Someone once described mixed emotions as that feeling you get when you see your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your brand-new Cadillac.
This is unfair both to mothers-in-law and to Cadillacs. For the record, I loved my mother-in-law and I have never owned a Cadillac.
But I have mixed emotions today.
The scamp in me wants to show you 2 dudes, an accordion, a balalaika, and a chick (2:04).
The more mature, reasonable, and intelligent fellow I like to think I am is sad, though, because one of my blogger friends has decided to take a break from blogging. Whether the break is short or long, only time will tell.
But in this corner of the blogosphere she will be missed.
On her last post, my friend included the following. It is not original with her, but it bears repeating:
“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you have anyway.”
Part of me wants to make you laugh, part of me wants to make you cry, part of me wants to make you think, and part of me wants to make you wake up and smell the roses.
I have mixed emotions today.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Having a wonderful time; wish you were here. NOT.
Greetings from Blogland.
At least, I think it’s Blogland. It’s not at all the way Lord Pudding described it, though. No turquoise sea. No palm fronds. No tropical breezes. No volleyball games on the beach with lovely native girls wearing grass skirts. No lilac speedos.
No nothing.
Just white, blinding white everywhere. Except at night when it’s black as pitch and you can’t see your hand in front of your face.
Sometimes the sky is chartreuse, and sometimes it’s yellow. At other times it’s magenta. Once in a great while it’s puce.
In the distance, singing can be heard.
It’s difficult to describe, but I’ll try. It’s happier than this (4:15) but it’s not quite as happy as this (2:18).
We boarded the plane at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, following Pudding’s instructions to the letter. We climbed into the skies, leaving our beloved Georgia behind forever. We were heading east over the Atlantic, flying high over the Bermuda Triangle, when everything changed. Suddenly we were plunging downward toward the ocean’s surface, but I don’t remember a crash. The last thing I remember is being sucked into a vortex, not of water exactly, more like custard. Yes, that was definitely it. Custard.
And now we’re here in this place. All 287 of us who were on board the jumbo jet, plus the pilot, the co-pilot, and 17 flight attendants. We are still inside the plane, waiting.
For what, we don’t know.
We’re afraid to leave. The food won’t last forever.
Surely someone will rescue us.
We don't know where we are exactly.
But the singing is getting closer.
At least, I think it’s Blogland. It’s not at all the way Lord Pudding described it, though. No turquoise sea. No palm fronds. No tropical breezes. No volleyball games on the beach with lovely native girls wearing grass skirts. No lilac speedos.
No nothing.
Just white, blinding white everywhere. Except at night when it’s black as pitch and you can’t see your hand in front of your face.
Sometimes the sky is chartreuse, and sometimes it’s yellow. At other times it’s magenta. Once in a great while it’s puce.
In the distance, singing can be heard.
It’s difficult to describe, but I’ll try. It’s happier than this (4:15) but it’s not quite as happy as this (2:18).
We boarded the plane at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, following Pudding’s instructions to the letter. We climbed into the skies, leaving our beloved Georgia behind forever. We were heading east over the Atlantic, flying high over the Bermuda Triangle, when everything changed. Suddenly we were plunging downward toward the ocean’s surface, but I don’t remember a crash. The last thing I remember is being sucked into a vortex, not of water exactly, more like custard. Yes, that was definitely it. Custard.
And now we’re here in this place. All 287 of us who were on board the jumbo jet, plus the pilot, the co-pilot, and 17 flight attendants. We are still inside the plane, waiting.
For what, we don’t know.
We’re afraid to leave. The food won’t last forever.
Surely someone will rescue us.
We don't know where we are exactly.
But the singing is getting closer.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Why I am glad John Masefield wrote “Cargoes” before the New International Version of the Bible (NIV) was produced.
A few days ago I saw John Masefields’s poem “Sea Fever” on someone’s blog, and as one thing often leads to another, it made me think of “Cargoes,” another of John Masefield’s poems with which you may be familiar. Here it is:
Cargoes
by John Masefield
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
[Editor’s note. From SALT-WATER POEMS AND BALLADS, edited by John Masefield, published by The Macmillan Co., New York, US, © 1944, p. 124; first published in SALT-WATER POEMS, © 1902. --RWP]
If Edward Gibbon had written that poem he might have called it “The Decline and Fall of the Shipping Industry” or “The Decline and Fall of Civilization In General” or even, in an attempt to give the final stanza’s dreariness a positive spin, “Rule, Brittania!”
“Cargoes” is lovely and conjures up all sorts of intriguing images, but I’m glad John Masefield wrote it before the New International Version of the Bible (NIV) was produced.
Here’s why:
In the King James Version (KJV) of 1611, speaking of King Solomon, I Kings 10:22 says, “For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram : once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” In keeping with the tradition that the Bible says everything twice, II Chronicles 9:21 says “For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.”
In the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of 1952,
I Kings 10:22 says, “For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” and II Chronicles 9:21 says, “For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.”
Please note that after 341 years, the English is virtually unchanged. Let us pat the translators on their heads. They done good.
But in the New International Version (NIV), for which we have the last quarter of the twentieth century to thank, I Kings 10:22 and II Chronicles 9:21 say something startlingly different (I’ll show it to you just once because if you’re anything like me you’re probably getting tired of reading everything twice):
“The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram, and once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.”
Yes, you read that correctly.
Not peacocks. Baboons.
As they are wont to say in the British Isles, I’m gobsmacked.
Solly, we hardly knew ye.
John Masefield’s finger wrote, and having writ, moved on. We, however, are left behind to pick up the pieces and try to make sense of it all.
Here’s what an English clergyman named N. T. Wright has to say: “When the New International Version was published in 1980, I was one of those who hailed it with delight. I believed its own claim about itself, that it was determined to translate exactly what was there, and inject no extra paraphrasing or interpretative glosses.... Disillusionment set in over the next two years, as I lectured verse by verse through several of Paul’s letters, not least Galatians and Romans. Again and again, with the Greek text in front of me and the NIV beside it, I discovered that the translators had another principle, considerably higher than the stated one: to make sure that Paul should say what the broadly Protestant and evangelical tradition said he said....[I]f a church only, or mainly, relies on the NIV it will, quite simply, never understand what Paul was talking about.”
I don’t know about Paul’s letters, but in the case of I Kings and
II Chronicles, we started out with peacocks and ended up with baboons. Talk about disillusioned.
But wouldn’t it be a hoot if the original Hebrew really means baboons?
[Editor’s note. This just in -- the passage from I Kings chapter 10 in Hebrew (the Masoretic text) is:
כִּי אֳנִי תַרְשִׁישׁ לַמֶּלֶךְ בַּיָּם עִם אֳנִי חִירָם
אַחַת לְשָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים תָּבֹוא אֳנִי תַרְשִׁישׁ
נֹֽשְׂאֵת זָהָב וָכֶסֶף שֶׁנְהַבִּים וְקֹפִים וְתֻכִּיִּֽים׃
and in Greek (the Septuagint text) it is:
ὅτι ναῦς Θαρσις τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐν τῇ
θαλάσσῃ μετὰ τῶν νηῶν Χιραμ μία διὰ
τριῶν ἐτῶν ἤρχετο τῷ βασιλεῖ ναῦς ἐκ
Θαρσις χρυσίου καὶ ἀργυρίου καὶ λίθων
τορευτῶν καὶ πελεκητῶν
and even though (a) worldlingo has been heretofore my favorite online translator and (b) it purports to be able to translate from both Hebrew and Greek, the sad truth is (c) its talents do not extend to ancient Hebrew or Koine Greek. Therefore, (d) it gave me no help whatsoever in getting to the bottom of the peacock/baboon mystery. Still, I’m hoping (e) that you will be impressed no end with my researching skills.--RWP]
My research has also revealed the following:
Peacock:
Baboon:
Gibbon:
Cargoes
by John Masefield
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
[Editor’s note. From SALT-WATER POEMS AND BALLADS, edited by John Masefield, published by The Macmillan Co., New York, US, © 1944, p. 124; first published in SALT-WATER POEMS, © 1902. --RWP]
If Edward Gibbon had written that poem he might have called it “The Decline and Fall of the Shipping Industry” or “The Decline and Fall of Civilization In General” or even, in an attempt to give the final stanza’s dreariness a positive spin, “Rule, Brittania!”
“Cargoes” is lovely and conjures up all sorts of intriguing images, but I’m glad John Masefield wrote it before the New International Version of the Bible (NIV) was produced.
Here’s why:
In the King James Version (KJV) of 1611, speaking of King Solomon, I Kings 10:22 says, “For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram : once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” In keeping with the tradition that the Bible says everything twice, II Chronicles 9:21 says “For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.”
In the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of 1952,
I Kings 10:22 says, “For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” and II Chronicles 9:21 says, “For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.”
Please note that after 341 years, the English is virtually unchanged. Let us pat the translators on their heads. They done good.
But in the New International Version (NIV), for which we have the last quarter of the twentieth century to thank, I Kings 10:22 and II Chronicles 9:21 say something startlingly different (I’ll show it to you just once because if you’re anything like me you’re probably getting tired of reading everything twice):
“The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram, and once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.”
Yes, you read that correctly.
Not peacocks. Baboons.
As they are wont to say in the British Isles, I’m gobsmacked.
Solly, we hardly knew ye.
John Masefield’s finger wrote, and having writ, moved on. We, however, are left behind to pick up the pieces and try to make sense of it all.
Here’s what an English clergyman named N. T. Wright has to say: “When the New International Version was published in 1980, I was one of those who hailed it with delight. I believed its own claim about itself, that it was determined to translate exactly what was there, and inject no extra paraphrasing or interpretative glosses.... Disillusionment set in over the next two years, as I lectured verse by verse through several of Paul’s letters, not least Galatians and Romans. Again and again, with the Greek text in front of me and the NIV beside it, I discovered that the translators had another principle, considerably higher than the stated one: to make sure that Paul should say what the broadly Protestant and evangelical tradition said he said....[I]f a church only, or mainly, relies on the NIV it will, quite simply, never understand what Paul was talking about.”
I don’t know about Paul’s letters, but in the case of I Kings and
II Chronicles, we started out with peacocks and ended up with baboons. Talk about disillusioned.
But wouldn’t it be a hoot if the original Hebrew really means baboons?
[Editor’s note. This just in -- the passage from I Kings chapter 10 in Hebrew (the Masoretic text) is:
כִּי אֳנִי תַרְשִׁישׁ לַמֶּלֶךְ בַּיָּם עִם אֳנִי חִירָם
אַחַת לְשָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים תָּבֹוא אֳנִי תַרְשִׁישׁ
נֹֽשְׂאֵת זָהָב וָכֶסֶף שֶׁנְהַבִּים וְקֹפִים וְתֻכִּיִּֽים׃
and in Greek (the Septuagint text) it is:
ὅτι ναῦς Θαρσις τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐν τῇ
θαλάσσῃ μετὰ τῶν νηῶν Χιραμ μία διὰ
τριῶν ἐτῶν ἤρχετο τῷ βασιλεῖ ναῦς ἐκ
Θαρσις χρυσίου καὶ ἀργυρίου καὶ λίθων
τορευτῶν καὶ πελεκητῶν
and even though (a) worldlingo has been heretofore my favorite online translator and (b) it purports to be able to translate from both Hebrew and Greek, the sad truth is (c) its talents do not extend to ancient Hebrew or Koine Greek. Therefore, (d) it gave me no help whatsoever in getting to the bottom of the peacock/baboon mystery. Still, I’m hoping (e) that you will be impressed no end with my researching skills.--RWP]
My research has also revealed the following:
Peacock:
Baboon:
Gibbon:
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Answers to movie quiz #17,643
Our little band of bloggers struggled valiantly with the movie quiz in the previous post. It was a tough fight, Ma, but they lost.
Here, for those who care, are the correct answers:
1. F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus, composer Antonio Salieri.
2. Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not, Marie “Slim” Browning (speaking to Harry “Steve” Morgan as played by Humphrey Bogart).
3. Bette Davis, The Three Faces of Eve, Margo Channing.
4. Nicholas Cage, Raising Arizona, H.I. McDunnough.
5. (a) Barbra Streisand, Hello, Dolly!, Dolly Levi and (b) Walter Matthau, Hello, Dolly!, Horace van der Gelder.
6. Kay Medford, Funny Girl, Mrs. Brice (speaking to her daughter Fanny as played by Barbra Streisand about Nicky Arnstein as played by Omar Sharif).
7. Vivian Leigh, Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara.
8. H.A.L., 2001: A Space Odyssey, H.A.L.
9. Gloria Swanson, Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond.
10. Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley Kowalski.
Well, I had fun. Sorry if I wasted your time.
Here, for those who care, are the correct answers:
1. F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus, composer Antonio Salieri.
2. Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not, Marie “Slim” Browning (speaking to Harry “Steve” Morgan as played by Humphrey Bogart).
3. Bette Davis, The Three Faces of Eve, Margo Channing.
4. Nicholas Cage, Raising Arizona, H.I. McDunnough.
5. (a) Barbra Streisand, Hello, Dolly!, Dolly Levi and (b) Walter Matthau, Hello, Dolly!, Horace van der Gelder.
6. Kay Medford, Funny Girl, Mrs. Brice (speaking to her daughter Fanny as played by Barbra Streisand about Nicky Arnstein as played by Omar Sharif).
7. Vivian Leigh, Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara.
8. H.A.L., 2001: A Space Odyssey, H.A.L.
9. Gloria Swanson, Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond.
10. Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley Kowalski.
Well, I had fun. Sorry if I wasted your time.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Wait, wait, don’t tell me (movie quiz #17,643).
Can you name the movie, the actor, and the character?
No fair Googling.
1. “I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint.”
2. “If you want me, just whistle. You know how to whistle don't you? Just put your lips together and blow.”
3. “Fasten your seat belts; it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
4. “Her insides were a barren place where my seed could find no purchase.”
5. “Money, you should pardon the expression, is like manure: it doesn’t do any good unless you spread it around.” (two possible answers)
6. “Love him a little less. Help him a little more.”
7. “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”
8. “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
9. “All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.”
10. “Stella! Stella!”
Most of these should be rather easy if you’re of a certain age. If you’re not, I’m afraid I can’t help you. You’re on your own.
No fair Googling.
1. “I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint.”
2. “If you want me, just whistle. You know how to whistle don't you? Just put your lips together and blow.”
3. “Fasten your seat belts; it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
4. “Her insides were a barren place where my seed could find no purchase.”
5. “Money, you should pardon the expression, is like manure: it doesn’t do any good unless you spread it around.” (two possible answers)
6. “Love him a little less. Help him a little more.”
7. “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”
8. “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
9. “All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.”
10. “Stella! Stella!”
Most of these should be rather easy if you’re of a certain age. If you’re not, I’m afraid I can’t help you. You’re on your own.
Friday, April 6, 2012
A do-it-yourself meditation for Good Friday with a little help from Lewis Carroll
If you know where you want to go, it matters a great deal.
Quo vadis?
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Thank God we still have freedom of speech.
There’s a minor -- well, maybe not so minor -- brouhaha going on in the U.S. right now involving President Barack Obama’s comments the other day about the Supreme Court’s current deliberating over the constitutionality of the 2009 healthcare law that is derisively termed “Obamacare.”
If you’re in another country you may not be aware of it, but here in what Mexicans insist on calling EE UU we are transfixed.
Rush Limbaugh (a radio talk-show host) had a lot to say about it on his program yesterday. Here is the transcript.
The breaks in the transcript are the spots at which commercial advertisements by the sponsors of the radio program were inserted.
Many people think the President overstepped the bounds when he referred to the nine justices of the Supreme Court as “an unelected group of people.”
For those who don't know, the U.S. Constitution specifies three equal branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.
Long may they wave.
If you’re in another country you may not be aware of it, but here in what Mexicans insist on calling EE UU we are transfixed.
Rush Limbaugh (a radio talk-show host) had a lot to say about it on his program yesterday. Here is the transcript.
The breaks in the transcript are the spots at which commercial advertisements by the sponsors of the radio program were inserted.
Many people think the President overstepped the bounds when he referred to the nine justices of the Supreme Court as “an unelected group of people.”
For those who don't know, the U.S. Constitution specifies three equal branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.
Long may they wave.
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