Wednesday, March 23, 2011

"With a prompter in every cellar window whispering comebacks, shy people would have the last laugh."

wouldn't it be so cool if you had a comeback whisperer handy, and only you had it? :D but certainly not as cool as having no need for one, just like these ten people below who spoke ten of history's "greatest comebacks"!

******* 

top ten best comebacks  

by Johnny Dunn, from www.toptenz.net

Wit is a quality that is easily desired, but no so easily obtained. Those who do have it have gained heavy acclaim. Since the beginning of time, mankind has argued and debated against one another, and while some conflicts are won in wars, many of them are won in words. Here are ten of history’s greatest comebacks, retorts, repartee, insults, or whatever else you’d like to call them. From quotes of Winston Churchill to Oscar Wilde, these are surely people to tell tales about.

10. Bottoms Up

churchill_v_sign_hu_55521

Nancy Astor was an American socialite who married into the wealthy English family of Astor. She actually was the first woman to be elected to Parliament, which makes her humiliation all the sweeter. She was invited to 1912 a dinner party located in the Churchill estate , but, unfortunately for her, she became extremely annoyed at a drunk and politically incorrect Winston Churchill. Finally, she exclaimed the following: “Winston, if you were my husband, I’d put poison in your coffee.” Unaffected by her sudden outburst, Churchill moderately and quickly replied:

“Nancy, if you were my wife I’d drink it.”

9. Ready, Aim, Fire!

calvin-coolidge

The next situation involves the 30th US president, Calvin Coolidge. He was a relatively quiet man and was known for his brevity, though the few words he had made quite an impression. After an after-dinner recital, an acclaimed and heavily respected opera singer was invited to the White House. But apparently performing for the president was quite a frightening experience and her performance left much to be desired. During the performance, one of the White Houses’s guests leaned over and whispered to Coolidge: “What do you think of the singer’s execution?” Coolidge calmly replied:

“I’m all for it.”

8. Well, you asked.

ghandi

Mohandas Ghandi is associated with civil rights and nonviolence, but most definitely not wit. As the following story will show you, Ghandi didn’t have to fight with his fists, but simply had to use his words. After gaining fame for a campaign to promote colonial India’s independence, Ghandi traveled to London and met with British authorities. The British were wonderfully curious about this strange little man, and Ghandi was constantly bombarded with questions from the press and photographers. One day, a reporter cried out, “What do you think of Western civilization?” And in a monumental moment that would define Ghandi’s reputation, he replied:

“I think it would be a good idea.”

7. Keep Your Seats in an Upright Position

muhammad-ali

Muhammad Ali once took a flight on Eastern Airlines in the 1970s. A flight attendant was making her final checks on the passengers, but noticed Ali failed to fasten his seat belt. She kindly asked him to do so, but Ali replied quite arrogantly, “Superman don’t’ need no seat belt.” Not intimidated by the boxer’s reputation and fame, the flight attendant replied:

“Superman don’t need no airplane either.”

6. Smell You Later!

oscar-wilde

Oscar Wilde was widely known for his wit and intelligence in plays, but he was no stranger to it in real-life. After one performance of one of his plays, Wilde went on stage and welcomed a warm reception. Many people applauded and threw a copious amount of beautiful flora, but one unsatisfied person threw a rotten cabbage at the playwright. Wilde picked it up and replied with a straight face:

“Thank you my friend. Every time I smell it, I shall be reminded of you.”

fugitives

fugitives coming out of my mouth
i can disown them, can't i?
they prance around wearing the fool's rags,
when in my head
they wore the most beautiful frocks.


-something i wrote back in 2005, born out of a rather embarrassing class report, and as a grievance against those moments i put my foot in my mouth. :l

"goodbye, eureka"

they say this generation is the most entertained generation..but a less happy one. the old, much discussed question on whether or not modern information technology would make us better persons in the final analysis has never been easy to answer. personally i don't wanna live a life without the internet, but I also staunchly subscribe to the creed "knowledge for knowledge's sake." with the advent of websites such  as Wolfram Alpha (type in your math problem and you'll get an answer in one click) and the ever-increasing information glut consuming today's world, one can't help but foresee a world dominated by people who have all the answers, but understand none of them.

Here's an article by Jessica Zafra that perfectly articulated my above musings:

Goodbye, Eureka from EMOTIONAL WEATHER REPORT By Jessica Zafra Updated July 12, 2009 12:00 AM

Of course age is a factor. If I were in school right now, I would think that Wolfram Alpha is the greatest thing ever, the savior that would liberate me from the torments of math. Wolfram Alpha is a search engine that solves calculus, physics, geometry, chemistry problems. You type in the problem, press enter, and voila.
But I left school decades ago, when students did their math homework themselves, from scratch. Calculators were allowed only if the numbers were too big or too small, if there were numbers at all. To put it plainly, I feel cheated.

Understandably, teachers are up in arms. How are they to determine whether a student understands the lesson or simply consulted a search engine? I considered not mentioning Wolfram Alpha at all, but can we assume that students aren’t using it already? If there’s been a sudden, marked improvement in the quality of homework it is worth looking into.

What are teachers to do in the information age, when nearly all answers are available in seconds? They’ll just have to ask trickier questions and have students do the equations right in front of them.
My math grades were mediocre at best, so I asked Kermit to test the search engine with some calculus problems. He tossed it some differential equations, higher math and chemistry problems, and reported that it had performed beautifully.

“How will students learn if they can just go to Wolfram Alpha?” I asked. Kermit noted that

Friday, March 04, 2011

cheers for back-to-back new artist discoveries!




ida maria



today i’m so happy to have discovered IDA MARIA beyond “I like you so much when you’re naked.” although i gotta say the song still tops the list.:)