Review: The Soul of America

Amazon

From The Soul of America, by Jon Meacham:

For many, the fact that we have arrived at a place in the life of the nation where a grand wizard of the KKK can claim, all too plausibly, that he is at one with the will of the president of the United States seems an unprecedented moment. History, however, shows us that we are frequently vulnerable to fear, bitterness, and strife. The good news is that we have come through such darkness before."

The bad news is that the same shit keeps happening, generation after generation. It's not Meacham's thesis, but like playing Russian roulette, eventually the bad shit is going to kill us.

An Ad that Didn't Age Well

Younger readers may need an explanation. It used to be that to make a long-distance telephone call, you'd have to use an operator. (And if you're too young even to know what long-distance means, or what an operator is, use Google.) It was an exciting innovation when direct long-distance dialing was introduced. In the UK and Australia, the feature was called "subscriber trunk dialing," abbreviated STD. STD was still a big thing in telephone service when this ad appeared in Australia in 1976. Now you know. Hopefully, I don't have to explain the other meaning of STD.

The Time to Travel is NOW

This article was originally published in "Richardson Living" magazine. Read it on that website or read it here. Or read it in print. In mail boxes now.

I don't want to talk about why you should travel. If the delight of seeing new places, undertaking new adventures, meeting new people and cultures and, in the process, learning more about yourself, if that doesn't appeal to you, well, turn the page. For those of you who are still with me, let me tell you why the time to travel is NOW.

Young and Just Starting Out

"I always knew that you would take yourself far from home
As soon as, as far as you could go."
— 10,000 Maniacs

POTD: House Hunting in Uglich

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Uglich, Russia. It shows a representative house of the area. The owner is a school teacher who likes gardening — flowers and vegetables.

A look inside the house is after the jump.

POTD: Grace

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Uglich, Russia. The church is the Church of the Transfiguration, which dates to the early 1700s, replacing an earlier church on the same site that dated to the 1400s. Uglich itself dates back a thousand years. History is rich here. In 1591, according to Advantour, the original church's "bell ringer announced the death of Tsarevich Dmitry to the Uglich people by a peal of bell. Later this ill-fated bell, which brought bad news, was given a flogging with a whip just like humans and, like a criminal, exiled to Siberia."

POTD: Church of Tsarevich Dimitri On the Blood

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Uglich, Russia. The church was built on the spot of the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry. According to Advantour, "On May 15, 1591, young Tsarevich Dmitry, the last heir of Ivan the Terrible, died in mysterious circumstances. The chronicles of the Time of Troubles are full of gloomy stories about the death of the tsarevich, but the real causes of death of the last Rurik has never been found out. However, the most popular version was a cold-blooded murder, allegedly plotted by Boris Godunov, the pretender to the throne. This version was so well known and argued, that later on it provided the basis for the famous historical play 'Boris Godunov' by Alexander Pushkin."

POTD: Sunset on the Volga

From 2018 08 18 Yaroslavl

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Volga River near Yaroslavl, Russia. No history lesson today. It's just a pretty picture.

My First Car

The photo shows me being presented with the keys to my first car, a 1958 DeSoto Firemite. It's a 3/8 scale car with a polystyrene plastic body, whitewall tires, a gasoline engine, and battery-operated headlights, taillights and horn.

Yes, there's a story behind it. In 1958, Chrysler Corporation dealers were promoting their new cars. When my Uncle Floyd bought his 1958 DeSoto station wagon, Winnebagoland Motors held a "Family Days Car Jamboree" contest for new owners. Floyd entered the name of his six-year-old nephew, me. I was lucky enough to win a new car. I've never had quite that same smile on my face since.

Yesterday (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Yesterday (2019): Beatles music alone would be worth it, but the whole is a perfect blend of that with a sci-fi premise and a bittersweet love story, with each component leaving you wanting more, as it should be. Comic elements are a bonus. Maybe you have to be a Baby Boomer. A-

Murder Mystery (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Murder Mystery (2019): Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston in a Netflix movie says all you need to know about this comedy/mystery. The jokes are bad, then explained to the audience ("eggplant donut emoji"). Skip this one and rewatch any version of "Murder on the Orient Express." C-