Comments for Words & Ideas

Comment on Ink by the Barrel by HACER Weekly News Report USA | US: The Power Of Drudge: A Little Civics Lesson For Janet Napolitano And Barack Obama – by Ralph Benko

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:25:08 +0000

[...] and Star, it is unwise to argue “with one who buys ink by the barrel.” Or, as updated by the witty Darrell Patrick, “Never pick a fight with someone who buys their bandwidth by the [...]

Comment on Ink by the Barrel by The Power Of Drudge: A Little Civics Lesson For Janet Napolitano And Barack Obama - Forbes

Sun, 12 May 2013 14:21:42 +0000

[...] Indianapolis News and Star, it is unwise to argue “with one who buys ink by the barrel.” Or, as updated by the witty Darrell Patrick, “Never pick a fight with someone who buys their bandwidth by the [...]

Comment on Ink by the Barrel by British journalists need to take responsibility for press reform | Strange Attractor

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:47:44 +0000

[...] With respect to proposals over to reform the British press in the wake of ever widening allegations of phone hacking, computer hacking and utterly unethical behaviour, we’re seeing Greener’s Law in operation: [...]

Comment on North Korea nukes by Harry Eagar

Harry Eagar — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 17:32:25 +0000

Well, NK hasn’t crossed its borders to invade neighbors, at least not since Stalin died.

That’s exactly the distinction between Hitler and Stalin when we chose to ally with one against the other. (I am aware that the Red army HAD invaded Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia & Esthonia, but only after Germany started moving toward an invasion of Russia.) That was the justification for picking one totalitarian over another.

Nation states are touchy about borders.

Comment on It’s Complicated by Unbelievably creative attack in South Carolina » Words & Ideas

Unbelievably creative attack in South Carolina » Words & Ideas — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:59:21 +0000

[...] a previous post we noted that someone cracked the South Carolina Department of Revenue computer system and stole [...]

Comment on Poesy and Memorial Day by admin

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:24:30 +0000

From an article by Toronto Star reporter Pat Brennan, Nov. 10, 2009. It begins:

GUELPH – Do the poppies blow or grow in Flanders Fields? That question has been debated since Lt. Col. John McCrae wrote his famous poem during a lull in fierce combat raging across Belgium’s farm fields nearly a century ago. The answer – of sorts – can be found in a small stone house beside the Speed River in Guelph.

It’s the home where McCrae was born on Nov. 30 in 1872. Today the stone house is a museum dedicated to Guelph’s famous son and it contains most of his handwritten poetry, including In Flanders Fields.On one wall there’s a copy of the poem, hand-written by McCrae – and its opening stanza is “In Flanders Fields the poppies blow.”But beneath the cherished paper, yellow with age, there’s a note saying the editor of Punch, the British magazine that first published the poem, changed the word “grow” to “blow”, but first got McCrae’s permission.

The poem became famous after appearing in the Dec. 8 edition of Punch in 1915 and McCrae sent several handwritten copies of his poem to family and friends after its publication. In some copies he wrote blow, in some, grow.Of course, the poem ends with the lines, “If ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders fields.”

The editor at Punch asked McCrae to change the first line to blow, because the last line uses the word grow.McCrae’s story is told on the walls of the house where he grew up in Guelph before heading off to University of Toronto as the first Guelph student to win a scholarship the to that school. [SNIP]

Comment on Poesy and Memorial Day by admin

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:17:27 +0000

The poet was writing about multiple cemeteries in Flanders, the region of Belgium. “In the fields of Flanders” might have been less ambiguous but also less mellifluous.

Comment on Poesy and Memorial Day by Dave Vanwerkhoven

Dave Vanwerkhoven — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:48:05 +0000

What’s the most accurate way to punctuate the title, “Flanders Fields.”

Don’t the fields belong to the Flander family? Thereby requiring an apostrophe on “Flander’s?”

Or, if the family name is”Flanders,” wouldn’t you put an apostrophe after the “s?”

Any advice? My students need to know.

Pax, Dave Vanwerkhoven

Comment on Poesy and Memorial Day by Dave Vanwerkhoven

Dave Vanwerkhoven — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:47:20 +0000

What’s the most accurate way to punctuate the title, “Flanders Fields.”

Don’t the fields belong to the Flander family? Thereby requiring an apostrophe on “Flander’s?”

Or, if the family name is”Flanders,” wouldn’t you put an apostrophe after the “s?”

Any advice? My students need to know.

Pax, Dave Vanwerkhoven

Comment on Poesy and Memorial Day by sarah smith

sarah smith — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:17:07 +0000

I am interested to know where you got the information that the editor at Punch changed “grow” to “blow.” I have never heard this before! With thanks, ss