Man Trap
John Booth was an actor, and firearm enthusiast. He was a ruthless critic of productions that did not include him. When something displeased Mr. Booth, it was necessary to let people know about it. Someone told the actor that boo was short for Booth. He believed this, and was forced to find other ways to express his displeasure. .
A play called “Our American Cousin” gave a performance in Washington DC in 1865. In act two of OAC, a lady called another lady “you sockdologizing old man-trap.” The crowd roared with laughter. Mr. Booth thought the line insipid, and looked for a way to express his anger.
When Mr. Booth was through with his commentary, he jumped out of the balcony. The riding spur on his boot caught a drape. Mr. Booth landed with all the weight on one leg. The leg was badly broken. It would have been less painful if Mr. Booth swallowed his pride, and said boo. Pictures for today’s entertainment are from The Library of Congress.
Brookhaven Arts Festival
It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. The air was cool. The Falcons won. Before you knew it four o’clock arrived. It was too late to go the festival downtown. PG threw a few layers on, put air in his tires, and took off to downtown Brookhaven.
The Brookhaven Arts Festival is not that big. PG chained his bike to a telephone pole, and took off on foot. Before long, he heard the band, GLOW. They were playing “Joy to the world”. A few nights before, PG met someone named Jeremiah at a party. “You don’t look like a bullfrog”.
The stage was the site of a pre-Marta recording studio. A phantom mirrored ball spun overhead as the band played “Boogie Oogie Oogie”. GLOW is a gaggle of singers, backed by guitar, bass, and keyboards. The third number was “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The lady singer got higher than Freddie Mercury ever dared. Mama, life has just begun.
GLOW finished playing. The MC said the festival was over. PG started to ride down Peachtree View, past the site of the purple house. A parking garage is under construction now. The purple house had a purple van in front, with big green letters that said “Greedy Developers Suck”.
Dinner, at the Swallow and Suffer, followed the festival. There was an unexpected twist. PG got veal parmesan, instead of chicken fingers. Sometimes, you need to try new things. Uzi said the next step would be signing up for cable television.
PG had looked for the health department paperwork on the way in, and found an open Bible instead. The HD score was behind the cash register. You don’t see it until you are ready to leave. The score, eighty one, should have been ninety. The cook was wearing a watch. Nine points were taken off.
Agent 99
Agent was hired to babysit Agent Maxwell Smart. She had his back at all times. Would you believe, when told to sing “99 bottles of beer on the wall,” Agent Maxwell Smart forgot the lyrics? KAOS was scared of Agent 99. They were not worried about Agent Maxwell Smart. Agent 99 was a former fashion model, and the daughter of a spy. Would you believe, Agent 99 did not have a real name? Agent Maxwell Smart was a bachelor until he married Agent 99. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Trivia is from the IMDB. One trivia item is fake.
Plastic Improvement
There was a trash can, full of yard waste. After the sunday night rainstorm, it would have water in it, and be heavy to pick up. PG went to the street, intending to tip it over. The water would drain out, and it would be easier to dispose of the yard waste.
When PG got to the can, there was a pink plastic bag on top. Inside the pink plastic bag was a selection of dog droppings. This is not proper disposal procedure.
Perhaps the distributor was going to come back for the product. There is an alcohol use device called zombie. Do you mix Rover residue with rainwater, soaked in strands of ivy? When you add some legal drugs, is that a zombie?
Special Postpositive Intensive Training
PG was reading facebook, minding his own business, when he saw the splashy title White Liberals Have White Privilege Too!. There is something about online discussions about privilege that make well meaning people want to type a lot of words into little boxes. PG usually avoids such a conversation, as if it were an amway pitch, but made an exception this ill fated afternoon.
The seminal article was written in 2007, and mentioned the media controversy of the day. It seemed as though Joe Biden said “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy … I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” Mr. Biden is currently the Vice President, serving under the FMAA.
There was a link to “Black People Love Us!, which tells the story of Sally and Johnny… “We are well-liked by Black people so we’re psyched (since lots of Black people don’t like lots of White people!)” The fun starts when someone quotes a letter to BPLU.
“GET WITH THE PROGRAM!… If some of you would actually get your heads out of your asses for one second and read a f*cking book or get educated, you will see that this website is NOT trying to break down PEOPLE, but break down BARRIERS and erase STEREOTYPES… A Black University of Michigan Student with nappy-ass hair”.
The resulting visual ruined the day for PG. BUMS should keep his/her pants on, and not burden the world with the sight of nappy hair on his/her posterior. The same thing goes for any asian, latino, caucasian, native american, or zorlack with this problem.
The photgraphs today are from “Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. This repost was modified, with politically incorrect editing, to satisfy an writing challenge word limit.
The Death Of Cursive
There was a feature in the NY Daily News about the death of cursive writing. HT to JoemyG-d. It seems like cursive is no longer being taught. PG says good riddance. This is a repost.
Cursive refers to the flowing style of handwriting, where the letters are joined. It is from the French word cursif. This is derived from Medieval Latin cursivus, literally, running, from Latin cursus, past participle of currere to run
Cursive sounds like curse, or using bad language. Many people trying to read cursive will curse. The synonym for cuss, however, is from the middle english word curs.
At Ashford Park , print writing was taught in the first grade, and cursive in the third grade. PG learned cursive, and then promptly forgot. He prints when he needs to write, except for a signature. Printing is much, much easier to read.
Some say that with the decline of cursive, that old handwritten letters will be impossible to read. With many cursive writers, they already are. Some people have the patience to write beautifully, but many others scrawl. There is a cliche about doctor’s handwriting on prescriptions. One wonders how many lives have been lost because the pharmacist is not a mind reader.
There is a quote, attributed to an ancient Greek. “When we start to write, we will lose our ability to remember”. There was grumbling when the printing press replaced hand copied scrolls, and when the typewriter came onto the scene.
Man fancies himself as being an animal who can think. Sometimes, when you replace the legend with knowledge, people like to hang onto the legend. This seems to be a point on the species cusp. On the one side is a rational, thinking creature. On the other side is a superstitious animal that runs on instinct. This is one possible reason that cursive writing lasted as long as it did.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.












































































































































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