22 Replies to “Part of the solution”

  1. Welcome home. We’ll be here, providing opposition (and applause).

    I am particularly pleased to see a category for “epigrams.” You will find it a satisfying direction for some thoughts that don’t need lengthy examination.

  2. St. Antonym – Thanks, and congratulations for being the first vocal visitor to my new site! Seems to me you ought to win something, but I’m not sure just what.

    I’m glad you like brief posts, because that’s probably all I’ll be able to post in the next few days.

    Thanks, dale!

  3. Two things I like about this post, one of which I’ve already mentioned.

    The second is the puntastic title. By donating liquid to the parched earth, you’re part of the solution to the problem of drought. Yes

    But you’re also part of the solution because the expelled efflux consists of soluble substances that were, literally, a part of you.

    Solve. Solvent. Solution.

    Sol (the sun)? Solitario? Solomon?

    (no dictionary at hand to tell either way)

  4. St. Ant – How can you say there’s no dictionary at hand, when i have a reference section clearly linked at the top of the page? Try the Online Etymology Dictionary, 4th link down. It says that solvent, solve and solution all derive from the same Latin word meaning to loosen, untie, solve, dissolve. I don’t see any connection with the other words you listed, but I think you knew that. On the other hand, in my opinion it always makes for a better pun if the words in question are not related.

    No matter what the problem, the rain always offers the same solution. That is, as long as you discount the varying amounts of nitric and sulfuric acid and other pollutants. If you leave a delicate piece of laundry out in the hard rain around here, it might just dissolve.

    leslee – Urp. Thanks!

  5. Fantastic! So glad to be here, in this clean and beautuful new house, just waiting to be messed up by us, your unruly visitors!

    Blessings on it, Dave. May you continue to write words of wisdom and question here, and enjoy the via in all its guises.

  6. Abso-fan-tabulous.

    The new layout is so clean; it’s what I don’t like about Blogger (all the templates and fonts feel a little too bulky and slightly clumsy) but this…

    This is a template and layout that can handle sudden poetic curves, an onslaught of words, the patter of pee.

    One monk in Korea always says, “Any kind of tea is good for pee!”

  7. Oh, I love your new home – the beauty of grey, indeed! – and the poem with which you open it. A wonderfully pleasing, unobtrusive and fitting frame for your words and picture.

  8. So nice to get up in the morning and find these warming words! I am very pleased and a little surprised that you are all so complimentary about the design (though I suppose those who don’t like it won’t feel compelled to leave a comment).

    Beth – Would an anarchist host have his guest behave any other way than unruly? Mi casa es – uh – la casa de todo y nadie!

    Soen Joon – “This is a template and layout that can handle sudden poetic curves, an onslaught of words, the patter of pee.” Hee! I don’t know if I’ll share this specific quote with the Swedish designer of the template when i get around to sending him a note of thanks. Something might get lost in the translation.

    “Any kind of tea is good for pee!â€? Piss wisdom – I love it! My favorite graffito from the men’s room at a bar in State College, PA: “I’ll be right back. I have to go drink a beer.” Samsara in a nutshell.

    Ivy – Thanks for stopping by!

    Jean – I’m encouraged by your reaction. Since we used the same, not terribly popular template at Blogger, we obviously have similar tastes.

  9. Nice new digs. How do you handle change? I’m not very good with it. I like my familiar ruts. Now I”ll learn this new path to your new door. I’ll try to avoid the pee on the way past the porch.

  10. Wow … lovely new digs! I love the layout and the dominant grey. And, I suppose, with the pee on the porch, you have clearly marked the territory…

  11. RD – How do I handle it? By ignoring it until it’s almost upon me, then turning my back abruptly on the old. Very Orwellian of me, I suppose (“We are at war with East Asia now. We have always been at war with East Asia!”) but I do tend to live in the present.

    Maria – Thanks! I hadn’t thought about the territory-marking angle, but I think you’re right – there must have been some such instinct at work there. Then again, peeing is also a primal response to fear…

  12. Dave, I love it. I use WordPress for my “blogging unit” at school, but I didn’t know it could do all of this. I checked into Ulf Petterson — I wonder who else has these templates? I’m so bored with my own layout.

    Congratulations!

  13. Peter – I’m glad you like this.

    In the next couple of years, WordPress may well overtake Blogger as the free blogging software of choice. WordPress.com aims to introduce a number of newtemplates and keep all the basic services free, so that willbecome a really attractive option to those who don’t want to bother with finding their own server and such.

    I can’t take credit for the icon – that was the work of my cousin Matt, a tech guru who is also hosting this blog on his server. I like that it preserves a visual link to my old blog, though I suppose at some point I might try and incorporate the full-size GIf into the stuff at the bottom of the page as well.

    There are plenty of templates (“themes”) to look at – check the listing here or here. The leanness of WordPress code might allow Slow Reads to load more quickly out here in slow-modem land. (Not that I’m complaining, understand – it’s not a real nuisance since I can link separately to the blog, and the main page only changes once a month.)

  14. Very nice, congratulations on the move. I like your poem. Perfect for the occasion. Have you peed on all four corners yet?

  15. Keith – You’re darn tootin’. (How come no one says that anymore?)

    MB – Thank you. No, I’m still working on scent-marking the blog.

    Peter – Cheese? You mean those weren’t roses?

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