The Man I Used to Be
Go to Past Life Analysis to find out who you were in your last life. Just type in your birthdate. Turns out that I was a male born around the year 800 in what is now Ukraine. I was a map maker, astrologer and astronomer. I was a "quiet person" with "creative talents which waited until this life to be liberated." I was sometimes considered strange: "It always seemed to you that your perceptions of the world [were] somewhat different. Your lesson is to trust your intuition as your best guide in your present life. Do you remember now?"
Yeah, that sounds like me alright.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day
"It was on these false premises - that Iraq was both a collaborator on 9/11 and about to inflict mushroom clouds on America - that honorable and brave young Americans were sent off to fight. Among them were the 19 marine reservists from a single suburban Cleveland battalion slaughtered in just three days at the start of this month. As they perished, another Ohio marine reservist who had served in Iraq came close to winning a Congressional election in southern Ohio. Paul Hackett, a Democrat who called the president a 'chicken hawk,' received 48 percent of the vote in exactly the kind of bedrock conservative Ohio district that decided the 2004 election for Mr. Bush .... What lies ahead now in Iraq instead is not victory, which Mr. Bush has never clearly defined anyway, but an exit (or triage) strategy that may echo Johnson's March 1968 plan for retreat from Vietnam: some kind of negotiations (in this case, with Sunni elements of the insurgency), followed by more inflated claims about the readiness of the local troops-in-training, whom we'll then throw to the wolves. Such an outcome may lead to even greater disaster, but this administration long ago squandered the credibility needed to make the difficult case that more human and financial resources might prevent Iraq from continuing its descent into civil war and its devolution into jihad central."
--Frank Rich, The New York Times
More here. (Requires free registration.)
"It was on these false premises - that Iraq was both a collaborator on 9/11 and about to inflict mushroom clouds on America - that honorable and brave young Americans were sent off to fight. Among them were the 19 marine reservists from a single suburban Cleveland battalion slaughtered in just three days at the start of this month. As they perished, another Ohio marine reservist who had served in Iraq came close to winning a Congressional election in southern Ohio. Paul Hackett, a Democrat who called the president a 'chicken hawk,' received 48 percent of the vote in exactly the kind of bedrock conservative Ohio district that decided the 2004 election for Mr. Bush .... What lies ahead now in Iraq instead is not victory, which Mr. Bush has never clearly defined anyway, but an exit (or triage) strategy that may echo Johnson's March 1968 plan for retreat from Vietnam: some kind of negotiations (in this case, with Sunni elements of the insurgency), followed by more inflated claims about the readiness of the local troops-in-training, whom we'll then throw to the wolves. Such an outcome may lead to even greater disaster, but this administration long ago squandered the credibility needed to make the difficult case that more human and financial resources might prevent Iraq from continuing its descent into civil war and its devolution into jihad central."
--Frank Rich, The New York Times
More here. (Requires free registration.)
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Word of the Day: Caballine
Word of the Day
caballine (adj)
Suitable for a horse
"How do you expect me to swallow such a caballine tablet?" Mr. Hargreaves asked the bewildered pharmacist.
caballine (adj)
Suitable for a horse
"How do you expect me to swallow such a caballine tablet?" Mr. Hargreaves asked the bewildered pharmacist.
Friday, August 12, 2005
August
August
The AC breaks down and the house is full of soup, stirred by fans. Sidewalks are hot plates; the car, a teapot. Everybody's all wet. The sun is unforgivable. Hydrants open, and streets become rivers of laughing children. Thunderheads boil up in the distance like Himalayas. Stores and offices feel like Frigidaires, and I wish I could linger. All day I wonder why woolen coats crowd in the closet. Were they ever needed? I sit and drink an ocean of colorful sweetness and don't want to move.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Weird new words for the new Oxford Dictionary
Time to walk my labradoodle
Do chuggers bother you when you want to rock up to a restaurant with your cockapoo to hoover a supersized ruby murray?
The new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English is out, and it includes a host of new words, many of which are "blends," the editors say: "To suit the pace of our lifestyle today there is a growing tendency to mix words together to make entirely new ones called blends." Example: "potty-mouthed." Details here.
Do chuggers bother you when you want to rock up to a restaurant with your cockapoo to hoover a supersized ruby murray?
The new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English is out, and it includes a host of new words, many of which are "blends," the editors say: "To suit the pace of our lifestyle today there is a growing tendency to mix words together to make entirely new ones called blends." Example: "potty-mouthed." Details here.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Random Acts of Poetry
Random Acts of Poetry (summer rerun)
Sandy Hook (August 2004)
The air is vacuumed clean,
and all misgivings drain
from an uneasy day.
At the end of the street,
past the wild grass’s
endless deference to the wind,
waves are polishing
three primal rocks
with ceaseless caresses.
Time might as well stop.
The gigantic iris of the bay
gazes at the hot, absolute sky
with perfect attention,
a hypnotized witness.
Now my footprints disappear,
at the edge of the surf,
no more enduring than foam.
I bend and realize
the shell is broken.
Inhale, exhale.
Sandy Hook (August 2004)
The air is vacuumed clean,
and all misgivings drain
from an uneasy day.
At the end of the street,
past the wild grass’s
endless deference to the wind,
waves are polishing
three primal rocks
with ceaseless caresses.
Time might as well stop.
The gigantic iris of the bay
gazes at the hot, absolute sky
with perfect attention,
a hypnotized witness.
Now my footprints disappear,
at the edge of the surf,
no more enduring than foam.
I bend and realize
the shell is broken.
Inhale, exhale.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Conversation Stoppers
Conversation Stoppers
"Why do you ask?"
Always answer an unwelcome question with another question, I say.
More of this sort of thing can be found here:
Conversational Terrorism: How NOT to Talk!
"Why do you ask?"
Always answer an unwelcome question with another question, I say.
More of this sort of thing can be found here:
Conversational Terrorism: How NOT to Talk!
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Quote of the Day: The Palm Tree Garden
Quote of the Day
"The Palm Tree Garden symbol represents the communal nature of Phildickian and Anarcho-Gnosticism, the exchange of ideas and information and interaction between fellow adherents of the Path of Eternal Questioning. It's a sign that can be worn by radical ontonauts, a sign that indicates a willingness to collaborate but not to dictate, converse but not groupthink, argue but not hate. It represents individuals banded together against the Archonic powers that control the Universe in whatever form or fashion the individual understands. It represents partaking in the Informational Sacrament, breaking down that wall in the Black Iron Prison, even if one needs to use the bars in one's cell to build a ladder."
More here.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Word of the Day: galactophagist
Word of the Day
galactophagist (n)
a milk drinker
Edwina was determined to raise a brilliant child. "Here you are, my little galactophagist," she said as she gave the baby his bottle.
galactophagist (n)
a milk drinker
Edwina was determined to raise a brilliant child. "Here you are, my little galactophagist," she said as she gave the baby his bottle.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Go Electric Wheelchairs
Batteries Included
I've seen a lot of people tooling around in electric wheelchairs recently. Just today, I saw two on a short walk to the post office. It's almost enough to make me think a convention might be going on somewhere nearby, but this isn't any sort of convention town. I wonder if the prices for these machines have dropped recently, as I don't see all that many people on crutches anymore.
All these whirring wheelchairs make me think of my late uncle, a paraplegic, who used an electic model when I was a kid, at a time when such things weren't so common. He also had an elevator in his house, the first one I remember riding on, and all sorts of other gadgets. In my childish way, I didn't think of him as handicapped -- he had a very full life, which included owning and running a restaurant -- just "different" and rather fascinating. A trip to see him was a treat.
I suppose in times past, people who couldn't walk were pretty much house-bound. Today they're tearing down the sidewalk with kids and shopping bags on their laps.
I've seen a lot of people tooling around in electric wheelchairs recently. Just today, I saw two on a short walk to the post office. It's almost enough to make me think a convention might be going on somewhere nearby, but this isn't any sort of convention town. I wonder if the prices for these machines have dropped recently, as I don't see all that many people on crutches anymore.
All these whirring wheelchairs make me think of my late uncle, a paraplegic, who used an electic model when I was a kid, at a time when such things weren't so common. He also had an elevator in his house, the first one I remember riding on, and all sorts of other gadgets. In my childish way, I didn't think of him as handicapped -- he had a very full life, which included owning and running a restaurant -- just "different" and rather fascinating. A trip to see him was a treat.
I suppose in times past, people who couldn't walk were pretty much house-bound. Today they're tearing down the sidewalk with kids and shopping bags on their laps.
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