WordWolf

"I WISH I'D BEEN THE MAN I KNEW MYSELF TO BE." THAT was on his headstone. Along with his name, the birth-death years (dates? I forget that part) and the words "Awaiting the Return". Except for that sentence, it was standardized with the other 2 headstones. Hearsay said he requested them for his headstone. If you want my opinion, it's not an admission that he actually did bad things. As his years dwindled to days and hours, one poster passed along that he kept searching his mind, trying to find where he'd missed it- the reason he was actually dying- so he could solve it and magically heal. That means he was deceiving people on his deathbed and KNEW it was all bunkum, or- as I see it- that he'd succeeded in conning even HIMSELF, as he didn't see decades of fraud, of deception, of the love of filthy lucre, of the druggings and rapes, of the using of people as things and the loving of things over people, as actually BAD THINGS. He never stopped and confessed having done wrong, and never lifted a finger to make amends to his victims. It was never about other people- it was always about HIM. His illnesses and death were terrible because they were sufferings endured by HIM, not causes for humility. If he really DID wish he did better, it was a wish for his magical "believing" powers to kick in and magically heal him. vpw had a lot of time to see his death coming. He spoke to many people as a result of his approaching death. He NEVER told them "I have abused God's people" or anything like that. When he mentioned anything, it was how other people were failing, or would fail by his predictions (which failed to come to pass.) If he hadn't been an evil-minded person, he would have repented. Since he was completely given over to his preferred forms of evil, he had no motive to repent, and I see no reason to even SUSPECT it.

I read something different- where the SAME birds' beaks were varying year to year, depending on rainfall- thus depending on the seeds.

The finches aren't changing GENETICALLY, they're changing SEASONALLY. When the seeds they feed on are harder, their beaks get harder. (I'm simplifying it. Plus, I wasn't that interested when I was reading.) So, the beaks change from YEAR TO YEAR, not GENERATION TO GENERATION. SELF control and discipline are not illusions. They can be taught, they can be learned, and they bear no resemblance to the "thought control" taught in twi. Some people seem to have great aptitude for it without need to learn it. Others can learn with practice or the right teacher. The whole field of thinking itself, and how it affects the person, is called "cognitive psychology". Quite a lot can be affected by changing biology (chemicals treating disorders or CAUSING problems) but it can hardly ALL be accounted for by way of biology or Stimulus-response and conditioning. You can take identical twins, raise them together, and still have considerable differences in their personalities. If all of life was environment+heredity, they'd be completely identical in every way.

I think one thing that should have gotten at least an eyebrow or 2 raised is that vpw said he came up with the original phrasings (before lcm made them OCD poster children) "in about 10 minutes." Care to base your LIFE on something that took 1 person a few minutes to work out?

I'm perfectly happy leaving out my legal name. That doesn't make me as anonymous as you think- my screen-name has travelled in some unusual circles, and you can find out more interesting things about me by my screen-name than by my legal name. Partly that's to avoid trouble with authorities down the line- seeking jobs or what-have-you. Part of it is to starve out future cyberstalkers (yes, I've had one already.) Good thing for me I don't connect my legal name with my screen name(s). I get a reputation for being who I am as a person- not what my legal name is. Frankly, I'm happier with THAT kind of reputation. You'd be surprised how many people are happy using screen names with friends and so on. I have some good friends who I have to think really hard to remember their legal names. Unless I was mailing them something, it's not like I'd need to know, anyway.

It rings a bell, but I can't name it yet.

It is indeed. The name "Aqualung" for the homeless man in the song seems to be a reference to his laboured breathing- sounding like someone using a breathing device. This is the best-known song of Jethro Tull. You can recognize their songs pretty easily, often- listen for a FLUTE. That's Ian Anderson playing. There's a story- which I seriously doubt is true- that Ian Anderson heard Eric Clapton play the guitar, and concluded he'd never be that good. He walked into a music store, pointed to a flute, and announced he wanted to learn to play it. Fans of the movie "Anchorman" should recognize the reference to the song when Burgundy is in the restaurant playing the flute. THIS song was "the Teacher", another Jethro Tull song which gets significant airplay on classic rock stations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqH8I6V-E5g or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fNY0JuATpQ I wasn't even going to try one like "the Whistler" because I'm a fan and even I'd never heard of it until about 1 month ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hLzRDt4pvI

"Do you still remember December's foggy freeze -- when the ice that clings on to your beard is screaming agony. And you snatch your rattling last breaths with deep-sea-diver sounds, and the flowers bloom like madness in the spring." "Feeling alone -- the army's up the road salvation a la mode and a cup of tea."

Actually, with animals in domestication, probably the biggest determinant is SELECTIVE BREEDING. It was demonstrated that 20 generations of an animal are all it can take in order to go from a "wild" animal to a "docile" animal. This was done with a species of fox that was being farmed for its fur. The farm staff only selected for breeding the members of each generation that were a bit more "calm" than the others of the same generation. They did this for 20 generations, and the fur farm's animals are now behaving completely differently than the ones 20 generations ago. One can argue trying the same with humans. However, with humans, environment, experience, acculturation and cognition (what the person actually THINKS) makes more of a difference than any attempt to selectively breed nicer people.

Let's try a different song with the same artist. (I'll name this last one once the new one's named.) "Do you still remember December's foggy freeze -- when the ice that clings on to your beard is screaming agony."

"Well the dawn was coming, heard him ringing on my bell." "I have a lesson that I must impart to you. It's an old expression, but I must insist it's true. 'Jump up, look around, find yourself some fun, no sense in sitting there hating everyone. No man's an island and his castle isn't home, the nest is for nothing when the bird has flown.' '' " Hey man, what's the plan, what was that you said? 'Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed.' I try to socialize but I can't seem to find what I was looking for, got something on my mind."

That's one of so many good quotes. I was thinking of using it. I also like "Where are you going with those fireworks?" "Well the 'Protector' got super-accelerated coming out of the black hole and just, like, nailed the atmosphere at Mach fifteen, which, you guys know, is pretty unstable obviously, so we're gonna help Laredo guide it on the vox ultra-frequency carrier and use Roman candles for visual confirmation." "Uh, alright. Dinner's at seven. Well, at least he's outside."

Ah, freedom! At first, it can be a bit scary, but it's exhilarating, and there's nothing like it.

" 'Jump up, look around, find yourself some fun, no sense in sitting there hating everyone. No man's an island and his castle isn't home, the nest is for nothing when the bird has flown.' '' " Hey man, what's the plan, what was that you said? 'Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed.' I try to socialize but I can't seem to find what I was looking for, got something on my mind."

"You'll forgive my impertinence, but even though we have never before met, I have always considered you as a father to me." "You've gotta admit, they really do love him." "Yeah, almost as much as he loves himself." "It doesn't take a great actor to recognize a bad one." "Wonderful. You have all done far greater damage than I ever could have. Bravo!" "He doesn't understand. Explain as you would a child."

Another example of this. Twi thinking says that all the instruments have to be used for all the song, otherwise the song is "good" but not "best." Here's a song that violates that thinking. Would it be a better song with more instruments in more of the song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idd_92ajjwY or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU9FwP4uOY8 (That's Evanescence's "My Immortal", for the curious who don't want to click.)

*checks the IMdB page for "Creepshow." Ok, that was correct. Let's move this along. ====================== "You'll forgive my impertinence, but even though we have never before met, I have always considered you as a father to me." "You've gotta admit, they really do love him." "Yeah, almost as much as he loves himself."

" 'Jump up, look around, find yourself some fun, no sense in sitting there hating everyone. No man's an island and his castle isn't home, the nest is for nothing when the bird has flown.' ''

Seems like an episode of "Enterprise." If someone's actually SEEN "Enterprise", they're welcome to get closer than that. This is as close as I can get for the series as a whole.

"Pride (In the Name of Love)", by U-2.

Beware of Good Enough author unknown My Child, beware of "good enough," It isn't made of sterling stuff. It's something anyone can do; It marks the many from the few. The flaw which may escape the eye, And temporarily get by. Shall weaken underneath the strain, And wreck the ship, the car, or plane. With "good enough," the car breaks down, And one falls short of high renown. My child, remember and be wise, In "good enough", disaster lies. With "good enough," the shirkers stop, In every factory and shop; With "good enough," the failures rest, And lose the one who gives the best. Who stops at "good enough" shall find, Success has left them far behind. For this is true of you and your stuff-- Only the best is "good enough." ================ It makes a pithy saying, but this sentiment works some of the time, and fails miserably other times. For those who are used to doing inadequate jobs, it's a reminder to do better. For those who already got the job done, it's an invitation to waste lots of time. It's been said, of making ALL movies, that you never "finish" a movie, you just "give up on it." In other words, think of your favorite movies, and realize that someone can easily walk up, recite this poem, and expect the director to spend hundreds of hours more on it, to "improve" it. How do you feel about Lucas and Spielberg redoing E.T because "it was only good enough"? Well, they DID! Basically, everything you ever owned was considered "good enough" and produced as it was. Heck, every operating system ever used on a computer was considered "good enough". As frustrating as every O/S has been at some time, it's been of great use to somebody at some time. etc.

Ah, WHY do you have to DISABLE one to use the other? I'm on Windows XP. (I presume Vista does the same-I've heard no outcry on it, I'm sure Linux works like this.) IE is still set as my default. Once it opens, I either use it, or- much more often- close it and manually open Firefox. I use Firefox for all my browsing. I use IE for Windows Updates and things like that.

It seems to have gotten considerably bigger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupelo,_Mississippi It's no Manhattan, but it seems to be a sizeable town.

I think you're confusing THREE episodes. Harry (Harcourt Fenton) Mudd appeared in TWO episodes- 1) Mudd's Women- Mudd (and the Venus drug) was peddling brides to lonely miners at a dilithium mining station. 2) I, Mudd (like "I, Robot")- Mudd was trapped on a planet of androids- at first their ruler, then their prisoner (He also had an episode of the cartoon- "Mudd's Passion." ) "The Trouble with Tribbles" featured the fast-talking salesman, CYRANO JONES. (I used to confuse him with Mudd, too.)

There's been a number of posts reminding the rest of us about when vpw would visit places. The locals would pass the hat around, and he would be given some physical present (like a MOTORCYCLE) or the like. Other times, he would be given the cash that was collected. Of course, when he visited, it was required that he stay at someone's home- he never did anything like PAY FOR A HOTEL ROOM. Does anyone here think that the presents or UNTRACEABLE CASH were ever declared on his INCOME TAX? They WERE TAXABLE INCOME.... I'm not sure about the overnight stays, but I don't think anyone would lose sleep over whether that was actually declared on taxes (although that IS a present and took the place of him spending cash.)