Not A Mystery

With most of the country blaming Tim Geithner for pretty much anything they don’t like these days, it must be a relief that to find one bullet he doesn’t have to take for the President

And that would be the recent security snafu last week where gatecrashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi managed to penetrate the Secret Service security bubble around President Obama.

It occurred to me that since the Secret Service is part of the Treasury Department the usual suspects should have been calling for Geithner’s scalp.

We Only Hear About The Mistakes

But when I checked this morning it all came clear; in March of 2003 the Secret Service became part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Hey Tim, everyone is entitled to a lucky break once in a while.

Just don’t let it go to your head.

A well-timed coincidence is always intriguing, and this week has provided one.

Readers of the blog may recall that I’ve mentioned Lee Child before, author of the Jack Reacher books about the adventures of an ex-Military Policeman.

Amazon was kind enough to give me a free Kindle copy of what turned out to be the ‘gateway’ book to the series, and I got hooked. Since that ‘free’ edition I’ve managed to purchase several others, and it’s only a matter of time until I’ve read the entire Jack Reacher collection.

My current read is “Without Fail”, and the first chapter begins with Reacher being hired to ‘audit’ Secret Service security for a newly elected Vice President. During the ‘audit’ Reacher’s (attractive) female partner penetrates the security net at a public Donor’s Dinner and has her picture taken with the VP, thereby ‘proving’ they were close enough for a successful assassination attempt.

So imagine my surprise when I open the NY Times yesterday to see this picture of Joe Biden and his ‘not-quite-invited’ friends.

Life Imitating Art Once Again

In the book Reacher and partner diverted an actual guest and then took her place at the function; but in real life maybe they wouldn’t have had to go to all that trouble?

I continue to highly recommend the Jack Reacher series, and not just because of interesting coincidences. In my opinion it’s better than Bond, and updated to post 9/11.

What I particularly like about Child’s style is that he doesn’t use ‘cut-aways’ to a different scene to keep your interest. It’s just one long narrative, each chapter picking up where the previous one left off; the pace never slows.

Child’s writing reminds me of the long opening shot in “Touch of Evil” the Orson Wells film of 1958. Leslie and I took a film class and the instructor points out that the first 3 minutes of the film is one continuous shot with no breaks. It was a milestone of sorts in the film industry.

Cut. It’s a wrap.

If you decide to try out Child, I would suggest starting with “Persuader“.  After all, it worked on me.

Every once in a while you come across a trick that brings a smile to your lips.

I’m smiling now.

For those of you who have an iPhone or similar device, there are times when you’d like to go ‘hands-free’. Here I’m not referring to making a call, but watching a video.

Turns out there are lots of commercial “stands” that will serve your purpose, for the price of $15 to $50. But that seems a lot to pay; plus they don’t do anything except stand there.

So imagine my delight when I discovered the brilliant ‘life hack” pictured here.

This stand is not only sturdy, it fits in your pocket and comes in several flavors.

And you can floss when done, for a brilliant smile!

Simple Is Beautiful, And A Nice Smile Too!

I found this at a site called Instructables, and here is your link to the original.

In my limited testing it seems that only J&J’s Reach Ultraclean Floss will work, but that’s ok because  Sandy, my dental hygienist, turned me onto Reach earlier this year and it’s become my favorite floss. Here’s your link to Reach on Amazon.

Just remember to say “Cheese”.

With H1N1 germs floating around, everyone is getting clean these days, or at least trying to.

It’s stressful though, trying to stay clean with so many ways to get contaminated.

I worries me.

So for example, what should I worry the most about,

• Dirty money?
• Contaminated food?
• Doctor’s ties?

It’s a tough call.

I'm Worried And Taking Precautions

I used to worry the most about dirty money. According to experts, in excess of 80% of dollar bills carry discernible traces of cocaine. Since learning about that I’ve switched entirely to using my credit card, and purchasing as much as possible on the interweb.

Then I began worrying about contaminated food when it was documented that 26% of the US population gets food poisoning every year. Since it’s only a fraction of that in Britain and France, I convinced Leslie to go with me to the UK for a month. But that was only a temporary fix, and now I’m back in the soup, so to speak.

The final blow came yesterday with the discovery that now I even have to worry about my doctor’s tie. Turns out that nobody washes ties, and they are always within nose-range of the patient when the doc performs his examination. One solution has all docs wearing bow ties. Even better, I could just switch to Leslie’s doc, since she doesn’t wear ties.

So what to worry about the most? I think I’ll listen to words of advice from my favorite columnist:

[Anxiety?] We live in a time when we are constantly being reminded that a fellow plane passenger might be trying to smuggle explosives in his sneakers. We can manage anxiety.  - Gail Collins

Don’t worry, be happy.

I pretty much always learn things the hard way, consoling myself with the hope that this time I’ll really remember the lesson. Since, statistically speaking, I’m older than the average blog reader I thought I’d pass along some of this hard-earned wisdom.

Today’s lesson is to remember and try to Always Ask The Right Question.

I’ve discovered that this is much harder than you might suppose.

Many years ago Leslie and I were in a remote town in Australia. It only had one restaurant, and that was the local pub. We checked it out when we arrived, and asked if they served food tonight. “Yes”, was the answer. Did the pub get crowded and would we need to get there early. “No” was the answer.

So we said, “OK, we’ll see you later.”

Remoter Even Than Australia

We came back later, and sure enough the place was empty, so we asked for a beer and a table for food. But no dice. The same person very politely told us that there was a wedding party coming later and it would take up the entire pub.

So in retrospect, the question we should have asked was “Can we eat dinner in this pub tonight?”

The take-away is that when we ask questions, we have a better chance of asking the correct one if we just ask for what we want.

Getting fancy and being too smart by half usually doesn’t work.

Be stupid.

In the past we’ve dinged The Economist for selective use of photos to illustrate a news story; thereby making a subtle editorial statement.

The NY Times has done the same in today’s edition to have a little fun with Joe Wilson.

Out of 42 Possibles, Joe Wilson Draws The Short Straw

You may recall Joe’s 15 minutes of fame when he called President Obama a liar during a speech by the President to a joint session of Congress. Before his outburst nobody outside of South Carolina had heard of him, and since then he’s regained his previous anonymity.

Big Joes’s profile got upgraded this morning when the NY Times ran a story about a Genentech lobbyist who ghost-wrote statements for members of Congress to insert in the Congressional Record during the Health Care debate. The ghost writer was courteous enough to craft one version for the Republicans and another for the Democrats.

And it was dutifully picked up by 42 members of Congress; 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats. Who, when asked about the identical wording in their statements, promptly laid the blame on their staff people. Our Congress is a courageous lot.

And out of the 42 candidates vying to get their picture used to illustrate the story, can you guess who the Times editorial staff chose for this honor? You guessed it, Joe Wilson.

Who knows, maybe he’s the most photogenic.

Just to set the record straight, I’m not on Joe’s side, and figure he probably deserves whatever he gets. Lack of civility cuts both ways. And speaking of a lack of civility, to say nothing of basic intelligence, follow this link for an update on the real Origin of Death Panels, where Joe gets another small mention.

Have you noticed that the world is getting more crowded? No, not with people (although that’s also true), but with STUFF. We’ve discussed this in a few previous posts, notably on The Collyer Brothers, and MyLifeBits.

So here’s a question to make it more personal:

Do we own our stuff, or does our stuff own us?

If you feel like you are working for your stuff, instead of the reverse, I’ll share a simple answer.

• Subscribe To Your Stuff!

Some people like to call it a Business Model; this is from Wikipedia:

The subscription business model is a business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but is now used by many businesses and websites. Rather than selling products individually, a subscription sells periodic (monthly or yearly or seasonal) use or access to a product or service, or, in the case of such non-profit organizations as opera companies or symphony orchestras, it sells tickets to the entire run of five to fifteen scheduled performances for an entire season.

They go on to list all the benefits to the consumer.

• They can save money if they use the service a lot.
• They can save time if the product service is accessed often.
• Encourages the vendor to constantly improve the product.

But this misses the most important advantage,

My favorite subscriptions?

1. Kindle eBooks for newspapers, magazines and books.
2. Rhapsody for music; no CD’s and millions of songs.
3. Netflix for movies, both mailed DVD’s and streaming.
4. Podcasts for specific shows when you want, where you want.
5. Audible.com for audible books; read and multitask.

I make a distinction between subscriptions and the using the cloud to eliminate stuff. More on the cloud in a future post.

Remember, “stuff” can be either a noun (bad) or a verb (good).

Be good, Stuff It.

I find these figues from The Economist hard to swallow.

Every year 76m Americans become ill because they have consumed contaminated food—a staggering 26,000 cases per 100,000 population. In Britain, where people consume far fewer hamburgers, generally eat out less often and buy nowhere near as many ready-meals, there are 3,400 cases of food poisoning per 100,000 population annually. France is safer still, with only 1,200 annual instances per 100,000 people.

Stats From Economist, Graphics By Bob

But while the Economist article is pretty impersonal, a NY Times article brings it right back home, describing the trials of Stephanie Smith, 22, who was paralyzed after being stricken by E. coli in 2007. After reading this, I have to say it’s going to be a while before I wrap my mouth around a hamburger again.

Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say. Despite this, there is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen.

The frozen hamburgers that the Smiths ate, which were made by the food giant Cargill, were labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties.” Yet confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.

Using a combination of sources — a practice followed by most large producers of fresh and packaged hamburger — allowed Cargill to spend about 25 percent less than it would have for cuts of whole meat.

One of the problems is that the folks who make the hamburgers don’t monitor the incoming cuts of beef for contamination. Even worse, the slaughterhouses won’t sell to anyone who actually does check their input, because this would shut them down (sic)! The article named only two producers who monitor their incoming meat: COSTCO and Bubba Burger.

Costco said it had found E. coli in foreign and domestic beef trimmings and pressured suppliers to fix the problem. But even Costco, with its huge buying power, said it had met resistance from some big slaughterhouses. “Tyson will not supply us,” Mr. Wilson said. “They don’t want us to test.”

And I hate to say it, but the French have it all over us when it comes to food safety. I recently heard an interview with a French butcher who explained that every cut of meat that he sells can be traced all the way back to the specific animal it came from.

Maybe we can learn something from the French after all.

Frightening.

Gail Collins is an Op Ed columnist for the NY Times. I’m a huge fan of her writing style.

While there are a number of outstanding writers for the Times, she has a corner on the market for wry humor.

Although she has a liberal slant, she is not hesitant to skewer any miscreant, regardless of political persuasion.

As with this recent column about my favorite Congressman, Charlie Rangel.

Gail Collins NY Times Columnist

Here’s your link to her columns, at the NY Times site.

Enjoy!

As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in the Bronx during the 50’s.

We had all the modern conveniences. Like Good Humor Ice Cream delivered daily in the summer down at the corner. Served up by the Good Humor Man himself.  Otherwise known as some kid with a summer job, but at the time he looked pretty big to me.

If you got an ice cream cup instead of something on a stick, it came with a little flat wooden spoon. If you chose the ‘ice’ on a stick there was work to be done to peel the paper off before you could take that first cold bite which froze your mouth and throat in a wave of pain when you swallowed.  Which tasted really, really good in the midst of that summer heat and killer humidity.

But I digress.

Up in our apartment we didn’t have air conditioning, but we did have Seltzer every night with dinner. It was delivered every week by, wait for it, The Seltzer Man.

Again, no surprises in the 50’s

The Seltzer came in wooden cases filled with 10 or so big green, blue or clear bottles with embossed logos and lettering on the surface. On top was a silver colored valve, sporting a hair trigger. I think the bottles in this picture are a bit vintage, but it gives you an idea.

The first time you opened the value on a new bottle the pressure would invariably shoot seltzer all over the kitchen. It was absolutely, positively impossible to open the value slow enough to avoid that first spritz. Kind of like when you first learned to drive with a stick and were letting out the clutch with your Dad telling you to go slow.

But I digress, again.

This was all brought back to me recently by an article in the NY Times about Ronny Beberman, one of the last Seltzer Men.

Remember kids, we are not talking about some pansy Perrier with a twist of lemon.

We have a product we are real proud of, that starts with New York City water which “comes right outta the pipes, right outta the ground” and  then beaten (literally) into Seltzer. Watch the video if you don’t believe me.

This is Manly Seltzer, delivered by a Man’s Man.

Great stuff.

[Full Disclosure Note: At one point back in the 50's we learned that these bottles had a disconcerting habit of blowing up once in a while if there was a defect or chip created during the re-cycle process. After that discovery my Dad wouldn't put the Big Bad Boy right up on the dinner table. They hadn't invented Class Action Lawsuits yet, otherwise it would really have been all over.]

“Freedom From Fear“ earned its author David Kennedy a Pulitzer Prize for History in 2000.

You can think of Freedom from Fear as the academic’s version of The Greatest Generation: like Tom Brokaw, Stanford history professor David M. Kennedy focuses on the years of the Great Depression and the Second World War and how the American people coped with those events …

Kennedy relies on published accounts and primary sources, all meticulously footnoted. This academic rigor, however, does not render the book dull–far from it. Certainly the subject matter is interesting enough in its own right, but Kennedy offers attention-grabbing turns of phrase on nearly every page.  –Ron Hogan, Amazon Review

I was originally motivated to read this book because of its Depression Era coverage. And yes, if you are wondering, our recent Great Recession displayed frightening similarities to the Great Depression. If you think that Bernanke, Paulson and Geithner went down the wrong road during the past year, “Freedom From Fear” might change your perspective.

While the Depression Era history alone was worth the price of admission, the WWII years was even better. What I didn’t know about WWII and the Greatest Generation would fill a large book; and guess what, this is the book!

Large Enough To Swallow My Ignorance

To give you an idea about what I mean when I say “large”, let’s take a look at my Kindle resting on top of the actual print version. The funny part is I had not actually seen the book before I started reading on my Kindle. After weeks of reading I was still only 10% into the book, and it wasn’t until I stopped by the library that I understood why!

Kindle Saves Some Space

If you are one of those Americans who believe the French and English would be speaking German if it wasn’t for the USA, this book will wake you up to the fact that Russia is entitled to make a similar claim. Some of the most riveting narrative covers the meetings between Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt during the course of the war.

If, like me, you’ve never read much about the history of this period, and you only want to read one book…then this is your book.

Read on.