Over the last couple of days, I've been in a bit of a fog. It could be the abnormal weather patterns sweeping through the region with a couple of inches of ice last weekend and a half foot of snow predicted today [^1]. Needless to say, I've had some extra time on my hands indoors and I've also been trying to make sense of our political theatre with some daily doom-scrolling.
Today I read an article in the Wall Street Journal titled Elizabeth Warren’s Comic-Book Economics[^1] written by Matthew Hennessey... who's bio states that he "believed the U.S. was an immoral, imperial colossus... until September 11 changed everything"[^2]
Today I went for a long walk with some Buddhist monks. They're walking from Texas to Washington D.C. on a peace walk[^1]. This was day 73 for them. I went early so that I could accompany them on a rural road to their planned lunch break and then followed them into South Carolina. I wanted to show my support, get some steps in, and mostly make my dog happy.
Today I learned more about Barron Trump.
Today I Learned about William Windham.
Today I learned George Singleton published a new book last year.
Today I learned that Susan Smith was born Susan Leigh Vaughan.
I've started this draft as a place to make some notes and list some resources so that I could share them with others for feedback. Future published URL will be @ https://davidawindham.com/woody-windham
Today I learned some more interesting facts about my uncle Woody because he died last week and I've been chatting with my parents and relatives asking various questions because of the upcoming funeral. I like reflecting on people's lives when they die and I've found that writing out a personal obituary of sorts is a great process for doing so.
Today I learned of J. M. Barrie's inspiration for Peter Pan.
Today I learned what's up with Nick Cave [^1].
Today I learned that Françoise Gilot painted almost daily until the age of 1001,2. Although Gilot was known partially for her romantic partnership with Pablo Picasso and marriage to Jonas Salk, she was also a very accomplished painter. I'm not a big fan of the majority of her artwork but I admire her effort.
Today I learned Cat Power wrote her album Moon Pix in Prosperity, South Carolina1,2, William Eggleston had the same doctor as Elvis, and Dr. Nic from The Simpsons is based on him. While digging into Chan's most recent release of live Dylan covers, I decided to do the deep dive and learned all these in one swipe.
Today I learned that the Mean Green Mother from Outer Space from Little Shop of Horrors was Levi Stubbs1,2 The follow up reading and holiday got me to thinking a bit more about horror as a genre.
Today I learned about Evi Nemeth and the origin of phrase layer 8 error 1,2. Layer 8 error is just another way of saying User error along the lines PICNIC ( "problem in chair, not in computer" ) or ID 10T ("idiot error"). Evi is credited with referring to the layers on top of the 7-layer OSI model of networking as People, Money, Government, and Politics. She was known as the matriarch of system administration because she authored the the most widely used Unix SysAdmin books, and created 25h Anniversary UNIX playing card set. Evi disappeared at sea in 2013.
Today I learned how useful the Newspapers.com website can be1. I gotta email from our athletic director about championship banners for the gym related to tennis. Being as I'm not from Greenwood, I had no clue about the history so I forwarded it to a couple fellas I know who knew more. The feedback left some gaps, so I started scrubbing online when I ran into the ubiquitous Newspapers.com site.
Today I learned that Samuel Jones Lee was the first African-American Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1872 to 1874 1. The reason the discovery resonated so much with me is that the history has some modern reverberations and is closely tied to several nearby counties. His tenure is associated with the Disputed Government of South Carolina of 1876 and one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history.
Today I learned that Reagan had the largest number of criminal charges of any presidential administration. I actually learned it last night watching a George Carlin standup1, but I doubted it given the last administration and I had to double-check the reference this morning2. Sure enough, ole' George was just shooting straight.
Today I learned more about my great grandfather from a first person account1. I got a comment and email from a fella who was discussing him with his 93 year old mother.
Today I learned that Dave Cobb went to a school for students with disabilities1. I did the deep dive on him this morning because I listened to a Broken Record podcast2 at the request of a friend in a group thread and because I like his work. I wrote a response to my buddy who suggested it and I'm sharing it here because I think it's interesting.
Today I learned why Nick Cave went to the king's coronation1. Nick wrote a very compelling letter in his Red Hand Files about he we went2 so I went trolling through some press and images from the event and thought these two juxtaposed one another somewhat appropriately.
Today I learned that there actually was an effort to continue the Iran hostage crisis until Ronald Reagan was elected1. A couple fellas from Texas, one of who was in the shot alongside of JFK and then switched parties for Nixon, went on a middle east PR tour to broker a deal with Iran to ship weapons for retaining hostages until Reagan was elected.
Today I learned that Dennis Ritchies Ph.D. thesis was never accepted and that his son created a game company called Binary Arts 1,2. The reason this was important to me is because I use Unix daily and had a collection of puzzles which included Spin-Out from Bill Ritchie's company.
Today I learned the easiest way to manage our grocery shopping lists.
Today I learned the Brooke Shields grandfather won Wimbledon in 19311 and that it was Polly Platt, the writer of Pretty Baby who introduced Matt Groening to James Brooks2. I learned these because we watched the movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood3 last night.
Today I learned the that Harold Tucker Webster1 made a pretty accurate prediction exactly one hundred years ago.
Today I learned more about Brian Eno's worldview after reading "Brian Eno Reveals the Hidden Purpose of All Art"1.