"Chrome Dome" Is Hate Speech, Choking On Figs, a Zen Story
I got a bunch of fresh figs for free from work. Anytime I eat figs I think of the joke that killed the ancient Greek philosopher Chrysippus. He saw a donkey eating figs and said that it just needed some wine to wash them down. Then he died laughing. I guess you had to be there, or also dead drunk on ancient Greek overproof wine.
December 16, 2021
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Edgar Allan Poe- "To die laughing must be the most glorious of all glorious deaths!"
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Another dying of laughter story, from Wikipedia:
Martin of Aragon died from a combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughing. According to tradition, Martin was suffering from indigestion on account of eating an entire goose when his favorite jester, Borra, entered the king's bedroom. When Martin asked Borra where the jester had been, the jester replied with: "Out of the next vineyard, where I saw a young deer hanging by his tail from a tree, as if someone had so punished him for stealing figs." This joke caused the king to die from laughter.
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What's going on here? What's with the wine and figs?
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A taxidermied rat dressed up as Mary? Well my Christmas shopping for Emma is done.
December 16, 2023
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Come on Santa, give the guy a chance.
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Ahhh, the Dr. Jill Biden controversy, 2020's equivalent to Obama's Tan Suit. I'm eager to settle back in to this echelon of scandal. What's next, Kamala Harris wore Madonna gummy bracelets to her prom? Joe Biden put a Mickey Mantle card in his bike spokes? "And he thinks we should listen to him about fiscal responsibility!"
December 16, 2020
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From Wikipedia:
Martin of Aragon died from a combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughing. According to tradition, Martin was suffering from indigestion on account of eating an entire goose when his favorite jester, Borra, entered the king's bedroom. When Martin asked Borra where the jester had been, the jester replied with: "Out of the next vineyard, where I saw a young deer hanging by his tail from a tree, as if someone had so punished him for stealing figs." This joke caused the king to die from laughter.
Now why would that be so funny??? And what is it with wine and figs? Here's another odd death:
One ancient account of the death of Chrysippus, the 3rd century BC Greek Stoic philosopher, tells that he died of laughter after he saw a donkey eating his figs; he told a slave to give the donkey neat wine to drink to wash them down with, and then, "...having laughed too much, he died"
Seriously, what's going on here?
December 16, 2017
Postscript- Yeah, what's going on here? Why did I bring up that story two times on December 16th in the past?
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So some FBI agents currently working on the Mueller investigation called Trump a “douche,” an “utter idiot,” and a “loathsome human," in the run up to the 2016 election. What's the problem with stating the objective truth???
And how did they get all those people to make false statements? And why did those people make false statements to begin with? And why does the president make false statements every day? Maybe because he's a loathsome human? Why does this utter idiot forget that the findings could exonerate him?
At least when we have all the evidence, we'll be able to judge for ourselves whether it's biased or not.
December 16, 2017
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This Zen story crosses my mind often:
Once there was a well known philosopher and scholar who devoted himself to the study of Zen for many years. On the day that he finally attained enlightenment, he took all of his books out into the yard, and burned them all.
December 16, 2017
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Chrome dome??? That's hate speech. We're a group.
December 16, 2017
Postscript- After watching The Last Jedi.
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Who wore it better?
December 16, 2014
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I turned to April on my work calendar only to find that some jerk had already been there! So far nobody's fessing up.
December 16, 2014
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My baby burst into tears when I held her in front of the Christmas tree to see the pretty lights, but she was calmed when we sat down to finish watching this Ed Gein biography. Adorable little psychopath.
December 16, 2013
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The Boston Tea Party took place on this day in 1773 when members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
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Ludwig van Beethoven was born on this day in 1770.
"Music is ... a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."
That appears on the surface to be easy to scoff at, and I'm tempted to, since we all elevate the one thing we are into, but many philosophers have expressed the same sentiment. I've often thought that the number one worst job for me would be a music reviewer. Because what is there to say? Music just is what it is. It's its own thing. And it does seem to be a bit magical. How do you describe magic? People do, but that also seems to be almost magic. Don't talk to me about people reviewing music. I don't know how they're doing what they're doing and it stresses me out!
You know when you're listening to classical music, and you somehow know what the next note is going to be? Seriously, what's going on there? I remember my college philosophy professor of metaphysics wondering the same thing.
Kepler thought the planets made music as they moved through their ellipses.
Centuries later, some physicists believe in string theory, where all atoms are made up of vibrating strings.
I had a student who hated math, but then got into music, and swore that all the sudden math made sense to her.
Is this stuff all insane, or is there something to it? Is this one of those things that will become common knowledge in a century, causing every ancestors to look back and wonder how stupid we were?
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Arthur C. Clarke joined us on this day in 1917.
"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
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Philip K. Dick joined our universe on this day in 1928.
"If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others."
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Benny Andersson of ABBA joined us on this day in 1946. God damn I love his piano playing at the beginning of Ring Ring!
https://youtu.be/TL0EoXdpOqg
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Bill Hicks was born on this day in 1961. I'd like to know what he would have thought of the 21st century. (Jesus, are we almost a quarter of the way through it???)
"Maybe it’s my face. I got one of those faces, man, I’m just– People come up to me I don’t even know, come up out of the blue and go: ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘Takes more energy to frown than it does to smile.’ ‘Yeah, you know it takes more energy to point that out than it does to leave me alone? Get the fuck away from me.’"
https://youtu.be/XL09aOj0TQE
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On this day in 1964, Todd Glass was born. He is the exact opposite of the lyrics and was born on his third birthday. I just watched his special, Spicy Honey, and laughed the whole way through.
"There’s a best-selling book about home organizing, I think it’s called, The Life Changing Art of Tidying Up, something like that, written by a Japanese woman. Her main philosophy is to take everything you own, you look at it one by one and go, “Does this bring me joy?” And if the answer is no, you get rid of it. Based on that, I’ll be burning my apartment to the ground… [laughter] with me in it."
Wait, shit, I'm talking about Todd Barry! Screw it, hilarious joke, I'm leaving it. Todd Barry and I are chrome domes and need all the help we can get.
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Todd Glass was born on the same day as that fuckface Billy Ripken.
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W. Somerset Maugham left us on this day in 1965.
"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."
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Best movie of the year- The Cove.
December 16, 2009
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This morning either the devil got a new buddy or it remains a fact that "That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/christopher-hitchens-dies-62-051006229.html
December 16, 2011
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The Onion- Fumbling, Inarticulate Obituary Writer Somehow Losing Debate To Christopher Hitchens
http://www.theonion.com/articles/fumbling-inarticulate-obituary-writer-somehow-losi,26890/
December 16, 2011
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NPR- For Hitchens, In Life And Death, An Unaware Cosmos
I was "dealt a pretty good hand by the cosmos, which doesn't know I'm here and won't know when I'm gone."
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/16/143830372/for-hitchens-in-life-and-death-an-unaware-cosmos
December 16, 2011
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Slate- Donald Trump’s Debate Strategy Is Stolen From 8-Year-Olds and Cicero
"Praeteritio" is the act of saying something by saying that you’re not going to say it.
http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2015/12/donald_trump_s_preferred_rhetorical_tactic_is_called_praeteritio_is_also.html
December 16, 2015
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A good morning song, Tiki Riki Tiki Riki.
https://youtu.be/CRz2HzVZd80
December 16, 2021
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Great short article on the Stockdale Paradox, how we have to strike a balance between optimism and realism.
https://bigthink.com/health/stockdale-paradox-confronting-reality-vital-success
"Frankl developed a concept he called “tragic optimism,” that is, an optimism in the face of tragedy. This idea has gone through many names and iterations throughout the years. In the Nietzschean worldview, it’s the idea that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Tragic optimism is similar to the Stockdale Paradox, as they both express a paradoxical idea about acknowledging your current difficulties intermixed with a positive belief that in the end you will still triumph."
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Woody Allen- "If God exists, I hope he has a good excuse."
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Twain- "There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable."
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Sagan- The boundary between space and the earth is purely arbitrary. And I'll probably always be interested in this planet - it's my favorite.
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Vonnegut, Palm Sunday- "As for literary criticism in general: I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel or a play or a poem is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or a banana split."
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Hitchens:
Q- What is it you most dislike?
A- Stupidity, especially in its nastiest forms of racism and superstition.
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Steven Wright
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
"My girlfriend said, 'If you could know how and when you were going to die, would you want to know?' I said, 'No.' She said, 'Forget it, then.'" --
If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?
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