Keeping me to myself.

Today's Tids Issue 4,084
For Tasty Zepoles:

I heard a nice little expression that describes simply and nicely how an organizer, teacher, artist or writer wants people to feel after an event, exposition or even a classroom session, “I walk in and I dance out.” I always hope you are dancing.

If AI can’t improve on “Auto-Correct”, we’re doomed. And they say human error could cause a nuclear war. I can see it now – Lunch with Putin becomes Launch at Putin. Boooom!

Remember when Baseball spring training was a meaningful interlude before NFL free agency stole the headlines?

Can’t afford marijuana? Just walk into one of those new smoke-out cafes in California and begin sniffing.

So, I read about a scary poll by Polling Institute of St. Leos U. at my RCP place. Among many things, it said that only 33% of Americans are optimistic about reducing political discord (That’s a big drop form 49% last March). Even more disheartening is that while still a fairly low percentage of Americans, more of our fellow citizens today support stifling Free speech and “committing crimes” in support of a political belief! Yikes!

“Live Free, or Die”, Department:

I love that judge in that state of the live free slogan, New Hampshire, who said a Lottery winner if $560 Million didn’t have to reveal her name: “…Her interest in avoiding harassment and solicitation far outweighs the public’s right to know her name." Maybe this means in this new world where people freely give away their most treasured personal information somewhere, every day on the internet, there still are rational people upon this land of the free who relish the comfort and sensibility of privacy

And silence – How about Indonesia where in Bali they are turning off all outside interference for a day of quiet introspection. That includes TV, Radio and of course cell towers and the internet. Maybe you can’t reflect away all of the issues of a year in a single day, but if a few handfuls come away with a renewed realization of serenity each year, we may get back to personal peace someday in the future. It’s a start.

Surprise: Putin elected President of Russia with 73% of Vote. Says he has made Russia Great Again.

The Question:

Who are considered the Five Good Emperors of Rome? Bonus: Samuel Clements had several pennames. Name four.

The Headlines:

--Stocks Open Lower: Facebook Down On New Concerns Over Privacy.

--4^th Bomb In Austin Texas Neighborhood Injures Two.

--Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Off To Europe For Tough Talks On Tariffs.

--FBI’s McCabe Fired Two Days Before Retirement; Trump Lawyers Push For Mueller Ending Investigation.

-- Some Repub Congressional Leadership Upset Over Trump Lawyer’s Aggression Against Mueller, And McCabe Firing; Trey Gowdy Says: “If You (Donald Trump) Are Innocent, Act Like It.”.

--NBC/WSJ Poll: Dems Hold 10 Point Lead Over Repubs For Midterm Congressional Elections; Poll Says Dems Enthusiastic Index Far Higher Than Repubs For Upcoming Elections; President Trump Approval Ratings Move Up 4 Points From Jan To 43%.

--Single Pennsylvania Person Wins Massive $475Mil Powerball.

--Trump Tweets Pushing Preorder Sales Of Comey’s Book Higher; Unpublished Book Tops Amazon Sales Chart.

Often the solution to fixing a tech device is found in simple patience over manic, chaotic, hysteria.

Think about how far ahead President Trump might be if he never tweeted.

There is no question in my mind that Gin and Tonic is far tastier than Vodka and Tonic. In fact, I believe tonic was developed to go with Gin. It is that perfect.

The NCAA Tournament is going along as predicted – crazily. You may remember that the Tids Sports Department (TSP) suggested that this could be the year when a #16 beats a #1. And, UVa got clobbered by the University of Maryland Baltimore City – an urban U best known as an NCAA Chess champion. It is that kind of year. BTW, The Mighty Tids Sports Department has but 8 of 16 remaining and only one chance, Villanova, to have a team in the final four. Next year I’m banning emotion selections.

Therapy dogs are codependent.

The real difference between now and then is that then we had disagreements and now we have hatred for one another’s beliefs. It is a pretty terrible situation.

Well, the golfer who hadn’t won a PGA in a noticeable period of time won yesterday, but it wasn’t Tiger. It was Rory…and why not? It was Irish weekend.

LL Bean is laying off some people and cutting bonuses after another year of flat sales. The Tids has reported on the possibility of something wrong at my favorite haberdasher as the 10% only discount was raised to 25% and promoted often.

If Dems move to the center, the house is theirs

I see these new homes that feature gigantic bathrooms with tubs sitting in the middle of the room, and all I can think of is drafty cold air and shivering.

If you think that politics was bad when bosses sat around making decisions in smoke filled room, wait until we see the results the next iteration of smoke-filled room decisions – from pot.

Another poll says that over half of Americans believe that Academe is disconnected from much of American Society.

In the WSJ this morning, there was an interesting pair of articles: One said, “Is it time to get rid of nickels and pennies?” The second said, “Will there be a need for credit cards in 5 years?” Every day it seems we see another old institution with a crumbling foundation, and some institutions aren’t that old. Like, perhaps, all of those that made fortunes based on invasion of privacy.

The Answer:

After the days of Roman Nepotism, after Julia’s Caesar and Nero and others, Rome began to a long stretch of civilized government under five good emperors: Nerva took office in 96AD and restored normalcy to the great state after the assassination of Domitian. He was followed by Trajan who expanded the boundaries and more importantly said he would share decisions with the senate. Hadrian was perhaps the greatest conqueror, and an Empeor who built a “Wall” for protection! Next was probably the most peaceful of the Emperors, Antoninus Pius, the “Just Man” who brought about fairness to the laws. The last and perhaps the best known of the Good Five was the philosophical Marcus Aurelius. In his book, The Mediations he describes how he tries to lead a good life no matter his station from lowliest to highest, He passionately persuades readers to do what is right, not which is just best for them. Obviously emperors following him and the other four didn’t read it! Bonus: Before he was Mark Twain Clements wrote under the pennames Thomas Jefferson, Snodgrass, Sergeant Fathom and W. Arpaminondas Adrastus Blab.

I gave you the Emperor question and answer above to stow away just I case you ever get to be on Jeopardy.

Maybe we need a Marcus Aurelius’ for our next President. Is there one out there? Probably. But, would a sensible person run in these days of uncontrolled media and rampant internet communications.

Happy “Z” Day, everybody. St. Joe would have loved them!