Am I Ignorant?

I do not think I know what I do not know.

Socrates
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Hello Amiens France
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I don't know but I think the world generally demands more from us humans than we are capable of giving. It seems we are all expected to have ready answers to anything and everything. Books are written and published, lectures are given, interviews are conducted. There are too many authorities around who aren't really authorities at all, but opinion holders abound.

With very little knowledge of facts legislatures pass laws that make no sense. With limited understanding media editors express observations and summaries of important events. And when an interview is conducted, whether in a public forum or on the street, the interviewee is expected to come up with an answer. "How die you feel when such and such happened? What went through your mind...." Etc. Stupid questions which generally elicit very unsatisfactory answers. "Who knows what went through my mind. I don't remember."

On the other hand if you don't come up with an immediate answer the questioner assumes you don't know. The more we live the more data we carry around in our heads, the longer it takes to address the question.

I was standing on a New York City subway platform reading a paper and waiting for the train when a woman approached and asked me if the train stopped at a certain station. I began to draw up the route in my head to see if that station was on the way. But she immediately said scornfully "Well if you don't know, don't guess." In another moment or two I would have given her an answer but since she decided to be rude with me I directed her to a map on the wall midway down the station platform and went back to my paper.

Socrates was the great questioner. Starting from the assumption that he did not know he probed his and other people's minds to find the possible answers. It is a great lesson. I suggest facing the bewildering circumstances of the world with a sturdy backbone of ignorance about most things, asking intelligent questions and waiting for intelligent answers before expressing opinions or taking actions.

DB - The Vagabond
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Never give up.
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

Come on. Picked up another answer. Where's yours?

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

Only 10 responers so far

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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I'm The Joke, Part 2

It's the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.

Max Eastmen
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As I wrote a few issues ago I don't mind being laughed at if I do something really stupid that's funny. In spite of all the disasters we may face there is a lot of humor in life and we should be free to enjoy it, whether the joke is on us or not.

So here is one of the stories I like to tell on myself. It makes me chuckle every time I think of it.

Decades ago a girl friend and I decided to spend a weekend at one of the big resort hotels in the Poconos, here in Pennsylvania. They put us in a nice, comfortable room on the first floor with a good view. It was in a remote part of the hotel, three long hallways from the main area. We settled in and then went exploring.

In the main area we found a spacious dining room with a cafeteria next to it. Just outside and in view from the dining room was a swimming pool. Then there was a grassy hill going down to a lake where there were canoes. Near the lake was a small forest. We went for a long walk in the forest, then took a canoe out into the lake exploring all the edges of it. We had a late dinner in the dining room and retired.

In the morning I woke before she did. I wanted a coffee, but rather than disturb her by calling room service I got dressed, left her a note and walked the length of all those hallways until I got to the cafeteria where I bought a coffee,

Immediately I noticed three grounds keepers out by the pool. They were standing around it and peering into it. One of them had a long pole with which he was pushing at something down in the bottom of the pool. Curious, I went outside to see what they were doing.

At that moment the man with the pole pulled it up out of the water. At the end of it was a net and a frog squirming around in it. Two of the men took the pole with the frog down to the lake to let it out in its natural environment, the other man stayed behind.

Now please bear in mind that I was two sips into my first coffee of the morning and two puffs into my first cigarette. I was not fully awake yet. That is neither an alibi nor an excuse, It is merely a reason.

I asked the man, "How did the frog get into the pool?" He looked me in the eye without the slightest hint of scorn or ridicule in his face or his voice and simply said. "It jumped."

DB
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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
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