Cool Things With No Purpose - Part XII

Beg Your Pardon?

I've heard the arguments against giving money to beggars.

I've also spent a fair amount of time, in cities all around the world, encountering beggars and contemplating the moral dilemma posed by the massively unequal distribution of the world's wealth.  Frankly, I've never been able to buy into the reasoning against helping beggars.

I must admit though, my rural upbringing may have rendered me somewhat naive on this topic, and I recently had a disconcerting encounter that I may have handled wrong.  Here's what happened:

I was in Washington DC for a meeting and, during a ten-minute pause in a coffee shop, I watched a woman begging outside on a very busy sidewalk.  She was sitting down, had a sign, and looked like she truly needed some help.  As far as I could tell, during the time that I observed, not a single person offered her any change nor acknowledged her existence.  

I knew I was not going to change her life with my spare change, but I thought she might appreciate knowing that at least one other person saw her as a fellow human, in need of a fortunate break.  As I left the coffee shop, I crouched to her level, looked her compassionately in the eye, and warmly wished her "better times ahead" as I dropped my change into her cup.

No sooner had I stood up to cross the street when she began berating me with a loud and angry stream of expletives.  I turned to see her dump the coins to the ground and I realized that she had been insulted by my meager financial offering.  Momentary confusion gave way to embarrassment as a crowd of bystanders turned to view the raucous spectacle.

I have pondered this many times since it happened last spring, and I still can't make sense of it.  I had approached her with the sincerest intentions of respecting her dignity, and I walked away feeling as though she had trampled on mine.

It always comes to mind for me now, each time I encounter a beggar.  I have continued with my past approach of giving generously to some, modestly to others, and walking past most in the course of a typical day. I still think it is usually right to offer help from time to time, but I also wonder if I did something wrong in DC.

It's the Economy Stupid

The old truism that "the economy" is the most important topic in every US Presidential election is absurd to me.

I'm sure it's true enough. I fully believe that people vote based on their perception of which candidate can drive economic growth. I just think it is absurd how voters over-estimate how much the President can impact the economy (which in truth may be not at all, but at best it is very, very little).

I also find it beguiling that campaign strategists perpetrate the false notion, in every election, that their candidate can actually drive an economic turn-around.

Sorry to report this folks but neither Obama nor Romney can "fix the economy". The only people who can fix the economy are us voters.

Here are a few ways to start:

1) Get in shape. Don't cut down a little on fast food, stop eating it. That includes soda.  Lose some weight, exercise, and eat fruits and vegetables. This will greatly ease the burden on our health system, which wouldn't look nearly as broken if we weren't a bunch of over-weight, diabetics who need statins and hypertensive medications for the final five decades of our lives. This will also cut down on expensive triple-bypass surgeries and knee replacements. Let's free up a little spending for wellness.

2) Use less energy. Like a lot less. In your car and in your home. Next time you need to buy a car, buy a small one and, in the meantime, drive less and drive more slowly. This could vastly reduce our reliance on foreign oil, which will weaken demand and bring prices down. It may also put less money in the hands of certain groups that we spend a lot of military dollars to protect ourselves from.

3) Be an active parent. If your kids are being raised by TV and video games, you need to engage. It's hard and it takes a lot of time, but kids who spend their time with caring adults, as opposed to consumer electronics, develop better social skills and are more likely to cultivate an interest in learning. They are also less likely to exhibit disruptive, anti-social behavior in the classroom, which will allow our teachers to focus on educating instead of baby-sitting. Just a guess, but our education system might not look as broken if our kids were taught how to be attentive students by their parents.

4) Do the work that needs to be done. If some jobs are beneath you, then don't complain about the unemployment level or the number of immigrants who enter our country to fill the demand for low-status work. Until we are willing to do all kinds of work for pay that may be unattractive, then jobs will continue moving overseas, immigrants will continue to cross our border illegally, and unemployment will persist. The government can't fix our willingness to work.

5) Save some money. The government can't always be there for everyone. Maybe keep your car a little longer, get by with a smallish TV, and live below your means. Put some cash toward retirement, disability insurance, long-term care insurance, and bouts of unemployment. There is no way the government, under any administration, can accumulate enough tax revenue to help all 300 million of us avoid some disruptions in the high quality of life we enjoyed during our peak earning years. Things go wrong, family financial health swings up and down, and we all need to prepare ourselves for the downturns.

I know these are hard habits to adopt.  I acknowledge that I could be doing better on a few of these suggestions myself. But the point is, the change is up to us. We can't expect a miracle from the government or from any particular Presidential candidate.

The President who can impact the economy is the one who can get the voters to fix the economy themselves.

Stones Turn 50!

This has already been way overdone in the media, but I am sure my imaginary readers are expecting me to at least acknowledge it.

Today is the day, July 12, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stones first gig in 1962.  No need to belabor the point, but it's pretty incredible for a rock band to be so relevant for so long.

Guitar Hero

Here's a great video of a guy playing 100 classic guitar riffs in one take. I'm not sure all these riffs are classics, but the video is worth seeing.

What do you find more impressive: this guy's effortless command of the instrument, or his awesome cognitive agility in making 99 mental transitions, from one key and rhythm to the next, without missing a beat?

http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/100riffs/

National Anthem has 2 Verses?

Apparently so.

Here's a video of a former marine, poignantly reminding a small gathering about it.

I am not promoting any particular religious views, nor am I supporting any particular political stance, I just thought  this was a good thing to share on the 4th of July!

I Swear

If you had asked me as a young man, to complete a questionnaire about what type of father I would one day become, I am sure I would have ticked "NO" on the question: "Do you expect to swear in front of your children".

Turns out I would have been way wrong on that.

I am not a fan of unnecessary profanity, or of using curse words as filler to round out an inadequate vocabulary.  But there are times, for purposes of style or emphasis, that the taboo of a curse-word absolutely strikes the right effect.

Now don't get me wrong;  I am not proud that I swear in front my children.  In fact, this year I made my first ever New Year's resolution as an effort to curb the habit.  However, it was after holding back for several weeks that I first noticed the amazing therapeutic effect of a good, profanity-laced outburst.

I was happy to read a recent article in Scientific American noting that many leading researchers have concluded that swearing has many benefits, and should be encouraged in certain circumstances.  Although they did not explicitly identify "parenting" as one of those circumstances, I am sure that was just an oversight.

Damn authors probably have no kids.

Getting It Write

One of the things that I formerly considered to be among my professional values is slowly migrating onto my list of things that make me seem like a caveman (or at least like a geezer*).  Namely, I think that reasonably good grammar is an important component of professional correspondence.

We are all aware of, and probably occasionally guilty of, the acronym-filled shorthand of the text, Twitter, and Facebook worlds.  There is certainly a place today for that type of communication.

For example, if you see Chad and Taylor making out behind the bleachers, you should immediately text an OMG! to your BFF's.  Under such alarming circumstances, everyone would agree that taking the time to type a salutation, or any punctuation other than an exclamation point, would be a disservice to those who need to know such things ASAP.

However, in the drudgery of "participating in the world's economic welfare", also known as "responsibly holding down a job", matters are rarely as urgent or important as the Junior High tryst I cited above.  I still believe that professionals usually have the time to construct complete, unambiguous, messages to one another.

Alas, I see that the "new normal" of text shorthand is slowly and successfully gaining acceptance among decision makers in the workplace. This recent article from the Wall Street Journal makes the sad point that my commitment to grammar is increasingly a sign of yesterday's work ethic.  It's really just a numbers game, and when those who do not value grammar begin to out-number (and/or out-rank) those who do, I will officially wear the scarlet "C" of curmudgeonry.

* Alert readers who recall my post on "geezerdom" will know that earning this label is not a personal tragedy for me.

National Ahem!

I know there is no right way and no wrong way to be artistic.  I get the notion of artistic license.  I'm just not sure it is always appropriate to reinterpret a sacred symbol during a time-honored tradition.  Case in point: the rampant "artistic" butchering of the national anthem before sporting events.

Can't people just sing it the way it was written?  I know it's hard to hit that last note in "...the land of the free" and I give a "get out of jail free" card for a little creativity there.  But for the rest of it, I think most people should try to sing the original version most of the time.

But they never do.

Casual Observation Series – Part 1A(uggie)
Contributed by Auggie
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you ever plan to undertake a study to determine the most played artist in the history of radio, I can save you the trouble. It’s Elton John. This conclusion is based strictly on empirical evidence, namely me riding in my car listening to the radio over the last 30 years, but it’s no less scientific than Michael Bloomberg’s assertion that “people tend to eat as much as they are served” as justification for his proposed ban on large sized soft drinks (good topic for another blog). It recently occurred to me that no matter the driving distance, or what station I am tuned to, I can’t complete a trip without hearing Elton John at least once. (Well, it happened once in 2003 when I rode around the block to test my new brake pads but that doesn’t really count). If you detect a hint of annoyance in my prose then kudos to you because that’s the attitude I was going for. There are other artists who have had their share of air time over the years (e.g. The Rolling Stones) but they tend to be played on stations of a particular musical genre. And there are artists who are overplayed in short time periods (e.g. Katy freakin Perry right now); but no one tops Elton John for longevity and breadth of coverage.

If anyone disagrees with this please post alternate theories to the comments section. As a reasonable curmudgeon I will consider updating the rankings with convincing evidence. FYI, Phil Collins is a distant second.