While I was at it I have refreshed the theme too. I liked the old theme at first but it was getting a little old on me. Let me know what you think of the new one.

I think I need a big hungry giant picture to go with it. Any artists out there?

I’m pleased that the blog is still going as I started last September, it’s been a bit patchy at times but I think I am finally getting into my stride and I certainly enjoy working on the site just as much as I did on day one!

Enough of my bumbling. Go and look at the pretty pictures!

I feel strongly that addresses like this one should be considered in their entirety and would encourage even those familiar to read not just the emotive opening statements but the proposals that follow them.

“I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

“In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.

“More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

“Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

“True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

“The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

“Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

“Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

“Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.

“Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.

“Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.

“Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.

“There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.

“Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.

“The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States—a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.

“In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others—the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

“If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.

“With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.

“Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.

“It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.

“I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

“But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

“For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.

“We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.

“We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.

“In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.”

Franklin Roosevelt.

Word of the Day: Garniture
- noun

1 – embellishment or ornamentation

Let’s see what we can do to get back on track. If you have suggestions about the sort of things you would like to see more of here then let me know. Big HUngry Giant remains a little too amorphous at the moment.

What a wonderful word. Interlocutress. The vocabulary, punctuation and style of Henry James writing is most rewarding. his characterisations so extreme and yet so palpable so as to elicit your approval of character’s actions as befitting their disposition. It also tends to push one towards longer sentences and more complete, if not more deep, circles of thought.

As a final thought it is a strange thing to be reading fiction which includes, as a matter of course, sections on further reading, appendices and a lengthy and scholarly introduction. Should you worry that the Bostonians is in any way oppressive then you need not continue in such a vein. It is a wonderful book. Well written and styled. I particularly enjoyed the review of ideas and behaviours so entirely alien from those popular today. I suppose Basil was always going to lose the war but the account of the battles and skirmishes between Olive Chancellor and himself filled many a minute of otherwise restless commuting. More please!

Installing WordPress for them, yes they’re noobs, helped me realise just how powerful and user friendly the software is. With minimal effort you can produce a clean and professional looking website to showcase your thoughts. Ultimately content is king, but well presented and easy to read content is always better than content which isn’t. With this in mind I thought I could post my first ever list as an essential part of a blog entry. 

1 – WordPress is free.

Yep, it’s first and foremost! Contrary to that most popular advice many things in life are free. At many retail outlets for instance you can buy one product and get another free. Why today at my local food store you can buy one bottle of Coke and get another free. Even Burger King have a buy one get one free offer. They don’t like it if you ask for 50% off one though. And they really don’t like it if you try to take the free burger or the free coke and leave them with the one you have to pay for. In these instances, buy one get one free is a clever man’s 50% off. The retailer gets the full price of one product where if they had offered you 50% off the price they would probably have taken half the money as most people would only buy one. I.E. the one they actually needed/wanted.

The other poor, miserable, and reprobate type of free is best evinced by considering free gifts. Almost invariably the result of hidden cost or items of minimal worth. Take a look at any of the free templates from Template Monster. You’ll see what I mean pretty quickly.

WordPress isn’t just free. It’s brilliant and free. That’s outright remarkable. The only question you should have now, as you wander away from this post, is whether a legitimate list can really only have one item in it?

Word of the day: Ocelot
-noun
1 – A spotted leopardlike cat ranging from Texas through South America

Just in case you haven’t visited with the Walkers yourself, Swallow and Amazons is the tale of four young children who camp on an island in a lake. I suppose I could call it the lake as it forms for the duration of the story the entire world. Everything and everyone outside of the children’s narrative is suspiciously referred to as ‘native’. Although mother is rather well regarded, despite being herself a native.

Upon finishing it I see that it is more of a good story than literature, so perhaps I will have to read another book to keep up with myself. Despite this I do not count the time wasted as I have thoroughly enjoyed the jaunt through my own sailing memories and look forward eagerly to next week’s literary treat.

Word of the day: Flocculent
-adjective
1 – like a clump or tuft of wool
2 – covered with a soft, wooly substance
3 – flocky
4 – consisting of flocs and floccules (chemistry)

Casey Johnson, herself thirty when she died, lay for what appears to be at least three days, unmissed. I’m not sure this says a great deal in favour of her fiance, a person I shall avoid naming or referring to ever again. Casey Johnson didn’t answer her phone and she stopped twittering. But no one called by. No one else was inside her home for one reason or another until an unfortunate maid dicovered her body in a bedroom. On a side note here, two members of my family have been or are police officers. Both of them have discovered bodies in varying degrees of death. Both report that it is a deeply unpleasant experience. Both insist that death, once properly encountered, is not forgotten. Because of them I appreciate my naieveté. In short, I feel for that maid. I presume of course that she is not in the habit, so to speak.

Many, some themselves socialites or famous, have expressed their electronic condolences to Miss Johnson and her family. I have something of an issue with electronic condolences. You see, electronic sentiments mean very little, save those which are hand delivered. Hand delivery is also meaningless (we call it the post, unless the hand is itself known. Empathy for loss doesn’t come cheap. You certainly can’t register for it. I’m not sure empathy works en masse either. Quite unlike advertising, which works best en masse. I’ll let you decide which this is. To be crystal clear about this, I don’t think these individuals are expressing faith in life after death when they tell a person they are missed, I think they are taking advanage of an aquaintance even when they are dead.

Told you it was morbid. Reading the article led me to the obvious question. My answer? If it happened right now, then I would guess a couple of hours. My wife likes to check on me when I stay up to use the computer, it’s a practice of hers I encourage. I suppose there are times when I might go unnoticed for a while. The more I think about it, I think that considering it carefully would encourage anyone to be a better person. I don’t mean idealogically, I mean selfishly. The ultimate selfishness in this sense would be to serve others wholeheartedly and without reservation, then you would be missed. Think about it.

How long would it be?

Word of the day: Denouement
-noun
1 – the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.
2 – the place in the plot at which this occurs.
3 – the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.

Sounds like something in binary huh?

I have had an interesting couple of days and was about to wander off on a reasonably lengthy rant about it all when I realised that I should probably just wish everyone a happy new year and have done with it.

Ok, resolutions.

1 – blog every day
2 – write 52,000 words of a book
3 – fit back into my old jeans
4 – read 52 works of literature
5 – learn a new word each day

There, I think those are all achievable and realistic. Anyone else have resolutions they want to share?

The first! Word of the Day: Bellicose
–adjective
inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious.