Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

And Now, The PB&J Hot Dog

2/29/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​​​​                                                  Available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

​
And Now, The PB&J Hot Dog

       In my previous post I wrote about Tap That Glass, a pizzazy little restaurant and music venue in Newark, Ohio where Tom and I recently spent an evening listening to the terrific Old Timey/Bluegrass music of Caleb Powers and Matt Hopper (see previous post,   https://www.ailantha.com/blog/an-evening-of-music-at-tap-that-glass), 
Picture
...and sampling a couple of the  tamer menu items, among which were a variety of outré hotdogs, including one that caught the interest of at least a couple of readers: ​
Picture
       Until I saw it on that menu last week I'd never heard of a hotdog topped with peanut butter and jelly, nor could I have conceived of such a culinary weirdity. 
      And yet 
one reader commented on Facebook that they kept seeing this item on menus lately. This bit of information, that peanut butter and jelly on a hotdog wasn't just some out there idea cooked up by the hot dog artiste of this eclectic little eatery, but an actual thing, kind of blew my mind, though I guess it shouldn't have. After all, this phenomenon has been preceded by such unholy  amalgams as the donut burger,
Picture
...chocolate-covered bacon,
Picture
...grape jelly meatballs,
Picture
...and my personal entry in the hall of edible infamies, the turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich.
Picture
       Now, the reason the mixing of turkey and cranberry sauce  is a personal issue for me is because, of all the strange Frankenfoods under the sun, this one is the only one I ever let myself get talked into putting into my mouth. 
       "You've got to try a turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich! It's awesome!" said everybody I knew shortly after T&CS became a thing a couple of decades ago.
       "But I don't want to," I'd always reply. In truth, though I love both turkey and cranberry sauce, I don't want them anywhere near each other. I can't have them on the same plate. On Thanksgiving my place must be set with an extra bowl for my cranberry sauce, and it's only after  I've finished all the items on my turkey plate and  that plate has been cleared away that I can dig into my bowl of cranberry sauce,  which likewise must be cleared away before  I dig into my pumpkin pie. For me cranberry sauce is sort of a sui generis thing.
        And yet somehow I once let myself get talked into taking a bite of a turkey and cranberry sauce wrap.  (Obviously, I still haven't gotten over it).
        And now,  not content with all the disrepute that's already been inflicted upon upon the gustatory ecosystem
 by rogue food combinations , they've created the PB&J hot dog!
        Another Facebook friend, after reading the previous post, made the observation that I am not a culinary explorer.
      Alas, this is true. 
Picture
        
0 Comments

An Evening Of Music At Tap That Glass

2/25/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
​​​                                                  Available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY


​An Evening Of Music At Tap That Glass

      A couple of weeks ago one of my fellow members of the Licking County Ukulele Club,
Picture
...Matt Hopper, ukulelist par excellence, dulcet-voiced tenor, and master of the banjolele, which is a cross between a banjo and a ukulele, 
Picture
...shared with the club that he would be performing an evening of music with Caleb Powers, singer and gifted player of numerous instruments with the Virginia bluegrass/folk band Hackensaw Boys,
Picture
...at Tap That Glass, a bar and music venue in Newark, Ohio on Thursday, February 15.
      And so on February 15 Tom and I drove 29 miles out to the Columbus exurb of Newark where we sought out Tap That Glass, only to be initially confused, as the place apparently also goes by the name Franks & Sammies.
Picture
      However, once we got ourselves sorted out we were able to find our destination, 
a cheery  place with a fun rock and roll motif,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...and a stage at the front of the room, as there's live music here every Thursday night.
Picture
       The music was to start at 7 pm, but we arrived at 6:30 to to snag a good spot close to the stage, which we were able to do, and also to have some dinner beforehand.
       The menu was, as suggested by the Franks and Sammies reference in the name of the place, a vast variety of boutique hot dogs,
Picture
Picture

​...and a plethora of intriguing sandwiches, many of them sausage-based.
Picture
     I played it safe and went with the Gyro Sandwich Meal served with fries and macaroni salad, 
Picture
​...though I traded the macaroni salad for baked beans, which I subsequently gave to my mate, who ordered the Meatloaf Sandwich Meal.
Picture
     My gyro was first-rate, thanks to the tasty meat and outstanding tzatziki sauce. Tom, sadly, was less enthusiastic about his meatloaf sandwich. But here's the thing: Tom is always on the prowl in search of meatloaf such as his mother used to make, but though he's tried the meatloaf in restaurant after restaurant, no restaurant meatloaf has ever come close to the quality of his mother's.
       So anyway, if anyone knows of a restaurant that serves a primo meatloaf, please share. Or I'd even be appreciative of a terrific meatloaf recipe, if anyone has one. I've never succeeded in making  a decent meatloaf, either.
       By the time seven o'clock rolled around the bar was full almost to capacity of folks who'd come to hear the music,     
Picture
...which was wonderful.
       Matt and Caleb's voices and instruments blended harmoniously in an engaging  program of bluegrass, folk, country and traditional tunes, most of which
 they'd been hearing, singing, and playing all their lives, having learned these songs from their dads' band, The North Fork Rounders.
Picture
      They also played some old-timey fiddle tunes,
Picture
...among them this  one called Katydid.
      And so the evening was a delight. As were the two musicians who gifted us with their music.
Picture
            
0 Comments

The Rise And Fall Of A Brunch

2/22/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​​                                                  Available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY


​The Rise And Fall Of A Brunch

       Along with the axiom "Pics or it didn't happen" goes the corollary, "If it didn't happen then there are no pics," which applies to the event chronicled in the following post, for which there are no pics. Because it didn't happen.
          What did happen, was that last Friday it occurred to me that it had been some time since Tom and I had our son Tommy and daughter-in-law Emily over for weekend brunch.  So on Friday night I invited them to come over the next day for a Saturday brunch. I figured I'd just throw together the usual for the four of us:  scrambled eggs and French toast.
         "Sure, we'll come," said Tommy. "But cousin Kevin is in town. Can we invite him, too?"
         "Certainly," said I, figuring brunch for five wasn't much more than brunch for four. "Oh, but wait," I said,  "since cousin Kevin is in town, we really should invite Randy and Anusha." Now were up to seven.
           "Oh, and what about Theresa?," said Tommy.  
​          That made eight, until Tom said, "If we're inviting cousin Kevin, Randy, Anusha, Theresa, Tommy and Emily, then we should ask Uncle Donald and Aunt Mary." That made ten.
          "Oh, sure, we'll come," said Uncle Donald. "But how about Madelyn, Brady and Archer?"
          Now we were up to thirteen. My dining room table only holds twelve.
          But no problem! We'd seat the younger folks in the dining room, the older folks in the kitchen, and serve the food buffet style.  
          Which brought me to the issue of food. I didn't have sufficient provisions to make scrambled eggs and French toast for thirteen, and even if I did, this was no longer a mere eggs and French toast brunch. With cousin Kevin in town and all the relatives coming over, it would be an event calling for a more sumptuous repast.
          I came up with a menu:
          Scrambled eggs with mushrooms, onions and peppers 
          Tater tots
           Sausage
           Rolls
          French toast topped with berries and whipped cream
          Fruit salad
          Coffee, tea, orange juice, iced tea, sparkling water
          Of course I didn't have most of the ingredients for the feast on hand, but again, no problem, I'd set the alarm for 6 am, zip out to Meijer's first thing in the morning, pick up the supplies, then I'd hurry home and hit the ground chopping, whipping, and sautéing  while Tom cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom and set up the dining room and kitchen tables and the whole thing would be no sweat.
          The following morning at 6:01 I lay in bed sweating ever so slightly, going over  in my head one more time the menu, the grocery list, the cooking, the food set-up, and the seating arrangements, when Tom, a much earlier riser than myself, came into the bedroom.
           "I have the worst sore throat," he croaked. "My muscles ache and I'm all congested. I think I'm running a temperature."
             And in that moment my towering brunch plan came tumbling down.

​                                                             Epilogue
         
  Tom is feeling much better. It wasn't COVID,  just a miserable cold that appears to have almost run its course. 
           I swear someday the Saturday brunch will rise again. And when it does, there will be pics.       
Picture
0 Comments

In Search Of A Sunrise And The Graveyard Of The Trees

2/22/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
                                                  Available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY


​In Search Of A Sunrise And The Graveyard Of The Trees

...Continued from previous post:
     
 Early riser that I'm not, still I'd been hoping that during our visit to our friends' beach house in Jekyll Island, Georgia, I might be able to gather the fortitude to get up out of bed in time to catch one of the spectacular ocean sunrises I'd heard tell of in these parts. And from our friends' balcony I'd have a ringside view.  
Picture
      The first morning, Wednesday morning, I missed the sunrise show by, I don't know, minutes? Seconds? Anyway, by the time I schlepped myself out of bed and onto the balcony, I was barely in time to catch the closing credits.
Picture
   However, once the sun got itself settled into a good spot in the heavens, there was a nice, sparkly patch of  sunlight on the water.
Picture
      The second morning, Thursday morning, I had considerably more success dragging my tired tuchus out of bed, and was rewarded for my effort with a considerably more striking sight than the morning before. 
Picture
      As this day was to be our last day on Jekyll Island visiting our friends Mike and Dayna,
Picture
...what I most wanted to see, next to a pièce de la résistance sunrise, was...well, I wanted to see our old college friends again, which we did that night when they invited us to their beautiful home for a wonderful dinner.
Picture
     And I wanted to see more live oaks, as I'd become fascinated by  those massive island trees whose long, serpentine limbs support whole ecosystems.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
       And I also greatly wanted to see a stretch of island shoreline called Driftwood Beach. 
         And so we headed back out to the site of the old Jekyll Island Club, which was once the exclusive property of a small group of America's Gilded Age tycoons but is now open to the public as a state park (see post from 2/16/2024, 
https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-jekyll-island-club​).
         We spent the morning walking around the grounds among the live oaks,        
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...and the profusion of other flora and fauna.     
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
      Off the shoreline we saw communities of oyster beds.
Picture
Picture
     I asked Dayna if these oysters were edible. She didn't know, but she informed me that once back in the old days of the Jekyll Club some of the residents ate the oysters from this water and there was subsequently an outbreak of typhoid, which oysters, if not properly raised, can carry. I took that as a no, and also enough to convince me that I would never eat an oyster from anywhere (though up until now I've never needed a reason not to eat one).
​      When lunchtime rolled around we tried  a cute nearby Irish restaurant called Wee Pub Beach,
Picture
...where the food was great.
      Among us we tried the Loaded Baked Potato Soup;

Picture
...the Drunk Chicken Salad,
Picture
...a Reuben with fries,
Picture
...and a round of Hush Puppies to share.
Picture
     For dessert Tom and I split a dish of the out-of-this-world bread pudding topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel sauce.
Picture
     After lunch we returned to our friends' house, and from there we walked about a mile to Driftwood Beach, 
Picture
Picture
...passing on our way wetlands that we were told are home to alligators and turtles.​
Picture
Picture
       Driftwood beach is a stretch of shoreline that was once a forest of live oaks. But over time the ocean overtook the land and the land became sand and the trees died on the beach. Here they remain in a beautifully surreal graveyard where they resemble strange living creatures..​
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
      The next morning we'd be leaving  Jekyll Island and, knowing this was my last chance to catch the sunrise, I finally managed to make it out of bed and to the balcony before 6 am.
        My spectacular sunrise:
Picture
Picture
        Then the sun was once again on its way across the sky, 
Picture
...and soon after so were we.
Picture
0 Comments

The Island Gilded Age

2/19/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
                                                 Available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

​
​The Island Gilded Age

...Continued from yesterday:
       On Wednesday afternoon, after our tour of St. Simons Island (see yesterday's post,  https://www.ailantha.com/blog/st-simons-island-shrimp-boats-live-oaks-and-a-bird-convention), we returned to Jekyll Island and headed for the historic district where in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the ultra-wealthy captains of American industry built for themselves an exclusive retreat that they called the Jekyll Island Club. The area is now a state park open to the public and site of the Jekyll Island Club Resort (see post from 2/16/2024, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-jekyll-island-club).
Picture
       We walked for a little while around the resort grounds, where we saw some magnificent old live oaks hung with Spanish moss and other plant life (see yesterday's post),
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...alongside other beautiful indigenous trees.
Picture
Picture
Picture
     We then walked to the clubhouse/hotel,
Picture
...where we took a tour of the reconstructed spaces where the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Morgans,  and other elites of the American Gilded Age once roamed,
Picture
Picture
Picture
...dined,
Picture
...(or maybe just popped in for a nosh),
Picture
...convened,
Picture
...read,
Picture
...and otherwise hung out.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
        
​       That evening Mike and Dayna took us to Tribuzio's Grille, where many of the Jekyll Island locals come together on Wednesday evenings,
Picture
...to meet, eat, and participate in the Wednesday night Trivia tournaments.
Picture
     Here we met up with some old friends from college who are also part-time residents of the island and Trivia night regulars. They introduced us to some new friends, and soon Tom and I took our first fling at a Trivia night.
Picture
​      Our team did pretty well on the first two rounds,
Picture
...then we kind of plotzed on round three. But it was lots of fun, anyway, and one does pick up a good amount of interesting new (if trivial)  information.
       ​ As we sat around the table and played in this room full of our fellow trivialistas, I found myself musing over what those old gilt-edge aristocrats who used to be the sole inhabitants of this charming island off the coast of Georgia would have thought if during their time they could have looked into a crystal ball and seen one hundred and twenty years into the future all of us commoners enjoying life on this piece of earth that they likely believed would belong to them and their scions forever.
Picture
     To be continued...
0 Comments

St. Simons Island: Shrimp Boats, Live Oaks, And A Bird Convention

2/18/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
​      Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

​St. Simons Island: Shrimp Boats, Live Oaks, And A Bird Convention

...Continued from yesterday:
   
  Soon after our friends picked us up from The Golden Isles airport in Brunswick Georgia, an airport so small and bright and cute it almost looks like a toy airport (see post from 2/14/2024, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-cutest-airport-in-the-whole-usa),
Picture
...we were on our way across the spectacular, mile-and-a-half long, 480 foot high Sidney Lanier Bridge that joins the mainland to the Golden Isles, as the four barrier islands off the coast of Georgia are called.
Picture
Picture
   On the other side of the bridge we had our first view of beautiful Jekyll Island.
Picture
     This was also the first time I ever saw Spanish moss hanging from the trees, as it does in this part of the world. 
Picture
          I was quite enchanted.
Picture
Picture
      Our friends Dayna and Mike,
Picture
...live on a street lined with palm trees and live oaks,
Picture
Picture
Picture
...in a cozy beach house.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...with balconies that look over the ocean. 
Picture
      Our guest room.
Picture
Picture
      That evening  we went to a local eatery called the Beach House,   
Picture
...where the ambiance was quite beachy,
Picture
Picture
...and the food oh, so good.
       Tom ordered the gnocchi with garlic bread,
Picture
...Dayna had the pulled pork,
Picture
...and Mike the breaded fish fillets.
Picture
      I requested a mushroom and Swiss burger cooked as rare as was legally allowed, and was pleased that whoever cooked my burger probably cooked it to just that legal limit (I love me some rare meat!) 
Picture
       The crispy, curvy fries were also very good.
       The following morning I hoped to get up early enough to catch a magnificent sunrise over the ocean. However I arrived on the balcony just as the colors were fading into the day.
Picture
Picture
      Then, in spite of the chilly wind that was blowing, I decided to take a walk along the beach. 
Picture
Picture
     
​        St. Simons Island off in the distance.
Picture
Picture
     Our hosts took us for a visit St. Simons, the next island over, where we had a yummy breakfast at a little spot called Palmer's Village Cafe.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     After breakfast we walked through the town,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...down to the pier,
Picture
...from where we saw ships,
Picture
...shrimp boats, which I found captivating,
Picture
Picture
...an intriguing bird convention,
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

...and, off in the distance, the Sidney Lanier bridge.
Picture
      From the pier we walked for a while along the margin of the water,  
Picture
...to the lighthouse,
Picture
...which was attached to the house where the lighthouse keeper at one time lived.
Picture
      We then strolled around the town.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
      I was entranced by the live oaks that grew everywhere,
Picture
Picture
...with their snaky, spreading limbs,
Picture
...that sometimes grew into the ground then back out again,
Picture
...hung with Spanish moss,
Picture
Picture
Picture
...and provider for other plant life.
Picture
Picture
        I asked Dayna why these trees were called "live oaks;" aren't all oaks "live?"
       She explained that these were called "live" because they didn't lose their leaves in the winter. ​
Picture
      I commented that in these parts it didn't look like any of the trees lost their leaves. We were in the first week of February and everything appeared to be live and blooming.
      She then ventured that, well, there are dozens of different kinds of oak trees: red oaks, pin oaks, burr oaks...they must have just decided to name this one a "live oak."
        Sounds kind of like a participation award to me.      
Picture
    To be continued...
0 Comments

The Jekyll Island Club

2/16/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
      Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY


​The Jekyll Island Club

...Continued from yesterday:
     
 Tom and I had been invited by some dear old friends to come and visit them at their wintering-over home on beautiful Jekyll Island off the southern coast of Georgia.     
Picture
      The island, we were to learn, was purchased in the 1880's by a group of ultra-rich captains of American industry, among them J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Marshall Field, William K. Vanderbilt and Joseph Pulitzer, as a getaway from the travails of work and the city.
      Seeking the pleasures of nature and the simple life, it was agreed upon by the magnates who purchased the land that the Jekyll Island Club, as they christened this endeavor, would be a haven of plain rustic living. 
       And so the men built for themselves humble island cottages:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
      However, if one preferred the experience of communal living, accommodations could be procured at the Jekyll Island clubhouse.  
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
       Jekyll Island remained a thriving respite for the richest until the Great Depression in 1929, when those members hit with financial hardship were forced to relinquish their island abodes. From there membership in the Jekyll Island Club declined, until in 1947 the state of Georgia purchased the island from the remaining members and declared it a state park.
​       Today the grounds of the original Jekyll Island Club is a historic district open to the public. Of the sixteen original Jekyll Island cottages, eleven are still standing and the restored cottages and the clubhouse are now hotels and event venues known as the Jekyll Island Club Resort. The clubhouse is also open for tours.
​
        The Jekyll Island Club Resort clubhouse
Picture
   The rest of Jekyll Island is a  community of full-time and seasonal residents as well as visitors to the island, among whom for the next two days Tom and I would be. 
     To be continued...

0 Comments

The Cutest Airport In The Whole U.S.A.

2/14/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​       Available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

​
​The Cutest Airport In The Whole U.S.A.

       Me, I like airports, and over the years I've seen quite a few:
​        Visually striking ones, 
Picture

​...arty ones,
Picture

​...pleasant ones,  
Picture

​...lovely ones,
Picture

​...fantastic ones,
Picture
...user-friendly ones,
Picture
...and airports of all sorts.
     Then last Tuesday my mate Tom and I arrived at the small county airport in Brunswick, Georgia. which has got to be hands down the cutest little airport of them all. 
        The interior of the Brunswick Golden Isles airport is light and bright with a fountain in the middle,
Picture
...airy plants and sconce lights, 
Picture
...and wooden tables with upholstered chairs all around.
Picture
Picture
      The spotlessly clean floors are partly carpeted in a pretty floral design,
Picture
...and partly sand-colored stone,
Picture
...edged with mosaic.
Picture
     Who's ever seen such detail on an airport floor?
      Or a check-in counter with colored tiles?
Picture
        It almost looks like a toy airport.        
        And it's charming on the outside, too.
Picture
      And though it's the smallest of airports, Brunswick Golden Isles has a very nice restaurant called Tipsy McFlys,
Picture
Picture
...where we had lunch with our friends Mike and Dayna, whom we'd flown in to visit.
Picture
      The food was really good.
    Tom and I split a Green Gobbler sandwich, which was turkey, guacamole and bacon with a yummy aioli sauce and a side of hot curly fries,
Picture
...while our friends had a club sandwich,
Picture
...and a house salad topped with chicken.
Picture
     Now, if only the exterior wall of the restaurant hadn't been inexplicably hung with this old-timey-style sexist sign...
Picture
     Oh, well, I guess even the best of airports, like the best of people, have their faults.
0 Comments

What Joe Biden Was Probably Saying

2/8/2024

3 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
      Available on Amazon:    
     "Equal And Opposite Reactions"      http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
     "Hail Mary"                                           https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
     
"Tropical Depression"                        https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

​
​What Joe Biden Was Probably Saying

Picture
     Upon hearing the news leak that in private Joe Biden refers to Donald Trump as a sick f***, my first thought was that the leak was the doing of some disloyal aide or associate.
    But then it turned out that the public got such a kick out of Joe Biden dropping the F-bomb on Trump that my second thought was that mayhaps the leak was a piece of political strategy.
      My other second thought was that "sick f***" sounds like an STD. 
      Which then got me to cogitating...now, you'll have to stay with me, but I'm going to try and make this make sense:
       Back in my day - which was also Joe Biden's day, more or less - those maladies that we now call sexually transmitted diseases used to be euphemistically referred to as "social diseases." 
         However, these days the term "social disease" doesn't only refer to those kinds of diseases, but to any phenomenon that brings harm to a society.
  
      So, if one follows the logic of what Joe Biden was saying:
                     Donald Trump = a sick f***
                     A sick f*** = an STD
                     An STD = a social disease
                     A social disease = a phenomenon that brings harm to society
              Therefore: Donald Trump = a phenomenon that brings harm to society. Which is no doubt all Joe Biden was  saying. 
Picture
      Either way, a sick f***  by any other name is just as rancid.
References:
​https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-private-comments-sick-trump_n_65bc4db5e4b0102bd2d896ae
3 Comments

Thoughts On Elon Musk And Goodness

2/4/2024

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​"Tropical Depression" by Patti Liszkay
0.99 on Amazon Kindle
February 1- February 7

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

​Thoughts On Elon Musk And Goodness

Picture
​     A friend made the following comment on my previous post on Elon Musk (see https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-paradox-of-elon-musk):
Picture
        Much as I liked the video game quip, for me my friend's remark about Musk's "terrible sense of what actually IS good" hit a cerebral bullseye which got me to pondering that elusive abstraction that we humans call good. 
​         Consider:  Doesn't everybody, no matter how mean, unkind, cruel, greedy, self-serving, ungenerous, dishonest, judgmental, money-grubbing or irresponsible they might be; no matter how blind,  insensitive, or careless they are regarding the welfare of their fellow human beings; no matter what crimes they may be guilty of, what evil they might have perpetrated, what damage they might have done to another person, a country, or the whole planet; no matter how bad any one of us has been, doesn't every one of us think of ourselves as good? Or trying to be good? Or at least 
- as my friend diagnosed Elon Musk -  desiring to do good?
       And yet doesn't it seem that it's the truly good people who are hardest on themselves, whose consciences punish them over the least infraction while others bask in self-righteousness in proportion to their lack of goodness?
        Whoever wrote the Gospels credited Jesus with saying that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, which has been interpreted, among various interpretations, to  mean a state of interior goodness. But if that's true, mustn't it be equally hard for the powerful, acclaimed, or anyone set upon a public pedestal, to hold onto a sense of what actually is good and to hold themselves to it?
         Which I guess swings back to my friend's observation of Elon Musk, the richest human of us all, whose pedestal rises so tragically high.
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact