So, I now have my own blog after blogging on other sites for the past few years. I expect it’ll be rather liberating to stand outside the scope of incompetent, arbitrary moderation and petty control-freakery. I hope that some old friends and acquaintances from MyT, DnMyT and elsewhere will look in … and ‘new’ people too.
One of the advantages of having a 16-year-old daughter is that you get to listen to people like Paloma Faith (or I do, at least).
The road to God knows where ... Brendan O'Brien 
found it!
Hi Brendano. The owner of the video clip has blocked the embed but I watched it Youtube; why do these idiots do that? it’s as though they don’t want you to see it.
Her voice reminds me of the girl singer with the Noisettes, can’t think of her name just now. Good clip though.
So, what are you going to do on this site of yours? I was hoping to see some good fashioned Irish blarney 🙂
I’ll pop by sometime and tell you about my first ever visit to Ireland; you can tell how long ago it was, the telephone box on a street in Lahinch had one of those wind up things to get the operator; how quaint was that, I loved it.
Hello Brendan,
I’m rapidly becoming paranoid. 🙂
I look forward to your posts.
Good morning, Brendan,
I wish you well in your new venture. The freedom of having your own blog-site is very enjoyable.
JM
http://jamiemacnab.wordpress.com/
Brendan! Hey I found you. 🙂
Sorry, folks … I didn’t realize at first that I needed to approve comments. Thanks for visiting.
cb … yes, you did. 🙂
valzone … yes, I like the Noisettes, especially ‘I’ll never forget you’. My memories of Lahinch are of childhood holidays and, later, some mussels that gave me the worst nightmares of my life, as well as drinking in a pub called O’Looney’s (not a made-up name … Mr O’Looney was behind the bar). I’ll do my best to rustle up some blarney … my dad came from Blarney. 🙂 I’ll have to resist the temptation to spend too much time here, though … very busy with work.
Thanks, Levent … it’s good to see you, as always.
And you too, Jamie … it’s been a while. I hope you’re keeping well. Thanks for the good wishes. 🙂
Nice to see you, Claire. 🙂
In answer to your question in the heading:
“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. ”
You didn’t expect to write something original from me, did you Brendan? 🙂
Perhaps you can give author status to other bloggers, and this can be a “hangout place in blogosphere”(copyrighted) 🙂
And if you think something like that you may consider setting up another blog not bearing your name. 🙂
Thanks, Levent. Here’s that verse in a South Dublin accent. 🙂
A hangout place sounds good, although I am technologically fairly illiterate … will have a think about it.
Nice picture on the top.
Good to see you.
Turn it up :
Great stuff, Rainer … I enjoyed that.
Country Joe McDonald told me that he was asked to do a solo set on the first day of Woodstock because Richie Havens was too stoned to go on … Country Joe’s band hadn’t arrived and he didn’t want to play on his own, but he did, and the rest is history …
Hello Brendano. Nice banner.
Hello, Shermeen. Thank you, and welcome. I like your avatar.
I didn’t choose the banner … it came up automatically, and suits the ‘road to God knows where’ theme (which I’ll explain sometime). It’s probably not in Ireland, but never mind. 🙂
I hope you’re well.
Hallo Brendano! Well done and good luck with this. I still listen to NOTHING but the Pogues. Good to see you again! All the best for now, John.
John, it’s great to see you. 🙂 I’m glad to see that you’re still tweaking some tails on MyT, and I hope you’ll look in here from time to time … you’ll always be welcome.
Thanks, Ron. Sorry to hear about the deal … those are difficult breaks to get, as I know.
My daughter sometimes dresses as a banana to promote a shop in Navan. 🙂
Ron, i’ll ask my Belfast residing relatives to look out for you.
Brendan -a banana? Doesn’t sound v Irish!
Good to see you. 🙂
PS Nice song. I don’t know this singer. Is this sample typical of the quality?
Not very Irish, Isobel, but ties in with the theme of the shop.
My daughter got the Paloma Faith CD for Christmas; we’ve been listening to it in the car. Pretty damn catchy.
Hey Brendano, Looks like you can’t shake us. Even by doing this tricky side step to your own blog. Glad you’re here. Glad Rainier the Cabbie is as well. And there’s Mr McNab as well! Yikes. Old home week.
Hi Jaime … yes it’s nice to see such great people here, including yourself now. 🙂
I hope to see you about the place again.
Whatcha!
Gosh, they slip in everywhere don’t they.
Like the tunnel!
I thought Claire was cb but evidently not!
how did you figure out i must be claire?
Hi Pseu … welcome to my humble blog. 🙂
Yes they do, Isobel. This one is pretty stupid … he’s a MyT troll; I know his name. He has left obscene comments about my family etc. here today in four different IDs, all of which show the same IP address. He should be advised that cyberstalking is a crime, and he is simply providing me with a growing file in which the police will certainly be interested.
You are kidding, aren’t you? So Cb. is that vicious old queen that kept chasing you all around My T with a bag over his head?
I have to give him two things though, obsession and persistence.
Geez, some people really have a very small life. That’s why he never talks about himself. Not much to report I guess.
Brendano congratulations on your new blog. I look forward to reading the Irish perspective.
Thanks a lot, madeoforleans. You won’t be getting any portentous ‘warnings’ here. 🙂
Hi Brendano. My, you are right on the money with Paloma Faith. She did a sell-out fab gig at Chelters Jazz Festival last night and it’s playing on Radio 2 as I type. Not only a special voice but a dynamic stage presence.
How good to see the others here too 🙂
Hello, janh1 … you’re very welcome here. I must put in links to yours and other people’s blogs.
Glad to hear you’re a Palomista … we saw her on Jools Holland’s show and liked her a lot, then bought the CD for our daughter along with Florence and the Machine … a win-win situation. 😉
One more:
Thanks Brendano 🙂 Yeah I think PF gained an awful lot of fans with the Jools appearance. I love that programme. Such an eclectic mix of music. Seasick Steve was another who shot to general fame after Jools exposure.
come on, when you going to start to smack someone down? bring it on…
Brendano, I really meant what I said – I wish you well. I’m sorry to hear of your troubles, sorry to hear that things did not work out in that other place. In a way I’m not at all surprised. It’s an obvious clique and you do not seem to me to be a cliquish person. I only visited the place once, after a little bird told me about Bearsy’s response to The Happy Blogger, words I thought showed a blindingly stupid lack of comprehension. Still, I did not intend to use them against him – or his site- until today’s fracas demanded that they be made public.
I won’t be joining your site for the reasons that I have already given. But, honestly, rather than forming yet another spin-off, I think it better if you returned to My T, unless its impossible for you to do so.
janh1 … yes, I like Seasick Steve. It’s good to see people like him do well.
Hello, cb … I see you’ve lost the ‘p’. I’m sure you made another comment that has now disappeared …
Thanks for that, Ana. I blogged on MyT for years and didn’t join any of the spin-offs, until MyT and the associated stalking became too abysmal. MyT could easily be a great site, but isn’t. The people in charge of it aren’t up to the job. Having said that, I may use it from time to time.
Some people have emailed me and said I ought to try to develop this as a multi-author site, and ideally I’d like to do that, but I’m pretty busy with work and other things at the moment, so soon it may just be me here, talking to myself. 🙂
Hi Brendan, Good to see you up & running as it were. I like the site and will be offering some thoughts after I return to the UK in a few days. Cheers, Nobby.
going back for a visit or something more final?
Easy mistake! cb, same initials…
(slinks off in embarrassment)
Hi Nobby … it’s good to see you. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Good luck in your new venture!
Thanks, RB … how are things?
Your impersonator was here yesterday. 😉
Rainer, I can see a comment from you elsewhere, but not here. If you mean cyanide bunny, you have the wrong idea … he’s a proper blogger.
I’m confused. No harm meant to cyanide bunny then.
you’re confused? i don’t even know what we are talking about…
hard as nails mate. cut me, i bleed jellied eels
Is D.G Haslam of Bedford an impersonator or a spurned admirer?
Brendano
Welcome in the Independent Section at WordPress.
Hello Ike … thanks for that, and nice to see you here. 🙂
Hello Brendan, and best wishes from me too.
I’ve found the site, bookmarked it, and now I know where to find you! 🙂
Araminta
Hello, Araminta … always nice to see you. I hope you’ll visit frequently … 🙂
Although I’ll have to spend less time blogging than I have done for the past couple of days, or my work won’t get done. 😦
Araminta, you just agreed with Soutie in MyT that the ‘Brendano’ there is not me. Actually, it is!
Thanks for the emails; I haven’t got any further with showing comments.
Yes, sorry about that, Brendano.
The whole thing was very confusing.
It’s quite all right, Araminta. The fault for all this necessary suspicion lies with the scumbags who hijack IDs for malicious purposes.
Good looking site, Brendano. 🙂
Thank you, IS.
Scumbags, good (if limited) description. What then must we do (Luke 3.10)?
Dia’s Mhuire dhuit, Anna. 🙂
Literally ‘God to you’ … an Irish-speaking atheist would be miserable, as you can’t even say ‘hello’ without mentioning God.
I’m delighted to see you on my blog.
Brendan
Tell me to get lost if you want to but I have had enough experience of multi-author Blogs or “Clubs” to know the risks.
The main problem is that you draw most of those who can’t make it on their own, either because they just don’t have it, or because they are the ones you don’t need in your life. Watch it, poor ole Bearsy is finding it out now. That is why MyT is in shambles; there is absolutely nothing wrong with the system; the “wrongs” are the misfits who don’t belong there in the first place; their only purpose being to make it unpleasant for the many good ones that are still there.
Why do it in any event if you are on WordPress? You can form free associations with people that really like what you do in your Blogroll, by subscribing to their Blogs or they will subscribe to yours. You can refer to others and some will pick you up and mention you. Some will subscribe to your entire Blog or to select Posts, same as you can do with others. It’s great, and you become part of the larger American scene and make real friends.
And you control your own destiny; you are the Master of your domain and make or break it without someone else doing the latter for you.
It takes a bit of time but is worth waiting for. I blog for research [that is nearing the end of the major effort] and for personal growth; I don’t adhere to this “we are all the same” philosophy; indeed one grows and matures by exposing oneself and one’s personal views to the wide world out there where one can hopefully modify some of one’s own views, or add more good ones from others around you thus becoming a better person, or cast off those that just form baggage that one doesn’t need. Being part of the free WordPress family contributes to all that.
Keep well.
Ike
and you can’t say ‘hello’ back, as I have just done, without mentioning Mary.
Hello, Ike … I wouldn’t dream of telling you to get lost … you’re always welcome.
Thanks for the comment … you make a lot of good points. At the same time, I do like the sociable element of a site like MyT, although it needs to be far better run. I think its faults are chiefly the responsibility of the moderators.
I enjoy doing this blog, as it’s nice to be able to do what you want, but it is more of a backwater whereas a site like MyT has a stronger flow.
Bearsy’s site is weak, in my opinion (though it has some good bloggers), reflecting the narrowness of the proprietor’s vision. I looked in there this morning and read an extraordinarily pompous, self-important post by Bravo22c.
By declaring oneself to be a wise old owl, one proves that one is not.
Morning Brendano.
Bit of a cheek, but could you please advise on a matter of syntax?
Is acceptable to say “none of us are perfect” ?
Good to see Cymbeline here!
Hi Araminta … nice to see you, and not a cheek at all; feel free to ask at any time.
‘None of us are perfect’ is fine, in my opinion. Fowler’s Modern English Usage starts a long entry on ‘none’ with ‘It is a mistake to suppose that the pronoun is singular only and must at all costs be followed by singular verbs or pronouns.’
It finishes with: ‘Verdict: use a singular verb where possible but if the notion of plurality is present a plural verb has been optional since the OE period and in some circumstances is desirable.’
So, any criticism of ‘are’ can be defended. 🙂
Many thanks, Brendano.
You are a star!
Sipu is wrong. 🙂
He used to try to ‘correct’ me on matters of grammar … he never had much success. He has a head full of grammatical superstition.
I have just told him so! 🙂
Good!
I remember he once admonished me for using till, as in ‘wait till your father gets home’. He said that it should be ’til, and cited a homely little rhyme to this effect, learned in boyhood.
I pointed out that till is a perfectly good word, and in all the dictionaries. One cannot depend on homely little rhymes.
The Shorter OED quotes Graham Greene: None of our wives are invited.
I can’t imagine saying “none of our wives IS invited. It sounds clumsy to me.
Amicus where are you?
I think he’s in Greece, Levent, sorting out the economy. 🙂
I can’t say he succeeded sorting us out, so good luck with Greek economy. 🙂
In the absence of MyT, I’m keeping an eye on Bearsy’s place … for the first time, I regret not being able to post there.
Bravo (‘my opinions are weightier than those of others’) is such a pompous, humourless ass. Janus is right.
It must stem from insecurity.
Brendan
Don’t waste precious words on Mister Jackal and Doctor Hideous. I am pleased you are doing your thing about him but you need to ridicule the sod; that’s one thing he can’t take because he holds himself in such high esteem way beyond reach of us lesser mortals.
Thanks for your nice words about my piece; it was done with some trepidation but I appreciate your words.
Good luck to you.
Thanks, Ike … good luck to you too.
In this backwater site there are only nice people, so I have nobody to ridicule. 🙂
Hi Brendano
As to what Ike had to say, yes he is right, but when it comes to debate, sites like My T or Bearsys are more interesting. Being challenged, or challenging, is fairly educational.
I totaly agree with what you say about Bravo.
I always felt insecure or not intellectual enough when reading or accessing his posts, but he really is a dick.
(HI Bravo, nice of you to come here)
What really gets up my goat is not what he has to say, Badger, Larry and Maggie have the same message, but the, “look at me I am totaly balanced and level headed whilst you who oppose me must be stupid” approach.
In short he comes across like a bully that really talks too much and, unfortunately, one sided. Pity, really, as through this he doesn’t communicates to the people that he wants to get his message across to.
But then, none of us are perfect.
Rainer the cabbie
I thank you for your remarks about me but I simply cannot let this pass.
Bravo has more personalities and ID’s than the proverbial Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde and it is for that reason that I refer to him as Mister Jackal and Doctor Hideous.
He is THE guy who always challenges everyone to provide proof or facts or to shut up. But he is also the one who put a CV called ‘ME’ together as I have never heard or seen. When someone challenged him about his wild statements regarding Muslim Countries he lost control and virtually shouted “but is all out there, just go and look for it, facts, facts, facts …”
In a comment on my Post at Daddy Bears Cave: the same man: “When I left the Army it was not easy to get a job in the middle of the cutbacks of the early nineties. i was on te dole for some 8 months.” And at the end of the same Post: “It suddenly hit me on the bus ome, however, that, for most of them, that was as good as it was going to get. i cried myself to sleep that night.” [Verbatim, no spell-check done]. Can you imagine Bravo the Muslim Hater crying himself to sleep?
Also at Pappa Bear’s place before it became the cave just a few months ago he was a Senior Executive with one of the largest Tobacco Companies in the World. Three months later he is an “Independent Security Consultant. My role involves anything to do with the security and safety of people and assets, including information and intangible assets.”
Work it all out. He must have been about 42 when he was on the dole in England when he suddenly took off and travelled/worked/ learning to read/write/speak a few dozen languages in virtually every country around the Globe. Maybe I am a cynic but “the facts are all out there with all the proof you need” if you will just read “ME’ in the Bearsy Cave BlogSite.
My contention is that all that CV Information exists in only one place: in the fertile mind of Mister Jackal and Doctor Hideous. The truth about Bravo is that he is just an empty suit loudmouth bum who has however, learned “that you can bluff most of the people most of the time.” His position at MyT became untenable because he had strong people there who were willing to take him on but at the Cave nobody can touch him in his own Posts because the WordPress system is built on that principle.
Bravo and the Truth are mutually exclusive concepts.
I predict that he will try to hijack the Cave while Mom and Daddy Bear vacation.
Strong words Ike, thank you. Until now I thought I was out there on my own in my opinion, so good to hear your thoughts.
Mister Jackal and Doctor Hideous ? Well, yes, I guess post dramatic stress disorder can manifest itself in many different ways.
Hi Rainer … great to see you. The weather we’re having here is almost Australian at the moment, I’m glad to say.
Yes, none of us are perfect. Bravo is a strange one … I think such a level of self-regard/self-importance must mask insecurity.
Self-importance is a very basic mistake.
I agree regarding MyT and debate … the ‘challenging’ aspect is the addictive one. Bearsy is too much of a control freak for his site to be a good debating forum, in my opinion, with people like you, Levent and me being kicked out or leaving. Claire, Araminta and others add life, but in general it’s awfully dull. I said when I joined it that it lacked a certain spark … it still does.
Yes, Cymbeline. We must live and let live.
How is life treating you these days? Well, I hope.
Rainer the cabbie
Was I pleased to hear from you?
I penned that tongue in cheek in great trepidation because I thought that I was the only one. Thanks for making it two of us.
Cymbeline
Yes, we must remember love and that people love.
Therefore, but with great respect to you, when it gets to our delicate friend you must carefully consider two additional points about it:
If you have not personally met this grandmother you must make positively sure that it is not his great-great-great-great grandmother who lives with her first husband still at her side, in Koffiefontein where the delicate g g g g g grandson supports them in their old age and visits them regularly where he also learned read, write and speak Dutch Afrikaans fluently [he just accidentally omitted these facts from ‘ME’] and meantime also got to know the Zulu President to do the same in their language.
Point two to remember: Bravo loves Bravo.
I didn’t mind Bravos Me post, actually.
I admire people that are great intellects. like Nobel price winners and educators.
As for his language skills, I reckon I may keep up with him on that one.
English : One beer please.
German : Ein Bier bitte
Chinese : 请来一杯啤酒 (Simplified)
Chinese : 請來一杯啤酒 (Traditional)
Greek : Μια μπίρα παρακαλώ
Russian : Одно пиво, пожалуйста
Serbian : Једно пиво, молим Вас
Croation: Jedno pivo, molim Vas
Spanish : Una cerveza, por favor.
French : Une bière, s’il vous plaît
Thai : ขอเบียร์อีกหนึ่งที่ด้วย
Indonesian : Tolong, satu bir
Vietnamese : Xin cho một ly bia
And last but not least,
Australian : Chuck us a Tinnie, will ya Love.
Now after all this I better take a Bex and a lie down.
Bit criptic this, but I am sure Bravo will understand it.
🙂 🙂 🙂 😉 🙂 🙂 🙂
Rainer the cabbie
Dutch Afrikaans: Een van die beste, en maak gou!
Miss Cymbeline
I do take that as a compliment though undeservedly so, and Rainer is much prettier than I am. I shall let him have the accolades but I thank you.
Cymbeline
You have three lines with statements and questions:
1 – Thank you.
2 – Yes, but depending where you are located. South Africa is a fairly large chunk of land and I think it also depends on the “mix” each one carries. The Dutch provided the basic content in the beginning but the French of 1680 were assimilated and later some Germans too. We even have more than the one odd Scot, often McGregor, who married in and sometimes their descendants can’t speak English by now; what is today called the Afrikaner is a pretty motley bunch. Dutch remained the basic language though it adapted all the time [at one stage we distinguished between “Cape Dutch” and the northern groups] until Afrikaans was officially proclaimed as language after World War 1. Many groups however, took their time to change/adopt the “strange new language” and it only really established itself in the early 1930’s.
3 – Unfortunately no. What we do know is that most play rugby and cricket, and with most of them that is the only thing that counts.
You are most kind to enquire.
It is true that people like Ike, Rainer and Levent have very good English … you forget when talking to them that it’s not their first language.
I have nothing else but fairly ropey Irish and a soupcon of French.
Interesting, Cymbeline. I’m sure you did a good job of interpreting.
Prejudice of any kind is a pity.
It would be good blog material.
Up to yesterday this blog was getting an average of around 100 views per day. Yesterday it had 739 and today so far it has 380. I wonder why?
Brendano, for your sake, I hope, that at long last, you are happy with your situation.
Not sure what you mean by that, Cheech.
Brendan
Please allow me a little extra space. I shall keep it as short as possible but in any event never repeat it.
I don’t yet know what the end result of this comment will contain but you will understand if you can grasp the effect of this Post on my state of mind [and the baggage that I carried when I arrived her], both these in the light of the last comments from #75 in here.
Before the last few I wanted to thank you and add a few words to that at the risk of boring some but I knew that I would have to take the risk or miss the chance to say what I have to say.
I am not a gregarious man; but I need to feel at home. I believe that I am a loyal friend and place a very high premium on loyalty. You provided that home for me and I thank you. The two of us never really met previously [but we never crossed swords either as far as I know] and I am pleased that we met at last.
I also got to know Rainer better and met Cymbeline again. To you my dear, you don’t realize how extremely accurate your observations in comment # 76 is. Your refer in that to my previous one but the latter was one tiny fraction of a glimpse into a much larger and much more complex situation because I did not want to bore you [it needs a good sized book in any event to do it justice] but that is what I am doing in my research.
May I ask you kind folks to read one of my older Posts?
And then a more recent one:
Please, I am not soliciting for comments. It is merely a short cut for you all to know a little more of me in order to understand another new short Post that I will be publishing in my Blog soon. I shall let you know when I submit it but please be assured that none of them will be CV’s on ME.
Brendan, I have a small inkling that I can explain the increase in the views numbers; let’s give this comment two or three days and let me know the numbers again after that. BTW You can set your parameters in WordPress to show you where most of your viewers touch before they press the button to enter your Blog. Have a look into that meantime.
I have a hard week on some matters outside of blogging waiting for me in the coming week; things that I have neglected and now simply have to attend to.
Thanks for your civility, your interest and the good manners that I have found here. I may be visiting a lot less in the next few days but I am not going away.
In conclusion please permit me to say that there is nothing amiss in the ability to debate in your Blog. Indeed and to the contrary I have learned a lot without the “robust” [read crude] in other Blog Sites that we know, particularly those who defend their crude [and rude] efforts and nasty personal animosities by calling it robust debating [my foot, chuckle chuckle]
Bless you all.
Interesting.
We all have our immutable exceptions I suppose as regards our fellow posters on MyT.
I have to say that I don’t regard Bravo to be in this category. I don’t agree with some of his views but I cannot dislike the person.
Good morning Araminta
You are your normal calm self but I would like to point out that I have not found anyone in this Post expressing hatred for Bravo. Indeed, it is him who is always at every opportunity he gets or can create expressing his viral hatred for the Muslims and Religion; if he doesn’t get his way he resorts to profanity, but it is his choice and the way he decided to live.
I don’t hate him for that; hate is a very destructive emotion that normally affects the “hater” much more than the “object” of his hatred.
Bravo is a very lonely creature wrapped up in a shallow life living of an ego that exists only in his mind. I often pity him but it is not my task to save him from his own desire to be objectionable to others. He wants to wear a mask, it’s his business. But I abhor spiritual violence almost more than the physical one and you can’t expect us to love Bravo for his personal choice of spiritual violence towards others.
The poor guy doesn’t know himself because he feeds his little lies to himself to satisfy an eccentric ego that is eating away at his innards.
Thanks for that, Ike, and you’re welcome.
Araminta, to me Bravo is a very boring topic although, as I think you may have hinted, he finds himself endlessly fascinating. It’s always good to see you, though.
Cymbeline.
Well said. I agree with you. I always have a problem trying to express how I feel about this, and have had numerous conversations about
this very subject on MyT.
You explained it well. I have no great clash with Bravo either, but I understand why others may.
Cybmeline, it is always a pleasure to see you too; and whilst we do not agree on everything, it has never been a problem; you are one of the reasons I return to MyT.
I haven’t seen the latest version of Robin Hood, Cymbeline but I will take that as a compliment . I have read the reviews, and Cate, in that role does not seem to be a milksop.
Typo: apologies for misspelling your name. Just returned from drinks with friends.
I will pass on your regards to Bilby, and yes, sadly the linguistic skills seem to have skipped a generation.
My uncle spoke fluent French, passable German, Russian and most Eastern European languages.
He also in later life picked up Mandarin.
I’m probably a tad reluctant to divulge any more information; but I’m sure you understand why.
I rather thought you would understand, Cymbeline.
Cymbeline
You mention the middle ground? I am wary of people who claim that “they are on the moral high ground “because they are on the middle ground.” Sometimes one cannot choose the safety of the middle ground and is it best to fight.
What you may have seen in my other writings, and which I certainly intended to say, is in relationships between just two people or a small unit like a family and the neighbors we have to learn to adapt and to conform within the immediate surroundings. We have to understand that differences are good things; certainly not worth spoiling what is otherwise a good relationship. That happened between my neighbor and I and the friendship has lasted to this day because middle ground just kind of became our common ground. It works in small units or “communities.”
Araminta [I hope she doesn’t object because I mention it as a compliment] steers the ideal middle ground in blogging and we need people like her.
In larger communities we can’t all be the same; indeed we should not try to make all the same. BUT we should all show respect. I will walk “that” middle ground but if someone forgets respect I shall make it known to him, AND then leave him to his own devices.
Hello Ike.
No I don’t have a problem with your mentioning me in your comment.
For someone who you perceive to be occupying the middle ground, I do seem to have inadvertently in some instances, collected quite a few detractors along the way.
I do try with varying degrees of success to try to understand both sides of the question. This could also be described, and has been by some, as sitting on the fence.
I am normally fairly even tempered both in real life and cyberspace but I do dislike cyber-bullies, control freaks and abuse.
I am willing to listen to anyone’s viewpoint, however much I may disagree, provided they do not use the above tactics.
I also have and will stand up to these bullies, but I hesitate to pay them back in their own coin, but it does leave one slightly frustrated as how to deal with them.
I never understood why you attracted so much venom, Araminta. I can understand it more in my case. 🙂
Araminta and Brendan
You must never leave because you are both sturdy people. I popped in for news but have other bad news from my side.
Sorry to bother but I need to tell someone but don’t want to make a big thing about it. Boetie [our younger brother] took ill three weeks ago and it was at first diagnosed as a bladder infection.
He recovered from that in a way but had to keep going for more and more tests and passed away suddenly shortly after lunchtime today. His wife had put him to bed when he was not looking well at lunch and went out on an errand; she found him on the bathroom floor when she returned at 15:00 PM. He was exactly 3 weeks short of his 68th birthday.
I am off to the city soon therefore, and may be out of action for a week.
You may inform anyone who enquires.
Ike
Very bad news indeed, Ike and my sincere condolences to you and the family; a terrible shock.
Ike, I am very sorry to hear this bad news. You and your family have my sympathy.
Hello Cymbeline, sorry to be so long in getting back to you.
What is the problem with the Tea Party and the blacks? I haven’t heard anything except they are upset with Rand paul and his stand on forcing civil rights on private businesses.
He’s a Libertatian and that’s what they believe in, “property rights”.
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
John Keats might have said that the question is redundant.
“The radical people to whom I was listening, seemed to think that the Tea Parties are a way of attacking Obama because he is black”.
No, it’s because he is not an effective leader.
Cymbeline, how have you been? Is it gettng warm in Paris?
Brendano, I know you are very interested in music.
There is a band called “Slipknot” that is based out of Des Moines. Have you heard of them?
A few days ago one of their members was found dead in a hotel room.
Just in case you may have heard their music, here is the story.
Old substance abuse demons may have doomed Slipknot’s Gray: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100528/NEWS/5280338/1001/NEWS/Old-substance-abuse-demons-may-have-doomed-Slipknot-s-Gray
Yes, Cheech, I have heard of them … my son used to listen to them. (Fortunately, he mainly listens to Bob Marley now.) Too heavy for me … I prefer Metallica or System of a Down.
I knew about Paul Gray … another rock & roll casualty. RIP.
Araminta, did you watch the “Breakfast with Ginger” video?