Knowing Ourselves Through Miscellany
Two larger than life personalities of the 20th century were Orson Welles and Babe Ruth. Orson Welles was born on this day in 1915, the exact same day that Babe Ruth hit his first home run.
Babe Ruth said, "I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big." Orson Welles could have said the same thing.
The best shots of Orson Welles:
https://youtu.be/IRibXjNxElU
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Roger Sterling- “Have a drink. It’ll make me look younger.”
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I just found a 350 page Word document in my Google Drive folder titled "Complete MySpace Blogs." It's 100,000 words! So I guess I have a record of what I was like from about 2003 to 2008. All that exists for most of my ancestors is their name, two dates, and some census records.
May 6, 2020
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Hanlon's razor- Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
Attributed to Robert J. Hanlon, whoever the hell that is or was.
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I think the most reasonable argument I hear in support of Trump these days is some version of, "Look, we knew we were voting for a deeply flawed human being when we elected him."
May 6, 2018
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Martha Nussbaum was born on this day in 1947.
"Knowledge is no guarantee of good behavior, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behavior."
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Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals- "The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."
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Got back to nature today. Yep, sat on my porch reading about my favorite thing in nature- the human brain.
May 6, 2012
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Environmentalist, Farley Mowat, left us on this day in 2014.
"We're under some gross misconception that we're a good species, going somewhere important, and that at the last minute we'll correct our errors and God will smile on us. It's delusion."
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I was talking to a farmer on the phone today but he wasn't sure who I was. Instead of asking "Is this Ben?," he asked, "Is this Ben talking?" I love when they throw in an extra word.
May 6, 2010
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Chief Crazy Horse, He Dog, Little Big Man, Iron Crow and others of the Oglala Lakota surrendered on this day in 1877 to United States troops in Nebraska. Crazy Horse had about 4 months to live.
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The Eiffel Tower was officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris on this day in 1889. I feel like somebody could spend the rest of their life studying its geometry. There's some mathematical weight-bearing principle involved, I can't quite remember it, something about losing the middle section of a weight-bearing piece well losing no structural integrity.
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On this day in 1935 the nation was given a New Deal. On top of everything else, great marketing. I don't know if the Democrats have had a marketer on their payroll since.
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The Hindenburg disaster happened on this day in 1937. Somehow there were 97 people on board and 62 survived!
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Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes on this day in 1954. A year later, everybody could do it. Fucking brains, how do they work?
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Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe- "Some of the greatest discoveries...consist mainly in the clearing away of psychological roadblocks which obstruct the approach to reality; which is why, post factum they appear so obvious."
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You know what Neil Armstrong did on this day in 1968, after narrowly avoiding death by crashing the practice moon lander? He ate lunch and just went back to work. I think about that all the time.
https://youtu.be/BkIwHkwh3Ws
https://youtu.be/dNlZXso0-I4
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Sigmund Freud was born on this day in 1856.
I need to read his short book, The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious.
"What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books."
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On this day in 1998 in his fifth career start, Kerry Wood one-hit the Houston Astros, striking out 20 and walking none. Almost nobody has performed that well at their job on a given day, ever.
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Who is my favorite baseball player? Maybe Mike Schmidt, maybe Pete Rose, quite likely Willie Mays- born on this day in 1931. If for no other reason, he should be remembered a thousand years in the future for, "The Catch." I remember referencing it in a report I did in 5th grade. He wanted to be remembered for the throw. The throw was great too!
Announcer: "That catch look like it must have been an optical illusion to a lot of people."
Whether or not he's my favorite baseball player, he does have my vote for the greatest, most complete, baseball player.
24x all-star, 12x gold glove, 660 home runs
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Tony Blair was born on this day in 1953. Among other honors, he was obliterated in a debate with Christopher Hitchens. I remember paying $5 to live stream it!
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Larry Andersen joined us on the same day.
"What do they call a coffee break at the Lipton tea company?"
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Essayist, post, and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, left us on this day in 1862, on Sigmund Freud's 6th birthday. My life could have been drastically different if not for him. After graduating college, I took his quote, "simplify, simplify," quite literally. I worked off and on and lived in a van traveling around the country, reading and writing. An invaluable experience, and I honestly can't say that I would have done that if there were never a Henry David Thoreau.
This quote by Aristotle reminds me of Thoreau, “He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.”
Sure he lives in a cabin in the woods, but he did sneak in from time to time to get cookies from his mom. So I suppose he's like the rest of us, somewhere between beast and god.
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Elizabeth Sutton (1498-1532) is my 12x-great grandmother, and Henry David Thoreau's 10x-great grandmother. We are 11th cousins, twice removed.
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On this day in 2004- the last episode of Friends. It's ridiculous, I have no respect for myself for liking that show so much. The ends of television series really get me, I don't know what it is, maybe that they represent the end of an era. Here's the synopsis of the final scene in Friends:
"Monica and Chandler have some time before they go to their new house, and the friends decide to go for a last cup of coffee. Chandler tries to break off the tension by asking "Where?" this being the last line of the show. They walk out of Monica's apartment."
I mean I could almost cry reading that. Absurdity.
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The handyman from The Facts of Life was born on this day in 1961.
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The Atlantic- Why Do NPR Reporters Have Such Great Names?
Insight on something I've wondered about for years...
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/why-do-npr-reporters-have-such-great-names/275493/
May 6, 2013
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Orson Welles 100th birthday. This wasn't his best moment, but ironically proved that the wine must be pretty good!
https://youtu.be/o5LkDNu8bVU
My favorite picture of him:
May 6, 2015
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Incomprehensible!
Welles on Bergman:
"I don’t condemn that very northern, very Protestant world of artists like Bergman; it’s just not where I live. The Sweden I like to visit is a lot of fun. But Bergman’s Sweden always reminds me of something Henry James said about Ibsen’s Norway—that it was full of “the odor of spiritual paraffin.” How I sympathize with that! I share neither Bergman’s interests nor his obsessions. He’s far more foreign to me than the Japanese."
Bergman on Welles:
“For me, (Orson Welles) is just a hoax. It’s empty. It’s not interesting. It’s dead. Citizen Kane, which I have a copy of, is the critics’ darling, always at the top of every poll taken, but I think it’s a total bore. Above all, the performances are worthless. The amount of respect that movie has is absolutely unbelievable! In my eyes, he’s an infinitely overrated filmmaker.”
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Other notable birthdays- Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781), Rudolph Valentino (1895), Max Ophüls (1902)
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Other notable deathdays- L. Frank Baum (1919)
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Saw a fish at the pet store today.
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From Natural World:
"Our six-year-old handed us a note. His teacher had called my wife and I in for an emergency meeting. We asked our son if he had any idea why, and he said, "She didn't like a drawing I did."
We went in the next day.
His teacher pulled the drawing below out and said, "I asked him to draw his familv and he drew this. Would you mind explaining?"
"Not at all." my wife said. "Family vacation. Snorkelling off the Bahamas.
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Politico- Ex-nuke commanders launch ‘crisis’ group to educate Trump
Perhaps next time, at a minimum, we try to elect a president that doesn't prompt the creation of an internatonal coalition of nuclear experts, specifically to try to educate them.
http://politi.co/2pbKJgY
May 6, 2017
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Slate- The FCC Is Investigating Stephen Colbert’s Controversial Trump Joke
Dangerous ground- but humor and satire will prevail! While we're at it, let the FCC investigate the truth of Colbert's other claims. Is Trump a presi-dunce? Is he turning into a real prick-tator? Does he attract more skinheads than free Rogaine? Do more people march against him than cancer? Does he talk like a sign-language gorilla that got hit in the head? We need to get to the bottom of this.
The joke- “In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s cock holster.”
He later expressed, "regret," over his choice of words. Come on, Colbert! (Get it?)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/05/05/the_fcc_will_investigate_colbert_s_homophobic_trump_joke.html
May 6, 2017
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The Hill- Budowsky: A fascist-friendly POTUS
This can't be overlooked. What's up with him singing the praises of the world's worst leaders? Silence equals acceptance.
http://thehill.com/opinion/brent-budowsky/331848-budowsky-a-fascist-friendly-potus
May 6, 2017
Postscript- He was enamored with their power, obviously. It's almost charming that this behavior of his seemed so odd at first.
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Washington Post- George Conway: Trump went ballistic at me on Twitter. Here’s why he reacts with such rage.
Always good criticism from George Conway, who you would think would have a lot to lose.
"He fears the truth. He fears being revealed for what he truly is. Extreme narcissists exaggerate their achievements and talents, and so Trump has spent his life building up a false image of himself — not just for others, but for himself, to protect his deeply fragile ego. He lies endlessly, not just in the way sociopaths do, which is to con others, but also to delude himself. He claims to be a “genius,” even though he apparently can’t spell, can’t punctuate, can’t do math and lacks geographic literacy, and even though his own appointees have privately called him a “moron,” an “idiot,” a “dope,” and “dumb.” Now, God help us, he fancies himself an expert in virology and infectious diseases."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/06/george-conway-trump-lashed-out-me-twitter-its-because-he-knows-truth/
May 6, 2020
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Hypothetically speaking, could a person believe that they're a member of God's chosen people and still be humble?
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Michel de Montaigne- "There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life."
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Bruce Chatwin wrote from Djang, Cameroon- "There are two hotels in Djang: the Hotel Windsor and, across the street, the Hotel Anti-Windsor."
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Emerson- "A great man is always willing to be little."
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Einstein- "Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy."
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Norm Macdonald, Based on a True Story: A Memoir- "When it's unexpected, death comes fast like a ravenous wolf and tears open your throat with a merciful fury. But when it's expected, it comes slow and patient like a snake, and the doctor tells you how far away it is and when, exactly it will be at your door. And when it will be at the foot of your bed. And when it will be on your flesh. It's all right there on the clipboards."
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L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables- "Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
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Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Burns"I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted."
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Albert Camus. Return to Tipasa- "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
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John Steinbeck, East of Eden- "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
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Albert Camus- "The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind."
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Orson Welles- "Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn."
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Orson Welles- "My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there were three other people."
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Before Citizen Kane, The Grapes of Wrath was considered the best American movie of all time. Welles and Steinbeck each had style, each knew what they wanted to say, neither gave a damn, and helped us know ourselves a little bit better.
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John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath on this day in 1940.
"How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past?"
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