Old Newsletters in the library

I was going through some stuff in the library. In other houses the room would be called my father's study, but for us it was the library. With his father-in-law my father built shelves along the length of the interior wall with cabinets at the bottom of each end.

I grew up with the wall packed with Chemical Abstracts, thick white volumes with blue lettering on the cover.  Those were the days when an ordinary person could afford a subscription to Chemical Abstracts.  Or maybe because my father did translations for them he got copies for free.  

The library and Chem Abstracts loom large in the family mythology for many reasons.  The most salient occurred when my father asked quotes for a paint job.  I wasn't there.  My father said that the painter broke down crying when he saw the wall of Chem Abstracts.

The painter had always wanted to be a chemist.  But there was the Depression and ends had to be met.  The painter saw someone living his dream. 

The story is a graphic example of what can happen if you can't follow your dreams.

But that's not why I started this post.  Going through the shelves I found newsletters my mother got.  (We like to say that "She's a dietician, but she's better than that." My brother and I were too young to know that "force of nature" was the term we should have used.) The earliest was from 1974.  I wasn't going to read them.  Before I put them out for recycling I thought I should do something to document them.  Hence this image showing different mastheads:

There are some NY Times articles stacked on the lower shelves.  Time to give them a once over before recycling.
 

Counter-Attack Against Mind Control

This Facebook post would normally be followed by a comment about tin foil not being wrapped tightly enough. But not this one:

"I will be launching the first counter-attack against mind control in human history.

"I want to be very clear, this will not be an active shooter event. I will be executing some of the people responsible for activating active shooters.

"If I happen to survive, please visit me in prison, only to see the same man you’ve almost known. I will gladly die to expose this.

"If I can help another targeted individual fight back against telepathy, then the sacrifice will be worth it." 

Stephen Marlow followed up by murdering 4 neighbors  (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11089359/Police-Suspect-slayings-4-Ohio-arrested-Kansas.html)  August 7  2022

Cheating on a CPA Ethics Exam

You can't make this stuff up. Correction: you can make this stuff up, but why bother.  Quoting Pat Sky: "Reality is bad enough.  Why must I tell the truth?"  

The accounting firm is Ernst & Young

(Italics are mine.)

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that a "significant number" of the accounting firm's auditors cheated on the ethics portion of the Certified Public Accountant test and other courses needed to maintain the licenses.

To make it even better, a press release from Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, included this:

"It's simply outrageous that the very professionals responsible for catching cheating by clients cheated on ethics exams of all things."

On the other hand, some might view cheating on an ethics exam as another challenge to be passed. It calls to mind a Non Sequitur cartoon where someone touts the ability of his accountant by claiming that the IRS named a loop hole after her.

There is also the classic 2 + 2 joke (www.jokesoftheday.net/joke--nbsp-What-Is-Two-Plus-Two-/201512164, www.jokesoftheday.net/joke--What-does-two-plus-two-equal-/201605279, www.ebaumsworld.com/jokes/how-much-is-two-plus-two/82597645/, etc. although my favorite version involves a philosopher, a physicist, and an accountant being considered for a job.) The punch line invariably has the last candidate for a job, after carefully insuring that no one else will overhear what is said, asking in a whisper, "How much do you want it to be?"

14-year-old dies after falling over gorge in Niagara Falls

 An NBC affiliate, WGRZ-TV Buffalo, posted a story which appaeared on MSN.com  The first paragraph read:

This is ostensibly a mental health story, but I was drawn to the grammatical error. It should have been "who had fallen into the gorge" or "who fell into the gorge".

The deterioration of learning started well before the COVID lockdown.  

When I checked the WGRZ website the text had been modified to "had fallen"

What's Missing From the Latest Mass Shootings?

May 24, 2022

American exceptionalism at its worst:

10 days after 10 people were killed in a racist inspired shooting May 14th at Topps Friendly Markets in Buffalo 19 kids and 2 teachers killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Maybe I missed it, but i didn't hear the classic, now-is-not-the-time-thoughts-n'-prayers from supporters of the NRA.  Why has the playbook changed?  

Is it that nobody is fooled?  Nobody cares?  Or, maybe, it's the futility of action in the face of blind acceptance of mundane days becoming nightmares.

Inverse Occam's Razor

 There are are a number of news stories about right wing, anti-vaccine, COVID deniers claiming that their illness after attending maskless, anti-vaccine mandate rallies was due not to contacting the virus, but instead was due to a deep state bio-attack.  (Sample story: https://www.thedailybeast.com/far-right-stars-joe-oltmann-jovan-pulitzer-fantasize-theyve-been-attacked-with-anthrax)

I asked one of the Philosophy prof I know to ask if philosophers had a term equivalent to an inverse of Occam's Razor.  The answer was in light of the current environment there was a lot of discussion of the phenomenon, but no, there was no existing expression.

Six Types of Retirees/Lingerie

 As I was scrolling through an article on MarketWatch to read about Nancy Schlossberg's six type of retirees (Adventurer, Continuer, Easy Glider, Involved Spectator, Searcher, and Retreater) something changed on the right hand side of the screen,

My second thought concerned the pattern recognition algorithm that placed the ad.  My first thought was kinky? Why would a porn site buy space on Market Watch?  Scrolling up I found that the images were ads for Macy's.  

Back to the second thought: Is there a correlation between people scanning retirement advice ads and women's lingerie?  Perhaps the correlation involves jumps in the stock indexes and retirement articles.  Time to retire and buy something intimate for the chick on the side?  Was I flagged as a member of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement?

It would be a revelation if ads gave you a hint as to why an ad appeared.  ("You looked so sad we thought that some pictures of intimate apparel might cheer you up.")

Sherpa Blanket and Kryptonite Lock and Books

 Some time ago I found a Sherpa blanket blanket on freecycle.org.  We exchanged a few emails trying to decide when I should pick it up because the weather looked iffy.  We eventually decided on the weekend.  On the morning I was going to get the blanket someone offered a Kryptonite lock.  Surprise!! It was the same guy.  He'd stick the lock in the same bag.

What could go wrong?  How about a spell which transformed the parkway into a parking lot?  So it was after a detour that allowed me to spot a used book shop and the cheapest gasoline in a 15 mile radius that I finally arrived at Beechwood Street.

I parked in front of the house, but seeing the house number across the street I figured I'd walk a little way, getting a little aerobic exercise and saving a smidgen of gas by parking in the first available space.  

Beechwood street is numbered randomly, not the way normal suburban streets are numbered with odd numbers on one side, even numbers on the other with numbers increasing or decreasing in a regular pattern,  I thought my mind was failing because the numbers didn't make sense.  Fortunately, a lady who had just pulled out of her driveway, told me that I was probably looking for a house that way as she pointed in the direction where I had parked. 

It turned out that I had parked right in front of the correct house but I'd been fooled by the sign number of the house on the other side of the street.

On the way back I stopped into the book shop.  I'd been there browsing around for a few minutes when the owner was surprised that I was there.  After the usual what type of book are you looking for I browsed around for quite a while.  

I told the owner that there were some books in the wrong sections.  He didn't care.  The only thing which really appealed to me was a boxed set of John Dos Passos' U.S.A. trilogy.  Usually prices are negotiable.   In this case he checked on line and raised the price from the price in the books.  I passed. 

I'd said something early on about looking for engineering drawings for a class.  He mentioned that when he increased the price.  It was his right.  I passed.  

Got a God intolerance?

The full quote from By Molly Young's article, "Better Living Through Stoicism, From Seneca to Modern Interpreters" (www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/books/stoicism-books.html) :

Got a God intolerance? Try Epictetus!

The article was primarily concerned Mangling her sentences, Young wrote that for a meaningful secular existence, Stoicism might be "swapped in for religion like Lactaid for regular milk.  (Got a God intolerance? Try Epictetus!)"

Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher.  (*I had to look it up.)  It seems that the Stoics had their own version of Winston Churchill's “Never let a good crisis go to waste”.

One of the premises of Stoicism is that it will help you assimilate horrible events with equanimity. The proper way to respond to catastrophe, the Stoics will tell you, is to perceive it as a training exercise. Or, as Seneca put it: “Disaster is virtue’s opportunity.”

 It brings to mind a Garrison Keillor script where the narrator describes not being bothered by his wife ran off to Paris with some guy and his daughter dropped out of medical school to pursue a career in dry cleaning.  No, because by being a writer, it's all material.  

A good deal of my philosophy derives from bumper stickers, T-shirts, and coffee mugs.  Sherry Ross, an old acquaintance had a mug with the slogan, "Grin and ignore it."  Sometimes I act that way.  I know it infuriated a much despised former boss that I relayed bad news with a grin.  

Killer Can't Stand Trial/Drug Treatment CEO Dies With Fentanyl in His System

Two stories confirming my belief in humanity:

From the Orange County Register (https://www.ocregister.com/2021/12/01/man-accused-of-killing-4-in-orange-committed-to-state-hospital/):

Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, who was struck by a bullet in the head during a shootout with police, will begin receiving treatment for injuries that have left him incapable of understanding the murder charges he was facing.

“Every medical expert who has evaluated the defendant has concluded that he is not competent to assist his lawyers in his defense as a result of deficits he suffered from a gunshot wound by the responding police who stopped his massacre,” according to a statement by Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office. (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-05/accused-o-c-mass-shooter-found-unable-to-stand-trial-case-on-hold-indefinitely)

Gonzalez will now be evaluated by medical professionals who will help the court determine his future placement and develop a treatment plan “in an effort to restore his competency,” Edds said. “He will continued to be housed in a lockdown facility,” she said. “His lawyers will return to court on Dec. 1 to discuss the report with the prosecution and judge.”

In other, unrelated news, from The Mercury News:

Costa Mesa addiction treatment CEO faces federal charges

(https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/08/17/addiction-rehab-ceo-indicted-on-federal-conspiracy-charges-dead-at-51/) we have news that Tarek Greiss, a former anesthesiologist before addiction cost him his medical license died with fentanyl in his system.

What makes this story especially interesting is that Greiss (quoting his bio): "entered the world of addiction recovery through the front door, as a client ... He is a recovered impaired professional who navigated the very difficult road to durable recovery through an intense trial and error period.” At Elite Care, he developed an “Impaired Professionals Program” to help professionals struggling with addiction to keep or regain their professional stature, his bio says." (Image from https://www.facebook.com/BeginningsTreatment/videos/947437509045581/?t=30)

Sounds good, but there's always more to the story: he ran afoul of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 which makes giving or receiving money in exchange for addiction treatment referrals a federal crime. The charging document described a prospective patient being picked up at an airport, given Xanax, injected in the neck with methamphetamine, and was in detox for seven days before transferring to one of his rehab centers.

John Littrell, his attorney, said, “His legacy will not be tarnished by the government’s misguided prosecution of him. Tarek will be remembered as one of the good guys.” I'd like to put it to a vote.

Graffiti

The Sunday Non-Sequitur cartoon by Wiley (https://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2019/11/17) makes a significant point:  There's less graffiti in the toilets because it's moved online to Twitter and Facebook.  (A little late publishing this.)

At leas two GOP senators ...

 It's not often that I get a message with a highlighted typographical error.  This was from deliverdemocracy.org.  Think about it.  Someone wrote this and other people overlooked the error.  Maybe this is really a subtle way of underscoring the need for a better educational system.

Four Presidents Mark the Twentieth Anniversary of 9-11

Sometimes quote without comment is good enough (from Mediaite (www.mediaite.com/news/trump-puts-out-exclamation-point-laden-statement-congratulating-rudy-giuliani-for-9-11/)):

Former President George W. Bush will deliver a speech later Saturday at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, PA. President Biden will visit all three sites on Saturday: Lower Manhattan, the Shanksville memorial, and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

Former President Jimmy Carter will mark the anniversary in private.

Former President Donald Trump will do color commentary for a boxing match Saturday night.

102 out of 100

One of my profs did his post doc with the Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen.  He said that Eigen would try to determine the results of the scientific papers from the diagrams before reading the text.  I wonder what Eigen would make of Denmark having 122 vaccinations per 100 people.  

Are Danes needle happy, drawn to syringes wielded by people in lab coats?

By reading the article (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/29/world/europe/europe-us-vaccination.html) you would learn that the correct heading should be "Doses per 100 people".  Statisticians might be frothing at the mouth because it is not clear what the breakdown is for vaccines which require two doses (Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech ) or a single dose (Johnson & Johnson).  The article makes it clear that the vaccines being used in the EU require 2 doses.

(Image: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/07/29/us/EU-US-vaccination-promo-1627593309433/EU-US-vaccination-promo-1627593309433-threeByTwoMediumAt2X.png)

Life

 "Life, García Márquez once wrote, is not what one lived but how one remembers it." From the NY Times  review of A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son’s Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha by their son, Rodrigo Garcia (7/25/2021)

The death of Bob Moses, the civil rights organizer, he rejected the term leader,  was announced today (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/us/bob-moses-dead.html).  I remember the Algebra Project because it seemed clear that the way to improvement required an understanding of math and measurement.  

Verbifying Effort

CNN reporitng on a Barr article in the Atlantic (https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/27/politics/william-barr-trump-election-claims-break/index.html):

"For his part, Barr took aim at the legal strategy Trump was efforting at the time with the help his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, telling the president that any election-related legal challenges "would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy."

Efforting? Who the bleep uses that term?  Devan Cole (https://www.cnn.com/profiles/devan-cole).  I thought of mocking up a wanted for abusing the English language graphic but decided the effort wasn't worth it.  I just sent feedback to CNN telling them that if they listened closely in the still of the night they'd be able to hear composition instructors weeping.

Briefcases Replace by Backpacks?

I went through some clickbait recently about what people over 40 still do which is uncool.  (I'm intrigued by the idea that people over forty feel a need to be cool.)  One of the uncool things was briefcases.  

For years now I've been hauling my stuff in backpacks because 1) backpacks hold more than a briefcase and 2) It would be presumptuous.  On the other hand, a briefcase with metal protecting the corners is probably a better weapon, but I digress.

This came to mind when I saw the REUTERS photo of the lawyers for Elizabeth Holmes going to court lugging backpacks.  

When high-priced lawyers (I'm assuming that Holmes is well represented) eschew briefcases does this indicate a problem for briefcase manufacturers?  Should I be stocking up on put options?  

A quick web search showed there were "briefcase backpacks".  (Lululemon was out of stock.)  It probably means that those who cater to the former briefcase wielding crowd have already responded to demand and I am once again in the social derrière guard. 

One in 7.5 Million Viewers

Tonight,  I listened to Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones 1995 on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhVLiHPUOIM) while following the lyrics. 

So I was surprised to see Mick changing two words.  The lyrics read:

Let's do some living after we die

but Mick sang:

Let's do some living after love dies

As a teenage and in college along with so many others I tried to apply lyrics to my life or seek guidance in words cobbled together to rhyme.  It was something which seemed so vital when I was so much younger.  And now it's just something to note.

It made me think of a story about Carl Perkins and one of the Beatles, (George Harrison?).  The Carl Perkins version of "Blue Suede Shoes" differs from Elvis Presley's by a single beat.  In practice for the "Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session" with a slew of British rock luminaries the Beatle was upset that Carl Perkins who wrote the song was playing it with Elvis's extra beat.  

The spin was that the Beatle was playing with one of his heroes and his hero wasn't playing the song correctly.

Nicolette Larson: All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

 Years ago I bought a cheap cassette with a depressing image with no idea of who the singer was.

I had bought the tape afor 88¢ at The Wiz.  The cover showed a sad looking girl in a shower clutching a towel to her body, her hair still wet.  I had no idea what the album was about, but from the image I suspected it would be a a litany of sad songs from a woman who'd been wronged by men.

Boy was I wrong.  I just loved the songs!  Most were upbeat and they gave me the energy I needed to keep at it when the code decided to show me what an idiot I was.  The tape is surely buried in a box from one of my many office moves. 

For several years I'd play her cassette when I coded late into the night.  It seemed to give me a second wind.  

Recently I tried to remember the name of the singer on the tape.  Eventually a web search on some of guesses as to song titles turned up Nicollete Larson and the unhappy news that cancer had killed her.  

I'm posting this here, instead of on YouTube because comments are turned off.   (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n_QkdulFqmEhPEWALNuzqjnh9o8rv2Nws)

Remote Workers Do Not Mate

 The Sunday May 02, 2021 Dilbert strip noted that many people meet their spouses at work.  With many office workers working from home ... well, have a goodbye party for your genes. 

In a few months we'll be able to see the statistics about weddings.  There is also the divorce phenomenon from the oil embargo: couples forced to be together demonstrated the truth of the old adage: familiarity breeds contempt.  Maybe the divorce statistics will increase.