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06 Feb 00 - 12:47 AM (#174189) Subject: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: katlaughing From the old book I've mentioned before,The National Encyclopedia of Business and Social Forms © 1884, comes some Sunday fun. It has listed over two hundred "conundrums". I will list 2-3 here. You will have to see the next posting for the answers. Please feel free to post some of your own, string them into a verse, or whathaveyou. Spelling given is exact from the book. 1. That which every one requires, that which every one gives, that which every one asks, and that which very few take. 2. When may a ship be said to be in love? 3. Why des a duck put its head under water? |
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06 Feb 00 - 12:48 AM (#174190) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: katlaughing 1. Advice 2.When she wishes for a mate. 3. For diver's reasons Told ya they were silly! |
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06 Feb 00 - 12:52 AM (#174193) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Sorcha Golly, is it tommorrow already? |
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06 Feb 00 - 01:20 AM (#174201) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: katlaughing Just on the East coast and parts further east, Sorcha! Forgot to say: if anyone wants more serious and music-related, you might find another posting about an old book of ours interesting on the current Barbara Allen thread. kat |
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06 Feb 00 - 08:20 PM (#174291) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Midchuck My lover's a diver, searching for treasure. I'm afraid that some day he'll just drown, And leave me alone here, with no source of pleasure. He's the only good man in this town!
He goes down in the ocean for divers reasons, That's one verse and a chorus, which is as far as I got, some years ago, in writing a song built around that phrase. Please don't ask me why. Peter. |
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06 Feb 00 - 08:25 PM (#174297) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Amos But as long as I've got him, I'm holding on to him! Because he is special to me! And if it should just happen his letters start droppin' |
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06 Feb 00 - 08:32 PM (#174301) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Áine Peter and Amos, Keep going and I'll put your song in the Mudcat Songbook!! -- Áine |
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06 Feb 00 - 08:41 PM (#174305) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Áine If y'all don't mind a bit of thread creep, this TFTD reminds of the old Irish triads (a form of proverb):
Three things to be distrusted:
Three disagreeable things at home:
The three finest sights in the world:
The three sharpest things on earth:
Three things whose beauty does not last: -- Áine |
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06 Feb 00 - 08:57 PM (#174314) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Midchuck I was going to say there was no "p" in "diving," then I thought of how my father used to say of a letter that appeared in a word, but that wasn't sounded, "It's silent, like the 'p' in swimming." Peter. |
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06 Feb 00 - 09:05 PM (#174318) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Amos LOL! That's the very "p" I had in mind....LOL A |
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07 Feb 00 - 12:45 PM (#174549) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: annamill I tell my Grandkids that in our yard we don't have a pool, but we do have an ool. When they look at me befuddled, I tell them it's because we have no "p" in it. It's become a family joke now. ;-) Love, annap |
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07 Feb 00 - 07:47 PM (#174756) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: McGrath of Harlow Four more Triads Three slender things that best support the world: the slender stream of milk from the cows dug into the pail; the slender blade of green corn upon the ground; the slender thread over the hand of a skilled woman,
Three fewnesses that are better than plenty: a fewness of fine words; a fewness of cows in greas;a fewness of friends around good ale. Three glories of a gathering: a beautiful wife; a good horse; a swift hound. Three keys that unlock truthfullness: drunkenness, trustfulness, love...
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07 Feb 00 - 08:08 PM (#174763) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Áine Maith thú, a Chaoimhín! Iontach maith! -- Áine |
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07 Feb 00 - 08:13 PM (#174765) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: catspaw49 Well down in Georgia they try to give you a triad, but there are some things "that bear repeating." An old farmer from the south Georgia "Cracker" country was asked (on a TV show)--"Are there things you don't like?" to which he replied: "There are three things I don't much care for. Kudzu, city folks, and kudzu." Spaw |
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07 Feb 00 - 08:31 PM (#174778) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: katlaughing And up North in New England, that would be "bittersweet, city slickers, and bittersweet." (Grows just like kudzu only prettier!) |
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07 Feb 00 - 08:39 PM (#174781) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Áine And down here in Texas it would be: "chiggers, yankees, and fire ants. 'Cuz they's all biting bugs." -- Áine |
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07 Feb 00 - 08:46 PM (#174786) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Amos "An' I do not ask for PARdonnn For what I've done or am... An I WON'T be reeeconstructed An' I DO not give a damn!" A |
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07 Feb 00 - 09:39 PM (#174810) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Troll Didja ever notice geese flying over in a "V" formation and one leg of the "V" is always longer than the other one. D'ya know why that is? troll |
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07 Feb 00 - 09:40 PM (#174811) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Troll Cause theres more geese on that side. troll |
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07 Feb 00 - 11:05 PM (#174841) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Mark Cohen Two random thoughts on the "silent letter": Tom Lehrer told the story of his friend Hen3ry -- "the 3 is silent." As memory serves (which it generally does into the net), Hen3ry was the one who majored in animal husbandry "until they caught him at it." Moving right along here, somebody Hen3ry knew, let's call him Fran4k, went to the supermarket and asked for broccoli. The man behind the counter said, "I'm sorry, we don't have any broccoli today." Fran4k said, "Hmmm...in that case, I'll have some broccoli." A bit perturbed, the man replied, "I just told, you, we don't have any broccoli." Fran4k thought for a moment and said, "Oh, OK, how about some, uh, broccoli?" At this point the man turned a whiter shade of pale, followed by a deep crimson, and said, very quietly, "Listen, mister, can you spell the let in lettuce?" Fran4k looked puzzled, but said, "Sure, L-E-T." "Good," said the man. "Now can you spell the tom in tomato?" "T-O-M." "Very good," said the man. "Now, can you spell the f*ck in broccoli?" Fran4k looked even more puzzled. "What do you mean? There's no f*ck in broccoli." At the top of his lungs, the man shouted, "That's what I've been trying to tell you! There ain't no f*ckin' broccoli!!!" (Mommy, did my doctor really say that!?) Aloha, Mark |
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07 Feb 00 - 11:19 PM (#174847) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Sorcha RE: More geese--in all seriousness, I always thought it was because the tired "Lead Goose" dropped back to rest and there is less wind shear or something on the (downwind?) side, so it gets longer?? Apology for the bit of levity, here, but is this right? |
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08 Feb 00 - 12:28 AM (#174878) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: katlaughing Dunno, Sorcha, makes sense to me. Dr. Mark! Somebody's gonna tell your mommy on you!**BG** Good one! katlaughing |
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08 Feb 00 - 12:56 AM (#174888) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: wysiwyg Sorcha, and all leaders... There was a lovely documentary about geese where a man hatched out some wild geese and then taught them to fly with his ultralight after they had imprinted on him and his plane as Mom and they grew up. At the end of the film there was a close up of how hard they work to beat their wings even on wingbeat, a shot right out of the cockpit at the face of a goose inches away, every facial muscle on that little goose face WORKING, and then you could see it tire and before failing the next one would move up and the first leader would fade back, coasting to a position where they could keep going and yet rest. I think it was called "Come On Geese." Sometimes I can feel my friends (and Jesus) taking that headwind for me and sometimes I know I'm taking it for the next one coming behind. We all get where we're going. Isn't that a lovely image? Again, the rippling struggle of the beating bird to keep up with the ultralight and the wind... sometimes resting by surfing under the crest of the wave that runs over the wing of the ultralight, pausing just momentarily and then redoubling effort till the next leader can move up. Someone always being in front, even though I bet from in the middle of the flock you can't see the leader, you just assume it's there. |
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08 Feb 00 - 01:18 AM (#174892) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: katlaughing Praise! Thanks for reminding us of that. I had seen that years ago, it was wonderful! Your description is beautiful. Thank you! I had a duck I raised from ducklinghood, an Indian Runner. He let me hold him, while he stretched his neck out on my shoulder, beak nestled near my ear. He would even let me carry him into the house, put him on the broad arm of the sofa (with paper on the floor for accidents) and watch tv with us. katlaughing |
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08 Feb 00 - 07:50 AM (#174932) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Troll Way to go folks! I never thought one of my bad jokes would provoke a philosophical and scientific discussion. By the way, I call these "red suspender" jokes; as in "why do firemen wear red suspenders?" troll |
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08 Feb 00 - 09:02 AM (#174949) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: wysiwyg Now that we're onto birds (creeping softly, silently, they slipped from the bonds of the thread into the netherworld beyond, knowing they might never again see their own world...) We had turkeys who inadvertently got somewhat imprinted on us and when we would stretch out in the grass they would come tower over us quite gently and come eyeball to eyeball as if looking for a clue of some sort. We were clueless, we thought, but they would take our lead and stretch out too. "Oh, is this the coolest/softest/safest spot, let's all be turkeys in the grass." When you lead geese you're sublime. In the company of ducks--who are intelligent enought to joyously rediscover water, anew, each day, with much noise and fanfare--you are raised to a new level but when you can lead turkeys... Now that's the top of the heap! |
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08 Feb 00 - 09:12 AM (#174953) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Amos I once woke up in a sleeping bag in a field in Illinois and found myself face to face with about two hundred big turkeys, coming toward me from a hole in a fence in the nearby farm. They were marching sort of determinedly in my direction, a scarey sight, and being young and inexperienced I wasn't sure if this was a threatening situation or not. But they sure looked big. I threw on my jeans and shoes and stood up, which gave them pause in their inimical advance. But every time I backed up, they moved forward as though to head me off. Mad me kinda nervous. Then I addressed them loudly. "Fellow turkeys!", sez I. Well, they all began to discuss this in their little groups, gobbling and muttering as to what this might mean, and the discussion among them accelerated. I gave them a few more choice remarks, which prompted more excitement and discussion in their ranks, and in the ensuing confusion my camping partner and I made our escape into the nearby woods. I never did find out if I was made an honorary member, but I have heard rumors that it was so decided; at least a number of strangers at various times seem to have heard about it, and addressed me accordingly. A |
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08 Feb 00 - 09:29 AM (#174961) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: annamill That sounds suspiciously like a Mark Twain story....Amos ;-) At least it's his style. Love, annap |
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08 Feb 00 - 09:42 AM (#174965) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Amos Thanks for the comparison, but it's actually original! When we ducked into the woods, we ran into a little chain of lambs running in the opposite direction. About six. One by one they paused, and looked up at us, baa'd, and then trotted on down the path. We decided they had an important meeting with the turkeys. It was a very strange morning, I don't mind telling you! A |
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08 Feb 00 - 10:00 AM (#174977) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: wysiwyg LOLLOLLOL They DO have meetings and captive sheep can be quite the complainers. Whining, "Corn! Corn!..... corn? Corn??? Corn... No corn.... no, no corn.... corn.... corn..." They do however generally reach agreement among themselves and so maintain their community in harmony, if fugally so. Imagining "clueless turkeys" and "follow-anyone sheep" meeting together is just too too much this early in the morning. I know my 3 turkeys would have just invesitgated you but a crowd of the size you describe... I just don't know. Ducks have committee meetings when you let them out in the morning. "Sun?? Go go go.... Water! Water??? Water water waterrrr!!!!!" They also take votes on which way to go when running around, they clack at each other to say, no here... no here... here? here..... and they all veer to go there as a body. What is really sad is when you are down to your last lonely duck and she decides to flock with the chickens. Ducks go toward each other, chickens go away from or parallel to each other. So the duck in its loneliness just followed the chickens till the chickens almost died of starvation-- had to keep moving!!! Duck finally went to live with more ducks. Such joy of quacking when she heard the other ducks (just out of her sight) and was released to streak across the grass into them. To be a duck among ducks once more. |
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08 Feb 00 - 10:09 AM (#174980) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Peter T. Amos, sounds like the committee meeting I had this morning followed by a Phd oral(stale joke, but true!), yours, Peter T. |
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08 Feb 00 - 11:44 AM (#175036) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Amos Ah, Praise, I am laughing all over the office imagining your ducks and sheep and their conversations. I think Peter has touched on something, too -- the flocklike behaviours of academics, who are supposed to be the peak of independent intellectual ability, when they are pushed together in small spaces. Another item for the list of skills needed in modern society, never taught in school -- surviving and transforming boring meetings. A |
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08 Feb 00 - 01:35 PM (#175091) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: katlaughing Well! Some sheep might be a bit benign but the male of the two bum lambs were bottle fed and kept as pets was a right arsehole about HIS corn! Used to butt the door of the house when it was close to feeding time; then, if we were quick about it, we'd dash out the door, throw his corn down and make a mad dash for the car. As he grew, this became even more of an adventure for the children and us. My poor, sturdy Subaru, used to haul water for all uses, able to plow over or through huge snowdrifts etc with nary a scratch, suffered mightily from "lambie-lamb". He KNEW I was the chief source of food, so naturally he followed me to the driver's side door. I had a big dent in it from him. what a macho fellah! After he died from his own stupidity, the female Lambie-Lamb (very sweet) chummed up to the horse, standing under his belly, parallel to him, with her head sticking out from between his front legs. The night we sold him, when we were leaving for the East, she ran away three times to the nieghbour's horses. It was a sad and sorry site which broke our hearts. Praise - have you written any children's books? You should. katlaughing |
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08 Feb 00 - 01:43 PM (#175096) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: wysiwyg No, but when we can't sleep I tell my husband bedtime stories. He gives me a topic and off I go. You know what else? I think I am a cartoon producer in here too, because when I listen to Cab Calloway I see the cutest little vignettes and I can tell them as the music plays. Now if someone would tape this play-by-play and draw it, I'd be rich (and I guess they would be too). What a piece of work is man! Never underestimate the brain. Left to its own devices it can be very creative. I have a list of things "every kid should know" someone e-mailed me that includes, "Listen to your brain, it has a lot of information." |
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08 Feb 00 - 01:50 PM (#175098) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: wysiwyg Amos-- this was for you on meetings and S*it but my 'puter locked up and I had to fish it back out of my word processor to paste it here: SHEEP SH*T Well, when I was a highly political member of the school superintendent's staff, I used to volunteer (an alternative life-balancing activity) at a demonstration farm/outdoor ed facility. I just had to shovel the real thing at least once a week to know the difference between sh*t and s*it, and to see how people and sheople aren't really the same even when they sound/act like..... It's good to be able to shovel it when you are knee deep and to know also that when you're in your suit, you can't shovel so you instead try prevention!!! Now this thread is not creeping it is crawling over to a pretty toy on the floor. Over here... This experience also taught me that a tough inner-city kid can get off the bus their first time even seeing the country, walk into the middle of a flock of skittish sheep without disturbing them at all, and discover forever that he is actually a farmer by nature. Then that helped me recognize how the non-musical frequently are actually musicians who have simply been "taught at" to think otherwise. And it has helped me remember many, many times that most of us musical people (and animal people) don't actually speak english or any other language as our first language. Some of us are completely non-verbal by nature and our language is music. So when I meet a natural musician (especially a young sprout), who isn't expressing that gift yet, I avoid talking to them about music at all and instead try to put the music in their hands so they can "speak" with me. It's no wonder, if so many 'Catters are not actually word people, that we tend to make word messes in our threads and piss each other off or get our feelings hurt!!!!! I bet most of us, jamming together, would get along much more easily. Duh,,, trying to have harmony in a word world!!! |
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08 Feb 00 - 02:20 PM (#175116) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Peter T. Praise2 yours, Peter T. |
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08 Feb 00 - 04:09 PM (#175156) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: Amos So truly said, Praise! Although sometimes the inner farmer is hard tobring out. As a lad in boarding school on a farm, I had the happy duty of leading the work crew into the dairy barn at dawn each day to empty the gutters, using rubber boots and wide-bladed shovels. This was s++t at its most shovely, and my reward for pushing the production was that I got to drive the spreader at the end of the shift. It amazed me how convinced some of those fellow students of mine were that they could not do this work, even though the rest of us were right there showing them that it was confrontable once you made the decision to "wade in", as it were. Their flinch on the prospect was considerable! Truth is, after a while I found the task enjoyable -- straighhtforward, physically tasking work with a known endpoint and an acheivable goal is a pleasure. But, to be honest, I enjoyed splitting logs more. A |
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09 Feb 00 - 09:28 AM (#175485) Subject: RE: Thought for the day - February 6, 2000 From: wysiwyg To the above I would sya hallelujah and amen. Someone finish this song...? Wade in the splatter Wade in the splatter children Wade in the splatter, Gotta take the trouble with splatter. Or not. |