Solving all financial problems

tomorrow, as I am going to prospect for topaz at the Seaquist Ranch in Mason County.  

Actually, I don't really expect to find any.  But I have found some interesting quartz, chert and something that was arguably flint.  This time I'm also going to be on the lookout for agate and petrified wood.  (I did find a small piece of petrified wood last time).   I'm told there may be black tourmaline in the area also.  It's not the high dollar stuff, but I've items made with it on etsy.  I've also seen pendants made with flint on etsy with asking prices rather above some of the "prettier" stones.  

I've already made a couple of nearly satisfactory pendants.  One of them is a kind of macho thing, with a hammered steel wire abstraction and a black vinyl "chain"; the other is a reddish agate set (with glue) against a copper wire disc that I crocheted--the copper chain is something I purchased from Michael's.  (I crocheted a copper wire chain, but it was too stiff for the required aesthetics.)

For some reason, I am loath to try and make earrings or rings.  But bracelets are okay.  I must think about brooches and belt buckles also.

As I have said before, best not to trifle with me--I have crochet hooks and I know how to use them.  

But here's hoping for a ten pound blue crystal topaz. 

R.   

 

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/

Hee, hee, hee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI9KBLb_8ro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rv1CTZSIU0

And this third one, oh, my: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUy8xbytCbs

For relief, try:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga_EP7RObKw

 

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/

Something to think about for both Left and Right

Professor Eric X Li on the virtues of the Chinese Communist Party...

I wonder if what he is saying reflects the official Party position or the *de facto* Party position;  or is it merely his own view as an academic?  

I'll spare everybody my reflexive critique because I'm wondering if there's any way to have the Party cake and eat it too...

http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_x_li_a_tale_of_two_political_systems.html

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/

Elderly Laotian Siri Paboun solves cases and pursues happiness

as the National Coroner of Laos.  Dr. Siri is the hero of a series of mysteries by Colin Cotterill. 

Dr. Siri is a hero of the Communist Pathet Lao revolution that kicked the French out of the country.  He himself has no illusions about the Party, but believes that Laotians have the right to be mismanaged by their own people--as opposed to the French or for that manner, the somewhat arrogant Vietnamese.  Siri started out as a medical student in France.  There he fell in love with another student who it so happens was an ardent Communist and supporter of the cause for Laotian independence.  So Siri joined the Laotian Communist Party.  What else could he do?   Subsequent to his training he and his wife spend years in the jungle waging guerilla warfare against the French.   Unfortunately, Siri becomes a widower in the course of the struggle.  When the Pathet Lao unexpectedly win, Siri is already getting on in years and wants nothing more than to retire.  But the Party insists on making him the National Coroner even though he has no training or background for it--but he is virtually the only person in the whole country with complete medical training.  

Given his age and his friendship with a member of the Central Committee (still powerful, but somewhat marginalized), Dr. Siri figures that the Party can't do much to him if he wants to do things *his* way.  Part of the fun of reading the novels is watching Siri slyly circumvent the often absurd impositions of the bureaucracy.  

As a western-trained medical doctor, Dr. Siri does not share the worldview of his fellow Laotians when it comes to, say, the existence and influence of the spirit world.  But at one point  he discovers he can see spirits (but maddeningly can't hear them) and moreover that he is the incarnation of a 1000-YO Hmong shaman.  This leads to considerable cognitive dissonance.  

There is some mystery about Dr. Siri's origins.  He has uncharacteristically green eyes and there is the suspicion that he may be Hmong or part Hmong himself.  

The setting for the novels is Laos in the mid-70's.  Colin Cotterill spent a considerable amount of time in the area and seems to be genuinely knowledgeable about Laos (as if I would know).  

Interestingly, Colin Cotterill illustrated the book, *Dude de Ching* touted by Jeff Bridges on the *Daily Show* not long ago as a Dudeist updating of Taoism.  

My favorites include *Disco for the Dead* and *Love Songs from a Shallow Grave.*  The latter is more serious in tone and brings home the horror of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.  

R. 

 

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/

Sweden is not perfect, but...

where in America? 

http://www.wimp.com/swedenpolice/

(I'm sure Inspector Wallendar would look the other way...Wouldn't he?) 

Thanks to Sally Jane Sharp-Paulsen--USA & longtime resident of Norway--not far from Sweden, you know.  

 

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/

Trekking through the Star Chamber: Autocracy next stop?

Until I heard Ezra Kelin on the Rachel Maddow Show last night, I didn't fully appreciate the significance of the secret court that has been ruling on the applications to spy on, well, everybody. There are bi-partisan bills proposed in both chambers to de-classify the proceedings of this court.

WTF? 

How about bills to *abolish* the damn thing. Out of 34,000 applications from various agencies to spy on whatever, only 11 have been refused. The court only hears one side--the government's side--and all the judges are appointed from the Federal bench by Chief Justice Roberts. Of the 11 judges on the court, 10 were appointed by Republican Presidents. 
How has the court managed to cast such a broad net? By redefining the word "relevant" in the Patriot Act to mean any damn thing the government wants to know. Okay, Tea Party liberty-lovers--it's showtime for you--as well as for a number of waffle-spined Democratic Congresspersons.

I admire FDR & LBJ (with some serious reservations).  I do not admire Reagan or Nixon.   But admirable or not, they were all very strong executives.   How could a strong executive, no matter how admirable, resist using a secret court like what we have now to enhance his or her power?   Always, no doubt, with a good end in mind--that is, his or her mind.  So, why not neutralize a pesky political enemy?  Or even a number of them?  Maybe most of Congress?  

R. 

 

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/

Did Willie really say this?

(Thanks to Russ T.) 

Poor  Lance Armstrong,

I  think it is just terrible and disgusting how everyone has treated
Lance  Armstrong, especially after what he achieved, winning seven
Tour de  France races while on drugs.

When  I was on drugs, I couldn't even find my bike.

Willie  Nelson

 

http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/