The planets formed. The Earth cooled. Creatures emerged and one of them started playing with rocks and sticks.
That creature made spears, he crafted shovels, he turned pelts into cloth. Then, he got fancy. He built the solar-powered flashlight and the combination table napkin/necktie. Not exactly useful, but somehow not altogether useless. He created inventions that didn’t quite work…but were nonetheless fun.
Chindogu was born.
I remember an episode of "IT Crowd", laughing about the idea of a ladder for bees (or some flying insect I don't remember for sure which now). The ladder was to save them if there was a fire. They could crawl up the ladder to get away from the fire. Ignoring the fact that they can fly, its a very nice invention.
Jade Walker posted a quote on Facebook:
"It's not the news that keeps upsetting you. It's what's happening that keeps upsetting you." - Dan Slott
I disagree. Its the way the news is being reported, with lies and propaganda (misinformation, or whatever that trendy word is these days), that's upsetting me. How the news is reported does matter. People are influenced by body language, tones in speech, and the words chosen. The news should be reported without bias, plainly, a little on the flat side. News is serious, not a game, an upsell, or a campaign. Editorials were used to give an opinion about the news.
When did all the news reports become so biased. Like marketing campaigns instead of news reports.
I was peeling carrots and I asked my nephew to get me a kettle to put them into. He said it was a pot. I didn't really care what he wanted to call it. Just get it so I can make dinner. I was visiting at his house, his Mother's house. But he went on about it, correcting me.
In fact, I still don't know which is perfectly correct and I don't very much care. I will still, likely, say pot or kettle and mean the same thing. The word is trivial, the meaning was pretty clear.
But he was hung up on the nuance of pot versus kettle. He was not helping me peel carrots, potatoes or get dinner cooking. Which mattered more? I think he would have figured out the lack of importance in the nuance if he had no dinner.
But, a lot of people seem to get hung up on trivial things, like nuances these days.
I do think the word matters and getting it correct matters, but it depends on the circumstances. There are times when communication needs to be clear, when communication is very important and there are times when you just want something to boil the carrots in.
This quote is about the break between having the dream and living with it. But, you can read so much into a few words.
I’m a fan of writer Ann Patchett, whose book, Truth and Beauty, is one of my favourites. This week, thanks to the website, Brain Pickings, I came across a fantastic Patchett quotation that hit very close to home, especially the last line:
“The journey from the head to hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write — and many of the people who do write — get lost… Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.”
The stark disappointment of words is something I know a little too much about. So often the idea in my head, which initially seems so good, falls apart once I begin to try to assemble the words on paper. Suddenly my remarkable idea becomes frustratingly ordinary.
Source: Lindy Mechefske
This quote makes me think about writers having to kill their babies. That was a quote I read about editing your writing. Your words and phrases being taken out of existence. Deleting unnecessary wordage. Editing.
But, I find in life, the idea of editing things or deleting them, or exterminating... there are lots of good words for it... is an important skill to have. All things but in moderation. If you can master that in life you will save yourself a lot of stress, have more space (physically and mentally) and save money too.
Of course, no one should literally kill babies, or other children. At least let them get to adulthood, or the age of 20, and be guilty of something on the extreme side, first. Its ok to be a little dramatic, just not too literal about it.
Some people don't even give Pagan, Wicca or Witch/ Witchcraft a capital letter any more. This bothers me.
Pagan is a title, a proper name for something, a title. When using English (the language is also title) we should capitalize the first letter of a word that is a title.
I know English language standards have slipped into non-importance for some people. But, I see this lack of capital letter from people who do make an effort at writing well and keeping the standards for communication in English with all the right punctuation, grammar and spelling. Sure, we all make mistakes. But, not putting a capital letter on a title is not like a spelling mistake or a typo you only make once and don't happen to catch. It looks deliberate.
Has Pagan lost it's place, it's importance?