English Words Used to Quantify
I doubt there is a definitive answer to the question that a reader poses at left, but here’s how I’ve been dealing with this issue since I was a boy:
A couple: 2
A few: 3 – 4
Several: 5 – 12
Many: more that 12.
U.S. Leads in Oil Production, But Now Everyone Knows That
Apparently, the author of the meme here doesn’t know that 2023 marked the sixth straight year that the United States led the world in oil production.
Tagged with: U.S. Leads in Oil Production
Environmental Deregulation
The modern-day Republican party is doing everything in its power to remove regulations that are aimed at protecting the environment, and right now, they’re having a field day, due to our nation’s rejection of science.
But what happens when the MAGA crowd finds itself standing on their rooves, as shown at left? This could get interesting.
Tagged with: environmental deregulation
No, Japan Is Not Working on Beaming Solar Energy Down from PV in Orbit Around the Earth
This isn’t physically impossible, but it’s extremely impractical.
I strongly doubt any serious person or group is wasting time on this.
More on “86”
In my recent post called “86,” I told the story about how my father liked to use the Army lingo he’d learned in 1942 when he entered WW II. He explained to my brother and me that it meant to be out of something, especially in the kitchen, e.g., “Sorry, we’re 86 on eggs.”
It turns out that “86” means more specifically to “Throw (something) Out,” as T and O on an old rotary phone are 8 and 6 respectively.
Thus “8647” means “Throw out the 47th president.” Note that to throw out a president can be accomplished through nonviolent and completely legal means, e.g., impeachment or removal via the 25th amendment. Yet the ultra-right-wing media is pretending not to understand this, and is telling its audiences of hateful idiots that James Comey was calling for the president to be assassinated.
Tagged with: Throw out the 47th president
“86”
When my brother and I were little, our father took great delight in amusing us with lingo he learned in basic training, prior to his being commissioned into the Army Air Force as a bomber pilot in WW II.
One term I remember his making frequent use of was “86,” meaning to be out of something. E.g., “Sorry boys, no pancakes this morning. We’re 86 on flour.”
I bring this up to suggest that James Comey was probably simply urging his nation to get rid of Trump by some legal means. That’s what I do virtually every day of the week.
Of course, thinking that the GOP might act fairly in a case like this is like expecting your dog to play the violin.
Tagged with: get rid of Trump
Rejecting the Modern-Day Republican Party
When boomers were young, we were almost exclusively Democrats, but it’s common now to see people under 30 gravitate to the Republicans. What changed to make this possible?
In a word, I would say anti-intellectualism. It used to be cool to be smart, compassionate, and involved. Now, the opposite is true: it’s cool to be rich, and uninterested in the well-being of other people. Where Trump would have been regarded as a laughable pig just a decade or so ago, now he’s an icon for the “might makes right” generation that cares about nothing other than money.
Re: the meme here, do I see this happening? No, but things could change.
Tagged with: Rejecting the Modern-Day Republican Party
What’s “Presidential?”
I wish I knew a few Trump supporters well enough to ask them for their candid opinion of the concept at left. In particular, do they think it’s “presidential” to lose focus on the issues of the day, e.g., a frightening economy, to attack pop stars who disagree with you?
Republicans admire Ronald Reagan. Can you imagine “The Gipper” lowering himself to a verbal slap-fest with, perhaps, Frank Zappa who may have made a derogatory comment about him?
Don’t you think there is something insanely childish and mentally ill about this?
Tagged with: Trump Supporters
Is Trump a Moron? Does It Matter?
It’s heartening to see anti-Trump sentiment rise all around the country, with folks of all ages and all geographies picking up all manner of signs and banners to express their feelings to the public at large.
I know that this is splitting hairs, but I don’t think Trump is a moron, or, to put it another way, his level of intelligence is irrelevant. He’s a greedy and evil criminal, which makes him perhaps the least qualified person on the entire globe to lead the free world.
Again, we can dispense with the subtleties here. I applaud the man in the photograph above, regardless of his choice of words.
Tagged with: Trump a Moron
The Modern Right Wing
The words at left come from American author Kevin Gauthen.
I disagree. Though he has a point to make about ripping off the “illiterate rubes,” there is a clearly laid out goal to today’s right wing, as articulated in “Project 2025.”
It means white supremacy, the end of rights for women, LGBTQs, and religious minorities, the deregulation of the environment, the end to safety nets for the poor and disabled, the dismantling of any aspect of government that might help the common American, tax cuts for billionaires, the end of democracy as laid out in the U.S. Constitution, and the demise of rule of law.
It’s horrifying and it’s evil, but it most certainly does exist.
Tagged with: Project 2025, tax cuts for billionaires, the demise of rule of law, the deregulation of the environment, the end of democracy as laid out in the U.S. Constitution, the end of rights for women LGBTQs and religious minorities, the end to safety nets for the poor and disabled, white supremacy
