I don’t know how to hike out to windward or what a jib is. I have never owned evening clothes or been to a cotillion.
I Almost Got Into a Fistfight With a Realtor
My wife and I stopped by an open house yesterday . . . after looking around, my wife said something to the listing agent, an oily-haired Chinese guy, about the fact that we’re working with a buyer’s agent and he said, “No agent! You get a better deal with no agent.”
“So we cut our agent out of the deal and save some money,” I said. “It sounds like that’s what you’re suggesting.”
“Agents charge 2 percent. You get a better deal with no agent.”
“OK, but I like to get paid for my work. I’m sure you like to get paid for your work. Why would you suggest not paying someone for their work?”
“It’s up to you,” he said. “You can save some money.”
“How about if we just talk to the seller directly and cut you out of the deal?”
“I have a contract,” he said.
“They don’t last forever. When does it expire?”
So I don’t think we’re going to get that house, but I didn’t like it anyway . . .
I’d Like to Believe in the Existence of a Loving God . . .
. . . but I can’t. The quality of evidence is very poor.
Do you believe in ghosts, fortune tellers, psychics, werewolves, vampires, astrology, alien visitations . . .?
I don’t believe in any of those things, but they’re all out there and a lot of people do believe in a lot of things for which the quality of evidence is very poor.
Do you believe that a cow jumped over the moon? I remember reading about it but the quality of evidence is very poor. It seems to be just another made-up story . . .
Why Should Men (or Women) Have to Pay for Prenatal Coverage?
Illinois rep asks why men should have to pay for prenatal coverage — LA Times
Evidently the LAT thinks this a hopelessly stupid question, but why? ObamaCare requires that all health plans cover pregnancy and childbirth, even though pregnancy and childbirth insurance is expensive and many people (including women) don’t need or want it.
Why is a man or woman not afforded the option to buy a less expensive health plan without pregnancy and childbirth coverage? Why is that not an option?
Even though the LAT frames the issue as a stupid question asked by a stupid white male, why should women in their 50s or 60s or 70s be paying for pregnancy and childbirth insurance? Or women of any age if they don’t want it?
Why is this law forcing people to pay for expensive things that they don’t need or want?
The Things We Have That Go
It was a spring that never came;
But we have lived enough to know
That what we never have, remains;
It is the things we have that go.
Or as Jesus used to say, “For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”
A Visit to LACMA: Picasso, Rivera, Modern Art, Renaissance and Reformation
Here are some photos from a recent trip to LACMA . . .
We started at the Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time exhibit:
From there, we visited a modern art exhibit — The Serial Impulse at Gemini G.E.L — a celebration of the renowned Los Angeles print workshop Gemini G.E.L founded 50 years ago in 1966.
For example, here are some black rectangles by Richard Serra:
Josef Albers also painted a bunch of rectangles (squares, actually) but took things a step further by using different colors:
Ellsworth Kelly really pushed the envelope by using not only different colors but different four-sided shapes (e.g., trapezoids and parallelograms).
I had a couple of thoughts on the Gemini G.E.L. exhibit juxtaposed with Picasso and Rivera:
- Some people need to get serious.
- Some people should be ashamed of themselves.
Rather than end on that note, here are are a couple of pieces from the Renaissance and Reformation exhibit:
Keep the Channel Open
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urge that motivates you.
Keep the channel open.
At the Post Office
It’s Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 PM . . . I’m trying to overnight some documents to Reno, NV.
“They won’t get there tomorrow,” I’m informed. “It’s too late. They’ll get there on Friday before noon. So if you don’t want to spend 23 dollars for Express Mail, you can send them Priority Mail for 6 dollars.”
“Will 6 dollars guarantee that they arrive on Friday?”
“No, no guarantee.”
“OK then I have to go with the 23 dollar option. And by the way, why can’t you get documents to Reno by tomorrow? I could personally deliver them to Reno by tomorrow and it’s not even my job.”
If My Father Were Alive . . .
If my father were alive he would look at you and he would say, “Well my impression is –” then he would look at you and think “What is the use?”
Nothing Can Bring You Peace But Yourself
A political victory, a rise of rents, the recovery of your sick, or the return of your absent friend, or some other favorable event, raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
AP Computer Science Revisited
I got a LinkedIn invitation today from a student I taught in an AP Computer Science class a couple of years ago.
She’s now a computer science major at UCSB. Several of the kids from that class are now in college as computer science majors. Some of them would have been computer science majors anyway, without the class — they came in already having programming interest and experience — but this young lady was not in that group.
She was quiet in class but when I worked with her one on one, she asked a lot of questions. She asked them quietly but she asked. And when I told her to do something a certain way she always asked why.
She only has four connections at this time so I appreciate her thinking of me. 🙂
It’s Hard to Tell the Violent, Intolerant Fascists Without a Scorecard
Sometimes it’s hard to remember which side the violent, intolerant fascists are on. 🙂
Mario Savio is spinning in his grave (I hope) . . .
Mary Tyler Moore, 1936-2017
I gave up watching TV about 20 years ago when I realized that for 10 years before that, I hadn’t seen anything I enjoyed watching, just people with strained expressions on their faces saying nonsensical things to each other.
My fondest memory of television is the CBS Saturday night lineup that I watched as a kid: All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show, and I will always have fond memories of Mary Tyler Moore.
RIP MTM
Footnote: Those shows were followed on Saturday nights by The Carol Burnett Show, which I didn’t watch because Carol Burnett was not funny.
Not to say women can’t be funny, but it seems like the women with the greatest comedic reputations — Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, for example — are never funny.
To be fair, Harvey Korman and Tim Conway were not funny either.
Learn to Code
I’m a programmer . . .
Job searches for me go like this: I’m old, I have to compete with people half my age, but I’ve worked in Orange County since forever so I know some people, and I can write good code in interviews, which the majority of programmers who show up for interviews can’t.
I was out of work on January 5. It’s now January 24. I have three job offers and picked the one I like best.
Moral of the story: Learn to code, kids . . .
Thus spoke The Programmer.
Which Shirt Would You Be Afraid to Wear?
Putting your own politics aside, let’s say you have two T-shirts: one with a pro-Trump slogan like “Make America Great Again” and one with an anti-Trump slogan like “Not My President.”
Which one would you be more afraid to wear in public?
Or to put it another way: which shirt do you think would be more likely to draw the ire of violent sociopaths?
One Thing We Can All Agree Upon
I don’t know if the Trump inauguration was the most watched inauguration in history but I know it was watched by more people than the Hillary Clinton inauguration . . .
One Thing I Think We Can All Agree Upon
Thank God Almighty this woman is not going to be the next president of the United States.
Even if you don’t like Trump, even if you don’t believe in God, thank God Almighty this woman is not going to be the next president of the United States.
Strong Opinions on Betsy DeVos
I’m seeing on Facebook that a lot of people have strong (negative) opinions today about Betsy DeVos, who has been nominated as Secretary of Education, despite the fact that 99.9 percent of them had never heard of Betsy DeVos until about five minutes ago.
Why do people suddenly have a strong opinion about someone they’ve never heard of? How is this possible?
Because they’ve been instructed to have a strong opinion about Betsy DeVos in order to be consistent with the image that they have of themselves and the groups they want to fit in with.
BTW I have no opinion about Betsy DeVos at the moment because I had never heard of her until about five minutes ago . . .
The Washington Post Owes Trump Opponents an Apology
Citing backlash, singer Jennifer Holliday pulls out of Trump inauguration concert — The Washington Post
The Washington Post better check its facts because unlike Trump himself, his opponents are broad-minded, tolerant people . . .
Parenting Blunders Ranked
In other pit bull news, our neighbors across the street, who have a 5-year-old son, just brought home a 1-year-old pit bull from the animal shelter.
This is a terrible idea because they don’t know the background of the dog, what is its history with people, adults, children, with other dogs, etc.
Of course that’s true of rescue dogs of any breed, but the worst-case scenarios with most breeds don’t include maiming or killing a family member, probably your 5-year-old.
Even the most poorly socialized pug, golden retriever, chihuahua, etc., is not going to kill anyone.
By the way, I think pit bulls are great dogs but they need to be socialized and trained. I wouldn’t get one from an animal shelter because I don’t know the background of the dog.
As parenting blunders go, this is not quite up there with letting your child fall into a gorilla enclosure, but it’s close . . .