Boo

I tuned into the Republican presidential candidates’ debate last night just in time to hear audience members boo Stephen Hill, a gay soldier serving in Iraq, who asked whether the candidates intend “to circumvent the progress that’s been made for gay and lesbian soldiers.” Then I heard Rick Santorum’s incoherent response, which ended in a promise to reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The audience cheered. And that was enough viewing for one night. You can see for yourself at YouTube.

Elizabeth Warren on taxation

Elizabeth Warren campaigning in Massachusetts, seeking the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate:

“I hear all this, you know, ‘Well, this is class warfare; this is’ — whatever. No. There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look: you built a factory, and it turned into something terrific or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

Watch and listen at YouTube. I wish I could vote for her.

[My transcription.]

Words from MLK

Martin Luther King Jr., in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Related reading
Troy Davis Is Executed in Georgia (New York Times)

“Inside Amazon’s warehouse”

Life in an Amazon warehouse:

Over the past two months, The Morning Call interviewed 20 current and former warehouse workers who showed pay stubs, tax forms or other proof of employment. They offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it’s like to work in the Amazon warehouse, where temperatures soar on hot summer days, production rates are difficult to achieve and the permanent jobs sought by many temporary workers hired by an outside agency are tough to get.

Only one of the employees interviewed described it as a good place to work.

Says an employee quoted in the article, “They just push, push, push.”

Where to go instead? Powell’s is the largest union bookstore in the United States.

Inside Amazon’s warehouse (The Morning Call)

(Thanks, Adair.)

Elsie’s Cook Book

[Elsie the Cow with Harry Botsford, Elsie’s Cook Book: Tested Recipes of Every Variety (New York: Bond Wheelwright, 1952). Click for a larger view.]

A library book-sale find. The illustration of Elsie and Elmer is by Keith Ward. Today’s Inspiration has a post with more of his work. Elsie’s helper Harry Botsford wrote cookbooks of his own. I hope that he’s responsible for this book’s chapter on “Meats.”

Related reading
Elsie the Cow (Wikipedia article)

NYC faux pas

Good reading: What are some cultural faux pas in New York? (Quora, via kottke.org). I especially like this warning: “Never ever ever EVER refer to the city as ‘the Big Apple.’”

For an autograph album

Things to write in an autograph album:

Birds on the mountain,
Fish in the sea.
How you ever graduated
Is a mystery to me.

*

FUNEX
VFX
FUNEM
VFM
OKMNX

*

I love you, I love you,
I love you so well,
If I had a peanut
I’d give you the shell.

*

If I were a head of lettuce
I’d cut myself in two.
I’d give the leaves to all my friends
And save the heart for you.

*

Mary had a little lamb.
Her father shot it dead.
Now Mary carries that lamb to school
Between two hunks of bread.

*

Never B♯
Never B♭
Always B♮

*

Roses are red,
Pickles are green.
My face is a holler
But yours is a scream.

*
                                                               
                                                               
Some blank verse from a blank mind.

*

When sitting on a sofa
With your boyfriend by your side,
Beware of false kisses,
His mustache may be dyed.

*

Yours till soda pops.

From Yours Till Niagra Falls, compiled by Lillian Morrison (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1950). A library book-sale find.

Overheard

From a ’sation, overheard while shopping:

“A hairdresser is high and mighty? [Then slowly, underlining every word.] A hairdresser or a barber is high and mighty?” [Laughs hysterically.]

The gist of it: Don’t let him treat you like that.

Related reading
All “overheard” posts (via Pinboard)

Netflix messes up

I was surprised to see an e-mail from Reed Hastings (“Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix”) in one of my inboxes today. For a split-second I thought that Mr. Hastings was about to apologize for calling DVDs-by-mail “Old Fogey discs.” But no. His e-mail announces that Netflix’s DVDs-by-mail service is now known as Qwikster. And he isn’t apologizing for that either.

I suspect that our household will eventually shift to streaming. But we like making lists of films to watch, and we like getting DVDs. (As Elaine points out, they add interest to the mail.) And not everything at Netflix is available on-demand. For now, we are sticking with Qwikster. [Insert grimace here.]

Hi and Escher

[Hi and Lois, September 19, 2011.]

Follow that wall! Yes, it appears to be one long wall that includes both the front door and the side of the house.

Today’s Hi and Lois isn’t the first to feature an Escher-like construction: a 2008 hot-dog cart is similarly confounding.

Bye-bye. (Grown-ups use hyphens.)

Related reading
All Hi and Lois posts (via Pinboard)