The Ancient Kreider Burial Ground, Plus Miscellany

Jonathan Karl asked J.D. Vance about whether Trump and him are the underdogs now, or whether he believes what Trump said, that they're going to win in a landslide. What Vance said was very telling! 

"I think president Trump is extremely confident, look, I'm extremely confident. I think we're going to win. I also think we have to work as hard as possible for the remainder of the election to persuade Americans to vote for us. That's the name of the game. Look, do I think president Trump is actually as confident in private as he pretends to be in public? Yes, he actually is, but, we still have to work very hard."

He is as confident in private as he PRETENDS to be in public??? Hahaha. Paging Dr. Freud.

August 11, 2024

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Some people view the CDC changing requirements as a weakness, or rather a fatal flaw proving they can't be trusted. They believe they are flip-floppers who can't make up their minds, and that if you change your mind on something, even if it is due to new information, your beliefs have no value. 

You can see the results of this type of thinking all over the place- no amount of new info, no matter how powerful, could challenge some people's preconceived notions that they've chosen to accept as bedrock truth. 

The path to the truth goes in the exact opposite direction- if someone is not open to the possibility of changing their own beliefs, if they see that as a weakness, then their own beliefs are worthless. The vaccine for this type of messy thinking is science class. 

This transcends any topic and is fundamental to rational thinking itself. If one isn't ready to tear down their entire belief structure in the face of better evidence, then their beliefs are surface deep and can't be trusted. 

I don't expect this argument to convince anybody of anything. I expect the opposite. If we take minute to pretend it's true though, by its very nature it would be incapable of convincing those who need convinced. What's the point of saying it if it couldn't change any minds? I don't know, but I like saying true things. 

So if someone presents me with a rational argument or data that will convince me that rational arguments and data shouldn't challenge preconceived notions, they should lay it on me with a rational argument and data and I'd have no option but to change my mind. 

Of course they'd be proving my point and making my own case for me.

August 11, 2021

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The ancient Kreider burial ground is just a bit overgrown! We found it out in a cornfield north of Cleona. It has 20 tombstones and one of the four unreadable ones belongs to my 8th great-grandfather Hans Jacob Kreider (1673-1724). He immigrated here from Switzerland with his sons around 1710 to escape religious persecution. A bit unsettling... there was a groundhog hole that appeared to go down into one of the graves.

August 11, 2019

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If I understand this new Oscar category correctly, there will now be best film, and best popular film. Assuming that they'll never match, they should call the categories Best Film That You People Liked, and Film That You Don't Realize Is Better.

August 11, 2018

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Richard Dawkins:

Isn't it a remarkable coincidence almost everyone has the same religion as their parents ? And it always just happens to be the right religion. Religions run in families. If we'd been brought up in ancient Greece we would all be worshiping Zeus and Apollo. If we had been born Vikings we would be worshiping Wotan and Thor. How does this come about ? Through childhood indoctrination.

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Robin Williams left us on this day in 2014.

John Keating- “But only in their dreams can men be truly free, 'twas always thus, and always thus will be."

Norm MacDonald's series of tweets remembering Robin Williams:

It was my first stand-up appearance on Letterman and I had to follow the funniest man in the world.

I was a punk kid from rural Ontario and I was in my dressing room, terrified.

I was on the phone to a friend back home when the funniest man in the world ambled by.

There was no one else on the floor. In shock, I told my friend who just walked by. Only the funniest man in the world.

I guess he heard me say his name, cause in an instant he was at my side.

He was a jewish tailor, taking my measurements. He went down on his knees, asked which way I dressed.

I told my friend on the phone that the funniest man in the world was on his knees before me, measuring my inseam.

My friend didn't believe me so I said, "Could you talk to my friend, sir.

The funniest man in the world took the phone and for ten minutes took my friend's chinese food order.

I laughed and laughed and it was like I was in a dream because no one else was there. No one.

The place was out of Moo Shoo Pork, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He angrily hung up on my friend and I was about to thank him when he said I hadn't even tried the jacket on.

Then the funniest man on earth dressed me, a complete stranger, and i remember he ended with a windsor knot.

He spoke mostly yiddish, but when he finished he was happy with his job and turned me to a mirror to present myself to me.

No one witnessed any of this. No one.

The funniest man alive was in my dressing room a good half-hour and was far funnier than the set I had to do soon.

When he left my dressing room, I felt alone. As alone as I ever remember feeling.

Until today.

Unacceptable.

#RIPRobinWilliams

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So Paul Ryan said Ayn Rand was "the reason I got involved in public service." That's kind of like saying Ronald McDonald was "the reason I got involved in nutrition."

August 11, 2012

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Any day the doctor tells you she doesn't think you have malaria is a good day.

August 11, 2011

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Richard Dawkins- "Isn't it a remarkable coincidence almost everyone has the same religion as their parents ? And it always just happens to be the right religion. Religions run in families. If we'd been brought up in ancient Greece we would all be worshiping Zeus and Apollo. If we had been born Vikings we would be worshiping Wotan and Thor. How does this come about ? Through childhood indoctrination."

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On this day in 1942, actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for cell phones and Wi-Fi.

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On this day in 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts were released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the moon. I think about that all the time. They said goodbye to their families, they left for the Moon with what some estimate as a 50% chance of survival, they returned to Earth a few days later, but instead of getting to see their families again, we have to go into this ridiculous quarantine for a few weeks. Crazy!

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"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you that I signed legislation today that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes," joked Ronald Reagan on this day in 1984. Whoops, he made that joke while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address, and it later leaked. Fuck it, everyone makes simple mistakes that threatened the future of humanity, right? 

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Hulk Hogan joined us on this day in 1953. 

“Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you!”

In the documentary on Rowdy Roddy Piper there was a crazy story from Hulk Hogan near the end. Several days after Piper died, a voicemail from him popped up one Hogan's phone, it had been hung up for some reason. It started off with him singing Hank Williams' I Saw the Light, and then he told Hogan that he was walking with jesus, that he loved him, and that he was praying for him. Hogan said something like, "that's a crazy thing to get from somebody a couple days after they died, it spooked me for a few days." I love that it wasn't any reason for him to believe in God or anything, just that it spooked him, haha.

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Conservative writer, David Brooks, was born on this day in 1961.

"Humility is the awareness that there’s a lot you don’t know and that a lot of what you think you know is distorted or wrong."

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Other notable deathdays- Andrew Carnegie (1918), Jackson Pollock (1956) 

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From Demetri Martin, The Overthinker

“Doughnut hole” is the most disgusting sounding thing that tastes the best to me. A doughnut hole is kind of interesting because the thing we call a doughnut hole is the thing we took out of the doughnut. And then the hole that was left, itself, the absence of the doughnut hole, is also a doughnut hole. It’s kind of a paradox. It’s like it is and is not at the same time. It’s impossible, the doughnut hole.

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The Atlantic- The Shame and Disgrace Will Linger

On Saturday, President Trump spread a conspiracy theory accusing the Clintons of murdering Jeffrey Epstein, by David Frum

"Reactions to actions by Trump are always filtered through the prism of the ever-more-widely accepted view—within his administration, within Congress, within the United States and around the world—that the 45th president is a reckless buffoon, a conspiratorial racist moron, whose weird comments should be disregarded by sensible people."

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/trumps-conspiracy-theory-about-clintons-and-epstein/595915/

Aug 11, 2019, 9:17 AM

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CNN- Sarah Palin offers advice and congratulations to Kamala Harris

Haha, oh yeah, this person exists. She said, "Climb upon Geraldine Ferraro's and my shoulders, and from the most amazing view in your life consider lessons we learned."

Newton said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Newton didn't say, "Future scientists will be able to see further by standing on my shoulders."

And that's only one of the differences between her and Newton. For instance, it has been said that Newton had above average intelligence.

https://cnn.it/3aiuhUy

August 11, 2020

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How on Earth has this song eluded me my whole life???

The Bobby Fuller Four- Let Her Dance

https://youtu.be/LGd--QsJrxQ

August 11, 2020

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I just remembered that the professor of my first English class in college couldn't even speak English. He was some sort of exchange professor from Korea or something. No exaggeration, he seriously couldn't speak any English. We did a lot of group work. 

The next semester my English professor was a James Joyce scholar who wrote the Cliff Notes to Ulysses. 

Opposite ends of the spectrum.

August 11, 2022

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I just got done playing some serious racquetball. In a meditative trance I said out loud, "Creeped out by joy." You know the people I'm talking about? There weren't even any there, they just popped into my head. I'm talking about the people that are almost just bubbling over at all times? Didn't they ever see Inside Out? There's nothing wrong with melancholy! If someone still has Joy guiding there every action, they're burying some shit, probably under religion.

August 11, 2022

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50 Of The Creepiest Things Kids Have Ever Said To Their Parents

Why are you crying?

"Bad man"

What bad man?

"There." Points behind me at a dark corner of the room.

Lamp on bookshelf next to said darkened corner falls off as soon as I turn to look.

She slept in our bed that night.

And another...

My 3 year old daughter stood next to her new born brother and looked at him for awhile then turned and looked at me and said, "Daddy its a monster... we should bury it."

And how can we stop with two?

My mother was babysitting my daughter while I was at a doctor’s appointment and said: “Oh no, Grandma. Mama’s not coming any more today. She was in a bad, bad accident. She can’t come get us.” I had indeed been in an accident that almost killed me at that exact time. None of my family had yet been notified.

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Lao Tzu- "A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent when arriving."

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Flannery O'Connor- "I write to discover what I know."