As the title says: a three-part effort tonight, after-the-jump ….
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
At the recent Nobel Prize award announcements: one name who shared this year’s Economics prize (3-ways) would be familiar to many Americans. Something this gent did more than fifty-five years ago may not be so well-known … and is worth recounting .
He was born in Augusta, Georgia, later growing-up in Dillon, South Carolina (the son of a pharmacist who was among the few in town willing to extend credit to Black residents). He was a statistical whiz as a kid, scoring 1590 (out of a possible 1600) on his SAT’s.
A few years earlier (as an eleven year-old) in 1965, he won his state’s Spelling Bee title and went to Washington, D.C. for the national championships. Today, the National Spelling Bee is covered on ESPN and attracts huge audiences … yet it was a far smaller event years ago.
The young man was ½ way through the competition … before he was eliminated. Years later, he noted that the outcome may have been different had his town of 6,000 people had a movie theater (and shown the film The Sound of Music before the competition).
Alas, no: and the word he missed … was edelweiss.
That young man later became famous as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke— whom Paul Krugman had worked for at Princeton many years earlier and described as a good boss — and Bernanke now works at the Brookings Institute. He says that he knows how to spell edelweiss … quite well, now.
In the past, I have had a pet peeve involving hotels: a “destination charge” that is a legal way of making your nightly rate appear smaller … until it is time to book.
Though I see that another annoying trend may have started some time ago (perhaps before the pandemic) — I’ve only recently encountered the subject of tonight’s rant. Which is … small pillows, which almost guarantee a poor night’s sleep for me.
If I’m lucky: they include several small pillows. If I’m not: there are only two. No matter how I try to stack them, they never seem to support me the way a normal-size pillow would.
This seems to be an issue for others, as I see various travel websites weigh-in on the subject. Some emphasize practicality: the various pillows range from firm-to-plush, offering more choice. Others note the high incidence of hotel guests stealing them. Still others observe that it makes it easier to clean them.
Yuk. Going forward, if I am driving to a hotel: I’m bringing a pillow from home. Hopefully, it won’t get to the stage where I would be glad to see one of this jamoke’s offerings, instead.
Finally, a good news story.
Just two weeks ago in this space, I recounted how the Humane Society in my city had its second case of having to care for a large group of rescued dogs in five years (and at considerable expense) who were removed by the state police from squalid conditions.
The previous time the ’breeder’ (if you could call him that) was convicted on two of four counts of animal cruelty in a bench trial, yet appealed the decision: and was set to have a jury trial. All while these 52 Yellow Labs had been fostered out, with families hoping they could someday adopt the dogs they had grown attached to. Fortunately, he agreed to a settlement before the new trial: surrendering the dogs so the families could indeed adopt these pets.
My original account is at this link.
Now …... an update (more of a relief)
A week ago today, this “breeder” agreed to surrender the 27 Labrador Retrievers in exchange for having no financial liability — a much quicker process for the families who had fostered some of the dogs (not all were ready to be fostered out, requiring veterinary care).
There will still be a November 23rd hearing on the charges of animal cruelty, so while there is a financial agreement, there may yet be consequences pending. For now: a relief.
In case you’re wondering: I did model tonight’s diary title on an old blues tune (written by Rudy Toombs in 1953, just nine years before his murder). I had always associated the song One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer with John Lee Hooker— and he certainly popularized it (making several changes to the tune, including reversing the words Scotch and Bourbon) in 1966. Eleven years after that, George Thorogood (using John Lee’s model) made it an even more vital song for blues/rock fans. Yet the original recording of the song came in 1953, by the Texas boogie-woogie piano and vocal ace Amos Milburn.
Now, on to Top Comments:
Highlighted by brillig:
In the diary by novapsyche about President Biden’s address-to-the-nation, with the key line You can’t love your country only when you win— this response, made by Bring the Lions.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the front-page story about two separate arrests of Boogaloo Bois— in a separate discussion on what to do if you are in a dining establishment and see open-carrying guys come in … in response to previous suggestions on what to do, cminus has a suggestion (predicated on where you live).
Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful (and now eternal) *PictureQuilt™* below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment featuring that photo.
TOP PHOTOSNovember 2nd, 2022
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And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
16) OMG, Fox News is airing Biden’s speech! by neznamo +7822) they did worship their kitties… by mamajo2k +6628) Voting by Denise Oliver Velez +6328) Certainly a sociopath. … by Captain Frogbert +63