Whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world.
The Talmud
********************
Hello Bahrain. The Vagabond wishes you peace.
*********************************
There was another earthquake in Japan today. 2 people died. There are people from Japan and other nations over there trying to rescue the survivors. But we have forgotten about Japan.
There are still desperate, homeless people in Haiti. Some folks are in Haiti trying to rescue the people who need it. But we have forgotten about Haiti.
There are many places in the world where people need rescuing. But we have long ago forgotten about them.
All those stories were replaced by Libya. And now the desperate situation in Libya has all but been replaced by a bunch of ridiculous politicians in Washington who are proposing cutting back on programs that help Americans and some of which will put us in the position of needing to be rescued.
A pathetic attempt to decrease the national debt by taking money away from where it isn't and not looking for it where it is. As these shameful negotiations take the focus away from Japan, Haiti and wherever else in the world the human race is in danger and instead endanger the human American, turning off the lights on our way of life and stalling all forward motion into an improved nation, I am finished having any respect for or trust in the duly elected fools that sit in Congress. Where is the intelligence, where is the morality, where is the humanity, where is the courage, where is the idealism?
It's ironic that we have spent trillions of dollars to keep the world safe for democracy when our own democracy is in danger of becoming a flop. There's a large group in the House of Representatives that doesn't represent the American people. Take any one of these Republican representative and ask him how many poor people he has in his constituency. He probably doesn't' know. But if he does, ask him why he's not out rescuing those people instead of trying to deny them the social programs that help keep them alive.
I wish I were young enough or wealthy enough to be a real vigilante. Albert Schweitzer said "Search and see if there is not some place for you to invest your humanity."
The next person you rescue may be next door, or down the street, in a foreign country or in your own country.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
Here are my answers to the weekly puzzle
Several Saints - A few Good Men
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner - Mutiny On The Bounty
How One Murders An Imitator i To Kill a Mockingbird
Swept Away In A Breeze - Gone With The Wind
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet - Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
What The Flute Makes - The Sound Of Music
The Insects' Messiah - Lord Of The Flies
She Married The Monster - The Bride Of Frankenstein
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring - A Man For All Seasons
The Chimpanzees Live There - Planet Of The Apes
Confessing When Drenched - Singing In The Rain
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately - The Man Who Knew Too Much
Boiling When It's Dark - In the Heat Of The Night
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen - Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Trees Around The Little House - A Cabin In the Woods
Leo's Secret Message - The DaVinci Code
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France - Last Tango In Paris
Country In A Maternity Ward - Birth Of A Nation
Instructions In Stone - The Ten Commandments
Creepy Creatures Aloft - Snakes On A Plane
The Bitch Is Domesticated - The Taming Of The Shrew
There were 3 good sets of answers from Geo, Val and Jeff. Since everyone got at least 5 wrong or missing I'll call it a tie.
Although I did like the answer from Geo for "The Bitch Is Domesticated" - Lassie Come Home.
Thank you for playing. I may try this again, sometime when you're not watching.
DB
********************
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, April 8, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Are You Who You Are?
We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.
Arthur Schopenhauer
************************
Hello Durres, Albania. Have a joyful day.
**************************
It's one thing for an actor to assume a character and convincingly behave as that character for two hours or so. But it's another thing entirely for a person to assume a personality and character of someone they think they are or want to be.
It's fine to try to emulate people, particularly those who have been an inspiration to us, but we can't achieve the level of grace and knowledge expressed by someone else through imitating them. You can't grab a hold of the wagon in the same place someone else has a hold of it. Sooner or later, and too bad if it's later, the mask has to come off and you have to start understanding who you are begin to live that way.
There is another form of false individuality and that's type casting. It may not be a certain individual that you want to copy but a type of person you wish you were. You want to be a tough guy so people won't bother you, so you swagger and talk rough. I once worked with a woman director who was bossy, unpleasant and put up a grand stand about being important. She wasn't really that way. She just thought she should be, to prove herself in a man's world, or something. Amazing pretensions can accompany someone who is trying to be a type of person they aren't.
The most insidious role playing that can happen is when one has a vision of himself which isn't true and tries to fulfill that vision. I once knew a man who tried to convince himself and others that he was a cultured and intellectual gentleman, who read all the world's great literature. The fact was he wasn't, which became obvious if one tried to discuss ideas with him. He was a perfectly fine fellow just as he was. He didn't need the pretension. He didn't need to hide himself from himself. But he had developed a false individuality that he liked and, by golly, he was going to stick to it.
To really understand oneself is a formidable and somewhat impossible task. It doesn't happen over night, but through days of darkness into occasional sun shine. And just as infrequently but just as assuredly the masquerade drips slowly off of us and the real individual emerges. Then we realize to our shock how many years we wasted trying to be someone else.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of the week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Arthur Schopenhauer
************************
Hello Durres, Albania. Have a joyful day.
**************************
It's one thing for an actor to assume a character and convincingly behave as that character for two hours or so. But it's another thing entirely for a person to assume a personality and character of someone they think they are or want to be.
It's fine to try to emulate people, particularly those who have been an inspiration to us, but we can't achieve the level of grace and knowledge expressed by someone else through imitating them. You can't grab a hold of the wagon in the same place someone else has a hold of it. Sooner or later, and too bad if it's later, the mask has to come off and you have to start understanding who you are begin to live that way.
There is another form of false individuality and that's type casting. It may not be a certain individual that you want to copy but a type of person you wish you were. You want to be a tough guy so people won't bother you, so you swagger and talk rough. I once worked with a woman director who was bossy, unpleasant and put up a grand stand about being important. She wasn't really that way. She just thought she should be, to prove herself in a man's world, or something. Amazing pretensions can accompany someone who is trying to be a type of person they aren't.
The most insidious role playing that can happen is when one has a vision of himself which isn't true and tries to fulfill that vision. I once knew a man who tried to convince himself and others that he was a cultured and intellectual gentleman, who read all the world's great literature. The fact was he wasn't, which became obvious if one tried to discuss ideas with him. He was a perfectly fine fellow just as he was. He didn't need the pretension. He didn't need to hide himself from himself. But he had developed a false individuality that he liked and, by golly, he was going to stick to it.
To really understand oneself is a formidable and somewhat impossible task. It doesn't happen over night, but through days of darkness into occasional sun shine. And just as infrequently but just as assuredly the masquerade drips slowly off of us and the real individual emerges. Then we realize to our shock how many years we wasted trying to be someone else.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of the week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Breaking Bread
One of our main reasons for being is to share our music with other people.
Boz Scaggs
**************************
Hello Belem, Brazil. May you have great prosperity.
**************************
A recent reader of my journal, Geo, wrote: "When I read a good poem, I think: how wonderful to share in this extraordinary moment. It puts me in touch with others who feel that way --artists, physicists, puppies."
The desire to share what we have with others is a basic human instinct, I think. But sometimes that instinct is turned away by other negative impulses. The need to hoard what we have for fear of losing it or because we are jealous or suspicious of others. We often come upon people who are not in the receiving mode, and evidence no interest in what we have to share. Sometimes our attempt to share seems to others as an act of egotism. And then there are those who will try to steal what we have and claim it as their own.
Isn't it a shame that those reaction come in the face of one's honest attempt to brighten someone's life by the benevolent action of passing along beauty and goodness however we managed to come by it?
I have faced all of those reactions in my life, both private and professional, and try as I might to become protective and possessive about what I have, I still want to share things with people.
A serious, conscientious performing artist works for many hours alone and with other artists to provide something that is worth sharing. He can't provide it by pushing a button. And when the time comes to present it to others, it is not an act of ego that motivates him, it's an act of love..
I have had my ideas criticized, scorned, rejected and even stolen. I once came up with a better way for a certain radio station to do its news broadcast. I got harsh criticism from the management of the station and was told not to do it that way under any circumstances. Listening to the station about 5 years later I heard it doing the news my way. Why spend any negative energy being angry at that?
Sometimes it can be amusing. One day someone quoted back to me my own statement about something by phrasing it as "an old saying." I thanked him.
I think the main thing I have to do and we all have to do is to be grateful to whomever takes the time and trouble to share something beautiful or beneficial that comes from his own thoughts and his own heart, and to be thankful when we are given the opportunity share what we love, our music, with others.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of the week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Boz Scaggs
**************************
Hello Belem, Brazil. May you have great prosperity.
**************************
A recent reader of my journal, Geo, wrote: "When I read a good poem, I think: how wonderful to share in this extraordinary moment. It puts me in touch with others who feel that way --artists, physicists, puppies."
The desire to share what we have with others is a basic human instinct, I think. But sometimes that instinct is turned away by other negative impulses. The need to hoard what we have for fear of losing it or because we are jealous or suspicious of others. We often come upon people who are not in the receiving mode, and evidence no interest in what we have to share. Sometimes our attempt to share seems to others as an act of egotism. And then there are those who will try to steal what we have and claim it as their own.
Isn't it a shame that those reaction come in the face of one's honest attempt to brighten someone's life by the benevolent action of passing along beauty and goodness however we managed to come by it?
I have faced all of those reactions in my life, both private and professional, and try as I might to become protective and possessive about what I have, I still want to share things with people.
A serious, conscientious performing artist works for many hours alone and with other artists to provide something that is worth sharing. He can't provide it by pushing a button. And when the time comes to present it to others, it is not an act of ego that motivates him, it's an act of love..
I have had my ideas criticized, scorned, rejected and even stolen. I once came up with a better way for a certain radio station to do its news broadcast. I got harsh criticism from the management of the station and was told not to do it that way under any circumstances. Listening to the station about 5 years later I heard it doing the news my way. Why spend any negative energy being angry at that?
Sometimes it can be amusing. One day someone quoted back to me my own statement about something by phrasing it as "an old saying." I thanked him.
I think the main thing I have to do and we all have to do is to be grateful to whomever takes the time and trouble to share something beautiful or beneficial that comes from his own thoughts and his own heart, and to be thankful when we are given the opportunity share what we love, our music, with others.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of the week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Singing With The Rain
I believe in general in a dualism between facts and the idea of those facts in the human head.
George Santayana
********************
Hello Alpine, Arizona. A joyful day to you.
***********************
H: What are you doing out there?
I: Sitting.
H: Can't you see it's raining?
I: Yes
H: Well come inside out of the rain.
I: No.
H: Why not?
I: I'm relaxing.
H: Oh, you're relaxing are you? In the purring rain?
I: Yes.
H; You're going to get wet.
I: Oh I hope so.
H: You want to get soaking wet?
I: Yes.
H: Why?
I: I like the rain.
H: Oh so you're going to sit there until you're soaking wet and then when you come inside where the air conditioner is on you'll catch your death of cold.
I: I'm not coming inside.
H: Why not?
I: I like the rain.
H: I think you're crazy.
I: The rain is a great blanket of beauty, a gift to the earth from the sky. It cleanses the air, it baptizes the ground and awakens the seeds of life within it. It makes a gentle drumming sound on everything it touches.
Each rain drop is like a word, a thought from nature, an idea spread around with other ideas to make a storm of thinking. It writes its poetry on every leaf and blade of grass. It lends its wisdom to my head and mingles itself with my hair and with my heart. And when I tilt my head back it washes my face with joy and energy. It brings remembrances to mind.
It is the music of echoes, of patience and the song of the earth. It lifts up as it lays down, it refreshes the mind as it stirs up the dirt.
When I hold out my hand I change the destiny of a rain drop. I am in the rain, I am at one with the rain, I am the rain.
H: I think you're crazy.
I: I am crazy. I love the rain.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
**************************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
George Santayana
********************
Hello Alpine, Arizona. A joyful day to you.
***********************
H: What are you doing out there?
I: Sitting.
H: Can't you see it's raining?
I: Yes
H: Well come inside out of the rain.
I: No.
H: Why not?
I: I'm relaxing.
H: Oh, you're relaxing are you? In the purring rain?
I: Yes.
H; You're going to get wet.
I: Oh I hope so.
H: You want to get soaking wet?
I: Yes.
H: Why?
I: I like the rain.
H: Oh so you're going to sit there until you're soaking wet and then when you come inside where the air conditioner is on you'll catch your death of cold.
I: I'm not coming inside.
H: Why not?
I: I like the rain.
H: I think you're crazy.
I: The rain is a great blanket of beauty, a gift to the earth from the sky. It cleanses the air, it baptizes the ground and awakens the seeds of life within it. It makes a gentle drumming sound on everything it touches.
Each rain drop is like a word, a thought from nature, an idea spread around with other ideas to make a storm of thinking. It writes its poetry on every leaf and blade of grass. It lends its wisdom to my head and mingles itself with my hair and with my heart. And when I tilt my head back it washes my face with joy and energy. It brings remembrances to mind.
It is the music of echoes, of patience and the song of the earth. It lifts up as it lays down, it refreshes the mind as it stirs up the dirt.
When I hold out my hand I change the destiny of a rain drop. I am in the rain, I am at one with the rain, I am the rain.
H: I think you're crazy.
I: I am crazy. I love the rain.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
**************************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Monday, April 4, 2011
Let The Door Open
Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and unknowable.
Carl Sandburg
*******************
Hello Adelaide, Australia. Have a warm and happy day.
------------------------------------
Every work of art is an announcement, a declaration, the cry of a new born, the rattling of the prison gates, the sound of two stones being smacked together.
Sometimes art is pretty, but it usually isn't meant to be. Sometimes the things that grow out of the ground are pretty, but sometimes they are ugly and they are both doing the same thing for similar reasons.
Art happens because there is something missing, a hole in the fabric, a mess that can only be cleared up by the magical workings of art and the artist as obedient servant. Art is for healing, not the kind of healing the doctor is paid for, but the healing of the rend that separates us from the beatific.
Great art is not a decoration, it is an attack, a challenge, s weapon against all the inanity, pedantry, ignorance and chaos that surrounds the earth and its humans. It is the bird struggling against the library window trying to get out, as Karla Feinzig once wrote about. It is an alarm bell and a beacon shining down on those who are morally corrupt and who aren't smart enough to know it. Those who do know it are lost. Art can't help them.
The poet holds stars in his hand and he flings them one at a time against the door of hope and beauty behind which is the land of truth. One day the door will open.
DB - The Vagabond
*****************************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
2 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Carl Sandburg
*******************
Hello Adelaide, Australia. Have a warm and happy day.
------------------------------------
Every work of art is an announcement, a declaration, the cry of a new born, the rattling of the prison gates, the sound of two stones being smacked together.
Sometimes art is pretty, but it usually isn't meant to be. Sometimes the things that grow out of the ground are pretty, but sometimes they are ugly and they are both doing the same thing for similar reasons.
Art happens because there is something missing, a hole in the fabric, a mess that can only be cleared up by the magical workings of art and the artist as obedient servant. Art is for healing, not the kind of healing the doctor is paid for, but the healing of the rend that separates us from the beatific.
Great art is not a decoration, it is an attack, a challenge, s weapon against all the inanity, pedantry, ignorance and chaos that surrounds the earth and its humans. It is the bird struggling against the library window trying to get out, as Karla Feinzig once wrote about. It is an alarm bell and a beacon shining down on those who are morally corrupt and who aren't smart enough to know it. Those who do know it are lost. Art can't help them.
The poet holds stars in his hand and he flings them one at a time against the door of hope and beauty behind which is the land of truth. One day the door will open.
DB - The Vagabond
*****************************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
2 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Swords Into Plows
The increasing number of the human species that behave well reduces the activity of those humans who try to further their means by war.
Immanuel Kant
***********************
Hello Andorra. May there be peace in your mountains.
************************
I can't tell whether the human race is getting saner or madder. There is a lot of evidence to prove both theories. Some idiots in Florida burn a Quran, a book they've never read, and some other idiots in Afghanistan take revenge by attacking UN workers, who had nothing to do with it.
There are too many people in this world who believe the ancient canard that the way to resolve disagreements, disputes and dangers is by violence But as Isaac Asimov said "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
We have our war machines in place. It used to be called The Department of War, in the days when we needed to be prepared to defend ourselves. Then, in the 40's it became euphemistically called The Department of Defense, and we've been waging war ever since. We are told that those wars are in order to protect our freedoms. We are told that by some whose pockets are benefited by them, and, sad to say, a great many people still believe it. But as Nehru noted "It is the habit of every aggressor nation to claim that it is acting on the defensive."
I don't know if Kant is correct. I want to believe that the human race is producing more and more people who wish to behave in a sane and reasonable manner. If they are there they certainly don't make the news. It's the mad and bad that make the news.
What can one humble senior citizen say to them?
STOP SPENDING MONEY ON WAR.
STOP GIVING TAX BREAKS TO THE WEALTHY.
STOP CUTTNG THE PROGRAMS THAT MAKE LIFE BEARABLE AND ENJOYABLE FOR THE REST OF US.
AND STOP ARGUING ABOUT IT.
(I, for one, am not impressed with you.)
DB - The Vagabond
************************
Puzzle
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
1 entry so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Immanuel Kant
***********************
Hello Andorra. May there be peace in your mountains.
************************
I can't tell whether the human race is getting saner or madder. There is a lot of evidence to prove both theories. Some idiots in Florida burn a Quran, a book they've never read, and some other idiots in Afghanistan take revenge by attacking UN workers, who had nothing to do with it.
There are too many people in this world who believe the ancient canard that the way to resolve disagreements, disputes and dangers is by violence But as Isaac Asimov said "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
We have our war machines in place. It used to be called The Department of War, in the days when we needed to be prepared to defend ourselves. Then, in the 40's it became euphemistically called The Department of Defense, and we've been waging war ever since. We are told that those wars are in order to protect our freedoms. We are told that by some whose pockets are benefited by them, and, sad to say, a great many people still believe it. But as Nehru noted "It is the habit of every aggressor nation to claim that it is acting on the defensive."
I don't know if Kant is correct. I want to believe that the human race is producing more and more people who wish to behave in a sane and reasonable manner. If they are there they certainly don't make the news. It's the mad and bad that make the news.
What can one humble senior citizen say to them?
STOP SPENDING MONEY ON WAR.
STOP GIVING TAX BREAKS TO THE WEALTHY.
STOP CUTTNG THE PROGRAMS THAT MAKE LIFE BEARABLE AND ENJOYABLE FOR THE REST OF US.
AND STOP ARGUING ABOUT IT.
(I, for one, am not impressed with you.)
DB - The Vagabond
************************
Puzzle
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
1 entry so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Discoveries
Contents
Discoveries
Weekly Puzzle
Spring Question
--------------------------------------
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
Carl Sagan
****************
Hello La Paz, Bolivia. May you grow wealthy on good crops.
*******************
I find great pleasure in discovering things, new things, new things about old things and old things I'm rediscovering. That "there is nothing new under the sun" may be true as far as the sun is concerned, but in all the parcels and possibilities of our lives there is a multitude, probably a infinite number, of "new' things, things that have always been there patiently waiting for someone to uncover them.
When I was a lad I was a good swimmer and I liked to dive down to the bottom of Long Island Sound to see what was down there. There was no scuba diving around in those days in that area, so I stayed down for as long as I could hold my breath and brought things up to the surface with me.
I love music and will listen to it for hours appreciating and learning new things about the harmonies, counterpoints and orchestrations. I am learning more all the time about how to listen behind the tones and melodies to find the truth that only music can speak.
At 21 I hitchhiked across the country, from Boston to Los Angeles. I had seen pictures, but I wanted to see for myself what the pictures tried to tell me, to hear, smell and feel the country for myself and to see things that weren't in the pictures. That two week journey was one of the most profound experiences of my life.
In my career as an actor there were always discoveries to be made about the story, the character I was playing, the intricacies of the plot and even about the art of acting. I learned new and improved ways of performing and of communicating the ideas and the realities of human life.
At one time I thought a lot about the act of communication. I took three plays by Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, King Richard the Third and Romeo and Juliet and studied each play carefully to find some statement about human communication. I uncovered some real gems of wisdom in every scene that might be missed in the tumble and passion of performance by an audience and even by the actor himself. I wonder what happened to all those notes. Somehow they fell by the wayside in my vagabond life.
When I began to study at the Art Students League in New York, drawing and painting, I was soon learning amazing things about the human body, the bones, muscles and other organs and seeing them in their metaphorical contexts. I was learning how the body can communicate thoughts and states of mind by its positions and poses, why the muscles looked the way they did and worked the way they did and what the pencil and the paint brush were able to tell me if I listened to them.
Living for a while in New Hampshire I was an avid hiker in the White Mountain National Forest. That gave me the joy of discovering the vast and complex creations of nature and how they related to each other, the riches of rocks, trees, ferns, brooks, wild flowers and wild animals. I think walking softly among those mysteries and imbibing their character was some of the happiest moments of my life.
Now in my senior years my explorations and travels are through the great literature of the world, especially the philosophers. It is a surprising journey because it takes new/old ideas that touch every aspect of our lives from psychology to cosmology.
There are many modern philosophers who simply tread back and forth over the same field and point out the flaws in each other's foot prints. But in every age and nation true thinkers are born. I am looking forward to knowing the next one.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
1 entry so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
Discoveries
Weekly Puzzle
Spring Question
--------------------------------------
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
Carl Sagan
****************
Hello La Paz, Bolivia. May you grow wealthy on good crops.
*******************
I find great pleasure in discovering things, new things, new things about old things and old things I'm rediscovering. That "there is nothing new under the sun" may be true as far as the sun is concerned, but in all the parcels and possibilities of our lives there is a multitude, probably a infinite number, of "new' things, things that have always been there patiently waiting for someone to uncover them.
When I was a lad I was a good swimmer and I liked to dive down to the bottom of Long Island Sound to see what was down there. There was no scuba diving around in those days in that area, so I stayed down for as long as I could hold my breath and brought things up to the surface with me.
I love music and will listen to it for hours appreciating and learning new things about the harmonies, counterpoints and orchestrations. I am learning more all the time about how to listen behind the tones and melodies to find the truth that only music can speak.
At 21 I hitchhiked across the country, from Boston to Los Angeles. I had seen pictures, but I wanted to see for myself what the pictures tried to tell me, to hear, smell and feel the country for myself and to see things that weren't in the pictures. That two week journey was one of the most profound experiences of my life.
In my career as an actor there were always discoveries to be made about the story, the character I was playing, the intricacies of the plot and even about the art of acting. I learned new and improved ways of performing and of communicating the ideas and the realities of human life.
At one time I thought a lot about the act of communication. I took three plays by Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, King Richard the Third and Romeo and Juliet and studied each play carefully to find some statement about human communication. I uncovered some real gems of wisdom in every scene that might be missed in the tumble and passion of performance by an audience and even by the actor himself. I wonder what happened to all those notes. Somehow they fell by the wayside in my vagabond life.
When I began to study at the Art Students League in New York, drawing and painting, I was soon learning amazing things about the human body, the bones, muscles and other organs and seeing them in their metaphorical contexts. I was learning how the body can communicate thoughts and states of mind by its positions and poses, why the muscles looked the way they did and worked the way they did and what the pencil and the paint brush were able to tell me if I listened to them.
Living for a while in New Hampshire I was an avid hiker in the White Mountain National Forest. That gave me the joy of discovering the vast and complex creations of nature and how they related to each other, the riches of rocks, trees, ferns, brooks, wild flowers and wild animals. I think walking softly among those mysteries and imbibing their character was some of the happiest moments of my life.
Now in my senior years my explorations and travels are through the great literature of the world, especially the philosophers. It is a surprising journey because it takes new/old ideas that touch every aspect of our lives from psychology to cosmology.
There are many modern philosophers who simply tread back and forth over the same field and point out the flaws in each other's foot prints. But in every age and nation true thinkers are born. I am looking forward to knowing the next one.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of next week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
1 entry so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
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
******************
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