Do realize that I have gone a bit serious of late what with the Minor Signs of the Great Tribulation and all. Such serious matters, such serious times but a balance can, and must, be achieved. Everyone will be so happy to see that Andy Borowitz has come to our rescue again This satire is entitled DeSantis Warns That Math Makes Children Gay. .
‘TALLAHASSEE (The Borowitz Report)—Proposing a sweeping ban on math in Florida’s classrooms, Governor Ron DeSantis asserted that “the latest research” indicates that “math makes children gay.”
“For years, liberals in the education mafia have brainwashed Americans into thinking that our children should learn to add, subtract, multiply, and divide,” he told reporters. “We now know that numbers are a portal into a so-called alternative life style.”
“Children who learn how to count are more likely to pursue careers in fashion and Broadway musicals,” the Governor claimed. “Even worse, some of these musicals will be produced by Disney.
Are not you laughing? Children that learn to count are more likely to pursue careers in fashion, Broadway musicals and OMG musicals will be produced by Disney. The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
But it continues, and one can sense the utter confusion and dismay of the Florida governor.
Fortunately, thanks to to tireless efforts of our former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVoe those numbers are fairly low he said” After a reporter noted that DeSantis had just referred to numbers the Governor abruptly ended the press conference to “pray the math away.”
I am positive that DeSantis is praying to a Christian God. I can hear him entreating the Holy Father. “Our Father Who Art in Heaven please take the math away. Give us this day our daily bread and for give us our trespasses and we forgive those that trespass against us.”
Those of the Christian faith will realize that I was quoting (from memory) portions of the Lord’s Prayer. “The opening of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9) in Latin, 1500, Vienna. Matthew 6:9 is the ninth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse is the opening of the Lord’s Prayer, one of the best known parts of the entire New Testament.” Wikipedia adds greater detail: “The verse opens with an instruction to pray in the manner that follows. This opening makes clear that this is not a prayer to be given by Jesus himself, rather it is one to be spoken by his followers. This is important to Christian theology as the prayer mentions forgiveness for sins, and Jesus is held to be sinless. How specific Jesus’ instruction is is a matter of some debate. The prayer that follows has been repeated word for word billions of times, but some scholars believe that Jesus was here giving a general guideline for what prayers should contain rather than a specific prayer. That the New Testament gives other prayers, including a similar one in Luke, is one indication that different wordings are acceptable. The New Testament also reports Jesus disciples praying on several occasions, but never describes them using this prayer. “
Read more in Wikipedia should you choose. Just Google The Lord’s Prayer. You see the problem with the Bible is that it was written about one hundred years after the death of Christ, therefore relying upon oral accounts. Whereas, the Qur’an was written at the time Prophet Muhammed received revelations from Allah. Muhammed could not read and write, dictating to others, including his wife. The Qur’an is the Final Word – it can be translated but not messed with. Please do remember that Jesus is a Prophet in the Islamic Faith, his mother Mary is most revered. This from Wikipedia: “Maryam bint Imran (Arabic: مريم بنت عمران, lit. ’Mary, daughter of Imran’) is revered in Islam as the only woman named in the Quran, which refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest woman to have ever lived. In the Quran, her story is related in three Meccan surahs (19, 21, 23) and four Medinan surahs (3, 4, 5, 66), and the nineteenth Surah titled Maryam, is named after her. The Quran refers to Mary more often than the Bible”
I shall speak of MaryAnn in great detail in a later blog but OOPS, this blog began with the promise of being light hearted containing great levity. Levity is humor or frivolity, especially the treatment of a serious matter with humor or in a manner lacking due respect: It has the most cheerful synonyms: light headedness, carefreeness, light-mindedness, high spirits, vivacity, liveliness, conviviality, cheerfulness, cheeriness, humor, gaiety, fun, jocularity, hilarity, frivolity, frivolousness, amusement, mirth, laughter, merriment, glee, comedy, funniness, wit, wittiness, jollity, joviality, joking, drollery, good cheer, sportiveness, flippancy, blitheness, . s antonym is gravity. One can get cheerful just reading those words, particularly flippancy, blitheness, vivacity hilarity and mirth.
To say the very least I lead a strange life. Yesterday being a prime example. Awoke to morning breakfast before sunrise and prayers. Wrote in my Journal of Intentions during Ramadan. Then back to bed to write blog which consisted, in the main, of a warning, to mankind I guess, or anyone who reads the blog – of the signs of the coming of the Great Tribulation. But after that was written it was off to the swimming pool on the roof of this hotel with its wonderful view of Abu Dhabi. The lifeguard pointed out the Grand Mosque in the distance, with an ugly building or two or three in the foreground. It was there I met a wonderful woman and her eight year old son. They were in route to Malaysia from the UK, where she is planning to ‘regroup’ – to figure out where she shall live. She a fascinating woman, an accountant by profession, the mother of three sons – all with autism. But all three are most high functioning, some scholastically, some athletically. The eldest a student at the University of York. She is most knowledgable about autism. I was able to participate in the conversation because of my years of Special Education Law. A good lawyer has to have knowledge of the field in which they practice so formulate defenses, perform effective cross examination etc. etc. I knew a woman in California who has an autistic son – she hides it from all, in shame and denial. (Denial is not just a river in Egypt).
I had to look that one up – this is what the Quote Investigator said about it: “There is no substantive evidence that Mark Twain used this expression. Al Franken, in the persona of Stuart Smalley, did use this saying, but his satirical character was introduced to the television audience in 1991. Franken was employing a phrase that was already in circulation in the domain of self-help and addiction counseling. The underlying pun has a long history. The earliest evidence known to QI appeared in the “Reading Times” of Reading, Pennsylvania in April 1931. Eighth grade student Florence Kerns won a contest by submitting a wordplay joke which fit a question-answer template.”
My new found friend understands, and therefore, is able to help her sons lead productive and useful lives. The other woman, living in denial, cripples both herself and her son.
She and her son left for a bus tour that did not take place. We exchanged the following texts:
Me: I am starting to love emojis though I hated them before. That and stickers. All that and I can blog too. Rather amazing?!?!
She: You are amazing even without the emojis and stickers.
Me: I left my book at reception for you.
She: We’ve been and left with our luggage and your nicely bound hard back book. Thank you so much for that. Sorry I did not manage to see you more before going into the city as we were running late for the bus – or so we thought. After the rush.. and the bus was not even in service. Oh Well. Did you have a nice Iftar? About to board now.
Me: Every Iftar is nice. Too bad about the bus. Do let us stay in touch. Good luck to you.
It was a nice Iftar that made it to a story on Instagram. It pictures a half eaten Ramadan donut. I cannot read the writing on the donut. I am not a very good Story person on Instagram. Oh well. The donut is pictured. It was SO good. I was SO hungry. I do not understand these complicated Iftar meals, cooked by women slaving in the kitchen over food so the men folk will have something good to eat. Fast food, the only way to go. That and room service. Now I am going to lose weight – but is not that the whole idea behind Ramadan??
