{"id":32127,"date":"2024-03-02T16:59:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T21:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/?p=32127"},"modified":"2024-03-02T20:52:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T01:52:00","slug":"thoughts-large-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/2024\/03\/thoughts-large-89\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts @ Large: 89"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ud83d\udcd6\u00a0 Not that my opinion carries much clout, but I’ve formulated a 70\/30 rule for books.\u00a0 Fiction or non, no more than 70% of books are worth reading 30% of the way through, and no more than 30% are worth reading 70% of the way through.\u00a0 The middle 40% is where one must decide, is it time to shelve this thing or am I already too invested?\u00a0 My follow-up rule is, one is never too invested in a book to stop wasting precious time on it.<\/p>\r\n

\ud83d\ude4b\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\u00a0 It so happens that I’m 45% into Laughing at the Gods: Great Judges and How They Made the Common Law<\/em> by Allan Hutchinson, and I’ve arrived at that junction: is it worth my while to continue?\u00a0 Hutchinson first profiles William Murray\/Lord Mansfield<\/a> (who?) of England, followed by John Marshall of the fledgling United States and the legendary Oliver Wendell Holmes (often conflated<\/a> with his fictional cousin Sherlock Holmes).<\/p>\r\n

Oliver Wendell Holmes was a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for 30 years (1902-1932) and is noted for his long service.\u00a0 (Aside: Clarence Thomas has now served — and has been serviced<\/a> — for 33 years.)\u00a0 In May 1927, Holmes and the Court issued<\/a> the following opinion allowing Carrie Buck<\/a>, a “feeble-minded” Virginia woman, to be involuntarily sterilized:<\/p>\r\n

It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. … Three generations of imbeciles are enough.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Again, I learned of this event in a book about judges whom the author, misgivings aside, deems great<\/em>.\u00a0 With respect to\u00a0Laughing at the Gods,\u00a0<\/em>I think I’ve read enough.<\/p>\r\n

[Note:\u00a0 Ms. Buck was in fact sterilized soon after this decision, the first of over 7,000 such procedures performed under Virginia law into the 1970s<\/em>.\u00a0 The ruling was never overturned or the law declared unconstitutional, instead there were apologies<\/a>.]<\/p>\r\n

\ud83c\udfb6 If I ever start a wildly-successful rock band, I will not ask my spouse to be part of it… not because she isn’t talented, but because it would forever be a point of contention in social media as to who or what caused our band’s tragic break-up<\/a>.\u00a0 We’ve seen that<\/em> story often enough.<\/p>\r\n

In that light, I think it would be best that my band not become wildly-successful, which is easily accomplished if I don’t start a band at all.\u00a0 End problem.<\/p>\r\n

\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83d\udcbc But say I did<\/em> start a band!\u00a0 I would name it General Relativity<\/em> to honor my hero Albert Einstein (and out-rank Sergeant Pepper).\u00a0 I would be The General, with wild hair, vest and pocket watches, the band’s songwriter and keyboardist.\u00a0 Lead guitarist would be Darc NRG with M.C. Squared on drums and gravitational waves.\u00a0 [Nerd jokes.]\u00a0 “Hize” Heisenberg would be on bass — and though he plays with uncertainty, I would keep him in the band as a matter of principle.\u00a0 [Another one.]<\/p>\r\n

\ud83d\ude21 On the intersection of\u00a0 Music and Tragic: I wonder if readers of my cohort recall any of the songs in the pre-rap era that were surprisingly violent yet were also pretty much taken in stride at the time.\u00a0 I’ll let this thought sit a bit before I share my list.<\/p>\r\n

\ud83d\udcb2\u00a0 Forbes<\/em>, the magazine for those who want to own more, publishes an up-to-the-minute list of the richest people in the world<\/a> and what they are worth.\u00a0 Surprisingly, the #1 slot is occupied not by an oil sultan but by Bernard Arnault and family ($230 billion).\u00a0 Arnault is CEO of LVMH Mo\u00ebt Hennessy Louis Vuitton,<\/a> the brands that help the rich make the rich feel richer.\u00a0 Farther down the list at #97 ($18.9 billion) is Rupert Murdoch of Fox News and Co., and enough said about him.\u00a0 James Dyson, the vacuum whiz, is #232 on the list, having sucked up $9.7 billion from his enterprise.\u00a0 Donald Trump’s rump, according to Forbes, rests in the 1,254th spot at $2.6 billion.\u00a0 For now.<\/p>\r\n

\ud83d\udcb2\u00a0 The U.S. harbors some 750 billionaires<\/a>, or one of 350,000 American adults.\u00a0 For some reason, U.S. billionaires do not distribute themselves equitably among the various states.\u00a0 Five states — Alabama, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia — together have 7 million adults but zero<\/em> resident billionaires, or 20-some billionaires shy of expectations for those five states.\u00a0 Now why would that<\/em> be?<\/p>\r\n

Could it have something to do with the distance to the nearest Tesla dealer?<\/p>\r\n

\ud83d\udcb2\u00a0 U.S. billionaires should do their patriotic duty and move to states like, say, Alabama, to even things up and help struggling businesses like, say, IVF clinics, stay afloat.<\/p>\r\n

\ud83e\udd78 Ranting further on billionaires.\u00a0 My lib friends might enjoy this article by Nick French, “Don’t Fall for the Myth of the Job Creator<\/a>.”\u00a0 It includes this incisive quote by musician and producer Steve Albini<\/a>:\u00a0 \u201cNobody earned a billion dollars.\u00a0 It\u2019s literally impossible to be paid for work and end up with a billion dollars.\u00a0 You get a billion dollars by having other people work for it, then taking it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\ud83d\udcc3 My spouse told me last night that if Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021) led a church, she would attend every service.\u00a0 For her, here is a verse from Ferlinghetti’s I Am Waiting<\/em> <\/a>(published 1958) that I connect with:<\/p>\r\n

I am waiting<\/em>
\r\nto get some intimations<\/em>
\r\nof immortality<\/em>
\r\nby recollecting my early childhood<\/em>
\r\nand I am waiting<\/em>
\r\nfor the green mornings to come again<\/em>
\r\nyouth\u2019s dumb green fields come back again<\/em><\/p>\r\n

\ud83e\udd89 Mister Rogers: Dog Person or Cat Person?\u00a0 Let’s weigh the evidence.\u00a0 It is known that Fred Rogers had both a dog<\/a> (Mitzi) and a cat<\/a> (Sybil) during his lifetime.\u00a0 On the canine side, Rogers’ show regularly featured Bob Dog, portrayed by local radio talent Bob Trow<\/a>.\u00a0 As to felines, there were the puppets Henrietta Pussycat, Daniel Strip\u00e8d Tiger, Grandp\u00e8re (another tiger) and Collette (Grandp\u00e8re’s granddaughter).\u00a0 So cats win, right?<\/p>\r\n

\"\"Not so fast.\u00a0 Rogers had an aquarium on his set and would feed his dozen or so pet fish at the start of every show.\u00a0 So that makes him… a Fish Person?<\/p>\r\n

Fred practiced vegetarianism from the 1970s on, saying he didn’t want to eat anything that had a mother<\/a>.\u00a0 (This would seem to exclude everything but rocks and Hitler.)\u00a0 But since his dog and his cat and his fish all ate meat, <\/em>one wonders how Fred reconciled this and what exactly to call him.\u00a0 I would say that he ate in the land of make-believe.<\/p>\r\n

\u00a7\u00a7\u00a0 Negotiate<\/strong> (v<\/em>.)\u00a0 What spouses do when only one of them wants anchovies on the pizza.\u00a0 We don’t need to say which one because it’s obvious.\u00a0 Same with the outcome!<\/p>\r\n

\ud83c\udfb9\u00a0 OK, time to return to those violent Boomer Era songs.\u00a0 How many do you recall?<\/p>\r\n