Random observations

Ah, that observation rings true for me too, Sozobe.

I was sitting in a stall in a campground in Washington State one time, enjoying some quality time. Some guy and his son -- around four or five, from the sound of things, I'd guess -- came in and peed at the urinals. I hear the father tell the kid to flush; apparently the kid was just walking away. The kid asks him, "How come it doesn't flush itself?"

Here I am thinking that automatically flushing public toilets are a little strange and new and unusual -- which is the same way this almost-school-age kid feels about an old fashioned flusher!

Today I was remembering a recent trip to New Mexico Dys and I took. While going over the Raton Pass, we say a hawk flying high over a valley with a snake in its beak. Beautiful.

It looked a little like the Mexican national emblem.

hey dog, did you ever see a clivus multrum toilet? It has no water. Its a composting toilet that is full of this stuff. It reminds one more of a litter box than a toilet. You pee and it starts whirring and then a new batch of litter appears as the old one is magically driven via a belt down to a deep compost bin. The litter looks like its made out of corn cobs and straw . I dont know what one does if the power goes.

I had a few random observations at a very random event this weekend: a parking lot carnival.

I could go on and on. But I noticed that the organ music sounded like the soundtrack to clown-murder.

The painting of the 100 pound rat depicted a blood thirsty, fanged monster. The real rat was about the size of a golden retriever, yes, but looked pretty damned cute and harmless and depressed to be suffering the humidity of the deep south in a Target parking lot, with the sound of clown-murder all around.

We didn't see the giant snake, it couldn't have been more frightening than the mural above its cage (or the carnies themselves, whose faces belied expressions far beyond boredom, perhaps, catatonic): a huge snake winding through the legs of a black man holding a spear, trying to rescue the white woman in the jungle.

And though the rides are no match for the rollercoasters at real theme parks--the rides just spun you around and occasionaly upside-down--they are scarier than anything else, ever, because they are UNTRUSTWORTHY.

rather like ideas that don't make any sense; scary because they are not trustworthy, and could cause you to fly violently off in an unpredictable direction, at any time!

A few years ago I was about to fly to Rome. Had gotten to the SFO airport terminal at the specified time before the flight, ah, 4:45 in the morning. I am not at my swiftest at this hour, no matter that I am even then aglow with travel thrill. As I crossed the totally empty cavern just inside the terminal doors, I saw a door emprinted WOMEN and thought, yes, good idea.

Since I was wearing a good part of my trip's wardrobe, peeing wasn't quite the simple matter it usually is. I rose from a job well done and suddenly there was a tremendous whoosh and YIKES there goes the bottom of my long taffeta-like raincoat GRAB!!

What a stupid way to wake up, what an omen for a complicated trip to follow.

I think there must be a way to set those devices down on the dial from Crashing Vertiginous Water Feature to Sufficient to Flush.

Can ideas do that? I always thought beliefs were much more volatile.

Today in the paper:

Last Saturday, when Holland played the Czech Republic, 70% of all Dutch people over 6 years of age watched the game on TV.

Not bad for a first round match ...

to many, the rift between idea, and 'belief' is such a manageable jump!

Hmmm when all the players were giving 110% ( ) they could have been more supportive!

They're living the German dream ...

Picture in the newspaper, features striking workers from the car workers union, in the Mercedes factory. This is the country where employers and unions meet up for ritual, periodical consultations to negotiate the latest modifications and extra measures, a little more here, a little less there ... Northern Europe's welfare states, where relatively consensual frameworks have long lifted the erstwhile proletarians up into secure middle-class arrangements. Now that the economic crisis has emboldened the employers, they're striking against an attempt to extend the working week back up to 40 hours, without accompanying payrise.

The banner? It reads:
"The workers of today are the Mercedes owners of tomorrow"

I realised this summer, up in Groningen, that I had never in my conscious life seen a pig before.

(Or should I say "heard".)

I rarely offer to steal someone's work, but i'm definitely going to swipe that one . . .

Groningen.
Nice town, but the nastiest milk I've ever tasted. Milk that tasted like cheese. Blecccccccccccccccccccch.

groningen, i think it was 1971 when we stopped over on our way to hamburg. we had picked up a car in amsterdam and crossed the "enclosing dam" (?) that goes over the ijsselmeer (?) - what a sight it was. trying to find a hotel in driving rain and with dakness setting in was not easy, but we made it. i'd have to agree that the milk tasted kind of cheesy, but the oude genever and the beer (orangeboom ?) tasted fine. something we had never seen before : an older gentleman at the table next to us ordered beef or pork roast. the waiter brought over the serving cart, placed a good portion of the roast on the plate AND CUT THE MEAT INTO BITE SIZES so the diner could eat his meal without having to use the knife ! that sure was new to us. next morning we had breakfast in a breakfast room that was completely open to the street on one or two sides (can't remember) and the sparrows would fly in and out , and would be fed scraps from the breakfast table. still think fondly of our stay (despite cheesy milk!). hbg

So I go to the supermarket, because I want to buy a bar of soap. Just yer regular neighbourhood branch of the country's largest supermarket.

It turns out I was naive. There was no bar of soap. Liquid soap, yes, and soft enriched peeling soap, also. And lots of things in bottles and cans. But this one time, I just really wanted a plain bar of soap. Didn't have 'em!

Is that reason enough for some blanket generalisation about society going bonkers, or what?

. . . or what . . .

society isn't "bonkers," capitalists are just driven by the bottom line . . . and i would surmise that bar soap has been assessed as insufficiently beneficial to the bottom line . . .

And, of course, it is entirely possible that you didn't look in the right place . . .