Monday, October 13, 2008

Zen Monday: #20


On Zen Monday you experience the photo and tell me what it's about, rather than me telling you what to experience from viewing it.
There's no right or wrong answer.
The only rule is the truth. If the photo evokes something in you, then that's the answer.



(note to speed hump kings: tomorrow.)

27 comments:

Fashion Schlub said...

yeah. there's no zen there. sigh.

Vanda said...

Blue sign, blue sky. Not so much.
It's only going to get worse.

By the way, Paul Krugman, contributor to the New York Times, one of the few who have been warning us about the oncoming mess, just got the Nobel Prize in Economics.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

Thérèse said...

lol lol lol
Zen???
Knock Kock who's there?

Anonymous said...

No matter how hard the Bush Administration tries, they cannot remove the stain of this painful economic Depression this country is going through. No amount of paint will cover up the mess, the panic, the uncertainty. The truth will always shine through.

We have several of these in our area too---some were covered with plastic or other cover---which in the winds of the last few days, have been blown off the signs they are supposed to be covering.

John Sandel said...

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

—George Santayana, The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Common Sense¯, Ch. XII, "Flux and Constancy in Human Nature." (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY: 1905; 2nd ed.)

Trust me, you'll know it when there's a depression .

Anonymous said...

Bernie K: Cool link to depression. Love the octopus of greed.

John Sandel said...

Here's a gloss on the history of American market crises (note: a crisis is something that passes quickly; let's find another word, shall we?). To show that the country's been through worse, it covers:

1. The Panic of 1819
2. Panic and Depression 1832
3. Panic and Depression 1836
4. The Panic of 1837
5. Six Year Depression 1837-1843
6. The Panic of 1857
7. Panic and Depression 1869-1871
8. The Panic of 1873
9.The Panic of 1893-Financial World
10. The Panic of 1893-Presidential Papers
11. The Panic of 1901
12. Panic and Depression of 1929

The word that catches my eye is "panic." Everybody knows the stock market's like our crazy Aunt Tillie: every time a truck backfires in the street, she runs up into the attic for grampa's

blunderbuss . So rather than yell "Fire!" pay attention to precedent and keep your eyes open.

1 person is ignorant. 2 people are an idiot. 3 or more are a problem. Larger numbers are called "political parties." They feed on melodrama (like the news outlets). The echo-chamber is our enemy, here.

They say if you could have piloted a balloon over the French revolution, through the smoke and gunfire you'd have seen Jacobins at the barricades, knifing their enemies—their half-shod feet slipping in pools of Royalist blood … and a few blocks over, a baker lounging in his dooryard with a clay pipe, tending only to his oven.

Policy is national, or global. All panic is local.

Anonymous said...

Huh. Guess BK would know. Guess that's why I'm reading the food bloggers. Now where did I put that pipe...oh, I forgot, ce n'est pas une pipe. Well, the cigarette then.

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

This is my zen.

Naomi Klein's book The Shock Doctrine is on my reading list.

Janet Kincaid said...

Here today. Gone tomorrow.

Sharon said...

Banks zero; Sign companies 1000!

USelaine said...

The signs will change, but the hierarchy of wealth won't.

John Sandel said...

Looks like Aunt Tillie had a smidge too much coffee:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122394011082730699.html

It's like something out of The Onion …

T Thompson said...

Blue signs Smiling at me Nothing but blue signs Do I see...

Actually I try to post my FIRST thought, like word association but with pictures...

"Your culture will be destroyed"

Which in turn made me think of they many cultures that have been crushed under the heal of western expansion/exploration.

Wow... sorry it's so dark...

T Thompson said...

HA!!! I'M SUCH AN IDIOT...

I thought it said "Washington Cultural" under the paint...

Oh GOD!!

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, don't forget to tip your waitress.

Goodnight!!

Susan C said...

Jump right in. The water's great. Just don't pay any attention to those sharks.

Ms M said...

Looks like there have been cracks around the edges for quite a while...
Maybe the Stones could add a new verse to "Paint it Black." :-)

Great comments -- especially the history from Bernie. LOL at "Washington Cultural"...

John Sandel said...

Yeh … let's all just say a little prayer for Ted …

Kris McCracken said...

"Contrary to previous claims, Washington did no, in fact, sleep here."

Petrea Burchard said...

Who's there, Therese?

Just wanted to spark some discussion, and it's a good one. I love that Krugman won the Nobel, by the way, I think it's great. Also appreciate all your good links, Bernie. (Now I'm sure Bernie doesn't work Mondays.)

If there were prizes, Ted would win!

Cafe Observer said...

The feeling is Mutual, Ted.

Not only doesn't bernie de k not work mondays, Petrea, it looks like he must be just 1 of our many newly unemployed.

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Wow these comments are interesting! DO come to England, Petrea...?

T Thompson said...

An interesting study in psychology really. I had just come off a stint of programming that chronicled the history of Columbus - warts and all.

That got me thinking on other explorers and how their encounters with "savages" ended...

And then I see the sign with bit of ambiguity and BAM, total misinterpretation.

At least it was good for a laugh, from myself included.

Petrea Burchard said...

Cafe: funny!

Lynn: I'll be there. As soon as I save my hard-earned dollars--er, pennies--er, whatever I can get.

Ted: Please come here and misinterpret whatever you like, whenever you like.

Thérèse said...

The joke goes: Xavier
Xavier who?
Xavier in the bank.

Thérèse said...

Xavier your money in the bank, sorry

Petrea Burchard said...

Hee hee, Therese!