Drunken Pumpkin

The original idea of Drunken Pumpkin was that Jeff would post the random stuff he would send out in email here instead of sending out a bunch of emails, and then I would make up some silly story that would go with what it was Jeff was looking at that day. It was a nice exercise in daily writing. It forced me to think a little bit on my feet, and I think it amused a few people. However, my jokes began to become predictable. And Jeff started getting a little quote happy, so we shifted things a little. Jeff still posts every day, because he keeps finding weird stuff in the world everyday (go figure) But I tend to post much less frequently and I actually try to have something to say, instead of referring to Jeff’s Jedi anti-terrorist powers. Anyway, I thought I might give the old system a try today, but it looks like Jeff has posted a quote.

I looked up Walter Hilton. Oddly enough, he isn’t mentioned in relation to Paris, or another hotel, that I can see. Actually, he appears to have been a theologian from the dark ages. Maybe he did have something to do with that hotel empire, because the only people that lived indoors were the clergy at that time. So maybe that was what Jeff was going on about. It’s the end of summer here, and camping is coming to an end; thus people will be spending more time indoors and less time communing with god. Or more time communing with god. I guess it really depends how much of a pantheist you are.

What, apart from the coming of Autumn, might prompt Jeff to think about the lack of camping in the world, and the presence or non-presence of god outside? Maybe it has something to do with the coming Ohio Renfest? Or maybe the closing of the LARP season? I don’t know, but maybe you can give your guesses. Just leave them here in the comments section. and we might even move them to the main page. As long as they’re grammatically sound, that is. (Just kidding, if we looked for proper grammar I‘d never get anything on the front page.)

Tune in tomorrow when we see if any famous people have been in accidents recently.

What is humility but truthfulness? There is no real difference.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.

“…I was at the drive up window at the bank.”

Oddly enough, that isn’t a made up sentence. I actually heard that said aloud over the weekend. I won’t bother with telling you the chap’s name, as that would be a bit of an invasion of privacy, but I’ll tell you all about him.

“Gerald”, as I shall call him, is a smoker. Sadly, Gerald also has some serious asthma issues and is getting fairly long in the tooth and must carry oxygen around with him. I assume most of you see where this is going, even though it has taken at least four tries for Gerald to sort out the problem. Anyway, Gerald will occasionally smoke while wearing his nose plugs of oxygen. And, if we remember middle school science class, we know that oxygen makes stuff burn. Consequently, Gerald lights up, and then lights up. Four times, so far, in case you missed that previously.

So, last time Gerald self-immolated he was at the drive up window at the bank. I can just imagine that little exchange:

“How can I help you sir?”
“I need to deposit this check into my AAAAARRGH!”
“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t quite catch that?”

Luckily the person one lane over was a nurse and helped put him out. I have to chuckle when I read that sentence, sorry.

But remember that kids, when your lungs are so jacked up you need oxygen you shouldn’t smoke, or clever phrases like, “the last time I caught fire” will sneak into your vocab. And nobody wants that.

Tune in tomorrow for more education.

Eleven people were injured when they fell off the back of a truck during the shooting of Tom Cruise’s latest film in Berlin, police said on Monday. One of them was seriously hurt and had to remain in hospital.

“We have no findings to suggest anyone famous was involved in the accident,” said a police spokesman, adding he did not know whether it would affect the shoot this week.

Could have been tragic if someone famous had been injured.

The above is excerpted from an article on Yahoo! News.

Many kudos and much gratitude to Amanda for having spotted this and submitted it. Thanks Amanda.

Some marry the first information they receive, and turn what comes later into their concubine. Since deceit is always first to arrive, there is no room left for truth.

I do not believe they are right who say that the defects of famous men should be ignored. I think it is better that we should know them. Then, though we are conscious of having faults as glaring as theirs, we can believe that that is no hindrance to our achieving also something of their virtues.

It’s important to abolish the unconscious dogmatism that makes people think their way of looking at reality is the only sane way of viewing the world. My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.

Has it been found that bodies of men act with more rectitude or greater disinterestedness than individuals? The contrary of this has been inferred by all accurate observers of the conduct of mankind; and the inference is founded upon obvious reasons. Regard to reputation has a less active influence, when the infamy of a bad action is to be divided among a number than when it is to fall singly upon one. A spirit of faction, which is apt to mingle its poison in the deliberations of all bodies of men, will often hurry the persons of whom they are composed into improprieties and excesses, for which they would blush in a private capacity.