Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

Madison Kimrey speaks about her petition to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory: "Let’s Sit Down and Enjoy a Snack Together." The following video will be featured for "International Day of the Girl: A Message to the United Nations":

This is what happens when countries stretch their military forces so thin they have to lower the standards to fill the ranks "Ex-soldier 'Rambo' charged in plot to kill drug agent." And it is the logical evolution of what happens when those countries trust defense contractors to handle essential military services without defense department oversight. When the U.S. trained "Rambo" and then no doubt helped him become an independent mercenary, people along the way signed off on the idea, without ever thinking he might someday be taking money to kill Americans. Just as they are now supporting the idea of random killing with drones, without stopping to think that someday someone else will be using drones to kill Americans.

We didn't know it was the last Last Friday festival of the Summer in Hillsborough when we went there for dinner last Friday. My husband noticed that Jenn Weaver had a table across the street from the restaurant.
    She told us she has spoken with voters at the last three Last Fridays. My husband, who had drunk the last of our last bottle of wine piped up: "Oh, you attended the next-to next-to-last Last Friday, the next-to-last Last Friday, and the last Last Friday—you attended them while they lasted!"

The campaign is going well, I think! It's just so hard to KNOW, you know? I'm getting a good response, but it's also hard to get people actually excited about a municipal race, even though local govt has such an impact on daily life. Obama, I am not. But the people who know me ARE excited and passing the good word. Last Fridays are more of a good place to show face, let it be known to those who are from H'borough that you care enough to show up—which in a voter universe this small, 10-20 people thinking that could make the difference!

After reading almost 150 pages of Joseph Brent's engrossing, but sometimes negligently written biography of Charles Sanders Peirce, I've discovered Cornelius de Waal's excellent, much shorter review of Peirce's life and writings: Peirce: A Guide for the Perplexed, and I recommend it to you for commemorating the centennial of Peirce's death next year.

Often a dolphin will help a human, but its not too often a dolphin will ask a human for help:


Boy, what stories I heard from (or second-hand, about) my 1966 high school classmates! Only about 16% show, due to lack of interest, geography—and things not going well in their lives?—but these folk are still alive....

I'm surprised that you didn't recognize Lily Tomlin [when we watched the movie Admission last night, with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd]. Didn't you recognize her voice, didn't you think of her telephone operator routines?

Your blog frequently features articles and comments about food issues and non-mainstream dietary preferences, so I thought your readers might find this list of "food films" interesting: "26 food films you have to watch."

I was the first vegan, as far as I know, who spent some time around Bill Clinton. At an informal birthday gathering for him, where everyone else was eating burgers, steaks, and so on, I asked for extra spicy Thai broccoli with tofu. I was the brunt of much friendly but merciless abuse from good ol' boy Clinton and his cronies.
    Looking back, I have to wonder whether that had an impact. I also have to wonder whether my showing up at events at age 47, with a 23-year-old model who has since been in several Victoria's Secret catalogs, had more impact. People may have decided that being a vegan had spin-off benefits they had not thought of.

During the absence of Pastor Jack, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J. F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.

This article says that if women wore stilettos to shop, they'd make more balanced purchasing decisions: "Could stilettos change the way you shop?" Well, if I wore them I wouldn't be able to shop long enough to buy anything!

Hats off to the woman who was able to joke about her aging body. I need to find a male version of this image for myself, alas.

A tree house in the Philippines:

A stone path across a lake in Poland:

If you put all 50 state flowers together in a bouquet, it might look like this:

Dogs, wonderful dogs!:

Limerick of the Week:

"Oh, what an appropriate name for your dog, 'Pooper'!
Of ours I say, 'Look at Siegfried's poop, isn't that pile super!'
    Yes, our dogs, they poop a lot,
    And there's no time that we're not—"
"No, I didn't say that was his name! I said his name was 'Cooper'!"

[This conversation actually took place, last Friday, though not exactly in the form of a limerick.]
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean

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