Teaching an elephant to paint

An elephant trainer at a circus decided to teach his elephant to paint. After a while, he's taught it how to hold a paint brush. Later, he manages to teach the elephant how to dip the paint brush in the paint. Some time later still, he's managed to teach the elephant to stroke the brush against the canvas. Many years go by, and he teaches the elephant to paint better and better. Then one day, a reporter hears the story and comes to see the elephant paint. The elephant trainer says, "watch this"; he gets the reporter to sit on a stool and pose, and tells the elephant to paint a portrait of the reporter. The elephant paints deftly, with apparent confidence. After 20 minutes the reporter is excited to see the resulting portrait. The elephant trainer proudly turns the canvas around so the reporter can see it. It's just a mess of random colors. The reporter says "errr, it's crap". The elephant trainer is unperturbed. He beams with enthusiasm and pride "Maybe. But isn't it amazing - I've taught an elephant to paint!".

Source: http://ivan.truemesh.com/archives/000562.html

Very nice post. This brings back memories for me. I was in the audience of this very performance. It was recorded at the Blue Muse in Roanoke, Virginia on June 7th of '91.

The show was broadcast live on our local radio station (WROV-FM) with proceeds to benefit the National Marrow Donor Program. One of the best shows I've ever seen. I've seen Wilcox perform six or seven times since, and he's always excellent.

joedirt: Since your comment appears aimed at me. First off it's "morons" not "morans".

It's not a revelation that people in the 15-24 age group are more likely to die of accidents, homicide or suicide when compared to older segments of the population, nor does it refute my position. Look at other age groups and the picture begins to change radically. You do not have to be elderly to die or be seriously ill from lower respiratory disease, cancer, etc.

Do I think that the CDC or NCHS are infallible in the ways they produce statistics, or that there isn't a multitude of ways to view that data? Of course not. But it's better than making things up out of thin air. These are credible efforts to assess causes of death in the U.S., inherently imperfect as they may be.

Heart Disease as a term, covers a variety of illnesses, and of course you are correct to suggest that not all of those are linked to smoking cigarettes. I didn't claim that. Neither does the CDC or NCHS. However, for one to discount the influence that cigarette smoking has on chronic lower respiratory diseases and the associated deaths, chronic illness and related medical costs is absurd. The evidence is overwhelming. I certainly did not blame cigarettes for all deaths as you suggested. Likewise, I agree that other lifestyle choices are an incredibly important part of the picture.

By the way: Debating someone's position is all well and fine. Calling someone a moron and a loser isn't so nice. I suspect that you're probably a perfectly nice guy most days. So am I. Best of luck to you.

(My apologies to all for being fairly off topic.)

The leading causes of death in the U.S. as cited by governmental agencies such as the The National Center for Health Statistics show heart disease, cancer, stroke (cerebrovascular diseases) and chronic lower respiratory diseases as the leading four causes of death. Accidents, including automobile accidents, come in fifth.

See - http://thecommunityguide.org/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

Chronic lower respiratory diseases in particular are highly correlated with cigarette smoking. Heart disease is radically impacted by smoking. Then of course there's lung cancer.

"In the United States, cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths annually, or about 438,000 deaths per year." - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

See - http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

According to The National Safety Council, the number of all motor vehicle accidents in the U.S. in 2003 was 44,757.

See - http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm

The health care costs associated with cigarette smoking are enormous.

Excellent. The first song is actually 'Long Dark Night' followed by an abbreviated version of 'I Can't Take It No More'.

Great stuff.

Ant:

The music during the death scene is from Hans Zimmer's soundtrack to The Thin Red Line. Specifically, it's the third track, Journey To The Line.

"It wasn't only Cheney."

No of course, you are correct.

My point is simply that it's peculiar, and to my mind in poor taste, for the Bush administration to use Nelson Mandela as a verbal prop in this way given their less than comfortable political relationship with him and his legacy.

It's bizarre that George Bush would attempt to invoke Nelson Mandela as a political symbol to support his positions in this manner. After all, Mandela has eloquently criticized the Bush administration in a number of speeches specifically regarding the decision to begin the War in Iraq and its subsequent handling. Mandela even called for massive world protests against Bush.

And remember, Dick Cheney voted against a congressional resolution calling for Mandela's release from prison in 1986.

I've added videosift.com to Adblock Pro's disable list, but I still occasionally receive the "Bag of mainly water..." message when browsing the site with Firefox. Reloading the page removes the warning, but I imagine that its occasional appearance may indicate that I'll get harvested at some point in the future? Though I'll admit I'm ignorant as to what that means.

Cool. I'm a big fan of Ryan Adams. This was from the Music in High Places (Live in Jamaica) video from 2003.

Quite a war story in that waiting room.

I question why anyone should turn this into a sheer numbers game (on any side of the debate). That strikes me as lacking in broader perspective. It's about national security, international diplomacy and the fate of nations. Many of us who feel that the reasons for entering the war were misrepresented also feel that national security is indeed a very grave concern and that poorly played hands of this magnitude will have serious consequences for many decades to come.

Not all of us think in terms of black and white. And not all of us are ignorant of our history or current events, unlike the characters in your anecdote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum

I would love to see dEUS live. I'm envious! As for myself, I'm a singer and occasional drummer.

In reply to your comment:
“Pocket revolution tour..it was last year..great!! (4 me much easier, I live in Germany) dunno what they are doing at present..I hope a new album. what do u play?

The group I was in used to cover 'Little Arithmetics'. At the time, I felt we were the only people in the U.S. who had ever heard of dEUS. I generally had to special order their albums as the music shops in my area didn't carry them.

Thanks to your post, I got the urge to break out my dEUS albums. I'm listening to their newest, 'Pocket Revolution' right now. Great stuff.

In reply to your comment:
“thanks leadingzero.
yes, I completely agree. Since i´ve seen the video I like the song better. and In a Bar, Under the Sea my favourite album!

Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society, has written a critical review of Andrew Keen's 'The Cult of the Amateur' on his blog here: http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003784.shtml