Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

From A Drinking Song by W.B. Yeats.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

A little more than a month ago, my friend, blogger and poet Sherry Chandler posted about a book that she had read. She wrote:

I have been very slowly reading my way through Chris Hedges’ War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning (Public Affairs, 2002). I find it very slow going because every page seems to rip my heart out. Hedges is a great writer; the book is riveting. It’s a portrait of humankind at its most brutal.

I picked up the book and found I had the same problem. Hedges’ book is not one I could read quickly. I read and re-read sentances, whole paragraphs, trying to wrap my head around his experiences. A tremendous amount went into my chapbook, but where I wanted to copy out whole pages I forced myself to capture thoughts I could contemplate.

It is unusual for me to make a case for a book, but in the sixth year of the third millenium of our common era, this is a book that all Americans ought to read.

This is a passage I copied from War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.

The press usually does not lead. p. 22

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 10 Steps to a Zen-like Working Environment.

Eddie: The room that I sleep in has a bug zapper in it due to the insane number of mosquitos that we have flying around. For some reason I seem to taste like a delicacy to these little flying bastards, so any preventive measure that will keep them from eating me alive is a good one. Back home in AZ mosquitos are not too big of a problem. In fact bugs in…

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

A little more than a month ago, my friend, blogger and poet Sherry Chandler posted about a book that she had read. She wrote:

I have been very slowly reading my way through Chris Hedges’ War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning (Public Affairs, 2002). I find it very slow going because every page seems to rip my heart out. Hedges is a great writer; the book is riveting. It’s a portrait of humankind at its most brutal.

I picked up the book and found I had the same problem. Hedges’ book is not one I could read quickly. I read and re-read sentances, whole paragraphs, trying to wrap my head around his experiences. A tremendous amount went into my chapbook, but where I wanted to copy out whole pages I forced myself to capture thoughts I could contemplate.

It is unusual for me to make a case for a book, but in the sixth year of the third millenium of our common era, this is a book that all Americans ought to read.

This is a passage I copied from War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.

…nearly every reporter has seen his or her mission as sustaining civilian and army morale. p. 22

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is The Peopling Of The World.

LT Carl Goforth: “Two wounded inbound. IED attack,” the Army coordinator says. We go to the OR, turn on the lights, start warming fluids, ensure the oxygen generator is turned on along with the anesthesia machine. After that we wait, as always, with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. “Headlights coming down the alley!” yells one of the surgeons. Four…

Early in his career, comedian Steve Martin did a bit that went something like this: Want to have real fun with your children? Here’s what you do. Talk wrong to them. Make up your own words for things. Imagine the first day in kindergarten when the kid sticks his hand up and says: “Teacher, may I please go mambo in the dog patch?”

Even thinking about that story nearly 30 years later makes me smile.

This (hat tip to Andrew Sullivan), on the other hand, just pisses me off:

This Saturday, I made my much anticipated field trip to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum, a $27 million monstrosity devoted to religious fanaticism, disguised as “science”.

Early in the museum, the visitor is given advice on the proper mind frame to have for your visit: “Don”t think, just listen and believe.”

How will children raised on such lies be able to function in a civil society?

But now that I think about it, maybe that’s the point. Their pastors don’t want them to.

This really makes me feel badly for all my writer friends in Kentucky who are now unfairly tarred by simply living in the same state as these cruel and hateful people.

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

1118 Oh wow….
1116 Wal-Mart: Usury is our cup of tea.
0731 NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND WAL-MART…
0703 ALL NATURAL… WITH E COLI…

As most of you have figured out by now, my dad isn’t the only one who sends me fun stuff via email. Cailin, another regular reader has decided make some of us laugh this morning. Don’t worry, there still plenty of stuff to come From My Dad, but occasionally I’ll toss a few from the reast of you into the hopper as well.

Hillary Clinton and her driver were cruising along a country road in upper New York state one evening when an ancient cow loomed in front of the car. The driver tried to avoid it but couldn’t — the aged bovine was struck and killed.

The driver replied, “I just stepped inside the door and said, I’m Hillary Clinton’s driver and I’ve just killed the old cow. The rest happened so fast I couldn’t stop it.”

For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out and in, and forth and back,
And still their devious course pursue,
To keep the path that others do.
They keep the path a sacred groove,
Along which all their lives they move;
But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,
Who saw the first primeval calf.
Ah, many things this tale might teach –
But I am not ordained to preach.

From The Calf-Path by Sam Walter Foss.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

A little more than a month ago, my friend, blogger and poet Sherry Chandler posted about a book that she had read. She wrote:

I have been very slowly reading my way through Chris Hedges’ War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning (Public Affairs, 2002). I find it very slow going because every page seems to rip my heart out. Hedges is a great writer; the book is riveting. It’s a portrait of humankind at its most brutal.

I picked up the book and found I had the same problem. Hedges’ book is not one I could read quickly. I read and re-read sentances, whole paragraphs, trying to wrap my head around his experiences. A tremendous amount went into my chapbook, but where I wanted to copy out whole pages I forced myself to capture thoughts I could contemplate.

It is unusual for me to make a case for a book, but in the sixth year of the third millenium of our common era, this is a book that all Americans ought to read.

This is a passage I copied from War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.

Lawrence LeShan in The Psychology Of War differentiates between mythic reality and sensory reality in wartime. In sensory reality we see events for what they are…. But in mythic war we imbue events with meaning that they do not have. p. 21

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is A Journey Through Time.

SPC Ian Wolfe: Fifteen months and counting. We were extended back in January, but we are expected to be leaving soon. We have been doing many things here as a medical company, including combat arms missions; go figure. I originally posted here about a first aid mission we started to teach basic first aid and women’s health out in the villages….

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

LOT ‘S WIFE:

One child blurted out, “Aces!”

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

A little more than a month ago, my friend, blogger and poet Sherry Chandler posted about a book that she had read. She wrote:

I have been very slowly reading my way through Chris Hedges’ War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning (Public Affairs, 2002). I find it very slow going because every page seems to rip my heart out. Hedges is a great writer; the book is riveting. It’s a portrait of humankind at its most brutal.

I picked up the book and found I had the same problem. Hedges’ book is not one I could read quickly. I read and re-read sentances, whole paragraphs, trying to wrap my head around his experiences. A tremendous amount went into my chapbook, but where I wanted to copy out whole pages I forced myself to capture thoughts I could contemplate.

It is unusual for me to make a case for a book, but in the sixth year of the third millenium of our common era, this is a book that all Americans ought to read.

This is a passage I copied from War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.

…every recruit headed into war would be well-advised to read The Iliad, just as every soldier returning home would be served by reading The Odyssey. p. 12

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Douglas Adams: The First and Last Tapes IV.