The Politics of Laughter
How to Advertise to Men and Women [Pleated Jeans]
I do this about once a day. [Books of Adam]
When you ask your dad to kill a bug. [picture]
Not likely to end well. [picture]
Yup. [picture]
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I love–LOVE–trying to take perceived problem and turning it into an unforeseen solution. Creating a new situation that is “better” than the condition before the problem. I was wondering what my first exposure to this concept was and think I remember–at least in part. A favorite book of mine as a very young boy involved a family of bears. The playful young boy bear was picking blackberries (so the story goes) and got blackberry juice stain on his plain-colored shirt. The mother bear–tempted to get angry and scold her son—had a better idea. She took blackberry juice and dyed the entire shirt a pretty blue-purple color. The “new” shirt was not only not stained– but better than before. I can’t remember the name of the book…but I sure remember the story. I can’t imagine that I was over 5 years old when I read and re-read it. And to this day when I’m surprised by a disappointment, I almost always quickly ask myself, can we make blackberry dye –figuratively speaking–to solve the problem So, yes, children’s stories matter. That one either gave me an idea for a life philosophy or reinforced it. Or both. But it started with a kids book about imaginary bears solving an ordinary problem. Differently and creatively. And successfully. Thanks for joining us for what I believe was a very enlightening, and sometimes even entertaining debate on the relevance of Mitt Romney’s alleged bullying of a fellow prep school attendee nearly 50 years ago. Some concluding observations:
Last night I started a text message and stopped in mid sentence and put away phone to finish message later….but it got sent anyway. Here’s the exchange– which indicated to me I may be over-texting: Me: Hey there….I waLMOXXX1OKKQ Recipient: What does this mean? Me: Sorry. I put phone in breast pocket and it just typed these letters. Ha! Recipient: Yeah, my kids call it butt dialing. Me: Right. Recipient: What was your message? Me: Never mind. It’s unimportant and actually makes less sense than what I sent.
I have read the RP debate with moderate interest for two reasons. First, I don’t care what Romney, Obama, or any other candidate did in high school or grade school. Let’s hope the world finds out less about all our lives in those years. Secondly, this crazy story makes no sense. Look at Romney, listen to Romney and ask yourself if this guy could beat up or pick on anybody. I have met Mr. Romney and even spent a small amount of time with him behind the spotlights. His friends would call him kind, gracious, well mannered, and curious. His enemies would call him a weak sissy who is afraid of his own shadow. As a Marine I would not classify Mitt as a tough kick butt kind of person. I don’t think that is his style. That’s OK, we can’t all be John Wayne. But seriously, does anyone think this guy ever picked on people? I could see him spreading gossip or something girly like that, but not to throw a punch or intimidate anyone. I think they have the wrong Mitt Romney!
I’ve been invited to comment and am hesitant because I try to ignore the digging into candidates early lives as evidence of current temperament and clues about leadership style. But I have heard a little about this incident and will try to offer some constructive commentary. From what I can gather there were several incidents involving a young Mitt Romney, the now-Republican nominee for president, and some pranks that could be interpreted as “insensitive” if not “cruel” to young homosexual males in his class at prep school. I believe the story goes that Mitt was traveling by car from Massachusetts to Canada and tied a classmate to the roof of the car for the entire 12 hour drive. Presumably it has now leaked out that the reason the boy was tied to the roof of the car wasn’t just because he was a democrat. But because he was gay too. I find this sort of teen boy prankster mentality offensive and embarrassing but probably not indicative of some deep seated character flaw that Romney possesses. For example, there are other stories—I believe—about Romney routinely traveling with his pet dog attached to the roof of the car. It had nothing to do with the dog’s sexual orientation. Romney simply felt he would sully the interior of the car. I suspect Romney felt the same way about the gay democratic boy. So, what we see upon closer examination is that Romney wasn’t guilty so much of homophobia but rather a foolish teen prank that was perhaps a harbinger of Mitt’s well documented metrosexual and neatnik inclinations. Besides, common sense suggests that there really could not have been an anti-gay motive behind young Mitt’s antics. First off the name of the prep school was Cranbrook. That’s a pretty gay name for a high school, if you ask me. And it was an all boy prep school. So clearly, any boy who attended Cranbrook was already either himself homosexual or at least completely comfortable being suspected of being a homosexual. It just doesn’t add up. Was Mitt an anti-gay bully? Are you kidding? Have you seen this guy? Was he a meticulous metrosexual prankster who feared gay democratic germs being left in his car while he drove to Canada? Probably—and nothing more. And by the way, what was he driving to Canada for anyway? That causes a whole set of other much more serious concerns about Mitt’s fitness for our highest office.
I heard this phrase a few days ago and looked it up and like what it means. Basically, don’t put on airs to impress or deceive people. That’s an important message and one I echo and would like to share with others. I try to keep up with hip new lingo…and even occasionally use it, if I can get away with it. But it’s been three days now since I’ve been looking for an opening to use the phrase “Don’t be frontin'” and I haven’t found the right opportunity yet….and am starting to think there may never be a way for me to get away with using this phrase without people cracking up….as I crack up with them. That’s unfortunate. In other words, that’s neither “fly” nor “dope.” By the way, I’ve been looking for an even longer time to use the terms “fly” and “dope.” And this post probably wasn’t ideal. Just doesn’t work. Oh well. Sometimes it’s better to just be who you are than something your not. Otherwise, you’re just frontin’ Hey! I did it!!!
You know those 15-20% of the sale price insurance policies that if the product breaks shortly after you buy i you get it replaced easily? I don’t care for them, personally. They suggest to me either that somebody is layering in another layer profit margin (since products sold new are supposed to work) or are we are making products so poorly that customers need to buy insurance against the product breaking in the first few months. Neither seems an appealing conclusion. Do other countries push PRPs like we in the US? It seems more a sign of clever sales gimmickry, in my view. But subconsciously sends the message that “We don’t make things well.” Imagine if McDonald’s tried to sell us a PRP at 20% of each meal to protect against food poisoning? And people bought it! Or the next time I bought a watch paying an extra 15% for PRP against the watch not telling time? I just left office supply shop and was asked about a PRP for a technology item. I asked, “Why? Is something wrong with it? Should I expect it to break in a few months?” The salesperson laughed and so did I….but I was sort of serious, too. Although I didn’t say anything more I wanted to add “If you don’t have more confidence than that in this product, I don’t want to buy it. Is there another product that works well enough that it doesn’t need insurance against breaking right away?” Maybe I will add that the next time. Or tell them I’ll come back when they are selling products that won’t break so easily. The Politics of Laughter Do you like animal .gifs? I could watch these all day. [turtle][cat] A lawyer’s fantastic business card. [picture] When you’re hungry you: [chart] Dad only had to write one word and he messed it up. [picture] Sympathy pregnancy [picture] The best way to end an argument. [gif]
I don’t understand how clip-ons got such a bad name. What’s not to like? And those cufflinks and studs? I’m sure whoever came up with the idea was doing the best they could within the time period they lived in. But we have since invented buttons, zippers and Velcro. Even button fly jeans. Cufflinks and studs should have faded about the same time knickers went out of style. I would support a new line of male clothing that is all about ease of use and functionality. Men today should be able to dress for “black tie” without needing two or more people involved. I might even go for a reversible tuxedo. As long as the reversed side isn’t powder blue. |
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