Sign of the Times, The Apocalypse Is Coming, Rant...

[ghce]

ErichPryde

Twain had a lot of great observations in that book... I haven't read it in a while but it's a favorite.

I haven't read it but what always gets me about Samuel Clemens is the illusion of his pen name which if you consult Wikipedia perpetuates the illusion that he ( Twain) was a real man.
Now I thoroughly get why some authors want a pen name but come on you mention Samuel Clemens to most every body (and he was well known in his own right with his own real name) and they just look blankly at you.
I usually suggest to SF fans to read the Riverworld series to enlighten themselves for a different perspective on the Twain name.

Edited: Apr 8, 2024

 

[JwRosenthal]

pdxleaf

My daughter’s newly remodeled kitchen in the house she is renting (done by landlords).

[Rant part deux]

Some friends of ours (not the smartest people on the planet) bought a flipper special during the last boom (2006)- a once lovely house that had horribly cheap renovations and flipped for double profit. One of the kitchen cabinets hit the ceiling fan when you opened it. He asked me to remove it and just replace it with a flush light fixture so I cut the power in the panel (no power in the kitchen- fan dead) and got it half way down and got shocked (ummm- what is this extra wire). At that point I told him I was putting it back up and he can call a licensed electrician to sort out his mess.

 

[STANDY]

Evitzee

That's what inflation does, many people are tight for money. Look at what people have in their shopping carts at the grocery store....it's not filet mignon and lobster.

Actually I am having fillet steak, most nights and lamb back straps. Probably the least sold stuff lately and have been buying cartons of them as cheap as chips.
Scored a carton of lamb back straps for under $20 a kilogram the other week. Usually $45.
We usually have lamb back straps once every few months, but at $20kg we are making curries and even Lamb Rendang 👍👍

 

[p4ul]

STANDY

Actually I am having fillet steak, most nights and lamb back straps. Probably the least sold stuff lately and have been buying cartons of them as cheap as chips.
Scored a carton of lamb back straps for under $20 a kilogram the other week. Usually $45.
We usually have lamb back straps once every few months, but at $20kg we are making curries and even Lamb Rendang 👍👍

My granddaughter has been helping out on a friend’s farm this weekend, when she sent this pic lamb strap was my first thought.😁

 

[The Father]

 

[hen]

As 80% of American workers are employed in the service sector, it`s important that ordinary people have money to spend. So it might be wise for the government to spend less on tax breaks for the rich, bailing out banks and bombing foreign countrys and rather spend more on giving the ordinary working man and women more to spend in that all important sector. Then they could support their local businesses and not having to precipitate in "the Purge" like sales. And OP would find a parking spot as well.

 

[Pastorbottle]

STANDY

Actually I am having fillet steak, most nights and lamb back straps. Probably the least sold stuff lately and have been buying cartons of them as cheap as chips.
Scored a carton of lamb back straps for under $20 a kilogram the other week. Usually $45.
We usually have lamb back straps once every few months, but at $20kg we are making curries and even Lamb Rendang 👍👍

Lamb back straps and eye fillet steak is all I buy….lifes to short to eat shit cuts!

 

[Pastorbottle]

The Father

The packaging of that lot will last longer than any of it!

 

[p4ul]

Pastorbottle

Lamb back straps and eye fillet steak is all I buy….lifes to short to eat shit cuts!

….made the same decision on beer, wine & whisky a few years back!

 

[Pastorbottle]

p4ul

….made the same decision on beer, wine & whisky a few years back!

No point going through all the trouble of living unless you live as well as you can!
If I’m going to have a hangover it should be worth the suffering!

 

[noelekal]

STANDY

Actually I am having fillet steak, most nights and lamb back straps. Probably the least sold stuff lately and have been buying cartons of them as cheap as chips.
Scored a carton of lamb back straps for under $20 a kilogram the other week. Usually $45.
We usually have lamb back straps once every few months, but at $20kg we are making curries and even Lamb Rendang 👍👍

Am envious.

Here in Texas we raise much lamb, but it's all exported and only available here mainly at Easter. Very expensive! Legs of lamb were $85 to $95 each. I gathered them up for our freezer on a "real deal" marked down to half price the Monday after.

Mrs. noelekal is a loan administrator in this organization and we used to live out in west central Texas.

https://www.findfarmcredit.com/landscapes-articles/sheep-in-the-heart-of-texas

Here one may drive past miles of lamb chops on the hoof in some regions, but must purchase imported lamb from New Zealand at the grocery store!

Go figure.

 

[Archer]

JwRosenthal

Dennis Miller had a bit in his late 80’s stand-up about this- the sentiment was two for one sales- two of shit is still shit- the second one doesn’t make it any more appealing.
I have a standing policy with my wife that we do not go to any major shopping destinations (including grocery shopping) from Friday-Monday. And after Thanksgiving all shopping is only necessity through Jan 5th. People have become psychotic when it comes to competing for stuff- my anxiety can’t take it anymore.
It seems like post covid, people have lost their minds- no social decorum anymore, no sense of personal space or hospitality- I think the world has officially broken.

 

[STANDY]

noelekal

Am envious.

Here in Texas we raise much lamb, but it's all exported and only available here mainly at Easter. Very expensive! Legs of lamb were $85 to $95 each. I gathered them up for our freezer on a "real deal" marked down to half price the Monday after.

Mrs. noelekal is a loan administrator in this organization and we used to live out in west central Texas.

https://www.findfarmcredit.com/landscapes-articles/sheep-in-the-heart-of-texas

Here one may drive past miles of lamb chops on the hoof in some regions, but must purchase imported lamb from New Zealand at the grocery store!

Go figure.

Fish where I live is free….few hours out with Mrs STANDY
Saltwater Barramundi




(Barramundi is a top quality fish that sells well in Australian top restaurants and is renowned for its clean, buttery flavor with a succulent and firm texture. It offers a silky mouthfeel and a delicate skin that crisps perfectly when seared.)

 

[p4ul]

STANDY

Fish where I live is free….few hours out with Mrs STANDY
Saltwater Barramundi




(Barramundi is a top quality fish that sells well in Australian top restaurants and is renowned for its clean, buttery flavor with a succulent and firm texture. It offers a silky mouthfeel and a delicate skin that crisps perfectly when seared.)

Sounds dreadful, thoughts & prayers.😉

How will you cook it, what side dishes?

 

[noelekal]

STANDY

Fish where I live is free….few hours out with Mrs STANDY
Saltwater Barramundi




(Barramundi is a top quality fish that sells well in Australian top restaurants and is renowned for its clean, buttery flavor with a succulent and firm texture. It offers a silky mouthfeel and a delicate skin that crisps perfectly when seared.)

You're just mean!

I love all seafood, probably even better than lamb!

 

[ErichPryde]

ghce

I haven't read it but what always gets me about Samuel Clemens is the illusion of his pen name which if you consult Wikipedia perpetuates the illusion that he ( Twain) was a real man.
Now I thoroughly get why some authors want a pen name but come on you mention Samuel Clemens to most every body (and he was well known in his own right with his own real name) and they just look blankly at you.
I usually suggest to SF fans to read the Riverworld series to enlighten themselves for a different perspective on the Twain name.

I don't suppose we will ever know exactly why Samuel Clemens chose to write under the name Mark twain, however, it may have been because he wanted to mark a distinction between the topics he chose as Clemens. Taking pen names has always been something writers have done and in the American tradition, the founding fathers used pen names to voice things they didn't want attributed to their normal names or to add additional voices. Ben Franklin used multiple, most notably this one. If I had to guess this probably goes back to at least the enlightenment (Voltaire was also a pen name).

We may never know exactly why he chose to use a pseudonym but it definitely makes me think of Robin Hobb, who took a pseudonym specifically because her new works didn't seem to fit under her old writing name.

EDIT to add: why he chose it doesn't matter. He took the name Mark Twain for himself and it was his desire to continue being published under that name and much of what he wrote he wanted attributed to that name so de facto: Samuel Clemens was and is Mark Twain. When I think of either of his names I think of the other and I don't see either one as less real than the other.

I do a lot of reading and most of the people in the group I consider friends and acquaintances do as well, so the names are often used interchangeably without distinction if Twain/Clemens comes up. I'd bet if I talked to an average person you'd probably be right that they wouldn't know that Twain was a psuedonym, but I'm not sure how much that matters.

Edited: Apr 8, 2024

 

[sheepdoll]

Samuel Clemens is said to have taken the name from the Riverboats. It is simply mark 2. Local story is it came from the Sacramento River In California. Which reminded him of his childhood Mississippi.

Clemens was a newspaper reporter (The SF papers like to remind people of this.) He was sort of run out of town for defending a Chinaman. He also spent a lot of time in Virginia City, Nevada.

His ideas about Racial Equity were decidedly unpopular.

His papers are all held at UC Berkley. Interesting he instructed his Autobiography be published 100 years after his death. I think in installments. Takes up a few file cabinets. That way he could say what ever he wanted about whomever he wanted.

If you want creepy. Read the Mysterious Stranger.

He became friends with Nicola Tesla. And like him acquired a germ fetish and would only wear white suits. He also was a partner in a Watch factory. Invented an early form of the typewriter. These investments were ahead of their time and lead to financial insolvency. I think he also speculated with P.T. Barnum.

Eric Weiss is another who's name is not well known. His performing name is probably one of the best known from that era, And often confused with the man he stole if from.

 

[blufinz52]

hen

As 80% of American workers are employed in the service sector, it`s important that ordinary people have money to spend. So it might be wise for the government to spend less on tax breaks for the rich, bailing out banks and bombing foreign countrys and rather spend more on giving the ordinary working man and women more to spend in that all important sector. Then they could support their local businesses and not having to precipitate in "the Purge" like sales. And OP would find a parking spot as well.

^This^

 

[gbesq]

STANDY

Fish where I live is free….few hours out with Mrs STANDY
Saltwater Barramundi




(Barramundi is a top quality fish that sells well in Australian top restaurants and is renowned for its clean, buttery flavor with a succulent and firm texture. It offers a silky mouthfeel and a delicate skin that crisps perfectly when seared.)

 

[ErichPryde]

@sheepdoll all true. There are lots of stories as to the exact origin of "Mark Twain." apparently Clemens used "mark two" in his journals when discussing two fathoms and not Mark twain, which casts some doubt as to whether or not that's the "exact" reason for the name. Whatever the origin my interest is in the potential unknowable "why" he took the pen name in the first place, not the origin of the name (although your post all brings up possible reasons).

I can't help but think though, that it doesn't matter if we remember him as Mark Twain or Samuel Clemens or Mark Twain is Clemens. He took the name and used it consistently enough that I'm not sure the distinction is important.