In order to know what's what you have to read not only between the lines but behind them.
DB
****************
Welcome to my vagabond world.
__________________________
I know what I said. I think I know what I meant by what I said. But I'm not sure if I know why I said it.
I college I took a geology course. We took field trips, and one day we went into someone's backyard to look at a big rock sticking out of the ground. The teacher explained that it was stratified rock, which meant that at some ancient time it was lying flat on the surface of the earth. But this rock was jutting out at an angle.
Then we went miles away to another place and came upon an outcropping of the same rock which was jutting out in the opposite direction. The teacher explained how the earth had buckled and caused the rock to realign itself into a wave and that weather had eroded the higher parts of that wave. He said that there was probably some place where the rock could be found jutting back down into the earth again.
I was impressed by the fact that a geologist could see the shape and movement of that rock even though most of it had eroded away. But I was also fascinated by realizing that the uneroded part of the rock was under the ground. The movement of the earth had caused it to bend into a huge concave arc and that if we dug down deep enough we would find where the rock was at the turn of that arc.
I once attended a lecture on forestry for the general public. It was a talk about trees. A large part of the lecture was about roots. I knew that trees had roots, but I didn't realize to what extent the roots were important to the tree and that depending on the tree, in terms of bulk, some roots are as big as the tree. While the upper part of the tree is sending out shoots and buds, forming leaves and branches and gradually growing taller, the roots are groping their way through the earth, like a bunch of worms looking for sustenance.
Both of those experiences got me thinking about the hidden meaning of things. I began to wonder what was behind, underneath and responsible for things. I also began to apply it to my job as an actor. A piece of dialogue in a script usually has two levels to it. One is what you say and the other is what you really mean, You say "What time will dinner be served?" What you mean is "I'm very hungry."
But then I began to look deeper into the script. I was doing a two character comedy in New York. At one point the other character drops to the floor and has a tantrum, pounding his fists on the stage. I stood watching him. We were in rehearsal and the director wanted to know what I was doing. I said that I was trying to understand his tactic. The actor said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" quoting Freud. I said a cigar is always a cigar but on the stage it means something. I repeated that I was trying to understand the character's tactic at having its fit, but that it did not mean the character knew what it was, It was an eye opener. Can people do something which seems to have no reason, but which in fact does have a reason hidden from the person who's doing it? Of course. It happens all the time. Furthermore, can a person do something for an apparent reason while the real reason is hidden from him? How aware are we of the real reasons we do things?
The birds and squirrels that sit on the branches of the tree are totally unaware of what is going on in the ground underneath that tree. And so are we, in our lives, most of the time.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
__________________
Happy September.
************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
20 responses so far.
DB
Monday, August 31, 2009
Marauding Mirages 8/31/09
The popular notion of an antithesis between appearance and reality has exercised a very powerful influence on scientific and philosophical thought.
Ernst Mach
************************
Welcome, whoever you are.
________________________
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that means all the quotes will be from DB The Vagabond.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you really sure that what you're looking at right now really exists? Are you sure that, if it does exist, that it exists in the form and state in which you see it? Furthermore, are you sure that things you can't see really exists just because you have been told they do?
We know there are atoms because mathematicians and phycisists tell us so. They must exists because, even though they can't be seen, the calculations of all the scientists prove they're there. Ernst Mach, a distinguished 19th and early 20th century physicist and philosopher doubted the existence of atoms. His theories influenced many scientists, including Albert Einstein. If he was right it means revolutionizing the whole practice of chemistry.
There are some current physicists working on a theory which would render an object invisible by refracting all light away from it. So far they have managed to make it transparent. But they're still busy.
That poses another question. Are you sure that just because you can't see something or have any evidence of it that it isn't there? A simple argument of the empiricist would be that if it exists there must be evidence of it somewhere and if no evidence can be found then one has to conclude it doesn't exist, Does that mean if the object is rendered invisible it no longer exist? Well, an interesting side observation those scientists made is that, even though the object is transparent and may become invisible, if their experiments are successful, they can't make its shadow disappear. That brings us to another question. Are we living with the shadows of things that are there even though we can't see them? Are we still in Plato's cave staring at the shadows and not seeing the reality behind us? That's a scary idea.
Unless, perhaps, no matter how grotesque the shadow may be, the invisible reality that casts it is a benevolent thing. But, how do we know? How de we measure or identify the invisible? Only by how it behaves. In other words, how it interacts with things we can observe. Ah, but physicists tell us that the process of observing things makes them change their behavior. Is that also true if we attempt to observe things we can't see? And are the invisible things the ones that are changing the behavior of the visible things? There are metaphysical twists to these questions.
A NASA Astrophysicist was asked if he was depressed by the fact that there are so many unanswered questions. He responded that on the contrary he was excited. I don't like foolish law suits against me, but I don't mind unanswered questions, unfinished business, a little chaos in my life. It reminds me that I always have something to do.
I have books on scientific issues: astrophysics, calculus, anthropology, chaos theory, the philosophy of science, genetics, as well as history, religion, psychology, other subjects of a philosophical nature, a few novels and probably some trash. I dearly wish I could get to Walmart to buy a new desk lamp to replace the one that broke so that I can get on with my reading, like a good boy should.
(What's an actor doing reading books? I thought all actors were dumb.)
I hope you made it over the roots and rocks, in and out of the caves and around the boulders of today's entry. These are subjects that require more thinking and writing about. I also need more studying.
DB Vagabond
______________________
Send a nice juicy blessing out to someone.
*************************************
Ernst Mach
************************
Welcome, whoever you are.
________________________
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that means all the quotes will be from DB The Vagabond.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you really sure that what you're looking at right now really exists? Are you sure that, if it does exist, that it exists in the form and state in which you see it? Furthermore, are you sure that things you can't see really exists just because you have been told they do?
We know there are atoms because mathematicians and phycisists tell us so. They must exists because, even though they can't be seen, the calculations of all the scientists prove they're there. Ernst Mach, a distinguished 19th and early 20th century physicist and philosopher doubted the existence of atoms. His theories influenced many scientists, including Albert Einstein. If he was right it means revolutionizing the whole practice of chemistry.
There are some current physicists working on a theory which would render an object invisible by refracting all light away from it. So far they have managed to make it transparent. But they're still busy.
That poses another question. Are you sure that just because you can't see something or have any evidence of it that it isn't there? A simple argument of the empiricist would be that if it exists there must be evidence of it somewhere and if no evidence can be found then one has to conclude it doesn't exist, Does that mean if the object is rendered invisible it no longer exist? Well, an interesting side observation those scientists made is that, even though the object is transparent and may become invisible, if their experiments are successful, they can't make its shadow disappear. That brings us to another question. Are we living with the shadows of things that are there even though we can't see them? Are we still in Plato's cave staring at the shadows and not seeing the reality behind us? That's a scary idea.
Unless, perhaps, no matter how grotesque the shadow may be, the invisible reality that casts it is a benevolent thing. But, how do we know? How de we measure or identify the invisible? Only by how it behaves. In other words, how it interacts with things we can observe. Ah, but physicists tell us that the process of observing things makes them change their behavior. Is that also true if we attempt to observe things we can't see? And are the invisible things the ones that are changing the behavior of the visible things? There are metaphysical twists to these questions.
A NASA Astrophysicist was asked if he was depressed by the fact that there are so many unanswered questions. He responded that on the contrary he was excited. I don't like foolish law suits against me, but I don't mind unanswered questions, unfinished business, a little chaos in my life. It reminds me that I always have something to do.
I have books on scientific issues: astrophysics, calculus, anthropology, chaos theory, the philosophy of science, genetics, as well as history, religion, psychology, other subjects of a philosophical nature, a few novels and probably some trash. I dearly wish I could get to Walmart to buy a new desk lamp to replace the one that broke so that I can get on with my reading, like a good boy should.
(What's an actor doing reading books? I thought all actors were dumb.)
I hope you made it over the roots and rocks, in and out of the caves and around the boulders of today's entry. These are subjects that require more thinking and writing about. I also need more studying.
DB Vagabond
______________________
Send a nice juicy blessing out to someone.
*************************************
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Weekend Puzzle
Weekend Puzzle
Song
Difficulty level 4 with a parachute.
Hint: This one is about people.
You folks had me jumping today until about 2 p.m. But you did good.
The winner and retainer of the crown Salemslot9 of the Blogspot Tigers.
Second place went to Paula of the Email Lions.
Third place to Sienna of the Email Lions.
Fourth place - Alaina of the Tigers
Fifth - Janice of the Tigers
Answer
5 winners .
P A R D O N/ M E/ P R E T T Y/ B A B Y,/
D O N' T/ I/ LO O K/ F A M I L I A R/ T O/ Y O U?
L Y R I C/ B Y/ R A Y/ K L A G E S/
A N D/ J A C K/ M E S K I L L;/
M U S I C/ BY / V I N C E N T/ R O S E
I had never heard of this song until I received a CD from my friend and former employer in Maine. He aired some programs about Jazz on his station and sent me a few. On one of them is this song recorded many years ago by Herald Arlen. Arlen was the composer of all the songs from The Wizard of Oz. He also wrote hundreds of other songs including Stormy Weather and The Man That Got Away. I never knew that he had started out in the early days as a singer. But now I have a recording of him singing this song.
DB
Song
Difficulty level 4 with a parachute.
Hint: This one is about people.
You folks had me jumping today until about 2 p.m. But you did good.
The winner and retainer of the crown Salemslot9 of the Blogspot Tigers.
Second place went to Paula of the Email Lions.
Third place to Sienna of the Email Lions.
Fourth place - Alaina of the Tigers
Fifth - Janice of the Tigers
Answer
5 winners .
P A R D O N/ M E/ P R E T T Y/ B A B Y,/
D O N' T/ I/ LO O K/ F A M I L I A R/ T O/ Y O U?
L Y R I C/ B Y/ R A Y/ K L A G E S/
A N D/ J A C K/ M E S K I L L;/
M U S I C/ BY / V I N C E N T/ R O S E
I had never heard of this song until I received a CD from my friend and former employer in Maine. He aired some programs about Jazz on his station and sent me a few. On one of them is this song recorded many years ago by Herald Arlen. Arlen was the composer of all the songs from The Wizard of Oz. He also wrote hundreds of other songs including Stormy Weather and The Man That Got Away. I never knew that he had started out in the early days as a singer. But now I have a recording of him singing this song.
DB
Laughable Learning 8/30/09
Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.
Barry LePatner
**********************
A good Sunday to you.
_____________________
Hurry and get your notebook ready because September is coming and that means all the quotes will come from DB, The....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's a good thing human babies are so small. They fall down many times learning how to walk but they don't have far to go.
Why is it, I wonder, that life's lessons must so often come wrapped up in scars, in bruised knees and bumped heads? Why do we have to wring our hands and say things like "When will I ever learn?" It is a simple matter after all. It's arithmetic. If you do this, that happens. If you do this again, that will happen again. What could be more obvious.
This afternoon I boiled an egg. When it was boiled I turned the heat off to let it cool and came back to the computer. After a few minutes I went back to the stove to see if the water was cool enough to take the egg out. I reached into the water to see. Simple science and very reasonable. But I scalded my fingers. You see? says the Physics professor. Ah, but, says the neophyte scientist, how else am I going to tell if the water is cool? Why don't you run some cold water into the pot for awhile, says the professor in a patient but patronizing tone. Oh, I didn't think of that, says the humbled student. You will, next time, assures the Nobel winning professor. But does he? Of course not. How many scalding of the fingers does it take to learn the scientific principle of cooling a hard boiled egg?
Then there's the geometry of preparation and expectation. Why am I in debt? asks the startled student. Because you ran up too many purchases on your credit card, responds the sage professor. Yes, but I was paying off the balance just fine. I didn't expect them to raise my interest rate so high, said the resentful young fellow.
And why not? queries the wily master scientist. Surely you realized you were living on credit and the bank was loaning you that credit and could exact a greater interest charge anytime they wanted to? Yes, but.... And you got your credit cards from banks didn't you? Well, yes, but.... And banks like to make money off of interests on loans and mortgages, right? Yes, I suppose so, but.... Well, if you put this angle with that angle you have a perfect circle with you left out. Yes, I see, well I'll know better next time, the kid assures the professor. We'll see, says the world famous Doctor of Physics.
But now we leave simple math and reach into advanced calculus. How well do you know yourself? How many more times will you skin your knees? How many more times will you put your fingers into the scalding pot? How much more money will you lose to greedy banks or some scam you've bought into? Me, I'm counting up the lessons learned. But I'm still bumping my head.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Walk under the parasol of peace.
*****************************
Barry LePatner
**********************
A good Sunday to you.
_____________________
Hurry and get your notebook ready because September is coming and that means all the quotes will come from DB, The....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's a good thing human babies are so small. They fall down many times learning how to walk but they don't have far to go.
Why is it, I wonder, that life's lessons must so often come wrapped up in scars, in bruised knees and bumped heads? Why do we have to wring our hands and say things like "When will I ever learn?" It is a simple matter after all. It's arithmetic. If you do this, that happens. If you do this again, that will happen again. What could be more obvious.
This afternoon I boiled an egg. When it was boiled I turned the heat off to let it cool and came back to the computer. After a few minutes I went back to the stove to see if the water was cool enough to take the egg out. I reached into the water to see. Simple science and very reasonable. But I scalded my fingers. You see? says the Physics professor. Ah, but, says the neophyte scientist, how else am I going to tell if the water is cool? Why don't you run some cold water into the pot for awhile, says the professor in a patient but patronizing tone. Oh, I didn't think of that, says the humbled student. You will, next time, assures the Nobel winning professor. But does he? Of course not. How many scalding of the fingers does it take to learn the scientific principle of cooling a hard boiled egg?
Then there's the geometry of preparation and expectation. Why am I in debt? asks the startled student. Because you ran up too many purchases on your credit card, responds the sage professor. Yes, but I was paying off the balance just fine. I didn't expect them to raise my interest rate so high, said the resentful young fellow.
And why not? queries the wily master scientist. Surely you realized you were living on credit and the bank was loaning you that credit and could exact a greater interest charge anytime they wanted to? Yes, but.... And you got your credit cards from banks didn't you? Well, yes, but.... And banks like to make money off of interests on loans and mortgages, right? Yes, I suppose so, but.... Well, if you put this angle with that angle you have a perfect circle with you left out. Yes, I see, well I'll know better next time, the kid assures the professor. We'll see, says the world famous Doctor of Physics.
But now we leave simple math and reach into advanced calculus. How well do you know yourself? How many more times will you skin your knees? How many more times will you put your fingers into the scalding pot? How much more money will you lose to greedy banks or some scam you've bought into? Me, I'm counting up the lessons learned. But I'm still bumping my head.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Walk under the parasol of peace.
*****************************
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Kindness Keys 8/29/09
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
********************************
Hurry and get you note book ready because September is coming and that means all the quotes will be from DB....
____________________________
Last night, while I was asleep, someone came into my apartment and stole the whistle out of my tea kettle. Now, when the water boils, the poor thing just groans.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is the network of friendship that cements civilization together. That has been said by many people in many different ways. And I agree. A good friendship is like a bethel, a safe harbor in the storms of life. A good friend is one who will listen to your grief, fear and rage without being shocked or disgusted. A good friend is one who will allow you to go temporarily crazy without reporting you to the authorities. A good friend is one who will share your joy and be happy that you are happy. A good friend is one who will applaud your success without being envious. A good friend is one who sill prevent you from putting your foot in the bear trap, or will help you get free if you do. A good friend is one who genuinely cares about you.
But one of the oddest phenomena of life is the comfort of strangers when the bad accidents of life happen and the pain is intense, and, at the same time, the unexplained retreat of friends.
I have been searching myself to find those times when I could have been there for a friend and I wasn't. Yes, there were times I could have been a better friend. I'm trying to understand why I wasn't. Did I have some dispute with my friend? So what, we were friends and the trouble transcends any dispute. Was I too lazy to help? I have been able to tax myself to the limit when something was important to me. Was I too self-involved to be of help? Ah, there's a good excuse. I've got my own problems. Why should I bother about anyone else's?
The answer is that we share life, we share breathe, we share the planet. If there is trouble, natural disasters, illness, poverty, meanness, people doing terrible things to other people, it means there is danger on our own doorstep, sitting on our own front porch. If there is one person unlawfully imprisoned our own freedoms are threatened. If there is one pitiful creature suffering cruelty at the hands of some sadist it means we, as a people, are represented in the world by the worst of humanity. If someone is dying and we don't surround them with the comfort of life it is sending them off in a shroud of despair.
In my current anguish I have been graced with an overwhelming gush of sympathy, encouragement, advice and care by many people, some whose names I don't even know. It is the network of friendship that cements civilization together. But how do we define and measure friendship? To protect and defend life is a full time job. It is not for the absent and silent, it is not about philosophy, politics or opinions. It is about having the courage to reach into the fire to rescue someone from it. It is about surrounding the fallen and vulnerable to protect them from harm. It is about rising from the bed of warmth and comfort to provide comfort to the distressed. It is about going out even in the midst of your own darkness to applaud the sun rising in someone's life. It is about marching alongside one who is going into battle against the world's villainy. It is about lifting the other end of the heavy weight of fear without being asked. It is about standing tall, strong and high above everything that pulls people down.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
John Donne
__________________________
Vagabond Journeys
*******************
Martin Luther King, Jr.
********************************
Hurry and get you note book ready because September is coming and that means all the quotes will be from DB....
____________________________
Last night, while I was asleep, someone came into my apartment and stole the whistle out of my tea kettle. Now, when the water boils, the poor thing just groans.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is the network of friendship that cements civilization together. That has been said by many people in many different ways. And I agree. A good friendship is like a bethel, a safe harbor in the storms of life. A good friend is one who will listen to your grief, fear and rage without being shocked or disgusted. A good friend is one who will allow you to go temporarily crazy without reporting you to the authorities. A good friend is one who will share your joy and be happy that you are happy. A good friend is one who will applaud your success without being envious. A good friend is one who sill prevent you from putting your foot in the bear trap, or will help you get free if you do. A good friend is one who genuinely cares about you.
But one of the oddest phenomena of life is the comfort of strangers when the bad accidents of life happen and the pain is intense, and, at the same time, the unexplained retreat of friends.
I have been searching myself to find those times when I could have been there for a friend and I wasn't. Yes, there were times I could have been a better friend. I'm trying to understand why I wasn't. Did I have some dispute with my friend? So what, we were friends and the trouble transcends any dispute. Was I too lazy to help? I have been able to tax myself to the limit when something was important to me. Was I too self-involved to be of help? Ah, there's a good excuse. I've got my own problems. Why should I bother about anyone else's?
The answer is that we share life, we share breathe, we share the planet. If there is trouble, natural disasters, illness, poverty, meanness, people doing terrible things to other people, it means there is danger on our own doorstep, sitting on our own front porch. If there is one person unlawfully imprisoned our own freedoms are threatened. If there is one pitiful creature suffering cruelty at the hands of some sadist it means we, as a people, are represented in the world by the worst of humanity. If someone is dying and we don't surround them with the comfort of life it is sending them off in a shroud of despair.
In my current anguish I have been graced with an overwhelming gush of sympathy, encouragement, advice and care by many people, some whose names I don't even know. It is the network of friendship that cements civilization together. But how do we define and measure friendship? To protect and defend life is a full time job. It is not for the absent and silent, it is not about philosophy, politics or opinions. It is about having the courage to reach into the fire to rescue someone from it. It is about surrounding the fallen and vulnerable to protect them from harm. It is about rising from the bed of warmth and comfort to provide comfort to the distressed. It is about going out even in the midst of your own darkness to applaud the sun rising in someone's life. It is about marching alongside one who is going into battle against the world's villainy. It is about lifting the other end of the heavy weight of fear without being asked. It is about standing tall, strong and high above everything that pulls people down.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
John Donne
__________________________
Vagabond Journeys
*******************
Friday, August 28, 2009
Jaywalking Jive 8/28/09
Will we ever be more than fantasy? Will we ever be sweet reality?
Janita
************************
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that mean all the quotes will be from D....
_______________________________
There's a Yiddish word, chutzpah, that has become popular in some circles. It means nerve, audacity, unmitigated gall. The most graphic example of chutzpah is about the teenage boy who murders his parents, is convicted of the crime and when the moment for sentencing comes asks the judge to be lenient with him because he's an orphan.
Many years ago there was a Candid Camera episode where Woody Allen, before he was famous and recognizable, got on a bus in Manhattan and asked the bus driver to take a different route so that he could get off in front of his apartment building and the bus driver obliged. It was a set up of course. The camera showed the expressions of the other passengers on the bus. One woman kept saying "Boy, have you got one nerve."
One of the strangest quirks of humanity is the belief some people have that they can alter the world to fit their own reality. It is as if the idea of adapting to the world around is not an option or has never really occurred to them. Whenever I see it or hear it, I'm always astonished. It is as if a person is saying what I'm doing is the most important thing in the world and the world has to get out of the way and let me do it. It's an unarguable arrogance.
When I was working as a classical music announcer in New York I would get a phone call about once a month from a woman who wanted me to change the music I was playing because it didn't fit her mood. "You see" she would say "I'm a writer (which she pronounced 'right tah' and that music your playing is not helping me with my work." It was always suggested to her that she buy a record player and play the music she wanted. After that she just hung up. How dare I not understand how important her work was and that I had to change the program of a major market radio station to suit her.
I shouldn't be too judgmental about her, because who knows what kinds of similar fantasies I carry around in my head about myself and my place in the world. Self-importance is a poisonous fruit for anybody to chew upon and, I guess, everyone has it to one degree or another. Let's face it, we are all much more in sync with ourselves and our own lives, moment by moment, than with anyone else's. But there is an extreme fantasy which when entered blinds people to the reality of the rest of the world. That fantasy causes a switch in the brain to flip to the off position.
With the dedicatedly self-important it isn't a matter of not caring what other people think of them. It's worse than that. It's that they don't care about other people at all. It isn't that other people are wrong, it's that they are irrelevant. I saw an actress one day who would not relinquish the only phone in the building to any of us who were standing around waiting to use it because her calls, as she said, were "important."
It's like the person walking down the crowded sidewalk who won't give space to another pedestrian coming the other way. That's chutzpah carried to the bully level. On the highway it becomes road rage. I could site hundreds of examples, great and small, of unnecessary, unjustified, self-righteous audacity. I'm sure you can also. But I'll close with one of my favorite jokes.
A Navy ship is traveling through the ocean at night. The captain is informed that there are lights ahead. He sends a signal saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." An answer comes back saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is angry and sends another message "This is a US Naval Captain. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." But the answer that comes back says "This is an Able Bodied Seaman. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is in a rage. How dare this mere sailor disobey him? He's just about ready to blow the other ship out of the water. But he sends one more signal. "This is a United States Naval Destroyer. Steer your ship immediately 10 degrees to the east." And the answer comes back. "This is a lighthouse. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west."
DB Vagabond Journeys
______________________
Have yourself a peaceful weekend.
I plan to, if I can.
****************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
20 responses so far.
DB
Janita
************************
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that mean all the quotes will be from D....
_______________________________
There's a Yiddish word, chutzpah, that has become popular in some circles. It means nerve, audacity, unmitigated gall. The most graphic example of chutzpah is about the teenage boy who murders his parents, is convicted of the crime and when the moment for sentencing comes asks the judge to be lenient with him because he's an orphan.
Many years ago there was a Candid Camera episode where Woody Allen, before he was famous and recognizable, got on a bus in Manhattan and asked the bus driver to take a different route so that he could get off in front of his apartment building and the bus driver obliged. It was a set up of course. The camera showed the expressions of the other passengers on the bus. One woman kept saying "Boy, have you got one nerve."
One of the strangest quirks of humanity is the belief some people have that they can alter the world to fit their own reality. It is as if the idea of adapting to the world around is not an option or has never really occurred to them. Whenever I see it or hear it, I'm always astonished. It is as if a person is saying what I'm doing is the most important thing in the world and the world has to get out of the way and let me do it. It's an unarguable arrogance.
When I was working as a classical music announcer in New York I would get a phone call about once a month from a woman who wanted me to change the music I was playing because it didn't fit her mood. "You see" she would say "I'm a writer (which she pronounced 'right tah' and that music your playing is not helping me with my work." It was always suggested to her that she buy a record player and play the music she wanted. After that she just hung up. How dare I not understand how important her work was and that I had to change the program of a major market radio station to suit her.
I shouldn't be too judgmental about her, because who knows what kinds of similar fantasies I carry around in my head about myself and my place in the world. Self-importance is a poisonous fruit for anybody to chew upon and, I guess, everyone has it to one degree or another. Let's face it, we are all much more in sync with ourselves and our own lives, moment by moment, than with anyone else's. But there is an extreme fantasy which when entered blinds people to the reality of the rest of the world. That fantasy causes a switch in the brain to flip to the off position.
With the dedicatedly self-important it isn't a matter of not caring what other people think of them. It's worse than that. It's that they don't care about other people at all. It isn't that other people are wrong, it's that they are irrelevant. I saw an actress one day who would not relinquish the only phone in the building to any of us who were standing around waiting to use it because her calls, as she said, were "important."
It's like the person walking down the crowded sidewalk who won't give space to another pedestrian coming the other way. That's chutzpah carried to the bully level. On the highway it becomes road rage. I could site hundreds of examples, great and small, of unnecessary, unjustified, self-righteous audacity. I'm sure you can also. But I'll close with one of my favorite jokes.
A Navy ship is traveling through the ocean at night. The captain is informed that there are lights ahead. He sends a signal saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." An answer comes back saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is angry and sends another message "This is a US Naval Captain. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." But the answer that comes back says "This is an Able Bodied Seaman. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is in a rage. How dare this mere sailor disobey him? He's just about ready to blow the other ship out of the water. But he sends one more signal. "This is a United States Naval Destroyer. Steer your ship immediately 10 degrees to the east." And the answer comes back. "This is a lighthouse. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west."
DB Vagabond Journeys
______________________
Have yourself a peaceful weekend.
I plan to, if I can.
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SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
20 responses so far.
DB
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Instantaneous Ingenuity 8/27/09
Don't be rigid Be flexible with your discipline and disciplined in you flexibility.
DB - The Vagabond
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Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that means all the....
_____________________________
I have three theatre stories for you. Some of you say you like my crazy theatre stories so here goes. But first I want to issue some thank yous. For those of you for whom I have no email address: Alaina, Pacifica, Char, Sarah and, well, you know who you are, let me say how grateful I am for all the kind words of encouragement and support and for the good advice you sent my way during this past distressing week. I appreciate it more than my words can say. Thank you.
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#1 My first theatre story is about my friend Lily, who may be reading this right now. Hi Lily. Actually it's not about Lily herself so much as about how we met. I was hired to do a show at a theatre outside of New York. The transportation to get there was by bus. I knew Lily was also in the show because I had seen the cast list. But we had never met. And although I sort of knew what she looked like I didn't know she was on the same bus.
Our instructions told us to go out behind the theatre when we arrived and into a garden at the back. I was first to enter the back area, Lily followed a few moments later. But there was a New York Times reporter doing a story on the playwright, Joe. He had finished the interview and wanted a picture, some graphic image from the show. Joe thought the Pieta moment in one of the scenes would be best, a moment reminiscent of the famous Pieta statue, the dead Jesus lying across Mary's lap. But the two actors who played that scene weren't there yet so Joe decided that Lily and I could do it instead, So Lily sat down on a stone bench and I draped myself across her lap and that's how we met. And we've been friends ever since.
I still have a copy of that photograph and there is Lily looking appropriately sorrowful and compassionate and there am I looking appropriately dead.
#2 Once, and only once, in my career, way back at the beginning of it, I gave a performance drunk. It was summer, there was a beach party that afternoon and I was having such a good time I didn't realize how much gin I was consuming from the big cooler and the little paper cups. That performance so humiliated me that since that day I have never even gone near a beer or a glass of wine if I had to play that night.
A few years later I was doing a play in Boston, During the second act my character was on stage the whole time while a string of others entered and had scenes with me where they did most of the talking, then left to be immediately followed by another.
One night one of them came in and stuck out his hand for a handshake. That was unusual. A handshake was not part of our scene and it wasn't really appropriate. Neverthelass I reached out and shook his hand. When doing that he pressed a piece of paper into my palm. He continued the scene speaking his long speeches while I carefully opened the paper in a way that was masked from the audience. The paper read "George is drunk". George was the next actor on and he also had long speeches with little interruption from me. We had been running the show for a while and so I knew something of what George's character was supposed to talk about. When George came out he was indeed drunk and quite bewildered. He started to speak and then forgot his line. I asked him questions that triggered his memory all the way through the scene. I don't think we got all the information said that was supposed to be said but we made it to the end of the scene and George got gracefully off the stage. Well, as gracefully as possible. As far as the audience was concerned they probably thought George's character was supposed to be drunk and that the actor was doing an excellent job.
#3 The world of Grand Opera is so well prepared and well rehearsed, with so many people responsible for every detail that nothing can go wrong. Right? Wrong. A noted New York conductor was scheduled to conduct a performance of a French opera called The Tales Of Hoffman. In that opera the tenor role is huge and is the most important role. The conductor arrived early, went to the tenor's dressing room and spent a long time discussing things he wanted to do in the performance: tempi, expression, action and so on. At a half hour before the performance the tenor decided he was too ill to sing the role that night, so they suited up his understudy. Now the conductor went to talk to the understudy about the tempi, expression, action and so forth. Just before it was time to start, the original tenor decided that he was well enough to sing after all, so the conductor went to talk with him briefly to remind him about the tempi, expression, action and so on. Finally it was time to begin so the conductor went to the orchestra pit. But he was unable to start right away because there was some problem back stage and he had to wait for several minutes. But he soon got the signal to begin so he gave the down beat and the orchestra played. But when it came time for the tenor's entrance the one who stepped on stage was a third man the conductor had never seen before and didn't even know his name. He conducted a total stranger through the performance.
These are just three of the crazy theatre stories I have in my catalogue and so does any performer have who has spent a lifetime doing it. They just go to illustrate what the song says "There's no business like show business" thank goodness. I hope you enjoyed them.
DB - Vagabond actor
----------------------------
Make it a summer Thursday to remember fondly.
*********************************
DB - The Vagabond
********************
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that means all the....
_____________________________
I have three theatre stories for you. Some of you say you like my crazy theatre stories so here goes. But first I want to issue some thank yous. For those of you for whom I have no email address: Alaina, Pacifica, Char, Sarah and, well, you know who you are, let me say how grateful I am for all the kind words of encouragement and support and for the good advice you sent my way during this past distressing week. I appreciate it more than my words can say. Thank you.
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#1 My first theatre story is about my friend Lily, who may be reading this right now. Hi Lily. Actually it's not about Lily herself so much as about how we met. I was hired to do a show at a theatre outside of New York. The transportation to get there was by bus. I knew Lily was also in the show because I had seen the cast list. But we had never met. And although I sort of knew what she looked like I didn't know she was on the same bus.
Our instructions told us to go out behind the theatre when we arrived and into a garden at the back. I was first to enter the back area, Lily followed a few moments later. But there was a New York Times reporter doing a story on the playwright, Joe. He had finished the interview and wanted a picture, some graphic image from the show. Joe thought the Pieta moment in one of the scenes would be best, a moment reminiscent of the famous Pieta statue, the dead Jesus lying across Mary's lap. But the two actors who played that scene weren't there yet so Joe decided that Lily and I could do it instead, So Lily sat down on a stone bench and I draped myself across her lap and that's how we met. And we've been friends ever since.
I still have a copy of that photograph and there is Lily looking appropriately sorrowful and compassionate and there am I looking appropriately dead.
#2 Once, and only once, in my career, way back at the beginning of it, I gave a performance drunk. It was summer, there was a beach party that afternoon and I was having such a good time I didn't realize how much gin I was consuming from the big cooler and the little paper cups. That performance so humiliated me that since that day I have never even gone near a beer or a glass of wine if I had to play that night.
A few years later I was doing a play in Boston, During the second act my character was on stage the whole time while a string of others entered and had scenes with me where they did most of the talking, then left to be immediately followed by another.
One night one of them came in and stuck out his hand for a handshake. That was unusual. A handshake was not part of our scene and it wasn't really appropriate. Neverthelass I reached out and shook his hand. When doing that he pressed a piece of paper into my palm. He continued the scene speaking his long speeches while I carefully opened the paper in a way that was masked from the audience. The paper read "George is drunk". George was the next actor on and he also had long speeches with little interruption from me. We had been running the show for a while and so I knew something of what George's character was supposed to talk about. When George came out he was indeed drunk and quite bewildered. He started to speak and then forgot his line. I asked him questions that triggered his memory all the way through the scene. I don't think we got all the information said that was supposed to be said but we made it to the end of the scene and George got gracefully off the stage. Well, as gracefully as possible. As far as the audience was concerned they probably thought George's character was supposed to be drunk and that the actor was doing an excellent job.
#3 The world of Grand Opera is so well prepared and well rehearsed, with so many people responsible for every detail that nothing can go wrong. Right? Wrong. A noted New York conductor was scheduled to conduct a performance of a French opera called The Tales Of Hoffman. In that opera the tenor role is huge and is the most important role. The conductor arrived early, went to the tenor's dressing room and spent a long time discussing things he wanted to do in the performance: tempi, expression, action and so on. At a half hour before the performance the tenor decided he was too ill to sing the role that night, so they suited up his understudy. Now the conductor went to talk to the understudy about the tempi, expression, action and so forth. Just before it was time to start, the original tenor decided that he was well enough to sing after all, so the conductor went to talk with him briefly to remind him about the tempi, expression, action and so on. Finally it was time to begin so the conductor went to the orchestra pit. But he was unable to start right away because there was some problem back stage and he had to wait for several minutes. But he soon got the signal to begin so he gave the down beat and the orchestra played. But when it came time for the tenor's entrance the one who stepped on stage was a third man the conductor had never seen before and didn't even know his name. He conducted a total stranger through the performance.
These are just three of the crazy theatre stories I have in my catalogue and so does any performer have who has spent a lifetime doing it. They just go to illustrate what the song says "There's no business like show business" thank goodness. I hope you enjoyed them.
DB - Vagabond actor
----------------------------
Make it a summer Thursday to remember fondly.
*********************************
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Heavy Hitting 8/26/09
Never bear more than one trouble at a time.
Edward Everett Hale
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Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that means all....
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LOOKING AT THE WORLD THROUGH MUD COLORED GLASSES
I sometimes mention my poor eyesight. Do I have trouble seeing distance or up close? Both. I have bifocals but there is virtually no difference between how I see whether they are on my nose or not. So why do I bother to wear them? Habit.
I think one of the worst things that can happen to any creature is to be stuck; in a trap, in an airplane, in a hateful job, in a destructive relationship. I believe in freedom, but freedom has it's edges. I don't want to be free to hate anyone, or to destroy anything good. For the past week I was stuck in a cave of forced inactivity simply because I was in trouble and didn't know what to do about it. Wrong steps could have taken me deeper into the cave. I was desperate and confused. I wouldn't want to wish that on my worst enemy. I don't know who my worst enemy is, but what I wish on him or her is the severe, painful punishment of enlightenment and freedom from the trap of wrong doing. Seriously. Read this:
"My people are brave and respected, even in the eyes of our enemy, because we as elders have taught them to be proud and to respect everyone and everything around them." Waanatan, 1865, Chief of the Dakota Nation.
Some people I know were scornful and insulting about the distress I was in the past week. It's hard to be respectful of those who scorn and belittle your pain, especially when you remember how you were there for them when their feet were in the stocks. If I had the money I would invite the lawyer who's suing me to lunch and during it I would give him, as respectfully and as gentlemanly as possible, an ethical lesson. And, who knows, if he enjoyed the lunch he might take the lesson to heart. And maybe he could give me a lesson in law.
I think one of the biggest mistakes this country made was to decide to set up NASA in Florida where the weather is volatile. I pity the astronauts who struggle into those bulbous space suits looking like orange Pillsbury dough boys and squirming into the small spacecraft to a cramped, uncomfortable position and then to lie there for three to four hours only to be told to come out again because there's a rain storm somewhere near and they won't be flying. But to dismantle the whole operation and move it to southern California would cost more money than the country has (if it still has any). So we're stuck with having our universe shattering, history making. world discovering space exploration dependant upon the local weather.
I pity the poor airline passengers who are forced to sit on the tarmac for 8 to 10 hours not knowing why or how long they're there. That's an inhuman way to treat people and yet it keeps happening. The muddy minded people who are responsible for doing that to passengers, for whatever legal, technical or administrative reasons they may have, should be re-educated or replaced. There must be provisions at every major airport for getting passengers off an aircraft after an hour of waiting if it isn't about to take off. I don't care how costly and inconvenient it is, these are people I'm talking about, not sacks of mail, fellow human beings. There is no excuse for treating people that way. Even the astronauts are let off the shuttle if it isn't going to fly.
To be stuck in some awful situation without being able to see your way out of it is a nightmare. You might as well be buried alive. I know what I'm saying.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
___________________________
Throw some happiness around.
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PS: Miss Alaina and pacifica62 please see the comment section of my previous entry. Thank you.
Edward Everett Hale
*********************************
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that means all....
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LOOKING AT THE WORLD THROUGH MUD COLORED GLASSES
I sometimes mention my poor eyesight. Do I have trouble seeing distance or up close? Both. I have bifocals but there is virtually no difference between how I see whether they are on my nose or not. So why do I bother to wear them? Habit.
I think one of the worst things that can happen to any creature is to be stuck; in a trap, in an airplane, in a hateful job, in a destructive relationship. I believe in freedom, but freedom has it's edges. I don't want to be free to hate anyone, or to destroy anything good. For the past week I was stuck in a cave of forced inactivity simply because I was in trouble and didn't know what to do about it. Wrong steps could have taken me deeper into the cave. I was desperate and confused. I wouldn't want to wish that on my worst enemy. I don't know who my worst enemy is, but what I wish on him or her is the severe, painful punishment of enlightenment and freedom from the trap of wrong doing. Seriously. Read this:
"My people are brave and respected, even in the eyes of our enemy, because we as elders have taught them to be proud and to respect everyone and everything around them." Waanatan, 1865, Chief of the Dakota Nation.
Some people I know were scornful and insulting about the distress I was in the past week. It's hard to be respectful of those who scorn and belittle your pain, especially when you remember how you were there for them when their feet were in the stocks. If I had the money I would invite the lawyer who's suing me to lunch and during it I would give him, as respectfully and as gentlemanly as possible, an ethical lesson. And, who knows, if he enjoyed the lunch he might take the lesson to heart. And maybe he could give me a lesson in law.
I think one of the biggest mistakes this country made was to decide to set up NASA in Florida where the weather is volatile. I pity the astronauts who struggle into those bulbous space suits looking like orange Pillsbury dough boys and squirming into the small spacecraft to a cramped, uncomfortable position and then to lie there for three to four hours only to be told to come out again because there's a rain storm somewhere near and they won't be flying. But to dismantle the whole operation and move it to southern California would cost more money than the country has (if it still has any). So we're stuck with having our universe shattering, history making. world discovering space exploration dependant upon the local weather.
I pity the poor airline passengers who are forced to sit on the tarmac for 8 to 10 hours not knowing why or how long they're there. That's an inhuman way to treat people and yet it keeps happening. The muddy minded people who are responsible for doing that to passengers, for whatever legal, technical or administrative reasons they may have, should be re-educated or replaced. There must be provisions at every major airport for getting passengers off an aircraft after an hour of waiting if it isn't about to take off. I don't care how costly and inconvenient it is, these are people I'm talking about, not sacks of mail, fellow human beings. There is no excuse for treating people that way. Even the astronauts are let off the shuttle if it isn't going to fly.
To be stuck in some awful situation without being able to see your way out of it is a nightmare. You might as well be buried alive. I know what I'm saying.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
___________________________
Throw some happiness around.
***************************************
PS: Miss Alaina and pacifica62 please see the comment section of my previous entry. Thank you.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday afternoon 8/25/09
The wait goes on. My debt organizers are on the job. Negotiations are underway for the disposal of the law suit, thank goodness, but I have to wait until next Tuesday to learn the results. However I'm feeling a little less burdened after talking with them and getting their advice. Thank you all who have been coming along with me on this difficult journey. Consider yourselves bedecked with diamond tiaras and golden crowns.
DB
DB
Tuesday morning 8/25/09
No doubt there is some solution to this stupid law suit, but it is the uncertainty that is slowly twisting my mind into a knot. I'm waiting to hear something from my debt councilors. I called immediately, was told to send them the papers, which I did, and to expect a response in 4 to 5 days. That was a week ago. It took a few days for the papers to get there. I will call them again this afternoon.
To my critics (and I do have some) let me pose this question. Suppose you were summonsed to appear in court in another town, suppose you don't know the town or where the court is, suppose you have no car, no place to rent one even if you could afford it, no bus route that goes there, no cab company that can take you there and no friendly neighbor willing to drive you there, what would you do?
Can anyone tell me how to block these asinine, insulting Chinese porno sites that keep jumping up into my email? There are two of them and each one is connected to an old entry in one of my other journals. I have to go back into the files in order to delete them and then I send them to the spam folder. But they keep coming.
Once this terrifying law suit is settled and my heart is calm again, I will get back to writing. And I will respond to all of your kind comments. Bless you.
DB
To my critics (and I do have some) let me pose this question. Suppose you were summonsed to appear in court in another town, suppose you don't know the town or where the court is, suppose you have no car, no place to rent one even if you could afford it, no bus route that goes there, no cab company that can take you there and no friendly neighbor willing to drive you there, what would you do?
Can anyone tell me how to block these asinine, insulting Chinese porno sites that keep jumping up into my email? There are two of them and each one is connected to an old entry in one of my other journals. I have to go back into the files in order to delete them and then I send them to the spam folder. But they keep coming.
Once this terrifying law suit is settled and my heart is calm again, I will get back to writing. And I will respond to all of your kind comments. Bless you.
DB
Tuesday early morning
The astronauts didn't make it up. Bad weather. "Stormy weather, just can't get my poor self together. It's raining all the time." Twas a week ago that I got sued. I better get some resolution soon. "I got a right to sing the blues." Blue fool. Oh, Summer! Be nice to me. Send love and joy to my good friends.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday afternoon 8/24/09
No word yet. Went to the market, hard walking. The switch on my reading lamp broke today, unfortunately it broke in the off position. Have been listening to the world's greatest opera, Parsifal, to keep myself sane, while watching the astronauts get ready to lift off early in the morning.
Night time is breathing time.
DB
Night time is breathing time.
DB
Monday morning 8/24/09
No one has rung my bell this morning to give me unpleasant papers. There were no threatening phone calls yesterday. Time is going by. I'm still waiting to hear from my debt managers what to do. The knot in my stomach and the shakes are telling me how much stress I'm under.
DB
DB
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday Evening 8/23/09
With a new week beginning soon I don't know what's going to happen. Indoors or outside, every place seems hostile and dangerous to me now. But I should know by midweek what my next move is, if something else hasn't happened to me.
My main desire is to have this matter settled out of court. One never knows what's going to happen in court. If a judge doesn't like the way I look he could order a freezing of my bank account. I could not survive that.
My main desire is to have this matter settled out of court. One never knows what's going to happen in court. If a judge doesn't like the way I look he could order a freezing of my bank account. I could not survive that.
Sunday afternoon
I must again thank you all for your comments, encouragement, advice and concern.
When things are settled and I am free of this nightmare, when my heart is becalmed once again, I will answer all of you in person.
DB
When things are settled and I am free of this nightmare, when my heart is becalmed once again, I will answer all of you in person.
DB
Sunday morning
That life is better without credit cards seems clear to me now. But life without a car, a telephone and a computer looks attractive to me also. Now I'm getting anonymous comments here and there from Chinese pornography sites. If I ever get my life straightened out maybe I'll go live with the Amish.
DB
DB
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Saturday Night 8/22/09
Another letter from a debt collector, a different one.
Another threatening phone call "Your time is running out" she said.
I feel like I can't breathe right.
DB
Another threatening phone call "Your time is running out" she said.
I feel like I can't breathe right.
DB
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday evening
I await word from my debt management company about the one I have. I know the law firm probably can't get much out of me. I have no assets and no property. But they are doing an excellent job of scaring me. So I wait, but not calmly. DB
Thank yous
I appreciate all the words of encouragement, compassion and advice I've received and once I see my way out of this jungle of fear and pain I will respond to everyone individually, I promise. DB
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Doing time
I feel like a prisoner doing time, sitting, waiting and sweating while the debt consolidation company decides what I should do about the looming court case, in a court I can't even get to. This is frightening me. DB
Gruesome Gains 8/20/09
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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John Kenneth Galbraith
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Fearful Fragments 8/19/09
Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not.
Henry Fielding
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I was jolted out of bed yesterday morning by my very loud door bell. I quickly got dressed, descended the three flights of stairs only to be served some papers by a police officer. It's a law suit. One of the credit card companies to whom I owe money is suing me for over 4 thousand dollars plus lawyers fees.
I doesn't seem to matter to them that I was willing to work out a payment plan and told them so, that I mode good faith payments as I could and that I was perfectly honest with them about my income and expenses. Furthermore all my debts are under debt management and they know that.
I'm sure the issue will get resolved one way or another without my having to go to court, which I couldn't possibly do anyway. I'm not a criminal. I just owe money. The thing is it's just one more piece of unexpected trouble popping up in my life.
Then in the mail I received notice that my last remaining active credit card is cutting me off, even though I have been making regular payments and the balance was coming down.
I frankly fear what is going to happen to me today or tomorrow. I don't even feel secure in my own apartment what with threatening phone calls, police ringing my door bell and awful things coming in the mail.
I thought when I retired that I would be able to paint my pictures, write my stories, keep my journal, read my books and have a peaceful, cultured life. But instead my life is filled up with nasty things that have to be dealt with and there's little time left to enjoy retirement. I feel under attack from all sides, physically, financially, socially and emotionally. My eyesight is getting very poor, it's painful to stagger down the street, This town doesn't have any benches for old folks to sit and rest on along the way. I can't chew my food so I have to be careful what I eat, I'm losing so much weight my clothes don't fit me anymore. It's almost impossible to keep my apartment clean. I have no family. I have no friends near by. I have a malfunctioning computer and I can't get a hold of the tech support people who know anything. I frequently feel I'm living in the wrong place. I don't know how I got here and I don't know where I am. There's no one here who cares about me and no one to help me. In short I have TOO MUCH TROUBLE.
Every time I turn the computer off there's a voice that says "Take care, and don't give up." I sometimes wonder why I don't. I feel at the end of everything. I see no future. This is my future, struggling to keep myself in coffee, milk and peanut butter. I make an entry in my journal every day. Most of the time (today is an exception) they are entries that are meant to entertain, encourage, lighten people's burdens and share my love of life and things. But some days I feel like a hypocrite because my life is such a ruin and the joy I send out is not coming back to me
I keep casting bread on the waters. Some would say I'm a fool. Maybe I am, but even if I am a fool I don't deserve so much grief.
I'm sorry for such a morose, humorless entry, but if I don't do it now and then I'd be crazy. All right, crazier, if you insist.
I'm sorry for the loss of friendships, good people, and not so good, I cared about. I weep for the death of my brother and my sister, and the loss of the rest of my family, both gone and strangers. I mourn the loss of my career which even in the worst times was the world to me. And now, bereft of almost all and staggering under troubles I have to honestly admit to you that I'm an unhappy man.
DB
Henry Fielding
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I was jolted out of bed yesterday morning by my very loud door bell. I quickly got dressed, descended the three flights of stairs only to be served some papers by a police officer. It's a law suit. One of the credit card companies to whom I owe money is suing me for over 4 thousand dollars plus lawyers fees.
I doesn't seem to matter to them that I was willing to work out a payment plan and told them so, that I mode good faith payments as I could and that I was perfectly honest with them about my income and expenses. Furthermore all my debts are under debt management and they know that.
I'm sure the issue will get resolved one way or another without my having to go to court, which I couldn't possibly do anyway. I'm not a criminal. I just owe money. The thing is it's just one more piece of unexpected trouble popping up in my life.
Then in the mail I received notice that my last remaining active credit card is cutting me off, even though I have been making regular payments and the balance was coming down.
I frankly fear what is going to happen to me today or tomorrow. I don't even feel secure in my own apartment what with threatening phone calls, police ringing my door bell and awful things coming in the mail.
I thought when I retired that I would be able to paint my pictures, write my stories, keep my journal, read my books and have a peaceful, cultured life. But instead my life is filled up with nasty things that have to be dealt with and there's little time left to enjoy retirement. I feel under attack from all sides, physically, financially, socially and emotionally. My eyesight is getting very poor, it's painful to stagger down the street, This town doesn't have any benches for old folks to sit and rest on along the way. I can't chew my food so I have to be careful what I eat, I'm losing so much weight my clothes don't fit me anymore. It's almost impossible to keep my apartment clean. I have no family. I have no friends near by. I have a malfunctioning computer and I can't get a hold of the tech support people who know anything. I frequently feel I'm living in the wrong place. I don't know how I got here and I don't know where I am. There's no one here who cares about me and no one to help me. In short I have TOO MUCH TROUBLE.
Every time I turn the computer off there's a voice that says "Take care, and don't give up." I sometimes wonder why I don't. I feel at the end of everything. I see no future. This is my future, struggling to keep myself in coffee, milk and peanut butter. I make an entry in my journal every day. Most of the time (today is an exception) they are entries that are meant to entertain, encourage, lighten people's burdens and share my love of life and things. But some days I feel like a hypocrite because my life is such a ruin and the joy I send out is not coming back to me
I keep casting bread on the waters. Some would say I'm a fool. Maybe I am, but even if I am a fool I don't deserve so much grief.
I'm sorry for such a morose, humorless entry, but if I don't do it now and then I'd be crazy. All right, crazier, if you insist.
I'm sorry for the loss of friendships, good people, and not so good, I cared about. I weep for the death of my brother and my sister, and the loss of the rest of my family, both gone and strangers. I mourn the loss of my career which even in the worst times was the world to me. And now, bereft of almost all and staggering under troubles I have to honestly admit to you that I'm an unhappy man.
DB
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Everlasting Enjoyments 8/18/09
We need to open up the future. We also need to keep everything valuable from the past.
John Easton
***********************
Shalom
__________________
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Once upon a time thee was a great Russian singer named Alexander Kipnis. He was a bass who sang opera and liturgical music. The only recordings of his music were made in Russia and rarely found their way out. But one record some how got to a classical music station I was working for in New York City. It was an old, scratchy record. That was before the days when they learned how to enhance old recordings to remove the background and surface noises. One day the music director scheduled one of the Kipnis songs for my program.
The station had a new general manager, a young man from out of town. He came into the studio while the record was on the air, leaned over and looked at it as it spun around on the turntable and said "Well, we'll have to get rid of that one." I wanted to hide the record in my locker so he couldn't get his hands on it.
To throw out that rare record, with its sublime perfromance, because it was scratchy would be the same as trashing a Rembrandt painting because the surface was soiled, or tossing away the Venus De Milo because she lost her arms, or not performing Shakespeare because it's written in an arcane language that people have trouble understanding.
There are a lot of people who have that attitude. "It's a new world, Let's get rid of the old stuff." It's a good thing to toss out old, worn out ideas and theories, and adopt new ones. But some of those new ideas come from very old sources. People are still quoting Aristotle, for example, and discovering, or rediscovering new ideas.
Today we produce a massive number of things: literature, music, entertainment, inventions and designs. And let's face it, most of it is wrathless junk. It's very difficult to see the treasure from the trash. Thank heaven there are libraries, museums and memories to preserve the best of what has been in order to point the way toward the best of what can be.
DB - The Vagabond
----------------------------
Put a drop of courage in the mix today.
************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
John Easton
***********************
Shalom
__________________
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Once upon a time thee was a great Russian singer named Alexander Kipnis. He was a bass who sang opera and liturgical music. The only recordings of his music were made in Russia and rarely found their way out. But one record some how got to a classical music station I was working for in New York City. It was an old, scratchy record. That was before the days when they learned how to enhance old recordings to remove the background and surface noises. One day the music director scheduled one of the Kipnis songs for my program.
The station had a new general manager, a young man from out of town. He came into the studio while the record was on the air, leaned over and looked at it as it spun around on the turntable and said "Well, we'll have to get rid of that one." I wanted to hide the record in my locker so he couldn't get his hands on it.
To throw out that rare record, with its sublime perfromance, because it was scratchy would be the same as trashing a Rembrandt painting because the surface was soiled, or tossing away the Venus De Milo because she lost her arms, or not performing Shakespeare because it's written in an arcane language that people have trouble understanding.
There are a lot of people who have that attitude. "It's a new world, Let's get rid of the old stuff." It's a good thing to toss out old, worn out ideas and theories, and adopt new ones. But some of those new ideas come from very old sources. People are still quoting Aristotle, for example, and discovering, or rediscovering new ideas.
Today we produce a massive number of things: literature, music, entertainment, inventions and designs. And let's face it, most of it is wrathless junk. It's very difficult to see the treasure from the trash. Thank heaven there are libraries, museums and memories to preserve the best of what has been in order to point the way toward the best of what can be.
DB - The Vagabond
----------------------------
Put a drop of courage in the mix today.
************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Monday, August 17, 2009
Developmental Device 8/17/09
We have the capacity to receive messages from the stars and the songs of the night winds.
Ruth St. Denis
*****************************************
Here I am again
_________________________
Hurry and get your note book read because September is....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Rosetta Stone is a stone tablet from about 200 B.C. It is written in three languages; Greek, the demotic language common to Egypt and Hieroglyphics. It was buried and lost for many centuries until it was discovered by some French soldiers around 1800 in a small town called Rashid, or Rosetta, and taken to France.
People had been trying for several hundred years to decipher the hieroglyphic language. Then in 1822 Jean Francois Champollion discovered the secret by comparing the three languages on the stone and ushered in a whole new field of study.
The Rosetta Stone is almost like a dictionary because the same thing was written in all three languages.
Just as the code for deciphering the Rosetta stone was sitting there in front of scholars for a long time, the marvels of our lives were already there in code for someone to translate them. Though chemists can combine them, physicists define them and engineers build things with them, no one has invented raw materials, basic ore. They sit there waiting to have their secrets discovered.
And so too have the inventions that we use. The concept of the automobile was always there, so was the law of aerodynamics. Breaking the code of human genetics has enabled us to understand and predict human behavior and conditions. We have learned and are still learning to understand the languages of wind, sunlight and water.
The concept of a space ship was always there in it's own special hieroglyphics, it just needed to be translated
I think there are still so many marvels we can expect to find: improved physical ability, mental and intellectual ability, social, economic and political stability, world peace, greater works of art and literature, travel faster than the speed of light, teleportation, translucence, telepathy and increased spirituality. Marvels will continue to appear as if by magic out of nowhere. The Rosetta stones are there. The translation is all.
DB
---------------------------------
May gnomes of joy run across your yard.
___________________________
Stop also test for drinks and dinner. (3, 3, 5)
*****************************
Ruth St. Denis
*****************************************
Here I am again
_________________________
Hurry and get your note book read because September is....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Rosetta Stone is a stone tablet from about 200 B.C. It is written in three languages; Greek, the demotic language common to Egypt and Hieroglyphics. It was buried and lost for many centuries until it was discovered by some French soldiers around 1800 in a small town called Rashid, or Rosetta, and taken to France.
People had been trying for several hundred years to decipher the hieroglyphic language. Then in 1822 Jean Francois Champollion discovered the secret by comparing the three languages on the stone and ushered in a whole new field of study.
The Rosetta Stone is almost like a dictionary because the same thing was written in all three languages.
Just as the code for deciphering the Rosetta stone was sitting there in front of scholars for a long time, the marvels of our lives were already there in code for someone to translate them. Though chemists can combine them, physicists define them and engineers build things with them, no one has invented raw materials, basic ore. They sit there waiting to have their secrets discovered.
And so too have the inventions that we use. The concept of the automobile was always there, so was the law of aerodynamics. Breaking the code of human genetics has enabled us to understand and predict human behavior and conditions. We have learned and are still learning to understand the languages of wind, sunlight and water.
The concept of a space ship was always there in it's own special hieroglyphics, it just needed to be translated
I think there are still so many marvels we can expect to find: improved physical ability, mental and intellectual ability, social, economic and political stability, world peace, greater works of art and literature, travel faster than the speed of light, teleportation, translucence, telepathy and increased spirituality. Marvels will continue to appear as if by magic out of nowhere. The Rosetta stones are there. The translation is all.
DB
---------------------------------
May gnomes of joy run across your yard.
___________________________
Stop also test for drinks and dinner. (3, 3, 5)
*****************************
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Weekend Puzzle answers
WEEKEND PUZZLE
One right ansswer from the master of the Blogspot Tigers Salemslot9 who guessed Froot Loops even though the numbers were wrong. So One autographed show goes out.
OK, here are the answers.
These are clues. The answers are words or phrases. the number of letters and words will appear in paranthesis.
First come your lessons.
Sometimes the clue is simple.
Test thrice Albert. (5) Answer: trial.
test - trial, thrice - tri, Albert is Al (to those who know him well).
The real answer will always appear in the clue, the rest you have to figure out.
It's a state bathing heavy weight. (10) Answer: bathing - washing,
heavy weight - ton. Get it?
Sometimes it's a pun.
Stove top domicile. (4, 2, 3, 5) Home on the range.
That needs no explanation.
Then there are changed spellings, they are usually announced by a word signaling something is wrong.
Coin I put before the wrong deep worm. Centipede. You should have picked up on this by now.
Finally there are inclusions, one word is put inside another, again with a heads up somewhere in the clue. Here's a beauty.
Disorderly around trains, for example, to haul backwards two thirds of art. (9)
Answer: irregular WHAT?!
around trains, for example - around rr goes ie, making irre
haul backwards - lug backwards - gul
2/3 of art - ar
irre gul ar
Hint: Always ignore punctuations. Look for abbreviations.
Now it's your turn.
Whoever wins gets an autographed copy of my shoe.
If you come up with a good one or more for me to solve I'll post it for t'others.
1. Thus on the edge a screwed up miss is egotistical (9) Solipsism
2. Scrape up can, priest. (8) Rasputin
3. Loving me in result over 8 sound. (12) Affectionate
4. Apple flies around cereal. (6, 6) Apologies for this one, the numbers don't fit.
Your excused. It's supposed to be Froot Loops, or Fruit Loops
5. Lying fellows advertising backward town. (9) Mendacity
6. Other side's opinion, short stance. (10) Opposition
Bye.
DB
One right ansswer from the master of the Blogspot Tigers Salemslot9 who guessed Froot Loops even though the numbers were wrong. So One autographed show goes out.
OK, here are the answers.
These are clues. The answers are words or phrases. the number of letters and words will appear in paranthesis.
First come your lessons.
Sometimes the clue is simple.
Test thrice Albert. (5) Answer: trial.
test - trial, thrice - tri, Albert is Al (to those who know him well).
The real answer will always appear in the clue, the rest you have to figure out.
It's a state bathing heavy weight. (10) Answer: bathing - washing,
heavy weight - ton. Get it?
Sometimes it's a pun.
Stove top domicile. (4, 2, 3, 5) Home on the range.
That needs no explanation.
Then there are changed spellings, they are usually announced by a word signaling something is wrong.
Coin I put before the wrong deep worm. Centipede. You should have picked up on this by now.
Finally there are inclusions, one word is put inside another, again with a heads up somewhere in the clue. Here's a beauty.
Disorderly around trains, for example, to haul backwards two thirds of art. (9)
Answer: irregular WHAT?!
around trains, for example - around rr goes ie, making irre
haul backwards - lug backwards - gul
2/3 of art - ar
irre gul ar
Hint: Always ignore punctuations. Look for abbreviations.
Now it's your turn.
Whoever wins gets an autographed copy of my shoe.
If you come up with a good one or more for me to solve I'll post it for t'others.
1. Thus on the edge a screwed up miss is egotistical (9) Solipsism
2. Scrape up can, priest. (8) Rasputin
3. Loving me in result over 8 sound. (12) Affectionate
4. Apple flies around cereal. (6, 6) Apologies for this one, the numbers don't fit.
Your excused. It's supposed to be Froot Loops, or Fruit Loops
5. Lying fellows advertising backward town. (9) Mendacity
6. Other side's opinion, short stance. (10) Opposition
Bye.
DB
Cosmic Capabilities 8/16/09
What is truly permanent in human nature is not any condition in which it once existed and from which it has fallen, rather it is the goal for which and toward which it moves.
Ernst Cassirer
*****************
Happy to see you.
_________________
Hurry and get your note book ready because September....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In his book Anthropology From A Pragmatic Point Of View, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote "Physiological knowledge of man aims at the investigation of what Nature makes of man, whereas pragmatic knowledge of man aims at what man makes, can, or should make of himself as a freely acting being."
What is the destiny of the human race? To blow itself up? Maybe, if the ignorant, bigoted, prejudiced, racist, exclusionist, haters have their way. Some religions will tell you that these are the last days, that judgement day is coming and we're all going to heaven or to hell. But they've been saying that since the Middle Ages. No one is about to push the button to trigger the apocalyptic Armageddon because there is no such button. Life is continuous.
All world religions are in their infancy, and will remain so as long as they worship physiologically, claiming that God sends hurricanes to punish sinners, rushing off to see the face of Jesus in a tree stump or claiming they hear the word of God in their deranged brains.
So what is the destiny of the human race? I am amazed at what has occurred over the past 50 years. Marvels have happened. The rockets that were initially designed to fire nuclear warheads became the ones that sent satellites into outer space. We "beat out spears into pruning hooks."
Now it is being contemplated and designed to land on asteroids, moons and other planets. It will happen during the next 50 years. Like many seniors, I wish I could be around to see it. But there is an even greater achievement to hope for.
As we venture further into outer space a schism is being revealed between what can be described as earthbound mentality and cosmic mentality. We have the opportunity, the obligation, the destiny to look past our purely physiological roots and peer into an infinite intelligence, We can silence the fear, suspicion and superstition that has tethered the human race for centuries and begin to understand what creation is all about. We can challenge the theologians of the future to redefine deity by looking up, not down, forward, not back. We can build better governments. We can discover new science. We can create new forms of art. We can, and will, become citizens of the universe.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
____________________
I wish you an inspiring day.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ernst Cassirer
*****************
Happy to see you.
_________________
Hurry and get your note book ready because September....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In his book Anthropology From A Pragmatic Point Of View, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote "Physiological knowledge of man aims at the investigation of what Nature makes of man, whereas pragmatic knowledge of man aims at what man makes, can, or should make of himself as a freely acting being."
What is the destiny of the human race? To blow itself up? Maybe, if the ignorant, bigoted, prejudiced, racist, exclusionist, haters have their way. Some religions will tell you that these are the last days, that judgement day is coming and we're all going to heaven or to hell. But they've been saying that since the Middle Ages. No one is about to push the button to trigger the apocalyptic Armageddon because there is no such button. Life is continuous.
All world religions are in their infancy, and will remain so as long as they worship physiologically, claiming that God sends hurricanes to punish sinners, rushing off to see the face of Jesus in a tree stump or claiming they hear the word of God in their deranged brains.
So what is the destiny of the human race? I am amazed at what has occurred over the past 50 years. Marvels have happened. The rockets that were initially designed to fire nuclear warheads became the ones that sent satellites into outer space. We "beat out spears into pruning hooks."
Now it is being contemplated and designed to land on asteroids, moons and other planets. It will happen during the next 50 years. Like many seniors, I wish I could be around to see it. But there is an even greater achievement to hope for.
As we venture further into outer space a schism is being revealed between what can be described as earthbound mentality and cosmic mentality. We have the opportunity, the obligation, the destiny to look past our purely physiological roots and peer into an infinite intelligence, We can silence the fear, suspicion and superstition that has tethered the human race for centuries and begin to understand what creation is all about. We can challenge the theologians of the future to redefine deity by looking up, not down, forward, not back. We can build better governments. We can discover new science. We can create new forms of art. We can, and will, become citizens of the universe.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
____________________
I wish you an inspiring day.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Being Bona Fide 8/15/09
The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one.
Joan Baez
********************
Walk with me.
_________________
Hurry and get you note book ready because....
**********************
I never performed for ten thousand people, but I did perform for three thousand one day. When I made my second entrance I was met with an ovation. Being applauded and cheered by three thousand people is a formidable experience let me tell you. I had to wait to begin the second act because they were making such a racket. I could only stand there with my head slightly bowed and with a smile until they were finished.
In the parlance of performing arts there is something knows as "the arc." Whenever there is laughter or applause the performer listens carefully and when it begins to die down is when he goes ahead with the act. He never waits until it is completely done. In comedy that technique is essential,. When you start again they quiet down.
So there I was listening to this crowd, cheering and clapping, waiting for the arc, which seemed to take forever, knowing that they liked me and wanted me to do more for them. That type of experience is the award, the blue ribbon, the crown for having a job and doing it well.
On the other side of that door is the audition, the trial you have to endure, the test you have to pass to get the job. You walk into a room and there may two or three people sitting there but only one of them is going to make the decision about you. That person is not concerned about you, they may have 50 or more other actors who are like you, coming in to read for the same role. Somehow, in the 2 to 5 minutes that you have, you have to convince that person that you may be right for the role, so they will call you back to audition again. Performing for one person, who has your immediate future in his hands is scarier than stepping out in front of thouseands.
When my career picked up and I started getting more work it was because I decided that I wasn't going into an audition to get a job but to put on my show, to entertain people even if it was only one person. I pretended it was a crowd and gave it my all. I enjoyed myself. I was having a good time and directors saw it, knew it and hired me.
It didn't matter if my feet hurt, or if I was hungry, or in debt and desperate for a job. It didn't matter if it was a thousand people, a hundred people or just one, My life as a performer was meant to be enjoyed. And that's how I lived it.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
May the mosquitos turn their backs on you and fly away.
______________________
Joan Baez
********************
Walk with me.
_________________
Hurry and get you note book ready because....
**********************
I never performed for ten thousand people, but I did perform for three thousand one day. When I made my second entrance I was met with an ovation. Being applauded and cheered by three thousand people is a formidable experience let me tell you. I had to wait to begin the second act because they were making such a racket. I could only stand there with my head slightly bowed and with a smile until they were finished.
In the parlance of performing arts there is something knows as "the arc." Whenever there is laughter or applause the performer listens carefully and when it begins to die down is when he goes ahead with the act. He never waits until it is completely done. In comedy that technique is essential,. When you start again they quiet down.
So there I was listening to this crowd, cheering and clapping, waiting for the arc, which seemed to take forever, knowing that they liked me and wanted me to do more for them. That type of experience is the award, the blue ribbon, the crown for having a job and doing it well.
On the other side of that door is the audition, the trial you have to endure, the test you have to pass to get the job. You walk into a room and there may two or three people sitting there but only one of them is going to make the decision about you. That person is not concerned about you, they may have 50 or more other actors who are like you, coming in to read for the same role. Somehow, in the 2 to 5 minutes that you have, you have to convince that person that you may be right for the role, so they will call you back to audition again. Performing for one person, who has your immediate future in his hands is scarier than stepping out in front of thouseands.
When my career picked up and I started getting more work it was because I decided that I wasn't going into an audition to get a job but to put on my show, to entertain people even if it was only one person. I pretended it was a crowd and gave it my all. I enjoyed myself. I was having a good time and directors saw it, knew it and hired me.
It didn't matter if my feet hurt, or if I was hungry, or in debt and desperate for a job. It didn't matter if it was a thousand people, a hundred people or just one, My life as a performer was meant to be enjoyed. And that's how I lived it.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
May the mosquitos turn their backs on you and fly away.
______________________
Friday, August 14, 2009
Adventuresome Advice 8/14/09
If you destroy a bridge, be sure you can swim.
African proverb
********************
We meet again.
---------------------------
Hurry and get your note book ready....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That African proverb reminds me of one from ancient Rome, from the days before motorized transportation, which goes: "When there is no wind, row."
A few days ago I wrote in this journal of how I left a secure and lucrative job as a radio announcer, which I had held for a couple of years, to go back into theatre. The life of an actor, for most of us, is about as secure as being out on the ocean in a row boat with no compass or chart and not knowing where the nearest land is. Nevertheless, that lack of security is the price paid for doing the work we love.
I knew an actor in New York who held down a full time job, working all night for a law firm. He did theatre on a simple level; readings, workshops and showcases. He was a good actor and could have done a lot more. But he refused to give up his regular job because the thought of not having a steady income with all the benefits frightened him. He said the idea of launching himself into the free lance world of an actor gave him a knot in his stomach.
I told him that the knot in the stomach is normal and no worse than stage fright, that one gets used to it and it becomes less as time goes by. I told him that I made as much money as he did, that the union took care of my insurance and that I could save enough money to give myself a vacation every now and then if I wanted to. And finally I asked him if he was going to spend the rest of his life being controlled by fear.
He thought about everything I said but didn't change his mind. The theatre is losing a good actor and he is losing a good career. The poor fellow never tried to learn how to "swim."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
_______________________
Let it be a happy weekend.
-----------------------------
Loving me in result over 8 sound. (12)
***********************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
African proverb
********************
We meet again.
---------------------------
Hurry and get your note book ready....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That African proverb reminds me of one from ancient Rome, from the days before motorized transportation, which goes: "When there is no wind, row."
A few days ago I wrote in this journal of how I left a secure and lucrative job as a radio announcer, which I had held for a couple of years, to go back into theatre. The life of an actor, for most of us, is about as secure as being out on the ocean in a row boat with no compass or chart and not knowing where the nearest land is. Nevertheless, that lack of security is the price paid for doing the work we love.
I knew an actor in New York who held down a full time job, working all night for a law firm. He did theatre on a simple level; readings, workshops and showcases. He was a good actor and could have done a lot more. But he refused to give up his regular job because the thought of not having a steady income with all the benefits frightened him. He said the idea of launching himself into the free lance world of an actor gave him a knot in his stomach.
I told him that the knot in the stomach is normal and no worse than stage fright, that one gets used to it and it becomes less as time goes by. I told him that I made as much money as he did, that the union took care of my insurance and that I could save enough money to give myself a vacation every now and then if I wanted to. And finally I asked him if he was going to spend the rest of his life being controlled by fear.
He thought about everything I said but didn't change his mind. The theatre is losing a good actor and he is losing a good career. The poor fellow never tried to learn how to "swim."
DB - Vagabond Journeys
_______________________
Let it be a happy weekend.
-----------------------------
Loving me in result over 8 sound. (12)
***********************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Zion's Zeal 8/13/09
Selfishness is the only real atheism; unselfishness the only real religion.
Israel Zangwill
*******************
Peace
------------------------------
Hurry and get your note book....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The metaphorical, biblical meaning of Zion is strength. Not the strength of armies, terrorists, mobs or militias. But the inner, spiritual strength of faith, conscience and courage, The rabble that storms town meetings and shouts down the speakers have none of the above. Many of those people will tell you they are religious, and that they are on a divine mission. But they are a selfish, self-righteous lot who have no authority, divine or otherwise. They claim to be a grass roots movement, but they aren't. The roots haven't been heard from.
It seems that every 20 years we have another eruption of outrage over some issue, and it is usually targeted against a liberal government. It is also usually based on misinformation and emotionalism, not on facts and reason. So now we have another one.
What makes it so dangerous is that if this group of ignorant lunatics grows stronger and more numerous there will be revolution. It is written. And if there is, the end result will be a dictatorship. That's history. Then woe to the immigrants and the minorities. There will be violence, people will be killed, cold bloodedness will reign. And who will be the top tyrant? Rush Limbaugh? George Bush? Or, most likely, someone we haven't heard much from lately.
I can only hope that, as with the other hate slinging movements of the past, it will disappear in its own fog or trip itself up on its own stomping boot.
I don't like to write polemics in my journal, but this hunk of morons has me riled.
DB
---------------------
Look for peace and joy.
**************
Apple flies around cereal. (5, 5)
======================================
Israel Zangwill
*******************
Peace
------------------------------
Hurry and get your note book....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The metaphorical, biblical meaning of Zion is strength. Not the strength of armies, terrorists, mobs or militias. But the inner, spiritual strength of faith, conscience and courage, The rabble that storms town meetings and shouts down the speakers have none of the above. Many of those people will tell you they are religious, and that they are on a divine mission. But they are a selfish, self-righteous lot who have no authority, divine or otherwise. They claim to be a grass roots movement, but they aren't. The roots haven't been heard from.
It seems that every 20 years we have another eruption of outrage over some issue, and it is usually targeted against a liberal government. It is also usually based on misinformation and emotionalism, not on facts and reason. So now we have another one.
What makes it so dangerous is that if this group of ignorant lunatics grows stronger and more numerous there will be revolution. It is written. And if there is, the end result will be a dictatorship. That's history. Then woe to the immigrants and the minorities. There will be violence, people will be killed, cold bloodedness will reign. And who will be the top tyrant? Rush Limbaugh? George Bush? Or, most likely, someone we haven't heard much from lately.
I can only hope that, as with the other hate slinging movements of the past, it will disappear in its own fog or trip itself up on its own stomping boot.
I don't like to write polemics in my journal, but this hunk of morons has me riled.
DB
---------------------
Look for peace and joy.
**************
Apple flies around cereal. (5, 5)
======================================
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Yesterdays' Yielding
The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
********************
Yo.
_____________________
Hurry and get your note....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Can our moon change its orbit? Can it leave Earth entirely and orbit around Mars? Can a planet leave its accustomed system and find another star to embrace? Some Astronomers say it has happened. Considering the vastness of the universe, it has probably happened numerous times.
While it is surely a noble thing to dedicate one's life to a worthy enterprise and thus gain knowledge, wisdom and self-respect, I wonder what sort of karma it is that maneuvers someone into making a major life change. I've known it to happen to people. I've written before about two men I knew, one who sold his business to become an opera singer and the other who left the corporate world to become an obstetrician. In both cases it was an act of sacrificing position and security, but it was also a process of discovery. Each man, after having lived for many years a life they thought they wanted, suddenly discovered who they really were and set about to become that person.
I retired as an actor in the summer of 2001. I would joke that my career had become as busy as a rock in a Buddhist temple garden. It wasn't quite true but so it seemed at the time. I had a temporary job as a proofreader for a firm at the most southern point in Manhattan. I worked all night and finished at about 8 a.m. I would take the subway from the South Ferry station uptown to where I lived. The 8:30 train was always crowded because it met the people coming from Staten Island on the ferry. At 8:40 there was another train with fewer people on it. I always waited for that one.
During the middle of August I decided to leave New York and move down to where I live now. I gave my notice and left the job on the Labor Day Weekend. During the next week I packed up and got ready to leave. A friend moved me down here on Sunday September 9th. I spent Monday the 10th unpacking and on Tuesday I went down the street to buy a pack of cigarettes, The TV was on when I walked into the tobacco shop. There were great clouds of smoke being shown and the announcer was saying "What you're seeing is where the World Trade Center used to be."
I was stunned, as were most people. But I was also amazed to realize that if I had still been working at that job I would have been in the subway train right underneath that building when it started coming down. I don't know what the injuries were to those subway riders but I know the train was stalled for hours.
When I told the tobacconist about that, she said it was because there are things I still have to do, that I'm still needed to the world.
That was 8 years ago and I'm still wondering why, how and in what way my life is changing. I don't know what my future is. Every day is a big question mark. My present isn't so good, but maybe that question mark is the star I orbit around now.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***********************
May you find joy in hidden places.
--------------------------------------
A stove top domicile. (4, 2, 3, 5)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
********************
Yo.
_____________________
Hurry and get your note....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Can our moon change its orbit? Can it leave Earth entirely and orbit around Mars? Can a planet leave its accustomed system and find another star to embrace? Some Astronomers say it has happened. Considering the vastness of the universe, it has probably happened numerous times.
While it is surely a noble thing to dedicate one's life to a worthy enterprise and thus gain knowledge, wisdom and self-respect, I wonder what sort of karma it is that maneuvers someone into making a major life change. I've known it to happen to people. I've written before about two men I knew, one who sold his business to become an opera singer and the other who left the corporate world to become an obstetrician. In both cases it was an act of sacrificing position and security, but it was also a process of discovery. Each man, after having lived for many years a life they thought they wanted, suddenly discovered who they really were and set about to become that person.
I retired as an actor in the summer of 2001. I would joke that my career had become as busy as a rock in a Buddhist temple garden. It wasn't quite true but so it seemed at the time. I had a temporary job as a proofreader for a firm at the most southern point in Manhattan. I worked all night and finished at about 8 a.m. I would take the subway from the South Ferry station uptown to where I lived. The 8:30 train was always crowded because it met the people coming from Staten Island on the ferry. At 8:40 there was another train with fewer people on it. I always waited for that one.
During the middle of August I decided to leave New York and move down to where I live now. I gave my notice and left the job on the Labor Day Weekend. During the next week I packed up and got ready to leave. A friend moved me down here on Sunday September 9th. I spent Monday the 10th unpacking and on Tuesday I went down the street to buy a pack of cigarettes, The TV was on when I walked into the tobacco shop. There were great clouds of smoke being shown and the announcer was saying "What you're seeing is where the World Trade Center used to be."
I was stunned, as were most people. But I was also amazed to realize that if I had still been working at that job I would have been in the subway train right underneath that building when it started coming down. I don't know what the injuries were to those subway riders but I know the train was stalled for hours.
When I told the tobacconist about that, she said it was because there are things I still have to do, that I'm still needed to the world.
That was 8 years ago and I'm still wondering why, how and in what way my life is changing. I don't know what my future is. Every day is a big question mark. My present isn't so good, but maybe that question mark is the star I orbit around now.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
***********************
May you find joy in hidden places.
--------------------------------------
A stove top domicile. (4, 2, 3, 5)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Xenophilic Xylograph 8/11/09
You have to be a fool when you're young and get it over with. If you don't, you'll be an old fool.
DB - The Vagabond
******************
Sit back, relax and leave the driving to me
___________________________________
Hurry and get your.....
---------------------------------------------
"There's no fool like an old fool" as the saying goes. I have tried, in a two fisted manner, to wring all foolishness out of myself, but I probably haven't done it quite yet. But as I look back at my life and consider the topic of foolishness I think I see two different kinds of foolishness.
On the one hand I can think about all the stupid things I did and all the smart things I didn't do. I file those in the Department of Regrets and try not to think of them. I will spare you. On the other hand there are things I did, smart or stupid, that those around me would and did call foolish, that I don't regret.
I don't regret setting my alarm to get up very early in the morning to give a cup of hot coffee to a girl coming up out of the subway on a freezing cold winter morning even though I knew there was no hope of a romance with her.
I don't regret renting a car and driving hundreds of miles just to spend a few moments with the woman who eventually married me.
I don't regret shirking an obligation to visit a sick friend in the hospital who was glad to see me.
I don't regret quitting a lucrative and secure job as a radio announcer to re-launch myself on the troubled sea of theatre because the job I had wasn't fulfilling.
I don't regret holding the book to help a famous actor who was desperately trying to learn the lines of a Broadway show he was taking on, even though I was scratching to make a living.
I don't regret going out of my way, when I was in a hurry, to retrieve the ball a young boy had lost over the fence of a playground.
I don't regret stepping out into the middle of the street and directing traffic to break up a traffic jam when there were no police around, even though I had no authority to do it.
I don't regret cutting my own fingers to rescue a dog stuck in a barbed wire fence.
Come to think of it, I've done a lot of "foolish" things in my life. So now I'm an old fool, I guess. Would I do any of those foolish things again? Try me.
DB
***************
May you find a treasure you didn't know you had.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Other side's opinion, short stance. (10)
DB - The Vagabond
******************
Sit back, relax and leave the driving to me
___________________________________
Hurry and get your.....
---------------------------------------------
"There's no fool like an old fool" as the saying goes. I have tried, in a two fisted manner, to wring all foolishness out of myself, but I probably haven't done it quite yet. But as I look back at my life and consider the topic of foolishness I think I see two different kinds of foolishness.
On the one hand I can think about all the stupid things I did and all the smart things I didn't do. I file those in the Department of Regrets and try not to think of them. I will spare you. On the other hand there are things I did, smart or stupid, that those around me would and did call foolish, that I don't regret.
I don't regret setting my alarm to get up very early in the morning to give a cup of hot coffee to a girl coming up out of the subway on a freezing cold winter morning even though I knew there was no hope of a romance with her.
I don't regret renting a car and driving hundreds of miles just to spend a few moments with the woman who eventually married me.
I don't regret shirking an obligation to visit a sick friend in the hospital who was glad to see me.
I don't regret quitting a lucrative and secure job as a radio announcer to re-launch myself on the troubled sea of theatre because the job I had wasn't fulfilling.
I don't regret holding the book to help a famous actor who was desperately trying to learn the lines of a Broadway show he was taking on, even though I was scratching to make a living.
I don't regret going out of my way, when I was in a hurry, to retrieve the ball a young boy had lost over the fence of a playground.
I don't regret stepping out into the middle of the street and directing traffic to break up a traffic jam when there were no police around, even though I had no authority to do it.
I don't regret cutting my own fingers to rescue a dog stuck in a barbed wire fence.
Come to think of it, I've done a lot of "foolish" things in my life. So now I'm an old fool, I guess. Would I do any of those foolish things again? Try me.
DB
***************
May you find a treasure you didn't know you had.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Other side's opinion, short stance. (10)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wondrous Wishing 8/10/09
Love ought to be a struggle of desire toward adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul.
Rebecca West
*******************
Good Monday to you.
---------------------------
Hurry and get....
___________________________
St. Paul wrote "The love of money is the root of all evil." George Bernard Shaw wrote "The lack of money is the root of all evil." Both of those remarks mean the same thing. We desire what we lack and need, or what we think we do, and that desire is one kind of love. So what's so evil about it?
Whenever I was booked into a new town, after I was shown my quarters, I had to find 2 things. 1 the nearest ATM and 2 the nearest grocery store. That way my creature comforts would be taken care of and I could start thinking about the job. My real desire was to work on the play I was hired to do and not much else, so I didn't want anything else to get in the way of that, such as running out of coffee.
The desire for money is one of the fundamental facts of our existence. Without money we can't live and prosper. So naturally money is an item on everyone's wish list. The problem, the evil, comes when people stop there. "I want to be wealthy." Okay, Zap! you're wealthy. Now what?
Growing up poor I never developed the middle class man's respect for money. I saw survival happen without any. And since there was no money around to think about, my love went toward a different kind of wealth. Music, art, literature, ideas, people became my investments.
Don't get me wrong, financial security is a great thing and I was glad whenever I had any. But I'm also glad my upbringing allowed me to think beyond that. Some people stop with money. They desire more money and it keeps going until they have more wealth than they can use or deserve.
The really great adventures in life are dangerous, they require risks, not financial risks but personal risks. Exploration, discovery, development of great ideas, romance in its highest sense, creation of joy and beauty, dwelling out on the cusp of human ingenuity and knowledge, learning to understand oneself, gaining wisdom and imparting it, finding and demonstrating man's highest noble capabilities. That's love.
DB -Vagabond Journeys
-------------------------
May the summer critters all be nice to you.
_______________________________
Lying fellows advertising backward town. (9)
Rebecca West
*******************
Good Monday to you.
---------------------------
Hurry and get....
___________________________
St. Paul wrote "The love of money is the root of all evil." George Bernard Shaw wrote "The lack of money is the root of all evil." Both of those remarks mean the same thing. We desire what we lack and need, or what we think we do, and that desire is one kind of love. So what's so evil about it?
Whenever I was booked into a new town, after I was shown my quarters, I had to find 2 things. 1 the nearest ATM and 2 the nearest grocery store. That way my creature comforts would be taken care of and I could start thinking about the job. My real desire was to work on the play I was hired to do and not much else, so I didn't want anything else to get in the way of that, such as running out of coffee.
The desire for money is one of the fundamental facts of our existence. Without money we can't live and prosper. So naturally money is an item on everyone's wish list. The problem, the evil, comes when people stop there. "I want to be wealthy." Okay, Zap! you're wealthy. Now what?
Growing up poor I never developed the middle class man's respect for money. I saw survival happen without any. And since there was no money around to think about, my love went toward a different kind of wealth. Music, art, literature, ideas, people became my investments.
Don't get me wrong, financial security is a great thing and I was glad whenever I had any. But I'm also glad my upbringing allowed me to think beyond that. Some people stop with money. They desire more money and it keeps going until they have more wealth than they can use or deserve.
The really great adventures in life are dangerous, they require risks, not financial risks but personal risks. Exploration, discovery, development of great ideas, romance in its highest sense, creation of joy and beauty, dwelling out on the cusp of human ingenuity and knowledge, learning to understand oneself, gaining wisdom and imparting it, finding and demonstrating man's highest noble capabilities. That's love.
DB -Vagabond Journeys
-------------------------
May the summer critters all be nice to you.
_______________________________
Lying fellows advertising backward town. (9)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Weekend Puzzle Answer
WEEKEND PUZZLE ANSWER
Splish Splash
Below is a list of waters. Your mission was to tell me which one of them does not belong on this list and why.
Only one winner - the amazing Salemslot9 of the Blogspot Tigers.
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Bering Sea
Bristol Bay
Buzzards Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Delaware Bay
Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Mexico
Hudson Bay
Lake Erie
Lake Huron
Lake Michigan
Lake Ontario
Lake Superior
Long Island Sound
Massachusetts Bay
Pacific Ocean
The answer? Hudson Bay.
Why? All the rest border the United States.
Splish Splash
Below is a list of waters. Your mission was to tell me which one of them does not belong on this list and why.
Only one winner - the amazing Salemslot9 of the Blogspot Tigers.
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Bering Sea
Bristol Bay
Buzzards Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Delaware Bay
Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Mexico
Hudson Bay
Lake Erie
Lake Huron
Lake Michigan
Lake Ontario
Lake Superior
Long Island Sound
Massachusetts Bay
Pacific Ocean
The answer? Hudson Bay.
Why? All the rest border the United States.
Variable Views 8/09/09
Art and works of art do not make an artist, sense and enthusiasm and instinct do.
Friedrich Von Schlegel
***********************
Welcome to my briar patch.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hurry and....
------------------------------------
The other day I had a brief conversation with a woman out on the sidewalk We don't know each other well but during our chat she asked "Are you an artist?" When I said "Yes" I thought about the paintings and drawings in my apartment, but I also wondered what there was about me that would cause her to think, in those few short moments of talking with me, that I'm an artist.
While I lived in New York City I had the privilege of studying with some excellent teachers. One of them was an inspiring old curmudgeon named Marshall Glazier. He had us drawing the model life size, on a piece of shelf paper, with a can of ink and a pen shaped bamboo stick. When I first entered the class I thought it was silly because there is nothing permanent about rolls of shelf paper, nothing to show what I've learned. But I soon got into the process and discovered that the act of drawing was the instruction. It brought out in me the invisible things about art, the things Von Schlegel speaks of.
Given the right surface an artist can make a beautiful drawing with a mud puddle and a stick. A sculptor can make a work of art out of some stones and a hammer. There was a street drummer in New York who played with his drum sticks on the mail boxes and parking meters. I think of the most primitive examples of the artist's output: cave paintings, scrimshaw, poems written on the walls of prison cells, an actor's audition.
Fortunately for the world, artists have a vast amount of materials to work with these days. But tools are just what they are, tools to use. The tools do not make the art. They rely on the imagination of the artist to use them. They rely on the artist's "sense and enthusiasm and instinct" to know how to use them, and so does the artist.
Now, when I work on a painting, I start with an idea, apply my sense, enthusiasm and instinct, the invisible things, the truly creative things of my being and let the process of painting tell me where to go and what to do. It's the same with writing. They are complimentary sports.
DB
__________________
Be a cool breeze for someone today.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Test thrice Albert. (5)
**************************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
Splish Splash - this one'e easy.
Below is a list of waters. Your mission is to tell me which one of them does not belong on this list and why.
1 right answer so far.
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Bering Sea
Bristol Bay
Buzzards Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Delaware Bay
Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Mexico
Hudson Bay
Lake Erie
Lake Huron
Lake Michigan
Lake Ontario
Lake Superior
Long Island Sound
Massachusetts Bay
Pacific Ocean
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
Friedrich Von Schlegel
***********************
Welcome to my briar patch.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hurry and....
------------------------------------
The other day I had a brief conversation with a woman out on the sidewalk We don't know each other well but during our chat she asked "Are you an artist?" When I said "Yes" I thought about the paintings and drawings in my apartment, but I also wondered what there was about me that would cause her to think, in those few short moments of talking with me, that I'm an artist.
While I lived in New York City I had the privilege of studying with some excellent teachers. One of them was an inspiring old curmudgeon named Marshall Glazier. He had us drawing the model life size, on a piece of shelf paper, with a can of ink and a pen shaped bamboo stick. When I first entered the class I thought it was silly because there is nothing permanent about rolls of shelf paper, nothing to show what I've learned. But I soon got into the process and discovered that the act of drawing was the instruction. It brought out in me the invisible things about art, the things Von Schlegel speaks of.
Given the right surface an artist can make a beautiful drawing with a mud puddle and a stick. A sculptor can make a work of art out of some stones and a hammer. There was a street drummer in New York who played with his drum sticks on the mail boxes and parking meters. I think of the most primitive examples of the artist's output: cave paintings, scrimshaw, poems written on the walls of prison cells, an actor's audition.
Fortunately for the world, artists have a vast amount of materials to work with these days. But tools are just what they are, tools to use. The tools do not make the art. They rely on the imagination of the artist to use them. They rely on the artist's "sense and enthusiasm and instinct" to know how to use them, and so does the artist.
Now, when I work on a painting, I start with an idea, apply my sense, enthusiasm and instinct, the invisible things, the truly creative things of my being and let the process of painting tell me where to go and what to do. It's the same with writing. They are complimentary sports.
DB
__________________
Be a cool breeze for someone today.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Test thrice Albert. (5)
**************************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
Splish Splash - this one'e easy.
Below is a list of waters. Your mission is to tell me which one of them does not belong on this list and why.
1 right answer so far.
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Bering Sea
Bristol Bay
Buzzards Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Delaware Bay
Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Mexico
Hudson Bay
Lake Erie
Lake Huron
Lake Michigan
Lake Ontario
Lake Superior
Long Island Sound
Massachusetts Bay
Pacific Ocean
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Undertaken Use
What I am doing today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
Unknown
*************
Howdy
------------------
Hurry....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It seems odd to think of one's days in terms of a balance sheet, but in a way that's what it is. You wake up in the morning with an asset, your day, and you face a liability, what you have to do in that day. What you do may be all kinds of fun (I hope so), but whatever it is it's still going to cost you a day of your life. But the amazing part is that after you've spent your day doing whatever you did to fulfill your liability and retired for the night, while you're asleep life deposits another day into your account.
Sometimes the day is spent doing some refreshing, invigorating and inspiring activity. Other days are exchanged for grimy, grunt work. But those days should be spent clearing up liabilities and balancing the books for a pleasanter day.
Probably the most tedious work an actor has to do is memorizing his lines. Some younger actors will waste time sitting with a new script and a yellow or similar colored felt pen and highlight his lines. I used to waste time with a red pen and a ruler and underline them. After many years of doing that I just drew a vertical line in the margin next to the speech. And finally, as I grew more confident, I drew no lines at all.
For some actors, the first thing they do when they get a new script is to count their lines. I counted pages. I saw how many days I had until I had to know the script and divided the script up into days. Let's say I had to learn 8 pages a day. Whether I had a few lines on those 8 pages or a lot of lines or none, those pages were part of my liability for the day and I didn't worry about the next 8 pages until the next day. Whatever occurred on those pages, both my words and other character's words was my main concern and it was part of the overall objective of knowing the role and the play. But each day spent correcting the balance sheet was also time spent preparing for the final joyous objective/liability of performing the play,
Now I look back at my life and ask: "Was what I did important?" The answer is: It must have been, because I spent the grand asset of my life doing it.
DB
__________________
If you go out this weekend, have one for me.
-----------------------------------------------
It's a state bathing heavy weight. (10)
-------------------------------------------
WEEKEND PUZZLE
(There were no winners of last week's Weekend Puzzle, I'm sorry to say.)
Splish Splash - this one'e easy.
Below is a list of waters. Your mission is to tell me which one of them does not belong on this list and why.
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Bering Sea
Bristol Bay
Buzzards Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Delaware Bay
Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Mexico
Hudson Bay
Lake Erie
Lake Huron
Lake Michigan
Lake Ontario
Lake Superior
Long Island Sound
Massachusetts Bay
Pacific Ocean
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
Unknown
*************
Howdy
------------------
Hurry....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It seems odd to think of one's days in terms of a balance sheet, but in a way that's what it is. You wake up in the morning with an asset, your day, and you face a liability, what you have to do in that day. What you do may be all kinds of fun (I hope so), but whatever it is it's still going to cost you a day of your life. But the amazing part is that after you've spent your day doing whatever you did to fulfill your liability and retired for the night, while you're asleep life deposits another day into your account.
Sometimes the day is spent doing some refreshing, invigorating and inspiring activity. Other days are exchanged for grimy, grunt work. But those days should be spent clearing up liabilities and balancing the books for a pleasanter day.
Probably the most tedious work an actor has to do is memorizing his lines. Some younger actors will waste time sitting with a new script and a yellow or similar colored felt pen and highlight his lines. I used to waste time with a red pen and a ruler and underline them. After many years of doing that I just drew a vertical line in the margin next to the speech. And finally, as I grew more confident, I drew no lines at all.
For some actors, the first thing they do when they get a new script is to count their lines. I counted pages. I saw how many days I had until I had to know the script and divided the script up into days. Let's say I had to learn 8 pages a day. Whether I had a few lines on those 8 pages or a lot of lines or none, those pages were part of my liability for the day and I didn't worry about the next 8 pages until the next day. Whatever occurred on those pages, both my words and other character's words was my main concern and it was part of the overall objective of knowing the role and the play. But each day spent correcting the balance sheet was also time spent preparing for the final joyous objective/liability of performing the play,
Now I look back at my life and ask: "Was what I did important?" The answer is: It must have been, because I spent the grand asset of my life doing it.
DB
__________________
If you go out this weekend, have one for me.
-----------------------------------------------
It's a state bathing heavy weight. (10)
-------------------------------------------
WEEKEND PUZZLE
(There were no winners of last week's Weekend Puzzle, I'm sorry to say.)
Splish Splash - this one'e easy.
Below is a list of waters. Your mission is to tell me which one of them does not belong on this list and why.
Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Bering Sea
Bristol Bay
Buzzards Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Delaware Bay
Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Mexico
Hudson Bay
Lake Erie
Lake Huron
Lake Michigan
Lake Ontario
Lake Superior
Long Island Sound
Massachusetts Bay
Pacific Ocean
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tarnished Tapestries 8/07/09
How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live.
Thoreau
**************
You're welcome here, rain or shine.
---------------------------
Happy are those artists who achieve success at an early age. As long as they keep going they know that their works will be bought. But why do we hear of someone who publishes his or her first novel at the age of 75 or 80? That's a good question.
Many years ago I got a phone call from a man I didn't know. He told me he had written a play and wondered if I would read it and give him my opinion. He told me it was about the assassination of a famous political leader in England. It sounded like a good drama so I agreed to read it. He had it delivered to my building and I started to read. I wasn't particularly tired but I feel asleep midway through the first act.
He had made a series of fundamental mistakes. First of all it began with a chorus of men rolling beer kegs into a pub. It was a musical. I thought maybe it was a comedy about death, so I read on. Then he struggled over writing British dialect. One should not try to write dialect unless one knows it thoroughly. Otherwise just say they are Englishmen and leave it up to the actors to do the right dialects. Then he brought into the pub the character of George Bernard Shaw. One shouldn't bring Shaw into a play unless one can write dialogue for him which is at least as clever as his own, The assassination was a foregone fact. There was no suspense, no distress, no danger. And finally, there was nothing of the writer in the play, no point of view, no character speaking for or against the author's own ideas. In fact, there were no ideas. It was a straight narrative of events. No doubt the author's history was correct, but it wasn't a play. I sent it back with my opinions and that was that. The play was never done.
When I was asked what kinds of roles I played as an actor, I answered that they were either autobiographical or wish fulfillment. In a certain sense those are both the same. They were autobiographical because I made them that. I always drew from my own life experiences, either lived or observed, to fill in the important areas of the role. The rest was invented.
Every work of art is autobiographical to one degree or another, That can't be helped. The good artist can never completely disassociate himself from the work. Nor should he try to. The reason that fellow's play didn't work is because there was nothing of himself in it.
I've had a few exhibits of my paintings and won a couple of awards. But I have never sold anything through an exhibit. No one is publishing my essays or stories. So why do I do it? I do it because I have to. It's like breathing or feeding myself. One good reason for older folks to write is wisdom. Wisdom doesn't necessarily come from intelligence, it may come from a life lived. My words are often torn from the obscure, inner pages of my being. I am not rich or famous but I have stood up to live 7 decades of a difficult, adventuresome, vagabond life and now I am sitting down to write about it.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
______________________
Spend a day without worry.
****************************
Coin I put before the wrong deep, worm. (9)
Thoreau
**************
You're welcome here, rain or shine.
---------------------------
Happy are those artists who achieve success at an early age. As long as they keep going they know that their works will be bought. But why do we hear of someone who publishes his or her first novel at the age of 75 or 80? That's a good question.
Many years ago I got a phone call from a man I didn't know. He told me he had written a play and wondered if I would read it and give him my opinion. He told me it was about the assassination of a famous political leader in England. It sounded like a good drama so I agreed to read it. He had it delivered to my building and I started to read. I wasn't particularly tired but I feel asleep midway through the first act.
He had made a series of fundamental mistakes. First of all it began with a chorus of men rolling beer kegs into a pub. It was a musical. I thought maybe it was a comedy about death, so I read on. Then he struggled over writing British dialect. One should not try to write dialect unless one knows it thoroughly. Otherwise just say they are Englishmen and leave it up to the actors to do the right dialects. Then he brought into the pub the character of George Bernard Shaw. One shouldn't bring Shaw into a play unless one can write dialogue for him which is at least as clever as his own, The assassination was a foregone fact. There was no suspense, no distress, no danger. And finally, there was nothing of the writer in the play, no point of view, no character speaking for or against the author's own ideas. In fact, there were no ideas. It was a straight narrative of events. No doubt the author's history was correct, but it wasn't a play. I sent it back with my opinions and that was that. The play was never done.
When I was asked what kinds of roles I played as an actor, I answered that they were either autobiographical or wish fulfillment. In a certain sense those are both the same. They were autobiographical because I made them that. I always drew from my own life experiences, either lived or observed, to fill in the important areas of the role. The rest was invented.
Every work of art is autobiographical to one degree or another, That can't be helped. The good artist can never completely disassociate himself from the work. Nor should he try to. The reason that fellow's play didn't work is because there was nothing of himself in it.
I've had a few exhibits of my paintings and won a couple of awards. But I have never sold anything through an exhibit. No one is publishing my essays or stories. So why do I do it? I do it because I have to. It's like breathing or feeding myself. One good reason for older folks to write is wisdom. Wisdom doesn't necessarily come from intelligence, it may come from a life lived. My words are often torn from the obscure, inner pages of my being. I am not rich or famous but I have stood up to live 7 decades of a difficult, adventuresome, vagabond life and now I am sitting down to write about it.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
______________________
Spend a day without worry.
****************************
Coin I put before the wrong deep, worm. (9)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Satisfactory Service 8/06/09
I played it right because that's what you're supposed to do - play it right and with respect.
Ryne Sandberg
*******************
Smile, you're on Candid Journal.
--------------------------------
"Jus' 'cause it ain't by Shakespeare don't mean it ain't no good."
I used to do public readings of new plays for a playwright's workshop way over on the East Side of Manhattan. One evening I read a major role in a political drama. A year later the playwright called and asked if I would come back and read it again. I did, and before the reading she said to the audience "A playwright is one who if she changes a line from 'I want to meet with you' to 'It's important that I meet with you' that is a major rewriting of the play and therefore needs to be read again. She was half joking, but she made a valid point about how important the lines are to the playwright and the play. They need to be respected.
I was doing the role of Cassio in Shakespeare's "Othello" at a theatre in New England. After one of our late rehearsals, close to opening, the stage manager, who was a nice, polite, benign fellow, came up to me with a sheet of paper and said "I thought you should see the difference between the way you are speaking the speech to Desdamona and the way Shakespeare wrote it." I was stunned. I had almost completely rewritten that speech.
That was early in my career, but from that day on I have always made sure that I spoke the lines the way they were written. That's called playing it right and with respect.
It's not just the lines that need to be played right. I saw a production of Sophocles' "Electra," In that play Electra's brother Orestes enters with a friend, Pylades. Sophocles has given no lines to Pylades. It is a completely silent role. But he is on stage with Orestes the entire time. I watched an actor named Maurice Breslau play that role and if I didn't know that he had no lines I would have sworn he spoke. He was mentally, emotionally and physically involved in every moment of that play. That's playing it right and with respect.
I did many original plays while I was with the Circle Rep Lab in New York. There were excellent actors in that Lab. We were professional, working actors. It was a great challenge and an invigorating experience to take on the problems of a new play and solve them. The playwrights were usually around and had a hand in rewriting if they felt they needed to. But we played them right and with respect.
Some actors and directors think nothing of messing around with a script, rewriting things, cutting things and rearranging the scenes, adding characters and dropping characters. That's not playing it right. Playwrights worry over every line. They should be respected.
I was in a show in New York in which the leading actor got the same line wrong every night. He bungled it because he didn't know what it was and he never went back to the script to find out. He will remain nameless. He was a famous actor, but he was a lazy bum.
Whatever you do, do it right and with respect.
DB - The Vagabond
_____________________________
Grasp some joy today and don't let go of it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Thus on the edge a screwed up miss is egotistical. (9)
dbdacoba@aol.com
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://db-vagabondtales.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com./
http://vagabondleaves.blogspot.com/
Ryne Sandberg
*******************
Smile, you're on Candid Journal.
--------------------------------
"Jus' 'cause it ain't by Shakespeare don't mean it ain't no good."
I used to do public readings of new plays for a playwright's workshop way over on the East Side of Manhattan. One evening I read a major role in a political drama. A year later the playwright called and asked if I would come back and read it again. I did, and before the reading she said to the audience "A playwright is one who if she changes a line from 'I want to meet with you' to 'It's important that I meet with you' that is a major rewriting of the play and therefore needs to be read again. She was half joking, but she made a valid point about how important the lines are to the playwright and the play. They need to be respected.
I was doing the role of Cassio in Shakespeare's "Othello" at a theatre in New England. After one of our late rehearsals, close to opening, the stage manager, who was a nice, polite, benign fellow, came up to me with a sheet of paper and said "I thought you should see the difference between the way you are speaking the speech to Desdamona and the way Shakespeare wrote it." I was stunned. I had almost completely rewritten that speech.
That was early in my career, but from that day on I have always made sure that I spoke the lines the way they were written. That's called playing it right and with respect.
It's not just the lines that need to be played right. I saw a production of Sophocles' "Electra," In that play Electra's brother Orestes enters with a friend, Pylades. Sophocles has given no lines to Pylades. It is a completely silent role. But he is on stage with Orestes the entire time. I watched an actor named Maurice Breslau play that role and if I didn't know that he had no lines I would have sworn he spoke. He was mentally, emotionally and physically involved in every moment of that play. That's playing it right and with respect.
I did many original plays while I was with the Circle Rep Lab in New York. There were excellent actors in that Lab. We were professional, working actors. It was a great challenge and an invigorating experience to take on the problems of a new play and solve them. The playwrights were usually around and had a hand in rewriting if they felt they needed to. But we played them right and with respect.
Some actors and directors think nothing of messing around with a script, rewriting things, cutting things and rearranging the scenes, adding characters and dropping characters. That's not playing it right. Playwrights worry over every line. They should be respected.
I was in a show in New York in which the leading actor got the same line wrong every night. He bungled it because he didn't know what it was and he never went back to the script to find out. He will remain nameless. He was a famous actor, but he was a lazy bum.
Whatever you do, do it right and with respect.
DB - The Vagabond
_____________________________
Grasp some joy today and don't let go of it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Thus on the edge a screwed up miss is egotistical. (9)
dbdacoba@aol.com
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://db-vagabondtales.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com./
http://vagabondleaves.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Ridiculous Rancor 8/05/09
Do whatever you feel in your heart to be right - you'll be criticized anyway.
Eleanor Roosevelt
********************
Come join me.
-------------------------
One evening in New York I had a late dinner with a Japanese gentleman who came there to produce, direct and perform a very contemporary theatre piece of his own. While we were dining a friend arrived with the early editions of the papers. The Japanese fellow read the reviews of his work and was outraged. "They missed the whole point" he said. "Most likely" I replied. I tried to get him to relax and pay no attention to what the reviews said, to believe in the work he had done and to keep on performing as if it was a success. I think he did.
It is always a shock to people who aren't from New York to read what sort of blasphemy critics will write for the sake of selling newspapers. I knew a woman who directed a piece Off-Broadway and got a terrible review from a New York paper. She went back into rehearsal and when she was ready invited the critic to return whereupon she got an even worse review. I think, I hope, she learned her lesson.
In the world of the performing arts the court of opinion is most often incorrectly and ineptly presided over by critics. Why that should be so is due in part to the expense and hence the urgency of providing a production that is both an artistic and financial success. With the exception of films, which will pay for themselves if they are good and popular, the performing arts are not financially supported by the box office unless they run for a long time. So the future of a theatre piece is generally in the hands of the critics and not the performers or producers.
Critics have too much power. The critics in New York will close a very good show and keep a mediocre one running. It has happened many times. Why? Because criticism is a very subjective thing and because most of the critics are very good writers. People will read them for their clever and sometimes vicious comments and accept their judgements. I have often said that if a critic is a good writer he should stick to literary criticism and keep his nose out of show business.
Not all critics are bad apples, some are excellent. The bad ones are bad because they don't know what they are seeing. They will praise a mediocre play because it was acted so well it's flaws were covered up. They will deride the actors not knowing they were directed poorly. They will blame the director or the ploy for some bad acting.
So what is the lesson? It is the same in any area of life. If you believe in what you are doing and you can honestly put your heart into it, it doesn't matter what someone's opinion is. You are not anyone's opinion of you and neither is your work. I find joy in that. I like my stories and my paintings, I enjoy reading and looking at them and it doesn't matter to me what anyone else thinks of them. If I get a good review, great. If I get a bad review, well, Wednesday night is trash night.
DB
_____________________
May the midsummer pixies tickle your nose.
------------------------------------
Scrape up can, priest. (8)
Eleanor Roosevelt
********************
Come join me.
-------------------------
One evening in New York I had a late dinner with a Japanese gentleman who came there to produce, direct and perform a very contemporary theatre piece of his own. While we were dining a friend arrived with the early editions of the papers. The Japanese fellow read the reviews of his work and was outraged. "They missed the whole point" he said. "Most likely" I replied. I tried to get him to relax and pay no attention to what the reviews said, to believe in the work he had done and to keep on performing as if it was a success. I think he did.
It is always a shock to people who aren't from New York to read what sort of blasphemy critics will write for the sake of selling newspapers. I knew a woman who directed a piece Off-Broadway and got a terrible review from a New York paper. She went back into rehearsal and when she was ready invited the critic to return whereupon she got an even worse review. I think, I hope, she learned her lesson.
In the world of the performing arts the court of opinion is most often incorrectly and ineptly presided over by critics. Why that should be so is due in part to the expense and hence the urgency of providing a production that is both an artistic and financial success. With the exception of films, which will pay for themselves if they are good and popular, the performing arts are not financially supported by the box office unless they run for a long time. So the future of a theatre piece is generally in the hands of the critics and not the performers or producers.
Critics have too much power. The critics in New York will close a very good show and keep a mediocre one running. It has happened many times. Why? Because criticism is a very subjective thing and because most of the critics are very good writers. People will read them for their clever and sometimes vicious comments and accept their judgements. I have often said that if a critic is a good writer he should stick to literary criticism and keep his nose out of show business.
Not all critics are bad apples, some are excellent. The bad ones are bad because they don't know what they are seeing. They will praise a mediocre play because it was acted so well it's flaws were covered up. They will deride the actors not knowing they were directed poorly. They will blame the director or the ploy for some bad acting.
So what is the lesson? It is the same in any area of life. If you believe in what you are doing and you can honestly put your heart into it, it doesn't matter what someone's opinion is. You are not anyone's opinion of you and neither is your work. I find joy in that. I like my stories and my paintings, I enjoy reading and looking at them and it doesn't matter to me what anyone else thinks of them. If I get a good review, great. If I get a bad review, well, Wednesday night is trash night.
DB
_____________________
May the midsummer pixies tickle your nose.
------------------------------------
Scrape up can, priest. (8)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Qualified Quits 8/04/09
Sometimes the artist's main responsibility is to get out of the way.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
Welcome friend.
------------------------------
You should always expect good results when you enter into any sort of artistic expression. Sometimes those good results come before you know it or while you're still working to achieve them. That is also true in any important life endeavor. Conscientious effort focused on a worthy objective usually brings it into reality.
There are two principles about art that I remember. One is that when the work is done you're finished, so stop. And the other is that once you finish a work it is no longer yours, it belongs to the world.
As an actor I frequently observed in other actors and myself the temptation to keep going over the good parts of a performance to make them better when they were just fine and as good as they were going to get. It was other parts that needed to be worked on. We can congratulate ourselves for what's done well, but not for what's undone. And once the work is done, it's time to send it out into the world for the world to judge and get on with life.
I worked for a long time on a painting I call "The Eye Of The Storm." It's a non-realistic water scene with the colors of the setting sun reflected on it. One day my friend and excellent artist, Moses Hoskins, came to visit and look at my work. When I showed him The Eye I said that I was still working on it and didn't know where it was going he surprised me by saying "Stop. It's finished." So I did.
One of these day, when I learn how to post pictures, I'll give it to the world, and one of these days I'll get it framed.
Thank you Moses.
DB
************************
Think cool winter thoughts.
_________________________
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Disorderly around trains for example to haul backwards most of art. (9)
DB - The Vagabond
************************
Welcome friend.
------------------------------
You should always expect good results when you enter into any sort of artistic expression. Sometimes those good results come before you know it or while you're still working to achieve them. That is also true in any important life endeavor. Conscientious effort focused on a worthy objective usually brings it into reality.
There are two principles about art that I remember. One is that when the work is done you're finished, so stop. And the other is that once you finish a work it is no longer yours, it belongs to the world.
As an actor I frequently observed in other actors and myself the temptation to keep going over the good parts of a performance to make them better when they were just fine and as good as they were going to get. It was other parts that needed to be worked on. We can congratulate ourselves for what's done well, but not for what's undone. And once the work is done, it's time to send it out into the world for the world to judge and get on with life.
I worked for a long time on a painting I call "The Eye Of The Storm." It's a non-realistic water scene with the colors of the setting sun reflected on it. One day my friend and excellent artist, Moses Hoskins, came to visit and look at my work. When I showed him The Eye I said that I was still working on it and didn't know where it was going he surprised me by saying "Stop. It's finished." So I did.
One of these day, when I learn how to post pictures, I'll give it to the world, and one of these days I'll get it framed.
Thank you Moses.
DB
************************
Think cool winter thoughts.
_________________________
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
19 responses so far.
DB
Disorderly around trains for example to haul backwards most of art. (9)
Monday, August 3, 2009
Primary Pursuit 8/03/09
We are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourselves.
Paracelsus
******************
Welcome back.
-------------------------
I was awakened early this morning by the stampede of hail against my window. It was nature saying "Wake up, Vagabond, you have things to think about." It soon turned to thunder and lightening, rain in great globs. Now everything is gray and wet.
Upon arising I remembered that yesterday I had written about explorations to outer space and the possibility of discovering inhabited planets out there. I amused myself for a while wondering what we would be called if we had to associate ourselves with Martians or Venusians. Earthlings? Earths? Earthists? Earthish? Finally I decided that if it was up to me we would be Earthians.
So fellow Earthians here are some further thoughts about outer space. Space has been incorrectly called the final frontier. We have and are spending a lot of time investigating this universe we live in, and yet with all of our blast offs, lift offs and orbit reaching with our vehicles we haven't even approached the pinky fingernail of it. There must be a better way of going about it. We haven't discovered or invented the universal wheel yet. That's going to take some doing. It's going to take some thought. (Oh no, there he goes again.)
How, in spite of our speculations, do we even know the universe is there? We can't see much of it. We know almost nothing about it. We know it's there because it must be. We know it's infinite because it must be. And so, the universe, whatever it is is already embraced in our thinking. It is what we think it is and what we expect it to be. An infinite universe, unseen and unknown, contained in infinite thinking means it exists in an infinite mind, and that infinite mind is in the room with you right now.
Much of what we do in outer space is no doubt useful in many practical ways. The fooling of ourselves is done by concentrating only on the practicalities and not the form of discovery and development. Everything begins with an idea. Everything. What is the form of an idea. That's a question that has busied thinkers for a long time. Aristotle had a lot to say about form. Does it simply arise out of function and need, or does it have it's own origin and existence?
The curiosity that takes us into outer space is something which has undeniable benefit to our understanding, but the question is this: Are we discovering and mapping the universe with our microwaves and lasers, or are we inventing it?
The final frontier is mind.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
**********************
May you have a merry Monday.
__________________________
Tenth part of that in an article. (5)
Paracelsus
******************
Welcome back.
-------------------------
I was awakened early this morning by the stampede of hail against my window. It was nature saying "Wake up, Vagabond, you have things to think about." It soon turned to thunder and lightening, rain in great globs. Now everything is gray and wet.
Upon arising I remembered that yesterday I had written about explorations to outer space and the possibility of discovering inhabited planets out there. I amused myself for a while wondering what we would be called if we had to associate ourselves with Martians or Venusians. Earthlings? Earths? Earthists? Earthish? Finally I decided that if it was up to me we would be Earthians.
So fellow Earthians here are some further thoughts about outer space. Space has been incorrectly called the final frontier. We have and are spending a lot of time investigating this universe we live in, and yet with all of our blast offs, lift offs and orbit reaching with our vehicles we haven't even approached the pinky fingernail of it. There must be a better way of going about it. We haven't discovered or invented the universal wheel yet. That's going to take some doing. It's going to take some thought. (Oh no, there he goes again.)
How, in spite of our speculations, do we even know the universe is there? We can't see much of it. We know almost nothing about it. We know it's there because it must be. We know it's infinite because it must be. And so, the universe, whatever it is is already embraced in our thinking. It is what we think it is and what we expect it to be. An infinite universe, unseen and unknown, contained in infinite thinking means it exists in an infinite mind, and that infinite mind is in the room with you right now.
Much of what we do in outer space is no doubt useful in many practical ways. The fooling of ourselves is done by concentrating only on the practicalities and not the form of discovery and development. Everything begins with an idea. Everything. What is the form of an idea. That's a question that has busied thinkers for a long time. Aristotle had a lot to say about form. Does it simply arise out of function and need, or does it have it's own origin and existence?
The curiosity that takes us into outer space is something which has undeniable benefit to our understanding, but the question is this: Are we discovering and mapping the universe with our microwaves and lasers, or are we inventing it?
The final frontier is mind.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
**********************
May you have a merry Monday.
__________________________
Tenth part of that in an article. (5)
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Objective Opportunity
World peace must be based on world plenty.
John Orr
****************
So there you are, are you?
---------------------------
One of the few vivid images from my infancy that I still remember was looking up and seeing an airplane. As I knew nothing about fuels or aerodynamics, it was mysterious.The experience of seeing this large object, which wasn't a bird, gliding along through the air has stuck with me all my life.
As I grew I became very interested in the solar system. I was fascinated by those planets, all different from each other and all having mythical names. I wanted to visit all of them. But there was no such thing as space travel back then. In fact, most people thought it was an impossibility and merely the stuff of science fiction. And yet, in my lifetime, it has gone from an impossibility to a daily event.
Now NASA is discussing a manned trip to Mars, the nearest of those planets. Mars, the Roman god of war, which brings up a point to ponder. One way or another, through discovery or colonization, there is or will be life on other planets. Suppose we discovered another inhabited planer with a totally alien but intelligent civilization. What would we do about it? We could do the stupid thing that humans have been doing for centuries, assume they are hostile and out to destroy us and hence attack them. Wage war. It has been said many times by many great thinkers, presidents, generals and historians, that whenever a nation is waging war in a foreign land they are always claiming to be doing it in defense. The US Department Of Defense was originally called the Department of War.
But look at the history. Some people were assured the Russians were out to destroy us and so we set up a huge expensive defense against that happening. The Russians meanwhile had a similar opinion about the western world and so we had underwater ships sniffing around our borders, spy planes over head and eventually satellites taking pictures of each others armaments. That's still going on.
But then World War III became the Cold War. The Berlin Wall went up and came down again. Khrushchev came to visit. Nixon went to visit, Then the Sputnik flew and the Cold War suddenly became the Space Race which took us to the Moon. And now we, the Russians and the Japanese a real former enemy are all working together in space. I know I have just dashed headlong through a lot of important history, but my point is that we have come to a place of mutual cooperation in an effort which many, including myself, feel is the most important scientific activity for the human race.
Contrarily, some people are of the opinion that we shouldn't be spending so much time and money in outer space but should be concentrating on the problems we have right here on Earth. John Orr is probably right that world peace must be based on world plenty, which says that the biggest problem we have here is lack, lack of peace and lack of plenty. But I could turn that quote around and imply that world plenty must rely on world peace. If nations didn't spend so much time and money on defense, i.e. war, what would be the result? One result, which history shows us is that the enemies of today can become the friends of tomorrow. If we stopped waging war on each other or preparing to, we could cooperate and work together to solve the problem of the lack of plenty. That's a circumstance "devoutly to be wished," a pipe dream, you say, an opium trip, a pie in the sky.
But wait! We have a pie in the sky, in fact we have a lot of them and they come from all around the world. What if one of those pies found intelligent life somewhere? And what if we had learned our lessons well enough to not throw nuclear weapons at it? And what if we avoided the Cold War and went right for a Space Race with it.
One planet in a contest with another in a huge Cosmic Olympics of science, technology and culture. We are competitive type people after all.
There will be peace and plenty in this world when this world is competing with another world instead of with itself.
Vagabond Journeys
************************
Smile, the Universe is watching you.
___________________________
John Orr
****************
So there you are, are you?
---------------------------
One of the few vivid images from my infancy that I still remember was looking up and seeing an airplane. As I knew nothing about fuels or aerodynamics, it was mysterious.The experience of seeing this large object, which wasn't a bird, gliding along through the air has stuck with me all my life.
As I grew I became very interested in the solar system. I was fascinated by those planets, all different from each other and all having mythical names. I wanted to visit all of them. But there was no such thing as space travel back then. In fact, most people thought it was an impossibility and merely the stuff of science fiction. And yet, in my lifetime, it has gone from an impossibility to a daily event.
Now NASA is discussing a manned trip to Mars, the nearest of those planets. Mars, the Roman god of war, which brings up a point to ponder. One way or another, through discovery or colonization, there is or will be life on other planets. Suppose we discovered another inhabited planer with a totally alien but intelligent civilization. What would we do about it? We could do the stupid thing that humans have been doing for centuries, assume they are hostile and out to destroy us and hence attack them. Wage war. It has been said many times by many great thinkers, presidents, generals and historians, that whenever a nation is waging war in a foreign land they are always claiming to be doing it in defense. The US Department Of Defense was originally called the Department of War.
But look at the history. Some people were assured the Russians were out to destroy us and so we set up a huge expensive defense against that happening. The Russians meanwhile had a similar opinion about the western world and so we had underwater ships sniffing around our borders, spy planes over head and eventually satellites taking pictures of each others armaments. That's still going on.
But then World War III became the Cold War. The Berlin Wall went up and came down again. Khrushchev came to visit. Nixon went to visit, Then the Sputnik flew and the Cold War suddenly became the Space Race which took us to the Moon. And now we, the Russians and the Japanese a real former enemy are all working together in space. I know I have just dashed headlong through a lot of important history, but my point is that we have come to a place of mutual cooperation in an effort which many, including myself, feel is the most important scientific activity for the human race.
Contrarily, some people are of the opinion that we shouldn't be spending so much time and money in outer space but should be concentrating on the problems we have right here on Earth. John Orr is probably right that world peace must be based on world plenty, which says that the biggest problem we have here is lack, lack of peace and lack of plenty. But I could turn that quote around and imply that world plenty must rely on world peace. If nations didn't spend so much time and money on defense, i.e. war, what would be the result? One result, which history shows us is that the enemies of today can become the friends of tomorrow. If we stopped waging war on each other or preparing to, we could cooperate and work together to solve the problem of the lack of plenty. That's a circumstance "devoutly to be wished," a pipe dream, you say, an opium trip, a pie in the sky.
But wait! We have a pie in the sky, in fact we have a lot of them and they come from all around the world. What if one of those pies found intelligent life somewhere? And what if we had learned our lessons well enough to not throw nuclear weapons at it? And what if we avoided the Cold War and went right for a Space Race with it.
One planet in a contest with another in a huge Cosmic Olympics of science, technology and culture. We are competitive type people after all.
There will be peace and plenty in this world when this world is competing with another world instead of with itself.
Vagabond Journeys
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Smile, the Universe is watching you.
___________________________
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.
**********************
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