How Does A Blogger Choose A Subject?

Tucson Weather Today

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I have been asked why I sometimes include those pictures and links to celebrity information about those whose birthdays fall on the current date . My answer is "Why not?" It requires minimal research, provides some light distraction from the serious side of life, and it's fun. So, again... "Why not?"

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Misogyny is a fancy word that means the hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women. There is no law against it... yet. Not until all the thoroughly brainwashed self-styled 'Progressives' can manage to slip one through Congress and impose it on the broad backs of the ignorant masses. -- (That's us, you and me) -- I'm not sure why, but the subject has been nagging me to get busy and write a story incorporating misogyny in a seemingly new and original way.

My somewhat limited research has yet to reveal any new facts or to stimulate the creation of same... but the idea germ is there and if anything arises I will hopefully be alert enough to grab onto it.

Hope it doesn't take too long.

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While recently reading a book review I noted down the following passage -- "...he calls his friend an asshole and taunts him about the size of his penis." I wrote this down in my notes folder because it seems to be a characteristic that a character in a story of mine might someday need to exhibit.

The above is just a brief glimpse into my thought processes.

Ignore it if you like.

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BORN ON THIS DAY

LeVar Burton

(Geordie La Forge)

Born February 16, 1957

ALSO

Margaux Hemingway

granddaughter of
Ernest Hemingway

born February 16, 1954

and died on Jul 1, 1996

If you are curious as to why I chose Margaux as today's Birthday Girl... well, then you certainly don't know me very well.

Right?

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So . . . how do I choose what subject to write about in my daily blog? I don't. I usually just sit down at the keyboard and start to type, hoping a subject (or a random group of subjects) will choose me.

Does that appear to be a cop-out?

Too bad.

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”You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”
--Albert Einstein

Self Analysis? What's That?

Tucson Weather Today

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Below is an attempted reply to a recent query from a fellow writer and longtime online friend.

I wrote:

So you tell me you are a coffee-shop habitue?

Yikes! But there are people sitting around you there. How can you write, or even think, while surrounded by chattering, nattering, coffee-drinking people?

As for myself, I need solitude. I must do all my writing alone. I thought every writer must do so. I am not particularly antisocial, not in my own estimation; I am more of an 'outlier,' I suppose you could say.

You asked me if what you had written to me in your previous note made any sense to me. And you opined that it did.

Well, yes, it makes sense to me, of course it makes sense to me, about as much as anything else in this helter skelter world makes sense to me. Although, until you asked me directly, I probably would not have said so.

You wrote that you'd come to feel from me a deep sense of regret, of sadness sometimes masked by gruffness... and of course the regret is there, it's there in most of us, I suspect. But gruffness? No. I don't think so. I don't recognize gruffness ever emanating from me, unless you mean the rough and tough defensive demeanor I spread about, like the sporadic distant warning cough of the male African lion that covers his tendency toward timidity with seemingly callous contempt in a raucous attempt to hide his inner fears -- as we humans are wont to do.

But I digress. (Of course I digress. I constantly digress.)

Or do I?

You chide me for wasting my time sitting and staring day after day at old TV reruns instead of using that (precious?) time to write of serious things. And I wonder why. Why should you care how I spend my time? (No, I don't wholly swallow your avowed premise of mere self-interest.)

Why on Earth should I willingly enter through the self-forbidden gates of Hell on Earth?

Why should I wish to rake through the sunken muck and dredge up memories of old suppressed afflictions? Those many, many wounds, most of them self-inflicted? Let them lie. Too painful. Why should I want to mine that putrid pit containing the deeply buried ores of grief and pain? Hurts too much. Leave it. Let it all remain dormant within its temporary crypt until it eventually slips away from those hidden regions wherein such filthy sins belong, and move on into some final eternity of blessed oblivion.

There are some things I cannot say. Not properly. It takes too much wisdom, and too much plain and simple courage. There are things I should not write about. For the same reason.

But let me think upon it.

Gene

P.S.
After several re-readings, the above seems, even to me, to be but a self-conscious bit of foggy-minded doggerel. And by doggerel, I mean: loosely styled and irregular in measure, not for its burlesque or comic effect, but by my careful choice of words -- words which are clearly marked by triviality and inferiority.

It was not originally intended to be.

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A Washington Post article about love that I was reading yesterday at one point spoke of a romcom and since I had no idea what a romcom was I looked it up.

A romcom, according to The Urban Dictionary, is a romantic comedy. Why conflate those two words? Why form one word from two? For convenience? For economy?

For the sake of saving energy while exchanging information verbally?

I would suggest that the creation of the word romcom came about when someone thought it clever enough to spread it among acquaintances so that they would see how terribly clever was this coiner of new words. To puff up his or her self-esteem, don't ya' know?

Now why, you might ask me, are you, an old has-been, reading about love?

Well, you might ask, but please do not expect a racy or provocative answer.

I'm doing research for a difficult piece I am attempting to write.

That's all.

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BORN ON THIS DAY

Harvey Korman

Born February 15, 1927

Died on May 29, 2008.

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Also Born On This Day

Galileo Galilei

(1564-1642)

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"Half of analysis is anal."
--Marty Indik

The Price Of Life Is Death

Tucson Weather Today

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Today is Valentine's Day.
(Enough said about that)

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The subject of rectifying financial inequality among the people of the world is one of those topics that sits rocking precariously within my mind, tipping first one way then the other in concert with my changes in perception and judgment of the state of my surroundings. Should there be something done about it, or not?

According to Wikipedia, Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States.

The 12th richest? There are eleven people who are richer than that in the United States?

Great Caesar's Ghost!

I read that Bloomberg has expressed concern about poverty and growing class divisions stating, "This society cannot go forward, the way we have been going forward, where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps growing." And I suspect that this is true. But I wonder what his motive is for stating it.

BIRTHDAY

Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg was
born February 14, 1942

One answer might be for the peoples of the world to seize all the assets and all the wealth of every single citizen of the Earth, leaving each one of them only enough to survive in reasonable (although not in excessive) comfort and to dedicate everything collected to solving the much touted incidence of global warming.

No?

Why not? Is personal gain more important than survival of the planet?

Yes. Of course it is. Where have you been living on all your life?

Besides, global warming is a planetary problem, and is possibly a solar phenomenon. The puny race of human beings cannot stop it. Or, even if it can... it won't.

The rich and the poor of every nation wage an ongoing war with each other, sometimes by an almost unnoticed wearing down as if by water trickling away the bedrock below, and at other times with an all-out murderous conflagration from loosened flames of furious fires, but always -- always -- embroiled in consistent conflict.

Sanity?

What's that?

Events and circumstances in nature occur not as they should, but as they must.

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"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."
--Bill Gates

For What It's Worth

Tucson Weather Today

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My early memories of hearing Tennessee Ernie Ford was at my Grandma and Grandpa Morris's house, first on their huge old wooden Philco radio and then on their small-screened Dumont television set when they first got one. To those two old folks, he was "Ernie" whose deep baritone voice was as familiar to them as any of the rest of us in the family. Grandma especially liked to hear him sing her favorite hymns, like The Old Rugged Cross and the like.

BORN ON THIS DAY

Tennessee Ernie Ford

February 13 1919 - October 17, 1991

Here is Tennessee Ernie Ford singing 16 Tons

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Is everything all right? Or is it alright?

Most dictionaries and some grammarians agree that "alright" as one word is currently not acceptable English, though it may become so in the future.

Grammar Girl offers her answer:

The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style seems to contradict itself. It states that "alright" as one word "has never been accepted as standard" but it then goes on to explain that "all right" as two words and "alright" as one word have two distinct meanings. It gives the example of the sentence "The figures are all right." When you use "all right" as two words, the sentence means "the figures are all accurate." When you write "The figures are alright," with "alright" as one word, this source explains that the sentence means "the figures are satisfactory."

Gee whiz! How's a guy to know what's correct or not correct?

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This morning I read in The Washington Post the following paragraph:

"A year ago, the {Obama} administration issued a white paper outlining three options for replacing Fannie and Freddie. They include creating a new government agency that would continue to insure mortgages or one that would intervene only during a crisis."

Why had I not known about this until now? I try to keep abreast of the current news stories, but evidently I don't always succeed. Oh well, it probably doesn't matter as much as I would have thought. But keeping an eye on what follows in that area might be a good idea.

Or not . . .

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Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
--Napoleon Bonaparte

Birthday Of President Abraham Lincoln

Tucson Weather Today

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One of the first of the many, many dates I was required to memorize way back in grade school was Lincoln's Birthday (today) and surprisingly enough I have never forgotten it.

One of the most recent quotes attributed to Mr. Lincoln that I have read (and am now attempting to memorize) is: "We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."

To me, that quotation is one of the most enduring pieces of wisdom in existence, and is of monumental importance especially in the current governmental atmosphere of seemingly casual, somewhat scornful, payment of lip-service to the constitution. Mr. Lincoln's words can well bear repeating:

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Born On This Day

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States

(February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)

The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.


So! "The world will little note, nor long remember...."

Have we indeed forgotten?

It sometimes seems so.

Note:
Many of the volumes of Abraham Lincoln's writing are available FREE for downloading in Kindle editions from Amazon.com.

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America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
--Abraham Lincoln

A Couple Of Things . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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I ran across a new word. It is Elderschadenfreude (pronounced elder-shod-un-FROYD-uh) -- Elderschadenfreude is defined as the secret pleasure of hearing about aging parents that are even more impossible than yours.

Sandra Tsing Loh has a piece in the Atlantic titled Daddy Issues. Why caring for my aging father has me wishing he would die.

Sandra Tsing Loh

Below is an excerpt:

“I WAAAAAAAANT MY FATHERRRRRR TO DIEEEEE!!!”

Startled, and subtly stepping back to put a bit more distance between us, my co-worker asked what I meant.

“What I mean, Rob, is that even if, while howling like a banshee, I tore my 91-year-old father limb from limb with my own hands in the town square, I believe no jury of my peers would convict me. Indeed, if they knew all the facts, I believe any group of sensible, sane individuals would actually roll up their shirtsleeves and pitch in.”

Don't be fooled. This article is not a fluffy-cutesy little piece about how wonderful it is to care for an aging parent. It is not. It most certainly is not.

If you can spare a few minutes to read it, I'm sure you will be glad you did.

(Well, I'm not all 'that' sure)

At the end of the article there are a variety of comments, pro and con.

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Happy Birthday

Jennifer Aniston

Born February 11, 1965

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Thomas Alva Edison
was also born on this day

(February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931)

Which picture would you rather gaze upon?

Tom's? Or Jenn's?

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Let your heart guide you.
It whispers,
so listen carefully.
--Littlefoot's mother (Land Before Time)

Bric-A-Brac

Tucson Weather Today

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The Rensselaer Adventures blog contained the following revelation: "Today the Rensselaer paper reported in the Arrest Log of someone arrested by the Jasper County Sheriff's Office and charged with "wreckless driving."

Was that an accidental typo? Or was it done on purpose?

Naw . . . they're not that clever.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

George Stephanopoulos

Born February 10, 1961

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Curation is a word I don't remember ever having heard or known about before today. According to Wikipedia it can mean: Digital curation, the preservation and maintenance of digital assets.

Curation may also be:

- The work performed by a curator
- Archiving, historical record keeping
- Evidence management, indexing and cataloguing of evidence
- Cultural heritage management, conservation of cultural sites and resources
- Healing, medical curing of illness

Curation, huh? Well, live and learn.


By the way . . .

Did you know that George Bernard Shaw is the only person to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar?

George Bernard Shaw

Born: 26-Jul-1856

Died: 2-Nov-1950

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Steve Jobs FBI File Reveals Bomb Threat, 'Tendency To Distort Reality' -- and More.

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Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything.
--Robert A. Heinlein