Saturday, April 7, 2012

Alley Oop






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Reapy, The Littlest Harbinger Of Death is a graphic novelette (comic book?) like you have never seen before. It celebrates the work of Ernest Becker (September 27, 1924 - March 6, 1974) a cultural anthropologist and interdisciplinary scientific thinker and writer.

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Language Log is where I first saw the above image, but I have been told that it originated elsewhere, some say it came from George Takei -- Who knows?

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King James Bible

Deuteronomy 25:
11
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draws near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smites him, and puts forth her hand, and takes him by his private parts:
12
Then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall not pity her.


'nuff said?

I would think so.

If, however, you would like to read more comments about the subject...

Read: Christian Women! The Bible Hates You

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Word For Today

authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and libertarianism. In politics, an authoritarian government is one in which political authority is concentrated in a small group of politicians.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY



Born April 7, 1964


Also Born On This Day In History



Born April 7, 1915
Died July 17, 1959

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"I’ll add that Mother Nature is a brutal bitch, red in tooth and claw, which destroys what she creates."
--Ernest Becker

Friday, April 6, 2012

Give It To Me. I Want It. NOW!



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Good ol' George Will.

The drug legalization dilemma is a Washington Post column by George Will.

George's columns always makes a fella think.

Not always a pleasant undertaking.


I have a great deal to say about alcoholism, about cigarette smoking, overeating, and other such forms of addiction, including my own views on addictive personalities. But now is not the proper time to chronicle my opinions.

The proper time may never come.

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Word For Today

widdershins
adv.
anticlockwise; backwards, in the reverse order or direction to normal.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Billy Dee Williams
(Lando Calrissian}

Born March 6, 1937

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For every prohibition you create you also create an underground.
--Jello Biafra

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Mmmm . . . Pizza!


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Word For Today

halcyon [hal-see-uhn]
adjective
1.
calm; peaceful; tranquil: halcyon weather.
2.
rich; wealthy; prosperous: halcyon times of peace.
3.
happy; joyful; carefree: halcyon days of youth.
4.
of or pertaining to the halcyon or kingfisher.
noun
5.
a mythical bird, usually identified with the kingfisher, said to breed about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea, and to have the power of charming winds and waves into calmness.
6.
any of various kingfishers, especially of the genus Halcyon.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY


Born March 5, 1937

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Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.
Niels Bohr

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Title . . . Title . . . Title



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Truth is often so damned unbelievable, and that is why it is so difficult to create a Science Fiction story that IS believable. The Washington Post has a brief but surprising piece revealing some of the Big Brother type surveillance methods used by Homeland Security and others to literally spy on unsuspecting U.S. citizens.

Read it HERE


If you can top already existing electronic and digital equipment that is currently continuously "watching you" then you just might have the seed of a good Science Fiction story.


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. . .

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Word For Today

homiletic [homi-let-uk]
adj
1. of or relating to a homily or sermon
2. of, relating to, or characteristic of homiletics

homily
noun
1.
A sermon, especially one intended to edify a congregation on a practical matter and not intended to be a theological discourse.
2.
A tedious moralizing lecture or admonition.
3.
An inspirational saying or platitude.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

(Coach)

Born April 4, 1946

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Nostalgia is a seductive liar.
--George Ball

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Still Not Feeling Well . . . Better Though



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Couch Potato Warning --

A study published in March in the Archives of Internal Medicine supports previous findings that suggest sitting too much increases our risk of death. In people 45 years and older, sitting for 11 or more hours a day led to an increased risk of death (from all causes) by about 40 percent over four years, compared with the risk of death in people who sat just four to eight hours a day, the study found.

Studies?

Statistics?

Riiiiiight . . .

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A Washington Post article reported that PBS would air a documentary titled "Hey Boo: the eternal mystery of Harper Lee." and I watched it last night.

I enjoyed it.

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Word For Today

lacuna
noun
gap; interval; hiatus

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Virgil Ivan (Gus) Grissom

Born April 3, 1926
Died Jan. 27, 1967

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Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie.
--Stephen King

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Evolution Slows But Never Ceases



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Many leading polar bear biologists have expressed grave concerns about the impact of climate change, including the belief that current warming trends imperil the survival of the suddenly threatened Polar Bear.

The Ice Upon Which It Treads Grows Thinner Each Day



It is true of course that evolution sees to it that animals either adapt to changes in the environment when it changes or they will die off more quickly? Does that not also mean that if the Earth's ice packs melt, then Polar Bears will need to adapt by finding other sources of food? If the ice melts and the Northern region climate becomes warmer, will not more human beings swarm into those regions and eventually tend new and huger farms and build large cites with gigantic skyscrapers and busy asphalt highways, and thereby grow the economy?

An adult male Polar Bear weighs around 770–1,500 pounds.
The Polar Bear when hungry will certainly kill and eat people.


Well, you surely know by now that I am just a crusty old curmudgeon.

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THE HOLY BIBLE

Authorized King James Version



Who can argue that the poets and scribes in the era of King James, the learned men who preserved the spoken words and divine writings of the venerable ancients, were most certainly the finest of holy historians. . . and fabulists of the highest order.

Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, free trade, and separation of church and state.




Voltaire (1694 - 1778) once said: "Another century and there will not be a Bible on earth!" -- (So much for prophecy)


Scarcely a speech of today's crafty politicians does not contain some reference to The Founding Fathers. Below are some words preserved from quotations by those founding fathers:

It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.
--George Washington

I have always said that a studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.
--Thomas Jefferson.

So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year.
--John Quincy Adams

If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures.
--Daniel Webster

Is it any wonder that the far right religious Republicans of today's generation have so much reverence for The Founding Fathers? They still believe the outdated superstitions of those bygone days. Change, to them, even now, is anathema.

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Word For Today

fabulist
noun
recounter of fables; liar.

Having read (and absorbed) the meaning of this Word For Today, please go back up and re-read the first sentence in The Holy Bible section, the sentence beginning: " Who can argue that..."

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This is the house in which I live . . .



APRIL FOOL!

It is the house in which I live
. . . wholly in my imagination

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY


Born April 1, 1938

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Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.
--Mark Twain