F. Scott Fitzgerald sat down and wrote the Great Gatsby in the early 1920s....getting it published in 1925.
High school literature teachers like assigning the book to students but generally....students wake up about fifty pages into the novel, then start whining about the woes of the chief characters and that everyone seems to be 'lost' (unable to fix any problem within their life).
The book kinda lingered around in the 1920s and 1930s, and 'suddenly' caught on fire as GI's read it in off-duty time for 'entertainment'. So then it took off on a roller-coaster ride as everyone felt it was some great piece of literature.
In some ways, I see modern lifestyles in America to be something of the 'script' that Fitzgerald wrote. A bunch of lost young people....on some great adventure without any compass or map....begging people to recognize them via their social media commentary, and falling into some dramatic emotional pit when someone criticizes them (seeking a safe-place).
Fitzgerald in the WW I period, ended up as a young Lieutenant in the Army, and stationed in Alabama. He ends up marrying some Alabama local gal who was the daughter of a Supreme Court judge, and takes her off to New York after the war. It's safe to say that Zelda (the wife) was a bit of a nutcase, and in today's world.....she'd be on medication, featured on some reality TV show and would be freaking people out weekly over her behavior.
Fitzgerald and Zelda had a nine-year period of 'stability' and by 1930....there was no doubt about Zelda and her schizophrenia issues. To some degree, dealing with Zelda was a problem unto itself, and throughout this period.....Fitzgerald was drinking heavily.
It was this love-hate relationship I think. Zelda was one of those people who attended parties....got gossip...and wrote these into a diary. Some folks argue that a lot of the rich material that Fitzgerald put into his books....really came out of Zelda's flamboyant lifestyle. After she got shipped off to a mental facility? This becomes interesting.
Zelda went into some recovery phase, and decided in 1931.....to write her own book. Fitzgerald got an advance copy. It was basically a novel which carried a lot of the history between them and painted Fitzgerald in a negative light. The publisher actually went and made up roughly 3,000 copies and they went out, but barely half of them actually sold.
From the mid-1930s on (till her death in 1948), she stayed mostly in mental facilities.
Fitzgerald? Well....he went out west to California and was a script writer for movie studios. Most will say that his alcoholism simply got worse, and he died in 1940. His best stuff? There is this argument that there was the with-Zelda writing, and the after-Zelda writing....that he wrote best when around Zelda.
Wednesday, 9 January 2019
Trump-Pelosi-Schumer
Few folks realize it, but Lincoln's Gettysburg address was roughly 200 words, spoken over a 2-minute period. That was it. One of the most impressive moments in speech-history....over in two minutes.
So I watched the Trump eight minute piece, and then the four minute piece with Pelosi and Schumer. As you match to some grading system against Lincoln's speech.....neither speech would rate more than a five on the Lincoln scale of one to ten.
Pelosi and Schumer? What exactly were they going to deliver in terms of dynamics and countering the President's problem with migration and issues attached? If they did have some big negative about his program.....they gave a marginalized speech, and it was worthless to have the two on the camera for the four-minute piece. As sales-pitch-folks, they are lousy.
Should they have used Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Yes. I wouldn't have allowed her to write the speech, but she would have been ten times better than Pelosi or Schumer at giving the speech.
If this were some sports team competition....I'd suggest that the Democrats go and rebuild their theme/message, and work on convincing working-class people of their intentions. In Trump's case, I'd go and suggest that hinging all of this repair of the immigration business just on the Wall....fails to address a dozen other immigration issues, and we need more practical answers.
As for the CNN crowd wasting hours and hours of 'chatter' after the two speeches? Well....that was a total waste of time. I think most people turned them off after about twenty minutes of worthless chatter.
So I watched the Trump eight minute piece, and then the four minute piece with Pelosi and Schumer. As you match to some grading system against Lincoln's speech.....neither speech would rate more than a five on the Lincoln scale of one to ten.
Pelosi and Schumer? What exactly were they going to deliver in terms of dynamics and countering the President's problem with migration and issues attached? If they did have some big negative about his program.....they gave a marginalized speech, and it was worthless to have the two on the camera for the four-minute piece. As sales-pitch-folks, they are lousy.
Should they have used Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Yes. I wouldn't have allowed her to write the speech, but she would have been ten times better than Pelosi or Schumer at giving the speech.
If this were some sports team competition....I'd suggest that the Democrats go and rebuild their theme/message, and work on convincing working-class people of their intentions. In Trump's case, I'd go and suggest that hinging all of this repair of the immigration business just on the Wall....fails to address a dozen other immigration issues, and we need more practical answers.
As for the CNN crowd wasting hours and hours of 'chatter' after the two speeches? Well....that was a total waste of time. I think most people turned them off after about twenty minutes of worthless chatter.
Garbage Story
This morning, I read through a piece where a couple of California Democrats....all hyped-up and negative about the National Park shutdown.....are collecting up garbage from the parks, and bringing it to dump at the White House.
So I paused over the idea.
First, how do you transport it from California to DC? Are you putting this in two suitcases and just sending 'Jimmy' and 'Wanda' to DC with the garbage as they travel via the airlines? Are you sending it via Fedex or UPS? Are you mailing it to DC?
Second, is it real California garbage.....or fake garbage that you picked up in Fairfax, Virginia? Can you prove it's real California garbage?
Third, even if you were upset with the shutdown business and garbage piling up around the National Parks....what exactly will this accomplish? Does anyone really care? To be honest, out of a thousand people living around Nashville.....probably less than fifty might be hyped-up over the publicity gimmick. The rest would ask what the address is for the California Democrats involved, and just start mailing their garbage out to California.
So I paused over the idea.
First, how do you transport it from California to DC? Are you putting this in two suitcases and just sending 'Jimmy' and 'Wanda' to DC with the garbage as they travel via the airlines? Are you sending it via Fedex or UPS? Are you mailing it to DC?
Second, is it real California garbage.....or fake garbage that you picked up in Fairfax, Virginia? Can you prove it's real California garbage?
Third, even if you were upset with the shutdown business and garbage piling up around the National Parks....what exactly will this accomplish? Does anyone really care? To be honest, out of a thousand people living around Nashville.....probably less than fifty might be hyped-up over the publicity gimmick. The rest would ask what the address is for the California Democrats involved, and just start mailing their garbage out to California.
Tuesday, 8 January 2019
Warren Story
This came up today about Elizabeth Warren.
As a kid (one might assume around age 17)....1966....she came up and won some type of Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow scholarship.
I read through the piece....this was done at the local high school....not at the national level.
Basically, you took a 50-min test....loaded with 150 questions. Do the math, that means every 20 seconds or so....she had to come to a conclusion.
The subjects of the test? Family relationships, religious stuff and moral values, kid development, health, safety, money management, leisure time, home care and beautification, your local community and further education.
How she won the contest? My humble guess is that there were only five or six girls in the group who attempted this, and maybe out of the 150 questions.....she got sixty of these correct. The mere suggestion that she even got a hundred questions answered in the 50 minutes? No, I just can't believe that's possible.
Would that Betty Crocker business hype you to vote for her? That's the oddball thing.....southerners like that kind of stuff, but you notice.....this was not for a cooking or baking project, it was just for a test of knowledge.
As a kid (one might assume around age 17)....1966....she came up and won some type of Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow scholarship.
I read through the piece....this was done at the local high school....not at the national level.
Basically, you took a 50-min test....loaded with 150 questions. Do the math, that means every 20 seconds or so....she had to come to a conclusion.
The subjects of the test? Family relationships, religious stuff and moral values, kid development, health, safety, money management, leisure time, home care and beautification, your local community and further education.
How she won the contest? My humble guess is that there were only five or six girls in the group who attempted this, and maybe out of the 150 questions.....she got sixty of these correct. The mere suggestion that she even got a hundred questions answered in the 50 minutes? No, I just can't believe that's possible.
Would that Betty Crocker business hype you to vote for her? That's the oddball thing.....southerners like that kind of stuff, but you notice.....this was not for a cooking or baking project, it was just for a test of knowledge.
Delusional People
The first time in my life that I had some introduction to delusional people....I was around 13 years old. My dad had a vehicle with serious transmission issues, and had decided that he'd take it to his mechanic (local guy, someone that done several mechanical projects for my dad). So we left the vehicle for four days, and returned on a Saturday...hoping to pick it up. You have to remember, this is rural Alabama, in the early 1970s.
In four days time, the guy had done absolutely nothing with the car. So this big 'chat' occurs, and I'm standing there eyeballing this guy with my dad. The guy is mid-30s and I'd met him on at least two other occasions.
He couldn't get to the car issue because of all the UFO's flying over his house. Yes, a 8-minute conversation is carried on.....mostly with my dad responding 'uh huh'. It wasn't a positive 'uh huh' or a negative 'uh huh'. It was just to acknowledge that the guy could carry onto the next part of the story.
For me, I was quiet entertained and astonished at the level of UFO traffic over his remote farm (it was about four miles from our farm), and kept wondering why I didn't didn't see these UFOs if they were in such abundance.
At some point, my dad responded that we'd take the truck, and maybe return in a couple of weeks. Then he told me to take the car and he'd return in the transmission-issue truck. I responded that I was only 13 and I'd have to travel on the county road, and the cops might stop me. He assured me....this just wasn't a problem.
I settled back into the LTD. If you've never sat in a LTD.....it's made for four folks to sit side-by-side in the front seat, and a seven-foot tall guy could easily lay out in the seat. It was my first real 'on-the-road' experience. Luckily, this was mostly a chirt or dirt road, and I didn't cruise more than 40 mph. If you've never done a dirt road at 40 mph in a LTD...let me assure you....there's a fair-sized dust trail that is achieved.
Upon my dad's arrival back at the house, and after his phone call to find another mechanic, I engaged in the UFO conversation. He used the word 'delusional' but with his southern drawl.....it came out something like 'de-lucy-nel' (sounding almost French). I took the 15-pound dictionary that we had in the house later, and spent at least 15 minutes paging through out it to arrive at a meaning. The word 'paranoid' really didn't make any sense to me (that's what they wanted you to grasp). But then it came to imaginary and I began to understand the whole thing.
Throughout my Air Force years, I came across three or four people....who were figured out to be delusional. Some got onto drugs of some type, and that helped them to think various things. Some just fell apart at some point, maybe through some breakdown, and went to this delusional sequence.
Over the weekend, I was watching some German cop movie, and in the midst of this.....they had the script arranged so that two delusional people met and both were engaging in each others fantasy world. Yeah, it was a great script, I have to admit. But I sat and thought over the story as a kid....over the UFO mechanic.
In some way, I would have stood there for a good hour listening to the guy and been impressed by his description. Luckily, my dad saw through this fairly quickly.
In four days time, the guy had done absolutely nothing with the car. So this big 'chat' occurs, and I'm standing there eyeballing this guy with my dad. The guy is mid-30s and I'd met him on at least two other occasions.
He couldn't get to the car issue because of all the UFO's flying over his house. Yes, a 8-minute conversation is carried on.....mostly with my dad responding 'uh huh'. It wasn't a positive 'uh huh' or a negative 'uh huh'. It was just to acknowledge that the guy could carry onto the next part of the story.
For me, I was quiet entertained and astonished at the level of UFO traffic over his remote farm (it was about four miles from our farm), and kept wondering why I didn't didn't see these UFOs if they were in such abundance.
At some point, my dad responded that we'd take the truck, and maybe return in a couple of weeks. Then he told me to take the car and he'd return in the transmission-issue truck. I responded that I was only 13 and I'd have to travel on the county road, and the cops might stop me. He assured me....this just wasn't a problem.
I settled back into the LTD. If you've never sat in a LTD.....it's made for four folks to sit side-by-side in the front seat, and a seven-foot tall guy could easily lay out in the seat. It was my first real 'on-the-road' experience. Luckily, this was mostly a chirt or dirt road, and I didn't cruise more than 40 mph. If you've never done a dirt road at 40 mph in a LTD...let me assure you....there's a fair-sized dust trail that is achieved.
Upon my dad's arrival back at the house, and after his phone call to find another mechanic, I engaged in the UFO conversation. He used the word 'delusional' but with his southern drawl.....it came out something like 'de-lucy-nel' (sounding almost French). I took the 15-pound dictionary that we had in the house later, and spent at least 15 minutes paging through out it to arrive at a meaning. The word 'paranoid' really didn't make any sense to me (that's what they wanted you to grasp). But then it came to imaginary and I began to understand the whole thing.
Throughout my Air Force years, I came across three or four people....who were figured out to be delusional. Some got onto drugs of some type, and that helped them to think various things. Some just fell apart at some point, maybe through some breakdown, and went to this delusional sequence.
Over the weekend, I was watching some German cop movie, and in the midst of this.....they had the script arranged so that two delusional people met and both were engaging in each others fantasy world. Yeah, it was a great script, I have to admit. But I sat and thought over the story as a kid....over the UFO mechanic.
In some way, I would have stood there for a good hour listening to the guy and been impressed by his description. Luckily, my dad saw through this fairly quickly.
Debate: Being 'Morally Right' Better Than Being 'Factually Correct'
This 'concept' (amusing enough) is a discussion that Ocasio-Cortez has dragged out of some university memory that she had, and used for a basis of our path ahead in the political sphere.
So, I'll ask some questions.
1. Can you make any argument or discussion without facts? Someone living in a fantasy world....wanting to argue that unicorns are faster than horses, could start a discussion. Could it go anywhere? If 'Bigfoot' were born in America, would he be able to run for President? If 'Casper, the friendly ghost' were fat and chubby....would it be right to bully him along to lose weight? Could the Coyote beat the Road Runner, in a fair fight? All of these are discussions, without facts. Arguments or discussions without facts....simply don't work.
2 Does being morally right win in every single argument? It depends greatly on whose morales you intend to use. There are often a hundred degrees of morales, and each one will go down a path that some people simply aren't devoted to or willing to attach themselves.
3. Do the two terms (morales versus facts) connect together? You can make a case that it helps to have facts....to arrive at a decision, but you can also make the case that morales will drive the decision process. It's like arriving to a raft after a ship sinking and it can only hold twelve people, while you have twenty people there in the water. Eight of those people won't be able to do much other than float on the water and hang onto the side of the raft. Facts generate the dilemma and the resolution. Morally, you might be willing to overburden the raft with the twenty people, and help sink the raft in a quick fashion, so that fairness has been shared, and everyone now will have a zero chance of survival. Morally, it's a positive thing that all have the same equal chance now of dying.
4. Do you really want some Senator, Congressman, or President....yanking on your morales chain? Most people can remember how the prohibition era went in 1920, and how that morales effort by the government led to an absolute failure.
5. Finally, is O-C suggesting that facts might be downplayed, and their value marginalized? This might worry some people because our lives are built, assembled, and layered with facts. Our jobs only exist because companies have a record of predicting success with factual sales, and factual profits. Our medical situations are mostly resolved because a doctor works with facts and prescribes the more predictable treatment for a positive outcome. Could we even exist as a society, with less facts? I have my doubts.
The problem I see here is that you have some 29-year old adults....with a university degree, who is trying hard to impress upon you that those years in college achieved something. Sadly, the more she talks....the less convinced you are about her university background.
So, I'll ask some questions.
1. Can you make any argument or discussion without facts? Someone living in a fantasy world....wanting to argue that unicorns are faster than horses, could start a discussion. Could it go anywhere? If 'Bigfoot' were born in America, would he be able to run for President? If 'Casper, the friendly ghost' were fat and chubby....would it be right to bully him along to lose weight? Could the Coyote beat the Road Runner, in a fair fight? All of these are discussions, without facts. Arguments or discussions without facts....simply don't work.
2 Does being morally right win in every single argument? It depends greatly on whose morales you intend to use. There are often a hundred degrees of morales, and each one will go down a path that some people simply aren't devoted to or willing to attach themselves.
3. Do the two terms (morales versus facts) connect together? You can make a case that it helps to have facts....to arrive at a decision, but you can also make the case that morales will drive the decision process. It's like arriving to a raft after a ship sinking and it can only hold twelve people, while you have twenty people there in the water. Eight of those people won't be able to do much other than float on the water and hang onto the side of the raft. Facts generate the dilemma and the resolution. Morally, you might be willing to overburden the raft with the twenty people, and help sink the raft in a quick fashion, so that fairness has been shared, and everyone now will have a zero chance of survival. Morally, it's a positive thing that all have the same equal chance now of dying.
4. Do you really want some Senator, Congressman, or President....yanking on your morales chain? Most people can remember how the prohibition era went in 1920, and how that morales effort by the government led to an absolute failure.
5. Finally, is O-C suggesting that facts might be downplayed, and their value marginalized? This might worry some people because our lives are built, assembled, and layered with facts. Our jobs only exist because companies have a record of predicting success with factual sales, and factual profits. Our medical situations are mostly resolved because a doctor works with facts and prescribes the more predictable treatment for a positive outcome. Could we even exist as a society, with less facts? I have my doubts.
The problem I see here is that you have some 29-year old adults....with a university degree, who is trying hard to impress upon you that those years in college achieved something. Sadly, the more she talks....the less convinced you are about her university background.
Monday, 7 January 2019
Why Americans Love Gutter-Talk and Mob-Mentality
Well....here's the thing, if you had a group of working class Americans from beyond urbanized areas....the vast majority (over 90-percent) would tell you some curious perspectives.
First, they'd let you know that when you step into a interstate diner where 'truckers' hang out, they expect gutter-talk. When they step into a Texas honky-tonk, they expect gutter-talk. When they go to a Klan meeting, they expect gutter-talk. When they land on some French beach with a bunch of Army characters being shot at by Nazis, they expect gutter-talk.
But those are environments where gutter-talk can survive and flourish. When you walk into a stock-holders meeting, you don't expect gutter-talk. When you walk into a Wal-Mart....dealing with some return issue, you don't expect gutter-talk. When you attend some parent-teachers meeting, you don't expect gutter-talk.
So when some House member or Senator gets all hyped up and used **@#$##@#%, you kinda stand there and wonder why the member had to resort to gutter-talk. And once you start the trend, would we have to get used to 'Moth(*&@#er' in every third sentence? Would it just turn into being normal?
In some ways, it's like a Southpark episode now, with fifth-grade kids cursing, and no teacher willing to correct the behavior, and then just grinning at the camera.
Second, mob-mentality might flow well at a WWE-wrestling event, or some Baptist revival episode in Alabama ('mobs for Jesus' event).....but folks tend to shy away from mob-mentality. Again, it's like fifth-grade kids trying to pretend they are upset, and pretending mob-mentality achieves something (it usually doesn't).
But here's the real bottom line of all this gutter-talk and mob-mentality business.....after you look long and hard at it, it's fake.
Yes....fake gutter-talk, and fake mob-mentality. It's scripted in various ways.
They want to make you think that they are really gutter-talk and trash-talk individuals, but to be honest, until the last year....they've probably only uttered Mo@#$#$#@# or F#$^ about an average of three times a year (usually when the transmission blew, or they walked into the basement to find four inches of water standing there).
Fake mob-mentality? Ask the mob-crowd what they've ever achieved via their mob-pretending. There will be this long pause, and other than rolling some toilet paper around various lawns, that's their big achievement in life as a mob.
So it's a joke? Yeah. At some point by summer of 2019, the public will be giving out awards for fake gutter-talk and everyone will be laughing over how the joke got picked up by the journalists.
First, they'd let you know that when you step into a interstate diner where 'truckers' hang out, they expect gutter-talk. When they step into a Texas honky-tonk, they expect gutter-talk. When they go to a Klan meeting, they expect gutter-talk. When they land on some French beach with a bunch of Army characters being shot at by Nazis, they expect gutter-talk.
But those are environments where gutter-talk can survive and flourish. When you walk into a stock-holders meeting, you don't expect gutter-talk. When you walk into a Wal-Mart....dealing with some return issue, you don't expect gutter-talk. When you attend some parent-teachers meeting, you don't expect gutter-talk.
So when some House member or Senator gets all hyped up and used **@#$##@#%, you kinda stand there and wonder why the member had to resort to gutter-talk. And once you start the trend, would we have to get used to 'Moth(*&@#er' in every third sentence? Would it just turn into being normal?
In some ways, it's like a Southpark episode now, with fifth-grade kids cursing, and no teacher willing to correct the behavior, and then just grinning at the camera.
Second, mob-mentality might flow well at a WWE-wrestling event, or some Baptist revival episode in Alabama ('mobs for Jesus' event).....but folks tend to shy away from mob-mentality. Again, it's like fifth-grade kids trying to pretend they are upset, and pretending mob-mentality achieves something (it usually doesn't).
But here's the real bottom line of all this gutter-talk and mob-mentality business.....after you look long and hard at it, it's fake.
Yes....fake gutter-talk, and fake mob-mentality. It's scripted in various ways.
They want to make you think that they are really gutter-talk and trash-talk individuals, but to be honest, until the last year....they've probably only uttered Mo@#$#$#@# or F#$^ about an average of three times a year (usually when the transmission blew, or they walked into the basement to find four inches of water standing there).
Fake mob-mentality? Ask the mob-crowd what they've ever achieved via their mob-pretending. There will be this long pause, and other than rolling some toilet paper around various lawns, that's their big achievement in life as a mob.
So it's a joke? Yeah. At some point by summer of 2019, the public will be giving out awards for fake gutter-talk and everyone will be laughing over how the joke got picked up by the journalists.
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