When I was young, I was privileged -- and thrilled -- to have access to great news writers and reporters. I started reading the Chicago newspapers every day, sometimes two or three different newspapers, when I was six years old! It was a wonderful experience, a formative experience.
People like Jack Mabley and Mike Royko displayed their talents daily, evaluating and opining on local, national and world events. I became a devoted reader of sports writers like the great David Condon, Warren Brown and Robert Markus and many others. Their respective styles illuminated and heightened the reporting and the events that were their focus.
Magazines, omg what a grand treat! Time, Newsweek, Life, Sports Illustrated...I was in awe of the reporting, the writing, the photography and the editorial presentations.
Journalists shared knowledge, shared opinions, and introduced the people and the circumstances that made the news. Often, they blew up the facades that had been erected to shape or even conceal the truth.
The people who reported on television were frequently veterans of radio news and the print news world, and they became fixtures in ours lives, in our homes. The power of their messages was magnified by the immediacy of their medium. Their reports could arrive within minutes of events. It was an amazing evolution.
One element that they all seem to have shared was a sense of the responsibility to report in an evenhanded fashion, an awareness that the event or events were the focus, and they were the conduit to the public. They seemed to me to prize their respective and collective integrity. That integrity was the backbone, the foundation, of their ability to be trusted as reporters to the world.
I have outlined this because I have just finished watching, at noon on this day, the President's news conference. Our nation and the world is under siege as it has not been before in my lifetime. The situation is fluid and evolving at great speed. There is no template to follow to know how to react. The President and the people who have been called upon to respond and protect us are challenged in a unique and enormous manner.
These news conferences are live on TV and radio and the internet. The questions posed by the reporters are the keys to our learning about the developments and the actions -- and the thought processes -- of the people in charge of our national well being.
So I watched in amazement as one reporter became shrill and strident in asking why someone in the administration, and by association, the President, used the term "Chinese virus". The reporter went on to suggest --stopping short, barely, of accusing-- that this was a racial slur.
Another reporter picked up the same questioning minutes later, wanting answers to the perceived racism inherent in addressing the issue.
Yet another reporter demanded to know if we should expect virus cases to increase 10% every 12 hours -- because the count, somewhere, went from 100 to 110 cases overnight. The obvious arithmetic of compounding, based on a tiny data sample, seeking to extrapolate it into an even worse scenario than we are all experiencing.
The economy of USA and the world is in a meltdown as COVID-19 explodes. Every resource available everywhere is being deployed by governments and industry across the globe to fight the disease, protect the populace and try to preserve our economic well being.
If ever there was a time for insightful questioning, if ever there was a time to demand answers, this is it.
That does not, in my view, include self-serving "look at me", off topic, nonsense questions that must be given due thought and response, lest that be inferred as yet another offense. These questions aren't being posed by reporters of the talent and integrity that the task and the profession demands, and the "sanctity of journalism" argument that is used as a justification for this asinine behavior is a further mockery of the dedication and greatness of those men and women who set the standards for ethical and responsible journalism.
We must be vigilant in the pursuit of the truth.
Sadly, that has come to include appraising the intentions of those who represent to us that they are seekers of truth.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Monday, February 24, 2020
The Pink Blob in the Middle is My Rental Car
I arrived early in the afternoon here yesterday on Anguilla, a direct flight on United. It's an "in season" thing, the direct flight. Saves several hours travel time, love it. Got on the ferry and had a glorious ride over here.
THe ferry, love it! But the ferry boat porter, not so much. There's a sign (I should have taken a picture) stating that THE PORTERS ARE NOT EMPLOYEES and THEY WORK FOR TIPS!. Practical application : the porter here is neither an employee nor does he work, but he does expect to be compensated, and he is not shy about informing you of that. He appeared taken aback when I responded "you gotta carry the f&#in' bag to get paid, sport".
You may think of me an ambassador at large to the small time con men of the world.
Moving on.
I rented a car here for the first time. I usually use a cab. I rented from Andy's on the beach. I tell you that so if you come here, you DON'T rent from Andy's. I reserved a compact. It's a tiny Nissan called a March. That's not an issue. This particular March is the issue.
There's a term here, "island car". It means it's a beater that serves your basic transportation needs. My Virgin Gorda Jeep was a high line island car. Not when I bought it, but when I was done with it, it was high line. "Mint", one restaurant owner called it. Thanks, but it was island car mint.
This car is the exact opposite.
It's filthy, inside and out. It rattles all the time. Three wheels match. It had A/C at some time in its past. It has a monstrous aftermarket radio and amplifier. They don't work, the on/off button is long gone and it emits a continuous not too loud static noise. Not too loud unless you put the car in reverse, then it's a REALLY loud static noise, accompanied by beeping like delivery trucks beep.
The March starts stops and steers well. There's an enormous button that has been screwed on the dashboard and trails a wire that goes out the door to the front. I think it's for the horn, but I'm not keen on experimenting with this one.
I have provided photographic evidence. The exterior color is "Salmon Vomit". The interior is "Seriously Filthy".
After all that, it's pretty fun. Cruises awesome at 55. KPH. About 30 in USA speed. People beep and pass me quite a bit. I'm ok with that.
It is an island car.
THe ferry, love it! But the ferry boat porter, not so much. There's a sign (I should have taken a picture) stating that THE PORTERS ARE NOT EMPLOYEES and THEY WORK FOR TIPS!. Practical application : the porter here is neither an employee nor does he work, but he does expect to be compensated, and he is not shy about informing you of that. He appeared taken aback when I responded "you gotta carry the f&#in' bag to get paid, sport".
You may think of me an ambassador at large to the small time con men of the world.
 |
That little pinkish blob in the
middle, that's my rental car.
|
Moving on.
I rented a car here for the first time. I usually use a cab. I rented from Andy's on the beach. I tell you that so if you come here, you DON'T rent from Andy's. I reserved a compact. It's a tiny Nissan called a March. That's not an issue. This particular March is the issue.
T
|
There's a term here, "island car". It means it's a beater that serves your basic transportation needs. My Virgin Gorda Jeep was a high line island car. Not when I bought it, but when I was done with it, it was high line. "Mint", one restaurant owner called it. Thanks, but it was island car mint.
This car is the exact opposite.
It's filthy, inside and out. It rattles all the time. Three wheels match. It had A/C at some time in its past. It has a monstrous aftermarket radio and amplifier. They don't work, the on/off button is long gone and it emits a continuous not too loud static noise. Not too loud unless you put the car in reverse, then it's a REALLY loud static noise, accompanied by beeping like delivery trucks beep.
 |
Oh, yeah, it's right hand drive. Big burn hole in
the driver's seat. Thick rubber steering wheel cover,
bet you wish you had one of those. Finally, the
giant mystery button right of the steering wheel. Swanky.
|
I have provided photographic evidence. The exterior color is "Salmon Vomit". The interior is "Seriously Filthy".
 |
The side with the matching wheels and the
shadow of me exclaiming in horror at the color
|
After all that, it's pretty fun. Cruises awesome at 55. KPH. About 30 in USA speed. People beep and pass me quite a bit. I'm ok with that.
It is an island car.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Anguilla. It's 11
Hello.
Let's go back to the geography classes in which you didn't pay attention (neither did I).
1. Caribbean : somewhere south of Key West
2. Caribbean Sea : once referred to as the Spanish Lake. Get James Michener's "Caribbean" on your Kindle. It will start the fire deep inside you.
3. Antilles. Nobody paid attention when they taught this 😅
4. Antilles II : they form an inverted "L", more or less, when you're looking at a map
5. Greater Antilles : the bottom of the inverted L, in this case, a line segment (my, my, my... a line "segment", aren't we the studious type) that is in the northern part of the Caribbean. It's the Caymans, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the USVI, the BVI and, at the junction, Anguilla and St. Maarten.
6. Lesser Antilles : the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea; the more or less north/south string of island nations that I'll map so I don't have to list them all
7. Most of you haven't been here. That is not a good life fact.
8. Most of you haven't been here II. I think we can fix that.
9. Anguilla is fabulous. Just sayin'. It's a fact.
10. I believe that I have found the best place to experience Anguilla. I may set up a group trip.
11. Who's up for it?
More to come, next installment of Neveradullmoment. I can't wait!!! and I write it 😊
Let's go back to the geography classes in which you didn't pay attention (neither did I).
1. Caribbean : somewhere south of Key West
2. Caribbean Sea : once referred to as the Spanish Lake. Get James Michener's "Caribbean" on your Kindle. It will start the fire deep inside you.
3. Antilles. Nobody paid attention when they taught this 😅
4. Antilles II : they form an inverted "L", more or less, when you're looking at a map
5. Greater Antilles : the bottom of the inverted L, in this case, a line segment (my, my, my... a line "segment", aren't we the studious type) that is in the northern part of the Caribbean. It's the Caymans, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the USVI, the BVI and, at the junction, Anguilla and St. Maarten.
6. Lesser Antilles : the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea; the more or less north/south string of island nations that I'll map so I don't have to list them all
7. Most of you haven't been here. That is not a good life fact.
8. Most of you haven't been here II. I think we can fix that.
9. Anguilla is fabulous. Just sayin'. It's a fact.
10. I believe that I have found the best place to experience Anguilla. I may set up a group trip.
11. Who's up for it?
More to come, next installment of Neveradullmoment. I can't wait!!! and I write it 😊
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Check Your Pockets
Today is an example of either how fractionalized we have become OR how wide ranging are our choices.
In Daytona, Florida, NASCAR will debut its new season with its marquee event, the Daytona 500.
In Chicago, the NBA will stage its annual look-at- me pageant, the NBA All Star Game.
If I were to poll most of the people with whom I interact day-in day-out and asked them to name some NASCAR drivers, most would be flummoxed momentarily and would likely offer up....Dale Earnhardt..and...hold on, hold on...yeah...Jeff Gordon!
Deceased. Retired.
Likewise, if I were to poll the same group to summon up a couple of NBA names, I expect to get Kobe Bryant and...hold on, hold on...of course...Michael Jordan!
Deceased. Retired.
Golf? Everyone knows Phil. Tiger. Rory. Patrick. Alive and kickin'.
Draw your own conclusions.
Speaking of meat...Yesterday I took mi esposa out for a Valentine's Day lunch at Gibson's. When we had finished our meals, we headed out into the cold to reclaim the car. I handed the ticket to the lad at the valet station and immediately jammed my hands into my coat pockets, it was cold, you see. Now imagine your hands thrust into your warm pockets and feeling...some clammy, soft mass of omg what the hell is...somebody crapped in my coat pocket???
I pulled a chunk of steak, ugh, out and knew who.
"Sandie!?"
She looks and bursts into laughter.
The wife has developed the habit of bringing home from restaurants a little something for the dog. She had hacked off a hunk of her filet to bring home and stuffed it in what she thought was her pocket. Pretty funny. Pretty disgusting.
Oh, yeah..there's XFL football, too, if you can't do without that for a while.
That is all.
In Daytona, Florida, NASCAR will debut its new season with its marquee event, the Daytona 500.
In Chicago, the NBA will stage its annual look-at- me pageant, the NBA All Star Game.
If I were to poll most of the people with whom I interact day-in day-out and asked them to name some NASCAR drivers, most would be flummoxed momentarily and would likely offer up....Dale Earnhardt..and...hold on, hold on...yeah...Jeff Gordon!
Deceased. Retired.
Likewise, if I were to poll the same group to summon up a couple of NBA names, I expect to get Kobe Bryant and...hold on, hold on...of course...Michael Jordan!
Deceased. Retired.
Golf? Everyone knows Phil. Tiger. Rory. Patrick. Alive and kickin'.
Draw your own conclusions.
 |
| I went to 5 of these. Now I have meat in my pockets |
Speaking of meat...Yesterday I took mi esposa out for a Valentine's Day lunch at Gibson's. When we had finished our meals, we headed out into the cold to reclaim the car. I handed the ticket to the lad at the valet station and immediately jammed my hands into my coat pockets, it was cold, you see. Now imagine your hands thrust into your warm pockets and feeling...some clammy, soft mass of omg what the hell is...somebody crapped in my coat pocket???
I pulled a chunk of steak, ugh, out and knew who.
"Sandie!?"
She looks and bursts into laughter.
The wife has developed the habit of bringing home from restaurants a little something for the dog. She had hacked off a hunk of her filet to bring home and stuffed it in what she thought was her pocket. Pretty funny. Pretty disgusting.
Oh, yeah..there's XFL football, too, if you can't do without that for a while.
That is all.
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Oscars...but no Billy Crystal.
The Academy Awards, aka the Oscars, will be awarded this Sunday.
The first awards were presented in 1929. The first Best Picture award went to "Wings". I have seen that movie, believe it or not, and read about the making of the film. It is truly amazing work for its time.
Fast forward to present day : I have resolved, yet again, to not watch the current awards show so as to avoid ranting and hollering at the television when a succession of people who make their living pretending to be someone other than who they are deign to take the opportunity of their moment in the spotlight to tell the world how to behave (that is a really long sentence, yes). When this happens, I begin to spew a vitriolic gospel punctuated, nay, brimming with abrupt common profanities.
My spouse barely raises an eyebrow anymore.
I confess, I will end up watching the show, at least for a while. I will rant and holler.
It's what I do.
Wondering about the trophies?.
The Oscar statuettes used to be made in Chicago.
Then, just like Marshall Field & Co., and their famed Frango Mints, Jays Potato Chips, the Chicago (now Arizona by way of St. Louis) NFL Cardinals football team and a lot of other stuff that I will research some other time, Oscar went elsewhere. If the trophy source is of interest, here's a link to the current maker and their story (click) Oscar not Mayer .
As for the performances and productions, this year I have seen more of them than I customarily would have seen, thanks to the contemporary express method of delivering content which bypasses our local theaters, in my case Apple TV. The big categories are always of interest:
Best Picture Nominees - there are 9 nominees! I've seen 5 of them. My guess is either The Joker or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That's out of the films I have seen, so if it's one of the others, I cannot comment, other than to snort derisively. Note: if you cannot snort derisively, I can train you to do so. I am, as they say, adept in this skill.
Best Actor - 5 nominees, I have seen 4. Predicted winner : Joaquin Phoenix in The Joker. Mesmerizing performance!
Best Supporting Actor - I pick Anthony Hopkins in The Two Popes. Hopkins is one of the best ever.
Best Actress - I only saw one of the 5, so "I got nothin'" here.
Best Supporting Actress - same story.
Best Director - I pick Quentin Tarantino, who I think is absolutely nuts, for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which was, in my opinion, absolutely terrific. I think the actual chosen winner will be the venerable Martin Scorcese for The Irishman, because Scorcese is part of the old guy network that will want to reward what might be his last best effort, and it was a terrific movie, so I think they're going to give it to him.
There's a lot of other categories that are recognized for their wonderful work, but admit it, you don't really pay that close of attention either. There is one area to which I have been paying more than usual attention : cinematography. I'm picking The Joker for this one.
Douglas Fairbanks hosted the very first Oscars. Billy Crystal hosted the show NINE times. There's no host for this year's show, but it will nonetheless grind on for hours, and we will ask ourselves on Monday why we watched it yet again.
Hooray for Hollywood!
The first awards were presented in 1929. The first Best Picture award went to "Wings". I have seen that movie, believe it or not, and read about the making of the film. It is truly amazing work for its time.
Fast forward to present day : I have resolved, yet again, to not watch the current awards show so as to avoid ranting and hollering at the television when a succession of people who make their living pretending to be someone other than who they are deign to take the opportunity of their moment in the spotlight to tell the world how to behave (that is a really long sentence, yes). When this happens, I begin to spew a vitriolic gospel punctuated, nay, brimming with abrupt common profanities.
My spouse barely raises an eyebrow anymore.
I confess, I will end up watching the show, at least for a while. I will rant and holler. It's what I do.
Wondering about the trophies?.
The Oscar statuettes used to be made in Chicago.
Then, just like Marshall Field & Co., and their famed Frango Mints, Jays Potato Chips, the Chicago (now Arizona by way of St. Louis) NFL Cardinals football team and a lot of other stuff that I will research some other time, Oscar went elsewhere. If the trophy source is of interest, here's a link to the current maker and their story (click) Oscar not Mayer .
As for the performances and productions, this year I have seen more of them than I customarily would have seen, thanks to the contemporary express method of delivering content which bypasses our local theaters, in my case Apple TV. The big categories are always of interest:
Best Picture Nominees - there are 9 nominees! I've seen 5 of them. My guess is either The Joker or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That's out of the films I have seen, so if it's one of the others, I cannot comment, other than to snort derisively. Note: if you cannot snort derisively, I can train you to do so. I am, as they say, adept in this skill.
Best Actor - 5 nominees, I have seen 4. Predicted winner : Joaquin Phoenix in The Joker. Mesmerizing performance!
Best Supporting Actor - I pick Anthony Hopkins in The Two Popes. Hopkins is one of the best ever.
Best Actress - I only saw one of the 5, so "I got nothin'" here.
Best Supporting Actress - same story.
Best Director - I pick Quentin Tarantino, who I think is absolutely nuts, for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which was, in my opinion, absolutely terrific. I think the actual chosen winner will be the venerable Martin Scorcese for The Irishman, because Scorcese is part of the old guy network that will want to reward what might be his last best effort, and it was a terrific movie, so I think they're going to give it to him.
There's a lot of other categories that are recognized for their wonderful work, but admit it, you don't really pay that close of attention either. There is one area to which I have been paying more than usual attention : cinematography. I'm picking The Joker for this one.
Douglas Fairbanks hosted the very first Oscars. Billy Crystal hosted the show NINE times. There's no host for this year's show, but it will nonetheless grind on for hours, and we will ask ourselves on Monday why we watched it yet again.
Hooray for Hollywood!
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