Commonplace Communication With the Dead

Georgia has a 12% chance of being the tipping point state. Jimmy Carter cast his Georgia vote by mail. Imagine this scenario. 

What if Jimmy Carter would die before Election Day, Georgia ends up being the tipping point state, and Kamala would win Georgia by a vote. Jimmy Carter's vote would have effectively tipped the election, but he would be dead on Election Day. Would his vote count? 

Some states have laws in place. About half of them allow the vote to count, the other half ruled that it doesn't count. Georgia does not have a law on it. Imagine the chaos!

October 16, 2024

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Ring Nebula, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope

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Oscar Wilde joined us on this day in 1854.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

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One in five stars have a planet in the habitable zone.

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A solid gold excerpt from Dan Rather's book, What Unites Us... in the section about Empathy, about growing up in the 30's:

On Christmas Eve, my father and uncle pooled their money, meager though it was, and bought toys for the families living in the dilapidated house and under the tin roof. I remember a rag doll, a small wooden train, and for some reason a tambourine. We waited until after the children had gone to bed to give the gifts quietly to the parents, so that when those children woke up the next morning they would not think Santa had forsaken them.

What sticks with me more than even that act of kindness was how my mother talked to me about it. I asked my mother why we gave those families gifts at Christmas when we ourselves didn't have much. I remember then answering for myself: "It was because we felt sorry for them, right?"

"We do not feel sorry for them," my mother said sternly. "We understand how they feel." It was a lesson that is so seared in my mind, I can see her face and I can hear her tone of voice as if it were yesterday.

It is perhaps not surprising that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan looked at a nation so traumatized and felt they could defeat us. Of course history turned out differently. The same generation that had been driven to such depths in the 1930s rose up to push back the forces of totalitarianism in a two-ocean global war in the 1940s. Perhaps those authoritarians, who felt no empathy for their own people or those they conquered, underestimated the strength of our empathy. Empathy builds community. Communities strengthen a country and its resolve and will to fight back.

October 16, 2020

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Holy mackerel, 50 minutes of deleted scenes and extended scenes of The Breakfast Club. I heard that footage existed at one time but thought it was lost.

October 16, 2018

Postscript: Turns out, like always, they were deleted for a reason.

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Taste of Cinema- The 20 Greatest Non-Human Movie Characters Of All Time

20. Godzilla 

19. R2-D2 and C3PO

18. Death, from The Seventh Seal

17. Mr. Fox

16. The Terminator

15. The Balloon, from The Red Balloon

14. The Shark, from Jaws

13. Totoro

12. Betelgeuse

11. The Monster, from Frankenstein 

10. Samantha, from Her

9. The Birds

8. ET

7. Balthazar

6. The Genie, from Aladdin

5. The Alien Queen, from Aliens

4. The Faun, from Pan's Labyrinth

3. King King

2. Gollum

1. HAL 9000

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Dan Rather pointed out on this day in 2016 that Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of the 2016 election when he looked certain to lose. It's what he does. Full post at the end.

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Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit. Feel free to quote me on that. (After all, I'm quoting Oscar Wilde, born this day in 1854.)

October 16, 2016

Postscript: But he also said, "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." So take from that what you will.

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Apparently this is the day in 2016 that my Trump criticism kicked into high gear.

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I rarely use the p-word like this, but in my view it's a necessary central campaign issue. So sorry if I offend anybody, but it needs to be asked: Is Donald Trump a psychopath?

October 16, 2016

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This Trump sex scandal stuff just distracts us from the real issues, like how Trump will defeat ISIS by killing all of the terrorists' families.

October 16, 2016

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Trump said this morning that Saturday Night Live is boring and unfunny, and finally we can all agree with him. Not that it's boring and unfunny, we can agree that if we were him we wouldn't like it either.

October 16, 2016

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Trump said at a rally that one of the women accusing him of sexual assault wouldn't have been his first choice. Does he realize that those mics are hot?

October 16, 2016

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It's early but I'm calling the debate for Romney. Obama sat on a goldmine after Romney railed on about how many jobs he created. "Yes, Romney has a lot of experience creating jobs. Too bad they are all overseas."

October 16, 2012

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I think about this often... somehow dead people speak to us silently in our heads through squiggly lines on paper. It really does seem like magic.

Carl Sagan- "What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic."

October 16, 2019

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Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams is at Penn Cinema in 3D at 315 and 520. After this it only plays twice Monday and Tuesday, and then you will have squandered your only opportunity. You in?

October 16, 2011

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The Tack Chronicles: Volume 1 (date unknown)

Woke up yesterday at 2am to take 5 pallets of cabbage to DC. No problem for a dedicated guy like me. I don't mind doing extra things like that. What I do mind is when I come back with my head too bleary to think straight and I sit down square on a tack. (I'd say that my butt was pricked, but that would be tacky, right?) 

If you know my boss, you know who the culprit was. He even cut a small hole in my chair where he inserted the tack-head to keep it in place. He's a professional. I was so tired I couldn't even muster a whimper, let alone a yelp. I let out half a sigh and slumped my shoulders in defeat. He was on the phone with a customer, convulsing with silent laughter. Yep, really funny buddy. 

Tonight I noticed a half-pint of frozen raspberries thawing on his desk. I picked one up and stuck the same tack in it, positioning it to make it so appealing he'd pick it first. 

About a half hour later I was helping a driver unload his truck when my boss came storming out of the office with a huge smile yelling "It worked perfectly!!! It worked perfectly!!!" I asked him what the hell he was talking about. "You know!" 

Oh, yeah... that. 

I never intended for it work. I thought he'd find it like that time he heard the tack I put in his water thermos clanking against the metal. Certainly, I thought, he would see my fingerprints where they melted the frost on the frozen berry. Turns out that in the intervening half hour all of the frost melted off just that one, making it look even more appealing. 

So what happened, you wonder? What made it work perfectly? Brace yourself. Read on slowly. 

Without a thought he tossed it in his mouth and bit. It clanked in his teeth. He chomped again and pinned the raspberry to the roof of his mouth. Confused, he tried to get it out with his tongue but couldn't. The face he made in his retelling looked like a cross between a rattlesnake finishing a rat and Sterling Hayden, after he got shot in the neck in the Godfather. He had to pull the raspberry and tack out of the roof of his mouth with his fingers. Victory is mine. (For today.) 

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The Tack Chronicles: Volume 2, October 16, 2009

That was a year ago. A few weeks ago I found a bunch of staples inside one of my raspberries before I bit into it. Too bad buddy! 

I felt pretty good -it's not too often that one of his schemes gets foiled. I thought we were even... it's the intention that counts, right? 

But today I bit into an apple and immediately realized something wasn't right. First I thought a tooth fell out, then I thought that maybe someone put a razor blade in it. Then I pulled out a paper clip, all bent up. Thunderous laughter from my boss. 

Good one, buddy... I figured we were now truly equal. But now after having reread my writeup of the original incident it turned out that the raspberry tack was in retaliation for that butt prick. So what should I do to escalate it? Did I mention that he also put clove oil in my coffee several times? Stay tuned for Volume 3.

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Mathematician William Whiston believed that a comet caused Noah's flood, and predicted that a comet would destroy the Earth on this day in 1736. The comet came and went (as they say) and he lost all scientific credibility. I love it when both scientific and religious people put forth something falsifiable. You could be the judge over which side wins.

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Another notable birthday- Nico (1938)

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Queen Marie Antoinette was executed on this day in 1793. After accidentally stepping on her executioner's foot, her last words were, "Monsieur, I beg your pardon."

A locket with a lock of her hair:

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John Brown lead a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia on this day in 1859. Murder for the sake of freedom, seems like a murky moral principle, yet at the same time who is not in support of the North in the Civil War?

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Ten defendants found guilty by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremburg were executed by hanging on this day in 1946.

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My Darling Clementine was released on this date in 1946.

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Apparently on this day in 1973, Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize, ironically?

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Famed lexicographer, Noah Webster, was born on this day in 1758.

"There iz no alternativ. Every possible reezon that could ever be offered for altering the spelling of wurds, stil exists in full force; and if a gradual reform should not be made in our language, it wil proov that we are less under the influence of reezon than our ancestors."

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Eugene O'Neill was born on this day in 1888.

"Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always will be the last resort of the boob and the bigot."

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The playwright Robert Ardrey joined us on this day in 1908. I post this quote any chance I get.

Robert Ardrey: "We were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses."

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Tim McCarver was born on this day in 1941. He played nine games for the Cardinals in 1959 at age 17, and six games for the Phillies in 1980 at age 39, making him one of only a few players who have played in four decades.

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Suzanne Somers was born on this day in 1946. She was so perfect as Chrissy in Three's Company, one of the best characters in television history. It wouldn't be funny if she wasn't in on the joke.

Audra Lindley, who played Mrs. Roper, left us on this day in 1997.

Postscript, from yesterday, October 16, 2023.

Oh no, Suzanne Somers died. My all-time favorite Three's Company misunderstanding is when Mr. Furley stood outside the bathroom eavesdropping while Jack and Chrissy installed a shower curtain.

Jack Tripper : Okay, Chrissy, I'll get in the tub with you, then we can get it on.

Chrissy : Get next to me, I'll show you what to do.

Jack Tripper : This isn't exactly the first time I've ever done this.

Chrissy : Maybe so, but girls are better at this than boys.

Jack Tripper : Come on, Chrissy. A little less talk and a little more action, okay?

Chrissy : Okay, you do your part and I'll do mine. I don't think it'll reach!

Jack Tripper : Of course not, you've got to unfold it first!

https://youtu.be/sDdf5not9ns

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Musician and criminally underrated actor, Flea, was born on this day in 1962, the same day as Manute Bol, with Monster Mash just about to hit number one on the charts. I love the story in his autobiography about seeing The Exorcist and an old lady giving him heavy coat that he could bury himself in because it was so scary. Later when he told Anthony Kiedis the story, it turned out the same exact thing happened to him at the same theater! This lady would go to screenings of The Exorcist trying to shield children from the what she believed to be the devil himself!

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The Phillies clinched the division Series yesterday thanks in part to the performance and leadership of Bryce Harper. Today is his 30th birthday. He will be remembered as one of the all-time greats.

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A slice of England's A303 road shows how it changed over thousands of years.

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The Atlantic- Truth Lies Here by Michael Hirschorn

Interesting article on truth, as reported by the internet. Of course, you'll want to remember that you are reading this on the internet.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/truth-lies-here/8246/

October 16, 2010

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Christopher Hitchens: A humanist at heart by Michael Gerson

Great profile.

"Even Hitchens's opposition to God seems less a theological argument than a revolt against celestial tyranny."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/14/AR2010101403973.html

October 16, 2010

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Pete Seeger- Which Side Are You On

https://youtu.be/5iAIM02kv0g

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New York Times Opinion- Guns Aren’t a Bulwark Against Tyranny. The Rule of Law Is. By Michael Shermer

Not intuitive but I think I'm convinced. My views on the topic are evolving, I'm open to all ideas, and my mind could be changed.

"Stories about the use of guns in self-defense — a good guy with a gun dispensing with a bad guy with a gun — are legion among gun enthusiasts and conservative talk radio hosts. But a 1998 study in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, to take one of many examples, found that “every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides and 11 attempted or completed suicides.” That means a gun is 22 times more likely to be used in a criminal assault, an accidental death or injury, a suicide attempt or a homicide than it is for self-defense."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opinion/gun-rights-vegas-massacre.html

October 16, 2017

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The Atlantic- 'People Who Boast About Their IQ Are Losers', Studies say that bragging about your superiority makes people like you less—so what does Donald Trump hope to gain? By Julie Beck

The Better-Than-Average Effect... everyone thinks they have above average intelligence, are more kind than most, better drivers than most, etc. One of my favorite facts about people.

Thankfully this doesn't apply to me though. I have above average humbleness.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/10/trump-tillerson-iq-brag-boast-psychology-study/542544

October 16, 2017

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The Hill- John Kelly called Trump ‘the most flawed person’ he’s ever met: report

Again, if I supported Trump, my cognitive dissonance would be off the charts. With friends like these...

"The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life."

If Kelly comes forth and says it's not true... as you would expect him to do if it's not true... well that would mean something. My bet is on radio silence.

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/521507-john-kelly-called-trump-the-most-flawed-person-hes-ever-met-report

October 16, 2020

Postscript: I won that bet, radio silence.

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Norm Macdonald, quoting Hitler's dog, of course.

https://youtu.be/miFYtdRmiMc

October 16, 2021

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Kingsley Amis- "The rewards for being sane may not be very many, but knowing what's funny is one of them."

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William Butler Yeats- "Neither Christ nor Buddha nor Socrates wrote a book, for to do so is to exchange life for a logical process."

I've had to make that decision in my life... whether to live and experience, or whether to get bogged down by recording everything. Not to compare myself to Christ, Buddha, or Socrates, haha. 

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Andy Borowitz- "According to Trump's Law of Projection, the fact that he just accused Hillary Clinton of being on drugs is conclusive proof that he is on drugs."

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Mitch Hedberg- When I’m on my hotel elevator, I like to pretend that someone else’s floor is wrong. Like, if someone gets on and presses 3, I’m like “You’re on three? Hahahaha. Dude, I don’t think I can ride with you.”

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Confucius- "If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself."

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Lucretius- "To such heights of evil are men driven by religion."

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Nietzsche- "It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"

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Steven Pinker, Rationality- "Disagreement is necessary in deliberations among mortals. As the saying goes, the more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us is right."

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Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft- "Words have weight."

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Addendum 

Dan Rather:

Let there be no mistake, Donald Trump's recent rhetoric calling into question the legitimacy of an election he looks increasingly likely to lose (perhaps by large margins) is a grave and gathering threat to the stability of our constitutional democracy. It is up to all patriots, regardless of party or politics, to reject this nihilistic development vociferously and without hesitation.

I would hope that Americans are not seduced into complacency by the marble temples to our democracy in our nation's capital. They may evoke the stability of a centuries-old republic, but they are but relatively recent additions to our national landscape - as is our entire democratic experiment when compared to the history of human society and government. We dare not tempt the limits of our political stability. 

Almost every change of government in world history has been accompanied by bloodshed. So too was the birth of our nation in revolution. But our Founders, flawed as they were, understood that stability amidst a vast geography and diverse polity required peaceful transfers of power. In 1800, before our national traditions had calcified, the young United States faced a severe test in a bitter and nasty presidential election. In the end, however, John Adams acceded to the will of the American people and turned over power to his archrival Thomas Jefferson. The history books call it the "Revolution of 1800", notable for the peacefulness with which it transpired compared to the Revolution forged in war just a few years earlier. 

That precedent has been the rule in almost every election that has followed - even the most contentious one in recent times, 2000. There Al Gore, even in the face of a very controversial Supreme Court decision, chose to concede rather than step towards the cliff of an unknowable abyss. 

The most notable exception to these peaceful transitions is that of Abraham Lincoln and our bloodiest chapter of Civil War. We are nowhere near that level today, but Trump is stoking irresponsible talk of armed rebellion. And some of the quotes coming from his supporters at rallies should send terrors down the spine of all peaceful Americans. Some will argue that Trump is not alone in bearing the blame, that the Republican party has tried to delegitimize President Obama since his landslide election in 2008. The latest refusal to vote on his Supreme Court nominee is seen as a stark symptom of this recalcitrance. 

But there is a long way between political obstructionism and inciting violence. To his credit, Mike Pence tamped down talk of rebellion at a recent rally. However more is needed. Much more. I have a sinking feeling in my gut that with some fringe supporters we have already gone too far. 

But I remain an optimist and return to the lessons from back in 1800. Over the years that followed Adams and Jefferson built a friendship, largely through a remarkable correspondence. They both died fatefully on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day of the Declaration of Independence. Adams' family recorded his last words as "Thomas Jefferson survives." In reality Jefferson had died several hours earlier, and there is some dispute about whether Adams actually said this famous sentence. But regardless, the spirit of reconciliation across political differences rang true. And I hope it still does after November 8.