It's been a long day. You're on your own.
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« October 2012
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(YouTube video: Star Trek parody of "Gangnam Style")
You're welcome.
Categories: Music, Star Trek, WTF?, YouTube
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Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST:TNG) premiered 25 years ago today, the week of September 28, 1987, to an eager audience of 27 million viewers. With seven seasons and 178 episodes, ST:TNG surpassed the original series' 79 episodes and three year (1966-1969) run on NBC. ST:TNG's two-hour finale, "All Good Things...", aired the week of May 23, 1994. Both series were created by Gene Roddenberry. ST:TNG is set in the 24th century, 80 years after than the original series.
TNG was broadcast in first-run syndication. Like the original series, it remains popular in syndicated reruns. Three additional Star Trek spin-offs followed The Next Generation: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999), Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001), and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005). There are also 22 half-hour episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series which originally aired on Saturday mornings on NBC in 1973-74.
In its seventh season, Star Trek: The Next Generation became the first syndicated television show to be nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Series. The show received numerous recognitions, including Emmy Awards, Hugo Awards, and a Peabody Award. Click for the full Wikipedia article.
"Relics," TNG's 130th episode (the fourth episode of the sixth season), features James Doohan as Montgomery Scott, the legendary chief engineer of the original series. Technobabbled into the 24th century, this is no mere cameo appearance. Scotty appears to be an antique out of time but -of course- he ends up saving another starship named Enterprise. And kudos to LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge) for holding his own in the presence of an iconic scenery chewer.
Categories: Gene Roddenberry, James (Jimmy) Doohan, Jimmy Doohan, LeVar Burton, Montgomery Scott, Star Trek, TV, Video, YouTube
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Jon Stewart and The Daily Show again display why they've won ten consecutive Emmy Awards.
Stewart draws disturbing comparisons between Charlie Gordon in Flowers For Algernon and Mitt's accelerating, inexorable descent into madness...
Categories: Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Mitt Romney, Politics, Video
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Mitt Romney's most memorable quotes, so far...
My sons are all adults and they've made decisions about their careers and they've chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard. One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president.
I'm not a big-game hunter. I've made that very clear. I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will.
Corporations are people, my friend.
Don't try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.
I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.
If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.
I'm not concerned about the very poor.
No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.
I should tell my story. I'm also unemployed.
We have a president, who I think is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard, perhaps. (Romney has two Harvard degrees.)
We've always encouraged young people: Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.
I love this state. The trees are the right height.
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. ... My job is not to worry about those people.
I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love.
I'm not sure about these cookies. They don't look like you made them. No, no. They came from the local 7/11 bakery, or whatever. (Insulting my local bakery.)
I don't manage the money that I have. In order to make sure that I didn't have a conflict of interest while I was governor or while I was considering a run for national office, I had a blind trust established. (in 2012)
The blind trust is an age-old ruse, if you will, which is to say, you can always tell the blind trust what it can and cannot do. You give a blind trust rules. (1994)
I'm not familiar precisely with what I said, but I'll stand by what I said, whatever it was.
Categories: Mitt Romney, Politics, Quotes of the day
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via Twitter:
You know what would be funny? If the Olympic refs went on strike and someone from real estate had to judge diving.
-Albert Brooks @AlbertBrooks
If someone knows where Vince McMahon is, let him know the NFL could use a leader with integrity to protect their sport.
-Michael Naidus @michaelnaidus
So the NFL with replacement refs is now like a card game with Jokers included as wild cards- every ten plays or so it just makes no sense.
-Bill Maher @billmaher
Don't believe what the government doesn't tell you.
-"Agent Smith" @TSAgov
Romney says if Iran develops a nuclear weapon "I would respond with the strongest possible tax cuts."
-Andy Borowitz @BorowitzReport
People who didn't mind a POTUS reading "My Pet Goat" while the US was attacked are furious a POTUS would go on "The View."
-John Fugelsang @JohnFugelsang
"Study Divides Breast Cancer Into Four Distinct Types." Insured, Uninsured, Good Luck and Romney Emergency Room Care.
-Elayne Boosler @ElayneBoosler
I'm not the type to "rise above". I'd rather meet face to face, no matter how low I must stoop.
-Ellen Barkin @EllenBarkin
Categories: Observations, Quotes of the day, Twitter
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It's the 21st century, and a major party Presidential nominee doesn't understand why airplane windows don't open.
Categories: Mitt Romney, Observations, Politics, Questions for the Ages, Signs of the Apocalypse
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Quotes of the day- F. Scott Fitzgerald:
Francis Scott Key
Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American
author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm
writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely
regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s.
He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and
Damned, Tender Is the Night, and his most famous, The Great Gatsby.
A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was
published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that
treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age. (Click
for full article.)
A big man has no time really to do anything but just sit and be big.
All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.
An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.
At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.
Draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I'll tell you a story.
Everyone's youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.
Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material.
If you're strong enough, there are no precedents.
In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day.
It is in the thirties we want friends. In the forties we know they won't save us any more than love did.
Life promises so very much to a pretty girl between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five that she never quite recovers from it.
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
One girl can be pretty- but a dozen are only a chorus.
Optimism is the content of small men in high places.
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.
Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.
Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.
The faces of most American women over thirty are relief maps of petulant and bewildered unhappiness.
The farmers may be the backbone of the country, but who wants to be a backbone?
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.
The victor belongs to the spoils.
There are no second acts in American lives.
Thirty- the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.
Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.
When a man is tired of life at 21 it indicates that he is rather tired of something in himself.
You don't write because you want to say something; you write because you've got something to say.
Categories: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Quotes of the day
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Quotes of the day- Euripides:
Euripides (c. 480 – 406 BC)
was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, and is
identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced
drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of
traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary
circumstances. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that
later writers adapted to comedy, some of which are characteristic of
romance. Yet he also became "the most tragic of poets", focusing on the
inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown.
He was "the creator of... that cage which is the theatre of
Shakespeare's Othello, Racine's Phèdre, of Ibsen and
Strindberg," in which "...imprisoned men and women destroy each other by
the intensity of their loves and hates", and yet he was also the
literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George
Bernard Shaw. (Click
for full article.)
Dishonor will not trouble me, once I am dead.
When good men die their goodness does not perish,
But lives though
they are gone. As for the bad,
All that was theirs dies and is buried
with them.
Authority is never without hate.
Cleverness is not wisdom.
Death is a debt we all must pay.
No man is wholly free. He is a slave to wealth, or to fortune, or the laws, or the people [who] restrain him from acting according to his will alone.
Noble fathers have noble children.
Nothing has more strength than dire necessity.
Often a noble face hides filthy ways.
One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
To the fool, he who speaks wisdom will sound foolish.
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
Who dares not speak his free thoughts is a slave.
----
Euripides pants, you bought 'em.-Unattributed
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(YouTube video: Martin Short sings "It's Raining Mitt")
("I like being able to fire people...")
Doesn't care about the very poor
("I'm not concerned about the very poor...")
He's wealthy and good-looking
("My name is Mitt Romney...")
Yes, that's I guy I'm for
When campaigning in the Deep South
He pretends to like eating grits
Rick Santorum's gone post-mortem 'cause
It's gonna start raining Mitt
It's raining Mitt
Holy heaven
Everyone needs a hit- of Mitt
Under Romney
There's a future in sight
Where all our trees are the right height
It's raining Mitt
What a wager
I'll make you a ten
Thousand dollar bet
So white, rich and fit
It's stormin' for a moment Mitt
President Obama
Mitt Romney says you're to blame
For too much federal spending
Though your healthcare plans look the same
I don't know economics
But when Mitt mentions income tax
Then I guess he must know something
Since his wife drives two Cadillacs
(She drives two Cadillacs!)
It's raining Mitt
I ain't lyin'
It's raining Mitt
No s**t
It's raining Mitt
Let's show the kind of Mitt that we are
And tie the dog to the roof of our car
Mitt, hallelujah
It's raining Mitt...
Good God it's raining mitt, yeah...
Categories: David Letterman, Martin Short, Mitt Romney, Music, Politics, Video, YouTube
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Quotes of the day- H.G. Wells:
Herbert George "H.G." Wells
(September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946) was an English author, now best
known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific
writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history,
politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war
games. Together with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback, Wells has been
referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction". His most notable science
fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The
Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau.
A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.
A time will come when men will sit with history before them or with some old newspaper before them and ask incredulously, “Was there ever such a world?”
Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Nature's inexorable imperative.
Advertising is legalized lying.
An animal may be ferocious and cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie.
Mankind which began in a cave and behind a windbreak will end in the disease-soaked ruins of a slum.
Civilization is a race between disaster and education.
Crime and bad lives are the measure of a State's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community.
Cynicism is humour in ill health.
Every time Europe looks across the Atlantic to see the American Eagle, it observes only the rear end of an ostrich.
Go away. I'm all right.
(attributed last words)
Heresies are experiments in man's unsatisfied search for truth.
How small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem at a distance of a few million miles.
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions, great or small.
I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own.
If we don't end war, war will end us.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.
Our true nationality is mankind.
Religion is pickled God.
Science has toiled too long forging weapons for fools to use. It is time she held her hand.
The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.
The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in the course of taking hold of it.
The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf. It's almost a law.
There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection.
(YouTube video: Orson Welles and H.G. Wells meet for the first time in )
Categories: H.G. Wells, Orson Welles, Quotes of the day, War of the Worlds, YouTube
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"...For there are even more on the government dole than even his 49% accounts for. Like those welfare queens at ExxonMobil, AT&T, GE, et al... 250 corporations that from 2008 to 2010 got nearly a quarter trillion in tax subsidies. Although to be fair, at least ExxonMobil and AT&T give us back cheap gas and reliable cell phone service..."
"If they have success, they built it. If they failed, the government ruined it for them. If they get a break, they deserve it. If you get a break, it'a a handout and an entitlement.
It's a baffling, willfully blind cognitive dissonance...
(Watch the top of the video- you can skip the ad after a few seconds...)
Categories: Daily Show, Fox News, Jon Stewart, Mitt Romney, News Media, Politics, Video
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"Mitt Romney is a political contortionist. He can shoot himself in the
foot while it's still in his mouth while his head is up his ass. The
exit wound is spectacular. Then for an encore, he gets the other foot."
-David
Gerrold
It's why Al Gore invented the Internet:
Bill
O'Reilly and Jon Stewart debate!
Fact: Of the ten states with the highest percentage of people who pay no income tax, nine are red states.
Categories: Al Gore, Bill O'Reilly, Clint Eastwood, David Gerrold, Hillary Clinton, Jon Stewart, Mitt Romney, Paul Krugman, Paul Ryan, Politics, Rick Santorum, Taxes
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Faceboook prototype edition
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Quotes of the day- Robert Benchley:
Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an
American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and
film actor. From his beginnings at the Harvard Lampoon while
attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and
articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, and his
acclaimed short films, Benchley's style of humor brought him respect and
success during his life, from New York City and his peers at the
Algonquin Round Table to contemporaries in the burgeoning film industry.
Benchley is best remembered for his contributions to The New Yorker, where his essays, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists. He also made a name for himself in Hollywood, when his short film How to Sleep was a popular success and won Best Short Subject at the 1935 Academy Awards, and his many memorable appearances in films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent and a dramatic turn in Nice Girl. His legacy includes written work and numerous short film appearances. (Click for full Wikipedia article)
A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.
Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing.
Anything can happen, but it usually doesn't.
Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.
Even nowadays a man can't step up and kill a woman without feeling just a bit unchivalrous.
Except for an occasional heart attack, I feel as young as I ever did.
I am more the inspirational type of speller. I work on hunches rather than mere facts, and the result is sometimes open to criticism by purists.
I am the oldest living white man, especially at seven in the morning.
I take it for granted that I am growing older, although, except for a slight arteriosclerosis and an inability to hear, I would never know it.
I think that if I had it all to do over again (and it looks now as if it wouldn't be a bad idea), I would go in more for manual labor.
In America there are two classes of travel- first class, and with children. Traveling with children corresponds roughly to traveling third class in Bulgaria.
It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.
Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.
Tell us your phobias and we will tell you what you are afraid of.
The free-lance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.
The only cure for a real hangover is death.
The surest way to make a monkey out of a man is to quote him.
There are no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze Humor.
There may be said to be two classes of people in the world: those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not.
Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini?
Most of the arguments to which I am party fall somewhat short of being impressive, owing to the fact that neither I nor my opponent knows what we are talking about.
After an author has been dead for some time, it becomes increasingly difficult for his publishers to get a new book out of him each year.
(YouTube video: Robert Benchley profile on AMC's "Hollywood Moments")
Categories: Quotes of the day, Robert Benchley, Video, YouTube
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I like to remind people the choice the American electorate had in 1796
for candidates for President. You could choose between the chairman of
the American Society of Arts and Letters and the founding president of
the American Academy of Sciences. There's been a bit of a decline in the
standards of candidacy since then.
-Christopher Hitchens
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Andy Borowitz:
Romney is starting to make his trip to the London Olympics look like the pinnacle of modern diplomacy.
You would think Mitt Romney would be better at foreign policy given how much time his money has spent overseas.
When our embassy is attacked, we are attacked. Romney's Libya comments display the patriotism of someone who keeps his money in Switzerland.
As reprehensible as Romney's Libya comments are, it's comforting to know that he'll soon contradict them.
John Fugelsang:
The Aurora shooter was able to buy 6000 rounds of ammo on the internet and Tommy Chong went to prison for selling bongs.
I'll sign on for results-based pay for teachers the day Congress gets the same deal.
Mitt Romney has learned that "Entitlement Reform" sounds way better than "Have some more catfood, Nana."
I'd still like to know when "Wit" turned into "Snark."
Lynn Cullen:
What do you get when you take all of the vowels out of Reince Priebus' name? RNC PR BS!
Categories: Andy Borowitz, John Fugelsang, Lynn Cullen, Mitt Romney, Observations, Politics, Questions for the Ages, Second Amendment, Twitter
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Two things I learned from yesterday's visit to PennDOT to renew my drivers license:
1. There are a lot of seniors who are angry about the need to obtain a photo id to vote this year, and
2. I am slowly turning into Santa Claus.
That's Mister Organ Donor,
if you don't mind...
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Any significantly advanced parody is indistinguishable from reality.
Every Sunday I give thanks that there's nothing in Leviticus about liking show tunes.
Filing for bankruptcy is sort of like winning the lotto, except you still have to search under the couch cushions for loose change.
Hitting the delete key and changing the channel are satisfying but ineffective methods of denying reality.
I never throw anything away, which is irrelevant because I can never remember where I put anything.
I'm in pretty good shape for someone in the shape I'm in.
I'm never going to be rich and influential. I took an oath only to use my powers for good.
I'm sorry, but voting for a presidential candidate because you like the choice for vice president is like getting married to a woman because you like her cat.
I've come to the realization that gray is the mature form of blond.
I referred to the second Gulf War as Desert Storm 2.0, since it reminded me of a Microsoft upgrade: it was expensive, most people didn't want it, and it didn't work.
If Windows was a person, it'd be a real pale kid with pink eyes and a banjo.
It's a delusion of grandeur only if you can't pull it off.
It's amazing the number of persons intimidated by mere competence.
It's called “sodomy” because it's easier to pronounce than “gomorrahry.”
Just keep in mind that most men who chat with you on the Internet look like me.
Life is a recursive plunge.
Manhattan's a mosh pit. You jump into it in the morning, close your eyes, grit your teeth, and hope you're still breathing when it tosses you back out at the end of the day.
No problem is unsolvable, but there are some that just aren't worth the effort.
Now medical experts are saying that it's not coffee, booze or cigarettes that cause heart attacks, but sustained hostile emotional attitudes. Maybe we have hostile emotional attitudes because you made us give up the freaking coffee, booze and cigarettes, you clueless, white-frocked cretins!
Presbyterians believe they're predestined to have free will.
Republicans are sore losers even when they win.
Saying Windows 8 is the most powerful and secure operating system in the Microsoft family is like saying Moe was the smart Stooge.
Some days those bridge abutments at the side of the road look pretty damned attractive.
The conservatives' preoccupation with the burning of American flags can be attributed to the amount of time they spend wrapped in them.
The difference between investing in Internet stock and Beanie Babies is that with Internet stock you don't get Beanie Babies.
The Internet is run by a guy named Heisenberg, and his principles are uncertain.
The laserdisc was the 8-track of the 90s.
The only good thing about being over fifty is that I no longer worry about dying young.
The problem learning something new at my age is the nagging suspicion it's actually just something I forgot.
The problem with lawyers is that they don't believe in divine intervention.
The realization that your existence isn't going to change the course of western civilization makes sleeping in a lot more enjoyable.
There is no “I” in team. There is, however, a “U” in sucker.
What I really need is a reality-altering substance.
-Kevin G. Barkes (b. September 11, 1954)
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How to Determine If Your Religious
Liberty Is Being Threatened
| Column A | Column B |
|---|---|
| I am not allowed to go to a religious service of my own choosing. | Others are allowed to go to religious services of their own choosing. |
| I am not allowed to marry the person I love legally, even though my religious community blesses my marriage. | Some states refuse to enforce my own particular religious beliefs on marriage on those two guys in line down at the courthouse. |
| I am being forced to use birth control. | I am unable to force others to not use birth control. |
| I am not allowed to pray privately. | I am not allowed to force others to pray the prayers of my faith publicly. |
| Being a member of my faith means that I can be bullied without legal recourse. | I am no longer allowed to use my faith to bully gay kids with impunity. |
| I am not allowed to purchase, read or possess religious books or material. | Others are allowed to have access to books, movies and websites that I do not like. |
| My religious group is not allowed equal protection under the establishment clause. | My religious group is not allowed to use public funds, buildings and resources as we would like, for whatever purposes we might like. |
| Another religious group has been declared the official faith of my country. | My own religious group is not given status as the official faith of my country. |
| My religious community is not allowed to build a house of worship in my community. | A religious community I do not like wants to build a house of worship in my community. |
| I am not allowed to teach my children the creation stories of our faith at home. | Public school science classes are teaching science. |
If you answered "yes" to any of the questions in column A, perhaps your religious liberty is indeed at stake. You and your faith group have every right to now advocate for equal protection under the law. But just remember this one little, constitutional, concept: this means you can fight for your equality- not your superiority.
If you answered "yes" to any of the questions in column B, then not only is your religious liberty not at stake, but there is a strong chance that you are oppressing the religious liberties of others. Please review the tenets of your faith, especially the ones about your neighbors.
Rev. Emily C. Heath
Clergy, United Church of Christ
Categories: Church and State, First Amendment, Religion
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Desiderata (Latin: "desired things") is a 1927 prose poem by American writer Max Ehrmann (1872–1945). Largely unknown in the author's lifetime, the text became widely known after its use in a devotional, after subsequently being found at Adlai Stevenson's deathbed in 1965, and after spoken-word recordings in 1971 and 1972. Click for full Wikipedia article.
Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann (September 26, 1872 - September 9, 1945)
Categories: Adlai E. Stevenson II, Max Ehrmann, Philosophy
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President Barack Obama and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura)
The good news? Star Trek aired for the first time 46 years ago today.
The bad news? I remember watching its premier as a seventh grader, 46 years ago.
Live long and prosper, indeed.
Categories: Barack Obama, History, Nichelle Nichols, Photo of the day, Star Trek, TV
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Andy Borowitz:
The war in Iraq is over, Osama bin Laden is dead, and Charlie Sheen is off Two and a Half Men.
The S & P 500 just hit a 4-year high, which means Obama is the crappiest socialist in history.
John Fugelsang:
People who say Obama mentions bin Laden too much would prefer something more subtle, like wearing a flight suit.
Gov Brian Schweitzer says 'that dog don't hunt.' He don't ride inside the car, either.
Categories: Andy Borowitz, John Fugelsang, Quotes of the day
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... and today's youth know the difference...
Categories: Barack Obama, CNN, Colbert Report, Daily Show, Fox News, Jon Stewart, Mitt Romney, MSNBC, Politics, Stephen Colbert
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When you walk through the door of opportunity,
you do not slam it shut behind you.
-Michelle Obama
Categories: Michelle Obama, Quotes of the day
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Michelle's Cinnamon Mist
"Misty"
August 23, 1999 -
September 4, 2012
One of the greatest gifts we receive from dogs is the tenderness they evoke in us. The disappointments of life, the injustices, the battering events that are beyond our control, and the betrayals we endure, from those we befriended and loved, can make us cynical and turn our hearts into flint– on which only the matches of anger and bitterness can be struck into flame. By their delight in being with us, the reliable sunniness of their disposition, the joy they bring to playtime, the curiosity with which they embrace each new experience, dogs can melt cynicism, and sweeten the bitter heart.
No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish- consciously or unconsciously- that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.
Dogs' lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you're going to lose a dog, and there's going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can't support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There's such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price. Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and the mistakes we make because of those illusions.
When you have dogs, you witness their uncomplaining acceptance of
suffering, their bright desire to make the most of life in spite of the
limitations of age and disease, their calm awareness of the approaching
end when their final hours come. They accept death with a grace that I
hope I will one day be brave enough to muster.
-Dean Koontz
Categories: Dean Koontz, Dogs, KGB Family, Passages
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What's new, Pussycat?
What do you get when you fall in love?
Do you know the way to San Jose?
How can I forget you, when there's always something there to remind me?
Why do stars fall down from the sky, every time you walk by?
What's it all about, Alfie?
Lyricist Hal David (May 25, 1921-September 1, 2012) asked those questions, accompanied by the distinctive melodies of Burt Bacharach in a decades-long collaboration. The duo received the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song earlier this year during a White House concert attended by Bacharach and David's wife. (David was too ill to attend.) While named after composer George Gershwin and his brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin, it was the first time the prize was awarded to a songwriting team.
I've always felt that Hal David never received the full recognition he deserved for his contributions. A Google search for "Burt Bacharach songs" yields 2.4 million hits; "Hal David songs" returns 1.6 million.
Writing lyrics is never easy. Crafting them to his partner's songs bordered on the miraculous. Bacharach's distinct style featured arcane, erratic syncopation and phrasing that was almost foreign to normal human speech patterns. Take Promises, Promises. It features cycling, uncommon time signatures- 3/8, 4/8, 3/8, 4/8- that change 20 times through the song, sometimes lasting only for a single bar before switching yet again. Jerry Orbach, who won a Tony Award for his performance in the show of the same name, called the number "practically unsingable."
(You Tube video: Jerry Orbach's rendition of "Promises, Promises")
While David sometimes produced lyrics notable only for their Ogden Nash-like rhyme distortions, more often than not he produced lyrics that could stand on their own when divorced from Bacharach's bombast. Block the melody and the song's rhythm from your mind, and David's lyrics reveal a hidden depth:
Promises, promises,
I'm all through with promises, promises now.
I
don't know how I got the nerve to walk out.
If I shout, remember, I
feel free.
Now I can look at myself and be proud,
I'm laughing out
loud.
Oh, promises, promises,
This is where those promises, promises end.
I
won't pretend that what was wrong can be right.
Every night I'll
sleep now, no more lies.
Things that I promised myself fell apart,
But
I found my heart.
Oh, promises, those kind of promises,
Take all the joy from life.
Oh,
promises, their kind of promises
Can just destroy your life.
Oh,
promises, promises, my kind of promises,
Can lead to joy and hope and
love,
Yes, love.
David's best work was constructed upon a throwaway line from the film Alfie, which featured an instrumental-only version of the song in its original British release:
What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's
it all about, when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more
than we give?
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
Then I guess it is wise to be
cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you
lend on an old Golden Rule?
As sure as I believe there's a heaven above Alfie,
I know there's
something much more-
Something even non-believers can believe in.
I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love, we just exist, Alfie-
Until
you find the love you've missed, you're nothing, Alfie.
When you
walk, let your heart lead the way.
And you'll find love any day.
Hal David's heart was truly something special.
Categories: Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Jerry Orbach
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Stuff that caught my eye this week:
Of course, the new Eastwood meme:
Other politics:
Family:
My son Doug and my daughter-in-law Angela
Cute animals:
Family and cute animals::
Bella keeps a stiff upper lip as she prepares to watch my granddaughter
Leanna depart for the first day of fourth grade.
Miscellany:
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Curiosity Mars Lander Team visits the cast
of The Big Bang Theory:
Categories: Animals, Barack Obama, Clint Eastwood, Dogs, Hypocrisy, KGB Family, Mitt Romney, NASA, Politics, WTF?
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