The McDonalds Rule of International Diplomacy, Plus Miscellany
One picture says it all.
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It's not a good sign that Russia is closing its McDonald's. Have you ever heard of the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention? It a half tongue-in-cheek principle saying that countries with McDonald's never go to war. It's not universally true, but it's mostly true.
Thomas Friedman put it forth in the mid-90's, saying McDonald's countries are made up of people who like to wait in line for burgers, not fight wars. He added, "countries with middle classes large enough to sustain a McDonald’s have reached a level of prosperity and global integration that makes warmongering risky and unpalatable to its people.”
I don't believe I've eaten at a McDonald's in 25 years, so I guess the rest of you are going to have to pick up my slack maintaining our relative peace.
March 8, 2022
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Putin defenders are all over. If we believe in the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trials, the supreme war crime is aggression. There's one aggressor here. Wise words from Yuval Noah Harari. The Putin defenders emerge in the comments.
Yuval- "Putin’s defenders blame the war on “NATO expansion”. How can anyone blame NATO when it is Russian bombs that are falling on Kyiv? NATO never expands by force. Countries join NATO because it is their own wish. And countries wish to join NATO not because they want to conquer their neighbors, but because they are afraid of one particular neighbor. And when you see the images from Ukraine, can you blame countries like Estonia or Poland for fearing Russia?
"Putin’s defenders say Russia feared it would be invaded. By who exactly? The last time anyone invaded Russia was when Hitler did it 80 years ago, and who is crazy enough to want to do it again? Was the German army secretly massing on the border in preparation for Blitzkrieg? Did Napoleon rise from his grave to lead a French army to Moscow? Can you name a single country that was preparing to invade Russia in 2022?"
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid01Pq2cX677sewdpre7RDLE9TLqZxQmdN1QEZuX8DkJxaiYA8b6YKnQ5ASSMqN4pT9l&id=100044185671479&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6
March 8, 2022
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Haha. John Oliver's response to a clip of Glenn Beck saying, "They are banning Dr. Seuss books. How much more do you need to see before all of America wakes up and says this is fascism?"
Oliver- "Oh I don't know, a lot more, because the books weren't banned. Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided to stop printing 6 of them, and a company deciding which of its books it will or will not print is an example of free enterprise, not fascism. It makes as much sense as after banning unicycles, asking how much more you need to see before America wakes up and says "this is transcendentalism." Well the first part isn't true, and I have no idea how you got from the first to the second part."
The point of the segment though was that Fox News was covering this non-story, along with something about some potato guy or something, while the FBI was testifying that white supremacists were responsible for the attack on the Capitol, contrary to what some of them have been saying. Slow news week I guess.
March 8, 2021
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Happy International Women's Day!
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Trump says his response to Coronavirus is as perfect as his Ukraine transcript. FINALLY, a statement everyone can agree with!
March 8, 2020
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Remember that guy everybody used to call "President Bush?" Man, that guy was NUTS! I wonder whatever happened to him.
March 8, 2013
Postscript- Actually, he wasn't that nuts.
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After reflecting for 25 years I've decided that one Cyndi Lauper is worth 20 Madonnas.
March 8, 2011
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The Hill- American Medical Association opposes GOP ObamaCare bill
Who do we trust- those dedicated to long-term health, or those dedicated to short-term political expedience?
http://hill.cm/BZbUmoZ
March 8, 2017
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Dangerous Minds- RAD AMERICAN WOMEN A-Z’: A FEMINIST ALPHABET BOOK FOR THE LITTLE RIOT GRRRL IN YOUR LIFE
But how would they pick between Billie Jean King and Betty Friedan? #feministiconnamedropper
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/rad_american_women_a_z_a_feminist_alphabet_book_for_the_little_riot_grrrl_i
March 8, 2017
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An anonymous writer published "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery. Some think the author was Thomas Paine. He certain had a few extra ridges in his brain.
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Ninety-six Native Americans were massacred in Gnadenhutten, Ohio on this day in 1782- the Gnadenhutten Massacre. They had converted to Christianity, and killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes
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The first ground troops entered Vietnam on this day in 1965- US Marines at Da Nang.
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Jim Rice joined us on this day in 1953. There's a story where he hit a foul ball that injured a little kid in the stands. He realized in that moment that it was going to take too long for medical personnel to reach the kid so he went in the stands and grabbed him himself and took him to the standby ambulance. They said that he might have saved the kids life. This is a good example follow, to be ready at a moment's notice to make the right decision.
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Other notable birthdays- Alan Hale (1921), Freddie Prince Jr. (1976)
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Presidents Fillmore and Taft each left us on this day, in 1874 and 1930 respectively.
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George Stevens left us on this day in 1975. I love George Stevens Jr's documentary on him, George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey. The narration begins, "Centuries ago, an artist scrawled on a wall, "Let something of me survive.""
That's the spirit in which I write this blog.
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Max von Sydow lost his 90-year chess game on this day in 2020. TCM's tribute:
https://fb.watch/j9xP-EMDnX
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Nothing notable death-days- Harold Lloyd (1971), Joe DiMaggio (1999), John Vukovich (2007)
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Sorry to hear that Rheal Cormier is gone. I was at a game once and saw him do something amazing. I remember it like I'm still there. Batter is up, there's a guy on first. Cormier gets the sign, attempts a pick off. Safe. Gets back on the mound, gets ready to pitch, another pickoff attempt. Safe again. The crowd rumbles with irritation. Gets back on the mound, gets ready to pitch, ANOTHER PICK OFF ATTEMPT! Safe a third time! The crowd started booing like crazy, yelling, calling him names. He gets back on the mound and everybody in the stadium is thinking exact one thing- it would be impossible for him to try a fourth pick off attempt after getting booed like that by his own crowd. Correction, everybody except one person was thinking that. He got back on the mound and got ready to pitch. A pregnant pause, then an impossible fourth pick off attempt. HE GETS HIM! The place erupts in cheers. That might have been the single-greatest display of confidence I've ever witnessed first-hand.
https://www.philliesnation.com/2021/03/former-phillie-rheal-cormier-passes-away-at-53/
March 8, 2021
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For international women's day, Joseph Campbell, Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divinev
"One of the functions of mythology is to present an image of the cosmos in such a way that it becomes the carrier of this mystical realization, so that wherever you look it’s as though you are looking at an icon, a holy picture, and the walls of space and time open out into the deep dimension of mystery, which is a dimension within ourselves, as well as out there.
"This dimension can open through the science of today even more wonderfully than it opened through the science of the second millennium B.C.. There is absolutely no conflict between science and the religious mood or the mythological realization—but there is a conflict between the science of the twentieth century A.D. and the twentieth century B.C.. This is what we are getting in our religion, because the whole thing became petrified in the fourth century at the time of Theodosius when the authority of Byzantium came down with St. Augustine to establish the beliefs that had to be accepted. From this came the petrifaction in our tradition and the split between the scientific and the religious view."
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Einstein considered himself a militant pacifist, willing to fight for the sake of peace. Say what you will, but that does make sense. You need to fight the aggressors, or you hand the world to them.
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Josh McConkey, comment of Sam Harris's podcast with Rory Stewart:
"The best Christians act like Jesus.
The worst Muslims act like Muhammed."
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Alexander Dumas, Pensees d'album- "If God were suddenly condemned to live the life He has afflicted on men, he would kill himself."
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Susan B. Anthony- "I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."
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Aldous Huxley- “People often ask me what is the most effective technique for transforming their life. It is a little embarrassing, that after years and years of research and experimentation, I have to say that the answer is just be a little kinder.”
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Steven Pinker- "Donald Rumsfeld, famously wrote (Germany) off as part of “Old Europe.” Given the history of ceaseless war on that continent, the remark may have been the most flagrant display of historical amnesia since the student who complained about the cliches in Shakespeare."
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Hawking- "For centuries, it was believed that disabled people like me were living under a curse that was inflicted by God. Well, I suppose it’s possible that I’ve upset someone up there, but I prefer to think that everything can be explained another way, by the laws of nature. If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed. If you like, you can say the laws are the work of God, but that is more a definition of God than a proof of his existence."
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Arthur Schopenhauer- "We seldom think of what we have, but always of what we lack."
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Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas- "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
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Mitch Hedberg- "The Kit Kat candy bar has the name "Kit Kat" imprinted into the chocolate. That robs you of chocolate! That's a clever chocolate-saving technique. I go down to the factory, "You owe me some letters!""
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Hagakure- "A man who has never erred once is dangerous."
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Kahnman- "The psychologist, Paul Rozin, an expert on disgust, observed that a single cockroach will completely wreck the appeal of a bowl of cherries, but a cherry will do nothing at all for a bowl of cockroaches."
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Aquinas- "We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject, for both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in finding it."
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Einstein- "I claim credit for nothing. Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as for the star. Human being, vegetables or cosmic dust, we all dance to an invisible tune, intoned in the distance by a mysterious player."
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Steve Martin at the 2003 Oscars- "There were smaller movies this year. There was a movie called Secretary, about a woman who is humiliated by her boss, is spanked and has to crawl on her knees, and carry manila folders in her teeth. And they say there are no parts for women!"
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