Another Annual Retort

Welcome to Year  five of The Department of Homeland Inspiration!

We are at your service in search of Art in the Every Day.  It is a radical and defiant act to decide to stop and take a picture of Not Selfie. The walk around the block, the corner out back, or maybe what has grown into a fence.  It's here and there for you to see and cultivate.

As we change into 2014, here is a mash up of images and thought fractals from the year gonebye:

Right here in the U S of A where we ate "homemade" Macaroni and Cheese next to a man in his blackened suede welding jacket.

Our job is tending The Department of Homeland Inspiration:  (by now, you all have your own version of this so please send in some image evidence to: FAF@homelandinspiration.org.) Your participation is the reason in chief we continue this unknown blogging vision quest.

A handy Pocket Review for you

Okay, we had our debt ceilings and gov shutdown fist poundings. Bad hurricanes and tornadoes and

polar ice sheets melting with atmospheric carbon now reaching over 400 parts per bill.

MORE horrific gun stories. The Giant technological gaff of health care debacle. The biggest typhoon on earth. The chillax shift in Marijuana laws.  

And We have got to Stop Fracking already!

Certainly, we are very unsconsed in the unfolding case of Edward Snowden (who is working on the screenplay?).

Almost a horse race

And here's a fat footnote:  Bitcoins.  Have you felt it in the air lately? We've read three articles about this and understand less than before we started. Yup, Bitcoins and Bitcoin mining. Their computing power has increased 30,000% this year (or something) even more than the NSA.   They have these machines in Iceland that do math problems 24/7 and poop (or birth) out little bitcoins you could own (or something). What a bitcoin is worth is constantly fluctuating based on demand and limitation (we made that up). Yes Bits and the silent partner, Bytes. Bitcoin transactions leave no trace of place of origin as there is no sovereign nation upon which to base it. Yet the enterprise is taking up 100s of thousands of square footage, computing power and energy. It seems the pinnacle of mathematical capitalism and yet the pinnacle of democratism.  No bank fees for transactions. Anyone with 25 cents and an internet connection can join in.  Why are we even talking about this? Our mind noodles are trying to wrap around this new form of Casino ism. It's extra- terrestrial virtual money - a new way to shovel $$it$$ around that hardly anyone understands. Do you?

Overwhelming news of the world better to swallow alongside the fruits of our small gardens, the "liquid gold" made by bees, the shape of eggs laid by big useful birds, the skincolor of plums in July.  The crumpled and folded socks of boys. The whirlwind of daily.

sometimes we get holes in us

Wishing you and yours much Peace and Reasonable well-being in the new year.  Please visit often.

Sincerely Yours,
Art Ranger and colleagues