tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69389315866179106942024-03-05T23:06:48.080-08:00A New Career In A New Townand a loser I will be for I've never been a winner in my lifeANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.comBlogger522125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-32391715227781027202018-10-23T09:20:00.000-07:002018-10-23T09:20:00.512-07:00Sing it, Sister<a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2018/09/28/marxists-against-wokeness/">This article is</a> worth the time of any, like me, who find themselves both broadly sympathetic to progressive causes and yet wearied and generally opposed to the <i>bien-pensant</i> voices for those causes currently preeminent in the American Media.<br />
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Here's the intro, to whet your appetite:<br />
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<span style="font-size: 22px;">I</span>n the interests of efficiency, I’ll start by asserting — not arguing — some propositions: In their discussions of cultural life and of societal trends, the organs of American educated opinion (the <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New York Times</i>, NPR, the <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New Yorker</i>, et al.); the faculty and students at our elite prep schools, colleges, and universities; and the members of the metropolitan class who read those publications and emerge from those institutions, frequently and increasingly assert, rather than argue, a set of vaguely interlocking propositions and slogans concerning (I’ll spare the scare quotes) white privilege, social justice, systemic racism, diversity, inclusivity, microaggressions, and the intellectual and cultural heritage — irrelevant at best, baneful at worst — of dead white males.</div>
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Although both the champions and critics of these propositions characterise them (and the attendant attitudinising) as ‘political’, they are nothing of the sort. They are merely gestural. Lacking subtlety and depth, they amount to the intoning of shibboleths unsupported by reasoned, detailed, systematic analysis and argument. An orthodoxy has taken hold of intellectual, cultural and academic life, an orthodoxy nurtured and protected by an overweening and aggressive sense of virtue and righteous aggrievement that permits it to go unchallenged by the scepticism and bracing scrutiny that used to characterise — in fact to define — intellectual, cultural and academic life.</div>
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ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-58346028132949702272018-06-01T14:14:00.000-07:002018-06-01T14:14:21.327-07:00Excellent Article<a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/262280/jordan-peterson">On Jordan Peterson,</a> a current <i>bete noire</i> for all sorts of <i>bien-pensant</i> intellectuals, who tend to misrepresent his moderate (even banal) ideas, reframing them as hyperbolic, straw man arguments they proceed to diminish with great self-congratulation (see the recent piece in the NYTimes, for one of many examples).<br />
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A sample:<br />
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Moderation can, of course, be the wrong approach to any given problem and, like every other political temperament, it is susceptible to criticism. But one criticism it is not susceptible to is being a form of crypto-fascism, or covert anti-Semitism, or an attempt to “justify class and gender hierarchies,” when it plainly is none of those things. His goal appears to be to advance the cause of progress while taking care to preserve what is functional in our systems, whose capacity to sustain nation states of hundreds of millions of people in conditions of relative peace and prosperity he would like all of us to acknowledge. His own personal conservatism might lead him to strike the balance between equality and freedom at a different place than would an egalitarian liberal or leftist: But it’s the idea that there is a balance that needs to be struck that has come under assault.</div>
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There is something uneasily poised at the border of grandiosity and grandeur, heroism and quixotism, about Peterson that makes him appealing to undergraduates at the same time as it makes him a target-rich environment for haughty intellectuals and snarky journalists. </div>
ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-15390595999103994392018-03-20T08:51:00.002-07:002018-03-20T08:51:42.739-07:00How Many People Does this Describe?<span style="background-color: #fcfff6; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: 32px;">No doubt by this behaviour they meant only to shew that, if there were things in the world which they themselves lacked — in this instance, certain prerogatives which the old lady enjoyed, and the privilege of her acquaintance — it was not because they could not, but because they did not choose to acquire them. But they had succeeded in convincing themselves that this really was what they felt; and it was the suppression of all desire for, of all curiosity as to forms of life which were unfamiliar, of all hope of pleasing new people (for which, in the women, had been substituted a feigned contempt, an artificial brightness) that had the awkward result of obliging them to label their discontent satisfaction, and lie everlastingly to themselves, for which they were greatly to be pitied</span>ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-49881173596675180122018-02-22T07:15:00.001-08:002018-02-22T07:15:08.200-08:00Within a Budding Grove, Again<span style="background-color: #fcfff6; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: 32px;">"The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains."</span>ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-33776011105424131632018-01-28T13:23:00.003-08:002018-01-28T13:23:27.692-08:00Jordan Peterson<div style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Canadian thinker Jordan Peterson's intellectual star is very much on the ascendancy these last few months. This interview is a must-read as far as I'm concerned...</div>
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<a class="yiv1816476288enhancr_card_7637648155" href="http://quillette.com/2018/01/27/walking-tightrope-chaos-order-interview-jordan-b-peterson/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank">Walking the Tightrope Between Chaos and Order—An Interview with Jordan B Peterson - Quillette</a></div>
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Walking the Tightrope Between Chaos and Order—An Interview with Jordan B...</h2>
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In January, Jordan B Peterson was in London to launch his new book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. His...</div>
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The ending especially is worth your time.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">OK, so moving on. When trying to explain to people your ideas, one drops in the term ‘postmodern neo-Marxism,’ and they just look at you and go,” What on earth are you talking about?” Can you not come up with a more accessible term?</strong><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong></div>
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Well, there are analogies. “Social Justice Warriors” is a pretty good one. It’s a bit more pejorative. But the thing is, we are at a point where people have to actually understand what these things are. Because we are in a war of ideas, and if it’s solved at the level of ideas then there won’t be a war.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Is “cultural Marxism” better? </strong></div>
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It’s an oversimplification because it doesn’t take into account the effect of the postmodernists. And I actually think the postmodernists were worse that the cultural Marxists, because they identify the cultural Marxists within the Frankfurt School, and there is some utility in that although its complicated.</div>
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There was far more excuse for the cultural Marxists than there was for the postmodernists. Because the cultural Marxists were reacting to Nazism. They had their reasons for being terrified of the radical Right and they had their reasons for trying to set the Left straight. Now, I think they did all sorts of perverse and corrupt things but it’s kind of like the original revolutionaries in the Soviet Union. They didn’t know it was going to be a century-long bloodbath. So, there was a little bit more excuse for their revolutionary utopian fervour.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Are you familiar with </strong><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Daniel Farber and Suzanna Sherry? They wrote a book: <span style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://amzn.to/2FkNyDW" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law</a> </span>in 1997, which attacked critical race theory. They faced much of the same criticism that you have: that they were bigoted and so on. Part of their argument was to ask the question: “Do Jewish people enjoy white privilege?” because if they do, then the concept of white privilege begins to sound anti-Semitic, doesn’t it? What do you think of that argument?</strong></div>
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How about Asian people, do they enjoy white privilege? There is a major problem with [the privilege] argument, especially with regard to Asians. Asians are the fly in the ointment for the identity politics types because the Asians are suing universities all across the United States for discriminating against them. <span style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Which they do!</span> You have to do way better as an Asian to get into an elite American university. Otherwise, the Universities would be just full of Asians.</div>
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So what do we do about that? Nothing! You select on merit and you let the bloody cards fall where they are going to. And then they say, “Well your mechanisms of merit are polluted by your patriarchal presuppositions.” And the answer to that that is, partly! But you don’t have a better solution! So you use objective measures despite the fact that they are flawed because they are <span style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">not as flawed</span> as whatever other things you’re going to use.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the ways that left-wing ideologues seem to be winning is through Wikipedia. If you go to the “White Privilege” page you will find that it’s effectively postmodern propaganda…</strong><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong></div>
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It is a very intelligent point of entry for someone who is activist-minded. Why the hell wouldn’t you go on Wikipedia and gerrymander the contents? You have an ethical duty to do so.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And one of the ways this is entrenched is that the sources that underpin these misleading Wikipedia pages are professors who are peer reviewed… </strong><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong></div>
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Ha! Peer-reviewed…that’s such a lie! First of all, 80 percent of humanities papers are not cited once. That’s fraud! That’s what that is, right. 80 percent, that’s a very bad number. “Peer-reviewed” means you have conjured up a specialty journal that only you and your friends publish in. You each review your own publications. Then you go the library, and say “You have to buy this.” And the library says, “Because you said so we have to buy it, because that’s our mandate.” And the publisher says, “Oh good because we will sell it to the libraries at a price so inflated that the mere fact that no-one ever reads it is irrelevant.” Right, and so then the libraries buy it. And that’s your “peer-review”.<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So it becomes a circular argument on Wikipedia because when you want to introduce criticism, say, by a psychology professor at the University of Toronto, and they say, “Well he isn’t a professor of critical race theory…”</strong><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong></div>
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Exactly, they say, “He’s not qualified”. That’s what they keep telling me. They say: “You’re not qualified to comment on that’ and I say, “<span style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Well,</span> y<span style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ou’re not qualified to comment on anything!</span>’”<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong>This is part of the reason why I am unpopular in Canada: because I keep saying that these are pseudodisciplines. They bear no resemblance whatsoever to a [scholarly] discipline. And that would be all of the “Critical Studies” areas. They have no intellectual credibility whatsoever. They do far more harm than good.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #191919; line-height: 1.73; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
This is what <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFy0HMxsn4I" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Janice Fiamengo</a> keeps saying, and she deserves more attention because she is quite the character. She is Professor of English Literature at the University of Ottawa and she was deep into Women’s Studies for a long period of time and then learned that it was fraudulent from top to bottom. She has been making videos and going around campuses ever since, to quite vicious opposition. But she is a tough cookie, man.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #191919; line-height: 1.73; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Yeah, so, Sociology? It’s done. Social work? It’s corrupt. Faculties of education? They are so done they are not salvageable, as far as I can tell. Anthropology, history, literature, the humanities, generally speaking, they are done [Tammy: law!]. Law is the worst of the bunch.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #191919; line-height: 1.73; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We are finished then, aren’t we? If the lawyers are against us?</strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #191919; line-height: 1.73; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The law is really bad. I had no idea how deep the corruption in law had gotten until last year. I have been talking to law students and professors and it’s absolutely unbelievable.</div>
</div>
ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-66597427108389701972018-01-26T07:35:00.003-08:002018-01-26T07:35:58.291-08:00Swann In Love<span style="background-color: #fcfff6; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; text-indent: 32px;">“Poor Swann,” said Mme. des Laumes that night to her husband; “he is always charming, but he does look so dreadfully unhappy. You will see for yourself, for he has promised to dine with us one of these days. I do feel that it’s really absurd that a man of his intelligence should let himself be made to suffer by a creature of that kind, who isn’t even interesting, for they tell me, she’s an absolute idiot!” she concluded with the wisdom invariably shown by people who, not being in love themselves, feel that a clever man ought to be unhappy only about such persons as are worth his while; which is rather like being astonished that anyone should condescend to die of cholera at the bidding of so insignificant a creature as the common bacillus.</span>ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-38202156857457767762018-01-22T07:17:00.005-08:002018-01-22T07:17:47.038-08:00Henry VII've never read it. So far these two passages have caught my attention.<br />
<br />
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You are disputing of your generals.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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One would have lingering wars with little cost;<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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A third thinks, without expense at all,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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By guileful fair words peace may be obtain’d.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Glory is like a circle in the water,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Till by broad spreading it
disperse to nought.</span><!--EndFragment-->ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-46217435768045935612018-01-02T08:14:00.004-08:002018-01-02T08:14:37.440-08:00Notes
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I don't think any great novel has been cynical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't think any great art has
ever been cynical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be cynical
is fundamentally to deconstruct, to carp, to cavil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The test of greatness, the core residuum of its existence,
by contrast is of making--building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don't say that there must, in a great work, be no trace at all of
cynicism--for to make the universe is to make a universe complete, and no
universe is complete without cynicism. I suggest only that it cannot be the
animating force, the core elemental structuring device.</div>
ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-64216784599879554682017-12-29T08:06:00.001-08:002017-12-29T13:49:04.195-08:00Within A Budding Grove<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR5MUZlEpRI6fmjtWFjYEEyLrBIYpVWJLYGZuqYS-g9OYd60qU2" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for images swann proust" border="0" class="rg_ic rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR5MUZlEpRI6fmjtWFjYEEyLrBIYpVWJLYGZuqYS-g9OYd60qU2" data-sz="f" height="400" jsaction="load:str.tbn" name="GvY7UGZQr_PpBM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR5MUZlEpRI6fmjtWFjYEEyLrBIYpVWJLYGZuqYS-g9OYd60qU2" style="height: 175px; margin-top: 0px; width: 149px;" width="340" /></a></div>
“Good heavens!” exclaimed M. de Norpois, inspiring me with
doubts of my own intelligence far more serious than those that ordinarily
distracted me, when I saw that what I valued a thousand thousand times more
than myself, what I regarded as the most exalted thing in the world, was for
him at the very foot of the scale of admiration. “I do not share your son’s
point of view. Bergotte is what I call a flute-player: one must admit that he
plays on it very agreeably, although with a great deal of mannerism, of
affectation. But when all is said, it is no more than that, and that is nothing
very great. Nowhere does one find in his enervated writings anything that could
be called construction. No action — or very little — but above all no range.
His books fail at the foundation, or rather they have no foundation at all. At
a time like the present, when the ever-increasing complexity of life leaves one
scarcely a moment for reading, when the map of Europe has undergone radical
alterations, and is on the eve, very probably, of undergoing others more
drastic still, when so many new and threatening problems are arising on every
side, you will allow me to suggest that one is entitled to ask that a writer
should be something else than a fine intellect which makes us forget, amid
otiose and byzantine discussions of the merits of pure form, that we may be
overwhelmed at any moment by a double tide of barbarians, those from without
and those from within our borders. I am aware that this is a blasphemy against
the sacrosanct school of what these gentlemen term ‘Art for Art’s sake,’ but at
this period of history there are tasks more urgent than the manipulation of
words in a harmonious manner.</div>
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From "Swann at Home"</div>
ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-8536260492088913702017-12-24T07:14:00.001-08:002017-12-24T07:14:10.651-08:00A New Way ForwardWill see me start blogging regularly again. Good news for my millions of loyal readers. <br />
<br />
I've felt less need to blog since I've returned from my long exile in California. Most of the readers for whom I wrote posts now live in my area code. That proximity takes away some of the urgency I felt about communicating my thoughts. I think, though, that I've found a new way to make use of this space. One that features thousands--literally thousands--of candid Kardashian pictures. Plus, dancing dog gifs!<br />
<br />
That's for the future, though. This morning I'll just record the incredibly vivid dream I had last night. In it, Jon Gruden was teaching a class on "The Waste Land." I was in the class, along with a lot of other high school students, and several professional football players. Marshawn Lynch was sitting right next to me, wearing his Raiders outfit. The lecture on "The Waste Land" itself didn't register. I do remember that Gruden himself was very passionate about the material. Then at some point the class devolved into a discussion of the subjunctive in English. A heated debate broke out on whether or not the phrase "If I were a rich man" counted as subjunctive or not. Marshawn Lynch came alive during this discussion, I remember.ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-14906046239444299892017-06-26T08:57:00.002-07:002017-06-26T08:57:20.192-07:00Healing?We've made progress, The Bink and I, towards his recovery. Daily dosages of anti-inflammatories, plus pain meds, seem to have alleviated his suffering. We haven't one had pain yelp in the last three days. <br />
<br />
We have a new problem now, however: his naturally rascally nature. The Bear is not a Bear of idleness. Check that--he is a Bear of idleness, but not unrelieved idleness. Eighteen hours of sleep a day--yes: that's reasonable. Necessary even. But twenty-two hours of sleep a day--that's too much. <br />
<br />
Too much, though, is what he needs. For his body to fully heal, he has to stay calm. Sudden jumps and lurches, yowlings, bounding--these are all actions the Bear enjoys. But they're not good for his recovery. <br />
<br />
I'm trying to keep him as sedate as I can, but it's now been two weeks since he's gotten out of the house and walked in the neighborhood, and smelled the new smells. He's becoming restless, and unhappy. The obvious solution is to take him for walk. That sounds fine--but walking requires a leash and that opens the possibility of reinjuring himself. ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-30277800894347935692017-06-21T08:52:00.001-07:002017-06-22T06:08:03.631-07:00Dark Days<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeFtz8c7y56tFvAFyyWUiQeNAD57_k9Sz681X5NXNuVfhOAGGYJ1vNQ6jMWAGXn5zVlaP9fGtz5ZLQOdGSwbl3kMd8VrM8XHIMNBTePaJbKuF6clwWOwIhehwClWbnLjHdiVwx9dz7_4/s1600/IMG_2075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeFtz8c7y56tFvAFyyWUiQeNAD57_k9Sz681X5NXNuVfhOAGGYJ1vNQ6jMWAGXn5zVlaP9fGtz5ZLQOdGSwbl3kMd8VrM8XHIMNBTePaJbKuF6clwWOwIhehwClWbnLjHdiVwx9dz7_4/s320/IMG_2075.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sad Bear</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Bink is suffering. We don't know what happened, but on Saturday he woke up in pain. When I rubbed behind his ears to comfort him he yelped--in pain. Dogs don't yelp in pain often; in my life to this date I can count maybe ten times Bink has made that noise (usually when someone stepped on his paw by mistake). The pain seemed to be coming from his neck and it didn't go away. When we took him to the Hospital they gave us painkillers and anti-inflammatories but did not take XRays. They hoped--we hope too--that after a few days it might go away.<br />
<br />
Now it's Wednesday--four days later. It hasn't gone away. The wife is out of town and I'm spending all day alone in a house with a suffering animal. It's been one of the worst (half) weeks of my life.<br />
<br />
As anyone who's ever been around a suffering animal can tell you, they don't act like healthy animals. They walk with their tail down. They cower in odd places--Bink right now is huddled under an end table by our couch, pressed up against the wall. It's as if he wants to make himself disappear, as if by taking himself out of existence he can also take his pain out of existence.<br />
<br />
Of course we have to take him back to the Vet. (We're waiting one more day to see if there's any improvement). That doesn't promise to lead anything good, however. The most likely reason Bink is suffering is so much is that he has a slipped disc, or a pinched nerve in his back. Neither of those prognoses are good ones--neither are ones that admit to treatment. If it's just inflammation, of a muscular-skeletal problem, it should begin to get better soon. Let's hope it does.ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-74219818821428275702017-06-05T06:34:00.001-07:002017-06-05T06:34:23.111-07:00Fargo's Unappealing New SeasonI'm trying to get through the third season of <i>Fargo</i> right now. It's pretty rough. I guess the people who write the show must all have decided to get heavily into PCP this season, because it's been a disaster. Poor casting choices. Storyholes so big you could drive a semi- through them. And a nausea-inducing reliance on curelty and shock, instead of story or dialogue, to generate interest. The show feels like the spiritual equivalent of watching someone torture and then kill a small animal. It is utterly unredeeming.<br />
<br />
What a come-down this marks from the glories of last season. The second season of <i>Fargo </i>was everything this season isn't. Sharp surprising dialogue, complex memorable characters--but best of all were its villains. Its villains were figures of complexity. They weren't pasteboard monsters, who existed only to kill and maim, their depravities 'justified' by trite speeches about man's bestial nature--they were fully imagined human-beings. That's all gone this season. It's a grim, dispiriting slog, one unleavened by any notes of hope or cheerfulness. Avoid it, I say--at all costs.<br />
<br />ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-27306720943013319382017-05-16T09:51:00.003-07:002017-05-16T09:51:43.421-07:00Whining about Wine<br />
<a href="https://vinepair.com/articles/cork-dork-wine-snob/">Interesting piece about a growing brouhaha</a> in the world of wine. My wife and I enjoyed the TV show Top Somm last year; it showed a group of highly-driven, slightly unstable New York sommeliers working to prepare themselves to qualify as Master Sommeliers--a designation that counts for a lot in the wine world. One of them, Morgan Harris, is referenced in this article.<br />
<br />
<i>Cork Dork</i>, the book that's excited all the furor, will, I confidently predict be turned into a movie within the next five years. You heard it hear first.ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-75851678134950873142017-05-08T08:03:00.001-07:002017-05-08T08:04:55.318-07:00GotterdammerungLast night the wife and I attended the HGO's production of Wagner's <i>Gotterdammerung</i> (trans: kitten play-time). It's about the apocalypse at the end of the world, and ends with the death of all gods. It lasted five and a half hours and featured two intermissions.<br />
<br />
I have been to only two other operas in my life; both were relatively obscure Baroque works that featured little in the way of spectacle. This had been described to my wife--two of her close friends at work are hard-core opera fanatics--as being like 'Cirque du Soleil, only with singing.' So I was primed for some big-time excitement. It's the end of the world, here, people. It ought to be big.<br />
<br />
The actual ending--the end of the world, and the burning down of Valhalla--did not live up to expectations. Essentially it consisted of various 'Gods' hanging from the ceiling on wires and writhing in mid air while computerized fire imagery played on the large movable blocks they used for scenery. <br />
<img alt="Image result for images gotterdammerung hgo" class="irc_mi" height="300" src="http://media.culturemap.com/crop/9d/1e/633x475/Houston-Grand-Opera-Gotterdammerung_103509.JPG" style="margin-top: 1px;" width="400" /><br />
The performance itself, however, had a lot to offer. The first scene features the three Norns suspending in mid air wearing an immense strand of rope which represents time and fate. While they sang complicated net images played over them, and they rose and fell in mid-air as each one handed the rope to each other. Later, the Rhinemaidens sang while suspended in floating cubes of water (each, according to the program, weighed about 2500 pounds). The sequence where Siegfried, disguised as the evil Gertrun, comes to Brunhilde's fortress castle and forces her to marry him was exceedingly well done. <br />
<br />
In general the whole experience was supremely satisfying. Sitting in a dark space and surrendering to an experience offers an escape from day-to-day worries. For the first thirty minutes I worry about my dog and my business and the emails I need to send. Then that all gives way and I attain true contact with the present, existing only in the moment, without any irritable reaching before or ahead. It has value.<br />
<br />
I want to see more operas, I think.<br />
<br />
I also intend to resume posting.ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-72779882764383185072016-11-09T08:25:00.002-08:002016-11-09T08:25:26.335-08:00WTF!?I am sad but I am slowly making my peace with it. I am nourishing the hope that, while Trump has done a lot of awful things, and said a lot of awful things while running, he has always, in the years prior to now, been (politically) a fairly moderate person. He's so duplicitous that I think it's fairly likely most of what he said he would do on the campaign trail won't happen. I hope.
My fear is really international relations. I don't want us to go to war.ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-74675705425705930782016-10-30T07:59:00.001-07:002016-10-30T07:59:54.774-07:00The New HouseWe've now been here about two months and slowly things are coming into shape. For the last two weeks we've had landscapers shuffling and rooting around the home's perimeter. The dog is a constant state of furor and working on anything requiring unbroken concentration has proven impossible. But--and it's a big but--our yard finally exists. We no longer are surrounded on three sides by piles of grassless dirt. We have planter boxes and climbing jasmine and Backstar gravel (which is gray) and all variety of flowering plants. And our sprinklers have been made to work.
The inside of the house also progresses. Two of our rooms are still uninhabitable, however--the formal living room and the dining room. Our dining room table, ordered off EBay, arrived last week. Then, as the movers were bringing it inside--check that: after they had brought it inside and were in the final stages of lowering it to the floor, the table slipped. A leg broke and they took it away. They claim they can repair it back to how it was, however. We'll see. Regardless, we have no light source for that space--the home sellers took the chandelier--so it's not likely we'll have any dinner parties very soon. Maybe before the New Year.
In an hour I'm going to a football game--the first professional football game I've been to in maybe twenty years. My wife's father has season tickets to the Texans and he's been good enough to let us borrow them. We're going to go early and experience the tailgating. The way our QB is playing, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Coach O'Brien asked me to suit up, either. Given my knowledge of 19th century French poetics.
ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-29746139069600727582016-10-23T12:31:00.002-07:002016-10-23T12:31:40.689-07:00Who Knew Saturday Live Could Be This Good? <iframe width="400" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O7VaXlMvAvk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-50773942933161314182016-10-05T07:30:00.002-07:002016-10-05T07:34:43.434-07:00Jeopardy TestFirst off, I am aiming to get back to regularly weekly blogging. We've been laboring mightily these last few months to get our new house operational. At the same time, I'm trying to reestablish my tutoring business in the city after many years away. Add my growing cosmetics empire to all of that, and it leaves very little time for blogging.<br />
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But I will make the time. Damn those women and their mascara needs!<br />
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Last night I took the Jeopardy qualifying test. (They are offering it today and tomorrow as well, if any reader wants to sign up for it). It went well, I think. It's not a hard test--I passed it fifteen years ago, and I know more now than I did then. <br />
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The challenge, though, is blocking out one's nerves and focussing on the questions. Not that I should be nervous, sitting in my room, typing answers into computer, but somehow I was. It gives me insight into the real challenge of going on the show. It goes without saying that it's far easier to summon up a fact when you're out with your friends than it is to do so when you're standing in a TV studio with lights and cameras all around you.<br />
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When I tutor, I suggest to my students that to really KNOW a fact means you can be woken up at three in the morning and instantly summon it up. That's how it is with your name or your birthday--that's information that's always accessible. For me, that's going to be the challenge going on the show: instant recall, no matter the situation. At this point, I would say I 'know' 90% of what's likely to be on the show. The question is, can I recall it all under pressure. We'll see.<br />
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The test, though, was easy. Easy easy easy. A few questions that I can recall (not the exact wordings):<br />
1) In what month was Julius Caesar murdered?<br />
2) Biggest hit of Meghan Trainor (knew this only b/c I'd studied pop music--and found I really like M Trainor, btw)?<br />
3) What's the stuff in plants that effects photosynthesis?<br />
4) What animal's name means 'water horse?'<br />
5) What's a ten letter word to describe a country that doesn't border water?<br />
6) Recent musical about someone buying an old shoe factory (knew this only b/c I'd studied musical theater)?<br />
7) Where's the Simpson desert?<br />
8) Who was ruling England when Shakespeare died?<br />
9) What former first lady wrote a memoir called "Woman from Plains?"<br />
10) in 2017 Charles Darwin will be taken off the UK 10 pound note and replaced with this woman. (Did not know this)<br />
11) The seven largest starts of Ursa Major are better known as ___<br />
12) Who wrote 'The Naked and the Dead'?<br />
13) What does LAN stand for, in computer-speak? (missed this)<br />
14) What word that starts with an 'a' means 'to give up a throne'?<br />
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I think last time I took the test, a passing score was 30 out of 50. Maybe 35? But no more than that. I can only think of three questions that I missed so far, and I doubt I missed more than six. So, I should be ok.<br />
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Next step is to do some kind of physical audition. If I get invited to do so, I'll let you know.<br />
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<br />ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-15272956495701028902016-08-22T10:08:00.000-07:002016-08-22T10:09:08.379-07:00The Echo ChamberHere is a recent piece in the Times that tells you everything you need to know to understand why the GOP is no longer functioning as a viable party in presidential elections. The fact that serious people can be conned into believing Hilary Clinton has hidden health issues based on the outright lies concocted by Sean Hannity should convince any genuine Republican that they need to do more--much more--than watch FOX News if they want to be informed. <br />
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In fact, I'll go further: to watch on FOX News<br />
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Note the pushback from Wall Street Journal and former Bush officials, however. There is some sign of hope.<br />
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During major inflection points in <a class="meta-per" href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/donald-trump-on-the-issues.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Donald J. Trump.">Donald J. Trump</a>’s campaign, the advisers, family members and friends who make up his kitchen cabinet burn up their email accounts and phone lines gaming out how to get his candidacy on track (and what counsel he might go along with).</div>
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But one person in the mix brings more than just his political advice. He also happens to control an hour of prime time on the Fox News Channel.</div>
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That person is <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/sean_hannity/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Sean Hannity.">Sean Hannity</a>.</div>
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Mr. Hannity uses his show on the nation’s most-watched cable news network to blare Mr. Trump’s message relentlessly — giving Mr. Trump the kind of promotional television exposure even a billionaire can’t afford for long.</div>
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But Mr. Hannity is not only Mr. Trump’s biggest media booster; he also veers into the role of adviser. Several people I’ve spoken with over the last couple of weeks said Mr. Hannity had for months peppered Mr. Trump, his family members and advisers with suggestions on strategy and messaging.</div>
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So involved is Mr. Hannity that three separate denizens of the hall of mirrors that is Trump World told me they believed Mr. Hannity was behaving as if he wanted a role in a possible Trump administration — something he denied to me as laughable and contractually prohibitive in an interview on Friday.</div>
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But he did not dispute that he lends his thoughts to Mr. Trump and others in his close orbit whom Mr. Hannity has known for years.</div>
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“Do I talk to my friend who I’ve known for years and speak my mind? I can’t not speak my mind,’’ he said.</div>
<a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/business/media/sean-hannity-turns-adviser-in-the-service-of-donald-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news#story-continues-2" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); color: #326891; height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;">Continue reading the main story</a></div>
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But, Mr. Hannity said, “I don’t say anything privately that I don’t say publicly.’’ And, he acknowledged, it’s unclear how far his advice goes with Mr. Trump, given that “nobody controls him.”</div>
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Mr. Hannity is unapologetic about his aim. “I’m not hiding the fact that I want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States.” After all, he says, “I never claimed to be a journalist.”</div>
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That makes Mr. Hannity the ultimate product of the Fox News Channel that <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/roger_e_ailes/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Roger E. Ailes.">Roger Ailes</a> envisioned when he founded it with Rupert Murdoch 20 years ago, as a defiant answer to what they described as an overwhelmingly liberal mainstream news media that was biased against Republicans. Mr. Hannity was there from the beginning with Mr. Ailes, who was forced out over sexual harassment allegations last month.</div>
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Mr. Hannity’s show has all the trappings of traditional television news — the anchor desk, the graphics and the patina of authority that comes with being part of a news organization that also employs serious-minded journalists like Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly.</div>
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But because Mr. Hannity is “not a journalist,” he apparently feels free to work in the full service of his candidate without having to abide by journalism’s general requirements for substantiation and prohibitions against, say, regularly sharing advice with political campaigns.</div>
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So there was Mr. Hannity last week, devoting one of his shows to a town hall-style meeting with Mr. Trump at which his (leading) questions often contained <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/18/donald-trumps-town-hall-hosted-by-sean-hannity-was-absolutely-priceless/#annotations:10252526" style="color: #326891;">extensive Trumpian talking points</a> — including the <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/in-2002-donald-trump-said-he-supported-invading-iraq-on-the?utm_term=.vr3BAWLa4#.xmZxeW3Ql" style="color: #326891;">debunked claim</a> that Mr. Trump opposed the Iraq invasion. (As BuzzFeed News first reported, Mr. Trump voiced support for the campaign in a 2002 discussion with the radio host Howard Stern.)</div>
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On other days, he has lent his prime-time platform to wild, unsubstantiated accusations that Hillary Clinton is hiding severe health problems. He showed a video of a supposed possible seizure that was in fact a comical gesture Mrs. Clinton was making to reporters, as one of them, <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2c8dbf3a7ed44e40be52fade3cfe2900/video-proves-clinton-suffering-seizures-not-so-i-was-there" style="color: #326891;">The Associated Press’s Lisa Lerer</a>, reported. He also shared a report from the conservative site The Gateway Pundit that a member of Mrs. Clinton’s security detail appeared to be carrying a diazepam syringe, “for patients who experience recurrent seizures.”</div>
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A simple call to the Secret Service spokeswoman Nicole Mainor, as I made on Friday, would have resulted in the answer that the “syringe” was actually a small flashlight.</div>
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People in Mr. Hannity’s audience of 2.5 million who are inclined to believe the health allegations, and who believe the mainstream media are covering for Mrs. Clinton, are unlikely to be impressed by the Secret Service’s explanation.</div>
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That’s the ultimate result of the hyperpoliticized approach Mr. Hannity and so many others use in today’s more stridently ideological media: A fact is dismissed as false when it doesn’t fit the preferred political narrative.</div>
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But while this informational nihilism appears to have hit a new high, the last two weeks have signaled the start of a possible reckoning within the conservative media.</div>
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First there was The Wall Street Journal’s deputy editorial page editor <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/sean-hannitys-veneration-of-ignorance-1470698528" style="color: #326891;">Bret Stephens</a>, who, after <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/hannity-rips-wsj-journalist-on-twitter-after-being-called-foxs-dumbest-anchor/" style="color: #326891;">trading insults with Mr. Hannity</a> over Mr. Trump, said on the MSNBC show “Morning Joe” that “too much of the Republican Party became an echo chamber of itself.”</div>
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Those who spend an inordinate amount of time “listening to certain cable shows” and inhaling the conspiracy theories promoted on “certain fringes of the internet,’’ he said, wind up in a debate that’s “divorced from reality.”</div>
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Then there was the conservative radio host <a href="http://www.wtmj.com/charlie-sykes" style="color: #326891;">Charlie Sykes</a>, who lamented in an interview with the Business Insider politics editor <a href="https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy" style="color: #326891;">Oliver Darcy</a>, “We have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media.”</div>
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That criticism was often warranted, Mr. Sykes said. (Just take a look at the decision by the former Clinton White House aide and current <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/us/politics/george-stephanopoulos-discloses-gifts-to-clinton-foundation.html" style="color: #326891;">ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos</a> to give some $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, for which he apologized last year.) But, as Mr. Sykes said, “At a certain point, you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.” Therefore any attempt to debunk a falsehood by Mr. Trump, he said, becomes hopeless.</div>
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What really caught my eye, though, was the moment on Fox News on Wednesday when <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/dana_perino/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Dana Perino.">Dana Perino</a>, a host of “The Five,” refused to go along with a colleague’s attempt to dispute the many polls showing Mrs. Clinton leading Mr. Trump. “That’s a real disservice to his supporters, to lie to them that those polls don’t matter,” said Ms. Perino, a White House press secretary for George W. Bush.</div>
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She went on to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/dana-perino/i-will-never-lie-to-you/1231888130164977" style="color: #326891;">express regret</a> for joining with other<a href="http://www.cc.com/video-clips/zpnkfm/the-colbert-report--skewed--presidential-polls" style="color: #326891;"> Fox News hosts</a> who doubted the polls showing President Obama leading Mitt Romney in 2012.</div>
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You can’t help but see it as a sure sign that Mr. Ailes, who presided over all of that polling doubt four years ago, had left the building. Still, even Mr. Ailes occasionally reined in his more opinionated hosts when he worried they would tarnish the credibility of his news reporters.</div>
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It’s why, for instance, he abruptly canceled Mr. Hannity’s plans to attend a major <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/tea_party_movement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about the Tea Party movement.">Tea Party</a> rally in Ohio in 2010 after <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/us/17fox.html" style="color: #326891;">it came to light</a> that the organizers were using his appearance to raise money.</div>
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Mr. Ailes faced another Hannity-related issue shortly before his ouster, when <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/13/politics/newt-gingrich-sean-hannity-fox-news-donald-trump/" style="color: #326891;">CNN reported</a> that the host had provided <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/newt_gingrich/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Newt Gingrich.">Newt Gingrich</a> with private jet travel to Indiana, for a possible vice-presidential interview with Mr. Trump. (Mr. Hannity had been lobbying Mr. Trump to choose Mr. Gingrich.)</div>
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Mr. Ailes opted against forcing Mr. Hannity to collect the fare from Mr. Gingrich. He had a possible reason: Mr. Hannity was among those supporting Mr. Ailes amid the sexual harassment scandal, eventually even discussing a walkout in the event of Mr. Ailes’s ouster, as <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/07/19/exclusive-fox-news-stands-roger-ailes-megyn-kelly-50-fox-contributors-primetime-willing-walk-ailes/" style="color: #326891;">Breitbart reported</a> a few days later. (After Fox News executives shared with Mr. Hannity and others the full details of the allegations, which Mr. Ailes denies, the talk of a walkout ended.)</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="448" data-total-count="8081" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 60px; max-width: none; width: 540px;">
Mr. Hannity says Mr. Gingrich is a very close friend and it’s his business what favors he does for him, though he left open the possibility that Mr. Gingrich might cut a check for the plane trip just the same. Since Mr. Ailes’s departure, Fox executives have not pushed the issue. Nor, apparently, have they warned Mr. Hannity away from giving advice to Mr. Trump and his campaign — at least not so far during a turbulent time at the network.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="244" data-total-count="8325" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 60px; max-width: none; width: 540px;">
Then again, at this point there are questions about how much advice Mr. Ailes himself was lending to Mr. Trump when he was running the place, given that, as The Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/us/politics/paul-manafort-resigns-donald-trump.html" style="color: #326891;">reported on Saturday</a>, he has already emerged as an influential Trump adviser.</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content" data-node-uid="1" data-para-count="222" data-total-count="8547" id="story-continues-6" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 60px; max-width: none; width: 540px;">
Mr. Hannity told me his support for Mr. Trump makes him “more honest” than mainstream reporters who hide their biases. It turns out even “honesty” is a relative concept these days. For some people more than others.</div>
</div>
</div>
ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-68490290423990664752016-07-28T07:51:00.002-07:002016-07-28T07:51:25.854-07:00Last DayThe home is in boxes. Yesterday the movers were here all day. Today they are coming to take us away.<br />
<br />
In a few hours I'll set out to drive by myself to Houston. It's been a long time since I drove across the country to move. In my youth I seemed to do it every other year.<br />
<br />
For our last meal, last night we ate at In-N-Out. <br />
<br />
And it was righteous.<br />
<br />
<br />ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-82221655712133778192016-06-25T08:30:00.001-07:002016-06-25T08:30:44.047-07:00The House Is Ours (Probably)So it's all over. The original sellers--the ones who walked away from the deal on Monday night--have come back to the table. All has been forgiven. The band and trumpets are sounding. The parade grounds are filled.<br />
<br />
Here's what happened. After our disastrous and dispiriting Monday night, we moved on to a new house. We began to have our realtor feel out the new seller about terms and conditions. (I should say that this second house was one we'd seen on our house-hunting trip last month, and that it had always been our second choice). We spent all of Tuesday mentally adjusting to the idea that the new house--Swimming Pool House, as I call it (because it had, in the back yard, a giant greenhouse. No, no)--would be, if not as good as the first house, still perfect acceptable. It was smaller, yes, and a little more generic. And there was no real backyard. And we'd never wanted a pool. And it was haunted by the ghost of Stonewall Jackson. And there a pit of iron spikes in the middle of the master bath. But other than, that, you know. It was fine.<br />
<br />
So we had mostly gotten our minds around the idea that Swimming Pool house was going to be our new home. And then, on the same day our agent had been dispatched to Swimming Pool house to do some scouting, he got a call. The original sellers--from the First House--had a new offer. They would give us [substantial sum] off of the price of the home if we'd come back to the table. In money terms, it was a clear home run. Even adding in all the repairs we'd have to make, we'd be getting the house at a great price. The only consideration was the sellers themselves. Had their lack of forthrightness in disclosing the plumbing situation the first time round ruled them out as someone to do business with?<br />
<br />
In the end, we decided it hadn't. Maybe they aren't the most ethical people out there, but given all the many, many inspections we've performed on the house, there seems very little chance that it could have any other hidden problems. I should also say, though I don't want to go into details on a semi-public forum, that we've since learned something about one of the sellers that has made me reconsider my earlier judgement of their lack of ethics. They have some other big things going on in their life-- troubling things--and it's possible they weren't so much unethical as...what...distracted? <br />
<br />
Anyway, point is, we got the first house--the one we wanted--and we're feeling good. Tired, emotionally, but good. There's now the issue of effecting a large amount of repairs and remodeling in the relatively brief window between the time the Sellers depart and we move in.<br />
<br />
But that's a story for another post. Or, more likely, several.<br />
<br />
<br />ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-38270388048526875452016-06-22T16:15:00.001-07:002016-06-22T16:15:09.539-07:00Or Did It?The sellers have changed their mind. They've just come to us with a new offer, to rebate us a significant amount of cash--more than we'd asked in the beginning.<br />
<br />
Stay Tuned!ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-88194145087969338632016-06-21T09:20:00.001-07:002016-06-21T19:05:12.239-07:00How the Home Purchase Fell Through <div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no joy in ANCIANT land; our home purchase has
fallen through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday was a
dark, hard day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was 110
outside, for one thing, and even though we had the AC on inside it was still sweltering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus I hadn't slept well the night
before, and all day I felt kind of dizzy and tired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, the house....</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you know if you've bought a house, throughout the process
of escrow buyers have several opportunities to exit the deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contingencies, they're called. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For us the only relevant contingency was
Inspections. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inspectors come out to
look at the property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They make
sure it's structurally sound and they identify any hidden problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there are problems you ask the
seller to fix them (or, more often, you ask for money to be taken off the price
off the house, which you then use to make the necessary repairs).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week, our realtor had a number of inspectors come out,
and we hadn't turned up anything major (there were some termites, and there
were mild drainage issues).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he
wanted also to get something called a HydroStatic test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a test in which they pressurize
your outgoing water pipes and see if there are any leaks.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjip3i0mVBZfl4kLjz2lJbqf6Sr-1BwbhB0Ftnh8ujfe1K9LqBuBNI_Yqt9QKeId_-J7VR7ftONcmruv2XPA2wqeUduIg6Wg_4DGK4X5A-jLYMQa7pt_juJVnQoMIkTlcBsVRKfCpvnHM0/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjip3i0mVBZfl4kLjz2lJbqf6Sr-1BwbhB0Ftnh8ujfe1K9LqBuBNI_Yqt9QKeId_-J7VR7ftONcmruv2XPA2wqeUduIg6Wg_4DGK4X5A-jLYMQa7pt_juJVnQoMIkTlcBsVRKfCpvnHM0/s320/Unknown-1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's not a test everyone effects; most realtors will get a
basic inspection report and maybe on top of it, a structural report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But our guy (who's fantastic, btw--if
anyone needs a realtor in (CITY) let me know)--gets as many inspections as
possible. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In part, he wants to do
his due diligence, but he also wants to increase his own bargaining position
going into the inspection negotiations (the more things you can find wrong, the
more you can ask for).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, he wanted the HydroStatic test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the sellers, at first,
refused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had to sign some kind
of waiver to allow the Testing Agent to go in and pressurize their pipes, and
somehow last Friday they "couldn't be found" in time to sign said
waiver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But our realtor pursued
them, and he got it set up so that the test would be done
yesterday--Monday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which was the
last day we had to negotiate our inspection contingency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The HydroStatic report showed that the pipes on the left
side of the house (site of the Master Bedroom) were leaking fluid into the area
underneath the home's foundation slab. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was very bad--and something that has to be fixed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(If not, you risk softening and
ultimately destroying the foundation).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The cost to do so was twenty thousand dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this, at least from our point of view, was not a
negotiable repair--you can't move into a house where water is pooling under the
foundation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, you can, but it seems stupid.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep in mind that we had to have all this negotation
finalized, and a final number agreed upon, by 6 pm on Monday night (8 PM
central time).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We've just gotten
the HydroStatic report at 5 PM (our time).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have an hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So this is a very hectic and tense time (in our sweltering, sweltering
house).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remeber, we not only
asking for the pipes to be fixed, we're also asking for a lot of other smaller
repairs (drains, termites, etc).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And we're trying to decide, as we wait to hear from our Realtor, the
minimum amount we would accept in repair allowances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They've already promised to give us money for the termites (that's
about 4k). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We're assuming they're
going to give us the money to fix the pipes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But will they give us any more?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They should but how much more?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's what we're wondering.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The answer is: zero much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only will they not give us any <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">additional </i>money, they're refusing to give us enough to cover the
plumbing fix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their total number
turns out to be 8k.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's for
everything. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The termites, the
pipes, the drains--all of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
that's very bad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that's not all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our HydroStatic guy has had, for some reason, to have a phone
conversation with the Seller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
he reports back to our realtor is that the he believes that Seller KNEW THE
PIPES WERE LEAKING FROM THE START.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>HydroStatic can't prove this conclusively, of course; the Seller hasn't
come out and directly stated that he knew--to do so would be admitting to an illegal
fraud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But based on the Seller's
deep familiarity with HydroStatic testing, and judging by some very pointed 'in
the know' questions Seller has asked, HydroStatic guy is confident the Seller knew
the whole time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He's been trying
to con us, in other words.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later, the Seller's Realtor ("Sara") concludes essentially the
same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is after the deal
has collapsed; she has called our Realtor to apologize for how it all went
down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was acting on behalf of
friend, and she had no idea that they were up to something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now, in the light of what's been
discovered, she's gone back over their interactions and put together other fragments
of their conversation, and she thinks it smells bad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(The Seller, I should note, just to finish up on the
scintiallating 'pipes discussion'--has had their house partially--but not
entirely--repiped three years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So they're likely to be very cognizant of the pipage situation in their
home).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, it's all very sad on many levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel great anger and rage against the
sellers, who have revealed themselves as liars and frauds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm sad we didn't get the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm sad and weary that we have to go
through this whole process again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I'm glad we have a good realtor, who was able to ferret out this
deception before we got took.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the start of our interaction with these sellers, my
wife has been calling them 'squirrley.'<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I have been saying she was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess she
sensed from the outset, that they were no good. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, credit where it's due: she was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it just never occurs to me, in
these situations, that people will deceive you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I assume that everybody in the world is like my
parents, and they all act with integrity, and that their word is their
bond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[That to me, is what it is
to be an adult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's certainly
what it means to be a man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your word is
your bond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that good stuff.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I'm kind of just...at a loss when I
learn people are otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which,
I suppose, shows how naive I am. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A final note--now that Sara knows about the plumbing leak in
seller's house she is obliged, legally, to disclose said leak to any new
potential buyers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If she fails to
do so, she could lose her license (and Sara, we're confident, is an honest
person; she's on the hook for any of this).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What that means is that the Sellers are going to face the
same negotation about fixing the plumbing with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whoever </i>they find to buy the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, possibly a new buyer might accept the leak--they might not
insist on the repairs being made. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that seems unlikely (would you buy a house knowing that
water was leaking under the foundation?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Sellers could get around this problem by firing Sara and
bringing in a new agent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doing so
would make it possible for them to continue to hide the information about the
leaking pipes to new buyers (the new agent would presuambly not have been told
about the plumbing problem).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, our agent has already indicated that, should the Sellers puruse
that parth--should they fire Lisa and hire a new Agent--he will make sure and be
in touch with anyone who enters into escrow to buy the house, to make sure they
know about the leak.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, we're going to where they live, these sellers, in
Wyoming, and burning down their house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At least that's my thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the land will be sere and dark wherever they may dwell, and their
children shall eat the crusts of broken bread, and locusts and plague shall be
their comforters, in their dark streets of Babylon.</div>
ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6938931586617910694.post-69409842919925448202016-06-19T18:01:00.001-07:002016-06-19T18:01:26.625-07:00It's All Been ForgivenTemperatures today reached 107. Tomorrow they're projected above 110. Yesterday I played tennis in 97 degrees. That was bad, but bearable. But 107 is not bearable. I saw a couple walking their dog at 330, on their way back from the gym, and I was filled with anger. Subjecting the bare paws of an innocent dog to the boiling pavement, it's unacceptable. Probably the owners were just stupid, but stupidity is not justification for cruelty. <br />
<br />
I spend at least an hour a day watching TV and freaking out. LA is starting more and more to feel like an apocalypse. I don't know why, but I have this impending feeling--something bad is about to happen. An earthquake. I don't know. I watch TV every day to find out what's happening with Trump. I'm unable to accept that he's become the nominee, but if he becomes president--it's unthinkable. That IS the apocalypse. No words can delimn what a disaster he would be. <br />
<br />
The brother has written a great review of a book about Dudo of St Quentin. I'm sure none of you need any background about the storied life and times of Dudo. His legacy speaks for itself! Go to Speculum and read it. I'll find the link, probably, pretty soon.<br />
<br />
The new Garbage album doesn't do much for me. Why do I keep trusting the reviews on Pitchfork? Because I'm a fool. Rock is an emptied-out husk, really. It's Dixieland Jazz: its every ore has been mined. We need the next new thing. In an interview with Bowie a few years ago, he talked about how if he were starting out now he'd not go into music--he'd try to create something on the internet. Not a Facebook, I don't think, but some kind of interactive art experience. That's going to be the new frontier. Not the Holodeck, exactly, but something along those lines. <br />
<br />
Peaky Blinders, on Netflix, shows promise. It speaks to me because I also ran a gambling and betting ring in Manchester, UK, in the 1920s. (Actually I think it's set in Birmingham). <br />
<br />
A final trivia question: under whose presidency did the greatest number of new states enter the Union?<br />
<br />
Hint: it was NOT Millard Fillmore.ANCIANThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09285364186147332858noreply@blogger.com0