{"id":8048,"date":"2011-03-11T11:17:56","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T16:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=8048"},"modified":"2018-01-22T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T15:22:14","slug":"unexpectedly-needed-or-not-needed-at-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/unexpectedly-needed-or-not-needed-at-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Unexpectedly Needed, or Not Needed At All"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HaxURLFn6jU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"smalltext\"><em>[Video: <a title=\"Wikipedia, on 'stinking badges'\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stinking_badges\" target=\"_blank\">classic moment<\/a> from <\/em>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre<em>]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>From <a title=\"whiskey river: Bill Bryson, on the spaciousness of space (and time)\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2011\/03\/we-may-be-only-one-of-millions-of.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>whiskey river<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We may be only one of millions of advanced civilizations. Unfortunately, space being spacious, the average distance between any two of these civilizations is reckoned to be at least two hundred light-years, which is a great deal more than merely saying it makes it sound. It means for a start that even if these beings know we are here and are somehow able to see us in their telescopes, they&#8217;re watching light that left Earth two hundred years ago. So, they&#8217;re not seeing you and me. They&#8217;re watching the French Revolution and Thomas Jefferson and people in silk stockings and powdered wigs &#8212; people who don&#8217;t know what an atom is, or a gene, and who make their electricity by rubbing a rod of amber with a piece of fur and think that&#8217;s quite a trick. Any message we receive from them is likely to begin &#8220;Dear Sire,&#8221; and congratulate us on the handsomeness of our horses and our mastery of whale oil. Two hundred light-years is a distance so far beyond us as to be, well, just beyond us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Bill Bryson, <em>A Short History of Nearly Everything<\/em> [<a title=\"Google Books: 'A Short History of Nearly Everything,' by Bill Bryson\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=YjAnfhsAQ8wC&amp;pg=PA27#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<a title=\"whiskey river: Jorges Luis Borges, on the dragon slayer\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2011\/03\/chang-tzu-tells-us-of-persevering-man.html\" target=\"_blank\">and<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Chang Tzu tells us of a persevering man who after three laborious years mastered the art of dragon slaying. For the rest of his days, he had not a single opportunity to test his skills.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Jorge Luis Borges [<a title=\"Amazon.com: 'The Book of Imaginary Beings,' by Jorge Luis Borges\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Book-Imaginary-Beings-Jorge-Borges\/dp\/0670891800#reader_0670891800\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Not from <em>whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Into the Ark<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An endless rain is just beginning.<br \/>\nInto the ark, for where else can you go:<br \/>\nyou poems for a single voice,<br \/>\nprivate exultations,<br \/>\nunnecessary talents,<br \/>\nsurplus curiosity,<br \/>\nshort-range sorrows and fears,<br \/>\neagerness to see things from all sides.<\/p>\n<p>Rivers are swelling and bursting their banks.<br \/>\nInto the ark: all you chiaroscuros and halftones,<br \/>\nyou details, ornaments, and whims,<br \/>\nsilly exceptions,<br \/>\nforgotten signs,<br \/>\ncountless shades of the color gray,<br \/>\nplay for play&#8217;s sake,<br \/>\nand tears of mirth.<\/p>\n<p>As far as the eye can see, there&#8217;s water<br \/>\nand a hazy horizon.<br \/>\nInto the ark: plans for the distant future,<br \/>\njoy in difference,<br \/>\nadmiration for the better man,<br \/>\nchoice not narrowed down to one of two,<br \/>\noutworn scruples,<br \/>\ntime to think it over,<br \/>\nand the belief that all of this<br \/>\nwill still come in handy some day.<\/p>\n<p>For the sake of the children<br \/>\nthat we still are,<br \/>\nfairy tales have happy endings.<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s the only finale that will do here, too.<br \/>\nThe rain will stop,<br \/>\nthe waves will subside,<br \/>\nthe clouds will part<br \/>\nin the cleared-up sky,<br \/>\nand they&#8217;ll be once more<br \/>\nwhat clouds overhead ought to be:<br \/>\nlofty and rather lighthearted<br \/>\nin their likeness to things<br \/>\ndrying in the sun &#8212;<br \/>\nisles of bliss,<br \/>\nlambs,<br \/>\ncauliflowers,<br \/>\ndiapers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Wislawa Szymborska [<a title=\"Amazon.com: 'Poems New and Collected,' by Wislawa Szymborska\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Poems-New-Collected-Wislawa-Szymborska\/dp\/0156011468#reader_0156011468\" target=\"_blank\"><em>source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I don&#8217;t let myself get carried away by my own ideas &#8212; I abandon nineteen out of twenty of them every day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(Gustav Mahler [<em>attributed<\/em>])<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"tarot\"><\/a>&#8230;and (the &#8220;she&#8221; in this passage a &#8220;reader of palms, of cards, of signs and portents and mysterious coincidences&#8221;):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Things are coming to pass,&#8221; she went on. &#8220;Destructive things, but also wonderful things &#8212; literally wonderful: things <em>full of wonder<\/em>. Remember that wonders need not all be nice, Wayne. Some can be quite terrible. A dark comet colliding with the Earth is as much a wonder as a brilliant one passing in the night sky, hundreds of thousands of miles distant. But things, yes, <em>wonders<\/em> long in the making are coming to pass.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the heart of these things coming to pass stands a woman &#8212; perhaps more than one woman. Each woman a fulcrum, you see? A hinge about which a particular problem can be seen to swing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She closed her eyes but continued to speak, as though hypnagogically.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She &#8212; or you, under her influence &#8212; must find an unexpected opening and cut into and through the problem. The woman will not be easily pleased, she may not accept at first what you are trying to accomplish, or how. You must not let her decide for you &#8212; the fulcrum, you see? <em>she is not the lever itself <\/em>&#8212; but you must attend to her. To get to the wonder, you see?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(JES, <em>Seems to Fit<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Grace Potter and the Nocturnals\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/images\/gracepotterandnocturnals_sm.gif?resize=200%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/>The Vermont band <a title=\"Wikipedia, on Grace Potter and the Nocturnals\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grace_Potter_and_the_Nocturnals\" target=\"_blank\">Grace Potter and the Nocturnals<\/a> seems on the brink of a major breakthrough. No one had heard of them before 2005-06; now suddenly they&#8217;re cropping up on TV, at music festivals, on soundtracks&#8230; Their bass guitarist, Cat Popper, <a title=\"Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: Cat Popper\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gracepotter.com\/band\/catherine-popper\/\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a> her favorite thing about studio recording is:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;when an engineer can capture the air in the room and understands what I mean when I say &#8220;make my bass tone sound like Neil Young kicking the mic stand on <em>Heart of Gold<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>That&#8217;s<\/em> a musician who knows what she needs. (<a title=\"Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: about the band\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gracepotter.com\/band\" target=\"_blank\">They&#8217;re all<\/a> like that.)<\/p>\n<p>The ballad below closes their 2010 (self-titled) album.<\/p>\n\n<p>Lyrics:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>Things I Never Needed<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<em> (Grace Potter and the Nocturnals)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Take a long hard look at my face<br \/>\nTake away the things I can\u2019t replace<br \/>\nTake my heart, go on take it away<br \/>\nI\u2019ve got nothing to say<\/p>\n<p>Take away this sense of regret<br \/>\nTake the things I need to forget<br \/>\nTake the mistakes I haven\u2019t made yet<br \/>\nThey\u2019re all I have left<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to be the one who lets you down<br \/>\nAll I did was run myself around<br \/>\nI wish I could have seen through your eyes<br \/>\nMaybe then I would have realized<br \/>\nI\u2019m the only one who\u2019s bleeding<br \/>\nFor the things I never needed<br \/>\nThe things I never needed<\/p>\n<p>Take a good long look at yourself<br \/>\nTake the weight off everyone else<br \/>\nTake the hardest blow that was dealt<br \/>\nIt\u2019s all on your shoulders<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to be the one who lets you down<br \/>\nAll I did was run myself around<br \/>\nI wish I could have seen through your eyes<br \/>\nMaybe then I would have realized<br \/>\nI\u2019m the only one who\u2019s bleeding<br \/>\nFor the things I never needed<br \/>\nThe things I never needed<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to be the one who lets you down<br \/>\nAll I did was run myself around<br \/>\nI wish I could have seen through your eyes<br \/>\nMaybe then I would have realized<br \/>\nI\u2019m the only one who\u2019s bleeding<br \/>\nFor the things I never needed<br \/>\nThe things I never needed<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: classic moment from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre] From whiskey river: We may be only one of millions of advanced civilizations. Unfortunately, space being spacious, the average distance between any two of these civilizations is reckoned to be at least two hundred light-years, which is a great deal more than merely saying it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,53,74,5,50,36,251,515],"tags":[921,1459,2220,2257,2258,2259,2260],"class_list":{"0":"post-8048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-movies-media","9":"category-music","10":"category-06_writing","11":"category-language-writing_cat","12":"category-reading","13":"category-poetry-writing_cat","14":"category-grail","15":"tag-wislawa-szymborska","16":"tag-jorge-luis-borges","17":"tag-bill-bryson","18":"tag-treasure-of-the-sierra-madre","19":"tag-stinking-badges","20":"tag-gustav-mahler","21":"tag-grace-potter-and-the-nocturnals","22":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-25O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8048"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19992,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8048\/revisions\/19992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}