Monday 29 November 2010

Go up, you baldhead!


23 Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!”
24 When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.

— 2 Kings 2:23-24

Sunday 28 November 2010

Electricity

Other Species

The question is not,
"Can they reason?" nor,
"Can they talk?" but rather,
"Can they suffer?"
— Jeremy Bentham

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Always Want Again

Just take this longing from my tongue
all the lonely things my hands have done.
Let me see your beauty broken down
like you would do for one your love.
— Leonard Cohen 'Take This Longing'

Tuesday 23 November 2010

The Coasts Of Me

I, while the gods laugh, the world's vortex am;
Maelstrom of passions in that hidden sea
Whose waves of all-time lap the coasts of me;
And in small compass the dark waters cram.
— Mervyn Peake

How To Get There

Monday 22 November 2010

The Stone Skyfield

The crumbling castle, looming among the mists, exhaled the season, and every cold stone breathed it out. The tortured trees by the dark lake burned and dripped, their leaves snatched by the wind were whirled in wild circles through the towers. The clouds mouldered as they lay coiled, or shifted themselves uneasily upon the stone skyfield, sending up wreathes that drifted through the turrets and swarmed up hidden walls.
— Mervyn Peake 'Titus Groan'

Sunday 21 November 2010

Word Of The Day

Metaphormosing: calling a caterpillar a butterfly

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Humpty–Dumptyism

'I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. 'Of course you don't — till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

'But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.'

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. 'They've a temper, some of them — particularly verbs: they're the proudest — adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs — however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'

'Would you tell me please,' said Alice, 'what that means?'

'Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. 'I meant by "impenetrability" that we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life.'

'That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said in a thoughtful tone.

'When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'I always pay it extra.'

'Oh!' said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any other remark.

Saturday 13 November 2010

Word Of The Day

telepathetic: pitiful from a distance

Thursday 11 November 2010

The Importance Of Punctuation

WHAT THE HAL9000 COMPUTER SAID IN 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

I'm sorry, Dave.
I'm afraid I can't do that. …
I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.


WHAT THE HAL9000 COMPUTER MEANT IN 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

I'm sorry, Dave.
I'm afraid.
I can't do that. …
I'm afraid.
That's something I cannot allow to happen.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

The Bourgeois Sea

Oh baby, what a place to be
In the service of the bourgeoisie
— Iggy Pop 'Endless Sea'

Sunday 7 November 2010

Physicality

Before middle age: energy > mass
After middle age: mass > energy

Friday 5 November 2010

Do It Yourself

On the armchair, a book: “How to relax.”
Beside the bed, a book: “How to get to sleep.”
Next to the window, a book: “How to see what’s in front of you.”
Next to the man seated at the table, a book: “How to be a man.”
On the desk, a book: “How to succeed in life.”
In hell, a book: “How you ended up in hell.”
— Michæl Leunig

Psyclones

Individuals of the same mind.

Homo Geneous

Brian: You're all individuals.
Crowd: YES! WE'RE ALL INDIVIDUALS!
Brian: You're all different.
Crowd: YES. WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT.
Lone Voice: I'm not.
— Monty Python 'The Life Of Brian'

Thursday 4 November 2010

Motion In Poetry

The bottom line?
I sit on mine!