what we mean ?

I have a friend in Poland who posts pictures on Facebook . Most of the comments , his and his responders’  , are in Polish . He comments on my once-in-awhile Facebook posts , too , mostly in Polish , although he does speak English well .  My Polish is at the embryo stage ; ie . hasn’t developed yet . He likes to cook and so puts up a lot of food pictures .

So I noticed that the computer offers translation . Great ! Easy . Convenient . What will they think of next ?

Here is the latest translation of one of his comments :

Mild radius of sunset przenikal gently Ishieniem kreton curtains . The milk has soured on and  took for darning . Yes , it was a successful day pomyslater. First came the meat in a beautiful piece of biodronki , then the holiday .  And of this paper . All six of rollers…………………..

 Are you getting this ?

…………………The evening went to Mariniakow on the thousand .

  And there you have it ! Translation by Bing . Bing was my neighbor ; he lived across the street . Bing would compliment Ada’s roses . He and I would look up the street to the mansions on the hill and he’d say he was going to move up there . His little house across the road from mine that he’s lived in for 50 years was , he’d say ,  was ” just a starter house ” .

Bing died a couple of years ago , so I don’t think it was his translation of the Polish friend’s words . Could have been , though .

I began thinking about how we communicate with others . Are we really understood , or is what someone else understands from what we say a garbled version of what we think we said ? I think I  understood what you just said to me , but maybe I didn’t , not much at all . Don’t you think so ?

Smile , though , and say , So true , so true ! 

The other person says, You’re a good listener ,” but what you’ve been wondering is if she colors her hair , and will you make it to the dentist by 5:00 if she goes on talking too much longer . She thinks you’re a good listener because you haven’t interrupted ; you’ve been drifting  in daydreams .

Could you say that again , because I wasn’t listening . Something about the Ortega Highway ?

What’s the Arteaga Highway ?

I don’t know . I thought you mentioned the Ortega Highway . Sorry . What were you talking about ?

Oh , you wouldn’t understand . Thanks for being a sounding board .

You are very welcome . What are friends for ?

By the way , mild radius of sunset . Took for darning .

Yes, it was a successful day pomyslater .

On the thousand !

4th of July (anticipated)

I just finished reading a book by Steven  E. Ambrose called The Victors . 

It was subtitled Eisenhower and His Boys : The Men of World War II .

I thought it would be about Eisenhower and his generals . 

It was more about the front line GIs . I guess , when Ambrose wrote his boys he meant the combat soldiers , who were , after all , mostly boys .

I remember a high school teacher of mine who told us not to call the American soldiers  boys .

” They are men ! ” he said . That was back in the Vietnam era . Nineteen and twenty -year olds over in Southeast Asia killing commies for the country . I think we ( USA ) are friends with Vietnam nowadays . Friends with the Japanese . Friends with the Germans .

When the American Army went into Germany Eisenhower made no move to race the Soviets to Berlin . Post war political boundaries had already been decided at Yalta by Roosevelt , Churchill , and Stalin . Take the area around Berlin only to have to turn it over to the Soviets ? Eisenhower knew better than to do that .

Some of the surrendering German officers volunteered their troops to help the Americans fight the Russian armies . They were surprised when the Americans turned down the offer .

I’ve been asked by young Polish students of history : Why did the Americans betray Poland like that ?  There are answers , maybe , but no satisfying answers . Poland then lived under communism for the next forty + years .

How about : Well , we’re the good guys , so whatever we do must be right . No , I think we’d better go a little deeper into what nationalism is , into what patriotism means , into what the realities of war are , and into what international politics involves . Then and now .

On the 4th of July we should consider the patriots who fought and died for the nation . Stephen Ambrose makes the point, I want to note ,  that the WWII soldiers were not fighting out of patriotic spirit , but were fighting first because they had to , and they were fighting for their buddies in the foxholes around them . I’ve read the same, and heard it ,  about Vietnam vets  . International politics and glorious notions of patriotism  stay with politicians and parade -goers and  with the old men in the capitals .

A friend of mine told me that the Sierra Madre parade used to end with local politicians at a podium in the park giving speeches . I told him that that sounded very American . He agreed and said that he missed those speeches . Where is Norman Rockwell when you need him ?

The world is a complicated place . ” Nuanced ” as they say nowadays . It always was , I suppose . We like to think in simple concepts , however . Hitler : bad ; we : good . Hitler was bad . That’s for sure . We’re good ? God is on our side ? Is it that easy ? Would that it were .

Happy 4th ! Hope you have a nice little parade like the Sierra Madre parade , and a picnic , or a barbeque , kicking it with your buddies , and celebrating the benefits of living in the USA .

punch linez

1.  I don’t know who he is , Captain , but he’s got the pope for a driver !

2. You fooled me . You didn’t have to go .

3. Are you sick or something ? No , but the guy last night was .

4. Bartender says : Why the long face ? ( a joke older than grandmother )

5. Is the bar tender here ? [hint: a termite walks into a bar and asks ………….]

6. I got the job , first day and they put me on a murder case .

7. I could see rain coming and I wanted to finish before I run out of paint .

8. If Princess Margaret were here we could’ve saved the Rolls .

9.  7   ( kids’ joke )

10. Nothing !  ( annoying kids’ joke )

bonus 11 .    [note: no bonus]  

walking man is down there , monrovians

     I think that they could have figured it out . If there is a walking person , then that walking person , most likely , would be walking on the pavement and not up , somewhere , above that . But , for some of the public , do we need to add an arrow in order to be sure that   “they” get the concept ?

    Even I feel sorry in a case like this . So inequitable ! Even Monrovians should be treated fairly . If the outgoing signs have arrows , then the incoming signs should have arrows . Otherwise , those vehicles going in to Monrovia won’t know where to look for pedestrians , whether up , or down . Will they ?

 

After all , stop signs don’t have arrows . How are Monrovians to know where to stop ? The whole traffic sign thing should be done equitably .

difference between monrovia & arcadia

You see this driving into Monrovia from Arcadia.

But this is how Monrovians are treated ! This second sign is what you see driving from Monrovia into Arcadia !  :

dwb nism

DTTMN     DRIB     DITYID     DLTM

DBEYR    EMFBI      GIWIST

HIG     HAY     J/C

JTLYK     JP     JM2C

K ?

KWIM     OBTW     NRN

OTTOMH     P2C2E     PFM

QL

RUT

SMIM     SNAFU

SUL

TMA

TRDMC     UNTCO     WRUD

WYP     WYSIWYG     YAFIYGI

YSAN

GGLKI      CUATSC     CRS     AWC

AWHFY

BB4N     BW     DWB     GFN     H&K

GMBO

Ex ain’t so ex (swami)

Well , I found out where ex swamis go . And I got a reply from a Budda blogger . Thanks to the exchange of information over the world wide web I watched the swami sitting on my sofa . No , the swami wasn’t on my sofa . I was on my laptop . “On ” meaning looking at .  I was watching the swami on the computer . You get the idea — he wasn’t “on” my computer . It cost me $180 bucks and I’m not about to let some crazy swami get on it . The whole thing  makes me a little nervous , having just joined Facebook . I might get in too deep and not be able to get out .Most of it’s a mystery to me . And now the Budda blogger knows where I am .

A friend sent me a link to a few Swami X videos . I watched only one so far — very poor quality but I recognized the old bird . He’s a heck of a lot older now . Less flamboyant , less energetic , uses fewer obscenities , puts more emphasis on the intellectual side of his performance . I tried to open another one where the swami got an award from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa . It wouldn’t open for me .  Swami ? Is that you ? Have you defected to the Establishment ? ” Artist , street poet , comedian ” ? Good for you , Swami !

My friend who sent the swami link asked : Is this Ex Swami X , or Swami X ? Maybe he is the Ex Ex Swami X . Do you ever go over to Myerhoff Park , Swami , anymore ? Times have changed . It wouldn’t be the same . If you verbally assaulted the passer-bys these days I’m pretty sure someone would have you arrested . That could interfere with your City of L.A awards . You’re right . Better hang around Venice and keep a low profile .

Somehow I never really thought about what might have happened to Ex Swami X . I’m not thinking like a 21st Century guy : Google it  !  There he is , still doing his thing . He lives in Venice . The old hipster Venice has , of course , become the rich yuppie moneyed-hipster scene nowadays . The old dive bars along Main Street have been replaced with bistros and galleries and cool cool shops .

The Mucky Duck bar is long gone . At the Mucky Duck it was always a good idea to check under any table that you intended to sit at to be sure no one was sleeping one off under there . Listen for the snoring and check for shoes . The Cheetah is gone , too .Anyone remember the Cheetah ?  The old lesbian bar across the street from Buffalo Chips is long gone , too . It had the oldest bar ( the mahogony bar itself ) in Venice . If it didn’t , then someone lied to me thirty-five years ago . I think that Buffalo Chips is still there , serving hamburgers and beer .

Ex  Swami X  is still there, too . Good for him , I say . I thank him for the entertainment in the early 1970s on Myerhoff Park at noon .

Oh , about the Budda blogger . He liked my Ex Swami X post . One of his posts suggests taking the “middle path” . No strong passions , please ! That’s the way to be happy . I fit right in there . I’m a middle pather ! Thanks Budda blogger . I feel better now . I always thought that  there was something wrong with me  for having no particular passions . But , level with me  , did you really read my post ?