The ability to see beauty is the beginning of our moral sensibility.
Sean Dennison
****************
Hello Stuart
****************
I lived and worked in a city for three years whose major and almost only enterprise was insurance, banking and investment. That city had one of the best art museums in the country and almost no one went to it. I would go frequently because some of the world's greatest works were housed there. It was the only place on earth where one could see them. And every time I went I had some of the rooms all to myself.
There was little support or appreciation of art in that city and it showed. The powerful men in the city were completely focused on money and not much else.
We hear a lot about morals in America these days, the moral high ground, restoring the American ethic and so on. But the actions don't match the talk. There was one CEO of a large corporation who proclaimed that he never gave a dollar to any cultural cause, never would and he was proud of it. With that kind of ignorance the moral landscape of American is bare and desolate.
There are universities in this country that will close down their art departments and pour money into their football teams.
I know of a high school that wouldn't allow plays to be produced because it was too much of a drain on the electric bill, and yet the lights blazed even brighter for every basketball game.
Now we have a presidential candidate who brazen claims that if he is President he will close down the National Endowment for the Arts. To do that would be a fiercely negative and destructive thing for this country. But to stand up in public and make that promise is so monumentally stupid that man should quickly withdraw himself from the campaign and any further attempt to be considered a good American.
The arts in this country, as in any country, provide the dialogue between character and future. Art defines the spirit of our nation. It points to what is unknown and needed. It repairs. It supports. It gives voice to the struggles and achievements of our people. It tells the truth. It shows us beauty. It leads to the fountains of sensibility. It increases our moral awareness. It provides the ideas and impressions which raise the level of mentality. It makes better people.
If the arts disappear, or fall into the hands of corporate sponsorship with its confining rules and low standards, the United States is lost.
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
********************************
Showing posts with label ignorance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ignorance. Show all posts
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
How's Tricks?
There is no adequate defense, except stupidity, against the impact of a new idea.
Percy Bridgeman
********************
Hello Ally
********************
I suppose one could say there is a good reason for stupidity. There are a variety of things that could cause it, and maybe in some cases it's curable. I personally believe one should be compassionate with the stupid.
But there is definitely a reason for ignorance. Ignorance is simply not knowing. We are all ignorant of most things. That doesn't make us bad. If we need to know something which we don't know, we are ignorant. And the cure for that ignorance is to find out what we need to know.
Holding on to ignorance, refusing to find out, or being afraid of finding out, or, even, preferring to remain ignorant for social, political or religious reasons, is curable stupidity. Holding on to ignorance. Tenaciously protecting it. That makes us bad.
Clarence Darrow once wrote "I do not pretend to know what a lot of ignorant men are sure of." The first step out of ignorance is to admit it. That is sometimes difficult because there are so many things we think we know, things that have been told to us by those who think they know. Or else we make assumptions on our own. I knew a preacher once who used to say "To assume makes an ass of u and me."
Sometimes our ignorance is kept alive by the legerdemain of advertisers and politicians. A magician succeeds in fooling you into thinking you know where the card is even though he has palmed it into a different pocket by taking your focus off the card.
Politicians can avoid talking about volatile issues by focusing your attention elsewhere on the superficial and general ones. They either say what we need is a change or, as in today's magic show, we need to restore.
How ,amy times has a drug company taken something as harmless as, say, a stiff neck, which can be the result of stress, tension or a bad attitude, all of which are traceable to a mental state, given it a fancy Greco/Roman title, invented a drug with a veiled medical type name to heal it and then entertained you with TV commercials to sell it.
And we are bombarded with news about the misbehavior of famous people. Two stars are spotted together on a beach in Barbados and Wham! a scandal is brewing, "bubble, bubble."
TV is a very successful way to sell cars. It must be or there wouldn't be so many of them. We see them spinning along remote highways or cruising through impossibly empty city streets. But when was the last time you saw one of those fancy cars making its way through rush hour traffic?
It takes a great effort to ignore these magic shows, but it says even more for one's intelligence to say "Wait a minute," find out the facts and blow the ignorance away. Without doing that you can't decide whether a new idea is really a new one or just a newer version of the same old snake oil.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
I will keep harping on Guest Authors until I get some more and I will
Never Give Up
***************************
Look here. I have 10 Guest Author entries since I started offering this invitation. Now I want yours. If you haven't posted one here yet, please do so.
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The end of the year holidays are upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I know that people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own celebrations is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, New Years Eve. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 10 Guest Authors so far. Check them out. Can I hear from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America? All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
Percy Bridgeman
********************
Hello Ally
********************
I suppose one could say there is a good reason for stupidity. There are a variety of things that could cause it, and maybe in some cases it's curable. I personally believe one should be compassionate with the stupid.
But there is definitely a reason for ignorance. Ignorance is simply not knowing. We are all ignorant of most things. That doesn't make us bad. If we need to know something which we don't know, we are ignorant. And the cure for that ignorance is to find out what we need to know.
Holding on to ignorance, refusing to find out, or being afraid of finding out, or, even, preferring to remain ignorant for social, political or religious reasons, is curable stupidity. Holding on to ignorance. Tenaciously protecting it. That makes us bad.
Clarence Darrow once wrote "I do not pretend to know what a lot of ignorant men are sure of." The first step out of ignorance is to admit it. That is sometimes difficult because there are so many things we think we know, things that have been told to us by those who think they know. Or else we make assumptions on our own. I knew a preacher once who used to say "To assume makes an ass of u and me."
Sometimes our ignorance is kept alive by the legerdemain of advertisers and politicians. A magician succeeds in fooling you into thinking you know where the card is even though he has palmed it into a different pocket by taking your focus off the card.
Politicians can avoid talking about volatile issues by focusing your attention elsewhere on the superficial and general ones. They either say what we need is a change or, as in today's magic show, we need to restore.
How ,amy times has a drug company taken something as harmless as, say, a stiff neck, which can be the result of stress, tension or a bad attitude, all of which are traceable to a mental state, given it a fancy Greco/Roman title, invented a drug with a veiled medical type name to heal it and then entertained you with TV commercials to sell it.
And we are bombarded with news about the misbehavior of famous people. Two stars are spotted together on a beach in Barbados and Wham! a scandal is brewing, "bubble, bubble."
TV is a very successful way to sell cars. It must be or there wouldn't be so many of them. We see them spinning along remote highways or cruising through impossibly empty city streets. But when was the last time you saw one of those fancy cars making its way through rush hour traffic?
It takes a great effort to ignore these magic shows, but it says even more for one's intelligence to say "Wait a minute," find out the facts and blow the ignorance away. Without doing that you can't decide whether a new idea is really a new one or just a newer version of the same old snake oil.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
I will keep harping on Guest Authors until I get some more and I will
Never Give Up
***************************
Look here. I have 10 Guest Author entries since I started offering this invitation. Now I want yours. If you haven't posted one here yet, please do so.
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The end of the year holidays are upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I know that people have things to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own celebrations is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, New Years Eve. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 10 Guest Authors so far. Check them out. Can I hear from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America? All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
Monday, December 19, 2011
Put Your Armor On
The only thing needed for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
********************
Hello Geo
*********************
The advocates of error
Foresee the glorious morn,
And hear in shrinking terror
The watchword of reform:
Ir rings from hill and valley,
I breaks oppression's chain.
A thousand freemen rally,
And swell the mighty strain.
(Anonymous)
In the North, Winter is slowly approaching like a company of silent tanks. And before it, to announce it, are the cold biting winds of ignorance. This is a time for holidays, joy, festivities, families and happiness. But, as one guest author pointed out, it has become a time for the frenzy of shopping, trying to get the latest game or gadget before the store is sold out. Beginning on Black Friday where people, who should have been enjoying the echoes of Thanksgiving for harvest, were lined up in the cold ready to participate in the mad mob wrestling match of bargain shopping.
As the Winter comes in it is not enough just to be armed with coats, gloves. boots, hats and scarves. In the dark and hidden places are the pockets of poorness and despair that grip the world even worse than the season of ice. And galloping behind Santa's reindeer is a herd of vicious, mindless beasts whose only purpose is to destroy.
Those who claim the homeless refuse to work should not have their homes taken away from them by a compassionless bank. That sort of revenge would do nothing. The should be educated out of their prejudice. Those who say if you don't have a job it's your own fault should not be laid off from a secure position to walk the streets in this shaky economy looking for any nonexistent job. That sort of revenge does nothing. They should be educated out of their ignorance. Those who hoard their wealth should not be reduced to poverty. That sort of revenge would do nothing. They should be educated out of their greed. Those who rhapsodize about America being the greatest country in the world should not be forced to live in the places where it isn't. They should be educated to know those places are there.
For centuries, the world over, civil disobedience has been a powerful means for bringing down the tyrants. It helped to establish the labor unions which protected the working person from the tyranny of insecurity, exploitation and unfair and unhealthy working conditions. Civil disobedience brought about the Civil Rights legislation. It brought about the American and other revolutions. It has brought down monarchs and set up national self government.
So now the Occupiers of the world, risking safety, harm and their lives, are sounding "the watchword of reform" and, as usual, it is met by the strong arm of the tyrant. But, also as usual, it will be heard by those who are terrified by ignorance or guilt.
To pass safely through this Winter we need the armor of righteousness, honest endeavor, persistence and faith. We need the coats and hats that allow us to stand sturdily against the cold blasts of ignorance. And we need to never give up as we work for the "glorious morn.".
Let the culprits run and hide if they will ad leave the world for the real people to bustle in.
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
************************
Look here.
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post a entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The end of the year holidays are soon upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I know that people have a lot to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your journals, but to add to the joy of my own celebrations is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, New Years Eve. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 8 Guest Authors so far. Check them out. Can i hear from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America? All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
Edmund Burke
********************
Hello Geo
*********************
The advocates of error
Foresee the glorious morn,
And hear in shrinking terror
The watchword of reform:
Ir rings from hill and valley,
I breaks oppression's chain.
A thousand freemen rally,
And swell the mighty strain.
(Anonymous)
In the North, Winter is slowly approaching like a company of silent tanks. And before it, to announce it, are the cold biting winds of ignorance. This is a time for holidays, joy, festivities, families and happiness. But, as one guest author pointed out, it has become a time for the frenzy of shopping, trying to get the latest game or gadget before the store is sold out. Beginning on Black Friday where people, who should have been enjoying the echoes of Thanksgiving for harvest, were lined up in the cold ready to participate in the mad mob wrestling match of bargain shopping.
As the Winter comes in it is not enough just to be armed with coats, gloves. boots, hats and scarves. In the dark and hidden places are the pockets of poorness and despair that grip the world even worse than the season of ice. And galloping behind Santa's reindeer is a herd of vicious, mindless beasts whose only purpose is to destroy.
Those who claim the homeless refuse to work should not have their homes taken away from them by a compassionless bank. That sort of revenge would do nothing. The should be educated out of their prejudice. Those who say if you don't have a job it's your own fault should not be laid off from a secure position to walk the streets in this shaky economy looking for any nonexistent job. That sort of revenge does nothing. They should be educated out of their ignorance. Those who hoard their wealth should not be reduced to poverty. That sort of revenge would do nothing. They should be educated out of their greed. Those who rhapsodize about America being the greatest country in the world should not be forced to live in the places where it isn't. They should be educated to know those places are there.
For centuries, the world over, civil disobedience has been a powerful means for bringing down the tyrants. It helped to establish the labor unions which protected the working person from the tyranny of insecurity, exploitation and unfair and unhealthy working conditions. Civil disobedience brought about the Civil Rights legislation. It brought about the American and other revolutions. It has brought down monarchs and set up national self government.
So now the Occupiers of the world, risking safety, harm and their lives, are sounding "the watchword of reform" and, as usual, it is met by the strong arm of the tyrant. But, also as usual, it will be heard by those who are terrified by ignorance or guilt.
To pass safely through this Winter we need the armor of righteousness, honest endeavor, persistence and faith. We need the coats and hats that allow us to stand sturdily against the cold blasts of ignorance. And we need to never give up as we work for the "glorious morn.".
Let the culprits run and hide if they will ad leave the world for the real people to bustle in.
Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
************************
Look here.
This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post a entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.
The end of the year holidays are soon upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I know that people have a lot to say.
Not to take away from the postings on your journals, but to add to the joy of my own celebrations is why I invite you to write for mine.
I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.
Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, New Years Eve. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.
There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.
Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.
I have 8 Guest Authors so far. Check them out. Can i hear from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America? All are welcome. Admission is free.
DB
***************************
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Caress The Unknown
Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.
Benjamin Franklin
***********************
Hello Botswana
*************************
How many phantoms are dancing on your nose? How many window shades have you yanked down? How long have you been waiting for the curtain to go up? Do you, as with most people, have two big boxes, one in the attic and the other in the cellar, one marked "unimportant" and the other marked "I'll get to you some day" and they are both filled up with stuff?
One night I was walking a teen age girl home from a meeting. It was dark, she was anxious to get home and glad for the company. On the way we passed a field that would be a shortcut, but she didn't want to go into it if there was water. I offered to go and find out but she said not to. Instead she picked up a rock about the size of her fist and threw it. We heard it splash in the water and avoided the field. I asked her where she learned that and she said it was from her brother. It's the sort of lore country people know. This city boy learned a lesson.
When I'm in a hurry and I want to know the meaning and spelling of a word I'll go to the online dictionary. But if I have the time I'll open up my big 2,214 page Random House/Websters unabridged and find what I'm looking for plus 5 or 6 other words I've never heard of before. That's how I discovered acerbic, abiosis, praxis, proleptic, mondagreen and jerk. Some of them are not all that useful to me but when they are I will use them to entertain us poor, effete, eastern, intellectual snobs, as I think Newt described us.
Someone I once knew said to me "Why do you insist on believing that everyone is as intelligent as you are?" My first answer is: Because I want them to be. But the real answer is that I don't consider myself any more intelligent than anyone else. But I am curious. Einstein once said that he wasn't all that clever but that he was just very curious.
We are all ignorant of most things, and there's nothing wrong with that. But the desire to remain ignorant is a cud chewing crime. A man will refuse to read the Quran but he'll set fire to it. People did not read Kazantzakis' "The Last Temptation Of Christ" but they demonstrated against the film. The professional wrestler says :If I can do it, it aint art." and yet he rehearses and acts out a scripted wrestling match every time he steps into the ring. One of the nations wealthiest CEOs says he's never given a dollar to any cultural cause, never will and he's proud of it. The ignorance is breath taking. If I didn't doubt it I would think that some people are abjectly and shudderingly frightened to death of the "terrorism" of philosophy, science, art and ideas.
"Don't go looking into things that don't concern you." How will you know if they concern you or not until you look into them? "The more you know the less you know." Yes. Isn't that great?
Ignorance is the perpetually dancing phantom distracting us from the realities. It's the strange light on the other ise of the window shade. It's what's behind the curtain. It's the monster in the cellar and the ghost in the attic. It's the shadow on Plato's wall. It's the creature from outer space. It's the great, terrifying unknown, which once known is simply known.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" Matthew 7:7. So what's the big deal? For ignorance there is an excuse. For unwillingness to ask, seek and knock there is no excuse.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
One day puzzle, First one in with the right answer wins the badge.
"Every Jerrerson, Nixon and Truman. Or,
Every ----------. ------------- and -------------.
dbdacoba@aol.com
***********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Benjamin Franklin
***********************
Hello Botswana
*************************
How many phantoms are dancing on your nose? How many window shades have you yanked down? How long have you been waiting for the curtain to go up? Do you, as with most people, have two big boxes, one in the attic and the other in the cellar, one marked "unimportant" and the other marked "I'll get to you some day" and they are both filled up with stuff?
One night I was walking a teen age girl home from a meeting. It was dark, she was anxious to get home and glad for the company. On the way we passed a field that would be a shortcut, but she didn't want to go into it if there was water. I offered to go and find out but she said not to. Instead she picked up a rock about the size of her fist and threw it. We heard it splash in the water and avoided the field. I asked her where she learned that and she said it was from her brother. It's the sort of lore country people know. This city boy learned a lesson.
When I'm in a hurry and I want to know the meaning and spelling of a word I'll go to the online dictionary. But if I have the time I'll open up my big 2,214 page Random House/Websters unabridged and find what I'm looking for plus 5 or 6 other words I've never heard of before. That's how I discovered acerbic, abiosis, praxis, proleptic, mondagreen and jerk. Some of them are not all that useful to me but when they are I will use them to entertain us poor, effete, eastern, intellectual snobs, as I think Newt described us.
Someone I once knew said to me "Why do you insist on believing that everyone is as intelligent as you are?" My first answer is: Because I want them to be. But the real answer is that I don't consider myself any more intelligent than anyone else. But I am curious. Einstein once said that he wasn't all that clever but that he was just very curious.
We are all ignorant of most things, and there's nothing wrong with that. But the desire to remain ignorant is a cud chewing crime. A man will refuse to read the Quran but he'll set fire to it. People did not read Kazantzakis' "The Last Temptation Of Christ" but they demonstrated against the film. The professional wrestler says :If I can do it, it aint art." and yet he rehearses and acts out a scripted wrestling match every time he steps into the ring. One of the nations wealthiest CEOs says he's never given a dollar to any cultural cause, never will and he's proud of it. The ignorance is breath taking. If I didn't doubt it I would think that some people are abjectly and shudderingly frightened to death of the "terrorism" of philosophy, science, art and ideas.
"Don't go looking into things that don't concern you." How will you know if they concern you or not until you look into them? "The more you know the less you know." Yes. Isn't that great?
Ignorance is the perpetually dancing phantom distracting us from the realities. It's the strange light on the other ise of the window shade. It's what's behind the curtain. It's the monster in the cellar and the ghost in the attic. It's the shadow on Plato's wall. It's the creature from outer space. It's the great, terrifying unknown, which once known is simply known.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" Matthew 7:7. So what's the big deal? For ignorance there is an excuse. For unwillingness to ask, seek and knock there is no excuse.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
One day puzzle, First one in with the right answer wins the badge.
"Every Jerrerson, Nixon and Truman. Or,
Every ----------. ------------- and -------------.
dbdacoba@aol.com
***********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Friday, March 18, 2011
It's Not Bliss
Ignorance: the root and stem of every evil.
Plato
*************
One problem with ignorance is that there isn't a single individual on the face of the earth who isn't guilty of it. We are all ignorant of most things. Another problem with ignorance is that it is not simply a hole in one's knowledge. Ignorance can be a very complex and messy thing.
There's the ignorance of not knowing. There are things I don't know but I know they are there to know if I care to find them out. Then there is the ignorance of not knowing and not knowing that you don't know. That's a case where I don't know something but I don't know it's there to be known.
I know there is a great restaurant somewhere around here, but I don't knew where it is. Or, I'm hungry and I wish I knew if there was a good place to eat around here, but I don't so I'll settle for a greasy hamburger.
Then there are those who are ignorant and happy in their ignorance. That's a combination of ignorance and arrogance. A deadly combination. There is a joke that has been floating around lately. Question: What's the difference between ignorance and arrogance? Answer: I don't know and I don't need to know.
Then there is defended ignorance. That's when I resist the attempts on me to be educated about something. I knew a guy who refused to watch any educational or cultural program on TV. He hated them. He would rather turn it off and sit in the room drinking beer with his buddies than to learn something about the world at large.
But the worst kind of ignorance is ignorance that doesn't know it's ignorance. It's pot and kettle ignorance. It's based on opinion not fact, on reaction not reason and on emotion not thought. It's the kind of ignorance that says I'm right and everyone who disagrees with me is just plain ignorant. It's the kind of ignorance that's practiced with lightening speed and rapier effect by some members of our representative government these days.
The sane thing to do is to face our own ignorance, find out what we need to find out and not worry about someone else's thoughts, if they have any.
DB - The Vagabond
-----------------------------
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Will you people get your act together and answer this question, please?
Only 9 responses so far. Winter is almost over.
DB
------------------------------
What happened to old Jasper Fingerhut?
A murder mystery in 7 sections.
Section 1
The police came soon after Brett Salazar called them. He had called to report seeing a man floating face down in a quiet part of the Borden River. A police wagon soon arrived and they fished the man out of the water He was dead.
The man was old, barefoot, wearing large brown corduroy trousers and a tattered and torn blue shirt. There was nothing in his pockets. He had a large metal cross around his neck and on his left middle finger a ring in the shape of a skull with a small green stone in the left eye socket, the other socket was empty. No one recognized him.
Doctor Skinner, the Bordentown Medial Examiner, received the corpse to begin his examination. He was to determine time and cause of death and any other important information he could find about the mysterious dead man.
While this was happening Boris Klipton, Professor of Art History at Bordentown State Teachers College, was way upstream. Sitting by the river, he was working on his latest book. It was an account of recent unsolved art thefts.
During his interview with Detective Rice Turner, Brett Salazar, testified of hearing four gunshots in the distance long before he saw the body. When Detective Turner asked him what he was doing at the river, Brett answered that he was planning to fish but had forgotten his fishing gear and was about to go home when he spotted the dead man floating in the water.
----------------------------------------
Section 2
At around 3 p. m. Professor Klipton gathered up his papers, put them in his briefcase and got back in his car. He noticed some lint and bits of cloth on the seat, brushed them off on to the floor, put down his briefcase and drove to Sam's Place.
Sam Nevitt opened his general store and gas station about 25 years ago. It was on the outskirts of town, away from all the bustle, which is the way he liked it. He would get business from folks leaving Bordentown on their way home and others who were passing through. He did a good business.
Sam was a good man, but he had one nasty habit. He liked to go down to the river with his rifle and shoot birds.
When Professor Klipton arrived he found Hank, Sam's part time help. When asked Hank didn't know where Sam was but thought he was probably out shooting. Klipton filled up with gas, bought a few items for his dinner and drove home.
The dead man came to Doctor Skinner's office in a body bag. He and Ivan, his assistant, opened the bag and as they did Skinner immediately put a large towel over the dead man's face and upper body. Then he dismissed Ivan for the day and went to work.
-----------------------------------
section 3
Detective Rice Turner didn't speak often, he seemed to others to be bored with life. That was a mistake. He was very well educated. He had a PhD in Economics from Yale and a law degree from Princeton. He was Phi Beta Kappa and a Mensa member. He was looking forward to a career in government whn he discovered he had a genius for solving problems. That soon became criminal investigation. He settled.
Signing, he opened the report from the Medical Examiners Office. Reading through it he discovered that the dead man was between 70 and 75 years old, approximately. and in reasonably good health for a man his age. Doctor Skinner had removed three 22 caliber bullets from the body, one from the shattered right shoulder, one from the right ventricle and one embedded in the large intestine. All the bullets had entered the body from the right side of the back. There were severe bruises around his neck. There was water in his lungs and a strange substance in his blood stream which Skinner had suspected was poison. He sent it on to the police lab for analysis. Time of death was between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. Cause of death: strangulation.
Attached to the report was an advisory. Skinner thought the body should be buried as soon as possible. He didn't say why.
Presently the report came from the police lab confirming that the substance in the man's blood was arsenic.
-------------------------------------
Section 4
Detective Turner hated to look at dead people even though he had seen many in his career. Nevertheless, accompanied by officers Rourke and Minetti, he went to the morgue. The cadaver was laid out on a table. Dr. Skinner had done a sloppy job putting it back together but Turner could see that the man had been in his seventies. He had long hair and a long beard, very gray.
Officer Rourke said that they should locate the next of kin if there was any, but since they didn't know who he was it would be hard. Turner told them to take photographs of his face, front and sides, take them around town and see if anyone recognized him.
Turner lifted up the dead man's beard and uncovered two pieces of the puzzle. One, the bruises around the man's neck did not seem as severe as the doctor had said, particularly for one who had been strangled to death. And two, somewhere between the time he was removed from the river and this moment, the large metal cross had disappeared from his neck.
When Professor Klipton returned to his home he put his briefcase down next to his computer, checked his watch and took a shower. About an hour later someone rang his door bell. He opened the door. Without a word a man handed him a large, thick envelop, then turned and walked away. Klipton didn't open the envelop. He knew what was in it. Two hundred thousand dollars. His commission.
Sam Newitt leaned his unloaded rifle down against a chair and unbuttoned his shirt. Roy, his gay lover, was waiting for him in the bed.
---------------------------------
Section 5
Detective Turner reread Dr. Skinner's report. He looked in the evidence bag, found the dead man's clothes, a tattered blue shirt. underwear and corduroy trousers, no shoes or socks. He found a ring in the form of a skull, and a smaller bag containing three bullets, but no cross.
He made a phone call, then filled out a police form assigning the body to himself and went home for the day.
Early the next morning Sam left Roy in the bed still asleep, dressed, took his rifle and went off to open his shop.
The police lab had made about six copies of the dead man's photographs and some of the officers set out to interview anyone they could find who might recognize him.
When Detective Turner arrived at the police station he got Officer Minetti to help him get the cadaver back into the body bag. Then the two of them carried it out and put it in the trunk of Turner's car. He got in and drove to Farmington.
Professor Klipton had put the envelope with the money into his safe with the other envelopes and went off to his job at the college, two towns away. He wasn't home when the police came around with the picture of the dead man.
When Dr. Skinner arrived at his office Ivan was cleaning things up. Skinner said he would be gone for a while he was going to take a drive. But just at that moment they brought in two more bodies. The police wanted a rush job because thee might be a crime and if so there would be a third person involved. One of the bodies, a woman, was badly beaten. So Skinner sighed and went to work.
It was mid day when turner got back from Farmington. He drove to Dr. Skinner's office to ask him some questions. When he entered Skinner was at work carving up a cadaver. Turner noticed some mounted deer heads on Skinner's walls and asked if Skinner was a hunter. Skinner replied that most of the men around those parts were hunters. Turner also asked if Skinner knew anything about a large metal cross that was around the dead man's neck when they pulled him out of the water. Skinner said he had no knowledge of it. Turner believed he was lying.
Back at the police station Turner was informed that in the whole town there was no one who recognized the dead man. Turner asked how far they went looking and was told everywhere except Sam's. Who is Sam, he asked. They told him it was far out of town but had some local business. Let's go talk to Sam, he said.
------------------------------
Section 6
When Detective Turner and the officers arrived at Sam's place, Turner showed his badge and Minetti showed Sam the picture. He identified the man as old Jasper. Sam told them he lived way up in the woods somewhere, by himself Sam figured. He told them there was a dirt road about a mile further down the highwasy and that he might be in there.
Sam also said "Jason was a nasty character who kept telling me I was a devil and a miserable sinner and God hates me and I'm going to hell, because he knows I'm gay. He used to shout at me in some strange language I didn't know. I threatened to pop him one day if he didn't shut up."
"Did you pop him?" asked Turner.
"No. Why?"
"He's dead." Sam seemed genuinely shocked and surprised. At least Turner thought so.
Boris Klipton finished he morning class and went to his office. He made a note on some papers and looked them over. "One more" he said. All the evidence of his involvement had to be secured before he could wrap it up.
Ivan noticed that Skinner was unusually nervous as he worked on the first cadaver. He was impatient and was barking out commands to Ivan who was trying to do his best.
When Turner and the officers reached Jason's place the first thing they saw was a van with the windows painted out. Around the side they saw pens of chickens and rabbits. Turner knocked on the door. He wasn't expecting an answer. He tried the door it was unlocked. When he opened it there was a hissing noise and a large rattle snake was writhing on the floor ready to strike. Officer Minetti grabbed his pistol and killed it with two shots. He kicked it to make sure it was dead and threw it outside.
Jason's shack was two rooms with a barn attached. The furniture was simple but of good quality. In the corner they saw and glass case tipped over, where the snake usually lived, they thought. There was a table and on it an envelop addressed to Jasper Fingerhut After inspecting the rest of the room they entered the second room which was a bedroom. On the wall was a wooden plaque with writing on it.
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them' they shall lay on the sick and they shall recover."
At the back of the room there was a curtain and behind it a large metal door which they thought led to the barn. There was no handle on the door but there was a large square hole at the side of it where a handle and lock should be.
"I've never seen a key hole like that" said Rourke. "Maybe we should get our locksmith up here to see if he can open it."
"I don't think that will be necessary." said Turner.
Back at the station Turner immediately sent out an arrest warrant.
Who or what killed Jasper Fingerhut?
---------------------------------------
Section 7 - The Conclusion
Professor Lipton was in his office when the phone rang. The call lasted about 20 seconds. He hung up, gathered all his papers together, put them in his brief case. canceled his afternoon class, got in his car a drove quickly to the Bordentown Police Station.
He had to wait because Detective Turner was with Judge Francis Warlock obtaining search warrants for the premises of various suspects. When he returned to his office Boris Klipton handed him a piece of paper which said the Professor was on special assignment for the FBI aiding them in an investigation of the International Art Theft Organization. Turner learned that Klipton was acting as a middleman between the theives and the buyers, that he was writing a book about the experience, that he is paid good commissions for his labors all of which he keeps in his safe to be used as eveidence when the sting operation takes place. He further leaned that Jasper Fingerhut was the receiver. On a phone call for Klipton he would release some work of art to the person who came to bring it to the buyer. It was thought no one would suspect a crazy old man who lived by himself in the woods, a religious fanatic, would have anything to do with art theft. Fingerhut also received a commission and thus could afford a comfortable life even in his hermitage. Turner was told that everything is kept in a barn attached to his cabin behind a thick metal door which is the only entrance to the barn. It has a secure lock that can only be opened by a special key and the key is a large metal cross that he always carries with him.
Turner thanked Klipton and promised not to blow the cover. Klipton left.
The evening was coming and all the parties involved were brought in for questioning, one by one. Brett Salazar reaffirmed that he definitely heard four gunshots that day and there was a cross around Fingerhut's neck when they pulled him out of the river and that he didn't remove it.
When asked if Dr. Skinner had done anything unusual when Fingerhut's body was brought in Ivan replied only that the doctor had put a towel over the face and chest, otherwise no. He was dismissed early but it wasn't unusual since he was a part time employee.
Hank said only that Sam had taken his rifle and gone out to shoot birds as he often did in the afternoon. He said he sort of knew where Fingerhut lived but he never went there.
San claimed that even though he took his rifle he did not go shooting birds that day bur went to visit a friend. When asked who the friend was he declined to say but he said the friend was not important to the investigatiom. He spoke again about Fingerhut being a religious fanatic who used to scream at him about how he was going to eternal torment because of being a fag and wouldn't shut up about it.
Detective Turner asked "Did you kill him?"
"No."
"Do you know who did?"
"No" he answered quietly.
Doctor Skinner came in a sat down. Detective Turner took a sheet of paper out of his pocket and said that he had taken Fingerhut's body to a doctor friend of his in Farmington and had him perform another autopsy. That doctor confirmed the three bullet holes in the man's body, found no evidence of Fingerhot having been strangled and confirmed the cause of death as drowing. Skinner seem to be surprised.
The Turner said "Now let me tell you what I think happened. You drove up to Fingerhot's place with a loaded 22 caliber rifle which we found in your home when it was searched this afternoon. The lab says these bullets" which Turner poured out on the table from the plastic bag "match the rifle. You should have kept the bullets Doctor. Them to make sure he was dead you took his body down and dumped it in the river. But he wasn't quite dead, was he? He died from breathing in water from the river. Then you went back to his place for some reason, discovered the door at the back with the strange key hole. You cleverly thought that the cross Fingerhut was wearing was probably the key to unlock the door. But it was too late to fish him out of the river. You went to your office and waited. When they brought him in you quickly covered up his face and chest with a towel so Ivan, your assistant didn't see the cross or the fact that there were no marks of strangulation on his neck and throat. After Ivan left you removed the cross, put it in a safe place, where we found it, performed a sloppy autopsy and sent him back in the body bag with instructions that we should bury him right away. You would have gone up there today if you hadn't had an accident case,with two victims to examine. Now there's only one piece missing. Why did you do it?"
"Because he deserved it."
"Why did he deserve it?"
"It's a crime of passion, Detective. He wouldn't lay off Sam. Sam was going nuts with the old man screaming at him every time he came there."
"Are you and Sam sexual partners?"
"We're lovers."
"That's not the only reason you killed Fingerhut."
"No. I knew he had a lot of valuable stuff up there I wanted to know what he had."
"How did you know that?"
"Hank told me. He said he overheard a conversation at the gas pump between two strangers about a rumor of a crazy old man who lived up in the woods and hoarded a fortune in stolen property. I figured it was Fingerhut and when I saw his barn I knew it was."
"Well, Doctor, did I get the story right?"
You left out one detail, Mister Clever Detective. Before I left Fingerhut's place I turned over the snake case so if anyone came to snoop they would go away fast."
"We killed the snake and snooped. Well, you're a lucky man Doctor Roy Skinner."
"How's that?"
"I have a warrant here for your arrest for the murder of Jasper Fingerhut. But it turns out you didn't kill him. The river killed him. But I'm sure we can change this to attempted murder and a few other charges. Kindly see the officers in the front to have yourself photographed and fingerprinted Thank you."
(Case Solved)
***************************
Plato
*************
One problem with ignorance is that there isn't a single individual on the face of the earth who isn't guilty of it. We are all ignorant of most things. Another problem with ignorance is that it is not simply a hole in one's knowledge. Ignorance can be a very complex and messy thing.
There's the ignorance of not knowing. There are things I don't know but I know they are there to know if I care to find them out. Then there is the ignorance of not knowing and not knowing that you don't know. That's a case where I don't know something but I don't know it's there to be known.
I know there is a great restaurant somewhere around here, but I don't knew where it is. Or, I'm hungry and I wish I knew if there was a good place to eat around here, but I don't so I'll settle for a greasy hamburger.
Then there are those who are ignorant and happy in their ignorance. That's a combination of ignorance and arrogance. A deadly combination. There is a joke that has been floating around lately. Question: What's the difference between ignorance and arrogance? Answer: I don't know and I don't need to know.
Then there is defended ignorance. That's when I resist the attempts on me to be educated about something. I knew a guy who refused to watch any educational or cultural program on TV. He hated them. He would rather turn it off and sit in the room drinking beer with his buddies than to learn something about the world at large.
But the worst kind of ignorance is ignorance that doesn't know it's ignorance. It's pot and kettle ignorance. It's based on opinion not fact, on reaction not reason and on emotion not thought. It's the kind of ignorance that says I'm right and everyone who disagrees with me is just plain ignorant. It's the kind of ignorance that's practiced with lightening speed and rapier effect by some members of our representative government these days.
The sane thing to do is to face our own ignorance, find out what we need to find out and not worry about someone else's thoughts, if they have any.
DB - The Vagabond
-----------------------------
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Will you people get your act together and answer this question, please?
Only 9 responses so far. Winter is almost over.
DB
------------------------------
What happened to old Jasper Fingerhut?
A murder mystery in 7 sections.
Section 1
The police came soon after Brett Salazar called them. He had called to report seeing a man floating face down in a quiet part of the Borden River. A police wagon soon arrived and they fished the man out of the water He was dead.
The man was old, barefoot, wearing large brown corduroy trousers and a tattered and torn blue shirt. There was nothing in his pockets. He had a large metal cross around his neck and on his left middle finger a ring in the shape of a skull with a small green stone in the left eye socket, the other socket was empty. No one recognized him.
Doctor Skinner, the Bordentown Medial Examiner, received the corpse to begin his examination. He was to determine time and cause of death and any other important information he could find about the mysterious dead man.
While this was happening Boris Klipton, Professor of Art History at Bordentown State Teachers College, was way upstream. Sitting by the river, he was working on his latest book. It was an account of recent unsolved art thefts.
During his interview with Detective Rice Turner, Brett Salazar, testified of hearing four gunshots in the distance long before he saw the body. When Detective Turner asked him what he was doing at the river, Brett answered that he was planning to fish but had forgotten his fishing gear and was about to go home when he spotted the dead man floating in the water.
----------------------------------------
Section 2
At around 3 p. m. Professor Klipton gathered up his papers, put them in his briefcase and got back in his car. He noticed some lint and bits of cloth on the seat, brushed them off on to the floor, put down his briefcase and drove to Sam's Place.
Sam Nevitt opened his general store and gas station about 25 years ago. It was on the outskirts of town, away from all the bustle, which is the way he liked it. He would get business from folks leaving Bordentown on their way home and others who were passing through. He did a good business.
Sam was a good man, but he had one nasty habit. He liked to go down to the river with his rifle and shoot birds.
When Professor Klipton arrived he found Hank, Sam's part time help. When asked Hank didn't know where Sam was but thought he was probably out shooting. Klipton filled up with gas, bought a few items for his dinner and drove home.
The dead man came to Doctor Skinner's office in a body bag. He and Ivan, his assistant, opened the bag and as they did Skinner immediately put a large towel over the dead man's face and upper body. Then he dismissed Ivan for the day and went to work.
-----------------------------------
section 3
Detective Rice Turner didn't speak often, he seemed to others to be bored with life. That was a mistake. He was very well educated. He had a PhD in Economics from Yale and a law degree from Princeton. He was Phi Beta Kappa and a Mensa member. He was looking forward to a career in government whn he discovered he had a genius for solving problems. That soon became criminal investigation. He settled.
Signing, he opened the report from the Medical Examiners Office. Reading through it he discovered that the dead man was between 70 and 75 years old, approximately. and in reasonably good health for a man his age. Doctor Skinner had removed three 22 caliber bullets from the body, one from the shattered right shoulder, one from the right ventricle and one embedded in the large intestine. All the bullets had entered the body from the right side of the back. There were severe bruises around his neck. There was water in his lungs and a strange substance in his blood stream which Skinner had suspected was poison. He sent it on to the police lab for analysis. Time of death was between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. Cause of death: strangulation.
Attached to the report was an advisory. Skinner thought the body should be buried as soon as possible. He didn't say why.
Presently the report came from the police lab confirming that the substance in the man's blood was arsenic.
-------------------------------------
Section 4
Detective Turner hated to look at dead people even though he had seen many in his career. Nevertheless, accompanied by officers Rourke and Minetti, he went to the morgue. The cadaver was laid out on a table. Dr. Skinner had done a sloppy job putting it back together but Turner could see that the man had been in his seventies. He had long hair and a long beard, very gray.
Officer Rourke said that they should locate the next of kin if there was any, but since they didn't know who he was it would be hard. Turner told them to take photographs of his face, front and sides, take them around town and see if anyone recognized him.
Turner lifted up the dead man's beard and uncovered two pieces of the puzzle. One, the bruises around the man's neck did not seem as severe as the doctor had said, particularly for one who had been strangled to death. And two, somewhere between the time he was removed from the river and this moment, the large metal cross had disappeared from his neck.
When Professor Klipton returned to his home he put his briefcase down next to his computer, checked his watch and took a shower. About an hour later someone rang his door bell. He opened the door. Without a word a man handed him a large, thick envelop, then turned and walked away. Klipton didn't open the envelop. He knew what was in it. Two hundred thousand dollars. His commission.
Sam Newitt leaned his unloaded rifle down against a chair and unbuttoned his shirt. Roy, his gay lover, was waiting for him in the bed.
---------------------------------
Section 5
Detective Turner reread Dr. Skinner's report. He looked in the evidence bag, found the dead man's clothes, a tattered blue shirt. underwear and corduroy trousers, no shoes or socks. He found a ring in the form of a skull, and a smaller bag containing three bullets, but no cross.
He made a phone call, then filled out a police form assigning the body to himself and went home for the day.
Early the next morning Sam left Roy in the bed still asleep, dressed, took his rifle and went off to open his shop.
The police lab had made about six copies of the dead man's photographs and some of the officers set out to interview anyone they could find who might recognize him.
When Detective Turner arrived at the police station he got Officer Minetti to help him get the cadaver back into the body bag. Then the two of them carried it out and put it in the trunk of Turner's car. He got in and drove to Farmington.
Professor Klipton had put the envelope with the money into his safe with the other envelopes and went off to his job at the college, two towns away. He wasn't home when the police came around with the picture of the dead man.
When Dr. Skinner arrived at his office Ivan was cleaning things up. Skinner said he would be gone for a while he was going to take a drive. But just at that moment they brought in two more bodies. The police wanted a rush job because thee might be a crime and if so there would be a third person involved. One of the bodies, a woman, was badly beaten. So Skinner sighed and went to work.
It was mid day when turner got back from Farmington. He drove to Dr. Skinner's office to ask him some questions. When he entered Skinner was at work carving up a cadaver. Turner noticed some mounted deer heads on Skinner's walls and asked if Skinner was a hunter. Skinner replied that most of the men around those parts were hunters. Turner also asked if Skinner knew anything about a large metal cross that was around the dead man's neck when they pulled him out of the water. Skinner said he had no knowledge of it. Turner believed he was lying.
Back at the police station Turner was informed that in the whole town there was no one who recognized the dead man. Turner asked how far they went looking and was told everywhere except Sam's. Who is Sam, he asked. They told him it was far out of town but had some local business. Let's go talk to Sam, he said.
------------------------------
Section 6
When Detective Turner and the officers arrived at Sam's place, Turner showed his badge and Minetti showed Sam the picture. He identified the man as old Jasper. Sam told them he lived way up in the woods somewhere, by himself Sam figured. He told them there was a dirt road about a mile further down the highwasy and that he might be in there.
Sam also said "Jason was a nasty character who kept telling me I was a devil and a miserable sinner and God hates me and I'm going to hell, because he knows I'm gay. He used to shout at me in some strange language I didn't know. I threatened to pop him one day if he didn't shut up."
"Did you pop him?" asked Turner.
"No. Why?"
"He's dead." Sam seemed genuinely shocked and surprised. At least Turner thought so.
Boris Klipton finished he morning class and went to his office. He made a note on some papers and looked them over. "One more" he said. All the evidence of his involvement had to be secured before he could wrap it up.
Ivan noticed that Skinner was unusually nervous as he worked on the first cadaver. He was impatient and was barking out commands to Ivan who was trying to do his best.
When Turner and the officers reached Jason's place the first thing they saw was a van with the windows painted out. Around the side they saw pens of chickens and rabbits. Turner knocked on the door. He wasn't expecting an answer. He tried the door it was unlocked. When he opened it there was a hissing noise and a large rattle snake was writhing on the floor ready to strike. Officer Minetti grabbed his pistol and killed it with two shots. He kicked it to make sure it was dead and threw it outside.
Jason's shack was two rooms with a barn attached. The furniture was simple but of good quality. In the corner they saw and glass case tipped over, where the snake usually lived, they thought. There was a table and on it an envelop addressed to Jasper Fingerhut After inspecting the rest of the room they entered the second room which was a bedroom. On the wall was a wooden plaque with writing on it.
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them' they shall lay on the sick and they shall recover."
At the back of the room there was a curtain and behind it a large metal door which they thought led to the barn. There was no handle on the door but there was a large square hole at the side of it where a handle and lock should be.
"I've never seen a key hole like that" said Rourke. "Maybe we should get our locksmith up here to see if he can open it."
"I don't think that will be necessary." said Turner.
Back at the station Turner immediately sent out an arrest warrant.
Who or what killed Jasper Fingerhut?
---------------------------------------
Section 7 - The Conclusion
Professor Lipton was in his office when the phone rang. The call lasted about 20 seconds. He hung up, gathered all his papers together, put them in his brief case. canceled his afternoon class, got in his car a drove quickly to the Bordentown Police Station.
He had to wait because Detective Turner was with Judge Francis Warlock obtaining search warrants for the premises of various suspects. When he returned to his office Boris Klipton handed him a piece of paper which said the Professor was on special assignment for the FBI aiding them in an investigation of the International Art Theft Organization. Turner learned that Klipton was acting as a middleman between the theives and the buyers, that he was writing a book about the experience, that he is paid good commissions for his labors all of which he keeps in his safe to be used as eveidence when the sting operation takes place. He further leaned that Jasper Fingerhut was the receiver. On a phone call for Klipton he would release some work of art to the person who came to bring it to the buyer. It was thought no one would suspect a crazy old man who lived by himself in the woods, a religious fanatic, would have anything to do with art theft. Fingerhut also received a commission and thus could afford a comfortable life even in his hermitage. Turner was told that everything is kept in a barn attached to his cabin behind a thick metal door which is the only entrance to the barn. It has a secure lock that can only be opened by a special key and the key is a large metal cross that he always carries with him.
Turner thanked Klipton and promised not to blow the cover. Klipton left.
The evening was coming and all the parties involved were brought in for questioning, one by one. Brett Salazar reaffirmed that he definitely heard four gunshots that day and there was a cross around Fingerhut's neck when they pulled him out of the river and that he didn't remove it.
When asked if Dr. Skinner had done anything unusual when Fingerhut's body was brought in Ivan replied only that the doctor had put a towel over the face and chest, otherwise no. He was dismissed early but it wasn't unusual since he was a part time employee.
Hank said only that Sam had taken his rifle and gone out to shoot birds as he often did in the afternoon. He said he sort of knew where Fingerhut lived but he never went there.
San claimed that even though he took his rifle he did not go shooting birds that day bur went to visit a friend. When asked who the friend was he declined to say but he said the friend was not important to the investigatiom. He spoke again about Fingerhut being a religious fanatic who used to scream at him about how he was going to eternal torment because of being a fag and wouldn't shut up about it.
Detective Turner asked "Did you kill him?"
"No."
"Do you know who did?"
"No" he answered quietly.
Doctor Skinner came in a sat down. Detective Turner took a sheet of paper out of his pocket and said that he had taken Fingerhut's body to a doctor friend of his in Farmington and had him perform another autopsy. That doctor confirmed the three bullet holes in the man's body, found no evidence of Fingerhot having been strangled and confirmed the cause of death as drowing. Skinner seem to be surprised.
The Turner said "Now let me tell you what I think happened. You drove up to Fingerhot's place with a loaded 22 caliber rifle which we found in your home when it was searched this afternoon. The lab says these bullets" which Turner poured out on the table from the plastic bag "match the rifle. You should have kept the bullets Doctor. Them to make sure he was dead you took his body down and dumped it in the river. But he wasn't quite dead, was he? He died from breathing in water from the river. Then you went back to his place for some reason, discovered the door at the back with the strange key hole. You cleverly thought that the cross Fingerhut was wearing was probably the key to unlock the door. But it was too late to fish him out of the river. You went to your office and waited. When they brought him in you quickly covered up his face and chest with a towel so Ivan, your assistant didn't see the cross or the fact that there were no marks of strangulation on his neck and throat. After Ivan left you removed the cross, put it in a safe place, where we found it, performed a sloppy autopsy and sent him back in the body bag with instructions that we should bury him right away. You would have gone up there today if you hadn't had an accident case,with two victims to examine. Now there's only one piece missing. Why did you do it?"
"Because he deserved it."
"Why did he deserve it?"
"It's a crime of passion, Detective. He wouldn't lay off Sam. Sam was going nuts with the old man screaming at him every time he came there."
"Are you and Sam sexual partners?"
"We're lovers."
"That's not the only reason you killed Fingerhut."
"No. I knew he had a lot of valuable stuff up there I wanted to know what he had."
"How did you know that?"
"Hank told me. He said he overheard a conversation at the gas pump between two strangers about a rumor of a crazy old man who lived up in the woods and hoarded a fortune in stolen property. I figured it was Fingerhut and when I saw his barn I knew it was."
"Well, Doctor, did I get the story right?"
You left out one detail, Mister Clever Detective. Before I left Fingerhut's place I turned over the snake case so if anyone came to snoop they would go away fast."
"We killed the snake and snooped. Well, you're a lucky man Doctor Roy Skinner."
"How's that?"
"I have a warrant here for your arrest for the murder of Jasper Fingerhut. But it turns out you didn't kill him. The river killed him. But I'm sure we can change this to attempted murder and a few other charges. Kindly see the officers in the front to have yourself photographed and fingerprinted Thank you."
(Case Solved)
***************************
Saturday, February 5, 2011
To Be And How Not To Be
I never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
Galileo
******************
Let's face it all of us are ignorant about most things. You may not feel like an ignorant person until you find yourself confronted with a problem about which you know nothing or find yourself in a conversation with experts in some alien field. In those cases it is best to keep your mouth shut and leave it up to those who know.
But being ignorant about almost everything might mean that you are an authority on something, and if so you have something to teach or show someone. You might be a total dodo about everything else but you can put a roof on a garage or place kick a football.
If we can find out what a person knows about, even if they don't know anything else, we can learn something from them.
The dangerous combination is ignorance and arrogance, people who don't know but think they do. Some of the biggest messes in the world have been created by those people. What we can learn from them is how not to do something. I've had teachers who taught me how not to teach. I've seen actors who showed me how not to act and directors who taught me how not to direct a play.
Those ignorant/arrogant are rampant in the world. Look at politicians for example. Look at TV personalities. particularly in the news and political opinion sectors. I remember one case during the bombing of Baghdad. At first there were a few very brief video clips to see and one of them showed an Arab man running at night. One of our senior TV news reporters said there seemed to be a man running in his bathrobe. I hooted. He may wear a bathrobe in Scarsdale or wherever he lives on his fat network salary but someone should have shown him a picture of an Arab in his robes.
The big difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance is curable. I have learned to freely admit I don't know something if I don't. I will put up with the scorn if it's followed by an explanation. By the same token I won't put up with being told what to do by someone who doesn't know. I spent an hour in a recording session one day with a director who didn't know the first thing about recording a commercial but thought she did. She was arrogant and insulting. The product she wanted and got out of me was second rate. I refused to work for her again. How many times have you talked to some clown at Tech Support who had no idea what to do? Someone should teach them that if they don't know something they shouldn't act as if they do.
There are lessons to be learned at every dealing of human with human if we are willing to look and listen for them. Personally I hope to achieve and maintain the level of awareness and acceptance implied in Galileo's statement. "I never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him."
DB - The Vagabond
*****************************
Weekend puzzle: STEW
change Internet provider (6)
switch from off to particle (5)
Calloway born old (7)
auto rust (6)
pan to the office (6)
crush a hotel unit (8)
vigor for each )6)
sounds like a basement type thing (6)
worn around the neck down south (8)
southern California jungle beast (8)
answer to exist (5)
drink to the king (4)
beer joint to the left end, yes (6)
bad humor afoot (4)
Enjoy your dish.
DB
******************************
Galileo
******************
Let's face it all of us are ignorant about most things. You may not feel like an ignorant person until you find yourself confronted with a problem about which you know nothing or find yourself in a conversation with experts in some alien field. In those cases it is best to keep your mouth shut and leave it up to those who know.
But being ignorant about almost everything might mean that you are an authority on something, and if so you have something to teach or show someone. You might be a total dodo about everything else but you can put a roof on a garage or place kick a football.
If we can find out what a person knows about, even if they don't know anything else, we can learn something from them.
The dangerous combination is ignorance and arrogance, people who don't know but think they do. Some of the biggest messes in the world have been created by those people. What we can learn from them is how not to do something. I've had teachers who taught me how not to teach. I've seen actors who showed me how not to act and directors who taught me how not to direct a play.
Those ignorant/arrogant are rampant in the world. Look at politicians for example. Look at TV personalities. particularly in the news and political opinion sectors. I remember one case during the bombing of Baghdad. At first there were a few very brief video clips to see and one of them showed an Arab man running at night. One of our senior TV news reporters said there seemed to be a man running in his bathrobe. I hooted. He may wear a bathrobe in Scarsdale or wherever he lives on his fat network salary but someone should have shown him a picture of an Arab in his robes.
The big difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance is curable. I have learned to freely admit I don't know something if I don't. I will put up with the scorn if it's followed by an explanation. By the same token I won't put up with being told what to do by someone who doesn't know. I spent an hour in a recording session one day with a director who didn't know the first thing about recording a commercial but thought she did. She was arrogant and insulting. The product she wanted and got out of me was second rate. I refused to work for her again. How many times have you talked to some clown at Tech Support who had no idea what to do? Someone should teach them that if they don't know something they shouldn't act as if they do.
There are lessons to be learned at every dealing of human with human if we are willing to look and listen for them. Personally I hope to achieve and maintain the level of awareness and acceptance implied in Galileo's statement. "I never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him."
DB - The Vagabond
*****************************
Weekend puzzle: STEW
change Internet provider (6)
switch from off to particle (5)
Calloway born old (7)
auto rust (6)
pan to the office (6)
crush a hotel unit (8)
vigor for each )6)
sounds like a basement type thing (6)
worn around the neck down south (8)
southern California jungle beast (8)
answer to exist (5)
drink to the king (4)
beer joint to the left end, yes (6)
bad humor afoot (4)
Enjoy your dish.
DB
******************************
Friday, January 7, 2011
Is It Folly To Be Wise?
He who tells the truth must have one foot in the stirrup.
Armenian proverb
**********************
Ignorance is doom. It is a danger to our future that so many people desire to grasp and possessively defend their own mental invariance about things. And it is even more frightening when whole groups of people become mesmerized by the nonsense they hear from their leaders. One gang calls people who disagree with them a gang. People would rather be on a race track which goes nowhere than on a highway which does.
In Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" the Spirit of Christmas Present displays two desperate children to Scrooge who wants to know who they are.
"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both,
and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy,
for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the
writing be erased."
(Charles Dickens)
This is no idle warning. It is ignorance, which is the direct result of nonthinking and that which supports nonthinking. And why do so many people support this ignorance? Why is it even applauded in some quarters? Why is there so much suspicion of those who are trying to fray the enemies of progress? Because people don't want to know the truth. It upsets them.
I have said this before and I am saying it again. When the World Trade Center was destroyed the US Government went immediately to work forming a commission to determine how it happened. But there wasn't a single penny spent on a commission to determine WHY it happened. The government is still behind the screen on that one. Now people don't want American Muslims to build a mosque near where it happened because a group of Asian Muslims destroyed it.
One of our popular journalists, I won't name him, was interviewing an American Muslim who was just about to explain why he said that he understood the motives behind the terrorist attacks when the journalist called him a traitor and shut him off. He didn't want to know the truth.
We proudly proclaim that the United States is the best nation in the world and that our living standards are higher than other countries, and then we expect the people who live in those countries to stay there.
We can't decide who's an immigrant and who isn't. I recently read an article about a woman who was denied her Medicare benefits because she couldn't prove she was a citizen. She was born on a Choctaw reservation. She's a Native American. The tragedy of that far outweighs the irony. It just points the dial at the big I. Ignorance.
I know of a high school that closed down the theatre and arts programs in order to save power during the energy crises of years ago, and yet all the lights blazed for the basketball games.
Our government gives money, not programs but real money, to those who already have it, while it deprives the poor.
"Degrade first the Arts if you'd Mankind Degrade.
Hire Idiots to Paint with cold light & hot shade:
Give high Price for the worst, leave the best in disgrace,
And with Labours of Ignorance fill every place."
(William Blake)
That's the end of my rant for the day, but I've already got one foot in the stirrup. I'm outta here!
DB - The Vagabond
******************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
1 response so far
I await your answer.
DB
******************************
Armenian proverb
**********************
Ignorance is doom. It is a danger to our future that so many people desire to grasp and possessively defend their own mental invariance about things. And it is even more frightening when whole groups of people become mesmerized by the nonsense they hear from their leaders. One gang calls people who disagree with them a gang. People would rather be on a race track which goes nowhere than on a highway which does.
In Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" the Spirit of Christmas Present displays two desperate children to Scrooge who wants to know who they are.
"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both,
and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy,
for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the
writing be erased."
(Charles Dickens)
This is no idle warning. It is ignorance, which is the direct result of nonthinking and that which supports nonthinking. And why do so many people support this ignorance? Why is it even applauded in some quarters? Why is there so much suspicion of those who are trying to fray the enemies of progress? Because people don't want to know the truth. It upsets them.
I have said this before and I am saying it again. When the World Trade Center was destroyed the US Government went immediately to work forming a commission to determine how it happened. But there wasn't a single penny spent on a commission to determine WHY it happened. The government is still behind the screen on that one. Now people don't want American Muslims to build a mosque near where it happened because a group of Asian Muslims destroyed it.
One of our popular journalists, I won't name him, was interviewing an American Muslim who was just about to explain why he said that he understood the motives behind the terrorist attacks when the journalist called him a traitor and shut him off. He didn't want to know the truth.
We proudly proclaim that the United States is the best nation in the world and that our living standards are higher than other countries, and then we expect the people who live in those countries to stay there.
We can't decide who's an immigrant and who isn't. I recently read an article about a woman who was denied her Medicare benefits because she couldn't prove she was a citizen. She was born on a Choctaw reservation. She's a Native American. The tragedy of that far outweighs the irony. It just points the dial at the big I. Ignorance.
I know of a high school that closed down the theatre and arts programs in order to save power during the energy crises of years ago, and yet all the lights blazed for the basketball games.
Our government gives money, not programs but real money, to those who already have it, while it deprives the poor.
"Degrade first the Arts if you'd Mankind Degrade.
Hire Idiots to Paint with cold light & hot shade:
Give high Price for the worst, leave the best in disgrace,
And with Labours of Ignorance fill every place."
(William Blake)
That's the end of my rant for the day, but I've already got one foot in the stirrup. I'm outta here!
DB - The Vagabond
******************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
1 response so far
I await your answer.
DB
******************************
Saturday, January 1, 2011
A New Year
'"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
John Keats
****************************
Early last summer an acquaintance prophesied without a doubt that I would be bed ridden in six months. That was six months ago. Well, don't invite me to go disco dancing or to run a marathon, but I stand, I walk, I climb three flights of stairs every day and I carry my own grocery bags. I'm not bragging. I'm just notifying.
-----------------------------------------------
Any sure seeker of Truth must carry a two edged sword with which to decapitate all the evils that would prevent finding Truth. Why must we approach the darkness as warriors? Why must we prove ourselves worthy of the light? Why were we born just human in this box of ignorance from which we have to claw, punch and kick our way out? That is the Gordian Knot, the existential maze I still find myself in after 7 decades of planetary life.
I have a lot of books sitting around, I haven't counted them but there are a lot. They all have paper clips marking pages because they have all been opened and partially read. There are amazing beings tucked in the pages of a book. But something tells me that all the wisdom, all the literature one needs in order to know Truth can be found on a single page. But who can find that page? And having found it, who can read it? And having read it, who can understand it? And having understood it, who can explain it?
Is Keats right? Some think so, others don't. Perhaps it's not a great idea to settle for a simple statement, "Truth is beauty, beauty truth" with out analyzing what is meant by those titles. But that brings one back to seeking the meaning of Truth and hence Truth itself.
It has been said that darkness is the absence of light, Is, therefore, ignorance the absence of wisdom?
There is something very perplexing to me about this idea. I observed the recent
eclipse of the moon. While the light of the moon seemed to come and go, it was merely shadow. Darkness is therefore just shadow. The stronger the light the greater the shadow. Light comes and goes but not darkness. Take away the light and the darkeners remains. Does that mean darkness is the natural state, only temporarily erased by the coming of light. The sun's rays temporarily blocked by the earth cast a shadow on the face of the moon. But the moon has no light of its own, it is only reflected light. So the earth was only blocking off from the surface of the moon the sun's own reflected light. If there was no light of the sun, the moon would be dark all the time.
The theory is that light dispels darkness, but darkness does not dispel light.
Nature knows nothing of Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, New Year's Day or any of the other celebrations of us just humans. Nature knows nothing of our calendars. It has no relationship to the number 2011. All that nature was involved in were the equinox and the eclipse of the moon. But the eclipse signified that the suns reflected light from the moon was eclipsed by the shadow of the earth. Is that a case in which light was dispelled by darkness?
When you see a newborn baby screw up it's face into a terrible grimace and cry in desperate rage, is it because it has been taken out of the soft darkness of the womb into the blinding light of so called reality? And does it then need to claw, punch and kick it's way into acceptance?
Is it true that darkness is the natural state of the universe? And if so, is ignorance the natural state of us just humans?
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
John Keats
****************************
Early last summer an acquaintance prophesied without a doubt that I would be bed ridden in six months. That was six months ago. Well, don't invite me to go disco dancing or to run a marathon, but I stand, I walk, I climb three flights of stairs every day and I carry my own grocery bags. I'm not bragging. I'm just notifying.
-----------------------------------------------
Any sure seeker of Truth must carry a two edged sword with which to decapitate all the evils that would prevent finding Truth. Why must we approach the darkness as warriors? Why must we prove ourselves worthy of the light? Why were we born just human in this box of ignorance from which we have to claw, punch and kick our way out? That is the Gordian Knot, the existential maze I still find myself in after 7 decades of planetary life.
I have a lot of books sitting around, I haven't counted them but there are a lot. They all have paper clips marking pages because they have all been opened and partially read. There are amazing beings tucked in the pages of a book. But something tells me that all the wisdom, all the literature one needs in order to know Truth can be found on a single page. But who can find that page? And having found it, who can read it? And having read it, who can understand it? And having understood it, who can explain it?
Is Keats right? Some think so, others don't. Perhaps it's not a great idea to settle for a simple statement, "Truth is beauty, beauty truth" with out analyzing what is meant by those titles. But that brings one back to seeking the meaning of Truth and hence Truth itself.
It has been said that darkness is the absence of light, Is, therefore, ignorance the absence of wisdom?
There is something very perplexing to me about this idea. I observed the recent
eclipse of the moon. While the light of the moon seemed to come and go, it was merely shadow. Darkness is therefore just shadow. The stronger the light the greater the shadow. Light comes and goes but not darkness. Take away the light and the darkeners remains. Does that mean darkness is the natural state, only temporarily erased by the coming of light. The sun's rays temporarily blocked by the earth cast a shadow on the face of the moon. But the moon has no light of its own, it is only reflected light. So the earth was only blocking off from the surface of the moon the sun's own reflected light. If there was no light of the sun, the moon would be dark all the time.
The theory is that light dispels darkness, but darkness does not dispel light.
Nature knows nothing of Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, New Year's Day or any of the other celebrations of us just humans. Nature knows nothing of our calendars. It has no relationship to the number 2011. All that nature was involved in were the equinox and the eclipse of the moon. But the eclipse signified that the suns reflected light from the moon was eclipsed by the shadow of the earth. Is that a case in which light was dispelled by darkness?
When you see a newborn baby screw up it's face into a terrible grimace and cry in desperate rage, is it because it has been taken out of the soft darkness of the womb into the blinding light of so called reality? And does it then need to claw, punch and kick it's way into acceptance?
Is it true that darkness is the natural state of the universe? And if so, is ignorance the natural state of us just humans?
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
What's Your Opinion?
Holding an opinion which is in fact correct, without being able to give a reason for it, is neither true knowledge nor ignorance
Plato
***********************
You've heard the remark "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." To those suffering from ignorance it is a comforting thought. There is no crime in trying to be right without the basic knowledge and even though one misses the mark most of the time at least to aim at it is worthy.
But some people simply play lottery with knowledge, taking for granted that something is true because one heard it somewhere or because one thinks of it oneself. People will aggressively hold on to and defend an opinion for many reasons. One of them is so they won't appear stupid. There are those who will ridicule you if you don't know the answer to something. I used to get that treatment a lot when I was growing up. It took me most of my life to accept the idea that "I don't know" is a legitimate answer to something. It seemed to me there was no compassion for ignorance anywhere in the world.
Having incorrect facts is another reason for holding an opinion. One's opinion may be correct but it's based on wrong information. You take the right road for all the wrong reasons but you get there anyway.
Another type of opinion defender has nothing to do with reasons or knowledge of the facts. It's based on a hunch, intuition, a gut reaction. Someone expresses an opinion as if it was a fact. When you ask him why he thins tht way he will say "I don't know. I just think it's right." If it turns out that he has one of those stopped clock times, he will be trusting his own guts instead of the truth of things.
Given the reasons for opinion building as stated above and many others, the worst kind of opinion not based on knowledge is the opinion we might have of another person. We re frequently put in a position of having to make a value judgment about someone else for some reason. Maybe we are interviewing them for a job, or deciding if we want to see them socially, or if we want to buy something from them or sell it to them. Without living someone else's life we can't possible know everything we need to know about them to make the correct assessment. So it is very important how we frame an opinion about that person and we must avoid doing it superficially by the way they look or the sound of their voice. I've served on juries and it was usually very difficult to figure out who was lying and who was telling the truth. I pity the poor judge who has to do that day in and day out.
Thee is an ocean of difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is curable.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Plato
***********************
You've heard the remark "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." To those suffering from ignorance it is a comforting thought. There is no crime in trying to be right without the basic knowledge and even though one misses the mark most of the time at least to aim at it is worthy.
But some people simply play lottery with knowledge, taking for granted that something is true because one heard it somewhere or because one thinks of it oneself. People will aggressively hold on to and defend an opinion for many reasons. One of them is so they won't appear stupid. There are those who will ridicule you if you don't know the answer to something. I used to get that treatment a lot when I was growing up. It took me most of my life to accept the idea that "I don't know" is a legitimate answer to something. It seemed to me there was no compassion for ignorance anywhere in the world.
Having incorrect facts is another reason for holding an opinion. One's opinion may be correct but it's based on wrong information. You take the right road for all the wrong reasons but you get there anyway.
Another type of opinion defender has nothing to do with reasons or knowledge of the facts. It's based on a hunch, intuition, a gut reaction. Someone expresses an opinion as if it was a fact. When you ask him why he thins tht way he will say "I don't know. I just think it's right." If it turns out that he has one of those stopped clock times, he will be trusting his own guts instead of the truth of things.
Given the reasons for opinion building as stated above and many others, the worst kind of opinion not based on knowledge is the opinion we might have of another person. We re frequently put in a position of having to make a value judgment about someone else for some reason. Maybe we are interviewing them for a job, or deciding if we want to see them socially, or if we want to buy something from them or sell it to them. Without living someone else's life we can't possible know everything we need to know about them to make the correct assessment. So it is very important how we frame an opinion about that person and we must avoid doing it superficially by the way they look or the sound of their voice. I've served on juries and it was usually very difficult to figure out who was lying and who was telling the truth. I pity the poor judge who has to do that day in and day out.
Thee is an ocean of difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is curable.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Rest Me
Life is strenuous no matter how young you are. Yesterday I took a day off, no writing, no painting. I hope it doesn't become a habit.
I spent 5 hours on the front porch reading. There were no visitors except some desperate geriatric mosquitos.
Part of my exhaustion and need to rest comes from a deep feeling of sadness and disgust with what's happening in my country. I can't remember a time when there was such overt bigotry and ignorance. I was in high school during the McCarthy era. Then it was supposedly the Russians who were going to take over America. Now it's the Muslims. The Russians never would and the Muslims never will. No one can take over America unless we give it away. The Russians are now our friends. And if we deny the Muslims their rights we might as well tear up the Constitution.
I am not at peace, not at rest. Ignorance will not win the battle, I know that. But the fact that it is so apparent and so loud hurts my heart.
DB
************************
************************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
Here we go.
A man is walking down the street and comes upon a store that sells coconuts. He goes in and buys half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. When he gets home his wife shakes her head and wonders what she's going to do with all those coconuts.
He gets an idea and goes out and buys a bottle of rum. But on the way he passes the same store with the coconuts, goes in and buys half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. When he gets home his wife has opened one of the coconuts and is ready to make a nice cocktail with the juice.
The man is so delighted that he goes out again and buys half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. Upon returning home he finds his wife has made them some delicious rum and coconut cocktails.
He drinks one which inspires him to go to the store again and buy half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. When he leaves the store that time there are no coconuts left. No one else bought any coconuts. They're all kiwi or papaya freaks or something. Who knows.
Back home he and his wife have a very pleasant evening drinking their rum and coconut cocktails.
"You poot thee rum in thee coconautt and than yoo dahnce cahleepso.
Questions: How many coconuts were there in the store when he went in the first time?
Goog lub.
DB
*******************
I spent 5 hours on the front porch reading. There were no visitors except some desperate geriatric mosquitos.
Part of my exhaustion and need to rest comes from a deep feeling of sadness and disgust with what's happening in my country. I can't remember a time when there was such overt bigotry and ignorance. I was in high school during the McCarthy era. Then it was supposedly the Russians who were going to take over America. Now it's the Muslims. The Russians never would and the Muslims never will. No one can take over America unless we give it away. The Russians are now our friends. And if we deny the Muslims their rights we might as well tear up the Constitution.
I am not at peace, not at rest. Ignorance will not win the battle, I know that. But the fact that it is so apparent and so loud hurts my heart.
DB
************************
************************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
Here we go.
A man is walking down the street and comes upon a store that sells coconuts. He goes in and buys half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. When he gets home his wife shakes her head and wonders what she's going to do with all those coconuts.
He gets an idea and goes out and buys a bottle of rum. But on the way he passes the same store with the coconuts, goes in and buys half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. When he gets home his wife has opened one of the coconuts and is ready to make a nice cocktail with the juice.
The man is so delighted that he goes out again and buys half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. Upon returning home he finds his wife has made them some delicious rum and coconut cocktails.
He drinks one which inspires him to go to the store again and buy half the coconuts in the store plus half a coconut. When he leaves the store that time there are no coconuts left. No one else bought any coconuts. They're all kiwi or papaya freaks or something. Who knows.
Back home he and his wife have a very pleasant evening drinking their rum and coconut cocktails.
"You poot thee rum in thee coconautt and than yoo dahnce cahleepso.
Questions: How many coconuts were there in the store when he went in the first time?
Goog lub.
DB
*******************
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Rude Awakening
Have patience, patience is the key to all relief.
Rumi
*********************
One of the great awakenings that seems to take some people many years to discover is that "I don't know" is a perfectly legitimate answer to a question if it is the correct one. Some people want answers right away and are unwilling to take the time to find them.
In my younger years I was treated with criticism if I didn't know the answers. So I developed a trick of coming up with an answer even if it was a wrong one. It seems it was better to be wrong than to be ignorant. People are afraid of being ignorant. But we are all ignorant about most things. Ignorance and stupidity are not the same thing. Someone once said, ignorance is curable, stupidity is not. A person should not be abused for not knowing something if they haven't had the opportunity to exercise the time, trouble or patience to find out.
There is another truism involved in the matter of ignorance which is that we all know more than we think we do. A quiz show contestant who is under a constraint might not come up with the answer. But if he was given time, without the stress, and with the patience to think about it, he might in fact draw up the answer from the recesses of his mind.
One day I was standing on a New York City subway platform by myself reading a newspaper. A woman approached me and asked if the train stopped at a particular station. I put down the paper and looked ahead to think about it. But in the next breath she said, in a very scornful voice "Well, if you don't know, don't guess."
The NY subway system is very complex and I have lived there most of my life. If she had given me a few moments to think about it I could have drawn up that particular line in my mind and given her an answer. My answer would have been "yes," "no" or "I don't know." But since she decided to be rude about it, I went back to my newspaper. I could have directed her to a map on the subway wall, but she hadn't purchased the right for that.
People deserve their own time and patience. "Why don't you know?" is not the right question. "What do you think?" is. I have seen that work with young high school students when I was training them for a radio program of their own. Without knowing the first thing about broadcasting, they arrived at some remarkably workable ideas. When I queried one boy about it he said "Nobody ever asks us what we think."
We are not "supposed to know" everything about life. It would be very boring if we did. Some problems get solved right away, others take time and some take a long time. But patience is one of the most important tools for getting to the answer of anything.
DB - The Vagabond
*****************
Spring is a-comin' in.
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
20 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Rumi
*********************
One of the great awakenings that seems to take some people many years to discover is that "I don't know" is a perfectly legitimate answer to a question if it is the correct one. Some people want answers right away and are unwilling to take the time to find them.
In my younger years I was treated with criticism if I didn't know the answers. So I developed a trick of coming up with an answer even if it was a wrong one. It seems it was better to be wrong than to be ignorant. People are afraid of being ignorant. But we are all ignorant about most things. Ignorance and stupidity are not the same thing. Someone once said, ignorance is curable, stupidity is not. A person should not be abused for not knowing something if they haven't had the opportunity to exercise the time, trouble or patience to find out.
There is another truism involved in the matter of ignorance which is that we all know more than we think we do. A quiz show contestant who is under a constraint might not come up with the answer. But if he was given time, without the stress, and with the patience to think about it, he might in fact draw up the answer from the recesses of his mind.
One day I was standing on a New York City subway platform by myself reading a newspaper. A woman approached me and asked if the train stopped at a particular station. I put down the paper and looked ahead to think about it. But in the next breath she said, in a very scornful voice "Well, if you don't know, don't guess."
The NY subway system is very complex and I have lived there most of my life. If she had given me a few moments to think about it I could have drawn up that particular line in my mind and given her an answer. My answer would have been "yes," "no" or "I don't know." But since she decided to be rude about it, I went back to my newspaper. I could have directed her to a map on the subway wall, but she hadn't purchased the right for that.
People deserve their own time and patience. "Why don't you know?" is not the right question. "What do you think?" is. I have seen that work with young high school students when I was training them for a radio program of their own. Without knowing the first thing about broadcasting, they arrived at some remarkably workable ideas. When I queried one boy about it he said "Nobody ever asks us what we think."
We are not "supposed to know" everything about life. It would be very boring if we did. Some problems get solved right away, others take time and some take a long time. But patience is one of the most important tools for getting to the answer of anything.
DB - The Vagabond
*****************
Spring is a-comin' in.
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
20 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Knocking On The Noggin
Ignorance is the root of all evil and misconception is its reflection.
Marty Brandel
(Thank you Marty)
***************************
"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy," Charles Dickens
Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise. Thomas Gray
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you're looking for bliss, don't look for it in ignorance. While I don't want to fill my mind with the puss of evil thoughts, it is only wise to know that evil is out there and usually as a result of it being believed in and practiced by some ignorant people.
We have all seen the results of such ignorant behavior. A man will kill another man or do damage to his property because he ignorantly believes he has a right to revenge himself. A woman took a chain saw and cut down a neighbor's tree because it was blocking her view. I read about a man who humiliated his son in the ignorant belief it would teach his son humility. A woman caused a traffic jam because she stopped in an intersection to clean the snow off her windows. Men in blue suits and briefcases go through revolving doors and stop, oblivious of the people behind them. I've seen it happen many times. Other people get to the top or the bottom of an escalator and stop. One can only shake one's head in disbelief over what we humans do.
I made a major move one year to Washington DC. I arrived at my new address with a van full of my belongings at 7:30 Sunday morning. I parked the van on the side of the road and started taking my stuff into my new apartment. A cop came along and told me to move the van, When I asked him why he said that any moment the rush hour traffic would be coming down that road and I would be in the way of it. I told him I chose Sunday morning because I didn't think there would be a rush hour. He gulped. He was caught in has own ignorance. He made me move the van anyway. So I unloaded all of my belongings onto the side walk and put the van in a parking lot. When I returned my belongings were still all there, thankfully. He wasn't.
But Marty also talks about misconception. "I don't know" is a legitimate answer to any question if it's the right answer. Some people seem incapable of saying it, which can cause a lot of serious trouble. The dealings I recently had with the tech support people over my computer problems are a perfect example. I eventually spent well over 40 hours on the telephone, punching this, clicking on that, on the floor unplugging and plugging, straining to understand a difficult accent, when a simple "I don't know" would have gotten me to the person who did know a whole lot sooner. But what was worse was that one of the experts who wouldn't admit to his ignorance forced a totally unnecessary solution on me that destroyed a lot of my files. I am trying not to resent that
We are all ignorant of many things. It is good and proper to know what we know, but it is also only just and kind to know what we don't know and to admit it.
Ignorance is not bliss. Wisdom is not folly.
DB - The Vagabond (teaching my old elves new tricks)
------------------------------------------
Come on, folks we need a question for the Winter Quiz, How about it? If you don't come up with one I may have to invent one myself , And you know what happens when I do that.
1 suggestion so far.
Marty Brandel
(Thank you Marty)
***************************
"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy," Charles Dickens
Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise. Thomas Gray
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you're looking for bliss, don't look for it in ignorance. While I don't want to fill my mind with the puss of evil thoughts, it is only wise to know that evil is out there and usually as a result of it being believed in and practiced by some ignorant people.
We have all seen the results of such ignorant behavior. A man will kill another man or do damage to his property because he ignorantly believes he has a right to revenge himself. A woman took a chain saw and cut down a neighbor's tree because it was blocking her view. I read about a man who humiliated his son in the ignorant belief it would teach his son humility. A woman caused a traffic jam because she stopped in an intersection to clean the snow off her windows. Men in blue suits and briefcases go through revolving doors and stop, oblivious of the people behind them. I've seen it happen many times. Other people get to the top or the bottom of an escalator and stop. One can only shake one's head in disbelief over what we humans do.
I made a major move one year to Washington DC. I arrived at my new address with a van full of my belongings at 7:30 Sunday morning. I parked the van on the side of the road and started taking my stuff into my new apartment. A cop came along and told me to move the van, When I asked him why he said that any moment the rush hour traffic would be coming down that road and I would be in the way of it. I told him I chose Sunday morning because I didn't think there would be a rush hour. He gulped. He was caught in has own ignorance. He made me move the van anyway. So I unloaded all of my belongings onto the side walk and put the van in a parking lot. When I returned my belongings were still all there, thankfully. He wasn't.
But Marty also talks about misconception. "I don't know" is a legitimate answer to any question if it's the right answer. Some people seem incapable of saying it, which can cause a lot of serious trouble. The dealings I recently had with the tech support people over my computer problems are a perfect example. I eventually spent well over 40 hours on the telephone, punching this, clicking on that, on the floor unplugging and plugging, straining to understand a difficult accent, when a simple "I don't know" would have gotten me to the person who did know a whole lot sooner. But what was worse was that one of the experts who wouldn't admit to his ignorance forced a totally unnecessary solution on me that destroyed a lot of my files. I am trying not to resent that
We are all ignorant of many things. It is good and proper to know what we know, but it is also only just and kind to know what we don't know and to admit it.
Ignorance is not bliss. Wisdom is not folly.
DB - The Vagabond (teaching my old elves new tricks)
------------------------------------------
Come on, folks we need a question for the Winter Quiz, How about it? If you don't come up with one I may have to invent one myself , And you know what happens when I do that.
1 suggestion so far.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Natural Nincompoops 8/01/09
You have been given worldly means to use and employ against human ignorance and wrong.
Knute Nelson
*********************
Happy to see you.
---------------------------------
There are two men out west somewhere. One of them did me a serious heartbreaking wrong thus ending a friendship of 20 years. The other one automatically took the first one's side without giving me any explanation for it. I knew from his emails that he didn't know what had happened. I tried to explain to him what had taken place just so he would know, not to turn him against the other guy. The more we communicated, the more adamant he became at not considering or even listening to what I was saying. It was causing me a lot of distress until I heard someone say "You can't win an argument with an ignorant man." Then I relaxed and let it go. It's not up to me alone to heal ignorance.
You can't reason with the unreasonable. You can't educate one who refuses to be educated. You can't convince a person whose mind is closed. You can't turn the lights on in a house that has no lights, You can't argue with an ignorant man.
In "A Christmas Carol" Charles Dickens writes that the Spirit of Christmas Present shows Scrooge two children it has hiding under it's robe.
From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children;
wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt
down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.
'Oh, Man. look here. Look, look, down here.' exclaimed the Ghost.
'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon
them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers.
This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both,
and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy,
for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the
writing be erased.
Beware the ignorant of the world, They are dangerous, They will do wrong. The best we can do is work against human ignorance and wrong, because we can't argue with it.
DB
__________________
Welcome to August.
**********************
Knute Nelson
*********************
Happy to see you.
---------------------------------
There are two men out west somewhere. One of them did me a serious heartbreaking wrong thus ending a friendship of 20 years. The other one automatically took the first one's side without giving me any explanation for it. I knew from his emails that he didn't know what had happened. I tried to explain to him what had taken place just so he would know, not to turn him against the other guy. The more we communicated, the more adamant he became at not considering or even listening to what I was saying. It was causing me a lot of distress until I heard someone say "You can't win an argument with an ignorant man." Then I relaxed and let it go. It's not up to me alone to heal ignorance.
You can't reason with the unreasonable. You can't educate one who refuses to be educated. You can't convince a person whose mind is closed. You can't turn the lights on in a house that has no lights, You can't argue with an ignorant man.
In "A Christmas Carol" Charles Dickens writes that the Spirit of Christmas Present shows Scrooge two children it has hiding under it's robe.
From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children;
wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt
down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.
'Oh, Man. look here. Look, look, down here.' exclaimed the Ghost.
'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon
them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers.
This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both,
and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy,
for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the
writing be erased.
Beware the ignorant of the world, They are dangerous, They will do wrong. The best we can do is work against human ignorance and wrong, because we can't argue with it.
DB
__________________
Welcome to August.
**********************
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tested Truth 6/16/09
Life is a library.
Joe Theismann
***********
Good day to you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ignorance is a terrible thing, but it's curable. Arrogance is also terrible, but much harder to cure, it seems. Some people have a nasty habit, when they learn something new, of acting as if they always knew it and putting down people who don't. I got a lot of that growing up. "You don't know such and such? What's the matter with you/" or "Where have you been?" Those remarks were usually accompanied by a scornful snicker.
"I'm better than you because I know something you don't."
"Well, then tell me and we'll both be better and the world will be a slightly nicer place."
Knowledge is not something worth getting arrogant about. Superior knowledge is nothing compared to a superior life.
"Life is a library." And we are all librarians, The tomes in your life may be different from those in mine, but they are all leading toward the same goal, which is wisdom. There's a saying, "When an old person dies a library burns down."
I like to think of life also as a farm. In our early years the harvest is small and we find we've garnered some useless crops. As we grow so does the farm and we become more careful about what seeds we sew.
As time goes by we gain a better harvest. We learn how to separate the true grain from the regrets, errors, mistakes, hates, rages, prejudices, fears and failures. We sift through what's left and one day we find we have more grain in the silo and more seeds in the bag than we can use. Then it's payback time. Time to provide for the young farmers just learning. Time to open wide the library and share the knowledge, free for all.
As senior citizens we have the right and privilege to do that. A life lived is an obligation to life. We have a sacred stock of wisdom, however great or small, to share with those who are no longer arrogant in their ways.
And that is what Vagabond Journeys is all about.
DB
__________________
May a nice spring breeze tickle your chin and mess up your hair.
*******************************
Joe Theismann
***********
Good day to you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ignorance is a terrible thing, but it's curable. Arrogance is also terrible, but much harder to cure, it seems. Some people have a nasty habit, when they learn something new, of acting as if they always knew it and putting down people who don't. I got a lot of that growing up. "You don't know such and such? What's the matter with you/" or "Where have you been?" Those remarks were usually accompanied by a scornful snicker.
"I'm better than you because I know something you don't."
"Well, then tell me and we'll both be better and the world will be a slightly nicer place."
Knowledge is not something worth getting arrogant about. Superior knowledge is nothing compared to a superior life.
"Life is a library." And we are all librarians, The tomes in your life may be different from those in mine, but they are all leading toward the same goal, which is wisdom. There's a saying, "When an old person dies a library burns down."
I like to think of life also as a farm. In our early years the harvest is small and we find we've garnered some useless crops. As we grow so does the farm and we become more careful about what seeds we sew.
As time goes by we gain a better harvest. We learn how to separate the true grain from the regrets, errors, mistakes, hates, rages, prejudices, fears and failures. We sift through what's left and one day we find we have more grain in the silo and more seeds in the bag than we can use. Then it's payback time. Time to provide for the young farmers just learning. Time to open wide the library and share the knowledge, free for all.
As senior citizens we have the right and privilege to do that. A life lived is an obligation to life. We have a sacred stock of wisdom, however great or small, to share with those who are no longer arrogant in their ways.
And that is what Vagabond Journeys is all about.
DB
__________________
May a nice spring breeze tickle your chin and mess up your hair.
*******************************
Monday, May 18, 2009
Quality Quest 5/18/09
The man who really knows is the man who is always willing to learn.
DB - The Vagabond
***************
Hello, whoever you are.
----------------
No man is more certain of his knowledge and wisdom than an ignorant man. I've known many. In fact, I used to be one myself. No, don't laugh. I was. I was a first rate, award winning, loud mouth dope. Thank goodness those days are over (now you can laugh). Now, of course, I know everything. At least I thought I did until I read a few items in today's paper.
There's a big difference between ignorance and stupidity, Ignorance is a condition that's curable, like youth. Stupidity is forever. I think ignorance comes about because people are afraid of change and challenge, or else they are too old and tired to face them and just want to dig their heels into the ground they know about. What a shame.
A friend's daughter, a school girl, was keeping a journal. She entitled it "Things I learned today." I thought it was a good idea, so I started to keep one of my own. But I divided the entries up into three columns: things I learned today, things I knew but forgot about, and, things I already know. I finally had to give it up because the columns were getting filled up quickly. But it did develop one valuable habit, the habit of seeking out new information, noticing it when it came upon me and comparing it with what I already knew or thought I knew about the topic.
Intellectual curiosity is an exercise that doesn't wear one out much, doesn't require a lot of equipment and isn't likely to cause any bodily harm. Why do people shun it as if it was going to send them up river to the funny farm. "All that reading of books isn't good for the mind."
Some of the women bloggers that I read can talk about what is growing, now that spring is here, outside their houses and in their gardens and I enjoy reading about them even though I don't know one flower from another. I never had the ability or interest to find out. I never lived anywhere where there was an active garden. About flowers I'm ignorant, I admit it (I can't even make a cactus grow), but I admire the people who know about plants and flowers and can write about them in their journals. So keep growing them girls, and keep telling me about it.
In fact, I admire anyone who knows a lot about something that I know little or nothing about, especially when they share their knowledge with me. It means there is always something for me to learn.
I like to have an open, enquiring mind. There are still a lot of mysteries to look into. I finished writing my novel "Brian and Christine" and posted the last entry, yesterday afternoon. Then I took a nap. When I awoke the first thing I said to myself was "Okay, what's next?"
DB
___________
Have a good, happy laugh today.
********************
DB - The Vagabond
***************
Hello, whoever you are.
----------------
No man is more certain of his knowledge and wisdom than an ignorant man. I've known many. In fact, I used to be one myself. No, don't laugh. I was. I was a first rate, award winning, loud mouth dope. Thank goodness those days are over (now you can laugh). Now, of course, I know everything. At least I thought I did until I read a few items in today's paper.
There's a big difference between ignorance and stupidity, Ignorance is a condition that's curable, like youth. Stupidity is forever. I think ignorance comes about because people are afraid of change and challenge, or else they are too old and tired to face them and just want to dig their heels into the ground they know about. What a shame.
A friend's daughter, a school girl, was keeping a journal. She entitled it "Things I learned today." I thought it was a good idea, so I started to keep one of my own. But I divided the entries up into three columns: things I learned today, things I knew but forgot about, and, things I already know. I finally had to give it up because the columns were getting filled up quickly. But it did develop one valuable habit, the habit of seeking out new information, noticing it when it came upon me and comparing it with what I already knew or thought I knew about the topic.
Intellectual curiosity is an exercise that doesn't wear one out much, doesn't require a lot of equipment and isn't likely to cause any bodily harm. Why do people shun it as if it was going to send them up river to the funny farm. "All that reading of books isn't good for the mind."
Some of the women bloggers that I read can talk about what is growing, now that spring is here, outside their houses and in their gardens and I enjoy reading about them even though I don't know one flower from another. I never had the ability or interest to find out. I never lived anywhere where there was an active garden. About flowers I'm ignorant, I admit it (I can't even make a cactus grow), but I admire the people who know about plants and flowers and can write about them in their journals. So keep growing them girls, and keep telling me about it.
In fact, I admire anyone who knows a lot about something that I know little or nothing about, especially when they share their knowledge with me. It means there is always something for me to learn.
I like to have an open, enquiring mind. There are still a lot of mysteries to look into. I finished writing my novel "Brian and Christine" and posted the last entry, yesterday afternoon. Then I took a nap. When I awoke the first thing I said to myself was "Okay, what's next?"
DB
___________
Have a good, happy laugh today.
********************
Monday, March 2, 2009
Weird Ways 3/02/09
One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing.
Morris West
???????????
Here we go.
--------------
One of the strangest places I was ever in was a small city in the Southwest that was built literally in the middle of the desert. There was a road that came into town, but it didn't go through it. I walked to the end of the road and I was on the edge of the city, There was a sidewalk. Houses were built along the side walk. It turned a right angle and there were more houses, with back yards, trees. bushes and children playing in the yards But when you stepped off the sidewalk you stepped immediately into the desert. If you turned your back to the houses all you would see in front of you was desert. I don't remember the name of that city or what state it was in, but I imagine it has expanded out into that desert by now.
I often think of that experience of taking a single step from civilization into wilderness. To me it was the same as taking a step from the safe and known into the dark world of ignorance. Ignorance is not a bad thing. Stupidity is bad, ignorance is not the same thing. When able to admit my ignorance about something, I am poised to step into the wild world of darkness and doubt. If I take that step it could be scary. What some people call foolishness, other people call courage. One has to agree to walk in darkness before one can see the light.
If some did not have the courage to peer into a telescope or a microscope, to crawl around in dark caves or on the ocean floor, or peek into the machinations of the human mind, we wouldn't know anything.
I once visited a Museum of Philosophy. In it there was a computer program that asked me a series of questions about my beliefs and opinions. Then it came up with a list of philosophers whose writings, more or less, conformed to my own philosophy of things. I thought, how nice, I can read the works of great writers who agree with me. I could bask in the easy sunshine of coordinate thinking.
It didn't take but a few days before I became bored with that idea, and went searching out the rare and troublesome works of thinkers who were antagonistic to my easy, sunny, back porch studies and who posed ideas that were difficult to understand and even harder to harmonize with what I thought was true. I began to grapple with new ideas. Some of them were very ancient, but they were new to me. And I found dark and doubtful places in my own thinking that needed to have a microscope trained on them.
Oh, I'm still ignorant. Who isn't? But that part of my vagabond journey has been fascinating, fulfilling and infuriating. And I won't stop until I know something.
DB
---------------------------------
May you hear the silent, distant winds of Spring.
Morris West
???????????
Here we go.
--------------
One of the strangest places I was ever in was a small city in the Southwest that was built literally in the middle of the desert. There was a road that came into town, but it didn't go through it. I walked to the end of the road and I was on the edge of the city, There was a sidewalk. Houses were built along the side walk. It turned a right angle and there were more houses, with back yards, trees. bushes and children playing in the yards But when you stepped off the sidewalk you stepped immediately into the desert. If you turned your back to the houses all you would see in front of you was desert. I don't remember the name of that city or what state it was in, but I imagine it has expanded out into that desert by now.
I often think of that experience of taking a single step from civilization into wilderness. To me it was the same as taking a step from the safe and known into the dark world of ignorance. Ignorance is not a bad thing. Stupidity is bad, ignorance is not the same thing. When able to admit my ignorance about something, I am poised to step into the wild world of darkness and doubt. If I take that step it could be scary. What some people call foolishness, other people call courage. One has to agree to walk in darkness before one can see the light.
If some did not have the courage to peer into a telescope or a microscope, to crawl around in dark caves or on the ocean floor, or peek into the machinations of the human mind, we wouldn't know anything.
I once visited a Museum of Philosophy. In it there was a computer program that asked me a series of questions about my beliefs and opinions. Then it came up with a list of philosophers whose writings, more or less, conformed to my own philosophy of things. I thought, how nice, I can read the works of great writers who agree with me. I could bask in the easy sunshine of coordinate thinking.
It didn't take but a few days before I became bored with that idea, and went searching out the rare and troublesome works of thinkers who were antagonistic to my easy, sunny, back porch studies and who posed ideas that were difficult to understand and even harder to harmonize with what I thought was true. I began to grapple with new ideas. Some of them were very ancient, but they were new to me. And I found dark and doubtful places in my own thinking that needed to have a microscope trained on them.
Oh, I'm still ignorant. Who isn't? But that part of my vagabond journey has been fascinating, fulfilling and infuriating. And I won't stop until I know something.
DB
---------------------------------
May you hear the silent, distant winds of Spring.
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