“Before Air-Conditioning”

Arthur Miller, writing in The New Yorker in 1998 about life in 1927 or ’28:

Even through the nights, the pall of heat never broke. With a couple of other kids, I would go across 110th to the Park and walk among the hundreds of people, singles and families, who slept on the grass, next to their big alarm clocks, which set up a mild cacophony of the seconds passing, one clock’s ticks syncopating with another’s. Babies cried in the darkness, men’s deep voices murmured, and a woman let out an occasional high laugh beside the lake. I can recall only white people spread out on the grass; Harlem began above 116th Street then.

Tony Dow (1945–2022)

He played Wally Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver. The New York Times has an obituary.

Ulp

From Bryan Garner’s LawProse Lesson #382, “Law graduates who can write”:

No memo or brief or letter is better than what’s in it. No amount of style and form, attention to punctuation and phrasing, can make good writing out of unreliable information and bad judgments. A good piece of writing is much more than phrasing, commas, and semicolons.

On the other hand, no amount of solid research and brilliant analysis will be useful until it’s communicated effectively to others. If your work requires writing, then your work is no better than your writing.

That last sentence should be useful to anyone who teaches writing. I can imagine it instantly instilling greater seriousness in a student.

[If you want to subscribe to Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day and LawProse Lessons (both free): here. If you want to subscribe to LawProse Lessons only: here.]

Changes in ASL

From The New York Times: “How Sign Language Evolves As Our World Does.” Begins with the influence of small screens on ASL but moves to matters of culture.

Another Mary Miller vote

I don’t follow them all. But this one stands out: Miller (R, IL-15) was one of just twenty “no” votes, all Republican, against H.R. 6552, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022. As is often the case, Miller voted with the worst of the worst: Biggs, Boebert, Brooks, Gaetz (no surprise there), Gosar, Greene, &c.

Who runs against Miller in November? Paul Lange.

Related reading
All OCA Mary Miller posts (Pinboard)

A joke in the traditional manner

Who’s the lead administrator in a school of fish?

On what would have been my dad’s ninety-fourth birthday, I continue in the traditional manner.

The punchline is in the comments.

More jokes in the traditional manner
The Autobahn : Did you hear about the cow coloratura? : Did you hear about the new insect hybrid? : Did you hear about the shape-shifting car? : Did you hear about the thieving produce clerk? : Elementary school : A Golden Retriever : How did Bela Lugosi know what to expect? : How did Samuel Clemens do all his long-distance traveling? : How do amoebas communicate? : How do ghosts hide their wrinkles? : How do worms get to the supermarket? : Of all the songs in the Great American Songbook, which is the favorite of pirates? : What did the doctor tell his forgetful patient to do? : What did the plumber do when embarrassed? : What happens when a senior citizen visits a podiatrist? : What is the favorite toy of philosophers’ children? : What’s the name of the Illinois town where dentists want to live? : What’s the worst thing about owning nine houses? : What was the shepherd doing in the garden? : Where do amoebas golf? : Where does Paul Drake keep his hot tips? : Which member of the orchestra was best at handling money? : Why are supervillains good at staying warm in the winter? : Why did the doctor spend his time helping injured squirrels? : Why did Oliver Hardy attempt a solo career in movies? : Why did the ophthalmologist and his wife split up? : Why does Marie Kondo never win at poker? : Why is the Fonz so cool? : Why sharpen your pencil to write a Dad joke? : Why was Santa Claus wandering the East Side of Manhattan?

[“In the traditional manner”: by or à la my dad. He gets credit for the Autobahn, the elementary school, the Golden Retriever, Bela Lugosi, Samuel Clemens, the doctor, the plumber, the senior citizen, Oliver Hardy, and the ophthalmologist. Elaine gets credit for the Illinois town. Ben gets credit for the supervillains in winter. My dad was making such jokes long before anyone called them dad jokes.]

At last

From The Washington Post :

The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter.

“‘Alternative’ votes”

From The New York Times: “Previously undisclosed communications among Trump campaign aides and outside advisers provide new insight into their efforts to overturn the election in the weeks leading to Jan. 6.”

The scheming in these e-mails is transparently dishonest. Of the fake-electors ploy, Jack D. Wilenchik, a lawyer, writes,

I guess there’s no harm in it, (legally at least) — i.e. we would just be sending in “fake” electoral votes to Pence so that “someone” in Congress can make an objection when they start counting votes, and start arguing that the “fake” votes should be counted.”

In another e-mail, Wilenchik writes that “‘alternative’ votes is probably a better term than ‘fake’ votes.” He appends a smiley face to that suggestion.

Remember “alternative facts”?

An Automat ad

A ghost ad in the Garment District.

Related reading
All OCA Automat posts (Pinboard)

Literature clock

Self-explanatory.

I would like to know if it has 5:15 a.m., but I wouldn’t want to have to get up that early to find out.

*

My friend Stefan Hagemann tells me that 5:15 a.m. is a passage from Hunter Thompson.