Slope Of Hope with Tim Knight

For the Newcomers: Figure 1(a)

I Made the ZH Home Page....Umm....Bitchez!

Happy Valentine's Day, Slopers!

Beautiful S&P Chart from Sloper this Morning

I Now Have One-Thousandth of Charlie Sheen's Followers!

Comment System Enhancement - Images!

The Slope of Hope has the best comments system on the Internet. That's a claim I make with not only a straight face, but a bit of shock, because I can't believe how lame the other comment systems are. I tried to distribute Slope's comments to other sites, but they weren't interested. Oh, well. It's all for us, I guess.

So our little corner of the Internet has an improvement to make it even better than it was - - the ability to post images along with your comments.

I've always cringed when people had to go through all kinds of gymnastics to share ideas, typically making use of a system like Screencast. They would have to upload their picture to an external site, and then they'd post the URL to that site..........and then another poor Sloper would click on the URL to fly off to that external site and see the image. 

Sheesh.

Anyway, those days are over. Upload an image - or multiple images - directly. The thumbnails are displayed instantly, and clicking on an image brings it up in its own tab, full size.

Using it is a cinch. Use comments as you normally do, but if you want to add an image, click the button.

Next, choose the image from your hard disk you'd like to upload.

It'll upload. At that point, you can Add Another Image, or just go ahead and Post Comment.

Voila!

There's another major feature coming - - - a gargantuan one - - but I'll tell you about it when it's ready. Until then..........enjoy your new and improved comments system!

Twitter and Gold

Howdy, folks. Just a couple of comments from me.

First off, I am tantalizing close to crossing the 6,000 mark for Twitter followers. If you use Twitter, be sure to click the Twitter icon on the upper-right corner of the blog so you can follow me. And if you're one of the twelve people on the planet not yet on Twitter, sign up!

 

As for GLD, I have been avoiding precious metals recently, but today the price got so tantalizing close to the apex I've highlighted that I've created a medium-sized short position. I'll supplement the position if it moves in my direction.

TNRevolution - Wow!

Over the weekend, I was thumbing through some old posts. I checked out "Shares" (see upper-right corner of blog) to see what the most popular items shared were over all time, and I happened to see this one posted by Slope's own tnRevolution on October 22nd of last year. 

The chart at the top shows what he projected (the arrow marks when the normal data ends, and the white lines are his projection). I've pasted beneath it what actually happened.

So - - errr - - tnRevolution - - were you visited by an angel of God in October? Fess up!

And here's the original post:

Man Up: The Meaning

I'll only do this once, I promise - - but for those Slopers who are deeply committed, understanding the lyrics to our new theme song seems like important information. So here's my guide for you:

The song begins with Elder Cunningham in a state of distress. His mission companion, Elder Price - the golden boy of the Mormons - has ditched him in Uganda, and Cunningham is left to fend for himself. This is bad, because not only is he really insecure, but he hasn't even bothered reading The Book of Mormon (he finds it too boring).

Elder Cunningham's world resolves around such things as Star Trek, Star Wars, and The Hobbit, so as he starts to try to teach the Ugandans, he relies on making things up (instead of citing actual scripture) based largely on his favorite stories.

So as the song begins, Elder Cunningham realizes that, all alone, it's up to him to have the strength to carry the mission forward, even though his idol Elder Price left him high and dry.

What did Jesus do when they sentenced him to die? Did he try to run away? Did he just break down and cry? No, Jesus dug down deep, knowing what he had to do. When faced with his own death, Jesus knew that he had to....Man up, he had to man up....So he crawled up on that cross, and he stuck it out. And he manned up, Christ, he manned up.....And taught us all what real manning up is about....

As you listen to the song, this is when the beat kicks in, representing his firming confidence. Elder Cunningham's ignorance of all things Biblical is even revealed when he states he is "crossing the bear" (as opposed to bearing the cross, the more common expression):

And now it's up to me, and it's time to man up. Jesus had his time to, now it's mine to man up. I'm taking the reins, I'm crossing the bear. And just like Jesus, I'm growing a pair. I've gotta stand up, can't just clam up, it's time to man up. 'Cause there's a time in your life when you know you've got to man up. Don't let it pass you by there's just one time to man up. Watch me man up like nobody else! I'm gonna man up all over myself! I've got to get ready, it's time to, time taaaaaa

And now he's rockin':

What did Jesus do when they put nails through his hands? Did he scream like a girl, or did he take it like a man? When someone had to die to save us from our sins, Jesus said, "I'll do it" and he took it on the chin. He manned up, and manned u-u-up. He took a bullet for me and you That's man up, real man up And now it's my time to do it too!

You can't tell from the song, but in the next verse, the conductor hands him a sword, and he slays a monster on the left side of the stage ("slay the monster"), then the conductor hands him a light sabre, and he strikes down Darth Vader who emerges from stage right ("you're not my Father!"):

Time to be a hero and slay the monster. Time to battle darkness, you're not my Father! I wanna time ta, just watch me go. Time ta stand up and steal the show Time ta, mine ta, time ta, time ta, time ta!

Now we get a brief reprise of the ballad sung earlier in the Act: "Sal Tlay Ka Siti" - this is a beautiful song sung by the female lead of the show. The Ugandans have been told of a paradise called "Salt Lake City" (which they Africanize as "Sal Tlay Ka Siti").

Sal Tlay Ka Siti......A place of hope and joy (Man up!) And if we want to go there, we just have to follow that white boy (Time ta!)

And to finish out the trio (this is, after all, the medley ending the first act) is Elder Price, who is begging God yet again to be sent to his dream town, Orlando, the home of Sea World, Disney, and golfing. The "text" the Ugandans are referring to are simply messages being banged out on an old typewriter, since that's their understanding of what "texting" must be:

Heavenly Father, why do you let bad things happen? (Ka-lay-ka Siti -  Did you get my text?) More to the point, why do you let bad things happen to me? (Ka-lay-ka Siti, we got your text) I'm sure you don't think I'm a flake (Man up!) Because you've clearly made a mistake (Turn it off!) I'm going where you need me most, Orlando (Orlando!)

And now it's all woven together:

We will listen to the fat white guy (My time to, time to Now it's my time to, time ta) But Hasa Diga Eebowai (No time to, not time to Now it's time to, time to) Huh! I'm in the lead for the very first time (Time ta) I'm going where the sun always shines (Shines ta) I've got to stand up, get my flippin' can up it's time to, time to man up

Absolutely magical! Play the song in the background and follow along with the lyrics.....

Sal Tlay Ka Siti (Hay ya ya) Sal Tlay Ka Siti (Hay ya ya) Sal Tlay Ka Siti Orlando, Orlando I'm coming Sal Tlay Ka Siti (Hay ya ya) Sal Tlay Ka SitiIt is time taaaaaa

Ending, of course, with......

I have maggots in my scrotum!

Bam! The lesson ends here.

Who Do I Think I Am?

This year will be the 8th year I’ve been writing this blog. I never imagined when I started writing what would become Slope of Hope in 2005 that I would have this many readers and that the blog would be such a big part of my life, but I have been feeling the urge to tell people just who you are dealing with, since this blog is still very much a personal expression.

You are going to find a lot of dichotomy and contradiction in this post, because that’s what I’m like. I spend half my days wishing someone would sneak up behind me and shoot me in the head, and the other half of my days feeling just OK. I'm never really happy - - - it’s been years since I’ve been anything close to that - - - but at part of my life I can spend not wishing to be wiped away.

The darkness of my mindset is pervasive; I have written countless private notes to myself to try to sort out my feelings; one snippet reads like this:

• No good deed goes unpunished. So hang on to everything you’ve got. Giving always backfires.

• Most of “success” is dumb luck – being in the right place at the right time. Lots of good, smart people don’t get shit, and lots of mindless, stupid people make fortunes.

• The way you live and what you get aren’t correlated. Evil, obnoxious people can get all they want, and decent, hard-working people can live with deprivation.

• The human desire to consume useless shit is almost insatiable, since most people are devoid of any real soul or understanding.

I sound like a barrel of laughs, don’t I? But I have to be honest with you. I can feel very bitter at times, and if nothing else, I owe my readers some honesty.