How To Sell Lots Of Girl Scout Cookies

Whenever I see kids selling lemonade for a charity (or for a new iPad) on a hot Summer day on the bike trail, I want to tell them (or their hovering parents) "You should be selling cold bottled water!" People would have no problem dropping a dollar for a bottle of water that only costs a dime when bought in bulk. They do it all the time when they're out and about these days.

So I find this Girl Scout's ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit commendable. She will go far in business, if that's the direction she chooses, having learned a good lesson about supply and demand.  

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The Harvard Classics - Be Prepared For The Next SnOMG2016

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I know. This snowstorm really sucked. 

The Harvard Classics

The Harvard Classics

In an attempt to get out in front of the NEXT snowstorm, I recommend being provisioned with sufficient alcohol, and keeping your mobile devices (as well as other personal battery-operated devices) well-charged. And by all means, know where the flashlights and candles are stored. My Sister-In-Law is an expert at the flashlight part.

Next, have plenty of good books to read. Actually, you should always have plenty of good books to read, especially if the WiFi goes away for a while. And now, the reading part has been made much easier.

Here's the link

 http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/the_harvard_classics_a_free_digital_collection.html

You're welcome. 

Wicked Pissah

My friend Jonathan sent me this movie trailer, or rather "movie trailer", and in addition to causing me to LOL, as the kids say, it reminded me of Miss Lilly Rabel, a delightful and mysterious Professor of Linguistics who taught a course that I think was required when Jonathan and I were in grad school together. I do remember us taking the course the same Spring semester, and comparing notes about Miss Lilly as much as about the course material.

But I digress. Enjoy the trailer. And cheer whenever your town is mentioned. 

Eyes Wide Open On Bernie Sanders

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 "...Sanders, as I understand him, isn’t claiming that his ambitious and costly program is realistic in today’s Washington. To the contrary, he says that the political system is so broken, and so in hock to big money, that it is virtually impossible to effect nearly any substantive progressive change. The only way to make big changes, Sanders argues, is to create a mass movement that faces down corporate interests and their quislings. Once this movement materializes, all sorts of things that now seem out of the question—such as true universal health care, free college tuition, and a much more progressive tax system—will become possible." 

This excerpt from John Cassidy's New Yorker post today is a pretty clear-eyed assessment of the Sanders candidacy. I have believed from the outset that both Sanders and Donald Trump have tapped into the same current of extreme dissatisfaction within the American public in general, which is far more widespread and apolitical than the Washington commentariat understands. 

 

Well, I'm Standing On A Corner In Winslow Arizona

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Well, I'm a standing on a corner

in Winslow, Arizona

and such a fine sight to see

It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed

Ford slowin' down to take a look at me

Come on, baby, don't say maybe

I gotta know if your sweet love is

gonna save me

We may lose and we may win though

we will never be here again

so open up, I'm climbin' in,

so take it easy

About Last Night...

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 "What was different from previous debates was Sanders’s eagerness to go on the offensive against Clinton, and particularly to highlight her most vulnerable area: her ties to the Wall Street plutocracy. Twice, Sanders mentioned that she has received generous speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. The NBC anchor Lester Holt, the co-moderator of the debate, asked Sanders how his approach to bank regulation would differ from Clinton’s. “Well, the first difference is I don’t take money from big banks,” Sanders replied. “I don’t get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs.” Sanders’s second jab came after Clinton claimed that she had the toughest, most comprehensive plan to regulate Wall Street. This time, Sanders added a dollar figure, pointing out that Clinton “received over six hundred thousand dollars in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year.”

 http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/bernie-sanderss-big-night?mbid=nl_160118_Cassidy&CNDID=21497841&spMailingID=8444320&spUserID=MTE4NTcyMTAzMzUxS0&spJobID=841957019&spReportId=ODQxOTU3MDE5S0

 

 

The Lorraine Motel, Martin Luther King, And Me

 

 

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 The Lorraine Motel in Memphis is now the central feature of The National Civil Rights Museum.

But it is still the Lorraine Motel, frozen in time at the point just after Martin Luther King was shot. And the rooming house that is being pointed out in the photograph is still there as well, and you can go inside and look out the same window that James Earl Ray looked out of as he pulled the trigger. It is one of the most chilling and intense historical experiences I have ever had, right up there with my visit to Ford's Theatre and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC.

This excellent New Yorker piece provides some historical context:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-lorraine-motel-and-martin-luther-king?mbid=rss

There are many reasons to visit Memphis, particularly if you love rock and roll and the blues. But if you go, you need to visit The Lorraine. 

Happy Birthday, Julia Louis-Dreyfus

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 "Getting older [is my secret to body confidence]," she says "It's like, 'Yeah, this is who I am, fuck off,' as opposed to, 'This is who I am, I'm sorry.' You know, there's something about getting older and owning who you are that is a good thing."

And with age comes changes, although Louis-Dreyfus doesn't seem to mind. The actress, who calls herself "curvy," has a motto when it comes to cellulite: "I try to push the worry down and pull the Spanx up!"