SQUARE & COMPASSES 4

OTHER FAMOUS MASONS

Balfour, Lloyd - Jewelry
Bartholdi, Frederic A. - Designed the Statue of Liberty
Baylor, Robert E. B. - Founder Baylor University
Beard, Daniel Carter - Founder Boy Scouts
Bell, Lawrence - Bell Aircraft Corp.
Borglum, Gutzon & Lincoln - Father and Son who carved Mt. Rushmore
BuBois, W.E.B. - Educator/Scholar

Calvo, Father Francisco - Catholic Priest who started Freemasonry in Costa Rica 1865
Chrysler, Walter P. - Automotive fame
Citroen, Andre - French Engineer and motor car manufacturer

Desaguliers, John Theophilus - Inventor of the planetarium
Dow, William H. - Dow Chemical Co.
Drake, Edwin L - American Pioneer of the Oil industry
Dunant, Jean Henri - Founder of the Red Cross

Ervin Jr, Samuel J. - Headed "Watergate" committee

Faber, Eberhard - Head of the famous Eberhard Fabor Pencil Company
Fisher, Geoffrey - Archbishop of Canterbury 1945 - 1961
Fitch, John - Inventor of the Steamboat
Fleming, Sir Alexander - Invented Penicillin
Ford, Henry - Pioneer Automobile Manufacturer

Gatling, Richard J. - Built the "Gatling Gun"
Gilbert, Sir William S. - Was the librettis for "Pirates of Penzance"
Gillette, King C. - Gillette Razor Co.
"Grock" - Swiss Circus Clown
Guillotin, Joseph Ignace - Inventor of the "Guillotine"

Hedges, Cornelius - "Father" of Yellowstone National Park
Henson, Josiah - Inspired the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Hilton, Charles C. - American Hotelier
Hoban, James - Architect for the U.S. Captiol
Hoe, Richard M. - Invented the rotary press, revolutionizing newspaper printing
Hoover, J. Edgar - Director of FBI
Houdini, Harry - Magician

Jenner, Edward - Inventor - Vaccination
Jones, Melvin - One of the founders of the Lions International

Lake, Simon - Built first submarine successful in open sea
Land, Frank S. - Founder Order of DeMolay
Lipton, Sir Thomas - Tea

Marshall, James W. - Discovered Gold at Sutter's Mill California 1848
Mayer, Louis B. - Film producer who merged to form Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)Mayo,
Dr. William and Charles - Began Mayo Clinic
Maytag, Fredrick - Maytag
Menninger, Karl A. - Psychiatrist famous for treating mental illness
Michelson, Albert Abraham - Successfully measured the speed of light in 1882
Montgolfier, Jacques Etienne - Co-developer of the first practical hot-air balloon

New, Harry S. - Postmaster General who established Airmail
Newton, Joseph Fort - Christian Minister

Olds, Ransom E. - American automobile pioneer
Otis, James - Famous for "Taxations without Representation is Tyranny"

Papst, Charles F. - Coined the term "Athletes' Foot"
Peale, Norman Vincent - Founder of "Guidepost"
Penney, James C. - Retailer
Poinsett, Joel R. - U.S. Minister to Mexico who developed the flower: Poinsettia
Pullman, George - Built first sleeping car on train

Ringling Brothers - All 7 brothers and their father were Masons

Salten, Felix - Creator of Bambi
Sarnoff, David - Father of T.V.
Schoonover, George - Founder of "The Builder"
Stanford, Leland - Railroads & Stanford University, drove the gold spike linking the intercontinental railroad
Still, Andrew T. - American Physician who devised treatment of Osteopathy

Teets, John W. - Chairman and President of Dial Corporation
Thomas, Dave - Founder of Wendy's Restaurant
Thomas, Lowell - Brought Lawrence of Arabia to public notice

Wadlow, Robert Pershing - Tallest human on record being almost 9 feet tall
Warner, Jack - Warner Brothers Fame
Webb, Matthew - First man to swim the English Channel (1875)
Wyler, William - Director of "Ben Hur"

Zanuck, Darryl F. - Co-founder of 20th Century Productions in 1933
Ziegfeld, Florenz - His Ziegfeld's Follies began in 1907

 

SQUARE & COMPASSES 3

You beginning to get the idea? (Not you, Philistine; maybe someone clicked here by accident and kept reading.)

I am not saying we need more Masons to get us out of the hole we are in. We need more men and women who have virtues and morals; the same attributes found in Masonry and BTW, all the major spiritual frameworks, the fraternal organizations, any gathering that considers the persons on this list as Good men and share the values they display. These virtues are universal and pretty simple.

Here's more Masons. Notice there are some Black guys, some Jews, some foreigners, some who actually do not have the United States best interests at heart? This is not an American thing, nor a Christian thing. You will see farther on that Masonry is world-wide.

Surprised yet?

Musicians and Composers

Roy Acuff

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong - 1900-1971, American jazz musician

Eddy Arnold

Johann Christian Bach - German composer

William "Count" Basie - American jazz composer & band leader

Irving Berlin - 1888-1989, Russian-born American songwriter

Roy Clark - Country music star

George M. Cohan - 1878-1942, American singer, songwriter & playwright

Nat "King" Cole - 1919-1965, American singer & pianist

Reginald DeKoven -

Edward "Duke" Ellington - 1899-1974, American jazz composer, pianist & bandleader

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert - 1836-1911, English playwright & lyricist

Franz Joseph "Papa" Hayden - 1732-1809, Austrian composer

Burl Ives -

Al Jolson - 1886-1950, American entertainer

Francis Scott Key - 1779-1843, American lawyer & poet

Franz Liszt - 1811-1886, Hungarian pianist & composer

Jakob Ludwig F. Mendelssohn - 1809-1847, German composer, pianist & conductor

Glenn Miller - 1909-1944, American bandleader

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - 1756-1791, Austrian composer and dirty old man

Roy Rogers - American singer & actor

Jean Sibelius - 1865-1957, Finnish composer

John Stafford Smith - wrote the music that became the US National Anthem

John Phillip Sousa - 1854-1932, American bandmaster & composer

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan - 1842-1900, English composer of operettas

Mel Tillis -

Paul Whiteman - "King of Jazz", 1891-1967. American jazz musician

Entertainers

Casanova - Italian adventurer, writer and entertainer

Buffalo Bill Cody

Norm Crosby

Grock - Swiss circus clown

Paul Harvey--  Noted radio commentator

Bob Hope

Harry Houdini--  Fascinated with magic and metaphysics

August Ringling--  Master of the circus

Charles Stratton

Enrico Wallenda-- High wire artist

Florenz Ziegfeld - Ziegfeld's Follies

SQUARE & COMPASSES 2

You can tell a lot about a man by looking at his shoes.

You can also tell a lot by observing the company he keeps.

Then and now we observe certain people (I include women too, but this is, ahem, an essay on Masons. I am no misogynist.) We observe these folks doing the right thing. Noble, heroic, generous, strong, all positive qualities. Used to be most everybody did the right thing and no big deal, that's just what you did. I see less and less of these folks as I get older. Nothing wrong with my eyes, something wrong with our society.

Here's some more Masons:

Astronauts

Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. - American Astronaut

Neil Armstrong - American Astronaut; first to walk on the moon

Gordon Cooper

Don Eisele

John H. Glenn - First American Astronaut to orbit in space

Virgil Grissom - American astronaut

Fred Haise

Edgar Mitchell

Wally Schirra

Thomas Stafford

James Webb

Paul Weitz

Explorers

Richard E. Byrd - American Naval officer and polar explorer

Christopher "Kit" Carson - American frontiersman and Indian agent

William Clark - American western explorer, military officer

Lewis and Clark- American western explorers

Meriwether Lewis - American western explorer

Charles Lindbergh - American aviator; first solo transatlantic flight

Donald MacMillan - American Arctic explorer

Robert E. Peary - American Naval office and Arctic explorer

Zebulon Pike - American Army officer and explorer; Pike's Peak

War Heroes

Henry Harley ('Hap') Arnold - 1886-1950, American Air-force officer

Omar Nelson Bradley - 1893-1981, American military leader

James Harold ('Jimmy') Doolittle - 1896-1993, American Army officer & Aviator

Douglas MacArthur - 1880-1964, American general--             Interesting that he was sacked by Grand Master Harry S. Truman!

George C. Marshall - 1880-1959, American soldier, diplomat & statesman (Nobel 1953)

Audie Murphy - 1924-1971, Most decorated American Soldier of WWII and actor

Oliver Hazard Perry - 1785-1819, American Naval officer

John Joseph ('Black Jack') Pershing - 1860-1948, American Army officer

Edward Vernon ('Eddie') Richenbacker - 1890-1973, American Aviator

Charles Summerall

Alfred vonTirpitz - 1849-1930, German Navel officer responsible for submarine warfare

Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright - 1883-1953, American general

SQUARE & COMPASSES

Friendship, Morality, Brotherly Love. Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice. Charity. A belief in God. These attributes formed our nation and they are essential to keep it together.

For centuries, many folks held these attributes and practiced them in their daily affairs as a matter of course. No big deal, that was just the way you did things. Right and Wrong were clearly and succinctly defined. No shades of gray.

Freemasons uphold these concepts, sworn oaths to God; they adhere to solemn obligations regarding conduct. Yes, there are many other good men in the world who are not Freemasons, not to dismiss or disregard them. But this here is an essay on the Oldest Fraternity in the world.

Here is a list, I'll post it in parts. You might be surprised who was and is a Mason:

Signers of the Constitution of the United States

Abraham Baldwin	James McHenry
Gunning Bedford Jr.	James Madison
John Blair	Alexander Martin
William Blount	Robert Morris
David Brearley	William Paterson
Daniel Carroll	William Pierce
William Richardson	Davie Charles Pinckney
Jonathan Dayton	Edmund Randolph
Oliver Ellsworth	George Read
Benjamin Franklin	Roger Sherman
Elbridge Gerry	George Walton
Refus King	George Washington
John Langdon	George Wythe
John Lansing Jr.

 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Benjamin Franklin	John Hancock
William Hooper	Richard Stockton
Matthew Thornton	George Walton
William Whipple

Patriots

John Blair - 1732-1800

Benjamin Franklin - 1706-1790, statesman, diplomat, author, scientist and printer

Francis Scott Key-- Wrote our National Anthem

John Hancock - 1737-1793, merchant, politician and Revolutionary leader

Rufus King - 1755-1827, politician and diplomat

Henry Knox - 1750-1806, American Revolutionary soldier and public official

George Mason - 1725-1792, American Revolutionary statesman

James Otis - 1725-1783, Famous for "Taxation without representation is tyranny"

Thomas Paine - 1737-1809, English-born American author & Revolutionary leader

Peyton Randolph -

Paul Revere - 1735-1818, American silversmith, engraver and Revolutionary patriot

Joseph Warren -

Pioneers

Samuel Colt - 1814-1862, American inventor & manufacturer

David 'Davy' Crockett - 1786-1836, American politician & frontiersman

Richard Gatling - 1818-1903, American firearms inventor

Sam Houston - 1793-1863, American general & politician.  Was genuinely born-again late in life.

William Barret Travis - 1809-36, American military leader, killed at the Alamo

SECOND ANNUAL DANCE FRIDAY

An eclectic presentation of dancing that we no longer see.

I like the music and the dancing is great. This'll do until I think of something brilliant to say.

Do I hear any grumbling?  Go here and read. Learn about Life.



























Busby Berkeley and Artie Shaw. Sweet.



.

GUITAR PLAYERS

MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT

Here's some fine guitar playing by an old Black guy.

Mellow down easy, don't blow your stack.

MY COMPUTER

I bought a new computer. I'm freaked. It is faster - probably faster than me. A new operating system, Win7; drat, just when I was getting on top of WinXP. I had to install new programs, like Office 2010, and something to handle my finances. I dunno if my version of Adobe Acrobat is gonna work, then there is something for pictures ... sigh.





I must offer an apology for the lumpiness of some of my posts. Y'see, I am using a steam-driven computer. This is what some of the hard drive looks like

The boiler is fueled by diesel, sometimes wood, actually anything that will burn in the firebox. Yeah, yeah, I gotcher carbon credits right here.

Notice, the monitor is rather hard to see. I work mostly with levers, no room for a mouse

This tune has nothing to do with my narrative, I just dig it.





This babe doesn't either, but I dig her. Bonus points if you know who it is

OK, enough silliness for one night.

Twelve times! The iron tongue tolls the midnight hour, and I must away to meet my companions.

PYRAMID INCHES

PYRAMID INCH

The passage I am seeking is Isaiah 19:19-20. It is a pivotal quote in the first volume of a four volume set on pyramidology that I bought in San Francisco for sixty bucks, but the author has written the passage in its original Hebrew, fully aware that the reader will have to refer to the Bible to find out what is said. The only thing else he lets you know about the passage is that it contains 30 words and 124 Hebrew letters, and that when the numerical value of these ancient words is added up by a process known as Gematria the sum total of the passage equals 5,449, which is the height of the Great Pyramid in pyramid inches.

 The pyramid inch is a unit so close to our own inch (25 pyramid inches = 25.0265 of our inches) that I will henceforth refer to these units simply as inches. 5449 is also the weight of the pyramid in tons times a hundred.

         Comparisons continue ad infinitum. Compressed within the scope and accuracy of the Great Pyramid’s angles and proportions seem to be all the formulae and distances pertinent to our Solar System.

         This is one of the reasons we don’t want to switch to the metric system. It’d be like cutting off our feet so we could get Birkenstock transplants.

SOUL THURSDAY

More than just music, it involves one's weltenschaung. Don't make the mistake, "it's Black folks's music." Don't need no effin' racists here, music is color-blind. This is the older stuff, back when music was music. Not that rap crap spewing out these days.


For me it is an attitude or frame of mind. Think: pride, self esteem, the way I look, the way I walk. I've been a lot of places, seen a lot of people, been in front of 300 strangers telling my life story. Large urban areas, 65 years worth of it, and I have never, ever seen somebody that I like more than I like myself.


I'm just a guy, more than some and less than others, but I am good with the man in my mirror.


Are you a winner or a loser? It's as simple as that.


Tha's all I got to say. Spin them tunes.

THIRD ANNUAL ZYDECO THURSDAY

After three days of depressing reality-based blogs I gots to break away.

Laissez les bons temps rouler. That's my motto and I'm stickin' to it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Matthew 1:24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
Matthew 1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.


Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Matthew 2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Matthew 2:3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Matthew 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
Matthew 2:5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
Matthew 2:6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Matthew 2:7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
Matthew 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
Matthew 2:9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
Matthew 2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Matthew 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

LOPIN' THE PONY

The beat. The beat. The beat. Visceral. Primal.

Stirs not the mind - rather, farther south in the industrial park.























That's my celebration for a gray day. Let that be a lesson to ya.

FOURTH ANNUAL ZYDECO TUESDAY

When the French lost control of Canada on the Plains of Abraham a couple hundred years ago (go to Wikipedia if you must get bogged down in facts) one option for the Acadians was to leave the country. They headed south to the Louisiana Territory which was still under French control. There they blended in and are part of Louisiana modern culture. "Acadian" gradually changed to "Cajun" in that wonderful way we Americans morph words and language. The New Orleans sub-culture has a lot of French influence and the only good part of that has been the New Orleans Saints, haw haw. The food too, yeah, the food.

Notice that the predominant instrument is the accordion; the best instrument in the world, influencing music like no other instrument has ever done. For an excellent dissertation on the scientific and cultural facts go here.









Uncle Bud contains profanity, which is why they call it the "adult version", although nowadays kids cuss before they get pubic hair. Go figger. No rhyme intended.





Could not resist Hank's version; blue-eyed soul brother is what he is.

THE PERFECT HIGH

I got this from Brother Bernardo, my Canuck pal.
We go back a long ways, stole some horses together back in the day.

The Perfect High - the Quest of Gimmesome Roy

Shel Silverstein - Playboy 1979 

There once was a boy named Gimmesome Roy. He was nothing like me or you.
'Cause laying back and getting high was all he cared to do.
As a kid, he sat in the cellar, sniffing airplane glue.
And then he smoked bananas -- which was then the thing to do.

He tried aspirin in Coca-Cola, breathed helium on the sly,
And his life was just one endless search to find that perfect high.
But grass just made him want to lay back

 and eat chocolate-chip pizza all night,
And the great things he wrote while he was stoned

 looked lousy in the morning light.

And speed just made him rap all day, reds just laid him back,
And Cocaine Rose was sweet to his nose, but the price nearly broke his back.
He tried PCP and THC, but they didn't quite do the trick,
And poppers nearly blew his heart and mushrooms made him sick.

Acid made him see the light, but he couldn't remember it long.
And hashish was just a little too weak, and smack was a lot too strong,
And Quaaludes made him stumble, and booze just made him cry,
Till he heard of a cat named Baba Fats who knew of the perfect high.

Now, Baba Fats was a hermit cat who lived up in Nepal,
High on a craggy mountaintop, up a sheer and icy wall.
"But hell," says Roy, "I'm a healthy boy, and I'll crawl or climb or fly,
But I'll find that guru who'll give me the clue as to what's the perfect high."

So out and off goes Gimmesome Roy to the land that knows no time,
Up a trail no man could conquer to a cliff no man could climb.
For fourteen years he tries that cliff, then back down again he slides
Then sits -- and cries -- and climbs again, pursuing the perfect high.

He's grinding his teeth, he's coughing blood, 

he's aching and shaking and weak,
As starving and sore and bleeding and tore, he reaches the mountain peak.
And his eyes blink red like a snow-blind wolf, and he snarls the snarl of a rat,
As there in perfect repose and wearing no clothes -- sits the godlike Baba Fats.

"What's happening, Fats?" says Roy with joy, "I've come to state my biz.
I hear you're hip to the perfect trip. Please tell me what it is.
For you can see," says Roy to he, "that I'm about to die,
So for my last ride, Fats, how can I achieve the perfect high?"

"Well, dog my cats!" says Baba Fats. "here's one more burnt-out soul,
Who's looking for some alchemist to turn his trip to gold.
But you won't find it in no dealer's stash, or on no druggist's shelf.
Son, if you would seek the perfect high -- find it in yourself."

"Why, you jive m****rf***er!" screamed Gimmesome Roy,

"I've climbed through rain and sleet,
I've lost three fingers off my hands and four toes off my feet!
I've braved the lair of the polar bear and tasted the maggot's kiss.
Now, you tell me the high is in myself. What kind of shit is this?

My ears 'fore they froze off," says Roy, "had heard all kind of crap,
But I didn't climb for fourteen years to listen to that sophomore rap.
And I didn't crawl up here to hear that the high is on the natch,
So you tell me where the real stuff is or I'll kill your guru ass!"

Ok, OK," says Baba Fats, "you're forcing it out of me.
There is a land beyond the sun that's known as Zaboli.
A wretched land of stone and sand where snakes and buzzards scream,
And in this devil's garden blooms the mystic Tzu-Tzu tree.

And every ten years it blooms one flower as white as the Key West sky,
And he who eats of the Tzu-Tzu flower will know the perfect high.
For the rush comes on like a tidal wave and it hits like the blazing sun.
And the high, it lasts a lifetime and the down don't ever come.

But the Zaboli land is ruled by a giant who stands twelve cubits high.
With eyes of red in his hundred heads, he waits for the passers-by.
And you must slay the red-eyed giant, and swim the River of Slime,
Where the mucous beasts, they wait to feast on those who journey by.

And if you survive the giant and the beasts and swim that slimy sea,
There's a blood-drinking witch who sharpens her teeth

as she guards that Tzu-Tzu tree.""To hell with your witches and giants," laughs Roy.

"To hell with the beasts of the sea.
As long as the Tzu-Tzu flower blooms, some hope still blooms for me."
And with tears of joy in his snow-blind eye, Roy hands the guru a five,
Then back down the icy mountain he crawls, pursuing that perfect high.

"Well, that is that," says Baba Fats, sitting back down on his stone,
Facing another thousand years of talking to God alone.
"It seems, Lord", says Fats, "it's always the same,

old men or bright-eyed youth,
It's always easier to sell them some shit than it is to give them the truth."