Mourning Dove
“Democracy”
“Newsom quickly condemned the move as a “blatant abuse of power” that puts the nation on a path to authoritarianism … California may be first, but it clearly won’t end here,” the governor said. “Other states are next. Democracy is next.”“
The Democrats are screaming the same old song about Trump destroying democracy.
Good. I hope he succeeds. It’s among the reasons I voted for him.
I get so tired of hearing that.
The US is not a democracy, it’s a constitutional republic. I believe it was Justice Scalia that reaffirmed that the Constitution is not a living document, it’s a legal contract. Democracy – particularly the Democrats version – needs to be flushed away along with the rest of the crap they continually spout off.
Franklin (maybe): “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch“.
Our Constitution allows the lamb to be armed.
Foreign troops waving foreign flags on US soil? There’s an answer to that. Legal with long historical precedent. And it’s what the Marines do.
But I’m probably preaching to the choir with this group …
Two rants this week.
Rant: OFF
Backcorners Of Nowhere
Every once in a while, rarely planned, never expected, and usually off the back trails further out than what most consider back trails, I’ll come across a surprise.
This pan, deep up a canyon in the Owyhee Mountains, was found hanging on the wall of an old miner’s cabin. The cabin was still mostly in good shape – not really habitable anymore, but worthy of shelter if caught in a storm.
I don’t know what I was thinking taking a vehicle up that “road” – brush cutting, rut filling, tree moving …
Well, yes I do (“I wonder what’s up here?“) … but I might have needed that cabin for shelter.
As far as I know, the pan is still there.
Over the past 45 years or so wandering in places a thinking person normally wouldn’t go, I’ve collected a few of these surprises – some I can prove such as this, some perhaps subject to an aging memory.
The few certain things I’ve learned of these findings is that 1) it’s no use taking someone with me with the purpose of finding “something”, 2) I will find nothing if that is my intent, and 3) it is not uncommon for me to not find “it” again if I try to return.
I Should Be Ashamed…
Published by Jean Dec. 1, 2009
I should be ashamed
having read so little
of so few poets
and nothing at all
of so many more.
they’ve spent their lives
writing words just for
the likes of me
and I barely know
but a few.
I should be ashamed
to do what I do like
I’m the only one
who has ever done it
when it’s mostly been done
already and better and oftener before.
I should be ashamed
and burn my notebooks and
break my pencils and read
what’s already been written and
what’s being written now.
But I am reading what’s being
written now this minute by me
and some others here and
there when I can and
when I want.
I should be ashamed
of thinking about quitting.
someone somewhere might
someday read what
I wrote yesterday or today
and think about writing
what they have to say
in their own way
and another link gets
added to the chain and
another chapter is added
to the story.
I should be ashamed
for doing so little.
But I’m not.
(after reading some Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
Something Different
There’s something about this photo I’ve always liked. It was taken in 2013 and something inside back then inspired me to play with color settings on one of my image processors. I liked what I had come up then with so I re-did the processing here some 12 years later.
The original NEF image was taken under natural daylight, has pixel size of 7370/4916, was translated to TIF with ProPhoto color, then scaled with no further processing to 800/534 JPG with zero-compression and print resolution of 300px/in.
But I go further … and y’all get to experience the joy of pretending you’re in an art gallery, examining works of “fine art” exploring variations in hue, saturation, and a bonus example image of edge detection.
Or not …
The same conversions and scaling were used as in the original print with the addition of adjusting hue and saturation. No mixture of hues was utilized; color filters were RED, YEL, GRN, CYN, BLU, and MAG. Saturation levels for each color were 0% or 100%.
Only RED:
The RED only appears more orange than red and appears over-emphasized when other colors are removed.
Only YEL:
On the other hand, while YEL-only is mostly emphasized on the edges, the color is not as over-whelming as RED-only.
All colors except RED and YEL:
Other than a small hint of green grass through a gap in the machinery, it appears to be a black&white image.
All set to 0% saturation:
With all colors set to 0% saturation, the image appears fully B&W
No adjustments to saturation or hue; conversion of ORIG to Gray-scale (B&W)
At this scale, it’s hard to differentiate between the last three, but there are subtle differences between the 0-saturation image and the gray-scale image. Differences in the conversion algorithms but subtle enough to not be noticeable at first glance of a scaled image.
Just for grins, I applied a basic EdgeDetect filter:
There you have it.
The original is OK as is, but I believe my preference is B&W.
Shoulda…
Originally published by Jean Thursday, May 29, 2025
In the end
you will say
I wish I had
I wish we had
but it will be
too little
too late.
and too sad.
Two Tunes For Tuesday – Sly & The Family Stone
Yesterday – June 9, 2025 – “Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone, dead at 82“
A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Sly and the Family Stone “I Want To Take You Higher“, “Everybody Is A Star” 1969
Both cuts were B sides; both cuts ranked high on the Billboard charts.
Woodstock: “What we would like to do … is sing a song together …“
” “I Want to Take You Higher” is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one gets from music.”
The performance at Woodstock – about 3AM – was considered one of the best of the festival.
“Everybody Is A Star” wasn’t released on an LP until a Greatest Hits compilation was released.
Sly & The Family Stone put on a good show – when they decided to show up, something not always certain.
It Would Be Worth It
just to stop California from thinking they can tell the rest of us what to do and how to live.
“Full Marine Battalion Of 500 Deploying To LA As Newsom Sues Trump Over National Guard“
Navin Grewsom: “Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off, @realDonaldTrump.“
[then why are you running such huge deficits?]
Cut them off. Let them keep their $80B. The rest of us already need permission to enter – the state has “customs” stations at the border; make those work both ways.
Let them get it shoved in their faces they’re not as independent of us as they’d like to believe; that they need the rest of us for such things as electricity and fuel and water.
The expression “Don’t Californicate xxxx” didn’t come about out of nowhere – look what happened to Oregon.
Let’s hear it for the great state of Jefferson …
Rant OFF.
The Old Gazebo…
Originally published December 22, 2006
Winter. Late afternoon.
The beach is empty. The air is grey-blue.
The ocean is grey-silver, scattered with foamy white waves.
At the high-tide mark is a long wooden, railed walkway leading to
an old gazebo perched on top of the highest dune.
Inside the gazebo is a picnic table with benches.
Under the table is a pair of small deck shoes.
Between the shoes is an empty styrofoam coffee cup.
The most interesting thing is on the table. An open book.
The pages on the left are flapping lightly with the breeze.
The pages on the right are clipped together by a pen.
They struggle to move with the wind..
On that first page on the right is a single handwritten line.
In the most delicate and precise penmanship. It says…
“I am going home.”
Patience
