Things I found on a Sunday morning . . .

Pizem decked six times from the first crux, about 12 feet off the ground, when gear ripped out. “The landing is very soft in fine-grained sand,” he said, “and I made a point of making sure that the rocks had been moved after my first fall. I debated on adding a bolt to prevent the cam from blowing, but decided that I should just stop falling there.”

-climbing.com-
I like this quote; I think that it applies to a lot of different difficult scenarios.



"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

-Randall Jarrell-

This was a poem referred to in the comic strip Frazz today, the 23rd. If you do not read this strip, you should start. I am a big fan of the disillusioned soldier; mainly because I cannot believe that there exists any other kind.

*For more, see also:

1. All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque
2. "The Sniper"- Liam O'Flaherty
3. "Dulce Decorum Est"- Wilfred Owen
4. "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"- The Pogues