"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
An acquaintance’s child noted recently that saving people from the obvious, easily-foreseen results their stupidity just results in more of the same. Yeh, I paraphrased, but it’s true.
I propose that new triage rules be instituted in emergency rooms along these lines.
“How did that happen? Really? That was stupid of you. Go bleed out over there.”
Maybe it should be carried out by EMTs at the scene, if they were summoned.
Evolution in action or just letting the gene pool naturally clean itself?
OK, so listening to Josh Groban singing “It Came Upon a Midnight CLear” again, just to peg what bugs me so about his performance of the tune. Generally decent vowells. Check. Pitches true. Mostly, check. Tempo, accompaniment, etc., OK. Check. So what bugs me? Ah, it’s his melodic variations that are Signature Groban but which add nothing to the piece.
If it’s unnecessary and adds no musical value, it should just not be done. Period. There. Groban Gripe finished.
Despite my nearly lifelong love of Xmas music, including for many years at least six months of the year spent at least thinking about, planning, and preparing a Xmas program for one venue or another, AND having discovered a reason to explore Norwegian hymnody when I married my Wonder Woman, a true Nordic Princess, I first heard this song only a couple of years ago.
Wow.
Some have described the tune and lyrics both as “melancholy,” but before you even hive a listen, I’d like to disabuse you of any such assessment. “Melancholy” should be reserved for those things which evoke “a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.” The music is definitely pensive in mood, but sad? Hardly. The lyrics? I’ll let you judge that.
In English (loosely, I would say, though I’m not a Norwegian/Danish speaker, although this was written by a Dane, it was at a time when the two tongues were even more closely similar than today, and it’s apparently scarcely sung in Denmark, while I’m told a Norwegian Xmas would scarcely be without it):
My heart will always wander
To where our Lord was born,
My thoughts will always go there
And take on their true form.
My longing does belong there,
With the treasure of my faith;
I never shall forget you,
O blessed Christmas night!I’ll willingly spread branches
Of palms around your bed.
For you and you alone
I will gladly live and die.
Come, let my soul find joy
In this moment of delight:
To see you born right here,
Deep inside my loving heart.
Well, I said I’d let you be the judge, but really, there’s not a sad thought to be found anywhere in those lyrics. (I’d also probably make a couple of small word changes to make the English marry with the tune better, but that’s just being picky.)
Here, give the tune a listen. Pensive, but hardly, IMO, sad. It’s definitely one of my new favs.
Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker
(Traditional, Danish folk tune / H.A. Brorson)Mitt hjerte alltid vanker
i Jesu føderom,
der samles mine tanker
som i sin hovedsum.
Der er min lengsel hjemme,
der har min tro sin skatt;
jeg kan deg aldri glemme
velsignet julenatt!Akk, kom jeg opp vil lukke
mitt hjerte og mitt sinn
og full av lengsel sukke:
Kom, Jesus, dog herinn!
Det er ei fremmed bolig,
du har den selv jo kjøpt,
så skal du blive trolig
her i mitt hjerte svøpt.Jeg gjerne palemgrene
vil om din krybbe strø,
for deg, for deg alene
jeg leve vil og dø.
Kom, la min sjel dog finne
sin rette gledes stund,
at du er født herinne
i hjertets dype grunn
. . .don’t really GARA, but I sometimes wonder, WTF are people who mispronounce “jewelry” as “jewlery” thinking?
Oh, right. They’re not.
What really chaps my gizzard, though, are Mass MEdia Podpeople and commercial “actors” who say “jewlery.” What are they taking money under false pretenses for?
While the savages in Ferguson and elsewhere demonstrate why ordinary folks hold them in contempt, I’m once again glad I live in America’s Third World County™, where there may be violence from time to time, but usually limited to one-on-one (and at least one of the participants was askin’ for it). There’s quite a bit of gunfire, but it’s usually limited to the range, the deer (or other game) woods, and occasionally shots fired at someone who’s askin’ for it (trespassing, attempted burglary/robbery–usually out in the country where it’s REALLY stupid to try, cos if the 00 shot doesn’t get you, the landowner’s dogs will).
It’s nice to live somewhere with the virtues of civilization and few(er) of its vices.
Keep it in the X-ring, folks!
Because my Wonder Woman is a pubschool librarian, she gets all kinds of catalogs from all over. One that hit the circular file pretty quickly was for products for sale to state and other public employees and organizations from the state correctional department. (By state law, only public employees and organizations can buy products made by state-owned slave labor.)
The catalog’s cover boldly states
“If Your [sic] Looking For Hot Deals. . . “
At all levels, local, state, national, our governments are in the very best of hands. . .
Anyone else annoyed (to the point of having your gizzard chapped *heh*) by speakers and especially by writers who use the plural pronouns, “them, they, their” in place of “he or she, him or her, his or hers” whenever they simply want to obscure–or simply not specify–the sex of the (singular!) person to whom they refer?
I view such usage as lazy and cowardly. Use gendered pronouns whenever possible. Chap idiots’ gizzards.
Yep. This time next week I’ll be on my second day of irritating everyone around me with almost nonstop Xmas music.1 *heh* Oh, I’m adding to the nearly two days’ worth of nonstop Xmas playlists I have already, so at least folks will have plenty of variety to irritate ’em. 😉
Added so far this year: Another Canadian Brass Xmas album; a 2-hour “fireplace video” playlist featuring pop/Xian Xmas songs sung by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and others (easy YouTube download, that one); And Winter Came (Enya–via Amazon Prime Music); A Family Christmas (The Piano Guys–Amazon Prime Music, again); Gregorian Christmas (APM);
Irish & Celtic Christmas Music: Folk Classics (APM); and, oh, about 20 other albums.
1Well, “almost nonstop” if I can get my lips fixed, since I have whistled tunes for years when apart from other instruments or playback devices. For the first time in almost six decades, my “whistling” capability seems to be broken. *shrugs* May have something to do with a low-grade infection I’ve been fighting for a while now, but I can’t get the same flexibility or range–or even fine tuning–I’ve been used to for almost all my life. The tinnitus has pretty well cut out playing other instruments, so whistling was about what I had left. Oh, well. . . so it goes.
I had someone on FarceBook ask for a better pic of me than my profile pic. (I can only wonder why. . . nah, that’s too much work. Don’t care why.) So, before anyone else asks, should there ever be anyone else who wonders what I look like nowadays (again, why?), here ya go (clipped from a Candid Capture). Don’t ask again, Mystery FB-er. *heh* I don’t have any better pics available.
