MacDries says, "Those who makes laws ought to have the highest standards."
Synapse Shots

#3 of 200. 11" x 9"
OK Tom, You're Still Saved
"I was no longer committing adultery by that time, the impeachment trial. There's a big difference. Also, I had returned to Christ and repented my sins by that time."
-- Tom DeLay, explaining the difference between his adultery and that of Newt Gingrich.
Check Your Geography Skills
Go HERE.
The Corrs Do Fleetwood Mac
Go HERE.
Dog-eating Artist
British artist tries some Corgi meat to protest Fox hunting. Go HERE.
Rudi Changes His Tune Again

Mutual Admiration
Steve & Bill swap complements. Go HERE.

MacDries says, "In case you missed earlier posts, these come from a family member who is going through treatment for breast cancer."
Quote/Unquote
"There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."
-- Will Rogers
Why I Love Computers
You know those registration tools where they ask you to type a disguised seguence of letters? Turns out those things are called CAPTCHAs (completely automated public Turing tests to tell computers and humans apart.) and are helping to digitize books. Go HERE.

MacDries says, "I'm already pretty amazed with the internet and its contribution to education but the idea of The Great Library is mind-boggling. Caveat: I don't really like reading more than a paragraph on the screen but readable tablets can not be far away. And Google is already beginning to look like that great last warehouse scene in the 1st Indiana Jones."
Why I Love Amerika
From a Patriot friend.
Go HERE.
No Body's Bizness
BB King, Etta James, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan. Go HERE.
Big Brother In Britain
Can USA be far behind? Go HERE.
In the Nabes
We have dozens of new expensive restaurants, wine stores, puppy shops and endless construction around here. We also have an Organic Dry Cleaner and Walter Coddington and his health oriented, non-toxic, living right & exercise site. Y'oughta go HERE to see his offerings.
They can be found down here on Beekman Street between South & Front Street.
No End In Sight
A documentary. Go HERE.

Macdries says, "Why can't they put them to sleep first, before they attempt the murder. Pretty easy to do."
I'm Wondering
Do women know what they are revealing in the way they dress? That was rhetorical. Of course they do. I was just walking behind 3 teenagers, all of whom were wearing stretchy sorts of jersey skirts and layered tank tops. Two of the women had nice bodies and one was a bit over weight. One was wearing no underwear, one was wearing conventional panties and the third was wearing a thong. Guess who wore the thong?
Also, in the summer, all forms of women wear somewhat shear, transparent skirts. When you walk behind them and the sun is in front, it is a somewhat enticing sight in relation to the one wearing the skirt. The only place I have seen men wearing comparably provocative outfits is on Christopher Street in The Village.
My Sparkler is always embarrassed by my observations on the street. As if the objects don't really know what they project and can hear my thoughts as I express them to her. So, I've stopped expressing myself
Al Franken
What can you do for Al Franken? Take back Minnesota. Go HERE.
French Open
Tough draw. Federer may have to beat 3 top-ten players and Nadal to do his "grand Slam". Go HERE.
Janis's Mercedes-Benz
Actually, it was a Porsche. Go HERE.
Raw Vision
The Bible Of Outsider Art. Go HERE.
I Can't Recall Remembering

High Tension Job
Go HERE.
American Medicine
I have a friend whose daughter has a serious mental affliction. She has been treated unsucessfully for years and now will be going to Houston for 60 days @ $1000 per. Insurance does not cover any of it.
I also doubt there is any guarantee of success. Amazing.
My friend's take on it:
Yeah, it's nuts. Only the rich get treated. The poor go to county health clinics.
The mentally ill don't vote, don't lobby, don't give millions to candidates. No one wants to touch crazy people, but everyone's got someone they know in that closet. And no one wants to come out as mentally ill- stigma rules. Too bad Eagleton isn't around today. Or JFK. Or FDR. Or Nixon. All nuts. Though they'd deny deny deny.

MacDries says, "Is he plotting a dictatorship for Billary/Obama? He only has a year or so to go. I'm confused. Perhaps Cheney/Rove envision a dominant Republican government for decades. But with The Shrub you never know."
Godfather Pt. 4

MacDries says, "Definitely cabbage. The Ruskies got rid of their visionary Gorbachov and implanted a KBG apparachik. Putin. Back to square one. Bush & Putin, peas in a pod."
More Than Macho

Richard Serra, arguably the best sculptor since David Smith, is having a retrospective at MoMA this summer. Go HERE.
His sculptures have the ability to terrify me. Andy Goldsworthy would be another choice.
Go HERE for a slide show. They cost enormous amounts of money but less than a trashy TV show.
Older Art

STILL LIFE (including Mama Buddha & D.D. shelling peas by the Boulevard of Tiger Lilies) IN THE YEAR OF '44 -mixed media -1985 to 1987, 8' x 3' x 4'
Living In Flatland
6 artists, 20 days. Go HERE.
Federer Finally Beats Nadal
On clay that is. Now on to the French. Go HERE.
Today
Got nuthin'. Need a nappy.

MacDries says, "Billie could sing the Yellow Pages and I'd listen."
Older Art

Two years of TIME covers.
Bo Diddley
Just heard Bo had a stroke a few days ago. Ride on Bo.

Indian Art Protests
Friend and former neighbor Ram Rahman and his group act up. Go HERE.
Willie, Leon & Ray
And then Ray & Van.
Watch this and watch Willie tear up at Ray's conclusion. Stunning.

7 Year Old Drummer

MacDries says, "Someday, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Carter will get the credit he deserves and his alter-ego Reagan will be restored as the small-mean-minded idiot he truly was."

Here's the truth. In 1985 my congenital heart block (which had luckily kept me out of the Air Force in 1959) started acting up and I went to Beekman and put my package of low-tar Merit cigarettes in the drawer. I was later delivered to NYU where I had my first angiogram and began to take medication for angina. I then quit smoking and drinking as per Doctor's orders. Later I started drinking a bit again. 10 years later another doctor told me I had developed type 2 diabetes. Thus began the daily routine of pin-sticking to test blood sugar and more medication. I didn't take it too seriously until it didn't get any better and my cardio doc told me, "We can fix your heart. It's just plumbing. It's diabetes that will kill you." Thanks doc. Now I had a GP, a Cardiologist and an Endocronologist. My wife and I had already produced two beautiful daughters, and I had a son and daughter from an earlier life. So I had a vasectomy. No complications for about 8 years. Somewhere in there I had another angiogram and my doc said there was actually some improvement.

In January Y2K I developed or recognized I had sleep-apnoea and began to suffocate at night. I'd had a few episodes before at high elevations such as in Sante Fe. I called Cardio Guy and he said it was time for my long anticipated and delayed Pacemaker. (Today I discovered that luckily I don't use an iPod. Go HERE.)

OK. Done. After the implant, I felt a bit better but my increased pulse rate began to put new pressure on my coronary arteries and I had 1 or 2 "silent" heart-attacks. I'm told this is common amongst diabetics due to nerve atrophy. Pain is good, it seems, because it tells us something is wrong.

One night, a few months later, in August Y2K I didn't feel so good. I told my wife I was going to walk over to Downtown Beekman Emergency and slipped out the door so as not to disturb our children. After a couple hours of being ignored on a gurney I was interviewed and examined by a nurse. And then an hour later a young doctor told me I would be staying the night. Next day, after an Echo test the young doc said I needed to go to NYU for another angiogram. I said, "Nah, is this necessary?" He said, "Only if you don't want to die." I said, "I want my Cardiologists opinion." Cardio Doc said "Yes, don't be silly."

Next day I'm in an ambulance with my wife heading for NYU. She was then producing a TV series called Trauma about Emergency Services so it was a bit of life immitating art. This was my 3rd angiogram so it was routine for me. I rather liked the hot flash when they inject the radioactive stuff. It's as if your blood system heats from the inside to the outside and then subsides. There is also something soothing about being a patient; one does not have to do anything. Someone else is making all the decisions.

This time the doctor scarcely got started when he shut down. Huh? Zup?

"We need to consult your cardiologist," he said. That done, my doc came in and told me and my wife a triple by-pass was in order. This is when he told me about my heart attacks. I was then terrified and told my wife, "I don't want to do this." "You don't have any choice. You have two little girls. You wanna leave them with out a father, like you went through at their age." Or course she was right. The girls went to California to avoid the grusome part.

By pass done. The first night was excruciating and I could not convince the nurses that I was dying. The next five days were morphine hell and sadistic nurses waking me from sleep to take my blood pressure. I started composing a novel, a brilliant expose. But of course when they started weaning me the memories went with it. They gave me a device to force me to build up my lungs again. And a soft, cute heart shaped pillow to rest my arms on. Food tasted like alum. My wife brought me good sandwiches from an Italian deli across the street and it too tasted like alum. Pudding tasted like alum and this went on for 6 weeks. My wife also brought me Elmore Leonard novels daily and I worked through his whole library. A nice view of the East River was as depressing as rats in your bedroom.

I went home to lay on the couch for weeks and weeks, with a daily trip downstairs and around the block for exercise. Someone loaned me the first two seasons of The Sopranos on tape and I went through them one by one, twice. I also began to watch the cooking shows on Food Network and learned some new techniques and recipes to improve my skills for when and if my taste buds returned. Jacques & Julia, Molto Mario, Lydia's Kitchen, Ming Tsai, Yan Can Cook. At night I'd read Elmore Leonard. My wife went off to California to be with the girls and my upstairs friend Ram helped me with shopping. A few friends came by and brought care packages and books. The air began to feel fresher and when the girls came home for school I was well enough to pick them up. Meanwhile the depression set in. I didn't notice it but my wife did. She was in her prime, working too hard and I was thinking about my end game.

Luckily my wife had Writer's Guild Insurance that year which covered most of this horror except for maybe $5 grand. Other years it was not that swell and I wonder what less fortunate people have to go through. When the final talley came the total charges were $125,000 to the penny. Even though in hospital, they charge you for every band-aid, every piece of gauze, every pill to the penny. Later some collection agency harrassed us for double-billing on anesthesia. I swapped letters with the agency for months until they finally gave up. I suspect they just expect people to roll over. Years later it turned out all this had no effect on our credit when we bought a house in the country.

As time passed even though I was depressed and dwelling on mortality I began to feel physically better than I had in years. I realized that I had been feeling worse and worse in such small degrees that I had hardly noticed it. I began to realize that I might actually make it to 60. And then I did. Plus 5. Doc put me on Blood pressure medicine and I take something for pains in my shin when I walk. The odious ED is also an effect of diabetes. My doc gave me some Viagra samples in case I have occasion in that area. I tried it once but it has unpleasant side effect such as blue vision and a queasy stomach. And the occasions became less and less frequent. Plus there are other ways to give and get pleasure.

I had my teeth fixed but now have to take antibiotics prior to a visit because of the Pacemaker. I also have to have my Pacemaker monitored monthly over the phone and in house yearly. It's soon time to have it replaced.

I've changed my Endocrinologist three times, once because the doc stopped accepting my insurance, the second because he was a boring jerk who told me long stories about his children's sports activities. And his secretaries were all chinsese, incompetant and had accents incomprehensible. I now have a great one; certified by New York Magazine's Top 100 issue. He has adjusted my medications, added insulin and diabetes is getting it in control. Sort of. I had a urinary tract infection so I went to a Urologist for tests and took more antibiotics to knock it out. Slightly enlarged prostate. He says it's almost normal for men my age. Great. Abnormal is normal. I had a fatty liver from my years of too much booze which seems better now.

The two teeth I had capped by my "fondling" dentist dropped off and I switched dentists. Again searching the databases for those in our insurance plan, making reservations. I went to one dentist who wanted to refer me to someone else who specializes in root canal. "Just yank the damn thing," I say. "No, I couldn't do that," she says. Then recently a 3 tooth bridge from 1974 fell out and I'm avoiding having it fixed. Seems like a waste of time and money. When it hurts I'll have it out.

Those are my major afflictions. But I now have a new one. I've developed arthritic like pains, stiffness in a few fingers, shooting pains in my toes and a sore shouulder. My cardio doc told me to see an orthopedic doctor and I found one in my plan. He was clueless and somewhat baffled, like a self taught auto mechanic. He refered me to a Rheumotoligist who seems to have conculed it is Diabetic Cheiroarthopy which has no treament and is progressive. I told him hot soaks help the pain and he suggested a device called a parathin bath. Warm wax which you bath your hand in ad hoc.

I also have a few minor things that irritate me. I had my annual Optholmogist diabetic check-up recently. No retinopathy but I have developed a weepy left eye. He didn't have a clue, gave me eye drops which don't work. So it goes. I also have a few patches of excema treatable with a lotion. What else?

Well my wife left me last year and I'm still depressed. Taking anti-depressants which don't seem to do much except allow me to sleep somewhat normally; albeit with 3-4 trips to the euphemism for relief. I also have a come and go pilonidal cyst and occasional hemorrhoids which I noticed improved somewhat when I was put on cholestoral medication. Unfortunately the Pravachol also gave me intense arthritic pain in my hands. I quit Pravachol, pain went away and Doc switched me to Zocor. However the hemorroids do come back from time to time.

In summary: Living a long life is not all it's cracked up to be. As one wit said, "If I had known I would live so long, I would have taken better care of myself. Luckily my children are growing up much wiser and live healthy lives. But I have good friends not so lucky and whose travails just make me say to myself, STFU.
Quote Of the Day
"I work for the White House. We all work for the White House."
-- Alberto Gonzales
Go HERE.
American Medicine-12
5th Taxol was yesterday and so far, so good. I came home afterwards, ate lunch and then trimmed the yard. I mowed about half of it (took an hour) and then got too pooped so S.... came to finish it up after he got off work. Good job done (again). I had just mowed it on Sunday and because of all the rain, it grew really fast.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers ~ hope your Sunday is great.
Red-White & Green America

©1975 Danny Dries
Pass It On
Bill Richardson for Prez.

Linda & The Smokster

The Water Is Wide
One of my favorite songs. J.T.

MacDries says, "No, I have not been reborn. Gospel music is just another form of the true art. And check out his harp playing on What Can I Do For You down below."
Bill Richardson
The Gov. says this is possible and I don't know anything about the War Powers Act but you can... Go HERE.
Sunday Kind Of Songs
Wish I had seen this concert 27 years ago. You can find the whole Toronto concert on YouTube.


Another Day
Been listening to Keith Jarrett for a couple days and this is a really awesome straight on jazz trio live album. I'd get it but I already have it. At the Deer Head Inn

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin' high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I
Proud 'neath heated brow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
"Rip down all hate," I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
"Equality," I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

Copyright © 1964; renewed 1992 Special Rider Music
The Other Wolfgang
Puck. He wants animals to have a happy life before they are slaughtered to feed us.
"As for foie gras, my customers and I can easily live without it." Go HERE.

MacDries says, "Do unto animals as you would have them do unto y'all."
Dear Mr. President

Another Month Shot To Hell
Just cuz I love the picture and I'm a momma's boy.

Back at'cha Shrub. You little twerp!
Go HERE to see the whole tape.

For The Latest Dries Art GO HERE
For The Latest CyberToonz GO HERE
I've never actually watched an episode of The Simpsons (I'm more of a Pixar kind of guy) butt...
*Dislaimer

Go To: MacDries Design

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