Since You Asked

Purchasing welcome the things we do every day (I prefer a shoe that zips or slips) and the thousand life- -or-death decisions that  must be made before  supper tend to blunt  and deaden the sharper pains of living. A look backwards (a week was plenty, according to the ancients) affords a better way to look forward.  It isn’t that the jabs must be catalogued like hotel guests as they pass, but if you would know why sleeping on your side (or back,  or stomach) seems necessary, count how many times you have smiled or held a door for another person. Who, when fully grown, did not want to be the  one (not like Helen, solely  because of her beauty) capable  of launching a decent holiday  dinner?

The family legend goes like this: some time in the sixties, my father took the Ford down to Johnson and Sons Lincoln-Mercury in Newport Beach for service. He had to drive the better part of an hour to get there, and as a consequence planned on staying in the dealer’s waiting room until the car was done. My father was not a gregarious person. He was rather quiet, and preferred solitude or the company of friends and family to being around strangers. Nevertheless, a conversation with another gentleman, also waiting for his car, developed. We can assume they probably talked about work, or football, or other such man subjects. But the approaching Thanksgiving holiday somehow came up, and before he knew it, my father realized he was in the presence of a turkey zealot. The man claimed to have a recipe for roast turkey that would forever change my father’s relationship to roast turkey. The recipe and resulting turkey was the pinnacle of human achievement, the man said, but it required co

When I look in the mirror before going to bed, I see a handsome man assailed by self-doubt. Did I mention handsome?

Recently an episode of ABC’s The Middle included a scene where painfully eager daughter Sue is invited to a party by her older brother Axl. Leading up to the actual party scene the writers and the actors managed to telegraph that once again, Sue would be a fish out of water and say or do something embarrassing while trying too hard to be liked. It was my cue to get up off the couch, walk into my den/studio/office and check my email. Since I became old enough to follow a story I have had an extremely low tolerance for tales where people, even fictional ones, suffer embarrassment and humiliation. Growing up my family was used to the fact that I would sometimes get up and walk out of the room during Gilligan’s Island rather than watch a scene that made me uncomfortable. Today I have zero compunction walking away from anything that sets off my ‘someone is going to be humiliated’ alarm. Indeed there are some shows that I altogether refuse to watch. Included in this category are any

I’m unabashedly patriotic. I tear up when watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington . I am convinced (and my family is somewhat tired of hearing me say this) that the government of the United States is the finest example of human achievement in the history of the planet. My dad’s US Army dress uniform hangs in my closet, and I’m proud such a man was my father. So why do I call your attention to the deeds of an officer in the navy of one of America’s fiercest rivals? I assure you it’s an amazing story. I was five years old during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and honestly remember nothing about it. But I did grow up in the cold shadow of nuclear war. For some reason AM radio was an integral part of that in my world. I remember hearing Eve of Destruction in the parents' car driving through Oregon, wondering if I would live to be a teenager. When I heard Stephen Stills sing For What It’s Worth I thought the lyric Stop! Children what’s that sound-everybody look what’s going dow

I record cover versions of songs I love and put them up on the internet. As a rabid supporter of the rights of content creators, a few years ago I did a little research, found a copyright service called Limelight, and sent them $141.60 for the first three gems I recorded and uploaded. (I sincerely hope some of that money found its way to the actual artists, but that’s a whole ‘nuther blog post.) Those licenses entitled me to 200 downloads and 100 streams for each song. How did I come up with those numbers? I guessed. Limelight closed down in 2015. I assume the Harry Fox Agency has taken over collecting money from the other chumps like me who try to follow the rules. Ah, the rules. The rules are vague, because the internet. To take the prime example, the people who put stuff up on YouTube, self included, use what  Andy Baio in Wired  calls the “begging for forgiveness” model: you upload the tune and wait to see what happens. If a legitimate copyright holder objects to your

Here are a couple of quotes taken directly from each party’s 2016 platform. At first they may seem unrelated, but I promise you that the two are speaking about the exact same subject, and illustrate the stark differences between the parties. First, the GOP. The Declaration [of Independence] sets forth the fundamental precepts of American government: That God bestows certain inalienable rights on every individual, thus producing human equality; that government exists first and foremost to protect those inalienable rights; that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights; and that if God-given, natural, inalienable rights come in conflict with government, court, or human-granted rights, God-given, natural, inalienable rights always prevail; that there is a moral law recognized as “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”; and that American government is to operate with the consent of the governed. Now, the Democrats. We will appoint judges who defend the constitutional

By most accounts he was a difficult man. He lived in an age where adults smoked constantly, and was seldom without a cigarette. He died at 65, not surprisingly from complications surrounding lung cancer. He damaged his spine playing polo in the 1930s and suffered from it the rest of his life. And he changed the world. Something about a sharp-dressed man... Like it or not, Walt Disney rearranged the face of entertainment. The stories and characters he brought to life are known in every corner of the world, and his influence on animation, film in general, and popular entertainment as a whole are beyond calculation. I’ve read everything I could lay my hands on about Walt. The more I learn about him, the less I seem to know. A genius before his time who saw what animation could become? The quintessential common man who reflected a cleaned up, homogenized version of America back on itself? The tinkerer who loved gadgets and trains and multiplane cameras? Certainly Walt was

Normally when I compose one of these little diatribes I start with as many facts as I can muster about the subject. This serves two purposes: hopefully inoculating me from making hugely stupid or false statements, and imposing some sort of order on the essay. In the case of term limits, however, facts are difficult to come by—but there is no shortage of opinion. Supporters of term limits usually hit three themes: corruption, or the amount of influence lobbyists have on legislators, the lack of diversity and the preponderance of career politicians in legislatures without term limits (such as Congress), and the savings from decreased spending that must surely follow when term limits are imposed. Writing in the Washington Post Niraj Choksi managed to cite several different abstracts from major sources: a 2006 National Conference of State Legislatures study, a 2010 Wayne State University study, and a 2005 Public Policy Institute of California study. NCSL is an advocacy group for state

Let’s just be clear here on what The Convention of States Project is. They identify four “abuses” perpetrated by the Federal government that they feel need to be addressed. From their website: 1. The Spending and Debt Crisis The $17 trillion national debt is staggering, but it only tells a part of the story. Under standard accounting practices, the federal government owes around $100 trillion more in vested Social Security benefits and other programs. This is why the government cannot tax its way out of debt. Even if it confiscated everything, it would not cover the debt. 2. The Regulatory Crisis The federal bureaucracy has placed a regulatory burden upon businesses that is complex, conflicted, and crushing. Little accountability exists when agencies—rather than Congress—enact the real substance of the law. Research from the American Enterprise Institute shows that since 1949, federal regulations have lowered the real GDP growth by 2% and made America 72% poorer. 3. Congressional A

Update 9/29/2017 Saw this today on FB: I am smart enough to recognize that I am not as smart as I would like to be. Many of you out there (especially liberals) are much smarter......so I am trying to figure something out. Maybe you can help me.   Here's my question: If kneeling during the national anthem rather than standing before the flag (which represents the nation and the sacrifices people have made on behalf of this nation) is not about the flag, then why are these "people" choosing that brief two minute time to kneel? Let me see if I can parse this out.  The contention seems to be that "about the flag" refers to some sort of recognized, laudable, mandatory civic duty.  It represents "the nation and the sacrifices people have made on behalf of this nation."  One assumes the  reference to sacrifice refers to the many thousands who fought, suffered, and died in the armed services of the country to purchase that freedom. The oath one tak

When I was 11 my parents dropped me off at Disneyland with a friend. Roll your eyes if you must when I say it was different back then, but, well—it was different back then. As kids of course we loved it: we weren’t “little kids” any more, whatever that means. By some obscure evaluation we had been found qualified to look after ourselves in an amusement park with thousands of other humans. We blasted past Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (who wants to waste a precious 45 minutes waiting in line to watch a robot? Although the lighting and the Gettysburg sound effects were pretty cool.) and made immediately for the Matterhorn to get on when the line was at its shortest. One of the things you’re really good at when you’re 11 is running through crowds of adults and small children moving slowly in a limited area. You chose your path while constantly re-evaluating and making small adjustments. Faster to go around the fat couple from Des Moines using the path that goes toward the castle,