• As the legendary 19th-century mathematician and master of infinities Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor said, “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are one of those kinds and those who are not.”
• After many dozen online contests, I have found there are three types of Scrabble games. One may draw lucky letters and score one great word after another, an embarassment of riches; or one draws a few good letters among mostly mediocre ones, just enough to give one hope during the uncertain struggle; or one’s letter tray follows a winding road, veering between six consonants and a vowel and one consonant (surely a V) and six vowels (mostly I’s and U’s), delivering a stern lesson in frustration and powerlessness. That’s life.
• Actually, I am tiring of online games. And more to the point, I am growing tired of luck. If my prospects when entering a given endeavor are no better than 50-50, perhaps it’s time to pick a different endeavor. No point being quixotic at this point of my life. Better to use what I know, whatever that is, to produce good things, whatever they may be.
• At the supermarket, one can buy 20 tablets of the brand-name laxative Senokot for $6.98 (or 35 cents each), or one can buy 100 tablets of the generic version of the same laxative, sitting right next to the Senekot, for $3.78 (4 cents each). Simple choice? Note the empty space in the tray where several boxes of Senekot once sat.
• This (click on it) is the most annoying television commercial I have had the misfortune to watch in a long, long time. It gives a bad name to being progressive.
• The enemy of one’s enemy may be one’s friend, but it does not follow that a foolish man pointing out another fool is smart. Indeed, he may be a stable genius.
• What we call nations are simply land-collectives. They may be founded under variously-stated precepts and principles, but in the end they are about people holding onto land.
• H
ere’s another supermarket find, from the same store on the same day (click image to enlarge). You may choose (on the left) 8 oz. of Premium Saltines for $2.97 or (on the right) 16 oz. of Premium Saltines for $2.98. The 8-oz. box is made for people who are afraid to have too much of a good thing.
• Someone close to me recently made an intriguingly-stated observation: “The dead trees look great not there.”
• A few weeks ago, there was a story about mothers waiting in line for hours on end at shopping malls across the nation, with their young children in tow, to take advantage of a Build-A-Bear promotion. I wonder how many hours those people will stand in line to vote.
• Procter & Gamble, the maker of Tide and Pampers, is trying to obtain trademark rights for millenial catchwords and phrases such as LOL and WTF. This is a pretty radical idea for such an old-and-storied company — are we about to see a product in our supermarkets called “WTF Is In This Diaper?” In any event, two can play this game. If I had lots of cash and a suitable lack of brains, I would develop a Star Trek-themed funeral-home franchise called “He’s Dead, Jim,” a toilet-bowl cleaner called “Grime of Thrones” and a line of roach-killing products under the “CU-L8R” brand.
This was Keith Olbermann’s final commentary for GQ on November 28, 2017. At the time, Olbermann seemed to think it was inevitable that Trump’s days in office were numbered. He may be right — the scenario that Olbermann describes at 4:00 in this video seems more plausible than ever, if the anonymous op-ed piece in the New York Times is to be believed.
I always enjoyed Olbermann’s bombast and I’m happy to devote a little space here for it (even though he has moved onto other things) not only because it remains timely but also because he gives voice to the resistance. Voices matter.