A friend sent me this, and it resonated. May we make it so!!
The element of wood is seen in Daoist tradition as a return to the natural state of being, which in the dragon’s case, points to a return to kindness. And Confucian thought interprets wood as a symbol of unlimited potential.
“I’m seeing this wood Dragon year as a year of unlimited potential in terms of prosperity. Long-term, it could also be the year in which major conflict can be resolved, if people can focus on empathy,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, a professor of Chinese folklore and religion at San Francisco State University. “If we continue our tribal thinking and selfish thinking, we’re not going to achieve it.”
With ongoing wars across the globe and with the United States in an election year, he said, it’s important to approach contentious discussions in good faith.
“This comes from the teachings of Taoism, as well as Buddhism and Confucianism. Violence and conflict erupt and grow and fester and get even worse because of the ego,” Lee said. “If there is any kind of conflict, one is to suspend the ego and be reflective and introspective.”
According to Chinese folklore, the dragon was one of 12 animals that raced to the Jade Emperor in a competition that would determine the order of the zodiac signs. While flying overhead, it had noticed that the rabbit, a poor swimmer, had become stuck in the middle of a river.
“The dragon could have easily flown right over the rabbit and been the next one to cross over the finish line. But, instead, the dragon blew a very powerful breath that propelled the rabbit onto the shore. Then the dragon came after,” Lee said, "it’s important to behave in accordance with generosity and selflessness, just as the dragon would."
My first real awareness of the lunar New Year's was in January, 1968. My birthday had just occurred and then the event called Tet in Vietnam began with a general offensive by NVA and Viet Cong troops. Many were dead or wounded on both sides and support for the war among Americans was shaken to its roots.
Then LBJ quit the race, King and RFK were assassinated, Kissinger secretly put the kibosh on the Paris Peace Talks, and Nixon rose to power. All in all a dark year.
Make sure you book your stay in an island nation that is not likely to be under water by the time you plan your trip. Also check to see the yearly average number of tourists who have been molested or killed or trafficked at the tropical paradise resort of your choice. Safety first!
Can we call it peak capitalism now that poor people's taxes are going to private schools to educate the rich kids that were already going to private schools?
As to the Vegas cheap hotel, the spouse is a complete hotel snob, whereas I am a more clean room in a safe neighborhood type. I don't care about hotel amenities, it's a bed, bathroom, and TV. I planned a vacation, not a spa stay.
After a career spent in modest-to-shitty motels (ah, the glamorous life of a country music sideman) when we travel as a couple we travel well. My wife reminds me that we're not rich. I remind her that we only take trips every 1.5 years. I'm going to stay in the nicest place we can afford.
We watched "The Marvels" the other night, and I don't understand what all the hate for it was about. It's no worse than any other super hero movie out there, has a simple plot, requires no thinking to distract you from the pretty lights, and ends on a high note. There's girl-power and bonding and such, and not as much violence as in an Iron Man or Thor or Captain Hardwood or whatever, but you do get complete destruction of at least one planet, possibly two, and possibly the murder of an entire race on the second planet (really kind of glossed over what happened on Waterworld after Team Sparkle Women left, so no idea if Kevin Costner and the Nauvoo are all sitting out there on dry sand somewhere, gasping for air and water and quickly dying), and you get tentacle-porn kitties who apparently have at least some sense of future events. It was enjoyable, even if you did frequently ask "What the fuck, script writers?"
"you should wait at least four hours before getting behind the wheel after smoking one joint. Wait even longer—at least six to eight hours—after ingesting a cannabis edible."
The arizona thing was precisely planned to bust the budget. The Lege under Doug "Il Deuce" Ducey really Really REALLY!!!11!!Eleventy!!! did not like that wee the stinky pipples passed a tax hike referendum on high income taxpayers to pay for schools, so they just demolished the state income tax system so that it would never apply to anyone. Then they passed the school vouchers bullshit.
Thankfully enough AZ voters came to their senses in 2022 and elected a buncha Dems to statewide offices, except Treasurer, (which isn't so bad because she's a bog-standard old school republican ) and Superintendent of Schools who's a straight-up racist white supremacist piece of shit named Tom Horne.
The last time he was squatting in that office he decided that a (highly successful and popular) Mexican American Studies program was horribly racist because it gave those brown kids the idea that they were real, actual human US Citizens with the same rights as a gross white jabba the Hutt like Horne and that was NOT ALLOWED.
He's also telling the schools to add the (beloved by the KKK) Prager U bullshit propaganda to our schools to 'target liberal indoctrination'.
Tom Horne is also dumber than pig snot. Gotta hand it to the guy, he was the first politician to open my then-young eyes to the reality that people who barely skated by in high school eventually grow up and achieve elected office despite being absolute morans. He wrote a thing in the paper about his trip to the GOP convention and said, "We did lots of chants. My favorite was 'Drill baby drill!"
And I wondered how it could be possible that a barely functioning third grader could be in charge of anything, let alone a state education system. What a sweet summer child I was.
He's infested the AZ government twice, he was AG from 2011-2015, too. Such a hack. He's also mildly infamous for creating a sockpuppet account on the Blog for Arizona site https://blogforarizona.net/ where he would sing his praises as School Supe. Gave himself some ridiculous Greek nym like Theucides or something like that; he got found out pretty quickly.
Someone should give Cline a taste of her own medicine because honestly, she doesn’t have the most feminine features herself. Maybe she’s trans? Just asking questions asshole.
"Florida AG running to state supreme court to please please please keep the pro-abortion referendum off the ballot, otherwise Florida voters would vote to keep abortion legal in Florida, and that is not allowed!"
Florida AG Ashley Moody's argument is that the term "viability" is poorly understood by Florida voters. If the Florida Supremes weren't so fucking "conservative" ( 7 members appointed by DeSantis! ), I'd say Moody's effort would fail miserably - but...
The mind boggles at the concept that the government would pay for private schools at all. That's just stupid. If you want your precious little guy (or gal) to go to private school, then YOU foot the bill. Should never be a single taxpayer penny spent on that.
I mean "let the market decide" and all that. Hypocritical fuckers.
Happy Lunar New Year tomorrow! It’s the year of the dragon, rawr. And also a wood cycle. More info here: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/year-of-the-dragon
A friend sent me this, and it resonated. May we make it so!!
The element of wood is seen in Daoist tradition as a return to the natural state of being, which in the dragon’s case, points to a return to kindness. And Confucian thought interprets wood as a symbol of unlimited potential.
“I’m seeing this wood Dragon year as a year of unlimited potential in terms of prosperity. Long-term, it could also be the year in which major conflict can be resolved, if people can focus on empathy,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, a professor of Chinese folklore and religion at San Francisco State University. “If we continue our tribal thinking and selfish thinking, we’re not going to achieve it.”
With ongoing wars across the globe and with the United States in an election year, he said, it’s important to approach contentious discussions in good faith.
“This comes from the teachings of Taoism, as well as Buddhism and Confucianism. Violence and conflict erupt and grow and fester and get even worse because of the ego,” Lee said. “If there is any kind of conflict, one is to suspend the ego and be reflective and introspective.”
According to Chinese folklore, the dragon was one of 12 animals that raced to the Jade Emperor in a competition that would determine the order of the zodiac signs. While flying overhead, it had noticed that the rabbit, a poor swimmer, had become stuck in the middle of a river.
“The dragon could have easily flown right over the rabbit and been the next one to cross over the finish line. But, instead, the dragon blew a very powerful breath that propelled the rabbit onto the shore. Then the dragon came after,” Lee said, "it’s important to behave in accordance with generosity and selflessness, just as the dragon would."
My first real awareness of the lunar New Year's was in January, 1968. My birthday had just occurred and then the event called Tet in Vietnam began with a general offensive by NVA and Viet Cong troops. Many were dead or wounded on both sides and support for the war among Americans was shaken to its roots.
When they lost Walter Cronkite, because it became so obvious that the Pentagon and Administration had been lying to our faces.
Then LBJ quit the race, King and RFK were assassinated, Kissinger secretly put the kibosh on the Paris Peace Talks, and Nixon rose to power. All in all a dark year.
Nutz. I have ALL kinds of skulls and gothic accoutrement but I do NOT own anything dragon-related.
That simply will NOT do. Now I have to draw a fantastic, fire-breathing serpent to display for the occasion.
A Lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90X5NJleYJQ 8-)
Nothing else will do!
An embarrassingly high percentage of my wardrobe involves dragons.
I'm more than a tad jealous! I'd love to see some of your fire-breathing serpent couture.
Ooh, yes! If you want to share, I’d love to see what you come up with.
If I can come up with something decent I shall see to it that it's posted here.
No joke - my kids have decorated the house for the occasion and made a dinner of various East Asian foods.
How fun!
I'll be posting some Year of the Dragon-themed commissioned art tomorrow. (grins)
Year Of The Bad Dragon?
Insert captain America "I understood that reference meme"
LOL
No.
I kinda hope you don't know what you're saying and kinda hope you do.
But whichever the case NO ONE GOOGLE "BAD DRAGON" IF YOU'RE AT WORK.
Crisis averted. Talk amongst yourselves.
Not only DID I GOOGLE IT, I went shopping! Needs Wonkette cut link tho’.
so many choices
😏
Talk about wood…!
That was bad and I should feel bad.
Wood cycle...
Balsa-cle built for two.
Oakay...
/hears this in Hal's voice/
and I hear BAD WOLF
I saw you opine there, fir what it's worth.
Or a yew-nicycle.
I wouldn’t pay a penny-farthing for it.
Enjoy your ride as you trek out this fine day.
For the Schwinn!
Either way, you sit on your ash.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
You don't need to get all Huffy about it.
Go pedal your wares somewhere else.
Rimshot!
Schwinn or GTFO.
-- Captain Kangaroo
i have to say, kara swisher annoys the crap out of me.
and still i listen to her.
that is all.
Year of the Dragon Asian celebrates in Wales: you get double blessings.
And special blessings to all the Vikings burning their dragon headed long boats at Up Helly Aa in Shetland.
i have no idea what you're saying but i love it and i'm a jones...
Make sure you book your stay in an island nation that is not likely to be under water by the time you plan your trip. Also check to see the yearly average number of tourists who have been molested or killed or trafficked at the tropical paradise resort of your choice. Safety first!
Another reason to hate Congress. Goodbye digital affordability! https://www.fcc.gov/acp
Yeah, I use this...sad it is going away...
Me too. I’m so angry. This is going to hurt so many people.
Can we call it peak capitalism now that poor people's taxes are going to private schools to educate the rich kids that were already going to private schools?
Parents going after the rivals of their little darlings by accusing them of being trans was entirely predictable.
As to the Vegas cheap hotel, the spouse is a complete hotel snob, whereas I am a more clean room in a safe neighborhood type. I don't care about hotel amenities, it's a bed, bathroom, and TV. I planned a vacation, not a spa stay.
After a career spent in modest-to-shitty motels (ah, the glamorous life of a country music sideman) when we travel as a couple we travel well. My wife reminds me that we're not rich. I remind her that we only take trips every 1.5 years. I'm going to stay in the nicest place we can afford.
Happy Furriday! with Bear.
https://substack.com/@ziggywiggy/note/c-49195307?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knfuc
Also Bear tells me to stop taking cat pics and work on the Movie Night post.
But Bear the movie is about a cat, just doin' my research!
Wonkette Movie Night Feb. 10: Keanu
https://open.substack.com/pub/ziggywiggy/p/wonkette-movie-night-feb-10-keanu?r=2knfuc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
(see how smooth I am sneaking in a movie night promo)
We watched "The Marvels" the other night, and I don't understand what all the hate for it was about. It's no worse than any other super hero movie out there, has a simple plot, requires no thinking to distract you from the pretty lights, and ends on a high note. There's girl-power and bonding and such, and not as much violence as in an Iron Man or Thor or Captain Hardwood or whatever, but you do get complete destruction of at least one planet, possibly two, and possibly the murder of an entire race on the second planet (really kind of glossed over what happened on Waterworld after Team Sparkle Women left, so no idea if Kevin Costner and the Nauvoo are all sitting out there on dry sand somewhere, gasping for air and water and quickly dying), and you get tentacle-porn kitties who apparently have at least some sense of future events. It was enjoyable, even if you did frequently ask "What the fuck, script writers?"
"you should wait at least four hours before getting behind the wheel after smoking one joint. Wait even longer—at least six to eight hours—after ingesting a cannabis edible."
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/pot-weed-marijuana-drive-when-safe-8dc8d2e7
"Dude."
"What?"
"What are we doing?"
"Uh...what?"
"Why are we sitting here?"
"Oh. We gotta wait, dude."
"Oh. Why?"
"Why what?"
ad infinitum...
"Third base!"
The arizona thing was precisely planned to bust the budget. The Lege under Doug "Il Deuce" Ducey really Really REALLY!!!11!!Eleventy!!! did not like that wee the stinky pipples passed a tax hike referendum on high income taxpayers to pay for schools, so they just demolished the state income tax system so that it would never apply to anyone. Then they passed the school vouchers bullshit.
Thankfully enough AZ voters came to their senses in 2022 and elected a buncha Dems to statewide offices, except Treasurer, (which isn't so bad because she's a bog-standard old school republican ) and Superintendent of Schools who's a straight-up racist white supremacist piece of shit named Tom Horne.
The last time he was squatting in that office he decided that a (highly successful and popular) Mexican American Studies program was horribly racist because it gave those brown kids the idea that they were real, actual human US Citizens with the same rights as a gross white jabba the Hutt like Horne and that was NOT ALLOWED.
He's also telling the schools to add the (beloved by the KKK) Prager U bullshit propaganda to our schools to 'target liberal indoctrination'.
I fuckin hate Tom Horne. And those stories about the vouchers are infuriating. We need to end or at least cap that damn program.
Tom Horne is also dumber than pig snot. Gotta hand it to the guy, he was the first politician to open my then-young eyes to the reality that people who barely skated by in high school eventually grow up and achieve elected office despite being absolute morans. He wrote a thing in the paper about his trip to the GOP convention and said, "We did lots of chants. My favorite was 'Drill baby drill!"
And I wondered how it could be possible that a barely functioning third grader could be in charge of anything, let alone a state education system. What a sweet summer child I was.
He's infested the AZ government twice, he was AG from 2011-2015, too. Such a hack. He's also mildly infamous for creating a sockpuppet account on the Blog for Arizona site https://blogforarizona.net/ where he would sing his praises as School Supe. Gave himself some ridiculous Greek nym like Theucides or something like that; he got found out pretty quickly.
Someone should give Cline a taste of her own medicine because honestly, she doesn’t have the most feminine features herself. Maybe she’s trans? Just asking questions asshole.
It would be irresponsible not to.
"Florida AG running to state supreme court to please please please keep the pro-abortion referendum off the ballot, otherwise Florida voters would vote to keep abortion legal in Florida, and that is not allowed!"
Florida AG Ashley Moody's argument is that the term "viability" is poorly understood by Florida voters. If the Florida Supremes weren't so fucking "conservative" ( 7 members appointed by DeSantis! ), I'd say Moody's effort would fail miserably - but...
Huh. Now I want to stay at Circus! Circus!. Although, just the idea of a carousel bar, slowly spinning as I drink, makes me want to vomit.
I highly suggest the carousel bar at the Montelone Hotel in NOLA. A magnificent experience in a gorgeous setting.
Does it spin? Because there is no way I am drinking on anything that spins. Other than this planet.
Yes, it spins, but I think it's 1 revolution per hour. Very pleasant.
In the world history of vouchers, has any of them ever been any good?
The mind boggles at the concept that the government would pay for private schools at all. That's just stupid. If you want your precious little guy (or gal) to go to private school, then YOU foot the bill. Should never be a single taxpayer penny spent on that.
I mean "let the market decide" and all that. Hypocritical fuckers.
I dunno -- I've had several vouchers after agreeing to give up my seat on overbooked flights that have turned out to be quite good.
Okay, except for that.