Rules Of Four
This is a double repost . These two features have been repeated before , with text added. Whether the text adds value is a judgement question. For today’s entertainment, the added value text will be included. Historic pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. This was written like David Foster Wallace
Two features, posted two times each, is four. These two features are about rules for living, that come in groups of four. There is a symmetry about four. Four Beatles, Four seasons, for corners, four elements. This number is a homonym partner with for and fore. White people say fo wer, black people say fo.
When PG was a kid, his grandmother lived in a side apartment, in a house on Virginia Avenue. The owner of the house was Mrs. Stuckey. (PG never learned her “real” name, and assumed that checks were made out to Mrs.) There was a framed piece of paper in Mrs. Stuckey’s hall. The top said “The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do” , and featured the logo of the Rotary Club. The four rules were simple, on the surface. Is it the TRUTH?//Is it FAIR to all Concerned?//Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?//Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
The four way test was written by Herbert J. Taylor. In 1932, Mr.Taylor took over the bankrupt Club Aluminum Company of Chicago. Trying to revive the company during the depression, Mr. Taylor wrote a code of ethics, that would be the basis for the company’s actions.
Many said that the four way test was not practical for the business world. The balancing of integrity and ambition can be daunting. It was said that “This emphasis on truth, fairness and consideration provide a moral diet so rich that it gives some people “ethical indigestion.”
PG maintains that fair is a baseball hit between first and third base. Sometimes, the umpire makes the wrong call. In the “real world”, the different points of view in a dispute make rendering a fair judgment a difficult task, if not an impossible one.
There is a story about the revival of Club Aluminum. ” One day, the sales manager announced a possible order for 50,000 utensils. Sales were low and the company was still struggling at the bankruptcy level. The senior managers certainly needed and wanted that sale, but there was a hitch. The sales manager learned that the potential customer intended to sell the products at cut-rate prices. “That wouldn’t be fair to our regular dealers who have been advertising and promoting our product consistently,” he said. In one of the toughest decisions the company made that year, the order was turned down. There was no question this transaction would have made a mockery out of The Four-Way Test the company professed to live by.”
How did the sales manager learn of the intentions of this buyer? Was he tipped off by one of the “regular customers” who feared competition? Was this “regular customer” lying? Many inspirational stories leave out crucial details.
As it turns out, Club Aluminum did sell enough product to emerge from bankruptcy. “By 1937, Club Aluminum’s indebtedness was paid off and during the next 15 years, the firm distributed more than $1 million in dividends to its stockholders. Its net worth climbed to more than $2 million.”
Club Aluminum cookware was cast, not spun. It is heavy, and is a prized collectors item today. As for the Club Aluminum company ” Standard International Corporation bought it in 1968. Regalware made and marketed Club Aluminum for a while, but went out of business in the mid-1980s. The brand name was eventually obtained by the Mirro Company.”
This is a repost. Philosophy and rules for living is always a crowd pleaser. Whether or not you practice what you preach is beside the point.
There is a story above. A company, facing bankruptcy, turned down a huge order because of concerns about how the product would be resold. Today, this seems quaint. Today, the moral thing to do would be to take the order, keep your factory busy, and not worry how it was going to be resold. While some pretend that moral rules are unchanging, the truth is that they do change with the times.
This reminds PG of a story from his days as a blueprinter. With ammonia developed prints, every print is fed by hand, and you have the option to adjust the speed of the machine. Slower prints mean less background, which to some is a higher quality print. (This is not an issue with digital printing. Some change is indeed progress.)
The company PG worked for was affiliated with a small, family run company in a neighboring city. This company was run by an old fashioned lady, who insisted on adjusting every print to get the perfect background. This was different from the company PG worked for, which ran large jobs for the big city market. To his customers, quality meant getting an acceptable print, DELIVERED ON TIME. Who had the higher standards? Maybe that is a question for the customer to judge.
These thoughts are for you to use. They were articulated by a man named Don Miguel Ruiz. They are called the Four Agreements. . HT to activecitizen54..
PG does not claim to live up to these ideals. Number two is especially tough for him. The main thing is to try, and to always do your best. This is not about what you believe or think, it is about what you do.
agreement 1–Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
agreement 2–Don’t take anything personally – Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
agreement 3–Don’t make assumptions – Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
agreement 4–Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
PG And OD Go To Tennessee
Tuesday September 25
At one pm Monday, September 24, PG thought he was going to be home all week. It was not a bad prospect. Life if neo Brookhaven is good. Suddenly, a message appeared from OD, who had a vehicle and was willing to drive to Short Mountain. An agreement was made to go at nineish Tuesday morning.
At 10:15 Tuesday, a Ford pickup truck drove past the house, with PG waving at the driver. The truck turned around, and came back to get PG. The Tennessee adventure was on. The ride was full of conversation, but little highway drama. The truck pulled in front of the barn a little bit before the second lunch bell.
At Short Mountain Sanctuary, there are two camping options. The yurt yard is next to the knoll, and is much less walking than the ridges behind the garden. The down side is the noise from the knoll, and frequent visits from goats. PG has a bum knee, which should not be confused with a knee bum. The idea was to walk as little as possible, which is still going to be a good bit. An empty spot was found in the yurt yard. The Tennessee mountain home was soon going up.
The idea is to set the tent up, and throw a tarpaulin over it. A rope is run to the nearest tree, and an you have instant shelter. The tent PG has is 26 years old. There is a door zipper which does not like to work. PG had taken it out of storage a few days earlier, had zipped and unzipped this door, and it seemed to be working.
The best place for the tent seemed to be a spot at the edge of level ground, with a steep drop inches away. That night, PG discovered that this was not a good location for the tent. An unsteady knee does not like to take the first step outside on 45 degree land. This problem would have to wait until Wednesday to be fixed.
At some point Tuesday, PG was on the back porch. This is a dangerous place to be during dinner prep. Gabby had a bowl of something called almost waldorf salad, and was looking for someone to mix in mayonnaise. This is done with your hands, your fingers diving into a sea of cut up fruit. Hand washing is encouraged.
Tuesday was not a good night. After eating too much casserole and fistfucker salad, PG decided to go to sleep. The talent show was going on, and the audience appreciation would not allow sleep in the yurt yard. PG decided to get up, tried to open the tent door, and the zipper was not working. It would connect for a few inches, miss a few inches, and the connect again. PG was very concerned. The goats like to check out tents when humans are away. Even though PG does not keep food in his tent, he did not want to have a four legged investigation, with or without a search warrant.
So PG wandered around, talked to some people around the fire, and saw the end of the talent show. Eventually he went back to his tent, after almost tumbling down the hill trying to get in. After laying on the ground, thinking unpleasant thoughts, PG got up to pee. When he got back inside the tent, he tried to close the door zipper using the outside pull. The door zipper came together without a problem. Maybe this journey was going to work out after all.
Wednesday September 26
After breakfast, playback theater convened on the knoll. A dozen or so people did dramatic exercises, and then performed stories. The narratives come from the lives of the players. PG told the tent door story of the night before. The person playing PG taking a piss was a six foot four inch tall transperson. In another story, PG played the alcoholic mother of a no good roommate.
Adjustments were made to the Tennessee mountain home. The tent was moved back a few feet, and the tarp positioned accordingly. There was some background sounds while this was going on. A tent on the other side of the yard emanated the sounds of two people having a very, very good afternoon. Meanwhile, three tents up on PG’s side, a Kiwi-Filipino pair played ukeleles, and sang Abba songs.
Wednesday had the most fabulous dinner of the gathering. The theme was “Night of a thousand Agneses”. (Agni? Agniece?) The namesake queen has been a faerie fixture for years and years.
PG saw an Agnes show in New Orleans once. Her and then partner Gabriel danced and tried on outfits, while the crowd shouted put it on, put it on. The reason why people call them drag queens is because they are always dragging bags of costumes around.
And indeed, there were dozens of fabulous outfits on display. Everyone was Agnes. When you got to the kitchen, the dinner was arranged on the plate as a caricature of the eponymous diva. After dinner was some enthusiastic drumming by the fire, and a night of much improved sleep.
Thursday September 27
Thursday started out smoothly enough. PG brought a paper cup to the kitchen, got some coffee, and went back to his tent. He left this cup in the drink holder of his chair, and went back to the house. When he returned, his neighbors told him a goat had been licking the inside of the cup.
After a while, PG thought it would be fun to take pictures. He took shirt, pants, and shoes off, grabbed the camera, and walked towards the back of the yurt yard, There were a few pictures made of goat activity, especially of one short, dark furred animal. She came over to PG, and started to rub her horns against the back of his leg. We will call this animal Zette, which may or may not be her real name.
PG did not appreciate this, and tried to push Zette away. Every time PG pushed away, Zette pushed back a bit harder. Fighting a goat one handed is a losing proposition, and PG was starting to worry. By this time, Zette was taking a step back, and charging into PG, who kept stepping away, trying to declare a truce. There was no place to hide.
A longtime resident, who we will call Joe Floor, saw the action. Joe grabbed Zette by the horns, and dragged her to the ridge behind the yurt yard. Joe knows how to talk to goats. When Joe released Zette, she started to scratch her rear paws, as if getting ready for some serious charging. Joe grabbed her by the horns, and shoved her face into the ground. Zette learned that this was not going to be tolerated.
Later in the day, PG sat down in his chair. The camping furniture had been rescued from a garbage pile a few weeks earlier. It’s ease of transportation got it included on this trip, and until Thursday afternoon it was a good choice. When you sit in a fabric seat, and hear threads breaking under your weight, you think maybe you should have taken another chair.
The rest of the day was a symphony of sloth. There was an ice cream social two ridges over. The vehicle driving there was going up the driveway as PG finished lunch. The art opening was not what PG wanted to be doing, even if the cake was spectacular. The next move was into the kitchen, which is not a good thing to do when you are bored. There was a pile of garlic waiting to be shelled and pressed. PG got through most of it, until he could not squeeze the press any more.
After a nap, the dinner turned out to be pretty good. At the fire, PG found a drum that make good sounds without ruining your hands. There was a movie showing in the pavilion. It was about a young man who studied violin at Who Lee Yard. “Was that as difficult to play as it was to listen to?”
Friday September 28
Friday got off to a roaring start… not to be confused with Arora Thunder ,,, with a breakfast of rice, granola, hot sauce, and coffee. The dog’s breakfast is alive and well. Speaking of which, the sanctuary has two dogs now. Sharday has been joined by Biscuit. The canines show great patience towards the overdressed visitors. Rumors of a Biscuit and gravy dinner turned out to be reckless hearsay.
PG thought that maybe he could sit on the edge of his chair, but the fabric continued to rip further asunder. There was a pile of wood by the fire (duh,) and some of the logs had a flat cut on one side. PG found one that was just a cat’s hair wider than the chair frame, and secured it with bicycle innertube bungee. The contraption was surprisingly comfortable.
By this time, the faerie gathering lifestyle had sunk in. A trip to the house could take two hours, with all the stops for conversation along the way. Whole sun drenched afternoons float away. PG spent some time with his book, Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen. It is a crime story with lots of bloodshed, crookiness, and weirdos. PG enjoyed the sensation of drifting between the alternative realities of the yurt yard, and Miami plastic surgery. “I stopped counting the bodies at seven. The higher the pile of corpses, the less clothing and/or morals.” Those amazon commenters just have a way with words.
PG picked up the book Thursday, after missing the ride to the ice cream social. There was a typo on page 27 of the First Ballantine Books Edition: October 1990. A young lady named Tina turns up not missing on page 25. The name Tina appears five times on page 26. In the 7th line of page 27, Tina became known as Tiny. She went back to being Tina the rest of the story.
Saturday September 29
Saturday was more of the slack gathering lifestyle. The most energetic PG got was attending the heart circle. Someone drew the Moon card from the Tarot deck, which was considered an omen of harvest moon synchronicity. Some powerful stories were shared in this circle.
After dinner, PG got into the drumming with a bit more vigor than was wise. He began to feel sleepy, and went to sleep soon after the full moon ritual. It turned into a replay of Tuesday night, with the noise from the knoll harmonizing with the noise in PG’s head. One day the mind/body chemistry will allow PG to be happy more of the time, or at least to avoid nights like Harvest Moon Saturday.
Sunday September 30
Sunday was another slack day. The sunshine was hidden behind ominous clouds, and rumors of nasty weather were rampant. After dinner, a joke telling circle got started on the back deck.
Why can’t Unitarians sing? Because they are looking at the next line to see if they agree with it.
This girl asked her daddy if she could use the pickup truck. Yes, you can use it, but you have to give me a blow job first. The girl pulled his pants down, and was about the taste the sausage when she threw her head back in dismay. Dayaddy, your diiyick tastes like sheeyit. Oh yeah, your brother had to use the truck this morning.
Monday October 1
This was to be the leaving day for PG and OD. The rain came in Sunday night, and by accounts was going to get worse on Monday. There was a deceptive break in the precipitation, which convinced OD that it was a good time to pack up.
PG got his gear in order, and dropped it off by the barn. OD left to get his truck. The parking for gatherings is on a neighboring ridge. The trail is two miles of steep hills and rough terrain. If you can get a ride, then you take it.
Waiting for your ride to get back from Pan meadow is a mellow end of the gathering. PG usually finds something to read. Today it was So Many Ways to Sleep Badly, by fellow blogger Mattilda. PG settled into the porch swing, and got through five paragraphs. Then people started to gather, then more people. Somebody started reciting lines from “Paris is Burning.” PG had stumbled into a viewing of PIB this summer, and knew what the person was talking about.
And the wait continued. PG was not sure when OD left, and didn’t think to look at a clock until quarter until three. At about four, OD finally appeared. It seems he had gotten on the wrong van, and taken an unexpected trip to the Nashville airport.
PG put his gear in the truck, and got in. OD drove about three miles down the Seals Hollow Road, when he saw a rock that he liked. When PG got out to pick up the rock, he noticed that OD’s trunk was not in the truck. The pickup turned around, and went back to the Sanctuary to get the trunk.
The emergency McDonalds in Woodbury was ignored. On the road to I24, a serious rainstorm hit. Major storm warnings were on the radio for the Nashville area. The storm was weathered, and a dinner stop was made at the Shoney’s in Manchester. The slowest server in Tennessee was working on that table. There was another storm waiting for the trip through Monteagle pass. These things shall pass.
Pictures are by Chamblee 54. The humans gave consent. This was written like J. K. Rowling.
Three More Years
The United States is currently in the second longest streak of Presidents living to finish their term in office. The last POTUS to die in office was John F. Kennedy, who met his maker on November 22, 1963. In a few weeks, that will be 49 years ago.
The first President to not finish his term for mortal reasons was William Henry Harrison. He perished April 4, 1841. This was roughly 52 years after George Washington was sworn in, on April 30, 1789. If the POTUS can get through three more years without passing away, then America will have a new record. This will seem odd to many of a certain age, who remember the Kennedy shooting as though it happened yesterday.
On the other side of the Atlantic, a three year countdown is in progress. Victoria served as Queen of England from June 20, 1837 to January 22, 1901, or 63 years. The current monarch, Elizabeth II, began her reign February 6, 1952. This was 59 years ago. In another three years, unless her purse explodes and kills her, Elizabeth will be the longest serving ruler of England. She recently passed George III, who served 59 years. Elizabeth did not have a revolution in the colonies to concern her. This is a repost.
Cursive
There was a feature in the NY Daily News about the death of cursive writing. HT to JoemyG-d. It seems like it is no longer being taught. PG says good riddance.
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 a pharmacist is not a mind reader.
There is a quote, attributed to an ancient Greek, that “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. Whenever machinery advances into manual territory, someone is not going to like it. This is a repost.
The Parable
A facebook friend gave PG the link to a video, The Power of Parable , and set some events into motion. It did not end well.
TPOP is an interview with Peter Rollins. He says that “a parable tries to get beyond something in the head, and rupture something in the heart.” A parable is like a painting, with a different meaning every time you look at it. It should make you think, it should move and transform you. A parable ” is not giving water to those who are thirsty, it is giving them salt to make them thirsty.”
PG had been thinking of the story of The Prodigal Son , and decided to publish this story on his blog. He found the text, in Luke 15. PG’s late father was named Luke.
The story of The Prodigal Son (a phrase that does not appear in Luke 15) had long been a favorite of PG. It is about family, acceptance, forgiveness, and welcome. The disgust that PG feels for the abusive ways of Jesus worshipers does not affect his enjoyment of this story.
At about this time, PG saw a comment thread at a blog . The writer of this blog, ZSB, had butted heads with PG before. A few comments were made, including one snide remark by Frank Turk. For some reason, PG decided to send a link to The Prodigal Son , The story was about forgiveness and kindness, and PG hoped to build a bridge.
ZSB … Chamblee, I like the photos (although, as usual, they seem unlrelated to the post), am ambivalent about the video,dig the rainbow-text effect, and LOVE the words contained in the text… but what on earth does it have to do with this post or this meta? Oh, wait, I get it—you’re further showcasing how the Internet often fosters random non-sequitur-style communication. September 15, 2011 3:27 PM
chamblee54 …. 1- I did not read the complete dialog. I seldom have the patience for long discussions like this. When I saw the comment “G-d has given us a perfect bible”, I realized that this was built on a shaky foundation. I simply do not agree with that concept. 2- The story that I used is The prodigal son. It is about not giving up on people. It is about not labeling someone a troll, and ignoring everything they say. I see that as highly relevant to the dialog between Mr. Turk and myself. 3- I linked to a video in the story. It is a monolog about the value of parables. It is about taking a text and thinking about the many different meanings that it can have. This is different from calling this text the “word of G-d”, and saying that it has a literal meaning. The story of the prodigal son can have many meanings. 4- The Prodigal Son was a parable. It was a made up story, used to teach a lesson. When you call a text a literal piece of work, you contradict the nature of parables. The Prodigal Son story may have happened, or may not have. This is beside the point to the overall story. 5- The video is a song by Tom Waits. While not a direct cause and effect companion to the story, there is a connection. Whatever happens to little boys who never comb their hair? September 15, 2011 3:42 PM
ZSB … Chamblee54 said… “. [The Prodigal Son] is about not giving up on people. It is about not labeling someone a troll, and ignoring everything they say. ”
Um, no. No, a thousand times no! That is not what the Lord’s parable of the lost son is about. Look at the context. It’s about salvation. It’s about something you won’t hear because you’re tripped up by the words “God has given us a perfect Bible.” Reject it, laugh at it, spit on it, but don’t turn it into a benign little collection of nice-isms that you can live with, because, while it doesn’t harm God’s Word, it makes you look silly to do so. September 15, 2011 4:27 PM
chamblee54 … My point exactly. A parable is like a poem … it should have a different meaning every time you hear it. When you take an allegory, and call it a literal work, you are not always going to have the “correct” interpretation.
This story was written by someone. It was written many years after Jesus had his ministry. It was translated at least twice. It was copied by hand, probably more than once. It was compiled into a book by the council of nicea. This is not a copy/paste of a word document written by Jesus.
But, when someone disagrees with your view, and you have a hissy fit, then it makes YOU look silly. September 15, 2011 5:01 PM
ZSB … Okay, I’ve dealth with the tired, ill-founded claim of “twice-translated” words of Jesus, allegedly far-removed from his ministry here . And parables aren’t allegory. Fairly common rookie mistake.
And this comment thread is actually about the subject of the blogpost. Like all of my blog comment threads, it’s not about your beef (and borderline obsession) with Frank Turk.
Comment thread is now un-hijacked. i.e. all comments unrelated to the post (paticularly by those who admit to not having read it) will be deleted post-haste. That is all. September 15, 2011 5:15 PM
PG was had many ups and downs with Jesus. Some of the bad experiences were not his fault. In this case, he should have known better. You don’t discuss poetry with Jesus worshipers, at least ones who care mostly about life after death. It is a “fairly common rookie mistake”. Jesus was spoiled for PG a while back. This visit was a reminder. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Palindromes For Fun And Profit
Palindromes are phrases that are spelled the same backwards as they are forwards. Barry Duncan is a/the master palindromist. This is a self applied title … “The other, slightly longer, slightly more combative answer is that it means you shouldn’t confuse me with any of those garden-variety, ‘Madam I’m Adam’ hacks who couldn’t paint my shadow.” Mr. Duncan takes reversible phrases very seriously. The article makes a few points much better than this correspondent. When reading these quotes, be aware that the terms “words” and “characters” are used interchangeably. There is a difference between 44,444 words, and a similar number of characters. As it is, it would take 315 tweets to transmit 44,444 characters, and almost no one would realize that the last one is the first one in reverse order. (Quote) “One way that he categorizes them is by length. Those of one hundred or more characters are labeled simply “long.” Palindromes of one hundred or more words he calls “epic.” And palindromes of one thousand or more characters are called “mega.” … “Palindrome-writing in itself is nothing new. Bill Bryson, in his history of the English language, The Mother Tongue, puts the form at at least two thousand years old, citing our knowledge of Greek and Roman palindromes. The word itself derives from the Greek palindromos—“running back again”—and Bryson dates its English debut to 1629. He even claims to have found the first recorded palindrome in English, by the poet John Taylor (“Lewd I did live, & Evil did I dwel”), though, as Bryson points out, the ampersand is a bit of a disqualifier. Palindromes are just one form of wordplay among many. There are anagrams (transpositions of the letters of a word or phrase into a new word or phrase using exactly the same letters), tautonyms (words or phrases of two or more identical parts), isograms (words containing no more than one of any letter), pangrams (groups of words using each and every letter of the alphabet exactly once), bigrams, trigrams, tetragrams, and on we go. Many of these forms of wordplay have been around for quite a long time, but A. Ross Eckler, former editor of Word Ways magazine, dates a “renaissance of interest in recreational linguistics” to the mid-1960s. The growing interest in palindromes themselves can be tracked, indirectly, by the exponential increase in length of the Guinness-recognized world’s longest palindrome: from 242 words in 1971; to 11,125 in 1980; to 44,444 in 1984, sometime after which they seem to have stopped keeping the record.” (/Quote) El Google has a few results for palindrome. Fun with words advertises Georgia Natural Gas and Glenn Beck, before getting down to business. There is a list of popular palindromes…Do geese see God? … Was it Eliot’s toilet I saw? … Murder for a jar of red rum … Some men interpret nine memos. … Never odd or even. … Don’t nod … Dogma: I am God … Never odd or even … Too bad – I hid a boot … Rats live on no evil star … No trace; not one carton … Was it Eliot’s toilet I saw? … Murder for a jar of red rum … May a moody baby doom a yam? … Go hang a salami; I’m a lasagna hog! … Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas! … A Toyota! Race fast… safe car: a Toyota … Straw? No, too stupid a fad; I put soot on warts … Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era? … Doc Note: I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod … Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo … No, it never propagates if I set a gap or prevention … Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to Vienna … Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus … Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak … Some men interpret nine memos … Campus Motto: Bottoms up, Mac … Go deliver a dare, vile dog! … Madam, in Eden I’m Adam … Ah, Satan sees Natasha … Lisa Bonet ate no basil … Do geese see God? … God saw I was dog … Dennis sinned. Special attention is given to the immortal “A man, a plan, a canal – Panama!”. Leigh Mercer published the phrase in the November 13 1948 issue of Notes & Queries. The webmaster of this facility points out that Panama is easy pickings for palindromists, with it’s alternating vowel, and consonants. The origin of this phrase is a matter of speculation. This page advertises a book, More George W. Bushisms: More of Slate’s Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Our 43rd President [Paperback]. Fun with words advertises Verizon stuff, and has lists. Since the list of phrases will probably have repeats from the above list, we will focus on the list of words and place names: aibohphobia, alula, cammac, civic, deified, deleveled, detartrated, devoved, dewed, evitative, Hannah, kayak, kinnikinnik, lemel, level, madam, Malayalam, minim, murdrum, peeweep, racecar, radar, redder, refer, reifier, repaper, reviver, rotator, rotavator, rotor, sagas, solos, sexes, stats, tenet, terret, tests, Glenelg (Australia), Kanakanak (Alaska), Kinikinik (Colorado), Navan (Meath, Ireland), Neuquen (Argentina), Ward Draw (South Dakota), Wassamassaw (South Carolina), Yreka Bakery (Yreka, California). Some of these phrases are worth repeating. We will try to weed out the dupes, but reversable fatigue may set in first: A dog, a plan, a canal: pagoda … A new order began, a more Roman age bred Rowena … A tin mug for a jar of gum, Nita … Able was I ere I saw Elba … Animal loots foliated detail of stool lamina … Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to Vienna … Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era? … Are we not pure? “No sir!” Panama’s moody Noriega brags. “It is garbage!” Irony dooms a man; a prisoner up to new era … As I pee, sir, I see Pisa! … Barge in! Relate mere war of 1991 for a were-metal Ernie grab! … Bombard a drab mob… Bush saw Sununu swash sub … Cain: a maniac … Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic … Daedalus: nine. Peninsula: dead … Dammit, I’m mad! … Delia saw I was ailed … Denim axes examined … Dennis and Edna sinned … Depardieu, go razz a rogue I draped … Desserts, I stressed! .. Did I draw Della too tall, Edward? I did? .. Do good? I? No! Evil anon I deliver. I maim nine more hero-men in Saginaw, sanitary sword a-tuck, Carol, I — lo! — rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero-men in Miami. Reviled, I (Nona) live on. I do, O God! … Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard … Drat Saddam, a mad dastard! … Draw, O coward! … Draw pupil’s lip upward … Ed, I saw Harpo Marx ram Oprah W. aside … Eva, can I stab bats in a cave? .. Evil did I dwell; lewd I did live … Gateman sees name, garageman sees name tag … Go hang a salami; I’m a lasagna hog … Goldenrod-adorned log … Golf? No sir, prefer prison-flog … Harass sensuousness, Sarah … I roamed under it as a tired, nude Maori … Laminated E.T. animal … Lepers repel … Let O’Hara gain an inn in a Niagara hotel … Live not on evil … Lived on Decaf; faced no Devil … Lonely Tylenol … Ma is a nun, as I am … Ma is as selfless as I am … Madam in Eden, I’m Adam … Marge lets Norah see Sharon’s telegram … May a moody baby doom a yam … Meet animals; laminate ’em … Mr. Owl ate my metal worm … Murder for a jar of red rum … Never odd or even … No, Mel Gibson is a casino’s big lemon … No cab, no tuna nut on bacon … No lemon, no melon … No sir — away! A papaya war is on … On a clover, if alive, erupts a vast, pure evil; a fire volcano … Party boobytrap … Poor Dan is in a droop … Reviled did I live, said I, as evil I did deliver … Rise to vote, sir … Saw tide rose? So red it was … Senile felines … So many dynamos! .. Some men interpret nine memos … Stab nail at ill Italian bats … Stack cats … Stella won no wallets … Step on no pets … Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! … Straw? No, too stupid a fad; I put soot on warts … T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I’d assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot-toilet … Tarzan raised Desi Arnaz’ rat … Ten animals I slam in a net … Too bad I hid a boot … Was it a car or a cat I saw? … Wonder if Sununu’s fired now … Won’t I panic in a pit now? … Won’t lovers revolt now? … Yo, banana boy! … Yo, Bob! Mug o’ gumbo, boy! … Yo, bottoms up! (U.S. motto, boy.) As some have noted, a popular entertainer has the last name Palin. She has a blog, Welcome To The PalinDrome: Sarah Palin’s Blog. The last post was October 2, 2008. We don’t want to Harass Sarah. We got tired of her a while back, just like this story about palindromes is getting tiresome. HT for the Barry Duncan story goes to the non reversible Andrew Sullivan. Pictures for this story are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost
Measuring Racism
PG hears the word “racist” tossed casually so much, he suspects it has lost it’s meaning. Dictionary definitions are of little use. The meaning of the word depends on who is saying it.
The modest suggestion here is for a seven point scale to measure racism. Zero would be totally colorblind, and six would be metaphysical hate. For the sake of simplicity, this scale, in the beginning, will only apply to white-black relations in the United States.
The model for this is the Kinsey scale. In his books on human sexuality, Dr. Kinsey described a seven point scale. Zero was totally heterosexual, and six was totally homosexual.
PG does not have a clue how to write a test for this scale, or how to score this test. White people see racism differently than black people. White people are affected by racism in different ways than black people. Different cultures view racism in different ways.
How would PG score on this scale? He has black friends and black enemies. Certain parts of black culture are enjoyable, and certain parts make him want to turn the radio off.
PG does not like people that do not like PG. When it is us against them, you need to remember which one you are. How does this register on this racism scale? It depends on who does the judging.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
The Peanut Butter Dilemma
PG got an email from Uzi, with a list of home remedies, and alternate product uses. Peanut butter has three alternative uses, which is one more than preparation H. No one ever made a preparation H and jelly sandwich.
To remove labels off glassware, rub with peanut butter. To remove ink from the face of dolls, use peanut butter. To get the scratches out of CD’s, use peanut butter, and wipe off with a coffee filter.
Peanuts were used by the Incas in 950b.c. It probably didn’t take much imagination to grind the beans into a paste. To claim inventing peanut butter is like claiming to invent the knot.
In recent times, Dr. Ambrose Straub of St. Louis patented a peanut butter-making machine in 1903. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented a “Process of Preparing Nut Meal” in 1895. Kellogg served the patients at his Battle Creek Sanitarium peanut butter.
Joseph L. Rosenfield invented a churning process that made smooth peanut butter smooth. In 1928, Rosenfield licensed his invention to the Pond Company, the makers of Peter Pan peanut butter. In 1932, Rosenfield began making his own brand of peanut butter called Skippy.
Did someone say George Washington Carver? Dr. Carver discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut. However, Dr. Carver did not patent peanut butter, as he believed food products were all gifts from God. The Incas beat all of these men by 2800 years.
In 1976, a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia was elected President. It is also known the his brother Billy ran the family business, while Jimmy got mixed up in politics. While President, Mr. Carter was revealed to be a major user of Preparation H.
Now that we are confused about who invented peanut butter, the next question is, why butter? In The Netherlands, the product is called Pinda Kaas, or peanut cheese. It could as easily be mud, goo, or cream, as butter.
A google search on “why is peanut paste called peanut butter?” yielded an article about salmonella issues. Wikipedia sheds no light on the subject, but does mention that peanut butter is an effective bait for mouse traps. This is a repost. The picture of Jimmy Carter is from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” . Other pictures are from The Library of Congress. Inventors.about.com has a page about “The history of peanut butter”. Portions of the text were copied into this post. This is a repost.
William McKinley
One hundred years ago, President William McKinley was near death. He had been shot September 6, 1901. Medicine at this time was primitive compared to today. During surgery after the shooting, the bullet was not removed. The University of Buffalo makes this comment: “Dr. Mann and the others were neither trained trauma surgeons nor did they bother with disinfection, not even wearing gloves. The first bullet had done little harm; the second entered McKinley’s abdomen. The physicians used improperly sanitized probes and when Mann could not find the bullet, he closed the incision without draining the wound. It was a fateful decision.”
After surgery, the President was taken to the home of John Milburn. He seemed to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse and died September 14, 2001.
President McKinley had been shaking hands at a reception. The meet and greet was at the Academy of Music, as part of the Pan American Expostion in Buffalo, New York. A letter to “The Nation” has this viewpoint. ” Whatever other results may flow from the assassination of President McKinley, let us hope that that object-lesson may be sufficient to put an end to our national habit of promiscuous handshaking in public. It is hard to conceive of a spectacle more fatuous and less edifying than that of a horde of country bumpkins, criminals, cranks, idlers, and curiosity-mongers standing in line waiting for a chance to grab and squeeze the hand of the unhappy Chief Executive of this country.”
There were anarchists in 1901, who had murdered several European leaders. Several of McKinley’s advisors did not think the reception was a good idea, and forced him to have extra security. A writer in the Buffalo Courier observed on September 5 “The surrounding of President McKinley by a body-guard of detectives when he appears in public, is probably as distasteful to himself as it is to abstract American sentiment, but as long as the earth is infested by malevolent cranks and unreasoning Anarchists, the precaution is entirely proper.”
A young man named Leon Czolgosz ( pronounced CHOL gosh) managed to wait in line with a concealed weapon. He was seen to shoot President McKinley. He was immediately captured, and executed October 29, 1901.
The video embedded with this feature speaks of a possible conspiracy. There would seem to be people who stood to benefit from having Teddy Roosevelt in the White House.
Lew Rockwell speaks of a rivalry between John Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan. Rockefeller man McKinley was replaced by Morgan supporter Roosevelt, who promptly began to break up the trusts. Another historian, connected to Lyndon LaRouche , speaks of British interests, and the rise of Confederate power. McKinley was a target of media superstar William Randolph Hearst. An editorial printed in the April 10, 1901 Journal asserted that “If bad institutions and bad men can be got rid of only by killing, then the killing must be done.”
Some say that a murder one hundred years ago does not affect us today. However, an argument could be made that the death of McKinley set in motion events that led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System, and American participation in World War I. Both of those events have had effects lasting until today.
It is curious how President McKinley is mostly forgotten today. Some say he was most popular President since Lincoln . McKinley had been a wartime President, who won. His successor, Teddy Roosevelt, is on Mount Rushmore, and is a superstar President. Mr. Roosevelt also ran as a third party candidate in 1912, and helped to elect Woodrow Wilson. (Mr. Wilson was alleged to be a member of the “Omega Group”.) Mr. Roosevelt’s popularity is very different from the other three Vice Presidents who were promoted by the murder of the President.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Slavery And The Star Spangled Banner
There is a terrific Backstory episode about the War of 1812. This is a conflict that is not much thought about, even during its bicentennial. It was not a good war for people of color. Native tribes fought with the British in Michigan, and were soundly defeated. After this war, the attitude of the white man towards the natives got worse.
Perhaps the most famous product of the War of 1812 is The Star Spangled Banner, a.k.a. the national anthem. There are a few legends about writing this song that skeptical bloggers like to shoot down. At the 43 minute mark of the backstory episode, another aspect of TSSB is discussed.
It seems as though slaves were escaping their owners, and fighting with the British. Washington lawyer Francis Scott Key was a slave owner, and thought that the slaves would be better off with their owners. This is the sentiment behind the third verse of TSSB.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The image of F.S. Key has been cleaned up over the years. This biography omits the third verse of TSSB, and does not mention his slaves. Wikipedia tells a different story.
“Key was appointed as a United States District Attorney from 1833-1841. Key used his position to suppress opponents of slavery. In 1833, he indicted Benjamin Lundy, editor of the anti-slavery publication, The Genius of Universal Emancipation, and his printer, WIlliam Greer, for libel after Lundy publishing an article that declared, “There is neither mercy nor justice for colored people in this district,” referring to the District of Columbia.” Lundy’s article, Key said, “was intended to injure, oppress, aggrieve, and vilify the good name, fame, credit & reputation of the Magistrates and constables” of Washington. Lundy left town rather than face trial; Greer was acquitted. …
In 1836, Key prosecuted New York doctor Reuben Crandall, brother of controversial Connecticut school teacher Prudence Crandall, for “seditious libel” for possessing a trunk full of anti-slavery publications in his Georgetown residence. In a trial that attracted nationwide attention, Key charged that Crandall’s actions had the effect of instigating enslaved people to rebel. Crandall’s attorneys acknowledged he opposed slavery but denied any intent or actions to encourage rebellion. In his final address to the jury, Key said “Are you willing gentleman to abandon your country, to permit it to be taken from you, and occupied by the abolitionist, according to whose taste it is to associate and amalgamate with the negro? Or gentleman, on the other hand, are there laws in this community to defend you from the immediate abolitionist, who would open upon you the floodgates of such extensive wickedness and mischief?” Crandall was acquitted.”
The Huffington Post has a story about F.S. Key, ‘Land of the Free?’ Francis Scott Key, Composer of National Anthem, Was Defender of Slavery.
Buying and selling humans remained a respectable business in Washington City. The slave holding elite of the south had a majority in the Congress and a partner in President Andrew Jackson.
As black aspirations collided and white supremacy, Francis Scott Key invoked the law to defend the slave system and Jackson’s political agenda. Personally, Key was a decent master of the people he owned. A prim many he was incapable of violence. He relied on black man, Clem Johnson, to supervise the enslaved people who worked on his plantation north of Frederick, Maryland. During his lifetime, Key freed seven slaves from his own household. In his work he sometimes assisted blacks in bringing cases to the circuit court, which was housed in City Hall in Judiciary Square. Key was sometimes critical of slavery’s cruelties in public. He was an active leader of the American Colonization Society, which sought to send African-Americans back to Africa. The colonization society was studiously neutral on the question of whether slavery should be abolished. So was Key. As long as slavery was legal, Key stoutly defended the white man’s right to own property in people….
To reassert the rule of law, Key set out to crack down on the anti-slavery men and their “incendiary publications.” Informants had reported to the grand jury about an abolitionist doctor from New York who was living in Georgetown. Key charged Rueben Crandall with bringing a trunk full of anti-slavery publications into the city.
In the spring of 1836, Key’s prosecution of Rueben Crandall was a national news story. In response, the American Antislavery Society circulated a broadsheet denouncing Washington as “The Slave Market of America.” The abolitionists needled Key for the hypocrisy of using his patriotic fame to defend tyranny in the capital: “Land of the Free… Home of the Oppressed.”
Key shrugged off his liberal critics. In front of courtroom crowded with Congressmen and correspondents Key waxed eloquent and indignant at the message of the abolitionists. “They declare that every law which sanctions slavery is null and void… ” Key told the jury. “That we have no more rights over our slaves than they have over us. Does not this bring the constitution and the laws under which we live into contempt? Is it not a plain invitation to resist them?”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Did BHO Say He Is A Liberal?
PG listened to The Allen Hunt Show on his way home from Piccadilly Sunday night. The radio talker was discussing charitable giving. It was said that WMR, who calls himself a conservative, gave X% to charity. Meanwhile, BHO calls himself a liberal, and gave Y% to charity. The question PG had was, when did BHO say, in so many words, I am a liberal? At 7:25 PM – 23 Sep 12, this tweet went out: @chamblee54 “@AllenHunt When did Barack Obama say “I am a liberal?” If there is a reply, it will be shared here.
One viewpoint is that conservatives enjoy labels more than liberals do. You seldom hear anyone boasting about how liberal they are, while conservatives seem to get off on selfapplying the c word. It could be that conservatives enjoy putting labels on people more than liberals.
Part of the problem is the changing definitions of the L and C words. It used to be that an activist foreign policy was considered liberal. Then conservatives discovered the fun of sending armies out to kill people. Since BHO has been the POTUS, the war in Afghanistan has been escalated. The use of futuristic drone airplanes to kill women and children in neutral countries has dramatically increased. Is this the behavior of a liberal?
One easy test is to use wikiquotes. The BHO page has 40k words. The search term is liberal. The first thing to come up is the classic routine from his 2008 campaign. “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.” Another BHO quote is “We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism..” There are three quotes from others who describe BHO as a liberal. The quote we are looking for is not there.
If you ask Mr. Google “has barack obama ever called himself a liberal”, you get 17 million results. For “I am a liberal” Barack Obama”, there are 188k results. These two first pages may, or may not, give a time and place for this alleged quote.
On September 11, 2012, the Daily Kos posted Are you more (or less) liberal than President Obama? Take the Quiz!. “This quiz was in no way intended to represent the political spectrum in America in a traditional way.” Nor does it tell us the context for this “urban legend” quote.
The rest of the first page for I am a liberal” Barack Obama is useless. It is a bunch of blog posts containing the phrase “I am a liberal”. One exception is a book review, Review: ‘I Am a Liberal’ is the Mocking Liberals Deserve.
The other search page does not show this magic unicorn of a quote. It does have some seriously weird stuff. Fact Check Project: Allegations that Barack Obama Does Not Exist. 7 Reasons Obama is NOT a Christian. Wikiality, the Truthiness Encyclopedia, gives you a choice: “THIS IS ABOUT THE REAL MOOSLIM OBAMA, FOR THE THEORETICAL OBAMA THAT SOME REPUBLICANS HAVE FOR THERE FANTASY, SEE: THIS PAGE.”
Before we leave this page, there should be a visit to Liberty Counsel – Adopt a Liberal. “Pick one or more of the liberals from the list we have posted online at http://www.LC.org, or choose your own liberal(s) to adopt. If you are led to choose one or more of the liberals we have selected for consideration, please read their brief biographical statement, including the reasons they stand in need of prayer.” One of the choices is “The unknown Liberal.” “There will likely be additional liberals the Lord may bring to mind who desperately need your prayers. Feel free to select your own unique liberal and adopt them for prayer, perhaps even nominating one or more liberals for listing on our website by emailing us at liberty@LC.org.”
The question remains, did BHO ever say “I am a liberal”? In a way, it doesn’t matter. People are going to believe whatever they want to believe. It would be fun to know the context of any such statement.
Out of a misguided sense of fairness, PG decided to investigate whether WMR ever said ” I am a conservative”. When you ask Mr. Google “did Mitt Romney”, the suggested searches are dodge the draft, outsource jobs, start staples, and really save the olympics.
You don’t have to go far to get results here. There is a story, Romney Has Conciliatory Remarks on Obama and Health Overhaul. “Reminded that he had once called himself a “severe” conservative, Mr. Romney seemed to play down that description. “I am as conservative as the Constitution,” he said.” This comment could be taken in different ways. The Constitution was a fairly liberal document for the 18th century. Maybe amendments made it conservative.
Mr. Romney’s reputed conservatism combined with Oxycontin to put Rush Limbaugh on cloud nine. “I was a severely conservative Republican governor,” Mitt Romney told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2012. Severely conservative? Conservatives snickered. “I may be a little giddy here,” Rush Limbaugh said. “I have never heard anybody say, ‘I’m severely conservative.'”Here is the source: Mitt Romney’s ‘Severe Conservatism’.
On the trip to Piccadilly, the theme of the Allen Hunt show was a sign on NYC busses. The poster was produced by Pamela Geller. The text reads “IN ANY WAR BETWEEN THE CIVILIZED MAN AND THE SAVAGE SUPPORT THE CIVILIZED MAN SUPPORT ISRAEL DEFEAT JIHAD PAID FOR BY THE AMERICAN FREEDOM DEFENSE INITIATIVE ATLASSHRUGS.COM SIOAONLINE.COM JIHADWATCH.COM.”
Two of the web addresses on the sign are not valid. Spell check suggestions for the websites: ATLASSHRUGS/ GLASSHOUSES, SIOAONLINE/ NONLINEAR, JIHADWATCH/ BIRDWATCHER.
Mr. Hunt said the sign was accurate. He consulted a dictionary, and said that any definition of savage fits Muslims. Mr. Hunt said he did not approve of the sign, and would tell his audience why after a commercial break. By this time, PG was in the serving line at Piccadilly. Chicken tenders taste better than the opinions of a radio whiner.
During the invasion of Gaza, Israel killed children using depleted uranium shells. During an incident with a Turkish ship, Israel shot an American citizen four times at point blank range. On the West Bank, Israel bulldozes homes to build illegal settlements. Maybe Israel is the savage.
Eat Morons
PG was hoping that Eatmorchikingate was over. The affair had gathered far more publicity than it deserved. It had degenerated into a lot of name calling, with people finding a brand new reason to tell everyone how much they hate their neighbors. The sandwiches are overpriced anyway.
This week brought the news that CFA was making nice with the Chicago politicians, and would no longer donate money to anti gay organizations. There were also reports of Christians upset with the company for “backing down”.
Before long, there were reports that CFA was going to continue to give money to “pro family” organizations. That story links to a CFA statement that pledges: “the Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.” The spell check suggestion for Chick-fil-A is Chick-fail-A. Spell check is not a popular device at CFA.
Mike Huckabee has milked eatmorchikingate for the publicity it brings him. On his site, he posts a statement by Dan Cathy, CEO of CFA, which says ““There continues to be erroneous implications in the media that Chick-fil-A changed our practices and priorities in order to obtain permission for a new restaurant in Chicago. That is incorrect. Chick-fil-A made no such concessions, and we remain true to who we are and who we have been.”
There is a tour of Israel being promoted on the Mike Huckabee website, Next February, you can go to Israel with Mike Huckabee and Tony Orlando.
The fishwrapper has a little story today about how Dan Cathy personally lobbied the Chicago politician, and assured him that the anti gay agitating was going to stop. There were a couple of side stories that were amusing. It seems like the Chicago restaurant was going to be in the Parking lot of a Home Depot. Bernie and Arthur sold supplies to a lot of decorators, and knew the business value of being gay friendly.
The comments at the fiswrapper were the usual mix of first amendment, Bible fueled gay bashing, and cows who cannot spell. It got interesting on the second page. “Yeah, well Mr. Cathy’s bottomless pit of corporate lawyers are still suing a little Vermont t-shirt maker for his Eat More Kale business, even though he doesn’t sell fat- and sodium-laden chicken sandwiches in Vermont, and you’d have to be an idiot to confuse a t-shirt with a chicken sandwich.”
Mr. Google has more on this story. It seems the T shirt guy is fighting back, and refusing to quit telling people to “Eat More Kale”. The fact that all the words are spelled correctly is not a good excuse.
Some digital troublemaker has posted the Letter of Protest that was sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This is not the first time CFA has defended their monopoly on eat more advertising. Other slogans to get in trouble include eat more burgers, eat more beer, eat more buffalo, eat more goat, eat more kariboo, eat more dog, eat more moo, and eat more cereal.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
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