"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Between the Lines
ex-pound Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French expondre, from Latin exponere to explain -- more at EXPOSE
transitive senses
1 a : to set forth : STATE b : to defend with argument
2 : to explain by setting forth in careful and often elaborate detail
3 : this, righ 'chere
It occurred to me that I had never once explained the title of this blog, or if I did I forgot that I did it.
"\__Cliff Between the Lines__/" has several meanings, some more symbolic than others.
First, one of the obvious ones is that this is a place where I have promised myself to only air my true feelings, at the moment, as best I can figure them out. So remember, I am always flying by the seat of my pants here.
Second, I always "sandwich" my posting between a definition and a quote, so it is "between the lines" if you will. That helps me stay focused, and also lets me show that at least one other person thinks like I do.
There's LOTS of reasons for that, but we'll leave that right there.
Finally, I intend a lot of my postings to be read at a deeper level than they actually appear at first glance. So, yes, feel free to read between the lines when you are here, such is always my intent.
My thanks go out to each of the readers of this blog, without you I would only be crying in the silence and laughing in the dark.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled blogging...
It's important that someone celebrate our existence... People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people. There is none in the universe at large. Solitary confinement is a punishment in every human culture.
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Mirror Dance", 1994
And You Thought U.S. Courts Were Bad When he was 9 years old, Carl Murphy, was trespassing at a warehouse near Liverpool, England, and fell through the roof of the building. He fell 40 feet and suffered a massive skull fracture. Four years ago, the Murphy family sued the building’s owner, claiming that if the site had a better security fence to keep him out, he wouldn’t have been injured. The court bought it: he was awarded 567,000 pounds (US$1.06 million), and got the payout the day he turned 18. “After all I’ve been through, I feel I really deserve this money,” Murphy says. “The papers just call me a yob and a thug because I’ve been done for robbery and assault but those were just silly stupid little things, like.” He plans to spend his cash on a “flash car” and “a big house so I have a place to live with me mum when she gets out of jail.” (London Telegraph, London Times) ...Tip to Murphy’s new neighbors: install a good security fence — around his house. Available in This is True: Book Collection Vol. 11
