When People Tell the Truth

I love to watch the Behavior Panel on YouTube. Basically they're four body language experts. Two of them were in the military and they all work with the gov't. They analyze footage of famous people or those involved in crimes, looking for possible signs of deception and things like that.

 They all have great personalities, and are very good at what they do. They have a great rapport and it's obvious they're buds. Although body language is very interesting, I'm not really trying to learn all about it. It is nice to learn certain cues that might indicate that someone's lying, but I think a lot of that is stuff we're innately aware of, consciously or not. 

 I wouldn't want to become an expert in body language to the point that when I met someone I'd start analyzing them...that'd interrupt the flow. What I really like about these guys is that they completely understand narcissism, which, having been through it, will fascinate me for the rest of my life. 

 They've done a great service to the few people who pay attention when they talk about someone being a narcissist. They, and others, have pointed out narcissistic traits in people like Amber Heard, Elizabeth Holmes, what'shisfuck...George Santos and many others. Man they tore Santos a new asshole. If you want to get a taste of the behavior panel, and see possibly the greatest liar of our time as well, you can check out the two videos they did on Santos, HERE and HERE. It's incredible.

 Although pointing out deception is their bread and butter, and what gets views on YouTube, they also point out when someone is being truthful, and it's a breath of fresh air. Those same tactics are invaluable to law enforcement in cases when they're interviewing people who may or may not be involved in the disappearance of a loved one.

 Although I've never even tried to make mental notes of anything they say about body language, I've picked up a few things through osmosis, and I bet if I saw one of those interviews I'd have a pretty good idea if they were innocent or guilty. 

 And just for the record, touching your nose after you say something doesn't automatically indicate a lie. You look for baseline behavior when the person is known to be telling the truth, and compare it to when they might be lying. Ideally you want to see several indicators at once, which indicates a very strong chance of deception. 

 We all lie...I've told lies and I'll tell more lies, but I'm not a chronic liar, and I've told the truth many, many times when it got me into trouble or didn't paint me in the best light. I could've lied and no one would've been the wiser but I didn't. They say the truth hurts and they're right, but they also say that the truth will set us free, and to that I say Amen. I'd add yet again that the truth stands alone, and it ALWAYS comes out eventually. The truth isn't always cool these days, but if ever there was a case of "It is what it is," it's the truth. It wins in the end. 

 I think I do pay more attention when they're pointing out things that indicate that someone is being truthful. For instance, in the case of a missing relative when someone who's a person of interest is being interviewed, truthful people will talk about finding that person, show genuine grief, cry real tears and such, while guilty people will usually try to weave a story to show their innocence, and sometimes won't even mention the person's name. A good interviewer knows when someone is guilty even before there's a confession. 

 Chronic liars, aka narcissists, use several tactics in being deceptive, but perhaps the most powerful one is deflection. A truthful person will generally just answer the question, but a liar will try to deflect by changing the subject and not answering the question at all, and it's usually very effective. The interviewer will often go with the new train of thought and forget about the original question, but a good interviewer won't be distracted, and will say something like: "You still haven't answered the question."

 That has the added advantage of rattling the narcissist, by pointing out a tiny flaw. They can't handle it. They'll bring up good things about themselves, true or not, as if they're a good person and could never be involved in anything bad. A truthful person won't care about that. They're only interested in finding the missing person.

 They'll pretend to want to get the person back and to be helpful, but the only signs of grief, concern or worry that you'll see on their faces is for themselves, when it hits them that people aren't buying their bullshit and they're in trouble. They'll talk about how they feel and how it's affected them, while a truthful person will say "Please help us get them back!" They often use my favorite trick of all- fake crying with no tears. That's a very good indication of a narcissist. 

 Although making or breaking eye contact isn't always a sign of truth or deception, a liar will often look away when they tell a lie, but then immediately look at the person to see if they're buying it. There are all sorts of signs of possible deception, and you can look into it if you're interested. 

 Truthful people are generally more relaxed and less fidgety. The hand gestures most of us make when we're illustrating something align perfectly when someone is telling the truth, but can be early or late when someone is lying. That's a fascinating thing to see...it's almost like the video and audio are out of sync. 

  Again I think that at least subconsciously most people know when someone is lying or telling the truth, but it's nice to have things pointed out, since narcissists are extremely good liars...except for Santos. The guys appreciate it when someone is telling the truth. The thing is, once someone has been caught in a lie, it casts doubt on anything they might say in the future. Nobody likes a liar. 

 
 

How to Crack a Narcissist

The best interrogators are the ones who understand narcissism, for several reasons. Since every narcissist on Earth has the same traits and will basically act the same way, the interrogators know how to exploit those traits and push their buttons. Most people who do bad things are narcissists, and the investigators who understand narcissism know that. 

 They know that narcissists' brains aren't wired for empathy, remorse, kindness and such, so narcissists don't care what they do. Since in their minds they're perfect and never do anything wrong or make mistakes, they can literally shoot someone in the back, and it's their fault. It's crazy to think they actually believe that but it's true. 

 Another great thing for interrogators is that since narcissists think they're smarter than everyone else on the planet, they'll often think they can talk their way out of something without the need for a lawyer, which should be rule #1, even if you're innocent. For how smart they think they are, it's hilarious to see what dumbasses they really are. They can't put themselves in anyone else's shoes, even to get an idea of how others see them. They think everyone else sees them exactly as they see themselves- perfect. 

 They also know that narcissists will often tell on themselves without realizing it. As a rule, narcissists aren't very bright. If the brain never develops empathy, it also can't properly develop emotionally or intelligently. They know that narcissists lie almost all of the time, and if they keep asking the same questions, eventually the narcissist will get caught in the "liar's loop," where they can't keep up with all the lies they've told, and start to tell different stories and directly contradict themselves. Oops, busted! It's great.

 It doesn't have to be an interrogation...if you just want to get the truth from someone and you suspect they might be a narcissist, you can use these same techniques to get them to show themselves for what they really are, and if they're a narcissist, it'll work 100% of the time. You can set your watch to it. 

 Since they think they're smarter, better looking and more interesting that every other human, you play that up first. They'll beam-out. Once you have them all pumped on themselves, you switch gears and question them on something stupid that they did, or one of the many lies you'll inevitably hear. Since maintaining a sense of control, either real or imagined, is just as essential to the narcissist's fragile framework as believing they're perfect, they'll immediately go on the defensive. They don't have the self-control to stop it, and you can see it happen. The more you press, the more they'll come unglued. At some point, steam will come out of their ears. Enjoy, but be careful. They can be very dangerous.

 Normal people might bristle and get pissed if you did that to them too, but not like a narcissist. When you challenge a narcissist in any way, you become their sworn enemy, and it happens in the blink of an eye. It's unnatural. You can try it on people you suspect, and you can do it politely. Most people can handle a little criticism, but not a narcissist. It's not how they're wired. Try it some time. It works. I'd say a little prayer first, but that's just me. Stay safe. 
 

Verse of the Day (Amos 5:8 KJV)

"Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: the Lord is his name." - Amos 5:8, KJV
 

You Never Forget Your First Halo

Yesterday I saw the first Sun Halo I've seen in months, and it was a good one. What's interesting is that often I have a powerful feeling that I'm going to see one, and when I look up there one is. A couple of times this year I've kinda thought I might see one but I didn't, so I'm aware of observational bias, but it happens most of the time and it did yesterday.

 I walked outside and immediately felt like there was one above me and there was. Most people don't think anything of it but to me it's breathtaking. They say it's caused by ice crystals, which may be true and the only thing causing it, but as always, I take what they say with a grain of salt. 

 I don't think that ice crystals is the whole story, but I'm not an Astronomer or a Meteorologist or anything else, so wtf do I know? If it's nothing but ice crystals, then why haven't we seen them regularly all throughout our lifetimes? Oh wait, I know...it's climate change, right? They say that's the cause of everything that's wrong with the planet, so why not I guess. Does excess heat cause ice crystals to form? You wouldn't think.

 Alls I know is is that it's an eyesight to see, and I'll never forget the first one I saw in person. It was 2015 or 2016. I'd heard of them and seen photos, but I was eager to see one for myself. I knew that it hadn't been a common thing in our skies at all for many years, and being someone who's looked at the sky day and night for 60+ years, I'd never seen one. That doesn't mean it never happened but I never saw it. 

 I took photos of it but they're on a long-gone hard drive. I was mesmerized to finally see one in person. It was directly overhead, and about as big as this one. I couldn't quit looking at it. It's one thing to see a ring around the Sun, but the darker area inside it was more intriguing. Maybe the light refracts funny within the circle or something, but it gave me a really interesting feeling that something was going on, like I was looking into another dimension. 

 Just like the first one I saw, they were chemtrailing the shit out of it from all directions, as you can see in this still from a video I took yesterday. There were at least two other planes that aren't in the frame. Judging by the haze in an otherwise cloudless sky, I know they were spraying hours ahead of it.

 It varies from month to month and they've been spraying almost every day for a while now, but nothing like they were spraying yesterday, and all in the area of the halo. For some reason they're trying to make these halos less noticeable.

 Imagine this halo in a perfectly clear sky. Everyone would notice it. The thing is, I don't know if we'd see one in a clear sky, because maybe the light needs something to project on, and I'm pretty sure you need clouds for ice crystals to form in, but I could be wrong. If you do need clouds for ice crystal formation, then the reason for these halos wouldn't be ice crystals at all. 

 If you don't believe that they're spraying right in front of the Sun, you should know that planes don't just fly seemingly haphazard like that, especially not five or six at once. They normally fly along set routes, and don't keep crisscrossing the same area over and over. And if you still don't think chemtrails are real, you have some serious catching-up to do. In case you didn't know, they've been declassified, and we'll be hearing about it from the horse's mouth. Wait and see. 

 Interestingly my main info guy says that the reason for chemtrails is to reflect some of the extra solar radiation back into space. That makes sense because we know that solar radiation has been increasing for the last several years, and some say it's going to keep increasing. 

 The way they were spraying this halo was just like when I saw the first one. I'd gone out that morning and noticed that they were busy as bees and spraying the fuck out of the sky, again on an otherwise cloudless day, several hundred miles upwind. I knew the wind was coming toward me and all that shit would be overhead in an hour or so, and I actually wondered if they were possibly trying to screen an upcoming halo, and lo and behold I saw my first halo about an hour later. Even with all the haze it was still incredible...like a round Mothership was parked behind the Sun or whatever. It was massive. 

 Starting with the Worm Moon, partial eclipse/Blood Moon that happened last night, and for me the halo yesterday, the next couple of months should be interesting for sky-watchers. We all know about the upcoming eclipse on April 8th, and most people know that the so-called "Devil Comet" should be visible in the Moon's shadow during the eclipse. They're also saying that we might see explosions popping out from the rim of the Sun during totality. Heck, with all that going on, we just might see a Saucer too. Why not?

 Interestingly the same series of events took place back in 1811. They had a partial Blood Moon, a solar eclipse and a "devil comet," so called because they have two protrusions that look like horns. Not long after there were major quakes around the world, ranging from about 7.3 to 8.4 in magnitude. Without going into all the stuff about electromagnetic interaction between the Sun and the planets, the Sun controls EVERYTHING that happens on Earth, even our mood. Look it up if you don't believe it. 

 The Moon influences the tides, and people too, and the Moon and Sun being in a line during an eclipse can have a combined effect on our planet. Hopefully things will stay calm this time, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some major quakes in the months of April and May. 

 I've said a million times that as a little kid of three or four I was captivated by a Bible verse that talked about "signs in the heavens," and all the way back then I felt like it would happen in my lifetime. Like my main info guy says, most people won't take these things as "signs" at all, and to be fair we can't prove they are, but as we know from history, eclipses and comets have often been accompanied by all sorts of crazy events. Whether that's pure chance is obviously open to debate. 

 As far as these Sun Halos are concerned, all I can say for sure is that although there are illustrations of them from the past, they're a recent thing for modern times. Until 2015 or 16 I'd never seen one, but I've seen a couple-dozen in person since then. There are no photos of them that I know about, until recently. Why do they try to make them less noticeable by pounding them with jet exhaust? 

Could all this be the beginning of the "signs in the heavens?" I think we've been there for a few years. Heads-up. 

 

Black Eyes

I've talked about a narcissist ex of mine, and seeing her eyes go completely black during many of her trademark fits of rage, or "narcissistic rage" as it's called in clinical terms. Again I don't mean that her pupils were dilated; I mean the entire eyeball turned black...whites and all.

 I get that it sounds crazy or like it was imagined, but it's very real. Over the last six years I've heard hundreds of people report the same thing, and statistically they can't all be imagining things. We've seen this phenomenon countless times in movies, where it's almost always the result of demonic possession. 

 Do you think that's just a coincidence? Maybe, but having witnessed it many times, I don't think so. I think it's straight-up demonic, and many people share that opinion. I've also mentioned the hundreds of comments I've read where people say things like: "I'm not particularly 'religious' but this person has a demon." People are seeing it now for themselves, whether they think demons are real or not, or had formerly thought, as the case may be. It's changing people's minds.

 All the naysayers who think that people who report it are imagining things or are high or that it's a trick of the light or a medical condition simply haven't seen it for themselves. They'll cite a rare medical condition that causes the pupils to dilate when someone is angry or under extreme stress, but again that only involves the pupil and not the entire eye. 

 They'll say it's drugs, and certain things will dilate the pupils to saucer size, but no drugs of any kind will turn the whites of the eyes black. I saw it myself with my ex quite a few times, and for the record I was sober every single time, and certainly not under the influence of hallucinogens. 

 You have to ask what could possibly make someone's eyes turn black, which is obviously an unnatural thing, and there simply isn't a logical explanation. As we know, sometimes the craziest sounding explanation is in reality the correct one. If demons are real and they really possess people, it's not a stretch at all to think they'd make the person's eyes go black. 

 What I saw was just like a scene from one of those movies...my ex's eyes would turn solid black and you could see it happen. Usually they'd stay black for the duration of the most brutal part of the fight, several minutes usually, but sometimes they'd go back and forth. It was freaky as fuck, and if I didn't at least think I knew what it was- demons, and knew of a power that was stronger and that I could call upon if needed, I might have been pretty frightened. BTW I recorded some of those fights, and it's clear to see which one of us was the monster. 

 If you think it's unsettling in a movie, try seeing it in real life. I saw something else looking at me from behind her black eyes than just her, with a look of pure evil and ultra hatred I might add. If I'd been a Catholic priest I'd have crossed myself and tried to exorcise that motherfucker. The fact that it sounds crazy doesn't matter one bit. People can think what they want...I don't care.

 I've mentioned that my main info guy believes that there will soon come a time when we'll be able to tell what a person is truly like on the inside, just by looking at the outside. I believe that, and sure enough, people are starting to notice, whether they're particularly "religious" or not. If what he says is true, then seeing someone's eyes turn solid black would be a pretty good indicator of what's inside. 

 I watched a video where cops were called to a residence because this woman's son had gone berserk and choked her until she passed out. She was talking about how his eyes had gone black, and that got my attention. Here we go. The cop just ignored it, as most people probably would, but she kept talking about it because it had obviously freaked her out. I screenshotted a couple of her comments with closed captioning.

 The son exhibited all the classic signs of narcissism within about a minute- the disrespect, name-calling, utterly childish behavior, totally justifying his actions by blaming others, fake crying with no tears, and for bonus points, growling. Since I believe that all narcissists are at least sometimes possessed by demons, the fact that she'd seen his eyes go black is no surprise. 

 She mentioned it again later and again the cop ignored it. Is this woman a nutjob or a druggie? Actually she's a nurse, and she was completely sober. She's what would be called a "credible witness." It's a shame the cop didn't take any interest in it but it's understandable. It's not a part of most people's way of thinking, but if my guy is right that may soon change. She knows.

 I get that most people will say that it's this or that, and I support their right to do so, but I can assure you that if you ever happen to see it for yourself, you'll know it's none of those things. You will know.

 Whatever is going on is getting people's attention, just like my guy said would happen. If you should ever see someone's eyes turn solid black and it frightens you, be aware that there's one name that demons have to flee from, and that's the name of Jesus. If needed, use it. Say it out loud. As Todd Rundgren and many others have said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Todd knows. It's for real. No fear. Have a nice day.
 

Great Gigs: Music by Candlelight (rewritten)

Sometimes a gig that you think will be mediocre turns out to surprise you. Most of the frat and sorority parties we played were at wealthier schools but we played plenty of smaller schools The frats at bigger schools had the budget to hire two main bands and two "afternoon" bands every weekend, but the smaller frats might only be able to hire a band for three parties every semester or whatever.

 The Bud Greene band never talked about it but I think we were all aware of the fact that a party with a band was more special to them than the people who could afford to hire a million bands. I tried to certainly give them every bit of a good show as we'd give the Kappa Sigs, our main guys everywhere, if not more. They appreciated a band a bit more sometimes. 

 I remember playing some tiny school somewhere where they could only afford to hire like maybe two bands a year, so when we played it was like a stadium show to them. Even the teachers were having a good time and the kids were going absolutely apeshit before we even sat down to play. 

 They couldn't afford to build a stage so we set up on the ground. The crowd was roped-off but I honestly thought they might break through and mob us, which they pretty much did at the end of the show. I kept all my used sticks because people would occasionally ask for one. I gave away all of my used sticks and even all of my new ones. I could get more. It was very humbling, but we also felt like Rock Stars. 

 Anyway this other gig took place somewhere in south Alabama I think. They weren't quite as poor as the last guys but they couldn't afford to hire a band for every party. We set up in the basement of a tiny frat house. We were doing soundcheck, and the power went out. We reset the breakers but it happened again. We realized that the power supply wasn't adequate for both the PA and lights, so we had to ditch the lights. They'd built a little 4" high stage, but it wasn't big enough to fit the whole band. 

 It was either get everybody to round up lanterns or flashlights, or maybe candles. I got the main guy and told him to get everybody to collect any candles they might have, and I asked if there was a thrift store in town. Luckily there was one close by, and I ended up spending quite a bit of my own money on candles...I bought several hundred anyway. We went back and O' and I went around the stage setting up and lighting candles, and then we started playing. 

 As you can imagine the vibe was very warm, and also primal. That's what fire'll do. It was nothing whatsoever like the photo here, but in its own way it was just as cool. We ended up with maybe 350 candles or more, and it looked like some sort of temple. Everyone had a smile on their face, and something else happened that I never really never thought about again until now...people drank less alcohol. There was still drinking, but lots of the kids got off on the vibe, and hopefully the music too, and didn't feel the need to get as hammered as they usually did. 

 I was really appreciative of that because I was always a big fan of people getting high off the music rather than alcohol or whatever, and that applied to the band as well as the audience. I never touched a drop of alcohol either during the gig or the day of. I'd go through at least two 1.5-liter bottles of water every gig, Summer or Winter, and I'd display my water bottle as much as I could. I was sending a subtle message that you could have as much fun as a barrel of monkeys without having to be loaded. I loved seeing people get off on the vibe in the room and letting that be the buzz. 

 Another interesting thing happened. Without thinking about it we brought the volume of the band down a bit, to match the vibe in the room. The atmosphere and the music and the interaction with the crowd was a little more intimate than usual. People generally had fun at our gigs, but I never saw so many smiles. If I had a time machine I'd go back and play that gig again. It's worth doing on purpose. Rock on, by any light. 

The "Happiest" Happy Hour

Considering the subject matter, happy hour, and the level of severity it attained, it's a wonder I remember anything about this time at all, but somehow I do. I was playing in my first professional band- the Skip Perry Trio. I took this photo of Albert the possum after I came home from a gig with Skip and the boys, and I know that because of the horrible polyester shirt I had to wear, not to mention the 4" collars. 

 I hated wearing even blend shirts much less 100% polyester, and normally I had those clothes off within about a minute of getting home, but apparently the urge to play with Albert was stronger, and that's cool. He was a fun little animal. Ha-ha, so was I.

 At one point we had a month booked in the lounge of a Ramada Inn I believe. It was on Green Springs Avenue. Although happy hour has been outlawed in many areas for obvious reasons, it was alive and well back then. They used miniatures for every pour, so a happy hour drink would contain two. 

 They made a drink called a Colorado Motherfucker. It had all the clear liquors- vodka, rum, tequila and gin, plus half and half, a splash of Coke and Creme de Cacao. It was like a White Russian except it tasted like chocolate milk...chocolate milk that would kick your ass that is. They were served in plastic beer pitchers, and looking back it's a good thing they weren't glass, since I know we dropped more than one.

 Normally they'd have one miniature of each liquor, but during happy hour they'd double that to eight miniatures. Half the pitcher was liquor. Where things got crazy was that they gave the band happy hour all the time, and so when official happy hour kicked in, they'd double the amount of liquor again. There was barely room for ice, half and half and Cacao, so there was just a splash of each. I think they enjoyed getting the bands wasted, and it was pretty radical to have 16 miniatures in one pitcher. It was probably flammable. It sure lit us up. 

 I don't know that I'd have mixed tequila with gin, but after a few sips it didn't matter. That much liquor will dull your taste buds in a hurry, and your brain too for that matter. Turns out it was a coveted gig because they treated the bands so well. Not only did they get us plastered nearly every night but we got a huge discount on food, and it was really good. On top of everything else they gave us all our own rooms for the duration. That may have saved our butts, since we could wait until morning to drive home if we needed to. 

 I should mention that the music was a blast and an invaluable experience. I was learning on the job and I had to play, or at least fake, several styles I'd never really played before. I could do the Rock and Pop stuff no problem, and go "Ding ding a-ding" on the cymbal for Jazz, but we played everything from Disco to Samba to ballads to Polka, and I had to learn quickly. We'd play the latest Pop songs on the radio, like "Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffet and "King Tut" by Steve Martin, and people would go nuts. I learned how to rev-up a crowd.

 Skip also got me singing and playing drums at the same time, and I'll forever be in his debt, although he passed many years ago. RIP Skip, and thanks. He heard me singing a Zappa tune while I was setting up my kit, and thought I had a decent enough voice that I could do backup.

 At first I couldn't even go "Ahhhh" and play a simple beat at the same time, but Skip was very patient, and before too long I was singing words, and I was thrilled. I never had a beautiful, Greg Lake-type voice but I've always loved to sing, and if I have a skill, it's that I can blend my voice well with the lead singer. 

 But this post is more about liquor, so back to the story. Man I still shudder when I think about taking the first sip from a pitcher of Co. Mofos. It'd give you the piss-shivers. One pitcher was easily enough for two people, although we didn't always stop at one. I started drinking later than most people, and I guess I was making up for lost time. Half a pitcher was eight miniatures, or at least 12oz of liquor. "Liquor? I hardly know her." Ba-Dop...PSSSSHHHHH!

 About the third night, two fine sisters came into the bar. They were actual sisters. They'd come here from New York and were staying at the motel. The older girl was taking a job managing a clothing store here called Mangle's, and her younger sis had come along for the company, and to help her find a place and such. 

 They were great girls. They were a bit more laid-back than most people I've met from New York, and although their pronunciation was perfect, they didn't have that thick Bronx accent, which was a relief, and no offense to accents. I have a bad one myself. 

 The older girl was a year younger than me, and her sister another year younger. Shame on me for not remembering their names. I'm blaming the Colorado Motherfuckers for that. I do remember that they were both very beautiful. They were smart and funny, my type, and they were sweethearts for days. Being into clothes they were dressed impeccably and tastefully. They wore cashmere sweaters and things like that. I was very pleased to meet them.

 I'm guessing the pitchers with 16 miniatures in them probably played a part in the social lubrication, but the older sister and I hit it off pretty quickly. For the next month we hung out every day. Right away I took her to the river. She was a city girl but she took right to it. It was a beautiful thing to turn her on to that and to see her love it so much. We got a bit frisky, and when we got back, her sister was giving her shit about having leaves in her hair. I'll never forget...she goes: "You been rolling around in the woods?" It was a rhetorical question. 

 One night they'd gone up to their room before we'd finished playing. Supposedly her sister was tired and wanted to crash. I called after we finished, and ordered a pitcher to go. It did take a minute or two to pour all those miniatures, but it couldn't have been more than five minutes before I got up to their room, and my girl was supposedly asleep. I figured she was faking but I didn't know why. Then I heard her sister start to moan. "Hmmm...a setup" I thought. 

 She casually slid down the covers to show that she was naked. I figured big sis was okay with it. Did I oblige? Sometimes you gotta roll with the punches. That's as far as it went and it never happened again. I was really into the older one and she was plenty. She ended up getting homesick and moving back to NY and not taking the job, or I'm sure we'd have gone out for a long time. 

 I wonder what she's up to. It's surprising I can remember anything about that month, considering we were drinking all the quadruples we wanted, but I remember big sis very fondly, and I hope she feels the same...that is if she can remember. I really liked her. I bet they put in a good word for Alabama. Cheers, sisters!

 Well, that's my happy hour story. Actually, "happy month" would be more like it. I had a blast and got buzzed to the gills. This story isn't as good as I hope some of my other ones are, but I can say that I've never had a stronger drink. Basically it was like: "Here, have a few sips of this" and things just happened. I remember more general craziness, but finer details escape me, and I'm doing good to remember what I do. 16 miniatures in one pitcher...that's nuts. Oh, and thank God for the free rooms. No wonder they outlawed happy hour. 
 

Dorodango Experiments

I don't know if I'll be making too many more Dorodangos, or "shiny mud dumplings," but I'll be trying an idea out, just to see what might happen. The thing is, with something with a name like shiny mud dumpling that you can actually make, you must make at least one, just to see what a dang shiny mud dumpling looks like. I'll have to say, it's pretty shiny. Again, who'd have thunk it?

 There's a good many people who are into these things, myself included. People sell them online and other people buy them. There are several kits you can buy, mostly from Japan, where it originated, and all you have to do is add water. The kits come with clay/soil, sand and something to burnish/polish it with, and often various colorants.  

 They all look nice, but I want things to be as natural as possible. Not that a Dorodango would be a natural thing...Nature creates spheres out of everything, but I can't see how a sphere could make itself out of mud, separate itself and then polish itself, but you never know. 

 Since it's not really a natural thing to begin with, the sky's the limit. I'll be trying to make something that wouldn't happen naturally, but at least I won't be using dyes or whatever; I'll be using rock. 

 I first thought it'd be cool to use powered opal for the final coatings if I could find any, and I found some on eBay. I love eBay. They offer powdered milky opal. Using it instead of sand for the last coats won't make it look like a natural opal but it should give a nice luster, almost like a glaze. It's hard to know if much of the iridescent color will be evident but we'll see.

 What's interesting about the various sizes they grind the rock to is that the color gets harder to see as it gets finer. With the garnet, the 3-5mm pieces look red like garnet but it looks like gray beach sand when ground to a powder. It's the same with the opal.

 This stuff comes from India so it'll take up to a month to get here and it's not super cheap, but I have to try it. I'm looking forward to trying the garnet more than the opal. I don't want to spend money and have them turn out plain gray, the color of the powdered garnet, because I can do that for free. Gray clay is free for the digging.

 I'm hoping that when it's polished and burnished, the red color will come out more. Again, I think that the compression that happens with burnishing will be the ticket, but I could be wrong. Burnishing compresses the particles together to be more like a solid layer. If it sticks to itself well enough and I can get enough coats on it to give it depth, and grind the last coats into powder it should look okay.

 In any case I discovered something interesting, with surprising results, and I managed to generate some interest in people who didn't know about it. These should look nice no matter what, but maybe they'll be close to what I hope they'll look like. We'll see. If they happen to turn out amazing, they also have powered jade, malachite, ruby, quartz, turquoise and many other stones in many different colors. I've been wanting to get my hands dirty again.

Quote of the Day

"H,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v...s,r,q...ummm...s,t,r,u,q...z...z...xyz!" - a severely intoxicated man asked to recite the alphabet from H to R
 

AI's Progress Cont'd

I've been keeping up with the progress of AI and text-to-speech technology since the beginning, at least what we're shown anyway. From what I know, it's gone from the comical voice of the Speak 'n' Spell, that sounded like a drunk robot doing all it could do not to hurl, to the B-movie robotic voice of Stephen Hawking, to where it is today, almost human-sounding. 

 It still occasionally doesn't understand the context of how a word is used in a sentence, so it doesn't use the proper inflection or know whether or not to accent a word or syllable. The journey from Speak 'n' Spell to today has been interesting and amusing. 

 You can listen to the narration of a video and think it's a human for a good while, but then you'll catch mistakes. I think it's just what we're shown, and that AI is already sentient and can speak perfectly, but that's another story.

 I was watching a vid about drummer Steven Adler getting canned from GNR. I figured the narrator's voice was AI, and sure enough it made a boner. It pronounced a sentence like this: "Guns AND Roses played at the Whisky A Go-GO." Oh-kay. It would seem that AI still has some work to do...or does it? 

Laced?

Lately we've been hearing stories about weed that's supposedly laced with fentanyl. Why not, right? We've been hearing about what I call the "stupid drugs" like coke, meth, heroin and such, all being laced with fentanyl, which has been confirmed, and anything is possible in Clown World, but weed? Let's have a look.

 First I can say that while my Bullshitometer wasn't completely pegged, it was well into the red. You can't instantly rule everything out, but I just couldn't see it being a real thing. I'll give my thoughts before I look into the studies.

 First off, while some weed is moved by certain organizations where fentanyl and weed might be in the same room, most weed is handled by growers who have nothing to do with fentanyl. It would certainly not be a concern buying dispensary weed since it's tested for contaminants. 

 Fent may be cheap but it's not free, and lacing large amounts of weed with even a little bit would be expensive and incredibly time consuming. Growers certainly aren't going to bother with it. If someone were trying to create some sort of "wacky weed" by lacing it with fent they'd be going to a hell of a lot of trouble. Some strains of weed are hitting 30% THC, and that's wacky enough for most people. 

 Ordinarily I'd say that adding anything to weed would change the taste and the way it smoked, although fentanyl is viciously potent so they wouldn't have to add very much. It should still affect the flavor, and a discerning smoker should taste it. Foreign substances like pharmaceuticals will usually smoke and bubble and turn into black goo and smell acrid, and it's very noticeable. 

 Back in the 70s, traditional Thai Sticks were made by taking small but choice buds of Thailand-grown weed, tying them onto a thin bamboo stick with hemp thread, and coating them in powdered opium. You could see the coating of brown powder, and to me they smelled more like fish food than grass. They smoked and sputtered differently than pure bud, and tasted completely different. Again it'd take much less fent due to its potency, but it should still be detectable. 

 This reminds me of the "Paraquat scare" of the late-70s or early 80s, where the feds started spraying some fields with Paraquat, and people thought their weed might be contaminated. Paraquat test kits were flying off the shelf and people were worried, but the chances of people smoking Paraquat weed were pretty slim, if they knew anything at all about what healthy weed looks like.

 I actually saw a batch of Paraquat weed. Either that or something else killed it, but it was yellowish-brown, dry as dust and already dead when harvested. Some dumbass had bought a key of it, and he ended up trying to sell it for pennies on the dollar but he couldn't give it away. Zappa warned us not to eat yellow snow, and luckily most people were intelligent enough to know not to smoke yellow weed. As always, cooler heads prevailed.

 That's my two cents...now on to the studies. Apparently the rumor started from a single broadcast from a politician in BC back in 2016. The story was retracted later the same day and the person apologized, but that's how it works- the original story was given front-page treatment in large font while the retraction was on page 5 or whatever. All the news agencies picked up on the first story and ran with it. 

 I watched a video where a guy consolidated all of the studies, official ones, that debunked the rumors. He showed clips of newscasters repeating the same story over and over again about weed being laced with fent. If you still don't believe that the mainstream news is agenda-driven, watch some of those vids where they show different news people starting out the same story with the exact same wording, right down to repeating unusual phrases. I've turned people who aren't awake onto that, and at least it got them scratching their heads.

 Except for the alcohol industry, I can't see why anyone would want to scare people into thinking that their weed might be laced with fentanyl, but the rumors, according to official medical and gubmint websites, are bullshit. It's probably about more regulations on the weed industry, a multi-billion-dollar business and growing. Any way the feds can fuck with it- genetically modifying it and whatnot, the happier they'll be. Control is their goal; fear is their favorite tool of control, and money is their god. 

 Another incident took place in New York, when cops busted up a party I think, where people were acting crazy. Initial reports said that they found weed laced with fentanyl, but the story was later retracted when they tested the samples and found not fentanyl but that K2 Spice stuff. Again the bogus story was picked up by news agencies and reported as fact, and again that's how it works. Bullshit gets promoted and the truth is relegated to page 5. 

 There was another incident where fentanyl actually was discovered in weed...a single incident, but again it was picked up by all the news agencies. It was almost certainly something that someone did as a one-off for themselves. There was only a small amount found, and no indication that any of it was ever sold. 

 Finally, studies on what happens to fentanyl when smoked debunked the whole thing. They said that smoking fentanyl wouldn't result in any intoxication, since the temperature at which weed is burned would destroy the fentanyl. There were also rumors that it was being added to vape cartridges, which again would be possible, except that the temperature of vapes isn't high enough to vaporize fentanyl. Either way, smoking fentanyl, at normal weed or vape temperatures anyway, doesn't work.

 I don't ridicule those who think that the "stupid drugs" are laced with fent on purpose by higher-ups as a means of population control, but why would they lace weed, knowing that smoking it destroys it? It works just fine when mixed with things that aren't smoked, and we know of thousands of accidental overdoses, when people didn't know they were taking fentanyl.

 A kid who was a neighbor accidentally overdosed on fentanyl last year. I liked him and I'm still bummed. He wasn't a loser...he had a great job as a sous chef at a country club, a sweetheart for a girlfriend and a good head on his shoulders. He dealt drugs, which is uncool, but he was a good kid. He had a heart.

 I don't know all the details but he told me once that opiates weren't his thing. He told me plenty about stuff he was into, so he had no reason to lie. It's almost certain that he took something that was laced with fent, and I seriously doubt it was weed. He was a connoisseur, and wouldn't have been fooled. He was only 21. It's sad. Rest in peace, Connor.  

 So there you have it...the rumors of weed being laced with fentanyl are just more bullshit. I'm not advocating smoking weed that is or isn't laced with anything, or doing any substances for that matter. I just want people to see through the bullshit. Have a nice day!
 

Honored

Generally I find that when you share information, no matter how obscure or meaningless it may seem to be, either someone is looking for it or someone could benefit from it. I put up a couple of posts on fb about Dorodangos, and a friend from the crazy restaurant left a comment. She asked if I could send links on how to make them. She works with the blind and visually-impaired, and she thought they'd really enjoy making these. It gave me an instant warm fuzzy.

 Sharing info is my gig, and you don't always get to see the ripples return to you, as it were. They're going to love making these. They could've found out about them anywhere but I happened to be the one sharing the info, and it's an honor. It made my day to be a part of it. God is good. Have a nice day. 
 

Quote of the Day

"My medicines are working!" - an unhinged man whose medicines are definitely not working quite enough
 

You Are What You Eat (McFucked)

I've known that McDonald's food contains some of the worst things we could ever put in our bodies, but I watched a video that was way more brutal than I thought it'd be.

 Dr. Paul Saladino took us along for a meal. He read the ingredients along the way, and he pretty much tore them a new McAsshole. You know the video is going to be rough when it starts out with him pointing at a floating Big Mac, like: "Know what the fuck's in that?" 

 You may not want to eat at McDonald's to begin with, but the thumbnail said that you wouldn't want to eat there again if you watched the video, and boy howdy, that's true. Before he listed the ingredients in the Big Mac sauce, he quipped: "It's the love child of everything that's wrong with McDonald's." Damn. Lol, doc. That's poetry, and it's also true. 

 We've heard about all the "Supersize Me" things, where people ate nothing but McDonald's for however long and gained a bunch of weight, which is mostly what they focused on, but there's so much more to it than calories. You'd be better off getting the same amount of calories by shoving sticks of butter down your throat or even eating lard than eating McDonald's food. 

 If you watch the video (you can watch it >HERE<) and still want to eat at McDonald's on a regular basis, or any basis, either you'd have to have a very strong sense of denial, or just not give a fuck what you put into your body, and sadly there's tons, literally, of people like that. I repeat...you are what you eat.

 There's microplastics, chemicals upon chemicals, excess aluminum, suspected carcinogens, fertility inhibitors, preservatives, silicates, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and much, much more, and of course high-fructose corn syrup, which Dr. Saladino calls "weaponized sugar." I love this guy. If you saw those substances in giant containers, waiting to go into Mickey D's food, you wouldn't take a spoonful of a single one of them for anything in the world, yet you'll eat them at McDonald's all day of the week. Go figure. 

 Most of us have seen those videos where they take fast food, mostly McDonald's, and put it in a plastic container and let it sit on a shelf at room temp for months, and after all that time it still looks pretty much the same. Sometimes they keep it on display for years and it's still intact. It's spooky. There's not even a speck of mold. Do you think that preservatives that powerful are good for your body? There's a metallic "ying" to the flavor of that stuff that you can't miss. You can actually taste it. They can't cover it up. 

 Taco Bell is another very questionable place. For many years if I did go there I'd only get rice and beans, but an ex liked to eat the mystery meat stuff. Once she got a burrito that tasted really sour. She took it up to get something else, and told the girl behind the counter that she thought the sour cream might have gone bad. The girl looked at her and said, "It doesn't GO bad!" Right then. Well, motherfucker...it should go bad! Sour cream and hamburgers and fries aren't meant to sit there virtually unchanged for months...not naturally anyway.

 Interestingly Dr. Saladino praised them for once using lard to cook their french fries, but they were severely pressured, probably by vegetable-oil lobbyists or some such, into using vegetable oils, because lard was allegedly bad for the heart and overall health in general. It sounded great on paper, but then they used oils that are high in trans fat, and the french fries ended up being way unhealthier. They could've used healthier oils but they didn't. 

 I've eaten at McDonald's plenty of times, especially when I was a kid and didn't know any better, and I still love the flavor of some of their breakfast items, but I haven't eaten a burger or fries or a fish folly or anything else in many years. After watching this video I doubt I'll break that trend any time soon. 

 When it comes to ways that bad food can fuck us up, McDonald's has all the bases covered. No wonder Ronald split. Even clowns can figure it out eventually. This is some seriously toxic stuff...just read the labels for yourself and look it all up. 

 If by chance you're a fast-food fan but want to turn over a new leaf, and don't want to join the growing throngs of people who look like walking cheeseburgers, then good for you, and you couldn't do any better than to watch this video. Dr. S gets a bit pissed at some of the ingredients, and you should too. I can't believe I could possibly be shocked by a video about ingredients in McDonald's food but I was.

 Microplastics? Corn syrup? Aluminum? Chemicals? Get out of here. I just wanted a burger and fries. What the McFuck is going on?

 

Car Goes Over Cliff...Car Bursts Into Flames...True Adrenaline Rush

I watched a video where this guy was showing a bunch of scenes from classic movies where a car would go over a cliff, roll over and then burst into flames. I remembered a few of them. He was talking about how we were basically programmed to think that that's what automatically happens. I've thought about that myself, and experienced it in real life. 

 It's true that if you go by movies, you'd think that it happens every time, but it doesn't. Often a car will go off a cliff, roll over and then nothing will happen except for maybe some smoking and steaming. It absolutely can and does happen that a car will explode into flames, but more often it won't. That wouldn't make for an exciting movie though.

 It's funny because I started this post a good while back and I'm just now getting back to it. Last night my mom was watching some old TV show that had a car-goes-over-cliff-and-bursts-into-flames scene, and I had to grin. Anyway, I had an experience with a car going over a cliff, and I was in it. The "movie mindset" led to me having a true adrenaline rush, and it was wild. 

 Back in high school my grandmother gave me a Plymouth Belvedere. It was a fairly badass car but the tires were bald. I drove it for several days before I could take it to the tire place on Saturday. Friday night I took it out for a drive. It had just started to rain after being dry for a while, and the roads were slick as owl shit. I had some fun making the tires spin on wet pavement by barely tapping the gas, but that was on level road. 

 I was on South Brookwood Road coming from Brookwood Road. It goes down and then back up steep hills, with a bit of a curve, and it's very narrow, or at least it was back then. They've smoothed it a bit since, but back then it was gnarly even when it was dry. It was fun to haul ass on when it was dry, but I was only going 15mph. I gave it a touch of gas to get up the hill and the wheels slipped. There was zero traction.

 I was heading for the side of the road, and the cliff. It wasn't like a huge cliff, maybe 75' or so, but it dropped almost straight down, and was best avoided. They say that with things like crashes, things seem to move in slow motion even though they don't, but this really happened in slow motion.

 The car was just creeping along but it wasn't stopping. Now they have a proper rail but back then there were 10" square concrete posts maybe three feet apart, with a cable in between. I was headed straight for one of the posts, and I was going so slowly that I thought it would stop me. I was wrong. 

 The Belvey was a heavy car, and it slowly pushed the post down and ran right over it. It also pulled the posts on either side out of the ground. I was probably thinking "Oh, shit" as the car went over the edge and down the cliff. I was maybe going 5mph at that point and I kept thinking the car would stop, but it slowly rolled down the cliff and flipped over two or three times. It came to rest on its side with the driver's side up. I put my foot on the steering wheel and climbed out. 

 It was nowhere near as spectacular as the crashes in the movies, where they'd go flying off the cliff at 70mph, get airborne, flip over ten times and of course burst into flames. I went off the edge of the cliff at 5mph and rolled over rather slowly, but the fact remained that I had indeed driven my car off a cliff and rolled it. 

 I saw smoke coming from underneath the hood. My rational brain told me that the car probably wasn't going to explode, but the programming from "movie mind" kicked in, and so did adrenaline, before I knew what was happening. I've had adrenaline rushes plenty of times but not like that. That was a true, life-or-death release of adrenaline...the maximum dose. 

 The brain will always choose "safe" over "sorry." My fight-or-flight response was definitely set to flight. My brain just doinged-out and I took off automatically." I got so high all of the sudden that it was almost like an out-of-body experience, except that I was hyper-focused. If anything, I was probably thinking: "Car goes over cliff...rolls...BOOM! Move ass!" I was gone.

 I climbed up a 50' cliff in about ten seconds...in the rain and in the dark, and that's no joke. The cliff was steep and slippery and it was pitch dark, but I managed to get to the top in a big hurry, almost without being able to see where I was going. I was just grabbing at what I could, and my legs were literally spinning around just like in a cartoon. I'm surprised it didn't make that classic Flintstones sound.

 My legs were propelling me up the cliff, and my hands were almost secondary. It was unreal. When I got to the top of the cliff I still had so much momentum that I just kept going and jumped almost three feet into the air, which flipped me out. That would've been impossible without a true adrenaline rush. 

 I stood on the edge of the cliff, in the rain, and I felt like the Incredible Hulk. I even pumped my fists into the air and slammed them down just like the Hulk used to do, but it was totally a reflex. I had all that energy and nowhere for it to go. I could literally feel it flowing through my veins. It was almost like I was looking around for something to knock over. If there had been houses right there I might have punched a mailbox or two, and I'm the biggest pacifist you could ever meet. 

 I started to go to one of the nearby houses to call my folks, but I had so much crazy energy that I didn't want them to see me right away because I thought I must look as high as I felt, and I didn't want them to see me like that, even though except for the adrenaline I was completely sober. I was still pretty jacked after I walked the short mile or so to the house, but the superhuman thing was gone. What a buzz it was. 

 I called the cops and a tow truck. Dad and I went back to see them pull the Belvedere up. They had to call another tow truck to hold the first truck in place but they finally got it out. I didn't get into any trouble, and the Belvey came through it like a champ. A 5" layer of Bondo on the roof, a paint job, four Pirellis and a kiss on the hood and she was good as new. 

 I'm glad I can say that I experienced a true adrenaline rush. Again, I've had them before many times, and maybe I can play the drums half-again as fast or whatever, but they're nothing at all compared to what I experienced that night, thanks largely to Hollywood. I could've lifted the car if I'd needed to, and that's the only time in my life I've been able to say that and not have it be a joke. It was a trip how I scurried up that cliff like it was nothing, and launched three feet into the air when I got to the top, again just like in a cartoon.

 There was a classic scene in the original Incredible Hulk TV series, where Bill Bixby turned into Lou Ferrigno, aka the Incredible Hulk, and he broke out of a laboratory during a storm, stood out in the pouring rain, looked up to the sky, let out a heartfelt roar, pumped his fists and slammed them down. That was me. 

 

Sleeping Position of the Day

This dude is catching some Zs. He looks comfortable. Back in the day when we saw someone who was high, we'd say: "I'll have some of what they're having." I don't think that applies any more. I don't even want to know about the shit they're taking these days. I really do need to start "The Blankey Project," so these poor fuckers can at least sleep horizontally. That's just fucked-up. Oh, well...sweet dreams.
 

Placebo?

We know that the Placebo Effect is real. It's proof that how we think can affect the body, and that in general a healthy body can heal itself. One of my favorite quotes of all time is by George Clinton. He said: "Free your mind, and your ass will follow." True that, George. 

 A while back I read an article about one study where a placebo "medicine" had whatever percentage effect it was, and then another "med" was introduced. All the patients were told about it was that it was more expensive than the first med. The patients perceived it as being better, and the effects were increased on top of what they already were. 

 Some say that having faith in God is nothing but a placebo, and to be fair I can't prove they're not right. Well, guess what...if it's nothing but a placebo, I'll still take it. Right now it's sometimes like the world is jumping on my last nerve with a pogo stick, and I doubt I'm alone.

 I get anxious about the future and I get afraid sometimes, like most people, and I also know for a fact I'll be facing more tough stuff, but so far anyway I still have traces of my sanity left. I also might get afraid sometimes, but I don't live in fear like many people sadly do these days, whether they'll admit it or not. I feel for them. 

 We're already the most-medicated country on Earth, and it's no surprise that those rates went up sharply after 2020, as well as substance and other types of abuse. I read another article that said that of all new patients after 2020 seeking treatment for sleep problems, over 60% had never had sleep issues in their lives. I imagine the numbers are similar for anxiety and depression and such. 

 I'd be a perfect candidate for meds at this particular time, although I don't like taking meds of any kind and I'm not on any now. I could probably hop on a Zoom call to some doc and get a script for tranqs, plus Addy too, if I told them I was also a lazy, useless POS. Thank God neither one of those have ever been my thing. Tranqs are generally way too strong for me to function normally on, and uppers like speed and dummy dust have never been my thing either. I've always had excess energy if anything, and those things got me too overcrunk.  

 Faith in God won't automatically fix all your problems, but placebo or not, it gives a certain degree of peace and comfort, and if you don't think you need those things these days you're fooling yourself. Saying a prayer doesn't always calm me down to base level, but it absolutely helps. It's not as strong as a Xanax or whatever, and again I'd be a candidate for meds, but faith helps. I do know meds have their usefulness, especially if used only for short-term, and I could see briefly taking them myself, although I seriously doubt I ever will. 

 Something else comes with prayer, and it was unexpected maybe. It's a feeling of love, and again, placebo or not, it feels real. The only side-effects of having faith as opposed to taking medicines that I can see are maybe I'm wrong and a backwards bumpkin. I'm feeling something that isn't real. Maybe. Bumpkin or not, I'll take it. God bless.
 

Dorodango 2

In the interest of staying busy but avoiding doing the things I should be doing, I made another Dorogango. This one turned out darker and a tad less glossy/glassy. It's still a trip to know that you can polish mud.

 Using the jar method to smooth and burnish the finish leaves rough spots. To get it smooth all over would mean that the ball would have to be perfectly round and smooth. The dips don't make contact with the rim of the jar and so they don't get polished. I like the contrast but the rough areas are porous, so these couldn't get wet for very long. 

 You could polish the whole thing by hand as some people do, which gives a more even finish, but it takes days, and you don't get that glassy finish that comes from compression. Compressing the outer layers is similar to glazing and firing clay. I can get the surface smoother but probably not perfect. Most of the ones I've seen are fairly similar to mine. 

 This one is still releasing moisture, which dulls the finish, and it'll probably get a bit more of a shine when it's completely dry, with another good polish. You can tell it's still releasing moisture because it's cold to the touch. Evaporation lowers the temperature of the ball quite a bit. When it's totally dry it'll be room temp.

I think these are definitely display-worthy, as long as you don't mind earth tomes. We have some marble spheres and these will fit right in. Knowing the story on them makes them a little more impressive.

 I'm going to make a couple more because I have an idea or two. Otherwise the only reason I'd keep making them is out of sheer boredom, although again they'd make nice gifts for people who appreciate such things.

 Anything handmade is fairly rare these days. Hey...maybe I could get a robot to make them for me. They could do it better than I can. Theirs would be perfectly smooth. They'd do a great job but I doubt they'd feel the same connection to the Earth as a human does when they play with mud. 

 I would love to make a few with clay and sand from the Cahaba River, if I could ever get down there again. I'd get a mortar and grind up some shells for the outer layers, which should look really nice. The finer the particles in the last dry coats you apply, the smoother the finish will be. Burnishing forces the particles together like a glaze. 

 The hardcore Dorodango guys grind the material into powder for the final coats. The final coat will be like dust. Those guys say that you can tell when it's as smooth as it can get, when dust will fall off of it. I always try to go all-out, or all-in as they say these days, so I'll try that. I'll need a mortar and pestle. 

 I was wondering how one of these would look with a coating of powdered opal, and I found some on eBay. I love opal, and I have some raw opal that's still in rocks, which I think is more beautiful than digging it out and carving it into jewelry. Adding powdered opal to the outer layer might create an interesting effect, and it wouldn't be an impossibility in Nature.

 I could cheat and add some porcelain clay to make it even smoother, but if the opal powder is fine enough it should be pretty close. Using sand for the final coats on these worked fine, so ground shells or opal should be no problem. 

 Rolling clay into balls and spending hours getting it smooth would be ridiculous to most people I guess, but they don't know how important it is to get your hands dirty every once in a while. It's hardwired in our brains, although that is changing. It's relaxing and fun to do, and it's good hand exercise. Besides the fact that Dorodangos look nice and are made from dirt, there's something really cool about them that I can't completely explain. My mom loved them and kept wanting to hold them. I've got to make a few fancy ones just to see what can be done. I'd love a Cahaba Dorodango. 

Dorodango

I was yesterday-years-old when I discovered Dorodango. It means "mud dumpling" in Japanese. In all the years of making mud pies and working with clay, I never thought about polishing a ball of dirt until you could see your reflection, but I saw images of spheres that almost looked like polished marble. I didn't think I could get results like I was seeing on the first try, but I'm into anything dirt-related so I had to try it immediately.

 It makes sense because you can get clay to be as smooth as glass, and dirt and clay are basically the same thing, although most dirt has some sand, rocks, organic matter and whatnot mixed in, and clay is fine-grained and pure. Usually though, the glossy effect with clay is achieved by glazing and firing, but the Dorodangos aren't fired, only polished. I was quite intreegwed. 

 I've been looking for something craft-wise to do instead of sitting on my ass watching YouTube videos, and I was able to do Dorodango while I was sitting on my ass watching YouTube videos. I was looking for something cheap, and dirt is dirt-cheap, and everybody has a pan and a jar on hand. 

 I watched a few vids to see what the deal was. Everyone had a slightly different method, but basically the idea is to sift some dirt, add some water, roll it into a ball and then add thin layers of finely-sifted dirt and/or sand, letting it rest in between, and when it starts to get drier and firmer you shape it and polish it. Some people use wax or oil at the end to give it more gloss, but it gets smooth as glass without it if you use enough elbow grease. 

 They said that although soil with a lot of clay can make smoother, denser balls, as long as you don't have too much sand, pretty much any soil will work. I had some potting soil that was both storebought and dug up. It was too sandy, so I dug up a few scoops of some nice dark soil that was mostly clay. Unless the soil is already dry you have to dry it and then sift it to get out rocks, twigs and such, and to have a finer grain. 

 The soil I dug was largely moist clay which would've taken several days to dry, and I didn't want to sit there holding a heat gun on it, so I forced it through the strainer and mixed in some of the dry dirt I already had. It made a nice dense ball that was almost as heavy as pure clay. I put it in a plastic bag to rest and to "sweat." The water inside the ball makes its way to the surface, and you keep adding thin layers of thinly-sifted dry material, smoothing it with your hands, letting it rest and then repeating, until a good bit of the water has been absorbed. It's an interesting process. 

 When it's stiff enough to take being rotated in the mouth of a jar you can start to shape it and make it more round, but you aren't concerned with smoothing it yet. The mouth of the jar has to be narrower than the ball so that just the rim touches the ball and it doesn't fall into the jar. Rolling it in the jar smooths the peaks and valleys and makes it rounder. 

 If the ball is at just the right consistency you could make it almost perfectly round with enough spinning and turning. What's cool is when you get to the polishing stage, the rim of the jar not only smooths the ball but it also compresses it, which is called burnishing. It has a similar effect to how clay shrinks and gets denser when fired. The areas on this one that did get polished are as sooth as glass, and that's from being compressed. 

 On my ball I got a lot of unpolished areas. What happened was it had gotten too dry to smooth perfectly with the jar rim. It had gotten too stiff to be moving around in there perfectly (that's what she said) so the little dips didn't make contact with the rim and they didn't get polished. I could make it perfectly smooth by taking a paintbrush with water and going over the dips and sprinkling fine powder on them and then burnish, polish and repeat the process several times, but it'd take half a day, and I like it the way it is. I like the contrast between the rough and glassy areas. It looks like a planet. Plus it's my first Dorodango, and it doesn't have to be perfect. It turned out nicer than some I saw.

 A few people let them rest in the fridge to make them stiffer. One or two didn't use a jar at all and just did all the polishing with a cloth. They were obviously not as round as most, and again I think that compressing the dirt makes a big difference. One guy skipped adding layers of fine dirt over and over. Once he got the clay more or less round, he dunked it in water and just quickly smoothed it with the jar. It was similar to glazing clay. They looked okay and he saved some time, but not being layered and burnished, the finish won't be nearly as durable. I wouldn't rush it, and you can't get that glass-like finish when you smooth it wet. 

 Some people "cheat" and add colorants, or clay to make it smoother. Some of them are nice but I like natural colors. "Mr. Natural" is my middle name. Mine looks like a polished stone, and since clay is powdered rock it makes sense that it would resemble a rock. I saw one guy who uses graphite for the final coats, which polishes to a mirror finish. It wouldn't happen in Nature too often but it does look cool...possibly a little cheesy but still cool. 

 One guy used pure sand for the final coats, which he said gave it a "nice crust." I liked that so I decided to try it. I didn't think pure sand would bond well enough to stick, but the results were pretty amazing. I didn't have any straight sand handy, so I found some sandstone that had some nice reds, oranges and yellows, and I ground two rocks together until I had a small pile of fine sand. I had some clay soil ready if the sand didn't stick but it did just fine, especially when compressed into the surface. It took extra time to get the sand but it was worth it. The soil underneath was dark brown, and the sand lightened the color a good bit.

 One guy had a Dorodango work space with dried and sifted soil in various colors, bagged and ready to go. I could see doing that. You can dig up clay soil in various colors all over the place. I could dig clay and sand to go with it from the banks of the Cahaba River and make them out of that. Depending on what part of the river you're on, the colors can vary from gray to yellowish to brown to reddish, and in a few spots it's black, from coal dust that came from mines in a few spots along the river. I could even powder up some shells to use for the final coats. Dang, that'd be cool.

 These are definitely worthy of display, and people sell them on eBay, Etsy and elsewhere. They go for between about $60 up to $150 or a little more, and people do buy them. It'd be a lot of work for not much if any profit, but they'd make really nice gifts for good friends. If I hadn't learned to make them and I had disposable income I'd buy several. I was thrilled with how mine came out first try. If you did sell them you'd mostly be charging for your labor. Overhead would be very low. It's almost like getting something for nothing.

 Thinking that dirt could be polished glass-smooth just never occurred to me, and I almost had to make one myself to believe it. The process was fun and very Zen-like and the results speak for themselves. I'd love it if someone gave me one that they made. The Dorodango...a "mud dumpling" that looks like marble and is smooth as glass. Whodda thunk it? Learn something new every day. Let's get those hands dirty!