~ firefly-dreaming a virtual home to learn (or teach!) alternative methods of solving problems we find facing us each day. By sharing ideas & knowledge on living with less stress, more joy & embracing tolerance & compassion we are working towards building a sustainable future for all living beings.
'It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see...'
'You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?'
'No', said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, 'nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.'
'Odd', said Arthur, 'I thought you said it was a democracy.'
'I did', said Ford. 'It is.'
'So', said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, 'why don't people get rid of the lizards?'
'It honestly doesn't occur to them', said Ford. 'They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.'
Some happy stuff, and some sad stuff. Let's begin with happy:
Think of it as a kind of prehistoric Prada: Archaeologists have discovered what they say is the world's oldest known leather shoe.
Perfectly preserved under layers of sheep dung (who needs cedar closets?), the shoe, made of cowhide and tanned with oil from a plant or vegetable, is about 5,500 years old, older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, scientists say. Leather laces crisscross through numerous leather eyelets, and it was worn on the right foot; there is no word on the left shoe.
snip
The shoe was discovered by scientists excavating in a huge cave in Armenia, part of a treasure trove of artifacts they found that experts say provide unprecedented information about an important and sparsely documented era: the Chalcolithic period or Copper Age, when humans are believed to have invented the wheel, domesticated horses and produced other innovations.
Along with the shoe, the cave, designated Areni-1, has yielded evidence of an ancient winemaking operation, and caches of what may be the oldest known intentionally dried fruits: apricots, grapes, prunes. The scientists, financed by the National Geographic Society and other institutions, also found skulls of three adolescents ("subadults," in archaeology-speak) in ceramic vessels, suggesting ritualistic or religious practice; one skull, Dr. Areshian said, even contained desiccated brain tissue older than the shoe, about 6,000 years old.
In case you've seen that impostor of an Arizona senator recently .... well, it just might be a ..
SEPARATED at BIRTH - "Battlestar Galactica's" Colonel Saul Tigh (portrayed by Michael Hogan) and Senator John McCain.
This is why I read blogs every day. But even if you have better things to do (which shouldn't be hard) - keep this crazy train rolling by stopping in for a look at news items outside the headlines, in the arts and sciences; foreign news that generates little notice in the US media and ....well, just plain whimsy.....
Even in the entertainment world: there's no escaping da crazy:
SEPARATED at BIRTH - rock musician Jimmy Page and "The Hobbit" character Bilbo Baggins (as portrayed by the actor Ian Holm).
If you're not dazed and confused: then stop in for a look at news items outside the headlines, in the arts and sciences; foreign news that generates little notice in the US media and ....well, just plain whimsy.....
Maybe it's me ..... but isn't the guy who used to spend his time in undisclosed locations showing up with frequency elsewhere?
SEPARATED at BIRTH - Sioux Falls, South Dakota Catholic Bishop Paul Swain and former VP Dick Cheney.
Help keep this crazy train rolling: stop in for a look at news items outside the headlines, in the arts and sciences; foreign news that generates little notice in the US media and ....well, just plain whimsy.....
Sometimes you don't have to attend a GOP-sponsored strip club to catch da crazy ... it may be as close as your radio ...
SEPARATED at BIRTH - musician Kenny G and comic-musician Weird Al Yankovic.
As Joe Louis famously said, "You can run, but you can't hide". But at least for now: stop in for a look at news items outside the headlines, in the arts and sciences; foreign news that generates little notice in the US media and ....well, just plain whimsy.....
'It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see...'
