Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás
If the name is not familiar, you might know him as George Santayana. I've always believed that every person will utter at least one profound statement in their life. He actually generated more than one. Two of my favorites are "only the dead have seen the end of war" and "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." It's the latter profundity that came to mind today when I read that the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that FCC regulations on "net neutrality" are no longer valid. It is unlikely the decision will be appealed.
So what lesson did those justices and the members of Congress who are wrangling over how to handle free access to the internet fail to learn? The lesson of AT&T. It's been over three decades but people forget so quickly. AT&T had created a monopoly on telephone service in the United States. Worse yet, they were using monopoly profits to subsidize the cost of their networks, a violation of anti-trust law. The Department of Justice filed suit in 1974 and it took eight years to reach a settlement. A settlement that is the only reason there are multiple telecommunications providers competing for your business today.
Now the same thing may well happen when it comes to providing both internet service to you, and content from certain websites. No longer are internet service providers forbidden from providing equal speed access to their pipes that carry data to the users. If they want to favor one source over another with higher speeds, at the expense of other content providers, they are free to do so.
Hopefully Congress will act to protect the interests of the consumer. Oh wait, they're Congress. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. Comcast users, cheer up. They can't do this stuff until 2018 thanks to an agreement they reached when they purchased NBC Universal back in 2011.
* * *
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you. Unless of course you're the one calling others names and the others call their boyfriend. Then when the boyfriend shows up, those names might hurt. A lot. Just ask the fool who threw a bunch of slurs in the direction of fame whore Kim Kardashian. She got peeved, dialed up Kanye West and he allegedly punched the epithet-tossing teen in front of witnesses.
Should any adult punch any other adult over a slur, racial or otherwise? No. It's not worth an assault charge. The pain of words will subside. The pain of a criminal record is long-lasting. I have a friend who got his second DUI and it made it nearly impossible to find a decent job. Thankfully he found one.
Now Kanye West isn't going to lose jobs over being charged yet again with assault. But he already has one charge pending from an incident involving a photographer at LAX whom Kanye allegedly roughed up. He may lose no money from these incidents but he may find himself residing in a gray-bar hotel for awhile.
Losing your freedom isn't worth any slurs thrown at you or anyone you love. How do I know? Because choosing to let words cause me to come to blows cost me an extra week of basic training. One of my fellow trainees was riding me verbally and when he said something utterly vile about my mother, I dropped him. I could have been court-martialed, but there were no witnesses. At least none who would testify. :)
But I was "recycled" back seven days in training as a punishment. I don't care what someone calls me these days, I'm not going to push or shove or punch. Neither should any other adult.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The 65 year old convenience store clerk who refused to sell a customer some cigarettes when the customer tried to pay with an EBT cash card was wrong. It wasn't a food stamps card, it was a welfare cash benefit card, and once that government money is handed to the recipient; it's up to them to decide how to spend it. If she doesn't like it, she should work to change the law (which she is doing in her now copious free time).
I'm glad the minds behind Siri have a sense of humor. They keep creating new responses for those of us who are amused by asking Siri if she is Samantha, the operating system from the movie "Her". Today her response was "No, but she could not know you better than I do."
While I don't have the cash to spring for tickets to tonight's concert at the once again Fabulous Forum, I will be there in spirit. Saw amazing concerts there in my youth and it is nice to see it returning to the status of important concert venue.
The Razzie nominations are out. My votes are "Movie 43" for worst movie, Jaden Smith in "After Earth" for worst actor, Selena Gomez in "Getaway" for worst actress, Katherine Heigl in "The Big Wedding" for worst supporting actress and Taylor Lautner in "Grown-Ups 2" for worst supporting actor.
Mario Pescante is a moron.
It's dumb to be caught in possession of an illegal drug, even if you're chilling at a friend's pad. However, it's extremely stupid to vandalize a phone inside the sheriff's station where you are already under arrests.
I'm sure that NJ governor Chris Christie is relieved to hear that Snooki and JWoww have given him a "not guilty" verdict on Bridgegate.
Doesn't matter how slowly Gisele Bundchen was driving, it was too fast to be driving an ATV with one hand while holding a child in the other. "Unsafe at any speed" sound familiar?
I'd say that I want to live in a world where a certain singer doesn't exist (not wishing him dead or even ill, just wishing he'd never come to fame) but I'm afraid of being stalked by his millions of followers.
Would someone please ask singer Neil Young how he plans to get to his vacation home in Hawaii and still claim he lives just fine without oil? Is he going to drive his bio-mass fueled car across the Pacific?
If a doctor inserts a pane of glass into a pregnant woman, does that constitute a womb with a view?
Maybe movie theaters should run public service announcements that read "don't text during the movie, and don't shoot anyone you observe texting during the movie?"
I was nervous about getting a colonoscopy BEFORE I read that some guy in Bakersfield dropped dead days after having one. Now I'm really nervous.
The high school student who posted a Youtube video asking Jennifer Lawrence to be his date to the prom says he won't make any back-up plans until he hears from her. I just hope there's still a woman left for him to ask in case she's unable to make it.
The idiots in the state government in South Carolina need to find a way to give the same-sex parents of a disabled child the disability benefits they are entitled to.
* * *
January 15th in History:
69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.
1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith".
1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London, England.
1582 – Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1759 – The British Museum opens.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.
1782 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
1815 – War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected president of the legislative assembly.
1844 – University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.
1865 – American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
1870 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).
1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.
1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.
1910 – Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 325 ft (99 m).
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.
1919 – Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
1933 – A twelve-year-old girl experiences the first Marian apparition of Our Lady of Banneux in Banneux, Belgium.
1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
1943 – World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
1943 – The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1947 – The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short (The "Black Dahlia") is found in Los Angeles' Leimert Park.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.
1951 – Ilse Koch, "The Witch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.
1962 – The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
1966 – The Nigerian First Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d'état.
1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, California. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
1969 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
1970 – Nigerian Civil War: After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
1970 – Moammar Gadhafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1974 – Dennis Rader aka the BTK Killer kills his first victims by binding, torturing and murdering Joseph, Joseph II, Josephine and Julie Otero in their house.
1975 – The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.
1976 – Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
1981 – John Paul II receives a delegation from Solidarity (Polish trade union) at the Vatican led by Lech Walesa.
1991 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
1991 – Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.
1992 – The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1993 – Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as "The Beast", is arrested in Sicily, Italy after three decades as a fugitive.
2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
2005 – ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
Famous Folk Born on January 15th:
Molière
Philip Livingston
Richard Martin
Marjorie Fleming
Ray Chapman (tragic death)
Rex Ingram
Jean Bugatti
Gene Krupa
Lloyd Bridges
Earl Hooker
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Eddie Graham
Robert Silverberg
Margaret O'Brien
Barbara Tarbuck
Mary Hogg
Andrea Martin
Ronnie Van Zandt
Randy White
Mario Van Peebles
Lisa Lisa
Chad Lowe (one of the few spouses forgotten by their Academy-award winning spouse during the acceptance speech)
Delino DeShields
Huck Seed
Shane McMahon (product of nepotism)
Regina King
Ernie Reyes, Jr.
Eddie Cahill
Drew Brees
Kelly Kelly
Movie quotes today come from "Rush Hour 2" as Ernie Reyes, Jr. has a small part in it:
[Carter attempted to speak Chinese to everybody but had no idea what he said]
James Carter: What did I just say?
Lee: You told everyone to take out their Samurai swords and shave your butt.
#2
James Carter: Couldn't help noticin' how she was staring at a brother.
Lee: She never even look at you.
James Carter: You just jealous, Lee, 'cause women like me. I'm tall, dark and hansome and you third world ugly.
Lee: I am not third world ugly, women think I'm cute. Like Snoopy.
James Carter: Lee, Snoopy is 6 inches taller than you.
#3
[in Cantonese]
Kenny: [pointing to Carter] Why are you hangin' with 7-11?
Lee: 7-11?
Kenny: Yeah, his mouth never closes.
James Carter: [in English] Hey I heard that!
#4
[In Cantonese]
Lee: Where did you learn that?
Kenny: Master Ching.
Lee: Master Ching of Hong Kong?
Kenny: No, Freddy Ching on Crenshaw.
Lee: [In English] They're brothers.
So what lesson did those justices and the members of Congress who are wrangling over how to handle free access to the internet fail to learn? The lesson of AT&T. It's been over three decades but people forget so quickly. AT&T had created a monopoly on telephone service in the United States. Worse yet, they were using monopoly profits to subsidize the cost of their networks, a violation of anti-trust law. The Department of Justice filed suit in 1974 and it took eight years to reach a settlement. A settlement that is the only reason there are multiple telecommunications providers competing for your business today.
Now the same thing may well happen when it comes to providing both internet service to you, and content from certain websites. No longer are internet service providers forbidden from providing equal speed access to their pipes that carry data to the users. If they want to favor one source over another with higher speeds, at the expense of other content providers, they are free to do so.
Hopefully Congress will act to protect the interests of the consumer. Oh wait, they're Congress. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. Comcast users, cheer up. They can't do this stuff until 2018 thanks to an agreement they reached when they purchased NBC Universal back in 2011.
* * *
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you. Unless of course you're the one calling others names and the others call their boyfriend. Then when the boyfriend shows up, those names might hurt. A lot. Just ask the fool who threw a bunch of slurs in the direction of fame whore Kim Kardashian. She got peeved, dialed up Kanye West and he allegedly punched the epithet-tossing teen in front of witnesses.
Should any adult punch any other adult over a slur, racial or otherwise? No. It's not worth an assault charge. The pain of words will subside. The pain of a criminal record is long-lasting. I have a friend who got his second DUI and it made it nearly impossible to find a decent job. Thankfully he found one.
Now Kanye West isn't going to lose jobs over being charged yet again with assault. But he already has one charge pending from an incident involving a photographer at LAX whom Kanye allegedly roughed up. He may lose no money from these incidents but he may find himself residing in a gray-bar hotel for awhile.
Losing your freedom isn't worth any slurs thrown at you or anyone you love. How do I know? Because choosing to let words cause me to come to blows cost me an extra week of basic training. One of my fellow trainees was riding me verbally and when he said something utterly vile about my mother, I dropped him. I could have been court-martialed, but there were no witnesses. At least none who would testify. :)
But I was "recycled" back seven days in training as a punishment. I don't care what someone calls me these days, I'm not going to push or shove or punch. Neither should any other adult.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The 65 year old convenience store clerk who refused to sell a customer some cigarettes when the customer tried to pay with an EBT cash card was wrong. It wasn't a food stamps card, it was a welfare cash benefit card, and once that government money is handed to the recipient; it's up to them to decide how to spend it. If she doesn't like it, she should work to change the law (which she is doing in her now copious free time).
I'm glad the minds behind Siri have a sense of humor. They keep creating new responses for those of us who are amused by asking Siri if she is Samantha, the operating system from the movie "Her". Today her response was "No, but she could not know you better than I do."
While I don't have the cash to spring for tickets to tonight's concert at the once again Fabulous Forum, I will be there in spirit. Saw amazing concerts there in my youth and it is nice to see it returning to the status of important concert venue.
The Razzie nominations are out. My votes are "Movie 43" for worst movie, Jaden Smith in "After Earth" for worst actor, Selena Gomez in "Getaway" for worst actress, Katherine Heigl in "The Big Wedding" for worst supporting actress and Taylor Lautner in "Grown-Ups 2" for worst supporting actor.
Mario Pescante is a moron.
It's dumb to be caught in possession of an illegal drug, even if you're chilling at a friend's pad. However, it's extremely stupid to vandalize a phone inside the sheriff's station where you are already under arrests.
I'm sure that NJ governor Chris Christie is relieved to hear that Snooki and JWoww have given him a "not guilty" verdict on Bridgegate.
Doesn't matter how slowly Gisele Bundchen was driving, it was too fast to be driving an ATV with one hand while holding a child in the other. "Unsafe at any speed" sound familiar?
I'd say that I want to live in a world where a certain singer doesn't exist (not wishing him dead or even ill, just wishing he'd never come to fame) but I'm afraid of being stalked by his millions of followers.
Would someone please ask singer Neil Young how he plans to get to his vacation home in Hawaii and still claim he lives just fine without oil? Is he going to drive his bio-mass fueled car across the Pacific?
If a doctor inserts a pane of glass into a pregnant woman, does that constitute a womb with a view?
Maybe movie theaters should run public service announcements that read "don't text during the movie, and don't shoot anyone you observe texting during the movie?"
I was nervous about getting a colonoscopy BEFORE I read that some guy in Bakersfield dropped dead days after having one. Now I'm really nervous.
The high school student who posted a Youtube video asking Jennifer Lawrence to be his date to the prom says he won't make any back-up plans until he hears from her. I just hope there's still a woman left for him to ask in case she's unable to make it.
The idiots in the state government in South Carolina need to find a way to give the same-sex parents of a disabled child the disability benefits they are entitled to.
* * *
January 15th in History:
69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.
1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith".
1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London, England.
1582 – Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1759 – The British Museum opens.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.
1782 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
1815 – War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected president of the legislative assembly.
1844 – University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.
1865 – American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
1870 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).
1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.
1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.
1910 – Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 325 ft (99 m).
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.
1919 – Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
1933 – A twelve-year-old girl experiences the first Marian apparition of Our Lady of Banneux in Banneux, Belgium.
1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
1943 – World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
1943 – The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1947 – The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short (The "Black Dahlia") is found in Los Angeles' Leimert Park.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.
1951 – Ilse Koch, "The Witch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.
1962 – The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
1966 – The Nigerian First Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d'état.
1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, California. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
1969 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
1970 – Nigerian Civil War: After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
1970 – Moammar Gadhafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1974 – Dennis Rader aka the BTK Killer kills his first victims by binding, torturing and murdering Joseph, Joseph II, Josephine and Julie Otero in their house.
1975 – The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.
1976 – Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
1981 – John Paul II receives a delegation from Solidarity (Polish trade union) at the Vatican led by Lech Walesa.
1991 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
1991 – Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.
1992 – The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1993 – Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as "The Beast", is arrested in Sicily, Italy after three decades as a fugitive.
2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
2005 – ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
Famous Folk Born on January 15th:
Molière
Philip Livingston
Richard Martin
Marjorie Fleming
Ray Chapman (tragic death)
Rex Ingram
Jean Bugatti
Gene Krupa
Lloyd Bridges
Earl Hooker
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Eddie Graham
Robert Silverberg
Margaret O'Brien
Barbara Tarbuck
Mary Hogg
Andrea Martin
Ronnie Van Zandt
Randy White
Mario Van Peebles
Lisa Lisa
Chad Lowe (one of the few spouses forgotten by their Academy-award winning spouse during the acceptance speech)
Delino DeShields
Huck Seed
Shane McMahon (product of nepotism)
Regina King
Ernie Reyes, Jr.
Eddie Cahill
Drew Brees
Kelly Kelly
Movie quotes today come from "Rush Hour 2" as Ernie Reyes, Jr. has a small part in it:
[Carter attempted to speak Chinese to everybody but had no idea what he said]
James Carter: What did I just say?
Lee: You told everyone to take out their Samurai swords and shave your butt.
#2
James Carter: Couldn't help noticin' how she was staring at a brother.
Lee: She never even look at you.
James Carter: You just jealous, Lee, 'cause women like me. I'm tall, dark and hansome and you third world ugly.
Lee: I am not third world ugly, women think I'm cute. Like Snoopy.
James Carter: Lee, Snoopy is 6 inches taller than you.
#3
[in Cantonese]
Kenny: [pointing to Carter] Why are you hangin' with 7-11?
Lee: 7-11?
Kenny: Yeah, his mouth never closes.
James Carter: [in English] Hey I heard that!
#4
[In Cantonese]
Lee: Where did you learn that?
Kenny: Master Ching.
Lee: Master Ching of Hong Kong?
Kenny: No, Freddy Ching on Crenshaw.
Lee: [In English] They're brothers.
posted by me at 4:50 PM
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