Circa 1803, British poet William Blake wrote, in Auguries of Innocence, four lines which to this day invariably catch my eye and tweak my imagination.
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
He said a lot with those twenty-nine words about that other world, the world ‘out there’ that is within but still separate from the world ‘in here,’ the world where H. sapiens rules with both an iron fist and a shriveled soul.
So, to be brief, following are a handful of this last week’s episodic moments from each of the two realms. To my eye, there’s no question as to which allows an eternity in an hour and which does not, and the choice is extremely simple. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!
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Last week in the world ‘Out There’
Reflection Idyll
Wild Thistle Flower and Buds
Wild Buffalo Gourd Flowers
Late last week while taking a leisurely stroll around a lake, I spotted a Cormorant standing on a rock some fifty yards from the shore. He looked photogenic, so I got the camera out and zoomed in on him, hoping he wouldn’t notice. Below are three shots: the first, a peaceful profile. He must have heard something, though, and started looking around. Then he caught me, barehanded, looked me square in the eye. I guess I must not have been perceived a threat, given that after a moment’s glance he looked away, stayed put on the rock, and continued with Cormorant routine business.
The brief encounter with the Cormorant reminded me of something Robert Burns once wrote, words that pretty much summed up my impressions on the matter.
“Still thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e’e.
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!”
(For more of the “guess an’ fear” option, see below)
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Next up, a view of that other world, the one to which we have become slaves. No pix in or of this one — ain’t nothing much worth looking at anyway. Best to settle for only the words, and in the process be reminded that it’s too bad so many modern hominids (humanoids?) who so recklessly toss words around don’t have much if anything salient to say. Wonder why that is? Oh well, as someone once said, there are some things we’re just not meant to know. Anyway, here goes nothing. So to speak.
Last week in the world ‘In Here’
Trent Franks: Constitution Is ‘The Greatest Gospel Outreach The World Has Ever Known’
Linda Harvey: Prosecute Hillary Clinton For Gay ‘Child Corruption’
Cliff Kincaid: Gays In Military Show Influence Of Obama’s ‘Pedophile’ Mentor
Michael Savage: Liberals To Use Immigrant Gangs And Internment Camps To Kill Christians And Veterans
Michael Savage: Veterans Should Form Militia To Fight Obama
Rick Wiles: America Is Descending Into Hell
Ted Nugent: ‘Donald Trump Should Be Given The Medal Of Freedom’
‘Sodomites, Go To Hell!’: Right-Wing July 4th Event Warns Hurricanes Create ‘Sodomite Heaven’
Ted Cruz: Gay Marriage Ruling Will Spark A ‘Raging Inferno’
Louie Gohmert: ISIS Right Across The Border
And finally, last but by no means least,
Mike Huckabee: America Worse Than Sodom After Gay Marriage Ruling
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There. Both worlds essentially summed, albeit briefly. Still, methinks the message embedded is clear — to my eyes, at least.
OPEN THREAD
TheZoo 
The Cormorant seems taken aback being photographed!
Your flora and fauna captures are beautifully soothing to observe, frugal!
Thank you for sharing!
Cormorant – look of death. Scary.
In 20 minutes, the ‘ceremony’ for the lowering of the Confederate flag starts at the South Carolina Capitol.
And…….it’s down!
When does the Neil Young concert start?
Frankie P bitch-slaps capitalism
Bet he gets on Fox Business News again
He’s sounding a lot like FDR.
Wow!
‘dung of the devil’
Never thought I’d hear a pope say it like it really is.
Good job Frankie.
I’m still not re-upping for Catholicism. But you made my day, thanks
RIP Omar, the good doctor Z is no longer in the house.
NASA just released the first clear photo ever taken of Pluto and its largest moon.
That is very cool. No indication of their true size. Sometimes when I take pictures of moss or bugs, I will put a quarter on the ground so you have an idea of size. Too bad NASA didn’t do that with this photo. LOL
Dycker, I’m scratching my head on how they might do that. Maybe Doctor Who could drag our moon out there with the Tardis? 😉
They could superimpose a picture of our moon in the background! That would work!!
Maybe. I’m not confident our NASA still has that much technical capability, at least in the PR office.
Yeah, yeah yeah. that’s just a photoshopped picture of two cigarettes in a dark room. In Arizona. Brought to you by the Bildenbergers or whatever.
Young Turks Cenk Uygur responds to Jeb BUSH and his – ‘get back to the mines you scum’ economic policy
I’d be more than happy to furnish the dead racoon.
Or a dead armadillo.
They smell much worse and are much more plentiful as roadkill.
Ooh that might weigh down the Zoo page…. sorry if I did, but it is cool.
Outstandingly cool.
Hope my kids kids kids get a chance to do the same roamin around red.
Amazing!
https://twitter.com/SinCityChiGirl/status/619561247445364736
Now I want a nap!
For someone who claims a meh attitude toward cats, you do post some
darling kitten pictures and videos!
Thanks, Ebb. Cute kittens are still cute. Besides, this is the easiest way for me to let Jane see them, as well as everyone else. 🙂
Jesse Ventura goes after some of the Clown Car…
Damn! Jesse’s lost him some weight, but I’d still like to see him in a cage match against all the suited monkeys in the clown car.
Ted Cruz would start crying like a little girl.
Mike Huckabee would quote scripture at him.
Marco Rubio would climb the cage walls in abject fear.
Jeb Bush would start a war with an obscure country that never harmed the U.S.
Rand Paul would shit himself.
“Bobby” Jindal would just act stupid.
Donald Trump would attempt to fire him.
Rick Santorum would fling “santorum” at him.
Anyone, please feel free to add to the list.
Please.
Lindsey Graham would invite him to tea.
Tony Perkins: Stop Saying ‘God Bless America’ After Gay Marriage Ruling
I stopped doing that back in the early fifties when the Congress added “under god” to the Pledge. Perkins is WAY behind. As usual. 😉
Instead, let’s say a quick prayer to Crom, gloomy god of the Cimmerians, asking for the strength to endure the endless stream of drivel coming from the reichwing festering swamp from now until November 2016…
Someone needs to call Tony P the waaaaahhhh-mbulance
And I expect that all the rightwhiners will condemn him; just like Revered Wright. Right? Right? crickets/
As I remember there was no “under God” in the 4th grade but when I began 5th grade in Sept., 1955 it had been added.
Flag Day 1954 (my mom’s birthday). I started 7th grade in the fall of ’54, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t cricket for Congress to do that. That was 61 yrs ago, and my opinion remains unchanged.
Last week in the world ‘In Here’
… What a lineup of whackadoodles!
And, in DonaldLand this week
Trump: ‘If I Get The Nomination, I Will Win The Latino Vote’
Only in DonaldLand could this be true. You know, DonaldLand, the space between his ears under the blonde rug…
Senator Butters also needs a waaaahhhh-mbulance
Meanwhile the Rude One has a full bowl of popcorn and is taking in the main feature currently showing in the Clown Car
Senator Butters hasn’t put 2 and 2 together – The Donald holds pretty much mainstream views in the GOP today – The Donald *is* the GOP.
Well? In right-wing math 2+2= 5 and two bits or whatever the Hell they want to say it is.
Finally we have some FACTS about the ‘why? ‘that’s behind LGBT rights! They’re a librul plot to eliminate males in the population! According to Michael Savage,
Far fetched, to say the least!
These are the ramblings of a terribly insecure man.
Sorry, #NikkiHaley, but you can stop patting yourself on the back and praising your state now. Celebrating the removal of the hateful and racist confederate flag from your capital grounds 150 years after the Civil War and 50 years after passage of the Civil Rights act is “better late than never”, but that’s about it.
And the respectful removal ceremony was disturbing. That flag should be burned, not handled with pomp and white gloves.
And what does the twine tying around the folded rag mean?
Good riddance to trash.
It was worth it to a large crowd who turned out to see it lowered. They were chanting Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye, as it was carried away.
Best comment from a local news site: ” You lost 150 years ago, you finally took down the loser’s flag, and you are proud of yourselves?”
A number of people at several sites have spoken disparagingly about Selleck over this water issue. I tried to explain how this wasn’t his direct liability unless he owned the construction company, and that he likely had receipts from the company for the water, for tax purposes. Now it seems that the Water District wasted taxpayer money hiring an apparently incompetent investigator, as well as being incapable of internally determining the water was being drawn legally. Most posters were attacking Selleck because he’s a Republican and wealthy, and it just makes it harder to argue effectively on other issues with this kind of baseless attacks going on.
You make a valid point. I’d like to know how much the fee was.
Odd that a construction company would be trucking water to an avocado farm.
Or was it that Selleck taking years and building, like Mrs. Winchester’s Mystery house.
There are empty spots that need further explanation.
That is an odd statement to make if nothing untoward had happened.
Settlement for/of what would be helpful to know. Oh well, we may never find out.
Oh, the Water District sued Tom Selleck!
I’m wondering if Alan Grayson was waiting for this ruling to become public, before his announcement to oppose Patrick Murphy for Rubio’s Senate seat? Grayson’s new district helped him back into the House, and after another redistricting, there’s no guarantee what district he’d be in, or whether he’d be in a less friendly one.