Author: Sysadmin

More on Gatsby and a joke

From Fitzgerald’s novel:

“In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I have been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’  he told me, ‘just remember all the people in this world have not had the advantages you’ve had.'”

The sentences come to mind when I hear African-Americans speak of “white privilege” in the past few years. Yes, minorities, our problems aren’t the same and probably not as severe as yours, but we still have them, even if we have socio-economic advantage. My youth was ” privileged” in some ways, but it was certainly not easy.

To me the brilliance of the novel is that Gatsby earns his privilege, but he does it for the wrong reasons, wanting a woman who is beyond his reach. “What you want most is what is what you don’t have.”

 

Apologies to the last line of John Milton’s great short poem “On His Blindness”. I found this was in his first draft:

“Those also serve who only mast or bate.”

On coming out of Covid-19 shells

Saw a Wall Street Journal article on family and friends having reunions as the virus scare and lockdown ends. It’s titled “The Great American Reunion” and subtitled. “Families and friends are coming together after long separations as vaccinations rise; ‘My God, we’re back.'”

It begins with three short sentences: “Hugs are back. And handshakes. And tables for 10.” It is dated May 30 and includes a number of anecdotal stories of family and friends getting back in touch after long separations because of the virus lockdown. This is a personal issue for me, and I don’t want to go into the details.

Renowned historian Niall Ferguson says at the start of his latest book that “all disasters are at some level man-made.” I believe the socio-economic damage from Covid-19 was mainly human over-reaction to a virus that was quite serious and did kill some people but not as threatening as authorities told us.

Two quotes and a poem

“Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he wants to and makes up his mind to do. We are capable of greater things than we realize.” –Norman Vincent Peale

A few thoughts. One is a joke my Dad has about this motivational speaker, that his name is really Norman Vincent Spiel. Peale was before my time, but he seemed to be like an earlier version of Joel Osteen, who is also relentlessly optimistic in his sermons. Sometimes I like that; it is important to have a positive attitude, especially in the midst of prolonged adversity and if you are psychologically negative by nature. But Osteen’s remarks begin to tire me after about 15 minutes. The comedian Chris Farley did probably one of the best satires of motivational speaking on Saturday Night Live.

“Often God has to shut a door in our face, so that He can subsequently open the door through which He wants us to go.” –Catherine Marshall

Marshall was another 20-th century motivational speaker. Her quote brings to mind two other sayings. One is from a high school buddy who became very successful in business; it is something like, “when one door closes, another opens.” The other is Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous line that “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Catholicism also holds that there is a redemptive quality to unwarranted suffering.

 

“Happened Part 2” by yours truly

“People, this is a controversial opinion, but it seems to me that the past happened. Many, maybe most, will disagree about this. Anyway, this country has freedom of speech… I think.”

“Ohh!”

 

“Happened” by yours truly

Heard at a Deniers Anonymous protest:

“It just never happened! It just never happened!

So just get over it! Just get over it!

And police never torture people!

Police never torture people!

Just get over it. Damage does not last.

You can ask the DA. He is from Deniers Anonymous.”

On First Things and a poem

A while back my Dad suggested reading the magazine First Things, which is a kind of intellectual journal for conservative Christians. It is well-written. This blog is based off of the May 2020 edition.

From the article “The Right to Be Wrong”: the piece posits that religion is under threat from would-be reformist atheist or just non-religious governments. “The principal limit on religious freedom in U.S. law is the rule that government may substantially burden the exercise of religion only when doing so is necessary to achieve a compelling government interest,” the essay reads.

I think it is okay to have a bifurcated mind in the modern world. You can believe in both the moral precepts of a religion and the government law if properly enforced by police and lawyers. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” said someone famous. The problem with Communist regimes of the 20th century was that they seemed to think only government law should matter. If the government is corrupt, and almost every one is at some point, innocent people are stolen from, tortured, and killed. The problem with religion, I think, is that sometimes especially minority religions believe that only their faith matters and government law does not.

 

“Pun-feasance” by yours truly

“Sir, you have  been pun-secuted for the 2nd-degree pun-demeanor of pun-feasance. It is pun-ishable by death!”

“Pun no! I’m so pun-ny sorry. Pun-give me, your honor.”

 

 

Three more Ambrose Bierce definitions/jokes

“Namby-pamby, adj. Having the quality of magazine poetry. (See FLUMMERY.)

Magazines are interesting. They seem to be easier for people to read than books and usually have nice pictures. I guess it is a matter of balance. Magazines can contain a lot of intelligence and accurate reporting. But they can also contain a lot of fluff.

“Neighbor, n.  One whom we are commanded to love as ourselves, and who does all he knows how to make us disobedient.”

Late last year, I had a non-violent dispute with downstairs neighbors that seriously disrupted my life. I don’t really hate them now for what they did, but I did really hate them at the time. I think it is okay to hate people sometimes, if you are not physically violent with them. I get along well enough with my neighbors now.

“Nirvana, n. In the Buddhist religion, a state of pleasurable annihilation awarded to the wise, particularly to to those wise enough to understand it.”

I think what Bierce is talking about here is Freud’s concept of thanatos. It is the idea that you just sometimes want to die. One of T.S. Eliot’s most famous poems “The Wasteland” begins with a quote about wanting to die. “Nirvana” was the name of a famous grunge band from Washington state in the 1990s. I lived in the the lead singer/songwriter’s hometown a few months. I suppose the west coast U.S. has been more influenced by East Asian philosophy/religion than the rest of the rest of the country. Bierce spent the last part of his life on the West Coast.

 

 

“Never” by yours truly

Overheard at a Liars Anonymous protest:

“Liars never lie! Liars never lie!

So let your brains fry!  So let your brains fry!

Life is do or die! Life is do or die!

But give it a try! Just give it a try!”

 

“Families” by yours truly

“We never lie! We never lie!

Listen to us son, what’s done is done.

The past does not exist, and we never lie!

Life is but a dream,

So here have a bowl of cream.

(It is good for your blood sugar).”

 

Another Bierce quote and three poems

“Rubbish ] Boreaplas means  “regions south of the North Pole,” that is all regions.”

As said before, Ambrose Bierce appears to have been very cynical later  in life because he endured both the U.S. Civil War as a soldier and the disintegration of his family. One literary critic said he killed himself in the U.S. southwest, but it is not clear. He may have died of natural causes in Mexico.

 

“Meaning” by yours truly

“Sir, what do you think is the meaning of life?”

“It is rather clear to me the meaning is boobies.”

“Me thinks you have been watching too many tubies.”

“Maybe so, but to me they seem like rubies.”

 

“Pun-tertainment” by yours truly

“Maybe you just need more pun-tertainment. Just pun-lax.”

“But some say I do not take pun seriously enough and are pun-ffended by my  pun-se of humor.”

“That is pun-kay. Everyone has a pun-t of view and their own o-pun-ion.”

“Pun-k you, Doctor.”

 

“Just” by yours truly

“It just doesn’t matter!

It just doesn’t matter!

We ‘ll make your brains splatter.

We’re as mad as the Mad Hatter!”

“Oh.”

“Puns’ lives matter!

Puns’ lives matter!”

 

“Pun-blishable” by yours truly

“Sir, do you really think your comments are pun-blishable?”

“Yes, I think collecting them into a handsome book that I vanity pun-blish would pun-ssibly sell billions of copies to everypun.”

“No one reads books now. Everyone is addicted to pun-lectronic entertainment.”

“Pun-ever. I will be bigger than Jesus Pun-st!”

“Oh, so you think you are writing a new version of The Pun-ble. You are a real pun-centered pun-archist. Get the pun out!”

“Pun-kay, but please stop locking the door.”

On ellipsis

Had a busy day today and am borrowing from Merriam-Webster about a word that interests me. I think most people have ellipses in their lives, as well as sometimes in their sentences.