Book Burning

Banning Books

Banning books is just another form of bullying. It's all about fear and an assumption of power. The key is to address the fear and deny the power.

~ James Howe ~

Rise Up!

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

~ Confucius ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Why should pirates be any different from regular cat owners? Cats will walk the plank only if they WANT to.

Bliss by Harry Bliss, © 2015.

Do Right!

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

~ Mark Twain ~
Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

Poetry Friday

The interesting thing is that you don't often meet a poet who doesn't have a sense of humour, and some of them do keep it out of their poems because they're afraid of being seen as light versifiers.

~ Wendy Cope ~

I Love This!

The only thing better than singing is more singing.

~ Ella Fitzgerald ~

Books, Books, Books!

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.

~ Arnold Lobel ~

Illustration from St. Nicholas Magazine (1873).

On Your Birthday, Remember This

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.

~ Madeleine L'Engle ~

Still True 100 Years Later

No longer ought we to be called upon to be particeps criminis with men to the extent of being compelled to pay taxes which are largely used for the support of the army and navy.

Moreover, a recourse to war as a means of righting wrongs is full of peril to the whole human race. Not only are bodies killed, but the ideals which alone make life worth living are for the time being lost to sight. In place of those finer attributes of our nature--compassion, gentleness, forgiveness—are substituted hatred, revenge and cruelty.

~ Mrs. Henry Willard, President of Women's Peace Conference, 1915 ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

~ Henri, le Chat Noir ~
Without the benefit of opposable thumbs he manages to post to Facebook a few times each week. Incroyable! --KK

Something to Think About

Massive inequality is incompatible with robust democracy. Today, in the United States, the top 1% is taking home more than 20% of total income and owns at least 38% of total wealth. The richest 400 people in America have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together.

~ Robert Reich ~
Visualize this: the 400 richest people could attend a banquet in the Grand Ballroom at The Plaza in New York City. At banquet capacity, one million people would require 2,000 ballrooms! 150 million people would need 300,000 ballrooms. If the 150m were to enjoy the same amount of elbow room as the richest 400, they would need 375,000 ballrooms. It's a mind-boggling picture! --KK

Poetry Friday

But that he knows in singing not to sing.

~ Robert Frost from "The Oven Bird" ~
Illustration by Louis Agassiz Fuertes from National Geographic Magazine (1917), courtesy Wikimedia.

Science!

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.

~ Sally Ride ~
Photo courtesy NASA.

Memory Soup

Memories are like mulligatawny soup in a cheap restaurant. It is best not to stir them.

~ P. G. Wodehouse ~








Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

The Movie Theater

In my view, the only way to see a film remains the way the filmmaker intended: inside a large movie theater with great sound and pristine picture.

~ Ridley Scott ~
Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Animal Love

Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals "love" them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more.

~ Edwin Way Teale ~
Photo courtesy State Library of New South Wales.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

My little mother,
                      little kitten,
be patient, I’m trying, it’s for you
I’m opening this can of worms,
for you I’m opening this can of food.

~ Gail Mazur from "I Wish I Want I Need" ~

Response to the Kentucky Hoopla

Belief or nonbelief in God is irrelevant to our understanding of the workings of nature--just as it’s irrelevant to the question of whether or not citizens are obligated to follow the law.

~ Lawrence M. Krauss ~

Poetry Friday

What is poetry which does not save nations or people?

~ Czeslaw Milosz ~



Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Color

Color is a power which directly influences the soul.

~ Wassily Kandinsky ~
"Colorful Life" (1907) courtesy The Athenaeum.

Gluttony

My generation were diners stuffing ourselves senseless at the Restaurant of the Earth’s Riches knowing--while denying--that we’d be doing a runner and leaving our grandchildren a tab that can never be paid.

~ David Mitchell ~

Fairies

There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies?

~ Richard Dawkins ~





Fairy door courtesy Wildflower Gardens.

Happy Labor Day!

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

~ Theodore Roosevelt ~
Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy.

~ Henry Ward Beecher ~

Blessed Are...

I'm sorry I don't know the source of this. It was shared on Patricia Polacco's Facebook page, and it had been sent to her by a friend.

Poetry Friday

Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance.

~ Anne Sexton ~

Make Up Your Mind!

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

~ Abraham Lincoln ~
Photo courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives.

All Parts Need to be Feed

Rice feeds the body, books feed the mind, beauty feeds the soul.

~ Imelda Marcos ~
The beautifully designed book above seems to have achieved all three! --KK

Since When Is "Buck" Not a Word?

One of the mistakes I made was thinking chickens and penguins could sing, just like all the other animals in the "Muppets." But it turns out those animals are not allowed to sing words.

~ Bret McKenzie ~