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.

No House Rule Against Poisoning

 Idaho Republican state Representative Aaron von Ehlinger" was accused of raping a 19-year-old intern.   

"Representative Wendy Horman rejected [Ehlinger's] argument that because there was no written rule against dating staffers, there was nothing wrong with the behavior.

"There is no House rule against poisoning another person, yet his behavior has poisoned all of us," Horman said. "Conduct unbecoming is an undefined term for a reason per our rules."

https://apnews.com/article/idaho-government-and-politics-52fcc76661c09b6e9e960fcb6195c5ff

Not a Typo

 So I'm reading along on MSN and suddenly there's a bizarre bit of text like the one below.  (I know there are no copy editors, so its not their fault.)

I eventually came to the conclusion that the odd text had been or was intended to be a hyperlink.

And that raises an interesting question.  Was it a technological fail?  Was the software which should have enclosed the text with a hypertext link faulty or, more intriguing was what I was seeing a screen scape automatically pasted from another story as text into a template?

I don't know, but just the fact that I've seen this multiple times indicates poor quality control.

The original story came from The Washington Post late on Friday night 4/2/2021 for those who want the original.

Dust My Broom - Koerner, Ray, and Glover

Listening to "Dust My Broom" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcIFqnlLoQA) from the Blues, Rags and Hollers reissue (yup no Oxford comma in the title) I thought I heard and understood a lyric for the first time even though I couldn't make out the first part of stanza.  It turned out that the song was actually on their first self-issued album, but cut from the original Elektra release I bought over a half century ago. 

What you learn from a woman /who can't tell yes from no
What you learn from a letter/when she can't tell gee from haw

My head snapped up when I heard "gee from haw".  I knew the terms from driving an amateur sled dog team.  A web search will show you that the terms were used to command draft animals.

Nice to listen to hear Koerner Ray, and Glover again.

Supreme Court Justice: "I really don’t understand"

The NT Times covered a voting rights restriction case from Arizona which featured the following exchange:

“Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. asked [Ms. Amunson, the lawyer for Arizona’s secretary of state] a series of hypothetical questions about early voting, ballot forms and deadlines for mailed ballots. Ms. Amunson gave a general answer.

“You have to take a functional view of the political process and look to a holistic view of how it is actually affecting the voter on the ground,” she said.

Justice Alito appeared unsatisfied. “Well, those are a lot of words,” he said. “I really don’t understand what they mean.”

What does it say if a US Supreme Court justice can't  understand a lawyer's argument.  It could be that the justice is as thick as a brick or the lawyer's words don't mean anything.  In this case I'd lean toward the latter explanation.

Corrugated Fasteners

In preparation for making a crate I was removing hardware from some scrap lumber,  Staples and screws weren't a problem, but the crinkly things at the end of some mitered pieces were really tough.  In the past I was able to wiggled some free, but there had to be a better way.

The first thing was to find out what they were called.  Some stumbling around on the web revealed that the thing is a corrugated fastener.  The comments to "Corrugated Fasteners Everything There Is to know" [sic] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXpP9FkG_LA) yielded this gem of an exchange:

Fred C Dobbs (4 years ago): Would you know how to remove a corrugated fastener?

Stapling & Nailing Supplies Ltd (4 years ago):  Hi Fred it's not a question we've been asked before and unfortunately do not have an answer for you.

Fred C Dobbs (4 years ago): Yes, my marriage proposal was sort of like a corrugated fastener, it was a quick way to get into a inextricable situation.

I 'Found the Shoelace

Yup.  Big headline.

Now the back story:

Sometime last year I bought a pair of Rockports at a garage sale.  I'd already picked up some gloves.  As I was looking through the tools in the basement the fellow asked me if I was interested in some shoes.  My reflexive response is no, but  I asked what type and whadda y'know, a pair of Rockports in my size and waterproof with Adiprene a product from Adidas.  And they fit.  For $10.  OK.

I wore them a few times when it was raining.  My only complaint was my usual complaint when wearing boots: they seemed to chafe a bit about the ankle.   But they weren't worn in so all in all, no complaints.

Although the leather uppers are advertised as waterproof ("Microshield") I thought I'd go one better.  When I drove dogs (it was a hobby, it wasn't the Iditarod) it was de rigueur for drivers to waterproof leather with "the best" waterproofing.  (The best product was always a matter of contention.")  After removing the shoelaces, and tucking them into the shoe so they wouldn't get lost, I treated the leather with Sno-Seal, and with memories of college days, put the boots in the car to let the sun's rays work its magic.  (When I was a freshman in college my boots would be treated with Snow-Proof and be taken out to sunbath.  I didn't like sun bathing, but the guys on my floor would let the boots bask in the sun until the application was absorbed and then bring them back in for a reapplication.  It worked out nicely.) 

It didn't seem that all the Sno-Seal was absorbed as the leather had a tacky feel, but there weren't any large sticky spots so I thought I'd bring them in and put them somewhere warm.  It was then that I couldn't fine the lace for the right foot boot.  Thinking that it must have dropped out in the car I searched, but could not find it. 

Since that time the boots have sat in their box until today.  Just by chance as I was moving stuff around what should I find but, yup, the missing lace.  I'm guessing that the lace fell out just as I was putting the other boot in the box.

But the story is not over.  Writing this I wanted to describe identify the shoe, but ran into problems: neither the UPC code or the model number are recognized on Rockport's site,.  Who knows.  I may have gotten a good deal on a knockoff.

Dr. Jill Biden

On Saturday, December 13th, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Joseph Epstein that ignited a firestorm of criticism for being sexist and misogynist. In the piece he calls First Lady-elect Dr. Jill Biden "kiddo" and argued that she should stop using the "Dr." title in front of her name.

I thought Chasten Buttigieg's Tweeted response said what needed to be said succinctly with a dash of humor: The author could’ve used fewer words to just say “ya know in my day we didn’t have to respect women.”

(Follow up reporting found that Epstein who described himself as having taught for 30 taught from 1974 till 2002 years at Northwestern University's English department as a visiting adjunct lecturer.  see: wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Epstein_(writer))   

Typo and Nobody To Whine To

 

The article, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-been-years-since-investors-have-been-this-fearful-of-a-stock-market-crash-nobel-prize-winning-economist-warns-11603685224, discussed a NY Times Op-Ed by Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller's observation that his Crash Confidence Index was flashing warning signs.,  In addition, the Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings (CAPE) ratio was in territory not seen except the lead-up to the Great Depression and just before dot-com bubble burst.

In my own version of flagellation, I checked finanace.yahoo.com, then assumed the fetal position and turned the electric blanket up to 9.   (The last phrase was stolen from a Limelighter's recording.)

Ever the pedantic, the sentence "Shiller also pointed to the Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings (CAPE) ratio, a measure he helped created." jumped out at me.  While I'm not confident enough in my English grammar to explain why this is not correct, I know enough to know that it is not correct.

A brief attempt to contact the author through the Marketwatch webs site was frustrating because it required filling in text boxes which didn't exist on the form.  I took a chance on searching for the author by name.  Even though I misspelled his name, Rocket Reach (rocketreach.co) found some probably email address sites, but without the name part.  Sigh.

Kitchen Sink Drain Mat

 The plastic coded wire rack in my kitchen sink has rusted through and left stains on the porcelain and told me in no uncertain terms that it was time for a replacement.  

In my 21^st Century it means asking someone the name of the object followed by a web search.  In the end I found a rubber mat at a discount store for $2.99.  ($3.25 if you add in the tax.)

Just before I put the mat in the sink I took a closer look.  It's something I've done more and more for ideas for my Engineering Drawing course.  This I imagine is similar to musicians looking for patterns and inspiration in sounds I'd never remember.  For me everyday objects get a brief consideration as a homework or exam problem.   (The latest midterm had a variant on COVID-19 icon.)

I realized that the lines of holes in the mat were not orthogonal (perpendicular to the sides), but at a slight angle.  And then there were the ridges.  Could I actually ask the students to do that in 3D, or more importantly, could I?

And with that I was off on a 2¹/₄ hour jaunt through AutoCAD land.  Here's the result:

This is the type of drawing which, in the past, I would say makes the world a safer place for democracy by keeping the students off the streets.  

Market Up a Little/Excess Cash

The announcer on NPR this morning said that the market was up "a little". The market was up over 200 points!

It makes me wonder yet again what the bleep is happening in this world. With unemployment somewhere near 10% (and higher among Blacks), the service economy in the toilet, and parents and student anxious about returning to school, why is the market up?

Wall Street pundits repeat the mantra, "Wall Street is not Main Street" often enough to explain why the price of a stock going up when a large company announces yet another huge round of layoff. The company has just reduced expenses why shouldn't the profits increase?

I stumbled over a description of Benjamin Graham forcing Northern Pipeline Company to distribute its "excess cash" to shareholders in 1927. The idea of excess cash is interesting for several reason, one of which is how one decides what excess is. 

 At one time in the mythological economic past the stakeholders involved the company, the stockholders, the employees, and communities. If one imagines communities where most of the jobs were dependent on a local employer you get the idea. The owner and his family had to face employees in the town.  There was responsibility and face and pride involved.

Change that to a board in a far off city who feel beholden only to shareholders and the difference becomes in focus to the detriment of the workers.

Why should employees feel a loyalty to a company whose only loyalty is to the faceless group who bought their stock?

Algorithmic Failure

Anyone who's been on the web recognizes that something is being tracked, otherwise why do the same ads for that thing keep showing up on different web sites? 

In my case I usually see ads for watches.  I often click on watch ads and announcements to see if there's something interesting.  Watch mechanisms fascinate me.  Just recently I noted that some new watches don't have crown guards.  

That there are watch rental web sites is fascinating.  I read a piece where a journalists felt he got an exclusive interview because the person spotted an expensive (rental) watch and deduced that the journalist was someone important/influential enough to warrant more consideration.

With that said about watches I wear one I got for $1 at a tag sale (and $10 more getting the battery replaced).  It tells time and suits me just fine. This is what it should look like, except that some of the bezel paint has flaked off mine.  (I probably could have bought one new for the same cost, but hey, I didn't know that then and I needed a watch.)

 So after that diversion about watches, what should show up as an ad on a comic site but an eBay ad for an "Advanced Aquaduck, Duck Puller Tool, Stainless Steel Tip, One Piece Shaft" a steal at a little over $50

and a "23 pcs Cup Type Aluminium Oil Filter Wrench Removal Socket Remover Tool Set Kit" for under $40.

Why?

My guess is that I was on eBay looking for something like the snow mobile boots I remembered from years ago.  Did that mark me as a man's man who needed tools?  

Perhaps you can boost your ego by searching for condominiums costing more than $2M.  My curiosity  about the cost of used Maserati resulted in those ads to popping up for several weeks.  (One of my students said, yeah, the price is reasonable, but the maintenance will kill you.  I take his word for it.)

Should we be annoyed or flattered if an algorithm is literally targeting us with ads suitable for a higher socio-economic class?  Forget about crows feet, varicose veins, and other signs of aging, Viking Cruise ads appearing in your feed signal that it's time to update your will.

.

Mad Rush

Setting for a long session of grading and responding to students end-of-semeseter anguish, I turned to Philip Glass's performance of "Mad Rush" in Montreal (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q0G0-9E5SE).  In the comments echo_delta wrote: "Somebody's soul is invisible, but sometimes you can hear it.", a phrase I hope to remember. 

For some though,  you  can feel it.

On Bernie Ebbers (WorldCom  $11 billion accounting fraud in 2002) being released from prison for medical reasons Snarky Jackhole posted: "'Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.' - Terry Goodkind" on finance.yahoo.com.

He's probably suffering, but the judge, Valerie E. Caproni, said she'd explain her reasoning later.  For those who saw their 401K's wiped out, their future stolen, there was no mercy.  He served 13 years of a 25 year sentence.

People will be watching to see if he miraculously recovers.

Palin Divorce

I was struck by this line in the  Washington Examiner story:'"It's not over': Sarah Palin says she is fighting to repair her marriage ":
"Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she learned her husband, Todd, wanted a divorce in an email from his lawyer and that the two are seeking counseling."  (www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/its-not-over-sarah-palin-says-she-is-fighting-to-repair-her-marriage)

My first thought was, "What a gutless jerk!"  What, he wasn't man enough to tell her face to face?  (I stare in fascination that I even write "man enough".)  My second and subsequent thoughts were still "What a gutless jerk."  

There are many reasons to avoid Sarah Palin, so I can't blame her husband, former First Dude of Alaska, for wanting to get away/come to his senses, but her husband didn't have the simple courtesy to do it himself.  

What am I missing?  Was this executive type behavior: delegating authority so he could attend to the important business at hand like, driving a snowmobile , playing cards with the gang, or shooting wolves?  Or, wait!!  Maybe it hurt more to hear from his lawyer rather than him directly?.  Yeah, sorry, Todd is too busy binging on Queer Eye reruns.

We'll have to wait for the divorce.  

Barneys New York is Closing

Here's the NY times article describing the sale of the brand name: Barneys is Being Sold for Parts (www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/business/media/barneys-bankruptcy-authentic-brands.html).

Over the years, when I would hear the name or see an ad for Barneys I would remark, "The only reason I'd go to Barneys is to pass a bad check."

Many years ago I went to Barneys to buy a suit.  I was young (and stupid -and as Mark Twain remarked, I repeat myself) and wore sneakers.  Anyone interested in selling would have pointed out that one should wear the same foot ware when trying on a suit as one would wear with the suit so the suit could be properly fitted.  A good salesman might take a chance on suggesting that I should buy shoes and then the suit.  I didn't emit a master-of-the-universe vibe, but maybe I was a rock band's tour manager looking to go legit with cash to burn.   If Barneys had loaner shoes, but those weren't offered.

I felt that they actually sneered at my ignorance.  Fine enough.  I've suffered worse insults with a shrug.  What really made me mad was the way the salesmen treated the Japanese customers.

The Japanese economy at the time seemed poised to dominate the world.  The salesmen, most out of hearing of their Japanese customers, but well within mine, made insulting remarks about them.  While I can no longer quote what was said, the image of one salesman playing with a very young child as the mother stood near by has stayed with me all these years.

I presume the mother knew no English or had a will of steel because she didn't show any response as the salesman's smile as he played with the kid contrasted with his insults.

When the store was renovated to great acclaim I considered a visit, but never got around to it.  With the announcement that it was closing the Internet satisfied my curiosity.  An open sculpted look by the look of things, but not worth a personal look.

May Barney Pressman rest in piece.  The arrogant poseurs who worked there can rot in hell.  The rest will stand out from the rests of the unemployed with their bespoke suits.