Poetry Sunday - Ashes, Ashes

Ashes, Ashes

The maid was in the garden

Hanging out the clothes.

Why the clothes were hanging out,

The drier only knows.

Miss Muffet ate her curds and whey,

While some liked porridge pease.

Alas, I slurped my hot pea soup

And lo-fat cottage cheese.

I'm hiding in the inkwell.

Whatever will they think,

When all that's found of me is bound

To be but digital ink.

Now Mother Goose becomes abstruse

In time, since first created.

For just like grandma's nursery,

Her rhymes get antiquated.

The lesson here, my dear, as sung

I fear, if truth be told,

Is what's so simple when we're young

Is more complex when old. 

This is something I wrote a few years ago. The title, of course, refers decompositionally to the old song we used to sing, "Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down", which was just the "Ring around the Rosy" nursery rhyme when young. Then, as we got older, it was explained as reference to the Black Death, and then, of course, that was debunked.

Checking in from Granada

Hola, thought I'd pop over here and give a little update about my study abroad experience in Spain so far. First impressions: the timing is way different, English isn't actually spoken everywhere in the world yet, and after meeting fellow Americans I have come to the conclusion that I would experience more culture shock somewhere in the South of the U.S. then I have in the South of Spain. First up the timing.. Lunch everyday at 3 and the lunches my host family makes are massive and delicious. Dinner not until 9-9:30 every night, and then people don't start going out until midnight or later. One example, the other weekend a group of us went to a club, arrived around 1:45am and the place was completely empty, the bartenders hadn't even arrived yet. The place started to fill at 3 and by the time we left at 5am there was still a line outside the door to get in... So yes, timing is different. Second, as English speakers we seem to think that our language has pervaded every corner of the earth. Not so in Granada, where I have only met a few locals with any English skill. Its refreshing that we actually have to struggle and learn the language instead of every place catering to our language. Thirdly, the culture shock. Things are obviously different, being in a different country and all however one story put things in perspective. This one girl goes to Washington and Lee University in Virginia. Every year that area celebrates "Lee-Jackson Day" (commemorating both Southern Civil War generals), a week before MLK day. This year was the first year her college was not allowed to fly the Confederate flag from university buildings. She showed us an email sent to the student body (pop. 2000) outlining all the support services the school provided for those who were having trouble coming to terms with the fact the school would not be "officially" celebrating Lee-Jackson Day. Subsequently the student body just dressed in Confederate gear and flew the flags from their own homes anyway. So yes, things here are different but there are places in the U.S. even more wacky. Attaching some pictures as those can convey what I am experiencing much better than anything I can write

American Sniper

Yep, I saw it. Patrick and I went to see this in a packed theater on Monday (that's MLK Jr. day, for those scoring at home - somewhat ironic, or at least interesting that a movie about a trained killer cleaned up the box office on a day we celebrate peace, human rights, civil disobedience, etc etc., but that's probably for a different discussion).

Pat and I left the movie in general agreement that it basically sucked. Pat put it nicely when he said he was already beginning to stand up to leave when the credits began to role. A Rolling Stone review sums up the movie nicely, and I have to agree with most of what Mr. Taibbi wrote - it was just a really dumb movie. It was cheesy and silly, and about as simplistic as you can get. I thought it was like a 2015 version of The Green Berets. Anyway, that's my two cents on the movie - I do not recommend it.

On a side note, that is 0-2 on recent theater movies for me (the other was the final installment of The Hobbit. It isn't even worth ridiculing that movie). I think I need to start reviewing my criteria for picking which movies I am willing to shell out $12 for.

Another Reason to Write for the Blog: It's Good for You

Research has shown that writing and re-writing your personal story, which in slightly disguised ways is what we do with this blog, makes you a better person and increases your happiness.  See "Writing Your Way to Happiness."

Response to prior post…because…starting the new year right…etc.

I found it! It's the opening of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". The song is called "Kangana" and performed by Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad.



From a commenter on the music:

Its not purely a Sufi composition, it has a huge classical/Hindustani music touch in it, as the lyrics itself denote being partly in Brij (language spoken around mathura and Agra) partly in Persian. The brij lyrics are originally an incident based on the amorous dialogue between Krishna and Radha, when Krishna snatches away her Kangana (bangles or a sort of bracelet) and Radha is pleading to Krishna to return her the Kangana.

I like this version even better. It is stunning!


Or play them simultaneously (start bottom, then top) for a real religious experience.

Education

We often tout education as a primary ingredient for solving problems in the world, from the economic (higher paying jobs) to the political (more knowledgeable voters) to the social (understanding the environment). However, education may not be the powerful solution we think it is.

In issues such as vaccinations, justification of the Iraq war (weapons of mass destruction or El Qaeda), how the rest of the world viewed the Iraq war, whether the troop surge reduced violence, and climate change, education actually increases people's dissonance with reality.

Reality (as best as we can figure it out) is that vaccinations are beneficial, WMD and El Qaeda were not justifications of the Iraq War, the rest of the world was against the war, the troop surge did reduced violence within Iraq, and man's carbon emissions do contribute to global warming. However studies have shown that agreement with these issues decreases as education increases. I'm sure we can come up with many reasons for this, such as educated people use more sophisticated ways to justify their views.

In my mind the greatest benefit of education is the appreciation of how little we know ("Recognize your limits" as Pete [the near doctor] has said) along with the passion to learn more. The result of this educational benefit is something that you needn't be highly educated to attain—humbleness. And that, hopefully, will trump ideology, the bane of education.

Response to Comment in Prior Post (Because They Won't Let us Imbed in a Comment)

I'm guessing that you are referring to the song played at the opening and closing credits of Inside Man -- a Spike Lee project starring Clive Owen and Denzel Washington:





But the song is originally from a Bollywood Movie, Dil Se. The movie itself is actually pretty dopey, but the scene involving the song is crazy good.  It has nothing to do with the movie plot but is a dream sequence.  By the way, Spike Lee added horns at key places which were not in the original.

Starting the New Year Right -- Taking Five in Lahore (another mental health break)

For your holiday/end of year discussions: Final Maps of 2014

My particular favorite, and the one that sums up the Ebola panic beautifully, is number 8.

14 Maps that Explain 2014

Longest Night

Tonight is not only the longest night of the year.  It is also the longest night, for any given location, in the history of the earth. 

 

See Tonight will be the longest night in the history of Earth

Correction:  For reasons explained by the Vox post I linked to, tonight will be plenty long but, as far as we know, the longest night in Earth's history likely occurred in 1912.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Rudolph

On December 9th, at 8 PM, Christmas television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, celebrated its 50th anniversary.  It first aired Sunday, December 6, 1964, on NBC.  I was 11 when it first aired.  Back in the day, it was broadcast only once a year.  Now, if you're like me and missed the initial broadcast, they'll be many more opportunities.

Anyway, one part really stands out for me.  Who can forget it?

Place:  The Island of Misfit Toys

Charlie-in-the Box: Well it's Christmas Eve, but....
Spotted Elephant: Looks like we're forgotten again.
Dolly: But Rudolph promised we'd go this time.
Charlie: Oh, guess the storm was too much for them.
[sound of jingle bells in the distance]
Might…might just as well go to bed and start dreaming about next year.
Dolly: I haven't any dreams left to dream...[sobs] We’ll never get off this island. Never.
Elephant: Wait a minute…. What's that? Is it? Is it?
Charlie: It sure is!! It's Santa and look! Rudolph is leading the way!
Dolly: You can see his nose from here!

No matter how many times I see it, I still get all choked up.

We always knew this.

Run to Stay Young

A Thought for Thanksgiving

On November 18 of this year, Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane, Wash., was installed as the ninth archbishop of Chicago, America’s third-largest Roman Catholic diocese, with 2.3 million members.

In an interview given shortly before his installation, he said this: “The pope is saying some very challenging things for people. He’s not saying, this is the law and you follow it and you get to heaven. He’s saying we have to do something about our world today that’s suffering; people are being excluded, neglected. We have a responsibility, and he’s calling people to task.”

Finally, somebody gets it right.

Blase J. Cupich

Harveys in the News

Giving credit where credit is due.  Report examines shared fire chief for New Salem and Wendell.  (And I always thought that MMA stood for Mixed Martial Arts)

The Card Game That Must Not Be Named

It turns out that for many years Bill Clinton's favorite card game was Hearts.  That all changed when he visited Steven Spielberg during the 1996 presidential campaign and was introduced to an even better game.  Spielberg Deals Bill Clinton Into a Beloved Card Game.

Barbie Does Daemons

Who says you can’t change the world…a little. Recently Mattel released a new children’s book titled “Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer.” (Later, they claimed it was released in 2010.) Wow! Barbie’s coming into the late twentieth century…until one starts reading it. I’m not sure how it got started, but it may have been Pamela Ribon who discovered the book and wrote about it on her blog. She found the book beyond banal, to being breathtakingly abominable.

Shortly, it caused such popular persecution and parody on the web that Random House pulled the book and Amazon dropped it. Now Mattel has apologized.

Thus in our internet age, democracy (or pop culture) voting works in magical ways. Whimsically, someone hacked up a way to write alternate versions of the book. Here are some geeky examples.

Serial

Many of the better quality blogs are touting the relatively new show by This American Life, called Serial. If In Progress is not in the "better quality" realm, then it is probably I who is dragging it down. As reparations,  I'll recommend the show. Be sure to start with episode 1.

Bigger Than Ebola

The U.S. panic over ebola is dwarfed by the Parisian tiger scare. Sure ebola may kill you, but so can a hungry tiger, and it is 155 pounds. For those living east of Paris, it is as mysterious as the killer virus, as no one knows where it came from. "The unbelievable tiger alert" dominates Parisian news. "It's been running for 48 hours and it hasn't eaten, so yes, I'm worried," said local resident, Jean-Francois Ameur.

Tiger expert Gilbert Edelstein, from the Pinder circus, said the best response to coming face-to-face with the stripy beast, thought to weigh around 70 kilogrammes (155 pounds), was to “scream as loud as possible.”
“Even better, scream in German. The guttural sounds could scare him away,” added Edelstein.

Leave it to the French to always come up with the appropriate use of German awareness. 

How are you affected by Nightly News?

Here is a short, painless quiz about your perceptions of your country (if you click the U.S.). It's nothing earthshaking or traumatic, but just another reality check that we are often led slightly astray. I didn't do too badly except about the percentage of Americans over 65.

This blog is on the internet, so I feel I can post this