C. Northcote Parkinson: The Law and the Profits (1960)

It is also usual in works of learning to refer, sooner or later, to ancient Athens. This book will be no exception, difficult as it is to maintain for long the reverent attitude associated with classical scholarship. The Athens admired in the classical VI Form is, of course, purely imaginary, the invention of classical philologists in whom any sense of history (or of reality) is almost completely lacking. It is well, however, to bring it in occasionally, thus lending tone to the whole book and hinting that the author went to the right sort of school (as in fact he did). Now, Athens* provides an early example of what is called democracy. . . .

*Athens became an example of democratic government at some period in the middle of the nineteenth century when that form of rule was becoming fashionable in Britain and the United States. . . .

Saturday at a gun shop, my eye was caught by the archaic stocks of a couple of Ruger “Vaquero” revolvers (modern versions of obsolete guns, made for rodeo sports). Looking closer, I saw that their calibers were .45 and .32. That puts me in my place.

2004 Sep 04: Oops! This post formerly linked to one (from 2002 Oct 05) that has now vanished. It said:

Rex Stout, author of the ‘Nero Wolfe’ mysteries, made a point never to use real-life brand names. But in “Death of a Demon” (1961) he went one step further: the murder weapon is a .32 revolver, and I at least have never (otherwise) heard of such a thing.

At a restaurant, I was briefly puzzled by an advertising card that read

ルービロポッサ

ruubiropossa?? No, sapporobiiru!

Northcote Parkinson wrote (“Parkinson’s Second Law”):

In 1957 Mr John Applebey remarked that those responsible for the [British] public accounts seem to confuse themselves as well as everyone else.

Presumably the creators of Yes Minister, and thus of Sir Humphrey Appleby who speaks in riddles, had read this.

Today in Menlo Park, who should walk by but Bill, principal of the firm where I’ve been working lately (in San Francisco). Our eyes met, I raised a hand in greeting, and he stopped; so I approached, and said:

“Hi! I’ve just been having lunch with my mother, who used to work near here.”

“That’s great. My name’s Larry, by the way. Have a great day.”

The burritos at Mextogo, incidentally, were quite satisfactory.

Swen quotes Phil Ochs’s “Love me, I’m a Liberal”, which reminds me of this from The National Lampoon’s White Album Gold Turkey: National Lampoon Radio Hour/Greatest Hits:

I wish I was a Negro, with lots of Negro soul,
so I could stay true to my ethnic roots and still play rock and roll.
If I was a funky Negro, eatin’ soul food barbecues,
I wouldn’t have to sing the middle class liberal Well-Intentioned Blues.

I wish I was an Indian, a grown-up Sioux papoose,
so when I get drunk on a beer and a half I have a good excuse.
I’d be a noble savage, wouldn’t ever wear no shoes,
and I wouldn’t have to sing the middle class liberal Well-Intentioned Blues.

I wish I was a wetback on a strike in a lettuce patch
or a slant-eyed peasant with Viet Cong stashed underneath my thatch.
I only ever cross a picket line to pay my union dues
to keep on singing the middle class liberal Well-Intentioned Blues.

But I am not a Negro (come on!), not a red man nor a Mex. (Join me, kids!)
I’m a member of the oppressing color, language, age and sex.
I sympathize with the Arab cause; I feel for the put-upon Jew.
And I keep singing —
the middle class liberal —
humanitarian —
meaningful dialogue —
we are all responsible Well-Intentioned Blues.

(And again I wish I knew how to display this with hanging indents.)

The morning mail brings me a new issue of The Economist, whose news roundup begins:

Two bombs went off in Istanbul on November 20th . . . .

. . making me wonder where it was printed.

Certain other weeklies would have said “Thursday” rather than “November 20”. Used to drive me nuts wondering which Thursday they meant.

Further down:

Kathleen Blanco [of Louisiana] . . . becomes the first ever female governor in America’s “Deep South”.

That can’t be right. Wasn’t it once common for wives to succeed their husbands as governor when the latter could not seek another consecutive term? Wallace of Alabama comes to mind. [2007: Looks like I overestimated the frequency of the phenomenon.]