Halloween Memories

 I really don't remember what I dressed as for Halloween as a kid, except for one outfit that I wore, best I can recall, for four or five years in a row, from the time I was five until I was nine, I guess. (Mom must have bought it a bit on the big side...and by the time I gave it up, it was probably a bit small for me.)

It was, as many of you will not be surprised to learn, Superman. But it wasn't one of the cheap, flimsy nylon all-in-one costumes, nor was it--like today's superhero costumes--replete with fake muscles built in. It was sold as a "playsuit," suitable for wearing as more than a one-time costume. It was, again as I remember, a cotton twill--not quite as heavy as denim but very serviceable...and washable, to boot. The emblem on the shirt was a heavy screen-printing.

Doing some Googling I came across these images. I'm pretty sure that if these are not exactly the one I had, they are an earlier or later version of it. I don't recall mine having the yellow outline around the emblem, and my cape had a yellow image of Superman standing tall over a city skyline with the familiar logo above it.

What do you remember wearing for Halloween?

Election Prediction

 Over on Facebook, my buddy Rich Kolker asked for predictions on when the networks will be able to call the election on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Copied from my response to him, here's mine:

I'm expecting a big enough Biden win in the early states to have a call by 1 AM ET. All of New England, NY, NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA, MI, go Biden. That's 75 right there. Add in the whole West Coast, MN, IL, AZ, CO, NV and we're up to 210 for Biden.

Now, what are Trump's definite wins? AL, MS, LA, TN, KY, AR, OK, ND, SD, MO, MT, WY, ID, IN (giving this to Trump because of Pence). That's 91 for him to count on. 

That leaves the following and how I see them: PA, FL, WI, OH for Biden=77, taking his total to 287. WV, NC, NE to Trump=25, making his total 116. 

Even if we give Trump TX, SC, and GA, that only adds 63 to his total for 179. And I personally think GA goes to Biden. 

So, let's swap GA and FL: Take 29 from Biden and give him the 16 from GA instead. Take 16 from Trump and give him the 29 from FL. That deducts 13 from Biden, for 274, and adds 13 to Trump for 192. Closer but still a solid Biden win. 

Oh, and I forgot AK and HI...AK goes to Trump for an additional 3; HI to Biden for an additional 4 (which won't be added until 3AM ET at the earliest).

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Investigative Journalism in the On-Line Future

 A question that arose in a conversation with my wife this morning:

Can long-form investigative journalism, the kind portrayed in the movie Spotlight, the kind that takes months of work by a team of reporters, survive in a future where the daily print newspaper no longer exists? In a world where everyone gets their news from TV and/or on-line sources--even if those on-line sources are what used to be the print papers?

I don't think so. On-line journalism relies on getting eyeballs--beyond regular subscribers--onto the advertising it sells. That requires having a major eye-catching headline every day--click-bait, for want of a better term. It hasn't got the time or the money to have a half-dozen well-paid reporters working for weeks, let alone months, on a story that may never pan out or, even if it does, may not garner the national attention needed to generate new readers and therefore new revenue. Even more than the daily newspaper, the daily on-line news source depends on the immediate, the now.

Related to this is the decline in local reporting. Without print newspapers, where will the public get the information on county or small municipal government, including things like school boards? If my local county-based paper is any indication, it won't. It has trimmed its staff to the bone, even to firing all the "stringers" who used to cover the local municipal meetings. It has more people covering high school sports than school boards. I've had friends say that local, unpaid "reporters" will take up the slack--but who will make sure they are reporting accurately and fairly, without editors to check? Imagine a generation of young "Drudges" being in charge of what you know about your local represenatives.

I fear for the concept of an informed electorate in a decade or so.

We Still Have Pumpkins

 Christ Church Ridley Park, Nevin St. and Sellers Ave.--our pumpkin patch fundraiser continues through Saturday, Halloween. If you still need one for decorating or whatever, drop by: Today through Friday, 11-7; Halloween, 9-7.

One Week to Go

 With any luck, seven days and some 18 hours or so after the posting of this message, we should know if Joe Biden is our next president or if we are destined for four more years of Donald Trump.

It looks like Biden is the favorite in any almost any scenario you can imagine. At this website, run by the fairly conservative magazine The Economist, Biden is given a 96% chance of winning the electoral vote. Nate Silver is slightly less optimistic about Biden's chances, giving him an 87% shot...and also gives the Democrats an 80% chance of taking the majority in the Senate and a 96% chance of holding the House.

And for those of you who recall 2016, I'll note that Biden's lead in the national polls is now more than twice what Clinton's was at the same time four years ago.

Chain Links

 Here's a little something I noticed over the weekend:

I live in an area with a lot of chain restaurants. Easily accessible from my neighborhood there is an Applebee's, a Ruby Tuesday (two, actually), a Bertucci's, an Olive Garden, a Longhorn Steakhouse, and an Outback. A bit further away, there's a Chili's and a TGIFriday.

I started paying attention to something over the past few days--tracking advertising on broadcast and basic cable channels, I noted that of all those places, the only one with a heavy commercial presence is Applebee's. I think I saw one ad for Olive Garden.

Now, before the pandemic, ads for all of them were ubiquitous. And in the early days of the lockdown, all of them were advertising that they were available for takeout and delivery. As far as I know, they all still are. And, in my area, all of them can be open for in-person dining, either outdoors or at 50 percent capacity indoors.

So, with the exception of Applebee's, why aren't they on TV begging people to come back in?

FTR, I'm in the Philly metro TV market. Is it any different where you are?

Suitable for Sunday 2

 Here's another photo of the interior of Christ Church in Ridley Park, PA. This one was taken around mid-day when the sun was streaming through the windows in the south wall of the nave. Like this one, I have slightly tweaked it to enhance the colors from the stained glass.

Once again, I was at the church yesterday to help out at our annual Pumpkin Patch fundraiser. We'll be selling pumpkins right through Halloween (or as long as they last), 11-7 Sunday through Friday, 9-7 Saturday. Twelve percent of the proceeds will go to the Kara Barnard Fund for Children's Literacy.

What Do You Miss?

 We're nearing eight months of pandemic, isolation, lockdown, etc. It's beginning to feel like the aftermath of a blizzard that has lasted two-thirds of a year (on the other hand, at least the power hasn't gone out, around here, anyway). 

I miss seeing people. Yes, I run into friends at the grocery store; yes, I have the chance to Zoom meet with a group every other week. But today is my younger son's birthday...and I haven't seen him since Christmas. I miss physical contact--shaking hands, hugging. I miss seeing the lower half of a person's face (the eyes convey a lot, but without the mouth, it seems like half the emotional information is missing).

I miss entertainment outside my own home: live theater, movies seen with a crowd, dining out. I miss new entertainment, even at home...the pandemic has halted, slowed, and delayed production on virtually all forms. Yes, it means I'm searching for and discovering older stuff I missed in the past...but old favorites that normally would be back by now are still not there.

So, what do you miss?

Debate, Boss, Debate!

 There were moments last night when I expected Ricardo Montalban to step out in a crisp white suit and say, "Welcome to Fantasy Island!" Because, surely, President Trump was living in a world where all his desires could be fulfilled--where Joe Biden really is corrupt, where the Corona virus is about to fade from existence, where the polls are overwhelmingly in his favor, where black voters really do believe he has done more for them than any president since Lincoln.

The only other explanation is that he lies, knows that he lies, and operates on the assumption that with so many lies the voters simply won't have the ability to sort through them all--and so only the people who believe the lies will vote.

Perhaps most bewildering was his inability to use the moments moderator Kristen Welker handed him to change the tone and speak with some humanity. 

NBC anchor and presidential debate moderator Kristen Welker poised a question during Thursday night’s debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden about “the talk,” underscoring the heightened tensions that have been felt between Black Americans and law enforcement all summer. 

“The talk,” as it’s colloquially referred to, is the conversation that many Black Americans have with their children regarding dealing with law enforcement — explaining the discrimination and mistreatment that can occur during police encounters.

When asked if he understood the gravity of “the talk” that Black parents are too often forced to have with their children, Trump simply answered, “Yes, I do,” before pivoting and attacking Biden on his hand in the creation of the 1994 crime bill, which continued the disproportionate incarceration of Black Americans.

“Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump,” Trump claimed, acknowledging that former President Lincoln — who dissolved the institution of slavery — might have done more for Black Americans. 

“I’m the least racist person in this room,” Trump said minutes later. 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/522393-welker-raises-question-about-the-talk-during-final-debate 

Clearly, he either didn't understand the opportunity he was being given...or didn't know how to frame a response without resorting to the empty (and patently false) rhetoric he has used to discuss race for the past four years.

No humility, no humanity...and yet something like 40 percent of the electorate still support him. I don't get it.

 

In Memoriam: The Amazing Randi

 By now, most of you probably know that James Randi, known during his career as a stage illusionist as "The Amazing Randi", died yesterday at Tuesday at the age of 92. Since 1972, he had devoted much of his time to investigating and debunking psychics, mediums, and other pretenders to have extraordinary powers, by demonstrating how they were using tricks and strategems well known in the world of stage magic to pull off their "feats".

My best memories of Randi were his appearances on the New York local kids show Wonderama, hosted by Sonny Fox and aired on then-WNEW, Channel 5. I especially remember the time he was chained inside a burlap bag and suspended on a crane over the street outside Channel 5's studios in midtown Manhattan. Wonderama was a three-hour show (broadcast from 9-12 on Sunday mornings) and the cameras went outside at various points through the show to follow Randi's attempt to escape his "predicament". (The show was actually taped in mid-week, but they worked "live on tape" with no editing.) I don't recall exactly how the trick ended, but I do know they lowered the bag to the street and found it empty. (I dimly remember that Randi emerged from the crowd of spectators, but I'm not sure if that's true.) Anyone else have a better memory of this?

At any rate, another childhood icon and, admittedly, a hero of my adult years, has passed on.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi?fbclid=IwAR2XmwbVkCNdwyBoY09gckzTZK9CS1zZU8hkndQfXANkMKwpO0BLU6J1wpc

Disturbing Sight

 Okay...now, I'm officially frightened.

Driving home yesterday afternoon, I was behind a big pick-up truck with this emblem in the rear window:

I had no idea what it was, so I Googled "Roman numeral 3 with stars" and discovered it is the emblem of a group called the Three Percenters:

The Three Percenters, also styled 3 Percenters, 3%ers and III%ers, are an American and Canadian far-right militia movement and paramilitary group.^[3] The group advocates gun ownership rights and resistance to the U.S. federal government's involvement in local affairs.

The group's name derives from the disputed claim that only three percent of American colonists took up arms against the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolution.

The Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes the Three Percenters as an "anti-government" group. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) characterizes the Three Percenters as "anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement."

The group is American-based but has a presence in Canada as well. Some Canadian experts consider the group the "most dangerous extremist group" in Canada.

The group's website states it is "not a militia" and "not anti-government". Three Percenters believe that ordinary citizens must take a stand against perceived abuses by the U.S. federal government, which they characterize as overstepping its Constitutional limits.^[1] Its stated goals include protecting the right to keep and bear arms, and to "push back against tyranny".^[4] The group opposes federal involvement in what they consider local affairs, and states in its bylaws that county sheriffs are "the supreme law of the land".

Like other American militia movements, Three Percenters believe in the ability of citizen volunteers with ordinary weapons to successfully resist the United States military. They support this belief by claiming that only around 3% of American colonists fought the British during the American Revolution, a claim which underestimates the number of people who resisted British rule, and which does not take into account the concentration of British forces in coastal cities, the similarity of weapons used by American and British forces, and French support for the colonists. [emphasis added]

 

Can "Community" Come Back?

 Following from yesterday's post, some thoughts on what effect the pandemic is having on our sense of community.

We all know about the major conventions and meetings that have been forced to cancel or postpone or go virtual over the past six months: Comic-Con, the World Science Fiction Convention (which previously had only been cancelled by World War 2). even the American Library Association cancelled its summer gathering. But what about the smaller local groups that have not met in that time?

I'm talking about the dozens of PTA meetings around the country that weren't held; the library book groups put on hold; the church socials, bingo games and fundraisers cancelled. These are events that bind local communities together, that bring neighbors into contact with each other to share time and experiences.

I have a two-fold fear: First, that even when, with any luck next year, those events can be held, the impetus to arrange and run them will have dissipated, that the organizers will say, "We got along without it last year, it's a a lot of work, why not just do something virtual again?" Second, that if the organizers go ahead, will there be enough people who feel safe attending to make it worthwhile?

Are we about to lose another part of American life forever?

Is Voting Better as a Communal Activity?

 I have already voted. I received my ballot in the mail a few weeks ago and dropped it off at my county's drop box last week. I did it because I am concerned about long lines and crowding at the polls on November 3 in the midst of a pandemic.

But now I have been wondering: Absent the special circumstances of this year, are we better off if voting is seen as a communal activity? As something where neighbors and friends must all arrive at the same place (not necessarily at the same time, of course) to cast their votes? To see their fellow citizens all participate in this endeavor, including the ones who volunteer to man the tables at the polling place and to greet voters as they come in and urge support for a particular slate?

If voting becomes one more thing that we do in the privacy of our homes, the way most entertainment has, do we lose a sense of community? Do we lose the idea that we are, indeed, all in this together? Even if you vote for a different candidate than I do, if I see you there, waiting to take your turn to fill out the ballot, do I realize that we are both participating in the governing of our nation, our state, our community? And if I don't, because we are both sitting at home, marking circles on a sheet of paper, sticking it in an envelope and mailing it, have I missed that realization of working and governing together?

I know that some states have been doing 100 percent vote-by-mail for about a decade now. If you live in one of those states, how do you feel about this?

Suitable for Sunday

 Yesterday afternoon, I was at my church to help at our Pumpkin Patch Fundraiser. It gave me the chance to see the interior of the church in an unusual situation--with all the lights off and the afternoon sun streaming through the big stained glass windows on the west end of the nave. (Like many Episcopal churches, it is aligned with the altar at the east end.)

So I took the opportunity to get this photo. (For the record, it is slightly enhanced to improve the colors from the windows.)

If you'd like to visit in person, it's Christ Church in Ridley Park, PA (Sellers Ave. and Nevins St.). Our pumpkin fundraiser continues to Halloween and the hours are 11-7 Sunday to Friday, 9-7 Saturday.

Toxic Fandom?

 

In a commentary on DC Comics' Death Metal #4 on the Bleeding Cool site, Rich Johnston opines that it is an analogy to a "toxic fandom" that wants superhero comics to remain in the vein of the 1960s Silver Age, rather than advance to a more "mature" content.

The funny thing is, I think the "toxic fandom" are those who insist all comics must be written and drawn to their preferences, the adults who grew up reading superhero comics, graduated to other forms, and now want the characters of their youth to match their outlook. Trouble is, those characters were never meant to appeal to adults, other than as an escape from the real world, not as a reflection of it.

To want Superman or Batman or the Flash to be characters who deal in real-world adult problems, to be dark, grim, humorless is like wanting any other character originally aimed at youngsters, like, say, Doctor Dolittle, to mature along with its readership, so that now Hugh Lofting's gentle veterinarian is an organizer and protestor for PETA. All the joy, all the whimsy, all the fantasy is ejected in favor of dark realism--a world of "talk to the animals" overlayed with the horror of animals used to test cosmetics.

Yes, some stories aimed at kids grow with them. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is a prime example--but the early books, with their more light-hearted approach, still remain for a new generation to start with and then progress into the later, darker, adventures. But the advocates of a "mature" superhero genre don't want their "realistic" heroes to be tainted by the existence of the versions aimed at a younger audience--or simply a readership that prefers a simpler, more classically heroic set of characters.

The proof that these readers are the true "toxic fandom"? Look at what has happened to sales of comics in the three decades since the publishers began catering to them.

All Politics is Local

 As I turned on the TV this morning to reports of the "dueling town halls" last night, a thought occurred to me: All the concentration on this admittedly crucial Presidential election is draining attention from state and local contests--and, in the long run, those could be far more consequential.

There's only one state-wide race in my area--for state attorney general. (Neither of our Senators is up for re-election this cycle.) While normally a state AG is not big deal, in the litigious world of modern politics, having an AG who supports voter rights can be very important.

The entire state legislature is up for grabs this year...and, if your local state reps are in play, you should pay attention--especially this year. The people we put in our state legislatures in this election will decide the state and congressional districting following the 2020 Census. Republicans have, over the past two decades, used that decennial process to skew representation toward their strongholds in the states where they control the legislature. As an example, here in PA, Democrats outnumber Republicans in the electorate by just under one million in a total of just under nine million voters; yet the legislature is controlled by the GOP: 109-93 in the House, 28-21 (with one independent) in the Senate.

And the Congressional delegation is also out of balance: 10 Republicans, 8 Democrats in the House; one Senator of each party. 

So, don't let the Presidential race be the only thing on your mind as you fill out your ballot or go to the polls.

Town Halls

 I do not plan on watching either of the town halls tonight. For those who have been in a cave for the past 48 hours, Joe Biden will have a town hall on ABC tonight at 8PM Eastern time; President Trump will have one on NBC at the same time.

I've never thought town halls were useful in the best of times (and these are decidedly not the best of times). The questions are never well focused and it's way too easy for the candidates to fudge around the edges for an answer (yes--even worse than they do in a regular debate). But I think it might be interesting to see Trump's head explode when he realizes that some of these ordinary citizens will not be lobbing soft-balls at him. In the alleged town halls he has done in the past, the questioners have been chosen by his own staff and have consisted of his supporters. This time, I assume, NBC News will be picking the questioners and will be trying for a good mix of Trumpists, Biden-supporters, and undecideds (hopefully more of the last than anything).

Are you watching?

Browsing the Shelves

 Do you miss bookstores? That is, real brick-and-mortar stores with lots of shelves and lots of books on them in all sorts of categories? I do.

Sure, I can order any book I want (practically) from Amazon...and I do. But first I have to know I want it. There's the rub. Despite the so-called "decline of print," there are literally thousands of books published every year that I may have no idea exist. Their authors do not make appearances on TV, they are not advertised on television, they don't even get reviewed (the idea of every newspaper having a weekly book review column is long gone).

That is why I miss bookstores. I used to wander through the store, browsing the shelves in the sections that interest me....and that's not just science-fiction, comics and entertainment. It includes history, politics, and science. I would frequently see a title and pull it from the shelf, read the back cover or inside flap description, sometimes read the introduction or first chapter and decide "This is interesting," and buy the book. Did I always end up enjoying it? No...but more times than not, I did. A lot of these books never made it to my "permanent collection"--but they added to my knowledge, my core of information.

There's no real way to do that in an on-line environment. Sure you can ask Amazon to show you everything in print about, say, "American history 1850-1900," but the results will be so broad as to be useless (and sometimes the algorithm interprets your request in odd ways).  And even that isn't the equivalent of browsing, any more than ordering your groceries on line is the same as going to the market, seeing a nice piece of meat and saying, "Gee, I haven't had a roast in weeks."

We need bookstores back.

That's Not How This Works....

 ...that's not how any of this works....

Remember that line from a series of commercials a year or so back? That's what I want to say every time I hear President Trump bloviate on his "recovery" from COVID. "I'm immune, now"; "If I came through it, anyone can...." and on and on.

I'm not even convinced he's no longer contagious. I'm certainly not convinced he's completely recovered, not when I observe people I know who were far healthier than he before they came down with it. Most still have lingering effects--some lethargy, some difficulty breathing. Hell, I have those lingering effects for days after a bad cold.

I understand the political reasons for wanting to appear completely healthy--but that can be accomplished without the risks the president is taking with his own health and that of all those around him.

"This Ain't No Library"....Oh, Wait, Yes It Is

 My buddy Mark Evanier, on his blog, related this story about his youthful experiences in the public library...and it is very much like my own.

Like Mark, I was an avid reader at a young age and quickly worked my way through virtually everything of interest in the children's section of my local library (the Port Richmond branch on Staten Island, NY). Like Mark, I read all the Freddy the Pig books...unlike Mark, I really enjoyed them. I also went through Doctor Dolittle. And anything they had in science fiction for kids.

Trouble is, there wasn't a lot of that last genre. Even the "young adult" novels of Robert Heinlein and the Lucky Star series by Isaac Asimov were aimed at sixth-to-eighth-graders...and I was ready for them in fourth grade. I was always three-to-four grade levels ahead in reading...and I read pretty quickly, too. So, by the time I was ten or so, my mother prevailed upon the librarian to upgrade me to the adult section. In fact, the children's librarian actually approached Mom about it first, as I recall, because she knew I had exhausted the material under her care.

Of course, that opened the door to more than just SF. I also had (and still have) an interest in paleontology (like most kids, it started with dinosaurs) and I soon found the section for that in the adult room as well.

Anyone else have a library story to tell?