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Good morning!
Today’s quote is from a cheeky, pink puppet of Sesame Street fame: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give the stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.”
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back to top84 Comments to “Whirled Views 4.24”
The one and only Miss Piggy!
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We will have a Cesarean delivery later today. Pray for us all but mostly for safe passage out for little Bonnie Jean. The big sisters will be staying with friends up the street. Gonna be a long long day.
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Done, Sawgunner. And bring us the good news as soon as possible.
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Hmmm, I like that name (Bonnie Jean Sawgunner). Kinda has a nice ring to it. (wink)
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I’ll be praying for you Sawgunner.
My, the list is getting long.
Ree, It occurred to me last night that you weren’t talking about a blog, but a new way to link.
I would be interested in learning that. I need to be more efficient at this.
Rant is for tomorrow, but it’s almost May and I haven’t seen a single hummingbird. I have the feeder out, but no hummingbirds. A bluebird hasn’t shown up either. I usually have one challenging his reflection in the window by now.
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Justus, I hadn’t thought of that. Bonnie Jean will marry early just to change her name from Sawgunner.
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Great article at city-journal dotorg today about how the double whammy of high taxes to finance the plush welfare state and unrestricted immigration of non-assimilating muslims has really worked a number on the social-demo govts of West Europe. The net effect?
Europeans are electing “conservative rightwing” govts. But as the article points out, Euro conservatives are still very much enthrall to state-control over the economy. Not a Thatcherite/Reaganite in the bunch, but there’s hope when even Sarko tells the frogs to get outta the cafes and back to work.
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Praying for you all, Sawgunner! What an exciting time!
Chas, thanks for your thoughts yesterday. Charlottesville is only 30 minutes away, so I’ll be heading there in the fall once I find a new doc and save some money. That’s the thought, anyway…
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Praying for you all, also, Sawgunner! That is the only surgery where you get to take a prize home, other than some dentist offices. May it all go well and everyone be healthy. May your wife heal quickly! I love the name!
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Regarding the “beauty” quote:
The New Testament tells of a woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. Jesus said, “she has done a beautiful thing…” (Matthew 26:10).
The beauty of her deed, however, was not found in the eyes (or “beholders”) of Jesus’ disciples. They beheld it as a waste of money. To Jesus, her deed was beautiful, regardless of the malfunctioning “beholders” of the disciples.
Aesthetic quality is not purely subject to our ability or inability to behold it. Beauty exists whether we behold it or not, and Jesus knew this.
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I vote Miss Piggy replaces Perez Hilton as judge in all future beauty pageants!
SAWGUNNER, Thoughts and prayers for the family.
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Last night I reflected on the Americans I admire most. It is often controvertial when we name people we admire. Please don’t blame those on my list for the fact that I admire them! I have my own reasons.
1. Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship.
2. Joni Earekson Tada (sp?) – Christian author, musician, radio host. communicator.
3. John Wooden – Former college basketball coach, elder, author.
4. Jame Dobson – Founded Focus on the Family.
5. Tony Dungy – Former pro-football player & coach, character builder!
6. Billy Graham – Evangelist.
7. Clarence Thomas – Supreme Court Justice.
8. Condoleezza Rice – Former Secretary of State.
9. David Robinson – Former pro-basketball player.
10. Franklin Graham – Humanitarian, evangelist.
11. Marvin Olasky – author.
12. Antonin Scalia – Supreme Court Justice.
13. Sarah Palin – Alaska governor.
14. Rick Santorum – Former Senator in Pennsylvania.
15. Paul Hiebert – Cultural anthropoigist, professor.
_____________
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JOEL MARK,
#2 on your list ranks high with me,too.
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Joel, I mostly agree. Some of them I don’t know.
I really haven’t thought much about whom I admire. I never had a hero when I passed the Lone Ranger stage.
I don’t know about Condolezza Rice. She is greatly talented, but I thought mediocre as a Sec State.
As a sports figure, I didn’t like Lou Holtz when he coached Notre Dame, but when he came to South Carolina, – and not just because he was a Gamecock coach – I learned that he had lots of character. My granddaughter said he showed up at the student center occasionally, signed autographs, etc. She was impressed by him, and, subsequently, so am I.
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We’re praying for you and your family, Sawgunner. Congratulations on your new baby!
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Sawgunner – Bonnie Jean and her Mom and Dad will certainly be lifted in my prayers today, but first my heart began to sing the song from Brigadoon: “I’ll go home with Bonnie Jean”. I don’t remember most of the lyrics, but the melody is joyful.
Please keep us all informed
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I’ve been reading various things about Susan Boyle (the “frumpy”, middle-aged Scottish lady with the wonderful voice).
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I have the feeling that, in general, people are saying that she is “worthy” of respect because of her wonderful voice. In other words, if she was “frumpy” but without the wonderful voice, she would be a nothing, not worthy of respect, just a frumpy middle-aged woman like millions of other frumpy middle-aged women.
I have a lot of respect for her for taking care of her elderly mother for so many years.
The thing is, all those other frumpy middle-aged women are also persons in their own right, not just “frumps” to be marginalized & ignored.
Anyone else agree with me, or do you think I’m being too sensitive about this?
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Sawgunner – I’ve prayed for you all. Bonnie Jean is a cute & pretty name. Do your other girls have Irish names? As I recall, your last name is Irish, right? (Or are ye Scottish?)
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Kayvee – Brigadoon is one of my favorite movies! I’m a big Gene Kelly fan.
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“The thing is, all those other frumpy middle-aged women are also persons in their own right, not just “frumps” to be marginalized & ignored.”
Who’s to say Susan didn’t already have the respect of her church, her community and her family. I bet she did. The respect of shallow Hollywood types is just a little icing and the path to some well earned rewards. I hope the fame doesn’t ruin her. Personally this ‘frump” would rather have the respect of my K5 VBS class than Simon Cowell’s.
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KAREN O, you’re right.
Susan Boyle has brought a lot of these issues to people’s attention but whether or not folks will learn anything beyond all the talk remains to be seen (I’m doubtful). It’s too often a case of “what’s the next big thing/who’s the next surprise”.
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Britain’s Got Talent singer Susan Boyle may not be as naive as she would have us believe. The 47-year-old spinster told viewers of the U.K. TV talent show that she lived alone, had a cat called Pebbles, and had “never been kissed.”
But it wasn’t true.
Boyle, who has competed in countless talent shows, used the line to curry favor with the audience. She told a TV interviewer from U.K. breakfast show GMTV, “That was made as a joke! Never been kissed? I’ve never stopped.”
The blogosphere has lit up at the news.
“Angel or crazy for publicity? You decide,” was how fan site CafeArjun.com responded. “I’m forced to believe it was all a planned show!”
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A wonderful little mixed media essay about courage and justice in the NYT this morning. Mostly for women.
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/may-it-please-the-court
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#22
Are you telling us it was like the Fox News Corporate Tee Pardies?
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Hey World…I still don’t like the pop ups
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Ugggh! Bloody popups!!!!!
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22. What wasn’t true? The cat, living alone, never been kissed? I assumed the never been kissed was a joke or at least an exaggeration. But I hope she’s not lying about the cat. That would be unforgivable.
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And a singer crazy for publicity? That’s about as evil as a salesman crazy for customers or some nut burger writer trying to get people to buy their book.
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Kbells – Yes, I’d assume she has the respect of those who know her. I was thinking of the people who are now watching her with amazement, surprised that a woman with her looks can have such talent. And yes, those who think that way are shallow.
Random – I read that, too. But I also read that she had backed out of some talent shows because of insecurity over her looks, & that her mom had been urging her to audition for Britain’s Got Talent. After her mom’s death at age 91, in 2007, Susan was devastated, & kept to herself for a while.
Susan was one of 10 children, born when her mom was 47. The delivery was a difficult one, & the baby was deprived of oxygen for a while, leaving her with learning disabilities.
Kids called her “Susie Simple”, & picked on her quite a bit.
I hope she does very well in her future singing career.
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Kbells – She does indeed have a 10-yr. old cat named Pebbles.
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Bonnie Jean, what a really pretty name. Will be praying for you all today.
I’m still battling a cold, spent a restless night with very stuffed sinuses, so am staying home again. I’m rarely sick, so eating chicken soup and curling up on the couch with a book or an old movie is not so bad for a change. Saw “Huckleberry Finn” (1960) and a 1944 movie based on the life of Mark Twain yesterday on Turner.
The dogs don’t like all this lying around much though. They’re antsy, wanting to go-go-go. I did slip them over to the dog park late yesterday afternoon, I made sure to stand several feet away from others there so as not to spread any cold germs.
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From her other responses, it seems that Susan Boyle, simply has a decent sense of humor, and likes to crack jokes.
But of course she cant be frumpy, a great singer, and a comedian all at once…
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Though I agree the quote is Miss Piggy, I have to disagree about her being on Sesame Street. As far as I know, Kermit was the only Muppet to appear on both Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. Miss Piggy was only on the Muppet Show. Her behavior might be a little too aggressive for Sesame Street. But I have been known to be wrong.
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Chas,
Yes, you’re right. I was talking about another way to link. It requires a little bit of html coding, but it’s certainly not difficult. I’ll type an example, using the bracket keys in place of the keys, that you should actually be using.
[a href=http://online.worldmag.com/2009/04/24/whirled-views-424-2/]whirled views[/a]
All that will show up will be the words “whirled views” and they’ll be in red. Like this:
whirled views
In other words, you’re just copying your url link between the html coding [a href=]. You then title your link. Then close with the [/a]. Except, of course, you’ll be using the keys in place of the bracket keys I used for the example.
Does that make sense?
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Frumpy, middle-aged women can be pleasantly surprising.
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Imaginative, Arcadia. We had a similar rule about not singing at the dinner table when I was growing up. I wonder why?
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This frumpy middle aged woman managed to give the kid and lamb their shots today. It took a while to catch them, apparently they don’t see the benefit of sharp needles stuck into them. I have never given a shot before. I hope I did it right.
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I had a couple of daughters act and sing in Brigadoon. It is a fun musical. I love those simple, fun musicals.
Rick Warren had a good message using the Susan Boyle video. A friend linked me to it or I wouldn’t have known it. I believe it is on youtube.
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You go, Mumsee. I had a dog with diabetes once and had to give him 2 insulin shots every day for 18 months. Before that he needed some allergy shots, so that was my first experience with sticking needles into my pets. I take it the lamb survived the night and (presumably) will be OK?
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Peter L #33: I had the same thought. I watched a fair bit of Sesame Street with my little ones in the ’90s and I don’t think Miss Piggy ever appeared. It took me awhile to figure out that there was a difference between “Muppets” muppets and “Sesame Street” muppets.
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Praying for the Sawgunner family! Congratulations!
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Kaaren, #20, and I was a big Cyd Charysse fan.
Ree, do you mean like this?
[a href=http://www.lionswap.org/hendersonvillelions]lions[/a]
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It didn’t work. I don’t know what I did wrong.
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Boy I’m frustrated.
I have been pricing airline tickets for two months, and every time I checked them the price was right at $178. Last time I checked was early this week.
Now that I’m ready to book the flights and finally got every one on board with the plan…. (I’ve been trying to get everyone to think about this before the price went up.)
Well wouldn’t you know it….
The price went up to $279.
I could just spit nails.
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Chas,
You have to put the link inside quote marks:
[a href="linkgoesherebetweenquotesdotcom"]text[/a]
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Does anyone ever pay attention to pop-up ads? Do they really work?
They irk me so much, that I have a tendency to make sure that I do NOT buy what is being offered when it is thrown in my face as a pop-up.
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Ooo … I want to try!
[a href="http://www.weather.com/outlook/driving/interstate/local/12345?lswe=12345&lwsa=Weather36HourInterstateCommand&from=searchbox_localwx"]text[/a]
does it work??
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Nope, sorry ….
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Matt Y:
I have a page from htmlcodetutorial.com that says to put either the word strike or an s in between the greater than/less than symbols, but it didn’t work [except in the preview screen]. Now I’ll try using your suggestion to see what happens.
using del
wordOK that shows in the preview screen.using strike like I did yesterday
wordOK, that shows in preview, too.using STRIKE, the way my page shows
wordThey all show struck out in preview, now I’ll see what happens when I post.
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So maybe it was something in the air yesterday. That would explain Karen O’s problems with her laptop, too.
Thanks, Matt, I’ve marked that page to show del for the next time I forget how to do it.
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Chas and MiM- You don’t need quotes, but you need the “greater than” and “less than” signs (SHFT + , and SHFT + . ) instead of [ and ]. Like this: Lions.
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Michelle: Because when one is singing one is not listening? Or, except for a few songs, communicating much information?
Back when my kids were small, I was just glad to be able to round them all up for supper and minimize the bloodshed. Policing the melodies would have been an afterthought.
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I agree with you KarenO about Susan Boyle! If I hear that word frumpy one more time….
And what really bothers me is that the people who call her frumpy are either frumpy themselves or are shallow members of the entertainment/news world. Not a lot of compassion from the news media at all. And then they want her to give them interviews!
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I do believe you need the quote marks to post a linkie, but to demonstrate to other bloggers how to do it, you have to use the brackets [ and ] instead of the greater than and less than symbols. As soon as you use the greater than, less than symbols, it posts as a linkie.
Hmmmmm… I wonder…
Nope. Doesn’t work. I wondered if the blockquote command would keep the link from working so’s you could display the correct symbols…
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Joel, I like your list (don’t know the sports people). I would add Justice Alito.
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Texas Secession Movement Gaining Momentum — With the Rest of America
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<a href=”www.mtb.com”>This is a test to see if I can make the right symbols appear</a>
You get the < symbol to appear in the post by typing < > is >
This is a test to see if I can make the right symbols appear
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Second line should be
You get the < symbol to appear in the post by typing < > is >
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<a href=”www.lionwrap.org/hendersonvillelons”Lions
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Chas,
I never use quotation marks around the links, so I know that isn’t necessary, although it might be okay. I’m not sure. The only thing wrong with your first attempt in #42 is that you used the brackets rather than the greater than and less than symbols.
In your second attempt at #59, you forgot to close the url with the > sign and then to follow it with the /a inside the greater and less than signs. You also used the quotes that Make It Man recommended that I don’t use, so I still don’t know if that has any effect or not. I guess I’ll try it and see.
whirled views
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Yep, that seems to work too. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s just one more thing to do that doesn’t seem to have any benefit. I’ve never used the quotes, and my links have always worked.
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Thomas,
Thanks for that info. That’s cool. I’ll try it.
<a href=http://online.worldmag.com/2009/04/24/whirled-views-424-2/#comment-418553 > whirled views</a>
Wow, that’s really cool!
I still don’t know why everyone uses the quotes around the url though.
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Hey, it didn’t work. It looked like it was working in the preview, but when I posted it, it didn’t work.
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<a href=http://online.worldmag.com/2009/04/24/whirled-views-424-2/#comment-418553 > whirled views </a >
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Hmmm. It still didn’t work. Oh well.
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£35 = $52; still a modest woman.
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As someone in the article (in Victoria’s link) said, she had a “wee makeover”, worth about $50, which is considered pretty cheap. She had her eyebrows thinned, & her hair cut & dyed. Looks nice, but she hasn’t “gone Hollywood”, as some feared might happen.
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Karen, I doubt it will be toooo long before she has had make-up applied as a makeover as well, I’m sure she will look wonderful with a new look – there is nothing wrong with being attractive. Good creams applied correctly, and then makeup can make a wonderful difference in anyone’s appearance.
Receiving a new hair style, makeup, clothes and a few other things is a good thing. “Gone Hollywood” isn’t a fair assumption, there are those who look wonderful without being tacky and half dressed – can’t stick a ‘label-fits-all’ on the whole group. Even a few new clothes wouldn’t hurt.
I have a some thoughts on WHY women who want Susan to stay the way she was/is – it makes THEM feel better because they don’t want to give their appearance more attention.
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I think the new haircut looks good. Go for it Susan.
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Nice shoes. (I love red!)
So far, the changes she’s been making have been modest, she’s not going for the sexpot glam look. (Thank goodness!)
I think a lot of women (myself included, I must admit) still imagine having a Cinderella makeover.
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We haven’t heard from Bonnie Jean Sawgunner yet.
She’ll be as pretty as the Bonnie I used to know years ago. I thought “Bonnie” was a nickname then, but maybe it wasn’t.
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Karen
I loved the red shoes too. I have a pair I purchased last year, they go with lots of colors such as black, brown, white, navy, grey and a few others.
She most likely won’t go for the “sexpot” look, but there would be nothing wrong with the “glam” look – why not? – lots of wonderful women have that look, that doesn’t take away from who they are inside, or if they are Believers in Jesus Christ their testimoney.
There are lots of dept. stores who will do a free makeup, make-over.
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Victoria – I don’t think glam would fit her personality, it wouldn’t be “her”.
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Karen
I disagree – glamorous can be fun for everyone, it doesn’t have a size, age or a woman of great beauty or one without – it’s a look –
Susan has already changed the way she looks, perhaps she’s always wanted to look glamorous, but felt others might laugh or think her personality wasn’t fitting to have a little glamour, but it DOES.
I don’t know this woman personally and you don’t either, so it would be persumptous for either one of us to decide just what her personality really is and how she should treat her appearance.
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Victoria – Good morning!
My thoughts on Susan’s personality were based on things she’s said about herself, that she doesn’t want to change too much.
As for myself, I would love to be glamorous for a really special occasion, but I couldn’t be that too often – it’s just not “me”. I would feel phony trying to pull that off on a regular or somewhat-regular basis.
I’m a down-to-earth kind of person. I guess the style I like for myself could be called “prettily cute”. And that’s the way my husband likes me.
It’s interesting to me the different styles women have. I know women who wear the tailored look, who are quite fancy, who are more sporty, who wear a little make-up, who wear a lot of make-up, who wear no make-up, etc. One friend dresses very simply & wears no make-up, & her husband is crazy about her.
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Victoria: I loved the red shoes too.
But I thought pink was your color!
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Yep, I’m down to earth too–and I personally don’t wear heels because they don’t work for me. (I simply can’t walk in them, no matter how many times I try, and I’m tall enough that I don’t need them, and I personally don’t like spike heels anyway; I think they look silly and impractical, not actually “shoes” at all. I do try to wear nice shoes, but just not heels, or not spike heels for sure.) I haven’t seen the video of this woman and don’t know what she looks like.
I’m personally always a bit disappointed when someone I know dyes her gray hair (though I completely understand when a woman says her husband prefers it–that’s a totally valid reason, as she is supposed to dress for him). But the Bible says a lot about gray hair being honorable, and our culture heartily disagrees and says that only youth is honorable. So personally I prefer a Christian to stand against culture on this issue, though it might in some ways seem trivial. (That’s part of the reason I moved away from Chicago–I was beginning to get gray hair, and I didn’t know a single woman under 60 or even 70, except one decidedly unkempt woman, who allowed her hair to gray. And since I was determined NOT to dye it, that meant Chicago wasn’t the right city for me. That was only a small part of my decision to move, but it was a factor nonetheless–I simply didn’t want to live in a city that insisted that women could not have gray hair.)
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Hey Peter L, I do like my pink strappy sandals, LOL – red’s fun too – but not to much of it.
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I wasn’t aware that Chicago has a city ordinance against gray hair. Apparently there’s been a massive outbreak of civil disobedience in Chicago since Cheryl left. I watch 9 O’clock News on WGN and it shows women with gray hair all the time – lots of them. And there haven’t been any stories on mass arrests of women with gray hair. To think that a city as nice as Chicago is in the throes of lawlessness with all those women and their gay hair!
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I would rather not dye my hair, but I do because my husband asks me to. I also wear a little makeup for the same reason, but I don’t think it makes me look better, only different (not worse either – just different). I don’t see what’s wrong with lips their natural color, why they should be redder.
The women I have known who seem to be the most full of love and joy and wisdom mostly do not wear makeup, but seem perfectly comfortable with their looks. But I think makeup is only unnecessary, not wrong, so I wear it to please my husband.
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Anlir, no city ordinance, but I literally didn’t know a single white woman in Chicago younger than 60 (or very many younger than 70) who allowed any gray hair. That doesn’t mean I never saw a younger woman with gray hair–just that there weren’t any at my workplace (which had about 700 people), at my church, in my group of friends, etc. And since I didn’t hang out with super-sophisticated people, that basically meant no professional women in Chicago let their hair go gray. A few black women did so, and I did know one very dowdy white woman who did (she would also wear blouses with large stains to work, the same blouse repeatedly so it clearly wasn’t that day’s spill), and I knew a non-dowdy woman who let her hair get about a third gray before she started coloring it. So my experience is anecdotal, but fairly representative, I’d say.
But again, I lived in a black neighborhood and thus can’t include my neighbors as a representative sampling of people I knew, since I already said I knew some black women who let their hair go gray. (The neighborhood before that, neighbors were mostly too young to be gray, but were definitely “sophisticated” enough to dye at the first hint of gray–I fled that neighborhood at my first chance. A neighborhood too “sophisticated” for dogs and children, and where everyone drives perfect cars and has perfect bodies, is a really bad fit for me!!)
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