QUOTESSAYS

Hard to fathom I got the first of my three divorces fifty years ago now. Ironically it paralleled Watergate and Nixon leaving office. 1974 was definitely a watershed year for the country politically, culturally, and me personally. And that coincidence was not lost on me, and I adjusted my life accordingly. Whatever semblance to a linear life experience I had planned melted in the Summer of '74. Pocahontas, my nickname for my first wife, and I were barely married for two years. Don't get offended, PC folk, she called me much worse and threw knives. The straw that broke the camel's back was me not wanting children, though there were many other issues. We were way too young, and I was chasing the romantic fantasy of marrying an American Indian princess, the gold standard in those hippie years. Plus, that is what she was selling and that was a hot product in the much more ethnically challenged, white bread Santa Cruz of the 70's. I blame it on seeing 'Jeremiah Johnson&#

  How to Read Political Polls Like a Pro | TIME A good article to post right now, as we will be inundated with polls from here to election day. One of the best classes I ever had in college was on election politics and it got deeply into some of these very aspects of polling and how they were used as a political tool. And that was way before social media and personal technology got rolling, which changed the landscape considerably. To paraphrase Ronald Coase, if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.

  America’s History of Nasty, Tumultuous, and Strange Presidential Elections (getpocket.com) As tumultuous as the 2024 Presidential elections are looking to turn out, one must remember we have a long history of Presidential shit shows in this country. Immigration fears, conspiracy theories, claims of 'rigged' elections, voting irregularities, foreign influence on elections, and even quite a few people killed in election day riots. We had one Presidential election in the middle of a civil war, and I mean a real civil war with armies and shooting, not a bunch of armchair 'patriots' typing out their heroic fantasies on a computer keyboard. I think we will survive no matter how it turns out, or at least until I leave this veil of tears, and that is the most important thing after all. Nice collection of articles here on all the above subjects.

 My buddy Melissa and I saw 2017's "Thoroughbreds" as our Sunday movie this week and it was a sleeper/winner in a year of idiotic blockbuster comic book movies. Another thriller/black comedy, a genre I seem to be naturally drawn too. Nicely and subtlety filmed and kept the characters morphing throughout the story to keep one a little off balance. One of those movies where certain scenes give you hints to where the story may be headed if you pay attention and veered away from cliches just at the right moment to keep you interested.  All the actors were very good, but Olivia Cooke as a rich sociopathic teenage girl stole the whole movie. Her nuanced performance never wavered in how a sociopath would react to the situations and people around her. Her expressions were priceless, and she even managed to make you feel some sympathy for her by the end as possibly the only genuinely honest character in the story. She has that golden age, classic Hollywood face too, like a Hedy La

 Just got out of Facebook jail after a 3-day sentence. They told me I had posted pornography. I could not for the life of me remember anything even close to resembling porn that I have posted. I pretty much just post over saturated sunsets, New Mexican ruins, and essays no one reads. After a Kafkaesque interaction with Facebook Community Standards, they send me a photo from a post several years old that had been a popular meme back in the day, but I guess now is considered porn. It was obvious I was dealing 100% with AI, which was not capable of distinguishing between porn and satire. It was actually an anti-porn meme. The amazing thing is how far they had to go back to fetch my transgression. There is no fighting the machines. Oh well, maybe it is for the best that AI take the reins. After watching news clips of both political party conventions, aka dog & pony shows, and listening to both our presidential candidates' idiotic and substance free acceptance speeches, I think we a

 Every afternoon I walk the desert behind my house in the heat of the mid-day sun along with Mad Dogs and Englishmen to get in that mythical 10,000 steps a day. I hear a Japanese fitness company invented that number to sell their pedometers, but it seems about right to me in practice. I wear an Aussie bush hat, shorts, and carry a big stick to defend myself against whatever creatures I might run into in the high desert, be they four-legged, two legged, or no legs. I don't wear a shirt. I am one of those nature boy nuts who think exposure to the sun for vitamin D production is good for you. In my lifetime I have noticed the people that I know who have gotten skin cancer were the most judicious about protecting their skin and using sunscreen, but that is another topic. A few days ago, I was walking my street on the way to the trailhead and a commercial HVAC van was parked in front of my neighbor's house with two young Hispanic guys in the front seats. As I was walking by, the one

  So important to remember for us New Mexican animal lovers. Just an hour ago while walking in the desert behind my house I ran across a snake coiled up under a bush. He was so hot his tongue was sticking out and he was actually rattling to get my attention that he needed help. I scooped him up in my arms and took him home to cool down. I just put in him in the same cage with my hamster, Fluffy, for company. They seem to be hitting if off. They are already playing tag! Looks like Fluffy is it! Fluffy! Fluffy! Oh no!!!

 I have brought up before at the amount of Marijuana related litter alongside the road I find now that recreational pot has been legalized in New Mexico. I have not smoked any weed in close to 20 years and really have no urge to do so now. I did go into one 'dispensary', I find that a cute term, just to see what was going on. I was amazed at the variety of products and how middle class and mainstream pot had become. The green crosses everywhere are a nice touch too. I wasn't tempted to buy anything though. The other day I am on my daily constitutional walk, and I spot one of those joint tubes on the ground. I pick up litter alongside the road as a rule and threw it in my bag. When I got home, I noticed the tube appeared to be unopened, so I opened it. Sure enough, it was an unsmoked joint that looked like Barbie had rolled it. If I ever was going to smoke a joint again, here was my perfect opportunity.  I have smoked a mountain size worth of weed in my lifetime, and also gr

  My buddy Melissa 's and my movie this Sunday was 2018's "A Simple Favor" and it was very good! It surprised us both, as the trailer looked to be a fairly standard sassy, suburban comedy, but the film turned into much more. It skillfully combined comedy, mystery, suspense, and enough plot twists to keep us spinning with second guessing the whole time. On reviewer hit it on the head with calling it 'Mommy Noir'. Beings as I have been out of the pop culture loop for so long, I have no idea who all the new actors and actresses are. They all did great in this flick, but Anna Kendrick stood out in her role and stretched her character in every direction possible perfectly. I will be definitely keeping my eye on her if she pops up in further movies. Evidently a sequel is in the works as I write this with all the same folks, and I am betting it will be good.

 I had another experience that shows how these times be a changing. I have not been into my local Wells Fargo Bank since the pandemic started. With online banking there was never really a need too. I had a money order I needed to deposit in person, as I have no Pay Pal, Zelle, etc. Back in the day I had actually enjoyed going into this branch. I even set up an annuity with them and have been very pleased with the product. I got to know the staff pretty well, and like a good business model does, they always made me feel welcome. I had even painted a little office desk size Guadalupe for my annuity manager, as she was very good at her job. Wowie, what a difference today! No line, as I was the only customer in the bank with one lonely teller on duty. Almost all the cubicles and side offices were empty. I expected a zombie to come charging out of one of the offices. I brought it up to the teller and she said most everyone works from home now and customers do all their banking online. Duh,

 My last wife 100%. My stepdaughter says she still has the nail in her forehead and a 4th husband ready to put a gun to his. Facebook

  Honest Political Ads - Gil Fulbright for Senate - YouTube Well, the reality show has been cast and I am mentally gearing up for the next three nauseating months of campaigning. Luckily none of the people running for president this year is on the BlackRock Board of Directors. It is comforting to know some competent people still run the show. If the current presidential hopefuls had the potential to really call the shots, this would be scary. I do miss presidential candidates being articulate and speaking in full sentences, even if there is no substance in what they are saying. They don't even pretend to be smart anymore. I can't even listen to any of the new crop for over a minute without getting stomach cramps. If the Good Lord had wanted us to vote he would have given us viable candidates. At my age looks like I can surf out the rest of this wave and not get closed out on, the beauty of looking at life as a point break and counting the sets.

  It has been 60 years since Marilyn Monroe died on August 3rd, 1962. I remember we had just started our family trip to the '62 World's Fair in Seattle. We were taking a meandering route to see some of the Northwest and our first night out we were in a motel in Susanville, CA. My dad had purchased the local paper, as one did in those days, and Monroe's death took up the whole front page. At 11, it was my second or third brush with confronting the reality of our own mortality. Marilyn just didn't seem like someone who would die to me. I had already experienced the death of an older neighbor lady all the kids loved, and an elderly uncle. But this was different somehow. Monroe would be 96 today if she were alive, which is pretty mind blowing. Every Summer in Hollywood the cops would crack down on the prostitutes walking the track on Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset to clean it up for the tourist trade coming into town. Being as nighttime cabbies and hookers had a symbiotic relat

  10 years ago, and could have been written today. Or it could be 100 years ago, 1000 years ago. Pick your favorite time frame.... 10 Years Ago See your memories Active Paul Edwards A u g u s t   6 ,   2 0 1 4    ·  Shared with Your friends Haven't personally said a peep about the latest Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and I say latest because this has been going on since before I was born. I don't believe an issue has divided people so much since I have been on Facebook that I can remember. I have seen Facebook friendships break up over this one. And it seems the otherwise progressive leftist Jews circle the wagons around Israel when these things get going and suddenly side with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh for a few weeks. That is always amusing at least. My dad owned a fabric shop and my youth was spent in the Jewish garment district in LA and our main social interaction was with Jews. I even worked there later as an adult for a bit as a garment rack runner. In Detroit I had

  Aerosmith retires from touring, citing permanent damage to Steven Tyler's voice last year (msn.com) One more down as the Boomers' chokehold on pop culture is finally weakening. I for one am getting weary of senior citizens singing fifty-year-old songs about teen angst and romance. Take them all out, God, they all have enough money for a grade A nursing facility. 

  People will take pain over being left alone with their thoughts (sciencenews.org) "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone". Blaise Pascal This does not surprise me really. Now that our attention is a commodity, we are under constant technological assault. I noticed the cohort in this study were college students, which meant they were younger and raised on social media and being connected to a smart phone while being fed content 24/7. They are never alone with their thoughts anymore. It must be a psychologically painful feeling to be unplugged, to being pulled away from World Wide Web's stimulus filled breast. The contemplative life is dead. 

  Association found between dark chocolate consumption, reduced risk of essential hypertension (msn.com) It has been quite a few years since I gave up drinking, smoking, and drugging. Dark chocolate is my very last vice, and evidently that one is good for you in moderation. Every afternoon right after lunch I consume four squares of 90% chocolate. It is my big thrill of the day that I relish looking forward to. I swear I even detect a little high in my more sensitive, cleaned up biological system. The term 'chocoholic' has been around a long time, and evidently there is some truth to that theory. There appear to be psychoactive ingredients in chocolate in addition to the sugar and fat that are so often blamed for the 'addiction'. It is still a controversial subject if there is a real thing as an actual addiction to chocolate. I vote yes. To me chocolate has almost a nicotine like addictive quality. Nicotine has always been one of the most insidious and hardest drugs to

  2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf (project2025.org) After seeing all the posts about the horrors of the 2025 Project, I decided to read all 900 pages myself. 2nd hand interpretations weren't cutting it. I can only handle a few pages per day, as it is pretty dry stuff. I will let you know when I run into anything shocking. To tell you the truth, I am betting I already know what 99% of it will sound like. The Heritage Foundation was around even when I was in college in the mid 70's. It became the blueprint for the Reagan years and the voice of the self-described 'Moral Majority' in the 80's. It was the first big deviation away from the more secular, intellectual, and libertarian based conservatism of Goldwater in the 60's. After he was trounced by LBJ in '64 they kind of threw him and his brand of conservatism overboard and brought Jesus on deck.  Looks like Trump is doing everything in his power to paddle away from the Heritage Foundation folks as he follo