But look at the video now, and you'll think it's not enough — he needs to turn away from the cake and blow in the opposite direction or the entire tradition of candles on a birthday cake is over.
That was a bit over a year ago. I noticed it just now because I'd gone into my "birthday" tag because — in last night's café — the first commenter, Andrew, asked me, "Did you forget that today was Bob Dylan's birthday?"
Last night, I'd said, "I’m not interested in birthdays. Maybe when he turns 80. Otherwise, he’s just old. I’m glad he’s alive. I don’t even celebrate my own birthday. I’m not a child." This morning, I thought, I probably blogged it when he turned 70, and I looked to see, because I think I'm pretty consistent about some things, and here it is, from 2011, "Bob Dylan turns 70," with just the line, "Thanks for staying alive, Bob!"
A commenter questions me for not making a bigger deal of it, and I respond by front paging his remark and saying I'm not interested in birthdays. And I also do something that I almost did last night in response to the commenter's prod: I look up "birthday" in the Dylan song-lyrics archive. There are 2 hits, and I analyze them and conclude that Dylan's not interested in birthdays either. There's a good chance I picked up my attitude from him, because these songs come from albums that got written on my soul when I was a teenager.
Back to Romney... Let me credit Eater for saying at the time, "Maybe Everyone Should Blow Out Their Birthday Candles Like Mitt Romney/What if he’s not weird and you’re just gross?"
People jumped at the chance to mock the senator’s “bizarre” candle extinguishing method, calling him awkward and even “deeply weird.” But Romney’s candle-blowing technique is not all that strange — just more sanitary.... [B]lowing out candles the standard way, over a birthday cake, increased bacterial levels on the cake by some 1,400 percent.... The standard method for blowing out candles is the weird ritual here, blessing a birthday cake with the dispersion of hot slobber....Not anymore!
The social sanctioning of people who deviate from social norms, even with good reason, isn’t a surprise. Food rituals have significance in social bonding and relationships; in the case of birthday cakes, Smithsonian magazine reported that the practice of blowing out the candles makes people enjoy the cake more, with studies showing that the ritual creates a special moment that gives people a warm and fuzzy feeling....
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The Twinkie cakes, such as they are, are set down close enough to him that he's still breathing his deadly droplets all over them as he's sitting at and walking around his desk.
And the woman who brought them in - breathing all over them!!! Red alert!!! Not to mention the dust mites in the air!!!
I just can't understand the germaphobe mentality.
.. by pulling them out of the cake — one by one — and blowing on them individually? He was mocked as some sort of germophobic freak.
But look at the video now, and you'll think it's not enough — he needs to turn away from the cake and blow in the opposite direction or the entire tradition of candles on a birthday cake is over.
That was just last year. I noticed it just now because I'd gone into my "birthday" tag after
Assume you have the url, but here it is just in case:
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2019/03/who-blows-out-birthday-candles-like.html
Do most of the people you know and interact with take the social distancing regime seriously? And by seriously I mean that they follow all the rules, wear the correct type of mask in the correct and most effective way? I ask because the people I encounter do not. Most seem to be doing the bare minimum required to get what they want, e.g. access to the grocery store.
My computer closed a draft as I was in the middle of it, and I opened a new one and continued and published, then my computer opened the draft that had closed, and that saved the post, unfinished, to draft.
That happened to me once before. I need to remember, when that happens, to save a copy of the finished post.
But I was able to restore the original post here by searching for it on Google and then going into the "cache" version.
Thanks to all who tried to help!
I'm deleting posts about the problem, other than that 6:02 one, because they're a distraction now, but I do want to thank those who helped.
I extinguish my birthday cake candles with a tank of carbon dioxide. And I use hydroxychloroquine and zinc in my cake frosting recipe.
I am the perfect Birthday Boy.
The problem, of course, is that the number of years it will take your birthday wish to come true is indicated by the number of breaths it takes to blow out your candles. I've got good lung power, but I'm old enough that that still won't help me. Using Romney's method, I may never see another birthday wish granted.
A warm and fuzzy feeling deep in their lungs...
Fresh virus on your cake, what could be more appetizing? From the time of the blowing to the time of serving doesn’t give the virus enough time to degrade much.
Obsessing over some loved one's 'germs' is anti-family, anti-kin, anti-tribe. Promotes a "we're not a unit, we're a grouping of individuals and please keep your shit to yourself", which is in turn anti-society and anti-American. Also kind of a beta or female thing. There's nothing to recommend it.
Me: You know yesterday was Bob Dylan's birthday.
Friend: So?
Me: You missed it
Friend: So?
Me: How does it feeeeeeeeeeeeeeel?
THEOLDMAN
I post this crap on FB every year the day after Z's birthday. I can't help myself.
“Obsessing over some loved one's 'germs' is anti-family, anti-kin, anti-tribe. Promotes a "we're not a unit, we're a grouping of individuals and please keep your shit to yourself", which is in turn anti-society and anti-American. Also kind of a beta or female thing. There's nothing to recommend it.”
Let’s all pretend that Covid never happened. In NYC the majority of cases occurred in family groups.
Mitt was sanctioned for all of his choices outside of social norms. He's ahead of the curve on his policy choices but he sure does suck at political choices.
Economists tend to get zapped for their hyper rational thinking in their personal lives. You learn to live with it.
That was birthday greetings for whenever it occurs.
As for Dylan...he still can't sing. But I'm somehow more able to listen to him now than I could during the previous years.
Still prefer Paul Simon as the great American lyricist.
1. Mitt is a Bain alum. He’s maximizing the number of wishes; one per candle.
2. And look at that shitty office space he got assigned.
Obama famously mocked Romney for his "Russia is our #1 foe" comment.
Then the corrupt left manufactured a story about Russia. All to cover their own corruption and inflict Hillary-lost butt-hurt revenge.
Obama and Hillary were buddy buddy with Russia. Clinton foundation hauled in big money from Russian interests.
Romney might be a dork, but he doesn't hold a candle to the corrupt hypocrite left.
Stop it, stop it, stop it! Your immune system needs bacteria and all sorts of gross things. It's good to spread some of them, to keep it working at a low idle. Then it's ready when you need it for major germs. Besides, if it doesn't have anything to do, it goes haywire and gives you allergies and auto-immune disorders.
IMO, you should celebrate your birthday. There will come a time when you won’t be able to celebrate.
From my script, “It’s a great day! It’s a great life!”
Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal
Blow out them candles.
My influence over you is growing...
But actually, I didn't mean to imply that you should write a post about Dylan. I wasn't being snarky. It was more an expression of surprise. I noticed Dylan bring honored elsewhere, and thought that you were likely to at least mention him. You've written quite extensively about Dylan, and I've learned some things from you. So when you didn't, I was wondering if you remembered. Obviously, it's your call.
Thanks for following up. It's a genuine thrill to be Andrew (the Commenter), my first and only blog tag. But make sure you capitalise the "C".
I think it's gross too.
I think those cake decorating shows where people are all close to the cake and breathing on them as they shape each individual (terrible tasting) fondant animal are gross too.
And yet, we've never really had a big post-cake disease spreading incident.
"[B]lowing out candles the standard way, over a birthday cake, increased bacterial levels on the cake by some 1,400 percent"
Did it ever hurt anyone? Can bacteria survive in the digestive tract? Are bacteria on cake worse than bacteria shared by ordinary breathing?
"IMO, you should celebrate your birthday. There will come a time when you won’t be able to celebrate."
No, celebrate every sunrise.
We live in days. Days are real life. Years are vague notions.
Clarification: can bacteria ordinarily shared by blowing/breathing survive in the digestive tract?
"Mitt was sanctioned for all of his choices outside of social norms"
Next, they'll reveal that dogs actually prefer riding on top of cars.
As a general rule, birthday's suck, but the ones that suck the most are those that end in zero. I suppose if you've won the Nobel Prize, it softens the blow, but such birthdays heighten the sense of mortality and of dreams lost or denied in your passage through time. Like Dylan, my next zero birthday will be eighty. I would sometimes make life affirming resolutions on my zero birthdays--run a marathon, learn a foreign language, give up smoking etc on my zero birthdays. However, I have outlived my vices and can't think of anything life affirming to do for my eightieth birthday. Stay alive, I guess, but that lacks magnitude.
Ann:
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets
In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, a year in the life?
As the Wuhan virus attacks the lungs, someone could blow the virus all over the cake without endangering anyone. If you ate a big piece with virus all over it, nothing would happen, the virus is destroyed by the digestive acids.
If you inhaled the frosting, you'd be in big trouble.
Inga: Let’s all pretend that Covid never happened. In NYC the majority of cases occurred in family groups.
Couldn't be more irrelevant to my point.
Last night, I'd said, "I’m not interested in birthdays. Maybe when he turns 80. Otherwise, he’s just old. I’m glad he’s alive. I don’t even celebrate my own birthday. I’m not a child."
You know, I understand that you and Rush Limbaugh have the same birthday. Where did I hear that?
Oh wait, it was you. You're the one who has told us this repeatedly. Maybe that's not "celebrating," but it doesn't reflect a lack of "interest" in birthdays.
Also, an unselfish mother type (whether that's you or not I couldn't say) could be interested in other people's birthdays without being interested in her own.
Ann Althouse said...
We live in days. Days are real life. Years are vague notions.
My first reaction: if dogs could speak that's the kind of thing they would say. "Follow the sunrise with your iPhone not with your heart."
My second reaction: isn't the root of "cynic" related to dogs? Why yes, yes it is! From the linkable Oxford Languages site:
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/cynic
Definition of cynic in English:
cynic
Translate cynic into Spanish
Pronunciation /ˈsinik/ /ˈsɪnɪk/
NOUN
1A person who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable or unselfish reasons.
‘some cynics thought that the controversy was all a publicity stunt’
More example sentences
1.1A person who questions whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile.
‘the cynics were silenced when the factory opened’
More example sentencesSynonyms
2
(also Cynic)
A member of a school of ancient Greek philosophers founded by Antisthenes, marked by an ostentatious contempt for ease and pleasure. The movement flourished in the 3rd century BC and revived in the 1st century AD.
More example sentences
Origin
Mid 16th century (in cynic (sense 2)): from Latin cynicus, from Greek kunikos; probably originally from Kunosarges, the name of a gymnasium where Antisthenes taught, but popularly taken to mean ‘doglike, churlish’, kuōn, kun-, ‘dog’ becoming a nickname for a Cynic.
There are less apt words for you than "churlish."
Good grief, stop breathing.
Back in the 90's these were around. Maybe folks can light these instead of putting candles on the cake.
1-21 Year Traditional Countdown Birthday Candle | Etsy
One example:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/243685007/1-21-year-traditional-countdown-birthday
My name is A.
The blowing out candles on the cake thing reminds me of my favorite Dilbert of all times.
https://dilbert.com/strip/2010-06-08
I still quote it to my family who I'm sure are tired of it by now.
Enjoy!
After we outlawed shaking hands it was all the way down the slippery slope ...
I guess social kissing went out somewhere along the way ...
I love the sunrises, too, but a birthday is a ‘day’ to celebrate you. I don’t think celebrating birthdays is just for children.
I’m guessing you may be interested in what Confucius has to say about turning 70 when you do so next January 12. As I turned 70 this last January 12…
This is a seven months’ tease…
Peter Forsythe
In Hong Kong
I’m guessing you may be interested in what Confucius has to say about turning 70 when you do so next January 12. As I turned 70 this last January 12…
This is a seven months’ tease…
Peter Forsythe
In Hong Kong
Gleeking (aymptomatic tranmission), and the impromptu cough, are a clear and progressive risk.
@Ann,
"We live in days. Days are real life. Years are vague notions."
I tried that with the IRS and it didn't work.
Meade better throw a giant birthday party for Ann on her 70th or that's it.
From my script, "The marriage is over! How could you be so stupid. Head back to Germany [Indiana] you idiot monster."
Nope. I still think Romney is a germaphobe. I also think he is a globalist piece of shot who would have sold the country down the river with a Republican stamp of approval. Fuck that guy.
Blow out the candles like before. Let the vulnerable bake their own cake. Life ain't fair, dip shits.
Our kind hostess remarked,
"We live in days. Days are real life. Years are vague notions."
Reminds me of the opening monologue to "Days of our Lives".
And the data showing that the amount of bacteria or virus deposited on the surface of birthday cake actually cause any disease is...where? My god, man, just imagine how many germs make it onto a cake that's sitting out for hours in a room full of people breathing and laughing and singing their disgusting death-breath all over it! How have we survived this far?
My birthdays are an excuse to get together with friends and family. We eat well, drink well, listen to good music, and enjoy each others company. Lighten up, Francis.
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