I have always thought of myself as someone who is not influenced by tears. As a teacher I would have students and parents who could turn them on at will. I was not impressed. My daughter used to get a look like she was about to break out and I would ask her, “What’s the matter? Indigestion?” So I thought I was impervious.
Then came the granddaughter. Even there as a general rule I would simply check to see if any of the Big Three were a problem. Babies usually get cranky for one of three reasons: Wet, hungry, tired. I could deal with that.
Then we were enjoying our granddaughter on Facetime. We were playing peek-a-boo on the screen and she was into in until she started trying to look behind the screen to see where we were. When she could not find us she got this look on her face like the world had betrayed her or she had found out that her grandparents had voted for a Democrat. You know the look.
I found out that I could be influenced by tears.
She will get over it. I am not sure I will.
homo unius libri
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Opus 2019-012: Headlines: I Didn’t Know Gillette Was Still in Business
I have avoided watching the much talked about ad from Gillette. I have enough nonsense in my life to pollute my mind and raise my anger level. Besides that it might trigger anxiety.
I have not bought a blade in years. I have no idea what brand I bought. All I can tell you was that it had three blades and was on sale at Costco. Years ago I moved to an electric because I got tired of the nicks a blade gave.
I don’t expect to buy any more blades. My reason is that I now take a blood thinner and they recommend using an electric. If I did change back I would try to avoid Gillette.
I think the ad was really trying to attract the metrosexual crowd. The current cool look in the millennial age group is to appear to have gone three days without a shave. They get that look with an electric, not a blade. Maybe Gillette was trying to win over that crowd. I also notice a lot more guys wearing beards than when I was young. To a dwindling market they may have felt they needed to be extra virtuous.
My sympathy to the workers who will be looking for new jobs because of a loss of sales. Maybe Schick is hiring.
homo unius libri
I have not bought a blade in years. I have no idea what brand I bought. All I can tell you was that it had three blades and was on sale at Costco. Years ago I moved to an electric because I got tired of the nicks a blade gave.
I don’t expect to buy any more blades. My reason is that I now take a blood thinner and they recommend using an electric. If I did change back I would try to avoid Gillette.
I think the ad was really trying to attract the metrosexual crowd. The current cool look in the millennial age group is to appear to have gone three days without a shave. They get that look with an electric, not a blade. Maybe Gillette was trying to win over that crowd. I also notice a lot more guys wearing beards than when I was young. To a dwindling market they may have felt they needed to be extra virtuous.
My sympathy to the workers who will be looking for new jobs because of a loss of sales. Maybe Schick is hiring.
homo unius libri
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Opus 2019-011: Shot or Hung
One of my recent posts on my other blog was “Pick a Side”. Before I proof read it my mind jumped to the experience of restaurants. When we get a steak we are told we can pick two sides. I began to think that maybe I should approach this the way many approach politics, let the server pick for me.
I hope you aren’t saying, “That sounds like a good idea”. We already have too many people telling us what our choices will be. I have no plans on buying a new car. One reason is the cost. Another reason is that new cars want to make the choices for me. It drives me crazy when I am in a rental car and it locks the doors for me or, even worse, unlocks the doors when I put the car in park. What genius assumes that I want to unlock my doors in a strange part of town just because I stop the car?
Then there are the “choices” which I label “Do You Want to Be Shot or Hung” choices. We used to get those all the time when I was teaching. We were always being given two bad choices and told that was all we could do. I remember one bit of software we were supposed to work with in one of our faculty meetings. The problem was that in order to use it you needed to check the box saying you gave the software developer permission to use all of your personal information.
Give me real choices. Don’t tell me you will do it for me.
homo unius libri
I hope you aren’t saying, “That sounds like a good idea”. We already have too many people telling us what our choices will be. I have no plans on buying a new car. One reason is the cost. Another reason is that new cars want to make the choices for me. It drives me crazy when I am in a rental car and it locks the doors for me or, even worse, unlocks the doors when I put the car in park. What genius assumes that I want to unlock my doors in a strange part of town just because I stop the car?
Then there are the “choices” which I label “Do You Want to Be Shot or Hung” choices. We used to get those all the time when I was teaching. We were always being given two bad choices and told that was all we could do. I remember one bit of software we were supposed to work with in one of our faculty meetings. The problem was that in order to use it you needed to check the box saying you gave the software developer permission to use all of your personal information.
Give me real choices. Don’t tell me you will do it for me.
homo unius libri
Opus 2019-010: Headlines: May Day Rejection
Maybe there is hope for Great Britain. Parliament has rejected the sell out that their prime minister had “negotiated” with the EU. Now she might face a vote of “no confidence.”
Most Americans don’t understand what that means so a little lesson in civics might be in order. In the American system people are elected for a set time and serve until the time is up unless there is an impeachment. Impeachment is a difficult hill to climb so most elected officials feel pretty safe from repercussions.
The parliamentary system is different. When elections are held the victors meet and they elect the chief executive. For them that is the prime minister. The political party that wins control of Parliament gets to choose the head dog. One of their checks and balances is that the person chosen must be approved by the monarch. They are elected but there is a curve ball in the mix. At any time new elections can be demanded by two methods that I know about. The first is that the members of Parliament can have a vote of “now confidence” in the prime minister. That means at least that there is a vote for a new prime minister. It might even mean all of Parliament faces a new election. The second method of cleansing the pool is that the monarch can send Parliament home and that forces new elections.
So this is not like the American congress passing a non-binding declaration that the president is not a nice person. This could cause a major shuffle in the British government.
Stay tuned.
homo unius libri
Most Americans don’t understand what that means so a little lesson in civics might be in order. In the American system people are elected for a set time and serve until the time is up unless there is an impeachment. Impeachment is a difficult hill to climb so most elected officials feel pretty safe from repercussions.
The parliamentary system is different. When elections are held the victors meet and they elect the chief executive. For them that is the prime minister. The political party that wins control of Parliament gets to choose the head dog. One of their checks and balances is that the person chosen must be approved by the monarch. They are elected but there is a curve ball in the mix. At any time new elections can be demanded by two methods that I know about. The first is that the members of Parliament can have a vote of “now confidence” in the prime minister. That means at least that there is a vote for a new prime minister. It might even mean all of Parliament faces a new election. The second method of cleansing the pool is that the monarch can send Parliament home and that forces new elections.
So this is not like the American congress passing a non-binding declaration that the president is not a nice person. This could cause a major shuffle in the British government.
Stay tuned.
homo unius libri
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Opus 2019-009: Organic Twitter
I had a sudden insight into why social media applications like Twitter have no appeal to me. Maybe it occurred to you long ago. I live in a world of organic Twitter. I constantly run into people who do not know how to have intelligent conversations. They just ramble on about everything that pops into their head. Thus you will get a recital of everything that has happened in their life since the last time you saw them.
It is possible that the masses of people who are addicted to Twitter and Facebook have lived their lives in that kind of environment. We used to have a caricature of the Valley Girl. The adjectives would be boring, insipid, and self centered. Conversations were liberally salted with “like” and “you know” and “just”. For these kind of people the inane nonsense of the social media is a warm fuzzy blanket of familiarity.
Of course even on Twitter there is a scattering of pithy comment and important information. It is simply a matter of not caring about how many squares of toilet paper you used today. I don’t want to wade through the vapor to get to the meat.
In personal relationships I need to be polite and often I can learn to avoid certain people. With the social media all I have to do is ignore it.
homo unius libri
It is possible that the masses of people who are addicted to Twitter and Facebook have lived their lives in that kind of environment. We used to have a caricature of the Valley Girl. The adjectives would be boring, insipid, and self centered. Conversations were liberally salted with “like” and “you know” and “just”. For these kind of people the inane nonsense of the social media is a warm fuzzy blanket of familiarity.
Of course even on Twitter there is a scattering of pithy comment and important information. It is simply a matter of not caring about how many squares of toilet paper you used today. I don’t want to wade through the vapor to get to the meat.
In personal relationships I need to be polite and often I can learn to avoid certain people. With the social media all I have to do is ignore it.
homo unius libri
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Opus 2019-008: A New Kind of Social Justice
Someone simply identified as “a New York man” died in prison and it sounds like a desirable outcome. He was in for a 40 year term for child pornography according to It Ain’t Holy Water.
I have a suggestion. If they can identify the seven inmates who beat him to death they should send the names to President Trump. It might be impossible to give them a pardon and set them free, but they might at least be allowed to have two scoops of ice cream as a reward for their public service.
It is a sad day for America when the criminals in jail understand justice better than the judges that sentenced them. Child pornography destroys lives and makes life dangerous for anyone who has children.
Or maybe it is a good day. Justice was done.
homo unius libri
I have a suggestion. If they can identify the seven inmates who beat him to death they should send the names to President Trump. It might be impossible to give them a pardon and set them free, but they might at least be allowed to have two scoops of ice cream as a reward for their public service.
It is a sad day for America when the criminals in jail understand justice better than the judges that sentenced them. Child pornography destroys lives and makes life dangerous for anyone who has children.
Or maybe it is a good day. Justice was done.
homo unius libri
Opus 2019-007: The Murder Race
Most of us have heard about the murder of Jazmine Barnes. As a parent I can only begin to feel the horror such an event would generate in me. The murderer needs to pay.
What is even more sad is the racial politics being employed. Since it has been discovered that the murderer was a black man instead of a white man that is supposed to make it less brutal. Suddenly it is not a “hate crime”, whatever that is, but just a shooting.
We need to discard this hate crime nonsense. Of course it was a hate crime. That is what murder is. You don’t shoot a seven year old child because you love her. You don’t attack people to show your affection. Of course it is hate. We are allowed to hate. We are not allowed to murder. The crime is in the killing, not the emotion.
I hate liver. That does not mean I can break into a meat market and attack the display. I hate mosquitos. That does not give me the right to get a flamethrower and start shooting it off at the picnic. I hate hypocrisy. That does not give me the right to burn down the houses of all the Democrats in the neighborhood.
Crime is crime. It is behavior. Stop making it worse by trying to attack a color. A child died. The villain should be prosecuted because he killed not because of race.
Grow up America.
homo unius libri
What is even more sad is the racial politics being employed. Since it has been discovered that the murderer was a black man instead of a white man that is supposed to make it less brutal. Suddenly it is not a “hate crime”, whatever that is, but just a shooting.
We need to discard this hate crime nonsense. Of course it was a hate crime. That is what murder is. You don’t shoot a seven year old child because you love her. You don’t attack people to show your affection. Of course it is hate. We are allowed to hate. We are not allowed to murder. The crime is in the killing, not the emotion.
I hate liver. That does not mean I can break into a meat market and attack the display. I hate mosquitos. That does not give me the right to get a flamethrower and start shooting it off at the picnic. I hate hypocrisy. That does not give me the right to burn down the houses of all the Democrats in the neighborhood.
Crime is crime. It is behavior. Stop making it worse by trying to attack a color. A child died. The villain should be prosecuted because he killed not because of race.
Grow up America.
homo unius libri
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