Curmudgeon Alley

2020/04/12

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #8,851

yeah I know you did not ask!

Scary fact from NPR article: What Coronavirus Exposes About America’s Political Divide

From the article:

“Right now, a majority of Americans live in just nine states and so are entitled to just 18 senators (less than one-fifth of the total), according to 2019 Census estimates. At the same time, about 18% of the population is spread out over 27 of the least populous states. So less than one-fifth of the nation’s population has a 54-seat majority in the Senate.”

Further down it continues:

“Defenders of the original Constitution and its view of states’ rights argue that the non-proportionate Senate still makes sense, or that it can be amended through the usual process. But a constitutional amendment requires three-fourths of the states to agree, meaning it can be blocked by as few as 13.”

Our founding fathers got a lot of things right, but there are a number of things, in retrospect, they could have done better. This is one of them. We do not want the urban side running roughshod over the rural areas, but right now it seems the rural is doing that to the urban.

2020/04/122020/04/12

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,944

yeah I know you did not ask!

I have two conjoined fears.

First fear: it looks like the total number of COVID-19 deaths will come in lower than the original predictions of 100,000 to 240,000. This is a good thing, but time will tell. Gospodin Trump will use this lower number to tout the success of his “management” of the crisis. The MAGAs and GOP faithful will buy it, believe it and repeat it ad nauseam.

Secondly, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be hitting urban areas the hardest, and especially poor people and people of color in those places. This will result in the cluster fuck of an institution known as the Electoral College electing Gospodin Trump to a second term. See NPR story: What Coronavirus Exposes About America’s Political Divide

If they have a vaccine by then the south of Spain is looking very good. I am sure I could figure out health care options when I get there. I am not sure what the golf situation is in Spain, but I have figured out that most of the golf in Central America is resort golf and very expensive.

2020/04/11

Word of the Day – Gaslight

Verb: Gaslight
1. manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity. As in, Carl made Mary think she was crazy, even though she clearly caught him cheating. He gaslit her.
Synonyms:
1. interesting I did not find any synonyms. Do you have some, let me know.
Usage:
1. “’And so we are about to be gaslit in a truly unprecedented way. It starts with a check for $1,200 — don’t say I never gave you anything — and then it will be so big that it will be bigly. And it will be a one-two punch from both big business and the big white house — inextricably intertwined now more than ever and being led by, as our luck would have it, a Marketer-in-Chief. ’”
Encountered:
1. While reading an opinion piece by Julio Vincent Gambuto: Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

2020/04/10

Word of the Day – Opprobrious

Adjective: Opprobrious
1. conveying or expressing opprobrium ( harsh criticism or censure), as language or a speaker: opprobrious invectives.
2. outrageously disgraceful or shameful: opprobrious conduct
Synonyms:
1. abusive
2. contumelious
3. invective
4. scurrilous
5. truculent
6. vitriolic
7. vituperative
8. vituperatory
9. wee what a list of words…several Words of the Day in there
Usage:
1. “’It does Mr. Peters,’ says she. ‘I might have known you wouldn’t have gone into anything that wasn’t opprobrious. But what will my duties be? Do I have to reject personally these 3,000 ramscallions you speak of, or can I throw them out in bunches?’”
Encountered:
1. While reading O. Henry’s short story, The Exact Science of Matrimony

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Just as an aside, I have spent 50 or 60 years thinking William Sydney Porter’s pen name was O’Henry not O. Henry. Live and learn. I’ll let you figure out what the O stands for.

2020/04/102020/04/10

Just Cuz I Love John Prine

One more John Prine music video, just because I love his stuff.

Robin and I, like a million other couples ,decided a long while back that this was “our” song.

2020/04/092020/04/23

Quote of the Day — Jaron Lanier

“Social media is biased, not to the Left or the Right, but downward” — Jaron Lanier

Lanier is considered the father of virtual reality. He had a key role in the getting Internet off the ground. And those are just some of his minor achievements. He is an extraordinary individual that most of us have not heard about.

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

2020/04/092023/01/04

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,235

yeah I know you did not ask!

As we go through life we develop triggers that bring back memories. I have no way of enumerating mine, but I suspect I have 100s if not thousands of the little beggars. Right now I am thinking of two of mine that have been persistent over many years. One is sweet, and the other, perhaps, a little weird.

Between my stint at the University of Rhode Island and finishing up college at the University of Central Oklahoma I took Continue reading “Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,235”

2020/04/09

RIP John Prine

One of my all time favorites…

2020/04/08

How to Sew a Face Mask

Okay, let’s have a contest… I want a mask with a Razorback on it, a mask that is OU red with the logo, the Cardinal one she made was really cool. They are talking about sheltering in place here in St. Louis past the original 30 April date so I could use several. Heck I would even take one that had the STL Blues logo on it.