By the way, Allan Sherman has a very amusing take on the subject of the French Revolution, in, "You went the wrong way, old King Louie"".

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I don't care what you think about this -- it is not abusive to inflict my ecclectic musical tastes on my children. Right? I mean, so, my daughter is the only kid on the block who wants to listen to tracks from Allan Sherman. What's wrong with Sarah Jackman, anyway (lyrics here)? Or "Shake hands with your Uncle Max" (lyrics here)? Here, by the way, are a couple of good sites about Sherman: article about hello, muddah, hello faddah and an encyclopedia entry. This entry is taking me forever to write because I'm reading everything!

Anyone else like this guy? Or are my poor kid and me the only ones?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 03:30 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Sherman was great and died way too young. I still have one of his LPs, An Evening Wasted With Alan Sherman. Best cut was his version of Cole Porter's Night and Day - - - with Sherman singing all the puntuation, commas, exclamations, etc. Cheers, Ivan

Posted by: stolypin at July 18, 2004 09:21 PM (RxOy+)

2 Didn't he do all the "My Son, The Folk Singer". ?My Son, The Vampire" records? Or was that Pat Cooper? I get them confused...

Posted by: Tuning Spork at July 18, 2004 09:31 PM (wFmzA)

3 My mom used to inflict her music on me... be it Fat Bottomed Girls from Queen at the highest volume the stereo could handle, Joan Baez, James Taylor... or her own accapella version of Danny Boy (that's why I only know the first two lines)... you know what's really scary? I used to hate it all... now I love it. Weird, huh?

Posted by: Hannah at July 19, 2004 05:37 AM (UdFzX)

4 TS: No, you got it right. "My son the folk singer" was a great album. Ivan: I always knew you were a man of great taste. I also thought he died too young, but I'm not sure that if he had lived longer he would have created anything more. Impossible to say, I know, but it seemed like the tastes of that time moved away from him. Hannah: So it's not abusive, then? Good.

Posted by: RP at July 19, 2004 09:40 AM (LlPKh)

5 RP, while on the subject . . . if you can find any old Danny Kaye albums for children I can guarantee your daughter would love them. In particular - his album entitled Mommy, Gimme a Drink of Water. I wore it out when I was 5 - way back in 19XX or so. Lok it up if you get a chance. Ivan

Posted by: stolypin at July 19, 2004 03:45 PM (A27TY)

6 Every year since I have had a computer I have made a long CD of music for our children to listen to during vacation travel to Cape Cod. After vacation it goes in their CD collection. My son (age knows the lines to half of Allan Shermans songs, the Mill Brothers tunes, and Bill Cosby too. I try to include songs/tracks I think are educational, like Inch worm, One Hippopotami, and Good Advice. They love it.

Posted by: Duane at May 16, 2005 07:53 PM (OpyxE)

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I read the paper at the table this morning and it pissed me off for the whole morning. One of these days, I'm going to check my pressure before breakfast, not have any coffee (as a control), and check it again after reading the Times.

Roger Cohen is a _____ (supply your own appropriate word here, my choices don't make the cut since, while they are all heartfelt, they probably make me look less and less like an adult). His article/editorial (hard to know which since it wasn't on the op/ed piece but it certainly wasn't reporting), was an unmitigated horror of moral relativism which places a lower value on the lives of Jewish children killed by suicide bombers than it does on the consequences to the Palestinians because of the wall. I will explain.

The article starts with some facts which one senses Mr. Cohen disapproves of. "If Israelis are going to the beach and to clubs again, and if bombings have become rare, it is thanks in large part, they insist, to these ditches and guard towers and coils of barbed wire and miles of wire fencing that separate two peoples, demarcating the gulf between them." Meaning, the wall has allowed Israelis to lead normal lives with less fear of someone strapping on a belt of explosives with a package of nails dipped in rat poison in their pockets, and blowing up a bus or a nightclub. Cohen seems to me to minimize the importance of everyday normalcy by choosing the most frivolous possible examples to illustrate the larger point that the wall is taking away the fear. The ever present, grinding you down, fear. By putting it in this way, Cohen trivializes it and makes it seem ridiculous.

But let's continue, shall we? Cohen notes that while there is no one single explanation for the sharp decline in the number of suicide bombings, everyone agrees that the wall plays an important role. Cohen then contrasts the high tech nature of the wall monitoring center with the Palestinian condition on the other side of the wall and writes:

"What often seems to be missing from these Israeli musings is any grasp of the life of the Palestinians on the other side of the barrier. On those war-room screens the most common sight is a Palestinian in a donkey cart trundling along a dirt track. The contrast between the high-tech Israeli cameras that deliver these images and the abject existence of the Palestinians photographed provides an apt summation of the divergence of the societies: a first-world Israel forging ahead as best it can, a third-world Palestinian society going backward."

Neat juxtaposition, no? By choosing to put these concepts next to each other in his arti-torial, Cohen leaves you with the impression that the reason for the plight of the blameless Palestinian is the wall. What else could be to blame for their society going back to the Third World standard? He goes on to outline the effects of the wall on the Palestinians compared to life for the Israelis -- dirt tracks v. highways, donkeys v. cars. The impact is clear for Mr. Cohen. The wall is a disaster for the Palestinians.

Here, I ask myself, so? I don't believe that the wall is to blame for Palestinian economic disintegration. Their economy imploded when they turned to violence from negotiation. The Intafada killed it, not Israel. The most basic human right that any society needs to provide to its citizens is freedom from death from outsiders. Israel is doing so now with a non-lethal barrier. Israel has no real choice -- build a barrier and separate or watch its buses blow up all over the country. This is not an option. Palestinians have to stop trying to kill Israelis and have to stop teaching their children to hate. Or else, they should not be permitted access to the First World on the other side of the wall.

I started by saying Cohen's arti-torial was an exercise in moral relativism and I'm not sure I made my point. My fault, of course. Let me be clear, by comparing the inconvenience of the Palestinian farmer and his donkey who have to wait for the Israeli soldier to let him through to his orchards with the freedom of the Israeli to lead a life free from the fear of an explosive device, he has elevated the one concept of the Palestinian right to convenience to the level of the moral right of the Israeli to live at all. It elevates the one while diminishing the other. Even if it is the freedom to go to the beach, that is still the freedom to live without fear. If that inconveniences someone else, well, so be it. To put these two concepts on the same level, is the basest kind of relativism.

Mr. Cohen, you should be ashamed of yourself for adding your pen to this cause at this time.

I really hate the Times.

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My facile observation of the day.

Let me take you through my thought process.

We have people visiting from Utah who went to Chevy's Mexican restaurant where they got sombreros for their birthdays. I was told that in Utah, they sort of smash them on your head but here, that didn't happen. I told them that if someone touched another person without permission in NY, someone might get shot. That got me to thinking that there really is an elaborate code of behavior in NY. Unwritten but understood. It governs how you behave on the subway, when it's ok to talk to strangers, how you walk down the street and give enough space so as to not bump the next person, how to fold your newspaper on the subway, how to cross streets, how to wait on line for a bus, etc. This code was similar to the rigorous code of social behavior I have read about in Japan. At least superficially.

So, I decided to pull up the population densities and compare them. To my surprise, I found that NY has a greater population density than Tokyo.

In 1990, according to the US Census Bureau, the population of New York City was as follows:

7,323,000 people in 309 square miles for a density of 23,700 per mile.

In Tokyo, there are 14,097 per sq mile (source).

Facile observation of the day: you want to get 23,000 people living in one square mile, you better have some code of behavior, some commonly understood rules, or else, without strong gun control, you're going to have a lot of dead people.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I am not a fan of Mr. Moore. Frankly, when it comes to describing him and his destructive influence on the nation's political debate, words fail me.

Fortunately, words don't fail the author of this site: Centigrade 9/11: Alternative Views of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11". This site is a collection of the factual errors and corrective essays concerning Moore's fatuous film.

Hat tip to Powerage for the link.

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Amanda has linked to this collection of award winning execrable academic writing. It is truly awful.

Amanda had fond memories of my link to the post-modern essay generator.

Judith Butler, who I dislike very much because of her self-hating essay which defended the rights of academics to spew forth vile anti-Semitism (and which I decline to reproduce here because I want it to fall into the abyss of bad thinking), was the clear winner. Her entry, I reproduce below, in extended format for those who don't feel like following the link: more...

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Last night was what our nanny calls, "date night". My wife and I try to go out once a week and engage in adult pursuits. And no, I don't mean s-x clubs (the "-" is to hopefully avoid those searching for just those kinds of references). I mean, at minimum, an adult beverage, grown up conversation, and dinner without cutting up the food of the person sitting next to me. It can be very relaxing and is important. It's important to remember why you enjoyed this person's company before you had kids.

We went to dinner by ourselves after some friends bagged on us. They had a good excuse. He was admitted to the hospital with a an irregular heart beat (and should be just fine). We are, however, the harbinger of doom for dinner companions. This is the third couple in a row to cancel dinner based on health emergencies. One other person tore her achilles tendon playing tennis and another person's father died. I feel like in all good conscience we should not be permitted to make dinner plans with anyone else without first warning them and giving them a chance to reflect on the risks. That said, no one who ever actually made it to dinner with us has been injured in the dining itself, hangovers the next day excepted.

So we went out by ourselves to a lovely little place overlooking the Long Island Sound. Breezes off the water made for a comfortable outside dinner. What made the evening so memorable, for now, was the quality of the light. The light was so compelling as it changed with the sundown. The water looked different, of course, but it was the land that captured my attention. There was a little peninsula and cove across from my seat and the light on the trees and rocks was downright painterly. It made me think of chiaroscuro, the Italian painting technique by which you contrast light and dark to produce depth. The changing light from the sundown and the reflection of that light off the water made the trees look as if they were rendered by an expert hand with the shadowy bits throwing the sunlit bits into greater relief and contrast. It was very peaceful to sit there, cooled by the breeze, sipping from a bourbon and soda, and chatting companionably with my wife, who is a very interesting conversationalist.

All in all, it was a lovely night. Until the nanny rang my wife's cell phone to say that the alarm at the house was going off and they couldn't get it turned off. So, we went from relaxed to not in 2 seconds, rushed home, and fixed the problem. I think it was no more than a dying battery in the smoke detector. Harmony restored once more.

Until 5:17 this morning when I had an attack of the killer leg cramp in my calf. I actually found what sounds like a reasonable explanation for nocturnal leg cramps. That's why I'm up so early and writing a bit.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 07:02 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Are you in CT or Long Island? I'm Bridgeport myself, and your description sounded a lot like the view from Knapp's Landing in Stratford. Too bad you had to cut the evening short, but it sounds like you had a wonderful time while it lasted.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at July 17, 2004 10:20 AM (k/aql)

2 So about those leg cramps, time you stopped wearing the high heels then? I too suffer from leg cramps (but only in my right calf) from time to time. I now keep a Homeopathic cure in my bedside table 'Hylands: Leg Cramps with Quinine' which I can reach easily enough when the cramps strike, they really help! Remember to keep out of children's reach!

Posted by: Mia at July 17, 2004 01:07 PM (hHa99)

3 Eat more bananas. Potassium? At least that's what my husband tells me for the leg cramps. I work for lawyers, so I can draft up a consent form for your dinner partners. Heh.

Posted by: Emma at July 17, 2004 01:52 PM (NOZuy)

4 The only time I get leg cramps is when I am pregnant...oh oh...could it be?

Posted by: Annie at July 17, 2004 04:43 PM (celwv)

5 May I suggest any libation with Tonic a good source of Quinine - help for leg cramps.

Posted by: Wicked H at July 17, 2004 05:07 PM (7TrL0)

6 I'm just amazed that you and your wife got out together! The last time dh and I went somewhere together it was for me to have X-rays of my knee. We did stop at the bagel hole on our way home though...does that count as a date? My dh also suffers from leg cramps. For reasons known only to G-d and the internet imps, I can't connect to the site you linked to, but hopefully I'll be able to tomorrow.

Posted by: Rachel Ann at July 18, 2004 12:23 AM (7A34+)

7 Wow! What a wealth of comments! I'll try to respond in some kind of order: Tunig: We are in lower Westchester, actually. So just down the coast from you in CT. It did cut the evening short. I had planned on romantic walk next to the water and holding hands. Mia: Flats make my calves look fat. Thanks for the remedy suggestion! Emma: I think your husband is right about the missing mineral. I love consent forms! Annie: I'd be making medical history! Wicked: Very interesting suggestion. That is the kind of self medication I like. Also has side benefit of being proof against Malaria! Rachel: I counts as a date if you felt date-like. If you had adult conversation and didn't use it only as a time to update your schedules and the kids schedules. What is a dh? Besides, designated hitter?

Posted by: Random Penseur at July 18, 2004 07:06 AM (X3Lfs)

8 dh, I believe, stands for "dear husband" or "darling husband". On a bad day, I suppose it could be "d_ck head." Sorry. I'll slap my own hands; I'm closer.

Posted by: Emma at July 18, 2004 04:29 PM (NOZuy)

9 Oh, good one. Odd, isn't it, how often the bad days pop up?

Posted by: RP at July 19, 2004 09:44 AM (LlPKh)

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So, as I mentioned yesterday, I moved my archives over from Blogspot and have settled in. It's nice to have them all in one place. One thing is that they are easier to read here and easier to organize. Although, my wife does not care for the font this template/style sheet came with. Out of curiosity, is she alone on that? Anyone else dislike it?

So, the unexpected consequence of the archive move is that some brave souls are re-reading my older stuff. Older sounds more important, you see, than saying the posts from the last 90 days. And there have been a couple of comments, which is nice because I have not yet figured out how or even if I can import the Haloscan comments that went along with these original posts. Anyone ever try to do that?

It's as if the older posts have been given a new life. And I think that's kind of nice.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 06:37 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 I didn't have Comments at blogspot when I moved, so, beats me if there's a way to import them but I'll bet there is. I don't mind the font at all (it's easy to read), but you might want to spruce up the color and add a banner and stuff. If y'need it, just ask for some assistance over at Munuviana. We've got plenty of Munuvians who'll be happy to turn a sparce template into a thing of beauty. Really... Madfish just lives for this stuff!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at July 17, 2004 10:14 AM (k/aql)

2 Unfortunately you can't move the Haloscan comments. The template is a basic one but you can get a quick image boost by slapping in a new one. Check the sidebar at Munuviana for links to a bunch of free templates. (If you put one in, don't forget to edit in the collapsing list formatting.)

Posted by: Jim at July 17, 2004 01:23 PM (bmLWy)

3 Congratulations on your move RP, and good luck. Template is fine by me . . . substance is everything! Good luck again, Ivan

Posted by: stolypin at July 17, 2004 05:46 PM (xy2ZU)

4 Thanks for all the replies. My wife thinks you're all wrong about the font. She told me so it must be true (remember, I have to sleep with her so if you think this comment is written under threat or duress, you'd be totally wrong). Pity about the comments, but that's life. Thanks for the suggestions about the various templates and stuff! I intend to do something about it, although, I am not put off by this very clean look Pixy gave me.

Posted by: Random Penseur at July 18, 2004 07:09 AM (X3Lfs)

5 PS-I've upgraded you on my blog to my beloveds list. Hopefully, it gets you more traffic. You deserve it

Posted by: Helen at July 19, 2004 06:21 AM (pS7+B)

6 Wow! Thanks, Helen! And it isn't even my birthday! (beaming, not just smiling)

Posted by: RP at July 19, 2004 09:45 AM (LlPKh)

7 This is really a crazy world. How can anybody understand all this crazy stuff all around? ItÂ’s so meaningless, but in one way itÂ’s fantastic!

Posted by: Jutta Mareike at January 25, 2005 04:00 AM (SxsFJ)

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Thanks to Pixy, I got my archive moved over today. I had to retype all of the titles to all of the posts, but nothing's perfect, you know. Now I really feel moved in. It's like I finally got the books on the shelves and I know where I put the bar.

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I was cuddling in bed with the girl child last night when she turned to me and said, "Pappa, can I tell you something?" And I said, "of course". So, she said:

Luke. I am your father.

I'm so proud.

(By the way, I think I said this to her once, some weeks ago. I don't know where she keeps this stuff.)

Posted by: Random Penseur at 11:09 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I struggle with impulse control every day. Usually, I succeed. My most recent victory is as follows:

* * *

Telephone Call. Ring, ring.

Reception: "Big Fat Advertising Company" (client)

Me: Mr. Big Fat Executive, please

Reception: Who may I say is calling?

In stunning display of impulse control, I did NOT say the following:

Me: Ramon from the clinic. I have the results of his, test, if you know what I mean. Should I just give them to you?

* * *

This was merely a test of the impulse control system. If this had been a real impulse control failure, you'd either by fired by now or on your knees thanking whatever god you pray to that Mr. Big Fat Executive has a good sense of humor and an appreciation for 80's film references* (in this case, Beverly Hills Cop).

* Editorial Change: "references" replaces the word "allusions" in the original post as per the suggestion of Grammar Queen in the comment section. Thanks, GQ.

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Put your coffee down, swallow, and go check this out. Tell me it's not hysterical! I dare you!

WARNING: Not safe for coffee!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:16 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It seems to me I owe a couple of thank you notes to a couple of very kind people and I'd like to do that here:

First, thank you Helen for nominating me to join this community. And thank you to Jim and to Steven for weighing in in favor. Thanks also to Pixy for agreeing to take me in (despite my status as an attorney), for setting me up, and for putting up with my many questions. This is the end of my first week and, while it's been hell on my real job, it's been a lot of fun.

Second, I'm very grateful for the extraordinary patience Jim has displayed in assisting me as I stumbled my way through adding those wicked cool click down menus on the links. All the credit for their coolness goes to Jim. I also want to thank Madfish Willie for coming to my rescue when I screwed the pooch so badly in trying to implement the click down menus that Jim said something along the lines of, "wow, I've never seen THAT before!" Madfish kindly sent me a backup template. Have I learned my lesson? Yup.

Finally, I want to thank all of the other members of this wacky and wonderful community for making me feel welcome!

I also want to thank the Academy because when I was a young girl growing up on a small farm in Nebraska, I never dreamed that I would be standing in front of America with this statue and knowing, in my heart, that America really loves me [sob]! Shoot. Wrong thank you speech. Please disregard. The medication hasn't kicked in yet. Still, a girl can dream, can't she?

Now, as soon as I figure out how to import my old entries from blogger, I will feel at home. Then I can start to tinker with the look of the page. After I make a backup, of course.

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I walk to and from the train station each day. Unless it rains and my wife agrees to pick me up on the way home. I don't attribute that to any great humanitarian impulse on her part. No, she just wants the whining to stop. She's a pragmatist, she is.

I stayed late last night to have a meeting with a new client who wants to do something that will surely get him sued. While I obviously cannot go into it in any detail, let me note that when you want to leave your job, and you are an officer of your current employer, and you want to take some of your direct reports with you, and then go into competition with your current employer, you are going to get sued, non-compete or no non-compete. A couple of bourbons and sodas later, he seemed to get the picture.

As I came home, I had the pleasure of sitting next to a young woman in a sun dress who occupied herself by reading through a script. She was very pretty in that sort of fresh-faced "I'm-going-to-be-a-star-one-day" kind of way. You know the look right? It's that look they still have while they're living at home with their parents and before the fickle hand of fate has smacked 'em around a couple of times and they're looking at the wrong end of their late twenties with not quite enough time in to get that SAG card and they start thinking, hmn, graduate school in social work seems like a really good idea. She was pre-that second look. We had a pleasant and flirtatious chat for about three stops. Is there anything nicer on a warm evening than a harmless flirtation with an attractive young woman? An exchange of witty banter that does not start with, “so, come here often” or end in, “so, can I get your number”? Nope, just some gentle conversation.

So, I got off the train feeling pretty darn good. New client with bound to be difficult (read: expensive and interesting) problem, slightly buzzed from the bourbon, recipient of the flirtatious attention of a delightful young woman. Does it get better? Well, actually, it kind of did.

It was twilight, that time of Le crépuscule du soir that Baudelaire writes so interestingly about in Fleurs du Mal. That poem starts:

Voici le soir charmant, ami du criminel;
Il vient comme un complice, à pas de loup ; le ciel
Se ferme lentement comme une grande alcôve,
Et l'homme impatient se change en bête fauve.

My rough translation:

Here is the charming night, friend of the criminal;
It comes like an accomplice, on the feet of a wolf;
The sky closes itself up, slowly, like a great alcove,
And man grows impatient to change himself into a wild animal.

Beautiful, isn't it? Even with my not so great translation (which I expect to hear about in the comments section, no doubt).

Well, that wasn't my night or my twilight.

My twilight was cooled by the breezes off the ocean, a scant mile away. It was lit by the dying sun, in cool oranges and pinks and eight different shades of white. It was quiet. And it was punctuated, to my delight, by the incandescent little bursts of fireflies, as I turned onto my little street.

I love fireflies. I remember chasing them around the yard as a child, trying to catch them to put into a big jar to watch them blink and blink. My mom would always let them out after I went to sleep but I never minded. I could always catch them again the next day.

What makes them so bright? What gives that glow? Well, according to the scientists at Ohio State University, the bioluminescence is produced by a chemical reaction "consisting of Luciferin (a substrate) combined with Luciferase (an enzyme), ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and oxygen. When these components are added, light is produced." The cool fact about this is that the firefly produces almost 100% light from this reaction, as opposed to a lightbulb which gives off only about 10% light with the rest of the reaction wasted as heat. I am surprised to learn, by the way, that science still does not know exactly how the firefly throws the on/off switch for their lights.

Why do they flash? Well, either sex or defense, seems to be the reasoning. To attract mates or repel things that would eat them.

Or, IÂ’d like to think, to welcome me home after a long day at work.

Pax tibi!

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Anyone who has stopped by and casually read my blog knows that I have problems with the NY Times. Today, I found another stunning example of a biased and annoying article about the collapse of civil society among the Palestinians. All the blame for this collapse is laid squarely at Israel's door. Not one word of this long article mentions how the Palestinians brought this upon themselves when Arafat chose to call out the intifada over continuing to negotiate with the Israelis. Not one word about the numerous and horrific suicide bombings and shootings perpetrated against civilians by Palestinians which brought about an Israeli reaction.

It does mention that the PA now receives UN and European support of up to 1/3 of the GNP, which is critical because the Palestinians have wrecked their own economy and destroyed the possibility of any foreign investment through their own corruption and their own violence. To put this aid into perspective, "[t]hat works out to roughly $310 a person, more aid per capita than any country has received since World War II, the World Bank says."

I am teetering on the brink of cancelling my subscription.

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When we lived in New Orleans, we always felt that no matter how bad the drivers in New Orleans were, they were worse in Mississippi. Now, thanks to Kimberly, I understand why: they were all cheating on the written portion of their driver tests!

Now that Mississippi has switched to a random, computerized test, from the much photocopied pencil and paper test, the percentage of failure has gone from 20% to nearly 60%.

But let me ask you this: Where is the outrage that fully 20% of the test takers failed a test that everybody in the state was cheating on anyway? How stupid (and I don't throw that word around lightly) were these 20 percenters? What does that say about education in the great state of Mississippi to begin with?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:05 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Just as cops rely heavily on the fact that criminals tend to be stupid (and thus aid cops in catching them), cheaters tend to be stupid as well. There are, of course, the occasional brilliant cheaters who wouldn't need to cheat if they could put their energy into studying rather than trying to find a way to beat the system. But for the most part, people cheat because they're not smart enough to figure out a way to learn the material. Thus, it's a given that some percentage of them will cheat incorrectly and still fail.

Posted by: Kimberly at July 15, 2004 10:10 AM (hkGvr)

2 I don't think those 20% are stupid... they just have too much integrity to cheat on the test and happen to fail - it's a risk of the game.

Posted by: Hannah at July 15, 2004 11:34 AM (UdFzX)

3 ...or they're too dim to memorize a list of twenty answers.

Posted by: Jim at July 15, 2004 01:45 PM (IOwam)

4 I don't know, Hannah, I'm not sure anyone ever bet on the integrity of Mississippi. I think that I may be more persuaded by Jim's more cynical point of view.

Posted by: RP at July 15, 2004 04:02 PM (LlPKh)

5 Kimberly, that is a very interesting observation.

Posted by: RP at July 15, 2004 04:03 PM (LlPKh)

6 RP, Glass houses, RP, glass houses. I've lived in Mississippi for 20 years (moved here to go to college) and we both know that the bad drivers in MS are speeding through here heading home to Louisiana. :-) As for the 20%, think of how many people you knew growing up that failed the written portion of the driving test. I can think of several off the top of my head and that was years ago. The fact that most of the people taking the test were probably 15 or 16 year olds who hadn't cracked the manual. Sure, the public education system in Mississippi is pretty bad, but can you really blame people not passing their driver's exam on the education system? I don't think so. One more thing...could you sit down and pass the test right now?

Posted by: Howard at July 15, 2004 10:06 PM (bj7i+)

7 Ah, ha! Someone has sprung up to defend the honor of Mississippi! And done so in a humorous way. Sorry, Howard, but at least you appreciate the Louisiana/Mississippi rivalry, right? As for the test today, I think I'd probably do ok. Not to brag, but, I got a perfect score on the written test when I took it some 20 years ago. Skills like that just don't fade, you know. (nope, they straight out evaporate.)

Posted by: RP at July 16, 2004 08:16 AM (LlPKh)

8 Yep, I appreciate the rivalry and enjoy participating. You try being an LSU fan in Ole Miss country. It's not easy, but National Championships do quiet them for a while. A perfect score? Oh, dude, that's just wrong.

Posted by: Howard at July 17, 2004 10:30 AM (1RK/R)

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Today, in 1573, was born the architect, Inigo Jones. (Please do not confuse him with the other great Inigo, Inigo Montaya, gifted orator). Jones is one of my favorites and I made a strong bid, defeated by my wife in some of the ugliest back room dealing I have ever seen, to name my son, Inigo. Probably for the best, really. Over a fifteen year period from 1625 to 1640, Jones was responsible for the repair and remodeling of St. Paul's Cathedral (more associated with Wren which is why I give no link to it here), and the design of Covent Garden. There is a nice bio of him here, if you are so inclined. You can see what he looked like in his self-portrait.

Why else is he so cool? Look upon his wonders and weep:

* The Banqueting Hall at Whitehall Palace: "When the Banqueting House in London was completed, it bore no resemblance to anything ever built in England before". Cool, right?

* The Queen's House at Greenwich. If you go here, you can take a virtual tour of some of the rooms and grounds which are available for hire for weddings.

Jones was also known as a set designer and party giver (and there is a nice portrait of him there as well).

By the way, it was a good day for the arts all around as, in 1606, Rembrandt van Rijn was born in Leiden, Netherlands.

Such a short post and yet it took so long to put together!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:41 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Tonight, at the dinner table, my wife told my daughter to do something or maybe it was to refrain from doing something. Either way, my daughter did not want to obey. So, what did the 3.5 year old tell her mother?

It's MY house; I just let you live in it because I love you.

The future scares me now more than ever.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:01 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 I've got a 3.5 year old daughter...now I'm scared for my future too.

Posted by: Simon at July 15, 2004 05:34 AM (OyeEA)

2 So what's your residential status, RP? Who lets you live there, I wonder? Sounds like your girl child knows her mind, if not her real estate...

Posted by: GrammarQueen at July 15, 2004 09:34 AM (gDEwS)

3 Simon, you should be scared. GQ: My status so far seems secure. I also appear to be loved. That could change at any moment though so I keep a bag packed just in case.

Posted by: RP at July 15, 2004 09:46 AM (LlPKh)

4 Bribery always works.

Posted by: Hannah at July 15, 2004 11:35 AM (UdFzX)

5 My four year old daughter won't accept any response like "Because this is my house, and you'll do what you're told!" She's concluded that if it's my house, it's also her mommy's, her's, and the puppy's. And that makes it three against one, so I need to watch my step. Our futures lie wrapped around their little fingers...

Posted by: Mick at July 15, 2004 01:12 PM (VhRca)

6 And in about ten or 12 years, you and your wife will be uttering those same words right back to *her*. And love doing it. Trust me. ;-)

Posted by: Amber at July 15, 2004 02:00 PM (zQE5D)

7 Mick, sounds like you're in the same boat I'm in. I think girls are just smarter than us. Amber, that is a fascinating idea. You mean, we're not doomed?

Posted by: RP at July 15, 2004 04:04 PM (LlPKh)

8 No, no, RP, you're doomed, all right...we parents are doomed for all time. You just won't mind so much later. ;-)

Posted by: Amber at July 15, 2004 09:25 PM (zQE5D)

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Le Bilan, roughly translated, is the bill or the balance sheet. It can also refer to a tally of casualties.

As I mentioned before, there was a horribly destructive period in France during the Revolution, it was known as the Terror. Andrew Cusack has a very good post in memory of the thousands of people executed when the Revolution came to town.

The Committee of Public Safety, an innocuous sounding group, held dictatorial power in France and was directly responsible for the deaths. It was a committee of 12, led by Robespierre. I read that as many as 17,000 deaths can be traced to their hands, many by beheading. Here is a good link on the Reign of Terror. Oddly, if you do a google search on the committee itself, you will not find very much on the terror it presided over. Feels like revisionism to me.

I have friends in France who come from la noblesse in la Vendée. The memories of the repression there run quite strong still and my friends can speak about it as if it took place yesterday. Go read about it here and you will appreciate why. It is very much a forgotten episode in the glorious French Revolution.

So, is it fair to say that the French Revolution was, at best, a mixed bag? I'm just glad that we Americans resisted the worst impulses of our revolutionary brothers.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 05:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Today, in 1789, French Peasants who were "so poor, [they] cannot even afford [their] own language... all [they] have is this stupid accent", stormed the Bastille. I, for one, pledge to honor their bravery by watching my copy of History of the World, Part I, to relive this moment in world history, as it was faithfully recorded by the noted historian and auteur, Dr. Mel Brooks.

If, sticklers that you are, you are not persuaded by the interpretation of Monsieur Brooks, I give you the patriotic pablum put forward by the French Government.

But above all, Bastille Day, or the Fourteenth of July, is the symbol of the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the Republic. The national holiday is a time when all citizens celebrate their membership to a republican nation. It is because this national holiday is rooted in the history of the birth of the Republic that it has such great significance.

On May 5, 1789, the King convened the Estates General to hear their complaints, but the assembly of the Third Estate, representing the citizens of the town, soon broke away and formed the Constituent National Assembly.

On June 20, 1789, the deputies of the Third Estate took the oath of the Jeu de Paume "to not separate until the Constitution had been established." The Deputies' opposition was echoed by public opinion. The people of Paris rose up and decided to march on the Bastille, a state prison that symbolized the absolutism and arbitrariness of the Ancien Regime.

The storming of the Bastille, on July 14, 1789, immediately became a symbol of historical dimensions; it was proof that power no longer resided in the King or in God, but in the people, in accordance with the theories developed by the Philosophes of the 18th century.

On July 16, the King recognized the tricolor cockade: the Revolution had succeeded.

For all citizens of France, the storming of the Bastille symbolizes, liberty, democracy and the struggle against all forms of oppression.

What did the French version leave out? The heroic storming of the prison freed some 7 lightly guarded prisoners, including the Marquis de Sade. Oh yeah, nothing about the horrific terror and abuses which broke out after the Revolution had succeeded. More on that on another day, me thinks.

In an event, on a lighter note:

More in the category of making people feel good, I note that on today in 1906 was born Tom Carvel, founder of Carvel Ice Cream. Also today, in 1832, opium was exempted from federal tariff duty.

Soft serve ice cream and duty free opium, all in the same day. Is this country great or what!?!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:22 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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