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Showing posts with label What is wrong with this picture?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label What is wrong with this picture?. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

A Gentler Kind of Evil

Meta-evil is indirect evil that expresses itself surreptitiously as a "greater good". Its destructive power exceeds that of explicit evil because meta-evil subsumes the explicit form.


I know that my loyal readers, who number in the teens at best, have been wondering why my blog has had a plethora of beautiful picture posts and a derth of word posts of late. As my dear and lovely wife remarked, "It has been quite a while since TheBigHenry [she addresses me by my nickname] has unleashed one of his iconic rants".

Well, wonder no more. Though I haven't ranted here lately, it doesn't mean I haven't ranted elsewhere. There is no derth of rant-worthy goings on in this world we live in. But I had decided to take a break from ranting here on my blog because I felt like I was repeating myself and my rants were seemingly falling on deaf ears, and only making me feel even worse about the state of affairs in the world-at-large, and specifically in America, the land that I love. Nevertheless, a man does not live by pictures alone. So I must rant occasionally about issues that concern me.

Leftist ideology is a pandemic evil. I believe that on the order of 100 million lives have been lost in the past century due to the consequences of Leftist policy. That's one million lives per year. I am attributing virtually all wrongful deaths to Leftism, either directly (through the mayhem of war and terrorism enabled by Leftist propaganda) or indirectly (starvation and depredation due to slavery imposed by Stalinist tyrants who have been supported by useful idiots of the Left).

Despite all the mayhem that has resulted, Leftists insist that their way is the righteous way, simply because they mean well, doncha know. According to the Left, it is all for the common good, whereby the common folk take the hits while the Leftist elites enjoy the rewards. Their pretense is that the descendants of today's schmucks will reap the benefits of the elites' policies, but in the meantime you have to break a few (million) eggs in order to make an omelet.

The millions of eggs thus broken are the gullible people, most of whom are just trying to make a life for themselves and their families. No omelet for you, yo.

Did you vote for Obama, yo? How's that hopey-dopey workin' for ya?

Post 2,755 A Gentler Kind of Evil

Sunday, January 11, 2015

The Toughest School in the World — Hard Knocks

Roger Kimball
Roger Kimball (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Related source » The Real Lesson of Charlie Hebdo: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Liberal regimes have always suffered from this paralyzing antinomy: Liberalism implies openness to other points of view, even those points of view whose success would destroy liberalism. Tolerance to those points of view is a prescription for suicide. Intolerance betrays the fundamental premise of liberalism, i.e. openness. Of course (may I say “of course”?), there is a sense in which the antinomy is illusory, since any robust liberalism, i.e., a liberalism buttressed by a core of conservative backbone, understands that tolerance, if it is to flourish, cannot be synonymous with capitulation to ideas that would exploit tolerance only to destroy it. The “openness” that liberal society rightly cherishes is not a vacuous openness to all points of view: it is not “value neutral.” It need not, indeed it cannot, say Yes to all comers. American democracy, for example, affords its citizens great latitude, but great latitude is not synonymous with the proposition that “anything goes.” Our society, like every society, is founded on particular positive values—the rule of law, for example, respect for the individual, religious freedom, the separation of church and state. Islam in its current configuration denies those values.”
— Roger Kimball, January 9th, 2015 (pjmedia.com)


Ever since its War of Independence (1948), Israel has been pressured by the political Left of the world to open its borders to its neighboring political entities. The latter populations have openly stated their desire for, nay their holy mission in life to be, Israel's complete destruction, along with all the Jews in the world at large. Israel's majority are Ashkenazi Jews. They are not known for their suicidal tendencies, which is how they have survived their haters' wrath for millennia. They know something's rotten in Denmark when they see it (mixed metaphor intentional). Hence, their response to all the Left-leaning Western democracies has been an unwavering, "You first".

Predictably, the foolish Left-leaning Western democracies went first — they opened their borders to the barbarians at the gates. The result of such self-destructive policy may be summarized as The Universal Law of Easily Foreseen Consequences. One well known example of this law is commonly referred to in computing as, "Garbage in; garbage out". As applied to unimaginative immigration policy it may be termed, "Barbarians in; barbarism out".

If this pathetic Leftist saga is ever brought to film (who better than Hollywood to produce such a "blockbuster") a good title for it would be "This Time Will Be Different".

Post 2,531 The Toughest School in the World — Hard Knocks

Thursday, December 11, 2014

The Wonders Of Youth and High Tech

Nothing to see here

Related source » Maverick Philosopher: What's Wrong With This Picture?: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]


The girls are studiously ignoring the boys. The boys are oblivious of the girls. No one is admiring Rembrandt's masterpiece, "The Night Watch". Sigh …

Post 2,491 The Wonders Of Youth and High Tech

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Spiteful Jew-hating POTUS

Haters Gonna Hate

Image via knowyourmeme.com
Image via Theo

Related source » State Dept Refuses Visa Extension for Israeli NBA Player as Obama Announces Doubling Chinese Student Visas: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Even as he defiantly moves to unilaterally grant legal status to millions of people inside the U.S. illegally, President Obama's State Department is making sure that such special favors are not meant for everyone. The State Department’s unexplained refusal to extend a valid P1 visa currently held by an Israeli basketball player has prevented the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Indiana Pacers from signing him. […] Normally, visas for foreign-born players in the NBA are automatically transferable with the players to whom they are issued. More than 100 foreign-born players are currently in the NBA. This is the first instance many basketball analysts can recall where a foreign-born player was prevented from signing with a new NBA team because a visa could not be transferred.”
— by THOMAS ROSE, 11 Nov 2014 (breitbart.com)

Post 2,461 Spiteful Jew-hating POTUS

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The High-Tech Stultification of Our Teens

Consider learning something that is worthy of sharing, first.


(Image via Oxford Advanced American Dictionary)
A surface with one continuous side,
formed by joining the ends of a strip of material
after twisting one end through 180 degrees.
Related source » How to Use Tech Like a Teenager: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Enough with complaining that young people these days are addicted to their phones. The question you should be asking is: What do they know that you don't?

Believe it or not, there are advantages to using technology like a teen. I asked a handful of 11- to 17-year-olds to tell me what apps and gear they couldn't live without. They taught me to question my own habits: Why do I use email to talk with friends? Why do I only share my best photos?

Teens are among the most creative users of technology, in part because they don't have adults' assumptions about how things are supposed to work.

'I will just throw away the directions and see what I can make of it', Kapp Singer, a 14-year-old from San Francisco, told me.

Owning a smartphone, often a hand-me-down, means many teens can be pretty much always online, changing how they stay in touch with friends and express themselves.”
— Personal Technology Columnist Geoffrey Fowler, Updated June 10, 2014 (WSJ)


Today's teens are masters of utilizing high tech for communicating with their peers. So what is the problem?

The problem is they spend all their time communicating with their peers. It would be far better, instead, if they spent some time learning something of interest to communicate, besides how to utilize the latest high tech for communication. Our teens have been captured by a stultifying Mobius strip of high-tec communication.

Once these high-tech-savvy communicators "grow up", they will be poised to become the great mass of high-tech consumers. Their only problem then will be to market their own skill set, the same one they share with all their peers, in order to make a living. Unfortunately for them, only their grandma gives a Shinola when they express themselves.
Post 2,256 The High-Tech Stultification of Our Teens

Friday, May 9, 2014

Friday, October 4, 2013

The over/under death-trap of seniority-based organizations

Just because you are an expert in the field does not automatically qualify you for a management position.


Oppenheimer and Groves
at remains of Trinity test
in September 1945.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a brilliant theoretical nuclear physicist. But the management of the Manhattan Project succeeded because General Leslie Groves was a great leader of men, albeit one who knew next to nothing about nuclear physics.

Many large organizations "promote" their best experts to management positions. This is actually a prescription for long-term failure of the organization. This might be counter intuitive, but it need not be so.

Management often gets higher pay. That is an implicit prescription for the organization's ultimate failure in accompishing its organization's goals. It's a lose-lose proposition: The organization gets a less than optimum manager in return for a loss of expertise in the accomplishment of the organization's principal product or service.

The false equivalence of specific technical expertise with general management skills leads to having under-qualified managers, who more often than not are over-compensated, micromanaging subordinates who are much better positioned, albeit under-compensated, to accomplish the technical tasks, including the coordination of the technical efforts.

Woody Allen once quipped, “Those who can't do, teach. And those who can't teach, teach gym.” I would take Woody's dictum one step further: "Those who can't teach gym, manage."
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Post 2,044 The over/under failure of seniority-based organizations

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The Mendacity of Leftist Illusions

ENEMY OF THE ECONOMY
ENEMY OF THE ECONOMY (Photo credit: SS&SS)

Also known as mind-numbing horseshit.

Related source » The Mindset of the Left: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“At least as far back as the 18th century, the left has struggled to avoid facing the plain fact of evil -- that some people simply choose to do things that they know to be wrong when they do them. Every kind of excuse, from poverty to an unhappy childhood [AKA harsh toilet-training], is used by the left to explain and excuse evil.

[…]

Why has evil been such a hard concept for many on the left to accept? The basic agenda of the left is to change external conditions. But what if the problem is internal? What if the real problem is the cussedness of human beings?

Rousseau denied this in the 18th century and the left has been denying it ever since. Why? Self preservation.

If the things that the left wants to control -- institutions and government policy -- are not the most important factors in the world's problems, then what role is there [left] for the left?”
— Thomas Sowell, July 2, 2013 (townhall.com)


The only clarity-of-vision in this Leftist mindset is the mendacity of its illusions. You want another opinion? Alrighty, then: It is nothing short of pure unadulterated horseshit.

Can humanity's last best hope please come to its senses? Can we please relinquish the Left's stultifying grip on wrong-headed government policy? Can we please reassume sensible goals for our once-great Nation?

Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

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Post 1,978 The Mendacity of Leftist Illusions

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Got clarity of vision?

Eckhart Hall at the University of Chicago
Eckhart Hall at University of Chicago
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Got civilized standards? Got decency?

Related source » Wimps Versus Barbarians 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Just what is it that academics have to fear if they stand up for common decency, instead of letting campus barbarians run amok? At a prestigious college like Swarthmore, every student who trampled on other people's rights could be expelled and there would be plenty of replacement students available to take their places. Although colleges and universities across the country have been giving in to storm trooper tactics ever since the nationwide campus disruptions of the 1960s, not all have. Back in the 1960s, the University of Chicago was a rare exception.

As Professor George J. Stigler, a Nobel Prize winning economist, put it in his memoirs, "our faculty united behind the expulsion of a large number of young barbarians."

The sky did not fall. There was no bloodbath. The University of Chicago was in fact spared some of the worst nonsense that more compliant institutions were permanently saddled with in the years that followed, as a result of their failure of nerve in the 1960s.

[…]

The cost of resistance to the campus barbarians may not have been the only factor. Resistance requires a sense that there is something worth defending. But decades of dumbed-down education have produced people with no sense of the importance of a moral framework within which freedom and civil discourse can flourish.

Without a moral framework, there is nothing left but immediate self-indulgence by some and the path of least resistance by others. Neither can sustain a free society. Disruptive activists indulge their egos in the name of idealism and others cave rather than fight.

It's not just academics who won't defend decency. Trustees could fire college presidents who cave in to storm trooper tactics. Donors could stop donating to institutions that have sold out their principles to appease the campus barbarians. But when nobody is willing to defend civilized standards, the barbarians win.”

— Thomas Sowell, May 21, 2013 (townhall.com)


Another dose of clarity from one of America's brightest sources.
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Post 1,969 Got clarity of vision?”

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Caption this!

 “That's right — Lincoln is my hero.”
Image via Theo
“[Your caption goes here.]”

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Post 1,963 Caption this!”

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

An Entitlement Named Desire

No problem, dude. As long as you really want it …


"Hey, STELLA!"        (Image via photobucket.com)
Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire
Related source » Latino Undocumented Immigrant Poll Finds Most Want To Be Citizens: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“WASHINGTON -- Nearly 90 percent of Latino undocumented immigrants say they would try to become citizens if comprehensive immigration reform went into effect, according to a poll released Monday.

The poll -- conducted by Latino Decisions on behalf of pro-reform groups National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund and America's Voice Education Fund -- surveyed 400 undocumented immigrants and found that 87 percent would like to become legal residents and eventually citizens, if they could.”
— Elise Foley, 04/15/2013 (huffingtonpost.com)


Yo, what's the problem here? The so-called "undocumented" immigrants really want to be here. All they need is some documentation. For chrissakes, just give 'em some documents. Sheesh!

It's not that complicated. Just give them a green Social Security number. There are millions of them that once belonged to people who are now dead. You can never have enough recycling. Hello?

Then, give them a driver's license. Hell, driving is not that hard; most people can even drive when they're drunk. Might as well give them a passport, too, just in case they want to visit their relatives in the old country.

What's the big deal? These people are already here. Might as well make 'em legal. We don't want millions of illegals running around, do we?

Look at it this way. Some day, one of these illegals could end up being the first or second illegal alien to become the President of the United States.

It could happen.
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Post 1,962 An Entitlement Named Desire

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

MoveOn Beyond Contempt

Forward into the realm of desperation!

“[…] from an execrable person and a disreputable group.”
Related source » The PJ Tatler » Michael Moore/MoveOn Ad Threatens to ‘C*ck Punch’ Mitt Romney, Burn The Nation Down: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Michael Moore’s latest ad claims to be a message from the “Greatest Generation,” but it’s really just a message from an execrable person and a disreputable group. The man who claimed that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was a happy happy place full of kite-flying kids uses elderly actors to threaten violence using profanity. Warning, graphic language and explicit threats of personal and widespread violence.” [emphasis added]
— BRYAN PRESTON, October 30, 2012 (pjmedia.com)





Just when you thought you had seen and heard it all …

Had enough yet?
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Post 1,915 MoveOn Beyond Contempt

Sunday, September 30, 2012

My Caption of the Day

“It's the high-octane beans, yeah …”
Image via boston.com
Related source » Photoshop this airborne artist: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Photoshop this airborne artist […]
— FARK.com: (7344198) 30 Sep 2012


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Post 1,901 My Caption of the Day

Monday, September 17, 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

What does Bubba want?

Hello Baby - You Know What I Like

Image via Theo
Related source » Inside Bubba’s Brain — As He Writes His Convention Speech: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Aw, schucks… I can’t figure out why I got into this…. Okay, I can. If that miserable Hawaiian Indonesian whatever-he-is got all the attention, I’d pop another bypass graft and end up with more stents than Dick Cheney. Whose party is this anyway…? The nerve of that guy acting like he runs the show. Thank God, Hillary’s in Vladivostok and I can sneak that masseuse up the service elevator. I can tell you one thing – I’ll treat her better than Al does. […] ”
— Roger L. Simon, September 5, 2012 (pjmedia.com)


One of the many things confusing me during this interminable Presidential campaign was why the hell was Bubba campaigning for Obama? The latter ruined Hillary's chances of becoming the first woman U.S. President, for Pete's sake! I know they all belong to the same Demo party and all, but WTF?

As the old cliche goes, nobody knows what women want (besides "more"), but there's no mystery about what Bubba wants. Bubba wants little Bubba to go potholing 24/7.

Well, there it is, as clear as daylight. Bubba wants to become the First Gentleman of these United States. Why? Come on; can there be a better way to line up primo p*ssy? OK, we all know Bubba is not too picky. Tall ones, short ones, fat ones, skinny ones; it don't matter much, as long as they have a pulse. But maybe he's acquired a more refined taste for expensive cigars and where to insert them.

Anyway, Bubba's campaigning for Obama must be connected with what he figures will give Hill a better shot in 2016. That would make him the first First Gentleman/Ass-man Extraordinaire, bless his licentious little heart.

Ladies, the line forms at the Lincoln Bedroom.

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Post 1,878 What does Bubba want?

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Eastwooding

The new parlor game sweeping the country …


Clint Eastwood's presentation at the Republican Convention, in which he pretended to converse with President Obama's stand-in, an empty chair, has caught on, big time.

Supposedly a last minute inspiration by Clint, the meme of "an empty chair" representing our "empty-suit President" has gone viral.

Herewith, then, your humble servant's contribution to the growing hilarity, stoked by the thin-skinned virulence of Leftist Obamanuts:

The Obamas on Vacation:
Barack and Michelle watching daughters playing in the sand.

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Post 1,875 Eastwooding

Saturday, July 28, 2012

In the limit …

… it is a distinction without a difference.


Operation Plumbbob - John test. LAS VEGAS, NV....
Operation Plumbbob - John test. LAS VEGAS, NV. Test of a AIR-2A Genie nuclear air-to-air rocket. A plume of rocket smoke partially obscures the F-89 Scorpion at the instant of firing. This signaled the first time in aviation history that a live nuclear weapon was fired by a fighter aircraft at a target. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity.” — Anonymous

“Bravery is just the determination to do a job that you know has to be done.” — Audie Murphy
Related source » Videographer had bottoms up view of nuclear blast, lives to tell tale: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“George Yoshitake, Don Luttrell, and four other officers stood directly underneath an exploding nuclear warhead 55 years ago -- and lived to tell their tale. […] There they waited for what they called the "genie shot". "I never really gave it too much thought," Yoshitake said when asked if he was fearful of the explosion. "When you’re young, you think you’re invincible and nothing is going to happen to you" […] The five men huddled together on that clear July day looking up at the open Nevada sky, with Yoshitake filming as two F-89 Scorpion fighter jets fired an air rocket. "You could see the rocket streaking across the sky with a big white streak behind it," Luttrell recalled. "The first thing you saw was a brilliant flash and then there was a wave of heat followed by the sonic boom which was quite loud". […] Today, 55 years later, the seemingly safe operation may have had some serious side effects: all six members of the group have had cancer, with four dying of it, according to Yoshitake and Luttrell.”
— Mary Quinn O'Connor, July 27, 2012 (FoxNews.com)


 Five men at atomic ground zero

 Uploaded by atomcentral on Nov 3, 2011

Back in the day, the long-term side effects of radiation exposure were not well understood. But even then, I wouldn't have volunteered to be a "guinea pig".

Today, you couldn't pay me enough. Thursday's not good for me either.

How about never? Does never work for you?

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Post 1,856 In the limit …

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Entitlementalia Run Amok

Image via Theo

What is wrong with this picture?

Related source » Grad school dropout James Holmes 'not on anybody's radar' before horrific attack: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved," Holmes' family said in a written statement Friday. "We ask that the media respect our privacy during this difficult time." On Friday morning, police escorted the suspect's father from the family's San Diego home. The mother stayed inside, receiving visitors who came to offer support.”
— Fox News, July 20, 2012 (foxnews.com)


"Our hearts go out"? What does this insipid cliché even mean? Their hearts have been AWOL ever since James Holmes was born.

I'll tell you what's wrong with this picture: grad-school dropout James Holmes was "not on anybody's radar" before his horrific attack! That's what's wrong with this picture, and with our Leftist-deranged society.

Leftist derangement, with its revolting convoluted morality, enables, nay encourages the family of this psychotic mass murderer to "ask that the media respect our privacy during this difficult time"! Difficult time? This son-of-a-bitch shoots up a crowded movie theater, killing 12 (so far) and injuring 59 others, and his family is concerned about their privacy? Have we lost all remnants of moral outrage? Have we finally left no sense of decency? Is there finally no end to this f*cking insanity?

What possible excuse could this family have for not suspecting their relative was a psychopath? What excuse do they have for allowing this psycho to mingle with the unsuspecting public until he perpetrates such a horrific murderous assault?

And what is wrong with the stupid f*cks who come to offer support to the family who have been complicit in covering up the murderous potential of such a man?

I'll tell you what's wrong. It's the deranged no-accountability Leftist worldview, that's what.

Post 1,849 Entitlementalia Run Amok
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Meaningful work? Define "meaningful"!

New Harmony, a utopian attempt; depicted as pr...
New Harmony, a utopian attempt; depicted as proposed by Robert Owen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A primer on economics, history, and the conflation of idealism with wishful thinking, all in a two-page blog post!

Related source » Meaningful Work: 'via Blog this'
[This related source is recommended in its entirety.]

“It was painful, for example, to see an internationally renowned scholar say that what low-income young people needed was "meaningful work." But this is a notion common among educated elites, regardless of how counterproductive its consequences may be for society at large, and for low-income youngsters especially. […] In the real world, many things are done simply because they have to be done, not because doing them brings immediate pleasure to those who do them. […] Some of our more Utopian intellectuals lament that many people work "just for the money." They do not like a society where A produces what B wants, simply in order that B will produce what A wants, with money being an intermediary device facilitating such exchanges. Some would apparently prefer a society where all-wise elites would decide what each of us "needs" or "deserves." The actual history of societies formed on that principle -- histories often stained, or even drenched, in blood -- is of little interest to those who mistake wishful thinking for idealism. At the very least, many intellectuals do not want the poor or the young to have to take "menial" jobs. […] People who lack the skills to take on more prestigious jobs can either remain idle and live as parasites on others or take the jobs for which they are currently qualified, and then move up the ladder as they acquire more experience. […] Telling young people that some jobs are "menial" is a huge disservice to them and to the whole society. Subsidizing them in idleness while they wait for "meaningful work" is just asking for trouble, both for them and for all those around them.” [emphasis added]
— Thomas Sowell, May 29, 2012 (townhall.com)


Thomas Sowell is a wise man. But more than that, he can express his wisdom in words that even "progressive" liberals could understand, if they were only capable of suspending temporarily their delusions of infallibility. But, as serious people the world over know all too well, they can't, not even long enough to read Thomas Sowell's post with their insufferable intolerance put on hold for a few minutes.

The liberal left's fundamental flaw is its inability to differentiate between idealism and wishful thinking. When otherwise intelligent (and, in many cases, well meaning) people imbue naturally idealistic youth with wishful thinking in the guise of idealistic goals, they condemn the gullible idealists to a lifetime of misunderstanding, dependency on government handouts (in return for their votes), and, ultimately, disappointment with their lot in life.

Among the worst aspects of our nation's education systems is that those who presume to teach the young are themselves ignorant of basic concepts, such as economics, history, ethics, law, and others, all of which concepts are necessary if one is to succeed in the real world.

Post 1,822 Meaningful work? Define "meaningful"!
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Fwench — they march to a different drummer

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
— Walden by Henry David Thoreau


President of France: François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande
"Where does the time go?"     (Image via Theo)

"Quelqu'un m'aider; je ne trouve pas ma tête!"

Post 1,815 The Fwench — they march to a different drummer