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24714. wonkers2 - 12/4/2008 10:01:12 PM There is very little permanent in this world.
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Literature Network » Percy Bysshe Shelley » Ozymandias
24715. iiibbb - 12/4/2008 10:02:56 PM Permanence is a scale issue. 24716. wonkers2 - 12/4/2008 10:15:05 PM Very true. I'm currently worrying about my GM pension and health care. 24717. arkymalarky - 12/5/2008 12:06:16 AM Best of luck to both of you--and Wonk too! 24718. wonkers2 - 12/5/2008 12:28:01 AM Tnx, Arky. 24719. wonkers2 - 12/5/2008 12:30:56 AM [I learned on NPR yesterday that consonants are much more important than vowels in English communication. as follows: I lrnd n NPR ystrdy tht cnsnts r mch mr imprtnt than vwls n nglsh cmmnctn. 24720. judithathome - 12/6/2008 1:10:48 AM Yes, there was a letter going 'round a few years ago that was written in that style...and it was very easily understood.
Which is a good thing for all these texters and twitterers that will grow up with absolutely dreadful spelling.
I am a good speller...my performance here notwithstanding...and I learned to spell by writing out vocabulary lists over and over...with definitions. And by reading. If I come across a word I don't know, which is more rare these days than back in my early years, I look it up and go over the spelling in my mind.
Kids today don't do that.
I recall an interview between Michael Kinsley and William F. Buckly which was delightful...Kinsley charged Buckley with giving up the word "avatar" for awhile, just to please him...Buckley replied "Avatar? Avatar? How can I possibly LIVE a day without the word 'avatar'?"
And this was pre-websites! 24721. robertjayb - 12/6/2008 2:22:36 AM I saw Kinsley last night with Charley Rose. He has had a new (?) Parkinson's operation involving electrodes in the brain, batteries, etc. He seemed to me much improved and much more in control of his speech and movements. 24722. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 3:42:02 AM Well I hadn't seen him since he was first diagnosed and I was shocked. Brave guy! 24723. wonkers2 - 12/6/2008 4:30:31 AM I didn't know Kinsley had Parkinson's. He grew up and went to high school near where I live. 24724. arkymalarky - 12/6/2008 8:33:52 AM Bro should be on HGTV Sunday night at 7 with a folk group called The Leatherwoods.
Which reminds me, in conjunction with the Inferno discussion, that CharlieL popped in a while back and didn't pop back.I'd love to see him come back around. 24725. Ulgine Barrows - 12/6/2008 11:06:50 AM yadda, yadda, who's up for some chat?
24726. Ulgine Barrows - 12/6/2008 11:43:26 AM I've totally changed my social status by the work I do. I now work overnight. I'm learning Spanish so I can boss those cute Latino boys around.
I really like how they are ploite to me, unlike the white candy-ass lazy boyos I will fire after Christmas is over. 24727. Ulgine Barrows - 12/6/2008 11:45:20 AM I'm in an arguing mood, so I will say good day to you. 24728. alistairconnor - 12/6/2008 1:28:20 PM Hey babe!
How's your lad? I've got one of my own now (technically he's my girlfriend's but I think I'd better adopt him)
We are struggling for his soul at the moment 24729. alistairconnor - 12/6/2008 1:37:59 PM Ah crap I missed you.
I am definitely up for some chat if we can come up with a timeslot.
I have missed you!!
How many tenses can I say that in? (I'm trying to help the lad with his English, it's his worst subject. He's good with maths)
I have been missing you these last couple of years.
I had missed you the last couple of times you showed up, and I missed you again.
I had been missing you, now I'm looking forward to a chat.
I will miss you if you don't come back.
I would miss you if you didn't come back.
By January, I will have been missing you for at least two years.
etc...
Sadly, I couldn't put a grammatical name on all those tenses. Anyone care to have a go?
(Starting on the 17th I'll be in NZ for a month which might or might not make the chat time slot easier) 24730. alistairconnor - 12/6/2008 1:39:19 PM Bossing boys around on night shift. My girlfriend does that too, sometimes. In Spanish too (and at least three other languages) 24731. judithathome - 12/7/2008 12:21:06 AM Big fat rasberry to people who are so low as the ones who just swiped my 80 year old neighbor's purse out of her car in Sam's parking lot. The shitheels took it while she was returning the cart to the rack.
She had $210 in cash in it along with her checkbook and driver's license and a 50$ gift certificate she'd received for her birthday.
Yes, she was an idiot to leave her purse in her car but she is 80 and too trusting for her own good. Also on a fixed income.
Sometimes I just hate the human race....
24732. judithathome - 12/7/2008 1:04:54 AM Jeezus, I just got a call from her and she said she got her purse back! A young lady called her and asked if she had lost her purse and said she had it; they arranged a place to meet and MJ said everything was there...her money, checkbook, everything.
The two girls said they'd found it in Sam's parking lot and figured she would need it back...she offered them $100...twice!... and they refused to take her money.
I guess it fell out of her car and luckily, these two young ladies were angels in disguise and returned it to her. 24733. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/7/2008 6:32:48 AM How nice!
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