The wisdom of Bernard Baruch

"There is only one thing wrong with the younger generation:

               some of us don't belong to it anymore."

Bernard Baruch (1870-1965)

See, if you're one of THEM, you might feel a bit uppity even if you don't fully understand why….

But if you're one of THEM, you might feel a bit disinterested even if you really want to care about it….

When you're young, it can be hard to imagine being old….

            but don't spend too much time on it.

When you're old, it can be a gift to remember being young….

            but don't spend too much time on it.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/an-exciting-day.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/david-frost-rip.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/08/watch-out-wild-horses.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/08/in-their-flying-machines.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/08/but-bot-i-thought-you-loved-me.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/08/les-quatres-saisons.html

Health care: we can do it better….

I'm sick of this website fiasco.....President Obama has failed to keep the focus on the real story line: we're taking real (OK, real baby) steps forward to improve health care in America, and more and more people are getting health insurance, and more steps forward are needed.

Of course the whole rollout/website have big problems. Do the words "stupid," "blundering" come to mind?....

But that's a problem......it's not the issue.....and it's not the public policy.

I wish the politicians and the insurance companies and the news media and the cable TV talking heads would do more to explain the Affordable Care Act, and help people to sign up, instead of squabbling with or cheering for the contestants, and throwing eggs at them....

Americans want better, more accessible, more cost-effective health care….and everyone should pay for health insurance….that's the story.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/obamacare-is-here-heres-rundown.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/same-old-same-old.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/who-benefits.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/08/higher-health-insurance-rates-for.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/surveys-as-silly-as-they-get.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/another-reason-we-need-health-care.html

Dancing the night away....

Yep, dogs were wolves.

OK, so you probably think you already know this: way back in history, there were no dogs, but there were some wolves who evolved to become dogs.

Now some scientists have nailed it down a bit: a journal report (Science) says a massive study of dog and wolf DNA confirms that some kinder, gentler wolves in Europe started to become dog-like between 19,000 and 32,000 years ago. In terms of geologic, evolutionary time frames, that's a few days before yesterday….

The dog is the first animal to be domesticated by men and women. Some scientists suggest that some wolves—maybe they were wimpy, maybe more friendly, maybe they liked the smell of phosphatherium bacon—made repeated contact with Cro-Magnon types, maybe it was the macho C-M bunch who got a kick out of throwing a bone to the wolves prowling in the flashing shadows of the campfire….maybe man and wolf started sharing a kill here or there, maybe the wolves started sounding off when the nasty marauding tribe or the predators came too near….

Or, maybe, maybe, there was some wolf pack with a jones for dancing, and the brutes just didn't know how to do it, and they spotted this Cro-Magnon guy groovin' in the field, and….

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/focus-on-love-part.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/06/take-care-of-ones-you-love.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/06/sometimes-you-really-need-somebody.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/06/gimme-some-fauna-with-those-books.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/are-you-glad-youre-home.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/i-get-treat.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/so-technically-my-paws.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-wisdom-of-your-dog.html

Just say "I don't know"….

A week ago 51 economists "surveyed" by the Bloomberg organization got the monthly jobs "forecast" spectacularly wrong. Off the mark by 50%. Wrong ballpark.

The U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October—the collective guess of the clueless wonks was 120,000.

Notice I said "guess," although Bloomberg called it a "survey" and the (always unnamed) economists called it a "forecast."

The economists are always wrong. Their average guess is always wrong. Individually, they're always wrong.

Why do Bloomberg and the news media and the cable TV talking heads keep reporting the useless advance guesses of the 51 guessers who are always wrong?

What's the fascination with trying to know the number one week or one day or one hour before the official report, when we all know that it's impossible to reliably forecast it?

Why do we want to keep fooling ourselves that we know it in advance?

We turn now to a Bloomberg panel of 51 eminent psychologists and sociologists….

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/surveys-as-silly-as-they-get.html

Pssst! Act like a little kid. Pass it on.

A stunning bit of research shows that three-year-old kids smile about 300 times a day!

….if I spent a whole day with a three-year-old, I'd want to see every single one of 'em!

But, here's the thing: the same research says your average old man smiles only about three times a day….

Something going on here….life shouldn't be a process of forgetting how to smile.

Old men of the world, unite!

Start acting like three-year-old kids again!

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/02/see-with-eyes-of-artist.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/12/do-you-know-where-your-childs-head-is.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/12/i-cant-brain-today.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/08/neil-armstrong-rip.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/08/youre-not-excused-til-you-finish-your.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/08/yknow-stuff.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/07/dont-throw-firecrackers-under-horses.html

Whaddya think this is?

Yup. You got it. Sand. Magnified.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/08/bed-breakfast-essentials.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/whale-tale.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/know-when-to-fold-em.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/intrepid.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/history-repeats-itself.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-double-dog-dare-ya.html

The wisdom of the Iroquois

"In your actions and in your conversation do no idle thing."

Wisdom of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy

I don't think this doesn't mean "don't rest" or "don't take it easy" or "stick to business" or any superficial stricture implying that one should be busy all the time….

Rather, I think it means you should strive to act and talk with passion, ambition, pleasure, pride, compassion, delight, generosity, love, introspection, fairness, good humor….everything that motivates your life in a way that seeks and shares a bountiful existence….

….especially when you are alone, and especially when you are with others.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-wisdom-of-cherokees-part-10.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-wisdom-of-cherokees-part-9.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/today-is-house.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-wisdom-of-chief-standing-bear.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/touching-earth-is-lovely-thing.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-wisdom-of-cherokees-part-5.html

The wisdom of Albert Einstein (part 2)

"If I had an hour to solve a problem,

          I would spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem

                   and 5 minutes thinking about solutions."

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

See, sometimes it isn't the problem that's the problem….

Sometimes we start to squabble about competing solutions before we agree on what the problem is.

We could use a standard problem-solving technique: no discussion of solutions is allowed until each person can state the problem in a way that satisfies everyone else.

   

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-wisdom-of-albert-einstein.html

Bad boys and girls don't blush, I guess….

The latest Gallup.com report says that only 9% of Americans approve the way Congress is "handling its job."

Yup, it's the lowest approval rating recorded in the 39 years Gallup has been asking the question.

We all know why.

Does anyone in D.C. feel embarrassed by this, on the record?

I mean, heck, even when they were dead, Bonnie and Clyde were more popular than Congress…..

I'm waiting for my congressman to admit that he feels the heat of the 91% who think that Congress, well, you know, sucks….

Why do we keep re-electing the people who won't do The People's business?

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-new-politically-correct.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/heres-what-budget-deal-cost-you.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/zoos-and-politics-shouldnt-mix.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-is-have-it.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-voice-of-unreason.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-shutdown-is-bad-for-everybody-except.html

I thought it was "Man's best friend" ???

I don't think Darwin anticipated this….

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/i-get-treat.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/so-technically-my-paws.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-wisdom-of-your-dog.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/10/walkin-dogs.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/09/dogs-and-stuff.html

Cpl. Frank Buckles (1901-2011), R. I. P.

Join me in belatedly saying "Thank you" to Frank Buckles.

Cpl. Buckles was the last surviving American veteran of World War I when he died in his West Virginia home on Feb. 27, 2011. He was 110 years old. At the time of his death, there were only two other confirmed WWI veterans alive in the world, both of them British.

Buckles was an American hero. The teenage corporal was an Army ambulance driver in Europe during the "Great War" which ended with an armistice at the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918.

After the war, he began a career as a merchant ship captain. It was interrupted in World War II when he was captured by the Japanese and held prisoner of war for more than three years.

He's buried in Arlington National Cemetery with other American heroes.

I gratefully and respectfully salute Frank and all men and women who have served their country in the armed forces.

Veterans Day began as "Armistice Day," which was proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson on November 11, 1919, to honor those who served in World War I.

In 1954, Congress changed the name of the holiday to "Veterans Day," and officially broadened its scope to honor all Americans who have worn the uniform.

Just for the record:

About 4,272,500 Americans served in World War I, including 204,000 who were wounded and more than 116,000 who died in the combat zone.

To all of them:

Requiescat in pace.

The seas are getting hotter and higher

Here's more detail on the dangerous facts of global climate change and global warming:

Most of the additional heat—it's mostly man-made—is going into the oceans all over the planet.

This latest report, by Phil Plait on Slate.com, says 93% of the increased heat is warming and expanding the seas, so they're getting higher. Sea levels are rising.

Do any of these facts sound like good news?

Folks, we're cooking the planet. The entirety of  believable science says so.

It's the only planet our grandchildren will live on.

We need to do more to mediate the worsening and dangerous effects of global climate change.

Let's start doing something about it right now.

If you're not going to do something about it, you're not going to do anything about it.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/were-cooking-planet-part-11.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/gulf-spill-fine-halliburton-gets-off.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/06/were-cooking-planet-part-10.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/were-cooking-planet-part-9.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/02/mother-nature-owns-it.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/01/were-cooking-planet-part-8.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/01/color-me-hot.html

America: fat and getting fatter

Gallup.com says almost 63% of American adults are "overweight" or "obese"….and getting fatter.

Recent findings from yearlong surveying by Gallup show that 27% of adults are "obese," based on the Body Mass Index (BMI) calculation, and that figure is up 1 percentage point from last year. More than 35% of Americans are "overweight."

You can get your own BMI at this National Institutes of Health website.

Example: if you are 5 feet 10 inches tall and you weigh 209 pounds, you are clinically obese….drop 1 pound and you move into the "overweight" category.

At that height, you'd have to get your weight down to 173 to avoid being classified as "overweight."

Those are startling numbers. Makes me want to remember to avoid blurting "Super-size me" the next time I'm in a McDonald's….

Here's the scoop on the Gallup report:

Gallup and Healthways began tracking Americans' weight in 2008. The 2013 data are based on more than 141,000 interviews conducted from Jan. 1 through Oct. 28, as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Individual BMI values of 30 or above are classified as "obese," 25 to 29.9 are "overweight," 18.5 to 24.9 are "normal weight," and 18.4 or less are "underweight."

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/large-soda-at-mcdonalds-in-1955.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/06/try-chewing-each-bite-100-times.html

The Virginia polls were wrong! End of story….

The news media and the cable TV talking heads and the pundits (how does one acquire punditry?) are sending up a lot of smoke signals about Terry McAuliffe's "surprising" narrow win Tuesday in the Virginia governor race. I think there's not much more than smoke involved here….

The standard commentary is all shock and awe, comparing McAuliffe's 3-percentage-point win (48% to 45% for Cuccinelli) to the pre-election polling that had McAuliffe ahead by as much as 12 percentage points. The standard observation is that McAuliffe "didn't do as well as expected" and stuff like that….

I think I can explain much of the sensationalized discrepancy between the actual voting and the campaign polling results:

The polls were wrong. The survey techniques were questionable, and there was arbitrary tweaking of the data before results were published.

No polling organization in America is capable of reaching a true random sample of persons for any survey, and all polling organizations privately "massage" their data to "improve" the results, so all poll results should be viewed only as rough guesses about the truth.

The pollsters got it wrong in Virginia….they're going to get it wrong in the next election, too.

The news media and the cable TV talking heads should examine and explain the candidates' platforms and the campaign issues, and stay away from the destructively faulty polls. Why do they think we need to know in advance who's going to win?

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/05/surveys-as-silly-as-they-get.html

The dark side of election results

Well, some of the people have spoken in New Jersey and Virginia elections, but this ain't democracy, folks.

Point: Gov. Christie handily won re-election in New Jersey with almost 61% of the vote….but only 18% of eligible Garden State voters cast their ballots for him….and 70% of adults in New Jersey didn't bother to vote.

Point: Democrat Terry McAuliffe beat Republican Ken Cuccinelli for the governor's mansion in Virginia with 48% of the vote….but only 13% of eligible Old Dominion voters cast their ballots for McAuliffe….and 65% of adults in Virginia didn't bother to go to the polls.

We're in trouble.

These were two sensationally publicized political races, and, in both states, a huge majority of folks who are old enough to vote couldn't give a rat's asterisk about actually bothering to do so.

And a huge number of those stay-at-homes are going to complain in the next four years about what their state government is or is not doing…

This ain't democracy, folks.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/03/louisiana-disconsolate-few-have-spoken.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/03/wyoming-trivial-few-have-spoken.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/03/kansas-very-few-have-spoken.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/02/maine-caucuses-very-few-have-spoken.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/02/nevada-caucuses-few-have-spoken-again.html

Time out for America's pastime.…

The "Babe" in his heyday

Major League Baseball's World Series TV ratings have dropped to only one-third of what they were in the mid-1960s.

Only about 9% of U.S. households tuned in to the latest Red Sox-Cardinals extravaganza.

I wonder what percent of households have Grand Theft Auto V ?

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/08/drug-deals-in-major-league-baseball.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/05/football-too-dangerous-to-watch.html

All the news that....wha?

It seems like it's getting harder to find actual news that has meaning.

Maybe there's just not enough meaningful stuff going on….

Maybe I haven't looked in the right places, but I've been trying for a couple years to find reasonably objective news about politics and public affairs on the internet. I don't think I've been real successful.

Lately, it's a frustrating quest.

For instance, here's what The Huffington Post was offering early Saturday morning on Nov. 3:

On the home page, with HuffPo's trademark screaming 48-point font:

Zuck: Internet will save the world!

Gates: 'It's a joke'

Here's what was offered on the (not much) Politics page:

HIGH STAKES with photo of President Obama, no text

RECKLESS DISREGARD with photo of House Speaker John Boehner, no text

Just below, more naked headlines:

Sebelius Reacts to GOP Lawmaker Giving Her Copy Of  'Web Sites For Dummies' with photo of Sebelius

Obamacare Woes Frustrating Democrats' 2014 Hopes with photo of setting sun over capitol hill

On the right, still on the Politics page, in the "Most Popular" column …..

.…high school students praising a football coach

The Video Every Mom Must Watch On Repeat Until She Gets It

LOOK: Why This Ad Is Turning Heads

WATCH: The Taboo-Busting Ad That's Shocking India

.…celebrity stuff about "Courtney and Doug"

….and an item on "Lingerie Photos"

I guess our government and the politicos in Washington weren't doing anything that day….

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-new-politically-correct.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/heres-what-budget-deal-cost-you.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/zoos-and-politics-shouldnt-mix.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-is-have-it.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-voice-of-unreason.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-shutdown-is-bad-for-everybody-except.html

Let's hear it for President Mujica !

An actual nice guy in high office!

I know almost nothing about politics in Uruguay, except that I'm pretty sure the politicians there are pretty much the same as politicians everywhere. In fact, I'm really completely sure….

But, by chance, I discovered there is one exception:

José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano is the president of this little country on the Atlantic coast of South America, and it seems he's a real human being.

The BBC calls him "the world's poorest president." Mujica, a onetime guerrilla fighter, gives almost all of his $12,000 monthly salary to local charities and small businesses because, he says, he doesn't need the money.

This 78-year-old leader of the left-wingish Broad Front coalition lives very simply with his wife on a garden-variety farm on the outskirts of Montevideo, the capital. They grow chrysanthemums. He refuses to live in the presidential palace. He doesn't utilize the presidential staff. He drives an old VW Beetle.

I'd like to know if he has a brother or sister living in the United States, that is, a sibling with a presidential ambition.

Just sayin'….

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-new-politically-correct.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/could-you-repeat-that-question-please.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/09/same-old-same-old.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/no-no-be-truck-driver.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-do-nothingest-congress-ever.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/06/memo-to-congress-what.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/06/we-think-congress-well-yknow-sucks.html

Remember when you had a paper route?

More or less, there aren't any paper boys/girls any more. At least, not in all the towns with a newspaper that isn't "family owned"….

And some day I guess our children are going to say, more or less, there aren't any newspapers any more. That's the way we're headed. Here are some stats from the newspaper blogger, Newsosaur:

I'm not sure if that will be a bad thing….today's newspapers are mostly slim, short on news and superficially entertaining if you don't count the sports section. I daresay the sports section is doing the best job of surviving the calamity that's hit newspapers in the last 8 years.

If you're a young adult, maybe you haven't really noticed: America's newspapers have lost 57% of their advertising revenues in the last 8 years. Big classified advertisers—real estate, employment, cars/trucks—have shifted to the internet, they'll never return to The Daily Bugle.

The newspaper industry has stopped publishing meaningful advertising and circulation figures…no need to spend a lot of time wondering why….

I say you may not have noticed the newspaper death spiral if you're a young adult, because young adults famously aren't reading newspapers these days. Most newspaper readers are over 55.

That is, the remaining readers are mostly old-timers, because newspaper sales and readership are dropping like a rock. I bet you know a couple folks who dropped their subscriptions.

Right now, Americans are buying about the same number of newspapers they bought in 1940, roughly 41 million papers a day. Daily newspaper circulation peaked at 63.3 million in 1984. That's right, it's been declining for 30 years….

And of course, the number of households has jumped 200% since 1940. Here's what that means: just before World War II, newspaper publishers sold more papers than there were households every day, because some households got both a morning and afternoon paper.

Today, only about a third of households buy a newspaper.

Some folks of a certain age just can't do coffee/breakfast in the morning without rustling the pages of a newspaper….

Oh, by the way, I remember attending a Chamber of Commerce annual dinner in the early 1980s, about 500 gents in the room, the speaker asked the crowd "How many of you had a paper route when you were a kid?", and most of the men raised their hands….

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/01/climb-every-mountain.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/12/do-you-know-where-your-childs-head-is.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/12/jean-valjean-is-my-homeboy.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/12/some-people-have-too-much-money.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/12/ravi-shankar-rip.html

The wisdom of Francis Bacon (part 2)

"Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true."

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

English philosopher, statesman, scientist

                              Too true.

                               Too bad.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-wisdom-of-francis-bacon.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-wisdom-of-abraham-lincolnpart-5.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-wisdom-of-epictetus.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-wisdom-of-plutarch.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-wisdom-of-frederick-douglass-part-2.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-wisdom-of-harper-lee.html

Siwwy wabbit!

OK, this is the Mother of All Silly Exaggerations:

Ooops.

I guess what I'm saying here is the Mother of All……

You know what I mean, in a meta sort-of way…..

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/04/not-fit-for-king.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/04/will-you-outlive-your-car-loan.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/04/why-are-red-states-federal-welfare.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-wisdom-of-your-dog.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/large-soda-at-mcdonalds-in-1955.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/03/dear-sweet-emilie.html