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Grassapelli’s 15 Minutes of Blog Fame

By on Sunday, September 18th, 2011 | No Comments

I’ve been a fan of Les Visible for quite a while. I found him after getting involved with the ALTA reports at Half Past Human, and George Ure’s blog.

What keeps me coming back to Visible’s writings is his unusual point of view along with his ability to turn a phrase with wit and elegance.

I’ve made only a few comments. The most recent one got his attention. Now I’m way more famous in the blogosphere than I was.

You can read the words he wrote acknowledging me on the current Smoking Mirrors post. It’s a paragraph of two about the WTC complex that was destroyed you know when.

What most people don’t know is how much damage was done, and the anomalous nature of the destruction.

For example, Building 4 was completely destroyed except for the smaller part, the north wing. It was as if the larger part of the structure was sliced off and demolished, leaving the north wing standing.

Another example, even more anomalous is Building 6. It appeared as if a giant auger had drilled out the core of the building and left the shell standing.

 

The image on the left is probably OKC bomb damage, on the right is WYC 6. The whole picture is from Dr. Wood’s site. I recommend it for those seek information about what happened to the WTC buildings.

Visible has a link to a site that mentions the damage as other buildings being “crushed.” That may not be what happened.

I was persuaded by Dr. Judy Wood’s book Where Did the Towers Go? Her website has the anti-esthetic quality that might expect from a card carrying nerd. But there is a huge amount of info. Even so, I would expect most people to be turned off by the cluttered appearance of the landing page.

The book, on the other hand, looks good. It’s well organized and well presented. Yes, there is a little more repetition than one really needs. Lack of a good editor, my guess.

Anyway, we just passed the 10 year anniversary and the Legend, as spooks say, is still being pushed.

Here’s another hit. Recently I was going to watch a special on TV by National Geographic. About 9-11, of course. The teaser was, 33% of the public believe the US government had something to do with it. Whoa! Did you catch that? One third of the people don’t buy the Legend?

As I tuned in, I fully expected a debunking of any alternative to the official story. Alas, you had to be a TV subscriber to the channel. My wife gets the magazine, but that was no help. So, I didn’t watch it.

But I keep thinking, “One third of the people don’t buy it!”

Hey, what if it’s really more than that?

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Fiddle Sounds Like

By on Friday, August 5th, 2011 | No Comments

The new page Fiddle Tracks realizes a long held intention for this blog. I had in mind all along to publish fiddle tune MP3 tracks here.

To start, I’ve uploaded two tunes from a recent practice with Big Jim Allen, and two performances from a recent concert with the Crystal Beach String Band.

The music is good. The sound is good. The execution is not flawless.

If I waited until my performance was perfect, I never would have completed my first album, let alone the second and third, etc.

Small Swig is an Irish fiddle treatment of an old swing tune. You heard this tune if you saw the movie, Chocolate. Sweet Georgia Brown is still just as sweet to play as ever.

The I’m Just an Old Lump of Coal is sung by Sharon Nauman, of the Crystal Beach Band. The fiddle tune medley, Soldier’s Joy, Red Haired Boy, Mississippi Sawyer, is a familiar trio of well known tunes.

 

The Hubze Card, Please

By on Sunday, December 5th, 2010 | No Comments

Now that I have it, what do I do with it?

To see how the little icons link, go to Grassapelli’s Hubze Card.

It was just real easy to set up. Maybe that’s the point. It’s like a simple online game you win right away. We could all use some easy wins these days.

Busting Loose from the Illusion

By on Saturday, September 4th, 2010 | 6 Comments

For a year now, I have followed the published reports of Clif High, George Ure and the Asymmetrical Language Trend Analysis, abbreviated as ALTA. It has been an interesting hobby.

As I move on with my life this month, especially after August 7th, I would like to comment on their endeavor to use the digital crystal ball to warn themselves of impending doom. And take steps to survive the doom.

As I understand ALTA, Clif High uses some mega processors to spider the web looking for changes in language in all accessible publications. Certain words and phrases get picked up as significators of change. His web, Half Past Human, site has a good explanation of his work,

He sifts his data and assembles a report. The first one I got was about a year ago.

That report struck me as good news for an odd reason. The forecast of planetary revolution against The Powers That Be, [the PTB’s] implies enormous social disruption.

As disturbing as that would be, it seemed better than the US going to war against China in World War III.

Now, you may ask, what kind of desperate choice is that? I see it as the necessary choice implied by The Fourth Turning.

That book, by Strauss and Howe, two historians, lays out a theory of modern history. They see a repeating cycle of about 80 years. It goes through four turnings. We are now well into the fourth turning, according to them.

The fourth turning is marked by severe monetary depression, followed by total war. The winner gets to start out the next cycle with a mostly intact culture.

When I read the book, the thought crossed my mind, “Why can’t we have a revolution this time and turn the whole process upside down?”

It didn’t seem likely during my reading of The Fourth Turning, but the first ALTA report said revolution is in the picture. It said the PTB’s were going down and their minions would run and scream like little girls.

Further reports were more of the same, with some subjects being dropped, some high lighted, and some new developments revealed.

After a year of gnawing this bone of worry, I’m contemplating a new attitude. The new stance on what the world is like comes out of a recent exposure to Robert Scheinfeld’s work in the “Busting Loose” arena.

I’ve followed his thought for some time, starting with The Invisible Path to Success. I followed up with The Eleventh Element, and Busting Loose from the Money Game.

The thrust of his teaching started in self-improvement. Now it culminates in Self-actualization. (I invite you to contemplate the shift from small ‘s’ in self to big ‘S’ in Self.)

In his video presentation, Busting Loose from the Emotions Game, ‘self’ is Phase One, and ‘Self’ is Phase Two. (The distinction of self-improvement and Self-actualization is mine, though obviously derived from Abraham Maslow.)

Scheinfeld contrasts the effort of self-improvement with the state of getting into resonance with the Self, the ultimate Being we really are. That’s what I’m calling Self-actualization.

He has several definite processes to make this happen.

One of the benefits of his work is a shift of attention from the world outside to the Self within. That’s a good thing. It cannot hurt.

When we act from our inner Self even a little bit, the results outside are sure to be more harmonious for everyone.

My addiction to understanding the nature of the world has not gone away completely. It’s a deep and powerful theme in my life going back to when I was 12 years old.

Even so, I find myself looking at the alternative news sources somewhat less than I use to. And as I continue the processes of Self-actualization, or Phase Two as Scheinfeld says, the stinging effect of even the worst calamities out there in news land seems a little less.

The I-Like-to Write Myth

By on Saturday, August 7th, 2010 | No Comments

Journaling, Writing and Publishing

When I hear someone say, as I did yesterday, “I like to write,” I cringe a little. They could as well be saying, “I like to go out in my yard and pull weeds and sweat.” Both activities are goal oriented. Both are work. So, who really likes work?

By contrast, I say I like to take out my fiddle and play a tune. Now, we’re talking about playing. Who doesn’t like to play?

I also go out into the yard to do work. At least twice a week I go out with my pruners and loppers. My project is to remove all the unwanted plants in the yard. Originally I though it might take about six months. It’s now been almost a year and I’m not done.

But, what a difference from when I started. Much of the jungle has been removed, cut into smaller pieces for the trash can and sent away.

The purpose is twofold. One, to put in plants that grow food. Two, to feng shui the yard.

Decluttering my living areas in my home is part of the project, too. That seems to be going even slower than the yard.

The point I’m getting to is the goal or target of the work is beyond the work. Yes, yard work is good exercise. But, even exercising is a purposeful activity, not a joy in itself. Playing a sport is a joy in itself.

Let’s put playing aside for the moment. We all work. Let’s look at writing, journaling and publishing as work and ask “What’s in in for me?”

My friend Mike use to edit for Allegro Press. He said the pride and self esteem shown by a new published author was its own reward.

That’s the clue for writing and publishing. That holds for writing and blogging, too. We bloggers write and publish to only a few people in the beginning. Maybe later also. But, we have something to say. So we write, even though it is work.

Journaling is another matter. That’s not for publication. That’s for self introspection, or self expression. That can be very personal. I have not typed up any of my journal entries.

[Spell check has an issue with journaling as a gerund form of the verb to journal. Check out this authority for Journaling.]

Every now and then, while journaling, I’ll begin writing purposefully for publication. The mood changes. Now I have a reader in mind. Before, I had no reader in mind except myself. And maybe not even me.

Alison, my wife, says I write a lot. I don’t think so. I did write a lot when I was journaling every day. I’m going through a different process this year.

Sometimes when she sees me writing, I’m just putting down on one sheet of paper my top 10 to 15 goals. It’s a Brian Tracy exercise I decided to do this year. I t does disconnect me from the free flow of journaling. It’s a different mind set, for a different purpose.

If I want to write in the morning, I have to do that instead of the top 10 to 15 targets. Intentions. Purposes. Results desired.

One thing is certain in my experience. I don’t really like to write. I like to have written.

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