In between the extremes there is always a little goodness.

Today's Tids Issue 3,860

For Findng Love:

I like love. Don’t you like love, too. Just typing the word sends a little electrical charge through this old, increasingly inert body. I like not to make prejudgments abut people, as hard as that may be at times. Over the years have found that within each soul there is love residing.  If they’re not like me, so what. I’m not the perfect assemblage of all that biological goop. I certainly have idiosyncrasies. I get rejected lots of times. Yet, I have often found insecurities in these apparent confident rejecters; that soften with understanding. The more we listen the more we can find that love; the more we can love indiscriminately. There is romantic love which is exhilarating and poetic. And then there is human love which everybody craves; I just hope I give it out enough.

Two Mexican detectives were investigating the murder of Juan Gonzalez.

 “How was he killed?” asked one detective.

 “With a golf gun,” the other detective replied.

“A golf gun! What is a golf gun?”

“I don’t know, but it sure made a hole in Jaun.”

Could all of the additional Health Care recipients supported through Medicaid actually be causing the near bankruptcy of many hospitals? More patients for way less money is not a good business formula.

Is it living if you aren’t contributing something to others? That popped into my head as I wondered what I was going to do this week.

I dislike myself for using the word Hate about anything and especially against other humans. But, I breakdown my moral standard when it comes to peas, and most certainly the current scourge of gypsy moths chomping away at trees. I could eat a pea, but never condone the actions of a gypsy moth.

The Question:

Who wrote the Manfred Symphony? Who wrote the poem Manfred? Bonus: What are the names of the comic strips penned by these five strip producers: Scott Adams, Bill Waterson, Dik Browne, Mort Walker and Chick Young. Extra Points: Name the Ten Top Comics of all time (According to Ranker.)

The Headlines:

--Stock Markets Lower.

--Trump Travel Ban Meets 4th Circuit Appeals Court’

--Ex-DOJ Lawyer Yates To testify Tis Afternoon; Trump Already Assaulting Her With Tweets.

--Centrist Moderate Macrin Romps Over Le Pen; Macron Restates French Commitment To EU.

--NK Taking More Americans On Questionable Charges; Canada Set To Retaliate Against US Lumber Tax.

--Comcast And Charter Join Together To Enter Wireless Business.

--Coach To Buy Kate Spade.

Animal based comic strips come and go, but Snoopy just keeps on being amazing.

In case you are interested, several major newspapers almost gleefully reported that Robert P. Jones of PRRI says that white Christians in American has fallen from 54% in 2008 to 48% today. That is huge. But, careful analysis does not reveal that significant a change in white versus non-white populations, but the rather large increase of “Unaffiliated” Americans. If you look at the broader fields of data it has the appearance of a golfers handicap determination as he or she ages – the lower score drop off with age raising over time average. In this case, 7 of 10 over 65 are White Christians while at the youngest of the four demographic sectors it is a meager 3 of 10. “Non-White” Is not as big a factor as unaffiliating, where in older group it is about 11% versus 34% for the 18-29 yo group. It is always good to look beyond the headlines.

The two, hot new USA money making schemes seem to be, suing the airlines and Fox news.

All-Time Presidential Budinski, Department:

La Pen probably thought that her campaign was hacked by the intrusion of Obama in support of Macron. So, why are Democrats so irate about outside country interference when Obama has practiced political imposition several items during and now after his term, this time representing “Globalization” against the nationalism of LaPen?  I told you that 0-Man was running for Emperor of the world right after he mysteriously won the Nobel. He has apparently graduated to Global Community Organizer.

Women always seem to know when a man has become inured in a state of confident complacency.

Four letter word you don’t want to hear from your surgeon: “Oops.”

So-called organic farming uses much more water and produces far less per acre than modern technique farming. In fact reasonable multiple studies estimate 25% to 34% lower yields. That does take into consideration the amount of land needed by organic farmers to produce their own Nitrogen additives. It feels good, tapping into a popular culture movement, but when it comes down to feeding an expanding world populations, it would be an utter failure. Why do you think they send trained agriculturalist to third world countries to improve output? Here’s the big statistic: “To raise all U.S. crops as Organic in 2014, it would require farming One Hundred Nine Million more acres of land. It’s nice for “Farm to table restaurants”, but feeding the world, not so good.

“Too many young people are failing to reach self sustaining adulthood.” That’s the view of Former college President US Senator Ben Sasso. There is even a new popular word, “Adulting”. “I paid my bills on time, #Adulting”. It’s as though they want a participation trophy for doing what mature people have always done. This is not to say that every new child of the last decade hasn’t figured the next step after adolescence. Of course, many have and are doing it very well. But there is huge number of people who want to play forever, to over consume, just like the good old days when Mom and Dad picked up the credit card invoices. The purpose to of this realization by a growing number of responsible adults is to alter the procedure for developing children: Embrace the “hard” in hard work; Emphasize learning over having fun while in school, or another annoying emphasis, “The College Experience”; Become fully literate, and be proud of it; Intermingle between ages – learn from experienced instead of being reinforced by contemporaries. But then, there’s the Internet!

You have to wonder if more people walked the street in reasonable clothes instead of athletic outfits they would look at living more seriously.

I remember clearly when Walt Dropo was the sensation of the Major leagues.

Remembered when “Major Leagues”, “Majors” only meant baseball?

People have a strange relationship with science. For instance, people who devour all the global warming theories like the way science can support their views. Yet these same people who may eat organic food will not believe extensive highly credible science that says organic is not any healthier and may even be less so than some of the more modern techniques available to farmers today. That’s perhaps why the word hate has become so popular, so cavalier. Good people with their theories want no evidence that may support theories of other good people. Instead of thinking hey, let’s talk, they just resort to closing their minds hating for not acquiescing to their theory.

Casual intense hostility is not a good thing for the potential of a harmonious, or one’s blood pressure and other assorted extreme angst induced illnesses

I was worried at the end of last year that the damn Ya, Ya, Ya…(WYKWIM)…were getting better. And, now they have. Shoot me. Will the real Red Sox please step up? Sorry for going local on you everybody, but, I have to talk about it to snap out of it, or else you all chance the possibility of a seriously disconsolate Tids writer bringing down your favorite morning mess. Make that closer to Noon mess…or um, occasionally, later in the day.

Some post Hernandez hanging reports are saying that in his note left behind to his fiancé are the words, “You’re rich.” That would tend to promulgate many a conspiracy theory.

I wish I had a $1,000 in 1967 and wasn’t my usual contrarian self. I would have invested in Warren Buffet’s Berkshire-Hathaway and had an additional $13 mil in my bank account today. Not bad odds.

Today’s average investor doesn’t like waiting fifty years for that return. A tech startup can do it in a half an hour.

The Answer:

In a departure from himself and to the dismay of some critics, Tchaikovsky wrote the Manfred based on a poem of the same name by Lord Byron. I find it pleasant.  Bonus: Scott Adams - Dilbert, Bill Waterson – Calvin and Hobbs, Dik Browne -  Hagar the Horrible, Mort Walker – Beetle Baily And Hi and Lois, Chick Young – Blonde. Extra Points: The Best of all time leads off as #1 with one I can totally agree about, and missed when it went away – Calvin and Hobbs. After that we have Peanuts, The Far Side, Garfield (Which is tedious to me), Dilbert (Another personal favorite), Hagar the Horrible, Bloom County, Pearls Before Swine, Beetle Baily and #10 B.C. The next 10, FYI, are Wizard of Id, Fox Trot, Blonde, Doonesbury, (The Great) Zits, Mother Goose and Grimm, Baby Blues, Non Sequitur, For Better or For Worse and #20 The Family Circus. A second big list maker has the top 5 as The Far Side, Pogo, Peanuts, Doonesbury and Opus. A third big list has it Calvin & Hobbs, The Far side, Peanuts, Opus (or Bloom County or Outland ) and Doonesbury. I have yet to find “Shoe”, a great daily source for creative Puns. Special Bonus: George Gordon, Noel Byron.

Happy Monday.  I’m not hating this week.