ENGLISH IS TOUGH STUFF

Read this one out loud.
======================

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamor
And enamor rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spiky?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

How did this happen

Well our 12 year old neighbor was visiting this evening, and for some reason we started discussing her education, or lack their of. Now it seems I'm homeschooling her. I need to get this together.

Topics to cover:

History

Mathematics

Science

English grammar

Literature

I've started out by getting her to read: novels for now, lit for later.

God I've got a lot to learn myself, before I can teach her.

And People Think Skydiving is Crazy

via scifi.com we get this idea at Popular Science. Now I don't know about you, but Im not sure I'd jump out of a perfectly good space ship, but the safety aspect is nice. If they can get it going I think there might be enough interest to make money off the idea.

Amendments for Consideration

A few amendments I feel will help to solve many of the problems in this country as relate to government.

Amendment 28
The government of the United States shall have no authority to issue new debt, excepting during declared war, and then only to an amount equal to twice the tax revenues of the year war was so declared.
--
First up, we hit them where it hurts, the wallet. If the government can't issue debt, it MUST balance the budget. and it MUST address Social Security. I allow debt in times of war, with strict limits, because war does have a real cost, and must be paid.

Amendment 29
Congress shall have no power to levy any tax, tariff or fee, excepting only one of 5 percent of the sale value of all imports, and 1 percent of all exports. These rates may be raised by 2 percent each during times of declared war.
--
Further attacks on the wallet here, this time it's revenues. Eliminating income taxes on both earners (individuals), and producers (corporations), allows both groups to keep and invest more of their income. The revenues may be increased during times of war, within limits.

Amendment 30
No special power of taxation, debt, or spending granted the government shall be permitted to remain in effect a period longer than 5 years, and such a power once granted may not be so granted again for a period of 10 years new declarations of war not withstanding.
--
A severe curtail on the limits of special war powers. 5 years is more than enough time for the government to find fat to trim on the budget to care for an extended war. and the delay between one use of these powers and another is to keep the country from being in one long, repeatedly declared war.

Amendment 31
No person may be elected more than twice to the same office of government, nor having served in a higher office be elected to a lower office. All persons holding office at the time this amendment is ratified shall be considered to have not been yet elected for the purpose of this amendment, but in no way does this amendment grant further time in office than may otherwise have been permitted.

Term limits, this one will cause trouble, but it's needed. The longer a person holds power the more likely they are to be corrupted by it. By limiting the number of terms a person may serve, we limit the time that power has to corrupt them. nobody, under this system can serve more than24 years, and that would be a sufficient career to earn a vested pension in any private company. the difference here is that a person must earn a promotion to keep the job.

Amendment 32
All laws shall be rendered null and void 12 years following the date they go into effect except for laws passed prior to the ratification of this amendment, which will be so rendered on the first anniversary of their enactment the year of which may be dived by 12 to arive at a whole result.

Yes, more term limits. this time on laws. twelve years is 2 senate terms, which with my proposed 31st amendment guarantees that whomever first proposed a law, must have moved on to a new position when the law expires. In addition, any law can benefit from regular, required legislative and executive review.

Amendment 33
No bill or act of congress, nor law passed, shall cover more than one topic

Short and to the point, but I feel it needs work, expanding the definition of topic. This should prevent things like tacking $500 Million for a bridge to nowhere in Alaska onto a bill regulating the amount of arsenic in tap water for example. It stops bad laws from riding with good laws.

Amendment 34
No bill or act may be voted on in the house or senate until said bill shall have been read in whole before an assembled quorum of its members, and a period of at least one month shall have passed since the bill was first proposed. Declarations of war are not subject to this amendment in cases of attack by foreign nations.

This is the Read the Bills Act(wikipedia.org), souped up and made an amendment. Congress should know what it is voting on. It should also take its time. A month will give plenty of time for a bill to be considered and for the public to express its opinion.

amendment 35
Congress shall make no law forbidding or criminalizing the possession or sale of any object, substance or device, unless such object, substance or device is the unlawfully taken property of another.

This gets the federal government out of the drug business except as it relates to importing them. and should kill most if not all federal gun laws on the books, again except as it relates to importing them.

Amendment 36
No person not a citizen may reside in the united states for a period of more than 5 years without demonstrating a clear understanding of the English language both written and spoken, nor shall any person so reside for a period of more than 10 years unless they obtain citizenship, nor any person be made a citizen who cannot demonstrate such understanding.

English is the national language, all or laws are written in it, our schools are taught in it, and it is the conversational language of the majority of Americans. If you want to be here you must learn the language. The United Stated is just that, united, if you want to stay here, you must become one of us.

Amendment 37
No person born in the United States shall be born a citizen unless at least one parent shall be a legal resident, or a citizen.

This will eliminate the problem of anchor babies, and won't deny citizenship to anyone else.

Amendment 38
The president shall have no power to place military personnel in the territory of any other nation except during times of declared war, or military bases deemed necessary and proper by congress and provided for in lawful treaty, or when subject to military attack by a foreign nation, such power lasting a period of no more than 6 months.

This ought to stop all the undeclared wars the US has fought since WWII. Korea, Vietnam, and both Gulf Wars would have been much harder to hold with this amendment in place. There is a method in place for declaring war, and we should use it when we need to go to war.

Good story, The Last Question

Originally by Issac Asimov form 1956. Go read it, discuss in comments.

Do NOT read the comments before the story, it will ruin the whole thing.

New Video Game Idea

I've played lots of games in my time, from Super Mario Bros & Legend of Zelda to Diablo 2 and Civilization IV. In all that time my all time favorite game is "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. It's a fantasy RPG, set in the Elder Scrolls universe. I've played this game for 5 years now and still find new places, people and events every time I play. The game came with "The Elder Scrolls Construction Set" a huge tool set to modify the game with new characters, buildings, and even complete new continents. The game is still going strong, even over 5 years after it came out, with a large, diverse community providing new gaming experience, or improving the existing game. There are projects that try to make each NPC completely unique, projects attempting to rebuild the rest of the world the game takes place in, and huge numbers of textures, maps, quests, spells and other effects that make the game better than the creators envisioned it. I want to tap this power.

I have an idea. An open source game, using aspects of the Morrowind model, and allowing any player to add in content for inclusion in the game. The way I see it we need 4 major pieces of software to do this, a game engine, a graphics engine, a game editor, and a plugin manager. While I can come up with some pretty cool game ideas, I have one HUGE problem.

I can't code.

I've tried, I've failed. I failed miserably. I've tried C, Perl, Pascal, Python, I've even tried BASIC (Ewww). I can't do it. I've read manuals, tutorials, articles, and code (Which I rarely understand, and probably understand wrong). I still can't code. I can make "Hello world" work in about 30 minutes, and 3-4 attempts. I can't code, at all. I can however design game worlds. I've been playing DnD off and on for 10 years now, most of it behind the DM screen. I've come up with some great worlds, characters and ideas for stories.

So what do we need for this game to work? We need a working game engine, which must manage the game rules, determine when a player action works, when it doesn't work and what the results are. We need a game system, a set of rules for the engine to enforce, and the rules for players to improve themselves over time. We need a game world, a defined area for the player to live, travel, and adventure in. We need a graphics engine, to show our world to the player in a consistent, understandable manner. We need a game editor, so that the players and developers can add new elements to the game, always trying to make it better. We need a plugin manager, a tool to keep track of what plugins a system has, their version, and a list of what else is available.

I'll be discussing each of these further in later posts.