The Secret of the Sea

The mystery of the sea

The Secret of the Sea

By Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me

  As I gaze upon the sea!

All the old romantic legends,

  All my dreams, come back to me.

Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,

  Such as gleam in ancient lore;

And the singing of the sailors,

  And the answer from the shore!

[Tell me of] the Spanish ballad…

Of the noble Count Arnaldos…

Like the long waves on a sea-beach,

  Where the sand as silver shines,

With a soft, monotonous cadence,

  Flow its unrhymed lyric lines;--

Tell [me] how the Count Arnaldos,…

Saw a fair and stately galley,…

How he heard the ancient helmsman

  Chant a song so wild and clear,

That the sailing sea-bird slowly

  Poised upon the mast to hear,

Till his soul was full of longing,

  And he cried, with impulse strong,--

"Helmsman! for the love of heaven,

  Teach me, too, that wondrous song!"

"Wouldst thou,"--so the helmsman answered,

  "Learn the secret of the sea?

Only those who brave its dangers

  Comprehend its mystery!"

In each sail that skims the horizon,

  In each landward-blowing breeze,

I behold that stately galley,

  Hear those mournful melodies;

Till my soul is full of longing

  For the secret of the sea,

And the heart of the great ocean

  Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

A slightly shortened version, the full version is found here.

my soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea

Stormy Weather

Stormy Weather

I love cowboy stories, crickets and grasshoppers, a walk in the tall grass and stormy weather that kicks in suddenly. That is why I love Kansas in the summer.

Here I stand

Hier stehe ich und kann nicht anders!
Gott helfe mir,
Amen!
I cannot and will not recant anything,
for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God.
Amen.
Martin Luther

Here I stand

April 2, 1521, If you're Martin Luther, appearing before the Imperial Diet and the Holy Roman Emperor, saying "Here I stand," you're making history. If you are a white egret standing on a post in Galveston Bay, taking a poop, you are just pooping. 

So context makes all the difference.

Unspoken Unseen

Cat Watch

Is it better to be seen 
and not heard 
Or heard and not seen 
I mean, one has the advantage 
Of beauty in silence 
The other 
Of speaking
with nary a look of disdain 
by others who just like to complain.

Contrary, you say when I’m not 
It’s a fact, 
nothing more, nothing less 
Not even my best 
So, I say or I won’t 
What’s the difference 
Who knows if it’s me You don’t see 
In the end, who knows 
If I speak to the wind 
I’ll blend in with the trees 
And sway this way and that 
Just as I please

The Sayings of Purzil Crofe

Clock, n. A machine invented by man to tell how little time remains.

Purzil Crofe

The Sayings of Purzil Crofe

A busy man complained one day, “I have no time.” 

“What’s that you say?” cried his friend a lazy fizz. 
“You have, sir, all the time there is. 
And plenty too, don’t doubt you do.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Now, Merry sir, won’t you tarry? 
Have a glass with me of sherry.
What’s a moment, more or less.” 

To this the busy man replied, 
“If I die and go to hell, 
How shall I pay the devil’s due?” 

“Alas, sir, I know only this,
Fain is the young man to waste his time, 
A man is old and little time remains 
He dies and loses both time and wealth.”

So says Purzil Crofe, from the Devil's Dictionary, more or less

How to Treat the Flu

I am "sicker than a dog," meaning for the last three days I have had the heebie-jebbies, and bounce between cold chills and a hot sweaty fever. I have the flu, day three. I have all the usual symptoms and things have not improve.

Despite my diet which consists of mostly water, some fruit juice and two pieces of toast in the morning, I sensed nausea coming on. How could there be any vomitus to toss? With nothing to lose, I stuck my index finger down the back of my throat and within a few minutes, I was rewarded less than half a cup of something resembling spittle.

Surprise, I feel better, not great, but better than the pounding headache and fever I have had all day. Well enough to see if the internet could explain the turn of events. The explanation is simple - flu is a virus that attacks the stomach and intestines. Vomiting removes some of the virus. And if the flu virus is located in the intestines, then diarrhea is a symptom. I was spared this doggy-indignity.

Feeling better, I was going to go to the pharmacy to buy some aspirin and bring down the fever.

Aspirin is a no no.

Most common flu viruses are rotavirus or norovirus, which can't reproduce when the body experiences a mild fever of 100 degrees. Aspirin was used in the massive influenza flu epidemic of 1918-1919 when an estimated 30 to 50 million people were killed, more than the just concluded Great War. To quote modern doctors:

"High aspirin dosing levels used to treat patients during the 1918-1919 pandemic are now known to cause, in some cases, toxicity and a dangerous build up of fluid in the lungs, which may have contributed to the incidence and severity of symptoms, bacterial infections, and mortality."

http://phys.org/news/2009-10-aspirin-misuse-flu-pandemic-worse.html