The Gods of the Copybook Headings -- Here and Now

Rudyard Kipling first published The Gods of the Copybook Headings in 1919, soon after the War To End All Wars. And it has been a decade since Bill Whittle slightly revised Kipling's poem "for modern ears", replacing "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" in the poem with The Gods of Wisdom and Virtue. He also replaced "The Gods of the Market Place" with The Gods of the Here and the Now.

The word choice of "The Gods of the Here and the Now" seems to me to be especially relevant to our culture and politics at the present moment. Some gods, especially the human ones, seem to fall out of favor in just a news cycle or two. Sometimes the descriptions of the non-human gods will be transformed in a news cycle or two.

Maybe kids should still be practicing penmanship with copybooks. Just a thought. How will they communicate if somebody takes down the internet?

The Kipling Society, Readers' Guide

Critical comments:

Peter Keating:

The style of the poem was similar to that used before by Kipling in "The Conundrum of the Workshops" and "In the Neolithic Age". It combined a bouncy, striding rhythm; an apparent jumble of cliches, arcane geological terms, and Biblical allusions; some flashes of surrealistic nonsense; and a clear moral.
Against the fundamental, unchanging values of life - the "Copybook Headings" which a child was expected to imbibe while learning to write - Kipling sets the transient, fashionable "Gods of the Market-Place", which can be taken to refer to both trendy attitudes and the public figures associated with them.

Notes on the Text:

[Verse 5]
Cambrian: a real geological period. Here, as Keating points out, it stands for the Welshman Lloyd George, who was Prime Minister for much of the Great War. (Cambria is the Latin name for Wales). Lloyd George was the chief British negotiator for the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 which officially ended the War. This disarmed Germany but pledged all the Great Powers to disarm themselves progressively. Kipling strongly disapproved of Lloyd George, the Liberals, and the Treaty.

There are subtle gems of wisdom in several verses of this poem. And other bits of wisdom that hit with some force. I guess I could have added links with current examples of phrases in the poem. But it's probably better for you to think of your own.

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Kipling knew something about terror and slaughter. He lost his son in WWI, and never found out what happened to him.

Soldiers fascinated Kipling long before WW1 - he had made his name with a poetry collection, Barrack-Room Ballads.
Kipling's son, John, was one of those keen to join the British war effort in 1914. Barred from the navy because of his poor eyesight, John was forced to use his father's connections to get a commission in the infantry, in the 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards.
He arrived in France on 17 August 1915 - his 18th birthday - and six weeks later was sent to the Battle of Loos. . .
John Kipling's body was not found.

"It is one of the great ironies that Kipling should have been the person to select the phrase 'known unto God' for all unknown soldiers, and then not know what happened to his own son," says Phillip Mallett, author of Kipling: A Literary Life.
Kipling worked with Winston Churchill to ensure that all gravestones were the same shape and size, regardless of military rank. The long lines of matching gravestones lining war cemeteries are their legacy.

* * * * *

The Gods of Wisdom and Virtue

Ready to really think about how Kipling's poem above may apply to us today? It might feel even more compelling now than it did when Bill Whittle released the video below to expand the public's awareness of the poem a decade ago.

. . . it's an important poem because it really encapsulates how and why things seem to fall apart just as they reach their zenith.

So, what and who are the Gods of the Here and the Now, at this moment?

* * * * *

Quote

I used to be 'with it.' Then they changed what 'it' was. Now, whatever I'm 'with' isn't 'it,' and what's 'with it' seems weird and scary.
-- Abe Simpson

h/t Mike

* * * * *

Worship of the New

California Department of Education's list of recommended new books with which to update school offerings. No list of recommended standard books or classics seems to be available.

The CA 9th-12th grade literature list contains 0 books written before 2016 (no classics). It has books by Michelle Obama, Ibram Kendi, and Trevor Noah.

FL 9th-12th list has Crime & Punishment, Hamlet, Night, Dante's Inferno, 1984, and Animal Farm.

The difference is shocking!
— AConcernedParent (@AConcernedPare2) August 12, 2022

Comments on books studied at non-government schools down-thread.

C.S. Lewis on studying modern books alone:

Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.

Roger Scruton

"The two most potent post-war orthodoxies -- socialist politics and modernist art -- have at least one feature in common: they are both forms of snobbery, the anti-bourgeois snobbery of people convinced of their right to dictate to the common man in the name of the common man."

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (advice from one demon to another)

The use of Fashions in thought is to distract the attention of men from their real dangers. We direct the fashionable outcry of each generation against those vices of which it is least in danger and fix its approval on the virtue nearest to that vice which we are trying to make endemic. The game is to have them all running about with fire extinguishers whenever there is a flood, and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gunwale under.

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (more advice from one demon to another)

To regard the ancient writer as a possible source of knowledge -- to anticipate that what he said could possibly modify your thoughts or your behavior -- this would be rejected as unutterably simple-minded. And since we cannot deceive the whole human race all the time, it is most important thus to cut every generation off from all others; for where learning makes a free commerce between the ages there is always the danger that the characteristic errors of one may be corrected by the characteristic truths of another.

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Only the learned read old books and . . . they are of all men the least likely to acquire wisdom by doing so.

Ready to discuss a great classic book in the Book Thread tomorrow? Maybe without utilizing Deconstruction or Critical Social Justice lenses?

* * * * *

Spot the Gods of the Market Place

Watch the celebrities in the audience:

Greta is one of the most widely cited climate scientists.

With over 0 years in the field and a staggering 0 degrees and diplomas beyond grade school, Greta has taken the world by storm with her cursory knowledge skimmed from google and rhetoric overheard from activists yelling� https://t.co/fdFX7cq9bk
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) April 20, 2023

Hasbro Introduces New 'Transition Me Elmo' Doll

The new doll is set to coincide with Sesame Street's new push for inclusive subject matter, featuring the show's iconic characters embracing new ideas and worldviews to better train young minds to reject the most foundational concepts of science, family dynamics, and morality. "If beloved characters like Elmo, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, and Bert & Ernie aren't trusted to teach your children who they are and what gender and sexual roles define them as human beings, then who will?" Maltin continued.
The doll will not only offer young impressionable children the opportunity to transition Elmo to any number of genders but also play pre-recorded progressive lessons when various body parts are squeezed . .

Great examples at the link.

At publishing time, the creators of the doll were hoping to secure a guest appearance by TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney to promote the doll on the show, since Mulvaney has become such a proven advertising commodity.

Telling a child he or she is "born in the wrong body" is one of the more sinister evils in our society. How are you going to tell a child, in all her wonder and innocence, that she was a mistake, who needs to be "fixed" with drugs. mutilation, and sterilization?

Now imagine being a disabled kid in a class, hearing people can be born in the wrong body. They hear that they might be a "mistake," but can't magically "transition" into ability/mobility. My disabled son tells me he loves his life every night -- never sending him to school!

What is a woman?

Denmark's Women's Museum renamed itself the "Gender Museum" and put up this statue https://t.co/Z2icsKPedv
— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) April 21, 2023

Maybe we shouldn't send our kids to Denmark, either.

* * * * *

Music

Maybe we need a little bit of air.

Bach, Air on the G String

* * * * *

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

* * * * *

Last week's thread, April 15, How to be divinely secular (or at least support secular divinity)

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

Posted by: K.T. at 11:02 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 st

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 22, 2023 11:05 AM (Vwz3I)

2 Another loser...
Quote Tweet jason alexander @IJasonAlexander · Apr 21
Ok everyone. Twitter has removed my verification. I will no longer be posting on this app. Anyone who posts as me is an imposter. I wish you all well.

PoIiMath politicalmath · 19h
George: There's gonna be people out there pretending to be me!
Elaine: George, who would want to pretend to be you?
G: I don't know! People!
Jerry: It does seem unlikely
G: Aren't you worried people are gonna pretend to be you?
Jerry: I don't think they could pull it off

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 22, 2023 11:05 AM (Vwz3I)

3 Jon 🔬 @JonnyMicro · 18h
I just saw that the band Train is going to be playing near me which, given Ohio’s recent track record, doesn’t seem like a good idea

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 22, 2023 11:07 AM (Vwz3I)

4 Though shaitan seems to have the upper hand now remember GOD wrote the book.

Posted by: Eromero at April 22, 2023 11:11 AM (4svuj)

5 NEXTA @nexta_tv · 3h
In Belgorod, a second air bomb was found at the site of the explosion, which did not explode. Authorities are evacuating over 3,000 people.

https://tinyurl.com/3rrf2uta
Several brief videos.

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 22, 2023 11:12 AM (Vwz3I)

6 The air, soil and water is cleaner today than in the last 100 years. My Father was born in 1940 in the city of Pittsburgh. One of his childhood chores was Sweeping the soot off the house and sidewalk. How many kids have that chore today in America?

Posted by: Bang-a-gong at April 22, 2023 11:13 AM (SRiFu)

7 Sorry I'm late, have tractor apart looking for blown fuse

Posted by: Skip at April 22, 2023 11:14 AM (xhxe8)

8 The air, soil and water is cleaner today than in the last 100 years.
-------------
There's commercial salmon fishing in Lake Erie today. Something unthinkable in the 1970s and earlier.

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 22, 2023 11:15 AM (Vwz3I)

9 7, Skip? Hope you get that blown fuse fixed.

Posted by: KT at April 22, 2023 11:15 AM (rrtZS)

10 Ryan Fournier @RyanAFournier · 22h
A Nashville lawmaker just said that Audrey Hale’s manifesto will not be fully released…

Because it “poses too much danger to the public.”

Do you see what they’re doing here?

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at April 22, 2023 11:15 AM (Vwz3I)

11 I would like to get that statue of Breast Feeding Man placed on prominent display in the congress or the White House.

Who do I call…

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 22, 2023 11:16 AM (zC7Vz)

12 I'm practicing the opening riff on acoustic guitar to "Keys to the Highway."

A cup of Maxwell House french roast dark brewed strong, on the desk.

Just finished Ace Atkins "White Shadow" set in Tampa's Ybor City in 1955, with forays into Havana at the height of its mob glory. Fidel Castro is in the story. A quite good book.

In the first four months after marching into Havana in triumph in 1959, Castro's henchmen executed 600 people, a lot of them Batista's secret police. Comparing the population of Cuba then to the USA today, it would be equivalent to the execution of about 30,000 here.

When the communists went into Havana in '59, the proles from the countryside emptied the casinos and resort hotels and the luxury apartment buildings, piling up huge pyres and setting them ablaze, then made some of the casinos into barns for donkeys and chickens.

All this in the not too distant pass.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 22, 2023 11:16 AM (KiBMU)

13 So stupid and very wealthy celebrities are whining about paying $8 a month for a blue check mark?

Posted by: N, L. at April 22, 2023 11:23 AM (eGTCV)

14 It's not so much the $8. It's that it goes to Musk.

That, and the fact that you can get a blue check, too. You, a nobody, but with $8.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 22, 2023 11:28 AM (KiBMU)

15 I was a big fan of Bill Whittle and his Afterburner video, they were good thought videos

Posted by: Skip at April 22, 2023 11:34 AM (xhxe8)

16 Was Rome this insane before it fell ?

Posted by: runner at April 22, 2023 11:34 AM (V13WU)

17 "Blue Checks" was never anything but a Kool Kids Klub. The Leftists are outraged that Musk has opened up the clubhouse to everyone, plus they gotta pay to stay. Waah waah waah it's not Kool anymore!

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 22, 2023 11:36 AM (r46W7)

18 I teach all my upper elementary grandkids the Copybook poem. Next up is Animal Farm.

Posted by: Inisfree at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (3g6r+)

19
BLEG-

I'll be traveling soon and am looking for some light reading to break up travel time, etc in the SF or so genre.

Anyone remember the title of that "Orbit" novel that Perfesser Squirrel's been flogging?

Or anything else you care to mention.

Thanks.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (RJQ8g)

20 Never ever did I think that I would live long enough to see America destroyed.

Posted by: Jmel at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (l0jz2)

21 Greta was given an Honorary Doctorate of Theology. I wonder if they even understand how perfect that is.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (r46W7)

22 After Animal Farm do 1984, Inisfree.

Posted by: Eromero at April 22, 2023 11:38 AM (4svuj)

23 With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (EXyHK)

24 Body and spirit
I surrendered whole
To harsh task masters
And gained a soul.

Kipling

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (Wy1BU)

25 21 Greta was given an Honorary Doctorate of Theology. I wonder if they even understand how perfect that is.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (r46W7)

Is she transgender?

Posted by: N, L. at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (eGTCV)

26 In 5th grade, I was exempted from all my final exams. I did however, fail penmanship.

Posted by: BignJames at April 22, 2023 11:40 AM (AwYPR)

27 Blue Checks" was never anything but a Kool Kids Klub. The Leftists are outraged that Musk has opened up the clubhouse to everyone

..
We're not doing equity anymore?

Posted by: I guess I'll ask them at April 22, 2023 11:41 AM (Sdptm)

28 Sorry I'm late, have tractor apart looking for blown fuse
Posted by: Skip

Its the fuse that looks sated.

Posted by: JT at April 22, 2023 11:42 AM (T4tVD)

29 Looking at the top pic...I never saw anyone who's eyebrows were bigger than their glasses....

Posted by: JT at April 22, 2023 11:43 AM (T4tVD)

30 Has Jason Alexander ever said anything worth reading?

Posted by: NL at April 22, 2023 11:43 AM (eGTCV)

31 Never ever did I think that I would live long enough to see America destroyed.

Posted by: Jmel at April

Shocking in its totality and speed.

And I do mean truly Shocking.

This is stuff many thought you only read about in history books.

Posted by: I guess I'll ask them at April 22, 2023 11:43 AM (Sdptm)

32 Sorry I'm late, have tractor apart looking for blown fuse
Posted by: Skip at April 22, 2023 11:14 AM (xhxe

Just look for the smiling fuse.

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy no with twice the crazy at April 22, 2023 11:43 AM (Zvtjl)

33 I've never understood the significance of that blue check mark. Does it signify retardation?

Posted by: NL at April 22, 2023 11:45 AM (eGTCV)

34 Looking at the top pic...I never saw anyone who's eyebrows were bigger than their glasses....
Posted by: JT at April 22, 2023 11:43 AM (T4tVD)

Classic Case of Old Man Crazy Eyebrows.

Often accompanied by hair growing in ears.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 22, 2023 11:45 AM (RJQ8g)

35 I'm practicing the opening riff on acoustic guitar to "Keys to the Highway."

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 22, 2023 11:16 AM (KiBMU)

What kinda' box you playin'?

Posted by: BignJames at April 22, 2023 11:45 AM (AwYPR)

36 Is this the Dildo Bible Studies Thread?

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 22, 2023 11:47 AM (V4X9X)

37 Never change, GOP.

On Saturday, when the state’s lightning rod Republican lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, formally announces his gubernatorial campaign, polls suggest he will instantly become the frontrunner for the nomination. He’ll saddle the GOP with a laundry list of his past public controversies — from agreeing with antisemitic remarks about the global economy to homophobic musings that children shouldn’t learn about “homosexuality or any of that filth.”
In a state where surveys show a majority of voters favor keeping abortion legal, he has compared the procedure to murder. And even some Republicans in North Carolina see him as a liability.
"Because of his comments, he will nationalize the gubernatorial race in North Carolina for the Democrats, which will open the door for them in raising tens of millions of dollars across the country,” said Paul Shumaker, a Republican consultant in the state.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at April 22, 2023 11:48 AM (O1z4v)

38 So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair

Bravo!

Posted by: Taq, Rickrolled by Jesus at April 22, 2023 11:49 AM (iKBwy)

39 I get a woggish vibe from Greta.

Posted by: Eromero at April 22, 2023 11:50 AM (4svuj)

40 "With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife."

Very good!

Go on.

Posted by: pawn at April 22, 2023 11:50 AM (wsHtO)

41 With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (EXyHK)

This is awesome.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at April 22, 2023 11:51 AM (wmDcS)

42 We can't fight the culture wars because it might hurt fundraising!

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at April 22, 2023 11:51 AM (O1z4v)

43 We laugh at Greta but she'll be very wealthy and never work a day in xer life.

Posted by: I guess I'll ask them at April 22, 2023 11:51 AM (Sdptm)

44 Greta was given an Honorary Doctorate of Theology. I wonder if they even understand how perfect that is.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (r46W7)

She ought to be fossilized, and sold as a Garden Gnome at a discount store.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 11:52 AM (tkR6S)

45 Kipling wrote Captains Courageous while living in Dummerston, Vermont. His house is a national landmark IIRC.

Posted by: Lurker De Plume at April 22, 2023 11:53 AM (76TDd)

46 Excellent post KT. Thank you!

I've often wished I could find a list of copybook headings, to have access to the wisdom therein.

The Fashions quote is spot on. "Tolerance" of sin being promoted as love your neighbor.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at April 22, 2023 11:54 AM (Nx1bw)

47 She ought to be fossilized, and sold as a Garden Gnome at a discount store.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

Ha

That was very Zod-like.

Posted by: I guess I'll ask them at April 22, 2023 11:54 AM (Sdptm)

48 I'm practicing the opening riff on acoustic guitar to "Keys to the Highway."

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 22, 2023 11:16 AM (KiBMU)

What kinda' box you playin'?
Posted by: BignJames at April 22, 2023 11:45 AM (AwYPR)

I love that song. It has almost every blues riff known to man.

Posted by: Napoleon XIV at April 22, 2023 11:55 AM (AiZBA)

49 Back when I had an office and worked for the man, I had The Gods of the Copybook Headings on my door. Some read it, some complained. I always thought watching how people reacted to it was a pretty good litmus test - and easier than watching them drive or figuring out where they chose to live.

Posted by: Hairy Handed Gent at April 22, 2023 11:55 AM (/yvx8)

50 @44

Not fat enough for a Garden Gnome.

Posted by: irongrampa at April 22, 2023 11:56 AM (KATBx)

51 "antisemitic remarks about the global economy"

He said something truthful about George Soros?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 11:57 AM (tkR6S)

52 Was Rome this insane before it fell ?

Posted by: runner at April 22, 2023 11:34 AM

Well you could get ocelot spleens to munch on at the gladiatorial games towards the end of the empire.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 22, 2023 11:57 AM (ncXxy)

53 That statue gives me the desire to become a vandal

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at April 22, 2023 11:57 AM (Nx1bw)

54 In the first four months after marching into Havana in triumph in 1959, Castro's henchmen executed 600 people, a lot of them Batista's secret police. Comparing the population of Cuba then to the USA today, it would be equivalent to the execution of about 30,000 here.

When the communists went into Havana in '59, the proles from the countryside emptied the casinos and resort hotels and the luxury apartment buildings, piling up huge pyres and setting them ablaze, then made some of the casinos into barns for donkeys and chickens.

All this in the not too distant pass.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 22, 2023 11:16 AM (KiBMU)

I'm sure if you counted up all the American secret police today, it would be much more than 30,000. Of course, many of them are wearing badges, and not just going to J6 and assorted rallies, posing as normies. Some of them go into police stations every day, some of the call themselves federal agents, but make no mistake. We have a secret police in this country too.

As for turning casinos into donkey barns, I fail to see that as anything other than progress.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 11:57 AM (zkeGc)

55 Kipling wrote Captains Courageous while living in Dummerston, Vermont. His house is a national landmark IIRC.
Posted by: Lurker De Plume

Hilary's house is a national skidmark.

Posted by: JT at April 22, 2023 11:57 AM (T4tVD)

56 With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (EXyHK)

Damn nice. Please continue.

Posted by: Reforger at April 22, 2023 11:58 AM (gSGZG)

57 In 20 years AOC will have eyebrows and moustache to match Kipllings.

Posted by: NL at April 22, 2023 11:58 AM (eGTCV)

58 What kinda' box you playin'?

Posted by: BignJames at April 22, 2023 11:45 AM (AwYPR)

Alvarez Yairi PYM70 12-fret slothead, similar to what my instructor plays in this tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT3xKmOYIAw&loop=0

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 22, 2023 11:58 AM (KiBMU)

59 Kipling was a wise man and something of a prophet.

Posted by: Not paying the Danegeld. Nope. Not doing it. at April 22, 2023 11:58 AM (GjRvg)

60 Kipling had his only son killed in WWI. You can read the disgust he has for the modern world n that poem.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 22, 2023 11:58 AM (kQSat)

61 Not fat enough for a Garden Gnome.
Posted by: irongrampa at April 22, 2023 11:56 AM (KATBx)

Hence the discount store. Factory second.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:00 PM (tkR6S)

62 Probably my favorite poem of all time.

Posted by: I still can't think of anything at April 22, 2023 12:00 PM (NwN/s)

63 Go on.

No, too much of that poem is still too on-the-mark to alter, even if the underlying cause has changed slightly. I’m expecting the lights to go out in Rome (or California, or, sadly, even Texas) any time now.

I think it was a surprise to people in general when the lights went out in Texas. Even more sadly, I think it was a pleasant surprise to far too many.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 12:00 PM (EXyHK)

64 Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 11:57 AM (zkeGc

Are you in the Indianapolis area? Did they determine what that boom and bright flash of light was. Read it was reported all over the place up there, including Brownsburg, Avon, etc.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:01 PM (Wy1BU)

65 With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair

Oof! Well done!

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at April 22, 2023 12:01 PM (Nx1bw)

66 Getaway getting a doctorate for theology proves its a Religion, Church of Global Warming

Posted by: Skip at April 22, 2023 12:05 PM (xhxe8)

67 Greta was given an Honorary Doctorate of Theology. I wonder if they even understand how perfect that is.
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (r46W7)

Is she transgender?
Posted by: N, L. at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (eGTCV)

I can't stand watching her, so I didn't watch the video, but she's in a pink dress, which I find strange.

I mean, her whole persona has always been strange, in that she was a child when she burst on the scene, but her asexuality was highly sexualized. Her ugly face was sexual, and now I guess, her "adult" persona is going to be more overtly sexual.

Seems like another example of the brainwashing that is going on, to turn this child idol into different things before our eyes. I think we're only one or two iterations of the rot away from someone like this being auctioned off to the highest bidder, to be deflowered in a public setting, executed, and eaten before our eyes.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:06 PM (vSzVG)

68 Buncha non-nooding bastiges!

Howdy KT!

Posted by: Doof at April 22, 2023 12:07 PM (LLddH)

69 Kipling was a wise man and something of a prophet.
Posted by: Not paying the Danegeld. Nope. Not doing it. at April 22, 2023 11:58 AM (GjRvg)

And yet it never occurred to him to trim his facial hair.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:08 PM (vSzVG)

70 Alvarez Yairi PYM70 12-fret slothead, similar to what my instructor plays in this tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT3xKmOYIAw&loop=0

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 22, 2023 11:58 AM (KiBMU)

Good stuff! Too bad I'm not a finger/thumb picker.

Posted by: BignJames at April 22, 2023 12:09 PM (AwYPR)

71 Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 11:57 AM (zkeGc

Are you in the Indianapolis area? Did they determine what that boom and bright flash of light was. Read it was reported all over the place up there, including Brownsburg, Avon, etc.
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:01 PM (Wy1BU)

No, I'm in Arizona. Every time I've ever traveled through (not to) Indianapolis, I've gotten on the wrong highway, due to their confusing system and poor signage. Every. Time.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:10 PM (vSzVG)

72 Greta is like 20 now. Has she reached puberty yet?

Posted by: Rarin' to Go! at April 22, 2023 12:10 PM (Nn3xT)

73 >>>I can't stand watching her, so I didn't watch the video, but she's in a pink dress, which I find strange.

I mean, her whole persona has always been strange, in that she was a child when she burst on the scene, but her asexuality was highly sexualized. Her ugly face was sexual, and now I guess, her "adult" persona is going to be more overtly sexual.

Seems like another example of the brainwashing that is going on, to turn this child idol into different things before our eyes. I think we're only one or two iterations of the rot away from someone like this being auctioned off to the highest bidder, to be deflowered in a public setting, executed, and eaten before our eyes.

Posted by: BurtTC

>I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Posted by: Hunter Biden at April 22, 2023 12:10 PM (V4X9X)

74 And yet it never occurred to him to trim his facial hair.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:08 PM (vSzVG)

And women a century ago did not get Brazilians either.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:11 PM (tkR6S)

75 Probably my favorite poem of all time.
Posted by: I still can't think of anything at April 22, 2023 12:00 PM (NwN/s)

I have a mental block against reading poetry. Really. My mind doesn't seem to be able to "translate" the poetic arrangement of words into a coherent thought. So the best I can do, is hear someone else read it, and then I can kinda sorta appreciate the flow, the artistry, but the meaning continues to escape me, because then I'm not focusing on anything other than the sound.

Yeah, I'm weird. I know it.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:13 PM (vSzVG)

76 And yet it never occurred to him to trim his facial hair.

Trivialities, mere trivialities... He's dealing with copybook headings.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at April 22, 2023 12:13 PM (Nx1bw)

77 I have a mental block against reading poetry. Really. My mind doesn't seem to be able to "translate" the poetic arrangement of words into a coherent thought.

I'm pretty literal, so I don't get most poetry. And also, people that do largely just pull shit out of their ass. But Kipling I get.

Posted by: Hairy Handed Gent at April 22, 2023 12:15 PM (5tJAN)

78 >I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Posted by: Hunter Biden at April 22, 2023 12:10 PM (V4X9X)

Yes, and ignoring the "joke" here, the utter depravity of Hunter Biden, and how the powers in this country are protecting him from any accountability, is another example of the sacrifice, the idolization of a lost soul, to further solidify the evil of this world's ascendency.

Alongside electing the demented and retarded into high office... these things are not accidental.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:15 PM (vSzVG)

79 Morning.

Powerline Week In Pictures

https://tinyurl.com/ecphw3fn

Headline: Female Octopuses Will Chick Seashells At Males Who Irk Them

I'm sure there's more than a few 'Ettes that have wanted to do that.

Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:16 PM (TWLRj)

80 And yet it never occurred to him to trim his facial hair.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:08 PM (vSzVG)

And women a century ago did not get Brazilians either.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:11 PM (tkR6S)

I shudder at the thought. The fact that they still managed to procreate.... I admire the dedication and commitment to the task, of our forefathers and ancestors.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (vSzVG)

81 Yeah, I'm weird. I know it.

I think this is pretty common. Poetry is a form of speaking and listening, and like anything it needs to be learned. The idea that anything can be poetry pretty much killed poetry, just as the idea that anything can be artwork killed paintings.

That talent is special, and worth appreciating, is anathema to “the Gods of the Market Place”. But if everyone is special, no one is, and if everything is art, nothing is.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (EXyHK)

82 Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:10 PM

Kk sorry bout that. I thought you were a Hoosier hordeling. And now I'm gonna tax my brain trying to figure out who the Hoosier hordelings actually are.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (Wy1BU)

83 74 And yet it never occurred to him to trim his facial hair.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:08 PM (vSzVG)

And women a century ago did not get Brazilians either.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:11 PM (tkR6S)

The 21st century it is, how you say, the Paolo Century.

Posted by: The Paolo at April 22, 2023 12:19 PM (TWLRj)

84 It's just preposterous mid-wittery and reveals a mind almost completely insensate to poetry.

He's ruined the entire fucking poem.
Posted by: Thesokorus at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (1ais2)

Then I guess it wasn't much of a poem, if such a "midwit" managed to ruin it.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:20 PM (vSzVG)

85 And yet it never occurred to him to trim his facial hair.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:08 PM (vSzVG)

And women a century ago did not get Brazilians either.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:11 PM (tkR6S)

I shudder at the thought. The fact that they still managed to procreate.... I admire the dedication and commitment to the task, of our forefathers and ancestors.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (vSzVG)

It's weird what people find attractive over the ages. I bet our great great great great great great grandpappies criticized dudes who were into women that shaved their armpits and accused them of being crypto-pedophiles.

Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:22 PM (TWLRj)

86 Do not pluck my rosebud,
Nor the stalk which hangs beneath,
Leave it instead at the side of your bed,
In the glass where you keep your false teeth!

Posted by: Benny Hill, Poet at April 22, 2023 12:22 PM (Nn3xT)

87 Kk sorry bout that. I thought you were a Hoosier hordeling. And now I'm gonna tax my brain trying to figure out who the Hoosier hordelings actually are.
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (Wy1BU)

I think Cicero is.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at April 22, 2023 12:23 PM (ZqJGw)

88 I think this is pretty common. Poetry is a form of speaking and listening, and like anything it needs to be learned. The idea that anything can be poetry pretty much killed poetry, just as the idea that anything can be artwork killed paintings.

That talent is special, and worth appreciating, is anathema to “the Gods of the Market Place”. But if everyone is special, no one is, and if everything is art, nothing is.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (EXyHK)

Don't get me started on popular music.

The ex could never understand when I told her I wasn't much interested in lyrics. First, I didn't think most musicians had anything terribly interesting to say, and if anything, I could hear a few words here or there, and extrapolate my own meaning from them, quite independent from the original intent.

And that's another thing about art. The artists don't own their works. If you get something from it, and I get something from it, we may be entirely seeing it from different perspectives, which are NOT dependent on what the artist intended.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:23 PM (vSzVG)

89 He's ruined the entire fucking poem.
Posted by: Thesokorus at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (1ais2)

Let's not be silly now. Lotsa people have read or heard the original. Most people have not heard this alteration. I have never heard it. I've never heard of Bill Whittle either.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:24 PM (Wy1BU)

90 Interesting...In 1889, a young (23) Rudyard Kipling sought out and met Mark Twain, and they hit it off quite well, and Twain later became a great fan of Kipling's work.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:24 PM (tkR6S)

91 KT - Amazing content! The story of Kipling’s son is very sad. To be only 18 and witness what must’ve been the horror of the WWI battlefield… I’ve often wondered about that generation of leaders on the world stage; they were uniformly awful. Woodrow Wilson, the Kaiser, the Tsar (pathetically weak), Lloyd George…. And the generals in that war just seemed to unthinkingly feed their soldiers into a human meat grinder. Accounts of the Battle of the Somme are horrific…. The young men of entire villages mowed down in 30 minutes. And all for what? Just to set the stage for the Russian Revolution and that madman with a weird mustache….

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at April 22, 2023 12:25 PM (xT8gx)

92 For ppl who do not know, Kipling's poems reduced other poets to impotent seething rage. Kipling's effortless and seemingly artless mastery of the craft was experienced by them as an affront.

Yeah. You don't need to know any pre-taught symbolism or code words. You just read the damn poem. He really was a master.

Posted by: Hairy Handed Gent at April 22, 2023 12:26 PM (5tJAN)

93 Thank you for explaining the poem.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (EGSGm)

94 I've never heard of Bill Whittle either.
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:24 PM (Wy1BU)

Dude.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuude!!!!!!!!

You've gotta listen to Bill Whittle.

Go search his four part series on the moon landing on YouTube. Bill Whittle is the man.

Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (TWLRj)

95 Please don't blame my doggie,
It's not his fault at all.
Someone left a wet umbrella,
Standing in the hall.

Posted by: More Poetry by Benny Hill at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (Nn3xT)

96 It's weird what people find attractive over the ages. I bet our great great great great great great grandpappies criticized dudes who were into women that shaved their armpits and accused them of being crypto-pedophiles.
Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:22 PM (TWLRj)

I just assume everyone smelled awful in prior ages. That alone would turn me into a hermit.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (vSzVG)

97 Or anything else you care to mention.

Thanks.
Posted by: naturalfake at April 22, 2023 11:37 AM (RJQ8g)

"Frozen Orbit" and "Escape Orbit" by Patrick Chiles

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at April 22, 2023 12:28 PM (PiwSw)

98 I just assume everyone smelled awful in prior ages. That alone would turn me into a hermit.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (vSzVG)

Great great great great great great grandmomma bathed once a month whether she needed it or not!

Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:30 PM (TWLRj)

99 Thank you for explaining the poem.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (EGSGm)

Yes. I did not know that the "Cambrian" reference was a dig at Lloyd George. But the poem works fine even without that allusion. That's just a little additional inside baseball.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:31 PM (tkR6S)

100 Robert W. Service also penned manly poetry that I enjoy.

Posted by: At Your Service at April 22, 2023 12:32 PM (Nn3xT)

101 The young men of entire villages mowed down in 30 minutes. And all for what? Just to set the stage for the Russian Revolution and that madman with a weird mustache….
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at April 22, 2023 12:25 PM (xT8gx)

Why, it's almost if the lessons of prior generation will be lost on the new ones. Almost.

One thing we learned from the first world war is that you can't send men into battle beyond a certain number of days. Once you hit the limit, and I think it's something in the low hundreds, sending him back in, he'll be totally incapable of functioning as a soldier. The great armies of the day learned that, and I think it was the french army in particular (kidding about the french aside) who learned that the hard way.

And yet here we are. In perpetual 21st century American war, we sent men into battle over and over and over again. Virtually every soldier/marine sent in for a third deployment comes out broken.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:33 PM (LQO/l)

102 My cousin wrote a shitload of poetry after he was blown the fuck up in Vietnam. Dude was lucky to make it back.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 22, 2023 12:33 PM (V4X9X)

103 I think one reason the the Gods of the Market Place [GotMP] has an advantage over the Gods of the Copybook Headings [GofCH] is that the GotCH have had thousands of years to create utopia and they still haven't done it! The GotMP will create utopia immediately after the next election! The GotCH's battle cry of support us and we'll let you solve your own problems is not nearly so attractive as support us and we'll give you such racial harmony as reparations can buy! It'll be like you're living in a Hallmark Channel movie! Everybody living in harmony and affluence!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 12:34 PM (FVME7)

104 Men's facial hair from late 1700s to late 1800s cracks me up sometimes.

Posted by: Skip at April 22, 2023 12:35 PM (xhxe8)

105 The Kipling poem is a terrific piece, and really should be required reading in every school system, every semester from 7th grade through senior year high school. Came to it late myself, in one of Jerry Pournelle's anthologies, and wish I'd run across it sooner.

If memory serves, the late great sf writer Poul Anderson once said that it explains the history of the world in a few short stanzas.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 22, 2023 12:35 PM (a/4+U)

106 Great great great great great great grandmomma bathed once a month whether she needed it or not!
Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:30 PM (TWLRj)

Poor great great great great great great grandpappy.

No wonder he spent so much time in the donkey barn.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:36 PM (LQO/l)

107 My favorite poetry?

Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley
One Foot Two Foot by Dr. Seuss

I'm just cultureful like that.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:36 PM (Wy1BU)

108 Great great great great great great grandmomma bathed once a month whether she needed it or not!

I remember bathing once a week “whether I needed it or not”. Can’t imagine doing that now. I go for two days without showering and feel horrible.

Worse: there were four of us. We each took a bath one after the other, and did not change the water. It was definitely grey by the time the last of us got in. Colder, too. (Four brothers and one sister: my sister did get clean water. And thinking back on it, I’m not sure what was being saved. The water came from our own well. Probably it was more a matter of time than money.)

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 12:37 PM (EXyHK)

109 My favorite poetry?
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:36 PM (Wy1BU)

There Once Was a Man From Nantucket - pure poetic gold.

Posted by: Hairy Handed Gent at April 22, 2023 12:38 PM (5tJAN)

110 23 With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (EXyHK)

I am awestruck!

Posted by: Emmie at April 22, 2023 12:38 PM (Emce2)

111 Bill Whittle modernizes Shakespeare's Hamlet. "To be or not to be" becomes "Whatever, dude."

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 12:38 PM (FVME7)

112 I prefer Vogon poetry myself.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 22, 2023 12:38 PM (ncXxy)

113 Robert W. Service also penned manly poetry that I enjoy.

I’m currently reading Collected Poems of Robert Service. Generally enjoying it, although many of them are hard to get into the meter.

I just started the section for World War I last night, which is a big shift from his Alaska and tramp poetry.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 12:39 PM (EXyHK)

114 And yet here we are. In perpetual 21st century American war, we sent men into battle over and over and over again. Virtually every soldier/marine sent in for a third deployment comes out broken.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:33 PM (LQO/l)

Speaking of shell shock, George Carlin’s bit on the evolution of the words used to describe that condition is hilarious and very mocking of the woke evolution in the use of language

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at April 22, 2023 12:40 PM (xT8gx)

115 I missed the prayer thread but can I ask for prayers?
I am considering applying for a different position within my current place of employment. I sm not sure (bring an anxious person) if it's s good decision to try, or iff I'll get the job, or if aI do if I will like it.
I'm terrible at making decisions.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 22, 2023 12:40 PM (EGSGm)

116 112 I prefer Vogon poetry myself.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at April 22, 2023 12:38 PM (ncXxy)

Hater.

Posted by: Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings at April 22, 2023 12:41 PM (PiwSw)

117 My favorite poetry?

Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley
One Foot Two Foot by Dr. Seuss

I'm just cultureful like that.
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:36 PM (Wy1BU)

I took a Russian literature (in translation) for one of my foreign language credits. Yeah, it was cheating, but it beat having some mole covered Spanish guy trying to teach me Italian...

But I digress. We read Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" in an English translation, and studied how the translation was accomplished, which was apparently a monumental task in and of itself, as the poetry of the original was maintained, with the language and tone and story being almost impossibly maintained to such a high degree.

I remember almost nothing about the story, other than it was a massive poem, and I enjoyed reading it immensely.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:42 PM (LQO/l)

118 I'm terrible at making decisions.

Buy one complete set of D&D dice. They'll have at least one dSomething for any situation you can encounter.

Posted by: Hairy Handed Gent at April 22, 2023 12:42 PM (5tJAN)

119 You know, I'm something of a poet myself.

Posted by: Willem Dafoe Meme at April 22, 2023 12:43 PM (4I/2K)

120 IIRC, Barbara W. Tuchman in her book The Proud Tower (about the 25 years leading up to WWI) writes about the elites not liking Kipling despite his reputation. He was all jingoistic and old fashioned. Not new and cool at all.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 12:44 PM (FVME7)

121 George Carlin’s bit on the evolution of the words used to describe that condition is hilarious

“That was seventy years ago.”

Good grief, I’m old.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 12:45 PM (EXyHK)

122 Bill Whittle modernizes Shakespeare's Hamlet. "To be or not to be" becomes "Whatever, dude."
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 12:38 PM (FVME7)

Don't be silly. It's "Now what's the number to the crisis line..."

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:46 PM (LQO/l)

123 ...which was apparently a monumental task in and of itself, as the poetry of the original was maintained, with the language and tone and story being almost impossibly maintained to such a high degree.

I remember almost nothing about the story, other than it was a massive poem, and I enjoyed reading it immensely.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:42 PM (LQO/l)

Do you remember who the translator was? If it was done in the 19th century, it was probably Constance Garnett, who translated over 70 Russian works in her career.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at April 22, 2023 12:47 PM (PiwSw)

124 My parent had a water well. Not a deep drilled well but a hand dug well. It was prone to going dry in the dry summer months. They would have to call a guy with a water truck to come fill the well. (Yes we did the water saving reuse the bath water or bathe in the creek).
The guy that delivered the water was a middle aged man who just for the hell of it took college classes to learn Russian language. He could speak, read and write the language. Just because.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at April 22, 2023 12:48 PM (Wy1BU)

125 I just assume everyone smelled awful in prior ages. That alone would turn me into a hermit.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (vSzVG)

Woodsmoke helps.

Posted by: Quest For Fire guys at the campfire, picking up on a new scent at April 22, 2023 12:48 PM (4I/2K)

126 But I digress. We read Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" in an English translation, and studied how the translation was accomplished, which was apparently a monumental task in and of itself, as the poetry of the original was maintained, with the language and tone and story being almost impossibly maintained to such a high degree.

-
I am amazed by Alexander Pope's translation of The Iliad into Elizabethan poetry, rather as if Shakespeare had written it.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 12:49 PM (FVME7)

127 I missed the prayer thread but can I ask for prayers?
I am considering applying for a different position within my current place of employment. I sm not sure (bring an anxious person) if it's s good decision to try, or iff I'll get the job, or if aI do if I will like it.
I'm terrible at making decisions.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 22, 2023 12:40 PM (EGSGm)

You're not terrible at making decisions, you are thinking about the consequences, and realize it's not as simple as being a good or bad choice. It's very complicated. And the outcome, no matter what you choose, will not be right or wrong, good or bad, it'll be mixed.

Not only that, you know much of this is not in your control, someone else has to decide whether to choose YOU or not. And that can be awfully hard to experience, knowing someone else is literally judging you.

Pray on it, others here will be praying with you. Make your choice, and be at peace with whatever it is.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:49 PM (LQO/l)

128 The young men of entire villages mowed down in 30 minutes.

Fun Fact - we went to the square division (four regiments) precisely to have more meat to punch holes in during those charges. Its a real hoot to read the studies back the justifying the move - just to watch the greatest military minds of the time do mental backbends to avoid saying exactly that ... getting more meat to burn on the charge.

Posted by: Hairy Handed Gent at April 22, 2023 12:49 PM (5tJAN)

129 I suppose I have been banned as some my posts have been removed. On the off chance I am not. I will repeat that this poem is a crown jewel of our civilization. And it operates on a level of technical brilliance with Dante's and Shakespeare's work. There are four levels:

Literal

Allegorical

"Moral"

Mystical/Spiritual/Religious

These all work perfectly independently and perfectly in conjuction.

Kipling's contemporaries and our own hate him because he was a titanic talent and made them seem worms.

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 22, 2023 12:50 PM (tO+ag)

130 81 The idea that anything can be poetry pretty much killed poetry, just as the idea that anything can be artwork killed paintings.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 12:17 PM (EXyHK)

This is a good point. I don't care about poetry because for my whole life poetry has been defined as unhinged twentysomething wannabe intellectuals on the fringes of our slowly sinking academic system rambling about their personal issues and putting down anyone who doesn't express public reverence for their immense specialness.

Posted by: CppThis at April 22, 2023 12:50 PM (PZvjL)

131 Do you remember who the translator was? If it was done in the 19th century, it was probably Constance Garnett, who translated over 70 Russian works in her career.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at April 22, 2023 12:47 PM (PiwSw)

My books are all packed, but let me see if I can find it by searching Amazon. I think I'd recognize the cover.....

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:52 PM (LQO/l)

132 But I digress. We read Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" in an English translation, and studied how the translation was accomplished, which was apparently a monumental task in and of itself, as the poetry of the original was maintained, with the language and tone and story being almost impossibly maintained to such a high degree.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:42 PM (LQO/l)

Now imagine that Katarzyna Bazarnik actually translated "Finnegan's Wake" into Polish.

A life fulfilled or a life wasted?

Posted by: Napoleon XIV at April 22, 2023 12:52 PM (AiZBA)

133 Poetry, like, needs bongos, man.

Posted by: Maynard G. Krebs at April 22, 2023 12:54 PM (4I/2K)

134 I suppose I have been banned as some my posts have been removed. On the off chance I am not.
Posted by: Thesokorus at April 22, 2023 12:50 PM (tO+ag)

I've noticed that your posts are disappearing. This happens from time to time for some technical reason or another. Email one of the cobs and they may be able to help.

Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:55 PM (TWLRj)

135 Greta Thunberg is being replaced. A good looking 21 year old from Italy , I believe, has been named a climate ambassador and has been invited to the White House. Joey never tried to sniff Greta's hair , but this young lady better watch out. Next up for Greta, environmental pron

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 22, 2023 12:55 PM (kQSat)

136 I've not read Eugene Onegin, but seem to recall that Vladimir Nabokov translated it as well. Don't remember just when that translation was published, though, and am too freakin' lazy to look it up right now...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 22, 2023 12:56 PM (a/4+U)

137 With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair

Sophisticated and proper golf clap.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 12:56 PM (FVME7)

138 Sooner or later kids like Saint Greta and Camera Hogg will come to the realization that their adult benefactors were just using them to get more power and have zero interest in their special issues beyond that by which they can be used to get more power. They'll either fully embrace the power and become openly fascistic or go full Arminius like the Roe v Wade lady supposedly did.

Posted by: CppThis at April 22, 2023 12:59 PM (PZvjL)

139 I'm terrible at making decisions.

Sometimes I think I'm good at decisions. Sometimes I don't
I don't know what to say.

Posted by: That Northern skulker at April 22, 2023 01:00 PM (eGTCV)

140 when I was a young kid, I could buy great old antique reference books for next to nothing at east TX flea markets like First Monday

they are still in my collection

just looking at Charles Latham's "In English Homes" last night

bought the set in the very early 60's

now if I could just see well enough, I'd be set

Posted by: REDACTED at April 22, 2023 01:01 PM (us2H3)

141 Arminius! Batavian SOF!

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 22, 2023 01:02 PM (cWRGB)

142 "So, what and who are the Gods of the Here and the Now, at this moment?"

The CIA group that formed after WW2 (or before?) may be behind most of the culture wars (color revolutions), imo. But they are clearly in bed with BigBank, with 20 "world banks" listed as specially ordained (by "them").

These are the globalists ... maybe the same group that snuck in the Federal Reserve in 1913, or confiscated the gold in the 30's, and so on. "The New World Order" phrase has been in the wind for ? 50 years at least, and all our presidents have spoken favorably of the concept (now kinda changed to Build Back Better) except Trump -- but even he did bend the knee to Fauci and others, and injected trillions of funny money to save the system.

Bilderbergs, WEF, IMF, Five Eyes, etc. Not sure how we remove the cancer without killing the patient.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 22, 2023 01:03 PM (Cus5s)

143 Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at April 22, 2023 12:47 PM (PiwSw)

My books are all packed, but let me see if I can find it by searching Amazon. I think I'd recognize the cover.....
Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 12:52 PM (LQO/l)

Egad, so many version... the one I read was the 1979 Penguin Classics, with Charles Johnston (not to be confused with a certain confused bike riding small green sportsball enthusiast) as the translator.

If you read reviews, other versions are raved about, as the ONE TRUE translation. I don't know. I liked the one I read.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 01:03 PM (Kdc6E)

144 just looking at Charles Latham's "In English Homes" last night

bought the set in the very early 60's

now if I could just see well enough, I'd be set
Posted by: REDACTED at April 22, 2023 01:01 PM (us2H3)

In your youth you had the foresight. In your dotage you lack the nearsight.

Posted by: Napoleon XIV at April 22, 2023 01:04 PM (AiZBA)

145 Led Zeppelin read Kipling I guess

Posted by: JoeF. at April 22, 2023 01:05 PM (mR6Gs)

146 There is poetry I like, but some is worse than Vogon's

Posted by: Skip at April 22, 2023 01:06 PM (xhxe8)

147 the Tsar (pathetically weak)

-
They say Nicholas' father had decided to begin to teach his son czarship at age 30. Unfortunately, he died before his son reached age 30.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 01:06 PM (FVME7)

148 Bilderbergs, WEF, IMF, Five Eyes, etc. Not sure how we remove the cancer without killing the patient.
Posted by: illiniwek
--------
Debt jubilee for individuals is how the ancient world did it. No debt, no control.

Jefferson had much of the same idea with his yeoman farmer type as it is little known but Jefferson did a deep study of English property laws over the centuries to come up with that and basically noted that freehold property (property not held by courtesy of the king) of individuals formed the core of resistance to royal overstep.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:07 PM (oqoj8)

149 I'm happy to say that most children I encounter are in my church, and homeschooled.

Posted by: Eromero at April 22, 2023 01:07 PM (z3WCn)

150 In your youth you had the foresight. In your dotage you lack the nearsight.
Posted by: Napoleon XIV at April 22, 2023 01:04 PM (AiZBA)

I lost my foresight when I discovered hindsight

Posted by: REDACTED at April 22, 2023 01:08 PM (us2H3)

151 I suppose I have been banned as some my posts have been removed. On the off chance I am not.
Posted by: Thesokorus at April 22, 2023 12:50 PM (tO+ag)

I've noticed that your posts are disappearing. This happens from time to time for some technical reason or another. Email one of the cobs and they may be able to help.
Posted by: Robert at April 22, 2023 12:55 PM (TWLRj)

More often than not, if you're using a VPN (and EVERYONE should be), the particular landing for your connection has been banned for one reason or another, having nothing to do with the individual poster.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 01:08 PM (OfSkg)

152 WWI was when European feudalism finally died, and it did not go quietly.

Posted by: CppThis at April 22, 2023 01:09 PM (PZvjL)

153 Please don't blame my doggie,
It's not his fault at all.
Someone left a wet umbrella,
Standing in the hall.
Posted by: More Poetry by Benny Hill at April 22, 2023 12:27 PM (Nn3xT)

Ode to a Crippled Girl --

It's not your peg leg,
It's not your hook.
What turns me on
Is that spastic look.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at April 22, 2023 01:11 PM (BdMk6)

154 Can't say seen much in comments the ban hammer has came out. It's probably your VPN.

Posted by: Skip at April 22, 2023 01:13 PM (xhxe8)

155 130 81 The idea that anything can be poetry pretty much killed poetry, just as the idea that anything can be artwork killed paintings.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair
------
Bad analogy. Poetry and art such as paintings cannot 'die' as they are ideas about how to reflect life experiences and techniques about how to portray it. Fairer to say that present day producers of artwork and poetry have neither skill nor the ability to sway audiences with their crude works.

Rembrandt is still Rembrandt, Van Gogh is still Van Gogh, and we have access to a huge cornucopia of poetry from the past that still speaks to us centuries or even several thousand years later. Dreck has been produced back then as now, but the dross has been refined over time to find the gold left to us by our ancestors.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:13 PM (oqoj8)

156 Bilderbergs, WEF, IMF, Five Eyes, etc. Not sure how we remove the cancer without killing the patient.
Posted by: illiniwek at April 22, 2023 01:03 PM (Cus5s)

Yup. And since you mentioned them, at this point I'm not sure the CIA is anything more than "guns" for hire. Whoever is paying their bills, letting them run around the world (and this country) play acting at the spy game, they'll be available to be used by whomever.

That's my guess, at least. I don't think they're particularly bent, politically, one way or another. They're just bent.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 01:13 PM (OfSkg)

157
I went to the Wiki page on 'Gods of the Copybook Headings' and they have an example of the penmanship of a 19th century student and it is simply amazing cursive.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at April 22, 2023 01:14 PM (enJYY)

158 127 I missed the prayer thread but can I ask for prayers?
I am considering applying for a different position within my current place of employment. I sm not sure (bring an anxious person) if it's s good decision to try, or iff I'll get the job, or if aI do if I will like it.
I'm terrible at making decisions.
Posted by: vmom
-------
If you are not financially dependent on the income and it does not affect other issues in your life, why not apply. Prayers sent.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:16 PM (oqoj8)

159 124 My parent had a water well. Not a deep drilled well but a hand dug well. It was prone to going dry in the dry summer months. They would have to call a guy with a water truck to come fill the well. (Yes we did the water saving reuse the bath water or bathe in the creek).
The guy that delivered the water was a middle aged man who just for the hell of it took college classes to learn Russian language. He could speak, read and write the language. Just because.
Posted by: Madamemayhem

Many people that did hard physical labor in the past valued education and opportunities to improve themselves far more than many of the yutes today do. That is a severe indictment of our educational institutions to the point that education in the US is the equivalent to Soviet agriculture--most of the people taught to revere education are being schooled at home.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:20 PM (oqoj8)

160 They say Nicholas' father had decided to begin to teach his son czarship at age 30. Unfortunately, he died before his son reached age 30.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 01:06 PM (FVME7)

Nicholas and Alexandria really are tragic figures. He wasn't really built to rule, and as you say, was never really taught by his father, who was a hardass autocrat.

The fake news of their time though, painted Nick as a monster, which of course you could come up with aspects of his rule that were awful. That's true for every ruler, really. It's the nature of the biz, and not to minimize the suffering of Russians during his reign, but they could have NEVER predicted or imagined what the commies would bring, with suffering being a word that doesn't even begin to describe their evil.

Nicholas, no matter what else his faults, was a genuine Christian, who believed he was doing right by his people. For that, the Russian church now considers him and all his family martyred saints.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 01:21 PM (Z048x)

161 I'm seeing Greta has shed her training bra, and her budding little tiddies and cosmetics suggest she's ripe for womanhood.

No definition required.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 22, 2023 01:22 PM (V4X9X)

162 K.T.'s 'garden thread' is up - NOOD

Posted by: gdgm+ at April 22, 2023 01:23 PM (Mvc4R)

163 Fairer to say that present day producers of artwork and poetry have neither skill nor the ability to sway audiences with their crude works.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:13 PM (oqoj

Oh, but sway they do! Truth and brilliance and art are drowned out by lies and garbage and the just plain ordinary.

To the extent that opiating the masses is the intent of the producers of such garbage, it does in a very real sense, kill the beautiful and artistic. Which can be hiding in plain sight, never really gone, but sufficiently drowned and covered and obscured by the rot.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 22, 2023 01:27 PM (QVbcL)

164 Thank you BurtTC & whig

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 22, 2023 01:31 PM (EGSGm)

165 Oh, but sway they do! Truth and brilliance and art are drowned out by lies and garbage and the just plain ordinary.

To the extent that opiating the masses is the intent of the producers of such garbage, it does in a very real sense, kill the beautiful and artistic. Which can be hiding in plain sight, never really gone, but sufficiently drowned and covered and obscured by the rot.
Posted by: BurtTC
--------
I think it is more the opiate of the elites which is based on class snobbery more than anything else. Back in the day when portraits were very expensive works, it denoted wealth to have such. Same as the fat/thin preference back in the day---took nothing much to be skinny as most of the poor were. Only the wealthy could afford to pack on pounds.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:31 PM (oqoj8)

166 "Jefferson did a deep study of English property laws over the centuries to come up with that and basically noted that freehold property (property not held by courtesy of the king) of individuals formed the core of resistance to royal overstep." Posted by: whig

Private property and a bill of rights was (apparently) a radical departure from humans being owned by the government and/or their slave master. Even Romans 13 say obey the government, put there by God (in essence). Surely that was pragmatic?, or just added to the Bible by certain government officials, or their era's CIA.

Jubilee might be useful ... has worked to make the BigBanks (including hedge funds now called banks) very rich ... because it is Jubilee Year for them every time their leveraged gamble fail, and they get Uncle Sugar to bail them out.

Same with housing crisis, banks took the money, homeowners still had the debt. Like with everything else, the world is upside down.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 22, 2023 01:33 PM (Cus5s)

167 No problem vmom, hope all goes well. If you need some inspiration, Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel is a lovely song about how he was struggling to make the decision to leave the group Genesis which he founded in college in order to become a solo artist.

For those struggling with depression--his duet with Kate Bush on Don't Give Up is stunning.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:34 PM (oqoj8)

168 Won't you help?

https://bit.ly/41SfLfB

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 22, 2023 01:34 PM (FVME7)

169 Private property and a bill of rights was (apparently) a radical departure from humans being owned by the government and/or their slave master. Even Romans 13 say obey the government, put there by God (in essence). Surely that was pragmatic?, or just added to the Bible by certain government officials, or their era's CIA.

Jubilee might be useful ... has worked to make the BigBanks (including hedge funds now called banks) very rich ... because it is Jubilee Year for them every time their leveraged gamble fail, and they get Uncle Sugar to bail them out.

Same with housing crisis, banks took the money, homeowners still had the debt. Like with everything else, the world is upside down.
Posted by: illiniwek
---------
It is worse in Euroland--they are essentially extending loans on homes into multi-generational mortgages.

Much of consumer debt is simply to keep up with fashion, finance an education, drive new vehicles, eat out, and rent a home via a mortgage from the bank. Notably, aside from clothing and eating out, most of that debt is accrued because the prices for education, vehicles, and homes along with medical care have been inflated beyond what people can pay.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:41 PM (oqoj8)

170 Fairer to say that present day producers of artwork and poetry have neither skill nor the ability to sway audiences with their crude works.

Yes, I agree, although I expect that there are still great works being made. My point was less about creators than about enjoyers. I think that there are far fewer people who can enjoy poetry and other art because understanding how to appreciate even past greats is a skill that gets drowned when everything is art.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 01:42 PM (EXyHK)

171 " at this point I'm not sure the CIA is anything more than "guns" for hire. Whoever is paying their bills, letting them run around the world (and this country) play acting at the spy game, they'll be available to be used by whomever." Posted by: BurtTC

In Gross Pointe Blank the killer (John Cusack) does his spiel on how he justified the killings "governments and countries are just public relations now" ... it does seem they may just be mercenaries by this point, but I have no real idea how that machinery works, or whom they serve ... except it is not US.

that movie clip
https://tinyurl.com/yc53efcj

Posted by: illiniwek at April 22, 2023 01:47 PM (Cus5s)

172
21st Century poetry:

*Text*

*Tweet* *Tweet* Tweet*

(1 of 4)

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 22, 2023 01:47 PM (V4X9X)

173 Yes, I agree, although I expect that there are still great works being made. My point was less about creators than about enjoyers. I think that there are far fewer people who can enjoy poetry and other art because understanding how to appreciate even past greats is a skill that gets drowned when everything is art.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair
--------
That is a function of the miseducation of yutes and the self esteem movement. Equality other than political equality is the enemy of creativity. As the Incredibles had the son mention, 'If everyone is special, then no one is." So, you get dreck disguised as art such as a collection of garbage or disappearing art works, and so on. At the elite level, art serves as a money laundering device and a hedge against currency devaluation and so they pretend its art and the world pretends it has value.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:47 PM (oqoj8)

174 171 " at this point I'm not sure the CIA is anything more than "guns" for hire. Posted by: BurtTC

In Gross Pointe Blank the killer (John Cusack) does his spiel on how he justified the killings "governments and countries are just public relations now" ... Posted by: illiniwek
-------
And now that the left has fully captured those institutions, you only see Government is good type stories including spies, assassinations, blowing up pipelines to keep Allies shivering in the dark, and so on. The left is perfectly in tune with that up to the point of wanting to kill or neuter 90 percent of the world's population. Much of the supposed right, someone like Lindsay Graham or Bitch McConnell is perfectly fine with that as well because a portion of the right are authoritarian assholes too. It is us, the common people that more or less wish to be left alone that are viewed as a threat.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 01:54 PM (oqoj8)

175 "And now that the left has fully captured those institutions, you only see Government is good type stories including spies"

The Bourne series showed government bad, but saved by White Hats? (just a few rogue agents in Cincinnati?) I forget the final episodes, Bourne didn't go back to work for them, but he found the "good people" inside and got rid of the bad apples.

... we need a CIA if we could keep control ... but since we let China into every orifice of our country, not sure what the CIA is really up to. How much of global affairs is determined by BigBank versus spy agencies, idk. None of them seem interested in removing WEF or Gates/Fauci types.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 22, 2023 02:07 PM (Cus5s)

176 ... we need a CIA if we could keep control ... but since we let China into every orifice of our country, not sure what the CIA is really up to. How much of global affairs is determined by BigBank versus spy agencies, idk. None of them seem interested in removing WEF or Gates/Fauci types.
Posted by: illiniwek
--------
One of the reasons that British intel, despite being small in official numbers, was so effective is that it leveraged its network of business and financial types across the world to augment its spying capabilities.

Our CIA started that way as well due to Wild Bill Donovan. The tech industry was a natural one for the natsec type folks to infiltrate as well--particularly in the US, we developed signal intel via technical means and leveraged our key position astride all sorts of communication cables and the later satellite and fiber links.
So, look to the financial industry and tech industry along with journalism/media as hidey holes for Deepstaters.

Posted by: whig at April 22, 2023 02:21 PM (oqoj8)

177 Seeing the California and Florida 9-12 grade reading lists, I had to look up the current Texas list. It’s closer to Florida, thank goodness:

9th–12th Grade

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Smith
Ceremony - Silko
Obasan - Kogawa
Journey to the Center of the Earth - Verne
Pride and Prejudice - Austen
The Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
Great Expectations - Dickens
King Lear - Shakespeare

Posted by: jayhawkone at April 22, 2023 02:24 PM (9rPx3)

178

Fascinating.

Posted by: Bearded Spock at April 22, 2023 02:27 PM (YdEcD)

179 This had to be mentioned before, but Mrs. DIG renamed Bud Light, Pud Light.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 22, 2023 03:16 PM (ufFY8)

180 nearly 180 comments on an Ace of Spades Blog post that includes a G-string and not one comment. Its almost like clown world has sucked us dry.

Posted by: Autumnplayschess at April 22, 2023 03:23 PM (RnoAn)

181 pretty good video by Amazing Polly, "how CIA broke America ... same way they tried to break Ted Kaczynski. The bad news is it looks like the CIA purposely introduced sadistic, self-hating collectivists into the deepest of the deep state". Speaks of the Frankfurt School intentions ..

Part of Ted's "manifesto" describes the evils of today.

https://tinyurl.com/2p8mfhjm

Posted by: illiniwek at April 22, 2023 03:25 PM (Cus5s)

182 With the Hopes of Enlightened Tweeters they were utterly out of trend,
They denied that men were stronger; they denied they were even men;
They denied that women have children; they denied that children were life;
So they worshipped the Gods of the Blue Checks Who promised perfection by knife.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at April 22, 2023 11:39 AM (EXyHK)

This is really good.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at April 22, 2023 03:36 PM (aD39U)

183
Take up the White Man's burden-
Send forth the best ye breed-
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild-
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Posted by: Dr. Woke at April 22, 2023 03:43 PM (V4X9X)

184 Good afternoon, all. (I apologize for such lateness; been under the weather for several days.) What a thoughtful thread, K.T. Thank you.

I'm a parent. It's heartbreaking to imagine the fear of parents through the mother who wrote, "My disabled son tells me he loves his life every night—never sending him to school!"

I remember the campaign, "God don't make no junk" so often being lead by mothers and grandmothers trying to save their children and communities. It seems to have vanished, for now it doesn't match our mores.

We cannot allow the destruction of our weakest. There'll will never be peace, imo.

Posted by: Lola - ALL the 1/6 videotapes from Alexandra and Jade, too. at April 22, 2023 03:58 PM (GshMh)

185 And women a century ago did not get Brazilians either.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 12:11 PM (tkR6S)

Ahem.

Posted by: The Merkin at April 22, 2023 04:12 PM (PY/t0)

186 161 I'm seeing Greta has shed her training bra, and her budding little tiddies and cosmetics suggest she's ripe for womanhood.

No definition required.
Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 22, 2023 01:22 PM (V4X9X)

Has she achieved menarche yet?

Posted by: Fox 2! at April 22, 2023 04:26 PM (3rjuK)

187 Now imagine that Katarzyna Bazarnik actually translated "Finnegan's Wake" into Polish.

A life fulfilled or a life wasted?
Posted by: Napoleon XIV at April 22, 2023 12:52 PM (AiZBA
'
'Since the first printing was done by a bunch of drunken Frenchmen who didn't read English, ,I'm undecided.

Posted by: Fox 2! at April 22, 2023 04:33 PM (3rjuK)

188 She ought to be fossilized, and sold as a Garden Gnome at a discount store.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 22, 2023 11:52 AM (tkR6S

Carbonite.

Posted by: Fox 2! at April 22, 2023 04:40 PM (3rjuK)

189 Stolen from myself on a different venue:

Engineer: It violates the laws of physics.
Bureaucrat: Then we'll just repeal those laws.
The Laws of Physics, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Gods of the Copybook Headings: Not so fast, homey

Posted by: Fox 2! at April 22, 2023 04:47 PM (3rjuK)

190 Is Copenhagen's little Mermaid still bare breasted, or has she been Disneyfied?

Posted by: Fox 2! at April 22, 2023 04:49 PM (3rjuK)

191 KT, thanks and great post as usual.
TWIMC, my two cents.

When I first read the GOCH many years ago, I thought about how those headings came to be written there. I thought of the institutions as solid as the granite buildings that housed them, and the men who understood the importance of those phrases and how they *must be passed on to the next generation.* The schools, publishers, government officials the chose the books, etc. And these are minor compared to the churches, universities, etc. which probably were not involved in the book production but which trained those men.

Now, reading with the same perspective the poem feels bitter. Those institutions have been corrupted and I have more faith in the public. I guess this is what the Long March intended.

(to be cont.)

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is junta manifest at April 22, 2023 06:00 PM (bE+cC)

192 (cont.)

The US is different, but my depression era educated HS GED father would quote classic poets such as Tennyson's Charge of the L.B. as we did manual labor and I wondered how the hell he got a better education than I was getting. In the US, I think the rudder had always been institutions such as The Constitution, free speech, competitive markets,... but I don't think ours were any more resilient to this commie barrage.

The commies have adapted over many years and attack all institutions in a variety of tactics. Their only goal is to destroy and that is always much easier than to build.

Well, I guess we still have those GOCH. To bad we are losing the copybooks, and the students to read and remember them.

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is junta manifest at April 22, 2023 06:05 PM (bE+cC)

193 Now imagine that Katarzyna Bazarnik actually translated "Finnegan's Wake" into Polish.

A life fulfilled or a life wasted?
Posted by: Napoleon XIV

You have to ask?

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is junta manifest at April 22, 2023 06:20 PM (bE+cC)

194 I am homeschooling my high schoolers in CA using an online course from the UC system. The reading list is all classics. Great Gatsby, Harlem Renaissance, Huck Finn, Call of the Wild, EA Poe.

As much as I hate our state ed, I think those lists just add new books to a database for teachers to use (approved). The old ones are still there. But if they add a few more books each year, they are by definition, new. And new books are dreck.

Posted by: Sassy at April 22, 2023 06:53 PM (xSICi)

195 Little Miss Greta scolded the people in the audience for taking private jets and other selfish pampering. The camera panned over the audience, they cheered her first scold, but as it turned towards them, they were glowering. Ha.

Posted by: Sassy at April 22, 2023 06:57 PM (xSICi)

196 As much as I hate our state ed, I think those lists just add new books to a database for teachers to use (approved). The old ones are still there. But if they add a few more books each year, they are by definition, new. And new books are dreck.
Posted by: Sassy

This is a good point, but then you have to ask which books are actually being taught in the schools? Probably the new dreck.

Posted by: Gentlemen, this is junta manifest at April 22, 2023 07:23 PM (bE+cC)

197 Excellent post, KT! I quote this poem often.

Posted by: FINGERS at April 22, 2023 09:42 PM (sjgjJ)

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