At an art auction on Tuesday night, an anonymous buyer bid $43,800,000.00 (that’s 43.8 million dollars) for this painting (the blue thing with the white stripe, not the gentlemen in suits).
We could draw lots of conclusions from this latest Gilded Age moment. At a minimum, we ought to have a progressive sales tax, one that applies higher rates to more expensive purchases. For this particular purchase, I’d recommend a tax of at least 100%.
From The Far Side, by the consistently brilliant Gary Larson:
From Daniel Deronda, by the often brilliant George Eliot:
[Note: Daniel is now immersed in the the question whether a Jewish state should be established (the novel is set around 1875). Gwendolen has married a controlling, unlovable aristocrat.]
“And Gwendolen? She was thinking of Deronda much more than he was thinking of her — often wondering what were his ideas ‘about things’, and how his life was occupied.
But … it was as far from Gwendolen’s conception that Deronda’s life could be determined by the historical destiny of the Jews, as that he could rise into the air on a brazen horse, and so vanish from her horizon in the form of a twinkling star.
With all the sense of inferiority that had been forced upon her, it was inevitable that she should imagine a larger place for herself in his thoughts than she actually possessed. They must be rather old and wise persons who are not apt to see their own anxiety or elation about themselves reflected in other minds.”
How often are relationships symmetrical? Is it even a goal worth seeking? Maybe it’s a cosmic joke.
Is it too cynical to believe that we only become old and wise after it hardly matters?
And other literate folk.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2013/05/06/cartoons_20130429?slide=6#slide=6
According to this website, a professor and archivist named Hugo Keesing put together a few seconds of every Billboard #1 hit starting in January 1956 and continuing for several decades after that. The text says that he got the idea from radio station WOR-FM in New York.
Listening to this is an interesting experience, but I gave up somewhere around 20 minutes into Part 1 when Bobby Goldsboro sang “Honey” (a #1 considered by some to be the worst song of all time).
There are obviously lessons to be learned from hearing what were the best-selling or most popular songs in America (according to Billboard magazine). My main reactions were “I remember that one” and “Wow”.
I took this last night, using the gadget that’s also handy for text messages and answering questions at dinner.
There’s something about this picture I especially like. The softness of the colors. The peacefulness. The contrast between the ground and sky. It makes the most densely populated state in America look like a garden state.
Whereof One Can Speak 🇺🇦 
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