This makes me happy and cry, all at the same time. ~Vic Video of the Day
VOTD: I Love You — Cosmic-Observation
Amazing!!!!!
🤗😘😂
Must watch, again!
Author: KenshoHomestead
Creatively working toward self-sufficiency on the land.
M’Aster
Do you know me, M’Aster
I know you think you do
You know the slave who
Still appeals to you
But do you know, M’Aster
Like you think you do
Do you know me, M’Aster
Like I know you
Did you find me
Or did I find you
Will you devour me
Or will I you
Did you meet me
In St. Louis
Did I greet you
In Spain
Are we dancing
In synchronicity
Or dying in vain
Will you help me
M’Aster
Help me show them
A way
Away
Help me
Love them
Always
All ways
Of hope, M’Aster
Do you care
As the myth does
Still remain to dare
Your love lost
A single rose lasts
In sweet longing
On my tongue
Parched
On my land
Languishing
Spirits begging
Logos losing even as
Hearts not musing
M’Aster
Your dance
No longer
Amusing
Laughing at Tyrants
From the best essay I’ve read all month (not James Corbett, but I was reminded of his excellent vid on the topic, so I used that image).
This one comes from a ‘new to me’ writer on Substack called ‘The Upheaval’:
“The most obvious answer is that ridicule undermines authority. Or, perhaps more accurately, it is inherently destabilizing to brittle, illegitimate, undeserving authority. Hence why, as Milan Kundera put it in The Joke, “No great movement designed to change the world can bear sarcasm or mockery, because they are a rust that corrodes everything it touches.”
Me: Milan Kundera was my favorite writer for years and I’ve read most of his works, some of it multiple times. I find it extraordinary that despite his popularity among New York intelligentsia, that same circle has not understood its deeper implications, clearly, otherwise they would’ve seen right through the corporate-fascist institutions they are still supporting even now.
“The answer strikes to a much deeper insight: genuine humor is utterly reliant on its connection with the truth. As any good comic could explain, the best jokes play off the gap between expectation and reality; or between propriety (social pretense) and reality; or on irony, the gap between words and their real meaning; and so on – in all cases the most effective humor functions through revelation.”
“Nor perhaps why, pearls firmly in hand, a 2021 EU report literally titled “It’s Not Funny Anymore” warned breathlessly that, by “blurring the lines between mischief and potentially radicalising messaging,” the “transgressive humour” of online “meme culture” threatens to expose people to such amorphous “far-right” and “extremist” notions as “anti-elite arrogance and condescension,” or jokes making fun of those who “do not question the information that comes from mainstream press and politics.” And why, decrying that “humour has been weaponised as a form of resistance against a political culture that is supposedly curtailing free speech,” it called for increased global efforts to “monitor” and “quarantine” such humor in partnership with tech companies and “progressive communities.”
Me: Indeed. Just try to find funny political memes on a basic Google search today. Hardly a laugh to be found.
“But humor’s intimate relationship with the truth also explains why the authoritarian is typically incapable of it. If the punchline of a joke is not the revelation of the real but simply the reiteration of the lie, no genuine laughter – of the kind that seems to well up unbidden from deep within the listener – can be produced. Hence why most mainstream comedy has long since replaced laughter with “clapter,” why the left can’t meme, and why the EU report bemoaned the fact that “attempting to counter extremist humour with a form of alternative humour has proven very difficult.”
Me: As much as I agree and appreciate this entire essay and hope ya’ll will go read it, I also need to add that seed of doubt, because it’s there.
A question for y’all: Does humor also serve the tyrannical system by normalizing its crimes and diffusing the hostility of the masses? After all, back in the day it was the ‘court jesters’ who performed at the behest of the rulers. It is part of the ‘bread and circus’.
And so far, it has proven to be completely ineffectual at curbing the influence of the unelected elite whose power has only increased despite all the best efforts of George Carlin, among precious few others.
It may make us feel better, but does it really have any chance of changing the game? Because, if it did, wouldn’t it have worked by now? Is humor just the new ‘Opium of the masses’? After all, the ‘Emperor With No Clothes’ remains the Emperor.
Funny Friday
It’s that time again! Busy week on the wee homestead, so slow week for memes. Hope there’s still a chuckle in here somewhere!
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Wishing y’all a lovely weekend!
Homestead Happenings
Spring is in the air! Sort of.
More like, New Normal Yo-Yo Season doesn’t totally fool Mother Nature. Yay! I’m taking that as good news.
So let’s focus on more good news with plenty of happy snaps, and just a few ugly reality snaps, from the wee homestead.
We’ve been busy, Handy Hubby most especially, in long-overdue deconstruction. The only other structure on the property when we bought it about 15 years ago, besides the seasonal-cottage-turned-permanent home where we now live, was this already run-down, trash-filled tractor barn.
Thank heavens for Handy Hubby!
Then the tornado tore off a chunk of it. And Hubby discovered the posts had rotted in the ground and it was in even worse shape than expected. Little left to be salvaged.
You can see it here in its best shape, in the background of this darling vid of our dear, now deceased, oh so lovable dogs, Tori, and Papi who makes a brief appearance too! The structure on the left is the former duck coop, built by Hubby. The structure finally coming down is the 2-story on the right. While the previous owners were building their future cottage, our current home, they built this and lived on the top loft. It was already a mess when we bought the place, and we’ve been procrastinating the clean-up ever since.
I vowed year after year I’d help Hubby in the deconstruction and clean-up when he found time to prioritize it, yet here it’s now nearly done and I haven’t helped a lick!
Such a gentleman! Thank heavens, because it’s a disgusting, nest and poop infested horror of a project, which is why he was procrastinating so long in the first place!
In more elegant news, I am still getting 1 liter of milk a day from our belligerent herd queen, Summer. While it’s not enough for making big and delicious hard cheeses, like this Pepper Jack I just cut, it is enough for a weekly batch of feta, or mozzarella, or my imitation of Boursin, or kefir, buttermilk, yogurt . . .! YUM!
Despite the best laid plans of weather terrorists, we still have our first blossoms, our first chicks, our first piglets of the season!
And first chicks!
The daffodils and narcissists are out, and just enough blooms that the bees are again pleased!
I do believe, as chance would have it, I just happened to capture the queen in this quick shot. If you look at the center you see a longer abdomen pressed against the observation window, right next to a worker bee, so it stands out just enough to discern. I can’t be 100% sure, but I think so!
And back to discernment, we have the magic phallus of several posts appearing again! It’s in the same general area as the others, pictured previously, but looks a bit different. Now I’m starting to hope we’ve discovered a morel patch?! Or, maybe not.
What’s new in your neck of the woods?
Funny Friday
Oh my stars! Did I just really need to laugh today, or is this the best crop ever?! Mostly Hubby’s collections once again, but I was LMAO!
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Wishing y’all a lovely weekend!
Ohio Oddities
Steganography and synchromysticism researcher, Stephers, shared a few odd points about the E. Palestine, Ohio train accident and chemical spill that I want to pass along to whoever might be interested.
Stephers: “In this interview, they mention “HAZMAT suits”…and Nathan Izotic mentions “in his industry.” Yet it is NEVER mentioned that he, himself, is a specialist in chemicals (and his wife, Kelly, trained specifically in chemicals and toxicology)…and OSHA HAZMAT certified…Why are they not assisting, given their expertise?”
Me: They also had only moved to the vicinity the previous year, so I’d say they are not exactly ‘locals’ as in they would know the area and people well enough to be the best candidates to interview.
Stephers: “Kelly Izotic (acting as worried local resident) works for Microbac Laboratories. She does not mention that she is an environmental chemical field technician, nor what her company does. If honest, she should be educating the public on air quality and remediation, and supporting on-the-ground hazardous waste analysis.”
https://www.microbac.com/waste-management
Me: Why not interview them as experts in the field, which they clearly are, instead of ‘concerned locals’? And why does she have that insouciant grin the whole time, and he looks like he has to bite his lip to not follow suit and then points to an invisible rash on his face?
They don’t look too concerned to me. Nerves? Bad acting? Or perhaps beaming on the inside with the bank they are about to make on this deal?
Just asking, inquiring minds want to know!
+++++++++
And, even more odd, also received from Stephers:
From the article linked below:
“Ohio resident Ben Ratner was excited when he landed a gig as an extra in a Netflix movie about a toxic disaster in October 2021.
But now the 37-year-old father of four — who lives in East Palestine, Ohio, less than a mile from the site of a train derailment that led to a massive toxic chemical spill and forced residents to evacuate — is living out a real-life version of the movie’s plot that’s continuing to unfold.
“Talk about art imitating life,” Ratner — who plays an evacuee in the film adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise about a freight train explosion that releases deadly toxins into the air — tells PEOPLE.
And if that were enough, add another little gem . . .
Ratner’s Star is a 1976 novel by Don DeLillo. It relates the story of a child prodigy mathematician who arrives at a secret installation to work on the problem of deciphering a mysterious message that appears to come from outer space. The novel has been described as “famously impenetrable”.[1]
Stephers:
I still find it super synchy that Ben Ratner’s mom is named Beth…and *another* Beth Ratner (NOT his mom) just happens to have worked in environmental toxin/hazardous spills clean-up:Financial Controller
ARROWHEAD ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Sep 2020 – Jun 2022 1 year 10 months
Established financial and human resources policies and procedures for a start-up waste management company.
Well, what do you think about them odd apples?!
Institutional Capture & Socio-Cultural Re-Programming
Just another few pieces of evidence to add to the already vast mountain range of nonsense we are expected to swallow on a daily basis.
3 short-bits follow, plus a bonus. Each is ignoring, or side-stepping the most contentious and necessary topics while exploiting the low-hanging fruit, that of course being the most fruitful recipe of our times.
- The Geoengineering question, bypassed in the typical trifecta fashion: Avoid, Smear, Redirect. If that doesn’t work, pretend it’s new and revolutionary. Or, pretend it’s old and therefor safe and reasonable. If all else fails, feign ignorance. Not necessarily in that order.
Here our host lets him get away with it, so typical! (For shame, he instantly dropped in my initial estimation by multiple degrees.) So, in their non-summation Geoengineering is all about Bill Gates covering up the sun, and certainly not about a century of global military industrial complex scheming.
Furthermore, it’s right up there in the Crazy Zone with the Virus-Deniers and Flat Earth theory!
This ‘rabbit hole’ is so old to me now, all that’s left of deep inquiry here is the pondering: Do they really buy their own bullshit? (34:33 minute mark for the Geoengineering ‘question’). This is what’s posing as ‘alternative journalism’ these days. Effective ‘ambush journalism’ has been inverted into staged theater, then morphed into public relations. Not a single toe-to-toe to be expected. It’s like listening to a well-choreographed two-step. I’d prefer watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, at least they occasionally ventured into new territory, still choreographed of course, but for the sake of their well-seasoned audience, a welcome escape from the repetition. Professor Steven Starr on Geopolitics and Empire: We Are Already in WWIII
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/geopolitics-empire/id1003465597?i=1000598968822
2. Next we have a Geoengineering documentary, supposedly out in 2008 (that I somehow never heard of? Seems unlikely.) Full of goose-stepping oddness and fear-mongering, narrated by a digital voice, then the famous Alan Watt, and various other voice-overs.
Here is the oddest sentence of the entire 4-hour All-Over-The-Place Everything-Soup Concoction: 03:40:53 “HG Wells talked about the new freemasonry of the air. Policing the skies.” Wait, Whaa?!
And seriously, a 4-hour documentary, who watches those?
Exactly.
Don’t Talk About the Weather (2008)
3. And, never fear, the institutions will continue doing their institutionalizing!
Science™ brought to you by . . .
The modern day worshipping of the imperialist, industrialist and technocrat alike. It’s the current New World Religion.
And, yippie, Arizona State University, my Alma Mater, continues to lead the way, now color me proud! (Don’t miss the sarcasm dripping in computer-augmented Magenta at this point!)
According to their provost and Executive Vice President, Nancy Gonzales of Miami, Arizona, rural folk should not be scorned or pitied, because they can still blossom from their abject poverty working in the mines in order to serve the Corporate State at ever higher levels. So won’t their kinfolk be proud!
“Although many people focus on the disadvantages of a rural upbringing, we didn’t see it that way. Miami was a place where parents sacrificed and families supported one another to lift up the next generation.”
According to their propaganda that well-educated, well-meaning next generation is going to solve all the global desert metropolises’ water worries with more awesome tech solutions.
Confoolery at its finest! Keep climbing that ladder kids!
For our bonus, here’s a rare journalist to whom I still give the benefit of the doubt. Beginning the interview they discuss the new rain water technology that’s just hit the NY stock exchange. I think she honestly doesn’t know (yet) just how deep and long this rabbit hole goes. I look forward to more from her on the topic as she tries to dig though it. And more power to her!
Better get your umbrellas, drought prep and insurance updates, folks!
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221222005128/en/Rainwater-Tech-
And last, but not forgotten, Happy Valentine’s Day!
And one for the fellas, too!
Beauty is Intoxicating
Every gift is a curse. But, is every curse also a gift?
I’m going to take the long way around a pretty basic question, but one that I am honestly curious about and would love to hear any thoughts on the matter.
When I was a teenager, I had a number of “love interests” that were short-lived, but intense enough that I remember them vividly. I went from Tom-boy to boy-crazy fairly quickly, in just one summer actually. For someone so young I found myself navigating very choppy waters without a smidgeon of skill.
Two of them, around the age of 16 and 17, are fit examples for this story. One was a short-term boyfriend, another was a near miss.
The near miss was a one-legged salesman. I was a shoe sales clerk at the shopping mall in Chesterfield, Missouri. It was actually a really good job and I was glad to have it. Suburban life before car age is brutally boring for someone like me. I finally felt free and so adult-like as I strutted through the mall on breaks in my heavily discounted Overland Trading Company shoes.
I don’t remember which shop it was now, but I would expressly wander in that direction just to see if he was there. He would smile at me, I felt he was even waiting for me to pass by, and I would smile back, maybe give a cute little wave for added effect.
That he had only one leg was not what made me want to gawk at him. But rather that he was gorgeous. I mean, seriously Gorgeous. Handsome, amazing build, confident, well-dressed, and just the right amount of older for a 16 year old to get herself swooning in his direction.
We talked at some point. Went to the food court together. Became, not exactly friends, but something like ‘mall buddies’. Then somehow it happened that we decided to have a real date, where he came over to my house to pick me up in his car.
And I will never forget that moment. It was a sudden disaster. That he had one leg did not phase me in the public sphere, not at all. It felt like a non-issue. Sure, I was curious what had happened, and I’m sure I asked at one point and he answered, but I don’t recall his story. I liked him. I especially liked looking at him. I liked that he liked me. I remember, I really liked that.
I remember he was kind, and a gentleman. And I hated myself. I hated myself that suddenly, seeing him in my house, something switched for me that I could not comprehend. I sensed overwhelmingly, all of a sudden, that I could not be who he needed me to be. It was a shameful, and quite devastating feeling for me at that ripe young age.
On one other occasion not long afterward I again became intoxicated by another young man’s beauty. He was my age and the son of a family friend from church. Everybody loved him. It also ended badly, despite my genuine feelings for him, that certainly went beyond just his great looks. And that also came down to the same issue, in 20/20 hindsight: I can’t be who you need me to be. The realization coming too late to avoid the associated pain. Their beauty, I really believe, clouded what I should’ve seen before leading them on.
And my point in sharing these very old recollections is, could the opposite also be true? I guess I feel it would be nice if it were. I saw a man the other day who was clearly very compromised—and my heart went out to him, in a very pitying way. I knew, from his appearance, he suffered many hardships in life. I’d like to believe that in his apparent curse, he has found a deeper gift. Sort of like the opposite of the gift of beauty that invariably bestows pain due to all of us who are so entranced by it.
Or, I’m just looking for an avenue out of my automatic pity for him? Thoughts?
Funny Friday
It is . . .it is that time again already! And we’ve got some real ticklers in here today!
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Wishing y’all a lovely weekend!
Kensho Homestead 