The Gimlet Ire |

The Egg and I

The Egg and I

by WM on Nov 11, 2014 • No Comments

This article by Gail Collins got me to thinking. Quick Aside: Gail Collins often gets me to thinking and chuckling and weeping upon occasion. Good stuff, that. Truth be told, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld frequently had the same effect upon me. But for significantly different...

"But I repeat myself . . ."

“But I repeat myself . . .”

by WM on Nov 5, 2014 • No Comments

Sam Clemens said it best: Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. Mark Twain, a Biography I don’t mean to give the impression that I think all members of Congress are feeble minded, greedy, conservative imbeciles with a slavering hunger...

The Americon

The Americon

by WM on Oct 29, 2014 • No Comments

I suggest we retire Uncle Sam to the annals of the 19th and 20th centuries, and adopt a new, 21st century-attuned, unofficial national symbol. Call it the Americon. You’ll note there’s a pistol pointed at the little guy’s head. (If I was any kind of artist, I could draw...

Regarding A Mouse . . .

Regarding A Mouse . . .

by WM on Sep 27, 2014 • No Comments

I learned something from a mouse the other day. No, not Mickey, Modest or Mighty. This was a real mouse — a baby, as a matter of fact — covered in grey fur and smaller than my thumb. When I tell you what I learned and how I learned...

Thinking The Unthinkable . . .

Thinking The Unthinkable . . .

by WM on Jun 5, 2014 • No Comments

Wikipedia tells me that dark comedy, (a derivative term from black humor/black comedy/humour noir), is a form of comedy: . . . in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism. How droll! Thus, today’s topic is the atom bomb, which is without a doubt one of the funniest things...

Becoming Quaint

Becoming Quaint

by WM on Jun 4, 2014 • No Comments

Quaint Attractively unusual or old-fashioned. Oxford English Dictionary At some point in human history it was probably quite accurate to describe the buggy whip business as a thriving industry. And no doubt the savvy buggy whip factory owner would have expanded his offerings to include riding crops, glitter...

Writing Good

Writing Good

by WM on May 6, 2014 • No Comments

George Orwell . . . Animal Farm . . . Politics. The Eton-honed author wrote some marvelously good books and essays, and if you enjoy reading but haven’t yet sampled any of his work, shame on you. Granted, his oeuvre (how’s that for a $5.00 word?) walks a rather dark...

Pass The Plunger ...

Pass The Plunger …

by WM on Mar 13, 2014 • No Comments

We can’t say we weren’t warned. Many of us in The Village were outraged not once . . . not twice . . . but thrice. It began with Abu Ghraib. We learned that we were torturing prisoners. The shock to our “American” sense of decency and our understanding...

Vive La Révolution!

Vive La Révolution!

by WM on Oct 14, 2013 • No Comments

A number of decades ago, I was sitting in a church in Portland. The weather on that particular day was typical for the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers; overcast, drizzly and dreary. But the gloom outside wasn’t affecting attitudes inside the little church. The few dozen believers...

Somebody Else's Bridge

Somebody Else’s Bridge

by WM on Jul 22, 2013 • No Comments

. . . when he (Hans) started sharing what he had learned with other Mormons in Sweden, the stake president (who oversees a cluster of congregations) told him not to talk about it to any members, even his wife and children. He did not obey: “I said to...

Ship Happens

Ship Happens

by WM on Jul 17, 2013 • No Comments

Have you forgotten? At four minutes past midnight on 24 March, (1989), a cold-water reef ripped the thin skin of the Exxon Valdez‘s single hull, releasing the equivalent of about 17 Olympic swimming pools of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska. It was the worst ever oil spill in US...

Something Completely Different!

Something Completely Different!

by WM on Jun 27, 2013 • No Comments

Joshua Green posted an article in BloombergBusinessweek that briefly focused on a unique perspective following yesterday’s Voting Rights Act (VRA) decision by SCOTUS, (also known as the Supreme Court). For those who are not familiar with any of this, let me provide an abridged background: Congress passed the VRA in...

A Few Thoughts About Blogging

A Few Thoughts About Blogging

by WM on Jun 24, 2013 • No Comments

I have a few thoughts about blogging. (I promise I’ll be brief.) This article, from Prospect Magazine, is a brief interview with Leon Wieseltier. Nothing about any of that short article may mean a tinker’s dam to you, and truth be told, I share a pinch of your disinterest....

Guns, A Continuing Discussion Pt. 9

Guns, A Continuing Discussion Pt. 9

by WM on Jun 8, 2013 • No Comments

I just read an April 18th article by Bill Keller of The New York Times. I think the two of us see fairly eye to eye when it comes to guns, and his article got me to thinking about the issue again. He quotes some politicians who have been...

When Elvis Leaves The Building ...

When Elvis Leaves The Building …

by WM on May 29, 2013 • No Comments

The subject was horses. Actually it was horseback riding, but that’s mostly all about horses, so the subject was horses. I was a young man, and I was hanging around with a small group of friends, and we were talking about going horseback riding. Since neither cowboy nor member...

Bootprints in the Sand

Bootprints in the Sand

by WM on May 7, 2013 • No Comments

I had a dream. No doubt caused by a glass or two too much wine. Please . . . let that be the well-spring of my dream. I was at the beach. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I was the only soul around as far as you...

Bang the Drum Slowly . . .

Bang the Drum Slowly . . .

by WM on Apr 28, 2013 • No Comments

S’up? Okay, my attempts at sporting raffish airs and graces may come up more than a little short, but I mean well. Therefore, one will find “S’up?” and “Yo'” and “Hail Fellow, Well Met!” sprinkled all about my articles, tempering the moods and demonstrating my hipster swell-ness. That might...

Guido

Guido

by WM on Apr 27, 2013 • No Comments

I was sitting in my living room the other day, watching The Godfather and sipping a yummy Cabernet, (both courtesy of the talented Coppola family, thank you very much), when my somewhat ponderous, Ponderosa-sized son-in-law, Guido, lumbered in. And speaking of lumber, a chunk of Pennsylvania’s finest hickory was...

Tweetle Dee Dee

Tweetle Dee Dee

by WM on Apr 3, 2013 • No Comments

I sent an email to my eldest daughter a couple of years back, in which I made a short complaint about tweets and such. I treasure the skillful use of words, and fairly despise the notion of everyday correspondence becoming abbreviated to the point of bland and blathered meaninglessness. In...

Them That's Got

Them That’s Got

by WM on Apr 2, 2013 • No Comments

Billie Holliday and Arthur Herzog, Jr. wrote a beautiful song in 1939: “God Bless the Child“. My first (and best) introduction to the piece was in 1969, when I first heard it played by Blood, Sweat & Tears. It still rocks. Them that’s got, shall get. Them that’s not,...

Curious Minds Want To Know

Curious Minds Want To Know

by WM on Mar 15, 2013 • No Comments

I’m told the Universe is expanding. And accelerating. How they know that is quite intriguing. And who the hell are “They”? That’s pretty intriguing, too. But I lose my focus. Here’s the deal. It’s time for a serious invention. Something that will really help me sleep at night. Or,...

In Case You Were Wondering

In Case You Were Wondering

by WM on Mar 2, 2013 • No Comments

— March, 2013 – I stumbled across this post from October, 2008, as I was going through the archives. It provides a brief explanation, for anyone with interest, why I started writing about all this political stuff — A thought occurred to me this morning. It’s entirely...

The Prognosticator

The Prognosticator

by WM on Mar 1, 2013 • No Comments

This is a post from a while back, but I push it a bit to the forefront because it’s about something that remains with us, and is rather important. Some presidents have been more successful at positively influencing The Village than other presidents. By way of example, let me...

Toward A Better Understanding Of Music

Toward A Better Understanding Of Music

by WM on Feb 18, 2013 • No Comments

Étude – A short, musical composition . . . often designed to demonstrate the skill of the player. Trees are amazing things. They represent the tallest and oldest and largest, individual living thing on the planet. And in case you didn’t know, the tallest, a Coast Redwood (just under...

Everyone But You

Everyone But You

by WM on Feb 14, 2013 • No Comments

I’m not a Christian. But I was one, long ago, and for much of my adult life. A true believer was I, and I mean that sincerely. I even attended and graduated from a small, evangelical (read: Fundamentalist) college way back when. Mind you, I wasn’t raised that way....

Grandpa's GOP

Grandpa’s GOP

by WM on Jan 26, 2013 • No Comments

I’ve been reading and hearing much about how the Republicans are wringing their hands, trying to figure out how to keep their party from imploding. Some take the perspective that, “We need to tone down our message and stop insulting people!” Others say it’s because of changing demographies. Everybody...

The Irrelevant in the Room

The Irrelevant in the Room

by WM on Jan 24, 2013 • No Comments

It’s been half a year since I wrote these few paragraphs. In the intervening months, the GOP has wrung their hands dry attempting to figure out what happened in the November, 2012 election, and how to “fix” things so they can run the government once again. As a result,...

Princesses

Princesses

by WM on Jan 20, 2013 • No Comments

Long ago, in a far away Disney board room . . . The high-strung junior executive slipped and nearly fell as he scooted around the hallway corner and burst through the heavy oak doors into the room. “SIR, SIR!” he exclaimed as he waved a sheet of paper above...

An Apostrophe!

An Apostrophe!

by WM on Jan 5, 2013 • No Comments

Call me Ishmael. This article inspired more than a few clever and enterprising thoughts on my part. Before long, I came up with THE solution for global warming. Yes, Folks, you read it right here, first. (You may quote me at length, but I expect full attribution!) Here’s the...

When the Circus Came to Town

When the Circus Came to Town

by WM on Dec 31, 2012 • No Comments

Yes, your wicked little cellphone or iPad or Kindle is going to cause your 757 to flip upside down, burst into flame and cartwheel out of control. Not. It’s more than a smidge difficult to comprehend how the pilots’ iPads aren’t going to cause some sort of interference with...

Better Living Through Chemistry

Better Living Through Chemistry

by WM on Nov 23, 2012 • No Comments

Better living through chemistry? I trust your wonderfully lethargic, (Thanksgiving-fully?), feast-induced stupor abates. I’m just diving into my second cup of java . . . decaf, if you must know . . . thus, my own torpor is being chased out of my veins as I write. Amazing, isn’t...

Caution - Fat Lady Singing

Caution – Fat Lady Singing

by WM on Oct 3, 2012 • No Comments

Well, it’s time to roll out the ol’ “One bad apple” aphorism again. Apparently there exists a recent study from a small group of researchers connected to Stanford University — an otherwise somewhat reputable institution — that raises more than a few eyebrows everywhere. What were they thinking? In...

Shooting An Elephant

Shooting An Elephant

by WM on Aug 25, 2012 • No Comments

When the white man turns tyrant, it is his own freedom he destroys. Shooting An Elephant, by George Orwell. Amazing, isn’t it? Intellectual tyranny. That is, the disconnect between what some profess and truly think their Reality belief is, and the real Reality they embrace by practice and behavior; the...

Why It Matters

Why It Matters

by WM on Aug 16, 2012 • No Comments

— I occasionally choose to exhume older posts, simply as a reminder. This one is from April 18, 2011 — Most of you reading this post … I’m assuming a few of you actually do read this … are too young to be personally concerned with things like Medicare,...

Take the Fork in the Road

Take the Fork in the Road

by WM on Aug 13, 2012 • No Comments

For those of you with a philosophical turn, I’m passing along an interesting read about two veils: Opulence and Ignorance. One could substitute veils with a fork in the road, I suppose; the point being, having to choose between two, different but unknowable outcomes. Imagine . . . Road...

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