The · useless · Fish · of · God, · Affected · by · the · skepticism · of · a · skeptical · age

Twas a good production. R hadn't been to a Shakespeare production before and, while she and I have watched a couple of his comedies on BBC, the tragedy was new. I explained to her two simple facts about Shakespeare and tragedies:

You know it's a tragedy because it has a body count higher than a Tarentino movie and the way to tell if a character is going to die is to see if they are listed in the playbill by name.

And I did see, amongst the play, many parallels with today. And I think I'll just leave it with the final speech by Albany:

The weight of this sad time we must obey;
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

Current Mood:

thoughtful

Try meditative relaxation. There they have several methods to address the results of stress in our lives, beginning with our selection of MP3s for downloading: MP3s of binaural beats, guided meditation with binaural beats and plain guided meditations.

Current Mood:

calm

A really cool sundial-ish clock. I may actually see about making one of these

Current Mood:

accomplished

And his family have been searching for him ever since. He may have been killed in June of 2004, at least that is what Al Jazeera reported back then, but there was no proof.

In the years since he had gone missing, the Maupins had met with President Bush, the man responsible for sending their son into a war zone that he created out of, history shows, a fabrication of lies. While I don't know what he told them then or since, I do know that he wasn't the one to tell them the news they received: Saturday, Matt's father told reports that the military had confirmed that they had identified Matt's remains.

Edit: I have since found out that President Bush did call to offer condolences to the family. Not that he truly felt their pain nor has any skin invested in this war

Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, Rest In Peace, and may your family begin the healing process of grief now that they know what happened.

Current Mood:	mournful
Current Music:	The slow beat of rain as it seems to mourn another loss

    Whether it is a speaker, taut on a platform,
    who battles a crowd with the hammers of his words,
    whether it is the crash of lips on lips
    after absence and wanting : we must close
    the circuits of ideas, now generate,
    that leap in the body’s action or the mind’s repose.

    Over us is a striking on the walls of the sky,
    here are the dynamos, steel-black, harboring flame,
    here is the man night-walking who derives
    tomorrow’s manifestoes from this midnight’s meeting ;
    here we require the proof in solidarity,
    iron on iron, body on body, and the large single beating.

    And behind us in time are the men who second us
    as we continue. And near us is our love :
    no forced contempt, no refusal in dogma, the close
    of the circuit in a fierce dazzle of purity.
    And over us is night a field of pansies unfolding,
    charging with heat its softness in a symbol
    to weld and prepare for action our minds’ intensity. 

Current Mood:

amused

The truly sad thing about the temple and cathedral is there isn't really a good spot to view the front. They really should be at the end of a street so you could walk up to them and be impressed. Any way... pics below the cut and larger versions if you click.( Read more... )

Current Mood:

blah

And R's daughter bought me a camera for Christmas last year. And we have an aquarium at work. The first of two that we will have.

So I've been working on my photography using the aquarium, which is challenging. The fish are frequently moving too fast to get a decent shot but I'm learning how to make the settings work for me. Here are some pics from this morning. ( Read more... )

Current Mood:

happy

Idioms in Code (Take a Guess)

// idiom 1
cop[0].goodInPercent = 100;
cop[1].goodInPercent = 0;

// idiom 2
isCrowd = personCounter >= 3;

// idiom 3
injury += insult;

// idiom 4
1: board.draw();
goto 1;

// idiom 5
if (bird[1].feather == bird[2].feather) {
    bird[1].flock(bird[2]);
}

// idiom 6
a = getThickness('blood');
b = getThickness('water');
assert(a > b);

// idiom 7
a_spade_a_spade();

// idiom 8
die(1000);
function die(max) {
    for (i = 1; i <= max; i++) {
        cut();
    }
}

// idiom 9
prey = 'worm';
time = getCurrentTime();
if (time >= 4 && time <= 8) {
    bird.catch(prey);
}

// idiom 10
while ( rome.fire() ) {
    doFiddle();
}

// idiom 11
function getValue(garbage) {
    return garbage;
}

// idiom 12
take(salt * .01);

// idiom 13
var here = false;
var there = false;

// idiom 14
if (i == 2) {
    tango();
}

// idiom 15
days = 365;
for (day = 1; day <= days; day++) {
    if ( random(0,100) <= 50 ) apple++;
}
if (apple <= days) doctor();

// idiom 16
if ( !dogs.sleep() ) {
    disturb(dogs);
}

// idiom 17
function tunnel() {
    var dark;
    for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
        dark = true;
    }
    dark = !dark;
    return dark;
}

// idiom 18
if ( ape.inLineOfSight(it.x, it.y) ) ape.do(it);

// idiom 19
return way.my || way.high;

// idiom 20
hay[ random(0, hay.length - 1) ] = 'needle';

// idiom 21
a = 0;
b = 1;
hand[a].wash(hand[b]);
hand[b].wash(hand[a]);

// idiom 22
function getGain(pain) {
    return pain >= 1;
}

// idiom 23
if (cooks >= 3) {
    broth = null;
}

// idiom 24
if (a != 'cake') a.eat();

// idiom 25
doesStand = you == me;

// idiom 26
var location = getLocation();
if (location == 'rome') {
    do( location.getCitizen() );
}

( Answers )

Current Mood:

geeky

It's really big here in Cincinnati. And there is a local man who died last night, which is sad and horrible but the real problem was this article that the Cincinnati Enquirer put up, headlined:

Cornhole champ dies
Victim was serving sentence for DUI

<shakes head>

Of course, if you put my name in, it wouldn't come up, but I have an edge. My mother's mother's sister's husband was Bill Baker, uncle to one Rick Baker^* (and, sadly, my grandmother, (great) Aunt Helen and (great) Uncle Bill are all passed on). But, as I know and spent regular time with my relatives during summer vacations, learning how to play cards and such with my aunts, I can claim a Bacon # of 4:

• Me
• Uncle Bill
• Rick Baker
• Evan Parke

Peace,

-J

Current Mood:

amused

Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off?  He's all right now.

The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.

The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.

Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.

We'll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U.C.L.A.

The math professor went crazy with the blackboard.  He did a number on it.

The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.

The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory.

A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

A will is a dead giveaway.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.

With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.

When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France , resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.

You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.

He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

A calendar's days are numbered.

A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

A boiled egg is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

A plateau is a high form of flattery.

Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.

If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine ..

When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

Acupuncture: a jab well done.

Current Mood:

amused

Remember, what we're asking for is grade-level reading and math ability by 2014. Is that too much to ask of our schools? I don't think so.
'No Child' Law Picked Apart as Renewal Fight Looms

Teacher	Now, look at this sequence of letters. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Please pick the letter that starts the superhero represented by this symbol:
Student	<Points to the letter S directly above the symbol1
Teacher	That answered the whole test in one question!

-J

Current Mood:	sickened
Current Music:	Jill Sobule - I Saw a Cop

Money quote: Cars driven by FBI agents, Border Patrol automobiles, and Army vehicles (including tanks) also have "federal government status," but we're not aware of any laws giving them the right of way over all other vehicles, even in non-emergency situations.

Current Mood:

amused

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Poll #1126813
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

I know how to:

I also know how to:

Comments welcome

-J

Current Mood:

thoughtful