I heard a lefty (someone who voted for Kerry & didn’t regret it) say tonight that GWB “pulled an Exxon”.
What the aytch eee double hockey sticks does that mean?
Edgar Allen Poe did more than just horror stories – he was a poet. I first read The Bells in 6th grade, when my teacher made us go outside to read the poem. We had to shout everytime we read the word bells, and she didn’t want to disturb the classrooms around us.
I
Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
II
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
III
Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now–now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-
Of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!
IV
Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people–ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone-
They are neither man nor woman-
They are neither brute nor human-
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells-
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells-
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-
Bells, bells, bells-
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
Sorry for the light posting today, but its been busy. First, I get a week off from work, because my boss thinks I’m working too much. More on that later. After dropping Jen off at work, I took the car in for new tires (insert Jack Furrier’s endorsement here) and went to the pistol range (where I earned my NRA Pistol Marksman rating). After that I picked up Jen and we packed for a short trip to Phoenix. Jen has a conference up here, and I haven’t had a minute to get any blogging done today.
Anyway, without further ado, the unknown blogs of the week: sites lower in the ecosystem than I who I find interesting, haven’t been highlighted before, and have updated themselves in the past month. Enjoy.
And finally, the Unlisted Blog: The Official Ramen Homepage. I kid you not.
Firearms are an unfortunately necessary part of life and a thankfully enjoyable part as well. On the one hand they are required tools for self defense – though rarely so, in most places. On the other they are enjoyable tools for recreational use. Both necessity and recreation argue for their continued presence in society, yet nothing argues against their removal. One might argue that crime necessitates their prohibition, but that is to confuse the ends and the means of reducing crime.
Read more…
Patrick Ruffini has a new straw poll out. The candidate list is:
You’ll note that I’ve stricken the names of the Senators and Rep. Tom Tancredo, for the same reason – they can’t get elected. You need to have executive experience in this day & age to take the top office. That leaves Barbour, Giuliani, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Pataki, and Romney. Of those, Barbour is considered corrupt, Giuliani is too liberal to get the nomination, Huckabee & Pawlenty could get the nod if they would take a stand on issues, Pataki isn’t even liked by Republicans in New York, and Romney is questionable on abortion. Overall the field is underwhelming, to say the least.
The fantasy candidates, though, are more compelling. Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Mark Sanford, and Fred Thompson have all (as far as I can glean from Google) said they aren’t interested in the top spot. At the very least, Jeb should reconsider. I would also support Dick Cheney, as he’s acerbic & bitter enough for my tastes. I like his sarcasm. Condoleezza Rice would be interesting, as you would have to watch the Democrats either refrain from calling her an Uncle (Aunt?) Tom (???) and grumble loudly, or or call her one outright and lose the election by 20 or more points. She’d probably do very well as President, and it would help bring blacks out of the margins of American politics.
Stinkin’ Tivo. I start recording the Pats-Steelers game 1 quarter into it (stinkin’ CBS, cheatin’ me out of one whole quarter) and it stops recording when its schedule says the game ends, not when it actually ends. Dang Tivo cheats me out of the last quarter. NOTHIN’ HAPPENED BETWEEN!
Ah well. Pittsburgh lost by a meager field goal. If that’s all the Super Bowl Champs can come up with after four quarters, I look forward to the next matchup, if the Pats can make it into the playoffs with their injured list like it is now.
And hey, its almost against the rules of football to have a perfect season. Now that the Steel Curtain has paid tribute to the 72 Dolphins, we have free reign to crush everyone else.
Jen and I were asked, because of our background in marching band in high school, to help teach the band at Jen’s school how to march. Being a private school, the band is not so large – only 12 kids. I attended a large school myself, and consequently had a large band, one that required a lot of discipline. My high school adopted a more, shall we say, militaristic style of precision. Therefore I had to supress my instinct to become Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann in front of these kids.
We started this morning at about 9:30, where the kids demonstrated how they had learned to get on & off the field. It was pretty underwhelming, to say the least. So Jen & I started with the basics: marking time, 8 steps for every 5 yards, facing, the position of attention, etc. etc. They picked up on it pretty fast, though they had issues with keeping a line straight. After about an hour, though, they had improved noticeably.
We closed out the session with a full run of their pregame show – march on, National Anthem, School Fight Song, march off. They had picked up on the lessons and managed to apply them immediately. They still need some polish, but for a group of only 12 students, they did very well. I’m glad I helped them out, and proud of them.
Probably a bit more crass than necessary.
Shake ingredients & pour over ice into a – what else – hurricane glass.
If you’re under age, don’t drink. And remember the first commandment if you do. “You shall have no other gods before me” – one more drink just isn’t worth praying to the porcelain god.
United States Army, For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.
Corporal Tibor Rubin distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism during the period from July 23, 1950, to April 20, 1953, while serving as a rifleman with Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in the Republic of Korea. While his unit was retreating to the Pusan Perimeter, Corporal Rubin was assigned to stay behind to keep open the vital Taegu-Pusan Road link used by his withdrawing unit. During the ensuing battle, overwhelming numbers of North Korean troops assaulted a hill defended solely by Corporal Rubin. He inflicted a staggering number of casualties on the attacking force during his personal 24-hour battle, single-handedly slowing the enemy advance and allowing the 8th Cavalry Regiment to complete its withdrawal successfully. Following the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the 8th Cavalry Regiment proceeded northward and advanced into North Korea. During the advance, he helped capture several hundred North Korean soldiers. On October 30, 1950, Chinese forces attacked his unit at Unsan, North Korea, during a massive nighttime assault. That night and throughout the next day, he manned a .30 caliber machine gun at the south end of the unit’s line after three previous gunners became casualties. He continued to man his machine gun until his ammunition was exhausted. His determined stand slowed the pace of the enemy advance in his sector, permitting the remnants of his unit to retreat southward. As the battle raged, Corporal Rubin was severely wounded and captured by the Chinese. Choosing to remain in the prison camp despite offers from the Chinese to return him to his native Hungary, Corporal Rubin disregarded his own personal safety and immediately began sneaking out of the camp at night in search of food for his comrades. Breaking into enemy food storehouses and gardens, he risked certain torture or death if caught. Corporal Rubin provided not only food to the starving Soldiers, but also desperately needed medical care and moral support for the sick and wounded of the POW camp. His brave, selfless efforts were directly attributed to saving the lives of as many as forty of his fellow prisoners. Corporal Rubin’s gallant actions in close contact with the enemy and unyielding courage and bravery while a prisoner of war are in the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
Selflessness is the hallmark of the memorable.