Month: October 2019

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Twist

My how time flies. Can it really have been a whole year since I posted the World’s Easiest Quiz? I guess it can. And I guess history does tend to repeat itself too, though sometimes with a bit of a twist.  Last night the Washington baseball team brought a World Championship back to the nation’s capitol for the first time since 1924.  And in case you missed it, the great Walter Johnson pitched 4 innings of scoreless relief after losing two games earlier in the series. The 1924 series, that is.  Anyway, congrats to the Nationals and their die-hard fans. They certainly waited long enough. And to the Astros and their fans? Take heart. Spring training starts in a mere 103 days.

So, to put a bit of a twist on the World’s Easiest Quiz, consider this question: How would The History of Western Civilization been different if, instead of posting 95 theses on the Wittenburg Cathedral door on All Hallows Eve of 1517, Luther had instead posted 95 memes? And come to think of it, what’s your favorite meme? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.  C’mon, play along and this could be even more fun than the Protestant Reformation!

 

Big Train with a twist
“Big Train” Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, circa 1924.

 

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Black Tuesday

We like our history simple. And we like our dates definite. That’s one reason why we commemorate things like birthdays and anniversaries. But when it comes to the flow of time – in a life, or in history – it’s not always so simple. Take This Day in History for today, “Black Tuesday.” We like to think of the stock market crash of ’29 that kicked off the Great Depression as happening all at once. And it did come on relatively suddenly after nearly a decade of fun and excess during the Roaring 20’s.  But did you know there was also a Black Thursday and a Black Monday as well?  Read the article at the link from History.com and you’ll see.  And don’t even get me started on Black Friday…. but I digress.

Demarcations in time are always somewhat arbitrary, as my friend Anna’s very cool blog post about a horse’s-eye view of time attests. I even know someone who changed their birthday by 6 months because they preferred fall weather to spring allergy season when they were actually born. But that case is a bit extreme.  My point is, whether it’s “Black Tuesday,” or your birthday, time keeps rolling along.  The stock market fluctuates – and we all keep getting older – every single day, in spite of our desire to commemorate definite ends and definite beginnings.

So, for those celebrating today, “Have a Happy!” And for those investing in the stock market? Well, “Caveat Emptor,” I guess. And for those whose Latin is a little bit rusty, that means ‘Buyer Beware!”

 

Black Tuesday
Happened before.  Could happen again?
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Toblerone

This story, from Fortune magazine, has all the elements of journalistic greatness:  First there’s my new favorite holiday, Halloween. <Orange is the New Black!>  Next, there’s costumes: Who doesn’t like dressing up? <Release your inner Alter Ego!> And of course let’s not forget Behavioral Economics.  <Say WHAT?>  Far as I’m concerned,  that’s just gussied-up old-school Psychology – with a bit of extra statistical overlay – but still.  Last but not least, there’s full size candy bars. Yep., you heard me:  Full. Size. Freakin’. Toblerone. So, what’re we waiting for? Let’s get gussied up and go get us enough chocolate to choke a horse. <But don’t forget to read the Fortune article first!>

 

Here’s an excerpt to whet your appetite…

 

Your Halloween treats can signal not just what you have, but aspects of your character. A lot of this has to do with social signaling and how we want to look to others.  And how people want to look is complex — high status and wealthy and caring and moral….  It’s a halo effect too. If I give out big candy, am I generous? Am I rich? Am I successful? Halloween is an opportunity to tell our neighbors who we are.  It’s also an opportunity to get in line with our peers – or to differentiate ourselves from them. There is a tension between wanting to conform, but also wanting to be different…

 

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Who knew candy-giving could get so complicated?  It’s a window into our deep-state psyche, you say? And here I thought it was all about the chocolate.  Ah well.  Just hand over the Toblerone and I’m good.

 

Toblerone it ain't... but I'll take it.
Toblerone it ain’t…. but  I’ll take it anyway.

 

Thanks!

 

 

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No Fake

Saw this story about a buck playing possum who ends up goring an unsuspecting hunter. Tall tale? Fake news? Halloween hooey?

You make the call.

 

Four Bucks - no fake
Four bucks says any one of these big guys could kill ya if yer not careful… Wanna bet?

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Then I saw the news that the latest Breaking Bad movie, called El Camino, is now out on Netflix.  And that, I can attest, is no fake.  So, enjoy yourselves for a couple of hours, BB fans. And deer hunters?

Let’s all be careful out there.

 

No fake - playing possum
Never trust a creepy possum. And no, I’m not just playing with ya.

 

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Finally, here’s a bonus WOTD for all you die-hard linguists:  “Antipode.” There’s even a website that will shatter your illusions about what’s on the other side of the world.  To find out the antipode from where you sit, click the link.  Go on. I dare ya.  Think “digging all the way to China” is literally true? Nope.  Fact is, you’ll come out in the middle of Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar. And that, folks, is also … <wait for it> … no fake.

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CANAL+

OK, we’re going cold turkey.  No more politics here.  And everyone besides my linguist daughter is sick and tired of WOTD.  So, what’s left? Commercials!  I recently stumbled across a trilogy of ads from CANAL+.  Warning: the ads are in French, with English subtitles.  But they’re still hilarious on any number of levels.  My favorite of the three is the middle one, called “Family Dinner” where the dad tells his exasperated teenage daughter, “If you like soccer and you don’t have CANAL+, then you can go f*ck yourself.” And the mom just shakes her head.  (Like I said, those French.  You’d just never be able to get these spots past American censors.)  And the most hilarious part?  The word that’s bleeped out most often is “Netflix.”  Read about – and watch – all three, here.  You’ll be glad you did.

 

*** DISCLAIMER #1 ***

 

I first learned about these CANAL+ ads from a company-wide email sent out to everybody at UMG, whose parent company is Vivendi.  That’s the European entertainment behemoth that also owns CANAL+.

 

*** DISCLAIMER #2 ***

 

My wife is getting ready for a business trip to France next month so she’s taking French classes to prepare.  The reason I took notice of these ads in the first place was, I figured it might help her get used to hearing the rapid-fire slurring-together of French words spoken in normal conversational context.  You know, as opposed to the easy-peasy dialect of beginning French:  “Bonjour!  Je m’appell ‘Rene.’ Et tu?  Mas oui! Merci beaucoup! C’est rien!”

 

“Habla más despacio, por favor.”

 

Oh, no, wait:  Wrong romance language. Sorry.

But really, watch the ads: They’re a riot.

 

CANAL+ ads
———- NO NETFLIX! ———
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Alter Ego

Like an alcoholic secretly returning late at night to a favorite dive bar…  like a diabetic sneaking into See’s Candies mid-afternoon for the free samples…  Some habits, once they take root, are awfully hard to break.  Well, that’s me and political posts these days.  Here’s another one I just couldn’t pass up:   “WTH is Pierre Delecto & why is everyone going crazy about it?” This refers of course to Mitt Romney’s recently outed alter ego on Twitter.   And if you’re still scratching your head over that one, read this link from the DP.

Y’know, Mitt’s another GOPer from  yesteryear I kinda sorta miss.  I mean, I guess I liked him well enough back in the day, you know, when he admitted to wearing the magic LDS underwear. But this? It’s getting to be almost Rodman-esque around here.  And believe me when I say, that’s really saying something.

 

.Dennis Rodman

Romney, or his alter ego - "Pierre Delecto"

From the ridiculous to the sublime…. and back again.

 

Just. Gotta. Love it.

 

OK, from now on, I promise:  Nothing but WOTD. Well, that and maybe the occasional singing cans. But no more politics. And definitely no more Rodman.

 

My alter ego: Birdman Anderson
No more Rodman, yeah, sure. But I made no such promise regarding my own alter ego, Chris “Birdman” Andersen.  Sorry folks.

 

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Nuke

After yesterday’s WOTD “deke” I figured why not do one on “nuke?”

So, here ya go. And just for the record, not naming any names here!

 

Nuke Ya Ler
Nope, not naming any names… but isn’t if funny how sometimes ya just really miss this guy?

 

From Merriam Webster on Nuke-Ya-Ler versus New-Clear:

 

A lot of people react strongly to the pronunciation of the word nuclear as \ˈnü-kyə-lər. It gets on their nerves. And it’s true that \ˈnü-kyə-lər\ is considered stigmatized, meaning that while some educated speakers say it this way, others think that it’s questionable or unacceptable. But let’s think for a minute about why this particular pronunciation, \ˈnü-kyə-lər\, is used by so many people. There are lots of words, some of them very common words, that have the pattern we hear in \ˈnü-kyə-lər. Words like muscular, popular, circular, regular, molecular, and cellular. But the phonetic pattern for nuclear only shows up in pretty rarely heard words, the medical terms cochlear and trochlear. We simply hear one pattern much more frequently than we hear the other. And by analogy, many people’s ears gravitate toward the more common sound. Even if you dislike the \ˈnü-kyə-lər\ option, it’s good to know that there’s probably a linguistic reason behind it.

 

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Apologies to those who notice this post violates my ban on politics. In the words of the chief-of-staff to someone who shall remain nameless:

“Get over it!”

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Decoy

Today’s Word of the Day is  “Decoy.”

Decoy duck

 

Oh, no, wait, that’s a hunting term.  Today’s WOTD actually is a hockey term meaning “to fake an opponent out of position.”  Got it? Also, it’s a nickname for “Donald.”  Don’t believe me? Check out the organist at St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville, VA.  Hi Deke!

 

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“Deke” originated as a shortened form of decoy.  Ernest Hemingway used deke as a noun referring to a hunting decoy in a number of his works.  (From his 1950 novel Across the River and into the Trees: “I offered to put the dekes out with him.”)  In the 1940s, deke began appearing in ice-hockey contexts in Canadian media.  It is used in reference to the act of faking an opponent out of position, much like how decoy is used for luring one into a trap. Today, deke has scored in many other sports, including baseball, basketball, soccer, and football. Occasionally it checks its way into more general usage, like when it refers to deceptive or evasive moves or actions.

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Towns

I’ve posted multiple times before about the old buildings I’ve found during the course of my Colorado rambles. Some of the places I’ve come across are still standing intact, like the Persse house  in Roxborough State Park. Some are totally tumbledown, like the Walker estate on Mt. Falcon or the Lucas homestead in Castlewood Canyon. None are exactly in towns, but the DP has collected a few “ghost town hikes” in honor of Halloween.  I don’t know how practical it would be to get to most of these, because they’re pretty remote.  But you can at least see pictures here and I think it’s worth a look because they’re pretty fantastic.  A few of mine are below.  Happy Halloween!

 

Not in towns: Lucas homesteadStill standing: Old Persse place Not in towns, but still very cool: The Walker estate on Mt. Falcon

 

From the top:

Lucas homestead, Persse house, Walker estate, Melvin Head place.

 

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No matter the place or the season, with or without ghosts or towns, this sage advice remains:

Go take a hike!