Primarily Political

Donald Trump has been quoted twice in the past week that since he was leading in all the polls he wished that the election were tomorrow. I sense a bit of impatience in waiting for his coronation. There are ten more GOP debates scheduled between 9/16/15 and 3/10/16 and it wouldn't surprise me if he passed up on some of them - after all, he is leading in all the polls. But polling doesn't equate to delegates which is what he will need at the GOP convention in Cleveland 7/18-21 and I am looking forward to an old fashioned convention where the "art of the deal" will be practiced for real minus the smoke filled rooms. And maybe Toto will pull back the curtain at last.
tjs

Political Potpourri III

When Shoeless Joe Jackson was implicated in the Chicago Black Sox scandal in 1919, a tearful youthful fan was heard to exclaim "Say it isn't so, Joe!" I have that same feeling as I read where Joe Biden is considering entering the Presidential race. I can think of a half dozen reasons why he should not. Scranton Joe can be an excellent asset to the next POTUS.
tjs

Political Potpourri II

It started out as a slow news day - it was announced that Big Ben was running six seconds fast - so that if you had any meetings in London you would be on time.
Then the Dow began to swoon again followed by Donald Trump's speech in Iowa where many Wisconsinites crossed the border to witness this phenom and snake oil salesman in action. He didn't disappoint as he ejected a respected Latino newsman from the press room. This wasn't quite as bad as when John Chancellor was carried bodily off the convention floor at the 1964 GOP convention - or when Dan Rather was punched in the gut at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Journalism can be a very risky profession.
tjs

Hunkering Down

"Just around the corner there's a rainbow in the sky - so let's have another cup of coffee and let's have another piece of pie." This song lyric was written by Irving Berlin in 1932 to cheer up the populace during the dark days of the depression. As the Dow tanked this week I also sought solace in music to heal a bruised portfolio and retreated to my man-cave listening to Dinah Washington's rendition of MANHATTAN with a flute background which is always soothing. Then I rediscovered Benny Goodman's quartet with Lionel Hampton on vibes floating thru AVALON and MOONGLOW. They don't DO music like that anymore. But that appearance of a rainbow usually signifies that the storm is over.
tjs

Political Potpourri I

Quotes of the week:
"Your wallet is the best ballot." (Anon.)

Hillary Clinton should treat her emails like a vampire and drive a stake thru its heart,- Gov. Jerry Brown (Cal.)

Donald Trump's recent foray into Alabama was a mishmash of old insults except for the following which I heard for the first time:
A - Since I am leading in all the polls I wish that the election were tomorrow.
B - Why do we need an election?
This latter sounds like he is expecting to be anointed or crowned ala Miss Universe.
Said a fan at the rally "When he gets in he'll figure it out." which pretty much sums up his campaign.
tjs

Roll Tide

Donald Trump held a rally last week in Alabama before 20,000 people. I once made a presentation in Alabama before fifteen people. I was then working in New York and had put together a slide presentation on Containerization, when our salesman down south called me. He was on the hook to provide a speaker for his Traffic Club and could I come down with my dog and pony show and bail him out. Since I had never been south of the Mason-Dixon Line I asked if he had any suggestions. He said not to wear a three piece suit - good advice. So I took my black box and flew down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama where his group was meeting on the University of Alabama campus. This was Bear Bryant country and there was a lifelike statue of the Bear as we entered the grounds. As this Yankee boy frettted how I was going to warm up this "crowd" there appeared a tall blond lady wearing a crimson blazer who was to introduce me. She leaned into the microphone and yelled "Let's have a ROLL TIDE!" The sparse crowd went wild, I did my drill and headed for the airport. If Trump ever returns there I suggest he wear something red besides that cap.
tjs

Justice is Served.

I had a young fellow working with me on the Phila. booking desk, Joe B. who had a quick mind and excellent people skills. A family emergency caused him to take a leave of absence to rescue a relative's failing Sunoco gas station. Joe soon had the station in the black and one of his steadiest customers was a drapery company who gave him all the service and maintenance on their several vans running up a tab of several hundred dollars and then disappearing. Phone calls were futile and Joe brooded about his loss for several months. His commute home to New Jersey was approx. twenty miles. One evening on returning home his wife announced "there was a drapery man here today and he gave me a price on new drapes and left his business card." Bingo! It was the welsher!
Joe instructed his wife to order the drapes, give the man a check and call me at work, after which Joe stopped payment with his bank and awaited the call that came shortly.
"Mr B. there seems to be a problem with that check your wife gave me." Pause....
Joe said "Do you know who I am?" Mr. Draper answered "Oops - I guess you got me." Joe said "I guess we're even, pal." Justice was served - sometimes it takes a little longer.
tjs
(Excerpted from Eagle Blue No. 32 May 12, 2006.)

Unrest in the Valley

The dictionary describes a "unicorn" as a mythical animal but in Silicon Valley it has become a voracious carnivore. Their description is a "start up" valued at least one billion that is poaching on established firms to recruit engineering talent rather than hire and train their own. They are all in a hurry and their aggressiveness is not confined to engineering talent as several chefs were hired away from Google's cafeteria. (For full disclosure let it be
 known that Google owns my blog.)
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/technology/unicorns-hunt-for-talent-among-silicon-valleys-giants.html?ref=business

Wired for Sound

In 1876 the first words spoken by Alexander Graham Bell into his new invention were: "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you." Now, 140 years later, those of you who are wired know that the boss can reach you 24/7. Not only is Big Brother watching over you, he has infiltrated every facet of your life. Now the next big thing in wearable technology is wiring technology into your clothing, an area into which no Big Brother should venture.
tjs

Air Quality

The wild fires in California are approaching the wine region and that haze over San Francisco is not the fog. But there was a different type of haze hanging over the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal during the Rogers Cup tennis tournament. Top seeded Novak Djokovic complained to the umpire of an odor redolent of marijuana which he found annoying and affecting his play. He ended up losing his final match. But it probably was not as thick as the blue cloud that engulfed me when we put into Jost Van Dyke, a tiny island in the British West Indies, some years ago. It casts another meaning on the phrase "stinking up the JOINT".
tjs

Soap Box Derby

Donald Trump arrived at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday via his monogrammed helicopter and proceeded to boycott the Soap Box due to his feud with the sponsor. His appearance in the nation's breadbasket reminded me of Meredith Willson's "Music Man" where Prof. Harold Hill, that traveling salesman and con artist, sang "Ya got trouble, my friends - trouble I say - right here in River City - that's trouble with a capital T and that stands for Trump." He is scheduled for jury duty in Manhattan today and no defense attorney would want him in the jury box. I expect he will receive a "peremptory" challenge and be excused as I was in Elizabeth, N.J. when I arrived wearing a three piece suit for a drug trial.

State Fair

I-o-way, I-o-way, that's where the tall corn grows! This is the week of the Iowa State Fair and all the presidential candidates are attending to pay homage. Donald Trump is arriving via helicopter the rotor blades of which probably will suck out the air from the midway. The signature highlights of the week will be the "soapbox" speeches which are rather free wheeling - recall this was the scene where Mitt Romney was heckled four years ago. I have never visited Iowa but I came close when I attended a summer picnic in downstate Peoria, Illinois hosted by Caterpillar. It was August, it was hot and I had all I could do to keep the flies off the corn on the cob. So pity the poor candidates with the national election still fourteen months away.
tjs

August Doldrums

I always try to find humor in the news but in August with Congress on vacation and Potus in Martha's Vineyard things used to be quiet. But enter one Donald Trump to fill the void. He has vacated the confines of his apartment and jetted to Michigan to hypnotize those good mid-westerners. Which prompted me to call up Utube to hear Judy Garland sing "Oh, how I wish again that I were in Michigan, down on the farm" from Easter Parade. During his
rambling address Trump began to nominate a cabinet member such is his brimming confidence and took time to bash Bush & Clinton who are his rivals but then out of left field he threw Caroline Kennedy under the bus.........where did that come from? And he a man who "cherishes" women. There are eight more GOP debates if he doesn't get bored with the routine and the proof he is serious if you see him slogging thru the February snow in Iowa. Stay tuned.
tjs

Thoughts while shaving.

Stephen Colbert says a prayer every night that Donald Trump stays in the race at least until he (Colbert) gets back on the air early September.
Roger Ailes describes his phone conversation with Trump as "blunt but cordial" - how do you do that?

Trump has become the master of the phone in interview - never having to leave his bedroom.

Some years ago a city official who had dealings with Trump commented "I wouldn't believe him if his tongue was notarized."

When Muhammad Ali called himself "The Greatest" he went about and proved it in the ring.
tjs

Time Out

Last week North Korea announced they wanted their own time zone so they will be moving their clocks back one half hour. It will be called "Pyongyang time". So if you ever dared to travel from Seoul in the south to Pyongyang in the north you would be moving back in time which aptly describes this closeted regime. In other hemispheres we might describe it as "retarding" the clocks as we do in the Fall which term could also be applied to these folks.
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/world/asia/north-korea-time-zone.html?ref=world

To Coin a Phrase

Growing up in urban Philadelphia during the 1930s there was much unemployment. There were men coming thru the alley offering their labor for a meal. On the street side there were many children on the block at play. One day a man arrived with a pony in tow trying to induce the mothers to permit their children to have their pictures taken astride the pony. Fast forward eighty years and the day before the great debate I mentioned to my wife that D. Trump reminded me of a "one trick pony." - the definition of which is "a person with only one special feature, talent or area of expertise." During the post debate discussions a pundit was quoted using the phrase "a one trick pony" - Egad! the phrase was catching on. So let's saddle up and see if CNN can corral this bucking bronco on 9/16/15.
tjs

Potpourri 2015 IX

Written pre-debate on Trump: His positions on issues have had an improvisational air. per NYTimes.

The new silver dollar recently minted is valued at $18. by bullion investors due to the purity of its silver content. Go figure!

Recently learned that a single Viagra pill sells for $44. wholesale. With such profits
 it is no wonder that Cialis can bombard us with TV ads over and over ad nauseam. (And, no, I wasn't purchasing)
tjs

Potpourri 2015 VIII

On Social Media - "Everyone is trying to find something to talk about when there is nothing to talk about."- John-Bryan Hopkins, Social Media Consultant.

Above recalls the gruff copy editor who called the rookie reporter daily demanding "Are there any news?" One day the young man replied "No, there is no NEW!"

The creator of the Mr. Coffee Machine died last week. You may recall their ads featured Joe DiMaggio who became known as Mr. Coffee. What we just learned was that the Yankee Clipper had ulcers and only drank Sanka. Horrors! Young people today may only know him as an appliance salesman but in "South Pacific" Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote of Bloody Mary "Her skin is tender as DiMaggio's glove."
tjs

....But the malady lingers on.

A friend is suffering from a "summer cold" which appears to be both lingering and tenacious. My own experience of thirty years ago coincided with our move from New York to New Jersey where we had to find new medical contacts. A search thru the Yellow Pages zeroed in on a E.E.N.T. (eyes, ears, nose & throat) specialist in an upscale neighboring community. He probed in several areas above the neck and when I asked him to check my chest he replied " I don't have a stethoscope." This reply stunned me as did his bill that followed.
Stay well friends and have a happy summer.
tjs

Robotics

There was a sad item in the local news this week about a Robotic Canadian Hitchhiker named HITCHBOT who was the subject of a social experiment by several Toronto scientists. By the use of a movable thumb and voice box and camera, it could hitchhike from place to place. It was able to move thru Europe, Canada, Boston and New York's Times Square unscathed but came to a violent end in Philadelphia in the
Olde City on a Saturday night - long after "last call". Ironically, Olde City is located in the cradle of liberty. For my city, famous
for throwing snowballs at Santa Claus, now has to wear the ignominy of this dastardly deed.
tjs
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150803_Traveling_Canadian_robot_destroyed_in_Philly.html

A Dog's Life

Pet owners take notice. A condominium in Brooklyn Heights with 440 units also houses 175 dogs some of whom had been relieving themselves in corridors and elevators during winter weather. The problem reached a peak in December so at a two hour meeting of residents it was decided to register all canine occupants with their DNA tested. Future incidents were drastically reduced and the program seemed to work. "There's a shaming aspect, no question."
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/nyregion/fighting-dog-owners-discourtesy-with-dna-in-brooklyn.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0