Babblers... Ma ... and Non-Babblers

Nicolaus Copernicus joined us on this day in 1473. The heliocentric theory- perhaps no greater contribution to knowledge and thought has ever been made. We were no longer the center of the universe.

"Perhaps there will be babblers who claim to be judges of astronomy although completely ignorant of the subject and, badly distorting some passages of Scripture to their purpose, will dare to find fault with my undertaking and censure it. I disregard them even to the extent of despising their criticism as unfounded. For it is not unknown that Lactantius, otherwise an illustrious writer but hardly an astronomer, speaks quite childishly about the earth's shape, when he mocks those who declared that the earth has the form of a globe. Hence scholars need not be surprised if any such person will likewise ridicule me. Astronomy is written for astronomers. To them my work too will seem, unless I am mistaken, to make some contribution."

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Fitting quote from Andre Gide, who we lost on this day in 1951.

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."

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Today we visited the grave of Maria Magdalena Herr Brubaker (1702-1756) at the old Rohrerstown Mennonite Cemetery. If Find-a-Grave is to be believed, she was the granddaughter of Hans Herr, who was the first Mennonite Bishop to emigrate to America. At 70 years old he voyaged back to Switzerland to let as many people know that they should follow him. They were escaping religious persecution. She is Gretel and Zuzu's 7x-great-grandmother.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Herr

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A gargoyle on top of Notre Dame in Paris.

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Well what do you know, texts between Carlson, Ingraham, and Hannity prove that they knew Trump's election lies were bullshit, knew their viewers were eating it up, and wanted to fire critical Fox contributors out of concern for their stock price. Who knew you could monetize election integrity, i.e. democracy?

February 19, 2023

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Graham Greene- "Our worst enemies here are not the ignorant and simple, however cruel; our worst enemies are the intelligent and corrupt"

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Pretty shocking images on Bill Maher last night from cities that have decriminalized shoplifting. As you would expect, there's rampant shoplifting. Make no mistake, supporting this absurd policy is nothing short of supporting the eradication of money. 

There's good news though. This is one of those rare issues that can actually be solved by political yard signs. Everybody who supports theft, can just let everybody know. That way the thieves will know where they should start. Perhaps supporters will provide the thieves with enough goods that they will have no need to steal from the rest of us. 

This just might work, unless those who are pro-theft are hypocrites. Do they only support theft when people are stealing from someone else???

This goes back to Immanuel Kant's bedrock enlightenment ideal: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."

If thieves and their supporters will that their actions become a universal law, then they also support the theft of the same goods from them. Is that really what we want? 

If humanity learned nothing else from the Enlightenment, let it be that we should act in our own collective moral interests instead of resigning ourselves to might vs right, i.e. endless cycles of theft and re-theft, inevitably resulting in violence.

So if someone genuinely believes in thievery, they shouldn't hide their beliefs in darkness- they should let everybody know with a yard sign! And they can't forget to keep their doors unlocked. If they're keeping their house stocked for all the thieves, they're not going to have extra money to buy a new door after it’s busted down. 

Why would they even need a new one though anyway? Oh yeah, you can't steal heat. If you have a wood stove. I guess you can steal your neighbors wood though. Something to think about.

These are the type of absurdities that are about to get the Democrats destroyed in November. I'd bet my house and all its contents on it!

February 19, 2022

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Some cultures don't eat pig meat and it can seem totally absurd, until you imagine them drinking pig milk and wondering why you don't. Who is the absurd one?

February 19, 2021

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Here's the chain of events today:

-An employee gave me a book as a present.

-I put it on a pile of papers on my desk.

-I needed to have a serious-minded conversation with another employee.

-Just before he came in I realized the book was plainly visible and would have undercut the seriousness of the conversation 100%.

It was a very thick hardbound biography of Curly from the Three Stooges. Close call!

February 19, 2021

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Well, it looks like my plan failed. I wanted all Democrats to switch their party to Republican and nominate the most ridiculous person. I guess then there'd be nobody left to nominate a Democrat though, so we'd end up with some ridiculous matchup like the Phillie Phanatic vs Weird Al Yankovic... and sure, of course I'd have all my eggs in Weird Al's basket, but would we really be worse off with the Phillie Phanatic? I'll bet that our diplomatic relations with the Galapagos Islands would be at an all-time high, that's for sure. We could build a wall around Tommy Lasorda, lock up all umpires, and we would switch to a hex-based judicial system. I could probably get used to that.

February 19, 2020

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Fiesty debate!

Here's my idea for how Bernie Sanders can get Medicare for all done while he's president. Admit that it will not be done quick, and will work best politically and psychologically if done marginally. Take the liability and make it a strength- Sanders can run on needing Democrat control of the Senate allowing him to drop the Medicare age from 65 to 60, and cover everyone up to 25. In my experience people near eligibility are eager for it, and what lunatic under 25 wouldn't want it? Then expand it from there.

February 19, 2020

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Stephen Pinker with the constant reminder that many things do keep improving... that does not mean they WILL keep improving, but it helps to keep things in perspective.

"William Barr (that moral paragon) claims that America is in decline and that the decline in religion is to blame. Both claims are demonstrably incorrect: Life is better today, and the most religious countries are the most miserable ones."

February 19, 2020

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Robert Reich:

Kudos to Fox News anchor Chris Wallace who said today that Trump's Friday attack on the media – in which he called the media “the enemy of the American people” – “crosses an important line.” 

Wallace noted that “presidents have always had — and politicians have always had — problems with the press. They want good press. The press doesn't always give it to them. But … despite all of our disputes, that to the functioning of a free and fair democracy, you must have an independent press.”

Trump likes Fox News (arguably, Fox News’s anchor Sean Hannity’s almost daily infomercials for Trump helped get him elected). And most of Trump’s supporters are loyal Fox News watchers. Which is why Wallace’s comments today were both courageous and important. 

February 19, 2019

Postscript- The right didn't care.

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I'm sure this is a bit simplistic, and I'm cautious to repost something from Occupy Democrats, but it's true that $20 per citizen is $6 billion, and a lot of basic, helpful, decent things can be done at a miniscule percentage of absurd things. Cutting these things creates the illusion of making a dent.

February 19, 2017

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Bill Maher saved up for this one, Run Down America

https://fb.watch/iNTLSXbnPX/?mibextid=6aamW6

February 19, 2017

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A jerk employee got a zinger on me. I told him he did a good job and asked, "Why don't you ever tell me how good of a job I do?" 

Dan Zerbe- "I do. I tell you every day that you do a shitty job!"

February 19, 2015

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Do you think God gave up the Pope for Lent?

February 19, 2013

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If you think somebody's smart, don't you have to be at least as smart as them to know that aren't simply full of shit?

February 19, 2010

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Sorry.

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Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr was arrested for treason on this day in 1807, then confined to Fort Stoddert.

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The first group of rescuers reached the Donner Party on this day in 1847.

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On this day in 1878, Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.

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On this day in 1942, early 250 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin, killing 243 people.

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On the same day, Roosevelt signed the order establishing Japanese internment camps. More than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated and not allowed to return to their homes for almost 3 years. The order was challenged and moved to be constitutional. It was never explicitly overturned, although Ford rescinded the order in 1976.

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On this day in 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima began, as 30,000 Marines invaded.

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Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was published on this day in 1963, reawakening the feminist movement. Critical excerpts:

“The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. […] Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—‘Is this all?’” 

“Just what was this problem that has no name? What were the words women used when they tried to express it? Sometimes a woman would say ‘I feel empty somehow…incomplete.’ Or she would say, ‘I feel as if I don’t exist.’ […] Sometimes a woman would tell me that the feeling gets so strong she runs out of the house and walks through the streets. Or she stays inside her house and cries. Or her children tell her a joke, and she doesn’t laugh because she doesn’t hear it.” 

“The feminine mystique says that the highest value and the only commitment for women is the fulfillment of their own femininity.”

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On this day in 2004, the year following his death, Johnny Cash's family blocked an attempt by advertisers to use his song "Ring of Fire" to promote hemorrhoid-relief products. Sacrilegious! But I can't say that it wouldn't have been one of the most successful marketing campaigns in all of human history.

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Pitcher Dave Stewart was born on this day in 1957. He had a 6.50 era after 12 games with the Phillies. They released him, the A's picked him up, and he won 20 games 4 years in a row!

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Other notable birthday is - John Frankenheimer (1930), Justine Bateman (1966), Benicio del Toro (1967)

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Harper Lee left us on this day in 2016. From To Kill a Mockingbird

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."

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Other notable deathdays- Grandpa Jones (1998), Stanley Kramer (2001), Umberto Eco (2016), Richard Belzer (2023)

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Huffington Post- 'Family Guy' Actress Responds To Sarah Palin's Criticism

My name is Andrea Fay Friedman. I was born with Down syndrome. I played the role of Ellen on the "Extra Large Medium" episode of Family Guy that was broadcast on Valentine's day. Although they gave me red hair on the show, I am really a blonde. I also wore a red wig for my role in " Smudge" but I was a blonde in "Life Goes On". I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line "I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska" was very funny. I think the word is "sarcasm".

In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes.

February 19, 2010

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Yahoo News- Santorum says Obama's agenda is not based on the Bible.

What would be the hallmarks of an agenda based on the Bible? Thou shalt have no other gods above the Christian god? Gays killed? Shellfish outlawed? Tattoo parlors shut down? Back-talking children killed? Pi = 3?

http://news.yahoo.com/santorum-says-obama-agenda-not-based-bible-011457960.html

Feb 19, 2012 9:01:20am

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Tonight was my first racquetball league playoff since last June. After months of rehab from my ACL surgery, and some more months of playing gingerly I was ready to finally destroy everyone. BUT, I forgot my knee brace, made a responsible decision, and went home without playing. Things could be worse I suppose.

https://youtu.be/L2Wx230gYJw

February 19, 2013

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The Onion- Nation To Honor Harper Lee By Ensuring Novel About Horrors Of Racism Always Remains Relevant

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You can rank how good a Trump press conference is by the quality of the top conservative thinker he cites as evidence. Limbaugh? He must know it was a stinker! If you ever hear him say something like "well Alex Jones thought it was good," we're on armageddon watch.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-donald-trump-praises-himself-141957157.html

February 19, 2017

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Trump- "Have a great, but very reflective, President's Day."

Haha! Perhaps a grammatical mistake, perhaps a Freudian slip, but an entertaining analysis from Mother Jones:

I can’t stop looking at the “but” in this sentence. Trump, a man not known for reflection, wants you to have a great day, but you also need to do some reflection. Reflection would not normally be a part of a great day, according to Trump, but you gotta do it! “Have a great day, but I need you to do the dishes and take out the trash.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/trump-is-officially-the-worst-president-ever/

February 19, 2018

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Arthur Schopenhauer- "He who writes carelessly confesses thereby at the very outset that he does not attach much importance to his own thoughts."

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Huffington Post- Donald Trump Reportedly Workshopping Nicknames For 2020 Challengers

I'd bet everything I own that in the end this will be the project that Trump will have worked hardest on. In terms of self-preservation, maybe that makes sense... he couldn't win without zinger nicknames, could he? I bet he's haunted by the fact that he'll never top "Nancy." You do have to hand it to the guy, he is one of the all-time greats.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-2020-nicknames_n_5c6c1e87e4b0e8eb46ba390b

February 19, 2019

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Check out these bullet points on Hitler's rise to power in this review of a biography that came out in September of 2016.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html

February 19, 2020

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"Ma" is a Japanese word meaning emptiness, as in the space between claps. Miyazaki uses ma to humanize the characters in his films, he lets them experience something boring, like waiting for a bus in the rain.

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Sendak:

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Vivian Maier 

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Hannah Fry- "Every single person who confuses correlation with causation ends up dying."

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Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything on why he doesn't believe in God- "I have a problem with the celestial dictator premise." Haha, sounds like 1965 Hawking is plagiarizing 2005 Hitchens.

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Bojack Horseman- "Fool me once, shame on me, but teach a man to fool me and I'll be fooled for the rest of my life."

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A gold nugget of a commonplace journal entry from Theft By Finding by David Sedaris

"I have cooked a chicken that already smelled bad two days ago. In my heart I know it’s spoiled, but I plan to eat it anyway because I’m hungry. For lunch I had a hamburger the size of a Susan B. Anthony dollar. All day long I installed doorknobs. It was all right."

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Henry Miller- "I am not against leaders per se. On the contrary, I know how necessary they are. They will be necessary so long as men are insufficient unto themselves. As for myself, I need no leader and no god. I am my own leader and my own god. I make my own bibles. I believe in myself—that is my whole credo."

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Henry David Thoreau- “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”

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Jacques Cousteau- "World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. This is so horrible to contemplate that we shouldn't even say it."

Whoa, hold on there buddy!

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Euripides- "A slave is he who can not speak his thoughts."

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H.L. Mencken- "A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier."

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Lincoln- "Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it."

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Jefferies- "I don’t care if you’re a brother, a sister a mother or a father: you’re nothing unless you’ve washed your disabled brother’s cock before taking him to a prostitute!"

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Oppenheimer- "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true."

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Unknown- "My mom died when we couldn’t remember her blood type. As she died, she kept telling us to “be positive,” but it’s hard without her."

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Kant, Critique of Pure Reason- "Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt."

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Galileo- "I've loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."