This holiday weekend, let’s be safe and smart. It’s going to take all of us to beat this virus. So wear a mask. Wash your hands. And listen to the experts, not the folks trying to divide us. That's the only way we’ll do this—together.https://t.co/UwNKAzL8JU
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 3, 2020
The best virtual Fourth of July events, from firework shows to a Declaration of Independence reading https://t.co/iyydndYG71
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 3, 2020
Perspective: Trump’s idea of the Fourth of July is totally wrong https://t.co/BMkUCqWg6t
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 3, 2020
J.M. Opal, history professor, for the Washington Post:
… It began in the mid-1760s, as hard economic times set in after Britain’s most recent war with France. To pay its creditors and reduce its debt, the British government imposed regressive new taxes and banned much-needed paper money throughout the American colonies. Sailors and tradesmen responded by rioting in Boston, which was full of unemployed men and war widows.
To their surprise, the beleaguered New Englanders found support from fellow colonials as far away as South Carolina, the only North American province with a black majority.
But after hearing white patriots demand “liberty” on the streets of Charleston, groups of enslaved men chanted that same slogan, sending local slaveholders into a long panic.
As the empire tightened the screws over the next decade, Colonial women began to renounce imported finery — London was the seat of British fashion as well as power — in favor of “homespun” clothing. The idea was to make the colonies more self-sufficient. “Women and Children, both within Doors and without, set their Spinning Wheels a whirling in Defiance of Great Britain,” noted one observer.
By standing up to the great men of England, these women often wrote that they felt “useful” and “notable” for the first time. They soon began to question old assumptions about female weakness and wickedness and to denounce cruel fathers and husbands as petty tyrants.
With rebellion in the air, the colonies became more democratic than ever before. In Massachusetts, people at town meetings looked past their traditionally parochial interests, telling their representatives to protect freedom of the press and stop the “unchristian and impolitick” practice of slavery throughout the province. They made clear that all authority came from “the body of the people” and that governments should advance the “general welfare” against arbitrary power and selfish individuals.
In New York, direct democracy by popularly elected committees replaced old patterns of gentry rule. Made up of a cross section of adult men, these committees didn’t just tear down royal authority; they assumed the ordinary work of governing, inspecting roads and taverns and enforcing fire and health regulations. For the first time, marveled a writer calling himself “A Poor Man,” ordinary people were “effectually represented” by accountable authorities.
In Philadelphia, workers and radicals rose up not only against British rule but also against Pennsylvania’s conservative assembly. They demanded voting rights and equitable tax and land policies. Among their leaders was the British emigre Thomas Paine, whose January 1776 pamphlet “Common Sense” urged Americans to look past their ethnic and religious differences and embrace the larger struggle: “The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.” That May, a huge crowd in Philadelphia sent the old assembly packing — the stunning culmination of a full-blown revolution in one of the most diverse parts of the British world.
By then, a good number of the roughly 2.5 million colonists were already committed to independence. One historian has found 85 small-D declarations of independence written before Thomas Jefferson’s famous version. These little-known texts came from towns in New England, counties in Virginia and Maryland, grand juries in South Carolina and one mechanics association from New York City. They turned particular grievances into a bold vision for a new kind of country…
This July 4th, there is a new name synonymous with traitor. Move over Benedict Arnold. Meet…#BenedictDonald #TRE45ON pic.twitter.com/zH0TgMf0Rb
— VoteVets (@votevets) July 3, 2020
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
Baud
Halfway through Hamilton, I find myself rooting for Burr.
Baud
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: trump has ideas? Huh. The things I learn here.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: x2 ?
@Baud: I would amend that to the entire GOP, otherwise truth.
I’m about to get ready to go work, the stupid market is open today. Not that it ruins any plans I have, I just resent the idiocy of being open normal hours on a holiday.
Baud
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that Donald Trump is a fucking idiot.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Who?
Amir Khalid
A song for the Fourth of July: Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen at Barack Obama’s Inauguration concert, when America was a more hopeful place.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Raymond Burr? The ghost of Raymond Burr? :)
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
ETA – also a Soviet shitpile mobster conman, and the entire GOP are traitors too.
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: Ahh yes, the sing-along. RIP Pete.
Derelict
I find it both amazing and utterly horrifying that Donald Trump and his Republican followers have managed to take the idea of fighting a pandemic and turn it into a political wedge issue. And that Donald and the MAGAts have taken the side of the virus!
Never in a million years of bizarre conservative politics would I have ever guessed that not wanting to catch a potentially fatal or crippling disease could be cast as unAmerican. But here we are.
WaterGirl
@satby: It’s the American way, apparently. The idea is that if you can’t have your fireworks and you’re not supposed to have the picnics and other group activities, shop. Just buy something!
WaterGirl
@Baud: Truth. Nominated!
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: I’m not sure I can watch that again. I cried happy tears watching that concert on that day, so happy that Pete Seeger lived to see that day. That we all lived to see that day.
Look where we are now.
mrmoshpotato
Yup.
OzarkHillbilly
An ashram for the hummingbird’: the Trindad haven for world’s tiniest bird
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Buy face masks! :). (and use them correctly, ffs!)
WereBear
@Baud: LOL
gkoutnik
Just finished my annual re-listening to NPR’s reading of the Declaration of Independence. This year I was struck by how humble and reasonable it is.
Wouldn’t it be great to be humble and reasonable again?
Baud
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Hmm. Sadly, that appears NOT to be the American way.
In all fairness, just like we can’t blame CONGRESS when it’s REPUBLICANS in Congress who are to blame for so many thing, it’s not fair to tar all Americans with the stupidity brush in dealing with COVID when it’s mostly the Trump cult causing all this death and destruction.
MomSense
@Baud:
I just sang it to the tune of The Schuyler Sisters
NotMax
We may not be together but we’re all in this together. Amidst the pall of isolation and roiling of despairing news, make the effort to find a chunk of time to celebrate in some way a festive Fourth. You’re worth it, we’re worth it.
cmorenc
Yesterday evening, I saw a pickup truck with two flags flying in the rear bed – US flag on one side, Confederate Stars and Bars with Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” snake design superimposed. The truck was parked in front of a house with a flagpole flying the US flag on top and a “Trump – Keep America Great” flag directly underneath where a US state flag would conventionally be. This was in a small town in SE North Carolina near the SC border, and the truck had SC plates.
OzarkHillbilly
@cmorenc: I saw a flag yesterday that was half American flag, half Confederacy flag. I really wonder about these people.
OzarkHillbilly
Jennifer Toon:
Jeffro
@Derelict: that’s a great way to put it…”trumpov and the GOP are on the side of the virus”. So true.
Sab
I am baking a strawberry blueberry pie today with a white pastry crust.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: I know, hence the ffs. :)
I wonder when we’ll see the location breakdown of Plagueapalooza 2 – Mountain Edition attendees.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ummm….. ?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m trying to avoid too much book talk but I must share what I woke up to today. #1. Read it and hyperventilate.
mrmoshpotato
@Sab: Half and half or mixed together?
Aleta
@Amir Khalid: Thanks for that. It ‘s good to remember that we haven’t lost the people who celebrated that day. (One can actually see Seeger now come out clearly in the stage presence of a few of the musicians he nurtured.)
mrmoshpotato
@Dorothy A. Winsor: ???
Aleta
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Wonderful, wonderful.
hueyplong
@cmorenc: I live in NC, and odds are you can repeat that scene by going into a rural area on any road without center line pavement paint.
NotMax
@Sab
Yum. For some reason was put in mind of a Lucille moment in Gemini (about 12 seconds in).
:)
Aleta
@cmorenc: Celebrating traitors to US democracy on the 4th of July, how deeply twisted.
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Congratulations!
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Deserving of double helpings from the drinks cart!
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Good things happen to good people.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@NotMax: I saw that show! Couldn’t have remembered the title in a million years though, so thanks for the memory jog.
NotMax
So, finished up the final season of Dark on Netflix. Grade it a B.
Short take: an Einstein-Rosen bridge too far.
cmorenc
@hueyplong:
I also live in NC (native) – and having visited the panhandle of Florida traveling via southern Alabama, the phenomenon of confederate flag-flying is by far much less common in rural NC or even rural South Carolina than it is down in south Alabama and the Florida panhandle. That’s not to say rural NC doesn’t have many pockets of racist rednecks, but most of them stay much more discreet about it up here than rural panhandle Fla, where they seem to be much more in-your-face about it. I lost count of how many yards were flying Confederate flags traveling through the rural Fla panhandle and S. Alabama, whereas by contrast while you can occasionally run across examples in rural NC, it’s uncommon enough for such encounters to be individually memorable in N.C.
Trapper Lurker
@Amir Khalid: Thank you for that beautiful and precious memory, Amir. Hearing it again made me weep, but the hopeful faces also give me hope that this insanity too shall pass.
Amir Khalid
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Congratulations on the fantastic reviews!
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Congrats! I am hyperventilating!
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yesssssss ????
RSA
Obama’s call for working together is so much different from Trump’s Mt. Rushmore speech:
JPL
@Amir Khalid: Memories! Thank you and I needed that.
debbie
@Baud:
He will be a stain on this country forever.
Auntie Anne
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Congratulations! ?????
MattF
Watched the start of Hamilton last night, decided I need to read Chernow’s biography in order to follow the story.
JPL
The president of red America uses the holiday that most connotes national unity and shared heritage to advance his culture war.
Brownstein
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
That last paragraph! ?
raven
50 years ago today I was in an anti-war group that was near the front of the “Freedom Celebration” in Champaign-Urbana. We made it two blocks when we were set upon by plainclothes cops and patriots. You can see the group at the beginning of this video.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Nice!
MattF
So, now, we’re the shithole country. I know, I should have expected that– projection, projection, projection– but the realization is a shock nonetheless.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato: @Aleta: @Subcommandante Yakbreath: I have to point out it’s a sub-sub-category. I feel a little fraudulent. But not enough to stop me from pointint it out!
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear: Drink some water, relax and don’t answer the door for any candygrams or plumbers.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
What author wouldn’t!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: The drinks cart doesn’t come around any more, now that Illinois is in stage 4. Luckily we have a supply of our own.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Looks like Ron Brownstein has gone all shrill.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You were in Iowa City, not Ames, right?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: @Amir Khalid: @WereBear: I knew BJ would be glad along with me. You all are kind people. Well, most of you.
JPL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: but her emails.
Wanderer
Wearing black today to honor all that this nation has so recently lost.
* Congrats DAW on your novel.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: @Auntie Anne: @debbie: My publisher will be very excited. She has no qualms at all about saying one of her writers is #1 on Amazon.
mrmoshpotato
@JPL: Hillary coughed! Is she at death’s door?!?!?!?!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven:
No, I was in Ames. At least, from Monday night to Thursday afternoon I was. Then I went home to Waterloo, which is in the northeast corner of the state.
Trapped Lurker
@Amir Khalid: Thank you for that, Amir. Listening again to Pete Seeger and Bruce and the others and remembering that day made me weep, but watching the hope and joy on all the faces left me feeling hopeful that we will indeed maybe be able to overcome the horror of today. Pete Seeger spoke at my college graduation back in 1972; he gave us hope then, and somehow I keep hope alive now. Thank you for the reminder!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Wanderer:
Thank you.
I didn’t watch any of the national stuff yesterday. Trump makes me sick, often quite literally as my blood pressure shoots up. I did watch Hamilton because it made me happy.
japa21
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That is fantastic.
Trapped Lurker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I thank you for the pleasure (&escape) of your books. I have now read the all. I generally lurK at BJ for all of the wisdom & knowledge & snark, but love that I find new authors & books too!
NotMax
@MattF – @RSA
White House press secretary, come Monday: “Obviously the president was joking.”
//
JPL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That is very cool and you deserve the accolades. it’s nice to see it in paperback.
MattF
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Wow. People I’ve known who have written books are always surprised by how much work it takes– be proud of your success, you earned it.
Luciamia
Lie, lie and lie. But I guess that summons up the whole speech.
Sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Well done.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@japa21: Thanks, japa. I hope one day to be back at an author fair in a library near you again. Not soon, it looks like, but one day.
@Trapped Lurker: Oh wow. I’m so glad you enjoyed them. You never really know because not all books suit all readers. And thank you for telling me.
@JPL: Some day I too hope to see it in paperback! I still haven’t gotten the copies I order either from Amazon or directly from my publisher.
Sab
@NotMax: ;)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MattF: It is work, so it better be work you enjoy because you do it for a long time and there’s no certainty of any reward other than the doing.
@Sab: Thanks. Once again, I point out that it’s a sub-sub-category. I didn’t even know it existed. But it’s there!
satby
@Dorothy A. Winsor: popped in to say congrats!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: Thanks, satby. I’m celebrating while the new book glow lasts.
debbie
“Garden of American Heroes.” FFS. At least you’ll never be in it, you asshole.
rikyrah
Dorothy A. Winsor
Did we know that Trump Jr.’s girlfriend tested positive for COVID yesterday? He apparently tested negative. But how is it possible that neither Trump nor Pence has it?
Spanky
-Autobiography of T. Jefferson
japa21
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Schaumburg library opens up Monday. I can’t wait. First two hours every day are for old people like me.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Even a lowly virus has standards of taste and rectitude.
:)
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Just bought the Kindle version. I have a fondness for YA fantasy anyway so I know it will be an enjoyable read. You get more shekels from electronic sales, right? I think I heard that somewhere.
rikyrah
The Thin Black Duke
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Promise you won’t forget us humble jackals when Hollywood comes knocking on your door, OK?
debbie
@rikyrah:
Navarro is an idiot. I don’t know what his alleged “expertise” is, but it sure isn’t public health.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@japa21:
Whoa. Barrington library has curbside pickup but they’re not open as far as I know. I’m going out for my walk. Maybe I’ll circle around there and see what’s up.
Haroldo
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Congratulations! Very happy to see that.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I think I get about the same money, but I’m not sure. I hope you like it.
@The Thin Black Duke: In the extremely unlikely event that Hollywood comes calling, I’ll be sure to let you all know! And I’ll tell them I know some playwrights. :-)
zzyzx
@Dorothy A. Winsor: When my book came out, I spent weeks tracking my ranking when it was doing well! Enjoy it! That’s a fun game.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: These days, in the early morning before the heat comes up, I sit under a black locust with my phone and the BirdNET app from Cornell. Sometimes there’s too many competing bird and mechanical noises for it to pick out the song/call I want, but I’m slowly learning the calls of my local birds.
And unlearning. What I thought was a Chickadee call I find is really a Tuffed Titmouse, and a “CHIT” that I thought was Red-Winged Blackbird is really those damned Grackles.
It’s amazing what you can learn by just quietly sitting.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: So I hear the current stance from Trump’s people is “we just have to live with the virus”, unless we don’t.
rikyrah
rikyrah
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
?????
rikyrah
Still on the Cletus safari ?
Senior Citizen edition ??
danielx
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
most excellent!
Kristine
@Dorothy A. Winsor: congratulations! Save a screenshot (which I assume you did but decided to say anyway).
ThresherK
@rikyrah: “We were so excited in the beginning. A businessman to run our country like a business and it hasn’t happened.”
On one hand, he’s stupid enough to want gummint like a bidness.
On the other hand, he’s a banker who hasn’t loaned Trump money (that we know of).
rikyrah
???
Emma from FL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: HOLYCRAP!!! whoohoo!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@RSA:
It’s got Steven Miller written all over it.
The irony is that it probably sounded better in its original German.
It is a plea to the Herrenvolk for violence.
Aleta
@?BillinGlendaleCA: ” “Give me liberty and give me death!”
OzarkHillbilly
I thought I needed blueberry pancakes this morn. I was right.
prostratedragon
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Wow, congratulations. Buff those nails!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@rikyrah: Yes he has, Mr. Businessman. He runs it exactly the way he runs his own businesses.
Sab
@Spanky: Those really annoying birds that start singing at 4 a.m. are robins. Who knew that robins did that?
rikyrah
???
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK: He’s running the country just like he ran his businesses. What did he expect?
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I know you’re referring to me. It’s ok, you can say my nym. Everyone knows.
Nonetheless, congratulations!
Sab
@The Thin Black Duke: Hollywood won’t call. The sex is very tame and there is hardly any nudity.
scav
@rikyrah: Like many, I don’t think that banker has a solitary clue about what “running like a business” actually means. It’s intellectual empty calories, a magical incantation bringing about a nebulous state of perfection, cloud-cuckoo land for the MBA-beguiled.
rikyrah
???
Amir Khalid
@Emma from FL:
It looks like you’ve unintentionally put your email address in your name field. If so, you might want to ask Watergirl to help you fix that.
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Wow! Congratulations!
zhena gogolia
@MattF:
That will take too long! Just read the libretto before watching.
But after you’ve seen the show, read Chernow and marvel at how brilliantly it’s been adapted into a rip-roaring musical.
Ken
Personally I’d prefer that the government not collapse after two bad quarters, but I am not a banker.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: You are a lot nicer than I am.
debbie
@ThresherK:
Hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end of the Age of the MBA.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Handsomer too.
The Thin Black Duke
@Sab: I dunno. What’s happening in television these days is much more innovative and challenging than what’s being released in the movie theaters. I can see The Wydsman finding a home at Netflix, for example.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Here, the police are saying they won’t be able to operate without freely using deadly force. Unbelievable.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: That goes without saying.
Betty
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks for sharing this. Gorgeous pictures
OzarkHillbilly
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty: Add it to the bucket list.
Josie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
So happy for you. Congratulations!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Haroldo: @zzyzx: It’s much more fun to see the ranking when it’s good.
@danielx: I certainly thought so!
@Kristine: I did save it. It took me a while to figure out how to take a screen shot and snip it to what I wanted. I am old.
Shalimar
@Baud: I think only former VP ever charged with treason. Not sure if that makes him more of an asshole than Hamilton ot not.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@[email protected]: Holy crap indeed. My very words. Or close to them.
@prostratedragon: Nails already buffed.
@Baud: Shh. No naming names.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Just as you would be rooting for Judas halfway through Jesus Christ Superstar. You’re supposed to.
Where is Mnem when you need her? I can’t believe she abandoned us at this critical time.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Just because they aren’t seen wearing masks doesn’t mean they never do it?
Then again, Prince Prospero was the last to go…
OzarkHillbilly
NotMax bait:
Dorothy A. Winsor
@zhena gogolia: Thank you!
@The Thin Black Duke: A friend of mine has a Netflix thing coming out about her YA book. It’s called “Get Even.” The premise is that 4 high school girls decide to take revenge on the mean kids. They form a DGM society, which stands for Don’t Get Mad (Get Even).
@Josie: Thank you!
Peale
@debbie: he was a tenured professor in the University of California system in economics. So basically qualified to teach others nonsense.
SiubhanDuinne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Wow! How exciting, and very well deserved. I’m about 60% through The Wysman, and just completely caught up in it. What a world you’ve created!
TomatoQueen
@Amir Khalid: That were a proper cold day (frostbite for your toes is traditional here on January 20). The most satisfying, sweet day evah. Oh there’s onions in here.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: That everyone would love how luxurious and tremendous he is at the bigliness!
I kid. He’s a Soviet shitpile mobster conman.
Elizabelle
LOL. Actually, a not insignificant number are on the cusp of dementia. As is this speaker.
Was in a Facebook thread with some rightwinger, who was taunting on “why didn’t Abraham Lincoln do more for Reconstruction?” I pointed out his great difficulty there. And then winger erased all his comments and fled.
These people are bile and grievance.
And nowhere in that speech does any form of the word “confederacy” appear. He does touch on the Civil War and civil rights.
Happy July 4th to us and Fuck Trump.
Spanky
@debbie: Then it logically follows that the citizenry not allow them to operate.
Good luck with that.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Baud! 2020! – Handsome enough to clean up this shitshow.
Peale
@Dorothy A. Winsor: and apparently was at a party in the hamptons 4 days ago. Come on Cuomo. Put some contact tracers on them there red heeled scofflaws. Prove to us that rich and poor alike need to participate in keeping the spread under control.
Elizabelle
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Lovely news to wake up to. Congratulations. Will make your weekend even sweeter.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m glad you’re enjoying it. As I told someone above, I never know if a friend will like a book I love, much less one I wrote so am totally not objective about. Sometimes it just doesn’t click.
Elizabelle @152. It was sweet news. But weekends (and holidays) have blurred into all the other days now.
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
Thank you, Amir.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Maybe Jr. gave it to her – if he had it first and is over it, he wouldn’t test positive
Trump, Jr. gave COVID to his girlfriend, pass it on? (It would be irresponsible not to speculate.)
Uncle Cosmo
???!??!?!!!??
Didn’t someone recently post an excerpt from “The Masque Of The Red Death” that showed Prospero was among the (if not the) first?? Chased down the mysterious interloper, tried to stab him with a dagger but fell down dead – & then said M.I. went after the rest of the guests?
Here’s the full text. Passage in question:
J R in WV
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Congratulations !!!
I can only imagine how wonderful and fulfilled that makes you feel~!!!~ And how much so many others are going to enjoy your work, also too !
So happy for you!!!
Jeffro
@rikyrah: That’s the exact same line from the article that I used when retweeting/putting up on FB. Gets right to the heart of this maladministration’s priorities.
Nicole
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I don’t even need to click that link in comment 7, I know exactly what it’s going to link to. :)
“RRRRNNNNNN BRRRRRRRR! RRRRNRNNNNNN BRRRRRR!”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@J R in WV: It’s down to #3 at the moment, so fame is fleeting. Luckily, I have a screen shot.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Uncle Cosmo
I worked for ~5 years as a statisician/programmer for a bunch of PhD economists. Some of them were nice people, some not so nice – but the collective intellectual pretensions were right out of Dunning-Krugerville.
“An economist is a person who likes to work with numbers but isn’t personable enough to be an accountant.”
TS (the original)
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Now we are retired – and especially since COVID the days seem to merge together. About 4 months ago I used to say “every day is a holiday” – not quite so much at the minute.
Congratulations on your No 1 – I used to check a relative’s book on amazon & whenever it got to 2 figures (in any list) we celebrated. Never made it to single digits – so your No 1 is most impressive.
Nicole
It’s interesting reading here, and friends’ posts on FB, that Hamilton has been a bit confusing and overwhelming to watch on TV- I’ve seen several people post things to that topic. I saw the show on Broadway a few years ago- I had not heard the music before I went to see it, so I went in without any sort of foreknowledge, and I was able to follow the show (and the lyrics) with no problem.
Now, I don’t think it says anything about me or folks who viewed it on TV at all- I’m no smarter or less smart than anyone else and my hearing isn’t particularly acute- I think it says something about the nature and experience of live theater and material written for live theater and it makes me desperately hope that live theater will be able to return in some form down the road.
People in a theater group I work with have been setting up Zoom play readings that I’ve been attending weekly and man, it’s an entirely different medium. Comedies, which are so dependent on timing, really don’t work on Zoom. I’m tinkering with a short piece for one of the groups that I’m writing as a comedy, but intended for performance on Zoom, to see if it can be done. It’s a fun challenge so far.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@TS (the original): It’s at #3 at the moment, so fame is fleeting. But yeah, I was thrilled.
Kattails
@Dorothy A. Winsor: woo-hoo! noisemakers, fireworks! So happy for you. That brightened my morning.
Jeffro
@Amir Khalid: I was at that show! So incredibly cool.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kattails:
Brightened mine too!
sdhays
Argh!! Yes, it has happened, you stupid mother-fucker!! This is what “running the country like a business” looks like.
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
This is really interesting. I thought my husband might have that problem, but I guess he’s picked up enough by seeing clips and hearing me sing around the house (plus being an American history expert) that he is not having any trouble. But we could only watch one act last night — it’s just so overwhelming, even to me who knows it so well. I’m not sure I could sit through the whole thing in a theater!
zhena gogolia
@sdhays:
Yep. Death and destruction.
kindness
I’m not a history expert but I seem to have read that a lot of the colonists here in the US did not support revolution. Sure most the landed gentry figured out it was in their best interests but the actual citizens? I thought it was closer to 60-40, 55-45 kind of breakdown. And at the end of the Revolution those royalists mostly stayed here and kept their heads down for a bit.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: In spite of my reservations, I watched it just now.
I sobbed my way through the whole thing, and now I can’t stop crying. Seriously.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: That’s really snappy.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I meant did you live in Ames?
Ken
@Uncle Cosmo: The “first assume a spherical cow” joke has nothing on economists, or at least some sub-fields. “Assume all humans are perfectly-informed rational actors seeking to maximize their utility function, and also assume they have the same utility function.”
That doesn’t even describe the markets, except in those areas where trading has been almost entire turned over to computer programs that do all use the same utility function (like options trading and Black-Scholes, if I understand correctly).
Nicole
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And out of stock in Paperback! Is that due to demand?
Congrats, so awesome.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I think it is freakishly frightening that the girlfriend bears such a strong physical resemblance to one of Trump’s earliest rivals, Leona Helmsley. Plus, apparently, Trump wanted to date her at some point.
Josie
I am so angry I could chew nails. My son, who had two stents put in two years ago, was called back in to work weeks ago (we are in Texas). He tried to be safe, wore his mask and kept the door to his office shut as much as possible. Nobody else in the office wore masks and some had their kids in day care. I’m living with them right now to help with child care. He got a call this morning that someone in the office that he has talked to recently had the virus. Luckily he can go to the other grandmother’s home and quarantine there in her upstairs, but it means extra stress on all of us and a true danger to him. I blame the GOP in this country and in Texas particularly for stupid, STUPID decisions, and I will never forgive anyone who voted for this travesty.
WaterGirl
@debbie: :: shudder ::
mozzerb
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Is that the version that was relocated to a British setting? I saw that on one of the BBC online channels and it was pretty good (albeit with one of the girls still inexplicably American and the occasional aspect that hadn’t been completely translated).
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: I love that so much, I’ve probably watched it a dozen times since (probably) Anne Laurie put it up several weeks ago.
debbie
@Josie:
Don’t leave out the co-workers. They made decisions not to be safe.
Croaker
Here’s to the troops on Yavin 4! Never forget Alderaan.
Flying the Real Flag of the Rebel Alliance today.
Trump off my yard – you gun humping, mask-less, nazi lovers.
Josie
@debbie:
You’re right. I suspect there is considerable overlap.
dmsilev
Territorial birds are hilarious. I just watched a lone hummingbird chase away a pair of hooded orioles (combined weight probably 15x larger) from the nectar feeder. MY FLOWER!
Bex
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Wow! Sent a copy to my niece and nephew.
Emma from FL
@Amir Khalid: I just noticed. It was ATT doing weird shit. Three hours on the phone with them.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven: My official residence was in Waterloo because Mr DAW worked there in John Deere’s engineering research center. It’s 90 miles from there to Ames, so I got a condo in Ames and spent 3 nights a week there when the university was in session.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Nicole: It’s out of stock because demand was higher than the book sellers predicted based on my past books. So they had only a few in stock when the book went live. It’s driving me crazy. I know I’m losing sales because of that.
@mozzerb: Yes, it is that. The author, Gretchen McNeal, is an online friend
@Bex: So you’re the one who drove it up the chart!
suezboo
Happy Birthday, USA. That makes you 244 years old, right?
So your democracy lasted 244 years. Seems like peanuts compared to, say, Iceland’s over 1000 years but you got some great declarations and speeches out of it. Still not very encouraging to us very new democracies. Will we fade as fast? Very worrying.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Josie:
That’s appalling. I hope he’s ok. My son works in a place that has had COVID not only in the building but also in his office, and he hasn’t caught it, so maybe that predicts well for your son too.
SteverinoCT
@Sab: we’ve got a mockingbird across the street that serenades the sunrise, starting about four hours early.
Villago Delenda Est
Very nice to have a positive tweet from an actual President, not a Russian-installed traitor.
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: Steve here is now on the tumbrel manifest.
WaterGirl
@Josie: I am sorry, Josie. That’s scary, and enraging.
I think there should be a law that says if your employer insists on you working in the office, that 1) masks are required and 2) distancing is required and 3) special safety mechanisms are in place.
If all 3 are not in place, they need to allow you to work from home or pay you for the time you are unable to work.
It will never happen with Rs at the helm in the Senate, but what’s happening to people like your son and MomSense and others should not be allowed to happen.
Villago Delenda Est
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Oh, wow! Congratulations! I’m so excited and happy for you, my mood meds can’t stop me from tearing up a bit in joy!
WaterGirl
@Emma from FL: I just went back and fixed your nym and email on the earlier comment.
debbie
@Josie:
Where I work, we can request to continue working remotely if we are at risk. I haven’t gotten my “verdict” yet, but would your son’s employer have something similar?
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Maybe the street cred – the book is so good that it’s sold out!!! – will offset the fact that folks can’t get the book right away.
WaterGirl
@SteverinoCT: I was thinking “how charming” until I got to the 4 hours early part. Not so charming, that.
Josie
@debbie:
They did work remotely for a while, which was fine for him, since he is an appellate attorney for the county and does mostly research and writing. But then they called him back in and gave him no choice. They just this week instituted day on/day off shifts, but it is too little, too late. It is all so poorly thought out and administered all over Texas.
Josie
@WaterGirl:
Your idea is excellent and should have been implemented from the beginning. Thanks for your support.
Josie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Thanks. I will include your son in my prayers for mine. I’m trying to think positively.
Bex
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Hope so!
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: late to the thread, but congrats! Well-deserved!
Jinchi
@WaterGirl: Don’t forget, the email still appears in the comment that alerted her to the problem.
Uncle Cosmo
Clarified that for the readers. Caveat suffragator! Cave criminalibus!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Villago Delenda Est: You’re making me teary too
@WaterGirl: Hope so. I’d like to have a copy for myself though.
@Miss Bianca: Thank you. BJ is always so nice about this.
WaterGirl
@Jinchi: Good catch! Fixed.
raven
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Did you know Julie Freed Jensen?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven: Rich Freed was my colleague. I met his wife Julie several times too. Is that her? She was always interesting to talk to. I remember talking to her about a book club she belonged to that had decided to read YA books for a year.
Zelma
@Amir Khalid:
Thank you for posting that. I am in tears about how far we have fallen. I was there for the inauguration. Had tickets but didn’t get in because of the crowd. I watched instead in the basement of a nearby Lutheran church with a crowd of mostly African Americans who had likewise failed to enter. When the national anthem came on, they all stood up so proudly that I cried then like I am crying now.
Amir Khalid
@Zelma:
The audience’s faces were shining with joy and hope that day. I have faith that I will see joy and hope again in America.
sgrAstar
The streaming Hamilton is superb! Miranda and his brilliant team have given us a work for the ages. I’ve seen it twice on stage and was absolutely gobsmacked by the film. Can’t recommend it enough.
?
The Lodger
@Dorothy A. Winsor: AweSOME!
catclub
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” wrote the French philosopher Blaise Pascal.