Dog Dreams, A Prank For the Ages, and Miscellany

On this day in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick announced to friends that they determined the chemical structure of DNA. Somehow Watson is still alive at 94 years old.

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Every year I get a flu shot, because every year I consider that only 100 years ago millions upon millions of people died from the flu. Sure, sometimes the flu shot doesn't work, but it's science's best attempt. Even if it doesn't work, at least science did its best. And if it helps, and there's a really bad strain, maybe millions of lives are saved. Hopefully the coronavirus peters out, but it's worth considering that contagiousness and lethality are just a roll of the dice. It feels like we're insulated from catastrophic pandemics but if we're hit with another 100-year disease similar to the 1918 flu where 1/3 of the earth contracted it and the lethality was 2.5%, we're talking about 200 million dead. There's no need to run around screaming in the streets, but it's worth caution.

February 28, 2020

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Easily my favorite rendition of Let It Go...

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid022vikPbHinBwBze4brJmr75WQ3o3kf368PSxPK2BZjo6f3iGhoMdMgvcJyEeG12nrl&id=741063511&mibextid=NnVzG8

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What a great prank! Look what Maurice Gatto sent to me AT WORK! Just a phenomenal job. An example we should all be so bold to follow.

"My darling Ben, 

My most sincere apologies for sending you this card. I know I am to respect your family life and our understanding to keep our secret. But I cannot keep my emotions and my love for you a secret any longer. My desire to once again be in your arms is far too great to remain silent another second. I long to once again run my fingers through your head. I long to gaze deep into your eyes and see my reflection in your glasses. I miss rolling in the mud with you. Please, leave your Amish life behind and join me. 

Yours 4ever,

Maurice"

February 28, 2020

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Remember "Heckuva Job Brownie?" He was the horse enthusiast that Bush appointed to head FEMA who had to deal with the aftermath of Katrina. 

And then remember when Obama was President and whether you liked him or not, he at least appointed competent people. 

That brings us to Trump, who has an entire government of Heckuva Job Brownies. This is a guy who is renowned for holding loyalty to him as the highest virtue. Competence is not even on his scale. 

Is Pence the right person to handle the flow of information to the public? Or does it seem more like a way for Trump to manage the personal potential political fallout? A million dead and the stock market crashed? Thanks Pence! 

Does Trump value the truth? Is he the type of guy who would he paint a rosier picture for personal gain? Maybe someone can print a picture of a coronavirus on a poster board and he can cross it out with a Sharpie. Problem solved! 

Then maybe in November we can cross him out with a Sharpie.

February 28, 2020

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Concerning people who might be dangerous, Trump said he wants to, "Take the guns first, go through due process second." Huh, who knew he's to the left of every single member of Congress? If Obama said that at midnight he would have found a Million Gun March surrounding the White House at daybreak.

February 28, 2018

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Gretel's pretty interesting alright. There are three things she wants to do- have a picnic, make a campfire, and take a rocket ship to the moon. I can help with some of that. Last night she was speaking very clearly in her sleep. She said, "Gretel what are you doing? My name is Pepper." Was she having a dream from the perspective of Pepper???

February 28, 2018

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Beware of the president's claim of rising crime in 2015. It's true, but there's an overwhelmingly downward trend overall for many decades. Not a lie, but cherry-picked info intended to mislead.

February 28, 2017

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Instead of spending $54 billion on increasing the military, I have a better idea- a roll of duct tape for Trump's head duct, and a pair of mittens for his Twitter fingers. Bonus- no needless deaths.

February 28, 2017

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This president is the exact reason we shouldn't increase military spending. A clear example of nonsensical logic forth-coming, "we need a strong military IN CASE we need to use it," will eventually become, "we have a strong military SO we need to use it."

February 28, 2017

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Let me guess the first line of the Address to Congress- "The state of the union is...APOCALYPTIC!"

February 28, 2017

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Temper your expectations... Chris Rock will be hilarious, but it will be for like 12 of the 180 minutes.

I haven't seen any of movies up for Oscars. I used to be a big movie-watcher. I still am actually, it's the movies that have gotten small.

February 28, 2016

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We share 98.5% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos, but perhaps a more extraordinary fact is that we only share 99.5% with other humans.

February 28, 2015

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I somehow snuck under Facebook's birthday radar yesterday so none of you suckers got to wish me a happy birthday!

February 28, 2015

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Tragedy on this day in 1958, a school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hit a tow truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children died- one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.

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On this day in 1983, the final episode of M*A*S*H aired, with almost 106 million viewers. Still a record.

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ATF agents raided the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas on this day in 1993, with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four ATF agents and six Davidians died in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.

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On this day in 1997, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, struck the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.

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Pope Benedict XVI resigned as the pope on this day in 2013- the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415.

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French philosopher and author, Michel de Montaigne was born on this day in 1533.

"The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness."

Huh.

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Linus Pauling joined us on this day in 1901.

"Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error."

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The great Gilbert Gottfried joined us on this day in 1955.

"I was talking to Jesus, and I said, Jesus, I feel like no one will ever accept me. And Jesus looked at me and said, You know what my theory is? Accept me or go to hell."

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Other notable birthdays- Bugsy Siegel (1906), Frank Gehry (1929), Paul Krugman (1953), Ricky Steamboat (1953), John "The Jesus" Turturro (1957)

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Historian Daniel Boorstin left us on this day in 2004. From The Image:

"The deeper problems connected with advertising come less from the unscrupulousness of our "deceivers" than from our pleasure of being deceived, less from the desire to seduce than from the desire to be seduced."

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The Onion- Open-Minded Man Grimly Realizes How Much Life He's Wasted Listening To Bullshit

http://www.theonion.com/articles/openminded-man-grimly-realizes-how-much-life-hes-w,19273/

Feb 28, 2011

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Mother Jones- If Obama Had Said What Trump Just Said, the GOP Would Have Impeached Him

True. Here's the daily thing that Trump did that Obama would have been impeached for.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/the-buck-doesn't-stop-here-the-buck-is-just-a-construct-man-you-dig

February 28, 2017

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ABC News- Trump's joint address guests include relatives of people killed by undocumented immigrants

Bernie Sanders- "The murder of anyone is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to all families who lose a loved one to violence. But let’s be clear about what Donald Trump is doing tonight in inviting family members who saw a loved one murdered by an undocumented immigrant. He is stirring up fear and hatred against immigrants and trying to divide our nation. That is his political strategy and we must not allow him to get away with it. Why didn't Trump invite the family of Srinvas Kuchibhotla, the immigrant from India, who was recently shot down in cold blood by a white, native born American? Didn't his life count? Why didn't he invite the families of the black parishioners shot down in a church in South Carolina by racist Dylan Roof? Weren't their lives important? President Trump, any murder is a tragedy. Don't use these tragedies to stir up divisions by race and nationality?"

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-joint-address-guests-include-relatives-people-killed/story?id=45796405

February 28, 2017

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New York Magazine- Donald Trump Gently Touches Mike Pence’s Thigh

Easily the best headline of the year.

http://nym.ag/2oE8Tlb

February 28, 2018

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Taste of Cinema- 10 Great First Movies Made By Directors Before The Age Of 28

Somehow some 26-year-old kid directed Citizen Kane. Somehow some 27-year-old kid directed The 400 Blows.

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/10-great-first-movies-made-by-directors-before-the-age-of-28/

February 28, 2018

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Brian's dedication at the end of Lucifer Spam's Help!

"Dedicated to the follies and freedoms of our youth... to all we were, and might have been..."

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Ralph Nader- "You should not allow yourself the luxuries of discouragement of despair. Bounce back immediately, and welcome the adversity because it produces harder thinking and harder drive to get to the objective."

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Nikola Tesla- "Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born."

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Socrates- "If you want to be wrong, then follow the masses."

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Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club- "Maybe self-improvement isn't the answer, maybe self-destruction is the answer."

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Lincoln- "It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, "And this too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!"

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Schopenhauer- It would be better if there were nothing. Since there is more pain than pleasure on earth, every satisfaction is only transitory, creating new desires and new distresses, and the agony of the devoured animal is always far greater than the pleasure of the devourer

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Mitch Hedberg- "My friend came up to me and he said "Hey, you know what I like? Mashed potatoes." It was like, "Dude, you gotta give me time to guess. If you're gonna quiz me, you gotta put a pause in there.""

Addendum

Myspace Blog

February 28, 2008

Let me tell you a story.

I quit my job teaching about three years ago at least partly so I could spend time focusing on the screenplay I'd been working on. In a sentence- it's about John Dillinger driving cross-country with a native american guide reflecting on his life, meeting interesting, iconic people, and metaphorically following the path of the country through the twentieth century to present. (Jeez, long sentence.) A year later it still wasn't done so I got a job driving back and forth across PA with plenty of time to reflect on it, develop parts, and just generally make it better. After two years of driving I declared myself essentially done, minus some minor revisions. That was about two months ago.

Yesterday I was driving along entertaining myself by thinking about who my dream cast would include. I thought of Marion Cotillard (who just won the oscar for best actress) for the role of John Dillinger's girlfriend. It was a nice thought- not that it's a challenging part or anything, it would just be nice to look at her. Last night I checked her imdb page and guess what- the next part she's playing is DILLINGER'S GOD DAMN GIRLFRIEND!!! That was one of the stranger coincidences of my life. Apparently there's a future-blockbuster-michael-mann-directed movie about Dillinger coming out next year. It starts filming like tomorrow or something. Oh yeah, Johnny Depp plays Dillinger. I'm fucked. I know it's going to steal all of the themes I thought I discovered (like the war on terror's parallel to the 30's war on crime.) BUMMED! My screenplay is no doubt different in that it's fiction, with Dillinger reflecting on real events in his life in flashback, but there's no question there'll be overlap. Sucks. Since today was my last day at work, it seems to fit that I just discovered all this.

Yeah well, to hell with the past. I regret nothing.

If you haven't seen La Vie En Rose, you might want to watch the trailer:

https://youtu.be/trVijPJNRyw

If you have seen La Vie En Rose, you will want to watch the final scenes again:

https://youtu.be/y6Dz3-k1d9I

Postscript- Zowie, just watched that end seen 16 years later, a knockout.