CERVANTES

"Don Quixote" by Pablo Picasso (1955

In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest
notion that ever madman in this world hit upon, and that was that he
fancied it was right and requisite, as well for the support of his own
honour as for the service of his country, that he should make a
knight-errant of himself, roaming the world over in full armour and on
horseback in quest of adventures, and putting in practice himself
all that he had read of as being the usual practices of
knights-errant; righting every kind of wrong, and exposing himself
to peril and danger from which, in the issue, he was to reap eternal
renown and fame. Already the poor man saw himself crowned by the might
of his arm Emperor of Trebizond at least; and so, led away by the
intense enjoyment he found in these pleasant fancies, he set himself
forthwith to put his scheme into execution.

Cervantes

I purchased some classics decades ago and my son ended up with them. He brings up a bunch of them from time to time but he instructs me, severely, to not write notes in the books anymore. Hahahahaha

I am in the midst of Don Quixote again. Leisure outhouse reading. I will finish the tome within the month.

Thank the good Lord for links so that I am not forced to type my chosen passages.

Whilst I am reading this fantastic epic of a man chasing windmills, I am confronted with this damn ghost hunting series on SyFy again.

When I first viewed this incredibly boring and lame 'docudrama?' I was caught by strange lighting and a coloring of the eyes that scared the bejesus out of me.

I mean I actually thought I was seeing ghosts instead of the pretend experts looking for ghosts.

Then I realized the entire exercise involved setting up special lighting besides using microphones and strange electronic gadgets as they looked for plasma generated twin universe beings.

I mean I was so dumb that I thought I was looking into the eyes of ghosts. Hahhahhahahah

You know they never really find ghosts or prove that there are ghosts.

It reminded me of something going back close to 3 decades:

Geraldo Rivera had been fired in 1985 after criticizing ABC for canceling a report on an alleged relationship between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. He then hosted the special, The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults, which was broadcast live on April 21, 1986. The two hour special (including commercials) was greatly hyped as potentially revealing great riches or bodies on live television. This included the presence of a medical examiner should bodies be found and agents from the Internal Revenue Service to collect any of Capone's money that might be discovered. When the vault was finally opened the only things found inside were dirt and several empty bottles including one Geraldo claimed was for moonshine bathtub gin. Despite the ending, the special became the most-watched syndicated television special with an estimated audience of 30 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Al_Capone%27s_Vault

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P84OKTUx6LY

I mean Geraldo, who has since sold his soul (or what was left of it) to Hispanic-hating MSM, was able to reach 30 million people in a search that bore no fruits.

I mean the entire exercise was a waste of time.

Supposedly, real journalists discover some treasure of material and then (depending upon the depth of the treasure) proceed to leak parts and parcels of the information ultimately leading to some book deal.

But Geraldo took a short cut and simply involved the audience in his quest.

I am not fooled although I did participate in the exercise as a viewer.

Wait a minute; if I participated as a viewer that means I was one of the scammed as they say. Hahaha

Back to the ghost hunters:

The supposed links between ghosts and electromagnetic fields, low temperatures, radiation, odd photographic images, and so on are based on nothing more than guesses, unproven theories, and wild conjecture. If a device could reliably determine the presence or absence of ghosts, then by definition, ghosts would be proven to exist. I own an EMF meter, but since it's useless for ghost investigations—it finds not spirits but red herrings—I use it in my lectures and seminars as an example of pseudoscience. The most important tools in this or any investigation are a questioning mind and a solid understanding of scientific principles.

The ghost hunters' anti-scientific illogic is clear: if one area of a home is colder than another, that may indicate a ghost; if an EMF meter detects a field, that too may be a ghost; if dowsing rods cross, that might be a ghost. Just about any "anomaly," anything that anyone considers odd for any reason, from an undetermined sound to a "bad feeling" to a blurry photo, can be (and has been) considered evidence of ghosts.

I was even at one investigation where a ghost supposedly caused a person's mild headache. Because the standard of evidence is so low, it's little wonder that ghost hunters often find "evidence" (but never proof) of ghosts. 

Reality check

The whole idea of ghosts runs into trouble as soon as a little logic is applied.

There's not even agreement on what ghosts are—or might be. A common claim is that ghosts are spirits of the dead who have been wronged or murdered. Let's inject some real-world statistics into that assumption and see what we get.

If murder victims whose killings remains unsolved are truly destined to walk the earth and

http://www.livescience.com/4261-shady-science-ghost-hunting.html

Ghost Hunters has garnered some of the highest ratings of any Syfy reality programming.[4] From the start, the show has found an audience for its mix of paranormal investigation and interpersonal drama. It has since been syndicated on NBC Universal sister cable channel Oxygen and also airs on the Canadian cable network, OLN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Hunters

I am too lazy to link all the other windmill jouster teams on cable today but suffice it to say that we are led to Loch Ness monsters (in Scotland and without), Yetis, Abominable Snowmen (or politicians), wild forest creatures, Mothmen, UFO's, ancient astronauts, ....you name it.

Nobody ever produces a space ship from space, the head of a Yeti (although take a real long look at Lou Dobbs sometime), the head of an abominable, a dead mothman corpse or Al Capone's secret stash of documents.

Getting back to Sancho Ponza; why would he follow this crazed Alzheimic ridden patrician in quests that amounted to fantasy?

Well Sancho made a buck here and there. I am specifically referring to instances where saddle bags were found with gold coins and such.

Of course Sancho had a real love for this pretend El Cid. Probably the funniest scenes involve Sancho in his attempts to keep the Man of La Mancha safe from the Inquisition.

We are confronted with myths alleging that the Clintons murdered a guy named Foster or that w bush somehow planned or orchestrated the 9/11/01 attacks (when the sob could not have planned anything during that first 8 months of his administration unless he did so on the 13^th tee).

But the monies made on the books and the appearances and the speech engagements and....were there for the taking.

Which brings me to Orly Taitz.

I mean this slut was born in Russia for chrissakes. She could not run for the office of President of the United States and probably would have real problems running for city council person in some Nazi-ridden Texas Town.

And yet she continues to harass our President with law suits and articles and blog sites attacking Barack's election.

After answering concerns about the state of his campaign following a slide in recent polls and primary contests, Taitz came forward, suggesting that the birther issue could provide a "boost" to his candidacy if he made it a hallmark issue.

"Somebody who wouldn't be good enough, who wouldn't be certified to pick tomatoes or clean bathrooms is sitting in the White House," Taitz told Gingrich, reportedly to a mixed reception from the largely Tea Party audience.

"That's a project you should pursue," Gingrich responded. He went on to say that with ongoing economic issues and other mismanagement he saw in the president's agenda, he had "enough issues to debate Obama about."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/14/newt-gingrich-orly-taitz-birther-question_n_1276444.html

I am not going to spend any time attacking Orly; a foreigner attacking the blood lines of my President.  I certainly would not let her clean my bathroom! Would you?

She is out of her fricking mind; or is she?

Show her followers a birth certificate and they claim that it is an abridged certificate.

Show her followers a 'long form' birth certificate and they claim that it is 'forged?'

Orly has found a way to prosper in America.

She is now 'famous'. She is paid by ubiquitous and covert right-wing funding organizations to continue in her quest to dislodge teeth and add fuel to the fires of American Racism.

And she is old and ugly.

I mean I am old and ugly but at least I refrain from painting my face with terrible make-up that makes me look like I am an extra in some zombie movie.

At least Don Quixote had lofty goals.

And that is all I got.