Time travel has fascinated us for decades, whether it’s via TARDIS, DeLorean, sleigh, or actual phone booth. Continue reading “A Practical Time Machine”
A Practical Time Machine
A Conversation Over Saturday Morning Coffee
The following is the result of a free write exercise after grading forty-some-odd history assignments and consuming ten cups of coffee – at least, what my coffee maker indicates as a “cup”; measured using my actual coffee mug, it’s only three cups – with Smokey on my lap and House Season 6 on Netflix.
According to my schedule, I’m supposed to write something.
Today, it feels like a Blue Book Exam for which I haven’t studied – or worse, one for which I studied the completely wrong material. Like the exam which cost me an A in History of England I because I studied the wrong material and tried verbosity over substance and ended up with a 93.9 in a class with a six-point grading scale and a teacher who didn’t round and whose law was that of the Medes and Persians. She also wore military-style jackets [military circa the turn of the last century] and reminded most of us of Napoleon. She was great!
Seriously, I sat down and did the math – I only needed one more point anywhere else on any assignment over the course of the semester and I’d have my A. Now, I use this tale of woe as an academic morality tale for my students – especially the freshman.
And you know what? I, too, follow the law of the Medes and Persians. By that I mean I cannot change my own class policy, not that you’ll lose your hand if you cheat. Was that a law of the Medes and Persians? I’m not sure, but it sounds like it could be. You’d think I’d know this, being a history teach and all.
Students think being a teacher is fun because you can make the rules. Being a teacher is extremely enjoyable, but enforcing the rules isn’t always fun, like when a top student completes the wrong assignment or fails to completely follow the directions. I suppose that’s what discourages me sometimes: as a teacher I provide direction, but if my students cannot follow simple written directions, does this reflect badly on them or on me? Who is to blame in this scenario?
I suppose reading comprehension must enter the equation somewhere, and if teachers are being honest, we’d have to admit that most students don’t read as much as they should. Thankfully, that’s beginning to change with the recent surge in YA Literature.
YA Literature – a definite misnomer if there ever was one. It’s very label implies it shouldn’t be taken seriously or that adults shouldn’t enjoy it. Hogwash. There’s excellent YA Literature and there’s trash Adult Literature because – shocker – it’s all literature. Let’s forget the labels and focus on a well-written story, shall we?
Now’s a perfect time to start a new reading habit, what with Banned Books Week starting in a week or so. I’m already working on some special posts, so stay tuned. You may even get to hear me read from some of my favorite banned/challenged books!
So, what’s new with you?
Do you have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?
Drop a note in the prompt box!
Don’t forget to follow me on:
Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.
Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?
Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.
In This Sign
Thanks to Vanessa of Petal & Mortar for dropping a note in the prompt box!
IN HOC SIGNO VINCES
So said God to Constantine
So said the Pope to the Masters
So said the Masters to us
In this sign, conquer
Under this sign, defeat the Infidel
Under this sign, conquer the Holy Land for Christendom
Ascalon
Montgisard
Acre
Arsuf
NON NOBIS DOMINE, NON NOBIS, SED NOMINI TUO DA GLORAIM
In this sign, christen
Christened the Templars, for the Temple gave us
the Ark of the Covenant
the Black Books of Wisdom
the Head of John the Baptist
the Holy Grail
the Seed of Christ
the Secrets of geometry
the Treasures of Old Jerusalem
the Power
In this sign, command and control
Command princes and priests and popes and potentates and powers
Control the fighting and fields and finance and future of Europe
A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.
Bernard de Clairvaux, c. 1135
De Laude Novae Militae [In Praise of the New Knighthood]
In this sign, capitulate
Capitulate to the conspiracy and conniving of kings
Capitulate to the threat and terror of torture
God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom.
King Philip IV of France
In this sign, continue
God knows who is wrong and has sinned.
Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death.Grand Master Jacques de Molay
Continue in legend and myth and lore and secret societies
Continue until the time is right once more
IN HOC SIGNO VINCES
Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?
Drop a note in the prompt box!
Don’t forget to follow me on:
Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.
Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?
Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.
Anytown, USA
Thanks to Vanessa of Petal & Mortar for dropping a note in the prompt box!
Gentility
noun | gen·til·i·ty | \jen-‘ti-lÉ™-tÄ“\
1a :Â the condition of belonging to the gentry
1b :Â gentlefolk, gentry
2a (1) :Â decorum of conduct :Â courtesy
2a (2) :Â attitudes or activity marked by false delicacy, prudery, or affectation
2b :Â superior social status or prestige evidenced by manners, possessions, or mode of life
Signs run up and down the eastern seaboard:
hidden to the average naked eye;
revealed to those knowing the signs already.
Find a map: an honest-to-goodness paper
map stained with ketchup and mustard and grease
and oil and the grit and grime of road trips -
not some satellite-produced, digitally-
rendered version glowing on a glass-like
screen of modern technomancy.
Look at the names of counties and townships
and villages and roads, of lakes and streams
and rivers, of mountains and valleys
and other geographic terrain.
Pick a place at random: throw a dart, choose from a
hat, select a site with a nice-sounding name;
any place will do.
Visit the churchyard cemeteries: the old ones with
family plots marked out by mausoleums or low stone
walls or wrought-iron fences.
Open the phone book: few – if any – of the names
found engraved on these eternal monuments remain.
Drive the roads: the ones with nearly unpronounceable
names or names that don’t sound like they look they
should.
Ask the old timers and no two of them will agree
on how the name should be said.
Look around:
the brick buildings of the once-bustling downtown
with fading painted signage now converted into loft
apartments or the tourist-centered shops one finds
in any small town trying to regenerate before it
succumbs to the appeal and attraction of larger
cities or becomes boarded up all together
the old houses too large for the lots they sit on
surrounded by smaller houses
encroached on by modern buildings
threatened by trailer parks
pulled down by vines and weather
and ravages of time
Take it all in and consider it all together:
the cemeteries,
the names,
the architecture,
the decay,
and the signs all point to one thing:
the long, slow, inevitable decline
and fading away of a once-proud gentility.
Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?
Drop a note in the prompt box!
Don’t forget to follow me on:
Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.
Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?
Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets
Defending Hamilton
By now you (probably) know the U.S. Treasury Department plans to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill.
Their decision vexes me.
Replace Andrew Jackson; as Women on 20s proved, he’s become wildly unpopular.
Replace Abraham Lincoln or George Washington.
They already appear on commonly-used currency:
the quarter and the penny respectively.
Although, in fairness, there’s been talk of discontinuing the penny for decades.
I hope not – this will hinder my squished penny collecting.
I have close to 500 souvenir pennies.
Pre-1982 pennies make the best squishing pennies for their copper content.
Modern zinc pennies or – heaven forbid – those metal alloys sometimes provided by the press manufacturer just don’t stack up.
Back to the task at hand.
Of all Founding Fathers, Hamilton is the most deserving of a place on our currency.
Hamilton . . .
Grew up in the West Indies.
Acted as Washington’s senior aide in the Revolutionary War.
Served in Congress under the Articles of Confederation.
Spearheaded the Annapolis Convention,
which led to the Philadelphia Convention,
which led to the Constitution as we know it today.
Advocated for constitutional ratification in the Federalist Papers.
Using the pseudonym Publius, Hamilton wrote 51 of the 85 papers.
Today, these papers are considered the single most important source of constitutional interpretation.
Established the foundations United States’ federal government, specifically in arguing in favor of the doctrine of implied powers and the creation of a National Bank.
Influenced early foreign policy, especially in America’s preferential treatment of Britain.
Swayed the electoral college to make Thomas Jefferson third President of the United States.
Opposed Aaron Burr’s attempts to become President and Governor of New York.
You may recall that Burr attempted to establish his own empire in what would become the Louisiana Purchase.
By this time, Burr had killed Hamilton in a duel over comments made regarding the aforementioned elections.
Alexander Hamilton lived the American Dream before it was a thing.
Removing him from our currency would be both a travesty and a dishonor.
NPR’s Steve Inskeep (sort-of) disagrees with me.
Over at Faith and History, Robert McKenzie agrees with me using a much better argument.
What do you think?
Should we replace Hamilton, Jackson, or someone else?
Who should take their place?
Let me know in the comments!
Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?
Drop a note in the prompt box!
Don’t forget to follow me on:
Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.
Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?
Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.
Teaser Tuesday: 1916: The Easter Rising (3.0)
Yesterday I cut down the brush encroaching my house.
Last night a piece aluminum siding broke free, blowing in the wind.
This morning I fixed it, and
I had actual, honest-to-goodness wired internet installed.
That’s right:
No more relying on my phone as a hot spot.
No more mooching off my in-laws to download/upload large files.
But let’s be honest, I’ll still spend quite a bit of time there.
Family
Good Food
On the Water
No more using the work WiFi to blog.
Unless I want to, of course.
Disclaimer: I didn’t use it during work hours;
I come in early and stay late.
They don’t mind.
And so, thanks to the packet-switching that drives the internet, SuddenLink Communications, and the wheel of time, it is my pleasure to bring you my first post via my own cabled internet:
Just in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*
*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.
This week I’m reading 1916: The Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.
Actually, this marks the third time I’ve tried to read it. This should not be a reflection on Mr. Coogan, time and life simply stalled out the other attempts. Thus far, it’s quite readable and enjoyable.
I used the Truly Random Number Generator to pick the page number; it chose page 35.
I must admit, it isn’t the most riveting of passages, but that’s what you get when you leave things to fate/chance.
The British system was based on:
(a) The grasp of human weakness and vanity.
(b) A correct appreciation of the value and use
of duplicity and Pecksniffianism.
(c) A clear conception of the truth that success in
governing depends on well-contrived
antagonisms in the economic and social
structure of the state.
In Retrospect
I finished two books since the last Teaser Tuesday:
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré socred 4/5 stars. It was a fairly decent mystery story, but the pace may be a little slow for those accustomed to modern thrillers. After reading, I also understand why people complained the movie was incredibly slow [I haven’t seen it; I wonder if it’s on Netflix?]. However, I loved the story for the story’s sake – even if I did figure out whodunnit about a quarter of the way through – and am thankful my library has more of le Carré’s works.
A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie scored 2/5 stars. I found the plot slightly less than intriguing, the characters flat, and the resolution bordering on Deus ex machina. I also new whodunnit by the time Miss Marple made her appearance – it wasn’t that hard to figure it out. On the plus side, my edition didn’t yet exist on Goodreads, so I got to add it to the list!
What have you been reading?
Don’t forget to follow me on:
Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.
Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?
Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.
Running In My Head 