I went into Circle K last evening. As I was looking around I noticed this older gentleman kept looking at me. He was a customer also.
I was waiting for the coffee to finish brewing as he walked up. He had a tear in his eye and he proceeded to tell me that I looked like his son that was killed in Vietnam.
I told him that I was sorry to hear that. He talked to me for about 5 minutes. He told me how he and his son were fighting before he shipped out. And that he never did say good-bye to him.
I felt bad for the guy. He asked me if I would say good-bye to him as he left the store. I said I would. As he was going out he yelled “Good-bye son”, I yelled back “Good Bye Dad”.
Well the coffee had just finished and I went up to the counter to pay for it. The clerk told me the total was $58.65.
I said for a cup of coffee? I think you made a mistake. She said “No a carton of Marlboro’s and a 6-pack of Bud, your dad said you were getting his”.
NOW my blood is boiling.
I rip out of the store, the old man is just starting to get into his car.
I grabbed him by the arm and tried to lead him back to the store.
He fell to the ground and I got a hold of him and started pulling on his leg.
Nigh on 8 years ago I wrote something and Gerard published it. Then in the comments section I wrote the following.
Bean Blossom bridge, you did that one right Gerard! Been across it many times, most recently to test the 4×4 capabilities on my Blazer.
The road to the rear of the picture taker is pretty arduous and shouldn’t be undertaken by anything lesser.
This picture is facing north and I live about 1 mile to the west of that bridge. It spans Bean Blossom Creek which meanders around like a snake and comes close to our house. A stream across the rear of our property feeds into that creek.
That road, that goes thru that bridge, was once the mainline from Indy to Louis many years ago. The northen most end of that road terminated at what was the longest same-family continuously run business in the state, McDonald’s Shopworth. The original owner was what was called a Huckster back in the late 1800’s, brung his wares by horse drawn wagon from the big city to sell and later established the store. Then in the 50’s his son aligned with the IGA chain and built a brand spanking new building, leaving the old dilapidated red wooden structure standing right out on the corner, sort of a landmark over the years. In the 70’s Jack, the grandson took over and was running the place with 3 of his grown kids when we moved here almost 12 years ago.
60 years later the IGA building looked very dated but like an old pair of shoes, was very comfortable. 3 cash registers but I never seen more than 2 open at 1 time. Along all the perimeter walls on the inside, up above the shelves and coolers, were momento’s collected over the years. One of them was a large, maybe 4′ long, wooden model of the Bean Blossom covered bridge. Bottles, cans, a large Singer thread display, many old products I had never heard of. There was a small deli at the rear and we would often get a 12″ pizza there on Fri evenings and while waiting for it to get done I’d wander the store looking at all the thousands of items up high on display. A veritable trip back in time, all times back to the 19th century, all at one time. Going to “Jack’s”, as everyone called it, was not just a place to go to spend money. As the community is small and there is no other business venture close by, everybody went there. I always seen somebody I knew when I went there. It wasn’t unusual to see someone and start yappin and someone else would jump in, then someone else, and soon 10 or more people are standing around running their jibber, jokes, etc. It was a place to “connect” with others in the real sense. “News” was transmitted, like when the bridge construction at Morgantown would be completed, or Jim Bond was bringing 200 blue watermellons back from Vincennes, Dr Brester (the vet) was doing better with his ailing foot, or Jr Cody bragging about his new tractor and all the stuff he could hook up to it.
Jack’s shut down about 3 years ago and I felt it in my bones, and still. Jack was in his mid 80’s and started suffering from alzheimers and it was painful to try to communicate with him, though I always did try. I knew Jack before the disease and he was a fun guy to talk to. Every year the store would hold a birthday party for Jack in the store with cake and ice cream for everyone and hundreds showed up. I remember the last one, Jack was out of it most of the time, sitting there with ice cream all over himself. Jack’s funeral was like nothing I had ever seen before. The line for the viewing was unbelieveable. My wife and I stood in that line for over 3 hours til we got up to the casket. The family members coming back thru the line shaking hands and conversing with everyone. Amazing.
A year later the kids decided they wanted out and shut the store down and put it up for sale. A year later “Dollar General” bought the place, and re-did the whole thing in their style – just opened a few months ago. It looks out of place. Many people seem to like it but I don’t. I have been in it and can see the convenience but what I really see is what has been lost. Funny, last week I stopped in there and lo and behold, Jack’s daughter was there and I hadn’t seen her since the old store shut down. I asked her how she liked this new dollar store and she said she did like it. I told her I didn’t and that I wanted the old comfortable store back. She looked at me and I could see the wispfulness in her eyes. Or was it regret? I know she seen regret in my eyes. Then without another word we both sort of walked off in different directions.
Yes, that shiny new store with all it’s thousands of items is a convenience to many and like a mushroom it will most likely cause other such things to spring up close by and little by little the meaning of life will be replaced by things that are easier. I’m not happy about this stuff but realize that there is little I can do about it. Back in 2006 I had a conversation with my FIL about my disappointment with the same thing occurring where we lived in Florida. I had spent a lifetime and a fortune procuring what I thought was my own personal paradise and the last place I would ever live. A home I had designed and built myself in a place 2 miles from the closet neighbor and the last people to live there were the Calusa indians a millenia before. A year after we moved in the largest builder in the state bought all of the property around us and started erecting cheap pieces of junk and inserting all the misfits of society into them thanks to free gov’t money. I told my FIL I was very disappointed and my wife (his daughter) and I were searching for another place to live, a place where we can find peace of mind. He asked me, “Where are you gonna go? Where ever you go they are gonna find you and in time you will be right back where you were. You can’t outrun change.” My FIL is now dead and I can’t tell him he was right. I see the changes going on around here and again I am not happy.
My wife and I are looking at property to purchase in distant lands though still in the US. But we’re not spring chickens any more so staking a claim on the northside of the rockies is probably not in the picture though that is what I want more than anything. More though than for my own sanity, I am thinking for my wife. She loves her woods and her wild animals and can’t imagine living anywhere else, and never back in society. But I won’t be around for ever doing the heavy lifting that she cannot. So I have to find a balance between peace of mind for us, and a path that is struggle free for her in the future. Can this be done without having neighbors with long noses right up against you on all 4 sides? I don’t know but if it’s possible I will figure it out and I’ll not stop trying, until I no longer can.
The name-letter effect is the tendency of people to prefer the letters in their name over other letters in the alphabet. Whether subjects are asked to rank all letters of the alphabet, rate each of the letters, choose the letter they prefer out of a set of two, or pick a small set of letters they most prefer, on average people consistently like the letters in their own name the most. Crucially, subjects are not aware that they are choosing letters from their name.
Discovered in 1985 by the Belgian psychologist Jozef Nuttin, the name-letter effect has been replicated in dozens of studies, involving subjects from over 15 countries, using four different alphabets. It holds across age and gender. People who changed their names many years ago tend to prefer the letters of both their current and original names over non-name letters. The effect is most prominent for initials, but even when initials are excluded, the remaining letters of both given and family names still tend to be preferred over non-name letters.
Most people like themselves; the name is associated with the self, and hence the letters of the name are preferred, despite the fact that they appear in many other words. People who do not like themselves tend not to exhibit the name-letter effect. A similar effect has been found for numbers related to birthdays: people tend to prefer the number signifying the day of the month on which they were born. Alternative explanations for the name-letter effect, such as frequent exposure and early mastery, have been ruled out. In psychological assessments, the Name Letter Preference Task is widely used to estimate implicit self-esteem.
There is some evidence that the effect has implications for real-life decisions. In the lab, people disproportionately favor brands matching their initials. An analysis of a large database of charity donations revealed that a disproportionately large number of people donate to disaster relief following hurricanes with names sharing their initial letter (e.g. Kate and Kevin following Hurricane Katrina). Studies that investigate the impact of name-letter matching on bigger life decisions (where to live, whom to marry, which occupation to take on) are controversial.
I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that–
I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.
This is funny. I was looking up companies that restore British Spitfire airplanes and came upon one in Duxford, England. While looking at Duxford on the map I noticed the town had a pub named “John Barleycorn”. It looks what you’d think an ancient pub would look like, see here: https://tinyurl.com/33dy3rjn
I taught myself how to play this song on an old acoustic guitar more than 50 years ago, the old fashioned way, by listening to it first, on the radio, then over and over again on a cassette tape. Probably hundreds of times.
I play it with open strings but because of the tone of his voice Steve has a capo set at the 7th fret.
This is what he’s singing:
[Verse 1] There were three men came out of the west Their fortunes for to try And these three men made a solemn vow: John Barleycorn must die
[Verse 2] They’ve ploughed, they’ve sown, they’ve harrowed him in Threw clods upon his head And these three men made a solemn vow: John Barleycorn was dead
[Verse 3] They’ve let him lie for a very long time Till the rains from heaven did fall And little Sir John sprung up his head And so amazed them all
[Verse 4] They’ve let him stand till Midsummer’s Day Till he looked both pale and wan And little Sir John’s grown a long, long beard And so become a man
[Verse 5] They’ve hired men with the scythes so sharp To cut him off at the knee They’ve rolled him and tied him by the way Serving him most barbarously
[Verse 6] They’ve hired men with the sharp pitchforks Who pricked him to the heart And the loader he has served him worse than that For he’s bound him to the cart
[Verse 7] They’ve wheeled him around and around the field Till they came unto a barn And there they made a solemn oath On poor John Barleycorn
[Verse 9] And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl And his brandy in the glass; And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl Proved the strongest man at last
[Verse 10] The huntsman, he can’t hunt the fox Nor so loudly to blow his horn And the tinker he can’t mend kettle nor pot Without a little Barleycorn
"I doubt anyone has read less poetry than me. Like jazz, I just don’t get it. Both seem to be exercises in how to make something simple, complex for no reason at all."
Maybe not reading it - but ...
Tear it open let it bleed Scream the truth I can’t concede Burn the lies consume the ash Rise again from the devil’s wrath
* * * * * * *
Rusted walls closing in too tight Echoes scream in the dead of night Cursed by the weight of what I’ve done Falling deeper nowhere to run
* * * * * * *
Shadows creeping whisper my name Chains of despair drag me deep Underneath where no light can creep
From The Life of Colonel David Crockett, compiled by Edward S. Ellis (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884)
David Crockett Member of Congress 1827-31, 1832-35
One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in it’s support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:
“Mr. Speaker– I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is debt due the deceased.
Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblence of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay to the object, and if every memeber of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.”
He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.
Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:
“Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made homeless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.
“The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.
“I began: “Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and—-‘
“Yes, I know you you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.’
“This was a sockdolager….I begged him to tell me what was the matter.
“Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intended by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest…. But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.’
“‘I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, For I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question.’
“‘No, Colonel, there’s no mistake. Though I live here in the back woods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings in Congress. My papers say last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some suffers by fire in Georgetown. Is that true?’
“‘Well, my friend, I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve it’s suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.’
“‘It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to anything and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favortism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose.If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief.
There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the suffers by contributing each one week’s pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.. The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditable; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.
“‘So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch it’s power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you…’
“I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have oppostion, and this man should go talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, for the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:
“Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head, when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully, I have heard many speeches in congress about the powers of the Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.’
“He laughingly replied: “Yes Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the distict, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.’
“‘If I don’t,’ said I. “I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbeque, and I will pay for it.’
“‘No Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbeque, and some to spare for those who have none.. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbeque. This is Thursday; I will see to getting up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.’
“‘Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-by. I must know your name.’
“‘My name is Bunce.’
“‘Not Horatio Bunce?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.’
“It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.
“At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.
“Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept up until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before.
“I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him — no, that is not the word — I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times a year; and I will tell you sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian, lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.
“But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted—at least, they all knew me.
“In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying: “Fellow-citizens — I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgement is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.’
“I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:
“And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.
“‘It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.’
“He came upon the stand and said:
“‘Fellow-citizens — It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.’
“He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.
“I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the reputation I have ever made, or shall ever make, as a member of Congress.
“Now, sir,” concluded Crockett, “you know why I made that speech yesterday.
“There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week’s pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men– men who think nothing of spending a week’s pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased — a debt which could not be paid by money — and the insignificant and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it.”
Submitted by ghostsniper via Comments; extracted from "American English Doctor" at americanenglishdoctor dot com/four-levels-of-literacy/
DT: Ghost is right - this is scary. What's scarier is that as time goes by, more of the adult population in positions of authority will have increasingly lower literacy scores and will be resentful of those more literate.
"Do you think you're better than me?" "Yes, of course - but I dare not suggest it"
The goal of free public education is to educate children of all economic classes to a level of Basic Literacy. Most children are capable of achieving a level of Basic Literacy by the age of thirteen. Three of every ten children who begin first grade will drop out before completing high school. For this reason, every effort should be made to see that children achieve a level of Basic Literacy by the time they have completed the Eighth Grade.
The American English Doctor site provides free information and guidelines for achieving Basic Literacy and above. The intended audience for this information is parents, teachers, and English learners of every age. Nominally priced printed materials will become available as I develop the site.
L-1 Functional Literacy A person who has achieved a level of Functional Literacy is able to read such texts as these:
At the very minimum, people who have reached a level of functional literacy will be able to do the following:
Sign their names to a document.
Read street signs, maps, and posted directions.
Use a directory such as a telephone book or online site to find contact information.
Complete standard forms for employment, school enrollment, public library use, etc.
Open a checking account and write a check.
Use a calculator to figure sums.
Read label information on food, medications, cleaning preparations, etc.
Pronounce words clearly enough to be understood by clerks, teachers, and others who may be unfamiliar with their speech patterns.
Know where they can go for help with transactions that require a higher level of literacy.
Read simple picture books to their children.
National literacy statistics for the United States indicate that as many as 23 percent of adult Americans–44 million men and women–have not reached this level of literacy.
L-2 Basic Literacy A person who has achieved a level of Basic Literacy—about eighth-grade level— has the ability to read such texts as these:
English speakers who have achieved basic literacy demonstrate the following skills and characteristics:
Can write a handwritten note that the recipient can read without struggling to decipher the letters or the meaning.
Can spell everyday vocabulary such as definite and calendar correctly without digital help.
Are not intimidated by “big words” because they know how to use a dictionary to check the spelling, meaning, and pronunciation of an unfamiliar word.
Know how to speak more than one dialect of English and when to speak which.
Know the most basic grammatical rules of standard American English.
Know how to find information in the old technology called “books.”
Sometimes prefer reading to TV.
Have a general notion of US history and the United States form of government.
Have a general acquaintance with significant English works of literature.
Have a general notion of world geography, history, religion, and literature.
Can think critically about statements made in such different contexts as advertising, entertainment, news reporting, and books written in an earlier century.
US literacy statistics indicate that 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level.
L-3 Proficient Literacy A person who has achieved a level of Proficient Literacy has the ability to read texts such as these:
Sufficient general knowledge and reading fluency to be able to read and understand (without the help of a teacher) texts written for a general reader since 1900.
The ability to spell all the words in one’s speaking vocabulary.
The ability to write legibly and in complete sentences.
The ability to write a structured, well supported, carefully revised and edited essay suitable for beginning college work.
The habit of reading for enjoyment.
A basic knowledge of US history and government.
A general idea of the development of English language and literature.
A basic knowledge of world history and world literature in translation.
The ability to speak and write a standard form of English when appropriate.
One or two years of foreign language study.
The ability to consider differing points of view without becoming angry or defensive.
Surveys show that the average reading level of the top 40 books read by US teens in grades 9-12 is 5.3, barely above the fifth grade level. High school graduates who plan to pursue post-secondary education should reach a level of Proficiency Literacy. The only way to do this is to read widely outside of school assignments.
L-4 Advanced Literacy A person who has achieved a level of Advanced Literacy has the ability to read texts such as these:
Any high school graduate who expects to go on to university should have reached this level.
Generally speaking, the person who is at a stage of advanced literacy demonstrates some or all of the following characteristics, in addition to those of proficient literacy:
Reads widely on many different topics.
Reads deeply on subjects of special interest.
Is curious about words and understands that usage is not static.
Takes care to model standard speech to children and to ESL learners.
Adjusts usage and idiom according to whether the context is formal or informal.
Speaks a foreign language well enough to communicate with a native speaker of it.
Often seeks to verify the truth of information reported as fact in the media.
Understands how language is used to persuade.
Thinks critically, interpreting speech and writing in context.
A comparatively few individuals will read at this level. Not everybody wants to, and that’s all right. The ability to function at a level of Basic Literacy is sufficient for most human needs and occupations in 21st century society. The appalling fact about the literacy landscape in the United States is that so many Americans have been exposed to 6-8 years of formal education without achieving the level of Basic Literacy.
If you can read, understand, and write an essay on the following you are capable of level 4 reading, and therefore in the 5% of the literate American population.
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A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress, but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the “parsimony of the public,” which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed—I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well.
This seemed to me too profound a joke to be inserted in the body of this book or I should have restored it to Conversation Kenge or to Mr. Vholes, with one or other of whom I think it must have originated. In such mouths I might have coupled it with an apt quotation from one of Shakespeare’s sonnets:
“My nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand: Pity me, then, and wish I were renewed!”
But as it is wholesome that the parsimonious public should know what has been doing, and still is doing, in this connexion, I mention here that everything set forth in these pages concerning the Court of Chancery is substantially true, and within the truth. The case of Gridley is in no essential altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning to end. At the present moment (August, 1853) there is a suit before the court which was commenced nearly twenty years ago, in which from thirty to forty counsel have been known to appear at one time, in which costs have been incurred to the amount of seventy thousand pounds, which is A FRIENDLY SUIT, and which is (I am assured) no nearer to its termination now than when it was begun. There is another well-known suit in Chancery, not yet decided, which was commenced before the close of the last century and in which more than double the amount of seventy thousand pounds has been swallowed up in costs. If I wanted other authorities for Jarndyce and Jarndyce, I could rain them on these pages, to the shame of—a parsimonious public.
There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. The appearances, beyond all rational doubt, observed in that case are the appearances observed in Mr. Krook’s case. The next most famous instance happened at Rheims six years earlier, and the historian in that case is Le Cat, one of the most renowned surgeons produced by France. The subject was a woman, whose husband was ignorantly convicted of having murdered her; but on solemn appeal to a higher court, he was acquitted because it was shown upon the evidence that she had died the death of which this name of spontaneous combustion is given. I do not think it necessary to add to these notable facts, and that general reference to the authorities which will be found at page 30, vol. ii.,* the recorded opinions and experiences of distinguished medical professors, French, English, and Scotch, in more modern days, contenting myself with observing that I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable spontaneous combustion of the testimony on which human occurrences are usually received.
Preface to "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens www dot gutenberg dot org/files/1023/1023-h/1023-h.htm
I was sitting on the concrete stoop in front of my duplex drinking a brew and rebuilding a 4 barrel carburetor in a paint roller pan half full of gasoline. Parts were all over the place, gas spilled everywhere and it was hot as all get out in the summer of 1983 in southwest FL.
Got out of jail 2 weeks prior and still hadn’t got paid from my new job so I was a broke dik dawg, bad! I had a cheap boom boxed hooked up to a guitar amp and was cranking a cassette tape by 38 special and the song “Hold On Loosely” was playing, when an angel appeared before my very eyes.
Long blonde hair, nice tan, and legs that went all the way up. She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips and said, “I can almost hear your music all the way over at my place.” I didn’t hear a word she said, I just stared and my mouth was probably hanging open. After a second or 2 I asked, “Er, uh, what did you say?” She chuckled lightly and asked if she could watch what I was doing. I was numb from the neck up and don’t remember what I said as she sat cross legged on the grass a few feet out in front of me. I gathered my wits and asked her if she wanted a beer and she said she didn’t drink. I asked her if she wanted a glass of water or a coke and she said a coke would be good, so I jumped up and ran in to get one out of the fridge.
Yes, I ran! Already I couldn’t stand to be away from her.
I was trying to put this Holley carburetor back together while chit chatting with her and I never was a good multitasker. After about half an hour of doing it half wrong at half the speed I told her I’ll need to go get a manual and finish it up later. I asked her if she wanted to get something to eat after I get cleaned up and she said “Sure.”, and I told her she would have to drive and she said that was OK.
Less than an hour into it and I was already knowing she was gonna be my wife. There’d been a lot of traffic on this highway and I’d felt like this before, many times, but this time was different some how….
I was a wild eyed southern boy.
Your baby needs someone to believe in. And a whole lot of space to breathe in. So hold on loosely, but don’t let go. If you cling too tightly, you’re gonna lose control.
Went to Rural King the other day to get mutt food and Equine Pine cat litter. My wife asked me if I could get here 1 flat each of Red Sage and Red Impatiens. I said sure and looked em up so I would know what they looked like.
RK didn't have the Red Sage but they had the Impatiens, in 3 distinct variations of red. Oh dear, what to do. So I bought 2 of each color, 6 total. Also, I saw small white flowers called Night Dream and I bought 2 of them too.
I got home and she came out to the vehicle to get her posey's and freeked out. Lemme see if I can describe this.
The flowers themselves are teeny and each is in a small cupcake size plastic container and the containers are grouped in 6 individual flowers. And, there were 4 of the individual containers of 6 in each flat. Apparently my idea of "flat" is diff from what my wife's is.
She explained she only wanted (2 each) of the 6 packs for each of the Sages and Impatiens. I bought 4 times as many as she wanted. So now she has to find a place to plant all that stuff.
During the 40+ years we have been together we always go to some places in the spring and she buys flowers to plant. I don't have much interest in such things so when we get there (Rural King type places) she heads to the garden center and I head to the tools/boots/hardware/baby chickens-ducks area and we meet up later on after she's loaded all the purchases in the vehicle. I never pay much attention to what she buys. On the way home while I'm driving she'll rattle on about where she's going to plant such and such, and how she bought 2 more bags of soil, etc., etc., and while I'm paying attention to the road my mind is also thinking about that Husky chainsaw with the 42" bar or the 48" LED shop lights and various other things that interest me. I may seem to be in conversation with her by nodding my head now and then, and saying, "Yeah" at the appropriate times, I'm in my own world. I've long learned how to fly on auto-pilot. That's why I bought 4 times as many flowers as she was wanting. The flowers are sitting in the shade on the north porch but she will be workin' them this weekend. I'll get out my Stihl chainsaw with 20" bar and get it all spruced up and ready for summer bidnit.
