Thursday, April 20, 2017

24. 4/20/17

C1

AN ORCHESTRA THAT'S FIRST IN ITS CLASS

Regrettable that they did not mention the October 23, 2013 performance of Frank Zappa's magnificent score for 200 Motels.



From "A Nun Suit Painted On Some Old Boxes"


D1

"13 REASONS WHY" GENERATES MEMES AND DEBATE

My daughter's been praising this show. Time to see what all the fuss is about, I guess. Time to binge.


B11

A REVOLVING DOOR OF DISCIPLINE

Neil Walker (former Pirate):

"'It's not like taking a cough medicine that may have something in it,' he said. 'You're taking the time to have somebody either do it for you or you do it yourself, inject something, whether it's a B-12 shot or a cortisone shot or whatever you think it may be.'"

It's unbelievable. And hey kids -- you'll be getting someone else's jersey on July 2nd.


B15

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, 70, DIES; GUITARIST AMAZED HIS PEERS

" ... [H]e drew breathless praise from many guitarists -- including Frank Zappa ..."

High praise, indeed.


A1

A CONTENDER TO LEAD FRANCE TRIES TO SELL THE UNKNOWN: HIMSELF

"With no political party to speak of, and never having held elective office, Mr. Macron, 39, a onetime investment banker and former economy minister, is leading an improbable quest to become modern France's youngest president."

He may be "unknown" -- but we do know one important fact:

He's running against Marie Le Pen, shown here with her Holocaust-denying daddy.



Aller voter.


A1


"He's genuinely one of the smartest people I've ever met ..."

On CNN he comes off as a clown without makeup.


A1


"[Fox] and Mr. O'Reilly had reached settlements with five women who had complained about sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior by him. The agreements totaled about $13 million."


Imagine the conversation:

Pope: "Are you sure you're not a Catholic priest?"


A8


"[M]any South Koreans ... were riled at Mr. Trump for his assertion in a Wall Street Journal interview last week that the Korean Peninsula 'used to be a part of China'."

Korean history is pretty complicated. But Mr. President -- perhaps you ought to hire a history teacher to get you up to speed while you eat your burnt steaks.

Not only was Korea never a "part" of China, it was never a "part" of Japan, either -- which forced tribute from its emperors for centuries.

Oy vey.


A8


"The volleyball games, played in the middle of that international crisis, were probably intended to send a message, analysts said, as the North Koreans are aware that the nuclear test site is under intense scrutiny. But what meaning the North wanted the games to convey is unclear."

Perhaps the losing teams were sent to Camp 14.

A9


"The world's oceans are littered with trillions of pieces of plastic -- bottles, bags, toys, fishing nets and more, mostly in tiny particles -- and now this seaborne junk is making its way into the Arctic.

Last week's episode of The Amazing Race took place in Zanzibar, where they have banned plastic bags.

Let's go Mr. Ztoa (Mr. Atoz's cousin) and get America on the bandwagon.

But we shouldn't be last, alphabetizing notwithstanding.


A19


"The star LHS 1140 ... receives about half as much energy as Earth does from its own sun, enough for a microbe or something more complicated to make a living."

They've finally discovered Trump's home planet.


A19




A23


"President Trump is scary in many ways, but perhaps the most frightening nightmare is of him blundering into a new Korean war.

He could do nothing, but that would mean losing face and emboldening North Korea. Or he could destroy the test missile on its launchpad with a barrage of cruise missiles, blocking Pyongyang's path to a nuclear deterrent, enforcing his red line, and sending a clear message to the rest of the world.

Alas, no one has ever made money betting on North Korean restraint, and the country might respond by firing artillery at Seoul, a metropolitan area of 25 million people.

And if Trump tries to accelerate the process with a pre-emptive military strike? Then Heaven help us."


A23


Gail Collins is one of my favorite Op-Ed writers -- she is very funny, even when the subject is as serious as this one:

"[North Korea] has a leader who is narcissistic to the point of psychosis, with a celebrity fixation and very strange haircut.

O.K., maybe not entirely unique."

[that's funny]

"Poor Sean Spicer. Every day a new official fantasy to defend. Tonight the president will go to bed and dream that he's the true heir to the principality of Liechtenstein. Tomorrow Spicer will come into the pressroom on skis and announce we're declaring war on Switzerland."

A lot of Americans liked the idea of responding to a chemical attack in Syria by bombing a Syrian air base. But if the president thought it was popular, wouldn't he get carried away? It's like praising a 4-year-old for coloring a picture, and the next thing you know he's got his crayons out, heading for the white sofa.

What we want to do is take the crayons away and murmur: 'Good boy. Now why don't you go off and nominate some ambassadors for a change'?

And go find your boats."






No comments:

Post a Comment

82. 6/17/17

Off to paradise.   See you in July! TIME MACHINE June 17, 1899 118 years ago Page 1 DREYFUS DUELS FOUGHT AT BREST "As...