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Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 306

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The players are competing in my favorite golf tournament this weekend – the US Open.

  • Fortunately, it is held at Oakmont – arguably, the most difficult course in America.
  • Unfortunately, I won’t be able to watch as much as I would like.
  • Unfortunately, I don’t trust the USGA in the way they set the course.
  • Unfortunately, the USGA sold the television rights to FOX – which means fewer viewers but they got more money.

The Cincinnati Police Department accepted the Running Man Challenge from the Detroit Police Department – which then created this fun video.

Orlando, Florida has been the center of bad news in the past week. The latest news about the alligator attacking the toddler is shocking. Before finding the body, authorities euthanized 4 alligators . As I think back to the gorilla incident at the Cincinnati Zoo, did I miss the outcry of killing the animals?

The Spam folder on the WordPress Dashboard can be entertaining. For example, “The post have resolved our problem,thank you very much and hope you writing more good articles.” (Comment made for Colors: The Musical: Act 6: Purple Indigo Violet)

The completion of Act 8: Shades means there is one more act to go in Colors: The Musical. More info next week. Meanwhile (at the time of this writing) Act 8 successfully included songs with 18 different shades. Given the approaching July 4th holiday, I need to carefully examine the date of the last act – so I will say more in the next OITS.

No Explore post this weekend – but there could be a weekend post if I can get it ready.

To the fathers and those with fathers, Happy Father’s Day weekend. To those whose father is no longer with them, may pleasant memories bring you comfort and smiles. For those who didn’t have a father growing up and wanted one, peace to you.

The recent shootings in Orlando has many aspects to it – such as terrorism, gun control, and bigotry. Gun rights groups and gun control groups blaming each other. A frustrated president who knows it’s up to Congress – a Congress continuing to ignore the issue. Politicians deflecting the issue to one of the other aspects of this situation.

Amazingly, even after Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Charleston, Aurora, others, and now Orlando. This is a serious topic for many Americans, and I’m confident the majority of Americans would support an open debate and national discussion about the issue – and Congress is the one that could lead the way by example. I just suggested why it won’t happen.

Like any topic, I organize information about guns, gun control, and gun rights into three broad categories: what people know, what people think they know – but don’t (the misinformation and the misconceptions), and what they don’t know. An open debate on the Congressional floor and a national conversation will help inform people.

An open debate and national conversation would seem to be a common sense directive – however, common sense is not Congress’ forte. Oh, I forgot again – blame mental illness while not dealing with that issue either. Better yet – blame Middle Eastern immigrants. Then again, there’s always the ever popular excuse of It’s President Obama’s fault.

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To lead us into the satire portion of this post, The Onion provides tips for cooking with meat. http://www.theonion.com/graphic/tips-cooking-meat-53088

Weekly Headlines from The Onion (combos welcome)
Sock gradually taking care of sticky spot on kitchen floor
Everyone laughing at thing man can’t change about himself
7-year-old unable to maintain single cohesive storyline while playing with action figures
New mother criticized for breastfeeding self in public
The Onion regrets spelling “cucumber” as “konkowbar”
Frustrated Obama writes letter to his Congressman about need for gun control

Interesting Reads
Flight: From idea to reality
Flags and identity
New sex position for frogs: Kermit Sutra
The 1886 famine in India
An educational investment
The unexpected art of Dakar
(Photos) Palace ruins in Kabul

Here are two songs to send you into the weekend: a leftover from Act 8 and s hit from 1982. Have a safe weekend and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

25 thoughts on “Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 306”

  1. Perhaps I misunderstood you, Frank. But you seem to think that folks would pay attention to the debate if Congress would only hold it. I have different expectations. Folks will read the twitter feed …

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  3. Knowing your long held view that the setup of a U.S. Open course is poor if the eventual winner’s score is under par, I look forward next week to your 1-10 rating on how the USGA did this year with Oakmont (with “1” meaning that even the club’s members could have scored well, and “10” meaning that every player in the field including the winner felt like I did yesterday when I walked off the 18th green at the brutalizing Fox Run Golf Course in Kenton County, Kentucky).

    The read “Basques reinvent themselves as education power” influences me to check out news from the Scandinavian countries on their analysis of the Basque education system before releasing my report on the state of Finland’s ongoing overhaul of their “underperforming” education system.

    No splats.

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    • Tim,
      Part of the scoring quandary is the recent rain that has softened the course. I am not a happy camper at the moment, but I’m hoping Rounds 3 & 4 will bring out the teeth.

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  4. In the “interesting read” about the 1866 famine in British Colonial India during which a million people died, I found the following. (I think I may have recognized it as similar to something from the 2016 GOP party platform.)

    All of this did little to stir the colonial administration into action. In the mid-19th Century, it was common economic wisdom that government intervention in famines was unnecessary and even harmful. The market would restore a proper balance. Any excess deaths, according to Malthusian principles, were nature’s way of responding to overpopulation.

    Also interesting in the article was that India exported millions of tonnes of rice to Britain that year. Ah, that good old “hidden hand of the market.”

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  5. “Flags and Identity” was also very good – thanks, Frank.

    I have mixed emotions about this sober and objective essay on the history and significance of banners. As a military man I have a profound reverence for our national symbol, representing as it does the profundity of the U.S. constitution. (It is no accident that military officers take an oath, not, as in the enlisted oath to follow the orders of seniors, but to uphold the constitution.)

    As a veteran of the Vietnam war I also recognize the power of flag-waving to enable ill-conceived and inappropriate wars. That the mistake was made again so soon in the second Iraq war is testament to the power of the banner.

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  6. The filibuster was held, it was good too. Not the meaningless Green Eggs and Ham, but full of interesting facts, heartfelt stories….did anyone tune in and listen?

    Those Frogs Frank, they are feisty.
    Loved reading about the Basque educational investment and their push to keep their culture alive. This is a place I traveled to many years ago and would love to return too.

    The rest of the reads were interesting, but those topped my list this week.

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  9. And we have alligators washed down to the beaches by floods looking very confused ( but enjoying the spa salt water treatment – and the ride back home in the state wildlife trucks)
    What was Disney thinking? People from other parts of the ocuntry have no idea about gator safety. Horribly sad.
    Once again I am applalled by how lax some states’ gun laws are. (Not that it would made a difference in Florida , but with all the warnings – even from a gunstore clerk who refused to sell to that guy – why wasn’t the FBI/Homeland taking a hint?) When will the gun laws we have be enforced? Voting today in the Senate. Even the NRA is backing atleast one of those preposed bills. If all that fails, hit your state legislatures with demands. It can be done.
    Good golfing to ya’!

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  10. Last week was a dilly dilly, Frank! By the end of the week I was fatigued from too many events and concerns, and the amount of reading and listening that went with trying to understand. I agree with you entirely about the need for a very open national conversation about gun violence, but I’m not even hopeful. If we can’t even agree about high impact assault weapons, I just despair. It takes a lot for me to lose hope, but when it comes to this topic, I have run out of that precious commodity! As always, you express your thoughts so well. I have been barely able to talk about it all. Thank you.

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