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Tag: loons

THE PUERILE ARE IN THE PREPONDERANCE

THE PUERILE ARE IN THE PREPONDERANCE

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Noth­ing so neat­ly epit­o­mis­es how skewed pri­or­i­ties have become as the “Bar­ben­heimer” movie delir­i­um.  If the gush of praise, analy­sis and oth­er com­men­tary is any indi­ca­tion, a doll and a shade of pink embody deep lessons and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance. The oth­er half of the con­joined title ought to be an admo­ni­tion of how lit­tle progress West­ern cul­ture has made since invent­ing the means to destroy it and pret­ty much every­thing else.… Read the rest

Fouling the Nest

Fouling the Nest

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As I slid past a thir­ty meter-high gran­ite cliff in my kayak this week, I noticed a slash of white just below a small cave-like crack in the rock. It brought to mind the proverb: “It’s an ill bird that fouls its own nest”, a typ­i­cal­ly human way to char­ac­terise fool­ish­ness by cast­ing unmer­it­ed aspersions.… Read the rest

WHEN LESS IS MORE, AND MORE IS LESS

WHEN LESS IS MORE, AND MORE IS LESS

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The loons have been talk­ing more fre­quent­ly of late, the haunt­ing call known as the “wail”. One of four sounds loons use to com­mu­ni­cate, ornithol­o­gists believe its few notes speak vol­umes. Human com­mu­ni­ca­tion, by com­par­i­son increas­ing­ly brings to mind the first lines of Har­ry Nilsson’s sig­na­ture song: “Every­body’s talk­ing at me/I don’t hear a word they’re saying/Only the echoes of my mind”.… Read the rest

TO TURN OFF A WORLD GONE MAD, FIND LOONS

TO TURN OFF A WORLD GONE MAD, FIND LOONS

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Thus far, I’ve used my “perch” to  pon­der and com­ment (OK, pon­tif­i­cate) on strife, con­flict, suf­fer­ing and human fol­ly. Now it’s time for a break, to fol­low the dic­tum of “Desider­a­ta”, the ide­al­is­tic poem we ‘boomers’ taped on our bed­room wall: “Go placid­ly amid the noise and the haste…”.… Read the rest