What is the relationship between being the judge of a pie baking contest, and the age old tradition of hiring on a food taster for royals with low approval ratings?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a shame,” said the Queen to the jester, \u201cfor in addition to alerting me to potential poison, my taster would tell me which was good and which was bad. Indeed. Even which was the best. Two things in case of Tie!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the queen laughed. Because the jester did something which invoked the response. However, neither of them considered how social roles would change inevitably through Time: how that which once invoked amusement would eventually become old hat, then unintelligible. The role of the jester would change. The role of the royal taster. Even the role of the queen herself, for anyone could be a queen, if but for a day, though the Powers would not be what they were.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is the relationship between being the judge of a pie baking contest, and the age old tradition of hiring on a food taster for royals with low approval ratings? \u201cIt is a shame,” said the Queen to the jester, \u201cfor in addition to alerting me to potential poison, my taster would tell me which was good and which was bad. Indeed. Even which was the best. Two things in case of Tie!\u201d Then the queen laughed. Because the jester did something which invoked the response. However, neither of them considered how social roles would change inevitably through Time: how...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,147,177,175,176,152,64],"class_list":["post-1396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-classic","tag-humor","tag-jester","tag-pie","tag-queen","tag-satire","tag-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/img_7006.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3u13S-mw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2582,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/duck-down-quack-up-peeking-duck\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":0},"title":"Duck Down, Quack Up, peeking duck","author":"David Raffin","date":"March 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Duck Calls? We have answers. On the record. DUCK DUCK DOWN Two men walk into a bar. It is at this point in the joke\u00a0 a spectator stands UP from the crowd, having seen something and wishing to report, and says\u00a0: \u201cWhy are they men?\u201c And the Comedian says, \u201cI\u2019m\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1172,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/my-disagreement-with-the-queen\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":1},"title":"My disagreement with the queen","author":"David Raffin","date":"January 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Artist: I need a muse. Queen: We are not a muse. Artist: All is forlorn! Queen: Amuse us! Artist: But I am without a muse! Queen: Amuse us then with a tragedy. Artist: This is the story of an artist without a muse. Queen: I've already heard that one. Unreasonable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/primitiveentertainment.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/01\/youthful-spirits.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2092,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/2092-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":2},"title":"Head\u2019s Up","author":"David Raffin","date":"December 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The mattress queen Stood resiliently Her head held high It was the head Of a mannequin The very best one, Lifted to the sky. She'd popped it Right off As the sun Did rise Though this act she did Despise But how else This modern era We share Could she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3582,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/slice-of-life-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":3},"title":"Slice of life","author":"David Raffin","date":"August 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I asked the mathematician if there was a musical number. We went to four bars seeking a solution.I told the mathematician I had tried to enter a pie eating contest but I was told pie was only for winners.And so I asked the mathematician whether there was a musical number.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/img_5258-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/img_5258-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/img_5258-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/img_5258-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/img_5258-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4181,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/one-goose-mongoose\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":4},"title":"One goose Mongoose","author":"David Raffin","date":"October 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The duck billed the platypus three dollars and forty-seven cents. \"Cents? cents? Don't make no sense,\" said the irate duck billed platypus, waiving the bill in the air. \"You say it ain't fair?\" said the duck.\"I say it ain't square!\" said the platypus. It was quite a confrontation hanging in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1112,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/do-not-tell-em-show-em-or-tother-way-round-whatever\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":5},"title":"Do not tell ’em Show ’em. Or t’other way ’round. Whatever.","author":"David Raffin","date":"July 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Due to the heat I have written you a poem: All the fishes in the sea have sent a letter addressed to me. Mostly they were just interested in saying \"hi\" but also expressing a wish that we eat more pie. For the best pies are made from the fruit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The cock crows at the sun, via Momentcam","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_1488-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1398,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions\/1398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}