I have not been a fan of Larry Ellison’s ever since I was forced to work with his Oracle database software back in the day. But that’s another story, one that I may or may not get around to telling sometime. In recent years Larry Ellison has been a big booster of the current Republican … Continue reading Skydance or Limbo?
Just Noticing Is Sometimes Enough
The other day CJ was talking about men giving compliments to women in non-creepy ways: Not to get all “me too” movement on everybody this morning but I really appreciate it when a man gives a compliment that doesn’t feel creepy. Ladies, you know what I mean.For example, certain male coworkers might say “I like … Continue reading Just Noticing Is Sometimes Enough
A Followup Appointment
I went for my followup appointment with my new primary care physician or in this case a PA. The first time I saw her, we went over a bunch of things and there were several things that I forgot to tell her. So I had planned to make a list to go over them in … Continue reading A Followup Appointment
The RFK Jr. Lament
Randy has a new one based on a Frank Loesser song from Guys and Dolls.
Battle of Queenston Heights
While the United Kingdom was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, its Royal Navy had the bad habit of impressing United States citizens from vessels it encountered. So Congress threatened war. Not wanting to wage war on another front, Parliament agreed to concessions. Communications across the Atlantic being rather slow in those days, news of the … Continue reading Battle of Queenston Heights
Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Due to pressure over many years from people of Italian descent, in 1968 Lyndon Johnson signed legislation to make Columbus Day a federal holiday effective in 1971. The traditional date for Columbus Day was October 12, but in order to keep federal holidays as part of a long weekend, the date is now observed on … Continue reading Indigenous Peoples’ Day
The First HoPS Meeting
During the period in early 1971 I maintained ties with the folks on the fifth floor of Mifflin Hall, as did Carl, though I’m not sure whether Perry and Terry visited there as often as we did. I still thought of myself as part of the Penn State community, even though I was no longer … Continue reading The First HoPS Meeting
Making Board Games Great Again
This comes via This Week in Freudenfreude. It seems some enterprising Canadian teenagers have created a game called American Dictator. I can’t imagine where they might have gotten the idea. It’s rather like Monopoly but with some interesting differences. The board is in the shape of a (the?) pentagon. For example, take a look at … Continue reading Making Board Games Great Again
Jeffrey Archer
You may have heard that Jeffrey Archer died recently. He did not live the most, uh, honourable of lives, if I may so put it. You can probably tell that just by looking at him. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1969 to 1974, but after almost going bankrupt he turned to writing, … Continue reading Jeffrey Archer
Early Birds
I know that I promised myself not to pay too much attention to the election, because as someone (Sondheim) once wrote, “If you have no expectations, You can never have a disappointment.” But this country has such a damned long election cycle, and I’m such an impatient kind of guy, I can’t seem to help … Continue reading Early Birds