|
|
JULY
18, 2015 Earlier this week, the following situation happened to me for the third time in the last 20 years. (One remembers such scares.) Thats me in the red car, merging onto the expressway.
In the future, how do I avoid these near misses? I dont know. I'll just have to continue to be vigilant behind the wheel.
JULY
15, 2025
I've learned a new word from TV. I was watching a British police procedural in which two former lovers unexpectedly met again. Their awkward words were frequently interspersed with the nervous filler um, expressing hesitation or uncertainty. The syllable was unstressed, and normally the closed captioning might ignore it. However, in this case it revealed the characters' state of mind, and the BBC captioner faithfully included it. And the meaningless interjection was given its British spelling erm. The Cambridge Dictionary's English Grammar Today claims that erm and um are discourse markers with separate functions.
We
can use erm to pause before continuing, especially when
we're unsure about what to say:
We
can use um to change the subject, carefully introducing
a new topic: I shall ... erm ... file this information away.
Im not that stunned, because I think theres a second reason. A significant portion of Republican voters are themselves coarse, crude, arrogant, condescending loudmouths. Lets call them CCACLs. Theyve found in Trump a champion who speaks their language. He promises easy, simplistic answers. Mr. Spiegler wonders whether any candidate is willing to display sufficient courage and decency as to challenge and attempt to disassociate the party from Mr. Trump. Some have in fact registered disagreement with Trumps rantings. But I suspect his typical opponent doesnt want to denounce him too strongly, because after Trump drops out of the race, the opponent will need some Trump CCACLs to switch their votes to him. He doesnt want those voters to have written him off as a coddler of immigrants, an unpatriotic Donald hater.
JULY
11, 2025
Can all three of these divinely approved equations be true simultaneously? Solve for T, or ask Zoey.
JULY
8, 2025
From time to time, I find interesting images that I can't resist adding to previously written articles on this website. Chances are that you haven't revisited those articles recently. For example, I've posted a few images of matchbooks from eating establishments in the mid-20th-century Ohio city where I was born, and that recently led me to post a view of Zanesville's Main Street. Here are links to ten additional updates.
* * * * JULY 2, EVENING I wish I had the kind of relationship with my neighbors where I could tell them to knock it the hell off with the fireworks. * * * * JULY 4, MORNING I wonder if my neighbors would be as patient with me setting off fireworks at 8 in the morning as I was with them at 11 last night. Watch Independence Day today and celebrate the American tradition of making bad choices thinly rationalized by patriotism. * * * * JULY 4, AFTERNOON Sitting out in the heat waiting for the 4th of July parade and fireworks because I love my family more than I love my own comfort. Parade float throwing peanuts instead of candy: You're like the Halloween house handing out raisins. If raisins were a fatal allergen. O hai! Ominous clouds! Gusty winds on the 4th of July, because for a little while there I was worried some moron with homemade bottle rockets wouldn't cause a wildfire. Marvel must be feeling pretty cocky that Captain America T-shirts have now become acceptable patriotic clothing. * * * * JULY 4, EVENING Boom Boom Pow has replaced Neil Diamond's America in the fireworks show. I want my country back. Going to sleep is just a foolish wish at this point, because SPLOSIONS. Yes, I know you want to be setting off fireworks at 11:30. But see, your want to exists in a world of laws and other people. Dickhead. Here's the thing: I generally think, How will my behavior affect other people? And I foolishly expect it should be a universal principle. And so I fume impotently on Twitter when I'd love to be sleeping. Lucky you. When you think about it, the 4th of July would be the best time to shoot someone. my wife, insuring I will not sleep at all tonight. [2-minute-long period of silence] Me: Dare I even hope? Laura: You shouldn't. You'll just be even more pissed off. You know it's love when someone cares enough to remind you that hope is a futile endeavor. * * * * JULY 5, MORNING Early enough on a Sunday morning after a holiday that I might as well rant into the emptiness. I make what jokes I can about the hey I'm launching fireworks at midnight thing, but it's one of many symptoms of a societal sickness. It's hardly a brand-new one I refuse to get all kids these days about it but it feels like it's getting worse all the time. It's an overwhelming brand of narcissism: What I want and what I feel are the only thing that exists. When I see some a-hole weaving through traffic, there's no other conclusion to be drawn but Nothing else matters but my needs. So much public debate seems to revolve around conflicts where people refuse to acknowledge that their position affects others negatively. I'm rambling. Sorry. It just feels sometimes like the idea of a society is waved off as utopian by radical individualists. No right is limitless. We can disagree on which rights have which parameters, but at least consider that parameters should exist. You do not have a 1st Amendment right to a religious practice that involves human sacrifice. You do not have a 2nd Amendment right to a nuke. Once we acknowledge those things, we can start having reasonable discussions about the responsibilities of living in a society. Anyway.
JULY
4, 2025
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. When a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce [the people] under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
The History of the present King is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good. He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone. He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: >>For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
>>For
imposing Taxes [Tariffs] on us without our Consent: >>For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury: >>For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences: >>For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: Works of Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
JUNE
30, 2015
But then, remove all the lane markings and crosswalks from that block! Remove all the signs and traffic lights! Even level all the curbs and sidewalks! Just let all the cars and trucks and buses and bicycles and pedestrians go wherever they like, whenever they like, using their common sense to share the space with everyone else. Thats nuts. Or so it seems, one participant admitted. But it might just work. Shared space has been successful in several European cities. Weve even seen it in the U.S.; this video is a few years old, but it shows San Franciscos bustling Market Street without signs and signals.
The key to a shared space, the newspaper explained, is creating a design that causes drivers to slow down, which improves safety. Paradoxically, the resulting slow but steady traffic can actually move through the congested area in less time, because no one is standing still, idling, waiting two minutes for a light to change. Doing away with the rules forces drivers and pedestrians to interact and cooperate. Ownership of the entire street vests with everyone. Drivers pay attention to pedestrians and other drivers rather than signals and signs. Foot traffic increases, stimulating retail development. It occurs to me that it wont be possible to eliminate all signs. It will be necessary to explain to drivers and pedestrians before they reach the shared space that theyre about to enter the Wild West, a lawless open free-for-all. They should not expect any government-painted lines on the pavement nor any stop signs granting them the right of way over other people. They should be prepared to respect their fellow citizens and defer to them.
JUNE
29, 2025
Folks like to complain about National Anthem singers at big televised events. Let me add a complaint about Jessie Woo, who performed before last night's NASCAR race in Atlanta. She's obviously a talented singer, but for some reason she took big breaths major pauses in the middle of words!
Also, the military flyover was unimpressive: merely a single C-130, the propeller-driven cargo plane that first flew in 1954. It did not appear particularly lethal.
JUNE
27, 2025
The people from my old hometown in Ohio turned out yesterday morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Click here for a closer look, or click here for the source video.
These folks are looking at a monumental piece of artwork called Richwood: Our Community, Our Story, painted by Brad White and friends on an exterior wall of the Richwood Bank. I had seen periodic Facebook updates on the progress of the mural. I don't get back to Ohio often, and I imagined the painting on the big blank brick wall on the south side of the main bank building. There it would immediately impress any strangers traveling north on Ohio Routes 37 and 47. However, when I did return to Richwood two weeks ago for the high school's Alumni Banquet, I looked for the mural. Not on that wall.
Heather
Wirtz from the bank explained that the location at the rear of the
new corporate office building was chosen to spruce up the new
parking lot area for community gathering events. Kids can
use the mural for a look-and-find activity, as in Who can find
the basket of apples?
JUNE
24, 2025
Jargon on TV police procedurals: A few years ago, investigators were always hoping to find CCTV, or Closed Circuit TeleVision recordings from security cameras. That's still the case, but now I'm also noticing that coroners inspect stabbing victims for defensive wounds, to ascertain whether they had a chance to fight back. If so, the criminals might also have wounds. Romantic comedies: In the movie title Crazy, Stupid, Love, the words crazy and stupid mean foolish and impulsive. However, in a different movie title Crazy Rich Asians, the word crazy does not imply that these Asians should be confined to a mental hospital. They're not crazy and rich. No, they're crazy rich, which is to say insanely wealthy. Crazy, right? Sports: When folks post on social media, they forget that their comments can be seen by millions of strangers. Instead, it seems to them that they're only speaking directly to their friends, and those friends obviously are watching the same sports TV channel and obviously are rooting for the same team. Therefore when misfortune befalls their favorites, the posters type Oh no! No!!! without further explanation. The majority of us not watching the game are left to imagine that some other horrible event has just happened. More sports: Apparently a boundary in cricket is a hit that carries out of the field of play, similar to a home run in baseball. But that's not the only confusing thing about this bit of sports writing about the 2019 World Cup final: England won for the first time since they had scored more boundaries. That leads us to wonder just how long ago it was that England scored more boundaries. Oh no, no, the reporter should have used because instead of since. It turns out that although both teams scored 15 runs during the super over, England won for the first time meaning their first-ever tournament championship because they had scored more boundaries, which apparently is a tie-breaker rule.
JUNE
21, 2025
Last weekend I returned to Ohio for my 60-year high school reunion. The Richwood High School Class of 1965 was one of eleven honored classes (at five-year intervals) who were welcomed to the 106th annual Alumni Banquet.
As noted earlier, I've attended these shindigs before. Of 76 graduates from the Class of 1965, 48 of us are still living, and 18 were there on Saturday night to pose for a picture by Bobbi Craft. I'm on the upper right this time. Needless to say, it was great to talk again with old friends!
Front Row: Sandy Ridge, Pat Ransome Kyle, Lynne Glass Ledley, Dee Ann DeBolt Payne, Doris Schrote Ebbert and Roxye Carter Cieply. Middle Row: Frank Carter, Dan Rush, John Caudill, Keith Forrider, Dan Converse, Bonnie Bell and JoAnn Prichard Bright. Back Row: Richard Ridge, Ed Olson, Denny Roberts, Bob Marvin and Tom Thomas.
JUNE
18, 2025
At the age of nine, comic-book fan Mark Evanier wrote an article about the Hanna-Barbera Studio. I can't think of any publisher who would have printed it. When something's on my mind, I often like to write about it even when there's no money. This is now known as blogging. I too like to write for fun. However, minor improvements are often necessary. I need to go back over it again and again when I write something. Perhaps I notice that a phrase like when I write something would work better at the beginning of its sentence. Then my repetition of write in its paragraph could be avoided by changing one of its occurrences to create. Another example: The Washington Post recently reported on disagreements at an alt-weekly, the Reader.
When I first read the sentence, it seemed that Goodman supported transitioning the alt-weekly into something called a nonprofit contingent. Then the rest of the sentence became nonsensical. Who are the some and why will they say over? It ought to be reworded to make it clear that he supports
Editing, says Andrew Katzenstein, is largely a rehearsal of all the ways a piece of writing might be misunderstood. Writing allows me to speak in extreme slow motion (at least compared to conversation). Writing, says Robert Elisberg, is looking at a blank piece of paper, putting down your first thoughts, going over it to rephrase things, then going over it again and again, cutting out full passages, changing lines, editing single words, editing for pacing. But those blank pieces of paper have largely been replaced by computer screens. Harlan Ellison's reaction: This is not a good idea. Using PCs for doing term papers, or scientific treatises, for lists for stuff like that, it's fine, but not for creative work. Many writers say it has made them write in a more slovenly fashion. They are not nearly as alert to the fact that they're going to actually have to do the physical labor of changing something. If they do it wrong, all they have to do is press a button. That's true. When I had to use pen and ink, like this example from 1965, it was necessary to compose each sentence carefully in my mind before irrevocably committing it to paper.
Now I can use a computer to simply slap the words down as they occur to me, then go back and press a button to impose composure on them. Does word processing make me a lazy writer? I know it makes it easier, Evanier says, but I think it makes it better. It used to be that when I had what could have been a finished script, I mailed it off. Now, I fiddle with it longer. I replace some words with better words, punch up jokes, trim out redundant passages, smooth out speeches, try moving around sections, trim out redundant passages ... and then I hit Send and it's off. It can be waiting in the inbox of the editor/producer tomorrow morning. He or she can give me notes that day and I can upload revisions while the writer who writes at a typewriter is still looking for a manila envelope and some stamps.
JUNE
16, 2025
For Father's Day, I quote portions of psychologist Joshua Coleman's April 30 article for The Atlantic, What Parents of Boys Should Know. Coleman writes:
JUNE
10, 2025
When I was a kid, I learned the rhythms of television series: one episode a week for 39 weeks, then 13 weeks of reruns. (For a live show that couldn't be repeated, we got 13 weeks of a summer replacement show.) Nowadays I watch not only broadcast TV but also cable. A recent development seems wrong.
JUNE
7, 2025
Most folks speak in the manner shown on the left below, but some speak as on the right.
Pittsburgh-area natives tend to drop the to be from the first example. I don't know why, and either way works, but the second way sounds odd to me. Other folks tend to add the do in the second example, as the British do. I don't know why, and either way works, but the second way sounds odd to me.
So I looked up Sewickley-Oakmont Road and discovered it's only one mile long. It shows up as a little green squiggle above. It can't possibly connect Sewickley to Oakmont. Except once it did. Over time, sections of the route have been upgraded or renamed, and now all that remains of S-OR is this mile with fewer than 50 houses. It's part of the Green Belt.
And what's the Green Belt? Some explanation is needed. As far as major highways around here are concerned, it seems to be that all roads lead to Pittsburgh. At rush hour, these parkways often are congested parking lots. Out in the plains of the Midwest, cities like Columbus and Indianapolis are circled by ring roads like Interstate 270 and Interstate 465, but Pittsburgh's hills don't lend themselves to many limited-access expressways. Making a trip from the northwest suburbs to the northeast, say, requires navigating a confusing sequence of mile-long local roads with lots of turns and intersections. Therefore Joseph White, an engineer with the Allegheny County Department of Public Works, cobbled together a low-cost way to lead motorists around the city. He drafted some of those existing local roads to be elements of a system of belt routes, identified not by name or number but by color. The signs went up in 1951-52, and now you could drive from Sewickley to Oakmont on a portion of the Green Belt (flashing).
JUNE
1, 2025
Welcome to Pride Month. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12:
Blessed
are you when people insult you, persecute you,
EARLIER
POSTS BY MONTH:
|