AdamSmith

That whale of Stubb's, so dearly purchased, was duly brought to the Pequod's side, where all those cutting and hoisting operations previously detailed, were regularly gone through, even to the baling of the Heidelburgh Tun, or Case. While some were occupied with this latter duty, others were employed in dragging away the larger tubs, so soon as filled with the sperm; and when the proper time arrived, this same sperm was carefully manipulated ere going to the try-works, of which anon. It had cooled and crystallized to such a degree, that when, with several others, I sat down before a large Constantine's bath of it, I found it strangely concreted into lumps, here and there rolling about in the liquid part. It was our business to squeeze these lumps back into fluid. A sweet and unctuous duty! No wonder that in old times sperm was such a favorite cosmetic. Such a clearer! such a sweetener! such a softener; such a delicious mollifier! After having my hands in it for only a few minutes, my fingers felt like eels, and began, as it were, to serpentine and spiralize. As I sat there at my ease, cross-legged on the deck; after the bitter exertion at the windlass; under a blue tranquil sky; the ship under indolent sail, and gliding so serenely along; as I bathed my hands among those soft, gentle globules of infiltrated tissues, wove almost within the hour; as they richly broke to my fingers, and discharged all their opulence, like fully ripe grapes their wine; as. I snuffed up that uncontaminated aroma,- literally and truly, like the smell of spring violets; I declare to you, that for the time I lived as in a musky meadow; I forgot all about our horrible oath; in that inexpressible sperm, I washed my hands and my heart of it; I almost began to credit the old Paracelsan superstition that sperm is of rare virtue in allaying the heat of anger; while bathing in that bath, I felt divinely free from all ill-will, or petulance, or malice, of any sort whatsoever. Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers' hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say,- Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness. Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever! For now, since by many prolonged, repeated experiences, I have perceived that in all cases man must eventually lower, or at least shift, his conceit of attainable felicity; not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy; but in the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fire-side; the country; now that I have perceived all this, I am ready to squeeze case eternally. In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti. Now, while discoursing of sperm it behooves to speak of other things akin to it, in the business of preparing the sperm whale for the try-works. First comes white-horse, so called, which is obtained from the tapering part of the fish, and also from the thicker portions of his flukes. It is tough with congealed tendons- a wad of muscle- but still contains some oil. After being severed from the whale, the white-horse is first cut into portable oblongs ere going to the mincer. They look much like blocks of Berkshire marble. Plum-pudding is the term bestowed upon certain fragmentary parts of the whale's flesh, here and there adhering to the blanket of blubber, and often participating to a considerable degree in its unctuousness. It is a most refreshing, convivial, beautiful object to behold. As its name imports, it is of an exceedingly rich, mottled tint, with a bestreaked snowy and golden ground, dotted with spots of the deepest crimson and purple. It is plums of rubies, in pictures of citron. Spite of reason, it is hard to keep yourself from eating it. I confess, that once I stole behind the foremast to try it. It tasted something as I should conceive a royal cutlet from the thigh of Louis le Gros might have tasted, supposing him to have been killed the first day after the venison season, and that particular venison season contemporary with an unusually fine vintage of the vineyards of Champagne. There is another substance, and a very singular one, which turns up in the course of this business, but which I feel it to be very puzzling adequately to describe. It is called slobgollion; an appellation original with the whalemen, and even so is the nature of the substance. It is an ineffably oozy, stringy affair, most frequently found in the tubs of sperm, after a prolonged squeezing, and subsequent decanting. I hold it to be the wondrously thin, ruptured membranes of the case, coalescing. Gurry, so called, is a term properly belonging to right whalemen, but sometimes incidentally used by the sperm fishermen. It designates the dark, glutinous substance which is scraped off the back of the Greenland or right whale, and much of which covers the decks of those inferior souls who hunt that ignoble Leviathan. Nippers. Strictly this word is not indigenous to the whale's vocabulary. But as applied by whalemen, it becomes so. A whaleman's nipper is a short firm strip of tendinous stuff cut from the tapering part of Leviathan's tail: it averages an inch in thickness, and for the rest, is about the size of the iron part of a hoe. Edgewise moved along the oily deck, it operates like a leathern squilgee; and by nameless blandishments, as of magic, allures along with it all impurities. But to learn all about these recondite matters, your best way is at once to descend into the blubber-room, and have a long talk with its inmates. This place has previously been mentioned as the receptacle for the blanket-pieces, when stript and hoisted from the whale. When the proper time arrives for cutting up its contents, this apartment is a scene of terror to all tyros, especially by night. On one side, lit by a dull lantern, a space has been left clear for the workmen. They generally go in pairs,- a pike-and-gaffman and a spade-man. The whaling-pike is similar to a frigate's boarding-weapon of the same name. The gaff is something like a boat-hook. With his gaff, the gaffman hooks on to a sheet of blubber, and strives to hold it from slipping, as the ship pitches and lurches about. Meanwhile, the spade-man stands on the sheet itself, perpendicularly chopping it into the portable horse-pieces. This spade is sharp as hone can make it; the spademan's feet are shoeless; the thing he stands on will sometimes irresistibly slide away from him, like a sledge. If he cuts off one of his own toes, or one of his assistants', would you be very much astonished? Toes are scarce among veteran blubber-room men. http://americanliterature.com/author/herman-melville/book/moby-dick-or-the-whale/chapter-94-a-squeeze-of-the-hand

Throwback Thursday. Umm, Captain Klumpz.... Yes, Malarkey? The men haven't eaten in days, sir. Yes Malarkey. Captain, I don't think you fully understand. I said the men have not eaten in days now. I heard you, Malarkey, thank you. Captain, you've gone quite mad. I'm telling you for the last time, the men have not eaten in days! Well, force them! You've plenty of men, haven't you? Plenty, sir. Plenty of what, sir? Men, sir! What?! Men! What?! Men! Men! MEN! Men! Men, Men, Men, Men Men, Men, Men, Men Men, Men, Men, Men Men, Men, Men, Men It's great to be on a ship with men and sail across the sea-o, We don't know where we'll land or when, but it's great to be with men It's great to be with men 'Cause men can sweat and men can stink and no one seems to care-o, We'll throw the dishes in the sink and clog the drain with hair-o, (Clog the drain with hair-o) Men, men, men. It's a ship all filled with men. So batten down the ladies room; there's no one here but men Men, Men, Men, Men Men, Men, Men, Men There's men above, there's men below, there's men down in the galley, There's Butch and Spike And Buzz and Biff And one guy we call Sally (And one guy we call Sally) Men, men, men. It's a ship all filled with men. You'll never have to lift the seat; there's no one here but men Men, Men, Men, Men Men, Men, Men, Men We're men and friends until the end and none of us are sissies, At night we sleep in separate beds and blow each other kissies (And blow each other kissies) Men, men, men. It's a ship all filled with men. So throw your rubbers overboard; there's no one here but men Ahhhhhhhhh, Mennnnn. (Martin Mull)

The vodka hit the spot...?

I would not have felt bound to do this had your discourse on long-chain fibers not stopped short of its natural next topic: dietary cellulose. Regarding in situ vs. in vivo poop, one hopes your interpretation is correct, as any conceivable alternative would seem to involve Mr Hankey. Finally, re: detergent and horses, I don't make the world, I just try to live in it. Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) is the most common measure of fiber used for animal feed analysis, but it does not represent a unique class of chemical compounds. NDF measures most of the structural components in plant cells (i.e. lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose), but not pectin.[1][2][3] The process involves a neutral detergent that dissolves plant pectins, proteins, sugars and lipids. Thus leaving the fibreous parts behind such as cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose. These parts are not easily digestable, and are often not desired within a feedstuff. [4] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_Detergent_Fiber

Full Text Of Pope Francis' Press Conference On Plane Returning From Korea Pope Francis said the unjust aggressor against the minorities in Iraq must be stopped but, he added, no one state can decide to intervene by itself. The crime of aggression has to be taken to the UN to decide which are the best means to stop the aggressor. He made clear I do not say bomb. He revealed that he had contemplated going to Kurdistan at the time he sent Cardinal Filoni, and said he does not yet exclude that possibility if it is necessary. He made clear his ardent desire to go to China, even tomorrow, and said he wishes to establish good relations with that noble people. He rejected the suggestion that the Prayer for Peace in the Holy Land on June 8 was a failure, and emphasized that it has opened a door that still remains open. He made these and other significant statements in an hour long interview on the flight back from Korea when he responded to a variety of questions from the international media. America provides below the full transcript of the popes press conference. The translation was made by Gerard OConnell, its Vatican correspondent, who travelled on the plane with the pope. This is not an official translation. Q. During the visit to Korea, you reached out to the families of the Sewol ferry disaster and consoled them. Two questions: What did you feel when you met them? And were you not concerned that your action could be misinterpreted politically? A. When you find yourself in front of human suffering, you have to do what your heart brings you to do. Then later they might say, he did this because he had a political intention, or something else. They can say everything. But when you think of these men, these women, fathers and mothers who have lost their children, brothers and sisters who have lost brothers and sisters, and the very great pain of such a catastrophe...my heart. I am a priest, I feel that I have to come close to them, I feel that way. Thats first. I know that the consolation that I can give, my words, are not a remedy. I cannot give new life to those that are dead. But human closeness in these moments gives us strength, solidarity. I remember when I was archbishop of Buenos Aires, I experienced two catastrophes of this kind. One was a fire in a dance hall, a pop-music concert, and 194 people died in it. That was in 1993. And then there was another catastrophe with trains, and I think 120 died in that. At those times I felt the same thing, to draw close to them. Human pain is strong and if we draw close in those sad moments we help a lot. And I want to say something more. I took this ribbon (from relatives of the Sewold ferry disaster, which I am wearing) out of solidarity with them, and after half a day someone came close to me and said, It is better remove it, you should be neutral." But listen, one cannot be neutral about human pain. I responded in that way. Thats how I felt. Q. You know that recently the U.S. forces have started bombing the terrorists in Iraq, to prevent a genocide, to protect minorities, including Catholics who are under your guidance. My question is this: do you approve the American bombing? A. Thanks for such a clear question. In these cases where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say this: it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor. I underline the verb: stop. I do not say bomb, make war, I say stop by some means. With what means can they be stopped? These have to be evaluated. To stop the unjust aggressor is licit. But we must also have memory. How many times under this excuse of stopping an unjust aggressor the powers [that intervened] have taken control of peoples, and have made a true war of conquest. One nation alone cannot judge how to stop an unjust aggressor. After the Second World War there was the idea of the United Nations. It is there that this should be discussed. Is there an unjust aggressor? It would seem there is. How do we stop him? Only that, nothing more. Secondly, you mentioned the minorities. Thanks for that word because they talk to me about the Christians, the poor Christians. Its true, they suffer. The martyrs, there are many martyrs. But here there are men and women, religious minorities, not all of them Christian, and they are all equal before God. To stop the unjust aggressor is a right that humanity has, but it is also a right that the aggressor has to be stopped so that he does not do evil. Q. To return to Iraq. Like Cardinal Filoni and the head of the Dominicans, would you be ready to support a military intervention in Iraq to stop the Jihadists? And I have another question: do you think of going one day to Iraq, perhaps to Kurdistan to sustain the Christian refugees who wait for you, and to pray with them in this land where they have lived for 2,000 years? A. Not long ago I was with the Governor of Kurdistan, Minister Nechirvan Barzani. He had very clear ideas about the situation and how to find solutions, but that was before this unjust aggression. I have responded to the first question. I am only in the agreement in the fact that when there is an unjust aggressor he is to be stopped. Yes, I am willing [to go there]. But I think I can say this, when we heard with my collaborators about the killings of the religious minorities, the problem at that moment in Kurdistan was that they could not receive so many people. Its a problem that one can understand. What can be done? We thought about many things. First of all a communique was issued by Fr. Lombardi in my name. Afterwards that communique was sent to all the nunciatures so that it be communicated to governments. Then we wrote a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations. Many things . And at the end we decided to send our personal envoyCardinal Filoni, and I said if it were necessary when we return from Korea we can go there. It was one of the possibilities. This is my answer. I am willing [to go there]. At the moment it is not the best thing to do, but I am ready for this. Q. My question is about China. China allowed you to fly over its airspace. The telegram that you sent [en route to Korea] was received without negative comments. Do you think these are step forward towards a possible dialogue? And have you a desire to go to China? Father Lombardi intervenes: I can inform you that we are now flying in the airspace over China at this moment. So the question is pertinent. A. When we were about to enter into the Chinese airspace [en route to Korea], I was in the cockpit with the pilots, and one of them showed me a register and said, "Were only ten minutes away from entering the Chinese airspace, we must ask authorization." One always asks for this. Its a normal thing, one asks for it from each country. And I heard how they asked for the authorization, how they responded. I was a witness to this. The pilot then said, "We sent a telegram," but I dont know how they did it. Then I left them and I returned to my place and I prayed a lot for that beautiful and noble Chinese people, a wise people. I think of the great wise men of China, I think of the history of science and wisdom. And we Jesuits have a history there with Father Ricci. All these things came into my mind. If I want to go to China? For sure! Tomorrow! We respect the Chinese people. The church only asks for liberty for its task, for its work. Theres no other condition. Then we should not forget that fundamental letter for the Chinese problems which was the one sent to the Chinese by Pope Benedict XVI. This letter is actual [relevant] today. It is actual. Its good to re-read it. The Holy See is always open to contacts. Always. Because it has a true esteem for the Chinese people. Q. Your next journey will be to Albania and perhaps Iraq. After the Philippines and Sri Lanka, where will you go in 2015? And can I say that in Avila, there is great hope (that you will come), can they still hope? A. Yes! The president of Korea said to mein perfect Spanish!hope is the last thing one loses. She said that to me referring to the unification of Korea. One can always hope, but is not decided. Let me explain. This year Albania is envisaged. Some have begun to say that the pope is starting everything from the periphery. But I am going to Albania for two important motives. First, because they have been able to form a governmentjust think of the Balkans, they have been able to form a government of national unity with Muslims, Orthodox and Catholics, with an interreligious council that helps a lot and is balanced. This is good, and harmonious. The presence of the pope wishes to say to all the peoples [of the world] that its possible to work together. I felt it as a real help to that noble people. And theres another thing, if we think about the history of Albania, in terms of religion is was the only country in the communist world to have in its constitution practical atheism. So if you went to mass it was against the constitution. And then, one of the ministers told me that 1820 churches were destroyed, both Orthodox and Catholic, at that time. Then other churches were transformed into theatres, cinemas, dancehalls. So I just felt that I had to go. Its close, just one day. Next year I would like to go to Philadelphia, for the meeting of the families. Then, I have been invited by the President of the United States to the American Congress. And also the Secretary General of the United Nations has also invited me to the Secretariat of the UN in New York. So maybe the three cities together. Then theres Mexico. The Mexicans want me to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, so we could take advantage of that too (during the U.S. visit), but its not certain. And lastly Spain. The Spanish Royals have invited me. The bishops have invited me, but there is a shower of invitations to go to Spain, and maybe it is possible, but there is nothing sure, so Ill just say that maybe to go to Avila in the morning and return in the afternoon if it were possible, but nothing is decided. So one can still hope. Q. What kind of relationship is there between you and Benedict XVI? Do you have a regular exchange of opinions? Is there a common project after the encyclical ("Light of Faith")? A. We see each other. Before I departed [for Korea] I went to visit him. Two weeks earlier he sent me an interesting written text and he asked my opinion on it. We have a normal relationship. I return to this idea, which may not be liked by some theologian. I am not a theologian, but I think that the emeritus-pope is not an exception. But after many centuries he is the first emeritus. Let us think about what he said, I have got old, I do not have the strength. It was a beautiful gesture of nobility, of humility and courage. But if one thinks that 70 years ago emeritus bishops also were an exception. They did not exist, but today emeritus bishops are an institution. I think that the emeritus pope is already an institution because our life gets longer and at a certain age there isnt the capacity to govern well because the body gets tired, and maybe ones health is good but there isnt the capacity to carry forward all the problems of a government like that of the church. I think that Pope Benedict made this gesture of emeritus popes. May, as I said before, some theologian may say this is not right, but I think this way. The centuries will tell us if this so or not. Lets see. But you could say to me, if you at some time felt you could not go forward, I would do the same! I would do the same. I would pray, but I would do the same. He [benedict] opened a door that is institutional, not exceptional. Our relationship is truly that of brothers. But I also said that I felt as if I have a grandfather at home because of his wisdom. He is a man of wisdom, of nuance that is good for me to hear him. And he encourages me sufficiently too. Thats the relationship I have with him. Q. You have met the people who suffered. What did you feel when you greeted the comfort women at Mass this morning? And as regards the suffering of people in Korea there were also Christians hidden in Japan, and next year will the 150th anniversary of their "era of Nero" [in which Christians were persecuted]. Would it be possible to pray for them together with you at Nagasaki? A. It would be most beautiful. I have been invited both by the government and by the bishops. I have been invited. As for the suffering, you return to one of the first questions. The Korean people are a people who did not lose their dignity. It was a people that was invaded, humiliated. It suffered wars and now it is divided. Yesterday, when I went to the meeting with young people [at Haemi], I visited the museum of the martyrs there. It was terrible the sufferings of these people, just for not standing on a cross. Its a historical suffering. This people has the capacity to suffer, and it is part of their dignity. Also today, when those elderly women were in front of me at Mass, I thought that in that invasion there were young girls taken away to the barracks for to use them but they did not lose their dignity then. They were there today showing their faces, elderly, the last ones remaining. Its a people strong in its dignity. But returning to the question about the martyrs, the suffering and also these women, these are the fruits of war! Today we are in a world at war, everywhere. Someone said to me, "Father do you know that we are in the Third World War, but bit by bit." He understood! Its a world at war in which these cruelties are done. Id like to focus on two words. First, cruelty. Today children do not count. Once they spoke about a conventional war, today that does not count. Im not saying that conventional wars were good things, but today a bomb is sent and it kills the innocent, the guilty, children, women they kill everybody. No! We must stop and think a little about the level of cruelty at which we have arrived. This should frighten us, and this is not to create fear. An empirical study could be done on the level of cruelty of humanity at this moment should frighten us a little. The other word on which I would like to say something is torture. Today torture is one of the means, I would say, almost ordinary in the behavior of the forces of intelligence, in judicial processes and so on. Torture is a sin against humanity, is a crime against humanity. And I tell Catholics that to torture a person is a mortal sin, its a grave sin. But its more, its a sin against humanity. Cruelty and torture! I would like very much if you, in your media, make a reflection: How do you see these things today? How do you see the cruelty of humanity, and what do you think of torture. I think it would do us all good to reflect on this. Q. You have a very demanding rhythm, full of commitments and take little rest, and no holidays, and you do these trips that are exhausting. And in these last months we see that you have also had to cancel some of these engagements, even at the last moment Is there something to be concerned about in the life you lead? A. Yes, some people told me this. I have just taken holidays, at home, as I usually do. Once I read a book. It was quite interesting, its title was: Rejoice that you are neurotic. I too have some neuroses. But one should treat the neuroses well. Give them some mate [herbal drink] every day. One of the neurosis is that I am too attached to life. The last time I took a holiday outside Buenos Aires was with the Jesuit community in 1975. But I always take holidays. Its true. I change rhythm. I sleep more. I read the things I like. I listen to music. That way I rest. In July and part of August I did that. The other question. Yes, it is true, I had to cancel [engagements]. The day I should have gone to the Gemelli [hospital], up to 10 minutes before I was there, but I could not do it. It is true, they were seven very demanding days then, full of engagements. Now I have to be a little more prudent. Q. In Rio when the crowds chanted Francesco, Francesco, you told them to shout Christ, Christ. How do you cope with this immense popularity? How do you live it? A. I dont know how to respond. I live it thanking the Lord that his people are happy. Truly, I do this. And I wish the People of God the best. I live it as generosity on the part of the people. Interiorly, I try to think of my sins, my mistakes, so as not to think that I am somebody. Because I know this will last a short time, two or three years, and then to the house of the Father. And then its not wise to believe in this. I live it as the presence of the Lord in his people who use the bishop, the pastor of the people, to show many things. I live it a little more naturally than before, at the beginning I was a little frightened. But I do these thing, it comes into my mind that I must not make a mistake so as not to do wrong to the people in these things. A little that way. Q. The pope has come from the end of the world and lives in the Vatican. Beyond Santa Marta about which you have talked to us, about your life and your choices. How does the Pope live in the Vatican? Theyre always asking us: What does he do? How does he move about? Does he go for a walk? They have seen that you went to the canteen and surprise us. What kind of life do you lead in Santa Marta, besides work? A. I try to be free. There are work and office appointments, but then life for me, the most normal life I can do. Really, Id like to go out but its not possible, its not possible, because if you go out people will come to you. Thats the reality. Inside Santa Marta I lead the normal life of work, of rest, chatting and so on. Q. Dont you feel like a prisoner? A. At the beginning yes, but now some walls have fallen. For example, before it was said but the pope cant do this or this. Ill give you an example to make you laugh. When I would go into the lift, someone would come in there suddenly because the pope cannot go in the lift alone. So I said, you go to your place and Ill go in the lift by myself. Its normality. Q. Im sorry, Father, but I have to ask you this question as a member of the Spanish language group of which Argentina is a part. Your team, San Lorenzo, won the championship of America for the first time this week. I want to know how you are living this, how you are celebrating. I hear that a delegation are bringing the cup to the public audience on Wednesday, and that you will receive them in the public audience. A. It's good news after getting second place in Brazil. I learned about it here. They told me in Seoul. And they told me, theyre coming on Wednesday. Its a public audience and they will be there. For me San Lorenzo is the team, all my family were supporters of it. My Dad played basketball at San Lorenzo; he was a player in the basketball team. And as children we went with him, and Mama also came with us to the Gazometer. Today the team of 46 was a great team and won the championship. I live it with joy. Not a miracle, no! Q. Theres been talk for a long time about an encyclical on ecology. Could you tell us when it will be published, and what are the key points? A. I have talked a lot about this encyclical with Cardinal Turkson, and also with other people. And I asked Cardinal Turkson to gather all the input that have arrived, and four days before the trip, Cardinal Turkson brought me the first draft. Its as thick as this. Id say its about a third longer than "Evangelii Gaudium." Its the first draft. Its not an easy question because on the custody of creation, and ecology, also human ecology, one can talk with a certain security up to a certain point, but then the scientific hypotheses come, some sufficiently secure, others not. And in an encyclical like this, which has to be magisterial, one can only go forward on the things that are sure, the things that are secure. If the pope says the center of the universe is the earth and not the sun, hes wrong because he says a thing that is scientifically not right. Thats what happens now. So we have to do the study now, number by number, and I believe it will become smaller. But going to the essentials, to that which one can affirm with security. One can say, in footnotes, that on this there is this and that hypothesis, to say it as information but not in the body of an encyclical that is doctrinal. It has to be secure. Q. Thank you so much for your visit to South Korea. Im going to ask you two questions. The first one is this: just before the final Mass at the cathedral you consoled some comfort women there, what thought occurred to you? And my second question, Pyongyang sees Christianity as a direct threat to its regime and its leadership and we know that some terrible thing happened to North Korean Christianity but we dont know exactly what happened. Is there any special approach in your mind to change North Koreas approach to North Koreas Christianity? A . On the first question I repeat this. Today, the women were there and despite all they suffered they have dignity, they showed their face. I think, as I said a short time ago, of the suffering of the war, of the cruelty of the one who wages war. These women were exploited, the were enslaved, all this is cruelty. I thought of all this, and of the dignity that they have and also how much they suffered. And suffering is an inheritance. The early fathers of the church said the blood of the martyrs if the seed of Christians. You Koreans have sown much, much, and out of coherence one now sees the fruit of that seed of the martyrs. About North Korea, I know it is a suffering, and one I know for sure, there are many relatives that cannot come together, thats a suffering, but it a suffering of that division of the country. Today in the cathedral when I put on the vestments for mass there was a gift that they gave me, it was a crown of the thorns of Christ made from the iron wire that divides the two parts of the one Korea. We are now taking it with us on the plane, its a gift that I take, the suffering of division, of a divided family, but as I said yesterday, I cant remember exactly, but talking to the bishops, I said we have a hope: the two Koreas are brothers, and they speak the same language. They speak the same language because they have the same mother, and that gives us hope. The suffering of the division is great, I understand that and I pray that it ends. Q. As an Italo-American I want to compliment you for your English, you should have no fear, and if you wish to do some practice before you go to America, my second homeland, I am willing to help. My question is this: You have spoken about martyrdom. At what stage is the process for the cause of Archbishop Romero. And what would you like to come out of this process? A. The process was blocked in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for prudence, it was said. Now it is unblocked and it is in the Congregation for Saints and follows the normal path of a process. It depends on how the postulators move, its very important to move in haste. What I would like is to have clarified when there is martyrdom in "odium fidei" [out of hate for the faith], whether it is for confessing the credo or for performing the works that Jesus commands us to do for our neighbor. This is a work of theologians that is being studied. Because behind him [Romero], there is Rutilio Grande and there are others. There are other that were also killed but are not at the same height as Romero. This has to be distinguished theologically. For me, Romero is a man of God. He was a man of God but there has to be the process, and the Lord will have to give his sign [of approval]. But if He wishes, He will do so! The postulators must move now because there are no impediments. Q. Given what has happened in Gaza, was the Prayer for Peace held in the Vatican on June 8 a failure? A. That prayer for peace was absolutely not a failure. First of all, the initiative did not come from me. The initiative to pray together came from two presidents: the president of the State of Israel and the president of the State of Palestine. They make known to me this unease, then we wanted to hold it there [in the Holy Land], but we couldnt find the right place because the political cost for each one was very high if they went to the other side. The nunciature was a neutral place, but to arrive at the nunciature the President of Palestine would have had to enter in Israel, so the thing was not easy. Then they said to me, let us do it in the Vatican, we will come. These two men are men of peace, they are men who believe in God, and they have lived through many ugly things, they are convinced that they only way to resolve the situation there is through dialogue, negotiation and peace. You ask me, was it a failure? No, the door remains open. All four, the two presidents and Bartholomew I, I wanted him here as the ecumenical patriarch of Orthodoxy, it was good that he was with us, the door of prayer was opened. And it was said we must pray, peace is a gift of God,. It is a gift but we merit it with our work. And to say to humanity that the path of dialogue is important, negotiation is important, but there is also that of prayer. Then after that, we saw what happened. But it was just a matter of coincidence. That encounter for prayer was not conjuncture. It is a fundamental step of the human attitude, now the smoke of the bombs and the war do not let one see the door, but the door was left open from that moment. And as I believe in God, I look at that door and the many who pray and who ask that He helps us. I liked that question. Thank you! http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/full-text-pope-francis-press-conference-plane-returning-korea

Awww!

Tangentially, 'Wiggle, Wiggle' was also the name of a song on Dylan's 1990 album 'Under the Red Sky.' Fairly widely regarded as one of his worst songs ever, it was also speculated by some to be his description of one of the only sexual activities he remained capable of, assuming the truthfulness of rumors that his past consumption of certain spider venoms for their hallucinogenic qualities eventually led to amputation of his penis when the venom's carcinogenic properties upon being excreted in the urine caused cancer in said organ.

like As a discourse particle, filler, hedge, or speech disfluency History of this usage The word like has developed several non-traditional uses in informal speech. Especially since the late 20th century onward, it has appeared, in addition to its traditional uses, as a colloquialism across all dialects of spoken English, serving as a discourse particle, filler, hedge, speech disfluency, or other metalinguistic unit.[1] Although these particular colloquial uses of like appear to have become widespread rather recently, its use as a filler is a fairly old regional practice in Welsh English and, in Scotland, it was used similarly at least as early as the 19th century. Despite such prevalence in modern-day spoken English, these colloquial usages of like rarely appear in writing (unless the writer is deliberately trying to replicate colloquial dialogue) and they have long been stigmatized in formal speech or in high cultural or high social settings. Furthermore, this use of like seems to appear most commonly, in particular, among natively English-speaking children and adolescents, while less so, or not at all, among middle-aged or elderly adults. One suggested explanation for this phenomenon is the argument that younger English speakers are still developing their linguistic competence, and, metalinguistically wishing to express ideas without sounding too confident, certain, or assertive, use like to fulfill this purpose.[1] In pop culture, such colloquial applications of like (especially in verbal excess) are commonly and often comedically associated with Valley girls, as made famous through the song "Valley Girl" by Frank Zappa, released in 1982, and the film of the same name, released in the following year. The stereotyped "valley girl" language is an exaggeration of the variants of California English spoken by younger generations. However, non-traditional usage of the word has been around at least since the 1950s, introduced through beat and jazz culture. The beatnik character Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) in the popular Dobie Gillis TV series of 1959-1963 brought the expression to prominence; this was reinforced in later decades by the character of Shaggy on Scooby Doo (who was based on Krebs). A very early use of this locution can be seen in a New Yorker cartoon of 15 September 1928, in which two young ladies are discussing a man's workplace: "What's he got - an awfice?" "No, he's got like a loft." It is also used in the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by the narrator as part of his teenage slang and in the Top Cat cartoon series from 1961 to 1962 by the jazz beatnik type characters. A common eye dialect spelling is lyk. See Fleischman (1998) for a similar discourse particle in French. Examples Like can be used in much the same way as "um..." or "er..." as a discourse particle. It has become common especially among North American teenagers to use the word "like" in this way; see Valspeak, discourse marker, and speech disfluency): I, like, don't know what to do. It is also becoming more often used (Northern England and Hiberno-English in particular) at the end of a sentence, as an alternative to you know. This usage is sometimes considered to be a colloquial interjection and it implies a desire to remain calm and defuse tension: I didn't say anything, like. Just be cool, like. Use of like as a filler is quite common in all varieties of spoken English. An example from R L Stevenson's 1886 novel Kidnapped: What'll like be your business, mannie? (p 7) 'What's, like, wrong with him?' said she at last. (p 193) Like can be used as hedge to indicate that the following phrase will be an approximation or exaggeration, or that the following words may not be quite right, but are close enough. It may indicate that the phrase in which it appears is to be taken metaphorically or as a hyperbole. This use of like is sometimes regarded as adverbial, as like is often synonymous here with adverbial phrases of approximation, such as "almost" or "more or less." Examples: I have, like, no money. The restaurant is only, like, five miles from here. I, like, died! They, like, hate you! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like

(Whoops, double post.)

In the context of this forum, manganese sounds positively erotic.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/119441938068660

I have posted links on Daddy's forum to this forum over the years, and those posts have never been deleted or tampered with.

The Coming Climate Crash Lessons for Climate Change in the 2008 Recession By HENRY M. PAULSON Jr. JUNE 21, 2014 The New York Times THERE is a time for weighing evidence and a time for acting. And if there's one thing I've learned throughout my work in finance, government and conservation, it is to act before problems become too big to manage. For too many years, we failed to rein in the excesses building up in the nations financial markets. When the credit bubble burst in 2008, the damage was devastating. Millions suffered. Many still do. We're making the same mistake today with climate change. We're staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy. The warning signs are clear and growing more urgent as the risks go unchecked. This is a crisis we cant afford to ignore. I feel as if Im watching as we fly in slow motion on a collision course toward a giant mountain. We can see the crash coming, and yet were sitting on our hands rather than altering course. We need to act now, even though there is much disagreement, including from members of my own Republican Party, on how to address this issue while remaining economically competitive. Theyre right to consider the economic implications. But we must not lose sight of the profound economic risks of doing nothing. The solution can be a fundamentally conservative one that will empower the marketplace to find the most efficient response. We can do this by putting a price on emissions of carbon dioxide a carbon tax. Few in the United States now pay to emit this potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere we all share. Putting a price on emissions will create incentives to develop new, cleaner energy technologies. Its true that the United States cant solve this problem alone. But were not going to be able to persuade other big carbon polluters to take the urgent action thats needed if were not doing everything we can do to slow our carbon emissions and mitigate our risks. I was secretary of the Treasury when the credit bubble burst, so I think its fair to say that I know a little bit about risk, assessing outcomes and problem-solving. Looking back at the dark days of the financial crisis in 2008, it is easy to see the similarities between the financial crisis and the climate challenge we now face. We are building up excesses (debt in 2008, greenhouse gas emissions that are trapping heat now). Our government policies are flawed (incentivizing us to borrow too much to finance homes then, and encouraging the overuse of carbon-based fuels now). Our experts (financial experts then, climate scientists now) try to understand what they see and to model possible futures. And the outsize risks have the potential to be tremendously damaging (to a globalized economy then, and the global climate now). Back then, we narrowly avoided an economic catastrophe at the last minute by rescuing a collapsing financial system through government action. But climate change is a more intractable problem. The carbon dioxide were sending into the atmosphere remains there for centuries, heating up the planet. That means the decisions were making today to continue along a path thats almost entirely carbon-dependent are locking us in for long-term consequences that we will not be able to change but only adapt to, at enormous cost. To protect New York City from rising seas and storm surges is expected to cost at least $20 billion initially, and eventually far more. And thats just one coastal city. New York can reasonably predict those obvious risks. When I worry about risks, I worry about the biggest ones, particularly those that are difficult to predict the ones I call small but deep holes. While odds are you will avoid them, if you do fall in one, its a long way down and nearly impossible to claw your way out. Scientists have identified a number of these holes potential thresholds that, once crossed, could cause sweeping, irreversible changes. They dont know exactly when we would reach them. But they know we should do everything we can to avoid them. Already, observations are catching up with years of scientific models, and the trends are not in our favor. Fewer than 10 years ago, the best analysis projected that melting Arctic sea ice would mean nearly ice-free summers by the end of the 21st century. Now the ice is melting so rapidly that virtually ice-free Arctic summers could be here in the next decade or two. The lack of reflective ice will mean that more of the suns heat will be absorbed by the oceans, accelerating warming of both the oceans and the atmosphere, and ultimately raising sea levels. Even worse, in May, two separate studies discovered that one of the biggest thresholds has already been reached. The West Antarctic ice sheet has begun to melt, a process that scientists estimate may take centuries but that could eventually raise sea levels by as much as 14 feet. Now that this process has begun, there is nothing we can do to undo the underlying dynamics, which scientists say are baked in. And 10 years from now, will other thresholds be crossed that scientists are only now contemplating? It is true that there is uncertainty about the timing and magnitude of these risks and many others. But those who claim the science is unsettled or action is too costly are simply trying to ignore the problem. We must see the bigger picture. The nature of a crisis is its unpredictability. And as we all witnessed during the financial crisis, a chain reaction of cascading failures ensued from one intertwined part of the system to the next. Its easy to see a single part in motion. Its not so easy to calculate the resulting domino effect. That sort of contagion nearly took down the global financial system. With that experience indelibly affecting my perspective, viewing climate change in terms of risk assessment and risk management makes clear to me that taking a cautiously conservative stance that is, waiting for more information before acting is actually taking a very radical risk. Well never know enough to resolve all of the uncertainties. But we know enough to recognize that we must act now. Im a businessman, not a climatologist. But Ive spent a considerable amount of time with climate scientists and economists who have devoted their careers to this issue. There is virtually no debate among them that the planet is warming and that the burning of fossil fuels is largely responsible. Farseeing business leaders are already involved in this issue. Its time for more to weigh in. To add reliable financial data to the science, Ive joined with the former mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg, and the retired hedge fund manager Tom Steyer on an economic analysis of the costs of inaction across key regions and economic sectors. Our goal for the Risky Business project starting with a new study that will be released this week is to influence business and investor decision making worldwide. We need to craft national policy that uses market forces to provide incentives for the technological advances required to address climate change. As Ive said, we can do this by placing a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. Many respected economists, of all ideological persuasions, support this approach. We can debate the appropriate pricing and policy design and how to use the money generated. But a price on carbon would change the behavior of both individuals and businesses. At the same time, all fossil fuel and renewable energy subsidies should be phased out. Renewable energy can outcompete dirty fuels once pollution costs are accounted for. Some members of my political party worry that pricing carbon is a big government intervention. In fact, it will reduce the role of government, which, on our present course, increasingly will be called on to help communities and regions affected by climate-related disasters like floods, drought-related crop failures and extreme weather like tornadoes, hurricanes and other violent storms. Well all be paying those costs. Not once, but many times over. This is already happening, with taxpayer dollars rebuilding homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy and the deadly Oklahoma tornadoes. This is a proper role of government. But our failure to act on the underlying problem is deeply misguided, financially and logically. In a future with more severe storms, deeper droughts, longer fire seasons and rising seas that imperil coastal cities, public funding to pay for adaptations and disaster relief will add significantly to our fiscal deficit and threaten our long-term economic security. So it is perverse that those who want limited government and rail against bailouts would put the economy at risk by ignoring climate change. This is short-termism. There is a tendency, particularly in government and politics, to avoid focusing on difficult problems until they balloon into crisis. We would be fools to wait for that to happen to our climate. When you run a company, you want to hand it off in better shape than you found it. In the same way, just as we shouldnt leave our children or grandchildren with mountains of national debt and unsustainable entitlement programs, we shouldnt leave them with the economic and environmental costs of climate change. Republicans must not shrink from this issue. Risk management is a conservative principle, as is preserving our natural environment for future generations. We are, after all, the party of Teddy Roosevelt. THIS problem cant be solved without strong leadership from the developing world. The key is cooperation between the United States and China the two biggest economies, the two biggest emitters of carbon dioxide and the two biggest consumers of energy. When it comes to developing new technologies, no country can innovate like America. And no country can test new technologies and roll them out at scale quicker than China. The two nations must come together on climate. The Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago, a think-and-do tank I founded to help strengthen the economic and environmental relationship between these two countries, is focused on bridging this gap. We already have a head start on the technologies we need. The costs of the policies necessary to make the transition to an economy powered by clean energy are real, but modest relative to the risks. A tax on carbon emissions will unleash a wave of innovation to develop technologies, lower the costs of clean energy and create jobs as we and other nations develop new energy products and infrastructure. This would strengthen national security by reducing the worlds dependence on governments like Russia and Iran. Climate change is the challenge of our time. Each of us must recognize that the risks are personal. Weve seen and felt the costs of underestimating the financial bubble. Lets not ignore the climate bubble. Henry M. Paulson Jr. is the chairman of the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago and served as secretary of the Treasury from July 2006 to January 2009. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/opinion/sunday/lessons-for-climate-change-in-the-2008-recession.html?referrer=&_r=0

If we have used up our quota of Likes for the day, and if we then go back and Unlike some very old posts that we had Liked, do those freed-up Likes go back into our quota of Likes to use now?