Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

JB>  there's an odd movement against Darwin's theories to this
JB>  day, which is likely stronger than Freud's opposition,


          Both sex & religion can be highly controversial topics...
[wry grin]. Freud brought up questions about the former & Darwin
brought up questions about the latter.  I am eagerly anticipating a movie
about Darwin in which his crisis of faith is portrayed by a husband &
wife team.  According to one review, their mutual trust was essential in
pulling this off.  I understand why he might have had difficulty
reconciling his own observation that various species took a long time to
develop with a literal interpretation of the Bible... but as an English
teacher I also understand that one must apply different reading techniques
when studying different materials!  I don't blame Darwin for not knowing
the latter, since it came as a revelation to the science teachers who
joined me in taking a developmental reading course offered at our school
years ago.  To this day many people apparently still regard Science &
Religion as opposing theories....  ;-)



JB>  but the way I heard it, both these guys were called quacks
JB>  more than brilliant through most of the remainder of their
JB>  lives.


          Sometimes it takes awhile for people to accept new ideas.  I've
heard that many composers of music which is revered nowadays starved in a
garret when they tried to make a living from their craft during their own
lifetime....  :-)



JB>  And if you have to explain a joke... The big picture here
JB>  is, you enjoyed food fights. The wonder begins with who's
JB>  been to a gallows?  Well... The ones meant for criminals.


          Four or five hundred years ago, it was popular entertainment. 
Now we can watch real (or imaginary) killings on TV if that's what we want
to do.  :-)



JB>  I imagine "front-line" workers and those in the medical
JB>  field might enjoy a sickening (to the rest of us) humour.


          I laughed at myself when I forgot to bring the fever thermometer
on a camping trip & soon realized we didn't need it.  Maybe that
wouldn't sound very amusing to folks who haven't been there.  But after
having to monitor a child's vital signs constantly for over two years, and
after being told this same child would no longer be with us if we hadn't
aborted another camping trip to get her to the nearest emergency ward ASAP,
then verifying upon arrival that the family next to us had (as I suspected
they would) brought a thermometer....

          Others kept asking when Nora would be officially cured.  There
are at least three different ways of calculating the date, however, so I
was unable to facilitate the closure they wanted.  Closure came for me when
I recognized what my subconscious mind was saying... things are back to
normal, whatever that is.

          I think it's healthy to be able to laugh at oneself.  But as you
said earlier, "If you have to explain a joke...."   One of the
most difficult things to deal with, for me at least, was having friends say
I was "too serious" while I had the audience virtually rolling in
the aisles at oncology parent meetings. Same wisecracks, same person making
them, different life experiences... (sigh).



JB>  Still, I watched a movie about Gacy.


          The serial killer?  JFTR, I had to google his name....  :-)



JB>  Funny, in "Somethin' aint right about him"


          And you wonder how he got that way... I can relate.



JB>  after I parlayed a few of the details of his life, she
JB>  reluctantly drank to his death.


          In general a toast is offered to a person's health... so you
departed from protocol.  I'm reminded of an article I saw a few years ago
about somebody like Gacy who asked for the death penalty because he felt
there was no cure for his condition.  You didn't run away screaming from
the unpleasantness, any more than Dallas & I did when our daughter
needed us.  But this stuff takes its toll on us emotionally.  I see a
similar mixture of anguish & release there....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+