Billions of Bilious Blue Blistering Barnacles in the Crab Nublea

Capt. Haddock was introduced in “The Crab with the Golden Claw”. He was the first permanent supporting character. He had been the captain of the merchant vessel “Karaboudjan”. He was an alcoholic and once tried to pull Tintin’s head off when the Capt mistook him for a bottle of champagne. In the “Red Rachams Treasure” he locates a treasure and retires to Marlinspike his family’s ancestral home. The Capt is provided with a first name, Archibald,  only in the last completed story “Tintin and the Picaros”. The various Haddockisms used by the captain have been collected and listed in the “Dictionary of Captain Haddock’s Insults”. There are 192 child friendly insults – billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles or ten thousand thundering typhoons.  His home, Marlinspike, is modeled on the Chateau de Cheverny. It first appeared in “The Secret of the Unicorns” and was then the home of the notorious “Bird Brothers”

What is / the well / and what is / a cup. Some / people get / drunk up – Kay Ryan – The Best of it, 2010 p258

A 1% increase in the price of oil results in a 0.9% increase in the price of corn. A 1% rise in the price of corn results in a 0.2% rise in the price of food. It all goes round and round, everything spirals upwards.

There could be nutrients / in failure - / deep amendments / to the shallow soil / of wishes – Kay Ryan – The Best of it, 2010 p202

The long term impact of out industrial age and it’s CO₂ emissions may last for hundreds of thousands of hears. So far we have only looked at the short term consequences, say the flooding of coastal cities over the next thirty years. But in the long term, the consequences may be much much worse worse than has hereto been imagined. Recent modeling indicates that if we stop burning fossil fuels today the temperature  may spike sometime around 2050 at 2-3^oC above the current norm and the oceans would rise by 10 meters. If we continue using fossil fuels until coal resources are exhausted the temperature may peak sometime between 2500 and 3500AD with a temperature 6-9^o C higher than today and with sea level rising 70 meters.

EXPECTATIONS:  We expect rain / to animate this / creek; these rocks / to harbor gurgles, / these pebbles to / creep downstream / a little, those leaves / to circle in the wet. / The bed is ready / but no rain yet – Kay Ryan – The Best of it, 2010 p228

Most of Australia’s parrots are left footed while none of them are left-handed (of course none of them are right-handed either)

Prairie dogs will kiss more frequently if people are watching them

Without songs, without pleasure, without humor, all the artifice in the world goes to waste – Zadie Smith – Changing My Mind: occasional essays 2009 p181

To ‘cleanse’

            Implies a moral

            Outrage

That can not just be
            Scrubbed away

Please God, cleanse

            These thought

            From my heart

There is a purifying

            Quality in “cleansing

            Products”

It is not just elbow grease

            But a moral science

The ultimate expression of

            It is in “ethnic cleansing”

Thinking about literature eventually means thinking about society and politics – Adam Kirsch – New York Times Book Review 1/2/11  p10

The size of the American marijuana market is about the same as the size of the Viagra market and getting bigger – it might double in size over the next five years. This growth is attributed to better patient access.

A hundred Bolts of Satin: There seem / to have been / a track / the things / that you / unpack / from the / abandoned cars / cannot sustain / life a crate of / tractor axles, / for example, / a dozen dozen / clasp knives, / a hundred bolts of satin - / perhaps you specialized / more than  / you imagined / All you have to lose / is one connection / and the mind / uncouples / all the way back. / It seems / to never have been / a train – Kay Ryan – The Best of it, 2010  p154

The corporate share of the US tax receipts went from 30% in 1950 to 6.6% in 2009

What distinguishes the United States from a political oligarchy is that citizens do retain the right to vote in elections… In dominant thinking the existence of this right to vote is what qualifies the United States as a democracy. It is an awfully, awfully thin reed – Robert McChesney – Rich media, poor democracy, 1999 p5

A disingenuous politics always fails when it invariably loses track of its true objective

Identity cannot be thought except as differing from the different – Vincent Descombes – Modern French Philosophy, 1980 s p40

Go to the community

            Knock on any door

Someone emerges out of

            Darkness. He has

            A gun. A dog is

            Barking

Why can’t we all  just

            Get along? – Rodney

            King was back in

                        The news yesterday

The Community News – the local

            Neighborhood advertiser

The Black community supports

            Its local churches

The Islamic community doesn’t

            Adequately support law enforcement

They send out their community patrols

Who drive slowly through the neighborhood

            And detour when they spot anything amiss

Community maps desire

            Onto geography

Norm is at his place at

            The bar

What does the business

            Community think about this?

Who will speak for the Gay

            Community about it?

A society like the United States which has rampant inequalities, minimal popular involvement in decision making, and widespread depoliticization can never be regarded as democratic in an honest use of the term – Robert McChesney – Rich media, poor democracy, 1999 p5

Privilege is not having to be defined by a limiting condition (he is pretty smart for a Black) – community members are not privileged individuals (the Islamic community is not adequately supporting our war against terrorism).

The historian should be a skeptic, a doubter, a detective and an honest person – Bruce Cumings – War and Television, 1992