by liberal japonicus
For reasons unknown, the video below the fold popped up in my Youtube feed and since we have a few metal fans here as well as Russell, I thought I’d put it up.
I really like the analytical way he breaks it down in order to remember it and seeing a kind of intelligence that must have tons and tons of experience behind it. So if you need a theme, tell us about times when you have been blown away by someone doing something in a similar way.
Appeared in my feed as well, several, actually, as I had a few YouTube windows open for deejaying purposes.
Appeared in my feed as well, several, actually, as I had a few YouTube windows open for deejaying purposes.
that was impressive. damn.
that was impressive. damn.
I have to say, as an old Metallica fan who stopped buying their stuff starting with the album this song was on, that’s probably the most interested I’ve ever been in hearing Enter Sandman – a song I’ve heard countless times, usually not by active choice.
Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich, gets a lot of sh*t from the more hardcore metal community, more or less for sucking. My take on him is that he’s best when simply plowing ahead hard and fast, almost like a punk drummer on steroids, but that things go a little wrong when he’s being … I don’t know … let’s say “clever.”
I never thought of Enter Sandman as one of his more clever efforts, but hearing it broken down like that, it is. It seems he pulled it off on this one. Way to go, Lars!
I have to say, as an old Metallica fan who stopped buying their stuff starting with the album this song was on, that’s probably the most interested I’ve ever been in hearing Enter Sandman – a song I’ve heard countless times, usually not by active choice.
Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich, gets a lot of sh*t from the more hardcore metal community, more or less for sucking. My take on him is that he’s best when simply plowing ahead hard and fast, almost like a punk drummer on steroids, but that things go a little wrong when he’s being … I don’t know … let’s say “clever.”
I never thought of Enter Sandman as one of his more clever efforts, but hearing it broken down like that, it is. It seems he pulled it off on this one. Way to go, Lars!
Also, too, when I saw Larnell Lewis playing that fusion tune in the intro, I was thinking Enter Sandman would be utterly beneath him – not because it’s metal, but because it’s dumb old Enter Sandman. Live and learn.
Also, too, when I saw Larnell Lewis playing that fusion tune in the intro, I was thinking Enter Sandman would be utterly beneath him – not because it’s metal, but because it’s dumb old Enter Sandman. Live and learn.
Sorry for the serial comments, but I’d like see his take on a Meshuggah tune. I doubt it would be a listen-once-and-play affair.
Sorry for the serial comments, but I’d like see his take on a Meshuggah tune. I doubt it would be a listen-once-and-play affair.
As somebody to whom all of this is Greek, I just want to say that it nonetheless delights me, totally including hsh’s serial comments!
As somebody to whom all of this is Greek, I just want to say that it nonetheless delights me, totally including hsh’s serial comments!
Enter Sandman and the Metallica album as a whole is a wholly respectable performance from Lars. And I had thought that Lars took a lot of undeserved stick just because he’s so bougie in a blue collar genre, but then I watched a few live videos from recent years and his live drumming has become truly atrocious. Not atrocious as in “can’t play his old parts” but atrocious as in “can’t actually keep time.”
Lewis picked up a lot of the feel on the first listen. The hard part is picking up the transitions and the shifts in feel. I’ve heard that song so many times that it’s really easy for me to find the pulse, but it’s still got a lot of nuance that is not obvious.
Meshuggah would be hard in large part because they work so much against repetition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9LpMZuBEMk
I’d actually love to see what Lewis could do with a Gojira song. Mario Duplantier was profoundly influenced by Lars Ulrich, and has that same self-taught feel and quirk, but has way more discipline.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTr7bqKHvgE
Enter Sandman and the Metallica album as a whole is a wholly respectable performance from Lars. And I had thought that Lars took a lot of undeserved stick just because he’s so bougie in a blue collar genre, but then I watched a few live videos from recent years and his live drumming has become truly atrocious. Not atrocious as in “can’t play his old parts” but atrocious as in “can’t actually keep time.”
Lewis picked up a lot of the feel on the first listen. The hard part is picking up the transitions and the shifts in feel. I’ve heard that song so many times that it’s really easy for me to find the pulse, but it’s still got a lot of nuance that is not obvious.
Meshuggah would be hard in large part because they work so much against repetition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9LpMZuBEMk
I’d actually love to see what Lewis could do with a Gojira song. Mario Duplantier was profoundly influenced by Lars Ulrich, and has that same self-taught feel and quirk, but has way more discipline.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTr7bqKHvgE
On an entirely unmusical note, I once saw a documentary called Mission to Lars in which a reasonably well-known print journalist here took her Lars Ulrich-obsessed autistic brother on an odyssey/road-trip to a Metallica gig, with no guarantee they would ever meet Lars Ulrich. It was rather moving, about family relationships and lots of other stuff, and when they did end up meeting LU I was rather impressed with how kind he was.
(I have just looked it up, and he wasn’t autistic, he had Fragile X syndrome).
Other than that, all I have to say is that as far as Messhugah is concerned, the name alone gives me unbelievable pleasure.
On an entirely unmusical note, I once saw a documentary called Mission to Lars in which a reasonably well-known print journalist here took her Lars Ulrich-obsessed autistic brother on an odyssey/road-trip to a Metallica gig, with no guarantee they would ever meet Lars Ulrich. It was rather moving, about family relationships and lots of other stuff, and when they did end up meeting LU I was rather impressed with how kind he was.
(I have just looked it up, and he wasn’t autistic, he had Fragile X syndrome).
Other than that, all I have to say is that as far as Messhugah is concerned, the name alone gives me unbelievable pleasure.
Also, too, when I saw Larnell Lewis playing that fusion tune in the intro, I was thinking Enter Sandman would be utterly beneath him
Adam Neely, one of the YouTubers i watch regularly, is a professional bassist in the NYC area. went to school for jazz composition (IIRC), plays in a ton of bands, knows everything there is to know about the subject, AFAICT.
few years ago he was asked to show how he learns songs for gigs. so he did one video of learning a modern dance show’s worth of original music in the back of an Uber on the way to the gig. and, he also did a segment in a different video, of his process of transcribing the bass part to The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” in preparation for a wedding band gig. now, that’s a great song, IMO. but it doesn’t even approach complex.
so, the video if him listening to the song and entering the notes into his chart making software, by ear. and there’s a lot of him going “OK, yup. OK, we’re doing this part, again. and again.” and by the end of it, he’s filled up the score with bar upon bar of the identical four-bar phrase the bass plays. so by the end of it, he’s showing off how to condense it all down with liberal use of the “repeat those last four bars” notation.
Also, too, when I saw Larnell Lewis playing that fusion tune in the intro, I was thinking Enter Sandman would be utterly beneath him
Adam Neely, one of the YouTubers i watch regularly, is a professional bassist in the NYC area. went to school for jazz composition (IIRC), plays in a ton of bands, knows everything there is to know about the subject, AFAICT.
few years ago he was asked to show how he learns songs for gigs. so he did one video of learning a modern dance show’s worth of original music in the back of an Uber on the way to the gig. and, he also did a segment in a different video, of his process of transcribing the bass part to The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” in preparation for a wedding band gig. now, that’s a great song, IMO. but it doesn’t even approach complex.
so, the video if him listening to the song and entering the notes into his chart making software, by ear. and there’s a lot of him going “OK, yup. OK, we’re doing this part, again. and again.” and by the end of it, he’s filled up the score with bar upon bar of the identical four-bar phrase the bass plays. so by the end of it, he’s showing off how to condense it all down with liberal use of the “repeat those last four bars” notation.
speaking of politicians who suck: Kyrsten Sinema sucks.
speaking of politicians who suck: Kyrsten Sinema sucks.
For Example
Kyrsten Sinema today
For Example
Kyrsten Sinema today
he did one video of learning a modern dance show’s worth of original music in the back of an Uber on the way to the gig.
when I was gigging a fair amount, the phone calls I would hate to get were from singer-songwriters who wanted to know if you would learn their 25 original songs from some demo recordings they had up on bandcamp or similar, for a gig 2 or 3 days hence, and oh yeah I can pay you $50 but there might also be food.
Yeah, no thanks. Or, maybe, depending on who else is in the band, but you have to guarantee me some more gigs, and they can’t pay $50.
Got one of those once from a drummer friend who was supposed to be on the gig but he was sick as a dog, and oh yeah the gig was that night.
Learned the set well enough to get through it while coding away that afternoon, grabbed a bit to eat and drove up to the venue. Got set up, ready to go, grab a beer. The singer shows up. With a drummer.
Oh, sorry. Steve didn’t tell me he had it covered. Can I give you gas money?
Playing music is fantastic. Playing music for a living is a non-stop juggling act.
Haven’t checked out the video yet, will do so later this evening. Looking forward to it!
he did one video of learning a modern dance show’s worth of original music in the back of an Uber on the way to the gig.
when I was gigging a fair amount, the phone calls I would hate to get were from singer-songwriters who wanted to know if you would learn their 25 original songs from some demo recordings they had up on bandcamp or similar, for a gig 2 or 3 days hence, and oh yeah I can pay you $50 but there might also be food.
Yeah, no thanks. Or, maybe, depending on who else is in the band, but you have to guarantee me some more gigs, and they can’t pay $50.
Got one of those once from a drummer friend who was supposed to be on the gig but he was sick as a dog, and oh yeah the gig was that night.
Learned the set well enough to get through it while coding away that afternoon, grabbed a bit to eat and drove up to the venue. Got set up, ready to go, grab a beer. The singer shows up. With a drummer.
Oh, sorry. Steve didn’t tell me he had it covered. Can I give you gas money?
Playing music is fantastic. Playing music for a living is a non-stop juggling act.
Haven’t checked out the video yet, will do so later this evening. Looking forward to it!
I have no way to know what others are thinking, of course. But it occurs to me that thete could be an opportunity here.
All the Republican Senators are going to vote against the overall relief bill. It will get passed via reconciliation anyway. It will be challenging to make political points over their opposition to any one piece of it.
But how if the minimum wage increase gets brought up as a standalone bill? Now every Senator has to vote Yes or No on that alone. Voting against that would be a gift to anyone writing ads against you. Maybe even enough to turn some red seats blue — minimum wage increase being quite popular with Republicans who are not members of Congress.
Whatever Sinema’s personal motivation, the path forward seems obvious. Whether deliberately or not, she may have done the Democrats a favor here.
I have no way to know what others are thinking, of course. But it occurs to me that thete could be an opportunity here.
All the Republican Senators are going to vote against the overall relief bill. It will get passed via reconciliation anyway. It will be challenging to make political points over their opposition to any one piece of it.
But how if the minimum wage increase gets brought up as a standalone bill? Now every Senator has to vote Yes or No on that alone. Voting against that would be a gift to anyone writing ads against you. Maybe even enough to turn some red seats blue — minimum wage increase being quite popular with Republicans who are not members of Congress.
Whatever Sinema’s personal motivation, the path forward seems obvious. Whether deliberately or not, she may have done the Democrats a favor here.
hey now.
I’ve heard of snarky puppy but am not really hip to them at all, so Lewis is guy who has not really been on my radar. He’s a really good drummer – great time, really clean execution.
The deal with picking stuff up like this on the fly is having a deep repertoire of song forms in your head, and then noticing and remembering where the thing you’re listening to right now is the same as or different from the normal template. So, stuff like oh yeah, double chorus, but the first one is short. Or, the last 8 bars of the verse is half time. Or, noticing where the ensemble hits are.
You can’t remember everything, so you have to acquire an intuition for what the significant things to remember are.
Lewis basically killed this, the man has huge ears and is an extremely attentive listener. I also loved the way he started weaving in stuff from his own style and vocabulary in the last verse, once he got comfortable and confident that he was remembering the form correctly.
It was also interesting to me to hear Sandman with a drummer like Lewis on board. His sense of time is much fatter than Ulrich’s, at least on this. He sits a little further back in the time feel, rather than being on top and pushing the time. It was like listening to a metal band with an R&B drummer on board, somebody like Al Jackson from the MGs or Roger Hawkins from the Swampers. It was interesting because in the fusion thing that starts the clip he actually his kind of on top of the time. I think maybe he was sitting back a bit so that things didn’t get ahead of him. In any case, it put a really different spin on the tune.
Big fun, and it’s always great to watch how the cats who are really doing it do it. Thanks LJ!
hey now.
I’ve heard of snarky puppy but am not really hip to them at all, so Lewis is guy who has not really been on my radar. He’s a really good drummer – great time, really clean execution.
The deal with picking stuff up like this on the fly is having a deep repertoire of song forms in your head, and then noticing and remembering where the thing you’re listening to right now is the same as or different from the normal template. So, stuff like oh yeah, double chorus, but the first one is short. Or, the last 8 bars of the verse is half time. Or, noticing where the ensemble hits are.
You can’t remember everything, so you have to acquire an intuition for what the significant things to remember are.
Lewis basically killed this, the man has huge ears and is an extremely attentive listener. I also loved the way he started weaving in stuff from his own style and vocabulary in the last verse, once he got comfortable and confident that he was remembering the form correctly.
It was also interesting to me to hear Sandman with a drummer like Lewis on board. His sense of time is much fatter than Ulrich’s, at least on this. He sits a little further back in the time feel, rather than being on top and pushing the time. It was like listening to a metal band with an R&B drummer on board, somebody like Al Jackson from the MGs or Roger Hawkins from the Swampers. It was interesting because in the fusion thing that starts the clip he actually his kind of on top of the time. I think maybe he was sitting back a bit so that things didn’t get ahead of him. In any case, it put a really different spin on the tune.
Big fun, and it’s always great to watch how the cats who are really doing it do it. Thanks LJ!
@russell — What is it about music?
I was going to a UU church during the same years when I played the fiddle in a local contra dance band. Church acquaintances knew that, in fact some of them came to a a couple of dances we had in the barn. Also, a bandmate and I played for a Sunday service once, by pre-arrangement with the minister, who was a friend of mine.
After that there was one woman who thought she had a claim on our musical presence ad hoc, for no $, and not just for church events. She was very pissy about it when I dared to say no.
WTF?
@russell — What is it about music?
I was going to a UU church during the same years when I played the fiddle in a local contra dance band. Church acquaintances knew that, in fact some of them came to a a couple of dances we had in the barn. Also, a bandmate and I played for a Sunday service once, by pre-arrangement with the minister, who was a friend of mine.
After that there was one woman who thought she had a claim on our musical presence ad hoc, for no $, and not just for church events. She was very pissy about it when I dared to say no.
WTF?
My 7:02 was in response to russell’s 6:18, not the intervening posts. Also meant lightheartedly, but I have a (presumably post-vax) headache, so am feeling rather crabby. Or crabbier than usual.
My 7:02 was in response to russell’s 6:18, not the intervening posts. Also meant lightheartedly, but I have a (presumably post-vax) headache, so am feeling rather crabby. Or crabbier than usual.
Snarky Puppy. I heard them in an Uber before the pandemic and was at least impressed enough to remember the name. I had no idea. What a world!
Snarky Puppy. I heard them in an Uber before the pandemic and was at least impressed enough to remember the name. I had no idea. What a world!
JanieM, I got the email last night to make my vax appointment. I got March 16th at the county megasite. I’m looking forward to having a headache and being crabby. I’m still going to stay cautious, but won’t worry as much. Now I just have to get through the next 10 days without being superstitiously paranoid about getting COVID right before I’m vaccinated!
JanieM, I got the email last night to make my vax appointment. I got March 16th at the county megasite. I’m looking forward to having a headache and being crabby. I’m still going to stay cautious, but won’t worry as much. Now I just have to get through the next 10 days without being superstitiously paranoid about getting COVID right before I’m vaccinated!
hsh — LOL. Glad you got an appt. Superstitions notwithstanding, you’ll be fine. 🙂
Yesterday was my second dose of the Pfizer, and although I haven’t heard as many stories as with the Moderna, they do warn you that the 2nd dose might be worse than the 1st.
1st dose — all I had was a sore arm, and not a very bad one at that. Today is just unpleasant, not horrible. Headachy, generally achy — and I’m very tired. The sore arm started last night, the rest of it took about 24 hours to kick in.
It’s worth it! Like you, I intend to stay cautious for a good long while, but it feels good that we’re moving along, I mean collectively.
hsh — LOL. Glad you got an appt. Superstitions notwithstanding, you’ll be fine. 🙂
Yesterday was my second dose of the Pfizer, and although I haven’t heard as many stories as with the Moderna, they do warn you that the 2nd dose might be worse than the 1st.
1st dose — all I had was a sore arm, and not a very bad one at that. Today is just unpleasant, not horrible. Headachy, generally achy — and I’m very tired. The sore arm started last night, the rest of it took about 24 hours to kick in.
It’s worth it! Like you, I intend to stay cautious for a good long while, but it feels good that we’re moving along, I mean collectively.
What is it about music?
No idea, really.
I guess maybe it’s a thing where it looks like you’re enjoying doing it, so it can’t really be work.
Or, you know, you’re a performer, so your personal time is public property anyway.
vax appointment
My wife had her first shot last Tuesday. I think she got the Moderna. She hasn’t had any negative reaction.
So, a data point.
What is it about music?
No idea, really.
I guess maybe it’s a thing where it looks like you’re enjoying doing it, so it can’t really be work.
Or, you know, you’re a performer, so your personal time is public property anyway.
vax appointment
My wife had her first shot last Tuesday. I think she got the Moderna. She hasn’t had any negative reaction.
So, a data point.
Late night question, especially for the Brits: What’s your take, if any, on the rift in the royal family?
I have my own opinions, but I’ll save them so as not to force the topic into a certain channel from the get-go.
Just a little late night light entertainment, not important enough for a front page post but quite suitable for wakefulness at 2:00 a.m.
Late night question, especially for the Brits: What’s your take, if any, on the rift in the royal family?
I have my own opinions, but I’ll save them so as not to force the topic into a certain channel from the get-go.
Just a little late night light entertainment, not important enough for a front page post but quite suitable for wakefulness at 2:00 a.m.
Only just got to this – Sunday afternoon.
1. Another data point: I had my first vaccination (Pfizer) three weeks ago. No ill effects except a slightly sore arm for about 8 hours. Next one is scheduled for last week of April.
2. Royal family situation: it’s my opinion that apart from out and out racists, almost everyone in the UK felt/feels fondly towards Prince Harry, remembering that small, white-faced boy walking behind his mother’s coffin (under some stiff-upper-lip duress as it now turns out) and wishes him well, and hoped this story would end happily. As an adult he has cemented this good feeling, even among republicans of my acquaintance, for his service in Afghanistan, his honesty about his mental health (which has done much to lift the stigma from what is one of the commonest causes of death among young men), and his other good works (his charitable foundation in southern Africa, and especially the Invictus Games). His obvious “common touch” (shudder at the expression, but it is very clear he has it, and his mother had it too), also endears him to a lot of people, and his choice of a mixed-race wife meant a tremendous amount to people of colour in the UK, and probably beyond.
Because of all this, and her beauty and other qualities, I think it is true to say that he and Meghan were very popular indeed with the public around and after the wedding. But there is still a lot of racism in this country, and the British tabloid press is particularly adept at expressing and exploiting it, and is itself (particularly the accursed Mail) very misogynist, so the press coverage of everything to do with Meghan was pretty appalling, particularly when contrasted with their oleaginous coverage of Kate Middleton (whom they had also tormented, before she and William were engaged). So many stories were circulated making Meghan sound like a somewhat highhanded, demanding diva, including towards Kate M. And gossip flowed that William had warned Harry to slow down until he was sure of “this girl”, and that Harry had bitterly resented his tone and the expression.
So this was the background, and it’s impossible to know exactly the truth of most of it. And then, with Harry and Meghan understandably reeling under the onslaught of negative coverage, the Palace (as usual) was not up to the job of supporting and helping them find ways to cope with it. There is also the possibility that courtiers, who came in for a lot of stick after the Princess Diana affair, were behind a lot of the negativity towards Meghan, maybe especially after the appallingly trashy behaviour of her father and half-sister. Again, impossible to know the truth of it.
What is understandable is that an independent, self-made woman looked at this situation and thought “I don’t have to put up with this”, and that Harry, observing the stress his wife was under and suffering himself from a feeling that he could not protect her from it, and that she was suffering just as his mother had suffered, decided to take advantage of his opportunity to escape what had otherwise seemed the ironclad understanding of “how things are done”. And Meghan, with her connections and her different viewpoint, offered a view of how to do that.
Maybe Meghan is a highhanded, demanding diva. And maybe the two couples do have a difficult relationship (particularly after William’s rumoured affair a couple of years ago). But one thing seems pretty clear: the Queen liked Meghan, and nobody in the actual family would have wanted things to go like this. And the amount of misogyny and racism in the British press is clear too.
My first reaction on seeing that the Palace announced they would look into accusations that Meghan had bullied staff was that this was retaliation for the Oprah interview. But, as a republican friend pointed out, after the article in the Times about the allegations, maybe the Palace had to do it in the interests of being a responsible employer. I don’t know. We shall see.
Now, Janie, having given you this lengthy (if not particularly enlightening) answer, what is your take on it?
Only just got to this – Sunday afternoon.
1. Another data point: I had my first vaccination (Pfizer) three weeks ago. No ill effects except a slightly sore arm for about 8 hours. Next one is scheduled for last week of April.
2. Royal family situation: it’s my opinion that apart from out and out racists, almost everyone in the UK felt/feels fondly towards Prince Harry, remembering that small, white-faced boy walking behind his mother’s coffin (under some stiff-upper-lip duress as it now turns out) and wishes him well, and hoped this story would end happily. As an adult he has cemented this good feeling, even among republicans of my acquaintance, for his service in Afghanistan, his honesty about his mental health (which has done much to lift the stigma from what is one of the commonest causes of death among young men), and his other good works (his charitable foundation in southern Africa, and especially the Invictus Games). His obvious “common touch” (shudder at the expression, but it is very clear he has it, and his mother had it too), also endears him to a lot of people, and his choice of a mixed-race wife meant a tremendous amount to people of colour in the UK, and probably beyond.
Because of all this, and her beauty and other qualities, I think it is true to say that he and Meghan were very popular indeed with the public around and after the wedding. But there is still a lot of racism in this country, and the British tabloid press is particularly adept at expressing and exploiting it, and is itself (particularly the accursed Mail) very misogynist, so the press coverage of everything to do with Meghan was pretty appalling, particularly when contrasted with their oleaginous coverage of Kate Middleton (whom they had also tormented, before she and William were engaged). So many stories were circulated making Meghan sound like a somewhat highhanded, demanding diva, including towards Kate M. And gossip flowed that William had warned Harry to slow down until he was sure of “this girl”, and that Harry had bitterly resented his tone and the expression.
So this was the background, and it’s impossible to know exactly the truth of most of it. And then, with Harry and Meghan understandably reeling under the onslaught of negative coverage, the Palace (as usual) was not up to the job of supporting and helping them find ways to cope with it. There is also the possibility that courtiers, who came in for a lot of stick after the Princess Diana affair, were behind a lot of the negativity towards Meghan, maybe especially after the appallingly trashy behaviour of her father and half-sister. Again, impossible to know the truth of it.
What is understandable is that an independent, self-made woman looked at this situation and thought “I don’t have to put up with this”, and that Harry, observing the stress his wife was under and suffering himself from a feeling that he could not protect her from it, and that she was suffering just as his mother had suffered, decided to take advantage of his opportunity to escape what had otherwise seemed the ironclad understanding of “how things are done”. And Meghan, with her connections and her different viewpoint, offered a view of how to do that.
Maybe Meghan is a highhanded, demanding diva. And maybe the two couples do have a difficult relationship (particularly after William’s rumoured affair a couple of years ago). But one thing seems pretty clear: the Queen liked Meghan, and nobody in the actual family would have wanted things to go like this. And the amount of misogyny and racism in the British press is clear too.
My first reaction on seeing that the Palace announced they would look into accusations that Meghan had bullied staff was that this was retaliation for the Oprah interview. But, as a republican friend pointed out, after the article in the Times about the allegations, maybe the Palace had to do it in the interests of being a responsible employer. I don’t know. We shall see.
Now, Janie, having given you this lengthy (if not particularly enlightening) answer, what is your take on it?
The Royals are rifting again? Goodness. I shall have to pay more attention to the tabloids at the supermarket checkout. The Times weighs in.
The Royals are rifting again? Goodness. I shall have to pay more attention to the tabloids at the supermarket checkout. The Times weighs in.
GftNC — thanks for such a long, thoughtful reply. It gives me a lot to think about, and I’ll pass a link to it along to a friend of mine whose interest is the main reason I ever hear about these matters.
bobbyp — thanks for the link. For once I did actually read the article.
Right now I’m supposed to be going out for a long walk with a friend, and I’m trying to figure out whether I have the energy. But I’ll be back to this later today. My basic summary is “a pox on both their houses” — but naturally, as GftNC’s analysis indicates, it’s never that simple where human beings are concerned.
In the meantime, this kind of sums up my take, but more pithily and archly than I could ever do:
According to The Times of London, the two met in person that March when Oprah “found herself in London,” as one does, “and was invited by Meghan to meet her at Kensington Palace,” as one is.
GftNC — thanks for such a long, thoughtful reply. It gives me a lot to think about, and I’ll pass a link to it along to a friend of mine whose interest is the main reason I ever hear about these matters.
bobbyp — thanks for the link. For once I did actually read the article.
Right now I’m supposed to be going out for a long walk with a friend, and I’m trying to figure out whether I have the energy. But I’ll be back to this later today. My basic summary is “a pox on both their houses” — but naturally, as GftNC’s analysis indicates, it’s never that simple where human beings are concerned.
In the meantime, this kind of sums up my take, but more pithily and archly than I could ever do:
According to The Times of London, the two met in person that March when Oprah “found herself in London,” as one does, “and was invited by Meghan to meet her at Kensington Palace,” as one is.
bobbyp — thanks for the link. For once I did actually read the article.
You mean to say you do not religiously read all my links to the bitter end? LOL. I understand completely.
Data point: Had dose #2 of the Pfizer vaccine last week. My shoulder was very sore for 12 hours, but no other side effects.
Data point: Prince Charles and I were born on the same day, the same year. Is there any hope for him to ascend to the throne?
bobbyp — thanks for the link. For once I did actually read the article.
You mean to say you do not religiously read all my links to the bitter end? LOL. I understand completely.
Data point: Had dose #2 of the Pfizer vaccine last week. My shoulder was very sore for 12 hours, but no other side effects.
Data point: Prince Charles and I were born on the same day, the same year. Is there any hope for him to ascend to the throne?
Ah, Marina Hyde, how I love her. Her ridicule of the British press is perfect in so many ways, not just the wonderful, painfully accurate phrase bolded by me below:
Naturally you can see why some small-pond UK pundits simply can’t handle the Sussexes’ move to America. It’s a horrendous moment when you realise your competition for royal stories and interviews is no longer some necrotic dipsomaniac on a rival tabloid, but Oprah.
Ah, Marina Hyde, how I love her. Her ridicule of the British press is perfect in so many ways, not just the wonderful, painfully accurate phrase bolded by me below:
Naturally you can see why some small-pond UK pundits simply can’t handle the Sussexes’ move to America. It’s a horrendous moment when you realise your competition for royal stories and interviews is no longer some necrotic dipsomaniac on a rival tabloid, but Oprah.
You mean to say you do not religiously read all my links to the bitter end? LOL. I understand completely.
I don’t read anyone’s links religiously, I don’t know how you all have the time. I suppose it’s partly a matter of interest and time apportionment.
But actually, I read yours more often than a lot of them, because you’re probably the person on this blog that I’m closest to politically, and it’s nice to have ammunition.
Data point: John Lewis and I were born on the same day, ten years apart. I take some kind of weird comfort from this. As for Charles — my bet would be that he does ascend the throne, but not for very long, one way or another.
*****
GftNC — “some necrotic dipsomaniac on a rival tabloid” is a great line.
You mean to say you do not religiously read all my links to the bitter end? LOL. I understand completely.
I don’t read anyone’s links religiously, I don’t know how you all have the time. I suppose it’s partly a matter of interest and time apportionment.
But actually, I read yours more often than a lot of them, because you’re probably the person on this blog that I’m closest to politically, and it’s nice to have ammunition.
Data point: John Lewis and I were born on the same day, ten years apart. I take some kind of weird comfort from this. As for Charles — my bet would be that he does ascend the throne, but not for very long, one way or another.
*****
GftNC — “some necrotic dipsomaniac on a rival tabloid” is a great line.
i share a birthday with another, somewhat more famous, lover of aphorisms: Confucius.
i share a birthday with another, somewhat more famous, lover of aphorisms: Confucius.
hsh, I got covid between my two Moderna shots. The second shot made me much sicker for 36 hours than the covid, although it could have been the combination.
After a year of pretty strict isolation it was quite surprise.
All good now.
hsh, I got covid between my two Moderna shots. The second shot made me much sicker for 36 hours than the covid, although it could have been the combination.
After a year of pretty strict isolation it was quite surprise.
All good now.
Good news, Marty!
Good news, Marty!
‘All good now’ is good indeed. Glad you’re past it!!
‘All good now’ is good indeed. Glad you’re past it!!
Data point: Prince Charles and I were born on the same day, the same year.
I beat you both by one year.
Data point: Prince Charles and I were born on the same day, the same year.
I beat you both by one year.
Prince Charles and I were born on the same day, the same year. Is there any hope for him to ascend to the throne?
It’s almost inevitable that he will do so, I would say. As for you, bobbyp, not so much. On the whole, I’d be grateful if I were you.
Prince Charles and I were born on the same day, the same year. Is there any hope for him to ascend to the throne?
It’s almost inevitable that he will do so, I would say. As for you, bobbyp, not so much. On the whole, I’d be grateful if I were you.
What is it about music?
No idea, really.
I guess maybe it’s a thing where it looks like you’re enjoying doing it, so it can’t really be work.
I suspect it’s more a supply-and-demand problem. There are so many folks who play, some extremely well, that anybody looking to book a live music group has lots of choices. Good choices. So they can pay peanuts — which is why I try to hit the tip jar heavily.
What is it about music?
No idea, really.
I guess maybe it’s a thing where it looks like you’re enjoying doing it, so it can’t really be work.
I suspect it’s more a supply-and-demand problem. There are so many folks who play, some extremely well, that anybody looking to book a live music group has lots of choices. Good choices. So they can pay peanuts — which is why I try to hit the tip jar heavily.
Data point: got the first Moderna shot end of last month. Slightly sore deltoid the next day, but nothing resembling a real side effect.
Kaiser had signs up saying the reaction to the second shot was frequently greater. Guess I’ll see.
Data point: got the first Moderna shot end of last month. Slightly sore deltoid the next day, but nothing resembling a real side effect.
Kaiser had signs up saying the reaction to the second shot was frequently greater. Guess I’ll see.
Of course, there’s the detail that, by the time we get most people vaccinated, we may need another, updated, vaccine shot to address the new variants.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/07/scientists-underestimated-coronavirus-are-racing-keep-up-with-evolution/
Of course, there’s the detail that, by the time we get most people vaccinated, we may need another, updated, vaccine shot to address the new variants.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/07/scientists-underestimated-coronavirus-are-racing-keep-up-with-evolution/
Question: What is the difference between an armadillo or a trombone player found dead on a road?
Answer: There’s a remote possibility that the armadillo was on the way to a gig.
Question: What is the difference between an armadillo or a trombone player found dead on a road?
Answer: There’s a remote possibility that the armadillo was on the way to a gig.
What’s your take, if any, on the rift in the royal family?
I hope it’s the first step in the downfall of the monarchy and that the aristocracy goes with it as well.
I used to think that it’s kind of nice to have a queen and all that, and in these crazy times she’s a voice of reason. But the more one looks into the actual details of the matter with a bit of distance, the more it becomes clear that there’s just too much unaccountable power and wealth shielded by an archaic system that is undermining the UK as a modern democracy.
Of course the royals themselves are only part of the problem and what we really need is constitutional reform.
Yeah, long shot, I know…
What’s your take, if any, on the rift in the royal family?
I hope it’s the first step in the downfall of the monarchy and that the aristocracy goes with it as well.
I used to think that it’s kind of nice to have a queen and all that, and in these crazy times she’s a voice of reason. But the more one looks into the actual details of the matter with a bit of distance, the more it becomes clear that there’s just too much unaccountable power and wealth shielded by an archaic system that is undermining the UK as a modern democracy.
Of course the royals themselves are only part of the problem and what we really need is constitutional reform.
Yeah, long shot, I know…
I share my birthday (and year) with Rachel Maddow.
I share my birthday (and year) with Rachel Maddow.
I share my birthday (and year) with Rachel Maddow.
No fooling?…
I share my birthday (and year) with Rachel Maddow.
No fooling?…
I see Marty lobbied successfully for the expansion of Obamacare.
Good on him. See? All you have to do is ask.
I see Marty lobbied successfully for the expansion of Obamacare.
Good on him. See? All you have to do is ask.
GftNC: Now, Janie, having given you this lengthy (if not particularly enlightening) answer, what is your take on it?
It was enlightening for me, because it gave me a vantage point that I didn’t have. Given the messiness of the topic, it was lucid and concise, and I doubt I’ll be able to meet that standard. So thanks. I’ll try to live up to it in my reply, a task that seemed feasible at 2 a.m. but that looks pretty daunting now.
I’ve read bobbyp’s NYT link and the Marina Hyde piece. Beyond that, my knowledge is slim. I have a friend who pays a lot of attention to the royal family, so a lot of my impressions have been filtered a certain way, through that friend’s angle on the situation.
My earlier “a pox on both their houses” was obviously inadequate, because I meant the Windsors on the one hand, and H&M on the other. But the links, especially the Hyde piece, have reminded me of the huge role played by the tabloid press, a role that I tend to discount because I never pay any attention to it. Maybe that’s because I’m American, maybe it’s because I don’t actually look at actual newspapers anymore at all. Either way, maybe it should be “a pox on all their houses”?
This line of Hyde’s – you’ve been outmanoeuvred by an emotional wellness podcaster. It’s like being out-strategised by kale — hits some of my notes. I didn’t even know that Meghan was an emotional wellness podcaster, and maybe she actually isn’t, it’s just a form of sarcastic humor. But in fact I’d have said something like that even before this exchange, though without Hyde’s sharp, eloquent humor: Meghan and Harry’s pronouncements all sound to me as though they’re composed by a process that involves taking the brochures from several dozen wellness workshops, chopping them into bits, tossing the bits in the air, and taking the words that came out on top of the pile to make sound bites out of.
It’s content-free pap, as far as I’m concerned. Self-aggrandizing content-free pap, to be more accurate. Whiny self-aggrandizing content-free pap, to carry it even further.
This spills over into my personal response to H&M….which is based on a small amount of internet reading (not much more than the occasional headline) and a few minutes of videos of interviews they’ve given. Harry isn’t very interesting, and Meghan simpers. My response to her is like my response to advertising: I’m being played.
I have no way of knowing whether Meghan is actually consciously manipulating her listeners in the way that advertisers attempt to do. Even so, what I’m tempted to say when I listen to her is that she’s a Kardashian without the talent (snark intended), one of those people who’s famous for being famous – a category of people that offends all kinds of my political and personal sensibilities.
I haven’t given enough weight to the role of the press in this situation, but I feel like Meghan thinks she deserves a global platform that she has done absolutely nothing to earn. She married into a family that has a platform – okay, for dodgy class-structure political reasons, but with a long history and a very definite set of “rules,” written and not, that require people to make trade-offs that Meghan wasn’t willing to make. Now that she’s renounced the platform she married into, why should anyone give a damn what this California wellness podcaster has to say about anything whatsoever?
From another angle: I admired Diana. Maybe she was a horrible person in person, but as you (GftNC) said several times, I will never have any way of knowing the truth about that. She got a very raw deal, both with the situation and with that stick Charles, but she carried a huge Jungian-style archetype – the princess – in public with grace, most of the time. She married into a role that gave her a platform, and she used it well, and for other people. Again, most of the time.
Meghan Markle married into a similar role, and then seems to have decided that she could renounce the role but keep the platform. But she’s too damned full of herself to leave room for anything that might be useful for the rest of us.
I fault Oprah….and I suppose myself, for paying any attention whatsoever.
There’s more, but this is far too long already. I’d like to say something about the airing of dirty laundry and family drama in public, but that will have to wait, or I’ll never get anything useful done today. I know, I started this…..
GftNC: Now, Janie, having given you this lengthy (if not particularly enlightening) answer, what is your take on it?
It was enlightening for me, because it gave me a vantage point that I didn’t have. Given the messiness of the topic, it was lucid and concise, and I doubt I’ll be able to meet that standard. So thanks. I’ll try to live up to it in my reply, a task that seemed feasible at 2 a.m. but that looks pretty daunting now.
I’ve read bobbyp’s NYT link and the Marina Hyde piece. Beyond that, my knowledge is slim. I have a friend who pays a lot of attention to the royal family, so a lot of my impressions have been filtered a certain way, through that friend’s angle on the situation.
My earlier “a pox on both their houses” was obviously inadequate, because I meant the Windsors on the one hand, and H&M on the other. But the links, especially the Hyde piece, have reminded me of the huge role played by the tabloid press, a role that I tend to discount because I never pay any attention to it. Maybe that’s because I’m American, maybe it’s because I don’t actually look at actual newspapers anymore at all. Either way, maybe it should be “a pox on all their houses”?
This line of Hyde’s – you’ve been outmanoeuvred by an emotional wellness podcaster. It’s like being out-strategised by kale — hits some of my notes. I didn’t even know that Meghan was an emotional wellness podcaster, and maybe she actually isn’t, it’s just a form of sarcastic humor. But in fact I’d have said something like that even before this exchange, though without Hyde’s sharp, eloquent humor: Meghan and Harry’s pronouncements all sound to me as though they’re composed by a process that involves taking the brochures from several dozen wellness workshops, chopping them into bits, tossing the bits in the air, and taking the words that came out on top of the pile to make sound bites out of.
It’s content-free pap, as far as I’m concerned. Self-aggrandizing content-free pap, to be more accurate. Whiny self-aggrandizing content-free pap, to carry it even further.
This spills over into my personal response to H&M….which is based on a small amount of internet reading (not much more than the occasional headline) and a few minutes of videos of interviews they’ve given. Harry isn’t very interesting, and Meghan simpers. My response to her is like my response to advertising: I’m being played.
I have no way of knowing whether Meghan is actually consciously manipulating her listeners in the way that advertisers attempt to do. Even so, what I’m tempted to say when I listen to her is that she’s a Kardashian without the talent (snark intended), one of those people who’s famous for being famous – a category of people that offends all kinds of my political and personal sensibilities.
I haven’t given enough weight to the role of the press in this situation, but I feel like Meghan thinks she deserves a global platform that she has done absolutely nothing to earn. She married into a family that has a platform – okay, for dodgy class-structure political reasons, but with a long history and a very definite set of “rules,” written and not, that require people to make trade-offs that Meghan wasn’t willing to make. Now that she’s renounced the platform she married into, why should anyone give a damn what this California wellness podcaster has to say about anything whatsoever?
From another angle: I admired Diana. Maybe she was a horrible person in person, but as you (GftNC) said several times, I will never have any way of knowing the truth about that. She got a very raw deal, both with the situation and with that stick Charles, but she carried a huge Jungian-style archetype – the princess – in public with grace, most of the time. She married into a role that gave her a platform, and she used it well, and for other people. Again, most of the time.
Meghan Markle married into a similar role, and then seems to have decided that she could renounce the role but keep the platform. But she’s too damned full of herself to leave room for anything that might be useful for the rest of us.
I fault Oprah….and I suppose myself, for paying any attention whatsoever.
There’s more, but this is far too long already. I’d like to say something about the airing of dirty laundry and family drama in public, but that will have to wait, or I’ll never get anything useful done today. I know, I started this…..
Sitting in my car right now while the nurses observe us to see if we have any reaction to our first Pfizer vaccine. Five minutes to go.
Sitting in my car right now while the nurses observe us to see if we have any reaction to our first Pfizer vaccine. Five minutes to go.
Meghan and Harry’s pronouncements all sound to me as though they’re composed by a process that involves taking the brochures from several dozen wellness workshops, chopping them into bits, tossing the bits in the air, and taking the words that came out on top of the pile to make sound bites out of.
I can’t disagree! And this did make me laugh.
I suppose I’m more tolerant because a) I have seen the effect of some of Harry’s work for others (he is very like his mother, for what that’s worth, and she was very new-agey and into idiotic stuff, despite the other good work she did), and b) in the lead-up to their wedding there was a lot about how Meghan had, even as a schoolgirl, been in a way a sort of activist, and other activities of hers which led one to believe that she had been working for what I would consider good causes for much of her adult life.** And after the Grenfell Tower tragic fire, for example, she went and worked with some of the survivors and other refugee women who set up a community kitchen, who then brought out a cookery book for which she wrote a foreword etc, all of which generated coverage and sales which would otherwise have been far less. It is also definitely the case that right-on activities which would find favour with me, would not necessarily endear themselves to the necrotic dipsomaniacs of the tabloid (and other) press.
**An extract from a positive piece on MM before the wedding from a tabloid and which I link, contains this section:
Describing how passers-by in her leafy Valley neighbourhood would mistake her mother for her nanny due to the differences in their skin colour, she described how her father took apart and customised a Barbie set so she could have a black mother doll, a white father doll and a child in each colour.
She also wrote movingly about how her mother was called the “N-word” at the height of the LA riots and how she was pegged as “ethnically ambiguous” by the acting industry.
Having faced such discrimination, it’s hardly surprising that Meghan started campaigning for equality from an early age.
Having lobbied then-US first lady Hillary Clinton to get a washing-up liquid commercial changed that suggested only women did the dishes, the 11-year-old Meghan resolved to make a difference.
Twenty years on she would make a 10-minute speech to the UN in her capacity as women’s advocate for participation and leadership in which she declared: “I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/887534/meghan-markle-prince-harry-wedding-meghan-markle-UN-speech-charity-work
So despite the “content-free pap” of their pronouncements, which you rightly skewer, I suppose I give them the benefit of the doubt, because of things they’ve done before, and what I take to be their values.
We shall see how it all pans out.
Meghan and Harry’s pronouncements all sound to me as though they’re composed by a process that involves taking the brochures from several dozen wellness workshops, chopping them into bits, tossing the bits in the air, and taking the words that came out on top of the pile to make sound bites out of.
I can’t disagree! And this did make me laugh.
I suppose I’m more tolerant because a) I have seen the effect of some of Harry’s work for others (he is very like his mother, for what that’s worth, and she was very new-agey and into idiotic stuff, despite the other good work she did), and b) in the lead-up to their wedding there was a lot about how Meghan had, even as a schoolgirl, been in a way a sort of activist, and other activities of hers which led one to believe that she had been working for what I would consider good causes for much of her adult life.** And after the Grenfell Tower tragic fire, for example, she went and worked with some of the survivors and other refugee women who set up a community kitchen, who then brought out a cookery book for which she wrote a foreword etc, all of which generated coverage and sales which would otherwise have been far less. It is also definitely the case that right-on activities which would find favour with me, would not necessarily endear themselves to the necrotic dipsomaniacs of the tabloid (and other) press.
**An extract from a positive piece on MM before the wedding from a tabloid and which I link, contains this section:
Describing how passers-by in her leafy Valley neighbourhood would mistake her mother for her nanny due to the differences in their skin colour, she described how her father took apart and customised a Barbie set so she could have a black mother doll, a white father doll and a child in each colour.
She also wrote movingly about how her mother was called the “N-word” at the height of the LA riots and how she was pegged as “ethnically ambiguous” by the acting industry.
Having faced such discrimination, it’s hardly surprising that Meghan started campaigning for equality from an early age.
Having lobbied then-US first lady Hillary Clinton to get a washing-up liquid commercial changed that suggested only women did the dishes, the 11-year-old Meghan resolved to make a difference.
Twenty years on she would make a 10-minute speech to the UN in her capacity as women’s advocate for participation and leadership in which she declared: “I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/887534/meghan-markle-prince-harry-wedding-meghan-markle-UN-speech-charity-work
So despite the “content-free pap” of their pronouncements, which you rightly skewer, I suppose I give them the benefit of the doubt, because of things they’ve done before, and what I take to be their values.
We shall see how it all pans out.
Footnote 1: After what happened with Diana, I fault almost everyone involved for not anticipating this mess. Meghan herself is probably least culpable on that score, given that she’s not British. But still: how starry-eyed (about Harry? about status? I dunno) do you have to be to imagine that marrying into that family isn’t going to be…complicated, in exactly the ways it actually turned out to be.
GftNC — you put the burden of responsibility for this mostly on the family, but Harry and Meghan were not young when they met, and you’d think Harry, who plays up the role of his mother’s fate so publicly, would have been more aware of what was likely to happen than he seems to have been. Maybe he thought things had changed enough so that they could successfully navigate rough waters. Again, I dunno.
Footnote 1: After what happened with Diana, I fault almost everyone involved for not anticipating this mess. Meghan herself is probably least culpable on that score, given that she’s not British. But still: how starry-eyed (about Harry? about status? I dunno) do you have to be to imagine that marrying into that family isn’t going to be…complicated, in exactly the ways it actually turned out to be.
GftNC — you put the burden of responsibility for this mostly on the family, but Harry and Meghan were not young when they met, and you’d think Harry, who plays up the role of his mother’s fate so publicly, would have been more aware of what was likely to happen than he seems to have been. Maybe he thought things had changed enough so that they could successfully navigate rough waters. Again, I dunno.
We crossed in the mail, so to speak.
I had never heard of Meghan Markle before she started seeing Harry. That means nothing, since I pay the absolute minimum of attention that a sentient being can pay in this era to the entertainment industry.
But as to her being ethnically ambiguous — a propos of nothing much except my own progression of understandings: she had been in the public eye (because of dating Harry) for quite a while before I got clued in that she was of mixed race. She’s no darker than I am (I got the Italian genes, not my mother’s pale ones), and the ambiguity thing is in the same ballpark as my daughter getting asked, e.g. on the subway, whether she’s like, Turkish? Arabic? (She’s rather exotic looking.) I was mistaken for black more than once as a kid.
Point being, I’m familiar with this kind of ambiguity, so maybe I’m not as surprised by it as some people. Plus I’m actually white, so I don’t in the end get hit with the downside.
I didn’t know about the work she had done before she met Harry — thanks for cluing me in about that.
We crossed in the mail, so to speak.
I had never heard of Meghan Markle before she started seeing Harry. That means nothing, since I pay the absolute minimum of attention that a sentient being can pay in this era to the entertainment industry.
But as to her being ethnically ambiguous — a propos of nothing much except my own progression of understandings: she had been in the public eye (because of dating Harry) for quite a while before I got clued in that she was of mixed race. She’s no darker than I am (I got the Italian genes, not my mother’s pale ones), and the ambiguity thing is in the same ballpark as my daughter getting asked, e.g. on the subway, whether she’s like, Turkish? Arabic? (She’s rather exotic looking.) I was mistaken for black more than once as a kid.
Point being, I’m familiar with this kind of ambiguity, so maybe I’m not as surprised by it as some people. Plus I’m actually white, so I don’t in the end get hit with the downside.
I didn’t know about the work she had done before she met Harry — thanks for cluing me in about that.
how she was pegged as “ethnically ambiguous” by the acting industry.
Is it possible to find a bigger can of worms for discussion purposes? …
how she was pegged as “ethnically ambiguous” by the acting industry.
Is it possible to find a bigger can of worms for discussion purposes? …
Is it possible to find a bigger can of worms for discussion purposes? …
Answering my own question:
Yes.
Gender.
(Ducks and runs away.)
Is it possible to find a bigger can of worms for discussion purposes? …
Answering my own question:
Yes.
Gender.
(Ducks and runs away.)
As for ethnic ambiguity, 23AndMe says the point at which people tend to self-identify as black is 27% Sub-Saharan African.
As for ethnic ambiguity, 23AndMe says the point at which people tend to self-identify as black is 27% Sub-Saharan African.
oh, b.t.w., the GOP is a death cult:
please expire.
oh, b.t.w., the GOP is a death cult:
please expire.
I don’t think I did put the burden mostly on “the family”, assuming you mean the royal family. I put it mostly on the press, and perhaps to an extent on “the Palace” which might mean some of the senior family, but is just as likely to mean the machine (ie how things “have always been done”) or the courtiers, who (according to Diana at least) are prone to selectively leak poison. I don’t know (except about the press – I know about them!)
I don’t think I did put the burden mostly on “the family”, assuming you mean the royal family. I put it mostly on the press, and perhaps to an extent on “the Palace” which might mean some of the senior family, but is just as likely to mean the machine (ie how things “have always been done”) or the courtiers, who (according to Diana at least) are prone to selectively leak poison. I don’t know (except about the press – I know about them!)
(She’s rather exotic looking.)
There’s a context implied, hopefully obviously. Never mind skin color, when my kids were little and taking swimming lessons at the town beach, my daughter was usually the only dark-haired kid there. She stood out quite strikingly, which took some getting used to on my part.
(She’s rather exotic looking.)
There’s a context implied, hopefully obviously. Never mind skin color, when my kids were little and taking swimming lessons at the town beach, my daughter was usually the only dark-haired kid there. She stood out quite strikingly, which took some getting used to on my part.
I don’t think I did put the burden mostly on “the family”, assuming you mean the royal family.
Okay, I misread your emphasis.
*****
As to cleek’s 5:38: I have to ask myself why I’me even surprised that the same people who think they have a right to, and a need for, automatic weapons in the grocery store also don’t think they have any responsibility for the public health. Death cult indeed.
I don’t think I did put the burden mostly on “the family”, assuming you mean the royal family.
Okay, I misread your emphasis.
*****
As to cleek’s 5:38: I have to ask myself why I’me even surprised that the same people who think they have a right to, and a need for, automatic weapons in the grocery store also don’t think they have any responsibility for the public health. Death cult indeed.
Fair enough. And on the death cult, we can all agree.
Fair enough. And on the death cult, we can all agree.
My impression is that among the brits I know on facebook who have made some comment, (all, I think have lived in Japan), there seems to be an age split, with the older wondering (some quite strongly) why they (Harry and Meghan) don’t shut up and stop whinging while the younger have a bit of sympathy and are more than a little suspicious about the timing of the pushback. Though that might be because I’m lumping Aussies with Brits (a number of them on my FB), who have an anti monarchy streak. I don’t do twitter, so I wonder what opinions are like there. (though there seems to be different ‘twitospheres’ so the idea that there is one twitter might mark me out)
My impression is that among the brits I know on facebook who have made some comment, (all, I think have lived in Japan), there seems to be an age split, with the older wondering (some quite strongly) why they (Harry and Meghan) don’t shut up and stop whinging while the younger have a bit of sympathy and are more than a little suspicious about the timing of the pushback. Though that might be because I’m lumping Aussies with Brits (a number of them on my FB), who have an anti monarchy streak. I don’t do twitter, so I wonder what opinions are like there. (though there seems to be different ‘twitospheres’ so the idea that there is one twitter might mark me out)
Since we who have starting receiving the vaccines are noting data points, note these as well:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/5/2019569/-What-to-expect-when-you-re-inoculating-i-e-what-you-can-and-can-t-do-after-being-vaccinated
Since we who have starting receiving the vaccines are noting data points, note these as well:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/5/2019569/-What-to-expect-when-you-re-inoculating-i-e-what-you-can-and-can-t-do-after-being-vaccinated
please expire
It could be we are witnessing the end stages.
If only we could be so lucky.
please expire
It could be we are witnessing the end stages.
If only we could be so lucky.
If only we could be so lucky.
If only.
But even that isn’t the hopeful thought I wish it could be. The Soviet Union collapsed, but look what we’ve got over there now. That, plus this sentence:
Gorbachev tried to reform the Soviet Communist Party, and he remains reviled among the Soviet faithful to this day.
is a reminder, as if we needed another one, that authoritarianism doesn’t die, it only, maybe, if we’re lucky, goes a bit dormant for a while before flaring up again.
If only we could be so lucky.
If only.
But even that isn’t the hopeful thought I wish it could be. The Soviet Union collapsed, but look what we’ve got over there now. That, plus this sentence:
Gorbachev tried to reform the Soviet Communist Party, and he remains reviled among the Soviet faithful to this day.
is a reminder, as if we needed another one, that authoritarianism doesn’t die, it only, maybe, if we’re lucky, goes a bit dormant for a while before flaring up again.
But then, before I get too gloomy, a reverse reminder:
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.
— Gandalf
But then, before I get too gloomy, a reverse reminder:
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.
— Gandalf
After a year of pretty strict isolation it was quite surprise.
I would think so. That’s pretty nuts. I’m glad you’re okay.
After a year of pretty strict isolation it was quite surprise.
I would think so. That’s pretty nuts. I’m glad you’re okay.
After a year of pretty strict isolation it was quite surprise.
Is it possible that you picked it up when you went to get your first shot? I thought about that the whole time I was waiting in line the first time, when I was around more people than I had seen outside my tiny family bubble for the entire year. Masked, yes, and sort of distanced, but not perfectly.
Glad you’re okay now, anyhow
After a year of pretty strict isolation it was quite surprise.
Is it possible that you picked it up when you went to get your first shot? I thought about that the whole time I was waiting in line the first time, when I was around more people than I had seen outside my tiny family bubble for the entire year. Masked, yes, and sort of distanced, but not perfectly.
Glad you’re okay now, anyhow
please expire
Evolution (whether or not they believe in it) in action. Unfortunately, except for viruses, it can take a while.
please expire
Evolution (whether or not they believe in it) in action. Unfortunately, except for viruses, it can take a while.
Our vaccine site was a huge parking lot on the other side of the street from a Kaiser Permanente hospital. You drive up, someone looks over your paperwork and ID to verify that you are eligible, and marks the windshield of the car with how many vaccines to prep. You pull forward and someone takes your temperature. You pull forward and get guided to a lane where you go no more than three cars deep and stay in your car. The nurse comes by and gives you a shot. You pull forward to a waiting area where you park for 15 more minutes while they check to see if you will have a reaction and give you your paperwork. Then they check with you and if all is well, send you on your way. I never left my car and we spoke with three nurses the whole time.
Our vaccine site was a huge parking lot on the other side of the street from a Kaiser Permanente hospital. You drive up, someone looks over your paperwork and ID to verify that you are eligible, and marks the windshield of the car with how many vaccines to prep. You pull forward and someone takes your temperature. You pull forward and get guided to a lane where you go no more than three cars deep and stay in your car. The nurse comes by and gives you a shot. You pull forward to a waiting area where you park for 15 more minutes while they check to see if you will have a reaction and give you your paperwork. Then they check with you and if all is well, send you on your way. I never left my car and we spoke with three nurses the whole time.
nous, how’s the weather out there? 😉
When I got my shot on Friday, the wind chill was in the single digits. It was probably even colder when I got my first jab, since that was on a very cold, crisp winter evening.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone is doing vaccinations outdoors in Maine. This was an interesting project, the refitting of the grandstand at Scarborough Downs (former) racetrack as a mass vaccination site.
Glad you got yours!
nous, how’s the weather out there? 😉
When I got my shot on Friday, the wind chill was in the single digits. It was probably even colder when I got my first jab, since that was on a very cold, crisp winter evening.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone is doing vaccinations outdoors in Maine. This was an interesting project, the refitting of the grandstand at Scarborough Downs (former) racetrack as a mass vaccination site.
Glad you got yours!
The vaccine rollout here in MA is, somewhat famously, a train wreck. Appointments are mostly or completely scheduled via websites, and the websites are just really poorly designed, with very little co-ordination between vaccine sites, even when they are operated by the same organization (e.g. CVS or similar).
Between that and the daily public transportation fiasco, it’s giving governance here in the People’s Republic quite a black eye. Charlie Baker, everybody’s favorite moderate (R), is not looking too good right now. Whether it’s his fault or not, the buck stops at his desk.
The vaccine rollout here in MA is, somewhat famously, a train wreck. Appointments are mostly or completely scheduled via websites, and the websites are just really poorly designed, with very little co-ordination between vaccine sites, even when they are operated by the same organization (e.g. CVS or similar).
Between that and the daily public transportation fiasco, it’s giving governance here in the People’s Republic quite a black eye. Charlie Baker, everybody’s favorite moderate (R), is not looking too good right now. Whether it’s his fault or not, the buck stops at his desk.
Weather is cool but nice. Nurses were talking to each other about how they cried more on the job in this last year than ever before and how they had almost quit from the strain and despair.
Thus endeth my ethnographic notes from an LA County vax site.
Weather is cool but nice. Nurses were talking to each other about how they cried more on the job in this last year than ever before and how they had almost quit from the strain and despair.
Thus endeth my ethnographic notes from an LA County vax site.
The only place where Gorbachev has an untainted good reputation seems to be Germany (we owe it to him after all that the country got reunited).
The only place where Gorbachev has an untainted good reputation seems to be Germany (we owe it to him after all that the country got reunited).
Speaking of Gorbachev, his Pizza Hut ad was on LGM
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/03/lgm-film-club-part-139-gorbachevs-pizza-hut-ad
Speaking of Gorbachev, his Pizza Hut ad was on LGM
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/03/lgm-film-club-part-139-gorbachevs-pizza-hut-ad
So JanieM really dislikes Meghan, lol.
And maybe she is an annoying person, who knows, I just don’t get the passion with which people – mainly women, or so it seems – dislike her.
So JanieM really dislikes Meghan, lol.
And maybe she is an annoying person, who knows, I just don’t get the passion with which people – mainly women, or so it seems – dislike her.
The vaccine rollout here in MA is, somewhat famously, a train wreck.
Is it ever. Baker has really damaged his competence score, especially, IMO, since he keeps trying to blame unpredictable supply for problems that are totally unrelated to that, starting with an idiotically designed web site.
FTR, I got my first shot – Moderna – Wednesday the 3rd. I had to drive 80 miles to Greenfield, MA to get it. All went smoothly, though, and I suffered only a sore arm and a bit of fatigue afterward.
Right now it seems I have to go back there for the second shot, though maybe that will change.
The vaccine rollout here in MA is, somewhat famously, a train wreck.
Is it ever. Baker has really damaged his competence score, especially, IMO, since he keeps trying to blame unpredictable supply for problems that are totally unrelated to that, starting with an idiotically designed web site.
FTR, I got my first shot – Moderna – Wednesday the 3rd. I had to drive 80 miles to Greenfield, MA to get it. All went smoothly, though, and I suffered only a sore arm and a bit of fatigue afterward.
Right now it seems I have to go back there for the second shot, though maybe that will change.
my wife snagged an J&J vaccine appt for today, somehow. i’m still months away.
my wife snagged an J&J vaccine appt for today, somehow. i’m still months away.
Oddly, the majority of counties in FL have a reasonably good system, the website is easy to use to sign up and the lines move pretty well. Lots of politics but mass sites with no apps are open this week and the management of available shots has been good.
It’s a huge undertaking with lots of differing opinions but overall thee gating factor here has been availability.
And sure, a few notable politically stupid things, but they are way over blown in any realistic context.
Janie, I think I got it going to the doctor. Necessary chance.
Thanks to all. I was lucky.
Oddly, the majority of counties in FL have a reasonably good system, the website is easy to use to sign up and the lines move pretty well. Lots of politics but mass sites with no apps are open this week and the management of available shots has been good.
It’s a huge undertaking with lots of differing opinions but overall thee gating factor here has been availability.
And sure, a few notable politically stupid things, but they are way over blown in any realistic context.
Janie, I think I got it going to the doctor. Necessary chance.
Thanks to all. I was lucky.
So JanieM really dislikes Meghan, lol.
And maybe she is an annoying person, who knows, I just don’t get the passion with which people – mainly women, or so it seems – dislike her.
Heh. Obviously, people can react to other people, and events, in different ways. Some have more to do with the person reacted to, some are more about the person reacting, some are mixed.
As to Markle —
First, I’m literal-minded, possibly to the point of some sort of diagnosability. Meghan is fake. As I said, fake in a simpery sort of way. That pushes my personal buttons badly, but I don’t know how many people it would bother the way it bothers me. Of course she’s fake; she’s an actress, right? (I’m this way about advertising and fund-raising too, and apparently most people are not.)
Secondly, she’s not only self-absorbed, but absorbed in what to me is a mind-bogglingly outsized notion of her own importance. (Or, admittedly, what should be her own importance.) I would still never have heard of her if she hadn’t married into a family that is also mostly famous for being famous at this point.
Thirdly, those qualities are coupled with the obsessive airing of her alleged victimhood and the family dirty laundry in public. Since this would take pages to work out, I’ll leave it there, but my dislike of that dynamic isn’t confined to Markle (n.b. we could discuss the book Educated, which was a big bestseller a few years ago).
Fourthly: Presumably some of the dislike comes from fans of the royal family who are moved to take sides in the very public fight.
Fifthly: Other unsavory motivations include, as GftNC touched on, racism and misogyny, fanned by the gutter press.
*****
As to novakant’s “maybe she is an annoying person, who knows” — I chuckled over the “who knows” — I know, at least as regards my own personal reaction, because I get annoyed every time I watch/listen to a snippet of her and she opens her mouth. If you want to suggest that that’s more about my annoyability than about her annoyingness, I won’t argue. I’m not saying everyone should feel the way I do, I’m just trying to explain “the passion with which people dislike her.” It doesn’t bother me that other people feel differently, and I’m not trying to convert anyone.
So JanieM really dislikes Meghan, lol.
And maybe she is an annoying person, who knows, I just don’t get the passion with which people – mainly women, or so it seems – dislike her.
Heh. Obviously, people can react to other people, and events, in different ways. Some have more to do with the person reacted to, some are more about the person reacting, some are mixed.
As to Markle —
First, I’m literal-minded, possibly to the point of some sort of diagnosability. Meghan is fake. As I said, fake in a simpery sort of way. That pushes my personal buttons badly, but I don’t know how many people it would bother the way it bothers me. Of course she’s fake; she’s an actress, right? (I’m this way about advertising and fund-raising too, and apparently most people are not.)
Secondly, she’s not only self-absorbed, but absorbed in what to me is a mind-bogglingly outsized notion of her own importance. (Or, admittedly, what should be her own importance.) I would still never have heard of her if she hadn’t married into a family that is also mostly famous for being famous at this point.
Thirdly, those qualities are coupled with the obsessive airing of her alleged victimhood and the family dirty laundry in public. Since this would take pages to work out, I’ll leave it there, but my dislike of that dynamic isn’t confined to Markle (n.b. we could discuss the book Educated, which was a big bestseller a few years ago).
Fourthly: Presumably some of the dislike comes from fans of the royal family who are moved to take sides in the very public fight.
Fifthly: Other unsavory motivations include, as GftNC touched on, racism and misogyny, fanned by the gutter press.
*****
As to novakant’s “maybe she is an annoying person, who knows” — I chuckled over the “who knows” — I know, at least as regards my own personal reaction, because I get annoyed every time I watch/listen to a snippet of her and she opens her mouth. If you want to suggest that that’s more about my annoyability than about her annoyingness, I won’t argue. I’m not saying everyone should feel the way I do, I’m just trying to explain “the passion with which people dislike her.” It doesn’t bother me that other people feel differently, and I’m not trying to convert anyone.
So JanieM really dislikes Meghan
I’m not sure we are reading the same comments. I thought Janie just said that she’s really got no idea of who Meghan is, and is just surprised that she is so surprised by what has happened. I tend to be amazed when anyone with the level of fame that even a Meghan Markle has (not to mention Harry) turns out to be anything approaching normal, though I’ve also gotten a lot more suspicious of stories that ‘reveal’ some horrific aspect of celebrities, and it is often race, gender or class based. I have not seen any gender based disdain or hatred of Meghan, though I’m not really much up on it.
So JanieM really dislikes Meghan
I’m not sure we are reading the same comments. I thought Janie just said that she’s really got no idea of who Meghan is, and is just surprised that she is so surprised by what has happened. I tend to be amazed when anyone with the level of fame that even a Meghan Markle has (not to mention Harry) turns out to be anything approaching normal, though I’ve also gotten a lot more suspicious of stories that ‘reveal’ some horrific aspect of celebrities, and it is often race, gender or class based. I have not seen any gender based disdain or hatred of Meghan, though I’m not really much up on it.
I suspect it’s more a supply-and-demand problem.
That’s certainly a factor in the pay scale for workaday club gigging.
The “hey can you do me a favor” thing is more general, though, I think. My wife worked for a number of years as an interior designer, and people are always asking her for free advice about something or other.
“It’ll only take a minute”.
It’s like the thing with doctors. Mention you’re a doctor, somebody will start asking you what you think about the pain in their side.
I suspect it’s more a supply-and-demand problem.
That’s certainly a factor in the pay scale for workaday club gigging.
The “hey can you do me a favor” thing is more general, though, I think. My wife worked for a number of years as an interior designer, and people are always asking her for free advice about something or other.
“It’ll only take a minute”.
It’s like the thing with doctors. Mention you’re a doctor, somebody will start asking you what you think about the pain in their side.
the GOP is a public health hazard:
the GOP is a public health hazard:
’28 percent of Republicans said they would “definitely not” get vaccinated,’
Well, the least we can do is vaccinate the women and men who agree to sexually prostitute themselves to these diseased lumps of ignorant armed protoplasm.
’28 percent of Republicans said they would “definitely not” get vaccinated,’
Well, the least we can do is vaccinate the women and men who agree to sexually prostitute themselves to these diseased lumps of ignorant armed protoplasm.
But then 28% of Republicans have prostituted themselves out to Russian intelligence services, though it was stupidity that got them interested:
https://www.marketwatch.com/articles/russian-intelligence-services-are-meddling-in-the-vaccine-market-wsj-reports-51615215755?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts
But then 28% of Republicans have prostituted themselves out to Russian intelligence services, though it was stupidity that got them interested:
https://www.marketwatch.com/articles/russian-intelligence-services-are-meddling-in-the-vaccine-market-wsj-reports-51615215755?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts
A little background on my, and now my wife’s, vax appointments. I registered with the NJ state-run registry back in January. A tip from a co-worker prompted me to sign up a second time using a different email address last week. A couple of days later, this past Friday, I got the email to schedule my appointment, but not at the email I used to register a second time, rather at the first email.
So I tend to think it was coincidence not prompted by my second registration.
Though my wife was happy for me, she was also disappointed not to get an email to schedule an appointment. She registered three times using different email addresses after I told her what I had done. She also registered or tried to schedule both of us with every individual vaccine provider she could find, so far to no avail.
BUT! Saturday night, one of our friends we were on line with told us how she had spent a nearly sleepless week trying to get an appointment for her mother and about all the ins and outs of the various providers’ websites.
As luck would have it, it was just before Rite Aid was about to release new appointments for one week out (note: at 11:45 PM!), which we only knew about because of our friend’s prior efforts. My wife and our friend went on at the same time to try to get her an appointment. The only day showing available appointments was Saturday, March 13th.
Every time my wife would select a time, the response was something like, “Someone else just selected this appointment time. Please try another.” So it seems a number of people were on line clicking appointments at the same time trying to be first. But our more-savvy friend went down the list to the later appointments rather than clicking the first one at the top as I imagine everyone else was doing. She shouted, “I got it! 3:30 PM!” Sure enough, the confirmation email showed up moments later in my wife’s inbox.
So now she’s happily getting vaccinated 3 days ahead of me. Both of our appointments are about a 10 minute drive from our house.
That’s great for us, but I feel for people who don’t have ready access to the internet or who are just bad with technology and can’t figure stuff out.
The upside, though, is that the more shots that get into arms, the better it is even for the people who haven’t been vaccinated yet because of slower transmission rates. Everything I’ve heard about the megasites here is that they are extremely efficient, which makes me hopeful for the future.
A little background on my, and now my wife’s, vax appointments. I registered with the NJ state-run registry back in January. A tip from a co-worker prompted me to sign up a second time using a different email address last week. A couple of days later, this past Friday, I got the email to schedule my appointment, but not at the email I used to register a second time, rather at the first email.
So I tend to think it was coincidence not prompted by my second registration.
Though my wife was happy for me, she was also disappointed not to get an email to schedule an appointment. She registered three times using different email addresses after I told her what I had done. She also registered or tried to schedule both of us with every individual vaccine provider she could find, so far to no avail.
BUT! Saturday night, one of our friends we were on line with told us how she had spent a nearly sleepless week trying to get an appointment for her mother and about all the ins and outs of the various providers’ websites.
As luck would have it, it was just before Rite Aid was about to release new appointments for one week out (note: at 11:45 PM!), which we only knew about because of our friend’s prior efforts. My wife and our friend went on at the same time to try to get her an appointment. The only day showing available appointments was Saturday, March 13th.
Every time my wife would select a time, the response was something like, “Someone else just selected this appointment time. Please try another.” So it seems a number of people were on line clicking appointments at the same time trying to be first. But our more-savvy friend went down the list to the later appointments rather than clicking the first one at the top as I imagine everyone else was doing. She shouted, “I got it! 3:30 PM!” Sure enough, the confirmation email showed up moments later in my wife’s inbox.
So now she’s happily getting vaccinated 3 days ahead of me. Both of our appointments are about a 10 minute drive from our house.
That’s great for us, but I feel for people who don’t have ready access to the internet or who are just bad with technology and can’t figure stuff out.
The upside, though, is that the more shots that get into arms, the better it is even for the people who haven’t been vaccinated yet because of slower transmission rates. Everything I’ve heard about the megasites here is that they are extremely efficient, which makes me hopeful for the future.
I will note that between my first shot and second, the process, not too bad the first time, had clearly improved from lessons learned.
I will note that between my first shot and second, the process, not too bad the first time, had clearly improved from lessons learned.
A friend of mine who received his first shot a little more than a week ago at the megasite I’m scheduled for said he was chatting with one of the Nation Guard troops there. According the guardsman, the megasite was a clusterf*ck when it opened. Now they’re getting large groups of people in and out in under 30 minutes in very organized fashion.
I heard the same thing about the site at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. It runs like a machine.
I don’t see why that same story wouldn’t generally apply everywhere relatively soon. People are figuring it out, and how they’re doing it shouldn’t be a secret.
A friend of mine who received his first shot a little more than a week ago at the megasite I’m scheduled for said he was chatting with one of the Nation Guard troops there. According the guardsman, the megasite was a clusterf*ck when it opened. Now they’re getting large groups of people in and out in under 30 minutes in very organized fashion.
I heard the same thing about the site at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. It runs like a machine.
I don’t see why that same story wouldn’t generally apply everywhere relatively soon. People are figuring it out, and how they’re doing it shouldn’t be a secret.
Janie, lj – you might want to take a look at this:
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2020/1/17/21070351/meghan-markle-prince-harry-leaving-royal-family-uk-racism
And do follow all the links therein, if you can bear the depravity.
Janie, lj – you might want to take a look at this:
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2020/1/17/21070351/meghan-markle-prince-harry-leaving-royal-family-uk-racism
And do follow all the links therein, if you can bear the depravity.
novakant — thanks for the link. I read the article and will follow at least a few of the links later on.
It’s horribly depressing, but it doesn’t really change my reaction to the victimhood / responsibility ratio H&M project, or the strangeness of responding to the horrors of being “under the microscope” by aggresssively keeping yourself … under the microscope.
I would say “more later,” but I’m behind on everything after a weekend of vax aftereffects, so we’ll see.
novakant — thanks for the link. I read the article and will follow at least a few of the links later on.
It’s horribly depressing, but it doesn’t really change my reaction to the victimhood / responsibility ratio H&M project, or the strangeness of responding to the horrors of being “under the microscope” by aggresssively keeping yourself … under the microscope.
I would say “more later,” but I’m behind on everything after a weekend of vax aftereffects, so we’ll see.
Having stumbled on some H&M-related tweets when I was looking for some COVID stats, and been pounded over the head with the idea that the whole H&M thing is about race and pretty much nothing else, I’m going to retract what I just said: I won’t come back to it later.
Being gay, and having worked with many activists for gay rights and gay marriage over the years, I’ve met people who are sure that every single bad thing that happens to them is because of homophobia. But sometimes, IMHO, it’s also, or even mostly, because they’re assholes.
Clearly H&M have been through some very bad times. What baffles me is that they were surprised and so very unprepared, especially Harry. It also baffles me that they keep courting media attention for the opportunity to complain about having to be objects of media attention.
Except for having elicited GftNC’s good-hearted, balanced, and sober analysis, I’m sorry I brought it up.
Having stumbled on some H&M-related tweets when I was looking for some COVID stats, and been pounded over the head with the idea that the whole H&M thing is about race and pretty much nothing else, I’m going to retract what I just said: I won’t come back to it later.
Being gay, and having worked with many activists for gay rights and gay marriage over the years, I’ve met people who are sure that every single bad thing that happens to them is because of homophobia. But sometimes, IMHO, it’s also, or even mostly, because they’re assholes.
Clearly H&M have been through some very bad times. What baffles me is that they were surprised and so very unprepared, especially Harry. It also baffles me that they keep courting media attention for the opportunity to complain about having to be objects of media attention.
Except for having elicited GftNC’s good-hearted, balanced, and sober analysis, I’m sorry I brought it up.
novakant, I’m particularly glad your link had a link to the Buzzfeed piece showing, side by side, how the press treated Meghan compared to Kate for the same behaviours. And, as I mentioned before, they were pretty awful to Kate (on class grounds) before she and William were engaged. They are, generally speaking, racist, misogynist, conscienceless and absolutely unconcerned with how much suffering they inflict or what its consequences are. As one of the pieces I read said, they go on and on about how Diana’s driver had been drinking, and keep forgetting to mention how she was being pursued at the time by a pack of paparazzi.
Ah well. This story, alas, will run and run. I will watch the interview tonight, but nothing I have read about the so-called “revelations” really surprises me.
I wish them, and the whole family, well. It’s a ghastly life, despite the palaces and the jewels.
novakant, I’m particularly glad your link had a link to the Buzzfeed piece showing, side by side, how the press treated Meghan compared to Kate for the same behaviours. And, as I mentioned before, they were pretty awful to Kate (on class grounds) before she and William were engaged. They are, generally speaking, racist, misogynist, conscienceless and absolutely unconcerned with how much suffering they inflict or what its consequences are. As one of the pieces I read said, they go on and on about how Diana’s driver had been drinking, and keep forgetting to mention how she was being pursued at the time by a pack of paparazzi.
Ah well. This story, alas, will run and run. I will watch the interview tonight, but nothing I have read about the so-called “revelations” really surprises me.
I wish them, and the whole family, well. It’s a ghastly life, despite the palaces and the jewels.
I posted before reading your last, Janie. Thanks for your kind words, and I’m sure you’re right: it’s now consumed a bit too much of our airtime!
I posted before reading your last, Janie. Thanks for your kind words, and I’m sure you’re right: it’s now consumed a bit too much of our airtime!
Royal family stuff: I have a hard time relating to, or even caring very much about, people who don’t put on their own clothes.
Back when Downton Abbey was a thing, I spent about half the show yelling at the TV. Zip up your own damned gown, Lady Mary!!
My wife found it very annoying.
Royal family stuff: I have a hard time relating to, or even caring very much about, people who don’t put on their own clothes.
Back when Downton Abbey was a thing, I spent about half the show yelling at the TV. Zip up your own damned gown, Lady Mary!!
My wife found it very annoying.
old world problems
old world problems
A fascinating take, from someone who’s seriously liberal, on why what Sen. Manchin is doing is a good thing. For liberals.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/08/joe-manchins-plan-is-working-perfectly-liberals-may-wind-up-thanking-him/
In summary, he may simultaneously let Biden get much of his agenda thru (by reforming the filibuster) while maintaining his bona fides as bipartisan, so he can keep getting elected as a Democrat in a deep red state. When Democrats need every Senate seat they can muster.
A fascinating take, from someone who’s seriously liberal, on why what Sen. Manchin is doing is a good thing. For liberals.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/08/joe-manchins-plan-is-working-perfectly-liberals-may-wind-up-thanking-him/
In summary, he may simultaneously let Biden get much of his agenda thru (by reforming the filibuster) while maintaining his bona fides as bipartisan, so he can keep getting elected as a Democrat in a deep red state. When Democrats need every Senate seat they can muster.
sounded like wishful thinking to me.
Manchin is certainly trying to help himself get reelected, but the 12-D chess thing with the filibuster? i dunno.
if he’s serious, reform would be welcome.
sounded like wishful thinking to me.
Manchin is certainly trying to help himself get reelected, but the 12-D chess thing with the filibuster? i dunno.
if he’s serious, reform would be welcome.
Doesn’t really matter if he’s gamed it all out. If the results come thru, that’s sufficient.
Doesn’t really matter if he’s gamed it all out. If the results come thru, that’s sufficient.
If the results come thru, that’s sufficient.
I guess we shall find out shortly. What big legislative item (yes, there are many) will Schumer bring to the floor next?
If the results come thru, that’s sufficient.
I guess we shall find out shortly. What big legislative item (yes, there are many) will Schumer bring to the floor next?
I’m guessing the voting rights bills (HR 1, etc.).
I suppose he could try for a stand-alone minimum wage bill. But the voting rights bill seems a) more critical, and b) more likely to be one where he can get some filibuster reform started.
I’m guessing the voting rights bills (HR 1, etc.).
I suppose he could try for a stand-alone minimum wage bill. But the voting rights bill seems a) more critical, and b) more likely to be one where he can get some filibuster reform started.
Biden should disappear a dozen GOP Senators, then immediately resign and tell the rest of them to suck it.
reform that, ya bastards.
Biden should disappear a dozen GOP Senators, then immediately resign and tell the rest of them to suck it.
reform that, ya bastards.
Well, since the last president blew up the norms and protocols for how government is supposed to work, and with it the Reagan/Clinton partisan divide narrative, what we are seeing in the back and forth between Manchin and AOC and how Democratic leadership negotiate that set of needs is the building of a new formulation of bipartisanship. It’s odd that we can look at one party as a model for bipartisan action, but it’s been clear for a while that the GOP has no interest in shared governance. If the Dems can find a way to thread both the Manchin and the AOC needle, then they might finally have a viable platform for challenging in places like Texas.
Well, since the last president blew up the norms and protocols for how government is supposed to work, and with it the Reagan/Clinton partisan divide narrative, what we are seeing in the back and forth between Manchin and AOC and how Democratic leadership negotiate that set of needs is the building of a new formulation of bipartisanship. It’s odd that we can look at one party as a model for bipartisan action, but it’s been clear for a while that the GOP has no interest in shared governance. If the Dems can find a way to thread both the Manchin and the AOC needle, then they might finally have a viable platform for challenging in places like Texas.
lj,
yes. time will tell if Joe Manchin will accede to the political priorities of Joe Biden and cement some real meaningful historical stature, or become this decade’s Joe Lieberman. but you know, too many joes spoil the soup.
as for the filibuster….here is an interesting historical tidbit. Where did that Republican Party go?
lj,
yes. time will tell if Joe Manchin will accede to the political priorities of Joe Biden and cement some real meaningful historical stature, or become this decade’s Joe Lieberman. but you know, too many joes spoil the soup.
as for the filibuster….here is an interesting historical tidbit. Where did that Republican Party go?
oops…too many j’s. was meant for wj.
oops…too many j’s. was meant for wj.
If the Dems can find a way to thread both the Manchin and the AOC needle, then they might finally have a viable platform for challenging in places like Texas.
How feasible this is depends, I think, on the extent to which the AOC wing is willing to take half a loaf on some things. Rather than insist on getting everything they want, and ending up with nothing. For the moment, Biden seems to be keeping everybody, however grudgingly, on side.
If the Dems can find a way to thread both the Manchin and the AOC needle, then they might finally have a viable platform for challenging in places like Texas.
How feasible this is depends, I think, on the extent to which the AOC wing is willing to take half a loaf on some things. Rather than insist on getting everything they want, and ending up with nothing. For the moment, Biden seems to be keeping everybody, however grudgingly, on side.
Where did that Republican Party go?
Some became centerist Democrats. Some are still around, albeit fairly invisible (on the national level) because Nixon’s Southern Strategy resulted in all those racist Southern Democrats of a century ago becoming Republicans. And effectively taking over the party. (With, to be fair, a big assist from the fanatic libertarians who were already on the fringes of the party.)
Where did that Republican Party go?
Some became centerist Democrats. Some are still around, albeit fairly invisible (on the national level) because Nixon’s Southern Strategy resulted in all those racist Southern Democrats of a century ago becoming Republicans. And effectively taking over the party. (With, to be fair, a big assist from the fanatic libertarians who were already on the fringes of the party.)
that GOP disappeared up Limbaugh’s colon.
that GOP disappeared up Limbaugh’s colon.
How feasible this is depends, I think, on the extent to which the AOC wing is willing to take half a loaf on some things.
They seem pretty willing to take half a loaf, they just won’t do so quietly or enthusiastically, and they will pressure people like Manchin to justify their own positions directly to low-wage workers. I think Manchin learned a valuable lesson when Harris went on WV television to argue for COVID relief that he had taken a stand against. He’s going to have to work harder to keep that coalition going, and he can’t do that through 90s Third Way austerity bullshit.
How feasible this is depends, I think, on the extent to which the AOC wing is willing to take half a loaf on some things.
They seem pretty willing to take half a loaf, they just won’t do so quietly or enthusiastically, and they will pressure people like Manchin to justify their own positions directly to low-wage workers. I think Manchin learned a valuable lesson when Harris went on WV television to argue for COVID relief that he had taken a stand against. He’s going to have to work harder to keep that coalition going, and he can’t do that through 90s Third Way austerity bullshit.
Where did it go?
It’s exactly the same as it always was. A racist, white nationalist piece of murderous shit.
Limbaugh was merely a low level opportunistic gauleiter in the big picture of Republican evil, may he rot for eternity.
It should have been run off the face of the Earth as a political entity, along with the Southern Democrats, 90 years, 80 years ago, 70 years ago, 60 years ago, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, ten years ago, five years ago, last November 7, 2021, yesterday, today, and tomorrow with savage fury.
https://newrepublic.com/article/161603/john-birch-society-qanon-trump?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=EB_TNR&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1615179079
Hat tip to LGM. Clear your cookies.
Why wasn’t William F. Buckley burned out of his home in the 1950s and shot in the street? And please me spare the notion that he was merely a man of his times, just coasting with the attitudes of that culture.
Bullshit! Every black person, every Jew, every gay American, every woman and their families whose lives were circumscribed, held back, outright ruined by his venomous hate, shared by most of the white culture, knew better unequivocally what was right and wrong.
I guess those groups have always been ahead of times morally and ethically, dumbass white males like me leading up the rear on the road to justice.
Oh yeah, now we get it, after a millennium of wasted human lives, tens and hundreds of millions of them, as they cooled their heels waiting for us to GET it, with glimpses of getting it only to backtrack and fuck it up.
Kill the Republican Party.
Up with ham sandwiches, which seems to be all we can manage.
Where did it go?
It’s exactly the same as it always was. A racist, white nationalist piece of murderous shit.
Limbaugh was merely a low level opportunistic gauleiter in the big picture of Republican evil, may he rot for eternity.
It should have been run off the face of the Earth as a political entity, along with the Southern Democrats, 90 years, 80 years ago, 70 years ago, 60 years ago, 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, ten years ago, five years ago, last November 7, 2021, yesterday, today, and tomorrow with savage fury.
https://newrepublic.com/article/161603/john-birch-society-qanon-trump?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=EB_TNR&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1615179079
Hat tip to LGM. Clear your cookies.
Why wasn’t William F. Buckley burned out of his home in the 1950s and shot in the street? And please me spare the notion that he was merely a man of his times, just coasting with the attitudes of that culture.
Bullshit! Every black person, every Jew, every gay American, every woman and their families whose lives were circumscribed, held back, outright ruined by his venomous hate, shared by most of the white culture, knew better unequivocally what was right and wrong.
I guess those groups have always been ahead of times morally and ethically, dumbass white males like me leading up the rear on the road to justice.
Oh yeah, now we get it, after a millennium of wasted human lives, tens and hundreds of millions of them, as they cooled their heels waiting for us to GET it, with glimpses of getting it only to backtrack and fuck it up.
Kill the Republican Party.
Up with ham sandwiches, which seems to be all we can manage.
Also, briefly nodding back towards the opening of the thread. Lars Göran Petrov, lead vocalist for death metal pioneers Entombed, just passed away from cancer. Listening to them reminded me of another Swedish death metal band, Usurpress, whose lead passed from cancer a couple years back and prompted me to add them into my memorial playlist to be listened to as my office hours went largely unvisited today.
I bring up Usurpress because of what russell said earlier:
It was also interesting to me to hear Sandman with a drummer like Lewis on board. His sense of time is much fatter than Ulrich’s, at least on this. He sits a little further back in the time feel, rather than being on top and pushing the time. It was like listening to a metal band with an R&B drummer on board…
Usurpress’ last album was literally recorded while their lead was in treatment for terminal cancer. Parts of the vocals were recorded directly on his iPhone while he was at the hospital, so the band had all of the vocals recorded first for the demos with just a drum machine. Then the drummer for whom the parts were written quit and they brought in a jazz fusion drummer to replace him and redid the songs around the demo vocals with entirely new arrangements that leaned into the new dynamics.
https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/track/in-books-without-pages
It ended up being one of my favorite metal albums.
Anyway, just one more example of how combining different time feels can create unique music.
Also, briefly nodding back towards the opening of the thread. Lars Göran Petrov, lead vocalist for death metal pioneers Entombed, just passed away from cancer. Listening to them reminded me of another Swedish death metal band, Usurpress, whose lead passed from cancer a couple years back and prompted me to add them into my memorial playlist to be listened to as my office hours went largely unvisited today.
I bring up Usurpress because of what russell said earlier:
It was also interesting to me to hear Sandman with a drummer like Lewis on board. His sense of time is much fatter than Ulrich’s, at least on this. He sits a little further back in the time feel, rather than being on top and pushing the time. It was like listening to a metal band with an R&B drummer on board…
Usurpress’ last album was literally recorded while their lead was in treatment for terminal cancer. Parts of the vocals were recorded directly on his iPhone while he was at the hospital, so the band had all of the vocals recorded first for the demos with just a drum machine. Then the drummer for whom the parts were written quit and they brought in a jazz fusion drummer to replace him and redid the songs around the demo vocals with entirely new arrangements that leaned into the new dynamics.
https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/track/in-books-without-pages
It ended up being one of my favorite metal albums.
Anyway, just one more example of how combining different time feels can create unique music.
I don’t want to get back into the muck, but I do want to apologize for my analogy about gay people who blame every bad thing on homophobia. It’s not a fair comparison to Meghan Markle’s situation.
The tabloid/gutter press is undeniably hateful and destrucctive. No one (okay, maybe Clickbait and his henchpersons) deserves to be the target of that kind of viciousness.
But…
1) the situation vis a vis the family is more complicated — anyone who has ever been part of a family probably has a feel for how complicated family conflict can be.
2) Beyond that, I can hold two thoughts in my mind at the same time. The press is awful. That doesn’t mean anything H&M do is dandy.
That is all.
I don’t want to get back into the muck, but I do want to apologize for my analogy about gay people who blame every bad thing on homophobia. It’s not a fair comparison to Meghan Markle’s situation.
The tabloid/gutter press is undeniably hateful and destrucctive. No one (okay, maybe Clickbait and his henchpersons) deserves to be the target of that kind of viciousness.
But…
1) the situation vis a vis the family is more complicated — anyone who has ever been part of a family probably has a feel for how complicated family conflict can be.
2) Beyond that, I can hold two thoughts in my mind at the same time. The press is awful. That doesn’t mean anything H&M do is dandy.
That is all.
I think there is some points to discuss about Meghan and Harry, but it might be better to tackle it after a while. But linked to novakant’s article is this one
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal
That puts the articles side by side.
I think there is some points to discuss about Meghan and Harry, but it might be better to tackle it after a while. But linked to novakant’s article is this one
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal
That puts the articles side by side.
How feasible this is depends, I think, on the extent to which the AOC wing is willing to take half a loaf on some things.
Joe Manchin…not even a counteroffer on minimum wage.
Joe Manchin…clears throat, makes snuffling noises about filibuster.
Joe Manchin…votes to seat wingnut judges.
Joe Manchin..torpedoes Neera Tanden (yes, she was no lefty icon either, but still).
So maybe, just maybe, Joe fucking Manchin and his fellow travellers could settle for half a loaf now and then, too, ya’ think?
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO. (heard that somewhere…was it that Marlon Brando movie?)
The “AOC wing” has shown itself quite willing to “settle” for half a loaf quite often. The mushy middle? They usually, if pushed, offer crumbs and cry and moan about how many more seats they would have picked up if it weren’t for the woke libs and their absolutist demands. This might come as a surprise to you, but drawing lines in the sand about bullshit like PAYGO, THE OH SO TERRIBLE NATIONAL DEBT, PENTAGON SPENDING, “ENTITLEMENTS”, and the marvelous politics of AUSTERITY are equally as extreme and ideological as anything your run of the mill Trotskyite can come up with (when sober).
How feasible this is depends, I think, on the extent to which the AOC wing is willing to take half a loaf on some things.
Joe Manchin…not even a counteroffer on minimum wage.
Joe Manchin…clears throat, makes snuffling noises about filibuster.
Joe Manchin…votes to seat wingnut judges.
Joe Manchin..torpedoes Neera Tanden (yes, she was no lefty icon either, but still).
So maybe, just maybe, Joe fucking Manchin and his fellow travellers could settle for half a loaf now and then, too, ya’ think?
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO. (heard that somewhere…was it that Marlon Brando movie?)
The “AOC wing” has shown itself quite willing to “settle” for half a loaf quite often. The mushy middle? They usually, if pushed, offer crumbs and cry and moan about how many more seats they would have picked up if it weren’t for the woke libs and their absolutist demands. This might come as a surprise to you, but drawing lines in the sand about bullshit like PAYGO, THE OH SO TERRIBLE NATIONAL DEBT, PENTAGON SPENDING, “ENTITLEMENTS”, and the marvelous politics of AUSTERITY are equally as extreme and ideological as anything your run of the mill Trotskyite can come up with (when sober).
You know if Manchin and Sinema really want “bipartisanship” and “input” from the GOP they could go to McConnell and tell him that he needs to cough up 5-10 GOP votes on a few things now and then and the Dems will do a bit of horse trading in return, or they will flip the filibuster switch.
But they don’t.
So you see, they do not use their power against the other side. They use it against their own.
(but yes…credit due to voting for the relief package…kudus to them both).
You know if Manchin and Sinema really want “bipartisanship” and “input” from the GOP they could go to McConnell and tell him that he needs to cough up 5-10 GOP votes on a few things now and then and the Dems will do a bit of horse trading in return, or they will flip the filibuster switch.
But they don’t.
So you see, they do not use their power against the other side. They use it against their own.
(but yes…credit due to voting for the relief package…kudus to them both).
So maybe, just maybe, Joe fucking Manchin and his fellow travellers could settle for half a loaf now and then, too, ya’ think?
Does it occur to you that Manchin has zero leverage with McConnell? (Well, unless he was to offer to change parties. Which, if he considers that, he’d be well advised to have his 30 pieces of silver oaid up front and in full. Probably part of the reason for not doing that.) A threat to eliminate the filibuster goes nowhere, because it’s just too open-ended. And McConnell only respects raw power — and even a literal gun to his head would only work temporarily.
Does it occur to you that, eventually, Manchin has ended up voting for the vast majority of bills where his vote made a difference? Which means that he’s routinely getting passed legislation that is substantially more liberal than he would prefer. In short, he’s taking half a loaf routinely.
So maybe, just maybe, Joe fucking Manchin and his fellow travellers could settle for half a loaf now and then, too, ya’ think?
Does it occur to you that Manchin has zero leverage with McConnell? (Well, unless he was to offer to change parties. Which, if he considers that, he’d be well advised to have his 30 pieces of silver oaid up front and in full. Probably part of the reason for not doing that.) A threat to eliminate the filibuster goes nowhere, because it’s just too open-ended. And McConnell only respects raw power — and even a literal gun to his head would only work temporarily.
Does it occur to you that, eventually, Manchin has ended up voting for the vast majority of bills where his vote made a difference? Which means that he’s routinely getting passed legislation that is substantially more liberal than he would prefer. In short, he’s taking half a loaf routinely.
So you see, they do not use their power against the other side. They use it against their own.
Perhaps I’m doing you an injustice here. But I get the impression that you think everybody knows, in their heart, that your positions are the right and virtuous ones. And only oppose them from evil motives.
Whereas the reality is that lots of people, in good faith, believe in other views. If you cannot accept that, you are going to perpetually find yourself frustrated by the world.
So you see, they do not use their power against the other side. They use it against their own.
Perhaps I’m doing you an injustice here. But I get the impression that you think everybody knows, in their heart, that your positions are the right and virtuous ones. And only oppose them from evil motives.
Whereas the reality is that lots of people, in good faith, believe in other views. If you cannot accept that, you are going to perpetually find yourself frustrated by the world.
But linked to novakant’s article is this one
I saw that when it was first published.
??
But linked to novakant’s article is this one
I saw that when it was first published.
??
It ended up being one of my favorite metal albums.
That track was badass, nous. I’ll have listen to it again, but not with my phone at low volume pressed against my ear to avoid disturbing the family.
It ended up being one of my favorite metal albums.
That track was badass, nous. I’ll have listen to it again, but not with my phone at low volume pressed against my ear to avoid disturbing the family.
A delightful piece of percussion, lj.
This is much briefer, but fun in its own way.
https://twitter.com/tedgioia/status/1368101576603238402
{For those who enjoy reading about music, Gioia is a fantastic writer.)
A delightful piece of percussion, lj.
This is much briefer, but fun in its own way.
https://twitter.com/tedgioia/status/1368101576603238402
{For those who enjoy reading about music, Gioia is a fantastic writer.)
Ahh, that appeared in my news feed and I didn’t check the date, surprised that it was recycled.
Ahh, that appeared in my news feed and I didn’t check the date, surprised that it was recycled.
Speaking of music…
I went on a spree of reading rock criticism last month, which ultimately lead to my reading Neil Peart’s book Roadshow, travel writing and memoirs arranged around Rush’s 30th anniversary tour. This is one of those books I now happily recommend to friends who are interested in the experiences of a very decent guy who’s a graceful writer, thoroughly observant, interested in people and keen to like and learn from them, frequently funny, and just all-around good company for some hours of reading (or listening, if you go audiobooks) time, even if they have no interest in Rush the band or the specifics of Peart’s remarkable playing.
Part of what made it so sympathetic for me is that Peart was an intensely private man, and you can see the work it takes to write about some things, like the stretch where his teenage daughter was killed in an accident and his first wife died of cancer and despair a few months later. (It’s also fascinating as a writer to see how he handled things he didn’t care to share. Like, we see nothing of his life at home – trips back home fade out before he arrives, and trips heading out pick up at the first stopping point once underway. And we see nothing of how he spends the anniversary of his daughter’s death.) It’s…well, like I said earlier, it’s very decent, and respectful of others in the way he wants his own privacy respected.
Check it out. 🙂
A couple of quotes:
“Similarly, in those early days, I sometimes liked to walk from the hotel to the venue, exploring the streets of San Antonio or San Francisco, but suddenly (it seemed) the “reception committees” outside the stage door became too large, too clamorous. Again, naturally you want people to admire your work, but not so much your walking around. I was simply not easy with that sort of attention; I felt embarrassed and uncomfortable.
Typically, that is the point in one’s career when it is customary to lose your way, feel alienated, and start drinking too much, or taking a lot of drugs. Mostly that kind of behavior just made me throw up, so I hid out and read books.”
And:
“We circled Inverness and picked up a small road to the south of famed Loch Ness, avoiding the main road on its north shore. The Skibo doorman had warned us that road was often crowded with tourist coaches—though of course we would always choose the smaller road anyway. The clouds began to close in, bringing mist and showers, as we rode past more of those shaggy green forests and tiny cottages. The lonely little road was sometimes two-lane, sometimes one, with hardly another vehicle on it. The thick woods obscured any view of the Loch, but it was still a lovely ride.
“At the far end of Loch Ness, we arrived in the busy little tourist town of Fort Augustus, and finally had a view of the misty waters that harbored that famous monster. Fueling up, we continued southwest past Loch Lochy (“Lake Lakey?”) and out to the western shore of Scotland, riding along a series of misty lochs and firths, then back inland, through forests and farmlands (and sheep). As I noted later, “So many quaint little villages and cottages. So many sheep. So much rain.”
And:
“During my quiet time on the bus after dinner, Dave told me that during soundcheck he had been getting a massage (local therapists often set up a massage table backstage, for cramped-up drivers and crew members). The masseuse had told him her seventeen-year-old daughter had never heard of Rush, but the girl’s boyfriend, a seventeen-year-old bass player, had said, “Aren’t they the old guys with the world’s greatest living drummer?”
“I had to laugh at that—though I knew there were at least fifty drummers ahead of me on that list.”
Speaking of music…
I went on a spree of reading rock criticism last month, which ultimately lead to my reading Neil Peart’s book Roadshow, travel writing and memoirs arranged around Rush’s 30th anniversary tour. This is one of those books I now happily recommend to friends who are interested in the experiences of a very decent guy who’s a graceful writer, thoroughly observant, interested in people and keen to like and learn from them, frequently funny, and just all-around good company for some hours of reading (or listening, if you go audiobooks) time, even if they have no interest in Rush the band or the specifics of Peart’s remarkable playing.
Part of what made it so sympathetic for me is that Peart was an intensely private man, and you can see the work it takes to write about some things, like the stretch where his teenage daughter was killed in an accident and his first wife died of cancer and despair a few months later. (It’s also fascinating as a writer to see how he handled things he didn’t care to share. Like, we see nothing of his life at home – trips back home fade out before he arrives, and trips heading out pick up at the first stopping point once underway. And we see nothing of how he spends the anniversary of his daughter’s death.) It’s…well, like I said earlier, it’s very decent, and respectful of others in the way he wants his own privacy respected.
Check it out. 🙂
A couple of quotes:
“Similarly, in those early days, I sometimes liked to walk from the hotel to the venue, exploring the streets of San Antonio or San Francisco, but suddenly (it seemed) the “reception committees” outside the stage door became too large, too clamorous. Again, naturally you want people to admire your work, but not so much your walking around. I was simply not easy with that sort of attention; I felt embarrassed and uncomfortable.
Typically, that is the point in one’s career when it is customary to lose your way, feel alienated, and start drinking too much, or taking a lot of drugs. Mostly that kind of behavior just made me throw up, so I hid out and read books.”
And:
“We circled Inverness and picked up a small road to the south of famed Loch Ness, avoiding the main road on its north shore. The Skibo doorman had warned us that road was often crowded with tourist coaches—though of course we would always choose the smaller road anyway. The clouds began to close in, bringing mist and showers, as we rode past more of those shaggy green forests and tiny cottages. The lonely little road was sometimes two-lane, sometimes one, with hardly another vehicle on it. The thick woods obscured any view of the Loch, but it was still a lovely ride.
“At the far end of Loch Ness, we arrived in the busy little tourist town of Fort Augustus, and finally had a view of the misty waters that harbored that famous monster. Fueling up, we continued southwest past Loch Lochy (“Lake Lakey?”) and out to the western shore of Scotland, riding along a series of misty lochs and firths, then back inland, through forests and farmlands (and sheep). As I noted later, “So many quaint little villages and cottages. So many sheep. So much rain.”
And:
“During my quiet time on the bus after dinner, Dave told me that during soundcheck he had been getting a massage (local therapists often set up a massage table backstage, for cramped-up drivers and crew members). The masseuse had told him her seventeen-year-old daughter had never heard of Rush, but the girl’s boyfriend, a seventeen-year-old bass player, had said, “Aren’t they the old guys with the world’s greatest living drummer?”
“I had to laugh at that—though I knew there were at least fifty drummers ahead of me on that list.”
that Peart book has been on my list for a while. he always seemed like a decent and interesting guy in the interviews i’ve seen (esp. in that great* Rush documentary).
they were my second self-chosen, unaccompanied concert, 9/15/84. Fastway opened.
* depending on how much you like their music, i suppose
that Peart book has been on my list for a while. he always seemed like a decent and interesting guy in the interviews i’ve seen (esp. in that great* Rush documentary).
they were my second self-chosen, unaccompanied concert, 9/15/84. Fastway opened.
* depending on how much you like their music, i suppose
we continued southwest past Loch Lochy (“Lake Lakey?”)
Needs a Boaty McBoatface at the dock, though.
we continued southwest past Loch Lochy (“Lake Lakey?”)
Needs a Boaty McBoatface at the dock, though.
Cleek: I think Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage can work for folks who aren’t Rush fans, just interested in how this group’s navigated the music world. Things like how much they love their parents, and how much their parents love them and delight in their success and appreciate the hard work they put into getting there, are fascinating examples of not doing the cliche thing.
Martin Popoff also took the dozens of hours of interviews that couldn’t fit in the documentary, did more research and interviews, and produced a delightful 3-volume group biography – Anthem: Rush in the 1970s and Limelight: Rush in the 1980s are out, with a concluding volume coming next month. But Peart in his own words is particularly interesting, and like I said, good as a travel writer and memoir writer even for folks who don’t know anything about him.
Cleek: I think Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage can work for folks who aren’t Rush fans, just interested in how this group’s navigated the music world. Things like how much they love their parents, and how much their parents love them and delight in their success and appreciate the hard work they put into getting there, are fascinating examples of not doing the cliche thing.
Martin Popoff also took the dozens of hours of interviews that couldn’t fit in the documentary, did more research and interviews, and produced a delightful 3-volume group biography – Anthem: Rush in the 1970s and Limelight: Rush in the 1980s are out, with a concluding volume coming next month. But Peart in his own words is particularly interesting, and like I said, good as a travel writer and memoir writer even for folks who don’t know anything about him.
I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine yesterday morning. The muscle below the injection site is a little sore*, but no other side effects so far. I have seldom had side effects from vaccinations, so this is pretty much what I was expecting. I expect the second dose will be worse.
* When I say sore, I mean I’ve had bruises from epee hits that were considerably more painful for a few days than this is.
I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine yesterday morning. The muscle below the injection site is a little sore*, but no other side effects so far. I have seldom had side effects from vaccinations, so this is pretty much what I was expecting. I expect the second dose will be worse.
* When I say sore, I mean I’ve had bruises from epee hits that were considerably more painful for a few days than this is.
wife had chills last night, after her J&J vaccination. seems fine today.
i’m still stuck in group 4… way out here on the outskirts of nowhere.
wife had chills last night, after her J&J vaccination. seems fine today.
i’m still stuck in group 4… way out here on the outskirts of nowhere.
I find Peart’s political evolution to be interesting. This is from a 2012 RS interview (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-peart-rush-new-lp-248712/):
I may have mentioned previously that I was more or less a libertarian (small “l”) in my youth – perhaps something like a technocratic, social-Darwinist brand of libertarian. Whatever it was, it was nasty, probably nastier than Peart’s libertarianism from what I can tell, though I wasn’t directly influenced by Rand. Either way, I still relate to what he says about all the flaws you discover as time goes on, and I think it’s part of the reason I get frustrated with people who stick with it even after learning more about life.
I find Peart’s political evolution to be interesting. This is from a 2012 RS interview (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-peart-rush-new-lp-248712/):
I may have mentioned previously that I was more or less a libertarian (small “l”) in my youth – perhaps something like a technocratic, social-Darwinist brand of libertarian. Whatever it was, it was nasty, probably nastier than Peart’s libertarianism from what I can tell, though I wasn’t directly influenced by Rand. Either way, I still relate to what he says about all the flaws you discover as time goes on, and I think it’s part of the reason I get frustrated with people who stick with it even after learning more about life.
Ooops! A couple extra characters got caught up in the link.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-peart-rush-new-lp-248712/
Ooops! A couple extra characters got caught up in the link.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-peart-rush-new-lp-248712/
On the royal front, I friend posted a link to this on FB. I’m really baffled by the whole thing, so I’m just throwing this up for discussion, and because it’s funny even if you don’t give a crap about any of it.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/harry-and-meghan-the-union-of-two-great-houses-the-windsors-and-the-celebrities-is-complete-1.4504502
On the royal front, I friend posted a link to this on FB. I’m really baffled by the whole thing, so I’m just throwing this up for discussion, and because it’s funny even if you don’t give a crap about any of it.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/harry-and-meghan-the-union-of-two-great-houses-the-windsors-and-the-celebrities-is-complete-1.4504502
Either way, I still relate to what he says about all the flaws you discover as time goes on, and I think it’s part of the reason I get frustrated with people who stick with it even after learning more about life.
But, then, there’s any number of people who start out as Marxists, socialists, progressives, liberals and end up as libertarians.
Either way, I still relate to what he says about all the flaws you discover as time goes on, and I think it’s part of the reason I get frustrated with people who stick with it even after learning more about life.
But, then, there’s any number of people who start out as Marxists, socialists, progressives, liberals and end up as libertarians.
hsh, that piece at the link is hilarious. I’m surprised the Irish Times let me read it; usually they block me, even when I delete all my cookies.
Maybe they only keep the crown jewels (ha ha, a pun arises!) like Fintan O’Toole behind a tighter lock and key.
hsh, that piece at the link is hilarious. I’m surprised the Irish Times let me read it; usually they block me, even when I delete all my cookies.
Maybe they only keep the crown jewels (ha ha, a pun arises!) like Fintan O’Toole behind a tighter lock and key.
But, then, there’s any number of people who start out as Marxists, socialists, progressives, liberals and end up as libertarians.
Yeah, and those people are positively odious. ;^)
But, then, there’s any number of people who start out as Marxists, socialists, progressives, liberals and end up as libertarians.
Yeah, and those people are positively odious. ;^)
Ted Cruz should vote to confirm Ms Gupta because he and his racist, white nationalist, fake Christian, conservative, pandemic-loving, armed evildoers are going to need the full weight of the U.S. Department of Justice to defend them against the savage prejudicial fury coming at them from tens of millions, let’s up that number to hundreds of millions, of decent human beings in America who don’t consider him one of our species, let alone an American citizen.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gupta-senate-republicans-confirmation-hearing
I’m sure she’ll be evenhanded.
Raw sewage won’t work against the flames that will engulf him because he IS raw sewage and is merely refreshed by its application as a flame retardant.
Biden’s appointees really should strap on semi-automatic firearms when they are forced to appear and be harassed and attacked by republican haters.
Ted Cruz should vote to confirm Ms Gupta because he and his racist, white nationalist, fake Christian, conservative, pandemic-loving, armed evildoers are going to need the full weight of the U.S. Department of Justice to defend them against the savage prejudicial fury coming at them from tens of millions, let’s up that number to hundreds of millions, of decent human beings in America who don’t consider him one of our species, let alone an American citizen.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gupta-senate-republicans-confirmation-hearing
I’m sure she’ll be evenhanded.
Raw sewage won’t work against the flames that will engulf him because he IS raw sewage and is merely refreshed by its application as a flame retardant.
Biden’s appointees really should strap on semi-automatic firearms when they are forced to appear and be harassed and attacked by republican haters.
But, then, there’s any number of people who start out as Marxists, socialists, progressives, liberals and end up as libertarians.
And then there’s those of us who start out as libertarians and, as we become acquainted with reality, end up as (real) conservatives, moderates, liberals or even progressives. (Marxists or socialists or other forms of authoritarians seem to be a bridge too far.)
But, then, there’s any number of people who start out as Marxists, socialists, progressives, liberals and end up as libertarians.
And then there’s those of us who start out as libertarians and, as we become acquainted with reality, end up as (real) conservatives, moderates, liberals or even progressives. (Marxists or socialists or other forms of authoritarians seem to be a bridge too far.)
Yeah, and those people are positively odious. ;^)
True if they are a technocratic, social-Darwinist brand of libertarian. 🙂
Yeah, and those people are positively odious. ;^)
True if they are a technocratic, social-Darwinist brand of libertarian. 🙂
And then there’s those of us who start out as libertarians and, as we become acquainted with reality, end up as (real) conservatives, moderates, liberals or even progressives.
When people see the light, they don’t necessarily see the same light.
And then there’s those of us who start out as libertarians and, as we become acquainted with reality, end up as (real) conservatives, moderates, liberals or even progressives.
When people see the light, they don’t necessarily see the same light.
When people see the light, they don’t necessarily see the same light.
So true
When people see the light, they don’t necessarily see the same light.
So true
People are like cockroaches. Some run towards the light, some run away. 🪳
People are like cockroaches. Some run towards the light, some run away. 🪳
Today’s weather forecast says Fort Collins can expect something between 5″ and 30″ of snow over the Friday through Sunday period. Not particularly useful information. I’ll be getting up early tomorrow and hitting the groceries as if the high end and a week-long power outage is a sure thing, since it will make Mrs. Cain happier.
I will note that although we’ve only been here for five months, Fort Collins plus the Platte River Power Authority that handles generation have delivered the cleanest, most reliable electric power of any place I have ever lived. Including the week where we occasionally had the usual scourge of Front Range power, straight line winds with gusts past 70 mph.
Today’s weather forecast says Fort Collins can expect something between 5″ and 30″ of snow over the Friday through Sunday period. Not particularly useful information. I’ll be getting up early tomorrow and hitting the groceries as if the high end and a week-long power outage is a sure thing, since it will make Mrs. Cain happier.
I will note that although we’ve only been here for five months, Fort Collins plus the Platte River Power Authority that handles generation have delivered the cleanest, most reliable electric power of any place I have ever lived. Including the week where we occasionally had the usual scourge of Front Range power, straight line winds with gusts past 70 mph.
Pfizer injection soreness is fading fast. Yesterday’s run was more of a run/walk due to feeling run down. Today felt like a big rebound.
I can somewhat relate to the epee hit comparison. but in escrima it was the wrist and underside of the forearm where we were always “cutting tendons” with our training knives.
Pfizer injection soreness is fading fast. Yesterday’s run was more of a run/walk due to feeling run down. Today felt like a big rebound.
I can somewhat relate to the epee hit comparison. but in escrima it was the wrist and underside of the forearm where we were always “cutting tendons” with our training knives.
Speaking of vaccines, my wife already had an appointment through Rite Aid for this coming Saturday, but got an email from the state registry to schedule. She checked to see what was available, and she could get an appointment for this coming Friday, the 12th, at the mega-site where I was scheduled to get mine on the 16th. I recalled the link to reschedule in my confirmation email, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Now I’m scheduled for 2 PM on Friday, so I gained 4 days, 3 hours, and 15 minutes – not that I’m counting!
This time, it specified that Pfizer was what was available at the mega-site (or at least I noticed this time), so 3 weeks for the second dose, another 2 weeks for it to take full effect, and I’m good. Five weeks from Friday, and I kinda-sorta don’t have to worry about getting COVID-19. Thank you, FSM!
Speaking of vaccines, my wife already had an appointment through Rite Aid for this coming Saturday, but got an email from the state registry to schedule. She checked to see what was available, and she could get an appointment for this coming Friday, the 12th, at the mega-site where I was scheduled to get mine on the 16th. I recalled the link to reschedule in my confirmation email, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Now I’m scheduled for 2 PM on Friday, so I gained 4 days, 3 hours, and 15 minutes – not that I’m counting!
This time, it specified that Pfizer was what was available at the mega-site (or at least I noticed this time), so 3 weeks for the second dose, another 2 weeks for it to take full effect, and I’m good. Five weeks from Friday, and I kinda-sorta don’t have to worry about getting COVID-19. Thank you, FSM!
hairshirthedonist: Yeah, interesting evolution. In his case, a lot of seems to be focusing more deeply on individual experiences and how much they vary, what need and help look like in specific actual cases, and like that.
CharlesWT: that is a great line, which I may well swipe.
hairshirthedonist: Yeah, interesting evolution. In his case, a lot of seems to be focusing more deeply on individual experiences and how much they vary, what need and help look like in specific actual cases, and like that.
CharlesWT: that is a great line, which I may well swipe.
It is not the job of the “AOC wing” to “settle for half a loaf”. The passage of the ARP reflects the fact that “the left” got the best of the deal.
Keep pushing.
A reminder that all politics is local.
It is not the job of the “AOC wing” to “settle for half a loaf”. The passage of the ARP reflects the fact that “the left” got the best of the deal.
Keep pushing.
A reminder that all politics is local.
You can settle for “half a loaf” and keep pushing. And probably end up with faster progress. Or you can refuse to compromise, and get nothing any time soon. Your choice, obviously. Which does, I suppose, mean it’s on you.
For example, several items that I expect you support in the just-passed covid-relief bill are only scheduled to last for a year or two. Half a loaf. But having them in place for a while, even a brief while, vastly increases the prospects of making them permanent sooner rather than later (or not at all).
You can settle for “half a loaf” and keep pushing. And probably end up with faster progress. Or you can refuse to compromise, and get nothing any time soon. Your choice, obviously. Which does, I suppose, mean it’s on you.
For example, several items that I expect you support in the just-passed covid-relief bill are only scheduled to last for a year or two. Half a loaf. But having them in place for a while, even a brief while, vastly increases the prospects of making them permanent sooner rather than later (or not at all).
it’s not a half-loaf, it was just baked in a 1/2-sized pan.
it’s not a half-loaf, it was just baked in a 1/2-sized pan.
I think the word we are looking for is Demi-utopia.
I think the word we are looking for is Demi-utopia.
it’s not a half-loaf, it was just baked in a 1/2-sized pan.
But if it is half baked in a full size pan, is that the same?
it’s not a half-loaf, it was just baked in a 1/2-sized pan.
But if it is half baked in a full size pan, is that the same?
Or you can refuse to compromise, and get nothing any time soon.
Sure. If only blacks had trimmed their sails and asked for say 20% equality after the Civil War, then the Civil Rights Act would have been passed in 1913?
or….
Their refusal to compromise postponed de facto effective equality enforcement legislation for 100 years?
or….
That’s a special case? If so, how is it special?
The left can push all it wants, but the mushy middle has to move as well. Moderating full throated demands works sometimes, and sometimes it does not. You are trying to assert ‘refusal to compromise’ will always lead to undesirable outcomes. This may or may not be the case.
Therefore, your assertion does not appear to have universal validity….so you might want to get down to specific cases in lieu of broad brushing the left for “refusal to compromise” and look also to the other side and their refusal to compromise as well.
Or you can refuse to compromise, and get nothing any time soon.
Sure. If only blacks had trimmed their sails and asked for say 20% equality after the Civil War, then the Civil Rights Act would have been passed in 1913?
or….
Their refusal to compromise postponed de facto effective equality enforcement legislation for 100 years?
or….
That’s a special case? If so, how is it special?
The left can push all it wants, but the mushy middle has to move as well. Moderating full throated demands works sometimes, and sometimes it does not. You are trying to assert ‘refusal to compromise’ will always lead to undesirable outcomes. This may or may not be the case.
Therefore, your assertion does not appear to have universal validity….so you might want to get down to specific cases in lieu of broad brushing the left for “refusal to compromise” and look also to the other side and their refusal to compromise as well.
For example, several items that I expect you support in the just-passed covid-relief bill are only scheduled to last for a year or two. Half a loaf. But having them in place for a while, even a brief while, vastly increases the prospects of making them permanent sooner rather than later (or not at all).
Please provide a list of the members of the Progressive Caucus in the House that voted against the ARP. Or is there some other “left” that I should be aware of?
For example, several items that I expect you support in the just-passed covid-relief bill are only scheduled to last for a year or two. Half a loaf. But having them in place for a while, even a brief while, vastly increases the prospects of making them permanent sooner rather than later (or not at all).
Please provide a list of the members of the Progressive Caucus in the House that voted against the ARP. Or is there some other “left” that I should be aware of?
If only blacks had trimmed their sails and asked for say 20% equality after the Civil War, then the Civil Rights Act would have been passed in 1913?
I’m not saying that you should compromise just for the sake of compromise. But when it’s a matter of compromise and get half or get nothing? THAT is, indeed, a whole different situation.
Please provide a list of the members of the Progressive Caucus in the House that voted against the ARP. Or is there some other “left” that I should be aware of?
This time, they didn’t. And got half a loaf. But I certainly heard arguments.
As for the “other left”, I was actually thinking of you 😉
If only blacks had trimmed their sails and asked for say 20% equality after the Civil War, then the Civil Rights Act would have been passed in 1913?
I’m not saying that you should compromise just for the sake of compromise. But when it’s a matter of compromise and get half or get nothing? THAT is, indeed, a whole different situation.
Please provide a list of the members of the Progressive Caucus in the House that voted against the ARP. Or is there some other “left” that I should be aware of?
This time, they didn’t. And got half a loaf. But I certainly heard arguments.
As for the “other left”, I was actually thinking of you 😉
But when it’s a matter of compromise and get half or get nothing?
Again, as bobbyp has pretty much been consistent in this regard, it depends. Advocating an “uncompromising” position can be tricky, but like you claim, others than this character bobbyp might actually (oh, crap) believe their own deeply held positions are the correct ones (cf. abortion clinic bombers). Like Donny Trump says, “Who’s to say?”
So who’s the relativist here?
This time, they didn’t.
“This time” is most likely “just about always, they won’t.” When the Progressive Caucus votes with the GOP on a close vote on an important issue advocated by Joe, Nancy and Chuck, let me know (killing brown hued foreigners excluded). I will lay you 8 to 5 that Joe Manchin will do that before Pramila Jayapal does.
But I certainly heard arguments.
Oh, please. Provide a cite here. There may be a few crazy really far out left wingers (bobbyp invokes No True Left Winger claim, much as you invoke the “no true conservative” claim…I mean fair is fair, right? If you can do it, why cannot I do the same?) making these goofy arguments…they may have a voice, but nobody pays any attention to them.
As for the “other left”, I was actually thinking of you 😉
I am just a wooly headed dingbat on a blog. Nobody of any import is going to see, much less take under serious consideration, anything I write.
But one can hope (for flapping butterfly wings effect).
I am a utopian socialist, and suffer from fuzzy thinking. However, on the ground I align with and work with the Democratic Party because I feel pushing them to the left is the best political strategy out there at this time for lunatics such as myself. When I think that swinging bankers from lamposts is an effective strategy, well, I might reconsider.
Have a good day. 🙂
But when it’s a matter of compromise and get half or get nothing?
Again, as bobbyp has pretty much been consistent in this regard, it depends. Advocating an “uncompromising” position can be tricky, but like you claim, others than this character bobbyp might actually (oh, crap) believe their own deeply held positions are the correct ones (cf. abortion clinic bombers). Like Donny Trump says, “Who’s to say?”
So who’s the relativist here?
This time, they didn’t.
“This time” is most likely “just about always, they won’t.” When the Progressive Caucus votes with the GOP on a close vote on an important issue advocated by Joe, Nancy and Chuck, let me know (killing brown hued foreigners excluded). I will lay you 8 to 5 that Joe Manchin will do that before Pramila Jayapal does.
But I certainly heard arguments.
Oh, please. Provide a cite here. There may be a few crazy really far out left wingers (bobbyp invokes No True Left Winger claim, much as you invoke the “no true conservative” claim…I mean fair is fair, right? If you can do it, why cannot I do the same?) making these goofy arguments…they may have a voice, but nobody pays any attention to them.
As for the “other left”, I was actually thinking of you 😉
I am just a wooly headed dingbat on a blog. Nobody of any import is going to see, much less take under serious consideration, anything I write.
But one can hope (for flapping butterfly wings effect).
I am a utopian socialist, and suffer from fuzzy thinking. However, on the ground I align with and work with the Democratic Party because I feel pushing them to the left is the best political strategy out there at this time for lunatics such as myself. When I think that swinging bankers from lamposts is an effective strategy, well, I might reconsider.
Have a good day. 🙂
So….political supergenius Joe Manchin is demanding that any big infrastructure bill “has to be paid for” with tax increases. Not that I am against tax increases for the filthy, and not so filthy rich, but he claims he can bring enough GOP assholes across the line to get around the filibuster.
So tell me, is this just political posturing (i.e., a lie because that won’t happen, and he should know this) or a deeply held belief on his part?
bobbyp has no idea. If he is lying, well, I can understand. Politicians routinely shade the truth. If this mishmash is a deeply held belief? Well, he needs to seek psychiatric assistance.
But hey. I could be wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.
So….political supergenius Joe Manchin is demanding that any big infrastructure bill “has to be paid for” with tax increases. Not that I am against tax increases for the filthy, and not so filthy rich, but he claims he can bring enough GOP assholes across the line to get around the filibuster.
So tell me, is this just political posturing (i.e., a lie because that won’t happen, and he should know this) or a deeply held belief on his part?
bobbyp has no idea. If he is lying, well, I can understand. Politicians routinely shade the truth. If this mishmash is a deeply held belief? Well, he needs to seek psychiatric assistance.
But hey. I could be wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.
When somebody tells me “the Left needs to compromise” I always think back to the nightmare of the 1972 election when a good man advocating a fairly bog standard liberal platform (yes, he ran an inept campaign) was absolutely savaged by so called moderates (George Meany, working class hero) who decided it was better to have an unprincipled conservative crook for president.
But you see, when moderates betray the coalition, they are being “pragmatic” (cf. Jeremy Corbin fiasco), but when some lefty bolts, well, that’s treason.
It’s a cross we moderate lunatics have to bear.
When somebody tells me “the Left needs to compromise” I always think back to the nightmare of the 1972 election when a good man advocating a fairly bog standard liberal platform (yes, he ran an inept campaign) was absolutely savaged by so called moderates (George Meany, working class hero) who decided it was better to have an unprincipled conservative crook for president.
But you see, when moderates betray the coalition, they are being “pragmatic” (cf. Jeremy Corbin fiasco), but when some lefty bolts, well, that’s treason.
It’s a cross we moderate lunatics have to bear.
I don’t return calls to Susan Collins, either.
Democratic power brokers growing a spine is not a terminal condition….those naughty extremists!
I don’t return calls to Susan Collins, either.
Democratic power brokers growing a spine is not a terminal condition….those naughty extremists!
So….political supergenius Joe Manchin is demanding that any big infrastructure bill “has to be paid for” with tax increases.
Hey Joe, how about this?
https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-jayapal-boyle-introduce-ultra-millionaire-tax-on-fortunes-over-50-million
So….political supergenius Joe Manchin is demanding that any big infrastructure bill “has to be paid for” with tax increases.
Hey Joe, how about this?
https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-jayapal-boyle-introduce-ultra-millionaire-tax-on-fortunes-over-50-million
• A 2% annual tax on the net worth of households and trusts between $50 million and $1 billion
• A 1% annual surtax (3% tax overall) on the net worth of households and trusts above $1 billion
2% = 22%, 3% = 34% over ten years. Looks like a huge incentive to move as much wealth as possible out of the country or otherwise shield it from the tax.
• A 2% annual tax on the net worth of households and trusts between $50 million and $1 billion
• A 1% annual surtax (3% tax overall) on the net worth of households and trusts above $1 billion
2% = 22%, 3% = 34% over ten years. Looks like a huge incentive to move as much wealth as possible out of the country or otherwise shield it from the tax.
I think I got the percentages backward.
2% = 18%, 3% = 26% over ten years.
I think I got the percentages backward.
2% = 18%, 3% = 26% over ten years.
As if that incentive would not already exist and would not be supported by ‘fiscal conservatives’ (and many ‘moderates’) as part of their raison d’être as politicians and donation recipients. Who can count the many tax holidays that have been declared when those dodgers felt the need to get the dough back into the country that they had moved or ‘earned’ outside to evade US taxes?
As if that incentive would not already exist and would not be supported by ‘fiscal conservatives’ (and many ‘moderates’) as part of their raison d’être as politicians and donation recipients. Who can count the many tax holidays that have been declared when those dodgers felt the need to get the dough back into the country that they had moved or ‘earned’ outside to evade US taxes?
2% = 22%, 3% = 34% over ten years.
So, if they start out with $50M, in ten years they only have $40M?
nobody buries $50M in large bills in jars out in the back yard. average annual return for the plain old DJIA is something like 5.4% a year. so folks with $50M today will end up with about $70M after ten years, rather than $85M. and that’s if all they do is park it in a mediocre index fund.
I’m sure all of that sucks from their point of view, given our druthers we’d all rather have $85M than $70M. but I’m hard pressed to see it as a hardship.
and a billion dollars is just so much fncking money for one individual or one household to own that it makes the concept of money sort of negligible. What’s the difference between having, let’s say, $1.6B vs $1.3B? only two private jets instead of three? seven homes instead of ten?
very wealthy people have had a pretty good run, as far as federal tax regimes go. hard to see what they have to complain about.
somehow or other, the bills need to get paid.
Looks like a huge incentive to move as much wealth as possible out of the country
So be it. Take your $50M to the Caymans and go with god.
2% = 22%, 3% = 34% over ten years.
So, if they start out with $50M, in ten years they only have $40M?
nobody buries $50M in large bills in jars out in the back yard. average annual return for the plain old DJIA is something like 5.4% a year. so folks with $50M today will end up with about $70M after ten years, rather than $85M. and that’s if all they do is park it in a mediocre index fund.
I’m sure all of that sucks from their point of view, given our druthers we’d all rather have $85M than $70M. but I’m hard pressed to see it as a hardship.
and a billion dollars is just so much fncking money for one individual or one household to own that it makes the concept of money sort of negligible. What’s the difference between having, let’s say, $1.6B vs $1.3B? only two private jets instead of three? seven homes instead of ten?
very wealthy people have had a pretty good run, as far as federal tax regimes go. hard to see what they have to complain about.
somehow or other, the bills need to get paid.
Looks like a huge incentive to move as much wealth as possible out of the country
So be it. Take your $50M to the Caymans and go with god.
The GOP is already coming up with the old “death tax” scam again. What about all the family farms that will get lost when it has to be paid (from the first $ above 22 million on)?
So be it. Take your $50M to the Caymans and go with god.
I’d prefer to release the Million Dollar Crocodile instead
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Dollar_Crocodile
The GOP is already coming up with the old “death tax” scam again. What about all the family farms that will get lost when it has to be paid (from the first $ above 22 million on)?
So be it. Take your $50M to the Caymans and go with god.
I’d prefer to release the Million Dollar Crocodile instead
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Dollar_Crocodile
very wealthy people have had a pretty good run, as far as federal tax regimes go. hard to see what they have to complain about.
how is a violation of abstract principles nothing to complain about?
sheesh. you real-worlders have no respect for a simplistic model.
very wealthy people have had a pretty good run, as far as federal tax regimes go. hard to see what they have to complain about.
how is a violation of abstract principles nothing to complain about?
sheesh. you real-worlders have no respect for a simplistic model.
Bobby, let me just say I totally agree about abortion clinic bombers. Throw the book at ’em and nail the bastards to the wall! Lock them up for the rest of their lives.
That said, if the DA feels his case might not be rock solid, I’m fine if he makes a plea deal that “only” locks them up for 20-30 years. Rather than risk their getting off altogether. Half a loaf, right?
Bobby, let me just say I totally agree about abortion clinic bombers. Throw the book at ’em and nail the bastards to the wall! Lock them up for the rest of their lives.
That said, if the DA feels his case might not be rock solid, I’m fine if he makes a plea deal that “only” locks them up for 20-30 years. Rather than risk their getting off altogether. Half a loaf, right?
Looks like a huge incentive to move as much wealth as possible out of the country or otherwise shield it from the tax.
ROTFLOL!!!
Because we all remember how they were doing that before Trump’s tax cut…
Looks like a huge incentive to move as much wealth as possible out of the country or otherwise shield it from the tax.
ROTFLOL!!!
Because we all remember how they were doing that before Trump’s tax cut…
Take your $50M to the Caymans and go with god.
Question: When global warming sinks the Caymens below the sea, does all that cash hiding there go poof? Seems like karma.
Take your $50M to the Caymans and go with god.
Question: When global warming sinks the Caymens below the sea, does all that cash hiding there go poof? Seems like karma.
Oh, just turn it into dimes and they’ll sit on such a pile that no rising water will ever reach them (I leave the volume calculation to a cranky old Congress GOPster).
Oh, just turn it into dimes and they’ll sit on such a pile that no rising water will ever reach them (I leave the volume calculation to a cranky old Congress GOPster).
When global warming sinks the Caymens below the sea, does all that cash hiding there go poof?
That it’s cash may be an important consideration. Much of the Walton family doesn’t want cash, they want a bazillion shares and to run Wal-Mart. Casino owners don’t want cash, they want a casino. One of the likely near term side effects of a wealth tax will be a bunch of tax-avoidance strategies that the IRS will slowly rule out. Back in the days of very high marginal income tax rates, there was a whole sub-field of accountants who specialized in designing ways to evade taxable income rules.
When global warming sinks the Caymens below the sea, does all that cash hiding there go poof?
That it’s cash may be an important consideration. Much of the Walton family doesn’t want cash, they want a bazillion shares and to run Wal-Mart. Casino owners don’t want cash, they want a casino. One of the likely near term side effects of a wealth tax will be a bunch of tax-avoidance strategies that the IRS will slowly rule out. Back in the days of very high marginal income tax rates, there was a whole sub-field of accountants who specialized in designing ways to evade taxable income rules.
Even if it’s electronic funds, rather than cash. After all, servers don’t work all that well under water.
Even if it’s electronic funds, rather than cash. After all, servers don’t work all that well under water.
After all, servers don’t work all that well under water.
Microsoft finds underwater datacenters are reliable, practical and use energy sustainably
After all, servers don’t work all that well under water.
Microsoft finds underwater datacenters are reliable, practical and use energy sustainably
Well, Microsoft still keeps the machines in a well-sealed bubble of air. At one point some firms borrowed the idea of oil cooling from the power industry’s big transformers and immersed stuff in circulating not-electrically-conductive mineral oil.
I ran across this bad boy the other day. 20 kW peak power in a cube less than two feet on a side. Circulating water to carry the heat from the processors to big heat fins. 400,000 specialized processing cores plus interconnects designed for training neural networks is worth mentioning all by itself. NN software is going to make so many interesting errors in the next few years :^)
Well, Microsoft still keeps the machines in a well-sealed bubble of air. At one point some firms borrowed the idea of oil cooling from the power industry’s big transformers and immersed stuff in circulating not-electrically-conductive mineral oil.
I ran across this bad boy the other day. 20 kW peak power in a cube less than two feet on a side. Circulating water to carry the heat from the processors to big heat fins. 400,000 specialized processing cores plus interconnects designed for training neural networks is worth mentioning all by itself. NN software is going to make so many interesting errors in the next few years :^)
NN software is going to make so many interesting errors in the next few years :^)
As an aside. Because of the huge number of parameters involved, it’s almost impossible for deep learning neural networks, unlike other types of machine learning software, to get stuck in local optimums. Researchers say that AI software like AlphaZero would continue to get incrementally better at Chess, Go, other games, and applications as long as the training continues.
NN software is going to make so many interesting errors in the next few years :^)
As an aside. Because of the huge number of parameters involved, it’s almost impossible for deep learning neural networks, unlike other types of machine learning software, to get stuck in local optimums. Researchers say that AI software like AlphaZero would continue to get incrementally better at Chess, Go, other games, and applications as long as the training continues.
Back in the days of very high marginal income tax rates, there was a whole sub-field of accountants who specialized in designing ways to evade taxable income rules.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that sub-field still exists.
If the Warren-Jayapal-Boyle wealth tax somehow finds its way to becoming actual law, I’m sure there will be people for whom it presents an enormous inconvenience.
By the nature of it, those will tend to be people who have sufficient resources to find a way to deal with it.
There are no perfect solutions.
Back in the days of very high marginal income tax rates, there was a whole sub-field of accountants who specialized in designing ways to evade taxable income rules.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that sub-field still exists.
If the Warren-Jayapal-Boyle wealth tax somehow finds its way to becoming actual law, I’m sure there will be people for whom it presents an enormous inconvenience.
By the nature of it, those will tend to be people who have sufficient resources to find a way to deal with it.
There are no perfect solutions.
There are no perfect solutions.
“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” —Thomas Sowell
There are no perfect solutions.
“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” —Thomas Sowell
probably the only point on which I agree with Thomas Sowell.
probably the only point on which I agree with Thomas Sowell.
There are no solutions, there are no tradeoffs, there are only fuck-offs from conservative jagoff assholes:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/conservative-group-celebrates-end-of-mask-mandate-with-mask-burning-dallas-house-party?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
No more trades. I want it all.
There are no solutions, there are no tradeoffs, there are only fuck-offs from conservative jagoff assholes:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/conservative-group-celebrates-end-of-mask-mandate-with-mask-burning-dallas-house-party?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
No more trades. I want it all.
I have a small project that has me dabbling with object classification software, and recognizing cats in particular. To keep me from any sort of overconfidence, I keep this result around, produced by one of the freely-available pre-trained NN examples that includes cats among the things it’s supposed to recognize. Granted, there are a number of aspects of the picture that make it challenging.
I have a small project that has me dabbling with object classification software, and recognizing cats in particular. To keep me from any sort of overconfidence, I keep this result around, produced by one of the freely-available pre-trained NN examples that includes cats among the things it’s supposed to recognize. Granted, there are a number of aspects of the picture that make it challenging.
I would love to have a robot that will (a) recognize squirrels and chipmunks, and (b) chase them out of the yard, or at least off the bird feeders.
If you get your NN code to do any of that, you will have a customer.
I would love to have a robot that will (a) recognize squirrels and chipmunks, and (b) chase them out of the yard, or at least off the bird feeders.
If you get your NN code to do any of that, you will have a customer.
Birdseed soaked in capsaicin might work.
Birdseed soaked in capsaicin might work.
I keep this result around,
why i will never trust a self-driving car
I keep this result around,
why i will never trust a self-driving car
If you get your NN code to chase squirrels off of bird feeders, you will have LOTS of customers!
If you get your NN code to chase squirrels off of bird feeders, you will have LOTS of customers!
The NN code news stories remind me of an anecdote told by Reagan’s biographer Edmund Morris (bear with me here) The anecdote is here
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19950111&id=RMJNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yPwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3610,9268
Basically, Reagan, in his last days, noted some toy soldiers on a shelf, and he said to Morris that they had to move some ‘trees’ to make space for the soldiers and Morris realized that Reagan was talking about books. He then said ‘if a poet can stacked volumes to garners of grain, a retired statesman [sic] can refer to his collected works as trees’.
I don’t mean to make fun of Alzheimers, just Morris’ reflex to brown nose, but I see a day in the future we will be told that some collosal AI screw-up should be taken as a wonderful advance in metaphor theory. ‘sure, the map factory was destroyed and all the workers killed, but I suppose an all seeing AI could confuse the map with the territory.’
The NN code news stories remind me of an anecdote told by Reagan’s biographer Edmund Morris (bear with me here) The anecdote is here
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19950111&id=RMJNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yPwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3610,9268
Basically, Reagan, in his last days, noted some toy soldiers on a shelf, and he said to Morris that they had to move some ‘trees’ to make space for the soldiers and Morris realized that Reagan was talking about books. He then said ‘if a poet can stacked volumes to garners of grain, a retired statesman [sic] can refer to his collected works as trees’.
I don’t mean to make fun of Alzheimers, just Morris’ reflex to brown nose, but I see a day in the future we will be told that some collosal AI screw-up should be taken as a wonderful advance in metaphor theory. ‘sure, the map factory was destroyed and all the workers killed, but I suppose an all seeing AI could confuse the map with the territory.’
If you get your NN code to chase squirrels off of bird feeders, you will have LOTS of customers!
My current opinion is that reliably recognizing the targets is doable. Feral cats on the lawn in my case, squirrels on the bird feeder in Russell’s. The chasing part is trickier. Lots of the possibilities are off limits for one reason or another: water in climates where it freezes too often, assorted problems with methods for delivering kinetic energy, annoying the sh*t out of the neighborhood pets with ultrasonic frequencies at significant power output. My current plan is some sort of rolling robot, although something like Ring’s little drone would be really cool.
If you get your NN code to chase squirrels off of bird feeders, you will have LOTS of customers!
My current opinion is that reliably recognizing the targets is doable. Feral cats on the lawn in my case, squirrels on the bird feeder in Russell’s. The chasing part is trickier. Lots of the possibilities are off limits for one reason or another: water in climates where it freezes too often, assorted problems with methods for delivering kinetic energy, annoying the sh*t out of the neighborhood pets with ultrasonic frequencies at significant power output. My current plan is some sort of rolling robot, although something like Ring’s little drone would be really cool.
If it weren’t a matter of separating the “birds” from the “squirrels”, I’d say to go with a motion-activated sprinkler.
Works for salesmen/preachers/politicians at your front door also, too.
If it weren’t a matter of separating the “birds” from the “squirrels”, I’d say to go with a motion-activated sprinkler.
Works for salesmen/preachers/politicians at your front door also, too.
Once we’ve dealt with separating squirrels from birds, we can move on to separating out pigeons from other birds. And giving them the squirrel treatment.
Once we’ve dealt with separating squirrels from birds, we can move on to separating out pigeons from other birds. And giving them the squirrel treatment.
If it weren’t a matter of separating the “birds” from the “squirrels”, I’d say to go with a motion-activated sprinkler.
I live in a place where there has been measurable snow in 10 of the 12 months (eg, this lovely picture from Sep 9, 2020. And in the course of interviewing my son’s girlfriend, where the system is supposed to be deployed, there were instructions against soaking the cats when the temperature was too close to freezing.
If it weren’t a matter of separating the “birds” from the “squirrels”, I’d say to go with a motion-activated sprinkler.
I live in a place where there has been measurable snow in 10 of the 12 months (eg, this lovely picture from Sep 9, 2020. And in the course of interviewing my son’s girlfriend, where the system is supposed to be deployed, there were instructions against soaking the cats when the temperature was too close to freezing.
Wouldn’t it be easier to develop AI that was indiscriminate and get the project to its inevitable conclusion without so much time and effort? Isn’t a car that crashes into stuff without a human operator still self-driving? You computer geeks never see the big picture.
Wouldn’t it be easier to develop AI that was indiscriminate and get the project to its inevitable conclusion without so much time and effort? Isn’t a car that crashes into stuff without a human operator still self-driving? You computer geeks never see the big picture.
Wouldn’t it be easier to develop AI that was indiscriminate and get the project to its inevitable conclusion without so much time and effort? Isn’t a car that crashes into stuff without a human operator still self-driving? You computer geeks never see the big picture.
Long ago there was a book titled The Psychology of Computer Programming. Might still be around, but I didn’t look. Anyway, one chapter talks about a consultant called in to deal with a problem at one of the Big 3 auto makers. The program was supposed to take a set of cards (I said “long ago,” did I not?) with the car orders that were going to be built that day and generate instructions for each part of the assembly line so that the proper parts arrived at each station in the right order: red body panels, white interior, automatic transmission, straight-six engine, etc. The in-house code was a mess.
The consultant put together an algorithm that solved the problem. At some point during his presentation of the solution, one of the in-house senior programmers stood up and said, “But your program will take three seconds per car. Our program only takes one second.” To which the consultant answered, “But your program doesn’t work. If the program doesn’t have to work, I can write one that takes 50 milliseconds per car which is faster than the card reader can read the cards.”
Maybe I’m peculiar, but I’ve never liked “Shoot them all; let God sort it out,” as a design principle :^)
Wouldn’t it be easier to develop AI that was indiscriminate and get the project to its inevitable conclusion without so much time and effort? Isn’t a car that crashes into stuff without a human operator still self-driving? You computer geeks never see the big picture.
Long ago there was a book titled The Psychology of Computer Programming. Might still be around, but I didn’t look. Anyway, one chapter talks about a consultant called in to deal with a problem at one of the Big 3 auto makers. The program was supposed to take a set of cards (I said “long ago,” did I not?) with the car orders that were going to be built that day and generate instructions for each part of the assembly line so that the proper parts arrived at each station in the right order: red body panels, white interior, automatic transmission, straight-six engine, etc. The in-house code was a mess.
The consultant put together an algorithm that solved the problem. At some point during his presentation of the solution, one of the in-house senior programmers stood up and said, “But your program will take three seconds per car. Our program only takes one second.” To which the consultant answered, “But your program doesn’t work. If the program doesn’t have to work, I can write one that takes 50 milliseconds per car which is faster than the card reader can read the cards.”
Maybe I’m peculiar, but I’ve never liked “Shoot them all; let God sort it out,” as a design principle :^)
Perhaps it’s because I spent my career doing performance analysis and tuning. But I’ve seen far more cases of programs which do exactly what’s wanted . . . just too slowly to be useful. The classic being a banking application which needed to run overnight. But, as written, took 27 hours to execute. Oops. (Happily, a little tweeking got it down to 90 minutes. Yeah, it really was that bad.)
Perhaps it’s because I spent my career doing performance analysis and tuning. But I’ve seen far more cases of programs which do exactly what’s wanted . . . just too slowly to be useful. The classic being a banking application which needed to run overnight. But, as written, took 27 hours to execute. Oops. (Happily, a little tweeking got it down to 90 minutes. Yeah, it really was that bad.)
Speaking of the psychology of computer programming, here’s The Two Cultures in a nutshell…developer Jay Kreps – “I thought that since Kafka was a system optimized for writing using a writer’s name would make sense. I had taken a lot of lit classes in college and liked Franz Kafka. Plus the name sounded cool for an open source project”
No humanities person would choose the name “Kafka” for anything designed to facilitate connections and communication between software modules unless they were being ironic.
Speaking of the psychology of computer programming, here’s The Two Cultures in a nutshell…developer Jay Kreps – “I thought that since Kafka was a system optimized for writing using a writer’s name would make sense. I had taken a lot of lit classes in college and liked Franz Kafka. Plus the name sounded cool for an open source project”
No humanities person would choose the name “Kafka” for anything designed to facilitate connections and communication between software modules unless they were being ironic.
…just too slowly to be useful. The classic being a banking application which needed to run overnight. But, as written, took 27 hours to execute.
While on a different scale, much of my technical career success was from recognizing when real-time processing would be, if you were clever, fast enough to do X. For various X.
My first career success was one of those 27-hour kinds of things, though. Bell Labs had a program used for official forecasts that solved a massive nonlinear zero-one optimization problem, built by people whose internal reputation was large. When it ran — once, quarterly — it monopolized the biggest mainframe the Labs owned for a couple of days. I demonstrated that you could do an approximation of that program that was accurate to a fraction of a percent and ran in ten minutes. That made sensitivity analysis possible, and the first thing we found was a “here there be dragons” area on prices. We published it internally and were ignored. Senior management at AT&T drove off the pricing cliff. Casandra became one of my favorite mythological characters.
…just too slowly to be useful. The classic being a banking application which needed to run overnight. But, as written, took 27 hours to execute.
While on a different scale, much of my technical career success was from recognizing when real-time processing would be, if you were clever, fast enough to do X. For various X.
My first career success was one of those 27-hour kinds of things, though. Bell Labs had a program used for official forecasts that solved a massive nonlinear zero-one optimization problem, built by people whose internal reputation was large. When it ran — once, quarterly — it monopolized the biggest mainframe the Labs owned for a couple of days. I demonstrated that you could do an approximation of that program that was accurate to a fraction of a percent and ran in ten minutes. That made sensitivity analysis possible, and the first thing we found was a “here there be dragons” area on prices. We published it internally and were ignored. Senior management at AT&T drove off the pricing cliff. Casandra became one of my favorite mythological characters.
“There’s none so blind as those who will not see.”
Still true today, in so many places. Albeit with an unusually high profile in a couple we’ve all been seeing.
“There’s none so blind as those who will not see.”
Still true today, in so many places. Albeit with an unusually high profile in a couple we’ve all been seeing.
One of my first successes was to show that some matrix math related to an optical tracking device that was being developed worked when we used double precision and not otherwise.
I’m still kind of shocked that they people I was working with hadn’t figured that out. They, after all, knew how to take an Apple II apart and make it jump up and down and do somersaults, whereas I … nope.
One of my first successes was to show that some matrix math related to an optical tracking device that was being developed worked when we used double precision and not otherwise.
I’m still kind of shocked that they people I was working with hadn’t figured that out. They, after all, knew how to take an Apple II apart and make it jump up and down and do somersaults, whereas I … nope.
In the old days when resources were at a premium, I wasn’t great at writing original code. But I often could take someone else’s code and make it run twice as fast in half the memory. Sometimes a lot faster.
A group I was in had a program that made shift assignments based on employee preferences and availability. It would run for hours. I tinkered with it and it then ran in minutes.
In the old days when resources were at a premium, I wasn’t great at writing original code. But I often could take someone else’s code and make it run twice as fast in half the memory. Sometimes a lot faster.
A group I was in had a program that made shift assignments based on employee preferences and availability. It would run for hours. I tinkered with it and it then ran in minutes.
i’m an old-school low-level C/C++ optimizer guy. but my current project is in a language and environment to which i’m fairly new. other people on the team are very familiar with it, however. this leads to style clashes.
they want to write code in the extremely terse and compact style that the language is known for – lots of anonymous functions, chained function calls, using every bit of language-provided magic available, no comments, no whitespace. but i like to write code that is spread out on the screen, is explicit about what it’s doing and does it simply, and of course i avoid the parts of the language that i’m not familiar with. my way is not always significantly faster, but it often is.
but this leads to situations where they will suggest ways that i can rewrite my code to make it fit that terse style they all love so much. and sometimes they’ll go ahead and rewrite it themselves – even when their code is slower than mine was.
this can be irritating.
i’m an old-school low-level C/C++ optimizer guy. but my current project is in a language and environment to which i’m fairly new. other people on the team are very familiar with it, however. this leads to style clashes.
they want to write code in the extremely terse and compact style that the language is known for – lots of anonymous functions, chained function calls, using every bit of language-provided magic available, no comments, no whitespace. but i like to write code that is spread out on the screen, is explicit about what it’s doing and does it simply, and of course i avoid the parts of the language that i’m not familiar with. my way is not always significantly faster, but it often is.
but this leads to situations where they will suggest ways that i can rewrite my code to make it fit that terse style they all love so much. and sometimes they’ll go ahead and rewrite it themselves – even when their code is slower than mine was.
this can be irritating.
this can be irritating.
Nice understatement. 🙂
I could write all morning about formatting and commenting if I didn’t have other things to tend to. But I made a living for 35 years because other people didn’t do those things and someone had to clean up the mess in a jack of all trades sort of way (i.e. being able to read code in a lot of languages and environments while not being expert in any of it).
Formatting came first. The very last project I did before I “retired” was to build a bunch of client-specific elaborations on some fancy SQL stored procedures that had to be fit into an in-house framework someone had written for them. The very first thing I did was … clean up the unformatted mess I had been handed. Luckily, leaning up the formatting wasn’t wasted time. I basically learned what was going on in the code while doing the formatting. (I know there are automatic formatting tools these days…I didn’t use them, for that reason.)
I used a lot of comments just so I myself would know what I had been thinking when I had to go back to the code a year or two later. Nice for people who get other people to clean up after them; they don’t have to bother. If they say the code is self-explanatory, then I do wonder why they’re so resistant to the idea of going back to it later.
this can be irritating.
Nice understatement. 🙂
I could write all morning about formatting and commenting if I didn’t have other things to tend to. But I made a living for 35 years because other people didn’t do those things and someone had to clean up the mess in a jack of all trades sort of way (i.e. being able to read code in a lot of languages and environments while not being expert in any of it).
Formatting came first. The very last project I did before I “retired” was to build a bunch of client-specific elaborations on some fancy SQL stored procedures that had to be fit into an in-house framework someone had written for them. The very first thing I did was … clean up the unformatted mess I had been handed. Luckily, leaning up the formatting wasn’t wasted time. I basically learned what was going on in the code while doing the formatting. (I know there are automatic formatting tools these days…I didn’t use them, for that reason.)
I used a lot of comments just so I myself would know what I had been thinking when I had to go back to the code a year or two later. Nice for people who get other people to clean up after them; they don’t have to bother. If they say the code is self-explanatory, then I do wonder why they’re so resistant to the idea of going back to it later.
I just watched Joe Biden’s speech. What a breath of fresh air to hear him say he needs all Americans’ help to beat the virus and return to normal-ish life, versus “I alone can fix this!” And his honesty about the scale of the challenge, and extent of the loss.
And on the subject of honesty, I cannot overstate how funny the rest of the world finds Trump’s continuing boastfulness about how the “medical miracle” of the vaccine development is all because of him. As (I’m sure) everyone here knows, the Pfizer vaccine was the first to be authorised for use in the US, and Pfizer alone of the vaccines below, with their US authorisation dates, refused Warp Speed development money (not to mention, FWIW, that their research work was done by BioNTech in Germany). They did accept an advance order, from the US and many other countries, but that is a different matter. Just one of the latest, and most ridiculous, of Trump’s lies. Unfortunately, I have to assume much of his base (and Republicans in general?) actually believe it.
Pfizer BioNTech- December 11
Moderna – December 18
J&J – February 27
Novavax not yet
Astra Zeneca – not yet
I just watched Joe Biden’s speech. What a breath of fresh air to hear him say he needs all Americans’ help to beat the virus and return to normal-ish life, versus “I alone can fix this!” And his honesty about the scale of the challenge, and extent of the loss.
And on the subject of honesty, I cannot overstate how funny the rest of the world finds Trump’s continuing boastfulness about how the “medical miracle” of the vaccine development is all because of him. As (I’m sure) everyone here knows, the Pfizer vaccine was the first to be authorised for use in the US, and Pfizer alone of the vaccines below, with their US authorisation dates, refused Warp Speed development money (not to mention, FWIW, that their research work was done by BioNTech in Germany). They did accept an advance order, from the US and many other countries, but that is a different matter. Just one of the latest, and most ridiculous, of Trump’s lies. Unfortunately, I have to assume much of his base (and Republicans in general?) actually believe it.
Pfizer BioNTech- December 11
Moderna – December 18
J&J – February 27
Novavax not yet
Astra Zeneca – not yet
I used a lot of comments just so I myself would know what I had been thinking when I had to go back to the code a year or two later. Nice for people who get other people to clean up after them; they don’t have to bother.
The places I have worked have had standards regarding formatting, commenting, and documentation for exactly that reason. Without them, debugging problems, and maintenance in general, is a nightmare. That’s true even if you’re the guy who wrote it. Someone else coming to it cold a decade or two later is in deep, deep trouble.
I’ve heard omitting comments described as a career defense: if you are the only one who knows how it all works, they can’t replace you with someone new and cheaper. Yeah. And some people won’t wear masks either. It’s all about not giving a sh*t about others.
I used a lot of comments just so I myself would know what I had been thinking when I had to go back to the code a year or two later. Nice for people who get other people to clean up after them; they don’t have to bother.
The places I have worked have had standards regarding formatting, commenting, and documentation for exactly that reason. Without them, debugging problems, and maintenance in general, is a nightmare. That’s true even if you’re the guy who wrote it. Someone else coming to it cold a decade or two later is in deep, deep trouble.
I’ve heard omitting comments described as a career defense: if you are the only one who knows how it all works, they can’t replace you with someone new and cheaper. Yeah. And some people won’t wear masks either. It’s all about not giving a sh*t about others.
@JanieM: I sometimes wonder if people think the miserable coding styles are some sort of job security. As in, “They can’t fire me, no one else can deal with this critical code.” What other reason could there be for doing that to themselves?
@JanieM: I sometimes wonder if people think the miserable coding styles are some sort of job security. As in, “They can’t fire me, no one else can deal with this critical code.” What other reason could there be for doing that to themselves?
Great minds (wj and Michael) think alike, and cross in the mail. 😉
My company was small, and it started back in the days when computers were new and programming was the Wild West. I don’t think people actually realized that their coding styles were miserable… And the bosses didn’t understand anything about any of it.
Fun topic, maybe more later.
Great minds (wj and Michael) think alike, and cross in the mail. 😉
My company was small, and it started back in the days when computers were new and programming was the Wild West. I don’t think people actually realized that their coding styles were miserable… And the bosses didn’t understand anything about any of it.
Fun topic, maybe more later.
The places I have worked have had standards regarding formatting,
we have a plug-in for the code editor we use that automatically formats the code when you save the file. conformity!
The places I have worked have had standards regarding formatting,
we have a plug-in for the code editor we use that automatically formats the code when you save the file. conformity!
I’d bet a week’s pay that the automatic formatting would do it wrong, i.e., not my way. 😉
I’m reminded of Microsoft’s invention of disappearing scrollbars, part of their brilliant “Conscious Controls” initiative (pretentiousness anyone?). The genius who invented disappearing scrollbars, and the supervisor who approved them — these people do not want to meet me in a dark alley.
I’d bet a week’s pay that the automatic formatting would do it wrong, i.e., not my way. 😉
I’m reminded of Microsoft’s invention of disappearing scrollbars, part of their brilliant “Conscious Controls” initiative (pretentiousness anyone?). The genius who invented disappearing scrollbars, and the supervisor who approved them — these people do not want to meet me in a dark alley.
I’d bet a week’s pay that the automatic formatting would do it wrong, i.e., not my way. 😉
A bit over 40 years ago, after my to-be wife and I had started living together, she offered to help me with my C code in the evenings. I was stuck with a rush job and had to learn C as part of it. “But,” she added, “you will use my curly-brace style or the deal’s off.”
For the record, I still use that style in curly-brace languages.
I’d bet a week’s pay that the automatic formatting would do it wrong, i.e., not my way. 😉
A bit over 40 years ago, after my to-be wife and I had started living together, she offered to help me with my C code in the evenings. I was stuck with a rush job and had to learn C as part of it. “But,” she added, “you will use my curly-brace style or the deal’s off.”
For the record, I still use that style in curly-brace languages.
I always figure that code that looks like a mess probably is a mess.
That’s not always true, but it’s often true. And way more often true than the opposite – it’s quite possible for crap code to look great, but it’s far less likely.
Code is a tangible expression of a thought process. IMO the most challenging thing about building software is getting people to be clear about what it is supposed to do.
I always figure that code that looks like a mess probably is a mess.
That’s not always true, but it’s often true. And way more often true than the opposite – it’s quite possible for crap code to look great, but it’s far less likely.
Code is a tangible expression of a thought process. IMO the most challenging thing about building software is getting people to be clear about what it is supposed to do.
What other reason could there be for doing that to themselves?
I think it’s usually a form of laziness. Commenting and formatting is not the fun part.
What other reason could there be for doing that to themselves?
I think it’s usually a form of laziness. Commenting and formatting is not the fun part.
Part of my problem was that I could become so preoccupied with making the function and appearance of the code neat that I had difficulty getting the job done. I wasn’t always great at commenting but I did try to make the code as self-explanatory as possible.
Part of my problem was that I could become so preoccupied with making the function and appearance of the code neat that I had difficulty getting the job done. I wasn’t always great at commenting but I did try to make the code as self-explanatory as possible.
Code is a tangible expression of a thought process. IMO the most challenging thing about building software is getting people to be clear about what it is supposed to do.
This is part of it (as it is in writing), but there is also the added layer that it sometimes works the other way as well. Sometimes the stringing together of code (language) to try to connect objects or ideas gives birth to the thought process itself. It’s knowledge creation as well as knowledge transcription, and the closer you get to new territory, the more time you spend in the former than in the latter. It’s the latter, though, that makes that territory an integral part of the larger world.
But, as in coding, the good writers then go back through to try to make sense of what was created and better integrate it in ways that make sense to an outside observer.
Code is a tangible expression of a thought process. IMO the most challenging thing about building software is getting people to be clear about what it is supposed to do.
This is part of it (as it is in writing), but there is also the added layer that it sometimes works the other way as well. Sometimes the stringing together of code (language) to try to connect objects or ideas gives birth to the thought process itself. It’s knowledge creation as well as knowledge transcription, and the closer you get to new territory, the more time you spend in the former than in the latter. It’s the latter, though, that makes that territory an integral part of the larger world.
But, as in coding, the good writers then go back through to try to make sense of what was created and better integrate it in ways that make sense to an outside observer.
Per nous’s 12:52, which is a great observation: When I started coding for a living (we called it programming then), there was no division of functionality. This was partly because I always worked for small companies (one was only six people), but I think it was partly the era, and the newness of the field.
Someone told me what they wanted, and I went away for a few weeks or months or whatever and created it, asking questions along the way if I needed to. (N.b. this was pre-internet…)
I created my database structure, designed the user interface, wrote the code, tested it, debugged it, trained the users, sometimes wrote an actual manual (including for clients).
I was lucky to be willing and able to fill the niche I did in later years, because I didn’t fit well in the new world where the programmers (now called “developers” at my company) wanted everything spec-ed out to the last inch, and didn’t seem to be able to think for themselves in the least, much less put themselves into a user’s place. One developer told me and my partner in crime (we were the ones designing new apps to replace old DOS programs, yes, in 2018) gently that maybe we should go take a course in how to write specs. My feeling was, it would take me less time to just do the coding myself than to write the specs he wanted.
The story then gets into company politics, so I’ll leave it at that.
Per nous’s 12:52, which is a great observation: When I started coding for a living (we called it programming then), there was no division of functionality. This was partly because I always worked for small companies (one was only six people), but I think it was partly the era, and the newness of the field.
Someone told me what they wanted, and I went away for a few weeks or months or whatever and created it, asking questions along the way if I needed to. (N.b. this was pre-internet…)
I created my database structure, designed the user interface, wrote the code, tested it, debugged it, trained the users, sometimes wrote an actual manual (including for clients).
I was lucky to be willing and able to fill the niche I did in later years, because I didn’t fit well in the new world where the programmers (now called “developers” at my company) wanted everything spec-ed out to the last inch, and didn’t seem to be able to think for themselves in the least, much less put themselves into a user’s place. One developer told me and my partner in crime (we were the ones designing new apps to replace old DOS programs, yes, in 2018) gently that maybe we should go take a course in how to write specs. My feeling was, it would take me less time to just do the coding myself than to write the specs he wanted.
The story then gets into company politics, so I’ll leave it at that.
This is part of it (as it is in writing), but there is also the added layer that it sometimes works the other way as well.
My point of view on this is probably not that common, but I’m not a big fan of using code as a medium for thinking about what the code is supposed to be doing.
I work with lots of folks who have a more or less code-first orientation. Start with code, and figure stuff out from there. To some degree, for good or ill, I think this has been abetted by the emergence of Agile as the preferred approach to building systems. In any case, I’m not a fan.
I think it’s a matter of distinguishing between levels of abstraction.
My experience in general is that good, robust, well-structured, performant code comes from a deep understanding of the problem space – the domain you’re working in. I’m sure you can acquire that understanding by starting with code and working back toward the domain, but in general I’ve found that to be a very expensive way to work.
Changing code once it’s been written is a risk-prone PITA. That’s especially so if it’s been delivered and is in use. If you have to do it, you have to do it, but it is a profoundly sub-optimal way of exploring what it is you’re trying to do.
What you want to explore and discover in the course of coding is how to optimize things that have to do with the code itself – use of memory and processing resources, efficient and accurate algorithms, appropriate data structures.
What you don’t want to explore in the course of coding is “what happens after the customer places an order?”, or “what are the ways this can fail, and how do we handle them?”, or “who is allowed to do X Y or Z?”. Stuff like that.
Ideally, if you’ve done your homework, the coding effort should be almost mechanical. IMO.
This is part of it (as it is in writing), but there is also the added layer that it sometimes works the other way as well.
My point of view on this is probably not that common, but I’m not a big fan of using code as a medium for thinking about what the code is supposed to be doing.
I work with lots of folks who have a more or less code-first orientation. Start with code, and figure stuff out from there. To some degree, for good or ill, I think this has been abetted by the emergence of Agile as the preferred approach to building systems. In any case, I’m not a fan.
I think it’s a matter of distinguishing between levels of abstraction.
My experience in general is that good, robust, well-structured, performant code comes from a deep understanding of the problem space – the domain you’re working in. I’m sure you can acquire that understanding by starting with code and working back toward the domain, but in general I’ve found that to be a very expensive way to work.
Changing code once it’s been written is a risk-prone PITA. That’s especially so if it’s been delivered and is in use. If you have to do it, you have to do it, but it is a profoundly sub-optimal way of exploring what it is you’re trying to do.
What you want to explore and discover in the course of coding is how to optimize things that have to do with the code itself – use of memory and processing resources, efficient and accurate algorithms, appropriate data structures.
What you don’t want to explore in the course of coding is “what happens after the customer places an order?”, or “what are the ways this can fail, and how do we handle them?”, or “who is allowed to do X Y or Z?”. Stuff like that.
Ideally, if you’ve done your homework, the coding effort should be almost mechanical. IMO.
put themselves into a user’s place.
bingo.
the missing part of technical education, again and as always IMO, is teaching engineers how to engage with users and other stakeholders in productive ways.
people want systems to be built to solve problems. they may or may not understand what the solution should look like, or even what possible solutions are available. they have a problem. if they already had a solution, they wouldn’t need you.
the primary job of whoever is building the system is understanding the problem, and then applying technology to provide a solution. A solution that works well, in the context in which it has to operate.
acquiring that understanding requires a *lot* of engagement with users and other stakeholders. one reason, among several others, that code is not a good context for doing that exploration is that people who aren’t coders don’t understand it.
put themselves into a user’s place.
bingo.
the missing part of technical education, again and as always IMO, is teaching engineers how to engage with users and other stakeholders in productive ways.
people want systems to be built to solve problems. they may or may not understand what the solution should look like, or even what possible solutions are available. they have a problem. if they already had a solution, they wouldn’t need you.
the primary job of whoever is building the system is understanding the problem, and then applying technology to provide a solution. A solution that works well, in the context in which it has to operate.
acquiring that understanding requires a *lot* of engagement with users and other stakeholders. one reason, among several others, that code is not a good context for doing that exploration is that people who aren’t coders don’t understand it.
I’m reminded of Microsoft’s invention of disappearing scrollbars
this is truly the dumbest trend i’ve seen in UI in a long time. i mean, borderless windows are pretty dumb. UI that reveal its purpose until you click on it is dumb. but fundamental UI that doesn’t exist until you find it by accident! that’s dumb.
the iTunes store is full of them. here’s a list of five things, if you think there might be more than five, it’s up to you to hunt around* for the invisible scrollbar! happy shopping!
* Note: scrollbar will only appear if you hover over the thumb part, not the track part. and the thumb part changes size based on the length of the list (which we’re also not telling you about), so be sure to hover near the start-side of the list if you want to see if there’s more stuff on the other side of the list. flap around until you find it! or maybe there’s nothing more to the list at all and we just kicked you out of the browsing-with-possibility-of-buying mindset and into the much less profitable “WTF is this UI up to?” mindset! aren’t we stylish and fun!?
I’m reminded of Microsoft’s invention of disappearing scrollbars
this is truly the dumbest trend i’ve seen in UI in a long time. i mean, borderless windows are pretty dumb. UI that reveal its purpose until you click on it is dumb. but fundamental UI that doesn’t exist until you find it by accident! that’s dumb.
the iTunes store is full of them. here’s a list of five things, if you think there might be more than five, it’s up to you to hunt around* for the invisible scrollbar! happy shopping!
* Note: scrollbar will only appear if you hover over the thumb part, not the track part. and the thumb part changes size based on the length of the list (which we’re also not telling you about), so be sure to hover near the start-side of the list if you want to see if there’s more stuff on the other side of the list. flap around until you find it! or maybe there’s nothing more to the list at all and we just kicked you out of the browsing-with-possibility-of-buying mindset and into the much less profitable “WTF is this UI up to?” mindset! aren’t we stylish and fun!?
@cleek — That made me laugh. (Then cry. 😉
Some programmers I knew, especially as people got more specialized and the coders rarely actualy talked to the ultimate users, were just unimaginative. But at least one, a guy I worked with for a long time, was explicit in his unwillingness to give a shit whether users found his stuff clumsy to use or not. He was going to use the controls he thought were cool from a technical point of view, users be damned. My favorite was when he decided to adopt a set of controls where a red “X” was for deleting things, instead of for closing things. That one actually didn’t last. Nor was he promoted beyond a certain level.
@cleek — That made me laugh. (Then cry. 😉
Some programmers I knew, especially as people got more specialized and the coders rarely actualy talked to the ultimate users, were just unimaginative. But at least one, a guy I worked with for a long time, was explicit in his unwillingness to give a shit whether users found his stuff clumsy to use or not. He was going to use the controls he thought were cool from a technical point of view, users be damned. My favorite was when he decided to adopt a set of controls where a red “X” was for deleting things, instead of for closing things. That one actually didn’t last. Nor was he promoted beyond a certain level.
My point of view on this is probably not that common, but I’m not a big fan of using code as a medium for thinking about what the code is supposed to be doing.
Sure. And in most product-oriented environments that is going to be very true. Same with a lot of science and technical writing.
I’m mostly thinking about writing (or coding) where what you are attempting to do is something for which the language was not designed – especially for attempting things that go against the grain of the built-in assumptions of the language. Paradigm changes.
You do a lot of work around the edges of the things that don’t work well within the paradigm, trying to get the whole mess to function minimally, and as you do, other parts get connected and you end up with a buggy, legacy mess. Then someone comes up with a new approach that leans into the new paradigm to make it easier and the messes hopefully get cleaned up (budgets, time and otherwise, allowing).
Rinse and repeat.
But yeah, not a recommended way of doing what can and has been done before.
My point of view on this is probably not that common, but I’m not a big fan of using code as a medium for thinking about what the code is supposed to be doing.
Sure. And in most product-oriented environments that is going to be very true. Same with a lot of science and technical writing.
I’m mostly thinking about writing (or coding) where what you are attempting to do is something for which the language was not designed – especially for attempting things that go against the grain of the built-in assumptions of the language. Paradigm changes.
You do a lot of work around the edges of the things that don’t work well within the paradigm, trying to get the whole mess to function minimally, and as you do, other parts get connected and you end up with a buggy, legacy mess. Then someone comes up with a new approach that leans into the new paradigm to make it easier and the messes hopefully get cleaned up (budgets, time and otherwise, allowing).
Rinse and repeat.
But yeah, not a recommended way of doing what can and has been done before.
I always figure that code that looks like a mess probably is a mess.
I find similarly in text. If the writing is a mess, probably the thought process behind it (if any) is, too. Occasionally someone will have a great idea, and just not be able to wrap words around it. But far more often, garbage text is a reflection of garbage thought.
I always figure that code that looks like a mess probably is a mess.
I find similarly in text. If the writing is a mess, probably the thought process behind it (if any) is, too. Occasionally someone will have a great idea, and just not be able to wrap words around it. But far more often, garbage text is a reflection of garbage thought.
When writing text of any length (i.e. longer than a blog post 😉 I usually will create an outline first. And then fill in the text second. Similarly with programming: explain what is happening with comments first, and then write the code that will do what is explained. It’s not exactly structured programming™, but it works.
When writing text of any length (i.e. longer than a blog post 😉 I usually will create an outline first. And then fill in the text second. Similarly with programming: explain what is happening with comments first, and then write the code that will do what is explained. It’s not exactly structured programming™, but it works.
I find similarly in text. If the writing is a mess, probably the thought process behind it (if any) is, too. Occasionally someone will have a great idea, and just not be able to wrap words around it. But far more often, garbage text is a reflection of garbage thought.
The hard part with natural language is knowing which is the case. 90% of my job as a writing teacher is finding the potentially productive moments in garbage writing and then asking critical questions about intentions or context or audience that lets the writer get a handle on their own thought processes – usually with some associated epiphany when a conscious connection slides into place.
But then there is a lot of writing that gets identified as garbage text that is actually just misunderstood text where the reader doesn’t have access to the mental resources that would make it comprehensible, or doesn’t understand the context for which it was meant.
And then there are the language poets, who fuck everyone up.
I find similarly in text. If the writing is a mess, probably the thought process behind it (if any) is, too. Occasionally someone will have a great idea, and just not be able to wrap words around it. But far more often, garbage text is a reflection of garbage thought.
The hard part with natural language is knowing which is the case. 90% of my job as a writing teacher is finding the potentially productive moments in garbage writing and then asking critical questions about intentions or context or audience that lets the writer get a handle on their own thought processes – usually with some associated epiphany when a conscious connection slides into place.
But then there is a lot of writing that gets identified as garbage text that is actually just misunderstood text where the reader doesn’t have access to the mental resources that would make it comprehensible, or doesn’t understand the context for which it was meant.
And then there are the language poets, who fuck everyone up.
My technical career was blessed by the fact that when I was writing code, it was almost always because someone needed some sort of one-off widget. Sometimes me because I needed the widget to accomplish something bigger, sometimes because an individual or small group needed the widget. I didn’t ever write for what most developers mean when they say “production,” although some of the widgets had surprisingly long lives. Sometimes there was a real concrete spec. Sometimes there was just a bunch of arm-waving.
But to go back to the formatting and commenting remarks, doing those things was a habit I developed early on. Code that I hadn’t looked at for three years, that someone decided needed to be revived and extended, was code written by someone else. Maybe there are people who never change the way they think about problems; I’m not one of them. “What was I thinking?” was a common remark to myself. You have to leave at least clues.
It’s still a habit when I’m writing code here in my retirement. I can’t sit and code continuously. When I’m letting a problem cook in the back of my head, I’ll take a few minutes to write comments (particularly for the tricky bits), tidy things up, rearrange. (Rewriting is something else that requires pulling out all of the test cases again.)
My technical career was blessed by the fact that when I was writing code, it was almost always because someone needed some sort of one-off widget. Sometimes me because I needed the widget to accomplish something bigger, sometimes because an individual or small group needed the widget. I didn’t ever write for what most developers mean when they say “production,” although some of the widgets had surprisingly long lives. Sometimes there was a real concrete spec. Sometimes there was just a bunch of arm-waving.
But to go back to the formatting and commenting remarks, doing those things was a habit I developed early on. Code that I hadn’t looked at for three years, that someone decided needed to be revived and extended, was code written by someone else. Maybe there are people who never change the way they think about problems; I’m not one of them. “What was I thinking?” was a common remark to myself. You have to leave at least clues.
It’s still a habit when I’m writing code here in my retirement. I can’t sit and code continuously. When I’m letting a problem cook in the back of my head, I’ll take a few minutes to write comments (particularly for the tricky bits), tidy things up, rearrange. (Rewriting is something else that requires pulling out all of the test cases again.)
And then there are the language poets, who fuck everyone up.
Forgive me if “language poets” is a term of art that I’m just not familiar with.
My sense is that actual poets are quite coherent. And structured. It’s just that a lot of really bad writing is justified by claiming that it is poetry. Which, apparently, is supposed to excuse all its flaws.
And then there are the language poets, who fuck everyone up.
Forgive me if “language poets” is a term of art that I’m just not familiar with.
My sense is that actual poets are quite coherent. And structured. It’s just that a lot of really bad writing is justified by claiming that it is poetry. Which, apparently, is supposed to excuse all its flaws.
/* If a function is worth writing, it’s worth writing some text first to say what it’s going to do. */
Also, God intends curly braces to be used like this, so it’s easy to see which ones match:
But every modern code editor is ungodly, so I’ve given up on that. At least the editor will find matching braces for you.
/* If a function is worth writing, it’s worth writing some text first to say what it’s going to do. */
Also, God intends curly braces to be used like this, so it’s easy to see which ones match:
But every modern code editor is ungodly, so I’ve given up on that. At least the editor will find matching braces for you.
not sure what God wants, but in Go, you have to do them like this:
if this_is_go { code goes here }it is a syntax error to put that starting bracket on its own line!
[also, no parens for ifs. and no semicolons. ]
not sure what God wants, but in Go, you have to do them like this:
if this_is_go { code goes here }it is a syntax error to put that starting bracket on its own line!
[also, no parens for ifs. and no semicolons. ]
And in most product-oriented environments that is going to be very true.
when I was writing code, it was almost always because someone needed some sort of one-off widget.
All good.
Most of my experience with this stuff is building systems that are somewhat large and complex – quarter million to maybe 1.5 million lines of code? On teams of somewhere between 6 and 20 people. And always either product oriented, or bespoke systems for large organizations like the DoD or similar. Development timescales measured in months to a year or two. Thousands to hundreds of thousands of users.
So, not a good context for winging it. 🙂
The “just give me a spec” thing that Janie talks about is also something that makes me nuts. Maybe it’s appropriate for really junior engineers, but once you have a couple of years under your belt, you should really be able to engage with users and help them articulate what they need from the system. It really does seem to be a missing piece in technical education.
What problem are we trying to solve?
Why is it good to solve that problem?
How will we know when the problem is solved?
You can probably get 90% of the way there by asking “why” several times. A lot of this stuff is not rocket science, people are just not used to thinking about it.
It saves a hell of a lot of time.
I have about another 2 years of this, and then it’s be-bop, 24/7.
🙂
And in most product-oriented environments that is going to be very true.
when I was writing code, it was almost always because someone needed some sort of one-off widget.
All good.
Most of my experience with this stuff is building systems that are somewhat large and complex – quarter million to maybe 1.5 million lines of code? On teams of somewhere between 6 and 20 people. And always either product oriented, or bespoke systems for large organizations like the DoD or similar. Development timescales measured in months to a year or two. Thousands to hundreds of thousands of users.
So, not a good context for winging it. 🙂
The “just give me a spec” thing that Janie talks about is also something that makes me nuts. Maybe it’s appropriate for really junior engineers, but once you have a couple of years under your belt, you should really be able to engage with users and help them articulate what they need from the system. It really does seem to be a missing piece in technical education.
What problem are we trying to solve?
Why is it good to solve that problem?
How will we know when the problem is solved?
You can probably get 90% of the way there by asking “why” several times. A lot of this stuff is not rocket science, people are just not used to thinking about it.
It saves a hell of a lot of time.
I have about another 2 years of this, and then it’s be-bop, 24/7.
🙂
One programming shop I was in had a PL1 compiler. It was supposed to be a replacement for both COBOL and FORTRAN. And allowed inline assembly code. Talk about a Tower of Babel.
One programming shop I was in had a PL1 compiler. It was supposed to be a replacement for both COBOL and FORTRAN. And allowed inline assembly code. Talk about a Tower of Babel.