The Situation: January 21^st, 2013.

SARAH PALIN, having quit her job with Fox News, has a 6 hour daily talk show on KMBQ in Wasilla, Alaska. She will offer weighty analysis of and policy advice on national and international affairs, share her favorite recipes for moose jerky, push her latest book/ video/ commemorative plate, and complain about how the mainstream media simultaneously gave her too much and too little attention.

MICHELLE BACHMAN was sequestered by her handlers after the unfortunate feces-throwing incident with reporters at a press conference after Gary Johnson picked up the GOP candidacy for the 2012 presidential race. That disappointment, combined with photos of her husband passing out flyers for their counseling clinic at a gay brothel in Bangkok, together were thought to be what sent her into a fit of unintelligible gibbering.

Nonetheless, a leaked style sheet from FOX NEWS still directs staff to refer to her and PALIN as “the strong, beautiful Conservative Amazons who strike terror into the hearts of liberals.”

HARRY REID, NANCY PELOSI, MITCH MCCONNELL, ERIC CANTOR and JOHN BOEHNER were all replaced in the 2012 elections.

REID’s memoirs were shipped directly from the printer to a pulping facility to make paper for MCCONNELL’s memoirs. A few signed copies of both mens’ books were offered on ebay with a minimum bid of $1.00 but there were no takers . The books were inscribed, “To my best friend for life, Christmas 2012 with warmest wishes.”

PELOSI moved to San Francisco and entered into a polygamous gay marriage with BARBARA BOXER and DIANNE FEINSTEIN. The women are selling a line of homemade organic chutneys.

JOHN BOEHNER was not seen in public again, but there are persistent rumors that he cried himself to death.

Former House Majority Leader ERIC CANTOR is mulling over superhero identities and consulting with NEWT GINGRICH about a political comeback. GINGRICH meanwhile denounced the 2012 presidential election as a “distraction” and maintains steadfastly that his bid for president is still viable. His staff, now reduced to his wife CALLISTA, is calling every mall and casino in the US offering reduced rates for speaking engagements. CALLISTA’s infamous Lexapro/methamphetamine snapshot is still used to scare children into eating their Brussel sprouts.

President GARY JOHNSON has made it clear that his top priority is the formation of a viable, working coalition of Congressional moderates of all parties. He has put the DEA, DHS, and the Pentagon on notice for major, phased reductions in their budget in the years to come. In most of his policy suggestions he has earned significant support from all living ex-Presidents. JOHNSON has suggested reporters refer to him as “Gary” or “The Dude” and created a media sensation when he offered the Rolling Stone interviewer a blunt.

Ex-President BARACK OBAMA’s refusal of the Democratic presidential nomination created a political uproar. The Democrats were unable to find another nominee, and basically JOHNSON ran unopposed. Nonetheless he garnered an impressive number of votes when a large number of medical marijuana dispensaries offered discounts and promotions in exchange for “I Voted” stickers from polling places.

Last revised 29 July 2011

I’m probably one of .01% of the population who aren’t English majors who decided to read the Canterbury Tales.  I’m glad I did; once you get into the rhythm of his language and have a good glossary on the facing page, it’s an enjoyable read.

A couple of wonderful quotes (sort of paraphrased here):

“Age may be outrun but not outwitted.”

“This world is a thoroughfare of woe, and we are pilgrims passing to and fro.

However, trying to get into Troilus and Cressida was a bit much for me. I could swear that ancient writers sometimes felt they had to use up as much ink and parchment as possible.

On the left is the view at his front door. His wonderful and beautiful wife Jodi is with him in the next shot. And a view of him in front of one of his many bookcases of rare and valuable occult lore.

[*] Currently as of 2/2011 you can get one for $139; sorry, early adopters.

Archive.org has 1,601,867 texts you can read for free.

Project Gutenberg has nearly 30,000 free books in their Online Book Catalog.

A grand total of over 100,000 titles are available at Project Gutenberg Partners, Affiliates and Resources

Project Gutenberg Australia (PGA) has at least 200 books the other sites don’t have due to different copyright laws.

I had been wanting to read Moby Dick, and found a good copy of that. For a long time I’ve wanted to read the novels by author Olaf Stapledon I haven’t already read, and my local public library system came up blank. I found several of his novels at PGA.

Of course, if you’re interested in the Bible or other sacred texts, there are all kinds of those available.

Nook?

No doubt that some day in the future when I can afford it I’ll probably get something like this.  The content providers are definitely working at a mighty pace to convert books over to the portable formats. Obviously, art books, coffee table books, and so forth will never be useful (except perhaps the text part) on these devices.

Just two examples: currently I’m reading “Secret Knowledge” by David Hockney. In this large format book, the color illustrations are crucial to his argument (that artists rediscovered lenses early in the Renaissance). This is not even available on Kindle and if it were it would be hard to imagine how it would be done.

Another book is 777 by Aleister Crowley. This is an important reference work in some types of neo-magick. There is a Kindle version about which a reviewer wrote:

If you wish to read this book, you must buy the print edition. The Kindle edition is completely unusable.

Update Jan 2011

I have still resisted the lure of the Kindle. I guess I am still curmudgeonly about the selling of players, then the selling of the media to play it on. This started with record players. Without something to play it on, the record player is simply an interesting bit of technology. As are tape players, video tape and disc players, iPods, etc. Now the Nook/Kindle charges you once to buy it and then forever to read stuff on it. How would a Kindle really be different from a small laptop with the same screen and reader software? There’s a window where the technology makes sense to have a separate gadget to read with, but that won’t stay open forever.

I’ll still carry around my laptop for now, thanks, and when I’m done reading all the free texts out there, I’ll think about it.

Update Feb 2011

OK, I had a revelation. An e-reader would be great if I were the type of person who read best sellers (Grisham, etc.) This way you’d be able to read the book without having to fill your house with expensive books you’ll likely only read once, or waiting for a copy to get to the public library and be available.  So for that sector of the reading public it would be a good thing (e.g., a commuter who likes to read during a long bus or train ride but doesn’t want to carry a fat hardback.)

And for that matter, why is it essential for best sellers to be released initially as hardbacks? The advantage to a hardback is its durability, but if you’re likely to only read it once, what’s the point? A large paperback can have a suitably large typeface and page size and still be much lighter and less bulky than a hardcover book.

Last updated 20100211

• Lady GaGa
• Miley Cyrus
• Kelly Clarkson

• Lady GaGa is sort of pathetic. It appears she’s going for the “hoochie mama” thing with a wig and tons of makeup, but she basically just looks like Bernice from Accounts Payable with a bunch of party clothes and glitter on: “Please please please find me sexy.” The song (“Poker Face”) was throwaway junk. I suppose the title is supposed to have the a double meaning although I don’t think anyone older than high school age would find it tittillating or clever.
• The Miley Cyrus video was basically every possible camera angle and optical effect over a completely forgettable song. In several shots she was shown with the acoustic guitar slung over her back, but it never showed her playing it.
• Kelly Clarkson could sing OK, but the song was dumb (“I don’t hook up”). With plenty of makeup she was OK to look at and the video actually had a little script. With a decent song she would probably be interesting to listen to. But that’s showbiz.

So it’s nice to know that I wasn’t missing anything vital on VH1.

• Vernor’s Diet Ginger Ale
• Kozy Shack puddings
• Hebrew National hot dogs

About the hot dogs: the thing that makes me want to throttle the company is that they pack SEVEN in a package. ALL hot dog buns are packaged EIGHT in a package. And yet the marketing representative gamely tries to explain it away as being due to “franks being sold by weight rather than count.”

On a lot of sites, the sidebar ads are of young, hip boys and girls simpering into the screen. These appear to be from the various online dating sites around like match, true and mate1. I think they’re intended to make you think you’re secretly spying on them as they enjoy surfing their dating site.

If you watch it for more than a few seconds (they obviously have to loop the videos every 30 seconds or so) it’s extremely unsettling. Brrr…

Update 11 Sept 2009

I don’t know if it’s just a result of the sites I read and don’t read, but those ads apparently have either creeped out other people enough, or they’re ineffective enough, that I haven’t seen them in some time. But I’m sure marketers have something even more creepy up their sleeves they’re planning to share with the world very soon…

Update 11 Jan 2011

No, I guess there are much creepier things out there. Furries, tentacle porn, bukkake, toddler beauty pageants…

This site/blog is going to be the new location for papers, articles, rants and other stuff written since 1995 on various topics such as

• fischertechnik
• alchemy
• Franz Bardon
• Richard and Isabella Ingalese
• articles for New Moon Rising

and other things that used to live under www.crow-caw.com and www.vigra.com/~tims

www.crow-caw.com is now pretty much exclusively dedicated to musical projects of tps.

Vigra used to be a little electronics company which was bought by Visicom. Both of them are long defunct.

The funny thing is that, as you read this, I might have died, and in fact be dead a long time. There’s really no way to tell without some research. But at least you know that I was (probably) alive as of the date of this entry.

Not to be too morbid or anything…

I’ve got all comments and stuff turned off at the moment until I get this site together. I’m thinking about maybe turning on the custom CSS option since I am having such fun with it on another wordpress blog…(or blob)…