... and I'm used to that. I can take it. Then suddenly... at long last, a burst of green...
Rebirth!
(This post is tonight's "café" — that is, you can talk about anything you like.)
१२ एप्रिल, २०२०
The Easter sunrise was entirely drab...
... and I'm used to that. I can take it. Then suddenly... at long last, a burst of green...
Rebirth!
(This post is tonight's "café" — that is, you can talk about anything you like.)
याची सदस्यत्व घ्या:
टिप्पणी पोस्ट करा (Atom)
पोस्ट्स
१७७ टिप्पण्या:
Happy Easter!
Our day in Texas was much the same. A storm rolled through mid-morning. By 1pm, it was sunny and warm. We enjoyed a dip in the pool and then a Zoom meeting with the extended family. Overall, it was a great day.
The demands of health-care experts are not greater than the demands of the economy, for a very simple reason: The health-care system is not separate from the economy but a crucial part of it. The health-care system saves lives; the economy provides everything we need to live. The damage being done to the economy—if sustained—could easily cost more lives world-wide than the coronavirus.
There are not, and never will be, scientific answers to all public problems. Scientific expertise and specialization inform good policy, but they should never be the final word. To navigate successfully between competing interests or competing calamities, between war and peace, and even between deadly pandemics and deadly economic depressions, we need politics—and politicians.
Glad to see the virus could not stop Otago's annual Easter Bunny hunt.
Shorter rehajm quote: somebody has to be the Decider.
Narr
Don't look at me!
Happy Easter!
Texas is gonna be the tip of the spear.
Gotta love Texas. I should move there. Buy a big-ass house near San Antonio. I have 2 good friends who went to Texas A&M and 2 who went to TCU. If I move there, will they discriminate against me for being a Californian?
Hook 'em, Horns.
Spock kills Kirk!! It's the Vulcan death grip!
Like I've said before, I've been listening to a lot of French chanteuses lately. Since I got back from there last summer, actually.
Today, this one fits the day --
Le temps de l'amour
Françoise Hardy
https://youtu.be/F9we8i2Lj5w?t=2s
"It is the time of love,
the time of friends and adventure.
As the time comes and goes,
one thinks of nothing in spite of one's wounds.
Because the time of love
it's long and it's short,
it lasts forever, one remembers it. . . ."
The older I get, the more the cold/grey weather gets me down. I think I'm going to move to Tahiti or a south seas island. Assuming my wife will agree.
BAG, only if you vote like a Californian ;)
Pick a red smallish town. Avoid cities. Don’t expect topography; parts of the Hill Country are lovely and far northwest Texas such as Alpine can be pretty but there is a lot of flaaaaaat. I’d recommend Kerrville. Come on out!
Had a quiet Easter. Being in south Texas we missed the storms from the cold front and had a hot dry west wind all day. Dropped the humidity which was nice, but it was hot. Hit 96 at my house. Took a long walk with the hubs early in the morning. We did baskets and splashed in the pool and the older three kids did an egg hunt for the younger three kids. I started reading The Power of Positive Thinking because why not. Scott Adams seems to think Peale had a great effect on President Trump and it was a buck on Kindle. Will watch our recorded church service this evening, then maybe a Bond movie.
He is risen and hope is on the move. Blessings to all Althousians, even the obtuse ones.
2 light brown Easter Bunnies in Pic #1 !!
...if you are near-sighted, high, and have a vivid imagination
and the quarantine/lock-down is taking its toll.
Oh, also got takeout Mexican for which we left a giant tip and ate it poolside while listening to Yacht Rock.
Life is still very very good.
Here's a couple more from Françoise Hardy.
I really like this one -
"Le Premier Bonheur du Jour"
https://youtu.be/CrHA9gA8qpE
This is good too -
Je veux qu il revienne
https://youtu.be/_UAzIuAf9Es
I see that she recorded some things in English, but the original French is better.
New cases in the U.S. peaked back on April 4th and has "flattened" ever since. New deaths have been flat since the 7th. Praise April!
So I refreshed my memory on Buchanan's book Churchill, Germany, and The Unnecessary War, mentioned last night. It has the breezy certainty the author always displayed on Crossfire and the like, and he did at least make use of the works of such historians as Lukacs and Ferguson, who I commend to anyone interested in 20th C history.
It has to be a bit disconcerting for an author to have one of the scholars he cites favorably pretty much rubbish his work!
I also recalled the great AJP Taylor quip about Hugh Trevor-Roper when the latter fell for the Hitler Diaries hoax-- "Trevor-Roper's professional reputation would surely take a hit--if he had one." OWTTE. Brilliant academic bitchery.
Narr
Gotta love the Brits
Casey at the Bat
Ernest Lawrence Thayer - 1863-1940
The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that—
We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despisèd, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt;
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped—
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said.
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;
But Casey still ignored it and the umpire said, "Strike two!"
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate,
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate;
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
Bay Area Guy said:
Gotta love Texas. I should move there. Buy a big-ass house near San Antonio. I have 2 good friends who went to Texas A&M and 2 who went to TCU. If I move there, will they discriminate against me for being a Californian?
Hook 'em, Horns.
My daughter and grandkids moved there from so cal 2 years ago and love it. Wife and I were thinking of making the move at the end of summer to be close to the grandkids again, but our son is having a baby in July - which we didn't think was ever going to happen - so we'll be staying in so cal a bit longer.
I accidentally caught part of the NBC Evening News and almost lost my dinner. What a distorted and thoroughly dishonest 'news'cast of selective editing and outright lies! No wonder people who watch NBC are such ignorant fools.
mockturtle said ... No wonder people who watch NBC are such ignorant fools...
... and perfect Democrat voters!.
will we see a surge in the # of brunettes due to the lock-down?
China second wave getting going, maybe. They report triple digit new cases for the first time since March 5th.
Woke up to 4 inches of snow here in Boulder and been snowing all day. (I assume its coming at you all, Ann.) But a whole flock of Cassin's finches arrived and have taken over our feeders, like the Borgias knocking over a Northern Italian town. The males all in brilliant mating season raspberry berets.
It looks like some colleges could be in trouble with all the sheltering. Huge capital investments that can't be used. It won't be mitigated enough with on-line learning. Many students are thinking about taking a gap year meaning that not only will they not have people in their dorms, they will not have as many students enrolling. But there is enough money in the system to help boost the college economy, but schools will have to unclinch their fingers from their huge slush funds. Right now there is about 620 Billion dollars in combined endowments. Yale has over 3 million dollars in endowment funds for each student enrolled. Most ivy leagues any other posh privates have the same extreme level of hoarded funds. What I propose is that each school be made to contribute anywhere from 15% to 35% of their endowment to a general scholarship fund. The size of the percentage would be based on the endowment to student ratio. This will generate close to 160 billion dollars. With student enrollment at about 17 billion normally, this would be enough to give each student a $10,000 grant. This is sort of like the same PPP bailout the government passed. With about 16 million students heading back to college in the fall, that 10k will put the schools on a firm foundation. Just spitballing here. I am surprised the Bernie faction has not proposed this already.
Luckily, the song didn't make it to the verse "Oh, life's a piece of shit, when you look at it!".
Black church, Mississippi. A nice slow, fat one right over the plate for Trump.
Ken B, could you clarify what you mean? I'm just curious about what I missed.
Just two more --
La nuit est sur la ville
https://youtu.be/5lBBzmFyjxw
And here, Le Large, you can see that 50 years later, Françoise Hardy is still beautiful.
https://youtu.be/opJZildiOlo
Sacrosanctus domine
Pecavi ignoviunt
Iuesus christus domine
Pax vobiscum venerunt
@Bay Area Guy,
Texas is an appealing option—but very, very hot.
And your friends will only discriminate against you if you bring California/blue voting habits with you.
Ran in Las Trampas regional park today. The poppies were glorious.
We had a glorious spring day here on the northshore of Boston. I will keep this in mind when the shite arrives tomorrow; an inch or so of rain (heavy at times) and wind gusts in the mid to upper sixties (mph). It will be challenging to wfh if the power goes out. My work day includes a lot of phone time, so should be good.
@Mark,
Thanks for the music tips. I also love les chanteuses francaises. Gotta love autocorrect. Turned that into franchises.
And @Jon Ericson,
Wonderful sacred music.
hot garbage
Had a non-hash hash with my drinking friends with a running problem today. A German runner remarked, as we drank beer and social-distanced after, that he finds what is happening in some parts of the US frightening—and reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Yes, he went there. I am not sure the Germans know about Godwin’s Law.
He said that the people calling the police on their neighbors reminded him of the block captains. Right there to keep all the good Germans in line and report those that were inclined to be less-than-good.
Have we all noticed the goal posts have moved? From flattening the curve to...what exactly? No more Chinese Pangobat Pox cases anywhere, ever?
At any rate, I was amused to see the number of groups of people defying the social distancing orders. Enjoying a brilliant afternoon with their friends.
@narciso,
Would you expect anything else?
"To navigate successfully between competing interests or competing calamities, between war and peace, and even between deadly pandemics and deadly economic depressions, we need politics—and politicians"
. . . politicians who do not give in to panic, public fear, and the lust for power, politicians who recognize that there are competing interests and weigh them rationally, unlike the majority of the lot today.
"Among other things, the presence of obesity in the study points to a potentially important role of heightened inflammation in patients"
Sure hope y'all didn't indulge too much today.
I see some places are using drones to spy on those who have the temerity to venture forth. The mayor of D.C. says we need to stay home at least until the end of May!
Don't know about D.C., but here in AZ, that's not gonna happen!
Nice day at the beach today, except that the beach is closed off. If you have a front-row house, you're golden. Otherwise the peons on the second and third row just have to listen to the surf. Ridiculous situation.
forked tongue is too nice
@mockturtle,
My sister in Indiana says that there will be a protest at the state house on the 18th—those who have reached their limit on the totalitarian impulse. If the medical system is not in danger of crashing from the load of Chinese Virus patients, then why must we remain under the jackboot of our local despots?
@narciso,
Don’t be a spoilsport. We must all do our part to keep up the Panic! Please do not question the narrative, or you will get a visit from your local collaborator.
On the Honeymooners later this evening, Ralph does a commercial as The Chef of the Future.
Anne --
I first discovered Carla Bruni. Then Andreanne Mallett (although she is Québécois), and then Zaz (Isabelle Geffroy). A couple of others and I'm still exploring.
My mother used to play Charles Aznavour, but his English recordings, not his French. I don't believe the French was available then.
Andrew
Google Greenville Mississippi. Cops fined members of a black church who attended a drive in service. Where they stayed in their cars in other words.
"I see some places are using drones to spy on those who have the temerity to venture forth."
Every morning I have my dog off leash, on an AstroTurf field, in a closed park. I could get the chair.
Actually, it's even more insidious than Nazis. It's more like the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Mark,
You are really exploring! I do love discovering new music. I haven’t listened to my French songs in a long while. I think I will reacquaint myself with some of them tomorrow, to keep me company while I pretend to work.
I like Gilbert Becaud's performances of his "Et maintenant?" (What Now, My Love?). Done correctly, the singer is indistinguishable from a psychotic.
"If you're buying a mask made in China,
it might actually be a source of infection in itself."
per Ezra Levant
video
https://twitter.com/i/status/1249027824037568514
Thats concerning, 3m is selling back the masks it shipped out of the country to china.
Andrew Yang🧢🇺🇸
✔
@AndrewYang
Wow. Pope Francis today: “This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage.” Game-changing.
--
Beyond the call for considering a universal basic income, the pope also made the case for a lasting change in the global culture in post-coronavirus world.
“Our civilization — so competitive, so individualistic, with its frenetic rhythms of production and consumption, its extravagant luxuries, its disproportionate profits for just a few — needs to downshift, take stock, and renew itself,” he wrote.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-what-pope-francis-said-about-the-global-economy-that-drew-a-wow-from-a-former-us-presidential-candidate-2020-04-12
"Church Disguises Itself As Abortion Clinic So Govt Will Allow It To Stay Open"
lol
China's choices for the future are clear now --- either a return to the post-Mao policies of Deng Shaoping without Xi Jinping at the top or a disastrous Maoism 2.0 under Xi. If it's choice #2, China, and probably the rest of us, are going to have a very hard time of it. For the Chinese export-driven culture, once their foreign contacts divest, there will be no turning back.
A good article from The Hill on folks are trying to make fundamental changes. They may die trying.
Our civilization — so competitive, so individualistic, with its frenetic rhythms of production and consumption, its extravagant luxuries, its disproportionate profits for just a few — needs to downshift, take stock, and renew itself
How utterly Jesuit...
For all his moral preening, someone should introduce him to moral hazard.
Behold: The great "downshift" has arrived.
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
(He went on to pilot trains)
Casey Jones (The Brave Engineer)
Eddy Arnold
Come all you rounders, if you wanna hear
The story 'bout a brave engineer
Casey Jones was the rounder's name
On a 68 wheeler, boys, he won his fame
The caller called Casey at a half past four
He kissed his wife at the station door
Mounted to the cabin with his orders in his hand
And it took his final trip to the Promised Land
Casey Jones mounted to the cabin
Casey Jones with the orders in his hand
Casey Jones mounted to the cabin
And it took his final trip to the Promised Land
Put in your water and shovel your coal
Put your head out the window watch the drivers roll
I'll run her till she leaves the rails
'Cause I made hours late with the western mail
He looked at his watch but the watch was slow
He looked at the water and the water was low
He looked at the fireman and then he said
"We're gonna reach Frisco Buffalo'd be dead"
Casey Jones gonna reach Frisco
Casey Jones Buffalo'd be dead
Casey Jones we're gonna reach Frisco
We're gonna reach Frisco Buffalo'd be dead
Casey pulled up that Reno hill
He whistled for the crossing with an awful shrill
The switchman knew by the engine's moan
That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones
He pulled up within two miles of the place
There number four stared him straight in the face
He turned to his fireman, said, "Boy, you'd better jump
'Cause there's two locomotives that are going to bump"
Casey Jones two locomotives
Casey Jones that's going to bump
Casey Jones two locomotives
There's two locomotives that's going to bump
Casey said just before he died
"There're two more roads that I'd like to ride"
The fireman said, "Would that be
The Northern Pacific and the Santa Fe"
Mrs. Jones sat at on her bed a sighin'
Just to see the message that Casey was dyin'
Go to bed children and stop your cryin'
'Cause daddy's still a ridin' that heavenly line
Casey Jones mounted to the cabin
Casey Jones with the orders in his hand
Casey Jones mounted to the cabin
And it took his final trip to the Promised Land
I was educated by jesuits in part, thats just rank tripe,
really soeaking truth to power
francoise Hardy and Iggy Pop did a nice version of I’ll be Seeing You.
is ot in here
maybe here
From the New York Times memory hole!
New York Times on Jan 9, 2020.
There’s no evidence that the virus, a coronavirus, is readily spread by humans, and it has not been tied to any deaths. But health officials in China and internationally are watching it carefully.
i'll stop now
Pretty sure these (bums,Homeless) "unhoused" will be happy to leave the nice hotels when panicdemic is over. Three meals a day, housekeeping, TV , radio, internet, bathrooms with tub/showers. They be chomping at the bit to get back out to the plastic tarp leanto and shopping cart pantry/closet. Upside is some will not go back to using drugs.
7,000 rooms
"Answering a call made last month by members of the Board of Supervisors, the San Francisco Controller and budget committee announced on Wednesday that it would secure 7,000 vacant hotel rooms for the city's unhoused residents to safely shelter-in-place.
The shift in policy will allow unhoused people to move into individual hotel rooms, out of congregant shelters and off the streets where they're more at risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19." (The total number of positive cases is 872; 14 people have died in SF,)
Yes im sure that cant possibly go wrong.
You learn that there is an entire world of music out there. That the U.S. music scene isn't the center of the universe. (Same with Hollywood)
Zaz is more jazzy, and with standards, but can go more modern --
"Dans ma rue"
https://youtu.be/MOk5yYLAQvU
Champs Elysées
https://youtu.be/ObeDLFcceJ0
Je Veux
https://youtu.be/pjCatGfZX9M
Si jamais j'oublie
https://youtu.be/5ZDsCJ4rGD4
Yes im sure that cant possibly go wrong.
Once they get in, never leaving. ACLU or others will somehow sue hotel to prevent eviction. Or, govt continue to pay rent.
There are some pretty sketchy hotels in the city but mostly already full of crazies, street people, addicts and dirt poor.
Vacancies are in nice hotels suffering from loss of tourist and business clients.
narciso
Merci beaucoup! Et qu’elle etait Jolie!
Good news on the hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin combo.
1,061 patients were treated for at least 3 days with the combo. Ninety-one point seven percent had a virological cure within 10 days. The data was gathered from March 3rd to April 9th.
Five patients died (a mortality rate of 0.5%).
This was a significantly better result than what is being reported for other treatments in France.
Clearly hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin is not a magic bullet in that it cannot cure everyone, but it is significantly lowering the mortality.
This is not a double blind, placebo controlled trial, and it will be criticized on that basis, but in all practicality I doubt whether there will be any double blind, placebo controlled trials with Covid-19.
See trial
I wonder what sort of cleaning process those hotels will have to implement. Not sure I’d be in a hurry to stay in San Fran now...
Merci, i take it thats some sort of theatrical piece.
Arent they describing this outbreak like andromeda strain twelve monkeys sort of thong, so of course put them up in a hotel. Then gut the place with fire when they leave.
So I refreshed my memory on Buchanan's book Churchill, Germany, and The Unnecessary War,
I've read it a couple of times and it is interesting. He has some good points about WWI. I disagree about Churchill and WWII.
Churchill did not support the Boer War, which to me led to WWI. He was a correspondent.
That book did get me to buy and read a biography of Edward Grey,
The other book to read is "The Sleepwalkers." That is quite good. The French were by no means innocent.
Clearly hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin is not a magic bullet in that it cannot cure everyone, but it is significantly lowering the mortality.
My inclination right now would be to use Hydroxy C early and , if the patient deteriorates, use remdesivir later.
Continually updated:
A compilation of evidence on hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in treatment of COVID-19
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O6Cls-Oz2ZAgJuyDbnICEGjMvQPEyM-aaXARUomR9Ww/edit#
Carla Bruni is more classical chanson/folk, but with jazz and country notes --
J'Arrive A Toi
https://youtu.be/dzKgjDO1CdQ
Raphael
https://youtu.be/-cDQgpwywho
Le plus beau du quartier
https://youtu.be/YJRw20WYCcU
Mon Raymond
https://youtu.be/1TI1LNuPPp8
Ma Jeunesse
https://youtu.be/OAqiVaZGdCY
La possibilité d'une île
https://youtu.be/r-8rdBbUNOM
Of course narciso has good taste in music.
It's Spring and in tornado alley, hearts are full of fear. Especially if you are in Cullman. They get hit every time. A woman who worked for me and lived in Cullman, had a concrete building behind her house that she regularly spent nights in when the flurry of tornados came through. Like tonight.
I just watched Easter Parade with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire on TCM. I think Judy Garland does a much better Judy Garland than Rene Zellweger. Well, to be fair, she was playing Judy Garland at a much younger age.... The plus side of a childhood of abuse and overwork is that it gives you a preternatural sense of vulnerability. The role she played wasn't that of a particularly vulnerable woman, but that's what shone through. When you know the history and full arc of her life, it changes the way you see her performances.....MGM technicolor of that era was all bright colors with no grime or frayed edges visible. The sets were like kids' playrooms, and the plot of the musical was as wishfully incredible as that of a fairy tale. You wish the world could be like that. The only part of it that showed a tattered edge was Judy Garland.
Mandrewa
Yes encouraging news.
Taleb is upbeat about the other Marseille “study” too, but I saw some pretty trenchant criticism of the patient selection in that one.
Remdesivir was also looking impressive in a small uncontrolled study recently. Under 20% death of patients on ventilators. That’s a big effect, if real.
I thought random trials were underway for hcqs. I hope so.
Las Vegas hospital blazes own path with malaria drug to treat COVID
University Medical Center on Tuesday began prescribing hydroxychloroquine to high-risk emergency room patients who test positive for COVID-19 but do not require immediate hospitalization.
In doing so, UMC became the first Las Vegas-area hospital to dispense it on an outpatient basis, taking a cutting-edge position nationally in the use of the controversial experimental drug.
In a move aimed at preventing hoarding, Gov. Steve Sisolak on March 24 signed an emergency order limiting the use of hydroxychloroquine in treating patients with COVID-19 to those who are hospitalized. About a week ago, the state issued a dispensing waiver allowing hospitals to provide the drug to patients well enough to be sent home rather than admitted
Las Vegas
Mark,
You both do! I wish I were sitting at an outdoor cafe in the French countryside, listening to une jolie chanteuse pendant que je prends un peu de vin...
These are the times that try men's souls
In the course of our nation's history the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened
Today a new crisis has arisen
The Metropolitan Transit Authority, better known as the M.T.A.
Is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population in the form of a subway fare increase
Citizens, hear me out, this could happen to you!
Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charlie
On a tragic and fateful day
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family
Went to ride on the MTA
Well, did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (what a pity)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square station
And he changed for Jamaica Plain
When he got there the conductor told him, "one more nickel"
Charlie couldn't get off of that train!
But did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (poor old Charlie)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station
Crying, "what will become of me?
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea
Or my cousin in Roxbury?"
But did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (shame and scandal)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train comes rumbling through!
But did he ever return?
No he never returned and his fate is still unlearned (he may ride forever)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
Pick it Davey
Kinda hurts my figers
Now, you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal
How the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase, vote for George O'Brian
Get poor Charlie off the MTA!
Or else he'll never return
No he'll never return and his fate is still unlearned (just like Paul Revere)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned
He's the man who never returned
He's the man who never returned
Et tu, Charlie?
Songwriters: BESS HAWES, JACQUELINE STEINER
© Universal Music Publishing Group
For non-commercial use only.
Data From: LyricFind
Kingston Trio - Man who never returned (M.T.A.)
YouTube · 181,000+ views · 7/29/2013 · by Marcelo San Miguel
@William,
I loved Judy Garland’s voice. Even in WoO...husky and full.
One more from Carla Bruni -
Le Temps Perdu
https://youtu.be/5TrkWeypg20
How many heads would explode if it were discovered that Melania could sing and she put out albums and went on tour?
Jon,
I first heard that song when I was in 7th grade—my best friend had a juke box full of old records. We loved the part about the sandwich.
Ah, so many great songs on that jukebox...what an innocent time, too, just hanging in the basement, trying to sing along.
Drive through gun sales! America for the win!!!!
I wish I were sitting at an outdoor cafe in the French countryside
Outdoor cafes in France, in Italy.
I don't understand the people who go on these whirlwind multi-city tours that don't leave enough time to simply sit and experience.
Wasn't the countryside, but it struck me when I was in Paris staying near Gare de Lyon and going out for quick walk at 11 p.m. on a Thursday and the sidewalk cafes were packed with people.
Oh it would be full scanners treatment,
"We loved the part about the sandwich."
Why didn't she hand him a nickel?
Yes that doesnt make sense if youre going to sample the great cities you need to savor, not act like youre at epcot.
Sleepwalkers is on my list, Doc K. I liked MacMillan's Versailles volume and want to read her pre-war volume next.
None of the great powers were without blame for 1914, but it can't be doubted any longer that it was mostly the Krauts' fault. MacMeekin is right though, to point out that the Russian leaders were looking to a future showdown with Germany, saw a war in 1914 as an opportunity to humiliate Vienna and stomp some Turks, and it was Russian decisions that helped convert a possible Third Balkan War into The Great War.
And I need to catch up with Hew Strachan's latest.
Narr
So many books . . .
You would think after the rumble with japan they would have learned something apparently not.
Mcmeekin probably has the best take on the russian revolution since richard pipes.
Original Mike,
For the same reason the people buying a haunted house don’t use good sense and find a different abode. What would be the fun in that?
Narciso and Mike,
I have always only experienced Europe in slow sips...I love staying in a city long enough to feel the rhythm of it. I love discovering the everyday paths and byways that the locals use. The only city I have ever been in a hurry to get out of in Europe was Venice.
I have become partial to knowing the language of the places I visit. Easy enough for the Romance languages...and I imagine I could pick up the Germanic tongues well enough to catch a feel for places. I might have to adapt my preference in order to see Russia, Czechoslovakia and Hungary...
like this instance
I was in Paris at least twice, First time I ran out of money at the Louvre and had to hoof it back through the Champs while looking for Joni, around the Tromp and through the mean streets back to the Gare du Nord.
Second time all I remember was the Buddha Bar and walking back past the insanely illuminated U.S. embassy.
As compared to china mieville's which is stranger than his bizarre fantasy
I enjoyed Europe's Last Summer by David Fromkin. He is on board with the "All Germany's Fault" thesis, but has some interesting nuance. In particular he paints the Kaiser as actually a moderating influence on Germany, one whom the General Staff tried to keep out of the picture.
There's also a fascinating bit about how oblivious the various nations were as to how their worlds were to be upended:
London. The keenly awaited debate on Ireland, scheduled to be held in the House of Commons in the afternoon, was expected to lead to a civil war in Britain. But earlier in the day the Opposition's leaders met with Asquith and reached agreement to show a united front in view of European dangers. This was a turnabout too fast for the rank and file to grasp. Violet Asquith, the Prime Minister's daughter, along with her stepmother, Margot, attended the Ladies' Gallery of the House, and found it "packed with expectant and excited women" who gave "a gasp of astonishment" when the Prime Minister rose to speak of postponing the Irish debate. "These words produced bewilderment in the Ladies' Gallery," noted Violet. "Many of its occupants had been busily engaged in preparations for the impending civil war—attending Red Cross classes, rolling bandages and making splints and slings, etc. One Ulster matron Lady M. (whose figure was particularly well adapted for the purpose) was reputed to have smuggled rifles galore into Belfast under her petticoats." They were aghast at the news of postponement and uncomprehending.
@Narr:
Gotta love the Brits
If you're interested in WWII revisionism, I would recommend Peter Hitchens' The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion. It's not really a history but a polemic about a kind of mythology that has been created in terms of WWII and the UK.
Christopher was a greater rhetorician, but Peter has always been my preferred Hitchens.
it can't be doubted any longer that it was mostly the Krauts' fault.
Two arguments. One, The British (I forget the name of the foreign minister) stopped German ships headed for South Africa with arms and supplies for the Boers who were very sympathetic in Germany. This convinced the Kaiser that he needed a High Seas Fleet.
Two, the French were making large loans to Serbia and Russia conditioned on them buying arms with the loans from French manufacturers. Some of the loans to Russia were to build extensions to the railroads that had obvious application to war on Russia's western front. The Germans were very frightened of the Russians.
Wilhelm was so erratic that his ministers did not always tell him the truth. There was also some manipulation of the Russians by the French.
It's a complicated matter. I told a friend of mine who is a retired colonel of the British army, that they and we should have stayed out.
They have never recovered,
Blogger I Callahan said...
Our civilization — so competitive, so individualistic, with its frenetic rhythms of production and consumption, its extravagant luxuries, its disproportionate profits for just a few — needs to downshift, take stock, and renew itself
How utterly Jesuit...
__________+++++++++++++++
There was a disputation on another thread about Spain, Catholicism and South America underdevelopment >>>> low IQ was proposed as alternative explanation!?
What is Pope's IQ
"The way I see it," he said
"You just can't win it
Everybody's in it for their own gain
You can't please 'em all
There's always somebody calling you down
I do my best
And I do good business
There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star-maker machinery
Behind the popular song
I deal in dreamers
And telephone screamers
Lately I wonder what I do it for
If l had my way
I'd just walk out those doors
And wander
Down the Champs Elysees
Going cafe to cabaret
Thinking how I'll feel when I find
That very good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
Nobody was calling me up for favors
No one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song
Joni Mitchell
© Crazy Crow Music / Siquomb Music Publishing
Plus
Buddha Bar
Just for reference.
@Narr:
None of the great powers were without blame for 1914, but it can't be doubted any longer that it was mostly the Krauts' fault.
Not only "can't be doubted any longer," it's been well established since at least the 1920s. Pierre Renouvin's Immediate the Origins of the War was published in 1928. The quintessential work was Luigi Albertini's three-volume The Origins of the War of 1914, which was published in the early 1940s but not translated to English until the 50's, I believe.
Both works establish pretty clearly that the threshold to war was crossed when the German's chose to back Austro-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia, which was designed to be rejected and thus provide a pretext to the war. And they made this decision knowing full well that they risked a wider war on the continent. Yes, there were long-standing conflicts on the continent, but rises had arisen before but they had been resolved without resort to force. Until the ultimatum, none of the other major powers had taken any steps that would have prevented the crisis from being resolved peacefully.
@narayanan:
There was a disputation on another thread about Spain, Catholicism and South America underdevelopment >>>> low IQ was proposed as alternative explanation!?
If you're interested in a more thorough examination of this thesis, I would recommend Michael H. Hart's Understanding Human History: An Analysis Including the Effects of Geography and Differential Evolution.
As human beings spread across the globe, they became isolated from each other in various environments. Between the selective pressures of those different environments and genetic drift, cognitive ability is not evenly distributed among different human population groups.
One of the ironies is that they designed an ultimatum that no soverign country could accept -- and then Serbia, with its back to the wall, accepted it.
Mr. Farmer,
Noticed the nastiness on this morning’s thread. I do not understand why two of the few women on here are so unpleasant.
Still and all. Your reply, with its reference to a coat hanger, was distasteful. From my limited experience of you, I would have hoped for more forbearance.
One of the ironies is that they designed an ultimatum that no soverign country could accept -- and then Serbia, with its back to the wall, accepted it.
Almost entirely, with the exception of Austria's demand to be involved in the formal inquiry in Serbia.
@Anne:
Still and all. Your reply, with its reference to a coat hanger, was distasteful. From my limited experience of you, I would have hoped for more forbearance.
I subsequently deleted those comments, in fact. I'm pretty thick-skinned, but she made a point of talking very callously about an issue that is quite personal to me. She succeeded in arousing quite a bit of anger in me, and I lashed out accordingly. It takes a bit to get me to that point, but when it does, I tend to burn quite hot but also quite fast. It didn't take long to realize I had acquitted myself in the best way and chose to delete the remarks.
Mr. Farmer,
I am relieved to hear that. I inferred from the inexcusable remarks that she made that you are perhaps hoping to start a family. She is a noxious person. I understand your anger.
If you are indeed, endeavoring to begin a family, I will pray for your success and joy in your efforts coming to fruition. While I often joke that my children are trying to kill me, they are the source of the most profound love I have ever felt for another being.
I do feel chagrin that these two women, Mary and Inga, are such harridans. I have decided to pretend that the latter does not exist—taking my grandmother’s words to heart: never wrestle with a pig; you get covered in shit, and the pig enjoys it.
Hoshi just broke quarantine. I believe this is the episode where the not-so-friendly aliens are supposedly Organian.
Although I did respond to Grandmommy once, “The pig enjoys it until I have bacon for breakfast.”
An awful lot of shows these days about viruses and quarantine.
Mark,
Funny that, eh? I rewatched “Contagion” a week ago. Interesting modeling of the human chain of infection. Sell-out at the end, though, where Gwinnett Paltrow’s company seems to be responsible for the bats invading the pig farm.
Auto-correct is the bane of my existence.
"Clearly hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin is not a magic bullet in that it cannot cure everyone, but it is significantly lowering the mortality."
Oh, for Jesus Christ's bleeeeeding sake. They still haven't figured out that you need to use it with zinc? Of course not. They would have to be able to read, and they are not able to read. Well, or watch a video, and who can watch a video? There are so many distractions!
It will work without supplementary zinc, if the patient happens to have a lot of zinc onboard. But if he doesn't, you've got to give him supplementary zinc. The HCQ just opens the channels in the cell wall, so the zinc can get in and shut down the virus! Oh well, not to worry, they'll figure it out eventually. Like puerperal fever, it will just take thirty or forty years and mounds of dead bodies, and eventually it will occur to the stupid fucking medicos to stop doing dissections in the AM and then sticking their filthy hands up pregnant women in the PM. Experts, they are. Experts!
I guess it's that kind of night:
Joni Mitchell - In France They Kiss On Main Street
Downtown
My darling dime store thief
In the War of Independence
Rock 'n Roll rang as sweet as victory
Under neon signs
A girl was in bloom
And a woman was fading
In a suburban room
I said, "take me to the dance"
"Do you want to dance?"
"I love to dance"
And I told him, "they don't take chances
They seem so removed from romance"
"They've been broken in churches and schools
And molded to middle class circumstance"
And we were rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Downtown
The dance halls and cafes
Feel so wild you could break somebody's heart
Just doing the latest dance craze
Gail and Louise
In those push-up brassieres
Tight dresses and rhinestone rings
Drinking up the band's beers
Young love was kissing under bridges
Kissing in cars, kissing in cafes
And we were walking down Main Street
Kisses like bright flags hung on holidays
"In France they kiss on Main Street"
"Amour, mama, not cheap display"
And we were rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Downtown
In the pinball arcade
With his head full of pool hall pitches
And songs from the hit parade
He'd be singing "Bye, Bye, Love"
While he's racking up his free play
Let those rock 'n roll choir boys
Come and carry us away
Sometimes Chickie had the car
Or Ron had the car
Or Lead Foot Melvin with his hot-wire head
We'd all go looking for a party
Looking to raise Jesus up from the dead
And I'd be kissing in the back seat
Thrilling to the Brando-like things that he said
And we'd be rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
@Anne:
If you are indeed, endeavoring to begin a family, I will pray for your success and joy in your efforts coming to fruition. While I often joke that my children are trying to kill me, they are the source of the most profound love I have ever felt for another being.
That's very kind of you, thanks. The process is currently on hold but hopefully will resume soon. It's a decision I struggled with for quite a while, and I admit to still harboring a bit of trepidation. I am not indifferent to the question of raising children in a non-traditional environment, and part of me is still ambivalent about whether or not it is selfish to do so.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
7h
Governors, get your states testing programs & apparatus perfected. Be ready, big things are happening. No excuses! The Federal Government is there to help. We are testing more than any country in the World. Also, gear up with Face Masks!
And Buchanan got it pretty much right. The British and the French wanted to stop the Germans, so they "guaranteed" the independence of Poland. The idiot Poles thought that guarantee was worth something, and they refused to negotiate with Hitler. But that guarantee wasn't worth anything. Hitler and Stalin ate Poland like an eclair, while the Brits and Frogs sat there with their mouths hanging open. WHo knew the Germans had tanks and aeroplanes?
Then, when Poland was nothing more than a smile on a couple tyrants faces, the fucking "Allies" declared war, and waited around until Hitler was prepared to wage it for them. Having pissed their nations away for nothing, they hollered for America to come fish their bones out of the wreckage. And Frankie the Commie obliged.
Buchanan got it pretty much right.
The grocery stores tin pot dictators who make us wait in line six feet apart somehow ensure that the lines extend down the cookie aisle and the ice cream aisle. Accident? I think not.
Do it rocean! , BAG too
YOLO and all that
An awful lot of shows these days about viruses and quarantine.
The 90s had quite a few killer virus movies, probably a result of Reston's book The Hot Zone. Although, the The Andromeda Strain is probably the prototypical film of the genre.
"Auto-correct is the bane of my existence."
You know you can turn it off, right?
Twelve monkeys the stand, ar least one mission impossible film, (concerned a lerhal pathogen)
WWI Revisionism: If Wilson had lost the 1912 election, the history of the world would be quite different....He screwed up so many things. Let us count the ways: He did nothing to forestall and much to intensify and spread the Spanish Flu. Let's blame it on him.... Those Twelve Points made the Germans think that they were going to get a more generous peace treaty, but Wilson ceded those points to Clemenceau. The Germans were extremely resentful of the peace treaty they were forced to sign. These resentments led to Hitler, so let's blame Hitler on Wilson... Wilson's self determination crap didn't apply to the Irish or to people of color or to much of anybody. Maybe some people in Central Europe and the Balkans who proceeded to murder the minorities within their self determined boundaries. So blame him for that generation of Balkan wars.....It's amazing the number of things this guy fucked up, and he still got the respect of the smart people of his generation. Hollywood even made a hagiographic film of his life. But if you blame Wilson for the world's problems, you can't go wrong.
They remade andromeda atrain for a &e, and it was a hot mess.
Thats if taft had been elected, if roosevelt that might be a whole different bag.
"I am not indifferent to the question of raising children in a non-traditional environment, and part of me is still ambivalent about whether or not it is selfish to do so."
??? Are you saying that you and your boyfriend are thinking of ordering up a "child", like some Chinese takeout? Have some traveling womb cook it up for you, and then drop it into your sheltering arms? Look, Freak, you and your sexual partner are not a family, and purchasing a child will not change that fact. From a biological perspective, you just don't work right, that's all. You're broken. It's not your fault -- well, it is a fault, and I guess it's yours -- but we'll assume you mean well. Keep meaning well, but don't order a human life so you and your boyfriend can play house. Nobody wants two Dads.
@Jupiter:
Buchanan got it pretty much right.
Buchanan's book is very interesting, and there is quite a bit of good detail in there, particularly in regards the junta of Polish colonels, but Buchanan is less persuasive regarding Germany's intentions towards Poland.
"Auto-correct is the bane of my existence."
At least it isn't the banana of your resistance.
Original Mike,
Don’t derail me with helpful tips.
"You know you can turn it off, right?"
I tried that, and it kept changing my off to on.
Yancey Ward,
Or the bantam of my insistence.
We’re here all week. Try the veal.
I was tired of it embarrassing me.
@Jupiter:
Nobody wants two Dads.
Yeah, they'd probably much rather not be born. Thanks for the advice, though. I'll take it under advisement. God knows when it comes time to make important life decisions, consulting anonymous people on the Internet is a top priority. Thanks for the laugh ;)
Auto-correct is the bane of my existence.
What the duck are you talking about?
J. Farmer,
Yeah, you have never heard a child scream at you, “I didn’t ask to be born!”
That goes right along with, “I wish I had never been born!”
To be fair, my boys never spouted off that melodramatic crap. But girls are notorious for it. Often followed by, “I hate you!” “I wish you weren’t my mother!”
Karma is a mean old bitch, though. Only a few years pass until that same girl, now a woman, says something to HER kids and is struck by the horrifying realization that she sounds just like her mother.
https://today.rtl.lu/news/science-and-environment/a/1498185.html
“There is no significant risk of catching the disease when you go shopping. Severe outbreaks of the infection were always a result of people being closer together over a longer period of time, for example the après- ski parties in Ischgl, Austria.” He could also not find any evidence of ‘living’ viruses on surfaces. “When we took samples from door handles, phones or toilets it has not been possible to cultivate the virus in the laboratory on the basis of these swabs….”
“To actually 'get' the virus it would be necessary that someone coughs into their hand, immediately touches a door knob and then straight after that another person grasps the handle and goes on to touches their face.” Streeck therefore believes that there is little chance of transmission through contact with so-called contaminated surfaces.
The fact that COVID 19 is a droplet infection and cannot be transmitted through the air had previously also been confirmed by virologist Christian Drosten of Berlin's Charité. He had pointed out in an interview that coronavirus is extremely sensitive to drying out, so the only way of contracting it is if you were to “inhale the droplets.”
However, there are different findings on how the coronavirus spreads. Experts from the US Institute of Health CDC and NIH had come to the conclusion that the virus can survive 24 hours on paper, three hours in aerosols and up to three days on plastics and stainless steel. As the Robert Koch Institute states on their website, however, scientific studies like this are realised under experimental conditions, which is why they are not very representative for the risk of transmission in daily life."
<
@William:
It's amazing the number of things this guy fucked up, and he still got the respect of the smart people of his generation.
You identified the exact reasons I consider Wilson the worst president in American history. The US most certainly should never have gotten involved in World War I. Wilson was totally dominated by Edward House. You can read House's then anonymously published novel Philip Dru: Administrator to understand exactly the kind of world House wished to live in.
Ducks? What are you quacking on about?
This is a fowl subject, Ma’lard.
Eider you are down with the joke, or you can get stuffed.
@Anne:
Only a few years pass until that same girl, now a woman, says something to HER kids and is struck by the horrifying realization that she sounds just like her mother.
Ha. I still remember the exact moment I realized was staring into my own future while looking at my father. I was needling him about a certain behavior he did that annoyed, and in mid-sentence I realized I do the exact same thing. It was sobering to say the least. Fortunately, I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for my father, so it's a future I hope to bring into reality.
I need auto-punctuate.
@Anne:
Ducks? What are you quacking on about?
This is a fowl subject, Ma’lard.
Eider you are down with the joke, or you can get stuffed.
A mom doing dad jokes. How fitting for the current world we inhabit ;)
@William,
And didn’t Wilson love experts? Put the experts in charge.
What could possibly go wrong?
I do have a progressive friend here in the Bay who actually expressed that sentiment to me—that smart people (like her) should be trusted to take care of things for the little, stupid people.
My least favorite auto-correct on iPhone is the way it changes "OMW" to "On My Way!" Whoever decided to add that exclamation point should be fired.
Are puns the province of dads? Surely not. Being the lowest form of humor, surely it belongs to all of the riff-raff of society, the scabrous dregs and scallawags who loiter in dark doorways and try to entice the innocent to succumb to their malignant word-play.
Tomorrow's another day..another scarf.
Jon Ericson,
I could use auto-a lot of things. Auto-laundry. Auto-cook. Auto-dust. Auto-clean-the-cat-box would be the best.
I am not indifferent to the question of raising children in a non-traditional environment, and part of me is still ambivalent about whether or not it is selfish to do so.
To be honest, me neither. But I have come to the realization (even though I am not a father) that any two parent household is preferable to foster care or a group home. If gay couples were competing against traditional couples for children, I would probably oppose gay adoption.
Well, ejamacational as this has been (I am ignorant of 20th century history, so have enjoyed learning from all of you smart guys), I have to investigate whether clean sheets do in fact lead to better sleep.
May sweet dreams bless all of you; may your minds be free of worry; may you awaken with joy.
I do have a progressive friend here in the Bay who actually expressed that sentiment to me—that smart people (like her) should be trusted to take care of things for the little, stupid people.
That is basically the world we have created in the 20th century. Few Americans realize that when Michael Young coined the term "meritocracy" in The Rise of the Meritocracy, he was describing a dystopian world. Young was criticizing the British tripartite system. In America, access to elite universities is mediated through the standardized testing regime, and these universities then supply the elite institutions. Contemporary America has basically been rebuilt in the elites' image and is designed to serve their interests.
J. Farmer,
I understand that. Knowing some of those “elites” from high school, I alternate between wanting to giggle uncontrollably and slash my wrists.
Hope to talk more tomorrow.
@Gahrie:
To be honest, me neither. But I have come to the realization (even though I am not a father) that any two parent household is preferable to foster care or a group home. If gay couples were competing against traditional couples for children, I would probably oppose gay adoption.
I, too, generally oppose gay adoption. Over the years, I have become much more of a nature proponent in the nature vs nurture debate. Environment still matters, of course, but it's probably most operative in the first few years of life. Judith Harris' The Nurture Assumption had a big impact on my thinking.
I've probably done it before here, but I want to give a shout out to Frederic Morton for "Thunder at Twilight: Vienna, 1913/14".
It's his riveting account of events leading up to the Great War, focusing on the decaying Habsberg Empire, its sclerotic Emperor Franz Josef II, and the rigid policies that primed the spark leading to outbreak of the Great War.
The irony running through the book is that Archduke Ferdinand, shot with his wife Sophie in Sarajevo and thus the proximate cause of the war, was the only person in Franz Josef's court (and heir apparent to boot) who objected strenuously to Austria's stances toward Serbian desires for more independence.
Stalin, Lenin, Freud and Hitler all make cameo appearances in Vienna during this crucial year, as do many other historical figures driving European history for the next half-century.
A fascinating book, one I read on a long weekend to Prague with my wife, who was a bit miffed that she had to drag me away from it to see the sights.
Used to be a site: Damn you, autocorrect!.
Here's a blast from the past..
I think my favorite there was injecting Mom with an epic penis after she got stung by bees.
In my lifetime, the Presidents who have suffered the greatest devaluation of reputation were Jefferson, Jackson, and Wilson. These were all Fathers of the Democratic Party. Fortunately the modern party has refurbished its reputation with such men as LBJ and Bill Clinton.....If you live long enough, you get to see a few turns of the screw. I'm reading the Chernow bio of Grant. I think his Presidency is due for a substantial bounce up. Grant's predecessor, Andrew Johnson, apparently had a boomlet back when. He got his hagiographic biopic with Van Heflin back when southern white racists were important members of the Democratic Party. Maybe, like Hamilton, Grant will get his vogue......A long time ago, I read the Schlesinger bio of Jackson. Schlesinger tactfully skipped over the Trail of Tears. I read the recent Meacham bio. He took a somewhat dimmer view of Jackson. Historians are finally coming to terms with men like Jefferson, Jackson and Wilson now that southern whites are no longer valued members of the Democratic Party.
I've never been to the Eyeful Tower.
Anne said...
...
I do have a progressive friend here in the Bay who actually expressed that sentiment to me—that smart people (like her) should be trusted to take care of things for the little, stupid people.
Not too smart, then. Really smart people don't want to take care of other people. Too much work.
@William:
now that southern whites are no longer valued members of the Democratic Party.
That's the understatement of the decade. Hatred of white men is the animating principle of the modern Democratic party.
Spacey
Buddha Bar
That's very kind of you, thanks. The process is currently on hold but hopefully will resume soon. It's a decision I struggled with for quite a while, and I admit to still harboring a bit of trepidation. I am not indifferent to the question of raising children in a non-traditional environment, and part of me is still ambivalent about whether or not it is selfish to do so.
You should do it. Of course it's going to be hard at times. Maybe very hard, but I think that's true for everyone.
Pay no attention to the negative messages about non-traditional environment or the absurd accusation that one is being selfish for adopting children. These are not coming from people that wish you or the children well.
And there is always a shortage of engaged parents.
I have two children. Well they are no longer children. But we stumbled into homeschooling, which turned out to be fortunate. But in the homeschooling communities that I have touched on there were an amazing variety of different ways that children were being raised. And most of them were successful.
There is also as you will discover a huge shortage of men that are raising children. I doubt that this is a good thing. This is not a dig at women. But I think children need, perhaps even desperately need, both.
@Farmer, Buchanan was worse than Wilson. His Secretary for War sent cannons and muskets from northern armories to southern ones, and he took the strange position that secession was illegal but there was nothing he could legally do about it. IMAO the rest of the bottom five are James Earl Carter, Barack Obama, and Lyndon Johnson.
Good morning.
The sense I'm getting from friends, family, & reading various news articles and opinion pieces is that support for the lockdown regime is eroding. As the data come in - mostly pointing to the impact from coronavirus as consistent with seasonal flu, the health system withstanding the stress, and positive news on development of successful therapies for the symptomatic infected - more and more people are assessing the risk as low, and the at risk as pretty well defined, beginning to question why they must stay at home. This will put pressure on governors to relent and relax the rules. If they start now they can manage the restart slowly and gradually.
@mandrewa:
You should do it.
We are.
Pay no attention to the negative messages about non-traditional environment or the absurd accusation that one is being selfish for adopting children.
We are actually not adopting. We are using surrogacy. Appreciate the encouraging words.
@Big Mike:
His Secretary for War sent cannons and muskets from northern armories to southern ones, and he took the strange position that secession was illegal but there was nothing he could legally do about it.
I imagine that had I been alive at the time, I would have been a Confederate abolitionist. I am generally supportive of secession. I think the current United States should be broken into smaller regional constituencies.
IMAO the rest of the bottom five are James Earl Carter, Barack Obama, and Lyndon Johnson.
I'd probably put LBJ in the top 5. I think a lot of the Carter hate is pretty overblown and are usually stylistic more than substantive. Indeed, a lot of his accomplishments are often misattributed to the Reagan era. Carter appointed Volker at the Fed, and Carter initiated deregulation of numerous industries, with the airlines probably being the most consequential. SALT-II was an achievement, and the Helsinki Accords are an underappreciated accomplishment.
Including Obama on the list seems more like a case of Obama Derangement Syndrome. He was basically a status quo president. I would certainly not rank Obama worse than Bush, given 9/11, the global war on terror, and the Great Recession.
“Gotta love Texas. I should move there. Buy a big-ass house near San Antonio. I have 2 good friends who went to Texas A&M and 2 who went to TCU. If I move there, will they discriminate against me for being a Californian?”
“Hook 'em, Horns.”
It was almost 25 years ago that I interviewed for a job as a patent attorney in Austin. They brought me in Thursday and I flew out Sunday. Turns out it was the Aggie game weekend. I didn’t know before then that GM had a custom color, Aggie maroon (or whatever it is). You normally don’t notice an occasional vehicle painted like that. But that weekend, it seemed like every third vehicle there was that color, and esp top of the line Suburbans, with some large Cadillacs thrown in. We had some of the Corp or Cadets in the hotel, and those swords are apparently real.
My sister-in-law got her PhD while they were living there, and as a result, was subject to a lot of Aggie ridicule. This wasn’t helped by a majority of the patent attorneys in my office having gotten their JDs at UT. It was pretty unanimous, except that my first supervisor was a Red Raider - had gotten his engineering degree at Texas Tech, and often pointed out that UT/A&M weren’t the only rivalries in the state.
But then the girl I ended up dating for the rest of my time there was from an A&M family. Her father’s gravestone has an oil derrick on one side, and the aTm symbol on the other. She ended up at UT for LS, but it takes more than that to change loyalties. Funny thing is that being a liberal (she was an environmental atty for the state), she got along great with my SIL.
One thing that I didn’t like about (Austin) Tx was the Good Old Boy culture. That, along with barbecue, hunting from the back of pickups, and horrible weather are some of the reasons that I don’t consider Texas part of the west, but much more Southern. It very definitely jarred my western sensibilities. Coloradans haven’t much liked Texans, since we had to send the militia down during the Civil War to stop them from coming up and stealing our gold. Luckily, the Coloradoans won in a battle down by Ratton, and the greedy Texans turned back.
I left Texas for Phoenix. Partly it was for a promotion that I wasn’t going to get very soon in TX. But part of it was the weather. I tell people I moved to get out of the TX heat. For me, tolerating 120 in dry heat in PHX was easier for me than 95 degrees of humid heat in Austin. Plus, I didn’t have to hear any more “Shrub” jokes (about GWB(43)) by my SIL and my then GF.
"I do have a progressive friend here in the Bay who actually expressed that sentiment to me—that smart people (like her) should be trusted to take care of things for the little, stupid people.”
Never forget that it was the smart people who got us involved in WWI. On the other hand there are instances where brains and training is critical. Do we let the stupid people engineer our bridges because we like the politics of it? We did that in Miami, how did that work out?
@tim, the people who designed that pedestrian bridge weren’t stupid, merely female. It collapsed under the weight of precisely one person.
To understand the Wilsonian era and the rise of expertism it helps to know about Herbert Croly.
And I read a good book a few years ago surveying the world in 1913 whose title and author escape me at the moment.
Narr
Texas is Tennessee's favorite child
JFarmer what would your after-the-breakup regions look like?
It's not the same, but have you seen the Thirty Eight States map?
Narr
Talk about experts!
“ You identified the exact reasons I consider Wilson the worst president in American history.”
He's a serious contender.
You know all that bad shit about him, the fascism, the racism, the illness, etc? The stuff so many don’t know? I was taught it in high school, in American History. Canadian schools are not very hagiographic about US presidents!
I imagine that had I been alive at the time, I would have been a Confederate abolitionist.
They'd have hung you.
Carter was every bit as bad as I have painted him. He spent all of his term with his party being in control of the both the House and the Senate, and he spent nearly all of that time in open warfare against his own party Congressional leadership. Gasoline rationing, instead of using the free market, was a disaster. I was there. I remember. Carter gets credit for appointing Paul Volcker, but the first two years of Volcker's term saw inflation reaching 11%. I know. I was there. I remember. I remember people not being able to buy homes because of 16% mortgage rates (and higher), and realtors losing their own homes because with no one buying homes they had no income. I had a couple friends who were realtors. I know. I remember. Carter also gets credit for mildly deregulated the wildly over-regulated airlines, but real deregulation didn't start until under Reagan. I remember people working for regulatory agencies deliberately writing incomprehensible regulations so that they could quit government and make a lucrative living interpreting these regulations to the industries who had to meet them. I was at a party after Reagan was elected where GS-13s, 14s, and 16s were bitching about how Reagan was closing off their future earnings.
Or you could ask someone who had made (or was likely to make) the 1980 US Olympic Team what they think about Carter.
As to Obama, it wasn't just that his administration could not stand up a simple web site -- it was why they couldn't. They deliberately withheld information from the developers for fear that Obama's pledge that if you liked your healthcare plan you could keep your healthcare plan would be exposed as a lie in time for McCain to capitalize on it. But I can also ask precisely what his $780 Billion "stimulus" actually stimulated?
I think I need to remove the title "educated fool" from Howard and give it to you.
"Yeah, they'd probably much rather not be born."
Look, Freak, it's like this. There are people who are blind. They have a physical defect that makes them unable to see. They are to be pitied, not scorned, and indeed many of them live exemplary lives meriting neither pity nor scorn, but rather frank admiration. But when a blind person tells you that he is considering buying a car, because he doesn't see any reason why he can't drive 70 on the freeway like everyone else, the correct response is "Of course you can't see any reason. You're blind."
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