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Uplifting Thoughts for the Isolated and Depressed in Times of Plague

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Gibbs505 said:
Not sure if this has been posted, but its the best flash mob in my opinion!

Click to expand...
Some people cannot be uplifted:

November 13, 2010
It was the worst experience I've had! I had spent three hours of torture fighting those ravenous mobs in that hell-hole of a Mall, to squander more money than I could afford on junk called presents for a bunch of ungrateful relatives and so-called friends! My dogs were barking and my arms were like noodles from carrying all the packages! I was ready for Christmas to be over and it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet!

So I schlepped my haul down to the filthy Food Court and encountered an even more mobbed scene. I had to stand in line at Arby's for almost twenty minutes. When I got to the front, a pimply-faced 12-year-old moron in a tacky Santa hat and non-matching red apron seemed unable to punch two buttons in succession in his keyboard. When, at last, he did, the infernal machine went wild. An older supervisor (maybe 15), overweight and dressed as a sea-green, obese elf, came over and said my item was out of stock. I tried another and that was out of stock also. Turned out, they were out of Roast Beef! At Arby's! He pointed out the Burger place across the court where another twenty-minute line snaked and slithered. Instead, defeated and disheartened, I settled for something they did have, a Classic Crispy Chicken Sandwich. They pulled a paper-wrapped thing out from a pile of about thirty under a heat lamp. I noticed with dismay that the paper seemed scorched from the heat.
Another ten-minute ordeal followed as I searched and waited for a seat. Finally, I found one, tight beside the overflowing trash cans with food detritus scattered six-inches deep on the floor under my feet! When I opened my wrapper, I found two stale, flat pieces of bun wrapped around a thing that must have been meant to be the chicken and a wilted piece of what might have been. many years ago, lettuce. It did have the appearance of a Sandwich, but Crispy and Chicken seemed to have gone missing. Scorch marks on the bun were not encouraging. When I tried to take a bite, I was not really surprised that it had the exact texture of a bicycle tire!

Then, as I was "enjoying" my lunch, a young woman a few tables away stood up, her cellphone apparently still glued to her ear, and began singing. Before I knew it half the people in the Food Court had joined her along with several musicians. They were singing some Classic music that was familiar but the words seemed to be in some archaic tongue.

MY GOD! Why couldn't the shitty bastards leave us alone! Let me choke on my disgusting meal and get back to the shopping wars without deafening me with their cacophony! I was tempted to pull out my Glock 9 with the two spare, extended mags, and just blow them all away! But As I was reaching for it, I heard a little voice in my head. "It's the Holiday Season. Show some holiday spirit." So I put the Glock back in the holster and took another bite of my "chicken." Besides, I might have lost my CCW.

Merry Christmas, you cock-sucking, mother fucking, shit-eating bastards!
 
By the way, there are some theoretical suggestions by the German professor Leggewie and the French-Jewish-German politician Cohn-Bendit (link to the German article "Germany and France should unite" : ) ...
www.faz.net

Zum Wohle Europas: Wir brauchen eine deutsch-französische Föderation

Europa braucht einen frischen Wind, sagen der Politiker Daniel Cohn-Bendit und der Professor Claus Leggewie. Frankreich und Deutschland sollten daher den großen Sprung wagen – und sich zusammenschließen. Ein Gastbeitrag.
www.faz.net www.faz.net
... in order to form a new confederate state in Europe like a political "Dual Alliance" (= "Zweierbund") similar to the Franconian Empire or "the kindom of the Franks" which was ruled by "Charlemagne = Karl der Große" (by the way: funny that the French regard "Charlemagne" as French and the Germans regard "Karl der Große" as German but it was the same person, their same king and later emperor, crowned in Rome!) and included the most of the territories of France and Germany between 751 and 840, ...
en.wikipedia.org

Francia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
... because France and Germany are now the best trading partners in the center of Europe and each of their national economies is the best partner of the other. The different languages are not a real obstacle for being united in a "Zweierbund" as one could see in Canada or Belgium, the both politicians say.

It still sounds like a modern Utopia and Belgium & Canada have their well-known problems with the different languages, but who knows? There might be influences from outside which would put both nations closer than ever before and then, both countries together could really be the motor or engine for a further unification of Europe in peace.

And by the way again: The constant changing of borders and territories in Europe made especially us Germans a bit "dizzy". No other nation scattered the graves of its emperors so far across Europe like the Germans. "Our" Frederick II. "Holy Roman Emperor of German Nation", for example, is buried in a cathedral in Palermo in Sicily!
en.wikipedia.org

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

And when you look at all the European borders in this "short history", you will not really know all the reasons why this or that territory once was Roman, Italian, French or German, believe me! :
 
Silent_Water said:
By the way, there are some theoretical suggestions by the German professor Leggewie and the French-Jewish-German politician Cohn-Bendit (link to the German article "Germany and France should unite" : ) ...
www.faz.net

Zum Wohle Europas: Wir brauchen eine deutsch-französische Föderation

Europa braucht einen frischen Wind, sagen der Politiker Daniel Cohn-Bendit und der Professor Claus Leggewie. Frankreich und Deutschland sollten daher den großen Sprung wagen – und sich zusammenschließen. Ein Gastbeitrag.
www.faz.net www.faz.net
... in order to form a new confederate state in Europe like a political "Dual Alliance" (= "Zweierbund") similar to the Franconian Empire or "the kindom of the Franks" which was ruled by "Charlemagne = Karl der Große" (by the way: funny that the French regard "Charlemagne" as French and the Germans regard "Karl der Große" as German but it was the same person, their same king and later emperor, crowned in Rome!) and included the most of the territories of France and Germany between 751 and 840, ...
en.wikipedia.org

Francia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
... because France and Germany are now the best trading partners in the center of Europe and each of their national economies is the best partner of the other. The different languages are not a real obstacle for being united in a "Zweierbund" as one could see in Canada or Belgium, the both politicians say.

It still sounds like a modern Utopia and Belgium & Canada have their well-known problems with the different languages, but who knows? There might be influences from outside which would put both nations closer than ever before and then, both countries together could really be the motor or engine for a further unification of Europe in peace.

And by the way again: The constant changing of borders and territories in Europe made especially us Germans a bit "dizzy". No other nation scattered the graves of its emperors so far across Europe like the Germans. "Our" Frederick II. "Holy Roman Emperor of German Nation", for example, is buried in a cathedral in Palermo in Sicily!
en.wikipedia.org

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

And when you look at all the European borders in this "short history", you will not really know all the reasons why this or that territory once was Roman, Italian, French or German, believe me! :
Click to expand...
Once again, I love history as much or more than anyone else here, but this thread is for "Uplifting Thoughts." There are many more appropriate threads for discussing redrawing the map of modern Europe (which, in the past, has resulted in millions of deaths).
 
Here is a poem, the twist comes at the end where the thrust changes from machinery!

The Secret of the Machines​

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

(MODERN MACHINERY)

We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine,
We were melted in the furnace and the pit—
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,
We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.
Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,
And a thousandth of an inch to give us play:
And now, if you will set us to our task,
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!

We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive,
We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,
We can run and race and swim and fly and dive,
We can see and hear and count and read and write!

Would you call a friend from half across the world?
If you’ll let us have his name and town and state,
You shall see and hear your crackling question hurled
Across the arch of heaven while you wait.
Has he answered? Does he need you at his side?
You can start this very evening if you choose,
And take the Western Ocean in the stride
Of seventy thousand horses and some screws!

The boat-express is waiting your command!
You will find the Mauretania at the quay,
Till her captain turns the lever ’neath his hand,
And the monstrous nine-decked city goes to sea.

Do you wish to make the mountains bare their head
And lay their new-cut forests at your feet?
Do you want to turn a river in its bed,
Or plant a barren wilderness with wheat?
Shall we pipe aloft and bring you water down
From the never-failing cisterns of the snows,
To work the mills and tramways in your town,
And irrigate your orchards as it flows?

It is easy! Give us dynamite and drills!
Watch the iron-shouldered rocks lie down and quake
As the thirsty desert-level floods and fills,
And the valley we have dammed becomes a lake.

But remember, please, the Law by which we live,
We are not built to comprehend a lie,
We can neither love nor pity nor forgive.
If you make a slip in handling us you die!
We are greater than the Peoples or the Kings—
Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods!-
Our touch can alter all created things,
We are everything on earth—except The Gods!

Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,
It will vanish and the stars will shine again,
Because, for all our power and weight and size,
We are nothing more than children of your brain!
 
twonines said:
The picture was no doubt taken in 1911, but judging by the sound quality, the recording was probably made in the late 1920s or the 1930s. I can remember it being played regularly by the BBC in the 40s and 50s.
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I thought so, back in 1911 it would have been a cylinder recording? Hard to restore to that quality even with the advanced technology of today. Harry Champion's dates were 1865-1942, so he'd have been recording on wax discs in the 1920s, and they can be cleaned up pretty convincingly.
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
Some people cannot be uplifted:

November 13, 2010
It was the worst experience I've had! I had spent three hours of torture fighting those ravenous mobs in that hell-hole of a Mall, to squander more money than I could afford on junk called presents for a bunch of ungrateful relatives and so-called friends! My dogs were barking and my arms were like noodles from carrying all the packages! I was ready for Christmas to be over and it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet!

So I schlepped my haul down to the filthy Food Court and encountered an even more mobbed scene. I had to stand in line at Arby's for almost twenty minutes. When I got to the front, a pimply-faced 12-year-old moron in a tacky Santa hat and non-matching red apron seemed unable to punch two buttons in succession in his keyboard. When, at last, he did, the infernal machine went wild. An older supervisor (maybe 15), overweight and dressed as a sea-green, obese elf, came over and said my item was out of stock. I tried another and that was out of stock also. Turned out, they were out of Roast Beef! At Arby's! He pointed out the Burger place across the court where another twenty-minute line snaked and slithered. Instead, defeated and disheartened, I settled for something they did have, a Classic Crispy Chicken Sandwich. They pulled a paper-wrapped thing out from a pile of about thirty under a heat lamp. I noticed with dismay that the paper seemed scorched from the heat.
Another ten-minute ordeal followed as I searched and waited for a seat. Finally, I found one, tight beside the overflowing trash cans with food detritus scattered six-inches deep on the floor under my feet! When I opened my wrapper, I found two stale, flat pieces of bun wrapped around a thing that must have been meant to be the chicken and a wilted piece of what might have been. many years ago, lettuce. It did have the appearance of a Sandwich, but Crispy and Chicken seemed to have gone missing. Scorch marks on the bun were not encouraging. When I tried to take a bite, I was not really surprised that it had the exact texture of a bicycle tire!

Then, as I was "enjoying" my lunch, a young woman a few tables away stood up, her cellphone apparently still glued to her ear, and began singing. Before I knew it half the people in the Food Court had joined her along with several musicians. They were singing some Classic music that was familiar but the words seemed to be in some archaic tongue.

MY GOD! Why couldn't the shitty bastards leave us alone! Let me choke on my disgusting meal and get back to the shopping wars without deafening me with their cacophony! I was tempted to pull out my Glock 9 with the two spare, extended mags, and just blow them all away! But As I was reaching for it, I heard a little voice in my head. "It's the Holiday Season. Show some holiday spirit." So I put the Glock back in the holster and took another bite of my "chicken." Besides, I might have lost my CCW.

Merry Christmas, you cock-sucking, mother fucking, shit-eating bastards!
Click to expand...
I suppose the Yanks who aren't singing remain seated as a deliberate gesture of disrespect for the House of Hanover?

(Brits stand up for the Hallelujah Chorus, traditionally because King George II was so impressed at the first London performance of Messiah that he stood up, so everyone else had to - but there's no good evidence for that explanation, it's probably because it's a splendid composition and we've been sitting for well over an hour before they get to it)
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
Some people cannot be uplifted:

November 13, 2010
It was the worst experience I've had! I had spent three hours of torture fighting those ravenous mobs in that hell-hole of a Mall, to squander more money than I could afford on junk called presents for a bunch of ungrateful relatives and so-called friends! My dogs were barking and my arms were like noodles from carrying all the packages! I was ready for Christmas to be over and it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet!

So I schlepped my haul down to the filthy Food Court and encountered an even more mobbed scene. I had to stand in line at Arby's for almost twenty minutes. When I got to the front, a pimply-faced 12-year-old moron in a tacky Santa hat and non-matching red apron seemed unable to punch two buttons in succession in his keyboard. When, at last, he did, the infernal machine went wild. An older supervisor (maybe 15), overweight and dressed as a sea-green, obese elf, came over and said my item was out of stock. I tried another and that was out of stock also. Turned out, they were out of Roast Beef! At Arby's! He pointed out the Burger place across the court where another twenty-minute line snaked and slithered. Instead, defeated and disheartened, I settled for something they did have, a Classic Crispy Chicken Sandwich. They pulled a paper-wrapped thing out from a pile of about thirty under a heat lamp. I noticed with dismay that the paper seemed scorched from the heat.
Another ten-minute ordeal followed as I searched and waited for a seat. Finally, I found one, tight beside the overflowing trash cans with food detritus scattered six-inches deep on the floor under my feet! When I opened my wrapper, I found two stale, flat pieces of bun wrapped around a thing that must have been meant to be the chicken and a wilted piece of what might have been. many years ago, lettuce. It did have the appearance of a Sandwich, but Crispy and Chicken seemed to have gone missing. Scorch marks on the bun were not encouraging. When I tried to take a bite, I was not really surprised that it had the exact texture of a bicycle tire!

Then, as I was "enjoying" my lunch, a young woman a few tables away stood up, her cellphone apparently still glued to her ear, and began singing. Before I knew it half the people in the Food Court had joined her along with several musicians. They were singing some Classic music that was familiar but the words seemed to be in some archaic tongue.

MY GOD! Why couldn't the shitty bastards leave us alone! Let me choke on my disgusting meal and get back to the shopping wars without deafening me with their cacophony! I was tempted to pull out my Glock 9 with the two spare, extended mags, and just blow them all away! But As I was reaching for it, I heard a little voice in my head. "It's the Holiday Season. Show some holiday spirit." So I put the Glock back in the holster and took another bite of my "chicken." Besides, I might have lost my CCW.

Merry Christmas, you cock-sucking, mother fucking, shit-eating bastards!
Click to expand...
Oops! It seems that I'm being considered for banning based on advocating RL gun violence.
I hope it doesn't happen, but if it does....
You moderators, I have hacked where you live and I still have my Glock with the extra magazines.
Sleep soundly.
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
Oops! It seems that I'm being considered for banning based on advocating RL gun violence.
I hope it doesn't happen, but if it does....
You moderators, I have hacked where you live and I still have my Glock with the extra magazines.
Sleep soundly.
Click to expand...
You could plead provocation and real and present threats to your sanity :p
 
Beethoven Piano Concerto #3, an interesting, more Classical (with a bit of Mozart in the First Movement) than Romantic. Played by one of my favorite pianists, Alice Sara Ott (surprise - young, attractive, and female). In addition to her looks, I love her expressions. She shows you how she feels about the music. A lovely encore of Für Elise.

Here is my lovely one:
ASO_Nightfall3_(c)Esther Haase _ Deutsche Grammophon.png
 
Mississippi John Hurt. A simple Gospel song of the deepest faith

One of the comments - I dare you to read it and not be uplifted and moved to tears
My 93 year old grandmother, who has dementia and has never sung a song in front of anyone before, just opened up and sung this song today 2/13/20 . My baby sister, mother and myself witnessed this great moment. My baby sister then pulled up this song on YouTube and grandma bobbed her head to the song. We all had tears in our eyes although my baby sister said she didn’t, she was moved just the same. This song will forever be in my heart. ♥️. Love you grandma
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
Mississippi John Hurt. A simple Gospel song of the deepest faith

One of the comments - I dare you to read it and not be uplifted and moved to tears
My 93 year old grandmother, who has dementia and has never sung a song in front of anyone before, just opened up and sung this song today 2/13/20 . My baby sister, mother and myself witnessed this great moment. My baby sister then pulled up this song on YouTube and grandma bobbed her head to the song. We all had tears in our eyes although my baby sister said she didn’t, she was moved just the same. This song will forever be in my heart. ♥️. Love you grandma
Click to expand...
I know a group of singers who sing old, traditional songs, including bairns' songs from the playground, visiting care-homes - they find old folk far gone in dementia will often come to life, suddenly looking bright and cheerful, joining in and even remembering long-forgotten verses.
 
Praefectus Praetorio said:
I have no idea of the words (I believe Swedish), but it is so fun and cheerful, it uplifts me!
Click to expand...
Barb should be able to help - yes, Swedish folk-songs - my guesses at the titles:
outside our garden
the farmer's wedding
fine crystal
flowers of happiness
the judge's dance (I think that's the one that's on the clip)
 
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