(From Rose is Rose)

This comes up every Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

It feels wrong that both seem now to be limited to military people. OK, that is what “veteran” means, so fine. And Veterans Day is not specifically for those who died, it is for any veteran.

So conversely Memorial Day should be for any who were killed in war, including civilians. Why do some want to limit it to veterans? Do they think civilian deaths are not worthy?

An old standard, by Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.   
    They may not mean to, but they do.   
They fill you with the faults they had
    And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
    By fools in old-style hats and coats,   
Who half the time were soppy-stern
    And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself.

I recall an English teacher urging the class not to use the “He who…” construction, and making the point by saying it’s like the way we mimic donkey sounds — “hee haw” becoming “hee hoo”. And he would produce about a triplet of them : “heehoo heehoo heehoo”.

It would be difficult after that to produce some traditional advice like “He who hesitates is lost”…

(Cartoon from Barney & Clyde via Counterpoint)

Sparrow why can’t you?

Cause my legs is little and long

And they might get broke in two

Jocelyn was a no-show, after two “on my way” texts.

Julia worked with me on books for a while, then concentrated on the “cats bathroom”. She emptied everything stored in the tub even though I had said don’t bother with that, then scrubbed everything forever. Very long and tiring, and she ended up not taking stuff downstairs. Still I am glad of the improvement.

Thursday morning as I write this I am going out later to sign papers at the bank for the annuity. Then will pick up shirts. Still, treating it as ALMOST a “day off” since Friday won’t really be.

Now I’ve got two people helping me, and both are coming today. This should reduce my stress (and probably will, in the long run) but at any moment just ramps up anxiety,

Fun example to say “justified true belief” is not enuff

There is a widely accepted definition of “knowledge” as “justified true belief” .

A guy named Fred was in an accident in September 1955, and arrived at the hospital alive but unconscious. They managed to keep him alive for many years, though still unconscious. He finally woke up in July of 1969.

The medical team wanted to take it slow in introducing him to his now-aging family and generally orienting him to the modern world. In particular they did not tell him the current date nor explain how long he had been out.

“But there is one item of current news I’m very concerned about! How is Ike doing? Did he survive that heart attack??” [In point of fact, President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack in September 1955, and was thought to be in danger of his life, at the time Fred had his accident. But he rallied, and lived on, until March of 1969.]

Fred’s readjustment team went ahead and answered this emphatic query. “Oh Fred, I’m sorry to tell you, President Eisenhower is deceased.”

“You mean that sonovabitch Nixon is President?!” Fred exclaimed.

• So, we see that Fred believes Nixon is President
• That is a true belief, as Nixon was in fact elected in November 1968 and took office in January 1969.
• Fred’s belief that Nixon is President is justified by (a) his memory of the news of Ike’s heart attack; (b) the information he has just received, that Ike is dead; (c) his knowledge of the process of Presidential succession; and (d) his (formally) valid reasoning from a,b,c to the conclusion that Nixon is President.

But do we really want to accept that Fred knows that Nixon is President? It’s pretty shaky!