out and let's skank at The Showbox! Here is a grainy (and oddly prefaced) video of one of my favorite tunes by The Beat. Following that, is a video of one of their other great songs, Save It For later.

Come out next weekend! I guarantee you'll be bouncing on the dance floor.




---o0o---

Poem: I've Looked At Clouds From Six Sides Now

[Provisional? Maybe it is done. . .nor sure. . .sometimes means that if/when the real poem emerges, it may include only two lines or all of them, in some sort of subset or superset].

1
The Seattle skybox
Is defined by a thriving
Patchwork of clouds
That resort themselves
In the gathering winds
And rotation of the earth
Forming new collages
In the patterns overhead.

2
A mother-of-pearl moon
Unveils itself in the night sky
As the four winds
Weave tufts and strands of cloud
Around her like fig leaves
Revealing and concealing,
Draping the Sea of Tranquility
The Marias and the crater Tycho
In a cloak of modesty.

3.
250,000 miles below
Under murky clouds
The moon performs
A forbidden hootchie-kootchie dance,
Like Salome or a whirling Turkish Dervish
Spinning in the shifting clouds.

3.
Clouds add a necessary roundness
To our angular lives.
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