Nuclear Weapons, and Other Matters of Varying Importance
On this day in 1978 Jimmy Carter canceled the development of the neutron bomb. Imagine if we unilaterally got rid of all our nukes, like I used to naively think we should do. I suppose Russia would rule the world by now. The country that kept theirs, or developed more in secret would be the most powerful. (If you never change your mind, you never grow.)
Yuval Noah Harari said that he doesn't know for sure, but he believes that the rise in nuclear weaponry is the key thing that led to the Long Peace- 75+ years of no wars between superpowers. You can't go to war with a country that has the ability to destroy you by pressing a button. You assure your own destruction. The problem, of course, is that a psychopath could end up in charge of them.
“The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.” -James Baldwin.
April 7, 2022
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Speaking of destruction, when this day in 1906 Mount Vesuvius erupted and devastated Naples. It often seems likely to me that we will wipe ourselves out. It's easy to forget that the Earth could do it for us. And what about space? Right this second there is an asteroid bigger than the one that killed the dinosaurs that is on a collision course with us. Sure, it might be tens of millions of years away, but its course is set.
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Robert Reich- "Clarence Thomas ruled in favor of Citizens United. Harlan Crow and his family's political contributions then went up 862%. Then we find out Thomas let Crow take him on lavish trips, buy his mom's house, and help fund his wife's conservative nonprofit. See how this works?"
To imagine that the Republicans wouldn't have already impeached a liberal justice who did the same thing, is to imagine a world that doesn't exist.
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Ready for springtime!
April 7, 2019
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I accidentally bumped Gretel in the head today and Zuzu said I was naughty. Ahhh, perfect opportunity to teach moral fundamentals. I told her, "Daddy is not naughty because we're only responsible for the intended or expected results of our actions."
April 7, 2018
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These two took some time out from chasing robins and running a donut shop to pose for a couple pictures.
April 7, 2018
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Remember that year everybody pretended Julia Roberts deserved an Oscar? They really fooled her!
April 7, 2013
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"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." When you think about it, I suppose if someone considers all gods equal they are satisfying that commandment. And I guess it would still be satisfied if someone considered all gods equally non-existent.
April 7, 2013
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At least once in your life you should get a haircut so bad that you have to shave your head.
April 7, 2011
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On this day in 1934, in Noblesville, Indiana, John Dillinger and his half brother crashed their car. Dillinger hid in a haystack until the repairs were finished.
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The Internet's symbolic birth date. The publication of RFC 1 occured on this day in 1969.
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The English poet, William Wordsworth, was born on this day in 1770. What a ridiculous name for a poet! It's like his name was written by a poet.
“Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.”
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Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player, was born in 1920. How would the Beatles music be different if he never existed? Would there even have been a Pather Panchali?
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Author of the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, was born on this day in 1931. It's funny looking back with the clear sight of history. Anybody that Nixon mentioned as an enemy in his tapes, is a hero. Without books like the Pentagon Papers though, maybe that would not be true. Many people put it all on the line.
"Whether rightly or wrongly, we are the only country in the world that believes it won a war by bombing—specifically by bombing cities with weapons of mass destruction, firebombs, and atomic bombs—and believes that it was fully justified in doing so. It is a dangerous state of mind."
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Where would modern film be without Francis Ford Coppola? He was born today in 1939, the same year that the Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, and The Rules of the Game were released.
Francis Ford Coppola, Cannes, 2024- “There’s so many people when they die, they say, ‘I wish I had done this, I wish I done that.’ When I die, I’m going to say, ‘I got to do this.’ I got to see my daughter win an Oscar and I got to make wine and I got to make every movie I wanted to make. I’m going to be so busy thinking about all the things I got to do that when I die I won’t notice it.”
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Peter Fluck was born on this day in 1941. He is an English puppet maker, illustrator, and guy with a funny name.
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Jackie Chan was born on this day in 1954. Here's his best story:
https://youtu.be/U8CtOqJy6xM
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Other notable birthdays- Percy Faith (1908), Billie Holiday (1915)
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Some people believe that Jesus Christ died this day, in the year 30. Some people also believe that God created people with original sin, destroyed almost all of them for sinning, impregnated a woman with Jesus Christ who is also a part of God, only to later allow Jesus to be killed while having the power to save him, so that he could be a sacrifice to save people from sin, which He created them with in the beginning. It's pretty simple.
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P. T. Barnum died on this day in 1891. He famously said that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Ever since then many assholes have lived their lives accordingly. Do you know what his last words were? "How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?"
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Jig-dancing actor Walter Huston, died on this day in 1950. From Treasure of the Sierra Madre, "Water's precious, sometimes maybe more precíous than gold." I think about that a lot since I got lost in the desert.
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Mysterious silent screen legend Theda Bara died on this day in 1955. "Once on the streets of New York a woman called the police because her child spoke to me."
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Director Les Blank died on this day in 2013. My favorite film of his is Burden of Dreams, the documentary on Herzog filming Fitzcarraldo. It's much more enjoyable to watch than Fitzcarraldo! This is Herzog, filmed by Les Blank:
"Taking a close look at - at what's around us there - there is some sort of a harmony. It is the harmony of... overwhelming and collective murder. And we in comparison to the articulate vileness and baseness and obscenity of all this jungle - Uh, we in comparison to that enormous articulation - we only sound and look like badly pronounced and half-finished sentences out of a stupid suburban... novel... a cheap novel. We have to become humble in front of this overwhelming misery and overwhelming fornication... overwhelming growth and overwhelming lack of order. Even the - the stars up here in the - in the sky look like a mess. There is no harmony in the universe. We have to get acquainted to this idea that there is no real harmony as we have conceived it. But when I say this, I say this all full of admiration for the jungle. It is not that I hate it, I love it. I love it very much. But I love it against my better judgment."
I mean that's a goldmine, that wouldn't exist without Les Blank.
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Seymour Cassel died on this day in 2019, Cassavettes actor, and Max Fischer's father in Rushmore
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Country-folk singer John Prine died of Covid on this day in 2020, perhaps the first high-profile Covid death. He wrote this knockout of a song with Iris Dement.
IN SPITE OF OURSELVES
She don't like her eggs all runny
She thinks crossin' her legs is funny
She looks down her nose at money
She gets it on like the Easter Bunny
She's my baby I'm her honey
I'm never gonna let her go
He ain't got laid in a month of Sundays
I caught him once and he was sniffin' my undies
He ain't too sharp but he gets things done
Drinks his beer like it's oxygen
He's my baby
And I'm his honey
Never gonna let him go
In spite of ourselves
We'll end up a'sittin' on a rainbow
Against all odds
Honey, we're the big door prize
We're gonna spite our noses
Right off of our faces
There won't be nothin' but big old hearts
Dancin' in our eyes.
She thinks all my jokes are corny
Convict movies make her horny
She likes ketchup on her scrambled eggs
Swears like a sailor when shaves her legs
She takes a lickin'
And keeps on tickin'
I'm never gonna let her go.
He's got more balls than a big brass monkey
He's a wacked out werido and a lovebug junkie
Sly as a fox and crazy as a loon
Payday comes and he's howlin' at the moon
He's my baby I don't mean maybe
Never gonna let him go
In spite of ourselves
We'll end up a'sittin' on a rainbow
Against all odds
Honey, we're the big door prize
We're gonna spite our noses
Right off of our faces
There won't be nothin' but big old hearts
Dancin' in our eyes.
There won't be nothin' but big old hearts
Dancin' in our eyes.
In spite of ourselves
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Another notable deathday- Henry Ford (1947)
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On this day in 1991 Mitch Williams joined Phillies, thus putting in motion a chain of events that would result in them making it to, and then losing, the 1993 World Series. Net positive, I will always love him. Some things don't end well but are still worth the journey.
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Nick Cave's influences. Everyone should make this list.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/03/30/nick-cave-influences/
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Huffington Post- Christianity As State Religion Supported By One-Third Of Americans, Poll Finds
What harm could come from it?
http://huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/06/christianity-state-religion_n_3022255.html
April7, 2013
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NPR- Somewhere Over The Brainbow: The Journey To Map the Human Brain
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/31/175858397/somewhere-over-the-brainbow-the-journey-to-map-the-human-brain
April 7, 2013
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Tonight is the series finally of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
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I love this article. Before Curb Your Enthusiasm existed, I remember a philosophy professor saying similar things about Seinfeld, that it wasn't about nothing, it was an exploration of the idiosyncracies we all take for granted. From the article:
"One simple way of considering the character of Larry is as a vessel of our wish fulfillment. As Cheryl Hines, David’s co-star, has said, “I think we all live vicariously through Larry,” because “if somebody asks you to dinner, you’d like to just say, ‘No, I don’t really like you that much.’ But people don’t in real life, you know? Larry does.” Sigmund Freud argued in his 1905 book “Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious” that laughter gives us a sense of relief because it releases the energy we normally spend on repressing our drives. Freud would say that when Larry acts out on “Curb,” we laugh because Larry lets us indirectly satisfy repressed desires to do the same."
Larry David, Philosopher King
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/opinion/larry-david-curb-philosophy.html
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Wow, what a perfect summation!
"Larry David’s comedic ethos mixes Jewish humor, self-deprecation, and an almost obsessive preoccupation with the minutiae of daily life. That Jewish humor rooted is in European shtetls, embracing the underdog and a joyous pessimism.
"David’s on-screen persona is a man perpetually out of step with societal norms, a modern ‘schlemiel’ whose best intentions often lead to societal faux pas.... kvetching about the unwritten rules of social engagement, David has turned discomfort into an art form -- and humor into a coping mechanism. Dealing with the anxiety that comes from the clash between individual desires and societal expectations, it reflects of a deeper, almost existential discomfort with the social contract.
"Psychologically, David’s comedy resonates because it taps into a universal fear of social ostracization. Through his lens, we see the absurdity of social conventions and the often arbitrary nature of politeness. His willingness to breach these norms - to say what we dare not say - is both cathartic and humanizing — a reminder that behind the facades of propriety, We are all Larry David in some measure: awkward, uncertain, and striving for connection in a world that often makes little sense.”
Somehow that was written by ChatGPT after Ari Melber prompted:
“In the style of a sophisticated New Yorker magazine essay, discuss why Larry David’s comedy is the way it is, and the potential psychological factors that make it distinct. Discuss the history of Jewish and self-deprecating humor in the context of his work on Curb your enthusiasm. Mix in humorous or Jewish phrases without being heavy handed.”
Ari began reading that to Larry at an HBO event and Larry said, "This is stupid!"
I used ChatGPT obsessively for a weekend about a year ago, then a few times over the following month, then never again. We need to stay away from it too retain our human-ness... perhaps our Larry-ness. It's too polite! I couldn't even get it to make one joke about Hitler.
https://arimelber.substack.com/p/larry-david-on-voting-rights-and
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From Wikipedia:
Roland the Farter (known in contemporary records as Roland le Fartere, Roulandus le Fartere, Rollandus le Pettus or Roland le Petour) was a medieval flatulist who lived in twelfth-century England. He was given Hemingstone manor in Suffolk and 30 acres (12 hectares) of land in return for his services as a jester for King Henry II. Each year he was obliged to perform "Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum" (one jump and whistle and one fart) for the king's court at Christmas.
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On this day in 2022, I woke up in the middle of the night tossing and turning thinking about a meeting we had that day where we were turned down for some money that we were asking for. I jotted down a bunch of stuff that formed the basis of a letter I wrote the next day. That letter got the company about a million dollars. Today that's the most valuable piece of writing I've ever done!
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A dream that traumatized me as a childhood- walking up the stairs from the dark basement of my grandparents house, a pirate was trying to bite my kneecaps. He was sort of real, sort of muppet. One of my first memories. At 50, I still think about it any time I walk up basement stairs in the dark and start running.
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Interesting idea put forth by a religious friend... Jerusalem as the least holy place on earth, the never-ending symbol of us vs them, which should be the antithesis of any true religion.
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Moynihan hated when people say that government was the problem. He would say, "If you have contempt for the government, you will get a contemptible government."
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George Bernard Shaw- "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."
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Vincent Van Gogh- "I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process."
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Confucius?- "There's no need for vengeance, those with the corrupt art destroying themselves."
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Saul Bellow- "You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write."
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Josh Billings- "There are people so addicted to exaggeration that they actually can't tell the truth without lying."
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Walt Whitman:
When I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the
lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
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Richard Dawkins- "The chicken is only an egg’s way for making another egg."
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Dumb Short Joke of the Day:
I've been told I'm condescending. That means I talk down to people.
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