We're All Camping It Up Now, Mostly

It didn't come as much of a surprise to most of us, but Saturday came and went as usual. No rapture-like events, as far as I can tell. Unless, of course, there's a mystical significance that DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com says that FamilyRadio.com is indeed down, and not just for me. Have they been raptured? Maybe we wouldn't notice if 144,000 people out of more than six billion quietly disappeared. And don't forget, what's actually supposed to happen is that the rest of us witness “horrible” events of destruction until October 21st, when the world allegedly comes to an end.

Okay. We've had our fun at the expense of those few who were taken in by Camping's campaign, and felt sorry for those close to them who have suffered as a result of such gullibility. So what's next? Well, weirdly, countless numbers of people around the world, having laughed or scorned at Camping and his followers, will, because it's Sunday today, not only pay heed to individuals who tell us that Judgement Day is indeed a fact, but they will also give them money. However, unlike Camping, who has reportedly amassed considerable wealth via his scam, those individuals' bosses are in it for the long haul, so they won't put a date on it. They prefer to drip-drip-drip the fear, water torture style.

Everybody Out Of The Water by The Wallflowers Listen on Posterous

As a final 'comment', here's a picture that made me giggle...

ps. I stole this picture from Amy Rolph on Seattle's Big Blog. Please click through to read her post.

The Wallflowers at Amazon UK

Posted via email from Jo S Wun on Posterous

Roll On The Day After The End Of The World

This coming Saturday, the 21st May, is Judgement Day. You probably knew that already, but, just in case it hasn't been brought to your attention, I thought perhaps you'd like a few days notice so you can tie up any loose ends before the end of the world. So much for the Mayans and their Long Count calendar, eh? Close, but no cigar.

Personally, I'm not planning anything special for Sunday because I suspect, despite it being the day after the end of the world, it will be quite similar to most of the Sundays that have been before (not to mention the ones yet to come). But I might spare a few minutes to go take a look at eBible Fellowship to see what they've got to say for themselves. I've no doubt they'll be able to come up with something to explain why the site is still there, still accessible, and its authors still alive here on planet earth (thanks be to gawd).

I suppose that's the beauty of building a 'house of cards'; it's not a complete disaster when it collapses. And what's more, you can pick up all the cards and build another one in no time at all. Sweet!

Thinking about the countdown to the apocalypse, I considered several songs with countdown in the title which might be appropriate. How about The Final Countdown? Not on your nelly! It really got on my nerves (although this version is ... interesting). I quite like Rush's Countdown lyrics, but the music doesn't crack it for me. I was tempted by My Old School, probably my favourite track on Steely Dan's Countdown To Ecstasy album, but apart from the album title, it's not particularly relevant to the approaching 'End of Days'. But I had to make a choice, and, in the end...

The End by The Beatles Listen on Posterous

The Beatles Abbey Road available from Amazon UK

Posted via email from Jo S Wun on Posterous

Am I Glad I'm Not A Woman

1: "To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, kinsfolk on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold." 

2: "Teachers give not of their wisdom, but rather of their faith and lovingness"

3: "There are more truths in twenty-four hours of a person's life than in all the philosophies."

4: "Every human possesses three characters: that which they exhibit, that which they really have, and that which they believe they have."

5: "Adults fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other."

6: "Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But the old are guilty if they forget what it was to be young." 

The above are quotes from Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, J. K. Rowling, Kahlil Gibran, Francis Bacon, Archibald MacLeish and Raoul Vaneigem, but not necessarily in that order. I don't know about you (obviously!), but knowing who said them often influences how receptive I am to such 'words of wisdom'. My opinion of the author is an unavoidable bias. However, if you really want to know who said what, you can find the answers at the end of this post. But first, why not see if you can correctly match each quote to the relevant person.

Disregarding the reputations of the authors, I see 2 and 3 as the odd ones out. For me, those two fall into the category of statements which appear to be deep and meaningful, until you realise they are actually just wishy-washy and vague. I find the other four offer something much more meaningful, precisely because they are not wishy-washy or vague.

But I have to own up to a little deception (before someone exposes my dastardly deed). All six quotes had something in common which I've attempted to disguise by a little judicious editing. Leaving aside the questionable ethics of tampering with another's output, uninvited, it was in fact quite easy to make them applicable to everyone, rather than just the male half of the world's population. Yep. That's right. They all made exclusive reference to men when it's plainly obvious that they are equally applicable to women. You can click on them to see the original wording.

It's a touch ironic that the people who couched these insights into what could be called universal truths, did so in terms which are far from universal. Ah yes. But times have changed, haven't they? After all, Francis Bacon lived four hundred years ago. And Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 - 1890) and Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931) lived in different eras too. Even Archibald MacLeish (1892 - 1982) spent his formative years in a bygone age. That leaves Raoul Vaneigem, who was born in 1934, and J. K. Rowling, born in 1965.

To be fair to J.K.*, the quote attributed to her is actually a bit of dialogue she wrote for one of her characters (Albus Dumbledore, no less, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), which rather lets her off the hook. But what of Raoul Vaneigem? A modern man. Should he be pilloried for his sexism!? Well, maybe not. Here's another quote which shows he can get it right, at least in terms of scope.

But I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, right? Everyone knows that when someone says "mankind" or "man", they really mean "humankind" or "humans"! Well, no, not everyone does. We're not born knowing that; we have to be told, or work it out for ourselves. And besides, molehills, although small, are not exactly benign. They are just the visible part of a much larger problem which is going on beneath the surface, undermining the ground on which we stand.

Talking of things that 'everyone knows', how about the fact that women speak 20,000 words a day and men speak only 7,000. Louann Brizendine assured us it was so in The Female Brain. Who cares that it's complete tosh, as I learnt today via Delanceyplace. And then, who would have thought of New Zealand as politically advanced? Not me, until I also discovered today, via Reference.com's On This Day newsletter, that New Zealand was the first country to grant women's suffrage in national elections (in 1893).

So, am I glad I'm not a woman? I can't really say one way or another. There are pros and cons to being a member of either sex, and both 'default models' leave much to be desired. Challenging those default models can be done by both women and men, both on their own behalf and that of each other. It's not always easy or comfortable, change rarely is. But I agree with Mr Ghandi.

There were two things which prompted me to write this post, both of them songs. The first I hadn't heard until recently (a fact that quite astounded me in itself), and the second is one I searched out because the title popped into my mind after meeting a girl who had sight in only one eye.

Here's squeaky clean Neil Sedaka jauntily dissing women, with the aid of the bible (Jeez! What a 'good book' it is) and a chorus of squeaky angels singing background harmonies...eeek!

Neil_Sedaka_-_Run_Samson_Run.mp3 Listen on Posterous

And here's Earl Hooker with a track which, for me, is one of those songs that you like but wish upon wish the lyrics were different!

Is You Ever Seen A One Eyed Woman Cry by Earl Hooker Listen on Posterous

 

Who Wrote What

1: Archibald MacLeish 

2: Kahlil Gibran 

3: Raoul Vaneigem 

4: Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr 

5: Francis Bacon 

6: J. K. Rowling

* I don't know what the "J. K." stands for, I just thought I'd slyly make it look as if we are chums. We are not, of course. I suspect she's never even heard of me.

Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits on Amazon.com

Earl Hooker on Blues Masters, Volume 15: Slide Guitar Classics at Amazon.com

 

 

Posted via email from Jo S Wun on Posterous