They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
And then there was the woman whose house was vandalized because she was a pedophile, er, actually, a pediatrician. Moral: life is better if all your neighbors are literate.
In defense of the anonymous note writer in the article, English is probably not his/her/its native language. Or maybe it was an attempt at humor.
I’m not a punctuation nazi, really I’m not, but just as there isn’t an apostrophe in HELLS ANGELS there IS one in Jack Daniel’s.
At least they showed a label large enough to confirm this.
So why isn’t it Jim Beam’s? Beats me, for sure. Marketing, likely.
Not surprised, I’m over visiting friends in Europe right now and everybody is on edge. Over the past few days I’ve been in Paris. I paid a visit to the eiffel tower and several other land marks and at each location there were security checks where bags are searched and metal detectors are used. I’m just not used to seeing armed troops in the streets.
I’m just not used to seeing armed troops in the streets.
If only there were some common theme to the troubles happening in Europe and most of the rest of the world. Something which the authorities could focus their attention on rather than having to hassle everyone. Some element which is highly correlated with terrorism…
Nope, can’t think of anything. Guess the’ll just have to take total control of everything in the name of safety!