Top 87 Bad Predictions about the Future 2spare.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Experts Predict Next Epidemic Starts in Animals usatoday.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Daley Budget Rosier View of Economy chicagotribune.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Character actors don't get the money or recognition that stars do, but they're infinitely more interesting.
 by nachista |
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 by Shibbolethian |
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 by Jonathan Isles |
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November 18, 2008
Anyone that has ever been fallible (which includes the entire human race) can perhaps derive some benefit in reading “The experts speak" by Christopher Cerf and Victoro Navasky.
It’s “the first collection of unadulterated, fully authenticated false expertise.” And there's just no end of great stuff to make you feel that an occasional lapse in judgment on your part is not such a big deal.
Case in point: Irving Thalberg, the boy genius, had this warning to Louis B. Mayer regarding "Gone With the Wind."
"Forget it, Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel."
Sex, you name it, the experts have made a fool of themselves.
Aristotle, maybe, should have stuck to philosophy.
“An erection is chiefly caused by suraum, eryngoes, cresses, crymon, parsnips, artichokes, turnips, asparagus, ginger acorns, scallion, sea fish, etc…”
Listen to St. Thomas Aquinas, who wanted to leave this for posterity, a year before he died in 1273.
“If the motion of the earth were circular, it would be violent and contrary to nature, and could not be eternal, since, nothing violent is eternal. It follows, therefore the earth is not moved with a circular motion.”
The light bulb may not have gone off when Thomas Alva Edison, in a 1912 article for Good Housekeeping Magazine, made this statement.
“Direct thought is not an attribute of femininity. They’re centuries behind Men.”
In a Joint statement, reassuring the American public, representatives of the largest wire houses on Wall Street at the close of trading, October 24, 1929 claimed:
J. Edgar Hoover commenting on a report documenting the existence of the Mafia in 1958
with his usual astuteness.
“Baloney”
And Cashbox, that music bastion in 1955, certainly had Rock N Roll nailed.
“The big question is how long will it last. Our guess is that it won’t.”
Certainly, everybody knew Elvis Presley was going to be a star? Well, not Jim Denny, the Manager of the Grand Olde Opry,” who fired Presley after one performance in 1954.
“You ain’t going nowhere, you might as well drive a truck.”
The Computer?
Ken Ilson, President of Digital Equipment Corporation, speaking at the Convention of the World Future Society in Boston certainly was forward thinking in 1977.
“There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.”
And so it goes.
Speaking of fallibility, there are those that wouldn’t consider any of this wrongheaded.
Fallibilism is the philosophical doctrine that claims that all knowledge could, in principle, be mistaken. It’s mainly associated with Charles Sanders Peirce, John Dewey, (of decibel fame) and other pragmatists who argue that absolute certainty about knowledge is impossible.
In fact, in an argument called the Münchhausen Trilemma, Hans Albert argues that it is impossible to prove any truth with certainty.
I assume they can be fallible too.
It may be a little too deep for me, but I do know that Richard Nixon saying, “I would have been a good pope,” is strangely comforting or just plain strange.
What do you think? Who are the false prophets today? What misconceptions are being perpetrated on us by the "experts"?
Share the Eye:
All in the Cards tarothermit.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Nostradamus nostradamus.org Take a look at an interesting article we found.
The Crystal Ball paranormal-nyc.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
MissIve & Kindlee,
If I didn't know better, I would think you had been communicating with my...
Nov. 18, 2008 3:47 PM
Most untruthful cliche?
8% 11% 28% 42% 3% 8%
"I don't like their sound. Besides, guitar music is on the way out."
These were the immortal words of a Decca Records executive when asked why he didn't sign a new band called The Beatles.
JP-Yes, indeed, men do think directly, as TA Elvison, who was a big fan of the Dewey Decibel System tells us. The line of thought runs directly from the little head to the big one. :P
Personally, I subscribe to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle: nothing can be known with certainty, since the act of measuring anything changes it.
Professor Schrodinger: Here, kitty, kitty.
Just babbling...
alas, there is not enough blood pressure available to support the functioning of both heads at the same time
Who are the false prophets and what misconceptions are they perpetrating? Well, I'll defer to an expert (heh, heh): Albert Einstein. He said, 'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.' And then there are the words of Matthew Arnold, from his poem 'Dover Beach', long ago a standard part of the English Literature basics...
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
He was wrong about the world being a land of dreams. It is, and it is various, beautiful and new, but there are dreams and nightmares and we are all trapped on a darkling plain, and ignorant armies will always clash by night.
A possible solution? 'Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe', as my mom used to advise. And then there is skeptical empiricism, accepting all authorities tentatively, never marrying oneself to any fixed position, accepting the possibility that one may be wrong, and always seeking more and more information with the certainty that all knowledge is provisional and partial. It may not be as reassuring as picking an expert and following along in lockstep, but solo exploration is still a lot of fun.
Since facts have a habit of tripping up self-appointed experts, it's not bad counsel to collect those pesky little guys all the time, empirically comparing our mental conceptions against the hard rocks of fact. It's another form of evolution, as we blindly (but with our sense of touch in vivid overdrive) explore our environments, trying to find out where we really live and what's really 'out there'.
I can't resist... Here's a quote from local Houston-area former politician Tom DeLay:
Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills. [on causes of the Columbine High School massacre, 1999]
I suppose, using the DeLay Axiom, that nuclear weapons will have little to do with any future nuclear exchange. It will be all those Indian kids in daycare, the teaching of evolution in Yunnan, and Russian moms taking birth control pills while they sit at their word processors in St. Petersburg. (Not obviously either the politicians and military folks who keep the little monster machines oiled, polished, and ready to go....)
"concentrate and ask again"
Two of my operative personal motos are "Cuique Sententia Mea" (which I've had engraved on Roman rudis and coffee mugs for myself) and "Often Wrong But Never in Doubt". So now you know my general mindset when it comes to the proffering of sage advice.
Having said that, I rarely do so. Not because I don't have colossal faith in my own essential understanding of a given something (if I've decided to become knowledgable about it... for instance I know jack shit about automobiles and won't talk about them at all). Rather, my sense of "wisdom", if I have any, is that the only value to be had in learning something is derived from having learnt it entirely on one's own. I don't actually believe that people can be taught things. Not important things. You can teach trivia, facts, and marginalia. But true, deep, real learning that leads to wisdom? You make that yourself. To elaborate:
Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.
Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless--
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:--
We murder to dissect.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
Nice poem, but IMHO it falls prey to the Fallacy of the False Alternative...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma . I love my books and I love to hike and I love to learn about the critters and plants and flowers and trees and rocks which I enjoy on my hikes.... but I love learning about them from books, close observation, websites,etc. One CAN have one's cake and eat it, too!
We do not 'murder to dissect' as long as after breaking down the complex into simple elements, we reassemble them in our mind and open our eyes, letting mind and senses 'play' with each other in a dance. The folks I know who have the greatest sense of wonder over the complexity and mystery of life are researchers and scholars. They know they don't have all the answers because they have personally trodden down so many dead ends, unproductive paths, and deceptive meanders....
Thursday, 1 May, 2003
Aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln...
Moments after the landing, President G. W. Bush, wearing a green flight suit and holding a white helmet, got off the plane, saluted those on the flight deck and shook hands with them. Above him, the tower was adorned with a big sign that read, "Mission Accomplished."
drdgscott said...
In an emminently forgettable 1948 film entitled "An Apartment for Peggy," Jeanne Crane insists that any lie can be passed off as fact with the simple addition of manufactured statistics. Perhaps that's the origin of the phrase, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics."
Whenever someone starts a sentence with, "You know, x%..." I begin to wonder...
Doc, dear Doc, it's Wordsworth. I neglected to footnote, didn't I?
Though I would be remiss if I didn't point out that in the world of things worth knowing, it is not the researchers and scholars you mention who have cornered the market (as there are no corners, eh?). The same goes for a sense of wonder.
While I'm as empirically minded as the next ex-academic, I don't accept the Hobson's choice of "any smarts you want as long as they're scientific". And I take a rather Protagorean approach to knowledge, given that "man is the measure". Note that the phrase is not "Men are", since that would require statistical analysis. No, MAN is the measure, which I take to be a reference to m'self, of course. Solipsism enough to go around this morning.
Which leaves a Wordsworth swilling narcissist like myself in the admirable posture as Master of His Domain, really.
And I strenuously reject the notion that there are such things as dead ends, unproductive paths, and deceptive meanders! Those bits of mental peripateticism are the entire point!
Gia said...
This is a good one. We could use some rocket launched mail these days.
"Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours
from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold
of rocket mail." -Arthur Summerfield, U.S. Postmaster General under
Eisenhower, 1959
Do we have room in today's discussion for Prince Phillip? To his credit, he is an equal opportunity offender.
Gia said...
I'm not sure if telling a group of British students in China: "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed," qualifies. But maybe we can broaden the definition to include gaffes.
Along with this:
"The Japanese don't make anything the people in the U.S. would want."
-Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, 1954
I humbly hesitate to point the finger at any reigning false prophets, lest, in doing so, I become one myself. Hind sight being what it is, and all.
I tend to think of knowledge, the 'intrinsic sort,' not the arbitary facts and signifiers that we all agree upon, like I do fish.
I am an insatiably curious girl. I also love to fish. And though I go out hoping to catch a couple, I know that most will get away. And I'm glad of that. And don't we all secretly respect the elusive fish? Especially the one that taunts you, circling near your hook, and then moves out of sight. Keeps me coming back.
Edison may well have been a misogynistic ass, but on my list of notorious offenses against the fairer sex, H.W. Tilman (the mountaineer) remarks: "Women shouldn't cook. They don't have the creative spirit to do it properly."
It's fun - big fun - to look into the past and find people who were so very wrong. Trouble is, today there's a huge industry built around prestidigitary prognostications (look, I just watched the Wizard of Oz, and I love that guy). Here's one such place, where Doom is all the rage:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Index.html
I'd like to look back in thirty years (Ye Gods! I'll be 71 years old!!!) and discover that the people above were completely loony.
And as far as the gender and 'clear thought' debate. It may be true, as Olivia and PeterLake have observed, that men's 'heads' compete for thought.
But to keep things fair, when a woman's biological clock is ticking loudly, you could lead her off a cliff with a Pottery Barn Kids catalogue. I've seen it.
This is the Prince Phillip quote on gun control I was referring to...
"If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?"
And of course his solution to traffic congestion...
"The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop tourism, we could stop the congestion."
And this...
Prince Philip emerges in a television interview this week as the model royal "eco-warrior" who believes overpopulation has contributed to the pressures on the world and that anyone who believes in God should go green.
The duke hints that curbing family sizes may be the best means of keeping the soaring cost of staple food products, such as bread and rice, in check.
"Food prices are going up," he tells his interviewer, Sir Trevor McDonald. "Everyone thinks it's to do with not enough food, but it's really that demand is too great - too many people. Basically, it's a little embarrassing for everybody. No one quite knows how to handle it. Nobody wants their family life to be interfered with by the government."
In the spirit of Willie Trask, everyone should get a Sarcastic Ball. It's the updated cousin of the children's toy, The Magic Eight Ball. I use mine in the office to determine which policies will be adopted, how long someone will last in the office, etc....
Question: Will I get that raise I want? Answer: Yeah and I'm the pope.
Now there's a prognostication!
What about people who weren't wrong. Nikola Tesla said...
"As soon as it is completed, it will be possible for a business man in New York to dictate instructions, and have them instantly appear in type at his office in London or elsewhere. He will be able to call up, from his desk, and talk to any telephone subscriber on the globe, without any change whatever in the existing equipment. An inexpensive instrument, not bigger than a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on sea or land, music or song, the speech of a political leader, the address of an eminent man of science, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, however distant. In the same manner any picture, character, drawing, or print can be transferred from one to another place. Millions of such instruments can be operated from but one plant of this kind. More important than all of this, however, will be the transmission of power, without wires, which will be shown on a scale large enough to carry conviction"
With the exception of wireless power, he was pretty close to today's reality.
Shandonista!
I have one of those.
Me: Sarcastic Ball, should it read 'among 6000 customers' or 'amongst 6000 customers?'
Sarcastic Ball: Who the hell cares? Go eat.
Me: You are so wise, Sarcastic Ball. So very wise. So where should I eat?
Sarcastic Ball: Amongst 6000 customers. Duh.
One more thing. I personally know of at least four people who are reading this today, and not posting. This is the perfect topic on which to jump in if you never have. Right, wrong? Who knows? Who cares?
Just do it.
Just sign up, scroll down to the little box, and type: Shut your mouth, Miss Ive. Don't tell me what to do.
DPR, Olivia, Kindlee, Nachista, Rings, PeterLake, Isles,
Help me wave them all into the muck. Or is 'in to' the muck? I never know.
I'm kind of suprised Mr. Peterman didn't include the "Dewey defeats Truman" healine. That's always a favorite.
*waving to the lurkers* Come on in, the water's fine! Help us derail todays carefully planned train of thought. Favorite derailment topics include, food, food, food, oh wait I'm forgetting something...oh yeah and food.
Wave to them all in the muck? Or, wave them all into the muck? The first way says "Hi to you there in the muck", but the second one says "All of you, GET IN THE MUCK!"
I like the second one, personally. I'm rather like Prince Phillip in this way. But I also rather like the Izzard extrapolation of a Prince Phillip-like ambassador, arriving in a new country: "Hello. FCUK YOU ALL!!! I hate you personally. Bye."
I think the special problem of having "experts" these days is that there are so many, and they don't agree. So we're left to aggregate the accumulated position points of all the experts, put them into at least a histogram, and then try and figure out if the new data set suggests anything in particular. Say, 8 out of 10 experts think that we're doomed. We've got two outliers. But what if they're right? There's no way to know, off the bat, who's right or wrong, so now we all have to become experts ourselves in order to properly parse the arguments that the experts are using themselves. Maddening.
On a daily basis, I like to exercise my mastery of child psychology and basic food preparation. By the end of the day, and having had my necessary medicinal beverages with dinner, I'm in no condition to become a student of the Doom du Jour. Which is what Peterman's Eye is for. If I read it here, it's true, and I can stop thinking about it. Especially if a few specific writers weigh in on a topic, then I just submit to their thinking and get on with my day. I'm a cognitive miser that way. Let somebody else do the thinking. I just need to remember where I put the hard cider and diaper wipes.
Never mind my analysis of the muck waving. I forgot to read the one preposition, and it screwed the pooch for me. Idiot.
The Sacrastic Ball ~ Used it out last nite while looking for Hot Pink ribbon for my GF's wedding gown, Becuase tying a sash around the Brides Gown whether it comes with one or not doesn't matter, thats whats in. If I could find & run over who ever set tha trend up I would.... Sorry I digress from Mr. P's Excellent topic today:
I Love the Dewey Beats Truman Headline.. Need to think & search out some more running on fumes today....
All that need be said of Prince Charles is that he forsook Princess Di for the horse faced C. Parker Bowles.
Jonathon Isles,
Made a point of watching Joe vs.... and damned if you aren't right, It is great.
Sent the luggage clip winging around the globe partly owing to its intrinsic excellence and because that guy so resembles the late Wayland "Wingman" Coles in stature; complexion; hair color and style; voice; speech and facial structure.
I have email from persons it reached from whom I had not heard a peep in twenty-five years.
Thanks
Maybe one of the guys we'll look back on with amusement is Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman. He wouldn't care- would he?
MissIve,
I will try:
To all Readers of the Open Range, please stop, I repeat stop, dipping in your toes. Jump on in, the water's fine! This is not an untruthful cliche and truly there's more murk than muck, I think.
Jonathan Isles,
LOL!! "Cuique Sententia Mea"
I was contemplating (in light of today's topic) "Tamdiu discendum est, quamdiu vivas" but there's just not enough space to have that engraved on my calix. "Supreme Overlord of the Universe" barely fits as it is!
As soon as work slows down a little (and I have a chance to rummage through the closet to find my 'Overlord' chapeau), I will be back with some humble words to share.
I see the link for a Nostradamus site ~ I often wonder was he correct? or do people read WAY too much into his Quadrants?
nachista,
I'm with you kiddo. I think the bottom line of today's lesson may be something along the lines of "hindsight is always twenty-twenty"* so let's move on to . . . . how's about food.
* this of course excludes the following statement made in the decade after WWI which described it as "the war to end all wars". Would you believe hindsight is twenty - ten?
And since Chicago's mayor, Hizzoner II, received some attention relative to the discussion at hand, here are some of his more popular oratory gems:
I feel the need for some Rice Krispy Treats. Yous folks have a swell day.
Kindlee, indeed, one can hardly do better than Seneca for a good motto. And Stoney, you've put the wind in my sails today; thanks for spreading the Gospel According to Joe. I am glad you enjoyed it (and that clip was so good, I bought Quicktime just so I could "save as" and keep it forever. Capitalism at work).
Jonathan Isles, you're my new crush....histogram, data set, cognitive miser, medicinal beverages.....love it! But seriously, I agree with letting others do the thinking sometimes. I've got other things to think about and besides, those poopy diapers don't change themselves.
They most certainly do NOT. :)
Every good cliche has another to negate it:
Great minds think alike. - Fools never differ.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. - Out of sight, out of mind.
It doesn't matter if you win or lose, etc. - If you're not first, you're last.
I always got a laugh that throughout history, every war, "would be over by Christmas."
Olivia's more than tired about hearing me sing the praises of Nassim Nicholas Taleb ('The Black Swan'), but if anyone wants an intellectually rigorous demolition of the idea of prediction (and of the epistemogy of certainty), check him out! http://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Impact-Highly-Improbable/dp/1400063515
Doc Nolan,
You haven't steered me wrong yet so I just 2-Day 1 Clicked it from Amazon and am eagerly waiting to become enlightened. Thanks for the recommendation and probable illumination.
Be well
A little kid just came into the office and asked to see my dad "Mr. Louis Hickman Sir, M'am". He look about 8 years old and had on ropers, wranglers and a big black cowboy hat. I told him that Lou only works til noon everyday and he started to tear up and said "B-b-b-but I wanted to thank him for b-b-buying my cow at the fair, I brung my mom's homemade bread and everyfing!" and then he cried in earnest.
He was soooo cute. I gave him a hug and told him that Lou was my dad and then I called dad at home and let this little cowboy talk to him. He must have said 'thank you' and 'sir' about a dozen times. It really warms my heart and gives me faith in the future to see young kids who are being brought up right.
We can never be wrong in our positive predictions for our youths if we raise them the way that kid's parent raised him.
Missy-that biological clock thing? So right. As for the lurkers, LURK YE NOT, BUT TAKE MY REDE, AND LET THE STRING OF YOUR TONGUE BE LOOSENED.
Pam-My title's much shorter-Galaxy Mistress. Oh, I also answer to Your Ladyship, Your Grace, Serene Highness, and a few others I will not reveal. Like the feline, I have names known only to myself.
I predict that soon we will all have flying cars, robot attendants, and wireless power too cheap to meter. Colonies on the moon, and Mars. World peace. And the sexbots, you say? Oh, they're coming...wait, something's buzzing in my purse. Gotta go.
MissIve & Kindlee,
If I didn't know better, I would think you had been communicating with my daughter on the sly. You seem to all be telling me the same thing... "just jump in". I must confess I am one of those readers who has not been participating. I read Peterman's Eye almost everyday and thoroughly enjoy all the discussions even to the point of discussing your comments over dinner with my family but until last week had not put my 2 cents in about any topic. Last week I commented to my daughter via email that I was bored and still had 1/2 an hour to go at work and her reply was, "Just enough time to sign up on Peterman's Eye!" As I said...I think you all have been talking...
more on the honor rollFeels good to be among those as absurdly overeducated as myself. My current motto:
Satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum.
No, really-gotta GO...
As I was cruising about in the info highway's slow lane, just looking for the next exit to something really interesting like "The World's Largest Fever Blister" or at least a rest stop,; when I had to slam on my brakes and do a double take at a billboard for a site designated as www.updatedprophesies. Isn't that cheating a bit?
Found some time and my hat.
"Nothing can be known with certainty." Well, I think that really hinges on what it is we are talking about, doesn't it? If I cut my finger with a knife, do I know what will happen? If I cast my baited fishing line into the water, do I know what will happen? There are different kinds of knowledge. Some knowledge is more concrete, some more nebulous.
The way anyone ‘sees' anything depends a great deal on what's being looked at and from where the person is looking. There are different kinds of people but all people make mistakes. Wisdom is often obtained by making errors, and learning from them, or learning from the mistakes of others.
I don't see that there is a single right way to learn that applies to everyone and every situation. To increase knowledge, I believe it's important to endeavor to use every means at ones disposal...watching, reading, thinking, doing, listening, teaching, discussing, imagining, testing...you get my drift. Change is life and one must constantly reassess all options, look for growth opportunities, factor in experiences, and never give up.
But, I believe, people have to want to build upon their knowledge. This takes effort and desire. Information by itself is usually not enough. One has to take the time to strive to understand concepts, be open to new realms of possibility, and be able to manipulate ideas - squishing them into all kinds of shapes and forms, real and imaginary.
I plan to use every little morsel, of everything available, in a glorious, yet unreachable, quest for infinite wisdom. Those who aim at it and persevere will probably come much nearer to it than those that give up.
As Michelangelo once scribbled "ancora imparo" - still I am learning.
And this, having been said, will surely spark at least one of you into jumping on the opportunity to now teach me something I hadn't anticipated. Discussion - a great learning tool!
An article of interest, from The Economist:
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12376658
...about how vying for precious space to be published, in leading scientific journals, is causing some researchers to dramatically oversell their findings, only for us to find out later that their published scientific research is often incorrect...
Olivia,
I'll have to work on a shorter title. This one's really not working, anyway, though it does raise a few eyebrows and causes giggles.
Stoney,
Now, now...beauty is in the eye of the beholder, don't cha know.
racingyogagirl,
Glad you jumped in...good splash...keep dog-paddling with us. That 1/2 hour will disappear in the blink of an "Eye".
Welcome, racingyogagirl! That's the spirit!
My friends who may be reading but not writing, Missive is absolutely right. Jump in. There's an old cliche how "there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet." This really comes true here at the Eye.
In the spirit of this notion, I am reminded of the day the Pope preached against the practice of birth control and an American diplomat wryly responded, "He no playa da game, he no makea da rules."
Jonathan,
I love your notion of how, when you're drowning in diaper wipes and medicinal drinks, you're in no condition to philosophize on the Doom Du Jour. It makes me think of the scene in Hannah and Her Sisters when Woody Allen asks his father, "If God exists, why do bad things happen? Why were there Nazis?" His father replies, "How do I know why there were Nazis? I don't know how the can opener works!"
Now, on the subject of the fondness of heart, here are this expert's words of wisdom: Anyone who has felt more amorous the drunker he/she gets knows the proper quote is -- "Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder."
RacingYogaGirl,
First, I love your handle. Enigmatic. A bundle of contradictions. Am glad to see you again.
Second, I love your daughter's spunk. Please tell her. And tell her if she has time to push her mother, like a good daughter should, she has time to come here, too!
Welcome.
All,
Has anyone read the Privacy Policy for this site? Peterman's Twitter for today's topic asks, "Ever say something you wish you hadn't minutes later?"
Answer: On this site, at least once daily. (In real life: at least once hourly)
When I ever get around to becoming world famous, I will have to bake a whole lotta cookies for Mr. Peterman to get some of these posts to 'disappear,' as the Privacy Policy appears air tight, per my attorney's opinion.
Will be specifically thankful if all of July, after the hours of 10pm could disappear.
Mr. Peterman, any favorite sweets?
There's a Privacy Policy? on this site? I missed that will have to read it ~
Having a very bad day, glad the waters fine for all of you ~ The only thing I am certain of is that there is a satillite falling out of orbit. Which as it was explained to me the reason why all my coordinates for taping shows changes. (for the life of me I don't understand WHY they just don't give the NEw one the same dang #?!) As they run on kind of on mini Nuclear Reactors for years than they simply wear out. So my should be certainof but am not certian of ? for today really is when the power really does run out or if the Reactor explodes does that mean there would be a mushroom cloud in space? Head of the Dept. just looked at me laughed & said you're crazy, & no. Me I'm not so positive that he is certainly correct. Which leads me to wonder about Firdays topic about how we are not only making the earth toxic but also space... I need to go I'm becoming more certain that my head will be exploding if I continue along this path....
Jonathon isles,
I love how Luggage Man has to turn away even to say the word: "Journey."
But then Prof. Humbert Humbert would have done so as well before trying:
"Th-thirtee-heen?"
The pause between the words: "Interesting," and "as a luggage problem," is just genius.
MissIve,
Do you think there's wisdom in the bribe? There are some comments I've made here that I would love to see disappear, as well. We can't be the only two. Maybe we need to pool our collective knowledge...a collaborative effort...and we could bake something bigger than cookies. Maybe cake!
nachista,
Thank you for sharing such a very heart warming story.
For Rings...
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/harddaymikeoc9.jpg
and
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/Cats/hamster.jpg
and
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/Cats/badday.jpg
Mmmmm, cake.
Thanks Nachista ~ Had to send #2 to onto the Tech guys... can't wait to see what they send back... Going into a "Bored Meeting" now will be beack later...
oh and another random fact.... The first time I came to see what this was all about when mom continued to talk about it, It was the day of the undergarment-politics-sidetrack-everyone day!! I was like oh my goodness... what is mom looking at.. she is not like this and she is the church librarian... HAHAHAH!
nachista,
*fresh, moist, delicious cake*
I couldn't resist a peek. Then, I just had to send the hamster space program to my sons. One of them sent this back:
http://i34.tinypic.com/alnakl.jpg
vwhippie,
Welcome. Come around often. Of all the days for your first peek at the "Eye" LOL
Welcome yoga and hippie! We be jammin.
I finished all my cake last night. All I got left is cheesecake. Wonder what the boys will make of that?
I thought Nixon was the pope, Robert? I'm confused...
Rings, you're going to be a beak later? Does this mean we're all going to do the chicken dance?
Olivia, I think this guy is the pope...
http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/funny-pictures-red-bird-pope.jpg
haha! I love icanhascheezburger!! Its always good for a smile when you are having a rough day...
kindlee-- i love yours :)
this one makes me smile :)
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/18/funny-pictures-you-walks-like-this-all-the-time-freak/
and when you think you can't wait for edward till thursday night at midnight...
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/20/funny-pictures-wickid-vampyr-skillz-i-has-dem/
will have your fix:)
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/Cats/ponymechanic.jpg
Wicked Vampire skillz is one of my favorites. Of course this is the one that I should have posted at my desk at work...
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/personalspace.jpg
and probably this one
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/netevenkidding.png
and this one too
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/nachista/nicethings.jpg
Welcome new non-lurking posters, the inmates are running the asylum.
Olivia at first glance what do the lines on the following chart look like to you?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/photos/uncategorized/edit13grf.jpg
But seriously,
I have been to some strange places and among some strange people but never have I met anybody- yet- who didn't have some talent, outlook, attitude or ability that I did not but would have wished for.
It often takes overlooking pretty quirky personal issues but there is always something valuable in there somewhere, just for the seeking.
It is for that reason, among others, that I am a believer: in the sunshine, the smooth, the even, the light of the honey moon breaking through the clouds on the darkest of nights.
I believe in you, in Him and me. I even believe in them.
I do enjoy a chuckle looking back at the goofy things uttered by famous persons but I'd be happier still if there were a place to go to revel in the genius, warmth and wisdom of all the nobodies.
Wait! Maybe this is...
Gosh, I dunno, nachobaby. It's been so long...
Um, the Three Stooges in the sauna?
As the owner of...let me rephrase that...as a human that's owned by a cat, all these other cats seem so much more intelligent than mine. Mine has mastered the art of cute but not bright. The 'personal space' cat is more like mine. She, her name is Gadget, is grumpy because it's cold, grumpy because the music is too loud, and she attempts to force her size 14 shoe box body into a size 7 shoe box. But, she thinks she'll keep us...we do provide food.
Stoney,
I certainly see much warmth here, but if you're looking for genius...well, I'm afraid we have digressed, yet again...ah, but it feels so nice...a Book of Verses underneath the Bough, a Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread and Thou Beside me singing...at the Eye...O, the Eye were Paradise enow!
Kindly, You move me to song
E Eye
E Eye
Oh.
Somewhere along the line someone mentioned knowledge and learning
Does anybody know The First Thing you know?
Old Jed's a millionaire? (Sorry. Too silly. Had a glass of wine with dinner.)
VWHippie, aka, Spunk,
Hope you do come back. Atta girl for encouraging your mom. Love the church librarian thing, too!
And don't worry, we're not usually like we were on the 'politics and undergarments' day. Everyone was a little off due to election jitters. We're normally much worse.
Kidding.
Kindlee,
Yes. A cake. A very big cake. I'm down with that. And maybe a song. We'll brainstorm.
MissIve,
After my last remark, I'm thinking not just big but layers, too.
<i>God made the mountains, God made the sky
God made the people, God knows why
He fixed up the planet as best as he could
Then in come the people, and gum it up good!
The first thing you know...
The civilize foothills and everywhere He put hills
The mountains and valleys below
They come along and take 'em and civilize and make 'em
A place where no civilized person would go
The first thing you know
They civilize left, they civilize right
'Til nothing is left, 'til nothing is right
They civilize freedom 'til no one is free
Except for perhaps, by coincidence, ME
The first thing you know
The boozer's in prison and the criminal he isn't
And only the rascals have dough
When I see a parson I gotta put my arse in a wagon that follows the tail of the crow
The first thing you know
I PICK UP AND BLOW!!!
The first thing you know-oh-oh-whoa...</i>
On my honor, that was from memory. It's a song I have on my iPod. Sung weekly, often while in the grocery store. Such looks from people.
Ooh, forgot one.
They civilize what's pretty by puttin' up a city
Where nothin's that pretty can grow...
... Dammit. Now I gotta listen to it.
A few errors. Ben Rumson would hit me on the head with a shovel.
... They muddy up the winter and civilize in in ter
a place too uncivilized even for snow...
There.
This line of conversation leads right into Bokononism, the only religion that really makes sense to me.... Jump into this worm-hole and see what you think....http://bernd.wechner.info/Bokononism/quotes.html
Kindlee,
Chocolate. From scratch. Whipped Madagascan vanilla and peanut butter frosting. And still a song. A couple-a-powder-blue tuxedos. Some canes and a little ditty. Oh, and milk.
I make a pretty mean ginger snap, too.
Oh, and my lawyer suggested that rather than 'bribe,' we call it "a 'thank you' in advance."
Are ya with me?
Night, friends. Sweet dreams.
VWHippie,
In her post from 8:42pm, Missive says she's kidding -- no she's not! ;-)
MissIve,
Right beside you all the way! (As long as I don't have to wear high heels.)
Doc, was Bokononfor real? I just read the whole site. Fascinating.
Oh, duh. I hadn't read the disclaimer. Red in the face!
Oh, that "The First Thing You Know"
Say goodnight, Pam.
Goodnight.
Hello Folks: Great post today. Want to jump in and add a tidbit or two but I think I left the thinking part of my brain in the Islands. Maybe it just got lost at the airport and someone will be bringing it to my door shortly.
Celt: Wake up!!!
'No one will need more than 637Kb of memory for a personal computer' - Bill Gates
'Radio has no future.' - Lord Kelvin, 1897
'Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.' - Lord Kelvin
'Everything that can be invented has been invented.- - 1899, Charles Duell, U.S. Office of Patents.
'There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.' - Ken Olson, 1977, Digital Equipment Corporation
'The Internet is a great way to get on the Net.' - Bob Dole
Life is very important to Americans.' - Bob Dole
'A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.' - Dan Quayle
'I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.' - Dan Quayle
This will be a fertile and rewarding field for those who till the residue of presidential speechifying.
We all misspeak from time to time, but I'm truly amateurish compared to some of these children of Mrs. Malaprop. I feel better...
John Dewey? Decibel system? What?