Storm Clouds

I Hope I'm Wrong...

...but I don't think it will turn out that way. In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, I predicted a wave of triumphant persecution of people and institutions who choose to adhere to the traditional definition of marriage, despite the court's ruling. After all, the proponents of the ruling have been using #LoveWins as their mantra ever since the decision was handed down. That must mean "hate" lost, right? And what do we do with "haters" in this country? Why, we hate them, of course!

The legal persecution of such "haters" has been making headlines in states which had already legalized same-sex marriages. In case after case, dissenters were told that they were required to participate in such ceremonies or else risk ruinous fines and other legal punishments, as well as virulent public opprobrium. What reason do we have to think that this "sore winner" mindset will be mitigated by Obergefell? None that I can see.

It has already been suggested that Obergefell presents an opportunity to revoke tax-exempt status for religious institutions. How long do you suppose it will be before a parish priest, or pastor, or rabbi declines to perform a same-sex ceremony and winds up in court over the matter? And since losing their tax-exempt status would mean the end of most churches and synagogues, the folks celebrating Obergefell as a triumph of love over hatred will hardly be able to resist using that hammer to punish all who oppose same-sex unions.

As someone who advocated for years for same-sex civil marriages to be legalized, I am profoundly apprehensive about the attitudes being expressed by those who support the court's reasoning in Obergefell.

"You know that no matter what happens, no one of either sex wants to marry YOU, right?"

I am well aware of that fact, yes...

21 Months

At midnight tonight, I will have completed my 21st consecutive month without smoking a cigarette. I began smoking in 1977, just a few months after the death of my first wife. With just a couple of short episodes where I was able to quit,
I smoked for the the next 36 years. I'm convinced that I was actually self-medicating for depression, and possibly even trying to commit slow-motion suicide out of grief over her death.

I am forever grateful for the arrival of electronic cigarettes. I might not have been able to quit successfully without the help of my Blu...

One of the things that attracted me to this particular company was that it produced cartridges that contained no nicotine whatsoever. It still irritates me that a lot of opponents of these products aren't even aware that nicotine-free options are quite popular with smokers trying to quit.

In fact, the amount of nonsense being spouted in public about electronic cigarettes is staggering. Some people just can't resist the opportunity to display their ignorance, I suppose. I often fantasize about being able to humiliate these nitwits in a public debate on the matter, but of course they're not interested in debating the issue. They know what they know, and that's that. In rhetoric, it's known as the Invincible Ignorance Fallacy.

In any event, if anyone who matters to you is a smoker, please encourage them to give the electronic options a try. Highly recommended.

Smart-Aleck Hall of Fame

Bugs Bunny was by far my favorite cartoon character when I was a kid. It wasn't even close.

I loved Bugs's flippant attitude, especially toward bullies and bossy authority figures. I also admired his ability to extricate himself from the various jams his smart-alecky attitude got him into.

My favorites among the classic Bugs cartoons are the ones that show his sentimental side. Bugs was always a sucker for someone in need, and I always loved that about him. That might be as big a part of my personality as my penchant for drollery and wordplay, actually.

Here's an example of sentimental Bugs...

*sniff* "The little penguin's tears...*sniff*...turned into ice cubes..." *sniff*

I know, old friend, I know...it gets me, too...every time...

My First Car

By the time I started college in the fall of 1971, I had already had my first real job (more on that some other time) for a few months, and I had been saving up almost all of the money I earned to go toward buying a car. Once I had to juggle both the job and traveling to my classes every day, it was no longer practical to borrow one of my parents' vehicles, so my dad contributed some funds to combine with my savings, and I was able to afford my first car:

1965 Plymouth Sport Fury

My car was a couple of steps up from the boring base model Fury. It had bucket seats (vinyl, in those days) and a center console for the shifter, which was rather unusual back then. It also had a 383 four-barrel V8 engine, which meant it was really fast. I think that was my dad's favorite part (he always loved powerful cars, especially Chrysler products).

I was the envy of many of my friends for quite awhile, but in the spring of 1972 my car was stolen. The case was never solved, and I never saw my car again. There were whispers that a relative may have been involved in the theft, but no one ever came out and accused anybody.

I wouldn't own another car of my own until I got married, in the summer of 1974...

Until Next Time...

When the progressive rock band Yes released Fragile, its fourth studio album, just after the new year began in 1972, I was about to begin the second semester of my freshman year in college. Quite honestly, nothing on Yes's first three records had particularly interested me as a rock music fan. It wasn't that I didn't care for so-called "progressive rock" at all, of course. I was a big fan of Jethro Tull, and I also liked Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. I just didn't dig Yes.

Fragile changed my perception of the band, and I wasn't alone. It became one of just a handful of legendary recordings from its time period. For awhile, there, it seemed like the "radio edit" of "Roundabout" was getting played three or four times every hour on the rock radio stations in Kansas City. Fragile is what made Yes a part of the soundtrack of my college years. The band lineup on Fragile (Anderson, Squire, Bruford, Howe, and Wakeman) came to be appreciated as one of the stellar collections of musicians in any band of the era.

I was put in mind of all of this when I learned early Sunday that founding member Chris Squire had died from leukemia the night before. He was 67, just five years my senior. As often happens when musicians, actors, and other public figures who were prominent during my high school and college years pass away, it is especially troublesome the closer their age is to my own. I don't really need any more reminders of my own mortality than my body gives me on a daily basis...

Today's send-off is arguably the band's best-known song, and it certainly showcases Squire's talent as a bass-player. Requiescat in pace, Chris...

Life Goes On

Agreeing to Disagree...

...has been a dying convention in this country for some time, now (since the '60s, really), but we might finally have reached the point where the very notion itself is considered politically unacceptable. There has been a movement afoot in the public sphere for many years to declare certain points of view as simply outside the bounds of acceptable discourse. What points of view, you may ask? Why, points of view that differ from the advocate's own views, of course.

It is fair to say that this tactic has become ubiquitous all across the political spectrum. From advocates of same-sex marriage claiming all opposition to their position is "hate speech," to opponents of gun control claiming simple background check laws are tantamount to a gun confiscation program, this tactic knows no ideological or political boundaries. Regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum, advocates in the public square these days seem unwilling, for the most part, to concede that their opponents in a given political controversy can disagree in good faith on such issues. Opposition is viewed as not merely mistaken or even wrongheaded, but positively wicked.

"I totally called this 20 years ago."

In his book A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell argues that the reason for this absolutist rhetoric, and the related attempts to anathematize all who dissent from the advocate's point of view are due to a fundamental disagreement about human nature. He makes a compelling argument that it is this disagreement, not the specifics of a given political or social controversy, which explains the virulent rejection of competing points of view...

"I second that emotion."

In his book The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker agrees with Sowell, and takes the argument one step further. He suggests that attempts to deny the reality of human nature (what Sowell referred to as "The Unconstrained Vision") is not only anti-intellectual, but corrosive to our social and political lives.

Pinker argues that organizing society around "feel-good" slogans and magical thinking will only increase social discord. No one observing modern political debates could deny that this is, in fact, the new normal in public discourse...

Do I exaggerate? In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the preferred expression of support for the ruling was:  #LoveWins. The converse of that, of course, is the suggestion that those who opposed the ruling (on rule-of-law grounds, in my case) were espousing "hate." Never mind that I am on record as being in support of same-sex marriage; if I disagree with the issue being summarily decided by a Supreme Court ukase, if I find Justice Kennedy's rhetoric entirely devoid of sound legal reasoning, if I prefer to see us governed by laws enacted by our elected representatives, then I am a hateful person.

As I have said previously, seeing respect for logic and reasoning, and even for the language itself, being drained from our public discourse is profoundly dispiriting...

"For what it's worth, I don't think you wasted your life."

Easy for you to say, old friend...

Things That Make Me Happy: Cleaning Tools Edition

No, I'm not talking about the stuff I use to clean my apartment. I'm talking about what my beloved Kansas City Royals busted out on the Oakland A's yesterday in Oakland...

A three-game sweep is always satisfying, especially playing on the road. This one, though, was especially sweet given the way the two teams brawled during the A's visit to Kansas City back in April...

It was a tense game, with the A's nursing a 2-0 lead into the 6th inning. The Royals scored three runs in the top of the 6th to take a one-run lead. Sal Perez gave the team some breathing room with a two-run home run in the top of the 8th, which turned out to be huge when the A's nicked Kelvin Herrera for a run in the bottom of the inning.

"Boom! Yo prefiero que golpeó esta manera, de Oakland."

Wade Davis came on in the 9th and struck out two en route to his 9th save. Jeremy Guthrie's record moved to 6-5 after he pitched six solid innings, striking out 7 and holding the A's to just a pair of runs.

The Royals are now 5-1 on this road trip, and carry a four-game winning streak into their three-game series with the Houston Astros that begins tonight in Houston...

For Future Reference

I have never been emotionally invested in that whole "glass half-empty / glass half-full" debate, but if you're going to give me a glass like that, please make sure the liquid in it is this...

After I've had a dram or two, I won't give a damn about the glass, other than to desire that it be replenished.

"Excellent choice."

 Thanks, Harvey, I knew you'd approve...

In My Roundhouse

One of the more recent additions to my HO scale locomotive collection is this model from the Walthers Mainline series.

ALCO DL-109

It is wearing the livery of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, popularly known as The Milwaukee Road.

"Show them the coffee mug...you know you want to, just do it."

Well, since you asked...I actually do have one...

Until Next Time...

As I have mentioned a few times already, I'm still not quite okay with the fact that the TV series Justified has ended. Completely aside from the quality of the writing and the skills of the outstanding cast, I'm also missing the music featured in the show. In addition to the marvelous incidental music from Steve Porcaro, the show featured an endearing mix of country, roadhouse blues, and bluegrass music that was as much a part of the show's atmosphere as Harlan County was.

The first album of music from the show is currently only available on CD, while the second album is available only in digital form. What can I say, Amazon is weird that way sometimes. In any case, today's send-off is a track from the first album, featuring the Homemade Jamz Blues Band doing "Hobo Man." Enjoy...

Sunday Potpourri No. 5

Today's post comes with the Standard Sunday Disclaimer: "The post title is using the term 'potpourri' in the second of the two senses listed here. The post may also be rather short, although not necessarily so."

Some Days...

 ...just feel like this, you know?

"Loneliness" by Hans Thoma

Things That Make Me Happy: Bric-a-Brac Edition

Most days, I'd be able to employ one of my sure-fire (at least for me) cures for depression: 
a visit here...

"We'd love to be able to help, but you know we're closed on Sundays."

Yeah, I know...

When they're open, I can always cheer myself up by finding something cool for my classroom...

...like this (it is actually hanging in the "guitar room"
in my apartment at the moment)...

...and for my home, like this (which currently hangs just above the light switch in my bedroom).

They always have SO much cool stuff...if I ever win the Powerball drawing, it will be...

A Fool and His Money...

Back when I was in high school (1968-1971), if you had told me and my friends that a day would come when people would actually buy water in plastic bottles, we'd have laughed in your face. And if you had further suggested that people would pay more for that water than they pay for gasoline, we'd have thought you had lost your mind. But these days, people cheerfully fork over $2 or more for a single liter of bottled water, and don't even bat an eye...

 

This one is my personal favorite, because I love the bottle design. Unfortunately, I can only find it when I'm traveling. I was in Birmingham, Alabama the first time I ever saw the brand, but since then I have found it in other parts of the country. Just not here in southwest Iowa (at least not that I have seen)...

Wild Kingdom Bed & Breakfast Update

Part of the fun of having the bird feeder and bird bath on my patio is learning about the different kinds of birds who live in my neighborhood. At first, I just figured all the small birds who visited were sparrows. I had no idea how many different kinds of birds are common to this area, but now that I've started paying closer attention, it's clear that several varieties of birds are regular customers. Here are a couple of types I have recently been able to identify...

"More thistle, please."

This is a Common Redpoll...

"Fewer grackles would also be nice."

...and this is a Pine Siskin.

"If you ask me, I think they're spoiled and demanding and noisy and messy."

Which is why I don't ask you...

Until Next Time...

In Stephen King's The Stand, when Mother Abigail sends Glen, Stu, Larry, and Ralph to Las Vegas to confront Randall Flagg, she tells them that one of them will "fall by the way" before reaching their destination, but she can't tell them which one of them will be the one to fall. On days like today, I feel like I'm the one who has fallen short of where I was supposed to wind up...

Don't worry, though, no spoilers here if you haven't seen the movie. Today's send-off is just another bit of W.G. Snuffy Walden's evocative, haunting score. Enjoy...

Sunshine and Songbirds

Processes and Outcomes

As I indicated in yesterday's post, I find it profoundly discouraging when the things I have believed in my entire adult life (the proper use of language, the power of logic and reasoning) turn out to mean nothing. Yesterday's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges was even worse in that regard than King v. Burwell. The majority opinion by Justice Kennedy (No concurrent opinions from the rest of the majority, on such a historic case? That is odd, to say the least...) doesn't even make a pretense of being legal analysis.

This outcome, while perhaps predictable given the current composition of the court, is heartbreaking nonetheless. For those of us who have been advocating for this outcome for many years, it is insulting to say the least to have the court suddenly tell us that we can't get solve our own problems anymore. It is especially galling since we were winning the debate! Logic and simple fairness were prevailing all over the country. There was no need for the court to step in and treat us like children, like subjects. Even people who share my approval of same-sex marriage in principle should be given pause when they read the dissents in Obergefell (they begin on page 40 of the .pdf).

I am all in favor of two people who love each being allowed to marry. Life is too short, and my default position is that we need more loving relationships in this world, not fewer. But I also believe that there will be unfortunate consequences from the court's decision to take the decision out of the hands of the people. I believe, Justice Kennedy's disclaimers notwithstanding, that this decision will be used as a weapon against those with sincere religious objections to the ruling. It is going to be a dark time for religious liberty, and I can find no comfort in that.

As I said yesterday, thanks to the court's disregard for democratic processes and the rule of law, our country is now for all intents and purposes a monarchy...

"Take it easy, Shu. The sun is shining, and we're singing to you. It'll be okay."

I hope you're right. But if the recent past is any guide, this decision is only going to exacerbate the problem, not solve it...

The Real Thing

I have already written about my two other major vices (Starbucks coffee and dark chocolate), so now is as good a time as any to mention my oldest obsession...

...in the bottle American bottlers have stopped using, damn it!

I actually grew up in a Pepsi family, but when I began high school I acquired a fondness for Coke, probably because the drive-ins and pizza restaurants my friends and I frequented all served Coke rather than Pepsi. I had to buy my own to drink at home, but the upside of that deal was that I didn't have to worry about anyone else in the house drinking my sodas...

As usually happens with me and my enthusiasms, over the years I have acquired a fair amount of Coca-Cola merchandise including shirts, serving trays, mugs, stuffed bears, glassware, etc. Some of it I bought myself, but most of it was gifts from my students over the years (they always caught on to my fondness for The Real Thing right away). Lately I have switched to drinking Coca-Cola Zero, which tastes fine and...

"...and helps keep your butt from getting huge."

Not the way I would phrase it, but yes...

Things That Make Me Happy: Revenge is Sweet Edition

Last night my beloved Kansas City Royals played the first of a three-game weekend series with the Oakland A's, at the ridiculously-named O.co Coliseum in Oakland. It was the first time the two teams had played since an early season series in Kansas City that saw benches clear in each of the three games. No fighting last night, though. The Royals won comfortably, 5-2, their third win in four games so far on this road trip.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Kendrys Morales opened the scoring with a solo home run (his 9th of the season) in the second inning...










...and Alex Gordon closed out the Royals' scoring with a solo shot of his own (also his 9th of the season) in the 6th inning.






Meanwhile, Edinson Volquez pitched seven solid innings of two-hit ball to improve his record to 8-4, 3.18 ERA.

The Royals send Chris Young (6-3, 2.83) to the mound this afternoon in Game 2 of the series. The team needs Chris to bounce back strong from his previous start, in which he got torched by the Boston Red Sox...

Funny Papers

For as long as I can remember, my taste in comic strips has always been a little...well, eccentric. I tend to gravitate toward strips that depend heavily on the audience having both a love of wordplay and an appreciation for the absurd. For instance...

That's from Gary Larson's marvelous strip The Far Side, which ran for 15 years and produced some of the funniest comics I have ever seen in or out of a newspaper. At one time, I owned a copy of every collection of his cartoons ever published, but over the years I've lost or given away all but one of them. One of these days, I'm going to get myself the boxed set of the entire strip as a gift.

The Far Side ended in January 1995, just a few months before I returned to teaching after a five-year hiatus...

Until Next Time...

Once I've shuffled off this mortal coil, someone will take possession my music collection, in all its forms (digital and CD). Whoever receives it will certainly notice not only how eclectic my taste in music was (I like just about every kind of music there is, except opera), but how many relatively obscure artists found their way into my library...

In the spring of 1997, I impulsively purchased a CD by a band named Cool for August that I had read about somewhere or other. I had never heard any of their music before, but Grand World (their first and only full-length album) was chock full of the kind of jangly guitars and powerful, distinctive vocals that usually win me over. It had three singles that charted, and got them enough attention to land a guest shot on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on August 12 of that year. But that was it...I kept hoping for more, but they turned out to be just another promising group that failed. No shortage of those in the music business, certainly. And they did produce one kick-ass album, which is more than a lot of artists are able to manage...

Today's send-off is the music video for "Don't Wanna Be Here," the group's most successful single (No. 15 on the rock charts). Yeah, music videos looked pretty silly back then, but they look pretty silly nowadays, too. Enjoy...

Tubthumping

Thank Quetzalquatl It's Friday!

"Party like it's 900 A.D.!"

To My Former Students: My Bad

As it turns out, I misled you all of those years. I taught you to respect the language, to use words with precision and, if possible, elegance, and to trust that logic and reasoning would prevail in the marketplace of ideas versus emotion and partisanship. I was wrong. Words and their established meanings don't matter. Logic and reasoning don't matter. Cogent arguments don't matter. All that matters is whether the elites who rule over us get the outcome they desire. We mere citizens are completely naked before them, at the mercy of the whims and caprices of political fashion. None of us are safe any longer. No law can protect us, because laws are composed of words, and we've just been informed by no less august an authority than the Supreme Court of the United States that words mean what the political elites say they mean, no more and no less. If that means some of us must suffer injustice because the outcome desired by the elites demands it...well, that's just too damned bad, I guess.

I wonder if the justices who voted to ignore the plain language of the statute in King v. Burwell have read their Dostoyevsky:

The answer to that question is supposed to be "No," Mr. Chief Justice. Not "Yes, because we mean well."

Justice Roberts and the rest of the majority apparently concluded that so long as the desired outcome (which they divined by interpreting goat entrails to determine the "intent" of Congress) is achieved, whatever linguistic legerdemain is required to get us there must be countenanced. Put more simply, the court majority chose its preferred outcome and "reasoned" backward toward the statutory language. When that approach proved insufficient to justify ruling in favor of the sovereign, they chose to simply replace the established meanings of key words with "meanings" of their own devising. Orwell would not be surprised...

On the final day of deliberations at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked as he left Independence Hall whether the delegates had chosen to create a monarchy, or a republic. Franklin famously replied "A republic, if you can keep it." Unfortunately, keeping it proved to be too difficult a task. For all intents and purposes, we live in a monarchy now. The law is whatever the sovereign tells us it is, on any given day. The legislature is impotent, and the courts defer to the sovereign. Never mind George III, Henry VIII would feel right at home in modern Washington.

It is not unusual for someone of my age to sometimes think he has misspent his life.
This is hardly the first time I have had such thoughts. But it is the first time I am having them because the principles and ideals I tried to teach my students have been ruled obsolete.

I apologize for wasting your time all of those years, and for selling you false hope...

"Why is everybody so pissed? It's not like it's the first time I've pulled this shit."

Suddenly, It All Makes Sense

Yes, we absolutely need to get this guy off of our $10 bill. What an idiot...

How I Used to Spend My Friday Nights

I was on the debate team, the newspaper staff, and the chess club when I was in high school. If that suggests to you that I often didn't have a date on Friday nights, you are mistaken. I never had a date on Friday nights...

Like most Kansas City kids with no social life back then, I spent Friday nights listening to radio station WHB's countdown of the week's top 40 songs. The early part of the countdown was fun because there'd always be a few songs making their first appearance. The last hour of the countdown, when the top 10 were played, was also fun, because you got to see whether your favorites went up or down, or even made No. 1 (or held that spot for another week).

Check out the eclectic nature of popular music at that time, too. You had pop acts like The Partridge Family and The Carpenters mixed in with heavy acts like Led Zeppelin and Santana. Singers like Barbra Streisand and Tom Jones sharing space with Canned Heat and Rare Earth. Music didn't care as much about categories in those days.

On Saturday mornings, printed copies of that week's countdown were available at various retail stores around town. I'd have hung on to my collection if I had known there would be any interest in them more than 40 years later...

Things That Make Me Happy: Strong Finish Edition

The Norway Chess 2015 tournament, which I have been following in real time on the internet for a couple of weeks, concluded yesterday. American Grandmaster (GM) Hikaru Nakamura tied for second place with former world champion GM Viswanathan Anand of India. The tournament was won in excellent fashion by former world champion GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. With his fine victory, GM Topalov moves up to No. 3 in the current world standings. GM Anand is back at No. 2, while GM Nakamura holds steady at No. 4. GM Nakamura's current Elo rating of 2814.1 is the highest ever achieved by an American player, and the 8th-highest ever achieved by any player regardless of nationality.

GM Nakamura started out with wins in two of his first three games to share 1st place, but then a series of draws in rounds 4-8 dropped him back a bit. In the final round, GM Nakamura had black against GM Levon Aronian. It is to his credit that he was able to prevail in an exciting game. Well done, sir!

If you'd like to play over GM Nakamura's win in the last round, you can do so here...

"It's always sweet to win with the black pieces against a quality opponent."

My Friend Ari Says...

"In other words, you bipeds are up shit creek without a paddle, now?"

Pretty much, yeah...

Until Next Time...

The week I turned 17 years old in 1970, the song that finished No. 2 on the WHB Top 40 list was the latest hit from one of my favorite groups, Simon & Garfunkel (like any true fan, I prefer the ampersand). "Bridge Over Troubled Water," from the album of the same name, is bittersweet for fans because by the time it topped the charts rumors that the two singers had decided to break up the group had been confirmed. It seemed sad that a song about friendship could be performed so beautifully by two guys who (at that time) hated each others' guts, but there it was.

About a year later, my hero Maynard Ferguson released an album called simply Maynard Ferguson (on some pressings the album was renamed Alive and Well in London). Typical of Maynard's efforts at that point in his career, the album was mostly arrangements of pop hits, including George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," and "Aquarius," from the musical Hair.  Our send-off today is his version of the Simon & Garfunkel hit. I've probably listened to Maynard's version more often than I have the original. But even without hearing the lyrics, the expressiveness of Maynard's trumpet is enough to bring a lump to my throat. Enjoy...

All Wet

Seriously, Mother Nature?

It is cool and overcast again this morning, and rain is forecast for later in the day. Sheesh. I like rain as much as the next person, but enough is enough, Mom...

Completely aside from the effect this has on my arthritis, and my mood, I'm beginning to wonder if I should start checking craigslist for a good used ark...

"Shotgun!"

Whatever...

Welcome Back!

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, it has been kind of a rough spring for me in terms of favorite TV shows. Game of Thrones is gone for awhile now, and The Walking Dead won't be back until fall. Add to that the series finales of Justified (April) and Mad Men (May), and I have had a good bit of separation anxiety with which to deal.

Fortunately for me, last night brought the Season 5 premiere of one of my favorites...

Suits is one of the smartest, best-written shows of the past few years. I'm very glad to have Harvey, Mike, Jessica, Louis, Donna, and Rachel back in my living room on Wednesday nights the rest of the summer.

"Donna left Harvey...*sniff*...I can't even..."

Get a grip. It will all work out fine, you'll see...

Things That Make Me Happy: Facial Hair Edition

I was up late again last night, watching my beloved Kansas City Royals take the rubber game of their three-game series with the Seattle Mariners. The Royals won 8-2 after exploding for 7 runs in the 4th inning. Mike Moustakas got the big inning started with a two-run home run...

"Boom!"

The team has the day off today before beginning a weekend series with the A's in Oakland. We'll see if the bad blood from earlier in the season still lingers...

Meanwhile, it was good to see Royals starter Danny Duffy back on the mound again. He struggled with his pitch efficiency, but even though he wasn't able to finish the 5th inning to qualify for the win, at least Danny came back from his rehab assignment looking like a regular guy again.

"I decided to stop looking like a Duck Dynasty extra."

Good call, Danny. You're Irish, so that was never a look you should have rocked in the first place...

R.I.P., Walter Browne

I had intended to provide a chess update this morning on the Norway Chess 2015 tournament, which I have been following in real time daily via the internet, but when I checked the news over my morning coffee I was saddened to learn that Grandmaster (GM) Walter Browne had died suddenly in Las Vegas.

GM Walter Browne in 1976.

Walter was just a bit older than me, and so I followed his professional career with great interest. A perfectionist, his struggles with time trouble were legendary, and probably kept him from challenging for the world championship. His games were always entertaining, though. My favorite of his was his victory over another one of my chess heroes, GM Bent Larsen, in San Antonio 1972. At the time the game was played, Larsen was a world championship contender himself, widely considered to be the strongest non-Soviet player in the world behind GM Bobby Fischer.

To replay the Browne-Larsen game, go here. Requiescat in pace, Walter...

You Can Trust a Progressive To Be Truthful...Up To a Point

Remember when the progressives, in the wake of the Charleston shooting, said that getting rid of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina state capitol building would satisfy them? Turns out they were lying. We gave them their inch, now they want the mile. Shocking, I know. I guess some people need to re-learn the lesson from childhood: You don't defeat a bully by caving in to her/his demands, because that only leads to more demands...

Things That Make Me Happy: Antidepressant Edition

If moping were an Olympic event, I would have collected many gold medals over the years. There aren't many things that can lift my spirits when I'm wallowing in depression, but my former students know that one thing that does seem to help is dark chocolate. In addition to its ability to cheer me up a bit, there are actually other health benefits as well. Dark chocolate in almost any form will do, but lately I've grown quite fond of these...

"And by 'fond' he means eating a whole bag at a time."

Mind your own business, wise-ass...

Until Next Time...

One of my favorite bands during my high school and college days was The Band, a bunch of Canadian and American musicians who were splendid players and who had a knack for writing unforgettable songs. Their 1972 live album Rock of Ages captured the group at their musical peak, and still gets regular play on my iPod. My fondness for live recordings was heavily influenced by records like that one.

A few years after Rock of Ages was released, the group recorded another live album. This one documented the group's final concert together (with their original lineup, anyway). The concert, dubbed The Last Waltz,  was studded with big-name guest stars, and was filmed by none other than Martin Scorsese. That ought to give you some idea of how culturally significant the group was. Today's send-off is their performance from that concert of one of their most iconic works, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." Enjoy...before the progressives decide we're not allowed to listen to such songs anymore...

Give 'Em an Inch...

Bullies in the Marketplace of Ideas

In the wake of the horrific shooting in Charleston a few days ago, the public square has been taken over by people demanding that we Do Something. One of the downsides of the Digital Age is the ease with which people can form cyber-mobs agitating for...well, that part is not entirely clear to me.

Initially, of course, the usual suspects began clamoring (again) for "common sense" gun control laws (whatever that is supposed to mean). Within hours, of course, it became clear that the racist asshole who murdered nine innocent people could not have been deterred by any sort of gun law short of an outright ban on handguns, and since gun control types know that is a non-starter both politically and legally, they've resorted to lying about the issue, as they always do. And, sadly, there are enough stupid people out there who buy that nonsense that we have to waste time wrangling about it, to the exclusion of debate on other more pressing concerns...

Meanwhile, the urge to Do Something has also produced a quixotic push to banish the Confederate battle flag from polite society. Regardless of the merits of either side's position in that controversy (and I do tend to side with folks who think that flag isn't just a symbol of redneck racism), this ongoing wrangle is NOT about removing "offensive" symbols from the public square, or repudiating the legacy of slavery, or any of the other pithy-sounding excuses we have been hearing from progressives for the last several days. It is, purely and simply, about power. It is about progressives getting their way. It is about bending others to their will. Getting the State of South Carolina, or Amazon, or eBay, or Walmart, or whomever to knuckle under to pressure from the progressive mob.

The desire of such people to control what it is permissible to do, say, or even think is absolute. They simply will not stop until they have achieved Total Victory, as they define it. If you disagree with the way they view things, you are not merely mistaken, but nefarious. You are not merely misguided, you are pernicious. And thus, whatever measures are required to regulate you and (if possible) punish you for your wickedness are not only politically justified, but morally imperative as well.

Progressives hate John Stuart Mill's "marketplace of ideas," because the ideas they favor don't tend to succeed in that marketplace. It can't be their ideas that are faulty, of course; it simply must be the fault of the marketplace itself. These people are bullies, and no matter how much lip-service they pay to the idea of freedom of expression, in the end nothing short of the complete absence of dissent from their preferred orthodoxy can be permitted...

Things That Make Me Happy: Comfort Food Edition

It has been a bumpy ride the last few days. At times like this, comfort food is what is called for. Last night, it was tuna noodle casserole to the rescue...

...and not a moment too soon.

How I Resolve Most Modern Political Controversies

"I'm guessing that approach saves you a lot of time."

You have no idea...

Say "Hello" to Cora

Not long after returning from a national speech competition just after Memorial Day weekend in 2011, I found myself wanting to add an acoustic guitar to my harem. And so I began to shop...

My debate partner and best friend in high school had owned an Ovation acoustic, a Standard Balladeer, that he bought not long after the company introduced them in the late 1960s. The revolutionary rounded bowl (made of a high-tech substance Ovation called Lyrachord) was definitely appealing to us, since we were both suckers for all things technological. On the occasions when he let me play it, I was impressed by the guitar's action and light weight. And so Ovations were on my list of acoustic instruments to check out when I began to shop in earnest.

I had no luck finding anything that appealed to me, Ovation or otherwise, at the various shops I visited in Council Bluffs and Omaha. There was a Yamaha in one of those stores that would have been okay, but it didn't really inspire me, so I kept looking. And, on a trip to the Guitar Center in Des Moines, I happened to see Cora hanging on the wall. Unlike any of the Ovations I had seen online, she had a beautiful figured koa top and gold hardware, which was very unusual for Ovations in the Celebrity series. I later discovered that this particular model was a limited run. Even though the store didn't have a hardshell case that would fit her, I bought her the same day I found her. I was later able to order a genuine Ovation hardshell case from an online vendor.

2010 Ovation CC24 in Figured Koa

She plays as smoothly as my friend's Ovation did nearly 45 years ago, she has that unique "Ovation sound" that I associate fondly with my high school days, and she is visually stunning. I'm lucky to have her...

"Considering how you play, I wonder if she feels lucky."

That's not a very nice thing to say...

Until Next Time...

No, I'm still not over the shock of losing film composer James Horner so suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that he was just a year younger than me...

Today's send-off is another medley of themes and motifs, this time from Horner's Oscar-nominated score for the motion picture Field of Dreams in 1989. Enjoy...and remember...