The Fourth and Fifth amendments to the US Constitution deal with searches and property seizures. As I said before, the Fourth prohibits "unreasonable" searches and seizures, the problem being that "unreasonable" is a subjective word that can, and has been, interpreted a number of different ways by the courts over the years. The Fifth says, among other things, that no person shall be "deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law", and that's the loophole. It seems to say that they can't do it unless they pass a law that says they can do it. It goes on to say, "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation". The problem here is that "just" is also a subjective word, what one person calls "just" may differ from what another person call "just". This is only applies to the federal government, but the 14th Amendment also says, "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law", so there you have it.
Happy New Year.
Monday, December 31, 2018
forfeitures
I first heard about these property seizures maybe ten years ago. I remember being shocked wondering how is this legal. It began with drugs but now it includes anything. If your kid borrows your car and drives down to the corner to buy some weed and gets busted they can take your car, not as evidence, but take your car period. It is considered something that is used to commit a crime and therefore something to be confiscated and the cops can keep it or sell it in the greater cause of the war on drugs, or just crime, or just because they want a spiffy car to cruise around in, They don't have to actually charge you to keep your stuff. It's a local law and some police departments in small towns use it to fund their police departments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_forfeiture
One of the many reasons I didn't like Kavenaugh is that he is a fan of this law. I am no constitutional scholar but it seems to me that isn't there an amendment against the gummint seizing your property? I think it was originally fueled by the anti drug hysteria. Gambling is seen by many as good clean fun, and there is always the prostitute with the heart of gold, but there is no friendly neighborhood drug dealer. Originally the onus was on the drug fiend and all the terrible crimes he might commit, but when these guys were revealed to be plumb pitiful, the onus was on the drug dealers who somehow were seen as the cause rather than the effect of drug addiction. Remember The first one is free. I'll wager that almost never happened. The dealers are simply like the bookie and the hooker, just providing a service that some of the public wants.
I don't believe I've ever had a Home Run pizza. I bought my first microwave oven because I wanted to eat frozen pizza without the bother of an oven,but then I learned that you can't microwave a pizza. Actually they later came out with a microwavable pizza but you had to fool with some foil thing and it was a pain in the ass, and it wasn't very good either.
I think that square or rectangle slice is a Chicago thing, or so I have read somewhere. There is this whole thing that if you are a true Chicagoan you like your slices square, your hot dog without ketchup (this one I couldn't agree more on), you have to pronounce certain words in a certain way. It's kind of annoying.
Some cans of worms can indeed be opened by that ancestry thing. My saliva is just now being tested (will take six to eight weeks), but I went to the page and there was some stuff about my last name. Intrigued I entered my mother's maiden name, Janvosky, and up popped Jewish Bohemian name. Jewish? I have often wondered why we know nothing about the Janovsky side of the family, I've long suspected some kind of rift. Could it be that my grandfather was shunned by his family because he was fooling around with a shiksa? The only thing we know about his family is that they ran a clothing store on the west side which didn't seem like anything much before, but now sounds awfully Jewish.
It's been awhile since I read Brave New World. I remember at the time thinking that while 1984 is a right wing dystopia, Brave is more like a left wing dystopia.
Mazel tov.
One of the many reasons I didn't like Kavenaugh is that he is a fan of this law. I am no constitutional scholar but it seems to me that isn't there an amendment against the gummint seizing your property? I think it was originally fueled by the anti drug hysteria. Gambling is seen by many as good clean fun, and there is always the prostitute with the heart of gold, but there is no friendly neighborhood drug dealer. Originally the onus was on the drug fiend and all the terrible crimes he might commit, but when these guys were revealed to be plumb pitiful, the onus was on the drug dealers who somehow were seen as the cause rather than the effect of drug addiction. Remember The first one is free. I'll wager that almost never happened. The dealers are simply like the bookie and the hooker, just providing a service that some of the public wants.
I don't believe I've ever had a Home Run pizza. I bought my first microwave oven because I wanted to eat frozen pizza without the bother of an oven,but then I learned that you can't microwave a pizza. Actually they later came out with a microwavable pizza but you had to fool with some foil thing and it was a pain in the ass, and it wasn't very good either.
I think that square or rectangle slice is a Chicago thing, or so I have read somewhere. There is this whole thing that if you are a true Chicagoan you like your slices square, your hot dog without ketchup (this one I couldn't agree more on), you have to pronounce certain words in a certain way. It's kind of annoying.
Some cans of worms can indeed be opened by that ancestry thing. My saliva is just now being tested (will take six to eight weeks), but I went to the page and there was some stuff about my last name. Intrigued I entered my mother's maiden name, Janvosky, and up popped Jewish Bohemian name. Jewish? I have often wondered why we know nothing about the Janovsky side of the family, I've long suspected some kind of rift. Could it be that my grandfather was shunned by his family because he was fooling around with a shiksa? The only thing we know about his family is that they ran a clothing store on the west side which didn't seem like anything much before, but now sounds awfully Jewish.
It's been awhile since I read Brave New World. I remember at the time thinking that while 1984 is a right wing dystopia, Brave is more like a left wing dystopia.
Mazel tov.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Home Run Inn
I did not know that Home Run Inn had expanded like that. There is some information on the back of the pizza box that tells a little about their history along with a picture of the original tavern. I remember that we ate outside in a yard that was enclosed by a board fence like the one in the picture. I also remember that their pizza was similar to the ones we used to get at Vanucci's on Archer Avenue, a round pizza with a thin crust that was cut into square or rectangular pieces. All the round pizzas in our region come cut into pie shaped pieces, although some places serve a square deep dish pizza. Jack's Original is our favorite frozen pizza, it doesn't come pre-cut, and we have always cut it into pie shaped pieces. We haven't eaten our HRI pizza yet. It was an impulse buy, not on my shopping list, and it will have to wait until we get around to it.
I had not heard of the "within a hundred miles of the border" rule, but I do know that the constitutional protection from "unreasonable search and seizure" has been interpreted by the courts a number of different ways over the years. Last I heard, they can conduct a warrantless search if they have good reason to believe that it is necessary to prevent an imminent danger to the public. When the case gets to court, if the judge is not convinced that the search was legally necessary, he will rule that any evidence obtained by the search is inadmissible. Automobiles are a little different. They will usually ask for your permission to search your car. If you say no, they can impound the car and make you wait until they can obtain a warrant and search it before returning it to you.
Another special case is when illegal drugs are involved. There has been some controversy around this but, last I heard, they can seize something like a car, boat, or house if they determine that it is being used for illegal drug purposes. Even if the owner is never charged, he may have a hard time getting his property back. It's like, you might not be guilty but your car is, or something like that.
I had not heard of the "within a hundred miles of the border" rule, but I do know that the constitutional protection from "unreasonable search and seizure" has been interpreted by the courts a number of different ways over the years. Last I heard, they can conduct a warrantless search if they have good reason to believe that it is necessary to prevent an imminent danger to the public. When the case gets to court, if the judge is not convinced that the search was legally necessary, he will rule that any evidence obtained by the search is inadmissible. Automobiles are a little different. They will usually ask for your permission to search your car. If you say no, they can impound the car and make you wait until they can obtain a warrant and search it before returning it to you.
Another special case is when illegal drugs are involved. There has been some controversy around this but, last I heard, they can seize something like a car, boat, or house if they determine that it is being used for illegal drug purposes. Even if the owner is never charged, he may have a hard time getting his property back. It's like, you might not be guilty but your car is, or something like that.
Papers, please
Have you tried that pizza yet, Mr. Beagles? It's been well rated in the frozen pizza category although I prefer Jack's as a minimally acceptable cheap frozen pizza. Home Run Inn has always been a south side product. The original location on 31st St. is still in business and they have expanded with many stores in the Chicago area with frozen pizza sales throughout the midwest. When I want to splurge I'll get a Home Run Inn pie, or maybe a Palermo's. They make a good pizza, too, in my opinion, but there's no accounting for taste.
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Ancestral records can be reliable sources for genealogical studies but that assumes everybody was honest. A birth date written in the family bible may have been adjusted to obscure the fact that the mother may have been pregnant at the time of her wedding; perhaps unlikely but also possible. And then there's the issue of paternity, especially when the husband is away from home for extended periods of time. Some cans of worms are best left unopened, I think.
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I recently listened to the audiobook version of Huxley's Brave New World and it's a fine companion piece to 1984 but it is more of a satire. In a later work Huxley said something that gives Brave New World a lot of relevance to our modern lives: "...man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." The guy was way ahead of his time.
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Discussion of immigration and the border continues and I read something interesting but I don't know if it's true. If you're within 100 miles of the border agents can stop and search your shit without a warrant. Citizen or not, the law is on their side and I think of Beaglesonia, less than 100 miles from Canada. Any funny business up there, Mr. Beagles?
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Ancestral records can be reliable sources for genealogical studies but that assumes everybody was honest. A birth date written in the family bible may have been adjusted to obscure the fact that the mother may have been pregnant at the time of her wedding; perhaps unlikely but also possible. And then there's the issue of paternity, especially when the husband is away from home for extended periods of time. Some cans of worms are best left unopened, I think.
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I recently listened to the audiobook version of Huxley's Brave New World and it's a fine companion piece to 1984 but it is more of a satire. In a later work Huxley said something that gives Brave New World a lot of relevance to our modern lives: "...man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." The guy was way ahead of his time.
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Discussion of immigration and the border continues and I read something interesting but I don't know if it's true. If you're within 100 miles of the border agents can stop and search your shit without a warrant. Citizen or not, the law is on their side and I think of Beaglesonia, less than 100 miles from Canada. Any funny business up there, Mr. Beagles?
Friday, December 28, 2018
Genetics and Geneaology
Although the words look similar, they mean two different things. Genetics is about your DNA, which you inherit from your parents and determines your physical and physiological characteristics. Genealogy is about tracing your ancestors. There is a site for that, Ancestry.com. I have never been there, but I think you have to pay something to use it. I suppose a DNA test could tell you whether or not two people are related, but it won't tell you the names of your ancestors or where they lived. People mostly trace their ancestors by examining documentation like birth, marriage, death, and baptismal records. I think what Ancestry.com does is help you search those records without having to physically go to the place where they are kept. The latest National Geographic mentioned that people are working on a crime solving tool that uses DNA to generate a picture of the subject's face, but it's not perfected yet. I guess it's possible in theory, but it still won't tell you the guy's name and address.
Are either of youse guys familiar with Chicago's Home Run Inn? I was there once in the 70s or 80s. I don't remember the address, but I think it was on the North Side. The guy who brought me there said that it was famous for serving the best pizza in Chicago. Anyway, I spotted some frozen pizza in Walmart today that is from there. I bought one, but we haven't eaten it yet.
Are either of youse guys familiar with Chicago's Home Run Inn? I was there once in the 70s or 80s. I don't remember the address, but I think it was on the North Side. The guy who brought me there said that it was famous for serving the best pizza in Chicago. Anyway, I spotted some frozen pizza in Walmart today that is from there. I bought one, but we haven't eaten it yet.
what time is it?
In addition to signing all those hats, Trump also managed to piss off the Iraqis so that they are now calling for us to take our troops out. When I read that I remembered that they had asked us to get our troops out some years earlier. I think the issue was that we wanted any of our guys who broke their laws to be prosecuted by our courts and not theirs and they took issue with us on that. Then they let us put some more back in to fight ISIS (I notice lately that they are calling it IS. Was its refrain taken away because it lost all its territory?), but disliking the short shrift that the red-hatted one gave them they are now for us taking our troops out.
And maybe we are better off without troops there, but shouldn't this be a reasoned response debated by experts rather than because our prez pisses people off because he gets off on being rude to people?
I think there is a lot of hokum in those DNA tests, especially the part where they tell you you are 32 percent Nordic and 20 percent Irish and 10 percent eastern European and so on. I mean what does that even mean? I think they just take some average of genes for each country and then measure that up with your genes, but I don't see how that tells much. If a Frenchman emigrates to Ireland, does that make the Irish genome just a little more French?
I remember in grade school when we discovered we had our own nationalities other than Americans. I would come home for lunch and I would ask my mother what is Fred Strocchio and she, flipping the fried bologna in the pan, would reply over her shoulder, Italian. Dang how did she know that? This being Gage Park everybody was some kind of European, and nobody thought that like the Italians were not as good as the Germans. It was like a rainbow coalition, if you like your rainbows all white. The main thing I am interested in is finding people from the Bohemian side of the family, though if I think about it awhile, I am not sure what it will mean for me to find out that there are Janovskys or Blazeks living in Saginaw Michigan.
Technically I guess you could tell what a person looks like if you knew their DNA.
So where do computers and phones go to get their correct time? Where does internet time come from? Is there some cesium clock somewhere attached to a cable attached to a server? How do they account for the time taken between Q and A? How about relativity? A short search did not come up with any easy answers and now if the little clock in the lower right corner of my computer is accurate it is two after six and time to get on with my day.
And maybe we are better off without troops there, but shouldn't this be a reasoned response debated by experts rather than because our prez pisses people off because he gets off on being rude to people?
I think there is a lot of hokum in those DNA tests, especially the part where they tell you you are 32 percent Nordic and 20 percent Irish and 10 percent eastern European and so on. I mean what does that even mean? I think they just take some average of genes for each country and then measure that up with your genes, but I don't see how that tells much. If a Frenchman emigrates to Ireland, does that make the Irish genome just a little more French?
I remember in grade school when we discovered we had our own nationalities other than Americans. I would come home for lunch and I would ask my mother what is Fred Strocchio and she, flipping the fried bologna in the pan, would reply over her shoulder, Italian. Dang how did she know that? This being Gage Park everybody was some kind of European, and nobody thought that like the Italians were not as good as the Germans. It was like a rainbow coalition, if you like your rainbows all white. The main thing I am interested in is finding people from the Bohemian side of the family, though if I think about it awhile, I am not sure what it will mean for me to find out that there are Janovskys or Blazeks living in Saginaw Michigan.
Technically I guess you could tell what a person looks like if you knew their DNA.
So where do computers and phones go to get their correct time? Where does internet time come from? Is there some cesium clock somewhere attached to a cable attached to a server? How do they account for the time taken between Q and A? How about relativity? A short search did not come up with any easy answers and now if the little clock in the lower right corner of my computer is accurate it is two after six and time to get on with my day.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
A matter of minutes
I almost thought it was a Christmas Miracle when it was revealed that Trump flew to a base in Iraq and visited the troops. But like a visit from Santa it was very short lived; I read he was there for only three hours before he hightailed it out and flew to Germany. Maybe his bone spurs were acting up. Some of the pundits have claimed that the visit was a stunt and nothing more than an elaborate photo op but they are surely mistaken.
But now he is back in Washington, safely ensconced in the White House doing whatever it is that he does, including lying, blaming others for his policy failures, and watching Fox and Friends. For him, things are back to normal but maybe not so much for the rest of the government. We'll see what happens next week when the new kids show up in Congress.
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Those ancestry kits are interesting but I don't know how accurate or specific they are. Some kits don't go too deeply, stating something like "you are 80% Northern European," even if the saliva sample is from your pet dog or cat. The kits could be fun but I remain wary.
I think I read something recently about scientists working on a process to determine a person's appearance by examination of DNA. Give them a sample and they'll show you an image of what the guy looks like, but this could be a figment of my imagination. But if it is true it would turn a criminal investigation on it's head. It's almost impossible to not leave DNA behind wherever we go, shedding hairs and skin cells constantly. I'll have to put my plans as a criminal mastermind on hold.
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While I was fiddling with the laptop, getting it in an operational mode, I decided to compare the time of day between it and my cell phone. Since they both sync to some time servers they should both be the same but there was a two minute difference, a lifetime as far as computers are concerned. Pretty weird, I thought, since the laptop is set up to automatically sync with a time server on a constant basis. I thought phones did the same, but no. At the Christmas dinner table I asked about it and my niece almost laughed at me, happy to correct my ignorance. The time on my phone was two minutes off from every other phone at the table. I was then told that the only time a phone connects with the time server is when it is turned on and is not being constantly updated. Why didn't I know this? So I turned my phone off and then back on again; the two minute difference disappeared. Now my phone and laptop are in agreement about the time and I consider it a small victory in the struggle with technology.
But now he is back in Washington, safely ensconced in the White House doing whatever it is that he does, including lying, blaming others for his policy failures, and watching Fox and Friends. For him, things are back to normal but maybe not so much for the rest of the government. We'll see what happens next week when the new kids show up in Congress.
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Those ancestry kits are interesting but I don't know how accurate or specific they are. Some kits don't go too deeply, stating something like "you are 80% Northern European," even if the saliva sample is from your pet dog or cat. The kits could be fun but I remain wary.
I think I read something recently about scientists working on a process to determine a person's appearance by examination of DNA. Give them a sample and they'll show you an image of what the guy looks like, but this could be a figment of my imagination. But if it is true it would turn a criminal investigation on it's head. It's almost impossible to not leave DNA behind wherever we go, shedding hairs and skin cells constantly. I'll have to put my plans as a criminal mastermind on hold.
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While I was fiddling with the laptop, getting it in an operational mode, I decided to compare the time of day between it and my cell phone. Since they both sync to some time servers they should both be the same but there was a two minute difference, a lifetime as far as computers are concerned. Pretty weird, I thought, since the laptop is set up to automatically sync with a time server on a constant basis. I thought phones did the same, but no. At the Christmas dinner table I asked about it and my niece almost laughed at me, happy to correct my ignorance. The time on my phone was two minutes off from every other phone at the table. I was then told that the only time a phone connects with the time server is when it is turned on and is not being constantly updated. Why didn't I know this? So I turned my phone off and then back on again; the two minute difference disappeared. Now my phone and laptop are in agreement about the time and I consider it a small victory in the struggle with technology.
Mess O' Potamia
That was the header on the Daily Show whenever they were going to talk about Iraq.
Of course the Assyrians are still around. Google shows me four Assyrian churches in Chicago. Christian of course, for some reason they didn't roll over when the big Moslim wave went through. Remember how the first Iraq war started with shock and awe? There were American reporters in Baghdad then waiting for the first bombings to come. And who was up there on the rooftops along with the reporters? Plastic Santas. Omigod I thought, we are going to war with a country that also believes in Santa Claus
Remember Iraq? Remember the Shias and the Sunnis and their respective neighborhoods and the elections? I remember I knew the names of several of the presidents of Iraq, but I can't remember any of them now. Went to the wiki and discovered that the last few have been from the national Kurdistan Party. It turns out that the president is one of those ceremonial posts that is given to minor parties as a sop, and the real power resides with the prime minister. Actually few of the names of the prime ministers rang much of a bell with me. Well they all sound kind of alike, al this and el that,
I remembered the green zone though and that was where Trump spent his brief sojourn. I don't know whether you can apply the rubric of knowing what he is doing or not knowing to Trump. Clearly he knows nothing of the complexity of the situation, but on the other hand he knows what Trump wants at the moment and that is all that matters. I don't like much having our troops willy nilly in the mideast, but this appears to be a case where we were getting a lot of bang out of a few bucks, and there is the matter of stabbing your allies in the back, leaves a bad taste, and makes others less willing to be your allies in the future. Afghanistan I would make the best deal I could with the Taliban and get out, but it appears that Trump, the deal maker, wants to just get out and not bother to make any kind of deal.
Got myself one of those Ancestry kits, me and my sister made a deal where she gave me the kit and I got her something else because as brother and sister we have the same parents so there was no need for us getting two. I've filled the little tube with spit and sent it off and now it will be six to eight weeks, Oh, I think a lot of it is hokum, but I'm kind of curious about my mother's side of the family about which I know little,.
Of course the Assyrians are still around. Google shows me four Assyrian churches in Chicago. Christian of course, for some reason they didn't roll over when the big Moslim wave went through. Remember how the first Iraq war started with shock and awe? There were American reporters in Baghdad then waiting for the first bombings to come. And who was up there on the rooftops along with the reporters? Plastic Santas. Omigod I thought, we are going to war with a country that also believes in Santa Claus
Remember Iraq? Remember the Shias and the Sunnis and their respective neighborhoods and the elections? I remember I knew the names of several of the presidents of Iraq, but I can't remember any of them now. Went to the wiki and discovered that the last few have been from the national Kurdistan Party. It turns out that the president is one of those ceremonial posts that is given to minor parties as a sop, and the real power resides with the prime minister. Actually few of the names of the prime ministers rang much of a bell with me. Well they all sound kind of alike, al this and el that,
I remembered the green zone though and that was where Trump spent his brief sojourn. I don't know whether you can apply the rubric of knowing what he is doing or not knowing to Trump. Clearly he knows nothing of the complexity of the situation, but on the other hand he knows what Trump wants at the moment and that is all that matters. I don't like much having our troops willy nilly in the mideast, but this appears to be a case where we were getting a lot of bang out of a few bucks, and there is the matter of stabbing your allies in the back, leaves a bad taste, and makes others less willing to be your allies in the future. Afghanistan I would make the best deal I could with the Taliban and get out, but it appears that Trump, the deal maker, wants to just get out and not bother to make any kind of deal.
Got myself one of those Ancestry kits, me and my sister made a deal where she gave me the kit and I got her something else because as brother and sister we have the same parents so there was no need for us getting two. I've filled the little tube with spit and sent it off and now it will be six to eight weeks, Oh, I think a lot of it is hokum, but I'm kind of curious about my mother's side of the family about which I know little,.
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Off on a Tangent
I went to look up Uncle Ken's link about the Kurds and went off on a tangent, ending up in the ancient empire of Assyria. I remembered that they were the guys who conquered Israel and made off with the Ark of the Covenant back in the BC years. The Assyrians were ultimately conquered by the Babylonians, who were in turn conquered by the Persians, who liberated the Israelites that had previously been carried off into captivity by the Babylonians. Cyrus (the great) of Persia restored some of the temple artifacts that had been looted by the Assyrians, but the Ark of the Covenant was never recovered, until it was liberated from the NAZIs by Indiana Jones, who foolishly turned it over to the US government, which stashed it in a warehouse somewhere and subsequently lost track of it, but that's a whole nother story. Be that as it may, I was surprised to find out that the Assyrians are still around in their old neighborhood, although they don't rule it anymore, and have joined with the Kurds to fight against ISIS. Good for them!
It appears that the reason Trump is pulling our own troops out of Syria and Afghanistan is that he thinks the war is over, but he ought to know better. There are two main reasons why a president screws up like that, either he doesn't know what he's doing, or he knows exactly what he's doing, and I don't know which one is worse.
It appears that the reason Trump is pulling our own troops out of Syria and Afghanistan is that he thinks the war is over, but he ought to know better. There are two main reasons why a president screws up like that, either he doesn't know what he's doing, or he knows exactly what he's doing, and I don't know which one is worse.
sounds and smells
I had never heard of the Deagan Building. What a good story. How nice to think of the chimes ringing throughout the neighborhood and telling the time in addition. I reckon it knitted the neighborhood together like a village inside the city. I looked up that link and that is the exact melody that the chimes in Altgeld Hall, the castlelike Math building in Urbana used to play complete with the set of four strokes marking the quarter hour. I had a friend who through some colossal bad judgement ended up in the city hoosegow for a few weeks.and late in the quiet night lying in their beds they could hear the chimes reminding them that time was passing around them while they were stuck in their cells.
The nearest thing we had to that in our bungalow belt neighborhood was the Nabisco bakery two miles down south, and if the wind was just right the neighborhood was toasted with the smell of fresh baked cookies. Downtown is blessed with the Blommer chocolate factory on its northwest edge and maybe once a week the vats are percolating and the wind whispers from the northwest with the sweet smell of chocolate that puts a little spring in the step of the maddening crowd.
Lasagna sounds nice for Christmas. I guess maybe then you avoid the plethora of plates of potatoes and peas and stringbeans and rolls and some kind of meat and passing butter and salt and pepper and frankly it is just a lot of bother when all you want to do is eat and have some conversation with people you see only a few times a year. If you've got little kids then they are going to want to play with their toys all afternoon. (I remember the Christmas when the whole neighborhood got burp guns and spent the whole afternoon and early evening shooting each other.), but maybe if you are older and you are just your family who sees each other everyday the movies are a good idea.
When NPR started in on the Christmas Crapola I went to CNN and there was Trump, purportedly wishing the troops (who he has yet to visit, because of, you know, bone spurs) a merry Christmas, but really just running through insults of his enemies. When I got to my sister's and my Trumpist nephew was out of the room, the conversation went immediately to Trump, but as soon as we realized what we were doing we changed the subject. Not only is Trump ruining the country he is ruining the art of conversation.
Last I heard the Syrians were rejecting the Kurds. Did you know that Saladin who retook the holy land from the crusaders was a Kurd. Technically the guys in Syria are not just the Kurds, but the YPG, an interesting group that you may read about here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Protection_Units .
The nearest thing we had to that in our bungalow belt neighborhood was the Nabisco bakery two miles down south, and if the wind was just right the neighborhood was toasted with the smell of fresh baked cookies. Downtown is blessed with the Blommer chocolate factory on its northwest edge and maybe once a week the vats are percolating and the wind whispers from the northwest with the sweet smell of chocolate that puts a little spring in the step of the maddening crowd.
Lasagna sounds nice for Christmas. I guess maybe then you avoid the plethora of plates of potatoes and peas and stringbeans and rolls and some kind of meat and passing butter and salt and pepper and frankly it is just a lot of bother when all you want to do is eat and have some conversation with people you see only a few times a year. If you've got little kids then they are going to want to play with their toys all afternoon. (I remember the Christmas when the whole neighborhood got burp guns and spent the whole afternoon and early evening shooting each other.), but maybe if you are older and you are just your family who sees each other everyday the movies are a good idea.
When NPR started in on the Christmas Crapola I went to CNN and there was Trump, purportedly wishing the troops (who he has yet to visit, because of, you know, bone spurs) a merry Christmas, but really just running through insults of his enemies. When I got to my sister's and my Trumpist nephew was out of the room, the conversation went immediately to Trump, but as soon as we realized what we were doing we changed the subject. Not only is Trump ruining the country he is ruining the art of conversation.
Last I heard the Syrians were rejecting the Kurds. Did you know that Saladin who retook the holy land from the crusaders was a Kurd. Technically the guys in Syria are not just the Kurds, but the YPG, an interesting group that you may read about here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Protection_Units .
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Ding dong
Funny how an old memory recalled can open the floodgates of the mind.
As the holiday adverting began to ramp up the sound of chimes became unavoidable and I started flashing on the chimes heard in my childhood neighborhood. Not far from the front porch, about 400 yards as the crow flies, stood the Deagan Building. I didn't know it at the time but Deagan was a world-famous manufacturer of percussion musical instruments, particularly xylophones, marimbas, vibraphones, and chimes. During the day, up to around 9pm, the Westminster Melody would play, followed by separate gongs indicating the hour of the day. At the quarter-hour short sequences would play, differing on whether it was a quarter, half, or three-quarters past the hour. The chimes gave the neighborhood a small town feeling, with the folks sitting on their porches and kids playing in the streets always knowing roughly what time it was. Sometimes the chimes were annoying because everyone used to pause, stop what they were doing, and simply listen. Deagan quit making chimes at that location long ago and I read that the sound we heard as children was a recording and not the real thing. But now, when I hear chimes, I think of the Deagan Building; it's still there, now a place of historic significance.
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Another fine Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's place with lasagna becoming somewhat of a tradition. Her family has developed it's own holiday traditions, one of them being to see a movie on Christmas Day. This goes back to when my brother-in-law was a cop and didn't get home from work until late in the afternoon and I guess getting out of the house and watching a movie is as good a way to celebrate the holiday as any. I went with them once a few years ago and a lot of people had the same idea; the theater was packed but maybe it was only because it was the new Star Wars. I'd rather stay home and eat leftovers and cookies.
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A quiet time in the White House for a change but I can't believe that Trump was on the phone with a seven year-old, hinting that there might not be a Santa Claus. The guy's lack of social skills is astounding and I hope that children growing up today don't get the idea that a president like Trump is a normal thing.
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Unless the Kurds can cut a deal with Syria they are doomed. All I can think of is how well Turkey treated the Armenians. It did not go well.
As the holiday adverting began to ramp up the sound of chimes became unavoidable and I started flashing on the chimes heard in my childhood neighborhood. Not far from the front porch, about 400 yards as the crow flies, stood the Deagan Building. I didn't know it at the time but Deagan was a world-famous manufacturer of percussion musical instruments, particularly xylophones, marimbas, vibraphones, and chimes. During the day, up to around 9pm, the Westminster Melody would play, followed by separate gongs indicating the hour of the day. At the quarter-hour short sequences would play, differing on whether it was a quarter, half, or three-quarters past the hour. The chimes gave the neighborhood a small town feeling, with the folks sitting on their porches and kids playing in the streets always knowing roughly what time it was. Sometimes the chimes were annoying because everyone used to pause, stop what they were doing, and simply listen. Deagan quit making chimes at that location long ago and I read that the sound we heard as children was a recording and not the real thing. But now, when I hear chimes, I think of the Deagan Building; it's still there, now a place of historic significance.
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Another fine Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's place with lasagna becoming somewhat of a tradition. Her family has developed it's own holiday traditions, one of them being to see a movie on Christmas Day. This goes back to when my brother-in-law was a cop and didn't get home from work until late in the afternoon and I guess getting out of the house and watching a movie is as good a way to celebrate the holiday as any. I went with them once a few years ago and a lot of people had the same idea; the theater was packed but maybe it was only because it was the new Star Wars. I'd rather stay home and eat leftovers and cookies.
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A quiet time in the White House for a change but I can't believe that Trump was on the phone with a seven year-old, hinting that there might not be a Santa Claus. The guy's lack of social skills is astounding and I hope that children growing up today don't get the idea that a president like Trump is a normal thing.
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Unless the Kurds can cut a deal with Syria they are doomed. All I can think of is how well Turkey treated the Armenians. It did not go well.
merry christmas
I think it's just you Beagles, I think most other people are not bored by the shutdown. The reason previous shutdowns haven't done much harm is that none of them has lasted very long, This one looks like it will be going on until Coulter and Limbaugh's ratings drop. And even if they don't go on long they hurt the credit rating of the USA so we have to pay more for the money we borrow which is soaring under the current regime.
How about that Paul Ryan who rode into DC atop the snorting steed of fiscal responsibility and whose only accomplishment was a fat tax cut for the richies, which how hard was that with the reps holding all three branches of gummint? True there is not much he could have done against the Trump gale, but maybe he didn't have to break down like a shotgun, and break down his steed too before the mighty Trump. He could have gone down in history as a guy who didn't accomplish anything but who had some integrity, but instead he decided to go down as a guy who didn't accomplish anything and had no integrity.
The press has been after Trump to name one policy advisor who was for pulling out of Syria but no name has been forthcoming. Mattis has shown some integrity by resigning, but Bolton and the rest of the lickspittle crew are hanging onto their cushy jobs. I guess that famed Turkish charm is what turned Trump's head.
The Kurds are valiant fighters, but they are in it for the Kurds, and if they can get a better deal (a better deal than being mowed down by the Turks) from somebody else, they will take it.
Trump is running out of people to hire. It won't be long until the guy who sells newspapers in front of Fox Studios is the Secretary of Something.
Mexicans have been coming here for jobs for a long time before now and will continue thus for a long time in the future, and if you build the wall they will still come in. But I think it is pretty clear with the results of the 2018 elections that the wall will never be built.
Outside of all that it is a mild winter day and I will soon be going over the river and through the woods to my sister's house and Old Dog will be doing the same to his sister's, and I reckon Beagles will be going to his daughter's, or she to his house. I urge the Beagles family to take lots of photos and put them on facebook. I love seeing Beagles standing among his kin and looking a little befuddled.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
How about that Paul Ryan who rode into DC atop the snorting steed of fiscal responsibility and whose only accomplishment was a fat tax cut for the richies, which how hard was that with the reps holding all three branches of gummint? True there is not much he could have done against the Trump gale, but maybe he didn't have to break down like a shotgun, and break down his steed too before the mighty Trump. He could have gone down in history as a guy who didn't accomplish anything but who had some integrity, but instead he decided to go down as a guy who didn't accomplish anything and had no integrity.
The press has been after Trump to name one policy advisor who was for pulling out of Syria but no name has been forthcoming. Mattis has shown some integrity by resigning, but Bolton and the rest of the lickspittle crew are hanging onto their cushy jobs. I guess that famed Turkish charm is what turned Trump's head.
The Kurds are valiant fighters, but they are in it for the Kurds, and if they can get a better deal (a better deal than being mowed down by the Turks) from somebody else, they will take it.
Trump is running out of people to hire. It won't be long until the guy who sells newspapers in front of Fox Studios is the Secretary of Something.
Mexicans have been coming here for jobs for a long time before now and will continue thus for a long time in the future, and if you build the wall they will still come in. But I think it is pretty clear with the results of the 2018 elections that the wall will never be built.
Outside of all that it is a mild winter day and I will soon be going over the river and through the woods to my sister's house and Old Dog will be doing the same to his sister's, and I reckon Beagles will be going to his daughter's, or she to his house. I urge the Beagles family to take lots of photos and put them on facebook. I love seeing Beagles standing among his kin and looking a little befuddled.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Monday, December 24, 2018
Another Day, Another Shutdown
Is it me, or is anybody else getting bored by all these shutdowns? I heard that there was one earlier this year and nobody even noticed. I saw on the news yesterday that "essential services" were still being maintained. Does that mean that all the other services are not essential? If they're not essential, why do the even have them in the first place?
I heard on PBS news this evening that the Kurds are trying to make a deal with Assad, the Russians, and anybody else that they hope will fill the gap when US troops are pulled out. By the way, has Trump told anybody why he's pulling them out?
Speaking of Trump, is it true that he's trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the most staff turnover of any US president, or is he already there?
Meanwhile, the illegal immigrants are still pouring into the country by the hundreds, if not thousands, nobody really knows for sure. If the Wall ever does get built, it will be like closing the barn door after all the horses have gotten out.
Speaking of walls, Wall Street has been going down like a submarine lately.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
I heard on PBS news this evening that the Kurds are trying to make a deal with Assad, the Russians, and anybody else that they hope will fill the gap when US troops are pulled out. By the way, has Trump told anybody why he's pulling them out?
Speaking of Trump, is it true that he's trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the most staff turnover of any US president, or is he already there?
Meanwhile, the illegal immigrants are still pouring into the country by the hundreds, if not thousands, nobody really knows for sure. If the Wall ever does get built, it will be like closing the barn door after all the horses have gotten out.
Speaking of walls, Wall Street has been going down like a submarine lately.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
computer nostalgia
A beer drinking buddy, Griff, was in Berlin lately and went to Artemis, which google agrees is a very prominent brothel, and he had nothing but praise for those orderly krauts (and krauleins). so maybe it was true that they were unionized. Also maybe the way you had to do the approaching was some kind of rule to keep things orderly. That familiar form has always puzzled me, on the one hand you use it with those you love but also with those who you think are inferior to you. Suddenly I am thinking of the waitress that calls you Honey I like that. I was sitting at a hot dog counter some years ago and a woman asked me to move over so that she and her friend could sit together and the way she phrased it was "could you move over one, Punkin?" Punkin, my head was still spinning when I was wiping the mustard off my chin, is a little now, just remembering it.
The tale of Old Dog's laptop screen reminds me of my TI-99/4A. computer. There was a cable that connected it to your tv. The resolution wasn't very good but the only thing it had to show on the screen was letters and numbers. To get any data in it you had to use one of those cheap little cassettes. buzzfrzgushbeepfrz..., the sound of data going into your computer, it was kind of a cool sound, I miss it. And you could write programs in BASIC onto a blank tape and then you could put that into the computer and do things like play games. There was a magazine for users that used to list all these games that consisted of hundreds of lines of BASIC that you would have to type onto a blank tape, and if you left out any comma, or put an extra one in, the whole thing went to shit.
I haven't read Mattis's letter. I heard it was pretty stinging, but I thought well how stinging can it be. I'll wager Trump still has not read it, just heard from his Foxie friends that it was stinging, so that's why he canned Mattis early. I am no fan of our presence in the mideast or Afghanistan but it seems that we should have a more reasoned rationale than somebody pissed Trump off. Even as I type the Turks are building up their army on the southern border and the Kurds are awaiting their annihilation.
There is some pooh poohing of the shutdown since it is the holidays and all, but it is very likely that it will go on for some time Trump will be taking the blame so the dems are not likely to cave and Ann Coulter and Limbaugh will only see their popularity soar so they have no incentive to cave either.
And the investigations, and the dems, but still we will have to wait for that drop in the polls to put any starch in the rep backbones.
The tale of Old Dog's laptop screen reminds me of my TI-99/4A. computer. There was a cable that connected it to your tv. The resolution wasn't very good but the only thing it had to show on the screen was letters and numbers. To get any data in it you had to use one of those cheap little cassettes. buzzfrzgushbeepfrz..., the sound of data going into your computer, it was kind of a cool sound, I miss it. And you could write programs in BASIC onto a blank tape and then you could put that into the computer and do things like play games. There was a magazine for users that used to list all these games that consisted of hundreds of lines of BASIC that you would have to type onto a blank tape, and if you left out any comma, or put an extra one in, the whole thing went to shit.
I haven't read Mattis's letter. I heard it was pretty stinging, but I thought well how stinging can it be. I'll wager Trump still has not read it, just heard from his Foxie friends that it was stinging, so that's why he canned Mattis early. I am no fan of our presence in the mideast or Afghanistan but it seems that we should have a more reasoned rationale than somebody pissed Trump off. Even as I type the Turks are building up their army on the southern border and the Kurds are awaiting their annihilation.
There is some pooh poohing of the shutdown since it is the holidays and all, but it is very likely that it will go on for some time Trump will be taking the blame so the dems are not likely to cave and Ann Coulter and Limbaugh will only see their popularity soar so they have no incentive to cave either.
And the investigations, and the dems, but still we will have to wait for that drop in the polls to put any starch in the rep backbones.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Season's bleatings
Here in Chicago which has or had a reputation for being wide open I couldn't tell you where the hookers are.
Neither can I but I suppose they're out there, somewhere, strolling along the boulevard in their mini-skirts and thigh-high boots. Old stereotypes die hard. As technology marches on the business model may have changed with streetwalkers being superseded by escort and "dating" services, coded personal ads on Craigslist, and email spam. I am astounded at the number of Asian and Russian beauties that want to meet little old me.
Uncle Ken's reference to Irma La Duce cracked me up. I can't help but picture Benito Mussolini in drag with badly applied lipstick.
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The screen on my laptop finally crapped out. The hinges were shot, only a couple of binder clips held it in place and the wires were flopping around. Something must have failed in the wiring because the screen is now gray, with odd lines here and there. The flatscreen monitor I use as a TV has a VGA input but that means I have to disconnect the monitor from my video source, a pain in the ass. There are other cables (HDMI, DVI-D) that I can fiddle with but this is a good enough solution for now. I'm also running the laptop's audio into the receiver so online movies sound a lot better; laptop speakers generally suck and I don't like earbuds all that much.
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I read the Mattis resignation letter and it was the most eloquent bit of writing I've seen in quite a while. completely slamming Trump without saying so directly and remaining polite and somewhat respectful. And giving Trump more than two months notice in order to ensure a smooth transition was more than generous, I think. Donnie is having none of it, of course. In his latest fit of pique he has announced an acting Secretary of Defense to assume duties on the first of the year, little more than a week from today. Combining this with the government shutdown means we could be facing a not-so Happy New Year. Backing down on his Wall obsession will cost Trump his core supporters and I don't think he'll do that. The mood of Congress is changing and it could be make or break time for all things Trumpian. It would be funny if, after all this time, the results of the Mueller and other investigations would end up being nothing more than the frosting on the cake.
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Merry Christmas, guys.
Neither can I but I suppose they're out there, somewhere, strolling along the boulevard in their mini-skirts and thigh-high boots. Old stereotypes die hard. As technology marches on the business model may have changed with streetwalkers being superseded by escort and "dating" services, coded personal ads on Craigslist, and email spam. I am astounded at the number of Asian and Russian beauties that want to meet little old me.
Uncle Ken's reference to Irma La Duce cracked me up. I can't help but picture Benito Mussolini in drag with badly applied lipstick.
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The screen on my laptop finally crapped out. The hinges were shot, only a couple of binder clips held it in place and the wires were flopping around. Something must have failed in the wiring because the screen is now gray, with odd lines here and there. The flatscreen monitor I use as a TV has a VGA input but that means I have to disconnect the monitor from my video source, a pain in the ass. There are other cables (HDMI, DVI-D) that I can fiddle with but this is a good enough solution for now. I'm also running the laptop's audio into the receiver so online movies sound a lot better; laptop speakers generally suck and I don't like earbuds all that much.
-----
I read the Mattis resignation letter and it was the most eloquent bit of writing I've seen in quite a while. completely slamming Trump without saying so directly and remaining polite and somewhat respectful. And giving Trump more than two months notice in order to ensure a smooth transition was more than generous, I think. Donnie is having none of it, of course. In his latest fit of pique he has announced an acting Secretary of Defense to assume duties on the first of the year, little more than a week from today. Combining this with the government shutdown means we could be facing a not-so Happy New Year. Backing down on his Wall obsession will cost Trump his core supporters and I don't think he'll do that. The mood of Congress is changing and it could be make or break time for all things Trumpian. It would be funny if, after all this time, the results of the Mueller and other investigations would end up being nothing more than the frosting on the cake.
-----'
Merry Christmas, guys.
Friday, December 21, 2018
The Augsburger Protocol
Funny how an old memory recalled can open the floodgates of the mind. It occurred to me today that there might have been more than one red light district in Berlin. Augsburger Strasse was the one everybody talked about, so I assumed that it was the only one, but maybe not. I do remember one time my buddy Richardson (the guy who taught me the protocol) and I had an encounter with a couple of girls in another neighborhood. Richardson said later that they might have been amateurs because they charged less than the going rate, 15 dollars for a quickie, which came out to about a dollar a minute. That was a lot of money in those days, but a guy could easily spend that much just getting drunk and have nothing to show for it but a hangover, so I thought this was a better use of my time and money.
Because they all charged the same rate and dressed the same, I once jokingly asked one of them if they had a union, and she said "yes" without cracking a smile. It just dawned on me today that they might have indeed, not a labor union like at the paper mill, more like a guild or a professional association. The girls I met by the Red Chinese Embassy might have been members of a different association, since they all dressed the same as each other, but not the same as the Augsburger girls. They might have had a permit or something to work that particular street and decided not to renew it when it expired because they thought they could make more money elsewhere. I think this makes more sense than Richardson's theory that they came in from out of town for just that one night.
The Augsburger girls always wore a red coat or outer garment, nothing flashy, but always red, which is why I mistook that civilian lady for one of them. They usually didn't make eye contact or approach you in any way, you had to approach them first. Although most of them spoke some English, you had to address them in German or they would just ignore you. Richardson said that was because they weren't interested in talking to American GIs because, more often than not, they would just harass them and otherwise waste their time. Time was money to those ladies, and you had to respect that. Speaking of respect, you had to begin your proposition with the formal term "wollen sie" (will you), not the familiar form "wilst du", which was reserved for close friends, younger family members, and servants. Like I said, it was a simple protocol, but it let them know that you were serious about it and not just jerking their chain.
When I approached that civilian lady in the proper manner, I could tell that she was offended, so I tried to apologize in German. She said, "Maybe we should try English", which we did. She asked me what led me to believe that she was a professional, to which I replied "Well, you are standing on a corner of Augsburger Strasse that is not marked as a bus stop and you are wearing a red coat." She looked down at her coat, then up at the street sign overhead, and laughed. She told me that I had made a reasonable, albeit false, assumption, and that she would ask her boyfriend to meet her on a different corner next time. She than asked me if I thought she would have been worth the price, and I said that I certainly did. The rest of it you know, her boyfriend showed up, she got into his car, and I never saw her again.
The auxiliary service I mentioned was just little oral stimulation, not that I needed it but, since she offered, I felt it would be ungrateful of me to refuse.
Here's another update on the border crisis:
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBRj9kr?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
Because they all charged the same rate and dressed the same, I once jokingly asked one of them if they had a union, and she said "yes" without cracking a smile. It just dawned on me today that they might have indeed, not a labor union like at the paper mill, more like a guild or a professional association. The girls I met by the Red Chinese Embassy might have been members of a different association, since they all dressed the same as each other, but not the same as the Augsburger girls. They might have had a permit or something to work that particular street and decided not to renew it when it expired because they thought they could make more money elsewhere. I think this makes more sense than Richardson's theory that they came in from out of town for just that one night.
The Augsburger girls always wore a red coat or outer garment, nothing flashy, but always red, which is why I mistook that civilian lady for one of them. They usually didn't make eye contact or approach you in any way, you had to approach them first. Although most of them spoke some English, you had to address them in German or they would just ignore you. Richardson said that was because they weren't interested in talking to American GIs because, more often than not, they would just harass them and otherwise waste their time. Time was money to those ladies, and you had to respect that. Speaking of respect, you had to begin your proposition with the formal term "wollen sie" (will you), not the familiar form "wilst du", which was reserved for close friends, younger family members, and servants. Like I said, it was a simple protocol, but it let them know that you were serious about it and not just jerking their chain.
When I approached that civilian lady in the proper manner, I could tell that she was offended, so I tried to apologize in German. She said, "Maybe we should try English", which we did. She asked me what led me to believe that she was a professional, to which I replied "Well, you are standing on a corner of Augsburger Strasse that is not marked as a bus stop and you are wearing a red coat." She looked down at her coat, then up at the street sign overhead, and laughed. She told me that I had made a reasonable, albeit false, assumption, and that she would ask her boyfriend to meet her on a different corner next time. She than asked me if I thought she would have been worth the price, and I said that I certainly did. The rest of it you know, her boyfriend showed up, she got into his car, and I never saw her again.
The auxiliary service I mentioned was just little oral stimulation, not that I needed it but, since she offered, I felt it would be ungrateful of me to refuse.
Here's another update on the border crisis:
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBRj9kr?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
Augsburger Auxiliary Services
The story starts out promisingly enough, I liked the term drim and drizmal. The possibility of two women caught my attention. Two women, if Beagles was short of cash he should have put up his watch. maybe that gold locket with the cameo of the woman who so cruelly dumped him (Dear John letter?) and sent him down the Kurfurstendam (cool how the Krauts preface their streetnames with the. We never say the State Street, or the 55th?) in the drim drizmal that night, or hell, some state secret, how often does the chance for two women arise?
Some auxiliary service? One well wonders what that was. Perhaps it is more exotic and alluring if it remains unexplained. I would have liked to hear more about this mysterious protocol for approaching Augsburger Fraulein. It seems like back here in the States they do the approaching, and if it's the other way they are not particular.
And then the story just sort of, ahem, peters out. They weren't there, and later on they weren't there again and then stateside Beagles never approaches the home grown peaches because, well maybe he thought that he could never get Augsburger auxiliary services here, and maybe he liked it in the USA but he loved the Augsburger Way. Hopes and longings, the stuff of good stories.
And what about the girl who was flattered to be taken for a working girl and was tempted to try it out if her boyfriend didn't show up? I would have liked to hear more about that exchange.
In Austin the girls paraded down the main drag Irma La Duce style. It was nice to watch but I was too prim to buy a taste. Here in Chicago which has or had a reputation for being wide open I couldn't tell you where the hookers are. Even the Gentleman's Clubs seem to keep a low profile in seedy areas.
There is more philosophy in the Institute than you can shake as stick at and Old Dog complains about that: And now I'm done with this topic since I think it's a philosophical issue that will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
And yet he goes out of his way to drudge up this uncomical comic which does a disservice to my favorite philosopher Wittgenstein. If he wants philosophy there is plenty here, though sadly enough no tales of two women.
I know I have been saying this forever, even before he got elected, but perhaps this is at last the straw that broke the Donald's back. Mattis's resignation, some republican hawks in office daring to openly badmouth the toddler in chief, this shilly-shallying on the wall and the gummint shut down, which appears to have no end in sight. Oh and the investigations entangling ever higher-hanging fruit. perhaps the end is near.
Some auxiliary service? One well wonders what that was. Perhaps it is more exotic and alluring if it remains unexplained. I would have liked to hear more about this mysterious protocol for approaching Augsburger Fraulein. It seems like back here in the States they do the approaching, and if it's the other way they are not particular.
And then the story just sort of, ahem, peters out. They weren't there, and later on they weren't there again and then stateside Beagles never approaches the home grown peaches because, well maybe he thought that he could never get Augsburger auxiliary services here, and maybe he liked it in the USA but he loved the Augsburger Way. Hopes and longings, the stuff of good stories.
And what about the girl who was flattered to be taken for a working girl and was tempted to try it out if her boyfriend didn't show up? I would have liked to hear more about that exchange.
In Austin the girls paraded down the main drag Irma La Duce style. It was nice to watch but I was too prim to buy a taste. Here in Chicago which has or had a reputation for being wide open I couldn't tell you where the hookers are. Even the Gentleman's Clubs seem to keep a low profile in seedy areas.
There is more philosophy in the Institute than you can shake as stick at and Old Dog complains about that: And now I'm done with this topic since I think it's a philosophical issue that will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
And yet he goes out of his way to drudge up this uncomical comic which does a disservice to my favorite philosopher Wittgenstein. If he wants philosophy there is plenty here, though sadly enough no tales of two women.
I know I have been saying this forever, even before he got elected, but perhaps this is at last the straw that broke the Donald's back. Mattis's resignation, some republican hawks in office daring to openly badmouth the toddler in chief, this shilly-shallying on the wall and the gummint shut down, which appears to have no end in sight. Oh and the investigations entangling ever higher-hanging fruit. perhaps the end is near.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
It's Just Not the Same - Part 2
Europeans looked at sex differently than Americans in those days. I had hopes that our Sexual Revolution would bring us more in line with the European way of thinking on the subject, but it didn't turn out that way. We did overthrow the old order, but we replaced it with something different than the Europeans had. I don't think the Europeans ever had a sexual revolution. They didn't need to because, as far as I know, they were always that way. And now, back to our story which, by the way, is true.
It was a drim and drizmal night in Berlin, which matched my mood because I had just been dumped by a civilian girl after a brief but intense relationship. I was walking dejectedly down the Kurfurstendam, planning to catch the next bus if the rain got much worse. I soon found myself in front of the Red Chinese Embassy, an impressive Gothic looking structure that had stood vacant for some time because nobody was talking to the Red Chinese in those days. At some point I began to notice a bunch of flamboyantly dressed ladies parading up and down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. They looked like hookers, but not real hookers, more like the kind you would see in the movies. I knew they weren't real hookers because the girls on Augsburger Strasse didn't dress that way and, besides, this wasn't Augsburger Strasse. I concluded, therefore, that I had stumbled into a movie set, and I sat down on the curbing that was part of the embassy fence to watch the show.
I hadn't sat there long before one of the girls crossed the street and approached me, which no Augsburger girl would ever do. I thought she was going to ask me to get out of the shot, but she asked me instead if I was looking for someone. I told her that I was trying to figure out what was going on over there, since it couldn't possibly be what it looked like. She assured me that it was exactly what it looked like, I didn't know whether or not she was telling the truth and, of course, there was only one way to find out. While we were discussing the matter, another girl came over and said something in German to the first girl, who translated it as "It is possible to have two girls." I had wanted to test that possibility for some time, but I only had enough money for one girl that night, so it would have to do. I vowed to come back some day with more money, and the lady said it wouldn't be a problem because they were there every Saturday night.
I had always respected the Augsburger girls for their professionalism, but this one was a cut above. It was all strictly business, as it should be, but she seemed to really enjoy her work and to want me to enjoy it too. She even gave me some auxiliary service at no extra charge, which no Augsburger girl would ever do. When we were done, she looked out the window and said, "It's still raining and I have made enough money for tonight. Do you want to stay here and talk for awhile?" We talked for an hour or more, she about her work and I about my work, both of us being careful not to reveal any classified information. I found her both witty and charming, and I had to resist the impulse to ask her what a nice girl like her was doing in this line of work, which anybody familiar with such matters will tell you is about the lamest thing you can say to a girl in that line work. I did ask her to go on a regular date with me, no strings attached, because I wanted to spend more time with her. She politely declined, explaining that she already had a boyfriend and didn't see how she could make room for another one in her busy life. She told me again that she and her colleagues were there every Saturday night, and I told her again that I would be back.
It was a few weeks before I could get downtown on a Saturday night and, when I did, I brought a friend with me, the guy who had originally taught me how to approach the Augsburger girls. (There is a simple protocol and, if you don't follow it, they won't even talk to you.) Well the girls weren't there, and I told my buddy that I wouldn't blame him if he accused me of making the whole thing up. He said that he didn't doubt my word for a minute, and advanced the theory that the girls I met that night were probably from out of town and only worked that street for one night in violation of the local codes. It wasn't a bad theory, except that it didn't explain why the lady had told me twice that she and her colleagues were there every Saturday night.
I checked the site on a few more Saturday nights before my enlistment expired and I was sent home, but I never did see any of those girls again, and I never did find out if it was possible to have two girls. I didn't patronize any professional ladies after I got back to the States because, from what I heard of them, it just wouldn't have been the same.
It was a drim and drizmal night in Berlin, which matched my mood because I had just been dumped by a civilian girl after a brief but intense relationship. I was walking dejectedly down the Kurfurstendam, planning to catch the next bus if the rain got much worse. I soon found myself in front of the Red Chinese Embassy, an impressive Gothic looking structure that had stood vacant for some time because nobody was talking to the Red Chinese in those days. At some point I began to notice a bunch of flamboyantly dressed ladies parading up and down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. They looked like hookers, but not real hookers, more like the kind you would see in the movies. I knew they weren't real hookers because the girls on Augsburger Strasse didn't dress that way and, besides, this wasn't Augsburger Strasse. I concluded, therefore, that I had stumbled into a movie set, and I sat down on the curbing that was part of the embassy fence to watch the show.
I hadn't sat there long before one of the girls crossed the street and approached me, which no Augsburger girl would ever do. I thought she was going to ask me to get out of the shot, but she asked me instead if I was looking for someone. I told her that I was trying to figure out what was going on over there, since it couldn't possibly be what it looked like. She assured me that it was exactly what it looked like, I didn't know whether or not she was telling the truth and, of course, there was only one way to find out. While we were discussing the matter, another girl came over and said something in German to the first girl, who translated it as "It is possible to have two girls." I had wanted to test that possibility for some time, but I only had enough money for one girl that night, so it would have to do. I vowed to come back some day with more money, and the lady said it wouldn't be a problem because they were there every Saturday night.
I had always respected the Augsburger girls for their professionalism, but this one was a cut above. It was all strictly business, as it should be, but she seemed to really enjoy her work and to want me to enjoy it too. She even gave me some auxiliary service at no extra charge, which no Augsburger girl would ever do. When we were done, she looked out the window and said, "It's still raining and I have made enough money for tonight. Do you want to stay here and talk for awhile?" We talked for an hour or more, she about her work and I about my work, both of us being careful not to reveal any classified information. I found her both witty and charming, and I had to resist the impulse to ask her what a nice girl like her was doing in this line of work, which anybody familiar with such matters will tell you is about the lamest thing you can say to a girl in that line work. I did ask her to go on a regular date with me, no strings attached, because I wanted to spend more time with her. She politely declined, explaining that she already had a boyfriend and didn't see how she could make room for another one in her busy life. She told me again that she and her colleagues were there every Saturday night, and I told her again that I would be back.
It was a few weeks before I could get downtown on a Saturday night and, when I did, I brought a friend with me, the guy who had originally taught me how to approach the Augsburger girls. (There is a simple protocol and, if you don't follow it, they won't even talk to you.) Well the girls weren't there, and I told my buddy that I wouldn't blame him if he accused me of making the whole thing up. He said that he didn't doubt my word for a minute, and advanced the theory that the girls I met that night were probably from out of town and only worked that street for one night in violation of the local codes. It wasn't a bad theory, except that it didn't explain why the lady had told me twice that she and her colleagues were there every Saturday night.
I checked the site on a few more Saturday nights before my enlistment expired and I was sent home, but I never did see any of those girls again, and I never did find out if it was possible to have two girls. I didn't patronize any professional ladies after I got back to the States because, from what I heard of them, it just wouldn't have been the same.
Not a whole lotta love
Prostitution and the military; they kind of go together like peanut butter and jelly, don't they? I don't recall if it was illegal on Okinawa but if was the authorities turned a blind eye. And unless you caught some disease the brass turned a blind eye, too. But the girls were usually subtle in a charming kind of way, polite in their approach. Market forces were at work; prices were highest immediately after payday and then declined as the next payday approached. You could get a hefty discount a few days before you got paid and the only time this system got thrown out of whack was when the fleet was in and the area was flooded with sailors who had a lot of money to spend and a short time to spend it in. Regular GIs couldn't compete against all that wealth so we didn't bother until things returned to normal. Good times.
-----
Recollections of "The Rock" (Okinawa) reminded me that the first time I drank a whiskey sour was in a little jazz bar in Koza City. It may have been off-limits to GIs because it didn't have an "A" sign on the door, something I may have described earlier. The bartender was taken aback when I entered because I was the first American to visit his fine establishment. Since the name of the place was Club Chelsea, plainly displayed in English, I figured I would be welcome, and I was. There were only about six stools at the bar and a small handful of tables; twenty people would have packed the place. But there was a turntable behind the bar and they played nothing but jazz, a welcome change from the raucous rock and roll played at the more American-friendly bars and clubs. The bar was my little secret, not seeing any other Americans at any time I was there. I finally broke down and told a buddy of mine about the place, swearing him to secrecy, because it got old not having anyone to talk to besides the bartender. That worked for a while until some other Americans saw us go into the place and then the cat was out of the bag. Okinawan customers became fewer and fewer and the damn Yankees took over. A year later Led Zeppelin was on the turntable and it never was the same. Whole Lotta Love, my ass. Although business for the bar was booming I've never forgiven myself for ruining the place.
But about that whiskey sour; it was made completely from scratch. Fresh lemon juice, sugar, whiskey, and a whole lot of shaking (with ice) going on. Then more shaking and then straining and finally the addition of the orange slice and cherry. The result was sublime but you couldn't be in any hurry.
Curiosity drove me to Wikipedia to see if there is a definitive recipe for the whiskey sour, and there isn't any. Right off the bat you have a choice between bourbon and rye, and it goes on from there. I don't know about the usage of egg whites, though. Sounds a little too goofy for my taste. According to some professional bartenders, mixologists if you will, there is a lot of wiggle room when it comes to making the drink.
-----
Just when I thought I was done blabbing about the nature of the hot dog I found this curious site, Existential Comics. It's not often that Wittgenstein is mentioned in a discussion of the lowly hot dog. Previous comics include a lot of philosophers I've never heard of but the concepts are interesting. Whether or not those concepts are portrayed accurately I can't say but the comics are funny in their own way. Not enough comics discuss philosophy but I'll take what I can get.
-----
Recollections of "The Rock" (Okinawa) reminded me that the first time I drank a whiskey sour was in a little jazz bar in Koza City. It may have been off-limits to GIs because it didn't have an "A" sign on the door, something I may have described earlier. The bartender was taken aback when I entered because I was the first American to visit his fine establishment. Since the name of the place was Club Chelsea, plainly displayed in English, I figured I would be welcome, and I was. There were only about six stools at the bar and a small handful of tables; twenty people would have packed the place. But there was a turntable behind the bar and they played nothing but jazz, a welcome change from the raucous rock and roll played at the more American-friendly bars and clubs. The bar was my little secret, not seeing any other Americans at any time I was there. I finally broke down and told a buddy of mine about the place, swearing him to secrecy, because it got old not having anyone to talk to besides the bartender. That worked for a while until some other Americans saw us go into the place and then the cat was out of the bag. Okinawan customers became fewer and fewer and the damn Yankees took over. A year later Led Zeppelin was on the turntable and it never was the same. Whole Lotta Love, my ass. Although business for the bar was booming I've never forgiven myself for ruining the place.
But about that whiskey sour; it was made completely from scratch. Fresh lemon juice, sugar, whiskey, and a whole lot of shaking (with ice) going on. Then more shaking and then straining and finally the addition of the orange slice and cherry. The result was sublime but you couldn't be in any hurry.
Curiosity drove me to Wikipedia to see if there is a definitive recipe for the whiskey sour, and there isn't any. Right off the bat you have a choice between bourbon and rye, and it goes on from there. I don't know about the usage of egg whites, though. Sounds a little too goofy for my taste. According to some professional bartenders, mixologists if you will, there is a lot of wiggle room when it comes to making the drink.
-----
Just when I thought I was done blabbing about the nature of the hot dog I found this curious site, Existential Comics. It's not often that Wittgenstein is mentioned in a discussion of the lowly hot dog. Previous comics include a lot of philosophers I've never heard of but the concepts are interesting. Whether or not those concepts are portrayed accurately I can't say but the comics are funny in their own way. Not enough comics discuss philosophy but I'll take what I can get.
maybe it's a good thing that you can't always get what you want
I guess we all long for something we don't have, maybe something we can't have, maybe for something that doesn't exist and never will. In Uncle Ken's personality theory we have the pleasure cruisers, the warriors, the climbers, and the seekers, Actually according to my theory we are all composites of the four types, much as from the Greeks to the middle ages all matter was composed of earth, water, air, and fire in differing proportions. Anyway the people who have a lot of seeker in them are the ones looking for something that never was and never will be. It's almost like we are actors in some boring movie and all around us we can sense cameras, stages, directors, but everytime we turn to face them they are not there and there is nothing but the same boring movie.
You might think that the climbers, who seek things that can be had, are better off since well, they can get what they want, and maybe they are, but maybe not so much that one might think because sometimes when they get what they want they feel kind of empty. I am thinking here of the really successful people who knock themselves off. Before they had everything they could think if only I had that house, that sweet job, the adulation of the masses, then I could be happy. But then they get it and they are still not happy, and then they realize that they can never be happy and then they knock themselves off.
I don't see how a woman would be flattered by someone thinking she was a prostitute. It's not like you need any talents or beauty to be one, you just have to put yourself up for sale Perhaps she was in some kind of flighty mood and was into joking around about it with some GI. Some years ago prostitutes used to approach Johns by asking if they wanted a date. Perhaps her English was not so hot and she thought Beagles was asking her for a date. I guess we will have to wait for Beagles to tell the story, but I am suspicious, sometimes he presents us with what purports to be a true story but turns out to be a setup for some kind of pun,.
I've long took a dim view of our soldiers mission in the mideast, but what is behind Trump's sudden withdrawal from Syria? Remember the Peshmerga, the armed Kurds who call themselves We Who Are About to Die? The Turks hate the Kurds because the Kurds want to carve a bit of Kurdistan out of Turkey. The only thing keeping the Turks from moving into Syria to the Kurds out is that US troops are there among them training them because they are the best ISIS fighters, though there real goal is the establishment of Greater Turkistan. Once the US troops are gone the Kurds will indeed be about to die.
You might think that the climbers, who seek things that can be had, are better off since well, they can get what they want, and maybe they are, but maybe not so much that one might think because sometimes when they get what they want they feel kind of empty. I am thinking here of the really successful people who knock themselves off. Before they had everything they could think if only I had that house, that sweet job, the adulation of the masses, then I could be happy. But then they get it and they are still not happy, and then they realize that they can never be happy and then they knock themselves off.
I don't see how a woman would be flattered by someone thinking she was a prostitute. It's not like you need any talents or beauty to be one, you just have to put yourself up for sale Perhaps she was in some kind of flighty mood and was into joking around about it with some GI. Some years ago prostitutes used to approach Johns by asking if they wanted a date. Perhaps her English was not so hot and she thought Beagles was asking her for a date. I guess we will have to wait for Beagles to tell the story, but I am suspicious, sometimes he presents us with what purports to be a true story but turns out to be a setup for some kind of pun,.
I've long took a dim view of our soldiers mission in the mideast, but what is behind Trump's sudden withdrawal from Syria? Remember the Peshmerga, the armed Kurds who call themselves We Who Are About to Die? The Turks hate the Kurds because the Kurds want to carve a bit of Kurdistan out of Turkey. The only thing keeping the Turks from moving into Syria to the Kurds out is that US troops are there among them training them because they are the best ISIS fighters, though there real goal is the establishment of Greater Turkistan. Once the US troops are gone the Kurds will indeed be about to die.
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
It's Just Not the Same - Part 1
I think I understand the whiskey sour story better now. It's about longing for something that you think you had and now you don't, but maybe you never really had it in the first place. I had an experience like that once in Berlin.
Prostitution was legal but tightly regulated there, and I occasionally availed myself of the professional services of the ladies of the evening. It wasn't exactly a quality experience, but it was better than nothing. The ladies were only allowed to ply their trade on Augsburger Strasse, a short street that branched off of the Kurfurstendam. They weren't real obvious about it, if you didn't know it was going on you wouldn't know that it was going on. Indeed, I once mistook a civilian girl for one of the pros. At first she was insulted, then kind of flattered. She was waiting for her boyfriend who was late, and she said that we might be able to make a deal if he didn't show up soon, but he did show up soon and she left with him.
(This is kind of a long story and it's getting late. Maybe I can finish it tomorow.)
Prostitution was legal but tightly regulated there, and I occasionally availed myself of the professional services of the ladies of the evening. It wasn't exactly a quality experience, but it was better than nothing. The ladies were only allowed to ply their trade on Augsburger Strasse, a short street that branched off of the Kurfurstendam. They weren't real obvious about it, if you didn't know it was going on you wouldn't know that it was going on. Indeed, I once mistook a civilian girl for one of the pros. At first she was insulted, then kind of flattered. She was waiting for her boyfriend who was late, and she said that we might be able to make a deal if he didn't show up soon, but he did show up soon and she left with him.
(This is kind of a long story and it's getting late. Maybe I can finish it tomorow.)
hopes and dreams and plain potato chips
These drinks change over time, but back in my day a champagne cocktail was just a glass of champagne with a couple drops of bitters in it. The whiskey sour is one shot of whiskey and two shots of bar sour (lemon) shaken and garnished with an orange slice and a cherry. Asking for a whiskey sour cocktail is like asking for a oh, hot dog sandwich. In the story my idea was once in her golden youth she had been offered a drink called a whiskey sour cocktail and it was the most delicious thing she had ever had. Subsequently whiskey sours had not tasted so good so she was under the impression that maybe there was a whiskey sour cocktail which was a different drink from just a whiskey sour and that is why she always asks for it by that name, but she is always disappointed because they are ok, but they never taste as good as the whiskey sour cocktail of her golden youth.
The woman of the song Montego Bay is not as fortunate since, as the bartender supposes, she has never actually been there. Maybe she is stringing along her beau or maybe she is wishing for something she can never attain. So you see my story, like much of what we see on the silver screen is about hopes and dreams. Sigh.
The bartender of the story is not me, but I have to admit he is not far from the way I was. I was a surly bartender, the arrogance of youth I suppose.
I had a Champaign buddy stay with me overnight a month or two ago because he had to go to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for a procedure and he was a little wobbly, so instead of going to a restaurant we had the guys at the little store downstairs fix us up a couple sandwiches. Well of course you want chips with your sandwich so I volunteered to pick some up for him at the rack on the other side of the store. I asked him what kind he wanted thinking of the dizzying array of flavors: BBQ, cheddar cheese, sour cream and onions, the beat goes on. But not for my buddy, he wanted plain.
Plain? And then I remembered that about him, through all those years being served by other surly bartenders whenever he was in a mood for chips, he always ate them plain. I have to say that while I, myself, would never forgo the pleasure of artificial flavors, I had to admire the purity of my buddy's preference for the pure unadulterated taste of potatoes.
There are many people who like art that doesn't look like art, and music that doesn't sound like music seems to crowd the airwaves, but we are speaking of Uncle Ken's Credo here and to Uncle Ken. less is not more, it is less.
And now I'm done with this topic since I think it's a philosophical issue that will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
Of course it will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, is that not what keeps the Institute cranking out posts night and day, year after year? Even if we were discussing a fascinating topic like ice cream machines there would be aspects that we would never agree on.
The woman of the song Montego Bay is not as fortunate since, as the bartender supposes, she has never actually been there. Maybe she is stringing along her beau or maybe she is wishing for something she can never attain. So you see my story, like much of what we see on the silver screen is about hopes and dreams. Sigh.
The bartender of the story is not me, but I have to admit he is not far from the way I was. I was a surly bartender, the arrogance of youth I suppose.
I had a Champaign buddy stay with me overnight a month or two ago because he had to go to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for a procedure and he was a little wobbly, so instead of going to a restaurant we had the guys at the little store downstairs fix us up a couple sandwiches. Well of course you want chips with your sandwich so I volunteered to pick some up for him at the rack on the other side of the store. I asked him what kind he wanted thinking of the dizzying array of flavors: BBQ, cheddar cheese, sour cream and onions, the beat goes on. But not for my buddy, he wanted plain.
Plain? And then I remembered that about him, through all those years being served by other surly bartenders whenever he was in a mood for chips, he always ate them plain. I have to say that while I, myself, would never forgo the pleasure of artificial flavors, I had to admire the purity of my buddy's preference for the pure unadulterated taste of potatoes.
There are many people who like art that doesn't look like art, and music that doesn't sound like music seems to crowd the airwaves, but we are speaking of Uncle Ken's Credo here and to Uncle Ken. less is not more, it is less.
And now I'm done with this topic since I think it's a philosophical issue that will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
Of course it will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, is that not what keeps the Institute cranking out posts night and day, year after year? Even if we were discussing a fascinating topic like ice cream machines there would be aspects that we would never agree on.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
I'm a Nomad
Remember this one from our high school days?
What's the definition of a nomad?
An even tempered Italian. - "I'm-a no mad."
The reason I didn't post last night was because we went to somebody's house for dinner and didn't get back in time. My previous post was not intended to be a personal attack on Uncle Ken anyway. Some of it was just a difference of opinion, but the part about "if they ever reach the border" was a factual discrepancy to which I felt constrained to respond. Maybe Trump did blow this Caravan thing out of proportion, but I think it would have been a pretty big deal anyway. Call me "paranoid", but I think that thousands of people advancing on a national border with the declared intention of forcing their was across it is a big deal. The situation does seem to have simmered down lately, either that or the news cycle has just moved on to other things, but I don't think it's over yet. Last I heard there were still thousands camped along the border. Who knows what they might do?
I think that the "less is more" argument is based on a poor choice of words. If the statement had been something like, "Sometimes less is better than more." there would have been nothing to argue about.
As for the Great Sandwich Debate, I can't seem to get interested in it, but that doesn't mean my esteemed colleagues shouldn't discuss it.
I don't get the point of the "whiskey sour" story, but I have never tended bar and I don't drink cocktails. I have heard that there is something called a "champagne cocktail" which, I suppose, is not the same thing as just ordering a glass of champagne. Is the whiskey sour cocktail something like that?
What's the definition of a nomad?
An even tempered Italian. - "I'm-a no mad."
The reason I didn't post last night was because we went to somebody's house for dinner and didn't get back in time. My previous post was not intended to be a personal attack on Uncle Ken anyway. Some of it was just a difference of opinion, but the part about "if they ever reach the border" was a factual discrepancy to which I felt constrained to respond. Maybe Trump did blow this Caravan thing out of proportion, but I think it would have been a pretty big deal anyway. Call me "paranoid", but I think that thousands of people advancing on a national border with the declared intention of forcing their was across it is a big deal. The situation does seem to have simmered down lately, either that or the news cycle has just moved on to other things, but I don't think it's over yet. Last I heard there were still thousands camped along the border. Who knows what they might do?
I think that the "less is more" argument is based on a poor choice of words. If the statement had been something like, "Sometimes less is better than more." there would have been nothing to argue about.
As for the Great Sandwich Debate, I can't seem to get interested in it, but that doesn't mean my esteemed colleagues shouldn't discuss it.
I don't get the point of the "whiskey sour" story, but I have never tended bar and I don't drink cocktails. I have heard that there is something called a "champagne cocktail" which, I suppose, is not the same thing as just ordering a glass of champagne. Is the whiskey sour cocktail something like that?
Uncle Ken, all the time
Stupid bitch. I made her a Goddamn whiskey sour just like every other Goddamn whiskey sour I'd ever made, kind of slammed it down in front of her...
Unless she caught him on a bad night it seems to me that customer service is not one of Uncle Ken's strengths. In retrospect do you think the situation could have been handled differently? It wouldn't have hurt to ask exactly what she meant; perhaps the "cocktail" was a variant known only to the regulars, maybe in a different glass with a slight change in the proportion of ingredients or an extra cherry. Engaging a customer in a positive manner is usually good for business but I've never tended bar. I preferred working the other side of the counter.
-----
You know what's worse than everybody piling onto you?
Yeah, when they're not but simply stating a difference of opinion. The cloak of martyrdom is an ill fit.
-----
I think that perhaps Old Dog does not get the point of meaningless arguments.
Perhaps I don't and the point about logic and semantics is well taken. Let me give "less is more" one final shot.
On the surface, "less is more" only considers quantity but I think that the nature of quality should also be factored in. I've already mentioned the use of negative space but there's more to it than that. Colin Chapman, the noted British race car designer, was once asked about his secret to building a winning car. He responded by saying that he "adds lightness." By removing as much as possible he was able to build cars that were better handling, more efficient, and faster. In this case, less is indeed more if you want to judge by winning results. And now I'm done with this topic since I think it's a philosophical issue that will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
-----
Know what's worse than nobody saying anything about you? Nobody saying nothing at all.
Less is more.
Unless she caught him on a bad night it seems to me that customer service is not one of Uncle Ken's strengths. In retrospect do you think the situation could have been handled differently? It wouldn't have hurt to ask exactly what she meant; perhaps the "cocktail" was a variant known only to the regulars, maybe in a different glass with a slight change in the proportion of ingredients or an extra cherry. Engaging a customer in a positive manner is usually good for business but I've never tended bar. I preferred working the other side of the counter.
-----
You know what's worse than everybody piling onto you?
Yeah, when they're not but simply stating a difference of opinion. The cloak of martyrdom is an ill fit.
-----
I think that perhaps Old Dog does not get the point of meaningless arguments.
Perhaps I don't and the point about logic and semantics is well taken. Let me give "less is more" one final shot.
On the surface, "less is more" only considers quantity but I think that the nature of quality should also be factored in. I've already mentioned the use of negative space but there's more to it than that. Colin Chapman, the noted British race car designer, was once asked about his secret to building a winning car. He responded by saying that he "adds lightness." By removing as much as possible he was able to build cars that were better handling, more efficient, and faster. In this case, less is indeed more if you want to judge by winning results. And now I'm done with this topic since I think it's a philosophical issue that will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
-----
Know what's worse than nobody saying anything about you? Nobody saying nothing at all.
Less is more.
whiskey sour cocktail, the long version
You know what's worse than everybody piling onto you? Nobody saying anything about you. Know what's worse than nobody saying anything about you? Nobody saying nothing at all. But that is my situation this Tuesday.
Like Beagles I have done some writing myself and here is the story of the whiskey sour cocktail:
It was around five o’clock one night when I was tending bar
at the Castle Lodge. A classy joint, we wore white shirts, a fake bowtie, and
black vests. We were paid a couple bucks
more than minimum wage and the tips were very good.
High class crowd, sometimes you
saw their photos in the newspapers. I
was taking orders from a group of them, old fashioneds, bourbons on the rocks,
that sort of thing, and when I got to her she said, “I’ll have a whiskey sour
cocktail.”
A whiskey sour is a
cocktail. There is no such thing as a
whiskey sour cocktail. But I didn’t want
to make any mistakes, this was a good job, so just to make sure that things
were clear, I kind of nodded and said, “A whiskey sour,” because that was
surely what she had meant to say.
"No, no," she said,
"I would like a whiskey sour cocktail."
I looked at her and she looked at
me, and I said, “Yes Ma’am.”
Stupid bitch. I made her a Goddamn whiskey sour just like
every other Goddamn whiskey sour I'd ever made, kind of slammed it down in front
of her, kind of gave her a cold stare, but very subtle so as not to
offend. Not that she noticed, the way
that she grabbed at it as soon as it hit the bar, a Goddamn lush to boot.
But maybe not, she just had the one while the crowd around
her had a couple more rounds. Delivering
that last round and collecting her empty glass, I just had to ask, “How was
your drink Ma’am?”
“It was okay,” she said, “It was fine, but it wasn’t a
whiskey sour cocktail.”
The way she said it, not angry, not complaining, not
anything, just not what she was hoping for, that stuck with me through the long
dead period when the high class crowd was out on the town, and they all got
back a couple hours before closing and got really sloshed, and even as I was
cleaning up afterwards and wanted a little music from the jukebox to relax
with.
There was only one Merle Haggard on the box, Montego Bay , not a song I was crazy about, not the usual
Merle, but the only one on the box, so I pushed the buttons. Kind of a sappy
song, this guy has given this girl everything he has, and she keeps saying, “I
like it here, but I love Montego Bay .”
And I’m listening to this as I’m wiping down the tables and
the chairs and the railings, and it slowly dawns on me that this girl has never
been to Montego Bay . Merle never comes out and
says this, and if you’re not paying attention, if you’re not thinking about
that empty glass and that disappointment, you’d never notice but it was clear
as a bell that this woman had never been to Montego Bay.
Monday, December 17, 2018
the whiskey sour cocktail
So it's pile onto Uncle Ken Monday. Beagles has nailed his four points to the ivied walls of Beaglesonia . Rather than go through each one I will issue my blanket statement which I have held from the beginning. It's only a big deal because Trump in the midst of an off year election chose to make it so. It is of little consequence as to the health of our nation, and will amount to nothing.
As for folks having their minds made up and being unwilling to budge I say let the Beaglestonian who is willing to budge cast the first stone.
A ham sandwich is the proper way to ask for ham between two slices of bread. You could ask simply for a Polish sausage, but you could just as properly ask for a Polish sausage sandwich. If you asked for a hot dog sandwich the guy behind the counter would probably look at you funny, but not say anything, but if you asked for a hamburger sandwich 'I daresay the guy would at least grunt huh? Perhaps he would inquire if you wanted your patty between two slices of bread.
If you asked for a hot dog taco you would get a hot dog in a tortilla. If you asked for a carne asada sandwich you wold get your meat between two slices of bread. I think that perhaps Old Dog does not get the point of meaningless arguments. Outside of being good clean fun they are also research into logic and semantics. The problem with the cube theory is not so much that it is arbitrary, which it is, but which is not a problem for meaningless arguments, but that it is simplistic and the author does not take it very far. He goes through a few examples and then he is done. I mean, where is the beef?
If Old Dog is so enamored of less being more, I expect that the next time he orders an Italian beef, he asks the counterman to put less beef between the dipped slices of bun and when the guy looks at him funny he can explain how less is more and something about elegant simplicity, and when the guy looks at him more suspiciously he can brightly inform him that it's actually an Italian beef taco. That should make an impression.
All of which reminds me of the story of the whiskey sour cocktail. Thirty-five years ago I was tending bar in one of Champaign Urbana's toniests joints. I wore a white shirt, a black vest, and a bowtie, that's how fancy it was. The local swells showed up and tipped well and in deference I dropped the sullen attitude I had presented at the House of Chin.
One evening a group of swells dropped in for a before dinner drink and one of them, a woman as well-dressed as the rest of them, but a little unsure of herself, like a woman who had married into money asked for a whiskey sour cocktail. "Right," I said parking it into my memory, "A whiskey sour."
But her finger went up and she corrected me, "A whiskey sour cocktail." A whiskey sour is a cocktail, which I was about to explain, but I remembered my place and ducked down into my bottles.
Afterwards. as they were gathering their coats and whatall to enter the dining room, as I was whisking her empty glass away I asked her, "How was your drink Ma'am?"
"Oh, it was fine," she answered, and then she sighed, a heartbreaking sigh that I expect she had sighed often, "It just wasn't a whiskey sour cocktail."
The big deal about Beto O'Rourke is that he almost beat Cruz in Texas. Texas!!! I didn't follow the race closely because I knew he didn't have a chance, so I can't say I know what his platform is or what is the source of his charisma, and I kind of don't care. What he appears to be at the moment is a guy who can unite the dems and beat Trump, and that is all we dems are looking for right now.
Of course it won't be that simple and he is already taking fire from fellow dems. The last thing we dems want is a bruising primary fight which would leave the party divided and the losers staying home on election day. That is all we good dems are thinking about at the moment.
Tip O'Neil famously said, "All politics is local." But anymore all politics is national. When voting for dog catcher we don't ask what kind of net he uses,. but where he stands on Trump. It has been much written about and discussed. The internet, like tv before it, is getting much of the blame.
As for folks having their minds made up and being unwilling to budge I say let the Beaglestonian who is willing to budge cast the first stone.
A ham sandwich is the proper way to ask for ham between two slices of bread. You could ask simply for a Polish sausage, but you could just as properly ask for a Polish sausage sandwich. If you asked for a hot dog sandwich the guy behind the counter would probably look at you funny, but not say anything, but if you asked for a hamburger sandwich 'I daresay the guy would at least grunt huh? Perhaps he would inquire if you wanted your patty between two slices of bread.
If you asked for a hot dog taco you would get a hot dog in a tortilla. If you asked for a carne asada sandwich you wold get your meat between two slices of bread. I think that perhaps Old Dog does not get the point of meaningless arguments. Outside of being good clean fun they are also research into logic and semantics. The problem with the cube theory is not so much that it is arbitrary, which it is, but which is not a problem for meaningless arguments, but that it is simplistic and the author does not take it very far. He goes through a few examples and then he is done. I mean, where is the beef?
If Old Dog is so enamored of less being more, I expect that the next time he orders an Italian beef, he asks the counterman to put less beef between the dipped slices of bun and when the guy looks at him funny he can explain how less is more and something about elegant simplicity, and when the guy looks at him more suspiciously he can brightly inform him that it's actually an Italian beef taco. That should make an impression.
All of which reminds me of the story of the whiskey sour cocktail. Thirty-five years ago I was tending bar in one of Champaign Urbana's toniests joints. I wore a white shirt, a black vest, and a bowtie, that's how fancy it was. The local swells showed up and tipped well and in deference I dropped the sullen attitude I had presented at the House of Chin.
One evening a group of swells dropped in for a before dinner drink and one of them, a woman as well-dressed as the rest of them, but a little unsure of herself, like a woman who had married into money asked for a whiskey sour cocktail. "Right," I said parking it into my memory, "A whiskey sour."
But her finger went up and she corrected me, "A whiskey sour cocktail." A whiskey sour is a cocktail, which I was about to explain, but I remembered my place and ducked down into my bottles.
Afterwards. as they were gathering their coats and whatall to enter the dining room, as I was whisking her empty glass away I asked her, "How was your drink Ma'am?"
"Oh, it was fine," she answered, and then she sighed, a heartbreaking sigh that I expect she had sighed often, "It just wasn't a whiskey sour cocktail."
The big deal about Beto O'Rourke is that he almost beat Cruz in Texas. Texas!!! I didn't follow the race closely because I knew he didn't have a chance, so I can't say I know what his platform is or what is the source of his charisma, and I kind of don't care. What he appears to be at the moment is a guy who can unite the dems and beat Trump, and that is all we dems are looking for right now.
Of course it won't be that simple and he is already taking fire from fellow dems. The last thing we dems want is a bruising primary fight which would leave the party divided and the losers staying home on election day. That is all we good dems are thinking about at the moment.
Tip O'Neil famously said, "All politics is local." But anymore all politics is national. When voting for dog catcher we don't ask what kind of net he uses,. but where he stands on Trump. It has been much written about and discussed. The internet, like tv before it, is getting much of the blame.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
"L'Etat C'est Moi"
A French king, I think it was one of the Louies, said that a long time ago. It literally translates as "The state it is me.", but "I am the state" comes closer to the way we would say it in English. I agree with Old Dog's article from USA Today that it wasn't supposed to be that way in our country. Our president was supposed to be more of an administrator than a monarch, which is why we refer to a president's term of office as his administration rather than his reign. I also agree that one of the driving forces of the evolution of the presidency has been mass communication media. One reason they set up the electoral college was that, in those days, the average citizen knew more about local issues and personalities than he did about national ones. Nowadays, we know more about the president than we do about our congressmen, and we know even less about our county and township boards. In big cities like Chicago, everybody knows who their mayor is, but how many could name their alderman or city council members?
Venezuela is still socialist? I thought they had a regime change awhile back, but maybe it was just a turnover in leadership. I also thought that Russia renounced socialism back in 1990 but, as we have discussed before, Russia is still Russia.
Venezuela is still socialist? I thought they had a regime change awhile back, but maybe it was just a turnover in leadership. I also thought that Russia renounced socialism back in 1990 but, as we have discussed before, Russia is still Russia.
Fireside tweets
Any questions?
None from me, as your responses to Uncle Ken's assertions were quite reasonable. He does tend to go off at times and once his mind is made up he will not budge. I've learned to live with it but I wish he would remember that Swedes and Finns weren't Vikings unless you count the odd settlement here and there.
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Yes, a hot dog is a sandwich, and a taco is a taco.
If you eat a hot dog without a bun are you still eating a hot dog? The package says "hot dogs" but there aren't any buns included at all. That article, with it's "cube theory" of food, was a unique (and humorous) take on the food we eat and shouldn't be taken so literally. I thought the drawing covered all the topological aspects nicely except there was no mention of donuts or bagels. And to argue about the usage of "starch" kind of misses the whole point of the article, in my opinion.
...and less is not more, it's less.
Again, a literal interpretation misses the point. The "less is more" idea precedes Mies by quite a bit, particularly with the Japanese design aesthetic of elegant simplicity. Some people can't get their minds around the usage of empty space, a space which can be it's own pleasing design element. You either get it or you don't and further discussion will likely prove fruitless.
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I agree with Mr. Beagles that he is not obsessed with the caravan but is simply expressing a legitimate concern, but how about this? The Russians have plans to deploy bombers in the Caribbean on an island controlled by Venezuela. This is the kind of story that requires a bit more coverage in the mainstream media, I think, and certainly more newsworthy than the usual tripe we are being fed.
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What's the big deal with Beto O'Rourke except that he's young and photogenic? He couldn't even beat Ted Cruz in an election and now he's in the running for president in 2020? I can't figure it out but I guess the other main contenders, like Bernie and Biden or, god forbid, Hillary, will be too old to mount a winning campaign. One way or another the Republican candidate won't be Trump or Pence because of all the legal issues and drama they bring with themselves; the Republicans are starting to wise up. I wonder if John Kasich is biding his time and waiting to make a move; he might have a good chance unless the Democrats come up with someone we haven't considered yet. That's one of the problems with our electoral system, the most qualified candidate may not be a winning candidate.
But it could be that we are making too much of the role of president, something that USA Today has recently written about. The Founding Fathers would be appalled at the current political situation, and it goes back to FDR. What a world we live in.
None from me, as your responses to Uncle Ken's assertions were quite reasonable. He does tend to go off at times and once his mind is made up he will not budge. I've learned to live with it but I wish he would remember that Swedes and Finns weren't Vikings unless you count the odd settlement here and there.
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Yes, a hot dog is a sandwich, and a taco is a taco.
If you eat a hot dog without a bun are you still eating a hot dog? The package says "hot dogs" but there aren't any buns included at all. That article, with it's "cube theory" of food, was a unique (and humorous) take on the food we eat and shouldn't be taken so literally. I thought the drawing covered all the topological aspects nicely except there was no mention of donuts or bagels. And to argue about the usage of "starch" kind of misses the whole point of the article, in my opinion.
...and less is not more, it's less.
Again, a literal interpretation misses the point. The "less is more" idea precedes Mies by quite a bit, particularly with the Japanese design aesthetic of elegant simplicity. Some people can't get their minds around the usage of empty space, a space which can be it's own pleasing design element. You either get it or you don't and further discussion will likely prove fruitless.
-----
I agree with Mr. Beagles that he is not obsessed with the caravan but is simply expressing a legitimate concern, but how about this? The Russians have plans to deploy bombers in the Caribbean on an island controlled by Venezuela. This is the kind of story that requires a bit more coverage in the mainstream media, I think, and certainly more newsworthy than the usual tripe we are being fed.
-----
What's the big deal with Beto O'Rourke except that he's young and photogenic? He couldn't even beat Ted Cruz in an election and now he's in the running for president in 2020? I can't figure it out but I guess the other main contenders, like Bernie and Biden or, god forbid, Hillary, will be too old to mount a winning campaign. One way or another the Republican candidate won't be Trump or Pence because of all the legal issues and drama they bring with themselves; the Republicans are starting to wise up. I wonder if John Kasich is biding his time and waiting to make a move; he might have a good chance unless the Democrats come up with someone we haven't considered yet. That's one of the problems with our electoral system, the most qualified candidate may not be a winning candidate.
But it could be that we are making too much of the role of president, something that USA Today has recently written about. The Founding Fathers would be appalled at the current political situation, and it goes back to FDR. What a world we live in.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Point by Point
"Oh that caravan, it continues to obsess Beagles clear up at the far northern edge of the country. I don't know what can be done about that, Beagles' obsession that is, as for the caravan if it reaches the border it will splash like a gentle wave on the lake on a warm summer day and drift away just like every caravan before it. It's not our politicians left and right who are making a big deal about it, it is Trump alone, and now he has lost interest in it, and that's why you have to root into the internet to find out how it is going rather than skim the headlines of the day." - Uncle Ken - 12/14/18
Point 1: The last couple of links about the Caravan that I posted were in response to Uncle Ken's question about the subject. I would hardly call that an obsession on my part. Uncle Ken has said that he doesn't like links, yet if I post something that I have dredged up from my own memory, he tends to reject it because I can't provide a source.
"Speaking of things that don't exist, don't exist in the sense that they are not a threat to the integrity of our country and certainly don't exist in the sense that they justify having five or ten thousand of our highly trained troops sitting on the border tossing cards into hats, whatever happened to that caravan?" - Uncle Ken - 12/10/18
Point 2: Without looking it up, I'm pretty sure that the Caravan reached the border about a month ago, so it's not a question of "if it reaches the border". While the violent confrontation that I anticipated hasn't happened yet, one could hardly say that the Caravan splashed like a gentle wave against the border. We have already discussed the tear gas incident, and the last link I provided said that about a thousand Caravan people have already crossed the border illegally. Some of them have left the scene, but there are several thousand of them still camped out along the border, some of whom are waiting for their asylum requests to be processed, and others who have declared to news media that they are determined to get into this country one way or another no matter what.
Point 3: My assertion that politicians both left and right are making a big deal about it came from my last link, although I did say that it confirmed a suspicion that I have had for some time. While it's true that Trump has over reacted about this, like has about lots of other issues, I hardly think that he is the only one in the country who is concerned about it. We have previously discussed the citizen militias. Their effectiveness might be debated, but I don't think you could readily say that they are not concerned about the problem. People don't generally go prowling around the desert for things about which they are not concerned.
Point 4: I hardly think that visiting a news app that reprints stories from major news sources like the Associated Press and its affiliates constitutes rooting into the internet. Of course I don't read every story, there are way too many of them and they don't all interest me, so it could be said that I am indeed skimming the headlines of the day.
Any questions?
Point 1: The last couple of links about the Caravan that I posted were in response to Uncle Ken's question about the subject. I would hardly call that an obsession on my part. Uncle Ken has said that he doesn't like links, yet if I post something that I have dredged up from my own memory, he tends to reject it because I can't provide a source.
"Speaking of things that don't exist, don't exist in the sense that they are not a threat to the integrity of our country and certainly don't exist in the sense that they justify having five or ten thousand of our highly trained troops sitting on the border tossing cards into hats, whatever happened to that caravan?" - Uncle Ken - 12/10/18
Point 2: Without looking it up, I'm pretty sure that the Caravan reached the border about a month ago, so it's not a question of "if it reaches the border". While the violent confrontation that I anticipated hasn't happened yet, one could hardly say that the Caravan splashed like a gentle wave against the border. We have already discussed the tear gas incident, and the last link I provided said that about a thousand Caravan people have already crossed the border illegally. Some of them have left the scene, but there are several thousand of them still camped out along the border, some of whom are waiting for their asylum requests to be processed, and others who have declared to news media that they are determined to get into this country one way or another no matter what.
Point 3: My assertion that politicians both left and right are making a big deal about it came from my last link, although I did say that it confirmed a suspicion that I have had for some time. While it's true that Trump has over reacted about this, like has about lots of other issues, I hardly think that he is the only one in the country who is concerned about it. We have previously discussed the citizen militias. Their effectiveness might be debated, but I don't think you could readily say that they are not concerned about the problem. People don't generally go prowling around the desert for things about which they are not concerned.
Point 4: I hardly think that visiting a news app that reprints stories from major news sources like the Associated Press and its affiliates constitutes rooting into the internet. Of course I don't read every story, there are way too many of them and they don't all interest me, so it could be said that I am indeed skimming the headlines of the day.
Any questions?
Uncle Ken's credo amended
Oh that caravan, it continues to obsess Beagles clear up at the far northern edge of the country. I don't know what can be done about that, Beagles' obsession that is, as for the caravan if it reaches the border it will splash like a gentle wave on the lake on a warm summer day and drift away just like every caravan before it. It's not our politicians left and right who are making a big deal about it, it is Trump alone, and now he has lost interest in it, and that's why you have to root into the internet to find out how it is going rather than skim the headlines of the day.
My guess is the Indians didn't think it was such a big pie when our forefathers showed up to help themselves to a big fat slice of it. Did I say big fat slice? I meant to say the whole pie. Did I say our forefathers? Some of the forefathers of Beagles and myself were not wanted here either because the citizens of the time felt that we were invading their country.
Americans used to breed like rabbits too. Once we got rich and settled we had fewer kids, as do the Mexicans who have been here for two or three generations.
I didn't get a chance to review Diamond in Wiki, but I did look up this Hanson guy, and he is more than somewhat right wing. That doesn't mean that he is wrong about say, the ancient Greeks, but this is an old story about how all the good ideas came from the west and the folks of the east like being ruled by despots, and I don't know how good a case he makes.
I have read frequently that while we civilized folk have to be pretty smart with our complex society and institutes of higher learning and all, but that surviving in the bush with its huge variety of plants and animals, takes a whole lot more brainpower. Maybe those early cro magnons were too busy chasing and being chased by savage beasts to note the sprout of some edible. And those fat veggies and grains of today are the product of thousands of years of development, and likely their scrawny forebears weren't as worth the trouble of cultivating with more pressing matters going on in the woods. And likely too it probably popped up here and there before it caught on as a big deal.
If what Old Dog means by what he did there when discussing calculus was the use of the terms point and limits, then yes I did, and very good. I was never that good at spatial things and geometry seemed kind of tedious, so I guess I an an algebra kind of guy, and number theory, that is aces with me. And there is a whole field of the philosophy of math which roughly revolves around, is math what rules the universe, or just something we thought up when one savage beast was roasting on the spit and the others were held in abeyance by the fire and down by the river the stringbean sprouts were just poking out of the mud, and we had time to count on our fingers?
Well, you know how I feel about links, but when I got to the statement: Whether a hot dog is a sandwich is a problem that has long divided people who like to get into meaningless arguments I was like, what, how come I don't know about this? I would go into more detail but it's almost time for the paper to hit the door. First this whole cube theory is just something this guy has pulled out of his ass. At first I had hopes that this would be based on topology, but it's just stoopid and lacking rigor and smart alecky. All starches are not the same. If your mom sent you to the store for a loaf of bread and you came home with a sack of tortillas she would rightly send you right back. That little join of the upper and lower bun is no big deal and often becomes undone before the sandwich is consumed.. Did you see what I did there? Yes, a hot dog is a sandwich, and a taco is a taco.
And art should look like art and music should sound like music, and less is not more, it's less. See you guys Monday.
My guess is the Indians didn't think it was such a big pie when our forefathers showed up to help themselves to a big fat slice of it. Did I say big fat slice? I meant to say the whole pie. Did I say our forefathers? Some of the forefathers of Beagles and myself were not wanted here either because the citizens of the time felt that we were invading their country.
Americans used to breed like rabbits too. Once we got rich and settled we had fewer kids, as do the Mexicans who have been here for two or three generations.
I didn't get a chance to review Diamond in Wiki, but I did look up this Hanson guy, and he is more than somewhat right wing. That doesn't mean that he is wrong about say, the ancient Greeks, but this is an old story about how all the good ideas came from the west and the folks of the east like being ruled by despots, and I don't know how good a case he makes.
I have read frequently that while we civilized folk have to be pretty smart with our complex society and institutes of higher learning and all, but that surviving in the bush with its huge variety of plants and animals, takes a whole lot more brainpower. Maybe those early cro magnons were too busy chasing and being chased by savage beasts to note the sprout of some edible. And those fat veggies and grains of today are the product of thousands of years of development, and likely their scrawny forebears weren't as worth the trouble of cultivating with more pressing matters going on in the woods. And likely too it probably popped up here and there before it caught on as a big deal.
If what Old Dog means by what he did there when discussing calculus was the use of the terms point and limits, then yes I did, and very good. I was never that good at spatial things and geometry seemed kind of tedious, so I guess I an an algebra kind of guy, and number theory, that is aces with me. And there is a whole field of the philosophy of math which roughly revolves around, is math what rules the universe, or just something we thought up when one savage beast was roasting on the spit and the others were held in abeyance by the fire and down by the river the stringbean sprouts were just poking out of the mud, and we had time to count on our fingers?
Well, you know how I feel about links, but when I got to the statement: Whether a hot dog is a sandwich is a problem that has long divided people who like to get into meaningless arguments I was like, what, how come I don't know about this? I would go into more detail but it's almost time for the paper to hit the door. First this whole cube theory is just something this guy has pulled out of his ass. At first I had hopes that this would be based on topology, but it's just stoopid and lacking rigor and smart alecky. All starches are not the same. If your mom sent you to the store for a loaf of bread and you came home with a sack of tortillas she would rightly send you right back. That little join of the upper and lower bun is no big deal and often becomes undone before the sandwich is consumed.. Did you see what I did there? Yes, a hot dog is a sandwich, and a taco is a taco.
And art should look like art and music should sound like music, and less is not more, it's less. See you guys Monday.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Spinning the Caravan
Old Dog's latest link raises some interesting questions about the Caravan. As I have suspected from the beginning, our politicians, both left and right, seem more interested in making political hay out of this problem than they are about solving it. The fact that the midterm election is now history doesn't seem to have changed their tactics either, as they are already focused on the next election. I have long believed that one of the bugs in our system is that it seems to take more energy to get elected than it does to actually do the job. Of course they can't do the job if they don't get elected, so I don't know what the answer is to that one.
I don't know what's more dangerous, an unruly mob or a disciplined army. Either way, they seem determined to get their own piece of the American pie. The same could be said of our own ancestors but, in those days, the pie kept getting bigger, while now it's a matter of cutting the same pie into smaller and smaller pieces. If they keep doing that, it doesn't take a mathematical genius to predict that we are going to run out of pie sooner or later. In one of the previous articles, it said that Mexico would like the Caravan people to settle in Mexico because they have a bit of a labor shortage there. Some years ago, American companies built a whole bunch of factories along the Mexican side of the border so that Mexican workers wouldn't have to commute back and forth. Now they are finding it difficult to fill all those jobs because they don't pay enough. I suppose they could just increase the wage scale, but that would defeat the whole purpose of building those factories in the first place.
In the last link that I posted, it said that about a thousand Caravan people have already crossed the border illegally. It also said that about a thousand of them have been apprehended by Border Patrol. It wasn't made clear if those are the same thousand or two different thousands. If its the same thousand, it could be said that the Border Patrol is doing a fine job but, it it's two different thousands, it means that our guys are only catching half of the illegal crossers.
I have said before that I wouldn't be against helping the Caravan people if there weren't so many of them. They need to start using birth control or something. Way back in the 50s, we were all warned that the current global population growth was not sustainable. Either we needed to bring it under control or Mother Nature was going to do it for us, and it would not be pretty. Since then, the Europeans and North Americans have done their part, but the rest of the world keeps cranking out babies like there's no tomorrow. One of the biggest reasons for the much maligned gap between the rich and the poor is that the people who can least afford children are having the most of them. I can think of a couple of answers to that one, but people would just accuse me of genocide, so I'm not even going to bring them up. Maybe it's best to let Mother Nature handle it after all, since she doesn't have to run for re-election.
I don't know what's more dangerous, an unruly mob or a disciplined army. Either way, they seem determined to get their own piece of the American pie. The same could be said of our own ancestors but, in those days, the pie kept getting bigger, while now it's a matter of cutting the same pie into smaller and smaller pieces. If they keep doing that, it doesn't take a mathematical genius to predict that we are going to run out of pie sooner or later. In one of the previous articles, it said that Mexico would like the Caravan people to settle in Mexico because they have a bit of a labor shortage there. Some years ago, American companies built a whole bunch of factories along the Mexican side of the border so that Mexican workers wouldn't have to commute back and forth. Now they are finding it difficult to fill all those jobs because they don't pay enough. I suppose they could just increase the wage scale, but that would defeat the whole purpose of building those factories in the first place.
In the last link that I posted, it said that about a thousand Caravan people have already crossed the border illegally. It also said that about a thousand of them have been apprehended by Border Patrol. It wasn't made clear if those are the same thousand or two different thousands. If its the same thousand, it could be said that the Border Patrol is doing a fine job but, it it's two different thousands, it means that our guys are only catching half of the illegal crossers.
I have said before that I wouldn't be against helping the Caravan people if there weren't so many of them. They need to start using birth control or something. Way back in the 50s, we were all warned that the current global population growth was not sustainable. Either we needed to bring it under control or Mother Nature was going to do it for us, and it would not be pretty. Since then, the Europeans and North Americans have done their part, but the rest of the world keeps cranking out babies like there's no tomorrow. One of the biggest reasons for the much maligned gap between the rich and the poor is that the people who can least afford children are having the most of them. I can think of a couple of answers to that one, but people would just accuse me of genocide, so I'm not even going to bring them up. Maybe it's best to let Mother Nature handle it after all, since she doesn't have to run for re-election.
Caravan, with a drum solo
Although I am familiar with the book, I cannot state with absolute certitude that I've read Guns, Germs, and Steel. I know I've read one or two of Diamond's other works but not that one. Since I don't have a copy I don't think I've read it and I have no plans to read it now despite the fact that I enjoyed his other works. I remember reading a lot of stuff by another guy around the same time I was reading Diamond, Victor Davis Hanson. I preferred his stuff at the time but don't recall any details except that he was somewhat right-wing, dealing with a lot of military history. I suppose he and Diamond are still at it but I have no idea what they've written lately.
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Mr. Beagles' link to the caravan article was welcome; I don't have any significant news feeds and some things simply fall through the cracks. This was the first article I've read that had some real numbers, such as the caravan members are 70% male and mostly young, between the ages of 18 and 26 if I recall correctly. According to another recent article the caravan isn't the unruly mob that has been portrayed in the media; there is a surprising amount of organization and self-regulation.
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Why did it take so long to discover agriculture?
I can't say but it must not have been easy. Suppose we three crafty old gents were plopped down in the middle of a wilderness. I think we'd starve before we figured out what was safe to eat without our prior knowledge. We have an understanding of how seeds work and plants propagate but our ancient ancestors didn't. The fact that they figured it out is somewhat miraculous, in my opinion, passing the information across generations without the benefit of any written language. As far as survival is concerned they did a much better job of it than I could have.
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Uncle Ken's enthusiasm for math continues unabated which is fine; I don't mind at all. There's a lot to be enthusiastic about but I wonder if he has a favorite branch of mathematics. I like geometry and algebra the most, with trigonometry being a distant third. I know enough about the calculus to know that I understand very little about it. I reach a certain point and then my brain fogs over and I am lost. There are limits (see what I did there?) that I cannot overcome.
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In case you were following the online arguments as to whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich the answer is in. It's not a sandwich, it's a taco.
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Mr. Beagles' link to the caravan article was welcome; I don't have any significant news feeds and some things simply fall through the cracks. This was the first article I've read that had some real numbers, such as the caravan members are 70% male and mostly young, between the ages of 18 and 26 if I recall correctly. According to another recent article the caravan isn't the unruly mob that has been portrayed in the media; there is a surprising amount of organization and self-regulation.
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Why did it take so long to discover agriculture?
I can't say but it must not have been easy. Suppose we three crafty old gents were plopped down in the middle of a wilderness. I think we'd starve before we figured out what was safe to eat without our prior knowledge. We have an understanding of how seeds work and plants propagate but our ancient ancestors didn't. The fact that they figured it out is somewhat miraculous, in my opinion, passing the information across generations without the benefit of any written language. As far as survival is concerned they did a much better job of it than I could have.
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Uncle Ken's enthusiasm for math continues unabated which is fine; I don't mind at all. There's a lot to be enthusiastic about but I wonder if he has a favorite branch of mathematics. I like geometry and algebra the most, with trigonometry being a distant third. I know enough about the calculus to know that I understand very little about it. I reach a certain point and then my brain fogs over and I am lost. There are limits (see what I did there?) that I cannot overcome.
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In case you were following the online arguments as to whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich the answer is in. It's not a sandwich, it's a taco.
spitballing
Speaking of the Czechs, I remember when they taught us history in school with that big pull-down multi-colored map. The Greeks had their empire, and of course the Romans theirs, even those no-account Persians had an empire. Later on the Spanish covered a good part of the the globe, the French had Napoleon, and even the Germans had their ill-famed day in the sun. But wait a minute, did I fall asleep or was I pretending my pencil was a spaceship when they were talking about the Bohemian empire? Well once long ago there was something called Greater Moravia, but it wasn't that great and it didn't last very long. Old Dog's people did pretty well for awhile but it doesn't seem like those dragon boats sailed in unison, it was every horned head (which Old Dog has pointed out they didn't really wear, which I have to say is a disappointment) for himself and it seems like they went native pretty quickly.
I think we are all readers of Guns, Germs, and Steel. How did those scrappy Europeans go from has-beens to conquerors of the globe? Jared thought, as I recall, that it was because of the natural obstacles that divided Europe into all those different countries so that when the enlightenment hit and enlightenment guys pissed off their local king they could always flee to some other country which was happy to have them because the enemy of my enemy thing, so instead of being squashed they were able to spread their enlightened ideas around. Well that's my memory, but having said that it sounds a bit implausible. Maybe I should reread it, or at least the wiki entry on the subject.
You wonder why the process of civilization was so slow, well sure it took awhile to evolve, The web is vague, but let's say Cro Magnon first turned his handsome head 40,000 years ago. What was he doing all that time? Why did it take so long to discover agriculture? Well maybe it took awhile to catch on. Watching the peas grow does not have the allure of getting together with your pals and spears and going off on the hunt.
Well I am just spitballing here, just throwing things out without much thought. Maybe I should have been talking about math. How about there is some guy, say one of those tribesmen on that island near /India where they killed the missionary, and he doesn't know nothing abut math, but he has say 25 fish, although he can't even count them, to him it is just a mess of fish. And he is after clamshells which he knows he can get two each for a fish, so he goes to the clamshell guy and lays down a fish and gets two shells, lays down another and gets two more and in the end walks away with a mess of shells, though he can't count them, and gives his lady love one a day until he runs out. How come me sitting here far from this guy can make a few marks on a piece of paper and know exactly how many days it will be until he runs out of shells, Doesn't that sound like magic of some kind?
I think we are all readers of Guns, Germs, and Steel. How did those scrappy Europeans go from has-beens to conquerors of the globe? Jared thought, as I recall, that it was because of the natural obstacles that divided Europe into all those different countries so that when the enlightenment hit and enlightenment guys pissed off their local king they could always flee to some other country which was happy to have them because the enemy of my enemy thing, so instead of being squashed they were able to spread their enlightened ideas around. Well that's my memory, but having said that it sounds a bit implausible. Maybe I should reread it, or at least the wiki entry on the subject.
You wonder why the process of civilization was so slow, well sure it took awhile to evolve, The web is vague, but let's say Cro Magnon first turned his handsome head 40,000 years ago. What was he doing all that time? Why did it take so long to discover agriculture? Well maybe it took awhile to catch on. Watching the peas grow does not have the allure of getting together with your pals and spears and going off on the hunt.
Well I am just spitballing here, just throwing things out without much thought. Maybe I should have been talking about math. How about there is some guy, say one of those tribesmen on that island near /India where they killed the missionary, and he doesn't know nothing abut math, but he has say 25 fish, although he can't even count them, to him it is just a mess of fish. And he is after clamshells which he knows he can get two each for a fish, so he goes to the clamshell guy and lays down a fish and gets two shells, lays down another and gets two more and in the end walks away with a mess of shells, though he can't count them, and gives his lady love one a day until he runs out. How come me sitting here far from this guy can make a few marks on a piece of paper and know exactly how many days it will be until he runs out of shells, Doesn't that sound like magic of some kind?
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
The Bohemian National
The Bohemian National Cemetery is a fine cemetery. I haven't been out there for awhile, but it has a lot of fine statuary, and I don't know if it was a Czech thing or just what people did at the time, but many of the tombstones have little cameo-style photos of the deceased affixed. Perhaps that was the style with the slow developing cameras of the day, but I prefer to think that it was the thought, when the photo was taken, that it would be on their tombstone, that accounts for the very serious expressions on their faces. One whole section is devoted to victims of the Eastland disaster, with whole families buried together all expiring on that same date. In the center is the tomb of our great hero, Anton, "Pushcart," Cermak. Right across from it is one for James Janovsky which was the name of my mother's father, though he is not interred there, so I don't know who is in that mausoleum. This Christmas I will be getting one of those Ancestry kits and I'd like to find out more about that part of the family since right now I know nothing.
There is a story that it was founded when the regular Catholic cemetery refused to accept the body of a woman who committed suicide and the free thinkers buried her in the vacant land where the cemetery would later arise, and according to the laws of the time once a body was buried it couldn't be disturbed so it became the Bohemian National Cemetery. This story is probably not true since I don't remember where I read it and I have not been able to find it anywhere else. But I think it did arise from some disagreement between the religious and the free thinkers. Free thinkers were a thing around the turn of the century (Willa Cather writes about them), not quite atheists, more like agnostics or people who don't partake in organized religion. I think Bohemians became associated with them because of their religious dissensions.
Meis's last work was the IBM building, not sure what it is called now. This whole idea of naming rights is stupid. A building should keep its original name, add that to my credo. The Quaker Building is a couple blocks west on Dearborn. It used to contain the world's largest box of Quaker Oats, which was not an actual box just a replica twenty or thirty feet high. As a youthful Chicago booster I used to point it out with pride, but as I got older I began to realize, the world's largest box of Quaker Oats, big deal.
Armadillos were a big deal in Texas. People would point at a smear on the highway and say that was an armadillo but it looked like any other smear to me. I don't recall any mention of them in St Louis. But here is a St Louis thing: they call obstreperous hicks Hoosiers. It has nothing to do with Indiana, just their name for that sort of people. I expect the term was once in general use before it became confined to St Louis and that's how the citizens of Indiana got their nickname, as people often take their names from their distractors. Though the land of Lincoln need not brag, it being called the Sucker State, but a little better than Missouri who some call the Puke State..
There is a story that it was founded when the regular Catholic cemetery refused to accept the body of a woman who committed suicide and the free thinkers buried her in the vacant land where the cemetery would later arise, and according to the laws of the time once a body was buried it couldn't be disturbed so it became the Bohemian National Cemetery. This story is probably not true since I don't remember where I read it and I have not been able to find it anywhere else. But I think it did arise from some disagreement between the religious and the free thinkers. Free thinkers were a thing around the turn of the century (Willa Cather writes about them), not quite atheists, more like agnostics or people who don't partake in organized religion. I think Bohemians became associated with them because of their religious dissensions.
Meis's last work was the IBM building, not sure what it is called now. This whole idea of naming rights is stupid. A building should keep its original name, add that to my credo. The Quaker Building is a couple blocks west on Dearborn. It used to contain the world's largest box of Quaker Oats, which was not an actual box just a replica twenty or thirty feet high. As a youthful Chicago booster I used to point it out with pride, but as I got older I began to realize, the world's largest box of Quaker Oats, big deal.
Armadillos were a big deal in Texas. People would point at a smear on the highway and say that was an armadillo but it looked like any other smear to me. I don't recall any mention of them in St Louis. But here is a St Louis thing: they call obstreperous hicks Hoosiers. It has nothing to do with Indiana, just their name for that sort of people. I expect the term was once in general use before it became confined to St Louis and that's how the citizens of Indiana got their nickname, as people often take their names from their distractors. Though the land of Lincoln need not brag, it being called the Sucker State, but a little better than Missouri who some call the Puke State..
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Spinning the Yarn
I first heard of the Cimrman story when my daughter sent me something she had found on the internet about the TV contest that he was so unjustly deprived of winning. I found some more stuff myself, mostly disjointed anecdotes with little cohesive continuity. Even by then, the story had evolved beyond the material provided by the original authors, so I figured that I could put my own creative spin on it without hurting anybody's feelings. I first presented it at an annual storytelling event that was held in Petoskey for some 15 years, and it was big hit.
I am not conversant in the Czech language, but I became familiar with its rules of pronunciation when I learned a few Czech folk songs to sing for my family. I used to be kind of an amateur singer-songwriter, but I haven't done anything with it for years.
The article about Czechs in Chicago was interesting. We lived on the South Side, so the only Czech neighborhood with which I am familiar was the one the article calls "Czech California", although I never heard it called that back in the day. We lived a few miles south of there on 51st Street, but my father was a partner in Lawndale Meat Products on 27th Street. I looked it up on Google Earth one day, and the building still stands, but somebody has converted to a martial arts center.
Here's some recent news of the Caravan:
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBQOUUP?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
I am not conversant in the Czech language, but I became familiar with its rules of pronunciation when I learned a few Czech folk songs to sing for my family. I used to be kind of an amateur singer-songwriter, but I haven't done anything with it for years.
The article about Czechs in Chicago was interesting. We lived on the South Side, so the only Czech neighborhood with which I am familiar was the one the article calls "Czech California", although I never heard it called that back in the day. We lived a few miles south of there on 51st Street, but my father was a partner in Lawndale Meat Products on 27th Street. I looked it up on Google Earth one day, and the building still stands, but somebody has converted to a martial arts center.
Here's some recent news of the Caravan:
https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBQOUUP?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
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