Grab bag: Beauty; Pizza ID; TRIAD notes: Alvin Toffler; Gene Wilder; Obituaries

I've found that blogging is a great way to relax and forget about depressing things... except for a few, which I feel bound to discuss.  Anyway, today I will reach into my grab bag again and pull out some prizes.

Beautiful People

The Week magazine for October 14, 2016 mentions that a new nightclub in Los Angeles will only admit good-looking people.  "Beauty judges" will be stationed at the entrance, ready to turn away ugly folks.

Suppose President Trump showed up with an entourage, would some of this group be barred?
Scruffy Steve Bannon?  Would Oscar Levant have gotten in?  Is ethnicity taken into consideration?

Could this activity be unconstitutional?

Silly Stuff

According to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me,  a woman in Massachusetts tried to use a pizza as her ID in order to get into a local bar.

They also mentioned that Jake Butts in now "tight end" for some team or other.


Notes from a Quarterly TRIAD Meeting

TRIAD is an organization consisting of three parts:  AARP;  Police Organizations;  Senior Citizens
I run the Carroll County chapter, called SALT: Seniors and Law Enforcement Together.  Here are some notes that I took at a  recent quarterly meeting of the Maryland TRIAD:

Be careful, gas station card slots could have scanners installed.

Some ID thieves make $1 purchases with your stolen credit card to see if the purchase is accepted and whether or not you realize that your card has been stolen.  If accepted  without problems, much larger amounts may be charged.

Record your credit card numbers on media that can be kept in a hidden spot or a safe.

If your house is to be vacant for some time, contact the local police department so that a patrol car can check on it periodically.

No legitimate police agency will ever solicit money. (At least in Maryland.)

Most funeral notices no longer list the address of the bereaved; however, if the deceased had a very odd name, the address might be found by online query.  If the bereaved has not arranged to  have a "house sitter,"  the address seeker could try to break in.


The Information Age Futurist Passes

The Week magazine for July 22, 2016 had an obituary about Alvin Toffler, who died at the age of 88 in 2016.  During the 1970's I was heavily engaged in computer work, as a programmer, researcher and inventor (kind of.)  His best-selling book, Future Shock, was an important "read" for anyone interested in how that world would function in the Computer/Information Age. Even though he talked about the possibility of things like personal computers and an "internet,"  he said: "I don't believe anybody knows the future.  Anybody who claims to is a fraud."

For years, I would circulate articles by and about Mr. Toffler in my Niemand Associates reading folders, as part of the cybernetics part of the organization.  Hopefully, some folks read it.

A Hollywood Candy-Making Funnyman Passes

Another interesting person passed in 2016.  The Week magazine for September 9, 2016 ran an obituary for Gene Wilder, who died in 2016 at the age of 82.  Everybody loved him, including his funny wife, Gilda Radner, who died early at age 42.

Here is a list of his acting jobs:

Bonnie and Clyde 1967

The Producers 1968

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 1971

Everything You always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask  1972

Blazing Saddles 1974

Young Frankenstein  1974

Silver Streak  1985

Stir Crazy  1985

Will and Grace sitcom

He was a very funny man who will be missed.

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Gotta go!  See ya!

Grabbag; Swearing; Swishing; Nicknames; Cats; Fishing; Hearing Aids; Wrongful Conviction; Neuticles

Grabbag.  Hot weather diversion.

Cussing, and Some Lessons for Me:

 The Week magazine for January 13, 2017 reported on a study from the University of Cambridge that found that people who cuss are more sincere than other folks and also less likely to lie.  (Wait a minute... what about El Presidente?)

Researcher David Stillwell says that people who filter out curses also tend to filter the truth. (I don't think I believe this.  I think that cultured people watch their language in the presence of other human beings and that so-called "Locker Room Talk" is just the attempt by persons with juvenile personalities to feel "cool.")

Example:  A relative of mine, who shall remain nameless, insisted on peppering his speech with 4 letter words whenever he spoke to me, but did not talk that way with other relatives and school mates.  I think that because I was a "street kid," I expected him to talk that way.  I did not return the cheap talk, but that didn't deter him.  I think he felt "free" when he talked like that.

A lesson for me.  In high school, one of my school mates was in his late 20's, and was returning to get a high school diploma.  He had been in the service, and was studying under the GI Bill.

This guy was very friendly and openly "queer,"  as we would probably describe him now.  People like that were made fun of at the time.  In fact, I admit, at the time (before my brain matured a little) I gave him a "limp wrist" and other such gestures.  Finally, he said to me:  "Joseph, please don't swish, it isn't becoming to you."  I took the hint as I absorbed another lesson in human relations.

An earlier lesson for me.  I lived in a house with my two older uncles.  They had many friends who were always hanging around.  They had nicknames for all of their friends.  One had a rather large nose, and stereotypically was called "Jew Boy."  I can't remember my uncles ever talking in a bigoted way other than this.  However, even though I was 7 or 8 years old, it made me uncomfortable.

This guy finally got his friends to give him a different nickname:  "whistle britches."  This was because he liked to wear corduroy pants that gave off wheezes as he walked.  He did not like this nickname, just as he did not like his earlier nickname.

Even though I was 8 years old, I felt I knew this guy enough to call him by his new nickname, and I did.  He immediately took me aside and said:  "Joe, please don't call me 'whistle britches,'  instead, call me by my name, which is Bill."  This was for me, my earliest lesson in human relations.

Fun (Silly) Things to Do?

In the Readers Digest for May 2007, Mary Roach mentioned some fun things to do without killing your budget.  For instance:

o  Launch a message in a bottle with your email address.

o  Lie down in a cow pasture.  Get the cows' attention first.  In a few minutes, all of the herd will "come galloping over and form a tight circle around you, staring down at you with intense bovine curiosity."

o  Check the top of a Photo Booth.  "People often toss their embarrassing outtakes up there."

Feline Fun

In the Funny Times for August 2017,  Chuck Shepherd tells us that the "world's only museum devoted to the house cat" is located in Sylva, North Carolina.  Over ten thousand "artifacts" are on display, including "a genuine petrified cat (with whiskers) pulled from a 16th century chimney."

Ornery Cat

The Week magazine for March 21, 2014, mentions that police had to be called to subdue an "ornery" 22-pound cat that had its owners trapped inside their bedroom.

I guess they need to call "Galaxy,"  the "cat man" who has a great show on the "Animal Planet" network.


Fisherman's Luck

From the Reader's Digest for March 2016: (cited: Prairie Home Companion)

A well-dressed gentleman watched an old man fishing in a puddle outside a pub.  He invited the old timer inside for a drink.  As they had their whiskeys, the gentleman thought that he would humor the old man, so he asked:  "How many have you caught today?"

The old timer replied,  "You're the eighth."

Hearing Problems

Elaine keeps bugging me to wear my hearing aid.  I don't think I really need it, but she does.

Pat Tornatore wrote in the Readers Digest for March 2016 that her dad was having a hard time following conversation, so she told him he needed a hearing aid.

Dad thought that she was crazy and said, "What would I do with a hand grenade?"

Wrongful Conviction

According to Harper's Index in the Funny Times for July 2017, 18 U.S. States do not allow monetary compensation for wrongful conviction.

In Texas, wrongly convicted persons are awarded $80,000 for each year they spent in prison.

In Wisconsin, such persons get only $5,000 for each year.  (Better than nothing!)

Nuts to You!

I'm not sure where I got this information, but I'm sure it is true:

Gregg Miller, of Missouri, has invented Neuticles.  These are fake testicles for  your doggy buddy to wear after being neutered.  Apparently 250,000 dog owners have spent more than $100 each on a pair for their pets, "not including the cost of surgery."

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Enough!

Grab-bag: Nutriition; Beethoven; Texas Law; Cell Phone Addiction; The Cabinet? Smart Animal? Hawaiian Beer? Languages; Cryptics; Supreme Court

Today I would like to reach into my Blog "grab-bag" and talk about anything that pops up.

Nutrition 

In The Week for August 22,  2008, it was mentioned that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wants space on any Mexican/American border wall, so that they can post the following message:  "If the Border Patrol doesn't get you, the chicken and burgers will... go Vegan."

Apparently, PETA feels that Mexican food is a  lot healthier than what Gringos eat.  I feel sad for Elaine who has suddenly developed a garlic allergy.  Eating even a small amount gets her innards in an uproar.  Before she had this problem, I did not have any idea how much of our restaurant and grocery food contains garlic.

Beethoven

Great Courses recently advertised a course for a ridiculously low amount of money.  My favorite lecturer, Professor Robert Greenberg, from San Francisco, is the presenter on a CD.  He will get into the life of old Ludwig and how he affected music for all time.  I like to play such courses on my car audio system as I zoom around town visiting Doctors.  Recent courses I have listened to had the following subjects:  

Memory
Doctors' Rounds
The Golden Age of Islam
Great Thinkers of the Middle Ages
Forensics

I love the Great Courses and highly recommend them to one and all.


Texas Again

The Week for December 2, 2016 mentions that Texas lawmakers want to require public school teachers and counselors to "out" LGBT students to their parents.  This is called a "right to know" law and joins a lot of other "nutsy" (in my opinion) Texas laws.

One of these laws would require women contemplating abortion to get "counseling" and watch a sonogram of the fetus before getting the treatment.  The law is being pushed by "male members" of the Texas legislature. One of the "lady members"  (Jessica Ferrar)  has filed a counter-suit requiring men buying Viagra to get "counseling"before purchase.   I could be a little wrong on these details... to check up on such activities in Texas, one can read The New Yorker magazine article on that subject in a July 2017 issue..

Cellphone Addiction

Chuck Shepherd writes in the Funny Times for June 2017 that police in Wisconsin released surveillance pictures of a woman in the act of robbing some banks.  During each event, the lady never stopped talking on her cell phone.


Goldman Sachs

I seem to remember reading that Goldman Sachs might have been responsible for our recent recession, and that jail time had been suggested for some of their executives.  Meanwhile, I notice on a document mailed by Public Citizen, that Mr. Trump has filled some of his cabinet posts with folks in some way connected with that concern, such as:

Secretary of the Treasury:   Steve Mnuchin  

Steve spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs.

Director of National Economic Council:   Gary Cohn  

Gary was COO of Goldman Sachs for over 10 years.

Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):    Jay Clayton  

Jay was a partner with Sullivan and Cromwell, which was a Goldman Sachs law firm for many years.

Chief White House Strategist:   Steve Bannon

Steve worked at Goldman Sachs for six years.

I wonder how many of these guys were at that meeting with President Trump when the attendees each pledged their allegiance to the "fearless leader."  What have we become?

Animal Intelligence?

The Week magazine for August 21, 2009 reports on the Florida man who claims that his cat downloads child pornography to his computer when he isn't looking.  Good try, guy.

Beer with me a moment.

I'm told that Kona Beer is brewed in New Hampshire.  Their motto is "liquid aloha."

Is that deceptive advertising, or not?

Languages!

I heard a radio ad for Austin, Texas.  It said that 145 different languages are spoken in Austin.  Huh? How do we find out if that is true. Maybe the lady in my cell phone can find out for me.  I'll let you know if I find out anything.

My relearning of German is going ok.  I spend 30 minutes every day reviewing and studying vocabulary,  I read the German newspaper every week, and I do the German crossword puzzles.  However, I doubt that I will ever be able to speak the language again, but that's ok, I just want to be able to read German books easily again.  Once that is accomplished, I may try to relearn one of these three languages:  Spanish, German, Russian.   (I hope this all keeps my brain young.)

Cryptics

Big breakthrough for me today.  I came the closest I ever have come to solving a BBC cryptic crossword puzzle.  One word short.  E_C_I_   (Euclid?  El Cid?)  British cryptics are tough, but the BBC ones are monstrous because you need to also have knowledge of all kinds of musical terms, composers, operas, etc.  Doing one of these puzzles gives old brains a good workout.

Originalists

The late Antonin Scalia called himself an "originalist" and so does his replacement, Neil Gorsuch.  Originalists believe that Government should not be able to do anything "unless it is authorized in the Constitution."  Roger Carasso writes in the April/May issue of the New Yorker:

"Where does the Constitution specifically authorize the treatment of corporations... as people?"

Where does it treat "money as speech?"

Where does it "give the President the right to start wars?"

Where does it "allow for racist voter suppression?"

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OY!

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Garden, Garlic, Wasps, Religion, Kale, Punishment, Eagle Attack; Hoarding Solution; President Trump

Rainy day.  Time to blogiferate (is that a word?) about notes that I have on scraps of paper.  I will randomly select items to write and comment about.  But first:

My Garden

Thanks to my daughter, Diane, I have two pots of flowering petunias, two large healthy looking green pepper plants,  three healthy jumbo tomato plants,  a midget tomato plant with yellow flowers already, plus two pots with unknown flower plants.  I think that this may be all of the pots I will have planted this year.

Meanwhile, I still have three "earthboxes" to fill with something, and one with onion sets burgeoning. Elaine can't stand table onions, but I love them and pluck them to chew on whenever I know that she will not be close by to be disgusted with my "onion breath."

Garlic

Elaine now has a "garlic allergy," and we have to be very careful to learn if anything she is going to eat has even a snippet of garlic rubbed on it or contained in it.  This week, I have been inventorying all of our pantry food and learning what she cannot eat.  When we bought most of our pantry supplies she did not have this damned allergy.  

In doing my inventory, I have found lots of food that has been around for a while.  I threw away some of it, but I will have to make decisions on what is contained in cans.

Wasps

A couple of days ago, I got a bit tired of gardening and moved over to sit on a deck chair.  Suddenly, it felt like somebody stabbed me in the right calf.  I jumped up and was surrounded by wasps who were not too happy with me.  They had begun to build a nest under the chair and did not like to be disturbed.  I was lucky..  besides the leg sting, they only got me on one of my fingers.

As a "closet Buddhist" I seriously hate to kill any living creature.  If I see a bug or fly in the house, I will take all the time necessary to get it to leave, rather than kill it.  (How the hell would you like it if some giant insect swatted you?)  However, with wasps, times are different.  Somehow, they had to go.

I tipped over the chair with a long pole, but the tenacious bastards did not move on.  So, I hated to do it, but I got out the wasp killing spray can and squirted them.  I hope they get the message that they are not wanted here.

And now for my random notes:

Religion

Martin Luther is quoted a lot.  Here is one I like.

"Man findet immer Maeusedreck unter dem Pfeffer."

(One always finds mouse droppings mixed with the pepper.)

Old Brother Martin related this to Christians that he knew who did not act kindly, as all Christians should do.

But I relate it more closely to hypocrisy.  This is why I stopped my involvement (such as it was) with the First Baptist Church in New Bedford.  I've probably talked about this in earlier blogs so I won't go into it here. The main hypocrites in my view were two of the preachers and a deacon.  The preachers were con-men and one was a lecher.  The deacon thought he was a Catholic in confession every week when he came up to the altar to confess sins... and get on the schedule for the next baptism.


Kale

After doing each Sunday puzzle in the New York Times, I like to read the comments on the puzzle in Rex Parker's website.  I was amused by a comment by someone who calls herself  chefwen:

"Add coconut oil to the pan when cooking kale; it makes it easier to scrape into the trash."

But I can't do that, because I love kale... as least the kale in Portuguese Kale Soup.  I've written about this many times before.  One Sunday, my late wife made a big pot of the soup.  My daughter, Elizabeth, ate a lot and afterwards told her mother, "That soup was great, except for the green stuff!."

Boomerang

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me reports that a man was nagged so much by his wife that he robbed a bank so that he could go to jail and get away from her.  Guess what?  The judges sentenced him to six months "house arrest!"

Turtle Eggs?

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me also reports that a middle-aged man was attacked by a large bird while he was laying in the sand at a nude beach.  The bird bit off and flew away with his gonads.  He was immediately heard swearing at the bird in a high soprano voice.

Hoarder's Solution

I received an ad from some company named FC&A.  I must have thrown away the bulk of the ad and saved a page on which someone named Patricia B. told how a chapter in From Overwhelmed to Organized changed her life.  She mentions what the book told her to do to get rid of clothing cluster, and it looks like something that Elaine and I should do.

Take every piece of clothing out of each closet and separate each into one of five piles:

1.  Keep     2.  Toss     3.   Donate     4.   Sell     5.  Pass on.   

I like it!  Maybe I can follow it for all the other junk I have accumulated.

El Presidente

I've heard that toilet paper with Mr. Trump's picture on it is being sold in Mexico.

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David Remnick writes in this week's New Yorker magazine:

"Donald Trump is not forever.  Sometimes it just seems that way."

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Prepop Sez Words for June 2017

This is a recap of the entries for Word of the Day, which I post to Facebook every day. These are just my observations, and of course,  I could be completely wrong.

2017

June 1    subpoenas   (Re: the Russia probe.)

Additional word:  covfefe  (a mysteriously coded word tweeted by El Presidente.)

June 2    idiot  (My feeling about Mr. Trump getting out of the Paris Accords.)

June 3    go-it-alone  (Mr. Trump against the world.)

June 4    security  (Re: London terrorist attack and Manchester)

June 5     flight-of-fantasy   (Re:  Mr. Trump's try to privatize air traffic control)

June 6     tweety-bird   (The President and his tweets.)

June 7     quagmire   (The condition of the White House.)

June 8     testimony  (Mr. Comey's appearance before a Senate committee.)

June 9     obstruction  (Mr. Comey's implication that Mr. Trump tried to obstruct an investigation.)

June 10    leaks  (Mr. Comey's leaks and Mr. Trump's anger.)

June 11    quaking  (It has been reported that White House personnel are "quaking in their boots.")

June 12    suing  (Maryland and DC are suing Mr. Trump for violation of the emolument clause.)

*  Clever phrase of the week, from In These Times:  The Don and Comey Show.

*  Strangest  action of the day:  Somebody in St. Petersburg, Russia, tried to log into Facebook as me.

June 13    boot-lickers  (Trump's cabinet officers saying nice things about their "fearless leader.")

Additional word:    cop-out  (Some folks are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.)

June 14    stone-walling (Again and again by the President.)

*     June 15     praying (Praying for my daughter, Elizabeth.  Something I rarely, if ever, do.)  

Additional word:  kakistocracy  (A country run by the worst, least qualified, or unscrupulous leaders.)

June 16    cronyism  (The White House religion?)

Additional word:  lawyer-up  (Trump, Pence and Kushner hiring "hot-shot" lawyers.)

June 17    retrenchment  (GOP wants to cut expenditures... e.i.,  the "expense" of Medicaid.")

*     June 18      Prepop  (Thank you for my name, Heather.)

June 19    London  (Re: London Bridge, cladding fire, etc, etc.)

June 20    Georgia  (Election.  Who will win? Lots and lots of $.)  (Republicans won.)

June 21    amateur-envoy  (Kushner appointed to bring Palestinians and Israelis to a peaceful accord.)

June 22    Voila!  (The GOP unveils its secret "Trumpcare" health bill.)

(Oxymoron? =  Trump Health Care)

June 23    tapeless  (The President says there are no tapes.)

June 24    mean!  (Trumpcare.)

*  Special comment for Facebook on June 24, to counteract all the negativism.

Thank God for Mozart!

June 25    prosecutors  (Mueller has hired some "hot-shots" too... just like "Johnny Dollar.")

(In a famous "Old Time Radio" production from 1951,  Insurance Investigator Johnny Dollar comes up against politicians who are trying to cover-up some wrong-doing.   To help fight them, Johnny hires 8 "hot-shot" detectives to help him.)

June 26   Supreme-decisions  (Court's last day.  Decisions and notes.)

June 27    deflection  (Used by Mr. Trump again and again.  In my opinion.)

June 28    Paper-Tiger  (I believe this label was pinned on Mr. Trump by the Washington Post because, try as hard as he can, he still can't get Congress to do what he says.  Welcome to Washington, Mr. President.)

June 29    "Big-Surprize!"  (President Trump says this is coming real soon.)

June 30    childish-tweets  (Mr. Trump's tweet fight with the "Morning Joe" couple.)

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Mr. President.... enough with those *^%&$**@   tweets already!

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