Eye Of A Needle
There is a quote attributed to Jesus that many have heard. The key words are rich man and camel. It is interpreted in many ways. One way to begin this discussion is to look at the King James Bible. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him,
Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good?
[there is] none good but one, [that is], G-d: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder,
Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honor thy father and [thy] mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you,
That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
As with all quotes from the bible, a bit of thought is helpful. Was this said only one time, or was this a standard part of his teaching? Was the meaning changed in the transition from Aramaic to Greek to English? Had Jesus been taste testing the water and wine?
With the current vogue for “prosperity gospel”, many Jesusmongers have some splainin’ to do. Once, PG heard the redo blue preacher talking about this quote. His version was that there were caves in the desert where travelers would take a break on their journey. They would go in the cave, use the restroom, eat lunch, and then go on with their journey. The entrance to these caves was sometimes rather small, and it was tough to fit a camel inside.
Another version is about the local geography of Jerusalem. There was a gate in Jerusalem called the eye of the needle. It was a tight fit, and camels had a tough time getting through. Had Jesus been to Jerusalem at this point in his ministry?
According to Biblos.com, the Koran tells the same story. “The impious, who in his arrogance shall accuse our doctrine of falsity, shall find the gates of heaven shut: nor shall he enter there till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle. It is thus that we shall recompense the wicked.” Al Koran. Surat vii. ver. 37.” (The home page of Biblos has an ad… “What investment is up 18% a year for the last 11 years? Click to see now”)
Whether this quote is fact or fiction, literal or symbolic, it can make for some funny stories. Once PG walked through a living room, while a religious tv show was on. The telepastor was in his church’s private studio, which was not cheap to build and equip. The man was wearing a beautiful preaching costume, which no doubt cost a pretty penny. By the standards of the world, the dude was filthy rich. During the few seconds that PG paid attention, the man on the tv said something about a camel.
Those who go For The Win should take heed of the last verse of Matthew 19.
“But many [that are] first shall be last; and the last [shall be] first.”
Eat Pray Love Chronicles Part One
Bead 109This story starts when PG heard a TED talk, Atheism 2.0. The TEDder, Alain de Botton, said “Okay, we’re not going to have new TED. We’re just going to run through all the old ones and watch them five times because they’re so true. We’re going to watch Elizabeth Gilbert five times because what she says is so clever,” PG had seen a bloggingheads episode with Miss. Gilbert, and she seemed like a pleasant enough person. A few weeks later, as if by magic, a copy of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia showed up on the new book shelf at the Chamblee library.
The first chapter described the way the book was to be organized. There is a prayer bead device in India called japa malas. It is a string with 108 beads, and is used in meditation. It is the forerunner of the rosary. Ms. Gilbert decided to divide her book into 108 chapters. This is a magic number. It is three, to the third power, multiplied by two, to the second power. PG read this immediately after writing a post with 108 lines.
PG has written chapter by chapter impressions of books before. It has been a while, and EPL seemed like a good candidate. If it gets too corny, there is no obligation to finish. The PG chapters may only have the slightest resemblance to what goes on in the book. It will be an excuse to write. It is also a good way to read a book.
Bead 001 Ms. Gilbert is in Italy. This is the first part of her year abroad. She has a friend named Giovanni, who she is hot for. She also thinks it would be a bad move to fool around with him. In this chapter, she goes to dinner with Giovanni, and goes back to her room, alone. Before she goes to bed, she offers a prayer of thanks.
When PG hears the name Gilbert, he always thinks of a gas station attendant in Florida. It was one of the last family vacations, before PG got to be old enough to stay home. The family went to Panama City, to a hotel run by Ora Lovelady. At the gas station en route, the man looked at mom, and said “She putts me to mind of one of the Gilbert girls, from DeFuniak Springs.” Dad thought this was hilarious, and told the story dozens of times.
Evidently, Elizabeth Gilbert was born Elizabeth Gilbert, and stayed that way. The last post of the eat-pray-love-fans blog was Hyperion cancels book by Elizabeth Gilbert’s Ex-Husband. His name was Michael Cooper. Her current husband is José Nunes.
Bead 002 In this chapter, Ms. Gilbert time trips back a few years, to the time before her marriage fell apart. She realized she did not want to have a baby, nor did she want to be married. The trouble was, no other options were very appealing. She decided to pray about it.
As regular readers of this blog know, PG is not a Jesus worshiper. Nor is he an atheist. The concept of prayer can be very appealing, and seems like, at the very least, it could not hurt. And yet, after the turmoil kicked up by Jesus worshipers, PG just cannot bring himself to pray. The person, who had the most spiritual influence on PG, snarled “I’m going to pray for you brother” out of anger. This, and many other incidents, makes PG unwilling to try prayer. If you get drunk on a particular kind of whiskey, and have a horrible hangover, you never want to even smell it again.
Another problem is the question, who is prayer directed to? Beliefs about G-d are like assholes and opinions… everybody’s got theirs. The best concept that PG has heard is the one from the lecturer at a Moonie camp. The value of the chemicals in the human body is estimated to be anywhere from six to a hundred dollars. And yet, no white coat chemist can combine these elements to make a person. To the moonies, G-d is the difference between a human being, and six dollars worth of chemicals.
There are other ways to express this concept. Some see G-d as the software, or the DNA, of the universe. Others say her domain is limited to earth. Gustave Flaubert is credited, by G–gle , with the saying “G-d is in the details.” Maybe G-d is the whirlwind that blows through a junkyard, and creates a jet engine. Some say G-d and man are indivisible, others say they are separate. PG is only sure of one thing. G-d does not write books. (To those who say prayer should come from the heart, and not the head … the pain Jesus has caused PG is felt in the heart. Mental pain is easier to rationalize away.)
Bead 003 Ms. Gilbert goes paddling up a tributary in this chapter, talking about what she means by G-d. At the end, she believes in a magnificent G-d.
A few hours ago, PG put eight tomato plants in the ground. While walking back uphill, to the one part of the backyard that gets sunlight, PG decided to have a few words for G-d. Any help you can give will be appreciated. Lets see if we can do better than we did last year. When you get tired of sending rain, send more rain, and then more. The people in Texas can dry up, just don’t let any more of their governors get elected President. Just because Jimmy Carter came from Georgia, that doesn’t mean Texas can get uppity. This was not said in anybody’s name. PG wonders why anyone would talk to G-d in somebody else’s name.
Bead 004 Liz is still in the bathroom of her fabulous home, praying away. Finally, G-d speaks to her, and tells her to go to bed.
A few years ago, PG had a job driving a truck in Cobb County. When he was stopped at a red light, next to the Big Chicken, he would talk to G-d. One time, the question was “why does Jesus hate me?”. The answer was “I don’t know”.
Bead 005 The story of EPL is simple. The life of Liz Gilbert is a disaster. This chapter tells a big part of the story. She decides to leave her husband. A rebound bf comes into the picture, and a blissful summer ensues. Then it is September 11, 2001. The divorce machinery is warming up. David, the bf, starts to be a problem. This is not good.
Bead 006 Miss Gilbert’s life is in ruins, but she now has time to do what she wants to do. One thing is to learn Italian. For some reason, the language has always appealed to her. Every new word is a like a piece of candy.
PG is not wired for learning new languages. The first class he ever flunked was ninth grade Latin. In 1996, he bought some tapes and books, and tried to learn Spanish. His mexican friend looked at him like he was crazy. The tapes gave him brain damage. This is living next to a census tract that is 92% hispanic. Outside of “tu trabajo es su credito” at the used car lot, PG is just as monolingual as ever.
Bead 007 This has nothing to do with James Bond. The numbers in the book are single digit, then double digits, then, finally after 99, triple digits. PG got into triple digits when he was working with creating print jobs from files. It just works a lot better with those useless zeros.
Zero is the great improvement of arabic numbers over the roman variety. Even though nothing is nothing, it should take a place when it is time to count. Without zero we would not have negative numbers, nor the existential threat of the square root of negative one.
In this chapter of EPL, David, the rebound bf from hell, introduces Liz to an Indian spiritual teacher. It turns out she lives in India, has an ashram, and no one in New York has ever met her. The mantra of choice is Om Namah Shivaya, which translates as “I honor the divinity that resides within me. Lady Gilbert decides to go to India, and visit the Ashram.
Bead 008 The magazine that Liz Gilbert works for hands her an assignment to go to Indonesia. This was after Barack Obama lived there… the whereabouts of his stepfather were not mentioned in this chapter. While there, she met a Balinese medicine man. “What I want to learn is how to live in this world, and enjoy it’s delights, but also devote myself to God”. Ketut Liyer, the medicine man, showed her a drawing. “It was na androgynous human figure, standing up. hands clasped in prayer. But this figure had four legs, and no head. Where the head should have been, there was only a wild foliage of ferns and flowers. There was a small, smiling face drawn over the heart…. To find the balance that you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the the earth this it’s like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart instead. That way, you will know G-d” PG wonders if he could keep this advice.
Bead 009 The divorce drama is getting intense. The ex is refusing to sign an agreement, and it looks like a court battle is eminent. Meanwhile, Miss Gilbert goes on a book tour, with a supportive friend in tow. The friend convinces Liz to make a written petition to G-d, to resolve this divorce business once and for all. The petition is written, and numerous friends and celebrities sign on, by proxy, in a motorcar driving across Kansas. At this point, the cell phone rings. It is an attorney, with the news that the ex has signed the papers.
Bead 010 There is a symmetry to 010, especially when it is preceded by a blank space. Liz Gilbert would be very happy if this bead had been preceded by a blank space, instead of the turmoil of her 911 life. This chapter is the end of the beginning. The divorce is paid for, the properties disposed of, and a handy publisher contributes an book advance. The plan is to be in Italy four months, India four months, and Indonesia four months. It would have been cheaper to spend the time in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, but then it would have been called Dribble, Duck, and Eat. It would have a corny ending.
Bead 011 Miss Gilbert eats her first meal in Rome. She quotes a letter by the poet Shelley, who was horrified that women of social rank ate garlic in Italy. After the meal, Miss Gilbert goes to her dwelling and falls asleep.
Today is download day for Chamblee54. If you are going to have pictures from The Library of Congress, then you have to download. The machine pulls down 11mb a minute. The current image is Hoerr’s feed store in Peoria, IL. It was photographed for the Farm Security Administration in 1938. PG has never been to Peoria, IL. An acquaintance of PG named David Wallach used to talk about moving to Peoria, IL, and opening a bar. This was before he killed himself.
Bead 012 The campaign to learn Italian is going full blast. Miss Gilbert will read newspaper articles, and look up every third word. She learns that Italian babies are the fattest in Europe. There is more talk about the fountains of Rome, and the aqueducts that brought all that water into the City.
The day before, PG had gone to a park near his house. Mason Mill park was an abandoned water works. The old buildings are covered with festive graffiti. It had been a while since PG had been there, and going on this day was not really a good idea. On February 8, PG twisted his right knee, and has been carefully rehabbing it ever since. One is carefully with the route, if every step has the potential for pain. As it turns out, some do gooders had been to the park, building concrete walkways and fences. One more neat place has been nannified into bland regularity. And yes, one of the concrete structures had been turned into a fountain.
Bead 013 This is where Liz Gilbert evaluates herself as a traveler. She has her good points and her bad points. The best of her good points is the ability to make friends easily. This might be the weakest of PG’s weak points. He is a Zorlack… the race of people that even the most politically correct feel encouraged to hate on. PG did not ask to be a Zorlack. If he had his druthers, he would still be on Thrunombulax, among critters who understand him. Life is not fair, even if fair is a baseball hit between first and third base. PG is a popup headed into the seats behind the catcher. The good news is that his continued existence is an annoyance to people who need to be both pissed off and pissed on.
Bead 014 The idea of going to Italy is to learn Italian. PG could walk a mile from his house, (if his knee would cooperate) and be in Mexico. This is not what Miss Gilbert wants, so she has to go to Rome, where she will consider doing as the Romans do. She goes to the first day at the Leonardo da Vinci Academy of Language Studies. A test is given, and Miss Gilbert is placed in a level two class. A few minutes into the first session, her head is spinning. A trip to the office is made, and Liz Gilbert is placed in a level one class.
In 1971, the fad in Dekalb county was to have students spend their last year of high school at a community college. Some schools were overcrowded, and saw this as a handy way to get rid of students. PG was just happy to get out of Cross Keys. When it was time to register, you could take English 101, or a remedial class. PG was a good writer, and signed up for 101. The first week of class, PG wrote an essay. The teacher, Ann Peets, read the essay to the class. It was presented as being an example of how NOT to write.
Ann Peets was a great teacher. She said things that PG remembers 40 years later. A woman went to William Faulkner, and said she had read Sanctuary five times, and did not understand it. He told her to read it a fifth time. The best way to win an argument is to use statistics. The best way to get statistics is to make them up.
Bead 015 The bead is about the origins of Italian. It is a good story. PG hopes it is true. This is a problem, when authors take a break from their story to deliver a lesson. You have to trust them to know the facts. Since it doesn’t much matter anyway, PG will believe her.
It seems as though Latin was the dominant language of Europe. As time passed by, the dialects of the regions got more and more different. The language spoke in the dominant city became recognized as the correct version of the language. PG is happy that american english did not adopt New Yorkese as the accepted variety.
Italy was another story, with it being a collection of warring city states most of it’s history. To this day, many wonder if a unified Italy is a good idea. (Is today an abbreviated form of to this day?) So anyway, some fart smellers smart fellers decided to use the language of Dante as the official Italian.
A few months after PG took English101, he got a job on the maintenance crew at Northlake Mall. There was a security dog there named Dante. It was PG’s job to go walk Dante. This was before the office buildings surrounding the mall had been built. Northlake Parkway had a bridge over I285, with woods on all sides of it. Atlanta was a much greener city then.
Bead 016 Depression and Loneliness plugged in a GPS, found Liz Gilbert, and came to pay a visit. This is to be expected. PG calls it the 24 hour syndrome. Typically, about a day into your adventure, you realize that you are the same sorry person as before. You let it pass, and a few hours later you are back in the game.
By contrast, PG is having an excellent day. He rode his bike to the county tax office, chained it to a railing, got his wallet, cellphone, book, and car renewal papers out of the box, and walked into the office. The guard said to go to the lady at the first window. There was no waiting in line. This may never happen again.
Bead 017 It turns out that Miss Gilbert uses anti depressants. The standard story is told…she was staring at her left wrist, with a knife in her her right hand. (This is an invented detail. When you ask Mr. Google if Miss Gilbert is left handed, you are referred to a blog post. One of the commenters said “Take some time, using the left-hand navigation list on their site, and dig into topics you are interested in.” ) So modern chemistry saved her life, la dee dah.
PG never saw any benefit from using pills. Years of self medication with beer and reefer was fun, but PG got bored. It is true, when you sober up, your problems are still there. PG does not rule out chemical depression suppression. It might indeed work for others. It might not work for PG, and the money can be better spent elsewhere.
Bead 018 Part of the maturity process is learning to enjoy cheap food. You can buy a bag of mixed beans at Kroger, divide the bag in half, soak half the beans, and store the other half in an empty peanut butter jar. When the beans have absorbed water, you put them in a pot, and turn the gas on full blast. Set the timer for 4:00, and be prompt about going back to the stove. Turn the heat down to where the blue flames are just barely visible. Put the lid on, with a little bit hanging over the edge so the steam can get out. Set the timer for 33:33. When the timer makes the appropriate noise, go turn the heat off. This is a dangerous process. If you don’t turn down the heat after 4:00, the frothy mix at the top will boil over, and make a horrible mess on your stovetop. (This frothy mix is more edible than Santorum.) If you forget to turn off the heat after 33:33, then the beans will eventually burn, and you will need to evacuate your kitchen.
The other night, PG went to a potluck supper. When he made the pre dinner trip to Kroger, the easter candy was 70% off. PG bought a handful of little chocolate bunnies, only one of which was chosen by a diner. This did not hurt PG’s feelings, who looked forward to having chocolate bunnies to snack on. When it was time for lunch today, PG scooped a serving of beans out of the plastic container, and placed them in the pot. To this he added a little chocolate bunny, which he broke into pieces. After a few minutes of heating, a bean soup, with chocolate bunny sauce, awaited PG.
Ok, this is supposed to be about Bead 018. In this chapter, Miss Gilbert is in panic mode. She is depressed and has run out of Wellbutrin. The answer is to take out a secret notepad, and tell the notepad about her trubbles. The spirit within tells her to write a message, saying that she was loved. Miss Gilbert goes to bed, and all is well.
By amazing coincidence, before he wrote about Bead 018, PG listened to a conversation on BlogginheadsTV. Ross Douthat is hitting the mammon circuit with a new book, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. (“What’s the point of writing a book if you can’t be a little bit judgmental”) One of the featured segments was The heresy of “Eat, Pray, Love”.
Here is the money quote. (Mistakes happen when PG transcribes.) “Ross Douthat– The problem is, the word I use is narcissism. The peril of having too close an identification between G-d and the self. Robert Wright– You mean she hears G-d as her own voice when she has an epiphany? That it sounds like her talking, is that what you mean? Ross Douthat– Thats what I mean. More generally, it’s the idea that you identify G-d with your most authentic self. ” Mr. Wright has never read Eat, Pray, Love, but he describes the chapter that PG was about to critique.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The spell check suggestion for Douthat is handout.
Dribble, Morsel, People
Before the haggle of hypocritic haha hit the whoha, PG checked in on TwentyTwoWords. The subject today is “10 normal words that sound funny when you think about them too long.” This is more fun.
The original ten words are buffalo, clump, dribble, morsel, people, rattle, shampoo, smock, wasps, wool. The comments add blog, canker, Cool Whip, duty, gesundheit, forehead, goiter, machete, problem, scissors, soap, trouser and umbrella. In the case of wasps and goiter, the word may be funny, but the reality is not. Got a problem?
One commenter who pays attention added : “Last week for this very reason I had to run spell check on the word “been” because it appeared too absurd to be possible. FWIW, Ed Clowney, former president of Westminster Seminary, maintained that this effect was at the root of much Eastern mysticism. Persevere Perserverate on any word and the discursive part of our brain would be thrown into neutral and what he called the intuitive would take over, leading some to believe they had become one with the universe.”
As obituary readers know, many dead people have funny sounding names. It is considered rude to laugh. This is a repost.
The Student And The Professor
Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ? Student : Yes, sir. Professor: So, you believe in G-d ? Student : Absolutely, sir. Professor : Is G-d good ? Student : Sure. Professor: Is G-d all powerful ? Student : Yes. Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to G-d to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But G-d didn’t. How is this G-d good then? Hmm? (Student was silent.) Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is G-d good? Student : Yes. Professor: Is satan good ? Student : No. Professor: Where does satan come from ? Student : From … G-d … Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world? Student : Yes. Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And G-d did make everything. Correct? Student : Yes. Professor: So who created evil ? (Student did not answer.) Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they? Student : Yes, sir. Professor: So, who created them ? (Student had no answer.) Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen G-d? Student : No, sir. Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your G-d? Student : No , sir. Professor: Have you ever felt your G-d, tasted your G-d, smelt your G-d? Have you ever had any sensory perception of G-d for that matter? Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t. Professor: Yet you still believe in Him? Student : Yes. Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your G-d doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son? Student : Nothing. I only have my faith. Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has. Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat? Professor: Yes. Student : And is there such a thing as cold? Professor: Yes. Student : No, sir. There isn’t. (The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.) Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it. (There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.) Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness? Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness? Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you? Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ? Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed. Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how? Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good G-d and a bad G-d. You are viewing the concept of G-d as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey? Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do. Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.) Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class was in uproar.) Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain? (The class broke out into laughter.) Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.) Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son. Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & G-d is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving. P.S. I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you? Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH. By the way, that student was EINSTEIN. // This incident was posted on Facebook. If the student was Albert Einstein, then this discussion took place in German. The comments below were posted about this story. // I hope the class got a refund on their tuition for that day. // This is mindless propaganda, pure and simple. First of all, there’s no way that Einstein was the student in question. Secondly, not only has evolution been observed in the past, but it’s actually still happening right now. Third, the professor seems to switch from being a philosopher to a science midway. This is a clear signal that this is a compilation of two different stories. Fourth, most of the student’s arguments are just plane stupid. Cold does exist. Science defines cold as the absence of movement. To say that absence doesn’t exist is silly and makes it sound like you think that everything is constantly moving or that the “student” doesn’t understand the difference between the word “cold” and the physical process that we call cold, that slows down the movement of things. I could keep going but almost every sentence of this thing is just dead wrong. // That doesn’t sound like Einstein at all, lol. // Lol @ evolution hasn’t been observed. Try some penicillin next time you get a staph infection. // “It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.” wtf rofl . this is such a dumb copy pasta. also I don’t even like to let theists get into philosophical arguments about deities. I don’t have philosophical arguments about leprechauns or unicorns. The only arguments for actual proof of a deity just come from arguments of ignorance “i don’t know how something works, therefore G-d did it.” // Hmmm… I feel like the “heat/cold” argument is subjective in a way, hence the presentation by this “student”. I presume that the basis of the “evolution” argument was solely focused on events such as macro species (e.g. fish to frog, frog to lizard, etc.). I have seen some quotes accredited to Einstein which deal with G-d and support Einstein’s belief in some form of “G-d”. Whether this quote or these words (possibly paraphrased) are of Einstein is another matter (some citation might be nice). I’ve heard the argument “gravity is a theory” and I do feel that there is some degree of “faith” that we place into our scientific observations and conclusions on the world we perceive around us. I do see the idea of believing in a supreme being or even an interdimensional, omnipotent/-vox/-present/-scient being as believing in a theoretical conclusion, just the way I see holding to the conclusion of gravity as a theoretical conclusion. Does that justify some of the backwards ish that goes on in the name of religion (or “G-d”)? HECK NO. I do see the existence of a “G-d” and the idea of that G-d kickstarting a big bang or some other process as a possibility. As an observer and enthusiast of science, I encourage you to challenge or argue against that perspective if you feel inclined to do so. // having faith in gravity is different from having faith in a magical being. you have faith in gravity based on measurable evidence. having faith in a deity that “created” the big bang (whatever that means) is based solely on ignorance (not trying to be offensive but that’s the best word). We are all ignorant of a lot of things, but just because humanity can’t explain every single mystery in the observable universe doesn’t give any validation to the G-d argument. // the agnostic approach of “well i can’t prove it DOESNT exist” is a waste of time. there are an infinite amount of things that you can’t PROVE don’t exist, but the severe lack of evidence (none whatsoever) leads you to believe that they are false. // Christians who claim that macroevolution has never been observed are either completely ignorant or are intentionally trying to mislead others. No scientist has ever said that fish give birth to frogs or that a monkey ever gave birth to a human. Period. End of story. Macroevolution and microevolution are the exact same cthing and are composed of the exact same processes. Microevolution and speciation have both been observed in the modern era, thus evolution has been observed. That’s it. It’s over. As for the idea that “gravity is a theory”, this is just more ignorance of science. I challenge anyone that really believes that “gravity is a theory” to jump off the Empire State Building. If it’s just a “theory” it could be wrong…right? // I understand that there is measurable evidence for gravity; what I am saying is that it is possible that another explanation may be more valid for why that reaction occurs. Also, I am hecking out the dialogue on Gabrielle’s post. If this is indeed a misquote, then I find that to be a shame. :) Okay, let’s look at the Epicurus quote. I’ll cut to the chase; the last line is the one I agree with most, because it allows room for the existence of some “G-dlike” being or force, even if they (the being or force) lack the *agency* or means to expel all evil, which, at the very least, is a *possibility*. It does lack measurable evidence, yes. I hold that is is a possibility, which I feel deserves some consideration (science fantasy, ho!). // I’m taking this conversation in a different direction. Everyone is encouraged to address the previous subject or this one as they choose. I kind of have this idea of “G-d” as having a greater knowledge/power/ability than that of a human, only being held back by certain stipulations and “principles” (those self-defined and those imposed by other parties). As far as possibilities go, might this be an explanation to the questions presented by Epicurus? Maybe “G-d” as a title was convenient for some purposes (i.e., leading a (created) race of beings). Maybe a third party placed the title upon them. Maybe it was self-imposed even with the knowledge that it was, from another perspective(s), untrue. // Another explanation is always possible for everything. Why even bring that up. I mean, you think G-d created the universe but how do you know it wasn’t aliens? I mean, I’m not sayin’ it’s aliens,but…it’s aliens! I just want you to imagine having that conversation with someone. You’re talking about evidence and facts and their reply is, “yeah, but…aliens”. And as for the Epicurus thing, you’ve walked right into it, mayne. If G-d has limitations, then G-d isn’t all-powerful. And if G-d isn’t all-powerful and has claimed to be all-powerful (as the G-d in the Bible so obviously has) that means that G-d is a liar on top of not being omnipotent. So how exactly does that solve the Problem of Evil? And you begin this new conversation by saying that you don’t have any proof but you still think it’s a possibility? I mean, I’m not gonna say that aliens made you say that., but…it’s aliens. // Heehee. Hmmm. I sense there’s some sensitivity about this issue and I can understand the source of it in certain respects. I do like the idea of possibility, because I’m a science fantasy enthusiast. At the same time, I like the evidence basis of science, therefore, I welcome being challenged on my perspectives. I welcome you all to give me your feedback in the days to come on my ideas. ^^// This is propoganda, pure and simple. Notice the confrontational authority figure who attacks his student’s beliefs but is usurped by him. Also notice the completely fake attribution of the story to Einstein. And blatantly incorrect assertions like evolution being unobservable, a human brain being unobservable, that science doesn’t “understand” electricity and magnetism. I am not an atheist and my boyfriend is Catholic. Both of us detest this ignorant, manipulative articles that make science and faith look like they’re mortal enemies, or that rely entirely on the “G-d of the gaps”. // Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Daniel Greene And Bernard Walker
The state of Georgia is planning to poison Daniel Greene at 7 p.m. on April 19. The procedure will be performed at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, GA. Mr. Greene was convicted of the 1991 murder of Bernard Walker, during the robbery of a Suwanee Thrifty store in Reynolds, GA. Daniel Greene, GDC ID:0000717996, is 6’5″ tall, weighs 300 pounds, and is a former high school athlete.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence on June 28, 2011. On March 19, 2012, The US Supreme Court denied a certiorari petition. The following account of Mr. Greene’s bad day comes from the 11th Circuit Court opinion .
On September 27, 1991, Daniel Greene committed a spree of murder and mayhem that covered three counties of rural Georgia. Greene first made several visits to the Suwanee Swifty, a convenience store located in Taylor County, Georgia. On his last visit, Greene pulled a knife on the store clerk, Virginia Wise, grabbed her, and forced her to give him $142.55 from the cash register. Greene took Wise to a back room in the convenience store where he stabbed her through her lung and liver and cut across three of her fingers.
A customer, Bernard Walker, then entered the store and caused the automatic doorbell to ring. Greene left Wise in the back of the store, approached Walker near the front counter, and stabbed Walker in the heart. Greene dropped the knife, left the store, and drove away. Wise survived, but Walker died in the parking lot.
Greene drove to the home of an elderly couple, Willie and Donice Montgomery, in rural Macon County, Georgia. Greene knew the couple and had previously worked for them as a farm laborer. Greene burst into their home with another knife in hand and demanded their car keys. Willie gave car keys to Greene, and Greene stabbed both Willie and Donice multiple times each in the head. Willie and Donice survived. Greene then drove to another convenience store, located in Houston County, Georgia. Greene pulled a knife on the store attendant and forced her to hand him money from the cash register. Greene also attempted to stab the attendant in the chest, but she bent down, and Greene stabbed her in the back of her shoulder. Greene drove away in the Montgomerys’ car.
Authorities later arrested Greene at the home of an acquaintance. Greene confessed to the crimes in a videotaped interview and stated that he had committed the crimes to obtain money for crack cocaine, but Greene later testified that he had no recollection of committing the crimes or of giving a confession. Greene testified that an acquaintance gave him a cigarette earlier that day that may have been laced with a mind-altering drug. Greene testified that he could remember only that he experienced a severe headache in the convenience store where Wise worked.
Lawyers for Mr. Greene have raised two issues. Black people were excluded from the jury at his initial trial. The prosecutor made some inappropriate comments during this trial. The court of appeals was not impressed with either argument.
The prosecutors exercised peremptory challenges against ten members of the jury venire, six of whom were black. In response to Greene’s objections about the peremptory challenges against the six black members of the jury venire, the prosecutors offered race-neutral reasons for each contested challenge. According to the prosecutors, Reginald Lemmons “was very hesitate [sic] on his answers to the death penalty questions,” expressed a view that “cocaine makes you do stuff you wouldn’t otherwise do,” had sympathy for a cousin with a cocaine problem, and “there was significant body language, contact, smiling, and nodding and so forth, and how you doing between [Greene] and [Lemmons].”Darius Duffie failed to disclose on his juror questionnaire that he had been convicted of a criminal offense. Irene Walton failed to follow the instructions of the trial court to return to court and thought she had to come to court only if she felt up to it, and the prosecutors suggested that Walton’s failure to follow instructions might relate to kidney problems that she had discussed. Angela Pope was a single mother, was hesitant about the death penalty, and stated that she had a family member accused of a crime. Stanley Milligan expressed conscientious opposition to the death penalty and stated that he was from a tough neighborhood. Kimberly Sullivan, a single mother of two children, was concerned about child care and expressed opposition to capital punishment, and the prosecutors had already attempted to challenge her for cause based on her opposition to capital punishment.
The trial court considered Greene’s objections and the prosecutors’ proffered reasons for challenging each of these members of the jury venire and determined that the prosecutors had provided reasons for each challenge that were racially neutral. …
The prosecutor made other comments during the sentencing phase of the trial that are also pertinent to Greene’s argument about prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecutor asked Greene’s sister, a witness for the defense, “[i]f [Greene] for some way got out and did the same thing . . . you’d still be arguing for his life, wouldn’t you?” Greene objected and moved for a mistrial. The trial court denied the motion for a mistrial and instructed the jury to disregard the question. The prosecutor also made Biblical references during the sentencing phase of Greene’s trial and commented that Greene might be able to obtain a weapon while in prison, stating, “[t]here’s dope in those penitentiaries no matter how hard we try to keep it out and there’s knives. They call them shanks. Now, do you want to put him in a penal environment where he can get a hold of those items?” Greene did not object to the Biblical references or the comment about “shanks.” (The comments by the prosecutor are discussed in the opinion of the circuit court, pp. 6-9)
The Ledger Enquirer, in Columbus GA, has a moving story, Execution date for Daniel Greene opens old wounds in Taylor County. HT to Crime and Capital Punishment Forum. Here are some highlights.
“People feel bad for both families,” said Freddie Harmon, Greene’s defensive line coach at Taylor County High School. “Nobody wants to see anybody executed.” The loss of Walker, a popular 20-year-old remembered as a “big teddy bear,” sparked unanimous outrage among friends, family members and law enforcement officials, who admired the young man and sought to recruit him to their ranks. Bob Bacle, the former Reynolds police chief, said the stabbings “devastated the community,” and that the impact was compounded by Walker’s character. “It’s bad that it happened to anybody, but with the caliber person that Bernard was, it shocked a lot of folks,” he said. “He had a big turnout at his funeral, black and white.”…
Taylor County Sheriff Jeff Watson, who played football with Greene, said talk of the case has reopened old wounds. The “million-dollar question,” he said, is what triggered Greene, who before the stabbings showed such little aggression that his coaches had to prod him to be tougher on the gridiron. “Before this incident happened, we had no problems whatsoever with Daniel,” said Giles (Nick Giles, the retired Taylor County sheriff). “All I knew was he was just a good kid in the community.” …
Convicted of murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault, Greene had confessed to the crimes to law enforcement, but he said at trial that he had no recollection of the stabbings or confessing. He claimed an acquaintance gave him a cigarette before the stabbings that was laced with some type of drug — not crack cocaine, he noted, admitting he would have recognized that. The cigarette “started tasting funny” and gave him a bad headache, he said. “It was like my body was on fire and everything,” he said. “And then I just blanked out.”
On Sept. 27, 1991, Greene made three trips to the Suwanee Swifty on Ga. 96. During his last stop, store clerk Virginia Wise was eating a sandwich and chips and drinking a V8 juice when she began to watch Greene in a mirror, pacing in front of a cooler. Before she knew it, Greene came behind the counter, grabbed her and ordered her to open the registers. Wise felt the sharp edge of a knife against her throat, but said she initially thought it was a mean joke. “My first instinct was, you’re kidding me … I can’t believe you’d want to do this,” she testified. “I always thought you were so nice and polite.” Greene grabbed about $145 in cash and took Wise to the back room — the bag of chips still in her hand — where he groped her, sliced her fingers and stabbed her in the side. Walker, who wanted to buy some bread and lunch meat, entered the store at some point, jingling the cowbell attached to the door. … Conflicting accounts of the confrontation were presented at trial, but authorities have long said that Walker likely tried to stop Greene and was stabbed in the process. As Greene fled the scene, Walker staggered from the store to get help but collapsed. His heart had been punctured. …
Greene wasn’t done. He went to a nearby home in Macon County and stabbed Willie and Donice Montgomery, an elderly couple he’d worked for as a laborer, and cut their phone line. Their injuries were extensive, and authorities described their survival as miraculous. Greene then drove the couple’s vehicle to a convenience store in Warner Robins, Ga., robbed the cashier and stabbed her in the back with a butcher knife. She, too, managed to survive. Authorities conducting a house-to-house search found Greene hiding in a woman’s residence in Warner Robins. Greene had told the woman to lie to inquiring officers, but they sensed something amiss and came “charging in like gang busters” to arrest him, Pullen said at trial. …
During the penalty phase, Greene told jurors he and Walker were “like brothers,” and that he never would have killed him had he been in his right mind. “I love to live, I don’t want to die.”
Daniel Greene has requested “fried chicken, french fries, a strawberry sundae and soda” for his last meal. Pictures today are from Ledger-Enquirer , Georgia Department of Corrections, and “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
UPDATE On April 17, 2012, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles granted a stay of execution to Daniel Greene.
Epistemological Transcendence
These visits to alternative reality are from a variety of sources. Included are Facebook (fb), twitter (tw), Futility Closet (fucl), All Aphorisms, All The Time (Aph), Texts From Last Night (tln) , and Overheard in New York (ony). Attempts to maintain a no profanity blog will be suspended for this post. // And the road goes on forever…..RAGBRAI cyclist (fb) // Zion has rehearsal today and I am meeting someone new and feeling off and Arts Exchange tonight…… coffee then attitude adjustment, then I don’t know what… I have avoided writing because I’m feeling over optimistic and bitter at the same time. I have no idea what the fuck that sounds like? Not sure I want to know. I do know that off for me usually means write….. (fb) // “I don’t have secrets, just well-edited truths.” (fb) // #youknowwhatsannoying when you try and talk to someone and they are about as interesting as a table (tw) // “If you think you can’t make a difference, you are wrong. If you think you are too old or too young to make change happen, you are wrong. If you think that somebody else will do it first, you are wrong.” ~ Dan Pearce (fb) // The ulitmate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves its children–Dietrich Bonhoffer. (fb) // “The church was in the government and the government had always been rotton”–For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway-as the rebels tossed the priests over a cliff. (fb) // peace is what you get when you stop killing people. (fb) // We are saturated with lies. The lies we are told. And the lies we tell ourselves–Chris Hedges (fb) // Mr Roberts, of Lawrence Street, Brooklyn, who was fond of examining his revolver, did so for the last time yesterday. (tw) // Traffic on 34th Street was halted while a crowd looked, in vain, for Mrs Cornely’s nose, torn off when she fell down the station steps. (tw) // “you must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.” — adrienne rich // I’m a part of all that I’ve met. Yet all experience forms an arch through which gleams that untraveled world. Ulysses (fb) // Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how.’ Viktor Frankl (fb) // Without music, life would be a mistake. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche (fb) // BBQmySchlong:I love being kicked in the balls! I love having my penis roasted on a BBQ grill! I love drinking piss! I live in NY and can travel plus PAY you, if interested send an IM! PICS IN PROFILE! // I was just asked in a meeting, “Is it business critical to make this fannypack?” (fb) // “Kindness is a force that breaks open your heart even as it heals – and in that healing sets you free.” ~ Sharon Salzberg (fb) // Ok, I’m running a test to see who’s reading my posts. So, if you read this, leave me a one-word comment about how we met. Only one word please. Then copy this to your wall so I can leave a word for you. Don’t just post a word and not copy – that’s not as much fun. (fb) // Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching. Sing like nobody’s listening. Live like it’s Heaven on Earth. /// “I don’t consider myself an anthropologist so much as an animal behaviorist who specializes in humans.” “Yeah … you might not want to say that too often.” (fb) // Just had a very entertaining experience in corruption. A big burly Con Ed employee approached me as I was photographing dancers in Madison Square Park. He asked about my work as a photographer, made small talk and then asked if I did any “paparazzi” work because he moonlights as a bodyguard for celebrities and for a “percentage” he would text me who, where and when. (fb) // Had an MRI today for my sore neck. They gave me Valium because of my newly discovered claustrophobia from the first time I had one. That one was the longest half-hour in my life. Could NOT talk myself out of the irrational fear. It’s like being shoved into an orange juice can with your arms pinned at your side. But I was good and made no scene. Here’s how that first one went with mental dialog: Using the alphabet, come up with a name for a song title with each letter. DONE! (Don’t open your eyes! Don’t open your eyes!) Eyes opened anyway. SCREEEEECH! (I TOLD YOU NOT TO OPEN YOUR EYES!) OK, undo the panic by counting each breath up to 100. DONE! (Don’t open your eyes! Don’t open your eyes!) Eyes opened anyway. SCREEEEECH! OK, now count down from 100 with each breath. (Isn’t this half hour over YET? Don’t open your eyes! Don’t open your eyes!) Eyes opened anyway. SCREEEEECH! THIS TIME: Valium an hour before and a cloth over my eyes during the procedure. It was a breeze. Make a mental note for next time, if there is one. I’m not looking to enter any kind of drug addiction or the Whitney Houston diet, but DAMN. Valium and the cup of coffee afterwards has made for a perfect day. But I dare not start a painting. (fb) // Curiosities of medical language: VESICULOGRAPHY contains no repeated letters. PARASITOLOGICAL alternates vowels and consonants. HYDROXYZINE is the only word in the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition) that contains XYZ. BIOPSY is in alphabetical order. Each letter in ZOONOSIS is rotationally symmetrical in uppercase. Each letter in BERIBERI and INTESTINES appears twice. (fucl) // Kind woman in dark aquarium: do you have all your children accounted? We have an extra with us there. (tw) // Mommy, you have too many semicolons in your book. I don’t see why you need so many of them. (tw) // 7-yr-old: what is nymphomania? me: where did you see the word? 7yo: in a book. Me: which book? 7yo: yours. (tw) // Class is a thing that has a way of dissolving rapidly in alcohol. (tw) // ‘The motion-picture business is the only business in the world in which you can make all the mistakes there are and still make money.’ (tw) // Her voice was as cool as boarding-house soup (tw) // She began to sob in my arms. Women have so few defenses, but they certainly perform wonders with those they have. (tw) // “I liked you better when you used to…” Those who put their comfort above your progress are not your friends. (tw) // Merely because his surgeon, Dr Fischer, left two sponges in his abdomen, Jacob Weiss, of East 87th Street, is making a legal fuss. (tw) // The number of wealthy Dicks in Long Island increased after sugar magnate William Dick left his $20 million fortune to his children. (tw) // In the future, after our generation is forgotten and humanity has become civilized, people will be able to edit tweets after posting them. (tw) // NO SORRY, SANTORUM, YOU MUST CARRY YOUR DEAD PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN TO FULL TERM.” (tw) // Stacey @nonpromqueen Mommy, Potty Mouth, Lactivist, Liberal-ish, Atheist, Dong Expert, Geek, Goon, News Junkie, Web Addict, Video Game Connoisseur. (tw) // The Circus… Fun for the whole family. Except the animals kept enslaved and abused there. This is Tyke, who in 1994 killed her trainer to escape and was shot 86 times by police. It took her two hours to die. So the next time someone tells you the animals like it there, remember this photo. (fb) // Trigger Warning: sexism, fat shaming, body shaming, misogyny, assumptive objectification, Really ya’ll, these attitudes are insipid and just darn dull. Also, the fat shame and shaming is unwelcome. (fb) // ”We’re taught to do things the right way. But to discover something other people haven’t, you need to do things the wrong way” ~ James Dyson // A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the highway. Nothing is moving. Suddenly, a man knocks on the window. The driver rolls down the window and asks, “What’s going on?” “Terrorists have kidnapped Congress, and are asking for a $10 million dollar ransom. Otherwise, they are going to douse them all in gasoline and set them on fire. We are going from car to car, taking up a collection.” “How much is everyone giving, on average?” the driver asks. The man replies, “About a gallon.” (fb) // “Not only is no language ever free of troping; not only is facticity always saturated with metaphoricity; but also, any sustained account of the world is dense with storytelling. ‘Reality’ is not compromised by the pervasiveness of narrative; one gives up nothing, except the illusion of epistemological transcendence, by attending closely to stories. I am consumed with interest in the stories that inhabit us and that we inhabit; such inhabiting is finally what constitutes this ‘we’ among whom communication is to be possible.” (fb) // With a leap in front of the northbound local, Philip Joseph, of Heary Street, canceled his wedding plans. (tw) // Abdul Baha Abbas, teacher of the Bahai faith, arrived on the steamship Cedric. One of his peculiar beliefs is that women are equal to men. (tw) //
Death had been ignoring 82-year-old Mrs Levy, so she jumped from the fifth floor of the Ansonia Hotel and got his attention. (tw) // Harvey had an eventful trip on the Olympic. Swindled on the first day, he quarreled on the second, and drank himself to death on the third. (tw) // When the doctors have done all they can for Sting, I hope one of them raises a vial of morphine and murmurs, “O Sting, here is thy death…” (tw) // Envious of the White Star Line’s Titanic, which is on its maiden voyage, Cunard announced plans for Aquitania, which shall be even larger. (tw) // Shiva is the destroyer and the first thing on his list should be his hairdo, but who am I to argue with the divine? The river Ganges is supposed to spout from his hairstyle, so there’s more going on in Shiva’s topknot than just a chaotic updo achieved without a mirror during the first five minutes of yoga. ~Margaret Cho (fb) “Nothingness was a wind that inexplicably changed directions but ever and always conscious of its goals.” (fb) // Please repost this to your status if you’re constantly being asked to repost things to your status by friends who constantly repost things to their status. Many people won’t repost this, but my truly sarcastic, caring and intelligent friends will repost it because they know this was reposted from a dear friend in dire need of more stuff to repost; and if you don’t repost it, then this means you must hate Jesus, kittens, puppies, Tim Tebow and bacon. And if you hate bacon, the terrorists win. I bet 444% of you won’t repost this. (fb) // This comment has received too many negative votes // This is closer // Knocking someone for being “too gay” when the real problem is that you think they are too materialistic, superficial, or catty.. that’s not fair to people who are femme but are none of those things. And it is often ironic, because by criticizing someone before getting to know them, we are engaging in superficial catty behavior. “If you want a good friend, first be a good friend.” (fb) // May all beings be truly peaceful. May all beings be free from fear, stress and unnecessary suffering. (fb) // “That would make a good Facebook status!” (fb) // I’m having trouble curbing my anger in this email. (fb) // She sighed. “All men are the same.” “So are all women—after the first nine.” She damned me and hung up. (tw) // I finished my drink and got the thirsty look on my face again. She ignored it. (tw) // They always have a gun in the drawer and they always get it too late, if they get it at all. (tw) // Brought my umbrella yesterday. No rain. Forgot it today. Of course it’s raining. Sigh. (tw) // Very proud of myself: I’m still less than halfway through this box of thin mints, and I’ve had them open for weeks. Go me! (tw) // Common sense is the little man in a gray suit who never makes a mistake in addition. But it’s always somebody else’s money he’s adding up. (tw) //Oh you’re vegan, that’s cool but I practice true cruelty free living, BREATHARIANISM. I live off the nutrients of air then die after 1 month (tw) // he said something like ‘sorry if i’m being a shithead. am i being a shithead’ and i wish i could have yelled ‘YES OF COURSE YOU ARE!!!!!!!!! (tw) // “If happiness always depends on something expected in the future, we are chasing a will-o’-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future, and ourselves, vanish into the abyss.” ~ Alan Watts (fb) // Why do we constantly talk about non violence and then call people bitches on our facebook? (fb) // I’ve said it before: people talk a lot of crap and are too lazy to do their research. And then when presented with irrefutable evidence about matters of fact, apparently, they simply say “I disagree” so they can welch on their bets. The only mystery is why I am surprised. (fb) // NOTICE: Contents of web site may settle during downloading. Pages are sold by weight, not by volume. // I’m perpetuating a test…to see who’s reading my posts. So, if you read this, leave me a one-word comment about how we met. Only one word please. Then copy this to your wall so I can leave a word for you. Don’t just post a word and not copy – that’s not as much fun. (fb) // Such an interesting day on facebook. when I first logged in I saw an obituary posted by a friend in memory of his feline companion. I opted to respond to a friend request first before digging into the full obit, but when I returned to the news feed page I got this simple message: There are no more posts to show right now. I imagine I will find more on facebook through my groups and friend feeds. Such an interesting experience. (fb) // To the guy at the Cheveron, who tried to sell me a bag of weed, as I was at the counter paying for my gas…. What the phuck is your problem? (fb) // Poetry is my crutch and comfort. Girls are scary. (fb) // So, I went to three events tonight. Two completely social, one poetry showed her face what I learned, I cannot do the club thing anymore for real! I gravitate to folks I know which defeats the mf purpose. Everyone else is so fucking young. I may have to come to terms with, I might have to be alone for a while……Marinating on that one…ugh (fb) // Commenters get banned when they spam our comments section with inanities and slogans or if they establish a consistent track record of bringing nothing to the discussion beyond rude treatment of others. Insults are fine, as long as you’re making a point. But if insults and expletives are all you have, find another cocktail party. // “Neo-cons stink of necrosis and flee from the thought of peace like a Victorian spinster from a penis.” (fb) // The mideast is like the black-white thing on steroids. (fb) // I’m seeking the understanding necessary to be a great storyteller and the wisdom to know the stories worth telling. This is my intention. (fb) // So, you are going to use my page to promote your page and then announce how you are going to delete me after you used my fucking page….ok, weird, but ok…so how about I delete your ass first , you fucking recongnize and get over your damn self….. FOR REAL? MOTHERPHUCK , for real….. (fb) // That depends if you’re a functional distinctionist and if you think all things should be compartmentalized neatly into their place (which you conveniently invent and then pretend like it is proper only when you find things where you leave them), or if you recognize that distinctions/differences are a historical byproducts and you should do a geneaology to recover why on earth you think you need a separate room to shower or poop in the first place. Water supply doesn’t explain walls. In fact the only thing that I can think of that would explain the walls is puritanical fear of nudity aka prudence. (fb) // may all ancient hatreds become a present love–A Course In Miracles. (fb) // As the human soul matures, we are confronted with moments that force us to let go of yet another thin veil of self-delusion. The moral high ground, sinks into a thicket of gray. // Register for FREE to access our online magazine articles. This one-time registration takes only a FEW seconds. Continue to enjoy free subscriptions to email newsletters, SojoMail, articles and more great features. // If you aren’t a fan of Jon Luc Pickard (Patrick Stewart), this might make you ask yourself why not?……….“Our house was small, and when you grow up with domestic violence in a confined space you learn to gauge, very precisely, the temperature of situations. I knew exactly when the shouting was done and a hand was about to be raised – I also knew exactly when to insert a small body between the fist and her face, a skill no child should ever have to learn. Curiously, I never felt fear for myself and he never struck me, an odd moral imposition that would not allow him to strike a child. The situation was barely tolerable: I witnessed terrible things, which I knew were wrong, but there was nowhere to go for help. Worse, there were those who condoned the abuse. I heard police or ambulance men, standing in our house, say, “She must have provoked him,” or, “Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.” They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.” Patrick Stewart (fb) // Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence. -Vermont Proverb // Mrs Esther Galarzo, wife of a Brooklyn cigar dealer, and E.J. Davis, the negro she eloped with, were caught in Atlantic City and jailed. (tw) // At West 44th Street, while explaining to her husband that she wanted a club sandwich, Mrs Cohen shot herself in the shoulder. (tw) // “Has a playground for little kids as well as big kids.” // I am traveling with perhaps the worst procrastinators alive. We are STILL at the hostel, despite having prepped to leave hours ago. This means we’ll now be biking 4 hours in the dark and setting up camp at Tulum in the middle of the night. How absurd! (fb) // Selah
Organized, Boisterous, Overbearing
PG got the gang bang email. There were three pictures, which are included in this post. The text is below, with a reaction to follow. The black and white pictures are from The Library of Congress .
When 2nd Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport , Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine’s casket last year at Denver International Airport , Major Steve Beck described the scene as so powerful: ‘See the people in the windows? They sat right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what’s going through their minds, knowing that they’re on the plane that brought him home,’ he said. ‘They will remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They’re going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should.’
The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of ‘Cat,’ and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. ‘I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,’ she said. ‘I think that’s what he would have wanted’.
Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing blue every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the ‘silent majority.’ We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for G-d, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing. Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops.
Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday — and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar, will wear something blue. By word of mouth, press, TV — let’s make the United States on every Friday a sea of blue much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the USA is covered in BLUE and it will let our troops know the once ‘silent’ majority is on their side more than ever. The first thing a soldier says when asked ‘What can we do to make things better for you?’ is: ‘We need your support and your prayers.’ Let’s get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something blue every Friday.
IF YOU AGREE — THEN SEND THIS ON.
IF YOU COULDN’T CARE LESS — THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ 2. The American G. I.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON, AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET BOTH OF THEM.
PG would like to forget about Jesus, who had been the source of untold misery. The trouble is Jesus worshipers. They are organized, boisterous and overbearing. They have so much fun with their Jesus party, they don’t notice the pain of their neighbor. Even if they did notice, they would not care.
Jesus may, or may not, be the Christ. He was killed because the authorities were angry with him. The death of Jesus has nothing to do with what happens to PG when he dies. If Jesus wants to do something “For your soul”, he would tell his organized, boisterous and overbearing believers to make less noise.
It is tough to see how the death of a single soldier in Afghanistan helps ensure our freedom. The war is a disaster. We have gotten our revenge for 911. It is time to bring the troops home now. This is the best way to support the troops.
Every person in these three photographs is caucasian. (We do not know who is in either coffin.) There are no pictures of an Afghani boy, who father was killed by a drone when he went to a funeral. There is no picture of a Pashtun wife, whose husband was arrested in a night raid, after being ratted out by a neighbor. Pictures only tell part of the story.
The phrase “silent majority” was coined during the Vietnam war. This war was fought by an army of conscripted soldiers, who had no choice but to go and die. America lost 59,000 soldiers, while the two Vietnams lost untold millions. Eventually, the people turned against this war. Maybe it was not a majority that opposed the Vietnam war, but it was a large enough minority to force the government to accept a worthless peace treaty.
IF YOU AGREE — THEN SEND THIS ON.
IF YOU COULDN’T CARE LESS — THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON.
There is a third option. If your heart is sick from the wasted lives, both American soldiers and Afghani men, women, and children, speak up. If your soul cries out from the pain of having Jesus shoved down your throat, write something. You might not be a majority, but you do have a voice. Being organized, boisterous, and overbearing is optional. Please don’t write in all caps.
April 15
As friends of the calender know, today is April 15. This is normally tax day, the day when staunch patriots turn into raving radicals. The interest on the loans that finance our wonderful wars MUST BE PAID. Never mind that the blood of the Afghan people flows every day, because of our military misadventure. The dittohead patriots celebrate the slaughter 364 days a year. On the day the bills come due, they are not happy campers.
Of course, this year tax day comes on a sunday. The day of reckoning is postponed. If tax day is a Friday, the Muslims have to pay up. If tax day is Saturday, the Jews will write checks. But this is a nation dominated by Jesus idolatry. When April 15 is a sunday, monday the 16th is the magic/tragic day.
Two infamous events in history happened on April 15. Both were triggered by something that happened on April 14. In 1865, the bodyguard of Abraham Lincoln was bored, and went to a neighborhood saloon. While he was gone, famed actor John Booth made a guest appearance. Andrew Johnson sobered up long enough to be sworn in as President of the United States on April 15.
On April 14, 1912, shortly before midnight, the Titanic hit an iceberg. The location was 41.44n, 56.14w. You probably know the rest of the story. HT to Teju Cole.
In 1898, Morgan Robertson published a book, Futility. It told of the largest passenger ship in the world, which sunk after hitting an iceberg. The boat was called The Titan. At least one contemporary reviewer was not amused. You’re going to be disappointed April 7, 2008 Stanwyck (Texas) “This book has always been said to have been a foretelling of the Titanic disaster, but aside from a few coincidences, it’s not that much. The story is boring and trite, and if you have read a list of the similarities between what happened and what Robertson put in his book, then you have most of it.”
Twelve deceased passegers from the Titanic are remembered by Wikipedia. They are Edward Smith captain of the RMS Titanic (b. 1850), Henry Tingle Wilde, English chief officer (b. 1872), William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish sailor and first officer (b. 1873), Wallace Hartley,English violinist (b. 1878), James Paul Moody, English sixth officer (b. 1887), Jack Phillips, British wireless telegraphist (b. 1887), John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman (b. 1864), Thomas Andrews, Irish businessman and shipbuilder (b. 1873), William T. Stead English author and journalist (b. 1849), Isidor Straus co-owner of Macy’s department store (b. 1845), his wife, Rosalie Ida Blun (b. 1849), and Benjamin Guggenheim American businessman (b. 1865). The story of Archie Butt and Frank Millet is only recently coming out.
The grim reaper has been busy on April 15. Recruits include Jean-Paul Sartre (1980), Jean Genet (1986), Greta Garbo (1990), Pol Pot (1998), and Joey Ramone (2001). The stork dropped off Leonardo da Vinci (1452) and Joseph Seagram (1841). In a curious bit of synchronicity, Nikita Khrushchev and Bessie Smith were born April 15, 1894. Everic J. Dupuy arrived in 1984. In 1985 actress Amy Ried (NSFW) made her debut.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
Jesus And Mr. Gandhi
One day, PG is going to learn not to read facebook first thing in the morning. He was scrolling along, minding his own business, when he found this comment: “Are you kidding me. Judge NOT least you are JUDGE. You have NO right nor do I as a Christain to interpet one man’s thought or opinion or idea of whom our CHRIST is to HIM (Ghandi) or to you or myself. Self judging of other people or life styles was one the things that really ticked Christ off. Til we accept that and stop be so judgmental we are no better than the Devil himself.” PG had a reply: “1-When you have religion shoved in your face, you need to make a judgement… do I agree with this, or not agree? If the religion was not forced upon us, we would not have to make this judgement. 2- When you say I am the devil, you say more about yourself than you do about me.”
The first comment was made by a former supervisor of PG. “Wildman” was the store manager when PG was tormented by the Professional Jesus Worshiper (PJW). During this crucible, PG was forced to re-examine his opinions about Jesus. This was not easy for PG, as Jesus had long been a painful presence in his life.
PG decided that there were two forces known as Jesus. One was the historic figure, whose life was partially recorded in the bible. The second Jesus was a spirit, living in the hearts of those who believe in him. The present day spirit Jesus has little in common with the historic Jesus, other than the name. The best way to know Jesus is through the words and deeds of his believers.
The initial comment was made to a post at Christianity.com. Apparently, the comment was automatically posted to facebook. The post, Gandhi Doesn’t Like Us, was written by Tim Challies. He is a popular Jesus worship blogger, and is much admired at blogs where PG is banned from commenting. The page is sponsored by Christians United For Israel. They are distributing a free ebook, Israel 101, with the slogan “Defend the land Jesus walked.”
Mr. Challies is a competent writer. He crafts an opening to the post which states the points he is going to make. “How many times have you come across this quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi? “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” I must have read it a hundred times in books, magazines, articles, tweets. It is used by believers and unbelievers to point to the hypocrisy of Christians and to call us to more and to better. Our inability to live what we preach is driving the multitudes away. Or so we are told. After all, that’s what Gandhi said.
We need to stop using this quote and I’m going to give you two good reasons to do so. In the first place, Gandhi was hardly an authority on Jesus. When he says, “I like your Christ” he is referring to a Jesus of his own making, a Jesus plucked haphazardly from the pages of Scripture, a Jeffersonian kind of Jesus, picked and chosen from the accounts of his life. “
PG agrees with Mr. Challies, but for different reasons. To begin with, no one seems to have a source for this quote. What was the context? What language was it said in? This quote is the best answer Mr. Google can supply:
“A 1926 review by the Reverend W.P. King (then pastor of the First Methodist Church of Gainesville, Georgia) of E. Stanley Jones’s The Christ of the Indian Road (published in 1925 by The Abington Press, New York City) includes the following: Dr. Jones says that the greatest hindrance to the Christian gospel in India is a dislike for western domination, western snobbery, the western theological system, western militarism and western race prejudice. Gandhi, the great prophet of India, said, “I love your Christ, but I dislike your Christianity.” The embarrassing fact is that India judges us by our own professed standard. In reply to a question of Dr. Jones as to how it would be possible to bring India to Christ, Gandhi replied: First, I would suggest that all of you Christians live more like Jesus Christ. Second, I would suggest that you practice your Christianity without adulterating it. The anomalous situation is that most of us would be equally shocked to see Christianity doubted or put into practice. Third, I would suggest that you put more emphasis on love, for love is the soul and center of Christianity. Fourth, I would suggest that you study the non-Christian religions more sympathetically in order to find the good that is in them.”
The quote is less than 100 years old, and it is disputed. The reputed words of Jesus were said in Aramaic. They were quoted, after his death, by scribes who never met Jesus, in Greek. These texts were copied by hand and compiled into a canon for the Catholic church. This canon was translated into contemporary languages. And yet, this record of the teachings of Jesus is regarded as the verbatim, inerrant truth.
Another problem with the quote is the use of the word “Christ”. This was an honorific title, and not the name of Jesus. (Some say that the name was closer to Joshua. It was probably an Aramaic name that we would find difficult to pronounce.) There are many people who say that Jesus might not be the Christ.The two names are not synonymous, nor is Christ the last name of Jesus.
Mr. Gandhi had some name issues as well. His birth name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Many today refer to him as Mahatma Gandhi. “The word Mahatma, while often mistaken for Gandhi’s given name in the West, is taken from the Sanskrit words maha (meaning Great) and atma (meaning Soul). Rabindranath Tagore is said to have accorded the title to Gandhi. In his autobiography, Gandhi nevertheless explains that he never valued the title, and was often pained by it.”
Mr. Gandhi went to school in England, and worked as a barrister in South Africa. He was a smart man. If you want to put a quote from Mr. Gandhi on your vehicle, here are a few options:
“G-d has no religion”
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
“One who has any faith in G-d should be ashamed to worry about anything ”
As we said earlier, Gandhi Doesn’t Like Us offers two reasons to not use the quote by Mr. Gandhi. Lets take a look. “Whatever Jesus Gandhi liked was certainly not the Jesus of the Bible. Why then should we care if we do not attain to this falsified version of Jesus? I would be ashamed to have any appearance to the kind of Jesus that Gandhi would deem good and acceptable and worthy of emulation. That Jesus would, of course, have to look an awful lot like Gandhi. So there is one good reason to stop using this quote: because Gandhi fabricated a Jesus of his own making and declared his affection only for this fictional character. He never liked the real thing”.
Arguably, this is what the contemporary church does. The light skinned Jesus of velvet paintings looks little like the real thing. Even critics of the church, who like to talk about what “Jesus really taught”, are relying on the product of a Catholic committee. The truth is, we don’t know very much about the historic Jesus. We fill in the blanks to suit whatever the current agenda is. What you think about Jesus says more about you than it does about Jesus.
Here’s a second reason. Gandhi had a fundamental misunderstanding of himself and of the rest of humanity. Gandhi no doubt loved the way that Jesus related to the downtrodden and disadvantages and assumed that he himself was a leper or Samaritan, when really he was a Pharisee. … Perhaps he might even have deigned to put himself in the place of the Prodigal Son, a man who had gone astray but then found hope and redemption. Whatever the case, the Jesus he liked must have been a Jesus who would love and accept him just as he was and not a Jesus who declared that even a man as good as he was an enemy of G-d.
Jesus spoke kind words and did great deeds; he comforted and healed and gave hope and a future. But not to everyone. Jesus reserved the harshest of words for the religious elite, those who declared that they were holy, that they understood the nature of G-d, that they had achieved some kind of enlightenment. Jesus had no love for such people. It was such people who received the sharpest of his rebukes and the most brutal of his “Woes!” They were the whitewashed tombs, the broods of vipers, the blind guides. Such men did not love Jesus. They may have loved Gandhi’s fabricated Christ but they hated the real one.
Who is the “religious elite” elite of today? Perhaps it is someone who publishes on a slick website, with an ad supporting the abuse of the Palestinian people. Perhaps it is the preacher in Lithonia who uses Jesus to lure teenage boys into his bedroom. Perhaps it is the PJW who conducted a vulgar ministry while working on the clock for redo blue. This PJW ended a tirade with the words, What you see is Jesus changing my life. Perhaps it is those who use Jesus to hurt people. The list goes on and on.
This Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, would have rebuked Gandhi as he rebuked the Jewish leaders of his day, the people who led people walking behind them on the road to hell. Like them, he was convinced of his own goodness, his own worthiness. There are two good reasons to stop using this quote: Gandhi liked only the Christ of his own making and he believed that he was worthy of the favor of this Christ. On both accounts he was wrong; dead wrong.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. They are Union soldiers, from the War Between the States. Both sides in this conflict believed that Jesus supported them.
Bagombo Snuff Box
It was an unproductive visit to the Chamblee library. PG looked in the new books, the Georgia history, the A fiction, and the R fiction. He trolled the biographies, and back across the lounge of newspaper readers for another hopeful look through the fiction. Finally, he went to the V fiction. On the bottom row of a shelf, within the reach of small children, was Kurt Vonnegut. A book with the unlikely title Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction cried out “Take me home. Cat’s Cradle has a superiority complex that is highly annoying”. PG sighed, shifted the book into his left hand, and headed to the checkout machine.
BSB is a collection of short stories. Mr. Vonnegut (he did not have a middle name) came of age at a time when magazines were thriving, and published short stories. You could make a living doing it. BSB follows the tradition of selling anything you can find by an artist who has become marketable.
The stories are short, and fun to read. None of them tell a country song, even if country songs tell a story. A bartender could knock one out on his bus ride to work, and put the Saturday Evening Post back in his bag. The Norman Rockwell painting approved. Live goes on in Ilium, New York.
A high school bandleader named George Helmholtz makes a number of appearances. Joe Bane, a pawnbroker, turns down a chance to buy a watch Adolf Hitler gave the watch to a Nazi General, before it was stolen by an American POW. In the title story, Eddie Laird gives an old gf a priceless trinket, and she believes the lie. At no time is the phrase and so it goes used.
Some of the stories are not pleasant. 2 B R 0 2 B is about a future where old age and disease are conquered, and the people miss them. As link followers might guess, the tale is available for purchase as a stand alone book. PG tried to be fair, and listened to 8:43 of a audio version of the story, before shutting the tale down in dismay. Nor were amazon reviewers amused.
Should be sold in a collectionJanuary 22, 2011 W. L. LaCroix (Montana)
This is too short to sell separately.
You’re screwing people selling it stand-alone. I’m sure Kurt is rolling in his grave.
Waste of money July 19, 2010 Marty
I’m a big Vonegut fan, but I think this was designed to sucker us in to buying it.
I could swear I read this story in some other collection.
There was only one reviewer at amazon to give BSB one star.
Too good to be trueSeptember 25, 1999 jeffatbdi@aol.com (Southern California)
What a disappointment. KV must need money; it’s the only reason I can see for dragging out this last load of early fluff. It’s not hard to understand why these stories were uncollected up to now. They are all pre-enlightenment Vonnegut and, if you’re a fan of his unique view of the cosmos as expressed in his deep and witty novels, you’re in for a letdown. These stories are a chore to read—some don’t even have endings; they just stop, a bit like KV’s writing career. I heard him tell an interviewer that he’s run out of things to say.
No unfiltered Pell Mell cigarettes were harmed during the writing of this book report.
Teju Cole Fait Drivers
PG was collecting the best, and the worst, from facebook and twitter. The mass of sentences will be published in a day or so, with Selah at the end. One of the best places to visit on twitter is Teju Cole. A specialty of the house are “small fates”… the essence of a news story in 140 characters.
Not far from the Surulere workshop where spray-painter Alawiye worked,
a policeman fired into the air. Gravity did the rest.
With a leap in front of the northbound local,
Philip Joseph, of Heary Street, canceled his wedding plans.
Harvey had an eventful trip on the Olympic. Swindled on the first day,
he quarreled on the second, and drank himself to death on the third.
Envious of the White Star Line’s Titanic, which is on its maiden voyage,
Cunard announced plans for Aquitania, which shall be even larger.
Merely because his surgeon, Dr Fischer, left two sponges in his abdomen,
Jacob Weiss, of East 87th Street, is making a legal fuss.
Death had been ignoring 82-year-old Mrs Levy,
so she jumped from the fifth floor of the Ansonia Hotel and got his attention.
It turns out that there is a French custom, fait divers. That outlet turned out to be a form of writing for which there is no exact English term: fait divers. This is a French expression, in common use for centuries, for a certain kind of newspaper piece: a compressed report of an unusual happening. What fait divers means literally is “incidents,” or “various things.” The nearest English equivalent is “news briefs” or, more recently, “news of the weird.” The fait divers has a long and important history in French literature. Sensationalistic though it is, it has influenced the writing of Flaubert, Gide, Camus, Le Clézio and Barthes. In Francophone literature, it crossed the line from low to high culture. But though a version of it was present in American newspapers, it never quite caught on in the English language as a literary form.
Raoul G., of Ivry, an untactful husband, came home unexpectedly,
and stuck his blade in his wife, who was frolicking in the arms of a friend.
A dishwasher from Nancy, Vital Frérotte, who had just come back from Lourdes,
cured forever of tuberculosis, died Sunday by mistake.
In today’s twitter feed, there was this: A link on not linking: http://inkdroid.org/journal/2012/04/11/on-not-linking/. In the story, there was a link to an interview on NPR. We learn that Mr. Cole finds many of his small fates in 100 year old newspapers.
In 1993, PG was working downtown, and able to take long lunch hours. One day he went to the library, and took a trip to 1956. At the time, a controversy over Georgia’s state flag was boiling over, and PG wanted to find a newspaper story about the decision by the General Assembly to change the flag. In one hour of going through microfilms, PG learned about concern over the qualifications of Vice President Richard Nixon, and about a personal appearance at the Fox Theater by Elvis Presley. A bill was presented, in the Legislature, to make it a felony to advocate desegregation. Finally, there was an announcement about a new state flag. The small article did not mention protesting integration.
In the NPR talk, Mr. Cole says that the old newspaper stories always had the address. This adds a touch a connection, for you can go to that same location today. In a touch of irony, Mr. Cole refuses to add links to his tweets about these stories. A link is the digital version of the address.
In the linked story in today’s twitterfeed, the author asks Mr. Cole to include a link to specific stories. The reply: “I can’t include links directly in my tweets for three reasons. The first is aesthetic: I like the way the tweets look as clean sentences. One wouldn’t wish to hyperlink a poem. The second is artistic: I want people to stay here, not go off somewhere else and crosscheck the story. Why go through all the trouble of compression if they’re just going to go off and read more about it? What’s omitted from a story is, to me, an important part of a writer’s storytelling strategy. And the third is practical: though I seldom use up all 140 characters, rarely do I have enough room left for a url string, even a shortened one. “
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Posting In A Rainbow Font
As non color blind readers have noticed, some of the posts here are in a rainbow font. Some enjoy the vibrant touch of color. Others think that a rainbow font is difficult to read. They are entitled to this opinion. There are six colors in this rainbow font. They are Red (#c00000), Orange (#ff6600), Yellow (#ffb000), Green (#00a000), Blue (#0000a0), and Purple (#a000a0). Black fonts are an obsolete holdover from printing with ink on dead trees. In this form of publishing, the press needs to make a pass for every color, and the text needs to be tightly registered. This is an extra expense, and is almost never done. With digital publishing, you can publish in any color you like. It is no more expense to publish in a rainbow font than in all black letters. We are currently in a transition from dead tree publishing to the digital version. The public has an attachment to some elements of old fashioned publishing. In the future this may change. This feature is a tutorial on how to blog in rainbow colors. This post is specifically written for a hosted blog at WordPress. If you use another platform, some of these techniques might not work. A Firefox browser is used. If technically inclined readers know an easier way to do some of these things, they are encouraged to leave an instructional comment. Some of these instructions might seem childishly basic to experienced users. Your patience is appreciated. Write the text. This is sort of a no brainer. If you are going to post rainbow colored text, you have to find the words. Writing them yourself is an option, but it is not the only one. You can copy and paste from anywhere online. It is good manners to have to link to your source. The post is written in a word document. PG likes to use wordpad, which is ms word without many of the features. When you are ready, you will copy the text into the editing window. Be sure to save this document under a new name. Another fun thing to do is copy classics, and post them with rainbow colors. Many of these works are in the public domain. This means that those pesky copyrights have expired, and anyone is allowed to use the product. One source of public domain product is Project Gutenberg. No, that is not what PG stands for. The King James Bible is public domain, unless you are in England . If you google that phrase, you will find many places to copy and paste the text. Set the first Set the first few words of each paragraph in bold face. You are going to put your text in a sold block. The bold words will tell your reader where a new paragraph starts. The ides is to have a solid block of words, with every few lines in a different color. Many people thinks this looks neat. Those who think it is difficult to read can skip ahead to the pictures. This is your introduction to using HTML in this tutorial. Put your bold words between <b> </b>. The first part tells the machine to make those letters bold, and the second part tells it to stop. This is one basic rule of using HTML… what you start, you must stop. You do this by giving the same command, but with a slash in front of the code, inside the brackets. If you forget to add the second part, the entire post will be in bold letters, until you tell the machine to stop. When you post the text in the window, the software will change the code to <strong> </strong>. Pack the text into a sold block. At the start of every paragraph, place the cursor next to the first word. Hit backspace until it is next to the end of the preceding paragraph. You may have to hit the space bar, to make sure there is one space between the period, and the start of the next sentence. Add more code. Before you copy your text into the editing window, you need to add more code. First is <p style=”text-align: justify;”>. This tells the machine to justify the text on both sides. This means the text will be a solid wall of letters on both sides. Next, you add <span style=”font-size: medium;”><span style=”color: #00a000 ;”>. This does two things. It tells the machine to publish in a medium sized font, and it tells the machine to publish in green. At the end of the text, you will end these two bits of code by adding </span></span> </p>. The order of the codes is important. At the start of the text, you have the justify code first, then the size and color code. At the end of the text, you end the size and color code first, then you end the justify code. Add the text to the WordPress editing window. Click to open up a new post, and add your title. The title will be in black letters. Highlight the text in your word document, copy, and paste into the editing window. It is important to use the HTML window to paste in the text. If you use the Visual window, then your text will be in little black letters, and the code will look like code, instead of telling the machine how you want your text to look. Proofread your text. Correct any spelling mistakes. Read over your text, and see if there is anything you want to phrase differently. Once you install the rainbow colors, it will be a lot of trouble to incorporate any changes to the text. These changes should be made now. Whenever possible, break up long blocks of text by inserting blank spaces. Save Draft. Go below the text window, to the bar that says Publish. There is a little triangle on the right side of this bar. If you do not see a button that says Save Draft, then click on the triangle. When you see the Save Draft Open a second window. At the top of the draft, you will see the words Post draft updated. Preview post. Right click on Preview post and choose Open Link in New Window.Place the second window next to the editing window. Full screen is a dirty word. Make the two windows as long as possible. Turn off anything entertainments that will affect your ability to concentrate. Click on the Visual tab, to see the so called WYSIWYG editor. Adjust the width of the editing window so that it is the EXACT same width as the preview window. Check it line by line to make sure you see the same word on the right side of the text in both windows. You will probably have to do some fine tuning as you go down the text. This is a tricky procedure, and if any techie knows an easier way to do it, please leave a comment. Sometimes the text is not going to come out evenly in both windows. If you are copying from another source, you will just have to deal with it later. If it is something you have written, or a bunch of short quotes you have compiled, you can use cut and paste to move a sentence or two into another place in the text. These changes sometimes work better if you use the HTML window. After you do this, hit the Save Draft button. Then, go to the preview window and hit F5. This will refresh the window, and allow you to see the text with the changes incorporated. Count the lines of text in the preview window. Do not include the last line, unless it is close to a complete line of text. What you want to do now is make a plan. The idea is to have the text come out evenly. Usually, you have to scramble a bit. Lets say you have 96 lines of text. This breaks down into four groups of 24 lines. This means you will have four lines of red, four lines of orange, four lines of yellow, four lines of green, four lines of blue, and four lines of purple. This is the rainbow we will use today. If you think there are seven, or more, colors to the rainbow, then you are on your own. On the other hand, lets say you have 99 lines of text. What you do is add an extra line for three of the colors. You want to make these changes in the middle of the post, so it will be less apparent to the reader. You will still have four sets of the rainbow colors. In your second group, you will add a fifth line to the red, yellow, and blue. This will give you 99 lines of text, and the beginning and end of the text will look normal. If the word fifth suggests that you get drunk, it is best to wait until you are through posting. Lets go through this with another number. Say you have 54 lines to the post. This is 24 and 30. You can make your first set four lines each, and make your second set five lines each. It is not rocket science, just dividing things into groups of six. This post has 108 lines.It is now time to add the colors. You will use the Visual window for this. Highlight the first four lines of the text. (For purposes of this tutorial, we will use a 96 line post.) Make sure you have two lines of tabs showing. If only one line of tabs is showing, click the tab on the far right (Show kitchen sink), and the second line of tabs will appear. Click on the triangle next to the Capital A. This is the Select text color tab. Click on a tab at the bottom which says More colors. There will be field at the bottom of this window, Color: Enter the appropriate color code in this field. The code for red is #c00000. (That is always zero, and not the letter o.) Click on the Apply button. Follow the same procedure for the other five colors. Here are the color codes you will use. Red is #c00000. Orange is #ff6600. Yellow is #ffb000. Green is #00a000. Blue is #0000a0. Purple is #a000a0. The text is already green, so when is time for that environmentally friendly color, you will skip over four lines, and go to blue. After you finish the first set of 24 lines, hit the Save Draft button. Then, go to the preview window and hit F5. This will refresh the window, and allow you to see the text with the changes incorporated. Check the colors carefully. If everything lines up the way it should, great. If there are mistakes, go back and change them. This can be frustrating, but is essential to getting the rainbow look right. Lets say the first two words in the green section are yellow. Go to the Visual window. Highlight the non conforming words. Click on the tab with a Capital A. This is the Select text color tab. Click on a tab at the bottom which says More colors. There will be field at the bottom of this window, Color: Enter the appropriate color code in this field. The code for green is #00a000. Click on the Apply button. Move onto the next set of 24 lines. Insert the colors in the same way you did for the first set. When you are through, hit the Save Draft button, and refresh the preview window. Check the text to make sure it is perfect. If their are mistakes, correct them. When you are through with the fourth set, add the pictures. Use the HTML window. Place the cursor on top of the text, click, add half the pictures, place your cursor at the bottom of the text, click, and add the second half of your images. hit the Save Draft button, and refresh the preview window. Check your work one last time. When you are happy with the product, click on the Publish tab. Tell your friends on Facebook about the post, and celebrate in a manner that you deem appropriate. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This post is available, in a monochrome format, as Rainbow Fonts.
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