tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84391249482287777612024-03-05T16:44:06.620-08:00Run Offis about my excesses. I am a survivor of severe child abuse. I am sharing my past and present here, along with my loves and hates. It's a kind of payback. - Dr. Wes BrowningDr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.comBlogger978125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-50843039415774709412014-05-09T09:17:00.001-07:002014-05-09T09:17:33.216-07:00This is not a drill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As posted on Facebook. My first deliberate attempt to instigate a meme.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-68887393305070742122011-12-28T03:37:00.000-08:002011-12-28T03:37:51.106-08:00Post to Open Humanism Mind-meeting group[I posted this note and comments to a Facebook group after Anitra joined me to it. I am posting it here because I want to save it, and I don't entirely trust FB to do that for me.] <br />
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Anitra tossed me into this group against my will. I am her husband, with whom she does not always agree. Her focus is on her own brand of humanism mixed with form of Christianity. My focus is elsewhere. I'm a polytheist who doesn't believe in gods. How does that work? Well, first off, when I say I don't believe in gods, I mean I don't believe in what monotheists generally consider gods to be. I have my own ideas what purposes the word god should be put to, and my ideas are not accepted by most people, therefore they would say that I don't believe in gods. That is the first answer.<br /><br /><br />But also, believing really isn't the point. Gods to me aren't to be believed in. Gods are part of the machinery of my seeing. Objectively, when you look around a room, you don't see your eyes. Your eyes and brain are part of the equipment of your seeing. What I *mean* by a god, generally, is a part of my equipment of seeing into the world, or of my engagement with the world. A god is an organ of my subjectivity, that colors my insight. Strictly speaking those are what I would call personal gods. Universal gods also can be defined in at least two ways. A universal god may be an idealization of a form of a personal god. Or a universal god may refer to a perspective that informs subjectivities that can be shared. That is, the god is the shared perspectivity.<br /><br />Example. A very simple god is found in what the Greeks called Hera. Hera is the god (goddess) who is said to be at work whenever someone runs into a burning building to save a baby, and says they didn't think about it, they just did it. The weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hera made American's enlist in droves. Hera sent firemen running up the stairs of the World Trade Towers. Actually Hera is the universalization of an ideal form of organ of insight. We all have a Hera in us, or we're sociopaths. "Hera" is to those individual Heras, as "The Human Eye" is to our individual eyes. The individual Heras cause us to engage ourselves in the world in a certain way. When I say I don't believe in gods, a subtler meaning of saying that is that I am not a Platonist, so I don't believe in ideal forms, so the universal Hera to me is a fiction. Well, the individual Heras, when imagined as personal beings are fictions, too. But they are fictions of a higher reality. Because if you have had such experiences as I've described you know how it feels and it feels like somebody outside of yourself directed your actions. So the personalization of individual Heras is justified by the utility of conveying the experience. In any case, the individual Heras exist objectively as phenomena. I can say on that level I believe in them. <br /><br />I don't want to have the best beliefs I can. I want to discover the means to have the best insights. By attending to gods, and distinguishing them, I am gaining in understanding how I engage the world and how others do, too. I don't have to make a religion out of it. I can apply my definitions, look for my very objective organs of engagement and get somewhere with that. But when I was a child I learned another way. That other way didn't detract from what I just described but added to it. I learned that by taking the subjective experiences of gods for granted and responding to the gods as if they were the persons they seem sometimes to be, they become easier to see and understand. This is the method of imagination. That's my religion. It has no dogma. It has no scripture. The church is everywhere. The altar is in my head. My gods eat Anitra's god every morning for breakfast, then spit him out and ask for eggs and toast instead.<br /><br />Imagining is not only a solitary process, but a group activity. My childhood experience was that, around the age of 3, I encountered and became close friends with a couple of 18 year-old Hawaiian brothers, one of whom was a Hawaiian traditionalist. So he had rejected Christianity for a version of the Hawaiian traditional ways, the Kahiko, that he had learned (against the law in those days!) from one of his uncles. He taught me some of that. As a result, my imagining of gods and goddesses often reflects Kahiko imaginings. Another way to say that I do not believe in the gods, is that I am aware that they are imaginings, and I am aware that they are only scaffolding for my awareness, and I am aware that they come from inspirations of all kinds, and therefore I can pack them all up and forget about them, and go to sleep when I need to. The act of choosing these gods and not those isn't about dogma, it's about love.<br /><br />Imagining itself is an organ of seeing. And necessary to imagining is the ability to clear one's head, or to tear down imaginings. And necessary to make any use of imaginings, you need memory, to preserve them a while, to use them. There's a nice trinity.<br /><br />Should mention this corollary: Since the gods are organs of my engagement with the world, and since "I" is a word for that engagement, I am made of my gods. My voice is the combination of their voices. This view tends to make me less than worshipful about them. I have a lot of appreciation for my body parts, but I don't worship my liver. In fact, I actually feel rather superior to my liver, most of the time.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-52462704562332138032011-12-25T16:58:00.001-08:002011-12-25T16:58:55.982-08:00Bored by Typing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-77461210338495590742011-05-01T03:28:00.001-07:002011-05-01T03:28:23.912-07:00A ThoughtChristians and I agree about one thing: They don't want to convert to my religion, and I don't want them to convert to my religion. I want them to keep to theirs. It suits them.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-76255639039864112282011-04-14T19:57:00.000-07:002011-04-14T19:57:44.566-07:00Meet the Editorial Committee<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRU13Bwvu61C7vMoQsQkCs28Dmgb3hcthyphenhyphenFX6ewYU4vQYA6zqogW_xodV6RN7MMj70OfOhI_UNlqnVTjRFIJAQRAVOa1Z0vv8LkQgMy-t9QPW8qwnO9GFZ7z6a1cSaaJI6NGOdchWo7Os/s1600/ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRU13Bwvu61C7vMoQsQkCs28Dmgb3hcthyphenhyphenFX6ewYU4vQYA6zqogW_xodV6RN7MMj70OfOhI_UNlqnVTjRFIJAQRAVOa1Z0vv8LkQgMy-t9QPW8qwnO9GFZ7z6a1cSaaJI6NGOdchWo7Os/s320/ec.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>[Clockwise from lower left are August Mallory, Wes Browning, Jihad Salaam, Joe Howard, Teresa Reeves, Mary T Andrews, and Anitra Freeman.]<br />
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Well, meet some of it anyway. People wonder how Real Change newspapers are put together. There's an editorial department, run by our editorial manager Amy Roe, and including two reporters and a production assistant. Many volunteer writers accept assignments and some submit unsolicited work, which we consider. In addition to all that there's the editorial committee, or the "EC." <br />
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The idea of the EC is to provide grassroots input to the paper's content. All interested readers of the paper may apply. The principal activity of the committee is to brainstorm story ideas for future issues. So the main qualification to be accepted as a member is an ability to work well with others while bringing ideas to the table.<br />
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Currently the EC has 13 members, of which 8 are fully active vendors, 2 are semi-active vendors, and one (me!) is a highly inactive ex-vendor. (I was highly inactive when I was a vendor, too.) In this particular meeting 7 of us were on hand.<br />
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Besides brainstorming, the EC also spends a little time in each meeting looking through the most recent paper for errors that might need correcting, or stories that suggest follow-up. <br />
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Then, every month or so, we go over those unsolicited submissions I mentioned above. These are confidential sessions. A volunteer has previously blanked out the author's names on the submissions, so that we can vote to accept or reject blindly. Our acceptance is provisional -- the editorial manager makes the final decision.<br />
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This particular meeting was almost all brainstorming. Ideas batted around the table involved an upcoming anniversary of the Frye Hotel, a future guide to being homeless for the first time, a death on the street in Ballard, the relationships between panhandlers and vendors, an upcoming "carve-in," activities of neo-Nazi and similar organizations in the area, and the effects of budget cuts on ex-offender services.<br />
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Meetings are currently 2:30 to 4pm Thursdays in the Real Change vendor room, 96 S Main St. Guests and applicants are welcome the last Thursday of every month. Real Change vendors have preference and may apply at any meeting.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-37090580670375785062011-04-12T21:03:00.000-07:002011-04-12T21:03:37.423-07:00Serious Work at Real Change<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cOzra1c1U2ifZ8Ql1R4JQvo_R9jYlX12BwbCt2CL1cLe10TjJFr-2UX_xPnP8R6604ulPHYvcoFPyDcb4c009O29zT190TNtrqWKukmKEmL-MGrY4OxyxWHGN5FN0vAMjbzTOH0OdRQ/s1600/SA700785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cOzra1c1U2ifZ8Ql1R4JQvo_R9jYlX12BwbCt2CL1cLe10TjJFr-2UX_xPnP8R6604ulPHYvcoFPyDcb4c009O29zT190TNtrqWKukmKEmL-MGrY4OxyxWHGN5FN0vAMjbzTOH0OdRQ/s320/SA700785.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Here at Real Change we take everything we do seriously. One of the things we do is have All Staff Meetings every two weeks. Those are meetings in which all the staff sit around a table and meet. In our seriousness about these meetings, we decided to dedicate one of our recent meetings to the question "What are All Staff Meetings for?" <br />
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Our Vendor Staff Director, Tara Moss agreed to facilitate that meeting. To prepare us all for the discussion she sent around a <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html">link to a video</a> talking about research into the "marshmallow problem," " -- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?"<br />
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The marshmallow problem is explained in the video accompanying the link. As a mathematician, I couldn't resist seeing not only whether I could build a reasonably sturdy tall tower of dry spaghetti, but whether I could build one entirely based upon the three Platonic solids having triangular faces. Would that support a marshmallow?<br />
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Yes. The picture, taken just before a tragic accident involving the tower and a coworker sitting upon it, proves it. That's Tara Moss herself in the background.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-75162833504428732142011-02-08T02:17:00.000-08:002011-02-08T02:17:09.542-08:00They're BACK!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zi_ZmzryPYHGMpWgBFjDuVIRJJOv0-WGhYs0ZZyzEpIHOicADw33hy6BW0akoaMngkHUjXCXlgazVZUnhQYmf0V4Wc53akZlMI60YnbrZ5YZ_Fvc-s9UCPSErbB0gBiyH-vYkdzNZ4I/s1600/SA700726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zi_ZmzryPYHGMpWgBFjDuVIRJJOv0-WGhYs0ZZyzEpIHOicADw33hy6BW0akoaMngkHUjXCXlgazVZUnhQYmf0V4Wc53akZlMI60YnbrZ5YZ_Fvc-s9UCPSErbB0gBiyH-vYkdzNZ4I/s320/SA700726.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This is nice. I wrote about this park and its statues in 2008 in <a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/2008/07/geese-have-it-worse.html">Geese Have It Worse</a>. The statues in the background appeared after a mass killing of geese, show a boy excited to see a Canadian Goose in the park. Yeah, he should be! They murdered them all! Well, not all of them. Here's a couple that WOULDN'T DIE! Call the authorities before they get away! (It looks like the mother is getting ready to take out her cell phone.)Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-1971327840538043612011-01-25T03:31:00.000-08:002011-01-25T03:31:37.205-08:00A Sidewalk Feature Takes Me Back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZwSwdRd45FuYqKjysKIQz1pLyBf8EK39SCuuIRsshyphenhyphenQsaiNZurmq1DqEjIgwaII83SXtQ4RqmnS-5XL3Fzsh_JzWJKT41hadZp9KzxB0Kz0OZ2WqDjJnd6Z9Pq3CAsw5kZ_WTlMc5IOA/s1600/SA700685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZwSwdRd45FuYqKjysKIQz1pLyBf8EK39SCuuIRsshyphenhyphenQsaiNZurmq1DqEjIgwaII83SXtQ4RqmnS-5XL3Fzsh_JzWJKT41hadZp9KzxB0Kz0OZ2WqDjJnd6Z9Pq3CAsw5kZ_WTlMc5IOA/s320/SA700685.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> When Anitra and I walk home from the Real Change office, we regularly meet this, one of my favorite Seattle landmarks. That's the headquarters of the Seattle Fire Department, viewed from the Main St side, looking east toward Second Avenue. From this angle it looks like a joke. Someone decided to split the sidewalk into a high sidewalk and a low sidewalk. So, for fun, when we approach I like to nudge Anitra toward one or the other. Say I nudge her to the high sidewalk. Then I take the other one at the last minute. And see if she breaks into an impromptu travesty of Loch Lomond.<br />
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If we look at it from further out, we realize that it's really a wheelchair-ramp to an unmarked blue-green door of the Fire Department.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoYBz5wI3AxsgL5-wy1TSmOrR_zQzH_2fY7wTwa3gvTEsLfUcWfNTCBiS9VDx3Ci4oKxFYPKygtgGO_OcOhnbkBOdNv0jpUaCUhr7ikNShB-lsBf-CKlBm1oU4XbaV87yj5bJcAekFIY/s1600/SA700686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoYBz5wI3AxsgL5-wy1TSmOrR_zQzH_2fY7wTwa3gvTEsLfUcWfNTCBiS9VDx3Ci4oKxFYPKygtgGO_OcOhnbkBOdNv0jpUaCUhr7ikNShB-lsBf-CKlBm1oU4XbaV87yj5bJcAekFIY/s320/SA700686.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>It happens I remember that the door used to be marked as the entrance to a public restroom, that is now no longer accessible. I always find it locked now. But that's not the triggered memory that I'm talking about in the title. The game I play with Anitra reminds me of an obsession I had when I was 6 or 7 years old<br />
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I was caught up with the idea that I had a trajectory. As a body in motion I leave a track. If I pass through an opening, and then later, upon return, choose not to pass through that opening in the reverse direction, then I have wound my trajectory around one side of that opening. In the case of the wheel-chair ramp, if I take the high side going east, and take the low side coming back west, altogether I will have wound my trajectory once counter-clockwise around the railing.<br />
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Imagine I was leaving a string behind me, everywhere. One long, long, string, like the drag line of spider, all the way back to the hospital room in Greenville General where I was born, where it would be anchored. Every time I were to wind it around an obstacle, it would be that much harder to pull the string straight, if I ever wanted to.<br />
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That's exactly what I imagined when I was 6 or 7, and it horrified me then, that I might be in that fix. Not to be able to straighten out my life path! It would be like being caught in a trap, ready to be devoured by some monster. I wouldn't be able to run freely, my string radiating freely, pivoting around South Carolina.<br />
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Fifteen years later I was an undergraduate discovering my own personal proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra (which says that complex polynomials factor completely) and my proof ended up being the winding number proof. It's an approach that derives the theorem by studying the way polynomials map circles in the complex plane to curves, with particular attention to the number of times the curves wind around zero. Discovering that proof drew me further into the mathematics of properties of space that stay the same when you straighten wrinkles, and so I ended up being a topologist. But my original fascination with the subject was rooted in fear of being trapped in a tangle.<br />
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I'm now utterly over that childhood fear. I still imagine the drag line behind my life trajectory. The difference is now I love the tangles. Now I deliberately wind myself around things. If you see me walking down the street and I weave first right then left around various sidewalk signs, light posts, and such, you'll know that's what I'm doing. I'm tangling myself in everything, because I've figured out who the monster is, and I'm quite happy with being devoured by her.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGC3m9znW3vHiZIXBwhiIE7Xnaq9s7HOyF7Jmq2t88UOnyarmv-iOC4G7RRYFXU7oxKZycAeUGy52GABfXoDZEW-n9kZtH8drZ9blXqZPyUFJTV6ydzHtmD1f1dLTmznofPaXQNEkn0Y/s1600/SA700689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGC3m9znW3vHiZIXBwhiIE7Xnaq9s7HOyF7Jmq2t88UOnyarmv-iOC4G7RRYFXU7oxKZycAeUGy52GABfXoDZEW-n9kZtH8drZ9blXqZPyUFJTV6ydzHtmD1f1dLTmznofPaXQNEkn0Y/s320/SA700689.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-19882619374226083692011-01-24T14:12:00.000-08:002011-01-24T14:12:56.897-08:00Brace for a Return to Posting, Part 2OK! That last return to posting went nowhere! This time, however, I believe a have the magic formula that will get this enterprise going again. I now have an alternative to the Photoshop I lost when my last computer crashed. (I'm using GIMP.) Also, I finally got Adventures in Bloggery, my column bucket, up to date. One of the ways my procrastination proliferates is, if I procrastinate on something of high priority, then I feel bad about spending time on something of lower priority, so I end up doing neither. How could I justify posting here while the columns weren't up over there? Now I don't have that argument in my head anymore.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-43280136675984651572009-11-02T02:37:00.000-08:002009-11-02T02:41:55.587-08:00Novel HintsHints as to how the novel is developing (re previous post).<br /><br />Genre:<br /><br />Satire, Humor, or Parody.<br /><br />Synopsis:<br /><br />A satiric Ugly Duckling story of a man born homeless to housed parents, rejected and therefore out to seek his own kind. Told by his personal Genius with little regard for truth, consistency, or coherence.<br /><br />Excerpt:<br /><br />Gene was conceived in the master bedroom of a two bedroom brick house at the end of NE West Parkway Place, off of West Parkway Way NE, Seattle, to Professor and Mrs Charles and Lola Feldman. Charles was a professor at the University of Washington in the history of engineering, who specialized in the history of the non-electrical development and utilization of wire, such as steel wire rope, wire fencing, and barbed wire. He dreamed of some day writing a wildly successful popularization of his beloved subject so that he would have other people about him who would want him to share it with them, other than visiting professors from Switzerland. Lola collected porcelain bunnies, taught Xtreme Unitarian Sunday school, had three children from a previous marriage, and was not very enthusiastic about having a fourth with Charles, but the condom broke, so it was God's Miraculous Will.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-63374346137751515592009-10-29T17:36:00.000-07:002009-10-29T18:02:25.418-07:00Brace for a Return to PostingA revival of interest in this "blog" is partly responsible for stirring me to write here again. The other part of it is that I've signed up to <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/hownanoworks">National Novel Writing Month</a>, to write a 50,000 word novel next month, and this is a good place to discuss it as I go along. I won't try to write it here, that would entail writing from end to beginning, which I don't feel like doing (this time). But I expect I'll write about the writing.<br /><br />My first thought was to write a play. I've always wanted to write a play, and the NaNoWriMo definition of a novel is so broad it includes any play that you have the audacity to call a novel providing only that it is fictional. But as the start of the month approaches it occurred to me that there was an actual novel I'd like to write.<br /><br />I want it to be an extended patchwork of fables about a fictitious homeless person who will certainly sometimes resemble an exaggeration of me, but other times not. The key concepts so far, then: patchwork, fables, homeless.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-65346128355125508862009-06-24T18:48:00.000-07:002009-06-24T18:54:05.877-07:00So - You're About to Become HomelessThis is an old article I wrote for Real Change in the 90s. It's now very much out of date. I'm putting it here for the record.<br /><br />So - You're About to Become Homeless....<br />or How to Hit the Street Feet-First Not Face-First.<br /><br />Sometimes homelessness happens suddenly. Lightning strikes your house, it burns down, you weren't insured for lightning strikes, SURPRISE!<br /><br />But usually there are Warning Signs. Say it's May 15, you have $200 to your name, you're an unemployed laborer, you just sprained your ankle dancing, the June rent is $400, and your friends are as broke as you are. You are quite likely to be homeless in four to six weeks, depending on how good your landlord's lawyer is.<br /><br />If you've been homeless before, you should know it's time to get it together, and know how. This article is meant for all you first-timers who don't have a clue.<br /><br />To become homeless gracefully you need to convert your assets to resources accessible from your new "residence" - losing as little as possible - and learn to take advantage of opportunities for the poor and homeless that may be new to you.<br /><br />Let's begin with what you already have.<br /><br />MATERIAL RESOURCES: I.e., stuff.<br /><br />The houseless and apartmentless don't have to be stuffless. You need stuff to maintain your sense of identity, to have things to sell later, to prove who you are and what you are entitled to, to maintain yourself daily, etc. You need to put it somewhere.<br /><br />For the non-day-to-day stuff a good solution is the commercial storage space. Monthly rents are affordable even for the very poor, provided you shop around a little. Usually, the harder the place is to get to, the lower the rent. So don't plan to be visiting your stuff on a regular basis. You can try to wrangle storage space from people you know, but *if you don't pay them, expect an interpersonal cost.* As you will see, this last comment in asterisks has wider applications to your new life- style.<br /><br />Items that should go into storage are everything that fits that you don't need daily (see below) PLUS copies of ALL legal, financial, and medical records and any other documents you can't bear to lose. Sell the big items that don't fit. Be especially sure to store copies of your ID, social security card, and birth certificate. Loss of ID on the streets is frequent and without backup can be disastrous.<br /><br />Don't max out your checking account thinking that no one will take a check from a homeless person. Of course they will. Pay your storage fees promptly by mail, with checks or money orders. Checks are cheaper.<br /><br />Next we come to the day-to-day stuff. There are places in this city where you can find lockers, even some free ones. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to tell you about them, because they aren't intended for you. Exception: there are some inexpensive lockers provided by SHARE located at the Josephinum, 1902 2nd Ave., 2nd floor. For the others keep your eyes open, and try to think, where would lockers be?<br /><br />This brings us to the debate over the relative merits of backpacks, bags, carts, etc. This is a matter of personal preference and physical ability. Carts and large backpacks mark you, but do what you want or must. My preference was a small backpack for small items and a large but lightly packed bag for clothes and bedding - this gave me a little flexibility if I scored a place to stash the bag. Cheap collapsible carts are available which, being collapsible, are also easy to stash.<br /><br />What should you carry with you? It depends on who you are. Here's a list of suggestions some of which won't apply to you:<br /><br />Toothbrush, toothpaste, first-aid kit including scissors and tweezers, penknife, spoon, fork, bowl, can-opener, razors, feminine hygiene products, needed over the counter meds - e.g. antihistamines, ear plugs, plenty of socks, spare underwear, a miniature bottle of shampoo, mace and a whistle, spare shoes, soap and deodorant, a hand mirror, matches, sleeping bag, a warm blanket, spare set of clothes, warm overcoat, hooded parka, work boots, light-weight rain gear, pen and paper, a towel.<br /><br />For urban street life you shouldn't need a tent or camp stove. Even if you don't get in a shelter, there is plenty of cover from wind and rain in the city. And there are lots of ways to get hot food without having to cook it yourself, or pay for it. You won't starve. Don't haul too many books. Use the libraries instead. Another class of items to carry are what I call sanity-savers. A Walkman and a handful of cool tapes would fall into this category. Without it you are at the mercy of Muzak. One guy I know got himself a pocket shortwave radio. He preferred talk to music. Another one had a Game-Boy. If you like chess, pack a chess set. Very popular: a blank book.<br /><br />Of course if you have wheels hang on to them as long as possible. There's your storage (or most of it), your shelter, and your locker all in one portable unit. Don't forget to park on alternate sides of the street in residential areas where posted etc. Be discrete - passers-by may report you as a dead body in a car - bringing the police and hassles. As with lockers I can't tell you the best places to park, you'll have to use your imagination. Take extra care not to get towed.<br /><br />Have children? Don't forget to bring them along. We don't need to inspire a "Home Alone III".<br /><br />NONMATERIAL RESOURCES.<br /><br />Your most important of these are friends and family, if any. Start now kissing up to them. You may land couch- or floor-space. Even if only temporary, this can buy time to improve your situation. I once even PAID an ex-girlfriend $160 for 6 weeks of couch-space. By the end of that time another friend agreed to let me take over his room without having to pay him his deposit. As a result, in nearly two months of being technically homeless, I only spent three days with no place to crash. These things only happen to people who HAVE friends.<br /><br />Also important are your ties to the rest of the community and the world. Right now you may be so embarrassed by your poverty that you wish you could drop off the planet and never be seen or heard from again. RESIST SUCH THOUGHTS WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH AND WILL! Isolation is your worst enemy.<br /><br />You will need ways to get mail and phone messages. Regarding mail I recommend a commercial mailbox service. Find one in the area you expect to be hanging, rent a box now, and have the Post Office start forwarding your mail there immediately. Send Change of Address Notices to everyone you know including your bank, your lawyer (if you have one), and even to people you aren't particularly fond of, e.g. ex-spouses or adult children you've disowned. My own worse bout of homelessness ended after I inherited $2,000. The check came to my ex-wife who might have torn it up, except that the divorce settlement entitled her to half. So she was motivated to get it to me. I only got my half, but half was all I needed. If I had not let her know how to reach me, I might still be on the streets today, more than ten years later.<br /><br />PO boxes are much cheaper than commercial mailboxes but can't be used as legal addresses for some purposes. Cheapest still (free) is to tell everyone on your mailing list to write to you General Delivery at your local Post Office. You'll get your mail but no credit for having an address at all. You won't be able to get Food Stamps, register to vote, get GAU or social security benefits, new ID when old expires, or even a library card.<br /><br />There are a variety of phone message options. You can subscribe to message services providing voice-mail that cost about what your basic home service has been costing you. Or you can rent a pager. When considering a pager, add in the cost of replying to frivolous calls from pay phones. The pager will be more expensive but worth it if it can snag income. Weigh the chances.<br /><br />The latest rage in homeless empowerment is the e-mail account. The Seattle Community Network, 365-4528, offers free accounts. Additional services come with a low-cost Speakeasy account (see their ad, page ). You can access these at the Speakeasy or with your library card at a public library. By the way, you don't need an account to just access the internet. Consult your librarian.<br /><br />You should at all costs maintain all your current ties to humanity. If you are in therapy, group therapy, in an AA group, or any other support group, stay there if you can. Continue attending church if you do, clubs, and political groups. Don't think that you have nothing to contribute just because you are now homeless. You will not be an outcast unless you make yourself one.<br /><br />Speaking of nonmaterial resources: if you like sex I advise you to get laid as often as possible between now and your eviction, even if your partner is going to be homeless with you. You may only have the memories for awhile.<br /><br />NEW (?) OPPORTUNITIES, an introduction.<br /><br />FOOD.<br /><br />I've met millionaires at soup kitchens. They don't do an income check at the door. Therefore it would be presumptive of me to assume that you have never been to one. But if you haven't, now is the perfect time to check them out. BEFORE you lose your home. The money you save now on food will help you pay the expenses of storage and mail and phone services described above, thereby stretching your limited reserves, and you will lose your fear of starvation, relieving you of a mountain of anxiety.<br /><br />Remember what I said? *If you don't pay them, expect an interpersonal cost*. You have also heard it put this way: "There's no such thing as a free lunch." True but some are more free than others. So - you have to wait in line. So - you have to listen to the sermon. So - figure you're getting paid a lunch in return for an hour's work, consisting of waiting and listening. And you don't even have to listen if, like me, you bring ear plugs. So - quit bitching and enjoy the relatively free food. And be proud, telling yourself, "I've earned this!"<br /><br />And where are these soup kitchens ("community meals" to the people who run them)? See the White Page's table of contents. Look up Community Service Numbers. My copy says go to pages 2 and 3. Look there for the heading "Food". Call the numbers you see and tell whoever answers where you are. If you are in Seattle and don't have a phone book handy try 723-0647. This gets you the Church Council of Greater Seattle's Emergency Feeding Program. They can help you get food for specific dietary needs, as well as refer you to hot meals.<br /><br />Also ask for the address and hours of a food bank in your zipcode. Register with them now while you still have a home. Bring ID and proof of residence. They may ask if you have cooking facilities. If you wait to register when you are homeless saying yes with a straight face may be hard.<br /><br />You may already know where to apply for Food Stamps. If not, go to the "Community Service Office" for your zipcode. It's one of my pet peeves that it's found that way in the Blue Pages of the White Pages, in the Washington State listings. YOU call it the Welfare Office, I call it the Welfare Office, THEY call it the CSO and expect us to know that, even if we've never been there before. Plan to spend an afternoon applying. Bring documentation: Who are you? How much do you earn? What is your ADDRESS? What do you pay in rent and utilities?<br /><br />At the CSO you can also apply for GAU (General Assistance for the Unemployable). You may be eligible without knowing it, so I'd apply unless I was employed full-time. While there ask about DVR (the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation) if you are interested in getting help overcoming whatever unemployability you might have.<br /><br />Much of the information here is readily available on the internet. If you have access to the internet, say if you have a library card, try this: First get to Telnet. Then at the prompt enter: o scn.org. Follow instructions to login, and wade through SCN's flood of welcoming information. Then at the main menu enter: go crisis. Choose "Food and Housing Services" from the menu. See what you get.<br /><br />SHELTER, SHOWERS, LAUNDRY.<br /><br />In King County call 461-3200. Elsewhere see the Community Service Numbers again, under Emergency Shelters.<br /><br />One problem here: for now there is no such thing as a shelter that offers beds for night-workers during the day. So if you have a night job consider putting in for the day-shift.<br /><br />MORE STUFF: clothing, etc.<br /><br />Look up "Thrift Stores" in the Yellow Pages.<br /><br />Baby supplies, clothing, and toys are available at low prices at the Josephinum 1902 2nd Ave., 2nd floor.<br /><br />The Millionair's Club Thrift Store Annex at 2137 2nd Avenue has free racks of clothes ("some limitations may apply"). You may want to stop first at 2515 Western, their main office, MWF 7am-8:30am or 2:45pm-3:15pm for vouchers to obtain certain items not on the free racks, like underwear and socks. Warning: The Thrift Store closes mid-afternoon.<br /><br />MEDICAL CARE, CHILD CARE.<br /><br />Go back to the Community Service Numbers. This time look up Health Care Resources, respectively Child Care Resources. Call ahead to determine eligibility, costs if any, drop-in periods.<br /><br />SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES.<br /><br />You can join homeless advocacy groups like SHARE, WHEEL (for women), the Seattle Displacement Coalition, etc. for company and a sense of purpose.<br /><br />Here is a short list of places in Seattle to be during the day:<br /><br />Public Libraries.<br />Angeline's YWCA (for women), 2025 3RD Ave.<br />First Avenue Service Center NOT on First but Third: 2015 3rd Ave.<br />Pike Market Senior Center, 1931 1st Ave.<br />Various parks in good weather.<br />The Seattle Center.<br />The University of Washington (but don't try to sleep there).<br />The StreetLife Gallery, 2301 2nd Ave., 328-5637. (You'll be expected to actually work on art and help with cleaning).<br />YMCA, YWCA - to exercise, swim, at low cost, 382-5010, 461-4868, resp.<br />Community Psychiatric Clinic has places to hang-out if you have a mental disability, as well as counseling services and meals. 461-3614.<br /><br />Hanging-out in Downtown Seattle has the advantage that it is in the Free Ride Zone - free bus transportation within during the day.<br /><br />This has only been an introduction to the sorts of opportunities available to the poor and/or homeless. Every service that you take advantage of will be able to tell you about ten more, so carry pad and pen with you. You will find out about low-income housing. You will learn what "Section 8" means. You will meet other people in similar situations who will be able to give you more information. Like maybe where those free lockers are, or how to dumpster-dive and why, or what corners are best to sell the Real Change, or where to land odd-jobs.<br /><br />The streets are full of sad, lonely, embittered people. Most were not like that before they got there. They got that way because they didn't know all the ways that they could preserve their property, health, security and sanity. If you do, it won't happen to you.<br /><br />To conclude on a lighter note, I'd like to borrow some excellent and pertinent words of wisdom from Douglas Adam's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (which, by the by, sells rather better than the "Encyclopedia Galactica"):<br /><br />DON'T PANIC<br /><br />And: Be hoopy, be a frood - always know where your towel is.Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-19265847667145497572009-04-09T03:02:00.000-07:002009-04-09T03:08:02.516-07:00Truman on Newspapers<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />Back in 1961, the issue was the morning papers were taking over the afternoon papers!<br /><br />David Susskind w/ Truman re Newspapers, 1961<br /><br /><object height="296" width="512"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/6N3agd_wjZ051n7Rnctbfg/552/633"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/6N3agd_wjZ051n7Rnctbfg/552/633" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="296" width="512"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-78835460876627128562009-04-03T23:37:00.000-07:002009-04-03T23:44:09.423-07:00Swing Find<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />Ooo, nice.<br /><br />Balboa-Swing Dancing in the short Maharaja (1943)<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ehVZktW0BK4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ehVZktW0BK4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-81547147050861401602009-04-02T02:43:00.000-07:002009-04-02T02:47:18.099-07:00Echoes of the Present<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />Something not quite right here. Too happy for 1933, maybe?<br /><br />Complete New Deal Rhythm ~ 1933<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vn0QN5zXz9w&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vn0QN5zXz9w&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-87562879749322360142009-03-20T00:24:00.000-07:002009-04-02T02:39:20.408-07:00Miklos Molnar<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />Ernie Kovacs Miklos Molnar Howdee Dee Dee Show<br /><br />I've never seen this before. Love it.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BUeaL3smPRM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BUeaL3smPRM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-50220843492656504562009-03-13T18:38:00.000-07:002009-04-02T02:40:12.974-07:00Definitive Minnie?<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />I can't get enough of Minnie The Moocher.<br /><br />YouTube is making this harder for me. Too many choices. We'll see if this works.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/33nTnawq6jk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/33nTnawq6jk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-1605771677223046042009-02-11T21:44:00.000-08:002009-04-02T02:40:57.011-07:00De los álamos vengo, madre<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />I just realized tonight that this was one of my favorites.<br /><br />"De los álamos vengo, madre..." de Joaquín Rodrigo<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_DuHYZIfZls&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_DuHYZIfZls&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-57742530179060596982009-01-26T20:55:00.000-08:002009-04-02T02:41:38.057-07:00Boop/ Calloway<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />The best part of this, in my opinion, is the animation of the singer(s) of St. James Infirmary. They got Cab Calloway down. The description says it was "band".<br /><br />Betty Boop - Snow White (1933)<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8-arBMWSD9s&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8-arBMWSD9s&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-90137697254803386592009-01-21T23:27:00.000-08:002009-04-02T02:42:34.178-07:00Brass Tocatta<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />It's hard to believe that this is only 5 musicians.<br /><br />Canadian Brass: Tocatta y Fuga<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c54HuSXvsj4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c54HuSXvsj4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-49219308389821430052009-01-20T20:57:00.000-08:002009-01-20T21:01:09.256-08:00Rondo o mondo<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />My favorite rondo ever.<br /><br />"Rondo" - Andres Segovia<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NrtH3wWRgXg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NrtH3wWRgXg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-28339552560190657592008-12-26T20:55:00.000-08:002008-12-26T20:58:26.074-08:00Shai-Hulud<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />This first Video Find in over two weeks is inspired by all the talk about what Obama has to face in assuming office. He has called up a big one. It is the legend.<br /><br />Dune....Shai-Hulud<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ld2DMsyy0go&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ld2DMsyy0go&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-9392231352582866172008-12-07T23:59:00.000-08:002008-12-08T00:36:52.453-08:00Odissi Dance<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />Classical Indian dance. The description doesn't say so, but I getting the idea the performers in these are typically teenagers, at the oldest. The last time I shared something like this, YouTube pulled the video within 24 hours. Hope this gets to stay.<br /><br />Rahul Acharya, Odissi Dance<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/G27HWg1Fya0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/G27HWg1Fya0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-8677821590620737802008-12-04T23:31:00.000-08:002008-12-04T23:39:38.166-08:00Triple Fusion<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />A threefer of tribal fusion, by tribal fusionists Rachel Brice (first), (then) Kami Liddle, (then) Kajira Djoumahna.<br /><br />Rachel Brice and Kami Liddle - vintage 2005 Tribal Fusion<br /> <br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b6qKYTDFfGA&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b6qKYTDFfGA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8439124948228777761.post-67478560783474027882008-12-03T23:59:00.000-08:002008-12-04T01:11:10.349-08:00Back to OCD<a href="http://wesrunoff.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20find">Video Find of the Day</a><br /><br />Here's a sign that I may be recovering from my week of weak internet. I'm back to back-posting daily video finds! Here's a video from the Onion that was posted to YouTube in July, but is even better now, given the intervening stock market crash.<br /><br />Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Presidency<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_aEURwsrUSQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_aEURwsrUSQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dr. Wes Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06283981215136804185noreply@blogger.com0