Bing This!

A short explanation prior to posting this particular article is in order.  I tried several times to post this with tabbed quotations and orange background where called for; but after 2 hours of watching those efforts come up with Frankenstein results, paragraphs moved from their original position and general mayhem, I've simmered down and will simply post it directly from my file without any of those accustomed enhancements.

Bing This!

A tune from My Fair Lady is playing in the back of my head; don’t know if I can recall the words exactly, nor does it matter that much; I’ll Google it while writing.  You might wonder why that tune popped into my head; I’m about to tell you.

“…I’m an ordinary man,

Who desires nothing more than an ordinary chance,

to live exactly as he likes, and do precisely what he wants...

An average man am I, of no eccentric whim,

Who likes to live his life, free of strife,

doing whatever he thinks is best, for him,

Well... just an ordinary man...”

The simple task of reading an article on the internet, an article which has those annoying Bing buttons triggered one of my hot buttons.  You’re probably familiar with the little orange buttons placed next to key words in a sentence, words you might have simply glanced at while reading.  When your cursor passes in close proximity to one, a secondary window opens up right in the middle of whatever you’re reading, a chance to further research that particular item.  They call it Bing; but that’s not the word which sprang to mind when interrupted in mid thought.

“…I’m a very gentle man,

even tempered and good natured

who you never hear complain,

Who has the milk of human kindness

by the quart in every vein,

A patient man am I, down to my fingertips,

the sort who never could, ever would,

let an insulting remark escape his lips

Very gentle man...”

I was reading an article, historical in nature, regarding Japan’s “secret pacts” with the U.S. during the cold war era over at FoxNews.  Imagine, one of our allies helping us keep an eye on one of the most explosive situations to ever threaten the entire planet; must be a sinister conservative plot.  The next thing you know one of those nasty little boxes popped up.

Yukio Hatoyama (born 11 February 1947) is a Japanese politician who has been Prime Minister of Japan since September 2009…

I have a new fancy mouse, the kind that lets you zoom in and enlarge text; a nice accessory; but it didn’t alert me to the fact that the cursor, hidden from sight due to the enlarged area being read, had gone past yet another Bing spot.

Nuclear umbrella refers to a guarantee by a nuclear weapons state to defend a non-nuclear allied state. It is usually used for the security allia...

“…You are a man of grace and polish,

who never spoke above a hush,

all at once you're using language that would make

a sailor blush…”

I managed to get through the article; veins swelling in my neck with each imposed distraction.  I bet there’s a way to disable the Bing feature; please somebody, tell me how to get rid of that nasty piece of technology.

“…I'm a quiet living man,

who prefers to spend the evening in the silence of his room,

who likes an atmosphere as restful as

an undiscovered tomb,

A pensive man am I, of philosophical joys,

who likes to meditate, contemplate,

far for humanities mad inhuman noise,

Quiet living man....”

This past week I got an email from someone concerned that I’d been rather harsh as I replied to a comment left to one of my posted blogs.  It was an opportunity for me to grow, to explain myself to a stranger, in pleasant terms while at the same time reminding him that I expect a certain level of respect to basic blogging etiquette.  Once that had been explained I tossed in how I’d learned social graces from Professor Higgins in the play My Fair Lady.

“Bing, Bing, Bing!

I’ve grown accustomed to …”

A little poetic license with one line spoken rather harshly later in the play and yet it covers my disapproval rating for Bing.  While I’m off on this tangent I wanted to give credit; the link where I found the lyrics to, I’m An Ordinary Man .