Attempts at Uncomplicating the Not-Simple
We lost the great Woody Guthrie on this day in 1967. From Joe Hillstrom:
"I lived like a rebel, like a rebel I die."
...
For the 10th year in a row the Phillies didn't make the postseason. Back when the Brooklyn Dodgers had a very long drought, at the end of the year they would say, "wait until next year." It became a joke, but there's optimism in it. The year they finally won the headlines said, "THIS IS NEXT YEAR!" So for the Phillies, maybe next year can be the year that we say "this is next year." I can't help it, I'm optimistic.
October 3, 2021
...
We went to the worst graveyard today. Wait, I mean we went to Worst Cemetery. I thought we were looking for five direct ancestors but it turns out we were only looking for three. Two pairs were only one pair- Tobias and Magdalena Wanner are both these kids' great-great grandma's great-great grandparents, and on the other side of my family, a great-great grandpa's great-great-great grandparents. (Don't worry, that's plenty removed.) Tobias and Magdalena's parents were immigrants escaping religious persecution.
October 3, 2020
...
I miss the times when we used to have an October Surprise. These Every-Day-Of-October Surprises are a bit much. The "debate" was 5 days ago???
October 3, 2020
...
If it turns out that Biden doesn't have Covid-19 after Trump blathered his corona breath all over him for 90 minutes at the "debate," it will prove that the one who believes in the Constitution also has a strong constitution.
October 3, 2020
...
I'm winning easily, for now. (Funny thing is, when they hit it way over my head they think they are better than me.)
October 3, 2020
...
This PTSD comment by Trump... it's minor on the Trump scale and I think that this time he simply misspoke, but it would have been a career-ender for Bush, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Obama, Romney or either Clinton. To put it another way, it would have been a career-ender for anybody who is thought by some to have a moral center. Trump though, nearest I can tell, is held in high regard by his supporters in spite of having no moral center, and to many, precisely because of it.
October 3, 2016
...
We have a month old Zuzu.
October 3, 2015
...
Hear that? "The Commission of Presidential Debates" sponsored the debate. Know what that means? A group of Democrats and Republicans made the rules... including the rule that nobody else is allowed to debate unless they hit 15% nationally. Lowering it would be in everybody's best interest except the Democrats and Republicans.
October 3, 2012
...
On this day in 1996, O. J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Check out the interviews with some of the jury. They knew he did it, but wouldn't convict a black person. Or so the Germans would have us believe.
...
Thomas Wolfe was born on this day in 1900.
"Man is born to live, to suffer, and to die, and what befalls him is a tragic lot. There is no denying this in the final end. But we must deny it all along the way."
...
Gore Vidal was born on this day in 1925. He got a bit of a laugh out of destroying William Buckley in there much heralded debate. Once Buckley called him a queer it was over, and Buckley knew it.
"Primarily, I am a prose writer with axes to grind, and the theatre is a good place to do the grinding in. I prefer comedy to 'serious' drama because I believe one can get the ax sharper on the comedic stone."
...
Chubby Checker was born on this day in 1941. He had a huge hit in 1960 with The Twist. The next year, apparently fresh out of ideas and with the studio bugging him for a new hit, he took several minutes and wrote, Let's Twist Again. The prices couldn't be more absurd.
LET'S TWIST AGAIN
Come on everybody clap your hands
Ah, you're looking good
I'm gonna sing my song and you won't take long
We're gonna do the twist and it goes like this
Come on let's twist again like we did last summer
Yeah, let's twist again like we did last year
Do you remember when things were really hummin'?
Yeah, let's twist again, twistin' time is here
Round 'n around 'n up 'n down we go again
Oh baby make me know you love me so and then
Twist again like we did last summer
Come on twist again, like we did last year
(Twist, yow)
Who's that, flyin' up there?
Is it a bird? No
Is it a plane? No
Is it the twister? Yeah
Yeah, twist again like we did last summer
Come on let's twist again, like we did last year
Do you remember when things were really hummin'?
Come on let's twist again, twistin' time is here
Round 'n around 'n up 'n down we go again
Oh baby make me know you love me so and then
Come on twist again like we did last summer
Girl, let's twist again, like we did last year
Come on twist again, twistin' time is here
...
Sac and Fox Chief, Black Hawk, left us on this day in 1838. His speech at Fort Madison:
It has pleased the Great Spirit that I am here today— I have eaten with my white friends. The earth is our mother— we are now on it, with the Great spirit above us; it is good. I hope we are all friends here. A few winters ago I was fighting against you. I did wrong, perhaps, but that is past—it is buried—let it be forgotten.
Rock River was a beautiful country. I liked my towns, my cornfields and the home of my people. I fought for it. It is now yours. Keep it as we did— it will produce you good crops.
I thank the Great Spirit that I am now friendly with my white brethren. We are here together, we have eaten together; we are friends; it is his wish and mine. I thank you for your friendship.
I was once a great warrior; I am now poor. Keokuk has been the cause of my present situation; but I do not attach blame to him. I am now old. I have looked upon the Mississippi since I have been a child. I love the great river. I have dwelt upon its banks from the time I was an infant. I look upon it now. I shake hands with you, and as it is my wish, I hope you are my friends.
-
He made that speech several months before he died, and a year later some scoundrel named James Turner stole his remains and prepared them for exhibition. Black Hawk's sons appealed to the governor of the Iowa territory, Robert Lucas, and he rescued the remains and with their blessing kept them in his possession. When the building burned down they were lost.
...
Another notable birthday- Eddie Cochran (1938)
...
A superhero we're in dire need of... Karl Pilkington's Bullshit Man
Interviewer : What superpower would you like, then?
Karl : I can't help you with one. I'd be bullshit man. There's so many meetings going on where, you know people are bullshitting. I'd just like to walk in. I wouldn't need a special costume, just dressed like this and I would fly in and I'd go, "Bullshit. He's talking bullshit." And they'd go, "Oh. He's Bullshit Man." And I'd go, "Yea. It is Bullshit Man. You're talking bullshit." And eventually, people would stop talking bullshit. Anything that's going on in the world: A bloke selling a car that's knackered, and he's going to say it's a great one, and it's
[whoosh]
Karl : "Bullshit!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lRIQGU2RRk
October 3, 2011
...
The New Holland Fair ended this past weekend. I dedicate this song to the memory of the brick wall by the elementary school during the farm show. They never made a better wall for sitting. Strange to think that one time I sat there, got up, and would never sit there again...
Bruce Springsteen- Glory Days
https://youtu.be/6vQpW9XRiyM
October 3, 2015
...
The Onion- Gorilla Sales Skyrocket After Latest Gorilla Attack
Catharsis in recognition of the absurd.
https://trib.al/th8ZsvS
October 3, 2017
...
Think Progress- United States rejects UN resolution condemning use of death penalty to target LGBTQ people
https://thinkprogress.org/united-nations-gay-death-penalty-36e6a5101ec9/
October 3, 2017
...
McSweeney's- MORE ALTERNATIVES TO RESTING BITCH FACE
by SUSAN HARLAN
A genius list.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/more-alternatives-to-resting-bitch-face
October 3, 2017
...
Yahoo News- Trump on PTSD: Some veterans aren’t strong enough to ‘handle it’
I said it at the time... I think that was a genuine gaffe. The next 10,000 things he said though, they just correctly exemplify is self-evident assholiness. (Need proof? Within the last 24 hours he publicly mocked a sexual assault accuser, one that he believes gave powerful testimony!) Try for minute though to imagine how many Fox News news cycles would have been dominated by Obama saying that some vets weren't strong enough to handle PTSD. Who are we kidding, it never would have ended!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-veteran-ptsd-suicide-strong-handle-it-172839989.html
October 3, 2018
...
The Week- The Library of Congress' cafeteria is serving up a punny impeachment-themed dessert
I hope they serve mangoes, because that man has to go.
https://theweek.com/speedreads/869572/library-congress-cafeteria-serving-punny-impeachmentthemed-dessert
October 3, 2019
Postscript: Spoiler Alert- Peach Mint Crumb Cake
...
The Atlantic- Unfit For Office, by George Conway
Oh my, I strongly recommend this article. If you've been in a coma for the last three years, you'll be all caught up. I'll tell you... if I were a Republican and still supported the president, this article would shoot my cognitive dissonance through the roof... I'd be forced to ask myself why all of these eloquent, knowledgeable, clear, concise, and precise Republicans make the case against him so perfectly- George Conway in this article, but elsewhere David Frum, George Will, Andrew Sullivan, the list goes on. These would be people that I agree with ideologically. I'd endlessly wonder what these kindred spirits (operating outside any sort if liberal echo chamber) see that I am missing.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/george-conway-trump-unfit-office/599128/
October 3, 2019
...
The Atlantic- The Malignant Cruelty of Donald Trump by Peter Wehner
I'm not wishing anybody ill, in fact I hope Trump gets better and gets 100% trounced in the election, but this is absolutely a proper time to remember that we're talking about a cruel, cruel person. Don't take my word for it, consider taking his sister's word in secretly recorded audio, or take the hundred textbook examples.
Since this happened, I've been wondering what Trump would have said about Biden if the situation was reversed. Answer- he would have treated him worse than he treated McCain, and used his illness as an opportunity. Why would have he treated him better than he treated Clinton when she had pneumonia? Remember the cruel story from this article that made headlines for about a day and a half? Is Trump the type of guy who would not punch somebody when they're down?
To sum up, Trump is a shitty leader. In a nutshell, if someone follows his lead in this case, they'd act cruel toward him, which is the opposite of what his followers demand, so if they can see through their own cognitive dissonance they'll come to my same conclusion.
Correct, people should not be cruel, so 100% of us should hold this guy to the same standard.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/malignant-cruelty-donald-trump/612097/
October 3, 2020
...
Seneca- "All cruelty springs from weakness."
...
Virgil, The Aeneid- "The gates of Hell are open night and day; smooth the descent and easy is the way."
...
Capote- “There is only one unpardonable sin- deliberate cruelty. All rest can be forgiven.”
...
Jane Goodall- "You cannot share your life with a dog, as I had done in Bournemouth, or a cat, and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings."
...
Bill Hicks- "You know what I hate about working? Bosses. That's what I fucking hate... 'Hicks, how come you're not working.' I'd go, 'There's nothing to do.' 'Well, you pretend like you're working.' 'Well, why don't you pretend I'm working? Yeah, you get paid more than me, you fantasise. Pretend I'm mopping. Knock yourself out. I'll pretend they're buying stuff; we can close up ... I'm the boss now, you're fired. How's that?
...
Via newspapers.com, a dramatic day in the New York Herald's personals column from 1879.
...
Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays, Outline of Intellectual Rubbish:
"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."
...
Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies:
“The aim of argument should not be victory, but progress.”
...
Michel de Montaigne- "When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts drift to far-off matters for some part of the time for some other part I lead them back again to the walk, the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude, to myself."
...
Groucho Marx- "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made."
...
Jack and Chrissy installing a new shower curtain with Mr. Furley eavesdropping.
Jack- Alright Chrissy I’ll hop in the tub with you so we can get it on.
Chrissy- I don’t think it will reach.
Jack- Of course not you gotta unfold it first!!
...
Confucius- "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."
...
Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion- "Where the questions of religion are concerned people are guilty of every possible kind of insincerity and intellectual misdemeanor."
...
Miguel de Unamuno- "We should try to be the parents of our future rather than the offspring of our past."
...
Graham Greene, Ways of Escape- "Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation."
...
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft- "Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up."
...
Woody Guthrie again- "Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple."
...
Comments
Post a Comment