Painting: Dave Hokit and Jack on the mountain top

click Dave and Jack to enlarge
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Poem: The Tenth Planet (Or An Incredible Facsimile?)

click on this image of the tenth planet to enlarge...


Is it a planet or not?
It depends on
What it's orbiting around.

A planet must orbit a star.
Round objects floating freely
Through space don't count.

If an object orbits a much larger object
That is not a star
Then it's not a planet either.

Scientists are slated to announce
Very soon whether or not that rock
Floating out there is the tenth planet

Or not.
If it isn't
Then what?
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The tenth planet on All This Is That

Save the animals!

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Jerry Garcia Lives!

Jerry in Seattle, May, 1995. Click to enlarge.


Jerry at an unknown venue in the spring or
summer of 1995. Click to enlarge.

Once again, the anniversary of Jerry Garcia's death has come and gone. Eleven years gone. In that eleven years I have attended many shows and concerts and none have come close to generating the thrill I felt every time I walked into a Grateful Dead show. In the photograph on top, he looks sweet, wise, and angelic. The Seattle shows of 1995 are widely regarded as some of the Dead's best during the 90s. They were good.


Jerry in Seattle, 1995, the last time I saw him perform.
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Other select links on All This Is That:
Jerry's toilet for sale
Jerry Garcia 1942-1995
Ten years without the Dead

Alien Lore No. 86 - Humans can be tasty!

Humans have proven themselves adaptive to sudden change, and quite tasty as well. Our little blue ball has become something of a cosmic Colonel Sanders for wayfaring aliens.

Our crunchy goodness is one reason why there's been a huge UFO cover up, or so the lore goes. Aliens with a taste for man flesh (not unlike Orcs) are enroute to earth in a spaceship that looks like an asteroid (click here to read All This Is That on this spaceship, sometimes referred to as the tenth planet). Fortunately, we first heard from various Greys who had flown to earth to warn us about the invasion (ala Klaatu in The Day The Earth Stood Still. The greys also furnished the D.O.D. with incredible technology. The catch: the government agreed to let the greys occasionally harvest some people. The greys, were genetically bankrupt, and needed to create hybrids to survive. They need our DNA.

Your average citizen isn't going to stand for government-approved kidnappings. The blowback from other plots shows we average imbeciles don't really understand the lengths our government must go to protect national security. We haven't risen in some mighty Revolt of the Knuckleheads. But we could.

The aliens left a hostage with the United States as a pledge of fulfillment of their part of the agreement. That hostage Grey was named Krill. He wrote The Krill Papers.

I quote from The Krill Papers:

"How the actual contact between the government and aliens was initially made is not known, but the government was made aware that it could be done by a civilian using the right equipment. Dr. Paul Bennewitz, civilian scientist, did so using computer equipment and informed the government he had done so, not realizing that by then, in 1983, that the government was in truth as deep into dealing with the aliens as his communications with them revealed. Dr. Bennewitz lives next to Manzano Weapons Storage Area in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He observed UFOs constantly over the area and initially decided that they were a threat to the installation. He proceeded to figure out a coding system and attempted and was successful in communicating with the aliens that were flying over that area. What he found out is that after initial contacts with the aliens years ago, we agreed to to provide them with bases underground in the United States in return for certain technological secrets which the aliens would reveal to us. The aliens would also be allowed to carry out certain operations, abductions, and mutilations without intervention.


"We knew that the Greys were instrumental in performing the mutilations of animals (and some humans) and that they were using the glanular substances derived from these materials for food (absorbed through the skin) and to clone more Greys in their underground laboratories. The government was also aware that the Greys performed some of the abductions to secure genetic materials. The government insisted that the Greys provide them with a list that would be presented to the National Security Council.

"The government thought that the Greys were basically tolerable creatures, although a bit distasteful. They presumed at the time that it was not unreasonable to assume that the public would and could get used to their presence. Between 1968 and 1969 a plan was formulated to make the public aware of their existence over the succeeding twenty years. This time period would culminate with a series of documentaries that would explain the history and intentions of the Greys. The Greys assured us that the real purpose of the abductions was for monitoring of our civilization, and when we learned that the abductions were a lot more frequent and insidious than we were led to believe, the government became concerned.

"By the time we had found out the truth about the intentions of the Greys (they intend to stay here and stay in control of our world) it was too late. We had already "sold out" humanity. Not that it would have made any difference, because they were here doing what they were doing anyway.

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Poem: Don't look back

Don't look back
Means no regrets

Look back on the good times
But leave the rest



Just ask Lot's wife
And the other pillars of salt



Standing outside Gomorrah
Like Easter Island statues
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Veep Dick Cheney threatens to resign (again)

The President and Vice-President following their Monday afternoon
meeting. Click to enlarge.

Between meetings at the White House with the Defense Department and a bill signing ceremony for H.R. 5683, the President and Vice President met briefly yesterday afternoon. The Vice-President was tense, according to a source within the White House, who leaked a transcript of their conversation to All This Is That.

The Vice President had recently been pressing for a meeting. Cheney was fuming by the time they had their sitdown.

"I am sick and tired of being hidden in the closet," Cheney opened.

"Dick. Dick. You gotta understand. I don't even have to say this. . .you know the kind of heat we're under," replied The President.

"Then turn me loose. I can help this you know."

"Damnit! You've seen your f***ing negatives! The best way you can help us now is to work behind the scenes."

"With all due respect, Mr. President, I've had it right up to here with behind the scenes. After all I've done for this country, after all I've done for you, to be stifled like this is wrong. Do you think we'd be where we are today if I just sat on my hands the last six years?"

"Dick Dick Dick. I give you plenty of latitude. But you forget who the President is. "

"Now that's not true at all Mr. President. "

"There's a reason you never ran for President. They just don't like you. They may not like me so much right now, but they'll come around. But the last thing we need is for you to take the cork out. For Christ Sake! We have the elections coming up in less than three months. Do you really think turning you loose is going to help us there? We lose this election as bad as some people seem to think, lame duck doesn't even begin to describe what the scene around here will be. This Presidency will be castrated. And where is that going to get either of us? We need to start thinking about our legacy."

"So my options, Mr. President, are stay in the closet or walk away?"

"And now, you're going to start the resignation s**t again?!"

"If that's what it takes, yes. I'm not going to spend the next two years sitting around here like a potted plant."

"Then resign. But you won't. This is your last whirl on the carousel. If you walk away, you'll be remembered as the guy who walked away. Is that what you've worked for? Yeah, we've back-burnered you! So what!? What choice do I have? I've had it with all this bullcrap about you being the shadow President. It's time people know who's running the show. And it's not like we're out of the woods on this whole f***ing Scooter Libby mess either! When's the other shoe gonna drop on that one?"

"You're dead wrong, George, if you think I'm worried about my "legacy." Who are you f***ing kidding? You know how many VPs make the history books? Christ! Humphrey, Rockefeller, Garner, Mondale, Wallace, Barkley! Who knows these guys were Vice President? I'll bet you don't even f***ing know who Barkley was! Or how about Charles Dawes! Gimme a f***ing break. This legacy doesn't mean s**t! Damnit! Garner said the Vice Presidency wasn't worth a pitcher of warm spit. He wasn't wrong, by the way. I have half a mind to throw in the towel tomorrow. Who needs this crap? Read your history. . .the only Vice Presidents we remember are those whose Presidents were plugged or resigned!"

"You do what you gotta do. I'll put someone in and give them a leg up in in the election."

The transcript breaks off at this point when their meeting was interrupted for a previously scheduled briefing with Secretary Rumsfeld and the Defense Policy and Programs Team.

"Let's just say it was another Mexican standoff," the White House aide told All This Is That. "Cheney threatens to quit every few months. What was strikingly different this time, is that The President said 'go ahead.' It wasn't long ago that Cheney's threats would send the President into crippling panic attacks. Those days are over. "
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*All This Is That* Poster

Click Poster To Enlarge
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Identikit Fun - A composite drawing of Hitler

Click one of the Hitlers to enlarge


A few years ago, for a research project, I purchased a copy of Faces 3.0 (by Interquest), a program mainly used by law enforcement. Unfortunately, they no longer sell the program to the general public. I suspect, of course, you could probably snag a copy on Ebay or somewhere a little more shady. . .

Every once in a while I break it out and noodle with it. I admit, I'm not so good at it. Believe it or not, even with 100 sets of eyes, and the ability to size them and move them apart, closer, up, or down, it's hard to get it right. The program has around 4,000 unique facial features. I can look at my drawing of Hitler and see dozens of things wrong. The eyes aren't right, the eyebrows are as close as I could get, I couldn't get his head square enough, and the moustache is too neat. I could go in and Photoshop [tm] the drawing and fix a lot of this. Aging is difficult as well--it never seems like the folds and wrinkles and blemishes work the way I want. But it's a fun problem to have.

They include a fun game with the software where they flash a suspect's face for a couple of seconds and then you work to recreate the face in Faces 3.0. I'll do a few more over the next while...and put them on All This Is That...
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Monkeying Around With Fido

A Youtube link to a simian prankster. You have to admit, our cousin seems to be doing this for the prank value alone. Curious George lives! Watch the video here.
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A few of the lies I heard and told this week

We found the bad bugs.
I'll send the money tomorrow.
I'm fine.
I won't do that again.
I'm from Verizon and I'm calling to help you. . .
I'll do it tomorrow.
True story; a friend of my friend was there.
Now we're even.
The software will ship on time.
You look great.
We're calling because we know you are as angry as we are about. . .
For your convenience. . .
In order to serve you better. . .
New and Improved!
You're right Jack.
Trust me.
I'll never get that drunk again.
That was special.
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Airline passenger restrictions, hip replacements, and why the Executive Branch goes unmolested, while I am scanned, probed, poked and patted down

Cory Doctorow wrote the following in a post on BoingBoing today:

"It seems to me like our glorious leaders are pretty good at setting out the "minor inconveniences" that the rest of us have to put up with, but when was the last time you heard of any of them enduring the same measures?

Now, GW Bush may say, "But I'm no terrorist! Why shouldn't I be able to bring my hip-flask onto Air Force One with me?" But I'm no terrorist either. I don't see why the man should be exempt from his own rules. If it's sauce for the goose, it's sauce for the butcher. "

Since I have had arthoplasty surgery and own an artificial hip, I get to experience a close-up and personal shakedown every single time I ride an airplane (and twice, or more, if it is not a non-stop flight). Anyone who knows me could tell you I am the least likely candidate in the world to take down an airplane, due to a nearly maniacal fear of flying. And I do have to resent--just a little--the fact that people I consider deranged like The Vice-President, and Secretary of Defense, get to walk right onto their 'planes entirely unmolested.

I will admit that everyone who has examined me has been both professional and friendly, and even appreciative that I am sanguine about the whole operation. It's hard to get mad at them. . .they're earning $16 an hour the hard way. I have never met one of these guys who wasn't extremely nice. I watch other people become angry over the invasion, but it's really not worth the oxygen. As usual, the big problems lie further up the food chain. I don't mind the searches, but as this week's events in England show, this may not be making us as safe as we once thought.

And now, we take it to the next level. No more liquids or iPods or computers or phones in the passenger cabin.
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