"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."
Not interested in throwing a “Titanic Party” to celebrate/commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the April 12, 1912 sinking of the Titanic, but if one were to throw such a shindig, wouldn’t it be appropriate to do it today, you know, Friday the 13th?
Just askin’.
“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!
🙂
…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.”
(Just use your “clicky thing” on the pics below)
Burning need for one of these:
I’d probably want one for each door along with one of these for each door as well (maybe have to make one sort into a sign?)
Meanwhile, where are all my “guard dogs”? They’re supposed to be in the moat around twc central…
Hmmm,
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.
Too many feathers; not enough tar.
(Now, that’s just bad planning.)
Actually, the post title could be an existential cry of pain. “Why, WHY, WHY did the %$#@!% politician survive the fire?!?!?” (Where “%$#@!%” is a statement of a theological probability *heh*)
Whenever I see a Dodge Ram in my rearview mirror (usually tailgating, it seems), I think, “Well, thanks for the warning… ”
Dodge! Ram!
As I noted earlier in “Suspension of Belief” one depiction in film/TV that always nauseates me is an absolutely incompetent portrayal of musical performance or direction. The most recent such “gagamaggot” butchery of a depiction of musical direction I’ve seen was given by Academy Award-winning director Peter Dougan Capaldi in an acting role in the 2006 Midsomer Murders episode, Death in Chorus, where he played a “perfectionist” choral director. Badly. Very, very badly. I’d walk out of the first rehearsal run by someone as incompetent as the director as portrayed by this yutz.
*sigh*
And the actors and the director of the episode apparently didn’t know any better, either.
Gagamaggot.
“That’s not a huge bald spot.”
*heh*
You can kiss my grits and call me a stinker–I really DGARA–but there are some questions I tire of hearing “answers” to.
“How are you?” and its slightly better, less common, companion, “How are you doing?” are two of them. The now archaic-sounding “How do you do?” (still remotely and occasionally present in the greeting, “Howdy”) is another one.
“Why?”, you may ask. Go ahead, I said you may ask. *heh*
Nowadays, the most common answer I hear to either “How are you?” or even “How are you doing?” is the nonsense answer, “I’m good.” Persons answering either of those questions would be better to simply grunt a nonsense monosyllabic, “Uh.” Are they truly good? Just bragging disingenuously? Outright liars or simply ill-informed, ignorant of their own corrupt natures? No, such respondents are not “good” although they may feel well and be experiencing little or no distress. Besides, the question is not “What are you?” but “How are you?” and I doubt anyone can really answer that one without resorting to a religious exposition. It’s a matter of epistemology that certainly none of the philosophers I have read have answered satisfactorily. Indeed, how are any of us? How do we come to be and continue to exist, if exist we truly do, in a state of consciousness–if conscious we truly are?
If the question responded to happened to be “How are you doing?” then such an answer is still nonsense. “I’m good” as a response still avoids the “How” and has no information whatsoever about what good the person is doing, if any at all (most persons seem to live a quotidian existence without doing anything good at all–and rarely do anything really well, either). And again with the epistemology thingy. Indeed, if Descartes was onto something, then most people simply aren’t, you know?
All either party–asker and answerer–in these greeting formulas accomplishes with such exchanges is just the expulsions of exhaled gases through their respective vocal apparatuses resulting in nonsense sounds, empty of any exchange of meaning. Wasted breath, IMO.
Rare indeed is the person who will answer either of those questions, “I’m well” or “I’m doing well.”
I’ll leave the deconstruction and analysis of answers to “How do you do?” as an exercise for the reader.
BTW, when asked “How are you?” I usually respond, “I don’t know. That’s one of the deepest quandaries of metaphysics, and although many have asked the question and searched for answers, no one has been able to answer the question satisfactorily. What do you think? How am I?” I similarly riff off “How are you doing?”
But I’m not usually asked those questions. Often, I beat folks to the “greet” with, “How am I doing?” The completely clueless will respond with the pedestrian nonsense grunt of “I’m good” since they’ll not have heard the question. The slightly more aware might say, “You’re good” and smile at the sharpness they think they’ve displayed. Of course, when I respond, “Well, I’m flattered, but I’m hardly good. Even Jesus said, ‘There is none good but God’ and I’m not easily mistaken for God, you know?” it causes a wee cognitive dissonance. *heh* The brighter respondents will come back with something along the lines of either, “Well, you look all right [or even ‘good’ or ‘well’] to me” (“Need a trip to the optometrist, eh?” :-)) or even, “I don’t know” (Better). Best, “Oh, dear! [peering at me with “concerned look” written plainly on mug] You should be home in bed I’ll bring some chicken soup by later.” (An actual response from someone I enjoy “speaking in [nonsense] tongues” with around other, befuddled-by-our-nonsense, folks.)
But I don’t always use the “How am I doing?” line. More often, I’ll simply use a form of the neutral, also meaningless, “Good morning [afternoon, evening]” greeting, although most often in the more laconic, “Mornin’ [afternoon, evenin’]. Such a non-committal, inoffensive nonsense greeting serves the function of social lubricant better, IMO.
Of course, with friends or family, instead of casual acquaintances and chance-met strangers, I know I can engage in a genuine greeting/response, but those two classes of persons really aren’t all that common, you know?