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(7 reviews)
Product Information:
(based on
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Best Uses
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good quality for the money
Lake Spivey, Georgia
About Me
Avid Do-It-Yourselfer
Best Uses
Comments about
WoodRiver 12" Combination Square
I purchased this for a replacement for a beginning grade square that I have had for years.
One of the posted cons was that it would have to be broken down to be placed in the case it came in. However, if you remove the scribe tool it will fit in the case assembled (just stick the scribe in the foam padding to keep it secure).
Bottom Line
Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Next best thing to a Starrett
Moscow, ID
About Me
If you can't afford a Starrett, this square is the next best thing. Way beyond the hardware store junk, it's reasonably accurate and the storage case is handy.
I wouldn't recommend
Duluth Ga
Out of the box it was accurate and seemed well made. The real issue I had with this product is that within a month of use, the "hook" that tightens the ruler to the body wore out. The unit is now worthless unless you just need a ruler. Like another commment mentions, the box it comes in is useless since you have to take it apart to put it in the storage box.
Bottom Line
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Quality square
Really not a bad square at all. Accurate and durable and a steal for the price. Only a few points to improve upon. The case, as has been mentioned before, is almost unusable because it requires you to completely disassemble the tool to fit in the case. Grease! Why so much grease on this thing? It stained the entire handle brown and yellow. I was able to wipe most of it off and properly oil but there are permanent stains that will need to be sanded off. And, the edges of the handle were never chamfered. Some faces need crisp edges, but some faces are never used for reference. I filed those down to avoid citing myself or scratching the wood.
Bottom Line
Good value
Square seems very well made and solid. I can say that mine is quite accurate. This product is a great value like many of the newer woodriver products. It comes with a rugged case with removable cutouts in the foam to add any accessories you may purchase for it, but requires that the rule be removed and placed in its slot for the square to fit in the case. I'm not disassembling my square every time I put it away, so the case is basically useless for me. If woodriver fixed the case I'd gladly buy it again, if I needed another. Fix the case design and I'd give it 5 stars, but I guess for the price it's nice that it even comes with a case. Forgetting the case for a moment, this is a great combo square that I can easily recommend.
Excellent Square
Hamlin, NY
I've made the mistake of buying cheap squares. Not a good idea! For the budget minded this square is perfect. It's far from cheaply made, handles well and is very accurate. Very good tool! A prime example of a well made tool with premium quality at an affordable price.
Great, low-cost combination square
Antioch, CA
About Me
Of course, it's not a Starret, but it's a very well-made square for those who can't afford the best. I got my combination square on sale, and I saved $10.00. This is the lowest-cost, well-made square I have found online.
The square is sturdy and the head adjustment uses a knurled nob that's easy to grasp and holds tight. The steel rule is very easy to remove from, and replace on, the head. The square includes the usual scratch awl and spirit level.
The only negative thing is the rule is not satin chrome-finished, making it difficult to read in certain light. For those who prefer a regular steel finish, it's fine.
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©2016 by Woodcraft Supply LLC


text:
Cool!! DAZ ME 4 Summer/Fall 2013!!! Perfect 4 Disneyland Holiday 2013!!!
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April 30, 2013 BY John Kim / 79
Looking back at the genesis of the Nike KD line, which started as the affordable every-man basketball sneaker in the signature category, it's amazing to witness the journey the KD took into becoming one of the major focal points of Nike Basketball. With Kobe Bryant nearing retirement and the Nike LeBron line now in double-digit category, we expect a lot of attention to go towards the Nike KD line, and for good measure; Durant gets better and better every year, and the KD sneaker is arguably the must-have of the bunch thanks to its sleek design and lower price-point in comparison to the LeBron and Kobe.
With the Nike KD V life-cycle coming to end in just a few weeks, Nike Basketball is ready to unveil the Nike KD VI sooner than expected; instead of the late year introduction, the Nike KD VI will be unveiled in the coming Summer/Fall months to give each Nike signature its own spotlight rather than clustering them so closely at the end of the year. The first expected release is this bright yellow/blue version, which could be deemed an "OKC Home" colorway. Aside from the color package, there's some interesting design points to shed light on, starting with the revised cushioning system. Replacing the 180-degree Max Air on the heel is the 180-degree Zoom Air unit embedded in a Phylon midsole. The upper utilizes that "second skin" approach with the low-pro and seamless shell with embedded Flywire providing the necessary strength.
The tongue and lacing structure is again a structural achievement, with the split-tongue construction and shroud leaning on the lateral side providing stress relief on the foot while overlapping the medial upper that provides a bootie-like feel. The new KD logo on the tongue spells out "35" in negative space, while the classic KD logo is prominently placed on the heel. Overall, the low-cut, low-profile silhouette gives the sneaker almost a Kobe-like appeal, with the Hyperdunk-inspired forefoot Swoosh giving the sneaker much of an International Football approach. We've got some additional photos of this first look at the Nike KD VI below, so give it a review and let us know what stands out to you the most, and be sure to stick with Sneaker News for all your KD 6 updates.
Nike KD VI
Summer/Fall 2013
Photo: taobao
Filed under: Kevin Durant Upcoming Sneakers
Tags: KD 6 (Release Dates & Photos) KD VI Nike KD VI Nike KD VI Seat Pleasant
Cool!! DAZ ME 4 Summer/Fall 2013!!! Perfect 4 Disneyland Holiday 2013!!!
They look like Trey V's
these look like ice creams lol
Fucking gross
Wtf? A banana?
I didn't realize Kevin's playin soccer now. They look like an ugly ass soccer shoe. Come the fuck on Nike.
Im laughing so hard at this bullshit
bruh what the fuck is this
yall should check this out. kd 5 weatherman customs
pretty clean work!
...... THAT SHIT. It seems to be Mercurial! KD VI will be wear by Cristiano Ronaldo?????
seems like an elite though the E on the tongue
gettin atleast 3 or 4 pairs of this series
Make it a high top and it will look pretty great
reminds me of jordan 15's for some reason.
They better change this crap soon... I don't care for them but I bet half of the people here will probably buy them when some hot colorway comes out. Way it is with about every new sig shoe.
shittyass bowling shoes.
*Throws up*
i hope Nike reads comments and realizes everyone hates these...
since when is yellow and navy blue the colorway of OKC!! They look like a cheap version of the mambacurial its nike basketball not soccer! another year KD gets the worse nike design!!
Do I read 55-&-counting appreciative or disappointing comments???!!!
Reactions are well appreciated.
way tooooo low, a little plain too. looks like a soccer shoe
I hate to be honest, but wow.....those are wack!
Back to the lab, I say! They better not release those.
i know well for me atleast im always iffy when the new models come out, but the more i see em i like em. but theres no way im gonna like these at all...
nope! these are horrible in looks! that tongue is trash, that big KD on the side looks played and just not a good looking shoe. this is the case for a higher price model
look like some turf soccer shoes...
BRING BACK THE KD IVs!!!!!
Uglyyy. Hope these aren't the 6's
Lord PLEASE don't let these be the kd 6! KD my dude n all but these as hideous
Lmao at these weak ass sneaks
Does KD moonlight as a soccer player
These are so ugly its disappointing. If I was playing soccer I would get these, but basketball?
Mannnn these look like indoor soccer boots with a thicker midsole. I like indoor soccer shoes, so I like these. Not for hooping though. Just for working out and such. They are too low-cut for my taste. lower than the kd3s even. The 4s were a perfect height for a "low-cut" shoe. And they had the strap for extra support.
I thought I was looking at a Mercurial Vapor or something (soccer cleat)... minus the spikes.
was hoping that the toe swoosh trend would be have been dead by this iteration
Bring back the strap from the IV !
These bitches look like soccer shoes Lmao
i can confirm these are the KD 6 and they'll be priced at $130 and they come out in august i believe, i work for DSG and have seen the upcoming release dates catalog for footwear products
Looks like some bullshit I made on 2k13.. Nike not gonna stop wit the Lo cut shoe, are they? Smh.. This looks lower then the kd3 smh.. look like a soccer shoe. Some shit they should of made for demarcus beasley.. miss me wit the electric/volt, bullshit.. those ain't even the thunder colors.. BTW, whatever happened to the days player would debut next year shoe in the later rounds of the playoffs?(ie Jordan 96-98)... Kd's been going downhill since the 3 IMHO
They look like soccer shoes to me. Never been a fan of the KD's, and I don't think these will get new fans either. He should try something new. At least with Jordan's every new release was different and evolving. The difference between the LeBron's is also huge, if you look at the older ones at least.
Bullshit. This is definitely the takedown model for the KD VI.
WTF are these...KD too good to have this sort of garbage in his lineup. Nike fucked up.
Nike Mercurial KD :)
Thought these were the kd trey 5s? What happened to that? Now they're calling these the kd6s?
nike fogot april fools day is the first day of april not the last.
These went downhill from the Elites, ugly as crap
Whooooooooa... Thought these were da new hyperdunk lows lol
nike gives kd this cheap plastic crap, then they give lebron some incredibly high tech space shoe
KD Bowling shoes???
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
ICANN Dumps EstDomains for Fraud, Abuse
ICANN today issued a formal and, we assume, irrevocable notice of termination to EstDomains President Vladimir Tsastsin:
Be advised that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for EstDomains, Inc. (Customer No. 919, IANA No. 832) is terminated. Consistent with subsection 5.3.3 of the RAA, this termination is based on your status as President of EstDomains and your credit card fraud, money laundering and document forgery conviction. This termination shall be effective within fifteen calendar days from the date of this letter, on 12 November 2008.
EstDomains has been suspected by many as a source of domain registration malfeasance for use by cyber-criminals and spammers for years. As recently described within a hostexploit.com report, Sunbelt Software and Spamhaus have called out EstDomains. Brian Krebs followed up in The Washington Post.
EstDomains has been trying to fight back, issuing press releases with headlines like "EstDomains, Inc Takes Next Step in Combating Spam and malware," stating, "Once again EstDomains, Inc would like to address the interactive community and ask for co-operation to make the Internet clear and safe." Unfortunately this coincided with another Krebs post relating to Tsastsin, "A Sordid History and a Storied CEO."
As a result of ICANN's newfound boldness, approximately 281,000 domain names under EstDomains' management will be transferred to an ICANN-Accredited Registrar in accordance with ICANN's "De-accredited Registrar Transition Procedure."
In its statement, ICANN noted "It is ICANN's goal to protect registrants' from unnecessary harm and we look forward to amicably resolving any domain name transition issues that may arise from this termination." ICANN has also released other Notices of Breach and Termination to an ICANN-accredited registrar, Beijing Innovative Linkage Technology Ltd., doing business as DNS.com.cn and Joker.com, on Sept. 30, 2008. These are available here.
These registrars failed to comply with Section 3.7.8 of the RAA, which requires registrars to take "reasonable steps to investigate" Whois.Net inaccuracy claims. Section 3.7.8 requires registrars, "...upon notification by any person of an inaccuracy in the contact information associated with a Registered Name sponsored by Registrar, [to] take reasonable steps to investigate the claimed inaccuracy. In the event Registrar learns of inaccurate contact information associated with a Registered Name it sponsors, it shall take reasonable steps to correct that inaccuracy."
Hopefully, this demonstrates a new aggressiveness from ICANN where enforcement is concerned and a willingness to listen to a community besieged by spammers and worse. Perhaps ICANN could also be persuaded to allow the Internet security community to advise which of these domains is abusive before any transfer is made to a new registrar.


text:
|Sir Justahl of NeoWald
Sir Justahl is torn. Some of his companions are going off to fight against something he can't see, while his duty lay with protecting Cassandra.
He takes a reluctant step towards the castle.
Surely she'll be safe with a dragon... He thinks as he stops and turns back to follow Jorzan.
But the Goddess was very clear about accompaning Cassandra... He stops and turns back towards the castle...
|DM Downrightamazed
The energy hitting the soul tower is completely different from the lines and traceries you saw back in Pechora. BUT! You do see more of those weird lines. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they seem to come down to earth in the same area the medallion is dragging you towards...
|DM Downrightamazed
|DM Downrightamazed
@Belsarious and @Gray: The older man, who certainly looks the part of a sleepy, cranky academic, peers at you both. "Well, you certainly look like the kinds of ruffians she'd send out this way. Come in for a second, if you want, I need to get my shoes and oiled cloak." He steps aside and motions for you to enter.
Did we get to bring along a representative from Pechora? If so, Kelne will be letting Justahl organise them, since he's sticking around.
Giving Justahl a nod, Kelne fell in with Jorzan. No sense leaving him to go off and face the mysterious tower on his own. Hopefully, the prisoners had been gotten out of their gems before the tapestries vanished. He'd have to check once the opportunity arose. Teleporting back to retrieve Ormir's treasure could wait for now.
|Gray Moribund
|DM Downrightamazed
|DM Downrightamazed
@Gray: Looking around, you can see that this archivist is also obviously a mage of some sort, which really doesn't surprise you much. His room is dark and feels bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside. A couple guttering candelabra offer meager illumination. A rumpled bed sits in the corner, looking like the victim of a mugging, and a giant desk overflowing with scrolls and books and charms and maps and all manner of thing looms in the corner like a horrid magistrate. Most of the candles are there, leading you to believe the man was working, or just taking a short nap, not really sleeping. Book shelves line the walls, in fact it appears the walls are bookshelves.
"You like that?" says the old man, obviously noticing your curiosity, "Standard feature of staff housing. Very convenient. Now, where did I put that..." He totters off towards the bed, clearly looking for something.
Jorzan nods in thanks to Kelne as the warrior begins jogging alongside him. As they continue to move towards the tower though, a strange thing happens. Without his seeming to be aware of it at first, Jorzan begins noticeably veering off towards the right of the tower, sort of in the direction of the big fire at the docks earlier.
When he finally does notice, the Shadowdancer stops abruptly and says aloud "What the hell?" looking somewhat perplexed for a moment, his hand again goes to his pocket as he explains to Kelne "This medallion, the one Ormir had been wearing, seems to very much want to go towards the docks..." and, as he looks in that direction, for a moment he seems to consider going that way. But then he looks back at the tower and his features darken and harden in determination as he states flatly "But there is where I am going. The medallion will just have to wait."
And, putting action to words, he begins heading towards the tower again, jogging even faster now.
Approximately how long until they reach it?
|Belsarious II
|Gray Moribund
|DM Downrightamazed
@Jorzan, @Kelne, and @Justahl: It doesn't take very long to reach the area where the base of the tower is centered; maybe 20 minutes at most. The entire time, though, the tower is growing and shifting and twisting. A large group of souls and shadows are now breaking away and swirling around, they look lost. A strange rumbling sound has picked up from...somewhere. It's hard to tell where, exactly, but the ground is vibrating lightly.
You come to the end of a street and Jorzan peers around the corner, wrapped in shadow so as to avoid detection. He reports that there are men and other creatures...some gnolls and half-orcs, walking around in a sort of patrol, and they seem centered on an empty storefront, inside of which is some kind of purple glow.
There are three guards at the door; all big half-orcs with some sort of horrid four-legged dog-things as companions, and there are three more guards at various places up the block. All are wearing big, heavy cloaks; the kind you use to cover up the fact that you're heavily armed.
The storefront is currently 60 feet straight in front of you. The other guards are all about twice that distance away.
|DM Downrightamazed
@Gray and @Belsarious: The old man continues to ramble on, talking about familiars, and demonstrating some of the interesting commands he had once taught his old familiar to recognize and act on.
Ok, no worries. Can Jorzan tell whereabouts now the medallion would take him if he followed it's direction?
Would that be a Knowledge(local)?: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17
Sorry, but I'm not completely understanding the set-up. Are we at a cross, or T junction? Or what? If we were facing North, where would the Door be and where would the guards be? And are there guards between us and the door?
As they reach the tower, before he looks around the corner, Jorzan stares up for a little while at the sight with a horrid fascination, He describes to his companions what he sees before saying quietly "Maybe it's better you can't see this....but surely you can feel the ground vibrating? Can't say for sure that it's connected to the 'tower', but I can hardly see how it couldn't be. One second."
Then, wrapping in shadows and stepping around the corner, he comes back a few moments later and gives his report, ending with. "I, we, have to get in that room. I'm thinking perhaps Kelne and I sneak up there, then, after giving us a few seconds leeway, Justhal comes up boldly, distracting the guards long enough for us to get in some sneaky flank attacks." then, grinning darkly he says "Unless you'd rather go talk first?"
|Gray Moribund
Sense Motive
1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Gray waits silently, as he watches the old man, weapon still in hand just lowered.
i f$@%ing hate this dice roller. don't remember the last time i rolled higher then a 10.
|Belsarious II
|Min Bein'Meleth Rámalóce
@Gray: DRA told us a long time ago we could roll our own dice and post the results. I don't know if the offer is still available but its something you could talk to him about. ^^;;; Just thought I would toss that out there~
|DM Downrightamazed
@Jorzan, @Justahl, @Kelne: If you go to the map link below, you would be at the intersection of Inverness and Gloucester Crescent, facing SW. The ring of houses would be businesses, and the shadow-tower (which I hasten to emphasize is not a real structure, but an ethereal thing overlaid on top of the actual real buildings) would be rising up above said ring of businesses. Guards are right across Gloucester Crescent from you, and up that same street off to your left and right.
Still waiting for a response from the others while he watches the guards the Shadowdancer adds "As I think on, maybe the frontal approach would be the best. Just walk up to them and see what they have to say, after all, we don't know that they're bad guys."
As he says this though, Jorzan's expression makes it clear that he does not for a second believe them to be anything other than enemies
PS thanks for the map! Helped a Lot!
"Oh, I think we know they're bad guys," Kelne pointed out, "I wouldn't advise talking. That gives them a chance to converge on us. If we can, I'd like to get in without being noticed. Fighting the guards on the entrance just stirs up the hornets. Let's take a couple of minutes to scout, see if we can spot any other ways in. I'd be very interested to know where that amulet's tugging towards, but splitting up to investigate isn't on the cards."
|DM Downrightamazed
Jorzan glances at Kelne and nods once "Sounds good to me. Justahl, no offence my friend, but do you mind waiting? Or perhaps the two of you should wait while Zan and I scout, we do have the most likelihood of doing so unseen"
|DM Downrightamazed
@Gray and @Belsarious: The old archivist looks over from the corner and says "Darkness? You want to know about the darkness? I'll show you darkness!" He spits out a last arcane word and you both realize too late he's casting a spell! A 10x10 pit opens up under your very feet, at least 40' deep.
DC16 Reflex:
Gray: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Belsarious: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
The old archivist's deception is for naught, however, as you are both able to leap to safety at the last second. The three of you are now in opposit corners of the room; Gray is standing on the bed in one corner, Belsarious is wedged up against the bookshelf in a second corner, and over by the door, just 5' away from it, is the old man. The pit is right in the center of the floor.
Initiative Rolls:
Old Man: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13
Gray: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Belsarious: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
"How did you...! Bah! It doesn't matter! I should have left ages ago, you won't drag me before that overgrown lizard! The time of His Glory is upon us! I must partake!" The old man yells at you both and looks ready to make for the door. Gray is the first one back to his senses, though, and has the drop on everyone.
Round 1, Gray is up! You can go around the pit; it's 30' of movement for you to get to the door, 35' to get to the old man.
|Sir Justahl of NeoWald
Sir Justahl, about to just walk up to the guards and accost them, stops at Jorzan's words.
"But you..." Then he reluctanly nods.
"I suppose that would be wise. I am not very... stealthy."
|Belsarious II
The pit opens covering the room, yet a thought activates the feather-fall component of the flight hex, then the flight itself takes effect with Belsarious drawing forth....his Elven Curve Blade!
"The worst possible trick an likely your last!"
Elven Curve Blade (+2) adamantine
Attack 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
Damage 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Leaving the big Northman to decide for himself if he is coming along or not, Jorzan wraps the shadows around himself and moves forward towards the house with the purple door to determine if there are any orther ways inside.
Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26
Zan he commands to stay behind, thus providing a link between himself and those not scouting.
|DM Downrightamazed
|Gray Moribund
Gray Jumps back from the pit opening. Looking down to the hole his eyes widen. A look of relief comes across his face aa he avoids falling down there.
Looking to archivist he grits his teeth as he runs around the corners of the room afraid the old man may make a break for it out the door.
Surprising himself with his speed. he stops in front of the doorway. Currently one foot in the door one foot out. His morning star in his left hand and his shield in right. Making himself looking wide he tries to make it the idea of exiting his room a bad one.
"There's no need to fight us old man. We just wish to speak to you. This is your final warning."
|The Goblin
@Tanel and @Justahl: giving Agon a chance to convalesce here, he got struck down by a stomach bug of some sort, IRL. :-(
As the two of you are standing in the street, you are startled when a door suddenly opens. It is the coffeeshop up at the end of the alley, the one Agon and Tanel originally sought to enter. The same barista from before steps out and...
...when he sees the tipped over handcart and gnoll carcasses. He quickly runs back into his shop. Another back door opens just 20 feet away, the smell revealing it to be a butcher shop, and out comes a very old gnoll, her muzzle gone all gray and her steps tender. She looks around, and her eyes get wide when she sees the two of you and your prisoners. She gets very agitated then, and begins walking over, pointing in your direction and yelling.
"You lot aren't welcome here! What are YOU doing in this alley! You'll ruin everything, you fools, with your warmongering and slaving. Don't you THINK of bringing any of that to my city!" After a couple seconds of this, you realize she isn't talking to you. She's talking to your prisoners. She's wearing a small, square hat, perched ridiculously on her flat head, and a blood-spattered apron. Your prisoners look at each other in utter confusion, then resume their terrified whining as this new interloper stands over them shaking her head. "I finally find someplace peaceful, where I can get a little respect, and now THIS." After a moment, she finally seems to actually see the two of you. "You two! You're not gendarmes." She looks more closely at Justahl, sniffs deeply. "But you're gorgeous! Grrrr." She turns away from contemplating Justahl's
charms and looks back at the prisoners. "Anyway, if you're not gendarmes, we need to call them. These are Black Dragon soldiers and they shouldn't be in this city. They'll ruin everything we gnolls have built here." She looks at you again, and this time she eyes the bundle in Justahl's hands...
I am a couple hundred posts in so far and loving it, but man the picture of the elderly gnoll woman you paint here sure hit a funny bone and is super original and unexpected!
|The Goblin
"We'll have to fix that at some point," Kelne remarked to Justahl, "Later though." With that, he slipped quietly off to the right, intending to make a brief search for other entrances to the building which apparently overlapped Jorzan's mysterious tower.
Stealth: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (10) + 17 = 27
|DM Downrightamazed
|DM Downrightamazed
@Gray and @Belsarious: As the archivist recoils back from Gray, he weaves his hands through a magical pattern in the air. "No! I won't go with you!" He hisses defiantly. Then he finishes his spell and his voice takes a kinder turn.
Gray DC17 Will: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
"I'm just an old man! Look, why don't you stand aside and guard the door -- you can keep a solid eye on me the whole time! -- and I'll just meet you downstairs, okay?" Gray thinks for a moment, and the Suggestion seems perfectly reasonable to him. He steps aside, making way for the old man to walk out the door.
Unfortunately for him, though, Belsarious then comes sailing across the pit and slashes him with his elven curve blade. The Archivist yells in pain as the magicked blade of the wood elf draws blood. With Gray standing still off to the side, under the effects of the Archivist's spell, the old man Withdraws out the door and starts running down the hall towards the stairs.
Gray, the old man cast Suggestion on you, and you are stuck there for an hour. Belsarious, you are up; the Archivist is 50' away down the hall. You slashed him pretty badly, but he's spry and is moving at a nice clip.
|Belsarious II
|Gray Moribund
Gray looks at the melee around him and smiles as he thinks he got a new easy job of just guarding the room. Something much more suited for him then fighting.
"I'll be here.....watching this door for now. I catch up with you guys later, I guess."
|DM Downrightamazed
|DM Downrightamazed
@Kelne and @Jorzan: Guard Dogs' Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
You are both easily able to slip past the guards, occupied as they are with controlling their watchdogs. The dogs sniff at the wet, heavy air but don't seem to pick up your scent. Their whining is worrisome at first, but quickly fades into the background.
As you move around the building you find it has an entrance on each side; the front door is a double door, and is the main entrance. The other three doors are all just normal, wooden access doors. There are guards at the front door, as you noticed when you were across the street, but there are no guards -- or at least no outside guards at any of the other doors.
All the windows are boarded over or covered with paper, so you are unable to tell what the light source is.
The ground shakes again, as if from a massive hammer blow, or an earthquake, or the steps of a gigantic beast, yet you see nothing.
|DM Downrightamazed
@Justahl: The others depart, leaving you standing next to the spectral and, frankly, rather hideous Zan, who floats by you and is sort-of not-quite visible to the naked eye. You feel the deep, powerful tremors from somewhere down in the earth, and way back behind you, a few blocks away, you hear familiar sing-song-y voices, girlish voices, giggling and squealing and very very drunk. It's quite possibly the same co-eds from up in the quad earlier tonight. They're definitely headed this way.
Zan's head twists around 180 degrees to look back towards the sound, and you notice a couple of the guards glance over their shoulders in that direction, though none make any sort of move to go that way.
The ground shakes again, then subsides.
|DM Downrightamazed
@Lin and @Tora'an: The scroll from Dantoor actually contains a small metal artifact. It has arcane characters in it that center around divinatory magic, and gives off a very weak aura of the same kind of magical energy, as well. In his note, Dantoor writes; Lin, Tora'an, I got this charm from an old Gnoll who came here from the south, from the Bay of Katapesh. He lives above the bar called "Charna" and claims it will lead you directly to one of the "Items" you seek. He warns you, though, that it is protected by one of the Three Great Red Dragons; Felltouch. Good Luck, and I look forward to our next meeting. -- Dantoor
I had forgotten we had moved back to the legacy thread. Would it be easier for us to go back to that or is it fine for us to be here bossman? :)
Lin rolls up the scroll again, making sure to cover up the artifact once more as delicately as she could. Looking to Tora'an she rumbled quietly. "The others need to see this, we'll have to hunt them down when we ge to the surface but... I still cannot feel where Min is. Its strange..."
|Sir Justahl of NeoWald
Sir Justahl stands tensely nearby Zan, trying to resist the impulse to smite the unnatural thing. His eyes start to slide to look at him, then snap back to attention. Then he heard the girls voices.
Momentarily more paniced by the coeds than the undead, Sir Justahl suddenly remembers the Inheritor gave a boon to him for just such an occasion.
Concentrating for a moment, he draws upon the Mark of the Inheritor to subtly disguise his features; to that of an unremarkable man-at-arms.
Iomedae has blessed you with the "Mark of the Inheritor."
Once a day, as a Spell-like ability, as a swift action that does not cause an attack of opportunity, you can invoke this disguise spell; it changes your hair and eye color to black, shortens your hair, and gives you a magnificent scar on your right cheek.
Sense motive or perception checks can be made to discern who you really are, but at a dc of 20+your current level [DC28].
|DM Downrightamazed
|Belsarious II
|DM Downrightamazed
@Justahl: Your transformation has no real effect on Zan, but when you spin around at the sound of footsteps, you are face-to-face with one of the patrolling guards. How the hell did he get so close without you hearing.
"Hello, there, citizen. You shouldn't be around here. There's some kind of evil magic afoot and we're trying to keep people away so they don't get hurt." He looks you over. "If you're looking for work, come back in the morning. We could definitely use more swords."
The ground shakes again, but the guard ignores it. His dog growls a little but not at you. Suddenly, from back where the co-eds were, you hear a loud crashing noise and the sound of screams, followed quickly by pleas for help.
"What th-!" exclaims the guard.
|DM Downrightamazed
@Belsarious: You go flying down the stairs (literally) and out the door, but the old man is nowhere to be seen. The late night is beginning to give way to the early morning, and as such some late returners and early risers are out in the quad; a pair of monks are meditating under some conifers as a short distance away a group of very drunk students stumble towards their dorm. A group of young magi are doing pushups in the mud, barking out spell component words as they do so, training their minds and bodies as hard as possible, preparing for life in the wild. On the steps of the student housing building off to the left, a young druid of Gozreh is meditating on the rain and wind and bounty of the twin god/dess of sea and sky. She is joined by a druid of Erastil, also meditating on the bounty offered by the gods.
But there is no sign of the Archivist.
|DM Downrightamazed
|DM Downrightamazed
@Everybody: There is a massive, sustained *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!* that reverberates across the entire city, followed immediately by a horrid crunching and crumbling noise, as if a piece of the very Land itself were being rent asunder and cast into the ocean. This is followed by the sound of a man screaming in either pain or ecstasy; it is difficult to tell which.
Regardless, it is a sound you will never forget.
|DM Downrightamazed
@Jorzan, @Kelne: The explosion and crunching noise is all just a short distance from you, in towards the center of the circle of buildings. You are just getting your bearings about the situation here when the ground falls away underneath your very feet!
DC17 Reflex saves to avoid falling:
Jorzan: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32
Kelne: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Luckily you are both able to get clear at the last second, throwing yourselves onto solid ground as a massive circular pit opens up all around you. In the end, you are both stranded on "islands" of ground, surrounded by open space on all sides. You watch in horror as all the buildings and houses and businesses for approximately 300 feet around you are utterly swallowed up by the ground. The guards and their dogs scream in terror as they plummet down into the deep, along with this building and whatever secrets it held. The hole goes halfway across the street, where Justahl was (but now there are two men you don't recognize), and then, blessedly, stops.
Sinkhole looks like this, except 300 feet in diameter. You are each standing on giant columns of rock that are 10 feet wide, and go down an utterly impossible distance. You are 30 feet from the nearest edge and 20 feet from each other.
Looking down, you are surprised to see light from a variety of sources; guttering torches and some kind of magical light orbs illuminate what appears to be some kind of enormous underground chamber. Where you are standing -- at "street level" -- is at least 200' above where the chamber's ceiling must be, and the floor of the chamber is another 100' below that. The smell of brimstone and blood floats up to your nostrils. There are voices down there, but they are very faint.
DC30 Acrobatics to jump back to safe ground, or a DC20 Climb check to climb down.
|DM Downrightamazed
@Justahl: You watch in horror as the sinkhole opens, then relief as it stops spreading well before it gets to you. The guard next to you yells out "No!" and runs to the edge. He either doesn't see or is ignoring Kelne and Jorzan, stranded in the open as they are. You then hear more calls for help from back over your shoulder -- young voices again -- followed by lunatic barking noises and a scream of pain. All around you is the tearing sound of other holes opening up.


text:
Galveston's beaches just got a lot safer.
This week, the Park Board of Trustees approved spending funds to provide a dedicated patrol unit at the San Luis Pass on summer weekends and holidays. The pass is becoming a more popular and more deadly spot. Four people drowned there last year and there have been 11 deaths at the pass since 2002.


text:
Originally published in Arthur No. 34….
Is there a way to examine the nature of existence at its very foundation? Esoteric mapmaker DAVID CHAIM SMITH say yes—but there's a price.
by Jay Babcock
I first encountered David Chaim Smith's remarkable, bewildering work through Pam Grossman's Phantasmaphile newsletter, a daily email bulletin spotlighting a contemporary or historic personage up to something witchy and beautiful, usually in the visual arts. Smith's work was particularly striking in its unusual combination of diagrammatic composition, simple media (pencil!?!) and unapologetically rarefied Kabbalistic-Gnostic content. Generally that would be more than enough to warrant further investigation, but it was the work's difficult-to-grok provenance that intrigued me the most: these pieces looked like plates that could have been included in Alexander Roob's Taschen compendium of dazzling Medieval alchemical artwork, The Hermetic Museum (alternative title, courtesy of Adam Egypt Mortimer: The Original Face Melter Times A Thousand). They seemed like the kind of work that's usually brought to light by accident, decades after the a recluse's death or disappearance (or committal to a mental ward): strange, highly charged devotional work rescued from a trashbin, the details of its artist's life and practice gone to dust, Iain Sinclair on the case.
And yet, the author of these stupefying drawings is alive and well—David Chaim Smith [above] is a contemporary New York artist with an MFA, a publisher and (until recently) a gallery. Despite living a semi-monastic life, Smith seems eager to engage with a curious public. He has a website. He's on Facebook. Dig a little and you'll find a few occultist-oriented podcast interviews and accounts of public talks he's given in the last few years around the publication of his two books—2010's esoteric exegesis The Kabbalistic Mirror of Genesis: Commentary on Genesis 1-3 (Daat Press) and 2012's massive art/text collection The Sacrificial Universe (Fulgur)—and a 2010 gallery show. And now, here he is on the other end of the telephone line in late January, just days after completing his new book, Blazing Dew of Stars, set for publication
this springOctober 23, 2013 by Fulgur. A surprisingly garrulous fellow, Smith spoke frankly about who he is, where he comes from and how his day-to-day life and spiritual practice generates such artwork. What follows is a condensed version of our conversation.
Q: What were your circumstances growing up? I assume you're Jewish…
A: I'm ethnically Jewish, I'm two generations from the shtetl in Eastern Europe, which was a kind of religious peasant culture. My parents were completely secular, so there was no presence of religion, growing up in my home whatsoever. I was never Bar Mitzvahed. I was raised by people whose religion was probably science.
I was born in 1964 with what we call in Kabbalah a very strong yetzer hara, which essentially is an urge to destroy. And it was not a result of my circumstances as a small child, or my upbringing—nobody did anything bad to me, I didn't have any reason to act the way that I did. There's a picture of me [above] at one and two days old, and there's definitely something wrong with this kid. I was born…angry, and wanting to burn down the universe, preferably with me in it!
I caused so many problems as a small child that I was put in the place where they warehoused every kid with problems, kids that were retarded, kids who were antisocial as I was, kids with learning disabilities. The archetypal short little yellow bus came and picked me up in the morning. Now this was the late '60s, before the drugging of children—certainly if I was behaving that way as a child today that would be what would become of me.
So I was just kept in a place, a dayschool, where the goal was to keep us quiet. I wasn't taught to read—I wasn't taught anything much at all! I was basically left to my own devices, and went very deep into my own imagination. I was there for a long time and I grew extremely restless, grew more and more virulent in my antisocial pursuits, until I was eventually released out into the world, in 1976.
And then…?
When I was about 12 years old, I found a copy of Timothy Leary's Politics of Ecstasy and that was, for lack of a better term, my spiritual path as a teenager. I digested all the Carlos Castaneda books and all the literature that was around surrounding the subject at that time. My use of LSD was extremely extensive—several times a week, for several years. And I also managed to get into some fairly extreme and esoteric psychedelics, such as DMT. I dropped out of high school in ninth grade to pursue this [laughs] this path, and it was always inseparable from my pursuit of visual art. At the time I was doing drawings which were conveying or reflecting my inner exploration through psychedelics. I was put into a program where one could come and go, it was sort of early alternative education where nobody really learned much of anything and nobody was minding the store, so to speak. I was allowed to roam free, in inner space. I had more time to draw than anybody who went to a regular high school, so I developed quite a nice portfolio and I got into the Rhode Island School of Design. I got my BFA there, and eventually got an MFA from Columbia, here in New York.
Starting in the mid-'80s, I became addicted to cocaine. Eventually I was freebase smoking it to the point that it dominated my life. I was about as severe a cocaine addict can be, and developed cocaine psychosis. I started using heroin, as an adjunct, to come down off off three and four-day cocaine binges. Because of the way that I'm wired, I'm not looking for any type of euphoric depressant, I'm only looking to hike my nervous system up to the point where it blasts through the roof. I had two heart attacks, and almost died, but luckily…I was young. In 1987 I quit hard drugs completely and never relapsed. Then I spent two years smoking an incredibly large amount of marijuana. Without it, I think I would've ended up in a mental institution. In 1990 I stopped smoking marijuana entirely and never took a hit off of a joint ever again. I got a job at a methadone clinic in the South Bronx, where I worked for three years. I was fascinated by the process of addiction, and I really wanted to know what it was that I had been doing with myself.
You got involved in practicing magick then, right? Was that something new for you, or was that a carry-on from your teenage Leary-Castaneda years?
I was involved with forms of ceremonial magick most of my life growing up but it wasn't a terribly serious pursuit and it was mostly in the realm of fantasy, because my use of drugs displaced the discipline of practice and the discipline of cultivating a truly solid foundation on which to base further work. So I was familiar with the occult literature by the time I was ready to become a serious practitioner. I did work with two Golden Dawn offshoot orders, extensively, from 1990 to about 1997. They also overlapped with Freemasonry. What these forms of ceremonial ritual magic do is they use alchemical forms of symbolism, but you don't necessarily learn much about the application of the alchemical process. You have to sort of fill in the gaps yourself. So, I started devising experimental hybrid systems, in which the process of internalizing symbols tried to adapt itself to the alchemical processes that I was reading about in the classic 17th century texts. I developed certain relationships with symbols and alchemical terms, and alchemical descriptions of processes that were not really contained in Golden Dawn literature, or any of that stuff that comes out of the 19th century.
Looking back at it from now, what do you think you were up to with your practice? Was this an attempt at self-healing after years of serious drug addiction and misery?
I think that I was through with my addiction and there was no more healing necessary. On the day that I stopped smoking marijuana, I knew that I would never do it again and I wasn't in danger of any relapse. Spiritual practice doesn't heal the psyche as far as I'm concerned. Serious spiritual practice is tangential to it. You could still remain an extremely psychologically flawed individual and accomplish quite a great deal in spiritual practice at the same time, without one necessarily affecting the other. There's a certain gross level in which they overlap, and the really severe distortions do become tempered, but at the subtle level, you can remain, as I did, extremely neurotic while you're building up the resonance of practice accomplishment. I think that when spiritual practice becomes psychologized, it's a very poor substitute for therapy, and it's very poor psychology. It's a different field. I think that the confusion between the two is largely due to a misreading of certain Jungian ideas, and other early 20th century ideas, that need to be sorted out. And I don't feel that it is terribly sorted out in the literature. The New Age movement certainly has made matters much worse, where spiritual practice almost becomes synonymous with self-help, and self-healing. And I don't think that they are. I think spiritual accomplishment has to do with the nature of consciousness and how it "en-worlds" an individual—ultimately, in the mystical sense, how an individual moves beyond the reification and division of a knowing subject and a known object, whatever that object might be.
And you would want to do that because…?
[pauses] The basic intention in my own practice, as the basic intention would be in my artwork, is to reach beyond conventional understanding and distill the resonance of that reaching — for no reason whatsoever. There's a term in kabbalah, it's a Hebrew term, lishma, which means 'for its own sake.' Meaning that something that is truly good, is a good in and of itself. There's no reason needed. It's based on its own inherent, innate goodness, which ultimately is the root of beauty. Spiritual aspiration is nothing other than a thirst for this purposeless, inherently beautiful, and inherently good, direction in one's life. Ultimately, the more one acquires, builds up this resonance, the more one contacts the ultimate sacrament of the mind, which breaks down this dichotomy between the offerer, the practitioner and that which they are offering, which is their time and their effort, and ultimately the illusion that there is a recipient of the offerings that have been made…which in religion, is God. But, I am not a theist. So I don't posit a creator god. The offering is made just simply based on its own inherent goodness for no reason whatsoever to nothing whatsoever.
One only becomes a practitioner out of love. It is undifferentiated, like the vastness of space, and it embraces everything through the direct recognition of beauty. This is the basis of the gnosis. To make a conceptual object out of that love, even one that encompasses everything within itself, defeats the purpose. It must remain open and pure, so that anything, everything, or nothing at all can unfold without ever leaving its essence. To dedicate yourself to the pursuit of this requires discipline, clarity, and persistence. The goal is the absorption of the whole of your being, and the enworldment of that being, into the heart of sublime beauty. This is not a thing that can be calculated or reasoned out. It is a wild, crazy way to live. However there are those who have burned down everything else. We can't live in society anymore, its too late. For us, the hardness of these disciplines redeem what would otherwise be total oblivion.
What is your daily life and practice like?
I live and work on retreat. The word 'retreat' implies 'a boundary.' The boundary that I have is to focus single-pointedly on the work that I do, which includes the technical aspects of my spiritual practice and magical work. My wife and I have separate apartments so that I can accomplish this. She's dedicated to helping and supporting me in this endeavor, and she's got a regular job. She cooks my food and helps me with all the things that I couldn't do for myself. In general, I don't do very well in the world of people. I do better off by myself. I learned that a long time ago. Why fight it? You gotta be yourself. And for me, being myself means working alone, mostly in silence—when I say 'silence' I mean not speaking. There is sound, as I listen to music continually—and I rarely leave. I go through periods of time where I don't even have contact with my wife or anyone; I'm in solitary retreat mode for about half the week, every week.
The type of practitioner that I have become can really be termed an "ecstatic contemplative" style of mysticism….within the context of Western esotericism, which overlaps with what people would call the magical tradition. My main influences that brought me to this place are really early Kabbalah, what's specifically referred to as the Iy'yun school of the 13th century, and also the mid-period to late-period tradition of Chassidic mysticism. At the same time, a form of non-dual Gnosticism that's derived from Hellenized Persia. After 15 years of practice, they've made an amalgam which is not a mixing of systems anymore. I use the kabbalistic language to convey my work symbolically—but the view upon which my work is based really comes out of a non-dual form of Gnosticism that is extremely uncommon.
Your practice includes the production of these fantastic diagrams. How do you come up with them? What is their purpose?
I see myself as an esoteric cartographer, and the making of maps, the mapping of unknowable territories to conventional mind, is what I'm interested in. The compositions are all diagrammatic. What I try to use as a basis for a drawing is like a spiritual circuit board, or blueprint, which is always based on sacred, geometric relationships. And they're very simple geometric relationships: they're points and lines and circles, overlapping, referring to one another, in a way that communicates the equations that I'm exploring in simple visual terms.
Into this structure the manner in which form is introduced is generally biomorphic. 'Biomorphism' refers to trans-elemental phenomena, meaning phenomena in which the divisions between elemental types of representation become a continuum. Meaning that which blazes that we would call fire, that which flows that we would call water, or that which circulates that we would call air, can hover in the twilight spaces between what can be rationally identified to form new languages. And can be explored in subtle regions.
Biomorphism is nothing new—this has been around forever. Certainly in late Surrealism, it was explored extensively. But it has a certain relationship to mystical practice that is really key—it is literally the language of the subtle realms, and through it, one gets a really heightened understanding of what the elements are, in their conversation with one another, in their overlapping territories. And through the exploration of this overlapping territory, you can depict entire realms of activity that are beyond the conventional senses.
Now, in the invitation of biomorphism into diagrammatical compositions, I introduce all kinds of depictions of esoteric symbology in a much more literal sense: I have depictions of inner human organ systems which are involved in the alchemical process; symbolic objects; ritual objects; chemical apparata; and designating markers like crowns and ornaments that are related to kabbalistic symbolism. Then there is a description between the biomorphic elements and the symbolic elements of processes of transformation that work. In the alchemical tradition you would see cooking and melting and circulating and coalescing, which is really the work of elements that we would call fire, water, air and earth. But as biomorphic movement within the symbolic context, you get this huge range of subtle activity that I'm creating worlds out of.
What my pictures really are is an invitation into this exploration, grounded in the sacred geometry that holds it all together. That's where the basic axioms are rooted. So every layer should be inherently integrated and based in every other layer—it's not that these are separate things coming together, it's the same thing being spoken in different languages.
There's also a lot of text in your work. Besides the Hebrew characters, there's phrases in English…
There's a level of a running commentary, where I'm actually explaining the diagrammatic functions, there's a certain amount of labeling, there's also an elaboration of the axioms themselves, and the equations, which sometimes I write out as number-letter formulas, just as kabbalists would.
Also, there is a dimension of what I call 'ecstatic upheaval,' which is the stream of poetic imagery from the resonance of my own practice. I refer to it as 'aroma of conveyance'—the air, or perfume, of the heart aspect of what I'm doing. This ecstatic upheaval, this stream, just gets written into the commentary. I don't really draw distinctions between one type of writing in a picture and another—I allow that to evolve organically based on need. Based on what seems to work. And I try not to make any rules for the divisions of these elements. I don't really generally think about it conceptually, it just…it's like water finds its own level.
In addition, I have actual components from my own practice inserted into the pictures. There's a type of picture-making in the kabbalistic tradition a shiviti, which means 'I have set before me.' A shiviti [see image above] is a kabbalistic meditation diagram. Sometimes my pictures are shivitis in an orthodox sense, meaning it's a divine name-dominated configuration meant for meditation. But other times I take elements of the shiviti and mix them into these other concerns to make experimental hybrids.
One other thing that I insert are magic seals, which are very precious and dear to me. A magical seal generally is a reduction of one's practice dynamics, or practice issues or general principles into some sort of simple graphic that sums it up in a clean economical way. What I'll very often do is insert a magical seal in a certain portion of the diagram to sum up the ethos of the more etheric exploration that's going on, that sort of nails it down. It's a device to bring it back to the root of the diagram. This is also meant to be read, but it's meant to be read graphically.
So, you have a graphic notation system which is kind of like a form of shorthand, in addition to verbal explanation, in addition to a sort of wild, psychedelic voyeurism of the biomorphic dimensions and realms. When you combine them, you get a spectrum of every type of subtle conceptualization that a practitioner could want, based on whatever they gravitate towards. Different people with their different predispositions and tendencies and dispositions can always find something to attach to. The goal is to provide as many vectors leading to the same place as I possibly can.
You work very simply: with pencil, pretty small…
I just basically use one mechanical pencil and an eraser and I punctuate sometimes with ink. My very biggest piece would be about 20×30, but I don't have many of those. In the new book, all the drawings are under 9×13.
You work exclusively in black and white, no color. Why?
I had a couple of epiphanies very early on that proved to me in no uncertain terms that I would never be a great colorist. One of them was encountering the work of Fra Angelico, who was a practitioner, he was a monk in the San Marco monastery, where he painted these murals and frescoes. It was specifically through Fra Angelico that I came to the realization that I was looking at something that I could never approach and I could never do. It puts you in your place, humbles you. So…you know, deep down, this is off-limits, you cannot do this. You can appreciate it but you won't ever be able to compete with it or try to approach it. And, there was always an affinity I had with certain types of tonal artworks where I thought that I was invited in, the door was open for me, for me to make the attempt. But color was not for me.
Let's talk about those guys you've called your great heroes: the diagram-makers. Jakob Böhme…
Well, Böhme didn't make diagrams, but there was an artist a hundred and something years later by the name of Dionysus Andreas Freher, and most of the diagrams that we see in the tradition of Jakob Böhme were made by Freher. Freher was a German guy who lived in England. Late 17th, early 18th century. Böhme was an esoteric cartographer, a mapper of hidden realms, in the sense that I aspire to be. The 17th century alchemical engravings that came out of the studios of Merian and de Bry is another example. There's a couple of generations of the de Bry and Merian line, coming out of Northern Europe at that time… I have an intense passionate interest in William Blake, who did a lot of things, but one of the things that he did was the evocation of subtle realms, creating portals into subtle realms for viewers to become acquainted with them. His medium was poetic resonance. So whereas the medium in exchange for diagrammers like Freher was esoteric wisdom or esoteric knowledge, the vehicle of transmission for Blake was poetic sensation. It was just another way of approaching something that connects at the heart. These two things do connect, at least the way that I view them.
Beyond that, I have an interest in the early Renaissance (or very late Medieval) period before 1450 in Sienna, Italy—painters like Sassetta, Giovanni di Paolo, Lorenzetti, who lacked the scientific basis of the late Renaissance, so they were always described as 'primitives.' What they really were, were visionary artists coming out of the imagination rather than trying to replicate retinal artifacts, or sensory artifacts through perception. What they were doing was producing objects of great beauty that conveyed spiritual themes. My wife and I traveled to this region, I saw an enormous amount of this stuff, and I was sold for life. There are pieces of Sassetta which speak to the greatest works of Blake, almost with the same perfume in the air, the same incense in the air.
You've mentioned three major teachers in your life. But it sounds like now you're very much a solo practitioner…
I maintain a relationship with the community of practitioners who live in the hermitage where I lived in the late '90s. I was never a 'member,' although I've done their preliminary practices, I lived there, I functioned just exclusively doing that for years. However it was pretty obvious to everybody after my being there for some time that it was preparation for me doing my own thing eventually. I stay in contact with them.
Another teacher I stay in contact with is a Breslov Chassid who I studied with for years, in a very traditional fashion—in his home, every day. I wore a black hat…
That's amazing—why did a Chassid agree to teach you? You hadn't even had a Bar Mitzvah, weren't a practicing Jew…
The answer to that question is so weird… In 1983 I had an interest in Kabbalah, and there was a group of Chabad practitioners from the Lubavitch lineage in Providence, Rhode Island where I went to school. I lived a couple doors down. One day, wasted out of my mind, I just walked right in on a Friday afternoon and said, Hey, you guys got any Kabbalah books I can borrow? They all looked at me like I was from another planet. Eventually they asked me if I was Jewish. I said Yes. They said okay, now we can get down to business. We want to give you a Bar Mitzvah, and then we'll give you all the kabbalah books you want. I said, Yeah, whatever, sure. Next thing I know, the doors were locked and these very sort of scary, menacing individuals were crowding around me. I didn't have any shoes on. They pull a tallis over my head, and unwrapped a big Torah scroll. They started acting in a way that sort of scared me and I said, You know what, I think I want to go home now. [laughter] And they said, Oh no you don't. And they wouldn't let me out. I was REALLY scared. There was one guy in there who was kind of asking them to ease off, he seemed like a reasonable guy. To make a long story short, they didn't give me any kabbalah books. [laughter] I eventually just did whatever they wanted, and had, I guess, a 'bar mitzvah,' ersatz, and just went home and told my roommate this really weird thing happened to me, hit the bong and forgot all about it.
Fast forward many, many years. I was living in the gnostic hermitage. I knew that my time was up and my teacher knew that my time was up. He said, If you want to integrate what you've learned here with your native language, which is Kabbalah, you gotta go back to Brooklyn and study with some Chassidim—not Kabbalists in the mainstream sense, but Chassidim. I didn't know any. I was sent home with this instruction to be my practice: go fid Hasidim, go study with them. Do whatever they want, live an Orthodox life if you have to. Just do it. The first person I met was a Breslover Chassid who was the guy in that room in 1983. We were talking, we hit it off, we obviously had a connection… I started telling the story of what happened to me, and he started trembling, with his mouth open. He said, 'You were that kid!?! [laughter] I was in the room." I realized that it was the same guy. And we laughed and laughed and laughed. He told me that he left Chabad shortly after and became a Breslover. I ended up studying with him for ten years., studying basically everyday, having shabbos with him and sleeping in his house. He's a really incredibly great man, and way more open-minded than any other Chassid I ever met. He introduced me to Rebbe Nachman's Likutey Moharan. I would study in Hebrew, orally. Which is how you're supposed to learn this, you're supposed to learn it as an oral tradition, not a written tradition. You're supposed to live it, and talk it, with someone who knows. So he would read a line in Hebrew and then he would basically tell me in an informal sense what it meant. This is a guy who's a gifted translator, so he was really the perfect person to do this with. And that's one way I got around my lack of Hebrew skills, there have been a couple individuals like this in the Jewish community who have taken pity on me and actually sat with me and brought it into the oral tradition with me, made it come alive.
There's another guy who did this from the non-Chassidic viewpoint, the viewpoint of what we call the Misnogdim. Between these two guys I was introduced to a spectrum of the texts that Aryeh Kaplan mentioned in his books, but really only briefly touches upon. They gave me an education. I'm very grateful to them.
There's a Kabbalistic text called 'The Fountain of Wisdom' that you've talked about in the past. In one interview you said it "caused you to re-evaluate the nature of geometry." Great line. What did you mean by that?
'The Fountain of Wisdom' cites the point, the line and the circle as the basic aspect of primordial wholeness and creativity. These aspects also refer to the alchemical transformations that are cultivated in deep practice. There are several imagistic terms used for this, such as ' roots and streams and drops', among others. These introduce a symbolic language that directly mirrors the nondual Gnostic alchemical teachings that I've received.
It took years for me to really understand this text, which is from the 13th century, because it's about as opaque as a text can be. But ultimately what I did was, I took all my notes and I graphed them out visually. These maps, essentially esoteric diagrams, accumulated to the point that I realized, Hey I'm making drawings again! I had stopped making drawings for ten years. When I went into the hermitage, I stopped drawing, in 1997. So I just gave into that and lo and behold, I'm a visual artist again. I didn't decide to be, I didn't want to be…I'm not really interested in art. It emerged from necessity. It emerged from the necessity of how was I going to make sense of this text, just because of the way my mind works.
You taught Kabbalah. Was that during this period?
In 1993 I started giving lectures on ceremonial magic, esoteric imagery and whatnot, and then went to the hermitage to live. When I came out of the hermitage, I became a teacher of Kabbalah as my profession, it's what I did for money. I taught, as much as I possibly could, for a very small group between 1997 and 2007, when I stopped.
You've mentioned John Zorn's role in getting your work out in public. Where did you guys meet?
I met John Zorn in the early 1980s on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was giving a concert with Fred Frith in the basement of the building where he lived where he'd set up a performance space that he called The Saint. Today, John Zorn has a record company called Tzadik, which means "saint" in Hebrew. So he was on the Tzadik trip very, very early, before the birth of Tzadik Records. In this space, Fred Frith had a guitar on a table that he was hitting with hammers, and attacking with what looked like a power drill. Zorn had half of a clarinet submerged in a fish tank full of water. [laughs] There was three people witnessing this concert. I sat on the floor—there were no chairs—and I saw one of the most miraculous musical events that I've ever seen. I'd never seen music made in such a radical, heartfelt, experimental way before this. It had such an intense, strange beauty. You'd think that these would be harsh, industrial sounds. They weren't. They were incredibly nuanced sounds. These guys knew exactly what they were doing.
I didn't see him for many years after that. Around the time that I was thinking about not teaching anymore and going into full-time retreat to make my diagrams, I contacted him and sent him jpegs of what I'd been doing. He was involved with a consortium of artists and writers that's generally referred to under the rubric of Radical Jewish Culture, which is a heading most of the people in this so-called movement hate. He's really one of the main guys. He came over, and one of the first comments he made was, You're doing visually what I'm doing with music. At that time what he was doing with music was Masada, the Book of Angels series, which is a sort of a Jewish-themed chamber music for contemporary improvisors. We connected at the level of the practice underscoring our art. He said, Look you can't just sit in your apartment and do this! You've got to at least start with the experience of showing your work, and then do whatever you want to do, but you can't just put it in your closet. The next day, he set me up with Randall Morris and Shari Cavin from the Cavin Morris Gallery. Randall came over and within five minutes he said, You want a show? So I thought, If I'm gonna go this way, I'd better prepare for a show now, have the show, and then once I integrate what I'm doing outside my own bubble, then I'll have a better idea of knowing what this is headed for.
That was the "Blood of Space" show, in 2010, which got you in the New York Times. But you've since left the gallery…?
At this point, I'm really not interested in having a career. I've taken my work off the market. I don't particularly like the idea of somebody buying one of my drawings and hanging it in their living room. I am extremely interested in making books, though, and I've got a publisher [Robert Ansell of Fulgur] who is about as generous in the reins of control as humanly possible. The Sacrificial Universe was really an introduction into what I do: it's a collection of basically everything that I had, and all the writings that I had as well. Blazing Dew of Stars is different: there's a tremendous degree of integration between the drawings and the text. It's a tightly composed unit, where everything is sort of talking to everything else. It's about the most esoteric work that I was capable of producing. While I was making it I asked Robert, 'Do you mind publishing something that really only a tiny handful of people will ever have any interest in penetrating? Or do you want me to sort of dumb this down a little bit?' And he said, You go as far and as deep as you possibly can, as you would possibly want. [laughs] When does a publisher ever say that to a writer? I considered myself extremely lucky on that day when that was said to me, and…I tried to do it, for better or for worse.
Did you know Harry Smith? You're both New York City. You have all these interests, and a number of people, in common. I'm thinking in particular of his animated works, which draw from some of the same mystical inspirations and concerns, or historical lineages, as your work…
I didn't know the man, although I was at his funeral. I collect vinyl, and I am extremely interested in pre-War recordings, so of course his box sets and his collections on Folkways have been utter delights to me for my whole life. I find his printmaking to be useful and interesting. However, with the films… Ultimately I would say they didn't go far enough. I don't see them as having matured. I would give the same criticism about the films of somebody like Kenneth Anger, or even the writing of William Burroughs. There are ideas that overlap with things that I am intensely interested in, there's territory where we're occupying the same spaces, but I think that these artists, like many artists, gave in to the worldly notion of what an artist became in the late 20th century, rather than veered out of the commons, into the wildwood. Into the zone of detaching from culture, and from society, and becoming a practitioner, who essentially died to their public persona, and to their own identity, and sacrificed themselves. These individuals didn't seem to have become the sacrifice.
When Abraham laid his son on the altar, and was ready to kill him, the Talmud tells us that Isaac was 37 years old. This is not a kid, like in the paintings. So, what is a 37-year-old doing on an altar ready to be stabbed by his father? Well, you know, his father was an old man—he could've pushed him over, gotten up and said No more of this. But Isaac willingly laid there! That's the model of a practitioner. You are the sacrifice. Your identity, your place in culture, your social standing, your worldly concerns—if you're gonna go this way, you've got to toss it all in the fire.
I don't mean to be in grandiose about stating this—that is one of my myriad problems in life, is my grandiosity. But it IS a grandiose thing to want for oneself. So ultimately that is the food that the ego chews on, and one has to reconcile that as a practitioner.. Because if you're off by yourself, and you're pursuing these grandiose visions of your cosmic function, of course you're going to go off the deep end and become a completely deluded individual filled with your own self-importance. The goal of a teacher is to make sure that that doesn't happen to you. That's one reason why I've remained in contact with those who've gone further than I have—having a teacher to kick your ass really comes in handy.
* * *
David Chaim Smith: official website


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text:
Straight Kelly Clarkson Talks About Getting Hit On By 'The Hottest Girl Ever'
Kelly Clarkson, who is happily engaged to a man, has often been the subject of lesbian rumors, but the pop star says she isn't offended by the gossip. In fact, "the hottest girl ever" hit on her once, but Clarkson wasn't interested.
She recently told Cosmopolitan magazine, "People think, 'Oh, she's been single for too long.' That's kind of an insult to the gay community. Being single doesn't mean you're gay. But I'm never insulted by it, obviously. I mean, I get hit on by the hottest girls ever. Oh, my god, if I were a lesbian, I would be so in luck. But it's just not my thing. I've always batted for the boys' team."
Guys also flirt with the 30-year-old singer. "But usually the guys who hit on me are tools. It's the ones that don't hit on you that make you like 'Why didn't you ask me out?' It's like American Idol auditions: The guys who are the most confident are the horrible ones, and the ones who are good have no confidence at all," she explained.
Clarkson is planning a wedding with fiance Brandon Blackstock, who is the son of her manager. She said of her boyfriend: "We've known each other for years, but we didn't start talking until the Super Bowl last February. And this is the funniest/worst thing ever: One of my superhero idols is Whitney Houston, and the day she died was our first date. I was like 'This is a bad omen.'" But it turns out that things are working out very well between them.
"Oh, yeah. Six years I was single before this. I've never been truly loved like I am right now," she added.


text:
With Euro 2012 nearing its climax, the world football transfer market is set to kick back into overdrive.
Several big deals have already been completed, but over the coming weeks we'll hear countless rumors about potential big-money, big-name transfers.
Today we're sorting out the 25 biggest names left on the transfer market, complete with where we think they'll be heading this summer (if anywhere).
Have another name? Disagree with our predictions? Let us know in the comments.


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What better way to celebrate your day off than to indulge in - gasp - doing a whole lot of nothing at all! Dressed in this sweet chambray frock in the perfect shade of faded blue, you amble through your day, partaking in baked goods and a juicy read at the coffee shop, a long bout of window shopping, and a leisurely picnic lunch, all while sporting this piece's collared cut, button-up top, and coy side cutouts. Featuring a light, cotton-blend composition that's perfect for weathering a sunny day in comfort, this adorable number, along with the lace-up brogues and braided satchel you've paired it with, make your hours melt away in stylish bliss.
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About Wiringify : Why hello there.
Wiringify's FML badges
50 quality responses
Clicking reply to a comment is a worthy thing to do. To do so without getting buried is even better.
Santa Claus
You've looked for Santa absolutely everywhere, and you managed to find him. Well done!
The Mixer
You like to live life randomly, and we salute you.
Wiringify's favorite FMLs
Today, due to a new tattoo, I can't wear a bra for the next few days. My coworker knows about it and thought it would be funny to blast the air-con all day. I swear I could have used my nipples to type this, instead of my fingers. FML
by milliepede / 05/27/2016 at 12:03pm / Health
Today, I was practicing the piano. My brother told me that if I loved him, I would stop. FML
by ijustwannaplaymymusic / 05/27/2016 at 12:40am / United States (New Jersey) / Work
Today, I was playing basketball in the searing heat with my friends. I jokingly told my friend that I was gonna die if I stayed out there much longer. Two minutes later, I got the ball and made the shot that won. Too bad I didn't see it, since I collapsed right as I took the shot and blacked out. FML
by Anonymous / 05/27/2016 at 12:07am / United States (South Carolina) / Health
Today, I discovered the effect the cream has that my mom gave me. It was for my acne and it worked, in a way. Instead of having a lot of little pimples, I now just have a few gigantic ones. FML
by RedFaced / 05/26/2016 at 8:11pm / Netherlands (Zuid-Holland) / Miscellaneous
Today, I started dating my crush. Turns out she's a living nightmare. FML
by Disappointed / 05/26/2016 at 4:27pm / Canada (Ontario) / Love
Today, I was taking a biology final and was just randomly tapping my pencil. My teacher thought I was somehow communicating with the person next to me, and decided to fail me. FML
by NittanyMangini / 05/26/2016 at 12:37pm / United States / Miscellaneous
Today, I finally tested out my new robot vacuum cleaner. My puppy decided she would test it out too by leaving a brown surprise for it to find, which it did. There are now brown marks in every room of the house. FML
by justpeachy1989 / 05/26/2016 at 10:06am / Australia / Animals
Today, I went for a three-mile run. I was really proud of myself until I woke up from my dream in my bed, surrounded by empty soda bottles and fast food bags. I haven't worked out in years. FML
by Ew / 05/26/2016 at 9:02am / United States (District of Columbia) / Miscellaneous
Today, my neighbor kindly set off a bed bug fogger rather than getting an exterminator, which we'd even offered to help him pay for. We have baseboard heating in our condo building. Guess where the parasites crawled to now. FML
by UniverseHatesMe / 05/26/2016 at 6:04am / United States (Ohio) / Miscellaneous
Today, the first thing I noticed about my blind date was the clump of nose hairs sticking out and mingling with his beard. In an effort to not stare, I periodically glanced away. After a while, he asked which guy I was into at the table next to us, because I was spending so much time looking in that direction. FML
by anonymous / 05/25/2016 at 11:45pm / United States (Idaho) / Love
Today, I went into my kitchen after placing a line of salt across the floor in front of the back door the night before to ward off slugs that keep getting in, only to find 12 idiotic slugs dead and shrivelled up, leaving a horrible gooey mess. I don't know why I expected any intelligence from them. FML
by Spongebob Garypants / 05/25/2016 at 10:05pm / United Kingdom (Manchester) / Animals
Today, I had a guest at my house. I stood up to shake her hand and kiss her on both cheeks, which is common in my culture. When she was kissing my cheeks, I went the opposite way from her and I ended up kissing her on the lips instead. Her eyes went big and I ran away. FML
by lmaofuck / 05/25/2016 at 9:06pm / United States (Ohio) / Miscellaneous
Today, I went to a trampoline park and jumped into an adult-area foam pit that apparently used to be for children. I guess it never occurred to them to change the depth of it, as I now have a fractured ankle. FML
by anonymous / 05/25/2016 at 8:34pm / United States (New Mexico) / Health
Today, I felt an itch on my neck. naturally, I scratched it. After about 5 minutes of scratching, I realized that I've been scratching a dead fly on the back of my neck. FML
by Hamden824 / 05/25/2016 at 4:04pm / United States (Florida) / Miscellaneous
Today, when I left for work at 7:00 am, my dad was playing Grand Theft Auto 5. When I got home at 3:30, he was still playing. I'm 18 years old. He's 45. FML
by Noah98 / 05/25/2016 at 2:53pm / United States (Kentucky) / Miscellaneous
- Today, my crush got together with a dude on my 18th birthday party after I tried my best to win her… Today while walking to the shop under the blistering African sun, I stepped on something that stuck… Today, while on a ride at a water park, someone stole my thongs. The ground is hot enough to burn…


text: Until now. Carried along but slightly behind the wave of iPod personal music is the idea that a person could rig up an iPod in their car and get hours of uncompromised entertainment. Initially, to do that meant an installation fee or poor sound quality, but Apple and the automakers have quickly gained ground. Some luxury automakers now offer complete iPod integration, and more are providing buyers with easy ways to pipe in their entertainment of choice. Listed on the following pages are ten vehicles that come standard with iPod compatibility, or require simple upgrades to make using an iPod in the car simple and easy. Best of all, they're under $25,000.


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KRUG Genealogy in All Regions
Search criteria: All Regions, Surname KRUG
What can you do here?
Search online databases for your ancestors:*
Find related genealogy web sites:
Web sites 1 through 10 of 11
5. BANKERT/BANKER/BANKARD Family
6. Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio: Marianist Brothers Cemetery
7. University of Wisconsin, Class of 1928
8. KINDSVATER Surname Research
10. HILTON Genealogy
Search for KRUG at partner sites:
KRUG queries on CousinConnect.com
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Search Cemetery Records on Interment.net
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Religion in decline?
Ross Douthat knows how to throw a punch. Readers accustomed to his regular New York Times op-ed column likely will expect Bad Religion to be a moderately conservative, carefully nuanced book. It is not. Bad Religion offers a deeply conservative, hard-hitting examination of the devolution of American Christian culture from the high ground of the 1950s into the swamp of the 2000s. It calls modern Christians to return to the intellectual rigors and ethical demands of their historical tradition. Douthat does not frame his call in the roundly qualified locutions of the academy but in the straightforward, almost adversarial prose of a prosecutor's brief. Here's my case, he effectively says. Consider it, make a decision and think and live accordingly.
This article is available to subscribers only. Please subscribe for full access—subscriptions begin at $2.95. Already have an online account? Log in now. Already a print subscriber? Create an online account for no additional cost.


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News Archive
Archive 2011/05 (177 articles)
Archive 2011/04 (131 articles)
Archive 2011/03 (131 articles)
Archive 2011/02 (109 articles)
Archive 2011/01 (129 articles)
Archive 2010/12 (59 articles)
Archive 2010/11 (61 articles)
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Archive 2010/09 (30 articles)
Thursday 22. January 2009 Acer to stop shipping of Aspire One 8.9" Netbook?
According to the latest rumor, Acer is expected to phase out the 8.9" Aspire One to give more attention to the 10" one.[more]
Thursday 22. January 2009 New designer laptop bags from Knomo
Knomo London now offers stylish yet functional computer bags that you'll love, and not have to tolerate.[more]
Thursday 22. January 2009 New Toshiba Satellite A350 is for movie lovers
Toshiba has announced its first range of multi-media rich laptops to feature a 16-inch display.[more]
Thursday 22. January 2009 Apple rumored to be working on a 15-inch Macbook Air
A Chinese language blog claims that Apple is working on a new 15-inch Macbook Air.[more]
Tuesday 20. January 2009 New Vaio GS–Sony's answer to Dell Mini 12?
Sony is rumored to have been developing a new ultra portable laptop, the Vaio GS that would fall towards the budget range.[more]
Tuesday 20. January 2009 New Atom CPU and new netbooks
Intel wants to bring a new version of its Atom processor on the market in this year.[more]
Tuesday 20. January 2009 Intel CPU for ultra thin notebooks
After AMD presented its plans for a processor for ultra thin notebooks, Intel also wants to bring such a CPU on the market.[more]
Tuesday 20. January 2009 Fujitsu brings out new 500GB portable hard drive
Fujitsu added to its portable hard drive series the new 500GB Handydrive MMH2 UB series.[more]


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text:
A couple of weeks ago Thomas Matlack wrote on the New York Times' Motherlode blog about how hitting rock bottom and losing his marriage made him stop drinking and be a better dad.
I've seen many times how divorce has made men better fathers – including in my own family. One of this blog's commenters named Kirsten wrote that limiting the time her ex spends with their kids makes him appreciate them much more than when he lived with them full-time:
I saved my ex-husband's relationship with his kids by getting his angry self out of here. He couldn't handle being selfless everyday but he can do a decent job every other weekend. While I want nothing to do with him, my kids now have a dad who is happy to see them and he's not yelling and screaming and scaring the crap out of them.
Again, a rather extreme example. Mine is also extreme – my husband and I separated while he was recovering from a brain injury, and he was in no state to be a co-parent. But gradually, thanks to the structure that a visitation schedule provided, he has become a more reliable presence in our kids' lives.
But more than these tragedies, I've heard from everyday guys going through garden-variety divorces who thrive in their new, part-time parenting schedules. Several report that their ex-wives dominated domestic decisions and habits, and the men consciously or unconsciously acquiesced to her way of parenting while married. Now, left to their own devices, they've flourished in their new roles as independent parents. (Hear that ladies? Control freaks make men bad dads!)
Other stories are simply about men no longer taking for granted their time with their children and role as fathers. Some so cherish their visits that they find themselves more present and focused during those hours, when compared with when they lived full-time in the same home as their kids. Other dads struggle with guilt over not being around as much, worried their kids will one day have memories of the "weekend dad" — and do all they can to be involved and available.
I was recently chatting with a colleague contemplating divorce, and he said, "I owe it to my 3-year-old daughter to make it work." That is certainly a noble and common notion, but I challenged him. A loveless marriage is no gift to any child. And there are so many examples of parents of both genders finding their groove after divorce — to the betterment of everyone involved.
Related articles
- The benefits of dating single dads (wealthysinglemommy.com)
- The Divorced Parents Dilemma: Today's Diva Dish " Wedding Style, Planning & Inspiration | the Wedding Paper Divas Blog (weddingpaperdivas.com)
- A tribute to my ex-husband's hairy back – and to my kids (wealthysinglemommy.com)
- Happy Birthday. Here's What I Want (therighthandmom.com)
- Two Sides of the Same Face (hastywords.wordpress.com)
- First Drive: 2011 Chrysler 200 Convertible V-6 (motortrend.com)
- The Father I Never Knew I Could Be (recentlyseparatedwhatisnext.wordpress.com)
- Divorce often pushes fathers away from kids (syracuse.com)
- Happily Ever After the Divorce…. (lipssealedsoulspeaks.com)
- Helping Kids Cope With Divorce (drlauraberman.com)
- Even Adult Children Find Divorce Devastating (sincemydivorce.com)
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- Forum: Classic Menswear
- Thread: Crockett & Jones seconds
What are your thoughts on buying shoes listed as "seconds" overall? Have any of you had experience with seconds from crockett & jones? I'm able to get my hands on a pair of handgrade C&J:s for $160. I cannot see anything wrong with them judging from the pictures. Should I go for it?


text:
Deal alert: Hundreds app 40% off until Thursday, January 10
Today, the makers of Canabalt and Solipskier released a new game called Hundreds. It's quite a simple app: you must grow circles in the screen to a total of 100
App review: AlphaJax for Windows Phone
AlphaJax, a Scrabble/Words With Friends-type word game, has been available on Windows Phone since the platform debuted in 2010. In many ways, it set the bar
App review: Chip Chain for iOS
The holidays gave me a lot of free time to do a lot of things that I've been missing out on, specifically catching up on
Deal alert: Humble Indie Bundle 7 adds three more games
As you probably have already realized, I am a huge fan of the Humble Bundle. I can pay any amount of money that I would
Deal alert: Rovio HD titles for $0.99 on App Store
Today, I finally got around to playing with the latest update to Angry Birds: Star Wars, the one that adds Hoth levels from Star Wars Episode
Deal alert: All Sonic games now $0.99 in the Play Store
Even though I don't consider myself a gamer (and probably never will), I still do have a soft spot in my heart for Sonic the
App review: Bloons TD 5 for iOS
Bloons Tower Defense is a game I've loved since I played it in the browser for the first time. There have been several iterations since then, and the
The Humble Indie Bundle 7 is now live
Just three weeks after the last bundle was offered, Humble Bundle is at it again with the Humble Indie Bundle 7. Like previous Humble Indie
App review: Earn to Die for iOS
I've said this a number of times before, but I'll say it again: I love playing mobile games on my iOS devices. Aside from being
HTC EVO 4G LTE is now officially PlayStation certified (kind of)
We knew it was coming, and now it's finally here: the HTC EVO 4G LTE is now officially PlayStation certified, meaning the latest EVO now


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The organized chaos of your lush garden is so breathtaking to be amongst, its beauty leaves you speechless - and this green, flower-filled skirt is no different! A Jack by BB Dakota design, its gathered waist is perfect for topping with a slightly slouchy pullover sweater in a dusky shade of grey. You let your painted fingernails hang loosely beside the hidden side-zip of this lined skirt after arranging your socks so that they just slightly peer above the buckles of your brown, ankle-height boots. A sight equally as laid-back as it is fashion-forward, this skirt makes for the most ravishing outfits a casual stylista could dream of.
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RUSH: Here is John in Detroit. Welcome, sir, glad to know the phone service still working. How are you?
CALLER: Very good. Thank you, Rush, for taking my phone call.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I'm a little business, so please bear with me. You mentioned earlier that Sheila Jackson Lee, you know, they were talking about Homeland Security. There's something a little more scarier than that, and that is Japan, China, Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Brazil have all met. It was like November 2010 and what they're trying to do is come up with a currency that they can trade oil on instead of the US dollar. And I believe that when that happens, that will be the beginning of the collapse of the US dollar, and my question is to you, you know, do you think this is inevitable, they get off of oil by, you know, not using the dollar, and the QE3 that they're doing, Bernanke, $85 billion a month they're pumping into the economy, is that gonna help sway them to get off the US dollar? I just wanted your take on that if you don't mind.
RUSH: Well, here again I'm sitting here in a state of what many people might say naivete. I think right now this is bluster. I think these guys are scared to death of our fracking. I think they are scared to death that we have the ability to totally erase them from our oil equation. And so this is their response. "Oh, yeah? Well, we'll just stop trading in the dollar and it'll collapse and then you're depending on the Chinese." What was your question about Bernanke priming the pump with $85 billion in relation to this? What was your point there?
CALLER: The QE3 that they're doing now --
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: -- the amount of money that they're pumping in a month. I think it's $85 billion a month --
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: -- that they're printing, all it's doing is the value of the dollar continues to drop.
RUSH: Yeah, that's true.
CALLER: And with these countries, if they do stop trading oil on the dollar, there's gonna be no reason for these countries to then hold US dollars --
RUSH: Let me tell you something. I do not -- and again, in this regard I might be engaging a little naivete. But, John, these countries have been threatening to dump the dollar for years. It isn't new. It's almost as old -- it's not quite as old -- it's almost as old as we've been hearing the national debt's gonna destroy the country. Now it's actually starting to do that, but for most of my life, the national debt, you'd be hard-pressed to see on the surface any negative impact from it. The ChiComs, I don't care what the ChiComs say, the ChiComs do not want the dollar devaluated.
The real reason that they have been threatening to dump the dollar is because Bernanke's devaluing it, precisely what you have said. They have lots of debt in dollars. They underwrite our debt. Bernanke is devaluing it and they're upset with that. And Bernanke is doing this. But this is really hideous to me. You want to talk about insiders taking care of each other, that's what this is. This is the moneyed establishment making sure that they're okay no matter what, holding on to their homes in the Hamptons is the way I describe it. It also helps Obama create the illusion that the economy is doing well, if you can point to Wall Street.
Now, normally the Democrats hate Wall Street. They hate the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It's always been the Democrats who talk about Main Street instead of Wall Street. Now all of a sudden all they care about is Wall Street, because they can point to it and say, "See? The economy is growing." Bernanke is hurting the middle class. The very group of people that Obama claims to be looking out for in his 19th or 20th revision now on trying to rev the economy. If these guys dump the dollar, it will be devalued even more, and that doesn't help the ChiComs. Bernanke is devaluing the dollar, as you point out, with this $85 billion a month that's ending up going to the stock market. It's an intricate route that it takes, but it ends up purchasing stock, securities.
The middle class is being killed by this devaluation because their real costs, the costs of living are going up. Gasoline, food, you name it, the dollar is buying less. It's so bad, folks, they're not even printing the money. They're simply digitizing. And, to me, this is really scary. Look at you, for example. Take your bank account. Let's just pick a number. Let's say that your bank statement every month says you've got $10,000 in your, let's just call it a passbook account just for the sake of this discussion. You get a statement that says you've got $10,000 in it. But there isn't $10,000 in a vault with your name, and there's nothing in that vault worth $10,000. Your $10,000 exists because there's a number on a piece of paper that says it does.
All Bernanke is doing is enlarging those numbers. He's printing money, but they're not really printing it. They're just going to the ledgers. Folks, it's really scary stuff. Now, they claim they've got backup for it, that there is backing for the money that they're creating here. But they're not even printing it. There aren't new dollar bills in circulation. They're just digitizing this, so I've been told and as it's been explained to me. Because this stuff is really foreign language. These guys like it that way. But all this bluster about OPEC, changing the dollar, they talk that way, they're just scared of fracking, I think, and our independence eventually. 'Cause I don't think the ChiComs in any way want that to happen.