Dapper Dan

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Dapper Dan

Dapper Dan

Women are so sexist, but like everything else men are just better at it.

Dan is flying back to LA now. He had a good long stay in Saint Louis and it was great having him around. He said that he enjoyed the winter weather, because in LA there are no changes in the seasons. He really enjoyed wearing his Grandfather’s Annapolis P-coat. It really kept him warm, even in minus degree temperatures, but he left it in the car until the next time he visits, because it was 72 F in LA today, like it always is. On the way up to the airport, we stopped at Flaco’s Cocina for fish tacos, which was kind of funny, because its Baja theme seemed like hauling coal to Newcastle, what with Dan heading back to Southern California. Dan told these two jokes when he first arrived home. I don’t know why I saved them until now, but there is no reason to save them any longer.

How many anarchists does it take to change a light bulb?
Anarchists never change anything.

This Was The Week That Was

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Crow and Calls

Crow and Calls

This post is an eclectic collection of workplace conversations that I’ve culled over this first week back from Christmas vacation. We’ve all been off from work for a while, some like me for a long while. Now that were all back at work, it’s sometimes difficult to get the workplace’s machinery gears to smoothly mesh again. The social lubrication resulting from these stories that I’ll relate here seemed to help to expedite this process.

We are always watched at work. We watch each other and we watch ourselves. There is even a dedicated cadre to watch over all of us. We don’t have to worry about the secret NSA spying, because we’ve already contracted with the government to spy on us, but unlike the rest of the country, we’re at least getting paid as part of that contract. Anyway, the main complaint in this conversation was about private companies collecting on us. Here are two examples that were discussed after supposedly being reported in the news:

  • After the NSA, Walmart is the next largest acknowledged collector of metadata in the world. In an interview, a company spokesman surprised everyone with a fact culled from their collection of metadata that after a Florida hurricane, the single most sought after item was Pop Tarts.
  • Target also uses metadata. Its example is both more personal and egregious. A father complained to Target about the chain’s practice of sending diaper and baby formula advertisements to his 15-year-old daughter. Then he learned a week later that she was pregnant. Target knew before he did.

After actually writing up these two stories and then rereading them, they do smack of urban myths, conservative myths. I am now skeptical about both stories, but I’ll leave it to the readers to decide this for themselves. This next story is totally unverifiable, but considering its source, I’ll vouch for it, even if it comes from the likes of Duck Dynasty.

It occurred on a camping trip and involved a Dalmatian. Now this Dalmatian had only one spot. It certainly was not Budweiser advertisement material. This story also included a brother-in-law. Don’t these stories always? Sitting around the campfire and after a twelve pack or two, or more, the brother-in-law announces that that is a city Dalmatian. Further, with just one night out in the country it will become “spotted out”. After almost everyone else went to bed, this nefarious brother-in-law went to his truck and pulled out the biggest black Sharpie that you have ever seen. He then proceeded to spot out the dog. The dog seemed to love the attention. I got no clear read on the owner’s reactions, because the guilty parties had already left in the predawn hours.

Jane’s Bowls

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Jane's Bowls

Jane’s Bowls

Thanks Jane, very much for the bowl. When Anne opened the package, she said, “this looks familiar!” She checked the cupboard and found two other bowls by the same artist, Dynese McCumpha. The bowls are very nice work and it’s great having a set, separated by time, but so close in color. The above picture shows the two big bowls, and the smaller one.

Spirits of St. Louis

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The Spirit of Saint Louis

The Spirit of Saint Louis

The pictured airplane is the sister to the real Spirit of St. Louis, the plane that Charles Lindbergh first flew across the Atlantic Ocean. The real Spirit is in the Smithsonian in Washington DC. This sister Spirit is in the Missouri History Museum, located in Forest Park. This sister Spirit was built for the 1957 film, The Spirit of St. Louis, starring Jimmy Stewart.

The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the 1976 end of the American Basketball Association (ABA) that did not survive that league’s merger with the National Basketball Association (NBA). The owner of the other non-surviving franchise was placated with a $3.3M payout that allowed him to buy another NBA team, but the owners of the Spirits struck an unusual and strangely prescient deal with the NBA. The brothers Ozzie and Dan Silna acquired the future television money from the four teams that did join the NBA, a one-seventh share from each franchise, in perpetuity. Thirty-five years ago, when this deal was struck, it didn’t seem as unbelievable as it does now.

As of 2012 it is estimated that the NBA has paid the Silna brothers over a quarter of a billion dollars. The NBA has attempted to buyout the brothers a number of time, but no deal has ever been reached. Not bad for a team that hasn’t played one minute of basketball in over 35 years. As an additional aside, Bob Costas was the team’s announcer, before the ABA folded.