I Drink Therefore I Am

The meaning of life is an issue that many have pondered over the centuries ....

 

Meaning Of Life - The Eternal Question

 

.... few have found a solution that applies to us all, although many have claimed to. Before Monotheism, it was the philosophers of every culture who would consider this question - amongst the Greeks it was questions such as:

• "Why are we here?",
• "What is life all about?", and
• "What is the purpose of existence?"

All these have been asked asked by philosophers such as Plato, and Aristotle, through to Epicurus. In the more modern era, giants such as Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Arthur Schopenhauer, and John Stuart Mill have all asked the questions.

 

Blasted Beef

In the US there is still a vast rural community (in fact its only comparatively recently that majority of US citizens weren't from rural rather than urban communities), so its perhaps not a surprise that stories often come from the country rather than cities.

So when reports came out that a group of stray cows had frozen to death had been found in the Colorado mountains near 'Conundrum Hot Springs', there was nothing unusual in this. But when forestry officials said that they must be 'blown up' or set on fire to avoid water contamination, then it becomes news worthy. The plan is to remove the dead animals before they begin to thaw, and a US Forest Service spokesman said "Obviously, time is of the essence because we don't want them defrosting".

Blowing Up A Dead Cow

The options apparently include letting the cows decompose and closing off the area, or setting off explosives to break up the animals and thus speed up the decomposition process, or finally setting the corpses on fire. But its the idea of blowing them up that caught my imagination ... because it has been done before as this video shows.

Do they not realise what a TV (and very Monty Python'ish) moment they could have on their hands, if they choose that option?

Spam, Spam, Spam ... Eggs, And Spam

Spam, Spam, Spam ..... the bane of the email users life, is a common enough problem for most of us that we usually think of this context when the word comes up ...

Spam Cans

.... but of course originally it was the commercial name of a salted pork meat product.

What The Romans Did For Us

Famously, according to Monty Pythons the People's Front of Judea, or is that the Judean People's Front (which one are the splitters?), or was it the Popular Front of Judea, had a discussion now known as "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

The Romans Did Quite A Lot For Us Actually

Reg: "They've bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we had, not just from us, from our fathers and from our fathers' fathers."
Stan: "And from our fathers' fathers' fathers."
Reg: "Yes."
Stan: "And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers."
Reg: "All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return?"
Xerxes: "The aqueduct."
Reg: "Oh yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That's true."
Masked Activist: "And the sanitation!"
Stan: "Oh yes... sanitation, Reg, you remember what the city used to be like."
Reg: "All right, I'll grant you that the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done... "
Matthias: "And the roads... "
Reg: "(sharply) Well yes obviously the roads... the roads go without saying. But apart from the aqueduct, the sanitation and the roads... "
Another Masked Activist: "Irrigation... "
Other Masked Voices: "Medicine... Education... Health..."
Reg: "Yes... all right, fair enough... "
Activist Near Front: "And the wine... "
Omnes: "Oh yes! True! "
Francis: "Yeah. That's something we'd really miss if the Romans left, Reg."
Masked Activist at Back: "Public baths!"
Stan: "And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now. "
Francis: "Yes, they certainly know how to keep order... (general nodding)... let's face it, they're the only ones who could in a place like this.(more general murmurs of agreement)"
Reg: "All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us? "
Xerxes: "Brought peace! "
Reg: "(very angry, he's not having a good meeting at all) What!? Oh... (scornfully) Peace, yes... shut up! "

However according to this article, it was the language, and the tradition of discourse and civilised debate which is their true heritage to the world.

When you look at those areas that don't share that heritage, you can see that they may have a point.