Humanity's Halcyon Days

I woke up this morning and saw a post that said the year 1816 was known as The Year Without a Summer, and an estimated 10 million people lost their lives. Maybe that's something that happens every 200 years or so, and we're due. 

Before covid hit, I was figuring we were due. Pandemics hit every 100 years or so. I thought about that fact every time I was asked if I wanted a flu shot. "Of course I do!" Covid could have been orders of magnitude worse.

Almost exactly 10 years ago a solar flare missed the Earth by nine days. If it would have hit us, it would have destroyed over 3 trillion dollars worth of electronics. My mind first goes to phones and DVD players, but what about the world's hospitals.

I often think that we're living in quaint times, humanity's halcyon days, the days we will wistfully look back upon (if we're able), and wonder why we didn't even notice that we had it so good. 

It took all this work to get to where we are, but it would be so easy to destroy it. It's always easier to wreck something, rather than create something. It's easier to poke holes in the thing that already exists, rather than create the thing to begin with.

A tree service came out this morning to cut down a giant dead tree a few houses down from me. It took them about a half hour. I walked down to look at the stump, and talked to some neighbors that were doing the same thing. I said that it doesn't take too long to cut them down, and you know what the one neighbor said? "It takes a lot longer to grow them."

We've really grown something, and I don't think that we take enough time to reflect on how good things are. Yes, some things are very bad! But there are an incomprehensible amount of good things that go overlooked- food, water, shelter, clothing, general safety. We do not have to worry about our basic needs, but one day we might.

July 28, 2022

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Every time that lion roars at the beginning of a black and white MGM movie, my first thought is, "Well that lion is certainly dead." And then it dawns on me that all the people are dead too! Same thing, every time.

July 28, 2023

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Peggy's mom, Mad Men- "You're lonely? Get a cat. They live 13 years, then you get another one, and another one after that. Then you're done."

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Mark Twain- "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."

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Saul Goodman first appeared in a Breaking Bad episode titled Better Call Saul. AMC just announced that the next episode of Better Call Saul is titled Breaking Bad. So maybe...?

It will be the third to last episode of the series. The third to last episode of Breaking Bad, Ozymandius, was one of the best episodes of anything in television history. I'm excited!

July 28, 2022

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Aunt Ida- "I worry that you'll work in an office, have children, celebrate wedding anniversaries. The world of a heterosexual is a sick and boring life."

https://youtu.be/f185MPggf-0

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If the vaccine leaves you 1% vulnerable to covid, and someone decides to not get the vaccine, maybe their insurance company should only pay 1% of their medical bills if they get it.

July 28, 2021

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What if the next president sent federal troops into cities to combat police brutality on those who are only exercising their First Amendment right to protest? That would be confusing as hell!

July 28, 2020

Context- The right supported sending in federal troops into riot-stricken cities, while the far left was against it. In this case it would actually be helping them.

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I love it when the snake-oil salesmen get driven out of town.

July 28, 2020

Postscript- probably had something to do with hydroxychloroquine, haha

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I've been going through something of a midlife crisis for years. Not that I'm depressed, or think I wasted my life or anything like that. The midlife crisis is this- how do you know when you hit the middle of your life??? You never know, that's the problem! If I live to be 88, then this is the year. If I live to be older than that, then I have some time. But for all I know, I was halfway through at 22. One thing's for sure, the point at which you precisely discover when you had passed the halfway point, is the exact moment that it would be the least of your worries.

July 28, 2018

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Socrates Memes poll: Would it be morally permissible for the citizens of France to conquer a large part of the United States and then prevent anyone else from entering that land?

If yes... what???

If no... hey wait a second, you tricked me!

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When Bertrand Russell was asked what he would say to God as an explanation for his non-belief if he found himself at the Pearly Gates after his death, he responded, "Not enough evidence God, not enough evidence."

July 28, 2017

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Kasich just called for Trump to apologize for siding with Russia over his own intelligence officials. The would vs wouldn't thing doesn't account for the hundred other statements, but maybe he meant the exact opposite of all them too. Trump keeps getting into these situations where he simply HAS to apologize, but simply WILL NOT apologize, and he doubles down. He sees not apologizing as a strength, as good for his brand, but what is his brand? Being stubborn and wrong? Anybody who disagrees is free to teach their children to be strong by never apologizing. Or they could teach their children to emulate him by believing in their own infallibility.

July 28, 2018

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Great week for the president, huh? With all the legislative failures and investigations ramping up he had to throw some proverbial red meat to the base- transgender people out of the military, calls to increase police brutality, what's next? Get ready!

July 28, 2017

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Emma- "I have a real problem: no room for all the bouquets of flowers Ben keeps bringing home."

July 28, 2017

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Nicholas Vattorot- "It's all fun & games till someone looses an eye. Unless you're playing eye grab. Then the games have just begun!"

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Another diarrhea joke- Laughter is the best medicine, except for diarrhea.

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The Phillies are 8-1 since the All-Star break... a few more weeks like that and they might not be the worst team in baseball anymore.

July 28, 2015

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A psychological study of several hundred 5th graders had them take a moderate test. Afterward, half were told they were very smart, half were told they must have worked really hard. They were then told they were taking another test and they had a choice to take a more difficult test or a similar test. 90% of those praised for their effort instead of their intelligence opted for the more difficult test! The study's creator Carol Dweck said of it "When we praise children for their intelligence we tell them that this is the name of the game: look smart, don't risk making mistakes."

July 28, 2013

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Hyper-extended my knee playing racquetball. It's not nice to feel your knee bend the wrong way. Went to the doctor, nothing torn, and only need to rest it a week. Whew! (I'll give it 5 days.)

July 28, 2012

Postscript- I actually tore my ACL but the doctor barely looked at it. Not back to full strength for nine months.

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I notice anti-gay marriage enthusiasts are inciting the first amendment in support of this Chick-fil-A guy. EVERYONE believes he has the RIGHT to say what he wants. Withholding patronage is a way to show you don't support the CONTENT of what he said. It's the same reason I'd take my money out of a bank run by the KKK.

July 28, 2012

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Apparently, many people who like Urban Dictionary also like Skittles. How much more would someone from the future need to know about 21st Century America?

July 28, 2010

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On this day in 1987, Ozzy Osbourne performed at Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, England. 

From On This Day in True Crime:

Before the show, Ozzy is treated to tea. During the course of his conversation with the tea maker, it is revealed that the man is in prison because he poisoned eight people to death. Ozzy shoots tea out of his nose and nearly throws his mug against the wall.

The Scrubs, a band composed of prison guards and prisoners alike, open for Ozzy.

The bass player is the perpetrator of one of the biggest mass k*llings in British history, having burned 37 people to death in a Soho nightclub. 

The guitarist is in Wormwood for beating a drug dealer to death.

The Scrubs finish and Ozzy takes the stage with guitarist Zakk Wylde and bassist Bob Daisley for the first time. Both men become regular collaborators.

The show culminates with Ozzy and his band performing "Jailhouse Rock" with the Scrubs.

During the song, the crowd storms the stage.

The "invasion" is led by a man who tried to cut the head off of constable Keith Blakelock during the infamous Broadwater Farm riot.

Ozzy and his band escape unscathed. Later, in his book I Am Ozzy, Ozzy recalls the incident as his "last good memory of the eighties."

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Austrian-English philosopher, Sir Karl Popper, was born on this day in 1902. From Open Society and Its Enemies:

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. [...] We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant."

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Aayan Hirsi Ali- "Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice."

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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was born on this day in 1929. She's become sort of a secular saint. Bill Cunningham's favorite picture of her:

"One must not let oneself be overwhelmed by sadness."

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The Sutton Hoo helmet was discovered on this day in 1939.

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Other notable birthdays- Jim Davis (1945), Vida Blue (1949)

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11 states the president won now disapprove of him- Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina. He won Indiana by 19 points, nice work Indiana! He won Texas by 9 points and now he's 9 points under. Jeesh. Not that the bandwagon means anything. Gandhi said, "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth." So the president can always whisper that to himself before he goes to bed at night.

July 28, 2017

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Oh my, the best criticism of the president always comes from the right. Reagan's speechwriter, Peggy Noonan:

"The president’s primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naive. It’s not that he is inexperienced, crude, an outsider. It is that he is weak and sniveling. It is that he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms and forms of American masculinity."

And concerning the Boy Scout presidential rally:

"His inability—not his refusal, but his inability—to embrace the public and rhetorical role of the presidency consistently and constructively is weak. “It’s so easy to act presidential but that’s not gonna get it done,” Mr. Trump said the other night at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio. That is the opposite of the truth. The truth, six months in, is that he is not presidential and is not getting it done. His mad, blubbery petulance isn’t working for him but against him. If he were presidential he’d be getting it done—building momentum, gaining support. He’d be over 50%, not under 40%. He’d have health care, and more."

July 28, 2017

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The Onion headline: Really Ugly Shark Tired Of Being Mistaken For Hammerhead

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The Hill, July 28, 2018- Concerns rise about Russian attempts to disrupt US electrical grid: report

I have a feeling things are going to get a lot more interesting before they get less interesting.

(Sharing this primarily so that when it turns up in my history I'll see whether it was alarmist or portentous.)

http://hill.cm/MRBXcFe

July 28, 2018

Postscript- Five years, still OK.

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Jerry Seinfeld- "Bats look like hamsters that got an idea.”

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I feel like ABBA's best songs were not created, but rather discovered. Kind of like properties of physics or mathematical theorems or something. I can't explain it. It's not like I love the song Ring Ring, it's more like it"s a fundamental truth of the universe.

https://youtu.be/TL0EoXdpOqg

July 28, 2018

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Chief Seattle:

“This we know,

the earch does not belong to man;

man belongs to the earth.

All things are connected,

like the blood which unites one family.

What befalls the earth

befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.

Man did not weave the web of life.

He is merely a strand in it.

Whatever he does to the web

he does to himself.”

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Hannah Arendt:

This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.

A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies.

With such a people, you can do whatever you want.

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On this day in 1993 Andre and I went to see the Phillies play. We got there late and there were someone wearing a safety vest that said we had to give her $10 to park. We realized afterward that she was just a neighborhood miscreant. Hope she spend that $10 wisely. We missed the first inning and weren't happy that the Phillies were down 4-0. They chipped away, and the great Darren Daulton hit a grand slam. They tacked more on and ended up winning 14-6. We were in the dumps at the start but by the end we were hugging people we didn't even know. Great game!

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Stanley Kubrick- "I do not always know what I want, but I do know what I don't want."

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Addendum

Nick Cave, in response to a young father afraid that his cynicism would affect his young son:

Cynicism is not a neutral position — and although it asks almost nothing of us, it is highly infectious and unbelievably destructive. In my view, it is the most common and easy of evils.

I know this because much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt. It was a position both seductive and indulgent. The truth is, I was young and had no idea what was coming down the line. I lacked the knowledge, the foresight, the self-awareness. I just didn’t know.

It took a devastation to teach me the preciousness of life and the essential goodness of people. It took a devastation to reveal the precariousness of the world, of its very soul, to understand that it was crying out for help. It took a devastation to understand the idea of mortal value, and it took a devastation to find hope.

Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like… keeps the devil down in the hole. It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we come to find that it is so.”