Christmas is a time when things once miraculous have been turned into plasticized mass-produced re-creations whose meaning is incorporated into a wholly self-serving dogma of a Holiday of Consumerism. The sacred and the diverse have been blended together into the mundane. Gift-giving has transcended symbolism to become both an ends and a means, a cycle of greed that takes advantage of a genuine current of goodwill and hopefulness.
Another day, another fate postponed
Today the geese did not attack, but they well could have.
Instead of trumpeting their numbers, they fled as individuals, or as members of a disparate horde. Instead of driving onward out of sheer willpower, they relented, succumbing to the urge to flee to safety. What safety was confidently theirs. Instead of testing the limits of their opponent, they chose to live another day in uncertainty. Instead they perpetrate petty vandalism, excrement and dirt.
A squirrel on North Maple Street had a dangeous glint in its eyes but then ran like the wind.
On the opposite bank of the river, ducks watched. I didn’t trust them, not as far as I could throw them.
Tomorrow, who knows. A crow may announce the first volley.
Update: for the moment we’re safe from the ducks; there’s too much infighting, it’s preventing them from hatching competent plans. Hasbert tried to drown Roland—I saw this as I walked—though he was not successful. Be wary, though.
Posted by Ben on December 19, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/another-day-another-fate-postponed/
An interesting spread (no, not that kind)
From an article about Wes Clark in the Washington Post, we learn the assets of certain other Democratic candidates:
- Wesley Clark: $3 to $3.5 million
- Sen. John F. Kerry: $500 million
- Sen. John Edwards: $13 to $16 million
- Howard Dean: $2.2 to $5 million
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich: $2,000 to $32,000
(article via RandomWalks)
Posted by Ben on December 16, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/an-interesting-spread-no-not-that-kind/
About a plane: An Old Ghost
- “The Museum currently has over 80 aircraft and dozens of space artifacts on display including the Space Shuttle “Enterprise”; an SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft; the Dash 80 prototype of the Boeing 707; the B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay;” and the de Havilland Chipmunk aerobatic plane, to name a few.”
- “As a frequent history-channel watcher and WWII history buff and American, I was outraged at the Japanese delegation this week protesting the Enola Gay display at the Air and Space Museum.”
- “It was not clear if the Enola Gay was damaged.“
- “‘If they want to show these planes, that’s fine but we can’t help but also demand that they show the damage and the stories that take place behind these weapons,’ said Terumi Tanaka, 71, a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bomb attack which occurred three days after Hiroshima. A total of 230,000 people were killed in the two attacks. Japan surrendered unconditionally six days after the Nagasaki bombing.”
Posted by Ben on December 15, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/about-a-plane-an-old-ghost/
It’s more like aerobics. Or maybe ultra-cheap transportation. Oranges year-round?
“It’s like electricity. Everybody wants it, but nobody wants to see the wires in their backyard. It’s the same with crematories,” says Jack Springer, spokesman for the Chicago-based Cremation Association of North America.
Posted by Ben on December 15, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/its-more-like-aerobics-or-maybe-ultra-cheap-transportation-oranges-year-round/
A chipper yarn
Inamorata by Joseph Gangemi: On a scale from brutal to brilliant, this falls somewhere in between but generally on the positive side of things. My greatest complaint—a minor quibble, really—is with the phrase “never fall in love with a medium,” which first assaults the reader on the back cover: “…the man of science breaks the cardinal rule of psychic investigation: Never fall in love with the medium.” Fine, okay, great. Two times? Okay, that’s understandable; even three times in the entire scope of the work would be a decent amount of repetition. But in the last sixty pages (I’m guessing), this phrase crops up probably seven or eight times. Which, despite its marked relevance to the story, it simply isn’t a particularly astounding phrase. Otherwise a good, generally well-paced and entertaining story. Historical to the 1920s, the story of Scientific American’s investigation of purported psychics is inspired by real-life events and transposed (among other things) from Boston to Gangemi’s Philadelphia.
Posted by Ben on December 14, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/a-chipper-yarn/
Could there possibly be a connection?
Pretty women scramble men’s ability to assess the future (New Scientist)
and
Pentagon: Rocket Fuel in Your Lettuce is Safe (Environmental Media Services)
Posted by Ben on December 13, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/could-there-possibly-be-a-connection/
I left my heart in Plano, Texas
I left my heart in Plano, Texas. Nothing turned out like I’d expected it to. I paid for a safe deposit box, a 5″ by 10″ by 22″ receptacle. I went to Plano because I’d heard they had an organ discount. Turns out I was wrong, but I paid for the box anyway. After all, I had to keep my heart somewhere. Plano seemed as good as any place else.
Posted by Ben on December 13, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/i-left-my-heart-in-plano-texas/
Her name was Janine (I think)
She was the waitress from hell. I had the chicken cacciatore and some kind of sparkling water that she’d recommended. To be honest, I don’t mean to say that she was spiteful or malicious or full of vitriol; I’m merely stating fact when I say that she was from hell. Her name was Janine Hensworth, and she was renting an apartment that, she told me, was literally in hell. To get there she took a twenty-seven minute elevator ride. The rent on her apartment was wicked cheap, she said, but the screams of the damned and accursed sometimes kept her up at nights. Had she considered sound-proofing, I asked?
Posted by Ben on December 12, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/her-name-was-janine-i-think/
flip-flops
From Harper’s Index for November 2003:
Rank of the World Wildlife Fund among organizations most trusted by Europeans and Americans, respectively: 2, 8 [Edelman (N.Y.C.)]
Rank of Coca-Cola: 8, 2
Posted by Ben on December 11, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/flip-flops/