Why did you pick your avatar?

I did because I'm a big RFK fan. My grandfather worked in DC and knew both he and JFK. My uncle used to be Mike Mansfield's senate page and would sometimes get loaned out to RFK when he was a rookie senator. My uncle said he would carry RFK's briefcase for him nearly every day.

That and I always sit like he is in the pic. My hand is in that same position all the time. :)

QED

he actually thinks he is a bear. For real.

(Pulitzer Prize winning writer of "House Made Of Dawn" )

:)

it's pretty cool.

descriptive of my attitude in life and of my interests. ;)

:)

..I'd take you up on it! :D

:)

:rofl:

i'll probably change it soon :shrug:

btw, i've always like RFK better than any of the kennedy boys. :hi:

That hurts. :P

i'm confused?!? lol! :rofl:

:P

hmmm... you've got connections then - no? :P

And I might... ;)

(I have no actual connections, sadly, haha. If I'm related to THE Kennedys at all, it would be very, very distantly, haha)

Charlemagne is my great great great great (and so on) grandfather. We traced back our ancestry last year and found out we are direct descendants of Charlemagne and several other high powered people.

oh and Jesse Jame the bank robber is my great great (not sure how many) uncle. :P

My mom starting researching to get into DAR and so we just kept on searching down the line. We got pretty far up. We are also decendents of helen of troy and Edward de Vere. :hi:

if folks don't know - that's Robert Plant

:P

For the record, it's a picture of Hunter S. Thompson. The subject line of my previous post is one of his catchphrases. :hi:

:hi:

The good ones are always going too early.

:hi:

Do you know how long it took to find a supernova animation? :crazy:

Because I once was lost and now I'm Found.

(Was a little devil, but I'm trying to change.)

I'm wondering about your avatar.....Just what is it?

Looks rather like a crucifix.....is it?

Thanks in advance......


:hi:

In Celtic myth, an equal armed cross signifies the four elements and the enclosing circle is the "circle of life"--birth, death, birth cycle.

and they're pretty...

of the vouxdoux pantheon of "loa" (demigods).

a veve is traditionally drawn in chalk, flour, or cocaine to attract the attention of the specific loa. veves to "legba", guardian of the crossroads, are always drawn 1st, as he is the conduit to other loa and eases communication.

the more rare or expensive the medium used to draw the veve, the more imperative and effective the summons.

"ougon" (also "ogun" or "ogoun") is the loa concerned w/ smithing; since i work a lot of steel, repairing my aged fleet of cars, etc, it seems appropriate.

in his aspect of "badagris" (ougon fer is more akin to actual iron-work) he is the loa of war and warriors. i tend to prefer blades, esthetically, to firearms; so this aspect speaks to me.

though retired, i still consider myself a "warrior" ( tour in the infantry in 'nam, 20+ years of LE, 4 years undercover narcotics, blackbelt in kenpo, trained but unranked in Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu, knife fighting instructor and former SWAT sniper). badagris probably favors me; after all, i *am* still alive.


if i weren't an atheist, i'd prbly follow the voodoo religion; the capricious humour of their loa seems MUCH more capable of producing the whack-job human species than yahweh, an inconsistent desert fertility god w/ WAY too much attitude.

besides, the loa like to party. none of the weak-assed toadying of xians.

oh, i also picked that avatar because it's very obscure and most people are highly unlikely to "get" it. jukes is capricious hisdamnself, and has pretensions of "mystery".

then again, it's a slap at the xians that ACTUALLY try to believe in silly mythology!

:shrug:

with something decent.

aA

I guess it's not that obvious since it's a closeup.

at your pic. :)

Uploaded new avatar.

I am from California!

I identify so strongly with my state, that this was the only one for me!

I will NEVER change it, or my username......

:hi:

:P

It's from Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot. Good, campy 1960s fun with lots of guys in rubber suits stomping scale models of Tokyo. It's what old farts like me watched before there were Power Rangers.

giant robot you got there!

:)

...as Orsino. And looks a bit like me (except for the pimpin' moustache).

makes me feel most of the time. I also saw the pic on my 1st european trip in 1974.

Both of my avatars are cute!! My Matthew McConauhey was REAL cute!

Brilliant, funny, handsome and can laugh at himself? It's an embarrassment of riches.

My husband thinks this is a riot.

Julie

if I'm not mistaken there are a few other "sign of distress" avatars because of that thread as well.

Growing up, my family camped there, and I worked at Yosemite, briefly, after college. So, when I first came to DU and saw it, I grabbed it. Later on, I was sad to see so many other people had the same avatar- but that's to be expected, since Yosemite's so popular.


edit: missed a word

It's just so cutely morbid.

http://www.lukechueh.com

"where the wild things are"

after my upside-down flag, i really wanted to return to being more hopeful, and went with the sunflower.
i like plants and flowers.., all things that grow/change... looking up and onward.

i've got a thread about Clematis today and your question has just prompted me to change my avatar to a clematis*.

sooooo.... thanks! :hi:


*first new message using it, do you like it?

I never could pick one to my taste.
Is there something wrong with me?

Top Gear.

And I just kept it.

That's why.

:D

that made me think about Shelley Ganz and then I followed this link to The Unclaimed and there I spied their
Bat avatar (which I like, a lot) and so I posted it here.


Tikki

Vietnam notwithstanding, Johnson serves me well as a working definition of what a liberal should be. And I like to think that, if LBJ were alive and at his intimidating best today, he would've grabbed Chimpy by the goozle pipe and unscrewed his head by now. It's a reverie, for sure -- but it keeps me going.
John
It is now 25 days, 20 hours and 53 minutes to FUNDAY XII.

What a beautiful image...."would've grabbed Chimpy by the goozle pipe and unscrewed his head by now".....

So long as slavery, still the greatest stain on my country's history, existed, the promise of my country was as much rhetoric as practice.

Against great odds, Douglass worked tirelessly to end this abomination. He screamed "I am a man!"

He was one of the greatest Americans ever, the one who most took our country to heart, the one who demanded that it stop lying to itself, something we could well do now.

It has always seemed to me that three great Americans defined the Civil War, each in a primary sphere. Lincoln of course defined greatness in the political sphere. Grant defined greatness in the military sphere. Both of those men get lots of attention. To me though, Douglass defined greatness in the most important sphere, the moral sphere.

His importance to American history is too often ignored.

and I feel that LBJ doesn't get the respect he deserves-from both sides of the isle.

:)

It's Mt. Moran in Grand Teton National Park, and it's pretty!

Beautiful American Moran:


Ugly American Moran:

keep my stapler. I could burn the place down.

And that's good enough for me.

Khash.

Because Russ still gives me hope that not EVERYONE in the Washington Political scene are corrupt and that America still has a fighting chance for survival!!


and we both live in Wisconsin too!!

:D

Plus, it has a lot of connections to how I got my username. It just...fits. :)

OMG! My hand is currently in the exact same position as RFK's in your avatar! :o


:D

:shrug:

but I was told that people thought a beautiful woman in a swim suit was offensive, so I had to censor it for the prudes.

It's the cover of his album, "Steamin.'"

Pink roses are a favorite.

I've been thinking of changing it though, I've had it for over 4 years.

Alaska is my homestate...I have been thinking lately of changing it to a superman avatar, but the Alaska st one is there for now...

Obvious, no?

that's a great story about your granddad and uncle and RFK...

RFK rocked!

Nothing else ever occured to me. Not for a second.

;)

if that's what you're asking.

sachi.

I hope everyone can find happiness, whatever that means to them.

I love my state. That's why I picked it.

...And eventually Skinner et al caved in and let me have him. :)

and I have always admired him for standing up to big business. His motto "the buck stops HERE" is something the present embarrassment who occupies his chair should be living up to.