I like cherry and dogwood blossoms better. Those beautiful fall colors have somber undertones of death and mortality. Death and mortality are poetic concepts when you're young. Kind of a bummer in old age though.
William - at the risk of getting "Mad as Hell" mad at me again, not to mention "Tim in Vermont" ( a couple of commenters who have tried to tell me nothing I say is worth saying) death and mortality are not all that poetic, ever: but if they are, they are only such in prospective views (autumn, whether described well or badly, is beautiful, but in winter you freeze to death in those beautiful autumn groves): and while I do not believe in poor Nietzsche's high-school philosophy of the "eternal return" I do believe there is something better prepared for us than even his poor little "eternal return" (which would not be all that bad considering the alternatives) if we accept the fact that God loves us, and act as if we believe that (so no more of the spectacular sins, ever, and as few as possible of the less spectacular sins as you can manage). There are small parks and riverside meadows in every state where you can see heartbreakingly beautiful autumn foliage, even poor Florida has an arboretum or campus or two where the leaves sing, in their autumn colors, of the truth we all know - to be true.
Today Trump told a Gold Star wife that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”
Can you imagine what right wingers would be saying if President Obama said such a stupid and inappropriate thing?
But Trump is the guy who also picked a fight with a Gold Star family and said of Senator McCain that he likes his heros not getting captured. I guess he doesn’t like them getting killed either.
And how exactly is Trump acknowledging that a member of the armed services knew what he signed up for a stupid or inappropriate thing to say? Because in your view those who volunteer for service are too stupid to know what they are signing up for? I suppose to the Progressive moral cowards such things as volunteering for combat are literally unimaginable.
From Frederick Wilson, the congresswoman that said Zimmerman had shot martin in the back of the head and never apologized for that, I'll wait fir the actual story. Bow were in Niger, in part because Hillary let boko go on a rampage, because the Clinton foundation allowed Nigeria to be stripped clean, that's what the #bring our girls, home, carp waacabout hiding that fact.
Bix, William references other youngins' perspectives on death. But is belief in being a born sinner by your omnipotent creator elevated thought above high school philosophy? But do enjoy the fall colors either way..
Go watch the charming short bicycle clip scene in Butch Cassidy, with Paul Newman and the gorgeous Katherine Ross (Sundance's girl), with "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" playing in the background.
Then, think about this past week with the corrupt,violent sleazy Harvey Weinstein.
The Left wrecks whatever it touches and accelerates whatever rot exists.
walter: if you speak about him in that way, he is not my God, he is yours. As for poor Nietzsche, he would be glad to know people were still trying to correct his foolishness, long after his death. Billions of people. many of them beloved by many other people, have died and are forgotten. Well, Nietzsche would have no problem being forgotten either. What was your point again? Simple hatred for someone who wants people to be happy in a world where you have given up? Wake up, Walter. Be a better person. Nothing you can say - believe me - can make me feel bad. My guardian angel and your guardian angel are to friendship what you and your prom date would have been to true love if your best dreams had come true. Which, leaving the angels, who are beyond your understanding and mine, aside, I pray they will, one day, Walter. I like people and do not ever think of them as just "sinners": please do not focus on that, my friend: but stop sinning - you know how to do that - and remember how much God loves you. And tone down the anger! Paul is not my favorite character in the Bible but his letters have lots of good advice about leaving behind anger and about learning to care about others.
"Simple hatred for someone who wants people to be happy in a world where you have given up? Wake up, Walter. Be a better person." Yeah! That's me! Hater! Step back Bix..acknowledge a broader perspective before leveling such bullshit accusations.
Nietsche himself did not rejoice in his assertion, without god we devwithout morality we devolve into hobbescstate of nature, where force _leviathans) is thevonly determinant. The premises if Christianity is god created the world, man rebelled against him, and death and suffering arecthecresukt, hecwent his only begotten son to redeem us, to save us from the jusgement thatbwill surely come.
Walter - seriously, God bless you. As a convinced Christian (and one who will probably be dead in a few years -according to my cardiologist - and who looks on life with the expected perspective from such knowledge) I get lots of internet hatred and sarcasm when I try my best to describe the real created world that surrounds us: well the hatred and sarcasm is ok, sometimes I walk into church late (more or less on purpose, Walter, keep reading....) and get the stink-eye from people who expect everyone to be on time: God bless their little hearts, I love seeing their dislike: it is a blessing to see who has sinful resentment in their hearts and who therefore needs our prayers most (not that you need my prayers, just saying, if you need them, me and my guardian angel will be there for you. Peace, brother. ) Don't hate on me: there is nothing condescending in how I think about you, as a fellow human, albeit a younger healthier one. Pray for Nietzsche, by the way - you might think that, as a celebrity, he does not need prayers - but we are all just human, and few of us could not, famous or not, greatly profit from humble prayers that we be freed from the burden of sin.
Today Trump told a Gold Star wife that her husband “knew what he signed up for.
It speaks well of the man's character, that despite the known mortal risk, he invested his life in the service of others. It's a choice, not Choice, to place your own life in jeopardy. Many men and women have done it, do it, for family, community, and ideals.
One of the things I miss about Connecticut is the Fall foliage. Here in Oak Ridge, TN most of the leaves are still green on the trees and will be into November this year it now appears. Last night was really the first Fall-like night with temps in the mid 40s.
If God exists, He will not be the strangest thing in the universe. I can see the beauty of those fall leaves and can (sort of) understand the proofs of the Pythagorean theorem. My logic and appreciation of beauty may be some kind of chance by product of evolution or perhaps proof of a divinity immanent in the universe. You can advance reasonable arguments for both sides.... The universe is utterly different than the one we lived in a hundred years ago, and the universe people live in a hundred years from now willl also be utterly different. This present universe is not hospitable to notions of Divine Providence, like, for example the medieval universe, but maybe God will have better luck with our next unverse.
So don't try to drop that "If you were an American" crap on us. I'm an American, and a man, and an adult. I can also read, and can judge Trump on something other than a fanatical personality cult. This president is an idiot and a liar. It is my right, as an American to say that.
I'd sort of like to ram that "wife of a soldier" comment down your miserable throat. But that might exceed my rights as an American male adult.
Let's add, how perverse it is for a draft dodger like Trump to make that comment. Trump knew what he signed up for; a Manhattan doctor who gave him a note diagnosing "heel spurs." Heel spurs that never got treated.
Kitchenaid sucks. Don't buy any of their products. This is the third time I've had to replace a circuit board component and the damn thing still won't keep things cold on the fridge side. Fuck em.
Ditto for Maytag. Bought a Maytag clothes washer in 1990 and still runs like a top.
Using that as a benchmark, we bought a complete Maytag kitchen in 2005/6. Top of the line appliances. Complete junk. Replaced top and bottom plastic racks in dishwasher (twice). These racks are not cheap. Microwave failed a few years ago. Ice maker in fridge works when it wants to.
More details Rusty. The most common problem with refrigerators is a defective defrost timer that allows an ice buildup in the walls of the freezer side. Most designs circulate air from the freezer side into the fridge side to cool the compartment and the ice blocks that flow. The defrost timer is accessible, usually, at the bottom at the left side of the water tray. There is usually a red plastic stem with a screwdriver slot visible. When the unit is running, use a screwdriver to turn the stem clockwise until the compressor shuts off. That turns on an electric defrost element and you'll see water draining into the drain pan. If the water doesn't flow withing the fist half hour, that means there is a problem with the electric heater. If it fills the pan within the first half hour be ready with a turkey baster to start emptying the drain pan before it overflows. A gallon of water can come out, if the ice has built up for a long period of time. After about an hour, the the flow will slow to a drop/second or so. Turn that red stem on the defrost time clockwise again until the compressor starts, and replace the empty drain pan. In an hour or so you should see the refrigerator side reach 33 degrees or so (depending on the setting.) You'll now know that the defrost timer is defective and you'll have a month to replace it before the ice builds up again. That has to be done with the unit unplugged. Get someone to do it, if you are unsure of yourself.
Our favorite place for fall color is in the Smoky Mountains of eastern North Carolina. This is about the time for peak color but you never know until you get there what it will look like. If you call the local hotels and ask, it will always be best to come now.
As a kid in Maine, my cousin and I would take long walks in the fall just to swish through the piles of red and yellow leaves everywhere. Old stone walls and cemeteries, salt water creeks, old forts on the ocean. One of my most vivid memories of my childhood.
and get the stink-eye from people who expect everyone to be on time: God bless their little hearts, I love seeing th UK eir dislike: it is a blessing to see who has sinful resentment in their hearts and who therefore needs our prayers most
Bix, you can tell yourself that this amounts to an exercise in Christian love, but it sounds like an exercise in passive aggression to me. You're perfectly free to continue expressing yourself. I wonder if you read your own stuff though.
In the words of Gaff from Blade Runner: it's too bad you won't live, but then again, who does?
The best fall foliage is in Vermont. I've been to Canada, Mass, NH.... but Vermont outdoes all of those other places. You need lots of open farmland with rolling hills and Mountains, which Vermont has, in spades. I don't think any state has as many dairy farms or Maple trees as Vermont, even Canada ---which has the Maple Tree on their flag, does not have the kind of concentration of Maple Trees which provide the best color, the way Vermont does. Sadly, it's all gone by now in the Northern and Central parts of the state, which peaked early. Were headed to Southern Vermont tomorrow, so hopefully some late foliage color left there.
CNN just spent about 20 minutes with Frederick Wilson on this, then trotted out Maggie Haberman to caterwaul about Trump and the deaths in Nijer. Next up...Anita Hill. What with the latest democrat violation of women and all. Not one word in the hour I watched about the whole Russian/Obama/Clinton sordidness.
If you call the local hotels and ask, it will always be best to come now. But go to western North Carolina, or all you'll see is flat land with pine trees. Despite the name, Spanish moss doesn't turn red and gold.
The trouble with fall foliage is cleaning up all the leaves
Oh yes. Fall and The indescribable beauty and majesty of a fiery Sugar Maple dappled with Fall sunshine against the backdrop of bright blue on a cool Fall day filled with Fall indulgences. Cider, cider donuts, the bite of a crisp hard Macintosh...
Our favorite place for fall color is in the Smoky Mountains of eastern North Carolina.
The Smokey Mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
Stephen Fry did a BBC series a few years back called "Stephen Fry in America", which is rather obvious a title from a man noted for his wit. A nice program in which the multi-faceted Mr. Fry visits all 50 states. His foray into North Carolina consisted of a hot air balloon excursion over the Smokies, unfortunate somewhat past the peak of the autumnal colors.
I am in East Tennessee for the Fall. The leaves are still quite green, though some coloration is occurring, and people have remarked that it's been unseasonably warm.
The leaves are still quite green, though some coloration is occurring... That's typical. Green today, green tomorrow, and then suddenly gold, virtually overnight.
This president is an idiot and a liar. It is my right, as an American to say that.
Just like your Leftwing buddies, you haven't quite figured out yet that just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.
walter at 1:12 - that was beautiful, thank you for that well-written and kind response. Bad Lieutenant at 6:49 AM, thanks for reading, and I think what you said was insightful. I used to be passive aggressive when I was a teenager, but I am now brutally rude when I think I should be and am never passive aggressive, I hope! I did not write that little passage well - I actually in my heart of hearts believe that when I show up to church late and someone looks at me with exasperation (and I never look back with any kind of aggression, passive or not) that I am fortunate to have found, in this finite world, an eternal soul who needs my prayers. And Bad Lieutenant , I have had a hard life, I have not had a day free of pain since the summer of 1980, often the type of pain that would make grown men cry (and I did cry often, but I am past that now), and I have had what is called an after-life experience - on my way driving alone to a cold weather training mission, when I was in the USAAF, my car was slung into a ditch by the ice, and a truck broadsided the driver side of my humble little car: five minutes later, I was bleeding out at an alarming rate, almost in shock, and more or less dead on the side of a cold Wisconsin January road: (the occupants of the truck were unhurt, thank God!) and I spent those few moments so many people have described as moments where heaven was almost visible .... they call it a near death experience but death is the last thing one thinks about, if I remember correctly ....so I do like to pray for people who f**king hate me. I know that they are fellow creatures. Not only that: but to bring it down a register (as I have learned I should do, from so many internet commenters who say please do not be so intense for so long at a stretch...) To pray simply for people who had a bad moment at church: that is for me like playing checkers with the old drunks at the old folks home. Nothing passive-agressive about it at all, Bad Lietenant. Anyway, I would not be surprised if you are a much better person than me: pray for me: I would appreciate it, and my guardian angel would be amused and thankful!
Thanks Bix...if I have any qualities, I prefer not to advertise them.
I'm sorry to hear of your chronic pain. Both my parents have conditions that seem to make for them a lot of misery. If you feel that my prayers will do you any good, you have them.
You may, or may not, misinterpret the glances. If I look, in shul, at who has just come in, it's for two reasons.
One is, hmm, who just joined, anything interesting there? Of course many people come and go as they please or as they must. Certainly not angry. If my more or less idle curiosity increases anyone's self-consciousness, oops. Not sure that rises to a sorry, but if you need one, help yourself.
Two is, is today the day?
Again, please note the use of paragraphs. The white space between some of the lines. Your readers would appreciate it and perhaps you would get better responses.
Bad Lieutenant - thanks. USAAF is a private joke - not that private - but after 20 years in the USAF, and with friends with friends in the Senate, and in Congress, I would like the USAF to reintegrate with the army, and I say so every time I am around someone who might make that happen. As for the bad looks in church - on a website where people who go to the same churches I go to post, I recently wrote that in the last 10 years not a single person has looked at me badly when I walked in late. Which I do every week (maybe I have a heart condition that means I have to arrive late or leave early, maybe it is a tribute to those who cannot be on time ... ) My statement about the stinkeye (which some sad people have tried to use on me in the past, but typically at liberal churches, not the churches I go to) was sort of a rhetorical use of a hypothetical to say something that almost nobody, in the history of English, has ever said (good famous writers - a group to which I do not belong - do not condescend to describe their feelings vis-a-vis those who are merely people who go to the same church as them, 100 percent of the time....) As for 35 years of chronic pain - thanks for your prayers. It wasn't "chronic pain" that stole so much of my life from me. It was life-stealing, soul-threatening pain for many more hours than I can say. Suffering like most people who are not old would not believe. I once did a calculation: I could walk to the moon and back at one mile per hour and still spend less time on that walk than I spent on this earth, awake and in conscious pain (from which I could be distracted - by work, by sports, and so forth, and I am grateful for that...) - but which was, until a couple years ago, always there, with hatred in its cold little inhuman unsubstantial but effective heart. God help anyone who would wish a small fraction of that on anybody else!. So I take every slight release I can, and thanks again for your prayers, which may have given me some release in the past and may do so in the future. Thanks, from my heart! Finally - I don't really write for people who randomly access this site, or any other website. I write for people who want to read what I have to say and who are willing to look up my various pseudonyms (Bix Cent-Quinze, for example, is a tribute to my dog and to my beloved New Orleans and Manhattans...). Those people - some of them, anyway - rejoice when they see a long unparagraphed text. Or they don't: but I think they do. Someone who has no idea that I am not just a ranting incoherent person obviously will not be happy. Too bad. Anyway, thanks again for the prayers: my grandfather was a big shot at his synagogue, and I think about him every day. He had a tough life - nowhere near as tough as mine, but with many fewer rewards, so there's that. Pray for him too - I don't even know his name (his son was not the sort of person who tells his children what their grandfather's name is) - but he was a tinsmith. So pray for the tinsmith (1868-1963) and his poor unloved wife (1872-1953).
And here is something you probably know, Bad Lieutenant, and as a compliment to you I am saying it out loud - heart speaks to heart, and when you realize that almost nobody (not nobody, almost nobody) can make your life better, sometimes you look at the people - who would likely never in a hundred years be able or willing to help you have a truly better life (years of experience have taught me that) - when you nevertheless look at them with love in your heart, thinking - you look like someone God loves, whether I understand that or not - and you look at them, praying to God that some of the suffering you have experienced may be used to keep them - the boring unhelpful people you are looking at - from also suffering: when that happens, maybe, sadly, nothing has happened (most people live their lives in a state of misery or in a state of whatever we call whatever is next to misery, and will do so no matter what we do) but maybe - and there is an opposite to sadness, whether we benefit from it or not - maybe some little miracle has occurred. PtGtsoftsyhembutktfas, (pastiche of Finnegans Wake, there ...) Picture a couple of really good actors or actresses acting out a scene like that. Like I said, you probably already know. I know almost nobody reads the comments on old posts. I rejoice in the billions of people who will never read this, even if they would like to - why, I don't know, But, Bad Lieutenant, I have seen prayers for those who suffer work. I remember. I walked tens of thousands of miles, at a mile an hour, in pain. God will answer my prayers for you, I hope: God bless you. 1981 is excruciatingly long ago for me but God knows how long ago it really is. Maybe the first day of that year was yesterday, when I was healthy and had a chance to be happy in this world. Probably not, but maybe. Anyway, I am lots of things that are subject to criticism, but I am not passive aggressive. Just saying. Please don't ever call anyone passive aggressive again unless you know them well enough to know what you are saying. Thanks for reading.
And here is something you probably know, Bad Lieutenant, and as a compliment to you I am saying it out loud - heart speaks to heart, and when you realize that almost nobody (not nobody, almost nobody) can make your life better, sometimes you look at the people - who would likely never in a hundred years be able or willing to help you have a truly better life (years of experience have taught me that) - when you nevertheless look at them with love in your heart, thinking - you look like someone God loves, whether I understand that or not - and you look at them, praying to God that some of the suffering you have experienced may be used to keep them - the boring unhelpful people you are looking at - from also suffering: when that happens, maybe, sadly, nothing has happened (most people live their lives in a state of misery or in a state of whatever we call whatever is next to misery, and will do so no matter what we do) but maybe - and there is an opposite to sadness, whether we benefit from it or not - maybe some little miracle has occurred. PtGtsoftsyhembutktfas, (pastiche of Finnegans Wake, there ...) Picture a couple of really good actors or actresses acting out a scene like that. Like I said, you probably already know. I know almost nobody reads the comments on old posts. I rejoice in the billions of people who will never read this, even if they would like to - why, I don't know, But, Bad Lieutenant, I have seen prayers for those who suffer work. I remember. I walked tens of thousands of miles, at a mile an hour, in pain. God will answer my prayers for you, I hope: God bless you. 1981 is excruciatingly long ago for me but God knows how long ago it really is. Maybe the first day of that year was yesterday, when I was healthy and had a chance to be happy in this world. Probably not, but maybe. Anyway, I am lots of things that are subject to criticism, but I am not passive aggressive. Just saying. Please don't ever call anyone passive aggressive again unless you know them well enough to know what you are saying. Thanks for reading.
Bad Lieutenant - I wondered, after I had posted my comment, if that was what you meant - that 'they' coming through the door was something nobody would want, unless it was because that gives us the opportunity to strike 'them' down .... I guess I was right to wonder, my reading skills could be better, if they were, I would have understood what you said, before your subsequent explanation .... Well, if 'they' do come through the door, I hope you - or your friends - take them down before they do any harm. By the way, congratulations on realizing your life is worthless: mine is, too. I too would be happy to die for any good reason: but, life is good, and if I can live while evildoers die, that is good too. I enjoyed tremendously your 10:13 AM comment. And I meant it when I asked you to pray for the tinsmith and his wife. I wonder what they would think of this conversation. I know you have grandparents, too, I will pray for them, unless you specifically ask me not to. There are thousands of people who have prayed for me, and the weird thing about a lifetime of chronic pain is that you understand that a human being cannot exactly remember what pain felt like, in the past. It is gone. And, looking back, you feel true gratitude for those who cared, in a way that people with easier lives might understand, and might not.
Bad Lieutenant - I wondered, after I had posted my comment, if that was what you meant - that 'they' coming through the door was something nobody would want, unless it was because that gives us the opportunity to strike 'them' down .... I guess I was right to wonder, my reading skills could be better, if they were, I would have understood what you said, before your subsequent explanation .... Well, if 'they' do come through the door, I hope you - or your friends - take them down before they do any harm. By the way, congratulations on realizing your life is worthless: mine is, too. I too would be happy to die for any good reason: but, life is good, and if I can live while evildoers die, that is good too. I enjoyed tremendously your 10:13 AM comment. And I meant it when I asked you to pray for the tinsmith and his wife. I wonder what they would think of this conversation. I know you have grandparents, too, I will pray for them, unless you specifically ask me not to. There are thousands of people who have prayed for me, and the weird thing about a lifetime of chronic pain is that you understand that a human being cannot exactly remember what pain felt like, in the past. It is gone. And, looking back, you feel true gratitude for those who cared, in a way that people with easier lives might understand, and might not.
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७८ टिप्पण्या:
What great trees!
I like cherry and dogwood blossoms better. Those beautiful fall colors have somber undertones of death and mortality. Death and mortality are poetic concepts when you're young. Kind of a bummer in old age though.
William - at the risk of getting "Mad as Hell" mad at me again, not to mention "Tim in Vermont" ( a couple of commenters who have tried to tell me nothing I say is worth saying) death and mortality are not all that poetic, ever: but if they are, they are only such in prospective views (autumn, whether described well or badly, is beautiful, but in winter you freeze to death in those beautiful autumn groves): and while I do not believe in poor Nietzsche's high-school philosophy of the "eternal return" I do believe there is something better prepared for us than even his poor little "eternal return" (which would not be all that bad considering the alternatives) if we accept the fact that God loves us, and act as if we believe that (so no more of the spectacular sins, ever, and as few as possible of the less spectacular sins as you can manage). There are small parks and riverside meadows in every state where you can see heartbreakingly beautiful autumn foliage, even poor Florida has an arboretum or campus or two where the leaves sing, in their autumn colors, of the truth we all know - to be true.
That is some beautiful fall foliage. I've always wanted to spend time in New England in October.
How come waiters are saying "Gotcha!" now after every little thing you say? Was there a curriculum update at National Waitstaff U?
Today Trump told a Gold Star wife that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”
Can you imagine what right wingers would be saying if President Obama said such a stupid and inappropriate thing?
But Trump is the guy who also picked a fight with a Gold Star family and said of Senator McCain that he likes his heros not getting captured. I guess he doesn’t like them getting killed either.
What a sick fuck Trump is.
Color diversity.
Today Trump told a Gold Star wife that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”
If you were an American, or a man, or an adult, you should understand President Trump perfectly well. Or if you were the wife of a soldier.
And how exactly is Trump acknowledging that a member of the armed services knew what he signed up for a stupid or inappropriate thing to say? Because in your view those who volunteer for service are too stupid to know what they are signing up for?
I suppose to the Progressive moral cowards such things as volunteering for combat are literally unimaginable.
From Frederick Wilson, the congresswoman that said Zimmerman had shot martin in the back of the head and never apologized for that, I'll wait fir the actual story. Bow were in Niger, in part because Hillary let boko go on a rampage, because the Clinton foundation allowed Nigeria to be stripped clean, that's what the #bring our girls, home, carp waacabout hiding that fact.
Those are indeed some beautiful trees. Don't let Harvey Weinstain near them!
The unfallen harvest falls to Meade every Fall.
Bix,
William references other youngins' perspectives on death.
But is belief in being a born sinner by your omnipotent creator elevated thought above high school philosophy?
But do enjoy the fall colors either way..
Hey..in light of Harveytime, has Team Coco brought back Masturbating Bear?
How NBC plans to recoup the money it paid to broadcast the Olympics.
I can hardly wait to see the uniforms.
Go watch the charming short bicycle clip scene in Butch Cassidy, with Paul Newman and the gorgeous Katherine Ross (Sundance's girl), with "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" playing in the background.
Then, think about this past week with the corrupt,violent sleazy Harvey Weinstein.
The Left wrecks whatever it touches and accelerates whatever rot exists.
Ah katherinecross, and youbhavevto figure William Goldman as screenwriter, as far down as princess bride, he was very good.
walter: if you speak about him in that way, he is not my God, he is yours. As for poor Nietzsche, he would be glad to know people were still trying to correct his foolishness, long after his death. Billions of people. many of them beloved by many other people, have died and are forgotten. Well, Nietzsche would have no problem being forgotten either. What was your point again? Simple hatred for someone who wants people to be happy in a world where you have given up? Wake up, Walter. Be a better person. Nothing you can say - believe me - can make me feel bad. My guardian angel and your guardian angel are to friendship what you and your prom date would have been to true love if your best dreams had come true. Which, leaving the angels, who are beyond your understanding and mine, aside, I pray they will, one day, Walter. I like people and do not ever think of them as just "sinners": please do not focus on that, my friend: but stop sinning - you know how to do that - and remember how much God loves you. And tone down the anger! Paul is not my favorite character in the Bible but his letters have lots of good advice about leaving behind anger and about learning to care about others.
"Simple hatred for someone who wants people to be happy in a world where you have given up? Wake up, Walter. Be a better person."
Yeah! That's me! Hater!
Step back Bix..acknowledge a broader perspective before leveling such bullshit accusations.
Nietsche himself did not rejoice in his assertion, without god we devwithout morality we devolve into hobbescstate of nature, where force _leviathans) is thevonly determinant.
The premises if Christianity is god created the world, man rebelled against him, and death and suffering arecthecresukt, hecwent his only begotten son to redeem us, to save us from the jusgement thatbwill surely come.
Walter - seriously, God bless you. As a convinced Christian (and one who will probably be dead in a few years -according to my cardiologist - and who looks on life with the expected perspective from such knowledge) I get lots of internet hatred and sarcasm when I try my best to describe the real created world that surrounds us: well the hatred and sarcasm is ok, sometimes I walk into church late (more or less on purpose, Walter, keep reading....) and get the stink-eye from people who expect everyone to be on time: God bless their little hearts, I love seeing their dislike: it is a blessing to see who has sinful resentment in their hearts and who therefore needs our prayers most (not that you need my prayers, just saying, if you need them, me and my guardian angel will be there for you. Peace, brother. ) Don't hate on me: there is nothing condescending in how I think about you, as a fellow human, albeit a younger healthier one. Pray for Nietzsche, by the way - you might think that, as a celebrity, he does not need prayers - but we are all just human, and few of us could not, famous or not, greatly profit from humble prayers that we be freed from the burden of sin.
Walter - if you truly have no hatred in your heart, I am profoundly happy. I have no way of knowing.
Today Trump told a Gold Star wife that her husband “knew what he signed up for.
It speaks well of the man's character, that despite the known mortal risk, he invested his life in the service of others. It's a choice, not Choice, to place your own life in jeopardy. Many men and women have done it, do it, for family, community, and ideals.
What a sick fuck Trump is.
He's still better than Hillary. She leaned over the coffin of a dead soldier to lie to his family about his death.
One of the things I miss about Connecticut is the Fall foliage. Here in Oak Ridge, TN most of the leaves are still green on the trees and will be into November this year it now appears. Last night was really the first Fall-like night with temps in the mid 40s.
If God exists, He will not be the strangest thing in the universe. I can see the beauty of those fall leaves and can (sort of) understand the proofs of the Pythagorean theorem. My logic and appreciation of beauty may be some kind of chance by product of evolution or perhaps proof of a divinity immanent in the universe. You can advance reasonable arguments for both sides.... The universe is utterly different than the one we lived in a hundred years ago, and the universe people live in a hundred years from now willl also be utterly different. This present universe is not hospitable to notions of Divine Providence, like, for example the medieval universe, but maybe God will have better luck with our next unverse.
Pole dancing won't be a winter sport as in the photo. The required bare skin would stick to the cold pole.
@Rslph, yes. Summer games for certain. Nude snowboarding in the winter.
Vita nostra brevis est
You guys upthread can stop arguing about God and Heaven and Hell. You'll know soon enough.
Bad Lieutenant said...
"Today Trump told a Gold Star wife that her husband 'knew what he signed up for'.”
If you were an American, or a man, or an adult, you should understand President Trump perfectly well. Or if you were the wife of a soldier.
Uh, but that soldier's grieving wife was horrified by that oafish Trump comment.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-knew-what-he-signed-up-for_us_59e70862e4b0d0e4fe6c0323
So don't try to drop that "If you were an American" crap on us. I'm an American, and a man, and an adult. I can also read, and can judge Trump on something other than a fanatical personality cult. This president is an idiot and a liar. It is my right, as an American to say that.
I'd sort of like to ram that "wife of a soldier" comment down your miserable throat. But that might exceed my rights as an American male adult.
Let's add, how perverse it is for a draft dodger like Trump to make that comment. Trump knew what he signed up for; a Manhattan doctor who gave him a note diagnosing "heel spurs." Heel spurs that never got treated.
Kitchenaid sucks. Don't buy any of their products.
This is the third time I've had to replace a circuit board component and the damn thing still won't keep things cold on the fridge side.
Fuck em.
Ditto for Maytag. Bought a Maytag clothes washer in 1990 and still runs like a top.
Using that as a benchmark, we bought a complete Maytag kitchen in 2005/6. Top of the line appliances. Complete junk. Replaced top and bottom plastic racks in dishwasher (twice). These racks are not cheap. Microwave failed a few years ago. Ice maker in fridge works when it wants to.
So don't try to drop that "If you were an American" crap on us. I'm an American, and a man, and an adult.
I have my doubts.
I can also read, and can judge Trump on something other than a fanatical personality cult.
No, you really can't. You're just doing it in reverse - TDS.
This president is an idiot and a liar. It is my right, as an American to say that.
Sure, like it's my right as an American to say that the women in your family favor barn animals.
I'd sort of like to ram that "wife of a soldier" comment down your miserable throat. But that might exceed my rights as an American male adult.
Oh, I give you leave, Chucky. Come to New York, almost-war-hero. Come and bring your biggest ram!
Bix Cvvv said...
walter:
Bix: paragraphs are your friends.
More details Rusty. The most common problem with refrigerators is a defective defrost timer that allows an ice buildup in the walls of the freezer side. Most designs circulate air from the freezer side into the fridge side to cool the compartment and the ice blocks that flow. The defrost timer is accessible, usually, at the bottom at the left side of the water tray. There is usually a red plastic stem with a screwdriver slot visible. When the unit is running, use a screwdriver to turn the stem clockwise until the compressor shuts off. That turns on an electric defrost element and you'll see water draining into the drain pan. If the water doesn't flow withing the fist half hour, that means there is a problem with the electric heater. If it fills the pan within the first half hour be ready with a turkey baster to start emptying the drain pan before it overflows. A gallon of water can come out, if the ice has built up for a long period of time. After about an hour, the the flow will slow to a drop/second or so. Turn that red stem on the defrost time clockwise again until the compressor starts, and replace the empty drain pan. In an hour or so you should see the refrigerator side reach 33 degrees or so (depending on the setting.) You'll now know that the defrost timer is defective and you'll have a month to replace it before the ice builds up again. That has to be done with the unit unplugged. Get someone to do it, if you are unsure of yourself.
It's Halloween, leaves under foot, candy in my bag, a glorious night to be out in the world.
Our favorite place for fall color is in the Smoky Mountains of eastern North Carolina. This is about the time for peak color but you never know until you get there what it will look like. If you call the local hotels and ask, it will always be best to come now.
As a kid in Maine, my cousin and I would take long walks in the fall just to swish through the piles of red and yellow leaves everywhere. Old stone walls and cemeteries, salt water creeks, old forts on the ocean. One of my most vivid memories of my childhood.
and get the stink-eye from people who expect everyone to be on time: God bless their little hearts, I love seeing th UK eir dislike: it is a blessing to see who has sinful resentment in their hearts and who therefore needs our prayers most
Bix, you can tell yourself that this amounts to an exercise in Christian love, but it sounds like an exercise in passive aggression to me. You're perfectly free to continue expressing yourself. I wonder if you read your own stuff though.
In the words of Gaff from Blade Runner: it's too bad you won't live, but then again, who does?
Glorious. One of the wonderful aspects of moving east from California was getting to see fall colors; California is all evergreens.
The best fall foliage is in Vermont. I've been to Canada, Mass, NH.... but Vermont outdoes all of those other places. You need lots of open farmland with rolling hills and Mountains, which Vermont has, in spades. I don't think any state has as many dairy farms or Maple trees as Vermont, even Canada ---which has the Maple Tree on their flag, does not have the kind of concentration of Maple Trees which provide the best color, the way Vermont does. Sadly, it's all gone by now in the Northern and Central parts of the state, which peaked early. Were headed to Southern Vermont tomorrow, so hopefully some late foliage color left there.
As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And there will be growth in the spring!
CNN just spent about 20 minutes with Frederick Wilson on this, then trotted out Maggie Haberman to caterwaul about Trump and the deaths in Nijer. Next up...Anita Hill. What with the latest democrat violation of women and all. Not one word in the hour I watched about the whole Russian/Obama/Clinton sordidness.
Not. One. Fucking. Word.
The trouble with fall foliage is cleaning up all the leaves.
I wrote Frederica.
If you call the local hotels and ask, it will always be best to come now.
But go to western North Carolina, or all you'll see is flat land with pine trees.
Despite the name, Spanish moss doesn't turn red and gold.
The trouble with fall foliage is cleaning up all the leaves
Oh yes. Fall and The indescribable beauty and majesty of a fiery Sugar Maple dappled with Fall sunshine against the backdrop of bright blue on a cool Fall day filled with Fall indulgences. Cider, cider donuts, the bite of a crisp hard Macintosh...
Followed by Leaf Blower season.
As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And there will be growth in the spring!
Genius! Such insight. Such fundamental Earth-bound wisdom. Why didn't the Democrats run a candidate last year with those kinds of smarts?
Meade, now's your chance for fame on the Democratic ticket.
Wow.
Our favorite place for fall color is in the Smoky Mountains of eastern North Carolina.
The Smokey Mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
Stephen Fry did a BBC series a few years back called "Stephen Fry in America", which is rather obvious a title from a man noted for his wit. A nice program in which the multi-faceted Mr. Fry visits all 50 states. His foray into North Carolina consisted of a hot air balloon excursion over the Smokies, unfortunate somewhat past the peak of the autumnal colors.
I am in East Tennessee for the Fall. The leaves are still quite green, though some coloration is occurring, and people have remarked that it's been unseasonably warm.
Hey it's not like I'd be the first idiot to run for pres.
Hey it's not like I'd be the first idiot to run for pres.
Chances are you'd be the first with a cruelly neutral First Lady.
The leaves are still quite green, though some coloration is occurring... That's typical. Green today, green tomorrow, and then suddenly gold, virtually overnight.
Idiots running for the Highest Office, Tennessee... do I detect a pattern emerging?
This president is an idiot and a liar. It is my right, as an American to say that.
Just like your Leftwing buddies, you haven't quite figured out yet that just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.
My campaign motto: Check Your Vision; Take A Chance: Meade, the gardener 2020
That's a beautiful picture!
"Kitchenaid sucks. Don't buy any of their products."
I have a Kitchenaid washer and dryer that I bought in the late 80s and that are still going strong and have never needed repair.
Also have a KitchenAid dishwasher we’re very happy with.
At some point, Kitchenaid was bought by Whirlpool, whose mechanicals they now use for some products.
Ann Althouse said...
"Kitchenaid sucks. Don't buy any of their products."
I have a Kitchenaid washer and dryer that I bought in the late 80s and that are still going strong and have never needed repair.
10/18/17, 12:32 PM
Blogger Meade said...
Also have a KitchenAid dishwasher we’re very happy with.
10/18/17, 12:52 PM
Blogger Ralph L said...
At some point, Kitchenaid was bought by Whirlpool, whose mechanicals they now use for some products.
Im happy for you . My experience has been less than satisfactory.
They've lost me as a customer.
walter at 1:12 - that was beautiful, thank you for that well-written and kind response.
Bad Lieutenant at 6:49 AM, thanks for reading, and I think what you said was insightful. I used to be passive aggressive when I was a teenager, but I am now brutally rude when I think I should be and am never passive aggressive, I hope! I did not write that little passage well - I actually in my heart of hearts believe that when I show up to church late and someone looks at me with exasperation (and I never look back with any kind of aggression, passive or not) that I am fortunate to have found, in this finite world, an eternal soul who needs my prayers. And Bad Lieutenant , I have had a hard life, I have not had a day free of pain since the summer of 1980, often the type of pain that would make grown men cry (and I did cry often, but I am past that now), and I have had what is called an after-life experience - on my way driving alone to a cold weather training mission, when I was in the USAAF, my car was slung into a ditch by the ice, and a truck broadsided the driver side of my humble little car: five minutes later, I was bleeding out at an alarming rate, almost in shock, and more or less dead on the side of a cold Wisconsin January road: (the occupants of the truck were unhurt, thank God!) and I spent those few moments so many people have described as moments where heaven was almost visible .... they call it a near death experience but death is the last thing one thinks about, if I remember correctly ....so I do like to pray for people who f**king hate me. I know that they are fellow creatures. Not only that: but to bring it down a register (as I have learned I should do, from so many internet commenters who say please do not be so intense for so long at a stretch...) To pray simply for people who had a bad moment at church: that is for me like playing checkers with the old drunks at the old folks home. Nothing passive-agressive about it at all, Bad Lietenant. Anyway, I would not be surprised if you are a much better person than me: pray for me: I would appreciate it, and my guardian angel would be amused and thankful!
Thanks Bix...if I have any qualities, I prefer not to advertise them.
I'm sorry to hear of your chronic pain. Both my parents have conditions that seem to make for them a lot of misery. If you feel that my prayers will do you any good, you have them.
You may, or may not, misinterpret the glances. If I look, in shul, at who has just come in, it's for two reasons.
One is, hmm, who just joined, anything interesting there? Of course many people come and go as they please or as they must. Certainly not angry. If my more or less idle curiosity increases anyone's self-consciousness, oops. Not sure that rises to a sorry, but if you need one, help yourself.
Two is, is today the day?
Again, please note the use of paragraphs. The white space between some of the lines. Your readers would appreciate it and perhaps you would get better responses.
But you can only do what you can do.
USAAF? That's before 1947.
I'm sure we all need your prayers. Guess it's nice to have a target. ;)
Whirlpool and Frigidaire have served me well.
Bad Lieutenant - thanks. USAAF is a private joke - not that private - but after 20 years in the USAF, and with friends with friends in the Senate, and in Congress, I would like the USAF to reintegrate with the army, and I say so every time I am around someone who might make that happen. As for the bad looks in church - on a website where people who go to the same churches I go to post, I recently wrote that in the last 10 years not a single person has looked at me badly when I walked in late. Which I do every week (maybe I have a heart condition that means I have to arrive late or leave early, maybe it is a tribute to those who cannot be on time ... ) My statement about the stinkeye (which some sad people have tried to use on me in the past, but typically at liberal churches, not the churches I go to) was sort of a rhetorical use of a hypothetical to say something that almost nobody, in the history of English, has ever said (good famous writers - a group to which I do not belong - do not condescend to describe their feelings vis-a-vis those who are merely people who go to the same church as them, 100 percent of the time....) As for 35 years of chronic pain - thanks for your prayers. It wasn't "chronic pain" that stole so much of my life from me. It was life-stealing, soul-threatening pain for many more hours than I can say. Suffering like most people who are not old would not believe. I once did a calculation: I could walk to the moon and back at one mile per hour and still spend less time on that walk than I spent on this earth, awake and in conscious pain (from which I could be distracted - by work, by sports, and so forth, and I am grateful for that...) - but which was, until a couple years ago, always there, with hatred in its cold little inhuman unsubstantial but effective heart. God help anyone who would wish a small fraction of that on anybody else!. So I take every slight release I can, and thanks again for your prayers, which may have given me some release in the past and may do so in the future. Thanks, from my heart! Finally - I don't really write for people who randomly access this site, or any other website. I write for people who want to read what I have to say and who are willing to look up my various pseudonyms (Bix Cent-Quinze, for example, is a tribute to my dog and to my beloved New Orleans and Manhattans...). Those people - some of them, anyway - rejoice when they see a long unparagraphed text. Or they don't: but I think they do. Someone who has no idea that I am not just a ranting incoherent person obviously will not be happy. Too bad. Anyway, thanks again for the prayers: my grandfather was a big shot at his synagogue, and I think about him every day. He had a tough life - nowhere near as tough as mine, but with many fewer rewards, so there's that. Pray for him too - I don't even know his name (his son was not the sort of person who tells his children what their grandfather's name is) - but he was a tinsmith. So pray for the tinsmith (1868-1963) and his poor unloved wife (1872-1953).
And, for the record, I hope that today is not the day, as long as you don't want it to be, and vice versa.
And here is something you probably know, Bad Lieutenant, and as a compliment to you I am saying it out loud - heart speaks to heart, and when you realize that almost nobody (not nobody, almost nobody) can make your life better, sometimes you look at the people - who would likely never in a hundred years be able or willing to help you have a truly better life (years of experience have taught me that) - when you nevertheless look at them with love in your heart, thinking - you look like someone God loves, whether I understand that or not - and you look at them, praying to God that some of the suffering you have experienced may be used to keep them - the boring unhelpful people you are looking at - from also suffering: when that happens, maybe, sadly, nothing has happened (most people live their lives in a state of misery or in a state of whatever we call whatever is next to misery, and will do so no matter what we do) but maybe - and there is an opposite to sadness, whether we benefit from it or not - maybe some little miracle has occurred. PtGtsoftsyhembutktfas, (pastiche of Finnegans Wake, there ...) Picture a couple of really good actors or actresses acting out a scene like that. Like I said, you probably already know. I know almost nobody reads the comments on old posts. I rejoice in the billions of people who will never read this, even if they would like to - why, I don't know, But, Bad Lieutenant, I have seen prayers for those who suffer work. I remember. I walked tens of thousands of miles, at a mile an hour, in pain. God will answer my prayers for you, I hope: God bless you. 1981 is excruciatingly long ago for me but God knows how long ago it really is. Maybe the first day of that year was yesterday, when I was healthy and had a chance to be happy in this world. Probably not, but maybe. Anyway, I am lots of things that are subject to criticism, but I am not passive aggressive. Just saying. Please don't ever call anyone passive aggressive again unless you know them well enough to know what you are saying. Thanks for reading.
And here is something you probably know, Bad Lieutenant, and as a compliment to you I am saying it out loud - heart speaks to heart, and when you realize that almost nobody (not nobody, almost nobody) can make your life better, sometimes you look at the people - who would likely never in a hundred years be able or willing to help you have a truly better life (years of experience have taught me that) - when you nevertheless look at them with love in your heart, thinking - you look like someone God loves, whether I understand that or not - and you look at them, praying to God that some of the suffering you have experienced may be used to keep them - the boring unhelpful people you are looking at - from also suffering: when that happens, maybe, sadly, nothing has happened (most people live their lives in a state of misery or in a state of whatever we call whatever is next to misery, and will do so no matter what we do) but maybe - and there is an opposite to sadness, whether we benefit from it or not - maybe some little miracle has occurred. PtGtsoftsyhembutktfas, (pastiche of Finnegans Wake, there ...) Picture a couple of really good actors or actresses acting out a scene like that. Like I said, you probably already know. I know almost nobody reads the comments on old posts. I rejoice in the billions of people who will never read this, even if they would like to - why, I don't know, But, Bad Lieutenant, I have seen prayers for those who suffer work. I remember. I walked tens of thousands of miles, at a mile an hour, in pain. God will answer my prayers for you, I hope: God bless you. 1981 is excruciatingly long ago for me but God knows how long ago it really is. Maybe the first day of that year was yesterday, when I was healthy and had a chance to be happy in this world. Probably not, but maybe. Anyway, I am lots of things that are subject to criticism, but I am not passive aggressive. Just saying. Please don't ever call anyone passive aggressive again unless you know them well enough to know what you are saying. Thanks for reading.
Bix Cvvv said...
And, for the record, I hope that today is not the day, as long as you don't want it to be, and vice versa.
10/19/17, 9:34 PM
No, Bix, no, thank you for that, but that's not what I meant. Not at all. My life is worthless and I am happy to die for any good reason.
No-I mean, is this the day that THEY come through the door. I don't see ever wanting that.
Bad Lieutenant - I wondered, after I had posted my comment, if that was what you meant - that 'they' coming through the door was something nobody would want, unless it was because that gives us the opportunity to strike 'them' down .... I guess I was right to wonder, my reading skills could be better, if they were, I would have understood what you said, before your subsequent explanation .... Well, if 'they' do come through the door, I hope you - or your friends - take them down before they do any harm. By the way, congratulations on realizing your life is worthless: mine is, too. I too would be happy to die for any good reason: but, life is good, and if I can live while evildoers die, that is good too. I enjoyed tremendously your 10:13 AM comment. And I meant it when I asked you to pray for the tinsmith and his wife. I wonder what they would think of this conversation. I know you have grandparents, too, I will pray for them, unless you specifically ask me not to. There are thousands of people who have prayed for me, and the weird thing about a lifetime of chronic pain is that you understand that a human being cannot exactly remember what pain felt like, in the past. It is gone. And, looking back, you feel true gratitude for those who cared, in a way that people with easier lives might understand, and might not.
Bad Lieutenant - I wondered, after I had posted my comment, if that was what you meant - that 'they' coming through the door was something nobody would want, unless it was because that gives us the opportunity to strike 'them' down .... I guess I was right to wonder, my reading skills could be better, if they were, I would have understood what you said, before your subsequent explanation .... Well, if 'they' do come through the door, I hope you - or your friends - take them down before they do any harm. By the way, congratulations on realizing your life is worthless: mine is, too. I too would be happy to die for any good reason: but, life is good, and if I can live while evildoers die, that is good too. I enjoyed tremendously your 10:13 AM comment. And I meant it when I asked you to pray for the tinsmith and his wife. I wonder what they would think of this conversation. I know you have grandparents, too, I will pray for them, unless you specifically ask me not to. There are thousands of people who have prayed for me, and the weird thing about a lifetime of chronic pain is that you understand that a human being cannot exactly remember what pain felt like, in the past. It is gone. And, looking back, you feel true gratitude for those who cared, in a way that people with easier lives might understand, and might not.
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