Personal Musings category archive
Civic Duty 0
I might have jury duty tomorrow. The way it works here is that, if you receive a summons for jury duty, you call or check the city website the evening before to see whether you must actually report.
I’m not looking forward to it, primarily because I will have to up and at ’em before I’m usually up, as the Court House is way on the other side of town. On the other hand, if I’m called, I’ll take along that book I’ve been meaning to read.
You can, nevertheless, be assured that, whatever else happens, I won’t do this.
Speechless 0
The voice of Jay Ward Cartoons has passed away.
I would argue that Rocky and Bullwinkle, in their continual struggle against Boris, Natasha, and FL, offered, beneath masterful puns, silliness, and absurdity, some of the most perceptive commentary on the political theatre of their time, much of it still valid today.
Not half an hour ago I was quoting my favorite line, one that still rings true:
In the Pentagon, there was General Consternation . . . and his entire staff.
Disney’s Pablumfication Factory 0
The Local notes how Disney alters German folk tales they “adapt” from those collected and codified by the Brothers Grimm. Here’s one example:
In the Grimm version though, the road to young romance is a lot more rocky.
The story goes that Rapunzel lets down her hair so that a prince can climb it up to her window, but when the evil sorceress that guards her gets wind of what’s happening, she cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and keeps it for herself.
One day upon climbing up the rope of hair dangled by the sorceress, the prince finds the witch instead of his beloved girlfriend and throws himself from the tower in desperation, landing face-first in a bed of thorns and thus blinding himself.
The prince then wanders blindly for years until he finally stumbles into Rapunzel, who apparently had been living “miserably” in the forest as a single mother of twins all this time. Her tears heal his eyes, and then they live happily ever after.
My grandmother had a two volume collection of Grimm’s tales in translation dating likely from the 1930s. I remember reading “The Snow Queen” when I was (probably) about 12.
The un-Disney-fied tale is one of the darkest and scariest stories I have ever read.
Who Woulda Thunk? 0
Some automated lady has been kind enough to leave a message on my machine–several messages, in fact–informing me that my 14-year-old pick-up with 135 thousand miles on it (and still running just fine thank you) is out of warranty.
Whatever shall I do?
Stray Question 0
What bright light decided that mattresses didn’t need to have handles? (He asked after flipping a queen-sized mattress.)
Stray Thought 0
“Good cat” is an oxymoron.
Stray Thought 0
I have been a Rex Stout fan for a long, long time going onto 50 years, and I always enjoyed his stories because they are good stories, but I did not realize what a damn fine writer he was until I started to reread his books with QOTD on my mind. (QOTD is a hungry beast that demands to be fed.)
If you are not familiar with Rex Stout, you should be. If you are not, it’s your loss.
Watch for more Stout in QOTD.
Afterthought:
As I line up the QOTDs in advance, I did not note that a Stout QOTD was next in the queue.
There will be more to come.
Stray Question 0
Burgers are served at a Burger King, subs are served at a Subway, pizzas are served at a Pizza Hut, so, logically, what must be on the menu here?
A Fly in the Ointment 0
Take a sip of your Scotch, feel something, fish it out of your mouth, and realize it was that fly that has been buzzing around you all night. Even worse, realize that the damned fly died happy.
There’s an old joke dating from the days when the mob ruled Cuba (America has forgotten that, before Castro’s revolution, Cuba was pretty much ruled by La Cosa Nostra and Batista was their toady) about a bar that sold a drink so good that, the first time you ordered it, if there was a fly in it, you sent it back.
The second time you ordered it, if there was a fly in it, you fished the fly out and downed the drink.
The third time you ordered it, if there was a fly in it, you drank it fly and all.
I’m a common sewer of cheap Scotch. McCollough’s Scotch is okay (any Scotch is better than every anything else), but it’s not that good.
I poured a new drink.
The American Experiment, 21st Century Version 0
Def: An effort to determine which can do more damage: a President who has no core values or a political party whose core value is that there is no such thing as the common good.
(NYT link via Political Prof after I did the original draft of this post.
The Comeyuppance 0
In yesterday’s performance of the frog and the scorpion, who knew that James Comey would end up playing the frog?
Certainly not James Comey, for he thought that he had served his masters well.
I am no fan of James Comey, as he grossly violated the public trust and may have swung the election. Nevertheless, I am confident that whomever The Donald selects to replace him will make him look like Prunella Purity.
And, make no mistake, it’s the racism that has brought us here. I’m not going to link it up now because it’s late as I write this, but a look at my posts in this category will enable you to catch my meaning, to get my drift.
Pay for Performance 0
(snip)
And as a reward for complying, drivers will receive chocolate as a gift in return, he added.
I remember that, early in my time at Amtrak when I worked in the Adequacy of Service Bureau Complaint Department, commuter stations in the Northeast Corridor had signs posted for trains of different lengths to make it easier for engineers to stop their trains in the same places on their runs.
Some commuters would stand where they expected the doors to be. If the doors weren’t exactly where they expected them to be, they would write complaint letters, which I had to answer.
Those commuters used the Princeton Junction, New Jersey, station.
One of my coworkers had worked with the Long Island Railroad before he came to Amtrak. He could remember complaints from those same passengers when they lived on Long Island, before they moved to central Jersey.
That’s when I learned that a self-centered arrogant sense of entitlement could be migratory.
Afterthought:
If you want a quick course in Abnormal Psych, work in a complaint department. After that, nothing that people do will surprise you.
Amuse you, disgust you, repulse you, sicken you maybe, but not surprise you.
Stray Thought, Corporate Conquest Dept. 0
Americans are demonstrating that they will willingly submit to corporate Big Brothers if it means they can turn on their coffee pots with a voice command before they get to their kitchens.
The Last Resort 0
What’s with all these people calling on the phone “because you’ve recently stayed at one of our resorts” when I haven’t stayed at a resort in this century? Many many busienss-persons’ hotels, yes, but no resorts.
Furrfu.
Sometimes the Victim Deserves the Blame 0
Regardless of whatever machinations the Russians may have machinated to help Donald Trump win the Presidency, it was Americans who voted for him.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Ever notice how a “child” becomes a “juvenile,” a “little boy” becomes a “male,” and a “little girl” becomes a “female,” once he or she is introduced to politeness (emphasis added)?
The victim is an approximately 3 to 4-year-old female, who suffered a wound to the head. She is being treated at Memorial Hospital and undergoing surgery.
Stray Thought 0
There is bittersweet pleasure (but no comfort) in watching “conservative” opinion writers, who have made careers of justifying Republicans and Republicanism, express dismay at what they have helped create.
For example. And example.
And that’s just from this morning’s casual reading . . . .
Stray Thought 0
If I never have another January like this one, it will still be one too many.
Dialectic 0
Has anyone else noticed that today’s Republican Party’s strategy for saving the “American Dream” (whatever that is) is to deny it to as many persons as possible?
Corollary:
When only one person has access to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, maximum dream shall have been obtained.