Higher Animals

"Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal... In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately.

Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away for two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh--not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court."

— Mark Twain (Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings)

Manchester, NJ

All that Glitters

“Man being reasonable must get drunk; The best of life is but intoxication; Glory, the grape, love, gold - in these are sunk - The hopes of all men and of every nation”

Lord Byron

Beijing Noodle House #9

Educational TV?

“The young watch television twenty-four hours a day, they don't read and they rarely listen. This incessant bombardment of images has developed a hypertrophied eye condition that's turning them into a race of mutants. They should pass a law for a total reeducation of the young, making children visit the Galleria Borgese on a daily basis.”

Federico Fellini 

Taken in Salem Mass during our Halloween Trip. These costumes were totally awesome.

Lock Me Up!

“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.”

Richard Bach

Taken on the grounds of Chenonoceau Castle

 

Old Age

 

“Old age is not a disease - it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses.

Maggie Kuhn

 Salem Mass.This Halloween.

 As I was taking pictures of the tombstones in the Charter Street Cemetery, I came across this one. It must have been amazing to live that long in that time period. I found the information below on John Nutting.

John Nutting was the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Nutting. He was born in Cambridge, Jan. 7, 1694, and graduated at Harvard College in 1712. He came to Salem in 1718, and kept the Grammar School from 1719 to 1749. He became Ruling Elder of a new church in Salem in 1736. He was a Notary Public in 1755,and Collector of Customs at Salem and Marblehead in 1768 and at other times. He also held the office of Register of Deeds. After the death of his first wife Ruth, he married Elizabeth dau. of Benjamin and Abigail (Lindall) Pickman (b. Jan. 22, 1714, d. June 11, 1785). He died May 20, 1790,