Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Take That!
This is a call for support, take a look at USS Ben's latest post - a man who did serve his country tells what he did and didn't have in mind when doing it. Leave him an encouraging comment, the flies are already landing.
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11 comments:
Thanks for the heads-up Van. I took my fly swatter over there.
Thanks for the heads-up Van.
I left ‘im an atta boy.
Gotta love Ben. He’s the real deal.
BTW, I like where you’re going with “I” Doctor. Here’s hoping there’s more.
And thanks for giving the oraple a look-see.
RR
Thanks Van!
I'm all shook up. :^)
Mizze-
I'm willing to bet you're a Master of Fly Swatter Foo!
Not to mention the physics involved! Ha ha!
Ricky-
Thanks! You're real too! Hee hee!
Van,
Thanks for the link to Richard Mitchell’s work (that you sent to OC).
I’m hooked by half of the first page. Amazing how I can tell already he won’t be letting me down.
I think I was already hooked by this line: “…politicians and bureaucrats, whose consistently overblown prose offers us inanity in the guise of wisdom.”
I’ve been thinking on this subject lately. Notice how when the President gives a speech – even a primetime speech – the media coverage afterward only selects little sound bites from the speech - especially newspapers. Now I understand this is to so they can take things out of context and then interpret it for my subspecies. It frustrates me that you have to search so hard to find the complete transcription of a speech – which I’m fairly certain not man people do. Wouldn’t it be easier for them to just print the full speech in the paper with no play-by-play?
But getting back to Mitchell’s point, when I do eventually find the full transcript of the speech it often is soooooo long and so ‘lofty’ and ‘flowery’ even I (and I love this type of language - especially in speeches) find myself loosing patience.
Now I love the President, but I agree he has a communication problem. I’m not talking about the unscripted, live Q&A chats. But when it comes to important speeches where people need to know exactly what he means, as in the speeches and the documents drafted before the Iraq mission, these could use a little less ‘lofty’ and ‘flowery’, and if you can get away with it – and I think you can, much less ‘legalese’.
God bless Mr. Mitchell.
RR
Ricky Raccoon,
Glad you're enjoying Richard Mitchell. That site has his 4 books (all top notch) as well as the Underground Grammarian newsletters.
What's fascinating to watch in the newsletters is the creeping realization he has that what started out as a way of tweaking and shaming sloppy administrators and professors became a dawning realization of a 'tentacular' evil spreading out from its roots in Academe.
That, and he can be Gagdadishly laugh out loud funny (careful eating and reading him too!).
Van,
I just read the first 2 parts of the “Ad-hominems” series you linked to.
Where have you been all my life?
BTW, are they all titled “Ad-hominems…Part x” or do the titles change? I’m pooped by now (11:30-ish) and after part 2, I expected part 3. Maybe it was right under my nose. I tend to do that.
Anyway, next time my brain needs service, I’d like yours as a loner.
I’d ask for Bob’s but …have you seen the waiting list? Sheesh.
Ricky Raccoon,
Thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you're finding them of interest.
I've been meaning to organize this blog a bit, but I suppose it's a bit like the ace mechanic who's cars are all clunkers - when I get home from work, working on software as opposed to using software, doesn't get me much going.
But if you're going to go to the trouble of reading them, the least I can do is make it a bit easier. Here's the links to the series:
Ad Hominem Ad Hominem Ad Infinitum Part 1
Behind the Ad Hominem's stand the... (Updated 8/12/2006)pt2
The Low Hanging Fruit - pt 3
The Trees That Bare The Barren Fruit - pt 4
Would you trust a liar who told you he was going to lie to you? - pt 5
Spreading The Flames - Part 6
What never was and never will be - Modern Madness Part 7
Maybe I'll use that as a start for a "Greatest Hits" sidebar (seems a wee bit pretentious for a blog that isn't even a year old yet though).
Anyway, I hope they pay off for you - the possibility makes my day.
(If Richard Mitchell could see my typo's & grammar... he'd walk off with Prometheus [from the 'Gift of Fire'])
Van,
I know what you mean about the ‘mechanic’.
I’ve convinced myself (and apparently my wife) that that is why our fixer-upper has very little ‘decoration’ on the walls.
I’m not a traditional artist, (painter, sculpture) by day. I really don’t consider what I do during the day (3D modeling, animation and technical illustration) much like art so much at all. Although that’s what people call me here.
I reserve the word ‘art’ for the fine arts. And getting paid to do it started to turn it into something else for me. It had an influence on art, and I didn’t want to treat it that way.
So someday, if I’m lucky enough to not have to work so hard for food and roof overhead, I’ll save the full time art making for when I retire. Until then, it’ll be just nights and weekends – which lately has turned toward writing – for the first time – after having enjoyed so much reading.
RE organization, I hope I wasn’t being critical. The late hour just made it harder for me to find. Which was probably a good thing because, had I found all the next parts in your series, I’d have been up all night. Sort of a slow reader.
Anyway, last night I did a little organizing at my site – check the right side bar using labels to create “Rows in the Garden”. This was easy because I only have 6 posts so far. Talk about pretentious.
But really I did this because I want the brand new reader to know where to start and know right away what the site is about. Particularly for my son when he’s ready for the material.
Ricky Raccoon said "I hope I wasn’t being critical..."
No worries Ricky. I've been meaning to use those labels blogger has now... it's just a matter of getting around to it. Maybe this weekend.
BTW I liked your poem in yesterdays OC - that was a keeper.
That means a lot coming from you, Van.
Thank you.
I hope Cosa found it. Seemed he needed some hope, and with Easter coming that also seemed to synch. He was in a bad state last night.
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