This is worth watching all the way through:

Colbert: “It’s like looking into a mirror…”

1h

I’m not a big Tarot person, but I have friends who are, and they all regularly say they draw this card for me (and apparently it is also the card of my sun sign): The Chariot. Since I find these things interesting, I looked it up and got the following interesting but useful story:

The Fool is close to completing what he set out to create long ago, back when the Magician revealed those tools to him. But enemies are now standing in his way, devious human enemies, bad circumstances, even confusion in his own mind. There’s no more forward momentum; he feels he is fighting just to stay where he is. Walking along the shore, watching the waves come in, he puzzles over how to defeat these enemies and get things moving forward once again.

It is here that he comes across a charioteer, standing in his gold and silver chariot, his black and white steeds at rest. “You seem a victorious warrior,” the Fool remarks. “Tell me, what is the best way to defeat an enemy?” The Charioteer nods out at the ocean. “Have you ever been swimming in the water and been trapped in that tide which pulls you out to sea? If you try to swim forward, head-on, you go nowhere. You swim forward, the tide pulls you back and, if you tire yourself out, you drown. The only way to win without sapping all your energy is to swim parallel to shore, and come in slowly, diagonally. So, too, when fighting in a chariot. You win by coming up alongside that which you wish to defeat.” The warrior nods to his beasts. “Your steeds keep the wheels turning, but it is your control and direction that brings victory. Dark and light, they must be made to draw in harmony, under your guidance.”

The Fool is impressed and inspired. He thinks he now knows how to win his own war. He thanks the warrior, but before he leaves, the warrior stays the Fool, “One thing more,” he says, “no victory can be won unless you have unwavering confidence in your cause. And remember this above all, victory is not the end, it is the beginning.”

I found this to be quite inspirational and very accurate for how I need to act to make progress on all of the projects I care about so much. So I thought I’d just share it with you.

1h.

O’Reilly support it, Hollywood is against it? Has the world turned upside down?

1h

That was hell freezing over.

O’Reilly actually supporting an option which is public… I think I just saw a pig fly by my window.

1h

As some of you may know, I’ve lost a very dear friend to me this week and I’ve been trying to sort through it somehow by myself for a few days. As my wife Trace will tell people, I’m not the most eloquent writer and so I probably won’t bother writing a long eulogy about how much she meant to me and how badly it hurts to lose one of my best friends in this city. Especially with all the plans we had for the next two weeks and her birthday.

So, instead, I will share what a friend of mine shared with me many years back when my godmother passed away and I was dealing with that:

The only way is up.

The only way is up.

God bless you Leah, and may you find the peace that you so longingly searched for every day of your life with energy, vigour, love and happiness. Thank you for sharing so much of your last year with me and Trace. We were all truly blessed to be part of your life, and I will truly miss you.

And now, in my ever so hidden, but Catholic ways, I share a prayer for Leah with all those she touched in her life.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in peace.

Amen.

1h

ps. A good friend of mine, Brother Andre, has a site where you can light a candle as a sign of gratefulness for that which we’ve all been blessed with. Trace and I have lit one for Leah.

Required viewing for any Democrats in the states wondering why their polls are crashing. Hint: It’s not because you are so enthusiastically in support of a public option.

1h

The following picture was taken at a Obama town hall meeting:

Now, if this was a cop, or even if this was just a person who was not expressing any thoughts of violence. This wouldn’t be a problem. However, the sign he was carrying said otherwise:

As TPM says:

Late Update: Also important to note, the gun-toting protestor was holding a sign referencing the Jefferson quote: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” It’s a well known quote from one of the archetypal founding fathers. And in itself it’s part of the American heritage, something that echoes with Jefferson’s always ambivalent and frequently dilettantish attitude toward political violence. But in the context of these townhall excesses and while carrying a firearm at a presidential event, it’s quite a menacing statement, in as much as it is about the need to kill tyrants.

I’m worried things will continue to get worse as long as those who stoke these fires, and spread blatant and dangerous lies that scare the living pants off of people do not accept responsibility for any actions that occur due to their words. You do have a right to free speech, and I accept that, but you also have a responsibility to accept that if you tell a crazy with a gun that it may be a wise idea to take it to these town halls “in case things get out of hand,” you are somewhat at fault should he do anything.

The whole matter right now in the states is spiralling out of hand, and I hope the majority of people who are sane and responsible stand up and stop this before someone snaps.

1h

h/t Dailykos math4barack

I ran across this article on wind mills and people who live near them in the last week about a new “syndrome” for anti-windmill people and hypochondriacs to have:

Living too close to wind turbines can cause heart disease, tinnitus, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines and sleep deprivation, according to groundbreaking research to be published later this year by an American doctor.

…

Some of the earliest research into the impact of low-frequency noise and vibrations was undertaken by Portuguese doctors studying the effects on military and civil personnel flying at high altitudes and at supersonic speed. They found that this exposure may also cause the rare illness, vibroacoustic disorder or VAD, which causes changes to the structure of certain organs such as the heart and lungs and may well be caused by vibrations from turbines. Another powerful side effect of turbines is the impact which the light thrown off the blades – known as flicker – has on people who suffer from migraines and epilepsy.

Campaigners have consistently argued that much research hitherto has been based on written complaints to environmental health officers and manufacturers, not on science-based research.

So, by this guys results, everyone in Toronto must be suffering horribly from the giant wind mill right in the center of the city. This would be easy to check; look at the records of the “symptoms” this guy reports before and after the windmill was built. If there is a jump, then there actually may be legitimacy to his work.

If there isn’t, he may just be noting that people who live on farms like it quiet and when it’s not quiet, they get agitated and have either nocebo symptoms or old symptoms of pain that they notice more.

1h.

ps. I’m not affiliated in any fashion with “The wind industry [who] will try to discredit [him] and disparage [him].”

First thing, this is the 1000th post on 1337hax0r. whoo-hoo.

Secondly, I saw this conspiracy theory which Fox News is putting out, and it’s just unbelievable. Glenn Beck has not only gone completely off the deep end, but tied two lead weights to his legs while doing so. I love a conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but these are so convoluted and crazy and it just hurts.

First, after 8 years of known government spying on Americans in the guise of protecting against “terrorism,” he believes a conspiracy that visiting a website could allow the government to take over all documents on the computer. Amazingly, when he does it he doesn’t actually show the message he claims was there. Regardless, the stupidity of believing that the government can miraculously copy all of your data instantaneously when you visit a website is just shocking. The fact that this is being shown as news on a “reputable” news network in the states to other people who don’t understand the technology and will fall for the hype… is well.. stupid… but also scary.

This other one by Glenn Beck is incredible in it’s convolutedness. I’m almost expecting Glenn Beck to claim that Obama shot JFK or that he faked the moon landing. I think Fox News has completely given up on being a news network and has turned into a really bad 24/7 episode of X-Files. Fox Mulder would be a great host.

If you believe that it’s just Glenn Beck pushing this conspiracy tripe, clearly you haven’t seen the Birthers, and the “Deathers.” Maddow discusses this phenomena.

1h