And now a word from our sponsors...

Even if they weren't successful on mass scale, it really is hard to deny they had the ability to succeed at least on occssion of generating electricity through a "light bulb".

Found at a site not far from this were: watertight copper cylynders glued into opening with asphalt was an iron cylinder also held with asphalt, which can provide enough current for a battery.

1. Priest
2. ionised fumes
3. electric discharge (snake)
4. Lamp socket (Lotos)
5. Cable (Lotos stem)
6. Air god
7. Isolator (Djed-Pillar)
8. Light bringer Thot with knifes
9. Symbol for "current"
10. Inverse polarity (Haarpolarität +)
11. Energy storage (electrostatic Generator?)

This post has been made on behalf of KillerKat, because she can't put a pic in the comments block. It is in ref to the discussion about Egyptians and electric lights.
V.

I have a question for all the cats and kittens: What is to you the ultimate American creation and how has it survived or been destroyed?
That's a pretty broad question, I'll grant you. But I'll start things off to give you an example of what I'm asking.
For me the ultimate American creation is Rock N Roll. That wholly American amalgamation of blues, R&B, swing, jazz, country, and folk music.
Each culture can be said to have at least one defining musical art form. Even today the less ignorant of us can hear a piece of cultural music and say, "That's sounds Russian, Baltic area." or something similar. The Poles have Polka. The Irish have the jig music. The Japanese have those big drums and that odd looking banjo that you play with a spatula. But America, we invented Rock N Roll.
America, being a land made up of various cultures that, at least on the surface, intermingle, originally had no cultural music of its own. Obviously each culture that came here brought its own music with it. Then the mixing began. Negro spirituals as the slaves accepted Christianity and hoped that after the trials of life they would have an eternal reward were gospel songs treated to their own cultural styles. The American music form began to form. In the Appalachians the hill folk, mostly Celtic stock, brought the music of their fatherland into our land and created what we today call Bluegrass. Time rolled on. America began to produce multiple musical forms of its own, but each was tied to a specific cultural experience. The black man sang the blues and Jazz. White boys took Jazz and made Dixieland, a type of Jazz-Swing. The time was growing ripe for the birth of a true American musical form that would allow all, despite race or creed to play. In the early 50's cats like Perry Como were the rage amongst the white adults. The youth wanted Rythm and Blues, a black musical style. White DJ's responded and before you knew it we had Elvis. A white boy that sang in the style of the black gospel singers and bluesmen he grew up listening to, but infused with the Appalachian hillbilly sound. Rock N Roll was truly born. Slapping bass, twangy guitar, vocalists who didn't so much croon as they tore the sound from their very souls and sang songs about sex and sin. America had arrived musically.
So what happened to it?
Where did the Rock N Roll go?
Did, as Don McClean sang, the Music Die?
Modern Rock N Roll can't even be called Rock N Roll anymore. It has become a fractured thing with more labels and compartments than a Pentagon file room. EMO kids, punks that are rebelling against...what? Their freedoms, which are far too many given their age and responsibility. Heavy Metal that is NOT about smoke and lightning. What would Steppenwolf think? Born to be mild. That's what it has all become.
Who killed it? Formula bands fitting a corporate wet-dream of cookie cutter music?
PC labeling that took the balls away from Rock N Roll?
Once upon a time a girl could Rock and Rock hard. Lita Ford, Joan Jet, Betty Blowtorch...I miss you guys.
In the words of the Bullet Boys, "What's this I hear on the radio/I can't believe my ears/All these sad songs and broken hearts/And crying in your beers/Didjall forget what macho means?/It means Rotten to the Core/Good God turn this shit off/I can't take it anymore"
Indeed.

So what's yours then?

Here is a picture drawn by my own loving wife, who you know as KillerKat. I asked her for some help providing a sketch for some writing I am working on at the moment. Unfortunately I did not give her parameters of what I wanted. Be that as it may, I very much like the picture she has provided. I think it is a bit of a Gwen Steffani inspired piece, but Kat disagrees with me on that.

That's okay. Loving support from the spouse. My fault for not actually describing what I was looking for. It's better than anything I've done of late. My stuff has been way too angular for the past year.

Now that I've given her a description of what I'm really looking for, she is thinking of ideas to put to paper. Be on the lookout for that action in the near future.

What happened to neighborly courtesy??

I try to be a cordial, respectful and "keep to myself" kind of resident. Do I have the capacity to rev my engine to 5,000 rpm at 10 p.m.? Sure, but I don't. Can I crank the 750 watt Harman Kardon receiver so high that the Klipsch speakers prove they truly ARE the loudest in their class?? Absolutely...but I don't.

So, why is it so hard for people to be just as respectful in return? All I ask is that you have some decency and allow my nine-month-old to get some rest. I can sleep through just about anything (general quarters proved that!) and my wife can too if she has to. But my little boy isn't so adept at blocking out the intrusive noise of a tile saw outside his window. This isn't the only instance of your disregard for your neighbors, mind you. And when I kindly ask that you cease the Tim Allen antics at 9 o'clock at night, I don't enjoy being told that the work will continue "until he finishes". Because, that in turn makes it so much easier for me to call the local constable and report your unruly, ghetto, fat ass!!!!

Now the gloves are off.

No holds are barred.

You've unleashed the wrath...don't you dare ask for mercy!