LINE OF THE DAY, part XXIV

      From this article on Gawker, referencing a 16th century erotic poem found recently which referred to it as the first recorded "sext". Gawker wondered what our modern sexting would sound like back in 1531. Commenter The Gadget got Comment of the Day with this gem:

With fevered dreams of limbs entwined,

To thee, I send these secret lines,

In hope this rhyme with thee resounds,

As my lust o'erfills my bounds,

Be assured I fond remember,

Thy loving fondling of my member!

May we together lay once more,

Upon the bed, the stair, or floor.

Too soon my mistress calls, alack.

But if thou want to hit this, holla back.

Awwwwwwww, forsoooooth, baby!

Another commenter responded, "Tapestries or it didn't happen" :-)

SONGS THAT CAN JUST GO AWAY, part VII

"This One's For the Girls" by Martina McBride

I hate these feel-good songs and their ilk. Those songs giving advice; the ones telling you everything will be alright because I've been there too; etc. Okay, I should be clear. Not all of them are bad. It's the ones which feel insincere...like pandering, that anger me. I resent these songs because I feel like I'm being talked down to by an artist oversimplifying difficult issues. This also goes for self-serving autobiographical songs and songs for causes too. And yes I guarantee you I like several songs that fall into these categories despite what I've just written :-)
--- Bonus points if you actually clicked on every link ---

LINE OF THE DAY, part XXIII

From this article on IO9 regarding potential of CP-violation in the universe which would explain why we live in a universe comprised of matter and not a balance of matter/anti-matter or nothing at all. From commenter Cheevocabra responding to another commenter who wondered if anti-matter would behave the same chemically as matter:

"...Chemistry is basically all about positive and negative bits sticking together. Chemistry doesn't care if it's an electron− paired up with a proton+ or a positron+ with an antiproton−, the resulting anti-hydrogen is going to interact with other antimatter the same way hydrogen interacts with normal matter. The mass and other properties of anti-hydrogen would be the same as hydrogen, except the polarities of its constituent particles would be reversed. Plus it would be evil."

ADDENDUM: An article talking about the Higgs boson had this opinion by commenter PhDinSeagalogy:

This is clearly just another excuse for the patriarchal science-monger regime to "discover" a particle that disenfranchises other, feminine particles, and then elevate that particle to a transcendental, phallic godhead. Why isn't it Higgs-bodaughter? Because of the patriarchy, that's why. And I bet that this particle will be all like "I'm a man particle and I love war, get back in the kitchen tachyons!" What we need is an empowered, feminist particle to counteract this phallocentric "physics" that privileges the male-membered "boson" particles over the nurturing "bodaughter" particles. But that will never happen because "science" is just really a sausage-party of sausage-affirmation! Down with the phallocracy of Higgs-boson and up with the koleologocracy of Higgs-bodaughter!

Now if anyone knows what "koleologocracy" is supposed to mean, I'd be much obliged. I'm assuming it's supposed to be the opposite of "rule by penis" that is the word "phallocracy" but I can't find references to it anywhere. The closes I can get is κολεος (koleos) meaning "vagina" but it does not explain the fuller word unless it is supposed to mean "rule by vaginal reason" as λόγος (logos) means "reason". I don't know. I overthink shit.

THOUGHT STARTER

      I've heard some weird things about the character Tom Bombadil from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and when I read this paragraph on the wiki page devoted to the story, I became quite intrigued by the possibilities to storywriting the highlighted line offers:

Other possibilities (compatible with the above theory) are that he is an abstract concept; possibly the embodiment of Arda itself, a veritable "Father Nature", or some kind of 'spirit' which, unlike the Maiar, was of a non-divine nature. Not only does the Ring have no effect on him, but Tom himself seems unable to affect the Ring in return. This shows that Tom was outside the divine plan and struggle and had no position in it. During the Council of Elrond it is suggested that the Free-Peoples entrust the Ring to Tom, but this is rejected due to the probability that he would lose it, because according to Gandalf, such things had no hold on his mind. It is also stated that if Sauron were to regain the Ring, Tom Bombadil would be the last to fall. It is also stated by Galdor that 'Power to defy our enemy is not in him, unless such power is in the earth itself. And yet we see that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills.' implying that Bombadil is in some way connected with the very earth itself.

      What an interesting idea! I wonder how such a thing would play out in say, Christian mythology? Unless humanity itself could be considered "outside the divine plan" by virtue of having been given free will by God. If that's the case, then this idea is already boring. But I like this idea, perhaps crudely explored in the Matrix trilogy, that there's someone who simply is, but is not a result of our being. Sure, God created the world and all upon it, its inhabitants and life, many and varied...but not this one thing. A separate consciousness, if you will, that can explore and investigate the universe created around it, but which had no part in its creation or purpose. I don't know where I'm going with this. I feel it, but I can't describe what I'm feeling. Maybe you felt it too :-)

PROBABLY INDICATIVE OF SOMETHING...

      I have been watching Survivor since its inception, missing only Seasons 4 and 5. I might  have stayed away for good too, but Season 6 started with a gimmick whereby the men and women were separated and I wanted to check that out. Anyways...

      One of the continuing themes of the show  happens near the end after the tribes have merged. Originally it was just letters from home but as the show's popularity (and presumably budget) improved, it became videograms and in later seasons, actual visits by the family members. Actually, Nan was still alive when I first remember actual visitors (Johnny Fairplay's lie about his dead grandma to get sympathy points with his competitors) so Survivor's been doing this for eight years now at least.

      Every time this moment comes, everybody whether reading a letter, seeing a videogram, or actually seeing their family member in person after about 30 days away from them breaks down in tears. It's a very emotional moment for those involved and yet, since the show's inception, I have been mocking their tears not understanding how a mere thirty days away from the people they love could be such a heavy emotional moment for them.

     But then I realize I have no idea what it feels like to belong at such a level that thirty days apart would actually be emotionally traumatic. My second year of college was probably the closest I will ever come to that sense of belonging.

MORE REJECTED FACEBOOK POSTS...

      It really does bug me just how prolific I get when I am sad. It hasn't even been two months since the last time I made one of these posts and I've already got so many slips of paper that I'm making another entry while stalling  going to bed so I don't have trouble sleeping tomorrow.

Here goes:

INIMANDVS IX

While I have had some good days, I have not been happy for almost thirteen years.