What is "accomplished"?

In Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, Miss Bingley makes the observation that (for the early 19th century):

"No one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved."

"All this she must possess," added Darcy, "and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading."

Joe Huffman follows the same train of thought, starting by talking about calipers and then segues into Jeff Cooper:

Before the young man leaves home, there are certain things he should know and certain skills he should acquire, apart from any state-sponsored activity. Certainly the youngster should be taught to swim, strongly and safely, at distance. And young people of either sex should be taught to drive a motor vehicle, and if at all possible, how to fly a light airplane. I believe a youngster should be taught the rudiments of hand-to-hand combat, unarmed, together with basic survival skills. The list is long, but it is a parent's duty to make sure that the child does not go forth into the world helpless in the face of its perils. Shooting, of course, is our business, and shooting should not be left up to the state.

Austen may seem silly compared to Cooper, but if a parent’s duty is to make sure their children are prepared to face the perils of the world, then Austen’s definition certainly made it more likely for a woman to “marry well” which was sort of the same thing at the time.

Considering "and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading" is a given, what do you consider an essential skill to be considered one who greatly surpasses what is usually met with?

Jane Austen's Fight Club

H/T to The Clue Meter.

Bifocals

While waiting for my bifocals (thanks, Ben Franklin!) to get made, I got a trial pair of multifocal contacts. Not the monovision, with one eye used for distance, and one eye used for reading (what if my dominant eye was my distance eye? That would make using sights a bit of a challenge), but actual lenses for near and far vision. I don’t know what I was expecting exactly. I know I was expecting points between “near” and “far” to be weird, but let me just say, wow! What a pleasant surprise.

The eye doctor pretty much told me I got to pick where I wanted my near vision to focus, I chose reading distance instead of computer distance. I’d rather wear reading glasses while sitting from of the computer than have to fumble for them every time I want to read a label in the grocery store, or thread a needle. With the trial pair I have in right now, I actually read the local paper tonight in low light with no problem. I read the fine print on a coupon. The computer is a bit fuzzy, but not enough to be a problem for short periods of time.

This type of lens is supposed to be tricky to prescribe and may take six weeks to get used to, but I have to say I’m seeing better with these than the regular lenses I was wearing this morning. I haven’t had a chance to try them at night to see glare, shadows and hazy vision is a problem.

What I haven’t done is check the price on them. The sticker shock on the bifocal glasses was a bit of a surprise, so I’m sure these will be similar in gouge-factor, but I’m thinking they might just be worth it.

Can anyone read this?

Michael W. received this lovely piece of Japanese art from this gentleman.

Can anyone translate for him? It was picked up (out of a trench, is that right, Mike?) in Japan during WWII.

Robert W. Snyder, Jr., 1947 - 2010

Robert W. Snyder, Jr., thank you for your service to our county. His obituary is here, please go read the whole thing. The tributes left on the guest book are also worth a look.

Blog-roll update

Wow. I’m really behind on adding people, and honestly, I don’t know where some of you are coming from. Maybe I should rephrase that to wonder why the tens of you are stopping by, unless it’s just out of sheer curiosity to see what tangent I’m taking this week. Not that I’m complaining, and I’m not fishing for reassurances, but as an unpopular kid growing up, I find it amusing that people stop by on purpose, and it’s not to try to T.P. my dad’s trees.

First of all, I am very remiss in not adding bluesun at Dead Man Dance sooner. He’s been commenting since the beginning, and has stuck with me from bayoneting pot roasts to making 18th century gingerbread to listening to me (of all newbies!) offer thoughts on carrying a concealed pistol.

I’ve added Daddy Bear’s Den with whom I have that whole “middle-aged parent” thing going on, and The Clue Meter.

Ah, and the Blazing Orange. He was one of the first bloggers I met in Charlotte before the “Agh! Too many people for me to remember!” thing hit. I know he can pick me out of a police line-up because he and Caleb were standing back-to-back checking out who was taller, just as I stood up from behind the table and tried to scoot past them. It was kind of funny, at least from my perspective, but maybe you had to be there. (And no, I’m not really 7 feet tall. Stop spreading rumors, JayG!)

Anyhow, if for some odd reason you link to this foolishness, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours let me know and I’ll reciprocate. Unless you creep me out, or something.

Three and a half months late

BAG Day. Buy a gun day.

Shorter Half just returned from The Nation's Gun Show.

He showed amazing restraint when he bypassed a Garand and an M14. Instead, he picked up a Mossberg 500. We didn’t have a shotgun, and now we do.

One reason we didn’t have one before now was because I refused to have a Chinese made one in the house. I won’t pay money to the Chinese army.

The first thing I made SH do was run upstairs to show it to Sweet Daughter who was trying to fall asleep. “See? We've got a new gun to keep us safe from the Big Bad Wolf!” He knelt outside her room, aimed down the stairs towards the front hallway, and pumped the slide. SD daughter positively cackled.

I like the safety on the top of the wrist which makes it ambidextrous. I like the lack of sights to distract me. (How do I use those again? *grin*) I did ask SH if we could put a laser sight on it -- I told him I want to put a red spot where I want the red hole to go.

I've never fired a shotgun before, but it seems very intuitive to use. I can’t wait to take it out and make it go “blammo!” Bring on the zombies!