WEIRD

I'm an avid follower of the PBS show "Otherwords," in which sociolinguist Dr Erica Brozovsky presents interesting observations on language*. In a recent episode dealing with the universality of how we communicate with infants ("Infant-Directed Speech (IDS)," not "baby talk"), I learned a new expression: WEIRD. In the context of the linguistic discussion, it stands for the types of countries in which most IDS research has been conducted - Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, but it occurs to me that it has quite a broader meaning nowadays.

You may recall that Minnesota governor and former Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz stirred up a lot of controversy when he described many of Der Furor and many of his top appointees and ardent followers as “weird” during the 2024 presidential campaign … Western they might be, Industrialized perhaps, Educated more or less, Democratic (with a small d) certainly not, and Rich hardly (except for the top tier of multi-billionaires in administration positions). Of course, Mr Walz was not using the term in the linguistic research sense, but weird surely applies to much of what passes for serious and responsible government in today's United States. And yes, in true Der Furor-ish fashion, it needs to be in ALL CAPS.

It's WEIRD that Der Furor is hammering Canada, our nearest neighbor and closest ally, with huge tariffs, despite having negotiated his own trade agreement to replace the former North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA (that would be the US-Canada-Mexico Agreement - USMCA) during his first term.

It's WEIRD that Der Furor has ordered the Department of Defense (not War) to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea because those exercises are "insulting" to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un ... who is supplying supplies and troops to Russia for its aggression against Ukraine and has developed a deadly, if small**, arsenal of nuclear weapons.

It's WEIRD that Der Furor is going all-out to cripple the renewable energy sector, at the same time that his war of choice against Iran is wreaking havoc on energy markets and sending the price of gasoline, diesel, and heating oil soaring for Americans and others.

It's WEIRD that Der Furor's regime has rolled back laws and policies that have protected the environment and addressed the cascading effects of climate change.

It's WEIRD that Der Furor and his spokesweasels consistently deny the obvious, clearly-visible reality of the affordability crisis that faces everyday Americans.

It's WEIRD that a crackpot conspiracy theorist with no medical background whatsoever has implemented policies that make Americans less healthy and have led to outbreaks of viral diseases once thought to have been conquered (like measles) and food-borne illnesses once kept in check by government food inspections that have been scaled back or eliminated. 

It's WEIRD that Republicans line up to ignore and justify the complete disappearance of a sitting senator (that would be Mitch McConnell), who has not been seen in public or heard - in person or in a recording - since February of this year.

It's WEIRD that Der Furor's closest aide appears to be a 35-year-old woman with no qualifications other than slavish devotion, who has been joined at the hip to him in the most sensitive of meetings despite having no security clearances***.

It's WEIRD that more presidential time and public money is being spent on vanity projects (the begoldening of the Gilded House, the construction of a gigantic ballroom nobody else seems to think is needed, the construction of a useless and garish "triumphal arch," and the renaming of the Kennedy Center, among many other things).

It's WEIRD that we have a president whose idea of oratory is built around exaggeration, rage, avoidance of reality, and childish insults, yet is persuasive to the MAGA world.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Have a good day and be sure to inform yourself before you vote in the midterms and the 2028 presidential election. Our nation has grown weird enough ... don't let us make the same mistakes again.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* For those of you new to this blog, I have a bachelor's degree in Linguistics from Penn State University. I also have a masters in International Relations from Troy State University. Neither of these makes me an expert on anything, but I like to think I'm reasonably well educated, at least on some things.

** But how large does it need to be to represent a threat in the hands of a bizarre dictator?

*** I was repeatedly investigated, re-investigated, and polygraphed throughout my 43-year career in the Air Force and as a contractor in sensitive positions. I guess the difference is that I was a run-of-the-mill, average-looking male worker bee and not a cute blonde sycophantic hanger-on to a person with the authority to wink at the rules everyone else has to follow.

 

Things You Won't Regret When You're Older

Last month I ran across a Buzzfeed article called 27 Things You Won't Regret When You're Older. I thought it was an intriguing topic, but that 27 is an awfully large number of things to deal with all at once. Here's my pared-down version of that list, with the usual commentary:

Turning Off Your Phone When You're At Dinner. Mealtime should be a chance to enjoy the company of whomever you're with ... not a time to spend hunched over the phone. Of course, when Agnes and I eat at home by ourselves, we're almost always reading, so I guess I shouldn't talk too loudly.

Waking Up Early and Getting Stuff Done. One of the things I inherited from my father is an internal clock that gets me up at the crack of dawn. I am absolutely a morning person, and think the morning is the very best part of the day. As I get older, I find that I enjoy sleeping in on weekends ... but to me, "sleeping in" is pretty much anything after about 6 AM.

Not Going to Your High School Reunion. I disagree with this one. The caption in the original article said, "Unless you had the very best time in high school, don’t bother. You’ll keep in touch with the people who mattered, and you won’t with the ones who didn’t. No awkward dance party will change that." Once we leave high school, we spread to the four winds and lose touch with each other, and time gives us a perspective that helps us to make friends we missed the first time around. Of course, you still run into some of those ass clowns that made your life hell, but they're fewer than you remember ... and time usually hasn't been good to them, heh, heh, heh.

Telling Your Family How Much They Mean to You As Often As You Can. You'll be dead for a long, long time ... you need to share the love before it's too late.

Keeping a Photo Album Filled with Your Favorite Moments. I've got a great collection of pictures on my iPad that's the equivalent of the stereotypical pushy grandparents' photo album. It's not just pictures of the children and grandchildren, but of moments from my life that mean something to me. Just the thing when you run across an old friend and need a way to organize many years of catching up.

And ...

Expressing Yourself Creatively in Some Way. Everybody should be creative. Agnes makes quilts, does cross-stitching, works in stained glass, does beautiful matting and framing, and does amazing things with PhotoShop. I blog, enjoy photography, and write world-class letters*. We dance together and collaborate on cooking mean gourmet meals. If you can't be creative, you're nothing more than a sponge sucking up oxygen that could be better used growing trees.

What about you? What are the things you don't think you'll regret when you grow up? Leave a comment.

Have a good day. Life's too short for regrets.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* He said, modestly.

Shelfies

You may recall that I wrote a post last month discussing the Oxford Dictionaries' selection of the word selfie - defined as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam, and uploaded to a social media website" - as its Word of the Year. Imagine my surprise when, just the other day, the WordSpy website announced its Word of the Day as shelfie - defined as "a photo of one or more shelves, usually bookshelves, owned by the photographer."

How about that? And how about a couple of shelfies from my study, from where I compose this blog each morning?

This is the shelf where I store some of my favorite fiction. The Lord of the Rings shelf is on top, and you can see three of the wizard figures we've collected over the years (which seemed to fit in with the Tolkien books and the Harry Potter series on the next shelf down). Also on the top shelf is a genuine crystal ball I bought at a flea market in Germany a long time ago as a gift for my parents ... as far as I know, it didn't help them keep track of what I was doing*.

And on the other side of the room is the shelf where much of my non-fiction is stored, along with assorted mementos and other odds and ends. In the middle is my pickelhaube - the spiked helmet of Imperial Germany that Agnes gave me for my birthday. Next to it on the right are a genuine chunk of the Berlin Wall and a length of rusted barbed wire that once adorned it**, souvenirs of my time in the early 80's stationed in what was then West Berlin. That particular shelf holds part of my collection of books on the Second World War. On the lower shelf is one of the dozens of David Winter Cottages (well, castles, in this case) I've collected over the years, and on the upper shelf are a few mementos of dance competitions in which Agnes and I took part. Only partially visible on top are a genuine (former) East German Army helmet and two old trophies - one from a humorous speech competition and one from a dance competition.

Just a couple of shelfies to help you get to know ol' Bilbo. More than you ever wanted to know, I suppose, but hey - it's my blog, after all!

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* There is a small chip broken out of the ball. I wrote a story to go with the crystal ball, explaining how the chip came to be there ... I thought it was pretty good, but sadly, it's been lost to history.

** Thanks to my good friend and colleague Dave, who served in Berlin with me and procured those pieces for us when the Wall came down. It was also Dave who found the East German Army helmet for me. I have interesting friends.

The Places I Have and Have Not Been

I'm a pretty well-traveled fellow. Thanks to a career in the Air Force, a love of travel, and a family spread out over a large area, I have meandered across Western Europe, much of the US, parts of Canada, and as far south as Mexico and Panama. Not too bad, although the list of other places I'd like to visit before shuffling off my mortal coil remains long.

The other day my brother Mark in Florida forwarded me a clever e-mail titled The Places I Have and Have Not Been, which cleverly summarizes some other locations I have either already been, or yet may find myself. I've added one or two of my own locations to the list, so let's take the trip together, eh? ...

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made many trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.

I would like to come to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense. It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart ... and at my age I need all the stimuli I can get.

From time to time I have been in Communicado, but I try to make sure I have my cell phone, a package of writing paper, and a good pen when I go there so I don't get lonely.

And sometimes I think I am in Vincible, but life shows me I am not!

More and more often I find myself in Dignant ... I frequently go there when I read the news coming out of Washington (most of the people who should be working there are in Ane, anyhow).

I have been in Deepshit many times; the older I get, the easier it is to get there.

I'm sure we've probably seen each other in one or two of these places.

And that's how ... and where ... it is for this rainy, chilly morning here in Northern Virginia. No matter what the weather, though, you need to hurry up and finish that shopping for your Thanksgiving dinner - the stores will only get more crowded the longer you wait.

Have a good day, no matter where you have it. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Still More Odds and Ends

It's Monday, I'm not quite awake yet, and I'm still feeling full and happy from the excellent dinner Agnes and I had last evening courtesy of our friend Nadja ...

This was a wonderful Alsatian dish - four types of fish served with sauerkraut, potatoes, and beurre blanc sauce, washed down with a superb Riesling wine. I needed a wheelbarrow to take me back to the car. Having friends who are beautiful and can both cook and dance is a great thing.

Now that you're jealous, on to a few random observations to start off the week ...

Historical note: it was on this date in 1929 - a day since known as "Black Thursday," that the US Stock Market crashed, marking the beginning of what we now call the Great Depression. Around 13 million stocks were sold off in one day, and by the following Tuesday the market had lost almost 26 billion dollars of value. Banks failed, individual investors lost their savings, jobs vanished, and the country entered a period of social and economic misery that lasted until the greater misery of World War II. Many of the safeguards that were designed to regulate the stock market and keep the economy in check were instituted as a result of the crash of 1929 and its aftermath ... today, of course, there are those who argue that those regulations are a stranglehold on legitimate economic activity and should be lifted. I'm sure that would work out well ...

Did you watch the first episode of Once Upon a Time last night? It looks like it's going to be a great show. Just what I needed ... another must-watch show that will soak up my limited evening time. Sigh.

The population of the world is estimated to reach and pass seven billion sometime this month. This means that if you are one in a million, there are at least 7 million people out there who are exactly like you. Comforting thought, isn't it?

Okay, that's enough for now. I promise that I'll be back to the usual hysterical ranting tomorrow. For now, it's time to get ready to go back to the Enchanted Forest (otherwise known as Disneyland-on-the-Potomac) and spend another day working toward the happy ending that may or may not be economically feasible any more.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Random Sunday

It's a hot, muggy, rainy, dreary day here in Disneyland-on-the-Potomac. On the upside, I slept late, so I missed at least some of the dreary part. And I guess I shouldn't complain about the rain, since so much of the country is without it, should I?

How about just a few random things for a dreary Sunday?

It was on this date in 2003 that a huge blackout left most of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada without power, raising fears of terrorist sabotage and leaving more than 50 million people in the dark ... much as they remain today if they just watch Faux News or MSNBC all the time, ha, ha. The loss of power affected almost every element of daily life in the stricken areas, and many businesses suffered millions of dollars in losses of perishable goods when electrically-powered refrigeration units failed to work. While most areas regained power within a few hours, many people were without power for a day or two. Two of the millions of people caught up in the blackout were Agnes's cousin Anna and her husband Volker who were visiting from Germany to do some traveling before our daughter's wedding ... they went home with plenty of stories to tell.

You may recall that back in October of last year, I admitted that I love poetry. I especially enjoy finding a great poem that lends itself to being read aloud. As it happens, today is the anniversary of the birth (in 1863) of Ernest Thayer, the author of one of my favorite "read aloud" poems, Casey at the Bat.

The poem was published in 1888, but didn't attract much notice and remained little-read until comedian William DeWolf Hopper, who was putting on a post-game show for fans at a baseball game, found himself short of material and was given a copy of the poem by his friend Archibald Gunther to use as filler. Hopper's recitation of the poem was a huge success, and Casey at the Bat became part of American baseball history. Hopper became widely known for performing the poem, but it wasn't until many years later that he learned the identity of its author ... and both men remain little-known today, even though the poem lives on in popularity.

And that's all for this gloomy day. I hope the weather is better where you are.

Have a good day. Stay dry. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

I've always wanted to say that.

Actually, there is important breaking news to report: Senator Mitch McConnell says that both sides are "very close" to a deal on the debt crisis. Unless, of course, they're not ... as recent history shows that when one side claims progress on a resolution of the crisis, the other side immediately denies it.

Oy.

So, there may be a resolution of the crisis, or there may not. If there is a resolution, chances are that it will be one which will just prolong the agony so that we can have the sheer joy of watching this ludicrous circus play itself out yet again in a few months. Therefore, I'm not going to get excited just yet. And, of course, as Fareed Zakaria eloquently points out, the damage to the nation and its reputation has already been done, regardless of what our inept elected reprehensives do at this point.

But just to lighten things up a little...

My friend Ed (that would be Ed the attorney, not Ed the professor emeritus of microbiology) shared this wonderful piece on his Facebook page the other day. We don't normally think of the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal as a source of funny stuff, and there's a reason we have the old expression, "sober as a judge," but the ABA journal recently published a comment from Judge Martin Sheehan of Covington, Kentucky, who was pleased that the parties to a lawsuit had agreed to settle out of court. Judge Sheehan said that the settlement

“...made this court happier than a tick on a fat dog because it is otherwise busier than a one legged cat in a sandbox and, quite frankly, would have rather jumped naked off of a 12-foot stepladder into a five-gallon bucket of porcupines than have presided over a two-week trial of the dispute herein, a trial, which no doubt, would have made the jury more confused than a hungry baby in a topless bar and made the parties and their attorneys madder than mosquitoes in a mannequin factory.”

The judge is said to enjoy spiking his comments with interesting quotations ranging from "Shakespeare to Pink Floyd." I think I'd like him.

And that's all for today. Let's come back tomorrow and see if we still have an economy. And jobs. And a country whose legislature isn't a laughingstock.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Thoughts for a Rainy Sunday

Outside my study window, the rain is coming down in a steady stream, and the latest meteorological prognostication (how 'bout them big words, eh?) says it will continue to do so pretty much through the coming week. This is, of course, good news for my lawn and garden, and bad news for people living in low-lying areas. Yes, we need the rain ... but not necessarily all at once, thank you, Mother Nature.

I learned today that on this date in in 1813 a group of Quakers founded the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason - the first private mental health hospital in the United States. The Quakers built the institution, which still exists today as Friends Hospital, on a 52-acre farm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that they purchased for about $7,000. At the time that Friends Hospital was founded, mental disorders were not well understood, and were usually treated as criminal behavior rather than as a treatable illnesses. The Quakers wanted to institute a new type of care for the mentally ill, who up to that time were often beaten and abused, or locked away in isolation for much of their lives. They described their new philosophy of care this way:

"To provide for the suitable accommodation of persons who are or may be deprived of the use of their reason, and the maintenance of an asylum for their reception, which is intended to furnish, besides requisite medical aid, such tender, sympathetic attention as may soothe their agitated minds, and under the Divine Blessing, facilitate their recovery."

This is an admirable goal, and the Quakers deserve our admiration and respect for taking on the care of some of the least-understood and most troubled members of our society. And although it is surely flippant to make the observation, and I mean no disrespect to the staff of the Friends Hospital, I hope they have plenty of room to accommodate the 535 members of Congress who appear to have been "deprived of the use of their reason."

Today is also the anniversary of the birth in 1856 of L. (for Lyman) Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz. Mr Baum loved to tell fairy tales to children, and one day he decided to set down in writing his tall tale of the fabulous adventures of young Dorothy in the magical land of Oz.

He wrote:

"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."

And a dreary, rainy day is a good day to stay home and dry.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Of Cinco de Mayo, Star Wars, and Klingon Insults

Happy Cinco de Mayo. If you are one of those undereducated folks like myself that always thought Cinco de Mayo referred to the loss at sea of a freighter carrying sandwich spread, here is your chance to learn the rest of the story ...

The Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, in which an 8,000-man, well-armed French army was decisively beaten by 4,000 poorly-equipped Mexican soldiers. The French had invaded Mexico in an attempt to replace the government of Benito Juarez, which had defaulted on loan payments to the French government; French emperor Napoleon III also thought that conquering Mexico would give France a base of operations from which to support the Confederacy in the American Civil War. The battle of Puebla was not a decisive encounter in the course of the Mexican war with France, but it became a symbol of Mexican pride and prevented Napoleon from aiding the Confederacy.

In Mexico today, Cinco de Mayo isn’t widely celebrated outside the state of Puebla, but it has become a holiday celebrated by many Americans regardless of their national background, putting it in the same celebratory league as St. Patrick’s Day and Oktoberfest. You can thank savvy marketing in the 1980's by the brewers of Corona beer (or cerveza, whatever) for helping to make Cinco de Mayo the event it has become today.

On other fronts, I missed yesterday's celebration of May 4th as Star Wars Day, commemorating the release of the original film Star Wars and its sequels. "May the fourth be with you," as true Star Wars geeks say. Here are my grandchildren Noah, Marcy, and Joe celebrating the day at a Star Wars Day event at their local library...

And, speaking of science fiction, it's a short leap from Star Wars to Star Trek and to this interesting (well, to a linguist, anyway) web article: The Top 10 Star Trek Languages. If you are one of those folks who wear rubber Klingon heads to geek conventions and shout insults like Hab SoSli' Quch! ("your mother has a smooth forehead!"), enjoy.

And that's all for today.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Happy May 1st!

Today is the first day of May - May Day, as it's often called, or Labor Day as it's known in much of the world outside the US of A. This is a more important date than you might otherwise realize, and for reasons other than marking the transition from spring to summer, recognizing the efforts of laborers around the world, and celebrating fertility (what did you think that Maypole represented, eh?).

"Mayday!" is, of course, the internationally-recognized distress call. It's use in this context has nothing to do with May 1st, but is a corruption of the French term m'aider, meaning help me.

Dr Jonas Salk's vaccine against infantile paralysis, or polio, was made available to the public for the first time on May 1st, 1956. Dr Salk's vaccine was injected into the patient, but a second vaccine, developed later by Dr Albert Sabin, was able to be taken orally. Together, the two vaccines have largely eliminated polio as a crippling disease of children (and adults).

And it was on May 1st of 1786 that Mozart's great opera The Marriage of Figaro had its premiere in Vienna. As you know, I am no particular fan of opera ...

... but the wonderful Danish musical comedian Victor Borge can make even opera fun ...

And that, Dear Readers, is it for this cool and pleasant May Day morning here in Northern Virginia.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

On Dressing Right

Two related things came up yesterday...

First, this wonderful post from Chrissy on the level of angst experienced by a woman trying to figure out what sort of dress to wear to a wedding. This is one of those things that makes me glad to be a man: if the invitation says "black tie" we know we're supposed to wear a tuxedo (black, duh), unlike our ladies who can spend weeks agonizing over what sort of dress to wear (length? color? neckline high or low? material? gloves? no gloves? hat? no hat? jewelry? AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!). If you're a man, it's fairly easy to be ... well ... sharp-dressed ...

Good luck, Chrissy...hope you find the right dress. Perhaps this will help ...

Yesterday I ran across the only article I've ever read in the Financial Times that I understood: an essay by Geoff Dyer titled The Perfect Summer Dress. It provides a great summary for the ladies of the rules for selecting the ideal dress for summer wear, and includes interesting guidelines like,

If the dress is very short then it is too obviously sexual. And then, because the wearer has to make sure that the dress is not too revealing, she is all the time having to pull it down or restrict her movements, thereby contradicting one of the essential purposes of the summer dress: absolute freedom of movement.

and,

Above all, it must be simple. Bows, frills, sashes and so on detract from the essentialness that is the essential quality of the summer dress. It is the irreducible symbol, the last layer separating the naked fact of a woman from the world.

Oh, and (according to Mr Dyer) it has to be sleeveless. After all, the Constitution gives you the right to bare arms (the Founders clearly appreciated a beautiful lady in a summer dress, too). For a connoisseur of beautiful female arms like myself, a summer dress just has to be sleeveless. Of course, it also gets back to that exposed armpit thing we've been discussing, but heck, it's summer ... go for it.

Well, that's all for now. I have to get dressed (black tie not required, happily) and go to work. I have angst of my own about that, my vision being color-deficient and my fashion sense somewhat impaired...but then, as long as I don't look like Bozo the Clown, I guess I can get away with pretty much anything.

It's the beauty of being a guy.

Have a good day. Dress well. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Thursday Odds and Ends

Today is April 14th, which is a day of no particular note except that it's the anniversary of the date in 1865 when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while watching the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington ... leading to the classic, blackly humorous comment, "So, Mrs Lincoln, other than that, how'd you like the play?"

Tomorrow is a more portentious day - it will be April 15th - the day on which we Americans dig deep into our pockets to render unto Caesar that which is his. I sometimes wish I could be Caesar and get rendered to, except for that whole ides of March thing. But I digress. Tomorrow in this space, we will talk about the subject of taxes - an important topic and one guaranteed to make Republicans froth at the mouth. Today, we'll just talk about odds and ends in the news, because I'm not feeling particularly original.

Deal with it.

In Pakistan, hysterical religious vigilantes inspired by the nation's draconian blasphemy laws have murdered a man who had been accused of insulting Mohammed, but had been investigated and exonerated by the courts. There is, of course, no compulsion in religion. Except in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other such garden spots of brotherhood and tolerance...

Speaking of garden spots, North Korea has once again arrested an American citizen on a charge of "committing a crime against North Korea." Here in America, we balance our budget by borrowing from China and ruthlessly slashing programs that do not directly benefit the well-to-do. In North Korea, they raise funds by arresting foreigners on trumped-up charges and ransoming them back to their home countries.

China - the same forward-looking nation that has made it illegal to reincarnate without state permission - has now banned stories dealing with "fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking") from Chinese television. After all, life is so good in the present (unless you are Ai Weiwei), why would you want to fantasize about living in the past?

From the Department of What Were They Thinking? comes the story of a billboard advertising the TV series The Walking Dead ... on the side of a funeral parlor. What more can I say?

And finally, hold on to your wallets: Congress will be voting today on the fiscal year 2011 budget agreement (a.k.a. The Great Republican Budget Blackmail Deal of 2011), giving tea party-backed ultraconservative demagogues another opportunity to hold the nation hostage. When last I looked, the word compromise wasn't defined as my way or the highway, but that seems to be the new GOP scorched-earth approach. Fiscal year 2012 ought to be interesting ... once it gets here in 2014.

That's all. Come back tomorrow and we'll try to talk rationally about taxes. I can't promise it will be fun, but it's a discussion we need to have.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

P.S. - Although tomorrow is the traditional tax payment date, don't forget that this year's deadline to pay your federal income tax is Monday, April 18th ... it seems that tomorrow is Emancipation Day in Washington DC, which the IRS treats as a federal holiday for tax filing purposes. You get an extra three days to file and pay. Use them wisely.

B.

The Death of Elizabeth Taylor, Among Other Things

Tempus is certainly fugiting, isn't it? Yet another larger-than-life Hollywood icon has crossed the river with the death yesterday, at age 79, of Elizabeth Taylor (yes, that was her real name). I remember watching her on the Big Screen in classics like Cleopatra ...

and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ...

They're not making stars like that any more.

On other fronts, members of Congress, having loudly shouted for the President to do something! about Libya are now loudly shouting at him for doing something about Libya. What a bunch of dumbasses ... did you think this would be cheap and bloodless? I tried to warn you, but who listens to me?

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident early yesterday morning in which two airliners carrying a total of 165 passengers and crew landed safely at Washington's Reagan National Airport after being unable to contact the control tower. Ouch.

And finally, I have to share this offering from the wonderful blog Indexed:

That young lady really does know how to hit the nail right on the head, doesn't she?

Well, it's going to be a long and potentially very expensive day as I take our car in for routine servicing and investigation of the wickedly unhelpful "Check Engine" light that has been winking redly at us from the dashboard since last Sunday. Every time I take our car in for servicing, the owner of the shop sends his assistant out to fetch more zeroes for the estimate. I think I need a horse.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Thoughts on Telephones, Unions, and Poetry

Yesterday, you will recall, was the birthday both of Michelangelo and of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. As it happens, there were interesting things that happened in history today, as well.

It was on this date in 1876 that the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, whose patent submission beat that of rival inventor Elisha Gray by a mere two hours. Over the following years, numerous lawsuits ensued (as you might suspect), but Mr Bell prevailed and his "Bell Company" survived and prospered to be the foundation of the vast telecommunications network of landlines, cell phones, Blackberries, computers, iPads, and other arcane devices we know today. Had things been different by only two hours, we might have spoken of "Ma Gray" and never known the iconic Bell Telephone symbols ...

and,

What on earth logo would we have used for "Gray Telephone?" I'm sure an old telephone hand like Mike can speak more about this.

And at a time when there is such rancor and divisiveness over the role of unions in the ongoing economic crisis, we might remember that it was on March 7, 2003, that Broadway went dark as 325 theater musicians went on strike to protest the planned reduction in size of theater orchestras from 24 members to six or seven. The musicians worried about their welfare, and that concern was reinforced when it became known that the producers of the popular musical Cats were experimenting with a computer-generated orchestra. The strike lasted four days and ended with a ten-year agreement that the standard size of a Broadway theater orchestra would be 18 musicians. See your plays now - the agreement runs out in two years.

On a larger scale, unions are, for better or worse, a fixture of the American workplace. Their role in improving wages and working conditions for American workers is unquestionable, but they've also managed to sour their image over the years by demanding unsustainable benefits and insisting on the maintenance of positions for which there was no longer any need as a result of advancing technology. The benefits of collective bargaining for workers are undeniable, but these are coming under fierce assault at a time of economic crisis. One hopes that union leadership and members, the business community, and loudly-shouting political opportunists will choose not to throw the rights of the labor baby out with the economic bathwater (wow, is that a twist on a cliche or what?)

And finally, today is the anniversary of the day in 1923 that another of the most famous poems in American literary history was published - Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" ...

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

And I have a day of work to go before I sleep. Outside my study window the wind is howling and it's still very cold, although the fierce rains we had last night have stopped. At least I won't have to swim to the bus stop.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when we celebrate my fifth "Blogoversary."

Bilbo

Friday Odds and Ends

This is one of those mornings when my neurons just aren't sparking with one another, and so I'll just offer a few random comments on things in the news. It's not like there isn't a lot out there to discuss...

Hugo Chavez, the Official Hot-Air Balloon of Venezuela,

has inserted himself into the crisis in Libya, offering the opinion that Libyan not-quite-so-strongman-any-more Moammar Qadhafi Khadaffy Kadaffy That Weird Guy in the Bizarre Costumes

would welcome an international commission coming to Libya. Well, it seems to me that the international commission may visit regardless of what Moammar and Hugo want ... they'll just be driving tanks.

Twenty years after his videotaped beating by Los Angeles police led to days of deadly riots in which 55 people were killed, 2,000 injured, and more than a billion dollars of property damage done, Rodney King was peacefully ticketed by a police officer for running a red light and driving without a license. You'd think he'd want to drive a bit more carefully.

The only Christian minister in the Pakistani government has been murdered by Islamic extremists because of his opposition to Pakistan's draconian anti-blasphemy laws. Note to those who are upset by the Supreme Court ruling in the Westboro Baptist Church case: this is what happens when governments limit freedom of speech and independent thought.

Charlie Sheen. Who cares?

That's enough for this morning. It's Friday, the weekend beckons, and I'm ready to enjoy it. I didn't get to go dancing last week, so I've got twice as much to do tonight. Yee, hah!

Have a good day. Be here tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday ... more thoughts then.

Bilbo

Of Wine, Green Eggs, and Ham

Two topics today which could only be linked in my fevered mind: Doctor Seuss and overblown wine descriptions.

Today is the anniversary of the birth in 1904 of author Theodor Geisel, better known to generations of children and their parents as Doctor Seuss. What parent hasn't read classic Dr Seuss tales like The Cat in the Hat...

and Green Eggs and Ham

to their children and grandchildren? If I had one thin dime for every time I've intoned the words "I do not like green eggs and ham/I do not like them, Sam I Am!" to a giggling child, I could retire in comfort on some warm and distant tropical beach, sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them.

What does this have to do with wine descriptions, you ask?

The other day I read this marvelous article by Coco Krumme on Slate.com - Velvety Chocolate With a Silky Ruby Finish. Pair With Shellfish. Ridiculous Wine Descriptors May Reveal More About a Bottle's Price Than Its Flavor. This article contains a link to an even more marvelous (marvelouser?) article by Richard E. Quant titled, On Wine Bullshit.

How many overblown and ridiculous descriptions of a bottle of wine have you read over the years? If you enjoy wine as much as Agnes and I do, you've no doubt read your share of silly and unhelpful wine reviews that are long on bizarre adjectives and comparisons and short on useful information. Consider this possible description of a bottle of wine, extracted from Ms Krumme's article:

"A velvety chocolate texture and enticingly layered, yet creamy, nose, this wine abounds with focused cassis and a silky ruby finish. Lush, elegant, and nuanced. Pair with pork and shellfish."

Armed with a description like that, a restaurant could easily charge, say, $150 for a bottle of common rotgut that you could buy for about six bucks at Costco.

I remember the good old days, before Agnes instructed me in the culture of wine. Life was easier then. I selected my wines by a careful analysis of the information on the label ... if said label contained key elements of information such as images of bare-breasted ladies and scenic castles on hilltops, accompanied with incomprehensible French words and a vintage date earlier than last week, it was probably okay to purchase and serve to my guests with an appropriate flourish.

All of which has absolutely nothing to do with Dr Seuss, except to cause me to wonder what sort of wine I'd serve with green eggs and ham. I assume it would be something like

"A rich and full-bodied blending of savory bacon and egg with hints of green yolk. Serve in a boat, with a goat, here or there, or anywhere."

Think about this rule of thumb the next time you shell out big bucks for a bottle of wine: the longer and more overblown the description, the higher the price.

Who wants to drink graphite, slate, tobacco, or silky rubies, anyhow?

Have a good day. Salut! More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo.

Of Eagles and Turkeys

Many countries have chosen the majestic eagle as their national symbol. Stylized eagles appear on national flags, great seals, military unit patches, and recruiting posters. The mighty eagle, soaring high above his domain and swooping down mercilessly on his enemies, is an obvious choice for a symbol of national power.

Or is it?

It was on this day in 1784 that Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter in which he admitted he was not pleased about the choice of the bald eagle as the symbol of America. He wished it had not been chosen as a symbol of our country because it was "a bird of bad moral character." Franklin wrote about the eagle: "Like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy."

Mr Franklin believed there was a different bird that should have been chosen as the national symbol of his new nation: the wild turkey.

"The turkey," Ben wrote to his daughter, "is a much more respectable bird, and ... a true original native of America."

History may well have proven Mr Franklin right. The mighty American eagle doesn't soar quite as high as it used to, and Congress is long on squawking turkeys and short on mighty eagles. When I think about those who would murder us in the name of twisted religious beliefs, seize our merchant vessels off the coast of Somalia, and ship tons of drugs into our cities, I rather miss this fellow ...

Because there are some times when being a turkey just won't do.

Have a good day. Honor the turkey at Thanksgiving, and the eagle on the other 364 days.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Monday Odds and Ends

Yes, it's happened again - I'm running late. Agnes comes back from Germany on Wednesday afternoon, and I need to clean up all the party rubble get the house looking nice for when she returns. With this in mind, here are a few useful and/or just plain funny things from my collection...

This may help you evaluate the impact of the inevitable sex scandals that will come up in the 2012 presidential campaign season ...

There will also be the inevitable things trotted out (usually out of context) from a politician's past ...

The historian in me really likes this one ...

There's nothing like a good pun ...

And then, there's the good advice for those who didn't vote in the recent midterm elections. Or in any elections, for that matter ...

New topic: does anyone have any idea why my beloved Firefox browser suddenly stopped connecting to the internet? I upgraded to version 3.6.12 for Mac yesterday (I'm running Snow Leopard OS version 10.6.5), and ever since it petulantly refuses to find any web sites. Yes, the Internet connection is fine - I can send and receive e-mail, but for browsing I'm reduced to using Safari, which I detest. Any ideas? There's nothing on the Mozilla help sites. AARRGGHH!!

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Condensed Thoughts, and Other Things

Yesterday I started once again to try to clean up my study. Have you ever noticed that when you try to clean up a huge mess, it always seems to get worse before it gets better?

Of course you did, because you've been living through the Great Recession.

But anyhow, I spent all day yesterday working on trying to bring order to the chaos of my study. I can now see large sections of the surface of my desk, and have rearranged the distribution of computer monitors, printers, and radios in an attempt to maximize desktop space and reduce strain on my eyes and neck as I work. Agnes is coming home from Germany on Wednesday. I hope to be finished by then.

I discovered this morning, on reading my daily Writers' Almanac e-mail from Garrison Keillor, that today marks the birthday in 1889 of DeWitt Wallace. So what?, you ask. Well, let me tell you...

Mr Wallace was concerned that people were not reading enough - that there was plenty of good material available in the many periodicals that were published, but the long hours that most people had to work didn't leave enough time to read all the enriching things that were out there. One day, Mr Wallace had the idea that the best articles available in many other magazines could be edited down to their essentials and the condensed versions published in a single magazine that would allow the reader to maximize his or her reading time. Mr Wallace published the first issue of his magazine in February 1922, and it went on to become the most successful magazine of all time.

Mr Wallace's magazine is, of course, Readers' Digest.

The Readers' Digest concept of condensed books and articles reminds me of the old Woody Allen joke about taking a speed reading course. "I read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."

Moving on to other short topics for a cold November Friday morning...

Courtesy of my friend Bob, a topical photo:

No other comment needed.

I need to get moving so that I can get to the office and get a head start on the day so that the evening will come faster. There's dancing to be done, you know. And then comes the weekend, when there will be leaves to be raked, a house to be cleaned, and all sorts of other fun things.

Just a swingin' bachelor, that's me.

Have a good day. Tomorrow is Cartoon Saturday - be here. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Friday Odds and Ends

My collection of bloggable stuff is getting to be very large, and if I don't flush empty it out once in a while, the topics lose their currency, or I forget why they caught my attention in the first place (the latter being a common symptom of advancing age). Anyhow, here are a few odds and ends from my Blog Fodder file for a warm and sticky Friday morning...

A story from CNN the other day featured the list of 100 Worst (Economic) Stimulus Projects (titled, strangely, "Summertime Blues") as compiled by the Senate Republicans. The list makes interesting reading, but not particularly surprising if you've spent years watching all the bizarre things that senators of both parties routinely earmark public funds for. My observation is just this: great list. Good job of poking a stick in the eye of the other party. So now tell me: what is YOUR economic stimulus idea? How are YOU going to get people back to work and the economy back on its feet? We already know that the Republicans don't want to put forward their own ideas too soon, because then they'd have to explain and defend them, which is harder than just saying the Democrat's plans are dumb (I blogged about this buffoonery here). It just goes to show that both parties are more interested in scoring points than fixing problems.

If you love words as much as I do, you may find this article interesting: Secret Vault of Words Rejected by the Oxford English Dictionary Uncovered. If you suffer from xenolexica, do the polkadodge, or start wibbling when reading stories about Republican and Democratic silliness, you will enjoy this article.

Are you tired of all the empty words and buffoonery on both sides of the illegal immigration argument? Read this fascinating article by George Friedman of STRATFOR - Arizona, Borderlands, and US-Mexican Relations. It describes the history of the tortured relationship between the US and Mexico, offers brilliant historical insights into why we have an illegal immigration problem, and suggests what we really need to do to solve it.

The gift that keeps on giving - radioactivity from the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. According to this article from the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, while the population of wild boars in Germany has mushroomed over the years, so too has the percentage of that population that must be destroyed because they are too radioactive to safely eat. According to the article, wild boar are particularly susceptible to radioactive contamination because they eat large amounts of mushrooms and truffles, which are especially efficient at absorbing radioactivity. It's been nearly 25 years since the Chernobyl reactor exploded. Aren't you glad that nuclear power is such a safe and environmentally-friendly source of energy?

Just a few odds and ends to wrap up your week and get you ready for Cartoon Saturday. It just can't come soon enough...

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo