"Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against
the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better,
but leave it either as it was, or sometimes perceptibly worse
than what it was, before the crusade began. By thinking
primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions,
to create occasions for evil to manifest itself."
-- Aldous Huxley
"The only war that matters is the war against the imagination.
All others are subsumed by it."
-- Diane DiPrima, "Rant", from Pieces of a Song.
"It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there"
-- William Carlos Williams, "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower"
Nice picture! Happy VD to Sydney :)
Happy Valentines Day to you and all your friends.
Even though I suspect at this point in time it was your yesterday!
Finally someone with a sense of humor around here. All this belicosity been getting me down.
Happy Venereal Disease Day to you too, Homie.
Regarding crass comercialism – a steady relationship is one of the best arguments for marriage. You save a lot with the quanity discount and you don’t have to go shopping all the time when you run out. Quality tends to suffer a bit from the lack of competition but you get in a lot of trouble if you try to have it both ways. :P
Another Valentine for you Ann. Some laughin to go with your swoonin.
Aw shucks. Golly jee. I heart u. It’s true. He he.
Thanks guys. I read Victory Day into VD for the first nanosecond, but I suppose Venereal Disease also comes to mind! BlueBear, your time awareness is spot on. I write to you from tomorrow. ;) Thanks Serv for always making me laugh.
I’m a fan of Mark Fiore. I just wish he’d get another voice-over to do Bush. The current one sounds too nice. The voice for Cheney is appropriately awful sounding ….
I’d like to see a worldwide survey of “most recognized landmarks.” Surely the SOH would be in the top five. It’s still so striking.
Absolutely! I’ve always had an architectural soft spot for Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House (he had the idea for the design when he was quartering oranges one morning, if I recall correctly). I have accompanied visiting friends on several tours of it every couple of years or so (have you been to Sydney? Let me know if you do visit! ;) ). Its still marvelous taking a ferry commute past or near it.
Haven’t been there, but would love to. BTW, one of the major US networks – ABC, I think – featured a piece on tonight’s news about the effects of global warming on Australia. And, of course, led with an image of the SOH.