Friday, October 24, 2008

End-Mid-Week Open

Here is your open thread for the next 7 days.

That which is not a thread topic, goes here. Also, any topic you want to bring back from the dead or any suggestions for a new topic, goes here.

caveat: the usual rules apply.

9 comments:

Patty said...

wake me when the elections are over...and a month later when they figure out who won!

L.Douglas Garrett said...

no kidding, Patty.

Of course it is more amusing from a distance than being there would be.

This is going to be one heck of next month or so.

Will said...

I still want a "none of the above" option on my ballot. Make them choose new candidates and start over.

(Except that would mean another year of campaigning...)

Purr said...

heheheh to Will--

L.Douglas Garrett said...

I'll throw these items in here as they are historical items, not current events:

Today, 25.Oct, is St. Crispin's Day, so it is a fitting time to remind all of Henry V's speech the night before before the Battle of Agincourt, 1415, as written by W. Shakespeare.
This cites the "Eve of St. Crispin's Day" speech

It is also Balaclava Day, from 1854, which while famous for "The Charge of the Light Brigade" poem of Tennyson's, is also remembered in his far more uplifting verse "The Charge of the Heavy Brigade".
Glory to all the three hundred, and all the Brigade!


(personal note: this is my favorite piece of poetry. I once knew it by heart. Learned it in childhood.)

Purr said...

Alfred Lord Tennyson-


Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call’d–we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro’ eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.


so sad but yet so true!

Charge of the Light Brigade, engagement of the Crimean War, which took place during the Battle of Balaklava on October 25, 1854. It was the climax of the battle, and was long regarded as one of the most famous military blunders in history.

I saved this on my favorites so I can read it, LDG-- Sounds like another Russian event- 10 killed and 28 wounded

The popular response, notably the famous poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, celebrated the participants’ bravery, but began a process of demeaning the battlefield achievement that has led many to assume the charge was a disaster. It may have been the result of an error in the transmission of orders, and costly, but given the achievement and the longer-term strategic consequences, it can not be considered a disaster.

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@Susan

hm... well that is Tennyson... "All things must die".

Might want to give the two "Charges" a read, if you have not. As to the 'popular response' to the outcome of Light Brigade's charge, yes, that did ignore that facts that the charge did "succeed", and that it did have a meaningful effect on the battle's result (albeit unintended). *That* is probably way more discussion than you really want of this, though.

Read the "...Heavy Brigade" and feel a bit more uplifted.

Purr said...

I just read the Eve of St. Crispin's Day-- gave me goosebumps-- just beautiful!!!!

LDG-- WHAT DON'T YOU KNOW????? Who is going to be the next President here?

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@Susan

"Who is going to be the next President here?"

I'll find out when you do; when the Congress certifies the Electoral College tabulation. Until then, it's all still a game.