I've Wondered About That, Myself

When in Doubt, Order a Pizza

Courtesy of the Washington Post, we have another Good Guy™

After Hurricane Matthew scraped the Florida coast, a Nebraska man worried about his 87-year-old grandmother. Her phone was out and the emergency services were overwhelmed, so there was no one to check on her. Until he had a stroke of genius.

He called her local Papa John's Pizza and had them deliver a pepperoni pizza. On the part of the order where special instructions go, (like, don't try to pet the dog) he asked that the delivery person call him when he dropped off the pizza. The delivery guy did so and grandma was found to be safe and sound, although living in the dark and without communications.

So, here's a Good Guy award for Palm Coast Papa John's Pizza and another for a thoughtful (and clear-thinking) grandson.

It's Going to Be One of Those Days

A gnat just flew into my coffee cup and drowned.

I'm sure that there are both an emoji and a German word for this, but I don't know either.

Back to the Amazon

When I began to revive this blog, I never expected that the most popular entries would be Amazon's butchery of my interests. Still, these are the most viewed, according to Google, so I'll keep doing them. In the near future, I'll throw in Netflix, which makes Amazon look positively brilliant. The latest couple of checks of Amazon recommendations have actually produced far too many bloopers for a single blog entry, so this will be spread out over the next week or so. Since it's the gift that keeps on giving, I can't help but hope that there may be even more goodies waiting.

We'll start out with some self-help books. I'm always trying to lose weight and get into better shape. Having met remote members of my family tree, I know that I resemble the Lithuanian side of my heritage, but I'm about to give it up on blaming genes and simply call it a result of incompetent Intelligent Design:

Just to be sure that I wasn't missing anything, I expanded the list. Nope, this time Amazon has completely wandered off the feedlot and is now meandering at random. I do recommend the Don Norman book as an excellent introduction into product design. It's a fun read.

Sticking with our polka dot theme, it might be interesting to see what young adults are reading these days. I can remember a summer of Herman Hesse when I was thirteen, so almost anything is possible. Having said that, Norwegian branding design was still unexpected.

I better expand this list, too. Just to see what's back there:

A J.K. Rowling short story collection—understandable and certainly more appropriate. One Hundred Years of Solitude and a supporting trivia book? I can dig it. A little sophisticated (says the kid who was reading Hesse at thirteen), but magical realism is a great literary style and after this, the quality of the reader's school essays is bound to improve (although her or his grades may not).

But what's that lurking on the very edge? Virginia Woolf? To the Lighthouse?

I confess to never having read Woolf. Mark it down as one of my many character faults. The problem is that I never felt the need for a primer on how to be an angst-ridden adolescent. I had to read the reviews and the Wikipedia summary to get an idea of what it might be about. At this point, I think that I'll spare any teenagers for whom I might feel the need to buy a book from both Woolf and Hesse. Gabriel García Márquez seems to be a much better choice, or maybe a copy of A Confederacy of Dunces. I'll pass on the Rowling, too. Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes would both be better reads.

Wow. Totally heavy. Let's close this with a couple of my favorite insights on the part of Amazon. First, what I can only presume is an ethical guide to cloning:

Then, when I went back a week later, I found that it had been replaced by an eighteenth century dialogue on the existence of God:

I can only imagine the conversation in the operating room.

"Sarah, do you think that this is a metastasized region or a separate tumor?"

"John, a very small part of this great system, during a very short time, is very imperfectly discovered to us; and do we thence pronounce decisively concerning the origin of the whole?"

"I see your point, but the question is whether we should excise the whole bowel or just this region."

"You alone, or almost alone, disturb this general harmony. You start abstruse doubts, cavils, and objections: You ask me, what is the cause of this cause? I know not; I care not; that concerns not me."

"You know, Sarah, you're right. This guy's a walking corpse anyway. Let's cut the whole thing out, sew him up, and we can still catch half-price appetizers down at TGIFridays."

"But for my part, whenever I find myself disposed to mirth and amusement, I shall certainly choose my entertainment of a less perplexing and abstruse nature. A comedy, a novel, or at most a history, seems a more natural recreation than such metaphysical subtleties and abstractions. Or, barring that, an order of fried green beans and a Long Island iced tea would go down right fine."

A Sound of Thunder

This would be a spectacularly bad month to announce that you've invented a time machine. I can imagine angry crowds with pitchforks and torches outside the laboratory. Take care not to step on any butterflies.

Just in case.

Profiles in Courage

This blog isn't intended to discuss politics as such. I have strong opinions on the topic, but I don't particularly want to use this platform to share them. There are plenty of other good news sites, blogs, and miscellaneous sources for news and views.

Having said that, this blog is called Broken Symmetry, and one example of broken symmetry is false equivalence: where two wrongs (or rights) are treated equally, despite their disproportionate natures. Another sad, but real, example of broken symmetry is the lack of courage displayed by individuals, corporations and other organizations, and governments on things that matter, while they trumpet their trivial stands against meaningless threats.

I suppose that this is the counterpoint to the "Good Guys" concept that I introduced recently.

So, this presidential campaign season has demonstrated many examples of courage and cowardice. In several cases, I will admit that I was well and truly wrong about an individual or institution. In others, I was unfortunately correct. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge a few of these, given the rather amazing events of the past couple of days. Please note that I am making no attempt to be fair and/or balanced. I don't call a joystick a multifunction control lever and I don't call a pathetically limp excuse an act of courage. If you disagree with some or all of these, more power to you. I would advise that you can find reading more to your liking elsewhere on the Internet.

This week's award for Best Self-Inflicted Wound by a Corporate Legal Department goes to NBC, which had the Donald Trump sexual assault video tapes and sat on them, because they were afraid of being sued. Finally, a staff member leaked the tapes to The Washington Post, who immediately verified their reality and then published them. What's genuinely amazing is that even I know that a public figure has almost no legal protection from the publication of factual information. Any lawsuit by a candidate for President about a video made while he was the "star" of a reality television show would be laughed out of court. Obviously, the WaPo receives a Good Guy award for its publish and be damned attitude.

On a similar note, the New York Times publication of Donald Trump's state tax returns, showing that he has likely paid little or no income taxes for many years is noteworthy only compared to the pathetic television "news" networks. The Times, and many other newspapers, have long and bold histories of breaking these kinds of stories. This is a reason to keep paying for them: even in the era of instant Internet information, there is still a place for genuine journalism.

We have some individual Good Guys, as well:

• Mitt Romney—This is one that I feel strongly about. I underestimated the caliber of the man when he ran for President. I would like to apologize for that. I don't agree with his politics, but I give him full credit for integrity.
• George H.W. Bush—I have always believed George the First to be one of the most intelligent men to hold the office of the President of the United States. There were times when he did not live up to the standards of a good guy, such as when he became Reagan's running mate after calling him out for "Voodoo Economics", but he has redeemed himself repeatedly this campaign season
• Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Alicia Machado, Gonzalo P. Curiel, and Elizabeth Beck—All private citizens who displayed dignity and courage when attacked by publicly attacked by Trump. (Yes, Curiel is a judge and technically not a private citizen, but he had done nothing to deserve the attack, except his job.)
• The long list of journalists and columnists who have kept reporting on Trump, despite threats, insults, and general malice from the man.

The list of individual Bad Guys is too long for a blog entry, but there are some who deserve special mention. With luck, history will piss on all of them:

• John McCain—Is being reelected to the Senate when you are eighty years old really more important than your personal pride and integrity?
• Bob Dole—I listened on NPR as Dole was interviewed and said that despite the fact that Trump was not qualified to be President, Dole would support him anyway, because he (Dole) was a lifelong Republican and you don't turn your back on that. I literally yelled at the radio that Dole was a lifelong American, a war hero who sacrificed his arm for his country, and a genuine patriot and that those things seemed a hell of a lot more important than belonging to a club for old, rich, white men.
• Paul Ryan—Any hope that he had of rising above the title of "weasel" has been thrown away.
• Ted Cruz—Donald Trump insulted him and his family, yet he continues his endorsement. I can't speak for his hands, but he has marshmallows for cajones.
• The long list of television "news" people who have kept kowtowing to Trump, despite all evidence indicating that he is Nixon's and Agnew's political love child.