Thursday, June 14, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
At the gates of the Forbidden City (I snuck this post in from China, where Blogger, Facebook, Glogger, Tumblr, and just about every other social site is blocked)
By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor
Here I am in Beijing, standing in front of the gates to The Forbidden City. More to come, when I can actually post text and pictures in from China (where Blogger, Facebook, Glogger, Picasa, Tumblr, and just about every other social site are blocked). Without saying how I snuck this onto Blogger/All This Is That, let me just say that they have China locked down pretty tight. I probably don't want to say much more, since I will be returning to China fairly regularly. But, despite their total lockdown, there are a couple of transitory exploits from which you can sneak things onto the Internet. I will post far more pictures and commentary once I am back safely inside the borders of the U.S.
Here I am in Beijing, standing in front of the gates to The Forbidden City. More to come, when I can actually post text and pictures in from China (where Blogger, Facebook, Glogger, Picasa, Tumblr, and just about every other social site are blocked). Without saying how I snuck this onto Blogger/All This Is That, let me just say that they have China locked down pretty tight. I probably don't want to say much more, since I will be returning to China fairly regularly. But, despite their total lockdown, there are a couple of transitory exploits from which you can sneak things onto the Internet. I will post far more pictures and commentary once I am back safely inside the borders of the U.S.
---o0o---
Poem: the first amendment to the Ten Commandments
By Jack Brummet
They didn't know
Whether it should be
The eleventh commandment,
The first amendment
To the Ten Commandments,
Or the Commandment Codicil.
One bloc argued
There were loopholes
To be closed.
Another group liked
The round number ten.
Why spoil it with twelve or thirteen?
One prophet who looked like Jerry Garcia
Said we forgot to tell them enjoy life--
Follow the rules
But have fun in between.
And another camp voted for
Forty more commandments,
Just to be sure.
A quasi-Buddhist splinter faction
A quasi-Buddhist splinter faction
Pushed to add Jesus's words
Love one another.
They never settled a thing.
With the missing tablets,
The Framer's intentions
Were impossible
To divine.
They weren't even sure
Moses turned the tablets over
To read the other side.
---o0o---
Beijing traffic
Interestingly, I probably see fewer bikes here in Beijing than I do in either Seattle or SF. But probably quite a few more than you see in, say, L.A.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Arrived in Beijing... #fb
Wow. Beijing. My greeter met me at the gate and she steered me through a totally hassle free and painless customs and immigration gauntlet and then plunked me in an Audi limousine for the 15 minute ride to my glossy hotel.
Sitting in a German bar having a house brewed Pilsner before I go to bed. I successfully slept only a couple hours on the flight--which only took 10 hours due to an awesome tailwind. So i should actually be able to sleep. Everyone I've met speaks English at about the same level I speak Spanish--barely passable and comically inept, just enough to barely communicate. So, there is a definite level of comedy in all my transactions so far. It's midnight and I'm outside on a plaza. Now, it's off to bed and see what tomorrow holds. Should be interesting and strange. I've wanted to be here all my life: this is great. Your first night in a foreign country is Always a little jangled and surreal--not quite so surreal as Istanbul or Bombay or Tangiers due to the modernity and gloss. And I love it. More soon. I'm about ready to fall asleep. Jack
Sitting in a German bar having a house brewed Pilsner before I go to bed. I successfully slept only a couple hours on the flight--which only took 10 hours due to an awesome tailwind. So i should actually be able to sleep. Everyone I've met speaks English at about the same level I speak Spanish--barely passable and comically inept, just enough to barely communicate. So, there is a definite level of comedy in all my transactions so far. It's midnight and I'm outside on a plaza. Now, it's off to bed and see what tomorrow holds. Should be interesting and strange. I've wanted to be here all my life: this is great. Your first night in a foreign country is Always a little jangled and surreal--not quite so surreal as Istanbul or Bombay or Tangiers due to the modernity and gloss. And I love it. More soon. I'm about ready to fall asleep. Jack
Alien Lore No. 231 - Senator Bobby Kennedy on aliens and UFOs
By Jack Brummet, Alien Lore Editor
A letter from Senator Robert Kennedy has just sold on eBay. It was a typed letter, written to Anne Epple of NYC, on a question she asked about UFOs. The September 10, 1966 letter sold for $220. The Epple letter is the second known letter written by Robert Kennedy on the UFOs/ETs.
Dear Mrs. Epple,
Thank you for your thoughtful letter on "unidentified flying objects".
Many reputable scientists also believe that there must be other beings in the universe. Dr. Harlow Shapley, for one, has stated that there is a high probability that there is other life in the universe. To believe that there is other life in the universe is not, however, to believe that "UFO's" are manned vehicles. One explanation of this phenomenon, in addition to those you mentioned, connects the lights that are seen with the gaseous tails of comets. A careful analysis of sighting to date has not given us any indication that "UFO's" are manned.
I appreciate hearing from you on this matter and look forward to hearing from you again.
Sincerely,
(Signature)
Robert F. Kennedy
The letter is similar to another letter written on May 9, 1968 from Senator Kennedy to Gray Barker. Barker was the publisher of Saucer News. In the Gray letter, Kennedy writes about his interest in UFOs. He writes: “I am a card carrying member of the Amalgamated Flying Saucers Association. Therefore, like many other people in our country I am interested in the phenomenon of flying saucers.”
The excellent TV series Dark Skies (1996-97) had several plot points around the Kennedy brothers, and posited early in the series that JFK was killed because he became aware of a government cover-up of aliens and UFOs by the Majestic 12 organization. In Dark Skies, Bobby Kennedy was a sworn enemy of Majestic 12 and believed people "deserve to know the truth." In one episode Frank Bach, the head of Majestic, told the rogue agent John Loengard that "Bobby Kennedy will never become President."
---o0o---
Monday, June 11, 2012
Poem: A meditation on the I Ching and Mitt Romney’s comment that “the earth can handle pretty much anything we dish out”
By Jack Brummet
She may be a deep chasm,
But every bucket has a bottom.
So far, so good,
But every bucket soon fills up.
2.
The earth's factory setting
Is receptive.
She takes everything we dish out.
So far.
3.
Dragons fight in the meadow
Their blood is black and yellow.
---o0o---
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Poem: Tethers
By Jack Brummet
Our tenuous hold on earth
Is disguised in our shadows,
Tethered to the ground
By the soles of our feet,
And a theory of gravity.
---o0o---
Is disguised in our shadows,
Tethered to the ground
By the soles of our feet,
And a theory of gravity.
Friday, June 08, 2012
Alien Lore No. 227 - Bill Clinton on UFOs, aliens, and a possible government cover-up
By Jack Brummet, Alien Lore Editor
"Well I don't know if you all heard this, but, there was actually, when I was president in my second term, there was an anniversary observance of Roswell. Remember that? People came to Roswell, New Mexico from all over the world. And there was also a site in Nevada where people were convinced that the government had buried a UFO and perhaps an alien deep underground because we wouldn't allow anybody to go there. And uhm… I can say now, 'cause it's now been released into the public domain.... This place in Nevada was really serious, that there was an alien artifact there. So I actually sent somebody there to figure it out."
"I did attempt to find out if there were any secret government documents that revealed things. If there were, they were concealed from me too. And if there were, well I wouldn't be the first American president that underlings have lied to, or that career bureaucrats have waited out. But there may be some career person sitting around somewhere, hiding these dark secrets, even from elected presidents. But if so, they successfully eluded me…and I'm almost embarrassed to tell you I did (chuckling) try to find out." - September 2005 to CLSA group in Hong Kong
"I got a letter from 13-year-old Ryan from Belfast. Now, Ryan, if you're out in the crowd tonight, here's the answer to your question. No, as far as I know, an alien spacecraft did not crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. And, Ryan, if the United States Air Force did recover alien bodies, they didn't tell me about it, either, and I want to know." - Speaking in
Belfast Northern Ireland November 1995
"You know, I’ve always been really interested in this stuff, and I’m going to read this." - August 2007 to Hollywood producer Paul Davids when he was given the books “Witness to Roswell” and “The Roswell Legacy”, and a new affidavit that had been released following the death of Roswell witness Walter Haut.
"Sarah, there’s a government inside the government, and I don’t control it." - Bill Clinton as quoted by senior White House reporter Sarah McClendon in reply to why he wasn’t doing anything about UFO disclosure.
"It's interesting that you said that because when we celebrated the anniversary of that event out in New Mexico, I actually got all the government documents and read them and I'm convinced there wasn't a UFO there. On the other hand, you shouldn't give up hope because just a couple months ago, our government astrophysicists spotted a planet revolving around a star that is one of the closest to our solar system that they believe has conditions close enough to earth that it might contain life. Unfortunately, its 20 million light years away so unless you, your kids and your grandkids, and maybe one more generation, want to take a trip for us, we'll have to wait for them to come to us. And then we'll know the truth." - Answering the question “When will we ever know the truth about UFOs?" February 6, 2008
"NASA even sent Chuck Berry's music on a space probe searching for intelligent life in outer space. (Laughter.) Well, now, if they're out there, they're duck walking." - at the Kennedy Center Honors held in the White House Clinton- December 3, 2000
"Well I don't know if you all heard this, but, there was actually, when I was president in my second term, there was an anniversary observance of Roswell. Remember that? People came to Roswell, New Mexico from all over the world. And there was also a site in Nevada where people were convinced that the government had buried a UFO and perhaps an alien deep underground because we wouldn't allow anybody to go there. And uhm… I can say now, 'cause it's now been released into the public domain.... This place in Nevada was really serious, that there was an alien artifact there. So I actually sent somebody there to figure it out."
"I did attempt to find out if there were any secret government documents that revealed things. If there were, they were concealed from me too. And if there were, well I wouldn't be the first American president that underlings have lied to, or that career bureaucrats have waited out. But there may be some career person sitting around somewhere, hiding these dark secrets, even from elected presidents. But if so, they successfully eluded me…and I'm almost embarrassed to tell you I did (chuckling) try to find out." - September 2005 to CLSA group in Hong Kong
"I got a letter from 13-year-old Ryan from Belfast. Now, Ryan, if you're out in the crowd tonight, here's the answer to your question. No, as far as I know, an alien spacecraft did not crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. And, Ryan, if the United States Air Force did recover alien bodies, they didn't tell me about it, either, and I want to know." - Speaking in
Belfast Northern Ireland November 1995
"You know, I’ve always been really interested in this stuff, and I’m going to read this." - August 2007 to Hollywood producer Paul Davids when he was given the books “Witness to Roswell” and “The Roswell Legacy”, and a new affidavit that had been released following the death of Roswell witness Walter Haut.
"Sarah, there’s a government inside the government, and I don’t control it." - Bill Clinton as quoted by senior White House reporter Sarah McClendon in reply to why he wasn’t doing anything about UFO disclosure.
"It's interesting that you said that because when we celebrated the anniversary of that event out in New Mexico, I actually got all the government documents and read them and I'm convinced there wasn't a UFO there. On the other hand, you shouldn't give up hope because just a couple months ago, our government astrophysicists spotted a planet revolving around a star that is one of the closest to our solar system that they believe has conditions close enough to earth that it might contain life. Unfortunately, its 20 million light years away so unless you, your kids and your grandkids, and maybe one more generation, want to take a trip for us, we'll have to wait for them to come to us. And then we'll know the truth." - Answering the question “When will we ever know the truth about UFOs?" February 6, 2008
"NASA even sent Chuck Berry's music on a space probe searching for intelligent life in outer space. (Laughter.) Well, now, if they're out there, they're duck walking." - at the Kennedy Center Honors held in the White House Clinton- December 3, 2000
---o0o---
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