might reasonably be expected in questions with great eagerness
The book, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, is (according to https://standardebooks.org/) “A foundational text in empiricism and skepticism”
It was published in English in 1748 under the title Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding until a 1757 edition came up with the now-familiar name.
Mr. Hume’s section Of Liberty and Necessity starts with the sentence, “It might reasonably be expected in questions which have been canvassed and disputed with great eagerness, since the first origin of science and philosophy, that the meaning of all the terms, at least, should have been agreed upon among the disputants; and our enquiries, in the course of two thousand years, been able to pass from words to the true and real subject of the controversy.”
One sentence.
66 words.
97 syllables.
Graded out at a 14.4 on the Flesch-Kincaidreadability scale.
And some countless words later, ends with “…if the definition above mentioned be admitted; liberty, when opposed to necessity, not to constraint, is the same thing with chance; which is universally allowed to have no existence.”
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I value liberty.
So, by necessity, I am voting for Harris.
Lots of words to the true and real subject of the controversy.
grand children are our best gift to the world – life is worthwhile that leads to them
In one of later books about Lake Wobegon, Garrison Keillor writes about visiting and old love and classmate who has cancer.
Mr. Keillor writes, “She is busy enjoying this world in the time she has left, lucky to have her granddaughter Annabelle living under her roof, Annabelle who was pulled out of school because it was holding her back, an ambitious reader who at the age of nine is done with children’s books and making her way into Dickens. He believed in the contagion of good humor and kindness even in the midst of sickness and suffering, which I, the English major, felt was sentimentalism, the idea of laughter in the hovels of the poor, but Dickens knew it firsthand and so does Annabelle. Laughter is not a privilege, it’s a basic element of humanity. And she loves his language. Like Dickens, she believes love is stronger than evil. And her grandma adores this child, curly black hair, brilliant smile, lying on the floor with her legs up on the sofa, book in hand. Arlene said to me, “I used to think that intelligence and happiness were somehow contrary, and I look at Annabelle and see that they go together hand in glove. She is my best gift to the world. My life seems worthwhile now that I know it leads to Annabelle.”
I was lucky to spend the last couple of days with 2 of my grand daughters and video talk with two more today and earlier this week with my grandson and his sister, and 2 weekends ago, travel with yet another of my grand daughters.
I am not dying with cancer and I am glad I read this early in my old age.
I DO wonder what makes my life worthwhile sometimes.
Then I read that last line.
My grand children are my best gift to the world.
My life indeed does seem worthwhile that I know it leads to these kids.
And I also know I am lucky as well as happy that to find this out while I have opportunity to enjoy it.
*Boomtown by Garrison Keillor, Blaine, MN, Prairie Home Productions, 2022.
an endless fund of useless knowledge I understand … but floyd of rosedale?
Over the years I have accumulated an endless fund of useless knowledge.
I have probably forgot more things now than I remember.
I remember that I know this things.
But I don’t remember or recall quickly what the thing is that I am trying to remember.
Much like Yogi Berra knowing that at home he had a Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card. He knew he had it somewhere because he knew but he didn’t want to look for it because he might not find it so knowing it had was more important than knowing he looked for it and didn’t find it.
When I was kid, we would often play the home edition of the game, Jeopardy.
Out of the box, the game came with little clickers which were either soon broken or we took them to play paratroopers at D Day as portrayed with clickers in the movie The Longest Day.
You would use the clicker to answer the question.
I mean, as it was Jeopardy, you would use the clicker to give the question that went with the answer.
Without the clickers, we would just clap our hands and then argue over who clapped first.
Every once in a awhile our Dad would play for a few rounds.
He would hear the answer, “John Nance Gardner” and know that he knew the question but instead of clapping his hands he would say, “JUST WAIT – I KNOW THIS” and then he would think a minute and we would wait, and then he would say, “Who was FDR’s Vice President for his first two terms.”
Then he would clap.
And we would laugh and laugh and say no, no no.
I was always good at Jeopardy myself but my ultimate moment was when I was taking a nap when the TV was and Jeopardy was on and they had a VISUAL Daily Double, which meant there was a picture of the building on the screen
I woke enough to hear the TV but my face was still buried in the sofa when the feller said, “This Art Museum …”
Without waiting to for the clue to finish or looking at the TV, I yelled “What is the Guggenheim.”
Which was correct.
I sat up and my wife looked at me with the look of oh brother.
And I said, “Name another art museum you can identify from seeing the building?“
But I digress.
So there it is.
I read a lot.
I search out odd facts.
I know a lot of useless things.
Oddly enough, back in the day when “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” was a hot show, no one and I mean, NO ONE ever said to me, “Mike if I get on that show, would you be be my ‘phone a a friend?’“
To tell you the truth, I think deep down no one would trust me to not try to be funny and slip them the wrong answer like of course it was Rutherford B. Hayes who was the first President to use a typewriter … even though everyone knows it was Woodrow Wilson.”
It would be too much temptation to go for the laugh and my friends knew it.
So here I sit.
All this accumulated knowledge and nothing to show for it.
I will admit that I do wonder where it all came from somedays.
And some days, I wonder, why do I know that?
Take the other day.
Watching the college football scores and half listening I heard the words, “Floyd of Rosedale goes back to Iowa City” and the other feller on TV says ” whattttt??”
write name so can be identified – family be notified
Taylor County (FLA) Sheriff’s Office – Division of Emergency Management
PLEASE READ ‼️
We are requesting that all residents, guests, and evacuees refrain from returning to the area until officially directed by the Emergency Operations Center. This directive will be communicated via social media, news outlets, radio, and emergency alert systems. Returning prematurely poses significant risks due to expected heavy flooding and other hazards. Many roads will be impassable, and there may be downed power lines, fallen trees, and other dangerous conditions.
If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate, PLEASE write your, Name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified.
We ask that you kindly provide the following information so Search and Rescue teams can prioritize these locations:
Is the residence inland or on the coastline?
Full address of the residence
Your name
Name(s) of the resident(s) at this location
Number of individuals and animals present
Contact information for both yourself and the resident(s)
Any additional information, such as a recent photograph of the individual(s), disabilities, special requirements. Please email this information to: TCEM@Taylorsheriff.org Thank you for your cooperation.
We didn’t evacuate nor did we write any identifying information on our arms with a permanent marker.
We lost power on and off over night and now no internet or TV.
We do have cell phone service which is a big plus over last Monday when everything was gone.
And thanks to our cell phone service, tornado alerts, hurricane alerts and flooding alerts kept our alerts alerting all night long.
Then about 4 a.m., the wind started.
That low road of a passing train that folks describe for a tornado but this didn’t last 10 or 20 minutes but hours.
It just roared and if anything got louder like when one of those jets from the Marine Base fly over head.
We got up about 4 a.m. to set things sideways on the floor of our balcony.
Kind of nutty thing to do at 4 a.m. but who wants a wooden rocking chair to be tossed through the front windows.
The next morning came and it was morning.
Still windy but blue sky and a lot of mess.
One of those days we are glad the night was over and also glad we lived in an apartment and didn’t have to get out there and rake.
there’s thought and no thought paleness and bloom and bustle and pleasure and gloom
A Character by William Wordsworth, 1800.
I marvel how Nature could ever find space For so many strange contrasts in one human face: There’s thought and no thought, and there’s paleness and bloom And bustle and sluggishness, pleasure and gloom.
There’s weakness, and strength both redundant and vain; Such strength as, if ever affliction and pain Could pierce through a temper that’s soft to disease, Would be rational peace—a philosopher’s ease.
There’s indifference, alike when he fails or succeeds, And attention full ten times as much as there needs; Pride where there’s no envy, there’s so much of joy; And mildness, and spirit both forward and coy.
There’s freedom, and sometimes a diffident stare Of shame scarcely seeming to know that she’s there, There’s virtue, the title it surely may claim, Yet wants heaven knows what to be worthy the name.
This picture from nature may seem to depart, Yet the Man would at once run away with your heart; And I for five centuries right gladly would be Such an odd such a kind happy creature as he.
As printed in The complete poetical works of William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth, 1770-1850 Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin company, 1904.
I was walking through the Mall of Georgia a few years ago and this young woman came out of a store and told me she had something to show me.
I was with some time on my hands so I went along and she had me sit in a chair and held a mirror in front of me and asked wouldn’t I want to look 10 years youngers.
It was funny as she had asked me to take my glasses off and I had to ask her to hold the mirror in front of my nose so I could see myself.
That was how I always saw myself without glasses.
If I wanted to look at myself in a mirror and if I took my glasses I became an impressionistic painting.
Old man in mall could have been the title of the painting.
Either that way or as an extreme closeup so I no idea really of what I look like without glasses.
I looked at myself in the mirror and said to the young woman that I was pretty much at home with my age and my face so no, I didn’t want to look 10 years younger.
She screwed up her face like no one had every told her what to do if someone said no or that they were at home with their face.
But she played a good game and asked if I wanted to see what I would look like.
I shrugged having nothing better to do.
She picked up a tube and squeezed a dab of this cream onto her finger and the she rubbed that stuff all around my right eye.
She said to wait and all the wrinkles would be gone so we waited and she kept looking at my face.
The stuff burned a little bit and I said I wasn’t that thrilled with the process, especially when she got a little more and rubbed it under my eye.
She stood back and grabbed the mirror for me to see myself and again I couldn’t see without my glasses.
“Sir”, she said, “almost all your wrinkles are gone.”
Then she look hard at under my eye.
“Except for this one here, I don’t get it,” she said.
Oh that, I said.
“That’s not a wrinkle. That’s a scar.“
She jumped back and looked at me.
“A scar?”
“Really?”
“Really.“
That took even more off her game but she came back and tried to tell me how much better I looked but I wasn’t buying it.
Especially something at $300 a tube and wore off in a couple of hours.
But I quoted the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson that when a person gets old, they get the face they deserve.
She thought about that and looked at me and look at my scar and kind shook her head.
“You really aren’t interested are you?” she asked.
And we chatted for a few minutes.
She was a recent immigrant from Russia and she loved America and Americans and now she had met someone who was a little bit different.
But she had other people to grab out of the mall and I had to be some where and I got up andI was walking out of the store when she called me back.
“Sir“, she said, holding out the tube of stuff and pointing at my other eye.
“Don’t you at least want to match?”
I marvel how Nature could ever find space For so many strange contrasts in one human face:
No Haiku For You 