Well, it’s time for another background check. The current background check company, Private Eyes, is not as bad as HireRight — yet! — but they still have time to catch up. To start with, they asked me to fill out and submit forms with all information regarding my education and previous employers, which I did. Annnnd here comes their first communication: Hello Paul, My name is Tiffany with Private Eyes, a pre-employment background screening company. We are currently working on your employment background check. We are having trouble reaching someone who can help us verify your employment and education. If you can, please assist us by providing a copy of your check stub or W-2 form for Company A, a pay stub or W2 form from Company B and your diploma/degree/certificate/ or transcripts from your school Harvard University [school name changed – PE]. Doing so will help us speed up… Read more →
Author Archive: Paul Epps
Chess Game of the Day: French Defense Mangled
One of my online chess games. Some annotations below . . . 2. Nc3 A typical French Defense would go 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3. I like to play 2. Nc3 first just to see what happens. Usually Black plays 2. …d5 3. d4 and everything is back to normal. 3. …f5? Have not seen this but it doesn’t look promising. 6. …c6? Black may not have a really appealing move here. White is about to make hash of the Black kingside. 9. …c5 It might be in Black’s interest to avoid the check at h5 with 9. …h5 or 9. …Kf1 but this move need not have turned out as badly as it did. 11. …Bxf5?? Capturing the queen must have been tempting but leads to an immediate loss. 11. …Nc6 avoids the upcoming check at a5, and 12. dxc6?? does allow the bishop to capture the queen as… Read more →
Frolicking in the Rain
Maybe black creators invented "frolicking"? Is it different from dancing and singing in the rain? I saw Gene Kelly doing that in the 1950s. It looked a lot like frolicking to me. Granted, Gene Kelly didn't post to TikTok. Maybe black creators invented the TikTok part. https://t.co/FnjXU2ohtp — Paul Epps (@paulepps) August 28, 2022 Read more →
A Couple of Thoughts on Student Loan Debt
I’ve taken out mortgage loans, auto loans, acquired some credit card debt . . . am I forgetting anything? But I’ve never acquired debt and not paid it back. It never occurred to me to do that. Transferring student loan debt seems like subsidizing irresponsibility. What happens when you subsidize something? You get more of it. I saw the Secretary of Education being interviewed and although I don’t remember his exact words, he seemed to blame the whole thing on the COVID pandemic. He said it was his job (or the government’s job) to make sure that people can bounce back from that and not be crushed by their student loan payments. I’d like to ask him where he got the idea that it’s the job of the federal government to make sure that citizens don’t suffer financial hardships. In the early days of our country, many people… Read more →
Ring Them Bells
Ring them bells St. Peter Where the four winds blow Ring them bells with an iron hand So the people will know Oh it’s rush hour now On the wheel and the plow And the sun is going down Upon the sacred cow Ring them bells Sweet Martha For the poor man’s son Ring them bells so the world will know That God is one Oh the shepherd is asleep Where the willows weep And the mountains are filled With lost sheep — Bob Dylan, “Ring Them Bells” Read more →
Christmas Cake
From urbandictionary.com: A woman 26 years+ who is considered to be past her prime, undesirable, used goods and/or no good. The term originates from Japan where it is tradition to eat cake on Christmas. So a cake intended for Christmas that was not eaten or is left over is considered bad and should be thrown out. Japanese businessmen coined the term, once again emphasizing the Japanese desire for a young and virginal wife. Japanese women over the age of 26 most often have to rely on either a hastily semi-arranged marriage to a friend of the family or, more frequently, marry a foreigner as they are rarely aware of the stigma or don’t care. “If we wait until after grad school, I’ll be Christmas Cake.” “She just turned 26. She’s Christmas Cake now.” “She married her husband at 30, so you know he wasn’t bothered that she was Christmas Cake.” Read more →
Talk to Them on iPhones as They’re Dying
It became evident very early on that science didn’t speak with one voice on the subject. . . . The idea that our leaders are just following the science, following the algorithms, following the experts, and we’re not even going to look into the faces of people who are losing their jobs because we shut the economy down? We’re going to let our grandparents die in isolation and talk to them on iPhones as they’re dying? It’s obscene. — James Hankins Read more →
It’s a Short List
I keep a list. Whenever someone in Washington does something admirable, something not for political advantage but for the country, I write that person’s name on the list. It’s a short list. — James Hankins Read more →
We Are Led by Idiots
It’s hard to contemplate American public life in the 21st century and not arrive at the unhappy conclusion that we are led by idiots. The political class has lately produced an impressive string of debacles: the Afghanistan pullout, urban crime waves, easily foreseen inflation, mayhem at the southern border, a self-generated energy crisis, a pandemic response that wrought little good and vast ruin. Then there are the perennial national embarrassments: a mind-bogglingly expensive welfare state that doesn’t work, public schools that make kids dumber, universities that nurture destructive grievances and noxious ideologies, and a news media nobody trusts. — Barton Swaim Read more →
Renaissance
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I Heard the News Today, Oh Boy
I’m getting a little tired of presidents of the United States repeating things that could only be spoken by an idiot or a liar, and then trying to intimidate people out of contradicting them. The latest (though of course not the most egregious) offender is one Joseph R. Biden, who told the country today that he can raise corporate income taxes without imposing any additional tax burden on anyone who earns less than $400,000 a year. Because in the United States of America, nobody with an income under $400,000 owns any stocks or mutual funds. And if you disagree, he’ll stare you in the face and repeat himself. — Steven Landsburg Joe Manchin has also taken up the banner on this. I don’t know enough about Manchin to say whether he’s economically illiterate or a liar or both. (I don’t think Biden is an idiot, though he’s obviously cognitively dysfunctional.)… Read more →
Whatever Happened to Tomboys?
“Tomboy,” when I was a kid, was a word that you heard all the time to refer to girls who preferred wearing jeans and climbing trees to more traditional girlish attire and activities. Probably most of them grew up to be heterosexual women, some of them grew up to be lesbians . . . I wish them all the best. (Of course there were also boys who didn’t like sports and other boyish activities although I don’t remember a polite term that we used for them.) Whatever happened to tomboys? I can’t remember hearing the word for quite a long time now. Today these girls would be put on the “trans kid” fast track, which to me is regrettable and senseless. Read more →
Complainers
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LinkedIn Recommendation, First Draft
One of the most distinguished and highly reputable dignitaries in our national economy. Not only an inspired and enthusiastic creator of material assets but he is also an outstanding figure, a national benefactor, author of good deeds, in fact a patron commanding nationwide gratitude: aere perennius, full of good deeds and charitable activity, unprecedented in the annals of our more recent past, an exemplary and significant figure, meritorious public worker and pioneer. Too much? Read more →
This Day in History: Apollo 11 Landing
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 touched down on the moon. Pictured above, as most of you know, are Neil Armstrong on the left, Buzz Aldrin on the right, and kind of the forgotten man, Michael Collins, who piloted the lunar orbiter while Armstrong and Aldrin were on the moon. Neil Armstrong has a degree from the University of Southern California, as do I. What else do Armstrong and I have in common? Well . . . we’ve both been to the moon! OK, I lied about the moon. Maybe it’s just the USC degree. FIGHT ON! Read more →
Happy Bastille Day — Now THAT Was an Insurrection!
Happy Bastille Day! The anniversary of the storming of the Bastille—a military fortress and prison—in 1789 by a violent mob is one of the defining moments in the fall of the monarchy, or the ancien régime, as they say in France. Check my facts but this was followed by the formation of a July 14 Commission to investigate the insurrection. Bastille Day is celebrated by parades, fireworks, flags, etc. — like our own Independence Day, which also celebrates a violent insurrection. They don’t make insurrections like they used to, I tell you. Read more →
Real Wealth is Life Without Assholes
Uh, don’t hate all rich people. They’re not all awful. Believe me, I know some evil poor people, too. We need some rich people: Who else is going to back our movies or buy our art? I’m rich! I don’t mean money-wise. I mean that I have figured out how to never be around assholes at any time in my personal and professional life. That’s rich. And not being around assholes should be the goal of every graduate here today. It’s OK to hate the poor, too, but only the poor of spirit, not wealth. A poor person to me can have a big bank balance but is stupid by choice – uncurious, judgmental, isolated and unavailable to change. I’m also sorry to report there’s no such thing as karma. So many of my talented great friends are dead and so many of the fools I’ve met and loathed are… Read more →
Trump’s Second Term
Donald Trump is having a pretty good second term for someone who wasn’t elected. Several favorable Supreme Court rulings while Biden continues to mess things up at home and abroad as predicted . . . Read more →
A Moment of Love
Everything was worn out about people: they complained about debts; they were involved in gossip; they had five-storied houses built; they traded in large objects; they bought ships, mines, vineyards; at bridge parties they lamented worriedly and falsely about being too busy; everybody talked about his work, whereas, in fact, nobody did anything; people played bridge and for whole nights groaned for a moment of love. — Miroslav Krleža, On the Edge of Reason Read more →
You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good. — Jerry West