Sunday, June 28, 2009

Poor men are apt to think everybody flouts them

When you are at the bottom of the heap you think everyone is on top of you. Well, this is a surprise?

Knowing your humble position can make you oversensitive to criticism, real or imagined. Things you might laugh at or pass over when things are going well and your confidence is high will prey on your mind and seem barbed when you feel weak and vulnerable.

One obvious answer is to increase your wealth and status but that can be very difficult, though you should consider trying it. The other approach is to develop a thick skin and realise that most people will try to be polite and not rub your misfortunes in because they know the saying: there but for the grace of God go I. Remember that those who are up one day can be down the next. Every dog has its day.

Keep your chin up, stay optimistic and enjoy a wry smile at the thought of all the worries, stresses and ulcers the guy at the top is experiencing.

The human race has one really effective weapon and that is laughter. - Mark Twain. Learn to say it with limericks:
700 Limericks & How to Write Them by William Clark

Sunday, June 21, 2009

"Pretty pussy" will not feed a cat

The human race has one really effective weapon and that is laughter. - Mark Twain. This book shows you how:
700 Limericks & How to Write Them by William Clark

"Pretty pussy" will not feed a cat
This is a variant of the idea behind: Fine words butter no parsnips. In other words: You gotta walk the walk not just talk the talk.

Politicians discover at a young age that if they talk well and learn to schmooze the public they get a highly paid job and lots of opportunities to grow rich. This means they concentrate on learning to do what pays best - persuading people to vote for them. Ideally they would learn to do worthwhile things and let their actions speak for themselves.

But that is letting the cat out of the bag!

Some funny video for you:
How to write a Limerick Edward Lear improved Part 1

How to write Limericks Edward Lear improved Part 2

Sunday, June 14, 2009

A brave retreat is a brave exploit

The human race has one really effective weapon and that is laughter. - Mark Twain. This book will arm you:
700 Limericks & How to Write Them by William Clark


The high point of Old Western films was the arrival of the cavalry with trumpets blaring and guns blazing. Attacks are always more satisfying than retreats but: he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. In World War II the British retreat at Dunkirk was hailed as a triumph as the battered army limped off under constant bombardment to reform and later to return to victory.

In our personal lives we have moments of success and failure - times to advance, times to pull in your horns and retrench. In the current financial turmoil many people will be faced with job losses and money worries till they feel like an army in retreat. The British at Corunna were in total disarray and falling back when somehow they managed to reform and fight back to win a defensive battle and then withdraw.

If you are reeling under a financial crisis try to keep cool and disciplined. Success can be snatched from the jaws of disaster if you stay positive, focussed and determined to grasp any opportunity to advance. Be brave: fortune favors the bold.

Fun videos:
How to write a Limerick Edward Lear improved Part 1

How to write Limericks Edward Lear improved Part 2

Sunday, June 07, 2009

A shut book is but a block

If you don't read you don't learn; if you don't learn you can't do; if you can't do you don't earn.

We are being encouraged here to apply ourselves to the acquisition of knowledge. In the day when this saying was first coined, books were probably hard to come by and a privilege to own; so not making full use of them would have been seen as foolish.

Today we are inundated with knowledge and our main preoccupation is how to filter it out. "How do we shut the book?" is the question because the Internet is like a hose of knowledge that is difficult to turn off. We are drowning in facts, figures and opinions.

There is a need for clever software that helps us to identify and chose the things we ought to know. Perhaps people need to learn to exist/work as teams, each specialising in their own niche and reporting to the group anything that everyone should be aware of. A sort of brain collective.

Escapist holiday read: verse adventure story from James Hogg abridged by William Clark.
Queen Hynde of Berigonium, Scotland by James Hogg & William Clark