Ouch! The three articles I read regarding generosity (Marketwatch, CNN, Wikipedia) all cited the same study from the Charities Aid Foundation so I should have said "according to one study." Mea culpa. I will not speculate on the existence of other studies (as likely as that may be) and will leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine the validity of the methodology of the World Giving Index.
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Street names in Chicago have always seemed curious to me; it's like the city fathers ran out of ideas when it came to the south side...total lack of imagination. There are a few names (Roosevelt Rd, Cermak Rd., Pershing Rd., et al.) but the rest are numbered. It's hard to believe that a city with such a rich history of bigwigs and political hacks ran out of names.
The numbered streets are more logical, though, because you can easily visualize distances...simple addition and subtraction. But only the east-west streets are numbered. Why is that?
There is an inconsistent alphabetical component to some of the streets as you go west, starting with the K streets (Kildare, Keeler, etc.) followed by L streets (Laramie, Lotus, Long, etc.) up to some O streets (Oleander, Olcott, etc.). There might be a couple of P streets, too.
So, here's a joke about Chicago streets told to me decades ago by Sue, one of the bartenders at the Gingerman Tavern. Vulgar, inappropriate, unquestionably in poor taste, but funny. I apologize, in advance.
Q: There are three streets in Chicago that rhyme with vagina. What are they?
A: Paulina, Melvina, and Lunt.
What? You don't think that's funny? Maybe you heard it before...
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Gun porn? Maybe a bit...some of us had a rite of passage where our dads taught us a little about proper use of firearms on the family vacation in the north woods of Wisconsin. And then there's the military bit, or what I used to refer to as a "Federal grant for the study and practice of military science."
My mom's Uncle Al was a gunsmith of no small repute. Mr. Beagles may be interested in Googling "Alvin Linden gunsmith." Anyhow, my sister is the curator of the family weapon heirlooms (her husband is a Chicago cop, now retired). The big treasure (I mean BIG) is a Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr, on which Uncle Al put a new stock with no pistol grip. Dad always like to bring it out to show off to his pals. In my mind it looked like a cartoon rifle, something Wile E. Coyote would order from ACME.
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The demonstrations by Black Lives Matter seem placid to me when you compare them to the demonstrations and riots of the mid-60s. Watts, Chicago, Detroit...no need to see that again.
I read recently (don't bust my chops, Uncle Ken. If I knew my banter would be so closely scrutinized I would have bookmarked the source) that social media is a large component of the organization of demonstrations nowadays. There are public and private channels that folks are using to get things going, and their system works well.
And now everybody, on all sides, has a camera and is live-streaming the events. Joining any demonstration means that you *will* be photographed by the authorities and your face will be run through some facial recognition mumbo-jumbo, and who knows what they'll come up with, or what conclusions they'll arrive at. It's too late for me to escape the gaze of the Big Data panopticon, but there's no sense it making it easier for...whatever. And it wouldn't surprise me if there's a "Dark Web" version of the facial recognition stuff so the no-goodniks can do the same for cops, feds, suspected undercover agents, or whoever else they distrust. Creepy, huh? We can get it from both sides now (apologies to Joni Mitchell).
Speaking of Big Data, there's a fascinating three-part series by Robert X. Cringely, the noted pundit. Worth a read, and yes, privacy is dead.
Getting back to Black Lives Matter, there is a video by Vi Hart (noted for her great math videos) about BLM which is lucid and thoughtful if you care to follow up. It's at http://vihart.com/ and there's a transcript if you don't want to view the video. Make of it what you will.
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In anticipation of the upcoming holiday season (earlier and earlier, every year) here is something I've been pondering...what is the point of a child's belief in Santa Claus?
Is it to teach disappointment, and that the people you love and trust the most have been lying to you? Once that watershed moment is reached everything else you've been told becomes suspect, doesn't it? Humbug, indeed.
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For a little curious pick-me-up, Mort Sahl is still performing and videos are on YouTube. And Dick Gregory is still touring. Sure miss George Carlin; bet he'd have something pointed to say about life in these times, but maybe everything is too obvious and no laughing matter.
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