The Monsters’ Ball
Part Two of the 2020 chamblee54 report on The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is here. Part One and Part Three are there. Pictures for this affair are from The Library of Congress.
“It’s a dark and stormy night, ladies and gentlemen, just the perfect atmosphere for the Monsters’ Ball, and look, here comes Mr. and Mrs. Dracula, both looking quite debonair and mysterious, and there’s Frank, the big guy himself, his neck bolts glinting during the lightning flashes, but I do have one piece of bad news and that is we probably won’t be seeing the werewolf tonight because, after all, it is a dark and stormy night.” Randy Blanton, Murfreesboro, TN
It was a dark and stormy roast; the baristas filled the cups in black torrents—except at occasional intervals when customers asked for non-fat milk (for it is Starbucks where our scene lies) or perhaps pumpkin spice, their faces puckered at the bitterness, the inflated prices, and the unspoken obligation to tip. Judd Hampton, Grimshaw, Canada
Cthulhu awoke from loathsome dreams of gangrenous decay and the foul stench of congealing viscera, lifting his pulpy, misshapen head to find what foolish supplicant had roused him to yet another age of fear and creeping dread, but found his bloodthirst unslaked, having been brought to consciousness not by horror-filled screams of human sacrifice but by his little sister’s overly dramatic wail of “Cthulhu’s touching me!” from her side of the family station wagon’s back seat.
Eric Williamson, Nine Mile Falls, WA
Had Mrs. Reed just offered: “I could whip up a quick buffalo stew, some corn cakes, and maybe toss together a dandelion salad” instead of remaining silent, perhaps George Donner never would have followed up his “Anyone have any thoughts on dinner?” query with “Don’t be shy—no idea is a bad idea.” Mark Meiches, Dallas, TX
“The hell . . . ?” wondered Dread Lord Atunkhamen, awakening to find his sumptuous sarcophagus transformed into an airtight glass box and his hordes of groveling undead servants into a sea of snotty schoolchildren, bored museum staff, goggling tourists, and an endless sea of faceless smartphones. Gwen Simonalle, Grenoble, France
Alas,” he thought to himself, careworn eyes flickering over a veritable charcuterie of limp meats festering with metaphor, “Is bologna simply a hot dog that has lost its backbone, its form, its very ilk—flattened, beaten down into this wretched shape, a mere flicker of what it once was?”
Annora McGarry, Granville, NY
If broken hearts were made of simple syrup, and shattered dreams were made from white rum, and agony and despair came from ¾ ounce of lime juice, freshly squeezed, and three mint leaves respectively, then Mary Lou just served up a mojito cocktail straight from the ninth circle of hell when she told Ricky the baby wasn’t his. Tony Buccella, Allegany, NY
Like looking for a missing needle in a haystack (a scenario Belinda had never quite grasped because of the absurdity of having a needle in a haystack in the first place since no one does needlepoint in a barn), the futility of searching for exemplary qualities in her ex left her exhausted and exasperated. Ann Franklin, Lubbock, TX
Harvey’s eyes tracked the undulating sway of Betty’s hips, clad in hot pink leggings, clinging to her voluptuous thighs, each pocket of cellulite like magnetic orbs of fuschia-tinted bubble-wrap drawing him forward; gnarled hands poised to snatch just one glorious pop of forbidden flesh before Nurse Jones whisked him away for cribbage time at the Rough and Ready Nursing Home.
Debi Hassler, Central Point, OR
Compulsive Anagramming Disorder
There might be a problem. When I see a word, my instinct is to anagram it. What is the fancy psychological name for Compulsive Anagram Disorder?
I sometimes go to events in the lobby of 7 Stages. There, in big red letters, are the words MAIN STAGE. Saint Game. Game Stain. Mets Again. Will I be ever be able to sit in that space, and not think of ways to rearrange MAIN STAGE?
Google directed me to various sites that create anagrams. While these are amusing, this is not what we need. The next step is to try DuckDuckGo. First, hit cntr+k. Nothing happens. Is google making a bid for world domination, by limiting access to other search engines? You have to google ddg, and create a bookmark for future GoingDuckDuck.
DDG does not answer my question either, but they sent me some amusing links: Compulsive Versus Pathological Lying: What’s the Difference and Why Do People Do It? · Distress Response to the Failure to an Insoluble Anagrams Task: Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Strategies in Binge Drinking Students · Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: a list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases · Why Anagrams Are More Than Just Fun: Benefits for Cognitive Development · The Fascination With Anagrams.
What is the future for a person with compulsive anagramming disorder (CAD)? Is there a chapter of Anagramist Anonymous? I should look for Again Smart Mayo Nouns to find a meeting near me. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Mr. And Mrs. Dracula
It was a bright and tranquil tuesday morning. There are no leaf blowers growling, for it is Brookhaven that our scene lies. A slack blogger is on the front porch, reading the “winners” in the The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2024. When the going gets tough, the tough take notes.
The first thing to interrupt the reverie is the age old question: how to pronounce Cthulhu. Steam community has a variety of answers, which mostly boil down to we-don’t-know. One steamer, Phorxx [Cthulhu Saves the World] chimes in with “Lovecraft said that the language of the Old Ones wasn’t compatible with human speech, and so any attempt by man to pronounce Cthulhu’s name would at best be an approximation.” The best answer seems to be kuh-CHOO-loo, although a better answer than that would be to avoid conversations where it is necessary to say whatshisname out loud.
And so it goes. This laptop is a pain to type on, so this journey may be brief. So far, only one entry made me laugh out loud. “It’s a dark and stormy night, ladies and gentlemen, just the perfect atmosphere for the Monsters’ Ball, and look, here comes Mr. and Mrs. Dracula, both looking quite debonair and mysterious, and there’s Frank, the big guy himself, his neck bolts glinting during the lightning flashes, but I do have one piece of bad news and that is we probably won’t be seeing the werewolf tonight because, after all, it is a dark and stormy night.” Randy Blanton, Murfreesboro, TN.
Is it pessimism or realism to mark my place, when I get up to microwave a helping of macaroni?
It is now Wednesday morning. Last night at DNC, President Barry made a comment about “obsession with crowd sizes.” While he was doing it, he moved his palms closer to each other. The implication was that President Donnie has a little dick. “When they go low, we go high.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the photographs in July, 1942. “Hoffman Island, merchant marine training center off Staten Island, New York.”
#Hasbaratwitter
It was a monday morning for the books. After finishing the weekly notes, I started to download podcasts. Blocked and Reported was available early, which does not always happen. Working my way down the list, I thought to check Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Low and behold, the 2024 winners are here. It felt like winning the lottery.
Going further down the list, I thought of checking in on Search Engine. They had ended season one a few weeks ago, with no indication of when more episodes would appear. Turns out the new episodes started to appear a few weeks later. There are now have 6 episodes to binge on. After depending on youtube for Gaza-bad-news, there is now an overflow of distractions. Life is good. …
Tuesday stormed in uninvited. Though the weather outside appears to be clear and calm, inside, it is as dark and stormy as ever. The winner of the BLFC 2024 is an out and proud “opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.” “She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck.” Lawrence Person, Austin, TX. …
@asymmetricinfo “As a gentile, I don’t want to pretend that the surge of anti-semitism online affects me the way it does my Jewish friends, neighbors, and colleagues.” … @rhealforno “You can talk about antisemitism all you like. It’s not going to distract people from noticing that Israel is committing a brutal ethnic cleansing right under our noses.” @asymmetricinfo “How does dislike of Israeli government policy explain spreading vile lies about Jews murdering Christians on Passover?”
This exchange says something about the battle for public opinion. To Megan McCardle, shock about mass murder in Gaza is “dislike of Israeli government policy.” When anti-semites of the future talk, #Hasbaratwitter is what they will discuss.
Pictures today are from the Library of Congress. Marjory Collins took the pictures in September, 1942. “Dyeing hair at Francois de Paris, a hairdresser on Eighth Street, New York NY”
Slumber Of Almost-Living
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Charles Mingus & Eric Dolphy, Palais des Congrès de Liège, Belgium, April 19th, 1964
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First fiction: an anthology of the first published stories by famous writers
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Anaïs Nin on How Reading Awakens Us from the Slumber of Almost-Living
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Brittany Murphy died on December 20, 2009, of pneumonia. She was only 32 years old.
Get Ready Now: Republicans Will Refuse to Certify a Harris Win Trumpist …
Ex-sniper who infiltrated the KKK reveals what the group secretly talks about
Dave Smith: Tim Walz, Trump vs. Rogan, and Who Is Really Running the Country?
Brandeis Center Files Federal Complaint Against FC School District over Anti-Semitism …
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Suspect shot by police after shootout at Brookhaven home being burglarized …
Professor gets upset with Nancy Mace after she mispronounces Kamala Harris’ name
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american werewolf in london · human shields · original cm · original cm · original cm
original cm · @KamalaHarris · kamala · ron piana · ron piana
albert goldman · dennis quaid · tulsi israel · anhedonia · jackson riley
jre · sports auction · church · aita · 5 baby daddyies
loa · captain Ds · defend the guard · brookhaven park · eurostat
gossip · PRXRS III · prx · stpetepride · byron green-calisch
prx staff · NigOnALeash · que sera sera · ben franklin · jesus
randall cumbaa · trauma · Francis Thomas Avallone · banana boy · Macédoine de légumes
DEIA · racism scandal. · stpetepride · “Byron Green-Calisch · staff page.
Tucker Carlson: … there’s so many people in the Democratic party who are closeted including, in you know positions of real power. I know them, I don’t believe in outing people, and I’m I’m not going to. I know that for a fact and it’s like on what grounds are you hiding it. Dave Smith: I also have absolutely nothing against gay people. I do have an issue with people living a lie. … it’s also not just lying but living a lie. It’s a profound thing where you get used to every inch of your existence being a lie. The very nature of Who You Are is a lie. That just obviously leads to like people who have the ability to totally lie about who they are. That I do have an issue with. · “she out there working for that money … you know what she out there doing, she one of them Kamalas” · Socrates (born c. 470 bce, Athens [Greece]—died 399 bce, Athens) Siddhartha Gautama (born c. 6th–4th century bce, Lumbini, near Kapilavastu, Shakya republic, Kosala kingdom [now in Nepal]—died, Kusinara, Malla republic, Magadha kingdom [now Kasia, India]) · what your coffee preparation method says about you · ABSTRACT NEW YORKER FANCY SOMEHOW READS BELIEVES GERIATRIC HURT · You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book or you take a trip and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death. Some never awaken. ~Anaïs Nin (Book: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934) · PRX Racism Scandal Part Three · PRX is a “nonprofit public media company” that promotes podcasting. In 2020, PRX had a festive racism scandal. I recently went to their staff page. CEO Kerri Hoffman, who was at the heart of the racism scandal, is still in the driver’s seat. A few pictures down is “Byron Green-Calisch Vice President of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility.” · In the past four years, DEI has become somewhat of a punch line. It is interesting to note the original acronym was DEIA. Maybe if this had been branded IDEA, things would have worked out better. · The earlier PRXRS centered around CEO Kerri Hoffman touching the hair of Palace Shaw, a PRX Community Manager. In his staff photo, Dr. Green-Calisch sports a healthy set of dreadlocks. One wonders if Kerri Hoffman has ever touched them. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. selah. · will society have spiritual tough porn cute responsible · This is a repost. In a recent episode with Peter Thiel, Joe Rogan repeated the Nobel story. · CAFÉ GENERALISSIMMO OPEN MIC MONDAY, 8-19-2024 at 5:30-7:45 PM EST/4:30 PM CST/3:30 PM MST/2:30 PM PST/10:30 PM BST zoom ID: 821 2043 0676 Passcode: 313209 (every 1st and 3rd Monday of every month) · this poem would be great accept, he meant except a common mistake, reading the typos you become adept, it means it is real instead of fake, the connection tool is working with ease, eventbrite brain damage is not missed, sending out the link like its a dread disease, if i’m getting screwed i want to get kissed, its a lovely night out here on the porch, stop picking your nose in the gallery view, summertime sunday is no time for a torch, another night with the open mic crew, we all know that lisa bonet ate no basil, tonights entry is called banana boy, the port of entry is often the nasal, members of the tribe will have to say oy · Ann Hedonia is my new drag name · pictures today are from The Library of Congress · selah
L’Idiotie Quotadine
Peter Berg told a story on the Joe Rogan Experience. A newspaper printed an obituary, saying Alfred Nobel had died. (It was Ludvig Nobel, Alfred’s brother, who died.) Alfred Nobel had accumulated a fortune by inventing dynamite.. The obituary called him a “merchant of death.” Mr. Nobel decided he wanted to be known for something else, and established the Nobel prize. Alfred Nobel died December 10, 1896, eight years after Ludvig died. … This is a repost. In a recent episode with Peter Thiel, Joe Rogan repeated the Nobel story.
I was in skeptic mode, and decided to talk to Mr. Google. A story came up. It had a photograph of the headline … in English … in a newspaper called L’Idiotie Quotadine (Quotadine Idiocy.) History.com has another take. “The newspaper incident is often cited as the driving force behind Nobel’s philanthropy, but historians have yet to find an original copy of the “Merchant of Death” obituary.”
A google search for Quotadine led me to Kathy “Kathy Loves Physics” Joseph. She has an article, and two videos, (one two) about the Nobel urban legend. Apparently, the word quotadine, with that spelling, does not exist in either french or english.
The short version: The term “Merchants of Death” was coined in 1932, 43 years after the death of Ludwig Nobel. “The term seems to have been coined by an author of an article written in 1932 about a real character named Basil Zaharoff who was known for his ruthlessness, selling munitions to anyone who had enough money. In fact, Zaharoff was even known to encourage conflict and then sell arms to both sides! This article was poetically titled, “Zaharoff, Merchant of Death”
In later years, a pair of biographies (Fant Halasz) applied the MOD tag to Mr. Nobel, along with the festive origin story. The truth seems to be a bit more romantic. Mr. Nobel befriended a lady named Bertha Von Suttner, who seems to be a be a bit of a character. As time moved on, Mrs. Von Suttner became involved in a peace movement, and recruited Mr. Nobel to the cause. “In 1905, Bertha von Suttner was awarded the 4th Nobel Peace prize.”
Peter Berg is the JRE guest who told this tale. Mr. Berg is promoting a tv show, Painkiller, about the Oxycontin tragedy. At least some of what he is saying about opioids is the truth. It is a shame he needs to embellish that tale with Quotadine Idiocy. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Famous Last Words
The elephant in the room is a popular internet cliche. In this picture, the elephant looks like the ghastly wallpaper, both of which are best ignored. I wanted to make a comment. The only appropriate thing to do, in a situation involving wallpaper and an elephant, is to quote Oscar Wilde, on his deathbed. “This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do.”
When discussing Oscar Wilde, elephants, and wallpaper, it is important to get the correct quote. Mr. Google has a great deal to say, on the subject of last words. Peggy Lee sang about it. Unfortunately, the chanteuse was in very bad health at the end of her life. Peggy Lee probably did not say “Is that all there is?” on her deathbed.
On October 14, 1977, Bing Crosby “… finished 18 holes of golf carding an 85 … After his final putt Bing … remarked “It was a great game.” As he was walking to the clubhouse … he collapsed from a massive heart attack. … “We thought he had just slipped,” said one of his golfing companions.”
Adelaide Eugenia Bankhead “… first child, daughter Ada Eugenia, was born on January 24, 1901. The following year, Tallulah was born on their anniversary. Ada died tragically of blood poisoning just three weeks following Tallulah’s birth. On her deathbed, she told her sister-in-law to “take care of Eugenia, Tallulah will always be able to take care of herself”. This, like many other legendary last words, may too good to be true.
The Atlantic had a tasteful feature, “What Are the Best Last Words Ever?” Here are a few.
John Adams July 4, 1826 “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
Unbeknownst to Mr. Adams, Mr. Jefferson had died about five hours earlier.
Richard Feynman “I’d hate to die twice—it’s so boring”
O. Henry appeared to have stopped breathing, but was he really dead? Touch his feet, suggested one of the mourners clustered around his bed: Nobody ever died with warm feet. Whereupon, the short-story writer raised his head from the pillow, mumbled “Joan of Arc did,” and fell back dead.
Dylan Thomas “I’ve had 18 straight whiskeys. I think that’s the record.”
Union Major General John Sedgwick “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” Said while reprimanding his men for ducking for cover, just before he was killed at the Battle of Spotsylvania.
Ludwig Von Beethoven “I shall hear in heaven.”
An unverified tumblr contributes a few more zingers.
Edgar Allan Poe “Lord help my poor soul.”
Thomas Hobbes “I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap into the dark.”
Alfred Jarry “I am dying…please, bring me a toothpick.”
Washington Irving “I have to set my pillows one more night, when will this end already?”
Leo Tolstoy “But the peasants…how do the peasants die?”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “More light.”
Karl Marx “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!”
Voltaire “Now, now, my good man, this is no time for making enemies.”
François-Marie Arouet was asked by a priest to renounce Satan.
James Joyce “Does nobody understand?”
A certain popup crazy website has a few more last words. Some of these were really said. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
James Dean “That guy’s gotta stop… He’ll see us.”
Henry James “So here it is at last, the expected thing.”
Marie Antoinette “Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose.”
George Appel “Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel.” Mr. Appel was executed by electric chair in 1928; these were his last words. Here’s two more: “Gents, this is an educational project. You are about to witness the damaging effect electricity has on Wood.” Said by Fredrick Charles Wood before he was electrocuted in 1951. “Hey, fellas! How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? ‘French Fries!’” James French, 1966.
Weird Buzzing Sound
Dave Smith was on the Tucker Carlson show, “one coup and one assassination attempt” after his last appearance. The two are frequently called conservative, by people who use the c-word as an insult. It was rather surprising to hear this:
Tucker Carlson: “… there’s so many people in the Democratic party who are closeted including, in positions of real power. I know them, I don’t believe in outing people, and I’m not going to. I know that for a fact, and it’s like, on what grounds are you hiding it.”
Dave Smith: “I also have absolutely nothing against gay people. I do have an issue with people living a lie. … it’s also not just lying but living a lie. It’s a profound thing where you get used to every inch of your existence being a lie. The very nature of Who You Are is a lie. That just obviously leads to people who have the ability to totally lie about who they are. That I do have an issue with.”
The show went pretty much as expected. Smith is a vocal critic of Israel’s hideous conduct in Gaza, and Fox News fired Carlson for criticizing American support of Ukraine. Many sacred cows were slaughtered. At some points, a weird buzzing sound was heard, and the screen said they were discussing COVID. This is not allowed by youtube.
They both agreed that queers are better off out of the closet. When J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI, saying that could get you killed. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Google Gotcha
The fbf posted this quote: “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” — W.B. Yeats. I was looking for something, in the public domain, to use in a graphic poem. I googled the quote, and one of the results was @QuoteResearch, aka Quote Investigator®.
Eden Phillpotts crafted the sentence. It is on page 19 of A shadow passes, a book of prose celebrating nature. “In the marshes the buckbean has lifted its feathery mist of flower spikes above the bed of trefoil leaves. The fimbriated flowers are a miracle of workmanship and every blossom exhibits an exquisite disorder of ragged petals finer than lace. But one needs a lens to judge of their beauty: it lies hidden from the power of our eyes, and menyanthes must have bloomed and passed a million times before there came any to perceive and salute her loveliness. The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”
“God is in the details” is often attributed to minimalist German architect Mies van der Rohe, who probably co-opted the phrase from the German proverb ““Der liebe Gott steckt im detail”, which translates as “God is in the detail”. What this phrase neglects to mention is that many of these details are boring, even to an architect. That is certainly the case with Eden Phillpotts.
So the fbf was mistaken. My first impulse has been to play google gotcha, and immediately paste the contrarian evidence. This does get tiresome after a while. People like to find inspiration and entertainment where they can. The internet pedant can just find other ways to amuse himself.
Final confirmation comes from @BrainyQuote. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Revolution
REVOLUTION, n. “In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. Specifically, in American history, the substitution of the rule of an Administration for that of a Ministry, whereby the welfare and happiness of the people were advanced a full half-inch. Revolutions are usually accompanied by a considerable effusion of blood, but are accounted worth it—this appraisement being made by beneficiaries whose blood had not the mischance to be shed. The French revolution is of incalculable value to the Socialist of to-day; when he pulls the string actuating its bones its gestures are inexpressibly terrifying to gory tyrants suspected of fomenting law and order.”
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce published The Devil’s Dictionary in 1906, when revolutions were evolving into what can only be termed good, clean fun. AGB served in the Union Army during the War Between the States. The Confederacy, among other things, was a revolution that did not work out very well. As with all conflicts, vast sums of money changed hands. The men who collected these sums are usually far away from the bloodshed.
Walt Whitman once said “That whole damned war business is about 999 parts diarrhea to one part glory.” The same mathematics can be applied to revolutions as well. Maybe we should just stop with this revolting discourse, and move on to other R-words in TDD. The next four … RHADOMANCER, RIBALDRY, RIBROASTER, RICE-WATER … hold little interest for today’s conversation.
RICH, adj. “Holding in trust and subject to an accounting the property of the indolent, the incompetent, the unthrifty, the envious and the luckless. That is the view that prevails in the underworld, where the Brotherhood of Man finds its most logical development and candid advocacy. To denizens of the midworld the word means good and wise.”
RICHES, n. “A gift from Heaven signifying, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” John D. Rockefeller · “The reward of toil and virtue.” J.P. Morgan · “The savings of many in the hands of one.” Eugene Debs · To these excellent definitions the inspired lexicographer feels that he can add nothing of value.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress · selah
Wonder Drug
“everyone Demand front hole sex NOT generic single the last time” The well intended sign was designed to help queers avoid getting HIV through butt sex. The idea is to take prophylactic drugs 2-24 hours before you drop your drawers. Then, for the next 48 hours, you dose out on the wonder drug. The message was cheerfully illustrated with pill pictures, and included the delightful phrase front hole, which most people call vagina. A haiku was hidden in the burning bush. The reduction was posted to x, and not facebook. Some fbf are not ready to hear about butt sex.
The Ten Commandments Of Donald J. Trump: Thou Shalt not have any other President before thee. Thou shalt not pay the graven image makers. Thou shalt not use the name of the Donald in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it bigly. Honor thy father, and thy mother, and thy money. Thou shalt kill. Thou shalt steal. Thou shalt commit adultery. Thou shalt bear false witness. Thou shalt foreclose on thy neighbor’s house. … This idea for a poem had been floating around for a while. At this point, it is just more words, about a boring person. Sad.
The tweet had an image, consisting of several people meeting celebrities under bad circumstances. The phrase “Shane MacGowan vomited” jumped out at me, along with “book launch typo queue.” Those five beats were not in the image, but rather a first haiku line condensation. I saw an opportunity for haiku reduction. Unfortunately, the snippets were pasted into the collection at peculiar angles. Selecting the parts I need would be a gigantic pain in the butt. The next problem was bits of the text in the upper line encroaching upon the lower line. The whole enterprise degenerated into too much work. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Wash Your Hands
Lately, I have been walking. I try to go for a couple of miles, in the morning before the heat becomes obnoxious. Today, I went out New Peachtree, until the MARTA line goes overhead, and I can walk under to another Peachtree. … The spell check suggestion for Peachtree is Peacekeeper.
This is the last remnants of Peachtree Road, before it collides with Peachtree Boulevard. Many oldtimers still say Peachtree Industrial, which has a fifties retro feel to it.
When you cross the road, you find a sidewalk in front of Peachtree Country Club. During the MARTA construction era, my mother was fond of saying that the golf course was willed to the Catholic Church in perpetuity. Of course, a few feet were shaved off to accomodate another lane on Peachtree.
A few hundred yards down the sidewalk, I came to a half eaten bagel, a fork, a plastic box lined with old food, and a lid for a box. I carry plastic bags in my pack, and I got one for this detritous. There is not a trash can between here and the school dumpster. The bag will be full when I get there.
There is a law in Georgia. Whenever you hear someone say “wish” in a sentence, you are required to say a bit of commodity wisdom. “You can shit in one hand, and wish in the other, and see which hand gets full faster.” You should wash your hands no matter whether you hope or defecate.
There is a more useful version. You can wish in a plastic bag. Or, you can pick up trash, and put it in the plastic bag. One bag will get full before the other. Washing your hands is still a good idea. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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