Posts by Terry
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Why did they have to HANG MARY?
by Terry inthey hanged mary!
(the townsfolk did)i'll tell you about it - but .... the facts will turn readers against her.
i mean, after all, she did kill a man.sympathy instantly dries up; making her agonizing death--as awful as it was--much less empathetic.
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9
Why did they have to HANG MARY?
by Terry inthey hanged mary!
(the townsfolk did)i'll tell you about it - but .... the facts will turn readers against her.
i mean, after all, she did kill a man.sympathy instantly dries up; making her agonizing death--as awful as it was--much less empathetic.
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Terry
THEY HANGED MARY! (The townsfolk did)
I'll tell you about it - but ...The facts will turn readers against her. I mean, after all, she did kill a man.
Sympathy instantly dries up; making her agonizing death--as awful as it was--much less empathetic.
Her story grabbed my heart and a cold chill went down my spine.
I felt move to tell others about her death.
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MARY'S STORY______Who was she?
Mary was not slim, beautiful, or even very graceful -but- she was beloved (by many people.)
She arrived in America at the age of 4, standing 4 feet tall.
She ended up working in a Circus. She was unable to speak English and had no family to help her.
Having traveled from Asia (against her will), she was always surrounded by men who could not be troubled to communicate with her (other than through enticement or brute force.If she complied with men's demands, her life went easier.
If she resisted?
Well, that never worked out.In her own unique way, she had a kind of fame and renown, like a big fish in a small pond.
A Circus job? It was lower rung 'show business' if truth be told.
Yet--for what it is worth--Mary was a star of the show.
What she did and how she did it entertained and delighted folks.
(How many of us bring smiles and laughter so easily without degrading ourselves or belittling others?)On the positive side of things --In Circus Showbiz, you don't have to look perfect. Nope - quite the opposite.
You can be unusual and get away with it. Even so-called freaks of nature could find employment in this venue.
Mary was 20 years old the day they hanged her.
Hers was a simple life; a life of routine and habit.
She enjoyed the company of others and went about her job with dignity and professionalism
right up until the day she slowly died without mercy.
BUT -
Let's get this over with and let's facts and move on--shall we?
_____The man Mary would kill was named Eldridge.
He had a shock of red hair and got the job working with Mary even though he was a hobo and a drifter with no skills.
That is unless you call working on the cheap a skill. He was placed next in charge of Mary's act now.Big man. Big Job. No training.
Everything started to go wrong the day the Circus came to town.
She was one of the big attractions as a performer.Mary walked slowly, theatrically down Main Street that day as crowds cheered, celebrating the arrival of "show people" in their town. The banners said: SPARKS' WORLD FAMOUS SHOWS.
She had been with them 16 years.
It was small time stuff.
The fresh air and sunshine combined with exercise and a long trek all morning had worked up an appetite.
After the parade, Mary was famished. She was ready for a favorite refreshment: watermelon.That's when Eldridge showed up.
(Folks called him "Red.")
Red didn't care if Mary was eating.
He meant to bully her into a rehearsal so he could look competent when the show began later.Red was just clueless how to treat a lady.
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The fact he was hired as a last-minute fill-in for a seasoned professional is a crime in itself.
Finesse, technique, know-how were completely foreign to his temperament.
There was no coaxing or friendly demeanor at all. He'd use violence to get his way as most bullies are known to do.So impatient and ignorant was his rage he'd snatched a nearby hooked stick with a sharp point and began threatening her menacingly.
That bastard jabbed poor Mary behind her ear, close to her jaw and the flash of excruciating pain sent a bolt of electric rage through her body.
She reacted without a moment's thought.
It was raw instinct.
An eye-witness later accounted for the incident:A man named W.H. Coleman was a witness to the sudden death of Red Eldridge.
He admitted the hobo hireling jabbed Mary.
But then, he spared no details of her retaliation either.
Red's corpse lay plain enough there on the ground with skull crushed.
Mary's only weapon was her size. She was a bulky lady.
Mary had used her full body weight to crush him!A local blacksmith arrived and aimed his pistol at Mary and fired--wounding --yet not killing her.
The rush of panic and adrenaline seemed somehow to keep her standing and defiant.
The blind injustice of her situation kept her on her feet.
And then crowds arrived and word spread like a grass fire in drought.
Kingsport was such a tiny, unimportant town with so little excitement--this was chaos and panic beyond all reckoning.Somebody shouted : We Need to Hang Her!
Lynch mob mentality carried the deed to its bitter ending.Nearby, Charlie Sparks, fearing for the reputation of his "World Famous Show," suddenly suggested they use a large crane attached to a rail car he had seen outside, near the adjacent town of Erwin.
If the crowd turned against his Circus people, he'd be ruined financially.
So--why not give them a spectacle to distract them from the over spill of vengeance?And just like that, the blood lust of small town mentality, so-called "Southern Justice" was at hand!
A chain was placed around Mary's neck and another chain around her ankle. As she was suddenly jerked aloft by the awkward crane mechanism the chain snapped and she plummeted heavily onto her side breaking her hip.In awful agony, again she was jerked aloft, brutally hoisted above the ground as a wail of alarm arose on the outside of the wide-eyed throng of onlookers.
Nobody cared enough to do anything - to end the suffering.
Reports say 2,500 onlookers and most of that town's children beheld the atrocity as it unfolded to their everlasting shame.
There in the Clinchfield Railroad yard, slowly twisted the body of Mary, as merely nothing more than fiendish amusement for narrow-minds to gawk and gape at.Fog rolled in and a steady drizzle fell. Mary's last twitches of life ebbed away.
The shackle on her leg had not been removed and the crane's upward lift strained until a loud cracking of Mary's bones straightaway ended her death struggle.
Just like that--the spectacle was over.
The laughter and cheers as Mary's legs had thrashed and trembled now faded into silence--save for splashing of steady rain as heaven itself wept quietly.
The pitiful body of Mary hung inert for the better part of an hour before she was finally pronounced officially dead.
(A veterinarian who examined Mary after death found she had an infected tooth in precisely the spot where Red Eldridge had prodded her.)Yes, this wretched town had hanged an elephant for murder on
September 13, 1916.
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A True Story -
16
What's the difference? Million? Billion? Trillion? For the curious among us ...
by Terry inwhat's the difference?
a millionaire, a billionaire, and a trillionaire recognize each other outside an attorney’s office.
chat reveals each of them just signed off on their last will and testament.millionaire: “i feel really good about what i did here today.
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Terry
Governor Rockefeller once told a reporter, "A million here and a million there - it can eventually add up to some real money."
Ah, the luxury of wealthy thinking. -
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Behold the face of JESUS!
by Terry ineight years ago, i lived in a kind of "retirement" hotel.the palm house.no - it wasn't an old folks home.
it was an ancient folks home.mostly senior ladies living off of faith and a dead husband's money.. my encounter with jesus came about in that environment.. once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts get-together to get to know your neighbors.. well .
.i got invited repeatedly, badgered, coaxed, pestered and i gave up.
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(Disturbing) Thought For the Day
by Terry in(disturbing) thought for the day.
what's happens when you get really sick?.
a. you get worse and worse, then - better and better till well.. .
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Terry
I'm surrounded by True Believers who think it is arrogant and ignorant to question graduates of medical school
But, I have 73 years of life experience to bring to bear (anecdotally) which tempers my "belief" in total anything.
i keep one eye open. -
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SOUP HERB (A memory from 1980)
by Terry in(culver city, california 1980).
the tiny diner was empty - and it was a minute past noon!.
i walked into the little shop chuckling to myself, that name!
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Terry
If you live in interesting places during interesting times - and just engage the most ordinary people ...it is astounding what you find.
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SOUP HERB (A memory from 1980)
by Terry in(culver city, california 1980).
the tiny diner was empty - and it was a minute past noon!.
i walked into the little shop chuckling to myself, that name!
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Terry
Thanks, under the radar
I've tried making great soup and it seems like the secret is leaving in the boiled fat of whatever meat you add. Sort of semi-disgusting until you remember we are creatures who have a distant history as natural species surviving by hunting feral animals and stalking the wild mushroom :) -
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SOUP HERB (A memory from 1980)
by Terry in(culver city, california 1980).
the tiny diner was empty - and it was a minute past noon!.
i walked into the little shop chuckling to myself, that name!
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Terry
______SOUP HERB______
(Culver City, California 1980)
The tiny diner was empty - and it was a minute past noon!
I walked into the little shop chuckling to myself,
That name! SOUP HERB...hilarious!In the corner at a small table
a man in a chef's costume sat smoking an unlit cigar, flipping through a daily Racing Form."Ah, good day to you, Sir" His mustache drooped as his smile beamed.
"You're my first customer! You eat for Free today - but you must promise to tell all your friends how wonderful we are - (he added with a wink) even if it is lousy- which it never is!"
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AN HOUR LATERBy the time I walked out of SOUP HERB...
I had - as Rod Serling might well say, "Witness a man for whom success will never arrive even as his bright dreams slowly die."Herbert (last name now unremembered ...too many consonants) had not only served me hot soup with fresh rolls and brisk iced tea, he had dumped a platter filled with autobiographical remembrances on my soul as well.
In short, he had come from Serbia - escaping from Kosovar Albanians hellbent on wiping out every living thing from his village. Parents: dead. Friends: dead.
I confessed I knew nothing about Serbs or Albanians.
He was unsurprised.
"Nobody knows - or cares." Then he added, "Why should they?"He traveled West, joining a crew of sailors heading to America and landed in New York.
He discovered a job in a delicatessen as a short order cook.
Eventually he moved on, learning his trade as a Chef.He'd saved all his money for the dream: his own business.
He was Catholic. Through his church he made contacts and found a landlord who felt sorry for him and granted one month's free rent. California was paradise - this would be an incredible new life - new beginning for him.
___The shop I was sitting in was cobbled together with his own two hands from scratch.
"How'd you come up with the name SOUP HERB", I finally asked - expecting a delicious snippet of genius - a clever story or a shrug of modesty.
"It's easy to make, it's delicious, there is a good profit margin - and - well, my name is Herb."
I thought he was testing me. For a minute, anyway.
"Are you trying to tell me "SUPERB" never entered your mind?"
He stared at me ..."No - what is that - a word?"
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TWO WEEKS LATERI stopped by again and walked in to find the Chef sitting in the same spot in the corner - no customers around - but no smile this time.
He slowly revealed to me how he had been robbed and the money he was saving for the new month's rent was gone.
"I apologized to the little man with the gun. Yes, I did. I told him I knew how desperate life can make you --and how you'll do anything - no matter how awful - just to escape."
_____A MONTH LATER
The sign was down and Herb had vanished from the chalk board of dreams.
Chalk dust on fate's eraser.This isn't a happy story but it's a true one.
Funny thing about it -I can't get rid of it from my memory.
Herb haunts me in quiet moments.He is a man with big dreams, a tragic past, an iron will to survive and when his chance at success comes - a little man with a pistol snatching it away ...
BUT HE APOLOGIZES to the thief!Why?
I think it is called "empathy".So...
A LIFETIME LATERToday, every time I see the word "superb" I stop what I'm doing and feel my heart forming the ghost of a prayer for him...and I think - "No, it's SOUP HERB!"
Heartbreaking and hilarious inside my head.
Why not?
A Serb named Herb? REALLY???
A diner called "SOUP HERB" - REALLY?I dunno.
God must have a sense of humor - that's all I can say about it.Now he's your problem too.
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(Disturbing) Thought For the Day
by Terry in(disturbing) thought for the day.
what's happens when you get really sick?.
a. you get worse and worse, then - better and better till well.. .
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Terry
(Disturbing) THOUGHT FOR THE DAYWhat's happens when you get really sick?A. You get worse and worse, then - better and better till well.B. You get worse and worse, then - you die.That's a very Binary set of possibilities, right?Now, prepare to become fascinated!_____We don't know if we will be the person who gets better anyway or if we will die. This compels so many of us to seek treatment...just in case we are B instead of A.Now slow down with me here for a minute.Are you ready?If we are B instead of A, no matter what treatment we follow or refuse to follow...WE DIE.If we are A instead of B, no matter what treatment we follow or refuse to follow ---WE GET BETTER.Are you still with me?_______Alcoholics who quit Cold Turkey have a recovery rate of 13%success.But wait!Alcoholics who go through A.A. (Alcoholics Anonymous) have a recovery rate of 13% as well.We can't EVER know.We can only insert opinions into our conclusions based on how persuadable we are or how obstinate._______Science is measurable and testable, right?But MEDICINE is not the same as SCIENCE because it is statistical and follows models based on sampling of groups and the extrapolation to a much larger population is SELDOM ACCURATE.**(How can I state that? Insurance companies pressure hospitals, doctors, and clinicians toward or away from certain ways of framing an illness with $$ rewards and penalties.)Individuals are (duh) individual in how each personally reacts to treatments which
(see A. above) my be entirely redundant.If you are in the A category - IT DOESN'T MATTER what treatment(unless it is intrusive in a bad way)you receive.An A category person will attribute recovery to (X treatment) and the statistics will be corrupted in conclusion as to effectiveness.Conclusion?Each of us when afraid, is more vulnerable to persuasion.Quack medicine exists in that space.Quack science exits in that space.Quack politics exists in that space."Faith Healers" are sought (for the A person) when they go from bad to worse.
Insert the "healing" into the natural cycle of better and better and - Presto! - the Faith Healer gets the credit.WE CAN'T EVER KNOW what'might' have happenedhad we NOT done
(X treatment). Statistically it seems true (or not) but individually, there is no certainty.SPONTANEOUS REMISSION in cancer, for example is said to be recovery without treatment "for no apparent reason."That's an argument from ignorance, isn't it?See the problem?If you don't - then you've wasted your time reading this :)
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** Under the head of
"Absence of Evidence isn't the same thing as Evidence of Absence)Q: Are hospitals inflating the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths so they can be paid more?
A: Recent legislation pays hospitals higher Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients and treatment, but there is no evidence of fraudulent reporting.
Right now Medicare has determined that if you have a COVID-19 admission to the hospital, you’ll get paid $13,000. If that COVID-19 patient goes on a ventilator, you get $39,000, three times as much. Nobody can tell me after 35 years in the world of medicine that sometimes those kinds of things impact on what we do.
NOTE: "Medicare says it does not make standard, one-size-fits-all payments to hospitals for patients admitted with COVID-19 diagnoses and placed on ventilators. The $13,000 and $39,000 figures appear to be based on generic industry estimates for admitting and treating patients with similar conditions."
From their lips to God's ears.
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Re: Medicine and statistical analysis
Laboratory mice used for testing the effect of drugs on humans (it has been 'discovered' and affirmed) have been inbred into a population of abnormally long-lived (telomeres) mice inadvertently.
we have been over-approving drugs that cause chronic cell damage (because the mice are able to heal from it and so the effects are missed) while under-approving drugs that might have cancer-causing agents (because mice already have a high base-rate of cancer).
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0531556502000128 -
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Behold the face of JESUS!
by Terry ineight years ago, i lived in a kind of "retirement" hotel.the palm house.no - it wasn't an old folks home.
it was an ancient folks home.mostly senior ladies living off of faith and a dead husband's money.. my encounter with jesus came about in that environment.. once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts get-together to get to know your neighbors.. well .
.i got invited repeatedly, badgered, coaxed, pestered and i gave up.
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Terry
And then...there is the grilled Jeez(us) sandwich...
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/196432/20170207/harambe-shaped-cheeto-sold-100-000-ebay.htm