Layng quietly in fields

Layng quietly in fields
Glstening lights

Monday, February 27, 2017

Amazing, Wonderful, Tremendous, Beautiful. Is that about it?




Issue 3.806
For Dave:

All mornings are magnificent, even those cold bitter days when frost crystallizes upon dormant trees and shrubs, bringing them alive, gleaming in the dawning sun. Now, the warmth is creeping in and the urge to walk deepens; to linger in the lanes of the colonial city, to feel the history of lives who trod the same streets and alleys; images of the past feed your imagination, blood rushes new life to a body just aroused from a deep satisfying sleep. And your legs keep moving, step by step by step. You love your quiet interlude before the people roam. Yet, you always enjoy the nod and smile from another plying the bricks and cobblestones just after the dawn.  You are one with others who also find the perfect place – morning.

Elgar’s 2nd Symphony has some beautiful moments that could have be better. Or maybe the conductor in my version just couldn’t feel the potential. If I knew anything about music, I’d give them some tips.

Russia Agents Mix up envelopes At Oscars, Department:
Still feeling Russia ties from his role on Reds, Comrade Beatty pulls light of hand trick with Best Movie envelope. –Jimmy Kimmel did a good job last night. –I didn’t get the Streep joke until it was too late to laugh. –Many stars thought it very, giddy cool to wear ACLU ribbons last night. –Is there anything more inane sounding than the “Red Carpet” fashion gurus talking about the actor’s wearables; Especially about black tuxes for men? I could write a 3-act play about their attempt to describe a color. –These denizens of Hollywood obviously think they have been anointed by some supreme being. Viola Davis said “We are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life?” Does she mean life of luxury. The Academy loves to talk about art, but they only want to paint using green. If it doesn’t produce the green, it ain’t art. –“The Academy” obviously went over board to atone for last years so-called shunning of blacks by giving out three of the top awards to Viola Davis, Mahershala Ali and Moonlight. –Casey Affleck was really, really surprised. Or else, he was a good actor. –Generally, people enjoyed the Oscars this year, and most felt that while at times it looked like a Trump roast, the political nonsense was less vicious and far below expectations. Maybe this is the first sign of a better national temperament going forward.

The 7 newly discovered “Earth Type” planets are said to be in our neighborhood – even though 735 trillion miles away. With neighbors like that, who needs walls.

The universe must be really, really large. I wonder who thought of that vastness that never ends. Awesome.

Car lovers were over the top hysterical watching the all-electric Tesla go from 0-60 in just 2.8 seconds! Holy Nikola, Batman!

The Question:
Name five prominent celebs who died in car crashes. Bonus: While cars today look great and do magical things, there are a few that are still considered by Consumer Reports to have been built poorly, something you thought only happened in days gone by. Name five of the ten clunkers listed by CR.

The Headlines:
--Markets Open Lower; China Blue Chips Post Wort st dayb I twow Month; tech Stocks Sluggish.
--NBC Reports New Poll That Says Majority of Americans Think News Media Too Hard On Trump (WSJ/NBC Poll..
--Intoxicated Driver Drives Pick-Up Into Mardi Gras Day Parade Injuring 28; Intoxicated Marchers Continued Parade Ten Minutes After Accident Left Many Bloody In The Streets.
--Trump Hosted US Governors Dinner At White House While Actors Mention Him Occasionally At Academy Awards.
--Christians Fleeing Sanai Following “Chilling” Islamic State Threat.
--Oscar Winners: Davis, Ale, Affleck, Stone Moonlight, Chazelle.
--Samsung Shows Up At Big Mobile Exposition Without New Phone; “Not Perfect Yet,” says troubled maker Still Recovering From Exploding batteries; Apple Investigating Report Of Exploding IPhone 7.
--Actor Bill Paxton Dies After Complications From Surgery; Judge Wapner, Te First reality Star, Dies At 91..
--Trump To Break Another Long Time Tradition And Skip Correspondents Dinner; Says He Sees No Need To Sit There And Pretend He Is Enjoying It.

There has been a lot of discussion about how few people actually attend Oscar nominated movies. Maybe it’s because history tells us that many of the critical and academy favorites are boring.

A pretty bright guy named Matt Nichols has written a book about the decline of expertise. It’s somewhat about peoples’ new reliance on internet blips that cross their eyes. In the medical industry, for instance, when a person comes in asking for a remedy to a self-diagnosed illness, it is well known now in medical circles as, “Doctor Google Calling”. This book is an interesting look at today’s society in general where many personal decisions and reactions are based on partial or even worse, no knowledge. Nichols, a Naval War College and Harvard Adjunct Professor, says “US is a country obsessed with the worship of its own ignorance.” People learn to the point where their personal objectives are satisfied without understanding all of the ramifications that may reflect on the truth. People can easily see that they are incapable of a record setting pole vault but will not see or accept the difference between themselves and a highly educated fully knowledgeable person.

I recently saw some startling pictures that dramatize the potential destruction of sea level Miami as the ocean rises. South beach” will become “South Surf”. What will NBA players do then?

I laugh every time I hear some hoe buyer say they want “Midcentury Modern.” Hey, I was mid-century modern!

Actually, highly educated people are sometimes not as smart as the grandiloquence of sophisticated language makes them sound. But, that’s just me, an ignorant Tidster.

Is a Trump Roast anything like a rump roast. Considering what the longer tie hides, it must be good for a pot roast. I guess a Trump Roast is a rare piece of meat.

The Tids noted a couple of issues ago, that in NYC condos were becoming much the favorite over Co-ops. One of the reasons cited was that Co-op vetting was becoming too long and too extreme. My guess is that all of these NY Times readers were getting tired of having to smuggle in a lessor newspaper so they could get their daily dose of the real world in comics.

Is there anything more pretentious than the phrase, “The Academy”.

I don’t care how bad a duly elected American president may be or appear to be, you just can’t call for an impeachment within weeks of an election, mainly because you lost. This is really not how America works. This type of visceral reaction against the facts just shows how ignorant, or why so many want to remain ignorant, about the reality of what America is. Knowledge hurts feelings.

People who enter a country through proper channels are immigrants. People who sneak in, are house thieves.

Why is the Red Sox management allowing my player to play in the World Baseball Classic? It’s just a money grubbing series of games where the only thing I see is possible injury to my favorite players.

While as main stream media likes to portray it as grassroots people rising up and shouting at these town hall meetings, it is now pretty clear that the organization and concerted efforts to get people marching in the streets can be attributed to one group. It is called “Indivisible”, a group who put out the pamphlet guiding it all called “Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.” (It was not “Common Sense” by TP)  It reads like a typical lesson plan similar to 60’s anarchists and others promoting peaceful “takeovers” outside elections. Two weeks after the Trump Inauguration, 3800 groups were identified as “Indivisibles” and declared their support for the movement. Info for this Tidlet was found in several different sources from the far left to the far right and everything in-between. The authors of the “Playbook” are former Congressional staffers Ezra Levin and Angel Padilla.

Baggy pants are coming back. As one young fashion follower said, “It’s nice to feel my thighs breathing again.” Personally, I have plenty of the pleated variety left over from the last baggy craze.  I always thought they looked better anyhow. Does this also mean that untucked shirts are next to go? Untucked shorts don’t hang well over puffy pleats. Are we also soon to see relaxed fit Yoga pants with pleats. Yoga is all about relaxation, isn’t it?

Dave Brubeck – True Mid-Century Modern, Department
I had a report from couple of knowledgeable sources about a concert featuring three talented young men, one being the son of Dave Brubeck, Chris and his amazingly talented pals Joel Brown and Peter “Madcat” Ruth. The group, Triple Play, most recently played this weekend up in Worcester at the venerable Mechanics Hall to a packed, appreciative crowd. My personal sources were mesmerized, with regularly dropping jaws. A reviewer described it as, ”Three amazing musicians playing a variety of instruments in a throbbing, energetic fusion of jazz, blues, folk, country and even classical riffs.”

In reality we all got better news when there were only 3 TV stations doing it. People went there to be informed of the latest, not to be entertained. Today real news, as Matt Nichols observes, has to fight against which Kardashian is pregnant.

I may be missing something, but when did the ole’ school colors become Black and Dayglow? Maybe when Nike and UnderArmor began paying big bucks for uniform contracts.

The Parking Lot: Chapter 80 continues…
    Jared could see Nancy’s brain working overtime as she sat quietly, her back against a large birch. She knew how to pic the comfortable bark, he thought as he wriggled against the rough pine bark behind him. ‘  
    He saw her head turned sharply, just before he heard a snapping of branches. He was hoping it was vicious animal instead of the Lug. The sound seemed to be following the path they took in, which according to his calculations would bring who or whatever it was directly to them. He eyed Nancy who already was into a squatting position. He hated when she squatted so comfortably, because it killed his legs. He got on his knees.
    The movement through the bushes stopped; perhaps the person listening to the sweat dripping from Jared’s face. He sucked in hos breath. The smartest ting he could do was to wait and follow Nancy. She motioned him to stay still and not move while she moved into a crawling position. “or not”, he thought. With a second she had disappeared. Was he supposed to be the bait?
   Jared heard a crash, and few guttural sounds mixed with some savory words. Another crushing sound. Then silence. Jarod rose to move towards the noise when the bushes started rattling again. With a new sense of strange energy, he darted into the bushes, pausing as he heard the movement towards his position. His heart was pounding and all he could see now was Nancy crushed, lying in mud, blood draining from her beautiful head. The movement got closer and the anger within pushed Jarod taller, ready to meet that immovable force. But, the image before him was small. Small like Nancy.  “Jared<” came a soft whisper. Let’s move. Nancy appeared, magnificently before him, hair messed and dirt on her cheeks, but definitely healthy and in control. Tears ran down his cheeks. He wrapped his arms around her. She pushed them away. Not now.
   The two moved to a position, now in the shadows by an el off the back of the house. “What just happened?”
    “I eliminated the Lug.”
    “Just like that?”
    “Yes,” she said smiling, and looking kind of contented, “Just like that. It’s an old family trick.”

The Answer:
I imagine a lot of people would pick Princess Diana first, but my mind drifted back to 1955 and the day James Dean died violently in a crash. I also thought of another princess and former movie legend Grace Kelley. Some others were Jayne Mansfield, Ya, Ya, Ya…manager Billy Martin, Fast & Furious star Paul Martin, artist Jackson Pollock, “Miracle on Ice” coach Herb Brooks, Um- er…Linda Lovelace, General George Patton, one of my all-time favorite singers Harry Chapin and actually many others like Sam Kinison, legendary boxer Jack Jackson, Pulitzer Prize author David Habersham and CBS News reporter Bob Simon. Bonus: You may be surprised at a few of these: Dodge Dart, Mercedes Benz CLA, Chevy Trax, Chrysler 200, Mitsubishi Evolution, Mazda CX9, Toyota Yari, Jeep Compass (Patriot Too), Fiat 500L and Ford Escape.

Take Five – it was along Tids:

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