I have a technician who is just a rock: solid, dependable, inflexible, brittle, and completely incapable of learning new things. So here I am in my third hour of unpaid overtime today (yay exempt status!) while Rocky goes off on their third break having failed to learn the procedure they were supposedly practicing for the last five weeks and I have been endeavoring to teach since 3:30. In their defense, I am a terrible teacher. Perhaps some stargazing will calm me down.
Well well well… that’s interesting. We have Mercury(retrograde) aligned with Venus and Jupiter. An extremely auspicious alignment, particularly with Jupiter being in Scorpio and Venus in Virgo. If Mercury were station direct and had the Sun been in the mix, I’d tell you to expect a surprise invitation to the joint afterparty held by the various modeling agencies and AVN. In this case, while we still have Peace, Love, and Joy (with special emphasis on the breasts and genitals (I swear I am not making this up, go check out the body:constellation correlation charts available at literally every “spiritual” bookstore anywhere)) we have Mercury being station retrograde (chaos, bad news) in Leo (heart). Again, if Mercury were direct with these planets in these constellations, this would be the absolute perfect day to begin a honeymoon. But Mercury is retrograde, in Leo. This doesn’t negate the rest of the construction, but does indicate some negative consequences or unforeseen complications. For example, you could have a red-hot quickie with the hottie from a few cubicles over… and get busted by HR. Or you could be giving your partner the best banging they’ve ever had, and slip a disc. Actually, that latter scenario is more likely, since there aren’t any signs re: financial loss. Even more likely, based on the alternative interpretation of Leo as referring to the mane/hair, you will be having a fantastic bit of whoopie, and someone’s wig will come dislodged at an inopportune time. These things happen.
AAAAHHHH! MERCURY RETROGRADE! PANIC IN THE STREETS!
So yes, we are back in the infamous time of MERCURY RETROGRADE. I don’t think I’ve explicitly mentioned the station direct/station retrograde dichotomy, so for those of you who weren’t taught the quadrivium, here’s what that all means. The heavens are perfect, the earth is flawed. It has been ever thus since the morning star fell. A sign of being perfect is to be unchanging — can’t get any better than perfect, after all. But there is a bit of a gradient; a bird doesn’t become an angel just because it can fly. The moon is obviously imperfect since it changes all the time, it must therefore be closer to the Earth than to the heavens. The sphere of fixed stars is perfect since they never change. The planets change less than the moon, but they aren’t completely heavenly either. The planets wander through the heavens most of the time in a particular direction (corresponding to the overall celestial motion) when they are doing that, they are acting as they are supposed to. This is direct motion. Every now and then, the planets cease moving and begin moving backwards. This is retrograde motion. When the planets are moving retrograde, they are acting contrary to the celestial design which means that their reversed and/or malign properties become dominant. This also means that they backtrack through the zodiac, spending more time in a given constellation than they would have had they just spent more time in Sunday school. Even more so as when they go back to direct motion they pass through a certain constellatory space for a third time.
This leads to situations like the one we are currently in: Mercury (the messenger, news, tidings, change, rumor) has been in Leo (royalty, government) so we’ve been in a period of increased political news. But instead of passing on through and heading into the next constellation it’s going to reverse, go back, and basically fuck around keeping the news monotonous.
Speaking of Leo, that’s where the sun is. Leo is the lion, lions are in Africa, and Africa is hot, so it’s no surprise that for the next few weeks the weather will be warmer than the rest of the year. I won’t say that astrology is part of the IPCC forecasting process, but I won’t say it isn’t either.
IPCC Scientists (not pictured)
Scorpio, Capricorn, Aquarius — Same Stars, Different Day. If you want to break out of a rut, the heavens aren’t going to help. Life should be chill for Virgos. Fishing will be sub-par again.
Leo music:
You know who else is in Virgo?
First.
Me………………
If I could remember ex-girlfriends’ birthdays, I could answer that question.
Well if I had money,
I’d tell you what I’d do,
I go downtown buy a Mercury or two.
Crazy bout a Mercury,
Lord I’m crazy bout a Mercury,
I’m gonna buy me a Mercury & cruise it up & down the road.
What 5-D Chess looks like:
“Donald Trump is leading a double life. In the west, most foreign policy experts see him as reckless, unpredictable and self-defeating. But though many in Asia dislike him as much as the Europeans do, they see him as a more substantial figure. I have just spent a week in Beijing talking to officials and intellectuals, many of whom are awed by his skill as a strategist and tactician. . . .
Few Chinese think that Mr Trump’s primary concern is to rebalance the bilateral trade deficit. If it were, they say, he would have aligned with the EU, Japan and Canada against China rather than scooping up America’s allies in his tariff dragnet. They think the US president’s goal is nothing less than remaking the global order.
They think Mr Trump feels he is presiding over the relative decline of his great nation. It is not that the current order does not benefit the US. The problem is that it benefits others more in relative terms. To make things worse the US is investing billions of dollars and a fair amount of blood in supporting the very alliances and international institutions that are constraining America and facilitating China’s rise.
In Chinese eyes, Mr Trump’s response is a form of “creative destruction”. He is systematically destroying the existing institutions — from the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement to Nato and the Iran nuclear deal — as a first step towards renegotiating the world order on terms more favourable to Washington.
Once the order is destroyed, the Chinese elite believes, Mr Trump will move to stage two: renegotiating America’s relationship with other powers. Because the US is still the most powerful country in the world, it will be able to negotiate with other countries from a position of strength if it deals with them one at a time rather than through multilateral institutions that empower the weak at the expense of the strong.
My interlocutors say that Mr Trump is the US first president for more than 40 years to bash China on three fronts simultaneously: trade, military and ideology. They describe him as a master tactician, focusing on one issue at a time, and extracting as many concessions as he can. They speak of the skilful way Mr Trump has treated President Xi Jinping. “Look at how he handled North Korea,” one says. “He got Xi Jinping to agree to UN sanctions [half a dozen] times, creating an economic stranglehold on the country. China almost turned North Korea into a sworn enemy of the country.” But they also see him as a strategist, willing to declare a truce in each area when there are no more concessions to be had, and then start again with a new front.
For the Chinese, even Mr Trump’s sycophantic press conference with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, in Helsinki had a strategic purpose. They see it as Henry Kissinger in reverse. In 1972, the US nudged China off the Soviet axis in order to put pressure on its real rival, the Soviet Union. Today Mr Trump is reaching out to Russia in order to isolate China.”
But team blue wants to pretend Obama and pushover leftist globalist douchebags are better for us all. Personally I am not sure Trump knows what he is doing, and I believe it is all just instinct that in the end works in our favor more than it hurts, but the guy can’t be stupid and keep getting the results he does. Now if he would only fire Session’s ass already…
Sounds interesting, how’d you bypass the paywall?
“…sycophantic press conference with Vladimir…”
It gets so tiresome after only 8 million times.
I won’t say that astrology is part of the IPCC forecasting process, but I won’t say it isn’t either.
Astrology is probably more correct than the IPCC.
^^^THIS^^^
New Ozzy Man Megacompilation
” If he did that in my neighborhood, I’d stab him in the Neck with a BBQ Fork”
I like Ozzy Man.
Time for some BBQ. Then I gotta be responsible and mow the lawn.
Laundry and the dishes, Beer later
Eat my dust, ya fuck knuckles!
I let my 7 year old watch 2 of those.
Can’t wait until mom gets home.
while we still have Peace, Love, and Joy
It had to be done
I used to enjoy Elvis Costello. Then he went the Roger Waters route on BDS.
Again, if Mercury were direct with these planets in these constellations, this would be the absolute perfect day to begin a honeymoon.
What if you just want to practice for a honeymoon which will never, ever happen?
By practice do you mean do all the hanky-panky shit? Or are you implying something else? I can do the first, not so much the second.
IPCC Scientists (not pictured)
Juggaloes are more trustworthy.
And smarter too.
I had some good alt-text there, I’m still trying to figure out why sometimes it doesn’t take:
(Left to right) Krypton, Bill Nye, Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Or are you implying something else?
What, like a joint checking account?
Fuck that.
lions are in Africa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH9FyLsfDzw
I remember nothing from last weeks Horoscope, (because I did not read it) that stated my pool pump motor would die. Damn chinamans can’t make a pump motor. Soon my pool will be too dirty to enjoy. It is not very enjoyable this am as the water temp is at a nut shriveling 68F. Should be refreshing when we hit 97 today though.
That outro remains one of my favorite things.
I don’t remember who here first linked to that guy but he is awesome.
i have mixed feelings on astrology. The rational part of my brain says it’s a sack of BS, but when I have given exact time of birth and latitude/longitude of said event, the reading has been 100% accurate of my personality.
Heck, I had a tarot reading at a Renn fest about 15 years ago. When we got to profession, the reader was confused because swords or something came up, so she began to hem and haw and speculate that there was a lot of conflict at work. I let her sputter a while and then informed her that I design and build weapon systems for a living. She was relieved.
So is there something to it, or is it so vague that we grasp the small things that do line up with reality? The moon does tug provably at Earth’s oceans; do the stars tug at us?
Hey ‘splosivs! Haven’t seen you on here in a while. How’s SoCal?
Yo, Mike! So Cal is awesome. We had some record breaking heat lately but it’s still nice. I love it.
I’ve been at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah for the past week, home in San Diego for now, and then back to Dugway next week.
Still unpacking boxes but it already feels like home. I love going into my back yard and picking apples, peaches, strawberries, and blackberries. Yum!
Glad your having fun and getting settled in! And I’m jealous of your peaches.
Phrasing? Ha-ha!
Helping skynet test it’s latest drone?
Nah, nothing so sophisticated. We’re just firing a railgun with mega-amps of current.
One evening at the PX on the way out where I was trying to buy a bottle of wine (Federal laws outweigh Utah blue laws, so I could buy real wine and liquor at the PX), a few guys in line looked at my white dust covered boots and asked “Are you working on the meteor?” Makes me wonder about the reputation that Dugway has as “Area 52”
They did manage to snuff 6000 sheep nearby in the late 60s. A weird place fo sho.
“just firing a railgun with mega-amps of current.”
HAWT!
Check this out. It was Blitzer 3 (for 3 megajoule muzzle energy). Now we are working Blitzer 10.
Blitzer 3
Damn that is sweeeet! I clearly need one to play with:)
Here’s the 32 MJ one at Dahlgren’s Terminal Range. That’s the one made by my erstwhile employer. If you’ve met me, you might recognize the voice at about 55 seconds in.
Railgun at Terminal Range
That is badass:)
Have you seen the aliens: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1526870/ ?
Everyone now knows about the lizard people who run the world.
Oh, shit, I have to queue that one up on the big screen tonight. Hubby will love it.
Most of Dugway is totally flat, but it’s ringed with mountains and there are a couple of abrupt mountain ranges in the middle of it. One that I drive by on the way to our test site has a tunnel entrance. There are always a few trucks parked there. What do they do there?? You can’t find out without the Need To Know. We joke that’s where they do the alien autopsies.
They let you buy from the Class VI as a civvie? Awesome!
It means you are an ideal
markclient.Hah! Fortunately my natural cynicism has protected me from splashing out money or getting emotionally involved in the claptrap.
But, man, do I ever embody Aries.
This is always a fun video to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dp2Zqk8vHw
Awesome.
I also like the fact that people narrating documentaries in the 80s all sounded like Milton Friedman.
Yes, it’s that vague.
James Randi did a debunking once where some Russian psychics claimed they could explain a person’s personality and future from a picture of their face. So Randi showed them a picture of… a smiling Ted Bundy.
Needless to say, the “psychics” didn’t get the right answer.
I design and build weapon systems for a living.
RAWR!
*swoons*
Does that make me a mercenary? Cuz that sounds kinda sexy…
Makes you Arms Dealer which is very sexy.
Uh huh, that’s what he’s doing. “Attacking journalism”. I wonder who’s going to start the “violence”…?
Now if only he had some journalists to attack.
If you don’t like being chastised for partisan fake news, I know something you can do about that.
I dont think they know the difference. ‘Journalism is activism’, remember? They really do think their job is to tell people what to think, to hammer everything into a shape that fits their preferred narrative. Not only do they not see anything wrong with that not doing so would mean they aren’t doing their job.
It is incredible really.
+ Upton Sinclair which was also fake news.
I think a lot of them don’t view any bias. They’re such true believers that their positions are right, and the only correct ones an objective and rational human being could have. They don’t view it as bias because they’re right, and they’re the ones correctly perceiving reality. There is no alternative.
How many people do you meat who claim to be open minded because they’re pro-the-gays, but refuse to even associate with people who disagree with them on any level? That’s a lot of the people in question here who live in their little prog bubbles.
Translation: if only he would passively accept our attacks like Bush & Romney did.
I implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country.
We’re going to need more prisons to hold all those journalists Trump has had disappeared.
If this guy were seriously concerned about journalists’ safety, he’d be looking into the adventures of Russian journalists and expats who have a peculiar habit of dying of quite specific things like polonium poisoning, nerve agents, and that horrible thing they did to the Ukrainian president (he looks much better now, but it probably took at least 10 years off his life expectancy),
Doesn’t fit the narrative.
“with special emphasis on the breasts and genitals”
That’s year round for me.
Someone had posted a Walk Away video the other day which I had not heard of. I watched a few and it seems to me to mostly be people who are fed up with the bully mob tactics that the left uses to punish and silence anyone to the right of Stalin. I found this take from Scott Adams kind of interesting even though he’s a little annoying.
https://youtu.be/aRoj_2fY7sc
I listened to the whole thing and my reaction was “No shit. Water is wet”
To whom are any of those things revelations?
The people making the videos evidently.
I would agree with them, that it’s not about policy. Reminds me of how a lot of GOP’ers became disillusioned after continually being lied to about them being the party of limited government. You don’t switch over to the “other side”. It’s a healthy process though.
though he’s a little annoying.
Ya, I can’t watch that guy.
Walk Away video
Walk Away video
You can’t make me!