BS: What would you attempt........

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: John Hardly
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 12:22 PM

Here's a little trick that WORKS BETTER.


Example: I ran into exactly the same roadblock, and never got past it.

Better: I ran into exactly the same roadblock, and I haven't gotten past it yet.

Even Better: I ran into exactly the same roadblock, and I'm still working my way past it.

Eventually: I got a bulldozer.
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You're welcome.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 10:39 AM

Here's a little trick that WORKS.


Example: I ran into exactly the same roadblock, and never got past it.

Better: I ran into exactly the same roadblock, and I haven't gotten past it yet.

Even Better: I ran into exactly the same roadblock, and I'm still working my way past it.

Eventually: I ran into exactly the same roadblock, and I got past it.


It takes longer if you don't start. Also note, none of these statements contain the word BUT.


~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: John Hardly
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 10:02 AM

If I were you, Little Hawk, I'd attempt flatpicking again. Cut into your mudcat time a bit and you'd be, like, the second coming of Tony Rice...

...well, provided that Tony Rice left.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 01:23 PM

Good post there, John. I ran into exactly the same roadblock with flatpicking, and never got past it.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 11:00 AM

I can whip your kitchen, Beedub. I'll bring my super soaking pot and special solvents for soaking-- that's how I reclaim my kitchen on a regular basis. With the spare smaller soaker and a couple of superhuge dish drainers, no problem! Dishes can pile up in our house more than you can imagine-- one Mudcat Gathering, the soaker was a 33-gal trash can. With or without dishwasher, there is an efficient way.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: John Hardly
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 09:36 AM

...and I might wash Bee-Dubya-Ell's dishes. Or make him some new ones. Have you seen the old ones?!

...evidently, neither has he for some time.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: John Hardly
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 09:34 AM

Most of the answers seem to me to be answering the question "what do you most wish for?", and, as such, are the usual "world peace" Miss America answers.

I think that what makes the question interesting and meaningful is if it makes you think of the things that you are avoiding doing merely because you doubt your ability to succeed.

If you ask me (yeah, I know you didn't), practicing toward musical accomplishment is ALWAYS out on this very limb. For instance...

...for years I wanted to flatpick. I loved bluegrass and old-timey stuff, as well as the folk rock that was very flatpick oriented. But every time I'd sit down to try to learn, it seemed as if what it required me to practice was a HUGE step backwards in my playing. And because results came SO slowly, I never had the confidence that I was on the right road to success in the first place. Thus unconvinced, I was discouraged from ever starting. After all, who wants to dedicate HUGE amounts of practice when so uncertain that they are even practicing the right thing.

But I was a bit determined and found a different route.

I took a lesson with Joel Mabus. Sure, he gave me some terrific technical advice on flatpicking -- but the MAIN thing he gave me was the confidence that what I was practicing WAS the road to success -- no matter how slow or cumbersome or unfruitful that practice might SEEM at the outset.

But yeah, I'd like world peace. And a bigger weiner.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 08:24 AM

I would wash the dishes.

It might seem like a silly answer, but you haven't seen the dishes.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 12:03 AM

Holy shit, that's Vinnie! I ain't seen him in a dog's age. Great picture!

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Bill D
Date: 31 May 07 - 10:07 PM

You shoulda given him a typewriter...Shakespeare could use some tweaking...

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:28 PM

Playin' the piano is not really that hard, Dani. You oughta just give it a try. You find a few chords and play. Keep it simple. Get used to one key first, like key of D or key of G. Then branch out.

It's playin' the piano really well that is hard. I guess maybe that's what you was worried about?

They say that if you put a chimp at a piano keyboard and leave him there for 6 months, he will end up playin' all the scores of the great masters.

It ain't true. I knew this chimp who was playin' for years and years and years in a local bar on slow afternoons...and all he could play was "You Are My Sunshine" and "Show Me The Way To Go Home"..............badly! Then he started tryin' to learn "Copacabana". Hours and hours of botched attempts at "Copacabana". That was it. I couldn't take no more. I was goin' nuts. It was him or me. So I talked someone into givin' him a job with the circus, and he left town. Thank God that plan worked out. I don't like killin' a brother primate over some lousy music.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:18 PM

1. (I'm not going to tell)

2. Make every child feel safe and wanted

3. Play the piano

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 07 - 08:06 PM

I'm not sure, Bill. ;-) I wouldn't call Chongo "stupid". But I would call him stubborn and set in his ways, self-indulgent in certain respects, reckless to a fault...

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Bill D
Date: 31 May 07 - 08:02 PM

"... quit smoking those damned cigars.."

doesn't that fall under "eliminating stupidity"?


(Indeed, Susan...no need to 'wait' for reasonable people...it's just sad the unreasonable are such distractions..)

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 07 - 07:53 PM

Oh, and I would attempt to get Chongo to quit smoking those damned cigars too.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 07 - 07:52 PM

Beating the "evil of all religions" hobby horse to death again, are we? (yawn) Boy, it sure gets tedious...

Let's get back on topic here. What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?

I would attempt...

1. A date with Winona Ryder.
2. Winning the lottery.
3. Achieving enlightenment.
4. Getting the USA and Britain's armed forces and their paramilitary agents permanently out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and every single other 3rd World country that they are presently in. And then the same for other empire-builders, whoever they might be...Russia, China, I don't care...I'd send 'em ALL home.

The above notions range, obviously, from the whimsical to the more substantial.


To assume, by the way, that

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 07 - 07:49 PM

Actually, my GOD-given "right" (duty actually) is to live in obedience to civil authorities, and the right to religion is a civil right.

People who want to ban religion are talking about banning a civil right. I've been having some interesting reflections on how it is that we can all agitate so very vociferously for civil rights, as long as the rights in question are our own, or those we find comfortable.

But God confers few rights.... part of being a Christian is accepting that we have no right to "rights," and that we are called instead to sacrifice those "rights" for a higher value.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: kendall
Date: 31 May 07 - 07:37 PM

To which you have a God given right.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 07 - 04:24 PM

I'm not waiting! Not all of us are affected by those!

Even if it offends, though-- it's my choice.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Bill D
Date: 31 May 07 - 04:22 PM

jeffp would eliminate stupidity

Amos would "crack the mysteries of human sanity/aberration and of the human spirit"...

Kendall would eliminate the kind of fear that makes us hate...

mack/misophist would teach people to think logically...


Seems to me that if all those were done, those who chose to practice religion would be doing it in a manner that would be unlikely to offend anyone much.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 07 - 03:49 PM

Me too, in an organized religion. :~) A fearless one, as it happens.

No, I do not believe in the Rapture in the same way fundies and Rapture-touters do or as the "Left Behind" profiteering series-- when I referred to it, I was making a JOKE. I do believe Jesus will come back, but I do not think we quite understand how it will be any more than people understood His first coming. I'm one of those crazy people who is willing to wait and see for myself. For all I know, He's been back and forth as many times and in as many guises as there are human beans. I know it's not the kind of thinking Mudcat tends to find appealing, but I like things a little messy, uncontrolled, and surprising.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: kendall
Date: 31 May 07 - 01:57 PM

I said "Organized religion". The kind that spouts dogma, condemns other sects and insists they have the one true religion. I had in mind the situation in Northern Ireland, Iraq, etc.

I am not religous. I am spiritual. Big difference.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: frogprince
Date: 31 May 07 - 12:44 PM

At the risk of "drifting" back to the original question:

I would find a way to transplant pancreatic cells for type I diabetics without making them dependent on antirejection meds.
(My good lovin' gal has survived over 50 years in good health so far, but the shadow always looms).

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Wesley S
Date: 31 May 07 - 12:31 PM

I for one have never believed in the rapture. I hope you're not assuming that all Christians do. And correct - the rapture was never mentioned in the Bible.

And it's faulty logic to think that religion will disappear if fear is eliminated. You've made the assumption that all religion is fear based. That is your viewpoint and you are welcome to it. But that doesn't make it a reality for everyone.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 07 - 12:24 PM

It doesn't; it was invented froma daze by a hypnogogic cottagewife in Scotland, IIRC, in the 19th century.

Howsomeever, there is a very interesting and positive point lurking between these fractious assertions.

If fear were eliminated, what form would religion evolve into? I suggest it might not just disappear, although it might be unrecognizable compared to the entrenched authoritarian models relished today by many cults, including the Boston Catholics, the Tehran Shiites, and the Saudi Wahaabi, for example. But without fear, un-chained curiousity and discovery might become the order of the day, and a new model of workable spiritual principles might begin to emerge.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: kendall
Date: 31 May 07 - 12:05 PM

I'm not advocating the outlawing of religion. I'm saying that we eliminate fear, organized religion will follow because there will be no need for it.

By the way, Wizzywig, where in the Bible does the phrase "the rapture" appear?

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Wesley S
Date: 31 May 07 - 10:58 AM

And the sad thing is that people who propose banning religion probably think of themselves as tolerant people. No fear-mongering there - no sir!

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 07 - 10:42 AM

corrected post

Also down the drain is a cow MBS Lynne mentioned, Sister Dominique. Wiped out with a stroke of whim, and in the middle of chewing her cud, is that nice?! Let's see, she'd have produced X number of heifers producing X amount of milk--- oh that's allright then, it evens out with the number of babies no longer needing milk.

I sure hope I can find Hardi down here in the Great Washout.... Hardeeeee........ where are you..... no that's Wesley, hi! Have you seen Hardi? Our parishioners? Gospel bandmates? Our new, adorable Bishop?

I never thought the Rapture would be like this-- kicked off by a non-believer, amazing! But it was supposed to be fire, and we got water again!

I guess I'm spending eternity aquajogging then-- Pirandello, for penance please look up my thread about Exercisign for Charity, and let me know what level of sponsorship you're in for.

~DDD (DownDaDrain)

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 07 - 10:41 AM

Also down the drain is a cow MBS Lynne mentioned, Sister Dominque. Wiped out with a stroke of whim, and in the middle of chewing her cud, is that nice?! Let's see, she'd have produced X number of heifers producing X amount of milk--- oh that's allright then, it evens out with the number of babies no longer needing milk.

I sure hope I can find Hardi down here in the Great Washout.... Hardeeeee........ where are you..... no that's Wesley, have you seen Hardi? Our parishioners? Our new, adorable Bishop?

I never thought the Rapture would be like this-- kicked off by a non-believer, amazing! But it was supposed to be fire, and we got water again!

I guess I'm spending eternity aquajogging then-- Pirandello, for penance please look up my thread about Exercisign for Charity, and let me know what level of sponsorship you're in for.

~DDD (DownDaDrain)

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 07 - 10:26 AM

Sorry, can't answer that one Pirandello. I'm down the drain, you see.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: pirandello
Date: 31 May 07 - 10:02 AM

Dave, can I baggsy the fiddle player please? You'll have more than you can cope with anyway!

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: pirandello
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:59 AM

I'm the first to admit to occasional hypocrisy; it's a pity religions, particularly Catholicism, cannot. Where would that leave the 'faithful' if failings were admitted to and acknowledged?

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:58 AM

A night of romance with all of the Corrs apart from the bloke.

Well, maybe the bloke as well if he asked nicely...

:D

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Wesley S
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:54 AM

"I would extend that to outlawing organised religion and all of it's hypocrisy and fear-mongering."

And the best place to start is with the man in the mirror. When you're done let me know.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:52 AM

Amos - good answer!

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:50 AM

[sound of millions of babies screaming as they go down the drain with Pirandello's bathwater]

That would be tantamount to genocide. (Is genocide PC now at Mudcat?)

Not all organized religion is hypocrisy and fear-based. Get rid of the hypocrisy and fear, sure, but if you got rid of organized religion as a means to getting rid of them, that's not all you'd eliminate.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: pirandello
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:20 AM

Kendall, bravo! I would extend that to outlawing organised religion and all of it's hypocrisy and fear-mongering.
Leave the myths and fables to Aesop.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: skipy
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:02 AM

A cure for MS- but we would still hold the concerts!
(plug), www.folkforms.org   
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: kendall
Date: 31 May 07 - 08:20 AM

I would eliminate fear. Not the kind that makes us look both ways to cross the street, the kind that makes us hate each other. The kind that makes us create organized religion.All hatred is based in fear.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 31 May 07 - 12:18 AM

I'd invent a matress that doesn't act as a huge soundboard so that people who suffer from snoring can actually sleep in a bed with people who snore.

The people who snore invariably do not suffer from snoring.... they're asleep, they don't care.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Bert
Date: 31 May 07 - 12:15 AM

I love your answer Frogprince.

Susan, you say, ...I do stuff people think can't be done, all the time, as a matter of course... Have you noticed that people just can't do anything anymore.

sheesh, even the baby thinks that 'Bert' means 'Fix it'

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 May 07 - 11:40 PM

Great thread, great question.

But in trying to answer it, I realize-- I do stuff people think can't be done, all the time, as a matter of course.

I don't base my effort-- target or degree of effort-- on whether I think I can, or if I think I might fail.

Am I alone in this?!?!??!?!?!?

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Amos
Date: 30 May 07 - 11:32 PM

To crack the mysteries of human sanity/aberration and of the human spirit. Why do things half way? Once done, I would pin down the secrets of hyper-space FTL travel and "free" energy.

Then I would take a nap.


A

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 May 07 - 11:18 PM

A cure for MS,autisim, cancer, cystic fybrosis. Other horrible gentic linked diseases. Butterfly children. Take your pick.

I won't even get into planetary concerns, animals, and the like.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: mack/misophist
Date: 30 May 07 - 11:14 PM

Clean up the government. Or, if you want me to get really strange, teach people to think logically.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: frogprince
Date: 30 May 07 - 09:54 PM

Oh, man; it almost hurts to give the first honest answer that came to me: To get a couple of the songs I've written into the hands of decent singers so they would actually be heard.
                           Dean

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: gnu
Date: 30 May 07 - 04:44 PM

Playing the lottery.... duh!

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 May 07 - 02:28 PM

To get this job!

But shouldn't the question be, what would you DO? If you can't fail, you also can't attempt, can you? All that is left is to accomplish.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: jeffp
Date: 30 May 07 - 01:46 PM

A cure for stupidity.

Subject: RE: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Wesley S
Date: 30 May 07 - 01:34 PM

A cure for autism.

Subject: BS: What would you attempt........
From: Mickey191
Date: 30 May 07 - 01:33 PM

What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?