Dumb Stuff

Rain, rain, rain.. but better than snow.

Dumb Stuff

"Yesterday, when I was rich...." I had a subscription to Fortune magazine.   I just came across an article that I had torn out of one issue.  It concerned "101 Dumbest Moments in Business, 2007." I thought it might be fun to point out a few and comment on them. (please take them all with a "grain of salt," but they all might be true.

Dogs

Eli Lilly won FDA approval to put Prozac into pills to treat separation anxiety in dogs.

Upon her death, Leona Helmsley left $12 million to her dog, Trouble.

Rapper Jay-Z sold a clothes line called Rocawear, which put "dog fur" into its "faux fur" jackets.

Chrysler published an online ad showing a dog urinating on its four-wheel Dodge Nitro.  The dog gets electrocuted and goes up in flames.  The tagline is: "Charged with adrenaline."

Censorship

The website for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds filters contributions it feels are offensive.  For instance, the word Peacock, turns out to be Pea****. However the bird called the Great Tit does not get censored, for some reason.

Redux Beverages got a warning by the FDA that they should stop calling their energy drink "Cocaine."  The company first changed the name to "Censored" and later to "NoName."

Ads for the Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network had to be taken down in the Boston area because they showed a character from the show "saluting passersby with an upraised middle finger."

Law Suits

You remember this story, I'm sure.  DC Judge Roy Pearson sued his dry cleaners  for $54 million because they misplaced his suit.   He lost both of the suits and also lost his judgeship because his review board though he showed a lack of judicial judgement bringing such a case.

Johnson and Johnson sued the American Red Cross for infringement of its trademarked red cross.

Sexual (well, kind of.)

The Fitworld gym in Hetern, the Netherlands, introduced Naked Sunday.

A Swiss hoaxer took a picture of his naked body and conned a newspaper into publishing a two-page ad, using the picture, for Gucci Eau de Parfum.

Just Plain Gross

A funeral home in Scotland supposedly regularly used cremains to keep people from slipping on icy sidewalks.

Keith Richards says that he snorted his father's ashes.  (He may have been joshing us on this.)

.................................................................................

Music and Me

Spring day!  Sunny and 60 degrees.  Nice.

Music and me.

The first musical memory that I have is my mother singing a lullaby after reading a chapter in my "Scampy" book and "tucking me in."   "Lullaby and good night.. etc" you know the rest.

The next memory was from around 1938 when I was four years old.  All the neighborhood girls would congregate on our front porch every night and sing the current pop songs.  I was a cute little rascal so they let me chime in.  I specifically recall singing "Elmer's Tune."

Next is an experience that I don't remember, but must be true because there is a picture of me.  My Aunt Marjorie enrolled me in Al Sanger's Dance Studio when I was 7 years old.  I was the only boy with six little girls.  When we had a recital, all went well until I, as the leader, was supposed to back off away from the girls.  They tell me that I had a giant "crush" on one of the girls, so instead of doing what I had rehearsed, I followed my "love" off stage and spoiled the dance's effect.

Guess what!  14 years later, my new wife and I rented an apartment with a lady who said that she had taught dancing at Al Sanger's.  She taught with the soon to be famous, Carol Haney.  She searched her memory and suddenly remember the incident I mentioned above.  But, more amazingly, she remembered the girl I had followed.  I know, you've guessed, that girl was my new bride!  I had not known that my wife had also been a trainee at the dance studio. Now you know, that romance was made in heaven.

When I was in the fourth grade, my African American and Cape Verdean friends taught me how to sing "the Dozens," but I'm not going to go into that now.

Throughout my early teenage years, my buddy "Casey" and I would serenade our neighbors with the old favorites, from under the street lights, until people complained, when we would go on to another corner.  Casey had a wonderful voice;  I just tried to do harmony.

I went to work at the local YMCA while I was still in High School.  Where I worked, we kept a radio going, blasting out all the pop songs, like: "How much is that doggie in the window?"  This was the music that I heard morning and night.

After High School, just like my whaler ancestors, I signed up for a three years voyage.  But not to search for whales.  Instead, I spent my time in the Air Force in Europe.

The Rock and Roll revolution did not reach Europe while I was there;  so it was great surprise to me when I came home and heard it.  I did not like it and got a bit nasty about it.  One day, at our local pub, I did not want to hear such music so I cashed some bills and got enough nickles to play "Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt for hours on the juke box, much to the consternation of fellow pub guys.

In time, I did get used to Rock and Roll; but I had cultivated a classical music preference in Europe, and I remain a cuckoo for such music even today.

I've already written about how "inherited" hundreds of classical vinyl records, so I won't mention it here.  For quite a few years now I have been amassing classical CD's from the BBC.

When I was in the 7th grade a wonderful lady named Miss DaLoid (sp?) taught us how to read music. Do, re, me...etc. I'm glad I paid attention to what she said.

The do-re-me system was invented by a monk named Guido d'Arezzo  somewhere around 1000 AD.

Guido based his scale from the first syllables of the plainsong Ut queant laxis/Resonare fibris/Mira gestorum/Famuli tuorum/Solve polluti/Labi reatum/Sancte Johannes which was a prayer to St. John. At some point, "ut" became "do."  (Thank you, BBC Music.)

"Do, a deer, a female deer,
Re, a drop of golden sun,
Me, a name I call myself,
Fa, a long long way to run.
So, a needle pulling thread,
La, a note to follow So,
Ti, I have with jam and bread,
And that get's us back to Do.

La, a note to follow So.... tsk tsk... come on guys, you could have crafted a better line than that!

I've mentioned before that I have constant music and Morse Code playing in my brain.  I don't realize it until I force myself to think about it.  Right now, I have my XM radio playing La Boheme on the Met Opera channel, so the music from that opera will stay in my brain for days, until something else takes its place.  (By the way, Luciano Pavarotti is singing in this opera version.  Nobody...nobody.. nobody can ever equal the voice of that wonderful tenor!)



....................................................................................................................

Made in China; President Trump and Family; Dirty Tricksters; Learn German

Foggy, but we are supposed to have sun and 75 degrees this afternoon.  Nice for the daffodils.

It's all Chinese to me.

I just noticed something.  My slouch hat that I use to keep the sun from my head was "made in China."  My Kodak card reader that I use all the time was "made in China."   My XM Radio remote was "made in China."  And that is just three things within my range of vision.

It seems to me that we have a nice symbiotic relationship with China and I hope that Mr. Trump doesn't mess that up.  I like my Chinese stuff.

El Presidente

Speaking of Mr. Trump, I see by today's newspaper that nepotism is rearing its ugly head again. Catherine Lucey from the Associated Press says: "The first daughter is seen as a rising power in the young administration.  She is getting an office in the West Wing, a security clearance and government-issued electronic devices even though she is not an official employee."

I also seem to remember reading where the first daughter's husband, Mr. Kushner, has been appointed to a group looking for fraud. I could be wrong on this, but I think that his father was once in jail because of fraud.  Hmmm.

And then, there is good old Mitch McConnell, whose wife had a very easy time obtaining a cabinet level job.

Dirty Tricks

President Nixon... Hail to king of the Dirty Tricksters... at his direction of course.

I think that Karl Rove was an heir to Richard Nixon.  Now he gets to pontificate as though he is some kind of expert on things governmental.

Alex Jones has now apologized (kind of) for feeding the Pizzagate frenzy.  The idiot who shot up the pizza shop is getting his head examined and will be in jail for a while.  Meanwhile, sub-cretans are showing up in idiotic T-shirts to picket the shop some more.

I read a great science fiction story once about a long time in the past when aliens landed on Earth and tried to find some creature that could have a chance at becoming intelligent with a little help that they would provide.  Such creatures had to have the ability to build things... that is, they had to have fingers and thumbs and live outside of water.  Aha!  They found some large apes that seemed to fill that bill.  Through brain manipulation, some of these large apes became smart enough to come in out of the rain.  Some did not, and it looks like "never the twain may meet" at least when it comes to politics.

So, now on the scene comes Roger Stone, Junior, who seems to know everything before it happens. By the way, he and Paul Manafort (sp?) were partners for a while.  Roger admits to doing "dirty tricks" that would make Karl Rove blush.  

Jump to German Stuff

I thought that it might be fun to show some German phrases that might be easy to dope out even if you do not know German.  Let's try a few:

"Zeit ist Geld."
Time is money.

Biblical: (von Genesis)

Kain sagt: "Soll ich meines Bruders Hueter sein?"
Cain says: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

"Es ist nicht gut dass der Mensch allein sei."
It is not good for man to be alone.

"Milch und Honig"
Milk and honey.

"Der Mensch lebt nicht vom Brot allein."
Man does not live by bread alone.

"Die Perlen vor die Saeue werfen."
Cast pearls among swine.

"Wie ein Dieb in der Nacht kommen"
Comes like a thief in the night.

Snow White: Schneeweisschen

"Spiegeln, Spiegeln  an der Wand
Wer ist die Schoenste im ganzen Land?

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the most beautiful woman in the world?

Hansel und Gretal:

"Knusper, knusper, Knaeuschen,
Wer knuspert an meinem Haueschen?"

Nibble, nibble, who is nibbling on my house?

And last... my favorite.. it is attributed to Martin Luther, who seems like a guy who just wanted to have fun and didn't like the gloomy church rules.

"Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib, und Gesang,
Der bleibt ein Narr sein Lebelang."

Who doesn't love wine, women and song,
Remains a  fool his whole life long

.........................................................................

YESTERDAY

Today, the sun is shining and it's a bit cool, but not bad.

YESTERDAY

"Yesterday, when I was young..."

"Yesterday, all my troubles were so far away..."

Well, yesterday was Thursday, March 23, 2017, and it was a kind of typical day for me and Elaine, so I have decided to write about it so that someday my progeny can look at it and see what a "typical" day in the life of an octogenarian was like in the reign of Trump.  (Caution... this may get very boring.)

12:01 AM  To bed.

02:00 AM  Awake, unable to sleep until around

05:00 AM  Finally to get some REM sleep  until

07:00  AM  Getting up.  Usually our "Alarm Cat" gets me up. Not today. I wonder why.

08:00  AM  Time to sit near a sunny window and do American Cryptic crosswords

08:30  AM  Testing blood sugar... sticking a finger to get blood.  Reading 101.  Very good. Almost normal for a person without the pre-diabetes that I am supposed to have.

08:40  AM  Testing blood pressure with a wrist tester.  143/63.  Not bad. A normal person my age would probably be something like 140/70.  Doing good.

08:45 AM  Took my morning pills... only 6 of them.  1 of them has been on refill order for two weeks.  I called the office of the original prescription orderer to tell them what Giant Pharmacy told me.  When Giant called that office and mentioned the name shown as the prescriber in their records ... someone with a name similar to Ali Baba, MD, that office said that nobody by that name worked there, so they could not order a refill.

08:50  AM  I called the office again and told them that somebody had to reorder because I had no pills left.  Then they checked their records and saw that I was a patient of two doctors in that practice, they said that they would get one of them to authorize the refill.

(And, of course, Giant called me late in the afternoon to tell me that the refill had been finally  authorized; however, Giant did not have any more of those pills in stock and had to reorder them.  Ah yes!)

09:00  AM  Retrieve the Carroll County Times which some kind soul has moved to between my front doors from the bushes where it was thrown.  The headline tells me that a 2-year old boy has died in an attic fire.  Probably playing with matches.  Very depressing and sad.  I'm checking the obituaries to make sure I am not there.

09:15  AM  Ate a breakfast of cereal with blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, banana and milk, with a big cup of decaf on the side, while reading the paper and listening to CSPAN radio and the Trumpcare debate in the House of Representatives.(Trumpcare will not pass.)

09:45  AM   Called the Dental One office.  I canceled an appointment in downtown Baltimore to have a tooth fixed on my upper plate and this office was supposed to arrange for another one.  I spent a bit of a time getting the receptionist to remember me.  Unfortunately, she said, her memory has not been very well lately because she has to take care of a sick mother.  Later, someone named Debbie called and  said that she would look into my problem.  Meanwhile, I must spend another day looking like an escapee from "Hee Haw!"

10:00 AM  I did 30 minutes of German language study.

10:30  AM  I did 5 minutes cleanup work in the basement.
10:40  AM  I did 5 minutes of cleanup work in the front room.

(Little by little... I will get things under control.)

11:00  AM  Brightview Landscaping Service has a contract with Carroll Lutheran Village and is now digging drainage ditches and filling in mulch, and at this time, it was our house that was under their attack.  A cascade of wet mud descended upon our side porch, blanketing the floor, the formerly white railings, the window screens and windows, the siding up to the roof, and the glass part of the screen door. Quite a mess.  I called Carroll Lutheran Village maintenance to complain.

11:30  AM  I read a book on my Kindle about Inventions for 30 minutes.

12: 00 Noon  I woke Elaine up and fried myself some scrapple and two eggs (over light, please). That, with a piece of buttered toast and a glass of Mocha Light Starbucks coffee was my lunch.
Elaine had a container of Wendy's chili and a glass of milk.

01:00  PM  I listened to a podcast of the Rachel Madow show.  (Trumpcare will not pass.)

02:00  PM  Nobody had yet come to clean up the landscaper's mess, so I called and left messages on the answering machines of two maintenance employees.  One of them called to say they had notified the landscaper and was told that it would be taken care of.  They said they would call them again.

02:30  PM  I read the April 2017 edition of the Funny Paper. I especially was interested in these four items:

Harper's Index sez:

83% of the U. S. apartments now under construction are unaffordable for almost everyone except the most affluent.  (Russians are "rushing" to buy condos in Trump tower for millions of dollars... or so I'm told.)

Hitler's Mein Kampf was on the German bestseller list for 35 weeks after a ban on its publication was lifted. (Sadly, it's been available in the U.S. for "nutballs" to read for many years.)

Chuck Shepherd sez:

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has now allowed a Lakeland lady to keep her 6-foot long alligator, Rambo, at home with her.  She and Rambo have been a couple for over 10 years.

W. Bruce Cameron sez: 

"I've read that an average dog possesses a vocabulary of 200-300 words, which is enough for him to have his own Twitter account."

03:30  PM  Time to take a shower and remove fine tons of dirt from my body.

04:00  PM  It looked like the Landscaper was getting ready to finish his day.  Nobody showed up to clean up our porch area, even though workers were going by off and on throughout the day, working on neighboring houses... blowing leaves and dirt from their houses.  Come on, guys... let's have some fairness here!"  I tried to call Maintenance again... all of them had gone home... except for a nice guy named Larry, who was working in our Health Care section.  Larry was interested in what I was saying and rushed over.  Two minutes before he arrived, a landscaper showed up and blew most of the mud off the floor and, satisfied, he left as Larry arrived.

Of course, all of the mud was still on the siding, the screens, the formerly white railings, and the windows.  Larry was appalled, as I was and promised to get someone to finish the job tomorrow.
(Future note:  they finally did... almost... I guess they don't do windows.)

05:30  PM  Time to leave for our monthly  SWORD supper.  You may remember, SWORD is the social organization for Single, Widowed OR Divorced Catholics, or anybody else of any religion. This is where I met my pal, Elaine.  She was divorced and I was widowed.

06:45 PM  This month's supper was held at the Dragon Best Chinese Restaurant, on Route 140 (Reisterstown Road) right across the street from the Levinson Jewish Funeral Home.

One problem with the SWORD group is that men hardly ever join in, so it probably is frustrating for the lady members to always see me and Elaine at these functions.  Several of these ladies are quite good looking and it amazes me that they have no men in their lives.  Of course, that is their business, not mine.

Elaine and I ordered eggdrop soup and a pupu platter.  I would say that the soup was the best I have ever had and the platter was pretty good.  I drank lots and lots of Chinese tea... and yet (another future note.. I had a good night sleep).  For dessert, we asked the very pretty young Chinese waitress what she had.  We  both thought she said "Banana Ice Cream," and ordered it.  It turned out to be "Vanilla Ice Cream."  But that was OK.  Our fortune cookies flattered our egos and the price of all of our food was unbelievably low.  I would highly recommend the restaurant.  Bring your own bottle, please.

08:45  PM  Home again.  Time to check out our Liberal Media Outlets to see what crazy things have transpired while we were out.  Elaine took a small nap and I watched a little Frasier on Netflix.

10:00  PM  Elaine watched "Survivor something or other"  while I washed clothes, folded dried towels, cleaned the kitchen and read about the Food Network.... I had bought a "remainder" at the Dollar Store.  I learned that the Food Network was born soon after the Big Dan fiasco in New Bedford, Massachusetts, by Providence, Rhode Island TV network folks who turned viewer excitement over the televised court trial into "Court TV."  The "Food Network"soon followed.  Interesting story, I wonder why the book didn't sell.

11:00  PM  You know how fast you get hungry again after eating Chinese food... so... I ate a dish of cole slaw, took my nightly 7 pills, and drank my glass of wine and a can of beer. (The cardiologist said I had to have two alcoholic beverages each day.. so stop looking so judgemental.)

11:59 PM  Elaine and I were now exhausted and went to bed after another typical day in our life at Carroll Lutheran Village.
.................................................................................

(Future note:  We learned later the next day that, as we had predicted, Trumpcare "was toast!  The President and Speaker of the House are now probably singing: "Yesterday when I was dumb...")

....................................................................................

BITS and Pieces

Spring day with gale winds and cool temps, but some sun.

R.U.R.

Way back in 1972, when I was busy with computer programs at the Social Security Administration, I had "Cybernetics" as one of the three studies within my Niemand Associates organization.   (The other two were "Cetology" and "Cryptology.")  As a cybernetics "cuckoo,"  I belonged to a number of computer related organizations, one of which was the Potomac Valley Chapter of the Association of Computer Programmers and Analysts (ACPA)  which was connected to the Mensa Special Interest Group on the Social Implications of Computers and Automation. (Whew!)

The newsletter of this group was called R.U.R., The Journal of Cybernation and Public Affairs.  I enjoyed reading this "journal" because it bent my mind... that is, it made me think.  I just came across one of the newsletters from that time and I want to pick up on bits and pieces from that issue.

(By the way, R.U.R. is the name of a play written by Karel Capek during the 1920's.  In the play, robots created by man, destroy man.  The word "robot" comes from the Czech word "robota" which translates to "worker" in English.  R.U.R. stands for Rossum's  Universal Robots.. the providers of robots.)

Can a Machine Think?

Irving John Good wrote  a long article for the newsletter.  I would like to comment on some "bits" of it.

Professor Good believes that someday a machine could usefully process data  as a human does.

I see that a computer has beaten the world's greatest chess players.
I see that a computer has beaten the world's greatest Jeopardy players.
I see that a computer has NOW beaten the world's greatest GO players!

As a former computer programmer, I believe that I understand how a computer can be programmed to learn enough, and have access to enough information to become super smart.

Do other animals think?  Of course.  Does a whale think?  Of course.

Does an ant think?  (I just realized that an ant has a functioning brain that can be examined. Amazing to me! Then, why do we just step on a thinking creature without feeling guilt?  Or do we?)

What is my cat thinking when she stares directly into my eyes?

What does that gorilla think when I accidentally make eye contact?

But.. machines?

Kellyanne Conway thinks that Microwaves can think.

I can ask my XFINITY listener to connect me where I want to be as a TV watcher.
I can ask the nice sounding mysterious lady in this computer anything and she will try to give me an answer in milliseconds.
Ditto on my cellphone.
Ditto on my Fitbit, if I can ever get it to work.

All of these machines try to fool me into thinking that  even though they are inanimate They can Think.

So... Could a Machine Have a Soul?

If you think that a machine can think, do you think that such a machine might have a soul?

Of course, you have to first believe that there is such a thing as a soul.  Most people believe that... but some folks do not.  I'm not going to tell  you what I think.

And.. Could a Machine have Consciousness?

Do you have consciousness?  Or is this existence some form of dream and you will soon wake up to find yourself in bed with Bob Newhart's wife?

Ah... all of this is tough on the brain, so let me jump to some quotes:

George Orwell wrote:  "So long as the machine is there, one is under an obligation to use it.  No one draws water from the well when he can turn on the tap."

Sir Francis Bacon wrote:  "The human understanding is infected by the sight of what takes place in the mechanical arts, in which the alteration of bodies proceeds chiefly by composition or separation, and so imagines that something similar goes on in the universal nature of things."

Deep stuff!

...............................................................................................................

Time Again Plus a Wordless Comment on the Daily Events

Cool and sunny.

Our "Alarm Cat" has finally gotten adjusted to the recent time change, and now we can enjoy that extra hour of rest that old folks like us need.

Meanwhile... the hourglass of time pours swiftly and surely.    Which reminds me:

Timely Music

Helen Forrest sang:

Time waits for noone,
It passes you by.
It rolls on forever,
Like the clouds in the sky.

The Rolling Stones sang:

Time waits for noone --
And it wont wait for me.

Billie Holiday sang:

Time on my hands,
And you in my arms,
Nothing but love in view.

(Michael Schenker and Phil Mogg)

Timely Study

I love to study time.  Right now I am listening to the Great Courses course,  Mysteries of Modern Physics:  TIME  by Professor Sean Carroll.  Ah... yes.. the infamous "Arrow of Time."

In addition, I just read an article in the New Yorker for March 20, 2017 with the title: Time Out, Confessions of a Watch Geek.  The Author, Gary Shteyngart is quite well known for his writings, but hardly anyone knows about his "wrist watch obsession."

Even though, since the 1970's watches have become accurate by using a quartz movement, earlier "mechanical" watches, such as those with a Rolex or Nomos label, are not accurate, Gary insists on using the inaccurate and extremely expensive ones.  While the inaccurate mechanical watches may cost thousands of dollars, an accurate quartz one may cost less than thirty dollars.

So, why the hell does Gary keep buying expensive watches?  Well... it's because he can.

Gary says that " "The average visitor (to the world of watch collecting) has an income of three hundred thousand dollars, owns  five to seven watches, and buys two or three more a year at an average cost of seven thousand dollars each."  Of course, that lets me out, but I wonder how many watches our President owns.

El Presidente

Speaking of President Trump, he talks about "time" a lot.  Especially media with the word "time" in its title, such as "the failing New York Times."

I've heard that he was quite upset when Andrea Merkel was shown as "Person of the Year" on the cover of Time magazine instead of him.  He did make it later though.

That reminds me of a cover for a 2006 issue of  that same magazine.  I want to "end" by showing that cover as a "wordless comment on the current mess in Washington DC."

A Gamut of Emotions: Joy; Sadness; Depression; Hopefulness

A snowy day on the East Coast.  Not as much as predicted, but a bit.  Stores here were overcrowded yesterday with people stocking up on milk, bread and toilet paper. Oy!

Joy!

You remember Bernie... our neighbor who felt the need to burn pine pallets on his patio every night, wafting acrid smoke through the air directly to our outside deck.  Bernie is gone!  Where or how, we don't know, but now a new family has moved into his house, and they have some young children.

Today, these children and their parents were out frolicking in the snow; making snowmen; throwing snowballs; sliding; having a great time.  What a  joy for them... and what a joy for us to hear the happy sounds of children playing nearby... and what a joy not to have to plan our outside activity just to those times when the air is not smokey!

Sadness!

Sunday, we heard a Republican Representative from West Virginia say that most of his constituents love the Affordable Care Act, but hate Obamacare!  This is one of the great problems with propaganda.  Apparently, for the eight years that one party has been complaining about Obamacare and how bad it is, some folks thought that they were talking about some evil Government program that had no relationship to the insurance plan that now allows them to get insurance even when they have pre-existing conditions like Black Lung Disease.

When I heard this, I was so sad I wanted to sit down and have a good cry.

Depression!

The Nation magazine published a book review by Richard J. Evans, a British college President, and author of several books about Nazi Germany.  The book he was reviewing was: Hitler; Ascent 1889-1939.. by Volker Ullrich.. in English translation.

Timeline:

1923  The failed "Beer-hall Putsch."
1928  Hitler's Nazis held less than 3% of the vote in national elections.
1933  Hitler was appointed head of the German government and the Nazis were the largest political party.
1939  Hitler started his invasions and World War II.

Question..  How did a man who was considered an "upstart" and a "clown" attain the pinnacle of power in Germany?  This book gives you some idea.

I quote: "Above all else, Hitler was a media figure who gained popularity and controlled his country through speeches and publicity."

Hitler "played the system" very wisely.  His ascent to power was not done through a military coup.

I quote: "Hitler issued an endless stream of slogans to win potential supporters over.  He would make Germany great again.  He would give Germans work once more.  He would put Germany first.  He would revive the nation's rusting industries..."

The author suggests that Hitler's hate inspiring speeches were not spontaneous, but were carefully crafted to get the attention of the media and to get his listeners to chant hate slogans.

Of course, he loved media attention, but made sure that he vilified and/or  destroyed all of the news outlets that spoke against him.

The Nazi regime allowed only heterosexual white men to run the country.  Nazi propaganda at first mocked disabled people; later they sterilized or exterminated them.  Feminists were mocked and their associations were closed up.  Illegal Polish immigrants were rounded up and deported.

Hitler canceled treaties with other nations; he took Germany out of International organizations.

Hitler warned the German people that he was going to do what he quickly did; (first 100 days)  Where was the opposition?  I quote:  "Civil courage was in short supply."

For a long time, there was an undercurrent of anti-Semitism in Europe.  (Now, it seems to be Islamaphobia.)  Hitler fed on this and made the destruction of Jewish people the main goal of his regime.  Besides, the sale of stolen  Jewish property supported the Nazi party.

All of this sound familiar?



Hopefulness!

I am hopeful that the safeguards built into the U. S. government will stop any try by a demagogue from trying to become a Hitler-type.  (Or am I being naive?)

.............................................................................

Identity

Sunny and 40 degrees.  The snow did not stick.  Today, Mr. Weatherman sez that we can expect a snowy "Nor'easter" next Tuesday.

Identity

Ten years ago, so many people were recognizing me at so many different places that I decided to form the "Joe Vaughan Fan Club."  As you may already know, this is not a fan club related to me, but instead, related to people that I am a fan of.   Over these past ten years, I have normally given each nice person who recognizes me a "Joe Vaughan Fan Club Pen."  For a few years, I gave out many of these pens... however, lately, that gift-giving has slowed to a crawl.  Why? You may ask.

Well, I've determined that people can no longer recognize me.  Why?  Because..... I've changed.  How?  Let me list the changes... and by doing so, it will be cathartic for me, and maybe even prod me to fix myself up.  (Also, for my family... this will show them what they are in for as they get older.)


Face

Macular Degeneration (MD) in my Right Eye  (Not fixable... but not really disabling... just irritating.)
Red Right Eye  (Not permanent... just for a few days after getting "eye-poked" for MD.)
Deafness in my Right Ear.  (Compensated for by a hearing aid that I hate to wear.)
White Hair. (Sorry.. I could do a "Trump" and get back the blondness of my youth. I don't want to.)
Glasses (Not really necessary after cataract surgery.. but I'm used to them, and they partially hide the bags under my eyes.)
Broken tooth in the middle of my Smile (Fixable... probably next week, I hope. But I can whistle better with it broken.)
Pimple on my Nose.  (Hope it goes away.  Makes me look like the wicked witch of the West.)
Scars from Skin Cancer. (Not too noticeable unless you look closely.)
Beard and Mustache.  (No.. I'm not giving them up. Even though some kids think that I am Santa.)
Red blotches and scabs. (Temporary.  The results of cryogenic spritzing to avoid skin cancer.)
Nose Hair. (Itches)
Ear Hair. (I can't see it so it doesn't bother me. Just Elaine.)
Allergies (Cat dander.. we have a cat; smoke; plant pollen)

Body

Arthritic left shoulder.  (Painful. Some relief with injections.)
Arthritic Fingers turning to claws. (Only one so far.  More to come.)
Height lost of 4 inches. (Spine compression... damn!  I couldn't afford to lose those inches!)
Weight gain because of height loss... (Actually stayed the same.. but now too fat for my new height.)\
Barnacles all over my arms and legs.  (My tired skin cells have stopped attacking blemishes.)
Blotches all over my arms and legs. (Pooled blood because of using Aspirin as a blood thinner.)
Scars on my arms from cut out skin cancer. (Not too noticeable.)
Arthritic lower back. (Try not to lift heavy stuff.)
Diabetes (Under good control. I can eat anything I want.)
Other stuff... you are probably sound asleep by now.. so I'll let you go.


Ah!  Now I feel better.

And here is shown .... The Ravages of Time:

Now I can get on with interesting stuff and not keep thinking about my ailments.

Words

Yesterday it was sunny and 72 degrees; today it is snowing.

Words

Today, I want to talk about words, because I love words, especially in puzzles.  I dare say that my brother, Joe, and I are among the top puzzlers in the U.S. today.  My puzzling nom-de-plume is Ahab and his is Ishmael.

Here are some words that I have encountered within the last couple of days:

In my German Study

HUNGERSNOT    ... what a great word..  no matter what it sounds like to English readers, its meaning is...........................FAMINE.

While solving a British Cryptic Puzzle set by a British Newspaper

These are probably words that the Brits use regularly.  I doubt that most Americans are acquainted with them all (I know I'm not).

interlocutrice ..  this is the female version of interlocutor.   You may have heard vaudeville folks use it when doing schtick:   Mr. Interlocutor!   All it means is someone engaging in a dialogue or conversation.

amorist ...  this is a name for someone who is deeply in love or who wishes they were and writes about it.

Grimaldi ... this is a word that Brits like to use for a clown.  In the 1800's there was a famous man named Grimaldi who "created" our modern version of that age-old comic figure of Harlequin.

teratogen ... any agent that disturbs the development of an embryo or fetus  (scary!)

decimalization ... in stock trading:  using decimals instead of fractions on quotes

treble ..  1.  3 times as much;  2.  high-pitched;   3. a choir boy whose voice has not yet changed

spirochaete ... spirally twisted bacterium that  sometimes causes syphilis  (also scary!)

single cream ...  this is cream that contains at least 18% butterfat and is called light cream in the U.S. but single cream in the U.K.

While doing the Word Power Puzzle in the Readers Digest for March 2017

aubade ... morning song (I confess, I had never heard of that word... I thought it meant a gold pendant.)

Also in the same Readers Digest.... Some Word Types Definitions

aptronym .. a name that is perfectly suited to its owner.  (apt and name)  They give this wonderful example:  A lawyer whose name is Sue Yoo.

mondegreen ... a famous lyric that may be misheard.  Example: From the Elton John song "Tiny Dancer":  "Hold me closer, tiny dancer."   becomes:  "Hold me closer, Tony Danza."

neologism ... a word made up from necessity.  Example: Color you turn when finding half of a worm in your bitten apple:  Caterpallor.

paraprosdoklan ... sentence or phrase that ends in an unexpected way.... like most jokes

portmanteau ... a clever/humorous blending of two other words ..  RD examples: cellfish; afterclap.
(you can make up your own definitions for these two examples)

spoonerism ... humorous reversal of sounds in two words.. RD example:  "Don't put all you begs in one ask it."  (I have hundreds of these in my files... be prepared. I once belonged to a group I think was called "Desert Island Mensans", created for Mensans without a nearby chapter to join.  In that group, we passed around lots of what we called 'Feghoots'.. they were actually spoonerisms.)

Tom Swifty ... the RD example says it best:  "I think the lobotomy went well," Tom said absentmindedly."

Now... let me say this again.   I love the Readers Digest because it works similarly to my brain... a little bit of a lot of information on a lot of subjects ..  keeping me surprised by every turn of a page.  When I was stuck in a radio operations van on top of an icy mountain in Germany for long hours every day and night, the Readers Digest kept me from going crazy when I had finished my work and was stuck with the outlook of many lonely hours with nothing to do..

This is me, pretending to be a big-shot communicator.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Spring; Brain; DNA; Wait, Wait; Pool Problem; New Exercise Advice; New Sheriff in Town

Kind of sunny and almost 70 degrees again.  Spring is here already.  Elaine's flowers are three or four inches high.

Somebody mentioned that the stuff in my blogs is a "hodge-podge" of disconnected and half-baked information.  Of course!  That is what I want to write about.  As a member of that august body of Mensans, I try to keep up with all matters, big or small, that are taking place around us.  The world is such a remarkable place.. especially at this time of brain expansion.

My "Brain" Great Courses professor says that most people who are polled, say that they would like to live until the age of 120; she says that she would like to live to be 150.  Besides being a bonafide college professor, she is an opera singer and runs several podcasts.  I'm also sure that she belongs to Mensa.  Some people  have enough interests to keep them occupied until the age of 150, whereas, many folks are burned out and bored by age 60.  As our esteemed President tweets: SAD!

Genealogy Breakthroughs

My family is happily welcoming new relatives, thanks to DNA testing.  I won't be mentioning the details on this blog.   Call me up if you are interested.

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me

WAMU is having their nine hundredth pitch for funds, so all of their radio programs are being shortened or eliminated for a week or so.  This would normally mean that I would be getting my news from television (CNN; MSNBC; and the like.)  However, now that I can get Podcasts, I can listen to a great number of news outlets as well as "feel-good" shows such as WWDTM.

I just listened to the March 3rd, 2017 WWDTM show and have a few comments on things said on that show:

PEE in Your Pool!

NPR  reports on information in the Environmental Science and Technology Letter about the effect of urine in swimming pools.

You might be surprised to learn that the average home pool contains at least 2 quarts of urine mixed in with the water.  Most people will not admit that they pee in a pool.  Don't believe them!

According to Xing-Fang Li of the University of Alberta, urine can mix with other normal pool chemicals that contain ammonia, and create Mustard Gas... remember?  World War I?

Xing-Fang has found a way to determine the amount of urine by searching for the residue of artificial sweeteners in the urine.   While the average level of urine in pools does not usually approach toxic levels... it theoretically could.  So... people should put up that sign that is sold by Northern Sun:

We don't swim in your toilet;  Don't pee in our pool!

(Incidentally, although this information is just being put out, this problem was identified in Science Digest way back in 2014.)

New Exercise Advice

The human body contains 657 muscles and there is only one exercise that uses all of them.  That exercise is SEX, according to writers in the British newspaper: The Telegraph.  

Somebody named Bill Borrows says that playing golf uses only 137 muscles; running for a bus (what they do often in Britain) uses only 99 muscles.  But SEX... uses all 657 muscles, including the so-called "sex-hero" muscle.  This is the famous muscle in both males and females that has the wonderful name of "bulbospongiosus."

This information will of course be of vital importance to the well-being of both man- and woman-kind.

New Sheriff in Town

In line with the kind of "Wild West" atmosphere in Washington, D.C. these past couple of weeks, the new Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, rode into work on a horse, accompanied by some of DC's famous police cavalry.  It must have been as though Wild Bill Hickock's Rodeo was entering town once again.

Secretary Zinke's entrance was enhanced by the playing of a Cherokee tribal drum by a Native American.  Mr. Zinke immediately shouted to his appreciative audience:  "Let's get to work!"

AMEN!

...............................................................................................................

Hoarder's Demise; Sweetness; Stock Market; Professor Smullyan; Tweets; Oxford Words; Hygge; Testosterone

Coolish but sunny day.

Miscellanea  (an interesting word.. sounds like the name of the wife of a President. Perhaps I should use "pot pourri.")

The New York Post reports that a Japanese man was found dead in his apartment.  He was crushed to death when his massive collection of pornography fell over on him.

You Sweet Thing!

Beginning in 2018, the amount of added sugar is supposed to be listed for all package foods and beverages, in addition to total sugar.  (I don't know if I understand what that means.  Shouldn't added sugar be added into total sugar?  I guess I'm missing something.)

Stock Market Rise

President Trump is taking credit for the stock market rise that began under President Obama.  We knew he would.  The key to finances is to "buy low and sell high."  So, I need to sell some stock before the world gets wise to Trump and the market starts to fall.  One must not be greedy like everyone who got involved in the Old Court Savings and Loan fiasco.  Even when I was leaving the office with our money (to pay for college expenses) people were lined up waiting to deposit money into the already failed bank. They just could not help controlling themselves when the bank offered 11% interest on deposits, when all other banks were offering no more than 5%.

Another Puzzler "Bit the Dust"

The New York Times had a long obituary on Professor Raymond Smullyan, puzzle creating magician, musician, logician, and mathematician who died this week at the age of 97..  He's the guy who developed those damnable logic puzzles that attacked our brains when we were younger.  Just think about his 1982 book: :"The Lady or the Tiger? And Other Logic Puzzles."  How I hated those puzzles!  But my genius brother Joe (Ishmael to the cognoscenti) found such puzzles to be easy.

Professor Smullyan wrote a book in 1982 in tribute to Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). "Alice in Puzzle-Land: A Carrollian Tale for Children Under Eighty."  Of course, now that I am over eighty I probably should not read it.  Eh.. what the heck.. I think I will download it to my Kindle anyway.  It sounds intriguing.

Political Thoughts from a Noted Author

Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Refugees, was interviewed  recently by the New York Times Book Review.  I was interested in what he said about social media:  "I've been reading news and ... opinion pieces on Facebook and Twitter. They're utterly terrifying and depressing, since my social circle basically thinks that a Trump presidency spells the end of the world.  To get out of the echo chamber, I read Donald trump's Twitter feed.  It's utterly terrifying and depressing, and I run back into the echo chamber."

Amen, brother!

More on the  Oxford Dictionary New Words

The New York Post mentions that the Oxford Dictionary will be adding 300 words this year (in addition to the ten I mentioned earlier) for instance:

"yas" = expressing great pleasure or excitement

"clicktivism" = Internet activism

"jelly" = millenial-speak for "jealous"

also:  "cat lady"  "untag"  and "drunk text"

Among the 10 words being considered by Oxford for the Word of the Year, hygge made a good showing.  this is a Danish word pronounced HOO-gah, and it translates roughly to "coziness" and "well-being."   The New York Times Book Review says that there is even a new best seller called: "The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living."

This is "big-time" stuff, and other books are available now:

Scandikitchen Fika and Hygge:  Comforting Cakes and Bakes from Scandinavia With Love

Hygge Knits: Nordic and Fair Isle Sweaters, Scarves and Hats, and More to Keep You Cozy

Book of Hygge:  The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort and Connection

More Exploded Myths

Another book that was reviewed recently in the New York Times Book Review is called: "Testosterone Rex; Myths of Sex, Science, and Society by Cordelia Fine.

This is a book about gender roles and stereotypes. Perhaps women are not from Venus and men are not from Mars!  I think I understand one of Ms Fine's insights:  "For every man on the prowl, there simply aren't a hundred women available to bear his child.   For all men not named Genghis Khan, monogamy must have started to  look like a pretty smart bet."

I also noted a scary statistic, which I think the reviewer got from the book: "In the United States, being pregnant is about 20 times more likely to result in death than is a sky dive."

.....................................................................................................

President's Speech; Post-Truth; Harmony Zhu; Brain Expansion; Ulysses; Cats

Overcast and 60 degrees.  Kind of depressing, but not Wintry.

The President's Speech to Congress

Smart speechwriter, but remember a famous song's first line:  "Never smile at a crocodile!"

His unexpected and  restrained tweet after the speech:  "THANK  YOU!"

POST-TRUTH

I was not satisfied with my definition of this Oxford selected Word of the Year for 2017, so let's try this:

The Economist defines post-truth as: "Art of the Lie."

Its usage of "post" in a sentence supposedly is similar to "post-war."

Delightful Pianist

Now 11 years old, Harmony Zhu is back in the spotlight with her piano playing.  Her little hands fly over the keyboard.  If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing or hearing her, visit YouTube.  She was also a presenter on "From the Top" last Sunday.

Brain Expansion?

I am currently listening to a Great  Courses program called Brain Myths Exploded (Lessons from Neuroscience) presented by Professor Indre Viskontas.  Indre "explodes" 18 myths that people hold about the human brain, such as:

We only use 10% of our brain's capacity

Left handed people are more creative than right handed people

Indre is a very interesting speaker.  She was one of the two investigators for the "Miracle Detective" series of programs and is part of the current "Inquiring Minds" program.  Since my son showed me how to get Podcasts, I can listen to these programs whenever I want to.

The "Miracle Detective" program took reported "miracles" and investigated them from two viewpoints:  religious and scientific, and let you decide which was the reason for the "miracle."


Ulysses

That marvelous book, Ulysses, by James Joyce has always been difficult for people to read, because of Joyce's use of his "Stream of Consciousness" style of writing, and for the many classical and linguistic references embedded in the text.  I was introduced to Joyce's work by a graduate student who was devoting his life to that author's work.  As I've mentioned before, Joyce's Ulysses is a recitation about  a typical day of a certain Mister Leopold Bloom in Dublin, Ireland.  Mr. Bloom is a sensitive, caring individual among some who do not share that characteristic.

I recently found out that a gentleman named Frank Delaney had a podcast where he was reading aloud, and with an Irish brogue, the whole of Joyce's Ulysses.  As he read, he interpreted some of the difficult (arcane) (obscure) references in the work.  A glorious "find"for me, thanks again to my son introducing me to podcasts.

Unfortunately for us "Joyceans,"  Mr. Delaney died last week at the age of 74.  Fortunately for us Joyceans, his many books, articles and podcasts remain for all of us to enjoy.


Cats!

I just heard somewhere that cats are afraid of cucumbers.

I just heard somewhere that  Australian cats eat more seafood than Australian humans.

Since I like cats and want to know more about them, I found an "Inquiring Mind" podcast on the subject of our feline friends.  A lady named Abigale Tucker was interviewed about cats.  As a "cat lady,"  Ms. Tucker has written a book about them.  I downloaded the book to my Kindle and am about to start reading it.   The book is:

The Lion in the Living Room, by Abigale Tucker

...................................................................................

Meow!