Purple Squirrel

Baffled animal lovers are trying to explain why a PURPLE squirrel has turned up in the grounds of the school.

Teachers and pupils thought the rodent, who they have named Pete, may have fallen into purple paint or had a run-in with some purple dye.

Pete the purple squirrel has become a legend among staff and pupils at the school he visits. But people who have seen the squirrel say they do not believe this explains its even colouring.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1099282/Pete-purple-squirrel-leaves-animal-lovers-baffled.html

Ad Absurdum

Amusing Ourselves to Death

We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.

(Foreword from Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death")

Moon Transition

The Gift

Sometimes, when uncontrolled thoughts sneak up on me... unwanted and unexpected, I should just visualize what she sat down to make. And I did.

What an inspiration it must have been, to do just this, just now, and hand it to me.

I just visualize a small golden heart, in the center on her and it helps. More than once already.

Want some :(

Writing...

Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
Don’t use no double negatives.
Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn’t.
Reserve the apostrophe for it’s proper use and omit it when its not needed.
Do not put statements in the negative form.
Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
No sentence fragments.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Steer clear of incorrect verb forms that have snuck into the language.
Take the bull by the hand in leading away from mixed metaphors.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Try to never split infinitives.
Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
I must have told you a million times to resist hyperbole.
Also, avoid awkward and affected alliteration.
“Avoid overuse of ‘quotation “marks” ’ “.
Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
Don’t overuse exclamation marks!!!!!
Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of ten or more words, to their antecedents.
Write all adverbial forms correct.
Avoid un-necessary hyphenation.
When dangling, watch your participles.
It is incumbent on us to avoid archaic phrases.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
It’s hard to imagine a phrase when you will have needed the future perfect.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst.
A preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.
Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.