Tag Archives: examples

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J U X T A P O S I T I ON, Too

Once upon a time, I published a post about

JUXTAPOSITION

a word which has come to mean the vivid, visual disorientation of viewing two, very different things, beside, or near each other.  The examples I gave, were a tiara on a pig, and a Rembrandt, hanging in a Port-A-Potty.  I was recently exposed to a Canadian case in point.

I had to take the wife to an Oral Surgery and Maxillofacial Clinic, 75 miles away, in Canada’s dark, dirty, dingy, rough and none-too-ready steel city.  When we finally arrived, after navigating the bewildering downtown maze of one-way streets, I was suitably impressed with the magnificent little edifice.

It was relatively brand-new – perhaps 5 years old.  It was clean, and neat, with swaths of well-polished glass, shiny stainless steel trim, and Carrera marble.  You’ll have to take my word for it, because I could not locate any online external images of the place.  It’s almost as if they are ashamed of their neighborhood, and don’t want to scare off any potential customers.

I can’t say that it’s in a ‘Bad Neighborhood.’  It’s about normal for this place.  The street in front looks feels like it’s maintained by the Ukrainian Paving Company.  Cheek by jowl with, and across the street from it, are an ‘Adult Theater’, tattoo parlor, Payday Loan Company, cannabis dispensary, Moe’s Cavern dive bar, and Bob’s Pizza (Hiring delivery drivers.)

I stayed at a motel in a neighborhood like this, north of Detroit, and it had an armed security guard, but this is Canada, where guns are banned – except for criminals – and muggers have to say please, thank you, and sorry.

Ten years from now – or twenty – gentrification will have set in, and it will be surrounded by doctors’ offices, and spas, and tony salons, but right now, it sticks out like the only unsore thumb.

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(continue last year’s anti-Festival Of Conspicuous Consumption Christmas rant here)

Canada’s celebration of Yuletide commercial excess continues to match, and even exceed, the USA.  Local radio stations and store Muzak play-lists switched to All Christmas All The Time back at Thanksgiving – but that’s CANADIAN Thanksgiving, in late October.

I was recently in a store where I heard Driving Home For Christmas, and thought, “It’s your own damned fault.  If you hadn’t got yourself on a terrorist watch, and No-Fly list, you wouldn’t have to drive.”

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’25 A To Z Challenge – M

I am always in awe of movie and television writers.  They must be like industrial spies, aware of the latest technology, almost before it exists, so that they can write it into scripts, and make the public aware of it.

In 1966, the bridge-crew of the Enterprise had wireless, electronic tablets, when most of us didn’t even have computers.  These later-to-be Ipads had beep-beep, flat surface pushbuttons that didn’t’ show up on my kitchen stove and microwave for another decade.

The year before, in a movie called Arabesque, a professor of Middle-Eastern languages, is kidnapped by the CIA, to translate a small note, written in Arabic script – because one sect is going to wipe out another sect.  (How things haven’t changed in 60 years!)

When he finally translates all of the nuances, the result makes sense – but it doesn’t make sense.  It’s as innocent as a recipe for hummus.  The secret, when it’s finally discovered and revealed is that one of the periods in the script has all of the information – IN ENGLISH – reduced 1000 times, through the optical science of

MICROGRAPHY

which is a division of STEGANOGRAPHY, the process of hiding things in plain sight.  The most common modern examples are benign computer files or messages, where secret information is added by making one small section denser.  First, you have to know TO look; then, you have to know WHERE TO LOOK.

I look forward to having you join me on Wednesday, for a new contest.

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Smitty’s Loose Change #22

Getting old is everything that it’s cracked up to be.
Speaking of “cracked,” I recently broke a rib – while sitting in my easy-chair!

I was peacefully reading my newspaper, when the wife decided to take a nap on the couch.  She tried to throw a comforter over herself, but was having trouble getting her feet covered.  I leaned over against the chair arm, which is none too well-padded, and stretched across to pull the bottom down, when

“#@POP@#”

I suddenly got a laser blast of excruciating pain, and visions of things that weren’t sugarplums danced through my head.  My chiropractor told me that I probably cracked the lowest floating rib, and would suffer 3 to 6 weeks of nagging ache while it slowly mended.

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The President of Uruguay drives a 33-year-old Volkswagen Beetle.  Actually, Jose Alberto Mujica Cordano is the EX-President.  He helped lead a rebellion to oust a corrupt government.  When it was successful he reluctantly led the country as president, from 2010, to 2015.  When he felt that he had the country on the correct course, he resigned and went back to being a farmer, living in a plain, little farm-house.

Mujica has drawn worldwide attention for his simple lifestyle. He has used a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle as a means of transportation. In 2010, the value of the car was $1,800 and represented the entirety of the mandatory annual personal wealth declaration filed by Mujica for that year. In November 2014, the Uruguayan newspaper Búsqueda reported that he had been offered 1 million dollars for the car; he said that if he did get 1 million dollars for the car, it would be donated to house the homeless through a program that he supports.

Several Christian Apologists have held him up as a good example of Catholic charity.  Mujica is an atheist.!

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The Highs and Lows of Humor

I recently read what claimed to be a joke.
You matter.
Unless you multiply yourself by the square of the speed of light.  Then you energy.
It sounds as if it was written by the only Mensa member of the Jamaican bobsled team.  😳

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Facebook writing one-liner prompts
(I may do a whole post of these)

“What gives you direction in life?
GPS

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What are your favorite brands, and why?
The Circle K, and the Bar None.  If they were good enough for Pa Cartwright, they’re good enough for me.

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What public figure do you disagree with most?
Our Gross National Debt!

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What are your five favorite fruits?
Elton John, Ricky Martin, comedian Rip Taylor, the swishy guy next door, who snow-blows my driveway, and special mention to Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner – now that’s dedication.

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Are you a leader, or a follower?
No!

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What sacrifices have you made in life?
I thought we weren’t going to talk about that little boy who went missing.

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Do you practice religion?
Dear God, NO!

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’19 A To Z Challenge – W

AtoZ2019letter-w

 

 

All right everyone, put down your Magic Potions texts, grab your Butter Beer, and we’re off to visit Harry Potter’s friends

Butter Beer

Witch

a person, now especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic or sorcery; a sorceress. Compare warlock
a woman who is supposed to have evil or wicked magical powers:

Wizard

a person who practices magic; magician or sorcerer.
a conjurer or juggler.

Also whiz, wiz. a person of amazing skill or accomplishment:

Warlock

a man who professes or is supposed to practice magic or sorcery; a male witch; sorcerer.

a fortuneteller or conjurer.

Wyvern

a two-legged winged dragon having the hinder part of a serpent with a barbed tail.

It is one of the vagaries of the English language, that many of the things in Harry Potter’s world begin with the letter W. Aside from the examples above, there are also his magic Wand, his friends and support, the Weasley family – whose forebears came from the village of Westleigh – one of whom, Ginny, (Virginia) became his wife.

Want to know what I’ve dreamed up for the letter X?? You’ll have to wing back over in a couple of weeks. Don’t make me get out my Attraction Spells scroll. 😉 😀

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Last year, for my Q for quilts challenge post, I showed a picture of the winner in the local Mennonite Relief Auction.  While complex and impressive, I much prefer the recently announced winner of this year’s contest. I like bold blues and geometric shapes, and this one has both.  It’s called Fire Island Hosta Queen.  Here’s a picture of it – do you like it too?