Libertine: On the Prowl
Vidi, vici, veni -- I saw, I conquered, I came. _______________________________________________________________
Just As True Now As It Was Then
Following are some quotes from my favorite president, Harry Truman, that are just as true now as they were at the time he said them."In most of my campaigns, I find it is best not to mention my opponent by name because, by doing so, it just gives him a chance to get into the headlines." 1948
Hear that, Hillary?
"It isn't important who is ahead at one time or another in either an election or horse race. It's the horse that comes in first at the finish line that counts".
1948
Both Clinton and Obama should remember the truth of this.
"Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix."
Obviously Bush never heard this one.
"We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all it's citizens deserves the help of all the nation."
"Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and to enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. And the time has now arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and to help them get that protection."
Too bad that no one listened to him back then or we wouldn't have the mess in the health care system that we have today.
"We must remember that the test of our religious principles lies not just in what we say, not only in our prayers, not even in living blameless lives - but in what we do for others" 9-28-1951
A lesson that the Religious Right has yet to learn.
"Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing. They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage--the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing--but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire of Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it."
Nothing has changed here since Truman's time.
What's the Difference?
Above is a photo of a street scene, taken around 1912 or so. There was one element of this photo that struck me as being quite different from a typical city street scene of today.
Can you guess what it is?
An Incomplete List of Obsolete Things
I recently came upon a site which listed skills that are now obselete, some of them only recently so. I plucked a few of the ones I found interesting for this entry. Enjoy!Adjusting Rabbit Ears On Top Of aTV
Adjusting Horizontal And Vertical Holds on a TV
Be Kind-Rewind
Calling A Phone Sex Line
Calling Collect On A Payphone
Cash Register Used Manually Entering The Prices
Changing The Ribbon On A Typewriter
Converting Your Albums From Vinyl To Cassette Tape
Cuff Links
Dialing A Rotary Phone
Filing Cards In A Library Card Catalog
Finding Channels On UHF
Getting Off The Couch To Change Channels On Your TV Set
Having Your Gas Pumped For You And Your Oil Checked At A Full-service Gas Station
Kick Starting A Motorcycle
Knowing What Part Of Town Someone Lives In By Their Phone Exchange
Loading A Reel To Reel Tape Drive
Making An Operator Assisted Phone Call
Making Hot Chocolate By Heating Milk in a Pan, Then Adding Cocoa Powder and Sugar (remember the "skin" on the milk?)
Marriage (NOTE: This was actually on the list -- it isn't my addition)
Meeting People By Answering Personal Ads In A Newspaper Or Magazine
Opening A Can Of Beer Or Soda With A Church Key
Peeling The Developer Layer Off A Polaroid
Percolating Coffee
Placing A Coin On A Tonearm To Prevent Skipping
Popping Corn In A Pot With Oil
Porn Not From The Internet
Putting A Needle On A Vinyl Record
Rewinding An Audio Cassette Using A Bic Pen
Selling Something In The Classified Ads
Shave With A Straight Razor
Shorthand
Smelling A Freshly Mimeographed Test Paper
Switching To High Beams By Stomping On A Button In The Floor
Taking The Tape Out Of An Answering Machine
Testing TV Tubes At the Drugstore
Using Carbon Paper To Make Copies
Using Correction Fluid
Using A Party-line Telephone
Using A Pay Toilet
Feel free to add some of your own.
In Memory on Veteran's Day
Chief Yeoman, USN
1941-1947
USS Ranger
Remembering my late father, who served our country honorably during World War II. Many thanks to him and all others who served to protect our country from the Revolutionary War to the present.
A Different Perspective
This photo of Earth rising over the lunar surface was taken during Christmas 1968 by the Apollo 8 crew as they orbited the moon.
People viewing this photo then, as now, got a better idea of how small and fragile our planet really is and a different perspective on Earth's place in the universe.
I was ten years old when this photo was taken and I remember saying to my friends, "I'm in that picture!" and they'd reply, "So am I!"
To date, this remains the furthest photo ever taken of the Earth. May it not remain so much longer.
Ads You'd Never See Today
Can you imagine seeing either of these ads in a current magazine?
WWII "Kissing Sailor" Identified
This famous photo was taken on August 14, 1945 by Alfred Eisenstadt for LIFE Magazine. Like the photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima, this photo is an iconic representation of American victory in Word War II.
The photographer never named the people in this photo, so for years the identity of the sailor and the nurse remained a mystery. When I first saw the photo as a kid back in the 60s, I thought it was my Dad, because the sailor looked like him to me.
The photographer never named the people in this photo, so for years the identity of the sailor and the nurse remained a mystery. When I first saw the photo as a kid back in the 60s, I thought it was my Dad, because the sailor looked like him to me.
But when I asked my father if it was him, he said, no, that he'd been at sea that day and not in New York City.
This past Friday, however, the sailor was positively identified by Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson, as being 80 year old Glenn McDuffie. Gibson took precise measurements of McDuffie's wrists, knuckles, arms, forehead and ears, then compared them to enlargements of the famous photo.
"I don't say this lightly. What I do is usually a matter of life or death, so I don't mess around when I identify someone," said Gibson, whom the 2005 book of Guinness World Records said has helped police identify more criminal suspects than any other person.
Eleven other men have also claimed to be the sailor in question. Gibson carefully studied the bone structure of all these men.
"I was able to eliminate all the others based on their foreheads, or the superciliary arch — where the eyebrows are," she said.
On Aug. 14, 1945, McDuffie was in Times Square when the word came.
"When I got off from the subway, a lady told me the war was over, and I went into the street yelling. I saw the nurse and she was smiling at me, so I just grabbed her," McDuffie said. "But we never spoke."
This past Friday, however, the sailor was positively identified by Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson, as being 80 year old Glenn McDuffie. Gibson took precise measurements of McDuffie's wrists, knuckles, arms, forehead and ears, then compared them to enlargements of the famous photo.
"I don't say this lightly. What I do is usually a matter of life or death, so I don't mess around when I identify someone," said Gibson, whom the 2005 book of Guinness World Records said has helped police identify more criminal suspects than any other person.
Eleven other men have also claimed to be the sailor in question. Gibson carefully studied the bone structure of all these men.
"I was able to eliminate all the others based on their foreheads, or the superciliary arch — where the eyebrows are," she said.
On Aug. 14, 1945, McDuffie was in Times Square when the word came.
"When I got off from the subway, a lady told me the war was over, and I went into the street yelling. I saw the nurse and she was smiling at me, so I just grabbed her," McDuffie said. "But we never spoke."
Fantasy Dinner Companions
A few days ago, I read about someone winning an Ebay auction for $650,100 to have dinner with investor Warren Buffett. After thinking to myself about the myriad better ways I'd have to spend that amount of money, I considered who I would like to have dinner with. But instead of choosing someone currently alive, I thought of who in history interested me enough to sit down to dinner with.Instead of choosing a single person or making a long list, I limited my choices to three. Below are my choices and why I chose them. List your choices and reasons in the comment box.
1. Ben Franklin
2. Thomas Jefferson
3. Giacomo Casanova
I chose Franklin and Jefferson for similar reasons. As Founding Fathers of our country, I'd be fascinated to hear what they thought of our current President and the world of 2007 in general. As both men were Deists who believed in the separation of church and state, I'd be especially interested in their comments about the Religious Right. Because they were probably the most forward thinkers of all the Founding Fathers, both interested in technology, I'd also bring them up to date on technological advances since their time to the present. I imagine they'd have quite a lot to say about our world, both good and bad.
I'd also like to have a chat with Casanova, whose surname is itself a synonym for libertinism. I'd like to hear the stories about his seductions and his ideas about how he'd go about living the life of a libertine in the 21st century.
I could have chosen several more people as fantasy dinner companions, but these are the three who immediately popped into my mind. Let's hear yours.
A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
President Franklin D. Roosevelt: Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of American was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan..._________
Though I was not born until 17 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, my parents, members of what Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation", remembered it well.
On this day, they were both 17, and it would be six months before they would meet, when my father's ship was in port at Quonset Point, RI. My father had joined the Navy in July of 1941, shortly after graduating from high school. After undergoing basic training that summer, he was assigned to the USS Ranger(CV4) in the fall of 1941. On the morning that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the Ranger was one day from making port at Norfolk, VA after a routine patrol. My father was a month from his eighteenth birthday.
My mother saved the newspaper from December 8th, 1941, as she always did with events of major importance. Many years later, when I was old enough to understand what had happened on that day, she showed me the now-yellowed newspaper with its huge headlines, and had me to read the article, which spurred my interest in history..
___________
My father's ship, USS Ranger (CV4)
___________
In remembrance of those who gave their lives on that day.
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