Cock-a-doodle-doo.

Today's Tids Issue 4,126

For scrumptious sausage egg sandwiches:

If this morn you feel cooped up and have this urge to go crazy and move your legs and bob your head, don’t worry about it. It is National “Dance Like a Chicken” day! Flail your wings and enjoy the irrational exuberance. If you are uninhibited, then maybe you can pullet off.

This is national “Police Week”. For starters, wouldn’t it be nice if the News media refused to show snippets of Police behavior in highway confrontations without clearly explaining what might have actually happened, instead of leaving it to inuendo.

Anxiety, and not rational order, seems to be in control of the stock markets these days. Consistent Q1 positive performance results are being superseded by looking for accidents, unexplained forces and upheaval leading to an overall environment of super sensitive caution.

I just finished an omelet for breakfast, but I’m still feeling peckish.

The Question:

What is Occum’s (Ockham’s) razor? Bonus: What is Hickham’s Dictum? Extra Bonus: What is “Lamping”?

The Headlines:

--As Tensions Ease In Global Markets, US stocks Could Go Higher Today.

--26 Palestinians Killed, 900 Wounded In Protests Over Moving Of US Embassy To Jerusalem.

--Pompeo Says Trump Looking For Long range Deal With Kim.

--New Volcanic Rumblings Cause More Evacuations In Hawaii.

--West Coast Citizens Concerned Over Increasing Activity In “Ring Of Fire”; Hawaii Volcano Could Be Building To Major, Violent Eruption.

--Suicide Bombers Attack 3 Christian Churches In Muslim Indonesia, ISIS Claims Responsibility.

--Chechnyan Knife Wielder In Paris Was On Police “Watch List”.

--Celtics Open Eastern NBA Final With Impressive Win Over Cavs; Basketball World Knows That It Isn’t Over Until Lebron Sits Down.

--Facebook Suspends 200 Apps In Data Misuse Probe.

RI loves to extol its favorite Sons and Daughters, but I have never seen a feature story about Stephen Calabrese. Stephen went to Moses Brown School on a leafy campus in the shadows of liberal Brown University. He went on to become a lawyer and renown law professor at Northwestern, Yale and others. Along with Ed Meese, Robert Bork and other conservative intellects, he with students of the early 1980’s was a Co- founder of the Federalist Society, and is currently the Director, CEO of the Yale Branch. Calabrese and others as students in the elite law colleges began the federalist society movement as a protest against the liberal Ideologies governing the teaching at those schools. Among the tenets of the FS, is “It is the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.”

The US Agriculture Department wants to dereggulate the poultry industry.

Wall Street Observers say that most risks are already priced in. So, what is the problem.

I’m already exhausted. I spent the morning tidying up the house for the cleaning lady.

I was rummaging around some of my old stuff looking for cufflinks for my grandson’s prom outfit when I came across a few old papers I had written 60 years ago on finance and economics. The first big surprise was that I found no typos! Zowie! Second, I learned that I was as big a contrarian then as I am now. In a surprisingly deep paper about dividends, I suggested that other than fraud and manipulation, dividends were the only avenue where earnings would reach the owners. In a paper about John K. Galbreath’s concept of countervailing power. I labeled it “Galbraith’s Myth”. And lastly, in a critical answer to a letter to the NY Times by economic wiz Seymore Harris (Before became Economic advisor to JFK and Lyndon J), I opened with, “Mr. Harris, who is obviously a Democrat, has listed a number of incidents but failed to support his remarks with anything substantial, other than is own personal belief in a schism aligned to the environment in which he thinks (Harvard)”. So, I’m glad I haven’t changed one iota, but saddened that I seemed so much more intelligent back then. Saddened also that what we are outraged at today, was occurring back in those sweet 50’s too.

Enough about me, but I just wanted you to know that this Tids thing is based on beliefs that must be resolute.

Dems will think this heresy, but some serious political analysts are comparing Trump with another man of the 50’s, H.S. Truman – as in two guys ridiculed and laughed at by the media and many Americans, who rarely listened to advice and often went against their own cabinets, but in the end produced a lot of good for the country.

Of course in the 50’s it would have been McCarthy to the rescue for sure after learning as we did this weekend that out in California (Yes, that California) a legislator has proposed replacing Washington and Lincoln birthdays with a May Day holiday. If you continually write-off America’s’ magnificent past, it is far easier to cripple a nation. Especially when the fastest growing population segment doesn’t speak or read a lot of English.

A pig was trying to see his house, but a sty got in the way.

In all the years I have been driving, I have never used the mechanism that adjusts steering wheels.

Actually, I should be quite conflicted as I come from families of dedicated Quakers and staunch Catholics. How polar opposite can you get?

Why did the chicken cross the road? To educate possums.

Just in case you have some Romaine in your fridge, you should be aware that May is national salad month. Take Benzodiazepines and throw it out.

I have enjoyed the Fx Show, The Americans. But, as we approach the last few episodes of the series, I’m thinking the writers are starting to paint an uglier, more ruthless picture of our favorite modern American family of four so they can kill them off without audience remorse.

Today is also National Buttermilk Biscuit day. So, at least this morning for breakfast, I’m in line with the eating trend of the moment.

There are days and weeks on Wall Street where it seems like the chickens are dancing.

60 minutes has always looked like a pawn for personal injury, class action suit lawyers.

The Answer:

Occam’s Razor “is the problem-solving principle that, when presented with competing hypothetical answers to a problem, one should select the answer that makes the fewest assumptions”. In other words, for a better chance at success, always begin with simplicity over complexity. Bonus: In the medical profession, Hickam’s Dictum is a counterargument to the use of Occam’s Razor. Occam would suggest that a diagnostician should assume a single cause for multiple symptoms. Dr. John Hickam’s dictum tends to say, “A man can have as many diseases as he damn well pleases.” What he has said is that in ten pursuit of a diagnosis, no particular diagnosis should be excluded solely because it does not appear to fit the principle of Occam’s razor. Extra Bonus: “Lamping” is hunting at night using off road vehicles and high-powered lighting to dim the senses of the prey. In the Urban dictionary it is the pursuit of happiness by lying comfortably on a couch in your underwear a dimly lit room. And, definitely squashing all urges to dance like a chicken.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from lame and outdated jokes and humans dancing like chickens.

Hopefully I have strewn a few seeds for thought across the global barnyard.