Howard Rants About Cougars. What Would Dick Cavet Say Now or Even Karl Marx For That Matter?

Café Intelligencia – downtown Chicago – between rushes – between those reporting at eight and those who don’t need to show up until nine – I tried to get on the Internet but they wanted the name of my service provider and I had none. I will try again this afternoon at Union Station – the Southwest Chief leaves at 3:15 this afternoon and it is only 9:17 now. I could have hung out at the Homewood Caribou and could have taken the 12:13 train downtown but I had the offer of a ride and went for it – what’s the difference – downtown Chicago or downtown Homewood – when it comes to hanging out? No Cougars here – lots of young art students and administrative assistants – a rant on Stern about the Cougars from Long Island chasing out the Hotties (any female under twenty-five) from the local watering holes – and therebye reducing his odds of a successful night. I don’t as a rule listen to Howard but my nephew does and he had it on and it was he who had offered me the ride – what could I say?

Men make their own history… in that each person follows his own consciously desired end, and it is precisely the result of these many wills operating in different directions and of their manifold effects upon the world outside that constitutes history – Friedrick Engels – Marx-Engles Collected Works v.26 p387

Osama has two TVs on this morning. One has sound but a fuzzy picture. The other a bright clear picture but no sound.

There will be no Dick Cavett of the future. We should count ourselves lucky that there was one in the past – Clive James – Cultural Amnesia, 2007 p99

Without sound all music videos look alike. People hopping up and down and pointing their fingers in the direction in which that they expect the audience of the video to be (at you they suppose) . They mouth into wireless mikes in a mass chorus line with elaborately choreographed routines. It takes a lot of money to produce these spectales and you should be appropriately appreciative. The more something cost the more value it has.

There are no simplistic rules for poets: if there were, any duffer could write poetry – Clive James – Cultural Amnesia, 2007 p105

Black and White photography is the latest trend in TV advertising. Then comes the advertisers logo in a bold color – this is supposed to make you wake up and pay attention. This one is for H & R Block – see the Green Rectangle. Then John Walsh comes on and says “I call it the criminal injustice system. [and that is okay, because I call HR the Inhuman Resources Department]” He is commenting on the Scott Peterson case. He is  not waving his hands in the air [I think he had a stroke - there is some evidence for this]. Its now time to go home and call in sick

I go to Herb’s Fine Foods on 24th St for breakfast. I’m having their ‘Eye Opener Special’ - 1 egg (scrambled), 3 sausages (or bacon or ham) and two hot cakes with coffee. Yum Yum?

Intermittent rain comes down in a driving sprinkle (small misty droplets falling at an angle due to the wind). The difference is raindrops cause a splash upon hitting the pavement and sprinkles do not. Supervisor Matt Gonzales introduced Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) both reference Gramschi and Heiddegger. Matt said that if he had won the mayoral race Miller would have been the lead act instead of the other way around.

As I approach downtown on the J Line descending into the tunnel, I get my first pang of guilt about playing hooky today. This is a step in the right direction. It is progress - I used to feel guilty about just thinking about playing hooky.

I start another list of rules (my fourth set of codifications) - Rules for Reserving Seats:

1 - Use posted placards printed with “RESERVE” or “PRESS” or “SUBSCRIBERS ONLY”
2 - Tape a sheet of paper to the seat with the reserved party’s name
3 - Rope or tape off the reserve seating section
4 - Leave a personal item on the seat - programs are not acceptable as reserve seat markers (the ushers may have placed them there)
5 - Tell others trying to take the seat that this (or these) seats are saved. In such a case the reserved seats must be contiguous with the seat in which your are sitting
6 – If you are at a bar and want to go out for a smoke, place a costar over your glass. The bartender will then not clear your space. In some parts of the country the process is reversed – put a coster over your drink to show that you are finished (observe others to determine which version of rule applies)
7 - Saving adjacent stools at a bar with personal items is not permitted. If you are part of a larger party reserve seats at a table instead (follow normal rules for reserving seats)

Nobody minds coarseness but one must draw the line at cruelty – Dorothy L Sayers – Lord Peter: a collection of all the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, 1972 p1

“It’s cool! Man!, with a Blackberry you are always occupied." The Indian entrepreneurs are back. The other one says “we need to rent an office by the hour. "Anyway," says the other, "let' s not get derailed.”

When people think about the effect of having more money, they implicitly assume that their own income increases while everyone else’s stays the same, and hence conclude that they’ll be happier… But it does not – happiness stays the same as their income, and everyone else’s, goes up – Richard A Esterline – The Economics of Happiness

This is some preliminary Indian small talk - sleeping problems - then it right into the middle of a heated software discussion. “Now we are going to get into the core of the current project - I will listen carefully and let you in on the nature of it just as soon as I learn anything - but you must remember (they become silent as one of them fiddles with his Blackberry) - you will be an insider when you learn this and may be legally liable for any stock manipulation - getting to the decision maker and not being able - the painful loss for me was Georgia Pacific - that really hurts.

There is a clear presumption that changes in the economic welfare indicate changes in social welfare in the same direction, if not the same degree – A C Pigou – The Economics of Welfare, 1929 p3

I can only hear the one asking the questions. The one sitting beside me is speaking to his interlocutor across the table in a low voice that comes across as a mumble. His companion sitting across form him seems to clearly understand him and he responds in a voice that is louder and more distinct - “but I think that the essential question would be…What would happen if…Anyway lets go over…my questions from customers is…data…understand…killing us…high road…anyway they want a response. In the past we did not want to honor them with a response. Anyway…anyway…(they have dueling Blackberries going)…shall we start it off…anyway, I’m still unpacking from yesterday…I’ve got a call with…J P Morgan… so it’s about half or three quarters of a day…I will have to move a few of these things around…you guys…anyway…yah, squeeze thin…cycle…spread around…what do you want to do…real sure thing is happening…do it right, do it right…sales get gated …spreadsheets…yesterday…that’s bull shit… start documentation on that shill…OK, what else…the background is…deflect the power center…

Exposing how the thing is done is to suggest that, like the lady sawed in half, it isn’t done at all – Clifford Greetz – Work and Lives: the anthropologists as author, 1997

I forgot my e-mail password at work. I keep entering my network password and keep failing to log on - finally it dawns on me what the problem is - a whack up along the side of the head was called for. Another small step in this process of dissociation. Bit by bit I am recovering my freedom.

Persuading us that this offstage miracle [truly having ‘been there’] has occurred, is where the writing comes in - – Clifford Greetz – Work and Lives: the anthropologists as author, 1997

For lunch I had a slice of pizza. I had it in my hand as I went to take a bit and gurplunk it slipped out of my hand and landed on the floor, under the table, at the foot of a startled woman next to me. I picked it up and put it back on my plate. Does  the ten second rule apply here or is that just at home? I think that it does. This slice is still in play, but I didn’t want to gross out the lady – she might not know about the rule. I did not take another bit of it, at least not right then. I waited for her to leave. And beshides it had landed jelly side up after all. If it had landed jelly side down I would have had to pick off all the dirt and other debris from the floor to make it safe to eat (maybe not safe but at least not gritty).

We listen to some voices and ignore others - – Clifford Greetz – Work and Lives: the anthropologists as author, 1997