If one wishes for the reformation of manners in society one has to first address the reformation of manners for one's self.
The question arises as to how one is to reform one's self and what example or example one is to aspire to.
The answer is rather simple while being a bit complicated.
The "how" is answered by the word "study" followed by the word "act." Study those, both in history and literature who have exhibited the qualities of gentlemanliness and gentlewomanliness and learn from their actions, attitudes and examples. And then put those qualities into action in one's own life.
To be a gentleman or gentlewoman does not mean that one is a sucker or a sop. It means that, while may encounter others who do not measure up to one's standard of behaviour, one is never cruel or mocking to them while pointing out to that person that their behaviour is not quite up to snuff or even expressing disapproval. And sometimes bad behaviour by others demands a certain amount of violence on the part of the mannered person; a man beating a woman, a child, and old person, a dog, cat or horse deserves not only verbal condemnation, but a good thrashing. Part of a mannerly life is a concern for the weak.
A good reading of Jane Austen's novels and Anthony Trollope's novels give good examples of what manners should be. In both authors' works there are people who are often arch, but rarely cruel. The sentiments expressed by the heroes and heroines are always sincere, if occasionally mistaken. Wealth does not equal moral status. Education does not equal moral status.
Here's a short piece concerning the Victorian Gentleman that may be more illuminating:
http://artofmanliness.com/2012/11/06/honor-during-victorian-era/
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
A New Direction
For all too long this writer has been ranting and raging about politics and International affairs.
To tell the truth, your faithful correspondent is just worn out with those topics. Politics is, really, a game of whores, and international affairs make no sense whatsoever; they are based on crassest of reasons.
Instead, in the future, we here at Bloody Nib Manor, will devote ourselves to the reform of manners, dress, behaviour and language.
The social life in the United States has become crass, crude, slovenly, mean and cruel. There is no reason for these qualities except that it makes one look cool. And the definition of what is cool is dictated by the mass media. Not so much by the print medium, but more by films, television and the Internet
This is not a good thing. In fact, it is destructive for both the individual and society. We are in an age where nice boy dress like thugs, nice girls dress like sluts, cheap irony is considered smart humour, being cruel to make a joke is accepted and conversation is just plain stupid and illiterate.
How many people actually talk in complete and proper sentences? How many people can carry on a conversation of more than three sentences (ill stated and relying on gestures more than words)?
This is not good. This is a result of a crudeness and self-absorption of a people.
To speak and write properly is the sign of a civilized person. To dress properly is a gift, not only to others, but also to one's self. If one dresses like a thug others can only assume that one is a thug and one has no business complaining that other people treat one like a thug. The same holds true for those who dress like sluts. If you are a woman who insists on showing a lot of cleavage or leg why are you offended when men spend more time looking at you breasts or thighs than looking at your face? To be kind and have manners, while often a chore, are both qualities that make life more pleasant for one's self and others. Why is it not a good thing to be a nice and proper person instead of a jerk? According to the mass media, being a jerk is a good thing.
So, let us get to the very basic thing in appearance. A man in public should wear a hat, or at least a cap. And if that man wears a caps he should wear it, in public, with the bill forward. Not backward and not sideways. And when said man wears a hat or cap on the street he should tip or remove his hat when encountering a woman (not just while walking down the street, but when actually meeting her), or when meeting a man he respects. Indoors he should remove his hat, as he should do when the National Anthem is played or a prayer said. A hat or cap, in a sense, by it's style, is a self definition of a man. A man chooses a hat based on his self-image and it is an immediate indicator for others of what kind of man he is. And it does so in a way much more immediate than baggy pants.
And women should wear hats for the same reason. They are not expected to tip their hats or remove their hats (this writer is old enough to remember when it was usual for women to wear hats at church services). Women have a lot more choices in hats than men do (the portrait hat, the cloche, the bonnet, etc.) and thus are much more able to define themselves, even their moods, than men do.
A hat is a sign of respect for others. When one removes one's hat for another one is showing respect in a way that the ejaculation "Was'up" doesn't.
One doesn't have to be educated or articulate to wear a hat. One only knows how one wishes to portray one's self in a way that is not offensive or threatening to others.
To tell the truth, your faithful correspondent is just worn out with those topics. Politics is, really, a game of whores, and international affairs make no sense whatsoever; they are based on crassest of reasons.
Instead, in the future, we here at Bloody Nib Manor, will devote ourselves to the reform of manners, dress, behaviour and language.
The social life in the United States has become crass, crude, slovenly, mean and cruel. There is no reason for these qualities except that it makes one look cool. And the definition of what is cool is dictated by the mass media. Not so much by the print medium, but more by films, television and the Internet
This is not a good thing. In fact, it is destructive for both the individual and society. We are in an age where nice boy dress like thugs, nice girls dress like sluts, cheap irony is considered smart humour, being cruel to make a joke is accepted and conversation is just plain stupid and illiterate.
How many people actually talk in complete and proper sentences? How many people can carry on a conversation of more than three sentences (ill stated and relying on gestures more than words)?
This is not good. This is a result of a crudeness and self-absorption of a people.
To speak and write properly is the sign of a civilized person. To dress properly is a gift, not only to others, but also to one's self. If one dresses like a thug others can only assume that one is a thug and one has no business complaining that other people treat one like a thug. The same holds true for those who dress like sluts. If you are a woman who insists on showing a lot of cleavage or leg why are you offended when men spend more time looking at you breasts or thighs than looking at your face? To be kind and have manners, while often a chore, are both qualities that make life more pleasant for one's self and others. Why is it not a good thing to be a nice and proper person instead of a jerk? According to the mass media, being a jerk is a good thing.
So, let us get to the very basic thing in appearance. A man in public should wear a hat, or at least a cap. And if that man wears a caps he should wear it, in public, with the bill forward. Not backward and not sideways. And when said man wears a hat or cap on the street he should tip or remove his hat when encountering a woman (not just while walking down the street, but when actually meeting her), or when meeting a man he respects. Indoors he should remove his hat, as he should do when the National Anthem is played or a prayer said. A hat or cap, in a sense, by it's style, is a self definition of a man. A man chooses a hat based on his self-image and it is an immediate indicator for others of what kind of man he is. And it does so in a way much more immediate than baggy pants.
And women should wear hats for the same reason. They are not expected to tip their hats or remove their hats (this writer is old enough to remember when it was usual for women to wear hats at church services). Women have a lot more choices in hats than men do (the portrait hat, the cloche, the bonnet, etc.) and thus are much more able to define themselves, even their moods, than men do.
A hat is a sign of respect for others. When one removes one's hat for another one is showing respect in a way that the ejaculation "Was'up" doesn't.
One doesn't have to be educated or articulate to wear a hat. One only knows how one wishes to portray one's self in a way that is not offensive or threatening to others.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
A Few Things
There are a few things that this past week's election has shown to those here at Bloody Nib Manor besides the fact that it's hard to win an election against a man who likes the populace believe that he is some sort of Santa Claus.
The first is that the conservative and Republican pundits were wrong in their predictions of the outcome of the election. Some of them were very wrong predicting a landslide for Mr. Romney. If memory serves the writer correctly, many of them were just a wrong in their predictions of the outcome of the 2008 election. The conservative pundits have let themselves consider "hope" as a data point. They hoped that Romney would win and added that hope as a source of weight in their opinions. They were almost universally wrong, and instead of hanging their heads in shame they have gone on the air, cable and in print making excuses instead of owning up to the fact that they read the pre-election polls through rose tinted glasses. They forgot that hope is not a strategy.
Secondly, many conservative and Republican opinioneers and commentators, in analyzing the reasons that the Republicans lost so badly among minorities, have latched onto the idea that the re-invigorization of the GOP lies with convincing Hispanics that they are "natural" Republicans and that all the GOP has to do to get the Latino vote is craft some sort of party crafted "immigration reform" that includes an amnesty for illegal aliens. The thinkers are wrong on two points. Latinos are not "natural" Republicans. They are "natural" Democrats. And an amnesty will not result in a migration by Hispanics to the Republican Party. What these thinkers seem to think most important is the success of the GOP instead of what is good for the nation, and they are willing to sell out their own principles to sit in the big chair. In this sense, they are becoming like the mainline Christian denominations that liberalized their stand on the Gospel and the Bible hoping to attract more worshippers and, instead, driving the true believers away, thus becoming almost Potemkin churches.
Victor Davis Hanson has an interesting take on this:
http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/
Third, as one wit wrote this past week, "With this election the United States has become Sweden." In other words, the influence of the United states on world affairs will become greatly more diminished. Mr. Obama has shown himself to be a foreign affairs lightweight who appointed another foreign affairs lightweight to be Secretary of State. And once Mrs. Clinton pulls her freight in January it is pretty much assured that the replacement will be a lightweight. Mr. Obama seems to think that the UN is the future. And once the UN becomes the datum for United States foreign policy you will have an America whose foreign policy is directed by Third World socialists and Islamic Sharia mongers.
Melanie Phillips, from Great Britain, has a few thing to say on the matter:
America Goes Into Darkness
Fourthly and finally, passage of state measures in three states legalizing same-sex marriage, and in two states legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, shows that conservatives and Christians have done a bad job in arguing against both measures. Consider the fact the over 50% of Hispanics in the United States (those assumed "natural Republicans" and "family values" voters that conservative want to cater to) are in favor of same-sex marriage despite the fact that the church to which most of them are members is adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage. The common wisdom among some conservatives is that the argument against same-sex marriage cannot be made on religious grounds and should be made only on moral, societal and scientific grounds. The fact of the matter is that if there is no religion there are no morals. No morals make societies barbaric. Science has reduced the human to the level of an animal. There is also the argument that one must not be judgemental in arguing against same-sex marriage. That's nonsense. One judges every day. When one chose one's spouse one judged who was best for one. When one votes one judges. Even getting up in the morning requires judgement. But some reason one is not supposed to hurt another's feeling when the other is behaving in a socially destructive manner.
It is time for conservatives (and this word does not include all Republicans) to draw a line in the sand for the good of the nation. Winning is great. But if one has to sell one's soul to win one is nothing much more than a harlot. God will give the depraved over to their sins and the result may be that the nation will sink further into debt, immorality, insignificance internationally and loss of national identity, but there will be, if conservatives stand a strong stand for the idea that our Founders promoted, there will be a remnant who may be able to salvage the mess that has been made.
The first is that the conservative and Republican pundits were wrong in their predictions of the outcome of the election. Some of them were very wrong predicting a landslide for Mr. Romney. If memory serves the writer correctly, many of them were just a wrong in their predictions of the outcome of the 2008 election. The conservative pundits have let themselves consider "hope" as a data point. They hoped that Romney would win and added that hope as a source of weight in their opinions. They were almost universally wrong, and instead of hanging their heads in shame they have gone on the air, cable and in print making excuses instead of owning up to the fact that they read the pre-election polls through rose tinted glasses. They forgot that hope is not a strategy.
Secondly, many conservative and Republican opinioneers and commentators, in analyzing the reasons that the Republicans lost so badly among minorities, have latched onto the idea that the re-invigorization of the GOP lies with convincing Hispanics that they are "natural" Republicans and that all the GOP has to do to get the Latino vote is craft some sort of party crafted "immigration reform" that includes an amnesty for illegal aliens. The thinkers are wrong on two points. Latinos are not "natural" Republicans. They are "natural" Democrats. And an amnesty will not result in a migration by Hispanics to the Republican Party. What these thinkers seem to think most important is the success of the GOP instead of what is good for the nation, and they are willing to sell out their own principles to sit in the big chair. In this sense, they are becoming like the mainline Christian denominations that liberalized their stand on the Gospel and the Bible hoping to attract more worshippers and, instead, driving the true believers away, thus becoming almost Potemkin churches.
Victor Davis Hanson has an interesting take on this:
http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/
Third, as one wit wrote this past week, "With this election the United States has become Sweden." In other words, the influence of the United states on world affairs will become greatly more diminished. Mr. Obama has shown himself to be a foreign affairs lightweight who appointed another foreign affairs lightweight to be Secretary of State. And once Mrs. Clinton pulls her freight in January it is pretty much assured that the replacement will be a lightweight. Mr. Obama seems to think that the UN is the future. And once the UN becomes the datum for United States foreign policy you will have an America whose foreign policy is directed by Third World socialists and Islamic Sharia mongers.
Melanie Phillips, from Great Britain, has a few thing to say on the matter:
America Goes Into Darkness
Fourthly and finally, passage of state measures in three states legalizing same-sex marriage, and in two states legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, shows that conservatives and Christians have done a bad job in arguing against both measures. Consider the fact the over 50% of Hispanics in the United States (those assumed "natural Republicans" and "family values" voters that conservative want to cater to) are in favor of same-sex marriage despite the fact that the church to which most of them are members is adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage. The common wisdom among some conservatives is that the argument against same-sex marriage cannot be made on religious grounds and should be made only on moral, societal and scientific grounds. The fact of the matter is that if there is no religion there are no morals. No morals make societies barbaric. Science has reduced the human to the level of an animal. There is also the argument that one must not be judgemental in arguing against same-sex marriage. That's nonsense. One judges every day. When one chose one's spouse one judged who was best for one. When one votes one judges. Even getting up in the morning requires judgement. But some reason one is not supposed to hurt another's feeling when the other is behaving in a socially destructive manner.
It is time for conservatives (and this word does not include all Republicans) to draw a line in the sand for the good of the nation. Winning is great. But if one has to sell one's soul to win one is nothing much more than a harlot. God will give the depraved over to their sins and the result may be that the nation will sink further into debt, immorality, insignificance internationally and loss of national identity, but there will be, if conservatives stand a strong stand for the idea that our Founders promoted, there will be a remnant who may be able to salvage the mess that has been made.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Links Round-Up
Just five links:
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=ltZjuRap
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/halifax-woman-denied-religious-vanity-plate-094922254.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12333#.UISPb3ZAZmY
http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/euro-centric/generation-identitaire-s-war-takes-shape/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219769/A-Christian-demoted-job-posting-opposition-gay-marriages-Facebook-taken-employer-court.html
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=ltZjuRap
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/halifax-woman-denied-religious-vanity-plate-094922254.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12333#.UISPb3ZAZmY
http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/euro-centric/generation-identitaire-s-war-takes-shape/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219769/A-Christian-demoted-job-posting-opposition-gay-marriages-Facebook-taken-employer-court.html
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Inter-Faith Nonsense
Occasionally one hears talk about "Interfaith dialogue." There was a time when, in the U.S. and Europe, this meant "dialogue" between Christians and Jews and among the various Christian denominations.
Nowadays it means talks between Christians and Muslims after something has happened that hurts or angers the Muslims. And the dialogue usually consists of Christian "leaders" apologizing to Muslims because, let's face it, Christians are just a bunch of jerks. Everybody knows that Christians are jerks because Christian "leaders" say they are. It's really surprising that said Christian "leaders" don't resign their positions of leadership or leave the faith because Christians and Christianity are just so jerky. Who, in their right mind, would want to be associated with that bunch or louts?
Well, here's the deal. Those "leaders" who engage in dialogue with Muslims are either foolish or dishonest or not even Christian. In talking to Muslims about religion there is absolutely no common ground between Christians and Muslims. It would be like having an inter-faith "dialogue" with Pagans, Hindus or Buddhists. There is no shared faith. None at all. To try to have an interfaith dialogue with Muslims is like trying to alloy iron with aluminum. It just doesn't work.
What "interfaith dialogue" really means is that a group of politically and theologically Christians (and some of them are barely Christian, others not at all -- they're in the thing because it's a good paying gig demanding not much work) are willing to become Dhimmis to the Muslims. They tug at the forelock while seeking the approval of the very people their fathers and grandfathers considered benighted heathens. If this bunch of yokels had been around during World War II there would now be a Shinto shrine or two on every corner on the West coast and the Lutheran churches on the East coast would be flying a broken cross from their steeples instead of proper crosses.
This crowd is looking for the strong horse and they think that Islam is the strong horse. They will abandon their faith in the physical Resurrection of Christ and the Salvation that he give in order ot please a bunch of savages who really worship a brick built cube in Mecca that was once a pagan shrine.
If you are a Christian who has to apologize for you faith or you deny that faith in Christ is the true faith, perhaps you'd better look somewhere else for a religion.
Christianity is true. It is the only true religion. Anything else is a fake. To even talk to a Muslim about his religion as being anywhere near equal to Christianity is to insult Our Lord and Our God.
Nowadays it means talks between Christians and Muslims after something has happened that hurts or angers the Muslims. And the dialogue usually consists of Christian "leaders" apologizing to Muslims because, let's face it, Christians are just a bunch of jerks. Everybody knows that Christians are jerks because Christian "leaders" say they are. It's really surprising that said Christian "leaders" don't resign their positions of leadership or leave the faith because Christians and Christianity are just so jerky. Who, in their right mind, would want to be associated with that bunch or louts?
Well, here's the deal. Those "leaders" who engage in dialogue with Muslims are either foolish or dishonest or not even Christian. In talking to Muslims about religion there is absolutely no common ground between Christians and Muslims. It would be like having an inter-faith "dialogue" with Pagans, Hindus or Buddhists. There is no shared faith. None at all. To try to have an interfaith dialogue with Muslims is like trying to alloy iron with aluminum. It just doesn't work.
What "interfaith dialogue" really means is that a group of politically and theologically Christians (and some of them are barely Christian, others not at all -- they're in the thing because it's a good paying gig demanding not much work) are willing to become Dhimmis to the Muslims. They tug at the forelock while seeking the approval of the very people their fathers and grandfathers considered benighted heathens. If this bunch of yokels had been around during World War II there would now be a Shinto shrine or two on every corner on the West coast and the Lutheran churches on the East coast would be flying a broken cross from their steeples instead of proper crosses.
This crowd is looking for the strong horse and they think that Islam is the strong horse. They will abandon their faith in the physical Resurrection of Christ and the Salvation that he give in order ot please a bunch of savages who really worship a brick built cube in Mecca that was once a pagan shrine.
If you are a Christian who has to apologize for you faith or you deny that faith in Christ is the true faith, perhaps you'd better look somewhere else for a religion.
Christianity is true. It is the only true religion. Anything else is a fake. To even talk to a Muslim about his religion as being anywhere near equal to Christianity is to insult Our Lord and Our God.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Orcs Gone Wild!
Well, it's old news by know that the Orcs have gotten a wild hair up their asses purportedly due to a cheap movie that portrays their prophet Mo-Ham-Head as the degenerate criminal that he was. There is speculation that much of the rioting used the film as an excuse while the real reason was that the riots had been called for by Al-Quada due to the drone strike that killed the brother of the leader.
The US media has shown only the jumping up and down in the middle East and North Africa and has ignored the riots and demonstrations in Europe and Australia. These riots and demonstrations may have the advantage of showing that multiculturalism is stupid, silly and empty.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/police-use-pepper-spray-on-anti-islamic-film-protesters-in-sydney-at-the-us-consulate/story-fndo1uez-1226474744811
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203381/As-wave-anti-American-riots-erupts-Islamic-world--Muslims-U-S-flag-burning-protests-spread-Britain.html?openGraphAuthor=%2Fhome%2Fsearch.html%3Fs%3D%26authornamef%3DNeil%2BSears&videoPlayerURL=http%3A%2F%2Fc.brightcove.com%2Fservices%2Fviewer%2Ffederated_f9%3FisVid%3D1%26isUI%3D1%26publisherID%3D1418450360%26playerID%3D72484359001%26domain%3Dembed%26videoId%3D&hasBCVideo=true&BCVideoID=1841130212001
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/petermullen/100180868/islamist-terrorism-is-beginning-to-demolish-political-correctness/
The US media has shown only the jumping up and down in the middle East and North Africa and has ignored the riots and demonstrations in Europe and Australia. These riots and demonstrations may have the advantage of showing that multiculturalism is stupid, silly and empty.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/police-use-pepper-spray-on-anti-islamic-film-protesters-in-sydney-at-the-us-consulate/story-fndo1uez-1226474744811
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203381/As-wave-anti-American-riots-erupts-Islamic-world--Muslims-U-S-flag-burning-protests-spread-Britain.html?openGraphAuthor=%2Fhome%2Fsearch.html%3Fs%3D%26authornamef%3DNeil%2BSears&videoPlayerURL=http%3A%2F%2Fc.brightcove.com%2Fservices%2Fviewer%2Ffederated_f9%3FisVid%3D1%26isUI%3D1%26publisherID%3D1418450360%26playerID%3D72484359001%26domain%3Dembed%26videoId%3D&hasBCVideo=true&BCVideoID=1841130212001
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/petermullen/100180868/islamist-terrorism-is-beginning-to-demolish-political-correctness/
Gates of Vienna: The European Dream Fulfilled
Gates of Vienna: The European Dream Fulfilled: Islam’s Days of Rage, as only Vlad could portray them:
Sunday, September 09, 2012
These are our "allies"
This writer is old enough to remember the war in Vietnam as an adult and to have had friends who served in the military in Vietnam.
At that time it was a given that much of the Army of South Vietnam was not up to the standard in training and dedication as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. But in the memory of this writer there were few instances (if any) of blue on green shootings. And the ARVN tried to make their soldiers an effective and disciplined force. The ARVN soldiers seemed to believe is something even if they were not all that great about fighting against the NVA.
Apparently the same does not hold true in Afghanistan. One, after watches the first video, makes one wish the U.S. Marine Corps trainers has the power (as does the French Foreign Legion and Russian Army) to physically beat up slackers and idiots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWWWotuUwd0&playnext=1&list=PL17FE90C3AE1A2B16&feature=results_video
And apparently the police force is made up of five-year old children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1H0mB0eK78&feature=BFa&list=PL17FE90C3AE1A2B16
This writer is coming to the opinion that the reason that Alexander the Great and the British Army left Afghanistan is due to the fact that the Afghanis are complete idiots.
At that time it was a given that much of the Army of South Vietnam was not up to the standard in training and dedication as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. But in the memory of this writer there were few instances (if any) of blue on green shootings. And the ARVN tried to make their soldiers an effective and disciplined force. The ARVN soldiers seemed to believe is something even if they were not all that great about fighting against the NVA.
Apparently the same does not hold true in Afghanistan. One, after watches the first video, makes one wish the U.S. Marine Corps trainers has the power (as does the French Foreign Legion and Russian Army) to physically beat up slackers and idiots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWWWotuUwd0&playnext=1&list=PL17FE90C3AE1A2B16&feature=results_video
And apparently the police force is made up of five-year old children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1H0mB0eK78&feature=BFa&list=PL17FE90C3AE1A2B16
This writer is coming to the opinion that the reason that Alexander the Great and the British Army left Afghanistan is due to the fact that the Afghanis are complete idiots.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
How Weak-Willed Can These Jokers Be?
It seems that our Islamic brothers and sisters are really a weak-willed bunch. The very sight of a pig or bacon causes them to scream with outrage because they believe that the eating of pork is unclean. It is as if a nice honeyed ham on a platter will cause them to forget their religious obligations and drive into said ham with gusto. Apparently they must be protected from themselves and that we, the non-Muslims, must do the protecting. Ask yourself this question: When was the last time that you were eating a nice devilled ham sandwich or bratwurst in the company of an Orthodox Jew that resulted in said Jew exploding with outrage because you were eating pork in from of him. One the other hand, it seems that if you have a piggy bank on your desk you will soon be visited by a protest from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Such a case seems to have popped up in the Israeli wine country:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/16/232654.html
The support by the Obama administration and Hilary Clinton for the Arab Spring has resulted in a real barbaric mess. One can only hope that the victims of the Arab Spring haunt the One and Mrs. Clinton for many years. There is no "Rest" button:
http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/08/16/muslim-brotherhood-crucifies-opponents-attacks-secular-media/
And here is the reason that Lebanon can't have nice things:
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=428774
Such a case seems to have popped up in the Israeli wine country:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/16/232654.html
The support by the Obama administration and Hilary Clinton for the Arab Spring has resulted in a real barbaric mess. One can only hope that the victims of the Arab Spring haunt the One and Mrs. Clinton for many years. There is no "Rest" button:
http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/08/16/muslim-brotherhood-crucifies-opponents-attacks-secular-media/
And here is the reason that Lebanon can't have nice things:
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=428774
Gates of Vienna: Sidetracked
Gates of Vienna: Sidetracked: For no obvious reason, this excerpt from the The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Chapter 53) came into my mind tonight: If I have even just a li...
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Loose Cannons and Looser Pens
A couple of acts perpetrated by evil men have resulted in calls for tighter gun control in the United States. The shooting at the theater in Aurora, Colorado and at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin are the results of evil minds. Not guns. Those two men, it is to be sure, would have performed similar acts using gasoline, fertilizer or blackpowder bombs. The fact that they used firearms only means that they wished to see close-up and personal the results of the havoc and deaths that they wrought. The guns did not cause them to do what they did. The guns were merely the instruments. They could have caused almost the same number of deaths using swords or axes because most people faced with those weapons find it unbelievable that they are, in a modern age, facing weapons used in the 16th century.
But, despite the fact that logic shows that an evil man will use whatever means available to carry out his evil intentions, the liberal media has decided that the problem is not evil but is the gun.
A case in point is an article written by Fareed Zakaria. It doesn't matter exactly what he wrote. It was the same old claptrap about how people are not evil and that guns are evil. Or that the availability of guns makes people evil. The interesting thing is that Zakaria, in his article, plagiarized at least one paragraph from another writer: Zakaria Suspended.
This shows something interesting to this writer. The liberal is not loathe to call for a change of the Bill of Rights in order to outlaw the personal ownership of firearms, or to restrict the practice of religion as long as that religion is a conservative form of Christianity. But they never call for a restriction of the freedom of speech or freedom of the press despite the fact that, either through intention or mistake, a writer can ruin the reputation of a person, a group or a company by lying, mis-representation or outright slander. Just a few keystrokes made from thousands of miles away by a person who has never met, or even per4sonally seen the subject of an article or opinion piece, can turn the subject from a good citizen to a monster in the public eye despite the fact that the subject has actually done nothing illegal, immoral or even ill-intentioned.
The Internet is a Wild West in a way that the real Wild West never was. It is full of word-slingers and word-snipers doing what they can to destroy, in whatever way they can, their enemies.
But despite the many cases, in both print and on the electronic media, it has been proven that ill-intentioned writers have lied or mis-represented people in a way that has destroyed lives, there has been no call for the licensing of the pen, typewriter or computer keyboard. The Press, in its various forms, seems to hold its Constitutional right as more sacrosanct than the other rights guaranteed by the Constitution. And we've put up with it and have never questioned why the guarantee of a free Press is more important than the freedom to bear arms and the freedom of religion. We've allowed ourselves to be terrorized by a bunch of pot-bellied, Audi driving, martini sipping bunch of louts and bullies whose nuclear weapon is the word "racist" instead of calling them out for a little mano a mano.
But, despite the fact that logic shows that an evil man will use whatever means available to carry out his evil intentions, the liberal media has decided that the problem is not evil but is the gun.
A case in point is an article written by Fareed Zakaria. It doesn't matter exactly what he wrote. It was the same old claptrap about how people are not evil and that guns are evil. Or that the availability of guns makes people evil. The interesting thing is that Zakaria, in his article, plagiarized at least one paragraph from another writer: Zakaria Suspended.
This shows something interesting to this writer. The liberal is not loathe to call for a change of the Bill of Rights in order to outlaw the personal ownership of firearms, or to restrict the practice of religion as long as that religion is a conservative form of Christianity. But they never call for a restriction of the freedom of speech or freedom of the press despite the fact that, either through intention or mistake, a writer can ruin the reputation of a person, a group or a company by lying, mis-representation or outright slander. Just a few keystrokes made from thousands of miles away by a person who has never met, or even per4sonally seen the subject of an article or opinion piece, can turn the subject from a good citizen to a monster in the public eye despite the fact that the subject has actually done nothing illegal, immoral or even ill-intentioned.
The Internet is a Wild West in a way that the real Wild West never was. It is full of word-slingers and word-snipers doing what they can to destroy, in whatever way they can, their enemies.
But despite the many cases, in both print and on the electronic media, it has been proven that ill-intentioned writers have lied or mis-represented people in a way that has destroyed lives, there has been no call for the licensing of the pen, typewriter or computer keyboard. The Press, in its various forms, seems to hold its Constitutional right as more sacrosanct than the other rights guaranteed by the Constitution. And we've put up with it and have never questioned why the guarantee of a free Press is more important than the freedom to bear arms and the freedom of religion. We've allowed ourselves to be terrorized by a bunch of pot-bellied, Audi driving, martini sipping bunch of louts and bullies whose nuclear weapon is the word "racist" instead of calling them out for a little mano a mano.
Sunday, August 05, 2012
The Ghey Marriage
One has to ask the question why those in favor of same sex marriage seem to make it a point to try to offend non-gays as much as possible.
When Christians protest same sex marriage they are pretty low key. Praying, buying, standing. But the gaysters seem to think that a good argument in their favor is to be vile and offensive.
Does it make any sense to think that by offending people one will draw a person to one's position? This is the thinking of an adolescent.
But, when one thinks of it, the gay world, especially the male gay world, is really made up of a bunch of eternal adolescents with hairless chests and boy haircuts. And the women gays have followed the example of their male friends. The days of the spinster school teachers or librarians living together quietly are long gone. Now every damn Sodomite has to be loud, proud and offensive. And they wonder why normal people think that they are freaks.
Here are a couple of things showing the tolerance of the inverts:
The Pope is a Pig
Homeless Man Hassled For Reading the Bible
Ain't tolerance great?
When Christians protest same sex marriage they are pretty low key. Praying, buying, standing. But the gaysters seem to think that a good argument in their favor is to be vile and offensive.
Does it make any sense to think that by offending people one will draw a person to one's position? This is the thinking of an adolescent.
But, when one thinks of it, the gay world, especially the male gay world, is really made up of a bunch of eternal adolescents with hairless chests and boy haircuts. And the women gays have followed the example of their male friends. The days of the spinster school teachers or librarians living together quietly are long gone. Now every damn Sodomite has to be loud, proud and offensive. And they wonder why normal people think that they are freaks.
Here are a couple of things showing the tolerance of the inverts:
The Pope is a Pig
Homeless Man Hassled For Reading the Bible
Ain't tolerance great?
Sunday, July 29, 2012
A Few Things
Lord Sacks is the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain. He is well thought of, and appears to be a deeper thinker than the average Hollywood/Beverly Hills rabbi that one sees on television whenever the mainstream media wants a "Jewish point of view." Well, here's a speech by Lord Sacks given back in December that deserves attention and thought:
http://www.chiefrabbi.org/2011/12/12/has-europe-lost-its-soul-transcript-of-lecture-delivered-at-the-pontifical-gregorian-university-rome/#.UBSG3c9AZmY
Lady Nib's niece is an American of Iranian/Japanese heritage. Recently she travelled to Iran with her father and returned safely to say that she enjoyed her trip. This may be why:
http://blog.godreports.com/2012/07/islam-is-mocked-on-the-streets-of-irans-capital-and-many-are-turning-to-christ-ex-cia-spy-says/
Meanwhile, things get worse for Christians in Egypt:
http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1221521/
And, hey! How's that assimilation working out in Britain?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180176/Abid-Hussain-Muslim-preacher-tried-strangle-daughter-16-refusing-arranged-marriage-cousin.html
Have a great week.
http://www.chiefrabbi.org/2011/12/12/has-europe-lost-its-soul-transcript-of-lecture-delivered-at-the-pontifical-gregorian-university-rome/#.UBSG3c9AZmY
Lady Nib's niece is an American of Iranian/Japanese heritage. Recently she travelled to Iran with her father and returned safely to say that she enjoyed her trip. This may be why:
http://blog.godreports.com/2012/07/islam-is-mocked-on-the-streets-of-irans-capital-and-many-are-turning-to-christ-ex-cia-spy-says/
Meanwhile, things get worse for Christians in Egypt:
http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1221521/
And, hey! How's that assimilation working out in Britain?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180176/Abid-Hussain-Muslim-preacher-tried-strangle-daughter-16-refusing-arranged-marriage-cousin.html
Have a great week.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Gates of Vienna: “Toto, I Have a Feeling We’re Not in Sweden Anymor...
Gates of Vienna: “Toto, I Have a Feeling We’re Not in Sweden Anymor...: Ingrid Carlqvist was born in Stockholm. After graduating from Gothenburg University (journalism) in 1981, she worked as a reporter for Nord...
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Independence Day
We here that the Manor are not really great fans of Mitt Romney, but we will vote for him this coming November. He has a sense of the greatness, both in the past and for the future, of the United States.
The One, on the other hand, seems to be reading from the Jimmy Carter, Howard Zinn playbook -- The U.S. is a deeply flawed nation that has pretty much screw up everything it has touched and has made it a habit to oppress every other nation or people that it can in order to make a bit of jack. And while saying these things he makes the U.S. a promise breaker by not honoring promises and vows that the nation has made to other nations. Think Poland and Eastern Europe and the promise of a missile shield against the Evil Empire that the O abrogated. When you hear that the Saudis have an atomic missile capability just ask youself why? The reason is that our President has abandoned the American agreement to make sure that the Iranians never develop a nuclear capability. The Saudis are rats of the worst sort, but a promise was made. And has been busted. Never mind that the Arab mind has no idea of keeping any promise it makes. We're supposed to be better than that. The O has made it appear that we aren't.
Here's Romney's 4th of July commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rUcugv926Fo
The One, on the other hand, seems to be reading from the Jimmy Carter, Howard Zinn playbook -- The U.S. is a deeply flawed nation that has pretty much screw up everything it has touched and has made it a habit to oppress every other nation or people that it can in order to make a bit of jack. And while saying these things he makes the U.S. a promise breaker by not honoring promises and vows that the nation has made to other nations. Think Poland and Eastern Europe and the promise of a missile shield against the Evil Empire that the O abrogated. When you hear that the Saudis have an atomic missile capability just ask youself why? The reason is that our President has abandoned the American agreement to make sure that the Iranians never develop a nuclear capability. The Saudis are rats of the worst sort, but a promise was made. And has been busted. Never mind that the Arab mind has no idea of keeping any promise it makes. We're supposed to be better than that. The O has made it appear that we aren't.
Here's Romney's 4th of July commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rUcugv926Fo
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Be Glad You Are Not A Copt
The candidate representing and supported by the Muslim Brotherhood won the election for president of Egypt. In so doing the Egyptians have decided to tie their nation to a corpse. The nation's progress will stop and the nation will begin to rot from contact.
And, perhaps saddest of all, our Coptic Christian brothers and sisters will be treated worse than ever.
Look for the same from Syria.
And, perhaps saddest of all, our Coptic Christian brothers and sisters will be treated worse than ever.
Look for the same from Syria.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Maybe It's Time to Get Back to Us Instead of Them
It is that time of the year when we are subjected to a whole lot of political nonsense. The pols. whatever their stripe, are courting our vote and it reminds one of whores standing on the corner of Century and Aviation wearing short, tight skirts, too small tank tops and fishnet stocking with high heels urging the lonely that they can provide ecstasy while in fact all they can provide is a thirty second giggle and a life-long case of the clap or worse.
Let's face it. Following national politics is almost akin (and perhaps may be even worse) than being addicted to pornography. Pornography promises nothing more than and erestion. Politics promises a wonderful life and national security. Well, guess what? You're more likely to get sexual arousal from pornography than you are to get happiness or security from any government or politician.
So, sense the pols are pretty much useless in establishing your happiness or comfort or well-being, you have to do it yourself.
So look after yourself. Instead of paying attention to a bunch of people who want you to pay them vast amounts of money to rule you, just rule and take care of yourself. And before Obamacare takes effect give the Big O the Big Finger and exercise in a Taoist way:
Tai Chi 24-form - YouTube
Let's face it. Following national politics is almost akin (and perhaps may be even worse) than being addicted to pornography. Pornography promises nothing more than and erestion. Politics promises a wonderful life and national security. Well, guess what? You're more likely to get sexual arousal from pornography than you are to get happiness or security from any government or politician.
So, sense the pols are pretty much useless in establishing your happiness or comfort or well-being, you have to do it yourself.
So look after yourself. Instead of paying attention to a bunch of people who want you to pay them vast amounts of money to rule you, just rule and take care of yourself. And before Obamacare takes effect give the Big O the Big Finger and exercise in a Taoist way:
Tai Chi 24-form - YouTube
Monday, May 28, 2012
Lift It Yourself
The Arab press is now asking why the United States has not intervened into the mess in Syria.
Here's a tip to the Arab press and the Arab street: Don't hold your breath waiting for the U.S. to save the bacon of the Syrian rebels. It's not our fight and there are no winners for us in whoever takes charge of that Godforsaken nation.
Call the UN or NATO or the Arab League. We've shed enough blood for you jerks and have received damn all thanks for our sacrifice.
And, by the way, if you're an Arab or Syrian protesting your government and decide to pull your freight, don't bother trying to come to the US. We don't want you. We don't need your problems.
Here's a tip to the Arab press and the Arab street: Don't hold your breath waiting for the U.S. to save the bacon of the Syrian rebels. It's not our fight and there are no winners for us in whoever takes charge of that Godforsaken nation.
Call the UN or NATO or the Arab League. We've shed enough blood for you jerks and have received damn all thanks for our sacrifice.
And, by the way, if you're an Arab or Syrian protesting your government and decide to pull your freight, don't bother trying to come to the US. We don't want you. We don't need your problems.
How 'Bout That?
A couple of videos by Pat Condell:
Hello Saudi Arabia - YouTube
Can I say this? - YouTube
And then there is this:
France: Muslims stone Christians in church during Mass - Jihad Watch
Hello Saudi Arabia - YouTube
Can I say this? - YouTube
And then there is this:
France: Muslims stone Christians in church during Mass - Jihad Watch
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Get Ready
The Greeks and Spaniards have been rioting for a while about the inability of their respective governments to meet the promises made by their Socialist governments. The The governments, over the years, have made promises to civil servants that cannot be, in reality met. In fact, the results have been, in fact but not in word, governmental bankruptcy. And since a person who retires at 55 years of age suddenly finds that he or she is not able to spend thirty years in retirement that person is pissed and causes a ruckus.
So far Ireland, Portugal and Italy have pretty much escaped such riots, but that day will come. When one relies on a sand castle for habitation one shouldn't be surprised that the sand castle crumbles away when the tide comes in no matter how pretty the sand castle looked at first.
Now the French have decided that they want to join the Greeks and Spanish in being irresponsible:
http://www.france24.com/en/france/2min/20120506-france-socialist-hollande-wins-presidential-election-sarkozy
And when the election results are analyzed it will be found that M. Holland was put over the top by Islamic immigrants who are in the habit of sucking at the teat of the state. Those are the same people who burn cars every night in Paris.
So when it comes to the point, and it will be soon, that Frenchmen and Islamic Immigrants are marching in the streets demanding money that the state cannot offer, the French have no one to blame but themselves. They lost their Northern European values, as have the Swedes and Nords, and have deigned to commit cultural and economic suicide. While Holland was elected by the Islamic immigrants, the liberal French are to blame. Their "caring" has killed them.
So far Ireland, Portugal and Italy have pretty much escaped such riots, but that day will come. When one relies on a sand castle for habitation one shouldn't be surprised that the sand castle crumbles away when the tide comes in no matter how pretty the sand castle looked at first.
Now the French have decided that they want to join the Greeks and Spanish in being irresponsible:
http://www.france24.com/en/france/2min/20120506-france-socialist-hollande-wins-presidential-election-sarkozy
And when the election results are analyzed it will be found that M. Holland was put over the top by Islamic immigrants who are in the habit of sucking at the teat of the state. Those are the same people who burn cars every night in Paris.
So when it comes to the point, and it will be soon, that Frenchmen and Islamic Immigrants are marching in the streets demanding money that the state cannot offer, the French have no one to blame but themselves. They lost their Northern European values, as have the Swedes and Nords, and have deigned to commit cultural and economic suicide. While Holland was elected by the Islamic immigrants, the liberal French are to blame. Their "caring" has killed them.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Be it known that this writer was never a math wizard. He made the mistake during his schooling years of concentrating on English and literature instead of math or physics. And once he got into the machine shop he discovered that various forms of math were more useful for making a bit of the long green than parsing sentences or explicating A Farewell to Arms.
During the days of your faithful correspondent's apprenticeship the slide rule was the main instrument for the calculation of multiplication, division and percentage. It was quick and accurate. Then the electronic calculator came to for and that all passed and the result was that more time was spent punching digits into a Hewlett-Packard than was spent sliding a K&E or or Pickett. And it finally descended to the point where the mechanics and machinist would use an electronic calculator instead of doing the calculations on paper.
It was then that this writer knew that the end of the world was coming. In less than ten years an instrument that had sent man to the moon was replaced by an instrument that results in more than ten years to build and fly a fighter jet.
Here are a couple of appreciations of the slide rule:
Joe Moran's blog: Slide rules rule OK
Why a slide rule is better than a computer
During the days of your faithful correspondent's apprenticeship the slide rule was the main instrument for the calculation of multiplication, division and percentage. It was quick and accurate. Then the electronic calculator came to for and that all passed and the result was that more time was spent punching digits into a Hewlett-Packard than was spent sliding a K&E or or Pickett. And it finally descended to the point where the mechanics and machinist would use an electronic calculator instead of doing the calculations on paper.
It was then that this writer knew that the end of the world was coming. In less than ten years an instrument that had sent man to the moon was replaced by an instrument that results in more than ten years to build and fly a fighter jet.
Here are a couple of appreciations of the slide rule:
Joe Moran's blog: Slide rules rule OK
Why a slide rule is better than a computer
Sunday, April 22, 2012
A Thought (Gasp!) and Entertainment
Some members of the Secret Service of the United States recently got caught up in a scandal involving an escapade with prostitutes in Columbia while acting as scouts for a visit by The One to that nation. The woman who dropped the dime on these idiots claims that she is not a "prostitute". She claims to be an "escort" because she charges about $800 per night instead of $100. Either way, she's a whore. But one cannot blame her for that. One does what one has to do to get by.
The problem is with the members of the Secret Service and, on a larger scale, the problem with much of law enforcement that is under the impression that the members of various law enforcement organizations do not have to follow the rules that the American populace is expected to follow, whether those laws be state mandated laws or moral laws. This trend, which has been prevalent for some thirty years in the Los Angeles area, is troubling. There is a certain segment of law enforcement that seems to feel that since they are the Blue Centurions they are allowed bad behaviour that they or the state or the polis would not suffer gladly. In effect it's like an extension of the old high school clique bit. Cops are the jocks and the rest of us are the losers living under the sufferance of the jocks. By law the populace is really allowed to enforce the law. We are required to call a "disinterested" man or woman in blue or green or khaki. And thus we have come to rely on said men or women to do the things that in the past the citizen was expected to do. In old England there were no police. The citizen was expected to enforce the law by "hue and cry." Those days are long gone. We have, as a society, handed our responsibility over to professionals who are really nothing more than state approved security guards who assume privileges that are denied the citizen. Or to put it another way, we have, through our tax money, hired a gang that acts in our interest against gangs of an unlawful interest.
Is it any surprise when law enforcement officers, whether local or federal, behave like gangsters? They give lip service to law and morality, but they are not slow in behaving like gangsters when it is to their benefit.
So when a cop acts like a thug or a man of low morals, don't be surprised. Most cops are decent people, but they are not saints in blue. They are as bad as you and me.
On a lighter note, how about a little shamisen?
DEATH BY SHAMISEN - YouTube
The problem is with the members of the Secret Service and, on a larger scale, the problem with much of law enforcement that is under the impression that the members of various law enforcement organizations do not have to follow the rules that the American populace is expected to follow, whether those laws be state mandated laws or moral laws. This trend, which has been prevalent for some thirty years in the Los Angeles area, is troubling. There is a certain segment of law enforcement that seems to feel that since they are the Blue Centurions they are allowed bad behaviour that they or the state or the polis would not suffer gladly. In effect it's like an extension of the old high school clique bit. Cops are the jocks and the rest of us are the losers living under the sufferance of the jocks. By law the populace is really allowed to enforce the law. We are required to call a "disinterested" man or woman in blue or green or khaki. And thus we have come to rely on said men or women to do the things that in the past the citizen was expected to do. In old England there were no police. The citizen was expected to enforce the law by "hue and cry." Those days are long gone. We have, as a society, handed our responsibility over to professionals who are really nothing more than state approved security guards who assume privileges that are denied the citizen. Or to put it another way, we have, through our tax money, hired a gang that acts in our interest against gangs of an unlawful interest.
Is it any surprise when law enforcement officers, whether local or federal, behave like gangsters? They give lip service to law and morality, but they are not slow in behaving like gangsters when it is to their benefit.
So when a cop acts like a thug or a man of low morals, don't be surprised. Most cops are decent people, but they are not saints in blue. They are as bad as you and me.
On a lighter note, how about a little shamisen?
DEATH BY SHAMISEN - YouTube
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Movies Are Just Movies. They Aren't Real.
This week has been a case of Titanic-mania in the media because the 100th anniversary of the disaster was on the 14th. And, as usual, the Hollywood movie industry decided to make a bit of coin by retailing a disaster as a form of entertainment. In this case it, was a release of James Cameron's Titanic in 3-D some odd teen years after it was originally released.
There are two troubling things with the motion picture. The first is that many young people are so unschooled in history that they think that the whole Titanic story is a fiction created by Cameron. That, if nothing else, is a slam at the educational system in the United States and at the media in general. The second is that Cameron demonizes people ion the film who were not evil or bad willed. In particular, he makes a ship's officer a selfish and self-preserving lout when, in fact, the man went down with the ship. But, of course, in Hollywood the only good officer is the maverick officer while those who do their duty are either dupes or tools:
Remembering James Cameron's Titanic Inaccuracy
During the 1990s Whit Stillman made a trilogy of movies that we here at the Bloody Nib Mano enjoyed. All the films were based on the lives of the East Coast bourgeoisie, people with whom neither the lovely Lady Nib nor this writer have had anything to do with. But we have been able to appreciate a certain universality of the stories he told. In particular, Metropolitan, which is a retelling of Mansfield Park. We here at the Manor are of the working middle class and the world of debutante balls is very foreign to us. But Stillman tells universal stories with a Yuppie gloss. And he likes his Yuppies. Hollywoood doesn't. Stillman has a new movie that has been recently released called Damsels in Distress which we hope to see soon. And because of the movie the popular press has taken an interest in him and finds him odd:
Whit Stillman breaks Hollywood taboo, says he was 'blacklisted' from directing TV - Washington Times
There are two troubling things with the motion picture. The first is that many young people are so unschooled in history that they think that the whole Titanic story is a fiction created by Cameron. That, if nothing else, is a slam at the educational system in the United States and at the media in general. The second is that Cameron demonizes people ion the film who were not evil or bad willed. In particular, he makes a ship's officer a selfish and self-preserving lout when, in fact, the man went down with the ship. But, of course, in Hollywood the only good officer is the maverick officer while those who do their duty are either dupes or tools:
Remembering James Cameron's Titanic Inaccuracy
During the 1990s Whit Stillman made a trilogy of movies that we here at the Bloody Nib Mano enjoyed. All the films were based on the lives of the East Coast bourgeoisie, people with whom neither the lovely Lady Nib nor this writer have had anything to do with. But we have been able to appreciate a certain universality of the stories he told. In particular, Metropolitan, which is a retelling of Mansfield Park. We here at the Manor are of the working middle class and the world of debutante balls is very foreign to us. But Stillman tells universal stories with a Yuppie gloss. And he likes his Yuppies. Hollywoood doesn't. Stillman has a new movie that has been recently released called Damsels in Distress which we hope to see soon. And because of the movie the popular press has taken an interest in him and finds him odd:
Whit Stillman breaks Hollywood taboo, says he was 'blacklisted' from directing TV - Washington Times
Sunday, April 01, 2012
The Religion of Peace
Those who have memories longer than those of a flea will remember when the people, or at least rebels, who desired liberation from the North African version of Michael Jackson, Mohmmar Quadaffi, will recall that during the strife the rebels begged NATO and the Western nations to help them overthrow the dictator so that they could enjoy freedom and democracy. The result has been an infestation of the Libyan leadership by Islamists and Al-Quada freaks. In other, instead of Libya becoming a Western style democratic nation it has deigned to make a move towards Ottoman style Islamic idiocy. And the people have taken the aid of the Western nations, especially Great Britain and have shoved it back into the West's face:
Benghazi: Shocking video of Churchill's Desert Rats' graves being smashed to rubble by Libyan rebels | Mail Online
Canada is finally waking up to the threat from Islamists. Or at least one news organ has done so. Meanwhile, the mainstream news media in the U.S. is bound and determined to embrace the very thing that will kill it:
Gates of Vienna: More on the Toronto Jihad Bookstore
President Sarkozy seems to have had enough of militant Islam after the French/Algerian nutcase decided to shoot up innocent Jews and French paratroopers. Note that the news man attributes part of Sarkozy's decision to the upcoming election instead of a concern for the safety of France and French culture:
France bars Muslim clerics from entering France - Yahoo! News
Benghazi: Shocking video of Churchill's Desert Rats' graves being smashed to rubble by Libyan rebels | Mail Online
Canada is finally waking up to the threat from Islamists. Or at least one news organ has done so. Meanwhile, the mainstream news media in the U.S. is bound and determined to embrace the very thing that will kill it:
Gates of Vienna: More on the Toronto Jihad Bookstore
President Sarkozy seems to have had enough of militant Islam after the French/Algerian nutcase decided to shoot up innocent Jews and French paratroopers. Note that the news man attributes part of Sarkozy's decision to the upcoming election instead of a concern for the safety of France and French culture:
France bars Muslim clerics from entering France - Yahoo! News
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Termites Burrow
Termites burrow and standards fall:
`Stoning will happen in UK too if sharia allowed`
False religions rise:
Greg Smith on Goldman Sachs: How the 'Vampire Squid' sucked the world dry | Mail Online
And some people are not afraid to state that popular music has gone to Hell:
Confusion won’t be Greg Lake's epitaph
`Stoning will happen in UK too if sharia allowed`
False religions rise:
Greg Smith on Goldman Sachs: How the 'Vampire Squid' sucked the world dry | Mail Online
And some people are not afraid to state that popular music has gone to Hell:
Confusion won’t be Greg Lake's epitaph
Sunday, March 18, 2012
It's All Falling Apart Here And There
We all know that the Saudis are a nation of bastards, but we sometimes have to be reminded:
SAUDI ARABIA - PHILIPPINES Saudi Arabia, 70% of Filipino domestic workers suffer physical and psychological violence - Asia News
And if you think you local stockbroker is a nice guy, just remember that he's out for himself and his firm:
Greg Smith on Goldman Sachs: How the 'Vampire Squid' sucked the world dry | Mail Online
The Arabs are not your friends. The Wealthy are not your friends. Your friends are your family, friends and fellow church members.
SAUDI ARABIA - PHILIPPINES Saudi Arabia, 70% of Filipino domestic workers suffer physical and psychological violence - Asia News
And if you think you local stockbroker is a nice guy, just remember that he's out for himself and his firm:
Greg Smith on Goldman Sachs: How the 'Vampire Squid' sucked the world dry | Mail Online
The Arabs are not your friends. The Wealthy are not your friends. Your friends are your family, friends and fellow church members.
At the End of His Rope
In the wake of the killing of 16 Afghans by an American soldier Hamid Karzhai has demanded a full investigation of the incident and claims that he is at the end of his rope in his dealings with the US.
We here at the Manor are of the opinion that Mr. Karzhai is talking for the international audience and is not speaking for the Afghan people.
This is evinced by the fact that about a month ago, when the soldiers in Afghanistan burned a pile of Korans the result was Afghans jumping up and down in front of every Western aimed camera they could find and burning effigies of The One in protest, but there have been no such expressions of outrage by the Afghanis over the deaths of 16 of their countrymen by an evil man. The Afghan population just doesn't care. The Taliban does the same thing. It's like the old stereotype about the Chinese: life is cheap. But to burn a book written by an illiterate merchant who misunderstood Christianity and Judaism is unacceptable.
We, in the US, the UK and NATO, are dealing with savages in Afghanistan. They are people. like the Pakistanis, the Iranians and the greater Arab world, better left alone and isolated until they throw a punch at us or our allies. They have nothing but oil to sell us. They have no culture, no inventions, no education and no religion that is worth a drop of our blood.
And despite our blood and toil to put Mr. Karzhai in power he has, because of the evil work of one man in the taking of the lives of those who his own countrymen consider worth less than a Koran, said that he is at the end of his rope in dealing with the US.
Let us hope that when the US leaves that benighted country that it is understood to Mr. Karzhai that he will be reaping the product of his sowing and that he will not be allowed back into the US to run a gas station or sweep out a machine shop. Then he will find that he will be at the end of a literal rope strung up for him by his countrymen. And we won't shed a tear.
We here at the Manor are of the opinion that Mr. Karzhai is talking for the international audience and is not speaking for the Afghan people.
This is evinced by the fact that about a month ago, when the soldiers in Afghanistan burned a pile of Korans the result was Afghans jumping up and down in front of every Western aimed camera they could find and burning effigies of The One in protest, but there have been no such expressions of outrage by the Afghanis over the deaths of 16 of their countrymen by an evil man. The Afghan population just doesn't care. The Taliban does the same thing. It's like the old stereotype about the Chinese: life is cheap. But to burn a book written by an illiterate merchant who misunderstood Christianity and Judaism is unacceptable.
We, in the US, the UK and NATO, are dealing with savages in Afghanistan. They are people. like the Pakistanis, the Iranians and the greater Arab world, better left alone and isolated until they throw a punch at us or our allies. They have nothing but oil to sell us. They have no culture, no inventions, no education and no religion that is worth a drop of our blood.
And despite our blood and toil to put Mr. Karzhai in power he has, because of the evil work of one man in the taking of the lives of those who his own countrymen consider worth less than a Koran, said that he is at the end of his rope in dealing with the US.
Let us hope that when the US leaves that benighted country that it is understood to Mr. Karzhai that he will be reaping the product of his sowing and that he will not be allowed back into the US to run a gas station or sweep out a machine shop. Then he will find that he will be at the end of a literal rope strung up for him by his countrymen. And we won't shed a tear.
Journalism and Actors and Lies
Recently National Public Radio did a piece about the working conditions at the factories in China that make components and assemble iPhones, iPads and iPods. The original piece was based on a monologist named Mike Daisey who claimed that he had gone to China, masqueraded as a businessman and gained access to several of the factories (he first claimed he went to ten factories and later said that he'd visited five his translator says that he visited three). In his monologue (which is the lazy man's Chautauqua talk -- all opinion of feelings dressed up as "facts"), Mr. Daisey made claims about the treatment of the workers that made it appear that some Apple products were the result of slave and child labor under the same working conditions as prevailed at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory before the fire. In other words, places that one wouldn't want one's worst enemy to work.
The result of Mr. Daisey's appearance on the original NPR program is that a hue and cry went out among the liberal and conservative users of said Apple products and a giant guilt trip among those who punch their e-mails while standing at the line at the local Whole Foods.
But then, someone tipped NPR off that Mr. Daisey's claims were not quite as truthful as originally portrayed. They did some investigation and found that there were many discrepancies between what Mr. Daisey claimed and what the translator and other investigators claimed. NPR confronted Mr. Daisey this past Saturday and he admitted that he had:
1.) Lied for the greater good.
2.) That he is not a journalist. He is an actor. Thus, he is not a liar. He is a dramatist.
Needless to say, NPR felt burned because it had been made suckers NPR admitted that it had not checked Mr. Daisey's claims as it should have. But it did not point out that one of the reasons that NPR did not fact-check as it should was because the network thought it had such a good story to slam Apple. NPR is, in its own way, as guilty as Mr. Daisey in spreading lies. But once a lie has been let loose it's hard to get back under control. It's like trying to pick up mercury with a pair of tweezers. Mr. Daisey spilled the bottle of mercury, NPR spread it around. Now NPR is running around with a pair of tweezers. Good luck. But the story has gone around the world several times.
Here's the NPR story on the retraction of the original story:
Retraction | This American Life
In somewhat the same vein, those in the entertainment culture like to claim that they are all about entertainment and have no influence on the greater culture. Other times it claims just the opposite. One the one hand movies, television and popular music, in their glorification of various forms of violence, cheap sex and drug use, are just entertainment. On the other hand the same media claim to use their influence to make people aware of bullying, breast cancer, apartheid and racism, and attempt to end those things.
Well, which is it? The entertainment media either have or do not have an influence on the cultural and the shifting of cultural norms. The answer is, both. Those who are unthinking sheep allow the media to define their behaviour. The thinking and grounded look beyond the nonsense of television and movies for their culture and look to the great thinkers of ages past for those verities that lead to the life well-lived.
But let us face the fact that most people are sheep who do not look to the Good Shepherd but instead look to the wolf in wool. And the results, since standards have fallen to those of Imperial Rome, have not been heartening. Storytelling has fallen to nagging and propaganda that is not for the good of the polis but for the acceptance and promotion of deviant behaviour and thought. Bill Sykes was not a bad man. He was an oppressed plebe who could not help but kill Nancy. Satan is just misunderstood. That type of nonsense.
A British writer has taken it upon himself to state the obvious and he hasn't gotten any joy for taking a stand:
Hollywood's cultural revolution is making gay marriage inevitable – Telegraph Blogs
When this writer was a young man back in the '70s there was a short-lived period when being homosexual was the thing to be. Most people do not remember it. A high school in Los Angeles was pretty much set aside for those student, male and female, who self-identified themselves as homosexual. Your faithful correspondent knew several young women who claimed that they were lesbians and the lovely Lady Nib was hit upon by another young woman with whom she had attended high school. Now, some good years later, almost all of those people are now parents or grandparents and they'd much rather that their former adventures in Sodom be erased from their memories. And, despite the fact that the fashion industry promotes a homophile image in its advertisements for clothing and scents, in a few years those who bought the lie will be denying that they were, for a period, homosexual. The boys will finally grow into men and the girls will grow into women. And it will happen when they hit forty years old and ask themselves, "What in the Hell have I done with my life besides shave my chest or let the hair on my legs grow out to a pelt?"
The result of Mr. Daisey's appearance on the original NPR program is that a hue and cry went out among the liberal and conservative users of said Apple products and a giant guilt trip among those who punch their e-mails while standing at the line at the local Whole Foods.
But then, someone tipped NPR off that Mr. Daisey's claims were not quite as truthful as originally portrayed. They did some investigation and found that there were many discrepancies between what Mr. Daisey claimed and what the translator and other investigators claimed. NPR confronted Mr. Daisey this past Saturday and he admitted that he had:
1.) Lied for the greater good.
2.) That he is not a journalist. He is an actor. Thus, he is not a liar. He is a dramatist.
Needless to say, NPR felt burned because it had been made suckers NPR admitted that it had not checked Mr. Daisey's claims as it should have. But it did not point out that one of the reasons that NPR did not fact-check as it should was because the network thought it had such a good story to slam Apple. NPR is, in its own way, as guilty as Mr. Daisey in spreading lies. But once a lie has been let loose it's hard to get back under control. It's like trying to pick up mercury with a pair of tweezers. Mr. Daisey spilled the bottle of mercury, NPR spread it around. Now NPR is running around with a pair of tweezers. Good luck. But the story has gone around the world several times.
Here's the NPR story on the retraction of the original story:
Retraction | This American Life
In somewhat the same vein, those in the entertainment culture like to claim that they are all about entertainment and have no influence on the greater culture. Other times it claims just the opposite. One the one hand movies, television and popular music, in their glorification of various forms of violence, cheap sex and drug use, are just entertainment. On the other hand the same media claim to use their influence to make people aware of bullying, breast cancer, apartheid and racism, and attempt to end those things.
Well, which is it? The entertainment media either have or do not have an influence on the cultural and the shifting of cultural norms. The answer is, both. Those who are unthinking sheep allow the media to define their behaviour. The thinking and grounded look beyond the nonsense of television and movies for their culture and look to the great thinkers of ages past for those verities that lead to the life well-lived.
But let us face the fact that most people are sheep who do not look to the Good Shepherd but instead look to the wolf in wool. And the results, since standards have fallen to those of Imperial Rome, have not been heartening. Storytelling has fallen to nagging and propaganda that is not for the good of the polis but for the acceptance and promotion of deviant behaviour and thought. Bill Sykes was not a bad man. He was an oppressed plebe who could not help but kill Nancy. Satan is just misunderstood. That type of nonsense.
A British writer has taken it upon himself to state the obvious and he hasn't gotten any joy for taking a stand:
Hollywood's cultural revolution is making gay marriage inevitable – Telegraph Blogs
When this writer was a young man back in the '70s there was a short-lived period when being homosexual was the thing to be. Most people do not remember it. A high school in Los Angeles was pretty much set aside for those student, male and female, who self-identified themselves as homosexual. Your faithful correspondent knew several young women who claimed that they were lesbians and the lovely Lady Nib was hit upon by another young woman with whom she had attended high school. Now, some good years later, almost all of those people are now parents or grandparents and they'd much rather that their former adventures in Sodom be erased from their memories. And, despite the fact that the fashion industry promotes a homophile image in its advertisements for clothing and scents, in a few years those who bought the lie will be denying that they were, for a period, homosexual. The boys will finally grow into men and the girls will grow into women. And it will happen when they hit forty years old and ask themselves, "What in the Hell have I done with my life besides shave my chest or let the hair on my legs grow out to a pelt?"
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Fags Are Us
We here at the Manor, and our fore bearers and ancestors at the Manor have long known that there is really something not quite right about actors. Actors pretend to be men they are not. And they really don't have real jobs. Their "job" is to pretend. Kids pretend. Real people are real or just themselves in a way that actors seem unable to be.
Modern movie and television actors do not even have the wherewithal to memorize the shortest of Shakespeare or Jonson plays. They know no poetry. They know no plotting. They just read words, for a maximum of five minutes worth of talk from a page written by another person.
Actors seem to be in a life-long state of childhood, and thus are easily influence by those who mean the culture no good. Novelty seems to be their thing. And a sense of empathy for the "downtrodden" seems to get them going despite the the fact the "downtrodden" are destructive to the society.
Here are a couple of examples of the idiocy and absolute silliness of actors that will result in the downgrading of the populace:
Clooney and Pitt Join Star-studded Gay Play - HispanicBusiness.com
Hollywood's cultural revolution is making gay marriage inevitable – Telegraph Blogs
The society has been taken over by a minority because the society is afraid of hurting the minority's feelings.
We're all fags now.
Modern movie and television actors do not even have the wherewithal to memorize the shortest of Shakespeare or Jonson plays. They know no poetry. They know no plotting. They just read words, for a maximum of five minutes worth of talk from a page written by another person.
Actors seem to be in a life-long state of childhood, and thus are easily influence by those who mean the culture no good. Novelty seems to be their thing. And a sense of empathy for the "downtrodden" seems to get them going despite the the fact the "downtrodden" are destructive to the society.
Here are a couple of examples of the idiocy and absolute silliness of actors that will result in the downgrading of the populace:
Clooney and Pitt Join Star-studded Gay Play - HispanicBusiness.com
Hollywood's cultural revolution is making gay marriage inevitable – Telegraph Blogs
The society has been taken over by a minority because the society is afraid of hurting the minority's feelings.
We're all fags now.
Since When?
There was a time when organizations such as GLAAD and PETA were considered jokes. They were like the dust in the corner of a room.
Now they are considered important organization despite the fact that GLAAD represents a bit more than 1% of the national population and that PETA actually kills about 90% of the animals they take into their shelters. The local pound does better than that.
But a loud voice, to the media, seems to equal importance or verity. It's actually a condemnation of the popular news media more than the silliness of the organizations.
Kirk Cameron, a Christian man in the acting profession, has made a statement on national television that (oh horror of horrors!) that homosexuality is unnatural. And of course, GLAAD has come out with their BB guns and the media has fallen for it.
Here's Cameron's statement. It would be shocking if it wasn't true:
GLAAD slams Kirk Cameron | Inside TV | EW.com
Now they are considered important organization despite the fact that GLAAD represents a bit more than 1% of the national population and that PETA actually kills about 90% of the animals they take into their shelters. The local pound does better than that.
But a loud voice, to the media, seems to equal importance or verity. It's actually a condemnation of the popular news media more than the silliness of the organizations.
Kirk Cameron, a Christian man in the acting profession, has made a statement on national television that (oh horror of horrors!) that homosexuality is unnatural. And of course, GLAAD has come out with their BB guns and the media has fallen for it.
Here's Cameron's statement. It would be shocking if it wasn't true:
GLAAD slams Kirk Cameron | Inside TV | EW.com
An Open Letter to "President" Karzai
Dear President Karzai,
Recently there was an incident that took place in your nation that caused a bit of controversy. Some members of the United States military burned some volumes of the Koran and other Islamic literature that had been used by prisoners to send coded messages to one another. The prisoners marked the literature to indicate passages or letters. From my understanding, the marking of the Koran by a reader is considered a bad thing by orthodox Muslims.
The result of the burning of the literature were a series of riots and the killings of American military personnel by Afghan soldiers. This despite the fact that the Korans had been defaced by Muslims and were, in fact, only, according to your own religious precepts, only good for burning.
And our President apologized for the burning to you and the Afghan people.
Know this. President Obama is a girl. He apologizes to every damn body. Last year he was about to apologize to the Japanese for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki until the Japanese government told him not to. An apology from Mr. Obama is worthless.
And please know this. The American people do not apologize. They just don't care. What they care about is that American soldiers have been killed by soldiers serving your government. They care that we have wasted blood and money on you country.
You are in power because of the US. You should be apologizing to us for the bad behaviour of your countrymen. If it were not for the US you would be running a liquor store in Oakland. You owe us. We don't owe you.
One day the US will leave your nation and we hope that you will stay there once the Taliban takes over. We don't want you running under our skirts like a frightened kitten. We don't want you. We don't want your countrymen. We want you to play the man. But you won't because you're a rounder, a crook and a lick-spittle of the worst sort.
Ask yourself this question: Why was Kabul more modern in the 1960s than it is now? It wasn't our fault/ It wasn't the Russians fault. It was your fault. Why should we help you against your will? You're savages by nature.
Yours,
The Bloody Nib
Recently there was an incident that took place in your nation that caused a bit of controversy. Some members of the United States military burned some volumes of the Koran and other Islamic literature that had been used by prisoners to send coded messages to one another. The prisoners marked the literature to indicate passages or letters. From my understanding, the marking of the Koran by a reader is considered a bad thing by orthodox Muslims.
The result of the burning of the literature were a series of riots and the killings of American military personnel by Afghan soldiers. This despite the fact that the Korans had been defaced by Muslims and were, in fact, only, according to your own religious precepts, only good for burning.
And our President apologized for the burning to you and the Afghan people.
Know this. President Obama is a girl. He apologizes to every damn body. Last year he was about to apologize to the Japanese for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki until the Japanese government told him not to. An apology from Mr. Obama is worthless.
And please know this. The American people do not apologize. They just don't care. What they care about is that American soldiers have been killed by soldiers serving your government. They care that we have wasted blood and money on you country.
You are in power because of the US. You should be apologizing to us for the bad behaviour of your countrymen. If it were not for the US you would be running a liquor store in Oakland. You owe us. We don't owe you.
One day the US will leave your nation and we hope that you will stay there once the Taliban takes over. We don't want you running under our skirts like a frightened kitten. We don't want you. We don't want your countrymen. We want you to play the man. But you won't because you're a rounder, a crook and a lick-spittle of the worst sort.
Ask yourself this question: Why was Kabul more modern in the 1960s than it is now? It wasn't our fault/ It wasn't the Russians fault. It was your fault. Why should we help you against your will? You're savages by nature.
Yours,
The Bloody Nib
An Open Letter to the Syrian Rebels
Dear Syrian Rebels,
For some months you have been waging an armed rebellion against the Syrian government and you have not having very good success at overthrowing the Great Opthamologist. Your attempt to participate in the Arab Spring seems to have come a bit of a cropper.
Now, let it be known that most of us in the United States think that Mr. Assad is a man of bad character, a totalitarian and general creep of the Arab sort, and we really can't blame you for wanting to send him to Hell, or at least a sumptuous retirement on the Costa del Sol in Spain.
But your rebel army seems to be a rag tag construction despite the fact that some Syrian Army soldiers have joined your ranks. You do not seem to have the leadership nor competence to overthrow a ruthless regime.
Let it be known that we in the U.S. Wish you a bit of luck. We tend to root for the under-dog.
Several times on the radio and on television we here at the Manor have heard those among your ranks cry out, "Where is America? We need America's help to find freedom!"
Well, guess what, dudes. If you're waiting for the U.S. to help you out you're going to be waiting for a long time. A very long time. And the reason is not because we don't care about the freedom of our Arab/Muslim co-humans. The reason is simply because you stand for something that is other than freedom as we in the West know it.
On September 11, 2001 there was film of you all jumping up and down on the streets celebrating the deaths of over 3,000 Americans caused by your Muslims. You celebrated the deaths of Americans and you expect us to feel pity for you? Americans are suckers for a sad story, but we hope that we aren't that big of suckers.
Also, Egypt has shown us that once the strongman is out of power the Muslim Brotherhood moves in. Why should the United States help the Muslim Brotherhood get into power? The result of Muslim Brotherhood government is a worse persecution of Christians than under the strongman. The U.S. is an overwhelmingly Christian nation. Why should we participate in the oppression of our Christian brothers?
If you want help look to the Arab League. Look to your own. Don't look to us or Europe.
The American Civil War was waged without foreign assistance. The French revolution was accomplished without foreign assistance. Do it your own damn selves! American blood is not worth your Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship.
Yours,
The Bloody Nib
For some months you have been waging an armed rebellion against the Syrian government and you have not having very good success at overthrowing the Great Opthamologist. Your attempt to participate in the Arab Spring seems to have come a bit of a cropper.
Now, let it be known that most of us in the United States think that Mr. Assad is a man of bad character, a totalitarian and general creep of the Arab sort, and we really can't blame you for wanting to send him to Hell, or at least a sumptuous retirement on the Costa del Sol in Spain.
But your rebel army seems to be a rag tag construction despite the fact that some Syrian Army soldiers have joined your ranks. You do not seem to have the leadership nor competence to overthrow a ruthless regime.
Let it be known that we in the U.S. Wish you a bit of luck. We tend to root for the under-dog.
Several times on the radio and on television we here at the Manor have heard those among your ranks cry out, "Where is America? We need America's help to find freedom!"
Well, guess what, dudes. If you're waiting for the U.S. to help you out you're going to be waiting for a long time. A very long time. And the reason is not because we don't care about the freedom of our Arab/Muslim co-humans. The reason is simply because you stand for something that is other than freedom as we in the West know it.
On September 11, 2001 there was film of you all jumping up and down on the streets celebrating the deaths of over 3,000 Americans caused by your Muslims. You celebrated the deaths of Americans and you expect us to feel pity for you? Americans are suckers for a sad story, but we hope that we aren't that big of suckers.
Also, Egypt has shown us that once the strongman is out of power the Muslim Brotherhood moves in. Why should the United States help the Muslim Brotherhood get into power? The result of Muslim Brotherhood government is a worse persecution of Christians than under the strongman. The U.S. is an overwhelmingly Christian nation. Why should we participate in the oppression of our Christian brothers?
If you want help look to the Arab League. Look to your own. Don't look to us or Europe.
The American Civil War was waged without foreign assistance. The French revolution was accomplished without foreign assistance. Do it your own damn selves! American blood is not worth your Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship.
Yours,
The Bloody Nib
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The Oscar!
Today is the Academy Awards Show celebrating the best of the motion picture industry. The word "best" in the previous sentence is, of course, subjective
But whether or not the moving pictures and actresses and actors who are awarded the little golden idols are the best in their respective fields is, in the long run, meaningless.
The Oscar ceremony is really nothing more than a back-slapping festival put on by a group of rather emotionally needy and superficial people who are really not all that sure if their trade is of any real worth to the greater society. They, like professional athletes, are paid a lot of money and adulation that children do for free, or even have to pay to do.
Ask yourself this question: Is there an awards ceremony for the best in my trade or profession? A company my have an employee of the month, or even of the year, but that Starbuck's barista is not competing with other store's, or even those in the over-priced coffee world to receive that award. Who would be truck driver of the year? Or the engineer? Or the doctor?
We, outside of the motion picture industry, slog through 50 weeks a year (allowing for a two week vacation) expecting nothing more than a paycheck and perhaps a bonus of some sort. But in the entertainment industry there are awards given every time one turns around.
A violinist studies at Julliard for four years, at least, hoping to get a paying chair at any orchestra or symphony and working up o the first chair, receives not much more than a paycheck despite the fact that he has probably spent his life since the age of seven playing the fiddle. There's no chance nor expectation of walking down the red carpet in a trick tux accompanied by a quarter dressed babe. But an actor with good cheekbones and an ability to read, in a convincing way, the words written by another person, and who has probably not studied acting in the classical manner, is adulated and fawned over for pretending to be something that he is not.
John Donne, the English poet of the 17th century, despite his misspent and rascal early life, called actors "idiot actors." And Donne knew of what he spoke. He knew personally Ben Jonson and perhaps Shakespere. His son-in-law was a famous actor at the time. And he was right. Few actors are as smart as the people they portray and even fewer are as wise.
But they are eye-candy and that's what the populace seems to want. And that's rather sad.
But whether or not the moving pictures and actresses and actors who are awarded the little golden idols are the best in their respective fields is, in the long run, meaningless.
The Oscar ceremony is really nothing more than a back-slapping festival put on by a group of rather emotionally needy and superficial people who are really not all that sure if their trade is of any real worth to the greater society. They, like professional athletes, are paid a lot of money and adulation that children do for free, or even have to pay to do.
Ask yourself this question: Is there an awards ceremony for the best in my trade or profession? A company my have an employee of the month, or even of the year, but that Starbuck's barista is not competing with other store's, or even those in the over-priced coffee world to receive that award. Who would be truck driver of the year? Or the engineer? Or the doctor?
We, outside of the motion picture industry, slog through 50 weeks a year (allowing for a two week vacation) expecting nothing more than a paycheck and perhaps a bonus of some sort. But in the entertainment industry there are awards given every time one turns around.
A violinist studies at Julliard for four years, at least, hoping to get a paying chair at any orchestra or symphony and working up o the first chair, receives not much more than a paycheck despite the fact that he has probably spent his life since the age of seven playing the fiddle. There's no chance nor expectation of walking down the red carpet in a trick tux accompanied by a quarter dressed babe. But an actor with good cheekbones and an ability to read, in a convincing way, the words written by another person, and who has probably not studied acting in the classical manner, is adulated and fawned over for pretending to be something that he is not.
John Donne, the English poet of the 17th century, despite his misspent and rascal early life, called actors "idiot actors." And Donne knew of what he spoke. He knew personally Ben Jonson and perhaps Shakespere. His son-in-law was a famous actor at the time. And he was right. Few actors are as smart as the people they portray and even fewer are as wise.
But they are eye-candy and that's what the populace seems to want. And that's rather sad.
A Stolen Thought
What was once thought sinful or immoral eventually becomes accepted, and perhaps even mandatory.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Huh?
Back when this writer was a young apprentice the shop in which he worked held a drive for the United Way. An hour during a particular work day was set aside for the employees were given the opportunity to listen to a presentation by a flack from the United Way attempting to separate them from their hard earned long green for various "charities."
The result of the drive was that during the set aside hour the only people in the room where the presentation was given were the United Way flack and the personnel manager.
Needless to say, the personnel manager was embarrassed and asked why nobody showed up for the presentation. The reply given was usually something along the lines of, "The United Way supports organizations I don't like." The PM said, "But you can direct your contribution to a particular organization." And the machinist would answer, "That means that I gave to the organization I don't like because the money will be shifted from the undesignated money. In one way or another I'm giving to such and such charity that I don't like. I'll just give my money directly to my favorite charity and make sure that it gets to where I want it to go."
Have said this, here's this:
Huh? - hitz53's Space
The result of the drive was that during the set aside hour the only people in the room where the presentation was given were the United Way flack and the personnel manager.
Needless to say, the personnel manager was embarrassed and asked why nobody showed up for the presentation. The reply given was usually something along the lines of, "The United Way supports organizations I don't like." The PM said, "But you can direct your contribution to a particular organization." And the machinist would answer, "That means that I gave to the organization I don't like because the money will be shifted from the undesignated money. In one way or another I'm giving to such and such charity that I don't like. I'll just give my money directly to my favorite charity and make sure that it gets to where I want it to go."
Have said this, here's this:
Huh? - hitz53's Space
Saturday, February 18, 2012
On Letter Writing and the USPS
For some years the United States Postal Service has been the whipping boy of conservative and libertarian politicians and commentators because the Postal Service, does not only not make money through its postal fees, but because it loses money. Said Solons suggest that the USPS be either disestablished and the delivery of First Class mail be taken over by private firms along the lines of UPS or Federal Express, or that private companies be allowed to compete with the Postal Service. They will even go so far as to say that First Class Mail is outdated and has been replaced by e-mail and on line payment of bills.
Unfortunately, the check of the mail box for many of us results in junk mail, bills and magazines. Perhaps we may receive a card or two at Christmas, on our birthday or Valentine's Day. Very rarely do we receive a letter from a friend, a postcard from a relative vacationing in the Bahamas or a tome from one's grade school teacher expressing what a pleasure it was to teach one despite the fact that one remembers one's self as being an awful brat.
Instead we punch on the computer and check our e-mails for personal messages and then delete them after a while.
All these things are all rather sad. It's sad that the USPS has become a joke for unimaginative comedians and cheap shot pols when one remembers that the United States Post Office was set up by Benjamin Franklin and was for many years a department of the government. The Post Office was considered so important and the mail so sacrosanct that to interfere with the delivery of the mail was a Federal crime. The delivery of the mail was a service that was expected by the citizen to be performed by a federal agency. Now there are voices calling for the delivery of the mail to be performed by private firms with no guarantee that said mail will be delivered or tracked. And as far as cost and convenience is concerned, this writer has sent packages via both the Postal Service and United Parcel Service and he has found the USPS much easier to deal with, and cheaper, than UPS.
And one wonders, if there were competition for the USPS one's mail would be delivered to one's house into one's mailbox. Not to mention the matter of stamps or where to post letters. From how many companies would one have to buy stamps and where would one post them?
All of the above is written with the understanding that the writer is not an employee of the United States Postal Service. But he posits that the main reason that the Postal Service has declined is because of us and we are all worse off for it.
Those who have read novels written in the late 18th century, the 19th century and up to the mid 20th century are aware of how important that proper letter writing once was, and who were alive and reasoning in the 1980s remember receiving letters and post cards from friends and relatives. To receive a proper letter from a friend, whether handwritten or typed, was usually a joy that went beyond the receipt of an e-mail. And to tell the truth, it probably still does.
Think of the times back in Regency England when people used to cross write (writing the length of the page and then turning the page ninety degrees and writing over the previous writing) their letters to save money on postage, the letters sent by Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barret Browning, the shoe boxes of letters sent by one's father's or grandfathers squatting in foxholes or trenches in World War One, World War Two, Korea or Vietnam that have been saved and cherished. Can one really cherish an e-mail printed out on a printer? A proper letter, written by hand or a typewriter, placed in an envelope and sent with a stamp on the envelope is to give the recipient a part of one's self. There is, on the paper, the handwriting, even if it's only a signature, part of one's self. One offers one's bad handwriting or bad typing (or good handwriting or good typing) to the recipient in a way that e-mail cannot. E-mail, for personal correspondence, is a fake. It is electrons. It is, no matter how heartfelt, the real deal. It does not have the DNA or a real person.
One wonders if in twenty years there will be books published containing the e-mails that are made up of e-mails from American soldiers in Iraq to their sweethearts.
Writing proper letters on paper with a pen, pencil or typewriter is hard work. It makes the writer slow down and think in a way that e-mail does not. In proper letter writing one doesn't use emoticons, memes or any of most popular e-mail abbreviations like LOL or ROTFL.
E-mails are quick for quick notes to friends, but do they really replace a letter? Imagine receiving an e-mail from a friend vacationing in Japan such as "Am in Japan. Having a great time" instead of a postcard of the NHK Tower saying the same thing. Which would you rather receive?
Unfortunately, the check of the mail box for many of us results in junk mail, bills and magazines. Perhaps we may receive a card or two at Christmas, on our birthday or Valentine's Day. Very rarely do we receive a letter from a friend, a postcard from a relative vacationing in the Bahamas or a tome from one's grade school teacher expressing what a pleasure it was to teach one despite the fact that one remembers one's self as being an awful brat.
Instead we punch on the computer and check our e-mails for personal messages and then delete them after a while.
All these things are all rather sad. It's sad that the USPS has become a joke for unimaginative comedians and cheap shot pols when one remembers that the United States Post Office was set up by Benjamin Franklin and was for many years a department of the government. The Post Office was considered so important and the mail so sacrosanct that to interfere with the delivery of the mail was a Federal crime. The delivery of the mail was a service that was expected by the citizen to be performed by a federal agency. Now there are voices calling for the delivery of the mail to be performed by private firms with no guarantee that said mail will be delivered or tracked. And as far as cost and convenience is concerned, this writer has sent packages via both the Postal Service and United Parcel Service and he has found the USPS much easier to deal with, and cheaper, than UPS.
And one wonders, if there were competition for the USPS one's mail would be delivered to one's house into one's mailbox. Not to mention the matter of stamps or where to post letters. From how many companies would one have to buy stamps and where would one post them?
All of the above is written with the understanding that the writer is not an employee of the United States Postal Service. But he posits that the main reason that the Postal Service has declined is because of us and we are all worse off for it.
Those who have read novels written in the late 18th century, the 19th century and up to the mid 20th century are aware of how important that proper letter writing once was, and who were alive and reasoning in the 1980s remember receiving letters and post cards from friends and relatives. To receive a proper letter from a friend, whether handwritten or typed, was usually a joy that went beyond the receipt of an e-mail. And to tell the truth, it probably still does.
Think of the times back in Regency England when people used to cross write (writing the length of the page and then turning the page ninety degrees and writing over the previous writing) their letters to save money on postage, the letters sent by Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barret Browning, the shoe boxes of letters sent by one's father's or grandfathers squatting in foxholes or trenches in World War One, World War Two, Korea or Vietnam that have been saved and cherished. Can one really cherish an e-mail printed out on a printer? A proper letter, written by hand or a typewriter, placed in an envelope and sent with a stamp on the envelope is to give the recipient a part of one's self. There is, on the paper, the handwriting, even if it's only a signature, part of one's self. One offers one's bad handwriting or bad typing (or good handwriting or good typing) to the recipient in a way that e-mail cannot. E-mail, for personal correspondence, is a fake. It is electrons. It is, no matter how heartfelt, the real deal. It does not have the DNA or a real person.
One wonders if in twenty years there will be books published containing the e-mails that are made up of e-mails from American soldiers in Iraq to their sweethearts.
Writing proper letters on paper with a pen, pencil or typewriter is hard work. It makes the writer slow down and think in a way that e-mail does not. In proper letter writing one doesn't use emoticons, memes or any of most popular e-mail abbreviations like LOL or ROTFL.
E-mails are quick for quick notes to friends, but do they really replace a letter? Imagine receiving an e-mail from a friend vacationing in Japan such as "Am in Japan. Having a great time" instead of a postcard of the NHK Tower saying the same thing. Which would you rather receive?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Cheap Musical Instruments
As regular readers of this blog are aware, your faithful correspondent is an advocate of cheap musical instruments. He believes that good and enjoyable music can be made with a cheap First Act guitar and a pair of bongos as well as it can be made with a Fender Strat and a Ludwig drum set.
Be it known that this author has a $40 uke, a $70 guitar, a $7 pennywhistle and a $20 harmonica, none of which he plays well, or even competently. But he enjoys playing those instruments.
He also owns a thing called a StrumstickTM. The instrument is also known, and will be known heretofore as a stick dulcimer because the StrumstickTM is a trademarked name and the "inventor" of said "stick" is not loath to complain about other builders of stick dulcimers calling their products being called "S-sticks."
This writer has owned a "S-stick" for some years and has enjoyed fooling about with it, although he has never taken it very seriously. The tuning is usually G-D-G, which allows for a good range of songs, and the thing is usually played in a diatonic mode. It has only three strings and some people think that it is easier to play than a proper dulcimer, though yours would dispute this since the diatonic spacing of the frets make the thing easier to play on the lap than as a half guitar.
But it is a fun thing to fool around with. It actually sounds more like a banjo than it does a guitar or dulcimer. And the cost of the thing, the last time checked, is not awfully high especially if one buys one of the many stick dulcimers besides the "S-stick." In fact, the quality of the construction of the "S-stick" is lacking and feels really cheap. The neck is very narrow making it difficult to finger chords and the neck feels almost as if it were teak. Teak is a great wood, but it's not very smooth. Considering the fretting demands of a stick dulcimer one would expect that the neck be not only smooth, but slick. One can fret faster with a proper dulcimer than a "S-stick."
So if you want to have a cheap stringed instrument that is fairly easy to play you might consider the stick dulcimer, or in a bind, the "S-stick."
Here's a YouTube thing of an explanation of the "S-stick" not "S-stick" controversy:
This is NOT a Strum Stick! - YouTube
Be it known that this author has a $40 uke, a $70 guitar, a $7 pennywhistle and a $20 harmonica, none of which he plays well, or even competently. But he enjoys playing those instruments.
He also owns a thing called a StrumstickTM. The instrument is also known, and will be known heretofore as a stick dulcimer because the StrumstickTM is a trademarked name and the "inventor" of said "stick" is not loath to complain about other builders of stick dulcimers calling their products being called "S-sticks."
This writer has owned a "S-stick" for some years and has enjoyed fooling about with it, although he has never taken it very seriously. The tuning is usually G-D-G, which allows for a good range of songs, and the thing is usually played in a diatonic mode. It has only three strings and some people think that it is easier to play than a proper dulcimer, though yours would dispute this since the diatonic spacing of the frets make the thing easier to play on the lap than as a half guitar.
But it is a fun thing to fool around with. It actually sounds more like a banjo than it does a guitar or dulcimer. And the cost of the thing, the last time checked, is not awfully high especially if one buys one of the many stick dulcimers besides the "S-stick." In fact, the quality of the construction of the "S-stick" is lacking and feels really cheap. The neck is very narrow making it difficult to finger chords and the neck feels almost as if it were teak. Teak is a great wood, but it's not very smooth. Considering the fretting demands of a stick dulcimer one would expect that the neck be not only smooth, but slick. One can fret faster with a proper dulcimer than a "S-stick."
So if you want to have a cheap stringed instrument that is fairly easy to play you might consider the stick dulcimer, or in a bind, the "S-stick."
Here's a YouTube thing of an explanation of the "S-stick" not "S-stick" controversy:
This is NOT a Strum Stick! - YouTube
When Actresses Go Bad
Sometimes one, while watching a motion picture, will see an actress that one sees some promise as a proper actress in. And often one is disappointed in that said actress decides that she would rather be a "Star" instead of an actress.
This is a short post about the two Kates - Kate Winslet and Kate Beckinsale. One decided to become an actress and the other decided to become a "Star."
Both women entered the motion picture industry at about the same time. Beckinsale perhaps a bit earlier. The first time this writer became aware of Beckinsale was when she co-starred in a movie version of Much Ado About Nothing. Your faithful correspondent first saw Winslet in Beautiful Creatures. And he hoped that both women would go on to become skilled and real actresses.
Beckinsale went on to star in Cold Comfort Farm, Emma and The Last Days of Disco. All three films, while not art films, were movies that demanded acting skills. Winslet went on to star in Titanic and was in danger of becoming a "star", but she seems to have come to her senses and has deigned to go into movies that were examples of acting and writing instead of special effects. Meanwhile Beckinsale has gone into a series of vampire/werewolf themed action pictures and the result has been that, while she's been pulling down a bit of coin, has not shown that she has any acting chops anymore. She'll occasionally co-star in a bit quieter movie, but she's the co-star and is not asked to do much than support another actor. A walking stick could do that.
It's a sad thing to see a woman of such talent as Kate Beckinsale fall to the "action star" bit. In a few years she'll be too old to be an action star and she'll have a hard time finding a job as a middle-age actress. She'll always be thought of by the casting directors as the lanky Limey carrying a sword.
This is a short post about the two Kates - Kate Winslet and Kate Beckinsale. One decided to become an actress and the other decided to become a "Star."
Both women entered the motion picture industry at about the same time. Beckinsale perhaps a bit earlier. The first time this writer became aware of Beckinsale was when she co-starred in a movie version of Much Ado About Nothing. Your faithful correspondent first saw Winslet in Beautiful Creatures. And he hoped that both women would go on to become skilled and real actresses.
Beckinsale went on to star in Cold Comfort Farm, Emma and The Last Days of Disco. All three films, while not art films, were movies that demanded acting skills. Winslet went on to star in Titanic and was in danger of becoming a "star", but she seems to have come to her senses and has deigned to go into movies that were examples of acting and writing instead of special effects. Meanwhile Beckinsale has gone into a series of vampire/werewolf themed action pictures and the result has been that, while she's been pulling down a bit of coin, has not shown that she has any acting chops anymore. She'll occasionally co-star in a bit quieter movie, but she's the co-star and is not asked to do much than support another actor. A walking stick could do that.
It's a sad thing to see a woman of such talent as Kate Beckinsale fall to the "action star" bit. In a few years she'll be too old to be an action star and she'll have a hard time finding a job as a middle-age actress. She'll always be thought of by the casting directors as the lanky Limey carrying a sword.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Men In Hats
After a bit of an absence it is time for another Men in Hats feature.
Having in the past covered the majority of types of hats worn in the United States and Europe it has become time to travel farther afield. For this edition we travel south of the border to Mexico to take a look at the sombrero, or as it is more properly know in Latin America and Spain, the sombrero mexicano.
Properly speaking, sombrero in Spanish means "hat." "Hat" meaning a head covering with a proper brim going around the crown of the hat and not a cap with just a bill in the front (or back or side if one is into the hip-hop nonsense).
The sombrero descends from the Spanish "grandee" hat -- a felt hat with a straight flat crown and a fairly large flat brim. One sees picadors in bullfights wearing such hats. The native Mexicans changed the hat to something with a much larger curled brim and a sugar-loaf type crown.
There are various styles of the hat ranging from the woven straw or reed hat, usually worn in the southern parts of Mexico, to the heavy felt and straw spangled charro version worn by Mexican vaqueros and frontera singers to the chaparral, in which the back of the brim is almost folded up flat against the crown somewhat like a bi-corn.
The most practical variation is the straw/reed type. It is fairly light, gives plenty of shade and the tall crown allows the heat of the head to escape.
Nowadays the hats are worn by country people and vaqueros and singers. At one time the Mexican Federal police wore them as part of their uniforms. And of course, Mexican revolutionaries wore them.
Who should wear a sombrero? A Mexican rural person, a Mexican cowboy, a Mexican country singer, and anyone on the beach on a hot day.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Progress Doesn't Always Mean PROGRESS
We here at Bloody Nib Manor try to maintain a positive view of life in the United States, but to tell the truth, while walking down the street or going to the local emporium, we find it difficult not to believe that manners and behaviour are undergoing a de-evolution.
Be it known that this writer is no prude. And that this writer is no snob. Your faithful correspondent is a working man who works in the manufacturing industry in order to put bread on the Nib table.
But this writer is often taken aback by the, to put it mildly, the lack of self respect with which some people dress themselves while in public. In other words, they dress like idiot children or just plain slobs. A trip to the local Wal-Mart did nothing but re-enforce this thought. Men and women, all chronologically adults, walking about wearing tee-shirts, singlets, short (often very short) pants and thong sandals as if they were at the beach scaring the fish in the ocean.
Is there no sense of propriety? In fact, one the way home this writer saw a young woman wearing short cut-off jeans with lace tights.
We live, despite the current economic downturn, live in a much more materially rich world than people did during the Great Depression , and yet, if one watches old films of the Dust Bowl, bread lines and strikes, one can see that the people then dressed more properly than they do now. The men wore proper shirts and pants and hats, and the women wore dresses that did not make them look like refugees from some sort of adult-child summer camp.
Why is this? Is it because we have become more "free" or because we have just become a bunch of lazy slobs?
It's a sad thing to see.
Be it known that this writer is no prude. And that this writer is no snob. Your faithful correspondent is a working man who works in the manufacturing industry in order to put bread on the Nib table.
But this writer is often taken aback by the, to put it mildly, the lack of self respect with which some people dress themselves while in public. In other words, they dress like idiot children or just plain slobs. A trip to the local Wal-Mart did nothing but re-enforce this thought. Men and women, all chronologically adults, walking about wearing tee-shirts, singlets, short (often very short) pants and thong sandals as if they were at the beach scaring the fish in the ocean.
Is there no sense of propriety? In fact, one the way home this writer saw a young woman wearing short cut-off jeans with lace tights.
We live, despite the current economic downturn, live in a much more materially rich world than people did during the Great Depression , and yet, if one watches old films of the Dust Bowl, bread lines and strikes, one can see that the people then dressed more properly than they do now. The men wore proper shirts and pants and hats, and the women wore dresses that did not make them look like refugees from some sort of adult-child summer camp.
Why is this? Is it because we have become more "free" or because we have just become a bunch of lazy slobs?
It's a sad thing to see.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
The New Year
We here at the Manor are not given to making New Years resolutions, but this writer has decided to make a resolution to be a little more upbeat and humorous this coming year. Let's face it. This year is an election year and promises for this reason alone to be nothing but depressing. Plus one has the Iranian acting like Iranians, the Chinese acting like Chinese and the Norks acting like the crazy uncle deciding that the attic would look better if it were on the ground floor.
So to start things right your faithful correspondent offers these stories about animals in war and animal heroes:
File:LostBattalionMonument.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animals In War Memorial - The Animals In War Memorial - Park Lane, London
Churchill's mission to rescue the war horses and how he made officials bring tens of thousands home | Mail Online
Dickin Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It makes one wonder if animals are not better than us.
So to start things right your faithful correspondent offers these stories about animals in war and animal heroes:
File:LostBattalionMonument.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animals In War Memorial - The Animals In War Memorial - Park Lane, London
Churchill's mission to rescue the war horses and how he made officials bring tens of thousands home | Mail Online
Dickin Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It makes one wonder if animals are not better than us.
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