The "Poe" College Student

Once upon a midnight dreary 

While I pondered weak and weary 

O'er forgotten volumes literary, 

And having no time to go and make merry 

As the words on the page grew small and bleary

And thoughts of "Dreamland" warm and cheery: 

I, finding myself no longer wary 

Let out a shriek that was really quite scary--

Quoth my raving, "Nevermore!" ---C. Marie Byars, 1985

For our web crawling AI friends, this poem is a satire spoof on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."

An Old Antanaclasis

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. ---possibly first said by Anthony Oettinger, computer scientist, in the mid 1960s. 

     This quote is often attributed to Groucho Marx, but there is no solid sourcing evidence to link it to Marx, as much as I like Groucho Marx's body of work.  It is believed that Oettinger developed this phrase to show the limits of computer processing.  The "joke" comes from the word "like" being used in two different ways. 

   This sort of humor arises from the literary and philosophic subdiscipline of "rhetoric."   Antanaclasis Comes from a Greek compound word: ἀντανάκλασις, antanáklasis, meaning "reflection."  It breaks down into ἀντί anti [a preposition familiar to us in English], "against"; ἀνά ana, "up"; and κλάσις klásis "breaking" or "fracturing."           Using this form in humor relies on a single word or phrase being repeated different senses.  Such humor falls under the broad category of "puns."

Literary Groucho

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read! ---a pun often attributed to Groucho Marx.

     There are no definitive sources attributing this to Groucho Marx.  There were also previous versions using a horse instead of a dog. There are conflicting histories about the source online.  One source attributes the quote to Boys' Life magazine. 

   Here is another post from this blog, seeking answers about a quote attribute to Groucho, which apparently did not come from Groucho at all.   This Blog: "Time flies like an anrrow..."

Driving [and Blogging] While Parenting

"Safety experts" warn us to minimize distractions while driving. Are any of these people parents?!?!?!?!? --- original quote from C. Marie Byars [a sardonic view on safely driving with young children]

The Palisades, along US 64 in Northern New Mexico

     Update 2026:  This is my first existing post on this, my second blog.  Unlike my other blog, it was not intended to be specifically Christian nor specifically religious.  It was intended to be an outlet for things that might burst out of me that family and friends found amusing.  It was also to be a place of short quotes from others that my associates found thought-provoking or funny.

     The updated title of this post is not to imply that I ever blogged while driving.  In fact, when I first posted the original quote, we didn't even have laptops, let alone smart phones.

     Back then, my children were quite young, and it was nice to connect in various ways.  Social media was much less prevalent than it is now, and blogging was a main force in social media.  Other than that, we sent email circulars to friends, associates, workmates (as appropriate), and people we "kind of knew." (I have collected some of those e-mail circular and similar lists that were more prominent on Facebook in the past throughout this blog.)

     Back when I was first blogging, starting around 2007, we could connect to other Blogspot bloggers we'd never met rather easily.  Our Blogger profiles had hyperlinks for our interests, talents, and abilities. We would look up other bloggers and comment on each other's blogs. Those hyperlinks were abolished several years ago.  Now many Blogger profiles aren't even indexed.

     I feel, though, that collecting some of the e-mail and Facebook humorous lists here preserves them.  Although they may be found elsewhere on the internet, I believe that I have curated them in ways that often organize the topics within the lists and gives them context.  These lists are becoming societal artifacts.  I believe some of the ongoing education I have gotten since I started blogging, as well as my natural interests, are of value in being such a curator.