Time to retire: “Drunk the Kool-Aid”

July 13, 2009

Here’s a cliché phrase whose time to retire has come:  “Drunk the Kool-Aid.”

Once upon a time it may have been a culturally cool reference to the mass suicide at Jonestown, Guyana.  Following the charismatic and crazy minister Jim Jones, more than 900 people committed suicide, most by drinking cyanide in a Kool-Aid solution.  With some irony we should note that Kool-Aid may not have been used at Jonestown at all, but a similar product, Flav-R-Aid.

Makers of Kool-Aid are probably not too happy about the common use of the phrase now, though it would be interesting to see what their marketing studies show — does the use of the phrase hurt sales or keep the name of the product in the public’s mind?

No matter.  Use of the phrase to mean that an insult target is brainlessly following some concept is tired, decrepit, grating, and in need of retirement.

Uses just in the past few days:

  • Daily Kos:  “Of course, the CoC crowd have drunk the kool-aid and blamed “liberal regulators” for their problem.”
  • Daily Green, by Marion Nestle:  “But before you decide that I must have drunk the Kool Aid on this one, hear me out. He really is a good choice for this job.”
  • In The Baltimore Sun, the Rev. Jason Poling:  “But I must have drunk the Kool-Aid back in civics class, because when I think about freedom, liberty, just government and all that good stuff, my thoughts fly to the Declaration of Independence.”
  • The Wall Street Journal, John Paul Newport:  “I remember pondering these issues back when I first started paying attention to golf as an adult, before I’d drunk the Kool-Aid.”
  • Michael Hirsh in Washington Monthly:  “Before long, Power says, she had ‘drunk the Kool-Aid‘ on Obama.”  [And this usage in an otherwise excellent story that you really should read.]
  • Bill King in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  “I still haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid when it comes to Big 12 teams, so while I recognize the Pokes have a high-powered offense that some expect to overpower the Dogs defense, and others question whether Georgia’s offense, minus last year’s star power, can keep up, I don’t believe that’s going to be the season’s biggest road challenge.”  [Longest sentence in this list?]
  • Todd Robberson in a blog of the Dallas Morning News: “Steve Salazar on the City Council has drunk the Kool-Aid on this subject, convinced that the online and phone-in survey conducted last year regarding possible names for Industrial somehow constituted a scientific poll with, as Salazar told us, a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.”
  • TPM, “Teamster blasting Rush Limbaugh”: “He’s drunk the Kool-Aid that unions are socialism and socialism is evil.”
  • Politics Daily:  “If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid, feel free.”
  • Newsbusters: “Back on Thursday, March 5 when Obama held a dog and pony show at the White House, CBS drunk the kool-aid.”  [When I used the phrase “drunk the Kool-Aid,” I thought I’d avoid incorrect grammar in use of the Kool-Aid phrase — clearly I was wrong.]
  • Frank Rich in The New York Times:  “Those Republicans who have not drunk the Palin Kool-Aid are apocalyptic for good reason.”  [This is the one that set me off, today — Rich is too good a writer to drink the Kool-Aid on using such clichés.]

Can we just retire the phrase now?  Copy editor’s, make a note of Darrell’s Corollary:  When any writer uses the phrase “drunk the Kool-Aid” to mean something other than someone has drunk some Kool-Aid, the piece needs to be rewritten.

Building in Hasting, Nebraska, where Kool-Aid was invented by Gerard and Edwin Perkins. Wikimedia photo

Building in Hasting, Nebraska, where Kool-Aid was invented by Gerard and Edwin Perkins. Wikimedia photo

5 Comments | Good Writing, Humor, Linguistics, Point of personal privilege, Writing | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Happy birthday, Kathryn!

July 4, 2009

Fireworks in Texas - supposedly in Addison, but I cant figure where

Fireworks in Texas - supposedly in Addison, but I can't figure where

I used to tell the kids their mother was so beloved that the town set off fireworks every year on her birthday.  They probably didn’t believe the cause, but the town did, indeed, set off fireworks on her birthday.  I don’t always do the best planning, but at least I don’t ever forget Kathryn’s birthday — I cannot forget it.

We saw a lot of great displays on the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C., and a fantastic show one year out on the water in Baltimore’s harbor, right over Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write his now-famous poem.  One year with brother Wes and his wife, Momie, we watched bluebirds all day, and then stayed for the fireworks at the Yorktown Battlefield, where Cornwallis was cut off by George Washington and the Continental Army with a grand assist from the French fleet.

We’ve seen great shows in Dallas, a bunch of shows in Duncanville, Texas, and Ogden, Utah, and we saw a part of a show in Addison, Texas, before the rain and wind shut it down (no, I can’t figure out where that photo came from, either) — and that doesn’t count all those shows before we met.  New York City, Hyde Park, from the parking lot of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City, overlooking Liberty Park, Derks Field, and a dozen other displays across the valley; from Wahkara Ridge, high up in Payson Canyon, catching the displays from Payson, Springville, Spanish Fork and Provo, Utah; and right there in Cougar Stadium in Provo.  Ohio, Michigan, Idaho, upper New York State, and probably a few other places we’ve forgotten about.  Great fireworks displays every one.

Last year we camped at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah on the Fourth of July — no gunpowder fireworks, just the Milky Way and the most spectacular stars you can imagine, perched on 80-foot sand dunes where voices carried 150 yards with no shouting.  The decision not to drive back into Kanab for their show was a good idea.

This year?  Heck, we’ve already had some fireworks — Kathryn’s mother made a quick trip to an emergency room Friday, and we’ve had to rejuggle the dinner arrangements just a bit for tomorrow.  But the knockwursts and bratwursts from Kuby’s are in the refrigerator; the potato salad’s halfway done.  The beans will cook up most of the morning.  The flags will wave from their new poles.

The kids are home.  Buddy the border setter has his sedatives, so maybe the illegal fireworks around the neighborhood won’t make him a total wreck; and we can choose between a Grucci show at the Cotton Bowl or the local fireworks two miles away — or maybe the fireworks at the U.S. Capitol again, this time on PBS, with a glass of champagne.

The nation may not be setting off all those fireworks just for you, Kathryn, but they should be — and the coincidence can’t be explained except by divine intervention, eh?  Happy birthday, sweetie!

6 Comments | Family, History, Holidays, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Happy Birthday, Judge Ben Davidian

July 3, 2009

George M. Cohan sang that he was a “real-live nephew of my Uncle Sam, born on the Fourth of July.”

Ben Davidian would have liked that birthdate, but truth be told, he wanted to savor the full day — so he was born on the third of July.

In April he was named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar to a judgeship in Sacramento.

Happy birthday, Ben. (Which is it:  39?  40?)   I won’t tell anyone that secretly you’re a great fan of Joan Baez.

Leave a Comment » | Life, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Sore, suckered loser

February 5, 2009

One of the sites suckered in by the Obama/Las Vegas/Pledge hoax keeps insisting he’s really taking the high road when he spreads calumny against the president, against teachers, and against the flag.

So when it became clear that there is no corroboration for the wild claims against teachers and the schools of Clark County School District (Nevada), the site’s ruling masked man, Ronin (see his avatar) claimed the story was really about “idol worship” of Obama gone awry.

I called him to task, he went all Dembski and Uncommon Descent on us.  No, that’s not fair — he’s worse than Dembski.  In a hoax, he has put my name on his own profane remarks, replacing what I actually said that he cannot respond to.  Do we need any further evidence that these guys are trying to perpetrate hoaxes against Obama and teachers?

Obama’s opponents lack all honor, it appears.

5 Comments | Hoaxes, Pledge to the flag, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Blue Collar Scientist, Jeff Medkeff

August 4, 2008

Blue Collar Scientist burst on the blogosphere last December.  News from Pharyngula is that Jeff Medkeff’s liver cancer took him — he died last night.

With luck, someone will be sure his on-line and in-print work is archived.  His voice, his activism, his enthusiasm, his patience and deep knowledge seem irreplaceable.  Scientists and other rational people will have to work much harder to fill in the gaps.

So long, Jeff.

Leave a Comment » | Health care, Point of personal privilege, Science, Weblogs | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Golden Primate award

July 20, 2008

Kate at the Radula gifted Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub with a Golden Primate Award. It’s a blog award for blogs that “appeal to the rationalists among us, and those of us who aren’t ashamed to be related to monkeys.”

Who was it said “the more I know of men, the more I love my dog?” (Some sources say Pascal; I doubt that attribution.)

Substitute “monkey” for dog — who wouldn’t be proud to be related to such noble creatures?

The symbol for the award will be displayed on the blog’s front page.

Leave a Comment » | Administrivia, Point of personal privilege, Weblogs | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Back from the brink

July 12, 2008

Literally.  Lots of brinks — the brink of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, the brink of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the brink of Bryce Canyon, the brinks of canyons in Zion National Park . . .

Just got back from the tour of southern Utah and northern Arizona.  WiFi is available out there, but it’s not always easy to use.  We’ll be doing some catch up here.

Thanks to all the kind folk who dropped by and left comments.  Thanks to the unkind folk, too.

1 Comment | Administrivia, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Cheap suit

June 5, 2008

Suit pants from Lands End

A hole wore through the seat of the pants I was wearing the other day — a bit of a bother since it was the only pair of pants to that suit. Drat the luck. “Cheap suit,” I thought. And then I thought again, and laughed.

It’s a suit I bought from Lands End, a company of usually impeccable quality.

But, what do you expect these days?

Did I mention that I bought the suit in 1991 or 1992? The suit lasted longer than younger son James has been in school.

Good suit. Cheap, too.

I’ll buy another.

Lands End suit

3 Comments | Life, Personal, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

800,000

June 1, 2008

It’s been a slow month.  Sometime Tuesday or early Wednesday the Bathtub gets its 800,000th view.  Won’t make a million by the 2nd anniversary at that rate, but considering how few posts I’ve made lately, on bland topics, it’s not bad.

As always, thanks to all visitors, and double thanks to anyone who comments.

Leave a Comment » | Administrivia, Point of personal privilege, Weblogs | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Censorship in the oddest of places

May 12, 2008

I think it was Euripides who said, “Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.” Evidence of the madness sometimes is small compensation for bearing the burden of having to deal with the madness of others.

Iaian Murray’s book is getting accolades from some of the odd sources you’d expect to rave over the book without ever having seen it or giving it a moment’s analysis as to accuracy, relevancy, or morality. I stumbled into a bunch of such sites looking to see why Murray took after me, and what I had said that he quoted, to earn me a place in his index.

One would not expect to run into a censorship buzzsaw at a site that proclaims itself to be free enterprise. But Bloodhoundblog has frustrated all my attempts to correct their errors on DDT, in a post “Cleaned by Capitalism: Our professed love of nature is an artifact of our enormous prosperity.” Perhaps I shouldn’t complain — the offending language on DDT was removed eventually. The extolling of Murray’s book remains, however, in an odd screed against public roads and compact fluorescent lightbulbs (go read the site — can you tell what the guy thinks about CFLs?)

Can the irony get much deeper?

Humorously, there is an ill-informed discussion of fascism vs. socialism as communism in the thread — the discussants blithely unaware that totalitarian censorship is a sin under any fair government scheme.

Was it just that they don’t want to discuss the science of DDT? I’ve corrected a minor error in history, too, in a later comment; will that comment hold up? You might want to check out the comments. Do you think the existence of public lands encourages their abuse? It seemed to me the discussants didn’t understand at all that much of our environmental trouble has occurred on private land, often problems of toxic pollution created by the owners of the land.

Ardent and loud “capitalists” often are the first to sell out. They fall for censorship, they fall for hucksterism — just so long as they still get to wave their flag, insult the academy, and a promise they can make some money doing it. Businesses didn’t stand up to fascism in the early 20th century — nor much of any other time business was promised a license to continue operations.

The issues are not simple. If we insist FedEx not do business in China, do we miss a great opportunity to insinuate a capitalist enterprise as a wedge into a crumbling structure of oppressive politics? If we allow China to host Olympic games, do we strengthen their oppressive structure, or weaken it?

Should we stand idly by while the Chinese government censors the internet (and this blog) to its own people? Should I not kick a little when Bloodhoundblog censors my comments?

1 Comment | Accuracy, Books, Capitalism, Censorship, Environmental protection, Freedom of the Press, History, Point of personal privilege, Socialism | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

The last Morton Meyerson Marathon

April 12, 2008

It is done.

James Darrell and the trombones of the Duncanville Wind Ensemble leave the stage at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Hall

The curly-headed guy with the trombone at the center — that’s James.

For the last eight years we have attended what we affectionately call the Meyerson Marathon, an evening of concert performances by Duncanville’s bands, capped with an always-stellar performance by the Wind Ensemble. Duncanville borrows the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center for an evening. The bands always sound great, but sometimes the great hall adds a little to their performances. In Duncanville, even the junior high bands are very, very good.

Kenny played euphonium (playing trumpet with his braces was too painful; he’s gone back to trumpet for college jazz performances). James played trombone — and April 1 was James’ last performance at the Meyerson.

One more sign of time’s incessant march. Of course, On April 1, time’s march was accompanied with some fine band music.

Next week the Wind Ensemble decamps for Washington, D.C., for a Friday performance at the Festival of Music.

1 Comment | Family, Music, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Best April Fool’s

April 1, 2008

Steaming into the final days of law school. Papers due. Finals coming. The job demanded extra hours, too.

I had been up well before dawn for some fool reason — job interview? We were closing down the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors, and I didn’t have a job lined up. Full day at the office, the race through D.C. traffic at rush hour to get to class, three hours of lecture (probably punctuated with that dark, French roast coffee from Au Bon Pain), the train ride and late night walk home, writing the paper and fighting the printer of the crude computer we rented just for the month. It had been more than 20 hours since I’d seen bed.

It was all I could do to stay awake to get up the stairs and into bed. “1:30 a.m.” the clock radio glowed. Three and a half hours to sleep, maybe. I remembered it was April 1, and I smiled as I wondered what odd stories might pop up on the news wires in the morning.

“Get up. We have to go to the hospital!” Kathryn said. I looked at the clock again. 1:31 a.m.

I was concerned, but I was sleepy, too. I asked why.

“My water broke. We have to go.” I felt her side of the bed, and it was wet. I thought it was pretty sneaky of her to go so far as to keep a pan of water close by to make the joke. Just as I got to bed, she had to get up. Riiight!

I kept waiting for the “April Fool!” She’d planned this one well, but I didn’t think it was very funny. I wanted rest.

I turned over to go back to sleep.

“Do I have to drive myself?” Kathryn yelled from the bathroom. We were in Cheverly, Maryland, and the George Washington University Hospital was across town. I jolted awake, and smiled that there would be no significant traffic on the trip. It wasn’t a joke. I hoped I could stay awake for the drive.

kenny_s_new_guitar.jpg

Just about 13 hours of terrifying (for a first-time dad, not to mention a first-time mom) labor later, Kenny was born. Give him credit: He was born so that we got him cleaned up, got Kathryn comfortable, and unshaven and unshowered I could make it to my next class across the street from the hospital (to turn in work and say why I was missing the class).

21 years ago today, I well remember what I was doing. Happy birthday, Kenny!

Notice, Dear Reader, the great attention and homage to history demonstrated in the snapshot above (from last year, really): The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame t-shirt, the denims, the Gibson Les Paul, the “Abbey Road” cover poster on the wall, the topographic map of a favorite hike (near Woodstock, New York, with the Camp Rising Sun crew), the guitar strap his father used in the late 1960s, and the vintage light fixture with just one bulb burning.

Best April Fool’s ever.

5 Comments | Family, Fly your flag today, History, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

600,000 visits

March 12, 2008

Passed it an hour ago. This is what P. Z. Myers gets every day, but it’s new for the Bathtub.

Now, I wonder what has to happen to get some of these visitors to turn the page to some of the more substantive posts?

7 Comments | Administrivia, Point of personal privilege, Weblogs | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

550,000 so soon?

March 11, 2008

One lucky post — at today’s traffic rates, Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub will rocket through its 550,000th view this afternoon.

If it’s not repeatable, it’s a miracle, right?

[Update:  550,000th hit at about 2:20 p.m. CDT.]

5 Comments | Administrivia, Point of personal privilege | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Feynman: The beat goes on

March 11, 2008

Wow.

I believe this is an excerpt from a NOVA tribute to Feynman, which has never been available commercially so far as I have found.  Anybody know how to get a copy of the video?

Among other things, the piece included comments from some of Feynman’s closest friends, and it detailed their fascination with a tiny republic then inside of the Soviet Union, Tannu Tuva, which Feynman had determined to be the most obscure and difficult nation on Earth to travel to — and so, of course, he wanted to go.  The place is known today as Tuva.

No denying the man his orange juice.

1 Comment | Heroes, History, History images, Life, Physics, Point of personal privilege, Science | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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