What is it with so many frustrated types living in the “reality” shows of today? I guess it’s a kind of voyeurism, a Peeping Tom complex that lies dormant in us and then is awakened to action when titillated.
Who gives a ratsass if Kim Kardashian got married? She’s a pretty girl with a good body, granted, and she’s married now to this beanpole. Who cares what narcicisstic antic Paris Hilton is currently into? What have Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton contributed to the betterment of the world? If they are so clever as to glean all this publicity and garner followers sighing at their every move, couldn’t they do something of constructive value?
Maggie Furlong, on AOL TV wrote an amusing column about the planned four-hour Kardashian wedding and what alternatives you might have. One choice in that time span was to take sixteen showers. Not a bad idea…
Publicity seeking is a disease. Some avid seekers are successful. Look at Madonna. She may be out in space some part of the time, but she has made a contribution to the world in her art of singing and acting. That gives her a few credentials for opinions, even if some seem wacky. Or Lady Gaga---offbeat but talented.
In England they are as nutso as we about “reality” programs. One of the biggest is “Big Brother” where a bunch of lowlifes live together and the camera records every moment of their action, except perhaps going to the bathroom—and that may be on the agenda later.
Thoreau said it more than a hundred years ago: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” And to watch a gaggle of publicity hounds avidly sniffing their way to notoriety is, to me, quiet desperation.
But then I am a bit of a curmudgeon.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
QUO VADIS?
A treasurehouse of commentary has been written to eulogize the death of Steve Jobs, the visionary, innovator, independent thinker and genius. He epitomizes the best in America---the pioneer iconoclast who ignores the conventional wisdom and forages ahead, defying the odds.
In one of the obits, I read an interesting observation: the iPhones and iPads have inscribed on them words to the effect of "Designed in Silicon Valley, California, Made in China". That is an tronic epitaph for our times. We,the great inventors and innovators of the last one hundred years, now send our best ideas to China to be converted into real objects. Fifty years ago, this occurred---but only rarely. Yes, we brought cheap toys and china from Japan and China, but the manufacturing base in America was one of the bulwarks of our society.
How did this happen? Well, start with the maxim that business chases profit: go where you can make it cheaper and maximize your return. My own background is a case in point. My grandfather bought control in 1900 of an underwear manufacturer started the year before in our small town in Ohio. By the middle of the century, we were the largest employer in the town. A partner and I sold the company in the seventies to a midwestern conglomerate,who were excellent accountants and lousy marketers. By the late nineties the business was gone. Now I can put part of the blame on the lack of marketing expertise, but an equal part must be ascribed to the textile business going overseas to Asia.
New England was the original cradle of American textiles; then, in the twenties and thirties, it moved to the south. (We were always an anachronism, being located in the midwest, along with competitiors Jockey and Munsingwear, but the main business had gone south.) In the seventies the trend started to snowball downhill away from the U.S.A.
Another example: the last company I worked for, an Ohio-based manufacturer of jackets who had five manufacturing facilities in Louisiana, was just starting to import from Asia their first jacket when I retired in 1995. Last year, they ceased manufacturing any jackets in America: the last domestic jackers were the wool varsity lettermen's jackets---and they moved to Mexico.
Textiles are not unique in this phenomenon; it has happened in almost every industry in America. The whole clothing industry is long gone. Look at the steel industry. The automobile industry got a shot in the arm from governmental subsidies of two of the Big Three. The foreign competitiors are also manufacturing here for many years, which has helped the economies of the states in which they are located: BMW in Alabama and South Carolina, Toyota in Tennessee, Honda in Ohio, to name a few. The foreign competitors have frequently been the innovators of new ideas in automobiles, although I am delighted to see that American innovation and quality has improved dramatically.
India and China are becoming dominant in manufacturing because of cheap wages, stealing the best ideas, and brilliant engineering. We used to attract the best brains from around the world because of the opportunity for innovative thinking. Now a lot of the Indian and Chinese are staying home.
So, where are we going? Will we continue to become a Service nation and not a Manufacturing nation? Can job stimulus, if politicians can ever agree on anything, start an upward trend toward creativity and new fields of industry? I am not optimistic but faintly hopeful.
Remember the old Chinese adage: may you live in interesting times. Let me say, they are REALLY interesting.
In one of the obits, I read an interesting observation: the iPhones and iPads have inscribed on them words to the effect of "Designed in Silicon Valley, California, Made in China". That is an tronic epitaph for our times. We,the great inventors and innovators of the last one hundred years, now send our best ideas to China to be converted into real objects. Fifty years ago, this occurred---but only rarely. Yes, we brought cheap toys and china from Japan and China, but the manufacturing base in America was one of the bulwarks of our society.
How did this happen? Well, start with the maxim that business chases profit: go where you can make it cheaper and maximize your return. My own background is a case in point. My grandfather bought control in 1900 of an underwear manufacturer started the year before in our small town in Ohio. By the middle of the century, we were the largest employer in the town. A partner and I sold the company in the seventies to a midwestern conglomerate,who were excellent accountants and lousy marketers. By the late nineties the business was gone. Now I can put part of the blame on the lack of marketing expertise, but an equal part must be ascribed to the textile business going overseas to Asia.
New England was the original cradle of American textiles; then, in the twenties and thirties, it moved to the south. (We were always an anachronism, being located in the midwest, along with competitiors Jockey and Munsingwear, but the main business had gone south.) In the seventies the trend started to snowball downhill away from the U.S.A.
Another example: the last company I worked for, an Ohio-based manufacturer of jackets who had five manufacturing facilities in Louisiana, was just starting to import from Asia their first jacket when I retired in 1995. Last year, they ceased manufacturing any jackets in America: the last domestic jackers were the wool varsity lettermen's jackets---and they moved to Mexico.
Textiles are not unique in this phenomenon; it has happened in almost every industry in America. The whole clothing industry is long gone. Look at the steel industry. The automobile industry got a shot in the arm from governmental subsidies of two of the Big Three. The foreign competitiors are also manufacturing here for many years, which has helped the economies of the states in which they are located: BMW in Alabama and South Carolina, Toyota in Tennessee, Honda in Ohio, to name a few. The foreign competitors have frequently been the innovators of new ideas in automobiles, although I am delighted to see that American innovation and quality has improved dramatically.
India and China are becoming dominant in manufacturing because of cheap wages, stealing the best ideas, and brilliant engineering. We used to attract the best brains from around the world because of the opportunity for innovative thinking. Now a lot of the Indian and Chinese are staying home.
So, where are we going? Will we continue to become a Service nation and not a Manufacturing nation? Can job stimulus, if politicians can ever agree on anything, start an upward trend toward creativity and new fields of industry? I am not optimistic but faintly hopeful.
Remember the old Chinese adage: may you live in interesting times. Let me say, they are REALLY interesting.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
THE SKY IS FALLING
What the hell is going on in the monument world? First, I read the Washington Monument was damaged by the quake, and repairs are underway to ensure its stability, while visitors cannot go near it. Then I see that the National Cathedral in Washington, the main cathedral of the American Episcopal Church, is undergoing repairs at a cost of $25mm. Today I read that the Taj Mahal will need serious and extensive repairs to its wooden foundation and that already cracks are appearing and the domes are slightly tilted.
I think it rather symbolic that these landmarks are in trouble, reflecting the disrepair and decay so prevalent in the economic and political worlds of today. So many of our values and beliefs are undergoing stress tests in these hard times that you begin to feel the impermanence of our world more than ever. All the kings horses and men are having more trouble than ever with all those broken pieces and shards.
And it shows in our fragmented and divided thinking of what and how to do with the world. Republicans are still set in concrete; Democrats are still squabbling among themselves; the President is pushing for a jobs program that doesn't go far enough in dealing with our economic and political problems.
It looks like, at the minimum, we all need a good lube job. More likely, we need a systemic overhaul.
I hear Chicken Little screaming louder than ever.
I think it rather symbolic that these landmarks are in trouble, reflecting the disrepair and decay so prevalent in the economic and political worlds of today. So many of our values and beliefs are undergoing stress tests in these hard times that you begin to feel the impermanence of our world more than ever. All the kings horses and men are having more trouble than ever with all those broken pieces and shards.
And it shows in our fragmented and divided thinking of what and how to do with the world. Republicans are still set in concrete; Democrats are still squabbling among themselves; the President is pushing for a jobs program that doesn't go far enough in dealing with our economic and political problems.
It looks like, at the minimum, we all need a good lube job. More likely, we need a systemic overhaul.
I hear Chicken Little screaming louder than ever.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
LET THE JOY BEGIN!
WRITTEN BY MRS FLESHPOT:
It's October 4, 2011, three days after our granddaughter Ashlee's wedding to Tim on the beach at Myrtle Beach SC. It was quite wonderful! While the surf was rippling in the background, Ashlee, looking gorgeous in her white swathed formfitting bridal dress, said her vows. And Tim readily replied.
Anne, Ashlee's Aunt and Godmother, read from Corinthians, followed by Celtic prayers read by Bebs and GooGoo, the bride's grandparents. The minister conducting the service was a friend of the groom's family who had known the groom all of his life.
The groom's brother was Best Man, while the bride's sister, Lindy, was Maid of Honour and cute as a button. What joy and jubilation followed! As sandals sank into the sand, everyone hugged each other on such a joyous occasion.
The reception followed under a perfect sky with a gorgeous half moon at a house just off the beach the bride's parents had rented with a big tent in the back garden near the beach. Everyone ate and drank well, and the party and dancing went on into the wee hours. And just a perfect evening with that half moon!
It's October 4, 2011, three days after our granddaughter Ashlee's wedding to Tim on the beach at Myrtle Beach SC. It was quite wonderful! While the surf was rippling in the background, Ashlee, looking gorgeous in her white swathed formfitting bridal dress, said her vows. And Tim readily replied.
Anne, Ashlee's Aunt and Godmother, read from Corinthians, followed by Celtic prayers read by Bebs and GooGoo, the bride's grandparents. The minister conducting the service was a friend of the groom's family who had known the groom all of his life.
The groom's brother was Best Man, while the bride's sister, Lindy, was Maid of Honour and cute as a button. What joy and jubilation followed! As sandals sank into the sand, everyone hugged each other on such a joyous occasion.
The reception followed under a perfect sky with a gorgeous half moon at a house just off the beach the bride's parents had rented with a big tent in the back garden near the beach. Everyone ate and drank well, and the party and dancing went on into the wee hours. And just a perfect evening with that half moon!
Monday, September 26, 2011
A LETTER TO ASHLEE
(This letter is addressed to my first grandchild who will be a bride on October 1.)
Ashlee dear:
This can't be right---wasn't it the day before yesterday at St. John's Hospital in Toledo that I sat next to your mother's bed and held you? Your grandmother and I were almost as happy as your mother at contempating the first grandchild. And you were beautiful. Some things never change.
And wasn't it yesterday that I watched you pitch softball or set up your teammates on the volleyball team? And saw you graduate with high honors?
And it was just a few hours ago that we drove from your Central Florida campus (with you doing most of the driving) for Thanksgiving at your aunt's home on the east coast of Florida, wasn't it? And calling each other when Ohio State beat Michigan?
And here we are, back in time reality, looking forward to your marriage to a very good guy in Myrtle Beach SC on October 1.
I've never felt so old in my life at the prospect of my first grandchild getting married. But, I have to say, it's a nice old, like good wine and whiskey improving with age.
I like the way you turned out. You are very bright, brighter than you give yourself credit for and you are doing good things in your life. I think your value system is also in the right place. You deserve a good marriage and a good life. I was lucky enough to have one---and you should, too.
You came out of a strong background in your parents and that certainly shaped your character. And you, along with your delightful sister, have appreciated a loving and caring (they are not always the same) family.
I guess the point of what I'm saying is, i'm awfully proud of you and love you very much. I wish you and Tim a lifetime of the best. By the way, one of these days, make me a great-grandfather while you're at it!
Much love,
GooGoo
P.S. And thanks for giving me that ridiculous nickname for grandfather, which I'm stuck with (and learned to like)!
Ashlee dear:
This can't be right---wasn't it the day before yesterday at St. John's Hospital in Toledo that I sat next to your mother's bed and held you? Your grandmother and I were almost as happy as your mother at contempating the first grandchild. And you were beautiful. Some things never change.
And wasn't it yesterday that I watched you pitch softball or set up your teammates on the volleyball team? And saw you graduate with high honors?
And it was just a few hours ago that we drove from your Central Florida campus (with you doing most of the driving) for Thanksgiving at your aunt's home on the east coast of Florida, wasn't it? And calling each other when Ohio State beat Michigan?
And here we are, back in time reality, looking forward to your marriage to a very good guy in Myrtle Beach SC on October 1.
I've never felt so old in my life at the prospect of my first grandchild getting married. But, I have to say, it's a nice old, like good wine and whiskey improving with age.
I like the way you turned out. You are very bright, brighter than you give yourself credit for and you are doing good things in your life. I think your value system is also in the right place. You deserve a good marriage and a good life. I was lucky enough to have one---and you should, too.
You came out of a strong background in your parents and that certainly shaped your character. And you, along with your delightful sister, have appreciated a loving and caring (they are not always the same) family.
I guess the point of what I'm saying is, i'm awfully proud of you and love you very much. I wish you and Tim a lifetime of the best. By the way, one of these days, make me a great-grandfather while you're at it!
Much love,
GooGoo
P.S. And thanks for giving me that ridiculous nickname for grandfather, which I'm stuck with (and learned to like)!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
THE WORLD OF BEES
My old blogging friend, billyann-journal.blogspot.com posted an interesting link. (http://www.truthout.com/conservatives-say-it-out-loud-they-hate-democracy/1316786695) which grabbed my attention. Every now and then I say to myself, enough of your pontificating about politics, you're getting to be a bore, so just stay off the subject. But I'm like a drug addict who has to come back for more when I read something like this link.
The gist of it is the old Ayn Rand business of an elite only entitled to run the world, a kind of fascist oligarchy where a select few should be in charge. I know I have a number of acquaintances who fit right into this philosophy. Screw the majority who don't know diddly squat and aren't entitled to any of the benefits of this world; it's only we the enlightened who should run things and reap the benefits. A few winners and a lot of losers.
When I was a kid of ten, I raised bees, with the help of a local farmer/beekeeper who taught me a lot about this fascinating world of bees. I kept bees for about three years and, thanks to the understanding this farmer/beekeeper imparted to me, I learned to handle bees without a problem; in fact, I only got stung once when I put my thumb on and squashed a bee in one of the frames in a hive.
Ayn Rand and the other monolithic far right would love the principles of a bee society. There is one Queen whose purpose in life is to procreate and produce eggs. 95% of the hive is comprised of worker bees, infertile females, whose sole purpose is to produce honey. The only other classification of bees are the drones, males whose only purpose in life is to service the Queen---and only one gets that privilege in a mating ritual in which the Queen flies higher and higher in the air, and the drone who can stay with her gets the score. Then, for a few weeks, the remaining drones sit around the hive, gorging themselves on honey and doing absolutely nothing for the benefit of the hive. Then one day, usually in early autumn, you come out to visit your hive---and see a mass of dead males pushed out the front of the hive. The worker bees have struck and wiped out the drones.
We are not bees, thank God. I know we have too many drones in humanity, but we can't just turn on them and throw their dead bodies out of the hive. We do have the ability to train some of those drones to be responsible contributors to life, but there will always be a certain untrainable number who are useless who become our responsibility. I don't think we want 95% of us to do nothing but work and to have no time to enjoy the benefits of work in their leisure time. and I don't think we want a single Queen in charge.
Some of the Republican candidates seem to be making Ayn Rand-like noises. I also really get worried when I hear of incidents like a certain campaign debate crowd clapping at the idea of letting the indigent go without health care and die. It is an exclusive elitist philosophy of individualism in an anti-democratic spirit. Democracy can be a pain in the ass many times. But I don't want to contemplate a life without it. John Donne said in the seventeenth century in one of his wonderful sermons at St. Paul's in London, "No man is an island unto himselfe,,," No, we still depend on and need each other.
I don't want to be in a bee society, thank you.
The gist of it is the old Ayn Rand business of an elite only entitled to run the world, a kind of fascist oligarchy where a select few should be in charge. I know I have a number of acquaintances who fit right into this philosophy. Screw the majority who don't know diddly squat and aren't entitled to any of the benefits of this world; it's only we the enlightened who should run things and reap the benefits. A few winners and a lot of losers.
When I was a kid of ten, I raised bees, with the help of a local farmer/beekeeper who taught me a lot about this fascinating world of bees. I kept bees for about three years and, thanks to the understanding this farmer/beekeeper imparted to me, I learned to handle bees without a problem; in fact, I only got stung once when I put my thumb on and squashed a bee in one of the frames in a hive.
Ayn Rand and the other monolithic far right would love the principles of a bee society. There is one Queen whose purpose in life is to procreate and produce eggs. 95% of the hive is comprised of worker bees, infertile females, whose sole purpose is to produce honey. The only other classification of bees are the drones, males whose only purpose in life is to service the Queen---and only one gets that privilege in a mating ritual in which the Queen flies higher and higher in the air, and the drone who can stay with her gets the score. Then, for a few weeks, the remaining drones sit around the hive, gorging themselves on honey and doing absolutely nothing for the benefit of the hive. Then one day, usually in early autumn, you come out to visit your hive---and see a mass of dead males pushed out the front of the hive. The worker bees have struck and wiped out the drones.
We are not bees, thank God. I know we have too many drones in humanity, but we can't just turn on them and throw their dead bodies out of the hive. We do have the ability to train some of those drones to be responsible contributors to life, but there will always be a certain untrainable number who are useless who become our responsibility. I don't think we want 95% of us to do nothing but work and to have no time to enjoy the benefits of work in their leisure time. and I don't think we want a single Queen in charge.
Some of the Republican candidates seem to be making Ayn Rand-like noises. I also really get worried when I hear of incidents like a certain campaign debate crowd clapping at the idea of letting the indigent go without health care and die. It is an exclusive elitist philosophy of individualism in an anti-democratic spirit. Democracy can be a pain in the ass many times. But I don't want to contemplate a life without it. John Donne said in the seventeenth century in one of his wonderful sermons at St. Paul's in London, "No man is an island unto himselfe,,," No, we still depend on and need each other.
I don't want to be in a bee society, thank you.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
THE NEW GAME IN TOWN
The world of sport and big money continues to amaze me. In the case of collegiate athletics, the tail---all that revenue from sports---is wagging the dog. Look at the recent changes in athletic conferences with colleges switcing conferences, or trying to do so. Why? more dollars, of course. the bigger and better the conference, the more chance for lucrative TV deals.
With the cost of education spiraling upward continuously, colleges are looking for any extra income they can get. Private universities are nearing stratospheric levels. My old alma mater, Hamilton Gollege is pushing $40,000 per annum. A little school like Hamilton with no prestigious sports team can expect no help from the athletic department in containing costs. The Ivy league schools aren't much better. Princeton or Penn usually have decent basketball---not football--- teams and make the March Madness tournament, which is good for some bucks but not much in the big picture.
The major conferences, the SEC, the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 (or 14 0r whatever it is, the Pac-10 or 12 or 14----there you see the big bucks. And it's like an insatiable monster, gobbling up new schools, spitting out old ones. Then, if you are part of the N.C.A.A hiearchy, you get nightmares wondering if the colleges formed their own March Madness tournament and pulled away from the N.C.A.A.'s auspices. Whee, it's enough to make one giddy!
It's the new version of musical chairs. Or Abbott and Costello---who's on first?
With the cost of education spiraling upward continuously, colleges are looking for any extra income they can get. Private universities are nearing stratospheric levels. My old alma mater, Hamilton Gollege is pushing $40,000 per annum. A little school like Hamilton with no prestigious sports team can expect no help from the athletic department in containing costs. The Ivy league schools aren't much better. Princeton or Penn usually have decent basketball---not football--- teams and make the March Madness tournament, which is good for some bucks but not much in the big picture.
The major conferences, the SEC, the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 (or 14 0r whatever it is, the Pac-10 or 12 or 14----there you see the big bucks. And it's like an insatiable monster, gobbling up new schools, spitting out old ones. Then, if you are part of the N.C.A.A hiearchy, you get nightmares wondering if the colleges formed their own March Madness tournament and pulled away from the N.C.A.A.'s auspices. Whee, it's enough to make one giddy!
It's the new version of musical chairs. Or Abbott and Costello---who's on first?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)