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David Mitchell

Mike,

I just posted my comment on the User Forum

Michael McLeod

Dave: after reading about your tendencies to lose your lunch in close quarters I'm scared to get into too many back and fourth conversations with you.

David Mitchell

Nina,

It would be neat if you could take a few photos at your ladies luncheon - and then post them here for all of us to enjoy.

John Schaeufele

Dave,

Just read your latest chapter and had a good chuckle!  Great writing and fantastic memory.  And, I also felt sick to my stomach at OLP on the altar with Father Foley, calling everyone, "You litlle monsters!"

David Mitchell

Correction John.

It was little "monstas"

Michael McLeod

Hey Larry yep great work about aquinas transfers and noticed you mentioned living in cincinnati. I wrote for the cincinnati enquirer for several years, part of that time as the film reviewer. sure did love that town.

David Mitchell

I just saw this on my phone - Apple news. It won't mean anythign to most of you, but it was the town in the middle of nowhere where my primary flight school was located - the now closed Fort Wolters, Texas.

When we were there the town of about 15,000 was dead and the only famous attraction was closed for maybe 60 or 80 years - "The Crazy Water Crystal Hotel" which used to be a popular spot for its "healthty springs". My dad said there was even a popular song about it back in the '20s.

Today's Headline reads:

The 'Wellness Capital of Texas' Known for Its Magical Mineral Waters Was Just Named America’s Best Small Spa and Wellness Town

The famous hotel has apparantly been restored and is now attrcting visitors. From what we saw of it back then I never would have beleived it.

John Jackson

Today, ratcheting up Trump’s revenge agenda, the FBI raided the home of John Bolton, former Trump National Security Advisor and now a vehement Trump critic, under the charge that Bolton was in possession of classified documents.  The hypocrisy/irony of this is exquisite given Trump’s own retention of boxes and boxes of classified documents in one of his Mar a Lago bathrooms. 

Makes me think there’s no better time to be a drug smuggler, terrorist, or pedophile since the FBI’s (and Justice Department’s) principal thrust these days is wreaking revenge on Trump’s “enemies”.

Of course the Bolton fiasco serves another purpose in distracting from the release of some of the Epstein files today to Congress.  But Trump himself stepped on his own message today by bringing the Epstein matter back front and center with this astonishing action (as reported in today’s Borowitz Report):

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In what experts are calling one of the most remarkable comebacks for a convicted sex offender in recent memory, on Friday Donald J. Trump announced that he was replacing Attorney General Pam Bondi with Ghislaine Maxwell.

Explaining his decision, Trump said, "Pam said there’s a client list, and Ghislaine said there isn't. So I have decided Ghislaine would be better at this job than Pam."

In another stunning reversal of fortune, Trump announced that Bondi would be taking Maxwell’s place in prison, adding, “I wish her well.”

He said he was confident that Maxwell would receive speedy confirmation by Senate Republicans, noting, “If they confirmed Hegseth they’ll confirm anyone.”

Michael McLeod

I always think of what will go down in this history books when it comes to events in our lifetime, and I'm thinking the chapters recording these recent disfunctional years will be a source of fascination and puzzlement and I gotta say pity when it comes to what has become to our beloved u.s. of a.

Robert Berkemer

My fear Michael, is that the history books will not record any of the truth of what has happened. Our history is being erased as we speak.

David Mitchell

Is it just me? Or does it feel a bit like Germany in the late 30's?

Michael McLeod

I think you are wrong about the history books, Bob. The question isn't so much about whether they will include the truth. The problem is whether people will read up on it and learn from it. That seems to have been to case so far when it comes to the human race's report card when it comes to this particular part of the curriculum.. I'd give us a c minus so far.

I think people who see this craziness from a distance of time will see it more clearly than we do. There's precedent for it. It's all being recorded from so many vantage points, more so now than ever before in our multi media world. We're the ones who are in the middle of the thick  of it and have trouble seeing it clearly. Volumes and volumes of the soap opera we are living through will be examined by future generations and they will no doubt say: how could they have been so stupid as to have let that grifter ruin their country?

The one good thing about this xxxxstorm is that it is being recorded in many ways, and told and retold - and it ain't gonna be erased unless they bomb everybody back to the stone age. Which I guess is a possibiity.  Maybe it was that prospect which is on your mind.

If you compiled a top ten list of historic developments in our lifetime to stash somewhere for the benefit of future generations, the rise of this wacko to power would be among them. 

Your comparison to the collapse of the Wiemar republic and the rise of another historic wacko is a good one, Dave.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

My first five years in Spain (1971-75) were Franco´s last five years of dictatorship in Spain. Never in my lifetime did I ever imagine that I would be reminded of those years seeing what is happening on a daily basis in the U.S.  I fear for the democracy of my country. I fear for what lies ahead.

Michael McLeod

Yikes, Donna. 

Cheer up.

I was trying to, then I read this

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5467568-trump-approval-rating-decline/

not a lotta folks out there hap hap happy with the way things are goin'

then to cheer myself up, i read this.

it's one of the most memorable leads about a historic moment in the history of journalism, written by one of my heroes, e.b. white. I always envied writers who could blur the line between poetry and prose. And E.B.White was among them. High among them. The best lesson I learned and tried to abide to ass  writer was the K.I.S.S. advisory: keep it  simple, stupid!

enjoy:

by E. B. White

The moon, it turns out, is a great place for men. One-sixth gravity must be a lot of fun, and when Armstrong and Aldrin went into their bouncy little dance, like two happy children, it was a moment not only of triumph but of gaiety. The moon, on the other hand, is a poor place for flags. Ours looked stiff and awkward, trying to float on the breeze that does not blow. (There must be a lesson here somewhere.) It is traditional, of course, for explorers to plant the flag, but it struck us, as we watched with awe and admiration and pride, that our two fellows were universal men, not national men, and should have been equipped accordingly. Like every great river and every great sea, the moon belongs to none and belongs to all. It still holds the key to madness, still controls the tides that lap on shores everywhere, still guards the lovers who kiss in every land under no banner but the sky. What a pity that in our moment of triumph we did not forswear the familiar Iwo Jima scene and plant instead a device acceptable to all: a limp white handkerchief, perhaps, symbol of the common cold, which, like the moon, affects us all, unites us all.

Michael McLeod

I got curious about this and poked around

this is the most recent stat I could find.

i am a happy, formerly off-and-on smoker my own self

quit for good about ten years ago

happy healthy sunday to all from sunny fla.

Janie Albright (Blank)

John, classic Borowitz! Absolutely NOTHING would surprise me at this point. 

Janie Albright (Blank)

Donna, how long did it take Spain to recover from the most egregious abuses of Franco?

Asking for a worried friend. ;(

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike McL.,

I also am curious.

Why did you smoke?

This is a question I asked many patients during my career.

Jim

David Mitchell

I smoked because my best buddy - Tommy Litzinger - smoked, and taught me that it was cool. That was about 5th grade.

Then one day in 7th grade, a group of us - Tommmy, Kevin Ryan, Mike Haggerty, Joe Royce, and a couple others I cannot recall, were getting ready to knock on Janie Connor's (a realy cute girl who  went to St. Marys after OLP) door up in Old Beechwold. Some of the 7th grade girls were at her house and we were going to barge in on their party. As we stood under that little  culvert beneath the bridge at Rustic Bridge Drive, we all had to have a "fag" (Tom's name for them) to work up our manhood before we went to her house. As we were standing halfway into the creek, chatting about the girls, it suddenly occured to me that I really didn't even like this.

About half way through my cigarette, I just flicked it into the creek. And that was the last time I ever smoked a cigarette.

I owe a lot of my favorite expereinces to my buddy Tommy - like playing with matches in general - a fascination I got from him also.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Janie, after nearly 40 years of dictatorship which ended in 1975 Spain transitioned to a democracy when the Spanish Constitution was established in 1978. People here were hungry for democracy and they still don't take it for granted.  No one should.

Big hugs for you and your worried friend! :-)

Michael McLeod

Hey Jim:

You asked why I smoked. I will answer and I'd be interested if others want to share their experiences with smoking too.

And I'm wondering if you have asked patients and friends that question over the years and if so what you  learned.

I smoked first as a teen out of curiousity,swiping them from a neighbor's pack periodically.

Then as an adult in part because my wife smoked.

I think smoking was a crutch against boredom and something to do while you're drinking too. That's how it was for me.

Then of  course the addiction sets in. As I understand it that addiction is part biological and part psychological. But I'd have to read up to explain it any further than that.

What I remember is being soothed. Ordinarily we breathe in and out thoughtlessly, automatically, When you smoke it's like recreational breathing. It's also a kind of adult version of nursing.  It's usually explained - I think - as being a substance addiction,isn't it? But the nursing thing seems like it might likely play a part in  a primal way. Of couse the other reason kids pick it up because kids like to pose as if they are grownups in a stupidly pubescent show-off sort of way.

And it was forbidden - you weren't supposed to smoke as a kid and by law you couldn'tt buy them; you had to steal them. So hell yes the kind of kid  that I was I was a sucker for the forbidden. I also started smoking pot during my hippie days. Never really liked it thinking back; just did it out of social obligation, more or less,  as a hippie.

But I do remember the craving for cigarettes once I was firmly hooked as an adult, and damn it was hard to quit. I tried and failed several times before doing so. . 

I was a reasonably light cigarette smoker most of my time as an addict, well less than a pack a day.

Been clean for decades. Had tried and failed to quit several times before I succeeded. Smoking a cig at this point would be revulsive although, even now, have very faint cravings if I am upset about something. Again with the nursing thing.

congrats to dave for quitting early.

Would be interesting if other classmates have had smoking/non smoking experiences. And I wonder what answers you have gleaned from your friends and patients ove the years, Jim. I think the primal parallel with suckling has something to do with it, of course.But the dependency as a biochemical thing is intriguing. And creepy.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike McL.,

Thanks for your response regarding smoking.

First, nicotine is a very addictive chemical and that is well known. Other chemicals, pyrazines, are often added to cigarettes, but also vapes and other smoking products, to enhance flavor and these add to nicotine's addictive effects.

The vast majority of my medical career was spent caring for the military, retirees, and dependents. Many were smokers and probably started smoking around the time they were in combat roles or in training.

Such was often a common - perhaps even a "manly" - thing to do. Even the old "K-rations" meal kits contained a few cigarettes.

I suspect smoking was also a way to deal with the stresses of combat and other factors of military life. Of course, all life is associated with various types of stress and people will find various ways to deal with that, some more destructive than others.

One of my military Physicians Assistants told me he began smoking because it was, basically, the "thing to do", peer pressure.

Once addicted to nicotine it is very difficult to stop. There are several meds and "replacements" that have been around for a number of years with varying degrees of success but none are perfect.

Of course, the thing that works best is to never start.

Jim

Michael McLeod

lol jim yes that takes me back - I remember from my own days in the service that our combat rations kits featured smokes -- mini-packs, if I remember correctly. And my dad was in the reserves -- and yes, brought home k rations now and then with those mini-packs of cigs, as you pointed out, so I remember them from childhood, too.

right now thanks to this conversation I am freshly aware of the gift of breathing in air and smelling flowers and doing so without that crappy dry nicotine coating dulling my sense of smell, my very connection to the beautiful gift of fresh air and sensitivity to taste that I had traded off for an addictive and dangerous habit. Yuk.Plus you blithely walk around with bad breath and the stink of cigs on your clothing. And you pay a lot of money to do so! What was I thinking?

Cigarette smoking has decreased over the years; that's the good news.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Almost Spotless 

One of the twins (the other one is lagging behind) that was following momma around the neighborhood today. Losing their spots as September approaches.

Nature is repetitive but not always totally predictable. 

That's where cellphone cameras come in handy.

Jim

David Mitchell

Jim and Mike,

Are you sure you don't mean "C-rations" ?

There was the usual pack of 3 cigarettes in here somewhere - the large can main meal, medium can of fruit, medium can of round saltines, and the tiny can of either peanut butter, or cheese spread. There was also a tiny flat roll of toilet paper, a wrapper of plastick utensils, and the pack of 3 cigarettes

The main meals - Chicken and noodles, Beef and portatoes, Turkey, pork and ??? The only ones I could stand were spaghetti and meatballs, or the beans and weanies.

We each grabbed a box from the large stack in the Mess Hall as we went in to breakfast. The later you went to breakfast, the smaller the remining selection. I often slept late and often got something I did not like very well.