ErikW Posted May 7, 2004 Share Posted May 7, 2004 There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted June 12, 2004 Author Share Posted June 12, 2004 I didn't know he had it in him... Most of the stone a nation hammers goes toward its tomb only. It buries itself alive. As for the Pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby, whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the Nile, and then given his body to the dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 Actually, the pyramid workers enjoyed a fairly high caste in the strata of Egyptian society. They worked hard but got better food and health care than the average bozos. It seems the Egyptians realized their value and knew they had to have a good work force toaccomplish their task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 As for henry david Thoreau, he was my English teacher's favorite laugh. When Thoreau went to walden Pond and supposedly lived the stark life and "found himself"... here's how tough he had it: every couple of weeks he would ride into town and load up his wagon with supplies which he easily afforded being faairly wealthy. Not exactly roughing it and living off the land...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 If I win the lottery I think I'll buy a few acres with a pond and go to town every couple of weeks to purchase reloading supplies.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Aiki, I'd buy a big boat for the pond too, just like those two brothers in "Second Hand Lions" . Bountyhunter, your teacher makes an interesting point. Teachers are paid money to do that. I'm not a teacher, but I wonder about things too. Does having had money invalidate every observation that Thoreau ever made? Is he a total fraud because he was a rich guy that got his inspiration while camping? Do a man's ideals matter more than his socal status? Would your teacher like a raise? If he askes for one, should we laugh at him and imply that he is a fraud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted June 16, 2004 Share Posted June 16, 2004 Sam Second Hand Lions, great movie. Loved the scene where they shotgunned the bass. Have to confess, I have shotgunned for redfish in Pt. O'Connor when returning from a duck hunt. We had duck and redfish for dinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Yeah TL, best movie I've seen in a long time. I don't believe I ever threw down on a bass. Dusted a lot of carp and gar though! The angle is really important. I only unloaded straight down on top of one once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Does having had money invalidate every observation that Thoreau ever made? Is he a total fraud because he was a rich guy that got his inspiration while camping? No, actually my teacher (and I) were laughing more at the people who think the meaning of the universe has been revealed to them by a guy who basically drove into the woods and hung out a while. I don't think thoreau was necessarily dishonest, but the fact is that students (and teachers more so) always try to ascribe lofty and inscruitable implications to everything that a "great" author writes, to prove how they really "understand" his work.I remember seeing Ray Bradbury talking on this subject... he wrote the Martian Chronicles which is a series of short stories about going to Mars and living there. At a lecture given by Bradbury, some guy stood up and started pontificating about the alleghorical implications of the story and how Mars represented the world and the martians represented our struggle against our inner selves... (you get the idea). Bradbury basically said: "I don't know what the hell you're talking about... it's just a science fiction story." What always made me wonder was whenever we read a book or story in school, the teacher would ask (usually on a test): What did the story MEAN? You'd write an answer and then the teacher would tell you that you were wrong because it actually meant blah, blah blah..... and then when I got to junior college, that teacher would say it meant something else. At the university you get another version and eventually you wonder if any of those people's opinion is any better than yours (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Do a man's ideals matter more than his socal status? NOWould your teacher like a raise? I know he needed one. he drove a 30 year old VW and bought everything at Sears because it was the only place he could get credit. He waxed poetic about the size of the debt on that card... how it waxed and waned with the seasons (always getting larger at Christmas for obvious reasons). I sometimes wonder if he ever paid it off... I think that was the only real ambition he had in life besides teaching.If he askes for one, should we laugh at him and imply that he is a fraud? NO, but he was rare in that he had a fully functional BS meter and used it frequently with respect to literature and the authors of such. He knew more about the lives of the writers of great works than the works themselves, and that was actually more interesting. Like Theodore Dreiser: he wrote a great book called "An American Tragedy" which was made into a movie.... and he wrote a lot more novels and short stories and they were all garbage. Not just mediocre, but true garbage. My teacher once pointed out.....: "It is true that Dreiser only wrote one good book...... but keep in mind most authors never write ANY good books!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 What always made me wonder was whenever we read a book or story in school, the teacher would ask (usually on a test): What did the story MEAN? You'd write an answer and then the teacher would tell you that you were wrong because it actually meant blah, blah blah..... and then when I got to junior college, that teacher would say it meant something else. At the university you get another version and eventually you wonder if any of those people's opinion is any better than yours (?) Ugh! The dreaded guessing test. You have to guess what the instructor is really asking. They have to guess what you are really trying to answer. If somebody guesses wrong...the students grade suffers. Essay test suck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 No, actually my teacher (and I) were laughing more at the people who think the meaning of the universe has been revealed to them by a guy who basically drove into the woods and hung out a while. I don't think thoreau was necessarily dishonest, but the fact is that students (and teachers more so) always try to ascribe lofty and inscruitable implications to everything that a "great" author writes, to prove how they really "understand" his work. bountyhunter, I like your posts. I'm reminded of an English teacher that I once had; I loved the guy but he seemed to be somewhat of an outcast among the rest of the staff. Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 but he seemed to be somewhat of an outcast among the rest of the staff. Free thinkers often are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Duane You don't get to be one of the Big Trout by fighting the current your entire life...you either die trying or give up and accept the leavings of the others... Got to pick your battles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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