embrace the beyond!

never mind up close

the distance is always blue

embrace the beyond!

the promise remains

the promise remains

the wind has nothing to sift

from the cold branches

Dad and the Gay 90's Saloon

By means of an inheritance my mother received in 1961, which he managed to wangle out of her, my dad became part owner of the Gay 90’s Bar on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. This notorious and enduring gin mill has gone through several metamorphoses in the last 75 years. It is currently a rabid gay bar -- but when my dad bought into it, it was a classy establishment featuring ‘exotic dancers’ who also waited on tables with fine wines and swingeing big charbroiled steaks.

Dad had now become one of the high rollers of the Twin Cities. His ship had come in, and the vessel continued to plow further inland when he won a pink Cadillac at a Fraternal Order of Eagles raffle. Disdaining his Ford Galaxie, he cavalierly gave it away to Skeets -- a neighbor who supported his family on a railroad disability pension that barely covered their beer tab. Now dad tooled around in his pink caddy, with a Sinatra trilby rakishly tilted over his crewcut. Unfortunately, since he was pretty broad in the beam, it made him look more like a kiddy TV show host than a swinger.

Looking back, I sympathize with his folie de grandeur. He had grown up on a dry farm near Vienna, South Dakota, that blew away during the Dirty Thirties. His parents split -- his father became a game warden in Wyoming, Minnesota, and his mother ran a boarding house for U of M students in Minneapolis. His career trajectory was not exactly that of Horatio Alger. He’d been a dishwasher and on-call bartender at Aarone’s Bar & Grill on East Hennepin for a dozen years prior to buying into his own establishment. Suddenly he no longer had to take orders from rum blossoms -- now he was the one giving the orders. And he reveled in it. In our neighborhood being part owner of your own business put you in a class with sophisticated luminaries like Mel Jass -- the uber-pitchman and announcer on WTCN TV.

According to my mother, dad conceived of his responsibilites down at the Gay 90’s as primarily to sit on a stool behind the bar by the beer taps and pull Hamm’s or Miller’s High Life for thirsty patrons, and then bring home his share of the swag each night. This worked remarkably well for several months; it’s where dad created the reputation that would stick with him like a barbeque sauce stain for the rest of his life -- the Man Who Never Moved. If a customer requested a mixed drink or wanted a bottle of wine decanted, dad fixed his beady eyes on the hapless barfly and let loose with a string of profanities, all of which emphasized the fact that he couldn’t be bothered to move -- so if the customer wanted a Hamms or Miller dad would oblige; otherwise, the customer could go straight to hell.

Dad felt it encumbent upon himself to practice some noblesse oblige, so he hired my half brother Leonard as a bouncer. Leonard was at the tail end of a ferocious divorce, in which his Mormon ex-wife not only took him to the cleaners but refused to even let him have a single wire hanger. He worked as a bank guard, but needed plenty of extra cash to pay rapacious lawyers as well as his grasping ex. So dad had him come in nights to keep the peace, and paid him generously under the table. At six foot eleven and 255 pounds, Leonard had no need to carry a gun or blackjack -- his sheer intimidating bulk stifled the most raucous drunk. The place became known as one of the quieter and safer saloons along the Hennepin tenderloin, and business flourished.  

But then dad unwisely decided to let a number of questionable characters use the Gay 90’s as a business office for what was called back then the ‘Italian Lottery.’ The numbers racket. In return, the penny ante crooks gave dad a wad of greenbacks each week that would, my dad bragged, choke a horse. Unfortunately, dad neglected to grease the proper palms down at city hall -- and so the Gay 90’s was raided and padlocked for the first and only time in its frowzy history. They didn’t open again for several weeks, and by then dad had been forced to divest himself of his part ownership in a shakedown engineered by his fink business partners. Or so he always claimed to me. Mom, on the other hand, simply said that dad had become a beer sodden liability and was tossed out with only a token payment to keep him quiet. He went back to Aarones Bar & Grill, where he stayed washing dishes and dispensing suds for the rest of his working life, until a stroke felled him in 1994. After that, he had to be put in the New Brighton Care Center -- where he drove the staff crazy by smoking in the bathroom and slowly starved himself to death, passing away in 1995.

l'importance des groupes de soutien dans le rétablissement de la toxicomanie

Mais un toxicomane pense souvent qu'aller seul est le seul moyen de récupérer. Qu'il s'agisse de honte, de fierté ou simplement d'ignorance, trop de toxicomanes sont convaincus qu'il n'y a personne d'autre dans le monde qui ait jamais eu son problème, traversé ce qu'il traverse, et par conséquent, ils sont convaincus qu'ils doivent le faire tout seul. Et c'est pourquoi tant de toxicomanes retournent à la bouteille, l'aiguille, le porno, la frénésie alimentaire. Décider d'abandonner l'habitude est vraiment une décision individuelle et personnelle, mais une fois cette décision prise, il est temps d'envisager de constituer un groupe de soutien pour aider à maintenir l'élan positif.La première étape pour la plupart des toxicomanes en rétablissement est de trouver une personne en qui ils ont entièrement confiance qu'ils peuvent s'ouvrir et compter sur le soutien quand l'état d'esprit addictif veut se réaffirmer (et dans 99% de tous les scénarios de rétablissement, il y aura au moins un épisode où le toxicomane qui récupère essaie de se convaincre que revenir à la dépendance sera facile et agréable.) Cette personne, que ce soit un sponsor ou un médecin ou peut-être un prêtre, un rabbin ou un ministre, peut garder le toxicomane honnête et lui rappeler leur engagement à la sobriété.La récupération des toxicomanes doit être proactive quand il s'agit de leurs déclencheurs de comportement. Ils doivent creuser profondément pour découvrir les lieux et les personnes qui déclenchent inévitablement un comportement addictif, comme un certain bar ou un groupe d'amis du parti - et ensuite travailler patiemment pour éliminer ces lieux et ces personnes de leur vie. Évidemment, c'est difficile à faire si c'est un parent, un conjoint ou un milieu de travail! C'est pourquoi parler de choses dans un groupe de soutien est très important - ce sont les gens qui font la même chose, et ils auront des suggestions sur la façon de le faire correctement la première fois.

Ledes & Limericks. Saturday February 17 2018

A Turkish court has sentenced six defendants, including three prominent journalists,
to life in prison over allegations of involvement in a 2016 coup attempt, drawing fierce
condemnation from the UN and press freedom advocates.

The convictions followed a months-long trial during which the prosecution
alleged that the journalists sent “subliminal messages” via TV appearances
and newspaper columns urging the overthrow of the government, and that
they maintained contact with members of the Fethullah Gülen network,
a movement widely believed in Turkey to have orchestrated the coup attempt.

From the Guardian

In Turkey reporters are apt

In jail to be readily clapped.

They get to cavort

in kangaroo court,

And have their wrists constantly slapped.

The recent budget deal has handed U.S. defense companies an extra
$75 billion over the next two years as the Pentagon boosts spending on
aircraft, missiles, tanks and maintaining older equipment.  From the Wall Street Journal

If you would make money galore

just open an armaments store.

The market for guns

Runs into the tons --

Without great big bombs, there’s no war!

Wall Street finished its best week in years as stocks staged
a recovery from a tumultuous period that pushed major indexes
into correction territory, a sign that bullish sentiment remained intact.
 From the Wall Street Journal

Old Wall Street is so full of bull

Investors now feel a great pull

To sink their last clam

Into the great scam --

Their eyes have been covered with wool.

Ledes & Limericks. Friday February 16 2018

“UNTIL RECENTLY, IT WAS unthinkable that newspapers
would become major recipients of charitable subsidies.
But as newsroom layoffs continue with no apparent end,
increasingly they are seeking philanthropic support . . .”

From the Columbia Journalism Review

Reporters come with hat in fist

Looking for a donor list.

They’re so busy seeking gifts

They must work in double shifts.

Happy is the writer who

Isn’t in a begging queue.

MOVIES MADE IN CHINA TRICKLE INTO US THEATERS

I think that it is pretty slick

When I see a Chinese flick

To watch dragons and kung fu

Mixed up in a filmic stew.

They keep sex to just a kiss,

And at villains you can hiss.

I can’t say the music’s nice

And the plots are imprecise.

But there’s always fights galore

And Liu Tao I do adore.

If only they could learn to keep

The subtitles from looking cheap.

Food makers on Friday said they remain under pressure as
consumers hunt for healthier meals and snacks.
 From the Wall Street Journal.

The healthier snacks that I want,

Sans candy and chips and croissant,

That are good for me,

Like maybe green tea,

Are leaving me hungry and gaunt.

THE CUTTLEFISH

I really do not think I wish

To ever be a cuttlefish.

Though they can change their shape at will,

All they get to eat is krill.

I’d rather be a vampire squid

And suck my meals from swimming kid.

The Right to Bear Arms

To get a driver’s license you must study, you must test.

Your photograph is taken and your eyesight is addressed.

But if you want a gun it’s just like falling off a log,

Or purchasing a permit for your German Shepherd dog.

a neglected feast

dull red on dirt gray

clinging to the sleeping branch

a neglected feast

Ledes & Limericks. Wednesday February 14 2018

Less than 24 hours after she was hired,

The New York Times on Tuesday fired editorial

board member Quinn Norton, after a history

of homophobic and racially insensitive

tweets were uncovered.  From the Daily Beast.

It seems that a Jekyll and Hyde

In writers can often reside.

In public so sweet;

But then when they tweet

They’re courting career suicide.

Inside the Bribery Scandal Sweeping

Through the Oil Industry

To do any bizness today

The payola game you must play.

All government clerks

Are basically jerks,

With scruples as rigid as hay.

Come for the Herring,

Stay for the Chitchat:

An Unlikely Haven for the Aged

 from the NYTimes

Eating a plate of raw herring

seems like the height of great daring.

But pickled or creamed,

It’s what I have dreamed

Of eating oft (and sometimes wearing.)

Masse musculaire solide croissante avec HGH

Une tendance populaire parmi les bodybuilders cette année est l'utilisation de l'hormone de croissance humaine (abrégée habituellement en HGH) pour une augmentation sûre et lisse de la masse musculaire. Beaucoup d'athlètes sont déjà dans l'utilisation de ce nouveau médicament miracle, mais beaucoup d'autres sont encore incertains de son utilité réelle et peut-être un peu prudent sur les effets secondaires. Voici un aperçu de certains faits, par rapport aux contes de fées.

Qu'est-ce que HGH?

Les athlètes et les culturistes savent que l'exercice et le régime alimentaire, bien qu'efficaces, sont également limités quant à la mesure dans laquelle ils peuvent amener le corps masculin ou féminin vers la quête de la perfection. Pour atteindre un potentiel optimal, le corps humain peut toujours bénéficier de l'utilisation de HGH. Ces composés se trouvent naturellement dans la glande pituitaire humaine. Quand il y a un approvisionnement suffisant de HGH, les cellules dans le corps sont capables de grandir et de se régénérer à un rythme incroyable. Mais quand le corps humain est placé sous le stress d'un régime extrême et d'un régime d'exercice, la glande pituitaire peut ne pas être en mesure de suivre les exigences du corps. HGH aide également à retenir et augmenter à la fois la densité osseuse et la masse musculaire.

Maintenant, l'hypophyse ne peut sécréter autant de HGH dans la circulation sanguine à la fois, et il a une fenêtre d'efficacité très limitée après son entrée dans le foie, où la plus grande partie est transformée en IGF-1, une hormone de croissance qui contrôle la densité musculaire. HGH n'a pas été synthétisé avant le début des années 1980 - avant cette époque, les techniciens médicaux l'ont enlevé au cours des autopsies.

Le corps humain crée seulement autant de HGH au cours d'une vie, et seulement pendant certains âges. Les jeunes adultes produisent la plus grande partie de l'hormone de croissance qu'ils auront jusqu'à l'âge de 25 ans, puis elle diminue rapidement. Les femmes enceintes éprouvent également des niveaux élevés de HGH pour aider leur foetus à se développer correctement.

Pour ceux qui ont l'intention de commencer des entraînements intenses, ou qui sont déjà engagés dans de telles activités et veulent savoir s'ils ont une carence en HGH, il y a un simple test sanguin qui peut être fait pour indiquer combien d'injections de HGH aideraient à construire et à retenir masse musculaire et moelle osseuse. Il y a relativement peu d'effets secondaires à la thérapie de HGH - ils incluent une légère augmentation de la glycémie et une certaine rétention d'eau. Mais la plupart des gens trouvent que les injections ne produisent absolument aucun effet secondaire.

Et il y a un autre avantage à l'utilisation de HGH. Il a été démontré cliniquement que ces hormones de croissance vitales jouent un rôle important dans le retardement de l'apparition de nombreuses maladies dégénératives chez les adultes vieillissants. Les fonctions cognitives sont préservées, même améliorées, avec l'utilisation de HGH. Il améliore également la libido chez les personnes âgées, ce qui peut faire une relation très heureuse et intime, même si les années prennent leur péage.

D'autre part, une carence en HGH conduit souvent à une mauvaise image de soi en raison du gain de poids, de la rétention d'eau et de l'incapacité de se concentrer pendant de longues périodes de temps. Donc, ce ne sont pas seulement les culturistes et les athlètes qui devraient se pencher sur l'utilisation de suppléments de HGH, mais tous ceux qui sont préoccupés par leur santé globale.