"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."
Author: David
Over-educated Curmudgeon, Bit-Bucket Tuner and Budding Brewmeister.
“Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Luke 12:27
OK, so the picture isn’t of “lilies of the field” but another, as beautiful and even more useful, flower.
Consider the dandelion, cursed by dunderheaded, tasteless American enstupiates who deem it a weed simply because it can enrich their dull, boring, monochromatic lawns with glorious color and beautiful textures. This flower gifts those who aren’t too dull-witted to see with both a beautiful, slightly variegated green and a stunning, joyous yellow. Moreover, its leaves, roots and flower are all highly nutritious and, when properly prepared and served, delicious as well. Not only that, but if one were to perform a simple search for medicinal properties of dandelions, one would quickly discover that the plant has multiple medicinal properties above and beyond its nutritional values.
And the stem even has uses beyond nutritive and therapeutic values. Perform a search for “dandelion latex”. Surprising, no? (Those in the know have answered, “No.” *heh*) Moreover, the latex produced from dandelions causes far fewer allergic reactions than the common rubber plant latex.
And this wonderful plant is exceptionally hardy! Just ask any idiot who’s tried to eliminate it from their ugly, boring, monochromatic lawn. Oh, and self-propagating!
What more could one ask from a beautiful ornament of nature? Beauty, utility, hardiness and easy propagation! This wonderful flower has it all! I rejoice that my dandelion crop is so very full this year, so far, and am doing everything within my power to help my neighbors’ yards experience the same bounty.
*heh*
Oh, and my wild allium “crop” is also doing well. Happy-happy-joy-joy!
I’ve said I read a lot, and I do, but I’ve still not read all the books I consider it’d take to become really literate, some of the old–and even “new”–classics, in particular. Oh, I got a set of The Great Books in high school and found them thoroughly engaging (I even “neglected” to purchase the lit–and most of the historical “source” books for a sophomore Western Civ course in college… since I already had ’em in my dorm room in my GB collection). But TGB doesn’t encompass all the useful classic literature*, and a few really powerful works have been authored in the last century or so that are worth including as “new” classics, so…
I’ve been trying to flesh out my library of readings over the past couple of decades, especially. Some barriers:
Local libraries are often a little thin on really significant works, and the county library here in America’s Third World County is particularly thin in that regard. Besides, libraries want the books returned, generally disapprove of notes written in the books in their collection and often have editions that are not well-formatted, especially when considering PD works, for some reason.
Book budget and space. Face it, I don’t have room to properly store the books I already have, and books are expensive–even used books. Often, the books I’ve been looking for have been a bit hard to find, especially in editions that are within my budget.
Enter eBooks. For several years now I’ve been collecting an eBook library I can read in text or html format on my computers. That has worked quite well, and the 1,000s of PD books available at Project Gutenberg have provided me a great selection. Storing the books has been no problem, and sorting through my electronic library is easy-peasy.
Recently, with the Kindle Fire given to me by Son&Heir as a Xmas gift, I’ve been re-downloading almost all (it’s a work in progress) the eBooks I had already downloaded in text or html as Kindle-formatted books… then uploading them to my Amazon Cloud storage. I’ve also been duplicating the Great Books collection in Kindle format so that I can eventually–hopefully–have all my library that it’s possible to have in electronic format, even, where possible (and it has proven to be possible in more cases than I had thought it would be), old sci-fi books I’ve had for 40 or more years.
Here’s one, of many, places I’ve been using to obtain PD books in Kindle format recently:
freekindlebooks.org Searches for free eBooks or free Kindle books can result in more than you’ll have time for. A lot of free eBooks are self-published, and, of course, many are dreck. Still, some new self-published eBooks are quite good.
Go ahead. Make a list of all the books you always thought you ought to read and hunt ’em down. There may well be a free eBook version available.
*For example, I had not in earlier years read Mark Twain’s “1601: Conversation, as it was the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors” but have since repaired that unfortunate lacuna in my literary education. *heh*
Update: I had scheduled some car work for this A.M., so I downloaded a couple of lightweight novels to read while keeping an eye out on the work being done. I wasn’t expecting much, but I expected that the $0.99 book would at least have had a lil better proofing than the freebie.
Oh, boy, was I wrong!
Lousy plotting. Jejune characters. And not a page without glaring grammar, punctuation and spelling errors, combined with the occasional nonsensical sentence structure, loads of misused words, misplaced apostrophes and capitalizations. Was this written when the author was in seventh grade or something and then self-published without the benefit of any proofreading at all?
And then there’s the worthless ending.
A waste of $0.99.
The freebie has at least been better edited. Oh, it’s still just a “skim once” (if that) book, but although it has some idiosyncratic word uses and lousy punctuation, at least the grammar is better* (although that’s almost damning with faint praise) and the spelling is less atrocious–almost as though this book had been exposed to a spell checker.
Update 2: OTOH, another freebie (well, I could swear it was free when I downloaded it the other day–no, really!), The Truth About Sharks and Pigeons by Matt Phillips, is as much fun as reading a Douglas Adams book, maybe more. Consider,
Dully he wondered if his whole life was about to flash before his eyes, and he wondered if it would be okay to skip that bit as it really wasn’t going to be very interesting.
Strangely, the book’s well-written enough that chuckles like that one don’t seem to get stale.
P-resident “Obama” (Why the scare quotes? Because there is strong evidence that “Obama” is a former name, assumed for whatever purposes by the adopted son of Indonesian citizen Lolo Soetoro–make of the readily available facts whatever you will) has no shame. In a bratty tantrum against the SCOTUS, The Zero, self-proclaimed constitutional scholar that he is, uttered the following nonsense,
I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress. And I’d just remind conservative commentators that for years what we’ve heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint — that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.
“…strong majority”? What fairlyland is The Zero living in? “…unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed… by… Congress”? Unprecedented, Extraordinary? This comment certainly puts the definitive nail in the coffin of The Zero’s constitutional “scholarship” since even casual students are aware of Marbury v. Madison, 1803 and likely aware that the 209 years between now and then are certainly not empty of the SCOTUS voiding laws passed by Congress. Indeed, in one recent eight year period (1994-2002) the SCOTUS struck down 32 federal laws, voiding them wholly or in part. No, only the “constitutional scholar” who goes by the name of Barack Hussein Obama seems to view the SCOTUS striking down a law passed by Congress as “unprecedented” and “extraordinary”.
Dumbass.
Hamilton explained the thinking of the Founders on the matter in Federalist 78:
The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution. By a limited Constitution, I understand one which contains certain specified exceptions to the legislative authority; such, for instance, as that it shall pass no bills of attainder, no ex-post-facto laws, and the like. Limitations of this kind can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing. [emphasis added]
The Zero is a sham and a shame, and anyone thinking he has anything useful or helpful to say about anything has fewer working brain cells than a 10-year-old cracked crock of spoiled kimche.
Sidebar: I truly love it that my spell checker flags “Obama” every time I type it.
BTW, no, I did not link to Federalist 78. You should have your own copy in hardcopy and be able to get to it with no problem via any of the links on the first page of a search for “Federalist Papers,” so why link? My hardcopy is an arm’s length away from me as I type this, along with copies of the other American State Papers, and, IMO, if you are a citizen of the US, so ought yours to be. Just sayin’
Just finished up some interim fixes on our main electrical service panel. Breathing normally again. *heh* I’m not particularly ashamed to say I’m uncomfortable working around the mains to our home. When I was a very stupid young boy, I managed to shock myself breathless–and even more senseless than I was before contacting 110 volts at 15-20 AMPs–on a few occasions just “messing around” (no, not the proverbial forks in outlets; not even I was that stupid as a child) with still plugged in radios, etc. Now, as a Certified Olde Pharte, I take more precautions than I’m sure are needed, but at least I’ve steered clear of any more 110 Volt (or 120, now) shocks. I especially don’t need the 100 AMP mains coursing through my body.
So… yes, I have replaced main circuit breakers on service panels without having the electric company pull the service temporarily, contrary to ALL advice from EVERYWHERE. *heh* But. I do
Wear a long-sleeved cotton shirt and
Rubber gloves with protective over-gloves (to keep the
rubber gloves from being damaged, maintaining their protective
nature) and
Stand on a rubber mat with rubber-soled shoes while
Using insulated tools
I also may add additional eye protection beyond just my glasses.
Scairdy cat? Maybe, but I have managed to stay alive… 🙂
…that God does not subtract from man’s allotted time those hours spent in fishing. Now, I like to “fish”. Note the reservation. You see, “fishing” for me means putting a bare hook (or no hook) in water and taking a nap. *heh*
Now, that’s some good fishing! (Of course, the only drawback is the looky-loo nosey parker coming by to ask how the fishing is or a game warden who asks for a license. “What license? Why, there’sh not even a hook on that line, ossifer! I’m jusht tryin’ to catch some zzs, here… “ *heh* Gimme a couple more years and I can at least have the joy of telling the game warden to go fish [with a “:-P”] since residents of my State past a certain age don’t need a license.)
Meanwhile, from another source, “…the only thing that bothers me is insomnia during working hours.”
A commenter at Politico said the following in response to a Santorum ad:
“Seriously, do we honestly believe that the President of the United States is a traitor, a domestic enemy, and doesn’t love our country?”
Well, yes. Yes I do. In fact, calling The Zero “a traitor, a domestic enemy… [who] doesn’t love our country” is tame, IMO. I’d add “Lying S.O.B. piece of usurping trash” to the list.
Here’s the video that has Obamabots and (redundancy alert) Mass MEdia Podpeople in an uproar. Tame by comparison to what Obamaville is aimed to “accomplish”–the utter ruin of the USA.
Note: Obamaville can be averted without actually defeating The Zero in his re-election bid by sensible voting on lower races–Senate, House and even State and local races. A real defeat of the Obamaville scenario would be greatly furthered by a sweep from the top down, though. And the WH does need a powerful dose of political bleach to remove the stench of commie-tainted socialism (as if the extreme degree of socialist stench The Zero emits weren’t bad enough by itself).
Further note: Santorum is still toast, as far as I’m concerned. Even in the face of the Romney communication director’s gaffe (is “communication director” better spelled “commie director”? *heh*), Santorum’s weakly-detracted “Romney=Obama” equation disqualifies him based on its demonstration that he’s really too dumb for words.
I read. I read a lot (no, not “alot”). When I see words like “backseat” (an adjective) misused in place of “back seat” or “backyard” (also an adjective) misused in place of “back yard” (the noun phrase: “yard” n coupled with “back” adj)–as well as other, similar misuses of one word form for another–in published works that have been through a writer’s hands, an editors hands, a number of proof readers, etc., and still been published in a book that’s sold well, even become a best seller, then I know we are truly becoming a nation of very nearly aliterate subliterates tending toward illiteracy.
And that’s just common misuses of the wrong forms of words. Using inappropriate words (see Inigo Montoya) or stupid grammar is even more common… and worse.
What’s almost amusing is that the most recent example I have read of “backseat” misused in place of “back seat” occurred in a book where a primary character kept correcting others’ grammar and spelling. I almost laughed. Almost.
