Category Archives: Culture

Lord Krishna and the Milkmaids

Posted on by

From the Archive
                  Wednesday, January 07, 2004

Krishna and the milkmaids

I read The Life of Pi recently, and loved it, but one story in particular has struck me. It just perfectly parallels one of the ongoing Inet dramas around. So here is the story.

                  Lord Krishna was a little bored with hanging out his usual haunts, being godlike, so he brainstormed and thought now what would be really, really different from being a god? I KNOW!
                  Being a cowherd! and indeed, it is hard to disagree, so being Krishna and all, he just went ahead and turned himself into a cowherd. Nowadays I’m sure he’d just go into a chat room and try to be cowherd like, but that was back then, okay?

                  So the god Krishna was a cowherd. Bully for him. Now, there wasn’t much to do as a cowherd. Watch the cows, sure, but you would not believe how fast that gets tired. And back then they had no honky-tonk bars. So what did Krishna do? Well Krishna, like many gods, has a sharp eye for a curvy mortal. What do cows have in terms of support staff, other than cowherds? They have milkmaids, my dear. And these were some good-looking milkmaids, too. And horny. And Krishna was like WooHoo!!! PARTY!!!

                  Every night he would sign on…I mean go out to the woods and dance with the milkmaids. He was a god, there was enough of him to go around. His abundance was such that there was enough of him to dance with all the milkmaids at once, and they were happy and Krishna was having a blast. This state of affairs continued for quite some time, and Krishna was by far the most popular cowherd around, rumours about his background notwithstanding, I think it was the dancing that made him so popular. But then, one night as the dance reached its height each girl felt, in her heart of hearts, as if he were dancing with her and her alone.

     At that moment, he vanished forever.

del.icio.us: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
blinklist: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
furl: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
Digg it: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
ma.gnolia: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
Stumble it: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
simpy: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
newsvine: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
reddit: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
fark: Lord Krishna and the milkmaids
Technorati Favorite me!

Molly Ivins RIP

Posted on by

If you don’t know who Molly Ivins was, shut down your computer, go to an independent bookstore, and ask.

If you’d like to read the latest Molly Ivins article, click here for Stand Up Against the Surge. There are more of her articles on AlterNet.

If you’d like to see a video of her which I stole from Pharyngula, click on this:

del.icio.us: Molly Ivins, RIP
blinklist: Molly Ivins, RIP
furl: Molly Ivins, RIP
Digg it: Molly Ivins, RIP
ma.gnolia: Molly Ivins, RIP
Stumble it: Molly Ivins, RIP
simpy: Molly Ivins, RIP
newsvine: Molly Ivins, RIP
reddit: Molly Ivins, RIP
fark: Molly Ivins, RIP
Technorati Favorite me!

international boundaries

Posted on by

two solitudes 

Us Canuckistanis like to think of ourselves as unprejudiced people. This is, after all, the country to which 27,000 Americans fled before slavery was finally outlawed (1898 in New Jersey, fun fact!) in the United States. This is a country born of many cultures, a country in which the Aboriginal Peoples constitute probably the third most powerful political force (fourth if you count graft). A country with two official languages, a country where the Multiculturalism portfolio is one of the most powerful and most coveted on Parliament Hill.

So when we heard of a racist assault on a burqa-clad pedestrian, we were, naturally and as one, outraged. The loathesome bigot and all his descendants for ten generations were cursed by a for-once-united British Columbia.

Of course I put my own two cents adjusted for inflation in:

“Got to be an American!” I said.

del.icio.us: international boundaries
blinklist: international boundaries
furl: international boundaries
Digg it: international boundaries
ma.gnolia: international boundaries
Stumble it: international boundaries
simpy: international boundaries
newsvine: international boundaries
reddit: international boundaries
fark: international boundaries
Technorati Favorite me!

all this useless beauty

Posted on by

Carousel to nowhere 

 

Is it better to have been loved and lost, than never to have been loved at all? These sites, galleries of photographs of an abandoned Japanese amusement resort (click on the pictures for more) raise some intriguing questions about the nature of beauty and loss.

roller coaster in fog

If we’re being honest it seems pretty clear that, had we seen this place when it was going strong, we would probably (as the jaded grownups we have become) consider this to be a pretty tacky amusement park, which is a bit like calling something a pretty water-resistant duck. Amusement parks are amusing, but they are rarely sophisticated or ironic. And they are rarely beautiful.

But now look.

roller coaster

del.icio.us: all this useless beauty
blinklist: all this useless beauty
furl: all this useless beauty
Digg it: all this useless beauty
ma.gnolia: all this useless beauty
Stumble it: all this useless beauty
simpy: all this useless beauty
newsvine: all this useless beauty
reddit: all this useless beauty
fark: all this useless beauty
Technorati me!

quiz: which of the Ancient Greek Muses are you?

Posted on by

Polyhymnia 

And so we continue on Intellectual Day, here at the ol’ raincoaster blog. This quiz reminds me of the time one of the guys at the station on Barney Miller was giving a costume party and Wojo wanted to go. “Great,” said Dietrich. “It’s Come As Your Favorite 4th-Century BC Philosopher.” Of course, I would have to be ahead of my time…by about two centuries.

You scored as Polyhymnia. You are Polyhymnia, the muse of sacred poetry. Religion is the biggest part of your life, and you’re not afraid to let everyone else know. You are kind of shy and not great at letting people know who you really are.

Polyhymnia
88%
Thalia
81%
Erato
69%
Calliope
69%
Terpischore
69%
Clio
63%
Melpomene
63%
Euterpe
63%
Urania
50%

Thalia...but she's weirder looking than Polyhymnia, so I had to use her instead

Which of the Greek Muses are you?
created with QuizFarm.com