More Chronicles In the Descent of Man

NPR- Who Owns A Monkey's Selfie? No One Can, U.S. Says

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/08/22/342419651/who-owns-a-monkey-s-selfie-no-one-can-u-s-says

August 23, 2014

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Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man: "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert this or that problem will never be solved by science."

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I'm watching this Republican debate and I have a prediction. Every one of these people would be Biden, but Republicans would lose again by running the guy who's not there. It's not like he's going to get more votes than he did last time, although it's still unclear how many votes he might successfully demand from Secretaries of State who don't want to live with death threats. Every single answer from every single candidate displayed a better grasp of the issues and that guy. Republicans have a decision to make- do they care about the issues, and do they care about winning, or are they purely a cult of personality?

August 23, 2023

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Well DeSantis just flubbed it in his closing comment! 

"I'm a dad and a husband of a 6, 5, and 3 year old."

August 23, 2023

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A good rule of thumb: if you're going to join a cult of personality, at the very least pick someone with a good personality!

August 23, 2020

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Normal week for Trump. 

-His sister trashes his him... and I mean TRASHES HIS SOUL... in leaked audio.

-70+ Republican former national security officials say he's dangerously unfit for office. (I don't seem to remember 70+ Democratic national security offers saying the same thing about Obama when he was up for reelection... or anything similar happening in the history of the country.)

-A bipartisan Senate report on the Trump campaign and Russia... a bunch of very normal details if you're interested in checking them out. (Let's bring them back into the G-8, right?) 

-Speaking of the Trump campaign... Steve Bannon indicted for fraud, caught bragging about ripping off private donors who thought they were building the wall- the Trumpiest thing imaginable! (It's charitably been said Trump surrounds himself with people with shady instincts, or "the best people," as he calls them. The counterargument is hilarious... supporters mentioned the non-indicted members of his team, haha.)

-Trump raises the specter of Harris's eligibility... said a very respected lawyer has questioned it... oh, HE'S not questioning it, but he's knows a VERY respected lawyer who is questioning it.

-Embraces Qanonsense. Of course there are "a potential domestic terror threat," but they like him!

-Says there are deep state operators messing up his coronavirus response... he hasn't fired them or anything, because they don't exist. He just really likes spouting off. 

-Did I mention that his sister trashed the essence of his being? He has no principles, you can't trust him, he cheated on the SAT's, doesn't read, unprepared, everything's about him... he's cruel. "Cruel"... isn't that about the worst thing you could say about somebody? If they weren't actually cruel, how would it even cross your mind???

Yep, normal stuff!

August 23, 2020

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Dangerous Minds quotes- "Your future self is watching yourself right now through your memories."

When I watch my kids playing with their neighborhood friends, I feel like I'm living inside their childhood memories. It can be disorienting!

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In a psychological study, participants were offhandedly told they could help themselves to some candy from a bowl, but that the candy was for children in another study. Participants who considered themselves "rich" took twice as much candy on average.

August 23, 2017

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Today an employee sent me a wildly inappropriate text intended for his fiance. It was a doozy.

August 23, 2016

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Knockout punch to the question of whether God decrees what is moral.

"If one argues, as some deeply religious individuals do, that without God there can be no ultimate right and wrong - namely that God determines for us what is right and wrong - one can then ask the question: What if God decreed that rape and murder were morally acceptable? Would that make them so? While some might answer yes, I think most believers would say no, God would not make such a decree. But why not? Presumably because God would have some *reason* for not making such a decree. Again, presumably this is because *reason* suggests that rape and murder are not morally acceptable. But if God would have to appeal to *reason*, then why not eliminate the middleman entirely?"- Lawrence Krauss, A Universe From Nothing

August 23, 2015

Postscript: 193 comments from friends! Maybe I'll cut and paste them sometime.

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Michael Shermer- “Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God."

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Dru Martin's idea of a perfect facebook post- "If I owned Hitler's nut I'd have it professionally mashed into a door mat for the Holocaust Museum." #sicko

August 23, 2014

Postscript: I texted that to him, and he said it would be an award-winning Facebook post.

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I just dumped a bucket of ice water on a bucket of ice water to raise awareness of awareness.

August 23, 2014

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My surgeon told me I should never stop playing racquetball, because of all the business I'm giving him. That's a sign I'm giving 100% right?

August 23, 2012

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Bazo

Tonight I had one of the more surreal moments of my life. 

We lost our cat a week and a half ago and I've been going out for walks looking for her. Every rabbit, or leaf blowing, or odd shadowy shape would catch my attention. We hung up flyers and passed them out to 50 neighbors. A lot of my mental energy was focused on getting her back. I was wondering if she was being tortured from some bully, taken in by some loving family or lost and looking for us. There were thunderstorms the night she was lost and I figured she kept running and got lost.   

Monday night at the end of my walk I went out back and saw something move behind our grill. Then I saw her face from out of the shadows. And then she darted off! I looked for her for an hour but didn't find her.   

I slept downstairs hoping I'd hear her outside. In the middle of the night I her a cat yowl... I ran to the dining room window and saw her dart past. I ran out the front door (twisting my bad knee) and saw her sitting on the top step meowing at me over and over. I moved toward her and she darted off.   

Both times that she was gone it was as if I saw a ghost. It was like I was watching Vertigo. It was an indescribable feeling.   

Tuesday night I took her kitten outside and squeezed and jostled him so he would cry, in an attempt to coax her out of wherever she was hiding. Miraculously I saw her eyes glow from the hedge and she emerged. It worked! I thought her son would be happy to see her but he hissed and she darted back into the hedge and wasn't seen for the rest of the night.   

The next morning I was looking around for her and ended up in my neighbors yard. Their neighbor was also looking for her! He was calling "Bazo, Bazo." He pronounced it Bay-zo, Bay-zo, but it's Bah-zo, Bah-zo. He read it from our flyer! He said he just saw her.   I stalked her for an hour... I kept seeing her and she kept eluding me. I only ever saw her by myself... I seriously wondered whether I was losing my mind. It was as if every time I imagined seeing her, I would actually see her.   

Driving home today I wondered if Emma found her during the day, but then I remembered she would have texted me. I got home and chatted with Emma and Isidore and Gentil, and then Bazo darted out from behind the curtains. It was exactly as I imagined it!   

Just one question- is this real life?

August 23, 2012

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Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on this day in 1927, after a lengthy, controversial trial.

TWO GOOD MEN by Woodie Guthrie

Two good men a long time gone,

Two good men a long time gone

(Two good men a long time gone, oh, gone),

Sacco, Vanzetti a long time gone,

Left me here to sing this song.

Say, there, did you hear the news?

Sacco worked at trimming shoes;

Vanzetti was a peddling man,

Pushed his fish cart with his hands.

Sacco was born across the sea

Somewhere over in Italy;

Vanzetti was born of parents fine,

Drank the best Italian wine.

Sacco sailed the sea one day,

Landed up in Boston Bay;

Vanzetti sailed the ocean blue,

Landed up in Boston, too.

Sacco's wife three children had,

Sacco was a family man;

Vanzetti was a dreaming man,

His book was always in his hand.

Sacco earned his bread and butter

Being the factory's best shoe cutter;

Vanzetti spoke both day and night,

Told the workers how to fight.

I'll tell you if you ask me

'Bout this payroll robbery;

Two clerks was killed by the shoe factory

On the street in South Braintree.

Judge Thayer told his friends around

He would cut the radicals down;

Anarchist bastards was the name

Judge Thayer called these two good men.

I'll tell you the prosecutors' names,

Katsman, Adams, Williams, Kane;

The judge and lawyers strutted down,

They done more tricks than circus clowns.

Vanzetti docked here in 1908;

He slept along the dirty streets,

He told the workers ?Organize?

And on the electric chair he dies.

All you people ought to be like me,

And work like Sacco and Vanzetti;

And every day find some ways to fight

On the union side for workers' rights.

I've got no time to tell this tale,

The dicks and bulls are on my trail;

But I'll remember these two good men

That died to show me how to live.

All you people in Suassos Lane

Sing this song and sing it plain.

All you folks that's coming along,

Jump in with me, and sing this song.

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Arthur Koestler- "The hangman is a disgrace to any civilized country."

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The World Wide Web was opened to the public on this day in 1991. Remember that "world wide web" is three syllables, but "www" is nine syllables.

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On this day in 2009, Eric Bruntlett ended a Phillies game with an unassisted triple play. He was playing second base, caught a line drive, tag the runner running to second, and stepped on second base. It was only the second game ever that ended with an unassisted triple play.

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American author and critic, Will Cuppy, joined us on this day in 1884.

"Alexander III of Macedonia is known as Alexander the Great because he killed more people of more different kinds than any other man of his time."

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Keith Moon, the wildman drummer for The Who, was born on this day in 1946. I think my favorite story about him is the time that he blew up his drums at the end of a set. He ended up with some shrapnel.

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River Phoenix's birthday, born on this day in 1970. You know what he did in high school? Nothing, he never went to school. It's so bizarre that somebody that could be so careful about what they put in their body could be so careless about what they put in their body. Yeah well, we all make mistakes. The only difference is that most of us don't die from them.

When that picture was taken, he only had about 8 more years with us. He would have died in real life, at close to the same age of his character in the movie.

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Other notable birthdays- Gene Kelly (1912), Vera Miles (1929), Barbara Eden (1931), Julio Franco (1958)

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Rudolph Valentino left us on this day in 1926 at the age of 31. From Wikipedia:

"An estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Manhattan to pay their respects at his funeral, handled by the Frank Campbell Funeral Home. Suicides of despondent fans were reported. Windows were smashed as fans tried to get in and an all-day riot erupted on August 24. Over 100 mounted officers and NYPD's Police Reserve were used to restore order. A phalanx of officers lined the streets for the remainder of the viewing. Polish actress Pola Negri, claiming to be Valentino's fiancée, collapsed in hysterics while standing over the coffin, and Campbell hired four actors to impersonate a Fascist Blackshirt honor guard, purportedly sent by Benito Mussolini. Media reports that the body on display in the main salon was not Valentino but a decoy were continually denied by Campbell."

Now THAT'S a funeral!

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Cicero- "What an ugly beast is the ape, and how like us."

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Buzzfeed- August 23, 2012- Biologists Discovery Real Life Jawas

http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/biologists-discover-real-life-jawas-in-south-ameri

August 23, 2012

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I couldn't stop laughing at this the other night. Herbie has truly gone bananas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iVBKH-FzsY

August 23, 2015

Postscript: Broken link, but what could that mean???

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Rainier Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

"A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it."- 

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NPR- In Spain Entire Villages Are Up For Sale and They're Going Cheap

I can imagine myself wondering if I should keep up with repairs or just continually move into the least dilapidated building.

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/08/23/433228503/in-spain-entire-villages-are-up-for-sale-and-theyre-going-cheap

August 23, 2015

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Think Progress- Trump’s ‘God whisperer’ says resisting him is an affront to God

Well this isn't good! With a god like this, who needs a devil?

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-spiritual-adviser-affront-god-d615c512bffc/

August 23, 2017

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Unknown- "A manuscript, like a fetus, is never improved by showing it to somebody before it's completed."

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Will Cuppy again- "Aristotle was famous for knowing everything. He taught that the brain exists nearly to cool the blood and is not involved in the process of thinking. This is true only of certain persons."

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Steve Martin- "I believe in equality. Equality for everybody. No matter how stupid they are or how superior I am to them."

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H.P. Lovecraft, Collected Essays 5: Philosophy, Autobiography and Miscellany- "It is good to be a cynic — it is better to be a contented cat — and it is best not to exist at all."

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Dorothy Parker- "Tell him I was too fucking busy-- or vice versa."