_____
After watching the three major Sunday morning News shows -- I, like all of the distinguished participants -- have nothing constructive to contribute.
__________
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Sunday Morning News
After watching the three major Sunday morning News shows -- I, like all of the distinguished participants -- have nothing constructive to contribute.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A Figure Of Speech
_____
While reading from Atlas Shrugged (by Ayn Rand) a certain simile caught my attention. It was -- "...the street beyond his window was like a congested throat coughing with the horns of pre-Christmas traffic..."
I put aside the book and thought about it; I thought about how aptly descriptive was that short phrase... and then I thought that it could just as easily have been written as a metaphor -- "...the street beyond his window was a congested throat coughing with the horns of pre-Christmas traffic..." -- and I wondered how the author had decided on which of the two of them to use. I prefer it as a metaphor.
__________
Friday, August 12, 2011
Gullible? Who, Me?
What Is Rumpology?
Rumpology or 'Bottom Reading' is a pseudoscience performed by examining crevices, dimples, warts, moles and folds of a person's buttocks in much the same way a chirologist would read the palm of the hand.
Ulf Buck
Ulf Buck (above) is a Rump Reader from Meldorf, Germany. He's also blind, yet he claims he can read people's futures by feeling their naked buttocks.
Word of the day:
Gullible
Easily deceived or duped.
__________
Thursday, August 11, 2011
U.S. Education
_____
Yesterday I mentioned that I have been watching re-runs of the Jeff Foxworthy show titled Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. It fascinates me to see supposedly well educated adults fail to answer some of the simplest questions correctly. It 's (virtually?) unbelievable.
One contestant, a middle-aged lady with two college degrees was asked, "True or False: The Mississippi River flows East to West?"
She hemmed and hawed for a short time then finally locked in her incorrect answer... which was, "True" -- and, as previously revealed, she was a college graduate.
Also:
A member of The Harlem Globetrotters was asked, "The huge storm called 'The Big Red Spot' is located on what planet?"
He said that he thought it must be either Mars or Mercury, and he finally locked in his final answer, which was Mars. Which is wrong, of course... the correct answer being Jupiter. The funny thing about it is that two of his fifth grade classmates also answered Mars... only one of the three of then said Jupiter.
And:
Another contestant was asked: "Which of these is never found inside our solar system: comets, constellations, or meteorites?" Her answer was comets.
Good Grief!
__________
Heard on talk-radio:
That's not merely irrational, it's Charlie Sheen crazy.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
A Matter Of Perspective
There is a TV show titled Are You Smarter Than A 5fh Grader? that I have been watching in rerun lately. I'm not convinced that Jeff Foxworthy has not set this show up to be a hand-picked farce, a dishonest depiction of the unbelievably downright 'stupidity' of the typical American citizen.
_____
While shopping at Fry's Supermarket I was shocked to discover that the price of a box of Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch was $5.99. The Kellogg owners are evidently not satisfied with being millionaires but must have their billions. A similar box of Kroger brand Crunchy Raisin Bran was priced at $2.67. Kroger major stockholders seem to be satisfied with their million. Of course, I bought the more reasonably priced Kroger brand. And, yes, I use Instant Nonfat (powdered) milk.
And speaking of money grubbers, why has the movie industry become such a gold mine for investors? Yes, I am one of those grumpy old codgers who remembers a childhood of thirteen cent movie admission tickets and 5 or 10 cent bags of popcorn.
'nuff said?
Oh wait... I should remind everyone to be sure to read Ayn Rand's book, Atlas Shrugged?
_____
No sooner had I written the above text than Scott Pelly of CBS news reported on the hundreds of thousands of Somalian refugee children who are starving because of drought.
Those video shots of skin-and-bones children make the minor irritants I wrote about above (cereal prices, etc.) seem inconsequential.
Right?
__________
Why do I even try to write?
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Immersed In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
For the last five days I have had no internet access. And that's hard to take. The Wi-Fi here is undependable. But it's FREE and I keep hoping it will get better. My alternatives for a high-speed connection are Cox Cable or Quest, which are far from free.
As always, you get what you pay for.
What to do... what to do...
_____
On PBS I recently heard a government official say, "...and that is virtually unique." -- Well, I am having trouble visualizing the meaning of that particular combination of words. Unique means 'one of a kind' and I'm not sure how 'virtually' is meant to modify 'unique.'
I am in a quandary.
__________
Whenever you hear an orator say, "The fact of the matter is.." you can disregard the 'fact' which will follow.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
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