MooPig Cage Match #42 :: Farmers vs Golfers

Till the Soil
Touted by Dave Darnell  |  Apr 15, 2013  |  Bryan TX

Farmers

--Vs--

Golfers

BACK STORY

Roam over large fields, beat at the ground with long sticks, plant a seed, farmer's tan on sleeves and brow: while the modern game of golf originated in 15th century Scotland, the game's ancient origins are unclear and much debated. Some historians cite chuiwan ("chui" means striking and "wan" means small ball) as the progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14th centuries.

A Ming Dynasty scroll dating back to 1368 entitled "The Autumn Banquet" shows a member of the Chinese Imperial court swinging what appears to be a golf club at a small ball with the aim of sinking it into a hole. The game is thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. (LINK) 

Chui wan (strike pellet), one of the colorful ball games in ancient China , is believed to be the origin of golf, a modern outdoor game. The club, ball, course and rules of cui wan were almost the same as those of the modern golf. In Europe, the game of golf was first seen in paintings of the 14th and 15th centuries, but that was several hundred years after the Chinese games of chui wan. (Kaleidoscope. no date. HERE)

Like most things that become fashionable, a monarch observes some peasants out in a field doing something and presto the politicians in court copy them. This "pellet" hitting with "sticks" game could have its origins in something peasants were doing while farming.

WHILST' IN AMERICA

Jim Healey, July 2003 | Golf Club Atlas: EXCERPT | " ... In late 1894, following the construction of America’s first and oldest eighteen-hole golf course, Chicago GC, Charles Blair Macdonald wrote to Robert to come to America for the position of golf professional at his new course.

" ... Macdonald and the Foulis’ had met when he was a student at St. Andrews University, where Macdonald lived with his grandfather, and had obviously thought highly of their skills. Robert, who was still under contract to Ranfurly, would not think of breaking his commitment to them, so in his place he recommended his older brother Jim.

" ... Jim had learned his golf from Old Tom as well, and had also worked for Forgan aand Company. An excellent player, he and Robert had had many great matches over the Old Course. Arriving in this country aboard the SS Umbria out of Liverpool on March 11, 1895, it wouldn’t take long for the 24-year old to quickly make his mark. Jim immediately traveled to Chicago where he became the first golf professional at Chicago GC, and the first golf professional in the western United States. (Feature Interview with Jim Healey. July 2003. HERE) ... ""

'via Blog this'




____________________Reference
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/jim-healey-july-2003/
http://www.historicalstockphotos.com/details/photo/2423_former_texas_tenant_farmers.html
http://machrihanishdunes.com/gallery/albums/Old-Tom-Morris-visits-Machrihanish-Dunes/
http://kaleidoscope.cultural-china.com/en/141Kaleidoscope598.html

MooPig Merger Watch Department :: "Jim Hightower"

There is no Safe Harbor for the Common Person
Scooped by Pat Darnell  |  Mar 7, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

Introduction
Financial types, and they definitely are a subset of humanity, do things through sleight of hand. The reason they sneak around is because they foretell futures of money as it flows through society. They have formulas that tell them when tomorrow will be a winner or a loser. And this propriety, they think, gives them the right to lurk about. Just like a diamond dealer won't tell you where the diamonds are stashed, right?

The rest of us, in context of work-a-day, go about our business mostly ignoring the financial types. They seem to be doing nothing, and that seems foreign to one who works.

I did an experiment ten years ago. I got jobs working as an insurance agent, first with Farmers Insurance, then second with Western Southern Enterprises. I did okay in the application processes until they gave me a psychological evaluation type test. I was border line, as I was told later. But I worked in the financial industry for six years.

You see, there is no right or wrong answer to psychological test of that kind. My answers were "compared" to answers from other applicants, and/or, successful financial types. The comparisons told the company if I fell in the zone of successful financial types, or not.

Having been in Construction Management, and having grown up through the trades, my answers were "not" in the zone, but rather on the edge of that bell curve.

You, see, financial groups, like insurance companies are pyramids, only they are built out of playing cards. It may surprise you to learn that a regional manager at Farmers Insurance makes about $3 million a year; yes, that's right, and it is hardly ever publicized. The guy at the top of the heap gets the biggest check. His money is made off the backs of others.

When a bunch of financial guys get together they try to act like normal people, but their inherent hatred of anything "not financial" makes them play their hand.

I find these financial types intriguing; like being at a Cabaret, I sometimes imagine. A group of men usually who wear facades, and talk percentages, but just below the facade is a regular smelly, old wool, metallic scented pile of protoplasm that will shrivel up if it has to find common ground with a common person. Or, if you stare at their hairpiece too long they will try everything to turn your gaze from it.

"Oh, I jog three miles every morning," he'll say. This is supposed to fit into his gimmick world. Misdirection is the whole story, the only story, and the way of financial types out there.

So, when Jim Hightower reports on the sweeps of the financial district, that means we are right now in a national state of intentional "mis-direction," and maybe it is time to WAKE THE HELL UP!

Jim Hightower | Wall Street gets giddy over the urge to merge: "One Wall Street economist says, giddily, that today's urge to merge is "a sign that corporate America believes that the [economic] expansion is going to accelerate." Yeah, and run right over us.

"Confidence on Upswing, Mergers Make Comeback," The New York Times, February 15, 2013. 

"A Job-Hacking Fed Policy," Austin American Statesman, February 24, 2013.

"Buyouts a boon to investors," Austin American Statesman, February 18, 2013.

"From ketchup to computers, companies are buying each other again. Is a flurry of LBOs next?" www.washingtonpost.com, February 15, 2013."

'via Blog this'

[Read Entire Article HERE]



__________________________Reference
http://jimhightower.com/node/7975#.UTjFahyzeSo
http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2013/01/16/dell-the-return-of-the-prodigal-lbo-2/

Moopig's Home Schooling Department :: "Scandinavian Designs"

[Picture LINK]


Retrieved by Pat Darnell | Feb 14, 2012 | Bryan TX

[Photos Kim Wendt and Rosan Bosch]

MooPig thinks the best school atmosphere for children would be a working farm. Put the children on farms and they learn liberal arts the old fashioned, American, way... farming. Hey, it's not just the American way either.... world wide in the Global South we all need skills for farming.

[Picture LINK]


That's one idea, but there is no reason why the farmhouse can't look like this Swedish rendition of middle school:

Is Sweden's Classroom-Free School the Future of Learning? - Education - GOOD:

EXCERPT  |  "... Jannie Jeppesen, the principal of Vittra Telefonplan writes on the school's website that the design is intended to stimulate "children's curiosity and creativity" and offer them opportunities for both collaborative and independent time. Vittra doesn't award traditional grades, either—students are taught in groups according to level—so maximizing diverse teaching and learning situations is a priority. ( January 20, 2012.) ... "

'via Blog this'

______________________Reference
http://www.good.is/post/is-sweden-s-classroom-free-school-the-future-of-learning/
http://farmschool.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/thank-yous/img_6897/
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-photo/kineticsoup/1/1295776928/fairbridge-farm-school-map_-1951.jpg/tpod.html
http://thechildrenswar.blogspot.com/2011/04/strangers-of-farm-school-by-josephine.html

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5th Day of Wisdom :: Clever is Wisdom

On the FifthDay of Wisdom:: my true love gave to me -- "Five, or, Four, out of Nine clever Elves a Leaping ..."
by Pasquale S Mash jo'Face and Lurie D d'Flower  |  CST 12.14.2009

How clever is THE Dandelion?! Is thistle a clever flower? And what if you have FIVE Dandelions... how Clever is that??? That is so clever it is FLAIR!!

Is not the Dandelion pedantic, mercurial, alive and asleep, craven solar-schismatic, licentious? Well -- that is clever-ness.

Purtee dang' clever. And that is the point. Clever-ness is the surface tension on a sea of Wisdom. Every time your group argues about where you are going to eat, that's surface tension begging clever solutions. It is, by the way, what floats your boat; surface tension.

Clever is a transition we all experience, if we live long enough. Wisdom is our well-spring for clever-ness. You might want to listen to some of the senior citizens who you have been given company with... over the years. Better yet watch them dance.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

expires 01.15.2009

GEt it ??  HaHa ...? So far, this song goes:
" ... On the Fifth Day of Wisdom, my true love gave to me: 'Five, or, Four out of Nine clever Elves a Leaping ...

-- Four girls from Hyndsver --

 --Three non-French-made farm implements ...

--two Rocket--Men,

...and a labile Dandelion...

Do we have lift off? I certainly hope so. 

Urbanity

It's Bluebonnet Season in Texas
Retrieved by PD

The Old Cowboy's Lament

The range's filled up with farmers and there's fences ev'rywhere
A painted house 'most ev'ry quarter mile
They're raisin' blooded cattle and plantin' sorted seed
And puttin' on a painful lot o' style

There hain't no grass to speak of and the water holes are gone
The wire of the farmer holds 'em tight
There's little use to law 'em and little use to kick
And mighty sight less use there is to fight

There's them coughin' separaters and their dirty, dusty crews
And wagons runnin' over with the grain
With smoke a-driftin' upward and writin' on the air
A story that to me is mighty plain

The wolves have left the country and the long-horns are no more
And all the game worth shootin' at is gone
And it's time for me to foller, 'cause I'm only in the way
And I've got to be a-movin' -- movin' on

by Robert V. Carr, from Cowboy Lyrics, 1908 [SOURCE]