Whine Me a River
The wooden frog in the garden lost his legs. He was more upset than I was.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Saturday, August 26, 2006
War and Peace
War Never Pays (Marx)
What pisses me off today? A dreadfully scary alternative to after-lunch soap operas. Naked Science, showing a history of guns and bullets and how we’re on the cutting edge of science, or perhaps even the bleeding edge insofar as we’re perfecting weapons of death. That’s not exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up, but oh well. Did you know that it’s preferable on the battlefield to wound rather than kill because saving a wounded comrade drains the opponents resources more than a kill? Listen and learn. In urban warfare, where average police shooting is done from closer than 10 feet, it’s best to kill and as quickly as humanly possible.
Creepy/Cool Fact:
I did learn something from the TV show. It seems that even if mortally wounded by a bullet in the heart, the bad guy is likely to keep going for another 20 seconds until his brain becomes starved for oxygen by the no longer pumping heart. Good to know.
The Art of Turning Poetry into Cliché
I believe gardens, even as small as a windowsill pot of basil provide, the opportunity to renew the soul. Here’s something about gardens that appears to illustrate that there’s nothing new under the sun. Or, perhaps it illustrates how close good advertising today is to the way the ancient Romans thought about relieving the stress of empire building in a peaceful garden. Horace said “Secretum iter, et fallentis vitae”. Spence translated that as follows: “A hid recess, where life’s day/in sweet delusion gently steals away.” Lovely sentiment. Now, let’s compare and contrast that with the Doubletree Hotel TV ads showing two large trees amid a tranquil urban oasis. “At the end of the day, all you want is to be comfortable”. Oddly, also a lovely sentiment.
What pisses me off today? A dreadfully scary alternative to after-lunch soap operas. Naked Science, showing a history of guns and bullets and how we’re on the cutting edge of science, or perhaps even the bleeding edge insofar as we’re perfecting weapons of death. That’s not exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up, but oh well. Did you know that it’s preferable on the battlefield to wound rather than kill because saving a wounded comrade drains the opponents resources more than a kill? Listen and learn. In urban warfare, where average police shooting is done from closer than 10 feet, it’s best to kill and as quickly as humanly possible.
Creepy/Cool Fact:
I did learn something from the TV show. It seems that even if mortally wounded by a bullet in the heart, the bad guy is likely to keep going for another 20 seconds until his brain becomes starved for oxygen by the no longer pumping heart. Good to know.
The Art of Turning Poetry into Cliché
I believe gardens, even as small as a windowsill pot of basil provide, the opportunity to renew the soul. Here’s something about gardens that appears to illustrate that there’s nothing new under the sun. Or, perhaps it illustrates how close good advertising today is to the way the ancient Romans thought about relieving the stress of empire building in a peaceful garden. Horace said “Secretum iter, et fallentis vitae”. Spence translated that as follows: “A hid recess, where life’s day/in sweet delusion gently steals away.” Lovely sentiment. Now, let’s compare and contrast that with the Doubletree Hotel TV ads showing two large trees amid a tranquil urban oasis. “At the end of the day, all you want is to be comfortable”. Oddly, also a lovely sentiment.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Duh! Du Jour ©
“Many women however, left without any meaningful sources of recognition, simply try to provide it themselves, not even pretending that there is an appreciative “other.” Since women function largely as providers of attention and affirmation, they often need solitude to do it: when anyone else is around, they are instantly drafted back into the subordinate listener role. Women’s habit of “retreating” in order to appreciate their own experience is the opposite o men’s…
“Seeking respite from the emotional demands of others is a recurrent theme in women’s writing. If they can’t get their needs met by others, they can try, valiantly to find the physical and emotional space to nourish themselves. And this requires time alone…”
Anna Fels, Necessary Dreams
Quote Du Jour
He seemed a man of more than usual acerbity, and to suffer from unremitting mental, moral and perhaps even physical pain.
Samuel Beckett. Watt
Faux Quote
Every time you have sex using a condom, God kills a carrier pigeon. I’m just saying.
Pope Benedict the Whatever, Observatory Romano
“Many women however, left without any meaningful sources of recognition, simply try to provide it themselves, not even pretending that there is an appreciative “other.” Since women function largely as providers of attention and affirmation, they often need solitude to do it: when anyone else is around, they are instantly drafted back into the subordinate listener role. Women’s habit of “retreating” in order to appreciate their own experience is the opposite o men’s…
“Seeking respite from the emotional demands of others is a recurrent theme in women’s writing. If they can’t get their needs met by others, they can try, valiantly to find the physical and emotional space to nourish themselves. And this requires time alone…”
Anna Fels, Necessary Dreams
Quote Du Jour
He seemed a man of more than usual acerbity, and to suffer from unremitting mental, moral and perhaps even physical pain.
Samuel Beckett. Watt
Faux Quote
Every time you have sex using a condom, God kills a carrier pigeon. I’m just saying.
Pope Benedict the Whatever, Observatory Romano
Saturday, August 19, 2006
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