Somewhere west of Dodge City, Kansas, on Woody Guthrie‘s 100th birth anniversary:
West of Dodge City, Kansas, on U.S. Route 50
Also:
Even farther west of Dodge City, Kansas, on U.S. 50, July 14, 2012
Surely there are much cooler alignments, with better photographers with more than a pocket camera for capture . . .
1 Comment | 
Astronomy, Humor, Travel | Tagged: Astronomy, Henge, Humor, Kansas, Manhattanhenge, Travel, Woody Guthrie | 
Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
You almost can’t believe this is real. Boehner is the guy with the mustache, isn’t he?
3 Comments | Humor, Politics, Republican Party | Tagged: Affordable Care Act, Humor, ObamaCare, Politics, Republicans | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
James is scheduled to graduate from Lawrence University in early June; we’ll make the drive up to pick up his stuff. Lawrence is chiefly a residence campus, but even there are stories about sloppy roommates.
Roommates, hell. All college kids are sloppy as hell (except Ben Davidian — exceptions and pathologies are what they are). We’ll expect to have to do some cleaning to get the place up to the level that the cleaning crew from the University will touch it.
Now, James’s older brother, Kenny, DID have some legendarily messy apartments at the University of Texas – Dallas. But it got to him, and he became quite civilized on the cleaning front. Just this past week Kenny and I spoke of his search for living quarters, probably in Connecticut, though he would like, sometime, to live in New York City. One of his work assignments in in the Bronx, so it’s not totally ridiculous.
On the way to finding something else, I ran across a blog I used to read a lot, but haven’t lately, and found this story of legendarily sloppy apartments, and in New York City (yeah, I know — Queens ain’t the Bronx, but the whole five boroughs would fit in the footprint of DFW Airport, nearly).
From the last post on Michale Bérubé‘s now-dormant blog, a tribute to his friend Tom Buckley:
Like all great souls, Tom loved a good joke even when the joke was on him. We hadn’t known him very long before he told us the story of when his Bayside, Queens apartment was burglarized (by which I learned that Tom and I grew up within a two or three miles of each other, back in the day). Tom and his roommate called the police to report the missing stereo, and when they arrived the officers were flabbergasted by the ransacked state of the apartment. “Wow, these guys really destroyed the place,” they said. “Do you have any enemies? This looks like a vendetta.” Tom didn’t admit to them—but cheerily admitted to us—that “this” was in fact the apartment’s natural state.
Yeah, well they grow up.
On sort of another topic, I was also reminded why I liked that blog, and Bérubé‘s writing in general. Go read the piece. You’ll lament the passing of Tom Buckley, too. The one story above is the least funny and least emotional of several told there. You’ll wish you’d known Tom. This piece meets the requirements for a good story posed by John Irving in The World According to Garp, as good a requirement as any I’ve ever seen.
Bérubé‘s stuff may occasionally be found at Crooked Timber. Not often enough, for my money.
Leave a Comment » | Good Writing, Humor | Tagged: Good Writing, Humor, Lawrence University, Michael Bérubé | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
From a Half-Price Books in Arlington, Texas:
Found at a Half-Price Books store in Arlington, Texas, in early December 2011.
Two thoughts, both of them quotes:
First, from Satchel Paige, in his essay, “How to Stay Young,” in Collier’s Magazine, June 13, 1953:
Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.
And from our old friend, George Santayana:
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
From The Life of Reason, vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense.
Always handle nostalgia with great care.
1 Comment | History, Humor | Tagged: Half-Price Books, History, Humor | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I’d forgotten about the birthers’ greatest nightmare — Obama’s got Irish blood in him!
Democratic Underground features a series of photos of President Obama with an Irish cousin at one of my favorite old haunts in Washington, the Dubliner.
President Barack Obama drinks a Guinness with his ancestral cousin from Moneygall Ireland Henry Healy, center, and the owner of the pub in Moneygall Ireland, Ollie Hayes, right, at The Dubliner Restaurant and Pub and Restaurant on St. Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17, 2012, in Washington (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Many great memories of the Dubliner.
In 1974, when I interned at the Senate, it was just a small bar on the first floor of the Commodore Hotel. Rocky Johnson of Sen. Mike Gravel‘s office, one of my roommates, introduced me to Guinness. The Dubliner was the most reliable source in D.C. at the time. The bartender was a guy named Paddy. It was never crowded — and they had good fish and chips with a fine, imported malt vinegar. I wasn’t exactly a regular, but I made several visits.
Ironically, for my summer job that year with the Louis August Jonas Foundation, we had a trip to D.C. planned with about 16 “boys from abroad” and the designated hotel was the Commodore — it was cheap and met our needs, being close to the Capitol. I was asked to chaperone, and happily went. So Freddy Jonas, the great benefactor of the foundation and Camp Rising Sun, and I could sneak down to the Dubliner for a nightcap. Michael Greene, the foundation’s executive director, warned me that Freddy would always ask if you wanted a second drink, but Freddy would not take one himself — and so, of course, neither should staffers.
One night while Freddy and I were capping off the evening we ran into a friend from my interning, Avis Ortner, a former rodeo barrel rider who had starred in a Kodak commercial series, and who worked in a Washington law firm. She and Freddy struck it off very nicely. I was surprised at how much Freddy knew about horses, and the questions he had about rodeo riding. At some point in the evening he asked me if I were going to have a second drink, and of course I declined. “Well, you only live once. Avis and I are having a second one, and you should join us.” People who knew Freddy well still don’t believe me when I tell them the story. But it’s true. It’s the magic of the Dubliner. [Is Avis still cleaning up at bridge in D.C.? [Yes!]]
I was back in D.C. in 1975, again with the Jonas Foundation bunch, and again at the Commodore. The Dubliner had a successful year, and had taken over the small cafe/dining room next door to bar.
In 1976 I visited again, and after a very successful year the Dubliner kicked out the gift shop of the hotel and opened a second bar there. It was crowded on weekends.
In 1979 I moved to D.C. Within a couple of years the Dubliner bought out the Commodore. You couldn’t get a seat at the bar most nights. St. Patrick’s Day 1980 the line wrapped around the block, and though the place never had a great stage, the live act was the Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem, if I recall correctly.
Reconstruction and massive redecorating made the hotel into a great stop. Eventually the bar company sold the hotel, but kept the location. After Kathryn and I got married, we’d walk over to the Dubliner for lunch at least a couple of times a month, and the fish and chips at the Dubliner got better. I may have done in half the cod from the Grand Banks all by myself.
We’ve been in Texas now since 1987. I miss the Dubliner. Obama’s lucky he could get in, on St. Patrick’s Day. I hope he appreciates his luck.
(Kenny’s in Baltimore tonight — more irony. Girl Talk on Federal Hill (I think it’s an outdoor concert performance). Better than waiting in line at the Dubliner. Go when the crowds aren’t there, and you can savor the place.)
2 Comments | History, Humor, Music, Politics, President Obama | Tagged: History, Humor, Music, Obama, Politcs, St. Patrick's Day | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Newt Gingrich is still whining about national debt, as if there were no one out of work, as if the economy were humming along fine, and as if we wouldn’t have a better chance at balancing the budget and reducing the debt with a stimulated economy?
Maybe it’s time we start asking the real serious questions, again:
Where do I sign the petition? Ronald Reagan Memorial National Debt.
Or, we could name the George W. Bush Wing of the Ronald Reagan Memorial National Debt.
Could we do that properly, while decreasing the debt ceiling?
(When you read that article, please note carefully what is the most expensive government building ever built.)
9 Comments | Humor, Politics | Tagged: Humor, National Debt, Politics, Ronald Reagan | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Kathryn isn’t exactly a haus frau, not with all the lawyers she must deal with daily.
Probably more of a comment on her husband. A good friend offered this gift a while back:
Mad Housewife Chardonnay - Photo by Ed Darrell, Creative Commons license
We laughed. Then we found, in the box, an accompanying chardonnay glass:
Change of Life wine glass
“Hot with complex characteristics.” Still hot after all these years (that many? really?).
Drinking it poses a conundrum: A Trophy Wife ™ really should be taken out on an occasion to drink a wine with a name like that, right? But I’m stingy enough not to want to pay the corkage on a bottle brought in. In no case should this one be drunk with a dinner she’s slaved over for hours.
Maybe it’s time I hit the kitchen. Old Bay crab cakes, maybe? It’s a great wine.
2 Comments | Family, Food history, Humor | Tagged: Chardonnay, Family, food, Humor, Life, Mad Housewife Chardonnay, Old Bay crab cakes | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Rob Rogers, cartoonist with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, has an answer:
Tip of the old scrub brush to Devona Wyant.
3 Comments | Evolution, Humor, Politics | Tagged: Evolution, Humor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Politics, Rob Rogers, Strauss | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
RuPaul
— RuPaul, touring New Hampshire to make sure no one confuses Ron Paul with him
More accurate than history we’ve heard from Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and others. Only in America, eh?
Leave a Comment » | History, Humor, Politics | Tagged: History, Humor, New Hampshire, Politics, RuPaul | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Doug H in comments at RealClimate:
Mel Blanc's epitaph (and epithet - click through to see why), Steve of Upland image; some epitaphs fit better than others
Humanity’s epitaph:
- Not Dead. Resting. (with apologies to Monty Python)
- I told you we should have evolved faster.
- We’ve all gone to Hell – it’s cooler there.
- The meek inherited the Earth they deserved.
- I hear Venus is pleasant at this time of year.
- So long, and thanks for all the fossils.
- So much plant food, so few plants . . .
- Look on our works, Ye mighty, and despair.
1 Comment | Climate change, climate_change, Global warming, Humor | Tagged: Climate change, Despair, Global warming, Humor | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Rick Perry shooting at the coyote in the sky - Mad Mike's America
Sidney Crosby, Toronto Maple Leafs - Business Insider
_____________
I have it on good authority that Rick Perry will not be taking the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Exit Level test for juniors this spring. He’s probably not ready for it, according to this report in the New York Times. It may be that no Republican in Iowa is ready for it, either.
Energy: The audiences at Mr. Perry’s events seemed somewhat unmoved by parts of his speech that talked about job creation. But when it came to energy and oil, they perked up.
“Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source,” Mr. Perry said in Clarinda, earning a loud round of enthusiastic applause.
Later, the audience reacted again to Mr. Perry’s assertion that buying so much energy from foreign countries is “not good policy, it’s not good politics and frankly it’s un-American.”
I wonder if it’s un-Canadian.
See also:
4 Comments | Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Humor, Politics | Tagged: geography, Humor, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Rick Perry | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What is it? If you were a lady walrus a few million years ago, you wouldn't have to ask!
I can’t do it justice. Go read about the photo at Retrieverman’s site.
My students hear it often: Truth is stranger and often much more interesting than fiction. It certainly applies in history, and it applies in science, too.
Leave a Comment » | Humor, Natural history, Science | Tagged: Baculum, Humor, Natural history, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Okay, I’m giving up trying to figure out the Republican race, and Republicans.
Once upon a time you could count on getting the ear of Republicans with a wave of the U.S. flag, a reference to patriotism, and an appeal to time-honored values, like telling the truth.
But no more.
In the last round of the Debate-That-Never-Ends, Mitt Romney in essence called Rick Perry a liar. Romney even offered to give Perry $10,000 if Perry could prove the smear he’d just made on Romney.
Perry, knowing he’d been caught red-handed in a lie, refused to take the offer.
So what happened? The political line is that Romney is “out of touch” for making it a $10,000 offer.
For free, Romney showed Perry to be a liar. And Romney gets the heat?
Just to confuse things further, Republicans aren’t voting for Perry, either.
Literacy test, hell. We need a sanity test for these guys — the Republican voters included. Republicans are close to reason only in the dictionary, and even there they are not on the same page.
10 Comments | Humor, Politics, Republican Party | Tagged: Humor, Politics, Republicans | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Yeah, this guy — whoever she or he is — got it right:
Voldemort in Rick Perry's coat. We hope.
1 Comment | Humor, Politics | Tagged: Humor, Politics, Rick Perry, Voldemort | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
. . . we could solve all energy crises forevermore.
Over at Watt’s Up With That, the leading anti-science blog on the web, Anthony Watt turned the podium over to the indefatigable, often inscrutable, sometimes-funny-but-almost-always wrong, Willis Eschenbach, who worries about when solar power may run out:
Their study includes “renewable” sources like solar, although I’ve never found out exactly how they plan to renew the sun once it runs out.
In a just and sane world, Dave Barry would be preparing to sue Eschenbach for infringing on Barry’s humor patent.
Just when will energy from Old Sol run out? The Sun will die one day, but well after President Obama’s second term has expired, and long after all current photo-voltaic devices have worn out from providing cheap energy.
The facts:
Vodpod videos no longer available.Our Sun won’t last forever. Dr. Carolyn Brinkworth explains the ramifications for our home planet in this ‘Ask an Astronomer’ video.
What Will Happen to the Earth When the Sun Dies?, posted with vodpod
Shorter Eschenbach: Don’t worry about cleaning the air to fight global warming, because in the looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong run, we’re all dead. Certainly after 4 billion years.
42 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, Global warming, Hoaxes, Humor, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Climate change, Global warming, Hoaxes, Humor, Photovoltaics, Rampant stupidity, Solar Power, Watts Up With That, Willis Eschenbach | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 