The general decline in standards today

[Fading Fast]

Aurora Dawn was a lot of fun, and Caine Mutiny was one of my grandfather's favorite books. I read "City Boy" in the eighth grade and immediate fell in love with Herbie. He's a goofy little schlemiel, but he's got a good heart and wins out in the end.

I haven't read "City Boy," but will. Pug Henry has been for me one of the literary examples of a what a good, strong, caring, thoughtful man could be.

There is a two page explanation of the Higgs Bosom in "Little Hole in Texas" that helped me understand it better than all the news articles and science articles I read on it. He's a talented writer of fiction, but that he could explain complex physics to someone as dense as me really blew me away.

Jack, I read "Marjorie Morningstar" a long time ago and remember, overall enjoying it as a "lighter" Wouk book, but if my old memory serves, I didn't much like Marjorie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I enjoyed Marjorie Morningstar up until the ending, which left me deeply irritated. It might have been a nice twist ending for Marjorie to end up a bland suburban Doctor's Wife, but for her to accept that fate was entirely at odds with everything that had been established about the character up to that point. Come on, Herman, you know better than that.

An interesting side note about Mr. Wouk -- he has kept a detailed daily journal of his life every single day since 1937, when he was one of Fred Allen's two writing assistants on "Town Hall Tonight." He donated these journals to the Library of Congress a few years back, and continues to keep updating them even as he approaches his 100th birthday this May. I'd very much enjoy spending a few years going thru these volumes.

 

[Burma Schave]

Sort of like Hugh Hefner with his scrapbooks.

 

[Jack Vincennes]

I tried for a long time to keep a productive journal. It was never organic, and it seemed kind of a chore. I have made peace with the fact that my written legacy beyond professional publications will be the weight of the baseball scorecards I have been filling out since I was just a kid. About ten years ago I started buying Bob Carpenter's scorebooks, and its a better formt than the day of game scorecard, but there is some nostalgia lost there too. By the way, I score the games with a 1930 Parker Duofold pencil. I worked for Parker in Janesville, WI for a time.

 

[vitanola]

I majored in History in College. You read into that article what you like.
This is an article that was written 100 years or more ago. Something tells me though that the author of the article would have no problem using the term homosexual or gay if that’s what he meant. (Actually he probably would have used the term ‘queer’).

Uh, no. It appears that you do not really up understand the cultural context.

The term "gay" as used today was unknown at the time save in a very few subcultural circles, and even then it generally applied to wantons who were either free or expensive with their affections.

"Homosexual" was purely a medical term, and a new one at that. The very concept that we know as "the homosexual" was a novelty to the most advanced medical practitioners, and was foreign to the mass.

Any but the most oblique mention of this deviation would have been strictly de trop, even in a magazine as pointedly sophisticated as Cosmopolitan. The usual way of hinting at this subject was mentioning the "Sissy", "Sophisticate" or, in rather low publications which were not as concerned about delicate sensibilities "Pansy"

The most common technical or medical terms at the time would have been "invert", "Urning", or just perhaps "Uranian".
Now, as far as your appeal to authority is concerned, one of my undergrad degrees is in H/S, but my faculty adviser at grad school was a prominent and prolific historian who, though he established his career with his works on Cobden and Shaftsbury, was the pioneering researcher of the history of the particular subculture under discussion. I spent three semesters as one of his research assistants, abstracting thousands of articles from magazines and newspapers published between 1860 and 1960 which discussed or hinted at Uranianism, and so have more than a passing knowledge of the subject, though, alas, my personal interests have always run more to Agricola, Langbein and Terman than Magnus Hershfeld and Havelock Ellis

 

[Burma Schave]

Thank you, vitanola. It needed to be said.

 

[Retro Spectator]

Trolls have assaulted my YouTube channel starting yesterday. They posted comments that seemed to be attempts to insult my clothes. I couldn't care less what they had to say, so I ignored the meaning of their post, and I replied kindly, even thanking them for their "compliment", and forgave them. :rofl:

However, these people subscribed to my YouTube channel, and started disliking my videos, so I disabled likes and comments. Now whenever they watch my video, and dislike it, their dislike is hidden, and they give me a free view. They seem to still be falling for my trap. :evil:

 

[jamespowers]

Trolls have assaulted my YouTube channel starting yesterday. They posted comments that seemed to be attempts to insult my clothes. I couldn't care less what they had to say, so I ignored the meaning of their post, and I replied kindly, even thanking them for their "compliment", and forgave them. :rofl:

However, these people subscribed to my YouTube channel, and started disliking my videos, so I disabled likes and comments. Now whenever they watch my video, and dislike it, their dislike is hidden, and they give me a free view. They seem to still be falling for my trap. :evil:

Ingenious! My hat is off to you.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You Toob comments are the sluice basin of humanity. Don't let them get you down.

 

[Retro Spectator]

You Toob comments are the sluice basin of humanity. Don't let them get you down.

They don't get me down at all, actually. When they first came in, they caused a bit of stress, mainly because I knew they would spam the dislike button. However, now that I know they dislike my videos, and I, having disabled likes and dislikes from showing up, they, thinking they would annoy me by subscribing purely to press the dislike button, only caused themselves to be fools. After all, now each time dislike my video (the dislike is hidden now), they add views to my video, allowing more honest souls to find my videos, due to the high views.
:laugh:

 

[EliasRDA]

Been away for a while, system issues but I did want to touch on the kids in dining establishments. When I was a lil kid in the early 70's my folks used to take my (older) brother & I to a local "Fine Dining" place, I want to say the Griswold Inn in Essex CT but I could be mistaken as I was very very young. But the way we were raised prevented my brother & I from misbehaving when with our folks. My brother used to walk me around as the women fawned over him, I still tease him about it in front of his wife no less these years later, both of us dressed up. Sadly many if not all of the pictures from those days have not survived. (sigh)

I used to work in the restaurant business, I was actually trained classically in all aspects of the food service, and truthfully I have no issue with kids coming into a fine dining place, as long as the adults take responsibility for them. If they cry take them out, or walk them around if possible, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Mind you, I have no children of my own, I do not have the tolerance for them. But I will not suffer having my peace disturbed by an uncaring adult that should have left the child at home if they were not going to stop its fussing. Yes, sometimes the adults are overwhelm, sometimes all they wanted was a nite out, but that's where getting an older sibling or cousin, friend, babysitter to watch over the kids may do more good than letting the kid sit there squalling.
And yes, I was babysat by my older brother, by my older female cousin, by older female neighbor kids & I have babysat for friends of my folks up into my 20's right before I went in the army. That one was the boss of my Dad & I treated her like a younger sister, she was barely 13 no older sibs or relatives in the area & it was a special favor. It helped with my patience when I went in & was made platoon leader & dealing with kids 5 or more yrs my jr & not yet realizing what basic was all about.

 

[Dennis Young]

Trolls have assaulted my YouTube channel starting yesterday. They posted comments that seemed to be attempts to insult my clothes. I couldn't care less what they had to say, so I ignored the meaning of their post, and I replied kindly, even thanking them for their "compliment", and forgave them. :rofl:

However, these people subscribed to my YouTube channel, and started disliking my videos, so I disabled likes and comments. Now whenever they watch my video, and dislike it, their dislike is hidden, and they give me a free view. They seem to still be falling for my trap. :evil:

I promise you...it wasnt me.

 

[Dennis Young]

Uh, no. It appears that you do not really up understand the cultural context.

Whatever. I don't really care anymore. You ignored the point of the post anyway and can stay here and argue about if you like. I'm moving on.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I was surfing the Net this morning and came upon this image which speaks for itself. :doh:

 

[jamespowers]

I was surfing the Net this morning and came upon this image which speaks for itself. :doh:

:doh:

 

[pawineguy]

I was surfing the Net this morning and came upon this image which speaks for itself. :doh:

This was exactly what I was speaking of earlier in this thread, and I witnessed similar behavior on this same memorial. Sadly, in Washington D.C., this is becoming more and more the norm. After being outraged by this two trips ago, on my last visit I chased people (not just children) off of the memorials and lectured tour guides. Not sure that would have any lasting effect but I couldn't keep quiet anymore.

 

[jamespowers]

This was exactly what I was speaking of earlier in this thread, and I witnessed similar behavior on this same memorial. Sadly, in Washington D.C., this is becoming more and more the norm. After being outraged by this two trips ago, on my last visit I chased people (not just children) off of the memorials and lectured tour guides. Not sure that would have any lasting effect but I couldn't keep quiet anymore.

Good! I am glad someone did!

 

[LizzieMaine]

In a town where I used to live, there was a WWII monument/flagpole base that used to be used as a skateboard jump until the cops got the kids to clear off. When I was a kid myself, we used to stuff trash down the bores of the Civil War cannons in front of the Masonic Hall, but nothing was ever done about it. If anything, we knew it was a good place to look for deposit bottles.

That said, there's something fishy about this picture to me. While I can understand and appreciate the sentiments behind it, there's just something a little too perfect about the way it's composed. Do we know it's a legit actuality photo, or is it possibly a posed image set up to illustrate a point. If the latter, I think that'd be even *more* cynical and disrespectful.

 

[Burma Schave]

It does look staged.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

As for composition I can show you examples of my own photography that appear to be staged but I can assure you were not.