I love music, I listen to it pretty much all day, every day. But the music I listen to is entirely dependent on what mood I'm in; if I'm angry I want angry music, if I'm depressed I want sad music, etc, etc. A few months ago I came across a a techno-industrial band called Assemblage 23 (it's actually a one-man project, not really a "band"). It's techno-industrial and it's very, very good. If you like either techno or industrial then you will probably like Assemblage 23, especially check out the album Meta. I've chosen the song "Sorry" from that album, as an introduction (I had a hard time deciding which song to choose because, frankly, there are no bad songs on this album). I love this song because I can dedicate it to so many people...

 

Also, if you like this then you should check out the solo band of Magnus "Devo" Andersson (of Marduk) called Overflash. If you don't like Marduk, don't let that put you off because Overflash is nothing like Marduk, it's heavy techno-industrial (or, as Devo describes it, "Cyberdeath Metal"). It has elements of Frontline Assembly and Red Harvest, so if you like either of those bands then you might like this, too. If you want to check it out, the Overflash demo is freely downloadable on the website.

It started with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (or, in the original Swedish: Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (which doesn't mean the same thing at all...why people insist on changing the titles when they translate the books into another language makes no sense to me), then continued with The Girl Who Played With Fire (Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden, they didn't change this one, so why the first one??!), and it ends (or does it??) with The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Luftslottet Som Sprängdes, again with the name change!!).

Obviously, I'm talking about Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.

To be quite honest, the reason I bought the first one wasn't solely because it sounded good, but also because it was written by a Swede. But I'm glad I did buy it! These are great books, if you like interesting, well-written novels...I'm not even sure what you'd classify them as since they're not your traditional who-done-it or PI/detective novel. But while I can't really tell you what it is, I can definitely tell you what it isn't: it isn't boring. The story line flows seamlessly from book to book with the antagonistic protagonist (the "girl") leading you deeper into her world. There are multiple story lines going so you never have time to get bogged down. Plus, it gives you an opportunity to visit Sweden...if only in your imagination.

Well worth the read, I give it two thumbs way, way up!

South Park's Season 15 opener last night was a blast! Having already reviewed The Human Centipede and being anti-Apple I was loathe to miss what promised to be a great stab at both (even though that had me up until 11:30 pm). And I wasn't disappointed! I'm not going to say too much about it because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who is inclined to watch, but what I will say is that if you have seen the movie and hated it (like I did) and/or hate Apple (again, like me), and you aren't afraid of a little off-color humor, then you should watch it.

On a side note...I was watching TMZ the other day and they caught up with Tom Six, the git behind the movie, and Akihiro Kitamura, the Japanese guy who played Subject A (if you haven't read my review you should), and Tom Six said they are in the process of finishing part 2, or the "Full Sequence" (an amalgamation of 12...if you can imagine (eye roll)). So yeah, as if the first one wasn't stupid enough, now he's putting out what promises to be an even stupider one. If you would like to roll your eyes, too, here's the trailer.

So, it looks like Obama has finally produced the elusive birth certificate. One would hope that this ends the speculation as to his birth location, but I highly doubt it. Besides, anyone who is determined to find fault with Obama is going to, regardless of this new development. And really, there are plenty of other issues with Obama's reign...er...Presidency, so the whole "birther" issue is really a non-issue.

Personally, I have never bothered worrying about Obama's birthplace. How does being born on US soil make you any better to run the country than someone who was born on foreign soil? If you are a citizen then it shouldn't matter where you were born. Of course there are going to be those who say, "yeah, but, what if someone gains citizenship for the sole purpose of taking over the government and becoming a dictator?!" Um...don't you think it's just as possible for some who was born on US soil to become a dictator? No one nationality has a corner on the dictator market.

So, forget about the birth issue and focus on the real issues: the mounting national debt, Obamacare, our selective military intervention, the rising cost of food and oil, the fact that the President of the US keeps going to churches with pastors who are clearly racist...you know, things that actually matter.

I am well aware that I am not the only intelligent person in the world, and certainly not the only one who has thoughts and feelings about what goes on in this world. With that in mind, from time to time I will be posting the thoughts and feelings of my brother-in law, whose opinions I greatly respect. This is the first installment of those thoughts.

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My sister-in-law, the normal contributor to this blog, commented a few months back about how, in my words, those in the so called 'educated' circles have begun to rely too much on consensus when it comes to the guiding documents used by researchers today.  Her example centered on, if memory serves me correctly, archeological and anthropological discoveries and how they don't always conform to consensus, and how these discoveries are too often disregarded for that very reason.

I commented at that time that religion has a similar distraction.  I am sure that there are those who saw my comment and thought I was bashing organized religion or religion in general.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  I have very strong religious convictions and even belong to an organized Christian sect.  It is in these following paragraphs that I will therefore explain what I meant by my comment. 

Most Christian sects in today's world, knowingly or otherwise, follow creeds established more than 300 years after the events that take place in the 'The Gospels' of the New Testament.  Most notably, the Nicene Creed endeavored to bring a badly splintered Christian following into one Universal Church.  This creed deals, among other things, with the nature and being of God, His relationship with his earthly children, and the official cannon to which the church would adhere. 

It wasn't long (relative) before people such as Martin Luther, and later Charles Wesley, began having troubles with how the clergy of their times taught scripture as seen through the creeds of the third century, and how they saw the Gospel of the Lamb taught in the New Testament.  The Universal Church was no longer universal and soon, many off shoot congregations began to form.  Those who disagreed with the manner of baptism created their own sect while others, who focused on the Day of Pentecost, formed theirs.  Despite these break-off sects, and the past 1700 years, the influence of those third century creeds have completely penetrated almost all of Christianity so as to make it very difficult for sects that don't believe that those creeds were inspired to be taken seriously.

The traditions of the past 1700 years have their problems.  I will mention only a few here.  First – The person who called the religious leaders of the time in 325 AD was not a person of faith so much as he was a politician.  While Constantine may have had the best of intentions in calling the convention at Nicaea politicians rarely have truth as their goal, but are more interested in re-election and popularity. Constantine may have converted to Christianity, but many argue that that was just one of the religions to which he adhered. Secondly – The decisions made at this, and its subsequent conventions, is essentially a consensus; a religion of popularity.  As a result, many left disappointed in the process and outcome.  Monks were recorded as lamenting at the loss of their God.  And Thirdly - too many of the religious leaders who attended this convention were particular in the agenda that they wanted to see passed.  They weren't interested in finding truth as much as making the masses believe and act in their form and manner.  I find this very interesting considering that when our Savior walked the earth, the group he decried the most were the learned leaders who had lost the true meaning of scripture and forced their personal views on the Jews in general.  The Sanhedrin was the learned scholars, rabbi, and congregational leaders of the time.  They, who taught of the coming Messiah, from the scriptures and learning passed down over thousands of years, did not anticipate the Messiah in any other form than the one upon which they had agreed.  What a great opportunity missed!

Now before you begin to think that I am bashing the strongly held religious beliefs of another, please put your hearts to rest.  That is not my intention.  I only ask the reader to consider the influence of the 3rd century creeds on their personal religion, and compare them to scripture.  Then ask for guidance from the only one who won't lie.

Another guest spot this week! This one is a real treat as it's coming to you from sunny Brisbane, Australia. A good friend of mine took some pictures of an old cemetery for me and here you get to see these amazing photos!

All of these photos come from Toowong Cemetery (aka Brisbane General Cemetery) in Toowong, a suburb of Brisbane. If you ever find yourself in Brisbane and would like to visit, Toowong can be located at the center of Mount Coot-Tha Road, Frederick Street, Birchwood Terrace, and Richer Street (address is 304 Birchwood Terrace, Toowong).

 

I am told that the ambiance around his grave is...stifling.

 

Below: Samuel Wensley Blackall, (1 May 1809 - 2 Jan 1871) was an Irish soldier with the 85th Regiment but sold his commission as lieutenant and entered the Royal Longford Militia, where he became Major. He became high sheriff of County Longford in 1833 and represented Longford in the House of Commons. In 1861 he became high sheriff of Tyrone, and between 1851-57 he was lieutenant-governor of Dominica.
In 1862 he re-entered the colonial service as governor of Sierra Leone, and in 1865 became governor-in-chief at the West African Settlements. In 1865 he was appointed Governor of Queensland, a position he held until his death in 1871.
In 1870, when the government set aside land in Toowong for a cemetery, Blackall inspected the area and selected the highest spot for his grave. Toowong wasn't official opened until 1875, Governor Blackall was it's first interment in 1871.

Below: Reverend Thomas Jones, (30 July 1836 - 14 Aug 1918) born in Preston, England, he was educated at the Grammar School there, then took a position as master at the Marlborough Grammar School, where Bishop Tufnell persuaded him to take Holy Orders.
He was ordained deacon in the Church of England at Salisbury by Bishop Hamilton in 1859, and in September 1860, he followed Bishop Tufness to Brisbane upon the latter's consecration as Bishop there.
Thomas became curate of St. John's Church and worked half the Brisbane area, living with the Reverend R. Creyke in a house at the corner of George and Elizabeth Streets. In June 1861,he was ordained priest and sent to Rockhampton, where he built the first church, the next year.
Upon the resignation of the Reverend J. Tomlinson, Thomas was recalled to Brisbane and installed as incumbent of the Wickham Terrace Church (All Saints') on January 1st, 1865.
In 1877 he went to England on vacation, resigning from All Saints' Church the following July. Upon returning to Australia and relieving the Dean of Hobart, he became Rector of Toowoomba in 1881.
While at Toowoomba, he enlarged St. James', reopened St. Luke's, built two mission churches and built churches at Laidley, Gatton, Gehan, Meringdan, and Crow's Nest.
In 1886, he was made Archdeacon of the Western District but his work there ended owing to a disagreement with the Bishop of the day, on a question of principle.
After this, he left Queensland for a time hoping that resumed relations would be happier, but after he left his living was declared vacant, churches he had opened were closed and remained closed for years, and his band of workers was scattered. He eventually returned to his old diocese, willing to take any position, but for two years he was treated as if he had been a drunkard or adulterer and denied the opportunity of ministering to the people who loved him. At the end of those two years, the Honorable J.R. Dickson (one-time Premier of Queensland) paid a visit to the Bishop and Thomas was reinstated. In 1891, after again being licensed, he returned to All Saints' as curate.
He was made honorary canon of the Cathedral, but in 1893 resigned. In 1894 he became Rector of Indooroopilly, where he remained until 1918. After his resignation from Indooroopilly in July he was given leave to officiate in the diocese, but died a few weeks later on August 14th.

These are just a smattering of the photos she sent me (they are all so great it was hard to choose!). We will probably have to do a Toowong Part II.

As some of you may know, or can figure out from my weekly Visions of Death posts, I take photos for Find A Grave.com (see the link above). I really love doing this as I've been obsessed with genealogy for the last decade and I love helping others do theirs. Taking pictures for Find A Grave gives me the opportunity to help others find their ancestors by giving them a little more information, or simply giving them a visual frame of reference (for older ancestors sometimes a picture of a grave marker is all you get). It provides a connection to your family that has gone on ahead of you.

Despite my great love for this and my respect for Find A Grave, I have found that there are a few people on there that I can't stand. These are they who seem to view Find A Grave as some sort of contest. They like to troll the obituaries and create memorials before anyone else can so they can inflate their numbers. It's like they're telling everyone else "I'm better than you, just look at how many memorials I've put up! You puny mortals just can't keep up!" Then they post "bios" that state that if you want a memorial transferred it's going to take an act of congress, or you'd better have written permission from the dead themselves because simply being a family member isn't good enough!

I hate that.

When did genealogy become a competition?! Genealogy isn't about who's better than whom or how many people you can hang from your family tree! It's about finding out who you are and where you came from. I firmly believe that everyone should do their genealogy for this very reason; there are a lot of people who would be very surprised to find out what they have hiding out in the woodpile; and if everyone did their genealogy there would be far less room for racism and bigotry.

If you can't, or don't have time, or don't want to do the work then find someone who can, has time, and wants to help you. You will be surprised at how connected you feel to these people you find and places you've never been to. It's fascinating. Try it.

This weeks Visions come to us via my brother-in-law. He took the first two pictures while at the Garland cememtery. This burial is for the McNeff sisters, Cora and Irena. They were the daughters of John Samuel and Mary Ellen Young McNeff. As with some of my more interesting people, there is limited information about these two and their family (that's part of what makes them so interesting!).

I watched two horror movies today...I had high hopes for at least one of them, and was giving the other the benefit of the doubt. I was ultimately disappointed with the outcome of both.

A couple days ago I came across this picture on im not right in the head.com. After reading several of the responses to it I determined that it referred to the movie Human Centipede. I have come across this movie before and thought the plot seemed stupid so I had no desire to see it...until I saw the pictures here (WARNING: These images might be disturbing to some, viewer discretion is advised).

(Figure 1)
So, I was surfing Comcast On Demand today and lo and behold Human Centipede was listed. I decided that I would watch it because I had determined, based on the pictures, that there would be certain inherent flaws in the design. If you have seen it then perhaps you've picked up on what I'm going to address here, if you haven't then here's a brief synopsis:

Two American girls on vacation in Germany have a flat tire and wind up at the house of a phenomenally deranged retired surgeon who is famous for separating conjoined twins. He has this wacky idea to create a "human centipede" by joining three subjects via their alimentary canals (see figure 1).

Who the hell comes up with this stuff?! The writer is Tom Six, a Dutch writer/director/producer. According to the official plot Human Centipede is medically accurate...Really? While the movie was certainly disturbing, it can hardly be considered "medically accurate." So, yeah, I have a few issues with it. Here's why:

1. While it may be possible to physically connect three people via their digestive tracts, it's not practical. Depending on your metabolism, food can take up to 20 hours to go from mouth to anus. This means that subject B (moving from left to right in figure 1) will not receive any "food" for a good day. That means that subject C won't be "eating" for about two days. While it is true that humans can survive an impressive length of time without food, eating feces does not constitute "food." Eating nothing but feces will ultimately kill you, either from the lack of nutrients or from the bacteria present. So, if subjects B and C don't die from the surgery itself, or from starvation, they will, most assuredly, not last too long on a diet of nothing but human waste.

2. And what about gas? Flatulence can be expelled with some force. Certainly this could result in subject B or C being winded, at best, and...ass-phyxiated at worst? (Sorry, it had to be done)

3. While humans may be able to last a while without food, they cannot last very long without water. Since subjects B and C are connected to the anus they are not going to be getting any water (unless they were connected to the urethra, as well, though the images and explanation given in the movie make it pretty clear this is not the case). So, if they don't die from anything else, they will die from dehydration.

4. I don't know about all y'all, but if someone was trying to force me to eat a turd I'm pretty sure I would either a) gag to death on it, or b) puke it back up. Since they are attached with no opening to the outside, if either subject B or C gagged or puked, they would, most likely, end up choking on or aspirating it to death. Either way, they die.

5. As was shown in the movie, the raw tissues, shewn together to create this aberration, on at least one of the subjects (C) became infected. Raw tissue and feces don't mix...at least, not with any good consequences.

6. Speaking of tissue...the Herr Doktor just happened to randomly find two American girls (taveling together, no less) and a Japanse guy who are tissue matches?! Yeah, that's realistic.

7. Any good surgeon (and, while the guy may be certifiable, he was considered a renowned surgeon) would already know this stuff. Sure he's a nut job, but I can't imagine him not having taken all this stuff into consideration since it seems that he thinks this is the "vision for mankind's future existence." Having already lost his "beloved 3-dog" he should've worked out the kinks that resulted in the canines' death before implementing his centipede version 2.0.

So, yeah, the movie was disturbing, gross even, but because of the flaws mentioned above I thought it was poorly conceived and it left me feeling cranky. Horror movies just aren't what they used to be.

Movie two was one I came across in the On Demand directory. It's called Wicked Little Things. I had never heard of it before. This is the one I had high hopes for. The synopsis made it sound like a pretty straight forward ghost story, which is fine, as long as it's done well. Well, it's neither straight forward nor a ghost story.

The movie blurb reads thus:

A widow and her two daughters, Sarah and Emma, move to a remote mountain home--however, she is unaware that the haunted home is situated near an old mine, where an early 20th century tragedy took place.

Sounds like a ghost story, right?

 

The IMDb blurb gives a little more detail:

Karen, Sarah, and Emma Tunney are all moving to a small town in Pennsylvania where, unknown to them, in 1913, a horrid mine accident trapped dozens of children alive, underground. But there's a problem. They're still alive.

Imagine my surprise (and chagrin) when it turns out the children are zombies...I'm not a big zombie movie fan because, frankly, zombie movies are stupid. So, while this movie started out pretty good, it quickly turned to crap. It would've been sooooo much better if they had been ghost children. But zombies? Come on! Clearly, they made them zombies just for the gore. Because, apparently, somebody thinks that gore = scary. Actually, it doesn't, it just equals lame.

In but a few short hours the United States government could be shutting down over a budget issue that has been going on for quite some time. According to the Democrats the problem is this rider concerning the funding of Planned Parenthood. According to the Republicans the problem is the spendthrift Democrats who refuse to make extensive cuts to the budget. For once, I actually agree with the Dems; yes, it is about funding Planned Parenthood.

But that's where the Dems and I diverge. Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Senate Majority leader, Representative Louise Slaughter (D-New York), and others, have made much about the defunding of Planned Parenthood. They have tried to claim that defunding this organization is an attack on women; Slaughter even went so far as to say that the Republican party wants to kill women with this bill!

There are a few problems with this situation.

First, why is Planned Parenthood receiving federal money anyway? They are a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and, as such, are an NGO. According to NGO Watch, the governmental funding of NGO's is problematic because, "the lack of accountability and transparency in the use of government funds transferred to civil society groups...[raises] the questions of whether public resources should be used to fund NGOs and how effective NGOs are in supplement to the responsibilities of sovereign governments." The problem I see here is that by funding NGOs, and specifically Planned Parenthood, the federal government is giving an extra smack of legitimacy to such "contraceptive" methods as abortion.

Second, if there are so many people in this country that are enamored of Planned Parenthood then they should give their money to them themselves. I, personally, do not want my tax dollars going to fund some irresponsible persons abortion, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

Third, over the last couple of months Planned Parenthood has shown themselves to be a corrupt organization. Senator Reid has said that defunding this (dubious) organization would mean that women would not receive necessary health care services. Representative Slaughter (appropriate name or what?!) has gone so far as to say that it would effectively kill women! The thing is, Planned Parenthood doesn't provide the kind of womens' health services that a primary care physician does and it seems that their sole purpose for existence is to advocate and perform abortions (don't believe me? Check their website. The most they do is to discuss health issues with you, but you have to go to a primary care physician for the actually work).

Having viewed their website and scanned their annual report I am not comfortable with my money funding it. I believe this organization is simply a cover for zero populationists and radical feminists. If we really want to protect women then we should be focusing on teaching them to be more responsible with their bodies, instead of running out to get the cure for their mistakes. The continued refusal of organizations such as Planned Parenthood to emphasize abstinence shows that they are not genuinely concerned about the welfare of women or anyone else.

I have said it before and I'll continue to say it, you do have a choice. Your choice begins when you decide to have sex. Once you have made that choice then you must face the consequences. Abstinence is the only fool-proof method of contraception and STD prevention. When you make your choice and are presented with an undesired consequence you no longer have the right to say, "oops! My bad..." It's like driving drunk and killing another person on the street. You made your choice to drive drunk, you had the "accident" that killed the other person[s], now you must deal with the consequences, you can't say, "I take that back!" It doesn't work that way.

Yes, Congress, defund Planned Parenthood and let them find their own money to continue their fight for zero population growth and irresponsibility.

I was directed to this Norwegian commercial via Metal Sucks. Upon finding the video on YouTube I also came across some more Metal-themed commercials. Who Knew that Metal had become so mainstream?! Here are three that I've found.

 

"KFC's Wicked Crunch"

 

"Coop Prix - No one is faster than us!"

 

I've now come across two music videos performed by toys. The first, Marduk's Throne of Rats, which I found purely by accident, uses hand puppets. The second, Rammstein's Feuer Frei, which I was lead to via Metal Hammer, uses legos. Are they brilliant or just cheesy? You decide.

 

 

This is the headstone of James Mathew Quigley. I was looking for him and his siblings in the Clarkston Cemetery. Unfortunately, as happens so often with children during this time period, there were no headstones for the siblings, only James, who was 3 months old at time of death. He was the son of Andrew and Harriet Yates Quigley, both buried in Oxford, Idaho.

A few weeks or maybe months (heck, I don't know anymore...time just keeps going on...) ago I finally bought some Greek yogurt. I'd been wanting to try it for some time but never did. Well, it seems that maybe I shouldn't have because it's turned me into Pavlov's dog...every time I so much as read "Greek yogurt" I immediately begin to salivate. Seriously, if you have never tried it, go get some! It's the yummiest yogurt ever; so thick, rich and creamy (it's made with cream)...mmm!

But I digress...close on a decade ago I began collecting recipes with some gusto; I have thousands...no, really, I have thousands. A few years ago I finally began to put them in some semblance of order so I can put them into binders and actually use them. Just in the last few weeks I've been working even more intensely so that I can finally get this monumental task finished. Well, during the course of my organizing I came across a recipe that I had totally forgot I even have. While I have since decided that it's not really something I think I'll ever make, I thought maybe one of you might be interested in this recipe...if you ever get the cojones to make it (that statement will gather steam here momentarily...*snigger*), let me know how it turns out! I found the recipe in a book called Chile Death, by Susan Wittig Albert.

Pokey Clendennen's Mountain Oyster Chili
Serves 4

2 lbs calf fries, washed, skinned, and diced
Butter (or margarine, for you people who still think it's better for you)
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp chili powder, to taste
1 15-oz can stewed tomatoes
1 tsp salt
Flour for thickening

In an iron skillet, cook the fries in butter (or margarine) for a couple of minutes. Add onion, garlic, and cumin and continue cooking until browned. Stir in chili powder and salt. Add stewed tomatoes, cover, and cook gently, stirring occasionally, for about two hours. If necessary, add water. About ten minutes before you're ready to serve, thicken with a flour and water paste.