I’ve always noticed, when a chorus of internet trolls say something’s stupid or can’t work, they’re trying to hide the fact that it’s not stupid, and actually can.

The King in His Beauty

I saw the King in His beauty
I saw the distant land.
The Assyrian came to kill me
Deeper speech they had which I could not understand;
And speaking with them wrought sorrows
And they could not understand me;
The scribes had all been wrong
And they that wrote down their wisdom could not be seen.
The Towers were then counted,
The Treasurer saw our debt was high.
Yet, it all came to the head,
When the LORD burned their armies alive.

On Grading a Math Paper on Rounding to The Decimal Place, and Adding a Zero to the Decimal to Hold the Place to Account for Minute Differences of Number

After looking at it, the teacher's right. I didn't see the whole instructions. She's just teaching her pupil about where the tenths and hundredths and thousandths are.{}

Not wrong at all. After looking at the directions. She's just teaching about where the tenths, hundredths and thousandths are.

I mean, would anyone do that in real life? No... the kid's correct in all but one of his answers, too. So, probably for habit, it's best he didn't follow through with the activity. As sometimes these kinds of things can confuse students. It's mostly all mathematically correct, but with the narrow instructions the Teacher's grade is correct... but why would you do that? That's a question in itself. So... a little interpretive power, the student didn't follow directions. Though, he got almost all the answers right.

I mean, should you have such directions? Eh... you know... that's a trippy one. I just think the student grasps the concept of rounding, so it should possibly be an A [instead of a C].

You learn something new every day. But, do Middle Schoolers need that kind of information [placeholding the Zero to account for minute differences of number it would determine in calculations]? I'd say, it's just the teacher trying to teach them where the tenths, hundredths and thousandths are. What you're talking about is Junior in College Math. Or AP placement. This isn't something you'd learn in Middle or Elementary School. And isn't something you'd use in pure Mathematics. I watch people do Geometric Proofs--a good channel--and he doesn't even do that. Not that I see. That's kind of nitpicky in its own right, and probably something you'd only need to learn in engineering. Especially since most measurements are irrational, I can see how this'd be too much and a little too narrow.

I mean... I see it from both perspectives. It's hard to say what the right answer is, but if she's just teaching him about where the tenths, hundredths and thousandths are, I can see why she's doing it. But, you know... what you're talking about is good for me--as a 35 year old man interested in math--but for a Middle or Elementary Schooler, it might be a little too advanced for them to truly understand. But, she's right in the sense that she's teaching them where the decimal is. You have to learn your ABCs before you learn how to read Chaucer. It's simple as that. She's teaching ABCs. And I'd say after looking at it, she did nothing wrong. It's just teaching where the decimals are, which the child needs to know.

I mean... I just think it may be a little too harsh, though. As if she's expecting the student to know what you're saying--that's something you shouldn't learn until you're in college and taking Engineering. And even then, almost all measurements are irrational, so it shouldn't even be an issue, as you're just nitpicking at that point. It's not wrong for the reason you're saying, is what I'm saying. You're doing Advanced Engineering, when this child is just learning ABCs and spelling. That's way too advanced for a fifth grader, and possibly for even a Freshman in College.

The Christian Prison Population

A Christian wants a quiet domestic life
And to feed on the breasts of his wife's nourishment
And to love his children, and to work for life and limb.

The Atheist will not let him have it
By disseminating cruel philosophies into the void.

Thus, they both commit their crimes,
The Atheists worse and more abhorrent
In its cruelty and callousness,
But calculatingly made legal,
So the Christian ends up in prison
And the Atheist sneers and say
"We commit no crime."

The Mad World

Palestinians and Jews fight to destroy each other.
Russians and Ukrainians fight to destroy each other.
Judicial systems are invaded by punks with Palestinian flags.
I say, "Shoot them all," in a moment of pride, but then understand.
Yes, but it must not be named, what I understand.
I support the Jew, but not a Holocaust. And I always have.

Karmelo Anthony

He needs help. I was just praying for him to find Jesus, but you're right. He does need a life sentence. Maybe even the death penalty. I mean, Moses murdered an Egyptian, and David Bathsheba's Husband, and Paul murdered a lot of saints before he met Christ on the road to Damascus. There is redemption for a murderer. But, there needs to be consequences. What he did was beyond the scope of reasonable. I think he's a perfectly sane individual, too, and there needs to be some manner of consequence for this heinous crime. If in a State with no death penalty, then life without parole.

Moses' consequence was he had to wander with the Israelites, and never entered into Canaan.

David's consequence was constant war and strife at his borders.

Paul's consequence was imprisonment by the Roman emporium.

There's no need to feel a weight of guilt on you, for having sinned--as that Christ lifts off our shoulders--but there do need to be consequences for actions. Mercy shown where mercy needs to be shown, but he showed no such mercy to his victim, and doesn't seem to be that much bothered by it. Should he be bothered by it, and his conscience overwhelmed by the guilt, God will endear his heart toward salvation, and that is about all that can be done here.

The Meaning of My Work

My meaning is the pursuit of joy, 
As nobody's going to allow you to have it, 
If things continue down this path. 
They're ripping it all away through the culture. 
And my work is about fighting to keep it.

The Sin of the Time

Oh, how I fell to the Sin of the Time!
It was there, so present, and none would
Render a recompense for its evil!
Until my tender heart said, "No more!"
And I was laid to burden under a heavy yoke.
There, my soul was crushed by Presbyterian preachers
And there my soul was surrounded by bloody men.
And out I came, and suffered under the yoke of Babylon
And then Satan whispered Sin into my ear;
So I will say, "'twas me."
I blasphemed in my heart and soul
And I committed a miserable offense against myself;
But, I still honor you Jesus
Lest you shake me off like a wasp
And smash me against the bricks.
You, only You know how to destroy me so utterly.
Yet, Bunyan and many other martyrs had the same
Whispers of Satan in their ears,
As Christian was beaten at Doubting Castle.
Let prosper me, and my soul...
For I am helpless my LORD, against it.

The Old Don

Twenty-six at most, the Old Don sonorously
Expounds upon T. S. Eliot.
Parts of an older world, a better world,
Which I am a part of also.
And Eliot, the harbinger of the new one
Where our ways are already obsolete.

The Revolution Suite

Maria, stand firm
And raise your banners so high!
Liberty, stand in
New York Harbor, Green with age
And torched guide for Patriots.

George Floyd was killed for selling cigarettes
Outside of a store, and the nations raged;
Black fought White, White fought Black, understand 'twas
A distraction, to usher in the Sith's
Two sides, where both would war and Sauron's Arms
Would cause Orcs to fight their Oraikai.
Thus, Trade Federations and Republics
Would war for Roman Hight, and Salute wide.

Thus strum your drums and raise your flags
Old King Cole shall come at last
That Uncle Sam who made us so dumb
Will make hearts shine and fast
Will come the great strong lords to their wars
To quell rebellion upon their shores
For at last That Hideous Strength is seen
To play our prejudices against our needs.
And Arthur, come to Pevensey
And take your shores from Mordred's glee;
Old King Cole, Arthur, Uncle Sam
You are a Spirit and are not a Man
Of Freedoms won for the West
Be not stopped by Albion's Cliffs.

Then Alex Jones lost a Lawsuit
And worse was put our won freedoms.
During the riots, bad men loot
And Trump and Biden preyed on them.
For Trump no criticism could
Be made, for he had skin as soft
As felt, and would not do as should;
He turned men to believe so oft
The conspiracies tattled, t'would
The land be confused, and so wrong.
The constellations were new, yet
None would see, for they did forget
To look up in the bright heavens,
Annoyed by their televisions.

So rock the way and know no more anew
The things of God would be there made to prove
That no revival struck the land, but that
Misery, great revival, it was built
Only on our America's great greed.
For conservatives made the Left destroy
Electric cars, and advertising for
Elon was, the Left's dumb outlandish stars.
For right was wrong, and wrong was right all 'twere
Reversed, the Daffy Ducks and Loony Tunes
All had figured out the curse.
Thus old Nursery Rhymes and King Cole's pleasant
Safety we did now protest,
For we wanted what America were,
And what was always the best.

A Roman Salute I make to one;
Christ, God’s only Begotten Son.

*Notes on Making this Suite

I had a moment of lucid imagination, of all good philosophies converging to the truth, and raising their banners in the air, ready to meet an invading army. Taking all the United States' and English Symbolism, and combining them into a potent soup to win a Revolution. What was that Revolution? Against all the bad ideas of modernity, converging into a singular point, which is totalitarian control over our thoughts and resources. Then, as would happen, Quora suggested a prompt almost immediately after, which couldn't have been timed any better. It said, "Write a Suite Which Will Touch the Hearts of Many." I looked up "Suite" in Poetry, and found it to be using multiple forms. So, I did.

The First Stanza is a Tanka;
The Second Blank Verse Pentameter;
The Third a modified Sonnet Form in Tetrameter;
The Fourth a modified Ballad Form;
The Fifth a mock Iambic Pentameter and an Invented Form;
The Sixth an Aphorism.