tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post5714162922704206228..comments2023-09-15T08:07:28.542-06:00Comments on Western Hero: This is Not a Blog PostSilverfiddlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-35892631349370298802011-11-15T10:10:15.859-07:002011-11-15T10:10:15.859-07:00"Aaron Copland was a Communist."
Was he..."Aaron Copland was a Communist."<br /><br />Was he a genocidal kook, or did he really have no idea what he was supporting? It has to be either one.<br /><br />I'd give him the benefit of a doubt and call him a fool, rather than someone who favored a system in which artists had no freedom of expression and a large proportion of the population is typically slaughtered for various reasons of non-comformity.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-13257258905370593772011-11-14T22:32:23.498-07:002011-11-14T22:32:23.498-07:00No offense taken, Finntann. What-I-call serious mu...No offense taken, Finntann. What-I-call serious music never has been and never will be "popular." There is a small segment of the human race who are unusually sensitive and receptive to its many charms and virtues, but I doubt if it comprises as much as five-percent.<br /><br />Something in the neighborhood of 250,000 people support "The Arts" in greater Manhattan which has a population of more than fifteen-million.<br /><br />The likes of Madonna, P. Diddy Coombs, Eminem, Ludakris and Lady Gaga thrive, while the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic struggle to pay its bills.<br /><br />Bach's widow died in an almshouse.<br /><br />Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave.<br /><br />Aaron Copland was a Communist.<br /><br />So what?<br /><br />It has never been about either popularity or money -- and it <i>certainly</i> has nothing whatsoever to do with <i>Social Justice</i>.<br /><br />As I said, it's a kind of Divine Madness. I wish everyone were equipped to enjoy it to the extent that i have. <br /><br />Like financial independence, itself, a sincere love of serious music and all the fine arts is something I would wish for everybody.<br /><br />Cheerio!<br /><br />~ freeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-45739666138811500132011-11-14T19:54:03.006-07:002011-11-14T19:54:03.006-07:00Meant no offense, my point was disassociate musica...Meant no offense, my point was disassociate musical ability and knowledge of music theory from musical success. Perhaps I have done so poorly. <br /><br />Most popular music is not necessarily good music, from a music theory perspective. Most good music is frankly, not all that popular.<br /><br />It has been my experience that most people don't listen to music and most music doesn't stand up to the scrutiny of listening for very long. For most people it comes down to what flavor of musak you prefer. Music has become the audio equivalent of paint.Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-84680259878012341082011-11-12T11:11:09.980-07:002011-11-12T11:11:09.980-07:00Finntann,
That's the oddest post you've p...Finntann,<br /><br />That's the oddest post you've produced yet to my knowledge. I wonder what prompted you to write it?<br /><br />Popularity, commercial success and the kind of critical recognition that wins prizes, while "nice," if one receives them, are rarely the goal of serious people, -- artists, writers, scientists, inventors, et al. Some of the great composers achieved a good deal of wealth and acclaim, but most did not. Shakespeare made enough to sustain himself and provide for his distant family, but I doubt if anyone would ever describe him as "rich," in the usual sense.<br /><br />Many people think those singular individuals who are seriously interested in pursuits other than providing well for their families and accumulating wordly goods are "crazy." Perhaps they are but it's a Divine Madness if so, and the world would be much the poorer and drearier without the achievements of those who are driven only by a passion for great Beauty, supreme Excellence, and the hope of making Discoveries that bring light and joy into the world.<br /><br />Oscar Wilde is reported to have said, "Whatever is popular is wrong."<br /><br />Considering the degraded state of the popular culture -- the virtual worship of gaudy, tarted up waste matter -- I can't help but agree with Oscar.<br /><br />I did not achieve the lofty goals I set for myself in the field of serious music. I wound up making my money by restoring dilapidated houses for profit -- something for which I ironically have an apparent knack, but no formal training. <br /><br />Despite having had a difficult time making ends meet most of my adult life, I wouldn't exchange the wonderful education I had for being the overpaid CEO of a company tediously involved in the production of workaday widgets. The kind of understanding and appreciation my education gave to me is capable of sustaining lifting your spirits and making life fascinating even in a dungeon. <br /><br />As angry as I get at the Reign of Incredible Stupidity, Bad Taste and Profligate Waste to which we are routinely subjected, I could never sour on life. I'm never bored, never lonely, and blest to feel reasonably content. It's a great gift to be able to know when you're well off. <br /><br />I wish everyone could experience life as abundantly as I have. I envy no one and would wish everyone the same sense of well being<br /><br />It may be an unpopular view, but I define "success" as being pleased to perform the role you've chosen for yourself no matter what others may think.<br /><br />If that sounds smug, I apologize. It's meant to be honest not conceited.<br /><br /><b>"The greatest people are rarely famous; the famous rarely great."</b><br /><br />I would dare to say there is nothing more rewarding than sincere devotion to the pursuit of excellence in a field that truly interests you.<br /><br />Shaw said it best, I think:<br /><br /><i>"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose <b>recognized by yourself</b> as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you're thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."</i><br /><br />And he's been roundly condemned in today's quasi-Conservative circles for having been Socialist with a serous interest in Eugenics! <br /><br />Ah how true it is that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!" <br /><br />That's why I never venture opinions on such things as Mathematics, Nuclear Physics, Industrial Engineering, Organic Chemistry, or Surgical Procedures.<br /><br />Cheerio!<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-54079528578671413542011-11-11T16:09:23.196-07:002011-11-11T16:09:23.196-07:00>there is no guarantee that anyone will ever li...>there is no guarantee that anyone will ever like it.<br /><br />Most of the best music being created today is completely unknown to the typical music consumer. Everybody knows abominations like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and the typical fecal matter that ends up holding a Grammy, but how many people even know the names Uli Roth, Victor Smolski, or Michael Romeo?<br /><br />Unfortunately, most people seem to want music that takes no effort to appreciate: derivative, repetitive, and superficial. Not that everybody has to like the musical craziness of Spastik Ink, for example, but so many people appreciate music at the same level that a chimp appreciates it. What they come away with is about what a chimp comes away with: a rhythm for throwing poop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-78141746426599277032011-11-11T15:19:20.628-07:002011-11-11T15:19:20.628-07:00The problem with music:
You may compose the most ...The problem with music:<br /><br />You may compose the most perfect, precise, innovative symphony in the history of the world in accordance with everything you learned in college about music theory. Perfect in rhythm, harmony, melody, structure, form, and texture. Truly a brilliant work of musical genius.<br /><br />And there is no guarantee that anyone will ever like it.<br /><br />Cheers!Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-17288251155361721722011-11-11T13:33:49.354-07:002011-11-11T13:33:49.354-07:00I can't argue too much against your last post,...I can't argue too much against your last post, Jez. Of course a degree of education is necessary to make optimal use of whatever talents one may possess. I never suggested, I hope, that anything worthwhile could erupt spontaneously in a vacuum, although Creation, itself, apparently did just that. <br /><br />I think I told you recently that I am a graduate of one of our most prestigious conservatories and have earned two graduate degrees in the field as well. <br /><br />I'm one of those poor souls who had enough talent to enter the field and achieve a high degree of mastery over the keyboard and a useful understanding of Theory and Composition. The sad part is that it was not enough to make a proper career. <br /><br />In any other field it would have been, but in Music, unless one belongs by <i>nature</i> to the top one-tenth of one-percent, one is fated to be an also-ran. A high degree of learned competence is not enough.<br /><br />I disagree, however, on the matter of facility in composition. Bach, Haydn, Mozart and many lesser lights such as Vivaldi, Telemann, Quantz, the sons of J.S. Bach and Salieri produced reams and reams of highly competent music. Most casual listeners would be unaware, however, of the significant difference in quality that sets Bach, Haydn and Mozart -- and to a certain extent Vivaldi -- apart.<br /><br />Beethoven and Brahms on the other hand -- especially the latter -- took a long time, and made incessant revisions in order to produce relatively few symphonies. A lot of hemming and hawing and hunting and pecking of a sort went into it. Ultimately the finished products proved that doesn't matter.<br /><br />Haydn and Mozart each produced over a <i>hundred</i> symphonies. Beethoven nine, Brahms only four, but few would dispute their superior quality, despite having been brought into the world with much effort. I hasten to add that I don't mean to imply that the two B's are superior to Haydn and Mozart. The process each went through in order to to produce their works was quite different that's all. None of it matters at all if the "spark of genius" is not present.<br /><br />Listen to the likes of Stamitz, Spohr, Moscheles, Taussig, Henselt, Kalkbrenner or Chadwick if you don't believe me.<br /><br />How by the way would you account for the emergence of a figure like Charles Ives?<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-8150613975517701282011-11-11T10:44:39.586-07:002011-11-11T10:44:39.586-07:00'a "strawman," if I understand the t...'a "strawman," if I understand the term rightly.'<br /><br />You do, except that it really does look like you're saying that creativity happens in isolation and that past geniuses would have been as useful without outside direction, which I do genuinely disagree with.<br /><br />"My original point remains that the value of the Academy is limited."<br /><br />Certainly.<br /><br />I would however say that a classical music education bestows some useful transferable skills that can be applied to many types of music (and actually non-musical applications too), and that discipline and practice (both teachable to some degree) make a composer better able to make efficient use of inspiration when it briefly strikes. No-one is inspired all the time, the trick is to get as far as you can before that blessed state leaves you. If you can't get on with being creative without having to hunt and peck for the right notes on the keyboard, or flip through a thesaurus for the right word, that's a waste inspiration. That's why you should not only be aware of the rules but be practiced and nimble at following them. They're there to help you follow that illusive muse whenever she visits.<br /><br />I'm convinced that Mozart was a diligent student of the previous masters, and I'm sure he practiced at his violin and clavier and probably had a regime not a million miles away from what the academy tries to guide its students towards.jezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14865247084509280406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-60394863779001665942011-11-11T08:48:34.012-07:002011-11-11T08:48:34.012-07:00Jez,
You're not making a sensible argument ag...Jez,<br /><br />You're not making a sensible argument against my assertions. Instead, you're merely drawing inferences I never intended just so you have something to oppose. <br /><br />I think that's called using a "strawman," if I understand the term rightly.<br /><br />No one should argue against the obvious point that history is a cumulative series of events and developments -- the result of a never ending chain reaction.<br /><br />Palladian architecture is based on Graeco-Roman motifs. So what? It was Andrea Palladio who thought to recombine them in his own distinguished fashion.<br /><br />I have no idea who envisioned and brought to life the first Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns, or the first triangular pediment, however, do you?<br /><br />Does it matter?<br /><br />Not to me. I'm just glad someone did. That's all.<br /><br />Being <i>influenced</i> by experience is one thing. being specifically "taught" quite another.<br /><br />The principles of Geometry can be taught to any reasonably intelligent person. How those principles were first discovered and codified is another matter altogether.<br /><br />At root all things come from God. A few rare individuals have been equipped with an uncanny ability to take dictation from the Almighty. <br /><br />My original point remains that the value of the Academy is limited. It cannot "teach" anyone to be "creative," although one naturally hopes individuals exposed to learning will discover new ways of looking at old phenomena and draw fresh insight and inspiration from what they learn that might help advance Civilization.<br /><br />Data has no significance until someone with insight draws helpful inferences from patterns they discern that might lead to logical conclusions. Conclusions, however, should always be open to further examination. After all someone may see a different pattern in the data and draw another "conclusion" that nudges us a little farther along the road that leads to Ultimate Truth -- i.e. God.<br /><br />The Truth has always been available to free us from our insane misuse of the great opportunities Life affords. It is only the blindness imposed by our stubborn prejudices -- our persistent <i>provincialism</i> -- and our stupid passion for Conquest and Subjugation that holds us back. <br /><br />If we could allow ourselves to develop sufficient <i>curiosity, humility,</i> and above all an eagerness to <i>share</i> rather than <i>convert</i>, the world would be a much better place.<br /><br />Very few have ever realized it, but <i>that</i> was the message Jesus Christ came to impart. The temporal power structure men have created in His name -- we call it The Church -- has had very little to do with the Essence of His Holy Word for a very long time.<br /><br />After he rose to consciousness and virtually <i>absorbed</i> the rudiments of his craft Mozart was not "taught" by his father, by Johann Christian Bach, by Karl Stamitz, by Haydn, or anyone else. He simply took dictation from God -- as did all who have ever brought light and vitality into earthly existence.<br /><br />The truly great never make the mistake of casting themselves <i>in</i> the role of God. <i>That</i> dubious distinction belongs primarily to those unfortunate souls who would dare to take it upon themselves to dictate to <i>us</i> "for our own good."<br /><br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-72798638059158424532011-11-11T08:39:45.189-07:002011-11-11T08:39:45.189-07:00"At a certain point and for any degree, regar..."At a certain point and for any degree, regardless of the worth to the individual, the market will be come saturated and people with those degrees will be unable to find meaningful employment in their field."<br /><br />Nicely put Finntan. Therein lies the problem with all education. The mindset exists today that because you get a degree, you should automatically get a high-paying job in that field. <br /><br />I graduated from college in 76 with no debts. Between my savings and work and what my parents kicked in, we paid as we went. Now that my kids have gone through the system, we've had to take out in loans the amount my whole education cost me. I'm just thankful that the bulk of their education costs was covered by scholarships. <br /><br />I've often wondered what happened between 1976 and now that forces people get more loans (private or government) for college. The only consistent factor that I can discern is that tuition costs rose with each intervention of the federal government in the system.Alligatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03764752508206031685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-83600124456798749732011-11-11T03:23:29.610-07:002011-11-11T03:23:29.610-07:00FT: "Mozart was "taught" by his fat...FT: "Mozart was "taught" by his father Leopold, but not really."<br /><br />He was certainly influenced by other composers, many he would have met on tour as a child prodigy. J.C. Bach for one. The idea that a genius creates in splendid isolation is just too simplistic.<br /><br />Anyway, the point of education is not to create geniuses, that's too much of a long shotjezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14865247084509280406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-36989601731608559482011-11-10T23:50:52.961-07:002011-11-10T23:50:52.961-07:00I'd still like to know what prompted Ducky'...I'd still like to know what prompted Ducky's return to Junior High?<br /><br />His bizarre outburst, which several have discussed, was directed at me, but could not have related to anything I said here -- or at any other thread.<br /><br />Ducky, you've acted so strangely I can't take you seriously enough to want an apology, but I'd still like to know what the hell prompted you to tell me to perform an anatomically impossible action?<br /><br />Especially weird since I have extended you an olive branch on ore than one occasion recently. Perhaps that was a mistake?<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-45408655046958502392011-11-10T23:42:40.308-07:002011-11-10T23:42:40.308-07:00"The second type tends to be awkward, irritat...<i>"The second type tends to be awkward, irritating, socially inept, and kept around only for one small particular skill set at which they excel.<br /><br />Both types are extremely intelligent, some just lack common sense."</i><br /><br />Except for the business of reminding you he had a doctorate at every available opportunity, you've given a perfect description of my one-time next-door neighbor. <br /><br />He was a professor of Metallurgy at one of the Ivy League schools, and the father of four boys, incidentally. A recognized authority in his field he was otherwise completely inept -- literally didn't have enough sense to come in out of the rain, and fell all over himself before he could blurt out a garbled monosyllabic response if you big him "Good morning."<br /><br />I still have the feeling he'd have preferred to go to the Scaffold rather than brave the terrifying challenges of attending a dinner party.<br /><br />Perfectly decent chap. As far as I know, he never beat his wife, but he just didn't live in this world.<br /><br />A leftist, of course! The boys all went through a hippie phase. One of them never came out of it and wound up in cold water flat on New York's lower east side doing God-knows-what to sustain himself.<br /><br />The youngest boy could be seen walking on top of the dining room table from time to time -- during <i>dinner</i>.<br /><br />Last i heard he was living in Paris trying to recapture the heady atmosphere of Hemingway's youth when Gertrude Stein held her famous <i>salons.</i><br /><br />To each his own. As far as i know no one in that family ever lived at taxpayer's expense, so I suppose we must permit them their eccentricities. <br /><br />At least they kept the grass cut. I've always been one to be grateful for small mercies.<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-44613487767913712282011-11-10T21:49:05.736-07:002011-11-10T21:49:05.736-07:00SF- "Three Million Dollar Man"
Now that...SF- "Three Million Dollar Man"<br /><br />Now that's Priceless,lol!!!Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02173702830006208833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-75490536684880151062011-11-10T21:48:54.622-07:002011-11-10T21:48:54.622-07:00>You really told him, huh!
It reminds me of th...>You really told him, huh!<br /><br />It reminds me of that classic line from Ring Lardner's "The Young Immigrunts":<br /><br />"Shut up he explained."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-83800192393460744312011-11-10T21:03:22.790-07:002011-11-10T21:03:22.790-07:00Ducky says:
"Go fuck yourself."
*clapp...Ducky says:<br /><br />"Go fuck yourself."<br /><br />*clapping* Nicely said, sir, nicely said! You really told him, huh! I'll bet FT will be more careful in how he speaks to you online, oh yeah!<br /><br />LOL! Priceless. And indeed if you are "worth" 3 million dollars, the Occupoopers want to kill you. Oh, wait...no, you're a liberal woman, so you are safe. They might try to rape you, though, but no harm no foul. Even Socialists gotta get laid now and again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-8443382592352117902011-11-10T19:59:51.802-07:002011-11-10T19:59:51.802-07:00One more observation on "pseudo-intellectual ...One more observation on "pseudo-intellectual mental manipulators and professional troublemakers with advanced degrees".<br /><br />I have in the course of my day to day business the opportunity to meet and interact with many people with advanced degrees. <br /><br />One car in the parking lot bears a bumper sticker that always makes me smile, it reads "Why as a matter of fact, yes, I am a rocket scientist".<br /><br />One of my primary clients, that I have worked with since 2008 has a PhD along with several Masters in scientific fields. I knew him three years before I knew he had a Doctorate. He is one type.<br /><br />With the other type the second or third word out of their mouth after you meet them is "Doctor".<br /><br />In the first type their intellegence manifests itself beyond their chosen profession. They tend to be highly skilled socially, well-rounded, and highly successful.<br /><br />The second type tends to be awkward, irritating, socially inept, and kept around only for one small particular skill set at which they excel.<br /><br />Both types are extremely intelligent, some just lack common sense. Don't get me wrong, this is just an observation, I'm not trying to be judgemental. <br /><br />I was absolutely awed by one of the second type who I was in a design review conference with. Someone asked some obscure question in a presentation on adaptive optics that even the presenter was unprepared for. Suddenly this mousy guy in the back blurts out .3 radians per second, having done all the complex math in his head in about five seconds.<br /><br />Cheers!Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-63401994742180168492011-11-10T19:34:32.681-07:002011-11-10T19:34:32.681-07:00I tend to side with Jack's basic tenet that &q...I tend to side with Jack's basic tenet that " a college degree is only worth as much as the person who has it. "<br /><br />That said, I think we are arguing over intrinsic vs market value.<br /><br />All degrees have some intrinsic value (or worth if you prefer), yet not all have marketable value.<br /><br />A MSW is a fine degree, however the market value of an MSW is reduced by the large number of graduates from that program across many schools.<br /><br />I have a friend, intelligent, well educated, with an MSW, an MS in child and adolescent development, and an MSc from Oxford in Evidence Based Social Intervention (EBSI).<br /><br />My friend currently works in supply chain management. Why? Because he is not competative in his fields job market and private practice is out of the question due to the exhorbitant costs of malpractice insurance.<br /><br />I think everyone would agree that we need, say, anthropologists. The question then becomes not only how many anthropologists do we need, but how many new anthropologists?<br /><br />At a certain point and for any degree, regardless of the worth to the individual, the market will be come saturated and people with those degrees will be unable to find meaningful employment in their field.<br /><br />No one will argue that we don't need physicists, but if we produce 100,000 of them some of them will undoubtedly be slinging joe at Starbucks.<br /><br />My advice to my kids? You can major in whatever you want, but don't go into what all your friends and everyone else is majoring in. Find something that you like that no one else wants to do. Otherwise, when you graduate, you will be competing with all of those people for the same jobs.<br /><br />Cheers!Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-42859444132421667162011-11-10T18:58:14.932-07:002011-11-10T18:58:14.932-07:00Hey Freethinker, I have a fine arts degree and I&#...<i>Hey Freethinker, I have a fine arts degree and I'm worth more than three million dollars.<br /><br />I own art that is worth multiples of your car.<br /><br />Go fuck yourself.</i><br /><br />There's the true 1%!<br /><br />FreeThinke put me on to your game awhile back. You sidestep legitimate points and comments that you are incapable of answering and instead focus on the trivial. So why didn't you challenge my free market comments? Out of propaganda?<br /><br />C'mon Three Million Dollar Man, you've gotta be smarter than a workaday country hick who clings to his bible and his guns! (which are not lockered three states over, but locked and loaded right here so that my 3rd grader can grab it and shoot an intruder if need be)Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-84940418644010025242011-11-10T18:40:03.036-07:002011-11-10T18:40:03.036-07:00By the way, Michael savage accused the Republican ...By the way, Michael savage accused the Republican party of "taking a dive" because of their dismal, depressingly trivial performance in the debates. Savage predicted that Obama would be reelected. <br /><br />He said we're living under a sham two party system, that everything is rigged behind the scenes.<br /><br />How could he be wrong considering the way things keep going?<br /><br />Obama WILL be reelected. It has been fore-ordained. Mark my words.<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-80760221393218544542011-11-10T18:32:27.362-07:002011-11-10T18:32:27.362-07:00Well, Ducky, while I agree with you about the sign...Well, Ducky, while I agree with you about the significance of the cave paintings, I think you'd have to admit the artists performed their miracles without the benefit of a college education.<br /><br />Artistic expression came first, schooling came later.<br /><br />It's very mucht like the rules of part-writing. Bach didn't compose by following rules. The rules were <i>derived</i> later on from consistent patterns analysts spotted in his work. <br /><br />An oversimplification, of course, but true enough in principle. <br /><br />Mozart was "taught" by his father Leopold, but not really. The works of the father are dull and lifeless. Once little Wolfgang learned his ABC's he was off and running -- independent of any further tutelage.<br /><br />~ FreeThinke<br /><br />PS: Ducky! Tut tut! I never mentioned a car. Be careful whom you address when waxing pugnacious. And here I've been so pleasant to you lately. Shame in you! I'm glad you have a good deal of money. I have a fair amount, myself. I only wish everyone did. And I wish that your good fortune made you a happier person. ~ FTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-18572654209649529952011-11-10T18:31:11.569-07:002011-11-10T18:31:11.569-07:00>I'm worth more than three million dollars....>I'm worth more than three million dollars.<br /><br />Monopoly money doesn't count, sport.<br /><br />>I own art that is worth multiples of your car.<br /><br />And I painted the Mona Lisa. Mona and I dated, in fact.<br /><br />As for your final comment, you've revealed your true identity as a middle-schooler. Congratulations.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-8680591860711429252011-11-10T18:22:44.568-07:002011-11-10T18:22:44.568-07:00Hey Freethinker, I have a fine arts degree and I&#...Hey Freethinker, I have a fine arts degree and I'm worth more than three million dollars.<br /><br /> I own art that is worth multiples of your car.<br /><br /> Go fuck yourself.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-91613390439139312422011-11-10T18:20:09.397-07:002011-11-10T18:20:09.397-07:00Ya know, Ducky, you claim to be smart and literate...Ya know, Ducky, you claim to be smart and literate and all artsy fartsy, so your little acts of feigned ignorance are transparent. I didn't call them the 10 most worthless degrees, the article I linked to did.<br /><br />-------------<br />Wrong. Your link descriptor mentions the ten worthless degrees but it points to an article which makes no such reference.<br />It does refer to someone who takes a low paying social work job and may have her yearly payments capped.<br />o what, doesn't cost you squat.<br /><br />Also why wouldn't the points of the article refer to all degrees rather than just the "10 most worthless" that you mention in your link header.<br /><br />Start backpeddling again.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-1990629386333321982011-11-10T18:17:11.072-07:002011-11-10T18:17:11.072-07:00Sitting in a classroom doesn't make you an edu...<i>Sitting in a classroom doesn't make you an educed person any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car</i>.<br /><br />Hardly original, but apt all the same.<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com