In the story of David and Goliath, two views of Heroism are compared and the readers are treated to, perhaps, one of the most hostile depictions of Homeric warrior culture ever written. Here is how Hebrews saw their Indo-European enemies. [THREAD] pic.twitter.com/ccmDarQDZl
— mer-rekh (@egy_philosopher) June 21, 2022
This guy went to the zoo one day. While he was standing in front of the gorilla’s enclosure, a gust of wind blew some grit into his eye. As he pulled his eyelid down to dislodge the particle, the gorilla went crazy, bent open the bars, and beat the hapless fellow senseless. When the guy came to, the zookeeper was anxiously bending over him, and as soon as he was able to talk he explained what had happened. The zookeeper nodded sagely and explained that in gorilla language, pulling down your eyelid meant “fuck you.”The explanation didn’t make the gorilla’s victim feel any better, and he vowed revenge. The next day he bought two large knives, two party hats, two party horns, and a large sausage. Putting the sausage in his pants, he hurried to the zoo and over to the gorilla’s cage, into which he tossed a hat, a knife, and a party horn. Knowing that the big apes were natural mimics, he put on a party hat. The gorilla looked at him, looked at the hat, and put it on. Next he picked up his horn and blew on it. The gorilla picked up his horn and did the same. Then the man picked up his knife, whipped the sausage out of his pants, and sliced it neatly in two.The gorilla looked at the knife in his cage, looked at his own crotch, and solemnly pulled down his eyelid.
Lines written under the conviction that it is not wise to read Mathematics in November after one’s fire is outBy James Clerk MaxwellIn the sad November time,When the leaf has left the lime,And the Cam, with sludge and slime,Plasters his ugly channel,While, with sober step and slow,Round about the marshes low,Stiffening students stumping goShivering through their flannel.Then to me in doleful moodRises up a question rude,Asking what sufficient goodComes of this mode of living?Moping on from day to day,Grinding up what will not “pay,”Till the jaded brain gives wayUnder its own misgiving.Why should wretched Man employYears which Nature meant for joy,Striving vainly to destroyFreedom of thought and feeling?Still the injured powers remainEndless stores of hopeless pain,When at last the vanquished brainLanguishes past all healing.Where is then his wealth of mind—All the schemes that Hope designed?Gone, like spring, to leave behindIndolent melancholy.Thus he ends his helpless days,Vex’t with thoughts of former praise—Tell me, how are Wisdom’s waysBetter than senseless Folly?Happier those whom trifles please,Dreaming out a life of ease,Sinking by unfelt degreesInto annihilation.Or the slave, to labour born,Heedless of the freeman’s scorn,Destined to be slowly wornDown to the brute creation.Thus a tempting spirit spoke,As from troubled sleep I wokeTo a morning thick with smoke,Sunless and damp and chilly.Then to sleep I turned once more,Eyes inflamed and windpipe sore,Dreaming dreams I dreamt before,Only not quite so silly.In my dream methought I strayedWhere a learned-looking maidStores of flimsy goods displayed,Articles not worth wearing.“These,” she said, with solemn air,“Are the robes that sages wear,Warranted, when kept with care,Never to need repairing.”Then unnumbered witlings, caughtBy her wiles, the trappings bought,And by labour, not by thought,Honour and fame were earning.While the men of wiser mindPassed for blind among the blind;Pedants left them far behindIn the career of learning.“Those that fix their eager eyesEver on the nearest prizeWell may venture to despiseLoftier aspirations.Pedantry is in demand!Buy it up at second-hand,Seek no more to understandProfitless speculations.”Thus the gaudy gowns were sold,Cast off sloughs of pedants old;Proudly marched the students boldThrough the domain of error,Till their trappings, false though fair,Mouldered off and left them bare,Clustering close in blank despair,Nakedness, cold, and terror.Then, I said, “These haughty SchoolsBoast that by their formal rulesThey produce more learned foolsThan could be well expected.Learned fools they are indeed,Learned in the books they read;Fools whene’er they come to needWisdom, too long neglected.“Oh! that men indeed were wise,And would raise their purblind eyesTo the opening mysteriesScattered around them ever.Truth should spring from sterile ground,Beauty beam from all around,Right should then at last be foundJoining what none may sever.”
Why did the "long tail" thesis fail?
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) June 22, 2022
1. Ppl really like familiarity, empowering finite IP
2. Mimesis: Internet makes tastes transparent—> more mimicry and clustering
3. Blockbuster effect: Businesses see (1) and (2) & spend more $$ on established IP, which fattens the short tail https://t.co/SElJwkQ6VR
Wood under an electron microscope. pic.twitter.com/uK8MQz9c8M
— Weird Science (@weird_sci) June 10, 2022
Shocking, even if unsurprising. From The True Cost of Federal Student Loans by Meghan Brink. The subheading is The Education Department said the federal student loan program is generating billions in income for the federal government. A new report from the GAO shows that it is causing billions in lost revenue due to flaws in budget estimates.
The Education Department projected that student loans would generate $114 billion in income over the last 25 years. However, a new report shows that federal student loans have actually cost the government $197 billion, a $311 billion difference.The findings come from a Government Accountability Office report released today that undermines a narrative from the department that the federal student loan program is generating income. The study, analyzing data on student loans between 1994 and 2021, found that the Education Department greatly underestimated how changes to loan programs and borrower behavior have impacted the federal student loan balance.
Seems like there may be a connection between the increased rates of depression and anxiety we're seeing among young American women (especially leftwing women) and the explosion in the percentage of young American women (especially leftwing women) who are now Rainbow Persons. https://t.co/KpDDoe7mWy
— A New Radical Centrism (@a_centrism) June 22, 2022
Warren worked for a small mining operation, so he was used to the desolate little towns of the Southwest. But when he was sent to Dry Gulch for a couple of months, something seemed strange from the very beginning. One night when he was in the local saloon, he realized what it was.“Say,” he said to the bartender, “aren’t there any women in this town?”“Nope,” admitted the bartender. “The men here had so little to offer that all the women packed up and left years ago.”Warren’s face fell. “That’s pretty grim. What do the guys do on a Saturday night?”“They do it with pigs,” was the bartender’s cool reply.“Yecch!” Warren retched and left in disgust. But after a few weeks of total boredom, he found himself back in the saloon, and casually inquired as to where the pigs in question were to be found.The bartender was free with the information. “Just behind the farmhouse at the top of the hill.”One look at the pigs slopping around in the muddy pen was almost enough to send Warren back down the hill. But just as he was turning away, he spotted the cutest pig you could ever hope to see, with big brown eyes, a bow on the top of her head, and not a bit of mud on her little pink trotters. Quite smitten, he led her out of the sty, down the hill, and into the saloon for a drink. But to Warren’s surprise his arrival caused quite a commotion, and all the seedy types backed away from him into the far corners of the bar. “Hey, what’s up?” asked Warren angrily of the bartender. “You told me everyone in the place goes out with pigs.”
“True enough,” admitted the bartender, “but we weren’t expecting you to take the sheriff’s girl.”
Browsing through some copies of ‘Practical Householder’ from 1962 and I’m beginning to feel I’m doing life all wrong pic.twitter.com/mhtsalgJh3
— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) June 22, 2022
The tradition of antiracist excellence continues in the school district that boasted not a single student proficient in reading or math at 13 high schools, and in which up to nearly half of all graduating seniors have a GPA of less than 1.0. https://t.co/xdSccSdJ2v
— A New Radical Centrism (@a_centrism) June 22, 2022
MIND-BLOWING FACT
— Adam Taggart (@menlobear) June 22, 2022
Here's key context in visualizing the rising global competition for resources
As Asia competes more aggressively for them against the West going forward, keep this circle in mind pic.twitter.com/RihJRlP8wP
Some interesting gun homicide stats by race based on the most recent CDC data. pic.twitter.com/V9c60NphoN
— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) June 22, 2022
A few days after the announcement of peace, Jackson’s wife, Rachel, and their adopted son, Andrew, Jr., arrived in New Orleans, much to the general’s delight. Rachel had grown into an extremely stout, dark-complexioned, forty-seven-year-old woman whose religious views bordered on fanaticism. In no time at all she came to regard the city as a veritable “Babylon-on-the-Mississippi,” given over to every sin in the Decalogue. At one grand ball which she was obliged to attend with her husband, complete with transparencies, flowers, colored lamps, a sumptuous dinner, and dancing, Rachel could scarcely believe the brilliance of the setting. After dinner, Jackson and his lady led the way to the ballroom and there treated the guests to “a most delicious pas de deux,” country-style. “To see these two figures, the General, a long, haggard man, with limbs like a skeleton, and Madame la Generale, a short, fat dumpling, bobbing opposite each other like half-drunken Indians, to the wild melody of ‘Possum up de Gum Tree,’ and endeavoring to make a spring into the air, was very remarkable, and far more edifying a spectacle than any European ballet could possibly have furnished“It was a grand finale to a spectacular victory. A few days later, on April 6, 1815, Jackson, Rachel, and their son left New Orleans and returned to their home in Tennessee.
The first grade class gathered around the teacher for a game of “Guess the Animal.” The first picture the teacher held up was of a cat. “Okay, boys and girls,” she said brightly, “can anyone tell me what this is?”“I know, I know, it’s a cat!” yelled a little boy.“Very good, Eddie. Now, who knows what this animal is called?”“That’s a dog!” piped up the same little boy.“Right again. And what about this animal?” she asked, holding up a picture of a deer.Silence fell over the class. After a minute or two, the teacher said, “I’ll give you a hint, children . . . it’s something your mother calls your father.”“I know, I know,” screamed Eddie. “It’s a horny bastard!”
The notorious French noblewoman Julie d'Aubigny!
— Aristocratic Fury (@LandsknechtPike) June 21, 2022
Famous for being a popular opera singer, skilled in fencing, engaging in duels with men and having affairs with other women.
She had to be pardoned twice by King Louis XIV.
A lot of wild and crazy stories about her!
THREAD pic.twitter.com/dwsovlTUPo
Thirty thousand votes...
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) June 22, 2022
In a state of more than 21 million people.
DeSantis won by 0.4%
That's what saved Florida.
Your vote matters. https://t.co/c0SHPtljE6
Walking the dogs.. pic.twitter.com/T0lAMZGRqv
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) June 21, 2022
There are three phases to a substance: solid, gas, and cat. pic.twitter.com/fsR6kv9l6k
— Weird Science (@weird_sci) June 23, 2022
Robert Putnam did some research on diversity in communities (not in companies) and was shocked at the result: “In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings.” https://t.co/pTrBc6mWzD pic.twitter.com/kpfZclngqB
— James McDaniel (@JamesMcDaniel) June 20, 2022
One low-ranking American soldier attached to the Louisiana militia, by the name of Judah Touro, volunteered to help carry ammunition from the magazine to Humphrey’s battery. Despite the missiles soaring over his head and on either sides of him he diligently kept at this task, seemingly oblivious to the danger that surrounded him. Then, suddenly, he took a twelve-pound shot in the thigh, which tore off a large mass of flesh. He was removed to a wall of an old building well behind Jackson’s lines and nearly demolished by the British bombardment. A doctor dressed the wound but held out little hope for him. Touro’s best friend, Rezin D. Shepherd, who had been assigned to Patterson’s marine battery but had recrossed the river to find two masons to help complete the building of the battery, heard what had happened to his friend and rushed to the stricken man’s side. The doctor told him there was no hope of recovery. But Shepherd would not accept that verdict. He obtained a cart and drove the wounded man to the city, administering brandy very liberally along the way to his prostrate and semiconscious friend. When he reached the city he carried Touro into his house and summoned the women who had been caring for the army’s sick and wounded and begged them to attend his friend and provide him with all their nursing skills. He then returned to his assignment.Touro miraculously survived, and after the war the two men became millionaires, gave freely of their money to many charitable causes, and were regarded as “patriarchs” of the New Orleans community. Touro was known as “the Israelite without guile.” When he died in 1854 he bequeathed half of his estate to all the Hebrew congregations in the country and other charitable and religious organizations, and the other half to the man who had saved his life on January 1, 1815. Shepherd used the money to restore a street in New Orleans where the two men had lived most of their lives. Then he had the name changed to Touro Street.
Remember that super-expensive ($56k/dose) Alzheimer’s drug that got approved by the FDA because it fights “amyloid plaques” in the brain but without any evidence that it, ya know, helps with the progression of Alzheimer’s?And how drugs for Alzheimer’s keep not, what’s the word for it, working?Over the last two decades, Alzheimer’s drugs have been notable mostly for having a 99% failure rate in human trials. It’s not unusual for drugs that are effective in vitro and in animal models to turn out to be less than successful when used in humans, but Alzheimer’s has a record that makes the batting average in other areas look like Hall of Fame material.And now we have a good idea of why. Because it looks like the original paper that established the amyloid plaque model as the foundation of Alzheimer’s research over the last 16 years might not just be wrong, but a deliberate fraud.…In 2006, Nature published a paper titled “A specific amyloid-β protein assembly in the brain impairs memory.”…The results of the study seemed to demonstrate the amyloids-to-Alzheimer’s pipeline with a clarity that even the most casual reader could understand, and it became one of—if not the most—influential papers in all of Alzheimer’s research. Not only has it been cited hundreds of times in other work, roughly 100 out of the 130 Alzheimer’s drugs now working their way through trials are directly designed to attack the kind of amyloids featured in this paper. Both Ashe and Lesné became neuroscience rock stars, the leaders of a wave based on their 2006 paper.What intrigued Schrag when he came back to this seminal work were the images. Images in the paper that were supposed to show the relationship between memory issues and the presence of Aβ*56 appeared to have been altered. Some of them appeared to have been pieced together from multiple images. Schrag shied away from actually accusing this foundational paper of being a “fraud,” but he definitely raised “red flags.” He raised those concerns, discreetly at first, in a letter sent directly to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Only when that letter failed to generate a response did Schrag bring his suspicions to others.Now Science has concluded its own six-month review, during which it consulted with image experts. What they found seems to confirm Schrag’s suspicions.“They concurred with his overall conclusions, which cast doubt on hundreds of images, including more than 70 in Lesné’s papers. Some look like “shockingly blatant” examples of image tampering, says Donna Wilcock, an Alzheimer’s expert at the University of Kentucky.”After reviewing the images, molecular biologist Elisabeth Bik said of the paper, “The obtained experimental results might not have been the desired results, and that data might have been changed to … better fit a hypothesis.”Should this fraud turn out to be as extensive as it appears at first glance, the implications go well beyond just misdirecting tens of billions in funding and millions of hours of research over the last two decades. Since that 2006 publication, the presence or absence of this specific amyloid has often been treated as diagnostic of Alzheimer’s.This does not seem, if this report is accurate - and I saw no pushback that it wasn’t - like a ‘Theranos level fraud.’ It seems much, much bigger than that.Once again this also confirms the principle of obvious fraud. Whenever fraud is caught or revealed, it turns out to be very simple, very dumb, and remarkably easy to spot once you look. In this case, ‘shockingly blatant’ image tampering, and simple ‘dissolve the data that isn’t giving the result we wanted and appoint a new one.’
Did you hear about the veterinarian and the taxidermist who went into business together?Their slogan was, “Either Way, You Get Your Pet Back.”
The idea made so much sense it was almost unquestioningly accepted: Vitamin D pills can protect bones from fractures. After all, the body needs the vitamin for the gut to absorb calcium, which bones need to grow and stay healthy.But now, in the first large randomized controlled study in the United States, funded by the federal government, researchers report that vitamin D pills taken with or without calcium have no effect on bone fracture rates. The results, published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, hold for people with osteoporosis and even those whose blood tests deemed them vitamin D deficient.These results followed other conclusions from the same study that found no support for a long list of purported benefits of vitamin D supplements.So, for the millions of Americans who take vitamin D supplements and the labs that do more than 10 million vitamin D tests each year, an editorial published along with the paper has some advice: Stop.“Providers should stop screening for 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or recommending vitamin D supplements and people should stop taking vitamin D supplements in order to prevent major diseases or extend life,” wrote Dr. Steven R. Cummings, a research scientist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, and Dr. Clifford Rosen, a senior scientist at the Maine Medical Research Institute. Dr. Rosen is an editor at The New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Rosen said those concerns led him and the other members of the National Academy of Medicine’s expert group to set what he called an “arbitrary value” of 20 nanograms per milliliter of blood as the goal for vitamin D levels and to advise people to get 600 to 800 international units of vitamin D supplements to achieve that goal.Labs in the United States then arbitrarily set 30 nanograms per milliliter as the cutoff point for normal vitamin D levels, a reading so high that almost everyone in the population would be considered vitamin D deficient.The presumed relationship between vitamin D and parathyroid levels has not held up in subsequent research, Dr. Rosen said. But uncertainty continued, so the National Institutes of Health funded the VITAL trial to get some solid answers about vitamin D’s relationship to health.
A collection of Ancient Greek armour
— Archaeo - Histories (@archeohistories) June 18, 2022
with its bronze chest, its two leggings and its bronze shield, which compose armament of a Greek hoplite, at that time, displayed alongside Persian arrowheads fired from Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
National Archeological Museum, Athens pic.twitter.com/SQW0OkcPgO
“Summary overview: the number of students at Pomona has increased 12 percent from 1990 to 2016; the number of faculty has increased 3 percent; tuition has increased 253 percent; the number of administrators has increased 384 percent “ https://t.co/En52Jxu5DB
— Tom Riley (@tomriley) June 21, 2022
Lol 😂 pic.twitter.com/PH9yZ2NBgI
— Woman of Wonder (@WonderW97800751) June 23, 2022
The Good Old Days (6th April 1973). Bernard Cribbins leads the audience in a rousing rendition of The Marrow Song.pic.twitter.com/eipSk82A6o
— Archivetvmusings (@archivetvmus71) July 28, 2022
The Marrow Song (Oh, What a Beauty!)Down the road there lives a man I'd like you all to knowHe grew a great big marrow for the local flower showAnd when the story got around, they came from far and wideAnd when the people saw the marrow, everybody cried(Ooooh! What a beauty!), I've never seen one as big as that before(Ooooh! What a beauty!), It must be two feet long or even moreIt's such a lovely colour, and nice and round and fatI never thought a marrow could grow as big as that(Ooooh! What a beauty!), I've never seen one as big as that before(Oh-Oh-Ooooh! What a beauty!, we've never seen one as big as that before)He was leaning on the garden gate the other dayAnd beckoned to a lady who lives just across the wayHe took her down the garden path and showed it her with prideAnd when she saw the size of it, the little lady sighed(Ooooh! What a beauty!), She'd never seen one as big as that before(Ooooh! What a beauty!), It must be two feet long or even moreIt's such a lovely colour, and nice and round and fatI never thought a marrow could grow as big as that(Ooooh! What a beauty!), I've never seen one as big as that before(It's stupendous!)(It's colossul!)(It's gigantic!)(It's bigger than that!)And then the flower show was held and everybody wentTo see the great big marrow, lying there inside the tentSoon the judges came along to give the prizes outThey only took one look at it and then began to shout(Ooooh! What a beauty!, we've never seen one as big as that before)(Ooooh! What a beauty!, it must be two feet long or even more)It's such a lovely colour, and nice and round and fatI never thought a marrow could grow as big as that(Ooooh! What a beauty!, we've never seen one as big as that beforeOooo-oooo-oooh! I've never seen one as big as that before.
This is why all my socks are so stretched out pic.twitter.com/PBOrroipqo
— Adam Taggart (@menlobear) July 17, 2022
Guess I'm gonna have to stick to booze. https://t.co/m2QatNWtGA
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) June 22, 2022
State government was built with federal grants. https://t.co/wTLjYFA58Qhttps://t.co/bzDEsQgK2j pic.twitter.com/8W1soJPs4p
— Chris Pope (@CPopeHC) June 21, 2022
The day after Jackson’s withdrawal, Christmas, at 11:00 A.M., there was a stir in the British encampment. Salvos were fired into the air and the troops shouted their welcome on “the unexpected arrival” of their new commander, Lieutenant General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, who had finally caught up with his army. He “was admired and beloved by both officers and men,” said Gleig. On the eve of the Battle of Salamanca during the Peninsular War, Wellington ordered him to lead the 3rd Division and “take the heights in front and drive everything before him.” Pakenham turned to Wellington with the cry “Give me one grasp of that all-conquering hand . . . and I WILL.” And with that pledge he charged forward and completely routed the defending French. Nothing less was now expected of him by both his officers and men. Notwithstanding all the recent hardships these troops had endured, “the city of New Orleans, with its valuable booty of merchandise,” said Captain Cooke, “was craved for by the British to grasp such a prize by a coup de main.”“It was rumored among the troops that Pakenham had the commission to serve as governor of Louisiana once he captured it and had been promised an earldom when he completed his assignment. It was also believed that a lady waited aboard one of the ships in Lake Borgne and expected to become the general’s wife once the battle had been won.
Not only would the conquest of Louisiana enrich Pakenham but to the English mind it “would have proved beyond all comparison the most valuable acquisition that could be made to the British dominions, throughout the whole western hemisphere,” claimed Gleig. “In possession of that post, we should have kept the entire southern trade of the United States in check; and furnished means of commerce to our own merchants, of incalculable value.”
A little old lady is starved for companionship, so she buys a couple of monkeys. The years go by and she becomes very attached to them. As happens, both monkeys die one day. Not wanting to part with them, she takes the dead monkeys to a taxidermist. The taxidermist asks her, “Would you like them mounted?”The old woman replies, “No, just holding hands.”— Gregory Peck
Though the Emporium has long disappeared the rubbish dump it left behind has become the perfect illustration of Imperial Rome's colossal scale of consumption. The numbers are truly staggering; the hill made from the remains of over 50 million olive oil amphorae... #LostRome pic.twitter.com/tbFsHeRGkF
— Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) April 5, 2020
"In all studies, higher IQ in the first two decades of life was related to lower rates of total mortality in middle to late adulthood."https://t.co/Q0Vn34vgUC
— Paolo Shirasi (@PaoloShirasi) June 22, 2022
Zoom-in on the hairs of a Gecko's foot, allowing them to walk up glass. pic.twitter.com/hFmmqzYuAI
— Weird Science (@weird_sci) June 13, 2022
List of American membership associations with at least 1% of American adults enrolled as members, 1733-2004
— T. Greer (@Scholars_Stage) June 13, 2022
Part I pic.twitter.com/AVuLePLL2U
The Road to BabylonSong by Manfred Mann's Earth BandBy the waters of BabylonWe lay down and wept and wept for these I amWe remember, we remember, we remember these I am
A golden helmet blinded mindsAmong ten thousand swords along the road to BabylonA golden thunder silenced songs
Among ten thousand voices on the road to Babylon
Well, well, well,
Beware that golden helmetWell, well, wellThere's no easy way to goWell, well, wellNo easy road to followWell, well, wellA golden ocean turned to fireAnd burned ten thousand ships along the road to BabylonGolden dreamer touched the sky
Alone in empty silence on the road to BabylonWell, well, wellBeware that golden thunderWell, well, wellThat dreamed and sang the songWell, well, wellThe empty sound of sorrow.
A golden helmet blinded mindsAmong ten thousand swords along the road to BabylonA golden thunder silenced songsAmong ten thousand voices on the road to BabylonWell, well, wellBeware that golden helmetWell, well, wellThere's no easy way to goWell, well, wellNo easy road to followWell, well, well
Finally, Jackson gave the order to advance. A company of the 7th Infantry rushed forward as far as the boundary of Lacoste’s plantation and were met by brisk fire from a British outpost consisting of eighty men. In a volley that was “absolutely murderous,” the Americans drove them back to a defense line along a ditch and a fence. Additional British troops rushed to support the outpost, and their heavy fire proved very destructive.
The American artillery also advanced. Covered by the marines, it moved up the high road alongside the river and blazed away at the enemy’s outpost. It was met with such heavy return fire that the marines fell back. In a bold move, a reinforced British contingent made a rush for the artillery guns. At that moment Jackson and his staff rode by amid a shower of bullets, and when he saw what was happening Old Hickory called out, “Save the guns, my boys, at every sacrifice.” The marines rallied, and with the help of a company of the 7th Infantry they hustled the guns to safety.It was later reported that Jackson was complimented on his ability to bow at social occasions with extraordinary grace. Supposedly he replied that he learned the art on the night of the 23rd when he bowed and ducked as British bullets whistled around his head.
“What did one Hawaiian shark say to the other?“Oh, no—not airplane food again.”
Not only did we look like this, but we ate butter. pic.twitter.com/QMOgbB4yWv
— Mark Changizi (@MarkChangizi) June 17, 2022
The Secret Peopleby G.K. ChestertonSmile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget,For we are the people of England, that never has spoken yet.There is many a fat farmer that drinks less cheerfully,There is many a free French peasant who is richer and sadder than we.There are no folk in the whole world so helpless or so wise.There is hunger in our bellies, there is laughter in our eyes;You laugh at us and love us, both mugs and eyes are wet:Only you do not know us. For we have not spoken yet.The fine French kings came over in a flutter of flags and dames.We liked their smiles and battles, but we never could say their names.The blood ran red to Bosworth and the high French lords went down;There was naught but a naked people under a naked crown.And the eyes of the King's Servants turned terribly every way,And the gold of the King's Servants rose higher every day.They burnt the homes of the shaven men, that had been quaint and kind,Till there was no bed in a monk's house, nor food that man could find.The inns of God where no man paid, that were the wall of the weak,The King's Servants ate them all. And still we did not speak.And the face of the King's Servants grew greater than the King:He tricked them, and they trapped him, and stood round him in a ring.The new grave lords closed round him, that had eaten the abbey's fruits,And the men of the new religion, with their Bibles in their boots,We saw their shoulders moving, to menace or discuss,And some were pure and some were vile; but none took heed of us.We saw the King as they killed him, and his face was proud and pale;And a few men talked of freedom, while England talked of ale.A war that we understood not came over the world and wokeAmericans, Frenchmen, Irish; but we knew not the things they spoke.They talked about rights and nature and peace and the people's reign:And the squires, our masters, bade us fight; and never scorned us again.Weak if we be for ever, could none condemn us then;Men called us serfs and drudges; men knew that we were men.In foam and flame at Trafalgar, on Albuera plains,We did and died like lions, to keep ourselves in chains,We lay in living ruins; firing and fearing notThe strange fierce face of the Frenchman who knew for what he fought,And the man who seemed to be more than man we strained against and broke;And we broke our own rights with him. And still we never spoke.Our path of glory ended; we never heard guns again.But the squire seemed struck in the saddle; he was foolish, as if in pain.He leaned on a staggering lawyer, he clutched a cringing Jew,He was stricken; it may be, after all, he was stricken at Waterloo.Or perhaps the shades of the shaven men, whose spoil is in his house,Come back in shining shapes at last to spoil his last carouse:We only know the last sad squires ride slowly towards the sea,And a new people takes the land: and still it is not we.They have given us into the hands of the new unhappy lords,Lords without anger and honour, who dare not carry their swords.They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes;They look at our labour and laughter as a tired man looks at flies.And the load of their loveless pity is worse than the ancient wrongs,Their doors are shut in the evenings; and they know no songs.We hear men speaking for us of new laws strong and sweet,Yet is there no man speaketh as we speak in the street.It may be we shall rise the last as Frenchmen rose the first,Our wrath come after Russia's wrath and our wrath be the worst.It may be we are meant to mark with our riot and our restGod's scorn for all men governing. It may be beer is best.But we are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet.Smile at us, pay us, pass us. But do not quite forget.
Rose-ringed Parakeet 💚🤍🤎 pic.twitter.com/w70O5w1eyS
— 🕊️ Birds Pazy 🐦 (@PazyBirds) June 20, 2022
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