In Defense of Women, by H. L. Mencken (1918).
I will admit, I've never picked or read a single piece of Mencken's works. After this reading, I'll probably have to pick up every single writing he did, and read all of them.
Mencken wrote the piece around the era when women got the right to vote, and it was a all-in-one essay to cover women, marriage, and the various cynical episodes that occur. The analysis and views from 1918? It probably works just as well in 2014.
It's roughly 130 pages....readable in one weekend, and absolutely full of wit and humor. Some women might have some negative comments to say, but he throws just as much mud on men....along with political figures, religious freaks, and do-gooders.
I'd strongly recommend it for a college class project. For guys about to enter into marriage.....it might be a mandatory read.
H. L. throws one very interesting observation out on a page....suggesting that you could simply row the dice in some pub or public setting, and enter into the game of matrimony with some gal that you'd never met or talked to in your life....and the chances of a successful marriage were the same as if you dated her for several years. To this.....I agree. Maybe people think all this relationship stuff is complicated, and requires various introductions....but you could just as well work out this stuff on day two of the marriage, at least in my humble opinion.
So, if you were looking for a great read on relationships and women....by a cynical guy from 1918....this might be an interesting book to pick.
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
The "35-10" Phrase
There are around a thousand acronyms that I memorized during a twenty-two year period of service with the Air Force. Some were worthless, but the only way that you could communicate over some vivid topic deemed of highly significant priority by the Colonel or the First Sergeant.
35-10 was one of those phrases. It was the regulation that you were introduced to in basic training.....that had to deal with uniform and appearance.
When you talked hair style or length, it was 35-10. When you talked shoes authorized to wear, it was 35-10. When you talked the wearing of a hat, it was 35-10. When you noted the proper wear of a belt, it was 35-10. And when you noted watches, bracelets, or rings (the quantity).....it was 35-10.
It was around day three of basic training when I was formerly introduced to 35-10, and they were issuing the first uniform package. The green hat was a thirty-cent hat (by my prospective) and simply didn't fit or look anything like a professional hat. The pants and blouse-shirt? Ill-fitting and as cheaply made as possible (I think the shirt was $6 and the pants around $7). Their initial t-shirt distribution was 50-cent shirts that never made it past forty washes. The wool socks? They made your feet sweat in the 95-degree heat of Texas.
The instructor quickly introduced you to 35-10, and you felt there were a lot of rules about clothing, which didn't make much sense. The black wool socks would have been thrown out the first day, if they hadn't stuck it to you.....via 35-10....that they were awful important.
Around two weeks later, they issued out the blues package. The bus-driver hat? It looked like a bus-driver hat, and you just laughed. The two sets of blues? One had to be a pure-wool set for winter (it just didn't make any sense to me), and the other some type of summer blend of polyester. They let you know real quick....there were actual dates set up for the wear of one, versus the other. If you were spotted in August wearing the winter set.....unless you lived in Iceland.....you were in deep trouble. The black sock issue for the blues? They just wouldn't stay up and kept sinking down.
Over the years, I started to notice that they modified 35-10 about every two years. Up until the late 1980s....they were mostly all minor changes. You didn't really feel affected much. In the early 1990s.....changes started to occur once to twice a year, and people started to get frustrated, hostile, and argumentative about the changes.
At some point, badges became important. For half of my career....I didn't have to think much about this because neither of my professions had a badge. When they tried to force a badge onto the one profession in the late 1980s....all heck broke loose and a massive amount of criticism came out over it......halting it in a very short period of time. Five years later....they rammed it back down onto our profession....with no arguments allowed. The badge deal? Worthless, except as some boy-scout badge thrill. It was another $8 that you had to spend for the blues, and $25 for various cloth-type for the battle-dress uniform (mostly to get it sewn on).
The arguments over wear? I started to notice almost immediately upon my arrival at the first installation....that 35-10 arguments were almost daily, and kinda got worked up like a Baptist minister meeting where the words of Moses were heavily discussed and interpreted in various different ways.
Folks argued over hair styles, moustache lengths, braided hair on women, starch on uniforms, different blends of colors on the stupid belt, the fit of a women's skirt, and even the type of bracelets that folks wore. On an average base, I'd take a guess that over 3,000 man-hours a year were wasted on these 35-10 discussions and arguments, between 2,500 personnel on the installation.
The cost of uniforms? I really didn't see an issue until we got to the 1990s and the arrival of the new battle dress uniform. Between the pants, blouse, black t-shirt, and the sewn-on elements for the blouse....it was roughly $115 (one set). Considering the old "greens" were around $35....it was a hefty price.
The switch to the black t-shirt deal? The uniform shop in the early days of the this switch carried a plain vanilla black t-shirt set (three) for roughly $18. That was reasonable, but then you started to wash these, and the color started to fade after ten wash episodes. The cotton material? Cheap. So guys began to discover that you could get a really high-grade fancy black t-shirt, for $24 each. Yeah, it's fairly hefty amount of money, but I'd take a guess that half of all members went out and spent at least a hundred bucks on a couple of these t-shirts.
The boots? In basic, they issued you the plain black boots, the chuka boots, and the plain low-quarters. All together, they probably cost maybe $75. The low-quarters could always be replaced for around $18.....at least in the 1980s.
But by the 1990s....the newer boots had arrived, and you couldn't find anything that would fit right.....for less than $65. By the time I reached my last eighteen months.....I'd actually gone out and spent $100 for a pair of great fitting boots (I still have them today but never wear them).
I'd take a guess that my whole bag for basic training uniforms probably cost in the range of $450....which to me in 1977 was substantial. Today, I doubt if you could buy everything for less than $1200.
The necessity for stringent rules like 35-10? I guess it's the fact that people will interpret rules in various ways, and start to question things just because it's stupid. The black wool socks? It was something out of the 1950s, and I think eighty percent of the Air Force questioned the 35-10 standing on this....but waited patiently almost thirty years to get the rule tossed out. All the while....they violated the socks directive, and wore white socks whenever in combat boots.
I witnessed an episode around 1983 where some colonel wanted a female lieutenant in the organization to stand and have her dress length measured from her kneecap. Two inches above the cap was max, and for the sake of the argument....I kinda noted she was pushing four inches easily and it was a fairly short skirt. It's silly to argue over events like this, and it just starts soap-opera-like events to occur.
It's odd these episodes of life that take up unnecessary pieces of your memory. There are probably a hundred rules over 35-10 that I retain and can cite on a moment's notice. Worthless bits of directives......iron-clad stuck in your mind.
35-10 was one of those phrases. It was the regulation that you were introduced to in basic training.....that had to deal with uniform and appearance.
When you talked hair style or length, it was 35-10. When you talked shoes authorized to wear, it was 35-10. When you talked the wearing of a hat, it was 35-10. When you noted the proper wear of a belt, it was 35-10. And when you noted watches, bracelets, or rings (the quantity).....it was 35-10.
It was around day three of basic training when I was formerly introduced to 35-10, and they were issuing the first uniform package. The green hat was a thirty-cent hat (by my prospective) and simply didn't fit or look anything like a professional hat. The pants and blouse-shirt? Ill-fitting and as cheaply made as possible (I think the shirt was $6 and the pants around $7). Their initial t-shirt distribution was 50-cent shirts that never made it past forty washes. The wool socks? They made your feet sweat in the 95-degree heat of Texas.
The instructor quickly introduced you to 35-10, and you felt there were a lot of rules about clothing, which didn't make much sense. The black wool socks would have been thrown out the first day, if they hadn't stuck it to you.....via 35-10....that they were awful important.
Around two weeks later, they issued out the blues package. The bus-driver hat? It looked like a bus-driver hat, and you just laughed. The two sets of blues? One had to be a pure-wool set for winter (it just didn't make any sense to me), and the other some type of summer blend of polyester. They let you know real quick....there were actual dates set up for the wear of one, versus the other. If you were spotted in August wearing the winter set.....unless you lived in Iceland.....you were in deep trouble. The black sock issue for the blues? They just wouldn't stay up and kept sinking down.
Over the years, I started to notice that they modified 35-10 about every two years. Up until the late 1980s....they were mostly all minor changes. You didn't really feel affected much. In the early 1990s.....changes started to occur once to twice a year, and people started to get frustrated, hostile, and argumentative about the changes.
At some point, badges became important. For half of my career....I didn't have to think much about this because neither of my professions had a badge. When they tried to force a badge onto the one profession in the late 1980s....all heck broke loose and a massive amount of criticism came out over it......halting it in a very short period of time. Five years later....they rammed it back down onto our profession....with no arguments allowed. The badge deal? Worthless, except as some boy-scout badge thrill. It was another $8 that you had to spend for the blues, and $25 for various cloth-type for the battle-dress uniform (mostly to get it sewn on).
The arguments over wear? I started to notice almost immediately upon my arrival at the first installation....that 35-10 arguments were almost daily, and kinda got worked up like a Baptist minister meeting where the words of Moses were heavily discussed and interpreted in various different ways.
Folks argued over hair styles, moustache lengths, braided hair on women, starch on uniforms, different blends of colors on the stupid belt, the fit of a women's skirt, and even the type of bracelets that folks wore. On an average base, I'd take a guess that over 3,000 man-hours a year were wasted on these 35-10 discussions and arguments, between 2,500 personnel on the installation.
The cost of uniforms? I really didn't see an issue until we got to the 1990s and the arrival of the new battle dress uniform. Between the pants, blouse, black t-shirt, and the sewn-on elements for the blouse....it was roughly $115 (one set). Considering the old "greens" were around $35....it was a hefty price.
The switch to the black t-shirt deal? The uniform shop in the early days of the this switch carried a plain vanilla black t-shirt set (three) for roughly $18. That was reasonable, but then you started to wash these, and the color started to fade after ten wash episodes. The cotton material? Cheap. So guys began to discover that you could get a really high-grade fancy black t-shirt, for $24 each. Yeah, it's fairly hefty amount of money, but I'd take a guess that half of all members went out and spent at least a hundred bucks on a couple of these t-shirts.
The boots? In basic, they issued you the plain black boots, the chuka boots, and the plain low-quarters. All together, they probably cost maybe $75. The low-quarters could always be replaced for around $18.....at least in the 1980s.
But by the 1990s....the newer boots had arrived, and you couldn't find anything that would fit right.....for less than $65. By the time I reached my last eighteen months.....I'd actually gone out and spent $100 for a pair of great fitting boots (I still have them today but never wear them).
I'd take a guess that my whole bag for basic training uniforms probably cost in the range of $450....which to me in 1977 was substantial. Today, I doubt if you could buy everything for less than $1200.
The necessity for stringent rules like 35-10? I guess it's the fact that people will interpret rules in various ways, and start to question things just because it's stupid. The black wool socks? It was something out of the 1950s, and I think eighty percent of the Air Force questioned the 35-10 standing on this....but waited patiently almost thirty years to get the rule tossed out. All the while....they violated the socks directive, and wore white socks whenever in combat boots.
I witnessed an episode around 1983 where some colonel wanted a female lieutenant in the organization to stand and have her dress length measured from her kneecap. Two inches above the cap was max, and for the sake of the argument....I kinda noted she was pushing four inches easily and it was a fairly short skirt. It's silly to argue over events like this, and it just starts soap-opera-like events to occur.
It's odd these episodes of life that take up unnecessary pieces of your memory. There are probably a hundred rules over 35-10 that I retain and can cite on a moment's notice. Worthless bits of directives......iron-clad stuck in your mind.
Sunday, 14 September 2014
Our "Lost" Civilization
“It would be very important for the Democrats to retain control of the Senate, civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy if the Republicans win the Senate.”
-- Representative Nancy Pelosi (D, Cal)
Civilization in jeopardy?
Americans live in a remarkable period. In any given election year (occurs every two years)....we are on the cutting edge of total collapse of our civilization. Well....it sounds good when you say that way.
The guys who built the Nazca Lines in Peru? They ended up being a lost civilization. You'd like to believe some Nazca Republicans got into the mix....screwing up things for the liberal side of the Nazca folks.....but basically weather, stupid leadership from the head guy, and some bad crop years led to their downfall.
The Mayan civilization? They kinda drifted away after the year 900. Republicans at fault in Central America? No....between bad weather and some violent tendencies.....crop yields went down, and folks just got discouraged and moved off. Maybe if the EPA had been around and regulated everything, and if they had a decent Attorney General.....things would have gone differently.
The Easter Island civilization? They kinda went into a tree-cutting frenzy and by 1200....had cut just about every tree on the island down. Republicans at fault? Well....if things had been regulated and trees replenished....things would have gone differently, and there'd still be stone statues put up today....maybe into the tens of thousands. Heck, they might even be selling them as quickly as they carved them up, but then some Democratic guys would stand up and claim they were sacred in some way and prevent their export.
The Cahokia civilization? Well....they were a mighty tribe along the Mississippi river and were kings of the territory until the 1200s. Republicans tearing them apart? No.....mostly just a disease or two that entered the area, and with a drought.....made things kinda miserable.
The lost colony civilization at Roanoke Island, Virginia? Republicans at fault? Well....no.....the guys who left and promised to return....took a bit longer than expected, and I would imagine that folks got worried, and left.
Generally, it's hard to find any reasonable excuse to say that some society or culture failed to survive a Republican or Democrat-led disaster.
People that hear this type of chatter....usually just start laughing, or gulp down another sip of booze....thinking it's brand-x type political talk, and doesn't amount to much.
The sad thing here is that political folks are thrown in front of a microphone and expected to give some nifty forty-word statement to the press, and it gets thrown on the front-page of some newspaper. You'd like to think that the political player would stand there and think about what to say, and then comment on something in a remarkable way....but it never happens like that. So we get some lousy one-star marginal statement....that you just shake your head over, and flip the channel to some 1936 movie with Greta Garbo....trying to forget about American politics.
Oh, and in January, after the election, after the arrival of the Republicans in the Senate, and after we've lost our civilization....you might want to ask about the civilization business. Maybe it just keeps on ticking.
-- Representative Nancy Pelosi (D, Cal)
Civilization in jeopardy?
Americans live in a remarkable period. In any given election year (occurs every two years)....we are on the cutting edge of total collapse of our civilization. Well....it sounds good when you say that way.
The guys who built the Nazca Lines in Peru? They ended up being a lost civilization. You'd like to believe some Nazca Republicans got into the mix....screwing up things for the liberal side of the Nazca folks.....but basically weather, stupid leadership from the head guy, and some bad crop years led to their downfall.
The Mayan civilization? They kinda drifted away after the year 900. Republicans at fault in Central America? No....between bad weather and some violent tendencies.....crop yields went down, and folks just got discouraged and moved off. Maybe if the EPA had been around and regulated everything, and if they had a decent Attorney General.....things would have gone differently.
The Easter Island civilization? They kinda went into a tree-cutting frenzy and by 1200....had cut just about every tree on the island down. Republicans at fault? Well....if things had been regulated and trees replenished....things would have gone differently, and there'd still be stone statues put up today....maybe into the tens of thousands. Heck, they might even be selling them as quickly as they carved them up, but then some Democratic guys would stand up and claim they were sacred in some way and prevent their export.
The Cahokia civilization? Well....they were a mighty tribe along the Mississippi river and were kings of the territory until the 1200s. Republicans tearing them apart? No.....mostly just a disease or two that entered the area, and with a drought.....made things kinda miserable.
The lost colony civilization at Roanoke Island, Virginia? Republicans at fault? Well....no.....the guys who left and promised to return....took a bit longer than expected, and I would imagine that folks got worried, and left.
Generally, it's hard to find any reasonable excuse to say that some society or culture failed to survive a Republican or Democrat-led disaster.
People that hear this type of chatter....usually just start laughing, or gulp down another sip of booze....thinking it's brand-x type political talk, and doesn't amount to much.
The sad thing here is that political folks are thrown in front of a microphone and expected to give some nifty forty-word statement to the press, and it gets thrown on the front-page of some newspaper. You'd like to think that the political player would stand there and think about what to say, and then comment on something in a remarkable way....but it never happens like that. So we get some lousy one-star marginal statement....that you just shake your head over, and flip the channel to some 1936 movie with Greta Garbo....trying to forget about American politics.
Oh, and in January, after the election, after the arrival of the Republicans in the Senate, and after we've lost our civilization....you might want to ask about the civilization business. Maybe it just keeps on ticking.
Friday, 12 September 2014
Booboisie
Booboisie is a word that has virtually disappeared from the commonly-used American vocabulary. It was invented about eighty-odd years ago by H. L. Mencken, who coined the phrase of "booboisie" as an ignorant guy from the heartland of America....who thinks he's smart enough to participate in Democracy (mostly by voting).....attempting to have bourgeoisie values (having status, money, class, or intellectual abilities beyond the lower class.
Mencken kinda had a view of most Americans being unable to comprehend the abusive nature of political figures, and their ability to promise you anything.....to get your vote.
Most people in America today....would be classified as potential members of the booboisie-class. I think Mencken would find himself a seat in an airport, a city park, a studio audience, or a city-hall meeting.....to observe people trying to manipulate democracy to work for their agenda or goals. Some might be for the better of mankind, and some might be only introduced to get your kid to add seven and seven.....to eventually get to the potential of equaling fifteen (by a mythical magical formula).
H. L. Mencken once said that "Democracy is the theory that people think they know what they want, and they want it good and hard." I suspect he'd seen a great deal of democracy at work, and knew it's general results were a mixed bag.
A cynical guy? Yeah. Mencken had seen enough of personal relationships that he more or less branded marriage as a dead-end. Oddly enough, he ended up meeting some Alabama gal, who had a degree in literature, and could write a wicked piece on occasion.....throwing common sense to the wind and marrying this Bama lass.
What made Mencken what he was? I went back a while ago looking at his youth, and how he'd somehow stumbled upon Huck Finn (by Mark Twain) and fell completely for the book. After you spend a period reading over Huck Finn.....you tend to admire simple language and the uncomplicated simplicity of life's little adventures.
So, as you might be sitting there tonight....watching ABC Nightly News, Fox's O'Reilly or CNN....with some joker trying hard to get you mentally set to some understanding of a topic or problem facing America.....deserving your time to get frustrated, angry, or hostile....thus voting a certain way, you might want to remember the word booboisie. You might be smart enough to get their message, but it doesn't mean you really understood or grasped the big picture of what's going on, or how you got manipulated into a bogus view.
Mencken kinda had a view of most Americans being unable to comprehend the abusive nature of political figures, and their ability to promise you anything.....to get your vote.
Most people in America today....would be classified as potential members of the booboisie-class. I think Mencken would find himself a seat in an airport, a city park, a studio audience, or a city-hall meeting.....to observe people trying to manipulate democracy to work for their agenda or goals. Some might be for the better of mankind, and some might be only introduced to get your kid to add seven and seven.....to eventually get to the potential of equaling fifteen (by a mythical magical formula).
H. L. Mencken once said that "Democracy is the theory that people think they know what they want, and they want it good and hard." I suspect he'd seen a great deal of democracy at work, and knew it's general results were a mixed bag.
A cynical guy? Yeah. Mencken had seen enough of personal relationships that he more or less branded marriage as a dead-end. Oddly enough, he ended up meeting some Alabama gal, who had a degree in literature, and could write a wicked piece on occasion.....throwing common sense to the wind and marrying this Bama lass.
What made Mencken what he was? I went back a while ago looking at his youth, and how he'd somehow stumbled upon Huck Finn (by Mark Twain) and fell completely for the book. After you spend a period reading over Huck Finn.....you tend to admire simple language and the uncomplicated simplicity of life's little adventures.
So, as you might be sitting there tonight....watching ABC Nightly News, Fox's O'Reilly or CNN....with some joker trying hard to get you mentally set to some understanding of a topic or problem facing America.....deserving your time to get frustrated, angry, or hostile....thus voting a certain way, you might want to remember the word booboisie. You might be smart enough to get their message, but it doesn't mean you really understood or grasped the big picture of what's going on, or how you got manipulated into a bogus view.
Thursday, 11 September 2014
Luther and Gutenberg
I often point out little bits of American history which aren't discussed much. Pennsylvania, in the beginning, was a melting pot of various radical religious groups which packed up and left England, Germany and the Netherlands, in search of a free place to operate and pray along their own lines.
Some of the original groups? Schwenkfelders, Tunkers, Labadists, New Born, New Mooners, Separatists, Zion's Brueder, Ronsdorfer, Inspired, Quietists, Gichtelians, Deprellians, Mountain Men, River Brethren, Brinser Brethren, and the Society of the Women in the Wilderness.
Why this wide spread division of Christianity that divides over and over?
This generally goes back to Europe's period of history from 1525 to the mid-1700s. With Martin Luther's standing against the Catholic Church (the dominating force of life and society up until 1525), and Gutenberg's printing press....this vast door opened for the Bible (not Christianity itself).
Once the Bible has relieved from the Catholic Church, and translated from Latin to various languages.....Gutenberg's printing press accomplished a mythical transformation.....bringing these new interpretations to every single village. With literacy hanging around 3-percent prior to 1525.....you can watch the next two-hundred years as an impact period.....villages and towns set up schools and put mass education as a priority.
The driving force for mass education? Gutenberg's publications.
People began reading the Bible in various translations and came to different meanings and interpretations. Prophets appeared out of thin air, and religious movements started to become common. All of this kinda scared the Catholic Church, which mounted various conflicts (The Thirty Years War was the last of the episode on the Continent).
The settling of America in the 1600s? It all goes back to Martin Luther and Gutenberg. The necessity of religious freedom being written into the Constitution? Back to Luther and Gutenberg. The wide arena of various religious groups in existence today in America? Back to Luther and Gutenberg.
Some of the original groups? Schwenkfelders, Tunkers, Labadists, New Born, New Mooners, Separatists, Zion's Brueder, Ronsdorfer, Inspired, Quietists, Gichtelians, Deprellians, Mountain Men, River Brethren, Brinser Brethren, and the Society of the Women in the Wilderness.
Why this wide spread division of Christianity that divides over and over?
This generally goes back to Europe's period of history from 1525 to the mid-1700s. With Martin Luther's standing against the Catholic Church (the dominating force of life and society up until 1525), and Gutenberg's printing press....this vast door opened for the Bible (not Christianity itself).
Once the Bible has relieved from the Catholic Church, and translated from Latin to various languages.....Gutenberg's printing press accomplished a mythical transformation.....bringing these new interpretations to every single village. With literacy hanging around 3-percent prior to 1525.....you can watch the next two-hundred years as an impact period.....villages and towns set up schools and put mass education as a priority.
The driving force for mass education? Gutenberg's publications.
People began reading the Bible in various translations and came to different meanings and interpretations. Prophets appeared out of thin air, and religious movements started to become common. All of this kinda scared the Catholic Church, which mounted various conflicts (The Thirty Years War was the last of the episode on the Continent).
The settling of America in the 1600s? It all goes back to Martin Luther and Gutenberg. The necessity of religious freedom being written into the Constitution? Back to Luther and Gutenberg. The wide arena of various religious groups in existence today in America? Back to Luther and Gutenberg.
Monday, 1 September 2014
An Icelandic Story
Sometimes, I'll write out a blog over a small piece of history......to make you sit and think.
For about a decade.....until 2008....Iceland was considered this marvelous miracle of sorts when it came to the economy. They were booming. Sixty Minutes went and did an episode to show the success of the banking system, and how many start-up companies were succeeding. Reykjavik, the capital, home to 118,000 residents.....had become a great place to live.
In 2008.....the US economic stumble occurred with the housing market and these "investment-bundles" that various international banks had purchased....soured.
Reykjavik had three significant banks (Kaupthing, Glitnir, and Landsbanki). All three had bought heavily into the US housing market, then marketed themselves across Europe as investment opporutnities. For at least a decade.....they had Germans, French, English, Dutch, etc.....buying into the "guaranteed profits" scheme. What they could say for this entire decade....is that this bundled package deal got you more percentage points than an average savings account. It made sense.....plus no one could really explain the risk in any detail (that kinda helped).
In October of 2008.....the fall occurred, and no one in the federal government of Iceland could imagine any method to saving the three banks. Total cash impact.....three times the GDP of Iceland.
By the spring of 2009.....most Icelanders had come to realize the massive problem left to them. You couldn't get a loan for anything. Most business operations were suffering because they had to import, and the whole method of trusting the banking system to deliver or pay-off was screwed up.
You could say that the entire year of 2009 left a sour taste in the mouths of most Icelandic people.....and those around the capital of Reykjavik were amazed at the mighty fall of the local economy. Even the McDonalds in town folded up and left. It reached a point where people started to be more sarcastic and more cynical than what you'd normally expect.
On the whole.....Icelandic people have a pretty "Mayberry-like" sense of humor. They can tell a long-winded comic story in a serious fashion, and you the listener or viewer.....avoid grinning but you are fairly amused at the outcome.
So by the end of 2009.....there's this Icelandic comedian....Jon Knarr. Jon is fairly well known around Iceland. With a island population of 320,000....it's safe to say that the vast number of comedians number less than fifty, and if you make to state-run TV....virtually everyone knows your act and your gimmicks.
Jon makes this decision for the Reykjavik city mayor's election in the spring of 2010. Six months out.....Jon puts together what is referred to as a political party (to be called "The Best Party"). Yeah, I know.....it's a hokey name but Jon didn't really want a five or six-letter party tag, and best always means something positive.
Then, Jon went out and displayed himself as a mayor candidate. He promised various thing: free towels at the city pool, a new polar bear for the city zoo, and a sustainable transparency (yeah, folks are still pondering that meaning).
It's safe to say as Jon traveled across the city...shook hands....did presentations....and was interviewed by the state-run radio stations.....he made an impression.
Reykjavik folks, after viewing the October 2008 economic fall, and the dismal period 2009.....were pretty tired and dismal on all political parties. Whatever they were talking about.....just wouldn't work anymore.
Jon was the bogus candidate that they needed. They wanted to send a message across to all political parties in the city of Reykjavik.....frustration with regular BS....wasn't going to work anymore. They wanted a comedian....spouting bogus talk....to represent them.
So the Best Party went into the May 2010 election, and got around thirty-five percent of the vote. This translated into six seats on the fifteen member city council, and Jon was elected mayor.
To be humble about this....I personally don't think Jon expected these kind of results and I suspect he was a bit shocked.
Jon has done the four-year 'tour' as mayor and quietly said that was enough for him. The Best Party? They've done OK.
My favorite political promise made by this group? They sat there and promised free city-bus rides for students and disabled folks. Then, in the same paragraph....they admitted that they will offer more promises than any other party.....because they don't intend to follow through with it. They readily admitted that in the same comment. They even made the comparison of free airline flights for women or free cars for folks way out in the boonies of Iceland.
The truth is.....a majority of people in Reykjavik have grown tired of political promises and bickering. Their frustration is obvious.
So, we gaze around the US, and find the same crowd existing in a frustrated state of mind.
All fifty states will tell you that they have enough laws in place to prevent nutcases or comedians from getting on the Presidential ballot. Just having a thousand folks in a state to support some comedian won't amount to any placement on the ballot.
But we've done a curious thing. State by state.....we've been busy changing the method by which electoral college votes are rendered. We are enabling this method of "winner-take-all" votes in various states. The original gimmick was to ensure that large urban area political candidate could take massive votes in cities like Chicago, New York, Miami and LA.....and launch a guy to get more popular votes than electoral votes.....then he'd win the race.
Well....you can sit now and imagine a race where a comedian puts himself up as a frustration-voter alternate candidate. If the state had rules to prevent him from the ballot....fine, he'd just run as a write-in. So, you could imagine a third-party guy suddenly taking the fifty states.....getting just enough popular votes and a limited number of electoral college votes.....suddenly getting the "winner-take-all" vote states.
A Jon Knarr-character could suddenly be President of the United States, and shock both the Republicans and Democrats. And he might be radical and popular enough to even win a second election.
If you had stood up a decade ago in Reykjavik and said that the city would fall apart in the economic sense, and some comedian and his political party would take over city politics.....no one would have believed you. I think we are at the same stage in America.
We just need an American-style Best Party...promising free ice cream for minority students, water-slides in every under-developed community of America, ridding us of the designated-hitter rule in the American League, promising a tax credit for lawn mower purchases, and forcing up a law requiring all Senators to spend ninety days a year in their home state. That's enough to get forty percent of the national vote, and force both Republicans and Democrats to some form of reality.
For about a decade.....until 2008....Iceland was considered this marvelous miracle of sorts when it came to the economy. They were booming. Sixty Minutes went and did an episode to show the success of the banking system, and how many start-up companies were succeeding. Reykjavik, the capital, home to 118,000 residents.....had become a great place to live.
In 2008.....the US economic stumble occurred with the housing market and these "investment-bundles" that various international banks had purchased....soured.
Reykjavik had three significant banks (Kaupthing, Glitnir, and Landsbanki). All three had bought heavily into the US housing market, then marketed themselves across Europe as investment opporutnities. For at least a decade.....they had Germans, French, English, Dutch, etc.....buying into the "guaranteed profits" scheme. What they could say for this entire decade....is that this bundled package deal got you more percentage points than an average savings account. It made sense.....plus no one could really explain the risk in any detail (that kinda helped).
In October of 2008.....the fall occurred, and no one in the federal government of Iceland could imagine any method to saving the three banks. Total cash impact.....three times the GDP of Iceland.
By the spring of 2009.....most Icelanders had come to realize the massive problem left to them. You couldn't get a loan for anything. Most business operations were suffering because they had to import, and the whole method of trusting the banking system to deliver or pay-off was screwed up.
You could say that the entire year of 2009 left a sour taste in the mouths of most Icelandic people.....and those around the capital of Reykjavik were amazed at the mighty fall of the local economy. Even the McDonalds in town folded up and left. It reached a point where people started to be more sarcastic and more cynical than what you'd normally expect.
On the whole.....Icelandic people have a pretty "Mayberry-like" sense of humor. They can tell a long-winded comic story in a serious fashion, and you the listener or viewer.....avoid grinning but you are fairly amused at the outcome.
So by the end of 2009.....there's this Icelandic comedian....Jon Knarr. Jon is fairly well known around Iceland. With a island population of 320,000....it's safe to say that the vast number of comedians number less than fifty, and if you make to state-run TV....virtually everyone knows your act and your gimmicks.
Jon makes this decision for the Reykjavik city mayor's election in the spring of 2010. Six months out.....Jon puts together what is referred to as a political party (to be called "The Best Party"). Yeah, I know.....it's a hokey name but Jon didn't really want a five or six-letter party tag, and best always means something positive.
Then, Jon went out and displayed himself as a mayor candidate. He promised various thing: free towels at the city pool, a new polar bear for the city zoo, and a sustainable transparency (yeah, folks are still pondering that meaning).
It's safe to say as Jon traveled across the city...shook hands....did presentations....and was interviewed by the state-run radio stations.....he made an impression.
Reykjavik folks, after viewing the October 2008 economic fall, and the dismal period 2009.....were pretty tired and dismal on all political parties. Whatever they were talking about.....just wouldn't work anymore.
Jon was the bogus candidate that they needed. They wanted to send a message across to all political parties in the city of Reykjavik.....frustration with regular BS....wasn't going to work anymore. They wanted a comedian....spouting bogus talk....to represent them.
So the Best Party went into the May 2010 election, and got around thirty-five percent of the vote. This translated into six seats on the fifteen member city council, and Jon was elected mayor.
To be humble about this....I personally don't think Jon expected these kind of results and I suspect he was a bit shocked.
Jon has done the four-year 'tour' as mayor and quietly said that was enough for him. The Best Party? They've done OK.
My favorite political promise made by this group? They sat there and promised free city-bus rides for students and disabled folks. Then, in the same paragraph....they admitted that they will offer more promises than any other party.....because they don't intend to follow through with it. They readily admitted that in the same comment. They even made the comparison of free airline flights for women or free cars for folks way out in the boonies of Iceland.
The truth is.....a majority of people in Reykjavik have grown tired of political promises and bickering. Their frustration is obvious.
So, we gaze around the US, and find the same crowd existing in a frustrated state of mind.
All fifty states will tell you that they have enough laws in place to prevent nutcases or comedians from getting on the Presidential ballot. Just having a thousand folks in a state to support some comedian won't amount to any placement on the ballot.
But we've done a curious thing. State by state.....we've been busy changing the method by which electoral college votes are rendered. We are enabling this method of "winner-take-all" votes in various states. The original gimmick was to ensure that large urban area political candidate could take massive votes in cities like Chicago, New York, Miami and LA.....and launch a guy to get more popular votes than electoral votes.....then he'd win the race.
Well....you can sit now and imagine a race where a comedian puts himself up as a frustration-voter alternate candidate. If the state had rules to prevent him from the ballot....fine, he'd just run as a write-in. So, you could imagine a third-party guy suddenly taking the fifty states.....getting just enough popular votes and a limited number of electoral college votes.....suddenly getting the "winner-take-all" vote states.
A Jon Knarr-character could suddenly be President of the United States, and shock both the Republicans and Democrats. And he might be radical and popular enough to even win a second election.
If you had stood up a decade ago in Reykjavik and said that the city would fall apart in the economic sense, and some comedian and his political party would take over city politics.....no one would have believed you. I think we are at the same stage in America.
We just need an American-style Best Party...promising free ice cream for minority students, water-slides in every under-developed community of America, ridding us of the designated-hitter rule in the American League, promising a tax credit for lawn mower purchases, and forcing up a law requiring all Senators to spend ninety days a year in their home state. That's enough to get forty percent of the national vote, and force both Republicans and Democrats to some form of reality.
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Airline Food
Just getting through the TSA security mess....usually gets me peppy and negative. The idiot questions asked by the scanning my passport usually bother me. The pricing of any food or drink at the airport bother me. The uncomfortable seating arrangements and knee room bother me. The delays which occur in good weather or bad weather. I even get negative about the walking distance between leaving plane A at gate 6 in terminal one.....and trying to cross over to gate 12 in terminal two....in twenty-two minutes and just barely making it before they close the door (an often-repeating Atlanta and Philly issue).
Then I come to the food onboard planes today. Since August of 1977 (when the Air Force sent me on my first trip to basic training) to today....I can truthfully say that I've only had two decent meals or dinners in that entire time frame. The other two-hundred dinners were all crap.
The Air Force put me on a cargo plane one day, and rather than the traditional cheap meats or ham sandwich box.....they put in four big pieces of deep-fried chicken, from the local chow-hall operation. It was some of the best chicken I've had in my life, and sipping a Coke as refreshment.....I still regard that dinner as one of the better ones.
The other one was a two-hour flight from Luxembourg City to Paris.....where Lux Air pulled out a box with five-star deli sandwich, a couple of great cookies, and some fantastic pudding. An extra fatty situation? Oh yeah. But it was actually worth eating.
The problem with the whole airline food situation is that it has to be done for roughly $3, fit onto a tray, be heatable, and meet some basic nutritional guidelines. Once you add all of these up.....it's impossible to come to a decent conclusion.
I get around this problem today....mostly by eating a dinner or lunch prior to getting onboard. I've given up. Yeah, I admit it......you can't get on the plane and have any expectations of a decent plate of airline food. I've even gotten to bringing my own cookies with me.
Would it make any difference if suddenly some airline offered a mini Pizza Hut pizza with their travel deal? I'm not sure. Would it drive me to fly a certain airline, if I knew they all offered Domino's pizza slices? Maybe. I'd probably sit there and debate the cost of the ticket, and just how much it'd mean in value.
Are we improving any with these airline dinners? No. I can truthfully say after thirty-odd years of travel.....there's absolutely zero improvement. That's the strange thing. We have perhaps....peaked, and cannot get any better. That....in some ways....ought to worry you.
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