RANDOM MUSINGS

…I remember when, in the NFL, they just laid the ball down in the end zone after a touchdown.  I don’t remember when Homer Jones spiked the football for the first time (I was only four) – but I do remember the first theatrical celebrations in the end zone:  Elmo Wright (high-stepping in the same place) and Billy “White Shoes” Johnson (hands in the air, wiggling his knees in and out).  I also remember when kickers kicked straight on; we thought the first soccer-style kickers were a ridiculous novelty that wouldn’t last.
 
…Are the lyrics to the Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out” meant to be taken seriously or as ridicule of the way selfish people approach conflict resolution?


…There is nothing more frustrating than when improvements to a product make it worse.  Microsoft and Facebook seem to specialize in this.
 
…You invest your life gaining knowledge and skill so you can be useful and profitable to others in the world.  But the world keeps changing, and what was once useful passes out of usefulness.  Realizing this is the first challenge of aging; accepting it is the second; and adjusting to it is the third.
 
…If you are pro-choice and want abortion to be safe but rare, give me an example of a circumstance in which abortion is a bad idea.
 
…We sometimes mistakenly conclude that someone who bears pain well and without complaining must not be experiencing all that great a pain.
 
…The take on the ancient hearings on Jesus was that he was a radical terrorist who threatened to destroy the Temple and overthrow Caesar.  They had witnesses and everything!
 
…The rich man dreads having to go without comfort but doesn’t fear debt.
The poor man dreads debt but is accustomed to going without comfort.


…God creates but doesn’t reproduce.
 
…It seemed like a nicer world when the private dalliances of prominent men (FDR, JFK, LBJ, MLK) were kept out of the public eye.
 
…A stupid thing said politely is still stupid.