Make It Quick

George Burns: "The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible."

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The Truth?

Umberto Eco: "I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth."

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A Trifle More

It’s rained so much around here the past few days, I’m dizzy. Much flooding has taken place in neighborhoods or cities all around me. I was up last night watching the water rise in the yard and then, as always, wondering if it was time to panic when the water started inching its way into the front garage. Would the house be next? The yard had disappeared, as well as the sidewalks and roads all around. It came in about 2/3 of the way into the garage, not quite to the front car tires. Fortunately the downpour ceased by midnight and I didn’t have to keep checking the water level.

When you’re a kid, you think you can make Christmas come faster if you really concentrate on it. In a similar way, stressed adults seem to think (each flood) that they can make the flood waters back off if they just obsess about it. Both anticipations are wrong, of course. I was so stressed that it felt like I’d been working all day, though I had not. Several days of dry weather are predicted, but next week there’ll be more rain! I can’t stand it. I used to seldom (or only lightly) worry about such things. I guess I believed in my power to turn the flood back. It had never happened to me before, so why would it now? I guess that false sense of security was smashed to bits by Hurricane Rita last year. Once more I dodged the bullet as far as flooding, but I had other damage. Now I’m a jumpy old geezer.

All my life, I’ve tried to at least select things to worry about, if not to just avoid any worry at all. I guess it doesn’t work any more. I can’t even narrow my worrying to myself. Others worry me, too.

I may not pray for any of you, but I worry.

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How To Treat The Arrogant

George Santayana: "To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood."

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Poetry Publication: Calliope Nerve

Once again notable blogger Nobius (see side bar Intelligent Blogs: White Rabbit-Black Hole) has printed one of my poems in his skinny publication, Calliope Nerve. Another one is supposed to follow that soon, but whether I have any poems there I have lost track. If you email him your street address, he sez he'll send you one or two. Mention what it's about in the subject line so it won't just disappear into his Spam box!

Email Nobius!

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Something

Mitch Hedberg: "I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2000 of something."

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Rainy Day Women #12 and 35

by Bob Dylan

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good,
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home.
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' to the door.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table.
They'll stone ya when you are young and able.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck.
They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck."
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you and say that it's the end.
Then they'll stone you and then they'll come back again.
They'll stone you when you're riding in your car.
They'll stone you when you're playing your guitar.
Yes, but I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you when you walk all alone.
They'll stone you when you are walking home.
They'll stone you and then say you are brave.
They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Copyright © 1966; renewed 1994 Dwarf Music

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Some Fun Books

Though I started reading these books (The No 1 Ladies Detective agency books) only because they were in Large Print, I have become hooked on them. There are 8 of them, but my library doesn't seem to have all of them. At present I have read 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. Set in Botswana in Africa, they tell about the low-key adventures of Precious Ramotswe's detective agency. I will not attempt to compel you to be interested, but you're missing out if you don't read some! The books are written by Alexander McCall Smith.

1. The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998)
2. Tears Of The Giraffe (2000)
3. Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001)
4. The Kalahari Typing School for Men (2002)
5. The Full Cupboard of Life (2003)
6. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (2004)
7. Blue Shoes and Happiness (2006)
8. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (2007)


ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH has a double existence. He is a Professor of Medical Law, but also an author who has now written over fifty books on a wide range of subjects. These range from specialist titles such as 'Forensic Aspects of Sleep', (the only book on the subject) to 'The Criminal Law of Botswana' (also the only book on the subject) and from the widely translated 'The Perfect Hamburger' (a children's novel) to 'Portuguese Irregular Verbs' (a collection of stories about eccentric German professors). His collection of African stories, 'Children of Wax', received critical acclaim and has been the subject of an award-winning film.

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Yimma Yibba Yamma

Leo Tolstoy: "Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them."

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Conversation

Fran Lebowitz: "No animal should ever jump up on the dining-room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation."

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