Maximum Effort

Improvers of the breed and sports fans everywhere were saddened and impressed with the news out of Britain that a ten year old horse collapsed and died after winning his last race. It was a grueling steeplechase contest of 3+ miles over 21 fences and he was also the winner of the Grand National at Aintree outside of Liverpool in 2015. Of interest, steeplechase jockeys are much heavier than those on U.S. tracks. "Many Clouds" was undoubtedly a gelding so he leaves no progeny behind to succeed him. He gave his all for the two quid bettor.
tjs

Chinese New Year

While our attention was distracted by affairs of State, the Chinese ushered in the year of the Rooster on 1/28/17. One segment of its horoscope reads "Order reigns!" Better to read "Disorder rains!" Believe me! I mentioned in a recent post that a NYT columnist described our current POTUS as "the pumpkin haired rooster taking credit for the dawn!" Cockadoodle do!
tjs

Over, Under and Around

Our current president seems obsessed with building a wall on our southern border which is estimated to cost six million dollars per mile. It reminds me somewhat of a pre-WWII construction where the French built stationary concrete "pillboxes" called the Maginot Line as a defense perimeter and the German tanks went right around them, capturing Paris and forcing the French surrender in 1940. Considering that there is more migration from north to south, the "wall" seems like a horrible waste of taxpayers money, believe me!
tjs

Noah Webster 101

The pundits are parsing the difference between a lie and a falsehood with a canard thrown in for good measure. Coincidentally, in NY Times Sunday Review an English professor from Columbia Univ. was expounding on Donald Trump's oral delivery i.e. the difference between speaking and talking. POTUS doesn't speak to us, he talks to us as you would to your pals at the corner bar. And he talks at a twelve year old level. Yes, the emperor has no clothes but he certainly has Pinocchio's nose. What an embarrassment!
tjs
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/opinion/sunday/how-to-listen-to-donald-trump-every-day-for-years.html?_r=0

Potpourri XV

Quote of the day by Morning Joe: "If I want alternative facts I will consult a ouija board!"

Contrasts! At the recent Davos gathering the President of China was espousing globalization while our new populous leader was pulling in the sidewalks.

Seventy plus years ago we and our British allies crossed the English channel with an armada of ships of all kinds for the D-Day invasion. Now we read that the Brits are sending five military tanks across via the thirty mile "chunnel" in a feasibility study if ever the need arises to support NATO in an emergency. To paraphrase Paul Revere "One if by chunnel - two if by sea.........."
tjs

Primarily Political XXV

The Inaugural Balls: I think there were four - the Military Ball, the Liberty Ball, the Freedom Ball and the Deplora-ball.

The first dance: He chose Sinatra's "I did it my way!" The lyric begins "And now the end is near..." Is he trying to tell us something?

The speech: I will leave the disecting to the experts but suffice the historians were not pleased. But the use of the phrase "America First" has ominous overtones of 1940 and predates when he was born. He seems to have no sense of history. My lasting impressions are the words "carnage" and "Tombstones" and his clenched fist at closing.
I expect Obama is on the golf course today and we are stuck with this mean-spirited man for four years. Please God, not eight!
tjs

Worth Words

In the discussion of Donald Trump's non-attempts to divest of his holdings, Mark Shields remarked "It's not a blind trust, it's a seeing eye trust."

Lesson learned: Never keep John McCain waiting in the cold Washington air. MSNBC did eliciting this remark from the Senator "I'm freezing my ass off"!
President Obama held his 39th and final press conference yesterday after which he will become an interested citizen - we surely will miss this decent man.
tjs

Waxing Presidential

We have heard politicians say they cannot be bought, but if you hustle down to Gettysburg, Pa.
you can buy the wax likeness of a past president at an auction being held at the Hall of Presidents and First Ladies. It is expected that Lincoln will draw the highest price with such as Millard Fillmore somewhat down the scale. William Howard Taft was known for his girth and his descendant, Bob Taft, doubts he has space for a large wax figure and has settled for a bobblehead likeness instead.
tjs

The Big-lig Top

When the elephants were put out to pasture several months ago it was inevitable that the days of the circus of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey would be numbered. We now read where the last performance will be held in May. Ringling partnered with P.T. Barnum, a showman and carnival barker who is associated with the phrase "There's a sucker born every minute!" And as one carnival barker leaves the scene another enters from stage right on January 20, 2017 and we shall soon learn if we are all suckers.
tjs

Prinarily Political XXIV

The NY Times interviewed a cross section of women who voted for Trump and herewith a few clips of why:
-Trump's not a perfect man, by any means. He kind of reminds me of my ex-husband.
-I believe he knows how to build things.
-I made up my mind for Trump at the last minute.
-I don't think Donald Trump is really Republican but he's not in a box.
-If he would only have kept his mouth shut during the primary........
-I felt he was the lesser of two evils.
-I laughed Trump off like everyone else did.......
tjs

A Public Nap

In Japan, napping in the office is common and culturally accepted - a subtle sign of diligence i.e. you must be working yourself to exhaustion. Sleeping in public is especially prevalent on commuter trains but if you took up several spaces on the train you would draw reproach. In other words, no manspreading, please!
tjs

Virtual Reality et al

Welcome to the 21st century!
-At a tech show in Las Vegas, Intel distributed 3D video headsets. It also passed out motion sickness
bags to everyone in case anyone felt nauseous.
-At the same fair there was introduced a "smart mattress" that repositions itself as you toss and turn. If your partner snores, you can raise a part of the mattress to tilt their head and stop the snoring. It could save a lot of marriages.
-Lastly, there were 2.8 million drones sold in the USA last year - 1.2 million over the holidays. One parent said his daughter got a drone from Santa, and its first launch took off and never returned. The child was six years old. God save me from amateurs!
tjs

Potpourri XIV

Quote of the week: Timothy Egan in the NYTimes describes Donald Trump as "the pumpkin-haired rooster taking credit for the dawn."

Bill Maher commenting on the Senatorial selection routine - "If there are two Dakotas there should be fifteen Californias."

Barack Obama on reviving the D party "will need
 inspiration coupled with perspiration........"

Russia is pulling their one and only aircraft carrier out of the Syrian theater. You know, the one with the weird ski slope deck that always travels with a tugboat since its aging engines frequently break down.
tjs

Fallen Arches

Just in from Vatican City - To the horror of some McDonalds has opened a restaurant within eyeshot of St. Peter's Square - in a Vatican owned building! The Vatican will get about 30,000 Euros per month in rent. This revelation overshadowed the approval under the radar of a Hard Rock Cafe on the main boulevard leading to St. Peter's Square which replaced a religious bookstore. All this just in case any pilgrims get homesick.
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/world/europe/rome-vatican-city-mcdonalds.html?ref=world

Virtual Assistance

The Google Home personal assistant appears to be the latest rival to the Siri voice of iPhone. The "Home" voice seems to be very responsive to travel information but not yet ready to dispense directions. When asked how to get to the New York Public Library, "Home" replied "I don't support directions yet." I guess it would be no use to ask that age old question "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?"
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/travel/google-home-travel-products.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Ftravel&action=click&contentCollection=travel&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Blue Blood

In years' gone by in Brahmin Boston, the saying went "The Lowells talk only to Cabots and the Cabots talk only to God." Fast forward and the NY Times reports that in 1979 the two most common surnames in the Manhattan telephone directory were Smith & Cohen (sounds like a vaudeville act) - the Social Register listed 600 Smiths and only one Cohen - but Cohen didn't mind - he was too busy running his hedge fund.
tjs