Coopernundrums » Current Events

Halloween Humor 2 – BOO again

JayCooper — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:15:29 +0000

No Mischief Night Here

JayCooper — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 05:29:25 +0000

I recently found out that in many areas of the United States, Europe and Canada, October the 30th is observed as an evening to take a degree of license to play pranks and do mischief to their neighbors. It is known by many names. Mischief night or Gate night are the most common titles but it is also known as Devil’s Night, Goosey Night, Cabbage Night and Mizzy Night in some areas.

Most of these pranks are harmless and only a minor annoyance. Examples of these pranks include toilet papering yards and buildings, egging cars, people and homes, using soap to write on windows, “forking” yards, smashing pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns, and the ever-popular “Ding-Dong Ditch” where people ring doorbells or knock on doors, and then run and hide somewhere nearby.

More destructive and clearly unwanted examples have been known to include powder-bombing and setting off consumer fireworks, spray-painting of buildings and homes and outright arson of abandoned or vacant buildings and homes. Detroit, Michigan was particularly hard-hit by Devil’s Night arson and vandalism throughout the 1980s.

Here in Tennessee we don’t have such a tradition and quite frankly, I am just glad. Don’t get me wrong we have our share of pranks such as those mentioned above in the annoying category, but luckily we have practically none of those mentioned in the destructive set.

Just a little tidbit I ran across and thought I would share. Happy Haunting!

Hot Topics

JayCooper — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 02:05:07 +0000

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine born 13 December 1797, was a journalist, essayist, literary critic, and one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. His radical political views meant that many of his works were banned by the authorities in Germany. Heine spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate living in Paris.

I bring up Heine in light of recent current events. Heine is actually admired and quoted by Friederich Nietzshe

“The highest conception of the lyric poet was given to me by Heinrich Heine. I seek in vain in all the realms of millenia for an equally sweet and passionate music. He possessed that divine malice without which I cannot imagine perfection… And how he employs German! It will one day be said that Heine and I have been by far the first artists of the German language.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo

One of Heine’s best known quotes and the one that, to me seems the most relevant given the outright ignorance and idiocy that people have exhibited. I want to share it with you now. I would encourage you to read up on Heine as besides his amazing play from 1821called Almansor he was also a rather enlightened scholar of ancient religions or lack thereof.

“Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.” (“That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also.”)

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The Freindly Athiest is Always Relevant

JayCooper — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:26:44 +0000

Well I love this site. The Friendly Atheist.Its chock-full-o goodies for those with an open mind. If you have an open mind please check it out. If you are easily offended and believe that everyone should live, breath and feel the same without the freedom to think outside the group mentality then you may want to shay away. This article in particular made me laugh out loud. I had no idea why muslims get upset when folks draw muhammad. I do now. So see, I learned something.

It is also striking in my mind as I read the comments attached to this article how one person opened my eyes to another fun “fact”. See if you can find this post amongst the comments.

“Can we draw the Christian God next? The second Commandment pretty clearly says that it’s a no-no to draw God or Jesus or the Devil. But I don’t think that it will get as much press since Christians have no problem ignoring their own Commandments.”

I did some further research only to find the commenter is quite right. Here is the second “commandment” just for the record :

You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them [i.e., the graven images]; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6, adapted from the NASV)

Just so there is no confusion, in Deuteronomy, the character Moses makes clear that god’s commandment was intended to forbid folks from making graven images of the xstian god himself:

So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb [i.e., Mt. Sinai] from the midst of the fire; lest you act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. (Deut. 4: 15-18, adapted from NASV)

So there, you get a bible “lesson” today from an Atheist. Cheers!

17 Years of Fun

JayCooper — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:41:52 +0000

It is quickly approaching my 17 year wedding anniversary in June. I just wanted to jot down some of the things I have learned in the last 17 years with my wonderful wife Laura.

- You cannot make your spouse happy. You can be supportive and loving but ultimately nothing you do can force your loved ones to be happy when they really aren’t.

- You have to treat your spouse with all the respect you want for yourself.

- You have to take the good with the bad. No relationship is “fantasy island” perfect.

- How can you ever really be honest with yourself If you cannot be honest with your spouse?

- You cannot change your spouse. You should work on changing yourself rather than others and maybe they will change with you.

- You will experience periods of sadness, depression, loneliness and pain in ANY relationship SOMETIMES. It’s our nature to feel this way. It is also within our nature to realize these feelings will pass.

- You cannot give up on a relationship at the first sign of tough times. Working through your problems and remembering what it is that you love about your spouse in hard times will help you realize how much your spouse really means to you. Often these tough times can make us appreciate each other all the more.

- Love is only one of the reasons you married your spouse.

- Marriage is a work in progress ALWAYS.

These are my learned lessons from my marriage. They mean a great deal to me. I look forward to 17 more years with my lovely wife. I would be totally incomplete without her. I will always be grateful for her presence in my life.

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O Tannenbaum,Your branches green delight us.

JayCooper — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:47:20 +0000

Ah, the humble Tannenbaum. I love trees. They are both symbols of longevity and stoicism. No tree captures the hearts of man, at this festive time of the year, more so than the evergreen. The custom of decorating the evergreen tree originated in Germany in the 16th century. It was common for the Germanic people to decorate fir trees, both inside and out, with roses, apples, and colored paper.

It is believed that Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, was the first to light a Christmas tree with candles. While coming home one dark winter’s night near Christmas, he was struck with the beauty of the starlight shining through the branches of a small fir tree outside his home. He duplicated the starlight by using candles attached to the branches of his indoor Christmas tree. The Christmas tree was not widely used in Britain until the 19th century and is primarily attributed to be a fad adopted by the royals of the time period. Once the royals made it “acceptable” practice for the common man its use and acceptance spread.

It was brought to America by the Pennsylvania Germans in the 1820′s.

In northern Europe most commonly used are:

Silver Fir Abies alba (the original species)
Nordmann Fir Abies nordmanniana
Noble Fir Abies procera
Norway Spruce Picea abies (generally the cheapest)
Serbian Spruce Picea omorika
Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)
Swiss Pine Pinus cembra

In North America, Central America and South America most commonly used are:

Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii
Balsam Fir Abies balsamea
Fraser Fir Abies fraseri
Grand Fir Abies grandis
Guatemalan Fir Abies guatemalensis
Noble Fir Abies procera
Red Fir Abies magnifica
White Fir Abies concolor
Colorado Pine Pinus edulis
Jeffrey Pine Pinus jeffreyi
Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)
Norfolk Island pine Araucaria heterophylla

The term Tannenbaum is actually a German word meaning Fir and is the subject of a very old song called Oh Tennenbaum.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Your branches green delight us.
They’re green when summer days are bright;— They’re green when winter snow is white.
O, Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Your branches green delight us!