Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

A bit of elegant writing: "Bending with the Twists of Life’s River."

I will always remember our appearing in Calhoun [residential college at Yale]'s production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. We were in Act I,Scene i as two "shapes." A good thing we never tried to go into the theater. One of my most pleasurable experiences at Yale was going to plays put on by various groups and seeing a lot of plays that I would never had seen otherwise.

My knee is doing ok. It doesn't like gardening or sitting around; it seems to like walking and lying down. But then my back doesn't like walking or lying down; it seems to prefer sitting around. My back doesn't like gardening either. Makes travel difficult.

[photo from Wikipedia]

I use a CPAP [Continuous Positive Airway Pressure] machine at night, and Medicare covered the cost. Unbelievable the difference it makes. Before, I would get up, sit to read the paper and fall asleep. Slept on and off all day. After using the machine I sleep soundly all night, get up at 7:00 a.m. and am awake all day, not constantly tired. Very comfortable, quiet and as long as one cleans it weekly, one would not know it was there. My mask swivels so I can turn over with no problems. My son said he puts one drop of Lavender in the water tank, but that's not for me. Three kinds of masks. Tried them all and like the nose cover best.

My wife and I have each gone to three Moral Monday demonstrations although we have not chosen to join those who were arrested. I find the Republican actions reprehensible, especially the repeal of the estate tax and the restrictions on voting. The cuts in education funding, repeal of environmental regulations, other tax "reform" changes, vouchers to send kids to private schools...the whole ALEC playlist, also make me sick. It feels like the years of baby steps toward becoming the showcase example of a progressive Southern state have all been totally erased in one session.

If you think underhanded dealings and huge budget overruns are something new in the North Carolina capitol building, here is a story to take you back to reality: "After 175 years, NC Capitol plans nearly in hand." Yes, way back in 1840, after many architects and much chaos the capitol building was finally completed at a cost 10 times higher than the original budget. When the legislators stiffed the architect who finally completed the project, he packed and left and took the architectural drawings with him. So if you are a schoolteacher or anyone else who was just screwed by this year's budgetary chaos, you are only the latest in a centuries-long line of victims of the way things are done in the "Tar Heel" state.

Maybe you subscribe to the Huffington Post, but here is a report of a bit of Armageddon. What is distressing is the human factor in this information: "Arctic Methane Release Due To Climate Change Could Cost Global Economy $60 Trillion, Study Reports."
    So, let us enjoy this planet while we can, and do what we can to preserve it before we go the way of other species that have preceded us. Must mean we are not very good dominions of the earth. I ache for the species humans have already decimated and those that will be. But life and history go on.
    Hey, there is a new King George. So all must be well. (You need to ignore the trash that is always present in the Huffington Post. But subscribing to it gives a full picture of life’s debate.)

Russian President Vladmir Putin played U.S. President George W. Bush for the fool many of us thought he was, and now by offering sanctuary to NSA leaker Edward Snowden ("NSA leaker Snowden gets asylum, leaves Russia airport") he seems to have played President Barack Obama for the fool many of us feared he might be. [See prescient July 19 fish that conjectured what such a move might signify.]

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." So said Abraham Lincoln. To paraphrase that in more brief and modern vernacular, specifically in regard to Sarah Palin's political PAC woes: "Sarah Palin PAC Takes 'Fundraising Nosedive,' Report Says." If you say something sort of pointless and inaccurate all the time, and never say anything profound or intelligent any of the time, it is actually possible to eventually run out of idiots who are willing to support you."
    ...For some strange reason the image of a "Bachmann/Palin 2015" campaign banner just flashed in my mind....

But what about the mules? "Texting and driving crash involving mule-powered wagon may save veteran's life."

Adroit triggering: "Arkansas man accidentally shoots self and another at gun show."

After the Sandy Hook, Connecticut massacre of elementary school children nearly eight months ago, there were predictions of radical changes in gun control laws. So far, except for a few random votes limiting the number of rounds a weapon can carry, very little new legislation has been enacted. Not even the seemingly most reasonable option, requiring a criminal and mental health background check before anyone can purchase a weapon. Background checks are required for purchases from federally licensed gun dealers, but Republican legislators—with help from some Independents and Democrats—successfully protected the much talked about "gun show loophole" and other sales by unlicensed dealers.
    A case from Asheville, North Carolina, which could have ended much like Sandy Hook ("Judge: NC Man An 'Overwhelming' Danger To Public"), is just one of many examples that show background checks work. But legislators still can't manage to win a vote forcing all sellers to adhere to such a common-sense law.

So much for the laid-back Californian stereotype: "Mob rages after surfing competition." Isn't this the sort of thing that is only supposed to happen after a basketball game in Detroit or a soccer match in South America?

A Medi-Share advertisement: "Christians Can Be Exempt from Healthcare Tax":

    Why do devout believers need health insurance anyway? If god has it all covered, what's the point? Isn't that showing a lack of faith?

3 D Street Art, Rennes, France:

An amazing musical instrument to watch. It is computer generated:

    Whoever did this had to be a musical genius and also a computer genius. Watching this thing closely reveals that the strokes and string closing are exactly as they should be. A mechanical engineer's dream, or nightmare.

One great Aussie thing to do before you die? Stop for a bite to eat at the Nindigully Pub in Western Queensland. The tiny township of Nindigully is located on the edge of the Queensland outback—160km west of Goondiwindi, about 530km west of Brisbane , and approximately 70 km north of the Queensland/New South Wales border.

    Nindigully Pub is Queensland's oldest hotel, located in its original condition and position on the banks of the Moonie River. The licence was issued in 1864 after operating as shearers accommodation for the Nindigully Station. The "boom" town has now been reduced to just two houses, the pub, the old general store and the town hall, with a population of six! Nevertheless, it was voted the Best Country Pub in Australia in 2006 by 44 Australia magazine, and you can see why—it has become famous for its truckie's feed of the Nindigully Road Train Burger this giant hamburger is served with French fries, onion rings and a selection of sauces, says it will feed 1 - 4 people, and costs $36—the meat patty alone is 1.2kg! [over two and a half pounds]

Limerick of the Week:

For today's late start, we apologize to Ed,
who's given to Fridays with coffee and a spread
    of tasty fish.
    That's why we wish
we had finished last night rather than gone to bed.

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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean

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