I saw this picture and immediately thought of this song (which is not easy to play, so kudos to this guy for finding the energy to smile):
There are recordings of the composer playing this on wax cylinder.
Oh sure, I totally know him.
I’m blaming Busted Knuckles for invoking his name in comments.
In Closing: effing candyman; maybe a clue why is in the previous post’s comments?; follow up; more follow up (attackers knew irony?); Military wants to save you $3,000,000,000 but Congress won’t let them; sorry Wendy, when you serve burgers in paper wrappers on plastic trays, you are not “higher end”; can you help JP out?; and find the problem in this picture. The sad thing is I don’t know how many times I’ve driven past this sign without noticing.
Old Time Religion
Today, a bunch of men in another part of the world were so threatened by the very idea that a woman might learn something that they shot a 14 year old girl as she rode home from school in a bus. What a bunch of big, manly men that they had to go shoot a teenager for daring to engage in radical activities like reading a freaking book. They tried to assassinate her for “want[ing] an access to the world of knowledge.” Oh no, she was a liberal and an infidel. The shooters wanted to make sure they had the right girl. After all, it served their purposes to leave the rest of them scared to go back to school; let them grow up to be ignorant and easily subjugated wives.
Damn right there’s “outcry” and “revulsion.”
Don’t pretend that this is about religion. This is about a bunch of scared little baby-men who fear that if women know about the world, they will demand the rights accorded to human beings and will stop allowing themselves to be treated like property.
Feminism at its most basic — at the level that anyone who isn’t a caveman, a member of Taliban, or perhaps a modern Republican should agree with — says that women have the same unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that men do. On this basis and this basis alone, I am a feminist. However, modern feminism has too much baggage. My partner will read this and argue that I’m not a feminist at all, but rather I believe in equal rights. I don’t think I’m any better than men. I don’t hate men. I don’t hate other women that disagree with me. I believe that a lot of my life is none of your business. I believe that the “patriarchy” is actually an over-hyped and under-effective tool of the oligarchy.
These ass-hats who think guns can enforce their opinion on morality should take their old time religion with them straight to whatever passes for hell.
In Closing: fragile infrastructure has real costs; cool boat; hedge fund pirates; fine print; yoga; Natalie reminds us that “not tested on animals” is a fraud; heh; explanation of the Washington bubble; on unemployment and payrolls; and I see his point.
Music Monday: Columbus Day
What did I tell you?
Back in July, I talked about turkey sandwiches being dressed up in Thanksgiving condiments. I figured the trend would percolate around the high end dining scene for a while before hitting casual dining. Well, I was a little off. It is returning to the carry out restaurant world from which it came first.
Einstein Bros is now offering a seasonal menu that includes a “roasted turkey breast sandwich… spiced with cranberry ginger chutney and offered on an artisan wheat bread.” Sure, it’s seasonal. But I bet if they sell well they could jump to the regular menu. Regrettably, it’s hard to get nutrition info on the seasonal items.
So, where do we see the “Thanksgiving sandwich” pop up next? A quick web search suggests that it’s the item to have on seasonal menus everywhere. I miss La Madeleine more now.
In Closing: this is what parental consent laws do; I see what you did there; killing Big Bird will cut 0.01% from the national budget; not only dumbed down, but deliberately made unreadably dull; stamps; debunking; let them be responsible but remember that we’re checking up on your oversight; and a new mom.
Music Monday: Life Pro Tip
If you ever find yourself asking “Should I Drink Another Drink,” the answer is almost certainly NO! At least this song is conscious of that fact.
In Closing: sigh our “liberal” administration that is “lax on terror” sure loves them some warrantless surveillance (and how many arrests have there been as a result? Yeah that’s what I thought); maybe if you paid enough that somebody could take the job?; Missouri shows me the common sense; the fiscal cliff and you; Penny Marshall; “Sure, increase the number of chickens you have to inspect in a minute by a factor of 5! What could possibly happen?”; because every kid who scores less than 3 out of 5 is a waste of $80 (yes, I see what the pressure cooker does to kids that actually belong in those classes); where does “work ethic” meet “unrealistic job expectations”? Are workers entitled to a life?; zingers; private equity; on polling bias; Pediatric concern trolls strike again; no wonder they never get ahead.
Disaster Averted!!
It turns out that we need not fear a global bacon shortage. Prices may go up, but since I expect prices to go up on pretty much all foodstuffs (already seeing it on some products), I refuse to panic. Maybe now they’ll have to stop making that bacon-infused-lunchmeat crap.
In Closing: how to waste time while imaging that you are doing “marketing“; student loans and the default thereupon; ain’t I a woman too; you can’t reform schools successfully without addressing poverty; but clearly jobs are going overseas because we have too much regulation and lazy workers, right?; and when the ACLU and the Heritage Foundation agree, either something is a serious problem or you need to be on the lookout for other signs of the apocalypse.
Music Monday: Inspiration, Part 2
Last week I said I had two inspiring videos. This is the other one.
It took guts to make this video. But no, don’t go off the antibiotics until the whole run is done, ever, ok?
In Closing: gee I wonder why; some negatives??; this could be bad; “How dare researchers publish research that isn’t about what we think it should be about!”; War on Drugs is still a fail; and unemployment.
Time’s Wasting
Congress is officially out for the year. It’s the earliest departure in over 50 years, and the least productive Congress since World War 2. But there’s no point in beating your head against a wall to do nothing. Besides, by adjourning early, Harry Reid gave Scott Brown no excuse to miss his debate with Elizabeth Warren!
However, I must point out that Congress left a number of things undone before leaving town. Sure, maybe they’ll have better luck in the new Congress come January but I doubt it. Here’s just a few things:
- They refused to vote on a bipartisan compromise farm bill that would have reformed agricultural subsidies and “food stamps.” Now we revert back to a bill from 1949.
- They didn’t do anything about the massive looming cuts in public health and science.
- They may yet find a way to weasel off the “fiscal cliff” by delaying it. And of course it’s easy to delay it again. And again….
- They saved trade with Russia for later.
- They haven’t passed a long overdue transportation bill.
- They didn’t pass a budget, despite the fact that the new fiscal year starts a week from Monday
- They have yet to do the will of the people and completely drive a stake through the heart of SOPA.
- They have not extended the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act — one of the good pieces of legislation to come through on GW’s watch.
- And as they say on the infomercial, many many more.
Remember Come November. Register to vote NOW.
In Closing: radical Islamic cleric almost foils FBI terrorist sting; way to report “news,” CNN; didn’t Jesus say something removing the plank from your own eye first?; hope she got the job; 30 years of emoticons; now he says it; ha, if they had a clue I would still be driving their cars; and desert blooms.
Shameful
Today’s BlogHer Book Club selection is Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. As usual, this is a paid review but the opinions are my own. For more, be sure to start here. The first discussion item is here.
Dr. Brown is a researcher in “shame and empathy.” The central idea of this book is that we all experience shame — a lot of shame, most of the time — and that our shame causes us to develop mostly unhealthy coping mechanisms that are meant reduce our perceived vulnerability to others, but in actuality cause us to not connect well with others. Rejecting this cycle, embracing our vulnerability, and developing “shame resilience” allows us to live “Wholehearted” lives (her capitalization, not mine). We can only do this by “daring greatly.” This last is a reference to one of Teddy Roosevelt’s speeches, which you can hear here.
So here’s the problem: in Dr. Brown’s eyes, I am either ludicrously well adjusted, or I am a sociopath. I don’t fear people laughing at me. I don’t spend all day worrying that my child will have an accident a school and I won’t have been there to stop it. I don’t feel guilty about not looking perfect at all times. Do I occasionally screw up and have to say to myself “Well that was dumb and I shouldn’t have done that”? Of course I do! But I don’t dwell on it and I don’t let fear or guilt control my life!
Dr. Brown tries very hard to write an accessible book: references to pop culture such as Harry Potter and Hotel California; pseudo-catchy phrases like Gremlin Ninja Warrior Training; admissions that she has been known to use colorful language. She does occasionally neglect to footnote when “research says”. She has done TED talks, seminars, written multiple books, talked to oodles of CEOs, and even given a lecture for Navy SEALs — and she will mention “examples” from any of the above as often as she can think to do so. Perhaps the researcher is too close to her subject matter and needs to work on self-esteem.
However, the book is not without merit. Dr. Brown is correct that love and connection is a basic human need. It’s useful to know that all most some men are driven by the fear that somebody will think they are “pussies.” All of us benefit from understanding that there are people out there who will use guilt to manipulate others, including bosses, significant others, and even teachers. The first time somebody thought to say “there are no stupid questions” was almost certainly in response to shame. There is a nice list of questions for gauging an office’s culture in chapter 5.
Dr. Brown is also the author of I Thought It Was Just Me. Well maybe it’s not just her, but it certainly isn’t me.
In Closing: math; disappearing; rivalry; human rights; Fred spread; predator; that’s why; long memories.