Herschel Walker

 

Bargain

I'd pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you I'm gonna drown an unsung man

I'd call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had 

Our Congressional Representatives are supposed to be our best.

The Constitution designates the people as the sovereign.  As such, the people of course can not each make laws.  The people of each state and congressional district instead chose  a  representative to make the sovereign's laws.  The drafters of the Constitution thought that certainly the people of each state and its congressional districts would chose to send those who are the best of those people.

The people of Georgia’s 14^th Congressional District have currently elected Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made gaffes too numerous to mention.  Georgia appears poised to elect Herschel “The Turkey” Walker as their Senator.  Mr. Walker is of course loyal to “Massa” Trump, who owned the New Jersey Generals of the WFL who  drafted Mr. Walker and rescued him from his senior year at the University of Georgia. Given Mr. Walker's recent statements on evolution, I am not sure that the University would want to say that he learned this at the University of Georgia.

Georgia,  clearly you need to be informed that there is a difference between the most famous and the best. I was once told that I would not have a speaking role at a public hearing in Georgia because “I would not play well in Valdosta”  At the time I was offended.  I now realize that that it was a compliment.

Vladimir Putin

 

Don’t Be Cruel

Baby, if I made you mad
For something I might have said,
Please, let's forget my past,
The future looks bright ahead,
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.

Vladimir Putin not only was cruel.  He was an Ass.

In 1979, Martin Short starred in the short-lived situation comedy The Associates.  It was notable for its cast, which included Wilfred Hyde-White (Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady), Alley Mills  (the mother in The Wonder Years ), Joe Regalbuto ( Frank Fontana in Murphy Brown) and its legendary writer/producer, James Brooks (The Simpsons, Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore Show, etc.).  

The third episode featured a line that should be remembered.  In that episode, Martin Short’s firm was representing the defendant in a palimony suit.  The plaintiff was arguing that she gave up a promising career as a opera singer and was entitled to compensation.  Martin Short doubted her claim and asked her to sing on the witness stand.  She of course sang magnificently and proved her claim.  I am sure that at that time I identified with Martin Short.  At my current age, I identify more with the principal of the firm, Wilfred Hyde-White.  After the verdict, which Martin Short’s firm lost, Hyde-White asks Martin Short what he learned at the trial.  Martin Short gave the standard law school advice not to ask a question to which you don’t know the answer.  Hyde-White replied that the real lesson was “Don’t be an Ass”.

Vladimir  Putin would have been wise to have learned this lesson before he invaded Ukraine. He thought that the Ukrainians would rise up and welcome the Russian forces.  He not only did not know the result before he took an action.  He was cruel. And he was an Ass.

Distribution of Income II

 

Who Needs Money?

What if my pockets are empty as can be?
Who need money?Not me
Tell me about it

How are incomes distributed?

If you want to describe a distribution you need to define:

•         the mean, the first moment of the distribution;
•        the variance, the second moment of the distribution; 
•        the skewness, the third moment of the distribution; and
•        the kurtosis, the fourth moment of the distribution.

If the skew is zero, then the distribution is said to be “normal”.  In a normal distribution, the median and the mean are equal.  The difference between the mean and the median defines the magnitude of the skew of the data, and the direction of that skew.  If the mean is greater than the median, then the skew is positive and it is skewed towards higher values.  If the mean is less than the median, then the skew is negative and it is skewed towards lower values.

The ratio of the mean to the median is an indication of the magnitude of the skew of the distribution.  If the ratio is greater than 1, then not only is the distribution is skewed towards higher values, but the higher this ratio, the more the distribution is skewed to these higher values.  If the ratio is less than 1, then not only is distribution skewed towards these lower values, but the lower this ratio, the more the distribution is skewed to these lower values. If the ratio is equal to 1, the distribution is not skewed, aka is “normal”.

The Luxembourg Income Study https://www.lisdatacenter.org/, reports on Mean and Median income  for numerous countries over a period of time.  The distribution of income can not be “normal”, have a ratio of 1.0, because that would require reporting negative incomes.  For all  of the countries over the reporting period, the weighted average ratio of Mean to Median income is 1.37.  In almost all countries the trend is towards a decreasing ratio.  For developed countries, the income distribution seems to have reached an equilibrium near a ratio of 1.2.  The variation in this ratio once an equilibrium has been reached appears due to randomness of incomes and their reporting.  

The United States appears to be an outlier to the trend of a decreasing ratio, and thus is skewed towards higher incomes.  The United Kingdom also showed this trend during the period 1970 to 2009, however it has reversed this trend and shows a decreasing skew from higher incomes since that time.

It appears that the United States supports economic conditions that increase the skew towards higher incomes and that is in contrast to economic conditions for the rest of the countries that are reporting.

Collaborations

 

My Funny Valentine

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is Valentine's day

My Favorite Things

When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

Storytelling can be a collaborative art

 I am including two song lyrics in this blog, not because the lyrics are a focus, but because My Funny Valentine was by Rodgers and Hart and My Favorite Things was by Rodgers and Hammerstein.  While the lyricist were by different, they both collaborated with the same musician, Richard Rodgers.  I should have known, but did not know, that this was the same person into later in my life.

The performance of a song is not by the singer, the musicians, the lyricists, or the composers. It is a collaboration by each of these artists.  The arts can be collaborative.  Shakespeare was a member  of the the Lord Chamberlain's Men who built and performed at the Globe Theatre.  The Greek Chorus was a part of the plays of Sophocles.  We go to see an orchestra or a play.  The end credits of motion pictures can list hundreds of people.  While some artists may be individuals, many more contribute to a collaboration.  Storytelling, the arts, can be collaborative.The Oscars fittingly end with the award for the Best Picture.  The highlight of SAG awards is the award for the best cast.

Storytellers II

 

The Glory of Love

Give a little, take a little
And let your little heart just cry a little
That's the story of
That's the glory of love

And those who tell stories are spreading that love.

Fatou Wurie told a story from her life on the March 8^th podcast of the Moth.  Her Aunt was correct. She was not Bondo.  She does not have the cutting, Female Genetic Mutilation (FGM), that is the mark of Bondo and thus could not participate in her Grandmother’s Bondo funeral preparations.  But her Grandmother, who would not let her be marked as Bondo, was more correct.  She is a member of a bigger society, the world, and the mark of Bondo should not define her.  Any permanent marking, whether it is a gang tattoo, or FGM, does not give the individual the ability to leave that society.  The fact that Bondo FGM  is  done on young girls who did not, could not, make a lifetime choice, is so sad.

A person’s membership in a society is not, can not, be permanent. Life is change.  Saul famously became St. Paul on the road to Damascus.  A person should be judged by the content of their character, not by a permanent marking such as the color of their skin, which is a permanent marking that is inborn,  or a gang tattoo, or FGM, which is a permanent marking that is chosen by, or for, them.

Griots, storytellers, need listeners.  Thanks to Ms. Wurie for being a Griot.  I know that she has listeners in the Moth community, but she has definitely impressed this listener.

Jan 6th Committee Report

 One Day More

At the barricades of freedom
Shall I join my brothers there?
When our ranks begin to form
Do I stay or do I dare?
Will you take your place with me?

Who can handle the truth?

The humorist Carl Sandburg once remarked that “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell”.  There seems to be a lot of yelling at the moment from some in the Republican Party.  The Jan 6th Select Committee is about to file its report which may include referring facts to Attorney General Merrick Garland for prosecution. The purpose of the Select Committee is to examine the truth concerning Jan 6th .  If new laws are needed they may be proposed.  If existing laws were violated, then those facts will be referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said any criminal referral from the House “would probably have as much political taint on it as you can get.”  “To me it’s clearly politically driven,” he said.   Braun said Democrats are scrambling to change up the political narrative in response to Biden’s moribund job approval ratings and predicted launching a federal prosecution of Trump would be viewed along partisan lines.  ( The Hill, by Alexander Bolton 3/7/2022 06:00 AM EST).

A criminal referral might result in a trial, which is by definition is a matter of finding the truth.  The worst that an happened is that Democrats might lose an election as a result of this referral.  Given that Ukrainians are currently risking “their lives, their liberty, and their sacred honor”,  losing an election doesn’t sound like much of a threat.  It sounds to me like Trump Republicans can’t handle the truth and are pounding on the table.

The Future

 

Que sera, sera

Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.

Is the future random? 

Remember Aesop’s fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper? The Ant works and stores food for the winter.  The Grasshopper plays, does not store food for the winter, and then as winter approaches has to beg the Ant for food. The Ant knows that winter comes every year.  He can’t do anything to prevent winter, but he knows that  it happens and prepares for it.  The Grasshopper acts as if the summer will continue forever.

The fable has been used to promote such divergent views as Industrialist versus Artist;  Greed versus Charity; etc.  The fable is ambivalent.  It can be summed up as “s*** happens, deal with it.” The Ant knew that winter was coming, because he saw the pattern that winter comes every year and he prepared to deal with it.  He was not a prepper or cultist who was preparing for some doomsday that might not happen. 

Hurricanes happen and while the exact landfall is not known, science can and does outline a probable path for the storm.  And that path of probability is important.  While you can not alter that path of probability with a Sharpie, it does provide warnings to residents in that cone of probability.  While the hurricane’s path is random, it does follow known laws, and while we cannot say where the hurricane will land, we can say where it will NOT land.

Science can not predict the future with certainty.  But science can assign probabilities to a future given certain starting points and actions along the way. The gold standard of science, 5 Sigma, Standard Deviations, is still only 99.99994% certain.  The idiots who won’t accept anything but 100% certainty attack the Theory of Evolution or the Theory of Relativity because they are “only a Theory”, i.e. are less than 100% certain.   Newton's “Law” of Gravity was corrected by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.  Science has evolved such that Laws and certainty are understood to be unattainable mirages.

While we can’t predict a definite future, we can say what futures are not possible. The future may not yet be written, but believing that there is a future is why old men plant trees that will not mature until after they die, and why medieval  Cathedrals took hundreds of years to build.  Unless the first stone is laid in that Cathedral, it will never get built.  And the stones are not placed haphazardly. There is a plan to where the first, second, etc. stones should be placed.  We may not know what the future is, but we know what the future will not be, and maybe that will have to be good enough. 

We can’t change the impossible.  But many things are only improbable.  We can change the improbable. We may not be able to see the future.  But we can see what the future will NOT be, and hopefully that knowledge can be useful.