Month: April 2019

April rambling: the triumph of zealots

If every episode is a blowout in which two of three contestants are basically never competitive, does that not grow uninteresting over time?

Women and the Resurrection
Women and the Resurrection cartoon by nakedpastor David Hayward
Read the redacted Mueller report here OR here.

Yes, Obstruction.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mueller Report and Opioids II.

Deconstructed: A Migrant’s Journey and refugees to America brought in $63 billion more in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years.

As Mr. Parrot pointed out: “Why on earth didn’t we [the UK] follow the Code of Good Practice on Referendums which the UK signed up to in 2006? This advocates a referendum as a two-part process, starting with an advisory vote and proceeding to a detailed proposal, with a second vote by either parliament or the people. They also advise that a vote below 55% in favour should be ignored.” (Brexit passed with 51.9% of the vote.)

When Did Faith & Science Become Enemies? Lessons from a Christian Physicist with Dr. David Larrabee.

Selling the Soul of Franklin Graham.

How Sovereign Citizens Helped Swindle $1 Billion From the Government They Disavow.

Do not mess with Katie Porter. EVER.

“I’ve lived long enough to see the triumph of zealots and absolutists, to watch money swallow politics, to witness the rise of the corporate state. See the party of working and poor people become a sycophant of crony capitalism.

Watch the union of church and state become fashionable again. Witness the coupling of news and entertainment. See everyday people cast overboard as the pirates and predators of Wall Street seized the ship of state. I didn’t drift; I moved left just by standing still.”

  • Bill Moyers, from an interview at The Progressive in 2014.

Why James Holzhauer Is Bad for JEOPARDY! “If every episode is a blowout in which two of three contestants are basically never competitive, does that not grow uninteresting over time?”

The Tragic Story of Bob Fosse’s Second Wife, Joan McCracken.

The #MeToo Blacklist?

What Will Hollywood Do with Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin?

Ken Levine interview with Al Michaels Part 1 and Part 2.

The Exaltation of Anger.

Why do we laugh?

Sesame Street/HBO: Respect is Coming and Respect World.

I like cursive.

We stan: Merriam-Webster just added 640 new words.

Just blog it and 101 Blogging Statistics for 2019.

Waiting for the doctor.

Neil Gaiman on Jack Kirby.

Are X-Men human… or monsters?

Now I Know: The Surströmming Offensive and Why Do Escalators Have Those Brushes Along the Edge? and The Swimming Pool That Was Literally Blacked Out and The Bug in the Plan.

MUSIC

Wayfaring Stranger – Rhiannon Giddens.

My World is Empty Without You/Maneater – Hall and Oates and The Supremes.

Hail Mary, Gentle Woman – Jamie Biller.

Coverville 1258: Cover Stories for Indigo Girls, Dave Edmunds and Dusty Springfield.

The Grande symphonie funebre et triomphale – Hector Berlioz.

O Mio Babbino Caro Darci (Italian Opera) – Darcy Lynne and Petunia.

Triumphal March from Aida – Verdi.

Greg Burgas: The Unsung – the weirder end of the Phil Collins musical spectrum.

K-Chuck Radio: The many branches of Bruce Channel’s one-hit wonder.

Jupiter from The Planets – Gustav Holst – Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Sh-Boom – Sh-Pony.

Guitarist J. Geils Dead at 71.

Top Ten Most Worthless Records, and I own half of them.

Quora answers, some by me

Why don’t you blog on sites where you can be blocked, censored or ostracized?

quoraQuora is a “question-and-answer website where questions are asked, answered, edited, and organized by its community of users in the form of opinions.” It began in June 2009, though I’d only been aware of it for the past couple years.

I’ve answered a handful of Quora questions, even some directed to me. Some of the ones I have NOT answered I did not think were questions that the person really wanted to know, just codifying their POV, such as “Why isn’t Hillary in jail yet?”

How do I add clickable links to my blog page?
Both Blogspot and WordPress have a LINK button when in post-writing mode which you can click on. That said, I tend to add links with simple code.

Why don’t you blog on sites where you can be blocked, censored or ostracized?
I HAVE been on a blog site where I have been, if not ostracized, then worked over pretty well. But if the intent of a blog is self-expression, WHY would I WANT to be on a site where I can be blocked?

Here are my replies to Why do bloggers blog other than for money? and Should I pre – make blog posts before going live with the site?

How large is the Library of Congress? According to the Library of Congress, a very reliable source, it has over 168 million items

Dustbury tends to address the Quora grifters.

How can I use my debit card if I don’t have it with me?
“You don’t have a debit card, Bunkie. What you have is a whole lot of greed and not a whole lot of smarts. Now quit trying to steal from the honest people out here”

Also: How can I get a fake credit card? and Where can I get a totally free, no sign up no credit card psychic reading which is accurate? and the bizarre If I create an email address with a domain I do not own, can the owner of the domain do anything to my email?

He’s got a bunch of replies, including How many women sleep nude?

My friend Allie responded to a query about giving money to street people:

“When my pastor is asked this he gives the answer he was given by a fellow man of the cloth-

“If you give and they do not need it it is on them but if you do not give and they are in need then that is on you

“Do as your conscience bids and keep Matthew 25 in mind.”

For ABC Wednesday

Remembering three items; drawing a clock face

Next year, I’m told, the test at my doctor’s office will be tougher.

three thingsA couple weeks ago, I went for my annual physical at my primary physician’s new venue. The Physician’s Assistant, who was previously unknown to me, asked me to put the numbers on an analog clock face. Then I was to indicate ten minutes after eleven on said drawing. I succeeded!

We agreed that, a generation from now, this might not be a very useful exercise. Maybe sooner.

There were three words I was given to remember. Even that evening, retelling this to my wife, I couldn’t recall the first word. It may have started with S. It surely WASN’T Tequila because the second word was Sunrise.

The third word I feigned forgetting, lightly pounding the arm of the chair I was sitting in. Finally, I gave the correct answer: Chair.

I’m not sure how much this proves; I’m notoriously bad at remembering names. But good at numbers; I was asked to recall my weight, which I did. But that also had the visual cue.

Having to have this test administered really ticks off my primary care physician. It’s apparently a mandate of some sort for those who are eligible for Medicare; I do have Part A.

If the test HAD shown some developmental loss, it might well be at a point when it’s far too late to be of any use.

Of course, the “rule of three” is “a writing principle that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers or things. The reader or audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information.”

That’s SO true. When my wife asks me to remember three items to pick up at the store, I’m good. Add a fourth item, and out comes the pencil and paper. Some are even worse off: Fred Allen said: “I always have trouble remembering three things: faces, names, and – I can’t remember what the third thing is.”

Next year, I’m told, the test at my doctor’s office will be tougher. I’d start studying now but I don’t know what’s going to be on the quiz.

Songs I never get tired of

“Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks.”

O Brother Where Art ThouThe songs I never get tired of is a very long list. Fortunately, I’m learning not to overthink this meme.

Taking It To the Streets – Doobie Brothers. The first Doobies hit I recall with Michael McDonald on lead vocal. It appears on the Cook Book Loss Leader, “focusing on Warners’ black acts.”

Man of Constant Sorrow – Soggy Bottom Boys, from O Brother Where Art Thou, my favorite soundtrack of a movie I have never seen.
My wife and I saw Alison Krauss and Union Station in 2003. Dan Tyminski told how much his wife loved watching her husband’s voice come out of George Clooney’s lips.

Sail On Sailor – Beach Boys. The most rocking BB song, from the 1972 Holland album.

Walls – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the She’s The One soundtrack. “Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks.”

Something in 4/4 Time – Daryl Hall. The Sacred Songs album, produced by Robert Fripp, was recorded the summer of 1977 but not released until 1980. I’d love to hear some college a Capella group take a shot at this, especially the off-kilter bridge.

Barabajagal – Donovan (With The Jeff Beck Group). Love IS hot. In my early blogging days, put this on a mixed CD exchange with a couple songs by other former Yardbirds guitarists, Page (some Zeppelin track) and Clapton (surely a Cream song).

I Can’t Get Next to You – the Temptations. The second of four #1 pop singles by the group that is STILL touring. But it’s the first one with the shared lead vocal in the era produced by Norman Whitfield. This was after David Ruffin left the group and Dennis Edwards had joined.

Tempted -Squeeze. Beyond the Paul Carrack growl, I also love the Sly Stone/Temps shared vocals in the second verse.

Fame – David Bowie. Bowie, John Lennon – that’s enough. Not incidentally, I know of know version of a song designated with a year that I like better than the original. Thus this, NOT Fame 1990.

Lydster: climate change advocate

New York State legislators have agreed to include a single-use plastic bag ban, the second state, after California, to do so.

Climate MattersMy daughter left for school on the Ides of March about 7:30 a.m.. At 7:53, she called me and said that she’d be taking part in a strike against climate change.

I had already known about the worldwide event. Students in more than 100 countries were to stay out of school to attend rallies to highlight the looming and very real danger to their futures.

I asked her about ruining her perfect attendance record at school. She said she didn’t care; this was more important. I said OK. Laissez-faire parenting, no doubt. Heck, I even brought her lunch at the state capitol, where there were about 100 students.

It’s good that kids around the world are “taking the lead on battling what they see as apathy among too many adults about climate change.” Or antipathy, it seems sometimes.

I was genuinely shocked that the US Environmental Protection Agency STILL has the statement, “The Earth’s climate is changing, and people’s activities are the main cause,” at its site. And it’s on a page geared toward children.

Subsequent to the worldwide rallies, someone asked me about the efficacy of the action. As a participant in numerous rallies for peace, civil rights, the environment and other causes, I said that a single person at a given event, maybe not much. But over time, it often inspires greater work in the process, such as bugging your local officials.

I’m sure it’s unrelated to the rallies – or IS it? – but New York State legislators have agreed to include a single-use plastic bag ban, the second state, after California, to do so.

With fewer options for the third R, recycling, there needs to be more emphasis on the first two, reduce and reuse.

My daughter said she felt energized to take more actions. I’m very proud that she’s making these decisions without prompting from her parents.

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